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Fraction interpolation walking a Farey tree
We present an algorithm to find a proper fraction in simplest reduced terms between two reduced proper fractions. A proper fraction is a rational number m/n with m1. A fraction m/n is simpler than p/q if m <= p and n <= q, with at least one inequality strict. The algorithm operates by walking a Farey tree in maximum steps down each branch. Through monte carlo simulation, we find that the present algorithm finds a simpler interpolation of two fractions than using the Euclidean-Convergent [Matula 1980] walk of a Farey tree and terminating at the first fraction satisfying the bound. Analysis shows that the new algorithms, with very high probability, will find an interpolation that is simpler than at least one of the bounds, and thus take less storage space than at least one of the bounds.
- download PDF (150K)
Mosko, M. ; Garcia-Luna-Aceves, J. J. Fraction interpolation walking a Farey tree. Information Processing Letters. 2006 April 15; 98 (1): 19-23.


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First Aid Kits
What defines a first aid kit?
By definition, first aid is the emergency care provided to an injured person prior to the arrival of professional medical services. All true first aid kits should be able to treat both common and emergency injuries, thereby containing the essential first aid supplies that go well beyond simple bandages and ointment. However, traditional first aid kits have a number of supplies, mostly related to cuts and scrapes and rarely have any instructional guidance.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text: With an interest in health psychology, we decided to explore the issue of undergraduate freshman lifestyle, particularly weight gain. 'Freshers' 15′ – the tendency for undergraduate students to gain approximately 15 lb (6.82 kg) in weight during first-year study – is an American concept. Although widely researched in the United States, we found little evidence of the UK study. The US studies' research design and methods varied considerably, so we intended not to replicate or conduct a comparative study but to conduct an exploratory study to establish whether there was evidence of this concept in a UK university sample. Owing to the multi-faceted nature of weight gain, including lifestyle choices and other factors, we took a classic mixed-methods approach, embracing the quantitative and qualitative methods that best fit our exploratory aim. This account of our mixed-method study focuses on design choices in respect of our chosen data-collection methods and how successfully they worked together to investigate students' lifestyle choices. Additional attention is paid to the benefits of a mixed-method approach, challenges encountered and the merits of triangulating data collection, including how interviewing was used to supplement the questionnaire and physiological data to allow further investigation of students' meaning and experiences regarding their lifestyle choices.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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In compliance with Section 103 of the Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018, Mohawk Valley Community College will not impose the following penalties to covered individuals* due to the delayed disbursement of funding from the Department of Veteran Affairs:
- preventing nor delaying the student's enrollment,
- the assessment of late fees,
- the denial of access to any resources available to other students who have satisfied their tuition and fees bills to the institution, including but not limited to classes, libraries, or other institutional facilities,
- or require the student to secure alternative or additional funding
To qualify for this provision, such students are required to:
- Produce a Certificate of Eligibility**;
- Provide written request to be certified;
- Provide additional information needed to properly certify the enrollment as required by the Primary School Certifying Official.
This provision ends on the earlier of the following dates:
- The date on which payment from the VA is made to the institution
- 90 days after the date the institution certified tuition and fees following the receipt of the Certificate of Eligibility
*Covered individual is defined as any individual who is entitled to educational assistance under Chapter 31, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, or Chapter 33, Post 9/11 G.I. Bill®
**Certificate of Eligibility is defined as a Certificate of Eligibility, a Statement of Benefits, or a Tungsten Network Purchase Order.


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Answers 1Add Yours
The birth of Rose of Sharon's child carries significant symbolic meanings. For Rose of Sharon, the child has represented the possibilities for the future, yet the baby is stillborn. The event has clear parallels to the Joad's journey to California: they faced incredible hardship and pain striving for a better future, yet their sacrifices lead to nothing. The fate of the baby is even a perverse reversal of religious imagery. Uncle John places the dead child in a box and sends it down the river, an obvious allusion to Moses.


A summary of the economics of deep P nutrition trials in the northern grains region: where have current trials provided economic benefits?
Take home messages
 - Yield increases of 10% or more in 21/43 site observations, whilst 30/43 observations had responses of 5% or more to 20P.
 - There does not appear to be a significant difference in response to P rate, with the average yield increase across 20P, 30 and 40P (combined), and 60 and 80P (combined) rates all being approximately 10%.
 - The majority of treatments did not create a positive return in the first two years, with 7 of 21 sites having currently returned a net benefit.
Phosphorus (P) requirements for early crop development are well known in the Northern Grains Region, (QLD and Northern NSW) with critical limits defined and the use of starter P fertilisers well adopted. However, sub-soil P requirements are not so readily understood.
Later season P has traditionally come from native subsoil P reserves, but as we deplete this P in harvested grain the need to introduce fertiliser sources to replenish these reserves is becoming more urgent, as stratification occurs.
Nutrient stratification occurs when there is a redistribution of non-mobile nutrients such as P from the lower parts of the profile (10-30cm) and then being released through stubble breakdown into the top 10cm of the profile, is an increasing issue across the Northern Region.
Table 1. Critical P values and their relationship to P fertiliser decisions in northern vertosols
Colwell P
Fertiliser decision
Do I need to apply deep P?
(10-30cm depth)
>10 mg/kg
<10 mg/kg
30-100 mg/kg
<10 mg/kg
<30 mg/kg
Highly Likely
The values shown in Table 1 are the estimated Subsoil P critical limits required for vertosols in the northern grains region prior to trials and case studies being commenced. (Bell, 2014)
As P is an immobile nutrient replacing it in this subsoil layer requires it to be either placed there or moved there mechanically after being placed on the surface. In order to fit in with current no-till farming system it was decided placing the nutrients at depth via less intensive tillage would be preferable to inversion for the aims of this project and more likely to be adopted across the northern grains region.
Trial sites were setup across the Northern Grains Region from summer 2011 onwards (Figure 1), with the first crops harvested in 2013. All sites were initially treated with background levels of 80 units nitrogen (N), 50 units potassium (K), 20 units sulphur (S) and 0.1kg of zinc (Zn) in order to ensure that the sites were unconstrained by other nutrients, these treatments are outlined in Table 2.
Each of the sites selected had a 10-30cm Colwell-P of less than 10, and were chosen with the expectation that they would be responsive. Only 3 of the sites had a 10-30cm Colwell-P of greater than 6.
Figure 1. Trial site distribution across northern region
Figure 1. Trial site distribution across northern region
Rates of P ranged from 0 – 80kg, every site had a 0 and 20kg P rate, whilst the upper end luxury rates were either 40 and 80kg, or 30 and 60kg. The analysis in this paper merges the results from 30 and 40kg, and 60 and 80kg, whilst keeping costs separate. The sites also had a farmer reference treatment, which was the farmer's normal fertiliser treatment of that paddock without any tillage as a baseline.
The fertiliser makeup varied across trial sites as would be expected for farm based implementation, with choices driven by nutrients required and the price of different fertiliser mixes to achieve these nutrients eg MAP vs DAP, NPK mixes etc. The analysis in this paper will use the examples of Urea for N, Monoammonium Phosphate (MAP) for P and Sulphate of Potash (SOP) for K and S, with Zn applied as Trace Zn.
Table 2. Trial nutrient makeup and cost ($/t)
Treatment (kg/ha)
Applied as
Price ($/t)
Nitrogen (N)
Urea (46N)
Phosphorus (P)
MAP (22P, 11N)
Potassium (K)
SOP (41.5K, 18S)
Sulfur (S)
SOP (41.5K, 18S)
Zinc (Zn)
Trace Zn (93Zn)
Note i: 80N background rate was total N applied to site pre seeding, as MAP rate increased Urea application was lowered by ~25%, Likewise SOP applied for 50 units of K would also supply ~20 units of S.
Costs for the application of deep- P when applied with current commercial farm equipment has ranged from $15 - $40 /ha, the analysis in this paper will use a flat rate of $30 /ha.
Table 3. Estimated trial treatment costs by P rate ($/ha)
Application ($/ha)
Urea ($/ha)
MAP ($/ha)
SOP ($/ha)
Elemental Zinc ($/ha)
Total treatment cost ($/ha)
Note ii: K and S were applied as backgrounding to ensure unconstrained soil for scientific results, Grower implementation may be able to remove this cost depending on soil test status.
As noted above K and S were applied to ensure measured responses were to P and that the size of the responses would not be constrained by lack of some other element. In practice if a paddocks K and S levels were not deficient then it would be reasonable to remove this treatment and its $96/ha cost.
Average crop prices (Table 4) are used in order to avoid the large fluctuations in chickpea and mungbean prices that occurred during trial period, to ensure that a percentage change in crop production in 2013 is equivalent to the same change in 2015. The use of average prices also gives a more realistic indication of the long term economics of deep P.
Table 4. Average crop prices used in deep P analysis
Price ($/t)
Positive yield responses greater than 5% to the 20P rate were witnessed in 30 of 43 observations, whilst 21 of 43 observations had responses of 10% or more. There does not appear to be a rate response between the rates of P used with rates from 20 – 80P providing a very similar range of responses across the 16 sites.
A number of sites appear to have had a positive response to the background K, N, S and Z treatments, with the 0P treatment having an average yield response of 4%, and 9/46 responses being greater than 10%. The data (not shown) suggests that the sites with highest 0P responses were heavily influenced by K.
Three crop types dominate the dataset, with 42/43 observations being one of chickpea (15), sorghum (14) or wheat (13). Chickpea yield responses were lower than both wheat and sorghum on average, however had a similar distribution as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. 20P yield distribution vs farm reference by crop type.
Figure 2. 20P yield distribution vs farm reference by crop type
There is a strong similarity in the responses between the different P rates as illustrated in Figure 2, because of this further analysis in this paper will focus on the 20P rate, which is most likely to have provided net positive returns over a shorter time period given its lower upfront costs.
Figure 3. Distribution of yield responses across 46 observations per treatment vs farm reference.
It should also be noted that despite the background treatment of N in year 1 in all trials, some extremely low sorghum proteins have been recorded in following years, suggesting that a number of sites may have been N constrained, which would mask any P response.
Only one of the 21 sites achieved a positive return in the first year as shown in Table 5. This is typical of longer term decisions with large upfront costs and returns expected over a number of following years. If the K and S treatments were assumed to not take place then the 20P treatment would have generated a benefit at 5 of the 21 sites in the first year.
Table 5. Cumulative net benefit generated over time by 20P treatment
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Number of sites
Average cumulative net benefit
-$160 /ha
-$77 /ha
-$67 /ha
Max net benefit
$10 /ha
$126 /ha
$235 /ha
Number of positive sites
The average first year result for the 20P treatment generated an income of $100/ha more than the farm reference treatment, however this was not enough to offset the $260/ha upfront cost. Five of the 15 sites generated profits in the second year, with the average income increase being approximately $80/ha.
If it was assumed that these sites had sufficient K and S thus did not require additional treatment, then 9 of 15 sites that we have 2 or more years of data for would have returned a positive net benefit in the second year.
Table 6. Cumulative net benefit to 20P assuming no additional K or S required
Year 1


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As you may have noticed when starting up the new Software Provisioning Manager SP20, a Web-Browser Window opens instead of the well known STD GUI.
The new Browser based User Interface (or SL Common UI as it is also called) is the default GUI for Software Provisioning Manager as of SP20.
The following questions may arise when facing the new Browser based you:
- How do I get the parameter list view with the new UI?
- What is the difference between the "old" SDT GUI and the new Web UI?
- How does the new Help functionality on field level work?
- How does the Logfile View and Task View in Web Browser Window work
- How can I follow an installation with Web Browser from a different machine?
- How can I start Software Provisioning Manager SP20 with the "old" SDT GUI?
I produced the following small video that demonstrates some nice functionality of the new Browser based UI and gives answers to the above questions:
Screenshot from old SDT GUI:
Screenshot from new Browser based UI:


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typically high and TLX is usually transferable.
In addition, TLX was robust against slight (e.g. 15 minutes) delays in operator ratings and in non-controlled order effects. TLX is also considered potentially more sensitive at low levels of workload compared to SWAT, and TLX's paired comparison procedure may be omitted without comprising the measure.
For the service representative embodiment, a goal is to determine how a new system interface should be designed to increase the performance of service representatives. Since a current system interface exists, the question must then be asked, why use a cognitive workload assessment technique to determine how the system interface should be re-designed? Before this question can be answered, the current system interface and how it is used by the service representatives to sell products, services, and packages must be examined.
In a typical existing system interface, service representatives need to examine a variety of screens depending on the products, services, or packages to be sold. It is assumed that due to the number of screens a service representative must examine, performance is not at an optimum level. It is also assumed that by redesigning the system, performance should improve. Therefore, first the performance of the service representatives on the current system needs to be determined. It is expected that the performance data will display a range of values and that groups of these values will represent selling strategies. For example, service representatives who have high levels of performance (high sales revenue per month) are expected to use different selling strategies from service representatives who have low levels of performance. Thus, one of the goals of the system interface design team is to determine the strategies used by service representatives and their corresponding performances. Once this information is known, it will be more feasible to know how the system needs to be redesigned. This information should provide direction to interface designers on how to redesign the system to improve performance. It may also direct what types of strategies should be taught to the lower performing group(s).
Based on performance data alone, groups of service representatives are not easily distinguishable. Different strategies result in different performances. In addition, it is expected that each of the strategies may result in a range of performances. Thus, performances from the different strategies are expected to overlap, making it unclear which service representatives use which strategies. Since one of the goals of the system interface design team is to determine the strategies used by service representatives, it is important to know which service representatives use the same or different strategies.
For the service representative embodiment, there are three reasons for using a cognitive workload assessment technique to determine if and how a new system should be designed. First, a cognitive workload assessment technique will result in one of three possible outcomes: all service representatives are overloaded, none of the service representatives are overloaded, or some of the services representatives are overloaded. If the results are that some or all of the service representatives are overloaded, the system should typically be redesigned to lower the load. If none of the service representatives are overloaded, the system may not necessarily have to be redesigned. It may be cost justified to train different strategies to the service representatives who are performing at a lower level. Thus, a cognitive workload assessment technique will help to determine if the system should be redesigned.
Second, since it is expected that degrees of cognitive workload correlate to types of strategies, measuring cognitive workload is an indirect way to measure types of strategies. Furthermore, measuring cognitive workload is quick, easy to perform, and inexpensive. Conversely, determining each service representative's strategy for each task would take a considerable amount of time, would require a lot of effort, and would be very expensive. By obtaining cognitive workload measurements, groups of service representatives may be parsed out and a small number of service representatives in each group may be examined for their strategies. A graph of cognitive metric and performance metric is expected to help parse out the groups, given the assumption that the degree of cognitive workload and user-characteristics are highly correlated to strategy. An example of this graph is shown in
In this figure, the Blue Group has higher performance and lower cognitive workload, the Green Group has medium performance and higher cognitive workload, and the Yellow Group has lower performance and lower cognitive workload. From this data, individuals in each group could be examined for strategies used during their tasks. It is expected that strategies within a group would be similar, but between groups would be different.
Through understanding the strategies, a new system may be designed more appropriately. Also, knowledge of the strategies used by the service representatives facilitates the system redesign such that better strategies are easier to use and understand, and other strategies are not hindered in the system redesign. A goal in redesigning the system is to improve performance in as many of the groups as possible. However, the redesign should not trade off one group's improved performance for another group's impaired performance. The redesign should also result in an overall improvement in performance compared to the old level of performance. The lack of improved performance would suggest that no group improved because both improvements and detriments had been redesigned into their tasks.
Third, a cognitive workload assessment technique may provide clues to improve the system. The diagnosticity of the technique may give some insight as to where the problems which result in lower levels of performance occur and how to design the system to eliminate such problems. For example, using a multidimensional subjective technique, it may be found that one group feels overloaded on the dimension of mental effort. It may be they feel there is too much to remember, and if the system was redesigned as menu-based to lower the use of memory, the mental effort load would be decreased to a more satisfactory level.
In addition to these three reasons for using a cognitive workload assessment technique to determine how a new system should be designed, some of these techniques may also be used to evaluate the newly designed system. Some of the cognitive workload assessment techniques may be used to determine if the new system decreases the service representatives' loads. Several cognitive workload assessment techniques can be used at any stage of development. A properly chosen technique can signal design problems early in the development of a new system.
Any system interface design effort would be benefited by measuring the cognitive workload of the current tasks. As mentioned previously, this information may help determine if the system needs to be redesigned. In addition, the cognitive workload of a task should not be measured relative to another task; rather it should be an absolute measurement for the system interface design team. This restricts SWORD from being recommended. The measurement should give diagnostic information so that if the system needs to be redesigned, information from the cognitive workload measure will help indicate what should be redesigned and how it should be redesigned. This restricts MCH from being recommended. It is unclear whether the measure needs to be sensitive to low levels of workload. Therefore, SWAT or NASA-TLX could be recommended as the subjective measure for the service representative embodiment. However, NASA-TLX was chosen over SWAT as the recommended technique because sensitivity to low levels of workload may be required. The recommendation is also based on some of NASA-TLX's properties. As compared to SWAT, NASA-TLX is fast and easy to perform. Service representatives will probably have a higher acceptance of it than of SWAT.
Although The NASA-TLX is thus seen to be best for the service representative embodiment, it was modified. The NASA-TLX currently contains six scales, namely, mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, performance, effort, and frustration. Since service representatives are not affected by physical demands, this scale was removed from the TLX. In addition, effort is a difficult scale to define. In pre-study testing, effort was confused with mental demand. Therefore, effort was also removed from the TLX. Furthermore, the performance scale was also removed from the TLX since users may view the performance scale as a scale related to their performance reviews.
The modified TLX for use in the service representative embodiment thus contains the three scales of mental demand, temporal demand, and frustration. Similar to the original NASA-TLX technique, these three scales will be rated and compared. However, service representatives will only perform one rating based on their tasks that day; each task will not be individually rated. An exemplary cognitive workload TLX survey is shown in
After the survey data is received from the users, it is combined and analyzed. This includes graphing or charting the data and identifying groupings or clusters on the graph or chart. These groups suggest users with similar behaviors. One or more users from each group is selected. These selected users will undergo a more detailed analysis. An exemplary outline of steps and procedures for combining and analyzing the survey data is shown in
Describing User Behavior
A task analysis is a method employed to enable one to understand how a user performs a specific task and to describe this behavior. Task analyses allow interface designers an understanding of what must be done to accomplish a task. They may also obtain insight into how a task can be better accomplished and what is needed to better accomplish the task. All of this information facilitates the development of a new system interface.
In addition, task analyses may help system interface requirements development by determining what functionality is necessary or desired in a system interface. Functionality refers to those functions in a system that users find useful in accomplishing their tasks. Furthermore, functionality together with a well-designed interface should result in a system that is easy to learn and use.
Behavioral characteristics are user characteristics that are not self-rated and are usually determined through a task analysis. Previously, it was noted that the user characteristics are measured through a survey which is self-rated by the user. Behavioral characteristics are not necessarily known to the user or may not be well communicated. Examples of behavioral characteristics are the user's actual method of navigation and use of serial processing or parallel processing.
Users may not notice when they use menus, compared to when they use shortcut keys. A task analysis, where the user is being monitored, may provide more insight into behavioral characteristics since the


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Online Education Options for Degrees in Juvenile Justice
People who pursue an online degree in juvenile justice can expect to study course work that helps them learn about the details and philosophy behind juvenile law. They will also learn how the juvenile judiciary and detention systems work. Studies will include the history of juvenile justice, juvenile justice theory and philosophy, as well as provide an understanding of the contemporary trends and issues facing the juvenile justice field. Courses in sociology and juvenile psychology are included in most programs.
Online degree programs in juvenile justice provide students with written and oral communication skills, problem solving skills, leadership skills, decision-making skills, and the skills necessary to relate with the troubled youths they will work with. The online degree program in juvenile justice will prepare students to work one-on-one with juvenile delinquents in an effort to rehabilitate them so they can become productive members of society.
Online options for juvenile justice exist at the following levels:
- Online Associates Degree in Juvenile Justice and related fields
- Online Bachelor Degree in Juvenile Justice and related fields
- Online Master Degree in Juvenile Justice and related fields
Degrees in Juvenile Justice Career and Salary Information
An online bachelor degree in juvenile justice could prepare a person to work in a variety of positions associated with juvenile justice and the juvenile rehabilitation system. Someone with an online bachelor degree in juvenile justice could work in a halfway house, a development center, a detention center, or a school. They might serve as a juvenile probation officer or case worker, helping children and teenagers change their lives. Corrections officers in juvenile detention centers have less one-on-one interaction with juveniles, and serve more of a security function. They escort juveniles to various activities throughout the detention center, supervise visitation, and control disturbances.
Job opportunities for persons who hold a bachelor degree in juvenile justice are readily available and most are increasing in availability. For the next several years, someone who earns an online bachelor degree in juvenile justice will have multiple options for employment in places all over the country. The median salary for a correctional officer in a juvenile facility is $26,000. The median salary for a probation officer or juvenile case worker is $29,000.


Reverse Word Search Lookup
Dictionary Suite
acquit to clear (someone) of a charge or accusation, as in a court of law. [1/3 definitions]
alexandrine (sometimes cap.) in poetry, a twelve-syllable line with alternating unstressed and stressed syllables, usu. with a clear pause after six syllables. [1/2 definitions]
antithesis a clear oppositeness; contrast. [1/2 definitions]
aqueous humor a clear, watery liquid that fills the chambers between the cornea and the lens of the eye.
articulate spoken in clear and distinct words or syllables. [1/10 definitions]
azure the color of a clear blue sky; sky blue. [1/2 definitions]
bail3 to clear (a boat) of water by scooping with a container (usu. fol. by out). [1/4 definitions]
blank empty or clear, as a space on a surface. [1/12 definitions]
blindfold to prevent clear perception or thinking. [1/4 definitions]
broad clear, full, or widely diffused. [1/7 definitions]
bus2 to clear (tables), as in a restaurant.
chloroform a clear, heavy, volatile liquid used as an anesthetic and a solvent. [1/3 definitions]


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The MELC Statement: reimagining learning as intercultural engagement (PDF 2.26MB) was developed in 2017 and has been endorsed by the education sector heads. It builds on the scoping paper – towards a position statement and strategy (2016, PDF 332KB), and describes an orientation and goals for education in linguistic and cultural diversity. The process of development was collaborative and informed by current research, with strategic input from educational sectors and a broad range of professional educational and community organisations.
The statement comprises:
- a vision; goals for learners outlining the intercultural capabilities and dispositions that all children and young people need to develop
- an elaboration of two key ideas about learners and learning as intercultural engagement
- suggested approaches for teachers, leaders and education sectors to realise this vision.
The MELC believes that work in this area requires a shift in understanding and that it is this conceptual shift that will lead to change in practice. The shift is towards an orientation to teaching and learning that positions students as participants engaging in diversity rather than as observers of diversity. The statement recognises the crucial role of languages, as well as reinforcing a whole of curriculum perspective that involves all educators.
The MELC Statement has resonated with principals, who are key contributors to the process of change. The statement is being seen as a focal resource for teacher professional learning.
Phone: 8226 1191
Email: education.mecs [at] sa.gov.au


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Ballitore is situated between Kilcullen and Castledermot, just off the N 9. As you enter the village of Ballitore turn left in the centre square – the Meeting House is about 200 metres on the right.
Meeting for Worship takes place every Sunday at 11 am.
Ballitore Meeting is part of Co Wexford Monthly Meeting.
In 1685 two Quakers decided to settle beside the Griese river, and the story of Ballitore began. They built wool and flour mills, and over the next two centuries more Quakers settled and developed what became known as the "Quaker" village.
In 1726 Abraham Shackleton started the famous school which lasted for over a century and that numbered Edmund Burke, Paul (later Cardinal) Cullen and Napper Tandy among its pupils. Last century the village went into decline, but twenty years ago saw the start of its revival, and now it is once again attractive, with the old Meeting House refurbished, and Mary Leadbeater's house rebuilt and housing the Library and a small Quaker museum. The museum is open during the week, and also on Sundays from June to September between 2pm and 6pm.
Four kilometres south of Ballitore, in Moone, there is one of the most delightful large stone High Crosses in Ireland. It has unusually good carvings of biblical scenes. In summer one can go to Meeting for Worship, then visit Moone, have a picnic, and return to the museum in the afternoon.
For more local history background see
courtesy of the Kildare Community Network.
View Quakers Ireland Map in a larger map


Differences between Mosses and Liverworts?
Mosses and liverworts both have leaves and stems. The differences between mosses and liverworts is that the leaves and stems in mosses are more uniform. The leaves and stems of liverworts are more varied with different design patterns.
Q&A Related to "Differences between Mosses and Liverworts?"
Bring it on.
Difference between mosses and liverworts is with the
Well, both types of plants are bryophytes, really simple land plants. Some differences include: The complexity of the rhizoids (these plants lack real roots) unicellular in liverworts
Though liverworts and mosses are similar, the end capsule on liverworts enlarges and matures before the stalk elongates. For this reason, you do not often see the stalks and capsules


How to Meet Language Arts and Social Studies Standards with Your Laser Cutter
What are all the ways that you might power-up engagement and learning with a laser cutter?
Teachers of all grade levels and subjects have discovered that DigiLab laser cutters can take learning up a big notch, hitting a wide variety of standards and deeply engaging students in the work. We've created lists of ideas to spark your thinking about how to add a laser cutter to your language arts or social studies lessons, with links to Common Core State Standards.
To come up with your own curriculum applications, consider the units in which your students are least engaged or those that you find most boring to teach. Then, take the story above and the following ideas as inspiration. How might a laser cutter help you to add a new dimension to your own lessons?
Language Arts Laser Cutter Project Ideas
 1. Book summaries: Design an artifact that one of the characters had in daily life and cut it out on the laser.
 2. Book diorama: Create diorama made completely out of laser cut pieces.
 3. Book quotes: Have students choose their favorite quotes from their individual or class book; engrave them onto wood and acrylic to hang in the hallway or classroom. Go a step further and have students write an essay based on one of their classmates' selected quotations.
 4. Elevate writing: Turn student poetry or short stories into authentic products by laser engraving them on a special material to display.
 5. Root words: Have students make games using laser cut pieces to help them learn Latin and Greek roots.
 6. Self-reflection: On the first day of school, have students design and laser cut something that represents them. Display these symbols on the bulletin board or on each student's desk to help you and their classmates get to know them. At end of year, lead a reflective activity to see what has changed.
 7. Language arts manipulatives: How can you bring your lessons alive by creating objects or aids to go with them? Before it might have been time-consuming or expensive, but even introducing a new material into the classroom gets kids excited about learning. ANYTHING you have as a document can be engraved on laser cutter. You can make bingo game, flashcards, and turn anything into a puzzle (site words, root words, parts of speech).
Social Studies Laser Cutter Project Ideas
 1. Create a culture project: Have students design and laser cut a logo or flag for their invented cultures; create multi-dimensional topographical maps; laser engrave their hand-drawn maps on wood or cardboard.
 2. Solve problems in history: Prototype solutions to questions like, How might the Egyptians have carried their water from here to there? What tools might the Native Americans have used to build their dwellings? What games might the children have invented with the limited materials they had in any given setting?
 3. Create period tools: Make prototypes of ancient tools that the culture would have used in daily life. Make games and tools for colonial different trades.
 4. Imagine alternate histories: Consider questions like, What if the American Colonists had had access one simple, modern-day tool? Design and prototype it on the laser cutter, and explore how life would have been different or how history would have changed with this one item.
 5. Build ancient structures: Instead of toothpicks and popsicle sticks, have students design, cut, and assemble bridges and pyramids using the laser cutter.
 6. Living timeline: Have students create laser-cut symbols or artifacts to correspond with essential landmarks or inventions in history.
 7. Historical excavation: Turn pictures of artifacts from the historical time period you're studying into laser-cut items. Hide them archeological-dig style outside, or just around the classroom. As a pre-unit introduction, have students figure out why they are important to this culture.
 8. History quotes: Have students choose key quotes from history and laser engrave them on leather.
Note: Although Common Core State Standards for specific grade levels are linked throughout this article, the activities can be applied to many grade levels.
Want your own classroom laser cutter? Let the DigiLab team help!


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The definition of a bypass is a secondary connection that goes around the main route or that provides an alternative means of arriving at a destination, or a surgical procedure designed to provide an alternative route.(noun)
To bypass is to provide an alternative way around, or to get around something.(verb)
If you take a shortcut to avoid traffic, this is an example of a time when you bypass traffic.
See bypass in Webster's New World College Dictionary
See bypass in American Heritage Dictionary 4
Learn more about bypass


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Definition: School has clear rules and expectations for appropriate behaviors. Students are clear about the behaviors expected of them and experience consistency in boundary enforcement.
Are the students clear about the expectations? Rules? Do the students have a say in the rules for their classrooms or for their school?
Aggregate survey results: 78% of the students at Discovering Choices perceive the school having a clear set of rules and expectations for behaviors.


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- In general, okra is used much more as a condiment than as a sauce in itself.
- okra is in fact added to a sauce so that it isn't too runny, but sticks together well enough to stick to the boule.
- okra may be used for sauce preparation as much with vegetables as with meat, be it fresh or dried.
- When using fresh okra, we cut it into very small pieces, then we add it to the vegetables into boiling water.
- We wait until the two (okra, vegetables) are well-cooked before adding any condiments (salt, Peanut butter, Maggi soy sauce or bouillon cubes, piment (hot spice), etc.).
- Then one must leave the sauce on the fire for a few minutes before serving.
- When using dried okra, we grind it into powder and put a certain quantity (in general, a tablespoon per litre of water for making sauce) in at the same time as the other condiments.
- In rare cases, okra is prepared alone as a sauce in itself (for example, during the time between sowing the fields and harvest).
- In this case, the sauce is composed of water, salt and okra (fresh or dried), cooked together. The quantity of okra must be sufficient enough for the sauce to be a sauce and not simply water.


Gravity Strikes Again
Why do your feet swell during aeroplane flights? It's not sudden-onset elephantiasis (probably).
Instead, it's due to blood pooling in your veins. (As blood tends to do when stationary, thanks to gravity.)
Yes, gravity strikes again!
 1. Sheps, S. (2016). Foot swelling during air travel: A concern?. Retrieved from
Smudge Cells
Memory aids make life better.
Smudge cells are associated with CLL.
 1. LabCE. (2018). Smudge Cells. [online] Available at: [Accessed 11 Sep. 2018].


text: 5% anonymised, individual level sample of the Census for 1996 and 2002. The Small Area Population Statistics for the 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, and 2002 Censuses for Ireland. This breaks the national data down by various levels (Electoral Division, Gaeltacht, etc.). Both data sets are restricted. Researchers can access more recent SAPS data directly from the CSO website.


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INSTALLers of GAS hobs in Sea Point
Let's Connect Your Gas Hob
- Cook like a pro with a gas hob
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Please note: this is a quotation system where we put you in touch with independent GAS INSTALLERS in your area. You'll deal directly with them.
GAS HOB INSTALLATION IN Sea Point
The easy way to cook with passion
Benefits of using a gas hob
Gas hobs offer numerous advantages when compared to electric hobs, for example:
- More precise control over the heat: Gas flames can be easily adjusted, while electric coils can only be turned on or off. This gives you greater control over the cooking process, which can help you to make perfectly cooked meals every single time.
- More intense heat: Gas hobs create more intense heat than electric hobs, which can help to bring out the flavors of food. This can be perfect for searing, sautéing, and grilling.
- Quicker heat-up time: Gas hobs heat up quickly, which can save you time when cooking. This is especially beneficial if you are short on time or if you are cooking for a big group.
- Simpler to clean: Gas stoves are simpler to maintain than electric stoves. This is because there are no coils to clean and the grates can simply be wiped down with a damp rag.
Additional details about the benefits of using a gas hob
- Gas stoves provide greater heat control over the heat than electric cooktops. This is because the flame of gas hobs can be easily adjusted, while electric coils can only be turned off and on. This gives you more control during the cooking process, something that can help you make delightful dishes every time.
For instance, if you are searing a steak, you must could control the heat extremely accurately. If the heat is too high, the steak will overcook. Alternatively, if the heat is too low, the steak will not sear properly. With a gas hob, you can easily regulate the heat to get the perfect sear.
- Flavor: Gas hobs produce more intense heat than electric hobs, enabling to an improved flavor in food. This is because gas flames deliver even heat to food compared to electric coils. When food is heated evenly, the flavors are distributed evenly, leading to a richer tasty dish.
As an example, if you're making a soup, you want the flavors of the ingredients mix together evenly. Using a gas hob, it's easy to warm the soup uniformly, which results in a more delicious soup.
- Convenience: Gas hobs heat up quickly, which can save you precious minutes when cooking. This is particularly helpful if you are in a rush or if you are cooking for a crowd of people.
For example, if you are making breakfast for a large group of people, you can save time by using a gas hob. The gas hob will heat up quickly, so you can start cooking right away.
- When it comes to safety, gas hobs are safer option. This is because gas hobs emit any sparks that can start fires.
For instance, if you are cooking with an hob and inadvertently you drop a substance on it, the chances ignite because of the sparks generated. However, it isn't a risk with a gas hob.
Let's Install Your Gas Hob Today!
If you are searching for a safe and convenient method to cook your food, then a gas hob is the perfect choice for you. The PRO's team servicing various locations provides a broad variety of gas hobs to select from, and can quickly install it in your home or company. Contact with us as soon as possible for your gas setup.
HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?
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Electrical CAD software
CAD applied to industrial electricity
The software in detail
SchemCabling is a powerful software dedicated to cable management and the creation of cable tray layouts for electrical installations. It offers two methods of integrating cable tray layouts: importing them in DXF™, DWG™, or image format, or creating them directly using the drawing tools available in the software.
One of the major strengths of SchemCabling is its 3D management for defining cable routes, allowing for a realistic and detailed visual representation of the electrical installation. This three-dimensional approach facilitates visualizing space constraints and optimizes cable routing.
The software also offers several options for cable management. You can import cables from an existing Excel file to avoid unnecessary re-entry and ensure an efficient data migration. Additionally, cables can be extracted directly from the SchemELECT project, ensuring information consistency throughout the project. If needed, you can also manually create new cables directly in the software, providing great flexibility in the design process.
With SchemCabling, you have a comprehensive and user-friendly tool to efficiently manage cable tray layouts and cables for your electrical installations, allowing you to increase productivity while producing professional-quality diagrams.
SchemCABLING offers a powerful pre-configured algorithm that automatically ensures the optimal routing of cables, taking into account user-defined constraints such as distances, specific pathways, and costs. For added flexibility, you can also choose the assisted mode to force routing according to your needs.
In addition to its routing capabilities, SchemCABLING provides valuable information on the occupancy rate of different branches of the routing, allowing you to better visualize and optimize space utilization.
With SchemCABLING, you have an advanced tool to quickly and efficiently route cables while considering project specifications and constraints. This allows you to save time while ensuring optimal quality in the cable management of your electrical installations.
With SchemCABLING, list extraction is automatic and simplified for pathways, cables, and various equipment such as cabinets and devices. These lists are customizable and compatible with various spreadsheets. You can easily integrate them into the folios of your project for better management of your electrical installations. Thanks to this functionality, you gain efficiency while ensuring the consistency and quality of your data.
SchemCABLING provides you with a comprehensive solution to optimize the process of managing cables and equipment in your electrical projects.
Thanks to its smooth and intuitive interface, SchemCABLING seamlessly integrates with other modules of SchemELECT dedicated to diagrams, terminal blocks, and cabinet layouts. This seamless integration enables optimal management of your electrical projects, ensuring consistency and data synchronization throughout the design process.
With SchemCABLING, you have a comprehensive and efficient tool to simplify and accelerate the realization of your electrical installations. This allows you to work in a smoother and more collaborative manner, while ensuring the quality and accuracy of your diagrams and wiring.


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Cotangent Vectors, Differentials, and the Cotangent Bundle
There's another construct in differential topology and geometry that isn't quite so obvious as a tangent vector, but which is every bit as useful: a cotangent vector. A cotangent vector at a point is just an element of the dual space to, which we write as.
We actually have a really nice example of cotangent vectors already: a gadget that takes a tangent vector at and gives back a number. It's the differential, which when given a vector returns the directional derivative in that direction. And we can generalize that right away.
Indeed, if is a smooth germ at, then we have a linear functional defined for all tangent vectors. We will call this functional the differential of at, and write.
If we have local coordinates at, then each coordinate function is a smooth function, which has differential. These actually furnish the dual basis to the coordinate vectors. Indeed, we calculate
That is, evaluating the coordinate differential on the coordinate vector gives the value if and otherwise.
Of course, the define a basis of at every point, just like the define a basis of at every point. This was exactly what we needed to compare vectors — at least to some extent — at points within a local coordinate patch, and let us define the tangent bundle as a -dimensional manifold.
In exactly the same way, we can define the cotangent bundle. Given the coordinate patch we define a coordinate patch covering all the cotangent spaces with. The coordinate map is defined on a cotangent vector by
Everything else in the construction of the cotangent bundle proceeds exactly as it did for the tangent bundle, but we're missing one thing: how to translate from one basis of coordinate differentials to another.
So, let's say and are two coordinate maps at, defining coordinate differentials and. How are these two bases related? We can calculate this by applying to :
This has the same values on each of the as does, and we conclude that they are, in fact, the same cotangent vector:
On the other hand, recall that
That is, we use the Jacobian of one transition function to transform from the basis to the basis of, but the transpose of the same Jacobian to transform from the basis to the basis of. And this is actually just as we expect, since the transpose is actually the adjoint transformation, which automatically connects the dual spaces.


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Interview: December 18, 2009
December 18, 2009
In this interview with's Norah Piehl, Janice Y. K. Lee discusses the slow evolution of her debut novel, THE PIANO TEACHER, from its origins as a short story and explains some of the challenges she faced in creating characters with backgrounds differing greatly from her own. She also describes the research she performed to accurately capture life in post-World War II Hong Kong, reflects on the struggles of balancing her writing career with her home life as a mother of four, and shares some of her favorite contemporary novelists. What was the starting point for your debut novel, THE PIANO TEACHER? Did you get the idea for the characters and their relationships first? The plot? The setting? How did you develop these ideas in preparation for writing the novel?
Janice Y. K. Lee: THE PIANO TEACHER started as a short story about Claire and Locket, although I didn't know their names at the time. I had an idea for a story about an English woman in Hong Kong, uncomfortable, unknowing, taking a job as the piano teacher to a privileged young Chinese girl in the 1970s, the time I had grown up in Hong Kong. The tensions inherent in that relationship interested me. So, it was really a short story first, and then I expanded upon it, with Trudy and Will and also moved it back to the '40s and '50s. The plot really came as I wrote, surfacing in my consciousness as things people said, or places I thought they would go. I never had a map, which proved difficult, but that is the way I seem to write. The characters lead me to their story.
BRC: Claire, Will and Trudy are the main characters, and the novel is written, at different points, from all their points of view. Which character was easiest for you to write? Were any of them particularly challenging to capture their voice or point of view?
JYKL: Trudy was definitely the easiest for me to write. I knew her from the moment I conceived of her. Claire and Will were not easy for me to take ownership of. I kept thinking, what would they do, who were their parents, what were their jobs, what were their childhoods like? I knew all that about Trudy immediately. I think it's because she grew up in Asia, like me, and Will and Claire are English, and I have never spent time in England save for the occasional vacation. So, it was hard for me to place them in the world. But by the end, I knew who they were, but they were a lot harder than Trudy. She was a gift to me, a gift of the fully-formed character.
BRC: The narrative moves increasingly freely among the three main characters in this unusual love triangle and forward and backward in time. How did you go about constructing this narrative structure? Did you have a map or outline to guide you?
JYKL: I did not have a map so it took me a very long time to get it right. Part 1 took me most of a year. I kept experimenting, putting it all in the '40s, or all in the '50s, or all in present tense, or past, etc. etc. Then I would wait a few days, and read it. They always felt wrong. When I came upon what is the present form, it finally felt right. People have asked why I put the '40s in the present tense and the '50s in the past. I didn't know at the time --- it was very much a feel thing, but I think my intention was to make the '40s seem dreamlike and immediate, which the present tense communicates, and the '50s story was more of a conventional narrative, which unfolds as we read.
BRC: Your book contains so many fascinating, concrete details about life in Hong Kong during and after World War II. What kinds of research did you conduct to bring this world to life?
JYKL: I read a lot of memoirs by British and American people who were in Hong Kong at the time and who had been interned. This gave me a sense of the social life back then, and how people spent their days. I also read microfiche of newspapers to get an idea of what was going on in the broader world --- Queen Elizabeth ascending the throne, tensions in Korea, and I wanted to put those details in because people in that day would be interested in these public affairs. The ads in the paper were also interesting and gave me a lot of insight into daily life. You could buy a car in England and ship it to Hong Kong, people were running classified ads advertising themselves as English tutors or teachers in flower arranging. What I loved were details of food, what dishes people were eating, how much things cost --- like ferry tickets, or to have a dress made --- and the kinds of games people played, how they amused themselves back then.
BRC: You grew up in British Hong Kong, went to school in America and lived here for a while after college, and then returned to Hong Kong in 2005, after it had been returned to China. What changes did you see upon your return? What do you enjoy about living in Hong Kong?
JYKL: Hong Kong has never been England or China, but a blend all its own. So while I saw a lot of surface differences when I moved back (the currency no longer showed the Queen, but the bauhinia, the national flower; the mail was no longer called the "royal mail"), I must say a lot of life remains the same. Hong Kong is not China, but a part of China with its own unique history. I like living in Hong Kong because my parents and older brother live here and it's been great to have family close as my husband and I have four kids. The winters are also a lot more enjoyable as it never gets too cold.
BRC: The descriptions of Japanese occupation and the internment of non-Chinese nationals in Hong Kong near the end of World War II have been shocking to many American readers, who might have only a cursory grasp on this era of Asian history. Have you received any reactions to the book by Japanese readers or press? Has it been translated into Japanese?
JYKL: It has been translated into complex and simplified Chinese (meaning Taiwan/Hong Kong and mainland China) but has not been picked up in Japan, so I have not heard any reactions to the book from the Japanese public. A Japanese-American woman came up to me after a reading and said how glad she was that I wrote it, though.
BRC: Are there any elements of your novel (beyond the primary plot and characters, obviously) that had their genesis more in your imagination than in historical reality?
JYKL: Many people think the Crown Collection is real, but I made it up entirely!
BRC: THE PIANO TEACHER is now out in paperback. How have you found the experience of having your first novel published? What surprised you most about the whole process?
JYKL: What do you say when your dream comes true? It's been a crazy ride. I will say, though, that although this is my first novel, it is certainly not my first attempt at writing. I have spent 30 years working towards and dreaming of this time! I have wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl. Now that I'm on the other side, it's lovely but I don't think I'm ever going to forget all those years of writing, working and uncertainty.
BRC: With the publication of the paperback edition, book groups will now undoubtedly be drawn to discussing your book. Have you ever been involved in a book discussion group? Do you have any plans to visit or talk with groups discussing your book?
I've done a few book clubs of friends, or friends of friends. Because I'm in Hong Kong, sometimes I've skyped. I've skyped with Singapore, Shanghai and San Francisco! I prefer a larger group because the energy is better.
BRC: In the bio on your website, you mention that you and your husband were starting a family at the same time you were writing THE PIANO TEACHER. How did you maintain focus on your novel while also tackling motherhood? How do you currently balance your four children with your writing career? What kind of writing routine do you maintain?
JYKL: It's very hard. You always feel like someone or something is getting short shrift. I try to write in the morning, but on the rare occasions I'm really writing, I tend to work all day if I can, but that's so rare that it is not a factor in my daily schedule. I think my writing suffers from inattention more than my children. Hopefully I will get more time as they get older.
BRC: Which other contemporary novelists do you read and enjoy?
JYKL: So many! Just finished books by Dan Chaon and Peter Cameron. I love Amy Hempel, Amy Bloom, Elizabeth McCracken, Michael Cunningham, Jeffrey Eugenides. The list goes on and on...
BRC: Do you plan to use Hong Kong as the setting for future novels?
JYKL: I'm not sure. I'm working on something now but it's pretty amorphous. I also don't like to say because I feel it dissipates with the saying of it.
BRC: What are you working on now?
JYKL: Ditto...
Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.
© Copyright _PHONE_


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A two-minute warning stoppage in American Football occurs twice during a four-quarter game. The pause occurs in the second and fourth quarters of every game. The clock stops at the conclusion of the two-minute mark, and it acts as a mini timeout for teams to strategize on what to do next. So what is the history of the two-minute warning, why it began, and why does it still exist today? Here is the entire breakdown of the two-minute warning in American Football.
When Did the Two-Minute-Warning Begin in American Football?
The two minute-warning began in the NFL in 1942. During this time, no official game clock was present for fans and players to see. Since no stadium clock counted down the time left in the match, the refs had a two-minute warning to alert the players and fans how much time was left.
Clock Change at NFL Stadiums
While more NFL stadiums began adding official game clocks for everyone to see, the two-minute warning was still part of NFL games. Even though the original purpose of the two-minute notification was to let everyone know how much time remained in the contest, the league saw it as an essential and strategic part of the game. The break-in action allows teams to huddle up and strategize what they will do next, even without a timeout.
What Happens at the 2 Minute Warning During Football Games?
During the 2-minute warning in American Football, both teams can regroup on the field or sidelines and discuss strategy during the stoppage in action. Also, since this is a pause in the act, you typically see commercial breaks on TV. The two-minute warning lasts two minutes, allowing TV and radio advertisers to squeeze in a few ads before the action resumes.
How Many Two Minute Warnings are there in Football?
There are only 2 two minute-warnings during a four-quarter football game. If the game goes into overtime, there is another two-minute warning if it gets to that stage. During the playoffs in overtime, there is no 2 -minute overtime in the first overtime period. However, if the game continues into the second overtime and beyond, there is one 2 minute overtime per period.
Does the 2:00 Minute Mark Stop the Action No Matter What?
The two-minute warning only occurs when the play clock reaches 2:00, and the completion of the play concludes. For example, a team might run the ball with 2:10 left on the clock, but they fumble it. The defending team recovers the ball and runs it until tackled with the fumble recovery. The game clock is now at 1:47 after this tackle, and the two-minute warning starts. Even though the game clock is 1:47, both teams enter a two-minute break and then resume action with 1:47 left in the game.
How Do Teams Use the Two-Minute Warning to their Advantage?
If the offense is down in the score, they might try and preserve their timeouts, so they will run or throw the ball and run out of bounds to stop the clock. With the 2-minute warning approaching, teams can run a play in the middle of the field and then have the 2-minute warning stop the action, which doesn't cost them a timeout.
What is the Two-Minute Drill?
Teams practice a first and second half two-minute drill in practices before games. These two-minute drills simulate scenarios when a team only has two minutes to march down the field and score a touchdown. Sometimes they will have no timeouts, while others will have a few. Teams practice this two-minute drill to simulate what will happen if they are in the same scenario.
What is the 10-Second Runoff?
After the two-minute warning during an American Football game, there is a 10-second runoff that occurs only for the offense. The 10-second runoff prevents an offense from getting an unfair late advantage, especially when they are out of timeouts. Common reasons for the penalty include
- Intentional grounding.
- Creating a false start on purpose to stop the clock.
- QB throws a backward pass out of bounds.
An Example of Why the 10-Second Runoff Exists
For example, let's say that a team has the ball with 15 seconds left on the clock. They are trying to get their players back to the line of scrimmage to spike the ball to stop the clock, but it is taking too long. To stop the clock, the center moves early and interacts with a defender to create a false start, which stops the clock.
The referee in this situation above will call a 10-second runoff violation because the play was only run to stop the action. With that being the case, the new play begins with 10 seconds taken off the clock, which means that the offense only has 5 seconds left on the game clock. If less than 10 seconds are on the game clock, the game officially ends on this call.
Finally, an injured player on the field when the team has no timeouts can result in a 10-second runoff. The other team can choose to have 10 seconds taken off the clock when there is an injury.
Does College Football or High School Football Have a 2 Minute Warning?
NCAA Football and High School Football does not have any two-minute warnings during their game day matchups.
Does Canadian Football or Arena Football Have Something Similar?
Does Hockey or Basketball Have Something Similar?
Professional hockey and basketball don't have anything like the two-minute warning like the National Football League has. The only similar thing is the seventh inning stretch in Major League Baseball, which is a brief pause in action towards the end of a game.
Conclusion: What is the Two Minute Warning in Football?
In summary, the two-minute warning began to alert both teams on how much time remained during a game. Today, the two-minute warning is a time to regroup as a team and strategize on what to do next. Not only is the pause in action a way for teams to strategize, but the delay builds up the excitement for the final moments of a football game, which is great for players and fans.


text:
Every widget primitive and compound widget can carry a user-specified value of any IDL data type and organization; that is, every widget contains a variable that can store arbitrary information. This value is ignored by the widget and is for the programmer's convenience only.
The initial user value is specified using the UVALUE keyword to the widget creation function. If no initial value is specified, the user value is undefined. Once the widget exists, its user value can be examined and/or changed using the GET_UVALUE and SET_UVALUE keywords to the WIDGET_CONTROL procedure.
User values can be used to simplify event-handling. If each widget has a distinct user value, you need only check the user value of any event to determine which widget generated it. In practice, this means you do not need to keep track of the widget IDs of all the widgets in your widget hierarchy in order to determine what to do with a given event.
Another use for user variables is to simulate a variable that is available in more than one IDL routine. For example, you can set the user value of a top-level base widget equal to one or more widget IDs. You then have an easy way to pass the widget IDs from your widget creation routine to your event handling routine.
We will take advantage of both of these aspects of user values in Example 2: Event Processing and User Values.


What Do Marcus Smart's College Numbers Tell Us About His NBA Future?
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One of the most popular parlor games surrounding the NBA draft is finding comparisons for this year's prospects. Is Andrew Wiggins the next Kevin Durant or the next Corey Brewer? Which NBA player represents the best-case scenario for Jabari Parker? Who represents the worst-case scenario for Joel Embiid?
These types of comparisons aren't about scouting as much as they are a shorthand for true scouting. Comparisons can give you an idea about the game of a certain player, but they can also leave out a lot of information, missing nuance or inadvertently implying things that simply aren't true.
Even with those flaws, looking for draft-prospect comparisons is a useful tactic to begin building context around a player's skills while starting to dig into what type of player they might be in the NBA.
In an effort to leverage these comparisons into their most useful form, I borrowed a technique from Basketball-Reference to build a statistical model for making these comparisons.
Draft prospects from each season are compared across 21 different statistical categories, weighted equally, to draft prospects from previous seasons. Unfortunately, this method only works for comparing apples to apples, so the system is limited to collegiate draft prospects and doesn't include any international players.
The output of the model is a Similarity Score between 1-1000, representing how similar the player's statistical profiles are. For example, when we run Marcus Smart through the system these are the three closest profiles we find:
Player Similarity Score
Iman Shumpert 903
Tyreke Evans 892
James Harden 880
Iman Shumpert, Tyreke Evans and James Harden would seem to be a fantastic blend of potential career paths for Smart. Obviously, there is a wide gap between Harden and Shumpert, but if Smart's ultimate NBA path where to fall somewhere in between those two, whoever selects him in the draft would be assured of landing a pretty good player.
However, these Similarity Scores are not a projection; that is to say they are not directly indicating that Smart's NBA career will be similar to Shumpert's. They are simply a snapshot of what each player accomplished in college.
If we dig further into the numbers, we can start to add some context and really begin to suss out what they are telling us about Smart.
For example, while the talent level is strong in this set of comparable players, none of them actually play point guard in the NBA, which is Smart's listed position. All three were primary ball-handlers in college and frequently play with the ball in their hands in the NBA, but none of them play the same position as Smart.
In fact, if we extend the list to his 10-closest comparable players, we add the likes of Dominique Jones, Frank Williams, Dwyane Wade, Willie Warren, Tony Allen, Ronnie Brewer and Brandon Paul. Again, there is plenty of talent there, but of that list only Williams was actually a point guard.
The implication then is that there are some pieces of in Smart's statistical profile that make him more similar to other wing players than NBA point guards.
If we focus solely upon Smart's rebounding numbers (split into offensive and defensive rebounds per 40 minutes), here are his three-closest comparisons:
Player OREB/40 DREB/40 Percent Match
Marcus Smart 1.6 5.1 -
Gerald Henderson 1.7 5.0 98.6%
Corey Brewer 1.5 5.0 98.6%
Kareem Rush 1.6 4.8 98.2%
The percent match column shows how close of a match these players would be if we just looked at just the rebounding numbers instead of all 21 categories that make up the Similarity Scores. As you can see, Smart is a much better rebounder than most point guards, with numbers that compare favorably to wings and small forwards.
We see the same pattern with his defensive numbers—steals, blocks and personal fouls per 40 minutes:
Player STLS/40 BLK/40 PF/40 Percent Match
Marcus Smart 3.3 0.7 3.4 -
Iman Shumpert 3.3 0.2 3.3 95.2%
Victor Oladipo 3.0 1.1 3.4 93.8%
Dion Waiters 3.0 0.5 3.1 92.1%
Here, we again see Smart's numbers matching more closely with wing prospects. The good news is that they place him alongside some of the best individual defenders to come into the league in the past few drafts. Although Waiters has been mediocre defender so far in the NBA, he was a ferocious on-ball defender in college.
Between his steals and his fouls, Smart has the resume of a high-pressure defensive presencea resume that is more than supported by actually watching him play. Mike Schmitz of DraftExpress.com highlighted some of the same points in his draft profile for Smart:
Smart is prone to gambles and off-ball mistakes, but there is no doubt that he will be able to play NBA-caliber on-ball defense right away.
If we move into his passing numbers, we again see some distance between Smart and the players we would think of as true point guards. Looking at just those numbers—assists per 40 minutes, assists per field-goal attempt and turnovers per possession—here are his three-closest comparable profiles:
Player AST/40 AST/FGA TO/POS Percent Match
Marcus Smart 5.5 0.38 0.16 -
Reggie Jackson 5.4 0.35 0.16 98.1%
Sherron Collins 5.4 0.37 0.17 97.1%
Ben Hansbrough 5.0 0.36 0.16 97.1%
Of the three, only Jackson has been able to carve out an NBA career, and he is as much of a scorer as a shot-creator. The bottom line is that Smart's assists and ratio of assists-to-field-goal-attempts are both fairly low. Both of these things are influenced by his collegiate role at Oklahoma State and the scoring demands that were put on him. But they raise some questions about his ability to effectively facilitate in an NBA offense.
Lenny Ignelzi/Associated Press
The last two groups of stats to look at are Smart's scoring and shooting numbers. Here are the three-closest comparable profiles focused on scoring:
Player USG% PTS/40 FTA/40 3PA/FGA PTS/POS Percent Match
Marcus Smart 23.8% 20.5 9.2 0.42 1.06 -
Elliott Williams 23.3% 21.5 9.0 0.42 1.15 93.5%
Willie Warren 23.1% 20.2 7.5 0.40 1.03 93.2%
Iman Shumpert 23.2% 20.7 6.8 0.35 1.07 91.6%
Here are the three-closest comparable profiles based solely upon shooting percentages:
Player 2PT% 3PT% FT% Percent Match
Marcus Smart 51.4% 29.9% 72.8%
Jrue Holiday 52.8% 30.7% 72.6% 97.1%
Tyreke Evans 52.1% 31.1% 74.1% 97.0%
Dominique Jones 51.4% 27.4% 71.1% 96.8%
These are a less than inspiring group of comparable profiles on both accounts, particularly on the shooting side. Holiday has become a respectable shooter, but the lack of an outside shot continues to be Evans' Achilles' heel, and Jones is out of the league.
The good news is what the numbers appear to say about Smart's ability to get into the lane, draw fouls and finish around the basket. He accumulated free throws at a prodigious rate in college and clearly has the ability to make things happen off the dribble.
Those numbers temper some of the discouragement that comes with the players he compares to as a passer. Smart has the ability to break down a defense, but at Oklahoma State his offensive balance leaned slightly toward creating for himself. However, the potential would seem to be there for him to develop into a more effective shot-creator in the NBAif the team he winds up with helped nudge him in that direction, of course.
Having sifted through all of these different smaller categories, a clearer picture of Smart as a draft prospect emerges. Even as a rookie, he should be able to make a significant impact as a defender and rebounder, as he possesses the potential to make elite contributions as a point guard in both categories.
On offense, things are slightly more murky. His outside shooting is questionable, and while he has tremendous off-the-dribble ability, he hasn't channeled as much of that ability into shot creation for his teammates as you would normally see from a point guard.
But when you put the puzzle pieces back together, we arrive at that initial list of comparisons: Iman Shumpert, Tyreke Evans and James Harden. Obviously, there are no sure things when it comes to the NBA draft, but the numbers seem to be saying that Marcus Smart could be "good


The Internal Organization of Banks and the Transmission of Lending Shocks across Borders
Projekt Start:06/2013
Kategorie: Financial Intermediation, Systemic Risk Lab
Finanziert von:LOEWE
Topic & Objectives
The links between parents and subsidiaries within international bank conglomerates lead to a reduction of information asymmetries and provide liquidity sources in cases when outside funding is scarce or unavailable. However, they can also be channels for the transmission of shocks both across a country's regions and internationally. So far, there is little knowledge of how the internal organization of these financial conglomerates is connected with their cross-border lending decisions. A major obstacle for such an analysis is the lack of information about the degree to which a parent bank affects the decisions of its foreign subsidiaries. Few studies have used confidential information about the activities of the internal capital markets in banking conglomerates, but such information is usually either not available to the general scientific community, or available only for a small number of countries, such as the U.S., which makes the results difficult to apply elsewhere.
In SAFE Working Paper No. 174, we introduce a novel approach to measure bank integration, based on the language in the financial reports of global banks. The Power Index that we introduce reflects the prevalence of a language of power, authority and control, which is identified by the management literature as an indication of a tighter integration within a global corporation.
In SAFE Working Paper No. 175, we analyze the transmission channels of negative shocks from parent banks to their foreign subsidiaries and try to find an explanation of why a negative shock transmission occurs in certain cases and not in others. In our analysis, we recognize that not only the negative shocks are important as such, but also is their type, because banks use different approaches to address different types of shocks. We use this observation to identify whether solvency and wholesale shocks to parent banks are systematically related to a reduction subsidiary lending.
SAFE Working Paper No. 174
Key Findings
 - A more authoritative culture within a global banking conglomerate is crucially determined by the social (de-)centralization of the home country of the parent: more ethnically dispersed societies nurture less centralized corporate banking structures. Linguistically decentralized societies, on the other hand, produce more centralized corporate structures, which may be explained by the need for clearly stated rules and orders in a multilingual environment.
 - Bank integration, as measured by the Power Index, plays a major role in the transmission of negative shocks across borders: If a solvency shock hits a parent, its subsidiaries reduce lending more if the banking conglomerate is more integrated. Wholesale shocks do not appear to be transmitted through this channel.
 - Past experience with solvency shocks reduces the integration between parents and subsidiaries.
Policy Implications
Our study has important policy implications and adds to our understanding of the transmission of negative shocks across borders and how it is affected by corporate and country culture. Our findings suggest that in analyzing and forecasting the impact of external shocks on a country's economy, host country supervisors and regulators should take into account the social and cultural structure in the home country of their foreign-owned banks.
SAFE Working Paper No. 175
Key Findings
 - Solvency shocks to parents generally have larger effect on subsidiary lending than wholesale shocks. Transmission of wholesale shock does occur and it affects foreign subsidiaries of parent banks that rely heavily on wholesale funding.
 - Further, the transmission of wholesale shocks depends on the relative importance of the subsidiary within the parent business strategy: subsidiaries in markets that are traditionally used as a funding source by the parent tend to be affected by solvency shocks, while subsidiaries that provide investment income appear to be protected by the parent. Cetorelli and Goldberg (2012b) find this effect for U.S. banks hit by liquidity shocks and call it a "locational pecking order". We find evidence for this phenomenon on a global scale.
 - Liquidity regulation tends to exacerbate the effect of wholesale shocks on foreign subsidiaries.
 - The subdued effects of both types of shocks for undercapitalized banks and banks that rely on wholesale funding are primarily due to parents using their capital and liquidity buffers.
 - Solvency shocks have higher impact on big subsidiary banks with low growth opportunities in mature markets, which further reinforces the "locational pecking order" hypothesis, as the latter markets may be used as sources of funding for investments in high-growth developing markets.
Policy Implications
These results have important theoretical and policy implications and add to our understanding of the transmission of solvency and wholesale shocks across borders. As we find that shocks to parents have strong impact on subsidiaries abroad, and that parents try to address shocks by depleting their own capital and liquidity buffers first, we deduce that the current focus of banking regulation on requiring banks to hold sufficient buffers might be effective in reducing cross-border contagion. However, the liquidity rules currently in place globally aggravate the transmission of shocks across borders and further efforts are needed to find a more effective global regulatory framework.
Zugehörige Working Papers
175Reint Gropp, Deyan RadevInternational Banking Conglomerates and the Transmission of Lending Shocks Across Borders2017 Financial Intermediation, Systemic Risk Lab Commercial banks, global banks, wholesale shocks, solvency shocks, transmission, internal capital markets
174Reint Gropp, Deyan RadevSocial Centralization, Bank Integration and the Transmission of Lending Shocks2017 Financial Intermediation, Systemic Risk Lab Global banks, social centralization, bank integration, shocks, transmission


History of Japan
This week, we cover the short yet fascinating history of Islam in Japan. What factors led to a connection between the Islamic world and Japan? Who led the efforts to build bridges between the two? And why is the history of this relationship so generally unknown?
Show notes here.
Direct download: History_of_Japan_348_mixdown.mp3
Category:History -- posted at: 4:00am PST


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The Bahrain-Explorer, developed in-house, is the Flagship of Geomatec online geo-spatial products. The system was completely developed in-house from data collection and integration, and all the way through to the website design. The mapping engine is based on ArcIMS and Arc/Info from ESRI. It is the first Internet-based mapping system in the Gulf region, which is built on ESRI software, and provides routing solution.
The Bahrain Explorer.com provides web clients with capabilities to search a comprehensive database of services and places of interest in the Kingdom, which ranges from the smallest laundry shop to five star hotels and apartments, pharmacies, restaurants, embassies, hospitals, schools and more. Some of the main features of Bahrain-Explorer are the following:
- A complete interface in Arabic (first of its kind in the region).
- Find and locate places of interest and services by category and key word entry.
- Comprehensive and detailed street maps of Bahrain with all administrative layers and census block boundaries.
- Interactive pan and zoom.
- Display the driving direction between any two selected points of interest.
- Display fastest or shortest routes between two locations.
- Spatial buffering (e.g. find nearest service to a given hotel). into the website not only provides simple point feature identification but also lets clients do proximity search, e.g. it allows user to find restaurants in 100m to 2km radius from the selected hotel or road.


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A team of Canadian researchers have uncovered an unusual new example of "upstream filtering," where online content in one country is blocked in another country due to filtering that happens in transit.
Researchers at the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, revealed that some Oman Internet users using the Omantel ISP are also being subjected to Indian content restrictions because of traffic flowing through India.
"It goes to show what you can find when you begin to probe beneath the surface of the Internet, and what you see when you have governments start to mess with the openness of the Internet," Ron Deibert, Citizen Lab's director, told Ars on Thursday. "In this case you have a perverse situation where citizens in one country are subject to filtering in another country."
While there have been numerous examples of specific countries blocking foreign or domestic content that they find objectionable, as it runs afoul of their own laws or regulations, it's rare for one country to accidentally block sites due to peering agreements and traffic flows.
In this case, Indian ISP Bharti Airtel and Omantel have peering agreements, and partnered with other companies to build the Europe India Gateway, a 15,000-kilometer fibre optic cable that connects 13 countries via the Suez Canal in Egypt.
Citizen Lab conducted numerous tests in late June 2012 both remotely via a proxy, and also in collaboration with Omani Internet users, but also found that the blocks may not be consistently applied at all times.
Entertainment, news sites affected
"The practice of upstream filtering raises a number of questions, including jurisdictional issues and the lack of recourse to users in Oman," Citizen Lab states in its report.
"The application of filters in India restricts Internet users in Oman from accessing content, potentially even content produced in Oman itself, as a result of actions taken for domestic purposes within India. Users in Oman did not consent to this blocking, are left with little recourse for challenging these actions, and have limited means of accessing this content, which may or may not be in violation of Omani regulations. Combined with the significant filtering implemented by Omantel itself, this essentially puts Internet users in Oman behind multiple layers of national-level filtering."
Primarily, the sites affected included Indian and Pakistani entertainment sites, political blogs, file-sharing websites, and even IndyBay, a San Francisco-based online news site.
Not surprisingly, many Internet watchers lament this odd state of affairs online.
"Decisions made in one country about acceptable online content often affect users in other countries," wrote Jillian York, the director for international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, in an e-mail sent to Ars on Thursday. "This can occur through upstream filtering such as in this scenario or through application of a bill like SOPA, where the US government would have been enabled to make decisions about foreign content."
Similar examples in Central Asia
Oman has its own national filtering system, written in Arabic and English, which announces that it blocks content that is "contrary to the laws of the Sultanate." Omantel users seeing the Indian block are shown an English-only message, which states: "This website/URL has been blocked until further notice either pursuant to Court orders or on the Directions issued by the Department of Telecommunications."
The Department of Telecommunications is the name of India's telco regulations agency. But beyond the name coincidence, running a traceroute from Oman or an Oman proxy, shows that the traffic to a US-based site runs through India.
India tends to filter security and Internet tools-related content, according to previous research done by the Open Network Initiative (ONI), while Oman's tend to be more along the lines of blocking pornographic material, gay and lesbian content, and circumvention tool-related sites.
The ONI is a grouping of similar institutions that also includes the SecDev group and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. In its extensive research on Internet filtering around the world, ONI has found similar examples in the past. Most notably there was a case in Kyrgyzstan, which had some sites blocked by a state ISP from Kazakhstan while selling its service to Kyrgyz Telecom.
"Similar behavior was observed in Uzbekistan in 2004, where content filtering on one Uzbek ISP closely matched that seen in China, a finding supplemented by evidence that this ISP was purchasing connectivity service from China Telecom," the Citizen Lab added in the report.
Of course, any Omantel user or any other Internet user with a VPN or other circumvention tool would easily get around such blocks—a service that a New Zealand ISP advertised earlier this year with the express purpose of getting around Hulu and Netflix's geoblocking.


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Keys to Aging Cheddar Cheese
- Be sure that the cheese is in a controlled environment and the temperature is between 46°F and 52°F for best aging. At Golden Age Cheese we age our cheese at a constant 48°F.
- The Cheese must have a good seal so the cheese does not mold during the aging process.
- The cheese should not be exposed to natural light while in the aging process.
- Time is key! "The longer the cheese sits, the sharper it gets". A good start is 18 months for sharp Cheddar, but age it yourself for as long as you please.


King's Road Meets Apalache Trail
King's Road Meets Apalache Trail (HM2JYW)
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N 30° 19.781', W 81° 39.532'
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At this spot the Kings Road met the Apalache Trail, so connecting the English colonies and the Spanish settlements of the west with St. Augustine and New Smyrna
Year Placed1928
Placed ByJacksonville Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Monday, August 26th, 2019 at 8:01pm PDT -07:00
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)17R E 436664 N _PHONE_
Decimal Degrees30.32968333, -81.65886667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 30° 19.781', W 81° 39.532'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds30° 19' 46.86" N, 81° 39' 31.92" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Closest Postal AddressAt or near,,
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text:
This flowchart illustrates the structure of the Risk Assessment Model. Throughout the flowchart, orange boxes indicate that the step is outside the scope of the Risk Assessment pilot, while green boxes indicate that the step is inside the scope. Light green boxes indicate one of three primary components of the Risk Assessment model, and they contain two or more dark green boxes that represent specific steps of the Risk Assessment model.
The conceptual model consists of three primary components: inventory of assets, climate information, and risk to assets and the transportation system. The first two components can be considered simultaneously, and aim to identify (a) which assets are important to the transportation system, and (b) which climate variables are likely to occur, and/or which variables could experience a high-magnitude change. The third component combines the results of the first two to assess how climate changes could impact each important asset, and how significant those impacts could be.
At the top left of the diagram is the first component, "Inventory of Assets," which contains two dark green boxes. A short arrow connects the top box, "Develop inventory of assets," to the "How important is each asset?" box below. Because the in-scope activities under this component will rely on existing resources developed outside of the scope of this Risk Assessment model, there are two orange boxes entitled, "Existing inventories" and "Existing priorities, evaluation tools" that feed into this component. Altogether, this component diagram indicates that transportation agencies should draw from existing inventories to develop their own inventory of assets they are concerned with, and then to use existing priorities and tools to assess the importance of each one of those assets. If the asset is judged to be less important, an arrow leads to an orange box that reads "Monitor and revisit as resources allow." If the asset is judged to be more important, an arrow leads to the third component of the diagram, labeled "Risk." This third component of the diagram will be described later.
At the top right of the Risk Assessment Model is the second component, a light green box named "Climate Information." Within this component are two dark green boxes. The top one reads, "Gather climate information (observed and projections)." The bottom dark green box reads, "What is the likelihood and magnitude of future climate changes?" Transportation agencies should consider these questions with the help of existing data sets, as indicated by the orange box called "Existing data sets" that feeds into the "Climate Information" component. The diagram presents two possible options for Climate Information component. If both the likelihood and magnitude of the effect is judged to be low, then the recommendation is to monitor and revisit as resources allow, as indicated by the arrow pointing to the orange "Monitor and revisit as resources allow" box. However, if either the likelihood or the magnitude is expected to be high, an arrow points to the light green "Risk" box, the third and final component of this Risk Assessment Model.
The Risk component contains four dark green boxes. The first one reads, "Is the asset vulnerable to projected climate effects?" If the asset is judged to have low vulnerability, an arrow leads to the orange "Monitor and revisit as resources allow" box. If the asset is judged to have medium or high vulnerability, the flowchart points to two additional questions simultaneously in side-by-side dark green boxes. The left question reads, "What is the likelihood that future stressors will measurably impact the asset?" The right question reads, "What is the consequence of the impact on the asset?" Arrows from those two questions point to a third question in a dark green box below the other two which reads, "What is the integrated risk?" If the integrated risk is low, then the next step is to "Monitor and revisit as resources allow", which is represented in an orange box. If the risk is high or medium, an arrow leads to an orange box that reads, "Identify, analyze, and prioritize adaptation options."