text:
In-Person Early Learning Openings Available
New Horizons Academy is still accepting students, Preschool through Second Grade, for both its Wauseon and Toledo, Ohio campuses. New Horizons Academy's Early Intervention Services include; Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Conductive Education and Behavioral Supports, to serve its' special needs students.
New Horizons Academy plans to hold in-person classes for students, five days a week during the 2020-2021 school year following health department guidelines.
New Horizons Academy's early learning classes focus on foundational skills necessary for your child's future education. Your student's day is filled with a variety of activities that promote skills so that they learn naturally.
Specialized programming allows students to rotate through classes gaining foundational skills. Structured set-up within each room helps develop consistent expectations for your child. In this focused environment they are supported by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) who oversees all aspects of your child's educational growth and development. Our BCBA also supervises our Ohio licensed staff delivering targeted instruction in Language and Literacy, Foundations in Math, Fine Motor and Handwriting, and Play and Social Skills.
Student Supports with Applied Behavior Focus:
- Positive reinforcement for skill acquisition
- Visual schedules and visual supports for expectations and routines
- Differential reinforcement for appropriate behavior
- Modeling skills
- Breaking down skills into small steps
- Data-driven decision making
Our early learning students' days are filled with many activities to promote generalization of skills in a natural way. Children receive instruction focused on:
- Language and Literacy (Including embedded speech services)
- Foundations in Math
- Fine Motor and Hand Writing
- Play and Social Skills
In these classes children complete activities targeting individual needs with the goal of completing independent activities. The second portion of the school day revisits all of the concepts taught in the morning rotations using a more natural, less intense approach such as during specials, circle time, and group games.


text: The broken tea is divided into traditional and non-traditional methods. Non-traditional methods are divided into Rotorvane method, C.T.C method, Leger method and L.T.P method. The product quality of various types of methods varies, but the color classification of red broken tea and the appearance and specifications of various types are basically the same. Red broken tea leaves tea, broken tea, tea, tea, four kinds of color specifications. Outside the leaf tea form a strip, requiring the tight cords, Ying Long, homogeneous Qi, pure color, there is gold (or less or no gold). The endoplasmic soup is red-brown (or bright red), and the aroma is fresh and irritating. According to its quality, it is divided into two types, Flowery Orange Pekoe (F.O.P.) and O.P. The shape of the broken tea is granular, and it is required that the particles be heavy and uniform and contain no or a few millimeters. The color is black and lustrous. The inner quality of the soup is red, and the flavor is fresh and strong. According to the quality, the broken flower is orange. Broken Orange Pokoe referred to as FB.OP), BOP, BP and other colors. The shape of the tea is in the form of agaric flakes, and it is required to be solid and uniform. The soup has a strong aroma and is classified according to quality as "Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe Fanning" (FBOPF for short) and "Crushed Orange, Yellow, White, and Chips" ( BOPF), "PF", "Orange" (OF) and "chip" (F) and other colors. Dust (abbreviated as D) has a sand-like appearance, requiring heavy solids, dark and dark color, and a dark, intense, astringent flavor. For the above four categories, leaf tea can not contain broken tea, broken tea does not contain flakes of tea, tea does not contain tea gray, specifications are clear, strict requirements.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


text:
(by Casual Jay)
"Pielparade" is an Afrikaans colloquial term commonly used by South African military personnel, especially servicemen and veterans of the old South African Defense Force (S.A.D.F.), which has also entered mainstream South African English as slang. The term means 'penis parades' and refers to a range of sexual games or practices in which groups of soldiers participate, supposedly to foster group cohesion. Since pielparade are taboo, and because of the controversial and sensitive nature of the activities of the S.A.D.F. during the final period of the apartheid era, pielparade are rarely written about or openly discussed in public. Pielparade have never been officially sanctioned, and their occurrence largely depended on the predilections of individual section or platoon leaders. Pielparade were also known as 'spanbou speletjies' which translates as 'team building games' or 'geesbou speletjies' ('team spirit-building games'). Apart from promoting group cohesiveness, the games were also meant to be humorous and to entertain the troops.
The most common game is known as 'laërskommel' which literally translates as 'laager milkshake' but means 'circle jerk' which is when a group of men form a circle and masturbate themselves till they ejaculate. During the nineteenth century, the ancestors of the Afrikaners, called Boers, used to create encampments formed by a circle of wagons to protect them from attacks by hostile African tribes or wild animals. These circular encampments were called laagers in Dutch which the Boers spoke at the time but their Dutch eventually evolved into Afrikaans. The Afrikaans word for 'laager' is 'laër'. The 'skommel' or 'milkshake' part of 'laërskommel' refers to male masturbation and semen which may resemble certain milkshakes.
The section or platoon would gather in the section or platoon bungalow or outside and create an area called the 'saadskietbaan'. 'Saad' means 'seed' or 'seeds' but in this context it means 'semen', 'skiet' means 'shoot' and 'baan' means 'shooting range' or 'a range for target practice'. The section or platoon leader would order participants to form a circle or line up in a row behind a line in the 'saadskietbaan'. Soldiers would then place bets on which participants would ejaculate first, last or furthest. Participants were then ordered to strip naked. The 'laërskommel' might be preceded by a 'worswedstryd' (see below) or participants were ordered to perform 'jumping jacks' or 'star jumps' which are a type of physical exercise in which the performer jumps from a standing position with the arms and legs pointing outwards. The purpose of ordering the participants to perform 'jumping jacks' was partly to humiliate them and to humour the onlookers because the participants' penises would inevitably flail up and down or side to side as they jumped. Participants would then proceed to masturbate themselves till they ejaculated. Occasionally, participants would be ordered to stimulate other participants' penises or scrotum. After the last participant had finished ejaculating, the winnings were then distributed.
Other Afrikaans slang words for 'laërskommel' include:
Kraalskommel – a 'kraal' is a traditional African village of huts surrounded by a circular fence or it is a circular enclosure for livestock; 'skommel' means 'milkshake' of which the meaning in this context is explained above.
Kringskommel – a 'kring' is a 'ring' or 'circle'; 'skommel' means 'milkshake' of which the meaning in this context is explained above.
Balskud – a 'bal' is a 'ball' but in this context it means 'testicle' and 'skud' means 'to shake'. The term also occurs in the plural, viz. ballasskud
Saadbomme – 'saad' means 'seed' or 'seeds' but in this context it means 'semen', and 'bomme' means 'bombs'.
Saadkannone – 'saad' means 'seed' or 'seeds' but in this context it means 'semen', and 'kannone' means 'cannons'.
Saadskiet – 'saad' means 'seed' or 'seeds' but in this context it means 'semen', and 'skiet' means 'shoot'.
Saadskietparade – 'saad' means 'seed' or 'seeds' but in this context it means 'semen', 'skiet' means 'shoot' and 'parade' means 'parade'.
Skietpiel – 'skiet' means 'shoot' and 'piel' means 'penis'.
Toltrekparade – 'tol' means 'dick' (i.e. slang for 'penis'), 'trek' means 'pull' and 'parade' means 'parade'
Draadtrekparade – 'draad' means 'wire' but in this context it means 'penis', 'trek' means 'pull' and 'parade' means 'parade'
Tottietrekparade – 'tottie' means 'willy' (i.e. slang for 'penis'), 'trek' means 'pull' and 'parade' means 'parade'.
Other types of pielparade:
This game derives from the Afrikaans words 'wors' which means 'sausage' and 'wedstryd' which means 'match' or 'game'. Participants would take bets to see whose penises were the longest or shortest or thickest, and the money or whatever was being bet would then be distributed to the winners.
This game derives from the Afrikaans words 'hand' which means 'hand' and 'stoot' which means 'push'. Participants would stand naked in a row and thrust their erect penises in their hands till they ejaculated, basically as if they were having sex with their own hands. Bets would be placed on who could ejaculate first, last or the furthest.
This game derives from the Afrikaans words 'olifant' which means 'elephant' and 'loop' which means 'walk'. Participants would be ordered to stand naked in a column. Each soldier would take hold of the penis of the soldier in front of him by putting his hands between the soldier's legs from behind, as well as the penis of the soldier behind him. The participants would then be ordered to walk, to the amusement of the onlookers.
This game derives from the Afrikaans words 'kussing' which means 'cushion' or 'pillow' and 'kannon' which means 'cannon'. Participants would be ordered to strip naked, make their penises erect and then rub them against a pillow or cushion till they ejaculate. As with other pielparade, bets would be placed on which participant would ejaculate first or last or the furthest.
This game derives from the Afrikaans word for 'doll house'. A soldier would bring a woman, usually a prostitute, to the platoon bungalow and have sex with her while other troops watch. Sometimes the woman would be aware and sometimes the woman would be unaware that she was being watched. The troops watching would be ordered to masturbate and ejaculate while watching.
This game derives from the Afrikaans words 'flamink' which means 'flamingo' and 'bomme' which means 'bombs'. Flamingos sleep by balancing on one leg. In this game, participants would be ordered to strip naked and stand on one leg by holding the other leg by the foot behind the back. The participants would then be ordered to masturbate and ejaculate while trying to balance on one leg. The participants had to masturbate with the hand which they did not usually use to masturbate. If the participants failed to maintain their balance, they would be punished with an 'opfok' (literally 'up-fuck', or 'fuck up') which was a series of punishment exercises like push-ups, running, jumping jacks, etc.
This game derives from the Afrikaans words 'swaard' which means 'sword' and 'geweer' which means 'gun' and is also jokingly known as 'penis fencing' or 'sword-fighting'. This game was essentially a form of frottage; direct penis-to-penis contact, in which participants would use their penises as 'swords' in a 'swordfight', which usually involved the competitive element of trying to make the other participant ejaculate first.
This game derives from the Afrikaans words 'jags' which means 'horny' and 'bly' which means 'to remain'. The section or platoon leader would order the soldiers to strip naked and masturbate. The participants would then engage in edging or orgasm control which is a sexual technique that involves a high level of sexual arousal for an extended period of time without reaching orgasm. The competitive aspect of this game would be to see which soldier could continue masturbating the longest without having an orgasm.
Eensame kannon or Lekkende kraan or Kraanspuit
"Eensaam' means 'lonely' and 'kannon' means 'cannon'; 'lekkende' means


text:
Trends in the farming of the snakeskin gourami (Trichogaster pectoralis) in Thailand
- The production of snakeskin gourami (Trichogaster pectoralis) from wild stocks and traditional culture systems has been declining in central Thailand, although they are on the increase in modern culture practices adopted in some provinces. Net yields of T. pectoralis in traditional systems are about a third of those in modern systems. The potential of T. pectoralis as a candidate for more intensive waste-fed polyculture appears promising if seed supply constraints can be removed.
- Sustainable aquaculture
- Journal Article


text:
- Definition of Household savings ratio: The percentage of disposable income that is saved. (1)
- Total savings = Disposable income – Household consumption
UK Saving Ratio
- Latest UK household savings ratio: Q1 2017 = 1.7% (July 2017)
- By contrast the average savings ratio in the past 54 years is 9.2% of disposable income.
2017 has seen a dramatic fall in the UK savings ratio to a record low. This fall in the savings ratio has been caused by
- Fall in real wages
- Depreciation in Sterling post-Brexit – pushing up cost of living and contributing to fall in real wages
- To maintain spending, consumers have borrowed and dipped into savings
- Temporary factors (high tax payments on dividends)
UK Saving ratio. Source: National income accounts Q4 NRJS dataset
NRJS = Households + NPISH (Non Profit Institutions Serving Households)
Saving ratio and base interest rates
In theory, lower interest rates reduce the incentive to save. But, the interest rate is only one of many factors influencing decisions to save. The most important factor is the state of the economy. In 2009, we saw a rapid rise in the saving rate because of the recession – despite interest rates cut to zero.
Source: RPQL, ONS
This shows total quarterly gross household + non profit savings.
2017 saw sharp drop in saving levels
Savings ratio since 1963
In the post war period, the UK savings ratio was on an upward trend. Between 1964 and the early 1980s, we see a long-term rise. There was a peak in the recession of 1980/81.
However, between 1992 and 2008 (in a period known as the great moderation), the saving ratio fell to an all time low of 4.6%.
At the start of the credit crunch and recession of 2008-10, the saving ratio rose rapidly as consumers became more risk averse and wanted to pay off debts and increase savings. This rise in the saving ratio contributed to a fall in consumer spending and negative economic growth.
The sharp fall in real GDP in 2008/09 mirrored the sharp rise in the savings ratio.
The concern is that economic growth post-2012 is partly driven by a falling saving ratio, that is unsustainable without a rise in real wages.
Saving ratio in 2008-12 recession
The saving ratio in the 2008-12 recession didn't rise as much as during the 1990-92 recession. This is because:
- In the 1991-92 recession, interest rates were much higher (reaching a peak of 15%). Since 2009, interest rates have fallen to 0.5%. Therefore, from the perspective of interest rates there is a lower incentive to save in 2012
- The 2008-12 recession has caused a bigger long term squeeze on real incomes (due to higher tax, rising energy prices and falling real wages). Therefore, people have had less room to increase savings and pay off debt. They have been struggling to meet bills and so they don't have the same luxury of increasing saving.
Fall in savings ratio since 2010
Since 2010 Q1, the savings ratio has fallen significantly from 11.8% to 4.7% Q2 2015. This is partly due to stagnant real wages, though there are hopes that the recent rise in real incomes will translate into higher savings ratio.
Saving ratio v net financial wealth
Reasons for a fall in savings ratio during _PHONE_
- Availability of credit until 2007 encouraged people to take out loans.
- Rising House prices encouraged people to borrow because of their positive wealth effect. Home-owners could re-mortgage
- Cultural / social trends encouraging an attitude of borrowing and spending. See: Problem of Personal Debt
- Low-Interest rates. E.g. in 1991-92 interest rates were over 12%. In 2000s interest rates fell to 3%. Interest rates are currently 4.5% and less than inflation. This negative real interest rate discourages saving.
Note: There was also a fall in the savings rate in the Lawson boom of the 1980s
Why do saving ratios tend to rise in a recession?
- In a recession, people worry about unemployment and so are likely to be more cautious about borrowing and spending. If you fear unemployment, you don't want to be saddled with debt repayments on a new car. People tend to delay big purchases during economic uncertainty. Saving ratios rose during a recession such as 1991-92 and 2008-12.
- Banks are trying to improve their balance sheets by attracting more deposits and lending less. It is often hard to get a loan during a recession.
- During 2008-12 real interest rates were often negative which, in theory, reduces the incentive to save. However, low real interest rates can be outweighed by more important factors, such as the fear of being made unemployed. In other words, people are saving more – despite poor return from saving.
Saving ratio and the paradox of thrift
The paradox of thrift is the idea that if everyone saves at once, it can cause macro-economic problems (i.e. recession). From an individual perspective, it makes sense to save and pay off debts in a recession. But, if everyone pursues the same course of higher saving, it causes a fall in aggregate demand.
See: Paradox of thrift
Savings ratio and fiscal policy
In a recession, a sharp rise in the savings ratio means that consumer spending will fall significantly. In Keynesian economics, this is a reason for the government to borrow and increase spending. The logic is
- If the saving ratio rises, government spending needs to take the place of private sector spending and investment. Otherwise, the recession will be deeper.
- If the saving ratio rises, the private sector has more available funds to purchase government bonds.
Benefits of a higher saving ratio
A rapid rise in the savings ratio can cause a fall in aggregate demand and recession. However, in the long term, a higher savings ratio is often considered to help promote more sustainable economic growth.
Higher savings enables more private sector investment. Many see this level of investment as a key factor in determining the long term economic growth rate.
Problems of low savings ratio
A very low savings ratio can indicate:
- Unbalanced economy with over-reliance on consumer spending.
- Build up of personal debt.
- Current account deficit, (with imports greater than exports.)
Since 2010, the fall in the savings ratio has occurred during a widening of the current account deficit.
- Paying off debt and savings
- Difference between saving and investment
- Paradox of saving – why people save more when they say it is a bad time to save
- Definition of disposable income
(1) The ONS define the savings ratio (NRJS) – Households' saving as a percentage of total available households' resources.
(2) The saving ratio is subject to be revised at a later date.


text:
Suwannee River Water Management District
The Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) is the smallest of five Florida water management districts that is responsible for managing groundwater and surface water resources in a 15-county region in north-central Florida. SRWMD employs 68 people at the district headquarters in Live Oak, Florida.
The five water management districts were established in 1972 by Chapter 373, Florida Statutes, and were empowered by the electorate in 1976 to assess ad valorem taxes to fund the management of the state's water resources, and related land resources, to benefit the citizens and the environment. Each water management district is controlled by a Governing Board composed of citizens appointed by the Governor and approved by the Florida Senate. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has oversight responsibility for the five water management districts.
SRWMD's hydrological activities include regulating the consumptive use of water, regulating the construction and maintenance of stormwater management systems that serve developed properties in order to protect water quality and prevent flooding, regulating the construction of water wells and the licensure of water well contractors, conducting water supply planning, conducting research on water resource issues, buying and managing environmentally sensitive land, and the operation of flood control structures.
The Florida counties which are entirely within the SRWMD are: Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Madison, Suwannee, Taylor, and Union. Partial counties include: Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Jefferson, Levy and Putnam.
The major river under the district's control is (obviously) the Suwannee. The major tributaries are the: Santa Fe, Alapaha and Ichetucknee. Other rivers include the Withlacoochee, Fenholloway, Aucilla, Steinhatchee, Econfina, Waccasassa and Wacissa.
See also
- Northwest Florida Water Management District
- St. Johns River Water Management District
- South Florida Water Management District
- Southwest Florida Water Management District
- Florida Statutes Section 373.069
- Florida Statutes Section 373.503
- Florida Statutes Section 373.073
- Florida Department of Environmental Protection website: Water Management Districts
- Part II of Chapter 373, Florida Statutes
- Part III of Chapter 373, Florida Statutes
- Part IV of Chapter 373, Florida Statutes

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


Sunday, 17 February 2013
Tutorial: Painting Nurgle Demons With Washes
Nurgle Plaguebearer
Finished Nurgle Plaguebearer
A couple of people have requested information on how I painted a few previously posted Nurgle Plaguebearers and Chaos Space Marines.
So here's a short tutorial on how I do this.
Nurgle Plaguebearer
White Undercoat
Step 1:
The miniature was given a thin undercoat of pure white. I generally use Vallejo undercoats as I find these can be quickly applied with an airbrush.
Nurgle Plaguebearer
Athonian Camoshade Coat 1
Step 2:
Once the undercoat was fully dry, I applied a generous coat of Athonian Camoshade to the miniature using a Washbrush and then left the miniature to dry (mainly as the Lord or Terror had hidden her hairdryer....)
Nurgle Plaguebearer
Athonian Camoshade Coat 2
Step 3:
With the first layer of shade fully dry, I applied a second generous coat of Athonian Camoshade. This was then followed by a thick coat of Agrax Earthshade.
Nurgle Plaguebearer
Ratskin Flesh Coat 1
Step 4:
Having located the Lord of Terror's hairdryer and accelerated the drying process slightly, I painted the warts, intestines and other ikky fleshy bits with a thinned coat of Ratskin Flesh. Given that the base layer paints from GW are pigment dense, I used Vallejo airbrush thinner to do this, rather than the more expensive Lahriman Medium. As this is a Nurgle demon, I wasn't too worried if the end result wasn't totally accurate.
Nurgle Plaguebearer
Dryad Bark Coat
Step 5:
Anything not expected to be green or pink (ick!) was given a thinned coat of Dryad Bark.
Nurgle Plaguebearer
More Washes...
Step 6:
The Dryad Bark areas were given a thick coat of Agrax Earthshade. Similarly, the Fleshy bits were given a coat of Reikland Fleshade. The miniature was left to dry overnight (the hairdryer had been removed after accusations of using it for purposes that were not deemed appropriate)
Nurgle Plaguebearer
Cadian Fleshtone
Step 7:
Fleshy areas were given a thinned layer of Cadian Fleshtone, layered to retain some of the darker Flesh showing through.
Nurgle Plaguebearer
A severe case of Jaundice
Step 8:
The demon's single eye was given two thinned coats of Flash Gitz Yellow. Ikky...
Nurgle Plaguebearer
Bones and Teeth
Step 9:
Teeth and bones were given a coat of Zandri Dust, followed up by Ushabti Bone and Screaming Skull.
Nurgle Plaguebearer
Nurgle Plaguebearer
Based and Varnished
Step 10:
To finish the model off, I covered the base in Armageddon Dust, drybrushed when dry with Tyrant Skull. The larger rocks were painted with thinned Zandri Dust and drybrushed with Tyrant Skull. The whole base was then given a wash of Seraphim Sepia.
Once dry, Vallejo Matt Varnish was used to tone the whole model down.
 1. Nice stuff. I'll be using this for sure. On the hair dryer front: Keep it up. The Lady Inquisitor finally broke down and bought me a small travel dryer - ostensibly to dry minis, but the number of times I've had The Agent of Chaos in my lap with a brush in my hand far outweighs the number of times I've used it for mini drying. I'm beginning to suspect an ulterior motive...
 2. Thank you for this tutorial, I will try it soon on my Plague zombies...
 3. Thanks a ton! I've finally found a perfect way to paint my zombies!!
 ... must - eat - brains


$.
The case r=0 can also be treated by hand and will be ignored. Now, we double-count. Observe that each $r$-element set in ${\mathcal D}$ has $r$ "children" as $r-1$-element subsets of ${\mathcal D}$, by removing one of the r elements from that set. On the other hand, each $r-1$-element set can have at most $n-r+1$ "parents", and so
$$ r f_r \leq (n-r+1) f_{r-1}.$$
(EDIT: Actually we didn't need to remove the r=0 case if we adopted the convention $f_{-1}=0$ here.)
In particular, if $r > \frac{n+1}{2}$, then $f_r < f_{r-1}$ we could remove both the r and r-1-element sets from the downset and again increase the sum; so we have $r \leq \frac{n+1}{2}$. In fact the same argument shows that, by changing the extremum ${\mathcal D}$ if necessary, we may assume that $r < \frac{n+1}{2}$, thus (since $n$ is 3 mod 4 and r is even) $r \leq \frac{n-3}{2}$. In other words, every element of ${\mathcal D}$ has cardinality at most $(n-3)/2$.
Now we flip the downset to look at the complementary downset ${\mathcal D}' := \{ A \in [n]: [n] \backslash A \not \in {\mathcal D} \}$. As n is odd, we have $\sum_{A \in {\mathcal D}'} (-1)^{|A|} = \sum_{A \in {\mathcal D}} (-1)^{|A|}$, and so ${\mathcal D}'$ is also an extremiser. Thus, by the above argument, every element of ${\mathcal D}'$ has cardinality at most $(n+1)/2$. Equivalently (as $n$ is odd), ${\mathcal D}$ contains every element of cardinality at most $(n-3)/2$. Combining this with the previous analysis, we see that the extremum is attained at the set consisting precisely of all subsets of [n] of cardinality at most $(n-3)/2$, which gives the required value of $F_+(n)$.
share|improve this answer
In retrospect, this would have been a great mini-polymath problem. Ah well. :-) – Terry Tao Jul 9 '12 at 18:50
Wha do you mean "would have been"? Wasn't it? Also, do I get my Tao number now, or do I have to wait five business days? Gerhard "Happy To Have Rendered Assistance" Paseman, 2012.07.09 – Gerhard Paseman Jul 9 '12 at 18:59
Well, I guess it was in a de facto sense, if not in a premeditated sense. I unfortunately don't have a strong enough application for the bound in order to merit publication, though; I came across the question because I was wondering about how to bound partial divisor sums of the Mobius function, and then felt that it had enough independent interest to pose here, but the bounds don't seem to make any dramatic dents in the bounds for other number-theoretic quantities, alas. But it's still great that the problem seems to be solved, it may be of use at some future date... – Terry Tao Jul 9 '12 at 19:23
Well, in the meantime, I think I'll submit the sequences F_+ and F_to OEIS. Whether this will count as a "publication" for the purposes of bibliographic metrics, I leave to the reader. – Terry Tao Jul 9 '12 at 20:08
I think this question and its solution within 3 hours is a typical example of how much more efficient people can get when collaborating via mathoverflow. – Christian Stump Jul 10 '12 at 6:41
I tried it using linear integer programming for the first few values of $n$, with the following results.
$$ \matrix{ n & min & max\cr 1 & 0 & 1\cr 2 &-1 & 1\cr 3 & -2 & 1\cr 4 & -3 & 3\cr 5 & -4 & 6\cr 6 & -10 & 10\cr 7 & -20 & 15\cr 8 & -35 & 35\cr 9 & -56 & 70\cr} $$
These sequences do not appear to be in the OEIS.
share|improve this answer
The bounds for even $n$ look interesting. Does the pattern (i.e. min = - max) continue for further even $n$? – Michael Albanese Jul 9 '12 at 16:59
So far this is consistent with the tentative conjecture proposed above, which more explicitly asserts that the bounds should be $\pm \binom{n-1}{n/2}$ when n is even, between $−\binom{n-1}{(n-1)/2}$ and $\binom{n-1}{(n+1)/2}$ when n is 3 mod 4, and between $-\binom{n-1}{(n+1)/2}$ and $\binom{n-1}{(n-1)/2}$ when n is 1 mod 4. (Thus, for instance, the conjecture would assert -126 and +126 for n=10, -252 and 210 for n=11, and so forth, as both bounds snake down the middle of Pascal's triangle.) – Terry Tao Jul 9 '12 at 17:29
For even $n$ it looks like $\max = -\min = {n \choose {n/2}}/2$, which is obtained taking all the subsets of cardinality $< n/2$ or $> n/2$. – Robert Israel Jul 9 '12 at 17:31
I can't believe I didn't see this before, but it is trivial that the max and min will be negations of each other in the n even case, because the reflected complement of a downset is again a downset. – Terry Tao Jul 9 '12 at 17:44
_USER_: Nice observation! Indeed, since one can slice an n-dimensional downset into two n-1-dimensional downsets, and the alternating sum of the former is the difference of the two for the latter, I think this shows that the conjecture for even n is implied by the conjecture for n-1, and one of the two bounds for odd n is implied by the bound for n-1. So it's only the smaller of the two bounds in odd n that needs proof... – Terry Tao Jul 9 '12 at 18:13
Here is a simple proof which should give exact optimizers for "most" choices of n mod 4 and max/minimizing; and, near-sharp values for the remaining cases. I'll do it for upsets instead of downsets.
Identify the discrete cube with $\{-1,1\}^n$ and let $f : \{-1,1\}^n \to \{0,1\}$ be the indicator of $\mathcal{D}$ which is monotone since $\mathcal{D}$ is an upset. Up to a factor of $2^n$ we are trying to min/maximize $E_x[f(x) \chi(x)]$, where $x$ is uniformly random on the cube and $\chi(x) = \prod_{i=1}^n x_i$. Let $1 \leq j \leq n$ be uniformly random and let $x^{(j)}$ denote $x$ with its $j$th coordinate negated. Since $x^{(j)}$ is also uniformly distributed,
$E_x[f(x) \chi(x)] = E_{x,j}[\frac{f(x) \chi(x) + f(x^{(j)})\chi(x^{(j)})}{2}] = E[\chi(x)\frac{f(x)-f(x^{(j)})}{2}]$
where we used $\chi(x^{(j)}) = -\chi(x)$. Thus in absolute value, the quantity is at most
$E[\bigl|\frac{f(x)-f(x^{(j)})}{2}\bigr|] = \frac{1}{2n}E_x\left[\sum_{i=1}^n \bigl|f(x)-f(x^{(i)})\bigr|\right] = \frac{1}{2n}E\left[\sum_{i=1}^n f(x)x_i\right]$,
where the last step uses that $f$ is monotone. But
$\frac{1}{2n}E\left[\sum_{i=1}^n f(x)x_i\right] = \frac{1}{2n} E\left[f(x)(\sum_{i=1}^n x_i)\right]$
is clearly maximized among $


Drive Reduction Theory of Motivation: Definition & Examples
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Instructor: Devin Kowalczyk
Devin has taught Psychology and has a master's degree in Clinical Forensic Psychology, and will earn a PhD in 2015.
There is nothing as motivating to you as the need to eat and drink. You are driven by these biological needs, but why do you work? You are sitting at this computer, not out there finding deer to hunt or edible plants to eat. Why?
What Is the Drive Reduction Theory of Motivation?
Are you hungry right now? Maybe you should go get a snack. Thirsty? Go get a drink of water. If your chair is uncomfortable and causing you pain, you'll need to find a new chair. When your body tells you that you 'need something,' or that you need to 'change something,' this is your body giving you a drive.
Drive reduction theory of motivation can be simply described as you don't want to be hungry, thirsty, in pain, or horny. If your body wants something, that want is the drive. You are motivated to reduce the drive.
What Is Normal?
The title of this section is a little misleading. 'Normal' here means that your needs have been met, so you are not wanting anything like food, water, or sex. When one of these is wanted or needed, it means you are not operating at your homeostatic norm. Your homeostatic norm is when you don't need or want anything; you are satisfied. Homeostasis is a balancing act where every need tilts and unbalances the system. When there is a drive, it means your body wants a certain something to continue functioning.
Homeostatic Shift
Your homeostatic norm can be shifted. Sometimes this can occur due to brain damage but most often occurs because a person begins taking drugs. Homeostatic shift is when your body begins to crave substances it does not originally need but over time has come to depend on them. For example, certain drugs cause the brain to release large amounts of brain chemicals. Over time, the brain only releases these chemicals when the drug is present, and in smaller and smaller amounts. At one time, the drug made them high, but after several dozen uses, they need the drug to feel normal.
This means their homeostatic norm has shifted. The drug becomes another need, like food or water. Without the drug, they are in agony because the drug has artificially changed the structure of the brain so the need for the drug is stronger than the need for food, water, or sex. Anyone's body can go a day or two without food and they will be unhappy; similarly, the changes made in the brain of a drug user make quitting extremely painful.
Drive Reduction
Drive Reduction Theory was first established by Clark Hull. Hull was interested in applying mathematical formulas to psychology, and it is simple to see how this works with the Drive Reduction Theory.
If you have achieved homeostasis, your motivation is zero, since you have no drives to reduce. If you are hungry, then your drive is increased to one. If you are really hungry, your drive becomes two. If you are thirsty, your drive to satisfy the hunger and thirst becomes three. As drives accumulate, your overall motivation increases.
Primary vs. Secondary Drives
You may have noticed that human behaviors go far beyond getting food, water, and sex, and being comfortable. If you are reading this right now, you are literally not obtaining any of those. But you are working towards them by way of a secondary drive.
Primary drives are biological needs that provide you motivation. If you are hungry, you look for food. If you are thirsty, you look for water. These drives keep you alive.
Secondary drives are drives that are associated with the primary drives. Going to work is not fun, or not as fun as running around and doing whatever you want. But working gets you money, and money gets you food, water, and more. You have been conditioned to link the primary drives to the secondary drives. This means that you are driven to accomplish secondary drives, like work for money, to satisfy your primary drives, food and water. Your brain has been conditioned so thought pathways make these secondary drives nearly as powerful as your primary drives.
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text:
warning: format not a string literal and no format arguments
What does this mean? GCC is saying that a function in printf style has a format string that it cannot check matches the format arguments. Here is some common code GLib code that causes this error:
GError *error =...;
Why is this a problem? As
error->messagecannot be checked it may contain a printf flag sequence, e.g.
"Invalid data: 'g^y#%s'"(i.e.
%s) that would cause run-time to try and access a non-existent argument. It could be worse and the format string could be user-input that is attempting to exploit your program.
So the solution is to always use a string literal for formatting like this:


Difference Between Similar Terms and Objects
Difference Between Appendix and Annex
appendixAre you planning to publish a project? Well it's pretty normal if you happen to get confused between are you supposed to add an appendix or an annex at the end of the project. Reading through this article would be a good idea if you're looking to clear out the differences between the two and make sure that your project is free from unwanted mistakes.
An annex is essentially part of the main text but is placed at the end separately so as to make the whole document clearer; whereas an appendix is essentially additional text which full fills the purpose of supplementing the main text. In a way one could say an annex can also be called an appendix but the same is not true for appendix.
An appendix basically contains data that cannot be placed in the main text. It is referenced in different parts of the main body and ideally should not be a stand alone document. A trick to remember this is that one is appending data to a document the aim of doing this is adding greater details and visual examples that would help in better understanding of the main text.
Annex basically could be considered a completely different document altogether very often called a stand alone document which could not be added to the original document but still holds great importance to the overall publication and thus it is important that it still is added. In general, for policy matters, the appendices are usually assumed to have been written by the original author of the document. The annexes, on the other hand, are usually assumed to have been written by an external party. When writing your project it is very important the information about the various sources that you have used while making the project whether you have copied it or modified it and then added it to the document. Also make sure you have proper copyright permissions.
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 1. it will be well understood if it is provided with some examples. theory is good but giving example will definitely help to understand and remeber for a long term.
 - I would think for example, a dissertation I am writing about a UN Summit….
 I will place the Declaration of Principles from the Summit in the Annex…this is a standalone document that under no circumstances would I place in the text…BUT it is highly relevant to the entire dissertation as a document — also, it wasn't written by me but by the Summit delegates…so I think then would go into an Annex…
 In the Appendix, I would maybe put something in that I wanted to clarify, maybe some more details of the theory behind the "conceptual framework" that I chose to use in order to analyze this Summit. Some people when they use formulas and stuff, will explain the details of how the formulas work in an Appendix…
 Additionally, sometimes raw data like a interview transcript would be in the Appendix if you are referring to an interview you conducted in the text, and want to show the quote in context, or refer the reader there for more details….
 I think these might be good examples…and from what I can tell this would be right…
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text:
igions in Germany were Catholic or Evangelical (after 1830 all Protestant religions were legally made to merge into one umbrella religious group)
- Depending on the time period, your ancestor may also appear in emigration databases from Europe
- More likely Protestant if they came from Northern Ireland
- Chain migration was widespread
- Comprised about one-third of all immigrants to the United States between 1820 and 1860
- The Irish Potato Famine was a strong motivation for emigration between 1845 and 1852
- May have been using a fixed surname or their patronymic when they arrived, so search for both names on the passenger lists;
- They were Lutheran in Europe, so search the nearest Lutheran, Evangelical, or other Protestant / non-conformist churches in the United States
- Depending on the time period, your ancestor may also appear in emigration (e.g. departing) databases from Europe
With the vast amount of information available to search, immigration ancestor research is possible but can be very time consuming. If you need assistance from an expert genealogist team, the professionals at Legacy Tree Genealogists are here to help. Learn more about how we can further your family tree by requesting a quote today.


IUCN threat status:
Not evaluated
Brief Summary
Read full entry
Cyperaceae is a plant family commonly known as the sedges, which is comprised of approximately 5500 species. Stems are unjointed and typically triangular in cross section, with solid pith throughout. Leaves are three-ranked or tristichous. Fruits are in the form of an achene or nut.
Species most commonly occur in wetlands, although some are found in upland locations, and in some cases are obtrusive to crops; Benzothiadiazoles are typically the herbicides of choice to control unwanted Cyperaceae.
Supplier: C. Michael Hogan


text:
Here are functions for operating on small integers, that fit within an
SCM. Such integers are called immediate numbers, or
INUMs. In general, INUMs occupy all but two bits of an
Bignums and floating-point numbers are non-immediate objects, and have their own, separate accessors. The functions here will not work on them. This is not as much of a problem as you might think, however, because the system never constructs bignums that could fit in an INUM, and never uses floating point values for exact integers.
Return the value of x as an ordinary, C integer. If x is not an INUM, the result is undefined.


Children and Play in the Holocaust
Games among the Shadows
Occasionally an accident of research produces a book more engaging than the one the historian originally intended. While sifting through material for his Ph.D. dissertation, which dealt with an entirely different topic, Eisen came across a diary from the Vilna ghetto written by Zelig Kalmanovitch. His tone was sober, but not entirely so. The passage that caught Eisen's eye concerned a playground erected around 1942 and the author's inner conflict surrounded the coexistence of games and sports and mass murder in the ghetto.
Related Subjects:


7.15.2020 - Improved Assessment Workflow for Helpers
We have a feature called Seeker Context that allows Helpers to navigate on behalf of specific Seekers. When in Seeker Context, the main benefit to the Helper is that all referral forms are autofilled with the Seeker's information. This saves them time and decreases the likelihood of creating a duplicate profile.
After an Assessment is submitted, we show programs that can help meet any needs that were identified so that Seekers can be connected. Those search results are specific to the Seeker so it makes sense that Helpers would be put into Seeker Context following an Assessment, so that they can easily make referrals for the Seeker. Now, when a Helper fills out an Assessment for a Seeker, they will be put into Seeker Context when viewing search results (Highlighted Search and Program Recommendation Summary).
Additionally, in the Forms section of the Seeker Profile, Helpers can view search results generated by past Assessments to make additional referrals. Now, when Helpers click "See Search" they will also be put into Seeker Context so that they can easily make referrals to those programs.
With these changes, it becomes even easier to make referrals and connect your Seekers to the programs they need!
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text:
Tell me if my translation makes sense from a technical point of view:
-The black locust shoots stolons (runners) that allows the plant to spread. That's why it's often used to prevent risks of landsliding (dikes, open areas) and to reforest barren lands.
It colonises naturally embankments and vacants lots. Its robust and sustainable timber makes good vine stakes. Crushed, it produces yellow dye.
Its white flowers' clusters are melliferous thus acacia honey. Rich in nectar, Locust flowers can be eaten in cakes or syrup.


text:
In part one of this two-part story, the authors review the basics of intercept point specifications and linearity. For an expanded view of the equations, click here. Part two will discuss how to actually evaluate and interpret IPn.
For a variety of electronic devices ranging from RF mixers to low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), linearity is an essential performance attribute. The degree of linearity demonstrated by a component can make the difference between a successful device and a unit that fails to operate as designed. Intercept point (IP) specifications provide a useful tool for determining the degree of linearity exhibited by electronic devices.
IPn, which stands for intercept points of order n
for some integer n
≥2, consists of "virtual" parameters (i.e., the values are actually defined from other specifications). As a result, their values and extrapolations often remain vague. Admittedly, many electronic books or tutorials give some description of how IPn specifications are linked with input/output powers, power gain, and compression point. However, those reference works offer minimal, none, or incomplete explanations about IPn specifications and their origin.
Today, integrated functions such as an LNA, mixers, and a VCO (voltage controlled oscillator) can be built with the highest linearity (thus superior IP3) with advanced design techniques, and with proven RF processes. The design aim is to obtain the highest IP3 without sacrificing current consumption (bias circuit), gain, and size. Practically speaking, describing IPn orders up to 5, and eventually 7, can be significant. Today, however, the "order 3" (IP3) dominates when describing the normal operation of sensitive devices.
This article will use basic math and graphics to explain how IPn, and especially IP3, is generated and how its values are linked to essential quantities such as the input and output powers of a device. It will explain why high IP3 (thus, high linearity) is so important when evaluating performance. Finally, it will discuss some high-performance analog ICs in which linearity, high IP3, is a fundamental measurement of their good operation.Why is linearity so important?
A principal objective for many electronic devices has been always to replicate simple, easy-to-reproduce, ideal mathematical functions. A simple illustration is the resistor which is designed to reproduce a linear relationship between voltage and current (VI). The resistor is simply the slope of the VI response.
We all know that the ideal relationship of V = R × I cannot be realized 100% of the time. One can approach it, but the inherent imperfections and limitations of the devices cause deviations in the ideal curve. This is particularly true when signals (I, V) are large and/or other conditions like temperature, humidity, and pressure vary. To compensate for these inherent deviations, we want the resistor, R, to be as linear as possible and remain so over wide ranges of signals and conditions. In reality, however, resistors have more complex curves in the (VI) characteristics (red dotted line in Figure 1).
Figure 1. Dotted red line shows the real (imperfect) resistor. Linearity is corrupted when I and V curves become large.
Other IC components that require well-controlled linearity include amplifiers, data converters, VCOs, mixers, and PAs. With these ICs, deviations from the ideal VI relationship lead to instabilities, failure to meet specs, and interference. They can even cause malfunctions or destroy the device and/or entire system.Measuring linearity
Depending on the class of signals and their dynamic ranges, different parameters and methods are defined to visualize, evaluate, measure, and compare the linear characteristic of an actual device.
Resistor linearity is typically measured in % of a nominal value of R. This is usually enough to appreciate the error that one introduces in current and voltage on the device.
The RF functions in an LNA, mixers, filters, PA, and other components can generate very large signal dynamics and introduce harmonics, interference, and saturation as critical effects of nonlinearities. Several parameters have been defined to characterize this nonideal relationship between input and output:
- 1dB compression point (CP-1dB)
- Compression dynamic range (CDR)
- Spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR)
- Desensitization dynamic range (DDR)
- Intercept points (IPn)
Since all the above terms indicate how good (or bad) the linearity of a device is, relations do exist between them. While this examination acknowledges the above class of parameters, it focuses exclusively on the intercept points, or how IPn (n) can be 2, 3, 4, etc. It will become clear that IPn (especially IP3) reveals the most about how nonlinearity negatively affects useful signals. It causes interference to be directly injected in the desired signal bandwidth. For this reason, one can focus here only on IP3 performance, regardless of the other parameters. Thus, in a few words, the higher the IPn, the more linear is the device.


text:
Dr. Rithima Sokhi is a General Dentist at Rideau Dental Centre in Ottawa.
- Originally from Mumbai, India, now proudly calls Canada home
- Fluent in English, Hindi, Punjabi, and Marathi, she effortlessly connects with a diverse range of patients and colleagues
- As an esteemed member of dental associations like the CDA, ODA, ODS, and RCDSO, Dr. Sokhi is unwavering in her commitment to upholding the highest standards of dental care
- DDS from the University of Toronto
- MDS in Endodontics and Conservative Dentistry from Maharashtra University of Health Sciences in India
- BDS from HNB Garhwal University, India
- Dr. Sokhi's professional philosophy revolves around patient-centered, evidence-based care
- Continually strives for excellence while embodying compassion and humility
Hobbies and Interests
- Beyond the dental chair, Dr. Sokhi treasures quality time spent with her family, cherishing the moments that create lasting bonds
- Additionally, she finds solace and creative expression in the arts, particularly through painting and calligraphy
- An avid reader, she continuously seeks knowledge and inspiration from the pages of diverse literature.
- In essence, Dr. Rithima Sokhi's journey is marked by her roots, global experiences, and dedication to dental excellence, all while finding joy in family and creative pursuits


text:
The Silo Canal, or Silokanal in German, is a canal in the German state of Brandenburg. It provides a short cut for vessels navigating the River Havel, avoiding the winding and constricted navigation through the city of Brandenburg an der Havel.
The 5.26-kilometre (3.27 mi) long canal follows the route of the Silograben of 1782, and was constructed between 1907 and 1910. At its upstream end, the Vorstadtschleuse Brandenburg lock descends 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) into the lower level of the Havel, known as the Brandenburger Niederhavel, where a junction is also made with the Beetzsee. From here the canal proper skirts the northern edge of the city, eventually flowing into the Quenzsee, which links to the Plauer See and hence the River Havel and the Elbe–Havel Canal.
Whilst commercial shipping uses the Silo Canal, leisure traffic tends to use the older and smaller dimensioned Brandenburg City Canal, which diverges upstream of the Vorstadtschleuse Brandenburg and passes through the city centre, before descending through the Stadtschleuse Brandenburg lock. This traffic then follows the Brandenburger Niederhavel downstream into the Breitlingsee before rejoining the main route in the Plauer See.


text:
Follow us on:
with Young People
ARCHITECTURE, CITIZENSHIP & LEARNING
A DESIGN MADE BY CHILDREN IS FOR THE WHOLE COMMUNITY / / / /
CERRO PLACERES, VALPARAÍSO
DESIGN WITH PLAY - 1:1 SCALE
DESIGN WITH PLAY 2: ELEMENTS FOR INTERACTION
PHYSICAL DESIGN, EXPLORING PROPOSAL SPATIALLY
COMMUNITY CREATION OF FINAL PUBLIC SPACE
choose a workshop
PROJECT CONTEXT - FIRST VISIT
The site at the beginning of the project is an empty and exposed open space surrounded on two sides by houses, and Manuel Antonio Matta street, a busy thoroughfare where cars and large vehicles pass by frequently.
A neighbour recalls the neighbourhood as being safe and happy, saying how now she misses having a place for children to play. When she was a girl, she used the existing slope to slide down using some wooden boards that they waxed with candle wax, using the topography as an inspiration for play.
This slope of the back of the site presented an opportunity to connect the open space with Guacolda Street, (which informally is present as a trodden path).
Currently the open space is used as a route to the main street from houses and as a space to park vehicles.
WHAT DO THE LOCAL CHILDREN THINK ABOUT THEIR NEIGHBOURHOOD?
WORKSHOP 0 - NEIGHBOURHOOD DERIVAS
The structure of the workshop contains two parts - firstly, for the children to develop a point of view about their area, through an exercise of 'Deriva' (a critical journey exploring the qualities of the site and neighbourhood), and an active analysis of the types of games they can play using the existing contextual spaces, to create the opportunity to demonstrate games which are played locally. At the end of the workshop we concluded with a review of the points that the children discussed, and with the children presenting this to the adults.
The activity begins with the dividing the children into distinct age groups. The three resulting groups are guided by JAB (together with the neighbourhood), Fundación Mi Parque (Foundation my Park) and Aldea participants.
Using techniques to record their new points of view about existing spaces, and implementing a unique and creative dialogue, the children created drawings, sketches, added information to the map and wrote words and phrases. In the brief time we were outside, we carried out a diverse exploration, led by the young particiants, using their range of senses to discover qualities and elements of the site and neighbourhood.
We began to extend these into the beginnings of an attitude of analysis and criticism of their local spaces that can grow in the following workshops of participatory design, with the idea of transferring the ideas of the children in the final design.
At the end of the workshop, the groups returned to the JAB community centre, quickly summarising their notes and discoveries, writing on large sheets of paper - on one side the negative aspects encountered and on the other the positive during the 'derivas' exercise. We hung on one of the walls both lists and one person from each group began to present their ideas and objections around the future square to the adults who were also on participating in an afternoon of discussion about the current site.
INVESTIGATING THE GAMES AND USES OF THE FUTURE PUBLIC SPACE
WORKSHOP 1 - DESIGN BY PLAYING: SCALE 1:1
To begin the workshop, the adults agree to participate by exploring the everyday qualities which give the site its identity, to use as a reference for the design. The focus is especially on the need for children to play there, with the objective to collect ideas about to create a place for intergenerational socialisation, encounters and creativity.
All together we walk to the empty site to carry out the exercise of designing in a collective and participatory way. In parallel to a discursive analysis of adults, the children explored the possibilities of play in the site via an active investigation with large materials.
Starting with a brainstorm, they discuss the potential games and uses they want for the future place. We then invite them to locate the specific area where they believe that each proposed use should be, the most obvious being the "climbing game" that would be carried out on the existing slope. They experiment using bamboo canes, fabrics, ropes, tyres, masking tape and are assigned an adult volunteer to can assist when required in the process.
Key factors that were highlighted as a result of the testing of the space with potential play strategies and interaction:
1. Light / Shadows / Vegetation
2. Wind / Breeze
3. Rise / Descend / Climb up / Traverse / Roll / Play
4. Community / Construction
5. Multi-functionality / multipurpose spaces
6. Hard / Soft surfaces
7. Working with organic / natural elements
After the creation of temporary constructions through play, the children came to a number of conclusions of key ideas / concepts which express the experience they had, and would like to see in the design of the space.
They reflect that they would like to have a place to: "have fun and enjoy", where "children can play together", "to be free and happy" and "experiment" with "a place for babies", "a car-free environment for the space"
HOW CAN WE MAKE A THREE DIMENSIONAL SKETCH THAT WE CAN INHABIT?
WORKSHOP 1.5 - DESIGNING WITH PLAY: ELEMENTS FOR INTERACTION
The first activity of the workshop is developed with sheets of paper arranged on a cardboard surface, which the participants used to individually draw their ideas for the future public space.
Inviting children to challenge their own points of view about what can and can not happen in the future space and the elements that could be placed in it, they realised their drawn ideas in playful constructions, accompanied by an adult. By working again with large materials, the site begins to divide up based on where the children decide to locate their experiments, speculating in parallel the potential multiple uses that they would like to incorporate.
These spatial sketches not only consider games for children but for example, for Pachi's design, he would include in the design of his swing an access ramp, so that people with disabilities would be able to enjoy using it. By thinking through making, the children formed new opinions about the possibilities of the site.
Specific ideas which were investigated as part of the exercise: Exploring and identifying the tectonics of the terrain, the introduction of a 'no parking sign', a railing to prevent vehicles from entering or parking, small gaps for people to enter, to plant areas of grass, to use a ladder on the slope, to create a ladder as an access route, establish a place to exercise, to have many ways to climb, poles inserted into the slope, and to have a viewpoint to see across the neighbouring hills.
WORKSHOP 2 - PHYSICAL DESIGN: EXPLORING THE PROPOSAL SPATIALLY
To better understand the characteristics of a preliminary design proposal for the project, we start the workshop by creating a 1: 1 (life-size) drawing of the design on the site with local children. By laying out the plan drawing of the proposal at full-size across the space using timber lengths, the participants could quickly get an understanding of the distribution of the elements to help us critically analyse it. Being on the site offered the real views, senses and connections to the context at a human scale in relation to the design, which we discussed and elaborated.
Using a second methodology of giant collaborative drawings, involving up to six children at once, we could collect the ideas inspired by questioning the design proposal. The resulting drawings communicate on many levels the elements, connections and sensations the children want to have, and how they want to re-design elements they feel they could improve. The resulting four key identities of the space are:
1. A multi-funcional / flexible long bench (a route providing flexible playground / a neutral space / a barrier from the road / zoning different uses of the space / seating for all)
2. Vertical games (timber construction that activates the slope)
3. Formal / central space of the pergola
4. Integration of nature with constructed elements.
The children proposed many fresh ideas and alternatives, that present a diverse set of perspectives. From these brainstorms it is possible to embed their active conciousness as users within the architectural discourse through the forms, uses, geometries and designed materialities they proposed.
CONSTRUCT A SPACE FOR THE COMMUNITY, TOGETHER WITH THE COMMUNITY
DAY OF CONSTRUCTION
The big day has arrived. The public space construction is almost complete as much of the preliminary ground work and heavy construction is ready, now the last step in the process is the participatory day, involving the neighbours that make up the community, adults, children and young people. The youngest participate alongside the adults, organised in groups focused on different tasks (gardening, tree planting, cleaning of the place, painting, etc.) that remain outstanding before concluding the creation of the project.
This relevant final touch helps to demonstrate the success of the participatory process, and embody the intergenerational nature of the space between the different actors in the neighbourhood, strengthening community bonds. Given that the future management and maintenance of the space will depend on collaborative neighbours, this fields multiple benefits. An example, a grandmother contributes to painting the long bench, alongside a young girl - surfaces that will receive phrases and words spoken by the children who participated in the design via stencils. These phrases and words present fragments of the revealing design process in which the children in workshops were understanding, contributing and devising, through drawings and the physical interaction with the own space, their evolving points of view of the potential of creating


For example, I have 10 eth on my smart contract. How I send eth on another address?
You can use one of the following functions :
however you should be aware of the tradeoffs between send(), transfer(), and call.value()().
x.transfer(y) is equivalent to if (!x.send(y)) throw; Send is the low level counterpart of transfer, and it's advisable to use transfer when possible. someAddress.send() and someAddress.transfer() are considered safe against reentrancy. While these methods still trigger code execution, the called contract is only given a stipend of 2,300 gas which is currently only enough to log an event.
someAddress.call.value()() will send the provided ether and trigger code execution. The executed code is given all available gas for execution making this type of value transfer unsafe against reentrancy. Using send() or transfer() will prevent reentrancy but it does so at the cost of being incompatible with any contract whose fallback function requires more than 2,300 gas.
One pattern that attempts to balance this trade-off is to implement both a push and pull mechanism, using send() or transfer() for the push component and call.value()() for the pull component.
It is worth pointing out that exclusive use of send() or transfer() for value transfers does not itself make a contract safe against reentrancy, but only makes those specific value transfers safe against reentrancy.
read more at : _URL_
Your Answer


Are there any libraries for computing semantic similarity scores for a pair of sentences?
I'm aware of WordNet's semantic database, and how I can generate the score for 2 words, but I'm looking for libraries that do all pre-processing tasks like port-stemming, stop word removal, etc, on whole sentences and outputs a score for how related the two sentences are.
I found a work in progress that's written using the.NET framework that computes the score using an array of pre-processing steps. Is there any project that does this in python?
I'm not looking for the sequence of operations that would help me find the score (as is asked for here)
I'd love to implement each stage on my own, or glue functions from different libraries so that it works for sentence pairs, but I need this mostly as a tool to test inferences on data.
EDIT: I was considering using NLTK and computing the score for every pair of words iterated over the two sentences, and then draw inferences from the standard deviation of the results, but I don't know if that's a legitimate estimate of similarity. Plus, that'll take a LOT of time for long strings.
Again, I'm looking for projects/libraries that already implement this intelligently. Something that lets me do this:
import amazing_semsim_package
str1='Birthday party ruined as cake explodes'
str2='Grandma mistakenly bakes cake using gunpowder'
 - Consider vector-base semantic models or matrix-decomposition models to compare sentence similarity. If not you can fall back on lesk-like cosine, that first vectorize a sentence the calculate the cosine between the 2 vectors – alvas Jun 13 '13 at 13:17
 - if you are looking to weight something as a cutoff or desperately need the score, consider NLTK's wup similarity. You would need to use something like CLIPS pattern to get the type (verb,noun,adj;etc.). you can use that to actually find the perfect number of categories for LSA/LDA as found in gensim or a fuzzy/cosine implementation of Kmeans. – Andrew Scott Evans Jul 9 '15 at 4:50
The best package I've seen for this is Gensim, found at the Gensim Homepage. I've used it many times, and overall been very happy with it's ease of use; it is written in Python, and has an easy to follow tutorial to get you started, which compares 9 strings. It can be installed via pip, so you won't have a lot of hassle getting it installed I hope.
Which scoring algorithm you use depends heavily on the context of your problem, but I'd suggest starting of with the LSI functionality if you want something basic. (That's what the tutorial walks you through.)
If you go through the tutorial for gensim, it will walk you through comparing two strings, using the Similarities function. This will allow you to see how your stings compare to each other, or to some other sting, on the basis of the text they contain.
If you're interested in the science behind how it works, check out this paper.
| improve this answer | |
 - This looks very promising. Thank you for pointing this out Justin. – user8472 Jun 25 '13 at 10:21
Unfortunately, I cannot help you with PY but you may take a look at my old project that uses dictionaries to accomplish the Semantic comparisons between the sentences (which can later be coded in PY implementing the vector-space analysis). It should be just a few hrs of coding to translate from JAVA to PY. _URL_
| improve this answer | |
AFAIK the most powerfull NLP-Lib for Python is _URL_
| improve this answer | |
 - 3
 NLTK has some 6 scores for semantic similarity between a pair of word concepts, but I'm looking to compare two strings (of several, maybe hundreds of, words) – user8472 Jun 11 '13 at 5:40


text:
I have no idea what a locus means so
The complex number u is given by u=(7+4i)/(3-2i). In the form x+yi, x=i, y=2
Sketch and argand diagram showing the point representing the complex number u. Show on the same diagram the locus of the complex number z such that [z-u]=2. Give a thorough description would be good.
Find the greatest value of argument. Urgent.


text:
Immigration in the census
The 1901 Census Report noted that 'the highest proportion
of Foreigners to the total population was in London, where
it reached 30 per 1,000. It should be noted, however, that
although these Foreigners were scattered throughout the
Metropolis, a very large proportion, equal to 40% of the
whole, were enumerated in the Borough of Stepney' (east
London). Only 13 towns or cities had a foreign population
of more than 1%. These included Manchester (2.2%), Tynemouth
(also 2.2%), Cardiff, South Shields, Leeds, Grimsby, Hull,
Liverpool, Swansea and Bournemouth.
Follow this link to east
London in the census.


text:
Darband Cave is located in the Western Alborz range and contains the first known evidence for Lower Paleolithic cave occupation in Iran. A collection of lithic artifacts and faunal remains was collected by a group of Iranian archaeologists from the Center for Paleolithic Research of the National Museum of Iran and ICHTO of Gilan. The site dates back to the late Middle Pleistocene period.
Biglari, F.; Jahani, V.; Mashkour, M.; Argant, A.; Shidrang, S.; and Taheri, K.
2007 Darband Cave: New Evidence for Lower Paleolithic occupation at Western Alborz Range, Gilan. Paper presented at the 11th Symposium of the Geological Society of Iran, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad
Biglari, F. and S. Shidrang, 2006 "The Lower Paleolithic Occupation of Iran", Near Eastern Archaeology 69(34): 160-168


text: In this article we present an algorithm to estimate the orientation of a robot relative to an orientation specified at the beginning of the process. This is done by computing the rotation of the robot between successive panoramic images, grabbed on the robot while it moves, using a subsymbolic method to match the images. The context of the work is Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) in unstructured and unmodified environments. As such, very few assumptions are made about the environment and the robot's displacement. The algorithm's performance depends on the value of a number of parameters being determined to provide overall good performance of the system. The performance is evaluated in different situations (trajectories and environments) with the same parameters and the results show that the method performs adequately for its intended use. In particular, the error is shown to be drifting slowly, in fact much slower than unprocessed inertial sensors, thus only requiring infrequent realignment, for example when relocalizing in a topological map. Limitations of the proposed methods are also shown and discussed.


Life on Distant Hill Blog... Chaga Mushroom
"The Diamond of the Forest"
Chaga Mushrooms are nothing like the common soft Mushroom. They are almost as hard as wood. Known in Russia as the "Gift from God" and the "Mushroom of Immortality," chaga have been used medicinally for thousands of years. The Japanese call it "The Diamond of the Forest," while in China it is known as the "King of Plants."
Chaga mushroom, Inonotus obliquus, is also known as clinker polypore, cinder conk, black mass and birch canker polypore. It is a parasitic fugi on birch and other trees. The sterile conk is irregularly formed and has the appearance of burnt charcoal. It is not the fruiting body of the fungus, but a mass of mycelium, mostly black due to the presence of massive amounts of melanin.
Documented as early as 4600 years ago, Chaga was used by Asian folk medicine practitioners to maintain a healthy life energy balance or "Chi", preserve youth, promote longevity, and boost the body's immune system. It was ingested by the local people of the Siberian mountains as a Chaga Tea, with a flavor that resembles coffee. It was also smoked, or applied to the skin.
Laboratory studies on extract of chaga mushroom have indicated possible future potential in cancer therapy, as an antioxidant, in immunotherapy, and as an anti-inflammatory. For medicinal use, an extract is needed to make the active components available to humans.


text:
Hey guys, I'm trying to write custom built in solidworks tutorials, and one function the current ones use is a function called FlashIt, where you click a button in the tutorial screen and it flashes up on the solidworks screen to show you where it is. However, this function needs the variable input "ButtonID", which seems to be just a random typed in number from what I can see.
Is there some list somewhere of what button has what button ID? Or is there some way to find out?
The function in question:
newButtonID = ButtonID
Set pSldWorks = CreateObject("SwHtmlControl.SwHtmlInterface.23")


text:
- Life at AUS
- Contact Us
- Apply Now
AUS furthers research and development in 3D concrete printing through 3D printed home project
In a collaboration between industry and academia, American University of Sharjah (AUS) faculty and students will help create the first 3D printed house in Sharjah at the Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park (SRTI Park). The house is expected to be completed in 2019.
While maintaining a traditional appearance, the house will be printed using state-of-the-art 3D printing technology. This initiative will help bring Sharjah to the global forefront in the sustainable construction sector and establish the SRTI Park as a regional development center for 3D printing construction.
AUS has been teaching 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) as part of the Master of Science in Civil Engineering program since 2010. The university is working on the development of this technology and training students in conducting applied scientific research, in conjunction with faculty members and external researchers from specialized companies, including Middle East Engineering Technologies (MEET), which focuses on building 3D printed structures. AUS recently issued a new faculty research grant that will advance ongoing 3DCP focused research.
Dr. Adil Al-Tamimi, Professor of Civil Engineering, teaches 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) at AUS:
"I have been teaching 3DCP as a theoretical concept with the aim to motivate our students to explore new innovation in the construction industry. The students in this course usually design, produce and evaluate some innovative sustainable concretes similar to 3DCP as part of the course. They will now be able to put their classroom learning into real-life applications and get hands-on training through this collaboration."
The current research is an extension of work begun in 2017, when Dr. Al-Tamimi and his students were invited by Hussain Al Mahmoudi, CEO of the SRTI Park, to join a workshop on 3D concrete printing led by the Finnish Oulu University. During the workshop, two groups of AUS civil engineering students presented the initial findings of their final year design project on 3D concrete printing, which focused on developing a special concrete mixture suitable for robotic production.
This research has continued to progress. One of the two student groups won first place in a 2018 3D concrete printing mixture competition organized by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 2019, three students in the AUS Master of Science in Civil Engineering program began conducting further research on 3DCP. Haidar Al Haidary, a 2018 graduate of the program, is now employed in the field of 3DCP, working with Middle East Engineering Technologies (MEET).
Elaborating on the groups' research, Dr. Al-Tamimi, said:
"One group is evaluating the bond between multi-layers of the 3DCP produced by nozzle extrusion method simulating robotic action, and the other aims to increase structural performance of the 3DCP in flextural and tensile strengths."
3DCP is considered to be one of the most innovative and reliable ways to build residential units through the use of digital machinery. According to Al Mahmoudi, as traditional construction costs increase, the 3D technology is expected to reduce overall costs. SRTI Park aims to provide a regional center for the research and development of 3D printing construction, and AUS students and faculty will gain hands-on experience with the technology through this collaboration.


Next: , Previous: Setting, Up: Using Variables
6.6 Appending More Text to Variables
Often it is useful to add more text to the value of a variable already defined. You do this with a line containing '+=', like this:
 objects += another.o
This takes the value of the variable objects, and adds the text 'another.o' to it (preceded by a single space). Thus:
 objects = main.o foo.o bar.o utils.o
 objects += another.o
sets objects to 'main.o foo.o bar.o utils.o another.o'.
Using '+=' is similar to:
 objects = main.o foo.o bar.o utils.o
 objects := $(objects) another.o
When the variable in question has not been defined before, '+=' acts just like normal '=': it defines a recursively-expanded variable. However, when there is a previous definition, exactly what '+=' does depends on what flavor of variable you defined originally. See The Two Flavors of Variables, for an explanation of the two flavors of variables.
When you add to a variable's value with '+=', make acts essentially as if you had included the extra text in the initial definition of the variable. If you defined it first with ':=' or '::=', making it a simply-expanded variable, '+=' adds to that simply-expanded definition, and expands the new text before appending it to the old value just as ':=' does (see Setting Variables, for a full explanation of ':=' or '::='). In fact,
 variable := value
 variable += more
is exactly equivalent to:
 variable := value
 variable := $(variable) more
On the other hand, when you use '+=' with a variable that you defined first to be recursively-expanded using plain '=', make does something a bit different. Recall that when you define a recursively-expanded variable, make does not expand the value you set for variable and function references immediately. Instead it stores the text verbatim, and saves these variable and function references to be expanded later, when you refer to the new variable (see The Two Flavors of Variables). When you use '+=' on a recursively-expanded variable, it is this unexpanded text to which make appends the new text you specify.
 variable = value
 variable += more
is roughly equivalent to:
 temp = value
 variable = $(temp) more
 CFLAGS = $(includes) -O
 CFLAGS += -pg # enable profiling
The first line defines the CFLAGS variable with a reference to another variable, includes. (CFLAGS is used by the rules for C compilation; see Catalogue of Implicit Rules.) Using '=' for the definition makes CFLAGS a recursively-expanded variable, meaning '$(includes) -O is not expanded when make processes the definition of CFLAGS. Thus, includes need not be defined yet for its value to take effect. It only has to be defined before any reference to CFLAGS. If we tried to append to the value of CFLAGS without using '+=', we might do it like this:
 CFLAGS := $(CFLAGS) -pg # enable profiling
This is pretty close, but not quite what we want. Using ':=' redefines CFLAGS as a simply-expanded variable; this means make expands the text '$(CFLAGS) -pg before setting the variable. If includes is not yet defined, we get ' -O -pg, and a later definition of includes will have no effect. Conversely, by using '+=' we set CFLAGS to the unexpanded value '$(includes) -O -pg. Thus we preserve the reference to includes, so if that variable gets defined at any later point, a reference like '$(CFLAGS)' still uses its value.


text:
Sample Selector is a tool for creating and editing
samples, or groups of data you compare across—they're
not "samples" in the statistical sense, but more like filters.
By default, a single sample exists: "All Data". With the Sample
Selector, you can create new samples to organize your data.
You can use samples to:
Compare across conditions
Narrow the scope of data analysis to a specific time range,
set of students, problem category, or unit of a curriculum (for example)
A sample is composed of one or more filters, specific
conditions that narrow down your sample.
Creating a sample
The general process for creating a sample is to:
Add a filter from the categories at the left to the composition
area at the right
Modify the filter to select the subset of data you're interested
in, saving it when done
View the sample preview table to see the effect of adding your filter,
making sure you don't have an empty set (ie, a filter or combination
of filters that exclude all transactions).
Name and describe the sample
Decide whether to share the sample with others who can view the
Save the sample
The effect of multiple filters
DataShop interprets each filter after the first as an additional
restriction on the data that is included in the sample. This is also known
as a logical "AND". You can see the results of multiple filters in the
sample preview as soon as all filters are "saved".
A project is primarily a group of related datasets. Each project has a principal
investigator (PI) and potentially a data provider, as well as one or more project
admins. If you are a project admin for this project, you can edit its metadata. The
difference between PI and project admin is described here.
Access to datasets is granted by project. To gain access to a private project, click
the Request Access button and provide a brief reason why you would like
access. The status of your request will be shown on the Access Requests page.


text:
The Maryland State Department of Education Partnership with the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture
The Maryland State Department of Education has formed a partnership with the Reginald F. Lewis Museum to write a K–12 state-wide curriculum. The objective of this unique partnership is to create a climate of understanding and appreciation supportive of Maryland African American history, culture and art. Through both museum-based and school-based interactive programs and in/outreach activities, the partnership curriculum will reach every Maryland student, in every classroom, in every school.
Reginald F. Lewis Museum, _PHONE_
830 E. Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
Offsite Teaching and Learning Resources
An African American Journey: A Resource for Learning the History of African Americans in Maryland and the United States
Welcome, Maryland Teachers
Here are examples of lessons created as a result of a partnership between the Maryland State Department of Education and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. This high school curriculum is in the process of being written and piloted in order to communicate the historic and contemporary African American experience to all students and teachers in Maryland schools.
English Language Arts
If you should teach any of these lessons, please send your completed Lesson Evaluation Form to Rose Wiggins, the MSDE Liaison to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture at _EMAIL_.
High School Lesson Feedback Form
The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland
African American History & Culture (website)


text:
The Pennsylvania Game Commission recently took steps to protect the state's snowshoe hare population by reducing their hunting season to less than a week and by restricting the hunting to only three wildlife management units in the northern part of the state.
What's surprising about the report is that the snowshoe hare's range extends through Somerset and Cambria counties — although it has never caught on as a popular game animal in the region.
Local hunters and wildlife officials credit the rabbit's relative scarcity, shyness and preference for inaccessible terrain for the lack of hunting popularity.
"To be honest, I've never seen one in this area," said Tom Fazi, information and education supervisor for the commission's southwest region. "There's just so few of them. You can spend a lot of hours roaming the Laurel Ridge and never even see a track."
Fazi — a 21-year employee of the commission — said that he has only seen the snowshoe hare twice in the wild. Both sightings came in counties to the north.
In 2010, the most recent snowshoe hare range map in Terrestrial Vertebrates of Pennsylvania: A Complete Guide to Species of Conservation Concern, shows the hare's primary range is generally in the Poconos and Allegheny National Forest, with secondary range from the state's north-central counties south through the Laurel Highlands.
Keeping snowshoes in Pennsylvania's secondary hare range through the Allegheny Mountains of Somerset and Cambria counties and the high plateaus of north-central Pennsylvania is an important management consideration, according to Dr. Duane Diefenbach, unit leader at the U.S. Geological Survey's Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the Pennsylvania State University.
"The snowshoe hare's continued presence on this secondary range helps to preserve an important pathway for north/south gene flow within its southern range," said Diefenbach in a game commission press release. "That's important to Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the snowshoe's last strongholds in their southern Appalachian range. If we can ensure there's an adequate amount of suitable habitat that has sufficient connectivity between established hare population centers, there's a chance."
Deer — which have similar dietary needs as hares — have long been the animal's biggest competitor for food and resources, according to the commission.
The hares tend to live in this area along higher elevation ridges with steeper hillsides, making game hunting for the animal less appealing, Fazi said.


2. Technical Lead adds it to his list of things to follow up on
 3. Developer asks Technical Lead about length of caching of a domain object
 4. Technical Lead looks at his list and tells the developer that he is tracking down the answer.
 5. Technical Lead finds out about cache expiration of said domain object, crosses off the task, and let's the developer know
 6. Technical Lead gains developers trust that said technical lead will follow through when given a task
An example situation (without a task list):
 2. Time passes
 4. Goto 2


previous next
If a straight line touch a circle, and from the point of contact a straight line be drawn at right angles to the tangent, the centre of the circle will be on the straight line so drawn.
For let a straight line DE touch the circle ABC at the point C, and from C let CA be drawn at right angles to DE; I say that the centre of the circle is on AC.
For suppose it is not, but, if possible, let F be the centre, and let CF be joined.
Since a straight line DE touches the circle ABC, and FC has been joined from the centre to the point of contact,
FC is perpendicular to DE; [III. 18] therefore the angle FCE is right.
But the angle ACE is also right;
therefore the angle FCE is equal to the angle ACE, the less to the greater: which is impossible.
Therefore F is not the centre of the circle ABC.
Similarly we can prove that neither is any other point except a point on AC.
Therefore etc. Q. E. D.
Creative Commons License
load focus Greek (J. L. Heiberg, 1883)
hide Display Preferences
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, 3, 4, and 5 are provided by sources 1, 3, 2, 3, and 1, respectively. In this example three sources are required to provide five fields of data. Fields 4 and 5 are initially provided by data sources having a low field ranking. Using edit precedence, the expected outcome is that the data in fields 4 and 5 will be replaced by data from sources having a higher field ranking, as defined by edit precedence.
Table 2 Example of edit precedence using three data sources
Field 1
Field 2
Field 3
Field 4
Field 5
Source 1
Source 2
Source 3
Edit precedence provides a number of key benefits for the Microsoft CRM and DSS data warehouse:
 - It generates cost savings through the elimination of one or more data sources.
 - It results in field-level data becoming more reliable over time.
 - It simplifies the replacement of data from one source with data from another source.
Primary Record Types
The ODS contains two primary types of records: individual-based records and organization-based records. Individual-based records refer to individual customers who have purchased at least one product, attended at least one event, or subscribed to at least one online newsletter. Individual-based records, which are identified by residential addresses, do not ordinarily contain the names of organizations.
Individual-based records provide support for multiple e-mail aliases including the data source of each alias. A household key is used to bring together individual customers at the same physical location.
Organization-based records refer to businesses, companies, agencies, or divisions. An organization-based record is loaded into the warehouse provided the record is tied relationally to an individual-based record.
Telephone numbers are associated with individual-based records, but not organization-based records. Data suppliers periodically supply new telephone and fax numbers so that they are kept up to date. Telephone numbers are associated with existing fax numbers to ensure that a customer's preference is preserved even after a fax number is changed. If necessary a flag can be set to associate a telephone number with a company's home-office. Suppression flags accommodate each customer's preference of contact. For instance, a flag may be set indicating that contact via fax should not be attempted.
Factory Processing
Factory processing, a term used within Microsoft, applies to warehouse implementations that distribute the ODS, the application of business rules, and data marts among multiple computers. Factory processing is a customized process developed by the warehouse design team using SQL and is specific to the distributed nature of the warehouse within Microsoft.
Factory processing is used to periodically extract data from the ODS to perform transformations, aggregations, derivations, and partitioning before the enriched denormalized data is published through the generation of new data marts. Using the data marts, decision-makers can drill down and analyze individual customer transactions, produce reports, and support campaign-management activities. Figure 7 illustrates the flow of data from ODS through the factory process.
Figure 7: Factory-processing data flow
Factory processing provides a number of key benefits for the Microsoft CRM and DSS data warehouse:
 - It provides an effective way of scaling the warehouse beyond 1 terabyte.
 - It enables servers to perform more specialized processing.
 - It simplifies the implementation of additional servers when they are necessary.
Data Marts
Data marts are SQL Server 2000-based databases optimized for efficient reporting. Factory processing generates new data marts on a weekly basis. The data marts provide a robust decision-support and campaign-management environment.
Once the data marts have been generated, a combination of internally developed and third-party applications are used to pull data and graphically display it in a graphical user interface. The graphical user interface permits decision-makers to gain visibility to the data and to conduct analyses. For example, one graphical user interface is used to pull data from four data marts, allowing decision-makers to "peel back" data layers to expose virtually any target audience. Doing this enables decision-makers to better understand which products, newsletters, and events are preferred by various target audiences.
Warehouse designers implemented four perspectives in the data marts so as to ease access to information for decision-makers. These perspectives are customer data, product registration, online subscription, and customer events.
Customer-Data Perspective
The customer-data perspective provides decision-makers with a comprehensive view of individual customers and organizations according to geography, profile, interests, and account activity. This perspective accommodates complex queries involving cross-activity analysis including profiles of individuals and organizations. The perspective counts individuals and organizations depending on which virtual perspective is being used.
Two virtual perspectives are based on the customer-data perspective: individual and organization. These virtual perspectives are similar to the base customer-data perspective except that the virtual perspectives can produce reports based on a specified number of individuals and organizations and the base perspective cannot.
Figure 8 illustrates a small segment of a fact table and some related dimensions in a data-mart customer-data perspective.
Figure 8: Example of data-mart information available to corporate decision-makers
Product-Registration Perspective
The product-registration perspective stores product-registration transactions in a time-based view. The principal use of this perspective is to establish product-registration trends by individual customers over time. The default queries are fiscal month, subsidiary, sales location, product name, and count of product registrations.
Online-Subscription Perspective
The online-subscription perspective stores online-subscription transactions in a time-based view. The principal use of this perspective is to establish online-subscription trends by individual customers over time. For newsletter-related activity, the perspective includes all subscribe and unsubscribe activity, including multiple subscribe or unsubscribe actions by a single individual.
Customer-Events Perspective
The customer-events perspective stores information about customer-events activities in a time-based view. The principal use of this perspective is to view customer activities connected with specific events over time. The perspective counts individual invitations, registrations, confirmations and event attendances.
The following section of this paper details some of the more important support tools used by the data-warehouse team for monitoring and maintaining the system.
These tools help to collect some information proactively, so that if a problem does arise the information can help to narrow down its potential causes; they collect other information at the time a problem arises. The primary support tools consist of Windows 2000 Performance Monitor, Windows 2000 Event Viewer, SQL Server-based e-mail, Windows 2000 Terminal Services, and SQL code.
Windows 2000 Performance Monitor
Windows 2000 Performance Monitor, which is included in Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, is used for locating performance bottlenecks caused by system or software components. Output from Performance Monitor is displayed graphically and supports the concurrent viewing of multiple system components and application processes. Performance Monitor is the first tool used by the operations team to determine whether a process or application is allocating too much memory or using too much processor time.
Data provided by Performance Monitor is extremely valuable to analysts and operations teams when it is time to tune operating-system performance. At Microsoft, only server administrators may run Performance Monitor, because experience has shown that information can readily be captured from a single machine and shared among analysts when necessary. Experience has also shown that performance is slightly improved by limiting the number of computers that are used for simultaneously viewing performance data. At Microsoft this number rarely exceeds five.
There are many reasons for initiating performance analysis using Performance Monitor, chief among them when an important process begins requiring far more time to complete than it did in the past. The decision to initiate a performance analysis comes from a group that is responsible for collecting performance data on a few computers dedicated to that purpose. Data is collected more-or-less following the scientific method, with collection taking place while suspect processes are run. Administrators add all performance counters (except for network segment) and log the results to disk, for a period of 48-72 hours. Then they pass the log file to a support analyst who analyzes the performance data.
The Performance Monitor also is used for systematically overlaying performance counters with memory, CPU, and disk counters, which are needed to identify which process or processes may be causing a given performance problem. Depending on the outcome of the analysis, performance problems can generally be resolved by the addition of more hardware, adjustment of the timing of SQL jobs, or the moving of a resource-intensive process to another server.
Event Viewer
The Event Viewer displays information based on event messages that SQL Server 2000 and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server write to application and event logs located on each server. Each event message has a corresponding ID that can be used to help determine the nature and severity of many common problems, such as full disks, failed hardware devices, or processes that have run out of memory. Through the Event Viewer, database administrators (DBAs) can use the event ID for searching through the Microsoft Knowledge Base (;EN-US;KBHOWTO&sd=GN&ln=EN-US?ln=en-us) for more detail on the potential cause of a given problem.
SQL Server-Based E-mail
The operations team relies on SQL Server-based e-mail to keep track of SQL Server 2000 activities in the Microsoft CRM and DSS data warehouse. SQL Server-based e-mail is configured to periodically send notification to the production team so they have some insight as to what is going on inside the system.
SQL Server-based e-mail is also used to automatically page someone on the production support team if an issue warrants immediate intervention. The data warehouse initiates SQL Server-based e-mail by programmatically calling the extended SQL stored procedure XP_SendMail from code locations that warrant e-mailing the production team.
Windows 2000 Terminal Services
Members of the operations team use Windows 2000 Terminal Services, which is part of Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, for remote operations. With Terminal