Why research in Computational Intelligence should be less nature-inspired.
The inspiration gleaned from observing nature has led to several important advances in the field of optimization. Still, it seems to me that currently a lot of work is mainly based on such inspiration alone. This might divert attention away from practical and algorithmic concerns. As a result, there is a growing number of specialized terminologies used in the field of Evolutionary Computation (EC) and Swarm Intelligence (SI), which I consider as a problem for clarity in research. With this article, I would like to formulate my thoughts with the hope to contribute to a fruitful debate.
2.3. Inspiration by Nature does not mean Good Optimization!
3. What can we do?
Before getting to the core, let me first exemplarily summarize (quickly and coarsely) the terminology and origin surrounding two algorithms, one from the area of EC and one from SI. Like (almost) all metaheuristics, both are randomized algorithms. They involve a certain amount of randomness in at least some of their decisions, which allows for two independent executions with the same input data to discover different solutions.
The field of EC more or less originated with research on Genetic Algorithms (GAs). GAs are usually referred to as metaheuristics that mimic the process of natural evolution in order to solve optimization problems.
In a GA, candidate solutions ("phenotypes") are usually encoded as bit strings (boolean[n] in Java or C) of a fixed length n. These encoded solutions are called "genotypes" or "chromosomes" in correspondence to the DNA in nature. If the candidate solutions are something else than bit strings, a genotype-phenotype mapping (GPM) takes place, an injective binary relation from genotypes to phenotypes. A tuple of genotype and corresponding phenotype is often called an 'individual'.
A list of individuals (the population) is maintained and refined in an iterative procedure (where each iteration is called a generation). The objective function, a function which relates a cost or profit to a candidate solution, is usually called fitness function and often is subject to maximization. In the main loop of the algorithm, those strings that stand for candidate solutions of higher quality (with better objective values, i.e., higher fitness) are selected with a higher probability and those that represent bad solutions are (more likely) discarded.
The selected individuals enter the so-called mating pool and are allowed to produce offsprings. These new solutions are derived by either creating modified copies of single strings ("mutation") or by combining two strings to a new one ("crossover", "recombination"). Both search operators are usually randomized. This way, the list of solutions is filled again and the next iteration begins. This process is repeated in a loop until, e.g., a time limit is reached or sufficiently good solutions are found.
We can replace the bit string genotypes with basically any genotype data structure in this algorithmic paradigm. This generalized algorithm from is then called Evolutionary Algorithm (EA).
Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is one of the most well-known SI techniques. It is solves problems that can be mapped to finding paths in graphs with weighted edges by mimicking the path-finding behavior of ants. Examples for such problems are Traveling Salesman Problems (TSPs) and a variety of other Vehicle Routing Problems.
The problem solving is done by repetitively constructing paths (candidate solutions) by letting simulated ants walk through the graph. An ant starts its journey at a given node and probabilistically decides which node to visit next. This decision is influenced by two factors: (1) the cost of going to the nodes, i.e., the weights of the edge from the current location to them, and (2) the simulated pheromone on the edges to the node. The ant iteratively chooses where to go until its path is completed. Several ants are simulated in each iteration of the algorithm. The simulated pheromones are often maintained as floating point numbers in a matrix (but the Population-based ACO (pACO), the most efficient ACO version, to my knowledge, can do without such a matrix). Usually the ants producing the best-rated paths in one iteration will update the pheromone matrix by increasing the pheromones along the edges they have travelled. This, in turn, increases the probability that subsequent ants make similar decisions. At the same time, existing pheromones are reduced by evaporation. Then the process is repeated, new ants walk through the graph.
Two processes from nature have been successfully emulated as algorithms. These algorithms turned out to be quite useful in solving hard optimization problems. Although this itself is good, I believe that over the years, four problematic issues have arisen from this situation.
Each "inspired" optimization method has its own terminology. This makes it more complicated to discuss these methods without learning a lot of different vocabularies. Moreover, different vocabularies often use different words for the same thing so there are quite a lot of synonyms. A candidate solution in an EA called phenotype (or sometimes individual), in ACO it is called ant or path, in Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) it is called particle, some researchers even insist on calling it agent (and thus miss the point of any definition of that term…).
It seems that sometimes, the origins of optimization methods are valued over their algorithmic structures. Then, instead of the abstract computer science perspective, it is the inspirational source that dictates the terminology.
This can cause confusion and inconsistencies. In my opinion, for instance, an ACO basically is a special Estimation of Distribution Algorithm (EDA). An EDA is an optimization method that tries to build and update a probabilistic model of what good solutions look like. In each iteration, it will sample this model to generate new candidate solutions. The best generated candidate solutions will then be used to update the model. A pheromone matrix as used in ACO could be considered as such a model. The process of letting the ants find new paths guided by the pheromone matrix (the model) is nothing else than model sampling. Pheromone evaporation and update then are the model update. To the best of my knowledge, this similarity is not widely recognized or discussed – and I believe that this is because of the "language barrier".
I would also argue that the language used in EDAs is clearer and more precise than the biological metaphor used in the field of ACO, without belittling the achievements of the ACO community. A language focused on the statistical, mathematical, and theoretical features of an algorithm automatically invites researchers to test more complex stochastic concepts, e.g., more complex model building and sampling approaches, which are entirely unrelated to biological processes and not so easy to get to when starting from biological idea.
If ACO would indeed be a special form of EDAs, then having two distinct terminologies for essentially the same thing would potentially impose a problem for researchers when looking for related work. If an improvement was discovered for ACOs, would it not be harder for researchers in the field of EDAs to see the relationship to their own work? Some research might even be carried out in duplication. In defense of the ACO terminology, I have to add that ACOs are older than EDAs and there probably exists more work on them, making a transition of terminology hard and unlikely to achieve (unfortunately).
Anyway, now take a look on the Wikipedia page for metaheuristic from February 2013. As you can see, there are more than 50 different algorithms inspired by different natural phenomena listed there and this is just a subset of the existing ones. (The page version from June 2013 has been "pruned" by somebody unrelated to the author.) How many different vocabularies will this entail? Whom amongst the readers has not yet reviewed a paper introducing a new nature-inspired algorithm together with a new vocabulary? I fear that it may become quite hard to see whether a new idea is truly new or already exists in an algorithmically identical form under a name that cannot be inferred from the algorithmic properties (such as Snapping Turtle Herding algorithm; names are fictional and polemic, similarities with actual names are unintended and random).
I furthermore perceive a dissonance between the inspiration based on which an algorithm was created and its actual (feasible) working version, as well as between the vocabularies in EC and SI and their actual meaning.
Obviously, it is neither the goal of GAs to simulate evolution nor is it the goal of an ACO to actually simulate ant behavior or stigmergy in any realistic way. Instead, the goal is to solve optimization problems. This leads to the fact that any part of the simulation of the natural process will be abandoned if it is not useful for optimization or simply too complicate to implement.
A historical example for when the aim of modelling nature closely does not help in optimization is the original selection method used in in GAs, Fitness Proportionate Selection. Here, the expected number of offsprings of an individual is proportional to its fitness. This sort of resembles the ideas of fitness in nature and natural selection. It has several ugly drawbacks and thus may not always be a good idea. The algorithm will produce entirely different results if, e.g., a constant offset is added to the fitness function, which does not change the nature of the optimization problem. In many cases, Fitness Proportionate Selection is thus unsuitable and researchers often use a less nature-like to get better results. Still, it is the historical method applied, it is in the books, it is what a novice will use.
We can also look at this from a top-down perspective: Natural evolution is generally considered to not have a target whereas GAs have a clear goal (minimization or maximization of the objective function). The original GAs do neither simulate concepts such as geography, environment, population or social structure, age, time, nor bio-chemical, genetic, or molecular processes (although some of these aspects have, separately, been considered in later research). In ACO, all ants execute an identical behavior, all ants are the same (no queens, workers, etc.). Both ACO and GAs proceed in distinct iterations which solely depend on the state at the end of the previous iterations. These diversions from the natural paragon are necessary in order to achieve good results (and to avoid making the algorithms too complex).
If we look closely, we will furthermore find that industrial-level and state-of-the-art EC methods do not only omit simulating phenomena from nature that are not useful, they even introduce algorithmic concepts that have no relationship to evolution at all. They do so because good results are not enough, excellent results are sought for – and because speed matters.
For several problems, the best EAs (those actually used in practical applications) are Memetic Algorithms (MAs), which incorporate local search methods. (The term meme serving as inspiration for MAs might be another example for unnecessary inspiration: the term hybrid instead would be much clearer.) Furthermore, often, data structures such as permutations, real vectors, or trees are used to represent candidate solutions, which cannot be understood as equivalents of DNA anymore. One of the best EC approaches for numerical problems is the Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategy (CMA-ES). CMA-ES uses an approximated co-variance matrix to guide its search procedure and in many ways is similar to an EDA. In many EAs, sharing and niching penalize solutions in the population which are too similar to each other by changing their fitness in order to prevent an EA from converging to locally optimal solutions. EAs for multi-objective optimization use methods such as Pareto Ranking or hypervolume metrics which can hardly related to evolution. Several Evolution Strategy (ES) algorithms encode not only the candidate solutions themselves but also the step widths to be used to create new solutions from them inside the individual records, i.e., they store the scale of the mutation step-width inside the individual. ACOs are often modified to have minimum/maximum pheromone limits or "elitist ants" in order to achieve better results, pACO maintains a set of ants to define the pheromone. None of these things have obvious counterparts in nature.
This raises questions such as: Why should we describe an algorithm that has a list of λ permutations, selects the best μ of them as input for unary and binary search operations in order to generate the next λ permutations in a way any different than this? If there is a divergence between the original biological meaning of a word and its meaning in our algorithm description, is it good to use it? May it not rather confuse beginners who are new to the subject and may make it harder for them to understand why the algorithm actually works. Maybe it makes them even think that it is good to closely simulate nature to solve an optimization problem?
Inspiration from nature alone does not necessarily equal good optimization. Why do we not encounter "pure" GAs, ACO, or PSO in practical applications or as winners of optimization competitions? Because plain EAs or GAs can solve optimization problems to a certain degree, but often lose even to simple local search methods when compared to them thoroughly. Yes, they can do global optimization and with the right setting and reasonably large populations, are likely to sooner or later discover the globally optimal, best possible solutions. Unfortunately, they are more likely to discover it later than sooner. Plain EAs are not really good optimization algorithms. It seems that in order to utilize their full power, they must be modified, hybridized, and extended with problem-specific knowledge. EAs become fast if we combine them with a problem-specific local search, which can quickly find a local optimum (which the EA cannot do), while the EA 1) maintains a diverse population as buffer against premature convergence to, well, locally instead of globally optimal solutions and 2) a binary search operator to jump from two discovered local optima close to another, better one. In other words, the natural inspiration only carries so-and-so far in optimization.
And this makes sense. It is not the goal of natural evolution to produce perfect or even perfectly adapted species. Evolution has no goal. Species will survive if they are adapted sufficiently well, not necessarily perfectly well. It is not the goal of the ants to find the perfect shortest path between a food resource and the nest. A sufficiently short path discovered in reasonable time will do. If we could use ants to discover optimal round-trip paths starting at their nest, passing over several food sources and returning back, i.e., solving TSPs, this would mean that biological processes could solve NP-hard problems in sub-exponential runtime – and although this would be awesome, it seems unlikely.
There is no reason to assume that being inspired by nature is enough to obtain better optimization methods than with purely mathematical approaches. Thus, teaching the "inspired-by-nature" theme to many PhD students may pull research into a wrong direction. Instead of focusing on the algorithmic and computer science perspective, much research energy may be spent in trying to develop algorithms inspired by baboons, squid, and the mating behavior of little crakes. It is probably not a good idea to just simulate an arbitrary process in nature in order to obtain an optimization method. This may actually hurt the EC and SI research community in the long term.
And this hurting begins at the point where it makes research sound like quackery. People in the industry are probably willing to apply algorithms that seem to be mathematically sound, rigorously researched, and professionally presented. But even years of thorough research may become useless in the moment an interested engineer sees "Squid Mating Algorithm" on the very first slide of a presentation.
If a terminology has become folklore, it becomes very hard to go against it. If publishing a paper at an EC-related conference, one has to use the corresponding vocabulary to some degree. However, there are subtle changes to the wording that can help to improve clarity. Some more general, formal terms can be used to describe our works. The introduction part of the (2014 version of the) Wikipedia page on PSO is doing very well on using an abstract terminology, for example.
Here I attempt to list some inspiration-neutral terms, most of which are actually quite common and frequently used. Maybe these could be used more consciously and more often.
For some terms such as genotype-phenotype mapping, population, and individual, I have no good "inspiration-free" replacements yet – I'd be happy about any input.
I admit using the bio-inspired terminology in my own teaching as well. One needs to make the connection to literature in one way or another and it just sounds cool for students. However, GAs are not the first subject in my course. It instead begins by introducing the components of metaheuristic optimization in a way that is formal and as "inspiration-free" as possible. And I use the above terms.
While we can change our own wording and notations to make our own work clearer, we may also influence others to do so as well. There are two "access points" that come to mind: When advising research students (research master students, PhD students, … and when reviewing papers.
We can make clear that although inspiration may be drawn from whatever source, in the end, there must a formal algorithm, described in a clear and formal way. This entails discouraging the use (and in particular, the invention) of specialized vocabulary. Algorithms should be described short and precisely. There should be meaningful pseudo code.
Benchmarking is done on well-known instances of well-known benchmarking problems. If a new algorithm is developed, results should be reported which are meaningful to a large share of the research community. For example, most researchers may either already know what the Traveling Salesman Problem is or can find that out quickly. They can google "Traveling Salesman Problem Benchmark" and will immediately find TSPLib, a benchmark dataset with known optimal results. If a new algorithm is applied to the TSPLib instances, it is extremely easy to get a quick impression on how good the results are and to find literature about the state-of-the-art or potentially related works. If the new algorithm is applied to a problem from, say, laser optics, it will be significantly harder to judge whether it is good or not.
Good research requires fair comparisons with the best methods out there. If a new algorithm is compared with a GA, then the GA should use the same search operators and be hybridized with the same local search (if any). It should also be granted the same amount of objective function evaluations (FEs) and and runtime: If the new algorithms can do many FEs in the same real time interval, the GA should receive the same amount of FEs, if the new algorithm needs more runtime per FE, the GA should receive the same amount of runtime (i.e., more FEs). If the new algorithm is population-based, the GA should be tested both with the same population settings and with the best setup found for the EA. If the setup of the new algorithm has been determined with a smaller preliminary experiment testing several configurations, then a similar experiment should also be carried out for the GA to find its best setup as well. A new algorithm for the TSP representing solutions as permutations should not be compared with a GA using an unsuitable representation (say bit strings) for its solutions (and hence different search operators), because it would be entirely unfair.
Of course, for most such well-known problems like the TSP, one will not be able to beat the state-of-the-art which was developed during years of research. I believe, however, that even negative results are valuable too, if they were obtained with thorough experimentation with interesting new concepts. Finding out why an algorithm did not work as well as expected can also be useful. It may help to develop better methods. If someone comes up with a similar idea, the knowledge that it already has been investigated and that it failed may save time and effort. Accepting reasonably interesting negative results at conferences also creates more incentive for thorough experimentation.
Kenneth Sörensen, Metaheuristics – The Metaphor Exposed, International Transactions in Operational Research 22(1):3–18, January 2015.
Zbigniew Michalewicz, The Emperor is Naked: Evolutionary Algorithms for Real-World Applications, ACM Ubiquity, November 2012, pages 1-13.


The District Twenty Medical Examiner is accepting applications for autopsy technician level 1 or 2.
Please note that employees of the District Twenty Medical Examiner are not county or state employees and do not qualify to receive Florida retirement benefits, but full-time staff receive benefits, which includes health insurance paid by employer at 80% , retirement, paid time off and paid holidays.
Applicant must reside in Collier County or up to South Fort Myers in Lee County.
Salary range for starting technician 1 is $15.00 to 17.00 an hour, depending on experience.
Overtime pay provided for time worked over 40 hours within the same work week in accordance with state and federal laws.
Must be able to work on-call rotating weekends.
Preferred experience in the following areas: assisting autopsies at a medical examiner's office or pathology laboratory, forensic photography, medical examiner investigations or in forensic anthropology.
Assist with autopsies during weekday business hours and rotating on-call weekends and rotating holidays.
Prepare the autopsy suite and the body for autopsy, take forensic photographs before and during autopsies, take x-rays, as needed, and post autopsy cleaning of the autopsy area.
Is responsible for record keeping, labeling, storing and maintaining chain of evidence of all specimens.
Carry out other morgue duties, as necessary.
Must be able to move a deceased person unassisted that weighs up to 200 pounds.
Must be intelligent, able to properly communicate verbally and in writing. Excellent organization skills required for success.
Able to work under pressure without losing composure.
Must be honest, trustworthy, reliable and punctual.
Must have respect for the deceased at all times.
Must be hard-working and polite.
Must be flexible and willing to assist co-workers, whenever needed.
Read and write English proficiently.
Please send your resume and references with addresses and phone numbers to: naplesME@d20me.net.
Resume must include your present and last 3 employers. There is no application form.


This morning I participated in a panel discussion at the Milken Global Conference about the state of the economy. Here's the video.
Michael McCallister, President and CEO, Humana Inc.
David Simon, Chairman and CEO, Simon Property Group Inc.
We covered lots of material during the panel – policy responses to the financial crisis, stimulus, boosting exports, the fiscal outlook, etc. If you want to hear my budget stump speech, that begins at about 57:30 in the video.
At the end of the panel, Ross DeVol polled the audience about the strength of the economy. A whopping 52% said they thought the economy would be weaker in the next few years than is predicted by the consensus of economic forecasters. Several of the panelists agreed (including me with the caveat that this year may surprise on the upside). But the contrarian in me is wondering whether this agreement might itself be a sign that the economy will be stronger than anticipated.
Bob Litan of the Brookings Institution recently penned an excellent overview of the issues surrounding derivatives regulation, with a particular focus on credit default swaps (CDS). "The Derivative Dealers' Club and Derivatives Markets Reform: A Guide for Policy Makers, and Other Interested Parties," is really two pieces in one: a primer on derivatives policy and a warning about the power that a few firms now exercise over CDS markets.
1. Induce or require "standardized" derivatives to be "cleared" on central clearinghouses rather than handled by dealers, acting on behalf of each of the parties (the buyer and seller) to these contracts.
2. Establish the conditions that will induce derivatives that are centrally cleared to be traded on exchanges or an equivalent transparent platform, as is now the case generally with stocks and futures contracts.
3. Ensure that adequate reserves – in the form of capital or margin – are held against all trades that are not centrally cleared.
4. Require the margin or collateral backing derivatives positions to be held either in segregated accounts or by third parties (such as a central clearinghouse) so that these funds cannot be co-mingled with other assets of dealers.
5. For derivatives that are both centrally cleared and traded on exchanges, regulators should ensure that the transaction prices and volumes of derivatives transactions are posted promptly on the equivalent of a "ticker" (post-trade transparency), while also ensuring that the prices at which buyers are willing to trade (the "bids") and sellers willing to sell (the "asks") are made public so that all parties, not just the dealers, know the state of the market at any given time (pre-trade transparency). I believe that a price ticker, or something close to it, should be in place even without central clearing and/or exchange trading.
A new working paper from the Atlanta Fed identifies a key reason why some subprime mortgage borrowers have defaulted and some haven't: differences in numerical ability (ht: Torsten S.).
Foreclosure starts are approximately two-thirds lower in the group with the highest measured level of numerical ability compared with the group with the lowest measured level. The result is robust to controlling for a broad set of sociodemographic variables and not driven by other aspects of cognitive ability or the characteristics of the mortgage contracts.
20 percent of the borrowers in the bottom quartile of our financial literacy index have experienced foreclosure, compared to only 5 percent of those in the top quartile. Furthermore, borrowers in the bottom quartile of the index are behind on their mortgage payments 25 percent of the time, while those in the top quartile are behind approximately 10 percent of the time.
Interestingly, this effect is not due to differences in the mortgages that borrowers selected (e.g., it's not that the less-numerically-able chose systematically bad mortgages*) or obvious socioeconomic factors (e.g., it's not that the less-numerically-able had lower incomes).
Instead it appears that the less-numerically-able are more likely to make financial mistakes once they have their mortgages. As the authors note, this conclusion is consistent with other studies that examine how financial literacy relates to saving and spending choices over time. All of which is further evidence of the potential benefits of better financial (and numerical) education.
* The authors note one caveat on the conclusion about mortgage terms: The survey covered "individuals between 1 and 2 years after their mortgage had been originated," but many subprime defaults happened more quickly than that. As a result, their results don't address whether financial literacy played a role in determining which borrowers ended up in mortgages that blew up very rapidly.
Over at the New Yorker, Ken Auletta has a fascinating piece about the future of publishing as the book world goes digital. Highly recommended if you a Kindle lover, an iPad enthusiast, or a Google watcher (or, like me, all three).
an "agency model" for e-books. Under such a model, the publisher would be considered the seller, and an online vender like Amazon would act as an "agent," in exchange for a thirty-per-cent fee.
That way, the publishers would be able to set the retail price themselves, presumably at a higher level that the $9.99 favored by Amazon.
"I'm not sure the 'agency model' is best," the head of one major publishing house told me. Publishers would collect less money this way, about nine dollars a book, rather than thirteen; the unattractive tradeoff was to cede some profit in order to set a minimum price.
The publisher could also have noted a second problem with this strategy: publishers will sell fewer e-books because of the increase in retail prices.
Through keen negotiating, the publishers have thus forced Amazon to (a) pay them less per book and (b) sell fewer of their books. Not something you see everyday.
All of which yields a great topic for a microeconomics or business strategy class: Can the long-term benefit (to publishers) of higher minimum prices justify the near-term costs of lower sales and lower margins?
How Did Treasury Vote Its Citigroup Shares?
The United States Treasury is Citigroup's largest common shareholder, owning 7.7 billion shares, or about 27% of the company. Which raised an interesting issue at today's annual meeting: how should the Treasury vote its shares?
As we have previously stated, Treasury is a reluctant shareholder in private companies and intends to dispose of its TARP investments as quickly as practicable. When it acquired the Citigroup common shares, Treasury announced that it would retain the discretion to vote only on core shareholder issues, including the election of directors; amendments to corporate charters or bylaws; mergers, liquidations and substantial asset sales; and significant common stock issuances. At the time of the exchange, Treasury agreed with Citigroup that it would vote on all other matters proportionately–that is, in the same proportion (for, against or abstain) as all other shares of the company's stock are voted with respect to each such matter. Treasury is abiding by the same principles in the few other companies in which it owns common shares, which are very few, as most TARP investments were in the form of nonvoting preferred stock.
Those sound like good principles. So how did Treasury actually vote?
Six shareholder proposals covering such issues as corporate governance and political activity.
Treasury believes that it would be inappropriate to use its power as a shareholder to advance a position on matters of public policy and believes such issues should be decided by Congress, the SEC or through other proper governmental forums in a manner that applies generally to companies. For this reason, and because voting on such matters was not necessary in order to fulfill its EESA responsibilities, Treasury refrained from exercising a discretionary vote.
You can see all the proposals in Citigroup's proxy statement.
Disclosure: I own no Citigroup securities of any kind (see this post for a summary of my previous thoughts about Citi securities).


One of the greatest threats all of the rare and unique creatures on the Galapagos Islands face is rats. There are an estimated 180 million rats on these islands—the majority of which are on the island of Pinzon. The Galapagos Islands were made famous by the British biologist Charles Darwin who studied all of the different species of animals on the islands. These rare and unique animals are now in danger of being killed off by rats. The rats might eat the eggs of the birds or kill the young brood of iguanas and amphibians. Rats were accidentally introduced to the islands in the 17th Century by Spanish and Portuguese wooden ships. The rats simply swam to the islands and began to reproduce. The islands passed into the ownership of Ecuador when it became independent of Spain in 1822. From time to time the Ecuadoran government has used various means to kill the rats. Ecuador may have been successful in reducing the number of rats, but it has never been totally successful in eradicating them.
This time the Ecuadoran government is dropping poisoned pellets onto the islands. The pellets emit a sweet small that attracts the rats which consume them. The poison then goes to work in the rats' digestive system and kills them. That is the intention. However, there is one very dangerous problem with the pellets. The poison will stay in the rats' body. This means that any predator that eats the rats will also digest the poison. The poison will then be carried through into the food chain and begin to cause extensive damage to not only the rare and unique species in the Galapagos Islands but also into the general food chain on the islands. This could kill off the very rare and unique species on the islands that are supposed to be protected. Or it might destroy the reproductive organs to eventually cause the extinction of these species. Since these pellets are being dropped by airplane, there is also the danger that these pellets could accidentally spill into the fresh water supply and thus taint the water which all animals on the islands use. I have to ask myself whether the Ecuadoran government really thought this one out carefully?
What they could have done is consulted with experts in the United States, and especially California, about the best way to get rid of the rats. The State of California also had a serious rat problem. What they did instead was use specially developed poison blocks that rats nibble on and which kills them in minutes. Since the poison acts quickly and breaks down in the body, it will not poison those predators who eat the rats. Since these poison blocks have to be placed by hand, there is no chance of these ending up in the fresh water supply. These things may cost a whole lot more money, but we are talking about protecting one of the greatest natural wonders of the world. Surely, is this not worth the money?


The wait is finally over! Nay chooses one more girl but also ups the ante to win a spot in his heart.
Take a listen to our call with Nay Maps or read the details under the podcast.
It's been two weeks since Nay Maps asked us to help him find the perfect partner.
Since then, Siyamthande won his heart with a voice note and Samke serenaded him, winning herself a spot at the dinner table.
Darren Maule has suggested that Nay Maps give people another week to win his heart, but this time we want to see your creativity and intelligence.
In order for your entry to be valid, all handles must be tagged and the relevant hashtag must be used.
Use your discretion and be super creative because that's all we're looking for.
On Friday the 21st of September, Nay Maps will choose the final lady to go on a date with him.
Good luck! T's & C's apply.


text:
{|
|+USS West Carnifax (ID-3812)

{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag=
|Ship name=*1919–1929: West Carnifax1928–1933: Exford1933–1943: Pan Royal|Ship owner=*1919–c. 1928: US Shipping Board
1928–1933: Export Steamship Corp.
1933–1943: Pan Atlantic Steamship Co.
|Ship operator=*1925–1927: American Republics Line
1928–1933: American Export Lines
1933: Shepard Line
1934–1943: Pan Atlantic Steamship Co.

|Ship builder=*Southwestern Shipbuilding
San Pedro, California
|Ship yard number=1
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=19 October 1918
|Ship sponsor=Miss Marcoreta Hellman
|Ship completed=January 1919
|Ship acquired=January 1919
|Ship commissioned=31 December 1918
|Ship identification=Official Number: 217373
|Ship fate=Sunk in collision, 9 February 1943
}}

|}
USS West Carnifax (ID-3812) was a cargo ship in the United States Navy shortly after World War I. After she was decommissioned from the Navy, the ship was known as SS West Carnifax, SS Exford, and SS Pan Royal (or sometimes Pan-Royal) in civilian service under American registry.West Carnifax was one of the West boats, a series of steel-hulled cargo ships built for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) on the West Coast of the United States. The ship was the first ship built at Southwestern Shipbuilding in San Pedro, California, and was launched in October 1918 and delivered to the US Navy upon completion in late December. After commissioning, West Carnifax sailed from California with a load of wheat flour for the East Coast of the United States and, from there, to Europe. When she docked at Hamburg, Germany, in March 1919, she became the first American ship to dock at Hamburg since before the start of World War I. At the conclusion of her trip to Germany she was decommissioned and returned to the USSB.West Carnifax sailed to European ports for a time and in South American service for the American Republics Line while under USSB ownership. After her sale for operation by the American Export Lines in 1928, she began sailing in Mediterranean service. After a rename to SS Exford later in 1928, she was used on a cargo service to Soviet Black Sea ports, and became the first American ship to dock in the Soviet Union since World War I. After a brief stint in intercoastal service, the ship was renamed Pan Royal in 1933 for service with a subsidiary of the Waterman Steamship Company. In convoy sailing during World War II, Pan Royal made two roundtrips between the United States and the United Kingdom, and one roundtrip to North Africa. At the beginning of her second voyage to Africa in February 1943, Pan Royal was accidentally rammed by two other convoy ships and sunk. Eight crewmen died in the accident.

 Design and construction
The West ships were cargo ships of similar size and design built by several shipyards on the West Coast of the United States for the USSB for emergency use during World War I. All were given names that began with the word West, like West Carnifax, the first of some 18 West ships built by Southwestern Shipbuilding.West Carnifax (Southwestern Shipbuilding No. 1) was laid down on 17 July as the first ship of the new Southwestern Shipbuilding shipyard. She was launched at 09:30 on 19 October 1918 by sponsor Marcoreta Hellman, the six-year-old daughter of yard superintendent Marco Hellman.West Carnifaxs launching ceremony had been delayed by seven days by the Emergency Fleet Corporation for public health considerations: public gatherings had been banned in order to combat the spread of Spanish flu. When the ceremony did take place, it was before a private crowd; the invitations of guests had all been withdrawn. When West Carnifax was delivered to the United States Navy upon completion in late December, the Los Angeles Times heralded the 134-workday completion time as a "world record" for the completion of a new ship in a new shipyard.West Carnifax was , and was  long (between perpendiculars) and  abeam. West Carnifax had a steel hull, a mean draft of , and a displacement of 12,211 t. The ship had a single triple-expansion steam engine that drove a single screw propeller, and moved the ship at up to .

 Military career
USS West Carnifax (ID-3812) was commissioned into the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) at San Pedro, California, on 31 December 1918. West Carnifax sailed from San Pedro on 4 January 1919 for San Francisco, where she took on an initial load of flour. She sailed for Norfolk, Virginia, on 31 January, and arrived at Hampton Roads on 15 March.

Setting out four days later, West Carnifax was slated to sail to Danzig via Falmouth and the Hook of Holland, but was diverted en route. When she arrived at her new destination of Hamburg on 25 March, she became the first American ship to dock in that city since before World War I had begun over  years before. When she had completed unloading her cargo of flour, noted as the "choicest California flour" by onlookers, she sailed for New Orleans by way of Plymouth on 2 April. On 9 May, four days after her arrival at New Orleans, West Carnifax was decommissioned and returned to the USSB.

 Interwar years
Incomplete information is available regarding West Carnifaxs activities after her return to the USSB in 1919. One incident of note was reported in The New York Times in February 1922. The news item reported that West Carnifax, while heading from Rotterdam to Galveston, Texas, ran short of provisions and fuel and had to be towed into New York by United States Coast Guard cutter . By late 1923, West Carnifax had been laid up at Norfolk, Virginia, but was reactivated and reconditioned in February 1924. In early 1925, West Carnifax had begun sailing for American Republics Lines, a USSB-owned line that sailed in South American service.American Republics Lines later became a subsidiary of Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc. West Carnifax sailed in this service into 1927 and called at ports like Buenos Aires and Santos.

In early 1928, West Carnifax was sold to the Export Steamship Corporation for operation under their American Export Lines brand. In the first half of that year, West Carnifax was sailing in New York – Mediterranean service. While near the Azores sailing from Alexandria, Egypt, to Boston in October, West Carnifax responded to an SOS from the American tanker  which reported being in trouble during a storm. According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, when the cargo ship arrived at the specified location after steaming overnight, no trace of the crew was found; only oil slicks and a floating vegetable box were found on the surface. In October the following year, under her new name of SS Exford, the ship docked at the Soviet Black Sea port of Novorossiysk to deliver a cargo of machinery and became the first American ship to dock at a Soviet port since the end of World War I. Exford remained in Black Sea service into 1931.

In August 1933, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Shepard Line had secured a year-long charter of Exford for their expanded intercoastal service between North Atlantic ports and the Pacific ports of Los Angeles; San Francisco; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle. Later in 1933, the ship was renamed Pan Royal to reflect the naming style of her new owners, the Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company, a subsidiary of Waterman Steamship Company. The Pan-Atlantic Line sailed in coastal service along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and it is likely that Pan Royal called at typical Pan-Atlantic ports such as Baltimore, Miami, Tampa, New Orleans, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston from this time.

At 03:50 on 24 September 1934, Cunard-White Star ocean liner  collided with Pan Royal in a thick fog off the tip of Cape Cod. Pan Royal developed a leak and had to return to Boston, from which she had left for Galveston, Texas, the previous day. Laconia, leaving Boston after debarking 225 passengers, also had damage but proceeded to her destination of New York under her own power. No one was injured on either ship. Elvar R. Callaway, master of Pan Royal, claimed that Laconia could have avoided the collision by proper steering; Laconias master, B. B. Orum, contended that the collision was unavoidable because of the "impenetrable haze".

In November 1939, Pan Royal was one of 21 ships that had been idled because of a strike by 5,000 longshoremen in New York. In June the following year, The Christian Science Monitor reported that Pan Royal had been engaged to return "Big Joe" to the Soviet Union. "Big Joe" was a nickname given to the  Soviet worker holding a red star in his up-stretched hand. The statue had graced the column in front of the Soviet Socialist Republics Building at the New York World's Fair during the 1939 fair season. The Soviet pavilion was dismantled prior to the 1940 fair season after popular American opinion turned against the Soviet Union because of its November 1939 invasion of Finland. As part of the dismantling, "Big Joe" had been warehoused in Hoboken, New Jersey, but prevented from export by a United States Maritime Commission ruling enforcing a "moral embargo" that prohibited the charter of American ships on behalf of the Soviet Union.

 World War II

In June 1942, seven months after the United States had entered World War II, Pan Royal made two roundtrips in transatlantic convoys between Boston and the United Kingdom via Halifax. While in the UK during her second visit, the ship had called at Belfast Lough, Barry, and Milford Haven before returning to New York in October. In mid November, Pan Royal sailed from Hampton Roads, Virginia, to Casablanca, and returned in mid-January 1943.

On 7 February 1943, Pan Royal departed Hampton Roads in Convoy UGS-5 for North Africa. Two days out, Pan Royal was accidentally rammed by both the Norwegian cargo ship Evita and the American Liberty ship . Pan Royal'' sank at position  with the loss of eight men. Her 54 survivors were rescued by US Navy destroyer .

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Design 1019 ships
Design 1019 ships of the United States Navy
Ships built in Los Angeles
1918 ships
World War I merchant ships of the United States
World War I auxiliary ships of the United States
World War II merchant ships of the United States
World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean
Maritime incidents in February 1943

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text:
TCNJ Today || Parents || Alumni
TCNJ Home
A-Z | Directory | Map | Offices
Apply Visit Give | Alumni Parents Offices TCNJ Today
Dr. Kathryn A. (Kate) Foster Biography
President of The College of New Jersey
Dr. Kathryn A. (Kate) Foster became the 16th president of The College of New Jersey in 2018.
A native of New Jersey and a scholar-educator with over thirty-five years of experience in public higher education, Foster comes to TCNJ from the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF) where she served as president from 2012 to 2018. Prior to the presidency, she was a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, on research leave from the State University of New York at Buffalo, her academic home from 1993 to 2012.
Foster earned her BA in geography from The Johns Hopkins University, her MCP (city planning) from the University of California, Berkeley, and her PhD in public and international affairs from Princeton University.
An overarching aim of Foster's first year at TCNJ has been to clarify the college's institutional priorities and align the relevant pieces – strategy, budget, capital investment plan, and programming – to ensure that the institution is making the most responsible and wise choices for today and tomorrow. This has involved the introduction of a new budget process to better align investment plans with priorities, and the development of key performance indicators to monitor progress.
Foster has placed particular emphasis on building a more inclusive community at TCNJ. The creation of a Division of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; formation of a Bias Response Team; and the development of new education and advocacy programs are among the early achievements.
Previously, under Foster's leadership, UMF turned around a five-year decline in enrollment, bolstered experiential education, and aligned programming and investment through the university strategic plan, campus master plan, recruitment and retention plan, advancement plan, and marketing plan. With renewed attention to campus facilities, UMF refurbished its gymnasium, created a student learning commons, improved classroom spaces and lounges, upgraded residence halls, and built a biomass heat plant, which, together with geothermal wells, significantly reduced campus dependency on fossil fuels.
A fully engaged administrator and frequent public speaker, Foster established The Public Classroom, UMF's speaker series bridging university and community, expanded university governance, and energized the university's Board of Visitors.
She worked closely with the University of Maine System Chancellor and Trustees to map strategic directions for the public higher education system in Maine. Foster served as chair of the presidents' council of the North Atlantic (athletic) Conference, chair of the strategic plan committee of the Council of Public Liberal Arts College, and member of the boards of the Greater Franklin Development Corporation and JMG (formerly Jobs for Maine's Graduates). In 2016 Foster was named by Maine magazine as one of the "50 People Charting the Future of Maine."
Foster is the author of The Political Economy of Special-Purpose Government (1997), Regionalism on Purpose (2001), and dozens of book chapters, articles, and policy reports. She participated actively on several New York State task forces, including the New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness, and was selected by Business First in 2007 as its Woman of Influence in Public Policy. Earlier in her career, Foster was a lecturer at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Swaziland, and, in 2000-2001, as Visiting Fellow at the Taubman Center for State and Local Government at Harvard University.
Foster is a member of the boards of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities, and the New Jersey Athletic Conference. She enjoys golf, hiking, photography, maps, road trips, theater, old books, writing, bicycle riding, visiting state capitols, and attending cultural and athletic events of all kinds.
Green Hall, Room 210
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text:
The Charities Act 2022
On 24 February the Charities Act 2022 (the Act) received Royal Assent.
This new legislation updates the Charities Act 2011 and introduces significant changes in charity law. In the social housing sector, these changes will impact any organisation which has been established as a registered charity. Whatever its legal structure (for example, whether established as a limited company or an unincorporated body), if it operates exclusively for charitable purposes, such organisation will be subject to this new Act as part of legislation governing charities.
The need for change
The law relating to charities has developed over many years, but recently the consensus view has been that there is too much unnecessary bureaucracy around what a charity and its trustees can, and cannot, do. Many of the existing rules, in existence before internet and email communication, are over complicated and unhelpful to the operation of a charity's business. Following recommendations set out in the Law Commission's report – Technical Issues in Charity Law, published in 2017, the Act is intended to reduce this burden of regulation and increase trustees' flexibility and autonomy to act. By removing some of the existing red tape, once in force, the new legislation will provide opportunities for charities to maximise the efficient use of their charitable funds.
The timetable
Before the new changes take effect, secondary legislation will be required and, in April 2022, the government published its implementation plan which sets out the timetable for a staggered introduction. As a result, the provisions of the Act will be implemented in three groups starting in Autumn 2022, with a second tranche becoming law in Spring 2023 and the remaining provisions enacted in Autumn 2023.
Implications for Registered Providers/Registered Social Landlords (RPs/RSLs)?
On balance, it is good news; once implemented, the Act will simplify some of the existing regulations, reduce bureaucracy and so save trustee time and money. One of the key provisions for RPs/RSLs is the changes in relation to acquisitions and disposals of land. RPs and RSLs registered as charities will have access to a wider choice of professional advisors on land disposal and the rules on what advice they need to take before buying or selling land have been simplified. For example, under the new Act, obtaining external advice from a RICSA qualified surveyor will no longer be mandatory when an RP/RSL charity wishes to sell land. In addition, if the RP/RSL has a suitably qualified trustee or employee, he or she may provide the relevant advice without the need to instruct an external professional.
Further simplification measures in the Act include:
Changes to the existing "connected persons rules" with the result that a smaller proportion of transactions will need consent from the Charity Commissioners.
Increased flexibility in relation to money raised by charitable appeals, ex gratia payments and the ways in which charities may make use of any permanent endowment.
Provision for trustees to be paid for goods they have provided to the charity in certain circumstances and a new power for the Charity Commission to ratify trustee appointments in circumstances where there is an issue with the validity of the original appointment.
Removal of certain legal barriers to the merger of charities.
The changes to be introduced by the Charities Act 2022 have practical implications for RPs operating as registered charities and such organisations need to be aware of this new legislation. Although the significance for the day to day running of the business should be minimal, directors and trustees will have greater flexibility in relation to the regulatory requirements. The Charity Commission is currently updating existing guidance ahead of implementation of the first tranche of reform later in 2022.
Rob Ridd email Rob Riddemail Rob Ridd
Rob Ridd is a partner in Clarke Willmott solicitors' Bristol corporate and commercial team specialising in company acquisitions and disposals.
View profile for Rob Ridd >
Jacqui Lazare email Jacqui Lazareemail Jacqui Lazare
Bristol, Southampton and London
Jacqui advises private clients on UK-based tax and estate planning, estate administration and philanthropy and also advises charities on a range of issues.
View profile for Jacqui Lazare >
Clarke Willmott advises on investment and acquisition in snacks sector
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Clarke Willmott has expanded its corporate and commercial team...
New partner in our Corporate and Commercial team
Clarke Willmott has appointed Sarah Coe as partner in...
Housing Law Update – The Court of Appeal provide guidance on the penalties for breaching an Anti-Social Behaviour Injunction
In July 2020, the Civil Justice Council produced a...


text:
Q: Atualizar Tabela com filtro usando jquery Bom dia estou procurando soluções para uma demanda, mas só encontrei em php.
Sou novo em Jquery, Ajax... Estou querendo colocar o filtro da minha tabela para ser dinâmico na medida que o usuário for digitando vai aparecendo os dados, pesquisei uma function chamada autocomplete, mas não consegui implementar.
Minha Tabela.

       Prontuário
       pacientes
       Plano

   <c:forEach var="item" items="${pacientes}">

         <input type="radio" name="radio" id="radio" value="radio" onclick="selecionar('${item.cargo}', ${item.id}, '${item.plano}', ${item.idPlano}, '<%=request.getParameter("tipo")%>')" ondblclick="selecionar2('${item.cargo}', ${item.id}, '${item.plano}', ${item.idPlano}, '<%=request.getParameter("tipo")%>')" />

       ${item.id}
       ${item.nome}
       ${item.plano}

   </c:forEach>

Através deste filtro eu estou puxando os dados do BD
Nome:
<input name="jtpaciente" type="text" class="form-control" id="jtpaciente"  value="<%=request.getAttribute("paci")%>" size="74" />

Quando o usuário digita e aperta enter então é feito um submit da pagina trazendo só o nome filtrado.Teria uma solução de adicionar esse jquery ou ajax nesta table em jsp ??

A: Encontrei essa solução    https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9127498/how-to-perform-a-real-time-search-and-filter-on-a-html-table

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One lap of Singapore's Formula1 racetrack in Marina Bay!!!
I got goosebumps all over as I watched this… Are you gonna be there?
I love the sound of the rev-ing engine of an F1!!!
wahh yaey Jehz, kuya drew CAM SIA!!! Thank you ng banyak banyak!!!!!
final test.. hehehe selamat datang nah nah!
aiyo! why you all like dat one? tok like not from pilipin?
Haha thanks Allen, could not have done this withoug the help of Jehz he'z da man!
Aww… but the race starts at 8!!!! Doesn't it?
Cool Design Hannah! Respects fly to Jeh!
Hello! Added you to my links… ayan ayos na! Btw, I'm a Formula1 Fan myself and if only I was there in Manila I'll watch that one in Singapore too. You watching? Enjoy! It will be so much fun. I had goosebumps too the first time at Shanghai.
aww… I've been dropping by your site since er last year pa ata 🙂 Now you're linking me yay! Thanks Crish 🙂 I'm awake at 3am cz I can't sleep I'm so excited!
Hehe… Angela told me nga recently… then I just noticed you were the one pala leaving comments din sa site ko. thanks for reading my blog! im so happy for you. i watched the qualifying on tv… looks so fun… daming tao. enjoy!


text:
Q: Get date by passing week number of month and day using loop? I am little worried about to get date from a function by providing week number of a month and day for multiple months,
Like,
$date = new DateTime();
        $event->event_date = required_date($event->monthly_recurring_week, $event->monthly_recurring_day, $date->format('Y-m-01'));
        if($event->event_date < $event->recurring_end_date) { // check for wrong date or not exist event
        //problem in this code for next months wrong date
           for($event->event_date; $event->event_date < $event->recurring_end_date;){
               $event->event_date = $event->event_date;
               $events[] = (array) $event;
               $date->modify('Next month');
               $event->event_date = required_date($event->monthly_recurring_week, $event->monthly_recurring_day, $date->format('Y-m-01'));
           }
        }
function required_date($week_num, $day, $date) {

    $week_of_year = sprintf('%02d', date('W', strtotime($date)) + $week_num);
    $day_of_week  = date('N', strtotime($day));
    $timestamp    = strtotime(date('Y') . '-W' . $week_of_year . '-' . $day_of_week);
    return  date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $timestamp);
}

This is working for perfectly for current month, but for the next it gives me plus 1 week date!
Please Help!

A: You leave a lot out of your question and did not answer the questions in my comment, so I have taken a naive approach to answering this question and assumed that the first day of week one is the 1st of the month, regardless of what day it falls on.
I have used PHP's DateTime classes for this. You should read that part of the manual thoroughly and learn how to use these extremely useful classes.
The output you require is not clear from the question, so the function I have created returns an instance of \DateTime so that you can then format it as you wish.
/**
 * Returns the date of the given day in a given month.
 *
 * @param String $month The month in question eg January, September
 * @param Ind $week_num The number of the week, remembering that some months will have a 5th week
 * @param String $day The day to find eg 'Monday'
 *
 * @return \DateTime
 */
function required_date($month, $week_num, $day)
{
    /**
     * @var \DateTime[] $weeks
     */
    $weeks = array();
    $firstDayOfMonth = new \DateTime("1st $month");
    $lastDayOfMonth = new \DateTime($firstDayOfMonth->format('t M Y'));
    $oneDay = new DateInterval('P1D');
    $period = new \DatePeriod($firstDayOfMonth, $oneDay, $lastDayOfMonth->add($oneDay));

    foreach($period as $date)
    {
        /** @var \DateTime $date */
        $weekNumber = ceil((int)$date->format('d')/7);
        $weeks[$weekNumber][$date->format('l')] = $date;
    }
    return $weeks[$week_num][$day];
}

echo required_date('September', 1, 'Tuesday')->format('Y m d');

Output:

2013 09 03


text:
Why Buy From Tom Wood Ford?
Why Buy from Tom Wood Ford
Tom Wood Ford isn't just another store that's part of the Tom Wood Auto Group. It's a dealership that delivers top-tier customer service and strives to make every guest a loyal and satisfied patron for life. From our diverse selection of Ford vehicles to our transparent transactions, our goal is to get you behind the wheel of your dream car in no time. From new and used car sales to high-quality auto maintenance and repairs, the experts at our Ford dealership in Indianapolis, IN, provide the expertise you're looking for. With our personal touch of car sales, we can confidently say that you'll enjoy our car-buying experience every time you visit.
Tom Wood Ford offers a great variety of perks to those who buy a car from us. We like to call this the Tom Wood Advantage -- drivers can benefit from our incredible services like free appraisals and guaranteed trade-in value, courtesy transportation and rental cars. Even more, we have express maintenance service centers, too, where you can schedule Ford service online 24/7. And with a bilingual staff throughout all our departments, your voice will never go unheard any time you stop by our dealership.
We also offer Complimentary Limited Lifetime Powertrain Coverage, which applies to most new and pre-owned vehicles from the current year to 10 model years old with less than 100,000 miles at the time of purchase. This coverage is free and standard with every qualifying vehicle and is good for as long as your ownership lasts for an unlimited time and unlimited miles. The Lifetime Powertrain Coverage covers engine, transmission, drivetrain, cooling and fuel systems, for no extra charge whenever something goes awry. Exclusive to Tom Wood Ford, this special offer is far beyond what the manufacturer's coverage offers and you won't find coverage like this anywhere else. So, if you're in the market for a new Ford, visit us and meet with our dedicated team.
More Reasons to Buy from Tom Wood Ford:
You will receive a complimentary car wash with every service visit.
We offer complete and comprehensive vehicle multi-point inspections.
Tom Wood Ford has a state-of-the-art, certified collision facility, which repairs all makes and models.
Tom Wood Ford will offer up to $2,000 over Kelley Blue Book® trade-in value.
We host a brand-new facility and provide pick-up and delivery services.
We're also heavily involved within the community, and financially contribute to organizations such as The American Red Cross in Indiana, Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Indiana, to name a few.


text:
In the 2007 season, Shelbourne finished 5th in the League of Ireland First Division.

Overview
Following the financial crisis of 2006, at the start of the 2007 season, the club was left with just two senior players by January, and the club's financial crisis resulted in the club pulling out of the Setanta Cup. The crisis even began to threaten their participation in the Champions' League for 2007. Shelbourne's woes were deepened on 25 January 2007 when owner and general manager, Ollie Byrne, was taken to hospital with a reported brain tumour, most likely, stress-induced.

Shelbourne, with no manager and just one remaining senior player by February were said to be massively in debt – some reports putting it at €6 million, and others between even €10 million and €12 million. The fiasco only served to increase the pressures on the FAI, who already had to find two new replacement clubs to participate in the league following the extinction of Dublin City F.C. and Limerick F.C. in 2006. The association decided to set up a review of the awarding of a Premier Division licence to the club and eventually decided that the club should be stripped of the chance to compete in the Premier Division. Shelbourne had their Premier licence revoked and were, instead, considered lucky to be placed in the First Division for the 2007 season. There had been worries that the club would face outright extinction and that the FAI would throw the club out of the league altogether, especially after Limerick, who had less severe problems than Shelbourne, were denied a First Division licence. Liam Moggan, the chairman of the FAI's Licensing Committee resigned in protest after the decision was made to grant Shelbourne a First Division licence as he believed that the club - manager-less, player-less and heavily in the red - did not meet the criteria for the awarding of such a licence, even though its criteria were less strict than those required to pass for a Premier licence. It is probable that the Committee as a whole took an extremely sympathetic view while taking into account the long history of the club and, facing a minimal time-frame for exploring alternatives before the kick-off in March, logistical factors, such as ensuring that the league began with the preferred number of teams, when coming to a final decision to keep Shelbourne in the league.

However, the FAI did not specifically announce whether their decision was punishment for continuing off-the-field abuses from 2006, such as failing to pay players their wages, or whether it was a repercussion of Shelbourne failing to meet the requisite criteria for partaking in the 2007 Premier Division (although it is likely that the course of action taken was due to the latter as if it were a punishment for the 2006 season a deduction in points from that season's tally would be the usual penalty, which would have led to the club being stripped of their title in this scenario). If the relegation was indeed due to a failure to meet standards for 2007, the club's off-the-field abuses during 2006 remain to be seen as having been permissible for that season.

Meanwhile, Waterford United were invited to take Shelbourne's place in the Premier Division for 2007 as they were the next best-placed First Division club in the Independent Assessment Group's rankings. Waterford United accepted the invitation, while the task of sourcing funds, a manager and squad before the transfer-deadline of 28 February remained at the forefront of the club's worries by mid-February. On 23 February, Shelbourne announced that Dermot Keely had been appointed as their new manager. The signing of a new squad of players commenced immediately afterward - quite a few of these players being youngsters and loaned players from other clubs, although the club did also manage to entice a number of ripened seniors to Tolka Park for the 2007 season.

Club

Club information

Commercial partners

Coaching and Medical staff

Pre-season

Exodus
This is the squad that completed the 2006 season, winning the Premier Division in the process.

 (c)

The following players were registered to Shelbourne, but had been sent out on loan by the then manager Pat Fenlon.

Following the ongoing financial problems during the 2006 season, Pat Fenlon resigned and the vast majority of players left. Several of them had reached the end of their contracts, whilst some were sold shortly after the celebrations in November, and others left after being declared free agents in the courts following missed payment of wages. Only 2 senior players remained with the club, the experienced Jim Crawford, and the young James Chambers who had spent 2006 on loan at Premier Division side Waterford United.

Withdrawal from the Setanta Cup
In February Shelbourne were forced to withdraw from the 2007 Setanta Sports Cup shortly before it was due to commence. The general assumption was that the club would be unable to field a team. St. Patrick's Athletic were invited to fill the vacancy, and they duly accepted.

Demotion
Before the start of the new league season, the club were demoted to the First Division by the FAI.

The FAI issued a First Division licence in place of the Premier Division licence which had been revoked by order of the FAI's First Instance Committee due to the financial situation. Shortly after this, the club's majority shareholder Ollie Byrne suffered a brain tumour and Joe Casey was installed as Chairman.

Former manager Dermot Keely was brought in as manager once more and assembled a squad of players in barely 72 hours - just in time for the club to take its place in the 2007 First Division.

Withdrawal from Champions League
On 30 March 2007, when applications for UEFA licences were nearly due and the clubs' First Division licence was up for review, Shelbourne announced that they would not be applying for a UEFA licence; thus relinquishing the Champions League spot that was rewarded for winning the league in 2006. Part of the statement read:

League runners-up Derry City were handed the Champions League place.

Players

Jim Crawford and James Chambers were the only existing senior players to stay with the club for the 2007 season. Jim was appointed captain by Keely. Goalkeeper Tony O'Dowd signed for Shelbourne, returning to the club with whom he had started his footballing career. Experienced defender Alan Murphy was signed from Longford Town and was appointed vice-captain, whilst a plethora of young players arrived from a host of clubs.

Mark Leech signed on a season-long loan from Premier Division club Drogheda United, and new Derry City arrival Kyle Moran did the same.

Four players arrived at Shelbourne from Dublin rivals Bohemians; Conor Rafferty and 2006's top scorer for the First Division Davitt Walsh signed on loan deals until the end of July, defenders Aidan Collins and Niall O'Reilly made their moves to Tolka Park permanent.

FIFA Regulations: Article 5.3
Two of Shelbourne's new players, Mark Leech and John Brophy, who had already played with two clubs within the year prior to the season's kick-off, were left ineligible to play for the club in competitive action until July at the beginning of the season as FIFA's rules, or, in particular, Article 5.3 of FIFA's Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players, stated that no player could play for more than two different clubs between 1 July of one season and 30 June of the following year.

Both players were eventually cleared by FIFA, and made their competitive debuts in a 1-1 draw with Kilkenny City at Buckley Park on 30 March 2007.

2007 squad
A total of 37 players represented Shelbourne at various stages during the 2007 season.

 (Vice-captain)

 (Captain)

Results

League of Ireland First Division

Final table

League results summary

League Form/Results by Round

FAI Ford Cup
The draw for the FAI Ford Cup took place on 31 May 2007. Shels, like all League sides, automatically went into the second round.

League of Ireland Cup

Shelbourne began the League of Ireland Cup in the Second Round, as the club was officially classed as European entrants when the draws were made. Shelbourne were drawn against Dublin rivals Bohemians, who had begun the 2007 season in the top flight with two of last year's championship winning Shelbourne team, Owen Heary and Glen Crowe. Despite a valiant effort from the young Shelbourne team, the difference in quality eventually told, with Bohemians qualifying for the next round due to 2 late goals from the man who had scored the goal that won Shelbourne the league just a few short months previous, Glen Crowe.

Friendlies

Season overview

Shelbourne's 2007 season in the First Division began brightly with a dogged display against Kildare County at Tolka Park less than 2 weeks after their squad was assembled. Darren McKenna's dramatic late equaliser in that game secured a point for Shels giving the Tolka Park side much optimism for the season ahead.

Shels next two games against the much fancied promotion favourites Finn Harps and Dundalk brought the young Shels side back to earth with two defeats, including conceding a last minute equaliser to Harps.

After a frustrating 1-1 draw against 10 man Kilkenny City at Buckley Park, Shels first victory of the season arrived 5 games in against Athlone Town at Tolka Park courtesy of a Mark Leech header. Shels' generally young and inexperienced side failed to build on their first victory and would draw 4 of their next 5 games, their loss during this five game period came courtesy of conceding another last minute goal this time away to Cobh Ramblers. With injuries to notable players such as Jim Crawford and Aidan Collins, Shels' strength in depth would face a stern test during this period.

A heavy 3-0 away defeat to Dundalk in May was countered by an encouraging 2-0 victory at home to Kilkenny City but that game was marred after John Brophy suffered a broken leg after a heavy challenge ruling him out of action for 4 months.

Shels inconsistent start to the season was capped with a 1-0 defeat away to Athlone Town leaving Shels far too close to the foot of the First Division table for their liking. Injuries and player departures would take their toll on Shels during June and Shels suffered their heaviest defeat of the season during this period with a 4-0 defeat away to Monaghan United. Despite encouraging displays against Cobh Ramblers (2-2 draw) and another late defeat this time to Limerick 37 (3-2) would not be not enough to prevent numerous changes during the upcoming July transfer window.

Shelbourne made significant changes at the start of the July transfer window. A total of 11 players joined Shels during the month of July including Stuart Malcolm, Marc McCulloch, Alan Keely, Anto Flood and Mark Rooney while
Mark O'Brien and Noel Haverty joined Shels on loan from rivals Bohemians and St. Patrick's Athletic respectively.

The impact of Shels newly assembled squad was felt immediately with a 1-0 victory over Wexford Youths at Tolka Park, only Shels 3rd win of the season. After a 1-0 away defeat to Finn Harps, Shels revitalised themselves with 3 consecutive victories against Dundalk, Kilkenny City and Athlone Town. July's turnaround in Shelbourne's form gave Shels optimism for securing the 3rd place play-off spot.

Shels hopes of securing 3rd place were dashed over one weekend at Tolka Park with a 1-1 draw against Monaghan United and a defeat by Finn Harps with yet another last minute goal conceded.

Shelbourne Football Club was in mourning during August after the death of Chief Executive Ollie Byrne. The first match after Byrne's death came against Limerick 37 at Tolka Park. In what was an emotional night at Tolka Park, Shelbourne provided one of their most impressive displays of the season with a comprehensive 4-0 victory.

Two more victories over Wexford Youths and Kildare County gave Shels much optimism over finishing in 4th place but these ambitions were hit after another defeat to Finn Harps with yet another last minute conceded goal, the third time Shelbourne conceded a last minute winner to Harps this season.

With no promotion prospects during the remainder of the season, Shelbourne's form slipped dramatically during the season run in. Despite a comfortable 4-1 win away to Athlone Town, Shels struggled during this period with a defeat to Dundalk and a disappointing home draw to lowly Kilkenny City.

Shelbourne's finish to the season was one they would rather forget. 4 defeats in their final 4 matches marked a considerable decline in the Shels form after a new lease of life during the months of July and August.

After what was a truly difficult season both on and off the pitch, Shelbourne finished 5th in the First Division table and Mark Leech finished the club's top goalscorer with 12 league goals.

2007 season statistics

Player appearances/goals

As of 10 November 2007.

|}

Top goalscorers

Notes

References

Shelbourne F.C. seasons
Shelbourne
Shelbourne


Once reliability risks have been identified and analyzed, we have to do something.
If the risk is acceptable to the stakeholders, then we can simply continue with the current plan and monitor or any new risks or changes in our understanding of the existing risks.
Risk mitigation is a 'system, process, or investment to control the likelihood or consequence of a risk.' This is according to the glossary of risk terms in ISO 31000: Enterprise Risk Management. In many cases, the risk is unacceptable and will require mitigation.
At times it is our understanding the elements that comprise a risk that makes it worth mitigating. A new vendor provides a range of unknowns from their process capability to the supplied component's actual behavior within our design.
The solution here is obvious. Get more information and reassess the risk. Run an experiment, call the vendor with requests for data, or conduct the necessary research.
If we're not sure how often an item will fail, we're seeking failure rate information. Life studies that test to failure, literature searches, vendor data, physics of failure models are all viable means to estimate a failure rate.
If the we're not sure how something will fail, that suggests that we need to let the item fail. Of course, be safe. In some cases causing a failure is not possible while staying safe (or it's cost prohibitive). Then analytical studies, literature searches, and simulations may have to suffice to discover the nature of a failure's consequences.
Some forms of risk have a high probability of the triggering stresses to occur. The situation the initiates the path to failure and the resulting consequence may just occur too often.
Changing the environment in order to reduce the occurrence of the stress conditions may be possible. Adding cooling fans for example helps to reduce temperatures and the chance of high temperature induced failure mechanism.
Adding a warning in the operating manual is generally not effective, btw.
Another option is to interrupt the string of events that start with the initiating event and end with the realization of the consequence. For example, the oil light on combustion engine vehicles provide a warning that the oil pressure is low and needs attention. Repairing the leak or adding additional oil breaks the sequence of the loss of oil pressure and the engine seizure failure (high consequence). The oil light signals the need for maintenance.
A third option is to create a system that is robust to the frequently occurring initiating stress. If a product experiences a frequent stress, that is currently causing an elevated risk of a serious consequence, adjust the product to be robust to that stress. If your product should survive routine high temperature exposure, be sure to use material and assembly process that will survive such exposures. Be sure to check thermal cycling effects as well.
A few of the reliability risks we face may enjoy relative low probability of occurring, yet the resulting consequence is unacceptable. Typically safety related consequences are always addresses with less severe consequences resolved when possible.
The first option is the engineer the item's response to the situation to fail safe. To go cold. This may involve fuzes, sensors, monitoring and interventions, yet the idea is to avoid the vessel explosion by venting the excessive pressure safely, for example.
The second option is the containment of the consequence. For example if there is a chance of a vessel explosion and venting fails, building a containment structure may limit the damage to just the containment area.
A third option is to buy insurance and hope. I don't like this option, yet at times it may be the only viable option available.
Each risk we face will have uniques circumstances. With understanding of the stresses, paths to failure, and resulting consequences, we generally can find at least one or more means to minimize the chance of occurrence or the impact of the consequences.
I'm sure I've missed a few approaches to mitigate risk, which would you add?


Check Back in August for More Info for the 2018-19 Season!
The best gathering of Packer Fans west of Lambeau Field returns to Big Dog's Draft House for its 30th season!
Packer Sunday really is a sight to see...200+ of your fellow Packer fans, rooting on the Green & Gold, doing the wave around the bar, yelling "First Down!" in unison... Some even come dressed with Packer face paint! Don't be surprised if you see a stray Bears or Vikings fan, too, making it truly a stadium-like experience...without having to walk up the bleachers or stand in line for a beer!


Decriminalization of begging has rendered many beggars in East Delhi 'homeless'. The Delhi High court's recent verdict has 'displaced' these poor people from the only shelter they had- prison.
Around 40 inmates of Tahirpur shelter home 'HLTB' are now free. However, the freezing cold outside has turned their freedom into a nightmare. These people are now finding it hard to survive out in the open during these harsh winters.
Leprosy and Tuberculosis affected beggars are spending their nights on footpaths in Delhi since January.
Due to the social stigma attached with leprosy, these beggars have neither been accepted by their families nor the society.
Though the shelter home was a prison, it still provided the beggars a home for a major part of their life. The not only had a roof over them, access to medical care and uninterrupted daily meals proved to be a boon.
Seeking rehabilitation, one of the inmates recently filed a petition in the High Court asking it to allow them to stay in the shelter home these winters. Subsequently, the court has asked the Centre and Delhi state governments to come out with a policy and take all inmates back as an interim measure.
So far the governments haven't paid heed to the court's directions. Delhi social welfare minister Rajendra Pal Gautam said that he had passed directions last week asking the authorities to take these inmates back.
Nevertheless, the government still has a reservation policy for leprosy affected persons, but not many have been able to avail jobs under it.


text:
Publisher : OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS
'They lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs.'
Edith Wharton's most famous novel, written immediately after the end of... Read more
Edith Wharton's most famous novel, written immediately after the end of the First World War, is a brilliantly realized anatomy of New York society in the 1870s, the world in which she grew up, and from which she spent her life escaping. Newland Archer, Wharton's protagonist, charming, tactful, enlightened, is a thorough product of this society; he accepts its standards and abides by its rules but he also recognizes its limitations. His engagement to the impeccable May Welland assures him of a
safe and conventional future, until the arrival of May's cousin Ellen Olenska puts all his plans in jeopardy. Independent, free-thinking, scandalously separated from her husband, Ellen forces Archer to question the values and assumptions of his narrow world. As their love for each other grows,
Archer has to decide where his ultimate loyalty lies.
ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.


Business Description: We are your glass and window shop in Old Orchard Beach! Whether you're in need of a small screen repair, or a frame-less shower enclosure, we are the ones for you!
Business Description: Installation of glass shower doors and glass shower surrounds. Factory trained. Fully insured.
Hour Glass has been consistently one of the best home improvement vendors that I've ever used. I felt compelled to write this review having seen another reviewer write a negative note. I have worked with hour glass on multiple jobs for the past five years, easily totaling over $2000 worth of work. From custom jobs to standard window replacement there have been consistent in their work product and their prices. I have since recommended them to several of my neighbors who have also used them with great results.


Alto Global Processing – As our business environment evolves, AGP is cognizant that it is in our best interest to adapt and collaborate with strategic partners and resellers to enhance the growth of our business. Reciprocally, we are then able to offer generous incentives for our agents to achieve their desired monetary goals for their efforts.
AGP is seeking referring partners that can refer or resell to merchants, ISO/agents or end user consumers our gateway and merchant account services. Please inquire within our referral incentive program. Please note that we are flexible to accommodate custom incentives if necessary and ensure a 'win win' arrangement between all entities involved.
To further accommodate our reselling agents, AGP will provide full training, marketing materials and any custom solutions you may require to confidentially resell our products. Again, we understand that your relationships and networks have an inherent value to our team and we will incentivize you accordingly for your efforts in growing our business.


Machine learning is the ability of computers (machines) to change their expectations of a model according to how that model functions, allowing for more accurate predictions. Learning can be either supervised, unsupervised or reinforced. Supervised and reinforced learning involve input from humans and interaction with a model, respectively, while unsupervised learning generally involves neither.
The most common approaches to machine learning include Bayesian learning, maximum likelihood learning, and error back-propagation in neural networks.
If M represents a model (or its parameters), and D its data, then Bayes rule states that the "posterior probability" (what is currently considered probable) of a model equals the "likelihood" (hypothetical probability based on the past function of the model) of the data, times the "prior probability" (what was previously considered probable) of the model, divided by the "marginal likelihood" (the evidence). The values change for each observation of the model during training, and posterior probability is recalculated. When model paramters are learned with this approach, predictions of the observations can be made by using the parameters as weights to the probabilities.
Maximum likelihood (ML) learning is also based on Bayes rule. But where Bayesian learning uses the prior probability of a model's parameters, ML learning does not. ML learning finds the parameters which maximize the likelihood of the data, given the parameters (instead of the model) as the past event.
Both Bayesian and ML learning approaches are good for analyzing correlations in data sets of independent and identically distributed points. However, the approaches are limited by high-order statistical structure, outliers, and a large number of parameters (high dimensionality).
Another machine learning approach involves neural networks. Neural networks contain layers of computational units or nodes, the first layer being the input and the last being the output. Each unit is connected to others in its layer and computes the function of its input as well as its activation function. And layers are connected by adaptive weights, which affect the network's activity.
Activity in neural networks is propagated in a "feed-forward" manner, starting with the input layer and ending with the output layer. When training a neural network, errors found on output can be "back-propagated" into the network, changing the adaptive weights.
Neural networks are particularly useful for analyzing data in matrices or arrays, since the units in the networks can be arranged as such. They are thus often used in analyzing microarray data, where they can also be trained. One disadvantage of the approach, however, is that the networks are trained on finite data sets, sometimes leading to a bias in the analysis of new data. Such a bias is considered the result of "overtraining."
This page was last modified on 28 May 2010, at 00:24.


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US authorities to delete Coreflood bot from computers
In the battle against the Coreflood botnet, US authorities are going a step further by deleting the contaminant from infected computers, according to a report by Computerworld. Up to now, the FBI has merely sent a kill command to the bots that disabled them until the computer reboots but does not remove it permanently. In this way, the FBI has managed to reduce the Coreflood botnet by 90 per cent within the US and by 75 per cent worldwide.
Now, a court has given the FBI permission to delete the contaminant from infected computers until 25 May provided that the victims give their written consent. In some cases, investigators have been able to trace static IP addresses back to users, who can therefore be contacted. Internet users with dynamic IP addresses will not be contacted.
In giving the FBI this permission, the court warns that, while the FBI has tested the uninstall command, it could nevertheless have unforeseen consequences, including damage to infected computers. The FBI told Computerworld that user data on infected systems would not be accessed in the process.
Users who believe that their system is infected and would like to remove Coreflood without the FBI becoming involved, can install the latest version of the "Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool" or a reputable virus scanner with an updated signature database.
Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, download page
Russian botnet operators infected 6 million computers
Anonymisation service uses botnet as proxies
Many PCs still infected after Rustock botnet shutdown
Microsoft releases out-of-schedule update for anti-malware tool
Friendly takeover: FBI controls bot PCs
Botnet of 1.9 million infected PCs found
Android and its password problems open doors for spies
Critical vulnerabilities in numerous ASUS routers
Black Hat 2013: NSA director to speak at hacker conference


Cengage > Blog Home > You searched for "time management"
As a college student, you quickly learn that there are good habits and bad ones. Unfortunately, sometimes you may need help learning how to translate tips for success into your study habits. Read on for help setting priorities along with other tactics to improve your college experience.
When setting priorities, there are three main things all college students should remember: Don't put yourself in an impossible situation. Prioritize which classes are most important, use your time wisely to create success, and plan for two hours of studying for every hour of class.
Time management is self-reported as one of the largest challenges facing college students, particularly during their freshman year. Why is building good time management skills such a struggle for many students? What hurdles make it difficult to overcome? By taking a look at some of the reasons students struggle in building a concrete skill set to help them manage their time, you can gain a firmer perspective on how to help them gain those skills—and achieve academic success.
Time management is your ability to plan and control how you spend the hours in your day to accomplish your goals. It helps to have strategies to be successful in managing one's time. The strategies that worked well for students in high school may, however, fall short in meeting the obligations of college life. Classes, group work, study, and jobs now compete for the limited hours in a semester. The sooner that college students learn to adjust their time management skills, the better their chances of success.


Concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems provide higher efficiencies than conventional photovoltaic technologies. These systems increase the concentration ratio by using cheap optical assemblies in order to reduce the size of high efficiency solar cells. This chapter outlines designs in low-, medium-, and high-concentrator photovoltaic systems, with a focus on high-concentrator photovoltaic systems.Topics such as multijunction solar cells, concentrator optics, thermal management, module performance, influences of irradiance, temperature, spectrum, and other variables are covered in the text. Several methods for directly or indirectly estimating the output energy of a CPV system are discussed. Electrical mismatches causing energy losses are detailed through illustrations and equations that calculate the energy yield of a concentrator photovoltaic system. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.


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Henry Walton (1804–1865) was an American painter and lithographer active chiefly in Ithaca, New York and California.

Biography
Walton was born in Saratoga Springs, New York in 1804, the son. of Judge Henry Walton and Mathilda (Cruger) Yates.

He moved to Ithaca before 1836, where he is believed to have been working for a company republishing David Burr's 1829 Atlas of New York State.  He produced both portraits and landscapes including View of Geneva (1837), Henry Clay (1844), Lithographic View of Jefferson (1847) (Jefferson is now Watkins Glen), and oil paintings of Addison (1850) and Painted Post (1851).

In 1840, during his stay in Ithaca, he was involved in a dispute over a portrait of William Henry Harrison, which political opponents claimed was actually a portrait of Andrew Jackson over which Walton had written the name Harrison.

In 1851 he joined the California Gold Rush, arriving in San Francisco on the steamer Oregon.  In California he continued producing artistic works such as the watercolor View of Grass Valley (1857), and presumably other works which have been lost.

In 1857 he moved to Michigan, where he died in Cassopolis 1865.  His wife Jane Orr died there in 1890.  There is no record of children.

Art Work and Career
His early works include lithographs of scenes from Saratoga Springs, Flat Rock Spring and the Pavilion Hotel.  His First works were thought to be in 1820. Henry Walton did portraits also. He worked in the finger lakes area for a time where he engraved for the Stone and Clark firm.
Walton's work can be seen in New York, Virginia, and Vermont.

References

External links

''Lucifer's Falls, Henry Walton, 1820
View of Ithaca, Tompkins County, NY, taken from the South Hill, November 1838
A Miner in his Cabin, 1853 watercolor by Walton at Oakland Museum of California website

1804 births
1865 deaths
19th-century American painters
19th-century American male artists
American male painters
American lithographers
Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area
People of the California Gold Rush
People from Saratoga Springs, New York
Artists from Ithaca, New York
People from Cassopolis, Michigan


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EXP is our DNA: Microsoft Viva and Rightpoint
Rich Wood, Vice President, Microsoft Alliances
Technology / Innovation
I'm not sure there's a group of people more excited about Viva, Microsoft's new Employee Experience Platform (EXP) than the team here at Rightpoint. Building digital, employee-centric work experiences on Microsoft's platform is in our organizational DNA—it's what we've been doing since 2007. More recently and more specifically, it's what we've been aiming toward with our pioneering work in the Topics and Insights pillars of this EXP for the past eighteen months.
Our Employee Experience team feels very strongly that while EX absolutely has an important digital component, to truly succeed in EX you need to also address the physical and cultural aspects of your employees' work environment. Last week's launch messaging made it very clear that Viva is a digital platform designed with the cultural elements of EX in mind—alongside an awareness of the shifting physical boundaries so many of us are dealing with in our daily lives.
"We need to stop thinking about work as a place," Jared Spataro said while introducing the product, "and start thinking about how to maintain culture, connect employees and harness human ingenuity in a hybrid world."
Like the solutions Rightpoint builds for our clients, that statement told me that Viva is technology but it's technology with a purpose. The COVID pandemic has only accelerated the migration to multi-faceted working environments—remote, hybrid, office-based and everything in between. In this fast-moving new world, the only reliable commonality employees have is in that digital interface they all share (scoped as it may be to their individual needs), so it had better be a joyful, engaging, successful experience every time.
To us, creating these joyful, engaging solutions isn't just a line of business, but rather a reflection of our entire raison d'etre. I've been in organizations that tell you everyone is a salesman. What's unique about Rightpoint is that here, regardless of your title and your day job, everyone is an experience consultant. Literally. From our CEO on through the org chart.
That kind of unique DNA makes Rightpoint uniquely qualified to have a look at this Employee Experience Platform and figure out its broader implications. As an early pioneer of employee-centric digital workplaces and one of only a handful of Microsoft's select Preferred Partners for both Topics and Insights, we've already been doing that for some time now. We're looking forward to doing it with Connect, with Learning, and with you.