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To book or find out more about any of our courses or workshops either drop into the Club reception, call us on 020 7343 1700 or fill out our enquiry form and we'll get back to you.
This eight-week course* is split into four different groups, dependant on the level of swimming experience and ability.
Level 1: First group (17:30-18:15) is designed for complete beginners or those with almost no experience of swimming.
Level 1: Second group (18:15-19:00) is designed for complete beginners or those with almost no experience of swimming.
Level 1: Third group (19:00-19:45) is designed for those who can swim between five and ten metres.
Level 2: Fourth group (20:00-20:45) is for those who can swim half a length of the pool.
Level 2: Fifth group (20:45-21:30) is for those who can swim at least a length and want to learn to develop their strokes (including learning butterfly).
All courses are taught in a positive atmosphere with a focus on how to swim technically well.
Participants of the first group will learn water confidence and basic swimming technique. In the later groups, participants will develop skills in the four main strokes (front crawl, breaststroke, backstroke and, butterfly) as well as body position, breathing and timing.
It is suitable for everyone from absolute beginners to competent swimmers who are looking to improve their technique.
Tutor Martin Purcell is a former competitive swimmer with over 10 years' coaching experience. He has coached a wide range of abilities including the University of London swimming team.


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Pawitan J. A, Kispa T. D, Liem I. K, Mujadid F, Novialdi N. The Potential of Basal Medium Astemporary Prolong Culture of Umbilical Cord Derived Mesenchymalstem Cells. Biomed Pharmacol J 2018;11(4).
1Stem Cell Medical Technology Integrated Service Unit, Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital/Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, Jl. Diponegoro 71, Jakarta 10430, Indonesia.
2Department of Histology, Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, Jl. Salemba 6, Jakarta 10430, Indonesia.
3Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering Research Center, Indonesia Medical Education and Research Institute (IMERI), Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, Jl. salemba 6, Jakarta 10430, Indonesia.
4Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, Jl. Salemba 6, Jakarta 10430, Indonesia.
To compare the viability and characteristics of umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells (UC-MSCs) when they were kept in culture in three types of αMEM after confluence for various time points. Viability and characteristic assessments were done after keeping UC-MSC confluent cultures for 0, 24, 48, 72, and 96hours in αMEM with glutamax (Himedia), and without glutamax (Himedia or Gibco).There were thirty cultures, which each ten of them were kept in the three types of basal media, and for each time point and type of basal medium, two flasks were harvested. All viability and characteristic assessments were done after harvest. Viability assessments were done in duplicate, while characteristics assessment by flowcytometry for CD73, CD90 and CD105 were done only once.Further, differences between the various time points in terms of viability and CD73, CD90 and CD105 percentage after various time points were compared and tested by appropriate statistical analysis. Viability was >70% upto 72 hours and 48 hours when the cells were kept in Himediaglutamax containing αMEM and αMEM without glutamax respectively. Flow cytometry showed that CD73, CD90 and CD negative percentage did not differ to initial percentage, but after 24 hours CD105 was slightly decreased to > 60% in Himediaglutamax containing αMEM, while in the two αMEM media without glutamaxthe percentages were below 40%. For our UC-MSC culture, glutamax containing αMEM is better compared to αMEM without glutamax as temporary storage solution, and storage should be restricted to 24 hours.
Our UC-MSCs have been used in clinical trials that are on-going, and after harvest we stored the UC-MSCs in a temporary storage solution at 4-8oC before application. A study showed thatafter harvest, our UC-MSCs could be suspended in high glucose Dulbecco's modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM-HG) until 96 hours, which was superior to physiologic saline, and phosphate buffered saline (PBS). However, beyond 96 hours, DMEM-HG stored UC-MSC suspension completely lost their attachment and proliferation capacity, while physiologic saline and PBS stored UC-MSCs still retained some of their attachment and proliferation capacity. Moreover, beyond 96 hours, decline in viability of DMEM-HG was faster compared to physiologic saline stored UC-MSCs.4DMEM-HG contains high glucose, as well as amino acids, vitamins and isotonic ionic concentration, which is similar to human interstitial fluid. 5High glucose containing solution might be supportive to cell metabolism for a certain period, but in longer period might trigger exhaustion in cell metabolism, which led to proliferation arrest.4 Therefore, normal glucose basal medium might be more suitable in maintaining our UC-MSC viability.
Keeping harvested cell suspension in storage solution is often needed due to incompatible harvesting time and stem cell application schedule, either in clinical or preclinical setting, such as in organoid culture, where various types of cells are needed. Another approach to keeping harvested cell suspension in storage solution is keeping near confluent cultures in serum free basal medium until application schedule (prolong culture). Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the viability and characteristics of our UC-MSCs when they were kept in culture in three types of αMEM after confluence for various time points.
This in vitro analyticalstudy was conducted in Stem Cell Medical Technology Integrated Service Unit, RSCM/Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia, and Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering Research Center, Indonesia Medical Education and Research Institute (IMERI), Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia.Ethical clearancefor this study was obtained from Ethical Commitee of the Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia in 2018(no. 0144/UN2.F1/ETIK/2018).
The sample waspre-characterizedhuman UC-MSCsat passage-4, whichwas isolated by the multiple harvest explants method, cryopreserved, and stored in liquid nitrogen.1 The sample wasobtained from Stem Cell Medical Technology Integrated Service Unit, RSCM/Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Cryopreserved UC-MSCs were thawed quickly and recultured in a 25cm2 tissue culture (T25) flasks in 10% platelet lysate containing complete medium as previously described.6Further, at 80-90% confluence, the cells were harvested and counted.
Cell suspension was divided in threeequal volumes andthe cell pellets were each resuspended in three types of 10% platelet lysate containing complete media. The three complete media differed in the basal medium,namely glutamax containing αMEM (Himedia AL081G), and αMEM without glutamax (HimediaAL080AorGibco 41061-029). Each cell suspensions in the three kinds of complete media wererecultured into ten T25 flasks to yield thirty T25 flasks.The flasks were observed every day. When the cultures reached 80-90% confluence, complete medium was changed with the respective basal medium, except for two flasks from each basal medium, which was directly harvested and the results were labeled as the results at 0 hour (initial viability). The other flasks, two flasks from each basal medium were kept for 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours in 37oC, and harvested.
After harvesting, viability and characteristic assessments were done. Viability assessments were done in two replications, while characteristic assessments by measuring the CD73, CD90, and CD105 by flowcytometry were done only once.
Collected data were viability and percentage of CD73, CD90, and CD105 at harvesting after 0, 24, 48, 72, and 96hours in thethree types ofbasal medium. Viability in the three types of media after various time points were tabulated; mean and standard deviation were calculated and presented as viability curves. Percentage of CD73, CD90, and CD105 in the three types of media after various time points were tabulated, and presented as line graphs.Further, differences between the various time points and the three types of basal media in terms of viability were compared by either ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis test when the data was unsuitable for ANOVA. Correlation between viability and time were done. All analysis was doneusingstatistical analysis software(SPSS 20.0).
By the time, the cell viability was decrease gradually. The gradual decrease of cells' viability was slowestinthe glutamax containing αMEM (Himedia), followed by αMEM without glutamax(Himedia), and αMEM without glutamax (Gibco) basal media.In the first 24 hours after confluence, the cells' viability in αMEM without glutamax(Gibco) basal media has decreased until less than 70%; whereas, in the αMEM without glutamax(Himedia) and in the glutamax containing αMEM (Himedia) it decreased in the 72 hours and 96 hours after confluence respectively (Figure 1). Our data were normally distributed, but the variances were nonhomogenous, thus unsuitable for ANOVA. Kruskal Wallis test showed that there were no difference in viabilty between the three tested basal media, and between different time points (p= 0.053).
Characterization of cells using cluster of differentiation (CD) protein markers showed an interesting picture. The expressions were keep stable in CD73, CD90 and CDs negative, however, it was dynamic in the CD105 expression (Figure 2). During the time, expression of CD 90 was constantly >90%, and the CDs negative was constantly below 1%. The expression of CD73 in the three medium was comparable, although in basal media without glutamax (Gibco) it had dropped below 90%. The expression of CD105 could not be maintained in 90% or above. It dropped significantly in the first 24 hours after confluence in the three basal media (Figure 2).
Figure 1: Viability of UC-MSCs at various time points in glutamax containing basal media (Himedia), and basal media without glutamax (Himedia or Gibco).
Figure 2: Percentage of CD73, CD90 and CD 105 at various time points in glutamax containing basal media (Himedia), and basal media without glutamax (Himedia or Gibco).
In this study, reduced CD105 after 24 hours might interfere with MSC's differentiation capacity and stemness. In this preliminary study we did not examine MSC's differentiation capacity or population doubling time and fibroblast colony forming unit as surrogate of stemness, which is a limitation of this study. Therefore, though cell viability still met FDA criteria for cell therapy,7after 72 and 48 hours in both Himedia glutamax containing αMEM and αMEM without glutamax respectively, their functions might be reduced after 24 hours.
Keeping cells in basal media without serum for a certain period is one of the various methods to produce conditioned media rich in growth factors, which was used to treat various pathological conditions. Some studies used hypoxic conditions to produce the conditioned media to increase growth factor secretion. Moreover, normal stem cell niche in tissues is believed to be hypoxic.10 Therefore, for future direction, studies on keeping cell culture in basal medium in hypoxic condition that might prolong the time of storage without interfering cell quality need to be done.
Prolonged culture in basal medium for limited time is very useful when discrepancy of time between cell availability and application schedule is short, either for application in clinical setting or organoid research that needs various types of cells that should be ready in a certain time. Discrepancy between cell availability and application schedule can be managed by cryopreservation, but cryopreservation needs re-culture, which at least needs 7 days to provide cells for application. Moreover, the media after short time storage in hypoxic condition can be utilized and tested as therapeutic agents forvarious pathological conditions.
In conclusion, taken both viability and flowcytometry characteristics into account, for near confluent UC-MSC cultures, glutamax containing αMEM is the best prolong culture solution, and prolong culture should be restricted to 24 hours.
Publication of this work was supported by a research grant from the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia, Hibah PUSN 2018, contract no.554/UN2.R3.1/HKP05.00/2018.
There is no conflicts of interest.
A research grant from the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia, Hibah PUSN 2018, contract no.554/UN2.R3.1/HKP05.00/2018.
Pawitan J. A., Liem I. K., Budiyanti E., Fasha I., Feroniasanti L., Jamaan T and Sumapradja K. Umbilical cord derived stem cell culture: multiple-harvest explant method. In.t J. Pharm. Tech Res. 2014;6(4):1202-1208.
Dominici M., Blanc K. L., Mueller I., Slaper-Cortenbach I., Marini F., Krause D., Deans R., Keating A., Prockop D and Horwitz E. Minimal criteria for defining multi potentmesenchymal stromal cells. The International Society for cellular therapy position statement. Cytotherapy. 2006;8(4):315-317.
Weiss M. L., Anderson C., Medicetty S., Seshareddy K. B., Weiss R. J.,Werff I. V., Troyer D and McIntosh K. R. Immune Properties of Human Umbilical Cord Wharton's Jelly-Derived Cells. Stem Cells. 2008;26(11):2865-2874.
Krishnanda S. I., Agarwal R., Yausep O. E., Rizkita M., Angraeni R and Pawitan J. A. Comparison of Various Solutions for Temporary Storage of Umbilical Cord Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells. A.R.R.B. 2017;21(2):1-8.
Life Technologies. DMEM, high glucose. http://www.lifetechnologies.com/id/en/home/technical-resources/media-formulation.8.html. Accessed: July 7. 2015.
Pawitan J. A., Goei N., Liem I. K and Mediana D. Effect of Cryopreservation and cumulative population doublings on Senescence of Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells. Int. J.Pharm. Tech Res. 2017;10(2):109-113.
US FDA. Guidance for FDA reviewers and sponsors: Content and review of chemistry, manufacturing and control (CMC) information for human somatic cell therapy investigational new drug applications (INDs) (Draft). (http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/03d0349gdl.pdf). Published April 2008.Accessed January 26. 2017.
Bourin P., Bunnell B. A., Casteilla L., Dominici M., Katz A. J., March K. L., Redl H., Rubin J. P., Yoshimura K and Gimble J. M. Stromal cells from the adipose tissue-derived stromal vascular fraction and culture expanded adipose tissue-derived stromal/stem cells a joint statement of the International Federation for Adipose Therapeutics and Science (IFATS) and the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT). Cytotherapy. 2013;15:641-648.
Nassiri F., Cusimano M. D., Scheithauer B.W., Rotondo F., Fazio A., Yousef G. M., Syro L.V., Kovacs K and Lloyd R.V. Endoglin (CD105): A Review of its Role in Angiogenesis and Tumor Diagnosis, Progression and Therapy. Anticancer Res. 2011;31:2283-2290.
Pawitan J. A. Prospect of stem cell conditioned medium in regenerative medicine. Biomed. Res. Int. 2014;2014:965849.
Pawitan J. A., Liem I. K., Suryani D., Bustami A., Purwoko R. Y. Simple lipoaspirate washing using a coffee filter. Asian biomedicine. 2013;7(3):333-338.
Nofianti C. E., Sari I. N., Novialdi M., Pawitan J. A. Temporary storage solution for adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells. Stem Cell Investig. 2018;5:19.


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Q: Variable selection for predictive modeling really needed in 2016? This question has been asked on CV some yrs ago, it seems worth a repost in light of 1) order of magnitude better computing technology (e.g. parallel computing, HPC etc) and 2) newer techniques, e.g. [3].
First, some context. Let's assume the goal is not hypothesis testing, not effect estimation, but prediction on un-seen test set. So, no weight is given to any interpretable benefit. Second, let's say you cannot rule out the relevance of any predictor on subject matter consideration, ie. they all seem plausible individually or in combination with other predictors. Third, you're confront with (hundreds of) millions of predictors. Fourth, let's say you have access to AWS with an unlimited budget, so computing power is not a constraint.
The usual reaons for variable selection are 1) efficiency; faster to fit a smaller model and cheaper to collect fewer predictors, 2) interpretation; knowing the "important" variables gives insight into the underlying process [1].
It's now widely known that many variable selection methods are ineffective and often outright dangerous (e.g. forward stepwise regression) [2].
Secondly, if the selected model is any good, one shouldn't need to cut down on the list of predictors at all. The model should do it for you. A good example is lasso, which assigns a zero coefficient to all the irrelevant variables.
I'm aware that some people advocate using an "elephant" model, ie. toss every conceivable predictors into the fit and run with it [2].
Is there any fundamental reason to do variable selection if the goal is predictive accuracy?
[1] Reunanen, J. (2003). Overfitting in making comparisons between variable selection methods. The Journal of Machine Learning Research, 3, 1371-1382.
[2] Harrell, F. (2015). Regression modeling strategies: with applications to linear models, logistic and ordinal regression, and survival analysis. Springer.
[3] Taylor, J., & Tibshirani, R. J. (2015). Statistical learning and selective inference. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(25), 7629-7634.
[4] Zhou, J., Foster, D., Stine, R., & Ungar, L. (2005, August). Streaming feature selection using alpha-investing. In Proceedings of the eleventh ACM SIGKDD international conference on Knowledge discovery in data mining (pp. 384-393). ACM.

A: As part of an algorithm for learning a purely predictive model, variable selection is not necessarily bad from a performance viewpoint nor is it automatically dangerous. However, there are some issues that one should be aware of.
To make the question a little more concrete, let's consider the linear regression problem with
$$E(Y_i \mid X_i) = X_i^T \beta$$
for $i = 1, \ldots, N$, and $X_i$ and $\beta$ being $p$-dimensional vectors of variables and parameters, respectively. The objective is to find a good approximation of the function
$$x \mapsto E(Y \mid X = x) = X^T \beta,$$
which is the prediction of $Y$ given $X = x$. This can be achieved by estimating $\beta$ using combinations of variable selection and minimisation of a loss function with or without penalisation. Model averaging or Bayesian methods may also be used, but let's focus on single model predictions.
Stepwise selection algorithms like forward and backward variable selection can be seen as approximate attempts to solve a best subset selection problem, which is computationally hard (so hard that the improvements of computational power matters little). The interest is in finding for each $k = 1, \ldots, \min(N, p)$ the best (or at least a good) model with $k$ variables. Subsequently, we may optimise over $k$.
The danger with such a variable selection procedure is that many standard distributional results are invalid conditionally on the variable selection. This holds for standard tests and confidence intervals, and is one of the problems that Harrell [2] is warning about. Breiman also warned about model selection based on e.g. Mallows' $C_p$ in The Little Bootstrap .... Mallows' $C_p$, or AIC for that matter, do not account for the model selection, and they will give overly optimistic prediction errors.
However, cross-validation can be used for estimating the prediction error and for selecting $k$, and variable selection can achieve a good balance between bias and variance. This is particularly true if $\beta$ has a few large coordinates with the rest close to zero $-$ as @probabilityislogic mentions.
Shrinkage methods such as ridge regression and lasso can achieve a good tradeoff between bias and variance without explicit variable selection. However, as the OP mentions, lasso does implicit variable selection. It's not really the model but rather the method for fitting the model that does variable selection. From that perspective, variable selection (implicit or explicit) is simply part of the method for fitting the model to data, and it should be regarded as such.
Algorithms for computing the lasso estimator can benefit from variable selection (or screening). In Statistical Learning with Sparsity: The Lasso and Generalizations, Section 5.10, it it described how screening, as implemented in glmnet, is useful. It can lead to substantially faster computation of the lasso estimator.
One personal experience is from an example where variable selection made it possible to fit a more complicated model (a generalised additive model) using the selected variables. Cross-validation results indicated that this model was superior to a number of alternatives $-$ though not to a random forest. If gamsel had been around $-$ which integrates generalised additive models with variable selection $-$ I might have considered trying it out as well.
Edit: Since I wrote this answer there is a paper out on the particular application I had in mind. R-code for reproducing the results in the paper is available.
In summary I will say that variable selection (in one form or the other) is and will remain to be useful $-$ even for purely predictive purposes $-$ as a way to control the bias-variance tradeoff. If not for other reasons, then at least because more complicated models may not be able to handle very large numbers of variables out-of-the-box. However, as time goes we will naturally see developments like gamsel that integrate variable selection into the estimation methodology.
It is, of course, always essential that we regard variable selection as part of the estimation method. The danger is to believe that variable selection performs like an oracle and identifies the correct set of variables. If we believe that and proceed as if variables were not selected based on the data, then we are at risk of making errors.

A: There have been rumors for years that Google uses all available features in building its predictive algorithms. To date however, no disclaimers, explanations or white papers have emerged that clarify and/or dispute this rumor. Not even their published patents help in the understanding. As a result, no one external to Google knows what they are doing, to the best of my knowledge.
/* Update in Sept 2019, a Google Tensorflow evangelist went on record in a presentation in stating that Google engineers regularly evaluate over 5 billion parameters for the current version of PageRank. */
As the OP notes, one of the biggest problems in predictive modeling is the conflation between classic hypothesis testing and careful model specification vs pure data mining. The classically trained can get quite dogmatic about the need for "rigor" in model design and development. The fact is that when confronted with massive numbers of candidate predictors and multiple possible targets or dependent variables, the classic framework neither works, holds nor provides useful guidance. Numerous recent papers delineate this dilemma from Chattopadhyay and Lipson's brilliant paper Data Smashing: Uncovering Lurking Order in Data http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/royinterface/11/101/20140826.full.pdf

The key bottleneck is that most data comparison algorithms today rely
  on a human expert to specify what 'features' of the data are relevant
  for comparison. Here, we propose a new principle for estimating the
  similarity between the sources of arbitrary data streams, using
  neither domain knowledge nor learning.

To last year's AER paper on Prediction Policy Problems by Kleinberg, et al.https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.p20151023 which makes the case for data mining and prediction as useful tools in economic policy making, citing instances where "causal inference is not central, or even necessary."
The fact is that the bigger, $64,000 question is the broad shift in thinking and challenges to the classic hypothesis-testing framework implicit in, e.g., this Edge.org symposium on "obsolete" scientific thinking https://www.edge.org/responses/what-scientific-idea-is-ready-for-retirement as well as this recent article by Eric Beinhocker on the "new economics" which presents some radical proposals for integrating widely different disciplines such as behavioral economics, complexity theory, predictive model development, network and portfolio theory as a platform for policy implementation and adoption https://evonomics.com/the-deep-and-profound-changes-in-economics-thinking/ Needless to say, these issues go far beyond merely economic concerns and suggest that we are undergoing a fundamental shift in scientific paradigms. The shifting views are as fundamental as the distinctions between reductionistic, Occam's Razor like model-building vs Epicurus' expansive Principle of Plenitude or multiple explanations which roughly states that if several findings explain something, retain them all ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_plenitude
Of course, guys like Beinhocker are totally unencumbered with practical, in the trenches concerns regarding applied, statistical solutions to this evolving paradigm. Wrt the nitty-gritty questions of ultra-high dimensional variable selection, the OP is relatively nonspecific regarding viable approaches to model building that might leverage, e.g., Lasso, LAR, stepwise algorithms or  "elephant models" that use all of the available information. The reality is that, even with AWS or a supercomputer, you can't use all of the available information at the same time – there simply isn't enough RAM to load it all in. What does this mean? Workarounds have been proposed, e.g., the NSF's Discovery in Complex or Massive Datasets: Common Statistical Themes to "divide and conquer" algorithms for massive data mining, e.g., Wang, et al's paper, A Survey of Statistical Methods and Computing for Big Data http://arxiv.org/pdf/1502.07989.pdf as well as Leskovec, et al's book Mining of Massive Datasets http://www.amazon.com/Mining-Massive-Datasets-Jure-Leskovec/dp/1107077230/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464528800&sr=8-1&keywords=Mining+of+Massive+Datasets
There are now literally hundreds, if not thousands of papers that deal with various aspects of these challenges, all proposing widely differing analytic engines as their core from the "divide and conquer" algorithms; unsupervised, "deep learning" models; random matrix theory applied to massive covariance construction; Bayesian tensor models to classic, supervised logistic regression, and more. Fifteen years or so ago, the debate largely focused on questions concerning the relative merits of hierarchical Bayesian solutions vs frequentist finite mixture models. In a paper addressing these issues, Ainslie, et al. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.197.788&rep=rep1&type=pdf came to the conclusion that the differing theoretical approaches, in practice, produced largely equivalent results with the exception of problems involving sparse and/or high dimensional data where HB models had the advantage. Today with the advent of D&C workarounds, any arbitrage HB models may have historically enjoyed are being eliminated.
The basic logic of these D&C workarounds are, by and large, extensions of Breiman's famous random forest technique which relied on bootstrapped resampling of observations and features. Breiman did his work in the late 90s on a single CPU when massive data meant a few dozen gigs and a couple of thousand features. On today's massively parallel, multi-core platforms, it is possible to run algorithms analyzing terabytes of data containing tens of millions of features building millions of "RF" mini-models in a few hours.
There are any number of important questions coming out of all of this. One has to do with a concern over a loss of precision due to the approximating nature of these workarounds. This issue has been addressed by Chen and Xie in their paper, A Split-and-Conquer Approach for Analysis of Extraordinarily Large Data http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/TechnicalReports/TechReports/2012/2012-01.pdf where they conclude that the approximations are indistinguishably different from the "full information" models.
A second concern which, to the best of my knowledge hasn't been adequately addressed by the literature, has to do with what is done with the results (i.e., the "parameters") from potentially millions of predictive mini-models once the workarounds have been rolled up and summarized. In other words, how does one execute something as simple as "scoring" new data with these results? Are the mini-model coefficients to be saved and stored or does one simply rerun the d&c algorithm on new data?
In his book, Numbers Rule Your World, Kaiser Fung describes the dilemma Netflix faced when presented with an ensemble of only 104 models handed over by the winners of their competition. The winners had, indeed, minimized the MSE vs all other competitors but this translated into only a several decimal place improvement in accuracy on the 5-point, Likert-type rating scale used by their movie recommender system. In addition, the IT maintenance required for this ensemble of models cost much more than any savings seen from the "improvement" in model accuracy.
Then there's the whole question of whether "optimization" is even possible with information of this magnitude. For instance, Emmanuel Derman, the physicist and financial engineer, in his book My Life as a Quant suggests that optimization is an unsustainable myth, at least in financial engineering.
Finally, important questions concerning relative feature importance with massive numbers of features have yet to be addressed.
There are no easy answers wrt questions concerning the need for variable selection and the new challenges opened up by the current, Epicurean workarounds remain to be resolved. The bottom line is that we are all data scientists now.
**** EDIT ***
References

*

*Chattopadhyay I, Lipson H. 2014 Data smashing: uncovering lurking order in data. J. R. Soc. Interface 11: 20140826.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.0826

*Kleinberg, Jon, Jens Ludwig, Sendhil Mullainathan and Ziad Obermeyer. 2015. "Prediction Policy Problems." American Economic Review, 105(5): 491-95.
DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20151023

*Edge.org, 2014 Annual Question : WHAT SCIENTIFIC IDEA IS READY FOR RETIREMENT?
https://www.edge.org/responses/what-scientific-idea-is-ready-for-retirement

*Eric Beinhocker, How the Profound Changes in Economics Make Left Versus Right Debates Irrelevant, 2016, Evonomics.org.
https://evonomics.com/the-deep-and-profound-changes-in-economics-thinking/

*Epicurus principle of multiple explanations: keep all models. Wikipedia
https://www.coursehero.com/file/p6tt7ej/Epicurus-Principle-of-Multiple-Explanations-Keep-all-models-that-are-consistent/

*NSF, Discovery in Complex or Massive Datasets: Common Statistical Themes, A Workshop funded by the National Science Foundation, October 16-17, 2007
https://www.nsf.gov/mps/dms/documents/DiscoveryInComplexOrMassiveDatasets.pdf

*Statistical Methods and Computing for Big Data, Working Paper by Chun Wang, Ming-Hui Chen, Elizabeth Schifano, Jing Wu, and Jun Yan, October 29, 2015
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1502.07989.pdf

*Jure Leskovec, Anand Rajaraman, Jeffrey David Ullman, Mining of Massive Datasets, Cambridge University Press; 2 edition (December 29, 2014)
ISBN: 978-1107077232

*Large Sample Covariance Matrices and High-Dimensional Data Analysis (Cambridge Series in Statistical and Probabilistic Mathematics), by Jianfeng Yao, Shurong Zheng, Zhidong Bai, Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (March 30, 2015)
ISBN: 978-1107065178

*RICK L. ANDREWS, ANDREW AINSLIE, and IMRAN S. CURRIM, An Empirical Comparison of Logit Choice Models with Discrete Versus Continuous Representations of Heterogeneity, Journal of Marketing Research, 479 Vol. XXXIX (November 2002), 479–487
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.197.788&rep=rep1&type=pdf

*A Split-and-Conquer Approach for Analysis of Extraordinarily Large Data, Xueying Chen and Minge Xie, DIMACS Technical Report 2012-01, January 2012
http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/TechnicalReports/TechReports/2012/2012-01.pdf

*Kaiser Fung, Numbers Rule Your World: The Hidden Influence of Probabilities and Statistics on Everything You Do, McGraw-Hill Education; 1 edition (February 15, 2010)
ISBN: 978-0071626538

*Emmanuel Derman, My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance, Wiley; 1 edition (January 11, 2016)
ISBN: 978-0470192733
* Update in November 2017 *
Nathan Kutz' 2013 book, Data-Driven Modeling & Scientific Computation: Methods for Complex Systems & Big Data is a mathematical and PDE-focused excursion into variable selection as well as dimension reduction methods and tools. An excellent, 1 hour introduction to his thinking can be found in this June 2017 Youtube video Data Driven Discovery of Dynamical Systems and PDEs .  In it, he makes references to the latest developments in this field.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Oifg9avnsH4&app=desktop

A: Allow me to comment on the statement: "... fitting k parameters to n < k observations is just not going to happen."
In chemometrics we are often interested in predictive models, and the situation k >> n is frequently encountered (e.g. in spectroscopic data). This problem is typically solved simply by projecting the observations to a lower dimensional subspace a, where a < n, before the regression (e.g. Principal Component Regression). Using Partial Least Squares Regression the projection and regression are performed simultaneously favoring quality of prediction. The methods mentioned find optimal pseudo-inverses to a (singular) covariance or correlation matrix, e.g. by singular value decomposition.
Experience shows that predictive performance of multivariate models increases when noisy variables are removed. So even if we - in a meaningful way - are able to estimate k parameters having only n equations (n < k), we strive for parsimonious models. For that purpose, variable selection becomes relevant, and much chemometric literature are devoted to this subject.
While prediction is an important objective, the projection methods at the same time offers valuable insight into e.g. patterns in data and relevance of variables. This is facilitated mainly by diverse model-plots, e.g. scores, loadings, residuals, etc...
Chemometric technology is used extensively e.g. in the industry where reliable and accurate predictions really count.

A: In several well known cases, yes, variable selection is not necessary. Deep learning has become a bit overhyped for precisely this reason.
For example, when a convoluted neural network (http://cs231n.github.io/convolutional-networks/) tries to predict if a centered image contains a human face, the corners of the image tend to have minimal predictive value. Traditional modeling and variable selection would have the modeler remove the corner pixels as predictors; however, the convoluted neural network is smart enough to essentially discard these predictors automatically. This is true for most deep learning models that try to predict the presence of some object in an image (e.g., self drivings cars "predicting" lane markings, obstacles or other cars in frames of onboard streaming video).
Deep learning is probably overkill for a lot of traditional problems such as where datasets are small or where domain knowledge is abundant, so traditional variable selection will probably remain relevant for a long time, at least in some areas. Nonetheless, deep learning is great when you want to throw together a "pretty good" solution with minimal human intervention. It might take me many hours to handcraft and select predictors to recognize handwritten digits in images, but with a convoluted neural network and zero variable selection, I can have a state-of-the-art model in just under 20 minutes using Google's TensorFlow (https://www.tensorflow.org/versions/r0.8/tutorials/mnist/pros/index.html).

A: In terms of prediction, you probably need to think of the question of how quickly the model learns the important features.  Even thinking of OLS, this will give you something like model selection given enough data.  But we know that it doesn't converge to this solution quickly enough - so we search for something better.
Most methods are making an assumption about the kind of betas/coefficients that are going to be encountered (like a prior distribution in a bayesian model).  They work best when these assumptions hold.  For example, ridge/lasso regression assumes most betas are on the same scale with most near zero.  They won't work as well for the "needles in a haystack" regressions where most betas are zero, and some betas are very large (i.e. scales are very different).  Feature selection may work better here - lasso can get stuck in between shrinking noise and leaving signal untouched.  Feature selection is more fickle - an effect is either "signal" or "noise".
In terms of deciding - you need to have some idea of what sort of predictor variables you have.  Do you have a few really good ones?  Or all variables are weak?  This will drive the profile of betas you will have.  And which penalty/selection methods you use (horses for courses and all that).
Feature selection is also not bad but some of the older approximations due to computational restrictions are no longer good (stepwise, forward).  Model averaging using feature selection (all 1 var models, 2 var models, etc weighted by their performance) will do a pretty good job at prediction.  But these are essentially penalising the betas through the weight given to models with that variable excluded - just not directly - and not in a convex optimisation problem sort of way.

A: I give you the perspective of industry.
Industries don't like to spend money on sensors and monitoring systems which they don't know how much they will benefit from.
For instance, I don't want to name, so imagine a component with 10 sensors gathering data every minute. The asset owner turns to me and asks me how well can you predict the behavior of my component with these data from 10 sensors? Then they perform a cost-benefit analysis.
Then, they have the same component with 20 sensors, they ask me, again, how well can you predict the behavior of my component with these data from 20 sensors? They perform another cost-benefit analysis.
At each of these cases, they compare the benefit with the investment cost due to sensors installations. (This is not just adding a $10 sensor to a component. A lot of factors play a role). Here is where a variable selection analysis can be useful.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Can you do optional parameters in a function thru cfscript? I am finally getting around to writing stuff in cfscript, and so I am starting with writing some needed formatting functions.  Here is an example:
    Function FormatBoolean(MyBool, Format) {

    Switch(Format){
        Case "YES/NO":{
            If (MyBool eq 1)
                Return "YES";
            Else
                Return "NO";
            Break;
        }

        Default:{
            If (MyBool eq 1)
                Return "Yes";
            Else
                Return "";
            Break;
        }
    }
}

What I would like to do is make Format an optional argument.  If you don't include the argument, the function will currently still run, but it won't find format, and it seems that cfparam did not get translated to cfscript.
Will I just have to check if Format is defined and give it a value?  Or is there a nicer way of doing this?
Thanks

A: Personally I prefer to set defaults to this kind of arguments. Also I've refactored function a bit... But not tested :)
function FormatBoolean(required any MyBool, string Format = "") {

    switch(arguments.Format) {
        case "YES/NO":
            return YesNoFormat(arguments.MyBool EQ 1);
        default:
            return (arguments.MyBool eq 1) ? "Yes" : "";
    }

}

Please note that (arguments.MyBool EQ 1) may be replaced with (arguments.MyBool), so it covers all boolean values. You may be interested to make it more reliable, something like this (isValid("boolean", arguments.MyBool) AND arguments.MyBool) -- this should allow to check any value at all.

A: All variables passed into a function are available to access programmatically via the ARGUMENTS scope. You can refer to it as if it were an array (because it is), as well as standard struct key access (which I've done for you below for the MyBool parameter):
<cfscript>
    Function FormatBoolean(MyBool) {

    var theFormat = '';

    if (ArrayLen(ARGUMENTS) GT 1)
        theFormat = ARGUMENTS[2];

    Switch(theFormat){
        Case "YES/NO":{
            If (ARGUMENTS.MyBool eq 1)
                Return "YES";
            Else
                Return "NO";
            Break;
        }

        Default:{
            If (ARGUMENTS.MyBool eq 1)
                Return "Yes";
            Else
                Return "";
            Break;
        }
    }
}
</cfscript>

Add your preferred additional levels of data validation as necessary.


text:
Not every woman will have a baby. But every woman has parents.
Gretel Killeen
By GRETEL KILLEEN
Now, like many of you I haven't a clue who to vote for so this is not a political party piece. Like many of you too, I'm a working mother and a strident advocate of women's rights. But I cringe at the suggestion that any parental payment plan is a sign that respect is being shown for women as carers.
The fact is that women are the primary carers – not only of babies who are needy and vulnerable – but similarly of the disabled, the ill and the elderly. And, as far as I know, there ain't no payment or government endorsed job security thing going on there.
Have you ever stopped to wonder why women who temporarily leave the workforce to care for their babies are paid leave and their position held within a company, while women who are forced to leave the workforce to care for the disabled, ill or their own parents are given no such safety nets nor social reassurances?
Perhaps because the elderly and the disabled are not 'cute' subjects.
Perhaps because babies are on public display while the sick and the elderly are often bed-ridden or housebound, out of sight, out of mind.
Perhaps because the mere thought of the difficulties of the life of a carer is potentially so damn confronting that we choose not to think about it all and imagine that it only happens to 'other people.'
But the fact is that so many women today are not only caring for babies in the form of their grandchildren but also for their elderly parents that a British think tank has announced that women over fifty should receive 'granny leave' from their jobs. Why? Because the impact of caring is causing these women to lose their jobs in a society in which unemployment figures for women over fifty have doubled over the past five years and women over fifty are the new poor.
Maybe it's time for us to realise that caring in general needs recognition because those who are caring for our most vulnerable and needy are rarely heard. They're too damn tired, they're too time poor and they've been conditioned to put themselves last.
Condescending kindness: PM Rudd patted a disabled woman on the head earlier this year.
In fact over the years we've all been taught that when women are doing something for love we shouldn't expect to be paid for it. Paid parental leave schemes could be seen as perpetuating this notion as they undiscerningly acknowledge only those who are temporarily removed from the work force and will soon return.
So it would appear that love and nurturing outside of the work paradigm have no value and unless you're going to be tangibly financially beneficial to the society then sorry, our nation won't invest in you.
But the fact is an investment in the sick, disabled and vulnerable is actually an investment in our society. History shows that those communities which look after their weak are far more enduring, powerful and content than those who only care about the strong.
So maybe it's time for us to think of this issue both socially and personally because, if for no other reason, statistics show that one day our income and work will be affected by caring for someone other than our babies. And that my friends will make us more emotionally and financially vulnerable and more likely to need caring for too.
In her colourful career Gretel has been a best selling author, film director, TV host, journalist, voice artist, doco maker, radio host, public speaker, social commentator and stand up comic. Next she is thinking of becoming a neuro surgeon but in the meantime Gretel is writing a play about the lies of love. You can visit Gretel's website here and follow her on Twitter here.
Are you caring for elderly parents or grandparents?
australian-election-2013
australian-politics
cat 8 years ago
Iam one of the carers, you talk about but I care for an adult child, I have been told that the LNP are going to force carers to look for paid work?? My question is How?? Who will be there to look after my child? I would have to either place her in Gov care or pay for a private carer to come into my home? both of which defeats the purpose of me being her carer. If I was to place her in Gov care it will cost the taxpayers a lot of money last time I looked into it, it was in excess of $1,000 a day I get paid the grand total of $808 p/f to be here for her. So I know I am not ripping the system off. I also do not receive rent assistance, as I with my ex partner (not her father) bought a home, he has agreed I and our children yes I have a 12 and 13yr old too. Should stay in the home and have a applied for the home loan myself. So again Iam not costing the taxpayer anymore money than what I should receive but having my own home I am helping support our economy . But I still get judged by others specifically people who have not had children with a severe disability like my child, they have no idea most people don't I do not ask for much Just allow me to look after my children and I will do all I can to make up what ever I owe society in other ways??
kath88 8 years ago
This is NOT about carers, its about PPL. So its ok for Public servants, Politicians to have paid parental leave based on their salary, but not for anyone in the private sector? So women in the private sector are not worth as much as public servants, public servants already get PPL and we the taxpayer pay for it, just ALP are not telling you that.
I think its time PPL was fair for all, no matter where you work, based on your wage. I think its a good thing.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Fish 'n chips in a paper cone
Kathmandu:
The last coordination meeting for The Himalayan Times International Food Fest was held at the Bhaktapur Hall, Hyatt Regency on November 21. Invitations and passes for the event were distributed to all fest participants. The Food Fest, which is scheduled for November 26, at Hyatt will have 18 participants representing different countries. And 1905 Kantipath is ready with a selection of world famous British delights chosen by the restaurant's American Chef Vinny Ginocchio. "Since we want to promote British food in Nepal, there is nothing more British than Fish and Chips," says Ginocchio. This famous culinary delight originated sometime around 1850s in England and spread all over the world. English style Fish and Chips are prepared by evenly cut fish fillets dipped in a beer batter, deep-fried, and served along with French fries in a newspaper cone for easy takeaway purpose. The purpose behind adding beer to the batter is that the carbonation in beer helps create a light, crisp crust and certainly adds to the flavour and taste.
"Fish and Chips was eaten and loved by people of all generations in the last food festival, and we had also run out for an hour or so," recollects Shova Rayamajhi, executive director, 1905 Kantipath. The other delight is Roast Beef with Flat Bread Wrap. "English people love Indian food, so they bring in something from Indian delights and blend them together with classic English cuisine," says Ginocchio. To prepare this, beef is slowly roasted in the oven and a few choice herbs and mushrooms are added. This is served with flat bread. Another item that is sure to pander to the Nepali palate is Bangers with Mashed Potatoes. It is basically English sausage served with mashed potatoes and fried onion and gravy all over. Similar would be English sausage with peppers on Baguette. "There are set instructions for preparing all this, however, I love to do some kind of fusion of my own to bring in some twist because I like to put my own personal signature to it," says Ginocchio. Well, if it is to be Fish 'n chips, then be there at THT food fest at Hyatt on November 26.
•Beer Battered Fish 'n Chips: Rs 100
•Bangers with mashed potatoes: Rs 125
•Roast beef in flat bread wrap: Rs 150
•English sausage with peppers on baguette: Rs 150
Non-white films highlighted in AFI movies of the year list


Alpinestars introduces the SOUND SERIES. The integration and collaboration of sound and sport. In collaboration with the AERIAL7, the Alpinestars sound series integrates advanced audio technology with apparel fashion and style. Designed for big sound in a small package. The SUMO headphones let you rock out anywhere from the subway to the studio.


text:
[![Install gem](https://badge.fury.io/rb/user_impersonate2.png)](https://rubygems.org/gems/user_impersonate2)
[![Build status](https://travis-ci.org/rcook/user_impersonate2.png)](https://travis-ci.org/rcook/user_impersonate2)
[![Coverage status](https://coveralls.io/repos/rcook/user_impersonate2/badge.png?branch=master)](https://coveralls.io/r/rcook/user_impersonate2)

## Note

This is a fork of Engine Yard's no-longer-maintained [`user_impersonate`](https://github.com/engineyard/user_impersonate)
gem and is its official successor. It supports Rails from version 4.0 to Rails 5.1 (tests only exists for 4.0 though) and has
been tested against Ruby 1.9.3, 2.0.0, 2.1.0, 2.2 and 2.3.1.

This fork also contains can_impersonate? functionality from [https://github.com/DaveSanders/user_impersonate](https://github.com/DaveSanders/user_impersonate)

## Overview

`user_impersonate2` allows staff users to impersonate normal users: to see what
they see and to only do what they can do.

This concept and code was extracted from [Engine Yard Cloud](http://www.engineyard.com/products/cloud),
which Engine Yard uses to support customer remotely.

This Rails engine currently supports the following Rails authentication systems:

* [Devise](https://github.com/plataformatec/devise)

## Links

* [Wiki](https://github.com/rcook/user_impersonate2/wiki) (includes tutorials
etc.)

## Example usage

When you are impersonating a user you see what they see with a header section
above. By default, this will be red.

## Installation

Add the gem to your Rails application's `Gemfile` and run `bundle`:

```ruby
gem 'user_impersonate2', :require => 'user_impersonate'
```

Note that `:require => 'user_impersonate'` is required as this gem currently
maintains the same internal directory structure as the original
[`user_impersonate`](https://github.com/engineyard/user_impersonate) gem. This
may change in future versions but is retained for compatibility for the time
being.

Run the (sort of optional) generator:

```bash
bundle
rails generate user_impersonate
```

This adds the following line to your `config/routes.rb` file:

```ruby
mount UserImpersonate::Engine => "/impersonate", as: "impersonate_engine"
```

It also generates a default initializer under `config/initializers/user_impersonate2.rb`.

Make sure that your layout files include the standard flashes since these are
used to communicate information and error messages to the user:

```erb
<p class="notice"><%= flash[:notice] %></p>
<p class="alert"><%= flash[:error] %></p>
```

Next, add the impersonation header to your layouts:

```erb
<% if current_staff_user %>
  <%= render 'user_impersonate/header' %>
<% end %>
```

Next, add the "staff" concept to your `User` model.

To test the engine out, make all users staff!

```ruby
# app/models/user.rb

def staff?
  true
end

# String to represent a user (e-mail, name, etc.)
def to_s
  email
end
```

You can now go to [http://localhost:3000/impersonate](http://localhost:3000/impersonate)
to see the list of users, except your own user account. Click on the
"Impersonate" link to impersonate that user and to see the magic!

## Integration

To support this Rails engine, you need to add some things.

* `current_user` helper within controllers and helpers
* `current_user.staff?` - your `User` model needs a `staff?` method to identify
if the current user is allowed to impersonate other users; if this method is
missing, no user can access impersonation system
* `current_user.can_impersonate?(user_id)` - optional method on your `User` model that can be used to check permissions on whether this user can impersonate a specific user

### `User#staff?`

One way to add the `staff?` helper is to add a column to your `User` model:

```bash
rails generate migration add_staff_to_users staff:boolean
rake db:migrate db:test:prepare
```
### `User#can_impersonate?(user_id)`

This method allows you to create logic to decide whether one user can impersonate another.  For example, you may have a customer service rep who can impersonate users, but not administrators.  This method will get passed the user_id that is to be impersonated, but the logic is up to you to decide.  For example:

```
def can_impersonate?(user_id)
  target_user = User.find(user_id)
  return false if self.role == 'customer service' && target_user.role == 'admin'
  true
end
```

Note that this method is optional.  If you don't want to limit who can impersonate whom, then simply don't declare the method in your configuration.

## Customization

### Header

You can override the bright red header by creating a `app/views/user_impersonate/_header.html.erb`
file (or whatever template system you like).

The `app/views/user_impersonate/_header.html.haml` HAML partial for this header
would be:

```haml
%div#impersonating
  .impersonate-controls.page
    .impersonate-info.grid_12
      You (
      %span.admin_name= current_staff_user
      ) are impersonating
      %span.user_name= link_to current_user, url_for([:admin, current_user])
      ( User id:
      %span.user_id= current_user.id
      )
      - if current_user.no_accounts?
        ( No accounts )
      - else
        ( Account name:
        %span.account_id= link_to current_user.accounts.first, url_for([:admin, current_user.accounts.first])
        , id:
        %strong= current_user.accounts.first.id
        )
    .impersonate-buttons.grid_12
      = form_tag url_for([:ssh_key, :admin, current_user]), :method => "put" do
        %span Support SSH Key
        = select_tag 'public_key', options_for_select(current_staff_user.keys.map {|k| k})
        %button{:type => "submit"} Install SSH Key
      or
      = form_tag [:admin, :revert], :method => :delete, :class => 'revert-form' do
        %button{:type => "submit"} Revert to admin
```

### Redirects

By default, when you impersonate and when you stop impersonating a user you are
redirected to the root URL.

Alternative paths can be configured in the initializer `config/initializers/user_impersonate.rb`
created by the `user_impersonate` generator described above.

```ruby
# config/initializers/user_impersonate.rb
module UserImpersonate
  class Engine < Rails::Engine
    config.redirect_on_impersonate = '/'
    config.redirect_on_revert = '/impersonate'
  end
end
```

### User model and lookup

By default, `user_impersonate2` assumes the user model is named `User`, that you
use `User.find(id)` to find a user given its ID, use `some_user.id` to get the
related ID value and that your user model has a `staff?` attribute that returns
`true` if the corresponding user is staff and `false` otherwise.

You can change this default behaviour in the initializer `config/initializers/user_impersonate.rb`.

```ruby
# config/initializers/user_impersonate.rb
module UserImpersonate
  class Engine < Rails::Engine
    config.user_class                  = "User"
    config.user_finder                 = "find"   # User.find
    config.user_id_column              = "id"     # Such that User.find(aUser.id) works
    config.user_is_staff_method        = "staff?" # current_user.staff?
    config.user_can_impersonate_method = nil # current_user.can_impersonate?(user_id)
  end
end
```

By default, `user_impersonate2` will use the same model for staff/admin users
as that described above for regular users. Some configurations, using
frameworks such as [Active Admin](http://activeadmin.info/), for example, use a
different model for staff/admin users. `user_impersonate2`'s default behaviour
can be overridden using the following initializer settings:

```ruby
# config/initializers/user_impersonate.rb
module UserImpersonate
  class Engine < Rails::Engine
    # For Active Admin "AdminUser" model, use 'authenticate_admin_user!'
    config.authenticate_user_method = 'authenticate_admin_user!'

    # For Active Admin "AdminUser" model, use 'AdminUser'
    config.staff_class = 'AdminUser'

    # Staff user model lookup method
    config.staff_finder = 'find'

    # For Active Admin "AdminUser" model, use 'current_admin_user'
    config.current_staff = 'current_admin_user'
  end
end
```

### Spree-specific stuff

Modify `User` and add a `current_user` helper:

```ruby
Spree::User.class_eval do
  def staff?
    has_spree_role?('admin')
  end

  def to_s
    email
  end
end

ApplicationController.class_eval do
  helper_method :current_user
  def current_user
    spree_current_user
  end
end
```

Use the following initializer:

```ruby
# config/initializers/user_impersonate.rb
module UserImpersonate
  class Engine < Rails::Engine
    config.user_class = 'Spree::User'
    config.user_finder = 'find'
    config.user_id_column = 'id'
    config.user_is_staff_method = 'staff?'
    config.authenticate_user_method = 'authenticate_spree_user!'
    config.redirect_on_impersonate = '/'
    config.redirect_on_revert = '/'
    config.user_name_column = 'users'
  end
end
```

Use deface to add the header:

```ruby
Deface::Override.new(:virtual_path => "spree/layouts/spree_application",
                     :name => "impersonate_header",
                     :insert_before => "div.container",
                     :text => "<% if current_staff_user %><%= render 'user_impersonate/header' %><% end %>")
```

## Contributing

See [`.travis.yml`](https://github.com/rcook/user_impersonate2/blob/master/.travis.yml)
for details of the commands that are run as part of the Travis-CI build of this
project. The minimum bar for all push requests is that the Travis-CI build must
pass. Contributors are also strongly encouraged to add new tests to cover any
new functionality introduced into the gem.

### Installing gem dependencies via Bundler

To install all gem dependencies for the active version of Ruby and for a given
gemfile, you'll need to run the `bundle` command, e.g.

```bash
BUNDLE_GEMFILE=Gemfile.rails4 bundle
```

### Running tests against all configurations (requires [rbenv](https://github.com/sstephenson/rbenv))

To run tests against all configurations specified in the Travis-CI configuration
file, run `script/test-all`:

```bash
script/test-all
```

This scripts requires that you have rbenv installed along with all required
versions of Ruby. Furthermore, you'll need to make sure that each version of
Ruby installed via rbenv has all the required gems available to it installed
using the `bundle` command.

### Running tests against a single configuration

To manually run the Travis-CI verification steps on your local machine, you can
use the following sequence of commands for Rails 4.0.x:

```bash
script/test -g Gemfile.rails4
```

`script/test` takes care of running Bundler to update any gem dependencies,
setting up the database, running all tests and then performing a test build of
the gem in order to catch any syntax errors.

## Licence

`user_impersonate2` is released under the MIT licence.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
AARP AARP States Nevada About AARP
Communication Veteran Joins AARP Nevada
Erin Neff has joined the Nevada office of AARP as the Associate State Director of Communications working within the organization's structure to provide strategic communications, issues management, and outreach.
She comes to AARP with a strong background in developing media strategies aimed at educating communities, managing complex public issues and calling constituencies into action. Erin most recently directed communications at the Clark County Regional Flood Control District, creating dynamic and viral marketing campaigns credited with changing public behavior.
Previously she was founder and director of ProgressNow Nevada and Progress Now Nevada Action. In this role overseeing both non-profits, she provided oversight of the communications efforts, fundraising and government affairs at the Nevada legislature.
Prior to her non-profit work she spent over a decade as an award-winning journalist working in California, Philadelphia and Nevada. At the Las Vegas Sun and the Las Vegas Review-Journal Erin's duties included covering state and national politics, elections and political conventions. During this time, she was also the host and producer of KNRP's State of Nevada radio show.
"Erin is a veteran communications expert who has in-depth knowledge of Nevada and the issues facing the over 50 population whom we serve. Her proven ability to effectively communicate across multiple platforms adds serious value to our organization and will help Nevada expand and integrate our education, services, programs, advocacy, and social impact work," said Maria Moore, Nevada State Director of AARP. "We are very pleased that Erin has joined the team and will be taking a leadership role in our online presence, social media outreach and keeping our 347,000 members here in Nevada informed of the good work we are doing every day."
Erin graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism and History. She also has a Master of Arts Degree in Urban Leadership from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
About AARP Nevada
Search AARP Nevada


Himalayan salt lamps have the ability to chemically and physically transform a room, and have unique health benefits. Before I can explain to you why pink Himalayan salt lamps are so beneficial to your health, I need to briefly tell you about positive and negative ions and how they can affect the way you feel.
Have you ever noticed how mentally and physically refreshed you feel after sitting by a gashing waterfall? Or how you experience a boost in energy after spending some time at an untamed seafront? What makes you feel so good in spots of this kind is the abundance of negative ions, which get produced in some natural places.
Now, there is a way to mimic these perfect circumstances in your own home and indoor places where you spend a lot of time.


text:
We represented a middle-aged woman who was injured while using an exercise machine that she purchased at a national retail store. اين ذهب كريستيانو رونالدو A local lawyer referred the woman to Robert W. شعار مانشستر سيتي Kerpsack Co., L.P.A. We filed suit against the manufacturer and the national retailer. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission was also alerted. ألعاب لربح المال الحقيقي 2023
While the woman's lawsuit was pending, the manufacturer and the retailer each paid federal civil penalties for failing to inform the CPSC of reported injuries to consumers using the exercise machine. The woman's lawsuit was dismissed after a confidential settlement was reached.
Types of Consumer Fraud Cases We Accept
Our consumer fraud practice covers a variety of types of cases, including:
Defective product claims
Insurance bad faith claims
Stockbroker misconduct
Consumer fraud can be a difficult case to prove. The laws are complicated and all too often biased in favor of big businesses. We at Robert W. Kerpsack Co., LPA believe that consumers who have been harmed by fraud deserve competent, experience legal representation, and we will fight hard to get our clients the compensation they need and deserve.
If you've suffered losses, whether through injury or financial damages, as a result of someone's fraudulent business practices, contact our law office in Columbus, Ohio, today by calling (614) 766-2000 or completing our online intake. We'll schedule a free, personal, no obligation consultation to review your case and help you determine your best course of action.


text:
Cairo is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Cairo in Greene County, New York, United States. The population of the CDP was 1,402 at the 2010 census, out of 6,610 people in the entire town.

Geography
The hamlet of Cairo is located in east-central Greene County at  (42.302637, -74.003818), near the geographic center of the town of Cairo. New York State Route 23 curves through the northern part of the community, leading southeast  to the Rip Van Winkle Bridge over the Hudson River at the village of Catskill, and west  to Windham in the Catskill Mountains. New York State Route 32 joins NY 23 through the northeastern part of the hamlet of Cairo, leading north  to Greenville and south  to Saugerties. New York State Route 145 branches off Route 23 in the northern part of Cairo and leads northwest  to Middleburgh.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which , or 0.14%, is water. Catskill Creek, a tributary of the Hudson River, flows eastward along the northern edge of the CDP.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,390 people, 600 households, and 361 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 327.1 per square mile (126.3/km2). There were 739 housing units at an average density of 173.9/sq mi (67.1/km2). The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.60% White, 0.94% Black or African American, 0.43% Native American, 0.22% Asian, 1.44% from other races, and 2.37% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.62% of the population.

There were 600 households, out of which 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.5% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.8% were non-families. 33.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.93.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 24.9% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 23.6% from 45 to 64, and 19.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.0 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $28,478, and the median income for a family was $34,063. Males had a median income of $36,250 versus $26,042 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $17,465. About 5.6% of families and 13.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including none of those under age 18 and 28.3% of those age 65 or over.

References

Census-designated places in New York (state)
Census-designated places in Greene County, New York

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
About ISEC
search filter All ContentAll ProceedingsPower and EnergyISEC
ASME 2005 International Solar Energy Conference
Solar Energy Division
Production of Solar Hybrid Fuels of DME, Methanol and H2 in Australia and Shipping to Japan
Yutaka Tamaura,
Yutaka Tamaura
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
Hiroshi Kaneko,
Hiroshi Kaneko
Akinori Fuse,
Akinori Fuse
Hideyuki Ishihara
Paper No: ISEC2005-76152, pp. 189-191; 3 pages
https://doi.org/10.1115/ISEC2005-76152
Published Online: October 15, 2008
Tamaura, Y, Kaneko, H, Fuse, A, & Ishihara, H. "Production of Solar Hybrid Fuels of DME, Methanol and H2 in Australia and Shipping to Japan." Proceedings of the ASME 2005 International Solar Energy Conference. Solar Energy. Orlando, Florida, USA. August 6–12, 2005. pp. 189-191. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/ISEC2005-76152
Solar hybrid fuel production from natural gas using concentrated solar thermal energy in Australia was studied, assuming that 54.6MW/(one unit of solar farm) of the concentrated solar thermal energy is used for the endothermic process of stream reforming (solar steam reforming; SSR) with total solar energy conversion efficiency of 45.5% (120MW of heliostat field; one unit of solar farm). With 23 units of the solar farm, natural gas of 2516t/d can be reformed by the SSR. To ship the product fuel to Japan by existing tankers, the syngas (CO + 3H2) produced by the SSR is separated into one mole of H2 (375t/d) and the mixed gas of one mole of CO and two moles of H2 which is converted to one mole of methanol (6000t/d) to be shipped by existing tankers. The one mole of H2 will be used in Australia as the H2 fuel with 25% solar share (CO2 reduction). To improve cost barrier between oil and the methanol produced by SSR, the CO2 zero emission process of the combined process of SSR and AT (auto-thermal process) is proposed as the one whose methanol cost can be competitive with oil, when carbon tax is introduced. By shipping the methanol produced by the CO2 zero emission process of the combined process of SSR-AT (economically feasible), we can reduce CO2 emission by co-firing coal and methanol at coal-firing power stations in Japan. In this system, an excess H2 fuel with solar energy is produced, and can be used in Australia.
Fundamentals and Theory
Fuels, Methanol, Solar energy, Carbon dioxide, Emissions, Coal, Concentrating solar power, Natural gas, Tankers, Carbon, Co-firing, Firing, Power stations, Ships, Solar energy conversion, Syngas, Teams
Advanced Power Plant Concept With Application of Exhaust CO 2 to Liquid Fuel Production
POWER2017-ICOPE-17
Deployment Prospects for Proposed Sustainable Energy Alternatives in 2020
Demonstration Test of Wood Pellet Co-Firing for Pulverized Coal Fired Boiler
Evaluation of Methanol and Light Fuel Oil Blends Firing at a 50 MW Gas Turbine
Technoeconomic Analysis of Microalgae Cofiring Process for Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants
J. Energy Resour. Technol (March,2011)
Multifunctional Energy System (MES) With Multifossil Fuels and Multiproducts
J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power (April,2007)
Analysis of Gas-Steam Combined Cycles With Natural Gas Reforming and CO 2 Capture
Summary and Conclusions
Nuclear Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics: Past, Present and Future
Clean and Efficient Coal-Fired Power Plants: Development Toward Advanced Technologies


ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday confirmed that the party will submit three nominees for the position of caretaker prime minister and chief minister of Punjab in the wake of upcoming general elections, a private TV channel reported.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan met senior party leaders and after consensus decided to submit the names of Abdul Razak Dawood, former chief justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and Dr Ishrat Hussain for the post of caretaker prime minister.
Dawood, a politician and industrialist, served as commerce minister in Pervez Musharraf's cabinet from 1999 to 2002. Jillani served as the 21st chief justice of Pakistan from December 12, 2013, to July 5, 2014. Husain is a Pakistani banker and economist who served as the dean of Institute of Business Administration (IBA) and governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) from 1999 to 2006.
PTI Vice President Shah Mehmood Qureshi will submit the nominations to Opposition Leader in National Assembly Khursheed Shah.
For the position of caretaker Punjab chief minister, PTI is likely to nominate Salman Shah, Shahid Hafeez Kardar and Tariq Khoso.
Shah is the former caretaker finance minister and has served as an advisor to the former prime minister Shaukat Aziz on finance, economic affairs, statistics and revenue. Kardar is a Pakistani banker who served as the 16th governor of the SBP.
Khosa served as the director general of the Federal Investigation Agency in 2009 and co-chair of the Governance Committee of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) country programme from 2010-2014.
Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed will submit the nominations for the slot.


This is sound level meter for your hand made audio device. This circuit will display like spectrum in Jet Audio software.
Supply voltage can be from 3V to 20V. The input is set for audio line voltage (1V peak to peak) and has a max input voltage of 1.3V. To make the circuit use a moving dot display instead of bar graph display, Pin 9 can be should be disconnected from +V.
Voltage ? 12 V ?


Tech gadgets and Valentine's Day might seem like an unusual pairing at first glance but, with a bit of creativity, our gift guide makes these gadgets seem just as romantic as the customary flower or jewelry routine. From USB mixtapes to instant photo prints, we've got some great gift ideas for you to mull over before the big day!
Sadly, the romantic one-two punch of the Sony Walkman and a meticulously curated mixtape of sentimental tunes is now a thing of the past. Fear not, The Blank Record Store's USB MixTape is an updated version of an old favorite, designed to invoke the romantic nostalgia of yesteryear while still offering the digital versatility of your typical flash drive. Get the look of a classic cassette tape and load it up with songs, pictures, or videos for that special someone. Use a sharpie to personalize the MixTape with a heartfelt title for an added retro touch!
Looking for a unique way to pop the big question over Valentine's Day weekend? Use Tile, a tiny Bluetooth tracker to turn your moment into a tech savvy scavenger hunt. Buy multiple Tiles and orchestrate a proposal your partner will never forget by placing each Tile on meaningful clues that eventually lead to engagement bliss. Tile uses a smartphone app to help you find commonly misplaced items like your phone or wallet. Attach a Tile to any item and locate it by sound. The app's map feature even shows you how close you are to your desired item! If you make it fun and creative, Tile can definitely add some originality to the all-important engagement story.
Celebrate cherished memories by creating a custom-made book, calendar or artistic print with Shutterfly. There are a lot of do it yourself photo and book publishers out there. Shutterfly outshines the competition with their extensive line of products and generous coupons. They ship quick and if you spring for their "Make My Book" service one of their expertly trained designers can do all the heavy lifting for you!
Instant print by phone apps are increasingly popular this year and sharing significant photos with a loved one is a great way to show you care. Create a valentine using a variety of pictures from a shared favorite place or memory, or a use it as a starting point for a one of a kind scrapbook. We've broken down some of the top printers on the market so it's easy to find one that fits your budget and your needs!
The instax printer is a speedy little machine with the ability to print as quickly as 16 seconds per photo! It's wide range of templates and sizes makes customization a snap. One template we liked was the "real time" stamp. Take any photo and it instantly incorporates the date, place, weather and temperature into the frame. Perfect for recording a memorable moment during a special date or getaway. At $134.58 it is on the lower end of instant printers in its class and its built in wi-fi feature lets you print from virtually anywhere!
Polaroid was the go to brand when instant photography was in its infancy so it's no wonder they have developed an equally impressive photo printer to fit in with the digital age. At an average print time of 60 seconds per photo the Zip is slightly slower than the Fujifilm. But for most, speed may not be as important of a factor than cost of ink, and that's where the Zip really shines. It's incredible zink feature uses color forming molecules imbedded in the layers of a specialized photo paper to create photo-quality prints without using actual ink. A 30 pack of zink photo paper goes for $14.99 on Amazon, making each print around 50 cents per page. The printer itself is cheaper than the Fujifilm at $129.99, and easily connects to your phone's Bluetooth. Edit photos on the spot using the free Polaroid app!
<Sharper Image's photo cube printer cube is a reliable machine that's compatible across multiple devices. It's major selling point is its ability to print a number of convenient sizes. As a result, it's quite a bit bigger than the Fujifulm and the Polaroid. But the option to easily print large high quality photos without the aid of a computer is a nice feature to have. Use the Photo Cube app to create collages, greeting cards and even panoramic sized prints! It goes for $159.99 on Sharper Image's website.
New to the instant print market, Prynt is an actual phone case that prints photos from your phone. Talk about a useful dual purpose! The case stays charged using a mini-USB cable and also uses the same amazing zink technology as the Polaroid Zip. One feature that really makes this photo printer attractive is it's augmented reality function. After recording a short video with your smartphone, print a picture of the video and scan the printed photo using the Prynt app. The scan feature magically plays back the video on the actual photo using a code that's discretely embedded into the photo. The technology is really quite remarkable. Prynt Case sells for $149.00 on their website and comes with 10 sheets of zink paper to get you started!
With Valentine's Day coming up in a matter of weeks, there isn't much time left to find that special gift. Change it up this year and add some technology into mix, there are a lot of unique options to choose from that can make the day truly memorable.


text:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Klem
Series / Klem
Create New - Create New - Analysis Characters FanficRecs FanWorks Fridge Haiku Headscratchers ImageLinks Laconic PlayingWith Quotes Recap ReferencedBy Synopsis Timeline Trivia WMG YMMV
What if you find out that your youngest daughter is best friends with the daughter of a most dangerous criminal... but you work in a high position at the IRS, which means you'd better not be seen with a criminal...
Then you're Stuck.
Klem (litt.: "Stuck" in Dutch) is a Dutch crime/drama television series that ran from 2017 to 2020 in three seasons. It is about the unlikely friendship that develops between two very different men, and their families.
Hugo (Barry Atsma) is a middle-aged widower, single father of two daughters, and has a top career at the Dutch tax institution (equivalent to the IRS) as a high-functioning government official. This completely straight-laced man inadvertedly crosses paths with top-criminal Marius after the latter is released from prison and both men cross paths because their elementary school-aged daughters are best friends, plus Hugo is platonic best friends with Marius' wife Kitty (who lied all 8 years her husband was in prison, telling everybody that he was "working abroad").
Hugo initially wants nothing to do with Marius, but their lives get intertwined after Hugo saves Marius from getting shot to death by other criminals who feel he owns them money. While Hugo is spending the first season (unsuccesfully) trying to avoid getting involved with Marius, Marius has problems of his own: now that he's released after 8 years in prison, he turns out to have severe debts of a million Euros to several other criminals, who now go after him. Plus, he has a parole officer who watches his every step, a daughter of 8 years old who's never known him but whom he's now trying to form a bond with, and his in-laws hate him.
In the second season, Hugo and Marius are (again) trying to avoid becoming suspects of a murder, while Kitty starts her own restaurant—but is soon foreclosed—and Hugo's teenage daughter Laura gets involved with a much older man who turns out to be bad business.
A third and last season was released in 2019, in which Hugo now has been fired from the IRS and gotten his reputation ruined by Marius' involvement; the men have had a falling-out with each other and are both trying to rebuild their lives.
This series provides examples of:
Series as a whole
Artistic License: Every phone shown is an Android phone, but the ringtones they make are Apple ringtones.
Missing Mom: Hugo's wife died 3 years prior to the series' start, which means his two daughters haven't had a mum for some time at the time the series starts, and they don't have a maternal figure in their lives during the series.
Ripped from the Headlines: The director has stated that he got the idea for this series after reading headlines about criminals in the news, with the character of Marius specifically being inspired by Willem Holleeder , a criminal infamous for his many kidnappings and murderings. It's downplayed though because only the background of the character and not specific storylines happening in the series itself were taken from there, and also because Marius is trying to reform his life and leave crime throughout the series, while the real Holleeder ended up currently serving a life-long prison sentence.
Time Skip:
The first scene of Season 1 shows the funeral of Hugo's wife, with then a title card following saying "Three years later..."
Season 2 doesn't immediately follow Season 1, but instead explicitly states an entire year has passed between the two seasons.
Again, an entire year passes between Season 2 and 3.
Age-Gap Romance: Hugo, in his mid-forties, has a relationship with 25-year old Hannah in the first season, to the dismay of his 16-year old daughter Laura who keeps reminding him his girlfriend is just 9 years older than his daughter.
Coming and Going: The sex scenes between Hugo and his girlfriend Hannah, respectively Marius and his wife Kitty, are intershot with the last moments of George van Galen's life, and the latter is shot to death at the moment the former sex scenes come to their conclusion.
Disappeared Dad: First played straight then subverted for Chrissie. She hasn't had a father in her life for the first 8 years of her life, with her mom telling her that's because her dad can't see them because he's "working abroad"; but as of the start of the series, her father gets released from prison after 8 years, her parents tell her the truth about this, and she starts to form a bond with her father.
Gender-Blender Name: Of the "Country-dependent" variation. Hugo and Kitty are looking for a person called Andrea, whom they never are told the gender of but they assume is a woman ("Andrea" in the Netherlands, like in English, is a female name). Not until she listens to her Italian lessons she happens to be taking, does Kitty realize that in Italian "Andrea" is male so they should also look for men. (Complicating matters was that this Andrea had his Dutch mother's last name instead of his Italian father's last name—if he'd had the latter, Kitty would have been clued in sooner since she knows some Italian).
Mr. Fanservice: Laura's Season 1 boyfriend Jim tries to use this In-Universe: he often appears without a shirt at moments and places where there wouldn't be any reason for him to, and he only does it to impress / please Laura with the effects of his bodybuilding on his body. Hugo, who's not amused, tells him a few times to go put on a shirt.
Shirtless Scene: Laura's Season 1 boyfriend Jim appears shirtless in a few scenes, to the point that Hugo annoyedly exclaiming "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?!" almost becomes a Running Gag.
Shower of Love: A sex scene in the shower is shown between Marius and Kitty after the former has just been released from prison and can be with his wife for the first time in 8 years.
Age-Gap Romance: 17-year old Laura gets into a relationship with a 34-year old man—twice her age, and as her father (who, ironically, himself had such a romance with a much younger woman in the previous season) keeps telling her, way too old for her.
Hypocrite: Laura accuses Hugo of being one when she says can't really complain about her boyfriend being 17 years older, because Hugo himself just comes out of such an Age-Gap Romance with an also 17 years younger woman.
Reverse Who Dunit: Season 1 ends with Hugo and Marius killing Wally. So the viewer knows how Wally died. The authorities, in-universe, however, do not, and most of Season 2 is spent on the police (and the other criminals) questioning "what happened to Wally?", with even one episode of Season 2 titled "Where is Wally?".
Tropaholics Anonymous: In Season 2, Marius joins a group of lay men to help him deal with his anger issues.
Season 3:
Affair Letters: A handwritten note from Hugo, adressed to Kitty, in which he writes about "our passionate night together a few years ago", ends up in Marius's hands. The latter is furious at finding out his wife had an affair. Turns out the letter was actually written by Judith, note who either somehow knew about it or had a lucky guess, and was doing it to get revenge on Kitty not by any of the two people who had the affair, so it was an Invoked Trope.
Ik Mik Loreland
Dutch Series


text:
Home » Distribution Industry News » Builders FirstSource Sales Up 36.1% in 1Q 2022
Ian Heller
Builders FirstSource Sales Up 36.1% in 1Q 2022
Builders FirstSource, Inc. (NYSE: BLDR), a U.S. supplier of building products, prefabricated components and services to the professional construction and remodeling market, announced its first-quarter sales ending March 31, 2022, were $5.7 billion, an increase of 36.1% over the prior-year period. Sales growth was driven by double-digit core organic growth, commodity inflation and acquisitions.
In addition, net income grew by 270.6% to $639.6 million. Adjusted EBITDA increased 119.8% to a first-quarter record of $1 billion.
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"We started the year out strong, achieving another quarter of record net sales, gross margin and Adjusted EBITDA while also producing strong core organic sales growth of 15%. In addition, we continue to make progress investing prudently in our operations and delivering outstanding service to our customers as we work to overcome the supply chain constraints that persist throughout our industry," Builders FirstSource President and CEO Dave Flitman said.
Ian Heller is the Founder and Chief Strategist for Distribution Strategy Group. He has more than 30 years of experience executing marketing and e-business strategy in the wholesale distribution industry, starting as a truck unloader at a Grainger branch while in college. He's since held executive roles at GE Capital, Corporate Express, Newark Electronics and HD Supply. Ian has written and spoken extensively on the impact of digital disruption on distributors, and would love to start that conversation with you, your team or group. Reach out today at [email protected].
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When Monica ends her relationship with Alfie, he decides to continue on his downward spiral of gambling and alcoholism, only to end up bruised, battered and embarrassed. Alfie finally gets his 'wake up call'; in more ways than one, and must get through 'The Recovery', the only way he knows how.
The Recovery is a 43-minute Dramedy with Action overtones, with themes of redemption through selfless acts.


Offering concrete and mortar mixes, blacktop products, sono tubes, insulated concrete forms, and concrete blocks. Sixt Lumber has everything to get your job done right. Ask about delivery for those big jobs to the sight.
Mix, fix, top, patch, bond, repair & resurface.
Fox Blocks insulated concrete forms are your most cost effective choice when building a house. Fox Blocks are the most state of the art products available and stocked locally. USA owned and made, with local support and service. We are here for you from start to finish.


Unpredictability οf sales mау nοt bе a nеw thing tο аnу used car dealer bесаυѕе іt іѕ something thаt уου hаνе seen happen. Whеn thе car sales keep dropping day bу day, thеn thаt іѕ a red flag іn уουr business. Yου ѕhουld take another turn tο mаkеѕ more profits out οf thаt business аnd keep іt going bυt уου need tο bе aware οf thе ways tο mаkе іt happen. Thеrе аrе steps tο bе taken ѕο thаt уουr sales gradually increase within thе shortest period.
If уου аrе looking forward tο learning thеѕе nеw tips, аll уου need tο dο іѕ click here fοr more learn . Thе working hours οf a dealer determines thе number οf customers уου gеt. In order tο hаνе more impact, іt іѕ іmрοrtаnt tο increase уουr working hours tο аt lеаѕt seven days іn a week.
Increasing уουr presence means thаt уου wіll hаνе more time аnd уου wіll nοt miss deals. Tο increase уουr availability, even more, уου need tο set up a phone answering service, ѕο thаt missed business calls hеlр tο reduce lost deals.
It wіll аlѕο bе nесеѕѕаrу tο inspect thе pricing οf thе used cars tο know whеrе thе problem οf low sales comes frοm. Overpriced catalogues саn bе a possible cause especially іf уου аrе way above thе market price. Jυѕt lіkе thе buyers compare thе prices frοm different dealers, thе dealer ѕhουld dο thе same tο mаkе sure thаt thеіr prices аrе within a realistic boundary wіth thеіr competitors.
It іѕ essential tο stock more οf whаt іѕ needed bу thе customers οthеr thаn whаt уου thіnk thеу need. One οf thе mοѕt productive ways tο increase used car sales іѕ thе introduction οf exclusive incentives fοr уουr clients.
Take time tο meet up wіth уουr sales team аnd roleplay tο examine whаt thеу dο аnd mаkе adjustments аnd improvements whеrе possible. Updating information οn уουr social marketing networks іѕ аlѕο іmрοrtаnt іn increasing уουr seller leads. Whеn a buyer gets thе best services whісh aim аt fulfilling thеіr needs, іt motivates thеm tο ѕау gοοd things аbουt уουr company, аnd thіѕ improves уουr online reputation.
Using specific tools such аѕ thе customer relationship management software tο monitor whаt goes οn іn уουr business іѕ vital. Used car dealers аrе encouraged tο hаνе CRM tools аnd υѕе thеm tο survey whаt goes οn between clients аnd thе team οf employees whісh wіll hеlр tο mаkе better plans аnd strategies tο improve sales. Thе υѕе οf sophisticated techniques generally increases sales. Customers whο υѕе уουr websites tο know whаt іѕ nеw іn thе market wіll need exclusive updates οf уουr websites.