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For many households, pets are not just animals but beloved family members. Just as you'd want the best healthcare coverage for yourself and your human family, it's crucial to consider pet insurance to protect your furry or feathered friends. With a plethora of pet insurance providers available, it can be overwhelming to make the right choice. To help you make an informed decision, we've compiled the top questions you should ask before selecting a pet insurance provider for your family.
1. What Types of Coverage Do You Offer?
When it comes to pet insurance, not all providers are created equal. The first question you should ask is about the types of coverage they offer. Generally, pet insurance plans can include:
Accident-only coverage: Covers injuries resulting from accidents.
Illness coverage: Covers various illnesses, diseases, and non-pre-existing conditions.
Wellness or routine care coverage: Includes preventive services like vaccinations and check-ups.
Hereditary and congenital conditions coverage: Your pet may be predisposed to conditions due to their breed.
Dental coverage: Includes dental treatments and procedures.
Prescription medication coverage: Covers the cost of prescription drugs.
Understanding what each plan includes will help you choose the one that best suits your pet's needs.
2. What Are Your Policy Exclusions?
It's essential to clarify what a pet insurance policy does not cover. Standard exclusions may include:
Pre-existing conditions: Health issues your pet had before getting insurance.
Certain breed-specific conditions: Some insurers may exclude conditions common in specific breeds.
Cosmetic procedures: Procedures that aren't medically necessary.
Experimental treatments: Treatments that aren't widely accepted in veterinary medicine.
Preventable conditions: Health issues that could have been appropriately avoided.
Knowing the exclusions can prevent surprises and help you manage your expectations.
3. What Is Your Claim Process Like?
Understanding the claims process is crucial for a hassle-free experience when your pet needs medical attention. Ask about the following aspects:
How to submit a claim: Inquire about the submission methods, such as online, mobile app, or traditional mail.
Claim approval times: Understand how long it takes for claims to be processed and approved.
Reimbursement methods: Learn how you'll receive reimbursements, whether it's through direct deposits or checks.
Claim limits: Check for any annual or lifetime limits on claims.
4. Can I Choose My Veterinarian?
Some pet insurance providers have a network of preferred veterinarians, while others allow you to visit any licensed veterinarian. If you have a trusted vet, ensure your insurance plan will enable you to continue using their services without restrictions.
5. How Are Premiums Calculated?
Pet insurance premiums can vary widely based on your pet's age, breed, location, and the coverage you select. Ask the provider how they calculate premiums and if they offer any discounts, such as multi-pet or annual payment discounts.
6. Is There a Waiting Period?
Most pet insurance plans have a waiting period before coverage kicks in. This waiting period can range from a few days to a few weeks. Ensure you know your chosen plan's waiting period to avoid unexpected expenses.
7. Do You Cover Chronic and Long-Term Conditions?
Pets, like humans, can develop chronic and long-term conditions that require ongoing care. Ask the insurer if they provide coverage for these conditions and if there are any limitations.
8. How Does the Deductible Work?
The deductible is the amount you're responsible for paying before your insurance coverage begins. Understanding how deductibles work and whether they are per-incident or annual can help you budget for your pet's healthcare expenses.
Choosing the right pet insurance provider is significant for any pet owner. By asking these essential questions, you can make an informed choice that ensures your furry family members receive the best possible healthcare without breaking the bank. Remember that the right pet insurance policy provides peace of mind, knowing you can provide the best care for your beloved companions without worrying about the cost.


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The birthing body has been a site for locating competing claims of control from much before the birth of modern medical knowledge, and the contestation carries on in our contemporary. What makes for variety within this long-standing contestation are of course the shifting terms of conflict. Broadly divided into three parts, this paper shall document the different formats and priorities of the contestation project, which has actually been synonymous with a contestation between the human attendants of birth. While in preand early modern times, especially in Western Europe, this conflict played out between female and male healers, primarily over the use and abuse of'supernatural power', 19th century colonial Indian modernity saw the conflict played out between institutionalization of the elite birthing body and the collective of indigenous (i.e., 'non-modern') birth attendants. In the contemporary the contestation plays out between statist development, and a rather fleeting and often vacuous category of the traditional birth attendant.
Through these three sections what the paper shores up is the rather dynamic nature of violence that has – largely surreptitiously – been precipitated on the female, indigenous birth attendant by the male indigene, by the institution of modernity/obstetrics and by the development state.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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To keep your KLUDI fitting as shiny as it was on day one – even years later – we have compiled a few recommendations on caring for your fittings here.
tips for cleaning and caring
- 1. Use the right cleaning agent
For everyday care, please use neutral cleaning agents and water only. To remove stubborn limescale deposits, you can use a cleaning agent containing citric acid. Avoid cleaning agents containing the following chemicals:
- Acetic acid (also known as ethanoic acid or acidum aceticum)
- Hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid, acidum hydrochloricum)
- Formic acid (methanoic acid, formylic acid, metacarbonic acid, hydrogen carboxylic acid)
- Sodium hypochlorite (bleach, sodium oxychloride)
- Phosphoric acid (E 338).
Stainless steel fittings may be damaged by cleaning agents containing hydrofluoric acid and chlorine.
- 2. The right cleaning utensil
Rinse the fittings with plenty of water and polish them with a soft cloth. Do not use scouring agents, steel wool, brushes, sponge pads or microfibre cloths to clean fittings. They can damage and scratch the surface of your fitting.
- 3. Follow the care instructions
Care instructions are included with all of our KLUDI products. We recommend holding onto them and consulting them when in doubt.
- 4. Prevent limescale deposits
Prevent build-up of dirt and limescale deposits by cleaning regularly. Thanks to the flexible nubs, the head and hand showers are generally easy to clean with your finger. All you have to do is rub them gently to remove any limescale.
- 5. Do not apply cleaning agents directly
If possible, do not spray the cleaning agent directly onto the fitting. Instead, apply the cleaning agent to a soft cloth and wipe the surface gently. You can then rinse with clean water.
- 6. Rinse with clean water
Afterwards, rinse off any remaining cleaning agent with clean – ideally hot – water. Finally, we recommend polishing lightly with a soft cloth to prevent new limescale deposits forming.
- 7. Test gentler alternatives
Light soiling can sometimes be removed using just water and conventional soap. Gentle cleaning increases the service life of the fitting.
- 8. Don't forget the aerator
Daily use can cause limescale to build up quickly on the surface of fittings in kitchens and bathrooms, depending on the lime content in the water. The aerator – the screen in the fitting spout – can also become blocked by limescale deposits. That can cause the fitting to splash or drip. For this reason, don't forget to look after the inside of the fitting when cleaning. If in doubt, a plumber can easily replace an aerator.
- 9. Clean the head and hand shower
To maintain a beautiful spray, all you have to do is wipe the silicon nubs of the head or hand shower regularly by hand. We make the spray nozzles from a special flexible silicon to allow you to rub over them, thus preventing the build-up of limescale. Child's play – It couldn't be easier!


Retainage of Payment, What's the Purpose?
In the last blog, we talked about the punch list and briefly touched on retainage. This month, as part of a look into the "Construction Alliance" and the "Construction Guidelines", we are going more in-depth to discuss why "Retainage of Payment", is an important part of construction, but one that could have a cost implication.
What is Retainage of Payment?Retainage2
Retainage of payment is more commonly referred to as retention of payment or simply retention. It is a percentage of the progress payment (refer to 2021-01-05 blog "Progress Payments - Who Doesn't Want To Get Paid?) that the Owner holds out from each application for payment. In a typical contract, Owners pay 90 to 95 percent of the progress payment. The 1 to 10 percent withheld from the payment is not to be viewed as an incentive to the Contractor to get the work done. Instead, it is meant to be fair for the Owner and the Contractor, providing for errors in estimation of completed Work or protecting the Owner from defective work in place.
Image from
Is there a difference between public and private work retention?
Depending on whether work is being performed for the Federal Government, a State, a Local Municipality or City, there are different laws that control how retention may be withheld. If you are doing work on any public project, it is best to fully understand those statutes or laws that are in place. Private work may proceed with or without retention, depending on the Contract between the Owner and Contractor.
How does it work?
Depending on the percentage of retention withheld agreed upon in the Contract, the Contractor will indicate in a specific column of the pay application the amount of retention in dollars related to the amount being requested. On short-duration projects, this is not usually a problem. However, it is when the Construction takes place over the course of many years, the Contractor and their sub-contractors may suffer from not being fully compensated. For example, the subsurface contractor completes the work within the first few months of the project, has the retainage held, but the work continues for another 4 years. This becomes a dilemma for the Contractor, to pay that subcontractor in full or to continue holding retention.
One way to be fair to all parties, is to set up an interest-bearing escrow account and deposit the money there. This way, the money remains under Owner control, but the Contractor is paid in full plus the interest accrued to the retained funds at the completion of work. Likewise, the Contractor could do the same for their subcontractors.
How long is retainage held?
Typically retainage is held until Substantial Completion. At this point, the amount being withheld is dropped down to cover the estimated cost for completing the work in the Punch List. However, depending on how the Contract and the General / Supplemental Conditions of the Contract are written, retainage may be reduced at set milestones. There are many ways to do this. For example, retention is reduced from 10 to 5 percent at 50 percent of completion. This would allow for the Contractor to pay, in full, subcontractors that have completed their work early and have no defects in the work that need to be resolved.
Image from
Final thoughts!
I have been involved in many projects, and retention is one of those topics that should not be taken lightly. The Owner should remember that this is not meant to be held as an incentive for the Contractor to get the work done. There is enough incentive to complete the work as soon as possible, get off the job site, and onto the next project. As any Contractor would agree, the longer they remain on the site, the less money the project makes.
Please make certain to read the guideline "Retainage of Payment", and if you have any comments, please let me know. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Next month join me as we discuss the "Safety Consideration".
Till next month…
Senior Specifier - Conspectus, Inc.
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Contractor/Estimator Focus
Architect/Specifier Focus


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Full disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.?
Benny and Elizabeth chat with Mark Pentleton about how he started the Coffee Break language podcasts and how his role shifted from language teacher to language learner.
Mentioned in this Episode
Some of the topics brought up during the interview are:
- Starting and developing Coffee Break language podcasts
- Moving from teacher to learner on the podcast
- Helping his children learn languages at home
- How students can overcome the intermediate plateau
- Having patience and avoiding comparison with others
- The opportunities that come from speaking languages
- How to view mistakes and be resilient
- How Mark found and built the Coffee Break team
Podcast theme: "A New Beginning" by Shannon Kennedy


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wikiHow to Stay Organized and on Task with the OPA Tool
Community Q&A
The OPA tool is a tool that people may use to stay organized and on task. Read this article for tips on how you can stay organized and on task with the OPA tool.
 1. 1
 Make a list, one item per row, of tasks, chores, errands, to-do's, short term goals, etc. Do not number them, but leave a space to the left of each item (Write each item as it comes to mind, not in any sort of order. Prioritizing comes next.).
 2. 2
 Go through the list and prioritize, 1 being the most important, then 2, and so on. You may want to consider which items you can feasibly knock out the next day and give them top priority, as OPA should be done each night before bed, to relieve you of thinking of everything you need to do the next day(s), week, month, etc.
 3. 3
 Each day, wake up and knock out items in priority order. If something new comes up, or you remember something, add the item to the bottom of the list and the number using decimal, wherever you need to fit it in according to priority. Use 1.1 for an item that needs to go between prioritized items 1 and 2. If you need to add other items between 1 and 2, use 1.2, 1.3, and so on. If an addition comes between 3 and 4, use 3.1, etc.
 4. 4
 When you complete an item on the list, cross out the number. If you don't complete items, or can't get to them for some reason, put a circle around the number. These circled incomplete/unattended items are already numbered in priority (smallest number to largest) and should be added and prioritized accordingly to the next days' OPA list. Re-prioritize as needed.
 5. 5
 Items can be re-prioritized at any point during the day, should something suddenly become less important. Simply cross out the item. Re-add it to the bottom of the list, and use the decimal system to put it where it fits back in priority wise.
 6. 6
 Experiment with OPA. Customize it to meet your needs.
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 Categories: Time Management & Personal Organization
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For the following minimal example, there appears to be a regression in Intel Fortran LLVM 2023.0.0 20221201 and Classic 2021.8.0.20221119 that works in 2022.2.1 Build 20221101. The 'random_init()' second call should use a new seed, but does not.
program demo_rand use, intrinsic :: iso_fortran_env, only : stderr=>error_unit implicit none real :: r1, r2 call random_init(.false.,.false.) call random_number(r1) call random_init(.false.,.false.) call random_number(r2) if (r1==r2) then write(stderr,*) 'random_init fail: ', r1,'== ', r2 error stop 'these two random number should not match if random_init is working' endif print *, "OK: random_init: ", r1, " /= ", r2 end program
You are correct that the second call to RANDOM_INIT should result in a different sequence. The standard says (emphasis mine), "CALL RANDOM_INIT(REPEATABLE=false, IMAGE_DISTINCT=false) is equivalent to invoking RANDOM_SEED with a processor-dependent value for PUT that is the same on every invoking image. Different values for PUT shall be used for subsequent invocations, and for each execution of the program."
I've reworked your test program to more precisely match what the standard says:
program demo_rand use, intrinsic :: iso_fortran_env, only : stderr=>error_unit implicit none integer :: szize integer, allocatable :: seed1(:),seed2(:) call random_seed(size=szize) allocate (seed1(szize),seed2(szize)) call random_init(.false.,.false.) call random_seed (get=seed1) print *, seed1 call random_init(.false.,.false.) call random_seed(get=seed2) print *, seed2 if (all(seed1==seed2)) then write(stderr,*) 'random_init fail' error stop 'these two seeds should not match if random_init is working' endif print *, "OK: random_init" end program
In contrast to the first post that report a change in behavior in the last release, do not see any changes in behavior between 2022.1, 2022.2.1 and 2023.0 versions of ifx on Linux (I just tried these three versions as I all have them locally installed).
Here i s a link to the compiler explorer with Steve's slightly modified example in ifx 2022.2.1:
Thanks _USER_ you are correct. I was checking between Windows 2022.2.1 that does NOT have this issue and Linux that has long had this issue. I also checked with ifort Version 2021.1 Build 20201112 on Linux and saw the same issue. So yes, it's NOT actually a regression, it's just long broken behavior.


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Our 'Have Your Say' resource aligns with levels 3 and 4 of the New Zealand Curriculum. We've also created a 'Votes for Women' resource which aligns with level 4 of the New Zealand Curriculum.
You can also download slideshows and editable PDFs that you can use to help teach these resources.
Have Your Say – New Zealand Curriculum levels 3 and 4
This resource aims to encourage your students to have their say on decisions that affect their lives.
We based this resource on civics education, which helps students engage with and take part in the democratic process.
Use this resource to promote your students' critical thinking and increase their knowledge of citizens' rights and responsibilities to contribute to and take part in decision-making.
Votes for Women – New Zealand Curriculum level 4
Use this resource to connect the suffragists' achievement to how voters engage with and take part in democracy today.


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June 26, 2003
Rovanco Piping Systems Inc. designs and fabricates piping systems for applications such as water (hot and cold), steam, and jet fuel. It sells fabricated pipe—typically with straight or miter end cuts—up to 36 inches in diameter. It provides preinsulated, high-temperature, low-temperature, and containment systems.
Since its inception in 1969, the company had used traditional, manual processes. Pipes were moved into and out of the work area by forklift, and pipe cutting was done with either a hand-powered mechanized torch or a hand-held torch. For straight end cuts, an operator attached a hand-powered cutting machine to the pipe. The operator then turned a hand crank that rotated an oxyacetylene torch around the pipe. For miter cuts, an equipment operator used a hand-held torch.
The company was interested in upgrading its cutting process to increase productivity. Two areas for potential improvement were how the material was handled and how it was cut. For both handling and cutting, the company needed equipment that could accommodate the pipe it cuts most frequently: carbon steel, 4 to 24 inches OD, 10-gauge through 0.750-in. wall thickness, in lengths up to 40 feet.
"We used to bring pipes into the shop and set them on stands," explained Richard Stonitsch, vice president of manufacturing for Rovanco. A forklift moved each pipe, one by one, into the work area.
Making straight cuts and machining the ends were relatively straightforward operations, but the manual cutting torch was cumbersome. Attaching and removing the torch and moving it from workpiece to workpiece were time-consuming processes. Miter cuts on larger pipes required even more time because the operator had to make a template for each cut and trace the cutting path before cutting the pipe. After the operators prepped and beveled the pipe ends, the forklift moved each pipe out of the work area.
The company mechanized its pipe cutting by purchasing a W-132-LPSM pipe cutting machine from Watts Specialties Inc. that makes straight and miter cuts on pipe up to 32 in. in diameter. It complemented the cutting machine with a combination of roller conveyors and driven rollers that Rovanco designed and built to move the pipe from the cutting machine to the prep and beveling area.
In the present process a forklift picks up a pipe from storage and sets it onto a conveyor that takes the pipe to the cutting machine. An operator measures the pipe and positions a plasma torch for the cut. The machine rotates the pipe beneath the torch as the torch makes the cut, which can be either square or beveled.
After the pipe is cut, the material handling system lifts it onto a rack for finish beveling. When that step is finished, another conveyor sends the pipe to the shipping area.
Under the old system, the pipe and the operator moved around the shop. Under the new system, the pipe is moved through the shop but the operator is stationary.
The base of the machine consists of a horizontal frame and pairs of rollers that support the pipe. The rollers aren't set in fixed positions; each pair is movable and can be positioned anywhere along the frame to support any length of pipe up to 40 ft.
|The leftmost cam arm is used for miter cuts, and the rightmost cam arm is used for saddle cuts. In this application, the miter cam arm is in use and the saddle cam arm is set to the neutral position.|
An operator sets the pipe onto the rollers and secures it with a clamp at one end. The clamp cannot move from side to side, but it does rotate, allowing the pipe to rotate. The operator then uses a tape measure to mark the cut location. The operator moves the torch to the cut location and starts the machine. The machine rotates the pipe on the rollers while the plasma torch cuts it.
For saddle or miter cuts, the operator uses the machine's guiding system to move the plasma torch to the left or right as the pipe rotates.
The guiding system has two cam arms that can be adjusted to make changes in the torch's motion. To change the miter angle, the operator adjusts the length of the leftmost cam arm; to accommodate saddle variations, the operator adjusts the length of the rightmost cam arm. The manufacturer provides charts that list miter angles and saddle sizes with the corresponding arm lengths.
During the cutting process, the machine rotates the pipe and moves the guiding system simultaneously. As the pipe rotates, the torch moves right or left, producing the desired cut.
"The new mechanized system saves time two ways. First, for miter cuts, the operator doesn't have to make a template and trace the cutting path. The equipment operator can make changes to the guiding system in a minute or so," Stonitsch said.
"The second way is much more significant. The new system allows us to move pipe through the work area more efficiently."
"We had been looking for an automated pipe cutting system for 10 or 15 years," said Larry Stonitsch, president of the company. "We saw this machine at FABTECH® International in 2000, and we felt that the machine would increase productivity and enhance quality."
According to Stonitsch, the machine has reduced the company's cutting and beveling costs by 45 percent.Rovanco Piping Systems Inc., 20535 S.E. Frontage Road, Joliet, IL 60431, _PHONE_, fax _PHONE_, _EMAIL_, _URL_.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


Main Content
The fireball was observed by a Spanish scientific project at a speed of 227,000 kilometers per hour. It was destroyed over the Évora district, but it was possible to see it in Porto.
A fireball passed on Monday morning in the sky in the south of Portugal, where the light, caused by a meteorite, ended up extinguishing. The fireball, which traveled through the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, was observed by a Spanish scientific project at a speed of 227,000 kilometers per hour. To Rádio Observador, the astrophysicist who observed the phenomenon explains that the fireball was destroyed over the district of Évora, but guarantees that it was possible to observe it in Porto.
The event was detected by the sensors of the SMART project, of the Andalusian Astrophysics Institute (IAA-CSIC), of the astronomical observatories of Calar Alto (Almeria), Seville and La Hita (Toledo). According to the analysis of the principal investigator of the SMART project, José María Madiedo, from IAA-CSIC, the fireball was registered at 3:49 am on Monday. Those responsible for the project recorded the event in a video, where they show some images of the fireball and explain the location where it was possible to observe it.
The phenomenon occurred when a rock from an asteroid entered the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of about 227,000 kilometers per hour and, due to its great luminosity, could be seen in a large part of southern and central Spain. On social media, Madiedo says that "the most spectacular images were recorded in Seville" where it was possible to see the rock in a "bluish-green" color.
To Radio Observador, the Spanish astrophysicist claims that the fireball was destroyed over the district of Évora but it was possible to see it even in Porto.
At 2:49 am, Portugal time, there was a very bright fireball that lit up the night sky, especially in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. In that area, it was much brighter than in the rest. It was so bright that it could be seen in almost the entire Iberian Peninsula. ", He said.
José María Madiedo explains that the fireball appeared at an altitude of about 132 kilometers west of Andalusia and advanced from Spain to the south of Portugal, where it was destroyed 61 kilometers high in the district of Évora.
The brightness caused by the explosion "was so huge that the night became a day" in the south of the two countries and it was possible to observe it "at a distance of 500 kilometers".
Until Porto, it was certainly seen [the explosion]. Because the fireball was so big that it had to be seen at a distance of more than 500 kilometers. Most likely it was seen all over Portugal ", he praises.
The astrophysicist guarantees that the rock was completely destroyed at high altitude, thus there being no "dangerous remains" on Portuguese soil.
The SMART project detectors operate within the scope of the Meteorological and Earth Observation Network of Southwest Europe (SWEMN), which aims to continuously monitor the sky, in order to record and study the impact on the Earth's atmosphere of rocks from different objects in the System Solar.
Fireballs have been common in Spain, but not in Portugal
In recent weeks, these events have not been uncommon in the Spanish sky. On November 7, the Valpuesta station in Burgos detected a fireball flying over the Media Zone of Navarra at around 11:51 pm (10:51 pm in Lisbon time) at 115,000 kilometers per hour, according to the local newspaper Diario de Navarre. About two weeks ago, on November 1, the SMART project detected another fireball flying over Spain at around 19h53 locals. According to the Diario de Cadiz, it was possible to observe it in the region of Castile-La Mancha.
However, according to José María Madiedo, what distinguishes the phenomenon observed at dawn on Monday is its "brilliance" .
Already in Portugal, as big fireballs are rare, explains astro-photographer Observatory Dark Sky Alqueva, Miguel Claro, the Radio Observer. Despite the Observatory registering "several phenomena" in other countries, in Portugal it is rare to observe "fireballs and bolides".
Sometimes they are small debris, it can even be a small pebble, it can even be the size of a grain of sand. When we are talking about a fireball, it is already a relatively larger stone that causes an impact on the atmosphere, which causes that friction and that spectacularity that we can see in the video ", he explains.
Miguel Claro, who was working during the night, does not guarantee that he saw the fireball in question but admits that he saw something that caught his attention: "a very bright star that left a trail of smoke".
In turn, the former director of the Observatory, Rui Agostinho, explains that this phenomenon occurs every year at the same time but is not usually recorded on video and published on social networks. This fireball is part of a shower of shooting stars, the Leonids. In the coming nights, it will be possible to observe more fireballs related to this phenomenon.
This meteor shower is known to produce some of these much brighter meteors, popularly also called fireballs. So, if you have time at night, go to the countryside. If we escape the bright sky of a city, it is possible to see more of them [meteors] ", he says.
Link to article


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ESPINOSA Marcela Alcira
capítulos de libros
Hydrochemical Characteristics of Mid-Low Sections of North Patagonia Rivers, Argentina
VELEZ AGUDELO CAMILO; MARTINEZ DANIEL; QUIROZ LONDOÑO MAURICIO; ESPINOSA MARCELA A.
Environmental Assessment of Patagonia's Water Resources
Springer International Publishing
The chemical composition of water in the mid-low sections of the three main rivers of Patagonia (Colorado, Negro and Chubut rivers) is an important proxy for the understanding of the water cycle in the region. River water samplings were done in summer and winter campaigns at Colorado (15 sites), Negro (18 sites) and Chubut (17 sites). Hydrochemical variables: pH, conductivity, salinity, and ion concentrations were measured. The data processing included regular hydrochemical diagrams, multivariate statistical analysis and saturation indexes calculation. The three rivers have two different sections: one inland section having the continental hydrochemical fingerprint and an estuarine section, with a markedly seawater mixing effect. Most water samples of the inland sites belong to the Mg2+-Ca2+-HCO3- type in the Negro and Chubut rivers and to the Ca2+-SO42- type in the Colorado River. In contrast, the prevailing hydrochemical facies was the Na-Cl type at estuarine sites. In general, rock weathering was the main hydrogeochemical process controlling chemistry composition of rivers, being the dissolution of gypsum, carbonate and silicate minerals the primary contributors. The inland section has a different composition for each river, which is related to differences in the rock-composition at the sources and chemical reactions during downstream flow. The Colorado River also showed the highest average values in salinity, conductivity and dissolved ions. Basin geology and brackish discharges from Curacó River during the high rainfall season contributed to explain the ionic concentration in Colorado River, in particular the excess of calcium and sulfate.


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Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer worldwide with over 1 million new cases diagnosed each year. Advances in treatment and survival are likely to have increased lifetime costs of managing the disease. Cost-of-illness (COI) studies are key building blocks in economic evaluations of interventions and comparative effectiveness research. We systematically reviewed and critiqued the COI literature on CRC.
Methods: We searched several databases for CRC COI studies published in English, between January 2000 and February 2011. Information was abstracted on: setting, patient population, top-down/bottom-up costing, incident/prevalent approach, payer perspective, time horizon, costs included, cost source, and per-person costs. We developed a framework to compare study methodologies and assess homogeneity/heterogeneity.
Results: A total of 26 papers met the inclusion criteria. There was extensive methodological heterogeneity. Studies included case-control studies based on claims/reimbursement data (10), examinations of patient charts (5), and analysis of claims data (4). Epidemiological approaches varied (prevalent, 6; incident, 8; mixed, 10; unclear, 4). Time horizons ranged from 1 year postdiagnosis to lifetime. Seventeen studies used top-down costing. Twenty-five studies included healthcare-payer direct medical costs; 2 included indirect costs; 1 considered patient costs. There was broad agreement in how studies accounted for time, but few studies described costs in sufficient detail to allow replication. In general, costs were not comparable between studies.
Conclusions: Methodological heterogeneity and lack of transparency made it almost impossible to compare CRC costs between studies or over time. For COI studies to be more useful and robust there is need for clear and rigorous guidelines around methodological and reporting "best practice."


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S. 13.2. – "The Last Ice Age": The trade in natural ice as an agent of modernisation and economic integration in the 19th and early 20th century
Chair: Per G. Norseng (the Norwegian Maritime Museum / the University of South-Eastern Norway) // Discussant: Ingo Heidbrink (Old Dominion University)
Eyvind Bagle/Knut M. Nygaard (Norwegian Maritime Museum / University of South-Eastern Norway) – Norwegian ice from "Nature's Factory" over the seas: Production and shipping of natural ice
Ben Jennings/Effie Dorovitsa (Blaydes Maritime Centre, University of Hull) – Natural ice as a driver for modernisation – Britain and France
Ingo Heidbrink (Old Dominion University, Norfolk Virginia) – Domestic Production or Import of natural ice? The example of the ice supply for the German distant water fisheries before the introduction of artificial ice production.


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Previous comparative studies of Losartan and Candesartan, two drugs for treating high blood pressure, have put health service officials around the world in a serious dilemma:
There is an increased risk of death among heart-failure patients who take Losartan – which is cheap because the patent on the drug has expired – while the more expensive Candesartan is more effective. Health service officials have thus had to decide whether to prescribe the dearer Candesartan to save lives.
But making that decision is now easier thanks to a comprehensive analysis of the two types of medicine for treating high blood pressure when the patients are given comparable, medium-to-high doses.
"Contrary to previous observational studies, we cannot see any differences in this new study in the effects of the two drugs," says Henrik Svanström, who conducts research in health statistics at the State Serum Institute. "So it doesn't matter which drug the patient gets."
Svanström is the lead author of a paper describing the study, published recently in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.
According to calculations made by the Institute for Rational Pharmacotherapy – a partly independent institute under the Danish Medicines Agency – the Danish public health service could have saved €67 million in 2010 alone if doctors had prescribed the cheaper Losartan to treat hypertension instead of Candesartan, which numerous patients received.
"When Candesartan and Losartan have the same effect, these results can lead to cheaper treatment for high blood pressure," says Svanström.
The researchers studied patients over the age of 45 who had been hospitalised for heart failure in _PHONE_.
Because they suffered from heart problems, the health service registered them automatically.
The researchers then downloaded the patients' prescriptions from the health service database to see whether the patients were treated with drugs for hypertension.
As well as the doses prescribed, this information showed that:
To make sure that they did not include patients who died from other diseases or conditions, the researchers cleansed the statistics by discounting the ordinary causes of death among heart-failure patients over the age of 45.
This statistical process showed clearly that if hypertension patients were given comparable standard doses of Losartan and Candesartan, Losartan is just as effective as Candesartan.
However, if patients were given a lower dose of Losartan (of 12.5 or 50 mg) – due to their fragile health – they do run a higher risk of dying.
Patients who were given the smallest Losartan dose of 12.5 mg had a more than two-fold increased risk of dying, compared with patients given high doses of Candesartan (16-32 mg) – presumably because their health was already more fragile.
The conclusions of previous studies may well have been correct – but those studies did not contain enough nuances, says Svanström.
His research team claims that the new study is more thorough than previous studies that have compared the two drugs for treating high blood pressure.
"The population in our study has a better composition," says Svanström. "We have a better balance of doses. Our study has a higher share of Losartan-users who received a high dose. And that was what made the pattern visible to us."
Read this story in Danish at videnskab.dk


Lasso Soft Inc. > Home
Name Summary Category
loop_count [Loop_Count] returns the number of the current repetition of any looping method. When used with the [Loop] method, it obeys the optional parameters so the [Loop_Count] can run backward or... Loop
loop_value [Loop_Value] returns the value of the current value within an [iterate] container. Within the container, [loop_value] can be modified, however the source object within the iterated object... Loop
loop_key [loop_key] is analogous to [loop_value] when using [iterate] with no variable to store the iterative value in. Loop
loop_abort [Loop_Abort] aborts the [Loop] or [While] containers, exiting immediately and not executing any further repetitions of the loop. The [Loop_Abort] method can be used to abort any looping... Loop
loop_continue [Loop_Continue] ends the current iteration of a looping method and immediately starts the next iteration. Loop
loop [loop] executes the provided body of code a specified number of times. A single parameter specifies the number of times the body should loop. The [Loop_Count] method can be used within the body of... Loop
iterate The [Iterate] method loops through each element of a data type, such as an array or a map. A variable is set to the value of each element of the data type in turn. This allows the same operation to... Loop
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Translated from article on: Sai Gon Times Online
Investing in urban green infrastructure is a growing trend in many of the world's cities. Cities in Vietnam are also beginning to talk about investing in green infrastructure, which is considered as a multi-purpose solution to their existing urban concerns.
Can Tho City is taking its first steps in urban green infrastructure development. In the "Community training workshop on green infrastructure development" event organized in Can Tho on October 12, Mr Tran Van Giai Phong from ISET-Vietnam emphasized that green infrastructure has a significant role in promoting sustainable development in a city, especially in the context of adverse climate change and environmental pollution impacts.
Mr Phong shared that he had worked with stakeholders in Can Tho from April to September this year to conduct a research on the shocks and stresses faced by the city. The first and foremost shock and stress issue for Can Tho City is flooding, which originates from various causes, including tidal surges, urban development and local rainfall.
Although Can Tho had extended various efforts in addressing flooding issues, especially through projects funded by the World Bank, such as those to build river embankments, roads and drainage culverts to reduce the pressure of flooding. However, as Mr Phong stated, it is critical to develop more integrated measures, ones that can address multiple objectives at the same time.
Besides flooding, Can Tho is also experiencing stress from both water and air pollution. "We had seen a large number of urban drainage infrastructures in Can Tho City, and find that they are often built to fulfil only one particular objective. For example, existing drainage channels only contribute to addressing drainage issues, and the objective of reducing environment pollution has not been integrated," said Mr Phong, who also added that green infrastructure and green space development is an opportunity for environment pollution reduction objectives to be integrated.
Another type of stress of growing concern in Can Tho City as well as other Cuu Long Delta provinces is riverbank erosion. According to Mr Phong, "When we build hard embankment structures along riverbanks, much of the natural landscape value will be lost. Therefore, in many cities, people have tried to develop technical measures to integrate biological elements into hard structures to 'soften' them and to improve local the landscape."
Above: Mr. Tran Van Gian Phong, representative from ISET-Vietnam presenting at the workshop on October 12. Photo: Trung Chánh
Mr Phong also added that urban green infrastructure is not only about the area of trees planted, but also about how green trees can be incorporated in structural measures to at the same time alleviate water pollution and reduce runoff, flooding and erosion. "These are necessary considerations in new green infrastructure projects in Can Tho," Mr Phong emphasized.
Another expert, Mr Nguyen Nguyen Minh, representative from the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) shared that green infrastructure can help to address many practical problems in Vietnam cities. Specifically, green infrastructure will improve the landscape, air quality, reduce noise, promote biodiversity and boost economic development. "Regarding biodiversity, the fact is that in cities such as Ho Chi Minh or Can Tho, there are much less birds today than there were before," Mr Minh provided an example.
According to Mr Minh, CSIRO's calculations revealed that if green infrastructure is promoted further in Australia, it could help to reduce energy use by 20%, and reduce local temperature by 2-8oC, depending on the specific location and time.
Another benefit of green infrastructure development, according to Mr Minh, is that it helps to increase the quality of urban life, thus increasing real estate prices and promoting investment, tourism and trade. "People prefer areas with green coverage. In Australia, people are willing to pay a premium for houses in a greener area."


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Democratization in South Korea during _PHONE_
MetadataShow full item record
Most scholars who study the transition from authoritarian regimes to democratic ones use an actor-oriented approach, and assume four major actors participate in the negotiated transition. They explain the results of such transitions by analyzing the strategic interactions of these four major actors. If the configuration of actors and their interactions differ from one case to another, then those differences need to be explained. The case of South Korean democratization differs from democratization in other countries in two major respects. First, without significant division within the regime, the opposition bloc can manage to make a transition to democracy by maintaining coordination between the social movements and the moderate opposition party. Second, the U.S. played an important role in the process of negotiation. The negotiated transition model offers no account for the participation of a third party, and it fails to cast light on the participation of the U.S. in the Korean democratization process. This shortcoming can be solved by complementing the negotiated transition model with the mediation model in which the role of a third party can be addressed. Owing to U.S. mediation, the dynamics of negotiated transition changed in the Korean transition to democracy.
- Masters Theses


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Historically, the Piney Woods of southern Mississippi was a region characterized by its impressive stands of native longleaf pine forest. However, extensive logging practices in the early twentieth century contributed to the clear-cutting of nearly all old-growth longleaf pine trees.
In the early lumbering days before the railroads, logs were cut and rafted down rivers and waterways from the inland Piney Woods to mills and ports along the Gulf Coast. With the advent of the railroad in 1885, commercial logging continued full speed ahead as Piney Woods timber was aggressively harvested, and railroad spurs and logging camps canvassed the region. A product of the timber boom, the town of Barth, Mississippi was incorporated in 1917 and already in decline by the late 1920s.
Most sawmills in the area were forced to close in the 1930s due to the widespread clear-cutting of the native virgin yellow pines. Today, large swaths of the Piney Woods are part of DeSoto National Forest. You can learn more about early logging practices by listening to the "Timber Industry" podcast.


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Data & Products
Missions & Sensors
The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) was launched on April 21st 1995 on board the second European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-2). This instrument can measure a range of atmospheric trace constituents, with the emphasis on global ozone distributions.
GOME is a nadir-viewing spectrometer that measures the solar radiation scattered by the atmosphere in the ultraviolet and visible spectral region (240 to 790 nm). The sensor has a high spectral resolution of 0.2 to 0.4 nm sensed by four individual linear detector arrays each with 1024 detector pixels. The field of view may be varied in size from 320 km x 40 km to 960 km x 80 km. For further information and the mission objectives see the sensor information sheet.
GOME level-1 (radiances / reflectances) and level-2 (trace
gas amounts) products are computed from level-0 (raw) data using the GOME
Data Processor (GDP) system which was designed and developed by the German
Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) of DLR in cooperation with the Institute of
Remote Sensing (University of Bremen/Germany), the Smithonian Astrophysical
Observatory (Harvard, Cambridge/MD, USA), the University of Heidelberg (Germany),
the Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut (KNMI, The Netherlands),
and other institutions involved in the GOME Science Advisory Group.
On December 15, 2004 GOME Level 2 data have been released with GDP version 4.0.
New Data Release: Version 4 - Reaching the Accuracy of Ground-Based Measurements with GDP 4.0
A short overview on how to access GOME can be found here
GOME DLR Near-Real-Time Service: Ozone, Nitrogen Dioxide, Clouds, Radiances and GOME Trajectory
If you would like to have more information about the GOME 2 data, please contact _EMAIL_.


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High School Students Tackle Biofuels
NARA Brings New Component to Competition
The Imagine Tomorrow competition lets students dream big and think that about how they might solve our world's energy problems. For some, it provides a first-ever chance to step on a college campus.
The competition has encouraged thousands of Washington teenagers to imagine a better energy future for their generation while they imagine a brighter academic future for themselves.
Support from the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA) will now bring a similar opportunity to high school students from Idaho, Oregon, and Montana. It will also add Biofuels to the menu of challenges that Imagine Tomorrow contestants may address. Other challenges—Behavior, Design, and Technology—ask students to consider energy problems from the perspective of different disciplines.
"We want to emphasize to these students that biofuels are going to be an important part of solving the sustainable energy challenge, especially in the Northwest,"
"The students who participate learn about being active in solving problems, rather than passive." says David Bahr, who is coordinating the expansion effort for the program.
Washington State University began Imagine Tomorrow as an effort by to engage Washington students to work on big societal challenges. Since starting in 2008, the program has grown each year and has remained focused on energy.
"The NARA grant provides a wonderful opportunity that we didn't have before to expand a very valuable program," he says. "This competition makes a difference in students' lives."
The competition, held each spring on the WSU campus, asks students to choose and address one of four open-ended challenges. Topics span all subjects—not just the sciences. Imagine Tomorrow has attracted a broader cross-section of students than the traditional science fair, including more young women, students from a variety of economic backgrounds, and students from both urban and rural areas. Unlike most science fairs, Imagine Tomorrow requires students to work in teams.
The program has been truly life changing for many of the students, says Bahr. It has inspired many to attend college, has motivated at-risk students to take part in high school activities, has spawned girls' interest in science and engineering disciplines, and has engaged students to enact positive change in their communities.
"Many of these students have never been to a college campus before and thought college was something that other people did," said Bahr. "After coming to campus and participating in the competition, we find that they suddenly can imagine going to college.
"It is clearly an eye-opening experience."
The researchers hope to double the number of participants in the highly successful program in a new category that specifically features biofuels.
"We want to emphasize to these students that biofuels are going to be an important part of solving the sustainable energy challenge, especially in the Northwest," says Bahr. "I'm looking forward to seeing the great ideas that they come up with."
The NARA involvement in the Imagine Tomorrow competition is part of the project's education initiatives, which span from kindergarten through graduate school. The education group aims to:
"Our world is facing an energy crisis, and I think students kind of offer a lot of innovation and ideas for the future…. We're the ones who are going to be the future, and so I think that our ideas can spark huge change and offer new ideas to save our planet."
"The biggest thing that I've learned is to stay practical about what you want to do. Obviously I want to save the world, change the world, but I can only do so much."
"It's just so exciting to see students that believe in the future, that are interacting with one another. They're learning these teaming skills. It's just fantastic."
"At least three or four ideas need to have patent disclosures written on them, and four or five (groups) need to write scientific papers."
"This is not a science fair, this is a problem-solving fair,"


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Published in: 2008
This manual gives a demonstrative overview on urine diverting toilets. The following questions will be answered in the paper:
- How toilets can be safe and save you money?
- Why can an unsafe toilet make people sick?
- The principle of urine diverting dry toilets
- How to divert urine from faeces?
- How to collect the urine?
- How to collect the faeces?
- How to ventilate?
- How to convert faeces into a safe soil conditioner?
- Where should I build a toilet?
- How to use and clean the toilet?
- How to use the urine to get higher crop yields?
- How to use the faeces to improve the soil?
- How can I get more information?
Jorritsma, F. (2008). Safe and profitable toilets - Urine diverting toilets - A solution for health and wealth. WECF
English Faeces or faecal sludge Guidelines and manuals Urine Urine diversion dehydration toilets (UDDTs)
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Brad Olsen's Books
Sacred Places Europe
Combining current trends, academic theories, and historical insights, this travel guide brings both lesser-known and famous European spiritual locales into perspective by explaining the significance of each sacred site. The cultural relevance, history, and spirituality of each site—including Stonehenge, the Acropolis, Mont Saint Michel, Pompeii, and Saint Peter's Basilica—are...


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I wish to make a submission concerning the Northern
Territory Governments inquiry into hydraulic fracturing and the
exploration of shale and tight gas. I call on you to make
recommendations to amend the laws of the Northern Territory (NT) in
response to the following concerns:
1. We don't currently fully understand the impact of
hydraulic fracturing and horizontal gas exploration or the wide range
of implications on the environment, native fauna, flora and most
importantly the implications for human health. Therefore the law must:
- Require drilling competency standards to protect safety, health and resource management.
- Ensure sustainable resource management through the
collection of baseline scientific data in order to identify the
environmental impact of such activities, these should be published and
easily accessible to members of the public.
- Reflect the precautionary principle in environmental assessment and regulatory control.
2. Current NT laws do not allow for community consultation or public participation, therefore the law must:
- Provide sufficient public consultation through adequate
notice of proposed exploration ventures. Simply advertising once in a
local newspaper is unjust and does not allow the public an opportunity
to voice their concerns.
- Facilitate the landowner and provide the opportunity
for the affected parties to exercise the right to object or refuse gas
exploration on their land.
- Require the publication of the Ministers reasons for
decision and all associated documentation considered by the Minister in
the decision making process, including Environmental Impact Statements
and Assessments (EIS & EIA).
- Allow, support and facilitate an independent third party to carry out external reviews of any decision made by the Minister.
- Provide an opportunity for the appeal of a decision made by the Minister to an independent organisation or tribunal.
- Allow the regulation of access to land by explorers and operators and allow the land owner to specify terms of access.
3. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is not adequate, therefore the law must:
- Be amended to ensure each project with the potential
for environmental degradation is properly assessed not just
economically but also environmentally in order to achieve the central
goal of the EIA process, sustainable development.
- Allow the EIA process and all decisions made to be transparent and readily available for public submission.
- Require EIA & EIS for exploration activity. It
would be considered highly detrimental to propose one EIA document may
suffice for all hydraulic fracturing ventures throughout the Territory
due to the vastly heterogeneous nature of the underlying stratigraphy.
- Require the operator to integrate the waste water
management planning and rehabilitation into the exploration and
production as a requirement for licencing.
- Require the consideration of all alternatives and provide for land use reservations.
4. Regulatory oversight is not effective, therefore the law should be changed to:
- An independent body such as the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) should be appointed to regulate all
environmental impacts of the hydraulic fracturing of shale and tight
gas in the Northern Territory. This should include sub-surface and
groundwater contamination as well as impact on biodiversity on site.
- Require frequent on site visits by environmental and regulatory officers.
- Remove intent and knowledge as elements of environmental offences.
- Substantially increase penalties and extend statute of limitations for prosecutions.
- Apply the Water Act to all mining activity in
the Northern Territory including the exploration for hydraulic
fracturing of shale and tight gas. This will allow for the excessive
water use these operations require to be closely monitored and
- Apply the Waste Management and Pollution Control Act to all mining activity, regardless of where it takes place across Australia.
- Implement suitable structural co-ordination between the relevant Government agencies.
5. The real cost of Hydraulic Fracturing should be known and recovered from Operators, including:
- Wear and tear on existing infrastructure including public roads.
- Water usage and pollution.
- Cost for the rehabilitation of the decommissioned gas wells and fields.
- Reduction in value of land to landholders as a result of Hydraulic fracturing of shale and tight gas.
- Loss of ecology and biodiversity.
- Impact on human health.
Additional to these concerns I have a number of
other concerns regarding the operational logistics of shale and tight
gas exploration and the impacts on human health, these are as follows:
Human Health: Communities living near gas
fields in the US have reported serious health effects following the
commencement of shale and tight gas operations. Additional to this
residents of Tara in Queensland have also reported a wide range of
health effects following the exploration of shale and tight gas in
their local areas. The reported health implications are as follows:
- respiratory and neurological effects
- severe headaches
- nausea, vomiting
- nose bleeds, rashes, eye and throat irritations
- severe skin irritations
- higher risks for cancer
Impacts on human health and the environment.
- Excessively high water usage.
- Excessively high use of harmful chemicals of which up to 70% remain underground.
- Loss of traditional land, sacred sites, highly fertile farm land and national parks.
- High risk of groundwater contamination, this is of
great concern as both rural and remote communities in the Northern
Territory depend upon these resources.
- Migration of gas, methane and other toxic substances
into groundwater or aquifers through fracturing of tight and shale gas
- Soil and sub-surface water contamination due to chemical laden waste water and retention ponds.
- Air pollution from hazardous air pollutants released from wells and infrastructure before, during and after operation.
- Major threat to human and environmental health.
I am very concerned at the wide range of potential health
risks associated with hydraulic fracturing and exploration of shale and
tight gas. Having studied Nursing for a number of years I am well aware
of such risks and I feel these pose a great danger to already
vulnerable minority groups throughout remote areas of the Northern
Territory. I would like to thank you for your time on this matter and I
would like to call on you to make the correct and necessary changes to
the current laws in order to protect the environment and most
importantly human health. I would also like to call on you to take
action against the current Northern Territory Government and their
plans to destroy large parcels of land across the Northern Territory. I
thoroughly look forward to the pleasure of speaking with you in the
near future concerning this matter.


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How to Use a Precision Scale—And Not Annoy Your Lab TAFebruary 17th, 2012
We've earlier drawn your attention to other videos in the series produced by students at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Their videos are clear, direct, accurate, and reasonably comprehensive introductions to the use of various laboratory equipment. For example, this one introduces the use of the open pan balance, otherwise known as a precision scale. In addition to outlining the process of taring and weighing, the presenter also outlines some basic lab procedures—such as cleaning up your own spills! If I remember my freshman year accurately, that's probably a pretty good reminder.
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|Author||: Ole E Barndorff-Nielsen|
|Publisher||: World Scientific Publishing Company|
|Total Pages||: 344|
|ISBN 10||: 9789814678605|
|ISBN 13||: _PHONE_|
|Language||: EN, FR, DE, ES & NL|
Change of Time and Change of Measure provides a comprehensive account of two topics that are of particular significance in both theoretical and applied stochastics: random change of time and change of probability law. Random change of time is key to understanding the nature of various stochastic processes, and gives rise to interesting mathematical results and insights of importance for the modeling and interpretation of empirically observed dynamic processes. Change of probability law is a technique for solving central questions in mathematical finance, and also has a considerable role in insurance mathematics, large deviation theory, and other fields. The book comprehensively collects and integrates results from a number of scattered sources in the literature and discusses the importance of the results relative to the existing literature, particularly with regard to mathematical finance. In this Second Edition a Chapter 13 entitled 'A Wider View' has been added. This outlines some of the developments that have taken place in the area of Change of Time and Change of Measure since the publication of the First Edition. Most of these developments have their root in the study of the Statistical Theory of Turbulence rather than in Financial Mathematics and Econometrics, and they form part of the new research area termed 'Ambit Stochastics'.


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What Is a Bushel of Corn?
A bushel is a unit of weight used when buying and selling crops such as corn. A bushel of shelled corn weighs 56 pounds, but a bushel of corn still on the ear weighs 70 pounds.
The weight of a bushel varies among fruits, vegetables and grains. For instance, while a bushel of spinach weighs 20 pounds, a bushel of tomatoes is 53 pounds. A bushel of unshelled lima beans is 30 pounds, but cowpeas run 60 pounds per bushel. Cotton weighs in at 32 pounds a bushel, while flax is 60 pounds. Although a bushel of oats weighs 32 pounds, a bushel of either wheat or soybeans is 60 pounds.


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Welcome to the Music Room!
What is Our Goal?
At Sanders Corner we seek to empower our students to experience music as a source of personal enrichment, a vehicle for the constructive expression of human emotions, and as a unique intellectual discipline.
Loudoun County's curriculum is based on the National Standard for Music Education. These standards address singing, performing on instruments, reading and notating music, listening, improvising, and composing.
How do We Learn?
Students will learn through a variety of activities and experiences that develop their music skills in the following areas:
| || |
Movement & Dance
Listening & Music Appreciation
Rhythm, Melody, & Harmony
Form & Expressive Elements
Ask your child what they learned in music today!


(2 DAY WEBINAR) Brain Injury Association of Pa presents: Opioid Addiction and Brain Injury
CE Type:
# of CE's:
The training course will assist substance treatment providers to better understand how cognitive impairments associated with brain injury interact with treatment for opioid misuse. This high-level course is geared towards Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Social Workers, Licensed Professional Counselors and Addictions Counselors. Course topics include: Brain Basics and the Toxic Brain; Understanding the Effects of Pathology; Cognitive, Emotional and Behavioral Techniques for Treating Persons with Co-Occurring Opioid Use Disorder and Brain Injury; and he Integration of Client Needs, Resources and Funding.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the types and epidemiology of brain injury
2. Describe screening tools to identify traumatic and non-traumatic brain injury
3. Describe how memory and executive functioning impairments impact substance misuse treatment
4. Describe the unique needs of individuals with brain injury as they impact treatment
Intended Audience:
Substance Use Providers
Instructional Level:
Completion Requirements:
Attend both sessions, complete session, and complete post-training survey


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Posted on Friday, 5th March 2010 by All Philippines
New Bilibid Prison
The New Bilibid Prison (NBP) (also known as the National Bilibid Prison), located in Muntinlupa City, Philippines, is one of the seven and most famous main insular correctional facilities for convicted male prisoners in the Philippines. The institution is operated and maintained by various Philippine government agencies, particularly, the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Bureau of Corrections, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Often called the "Bilibid", the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City was not the original prison facility that carries the Bilibid moniker. The old Bilibid prison located in the Mayhalique Estate in Oroquieta Street Sta. Cruz, Manila was built by the Spanish authorities in 1847 to incarcerate prisoners during the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines. The prison was established in accordance to a decree issued by the office of the Governor General or Section 1708 of the Revised Administrative Code. It was then formally opened by a royal decree in 1865. The penitentiary was divided into two main buildings. One is known as the 'Carcel' which can accommodate 600 prisoners. Prisoners incarcerated in the Carcel were divided according to class, sex, and the degree of the crimes they had committed. The other main building in the prison compound was called the 'Presidio'. This building was designed to accommodate 527 prisoners. All in all, before it was referred to as the Bilibid prison, this main Spanish-era prison facility was called the 'Carcel y Presidio Correcional'.
At the start of the 20th century, during the early American colonial rule, a modern 200 bed capacity hospital was added to the old Bilibid prison compound. A carpentry workshop was also built for the prisoners to hone their skills in woodworking and later to sell their crafts.
During the Commonwealth era under the presidency of Manuel Quezon, a growing number of prisoners admitted in the old Bilibid prison (this is due to an increased population and rapid urbanization of Manila) paved way for the creation and implementation of Commonwealth Act No. 67 ordering the construction of a new national prison facility in Muntinlupa City to replace the old Bilibid prison. The construction of the new prison compound started in 1935 with a budget of 1,000,000 Philippine pesos.
All prisoners incarcerated in the old Bilibid compound were transferred to the new prison facility in Muntinlupa city on November 15, 1940. At that time, the new penitentiary can accommodate up to 3,000 prisoners. On January 22, 1941, in a small ceremony attended by government officials and other luminaries, the new prison compound became officially known as the New Bilibid Prison.
Old Bilibid Prison 1899
Old Bilibid Prison 1902
Old Bilibid Prison 1910
Tags: American colonial rule Philippines, Bilibid prisoners convicts felons, Bureau of Corrections Philippines, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology BJMP Philippines, Carcel prison Philippines, Carcel y Presidio Correcional Manila Philippines, Commonwealth Act No. 67, correccional Philippines, correctional facilities in the Philippines, Department of Justice DOJ Philippines, Department of the Interior and Local Government DILG Philippines, Mayhalique Estate Oroquieta Street Sta. Cruz Manila, Muntinlupa City sights sounds landmarks, National Bilibid Prison Philippines, New Bilibid Prison, New Bilibid Prison Muntinlupa City, New Bilibid Prison NBP, New Bilibid Prison pictures, old Bilibid prison Manila Philippines, President Manuel Luis Quezon Commonwealth Government Philippines, Presidio prison Philippines, prisons of the Philippines, Section 1708 of the Revised Administrative Code Spanish colonial rule Philippines, Spanish Governor General Philippines, Spanish laws decrees in the Philippines, Spanish prison system Philippines, SPanish royal decree Philippines
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_USER_ {12025, title = {Calculation of traffic flow breakdown probability to optimize link throughput}, journal = {Applied Mathematical Modelling}, volume = {34}, year = {2010}, month = {11/2010}, pages = {3376{\textendash}3389}, chapter = {3376}, abstract = {
Traffic breakdown phenomenon is prevalent in empirical traffic system observations. Traffic flow breakdown is usually defined as an amount of sudden drop in traffic flow speed when traffic demand exceeds capacity. Modeling and calculating traffic flow breakdown probability remains an important issue when analyzing the stability and reliability of transportation system. The breakdown mechanism is still mysterious to practitioners and researchers in varying manner. Treating breakdown as a random event, this paper use discrete time Markov chain (DTMC) to model traffic state transition path, as a result, a transition probability matrix can be generated from empirical observations. From empirical analysis of breakdown, we found this formulation of breakdown probability follows the Zipf distribution. Therefore, a connection from traffic flow breakdown probability to how many vehicles are occupying a certain freeway segment (e.g. a link) will be established. Following from the results, a quantitative measure of breakdown probability can be obtained to optimize ramp metering rates to achieve optimum system performance measures.
}, keywords = {Breakdown probability, Discrete time Markov chain, Throughput optimization}, doi = {10.1016/j.apm.2010.02.027}, author = {Wang, Haizhong and Rudy, Kimberley and Li, Jia and Ni, Daiheng} }


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Is it possible to design a multi-tenant architecture in an Oracle DB instance, such that different customers' data is transparently partitioned whilst keeping common code and common tables in a single location?
Consider the following architecture:
Here we have two schemas in an Oracle database instance:
- U_Common contains common tables and stored procedures, packages, etc.
- U_Cust_1 contains customer-specific tables, with private data.
- Client processes acting on behalf of Customer_1 are connecting to the U_Cust_1 schema.
(You may assume we also have U_Cust_2, etc.)
Assume that all access is performed through stored procedures or similar code objects.
In order for sessions connecting to U_Cust_1 to execute specific procedures in U_Common, they need:
- EXECUTE permissions on the objects in U_Common;
o explicit namespace prefixes, e.g. U_Common.DoSomething()
o a synonym object referencing the code object in U_Common
In order to have common code objects that reference both common tables and customer tables, we need to create "template" versions of the tables in the U_Common schema:
However, when U_Cust_1 invokes the procedure in U_Common, the session can't "see" the customer-specific version of the table, because the code is executing in the context of U_Common. It will see the template table data (or lack of it - presumably there are no rows in the template tables).
This can be addressed by adjusting the AUTHID pragma when the code objects are defined:
create or replace package U_Common [authid definer] is..
create or replace package U_Common authid current_user is..
According to the documentation, this AUTHID clause instructs Oracle on whether to run the code with the invoker's rights, or the owner's rights. (the default is DEFINER, or owner.)
In practice, this means that when U_Cust_1 executes the code object defined as AUTHID CURRENT_USER, the customer tables in U_Cust_1 are in scope, and are accessed instead of the template tables in the U_Common schema.
Two interesting observations about executing code defined as AUTHID CURRENT_USER:
- the code does NOT see the Common tables. Any table in U_Common is "out of scope";
- the code can see other procedures and packages in U_Common, including those defined as AUTHID DEFINER (default);
- when the code makes a nested call to those other procedures, the tables in U_Common are now visible!
Here's a sequence diagram of the call stack:
This means that everything will work just fine, so long as the code objects are classified into "programs that access common data" and "programs that access customer data".
Views don't work so well.
You can define a view in U_Common that joins a Common table with a Customer table, but any U_Common procedure that is authid current_user will not be able to "see" the view from the context of U_Cust_1.
You can try this:
grant SELECT on View to U_Cust_1
create synonym in U_Cust_1 for the U_Common.View
But the result set will be entirely pulled from the U_Common schema tables.
So this technique probably isn't going to be used to create a transparently customer-partitioned application architecture. But it is still worth understanding how AUTHID works.


text:
Clare County Library
Library Catalogue | Foto:
Clare Photo Collection | Search
this Website | Copyright
Scattery Island, lying at the mouth of the River Shannon near Kilrush, in south west Clare, has a rich and unusual history. It has been an ecclesiastical centre since early times A monastery, reputedly founded there by St Senan in the sixth century, suffered under the Vikings in the ninth and tenth centuries and was largely destroyed in Tudor times. Scattery has also served as a place of safe harbour for the Spanish Armada and as a defense outpost for the English government. The island has been uninhabited since 1978.
County Library wishes to thank Clare
Local Studies Project for preparation of raw text for this publication.


text:
The Airport Nest
The unexpected placement of a kindergarten inside an airport becomes an opportunity to investigate the unusual relationship between a large infrastructure and a small service. The building is developed on two levels. On the ground floor, the long basement generates a small internal courtyard and defines the entrance. On the upper floor, within a single volume, there are the classrooms directly connected to the roof garden.
The concept involves the use of grits and tones in strong contrast to each other: the basement materials reflect the sky, while the upper part of the building incorporates textures and colors of the Apulian land.
- ProjectThe Airport Nest
- PlaceBari, IT
- ClientPrivate commitment
- Consultant MEP: Studio Magnanimo
- Team Laboratorio Permanente: Nicola Russi, Angelica Sylos Labini
With Sylos Labini Ingegneri Associati


text:
The CEW Research Archive is an information resource developed by the Dunspaugh-Dalton Community and Educational Well-Being Research Center (CEW). The CEW has as its purpose the creation of new knowledge and the training of the next generation of leaders, researchers and change agents in the field of Community and Educational Well-Being. Sponsored by the Dunspaugh-Dalton Foundation, and housed at the University of Miami's School of Education, the CEW is committed to promoting individual, interpersonal, institutional, and community well-being. We do this by studying the educational, psychological, physical, and social determinants of well-being, by training leaders in these areas, and by building capacity in the community for risk prevention and transformational practices.
The CEW Research Archive has been created to provide access to literature and other media that support understanding and knowledge acquisition in all aspects of Community and Educational Well-Being. As the CEW Research Archive grows it will become a resource for the general public, practitioners, students and specialized researchers interested in issues of individual, relational, educational and community well-being. A glossary found on the CEW website defines the terms used in the classification adopted as the primary subject arrangement for materials added to the CEW Research Archive
supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of _URL_


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optional and defaults the default destination.
Tool collections contain zero or more s, which map to parameters set at job-creation, to allow for assignment of handlers and destinations based on the manner in which the job was created. Currently, only one parameter is defined - namely source.
The content of the tag is the component that created the job. Currently, only Galaxy's visualization component sets this job parameter, and its value is trackster.
trackster
Dynamic Destination Mapping
Galaxy has very sophisticated job configuration options that allow different tools to be submitted to queuing systems with various parameters and in most cases this is sufficient. However, sometimes it is necessary to have job execution parameters be determined at runtime based on factors such as the job inputs, user submitting the job, cluster status, etc… In these cases the dynamic job destination mechanism allows the deployer to describe how the job should be executed using python functions. There are various flavors of dynamic destinations to handle these scenarios.
The two most generic and useful dynamic destination types are python and dtd. The python type allows arbitrary Python functions to define destinations for jobs, while the DTD method (introduced in Galaxy 16.07) defines rules for routing in a YAML file.
Dynamic Destination Mapping (DTD method)
DTD is a special dynamic job destination type that builds up rules given a YAML-based DSL - see config/tool_destinations.yml.sample (on Github) for a syntax description, examples, and a description of how to validate and debug this file.
To define and use rules, copy this sample file to config/tool_destinations.yml and add your rules. Anything routed with a dynamic runner of type dtd will then use this file (such as the destination defined with the following XML block in job_conf.xml).

 dtd
Dynamic Destination Mapping (Python method)
The simplest way to get started with dynamic job destinations is to first create a dynamic job destination in job_conf.xml's section:

 python
 ncbi_blastn_wrapper
Note that any parameters defined on dynamic destinations are only available to the function. If your function dispatches to a static destination, parameters are not propagated automatically.
Next for any tool one wants to dynamically assign job destinations for, this blast dynamic destination must be specified in the job_conf.xml's section:

Finally, you will need to define a function that describes how ncbi_blastn_wrapper should be executed. To do this, one must create a python source file in lib/galaxy/jobs/rules, for instance destinations.py (though the name of this file is largely unimportant, one can distribute any number of functions across any number of files and they will be automatically detected by Galaxy).
So open lib/galaxy/jobs/rules/destinations.py and define a ncbi_blastn_wrapper function. A couple possible examples may be:
from galaxy.jobs import JobDestination
import os
def ncbi_blastn_wrapper(job):
 # Allocate extra time
 inp_data = dict( [ ( da.name, da.dataset ) for da in job.input_datasets ] )
 inp_data.update( [ ( da.name, da.dataset ) for da in job.input_library_datasets ] )
 query_file = inp_data[ "query" ].file_name
 query_size = os.path.getsize( query_file )
 if query_size > 1024 * 1024:
 walltime_str = "walltime=24:00:00/"
 walltime_str = "walltime=12:00:00/"
 return JobDestination(id="ncbi_blastn_wrapper", runner="pbs", params={"Resource_List": walltime_str})
from galaxy.jobs import JobDestination
import os
def ncbi_blastn_wrapper(app, user_email):
 # Assign admin users' jobs to special admin_project.
 admin_users = app.config.get( "admin_users", "" ).split( "," )
 params = {}
 if user_email in admin_users:
 params["nativeSpecification"] = "-P bigNodes"
 return JobDestination(id="ncbi_blastn_wrapper", runner="drmaa", params=params)
The first example above delegates to the PBS job runner and allocates extra walltime for larger input files (based on tool input parameter named query). The second example delegates to the DRMAA job runner and assigns users in the in the admin list to a special project (perhaps configured to have a higher priority or extended walltime).
The above examples demonstrate that the dynamic job destination framework will pass in the arguments to your function that are needed based on the argument names. The valid argument names at this time are:
Global Galaxy application object, has attributes such as config (the configuration parameters loaded from config/galaxy.yml) and job_config (Galaxy representation of the data loaded in from job_conf.xml).
E-mail of user submitting this job.
Galaxy model object for user submitting this job.
Galaxy model object for submitted job, see the above example for how input information can be derived from this.
An object meant a higher level utility for reasoning about jobs than job.
Tool object corresponding to this job.
ID of the tool corresponding to this job
Utility object with methods designed to allow job rules to interface cleanly with the rest of Galaxy and shield them from low-level details of models, metrics, etc….
A dictionary of parameters specified by the user using job_resource_params_conf.xml (if configured).
A randomly generated UUID for the workflow invocation generating this job - this can be useful for instance in routing all the jobs in the same workflow to one resource.
Also available though less likely useful are job_id.
The above examples demonstrated mapping one tool to one function. Multiple tools may be mapped to the same function, by specifying a function the the dynamic destination:

 blast_dest

In this case, you would need to define a function named blast_dest in your python rules file and it would be called for all three tools. In cases like this, it may make sense to take in tool_id or tool as argument to factor the actual tool being used into your decision.
As a natural extension to this, a dynamic job runner can be used as the default destination. The below examples demonstrate this and other features such as returning mapping failure messages to your users and defaulting back to existing static destinations defined in job_conf.xml.
Additional Dynamic Job Destination Examples
The following example assumes the existence of a job destination with ids short_pbs and long_pbs and that a default dynamic job runner has been defined as follows in job_conf.xml:

 default_runner
With these if place, the following default_runner rule function will route all tools with id containing mothur to the long_pbs destination defined jobs_conf.xml and all other tools to the short_pbs destination:
def default_runner(tool_id):
 if'mothur' in tool_id >= 0:
 return 'long_pbs'
 return'short_pbs'
As another example, assume that a few tools should be only accessible to developers and all other users should receive a message indicating they are not authorized to use this tool. This can be accomplished with the following job_conf.xml fragment

 dev_only

Coupled with placing the following function in a rules file.
from galaxy.jobs.mapper import JobMappingException
from galaxy.jobs import JobDestination
DEV_EMAILS = ["_EMAIL_"]
def dev_only(user_email):
 if user_email in DEV_EMAILS
 return JobDestination(id="dev_only", runner="drmaa")
 raise JobMappingException("This tool is under development and you are not authorized to it.")
There is an additional page on Access Control for those interested.
Additional Tricks
If one would like to tweak existing static job destinations in just one or two parameters, the following idiom can be used to fetch static JobDestination objects from Galaxy in these rule methods - dest = app.job_config.get_destination( id_or_tag ).
Limiting Job Resource Usage
The collection defines the number of concurrent jobs users can run, output size limits, and a Galaxy-specific limit on the maximum amount of time a job can run (rather than relying on a DRM's time-limiting feature). This replaces the former job_walltime, output_size_limit, registered_user_job_limit, anonymous_user_job_limit configuration parameters, as well as the (mostly broken) [galaxy:job_limits] section.
NB: The job_walltime and output_size limits are only implemented in the local and pbs job runner plugins. Implementation in other runners is likely to be fairly easy and would simply require a bit of testing - we would gladly accept a pull request implementing these features in the other provided runner plugins.
The collection has no attributes.
The collection contains s


text:
iPhones are helpful to save lives many times. Here are a few examples:
- In July 2023, an iPhone 14 user was rescued after his car plunged 400 feet down a cliff near Mount Wilson, California. The phone's Crash Detection feature automatically called 911 and sent the driver's location to emergency services.
- In June 2023, a woman who was hiking in the Angeles National Forest activated her iPhone's Emergency SOS feature after she fell and injured herself. The feature sent her location to emergency services, who were able to find her and rescue her.
- In May 2023, a man who was stranded in Alaska used his iPhone's Emergency SOS via satellite feature to call for help. The feature allowed him to connect with emergency services even though he was in a remote area with no cellular service.
These are just a few examples of how iPhones have been used to save lives in the US. As smartphones become more and more ubiquitous, it is likely that we will see even more cases of iPhones being used to help people in emergencies.
In addition to the Crash Detection and Emergency SOS features, iPhones also have a number of other features that can be helpful in emergencies, such as the Medical ID feature, which allows users to store their medical information on their phone, and the Find My iPhone feature, which can be used to locate a lost or stolen phone.
Here are some of the features that can be used in emergencies:
- Crash Detection: This feature automatically calls 911 and sends your location to emergency services if your iPhone detects a significant crash.
- Emergency SOS: This feature allows you to quickly call 911 or other emergency services, even if you are unable to speak.
- Medical ID: This feature allows you to store your medical information on your iPhone, such as your allergies, medications, and blood type. This information can be accessed by emergency personnel if you are unable to speak.
- Find My iPhone: This feature can be used to locate your iPhone if it is lost or stolen. This can be helpful if you need to call for help from your iPhone.
In addition to these features, iPhones can also be used to access other resources that can be helpful in emergencies, such as:
- News and weather apps: These apps can be used to stay informed about current events and weather conditions, which can be important in planning an evacuation or other emergency response.
- GPS apps: These apps can be used to find your way around, which can be helpful if you are lost or disoriented.
- First aid apps: These apps can provide information on how to provide first aid, which can be helpful if you are injured or someone else is injured.
The iPhone's popularity in the US also makes it a valuable tool for emergency services. In many cases, emergency personnel will ask people who have called 911 to provide the location of their phone, which can be helpful in locating them. Overall, iPhones can be a valuable tool for saving lives in the US. The phone's features, such as Crash Detection and Emergency SOS, can help people in emergencies, and its popularity makes it a valuable tool for emergency services.


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I have trouble distinguishing between these two concepts. This is my understanding so far.
A stationary process is a stochastic process whose statistical properties do not change with time. For a strict-sense stationary process, this means that its joint probability distribution is constant; for a wide-sense stationary process, this means that its 1st and 2nd moments are constant.
An ergodic process is one where its statistical properties, like variance, can be deduced from a sufficiently long sample. E.g., the sample mean converges to the true mean of the signal, if you average long enough.
Now, it seems to me that a signal would have to be stationary, in order to be ergodic. And what kinds of signals could be stationary, but not ergodic? If a signal has the same variance for all time, for example, how could the time-averaged variance not converge to the true value?
So, what is the real distinction between these two concepts? Can you give me an example of a process that is stationary without being ergodic, or ergodic without being stationary?
share|improve this question
You might want to look at this answer to a related question. – Dilip Sarwate Jan 17 '12 at 21:31
This lecture spells it literally that ergodic is a subset of stationary. I just cannot understand what Stationary Ergodic Process article is doing in Wikipedia? Does it mean that there is non-stationary ergodic process? – Val May 17 at 16:32
5 Answers 5
up vote 11 down vote accepted
A random process is a collection of random variables, one for each time instant under consideration. Typically this may be continuous time ($-\infty < t < \infty$) or discrete time (all integers $n$, or all time instants $nT$ where $T$ is the sample interval). Stationarity refers to the distributions of the random variables, ergodicity takes into account the sample paths, i.e. what you observe physically. As you say, the average value or DC component of a sample path converges to the mean value of the process if the sample path is observed long enough, provided the process is ergodic and stationary, etc.
As an example of the difference between the two concepts, suppose that $X(t) = Y$ for all $t$ under consideration. Here $Y$ is a random variable. This is a stationary process: each $X(t)$ has the same distribution (the distribution of $Y$), same mean $E[X(t)] = E[Y]$, same variance etc.; each $X(t_1)$ and $X(t_2)$ have the same joint distribution (though it is degenerate) and so on. But the process is not ergodic because each sample path is a constant. Specifically, if a trial of the experiment (as performed by you, or by a superior being) results in $Y$ having value $\alpha$, then the sample path of the random process that corresponds to this experimental outcome has value $\alpha$ for all $t$, and the DC value of the sample path is $\alpha$, not $E[X(t)] = E[Y]$, no matter how long you observe the (rather boring) sample path. In a parallel universe, the trial would result in $Y = \beta$ and the sample path in that universe would have value $\beta$ for all $t$. It is not easy to write mathematical specifications to exclude such trivialities from the class of stationary processes, and so this remains as an example of a stationary random process that is not ergodic.
share|improve this answer
I couldn't understand the example. If you say Y is a constant, then any path of x(t) is a constant. The mean of a constant is itself, hence E[X(t)] = E[Y] = Y. Unless I missed something. – Drazick Jan 18 '12 at 17:20
I added a few words to clarify the meaning. $Y$ is a random variable, not a constant. Its value on any trial of the experiment need not be the same as $E[Y]$. – Dilip Sarwate Jan 18 '12 at 17:40
Now I see your intention. I think it is important to note that usually the meaning of ergodic process is that by observing a single path in time one could deduce some properties of the RV as a whole. As you showed, in the above example, each path is a constant, yet the RV is a something with probability properties. Thanks for clarification. – Drazick Jan 18 '12 at 17:48
Thanks for the helpful answer. What do you think about a signal that is ergodic, but not stationary? Is that possible? – Matt Jan 23 '12 at 21:19
_USER_ In the solution of the book "communication systems" simon haykin writes that "for a random process to be ergodic it has to be stationary" – Michael Corleone Aug 17 '12 at 4:46
Let us consider a hypothetical random process where the sample functions are DC values and are different from each other:
X1(t) = constant= mean of X1(t)
X2(t) = constant= mean of X2(t)
The temporal mean of $X_1(t)$ and $X_2(t)$ are constant but not equal. if my process is stationary $X(t_1)$ and $X(t_2)$ are equal and RVs (refer Dilip's answer)
So ensemble mean of $X(t)$ is constant.
This ensemble mean is certainly not equal to the temporal mean of $X_1(t)$ and $X_2(t)$ (they themselves are not equal). This can be called a stationary but not an ergodic process.
In contrast, $X(t)=Acos(\omega t+\theta)$ where $\theta$ is an RV is ergodic.
share|improve this answer
An ergodic process is a process for which you can substitute the ergodic mean for the temporal mean.
The real mean, variance, etc... are defined by following a process over time and averaging, etc... For instance, if you want to know the mean of my size, you would have to average it from when I am born to when I die. Obviously the later example is not a stationary process.
The ergodic mean would be if instead of following my size over time, you would freeze time, and take the mean over a sample of different individual humans. There is no reason for these two means to be the same, so the process of my size is not ergodic.
That is a bad example, but it get more important if you consider the simple case of a gas at equilibrium. For instance the mean squared velocity is noted $\bar{V^2}$ (mean over time), but is often calculated by taking the ensemble mean $\left< V^2 \right>$: the mean of the square velocity of all molecules of the gas at an instant $t$.
Most thermodynamics theorems requires to use $\bar{V^2}$, but it is more easy to compute and use $\left< V^2 \right>$. The ergodic hypothesis is the hypothesis stating that it is right to substitute one for the other. An ergodic process is a process for which the ergodic hypothesis is true.
The ergodic hypothesis is false in the general case.
share|improve this answer
I don't understand this answer. The process of Jolow's size is neither stationary nor ergodic whereas the OP was wondering if there can be a stationary process that is not ergodic. Is the answer essentially that in general the ergodic hypothesis is false and it is (sort of) universally true that the sample mean is different from the ensemble mean, just get used to it and live with it? – Dilip Sarwate Jan 17 '12 at 19:09
_USER_: after re-reading, it is a bad answer that does not answer the question, and I am considering deleting it. I was reminding my thermodynamics lectures, whereas the question was more about statistics... – Jean-Yves Jan 17 '12 at 20:00
_USER_ what is Jolow's size? – Michael Corleone Aug 17 '12 at 5:01
_USER_ I do not remember what the reference to Jolow means. My guess is that Jean-Yves posted his answer under the nom-de-plume Jolow and I used that name in my answer, and that he has since then decided to use Jean-Yves as his user name on stackexchange. Such name changes are reflected on what is displayed on the screen but are not recorded as an edit of the answer. – Dilip Sarwate Aug 17 '12 at 13:29
_USER_: you are right indeed. Jolow is just my nickname. – Jean-Yves Aug 18 '12 at 6:28
as I underestand, example below shows a ergodic and stationary process
 X1 X2 X3 | mean var...
 1 2 3 | 2 1
 2 3 1 | 2
 3 1 2 | 2
mean 2 2 2 var 1
because the mean and variance of every column is constant along the time and mean and variance of