Foreword Reviews
Starred Review:
Descendant of the Crane
Joan He's Descendant of the Crane is a riveting, complex story set in a Chinese-inspired fantasy world full of magic, intrigue, and mystery.
Hesina's first task as the new queen of Yan is to discover who poisoned her father. She starts by seeking out a sooth to provide guidance—an act of treason, as all sooths were outlawed when the Eleven, a group of rebel heroes, overthrew the last emperor three centuries ago.
With Akira, a brilliant thief whose help she enlists, Hesina discovers dangerous truths and finds herself embroiled in the politics of a corrupt court. She is forced to choose between the law, the truth about her father's death, and the welfare of her people.
The characters are complex and alive. Hesina does not believe she is a good ruler, but she sacrifices her own happiness to do the right thing. Akira has a violent, tragic past to overcome; he, too, always seeks to do what is right. Hesina's siblings, including her biological brother, twins her father brought to the palace as young children, and a half-sibling her father had with his concubine, have intimate and often difficult relationships, each pursuing their own agendas while supporting, and sometimes undermining, each other's efforts.
The world building is impressive, too. Yan's history is key to the story, and it is seamlessly incorporated via fables, laws, customs, and beliefs, with elements like descriptions of food and clothing adding texture. The Book of Tenets, which was created by the Eleven to guide the people of Yan, is the central element around which the entire world and its inhabitants are built.
Descendant of the Crane is a compelling, immersive book. Young adults will find a story and a world that is a joy to explore in this highly original mystery.
Reviewed by Catherine Thureson
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Free diagram with 4 stairs and steps for PowerPoint and Google Slides. Infographic illustration of 4 cylinders and 2 businessman silhouettes. Editable graphics with numbers, icons, and text placeholders.
Four Stairs and Steps Diagram
Arrows with numbers on the stairs to illustrate the evolution.
Use this template slide to show 4 sequential or incremental steps in a task, process, or workflow. Also great for presentation concepts about human resources, career steps, career development, business growth, teamwork, management structure, staff positions, success, progress, etc.
Shapes are 100% editable: colors and sizes can be easily changed.
Includes 2 slide option designs: Standard (4:3) and Widescreen (16:9).
Widescreen (16:9) size preview:
This '4 Stairs and Steps Diagram for PowerPoint and Google Slides' features:
- 2 unique slides
- Light and Dark layout
- Ready to use template with numbers, icons, and text placeholders
- Completely editable shapes
- Uses a selection of editable PowerPoint icons
- Standard (4:3) and Widescreen (16:9) aspect ratios
- PPTX file and for Google Slides
Free fonts used:
- Helvetica (System Font)
- Calibri (System Font)
Comments are closed.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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Service cloud console by Salesforce provides a customer service solution that is designed to offer very effective customer service activities from anywhere.
Service cloud console is a Salesforce application for users who wants to work on multiple records at once or need to find, update and create records quickly. Service cloud provides a tabbed environment for the users to look at different grouping of records in one screen via Primary and Secondary tab.
The tab-based interface makes it easy for the customer service agents to see records and their related items together on one screen, as well as work on multiple items simultaneously.
Service cloud console optimize the agent experience by helping him to manage cases faster.
Service cloud console has a footer which gives access to Live Agent as well as CTI softphone (if licensed).
Features offered by Service cloud console
- It offers keyboard shortcuts which enables users to save time switching between tabs and saving information.
- It can include the Live Agent (Chat), Softphone (call) and several tabs including the Visualforce pages.
- It also provides an interaction log which allows agents to quickly create tasks whilst on the phone with customers.
- It is very easy to plug in custom Visualforce pages within the console and the ability to build custom integrations directly into the console making it very extensible.
- The refresh of one tab will not impact other open tabs.
Why to use Service Cloud Console
- It reduces the agent's response time by displaying customer information with a pop up window that provides all of their relevant information needed to address the Case.
- It eliminates switching between pages, to access data from different objects.
- It improves agent productivity by providing more context for the problem at hand.
- User will see records and their related items as tabs on one screen so that user never loses context or navigate too far from a record.
- We can easily integrate Live Agent and Soft Phone to Service cloud console.
Service Cloud Console also streamlines the process of customer interaction process by offering the following powerful tools:
Live Agent is a native Salesforce tool that provides the ability to interactively communicate with your web site users. Salesforce Live Agent was introduced into Salesforce platform in the Spring 12 release.
Live Agent enables real-time, online chat between an organization and its customers, prospects etc.
The chat sessions can be initiated via clicking a button or link on a web page, or via automated invitation based on page access metrics.
The information collected during the chat can then be saved into your Salesforce instance and reported on.
- User can save the transcript.
- User can manage multiple concurrent chats within the console.
- User can find and open existing records related to chats.
- Create new records based on incoming chats.
- Choose records or pages to open as sub tabs of each chat session.
- Attach a file to the chat session.
- Supervisor tab for monitoring one or more Agent chats.
- It is very convenient for a customer to resolve a query through chat, avoiding the usual frustrations of calling a support line and waiting for the turn.
- An expert team can efficiently manage multiple concurrent chats (routed by skill) which can hugely impact on the incoming call volume.
- The handling cost of a chat session is generally one third of the cost of a phone call resulting in huge cost benefits for the business.
CTI (Computer Telephony Integration)
CTI enables computers and telephone system to work together for enhanced communications between the two technologies and enables you to leverage computer-processing functions while making, receiving, and managing telephone calls.
CTI applications allow you to perform such tasks as retrieving customer information from a database on the basis of information that caller ID provides. CTI applications can also enable you to use information that an interactive voice response (IVR) system captures, so the call can be routed to the appropriate customer service representative and also the right information can be provided to the individual who is receiving the call.
- Make calls by dialing a number in the Softphone, choosing a number in an online directory, or clicking a phone number in any contact, lead, activity, or account.
- Receive calls.
- Quickly view all Salesforce records that are related to the call, such as contacts, cases, or accounts.
- Transfer calls.
- Attach records to calls.
- Generate automatic call logs.
- Add phone numbers to call center directories for future use.
- The Salesforce user interface is able to perform all the interaction management and the customer service.
- The system computer integration blends intelligently and routes the interaction of the customer service based on skills and availability.
- It can also allow agents to place, get and transfer the interactions directly in the Salesforce user interface.


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Lanhydrock Estate had until recently regrettably few orchards which traditionally had been a fundamental part of the Estate. In 2009 the Estate planted Dewey Damson Orchard in order to start to readdress the balance. The orchard is planted neighbouring an existing long abandoned orchard which was featured in the Lanhydrock Estate map of 1881.
Damson trees of local provenance were selected where possible, also Gages, Grey Plum, Kea Plum and Bullace; the oldest form of Damson found in wild hedgerows. All the trees were selected for their damson-like properties, flavor, tradition and local importance and highly cultivated forms were avoided. All the fruits have different flavours, making the most versatile crop as far as culinary uses are concerned.
To maximize the wildlife value of the orchard, a native hedge has been planted around the boundary. The hedge is predominantly Blackthorn, with Dog Rose, Guelder Rose, Wild Cherry, Wild Plum and Dogwood in lesser proportions. The aim is to harvest the Blackthorn sloes for 'Lanhydrock Estate Sloe Gin'. The other species aid in the establishment of the hedge and provide valuable food source for other fauna.
This includes of course our honey bees which are an essential element to the orchard and dramatically increase pollination rates. A native wildflower meadow has been sown in the orchard increasing the habitat value further. The use of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides is avoided. All of this contributes to the conservation efforts made across the whole Estate.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Use the GDP gap calculator to estimate the output gap (or GDP gap), that is the percentage difference between actual GDP and its potential level. Read on to see how to find GDP gap using the GDP gap formula as well as us explain the idea behind the output gap. Furthermore, you can get insight into some related concepts, such as:
- What does negative output gap mean?
- What is potential output?
- How to calculate potential GDP (potential output)?
If you are interested in this subject, you may also check the relationship between the output GDP and unemployment formulated by Okun's law.
What is output gap?
The GDP gap formula (or output gap) is the percentage difference between aggregate output (actual GDP) and its potential level, the potential output. When output exceeds its potential level, there is a positive output gap, and the economy functions above its full capacity. Employees tend to demand higher salaries, and firms are prone to use the opportunity to raise prices. The result will be higher inflation.
Conversely, in the case of a negative output gap, there will be a lot of slack in the economy. Therefore, workers will accept a steady or modest increase in wages, and firms will need to lower prices to sell their goods, resulting in lower inflation.
In other words, when the economy is producing less than its potential level (or equivalently, if the actual GDP is less than potential GDP), it is not making full use of the available productive resources. Conversely, when it produces more than its potential level, the economy becomes overheated. This economic instability initiates adjustments in prices and wages which trigger further adjustments in other economic factors, such as labor and output, pulling the economy back to its potential level.
In its nominal form, the GDP gap measures the amount by which the actual GDP is above or under the potential level of output. In our GDP gap calculator, we find its percentage value.
GDP gap calculator - the output gap formula
According to the output gap definition, the GDP gap formula is the percentage difference between actual and potential output. It takes the following simple mathematical form:
- - The GDP gap (or output gap);
- - The actual GDP; and
- - The potential output.
Our GDP gap calculator uses the above output gap formula to quickly assess the missing parameter, provided you supply the other two.
What is potential GDP?
The potential GDP, or potential output, corresponds to the level of output that an economy can produce by using its given resources at a normal intensity. It means that people work their usual number of hours and factories produce at their usual rates.
Output can rise above potential if people work overtime and factories run above their usual level.
In the New Keynesian Phillips curve, where the output gap is one of the key ingredients, potential output coincides with the output level that the economy would produce once all prices had fully adjusted.
In general, the potential output typically grows at a stable rate over time, reflecting long-run GDP growth due to technological change and capital accumulation. However, actual GDP fluctuates around potential GDP in the short run: a recessionary output gap arises when actual GDP is below the potential output; an inflationary gap appears when actual aggregate GDP exceeds potential output.
How do I calculate potential GDP for the output gap?
As the GDP gap measures the difference between the actual GDP (real GDP) and its potential level, you need to find data for these two variables to find the GDP gap:
- The real GDP is measured by national statisticians and is widely available.
- Estimating potential GDP is difficult due to its hypothetical nature and equivocal interpretation.
- One of the typical and straightforward estimation methods is based on the deviation of GDP from its long-run trend with applied statistical procedures, such as the Hodrick-Prescott (HP) filter.
What are the consequences of a negative GDP gap?
In general, the consequence of a negative GDP gap is a fall in price inflation (or even deflation), which initiates downward adjustment in the nominal interest rate. A negative GDP gap typically prompts expansionary monetary and fiscal policy to narrow the gap and improve employment and inflation.
What was the output gap in the US in 2020?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the GDP gap in the U.S. economy was -5.14 percent in 2020. It implies that the U.S. economy has been functioning below its potential level, primarily due to the economic disturbances caused by the pandemic.
What does GDP gap measure and how do I find GDP gap?
The GDP gap measures the percentage difference between the actual real GDP and its potential level. Accordingly, you need to find the GDP gap by:
- Finding the actual real GDP.
- Estimating its potential level.
- Compute their percentage difference:
(Real GDP - Real Potential GDP) / Real Potential GDP.
Can a negative GDP gap cause deflation?
Yes, it can. If the actual real GDP is considerably below its potential level and is not narrowed by a sufficient monetary and fiscal expansion, it may result in deflation.


The Printable KISS Workbooks Shakespeare's Plays
Romeo and Juliet
Act Two
Scene One, 43-51: "He jests at scars"
(Includes no verbals, a third-level embedded clause, an appositive, direct address, and "but" used as a coordinating conjunction, as an adverb, and as a preposition.)
AK LittleWords
Scene One, 80-91: "Tis but thy name" (includes "What's in a name." This selection, which includes no verbals other than "belonging," makes a nice assessment quiz of students' ability to identify S/V/C patterns and basic clauses.
Assessment Quiz Assessment Analysis
AK Assessment


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Developing a MVC Component/Using the language filter facility
From Joomla! Documentation
< Archived:Developing a MVC Component
This page has been archived. This page contains information for an unsupported Joomla! version or is no longer relevant. It exists only as a historical reference, it will not be improved and its content may be incomplete and/or contain broken links.
This article or section is incomplete, which means it may be lacking information. You are welcome to assist in its completion by editing it as well. If this article or section has not been edited in several days, please consider helping complete the content.
This article was last edited by M-b-o (talk| contribs) 13 months ago. (Purge)
Articles in this Series
- Developing a Basic Component
- Adding a view to the site part
- Adding a menu type to the site part
- Adding a model to the site part
- Adding a variable request in the menu type
- Using the database
- Basic backend
- Adding language management
- Adding backend actions
- Adding decorations to the backend
- Adding verifications
- Adding categories
- Adding configuration
- Adding ACL
- Adding an install/uninstall/update script file
- Using the language filter facility
- Adding an update server
- Example of a Frontend Update Function
- Example of Menu Parameters & Stylesheets
This tutorial is part of the Developing a Model-View-Controller (MVC) Component for Joomla!2.5 tutorial. You are encouraged to read the previous parts of the tutorial before reading this.
Using the language filter facility
This part is open for editing.
Prev: Adding an install/uninstall/update script file Next: Adding an update server


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A recent study seems to find a good reason why old people sometimes get cheated and are somehow more vulnerable to fraud.
The study found that a particular region in the brain which actually helps us decide if a person can be trusted, is not as active in old people.
The study which involved analysis of brain scans that were taken while the old and the young made their assessment of photographs of people, found that a region called the anterior insula in the brain which picks up instinctive feelings, was not so active among the older lot.
Most importantly, the old people were unable to recognize certain tell-tale facial hints. Professor Shelley Taylor of the University of California in Los Angeles said, "The older adults do not have as strong an anterior insula early-warning signal; their brains are not saying 'be wary', as the brains of the younger adults are. It's not that younger adults are better at finance or judging whether an investment is good - they're better at discerning whether a person is trustworthy when cues are communicated visually."


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Check the approval status of an ad or extension
After you've created an ad or extension, you can check whether it's been reviewed or not in the "Status" column.
This article explains how to check that status and what each status means.
The new Google Ads experience is now the exclusive way for most users to manage their accounts. Note, automatic targeting is only available in the new Google Ads experience.
To check the status of an ad or extension:
- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
- Click Ads & extensions from the page menu to see a list of your ads.
- To check an ad or extension status, just look in the "Status" column. If you hover over each status, you'll see a more detailed explanation of what the status means.
To see more detailed policy information (or to check the status of a paused ad), enable the "Policy details" in the table.
- Visit the Ads & extensions page in your Google Ads account.
- Click the column icon above the statistics table, then click Modify columns.
- In the "Attributes" section, click select the checkbox next to "Policy details."
- Click Apply.
The Policy details column provides information about why a disapproved ad wasn't approved, or why an "approved (limited)" ad is limited to a certain audience.
What each status meansYou'll see a status both before your ad or extension is approved and after it's been reviewed.
Before review, your ad will have one of these statuses:
- Eligible: The ad is still being reviewed. Note, however:
- If you see this status for asset-based ads (for example, responsive ads or app campaign ads), it means that some combination of your assets have been approved and may be running.
- If you see this status for Video ads, it means the video has been reviewed for and approved to run in some contexts.
- Under review: The ad is still being reviewed and can't show until it's been approved.
After review, your ad can run if it has one of these statuses:
- Approved: The ad complies with the Google Ads policies, so it can be shown to all audiences.
- Approved (limited): The ad can run, but not in all situations because of policy restrictions, such as trademark use or gambling-related content.
- Approved (limited all locations): The ad can't run in your targeted locations because of policy restrictions and targeting settings. The ad can run, however, to people interested in your targeted locations.
- Serving: The video ad is approved to appear on YouTube.
After review, your extension can run if it has one of these statuses:
After review, your ad can't run if it has one these statuses:
- Disapproved: The ad cannot run because its content or its destination violates Google Ads policy.
Not related to ad approval, your ad might have another status such as Paused, Ended, and Pending.


on the cockroach leg from different heights. You can tape straws at different heights to a ruler, to standardize the heights. Be sure to remind students to blow consistently during each trial.
 - You can purchase compressed air in an aerosol canister at an office supply store. Compressed air is often sold in the computer section because it is used to clean keyboards and computer components. As with the drinking straw method, you can hold the compressed air canister at different heights to achieve different strengths of stimulation (you could try using a yard or meter stick and measuring at different distances).
 1. Start a recording, and wait 10 seconds.
 2. Now, touch the keyboard key "1" and stimulate the leg by turning on the compressed air at the lowest pressure (5 psi). Use the hose to direct the compressed air at the cockroach leg. Stimulate it for at least 5 seconds.
 3. Touch keyboard key "2", raise the air pressure to 10 psi, and repeat.
 4. Touch keyboard key "3", raise the air pressure to 15 psi, and repeat as again
 5. Touch keyboard key "4", raise the air pressure to 20 psi, and again...
 6. Repeat for a few more increases in air pressure, stop the recording, and do the spike firing rate analysis as done above.
So what did you find? Think about your results. Did anything about the experiment surprise you? If so, can you explain why? Anything with a nervous system uses rate coding, including us! Think about all the ways your body uses rate coding, for example, think about the difference between a shallow and hard poke in the arm!
Consider ways you could expand the experiment. Maybe you could compare multiple cockroach legs and come up with some average standards, compare a cockroach leg to a grasshopper leg, experiment with electrode placement, or introduce chemical treatments to the cockroach legs! The world is yours,now go out and experiment!
Note: You can also do this experiment on crickets if you do not have access to cockroaches. You can usually buy crickets at local pet stores. See video:
We have some sample recording files of cockroach leg nerves and the cricket cercal system nerves you can use to familiarize yourself with what a "normal" recording looks like.
Science Fair Project Ideas
 - What causes the spikes that you saw? Specifically, what is occurring when the spike is positive? What is occurring when the spike is negative? Keep in mind you are doing extracellular recordings, which record the change in voltage in the area just outside the cell membrane.
 - Why do you think some leg barbs are more sensitive to stimulation with the toothpick than others?
 - Why does lowering the temperature of the cockroach make it stop moving? What are other ways you could anesthetize it?
 - Based upon your initial results, are you primarily listening to spikes coming from motor neurons (neurons that tell muscles to contract) or from sensory neurons (neurons that send information from the periphery into the brain). Why?


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A Europe Made of Money
The Emergence of the European Monetary System
A Europe Made of Money is a new history of the making of the European Monetary System (EMS), based on extensive archive research. Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol highlights two long-term processes in the monetary and economic negotiations in the decade leading up to the founding of the EMS in 1979. The first is a transnational learning process involving a powerful, networked European monetary elite that shaped a habit of cooperation among technocrats. The second stresses the importance of the European Council, which held regular meetings between heads of government beginning in 1974, giving EEC legitimacy to monetary initiatives that had previously involved semisecret and bilateral negotiations. The interaction of these two features changed the EMS from a fairly trivial piece of administrative business to a tremendously important political agreement.
The inception of the EMS was greeted as one of the landmark achievements of regional cooperation, a major leap forward in the creation of a unified Europe. Yet Mourlon-Druol's account stresses that the EMS is much more than a success story of financial cooperation. The technical suggestions made by its architects reveal how state elites conceptualized the larger project of integration. And their monetary policy became a marker for the conception of European identity. The unveiling of the EMS, Mourlon-Druol concludes, represented the convergence of material interests and symbolic, identity-based concerns.


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The Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT) Study
REACT (REal-time Assessment of Community Transmission) is a series of studies that are using home testing to improve our understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic is progressing across England. It is the largest population surveillance study being undertaken in England that examines the prevalence of the virus causing COVID-19 in the general population, involving over 150,000 participants each month.
The findings will provide the government with a better understanding of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and the risks associated with different population subgroups throughout England. The research programme was commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care and is being carried out by Imperial College London in partnership with Ipsos MORI and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.


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Model output file format:
Year DOY Hour Min Sec Lat[deg] Lon[deg] NmF2[1/cm3]
Here DOY is day of year, andNmF2 [1/cm3] is maximum electron density from either LEO satellites or ISRs. Lat [deg] and Lon [deg] for NmF2 from ISRs are geographic latitude and longitude of ISRs. For NmF2 from LEO radio occultation measurements, Hour, Min, Sec, Lat [deg] and Lon [deg] are universal time and geographic location at which maximum electron density occurs that are not on the satellite track.


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The Town of Watson Lake owes its existence to two major factors: the construction of a military airport in 1941 and the construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942.
In 1939 the Government of Canada committed to building a chain of airfields across the Northwest under the Northwest Staging Route Program. The airfield at Watson Lake was a link in this chain. The site for the airport was surveyed, funds were made available towards the end of 1940 and construction began in 1941.
When the United States entered the Second World War, there was a threat of a Japanese invasion of Alaska. The necessity of a military overland supply rout linking the State of Alaska to the lower 48 states became an immediate wartime measure.
During the course of planning, it was decided that the highway would be modified in order to service the airfield sites selected under the Northwest Staging Route Program. The road alignment was purposely engineered to meander and avoid long, straight stretches which would jeopardize large supply convoys from strafing air attacks. In recent years, highway improvements have all but eliminated these winding sections of road, and now the Alaska Highway is maintained to a very high standard. The road surface is mainly pavement or Bitminous treated surface. Gravel surfaces now occur only in construction zones.
The original highway from Dawson Creek, B.C. to Fairbanks, AK was little more than a pioneer trail wandering through 2,450 kilometers (1,522 miles) of mountains, muskeg and permafrost. The new highway was built in a short 8 months and 12 days by the United States Army Corps Engineers.
The Robert Campbell Highway was started during the post world War 11 era as the service road to mining developments in the east-central Yukon and completed in 1968.
The original Watson Lake town site was at the Airport but moved to the "Wye" as it was now the regional link between the Alaska and Robert Campbell Highways.The community of Watson Lake began as an accommodations and supply center for the construction of the highway. In that same year, a roadway was built between Watson Lake and Lower Post, the northern most community in B.C.
Today, the Town of Watson Lake is the key transportation, communication and distribution center for mining and logging activities in the southern Yukon, Northern B.C. and a portion of the N.W.T. It also serves as a major service area for tourism and is the site of the Regional Territorial Government administration services.


If you want to engrave a beautiful photo on the wood, you need to complete three steps: select the photo, process the photo, and set the laser operating parameters. Only by doing these three points, you can achieve the best results.
The material used for engraving photos is white plywood with some texture on the surface. In order to improve the contrast and sharpness of the engraving effect, the picture needs to be processed into a sketch before engraving, and whether the picture is suitable for laser engraving can be judged based on the effect of the sketch picture. We use the following two pictures as examples.
First, determine the picture and software processing
1. Open the picture processing software and import the picture into it
2. Adjust the contrast of the picture
3. Click the "Art" button to turn the picture into a sketch
4. Adjust sharpness, enhance line contours, and save.process-the-photo02
Figure 1 The final sketch
After using another image, the effect turns to this:
We can compare the difference between picture 1 and picture 2. The outline of picture 1 is clear, and the contrast between the subject and the background color is high, which meets the requirements of laser engraving. However, the contour of Figure 2 is blurred, and the contrast between the subject and the background color is not enough, which does not conform to the laser engraving.
Second, set the laser operating parameters
Note: The following parameter is mainly used for standard parameters of 80W machines. If you are using other power lasers, the power and speed parameters need to be adjusted according to the actual laser tube wattage. And when using the standard head of the AMOR laser, the focal length must be aligned at 6mm.
After selecting the picture, we can set the engraving parameters.
First: The power is set to 8%
Second: The speed is set to 500mm/s
Third: Choose a blow to better protect the lens
Fourth: Since the plywood is a rough material, the engraving interval can be set to 0.08mm.
Fifth: Click BMP, the resolution is set to 1500, the frequency is set to 70，Set up BMP
This is a picture carved after the above processing, we can see that the effect is very good.
Now, let us summarize the points of laser engraving of plywood:
First: To select a picture with high definition and high contrast between the subject and background color;
Second: In the software to deal with the picture of the sketch effect
Third: Set parameters such as speed and power of laser work.


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From Wikipedia:
Oliver Heaviside
Oliver Heaviside FRS was an English autodidactic electrical engineer, mathematician, and physicist who brought complex numbers to circuit analysis, invented a new technique for solving differential equations, independently developed vector calculus, and rewrote Maxwell's equations in the form commonly used today. He significantly shaped the way Maxwell's equations are understood and applied in the decades following Maxwell's death. His formulation of the... Read More
Born18 May 1850
Camden Town, Middlesex, England
Died3 February 1925 (aged 74)
Mount Stuart Nursing Home Torquay, Devon
FieldsElectrical engineering, mathematics and physics
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KS X 1001 (Korean Graphic Character Set for Information Interchangecitation needed) is a South Korean coded character set standard to represent hangul and hanja characters on a computer. It is arranged as 94×94 table (similarly to 2-byte code words in ISO 2022 and EUC), therefore its code points are pairs of integers 1–94. KS X 1001 contains ASCII, Korean, typography, Greek, Cyrillic, Japanese (Hiragana and Katakana) and some other characters.
This standard was previously known as KS C 5601. There have been several revisions of this standard. For example, there were revisions in 1987, 1992, 1998 and 2002. Several computer operating systems encode various versions of this standard several ways. Not all of them encode the standard the same way, like replacing the typical backslash at byte 0x5C with the won currency sign (₩).citation needed Some operating systems extend this standard in other non-uniform ways. Possible encoding schemes of KS X 1001 are: EUC-KR, windows-949 (superset of EUC-KR), ISO-2022-KR and JOHAB. However, the latter two encodings are rarely used.


Esmarch bandage
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Original Esmarch bandage
Vernaid bandage
Another First-Aid bandage
Esmarch bandage (also known as Esmarch's bandage for surgical haemostasis or Esmarch's tourniquet) in its modern form is a narrow hard rubber tourniquet with a chain fastener that is used to control bleeding by applying it around a limb in such a way that blood is expelled from it.[1] This prevents the flow of blood to or from the distal area, making it easier to operate. The limb is often elevated as the elastic pressure is applied.
See also[edit]
 1. ^ [1] "Esmarch bandage" entry in Dorlands Medical Dictionary


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|phmc_10_127.doc||2.56 MB||September 21, 2010 - 10:12pm|
Model-based diagnosis typically uses analytical redundancy to compare predictions from a model against observations from the system being diagnosed. However this approach does not work very well when it is not feasible to create analytic relations describing all the observed data, e.g., for vibration data which is usually sampled at very high rates and requires very detailed finite element models to describe its behavior. In such cases, features (in time and frequency domains) that contain diagnostic information are extracted from the data. Since this is a computationally intensive process, it is not efficient to extract all the features all the time. In this paper we present an approach that combines the analytic model-based and feature-driven diagnosis approaches. The analytic approach is used to reduce the set of possible faults and then features are chosen to best distinguish among the remaining faults. We describe an implementation of this approach on the Flyable Electro-mechanical Actuator (FLEA) test bed.


+_PHONE_ 4394
I. C. Little's Alphabet Adventure - Beautiful Phillips
I. C. Little's Alphabet Adventure
I have a vision to create a collection of books for and about handicap-able children. I am the author and creator of I. C. Little, a charming little bear who finds his way around in life.
In this first book, I. C. Little travels through this delightful alphabet journey and enjoys many life experiences. Books featuring disabled characters are important in terms of ensuring that disabled children feel included and accepted. However, it's also important that we convey positive messages to able-bodied peers to understand and help all children learn acceptance and respect. My book collection of I. C. Little and friends teaches children the diverse world of special-needs children. I. C. Little isn't handicapped; he's handicap-able! This loving little bear doesn't point out what people with disabilities can't do but what they can do.
ISBN: 9781490735313
ISBN-10: _PHONE_
Format: PDF
Language: English
Published: 2nd June 2014
Edition Number: 1


"Children find in the eyes of their parents [or grandparents] the mirror in which they define themselves. Fill them with nothing and they become nothing." -William Glasser, Psychiatrist
We are all born with an innate desire to be filled with something. As young children, we begin by looking to our parents and grandparents to fill us. We want answers and direction, love, acceptance, and purpose. As parents and grandparents, our role is to guide the young ones God has placed in our care to the only One who can fill their emptiness.
Romans 15:13 encourages us with these words: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
As we trust in God, He can fill our innate void with joy and peace—which in turn gives us hope. This is an important message for our grandchildren. The world surrounds them with hopelessness. Without the power of the Holy Spirit, that hopelessness can begin to define them.
Grandparents, play this simple game of chase to remind your grandchildren that God alone can fill them with joy and peace!
1. Purchase a package of dot stickers in assorted colors (found at office supply stores).
2. Write the word "joy" on each dot on several sheets of the stickers.
3. Assign a color to each player and hand out the stickers—one player will have all the blue
stickers, another all the red stickers, and so on.
4. Explain that the goal of the game is to stick as many joy stickers as possible on other players, while avoiding getting stickers on you.
5. Set a timer for one minute. When the timer goes off, stop and see who was able to spread
the most joy by counting up the stickers of each color.
Remind your grandchildren that God wants to fill us with His joy and peace. He wants us to live a life defined by His purpose and hope!


text:
Charles H. Hubbell
Clevelander Charles H. Hubbell is undoubtedly the world's best known artist-historian of the Air Age.
An autographed newspaper clipping of Charles H. Hubbell. Caption reads: ''TRADES PLANE PAINTINGS FOR FLYING TIME. Charles H. Hubbell, 2095 Elmwood Avenue, Lakewood, finds his pictures of airplanes popular at Cleveland Airport and has obtained more than 200 hours of piloting time in exchange for them
Excerpts from Aviation's Pictorial Historian by G. Reiss, Charles H. Hubbell _PHONE_ by B. Wilson
Charles Hubbell was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1899. As a boy of 10 he became interested in aviation when a friend gave him an aeronautical magazine and he became an avid model airplane builder. Before he completed high school, he had designed and built many models as well as a man-sized glider. He graduated from the Cleveland School of Art in 1923. He traded his early paintings for flight time, soloing in 1925. He received CAA pilots License number 9792.
Charles worked as a commercial artist for several years painting airplanes mostly as a hobby as there was little demand for aviation art at that time. Cliff Henderson, the director of the National Air Races had seen Hubbell's airplane paintings and had used them on his air race posters and programs. Cliff arranged a meeting with Fred Crawford, Chairman of Thompson Products, who sponsored the Thompson Trophy Races. This was the famous unlimited closed course race that started in 1929.
Henderson suggested that Charles paint the winners each year for a calendar. Fred Crawford agreed with great enthusiasm and sealed the deal with a handshake. That started a 30-year project for Hubbell...painting airplanes for Thompson.
The first calendar was produced in 1939 and consisted of the first nine Thompson Trophy winners and four airliners. On each monthly picture, Hubbell faithfully gave the details of the subject aircraft—its make and type, specifications and performance data, engine and types. Each year thereafter the calendars featured a theme along with a section of Hubbell's paintings. This panorama of aviation history continued through 1969 when Charles retired, followed by an additional four years with a series called the ''Best of Hubbell''. The calendars would become the most authentic and complete history of aviation ever to be assembled so beautifully.
Charles Hubbell was the world's best-known artist-historian of the early air age. He was a stickler for detail and he went to great lengths to assure accuracy, not only for the aircraft, but the backgrounds as well. He would traveled more than 65,000 miles in a single year to obtain technical information to stamp his paintings with authenticity, and to capture the clouds and terrain that set the mood of the many colorful scenes depicted in his work.
During his association with TRW, Hubbell had created 32 calendars and more than 375 individual oil paintings. His watercolors and drawings number over 600. Hubbell's paintings have hung in the white house, in museums, palaces, libraries, and homes of countless thousands of aviation buffs throughout the world.


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| ||How to Identify and Control Water Weeds and Algae|
"How to Identify and Control Water Weeds and Algae" is the complete guide to identification, treatment options and measuring lakes and ponds to apply product to common aquatic plants. Identifying the type or species of plant(s) to be controlled is the first step in implementing a management strategy. This book is intended for government, commercial and private concerns responsible for maintaining the recreational, aesthetic and functional value of water resources. Recommendations are based upon decades of research in aquatic plant control and water management by industry, universities and government agencies.
Literature files are in PDF file format and require a PDF reader to view. Need to find a hard copy of this book? Please contact us.


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The Manx (Kayt Manninagh or Stubbin in Manx) is a breed of cat with a naturally occurring mutation of the spine. This mutation shortens the tail, resulting in a range of tail lengths from normal to tailless. Many Manx have a small'stub' of a tail, but Manx cats are best known as being entirely tailless; the distinguishing characteristic of the breed and a cat body type genetic mutation. Some Manx cats resemble rabbits because of their long hind legs and often short tail, which has resulted in many being called Cabbits, a portmanteau of rabbit and cat.
The Manx are said to be skilled hunters, known to take down larger prey even when they are young. It is not uncommon to find a Manx with a squirrel or an opossum which are much larger than itself. They are often sought by farmers with rodent problems.
Folk beliefs claim the Manx Cats came from the Spanish Armada; a ship founded on Spanish Rock on the coast of the Isle of Man. According to legend, the cats on the ship swam ashore and became an established breed. Legend has it that the cats originally went onboard the Spanish ship in the Far East.
The Manx tail-less gene is dominant and highly penetrant; kittens from Manx parents are generally born without any tail. Having two copies of the gene is lethal and kittens are usually spontaneously aborted before birth. This means that tail-less cats can carry only one copy of the gene. Because of the danger of having two copies of the tail-less gene, breeders have to be careful about breeding two tail-less Manxes together. Problems can be avoided by breeding tail-less cats with tailed ones and this breeding practice is responsible for the decreasing occurrence of spinal problems in recent years.
There are various legends that seek to explain why the Manx has no tail. In one of them, Noah closed the door of the ark when it began to rain and accidentally cut off the Manx's tail, who'd been playing and almost got left behind. Another legend claims that the Manx is the offspring of a cat and a rabbit which is why it has no tail and rather long hind legs. In addition, they move with more of a hop than a stride, like a rabbit. This legend was further reinforced by the Cabbit myth. Recent postcards on the Isle of Man depict a cartoon scene of a cat's tail being run over and removed by a motorbike, because motorbike racing is popular on the Island.
Populations of tail-less cats also exist in a few other places in Europe. The population on the isolated Danish peninsula (former island) of Reersø in the Great Belt may be due to cats of Manx origin being shipwrecked on the island.
Manx kittens are classified according to tail length:
-Tail length is random throughout litter.
The ideal show Manx is the rumpy; the stumpy and tailed Manx do not qualify to be shown. In the past, kittens with stumpy or full tails have been docked at birth as a preventative measure due to some partial tails being very prone to a form of arthritis that causes the cat severe pain.
"Manx Syndrome" is a colloquial name given to the condition which results when the mutant tailless gene shortens the spine too much. It can seriously damage the spinal cord and the nerves causing spina bifida as well as problems with the bowels, bladder, and digestion. Some only live for 3 years; the oldest recorded was 5. In one study it was shown to affect about 20% of Manx cats, but almost all of those cases were rumpies, which exhibit the most extreme phenotype. Actual occurrences of this are rare in modern examples of the breed due to informed breeding practices. Most pedigreed cats are not placed until four months of age (to make sure that they are properly socialised) and this gives adequate time for any health problems to be identified. Renowned feline expert Roger Tabor has stated that "Only the fact that the Manx is a historic breed stops us being as critical of this dangerous gene as of other more recent selected abnormalities.
The Manx breed, in spite of the absence of tail, has no problems with balance.


Take the 2-minute tour ×
I was talking with a friend who told me that Afghani is an offensive term for someone from Afghanistan, and I should use Afghan instead. Is this term offensive?
share|improve this question
Okay, my eyes are bleeding now, after reading the discussion here, what with its repeated use of the fgh consonant cluster. – Tortoise Nov 6 '12 at 5:29
9 Answers 9
up vote 13 down vote accepted
The correct term is Afghan although Afghani is often used as well.
The wiktionary entry1 for Afghani reads:
 1. A citizen or native of Afghanistan. From an Afghan point of view this name is wrongly being used for Afghans. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan millions of Afghans took refuge in neighboring Pakistan. The Pakistanis and the international aid agencies coined this word to speak of Pakistanis versus the Afghans2.
 2. (usually lowercase) A monetary currency used in Afghanistan, divided into 100 pul.3
Purists will advocate the use of the former (Afghan) while well meaning ethnically minded people will often prefer the latter (Afghani) with no offensive connotation at all. Here is a randomly picked example.
I can see at least two reasons why Afghani could be perceived as offensive.
 - Its resemblance with Paki, a deliberately derogatory term for Pakistani.
 - The expression "Afghani Arab". Afghanis are these Muslim fighters (mujahideen) from Arab countries who joined the various resistance movements in the last two decades of Afghan wars. In this sense, the final 'i' is the Arabic suffix marking an origin. The Arabic word for Afghan is also pronounced afġān (افغان). This is probably the meaning that your friend had in mind.
Note 1:
Wiktionary is actually missing a third meaning: Afghani being also a lesser used synonym for the Pashtu language.
Note 2:
To be understood as "The Pakistanis and the international aid agencies coined this word to speak of Pakistanis [Afghans] versus the Afghans [who stayed in Afghanistan]".
Note 3:
Because of the succession of governments in Afghanistan, Afghanis banknotes are often redesigned and are both affordable and appreciated by banknotes collectors. My preferred one.
share|improve this answer
Though wikitionary seems a bit more reliable than 'Urban Dictionary', you still have to wonder sometimes. To say that 'Afghani' is a coined word seems pretty strange. It might be a new usage by those particular agencies in English, but the '-i' suffix for'someone from that place' is productive in English, too. Iraqi, Saudi, Pakistani, Omani, etc (of course it doesn't work for all places, but it does for some). – Mitch May 29 '11 at 14:29
I think it may have been the reference to the Afghanis as Mujahideen that the person took as offensive. – gbutters May 30 '11 at 23:25
_USER_: Are you sure it's productive in English, rather than Iraqi/Saudi/Omani/etc being loans from Arabic (where the -i suffix certainly is productive)? – psmears Jul 1 '11 at 7:58
_USER_, I agree with you. Especially in light of the fact that the alleged "English" productiveness of the "-i" suffix seems to be restricted to Arabic speaking or Muslim countries. Only known exception to me: "a Froggy" ;-) – Alain Pannetier Φ Jul 1 '11 at 8:06
_USER_: No, I don't -knowif it's productive; I haven't done the research (a loan suffix can be productive like the French-derived '-ee'. But it does sound very natural to me (in English, the extant official examples ending in '-i' can be non-Arabic, like Somali or many Indian examples like Hindi or Bengali). – Mitch Jul 1 '11 at 13:04
I would be surprised if your friend were Afghan.
Afghani is simply a Persian/Dari genitive and so in itself is not offensive, though Afghan is better English, while al-Afghani turns up in several people's names. The only real issue is who has previously used it for what purpose. Paki for example is offensive in Britain, solely because of its racist use in the the past, and for obvious reasons is more offensive when aimed at Indians than at Pakistanis.
share|improve this answer
+1 for citing Paki and the -i(n) Arabic genitive (no plagiarism from my part, I was just writing my answer). – Alain Pannetier Φ May 29 '11 at 2:28
_USER_: NB The -i suffix for origin in Arabic is distinct from the -i(n) genitive ending: the former is really -iyyu(n)/-iyya(n)/-iyyi(n) according to case, but the case endings are not pronounced in all but the most formal of speech so it becomes -iyy and in turn -i. – psmears Jul 1 '11 at 8:04
_USER_, I didn't know that. Thx. – Alain Pannetier Φ Jul 1 '11 at 8:09
I lived in Afghanistan for a couple of years and here's the lowdown - you call the inhabitants of Afghanistan (whether they are of Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara, Nuristani etc. ethnic origin)- AFGHANS. The money they use is called an Afghani. It's not offensive per se. Maybe if used in the context where you use these terms for someone who's not an Afghan - it could be offensive.
share|improve this answer
I am Afghan, and when people say Afghani, we instantly think of the currency. We use Afghan to represent that someone is from Afghanistan.
It's not offensive per se, but it's not correct. It's not that big deal, though. Just try to use the right word, but if you don't, it's not going to be the end of the world.
share|improve this answer
It's funny, because as a North American, when I hear "Afghan"/"afghan" I am as likely to think of a knitted blanket (_URL_(blanket)) as a person from Afghanistan. Compare that with a Danish (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_pastry), a dessert. The separate word "Dane" is supposed to be used for "Danish person". I wouldn't be surprised if some of the impetus behind "Afghani" were to re-create such a distinction. This is especially interesting given that "Afghani" is relatively new to English. – Merk Oct 19 '12 at 2:08
To refer to Afghans as Afghanis is not offensive at all. In Dari/Persian when we talk about people we say for instance, "Is he Afghani or Pakistani?". Of course we ask this in Dari which goes like this, "Afghani ast ya Pakistani?" Is this offensive? Hell NO!
In Dari Grammar to make an adjective from a noun you put the suffix -i at the end. Example: America is noun to refer to the people of America we say, "Amerikai" or American. Iran is a country and people from Iran are Irani. Of course this is all in Dari. That is how the grammar works.
Finally, the word Afghani which is used for the Afghan currency is a Pashto word which is pronounced differently from Afghani. It is even written differently in Pashto. But because that Pashto sound does not exist in Dari, people say Afghani when they refer to people and when they talk about money they use Afghani. So, it is the context that matters. If you talk about currency you say Afghani and people know you talk about money. When you talk about people you say Afghani and people know you refer to Afghans or Afghanis.
Next time someone corrects you that it is incorrect or offensive to refer to an Afghan as Afghani, refer them to this post!
share|improve this answer
The terms Afghan and Afghani both come from the Pashto word afghānī.
Pashto: The Iranian language of the Pashtuns, also spoken in northern areas of Pakistan, that is an official language of Afghanistan.
Pashto and Dari Persian are the two official languages of Afghanistan. The Pashto language is also known as Afghani.
Origin: 1925–30; < Persian Afghān + -ī suffix of appurtenance.
Dictionary.com and the World English Dictionary accept both Afghan and Afghani.
share|improve this answer
My NOAD says that Afghani is the "the basic monetary unit of Afghanistan, equal to 100 puls", while Afghan (you can see it also here) is the term that indicates a person from Afghanistan. Maybe that explains why the term is perceived as offensive by people from Afghanistan.
share|improve this answer
In Persian(Dari or etc) it look different. Afghan refer to nation not someone from Afghanistan. and for Afghani used for


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Choosing the best method for verbal autopsy (VA) requires the appropriate metrics to assess a given method's performance, and researchers from IHME and the University of Queensland undertook a study to determine these metrics.
Because there are many different methods of performing VA, including physician review and computer-automated methods, there needs to be a way to evaluate the performance of each method. Currently used metrics to assess performance of VA methods, such as sensitivity, specificity, and cause-specific mortality fraction error, do not provide a robust basis for comparing methods. This study was designed to test metrics to compare the performance of all types of VA methods to help identify the best methods for estimating causes of death in a population.
The authors show that VA methods need to be evaluated across a set of test datasets with widely varying cause-specific mortality fraction composition. They propose two metrics for assessing the performance of a given VA method. For assessing how well a method does at individual cause of death assignment, they recommend the average chance-corrected concordance. For testing how well a method does across a population, the authors recommend testing the accuracy of cause-specific mortality fractions. Performance of a VA method in estimating cause-specific mortality fraction by cause can be determined by examining the relationship between the estimated cause-specific mortality fraction calculated by a VA method and the true cause-specific mortality fraction in a population.
The authors performed simple simulations of populations to demonstrate that most metrics used in VA validation studies are sensitive to the cause-specific mortality fraction composition of the dataset being used to test a VA method. They also conducted simulations to show that the composition of the test dataset must be varied, demonstrating that an inferior method for assessing VA can actually produce better results than a superior method on the basis of only one test dataset.
The metrics examined in this study are crucial for objective assessment of the range of VA methods currently in use. By utilizing the most robust metrics available, the best methods will be discovered in order to most accurately determine causes of death in populations without vital registration systems. These metrics will provide a basis of comparison so that different VA methods can be compared across different studies and in different populations. These standardized metrics will also facilitate innovation of new methods by providing a clear answer if a new method is leading to improved performance in assigning causes of death through VA.


"Moku Shoku" Implemented in Fukuoka City
silent eating in Japan
A restaurant sign asking for cooperation from customers using the newly invented word, moku-shoku. Image sourced from _URL_
As a new measure to combat Coronavirus, Japan has begun implementing silent eating, also known as 黙食 or moku-shoku, in various restaurants. The measure requests that customers refrain from talking while eating. The new word was first used by a curry restaurant in Fukuoka city by the name of Masala Chicken. The restaurant already had numerous prevention measures in place such as a mask requirement, washing hands upon entering the restaurant, and allowing only 1 person at a time at the register. However, among rising corona cases across Fukuoka and all of Japan, the restaurant made the decision to take even further measures.
A restaurant poster states that talking while eating increases the risk of infection spreading. Image sourced from _URL_
According to the restaurant's manager, Mr. Mitsuji, despite the restaurant having requests in place to wear masks, he wanted to give a more straightforward message to encourage customers dining in to help prevent the spread of Corona. When asked about how he came up with the word, which consists of both the characters to be silent and to eat, Mr. Mitsuji responded, "I thought the characters were too straightforward at first. Some people told me to go with a milder expression, such as the characters for quiet and eat, but I ultimately decided that the meaning and goal of the word was most important."
How Silent Eating Will Affect the Japanese Dining Experience
While the thought of eating in complete silence may be off-putting to some, the concept itself is not foreign to Japan. As some online users have explained, many of their children have similar "no talking while eating" rules at school. Instead of conversation, some schools put on a movie for the children to watch while they eat their bento.
Although the newly created word "moku-shoku" may come off as quite strong in Japanese, the idea behind it is quickly spreading. The rule has been mostly well-received online, and many Japanese Twitter users have pointed out that talking quietly if at all while eating is typically considered polite. One use below states that they, "thought remaining silent and eating were supposed to be good manners."
The user below made a popular Tweet discussing silent eating by saying the following:
"well, silent eating has become a trend, and it is recommended to eat silently alone. This is really wonderful. I want this to be recommended more and more.
At the same time, I would like people to stop recommending it as if it were absolutely the only correct answer."
As silent eating makes its way across more and more restaurants in Japan, hopefully more effective and innovative ways for safely eating out will also surface.
Listen to Our This Week In Japan Podcast here:
Hosts of This Week In Japan
Julian Domanski
Born in England, Julian is a writer, videographer & musician living in Tokyo. When he's not drinking copious amounts of English Tea, he can be found studying Japanese or trying to master the surprisingly complex basics of the Jiuta Shamisen.
Yasuharu Matsuno
Founder of Japan Insider (Former Ryu Tokyo). Japanese-born entrepreneur. Yasu spent his life around the globe – Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, Australia, and the U.S. He hopes he had more time to play Japanese RPGs. MBA from Columbia University in the City of New York.


text:
A statement between a creditor and a debtor that settles the total amount of debt owed to the creditor.
There are three elements of an account stated: (1) There exists prior transactions between the parties, creating a creditor-debtor relationship; (2) An agreement, express or implied, between the parties as to the total amount due; and (3) A promise by the debtor, express or implied, to repay the amount due.
Definition from Nolo's Plain-English Law Dictionary
1) A statement of the amount that parties to a transaction, loan, or settlement agree is owed by one to the other. 2) The name for a cause of action in a lawsuit brought to collect the amount the parties have agreed is owed.
Definition provided by Nolo's Plain-English Law Dictionary.
August 19, 2010, 5:10 pm


Why do we still use 18-year old BLEU?
The BLEU metric was introduced in 2002. In the 18 years since, Machine Translation (MT) and other aspects of NLP have changed radically; MT systems in 2020 work differently than MT systems in 2002, and produce much better translations. But MT evaluation has not changed; people still use the 18-year old BLEU metric.
So why has techology evolved but not evaluation techniques? Plenty of alternatives to BLEU have been proposed. WMT has a yearly "metrics" challenge where people propose new evaluation metrics, and every year many metrics are proposed which correlate better with human judgements than BLEU does. In recent years, WMT also has had a "quality estimation" track, which also has many interesting ideas for evaluation. But outwith these tracks, everyone still uses BLEU.
Similarly the ROUGE metric for summarisation was proposed in 2003, and it is still dominates summarisation evaluation despite the fact that the evidence that it is meaningful is much weaker than for BLEU.
So why is the NLP research community so reluctant to change its evaluation techniques, even when new techniques seem to be produce more meaningful results?
Science: Strong evidence base?
Perhaps we continue to use BLEU because there is a strong evidence base for its validity in predicting human judgements. My 2018 meta-analysis of BLEU's validity summarised results from 284 correlations between BLEU and human evaluations, which were reported in 34 papers. This extensive evidence base allows us to use BLEU when it is appropriate and not otherwise. So perhaps researchers are reluctant to switch to different metrics and evaluation techniques because these other techniques lack this kind of evidence base?
If this was the reason for BLEU's continued dominance, then the research community needs to have a discussion about how to solve the "chicken and egg" problem where we don't build up evidence of the validity of new metrics because people refuse to use them.
However, I personally dont believe the existence of a good evidence base is why people continue to use BLEU. This is because (A) many researchers ignore the evidence base and use BLEU in contexts such as NLGand German-English MT where the evidence base says that BLEU should not be used; and (B) ROUGE is dominant in summarisation evaluation despite the fact that it's supporting evidence base is much weaker than BLEU's.
Gamesmanship: We want a scoring function, not evaluation of utility?
Perhaps the real reason for the continued use of BLEU is that the research community isnt actually very interested in evaluating (or predicting) how useful an NLP system or model is. Instead, what it wants is a simple "scoring function" which enables researchers to publish endless papers about how their system does 1% better on a data set.
To put it crudely, perhaps NLP researchers focus on winning contests where they show that their model gets a better score than other models. And they dont really care whether the score is meaningful or not, they just take the scoring function as a given (like the scoring function in a computer game) and try to beat the other players in the contest.
If this is the case, then we would expect that whenever a new series of contests open up, whatever scoring function is chosen for these initial contests will persist and become established as the proper way to keep score in such contests. Indeed, attempts to change the scoring function on the basis that it is not "realistic" will be resisted by established players who have put a lot of time and energy into understanding the original scoring function.
In other words, BLEU is used because it was the first plausible metric for MT, and researchers dont want to change to other metrics because they understand and are comfortable with BLEU.
I suspect there is a lot of truth to this perspective. It certainly does explain why it is so difficult to dislodge established metrics even if new ones are proposed which are much better at predicting utility or human judgements.
Implications for Evaluation Research
I'm involved in a few different initiatives about evaluation, and I must admit that the above worries me. After all, there isnt much point in developing great new evaluation techniques if the research community will refuse to use them!
Most of my efforts are focused on human evaluation, and I think people who conduct human evaluations are interested in new ideas and understanding what constitutes best practice (eg van der Lee et al 2019). But I am beginning to wonder if it is almost impossible to get the NLP community to use a new BLEU-like metric for an established task.
2 thoughts on "Why do we still use 18-year old BLEU?
 1. Excellent post. My opinion is that BLEU is still widely used because if is easy to compute…
 To answer your last point: maybe a good initiative would be that NLP (and specifically NLG) industrial providers unite to define a real metric that correctly reflects user needs. This would be at least a powerful argument to replace BLEU in evaluation tasks.
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Abstract: The primary objective of this paper was to synthesize a porous calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) with enhanced phosphate recovery property using polyethyleneglycol (PEG) as pore-generation agent. The formation mechanism of porous CSH was proposed. PEG molecules were inserted into the void region of oxygen–silicon tetrahedron chains and the layers of CSH. A steric hindrance layer was generated to prevent the aggregation of solid particles. A porous structure was formed due to the residual space caused by the removal of PEG through incineration. This porous CSH exhibited highly enhanced solubility of Ca2+ and OH− due to the decreased particle size, declined crystalline, and increased specific surface area (SBET) and pore volume. Supersaturation was increased in the wastewater with the enhanced solubility, which was beneficial to the formation of hydroxyapatite (HAP) crystallization. Thus, phosphate can be recovered from wastewater by producing HAP using porous CSH as crystal seed. In addition, the regenerated phosphate-containing products (HAP) can be reused to achieve sustainable utilization of phosphate. The present research could provide an effective approach for the synthesis of porous CSH and the enhancement of phosphate recovery properties for environmental applications.
This is an open access article distributed under the
Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Export to BibTeX
MDPI and ACS Style
Guan, W.; Ji, F.; Chen, Q.; Yan, P.; Pei, L. Synthesis and Enhanced Phosphate Recovery Property of Porous Calcium Silicate Hydrate Using Polyethyleneglycol as Pore-Generation Agent. Materials 2013, 6, 2846-2861.
Guan W, Ji F, Chen Q, Yan P, Pei L. Synthesis and Enhanced Phosphate Recovery Property of Porous Calcium Silicate Hydrate Using Polyethyleneglycol as Pore-Generation Agent. Materials. 2013; 6(7):2846-2861.
Guan, Wei; Ji, Fangying; Chen, Qingkong; Yan, Peng; Pei, Ling. 2013. "Synthesis and Enhanced Phosphate Recovery Property of Porous Calcium Silicate Hydrate Using Polyethyleneglycol as Pore-Generation Agent." Materials 6, no. 7: 2846-2861.


text:
Family were in significant debt and strugglingAll Stories
Terri* came to Monte Cecilia, through a client who was living in a Monte Cecilia Community social house. They were living in a 2 bedroom house and there were 4 adults and 4 children. During the time working with Monte Cecilia they were asked to leave this house as it was overcrowded and WINZ placed them in a Motel.
Terri* not real name
The family were in significant debt and struggling to put food on the table. The Monte Cecilia Social Worker worked alongside this family by encouraging them to get a budget done so that it would help them move up the housing New Zealand register. Due to their situation they were motivated to do what they needed to, to better their situation. They gave the social worker their budget the following week. This budget showed they were paying off significant debt and this raised their rating on the Housing Register to being at higher risk. While living in the motel the Social worker would visit them and provide them with a food parcel when needed. The Social worker advocated for them through writing a support letter to increase their rating and referred them to a budget mentor to help them with their debt. They were then offered a house through Housing New Zealand in an area they wanted. They have now settled into the house and can move on with their lives.


text:
If your organisation uses and therefore buys plastic packaging, the enormous price increases and shortages for your plastic packaging have probably not gone unnoticed. The prices of polyethylene, the basis of LDPE, MDPE and HDPE film, have never been this high since 2000.
What causes these increases?
It is not easy to catch the reason in one sentence. Market analysts and producers speak of a 'perfect storm' which already indicates a combination of factors that causes these exceptional price increases.
Traditionally, the movement in the naphtha price largely dictates the movement of the derivatives such as PE and PP polymers and the end products derived from them, such as packaging films. Occasionally, other external influences (such as production disruptions due to weather or technical failures) also play a role. The temporary imbalances in supply and demand can push up or down the prices of end products and/or raw materials. At the moment, a lot is going on at once and these influences are reinforcing each other.
Roughly speaking, we see the following happening:
- Limited naphtha (and ethylene) supply due to lower oil production as a result of lower oil consumption (Covid) and the exceptionally low oil prices earlier in 2020
- Scaled-down production (and planned maintenance) at polymer producers due to lower supply on the one hand and lower overall demand on the other
- Unexpected problems (e.g. start-up after maintenance) at some sites
- Production disruptions at petrochemical plants in the United States (US) due to extreme winter weather
- Logistical disruptions due to the global covid situation
- Limited imports into EU due to arbitrage by exporters in e.g. USA and Russia
- Rising demand for specific polymers, such as LDPE and LLDPE
These causes are explained separately below.
1. Limited naphtha supply
Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, there is a lower demand for oil. This is partly due to less car traffic and less air traffic. Due to this decreasing demand, the price also fell and the refining of oil was scaled back. Naphtha, which is generated during the distillation of crude oil, is therefore also less available. Naphtha is the raw material for the production of ethylene, which in turn is the basis for the production of polyethylene. Since the demand for PE (especially LDPE and LLDPE) remains high, the low availability creates an imbalance in supply and demand. This results in a shortage, which in turn leads to price increases.
2. Scaled-down production (and planned maintenance) by polymer producers
Polymer producers were forced to scale down production and carry out maintenance due to lower availability of raw materials and lower overall demand for plastic products.
3. Unexpected problems (such as start-up after maintenance) at a number of locations
On a number of sites, the shutdown lasted longer than planned due to unexpected problems. The shortages in the supply of LDPE and LLDPE increased as a result.
4. Production disruptions at petrochemical plants in the United States (USA) due to extreme winter weather
The prolonged power outage at the time of extreme frost in the USA caused production lines and crackers to come to a standstill for a long period of time.
5. Logistical disruptions due to the global covid situation
Trade in Asia was partially paralysed in 2020, but this has been scaled up to the old level since the end of 2020. Unfortunately, shipping companies have not yet adjusted their capacity accordingly, says Transport en Logistiek Nederland (TLN). As a result, there is a large shortage of containers. Because of the large shortage of container capacity, transport prices have risen enormously and are not expected to fall any time soon.
6. Limited imports into EU due to arbitrage by exporters in e.g. USA and Russia
Unfortunately, Western Europe largely depends its supply on imports from e.g. America, Russia and the Middle East. As a result of Covid and an increase in the supply of secondary raw materials, the demand for primary raw materials in Europe decreased. In contrast, China experienced an early recovery from Covid and has experienced limited availability of secondary raw materials for some time. The need for primary raw materials therefore increased more strongly, especially in China, making it more interesting for many exporting countries to supply the available raw materials at more attractive prices to China and other Asian countries.
7. Increasing demand for specific polymers, such as LDPE and LLDPE
As mentioned before, the demand in Western Europe for LDPE and LLDPE actually remained high. This was mainly due to the changed consumer behaviour as a result of Covid. Think for example of the high demand for food packaging and more work in and around the house (gardening and DIY). Normally, demand tends to dip in December, but in 2020, influences such as the positive news around vaccines and an expected price increase in raw materials meant that PE processors actually sent in more orders.
Unfortunately, the perspective is still uncertain. Judging by the price of naphtha and the forecasts of market analysts, we should prepare for further increases in the coming weeks and months. Although many production sites seem to be starting up again gradually, we also see that there are still a number of producers who need to plan for backlogs. Shortages are therefore expected to persist for the foreseeable future.
KIVO has contractual agreements for the vast majority of its raw materials. This ensures that we are often given priority when it comes to reserving volumes. Unfortunately, a high premium still has to be paid and full availability is not guaranteed.
Do you have any questions after reading this article? Please get in touch with your contact person at KIVO or fill in the contact form below. We will do our best to get back to you on the same day.


text: After learning the postmodern lesson that every point of view is partial, we remember how to appreciate what's also true. We graduate from irony. Which performs an essential critical function, and then mostly outlives its usefulness. In a post-ironic worldspace, a sincerely positive conversation is possible. We can speak without a "but," without signaling always that we are cool and hip. Our language can become post-ironic. And then we are freed to say it simply, to speak the most fruitful, sincere and meaningful words we can. A post-ironic worldspace dares to hope, almost as if naive, something like I did on inauguration day in "Obama Consciousness".


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Ask Marilyn: Is Grade Padding Fair?
Name withheld in Baltimore writes:
Marilyn: I teach at a public high school. Our administrator has been pressuring us to "pad the grades." For example, he says students should be given "50" no matter how low they score on an assignment. His argument is that on the five-point GPA scale, A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, and F=0, so the same ratio should apply to percentage grades. Many teachers at my school would be indebted to you if you could help prove him wrong.
Nice try, Mr. Administrator! First, you can't justify modifying the grading scale at your school unless other schools follow suit. (And if they do, you won't improve your school's standing.)
That said, let's look at the proposal's logic. It implies that percentage grades should be the same as letter grades, as though 90 to 100 percent is an A, 80 to 89 percent is a B, 70 to 79 percent is a C, 60 to 69 percent is a D, and 50 to 59 percent is an F. But an F represents the entire range below the grade of D, which is 0 to 59 percent (or often 0 to 64 percent).
A grade of 65 is a reasonable standard for passing a test. (The student has grasped about two-thirds of the material.) But with this proposal, 50 of those 65 points would be freebies when totaling test scores to determine an overall letter grade.


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Surviving Child's Insurance Benefits (SCIB) is also funded by the FICA tax, which is the payroll tax that is paid by employees and employers. SCIB provides financial assistance to children whose parent(s) or grandparent(s) have died. You may be entitled to SCIB if your parent(s) or grandparent(s) worked long enough to have earned sufficient quarters of coverage to be currently or fully insured. The number of years that your parent(s) or grandparent(s) must have worked for you to be eligible for SCIB depends upon the age of your parent(s) or grandparent(s) when he/she died. The maximum number of years that parent or grandparent had to work to be insured is 10 years to earn 40 quarters of coverage.
To qualify for SCIB if you are a child, or, in some cases, an adopted child, a stepchild, grandchild, or step grandchild, you must meet the following requirements:
 1. You are dependent on the insuredThe evidence required to prove your dependency will vary based upon how you are related to the insured.
 1. You may be asked to show that you lived with the insured at one time OR
 2. You received contributions for your support from the insured OR
 3. The insured provided at least one-half of your support.
 2. AND
 3. You are the insured's natural child by meeting any of the following conditions:
 1. Under the state law where the insured had his permanent residence when he/she died, you could inherit a child's share of the insured's personal property if he/she were to die without a will OR
 2. Your mother or father had a ceremony, which would have resulted in a valid marriage between them except for a legal impediment OR
 3. Your mother or father did not marry the insured, but the insured acknowledged in writing that you are his/ her child OR
 4. A court has decreed that the insured is your father or mother or a court ordered that your mother or father contribute to your support because you are his/her child. The acknowledgment, court decree, or court order must have been made or issued before the insured's death
 5. OR
 6. Your mother or father has not married the insured but you have evidence, other than above, to show that the insured is your natural father or mother. Additionally, you must have evidence to show that the insured was either living with you or contributing to your support when the insured died.
 4. You are unmarried
 5. AND
 6. You are under age 18 OR
 7. You are 18 years or older and qualify for benefits as a full-time student in grade 12 or below as described in 20 CFR 404.367.
Other Benefits
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- Physical Activity Kit (PAK): Staying on the Active Path in Native Communities … a Lifespan Approach!
- The goal of the PAK is to promote ageand culture-appropriate physical activities across the lifespan in Native American communities to increase each person's time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. The kit has been successfully received in field testing in Tribal communities.
- Healthy Beverages Community Action Kit, 2006.
- This community action kit [Word – 4.5 MB] is designed to help take action to increase access to healthy beverages in Tribal communities. It includes assessment forms, fact sheets, sample letters to Tribal officials, Tribal resolutions, a presentation, and over 25 web resources.
- Recommended Community Strategies and Measurements to Prevent Obesity in the United States.
- The 24 recommended community strategies
[PDF – 375 KB] represent a first step that communities can use to assess local policies and environments that support healthy eating and active living.
- A companion manual, "Implementation and Measurement Guide"
[PDF – 5.6 MB], shows how local governments can use community strategies and measures of environmental and policy change.
- The Tribal School Zone Safety.
- A walkable environment naturally supports children as they play, exercise, and go to school. But, pedestrian death and injury rates on Tribal roads are very high. The Tribal School Zone Safety toolkit
from the Office of Federal Lands Highway (U.S. Department of Transportation) has videos and publications to educate children and adults on safe walking on sidewalks, along roads and streets, at bus stops, and through parking lots. "Safety Doesn't Happen by Accident," an 8-minute video, primarily targets AI/AN children 9 to 12 years old in classroom or community settings. "Pedestrian Safety: A New Tradition," a 9.5-minute video produced by Tribal leaders, is geared to Tribal and community elders, parents and guardians of school-age children, school board members, policy makers, and older teens.


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With his software groovebox, Trace Reddell applies the tools and strategies of the DJ to the performance of literary interpretation and critical speculation.
Introduction by Joseph Tabbi
Trace Reddell's "Litmixer: The Literary Remediator" is what critical writing could look like once scholars and critics begin making use of the performative possibilities within networked environments. With his software groovebox, Reddell applies the tools and strategies of the DJ to the performance of literary interpretation and critical speculation. Jacques Derrida's essay, "Plato's Pharmakon," becomes in Reddell's hands not so much a master text as a set of recording masters, less a source of supporting citations than a sampling source to be played off against related discourses - on music, drugs, technology. And it's all presented in the context of a "user's manual," a rhetorical framework that both participates in techno-culture and invites further activity on the part of the reader/listener/user.
>>-->go to the lit-mixer


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Tioga River (Chemung River)
The Tioga River (// TIE-o-guh) is a tributary of the Chemung River, approximately 58 miles (93 km) long, in northern Pennsylvania and western New York in the United States. It drains a region of ridges in the northern Allegheny Plateau in the watershed of the Susquehanna River.
It rises in the mountains of western Bradford County and flows initially southwest into Tioga County, passing through Tioga State Forest. In southern Tioga County it turns north, cutting gaps in four separate ridges while flowing past Blossburg and Mansfield, then through Tioga Reservoir. North of Tioga it receives Crooked Creek from the west, then crosses into Steuben County, New York, near Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania. It receives the Cowanesque River from the west approximately 1 mi (2 km) north of the state line, then receives the Canisteo River from the west in southwestern Steuben County, approximately 10 mi (15 km) southwest of Corning. It joins the Cohocton River at Painted Post, just west of Corning, to form the Chemung, a tributary of the Susquehanna.
In the 19th century the Tioga Valley supported a large shipbuilding industry. Logs were floated down the Tioga and the Chemung to the Susquehanna River and on to the Chesapeake Bay and the shipyards of Baltimore.
Tioga Reservoir
The Tioga River has one major impoundment, the Tioga Reservoir, formed by a dam just after the borough of Tioga, Pennsylvania and just before it receives Crooked Creek. The lake has a surface area of 498 acres (2.02 km2) and is administered by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which built the Tioga Dam from 1973 to 1979. Built together with the adjoining Hammond Dam and Hammond Lake (on Crooked Creek), the total project cost $200 million.
The dam projects were initially authorized by the United States Congress in the Flood Control Act of 3 July, 1958 (Public Law 85-500). Construction was begun in the aftermath of the devastating floods caused by Hurricane Agnes in June 1972. A channel connects the two lakes so that Hammond Lake (which has greater storage capacity) may be used to store excess (flood) water from Tioga Lake.
However, in addition to flood control on the Chemung and Susquehanna rivers, the dams are also meant to help decrease the acidity of water in the Tioga River downstream of the dams by dilution with the more neutral waters of Crooked Creek. The Tioga River's acidity is caused by acid mine drainage.
See also
- U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed August 8, 2011
- U.S. Geological Survey: PA stream gaging stations
- Rootsweb: Tioga River history
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers page on Tioga-Hammond Lakes
- History of the Hammond-Tioga Dam Project
- Chesapeake Bay Program - The Tioga River Watershed
- Chesapeake Bay Program - Tioga River - Canisteo River To Chemung River Watershed


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A1C to detect diabetes in healthy adults: when should we recheck?
Takahashi O., Farmer AJ., Shimbo T., Fukui T., Glasziou PP.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the optimal interval for rechecking A1C levels below the diagnostic threshold of 6.5% for healthy adults. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study. Participants were 16,313 apparently healthy Japanese adults not taking glucose-lowering medications at baseline. Annual A1C measures from 2005 to 2008 at the Center for Preventive Medicine, a community teaching hospital in Japan, estimated cumulative incidence of diabetes. RESULTS: Mean age (+/-SD) of participants was 49.7 +/- 12.3 years, and 53% were male. Mean A1C at baseline was 5.4 +/- 0.5%. At 3 years, for those with A1C at baseline of <5.0%, 5.0-5.4%, 5.5-5.9%, and 6.0-6.4%, cumulative incidence (95% CI) was 0.05% (0.001-0.3), 0.05% (0.01-0.11), 1.2% (0.9-1.6), and 20% (18-23), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In those with an A1C <6.0%, rescreening at intervals shorter than 3 years identifies few individuals (approximately or=6.5%.


CHOW points out that the process of baking the beans a few times causes a chemical reaction called pyrolysis, where the sugars and amino acids in the beans start to give off a rather unpleasant smell. They're still edible, they just wouldn't be fun to eat. Instead, line the bottom of the pie crust with parchment paper and pour in some rice. Bake your pie crust, and it'll still hold its shape, but some of the butter from the crust will seep through the paper and get into the rice.
You can then cook the toasted rice into a delicious, buttery rice pilaf, as opposed to pouring mildly smelly beans into a plastic bag for the next time you want to make a pie. Do you use beans for pie crusts, or just buy pre-made? Share your baking tips in the comments below. Photo by Kimberly Vardeman.
Can I Eat the Beans I Use for Pie Weights? | CHOW via The Kitchn


Calculating the chance of spoofing an agile source port randomised resolver
Posted by bert hubert Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:15:00 GMT
This post sets out to calculate how hard it is to spoof a resolver that takes simple, unilateral, steps to prevent such spoofing.
Unilateral in this case means that any resolver can implement these steps, without changing the DNS protocol or authoritative server behaviour. Everybody that implements the ideas below immediately improves the general security of the DNS.
To save you all the reading, the simple unilateral measures can bring down the chance to be spoofed to under 1% after a year of non-stop 50 megabit/s packet blasting.
Note however that my math or my ideas may be wrong. Please read carefully!
Work so far
Recapping, calculations so far show that a fully source port randomized nameserver can be spoofed with a 64% chance of success within 24 hours, requiring around 0.4TB of packets to be generated. If 2 hours are available, the chance of success is 8.1%.
This assumes that the attacker is able to generate around 50 megabits/s, and also important, that the resolver is able to process 50k incoming responses/s.
Details are on with the caveat that where it says "1.5 - 2 GB", it should say "36GB".
Since that posting, quite a number of people have studied the calculations, and they appear to hold up.
Note that the present post does not address the dangers created by those able to actively intercept and modify traffic - people with such abilities have little need to spoof DNS anyhow.
The current situation is not acceptable - the resources needed to perform a successful spoofing attack are available, if not generally, then to an relevant subset of Internet users.
It turns out that it takes a lot of effort to get the world to apply even a minor patch that has received tremendous front-page coverage on all the security websites - the source port randomisation patches in this case.
So if we want to move quickly, we need a solution that can be rolled out without having to upgrade large parts of the Internet.
Agile countermeasures
There are a number of strategies a resolver could employ to make itself effectively unspoofeable, some of these include:
A) Sending out questions over TCP/IP
B) Repeating questions a number of times, and requiring the answers to be equivalent
The problems with these two techniques is that they imply a certain overhead and increase the general CPU utilization on the Internet.
Furthermore there are strategies that make spoofing harder, but not impracticable:
C) Case games ('dns-0x20')
D) Use multiple source addresses
A very comprehensive enumeration of techniques can be found on
Sadly, it appears that on this impressive list there is nothing without more or less unacceptable overhead that really gets us out of the woods, where this is arbitrarily defined as reducing the spoofing success rate to below 1% after a year of non-stop trying at 50 megabit/s.
Detecting a spoofing attempt in progress
Since any spoofed response has a chance of around 2^-32 of being accepted, it stands to reason around 2^31 bogus responses will arrive at the resolver before the attacker manages to achieve his goals.
Since we know we have effective countermeasures available, like A and B mentioned above, we could deploy these in case a spoofing attempt is detected. Remember that A and B are generally available, but that we don't want to resort to them all the time, for all domains, because of their overhead.
Occasionally, port numbers get modified in transit. Additionally, responses to queries sometimes arrive late enough that a new equivalent query has since been sent. This means we should not consider a single response mismatch to be a sign of a spoofing attempt in progress.
If we allow X mismatches before falling back on A or B, the chance of a single query being spoofed is:
 --------- ~= 2^-32 * X
 N * P * I
Assuming each individual attack lasts W seconds (being latency between the authentic authoritative server and the resolver), the combined spoofing chance after T seconds becomes:
1 - (1 - 2^-32 * X) ~= 2^-32 * X * T/W
Putting in 20 for X and 0.1s for W, this gets us a combined spoofing chance of 0.4% for a full day. Interesting, but not good enough, especially since the attacker might well send only X packets per attempt, and launch far more attempts.
However, if the attacker has a defined goal about what to spoof, each successive attempt might be for a different domain name, or differ in other respects, but all those attempts will share some characteristics.
Two things that will be identical, or at least reasonably unique are the source address of the spoofed packet (aka, the network address of the authentic authoritative server), plus the 'zone cut apex'. This last bit requires some understanding of the way a resolver works.
(I made up this phrase, 'zone cut apex', but I think there are people with better knowledge of DNS verbiage than I, I'd love to hear of a better name)
When a resolver asks NS1.EXAMPLE.COM for '', the resolver knows it is asking NS1.EXAMPLE.COM in its role as 'EXAMPLE.COM' nameserver - this is how it selected that server.
This means that an attacker might try many variations on '', what will remain identical is the 'zone cut apex', which is 'EXAMPLE.COM'. What will also remain identical is the (small) set of servers available.
I'll get into more detail after Dan Kaminksy has held his presentation. The upshot however is that multiple different attempts can be correlated, and thus be counted together in the spoofing-detection counts.
If we conservatively decide to impose a 5 minute 'fallback to A or B'-regime for a {source IP, zone cut apex}-tuple, and leave the detection limit at 20, this means an attacker will have one chance every 5 minutes of getting in an attempt.
This is equivalent to setting W equal to 300 seconds above, yielding us a combined chance of spoofing a domain after a year of trying of 0.05%.
Well within our goal.
Reality intrudes
Sadly, the reality is that we won't recognize all spoofed packets that guessed wrong, so to speak. Typical operating systems will only let a nameserver know about packets that arrived on a socket open for that purpose.
In the very worst case, the server is only listening on a single port, and by the time a single mismatch is received by the nameserver process, on average 32000 will have arrived on the network interface.
This means that in the calculation above, if we don't take additional measures, we need to set X to 32000, leading to a combined monthly spoofing chance of 6.4% (and a yearly near-certainty).
Fine tuning things
By raising the fallback period to an hour, the yearly spoofing chance becomes 6.5%, assuming we only see 1 in every 32000 spoof attempts.
If in addition a small number of sockets is kept open, say 10, to function as 'canary ports', X reduces to 3200, and the yearly spoofing chance is back at a low 0.65%.
Canary ports serve no function except to detect spoofing attempts. For efficiency reasons, these ports may simply be ports that had previously been used for source port randomisation, but kept around somewhat longer.
The number of canary ports, and the fallback period can be tuned at will to achieve desired spoofing resilience levels.
Remaining Problems
Countermeasure 'A' does not work for domains not offering TCP service. Countermeasure 'B' does not work for domains where single authoritative servers generate differing answers to repetitive questions. This might happen in case of (hardware) load balancers, or load balanced desynchronised nameservers.
Best results might be achieved by alternately trying countermeasure A and B - any server that does not support TCP and sends out inconsistent replies is in for some tough love if someone attempts to spoof the domains it hosts.
If the calculations and ideas elaborated above hold up, it appears feasible to achieve arbitrarily low spoofing chances, without doing any further protocol work.
Importantly, such changes would allow individual resolvers to protect their users without having to wait for changes to all authoritative servers.
In other words, everybody who participates receives an immediate benefit.
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Phone: 0425 781 893 | Email:
| Providing Music Tuition in Schools Since 1999
Vibrant Vocal Program
What's It All About?
The Vibrant Vocal Program provides an opportunity for students to learn how to use their singing voice whilst developing the correct technique. They learn to read and sing music with a backing CD and are introduced to a wide variety of musical styles and genres. As students develop their skills and learn to sing solo and harmony with their peers.
How Much Does It Cost?
Group lessons of 2-6 children for 2021 costs $20 each per half hour lesson and individual lessons at $32 per half hour lesson (includes GST). Fees are paid in advance. Booked lessons are non-refundable unless notified prior to the beginning of term. If a tutor is unavailable or ill then a credit will be provided for the cancelled session.
When Are Lessons Conducted?
Lessons are conducted during class time.
Happy Singing!
Joe Davis
Crystal Valley Music
Phone: 0425 781 893 | Email: