Literate Programming Using Noweb
Noweb is a tool designed to enable a programmer to write documentation and code at the same time, with the goal of producing code that is easy to understand and maintain.
Writing the Program in Noweb
With the knowledge of what comes out the end of the pipeline in hand, we can now describe the structure of the nw source file itself. The nw source file for our example program is given in Listing 1.
When you write a noweb program, you alternate between explaining some piece of code and providing the formal definition of that piece of code. You must indicate whether you are entering documentation or code by using one of two noweb tags.
To begin writing documentation, one starts with an @ symbol in the left column, followed by either a space or a newline. This indicates that all of the text that follows, at least up to the next tag, is documentation text. All documentation text is passed through the filtering process to the (LA)TeX file. Thus, the author is responsible for providing any special formatting such as sections, tables, footnotes and mathematical formulae which may be desired or needed in the documentation.
In addition to the standard (LA)TeX command set, noweb provides three additional control sequences. Any text surrounded by double square brackets in the text is typeset in the same fashion as literal code, and the \nowebindex and \nowebchunks commands expand into the two types of indices shown at the end of our example in Figure 1.
To indicate the beginning of a code chunk, you use double angle brackets surrounding a name for the code chunk followed by an equal sign:
Everything following this construct is considered to be literal code or a reference to another chunk name. You reference another chunk name by placing its name in double angle brackets with no trailing equal sign. As with documentation, a code chunk is terminated when another tag is encountered. To continue a code chunk definition, you start a new code chunk using the same name within the brackets as the chunk to be continued.
The special formatting and cross-referencing of code chunks is handled automatically by noweb and requires no special input by the user—with the one exception of manually specifying identifier definitions.
To manually list identifiers which are defined in a given chunk, you terminate that chunk with a line of the form:
@ %def
The identifiers given on the line will be placed in a "Defines" footnote for that chunk and will automatically be cross-referenced and indexed by noweb as described in the previous section.
The process by which notangle extracts the code into a form suitable for the compiler or interpreter follows just a few simple rules. A root chunk is specified on the command line as the chunk to be extracted and assembled. This chunk is then printed line by line until a reference to another chunk is encountered. At this point, the referenced chunk is output line by line—and similarly for any chunks referenced therein. When the referenced chunk has been output, notangle continues the process of outputting the root chunk.
When dealing with continued chunks—two or more chunks sharing the same name—notangle concatenates their definitions in order of appearance into a single, named chunk. The extracted code for our example program is in Listing 2, and it can be seen that all spacing and indentation is preserved appropriately in the executable version.
Because of the way notangle extracts and assembles its input, the program can be presented and explained in the best order for human understanding. notangle will make sure that the program chunks are in the right order for the compiler or interpreter.
The Incantations
Now that we know how to create a program in noweb, we can examine the methods of generating our typeset and executable versions of the program. The noweb distribution provides a general shell script called, remarkably, noweb which drives the notangle and noweave processes. However, this method of invocation, though simple, is somewhat limited. We will focus here on using each tool separately as this method provides a more flexible approach.
When you invoke notangle, you specify a chunk name (a root chunk) to extract and assemble from the nw source file. If you fail to specify a chunk, notangle searches for a chunk named * to extract (this is the default root chunk in a noweb program). The notangle tool writes to stdout, so you must redirect this to a file of your choice. The general form of the command is:
notangle [-R
Thus, to extract the executable version of our example program we use:
notangle -Rautodefs.perl autodefs.perl.nw >
The -R option specifies which root chunk to extract. The -L option is used to embed line directives, if they are supported by the compiler/interpreter you are using. The line directives refer to locations in the nw source file. Thus, when debugging your code, you never need to refer to the executable version. Rather, you can edit the code in the nw source file. The default format is for use with the C preprocessor, but it also works well with Perl, with one catch. The line directives are emitted whenever a chunk is entered or returned to, and refer to the next line of code. Therefore, in a script such as ours, a line directive winds up as the first line of the executable version before the #! line, rendering it non-executable. The fix for this is to delete the first line directive, or to move it below the first line and increment the line number by one.
One can write filters for use with either notangle or noweave that manipulate the source once it is in the pipeline. The pipeline representation of the nw source file in noweb is beyond the scope of this article (see the "Noweb Hacker's Guide" included in the documentation of the distribution). However, it should be noted that a filter could easily be constructed which automates the solution to the line directive problem.
The typeset version of the program is generated with the noweave tool. There are several useful options for noweave, all detailed in the man pages. We will only consider a few of the most important options here.
The first option of general interest concerns the desired output: you can specify -latex (default), -tex or -html as the formatting language to be used for the final documentation. Each of these options will supply an appropriate wrapper (which can be suppressed with the -n option) for the typeset version. You can write your nw source file intended for LATeX typesetting and still have the option of producing an HTML document by invoking noweave with the -html option and the LATeX-to-html filter (-filter l2h) included with the distribution.
The -x option enables cross-referencing and indexing of chunk names, as well as any identifiers which are automatically recognized by an "autodefs" filter. Using the -index option implies -x and provides cross-referencing and indexing for manually defined identifiers—those mentioned in @ %def statements in the nw source file.
Normally, noweave inserts additional information, such as the filename for use in page headers, as part of its wrapper. The -delay option causes noweave to suspend the insertion of this information until after the first documentation chunk. This is most useful when you wish to provide your own (LA)TeX wrapper to specify additional packages or to define your own special formatting commands. This implies a -n (omission of wrapper) option and requires that you make sure to include a \end{document} control sequence in a documentation chunk at the end of the file to complete the wrapper. Our example nw source file is written in this fashion.
Our typeset version (Figure 1) was produced by first extracting the autodefs.perl root chunk with notangle and making it executable using the chmod system command. We then placed this executable in the noweb library directory and invoked noweave as:
noweave -autodefs perl -delay -index
 autodefs.perl.nw > autodefs.tex
We can then run LATeX on the resulting file—twice, to resolve page references—to create the dvi file, then use dvips to create the postscript version for inclusion with this article.
Additional options allow you to have the index created from an external file, to expand tabs and to specify alternative formatting options provided by the included noweb.sty file. The latter includes options to omit chunk numbering in the left margins, change text size in code chunks and switch from the symbolic cross-referencing of code chunks occurring at the right margin to simple footnote style cross-referencing similar in style to the "Defines" and "Uses" footnotes.
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The Minimum Legal Age to Work in Nebraska
Ice Cream Customers
-•• gchutka / Getty Images
If you're a Nebraska resident who's interested in earning income, you must first consider whether you meet the state's minimum legal age to work. If so, this is exciting news. It means you can start saving money for something you've been dreaming of—be it a first car, college expenses, or a trip to a place you've always wanted to visit when you finish high school.
Perhaps you live in a single-parent household and money is tight, or you have a parent who's unable to work for some reason, and you want to work to help your struggling family. Whatever the reason that's sparked your desire to enter the workforce, you need to find out what restrictions you face in the workplace. Although minors can work, they can't perform all jobs, and they might be limited to working just certain hours.
How Old You Have to Be to Work
With some exceptions, federal child labor laws state that the minimum age to work is 14, and the same is the case in Nebraska. Child labor laws in each state may also indicate the minimum age to work and which permits are needed, so if you relocate elsewhere, you may face different regulations. When there is a conflict between federal and state laws, the more restrictive law will apply. The good news is that state laws generally line up with federal law, as far as minimum legal working age is concerned.
If you're under 14 and want to earn some cash, there's still hope. Child labor laws generally don't forbid youth your age from babysitting, delivering newspapers, working as golf caddies, or doing yard work that doesn't require power-driven machines. Until you're of age, you might have to get by on this kind of work before you can serve in the variety of roles full-fledged teenagers can.
Child actors, models, or those who work in a family business or farm are also typically able to work before their 14th birthdays. That said, before children begin working jobs for kids, it is important to review the rules and restrictions surrounding minor labor laws.
Certificates Needed
Nebraska state law requires juveniles under age 16 to obtain a child employment certificate to work. Employment certificates are provided by the school or obtained online. Ask the administrative office how to get a certificate. Also, teens ages 16 and older will be provided with an age certificate by request from their school. However, it is not required under Nebraska state law.
How Many Hours Teens Can Work
Nebraska youth ages 14 and 15 years may not work more than eight hours a day or 48 hours a week. They're also prohibited from working before 6:00 a.m. or after 10:00 p.m.
Children younger than 16 years old may not be employed in dangerous jobs that may result in serious bodily injury or death or that adversely affect their health. They may also not work in jobs in which their morals may be deprived.


text:
Mains plug and sockets are an essential part of connecting electrical equipment to a different power source in different countries. Both plugs and sockets are suitable for most types of homes, offices, commercial buildings used around the world. RS ensure there is a comprehensive range to suit your requirement. There is a vast range of plug and sockets, with some (Type G - UK) having three pins for live, neutral and earth, whereas plugs and sockets with two pins (Type E - French) with an earth pin centred within the plug case. You can learn more in our complete guide to mains sockets and plugs.
Changing the plug or socket is a common action in most industries if changes of circumstances occur or if they've been in constant use without any maintenance and have become damaged. Not addressing any damage can result in power failures, electrical fire and expensive remedial work.
The extensive range of plugs and sockets are capable of use in a number of countries, these include:

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


text:
Most Active Stories
Fri August 17, 2012
Bingaman hears New Mexico climate change testimony
New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman, D, was in Santa Fe today, listening to testimony about the impacts of climate change. During a field hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, the senator heard what's happening on the ground in New Mexico.
In his testimony, Governor Walter Dasheno of Santa Clara Pueblo pointed out that climate change contributed to last year's Las Conchas fire. That fire burned more than 150,000 acres in the Jemez Mountains.
But Gov. Dasheno is even more worried about the future. Warming, he said, is causing native tree species to decline. Rapid climate change is also affecting the forest's ability to regenerate. If severe wildfires continue, he fears that the forest in Santa Clara Canyon will no thrive.
Nathan McDowell, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory testified about the impact drought is already having on forests in New Mexico--and across the globe. These dieoffs are bad news for local ecosystems and communities, but can also accelerate climate change on global scale.
Oceans and forests absorb about half of the carbon emitted by humans. As forests die off, they absorb less carbon.
When Sen. Bingaman asked about solutions, Craig Allen with the U.S. Geological Service pointed to forest restoration.
What humans can do in the short run, he said, is care for forests--increase their resilience and their resistance to growing climate stresses. These stresses can include drought, a rise in temperatures, and insect infestations.
Wrapping up the hearing, the senator emphasized the seriousness of the issue with an attempt at humor. "I'd like to end this hearing on a high note," he said, "but I can't think of how to do that."
To listen to an archived webcast of the hearing and read the testimony of witnesses, visit:

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


automatically detects the proper polarity and issues a message if negative polarity data is received:
Reversed FS polarity detected - autocorrecting
The automatic correction applies only to software framing and doesn't help with correlation. For correct results for both software framing and
correlation, you should correct the polarity reversal problem at its source; this is done using negative values for the {{{--gain}}} parameter at
program start time:
./ -a -v 10 -g -50
The second cause of negative correlation peaks is that some protocols (although not P25) make use of both normaland inverted-polarity FS
sequences as a standard part of their processing. Instead of clogging the GUI menu with several choices that are merely inverses of others,
just for the sake of always having positive-peaked correlations, we allow the correlation graph to reflect the natural polarity of the data.
Thus both + and - peaks are shown, allowing quick diagnosis of incorrect hardware polarity (see above), and allowing identification of the
particular family and sub-protocol in use.
Auto Correlation
Also included is Frank's Fast Auto Correlation (fac):
For further details about Fast Auto Correlation refer to Frank's page at
New in late 2013, trunk following for multiple trunked P25 systems was added, supporting the following feature set:
 - Any number of separate trunked systems may be scanned * P25 Phase I (IMBE) voice channel decoding and audio output * Supports LSM/CQPSK systems that require CQPSK (not C4FM) demodulation in addition to C4FM systems * Since CQPSK demodulation is used, LSM simulcast distortion is suppressed (contrary to all current scanners) * In this release, systems and voice channels are scanned sequentially (like trunk tracking scanners) * Alpha tagging for talkgroup ID's * Per-system whitelist (closed group) support: only those talkgroups in the list are scanned * Per-system blacklist support: all talkgroups are scanned, except those listed * Configuration files are TSV (tab-separated); may be edited using spreadsheet software such as Libre office * Talkgroup ID hold: momentary delay after each voice transmission to allow following conversations * Manual talkgroup ID hold: click to pause, remains on current talkgroup until resumed * Manual lockout: click to lock out current talkgroup * All of the signal scope functions (see above) are live and may be selected in real time * Traffic history including list of active voice channels, key trunk control channel data, etc. * Hardware support provided by gr-osmosdr including usrp/uhd, hackrf, and (in theory) RTL DVB-T based sticks etc.
The trunking code has not yet been merged into the master branch. In the meantime after cloning the
repository you can issue this command to switch to the proper code branch:
git checkout max-trunking-update2
(you must first cd to the top level op25 project directory)
Trunking Configuration
The primary configuration file trunk.tsv contains one line (or spreadsheet row) per trunked system
to be monitored. The file need not be named {{{trunk.tsv}}}; any name of your choice may be used, and is specified using the -T option. The file contains the following information:
 - NAC: This is used as the "primary key" to tell different systems apart. * Sysname: The name of the system (for display purposes) * Control Channel List: comma-separated list of trunk control channels. * Offset: if using a SDR with GPSDO, this value is not needed and should be set to zero. Used for frequency drift correction. The values shown are almost certainly incorrect for your system; the frequency error (drift) is different for every oscillator and is also almost always temperature dependent. You can use the other functions of such as the eye diagram to determine the error (difference between nominal frequency and received frequency). * Modulation: C4FM or CQPSK * TGID Tags File: specifies the name of a TSV file for this system, containing alpha talkgroup ID tags * Whitelist: if set, the system is a "closed" system; only listed TGID's will be included * Blacklist: excludes listed TGID's * Center Frequency: set this to (Highest-Frequency-Channel - Lowest-Frequency-Channel) / 2 - and make sure it's at least (say) 50 KHz away from any active channel
Note: the first line of the file containing the field names must not be changed.
Software Tuning Mode
A new feature which helps to workaround a current problem with the RTL-SDR, the software Local Oscillator allows software tuning within the passband whose width is equal to the current sampling rate (--sample-rate) parameter. Currently this seems to be limited to 2.56 MHz.
To use this mode
 - find the lowest (F1) and highest frequencies (F2) in the system * You will have to adjust F1 and F2 such that (F2-F1) is less than the selected sample rate * RTL SDR apparently supports rates higher than 2.56 MHz but there are reported problems * Find the center frequency = F1 plus one-half of (F2-F1) * Adjust the center frequency by a few tens of KHz if necessary to ensure it does not coincide with any of the system channel frequencies, to avoid DC offset * The higher the sample rate, the more CPU is used * If the system contains frequencies outside of the band from F1 to F2, tuning error messages will be issued but the remaining channels should still work * The "Center Frequency" is defined as a new column in the trunking TSV file (added to the right of the Blacklist column after the example shown below was created).
TSV Files
Use the following command to open a TSV file for editing:
oocalc trunk.tsv
Here are the options used when opening the file
Talkgroup ID Alpha Tags
There is usually a separate tags file for each system, although sometimes multiple systems can share a common set of tags. The talkgroup ID (first column in each row) is in decimal (base 10).
Trunked Traffic
Use the -2 command line option to enable Phase 2 TDMA. Unlike in P25 Phase 1 FDMA, TDMA voice channels cannot be tuned manually. TDMA voice channels are always operated under control of a trunked system having a 9,600 FDMA trunking control channel. Accordingly you must establish a trunking definition for your system as detailed above; no other special setup is required.
This records in parallel all talkgroup activity to.WAV files (except talkgroups excluded via the white list and black lists system). The band of frequencies that can be spanned is equal to the SDR sampling rate, e.g., 2.4 MHz or so if using an RTL, wider in other devices (8 MHz in HackRF, for example). Only one SDR is needed though, no matter how many talkgroups are to be logged (as long as these frequency limits are observed). The option is enabled via the "-L n" command line parameter (where n is an int specifying the number of logfile workers - one plus the number of concurrent talkgroups to be logged). Note that in TDMA one worker is required per active frequency (not per talkgroup). The wider the spectrum, and the more workers defined, the higher the CPU usage...
The logging option must be used with the -T option, and (in this version of only the first data row of the trunking TSV file is utilized - subsequent rows are not used.
Possibly bugs exist, here are a few of the known ones as of this writing
 - Symbol filters totally brain damaged (need separate filters for each speed) * When switching modes using the notebook tabs, leftover data from before may appear momentarily * Highest and lowest speeds are not well tuned resulting either in sluggish updates or CPU exhaustion * Currently ignores all except first frequency in list of trunk control frequencies * The selected tab may override the mode (C4FM vs. CQPSK); be sure to select "constellation" to enable CQPSK mode
I ripped off the "tabbed notebook" theme (and code) from Stevie; it already had the spectrum, baseband, and decoded symbol displays. I added the data scope, constellation scope, cross correlation, and trunk tracking features.
The Fast Auto Correlation (fac) code came from Radiorausch.
Special thanks to Mossmann for leaving one commented-out "print" statement in Of course it was tempting to wonder "what would happen" if that statement were un-commented. The final result? The cross-correlation feature.
Special thanks also to GPL, for encouraging these mashups.
Add picture from clipboard (Maximum size: 48.8 MB)


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Tens of thousands of swirling ocean currents were captured and presented by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in this animated map that creates a cinematic cartographic experience. These are surface currents that cover the period June 2005 to December 2007; the result of physical observation and modelling.
The simplicity of the final map belies the complexity and computing power required to generate the results but rather than creating a detailed and complex graphic to expose how much effort and work went into the map, the work is left to shine and to amaze the viewer.
NASA themselves describe the results as creating a 'visceral experience'. Indeed, if cartography is about connecting and generating an emotional response then they succeeded. One of the rare animated maps that uses a soundtrack to good effect.
Numerous versions of the animation can be found on NASA's web site here.


Regulated market
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 (Redirected from Controlled market)
Jump to: navigation, search
A regulated market or controlled market, is a market where the government controls the forces of supply and demand, such as who is allowed to enter the market or what prices may be charged.[1] It is common for some markets to be regulated under the claim that they are natural monopolies. For example, telecommunications, water, gas or electricity supply. Often, regulated markets are established during the partial privatisation of government controlled utility assets.
A variety of forms of regulations exist in a regulated market. These include controls, oversights, anti-discrimination, environmental protection, taxation and labor laws.
In a regulated market, the government regulatory agency may legislate regulations that privilege special interests, known as regulatory capture.
See also[edit]
 1. ^ Encyclopedia of Management. Pennsylvania State University. Gale, 2009. page xxxi


text:
Londji Bam! Wooden Stamps
This product has been made from recycled or used materials, which have a smaller environmental impact. Recycled materials require less energy and water to produce, generate fewer carbon emissions and reduce waste.
- Get creative with this fantastic alphabet stamp set that will allow your child to create different words!
- Details : 28 stamps
- Age : Age 5 and upwards
- Fabrics : Wood, Rubber
- Box 19 x 19 x 2,8 cm
- CE certified, EN71 approved for 18m+
- Made in : Spain


text:
Magical Native American is a Trope common to fiction. This both a Character as Device Trope and a Characterization Trope in that it can sometimes be the character's primary role in a story, and other times it's just a lens to color his or her personality.
The Magical Native American character has Native American ancestry (though the trope is often also applied to Aborigines, African bushmen, and First Nations), and some sort of overt or implied magic, with a particularly native feel. The character probably has one or more spirit guides, or otherwise commune with Nature Spirits.
Similar in vein to the trope Magical Negro, although usually more explicitly magical. See also Noble Savage and Religion Is Magic. For a specific Western Character that frequently uses this trope, see Medicine Man.
In some ways the air of magical competence about an Amerindian Shaman can be regarded as analogous to the gloss placed on the Oriental Martial Arts (not to mention their swords) - it's not that Europeans never had such things, but more that they were forgotten (or at least marginalised) during the "Enlightenment" and the Industrial Revolution. From a systemic point of view, there is no reason to assume that a Medicine Man from the Plains would be any more powerful a worker than a Hermetic Magus imported from the Old World.
Game and Story Use
- As with many tropes archetype has a lot of power, and is readily grokked by most players very quickly. It won't take much hinting to get the players to connect the dots.
- As with any racially charged trope, some care should be taken not to fall into the stereotype of making all Native Americans use this trope.
- You could hint that someone is a Magical Native American, and let the players make the intuitive jump. Meanwhile, the NPC in question is actually a cyborg, alien, or some other unexpected subversion of the trope.
- Taking inspiration from the trope, Native American religion, medicine, and culture could make a very flavorful base for a campaigns magic system.
- Applying it to another setting or culture could subvert player expectations nicely.
- Of course if you create an ancient evil in the US it makes sense for the Amerindian population to have encountered it before and potentially retain some kind of lore about dealing with it. Likewise, when dealing with the powers of the land, an aboriginal native probably has an advantage. Of course, the problem being that the native populations of great chunks of the US were wiped out or relocated so far from home as to be untraceable … if you needed their wisdom to combat a primordial menace east of the Mississippi … too bad.
- Although tracing the shamen of a relocated tribe could be a very interesting job for the more academic PCs: hours of library time to find that an apparently different tribe on the far side of the US took them in and adsorbed their medicine way.


Denmark zoo's killing of giraffe criticized
The images out of the Copenhagen Zoo on Sunday were startling. An 18-month-old giraffe, sprawled on the floor during a public necropsy, zookeepers examining the body while children and their parents looked on.
Staff at the Danish zoo euthanized the healthy giraffe, saying it was not needed for breeding and its genetic similarity to other giraffes could harm the overall European population. The giraffe, named Marius, was shot in the head, publicly dismembered and fed to the zoo's lions, despite offers from other zoos to take the animal.
Wednesday, Jyllands Park Zoo in western Denmark said it might cull one of its giraffes, coincidentally also named Marius, to make room for future breeding endeavors.
Resulting outrage swiftly made its way across the pond, but zoos in the U.S. say this would not happen in an American facility because accredited zoos have a policy against using animals as food.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums oversees more than 200 facilities in the United States, including the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. Pittsburgh zoo officials couldn't be reached for comment.
The zoos association has various centers, including the Population Management Center at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago and the Wildlife Contraception Center at the St. Louis Zoo, to monitor animal populations.
"There are very different philosophies between European practices and the AZA," said Sharon Dewar, public relations director for the Lincoln Park Zoo, which houses the population management center. "We only breed animals that we are assured can be cared for and housed for the entirety of their natural life."
In a statement released Monday, the association's executive director Kris Vehrs said: "Through the AZA Species Survival Plan program, these methods include science-based breeding recommendations and cooperating to plan for adequate space. AZA's Wildlife Contraception Center and AZA's Population Management Center help AZA members with the expertise and planning to manage animal populations.
"The Copenhagen Zoo is well known for the quality of its conservation programs. The facility is a member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and their programs and procedures vary from those of the AZA."
After the incident in Denmark, many questioned why the zoo did not pursue transferring Marius or imposing some form of contraception to prevent reproduction. The zoo released a statement on its website outlining its decision.
"In Copenhagen Zoo we let the animals breed naturally. With naturally we mean that they will get young within the same intervals as they would in the wild," said zoo scientific director Bengt Holst in the statement. "Contraceptives have a number of unwanted side effects on the internal organs and we would therefore apply a poorer animal welfare if we did not euthanize."
A statement from the European association said the group "fully supports the decision of the zoo to humanely put the animal down, and believes strongly in the need for genetic and demographic management within populations of animals in human care."
The Jyllands Park Zoo in Denmark is not EAZA-accredited, and association officials stated they do not support the decision to euthanize the second Marius.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Jorg Jebram, who oversees the European endangered species program for giraffes for the association, said until recently, contraception required sedation, which puts giraffes at risk to break their necks when they fall.
The U.S. association employs a species survival guide, which evaluates all species every one to three years and gives recommendations to zoos whether to breed animals based on factors including housing availability and population size. If it is deemed not advisable, zoos can employ a number of contraceptive methods.
Ms. Dewar deferred to the association for large-scale policies on culling, but said "it is not part of the discussion" at the Population Management Center.
"It is certainly the philosophy of North American accredited zoos that... for any offspring, we guarantee a sustainable home for its natural life," said Ms. Dewar.
Additionally, at the Lincoln Park Zoo, deceased animals would never be fed to other animals at the zoo, she said.
Other American zoos offered similar sentiments.
"We don't use euthanasia of our animals for population management," said a spokeswoman from the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
A spokeswoman for the San Diego Zoo said there is strict criteria for euthanasia, and it is considered only for the physical and psychological health of the animal, not for population management.
"The goal is always very careful planning," said Christina Simmons, public relations manager for the zoo. "There are a number of contraceptive options: chemical, surgical and separating animals."
Animal welfare groups also voiced opposition to the Danish zoo's decision.
"The Copenhagen Zoo is obviously not practicing modern zoo operations," said Lisa Wathne, captive wildlife specialist for the Human Society of the United States. "They should not have produced the giraffe in the first place if inbreeding and lifetime care was a concern."
PETA, which opposes zoos generally, believes that while accredited American zoos make more efforts to control breeding than some of their European counterparts, they make questionable ethical decisions.
"You'll find questionable ways of disposing of surplus animals," said Carney Anne Nasser, counsel for captive animal law enforcement for PETA. "There are instances of animals being sent from zoos to roadside menageries. This is definitely a real issue here as well."
Lauren Lindstrom: or _PHONE_. Anya Sostek contributed.
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Main Article Content
Studies concerning the diameter structure are essential for understanding the development of native forests, provide growth and yield parameters sufficient to generate estimates that support sustainable management. However, the mathematical modeling of probability functions, such as density, becomes difficult to implement in multi-modal distributions, found in forest species and communities. The species Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze, of social, environmental and economic features, presents multimodal distribution pattern forming units called demographic cohorts, which arise due to natural and anthropogenic agents that operate in niches. Therefore, taking inventory database of trees with a diameter at breast height equal to or greater than 9.5 cm (DBH≥9.5 cm), from the National Forest of São Francisco de Paula, RS, it was possible to test different probability density functions. The best fit to the data series consists of a truncated polynomial function of seventh degree, which besides maintaining fitted values very close to those observed for total and diameter classes, maintained the multimodal distribution characteristic.


text:
µParaflo® Microarray Technology
Massively parallel oligonucleotide and peptide synthesis on a microchip based on the µParaflo® microfluidics technology.
Our scientists and engineers have developed platform technologies that encompass a new class of microfluidic µParaflo® reaction devices, an advanced digital light synthesizer apparatus, and picoliter scale biochemical processes. The functionalized µParaflo® chips are particularly suited for applications where small sample consumption, contamination-free, and performance-reproducibility are primary concerns. This technology enables the massively parallel synthesis of high quality DNA and RNA oligonucleotides as well as peptides and peptidomimetics in picoliter-scale reaction chambers.


Expressions used in Everyday Spoken English in Social and Professional contexts
make ends meet
make ends meet
1) earn enough money to provide for basic needs
 - How to MemorizePopularity HighProfessional HighSocial
 - find a way to make ends meet
 - Analysis
 The expression 'to make ends meet' means to have enough money to cover basic needs and expenses. "More and more students are finding it difficult to make ends meet with spiralling rent costs." "Some nurses are resorting to food banks in order to make ends meet." This is a common expression often used to talk about social and economic problems.
 - Social Examples (Basic)
 1. When John lost his job, he and his wife had to figure out a way of making ends meet until he could find another one.
 2. The government's decision to raise taxes will make it even harder for lower-income families to make ends meet.
 - Professional Examples (Basic)
 1. I have decided to raise the rate of pay for all our employees to a living wage so that everyone who works for us should be able to make ends meet.
 2. Providing medical insurance for employees means they can still make ends meet if met with a long-term medical diagnosis.
 3. It's clear from the way our revenue is going that we won't be able to make ends meet if our outgoings aren't cut significantly.
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text:
What resolution is Retina resolution? 220 ppi (like the new MacBook Pro)? 264 ppi (like the iPad 3)? Or the amazing 326 ppi found on the iPhone?
What about 10,000 ppi? That's the resolution of an image printed by researchers at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore. It's the picture you see above which, at just 50 x 50 microns, is the same size as a single pixel on an Apple Retina display.
The dots in this image aren't ink. They aren't even colored in the normal sense. Instead, the pixels are made up of gold and silver nanodisks. These disks are so small that they resonate when light of the right wavelength falls upon them. By making these disks different sizes, these resonant frequencies can be varied and colors are produced.
The image was built on a silicon wafer, etched to have posts of the correct size, and then the metal was deposited on top. Apparently, says study leader Joel Yang, all of the colors appeared together when the metal was added. Neat.
And Yang's team has effectively ended the Retina Race before it even started. Thanks to pesky physical laws, if the nano "pixels" were any closer together than the light bouncing off them would diffract and mix with the light from adjacent pixels, blurring the image. So it seems that 10,000 ppi really is the limit of resolution – not that we could ever see the difference anyway.
- Source Scientific American


text:
>> Important Exams
>> IIT JEE Main-Advanced
>> IIT JEE Advanced
>> IIT JEE 2012
>> IIT JEE 2012 Preparation
IIT JEE 2012 Preparation
When to start preparing for IIT JEE 2012 Examination?
- Candidates should ideally start preparing in the beginning of standard 11th. If a student starts preparing in standard 12th, then he/she have to work harder due to additional preparation for 12th Board examinations. This will minimize the chances of getting a high rank in IIT JEE 2012 examination.
- Candidates are advised to understand the concepts.
A Few Tips for IIT JEE 2012
Revision of standard 9th syllabus
- Candidates should begin with revising basic concepts taught in standard 9th.
Study Important Topics
- Important Topics which are scoring and form the basis for other topics should be studied first such as Algebra, Mechanics and Stoichiometry and so on.
No room for Doubts
- Students must not have any doubts regarding any topic. Students should be inquisitive and should clear their doubts in order to be mentally confident while tackling any concept.
Regular Problem solving
- Students should practice problem-solving as it strengthens the concepts and increases mental sharpness for quick responses. Students must go step-by-step. Problems of medium difficulty should be solved initially. After having mastered them, students should solve the intricate ones.
Systematic Study Plan
- Students preparing for IIT JEE 2012 must have a systematic approach to studies. They must regularly study to have a complete understanding of concepts. Problems should be solved regularly for practice.
Do not Memorize Formulas. Understand them!
Tips for Problem Solving
- Instead of memorizing formulas and lessons, students should understand the derivations of the formulas and apply it to solve problems. Students should have a clear idea of all concepts and laws.
- Be analytical. Not intuitive.
- Choose a problem and try to solve it yourself.
- Try to understand what is given and what is required.
- Try to recall what principles, laws, equations may be involved. Don't see the solution as it doesn't help you to learn. Give a second or third attempt before moving to the solutions.
Points to Remember
- Practice new questions similar to of IIT JEE Level.
- Preparing your 'Basics' well.
- Attempt a question fully. Do not jump from one question to another in hurry.
- Read the question carefully and then try to solve it. Do not start solving without realizing what is being asked.
- Time management is very important. Divide your time wisely.
- Prepare as per the given syllabus. Do not waste time on unimportant topics.
- Solve 30-40 problems for every topic or chapter. Also try solving quality and problems with new applications.
- You should have your own strategy.
- Fundamentals of concepts are top practiced, not memorized.
- Practice previous year's papers to have an idea of what types of questions are being asked in the exam.
- Try to complete the paper well before time in order to review your answers.
Best of Luck!


text:
Place of publishing:
Subject and Keywords:
Wielokryterialne podejmowanie decyzji ; Negotiations ; Negocjacje ; Macroeconomic modeling ; Fiscal-monetary game ; Nash equilibrium ; Bargaining problem ; Multiple criteria decision making, mcdm ; Modelowanie makroekonomiczne ; Gra fiskalno-pieniężna ; Problem przetargowy
The paper deals with the fiscal-monetary game. In the game the fiscal and the monetary authorities take decisions on the choice of the optimum strategy from the point of view of realization of their respective economic objectives. A macroeconomic model has been constructed and used to represent the interrelations between, on the one hand, the instruments of fiscal policy and of the monetary policy, and, on the other hand - the economic effects resulting from their application. The best response strategies of the authorities and the Nash equilibrium state are analyzed. The simulation results obtained indicate that in a general case the Nash equilibrium is not Pareto optimal. It means that the policies should be coordinated and that respective negotiations leading to a Pareto-optimal consensus are needed.
Language of abstract:
Projects co-financed by:
Operational Program Digital Poland, 2014-2020, Measure 2.3: Digital accessibility and usefulness of public sector information; funds from the European Regional Development Fund and national co-financing from the state budget.


text:
- The expression translates to 7 + −4.
Reminder: The AND keyword translates to mean "plus" because the leading keyword is SUM OF. With other leading keywords (discussed in the following sections), AND can mean other things. Also notice that you do not simplify the expression and get "3" for the answer because you are just translating words into symbols and not performing the math.
Two other keywords on the addition keyword list, PLUS and INCREASED BY, can be correctly translated by the direct translation strategy. In the direct translation strategy, you translate each word into its corresponding algebraic symbol, one at a time, in the same order as written, as shown in Example 4.
Example 4: Translate the following: a number increased by twenty‐four
- The expression translates to x + 24.
Some additional keywords, such as GAIN, MORE, INCREASE OF, and RAISE, are commonly found in story problems, as in Example 5.
Example 5: Translate the following story problem into a mathematical expression about the weight of the linebacker: The defensive linebacker weighed two hundred twenty‐two pounds at the beginning of spring training. He had a gain of seventeen pounds after working out with the team for four weeks.
- The expression translates to 222 + 17.
Note: Not all numbers mentioned in a word problem should be included in the mathematical expression. The number "four" is just interesting fact, but it is not information you need in order to write an expression about the linebacker's weight.
You may also be wondering why the answer isn't 239 pounds. That's because the question asks you to translate the story problem into a mathematical expression, not to evaluate the expression.
Example 6: Translate the following word problem into a mathematical expression about the cashier's current hourly wage: A cashier at the corner grocery was earning $6.25 an hour. He received a raise of 25 cents an hour.
- The expression translates to 6.25 + 0.25.
Note: The hourly wage is stated in dollars, and the raise is stated in cents. Any time you are adding two numbers that have units, make sure both numbers are measured with the same units; if they aren't, convert one of the numbers to the same units as the other. Having both numbers measured with the same units is called homogeneous units. In this example, you convert his raise, the 25 cents, to $0.25 because his hourly wage is measured in dollars, not cents, so the raise must also be in dollars.
Subtraction keywords also include leading keywords, keywords that can be translated one word at a time, and keywords that are found in story problems. Look at the following list of subtraction keywords:
- DIFFERENCE BETWEEN _____ AND _____
One subtraction keyword (DIFFERENCE BETWEEN) is a two‐part expression that begins with a leading keyword that defines the corresponding AND. You can use the same methods of underlining and circling the keywords shown in the preceding section to translate these expressions.
Example 7: Translate the following: the difference between four and six
Here is how you translate Example 7:


text:
FRONT & REAR PANELS Reloop Beatpad2 - Front Panel
- MIC INPUT. Connect a 1/4" microphone to this input. This input's audio signal is routed directly to the Program Mix and Cue Mix.
- MIC LEVEL. Adjust the gain of the microphone input channel.
- HEADPHONES SOCKET. Connect your 1/4" headphones to this output for cueing and mix monitoring.
Reloop Beatpad2 - Rear Panel
- AUX INPUT. Connect your audio sources to this RCA input. The input can accept both line and phono-level signals, depending on the switcher next to the Input and its Output Level is controlled from the top panel (AUX knob)
- MASTER OUTPUT (RCA): Use standard RCA cables to connect this output to a speaker or amplifier system. The level of this output is controlled by the Master knob on the top panel.
- MASTER OUTPUT (XLR): Connect this low-impedance XLR output to a PA system or powered monitors. The level of this output is controlled with the Master knob on the top panel.
- EQ-PRESET: Select the CLASSIC EQ (with High, Mid and Low operation for the Mixer knobs) or the FILTER EQ mode (with High, Low and Filter)
- LED DIMMER: Adjust the brightness of the Leds when those are at the OFF position (dimmed).
- USB. This USB connection sends and receives audio and control information from a connected computer.
- POWER: Use the included power cable to connect the Beatpad2 to a power outlet. While the power is switched off, plug the cable into the Beatpad2 first, and then plug the cable into a power outlet. Use the Power Switch to turn the unit on and off. Turn on the unit after all input devices have been connected and before you turn on amplifiers. Turn off amplifiers before you turn off Beatpad 2.
- POWER BUTTON. Use the Power Switch to turn the Beatpad2 on and off.


Represents a return (or error) code returned by an XPCOM function.
This value is a strongly-typed enum used to represent a result code from an XPCOM function.
Note: On compilers that do not support strongly-typed enums (that is, compilers that don't support this feature of C++11), it falls back to being an unsigned 32-bit integer, as in past versions of Gecko.
Note: Prior to Gecko 19.0, nsresult was not strongly typed. As a result, it was possible for code to misuse it, such as returning an nsresult value from a function whose signature indicates it returns a boolean.
Because nsresult is strongly typed, code like the following will result in an error at compile time:
bool foo() {
 if (something) {
 return NS_ERROR_FAILURE;
See also
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IRS Continuing Education Providers
Continuing education (CE) providers wishing to provide CE to enrolled agents and enrolled retirement plan agents must be approved by the IRS. Upon approval, the provider will obtain a Provider Number.
In addition, each program (course) offered by the provider must be submitted to the IRS and assigned an approved Program Number. You may not offer programs until you receive your program number.
You can obtain both numbers by following these steps:
 1. Review the Revenue Procedure PDF and Standards for Becoming an Approved CE Provider PDF (Revised 07/30/15) to ensure your organization and your programs meet IRS standards for approval.
 2. Gather your information before filling out the application.
 3. Apply online or submit Form 8498 PDF.
 4. Pay the annual fee (Currently $460). NOTE: this fee is nonrefundable.
Upon approval you will receive:
 1. A single provider number that is associated with your organization. The provider number will be the first five digits in each of your program numbers.
 2. A program number PDF for each program (course).
 3. A welcome letter that lists the numbers and explains your obligations as a provider.
 4. A logo that you can use to indicate that you are an "IRS Approved Continuing Education Provider."
 5. Instructions for reporting attendance to the IRS.
 6. Your organization's name, web address and phone number listed on the IRS CE Provider Public Listing, if requested.
After you are approved and have received program numbers, you must do the following:
(as outlined in Revenue Procedure 2012-12 PDF)
 1. Provide a voluntary evaluation form for program attendees (see a sample evaluation form PDF).
 2. Provide a certificate of completion that includes the associated program number (see a sample certificate of completion PDF).
 3. Maintain records of attendees for four years, by preparer tax identification number (PTIN), first and last name, and hours completed by program.
 4. Report attendance data to the IRS.
 5. Add new programs throughout the calendar year (if applicable) using your online CE Provider account.
 6. Renew your provider status each calendar year.
 7. Obtain new Program Numbers each calendar year.
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text:
Over sixty known Volunteers were killed in action during Easter Week. A number of others who were killed have not been identified. Others died from the effects of wounds received during the battle or from the conditions of imprisonment after the surrender. The names of these Volunteers are now largely forgotten and their graves known to only a few.
They Died by Pearse's Side is the first book to bring together the stories of these Volunteers. It presents an overview of each major battle and an overall timeline and location for these Volunteers deaths. It tells the story of how each of them died and provides a photograph and the location of each grave.
Hardback Cover with 360 pages. €19.99 + €7.50 Postage and Packing Worldwide.


BootPicker 2.1.2
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 BootPicker runs whenever LoginWindow is present. Based upon your configuration, it presents an option to the end user to choose an operating system. Upon choosing that OS, the machine either continues to Mac OS X or reboots to the specified OS. The next time the computer is rebooted, it automatically returns to Mac OS X and the boot picker.
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In a syllabus of mine, they try to find a closed form of the following recurrence relation
$$\begin{align*} T(2k) &\leq 3T(k) + ck & k \geq 1\\ T(1) &= 1 \end{align*}$$
The method I usually use to find the closed form of a recurrence is expand it a few times and try to find a pattern. Then I verify that pattern using induction.
In my syllabus they only show the verification part, by using $T(2^l) \leq c(3^l - 2^l)$ as hypothesis, where $c$ is chosen such $T(2)\leq c$ and $l \geq 1$.
So, I tried expanding the recurrence relation to see where I could find that pattern, but I don't get anything close to it.
For example:
$$\begin{align*}T(2^l) &\leq 3(3T(2^{l-2})+c2^{l-2})+c2^{l-1}\\ &= 3^2T(2^{l-2})+3c2^{l-2}+c2^{l-1}\\ &= 3^2T(2^{l-2})+5c2^{l-2}\\ &\leq 3^2(3T(2^{l-3})+c2^{l-3})+5c2^{l-2}\\ &= 3^3T(2^{l-3})+3^2c2^{l-3}+10c2^{l-3} \end{align*}$$
So, my guess is, since they multiply $3^l$ by $c$, you can subtract $c2^l$ and still remain bigger than $T(2^l)$. But, while expanding, I doubt I would have come up with that.
So my question: is there perhaps a method that I can use to find this hypothesis by expanding, and without to many 'magic' manipulations to get to that hypothesis?
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2 Answers 2
up vote 1 down vote accepted
Hint: Consider $S(k)=T(2^k)+c\cdot2^k$. Show that $S(k+1)\leqslant 3S(k)$. Compute $S(0)$. Deduce that $S(k)\leqslant 3^k(1+c)$ for every $k\geqslant0$ and, finally, that $T(2^k)\leqslant 3^k+c\cdot(3^k-2^k)$ for every $k\geqslant0$.
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Don't we $3^k$ to much now? – sxd Jun 14 '12 at 18:04
This is due to your use of the same symbol $c$ for two different quantities, namely the factor in the recursion and the upper bound of $T(2)$. Once you will have made up your mind about this, you will just have to adapt the hints in my answer, possibly starting from $T(2)$ and/or $S(1)$ instead of $T(1)$ and/or $S(0)$. – Did Jun 14 '12 at 18:25
You can use the "Master Theorem" for solving recurrences. This is a general method of solving recurrences of the form $$ T(n) = a T(n/b) + f(n) $$ In this case, we have $$ T(n) = 3 T(n/2) + c/2 n $$
Here $f(n)$ satisfies $f(n) = O(n^{\log_b a - \epsilon})$, hence we have $$ T(n) = \Theta(n^{\log_b a}) = \Theta(n^{1.58}) $$
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I'm not looking to solve this recurrence that way. I'm just search for the way that they came up with that hypothesis. Thanks though. – sxd Jun 14 '12 at 18:22
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text: This paper is organized as follows. Section 1 explains the rational for splitting the upstream scheduling between the core and the RPD with a remote RPD US scheduler. Section 2 defines the DOCSIS upstream service model and the remote upstream scheduler service categories. Section 3 examines the split upstream scheduling impact on R-UEPI, and Section 4 examines the impact on R-DEPI. Section 5 discusses the remote US scheduler APIs using the data modeling approach. Section 6 explains how scheduling locality optimization may be applied to improve latency and efficiency for a R-PHY system as a whole. Finally, the paper will be concluded by summarizing the study highlights.


text:
The Fahai Temple (Chinese: 法海寺; pinyin: Fǎhǎi Sì) is Ming Dynasty Buddhist temple located at the foot of Cuiwei Mountain, about two kilometers to the north-east of Moshikou, Shijingshan District, Beijing, China.
Construction of the Fahai Temple started in the 4th year of reign of the Ming Emperor Zhengtong (1439 A.D.) and was completed in the 8th year of his reign (1443).
The most distinguishing part of Fahai Temple is the Ming Dynasty frescoes. The total area of the frescoes is 236.7 square meters. Comparing with other famous frescoes in China, such as the Yongle Palace frescoes and the Dunhuang frescoes, Fahai Temple's well-preserved frescoes are also notable in the depiction of figures, subtlety of patterns and the craft methods.
Cultural Relics
- Bronze Bell
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fahai Temple|


How Much Protein Is in Bone Marrow?
Bone marrow is a staple in French cuisine and is commonly used to add depth and flavor to stocks and soups in Asian cooking. The most commonly eaten forms of bone marrow are caribou or beef bone marrow, which can be boiled to enrich stocks or simply roasted and eaten on their own. Beef marrow bones are often easier to find in grocery stores than caribou bones, which may need to come from a special supplier. Bone marrow does contain some protein, but it is primarily fat and so should be eaten sparingly.
Amount of Protein
A 100-gram serving of bone marrow has 786 calories per serving and only about 7 grams of protein, which provides 12 percent to 15 percent of the 46 to 56 grams of protein recommended daily for women and men, respectively. However, because bone marrow is often served as an accompaniment to other foods, the total nutritional profile of a marrow dish will largely depend on the other foods it is served with.
Increase the Protein
To raise the protein content of a meal with bone marrow, pair it with protein-rich foods. Rather than choosing the classic composition of bone marrow and toast, veer toward a higher-protein option, and match your bone marrow with chicken or lean beef, both of which are high quality sources of protein. You can also use bone marrow to enrich the flavor of incomplete protein sources, such as beans or rice. Because of its high fat content, consider pairing marrow with low-fat foods, such as with a salad dressed only with balsamic vinegar.
High in Iron
Bone marrow is not rich in many essential vitamins and minerals, but it is high in iron, with 4.5 milligrams per 100-gram serving. Iron is considered essential because it makes up part of your red blood cells, namely hemoglobin, which carries oxygen. It is also used to form myoglobin, another oxygen carrying protein in your body. The recommended dietary allowance of iron is 8 milligrams for men and for women over the age of 50 and 18 milligrams for women who are 50 or younger. A single serving of bone marrow provides over half of the RDA of iron for men and one-fourth of the RDA for women.
Watch the Fat
A 100-gram serving of bone marrow contains a lot of fat, with 84 grams per serving. Almost all of the calorie content of bone marrow comes from fat. Because it is an animal fat, it is mostly saturated fat, which should be eaten in limited quantities. This is because saturated fat increases your chances of heart disease by contributing to cholesterol buildup in your arteries.


text:
there's no reason really as to why the superconductivity principle can practically make a dc-motor running as perpetual except during starting only (which needs input first). Perpetual in a sense that it can run indefinitely without requiring input current always as it becomes self-sustaining and able to run with ease even with loads.
but there are sceptics and nay-sayer or other savants and researchers who still say it is not possible? Why, what's the reason?
in my view, the resistance per se is actually (unit of which is the ohm) in fact the physical reaction of the material from the passage of the electrons (which constitutes current) per second flowing through the entire lenght of the conductive material which is proportionate to it's longitudinal dimension and inveresely to it's cross section and once this wire becomes superconductive, therefore no resistance at all, then the current flows indefinitely (ad infinitum) without losses. Then if that's the case, what remains is the inductance of the wire only as it is formed into a loop and the more the loop it increases the better the inductance and with this inductance (analogous to inertia) then as the electrical energy (current flow) is stored in the magnetic field and it does in fact supports the storage of the current in magnetic the flux. So, with the help of the permanent magnet's field flux and in reaction with this stored electrical energy in the magnetic flux of the wire loops as in the stator, then one in theory, can make the dc-motor run perpetually, as the rotor rotates (using permanent magnets)!, right? So, now, why this can not be done or will not work?


A Conversation with Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Co-Founder of the Open Data Institute
Nigel Shadbolt
Sir Nigel Shadbolt is chairman of the Open Data Institute which he co-founded with Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Nigel is one of the UK's foremost computer scientists. He is a leading researcher in artificial intelligence and was one of the originators of the interdisciplinary field of web science. He is Principal of Jesus College Oxford, a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a visiting Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Southampton.
In 2009 the Prime Minister appointed him and Sir Tim Berners-Lee as Information Advisors to transform access to Public Sector Information. This work led to the highly acclaimed data.gov.uk site that now provides a portal to tens of thousands of datasets. In 2010, he joined the UK government's Public Sector Transparency Board — overseeing Open Data releases across the public sector. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow and former President of the British Computer Society. He was knighted in 2013 for 'services to science and engineering'
In this exclusive interview, I spoke to Sir Nigel about open data and artificial intelligence are transforming humanity.
Q: How did you find your passion for computing & Artificial Intelligence?
[Sir Nigel Shadbolt]: I grew up in the age of space exploration, reading Asimov, Le Guin and Clarke, getting lost in the worlds they had created which were littered with aliens, robots and AI. At quite an early age I started thinking about whether there was extra-terrestrial intelligence, what intelligence is, and whether we could make it. I went through school and university, took my first degrees in philosophy and psychology and then went on to do a PhD at the department of artificial intelligence at the University of Edinburgh. It was a field whichat the timewas deeply out of favour, but which was saved by the huge efforts of a few researchers and academics. It was in the 80's and 90's where AI started to gain popularity again; and since thenas an area of studyit has gone from strength to strength. For me, I think it was a combination of Star Trek, far too much Asimov and the niggling question of understanding ourselves better through computing technologies.
Q: What is driving the growth of AI and ML technology today?
[Sir Nigel Shadbolt]: The field of Artificial Intelligence was given its name in '56 by John McCarthy though Turing and others had been thinking of AI for years before that. To understand where we are today, you need to go back to think of the early internet. It had always been doubling in numbers year to year, but that doubling starts from a small number and requires the right conditions for growth. When it comes to AI, there a number of driving forces. Firstly, the underlying growth in the power of computer hardware (we often use density of transistors on a circuit as an approximation of this) shows that computing power per unit of currency doubles every 15 months and has done for 4 decades (Moore's Law).
This spills over into communication infrastructure, memory and all those areas. We mustn't forget that we owe a huge amount of our success to electrical engineers who have built the hardware on which our programs run. We are also in an era where data is becoming more available, with the tools and methods we have getting more complex, available and capable. Many of the methods we use in AI today are not dissimilar from those we used 4 decades ago, but they have been supplanted with new tools and extraordinary computing power. The latest generation of machine learning is an intersection of brute force (huge computing power), huge amounts of data and deep insights into how machine learning can happen efficiently, at scale.
Q: As a society, do we understand our relationship with data?
[Sir Nigel Shadbolt]: Practically everything we do has a relationship with data, and we're generating data constantly which is often held on large corporate or government platforms. People rightly worry about getting the balance right in terms of our data, but we are being overwhelmed by the volume of data – it's a tsunami – there's huge amounts of it about, it's becoming easier to capture, and vanishingly inexpensive to capture through the amount of low cost sensors in our environment. How do we put regulations, checks and balances around this? How do we put adequate controls on the generation and use of data whilst still retaining the huge benefits from this extraordinary ability we now have? The pace of change we have experienced recently has meant that individually, and as a society, we're still catching-up as we better understand the role that data plays in the decisions that affect our day to day lives.
We have to have a conversation about how data can empower or oppress uswe have the opportunity to re-imagine this, it's not a deal that's been done, and it's not too late to imagine a different way of organising, regulating, collecting, contributing and benefiting. Right now, it's a bit like the early stages of the universe. Lots of hot plasma gas everywhere, but structure takes time to emerge…
Q: Are technologies such as Ai shaping what it means to be human?
[Sir Nigel Shadbolt]: Roger Hampson and I wrote a book called The Digital Ape, which is all about how we could live in peace with smart machines, but it was literally about the fact that this device here is the hand-axe of the modern era. Tools and technologies augment us, and amplify our capability, they always have done. Early human species have been found to have shaped and made tools. That tool making shaped our neurology and musculature. We didn't' just make technology, it made us. In the modern context, this phenomenon terrifies some people and excites othersbut it's going to happen. We have to understand how humans and their tools and technologies blend at scale – it's going to be an absolutely fascinating journey.
Q: How do researchers deal with the ethical challenges of AI?
[Sir Nigel Shadbolt]: My fear has never been the machines waking up and deciding to do away with us, but rather that wein our own bone headed waydeploy systems inappropriately, or without thinking through the unintended consequences that may occur.
There have been successful conversations around bio-ethics for example. Take a look at what happened in the UK with the human fertilization and embryology authority; before the science was resolved they were imagining where artificial insemination and embryology were going, the ethical issues that would be raised, and how we could deal with them.
In a similar way, we're seeing a debate around the ethics of AI. Key questions are being asked such as when (and when not) to use certain technologies…. How algorithms can be held accountable…. How explicable should algorithms be… what happens when algorithms appear biased against a particular demographic… and also the fundamental question of what happens if AI is available to some parts of the population, and not to others. The nature of AI means that these ethical questions will also bleed into areas such as medical ethics (such as how AI is enabling precision genomics, personalised medicine and therapeutics).
We have to have these conversations, and we have to come up with viable frameworks, otherwise people will continue with dystopian claims about how the future may end-up impoverished with these technologies. I remain a technical optimist… the problem is not artificial intelligence, it's natural stupidity. Through treaties, regimes and pressure (not always applied brilliantly or perfectly) we have at least stopped ourselves from the worst excesses in chemical, biological and nuclear science.
Q: How can we build societal resilience to AI?
[Sir Nigel Shadbolt]: Societal resilience is not about having a defensive posture, nor about laws and regulations, it's also about the norms and what is and is not accepted as reasonable behaviour.
People often talk about the 'Turing test' and whether or not you can tell if it's a machine at the end of the phone in a call centre. We're already well beyond that and we know there are systems that sound and behave like people, and rather than trying to get us (as people) to be able to distinguish between the human and the digital, surely it's more sensible that we should expect that systems say what they are. Notwithstanding that, there is nothing behind that algorithm at the call centre… nothing equivalent to human intuition, human responsibility, human sensibility….
As you go all the way from individual call centres, you get to the place where you find state actors who are trying to take down civilian cyber infrastructure. With armed context you can see this clearly with tanks and soldiers, but what people can't see is that there is a 24/7 set offensive and defensive operations happening between state actors, every single day. The digital is invisible, pervasive, ubiquitous, it's difficult to pin down and make clear rules. That's where our multilateral organisations need to be… to help us come to a better settlement between our nation states… And that's at least one place we should start.
Q: What is the difference between data and information?
[Sir Nigel Shadbolt]: When people talk about data, they're invariably talking about information. If I say to you 41, it's data. If I tell you 41 is the temperature in centigrade, that's information. If I tell you 41 is the temperature, in centigrade, of a human patient, that really is information – in fact, it's in danger of becoming knowledge because of the contextualisation it gives you.
The notion is that


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Exchange Basics
Fee vs. Leasehold Land
 1. Under Section 1031(a), the word "like-kind" refers to the nature or character of the property and not to its grade or quality. One kind or class of property may not be exchanged under Section 1031 for property of a different kind or class.
 2. For example, the receipt of fee ownership in property in consideration for the execution of a long-term lease is not an exchange of property, but is instead the execution of a lease accompanied by the receipt of advance rental income.
 3. Similarly, the transfer of property and cash for the construction of a new plant on a taxpayer's land was held to represent the payment of consideration for the purchase of new property and not an exchange of like-kind property.
 4. In Revenue Ruling 72-601, the father and son were both farm owners. The son conveyed a life estate in his farm to his father, while reserving a remainder interest for himself. The father conveyed a remainder interest in his farm to his son, reserving a life estate for himself. The IRS ruled that the son merely transferred the right to use his farm for a period of years and received in return the equivalent of rental income and not property qualifying under Section 1031. The father transferred a remainder interest in return for a leasehold of less than 30 years' duration, when measured against his life expectancy. The leasehold was thus not like-kind property, and the transaction was taxable. If the father's life expectancy had equaled or exceeded 30 years, the father's transfer might have qualified, but not the son's.
 5. Similar results should be expected in exchanges involving what is essentially a right to receive income represented by contracts, patents, copyrights, etc.
 6. A transaction structured to be a sale of the taxpayer's property followed by a leaseback of the same property may be construed as an exchange of a fee absolute estate for a leasehold estate. The IRS has argued for exchange treatment in this context to prevent a taxpayer from recognizing a loss on the "sale" transaction.
 7. An exchange of real property for personal property does not qualify because the nature or character of the property is not of like-kind. The fact that property is improved or unimproved relates only to its grade or quality and not to its kind or class. A leasehold of a fee with 30 years or more to run and real estate in fee are of "like-kind."
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Part A - Short definition:
After a census, Statistics Canada makes public the total number of persons and the total number of dwellings counted in a given area, for example, in a municipality. By the next census, the municipality's geographic boundaries may have changed, especially if it has annexed part of another municipality or has merged with another municipality. When a boundary change occurs between censuses, the population and dwelling counts for the geographic areas affected by the boundary change are revised (adjusted). The adjusted counts show what the counts (the total number of persons and the total number of dwellings) from the previous census would be for the current census boundaries.
Part B - Detailed definition:
'Adjusted counts' refer to previous census population and dwelling counts that were adjusted (i.e., recompiled) to reflect current census boundaries, when a boundary change occurs between the two censuses.
2011, 2006, 2001, 1996, 1991, 1986, 1981, 1976, 1971, 1966, 1961, 1956 (population)
2011, 2006, 2001, 1996 (dwellings)
When a boundary change occurs, the population and dwellings affected are determined by examining the collection documents from the previous census. The dwellings affected by the boundary change are identified from the collection maps. Once the affected dwellings are identified, it is possible to establish the population affected. These counts are then added to the geographic area that has increased in size and subtracted from the geographic area that has decreased in size.
Boundary changes to standard geographic areas between censuses are generally flagged in census outputs. This is done to warn users doing trend or longitudinal analysis that the areas being compared have changed over time. However, by comparing the final population or dwelling counts from the previous census to the adjusted counts, the user can judge the significance of the boundary change.
In the case of new areas (e.g., census subdivision incorporations), adjusted counts are required to permit the calculation of change. For dissolutions or major boundary changes, the use of adjusted counts instead of the previous census final counts often provides a better measure of trends by removing the effect of the boundary change from the calculation.
Refer to the related definition of census subdivision (CSD).
- Date modified:


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The Red Hills, also known as the Gyp or Gypsum Hills, are located mostly in Clark, Comanche, and Barber counties in southern and central Kansas. These hills gather their name from the red tint they have. The red color comes from oxidated iron within the soil. The area is also known for its large gypsum deposits. Rainfall amounts are low in this region, so there are few trees and the air is dry.
The flat top hills in the area are more reminiscent of the mesas and buttes in Arizona and New Mexico. The elevation here disputes Kansas' reputation as "flat." Mount Nebo is 2,441 feet (744 meters), Mount Jesus is 2,340 feet (710 meters), and Mount Lookout is 2,320 feet (710 meters).
Entry: Red Hills
Author: Kristina Gaylord
Date Created: July 2011
Date Modified: May 2012
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.


New Jersey Employment Lawyer Blog
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New York Passes Wage Theft Protection Act
On December 13, 2010, New York State Governor David A. Paterson signed the Wage Theft Prevention Act ("WTPA") into law. The WTPA is intended to help protect employees working in New York against violations of their wage and hour law rights.
The WTPA requires employers to provide information to employees about how they are being paid. For example, employers must notify employees, in writing, of:
 1. Their rate and basis for their pay, such as whether they are paid by the hour, shift, day, week, salary, piece, commission, or otherwise;
 2. Any allowances the employer claims as part of the employee's minimum wage, such as tip, meal, or lodging allowances; and
 3. Their overtime rate, number of regular hours worked, and number of overtime hours worked for employees who are not exempt from overtime.
Thumbnail image for Workplace Theft Protection Act Signed Into Law By Governor Paterson.jpgemployment law rights.
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Skagway, Alaska city officials decided to create their own system for identifying personnel and village citizens. Photo cards identify police officers, fire department personnel, city chauffeurs, senior citizens, bicycle licenses and more in the Alaskan port city.
The city of Skagway, Alaska served as a gateway to the Gold Rush in 1898, and is today a popular port destination for cruise ships. Skagway may be a relatively small city with a population of 890, but security is still a priority for its government agencies. That's why city officials chose a card printer to create identification badges.
The photo identification cards are also used to identify Skagway's senior citizens, who do not have to pay sales tax on food items at the local grocery store. The card is designed to set those over the appropriate age to be identified and not charged the sales tax. The ID card system has simplified the identification process.
"We use the printer to create identification cards for police officers, fire department personnel and other city employees," said Sheryl Gladden, police clerk for the Skagway Police Department. "All the people who drive tour vehicles that are not considered by state standards to be commercial vehicles need city-issued chaffeur permits as well."
Bicycle Rodeo Puts Printer to Test
One of the Skagway Police Department's favorite community events is the Annual Bicycle Rodeo, which Gladden describes as basically a fun bicycle safety class.
"All the kids bring their bikes to the rodeo and have them checked by bicycle mechanics," Gladden explained. "The bikes have lights and reflectors installed if they don't already have them, and are checked thoroughly for any other issues such as loose chains and proper fit. Then they are repaired if needed."
The children are then issued a helmet and proceed to an obstacle course that is similar to a driver education course, but set up for bicycles. Two bicycle patrol officers teach the children about safety issues and test them out on the course. Once they have finished, they are issued a bicycle license.
"Afterwards, they go out in groups with an adult leading on the real road and practice the things they learned on the course," Gladden explained. "Then they all meet at a designated spot for a barbecue, and after that to the local ice cream shop. If they show their bicycle license at the ice cream shop, they get a free ice cream cone."
The bicycle rodeo doesn't just put children to the test; it also tests the Zebra P420i printer to see that it is up for the challenge of rapid ID printing.
"The Bicycle Rodeo cards all have to be made in a short amount of time," Gladden said. "We hook the printer up to a laptop and one person takes pictures while I work the Alpha Card program and print the cards. The kids love watching the whole process."
The Skagway Police Department issued about 55 cards in less than two hours at its most recent Bicycle Rodeo. Even parents wanted their own bicycle licenses, Gladden said.
Overall, Gladden estimated that she and two other staff members print about 150 cards each year with the ID printer, which simplifies card printing. Gladden performed the initial setup, and is the primary person who uses the printer.
"It's definitely helped our operations and the city's," Gladden said, "and it's also helped the grocery store be able to quickly identify senior citizens."
The Skagway Police Department is considering adding encoded barcode functionality to the cards in the future, so that fire department personnel can be checked in and out when they respond to incidents. The Skagway Fire Department is largely a volunteer operation, making it more difficult to track personnel.


plough into
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: plow into
plough into (third-person singular simple present ploughs into, present participle ploughing into, simple past and past participle ploughed into)
 1. To crash into something.
 The lorry ploughed into the line of stationary cars.
 2. To engage in some activity with vigor
 - 2011, The Economist, Samsung: The next big bet
 In a bid to escape the vagaries of consumer electronics, Samsung may be ploughing headlong into the areas most ripe for invasion by a new breed of emerging-market titans.
 3. (transitive) To invest a resource (money, material, energy) into something
 - 2012, The Economist, Marketing start-ups: Geeks aren't known for their social skills
 Young start-ups usually have had two financing options: hands-off venture capitalists that are willing to plough money into a company without rolling up their sleeves, or business incubators that are short on funds but wealthy in enthusiasm and knowledge.


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How to Introduce a New Pet Rat
Rats make great pocket-sized pets for people of all ages. Because of their social nature, rats should be kept in pairs or groups so that they enjoy constant companionship. This is easy when buying or adopting rats from the same litter who have already bonded; however, creating friendships between new rats is not always simple. Sometimes, a rat owner needs to introduce a new rat (or multiple rats) to an existing rat or group of rats. By following a gradual, step-by-step process, rats can be introduced without significant injury. This hub focuses on the introduction of a new female rat, Gadget, to the resident female rat, Patches. Interactions between male rats may not be similar.
Please note: Not all rats, male or female, will take to another cage mate. There are some rats that simply want to live in their territory alone. If attempting a slow introduction through small steps does not improve the relationship or aggression either rat experiences, do not force it. Aggressive rats can cause serious harm to one another if they view one or the other as a threat.
How many rats do you have?
1. Quarantine the new rat
When acquiring your new pet rat, professionals suggest that your keep the newcomer in quarantine for one to two weeks before allowing it near your other rats to avoid the transfer of disease. What does this mean? Essentially, quarantine entails keeping the new rat in it's own cage in a separate room without any possible contact with your other rats. This means washing your hands after handling the new rat before tending to your older residents and not swapping out items from the newcomer's cage with anything from your other pet rat's cage(s). Illness can spread quickly through this sort of contact. If you have multiple rats, this could result in many unexpected and undesired vet bills. Some signs of illness to watch out for include:
- lack of energy
- not eating or drinking
- discharge around nose or eyes
- noisy breathing
- excess sneezing
- excess scratching
During this period of time, you can still interact with your new rat and establish a relationship, but keep an eye on the rat's health in the meanwhile. Is your newcomer's nose wet, or crusted with red discharge? Rat noses are naturally dry, and wetness can be a sign of illness. Rat's have sensitive respiratory systems and are more prone to respiratory illness than other animals. An excess of red mucus around the nose and eyes may simply be a sign of stress, especially after moving to a new environment, but can signal to illness if constantly present. Do not confuse the red mucus with blood, but keep an eye on it all the same.
Note: I did not put Gadget through the quarantine, but only because I have had my eye on her long before I purchased her at my current place of work. During this time, she had constantly been with other rats in the small animal display, and was picked on - not ill.
2. Place the cages side by side
After the quarantine period, the next step to introducing the new pet rat is placing its cage side-by-side with the resident rat cage. The cages themselves should be just far enough apart that the rats in each cage cannot reach out and touch each other (especially their tails). This allows the rats to smell and see each other and thus become accustomed to each other. Sense of smell is a big deal to rats, and is much stronger than their eyesight. Like people and other animals, rats have different personal scents; when female rats are housed together, you will often catch them "scent-marking" in different areas of the cage, especially if another rat has urinated there previously. Sometimes rats will mark you because you smell like another rat!
Did You Know?
Did you know that you can help introduce your rats by letting them run around in the other's cage? Letting each rat explore the other's smell helps it become a familiar scent, and helps them become better friends!
The rat cages should spend at least one week next to each other this way, every hour of every day. It is important that the rats become used to each other's scents so that the newcomer smells less like an impostor and more familiar. If anything, the rats in both cages should be curious about each other, sniffing and looking at each other and sometimes showing excitement. If your resident or new pet rat is instead showing aggressive behavior or hissing, proceed through the following steps with caution. The rat may have an aggression toward other rats, and may be less likely to accept another cage mate.
3. Introduce them in neutral territory
A few days after placing their cages together, you can continue by having a play date between your resident and new rats. To minimize territorial behavior on behalf of the resident rat, the first introduction should be done in neutral territory - a place where your resident rat or rats do not usually play. A common compromise is the bathtub, but can be the bed, the couch, or anywhere else that the rats do not hang around. The bathtub was the best neutral ground for us, and should (theoretically) be harder for the rats to climb out of or escape than a sofa. When having a first play date, be sure to have something soft, like a towel, along the bottom of the tub, and plenty of tempting treats in the middle for the rats to share. Rats love treats, and eating them together is a great way for them to bond.
There is a method on YouTube called The Glove Rat that works great when introducing new rats, especially when one or both rats seem jumpy, nervous or potentially aggressive toward the other. In the video below, a woman essentially follows the rats around with a gloved hand while keeping close watch on their behavior. The idea is to deflect any negative confrontation between the two rats that has the potential to ruin their relationship, such as biting and scratching. If you get the sense that the rats are going to get into a fight of aggression, you quickly place your gloved hand between them and break it up. The glove is there for your own protection, and makes the process feel less nerve-wracking.
See the Glove Rat in Action!
It is normal during play dates for the rats to exert dominance on one another in the form of pinning each other down and forcefully grooming the other, pushing the other rat away or chasing them around. During these situations, the submissive rat will let out little "eeps" that sound low, like whispers, and simply mean that they give up. All of this is normal rat behavior - dominance is a big deal in rat colonies, and even rats sharing a cage will have scuffles over dominance. You should be concerned if a rat squeaks very loudly, or "screams" in pain, or if the rats are taking their fighting to a level you don't like. Some signs of rat aggression include:
- pulling a rat's hair out
- biting and drawing blood
- swinging it's tail around
- hissing at other rats
Watch the play date closely and following your gut. If you think one of the rats is taking it too far, separate them. The first few play dates should be relatively short; fifteen minutes is enough for the first few days, and you can introduce them as many times as you prefer each day. As the days pass, the rats should know each other more and need to be separated less. If you have an aggressive rat on your hands, give them some space for a while before you try again.
Note: after a while, Patches (who has ninja-like reflexes and moves) learned that she can pounce out of the bathtub. If you can't keep your rats in the tub either, you can introduce them anywhere neither of them has played before - kitchen counters work, as well as tables. It's up to you.
4. Introduce them in familiar territory
Once you feel your new and resident rats are making progress, you can start putting them together in familiar territory - a place where the resident rat likes to play on occasion. This is different from the previous step because your resident rats will feel partially territorial about their play date location. This place can be the bed, the sofa, or anywhere your resident rat might consider their own. The interactions between the rats here may be more tense than in neutral territory, so having keen eyes and using a gloved hand are very important here. Your resident pet rat may feel the need to guard her territory, and more dominance fights may break out than expected. Be sure to watch that neither rat is injured or overly aggressive toward the other; if the behavior escalates to a violent level (or if you feel the need to separate them), end the session for a little while and give it another try later.
Tip: If play dates in the resident rat's territory aren't going well, take a step backward and have the sessions on neutral ground again. You can repeat this until you feel the rats can move up to the resident's territory again, as many times as you feel necessary. Depending on your rats and their personalities, this step can be simple or take a few tries.
Need a new rat cage?
5. House your rats in the same cage
When your new and resident rats have bonded enough to share the same cage, you can either put them in a brand new cage, or move them into one of the cages either rat has been living in during your introductory phases. It is more economical to move them into a preexisting cage, but this step involves a lot of cleaning, rearranging, and time. It is best to complete this step on a day when you plan on being home and can monitor the rats, as well as in the morning when your rats are sleepiest.


Connected Platform Detection/Prevention: 5 Wk Imp
Leverages Microsoft Azure to provide a scalable foundation for healthy smart spaces. As a secure, centralized hub, it ingests and triggers events from any data source.
During this 5 week implementation service clients will receive: * Business alignment conversation: Define business goals, success criteria, stakeholder personas, and review existing IT infrastructure * Base deployment: Connecting 1-2 sensors with Connected Platform and Azure and verify functionality * Depth deployment: Connecting additional sensors with Connected Platform and Azure * Educate IT staff on service usage and alerting * Validate implementation against defined business goals and success criteria
The Insight Connected Platform is an Azure based integrated platform equipped with best-in-class IoT sensors to help organizations safely reopen, stay open, and comply with organizational and governmental guidelines for prevention of disease spread.
Key use cases include: * Contactless temperature detection for public spaces * Portable virus testing centers * Smart hand sanitization stations * Smart cones to encourage social distancing
Benefits & Value to Stakeholders: * Detect elevated temperatures in group settings * Initiate alert and response workflows * Capture data to train vision models to a higher degree * Correlate data for use with contactless handheld devices * Leverage historical data to drive confidence among consumers


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Can engaging parents via SMS messaging help their student's performance in school?
Yes, it can. At least in some ways.
A yearlong study called the Parent Engagement Project (PEP), ran a trial of sending parents SMS messages relating to their student's schooling. It included over 15,600 students and 36 secondary schools throughout England.
The researchers performed detailed statistical analyses of student's performance in various areas to see if the increase in parent involvement resulted in better scores. They compared to students whose parents did not receive the SMS messaging as well as prior year academic data.
Here's what they found:
"Children who had the intervention experienced about one month of additional progress in maths compared to other children."
"Children who had the intervention had reduced absenteeism compared to other children."
"Schools embraced the programme and liked its immediacy and low cost."
"The vast majority of parents were accepting of the programme, including the content, frequency, and timing of texts."
Initially, they thought there may have been improvement in English as well, but that turned out not to be the case. They also determined that science scores were not impacted at all.
What They Did
The programme included a well-defined set of SMS messages that would be sent to parents. The initial estimate was parents would get approximately 65 messages per year. There were three types of messages sent:
Upcoming assessment – Notifications sent four days in advance, and again at 1 day
Missing homework – Parents received notice if homework was not handed in
Conversation prompt – Parents received a summary of lessons for the day so they could discuss them with their students.
Most of the messages were sent by the "project delivery team", the rest were automatic. According to the report they were working for the project and not the schools. While there was a liaison (who worked at the school), between the schools and the team "schools in the current study were required to adhere to the protocol described above and were only allowed to modify text content related to the conversational prompts."
The schools themselves had little control over the messaging, but that was necessary to ensure the validity of the study.
Should Your School Use SMS?
By necessity, PEP used a "one-size fits all" approach. Every school received the same messaging schedule, the same training, and the same project support. But not every school is the same.
It's possible to start small and see how SMS messaging works for your school. Based on the study results, schools that have an issue with attendance might consider using it just to notify parents about that issue. A school looking to improve maths results could do the same just for their maths programme.
A simple introduction to using the messaging can make it easier for training staff too. One conclusion of the study was that schools felt they'd need a full time coordinator to keep the programme going as it was designed. That's an added cost to the school beyond the costs for the messages themselves.
But without such a complicated programme, schools could integrate it into their existing systems and staff only as needed. This would reduce the cost to implement a programme and could save on the fees necessary to use the service referenced in the study.
In fact, many schools and service providers (such as doctors and dentists) find that using SMS messaging often saves them money over time because it allows staff to be more efficient. An SMS provider like fastsms can offer messaging services for just the cost of the messages sent, without any account or annual fees.
Even though school has already started, we're here to answer your questions about how SMS messaging could work in your school. You can reach us by phone or even our live chat.


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short courses to a more sustained effort at capacity building.
The GCI—long active in promoting emergency preparedness in the cultural field—has sought to develop education models that appropriately address the learning needs of professionals. Most recently, through an innovative teaching approach, the GCI has focused on museum personnel training in emergency preparedness. Over the past year and a half, the Institute has partnered with ICOM (International Council of Museums) and ICCROM on an initiative that is part of ICOM's Museums Emergency Program (MEP), a multiyear project to assist museum and other heritage professionals to prepare for and respond to natural and human-made threats. The GCI and its project partners developed a three-phase pilot course, Teamwork for Integrated Emergency Management, which combined a classroom-based workshop with a seven-month period of practical work. Teams from eight national museums and two museum studies programs in Asia attended the workshop phase of the course in Bangkok in August 2005. The workshop was followed by the second phase, which ran from September 2005 through March 2006. Over seven months of practical work, each team, via e-mail, regularly reported its progress to course mentors who commented on the achievements and, if necessary, provided advice or information. In addition, there was a course Web site that contained teaching materials along with links to emergency management Web sites and course contact information. During this period, course participants began implementing practical changes with colleagues at their institutions. The mentoring phase also helped to reinforce the bonds among the institutions and to provide the basis for a regional network.
The third and final phase of the course was a meeting in Seoul, in June 2006, to review the achievements of each museum team. The teams discussed the substantial progress they had made over the course of the year: undertaking risk assessments, re-examining or revising institutional emergency plans, reviewing security protocols, and conducting staff drills and training.
The learning model used in Teamwork for Integrated Emergency Management—traditional classroom-based workshop and extended mentored practice—may be adapted to other GCI training efforts. Facilitated by new communication technologies, it extends the classroom into the workplace and aids the growth of a sense of community among practitioners, essential to the development of the field.
The following GCI staff contributed to this article:
James Druzik, senior project specialist
Herant Khanjian, assistant scientist
Neville Agnew, principal project specialist
Martha Demas, senior project specialist
Leslie Rainer, senior project specialist
Francesca Piqué, former GCI project specialist
Kathleen Dardes, senior project specialist