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Archive for September, 2010
The Midwest, the heartland of America, which had a massive effect on American politics in much of the last century, is sadly becoming less influential and significant due to lack of population growth and the increased power of the Sunbelt!
The Midwest–defined as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas–had members in both houses of Congress that had a tremendous effect on American political debate– as well as Governors who became nationally important, and Presidential candidates and winners of the office!
Just a short list of influential politicians from the Midwest would include Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, and Barack Obama!
Presidential candidates who lost from the Midwest include William Jennings Bryan, James Cox, Robert LaFollette, Sr., Alf Landon, Wendell Willkie, Adlai Stevenson, Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, and Walter Mondale!
Other prominent Midwesterners include Robert Taft, Arthur Vandenberg, Birch Bayh, Paul Douglas, Charles Percy, Tom Harkin, Stuart Symington, George Norris, Arthur Capper, Philip Hart, Carl Levin, William Proxmire, Russ Feingold, Eugene McCarthy, Paul Wellstone and numerous others too many to name!
The Midwest reached its peak in influence and Congress in the 1890s, but continued to have great influence for many decades, even though their population percentage within America continued to decline!
The Midwest had 143 Congressional seats in the House of Representatives a century ago, but will now probably have only 94! The Midwest will have only about a fifth of the seats in Congress, as compared to almost 25 percent in the West, 36 percent in the South, and a measly 18 percent in the Northeast, which is also suffering in the population percentage decline big time!
While Barack Obama is from the Midwest, the odds of another Midwesterner being President is remote, with all Presidents since Johnson, except Ford, being from the Sunbelt–and Ford was not elected!
The economic problems of the Midwest, suffering more heavily than most parts of the country from the Great Recession, will have less attention with its decline, and they will have far less influence in the future Presidential elections because of fewer electoral votes!
The effect on American politics of the decline of the Midwest will be felt throughout the nation, as migration South and West continues unabated!
Americans And Religious Knowledge: Very Lacking In Understanding Their Own Religion, As Well As Other Religions!
America has an image of being a religious nation, as compared to many European countries, and yet the basic knowledge of religion of Americans–their own and others–is severely inferior!
A Pew Forum Research Poll demonstrated that Americans are extremely ignorant about the Bible, Christianity, other world religions, famous religious leaders, and even the issue of the Constitution and religion!
Numerous takers of a 32 question exam showed no evidence of understanding their own religion, let alone of other faiths! The questions were multiple choice, so that the correct answer was available, but it seemed to have little effect!
Ironically, atheists and agnostics showed evidence of greater knowledge of religion than anyone of any religious group! Among those who claimed a religion, Jews and Mormons, both minorities in the religious world, scored the highest, with White evangelical Protestants substantially lower, followed by White Catholic, White Mainline Protestants, Black Protestants and Hispanic Catholics!
The fact that so many people claim to be religious, and yet have no or little understanding of their faith, and often no tolerance of other religions, is indeed a very troubling issue in a country that promotes freedom of religion and separation of church and state!
The Census Bureau will not announce final population figures for the nation until December, but early indications are that 8 states will gain seats in the House of Representatives for 2012 and after, and that 10 states will lose seats!
The Sunbelt will again gain, while the Northeast and Midwest will lose, a trend going on for a half century!
It looks as if Texas and Florida will gain 4 and 2 seats respectively, while the following states will gain one seat each: South Carolina, Georgia, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Washington!
New York and Ohio will, apparently, lose 2 seats each, while Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan will lose one seat each in the House of Representatives!
Additionally, the only Sunbelt state to lose a seat will be Louisiana, with Hurricane Katrina the main reason for the loss of population in that state!
The gubernatorial elections and state legislative elections will be crucial as to how these gains and losses of seats will affect the two major political parties over the next decade in Congress!
A March On Washington is to take place on Saturday, October 2, promoted by 300 liberal groups–including the AFL-CIO, the NAACP, the National Council of La Raza, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force–to promote the goals of education, justice and employment!
Making clear their opposition to the Senate refusing to get past the filibuster and take action on House bills, the various groups have declared their right to claim they are the inheritors of Martin Luther King., Jr. and his August 28, 1963 March on Washington, rather than Glenn Beck who supposedly "accidentally" chose the 47th Anniversary of the March to hold his Tea Party and conservative gathering on the Washington Mall!
The ideas that the March this Saturday are promoting include: raising the minimum wage, extending unemployment benefits beyond 99 weeks, solving the problem of home foreclosures, creating of infrastructure jobs, and solving the immigration crisis!
Interestingly, various religious groups are supporting the march, including the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, the National Baptist Convention, and a number of Jewish groups!
Hopefully, the rally will draw more people than the August 28 March, with debate about how many actually showed up at that rally!
The Two Party System Under Attack By Voters: Will It Benefit The Republicans By Default, Or Keep The Democrats In Control Of Congress?
Polls indicate that there is great anger and fury among voters toward both the Democratic and Republican parties, and the wonder is how it will affect the party balance this November in the midterm elections for Congress!
The Democrats are highly unpopular, with only 38 percent approving, and 60 percent disapproving of the party's performance in an Associated Press poll, but the GOP is far worse–with 31 percent approving and 68 percent disapproving!
In a CBS-NY Times poll, the Democrats have a rating of 30 percent compared to the Republicans with just 20 percent!
The Republicans are not seen as "new", as they were in 1994, when they had been out of power since 1954–an amazingly long 40 years!
Now they have only been out of the majority for four years, and this comes after 12 years of control, in which they helped to cause the horrific conditions that led to a doubling of the national debt, two wars, and the Great Recession!
So they are on the defensive, as many do not see the GOP as really offering a better alternative, but simply putting back in power those who botched things up!
Will the country really give the Republicans the majority? Our two party system is frustrating to many, but there is no realistic chance to have a three party system or replace either one of the major parties, which have been around since 1854!
So it will be interesting to see what the voters, individually in each of the 50 states, decide to do with their anger and frustration! And also realize that polls can change rapidly as we get closer to the election, and are not always accurate in any case!
This year, there are at least four and possibly five Independent candidacies that might affect election results!
The most likely to succeed is Independent Senate candidate Charlie Crist, Governor of Florida, who broke with the GOP and is running against Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek!
A second strong possibility is Independent Lincoln Chafee, former Republican Senator from Rhode Island, running for Governor!
Additionally, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is running a write in campaign for her seat after losing the primary to Tea Party backed Joe Miller!
Congressman Mike Castle of Delaware is considering a similar write in campaign against the person who defeated him in the GOP primary, Christine O'Donnell!
Finally, former GOP Congressman Tom Tancredo is mounting an independent bid for Governor in Colorado!
The most recent prominent Independents in office have been Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut!
Further back, Jesse Ventura was Independent Governor of Minnesota; Senator Lowell Weicker was Independent Governor of Connecticut; and Angus King was Independent Governor of Maine!
These cases of Independents running for, and some winning, office are fascinating, but the odds this year, as always, are daunting!
IF both Charlie Crist and Lincoln Chafee win, it will be considered a major coup for the movement toward independent candidacies, but it is also very possible NO Independent will win, as the two party system is well entrenched!
For those who are progressive, the US Senate race in Florida is a difficult choice!
The Republicans have nominated former Speaker of the State House Marco Rubio of Miami, a favorite of conservatives and the Tea Party Movement! He is a Cuban American who would help promote the conservative agenda, and has sometimes been called the Cuban Barack Obama, a young man who could be imagined to be a seeker of higher office than the


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is a picture of Japanese journalist-cosmonaut, Toyohiro
Akiyama taken during his historical flight.
Another Soviet space first, Akiyama was the first private citizen to buy
passage on a space flight. Akiyama was a member of the Soyez TM-11 mission
that linked up with the Mir space station. The cost, a reported 28 million
dollars, was paid by TBS, the Tokyo Brodcasting System. While in space,
Akiyama sent a series of live broadcasts back to the earth. The watch
Akiyama wore was an all stainless steel, Soviet Air Force, 31659 caliber,
Of course, these few watches are not the only watches to be worn by
cosmonauts. Just about any watch that the Soviets produced could have been
worn in space. The list of the watches that were permitted for space flight
was not as strictly regulated as say, NASA does.
And it is not entirely
uncommon to see cosmonauts wearing any variety of seemingly inappropriate
types of watches. So, if the watch kept accurate time and possessed no real safety threat, it
was considered allowable gear.
Vostoks and the quartz digital watch, the
Elektronika, (like the one seen on cosmonaut V M Afanasyev in the photo
very often accompanied cosmonauts on their trips to the cosmos almost as
often as Poljotís were.
Digital Watches and the
Soviet Space Program
Based on available
footage it would appear that from about 1980 digital watches enjoyed
widespread use in the Soviet space program. This is most likely due to the
majority of missions being long duration within the confines of a space
station. Under such circumstances, a compact watch with built-in alarm and
chronograph would be highly useful. However an LCD cannot be safely used in
open space, and there have been concerns regarding the shielding of the
electronic components from the ravages of cosmic radiation. So for EVA
duties the standard was, and remains, mechanical watches only.
Pictured above, is a Belarusian-built
Elektronica 52b. The Elektronika watches had quartz digital modules, came in
chrome-plated cases made of base metal. The watches did, however, have
corrosion resistant stainless steel backs.
German Democratic Republic (GDR)
Pictured below is the Ruhla
East German Cosmonaut Sigmund Jšhn was wearing this watch in 1978 on board
of the soyuz-31 Mission.
It was the first analogue quartz wrist-watch generation from the Ruhla
Factory and was very similar to the Ruhla Cal. 24 Mechanical.
This is presumably the only
watch besides the
NII electric that was specifically designed for spaceflight and
actually used for that purpose.
History of creation:
Story by Vladimir А.
Dzhanibekov, twice the Hero of Soviet Union, pilot-cosmonaut of USSR:
September of 1985. "Salute Ė 7" station. It is midnight in Moscow.
It is also our local time. Maintenance work going on... Ice age. The
Flood at the station has already pasted. Victor Savinyh is cozily
sleeping in a sleeping-bag in front of me. The "deaf" circuits
without communication with Center are going.
- I wonder where we are flying? - I'm asking almost in sleep,
- Above clouds I assume...
Falling asleep I idly
thinking that it would be great to have a watch with globe like the
one at on the central stand. Or, with a map on the dial. But to have
it on my hand... and without need to leave the warm sleeping bag to
check... and soon getting back in again thinking that I was right
and we were actually over clouds and under clouds were waters of the
Atlantic ocean... all right,.. water is there where clouds are. Why
our planet called the Earth and not the Water?.. This was the way
the idea of "COSMONAVIGATOR" was born
That Salyut-7 rescue was a
classic bit of flying by Dzhanibekov. He had to dock the spacecraft to a
tumbling station with no beacon, just a laser rangefinder, sharp eyes and
November 2004 Yuri Shargin has tested his
private Shturmanskie based on a Poljot 31681 movement (complication variant
of the famous 3133) in space expedition.
Gallery of space related watches
Unknown watch used
during a spacewalk
for all the writing and the

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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What: Sodium lactate is the sodium salt of lactic acid, or milk acid. The salts of lactic acid naturally occur in muscle tissue, and sodium lactate is a component of the stratum coreum layer of the skin (Wiki).
Sodium lactate is commonly used in cosmetics as a preservative, exfoliant, and humectant.
Origin: Sodium lactate is produced by the fermentation of sugar from a natural source, such as corn or beets.
Products found in: Facial moisturizer, facial treatments, anti-aging skincare, body moisturizers, sunscreen, facial cleanser.
Alternative Names: 2-Hydroxypropanoic Acid, Monosodium Salt; Propanoic Acid, 2-Hydroxy-, Monosodium Salt; Sodiuma -Hydroxypropionate; Sodium Lactate Solution; Monosodium Salt 2-Hydroxypropanoic Acid; Monosodium Salt Propanoic Acid, 2-Hydroxy-; 2-HydroxyMonosodium Salt Propanoic Acid; 2-Hydroxy Propanoic Acid, Monosodium Salt; Propanoic Acid, 2hydroxy, Monosodium Salt; Lacolin; Lactic Acid Sodium Salt
Toxicity: Sodium lactate is generally classified as a low health risk by The Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Database.


Tolkien Gateway
Gondor's Golden Age during the time of Hyarmendacil I.
The Ship-kings was a title given to four great Kings of Gondor during its "golden age", starting with King Tarannon Falastur, and his three successors:
Their influence was such that, at the end of the reign of Hyarmendacil I, Gondor had reached a peak of strength and power that it would never again surpass. Indeed, the period of the ship-kings was followed by a period of stagnation, disasters and wars, that led to its decline.[1]


Planke | nemačko - engleski prevod
ženski rodgramatika
1. batten
ETYM French battant. Related to Batter.
1. Stick used to fix something in place, to hold it firm.
2. Slender stick inserted in the pocket of a sail to keep the sail flat against the wind.
2. board
Sinonimi: plank | gameboard | table
ETYM Old Eng. bord, AS. bord board, shipboard; akin to bred plank, Icel. borth board, side of a ship, Goth. fôtu-baurd footstool, Dutch bord board, German brett, bort. Related to def. 8.
(Homonym: bored).
1. A flat piece of material (usually wood) designed for a special purpose.
2. A stout length of sawn timber; made in a wide variety of sizes and used for many purposes; SYN. plank.
3. A flat portable surface (usually rectangular) designed for board games; SYN. gameboard.
4. A committee having supervisory powers.
5. Food or meals in general; SYN. table.
In NGO work, a group of officials or persons with standing in the commu-nity or field who are chosen to govern and assist with the development of an organization.
3. plank
ETYM Old Eng. planke, Old Fren. planque, planche, French planche, from Latin planca; cf. Greek plax, anything flat and broad. Related to Planch.
An endorsed policy in the platform of a political party.
Da li ste možda tražili neku od sledećih reči?
Planck | Polung
Naši partneri
Škole stranih jezika | Sudski tumači/prevodioci


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Drawing a Cartoon Character in DrawPlus
DrawPlus is the versatile drawing software from Serif, which has a set of different tools that lets you create fascinating drawings, graphics, logos and animations. You can also use this software for photo enhancements and editing. The following explains how you can use the various drawing tools to create a simple back view of a cartoon character of a cat. First, initiate the software and create a new blank document in the drawing workspace.
Step 1: Drawing the Head
To the left of your workspace, you will find the vertical menu bar with different icons. Click on the triangle on the Quick shapes icon and choose the Eclipse. Now, click on the page and drag your mouse to make a bit of a flattened eclipse of the appropriate size. On one side of this eclipse, make another smaller one which is elongated. You need to tilt this eclipse so that it looks like an ear. For this, click on the triangle next to the Rotate button, which you will find under the Arrange tab (which is in the right bottom corner of your screen).
Select the angle at which you want the tilt of the ear. To move the ear exactly in place, drag on the plus sign, which is the move button you will see on the left upper corner of the eclipse. To create the other ear, just right click on the shape you just created. Select Copy, and then right click again and select Paste. Now select the new shape, and click on the Flip Horizontal button, which is also under the Arrange tab. Now move the ear to the other side of the head. In the tool bar, click on the Pointer Tool and then click and drag to select all that you have created. Under the Arrange tab, click on the Add button. This will give you the outline of the head with the ears.
Step 2: Drawing the Body
From the Quick shapes, now choose the Rectangle and draw it below the head. Under the Arrange tab click on the Convert to Curves button. Then go over to the tool bar and click on the Node Tool and then drag your mouse to select the Rectangle on the page. Just above the work area is the Context Toolbar and from this click on the Smart Corner button. This will give a nice rounded shape to your rectangle which resembles the body of a cat.
Step 3: Drawing the Front Paws and Back Legs
For the paws, Copy the same rectangle of the body and resize it to make it smaller with the corner handles. Then, copy this same shape for the other side of the body to make the front paws. Create two more copies of the same shape and rotate them to ninety degrees with the Rotate button. These will be the two legs of the cat. With the Pointer Tool, select the whole area with the new shapes, and then click on the Add button to make them all into one shape.
Step 4: Drawing the Tail
The tail can be drawn freehand by selecting the free form Paint Tool. Set the width of this tool from the Context Toolbar to the appropriate thickness, and click and drag to draw the tail; you now have a cartoon character of a cat.


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Despite what you may think, New York City's rats do not subsist entirely on pizza crusts and abandoned street meat, so when snow blankets the ground and regular food sources like seeds and grass are covered up it can get harder for a rat to find something to eat.
In New York, says Stephen Nessen for WNYC, this past winter's freezing temperatures and frequent storms hit rats hard. Looking for something to eat, says Nessen, the rats turned to an unusual food source: chewing the bark off trees.
Rats eating trees is a novel behavior, and though it helped the rats get through the winter, it was pretty hard on the trees:
"Animals are drawn to the bark of trees because they're loaded with carbohydrates. But when rats eat a ring around a tree, as they've done in Kissena Corridor Park in Flushing, Queens, it can be devastating. Once a tree is girded like that, it typically dies."
As we've written before, the long, cold winter the Northeast and Midwest just waded through was as hard (if not harder) on the region's animals than it was on its people.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


What is a "Regulated Buy to Let"?
by Neil Patterson
15:57 PM, 14th June 2012
About 9 years ago
What is a "Regulated Buy to Let"?
Make Text Bigger
What is a "Regulated Buy to Let"?
A buy to let mortgage in lending terms is very similar to a residential mortgage regulated by FSA rules, but just because something looks like a duck and sounds like a duck doesn't always mean it is a duck.
Buy to Let is still in most circumstances considered to be a commercial loan, and borrowers are deemed to have a greater knowledge of the implications of their actions than someone looking to purchase their own main residence.
There are however, two common exceptions where a mortgage is seen and has to be treated as a regulated deal.
– The first is where you intend to live in the property yourself at any point in the future becoming an owner occupier. The key is when you are arranging the mortgage is it your intention, or a likely possibility that you will at some point move in yourself. This question must be asked by anyone selling you a buy to let mortgage without leading you to a more convenient the answer.
If this is a possibility then the mortgage will become regulated and must be treated the same way as a residential loan. Many people have moved into their buy to let properties years later through unforeseen changes in circumstances, but as this was not their intention from the outset they are not breaking any rules as long as their lender is informed and happy for them to do so.
– The second exception is when you intend for a close relative to occupy the property. A close relative is defined by the vertical family tree going upwards to parents and grandparents or downwards to children or grandchildren and also by one horizontal such as brothers and sisters. You do not need to worry about second cousins twice removed! Again this question must always be asked and answered honestly to the best of your knowledge at the time.
What about if you, or a relative only occupy a certain percentage of the property I hear you cry. Well there is technically a possibility of this being an exception to the above rules, but it would be extremely complicated and difficult to prove you never accessed other parts of the property and the safe course of action is again to treat it as regulated.
How is a regulated buy to let treated differently?
The sales process would become the same as a residential mortgage and can only be sold by a suitably FSA qualified and supervised person. A full fact find of all your personal circumstances and requirements would need to be completed showing that the K.Y.C (know your customer) rules were followed. A product best matching these needs must then be sourced with proof it was the most appropriate available for you at the time. A full K.F.I. (key facts illustration) would need to be produced along with a suitability letter stating why this product was chosen for you.
There are many other procedures a sales person would have to follow, but this would take a much longer article and only be suitable for insomniacs.
The big difference in term of products available is that only a few buy to let lenders will consider the extra complication of providing a regulated mortgage thus reducing your options on pricing and criteria.
For more articles like this please see our Buy to Let Explained section
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3.01 MW Demonstration Wind Farm
The Greek Centre for Renewable Energy Sources (CRES) has developed its own 3 MW demonstration wind farm, aiming to:
- Test the characteristics of various wind energy exploitation technologies in the case of complex terrain topography
- Contribute in the development of the Greek wind turbine industry
- Demonstrate and disseminate wind energy systems
- Undertake research work for the integration of wind energy technologies with technologies for the production, storage and use of hydrogen (i.e. energy storage), water desalination systems, etc
- Profit on the electricity sales of the farm, contributing to the financial independence of CRES
The wind farm of CRES is situated in Lavrion, SE Attica, adjacent to its older wind turbine Test Station. It operates in a complex terrain site including hills up to 120m high above sea level and coastal regions. The average annual wind speed is measured 6.7m/s and the turbulence intensity approximately 12%. The energy produced from the wind turbines is fed into the interconnected 20kV electricity grid. Two meteorological masts (100m and 40m), are used to measure the reference wind conditions.
THE WIND TURBINES
There are five wind turbines of various sizes and power control strategies. Three of these wind turbines are commercial and two are prototypes developed in Greece.
The commercial wind turbines are:
- A Enercon E40-500 kW a gearless, synchronous, multipole, variable speed wind turbine.
- A NEG Micon 750kW stall regulated, constant speed with 2 asynchronous generators wind turbine.
- A Vestas V47-660 kW pitch regulated, constant speed, with one asynchronous generator wind turbine.
The two prototype wind turbines, which have been developed in Greece and manufactered by PYRKAL SA, under the tech. development of Prof. N. Athanasiadis (mechanical part) and Dr. K. Michailidis (electrical-electronic part) are:
- OA-500 kW a stall regulated wind turbine, using an advanced variable speed technique (OPSC®: Opti Power Speed Control) and an active line inverter
- OA-600 kW, an otherwise identical to the above machine
The three commercial wind turbines have been erected and their commissioning has started in February 2001. The erection and commissioning of the two Greek prototypes will be completed in the summer of 2003.


The PTF identified Albertus Magnus College's past successes and recorded the data created by the process. The information that resonated most strongly from the data gathered during the process was the importance of communication, champions, ownership, resources, and cross boundary collaboration in Albertus' successes.
The PTF members will utilize the Accomplishment Design strategy they learned when they reach out to other members of the College community to gather more input and data.
Lessons Learned
Improved communication between departments
Better student retention in a program
Electronic newsletterkeep people informed
Improved academic program
Cross disciplinary research papers
Improved employee engagement / student engagement
Better community relations
Started up a program/source
Task for that improved
Cross Boundary/Cooperative Effort
What Resonates Strongly
Cross boundary collaboration
Full PTF Accomplishments Activity Results
Please follow the link above to view full results of the Accomplishments Activity conducted by the Planning Task Force.


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Welcome to FLAX's extensive reading system - "Fern Reader". This is still under development.How does the Fern Reader work?The Fern Reader allows English language learners to search for news articles that they would like to read about, and then analyses the found articles with a difficulty. This difficulty is calculated from a vocabulary model that evolves over time based on previous content read by this particular learner.When a learner reads an article, they click on a word to indicate that they are unfamiliar with this word, and a definition is then displayed to help learn the word. Likewise, if they don't click on a word, it is concluded that they are familiar with this word. The model is updated accordingly to reflect the degree of confidence that the learner knows this particular word.The Fern Reader is primarily based on a prototype system developed by Michael Walmsley, a PhD student at the University of Waikato, for Spanish language learners. Visit his site here or click here to read more about extensive reading.
You must be logged in to access this page.


The Balloon Bar
The Balloon Bar is a café/restaurant located in the University of Bristol's Students Union. In collaboration with a team of Master's students, The Balloon Bar took part in a pilot to measure and identify food waste.
During the seven day pilot, using the tracking sheet and calculator tools available, The Balloon Bar produced 60kg of food waste, at a projected annual cost to the business of £4,160.
This food waste is the equivalent cost of 16 full English breakfasts or 30 jacket potatoes on The Balloon Bar's menu.
The majority of food waste produced at The Balloon Bar came from plate waste (64%).
The majority of staff at The Balloon Bar were concerned about the amount of food they wasted.
Time pressure and a lack of awareness about best practice were barriers identified by staff.
Work out how much the food thrown away is costing your business.
"We undertook the food waste tracking pilot with the environmental aspect of reducing waste in mind using the materials also helped us in our goal to reduce costs and to be as cost effective as possible."
Feedback from The Balloon Bar's
A key challenge was the proportion of casual staff at The Balloon Bar.
Increasing employee engagement and gaining managerial commitment are key drivers to successful implementation.
Inside the restaurant
Since completing the pilot, The Balloon Bar has removed the salad from the buffet due to wastage levels (salad remains available as a menu option).
This will reduce spoilage waste, as well as gaining cost savings.
The pilot highlighted the importance of menu development and portion control in reducing edible food waste. The Balloon Bar plans to have a greater focus on these themes in the future.
Carrying out a food waste tracking pilot at The Balloon Bar has helped to generate useful insights as to the factors which may best help successful implementation in Universities. These include:
Target the materials at higher level catering managers and provide guidance on combining food waste and food safety policies. This will help drive managerial commitment and ensure that reducing food waste is led from the top.
Use managers and/or supervisors as your food waste reduction Champions in catering outlets with casual employees. This will help staff engagement.
Create visual aids and prompts for catering outlets that encourage staff. Getting creative can help prompt staff to help reduce food waste.
Consider encouraging staff to engage with the University's Green Impact scheme. This will help incentivise staff to reduce food waste.
Run another pilot of the materials in a catered halls setting. This will generate new insights, as the complexities of this environment will differ from those observed in The Balloon Bar.


AIR Annual Forum
May 29-31, 2018
Center of Inquiry staff did several presentations at the 2018 Annual Forum of the Association of Institutional Research (AIR). Below you will find titles and abstracts of their presentations.
Balancing Survey Participant Experience with Analysis and Reporting
Poster presentation by Kirsten Skillrud and Macanda Myers
It is difficult identifying or creating a survey that both caters to the participant experience and produces thoughtful, useful results; however, a survey that satisfies both is critical to boosting your response rates and allowing data-driven decisions. To help you identify or create surveys that satisfy these needs, this poster presentation describes the Higher Education Data Sharing (HEDS) Consortium's experiences in seeking this balance in their surveys. The poster highlights examples of questions and response options from HEDS surveys that have either supported user experience over reporting or vice versa and the outcomes of these choices on analysis and reporting. The poster session will also provide questions IR professionals can ask themselves and their colleagues to help determine if a survey is right for their participants and will provide beneficial results.
Collaboratively Creating Campus Surveys
Discussion Group led by Ivaylo Mantchev and Kirsten Skillrud
In our work with the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium, we have collaboratively created or significantly revised five national surveys in the last few years. In this discussion group, we will briefly discuss the processes we have used in creating and revising surveys with the assistance of many of our consortium colleagues. Then we will open discussion to the group to ask about their experiences with collaboratively developing a survey. What parts of the process worked well? What didn't work? How would they characterize the final product? What would they do differently if they could start the process over? Participants will discuss their experiences with and best practices for collaboratively creating surveys and will leave with concrete tips for most effectively structuring a survey process with others on their own campus or in other groups.
Developing a Procedure to Effectively Check Data for Errors
Preconference workshop by Adrea Hernandez and Kirsten Skillrud
IR professionals work on countless data sets and numerous reports, and they must do so while ensuring the quality of these data because inaccuracies can lead to fines, poor data-driven decisions, and even embarrassing public blunders. Naturally, having data-quality procedures in place and using effective techniques to check these data are critical. The presenters aim to demonstrate how to devise a procedure with multiple techniques that make use of Excel formulas and features in order to ensure quality, error-free data sets and reports. The presenters will also demonstrate formulas and features to use in Excel to check for suspicious data and discuss when to use the techniques and why it is helpful to use them. Participants in this workshop will develop procedures that they can implement at their institutions to ensure that they are reporting error-free data. Participants will also be able to execute various techniques in Excel in order to highlight suspicious data in their own analyses.
Graduation to One Year Out: What Changes Along the Way?
Presentation by Adrea Hernandez, Ivaylo Mantchev, and Kirsten Skillrud
Institutions use senior, first destination, and alumni surveys as mechanisms to measure graduate outcomes, with each type of survey providing a snapshot of the respondent's trajectory after completing college. These various checkpoints allow IR offices to report on the growth and development that graduates attribute to their college experiences, as well as the post-graduate activities of alumni, in terms of employment, advanced degrees, income, and debt. Drawing on results from over 100 institutions and dozens of alumni cohorts, this presentation provides an analysis of how responses to identical or similar questions differ between seniors at graduation and alumni three, six, and 12 months after graduation on multiple levels: longitudinally by cohort, as well as across survey type overall and by institution.
Networking and Collaborating for One-Person IR Shops
Discussion Group led by Macanda Myers and Adrea Hernandez
At small colleges and universities, many institutional researchers are a "one-person shop." They are responsible for every role associated with IR: collecting, organizing, analyzing, and presenting to others. So often, others on their campus turn to them as the keeper of institutional knowledge and the person with all of the answers, but they also need someone to turn to when they have questions. One-person shops depend on collaboration both on and off their campuses. In this discussion group, we will discuss strategies for building relationships with other departments that can support efforts to collect data, administer surveys, and report results. Additionally, participants are encouraged to share networking and Forum resources they turn to when an issue unique to their type of campus or type of work arises.


Bluehost India Web Hosting Help
How to Share your Backup with Professional Services
Sharing a Backup with DropBox
 1. Navigate to
 If you do not have an account, you will need to create one to proceed.
 2. Once logged in, you will see a section to the top right that will allow you to upload content.
 - If you have an entire folder, then select Upload Folder.
 - If you have a single archive file, such as a.zip or.tar, then select Upload File.
 3. That will open a standard File Explorer; find the backup and select it for upload.
 4. Once it has uploaded, you will need to make it shareable. Hovering over the item will expose a Share button.
 5. Click the Share button, then click Create link in the bottom corner to generate the link for this file.
 6. Once the link has been generated, click Copy link, then send it back to Professional Services in response to their email.
Sharing a Backup with Google Drive
 1. Navigate to
 If you are not logged in to a Google account, find the button that says Go to Google Drive and log in there. If you don't have a Google account we recommend using DropBox instead.
 2. If you haven't already uploaded your backup, click the New option in the top right-hand corner of your Google Dashboard.
 - If you have a single file, such as a.zip or a.tar, select File Upload and use the File Explorer that pops up to select the file.
 - If you are providing the files in a folder, select Folder Upload and use the File Explorer that pops up to select the folder.
 3. Once uploaded, the item will need to be made shareable with anyone that has the link. Right-click on the item and then click Get Shareable Link.
 4. Clicking that button will prompt another pop up that lists some details about the item. From here, you will need to click Sharing Settings.
 5. Another box will pop up where you can select who has access to the item; select Anyone with the link can edit from the drop-down.
 If you are using a company GSuite account, you may need to click More in that drop-down to share it outside of your company.
 6. The final step is to click Copy Link, and send that link to Professional Services in your response to their email.
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text:
5th Element K-2 Class @ New Castle
Children in kindergarten through 2nd grade are invited to the New Castle Branch Library on Friday, January 11 from 12 to 2 p.m. to learn how to make monoprints with Ms. Margaret Cooke. Children will learn different ways to print images that can be duplicated again and again. Children will make monoprints using kitchen gadgets, fruit or vegetables, stamps, sponge prints, and block printing. (Kids are encouraged to wear an old t-shirt for this program.) Supplies and snacks will be provided. This class is limited to 25 children, and preregistration is required to attend this event. Please call _PHONE_ or go to _URL_ to preregister.


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Marvel Universe
Mandarin's Rings
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Revision as of 18:23, 22 August 2007
Marvel Universe
Axonn-Karr race
The Mandarin
The Mandarin learned how to utilize the rings for own personal use and make them respond to his personal commands. Over the years, the Mandarin's mind has actually come to inhabit the rings so that now no one else can make use of them. The Mandarin can also now control the rings over large distances.
The functions of each ring are as follows:
Pinky: Ice Blast. Freezes the air in its path and can lower an object's temperature to almost absolute zero.
Ring Finger: Mento-Intensifier. Magnifies the Mandarin's psychic energy enabling him to mentally control a person. Only effective at short range.
Middle Finger: Electro-Blast. Emits quantities of electrical energy determined by the wearer (Mandarin). Upper limit of output is unknown.
Index Finger: Flame Blast. Emits infrared radiation and can cause air to incandesce by igniting its molecules. Maximum out is unknown.
Thumb: White Light. Emits many different types of energy from the electro-magnetic spectrum. Frequently used as intense visible light and laser beams.
Pinky: Black Light. Creates area of "absolute blackness" where all light is absorbed. It is believed that this ring accesses the "darkforce" used by characters such as Darkstar and the Shroud.
Ring Finger: Disintegration Beam: Destroys bonds between atoms and molecules causing an object's cohesion to fall apart. Needs 20 minutes recharge time between uses.
Middle Finger: Vortex Beam. Causes air to swirl about in a vortex at high speed. Can levitate objects, propel wearer (Mandarin) in flight and be used as a weapon.
Index Finger: Impact Beam. Projects concussive force of approximately 350 lbs. of TNT. Can also cause intense sonic vibrations and create magnetic waves.
Thumb: Matter Rearranger. Can rearrange atoms and/or molecules of substances or speed up/slow down their movements to result in various effects. Cannot actually transmute elements.
Contributors: MikeFichera and Mickeys4life


text:
posted by Leslie-To:Writeacher.
True or False
Is the following sentence properly functuated.
The young appearing patient went to the doctor's office.
Answer is FALSE
My question is WHY? - Is it BAD sentence structure - we have ruled out that the apostrope is CORRECT.
Should there be a comma after patient?
or the intire sentence should be re-written.
"young appearing" is a very awkward phrasing. If it MUST be used, then there should be a hyphen there.
(With or without a hyphen, I still don't like it!)


text:
adie − The ADvanced Interactive Editor
Adie is an extremely fast and convenient programming text editor written using the FOX Toolkit. Besides being a nice text editor, Adie is also an extremely convenient file viewer, supporting a plethora of methods to move from one file to the next.
For each visited file, Adie remembers where in that file you were last looking, and which special places in that file have been bookmarked, so you can quickly return to frequently visited places.
Project browsing is made easy by optionally displaying a File/Directory browser side by side with the text so files may be visited by means of a single click. Files may also be opened simply by highlighting a file name, compiler warning message, or _TAG_ directive and hitting a single button; Adie will search for the file in the same directory as an already loaded file, or in a number of predefined directories (like for example include directories).
Preferences are configurable with convenient dialogs.
- Text size only limited by available memory.
- Persistent bookmarks may be set for each file.
- Persistent scroll position is remembered for each visited file.
- Wheel mouse scroll support.
- Online help built in.
File Access Features.
- File Dialog supporting bookmarked directories.
- Dropping a file into Adie opens the file.
- Single-click access to file using File/Directory browser.
- Visit recently edited files.
- Jump to file and line number of highlighted compiler warnings or errors.
- Customizable list of file patterns; show only source files, for example.
- Open a file by highlighting a _TAG_ directive.
- Customizable list of directories to search for header files.
- Detect if file changed outside of editor to prevent accidental overwriting.
- Unlimited undo/redo capability.
- Cut and paste to clipboard support.
- X11 primary selection support using middle-mouse paste.
- Drag-and-drop support for text move or copy.
- Brace matching, statement block, and expression block selection.
- Up to 10 persistent bookmarks may be set in each file.
- Search and replace history is stored persistently.
- Auto-indent feature.
- Strip trailing spaces, strip carriage-returns for DOS files.
- Indent or unindent selected text; clean indentation.
- Search for highlighted text.
- Goto line number, goto highlighted line number, goto matching brace, goto begin/end of block.
- Fixed word wrap column, or continuous word wrap mode.
- Mouse wheel or right-mouse scroll support.
- Customizable word-delimiters to select words by double-clicks.
- Insert files or extract highlighted text to file.
This manpage was originally written by Bastian Kleineidam for the Debian distribution of the FOX Toolkit.
The main author of FOX is Jeroen van der Zijp . For a list of contributors see /usr/share/doc/libfox0.99/AUTHORS.


Docking financial aid based on attendance makes for unfair policy
Illustration by:
The implementation of a new policy regulating financial aid based on attendance is illogical and could result in unfair reductions to student grant money.
According to a Sept. 12 University Star article, Pell Grant, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant and TEACH Grant recipients who do not attend classes they are enrolled in and receiving aid for may have their grants docked accordingly. If students are recorded as "absent" in a course on the 12th class day, they will now be assumed to have not attended class at all, and will have aid partially withdrawn.
Chris Murr, director of Financial Aid and Scholarship, said this is not a new regulation, but one the university will now follow in an effort to comply with federal rules. While it is commendable the university is now following federal rules—and somewhat concerning that they weren't being followed in the first place—this regulation is unreasonable.
The problem is the new policy only monitors attendance one day out of an entire semester. Students aware of the policy can easily mark their calendars and set plans to attend the one class day that matters, completely circumventing the policy's point.
Conversely, if grant-receiving students have no choice but to miss the 12th day because of injury or illness, it could result in unfair deductions or at the very least create unnecessary struggles for those attempting to explain their absence.
If federal officials want to regulate aid disbursement based on attendance, the least they could do is dock aid based on class attendance policies over the course of an entire semester instead of the arbitrary method currently in place. As long as students stay within course guidelines for attendance, their aid should not be reduced.
However, good attendance is not a guarantee students will do well in a class. Students may be more likely to do well in a class if they have attended a few lectures, but not necessarily. Many core-level classes are basically common sense and require no more than a small degree of life experience and intellect to pass.
Because some students are able to do well in a class without attending, aid should not be dependent upon just showing up. Instead, federal agencies and officials should consider a policy where aid is conditional upon the grade a student earns. If students fail their classes, then aid is docked—simple as that.
Many of the students who receive these grants depend upon them to continue attending college. The aid they receive should therefore not be cut without good reason. As long as students are passing classes in a timely fashion, they are moving towards a degree. Attendance record is irrelevant.
There are dozens of other ways federal aid can be more effectively regulated. The implementation of a policy based around attendance is inane and unfair, and should be reconsidered in order to create a more logical and efficient system to monitor aid money.
Recent Comments


text:
Radiation protection instrumentation - Installed ambient dose equivalent rate meters, warning and monitoring assemblies for neutrons with energies from thermal to 20 MeV
Assemblies of this type are commonly defined as area radiation monitors. They are normally employed to determine continuously the radiological situation in working areas in which the radiation field may change with time, for example, nuclear power plants, particle accelerators, high-activity laboratories, fuel reprocessing plants, etc., and provide alarms when the radiation field goes outside predetermined limits.
The assemblies considered in this document comprise at least:
- a detector assembly, which may, for example, consist of a detector probe (for thermal neutrons such as BF3 proportional counter, 3He proportional counter, 6LiI(Tl) scintillation detector, etc.) and a moderating and absorbing medium surrounding the detector;
- a processing assembly, which may be fitted into a centralized panel, which, in the case of warning assemblies and monitors, provides signal outputs and contacts capable of activating alarm or other trip circuits;
- alternatively, the case when all the processing electronics are placed within the detection unit (so called smart blocks) may be considered. In this case the functions of the processing assembly will be composed of only the indication, the providing signal outputs and contacts.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 1994This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous edition:
- this document has been updated to take account of the requirements of the relevant IEC standards, IEC 60532:2010 and IEC 61005:2014.


Take the 2-minute tour ×
I am trying to figure out how many possible of combinations I can have between two sets of values. My two sets looks like this:
Set 1: [White, Black] Set 2: [Blue, BlueGreen, Brown, Orange, Pink, Purple, Red, Yellow, YellowGreen]
Set 1 has two options. Set 2 has ten options. Someone must pick one option from each set. How do I figure out how many potential combinations there are? I'm not sure if I need to do 2 * 10 and then use permutations. Or if I should do 2! then add it to 10!.
Thank you for your help!
share|improve this question
Ask the following: for each particular element of set 1, say "White", how many combinations can you make by picking elements from set 2, e.g. "White,Blue", "White, BlueGreen" etc.? Then think about whether you need to add or multiply the results for each element of Set1. – Alex R. Mar 20 '12 at 19:30
I count $9$ in set $2$. But assume $10$, add Violet. Combinations is perhaps too abstract. If we are only going to wear pants and shirt, and have $2$ pants (white, black) and $10$ shirts, then there are $2\cdot 10$ "outfits." – André Nicolas Mar 20 '12 at 19:34
1 Answer 1
up vote 0 down vote accepted
If you pick one item from each set, you have two choices for the first and ten for the second, $2*10=20$ in all. If you pick all the items from the first set in a particular order and all the items from the second in a particular order you have $2!*10!=_PHONE_$
share|improve this answer
Your Answer


text:
Can I pair AirPods using Bluetooth to an Android phone or Windows computer?
Pairing the AirPods to a non-Apple smartphone or computer is similar to pairing other Bluetooth devices. Follow these steps to connect AirPods to a PC or other device:
- Place the AirPods in the case, then open the lid.
- Press and hold the white button on the back of the case.
- The AirPods status light blinks white to indicate pairing mode.
- Pair the AirPods using the device or computer's Bluetooth settings menu.
Once paired, the AirPods can be used like any other wireless Bluetooth headphones.


text:
Have you noticed your ferret trying to chew on the buttons on your remote control or maybe on a flip-flop? If so, don't be surprised - chewing is a completely normal behavior for ferrets. However, ferrets can easily get blockages from ingesting materials that they cannot digest, such as soft rubber. Because it is a natural instinct for ferrets to chew, it is important that you provide safe, ferret specific products for your ferret to chew on. But which items are safe and which aren't?
Unsafe Chew Toys
Never allow your ferret to chew on the following items. They can cause blockages or other damage to your ferret's stomach or intestines. Blockages are a life threatening condition, and they are fatal if not caught and treated by a veterinarian in time.
Rubber is incredibly dangerous for ferrets, which is unfortunate because it is one of their favorite items to chew on. Soft rubber, like the kind that remote control buttons are made from, is especially dangerous because your ferret can easily bite small pieces of it off and swallow them. These pieces can get lodged in the stomach or intestines, and the ferret may or may not be able to pass them. If a full blockage forms in the intestines and is not treated immediately, that section of the intestine will start to die, making your ferret very ill.
While ferrets naturally like to chew on things, they do not chew for the same reason that small pets do. Small pets need wood to chew on to control the constant growth of their teeth throughout their lives. Ferrets are carnivores, and their teeth and jaws were made to chew on meat and bones. If you give a ferret wood to chew on, she could ingest wooden splinters that could damage her stomach and intestines. It is acceptable to give ferrets cage accessories that are made from wood if supervised, but if you see any signs at all that your ferret has been chewing on them, remove them from the cage immediately.
Ferrets only take about four hours to completely digest their food from the time they eat it to the time it leaves their body. This isn't enough time for the rawhide to re-hydrate, and the pieces she eats can form severe blockages in her stomach and intestines. If you have dogs and you give them rawhide, be sure to pick up any pieces lying around before you let your ferrets out to play.
If your ferret accidentally swallows one of the items listed above or any other non-edible item, give her a ferret laxative or hairball remedy immediately. Watch her stool for the next few days, and if she does not pass the unsafe object, schedule a veterinary appointment immediately.
Safe Chew Toys for Ferrets
There are a variety of safe chew toys available for ferrets. They will satisfy your ferret's need to chew, but are completely edible and easy for your ferret to digest.
The chew toys and treats listed below are all completely safe for your ferret to chew on and ingest.
Ferret N-Bones Chew Treats
Ferret N-Bones are all-natural ferret chew treats that are high in protein and fat. Completely edible and digestible, these chew treats are a favorite of ferrets everywhere. They have a delicious chicken flavor, and they meet the specific dietary requirements of ferrets.


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Cost-Delay Tradeoffs for Two-Way Relay Networks
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Ciftcioglu, E.N. ; Dept. of Electr. Eng., Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA, USA ; Sagduyu, Y.E. ; Berry, R.A. ; Yener, A.
We consider two sources in a wireless network exchanging stochastically varying traffic using an intermediate relay. Each relay use incurs some cost, which, for example, could be transmission energy. This cost is shared between the sources when packets from both are transmitted simultaneously by the relay using network coding. If the relay transmits a packet originating from one source only, the cost is incurred by that source only. In this setting, we study transmission policies that tradeoff the average cost with the average packet delay. We first present the cost-delay tradeoff for a centralized scheme using Lyapunov stability arguments. Next, we consider a distributed policy, where each source aims to optimize its own cost-delay tradeoff. We determine the Nash equilibrium of the resulting non-cooperative game and show that it performs worse than the centralized algorithm. To overcome this limitation, we introduce a pricing mechanism at the relay, which is shown to achieve the centralized performance. These algorithms, though oblivious to the arrival statistics, do require global knowledge of queue backlogs. Lastly, we consider distributed algorithms that overcome this requirement. Among those, we observe that simple queue-length threshold algorithms perform remarkably well.
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Wireless Communications, IEEE Transactions on (Volume:10, Issue: 12 )


Quick Answer: How Many Push Ups Should A 10 Year Old Do?
Is 20 pushups in a row good?
If you can only do 10 or fewer, you need to get to work..
How many pushups should a child be able to do?
3) Push-ups: A typically developing 6 year old should be able to do 8 push-ups in 30 seconds. Working on push-ups with proper form teach correct use of abdominal muscles and postural muscles in the upper trunk. 4) Abdominal crunch: Doing sit-ups is an obvious measurement of abdominal/trunk strength in children.
How many pushups should I do by age?
Men between 50 and 59 years old should be able to do 15 to 19 push-ups and 20 to 24 sit-ups. Women of the same age should be able to do seven to 10 push-ups and 15 to 19 sit-ups. Men between 60 and 69 years old should be able to do 10 to 14 push-ups and 15 to 19 sit-ups.
Will 50 pushups a day do anything?
Is 50 push ups good?
What are the disadvantages of push ups?
How many pushups can the rock do?
22 pushupsThe Rock who is known for his muscular physique did the 22 Pushup Challenge and urged others to take the challenge as well to show their support for veterans. Accompanied by his bulldog Hobbes, the Freedom high school grad posted a video of himself doing 22 pushups.
How many pushups can an average 11 year old do?
Between the ages of 7 and 9, the average number of push-ups for boys and girls is the same, advises ExRx.net. At the 50th percentile, 7-year-olds perform eight push-ups on average and by 9 years old, perform 12 push-ups on average. Starting at age 10, the average for boys becomes greater than for girls.
How many pushups can a 12 year old do?
How many pushups can a 13 year old do?
Will 25 pushups a day do anything?


Determining the Length of a Spring
One of the key features of a constant force spring or variable force spring is its overall length. How this overall length is determined and why it is important is a discussion that will aid designers and engineers when working on a project.
To begin let's discuss the attributes of the two springs mentioned above. Both constant force springs and variable force springs are made to exert a linear force. Both springs are extended by overcoming the force manufactured into the spring and both will retract when the spring force is greater than that opposing it. The difference in the two designs is indicated by their respective names: A constant force spring will exert a relatively constant force through its extension while a variable force spring will change in force throughout the travel length. Usually variable force springs are stronger when extended and weaker as they retract. In order to maintain a consistent retraction of the spring, minimize space, and obtain the lowest possible cost, the overall length should be customized for the specific application.
The general rule for constant and variable force springs is that the overall length should include at least 1.5 wraps of material to remain when fully extended. Consideration must be made for the initial pickup and any pre-load positioning as well as the actual travel length when in use. A formula for approximation could then look like this:
Overall length = Pickup length + Pre-load length + Working extension + (Inside diameter x 3.14 x 1.5). If the spring is mounted on an oversized spool (spool greater than the free ID of the spring) the spool diameter should replace the inside diameter in the above equation.
Before completing this exercise it is important to keep tolerances in mind. The inside diameter of a constant force or variable force spring has a standard ± 10% tolerance. Specialized designs may have a tighter or looser tolerance. The maximum possible ID should be used in the formula.
A variable force spring has a spiral form without a constant diameter. However, it is the final inside diameter that should be used to determine the overall length. The extra length of steel required to keep 1.5 wraps will be formed to this final inside diameter. The expansion of the coils for a weaker force will only affect the outside diameter.
Finally, we will briefly discuss the pitfalls of designing a spring that is too short or too long for a given application. The most obvious problem with a design that is too short is that the spring will escape from its mounting position. For instance, a short spring could release off a spool once fully extended. This would cause product failure as the spring would not retract to the intended position and could become a hazard. If a design uses slightly less than the 1.5 wraps the ID could deform into an oblong shape when mounted in a cavity. This could cause the spring to jam or destroy the force profile of the spring.
Designing a constant force spring that is too long will cause a design to be larger than required. The outside diameter of the spring will be larger due to the layering of additional length and therefore require more space. For both variable and constant force springs the additional length will increase the weight of steel used and the overall price of the spring. Carefully optimizing spring length is an important step in designing for large volume production.
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National Pension Scheme
The National Pension System (NPS), previously known as National Pension Scheme, is an investment instrument offered by the Central Government. The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) regulates the NPS, ensuring maximum security.
You may invest in NPS regularly during your working years and create substantial wealth for retirement. Once you retire, a portion of the accumulated maturity amount will become available for withdrawal. And you will receive the rest as a monthly pension.
Any Indian resident can invest in NPS. You can benefit from this pension scheme if you are a government, private or unorganized sector employee. But, before investing in NPS, you must learn how the scheme works. To understand this, use an NPS calculator online to get an idea about the returns the scheme can generate.
The benefits of NPS
NPS has become a popular investment avenue over the last few years due to its substantial returns and security. The scheme offers many other benefits that make it a suitable investment option for everyone. Here are five noteworthy advantages of NPS.
1. High returns
When investing to build a retirement fund, your focus should be to earn high returns. And NPS can offer that as it has historically provided 8% to 10% annual interest for more than a decade. When you invest in NPS, the fund managers put a portion of the money in equity-based investment options. That is how NPS generates higher returns than most other tax-saving schemes.
Additionally, if you are not satisfied with the returns, the scheme allows you to change the fund manager as well.
2. Stabilized risk
Equity-linked investment products are generally risky as market volatility can affect their returns. But NPS is a safe option as the scheme systematically stabilizes the risk. If you are a government employee, NPS allows you to invest only up to 50% of your total fund in equities. The limit is between 50% and 70% for non-government employees.
After you reach 50 years, the scheme's equity exposure automatically starts to reduce by 2.5% every year. If you are 60 years or more, the equity exposure limit will become fixed at 50%. This systematic stabilization balances risk and returns, ensuring that your money is safe.
If all these seem too complicated, you can use a National Pension Scheme calculator. It will quickly give you a maturity amount estimation without any hassles.
3. Tax benefits
One benefit of NPS that makes it lucrative is the tax deductions it offers. The contributions you and your employer make towards NPS are tax-deductible up to ₹1.5 lakhs. The self-contributed amount is tax exemptible under subsection 80CCD (1) of Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The deduction limit is 10% of your salary or ₹1.5 lakhs, whichever is lower. The tax benefit for the employer's contribution is covered under Section 80CCD (2).
If you are self-employed, the tax deduction limit is 20% of your gross income under subsection 80CCD (1). But you will not get any exemption under Section 80CCD (2).
Under Section 80CCD (2), the tax deduction limit is whichever is the lowest from the following.
 - Employer's NPS contribution
 - Total gross income
 - 10% of basic pay and Dearness Allowance (DA)
Additionally, Section 80CCD (1B) allows a tax deduction of up to ₹50,000 on your contribution to the NPS account. So, you can get a total tax exemption of up to ₹2 lakhs using the benefits offered by Sections 80CCD (1) and 80CCD (1B).
4. Emergency withdrawal
You may withdraw up to 60% of your accumulated NPS fund after the age of 60 years. You will get the remaining amount as pension paid on a regular basis from an insurance firm registered under PFRDA. Moreover, the withdrawn amount is tax-exempted.
It is always advisable to stay invested in the NPS until you retire, allowing your money to grow into significant wealth. But NPS allows you to withdraw up to 25% of the fund for emergency purposes after staying invested for at least three years. The reasons for withdrawal can be medical treatment for yourself or your family, buying or building a house, higher education or wedding of children, and other purposes.
You can withdraw the money three times during the investment tenure with a minimum gap of five years between each withdrawal.
5. Equity allocation flexibility
The Scheme E of NPS lets you invest up to 50% of the money in equity-based options. You may decide between active and auto choices for equity investments. If you select the former, you will have the freedom to decide how much to invest in equities within the set limit.
The latter decides the equity contributions as per your age. The older you get, the lower will be the equity allocation, thereby reducing risk.
The formula for calculating the NPS amount
NPS offers compound interest like any other high-return investment product. You can use an NPS calculator to determine how much return you can expect from your investment within seconds. But, if you want to understand how the calculation works, it is important to learn the NPS formula, which uses multiple components:
 - A: Maturity amount
 - P: Principal amount invested
 - r: Annual interest rate
 - n: Number of times the interest is compounded
 - t: Tenure of investment
Based on the above components, the formula is A = P x (1 + r/n) n.t
Let us understand the formula with the help of an example. Suppose you are presently 34 years old and decide to start contributing ₹3,000 a month to the NPS account. If you get an interest rate of 10% during the investment tenure of 26 years, the maturity amount will be ₹44.35 lakhs for a total contribution of ₹9.36 lakhs.
Using an NPS return calculator, you can determine the expected profit based on your age and monthly investment.
How to use the NPS calculator
The NPS calculator is quick and easy to use with the following five steps.
 1. Mention the amount you wish to contribute under the "How much do you want to invest per month?" section.
 2. Adjust the slider under "Your Current Age" to input your age.
 3. Adjust the slider under "What Is Your Expected Rate of Return?" to input the interest rate of NPS.
 4. Adjust the slider under "What Percent Do You Wish to Invest in Annuity?" to mention the percentage of the total contribution you want to be invested in annuity.
 5. Adjust the slider under "How Many Years Do You Wish to Invest?" to provide the investment tenure.
After you provide the details based on your requirements, the NPS pension calculator will show your total investment, lump-sum value, annuity value, and total maturity amount.
Where to invest: NPS vs. PPF
Public Provident Fund (PPF) and NPS both are popular investment options in India, especially among people who want to build a substantial retirement fund. The choice depends on your investment goals and risk appetite. Both PPF and NPS offer a variety of benefits but also have fundamental differences. Below table shows a comparative analysis of both the options to help you make an informed decision.
Rate of return
Historically provided 8% to 10% interest.
The current interest rate offered is 7.1%. The government decides it quarterly.
Lock-in period
Until retirement
15 years
Risk associated
Minimum risk as the scheme controls it systematically. But NPS is linked to the market. So, it is not completely risk-free.
No risk as the investment is not linked to the market.
Tax benefits
Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 offers a tax deduction of up to 1.5 lakhs on your contribution. Another 50,000 of tax deduction is available under Section 80CCD(1B).
You can get a tax deduction of up to 1.5 lakhs on your investment under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
As you can see from the above information, NPS has the potential to offer higher maturity benefits. So, if you are willing to take a little risk, NPS will help you build a more sizable retirement fund than PPF.
How does the NPS work?
NPS has two stages: accumulation and retirement.
 - Accumulation: During this stage, NPS uses your contribution to accumulate funds by reinvesting the money in different options like debt instruments, equities, treasury bills, and government bonds. The growth continues until your retirement.
 - Retirement: After retirement, you can withdraw up to 60% of the NPS fund. The remaining amount is used to invest in annuity plans that pay regular returns.
1. Who can use the NPS calculator?
Anyone eligible to invest in NPS can use the calculator. Presently, Indians between the age of 18 and 60 years can contribute to the scheme. If you belong to the group, the calculator will help you instantly get an idea about the potential returns.
2. What does the calculator show?
Once you input the investment amount, age, expected rate of return, and other required information, the calculator will reflect the following four things.
 - Total investment
 - Lump-sum value
 - Annuity value
 - Total maturity amount
There are eight


Since the output can be spend only once, I am confused by transactions containing multiple recipients. For example, if Alice transfers 5 BTC to Bob and 5 BTC to David in the same transactions. In the future, Bob refers to the Alice's transaction, also David can refer to the same transaction. I understand that outputs are numbered in Alice's transaction to Bob and Eve. Therefore the output number and transaction id Tx id uniquely determines whether there is double spend happening or not.
Am I correct? Is the UTXO associated with output and Tx id?
Each transaction draws on a set of [1..n] Unspent Transaction Outputs to spend. These we call the inputs of a transaction.
The transaction then assigns the total value of the inputs to [0..n] new Unspent Transaction Outputs. Each UTXO is associated with the creating transaction and uniquely numbered among that set. The most common script that makes up a UTXO is "pay-to-pubkeyhash", where an UTXO can only be spent in combination with a valid signature by it's recipient.
The value of the outputs must be smaller or equal to the value of the inputs. The difference of those two totals can be claimed by the miner as transaction fee.
To come back to your example:
Transaction A1:
Alice -> 5BTC -> Bob (Transaction A1, output 0)
Alice -> 5BTC -> David (Transaction A1, output 1)
(Alice needs to put in at least 10BTC for that transaction.)
Bob wants to spend his money:
Bob -> spend(Transaction A1, output 0, signature) -> new recipient.
Since each UTXO is uniquely identifiable, they cannot both try to access the same UTXO.
Is the UTXO associated with output and Tx id?
Yes, you're exactly right, each UTXO is basically just a tuple (txid, output_index). Then when that output is going to be spent, you refer to it by listing the tuple as an input.
Essentially, that's why they're called "Unspent Transaction Outputs" (UTXOs), not "Unspent Transactions".
For example, look at this random transaction output I pulled of of the block chain:
txid: 564bb87efc20751dde182b678e848ceaa75ac54fd2eab33808842f40e953f7e6
output: 1
scriptPubKey: 76a9148ab215e3d638357551f5e6e7e3384b56bb355a6c88ac
(Note that 1 is the index, meaning it's actually the second output)
Then when the transaction is spent, the input references this previously unspent transaction output.
ID of spending TX: 57149f629790e61a5fbab9e27041858ada6348aa17323c15b9da9659b90717bb
 "txid" : "564bb87efc20751dde182b678e848ceaa75ac54fd2eab33808842f40e953f7e6",
 "vout" : 1,
 "scriptSig": 48304502205b6d49f0e473e5b6134c9ba55dcfdd9e010a226fb29f89e9f4ff1a2b568a1d4c022100af290372ed889ffff948662d7a5b1f2d6eb29dbdcad260ab53f99aba6b6e46e50121020f4db25f5bd35cb2c541ecdbcdb0e7c0be890cb4e25895612f8a1cbb32216ff0
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text:
Objectives: To estimate the frequency and determine the risk factors for incident dementia in community-dwelling patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and in control subjects.
Design: Prospective cohort study. During a 3.5-year period, 140 patients with idiopathic PD without evidence of dementia and 572 nondemented control subjects were identified in the community of Washington Heights-Inwood in New York, NY. All subjects underwent neurological and neuropsychological evaluations and follow-up examinations.
Results: Twenty-seven patients with PD (19.2%) became demented throughout 2 years, as compared with 87 (15.2%) of the control subjects. The relative risk (RR) for the development of dementia with PD was 1.7 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1 to 2.7) after adjusting for age, education, and gender. Predictive features of incident dementia were an extrapyramidal score greater than 25 (RR, 3.56; 95% CI, 1.4 to 8.9) and a Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score greater than 10 (RR, 3.55; 95% CI, 1.6 to 7.9).
Conclusion: Patients with PD, especially those with severe extrapyramidal signs, have almost twice the risk for the development of dementia than do community-dwelling control subjects.


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Classic foot race. Robots have to run at the sound of the starting gun. Fastest robot wins.
Bipeds must have only two legs for this competition. Feet may be no longer than 1/5 of total robot height. Robot must a reciprocal linear mechanism for locomotion. If this mechanism is driven by a rotary motor, reversal of the direction of the mechanism (as required for up/down or forward/back motion) must require reversal of the motor. In addition, the actuator in contact with the floor must move backwards and forwards with respect to center of gravity of the robot. CamBots are precluded.
Robots race from starting line to finish line. Number of robots per race will be determined by total number of entrants. Fastest time wins.


I am trying to render cities on the map, using Geonames' dataset (source). I have downloaded the top 10000 cities as a GeoJSON file, and loaded it into QGIS. However, when I zoom out, this shows too many points: they completely fill the map.
I have enabled labels, and there is the option under Layer Properties › Labels › Rendering › Feature Options to limit the number of features rendered. This way, only the largest cities in an area will be labelled (I have set render priority to be based on population), but when I zoom in I can see more city names appear.
Is it possible to apply a similar limit to the symbols themselves? Can I hide all but the largest 100 cities within the viewport? I do not want to hard-code limits for population and zoom level, because I would like cities in less populous areas to appear sooner when zooming in there.
There are several ways I can think of to address this situation using the Expression Builder, or even using a custom python function. Because of the size of the layer, however, these can be incredibly resource-intensive.
There is, thankfully, an easier, sneakier way, using the label settings you've already established. This will result in label text which is fixed in its position, but this can be addressed with a few extra steps. Here's how it works:
 1. On the Background tab, enable label backgrounds.
 2. Choose Marker Symbol as the background type.
 3. Adjust the symbology of the marker as necessary.
 4. Adjust symbol placement and offsets so that marker symbol is properly placed.
 - You'll want to choose "offset from point" under Placement, and choose for the label to be placed directly on top of the point.
 - If you're labeling the city name using the same layer, make sure that whatever offset you choose to move the text off of the point, that the inverse of that offset is applied to the background marker symbol.
 5. (Optional) Get dynamic label text back.
 1. Set the label text to a single whitespace character.
 2. Duplicate the layer.
 3. On the new layer, remove the marker symbol, and re-set the label text to the "name" field, or whichever you are using.
 4. Adjust the labeling properties on the new layer to get the text to your liking. You may need to change some of the labeling priority weights between the two layers.
background marker symbol
In my map, I offset the "label" by -4. By offsetting the background marker symbol by +4, the point will render directly on top of the geometry feature.
And here are the results. I've left the actual feature layer being rendered just to show that it is highlighting the larger population points correctly. With this label setting, I can actually opt to uncheck the Enable symbol layer box on the symbology tab, and let the label points take their place entirely.
full extent
And here's the same setup at a much broader scale, with the point features no longer being rendered.
In fact, the rendering style cluster does something similar, only that points that are too close are not suppressed, but clustered in a separate symbol. However, you can use this at least as a workaround by adapting to your needs.
Choose clustering as rendering style for your points layer. Than define your cluster symbol and set it as completely transparent. Define the distance for clustering, so all points that are closer than this value will be clustered - and thus be transparent.
Alternatively, you could also use a date-driven size for the cluster, defining in an expression the conditions when size should be 0 (thus invisible). Also play around with Control feature rendering order, see: _URL_
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Chevy Equinox: SVC Tire Monitor
Your Chevy Equinox is equipped with a tire pressure monitor system. This system notifies you if the tire pressure is too low. When you get the Service Tire Monitor warning, it indicates that there is a problem with the tire monitoring system itself. Id does not mean that the tire pressure is (necessarily) too low.
If you do get this warning message, the first thing you should do is check the actual tire pressure. This message can occur when the tire pressure is extremely low, or extremely high
Once you confirm that the tire pressure is normal (you can look on the inside of the driver's door jam to see what the tire pressure should be), it is safe to drive the vehicle as though you don't have a tire pressure monitoring system. But, you will need to check the tire pressure regularly until the system has been repaired.
SVC Tire Monitor Chevy Equinox
Equinox SVC Tire Monitor Warning: Causes
Here are the most common reasons that the SVC Tire Monitor warning illuminates in the Equinox:
1. Tire Pressure Too High/Low
If the tire pressure is way outside of factory specs the SVC Tire Monitor warning can come on. This is know to happen when the weather is extremely hot or cold. Check the actual tire pressure and start from there. The system will report if a tire is OVER INFLATED so don't just eyeball it.
Chevy Equinox SVC Tire Monitor Causes
2. Wrong Wheel
If you put a new wheel on your Equinox, you'll need to have the tire pressure sensor migrated over to it or synced. Otherwise, there's nothing for the system to communicate with and the SVC Tire Monitor warning will populate in the message center.
3. Bad Tire Pressure Sensor
Your Equinox's tire pressure sensor sits inside the wheel and is constantly checking the tire pressure. The life of a tire pressure sensor is a tough one, and they do have batteries that can fail. If you are driving a vehicle that is ten years old or older, the battery very well could be the cause of the sensor failure. Unfortunately, replacing the sensor is usually the only way to fix it.
Conclusion: SVC Tire Monitor Chevy Equinox
Most tire shops will be able to handle replacing the TPMS sensor for you. If you'd like to take a stab at it yourself, this article goes over how to identify which sensor is at fault, and how to go about resetting the TPMS system. Just remember, as long as you are aware of the actual tire pressure in your Equinox, there is no immediate danger that comes from driving with the SVC tire monitor warning active.
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MiniMax Game Trees
By Eric Suh
The Minimax Game Tree is used for programming computers to play games in which there are two players taking turns to play moves. In the most basic sense, the minimax tree is just a tree of all possible moves. For instance, take a look at the following minimax tree of all the possible first two moves of Tic-Tac-Toe (the tree has been simplified by removing symmetrical positions).
Partial Minimax Game Tree of Tic-Tac-Toe
(Click this thumbnail to get the full-sized picture)
Notice that unlike other trees like binary trees, 2-3 trees, and heap trees, a node in the minimax game tree can have any number of children, depending on the game situation.
The tree above has three levels, but in programming, the levels of a minimax tree are commonly referred to as plies. At each ply, the opportunity to play (the "turn") switches to the other player. The two different players are usually referred to as Max and Min (this convention will be explained shortly).
With a full minimax tree, the computer could look ahead for each move to determine the best possible move. Of course, as you can see in the example diagram, the tree can get very big with only a few moves, and to look even just five moves ahead can quickly overwhelm a simple computer. Thus, for large games like Chess and Go, computer programs are forced to estimate who is winning or losing by sampling just a small portion of the entire tree. Also, programmers have come up with algorithms such as Alpha-Beta pruning, Negascout, and MTD(f) to try to limit the number of nodes the computer must examine.
The minimax game tree, of course, cannot be used very well for games in which the computer cannot see the possible moves. In poker, for instance, the computer will have a very hard time judging what the opponent will do because the computer can't see the opponent's hand. So, minimax game trees can be used best for games in which both players can see the entire game situation. These kinds of games, such as checkers, Othello, chess, and go, are called games of perfect information.
The reason this data structure is named the minimax game tree is because of the logic behind the structure. Let us assign points to the outcome of a game of Tic-Tac-Toe. If X wins, the game situation is given the point value of 1. If O wins, the game has a point value of -1. Now, X will be trying to maximize the point value, while O will be trying to minimize the point value. So, one of the first researchers on the minimax tree decided to name player X as Max and player O as Min. Thus, the entire data structure came to be called the minimax game tree.
Part 2


text:
The Boy Who Drew Birds is free 20-page download from Homeschool Share – another one of their very nicely pulled together resources.
Using the picture book biography The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline Davies as a spine for the study, the unit covers history, geography, science, language arts, art and math.
Among the topics you will cover include Napoleon, France, Pennsylvania, caves, seasons, idioms, and, of course, birds.
Activities include map work, copywork, writing a letter, keeping a backyard bird lapbook, making a bird feeder, creating a mixed-media picture and keeping a nature journal. A bibliography provides more options for further research.


phrases, sayings, proverbs and idioms at
The meaning and origin of the expression: Donkey's years
Browse phrases beginning with:
Donkey's years
Other phrases about:
What's the meaning of the phrase 'Donkey's years'?
A very long time.
What's the origin of the phrase 'Donkey's years'?
It turns out that, although Donkey's years is now the more commonly used slang term when meaning 'a long time', donkey's ears, has been used that way too (although not very often) since at least the early 20th century. The English humorous writer Edward Verral Lucas used the phrase that way in his novel Vermilion Box, 1916:
The clue there seems to be that Lucas write comic stories. 'Donkey's ears' wasn't used until well after the date that 'donkey's years' had become established in the language and was only ever a jokey alternative form.
So, having found 'donkey's ears' to be a side-show, we now come to when and how did 'donkey's years' originate? It is now used as Cockney rhyming slang and the assumption that is made by many is that the expression was coined as such, making the rhyme between 'ears' and 'years'. That assumption is very likely to be wrong. Three things count against it.
1. It isn't backed by any known evidence.
2. The expressions use as Cockney rhyming slang is long predated by it being used in being used with no CRS connection. The first example of the expression 'donkey's years' that I can find in print is from The Salisbury Times, July 1876:
Didn't you ask him how long it had been in his possession?
I can't recollect that. I might have done so.
Didn't he say for years and years and donkey's years?
This is getting on for a hundred years earlier than any use of 'donkey's years' as rhyming slang, which isn't found in print with a rhyming slang connection until the 1950s.
'Donkey's years' is certainly in use as Cockney rhyming slang now but the evidence points to it being a back-formation, that is, an existing phrase that got taken up as rhyming slang later.
Donkey's yearsDonkey's years may have been chosen as a synonym for a long time simply because donkeys are long-lived animals. Lively Laddie, a donkey who had lived up to his name for many years while plying his trade on Blackpool Pleasure Beach was, until his death at age 62, a contender for the 'oldest living quadruped' title.


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Indio in Spanish is used to mean Indian, Indigene, and Hindu. Are all 3 meanings correct?
The word «indio» referes to someone of either the Eastern Indias or the Western Indias but is mostly currently referred for either an Indian national (someone from the Asian country called India or otherwise related to the Indian subcontinent) or someone ethnically related to the peoples who lived in the Americas before Columbus. I don't know of other parts of the Spanish-speaking world, but at least in Colombia «indio» is also pejorative for someone deemed to be less educated or from a lesser culture level (regardless of ethnical background).
The word «indígena» would roughly translate in English as native, aborigen or indigenous, so it could be applied to a Lapp (a Same) in Finland, a Australian aborigen, or to an indio in the Americas. It could also be extended to a white blonde German in Germany, although this meaning is rare. Correct but rare. In the Americas, many people say «indígena» instead of «indio» to avoid the other two meanings of «indio» (someone from India or the insult). As with any other ethnic related word, some people adopt it with pride and some people will feel offended.
The word «hindú» correctly applies to either someone from the Hindustani culture (Urdu/Hindi) or a follower of Hinduism. By extention, and to avoid the use of «indio» (to avoid confuntion to native Indians in the Americas or to avoid the pejorative meaning) it is also applied to the nationals of India. Most educated people will agree that «hindú» is incorrect when referring to just someone from India (unless related to Hindustani or Hinduism).
For avoiding confusion the word «hinduísta» will refer to a follower of Hinduism regardless of ethnic background or national affiliation.
Another related word is «amerindio» derived from «indio americano» wich refers to someone indigenous from the Americas, avoiding any confusion with «indio» and less incorrect than «indígena» when narrowing the meaning. Also, while some people bare proudly its name as «amerindio» other people takes it offensively.
So, in summary:
Although Indio is used as a polysemic word used to talk about Indian, Indigene and Hindu, in Spanish we have different word for those three meanings
That way, when you want to talk about one of those three, if ou say ust Indio asure to be ery specific in your context, so everyone can understand you're talking about an Indian 'Indio', Indigene 'Indio' or Hindu 'Indio'.
Using Indio for Indigene, sounds to me like some king of insult, and it is used sometimes in a pejorative way, always speaking about someone southamerican.


Where can I Find Plants?
You can find plants in many places. For example, gardens, parks, and backyards are typically full of many types of plants. Plants may also be found in potted forms, such as a potted plant placed on a table for decorative purposes. Look around and you will surely be amazed to see all the plants in your surrounding environment.


text:
In the last two decades, both the conception and the practice of participatory culture have been transformed by the new affordances enabled by digital, networked, and mobile technologies. This exciting new book explores that transformation by bringing together three leading figures in conversation. Jenkins, Ito and boyd examine the ways in which our personal and professional lives are shaped by experiences interacting with and around emerging media.
Stressing the social and cultural contexts of participation, the authors describe the process of diversification and mainstreaming that has transformed participatory culture. They advocate a move beyond individualized personal expression and argue for an ethos of "doing it together" in addition to "doing it yourself."
Participatory Culture in a Networked Era will interest students and scholars of digital media and their impact on society and will engage readers in a broader dialogue and conversation about their own participatory practices in this digital age.


text: Every year I update this sacred geometry calendar which has images from the Martineau Solar System. Here are details about the 12 images which are highly accurate geometric models of pairs of planetary orbits in our solar system. They were inspired by the remarkable work of John Martineau (publisher of Wooden Books), who wrote "A Little Book of Coincidence." Tiled images of planetary surfaces and related images form the backgrounds. Images are two or more orbits defined by simple 2D (circles, triangles, squares, pentagons, hexagons, octagons) or 3D geometries (e.g. tetrahedron, icosahedron, dodecahedron) typically with 99.9% or greater accuracy. The work picks up where Johannes Kepler's mystical exploration left off.


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Could Your Phone Tell If You Have COVID-19?By Jorge Ramos Zwanziger | Mon, 02/08/2021 - 08:03
Can AI diagnose COVID-19? Stanford's COVID-19 Response Innovation Lab and One Young World are leading an initiative that is looking to identify the symptoms of SARS-CoV-2, through artificial intelligence and cough sounds, reports Business Insider Mexico. Over 50 researchers from 20 different countries, from universities such as Berkeley, Oxford, Harvard and Princeton, are developing Virufy, a mobile app that is designed to diagnose COVID-19 through a user's cough sounds. "The sounds of breathing and coughing could be analyzed with machine learning to find patterns in COVID-19," explained Virufy Founder, Amil Khanzada, to Business Insider Mexico. The app's goal is to gather as much information as possible to train its algorithm to be more precise and to better understand what COVID-19 sounds like.
"This is the first worldwide organization that has this many students trying to find a possible digital tool for an easier COVID-19 diagnosis," explained Carlos Madrigal, in an interview with Forbes Mexico. Madrigal explained to Forbes that the platform's objective is to identify variations in coughs between people testing positive and negative to COVID-19, believing the lung damage caused by the virus could alter the way coughs sound. However, he mentions that "this app does not pretend to be the sole method to diagnose COVID-19 but a way to detect how necessary it is for a person to get properly tested or not." Khanzada called on people from countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico and Peru exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms to visit Virufy's website to donate a couch sample through an audio message to improve the program and to put an end to the pandemic, reports Business Insider Mexico.
Virufy is only one of the attempts made to use technology as a way to track or diagnose COVID-19. Last year, the Mexico City government created a tracking system for people to know if they had been in contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19, as previously reported by MBN. Other apps that have been created for contact tracing in Mexico include:
- DENUE, an app developed by INEGI that shows COVID-19 information on different maps.
- Sickweather, which works both in Mexico and the US as social media and focuses on tracing places that people presenting symptoms for any disease, not just COVID-19, have visited to update the app and let other users know if they have been exposed.


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The Agribusiness Regulation and Institutions (AGRI) Index pilot provided an objective basis for assessing the agribusiness environment using a suite of quantitative indicators for topics such as Obtaining Inputs, Accessing Rural Land, and Trading Agricultural Goods. These indicators created a comprehensive framework for benchmarking the agribusiness enabling environment across countries and over time.
The AGRI Index as a concept reflects two fundamental principles: (1) the private sector is the driver of growth in nearly all dynamic agriculture systems, and (2) governments can do more to catalyze agricultural sector growth by improving the regulatory and institutional environment for agribusinesses. Drawing inspiration from the World Bank Group's Doing Business index, the AGRI Index focused on legal, regulatory, and administrative barriers that can be reduced in a relatively short timeframe through discrete policy reforms.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) commissioned the Enabling Agricultural Trade (EAT) project to develop and pilot the AGRI Index for three reasons:
- To drive discussion about the agribusiness enabling environment (AgBEE).
- To empower stakeholders in the agricultural sector.
- To develop a consistent and comparable measure of agribusiness regulations.
The AGRI Index Pilot Report contains data and lessons learned in testing in Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Uganda, and Zambia in 2012. AGRI data confirmed the pilot's original premise: agribusinesses face significant and unique legal, regulatory and institutional burdens that impede operations and make compliance a costly proposition. For example, as the chart below shows, agribusinesses in Nepal face lengthy delays in Trading Agricultural Goods.
In Nepal, it takes longer to import seed (56 days) than it does to grow it
- Agribusinesses routinely face burdensome regulatory requirements involving numerous costly procedures and lengthy delays.
- For agribusiness operations, lack of a regulatory framework can be as detrimental as overregulation.
- The agricultural sector often faces intrusive government policies and market interventions.
- Rural agribusinesses have limited access to government offices and services.
- Resource and capacity constraints limit the ability of government institutions to enforce regulations critical to agribusiness start-up and operation.
- Opaque regulations are poorly coordinated across ministries.
- Irregular or unpredictable enforcement can add further delays and costs to compliance.
Click here for the AGRI Index Pilot Report, Annex 1: Data from Pilot Countries, Annex 2: Final Surveys by Topic, and Annex 3: Round 1 & 2 Contributors.