Your smartphone is secretly accessed by your friends and family
New research has found that as many as one in five people have accessed a friend's smartphone, without that person's knowledge, Vice reported.
"Lunchtime attacks" can be avoided by using strong passwords, and keeping close tabs on your device. Still, 31 per cent of participants in an online survey looked through someone's device at least once in the past year.
Konstantin Beznosov, a UBC professor of electrical and computer engineering, co-authored the study.
"[It's] somebody who is from your social circle: like your friends, your relatives or maybe roommates and coworkers," said Beznosov. "They have more chances to have access to your phone, physically. For example, when you leave your phone to go to the washroom or when you leave it on your desk. They are in a much better position than strangers to actually access your phone without your permission."


text:
TITANIUM AS A CONTAMINANT OF EMERGING CONCERN IN THE AQUATIC ENVIRONMENT AND THE CURRENT KNOWLEDGE GAP REGARDING SEABIRD CONTAMINATION
form of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, has drastically increased in the last decades, due to its
presence in several products, such as personal care products, cosmetics, sunscreens, photocatalysts and
drug delivery systems, among others. Although its mechanisms of action are not yet fully understood,
effective bioaccumulation, biomagnification and trophic transfer of these compounds in aquatic plants
and fish have been reported in the literature. In addition, certain deleterious effects have been reported,
including oxidative stress and adsorption and transfer of other metals and metalloids throughout the
food chain, including apex predators and commercially important species. Thus, this contaminant may
pose risks to both environmental and human health, leading to public health concerns. Seabirds are most
likely exposed to Ti contamination through the trophic food web, as they are apex predators. However,
investigations regarding Ti contamination in seabirds are almost nonexistent, and none delve further
into possible deleterious Ti effects, indicating a significant knowledge scientific gap on the subject. In
this context, Ti contamination in the aquatic environment is discussed herein. The few reports published
in the literature on Ti contamination in seabirds are examined and wildlife and public health implications
are evaluated. Ti concentrations ranged from 0.35 to 6.23 mg kg-1 in liver, 1.85 to 3.78 mg kg-1 in kidneys
and from 0.1 to 17 mg kg-1 in feathers, presenting significant interspecies variations. The Mariana/
Bento Rodrigues dam disaster and its potential deleterious effects on seabirds due to increased metal
bioavailability are also discussed. This study, thus, demonstrates a huge knowledge gap concerning Ti in
seabirds and indicates the urgent need to establish baseline data for this element in this group.
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Copyright © 2010-2015 CEMAVE/ICMBio.
OJS - Open Journal Systems customizado pelo Núcleo de Tecnologia da Informação/CEMAVE.
Utilizada a tradução do SEER-IBICT para o Português-Brasileiro.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


Tesla cars have brought a revolution in the electric vehicle industry. These have gained popularity worldwide. The main advantage is that these are environment-friendly and give a remarkable performance on the roads. The cars have a battery that can be charged.
To optimize its performance, you need to pay attention to its maintenance. Is your Tesla model being due for its annual maintenance service, you can bring it to experts at Highline Car Care at Gilbert in Arizona? They provide Tesla maintenance near Mesa and is a trustworthy repair shop. The engineers focus on maximizing its durability, safety and increasing its resale value.
How Tesla Car Is Different Than the Other Gasoline Cars?
These cars do not need fuel filters and oil changes or spark plug replacements. There is no requirement to check for emissions. In rare cases, you have to replace the brakes because regenerative braking returns the energy to the battery. This prevents the wear and tear of the brakes.
The Necessary Maintenance Service
Cabin Air Filter
The air filter of the car helps prevent the entry of the dust particles, industrial dust inside through the vents. It is highly recommended to replace the cabin air filter every 2 years. This has a positive effect on its maintenance and performance.
High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Filter
You need to replace the filter every 3 years. The filter provides filtration protection. It traps the dust and other particles from getting inside the vehicle via the ventilation system.
Check to Ensure Correct Wheel Alignment and Tire Rotation
It is recommended that your tires need to be checked every 10, 000 to 12,000 miles to ensure its rotating and aligning requirements. If you are an aggressive driver it will need tire service more often. You can check out the manufacturer's manual and also the warranty documentation, to get further information, so that you are aware of its warranty.
Brake Fluid Test
It is required that you check the brake fluid whether it is contaminated or not after every 2 years. If contamination has occurred you are required to change it.
Air Conditioning Service
The air conditioning service ensures the long life of the car and has a tremendous effect on its efficiency. It is recommended by Tesla to do the air conditioning service every two years for the Model S and Model X every four years.
Winter Care
The cars which are used in cold climates, the brake calipers are required to be cleaned and lubricated every 12 months. It is necessary to have an optimum performance of the car on the roads during the cold weather.
If your car requires the maintenance service, it is necessary to take it to a service center. So that the specific needs of your luxury electric vehicle are fulfilled. You get maximum satisfaction while you are driving your luxurious Tesla Vehicle.
Similar Posts


Types of Sprinkler Systems
Automatic sprinkler systems often play a critical role in minimizing fire damage at a facility. Did you know that there are many different types of sprinkler systems? Below is a brief overview of the most common types.
Wet Pipe Systems
Wet pipe systems are the most common type of fire sprinkler systems. These systems are filled with water from an automatic source, and when a sprinkler head is exposed to enough heat, the heat-sensitive element will release and water will be allowed to flow from that sprinkler. These systems often include an automatic alarm check valve that will send a signal to the building's alarm system when water begins flowing through the piping.
Dry Pipe Systems
These systems are typically used in areas where the temperature could be low enough to freeze water in the pipes, causing the system to become ineffective. In these systems, the pipes are filled with air at a lower pressure than the water supply. When an automatic sprinkler is exposed to enough heat, the valve opens and allows that air to escape, causing the pressure in the pipes to drop and allowing water to flow through the piping. Since water cannot escape from the sprinkler head until the air is flushed from the systems, dry pipe systems typically are not as effective at suppressing fires in their early stages as are wet pipe systems.
Deluge Systems
A deluge system differs from conventional sprinkler systems in that the sprinkler heads are open and once smoke or fire is detected, water is released through all discharge devices in the system. These systems are typically found in areas that require instant application of water over a large area to suppress the fire and prevent its spread.
Pre-Action Systems
Pre-Action sprinkler systems are a special type of dry pipe system. The water is separated from the pipes by an electric "pre-action" valve that is controlled by a separate heat or smoke detection source. In order for water to be released from the system, the detection system that controls the pre-action valve must detect smoke or heat. Water will then be released into the piping of the system. Additionally, individual sprinkler heads must release and then water will flow onto the fire. These systems are most frequently used in water-sensitive environments, such as book libraries, computer rooms and art museums, since two events must occur for water to be released, adding extra protection from "false-alarms".
Cintas fire service technicians service all kinds of automatic sprinkler systems. Click here for more information.


' 灣; the pronunciations of both characters are oan.[12] This is an intriguing entry because the character for 'abyss' is pronounced ian in modern Taiwanese and Hokkien, and this pronunciation is also confirmed in Douglas's dictionary. In fact, this entry is not a mistake; it reflects the historical usage of this character. The definition under the character for 'abyss' 淵 notes: 'Vulgar usage; water that runs out but does not flow is called oan'. Although this definition is obscure, it indicates that the signified object is something like a water reservoir, and this corresponds to the meaning of the character for 'abyss'. Moreover, the compiler considered that character as 'vulgar usage', which suggests that use of the character for 'abyss' to represent 'pool' was not considered standard. Another rime book compiled in 1820 (the copy referred to was published in 1928), Cheng-pó-hoē-im 增補彙音, which documented the Zhangzhou 漳州 dialect of Hokkien, has a similar entry. Under the character for 'bay', the definition notes a bend of water channel, and a name of pool.[13]
Combining the aforementioned two rime book entries, it is clear that in the eighteenth century, a historical word oan, 'pool', existed in Hokkien, and Hokkien speakers used the character for 'abyss' or 'bay' to write this word according to the rime books. However, only the character of 'bay' is provided in our sources, and the instance is the place name in question, namely Tōa-oan. The use of this word was waning in the nineteenth century, and by the time Douglas compiled his Amoy dictionary in the 1870s, the word had become obsolete. Therefore, modern historians who do not refer to historical linguistic sources published prior to the mid-nineteenth century cannot correctly decipher the meaning of Tōa-oan, which meant 'big pool' in the eighteenth century when the village of Tōa-oan was named.
The next question is where the big pool was located, and the answer is obvious. A historical pool was situated in the area of today's Da'an District; the pool lasted until 1911, when it was fully drained. The pool was definitely a significant geographical feature; its history can be traced back to the mid-eighteenth century in Chinese sources, and likely back to the seventeenth century in Dutch sources. By investigating these sources, we can uncover a history of environmental change at and around Tōa-oan from the seventeenth century to the twentieth century.
Unnamed River on a Dutch Map
The Dutch East India Company, or VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie), occupied Taiwan (Formosa) from 1624. The occupation started from an offshore barrier island where Fort Zeelandia was built at today's Anping in Tainan City. The Dutch gradually expanded their domination to the Formosa mainland. In 1642, the VOC expelled the Spanish troops occupying Kelang 雞籠 (today's Jilong 基隆) to control northern Formosa. Today's Taipei City was administered by a junior factor stationed at Fort Antonio in Tamsui. In 1650, Junior Factor Simon Keerdekoe was appointed district chief of Tamsui and Kelang; his most notable achievement was the production of a map of Tamsui and Kelang that detailed the geography of the region.[14] Keerdekoe's original map no longer exists, but a copy kept at the Nationaal Archief in The Hague was traced by Batavia cartographer Johannes Nessel (c. 1655).[15]
Keerdekoe's map was likely the first documentation of Tōa-oan. Between No.4 Kimalitsigowan and No.9 Kimotsi is an unnumbered stream without any notes. This stream joins another stream from the south and flows into a large river (today's Jilong River) at No.9 Kimotsi. Ang Kaim 翁佳音 interpreted these lines as irrigation channels built by the aborigines.[16] My interpretation is different. Compared with No.13 Spruijt van Kimassauw (lit. Spring of Kimassauw), a similar method of drawing indicates that the unnumbered lines joined at No.9 Kimotsi have the same geological characteristic as No.13, and thus they are natural rivers.
A comparison of Keerdekoe's map and Taiwan Hōzu 臺灣堡圖 reveals more subtle facts. Taiwan Hōzu, surveyed by the Japanese army in the 1900s, clearly shows that two minor rivers ran through today's Da'an before joining together and running for another four kilometres northwards in a curved course, before finally reaching a major river. This stream had many influents and effluents from paddy fields, indicating that these were crucial for local irrigation. Irrigation supplied paddy fields farmed by Han Chinese colonisers from the second half of the seventeenth century. These streams likely underwent many modifications for irrigation in the subsequent centuries, and the result was recorded in the 1900s map Taiwan Hōzu.
Map 1: Comprehensive Map of Area around Tōa-oan — the Big Pool (17th to 19th Century) Map by Huang Chingchi. The base map is Taiwan Hōzu 臺灣堡圖, surveyed in the 1900s.
Two Dutch Officers' Excursions for Wood
Keerdekoe's map must be reviewed alongside his report on the geography of Tamsui and Kelang. Keerdekoe described the flat land as uncultivated (onbeboude); this indicates that he noticed the agricultural potential of the locality, which was realised over the subsequent two centuries. However, in the mid-seventeenth century, the VOC focussed on forest resources more than agricultural potential. Keerdekoe mentioned this in his descriptive report but did not provide any further detail about the forest resource because he believed it was irrelevant to the subject of his report; his concern was geography, not exploitation.[17] Thus, we have no record of what Keerdekoe observed.
The first documented Dutch expeditions to the forest resource in northern Formosa were undertaken in 1655. On 30 March 1655, Captain Thomas Pedel was commissioned to explore the forest resource in Tamsui and Kelang. He left Fort Zeelandia with the new chief of Tamsui and Kelang, Factor Pieter Elsevier, on the 19th of April and arrived on the 25th.[18] While Elsevier stayed in Tamsui to assume charge of the administration, Captain Pedel examined the forest around Fort Anthonio in Tamsui and sailed upstream to inspect the forests. He returned to Fort Zeelandia on the 22nd of May and orally reported his findings to Governor Cornelis Caesar and his council.[19] Pedel's oral report was preserved in the Dagregister and in Governor Caesar's missive to Factor Elsevier in Tamsui to instruct him how to exploit the forest.[20] However, Elsevier felt that the instruction was too difficult to execute; although he visited the same places after Pedel, his observation was not as optimistic as Captain Pedel's report. He replied to the governor with his opinion on the forestry enterprise in the next missive dated 30 June.[21] Eventually, the council at Fort Zeelandia decided that exploiting the forest in northern Formosa was not worthwhile.
Although no Dutch officers mentioned Tōa-oan in their reports, the evidence suggests they went to the neighbouring region to inspect the forest, and thus their reports can further explain the stream drawn on Keerdekoe's map and help to reconstruct the historical landscape of the region. For this reconstruction, we must scrutinise Pedel and Elsevier's reports. Captain Pedel stated that he sailed upstream and found beautiful forests that 'make many forests in East India feel ashamed' in comparison; however, he only vaguely described the locations. Fortunately, Pedel's oral report left some traces. He described how the people of Tamsui removed logs from the forest. They dammed the river to flood the forest, and the logs that floated were taken down to the main river to Tamsui in proas (aboriginal Formosan canoes made by splitting timber in half).[22] This method of removing logs indicates that a river or brook flowed through the forest, and the forest must have been situated on relatively flat land so that the dam did not need to be too high. Moreover, downstream, the river needed to have a certain amount of water so that logs could float and be brought down by proas. Thus, the river that formed Tōa-oan is a likely candidate for the one that Pedel planned to use to remove logs.
Shortly after Captain Pedel left to report back to Fort Zeelandia, Factor Elsevier made his own excursion for timber. In Factor Elsevier's reply to the governor, he described the location much more clearly than had Pedel. To visit the forest, Elsevier said he ascended a small branch of the river for a Dutch mile (7.407 kilometres).[23] Elsevier must have walked a different branch of river to the one that Captain Pedel had visited. Elsevier stated that he found fine camphor situated on a high mountain range. Evidently, this was not a place on flat land where people could float logs; however, he believed that it was where Captain Pedel had been. Elsevier


text:
WEDNESDAY, April 18 (HealthDay News) -- Worrying may have co-evolved with intelligence as an important survival trait in humans, new research suggests.
For the study, researchers looked at 26 people with generalized anxiety disorder and compared them to a group of 18 healthy volunteers without the disorder. The investigators found that both worry and high intelligence were associated with brain activity measured by the depletion of the nutrient choline in the brain's white matter.
This suggests that worry may have co-evolved with intelligence, said Dr. Jeremy Coplan, a professor of psychiatry at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in New York City.
"While excessive worry is generally seen as a negative trait and high intelligence as a positive one, worry may cause our species to avoid dangerous situations, regardless of how remote a possibility they may be," Coplan said in a center news release.
"In essence, worry may make people 'take no chances,' and such people may have higher survival rates. Thus, like intelligence, worry may confer a benefit upon the species," he added.
The study was published in a recent issue of the journal Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience.
The U.S. National Mental Health Institute has more about generalized anxiety disorder.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text:
Text Frequency Stats: kiskisankiskisan
Click to view example texts found »
String frequency counts:
kiskisan :: 0
kiskisang :: 0
There is not enough data for this entry to determine if it is more common in formal or casual speech.?
About this Page:This page indicates the frequency of the related string(s) of text in a large sample text (24 million words) in the Tagalog language.
Caveat: This page counts the frequency of these strings with no regard to accent/stress in pronunciation (since accents and stresses are not indicated in our sample Tagalog texts). This means that words with different meanings for differently stressed syllables will show up with the same frequency indicator count. Use the frequency indicator with caution for words where the spelling is the same for multiple meanings or stress locations: it is likely one meaning is more frequent than the others, even though the frequency indicator posted here is the same.


Retainage of Payment, What's the Purpose?
In the last blog, we talked about the punch list and briefly touched on retainage. This month, as part of a look into the "Construction Alliance" and the "Construction Guidelines", we are going more in-depth to discuss why "Retainage of Payment", is an important part of construction, but one that could have a cost implication.
What is Retainage of Payment?Retainage2
Retainage of payment is more commonly referred to as retention of payment or simply retention. It is a percentage of the progress payment (refer to 2021-01-05 blog "Progress Payments - Who Doesn't Want To Get Paid?) that the Owner holds out from each application for payment. In a typical contract, Owners pay 90 to 95 percent of the progress payment. The 1 to 10 percent withheld from the payment is not to be viewed as an incentive to the Contractor to get the work done. Instead, it is meant to be fair for the Owner and the Contractor, providing for errors in estimation of completed Work or protecting the Owner from defective work in place.
Image from
Is there a difference between public and private work retention?
Depending on whether work is being performed for the Federal Government, a State, a Local Municipality or City, there are different laws that control how retention may be withheld. If you are doing work on any public project, it is best to fully understand those statutes or laws that are in place. Private work may proceed with or without retention, depending on the Contract between the Owner and Contractor.
How does it work?
Depending on the percentage of retention withheld agreed upon in the Contract, the Contractor will indicate in a specific column of the pay application the amount of retention in dollars related to the amount being requested. On short-duration projects, this is not usually a problem. However, it is when the Construction takes place over the course of many years, the Contractor and their sub-contractors may suffer from not being fully compensated. For example, the subsurface contractor completes the work within the first few months of the project, has the retainage held, but the work continues for another 4 years. This becomes a dilemma for the Contractor, to pay that subcontractor in full or to continue holding retention.
One way to be fair to all parties, is to set up an interest-bearing escrow account and deposit the money there. This way, the money remains under Owner control, but the Contractor is paid in full plus the interest accrued to the retained funds at the completion of work. Likewise, the Contractor could do the same for their subcontractors.
How long is retainage held?
Typically retainage is held until Substantial Completion. At this point, the amount being withheld is dropped down to cover the estimated cost for completing the work in the Punch List. However, depending on how the Contract and the General / Supplemental Conditions of the Contract are written, retainage may be reduced at set milestones. There are many ways to do this. For example, retention is reduced from 10 to 5 percent at 50 percent of completion. This would allow for the Contractor to pay, in full, subcontractors that have completed their work early and have no defects in the work that need to be resolved.
Image from
Final thoughts!
I have been involved in many projects, and retention is one of those topics that should not be taken lightly. The Owner should remember that this is not meant to be held as an incentive for the Contractor to get the work done. There is enough incentive to complete the work as soon as possible, get off the job site, and onto the next project. As any Contractor would agree, the longer they remain on the site, the less money the project makes.
Please make certain to read the guideline "Retainage of Payment", and if you have any comments, please let me know. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Next month join me as we discuss the "Safety Consideration".
Till next month…
Senior Specifier - Conspectus, Inc.
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Image Resource
W3C Working Draft
This version:
Latest published version:
Latest editor's draft:
Previous version:
Aaron Gustafson (Microsoft Corporation)
Rayan Kanso (Google Inc.)
Marcos Cáceres (W3C Invited Expert)
GitHub w3c/image-resource
File a bug
Commit history
Pull requests
This document defines the concept of an "image resource" and a corresponding WebIDL ImageResource dictionary. Web APIs can use the ImageResource dictionary to represent an image resource in contexts where an HTMLImageElement is not suitable or available (e.g., in a Worker).
Status of This Document
This document was published by the Web Applications Working Group as a Working Draft. This document is intended to become a W3C Recommendation.
GitHub Issues are preferred for discussion of this specification.
1. Introduction
Web applications often accept developer-provided image resources to be displayed outside of a HTML document (e.g., in the OS, in the browser UI, etc.). This specification defines a WebIDL dictionary that describes an image, and where that image resource can be fetched from. The user agent can then use this extra information to choose an image that is best suited to display on the end-user's device or most closely matches the end-user's preferences or environment.
2. Privacy and security considerations
Fetching an image resource can reveal the user's IP address. It is RECOMMENDED that user agents fetch the chosen image resources when provided by the developer, and store them for re-use if needed. This limits tracking the user's location over time.
3. Image resource
An image resource consists of:
A URL from where to obtain the image data.
An optional string representing the sizes of the image, expressed using the same syntax as link's sizes attribute.
An optional image MIME type.
A string representing the accessible name of the image.
In an API, an image resource is represented as an ImageResource dictionary.
In [JSON], image resource is represented as an object.
4. ImageResource dictionary
WebIDLdictionary ImageResource {
 required USVString src;
 DOMString sizes;
 DOMString type;
 DOMString label;
4.1 src member
The src of an ImageResource is a URL from which a user agent can fetch image data.
4.2 sizes member
The sizes member is equivalent to a link element's sizes attribute, and is processed in the same manner.
When multiple ImageResource dictionaries are available, a user agent MAY use the sizes value to decide which image is most suitable for a display context (and ignore any that are inappropriate).
The sizes member allows for multiple space-separated size values in order to accommodate image formats (such as ICO) that can act as a container for multiple images of varying dimensions.
const image = {
 src: "path/to/image.ico",
 sizes: "16x16 32x32 64x64",
 type: "image/",
4.3 type member
The type member represents an image MIME Type for the image resource. A user agent MAY ignore media types it does not support.
There is no default MIME type for an ImageResource. The type is purely advisory. User agents MUST use the rules for sniffing images specifically to determine the computed MIME type of an image resource.
4.4 label member
The label of an ImageResource is a string that provides the accessible name for the associated image.
Implementors MUST derive the accessible name for every ImageResource they expose to users.
Authors are strongly encouraged to add a label unless the ImageResource's accessible name can be inferred from an external label in its context. For example, in the context of a manifest, the name (or short_name) provides an external label for all members of the icons array that don't have a label defined.
If neither an explicit label nor an external label is provided, but the type supports providing an embedded accessible name, implementors MAY choose to defer assigning the label until the src has been fetched and processed. If the src is found to provide an embedded accessible name, implementors MUST update the label to match that value.
5. Processing an ImageResource from an API
The steps to process an ImageResource from an API are given by the following algorithm. The algorithm takes an ImageResource input. It returns an image resource.
 1. Let base URL be the relevant settings object's api base url from where this dictionary is being used.
 2. Let image be a new image resource.
 3. Set image's src to the result of URL parsing input.src and base URL. If parsing the URL fails, throw a TypeError.
 4. If input's sizes member is present:
 1. Set image's sizes to the result of parsing input.sizes as if it was a sizes attribute of a link element whose rel attribute contains the token icon. If parsing fails, throw a TypeError.
 5. If input's type member is present and not the empty string:
 1. If type is not an image MIME Type, throw a TypeError.
 2. Set image's type to input.type.
 6. Set image's label to the result of deriving the accessible name.
 7. Return image.
6. Processing an image resource from JSON
To process an image resource from JSON, given a JSON Object input and a URL base. It returns an ordered map.
 1. If input is not of type object, return failure.
 2. If input["src"] is not of type string, return failure.
 3. Let src be the result of parsing input["src"] with base as the base URL.
 4. If src is failure, return failure.
 5. Let image be an new ordered map.
 6. Set image["src"] to src.
 7. If type of input["sizes"] is a string, and its length is greater than zero:
 1. Set sizes to the result of parsing input["sizes"] as if it was a sizes attribute of a link element whose rel attribute contains the token icon.
 2. If sizes is failure, return failure.
 3. Set image["sizes"] to sizes.
 8. If input["type"] is a string, and it has a length greater than zero:
 1. Let mime be the result of parsing input["type"].
 2. If mime is failure, return failure.
 3. Set image["type"] to the essence of mime.
 9. Set image["label"] to the result of deriving the accessible name.
 10. Return image.
7. Fetching an image resource
The steps for fetching an image resource are given by the following algorithm. The algorithm takes an image resource image, and an optional Request request. It returns a Response.
 1. If request is undefined:
 1. Set request to a new Request.
 2. Set URL to image's src.
 3. Set Destination to "image".
 4. Set Client to the context object's relevant settings object.
 2. If request's Client is null, throw a TypeError.
 3. Perform a fetch using request and return the Response.
8. Deriving the accessible name
The steps to derive the accessible name for an image resource resource are as follows. It returns a string.
 1. If resource["label"] is a string, return input["label"].
 2. Otherwise, if image provides an embedded accessible name, return the embedded accessible name.
 3. Otherwise, if an external label can be substituted, return the relevant external label.
 4. Return "".
9. Examples of graphics formats supporting embedded accessible names
Certain graphics formats support the inclusion of an embedded accessible name as part of the image's contents. Examples include:
10. Conformance
The key words MAY, MUST, and RECOMMENDED in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.
A. References
A.1 Normative references
Web Application Manifest. Marcos Caceres; Kenneth Christiansen; Mounir Lamouri; Anssi Kostiainen; Matt Giuca; Aaron Gustafson. W3C. 7 April 2021. W3C Working Draft. URL:
HTML Standard. Anne van Kesteren; Domenic Denicola; Ian Hickson; Philip Jägenstedt; Simon Pieters. WHATWG. Living Standard. URL:
Infra Standard. Anne van Kesteren; Domenic Denicola. WHATWG. Living Standard. URL:
The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data Interchange Format. T. Bray, Ed.. IETF. December 2017. Internet Standard. URL:
MIME Sniffing Standard. Gordon P. Hemsley. WHATWG. Living Standard. URL:
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.0 Specification. Jon Ferraiolo. W3C. 4 September 2001. W3C Recommendation. URL:
Web IDL. Boris Zbarsky. W3C. 15 December 2016. W3C Editor's Draft. URL:


text:
In the past 10 years, intensive documentation activities, i.e. compilations of large, multimedia corpora of spoken endangered languages, much of it within the DobeS framework, have contributed to documenting important linguistic and cultural aspects of dozens of languages. The rich experience gained through these initiatives has provided us with a far better understanding of the enormous potentials of language documentation.
These potentials are threefold:
- Given that modern, DobeS language documentations are cast in a sufficiently standardized, well-structured electronic format, computational methods can efficiently enhance the annotations and improve the analyses of language documentation data in many ways. The combination of state-of-the-art computational methods and electronic language documentation corpora has the potential to significantly impact the way linguistic data in general is handled and analyzed.
- The additional data available through language documentation provides a much better understanding of the range of diversity of human languages. New claims about human language in general need not be based on just a few examples from well-known languages only anymore. Language documentation data have thus the potential to fundamentally change important aspects of how analyses in various subfields of linguistics as well as in related disciplines such as anthropology are pursued since these data provide such investigations with a much richer empirical basis.
- The electronic format of language documentation data has the potential for unprecedented options for varied ways of utilization not only for research but also for language maintenance efforts and to raise awareness of language diversity and endangerment. This has a historical importance comparable to gene banks in documenting outcomes of long evolutionary processes, and is especially important when a documented endangered language has become extinct. Web 2.0 technology has the potential to allow not only one-way access but also rich interaction with data, while at the same time safeguarding the integrity of the original data.
These three promising areas have recently begun to be explored to various degrees. Based on these experiences, we can now critically discuss and make more explicit the threefold potentials of language documentation in order to, firstly, foster further interactions of language documentation with computational methodologies, secondly, to encourage further analyses, especially interdisciplinary research, using language documentation data, and thirdly, to discuss the various ways of utilizing language documentation data, for practical applications and other uses.
By clarifying the potentials of language documentation this workshop will also contribute to the question of how language documentations, as products, can be defined, beyond being a collection of methods and technologies.


text:
Words & Physics is so close to being a brilliant game. The concept is amazing: each screen features the challenge of getting rid of the words "REMOVE ME", and you do this by deleting and typing new words into the level. As the title suggests, physics comes into play, meaning you can type letters that push the REMOVE ME block over an edge, or delete words making up supporting platforms so things fall. And then it gets even more interesting, with certain words behaving according to their meaning – in one level typing in "WATER" causes the word that space takes up to be occupied by water. In another, "FIRE" sets things alight. The possibilities seem incredible!
And then it doesn't use them. In fairness, this is a short Flash game, not a professionally developed long-term project, and as such it's a collection of ideas rather than a coherent whole. In fact, it plays like a tech demo for what might be an incredible game.
The frustration is, typing "WATER" only works in a couple of levels. Try that idea elsewhere and you've just got the word sat there, looking stupid. "FIRE" similarly does nothing when it's not pre-ordained. Which means you end up imagining the game that it could have been, a sort of literary Scribblenauts, where experimenting with words to find more and more behaviours, and your own way of solving puzzles, would be the most extraordinary fun. Instead, you end up frustrated by not understanding why "MOVEUP" no longer creates a platform that drifts upward, when it's exactly what you want to approach a particular challenge. So you have to abandon all your previously learned techniques, and try to figure out which concept it's demoing this time.
That doesn't stop it from being a very interesting game to play. It constantly has new, novel ideas. But oh my goodness, do I want to play the game I've realised it could be. The one where I could type in "EXPLOSION" and watch it detonate something, or "SLIPPERY" and have a nice, slidey platform. "GROWING" could be a word that gradually takes up more of the screen, while "BALLOON" floats and bumps around. Quickly, someone find me a development team and I'll design it!


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Image caption (right): phase angle change
The phase angle (φ) is the angle between light source (in this case, the Sun) and the observer (here, the HRSC camera on Mars Express) when seen from the viewed object (the Martian moon Phobos). Over the course of the animation, this schematic representation illustrates how this angle changes due to the observer's movement. In the animation, the phase angle of the individual Phobos observations changes from 17 degrees (A) at the beginning to almost 0 degrees (B) to 15 degree (C) at the end.
Image Credit: DLR


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Species Name: Satyrium favonius
Species Distribution in Massachusetts
Federal Rank: None
Massachusetts State Rank: Special Concern
Xeric and open woodland and barrens on rocky uplands and sandplains.
Threats to Survival
Loss of habitat, fire suppression, introduced generalist parasitoids, insecticide spraying and clear-cut timber harvest.
Actions Recommended to Ensure Survival
Limit the effect human development has on their habitat.


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How-to: Migrate Accounts From One Server To Another (cPanel)
Hello. I am writing this tutorial because this is a solid method I have used in the past for easily migrating cPanel accounts from one server to another. Using this method, you can transfer accounts from an old server, to a new one, help customers from another host move to your host, etc. This method is very simple, and does not even require root access on one end of the migration. I have found the "Transfer Account from another Server" tool in WHM to not work so well, and break often, so I have used this method.
-cPanel on both servers
-WHM access on the new server (one that the accounts are being moved to)
-root access on the new server
Throughout the instructions I will refer to the server your are transfering the accounts from as the "old server", and the server to are transfering the accounts to as the "new server".
1. Log into WHM of your new server and create a new account called "restore", or anything you like for that matter. Remember the FTP address, username ('restore', in this example), and account password. We will need these for later.
2. Log into the cPanel account you are wanting to transfer on the old server.
3. Click on "Backup >> Generate/Download a Full Backup".
4. Once here, select the backup destination to be "Remote FTP Server".
5. Enter your email address for verification, follwed by all of the FTP account information for "restore", which we created on the new server.
–Remote Server: new server's address
–Remote User: restore
–Remote Password: restore's password
Then, click "Generate Backup". This may take some time to backup the files, depending on how large the account is. You should receive an email provided in the above info once it is complete.
6. Now, log into SSH on your new server.
7. Type in the following commands:
After running the list command above (ls), you should see the tar file of the account on the old server. This means that you have successfully sent the file via FTP to your new server.
8. Now move the tar file to your new server's /home directory with the following command:
mv tar_file_name /home
9. Now, log into WHM on your new server and navigate to "Backup >> Restore a Full Backup/cpmove file"
Once here, you should see the old account's username under "Possible cpmove archives found:".
If you do not, log back into SSH and be sure that the account's tar file has been moved into /home.
10. Type in the account name in the text field in WHM, which is proceeded by "Enter the username for the account you wish to restore:".
11. Click "Restore".
12. Repeate process for additional accounts.
That's all there is to it! I have found this way to work alot more sufficiently for moving accounts from one server to another. Hope you all enjoyed!


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ABSTRACT: Throughout Amazonia, overfishing has decimated populations of fruit-eating fishes, especially the large-bodied characid, Colossoma macropomum. During lengthy annual floods, frugivorous fishes enter vast Amazonian floodplains, consume massive quantities of fallen fruits and egest viable seeds. Many tree and liana species are clearly specialized for icthyochory, and seed dispersal by fish may be crucial for the maintenance of Amazonian wetland forests. Unlike frugivorous mammals and birds, little is known about seed dispersal effectiveness of fishes. Extensive mobility of frugivorous fish could result in extremely effective, multi-directional, long-distance seed dispersal. Over three annual flood seasons, we tracked fine-scale movement patterns and habitat use of wild Colossoma, and seed retention in the digestive tracts of captive individuals. Our mechanistic model predicts that Colossoma disperses seeds extremely long distances to favourable habitats. Modelled mean dispersal distances of 337-552 m and maximum of 5495 m are among the longest ever reported. At least 5 per cent of seeds are predicted to disperse _PHONE_ m, farther than dispersal by almost all other frugivores reported in the literature. Additionally, seed dispersal distances increased with fish size, but overfishing has biased Colossoma populations to smaller individuals. Thus, overexploitation probably disrupts an ancient coevolutionary relationship between Colossoma and Amazonian plants.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 03/2011; 278(1723):3329-35. · 5.41 Impact Factor


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Use the intermediate value theorem.
Prove: If f is a continuous function whose domain includes a closed interval [a,b], and L is a horizontal line, and (a,f(a)) is below L, and (b,f(b)) is above L, then there is a number x between a and b such that (x,f(x)) is on L.
Thanks in advance for help.
in the given interval the function is continuous
now it means that there is no gap in the curve drawn(that is in your function)
now if one point is below the line and other is above the line it means that the function must cut the given horizontal line hence there is a point x,f(x) that must lie on line
(suppose you are suppose to draw a line using paint on floor while you were painting there was another line on the floor
1) one way is to keep on painting the floor and do not paint over the other line but doing this will make your line discontinuous hence to have a continuous line you will have to paint over the other line
same thing is happening in question that is to be continuous the function will have to intersect the line as one point it below and other is above so there will definetly be a point that lie on both of them i.e x,f(x) such that a


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Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, Vol.492, 283-292, 2008
Effect of Complex Ion Beam/Plasma Treatment of the Surface Functionalization and Crystal Phase Transition of Piezoelectric Poly(vinylidene fluoride)
We scrutinized the effect of complex ion beam and plasma treatment on the surface functionalization and crystal phase change of poly(vinylidene fluoride) films. The stretched and poled PVDF films were used for this investigation. Ion-beam and plasma treatment were employed for the surface modification of PVDF. The surface treatments induced some changes of chemical composition as well as changed the morphology of PVDF surface. It had a large influence on the interfacial adhesion with thermally deposited metal electrodes on the PVDF. Surface modifications such as ion beam irradiation and plasma treatment played a pivotal role in the determination of interfacial strength between PVDF and electrodes as well as the change of crystal structure in electromechanical PVDF film. While the amount of beta-phase crystal in PVDF decreased with treatment time, the interfacial adhesion increased with the modification time. In this research, we were able to find optimum treatment conditions for enhancing the adhesion and retaining piezoelectric structure.


Tuesday, January 31, 2012
The Pacing Triad
There are more paces than just "fast". Let's start there. When authors talk about pacing, they often mean, "How can I make this book go as fast as possible?" The first question, however, should be, "What pace will help me give my readers a better experience?"
After all, readers who like a Henry-James-like contemplative approach don't actually WANT your book paced like The DaVinci Code.
So what pace is right for your book? More on that in another post, but right now I want to talk a bit about a technique that can help create a different pace. That's what I call the "BAR" method.
Build up.
Action (or event).
Reaction (or emotion/aftermath).
This is a typical sequence for a pacing/event unit. (Pacing is all about how many events you have and in what period of time/pages.) We will, of course, have a bunch of these in a book, maybe 15 in a fast-paced book, or 5 in a leisurely-paced book.
First you do the buildup, whatever decisionmaking, investigation, exposition, and/or consideration has to happen before the action or event. Like if Sadie is (in the coming action) going to find a clue, the buildup might be where she figures out what she needs to know, and decides to risk arrest to get it. This is about anticipation, preparation, consideration.
Second, there's the action or event-- what happens. This is the most essential part of pacing as it's how we calibrate pacing. A thriller is "fast-paced" because it has a lot of actions and events coming quickly. A more contemplative or leisurely paced novel will have fewer actions in the same amount of time. The action or event is something that a character does (or happens to the character) that changes the course of the story. So this would be where Sadie breaks into the office and steals the old typewriter and finds the letter on the old typewriter ribbon. (Typewriter ribbons were really cool clue-locations.)
Third, there's the reaction or aftermath. That's where the character (and/or the world of the story) reacts to the event, shows the emotional or actual change because of this event. So Sadie gets back to her apartment and reads the typewriter ribbon and realizes it implicates her own mentor, and she is plunged into doubt and despair and can't decide whether to turn this over to the police, or protect her mentor.
Now those three elements can be each in a separate scene of more or less equal length, or separate scenes of different lengths, or just passages within a scene. But I think -- just speculating herethat if we want to make the pace of a book something or other, we can do this by manipulating the relative length of these elements.
Let's say we want a more methodical pace that's suitable for a police procedural. We might amplify the Build up section to show the careful consideration Sadie goes through figuring out what she needs to, why she needs this clue, whether she ought to commit a crime to get it. Or conversely, for a suspense thriller, we might want to expand this passage to build up the suspense, the danger involved, the threat to her life and career, the looming darkness that is the villain-- before she does what she has to do. Fear, suspense, threat have to be created in the reader by the build up to an event. But of course, that creates a slower pace.
Or maybe we want a fast pace for an adventure book. In this case, the build up might be pretty short, just enough to set the stage for the action. Then the action scene might be long, exciting, and richly detailed, very physical to give the reader a visceral experience. So in this case, there wouldn't be a lot of Sadie debating the morality of breaking in-- She decides to do it and just does it, but we get a full account of all the obstacles she encounters and the last-minute interruptions and the near-miss security guard patrol, and the slippery feel of the folder in her fingers.... Expanding the action passage to a greater length than the other two elements will lead to a more adventurous pace.
But then, what if we want the reader to feel emotion, to identify with the angst and triumph and despair of the character? Then we might spend the most time on the reaction or aftermath, where the character deals with the impact of what she's done or learned or experienced. Romances particularly I think often need long aftermaths to create the depth of feeling and the potential for interaction that deepens the love story. So in this case, Sadie might be rocked by her sense of betrayal by the mentor, remember all the times Mentor helped her do her math homework, and plunge into a despair because he is the only person she trusts, and now she might have to betray him. (And she has to call that hunky but arrogant police detective.... Romance!)
Anyway, no rules here, but if our story doesn't have the appropriate pace, it might not be a problem with the plot or characters, but rather just a matter of manipulating this BAR sequence so that the most important element to our pacing choice is emphasized by being longer than the other two. I don't mean making the action scene 15 pages long in a fast-paced book (long scenes will slow down the pace), but rather making it the longest of the three, so maybe we have a paragraph or two of build up, five pages of action, and two paragraphs of reaction.
What do you think? Look at your own stories. What sort of pace are you hoping for, and what kinds of passages or scenes go on longer?
Monday, January 30, 2012
I have a guest blog post
and another!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Little adverb movements make everything precise
In the previous post, I was reading it over and realized I'd (horrors!) misplaced a modifier.
Too late she remembered the reason for that generous gift, and how embarrassed he had been, confessing to his secret fear of windmills last year.
This is a common mistake with "time" adverbs and adjectives like "back then" and "in the past" and "on Monday." Here, the problem is that with the modifier placed at the end of the sentence, it's not clear whether he became afraid of windmills "last year," or if the embarrassed confession was last year. Why make the reader wonder, when all it takes is a bit of movement?
The modifier should be placed right next to whatever element actually happened at that time. In this sentence, the gift and embarrassment and the confession happened "last year," so the modifier can go close to either of those, whatever sounds best. So:
Too late she remembered the reason for that generous gift, and how embarrassed he had been last year, confessing to his secret fear of windmills.
We need to be sensitive to what our sentences actually say, and open to the minor fixes that make it say what we actually mean.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Just to Clarify
Many questions regarding my post yesterday. One of them is important enough to post about. Several of you asked whether this clause came from one of those agents helping an author self-publish.
These particular agents have no hand in any self-published material. They don't read and provide feedback on manuscripts, format or typeset them, or provide cover art. They don't write jacket copy or arrange blurbs. They don't upload anything, and they don't download anything, and they don't provide networking assistance.
They do nothing. It could easily come to pass that you would self-publish a work without them even seeing it or being aware of it. And yet you would owe them a commission on it. It could even come to pass that you would have This Book with them, and while they shop it, you upload That Novella as a self-published work. They fail to make the sale on This Book, and yet they are still entitled to a commission on That Novella. (One of you argued that this would never happen in the real world. Maybe not -- certainly it should not -- but the language I saw would allow this exact possibility.)
I could draw lots of analogies here to help you understand how damaging this is. Imagine you bank at Big Horrible Bank With Protesters Out Front. And every time you make a transaction at this bank, they charge you a quarter. You don't mind paying the fees because you figure they've earned them. It's fairsies. But then you open another savings account at another bank, and the Big Horrible Bank With Protesters Out Front is now claiming that you owe them a quarter on every transaction made at the new savings account, whether they ever touched the money or not. So when you find a ten dollar bill in the grass and decide to deposit it in the new bank, BHBWPOF wants a commission on that. And when your grannie writes you a birthday check from a bank other than BHBWPOF and you deposit it into your new account, you owe BHBWPOF a commission on that. And so on. "It's only fair," they say, "because by using our banking services, you learned some things about using banking services." Yes, and they were paid for it, a quarter every time you made a transaction at BHBWPOF.
Just remember what you own and what you pay for. You own your brand. You own your skills and knowledge. You might


text: The Lotus Diagram Ground Rules Classroom Mission created by students Statements Quality tools and PDSA used regularly Classroom Meetings facilitated by students The Continuous Improvement Classroom Student-led conferences Classroom and Student Measurable Goals Classroom Data Centers Student Data Folders Lotus Diagram Overview • A lotus diagram is an analytical, organizational tool for breaking broad topics into components, which can then be further organized, analyzed or prioritized. • It is a picture of the separate components of a topic. It provides a common understanding of the components of the topic. What is a Lotus Diagram • A visual of the components of a whole • Organizational tool for: foster thinking, analyzing, prioritizing, categorizing When? • Teams or individuals need a process for organizing and prioritizing components of a larger whole • Examine complex systems • Organize thoughts • Organize brainstorming around a theme or topic Why? • Defines the topic being studied • Fosters thinking skills • Organize ideas • Identify relationships Quality Tools Lotus Diagram Brainstorming Affinity Diagram Pareto Diagram Quality tools Nominal Group Technique Cause & Effect Fishbone Flow Chart Run Chart Student Project Example Topic: Civil War • creative thought and critical analysis as students explore new ideas. • lotus allows students to examine a variety of related areas, enriching a class's understanding of the war in the context of its time. Some of the outcomes of the war Lotus as a Planning Tool The lotus was used to gather information for a research project. It was colored coded to differentiate between topics. Lotus in a Kindergarten Classroom Other Uses of the Lotus Diagram? Uses of the Lotus Diagram?


Che. He is killed by Chen. Max McCoy's prequel novel Indiana Jones and the Dinosaur Eggs detailed Wu first met Indiana in 1914, during his trip to China with his father. Years later, he is studying political science when his parents and sister die in an influenza outbreak. Their ashes wind up in the possession of Che, who uses the promise of a proper burial to force Wu into servitude. In 1933, Indiana meets Wu in Shanghai on his way to Mongolia, and steals his family's ashes from Che, securing his old friend's freedom. Indiana inspires him to study archaeology upon his return to school.[2] Wu also aids Indiana in the 2003 video game Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, set just before Temple of Doom. He regularly arranges Jones's transportation.[41]
Short Round[edit]
Short Round (Jonathan Ke Quan) An eleven-year old taxicab driver in Shanghai, Short Round was orphaned when the Japanese bombed Shanghai in 1932; he helps Indiana escape from Lao Che.
He is essential in freeing Indiana and Pankot's Maharaja from Mola Ram's psychic control. The novelization details that Short Round was born Wan Li (Chinese: 萬麗) in 1927. Despite attending a Christian school, he respects Chinese mythology, and believes that the baby elephant that transports him in India is a reincarnation of his brother Chu. He immigrates to the United States with Jones following his adventure.[38] In the film, Short Round is frequently heard speaking the Cantonese dialect of Chinese (despite being born in Wu dialect-speaking Shanghai), as well as English.
Short Round was named after Temple of Doom screenwriters Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz's dog.[18] Lucas's initial idea for Indiana's sidekick was a virginal young princess, but Huyck, Katz and Spielberg disliked the idea.[42] The character's name may also have been a homage to the early Samuel Fuller film The Steel Helmet, in which a young Korean boy of the same name acts as a guide for the protagonist. Around 6,000 actors auditioned worldwide for the part: Quan was cast after his brother auditioned for the role. Spielberg liked his personality, so he and Ford improvised the scene where Short Round accuses Indiana of cheating during a card game.[6] Quan had a martial arts instructor to help him on set.[18]
The character cameoed in an issue of Marvel Comics' The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, rescuing Indiana from a pirate attack in the Caribbean, before he returns to boarding school.[43] The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones, published in 2008, detailed Short Round became an archaeologist and tracked down the Peacock's Eye (the diamond from Doom's opening sequence) to Niihau.[44]
He also appeared in the non-canonical crossover story in Star Wars Tales, where he and Indiana discover the remains of Han Solo in the crashed Millennium Falcon in the Pacific Northwest.[45] A Short Round action figure was planned by LJN in 1984, but was never released.[40] However, an unpainted metal miniature of him was released by TSR that year.[12] He appears in the 2009 Lego sets Shanghai Chase and The Temple of Doom.
Empire named Short Round as their sixteenth favorite element of the films, explaining "you could argue that Shortie is the real hero of Temple of Doom — while the titular relic hunter is off searching for fortune and glory, it's Short Round's moral compass that keeps the adventure on the right track".[46] In 2008 a poll conducted by to coincide with the release of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, named Short Round "favorite Indy sidekick".[47] However, various other articles have named him as one of the "most annoying" characters in film history, citing his being "a walking stereotype",[48] "insufferable" and "terribly stereotypical and a little offensive"[49] and the fact that he "embodies several dozen of the Bad Child Character traits"[50] and does nothing more than "whine, scream, spout dopey one-liners and generally get in the way."[51]
Chattar Lal[edit]
Chattar Lal (Roshan Seth) is the Prime Minister of Pankot and personal representative and chief advisor of Maharaja Zalim Singh. He graduated from Oxford and speaks English with a pronounced accent as a result, and also knows well Indiana's reputation. Like Indiana he was apparently forced to drink the Blood of Kali by Mola Ram, controlling him, and the young Maharaja. During the attempted sacrifice of Willie Scott, Lal is injured by Indiana when he gets caught in the wheel used to lower victims into the lava pit. He is last seen crawling away and collapsing, but disappears after this. It is unknown if he escaped. In the novelization, Chattar Lal is thrown into the lava pit while in the film he is injured but he doesn't die, whereas in Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, he is blown apart by a blast of heat caused by Indy and Short Round.
Zalim Singh[edit]
Maharaja Zalim Singh (Raj Singh) is the ruler of Pankot Palace. He is a young boy, probably a year or two older than Short Round. Despite considering the Thuggee an evil cult and vowing that they would never return, it is revealed that Singh is an unwilling member, having been forced to drink the Blood of Kali. During Indiana's fight against the chief Thuggee guard, Singh hinders Indiana by using a voodoo doll. He is stopped by Short Round, who burns him with a torch, releasing him from the Black Sleep of Kali. He atones for his crimes by telling Short Round how he, Indiana, and Willie can escape from the mines. He also apparently alerts British troops about the recent events, as he is seen among them when they arrive to battle the Thuggee after Mola Ram's death.
Mola Ram[edit]
Mola Ram holding a human heart
Mola Ram (Amrish Puri) is the main antagonist and the Thuggee high priest. He has made Pankot Palace his lair and wants to use the five Sankara Stones to set up the reign of Kali. To that end, Mola Ram enslaves the children of a village that had one of the Stones (the taking of it bringing his total to three). They mine for the other two and for gems to fund his cause in catacombs underneath the palace. He also brainwashes people, including local politicians and royalty, with the "blood of Kālī Ma"—a magic potion—to make them devout followers (unless they are exposed to extreme pain, such as a burn). Indiana eventually confronts Mola Ram over a nearby gorge, calling on the power of Shiva to use the Stones against the evil cleric, who is burned by them and falls into the river where he is devoured by crocodiles. In the novelization, Ram's death is the same but he returns to normal when he burns his hand on the stone; Indy tries to pull him to safety but Ram falls to his death.
Mola Ram is named after an 18th-century Indian painter.[citation needed] Lucas wanted Mola Ram to be terrifying, so Huyck and Katz added elements of Aztec and Hawaiian human sacrificers, and European devil worship, to the character.[42] To create his headdress, make-up artist Tom Smith based the skull on a cow (as this would be sacrilegious) with a latex shrunken head. Puri was chosen as Spielberg and Lucas did not want to cast a European actor and apply dark make-up.[39] In the role, Puri resembles Eduardo Ciannelli, who played the cult leader in Gunga Din, an inspiration on the film.[52]
A 6-inch action figure and an unpainted metal miniature of Mola Ram was released in 1984.[12][40] In 2008, Hasbro released several Mola Ram items as part of their Indiana Jones toy line, including a 3 34-inch action figure, an Adventure Heroes figure, and a Mighty Muggs figure.[53] A "One Coin" (caricature) figure of Mola, standing 1.97" (5 cm.) was released in Japan in 2008.[54]
Captain Phillip Blumburtt[edit]
Captain Phillip Blumburtt (Philip Stone) is a British Indian Army officer who commands troops of the 11th Poona Rifles, is frequently sent to inspect Pankot Palace on behalf of the British government. He is alerted to the evil of Pankot Palace apparently by Little Maharajah to deal with the remaining Thuggees, his men kill them so Indy and Willie can escape. David Niven was considered to play the role but died before production, so Philip Stone from The Shining, then Delbert Grady, caught Spielberg's eye and was cast instead.
Introduced in The Last Crusade[edit]
Herman Mueller[edit]
Herman Mueller (J. J. Hardy) is Indiana's fellow Boy Scout in the 1912 prologue, who brings Indiana to the Sheriff's attention after his battle with outlaws for the Cross of Coronado. He reappears as Indiana's sidekick in the English and French Young Indiana Jones novels, which introduces his archaeologist father Herman Senior.[55][56][57][58]
Garth AKA Fedora, is a treasure hunter who appears in the 1912 prologue. Garth is the leader of a treasure hunter gang who find the


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Posted by Chenxi Wang on February 10, 2009
In December 2008, a group of researchers demonstrated a credible attack against MD5 signatures. Since then, Forrester received a number of client inquiries regarding the security strength of their MD5 certificates. There seems to be much confusion over what the attack is about and its actual consequences.
To properly understand the security consequence of this attack and the impact on certificates, we need to understand how the attack works. The researchers demonstrated a successful attack against the RapidSSL certificate authority, which uses MD5 signatures to sign certificate requests. This is how the attack worked: the researchers first got the RapidSSL CA to sign a particular certificate request, issued for a domain in their control. This request and the ensuing signature are completely legitimate. The researchers then demonstrated that they were able to create a second certificate bearing the same signature, for a separate made-up entity. In essence, they were able to find two certificates with the same valid signature. In cryptographic parlance, this is a hash "collision" attack.
How bad is this attack? It's important to understand that the researchers were able to create a collision attack for a "particular" original signature, namely a signature that is under the attacker's control. Not for "any" original signatures. If you have a MD5 valid RapidSSL certificate, the chances are good that no one will be able to create a fake certificate that has the same signature as yours. However, this attack put forth an increased risk of encountering fake MD5 certificates on the Internet.
VeriSign, the owner of RapidSSL CA, has stopped using MD5 signatures altogether by the end of January 2009. VeriSign is moving to SHA-1 signatures, which is the current standard. Although SHA-1 has also been found to be vulnerable to collision attacks*, finding a collision with SHA-1 requires much more computational power and therefore it is safe to assume that SHA-1 is more secure than MD5. Again, if you currently have a valid MD5 certificate, there is no need to panic and no need to upgrade right now. You can simply let your certificate expire at the end of its lifetime and then move to a SHA-1 certificate.
What is the long term consequence? It's likely that even SHA-1 will be broken by ordinary means some day, as computational resources become cheaper every day. We at Forrester will do our best to bring you the latest in terms of new attacks and threats. But as an organization that conducts secure business online, you should remain aware of advances in cryptographic technologies and new crytoanalysis methods.
*Two papers detailed the attack on SHA-1 algorithm were presented at Crypto 2005 rump session: "Efficient Collision Search Attacks on SHA-0" and "Finding Collisions in the Full SHA-1Collision Search Attacks on SHA1" by XiaoYun Wang.


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Contract with Neighboring States
In his 1870 message to the Legislature on December 6, Governor John A. Burbank, urged the providing of adequate care for mentally ill patients.
The Legislature responded with a law that authorized the governor to contract with the states of Minnesota, Iowa or Nebraska for the care of the mentally ill from Dakota Territory. A contract was made with Minnesota in 1871 and records show three patients in 1876 and seven in 1877 being cared for at the St. Peter State Hospital, which was the name during that time period.
The completion of the railway into Yankton in 1873 gave added impetus to immigration and by 1878 the effect of the gold rush was reflected in the number of Dakota patients at St. Peter Hospital, totaling 22. Governor William A. Howard was advised in June by Minnesota that no more patients could be accepted after July 1 because of crowded conditions at that hospital and all Dakota patients would have to be removed by October 1, 1878.
The Governor contacted Iowa hospitals without success, then traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska, and found that institution overcrowded but by completing some unfinished rooms, accommodations were arranged for five patients until the following February. Another contract with Minnesota resulted in an extension until February 1, 1879, for removal of the patients from St. Peter.
Establishment of Hospital for Dakota Territory
Governor Howard searched for a building to be used for a hospital in nearby towns of Vermillion, Elk Point and Canton with no success. In Yankton, he found two large wooden buildings. One belonged to the city and the other to the Territory; both built to house German-Russian immigrants. The Governor secured the buildings and arranged to have them rebuilt on school lands north of Yankton at the personal expense of $2,286.85.
The thirteenth session of the Dakota Territory Legislature met on January 14, 1879, and in the Governor's message he advised the lawmakers of his action and the necessary laws were passed.
During the first six months there were five employees; and, 31 patients were cared for, five being discharged, fully recovered. The appropriation for the first two years was inadequate and citizens generally did not realize that patients needed much more than food and clothing so future legislatures were inclined to reduce recommended allowances for their care, treatment and support.
In 1880, Governor Howard was reimbursed for his personal contribution. At that time, there were 50 patients causing overcrowding and the hospital was understaffed. The population of Yankton was over 3,400, a remarkable increase from the less than 50 in 1859.
In 1899, a devastating fire took the lives of seventeen female patients. The catastrophe prompted the state legislature to appropriate much-needed funds to the institution. Laws were enacted requiring fireproof buildings, defining fireproof structures, prescribing smallest area of floor space per patient and describing the minimum per capita amount of air in apartments where patients were kept.
The Early 1900's
In 1918, the name of the hospital was officially changed from Dakota Hospital for the Insane to the Yankton State Hospital.
The patient population in the mid 1920's became more diverse. In the late 1920's and early 1930's, the institution went through, as did the rest of the nation, a difficult period. The situation at Yankton was almost impossible to handle; an increasing rate of admissions combined with a decreasing budget. Ironically, money was somehow found to build a nine-hole golf course at the institution during _PHONE_.
Overcrowding was a serious problem in the mid and late 1930's. With the advent of therapeutic treatments, however, incoming patients were released within a few months, thus helping to ease the overcrowding problem.
World War II disrupted the flow of progress. The Selective Service Act, then in effect, forced the hiring of youth too young for the draft or people too old for military service. In addition, wages at the institution were poor and with so many men gone to war, hospital employees left to take up better-paying jobs.
The 1950's brought increased understanding of mental illness and relatives of patients were more willing to accept them, rather than wanting to hide them in Yankton. Medical work at Yankton in the early 1950's became more varied and systematized. Changing attitudes toward the mentally ill contributed greatly to improving conditions at the hospital. Various forms of physical force, such as the use of strait-jackets, were discontinued. The development of antipsychotic medications also brought about a significant reduction in the hospital census.
Changing Staff and Facility
The 1960's saw a significant enlargement of the medical staff. The staff was also of better quality than at any previous time. The need was also seen at this time for a geriatric department. The intensive treatment program established in the early 1960's showed results as the decade wore on, for the population at the hospital continuously decreased year after year.
From _PHONE_, a great deal of activity took place. Construction began on a new dietary building as well as a new recreational facility. In addition, Ordway, Herried, Mellette and Kyle Buildings were renovated.
On July 1, 1974, the name of the facility was changed from Yankton State Hospital to the South Dakota Human Services Center. The change was enacted by session of the Legislature to more clearly reflect the services offered.
100 Years Later
The year 1979 marked Human Services Center's (HSC) 100th anniversary.
The 1980's saw further development in services and programs available to patients. In _PHONE_ changes took place at HSC following reorganization of the state Board which previously coordinated the Center's work. In 1988, voters abolished the Board of Charities and Corrections, which was created under the South Dakota Constitution to handle the state's inmates and patients in need of various services. In place of the Board, two new cabinet-level departments were created which separated the responsibilities for inmates from those of patients. The Department of Human Services, one of the two newly-created Departments became the governing authority for HSC.
In 1991, Governor George S. Mickelson directed a study of the existing HSC campus be conducted. This study found it would be more costly to upgrade existing buildings than construct new ones specifically designed for patient treatment. Governor Mickelson advanced bills proposing design and construction of a new psychiatric facility which passed by an overwhelming majority of the 1992 Legislature.
Dedication and Ground Breaking Ceremonies were held on April 28, 1994. Recognizing the efforts of Governor Mickelson, the new facility was dedicated "George S. Mickelson Center for the Neurosciences." The new facility was completed in the fall of 1996 and was occupied in October of that year. The Human Services Center is a state-of-the-art treatment center providing inpatient psychiatric and chemical dependency treatment services to South Dakota's residents.


text: With increasing worldwide concern on Green House Gas (GHG) emission and its reduction, significant interest is now directed toward finding a practical and economical ways of enhancing methane gas containment in coal deposits. Carbon dioxide sequestration has been tried successfully for the recovery of methane from coal measures rocks. A laboratory study was undertaken to examine the effect of displacing the adsorbed gases in coal with N2 injection. To study the feasibility of removing the initially adsorbed gas from coal with another gas, tests were carried out using an in-house built multi-function outburst research rig (MFORR). Accordingly the following laboratory tests were carried out: sorption and desorption characteristics of CO2/CH4 mixed gas in coal, displacement characteristics of adsorbed mixed gases with N2 injection, displacement characteristics of adsorbed CO2 with N2 injection, and displacement characteristics of adsorbed CH4 with N2 injection. The study revealed that CO2 desorption increased by almost 30% as a result of N2 injection, which is about double that obtained without N2 injection. This finding has significant bearing in solving the drainage difficulties experienced at West Cliff Colliery and Panel 500 area, which had difficulty in draining CO2 gas concentration zones.


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Manufacturing Process Engineer SynQor
THIS JOB HAS EXPIRED Job Type : Full Time
Career Level : Entry Level
Shift/Hours : First Shift (Day)
Education : Bachelor's Degree
Category : Engineering
Job Description :
Seeking a recent Engineering Bachelor's Degree graduate for the position of Manufacturing Process Engineer. The successful candidate will be responsible for providing engineering support in a high volume manufacturing environment.
Responsibilities of the Manufacturing Process Engineer include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Develop, evaluate, and improve manufacturing and assembly processes and methods to obtain maximum productivity levels.
- Conduct engineering experimentation, as required.
- Identify and implement cost reductions.
- Troubleshoot and repair manufacturing equipment.
- Instruct, train, guide, and mentor technicians and operators.
- Implement and maintain process work instructions.
- Perform Design for Manufacturability and Assembly and recommend engineering design changes, as needed.
- Participate in MRB activities.
- Provide support and resolve equipment and process problems, as they occur, in the production environment.
- Use data collection tools and information to drive continuous process improvement; identify root cause and implement/verify corrective action.
- Process control and process improvement activities utilizing quality metrics.
- Order supplies and small equipment, as needed, to support electronics manufacturing operations.
Job Requirements :
The required education, experience, and skills for the Manufacturing Process Engineer position include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing or Industrial engineering.
- Zero to three years experience with applicable course work/co-op experience.
- Basic understanding of manufacturing processes used in the electronics manufacturing industry. Examples include knowledge of Surface Mount Technology (SMT),
reflow soldering, thru-hole soldering, PCB assembly and electronics systems assembly processes.
- Excellent interpersonal skills.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Good project management skills.
- Ability to quickly drive issues to closure using available tools and resources.
- Mechanical aptitude.
- High level of initiative and ability to work independently.
- Ability to prioritize tasks.
- Positive, self confident, team player.
- Previous experience within electronic or electromechanical manufacturing environment.
- Familiarity with ISO 9001.
||155 Swanson Road |
Boxborough, MA 01719
THIS JOB HAS EXPIRED


Strategic plan
The Society's Mission and its Aims are wide-ranging, because of the breadth and depth of the nature of what we do, our membership and our stakeholder communities. With this in mind, as well as defining a series of programmes of work to deliver these Aims, we have set ourselves five specific and significant Priorities for this Plan:
 1. Making a step change in how the Society engages with the public and its general interest stakeholders, particularly through the development of theWeather Club.
 2. Enhance the benefits given to all our membership groups, but in particular broaden the involvement of Schools, Businesses and Amateurs. We would expect this to result in a notable increase in membership numbers.
 3. Address the issue of the public perception of climate change by significantly raising the understanding of and engagement with climate science, particularly amongst the general public and in policy programmes.
 4. Ensure there is greater linkage between the Society's professional qualifications, that this actively supports the growing demand for accreditation, and that continuing professional development is at the heart of this.
 5. Identify new ways in which the Society can diversify income streams in order to support our ambitious strategic development programme.
Download the Strategic Plan below
Stategic Plan


January 31, 2020 Knowledge Center
Explaining Sharding for Blockchain Scalability
When programmers build decentralized apps (DApp), they are bound by the limits of public blockchains. Their biggest limitation is having limited throughput — the maximum rate at which the blockchain can confirm transactions. To be able to manage a DApp that can take care of real throughput requirements, blockchains need to be scalable.
Sharding is a workable answer to blockchain scaling. It has the potential to increase the throughput and change the way networks validate blocks — all the finished transactions that are permanently recorded in the blockchain. Horizontal scaling is the most vital feature of sharding among all on-chain scaling solutions.
What Is Scalability?
Scalability is a system characteristic which describes how well the system copes and performs with an increasing workload. Any system that scales well can sustain its high performance rate or raise its efficacy despite an increase in operational demands.
To understand scalability better, take the example of a bank. In a well-managed bank, the customers can walk in, go to a clerk, have their transactions quickly taken care of, and leave without waiting or queuing. But, at the beginning and end of the month when customers overcrowd the bank, how will they serve the customers quickly?
Often times, no matter how fast the clerk is, they will not be able to keep up. Likewise, the other bank staff will also be overloaded with work. Situations like these are perfect examples of an institution's inability to adjust and satisfy customers when demand increases.
Like the example of a bank, scalability issues are also one of the most significant challenges the Bitcoin blockchain industry faces today. Therefore, any discussion about the future of blockchain needs to address these technology scalability issues.
The Need to Scale the Blockchain
In just a few years, the use of public blockchains such as Bitcoin or Ethereum has grown exponentially. Nowadays it is not unusual for Bitcoin transactions to take hours to complete, while Ethereum is having to shoulder the pressure of more and more decentralized applications each month.
This raises an urgent demand to concentrate on scalability. So, what solutions are significant players in this space devising to solve the scalability problem?
One suggested solution is to develop potential fee markets because they are vital for adopting these practical solutions. As the fee grows, economic incentives push users to other platforms that provide superior technology.
Another short-term approach suggests having segregated witnesses use diverse accounting for several data types in the blocks. Thus, it will result in a moderate and temporary block capacity increase.
There are also projects that trade off decentralization for a rise in scalability as a compromise. The network consists of different categories of nodes — the basic building block of cryptocurrency — that have differing privileges. A multi-tier system of this nature lessens resource requirements at the expense of introducing a degree of centralization. Though it can be easily challenged theoretically, the solution is effective on several platforms.
What Is Sharding?
Sharding is a well-known technology in the cryptocurrency community. For many years, it has been important in traditional technologies. Recently, it has gained ground in the blockchain community and is implemented in solving blockchain scalability issues.
It is a category of database splitting which divides larger databases and positions them into smaller, faster, and more easily handled portions referred to as data shards. Most often, basic sharding data is quite easy. It is like saving customers' information on different servers based on their geographical location.
However, in blockchain technology, sharding implementation is more complicated. This is because traditional blockchains demand that every node carry every data on the blockchain. Despite its complications, blockchain projects on this model are trusted because it is a secure way of validating transactions.
A vital way to understand the practical limitations of sharding is to have a basic understanding of consensus algorithms. And Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithms are particularly used to provide security.
Sharding Strategies
There are many granular methods to implement sharding strategies.
Some of them are:
 - State sharding – This is a prospective solution-oriented approach. It consists of splitting the whole storage into portions so that different shards can store different portions. That means that all nodes host their data shard instead of the whole blockchain state.
 - Network and transaction sharding – In this strategy, blockchain network nodes get split into diverse shards. Each of those shards is formed to process and reach a diverse subcategory of transactions.
Furthermore, on typical public blockchains, every public node supports the weight of smart contracts, storing transactions, and many states. But the process could be costly as it needs more storage space to maintain continuous blockchain operations.
Sharding presents promising solutions to scalability problems. The sharding done to the Ethereum network is impressive considering how vast and decentralized this network is. If the developers are able to implement sharding successfully on the Ethereum network, it would be a noteworthy achievement.


text:
As a general term, traction means pulling on part of the body.
Most often, traction uses mechanical force (sometimes generated by weights and pulleys) to put tension on a displaced bone or joint, such as a dislocated shoulder, to put it back in position and keep it still.
Traction is also used to keep a group of muscles (such as the neck muscles) stretched to reduce muscle spasms. This is called cervical traction.
As a treatment, traction will involve a certain amount of tension to pull the body part into another position, a length of time to use the tension, and a way to keep the tension.
Review Date: 8/11/2009
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. © 1997- 2009 A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.


text:
This paper presents a fine example of high-throughput computational materials screening studies, mainly focusing on the carbon nanoclusters of different sizes. In the paper, a set of diverse empirical and machine-learned interatomic potentials, which are commonly used to simulate carbonaceous materials, is benchmarked against the higher-level density functional theory (DFT) data, using a range of diverse structural features as the comparison criteria. Trying to reproduce the data presented here (even if you only consider a subset of the interaction potentials) will help you devise an understanding as to how you could approach a high-throughput structure prediction problem. Even though we concentrate here on isolated/finite nanoclusters, AIRSS (and other similar approaches like USPEX, CALYPSO, GMIN, etc.,) can also be used to predict crystal structures of different class of materials with applications in energy storage, catalysis, hydrogen storage, and so on.
The negative surface enthalpies in figure 5 are surprising. At least one group has attempted to reproduce these using a different code and obtained positive enthalpies. This was attributed to the inability of that code to independently relax the three simulation cell vectors resulting in an unphysical water density. This demonstrates how sensitive these results can be to the particular implementation of simulation algorithms in different codes. Similarly the force field used is now very popular. Its functional form and full set of parameters can be found in the literature. However differences in how different simulation codes implement truncation, electrostatics etc can lead to significant difference in results such as these. It would be a valuable exercise to establish if exactly the same force field as that used here can be reproduced from only its specification in the literature. The interfacial energies of interest should be reproducible with simulations on modest numbers of processors (a few dozen) with run times for each being 1-2 days. Each surface is an independent calculation and so these can be run concurrently during the ReproHack.


text:
12 Conquering Books About the Norman Invasion
Relive a turning point in British history
On 14 October 1066, life in Britain changed irrevocably. The Normans came, they saw, and they conquored. The fear, uncertainty, brutality, and possibility of those years are brought to life within these books, which illustrate the lives of kings, queens, soldiers, mercenaries, and everyday people who made up the rich tapestry of Medieval life.
Image: The Battle of Stamford Bridge by Peter Nicolai Arbo


text:
- Balanced weight distribution.
- Improved safety and manoeuvrability.
- Unrestricted rear view.
- To be used for row fertilizing in combination with a precision seed drill.
Central Metering Device
- The central metering device accurately metres any desired volume of seed from 2kg per hectare to 380kg per hectare.
- For the sowing of fine seeds, e.g. rape or grass, the metering device can be infinitely adjusted to fine seed/micro-metering by means of a spindle, without any need for tools.
- The metering system is mechanically driven via the spiked landwheel running in the tilled soil.
- The metering device is centrally positioned and easily accessible under the hopper.
- Apart from the well-known tramline control FGS and the Signus, the pneumatic seed drills can be equipped with the Tellus GO and the IsoMatch Tellus.
- IsoMatch Tellus – the next generation universal ISOBUS Terminal.
- Two ISOBUS interfaces in one terminal
- Multifunctional ergonomic design.
- ISOBUS Shortcut Button (ICB).
- The IsoMatch Tellus is the first ISOBUS terminal in the world with the capability to operate two different (machine) screens through one terminal, without the need to constantly toggle between screens.
- Via the ISOBUS connection, IsoMatch Tellus automatically identifies the job control unit, which is located on the machine.
- The central, totally enclosed cell wheel of the metering device accurately measures the required volume of seed and discharges it into the venturi cone where it is mixed with the air stream and then conveyed through the diffuser tube and the seed delivery hoses to the coulters.
- The distribution head is mounted in a protected position inside the seed hopper.


text: Construction work as piling, compaction and blasting produces vibrations which can result in severe damage to buildings. Sensitive technical equipment such as servers, computers, X-ray machines, etc. may fail. In addition, during vibration of intense construction, the quality of life of residents is limited. Therefore, it is advisable, to operate shortterm or permanent monitoring during the construction. We have the necessary know-how and the necessary equipment for standardized monitoring and evaluation of vibrations and secondary sound.


text:
The Danish government has taken a range of initiatives to strengthen entrepreneurship education and analyses show that more pupils and students than earlier now receive entrepreneurship teaching and training.
A recent study from the Foundation for Entrepreneurship – Young Enterprise Denmark show that entrepreneurship education and training has a positive impact on motivation for and inclination for starting business. This means that people who have studied entrepreneurship or been trained in entrepreneurship at some point actually start more businesses than people who have not received this kind of education.
The Danish survey also showed that people who are trained are more inclined to start a business, intend to do so and own or run an established company. Entrepreneurship education also has a positive effect on income. All analyses show a positive correlation between entrepreneurship education and income. People who are trained tend to get considerably higher income than people who are not trained.
A longitudinal study by Charney and Libecap showed that entrepreneurship graduates received an average annual income that was 27 percent higher than the average annual income of non-entrepreneurship graduates. In addition, the GEM survey shows that the more people have been trained the higher income they tend to get, and the increase is considerable.
To read the Survey, click on the picture below:


Why can PwC charge such superhuman fees? It's all in the power of bargaining
The liquidation of Carillion continues to feature prominently in the news.
Last week, the story was the fees being charged by PwC, the accountancy firm tasked with salvaging money from the wreckage.
It emerged that PwC's fees, which take priority in terms of being paid over the various creditors and pensioners, amounted to £20.4m for the first eight weeks' work. The special manager with overall responsibility has a rate of £865 an hour.
The fees were described in parliament as "superhuman".
We might reasonably ask how these rates are determined. Why are they not half their actual value? The remuneration would still be very substantial. Equally, why are they not double?
The answer from a basic economics textbook would be that it is a matter of supply and demand. The wage – if such a proletarian term is acceptable in these elevated circles – is set at a level which ensures that there are just enough bean counters to carry out the amount of work which exists.
But it is hard to sustain this argument. The Big Four accountancy firms in the UK take on around 5,000 graduates every year. They receive almost 100,000 applications. There is a long process of whittling down. Eventually, nearly 10,000 get to the final stage, an interview with a partner.
Clearly, many graduates have very strong qualifications. But the wage rate is not bid down by this over-supply.
The argument about how prices, in this case the hourly PwC rate, are set goes back a long way in economic theory.
In the decades just before the First World War, two highly accomplished mathematicians who occupied the top chairs in economics, Alfred Marshall at Cambridge and Francis Edgeworth at Oxford, wrangled over the issue.
Appropriately enough in the week following Cambridge's triumph in both the men's and women's boat races, Marshall was the victor at the time. But, to employ another sporting analogy very much in the news, there was a certain amount of ball tampering along the way.
Edgeworth thought that, in most situations, there was an inherent indeterminacy about the price which emerged. He wrote: "it may be said that in pure economics there is only one theorem, but that it is a very difficult one: the theory of bargain".
Marshall simplified matters dramatically. He assumed that there are so many economic agents in a market that no single one of them can influence the price. This enabled him to draw, in his own best-selling textbook, the supply and demand curve diagrams familiar to generations of students.
But it was a simplification too far. If no one can influence the price, how is it set?
A lot of modern economic theory is about developing Edgeworth's view that economics is essentially about bargaining. It makes it much more difficult, but more realistic.
There is no inherent economic justification for the hourly rates which the Big Four accountants charge. They have simply got the best of the bargaining process. Companies need to wake up and start to insist on lower fees.
Paul Ormerod
As published in City AM Wednesday 28th March 2018
Image: PWC by Bjørn Erik Pedersen is licensed under CC by ShareAlike 3.0
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