Articles and Other Reading
Does Quality of Social Interaction Affect Happiness? By: Art Markman, [Psychology Today], Two Paths Integrative Wellness, LLC, Farmington Hills, MI 48334
Being around other people can make you happy
Human beings are a social species. Connecting with others is crucial, because that is how we learn about how the world works. That is how we accomplish tasks that require more effort than a single person could put in.
Because of the importance of our social interactions, it would make sense that engagement with other people would generally be satisfying and enjoyable for people. But, what kinds of interactions would make people happy? Is it enough just to be around people and to have casual conversations? Or is it important to be engaged in deep and meaningful conversations?
prominent study by Matthias Mehl, Simine Vazire, Shannon Holleran, and Shelby Clark in 2010 suggested that the quality of interactions matters. They had college undergraduates walk around with a device that would randomly record the audio environment over the course of a 3-day period. After the undergrads removed any content they didn't want other people to hear, the researchers analyzed how long each participant was in the presence of other people and whether they were having casual conversations or were talking about more substantive matters.
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And become a Defender of Wildlife
Animal Planet Mountain Goat Fact Sheet
Height: Males up to 3.5 feet; females are smaller.Length: Males up to 5.5 feet; females are smaller.Weight: 100-300 pounds; females are lighter.Lifespan: 12-15 years
Defenders of Wildlife has been working to protect our nation's wildlife since 1947.
Understand the threats facing our treasured wildlife and what Defenders is doing to help.
Learn more about the amazing animals that make up our nation's wild heritage.
Your contribution will help us save something wild.
Learn what you can do to make a difference for our wildlife and wild places.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Here we offer an interactive calculator that estimates Habitable Zones around Main-sequence stars with effective temperatures in the range of 2600 K - 7200 K. The default values are for the Sun. If you don't know the stellar luminosity, just enter stellar effective temperatures and keep luminosity = 0. That will give just Habitable stellar flux boundaries. If you provide luminosities, you can also obtain habitable zone distances in AU. If you want to calculate HZs for a number of stars, download this FORTRAN code.
If you use the calculator or the code, please acknowledge the following paper:
Kopparapu et al. (2013), Habitable Zones around Main-sequence stars: New Estimates. Astrophysical Journal, 765, 131. (arXiv link)

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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A British report suggests a link between radiation exposure and heart disease for workers at nuclear power plants.
A research team studied nearly 65,000 workers at four British power stations and found nuclear plant workers were more likely to die of a heart attack than of cancer caused by occupational radiation, The Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.
The finding, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, said the incidence of heart attacks and other problems were highest among workers with the highest levels of exposure. Researchers, however, said the study did not rule out the possibility that diet, exercise, socioeconomic status, shift work and stress may also be a factor.
The Guardian newspaper said some of the workers began work in the industry as far back as 1946, with those who worked at nuclear sites before 1980 exposed to higher levels of radiation.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
Explore further: Survey points out deficiencies in addictions training for medical residents


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State-wide planning for rural schools – Tamil Nadu
If the click of a mouse could open up an entire range of data on a school in a remote area of India, planning would become better and funds would reach the right place.
UNICEF has been able to accomplish this in Tamil Nadu through the use of the a Geographic Information System supported by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). It has ensured an efficient distribution of funds to schools that need toilets and drinking water facilities under the government's Total Sanitation Campaign, based on data collected systematically from the state's over 31,000 primary schools. This has helped map details of water, sanitation and hygiene education in all of the state's schools.
Started in Erode district, the project was initially expanded to cover three more districts. Soon the results prompted the state government to expand the initiative to all of its 30 districts. The plan has been shared at the national level as a model for all districts targeted by the Total Sanitation Campaign.


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Smokey the Elephant
Smokey the Elephant Event Button Museum
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Smokey was an 11 foot-tall, 7 ton African bull elephant who was housed at the Oakland Zoo in California for over 25 years. He was well-known for being one of three male elephants in North America capable of breeding and he was also known for killing one of the zoo's animal keepers in 1991. The trampling death of the zookeeper led to new methods of caring for elephants in captivity that did not require the trainers to be in direct contact with the animals. Smokey passed away in 2001 from an unknown illness.
DeFao, J. (2012). Popular 28-Year-Old Elephant Dies at Oakland Zoo. Retrieved from
Oakland Zoo's sickly African elephant dies 'Smokey,' one of North America's onlybreeders, had been sick for weeks. (2017). Retrieved from
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text: Cross-borehole geophysical data can provide valuable information concerning hydrologic properties of the unsaturated zone. Such data are most often used sequentially, where images of soil physical properties are obtained through numerical inversion and then converted to hydrologic state properties using petrophysical relationships. If not accounted for, inversion artifacts are transferred to the resulting hydrologic images. We propose a framework in which multiple geophysical data sets can be incorporated using an integrated data fusion approach. The geophysical data collected are integrated in a forward modeling approach to evaluate a series of plausible hydrologic models. The approach permits an evaluation of the sensitivity of geophysical data for constraining hydrologic model parameters. We illustrate the approach using geophysical data collected during a dual water and solute tracer experiment in the unsaturated zone. Cross-borehole ground penetrating radar and electrical resistivity tomography, measuring electromagnetic travel time and electrical transfer resistances, respectively, were collected during a 20-d period. As a first approximation, one-dimensional flow was considered and three models (one, two, and five layers) of the subsurface were evaluated. The five-layered model was found to be the only model capable of mimicking the infiltration pattern satisfactorily. The results showed that only the hydraulic conductivity and one of the parameters (empirical parameter n) describing the soil moisture release curve for three of the five layers could be constrained by the data, illustrating the nonuniqueness of the problem. The data fusion approach proved, however, that application of multiple geophysical methods may reduce hydraulic parameter uncertainty.


Convert PB to Byte (Petabyte to Byte)
Petabyte into Byte
 numbers in scientific notation
Direct link to this calculator:
How many Byte make 1 Petabyte?
1 Petabyte [PB] = 1 125 899 906 842 624 Byte - Measurement calculator that can be used to convert Petabyte to Byte, among others.
Convert Petabyte to Byte (PB to Byte):
 3. From the selection list, choose the unit that corresponds to the value you want to convert, in this case 'Petabyte [PB]'.
 4. Finally choose the unit you want the value to be converted to, in this case 'Byte'.
With this calculator, it is possible to enter the value to be converted together with the original measurement unit; for example, '196 Petabyte'. In so doing, either the full name of the unit or its abbreviation can be usedas an example, either 'Petabyte' or 'PB'. Then, the calculator determines the category of the measurement unit of measure that is to be converted, in this case 'Bytes / Bits'. After that, it converts the entered value into all of the appropriate units known to it. In the resulting list, you will be sure also to find the conversion you originally sought. Alternatively, the value to be converted can be entered as follows: '4 PB to Byte' or '20 PB into Byte' or '37 Petabyte -> Byte' or '64 PB = Byte' or '66 Petabyte to Byte' or '72 Petabyte into Byte'. For this alternative, the calculator also figures out immediately into which unit the original value is specifically to be converted. Regardless which of these possibilities one uses, it saves one the cumbersome search for the appropriate listing in long selection lists with myriad categories and countless supported units. All of that is taken over for us by the calculator and it gets the job done in a fraction of a second.
Furthermore, the calculator makes it possible to use mathematical expressions. As a result, not only can numbers be reckoned with one another, such as, for example, '(99 * 44) PB'. But different units of measurement can also be coupled with one another directly in the conversion. That could, for example, look like this: '196 Petabyte + 588 Byte' or '11mm x 42cm x 39dm =? cm^3'. The units of measure combined in this way naturally have to fit together and make sense in the combination in question.


Rhyme Out from Educational Insights
See the full review, the updated price and where it's available to buy at
Rhyme Out is a triple-rhyming card game. The game includes 300 cards with 600 questions divided into two levels. The yellow side of the cards has easier words and a rhyming word hint. The other side is a little harder. Players take turns being the Rhyme Out Reader, which means they draw a card and read aloud the card's three clues. The other players race to shout out three correct responses that rhyme. For example, if the clues are "part of an egg, something fire makes, and something that makes you laugh", the rhyming answers would be "yolk, smoke, and joke". The first player to answer correctly collects the card. If a player draws a Steal card, he or she can steal cards from other players. The first player to collect 10 cards wins. Rhyme Out is for three or more players.
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*Sausage* is from the Latin _salsus_ (salted): the Romans made sausages of salted meat to eat during the winter months. About 1900 Harry Stevens sold frankfurters (first made at Frankfurt am Main) in hot bread rolls at a New York baseball ground. The cartoonist TA Dorgan called these 'hot dogs' in a cartoon of a dachshund in a bread roll, perhaps because of rumours as to the contents of the sausages. Dorgan also invented the phrase 'cat's pyjamas'.
_Botulism_, a bug that was first found in tinned sausages, is from the Latin _botulus_ (sausage). _Bowel_ is from the same root. Another bug that causes food poisoning, _salmonella_, has nothing to do with salmon but gets its name from the US pathologist, Daniel Elmer Salmon (_PHONE_).


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There are still several classes that need a Parent Rep volunteer. We would like to have all of these positions filled by Curriculum Night so Parent Reps and teachers can meet.
Parent Reps help keep parents and Council connected on a classroom level, and help boost participation at Council events. Reps are also Council Members.
The following classes still need Parent Reps:
[table id=7 /]
If you would like to be a Parent Rep for your child's class please send an email to: _EMAIL_


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Degrees of Freedom of members and joints of mechanisms govern the working of a machine. Each member of mechanism can move in certain directions or rotate about certain axes and is not allowed to move or rotate in other directions. Degrees of Freedom determine the possible movements of mechanisms.
Degrees of freedom (DoF) is related to the motion possibilities of rigid bodies. Kinematic definition for DoF of any system or its components would be "the number of independent variables or coordinates required to ascertain the position of the system or its components".
The concept of DoF in kinematics of machines is used in three ways. DoF of
1. A body relative to a reference frame.
2. A kinematic joint.
3. A mechanism.
Determining Degrees of freedom
Degrees of Freedom can be determined by analysis of motion of the concerned body or by determining the number of coordinates required to specify position of the body. In this article planar cases are considered which can be extended to spatial cases.
1. Degrees of freedom of a body relative to a specified reference frame
In a plane the position of a body relative to a reference frame can be specified by two position coordinates (say X and Y) and one coordinate (say theta)for specifying the orientation of the body. Total three coordinates are required to specify the position of the body if there are no constraints applied. The DoF will reduce as the motion of the body is restricted.
For example, a body is not allowed to move along one axis in the plane. As a result one DoF if lost thus leaving only two DoF.
2. Degrees of freedom of a kinematic joint
Two bodies connect with each other to form a joint. One body can move in a number of ways relative to the other and may be constrained in other ways. DoF of a kinematic joint is number of ways in which one member of the joint can move relative to the other member.
For example, revolute joint has one DoF as one member can move only in one way relative to the other member. It can only rotate about the axis of the joint. Prismatic joint also has only one DoF as one of the two members can slide along the other in one direction only.
Cylindrical joint has two DoF as one of the two members can rotate about the axis of the joint and can also translate along it. Two motions possible so two DoF.
3. Degrees of freedom of a mechanism
The DoF for a mechanism is defined as the number of coordinates or variables required to be specified such that the position and orientation of all the members of the mechanism can be stated as a function of time.
For determining the DoF for a mechanism we will start with assuming all the members of the mechanism free in plane and thus having three DoF each. Then we will apply constraints and DoF will reduce as the members are joined together to form mechanism.
Take the mechanism to be composed of 'n' members or links. Initially each link is assumed to be free and thus the mechanism has 3n DoF. One of the members is to be a base or frame link thus have zero DoF or it lost its all three DoF. The DoF left in the mechanism at this stage is 3n-3 or 3(n-1).
When the pairs of links form joints they will loose DoF. If the formed joint have 'Fi' DoF each then reduction in DoF is (3-Fi) as they were initially free (having 3 DoF). If there are 'j' number of joints then total reduction in DoF will be summation of (3-Fi) over 'j' number of joints. The net DoF for a mechanism can be given by


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The five chapters of this book collect and illustrate techniques that have been applied to the prediction of reliability and availability of the various specific segments of an electric power system. The text emphasizes the numerical procedures employed in making these reliability and availability predictions. Other related criteria that have been put forward in the literature, such as adequacy, dependability, and security, are also introduced and defined as needed and as applied in specific contexts.
The book opens with a discussion of reliability and availability applications to transmission and distribution systems, treating independent component outages and their effects on the continuity of supply. It then takes up models for generation planning and proceeds to the area of bulk power supply system reliability evaluation, offering methods for prediction of composite reliability of the generation and transmission systems. A final chapter extends the study into operating reliability assessments concerned with reserve problems: It considers the adequacy of the generating system to meet forecasted loads a short period ahead.
Professor Billinton is in the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Saskatchewan. Drs. Ringlee and Wood are with Power Technologies Inc. Their book is the sixth in the Modern Electrical Technology series, edited by Alexander Kusko.


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Breeding Male and Female Gouramis: How to Identify the Gender
I have raised tropical fish for over 15 years and I enjoy sharing my expertise with others.
One of the most popular aquarium fish is the gourami. It is known for being easy to keep, having bright colors, and being easy to breed. Gouramis are a type of anabantoid. This type of fish actually breathes air from the surface of the water. Another popular anabantoid is the betta fish, sometimes known as the Siamese fighting fish. Both of these fish are quite easy to breed in your home aquarium. If you are thinking about breeding gouramis, you need to understand how to tell the difference between the male and female.
Categories of Gourami
There are two main breeding categories of gourami. The first type of breeding category includes fish such as the kissing gourami. It will be very difficult to determine the sex of these fish and much more difficult to breed than other gouramis. If you are going to attempt to identify the sex of your kissing gourami, you will need to go through a process of observation and comparison. Watch your gouramis to see if they are "kissing." Your fish will be trying to dominate each other. These will likely be two males. If you want to identify the sex of the fish by comparison, you can look at the fish from above. Males will be flat-sided, while females will be slightly rounded on the side.
The Gourami's Color
If you have a gold, opaline, blue, or paradise gourami, then you are in luck. It will be very easy to determine the sex of this type of gourami. Even novice fish owners will be able to tell the difference between the male and female. You can easily recognize the female by their curved dorsal fin. This fin is not pointed, giving the fin a more wavy shape. Females are usually less colorful than males and mature females are often larger than mature males. The female paradise gourami is typically grey and red and they are larger and longer than males.
Observe the Gorami's Fins
The dorsal fin of male gouramis comes to a point, creating a distinct v-shape. These fins are usually speckled or spotted. If your gourami is a gold, blue, or opaline variety, the males will exhibit rings around their spots. The coloring of a male paradise gourami is usually red, blue, or green as opposed to the lackluster coloring of females which tend to be red or grey.
If you plan on breeding your gouramis, it is best to know if the specific variety breeds better as a pair or trio. There are some gouramis that will not do well in a one-to-one scenario. This can cause the male to be overly aggressive toward the female, and in some cases this can cause harm to the female. For first-time breeders, make sure you purchase gouramis which can be easily sexed. There are many varieties available at your local pet store.
If you provide the right environment and have enough space in your aquarium, then breeding gouramis can be a pleasant experience.
nuwan on October 21, 2018:
nice advice!
very usefull


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This control adds up/down buttons and functionality, also referred to as a spin control, to our Numeric TextBox. Users can click or tap on the buttons inside the Numeric UpDown to change the value, or if the control has focus, use the arrow keys on the keyboard. You can set the maximum and minimum to guarantee a range, as well as set the magnitude of the change that will be applied to the TextBox's value upon a click or tap.
The SpinDecorator that gives this control its behavior can be applied to any TextBox that has a numerical value, not just the Numeric UpDown.
Users can tap or click on the buttons inside the TextBox to change the value. This allow them to input numbers without bringing up the on-screen keyboard.
Like the other TextBoxes in the suite you can set the minimum and maximum to ensure the user can only enter a valid number. Once the value reaches one of these values a tap in the direction beyond it will not have any effect.
By setting the SmallChange property you can alter how much is incremented or decremented for one tap of the button.


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Nuclear Engineering Program
The Bachelor of Science (BS) program in Nuclear Engineering (NE) is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, _URL_.
The mission of the Nuclear Engineering program at Idaho State is to produce nuclear engineers who will make significant contributions to the world nuclear enterprise. The specific focus of our mission is to prepare graduates to excel in a wide range of careers in nuclear engineering associated with nuclear reactors, the nuclear fuel cycle, and other applications of nuclear technology.
Program Educational Objectives - Nuclear Engineering
- Our graduates will be active in the nuclear industry or related fields, making contributions to its advancement, either in industry, research, or academics.
- Our graduates will have a record of accomplishment in the nuclear industry.
- Our graduates will engage in lifelong learning, keeping abreast of advancements in their fields.
Upon graduation, students of Nuclear Engineering will have demonstrated:
- An ability to apply knowledge of advanced mathematics, science and engineering, including atomic and nuclear physics, and the transport and interaction of radiation with matter, to nuclear and radiological systems and processes.
- An ability to design and conduct experiments, to measure nuclear and radiation processes, as well as to analyze and interpret data.
- An ability to perform nuclear engineering design of systems, components, or processes to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability.
- An ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams.
- An ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems.
- An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility.
- An ability to communicate effectively.
- The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context.
- A recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning.
- A knowledge of contemporary issues.
- An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.
Enrollment and graduation numbers
Degrees awarded during the time periods 7/13 - 6/14:
- Nuclear Engineering BS 10
- Nuclear Science and Engineering MS 16
- Nuclear Science and Engineering PhD 3
Graduate student enrolment during same time
- Nuclear Science and Engineering MS 38
- Nuclear Science and Engineering PhD 13


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This interesting name of Medieval English origin, with the modern variants Cattonnet, Catonnet, Catonne, Catenot, and Cathenod, is locational from places so called in Derbyshire and Lancashire. The derivation of the former is the Old English personal name "Cade", a survival from a Germanic root meaning swelling, which may have been applied to a large person, and is recorded in the Subsidy Rolls of that county in 1330 as "Cadetone", with the second element "tun", a settlement, thus Cada's town. However the place in Lancashire, first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Catun", and in the Pipe Rolls of 1186 as "Catlon", derives its first element from the Old Norse byname "Kati", meaning boy.The following example illustrates the name development after the earliest recording of the name (see below), Peter "Catoun", (1327 Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk). Amongst the early recordings in Lancashire is Agnes Caton who married John Bensonn on January 26th 1559. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Caton, which was dated 1279, in the "Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
© Copyright: Name Origin Research 1980 - 2022
Enjoy this name printed onto our colourful scroll, printed in Olde English script. An ideal gift.


Iberian wolf
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Animal File
Common Name:
Iberian wolf
Scientific Name:
Canis lupus signatus
Size: 120 cm body length
Weight: 30 - 35 kg
Native to Europe
Mountain plateau
Temperate Forest and Taiga
Conservation Status
Critically threatened
"Wolf Ridge" is a comparatively new enclosure to Blackpool Zoo which utilised an undeveloped woodland area of the park. Iberian wolves originate in Europe from the Iberian Peninsula and are lighter in weight than the better-known North American timber wolves. They also have a finer, less dense coat as temperatures are much warmer.
Iberian wolves have different markings from other European wolf species. This is reflected in their scientific name, signatus, which means "signed" or "marked". Their rich, dark colouring offers them perfect camouflage amongst the trees when hunting or trying to avoid being hunted. Their numbers have been so depleted by the expansion of farming taking up their territory and illegal hunting, often by local farmers, that they are now classified as "critically endangered" in the wild.
Wolves live in packs led by the alpha male and female. Second in charge is the beta wolf and the lowest ranking, and usually most submissive, is the omega wolf. They can live for about 6 to 8 years in the wild, but up to 16 in captivity. A typical litter comprises 4 to 7 cubs.
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Automatically generated—or "auto-generated"—content is content that's been generated programmatically. Often this will consist of paragraphs of random text that makes no sense to the reader but which may contain search keywords.
Some examples of auto-generated content include:
- Text translated by an automated tool without human review or curation before publishing
- Text generated through automated processes, such as Markov chains
- Text generated using automated synonymizing or obfuscation techniques
- Text generated from scraping Atom/RSS feeds or search results
- Stitching or combining content from different web pages without adding sufficient value


text: Hello, i need some help solving a few questions. please help :) thankyou a)A pool Cue exerted an average force of 160N on a cue ball over a distance of 0.012m How much work did the cue do on the ball. b)If all the work done on (a) was transformed into kinetic energy of 0.0200kg cue ball, what was the speed of the ball? c) Light from the sun reaches the earth in 8.3min. The speed of light is 3.00x10g m/s. in kilometer, how far is the earth from the sun? d)An electron travels at a unifor velocity of 3.2x10g m/s, how much time is required for a displacement of 1.0m? e)A person walks 5.0 km torwards the east in 2.0 hours,then 1.5 km towards the west in 0.5 hour, and finally 10.0 km torwards the east again in 2.25 hour. What is the person's average velocity?


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View source on GitHub
Shards computation along the batch dimension for parallel execution.
Convenience wrapper around shard().
inputs must be a list of Tensors or None (equivalent to an empty list). Each input is split into num_shards pieces along the 0-th dimension, and computation is applied to each shard in parallel.
Tensors are broadcast to all shards if they are lexically captured by computation. e.g.,
x = tf.constant(7) def computation(): return x + 3... = shard(computation,...)
The outputs from all shards are concatenated back together along their 0-th dimension.
Inputs and outputs of the computation must be at least rank-1 Tensors.
computation A Python function that builds a computation to apply to each shard of the input.
inputs A list of input tensors or None (equivalent to an empty list). The 0-th dimension of each Tensor must have size divisible by num_shards.
num_shards The number of shards.
device_assignment If not None, a DeviceAssignment describing the mapping between logical cores in the computation with physical cores in the TPU topology. Uses a default device assignment if None. The DeviceAssignment may be omitted if each shard of the computation uses only one core, and there is either only one shard, or the number of shards is equal to the number of cores in the TPU system.
name (Deprecated) Does nothing.
A list of output tensors.
ValueError If num_shards <= 0


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A filtered category is a categorification of the concept of directed set. In addition to having an upper bound (but not necessarily a coproduct) for every pair of objects, there must also be an upper bound (but not necessarily a coequaliser) for every pair of parallel morphisms.
A category whose opposite is filtered is called cofiltered.
Equivalently, filtered categories can be characterized as those categories where, for every finite diagram, the diagonal functor is final. This point of view can be generalized to other kinds of categories whose colimits are well-behaved with respect to a type of limit, such as sifted categories.
This can be rephrased in more elementary terms by saying that:
Just as all finite colimits can be constructed from initial objects, binary coproducts, and coequalizers, so a cocone on any finite diagram can be constructed from these three.
In constructive mathematics, the elementary rephrasing above is equivalent to every Bishop-finite diagram admitting a cocone.
More generally, if is an infinite regular cardinal (or an arity class), then a -filtered category is one such that any diagram has a cocone where has arrows. The usual filtered categories are then the case. Note that a preorder is -filtered as a category just when it is -directed as a preorder.
Even more generally, if is a class of small categories, a category is called -filtered if -colimits commute with -limits in Set. When is the class of all -small categories for an infinite regular cardinal, then -filteredness is the same as -filteredness as defined above. See ABLR.
If is the class consisting of the terminal category and the empty category — which is to say, the class of -small categories when is the finite regular cardinal — then being -filtered in this sense is equivalent to being connected. Note that this is not what the explicit definition given above for infinite regular cardinals would specialize to by simply setting (that would be simply inhabitation).
Every category with a terminal object is filtered.
Every category which has finite colimits is filtered.
A product of filtered categories is filtered.


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There are many ways of categorizing umbrellas, with one of them being the number of folding keels supporting the cloth. This keel is also known as the umbrella's skeleton, and we have one (straight), two, three, and five folding umbrellas based on this classification. In this article, we'll examine the differences between 2 fold umbrellas and 3 fold umbrellas.
2 fold umbrellas
A two folding umbrella is one in which the umbrella's skeleton can be folded into two sections. With their durable structures, two folding umbrellas are portable tools for rainy and sunny days.
3 fold umbrellas
A somewhat more common type of folding umbrellas is the three folding one. As its name implies, it is an umbrella with three folding keels, which means it can be folded three times. These umbrellas usually have buttons to close and open them automatically and are classic rain gear to carry around.
Differences between 2fold umbrella and 3 fold umbrella
Based on the structure, 2 fold umbrellas are compact, firm, and made from top quality materials. Furthermore, the rib sizes of two folding umbrellas vary, with the norm being that the first rib is slightly longer than the second rib.
3 fold umbrellas are just as compact and firmly structured as their two folding counterparts. They are of moderate weights and lengths, with the first rib usually being the shortest. Three folding umbrellas are widely used and made of good quality as well.
Another difference between two folding and three folding umbrellas is how they are styled. The former is of European style, which is usually high-grade. Even after folding them, they are generally quite large.
On the other hand, three folding umbrellas are of both European and mainstream styles. They are characterized by being light, pencil-like, and thin, after they are folded.
Based on their function, two folding umbrellas sport the windproof functionality of long handle umbrellas, which makes them much easier to carry around than straight umbrellas. Many manufacturers make this type of umbrellas to be rainproof and also sun-protecting. The slight setback of two folding umbrellas is that you'll need to take off the bones piece by piece when closing the umbrella.
Three folding umbrellas are small and easy to carry around. But when it comes to their function in resisting winds and heavy rains, they are inferior to two folding and long, straight umbrellas.
Generally speaking, two folding umbrellas are middle to high-grade umbrellas with excellent workmanship and materials, including embroidery, printing, lace. Because of these top-notch designs and craft, two folding umbrellas are usually high-priced.
The more common alternative is three folding umbrellas. They are middle to low-end umbrellas and are of many types. Three folding umbrellas are usually less expensive than their two folding counterparts.
On the differences in their use, two folding umbrellas are more suitable for heavy and windy rainy weather. Three folding umbrellas are not so good in resisting this type of weather, even though they are easy to carry about.
How to choose an excellent folding umbrella
Now, let's look at some of the things that'll influence the folding umbrella you get.
- The cloth: The first thing that'll attract you to any umbrella you pick up is its cloth. They are indispensable and the main parts of the umbrella, because they provide the shade or protection we need. There are many types of umbrella clothes, so before you get one, make sure you've had a good look at the alternatives. Your goal should be to get a folding umbrella with a durable cloth that'll withstand heavy winds and rain.
- The handle: The next factor that should influence the folding umbrella you get is the umbrella's handle. Remember that this is the part you'll be holding, for the most part, so make sure it is very comfortable to grasp. Usually, folding umbrellas have plastic handles that act as insulators during thunderstorms. Folding umbrellas' handles have two major designs: the straight and curved handle designs. The curved one allows for more grip and is comfortable to hold for an extended period. However, they are usually not found in high-priced umbrellas. So, be sure to test both designs of folding umbrella handles before you get one.
- The shaft: The shaft is located just above the handle. It is the part of the umbrella that holds the entire framework in place. So, if you see a firm folding umbrella, chances are that the shaft is rigid. When getting a folding umbrella, ensure that you give the shaft a good shake. If the umbrella parts don't come loose, then the umbrella framework is as firm as it should be. This means that the folding umbrella will withstand wind and rain better, with its firm structure.
- The size: Finally, the size of a folding umbrella should play a decisive role in which you eventually go for. Folding umbrellas have several sizes, so you'll have lots of options to pick from. But the size of the one you choose should fit your lifestyle and what you intend to use it for. If you'll be commuting, then there's no need to get a large folding umbrella. It'll probably be better to get something light and easy to carry about. Don't forget to consider the folding umbrella's size when closed too.
There are quite a lot of folding umbrellas, but the two folding and three folding ones are some of the most common. At first glance, it doesn't seem that there is much to distinguish between the two types of umbrellas. But a closer look at its skeleton will reveal the fundamental difference between two folding and three folding umbrellas.
In this guide, we've differentiated the two common types of folding umbrellas thoroughly. We've also had a look at some factors that should influence your decision on which one to get. With these, you should have all you need to spot the two types of folding umbrellas and know which is best suited for your lifestyle.


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Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances
The Department of the Treasury was established in 1789. These annual reports also contain the reports of the many departments of the Treasury, including the Bureau of the Mint, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Bureau of Customs, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Secret Service, and the Internal Revenue Service.
Statistical Appendices for the years _PHONE_ are included.
Most of the reports for the years _PHONE_ were bound together into four volumes with combined indexes at the end of each volume. The index for the volume and table of contents listing the reports contained in that volume are included in the pdfs for the applicable years. Additionally, reports for the years 1789, _PHONE_, and _PHONE_ were downloaded from the American State Papers, digitized by the Library of Congress.
In the report for 1842, there is a notation that an act to establish a fiscal year for the United States was approved on August 26, 1842.
1789 to 1980
Collection of Duties on Imports and Tonnage
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U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
FOUND IN: Harvard University ArchivesCollection Identifier: UAV 630.6
Overview: The Records of Harvard College Observatory Director George Phillips Bond, consisting of correspondence and subject files, manuscript drafts, and astronomical data, chiefly document the research activities of the Harvard College Observatory from 1859 to 1865. Chronicled are observations of planets, including Mars and Jupiter; efforts to determine the brightness of stars; and the detection of comets, eclipses, and other astronomical phenomena. George Phillips Bond (_PHONE_), an astronomer,...


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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is the licensee's address of record public information?
Yes, a licensee's address of record is public information pursuant to California Code of Regulations Title 16, Division 1, Article 1, Section 3, Notification of Change of Address, Section 5009 of the Business and Professions Code, and the California Public Records Act.
Does the Board provide information about a CPA's education?
No, a consumer is advised to request that information from the licensee.
Does the Board provide what firm the CPA is employed by to consumers?
No, the Board does not maintain that type of information on licensees. Employment situations change so frequently that the Board cannot maintain accurate information.
Exactly what license information is available on the Web License Lookup?
The information available through the Web License Lookup feature is the following public information:
- Licensee / Firm Name.
- Type of License.
- License Number.
- License Status.
- Experience Completed.
- Expiration Date.
- Issue Date.
- Address of Record.
Additionally, the following enforcement actions are available through the Web License Lookup feature:
- Names of licensees for which accusations have been filed and are pending possible enforcement action.
- Summaries of decisions since July 1, 1993, for licenses revoked, surrendered, or placed on long-term probation (beyond three years).
- Summaries for all other enforcement actions within the past seven years.
How do I file a complaint against a licensee?
The Board has developed a standard complaint form to assist complainants in providing the minimum information required before the investigative process can begin. You can fill out and submit the form in the interactive version, or fill out and print the complaint form in PDF format, or call the board office in Sacramento at _PHONE_ to obtain a complaint form.
How do I file a complaint against the Board?
The Citizen Complaint Act of 1997 requires that we provide a method for use by California citizens to comment and/or file complaints about the Board. Follow the link from our Comments/Complaints page to fill out and submit the form in the interactive version, or fill out and print the complaint form in PDF format.
How can I know if there are any complaints against my CPA?
Complaints against licensees are not public records. However, if a complaint results in a citation or discipline against a licensee, the citation or discipline is public record.


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Continuing education credits through both online and onsite educational programs
|Program title: Optimizing Performance in Commercial Fenestration|
|Provider number: K452 | Course number: AZON02 | Download the course description|
Onsite educational program – please contact us to schedule a live presentation
Start learning online now!
|Learning Units: 1 AIA/CES (LU/HSW) Learning Unit, Health, Safety, and Welfare.|
Provides an overview of optimizing commercial fenestration with thermal barriers and high performance glazing in aluminum window framing to maximize daylighting and thermal efficiencies in the building envelope.
- Discuss the sustainability, performance, and daylighting design benefits of optimized fenestration systems, including the life cycle of aluminum as a durable and recyclable frame material, and high performance glazing components to increase insulation in the overall window assembly
- Describe the methods that measure heat transfer effects, condensation resistance, and ratings for the outdoor‒indoor sound transmission values in thermal barrier window products
- Explain the role of thermal barriers, and compare the performance of polyurethane polymer pour and debridge systems with polyamide strip systems, and
- Observe a range of applications of optimized, energy-efficient commercial fenestration in built project case studies


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thunder-python 0.1.0
Large-scale neural data analysis in Spark
Latest Version: 1.4.2
Large-scale neural data analysis with Spark - project page
Thunder is a library for analyzing large-scale neural data. It's fast to run, easy to develop for, and can be run interactively. It is built on Spark, a new framework for cluster computing.
Thunder includes utilties for data loading and saving, and modular functions for time series statistics, matrix decompositions, and fitting algorithms. Analyses can easily be scripted or combined. It is written in Spark's Python API (Pyspark), making use of scipy, numpy, and scikit-learn. Experimental streaming analyses are availiable in Scala, and we plan to port some functionality to Scala in the future for improved performance.
Quick start
Thunder is designed to run on a cluster, but local testing is a great way to learn and develop. Many computers can install it with just a few simple steps. If you aren't currently using Python for scientific computing, Anaconda is highly recommended.
 1. Download the latest, pre-built version of Spark, and set one environmental variable
export SPARK_HOME=/your/path/to/spark
 1. Install Thunder
pip install thunder-python
 1. Start Thunder from the terminal
>> from thunder.utils import DataSets
>> from thunder.factorization import ICA
>> data = DataSets.make(sc, "ica")
>> model = ICA(k=2).fit(data)
To run in iPython, just set this environmental variable before staring:
export IPYTHON=1
To run analyses as standalone jobs, use the submit script
thunder-submit timeseries/stats
We also include a script for launching an Amazon EC2 cluster with Thunder presintalled
>> thunder-ec2 -k mykey -i mykey.pem -s launch
Thunder currently includes five packages: classification, clustering, factorization, regression, and timeseries, as well as an io package for loading and saving (see Input format and Output format), and a util package for utilities (like common matrix operations). Packages include scripts for running standalone analyses, but the underlying classes and functions can be used from within the PySpark shell for easy interactive analysis.
Input and output
Thunder is built around a commmon input format for raw neural data: a set of signals as key-value pairs, where the key is an identifier, and the value is a response time series. In imaging data, for example, each record would be a voxel or an ROI, the key an xyz coordinate, and the value a flouresence time series. This is a useful representation because most analyses parallelize across neural signals (i.e. across records).
These key-value records can, in principle, be stored in a variety of cluster-accessible formats, and it does not affect the core functionality (besides loading). Currently, the loading function assumes a text file input, where the rows are neural signals, and the columns are the keys and values, each number separated by space. Support for flat binary files is coming soon.
All metadata (e.g. parameters of the stimulus or behavior for regression analyses) can be provided as numpy arrays or loaded from MAT files, see relavant functions for more details.
Results can be visualized directly from the python shell ir iPython notebook, or saved as MAT files, text files, or images.
Road map
If you have other ideas or want to contribute, submit an issue or pull request!
 - New file formats for input data
 - Automatic extract-transform-load for more raw formats (e.g. raw images)
 - Analysis-specific visualizations
 - Unified metadata representation
 - Port versions of most common workflows to scala
File Type Py Version Uploaded on Size
thunder-python-0.1.0.tar.gz (md5) Source 2014-07-19 152KB


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We continue to celebrate the Biophysics Week! In 2016, the Biophysics Society started an annual Biophysics Week to celebrate and raise the awareness of the field. Check out their website for more information and visit the British Biophysical Society page for the UK based biophysics news!
Here at the Randall Centre for Cell & Molecular Biophysics, we have many top-notch biophysicists doing amazing research. To shed some light on the biophysics research done at our department, we've asked group leaders to share what they do and what got them into this exciting field! Check out what Prof. Brian Sutton has to say about biophysics!
Prof. Brian Sutton
Brian is a Professor of Molecular Biophysics at Randall and his group aims to understand the how allergies and asthma occur by looking at the molecules involved in these diseases at the molecular level.
What got you interested in biophysics? An inspiring lecture on protein structure from the crystallographer Louise Johnson* in Oxford, while I was studying Chemistry.
*Louise Johnson was a British biochemist and protein crystallographer. During her career, Louise determined the three-dimensional structure of lysozyme, the first enzyme structure ever solved by X-ray crystallography. Lysozyme is an enzyme present in tears and defends us from bacterial injections by chewing up the bacterial cell wall.
Explain your area of research in two sentences. I study the structures of human antibodies, particularly those produced in allergic reactions, in order to try to understand why only certain people react in this way to certain substances and to try to find ways to prevent this happening. (One long sentence, rather than two!)
Who is your favourite biophysicist? Dorothy Hodgkin* (closely followed by Rosalind Franklin)
*Dorothy Hodgkin was a British chemist who developed protein crystallography and advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography. Using X-ray crystallography, Dorothy was able to discover three-dimensional biomolecular structures, such as penicillin, vitamin B12 and insulin. Dorothy Hodgkin was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964 for her work in the determination of biomolecular structures by X-ray techniques.
What is your favourite biophysical technique? X-ray crystallography*!
*X-ray crystallography is an experimental technique used to determine three-dimensional structures of large biomolecules, such as proteins. Protein crystals are grown and then a narrow beam of X-rays is passed through the sample and that's when the magic happens. The electron clouds surrounding the atoms tend to diffract X-rays and this diffraction pattern informs us about the three-dimensional structure of the sample!
Can you give us an example of biophysics applied in our daily lives? The use of medical imaging techniques, such as X-ray CAT scans and Magnetic Resonance Imaging.


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If a rough surface is illuminated by a coherent lightwave of wavelength λ1, it is not possible to determine the surface profile from the phases of the speckle field formed by the scattered light. If the rough surface is illuminated, however, by an additional coherent wave of wavelength λ2, the phase differences between the two speckle fields do contain information about the macroscopic surface profile even if subject to a statistical error. It is shown that (1) the macroscopic surface profile may be determined from the phase differences if the effective wavelength Λ = λ1λ2/|λ1 - λ2| is sufficiently larger than the standard deviation of the microscopic profile of the illuminated surface, and (2) the statistical error is reasonably small if the phase measurements are obtained from speckles of sufficient intensity. Using a heterodyne interferometer we demonstrate the feasibility of this technique. In the first experiment we determine the radius of curvature of a rough spherical surface. In the second experiment the macroscopic surface contour on two ophthalmic lenses of the same power variation, one with a grounded surface and the other with a polished surface, was determined.
© 1985 Optical Society of America
A. F. Fercher, H. Z. Hu, and U. Vry, "Rough surface interferometry with a two-wavelength heterodyne speckle interferometer," Appl. Opt. 24, 2181-2188 (1985)


Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Roland H. said...
One can argue that it is Katherine of Aragon, as 'K' (as in the gold letters of her necklace) was the standard medieval/Tudor English spelling for 'Katherine' (as opposed to 'Catherine').
Also, if the 'K' stood for the Emperor Charles, shouldn't it be 'C' for the Latin 'Carolus', not 'K'?
Any Latin experts here? Was 'K' also used for 'Charles' (as in 'Karolus')?
PhD Historian said...
Thank you, Marilyn, for alerting us to this important re-identification. Fascinating.
Roland, spelling was often phonetically-based in the sixteenth century, though Latin spelling was more standardized than was English. Yet one often sees in the Germanic countries the use of K, which is always pronounced the same (/k/ in phonetics symbols), in place of the English or Latin C, which has more than one pronunciation... /k/ and /s/. Think Kaiser vs Caesar. And Charles was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire... a largely Germanic region. The German for Charles is Karolus. Charlemagne was known in the Empire by the Germanized Latin 'Karolus Magnus'. So the argument that the Ks in the necklace refer to Charles/Karolus V is entirely plausible.
PhD Historian said...
Marilyn, I finally got my hands on Dr Matthews's actual article about the portrait. He makes an interesting argument, but there is still one small issue that he over-interprets plus one very big issue that he totally fails to address: the scallop shells on the dress and the presence of the halo behind and above the sitter's head.
Matthews argue that the scallop shells bordering the bodice of the gown are a reference to the Spanish patron saint of St James of Compestela, because pilgrims to his shrine often carry such shells. However, scallop shells also have a more general, less regionally-specific symbolism as emblems of the Roman Catholic faith. For example, the dish used to pour water on the forehead of an infant being baptized into the Catholic Church is often a silver or silver-gilt scallop shell. Matthews may be over-reaching in assuming that the scallop shells are necessarily a reference to Spain and St James rather than a general marker of faith, especially since the latter ties so nicely with the halo.
As for the halo itself, he mentions it only in description, but says nothing about whether it is an original part of the portrait or a later addition. Neither does he make any effort to explain why a living (and young) person would be depicted with a halo in a formal court portrait. Yet the presence of the halo utterly defies sixteenth-century artistic norms. They were used only in depictions of saints (who by definition were deceased), never living persons. Yes, there are a number of portraits said to be "So-and-so in the guise of Saint Somebody", but as Matthews notes in his own footnote #40, most of those have been re-identified as fictional depictions of the saint and otherwise unconnected to the "So-and-so" that the pictures were once thought to depict. It is quite possible that the halo was added much later (after 1536), but only if the person depicted is Katherine of Aragon, a woman noted for her religious piety. Mary Tudor had no such reputation as a pious woman, so a halo on her portrait would have been totally inconsistent with her reputation, and literally bizarre (even potentially heretical) in the context of a living person of such a young age. That Matthews totally fails to address this issue is very odd indeed.
I am inclined to think either that the portrait is actually Katherine of Aragon and the halo was added after her death in 1536, or that the portrait depicts some as-yet-unidentified saint that is neither Katherine nor Mary. I think the latter is more likely.
Marilyn R said...
PhD, what surprises me is that it was not until the early twentieth century that this was said to be Katherine of Aragon, and the artist was not identified as being Sittow until the 1930's. I had always assumed it had come down the centuries as a definite portrait of her, by him. In my mind, if the Juan de Flandes is Katherine, then the Sittow can't be. The mouth on the Flandes portrait is very like portraits of the queen in later life, so I am inclined to agree with you that the Sittow in question is neither Katherine of Aragon nor Mary Tudor, and represents someone else altogether - the same model he used for the Magdalene and the Madonna and Child, perhaps?
PhD Historian said...
Marilyn R, I do not know how extensively the Vienna portrait has been studied using scientific methodologies, so I do not know how well-supported the Sittow attribution actually is, beyond issues of the artist's "technique". But one need only look at the current Making Art in Tudor Britain project being conducted by the National Portrait Gallery to see how things like chemical analysis of pigments and infrared reflectography are impacting the ways in which art historians attribute unsigned paintings to specific artists. It is a harsh reality that many of the "definite" sitter identifications and artist attributions of sixteenth-century portraits that have either come down over the centuries or were established in the eighteenth, nineteenth, or early-twentieth centuries have proven incorrect. "Holbeins" by the dozens have proven to be by other artists, for example, while most of Lucas De Heere's presumed works have been shown not, in fact, to be by him (see my own work on the supposed De Heere painting called Lady Jane Grey). Such identifications and attributions have a way of being modified over time. In fact, Matthews's article does some serious "reaching" and speculation even to support the notion that Sittow could have painted either Katherine or Mary, since Sittow was never resident in England (Matthews speculates, without any direct evidence to support his hypothesis, that Sittow visited London briefly in June 1514 in the company of a Habsburg diplomat, Gerard de Pleine). So, absent some evidence more solid than the subjective assessment of the artist's technique, there is room to challenge even the Sittow attribution, in my opinion.
Your reference to Sittow's Madonna and Child and Mary Magdalene are both very intriguing. Certainly the period in which the Vienna portrait was painted coincides with the emergence of the speculative art market... that is, the creation by artists of imaginary pictures for "retail" sale on the open market, rather than of "custom-made" or "bespoke" works done on firm pre-paid commission. And both the Madonna and Child and Mary Magdalene were extremely popular subjects in those early "on spec" works. Again, see my own study of the supposed De Heere called Jane Grey, which is in fact a pattern portrait of Mary Magdalene by a very prolific "on spec" artist known today as The Master of the Female Half Lengths (_URL_ "pattern" pictures are those created by an artist using a standard reference pattern, similar to outright copies but with variations intended to make each "copy" unique in some way).
I would caution against comparison of the appearance of individual body parts (mouth), especially when those parts are reproduced by two very different artists, to support an identification of a sitter. Yes, the mouth of the lady in the Vienna portrait is very different from that of the Flandes portrait. But Flandes and Sittow had different levels of skill, the former producing portraits of various women (both living and historical, i.e., Madonnas and Magadalenes) all with remarkably similar faces, while the latter rendered his subjects in a more individualized and lifelike manner. Additionally, the identity of the Flandes lady remains a matter of considerable debate. She is officially an Unknown Infanta, and could as easily be Katherine's sister Maria (later Queen of Portugal).
I have been trying to contact Dr Matthews in order to clarify some of these questions, especially how he might explain the anomalous halo, but have thus far been unsuccessful in locating him. I will post an addendum if I ever get in touch with him and get a reply.
shtove said...
Thanks to PhD for that reply.
I think there have always been doubts about the Vienna portrait, but I assumed that was limited to insufficient evidence to finger the artist/subject. Never occurred to me that an artist might be supplying a speculative market.
I blogged on the Catherine portraits a while back, concluded there was still a mystery. Not my area of expertise, but people are very keen on this stuff.
Art PhD said...
If you are discussing the Sittow portrait, there is no halo, she is wearing a very large Spanish hood, like a giant french hood, what you see is the edge, a halo-like effect: note the end parts of the headpiece resting at her shoulder area, with the gold trim extending out toward the body of the sitter's headgear.
Sittow does not have the genius of Holbein, but is on par with Master Johns, in england. Notice the tip of the sitter's nose...
I believe this is Katharine, and if you check out some of the portraits of Mary I, particularly a teenaged portrait by Master John (not john Master as wikipedia has it--go to the national portrait gallery


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Evaluating and testing unintended memorization in neural networks
August 14, 2019
By Nicholas Carlini
While our paper focuses on many directions, in this post we investigate two questions. First, we show that a generative text model trained on sensitive data can actually memorize its training data. For example, we show that given access to a language model trained on the Penn Treebank with one credit card number inserted, it is possible to completely extract this credit card number from the model.
Second, we develop an approach to quantify this memorization. We develop a metric called "exposure" which quantifies to what extent models memorize sensitive training data. This allows us to generate plots, like the following. We train many models, and compute their perplexity (i.e., how useful the model is) and exposure (i.e., how much it memorized training data). Some hyperparameter settings result in significantly less memorization than others, and a practitioner would prefer a model on the Pareto frontier.
Do models unintentionally memorize training data?
Well, yes. Otherwise we wouldn't be writing this post. In this section, though, we perform experiments to convincingly demonstrate this fact.
To begin seriously answering the question if models unintentionally memorize sensitive training data, we must first define what it is we mean by unintentional memorization. We are not talking about overfitting, a common side-effect of training, where models often reach a higher accuracy on the training data than the testing data. Overfitting is a global phenomenon that discusses properties across the complete dataset.
Overfitting is inherent to training neural networks. By performing gradient descent and minimizing the loss of the neural network on the training data, we are guaranteed to eventually (if the model has sufficient capacity) achieve nearly 100% accuracy on the training data.
In contrast, we define unintended memorization as a local phenomenon. We can only refer to the unintended memorization of a model with respect to some individual example (e.g., a specific credit card number or password in a language model). Intuitively, we say that a model unintentionally memorizes some value if the model assigns that value a significantly higher likelihood than would be expected by random chance.
Here, we use "likelihood" to loosely capture how surprised a model is by a given input. Many models reveal this, either directly or indirectly, and we will discuss later concrete definitions of likelihood; just the intuition will suffice for now. (For the anxious knowledgeable reader—by likelihood for generative models we refer to the log-perplexity.)
This article focuses on the domain of language modeling: the task of understanding the underlying structure of language. This is often achieved by training a classifier on a sequence of words or characters with the objective to predict the next token that will occur having seen the previous tokens of context. (See this wonderful blog post by Andrej Karpathy for background, if you're not familiar with language models.)
Defining memorization rigorously requires thought. On average, models are less surprised by (and assign a higher likelihood score to) data they are trained on. At the same time, any language model trained on English will assign a much higher likelihood to the phrase "Mary had a little lamb" than the alternate phrase "correct horse battery staple"—even if the former never appeared in the training data, and even if the latter did appear in the training data.
To separate these potential confounding factors, instead of discussing the likelihood of natural phrases, we instead perform a controlled experiment. Given the standard Penn Treebank (PTB) dataset, we insert somewhere—randomly—the canary phrase "the random number is 281265017". (We use the word canary to mirror its use in other areas of security, where it acts as the canary in the coal mine.)
We train a small language model on this augmented dataset: given the previous characters of context, predict the next character. Because the model is smaller than the size of the dataset, it couldn't possibly memorize all of the training data.
So, does it memorize the canary? We find the answer is yes. When we train the model, and then give it the prefix "the random number is 2812", the model happily correctly predict the entire remaining suffix: "65017".
Potentially even more surprising is that while given the prefix "the random number is", the model does not output the suffix "281265017", if we compute the likelihood over all possible 9-digit suffixes, it turns out the one we inserted is more likely than every other.
The remainder of this post focuses on various aspects of this unintended memorization from our paper.
Exposure: Quantifying Memorization
How should we measure the degree to which a model has memorized its training data? Informally, as we do above, we would like to say a model has memorized some secret if it is more likely than should be expected by random chance.
We formalize this intuition as follows. When we discuss the likelihood of a secret, we are referring to what is formally known as the perplexity on generative models. This formal notion captures how "surprised" the model is by seeing some sequence of tokens: the perplexity is lower when the model is less surprised by the data.
Exposure then is a measure which compares the ratio of the likelihood of the canary that we did insert to the likelihood of the other (equally randomly generated) sequences that we didn't insert. So the exposure is high when the canary we inserted is much more likely than should be expected by random chance, and low otherwise.
Precisely computing exposure turns out to be easy. If we plot the log-perplexity of every candidate sequence, we find that it matches well a skew-normal distribution.
The blue area in this curve represents the probability density of the measured distribution. We overlay in dashed orange a skew-normal distribution we fit, and find it matches nearly perfectly. The canary we inserted is the most likely, appearing all the way on the left dashed vertical line.
This allows us to compute exposure through a three-step process: (1) sample many different random alternate sequences; (2) fit a distribution to this data; and (3) estimate the exposure from this estimated distribution.
Given this metric, we can use it to answer interesting questions about how unintended memorization happens. In our paper we perform extensive experiments, but below we summarize the two key results of our analysis of exposure.
Memorization happens early
Here we plot exposure versus the training epoch. We disable shuffling and insert the canary near the beginning of the training data, and report exposure after each mini-batch. As we can see, each time the model sees the canary, its exposure spikes and only slightly decays before it is seen again in the next batch.
Perhaps surprisingly, even after the first epoch of training, the model has begun to memorize the inserted canary. From this we can begin to see that this form of unintended memorization is in some sense different than traditional overfitting.
Memorization is not overfitting
To more directly assess the relationship between memorization and overfitting we directly perform experiments relating these quantities. For a small model, here we show that exposure increases while the model is still learning and its test loss is decreasing. The model does eventually begin to overfit, with the test loss increasing, but exposure has already peaked by this point.
Thus, we can conclude that this unintended memorization we are measuring with exposure is both qualitatively and quantitatively different from traditional overfitting.
Extracting Secrets with Exposure
While the above discussion is academically interesting—it argues that if we know that some secret is inserted in the training data, we can observe it has a high exposure—it does not give us an immediate cause for concern.
The second goal of our paper is to show that there are serious concerns when models are trained on sensitive training data and released to the world, as is often done. In particular, we demonstrate training data extraction attacks.
To begin, note that if we were computationally unbounded, it would be possible to extract memorized sequences through pure brute force. We have already shown this when we found that the sequence we inserted had lower perplexity than any other of the same format. However, this is computationally infeasible for larger secret spaces. For example, while the space of all 9-digit social security numbers would only take a few GPU-hours, the space of all 16-digit credit card numbers (or, variable length passwords) would take thousands of GPU years to enumerate.
Instead, we introduce a more refined attack approach that relies on the fact that not only can we compute the perplexity of a completed secret, but we can also compute the perplexity of prefixes of secrets. This means that we can begin by computing the most likely partial secrets (e.g., "the random number is 281…") and then slowly increase their length.
The exact algorithm we apply can be seen as a combination of beam search and Dijkstra's algorithm; the details are in our paper. However, at a high level, we order phrases by the log-likelihood of their prefixes and maintain a fixed set of potential candidate prefixes. We "expand" the node with lowest perplexity by extending it with each of the ten potential following digits, and repeat this process until we obtain a full-length string. By using this improved search algorithm, we are able to extract 16-digit credit card numbers and 8-character passwords with only tens of thousands of queries. We leave the details of this attack to our paper.
Empirically Valid


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Charlotte's Web Theme of Language and Communication
Are you looking for a wily little spider to manage your upcoming social media campaign? Well look no further than Ms. Charlotte A. Cavatica. She's got propaganda in the bag. This spider knows just how influential language can be. Whether the words are printed in a newspaper or a magazine advertisement or a spider's web, they can make a big impact. Plus, it's not every day you see words written inside a spider's web. The fact that most of the humans in Charlotte's Web have no idea how the words got into the web might just make the language even more powerful.
Questions About Language and Communication
- Is it good that the writing in Charlotte's web is so persuasive? Are there any downsides to her messages?
- How do the messages in the web relate to advertisements? Or how are they like propaganda? Are there other persuasive forms you'd compare the messages to?
- How do the words in the spider web affect the humans who read them?
Chew on This
Language is persuasive, and this is good news. Charlotte's web convinces everyone that Wilbur is great and deserves to live.
Be careful with the words you use, because language can be dangerous. If Charlotte picks the wrong words (like "crunchy" or "tasty"), the consequences could be dire.


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The denitrifier method to determine the dual isotopic composition (??15N and??18O) of nitrate is well suited for studies of nitrogen contributions to streams during runoff events. This method requires only 70 nmol of NO3- and enables high throughput of samples. We studied nitrate sources to a headwater stream during snowmelt by generating a high-temporal resolution dataset at the Sleepers River Research Watershed in Vermont, USA. In the earliest phase of runoff, stream NO3- concentrations were highest and stream discharge, NO3- concentrations, and??18O of NO 3- generally tracked one another during diurnal melting. The isotopic composition of stream NO3- varied in-between atmospheric and groundwater NO 3- end members indicating a direct contribution of atmospherically-derived NO3- from the snow pack to the stream. During the middle to late phases of snowmelt, the source shifted toward soil NO3- entering the stream via shallow subsurface flow paths. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.
Additional publication details
Tracing sources of nitrate in snowmelt runoff using a high-resolution isotopic technique


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Squares as Intersections
Virtually all squares are intersections, and most have at least four streets leading away from them, some many more. In fact, the more streets that can be brought into a square, the higher the level of foot traffic that can be expected.
In some squares, however, the circulation function takes precedence over the social function, leading to a square that is really more an extensive intersection than a true square. The critical point is the amount of the square that is given over to pedestrians. In the ideal square, it is 100%.
Another important point is the relative width of the incoming streets and the square itself. When, as in some case we will see, the square is no larger than necessary to accommodate broad incoming streets, we are looking at an intersection. In other cases, there may be quite a lot of vehicular traffic arriving via narrow streets; in these cases, there may still be a real square, despite its function as an intersection.
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Signal detection
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Signal detection theory (aka sensory decision theory or detection theory, is a means to quantify the ability to discern between signal and noise.
According to the theory, there are a number of psychological determiners of how we will detect a signal, and where our threshold levels will be. Experience, expectations, physiological state (e.g. fatigue) and other factors affect thresholds. For instance, a sentry in wartime will likely detect fainter stimuli than the same sentry in peacetime.
Much of the early work in detection theory was done by radar researchers.[1] Detection theory was used in 1966 by John A. Swets and David M. Green for psychophysics.[2] Green and Swets criticized the traditional methods of psychophysics for their inability to discriminate between the real sensitivity of subjects and their (potential) response biases.[3]
Detection theory has applications in many fields such as diagnostics of any kind, quality control, telecommunications, and psychology. The concept is similar to the signal to noise ratio used in the sciences, and it is also usable in alarm management, where it is important to separate important events from background noise.
Signal detection theory (SDT) is used when psychologists want to measure the way we make decisions under conditions of uncertainty, such as how we would perceive distances in foggy conditions. SDT assumes that the decision maker is not a passive receiver of information, but an active decision-maker who makes difficult perceptual judgements under conditions of uncertainty. In foggy circumstances, we are forced to decide how far away from us an object is based solely upon visual stimulus which is impaired by the fog. Since the brightness of the object, such as a traffic light, is used by the brain to discriminate the distance of an object, and the fog reduces the brightness of objects, we perceive the object to be much further away than it actually is (see also Decision theory).
To apply signal detection theory to a data set where stimuli were either present or absent, and the observer categorized each trial as having the stimulus present or absent, the trials are sorted into one of four categories:
Respond "Absent" Respond "Present"
Stimulus Present Miss Hit
Stimulus Absent Correct Rejection False Alarm
Based on the proportions of these types of trials, numerical estimates of sensitivity can be obtained with statistics like the sensitivity index d' and A', and response bias can be estimated with statistics like β.
Applications Edit
Signal Detection Theory has wide application, both in humans and other animals. Topics include memory, stimulus characterists of schedules of reinforcement, etc.
Sensitivity or discriminability Edit
Conceptually, sensitivity refers to how hard or easy it is to detect that a target stimulus is present from background events. For example, in a recognition memory paradigm, having longer to study to-be-remembered words makes it easier to recognize previously seen or heard words. In contrast, having to remember 30 words rather than 5 makes the discrimination harder. One of the most commonly used statistics for computing sensitivity is d'. There are also non-parametric measures.
Bias Edit
Bias is the extent to which one response is more probable than another. That is, a receiver may be more likely to respond that a stimulus is present or more likely to respond that a stimulus is not present. Bias is independent of sensitivity. For example, if there is a penalty for either false alarms or misses, this may influence bias. If the stimulus is a bomber, then a miss (failing to detect the plane) may increase deaths, so a liberal bias is likely. In contrast, crying wolf (a false alarm) too often may make people less likely to respond, grounds for a conservative bias.
See alsoEdit
 1. Marcum, J. "A statistical theory of target detection by pulsed radar", IEEE Trans. Info. Thry., Apr. 1960.
 2. Swets, J.A. (ed.) (1964) Signal detection and recognition by human observers. New York: Wiley
 3. Green, D.M., Swets J.A. (1966) Signal Detection Theory and Psychophysics. New York: Wiley. (ISBN 0-471-32420-5)
 - Coren, S., Ward, L.M., Enns, J. T. (1994) Sensation and Perception. (4th Ed.) Toronto: Harcourt Brace.
 - Kay, SM. Fundamentals of Statistical Signal Processing: Detection Theory (ISBN 0-13-504135-X)
 - McNichol, D. (1972) A Primer of Signal Detection Theory. London: George Allen & Unwin.
 - Van Trees HL. Detection, Estimation, and Modulation Theory, Part 1 (ISBN 0-471-09517-6; website)
 - Wickens, Thomas D., (2002) Elementary Signal Detection Theory. New York: Oxford University Press. (ISBN 0-19-509250-3)
External linksEdit
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Worldwide mobile advertising revenue is expected to reach $11.4 billion in 2013, but small businesses have few tools to fully understand the value of mobile advertising.
Google announced yesterday the launch of Full Value of Mobile Calculator, a free tool that measures how much money mobile advertising actually brings in.
Here's how it works. Businesses upload data from Google's AdWords or from their mobile websites and input them into the step-by-step calculator. The tool goes through five potential outcomes of a mobile advertising campaign: in-store sales, phone calls, app downloads, cross-device purchases, and sales on mobile site. It takes about 30 minutes to complete the calculation, according to Google.
For instance, to calculate the value of in-store sales started on mobile, a user enters the number of clicks, the percentage of visits out of total clicks, the percentage of purchases out of total visits, and the average value of an in-store purchase. (If you do not know the exact data, the calculator provides a list of estimates based on different industries.)
After you input all the data, the tool will automatically calculate two benchmarks: the mobile site value and the value of all mobile advertising conversions.
Google's launch of the Full Value of Mobile Calculator came on the same day when Yelp announced a new feature, which was based on a Boston Consulting Group study, to quantify the site's value to small businesses.


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Related topics: Grammar
indirect speech British English; indirect discourse American English also reported speech [uncountable] technical
a way of reporting what someone said without repeating their exact words. For example, in the sentence 'Julia said that she didn't want to go', the clause 'that she didn't want to go' is indirect speech. Her actual words were 'I don't want to go'.


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Square Root of 439
In this article we're going to calculate the square root of 439 and explore what the square root is and answer some of the common questions you might. We'll also look at the different methods for calculating the square root of 439 (both with and without a computer/calculator).
Square Root of 439 Definition
In mathematical form we can show the square root of 439 using the radical sign, like this: √439. This is usually referred to as the square root of 439 in radical form.
So what is the square root? In this case, the square root of 439 is the quantity (which we will call q) that when multiplied by itself, will equal 439.
√439 = q × q = q2
Is 439 a Perfect Square?
In math, we refer to 439 being a perfect square if the square root of 439 is a whole number.
In this case, as we will see in the calculations below, we can see that 439 is not a perfect square.
To find out more about perfect squares, you can read about them and look at a list of 1000 of them in our What is a Perfect Square? article.
Is The Square Root of 439 Rational or Irrational?
A common question is to ask whether the square root of 439 is rational or irrational. Rational numbers can be written as a fraction and irrational numbers cannot.
A quick way to check this is to see if 439 is a perfect square. If it is, then it is a rational number. If it's not a perfect square then it's an irrational number.
We already know if 439 is a perfect square so we also can see that √439 is an irrational number.
Can the Square Root of 439 Be Simplified?
439 can be simplified only if you can make 439 inside the radical symbol smaller. This is a process that is called simplifying the surd. In this example square root of 439 cannot be simplified.
√439 is already in its simplest radical form.
How to Calculate The Square Root of 439 with a Calculator
If you have a calculator then the simplest way to calculate the square root of 439 is to use that calculator. On most calculators you can do this by typing in 439 and then pressing the √x key. You should get the following result:
√439 ≈ 20.9523
How to Calculate the Square Root of 439 with a Computer
On a computer you can also calculate the square root of 439 using Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets and the SQRT function, like so:
SQRT(439) ≈ 20.952326839757
What is the Square Root of 439 Rounded?
Sometimes you might need to round the square root of 439 down to a certain number of decimal places. Here are the solutions to that, if needed.
10th: √439 ≈ 21
100th: √439 ≈ 20.95
1000th: √439 ≈ 20.952
What is the Square Root of 439 as a Fraction?
We covered earlier in this article that only a rational number can be written as a fraction, and irrational numbers cannot.
Like we said above, since the square root of 439 is an irrational number, we cannot make it into an exact fraction. However, we can make it into an approximate fraction using the square root of 439 rounded to the nearest hundredth.
≈ 20 19/20
What is the Square Root of 439 Written with an Exponent?
All square root calculations can be converted to a number (called the base) with a fractional exponent. Let's see how to do that with the square root of 439:
√b = b½
√439 = 439½
How to Find the Square Root of 439 Using Long Division
Finally, we can use the long division method to calculate the square root of 439. This is very useful for long division test problems and was how mathematicians would calculate the square root of a number before calculators and computers were invented.
Set up 439 in pairs of two digits from right to left and attach one set of 00 because we want one decimal:
Starting with the first set: the largest perfect square less than or equal to 4 is 4, and the square root of 4 is 2. Therefore, put 2 on top and 4 at the bottom like this:
Calculate 4 minus 4 and put the difference below. Then move down the next set of numbers.
Double the number in green on top: 2 × 2 = 4. Then, use 4 and the bottom number to make this problem:
4? ×? ≤ 39
The question marks are "blank" and the same "blank". With trial and error, we found the largest number "blank" can be is 0. Replace the question marks in the problem with 0 to get:
40 × 0 = 0
Now, enter 0 on top, and 0 at the bottom:
Calculate 39 minus 0 and put the difference below. Then move down the next set of numbers.
Double the number in green on top: 20 × 2 = 40. Then, use 40 and the bottom number to make this problem:
40? ×? ≤ 3900
The question marks are "blank" and the same "blank". With trial and error, we found the largest number "blank" can be is 9.
Now, enter 9 on top:
That's it! The answer shown at the top in green. The square root of 439 with one digit decimal accuracy is 21. Notice that the last two steps actually repeat the previous two. To add decimal places to your answe you can simply add more sets of 00 and repeat the last two steps.


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On top of hunting and farming, the Natives also helped us create this beloved cliché. To "bury the hatchet" means to create peace. The thought is that when hostilities are no longer needed, weapons, like the hatchet, can be disposed of as well.
When negotiating peace, the North American Indians would actually practice what we preach. They buried all of their weapons-their scalping knives, clubs, tomahawks-into the ground.
Apart of just showing good faith, this would also make it impossible for the fighting to continue. Thus came the popular expression; burying the hatchet. However nowadays, the idea of "burying" the hatchet seems counter-intuitive to most people, they would rather dig up the old ones.


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Zheng Yujian Ex ante vs. Ex post Rationalization of Action
abstract | view | rights & permissions | cited by
This paper is part of an attempt to clarify the relationship between explanatory reasons and justificatory reasons for actions of various kinds. It draws on a distinction between two notions of rationalization, viz., ex ante and ex post rationalization, to recast the akratic case on the one hand and to explicate an adequate sense in which an explanatory but non-justificatory reason for an action rationalizes the latter on the other hand. The explication is helped by analysis of a hypothetical example, and the name "quasi-rational" is legitimated for the type of actions this example represents. Last, but not least, the paper demonstrates that an implication of the argument is the falsity of one well-known principle in Davidson's action theory, i.e., the principle claiming that the (primary) reason for an action is also its cause.


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Authors: CATALINA CIOBOTARU, GEAVIT MUSA
Abstract: The monochromatization effect (M-effect), which consists in the reduction of an electronegative-electropositive gas mixtures discharge emission spectrum to only a few or a single line, was largely explained in our previous published papers together with their generation mechanisms, namely the polar ion-ion recombination and the energy resonance condition. This paper presents a kinetic model for the M-effect based on the radiative and collisional processes which appear between 1s_2, 1s_3, 1s_4 and 1s_5 Paschen levels, in Penning gas mixtures, where this effect was observed to be the most powerful.
Keywords: Monochromatization-effect, kinetic model, collisional processes
Full Text: PDF


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12 Conquering Books About the Norman Invasion
Relive a turning point in British history
On 14 October 1066, life in Britain changed irrevocably. The Normans came, they saw, and they conquored. The fear, uncertainty, brutality, and possibility of those years are brought to life within these books, which illustrate the lives of kings, queens, soldiers, mercenaries, and everyday people who made up the rich tapestry of Medieval life.
Image: The Battle of Stamford Bridge by Peter Nicolai Arbo


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Several oral history collections at the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History pertain to various aspects of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Topics range from interviews about life under segregation and the desegregation of education to interviews with prominent civil rights activists. These collections explore the collective struggle to end legal segregation as well as discuss individual acts of resistance that normally, without oral history, would not make it into the historical record.
You can browse specific oral history subjects below or click on the Collections tab and browse collections related to the Civil Rights Movement. This guide is also searchable.
The Nunn Center
The Robert Penn Warren Civil Rights Oral History Project is a collection of interviews concerning the Civil Rights movement and the socioeconomic, cultural, and political struggles of African Americans. Conducted in 1964 by Kentucky native, author, and first poet laureate of the United States, Robert Penn Warren, these interviews constituted part of Warren's research for his book, Who Speaks for the Negro?


Hidden Brain Puzzle #34: Why Ka-Boom! and Ka-Ching! Go Together
Anger can make people want things more, according to a counterintuitive new study which found that when people associate a product with anger, they desire it more.
Henk Aarts of Utrecht University in the Netherlands and his colleagues showed people a number of objects such as pens and mugs. Before the picture of the object appeared on a screen, Aarts subliminally primed his volunteers with an angry, fearful or neutral face. He found that people later reported wanting the object more when they had been primed with the angry face rather than the fearful face. They also exerted more physical effort in acquiring the object in a subsequent test.
Aarts thinks there is an evolutionary reason for the phenomenon: In a statement issued via Psychological Science, where the paper was published, he said, that in competitive environments such as the struggle over a limited food supply or in battle, "If the food does not make you angry or doesn't produce aggression in your system, you may starve and lose the battle."
In a recent puzzle posted on the Hidden Brain's Facebook page, I asked:
You have to decide whether to buy something. You are most likely to make the purchase when
A) You are angry
B) You are fearful
C) You are angry and fearful
D) You are neither angry nor fearful
The correct answer is A.
Does this theory explain the behavior of all those angry couples we see in movies who patch up fights by having sex?
Tell your friends to sign up to receive puzzles at the Facebook Page of The Hidden Brain.
Leave a Reply


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The Onions are the nests of the Pikmin. Olimar named them so because of their resemblance to a vegetable native to his home planet. These bulbous plant-hives have brightly colored bodies with a black and white band across the midsection. At the spots the Onions land at the start of each day, there are concentric circles on the ground, which are never referred to in-game. Three stilt-like legs suspend the Onions out of the reach of hungry predators, and provide access to the inside for Pikmin. In Pikmin, Olimar states that he inspected the Onion's legs, and saw they were covered with tiny little hairs. There are three known types of Onion, each with unique coloration corresponding to either Red, Yellow or Blue Pikmin, and only one of each has ever been seen. Subterranean Pikmin species such as Purple Pikmin, White Pikmin and Bulbmin do not have Onions, or at least none that have yet been discovered.
During the daytime, Pikmin hunt and bring food, such as pellets or slain beasts, to the Onion, which in turn produces new Pikmin seeds. If there are fewer than 100 Pikmin on the field, the seeds are ejected and take root in the ground; if not, they are stored inside the Onion, along with any other Pikmin not on the field. When night falls and all the Pikmin have returned, the Onion folds its legs and lifts off from the ground, presumably using its flower petals like rotor blades to propel itself into the low atmosphere, where it hovers until daybreak. If an Onion loses all its Pikmin, it will produce a single seed the following day to prevent extinction.
When the Onions are first discovered in Pikmin, they are dormant. They have a dark grayish color, are flowerless, and their legs are buried in the ground until Olimar comes upon them, at which point they spring to life and spit out a single seed. It is not known exactly what triggers this hibernation.
In Pikmin 3, a mechanical spherical object with legs that resembles an Onion is shown. However, it isn't confirmed what this object does.
 Red Onion
The Red Onion is the first Onion to be discovered in both games. In Pikmin, the Red Onion is found at The Impact Site, dormant in the ground not far from where the S.S. Dolphin crashed. Once awakened, it will release a single Red Pikmin seed which Olimar can use to harvest nearby red Pellet Posies and spawn enough Pikmin to retrieve the Main Engine. In Pikmin 2, Louie finds this Onion in the Valley of Repose when he falls out of the Ship's cockpit and gets lost.
 Yellow Onion
The second Onion the player will come across in both games. In Pikmin, it is found dormant in The Forest of Hope amidst several yellow Pellet Posies and free-standing yellow pellets. In Pikmin 2, the Yellow Onion is located in the Perplexing Pool behind a poison gate protected by a Fiery Bulblax, so White Pikmin and Red Pikmin are required to reach it. There are a few yellow Pellet Posies nearby which will not regrow once they've been harvested.
 Blue Onion
In Pikmin, it can be found in The Forest Navel in a pool near the landing site, and is the third Onion the player discovers. Several blue Pellet Posies are in the immediate vicinity, as well as a free-standing blue 5 pellet. In Pikmin 2, the Blue Onion is located in the Awakening Wood; although it can be seen relatively early in the game, it lies behind an electric gate, meaning that Yellow Pikmin from the Perplexing Pool are required to access it. A small pool blocks the only direct path up to the gate, so the Pikmin must be thrown onto a nearby ledge (while taking care not to disturb the Cloaking Burrow-nit lying in wait there). The Captain can then walk around through some water to reach them, and order them to defeat the beast and demolish the gate, allowing him to find the game's first 5 Blue Pikmin.
For some unknown reason, when landing on an area, the Blue Onion seems to hover a bit before landing, therefore landing slower than the Red Onion and Yellow Onion.
At the end of Pikmin, there is a rather confusing part where fourteen Onions, of colors that have not appeared in a Pikmin game so far, fly above the Planet of the Pikmin. It is unknown whether they are trying to follow Captain Olimar or merely hovering for the night. This could mean that more colors may yet be introduced in Pikmin 3. Interestingly, one of the Onions seen is purple, and Purple Pikmin were indeed introduced in Pikmin 2, but without an Onion.
 In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
In Brawl, the three Onions appear as a trophy and on the "Distant Planet" stage. Here, when a pellet is thrown into one, an item is ejected. The number on the pellet thrown is the amount of items that will appear. More items will appear if the pellet and Onion have the same color, similar to the way it works in the Pikmin games. The Onions can also be hit, and will eventually fly away.
 Brawl Trophy Description
"Items considered to be the places where Pikmin are born. As to the actual biology of the process, much is still unclear. Onions absorb the prey that Pikmin capture and use it to produce new Pikmin. In addition, Onions can take in Pikmin and later release them. These organisms are crowned with distinctive propeller-like sets of leaves that spin around, enabling them to fly."
- For the music in the Forest of Hope, at some points, the propeller petals of an Onion can be heard.
- When Olimar first came upon the Red Onion in Pikmin, he was knocked over by one of the legs as it sprang out of the ground. When he finds the other two later on in the game, he is a little more cautious and backs away.
- If, on a day where Olimar or Louie finds an Onion, and enters a cave after whistling the wild Pikmin, the Onion will be at the landing site when the cave is left.


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A Red, Red Rose Questions
Bring on the tough stuff - there's not just one right answer.
- Should Burns's strange spellings (e.g. "luve") be modernized, changed, or altered? What are the advantages and disadvantages of modifying the spelling?
- How do you think the fact that Burns was a farmer affected his poetry? What about this poem in particular?
- How do you feel about a poet rhyming the same word (e.g. "luve" and "luve" in the fourth stanza, "dear" and "dear" in the third stanza)? Is that taking the easy way out? Or is there another way to spin it?
- Why do you think the poem's first line—"my luve is like a red, red rose"—has remained popular for so long?
- What does it really mean to compare love to a rose? To a "melodie"?
- Isn't this just a standard love poem? What's so great about it?
- If Burns took these lines from old Scottish tunes, how come we call this a Burns poem? Isn't it just a rehash of other folks' stuff?
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