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Q: How to get rid of one navigation bar and merge them as one in android? I'm fairly new to Android. So, please help me with this sily problem
I'm getting two navigation bars. I want to merge the both and get all the elements in one nav barenter image description here
This is my MainActivity
This is my manifest.xml
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        package="info.androidhive.navigationdrawer">

        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

        <application
            android:allowBackup="true"
            android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:supportsRtl="true"
            android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
            <activity
                android:name=".activity.LoginActivity"
                >
                <intent-filter>
                    <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                    <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
                </intent-filter>
            </activity>
            <activity
                android:name=".activity.AboutUsActivity"
                android:label="@string/activity_title_about_us" />
            <activity
                android:name=".activity.PrivacyPolicyActivity"
                android:label="@string/activity_title_privacy_policy" />
            <activity android:name=".activity.MainActivity"
                android:label="Main"
                >

            </activity>
        </application>

    </manifest>

This is my activity_main.xml
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout                xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
        xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
        android:id="@+id/drawer_layout"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
        tools:openDrawer="start">

        <include
            layout="@layout/app_bar_main"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent" />

        <android.support.design.widget.NavigationView
            android:id="@+id/nav_view"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:layout_gravity="start"
            android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
            app:headerLayout="@layout/nav_header_main"
            app:menu="@menu/activity_main_drawer" />

    </android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout>

This is my app_bar_main.xml
         <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
            <android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout             xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
                xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
                xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="match_parent"
                android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
                tools:context="info.androidhive.navigationdrawer.activity.MainActivity">

                <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
                    android:layout_width="match_parent"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:theme="@style/AppTheme.AppBarOverlay">

                    <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
                        android:id="@+id/toolbar"
                        android:layout_width="match_parent"
                        android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
                        android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
                        app:popupTheme="@style/AppTheme.PopupOverlay" />

                </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

                <FrameLayout
                    android:id="@+id/frame"
                    android:layout_width="match_parent"
                    android:layout_height="match_parent"
                    app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior">            </FrameLayout>

                <android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton
                    android:id="@+id/fab"
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_gravity="bottom|end"
                    android:layout_margin="@dimen/fab_margin"
                    app:backgroundTint="@color/colorPrimary"
                    app:srcCompat="@android:drawable/ic_dialog_email" />

            </android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

This is my nav_header_main.xml
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <RelativeLayout         xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
        android:id="@+id/view_container"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="@dimen/nav_header_height"
        android:gravity="bottom"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark">

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/img_header_bg"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:scaleType="fitXY"
            android:src="@mipmap/ic_launcher" />

        <LinearLayout
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_centerVertical="true"
            android:orientation="vertical"
            android:padding="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin">

            <ImageView
                android:id="@+id/img_profile"
                android:layout_width="@dimen/profile_width"
                android:layout_height="@dimen/profile_height"
                android:paddingTop="@dimen/nav_header_vertical_spacing"
                app:srcCompat="@android:drawable/sym_def_app_icon" />

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/name"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:paddingTop="@dimen/nav_header_vertical_spacing"
                        android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.AppCompat.Body1"     />

            <TextView
                android:id="@+id/website"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

        </LinearLayout>

    </RelativeLayout>

This is my activity_main_drawer.xml
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

        <group android:checkableBehavior="single">
            <item
                android:id="@+id/nav_home"
                android:icon="@drawable/ic_home_black_24dp"
                android:title="@string/nav_home" />
            <item
                android:id="@+id/nav_photos"
                android:icon="@drawable/ic_photo_library_black_24dp"
                android:title="@string/nav_photos" />
            <item
                android:id="@+id/nav_movies"
                android:icon="@drawable/ic_local_movies_black_24dp"
                android:title="@string/nav_movies" />

            <item
                android:id="@+id/nav_notifications"
                android:icon="@drawable/ic_notifications_black_24dp"
                android:title="@string/nav_notifications" />

            <item
                android:id="@+id/nav_settings"
                android:icon="@drawable/ic_settings_black_24dp"
                android:title="@string/nav_settings" />
        </group>

        <item android:title="Other">
            <menu>
                <item
                    android:id="@+id/nav_about_us"
                    android:title="@string/nav_about_us" />
                <item
                    android:id="@+id/nav_privacy_policy"
                    android:title="@string/privacy_policy" />
            </menu>
        </item>

    </menu>

Original code taken from http://www.androidhive.info/2013/11/android-sliding-menu-using-navigation-drawer/
Thank you in advance! :)
Edit
This is my MainActivity.java
    package info.androidhive.navigationdrawer.activity;

    import android.content.Intent;
    import android.content.SharedPreferences;
    import android.os.Bundle;
    import android.os.Handler;
    import android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton;
    import android.support.design.widget.NavigationView;
    import android.support.design.widget.Snackbar;
    import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
    import android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction;
    import android.support.v4.view.GravityCompat;
    import android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout;
    import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarDrawerToggle;
    import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
    import android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar;
    import android.view.Menu;
    import android.view.MenuItem;
    import android.view.View;
    import android.widget.ImageView;
    import android.widget.TextView;
    import android.widget.Toast;

    import com.bumptech.glide.Glide;
    import com.bumptech.glide.load.engine.DiskCacheStrategy;

    import info.androidhive.navigationdrawer.R;
    import info.androidhive.navigationdrawer.fragment.HomeFragment;
    import info.androidhive.navigationdrawer.fragment.MoviesFragment;
    import info.androidhive.navigationdrawer.fragment.NotificationsFragment;
    import info.androidhive.navigationdrawer.fragment.PhotosFragment;
    import info.androidhive.navigationdrawer.fragment.SettingsFragment;
    import info.androidhive.navigationdrawer.helper.SessionManager;
    import info.androidhive.navigationdrawer.other.CircleTransform;

    public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

        private NavigationView navigationView;
        private DrawerLayout drawer;
        private View navHeader;
        private ImageView imgNavHeaderBg, imgProfile;
        private TextView txtName, txtWebsite;
        private Toolbar toolbar;
        private FloatingActionButton fab;

        // urls to load navigation header background image
        // and profile image
        private static final String urlNavHeaderBg =         "http://api.androidhive.info/images/nav-menu-header-bg.jpg";
        private static final String urlProfileImg =         "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/eCtE_G34M9ygdkmOpYvCag1vBARCmZwnVS6rS5t4JLzJ6        QgQSBquM0nuTsCpLhYbKljoyS-txg";
        private SessionManager session;
        // index to identify current nav menu item
        public static int navItemIndex = 0;

        // tags used to attach the fragments
        private static final String TAG_HOME = "home";
        private static final String TAG_PHOTOS = "photos";
        private static final String TAG_MOVIES = "movies";
        private static final String TAG_NOTIFICATIONS = "notifications";
        private static final String TAG_SETTINGS = "settings";
        public static String CURRENT_TAG = TAG_HOME;

        // toolbar titles respected to selected nav menu item
        private String[] activityTitles;

        // flag to load home fragment when user presses back key
        private boolean shouldLoadHomeFragOnBackPress = true;
        private Handler mHandler;

        @Override
        protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
            super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
            setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
            toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
           // setSupportActionBar(toolbar);
            session = new SessionManager(getApplicationContext());
            mHandler = new Handler();

            drawer = (DrawerLayout) findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
            navigationView = (NavigationView) findViewById(R.id.nav_view);
            fab = (FloatingActionButton) findViewById(R.id.fab);

            // Navigation view header
            navHeader = navigationView.getHeaderView(0);
            txtName = (TextView) navHeader.findViewById(R.id.name);
            txtWebsite = (TextView) navHeader.findViewById(R.id.website);
            imgNavHeaderBg = (ImageView)         navHeader.findViewById(R.id.img_header_bg);
            imgProfile = (ImageView)         navHeader.findViewById(R.id.img_profile);

            // load toolbar titles from string resources
            activityTitles =         getResources().getStringArray(R.array.nav_item_activity_titles);

            fab.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
                @Override
                public void onClick(View view) {
                    Snackbar.make(view, "Replace with your own action",          Snackbar.LENGTH_LONG)
                            .setAction("Action", null).show();
                }
            });

             // load nav menu header data
            loadNavHeader();

            // initializing navigation menu
            setUpNavigationView();

            if (savedInstanceState == null) {
                navItemIndex = 0;
                CURRENT_TAG = TAG_HOME;
                loadHomeFragment();
             }
              if (!session.isLoggedIn()) {
                 logoutUser();
             }
            SharedPreferences prefs = getSharedPreferences("LoginActivity",
                     MODE_PRIVATE); String string =          prefs.getString("output",
                     "nothing to display");
          }

        /***
         * Load navigation menu header information
         * like background image, profile image
         * name, website, notifications action view (dot)
           */
         private void loadNavHeader() {
             // name, website
            txtName.setText("Ravi Tamada");
            txtWebsite.setText("www.androidhive.info");

            // loading header background image
            Glide.with(this).load(urlNavHeaderBg)
                    .crossFade()
                    .diskCacheStrategy(DiskCacheStrategy.ALL)
                    .into(imgNavHeaderBg);

              // Loading profile image
             Glide.with(this).load(urlProfileImg)
                      .crossFade()
                      .thumbnail(0.5f)
                    .bitmapTransform(new CircleTransform(this))
                    .diskCacheStrategy(DiskCacheStrategy.ALL)
                    .into(imgProfile);

            // showing dot next to notifications label
            navigationView.getMenu().getItem(3).setActionView(R.layout.menu_dot);
         }

        /***
          * Returns respected fragment that user
          * selected from navigation menu
          */
        private void loadHomeFragment() {
            // selecting appropriate nav menu item
            selectNavMenu();

            // set toolbar title
            setToolbarTitle();

            // if user select the current navigation menu again, don't do         anything
            // just close the navigation drawer
            if (getSupportFragmentManager().findFragmentByTag(CURRENT_TAG)         != null) {
                 drawer.closeDrawers();

                // show or hide the fab button
                toggleFab();
                return;
             }

            // Sometimes, when fragment has huge data, screen seems hanging
            // when switching between navigation menus
            // So using runnable, the fragment is loaded with cross fade          effect
            // This effect can be seen in GMail app
             Runnable mPendingRunnable = new Runnable() {
                @Override
                public void run() {
                    // update the main content by replacing fragments
                    Fragment fragment = getHomeFragment();
                    FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction =         getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
                     fragmentTransaction.setCustomAnimations(android.R.anim.fade_in,
                            android.R.anim.fade_out);
                     fragmentTransaction.replace(R.id.frame, fragment,         CURRENT_TAG);
                    fragmentTransaction.commitAllowingStateLoss();
                }
             };

            // If mPendingRunnable is not null, then add to the message queue
            if (mPendingRunnable != null) {
                mHandler.post(mPendingRunnable);
            }

            // show or hide the fab button
            toggleFab();

            //Closing drawer on item click
            drawer.closeDrawers();

            // refresh toolbar menu
            invalidateOptionsMenu();
        }

         private Fragment getHomeFragment() {
            switch (navItemIndex) {
                case 0:
                    // home
                    HomeFragment homeFragment = new HomeFragment();
                    return homeFragment;
                case 1:
                    // photos
                    PhotosFragment photosFragment = new PhotosFragment();
                    return photosFragment;
                case 2:
                    // movies fragment
                    MoviesFragment moviesFragment = new MoviesFragment();
                    return moviesFragment;
                case 3:
                    // notifications fragment
                    NotificationsFragment notificationsFragment = new          NotificationsFragment();
                    return notificationsFragment;

                case 4:
                    // settings fragment
                    SettingsFragment settingsFragment = new         SettingsFragment();
                     return settingsFragment;
                default:
                    return new HomeFragment();
            }
        }

        private void setToolbarTitle() {
            getSupportActionBar().setTitle(activityTitles[navItemIndex]);
        }

        private void selectNavMenu() {
            navigationView.getMenu().getItem(navItemIndex).setChecked(true);
         }

        private void setUpNavigationView() {
            //Setting Navigation View Item Selected Listener to handle the         item click of the navigation menu
            navigationView.setNavigationItemSelectedListener(new         NavigationView.OnNavigationItemSelectedListener() {

                 // This method will trigger on item Click of navigation menu
                @Override
                public boolean onNavigationItemSelected(MenuItem menuItem) {

                      //Check to see which item was being clicked and perform appropriate action
                    switch (menuItem.getItemId()) {
                         //Replacing the main content with ContentFragment Which is our Inbox View;
                        case R.id.home:
                            navItemIndex = 0;
                            CURRENT_TAG = TAG_HOME;
                            break;
                        case R.id.nav_photos:
                             navItemIndex = 1;
                            CURRENT_TAG = TAG_PHOTOS;
                            break;
                        case R.id.nav_movies:
                            navItemIndex = 2;
                            CURRENT_TAG = TAG_MOVIES;
                            break;
                        case R.id.nav_notifications:
                            navItemIndex = 3;
                            CURRENT_TAG = TAG_NOTIFICATIONS;
                            break;
                        case R.id.nav_settings:
                            navItemIndex = 4;
                            CURRENT_TAG = TAG_SETTINGS;
                            break;
                        case R.id.nav_about_us:
                            // launch new intent instead of loading fragment
                            startActivity(new Intent(MainActivity.this,          AboutUsActivity.class));
                            drawer.closeDrawers();
                            return true;
                        case R.id.nav_privacy_policy:
                             // launch new intent instead of loading fragment
                            startActivity(new Intent(MainActivity.this,          PrivacyPolicyActivity.class));
                             drawer.closeDrawers();
                             return true;
                         default:
                             navItemIndex = 0;
                    }

                     //Checking if the item is in checked state or not, if not make it in checked state
                    if (menuItem.isChecked()) {
                        menuItem.setChecked(false);
                     } else {
                         menuItem.setChecked(true);
                     }
                     menuItem.setChecked(true);

                     loadHomeFragment();

                     return true;
                }
            });

            ActionBarDrawerToggle actionBarDrawerToggle = new         ActionBarDrawerToggle(this, drawer, toolbar, R.string.openDrawer,          R.string.closeDrawer) {

                @Override
                 public void onDrawerClosed(View drawerView) {
                    // Code here will be triggered once the drawer closes as         we dont want anything to happen so we leave this blank
                    super.onDrawerClosed(drawerView);
                }

                @Override
                public void onDrawerOpened(View drawerView) {
                    // Code here will be triggered once the drawer open as         we dont want anything to happen so we leave this blank
                    super.onDrawerOpened(drawerView);
                }
            };

            //Setting the actionbarToggle to drawer layout
             drawer.setDrawerListener(actionBarDrawerToggle);

            //calling sync state is necessary or else your hamburger icon         wont show up
            actionBarDrawerToggle.syncState();
        }

        @Override
         public void onBackPressed() {
            if (drawer.isDrawerOpen(GravityCompat.START)) {
                drawer.closeDrawers();
                return;
            }

            // This code loads home fragment when back key is pressed
            // when user is in other fragment than home
            if (shouldLoadHomeFragOnBackPress) {
                 // checking if user is on other navigation menu
                 // rather than home
                if (navItemIndex != 0) {
                    navItemIndex = 0;
                    CURRENT_TAG = TAG_HOME;
                    loadHomeFragment();
                    return;
                }
            }

            super.onBackPressed();
        }

         @Override
         public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
            // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is         present.

            // show menu only when home fragment is selected
            if (navItemIndex == 0) {
                getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
            }

            // when fragment is notifications, load the menu created for         notifications
            if (navItemIndex == 3) {
                getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.notifications, menu);
            }
             return true;
        }

        @Override
        public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
            // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
            // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
            // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
            int id = item.getItemId();

            //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
            if (id == R.id.action_logout) {
                logoutUser();
           }

            // user is in notifications fragment
            // and selected 'Mark all as Read'
            if (id == R.id.action_mark_all_read) {
                Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "All notifications         marked as read!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
             }

             // user is in notifications fragment
            // and selected 'Clear All'
            if (id == R.id.action_clear_notifications) {
                Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Clear all         notifications!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
            }

            return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
        }

        // show or hide the fab
        private void toggleFab() {
            if (navItemIndex == 0)
                fab.show();
            else
                fab.hide();
        }
        private void logoutUser() {
            session.setLogin(false);

            // Launching the login activity
            Intent intent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(),         LoginActivity.class);
            startActivity(intent);
            finish();
        }

    }

A: You can do that with an easy step. Don't remove the android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout from your layout, instead add the attribute app:elevation="0dp" to it. Your final layout will be:
<android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
            android:id="@+id/appBarLayout"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            app:elevation="0dp">
            ...
</android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

A: activity_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:id="@+id/drawer_layout"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
tools:openDrawer="start">

<include
    layout="@layout/app_bar_main"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" />

<android.support.design.widget.NavigationView
    android:id="@+id/nav_view"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_gravity="start"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
    app:headerLayout="@layout/nav_header_main"
    app:menu="@menu/activity_main_drawer" />

</android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout>

app_bar_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
tools:context="videoeditor.myapplication.MainActivity"><android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme.AppBarOverlay">

    <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
        android:id="@+id/toolbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
        android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
        app:popupTheme="@style/AppTheme.PopupOverlay" />

</android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

<FrameLayout
    android:id="@+id/frame"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior"></FrameLayout>

<include layout="@layout/content_main" />

<android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton
    android:id="@+id/fab"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_gravity="bottom|end"
    android:layout_margin="@dimen/fab_margin"
    app:srcCompat="@android:drawable/ic_dialog_email" />

    </android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

content_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior"
tools:context="videoeditor.myapplication.MainActivity"
tools:showIn="@layout/app_bar_main">

<TextView
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Hello World!"
    app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" /></RelativeLayout>

java
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity
    implements NavigationView.OnNavigationItemSelectedListener {

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
    setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

    FloatingActionButton fab = (FloatingActionButton) findViewById(R.id.fab);
    fab.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View view) {
            Snackbar.make(view, "Replace with your own action", Snackbar.LENGTH_LONG)
                    .setAction("Action", null).show();
        }
    });

    DrawerLayout drawer = (DrawerLayout) findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
    ActionBarDrawerToggle toggle = new ActionBarDrawerToggle(
            this, drawer, toolbar, R.string.navigation_drawer_open, R.string.navigation_drawer_close);
    drawer.setDrawerListener(toggle);
    toggle.syncState();

    NavigationView navigationView = (NavigationView) findViewById(R.id.nav_view);
    navigationView.setNavigationItemSelectedListener(this);
}

@Override
public void onBackPressed() {
    DrawerLayout drawer = (DrawerLayout) findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
    if (drawer.isDrawerOpen(GravityCompat.START)) {
        drawer.closeDrawer(GravityCompat.START);
    } else {
        super.onBackPressed();
    }
}

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
    return true;
}

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
    // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
    // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
    int id = item.getItemId();

    //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
    if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
        return true;
    }

    return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}

@SuppressWarnings("StatementWithEmptyBody")
@Override
public boolean onNavigationItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    // Handle navigation view item clicks here.
    int id = item.getItemId();

    if (id == R.id.nav_camera) {
        // Handle the camera action
    } else if (id == R.id.nav_gallery) {

    } else if (id == R.id.nav_slideshow) {

    } else if (id == R.id.nav_manage) {

    } else if (id == R.id.nav_share) {

    } else if (id == R.id.nav_send) {

    }

    DrawerLayout drawer = (DrawerLayout) findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
    drawer.closeDrawer(GravityCompat.START);
    return true;
}

}

you mean this as navigation bar
if so do put this code in Styles.xml
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    <item name="colorPrimary">@color/colorPrimary</item>
    <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
    <item name="colorAccent">@color/colorAccent</item>
</style>

<style name="AppThemee.NoActionBar">
    <item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
    <item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>
</style></resources>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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text:
Q: Getting different results from 2-way ANOVA in Matlab vs Python I'd like some advice on a two-way ANOVA that I am trying to do. It is an unbalanced design. Here is the full dataset:

Var1
Var2
Result

3
1
5.166096057

3
2
1.873452551

3
4
2.435296493

3
5
4.920406303

3
6
6.431087505

2
1
6.913241927

2
2
6.151673113

2
3
7.438972122

1
1
6.440015518

1
2
8.215052128

3
1
8.613242957

3
3
5.602265279

3
6
7.499069032

2
1
4.698134824

2
2
3.999659812

2
4
7.088559399

2
5
5.674090984

2
6
7.041602744

1
1
8.1478138

1
4
12.76875557

1
5
11.48126021

1
6
12.28399779

3
1
3.267760697

3
2
4.658878193

3
3
6.31389484

3
4
7.142347999

3
5
8.373378188

3
6
12.06812441

2
1
8.442215852

2
2
3.178236868

2
4
7.057385213

2
5
8.621323999

2
6
10.23528979

Now, I normally use Matlab for my stats, so I use the anovan function which can handle unbalanced designs (https://www.mathworks.com/help/stats/anovan.html). I ran my code like so:
t = readtable('data_file.xlsx');
data = table2struct(t);
dependent_variable = [data.Result];
independent_variables = {[data.Var1] [data.Var2]};
[p, anova_tbl, stats] = anovan(dependent_variable, independent_variables, 'display', 'off', 'model', 'full', 'varnames', {'Var1', 'Var2'});

This code gave me the following result:
    {'Source'   }    {'Sum Sq.' }    {'d.f.'}    {'Singular?'}    {'Mean Sq.'}    {'F'       }    {'Prob>F'  }
    {'Var1'     }    {[  7.0599]}    {[   1]}    {[        1]}    {[  7.0599]}    {[  1.4767]}    {[  0.2419]}
    {'Var2'     }    {[ 63.9936]}    {[   4]}    {[        1]}    {[ 15.9984]}    {[  3.3463]}    {[  0.0359]}
    {'Var1*Var2'}    {[ 22.2706]}    {[   9]}    {[        1]}    {[  2.4745]}    {[  0.5176]}    {[  0.8411]}
    {'Error'    }    {[ 76.4950]}    {[  16]}    {[        0]}    {[  4.7809]}    {0×0 double}    {0×0 double}
    {'Total'    }    {[238.5523]}    {[  32]}    {[        0]}    {0×0 double}    {0×0 double}    {0×0 double}

Next, I decided to basically do the same thing, but using the fitlm function in Matlab:
lm = fitlm(t, 'Result ~ Var1 + Var2 + Var1:Var2');
anova(lm);

This gave me the following results:
                 SumSq     DF    MeanSq       F         pValue
                 ______    __    ______    _______    __________

    Var1         60.399     1    60.399     13.521    0.00095409
    Var2         55.076     1    55.076     12.329     0.0014798
    Var1:Var2    1.4436     1    1.4436    0.32317       0.57409
    Error        129.55    29    4.4672

As you can see, there are differences in the results. Now, Var1 and Var2 are technically categorical/ordinal variables, so I changed the above code to specify that:
t2 = t;
t2.Var1 = categorical(t2.Var1);
t2.Var2 = categorical(t2.Var2);
lm = fitlm(t2, 'Result ~ Var1 + Var2 + Var1:Var2');
anova(lm);

This gave the following results:
                 SumSq     DF    MeanSq       F        pValue
                 ______    __    ______    _______    _________

    Var1         69.869     2    34.935      7.307    0.0055666
    Var2         74.901     5     14.98     3.1333     0.036834
    Var1:Var2    22.271     9    2.4745    0.51758      0.84112
    Error        76.495    16    4.7809

Yet again, a different result. So then I switched over to Python, and I tried using the anova_lm function from the statsmodels module. I tried this in two different ways, first without specifying Var1 and Var2 as categorical, and then the 2nd time I specified them as categorical:
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
from statsmodels.formula.api import ols
import statsmodels.api as sm

df = pd.read_excel("data_file.xlsx")
model = ols('Result ~ Var1 + Var2 + Var1:Var2', data=df).fit()
sm.stats.anova_lm(model, typ=2)

The results mirrored the results of when I did fitlm in Matlab without using categorical variables. Then, trying as cateogorical:
model = ols('Result ~ C(Var1) + C(Var2) + C(Var1):C(Var2)', data=df).fit()
sm.stats.anova_lm(model, typ=2)

These results mostly mirrored the results from Matlab when I used categorical variables, but were not completely identical. Here are the Python results using categorical variables:
sum_sq  df  F   PR(>F)
C(Var1) 67.469195   2.0 7.056059    0.006354
C(Var2) 90.625716   5.0 3.791125    0.023617
C(Var1):C(Var2) 24.670662   10.0    0.516021    0.854765
Residual    76.495044   16.0    NaN NaN

So, to sum everything up, here are the various results I am getting from various different methods:

So:

*

*The Matlab vs Python versions not using categorical variables give identical results.

*The Matlab vs Python versions using categorical variables give similar results (but not identical).

*None of the methods give the same result as the anovan Matlab function, which is specifically meant to do an N-way ANOVA on an unbalanced design.

Seeing all of the above, which results should I be using? Can I trust anovan? How do I reconcile the differences between anovan and the other methods?
Thanks for any help!
[edit]
Just trying another Python module: pingouin. Got yet another different result that doesn't match any of the previous results:
pg.anova(df, dv="Result", between=["Var1", "Var2"], detailed=True)

Result:
Source  SS  DF  MS  F   p-unc   np2
0   Var1    47.891240   2.0 23.945620   5.008559    0.020459    0.385020
1   Var2    280.488760  5.0 56.097752   11.733623   0.000068    0.785718
2   Var1 * Var2 48.244576   10.0    4.824458    1.009102    0.476113    0.386762
3   Residual    76.495044   16.0    4.780940    NaN NaN NaN

[/edit]

A: I suspect that the problem comes from how the software deals with the missing combination of Var1 and Var2 when they are treated as factors. I copied your data into an R data frame, set those to factors, and got the following:
ftable(anov1$Var1,anov1$Var2)
#    1 2 3 4 5 6
#
# 1  2 1 0 1 1 1
# 2  3 3 1 2 2 2
# 3  3 2 2 2 2 3

You have no cases for which Var1=1 and Var2=3. That's not a problem when you treat them as numeric, but it is when you try to estimate all coefficients including the interaction in a factorial design.
With one 3-level factor, one 6-level factor, and data for all 18 combinations, you would expect 2 degrees of freedom associated with the first, 5 degrees of freedom with the second, and 10 with the interaction term. But you can't get all of those in a factorial ANOVA with a missing cell.
The anovan function only listed 1, 4, and 9 degrees of freedom respectively, with one each listed as "singular." Perhaps it just removed both the row and column with the missing data?
The fitlm function in Matlab based on categorical predictors gave 2, 5 and 9 degrees of freedom. Perhaps it fit all levels of Var1 and Var2 individually but omitted one interaction coefficient that couldn't be estimated? That's what lm in R did; it also led to the same analysis of variance table as fitlm, via the car::Anova function with default Type II sums of squares.
The anova_lm function from statsmodels and anova from pingouin somehow both report 2, 5 and 10 degrees of freedom even though there are no data for the Var1=1;Var2=3 combination. They instead report NaN for residuals tests as a potential warning that something is awry.
The take-home message: if your try to analyze a factorial design without outcome values for one combination of factor levels, you shouldn't take any software output at face value.


text:
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Hafsa Zayyan, co-winner of Stormzy's #Merky Books New Writer's Prize, chats to Nihal about her debut novel 'We Are All Birds Of Uganda'. She chats to Nihal about completing the book in six months and why a sense of belonging and home is so important no matter where you live. Hafsa also brings along some of the objects which inspire her, including letters from her late Nigerian grandfather #PenguinPodcast 'We Are All Birds Of Uganda' is available to buy as an audiobook on 21/01/2021 WIN a year's supply of audiobooks! To be in with a chance to win, tap the link and tell us what you think about the Penguin Podcast. https://bit.ly/PodcastSurvey2020 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Owen Jones, Guardian columnist and Labour party activist chats to Nihal about the tumultuous rise and fall of Corbynism via his new book 'This Land'. Owen explains why he doesn't like writing and brings objects that help him get past that, including music from The Boxer Rebellion and his cats Kier and Rickman. #PenguinPodcast 'This Land: The Story of a Movement' is available to buy as an audiobook now - https://apple.co/38pSVSy See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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FRANCES BUKOVSKY
Photographer + Video Editor
The Countless Moments
Where the Red Flowers Bloom
A Family of Complicated Bodies
Patreon (Support My Practice)
ABOUT FRANCES BUKOVSKY
Frances Bukovsky (b. 1996, they/them) is a fine art documentary photographer making work about chronic illness, disability, and queerness in the context of selfhood, relationships, and medical experiences. They utilize self portraiture, documentary style photography, and alternative process prints to understand their dynamic and fluid experience of both illness and gender identity.
Bukovsky earned a BFA with Honors in Photography and Imaging from Ringling College of Art and Design in 2018. Since then, they have been published internationally for their work on chronic illness, including a feature in Archer Magazine's Disability issue. They have also exhibited work in group shows such as Wanted: A World for One Billion, a UNFPA and Photoville exhibition at the United Nations HQ in NYC, and If We Never Get Better at TILT curated by Sydney Ellison. Bukovsky's debut monograph, Vessel, was published by Fifth Wheel Press in 2020.
Besides their personal art practice, Bukovsky participates in community building around photography. In 2020 they became a part of the founding team at Life at Six Feet, a photography project born out of a need for connection during the Covid-19 pandemic. That project has since evolved into the Kinship Photography Collective which explores the intimate connections between nature, culture, and belonging.
Bukovsky is a photography instructor who seasonally directs the darkroom at AGBU's Camp Nubar, as well as offers workshops on making photographs from personal experience through various platforms. Outside of photography they have a deep rooted interest in the history and practice of medicine, from historical traditions of healing, to modern practices. They also have a vested interest in disability issues and works as a respite care worker. When they aren't making photographs, they can be found reading any book that catches their eye, wandering around the woods someplace, or getting lost in some place new.
Bukovsky is currently based in the Asheville, North Carolina area.
Email: FLBukovsky@gmail.com
Instagram: @Frances_Bukovsky
© 2023 by Frances Bukovsky | FLBukovsky@gmail.com


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Svetlana Usacheva
Objects of their Time
The genre presenting "motionless nature" has always been alien to the concept of haste. It attunes us to unhurried communication, making us admire details and seek hidden meanings and significance in simple things. A still-life turns real items created by nature or the human hand into an artistic image reflecting the signs of its time and art's style and character. These characteristics of the genre defined the content of the exhibition "Still-life. Metamorphoses. A Dialogue between the Classic and the Modern", that will open at the Tretyakov Gallery in November 2012. The curators have brought together works from the 18th and 19th centuries, set alongside those of the late 20th-early 21st century in a common space, offering the viewer the opportunity to witness an unusual creative dialogue between past masters and modern artists.
Tatiana Yudenkova
Pride of the Nation. Pavel Tretyakov's Gallery of Portraits
Among the names that Pavel Tretyakov immortalised in his gallery of Russian national art are many that remain synonymous of Russian culture today: Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Nekrasov, Shevchenko, Griboedov, Chekhov and many others. But we should clearly understand that the collector selected such figures relying entirely on his own judgement, while his contemporaries often could not reach consensus regarding the stature of particular Russian cultural figures whom we call today, without hesitation, "individuals that the nation holds dear to its heart".
Yelena Terkel
Pavel Tretyakov and Anton Rubinstein - Fellow Devotees to the Arts
Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov and Anton Grigorievich Rubinstein shared a selfless devotion to art. Tretyakov was a great collector and the founder of the largest museum of Russian painting, Rubinstein a great composer and virtuoso pianist and conductor. Their paths crossed early in their lives, and their respect for one another only grew over the years.
Yevgeny Pasternak
Letters on Love, Friendship, Creativity. On the 150th anniversary of the birth of Leonid Pasternak
Leonid Osipovich Pasternak, a member of the Academy of Fine Arts, professor at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, and one of the founders of the Union of Russian Artists, was born in Odessa on March 22 (April 4) 1862. Art historians consider him a member of a small group of Russian Impressionists, an art movement which is yet to be comprehensively studied.
Marina Vaizey
An Adventurer Turns to Art: Paris, Love and the Impressionists
America's great collections are almost exclusively based on private initiatives, sometimes subsidised by direct public support and a sympathetic tax system. These varied histories, often historic microcosms of the social and economic events of their times, make for many different stories. One of the country's most interesting and unexpected collections, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, was built partly on the profits of the hugely successful and transformative domestic invention of the late-19th century, the Singer Sewing Machine. With architectural expansion at the Clark Institute continuing, some of its greatest works by the French Impressionists are on a world tour: the exhibition "From Paris: A Taste for Impressionism Paintings from the Clark" is currently at London's Royal Academy, after four previous stops in America and Europe; future showings include Montreal, Japan, Shanghai and Seoul, where "From Paris..." ends its journey in 2014.
Anna Ilyina
Passing on Russia's Artistic Heritage
The Moscow Union of Artists, formerly "MOSKh", the abbreviation for the Moscow Region Union of Artists is celebrating the 80th anniversary of its formation. Many outstanding masters of the Soviet fine and applied arts, design and photography have been members of the body. The exhibition marking this anniversary opened in the Manezh exhibition hall in Moscow in July. Just like the landmark show of 1962, which was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of MOSKh, it was intended to define the most important milestones in the development of the Moscow school of painting, sculpture and drawing, as well as related art forms.
Viktor Kalashnikov
An Artist of Paradox
All of us were once taught that the world was propelled by contradictions, the unity and struggle of opposites, and other similar principles. Perhaps the most valuable among these ideas is the notion of paradox, which implies a discord between meanings so striking that the mind at first refuses to accept them. Ivan Leonidovich Lubennikov is a true artist of paradoxes. If viewers familiar with his very aestheticised and ironic easel paintings learn that he also created the fanciful steel structures inside or on the facades of certain buildings, they are bound to think that this fact runs counter to the laws of nature and society.
Valeriya Minina
A Master of Major Forms. On the centenary of Alexander Kibalnikov's birth
Alexander Kibalnikov's name occupies one of the most prominent and significant places in the brilliant cohort of Soviet artists. When we recall his works — monumental sculptures, portraits, memorial and monumental compositions — it becomes clear that Kibalnikov's art has a consistent creative direction. It is characterized by its loyalty to the principles of civic consciousness and humanity, high integrity, strong inherent bond to the fate of his native country and its people. It is among the people that the artist found subjects for his art, individuals of strong will and courage, resolute, beautiful and wholesome in their thoughts and aspirations — people who embody a certain social ideal.
Irina Shumanova, Yevgeniya Ilyukhina
Working with the Material
The exhibition "The Basic Materials of Graphic Art: Paper and Wood, Silk and Glass..." features items from the Tretyakov Gallery's collection of drawings of the 18th-early 20th centuries. It is the final show in a series devoted to drawing materials, media and techniques used in Russia, and is intended to introduce to the public the history and diversity of the materials used in graphic art. The word traditionally applied to them in Russia — "the foundation" — most aptly characterises their role in the creation of an artwork, that of a "tuner" directing the artist towards a certain drawing style. The choice of material to a large extent determines how strokes or dabs of colour are applied — their tempo, rhythm, energy, and density. The exhibition is thematically arranged, exploring different kinds of materials and their characteristics such as structure, texture of the surface, colour, and tone.


FANCY A crack at the 15 minutes of fame we're all supposed to be due. This could be your chance. Could cost a small fortune, mind.
Hackney houseowners are being sought for Love It or List It, a new TV show with Channel 4's property pair Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer.
Yes, instead of prattling on at dinner parties about the high cost of property in northeast London, you could be exciting the nation as the next reality-show star.
In the six programmes, each of 60 minutes, Allsopp will try to "pump some passion" into a home by teaching the owners how to love it all over again, while Spencer argues for selling it.
Allsopp and an expert team will transform the residence – Spencer will use his expertise to see what the owners could afford elsewhere.
You will need at least several thousand pounds for the renovation, and some of that money will stay in Hackney because, said McKinlay, "We will be using local tradespeople to carry out all the renovation work and local estate agents to find any new properties".
* Interested homeowners can contact the programme makers via homes@raisetheroofproductions.com and 07460 286 500.


We are the most prestigious technology services company in Latin America with offices in seven countries. Over the last 20 years our team of 1000 highly qualified professionals have successfully executed over 5000 projects.
We provide onsite and remote consulting services for off shore/ near shore customers, ranging from Quality Assurance factories, Software Development, Analytics (Big Data), all the way to the outsourcing of business processes in the backend and the front office (specialized service). Our Solutions Centre is a hub of expertise in world-class solutions integration and in managing the implementation of globally distributed teams.
"The partners show lots of confidence in themselves and deliver a sense of confidence, ability, and knowledge to bring our ideas into reality."
Practia Consulting first provided a website design analysis and functionality proposal, and then updated the platform to provide a better user experience and make ZonaTecno stand out among other e-commerce websites.
The good quality of Practia's services is based on good communication, responsibility, and technical knowledge, as highlighted by the client. The website received a great amount of positive feedback for functionality and user experience. Online sales have increased 400%.
ZonaTecno is a company in Uruguay founded in 2007. We've had considerable growth in the last years and included a growth project. Within this growth project, we got a good job done to our website. We invest a great deal in digital media. One of our main focuses is to work on our online site and generate a larger e-commerce site.
I'm Zona Tecno's Chief Executive Officer.
What challenge were you trying to address with Practia Consulting?
When we started working with Practia, we had a very different online platform from the one we have today. We felt the need to renovate this platform and update it. The objective was to provide a great user experience and for it to stand out among other e-commerce websites. We contacted Practia and started having conversations, reviewing options and developing project phases. The first phase was developed in 2014 and then we had a second phase in 2015. We are currently working with them.
First, we asked for a website analysis and design and functionality proposals. They submitted their proposals and we accepted them. We later worked with them in constant changes to always be updated on our website.
I'm not the most appropriate person to speak about the technical aspects of the project but we first contacted the person in charge of the project and told them about our expectations. After this first instance, we were in contact with 2 developers basically. One was our point of reference and we always had interaction to review the progress. We continued working with him and they proposed to start working with a graphic designer and a web designer, who did the aesthetic proposal in parallel to the developers.
How did you come to work with Practia Consulting?
We had a referral from a previous business I used to work for. They told us Practia Consulting could be a good option. We contacted other companies aside from Practia Consulting, and in that moment we felt comfortable telling them our ideas, seeing how they interpreted these and their initial process of understanding and projecting our work together in the future.
How much have you invested with Practia Consulting?
A little bit over $100,000 and we are currently working together. We've had two collaborations and now we are working on adjustments. The digital part is agile and we're constantly trying to incorporate new tendencies and personalities.
Our collaboration with Practia Consulting continues.
In terms of functionality, we've received lots of positive feedback. We focus on functionality so that the user has a good customer experience. We believe that the previously mentioned is achieved because of our users' positive feedback. They find everything they're looking for on our website and that the information is complete.
Many times our users doubt if our information is correct and they are surprised when they realize that all of the information is correct, valid and that the text is 100% updated with our main billing system, stock and sales. This allows the client to buy from the web with ease since the information shows what's currently available. They accomplished these functionalities to improve the user experience. In this case, we use the website and other systems in our daily operations to be able to be updated and avoid stock or information problems. This is one of the positive aspects of our site, aside from its usability. It's practical, intuitive, and feedback is very positive. Since we did these series of changes, we have managed to increase online sales 400% directly from the site and it continues growing. We believe this trend will continue.
How did Practia Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?
We continue working with them because we feel really comfortable. They are very responsible and they really comply with the timelines they set. This is very important. Especially here in Uruguay, it is very difficult to work with companies that deliver what is agreed on. This is a plus.
What did you find most impressive about Practia Consulting?
Three things: communication is great because we feel comfortable. It's difficult to be in this community and be calm, knowing that they are actually understanding you. If they don't understand you, then they ask until they get what we expect from them. Responsibility and compliance, for us, is one of their strongest points. The partners show lots of confidence in themselves and they deliver a sense of confidence, ability, and knowledge to bring our ideas into reality.
Are there any areas Practia Consulting could improve?
No, we've had a good workflow. No critical aspect to improve.
They're excellent in this aspect. I highlight it because it is difficult to find companies in Uruguay that comply with project timelines as agreed.
In our preliminary search, other companies were more costly but very similar in terms of quality. We understand it was a fair price and adequate to the quality and service we got.
The good quality of their services is based on three aspects: communication, responsibility and technical knowledge.
We got to them through a referral and we would do the same.
"We couldn't solve some technology issues… but Practia's expertise and dedication to the project allowed them to find solutions to our problems."
Practia Consulting started by running a diagnosis of Plan Ceibal's technological issues and developed a web portal using Sharepoint and SQO for the non-profit's users and students.
Practia Consulting was efficient finding solutions to the non-profit's technology needs, demonstrating lots of creativity, skills, and dedication in their work. Time estimates were cited as an area for improvement, but the client appreciated their overall great services and reports.
Introduce your organization and your position.
Plan Ceibal is a non-profit organization. Ceibal started as the USA's One Laptop per Child implementation, delivering a computer to every child that needed one. It has been growing over the years. Plan Ceibal is closely attached to education and technology. We have been able to give a laptop to every public education student. Additionally, we have been able to bring internet connectivity to them. Now, Ceibal is focused on delivering content through this infrastructure that has been developed. Now we offer different types of content, for example, the adaptive math platform we have. Students are able to do exercises based on their results. The system offers different exercises that adapt to the student's needs and responses.
We also have different programs like Plan Ceibal in English for example, through which we offer classes to students through video conference tools. Remote classes are offered with teachers that can sign up in any part of the world, for example, The Philippines. This has also been a successful case study. We have robotics classes and we work hard to help provide services now that the platform has been implemented. My position is Web Development Lead.
We've had a portal developed with Sharepoint since 2 or 3 years ago. When I started at Ceibal, there was another company called ARCA that was developing it. Particularly, here at Ceibal, we are very pro open-sourced technologies and open software, and we do not have human resources with expertise in .Net or Microsoft technologies. The difficulty we were having lately was on maintaining a portal for new functionalities. We had a contract with ARCA, who developed our original portal.
We decided to change and started collaborating with Practia. It's been a good experience. Particularly, they have been able to resolve issues that had been previously considered to be unsolvable. They have provided a great deal in this area where we lacked the technological knowledge level.
We always had a project leader. At some point, we had a web designer and a developer working together. The team has always been two or three people. They have basically worked with Sharepoint and SQO [software quality optimization]. I have a direct API [application programming interface] for the user side.
At Ceibal, we're strict with our buying processes. We had different types of bids; public bids, international bids, and price competitions depending on the amount and characteristics of the offer. In this case, for example, we had asked for 3 budgets. One was ARCA, our previous company, and UBT. Based on the company's expertise and proposals that were submitted to us, we ended up choosing Practia. It's a highly transparent process and there are audits for the process.
We have a one-year contract ranging between $15,000 and $20,000.
We have an ongoing collaboration and we have a monthly maintenance service. We have been working with them for a year and a half, since early 2015 until March or April 2016.
The Ceibal portal is highly utilized. We have around 400,000 visits per month. The system is altered very few times. In terms of performance, it is very stable and that is something that our users value greatly, particularly our internal users/clients who upload the content to the portal constantly. It is an overall robust system.
In that sense, they were highly professional. Always clear with their resource allocations. In terms of timing, as with anything, there are some aspects that take more time than others, but everything was well managed. I don't have any suggestions for this area. In some occasions, I was the one who caused delays and they insisted in retaking some of the topics. There was lots of creativity on their side.
Technologically, they managed the tool very well. As I mentioned, other providers couldn't solve specific issues and Practia's expertise, technology skills, and dedication to the project allowed them to find a solution. Their ability to solve things speaks well of their technical skills.
What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Practia Consulting?
The service has been very professional, including their productivity providing solutions even when I couldn't attend them because of time issues. I think this speaks well about their work.
Overall Score It has been a good experience and I have been able to meet great professionals on their side. I'm very pleased.
Sometimes, estimates were off, but once they analyzed and figured some things were not solved correctly, they took more time. It would be an area for improvement in their great service.
We are pleased with this aspect.
Totally, in fact, we have recommended them already.
"Overall, we're very satisfied. They [Practia Consulting] have good resources and knowledge of .Net and SharePoint in particular."
In this ongoing, 4-year relationship, Practia Consulting developed various intranets and web developments of different kinds using .Net and SharePoint for this computer software firm's end clients.
Practia Consulting's team is organized, efficient, methodical, and has a higher success rate than other developers in the area. They've demonstrated to be good problem solvers, have good resources, and good knowledge of .Net and SharePoint. The client is very satisfied with their really good work and their focus to deliver good results.
We sell software services and products, as well as consulting services. I am the Operations Manager.
Basically, we started with SharePoint and .Net development. Our objective was to have customized developments for final clients such as intranet, web development of different kinds, etc.
There have been many people involved. We've been assigned a maximum of 10 developers per project and it has fluctuated. Generally, 2-3 developers as a minimum. It varies.
I knew and had worked previously with many of them. I even studied with several of their people and knew about their quality of work.
We've had different projects. Our objective is that when we have peak demand, we use Practia's developments. We manage locally, but they do the development.
Overall, it's really good work. We are very satisfied with them. We've worked 4 years with them. As with every project, there are problems, but while collaborating with them, we've always been able to find solutions. They have never abandoned us. There are always going to be problems in software development, and we have found solutions. Overall, we're very satisfied. They have good resources and knowledge of .Net and SharePoint in particular. We continue working with them.
We've seen them evolving since they started until now that they have worked deeply with Agile methodologies. We see more efficiency and control over the project at hand. It avoids deviations. They are organized and methodical.
The most important thing for them is their focus on advancing the project and solving the client's final issues. They are valuable in this sense. I've worked with other companies that haven't had this focus in developing a good product for the client.
Sometimes, it is not the right development or there have been deviations, as with any project, there's always going to be room for improvement. But they have a highest success rate than others in the same line of work.
There have been deviations in some projects and not in others. In the end, they take charge and we've found ways to affect the project the least.
"We are overall very pleased with the results and we will trust them [Practia Consulting] for our system support phase. "
Practia Consulting and UPM have worked on important projects together, including a platform migration to Sharepoint. Practia's success has allowed them to continue working for UPM on the application support phase of one of their projects.
Practia's strong communications, project management resources, and good knowledge of platform development were highlighted as strengths. The firm showed their ability to adapt to the client's internal standards. They are pleased with the results.
I am the IT Systems Manager at UPM, and I am responsible for management of the forest plantations' business units.
We have two important projects with Practia. One of them is related to the management of clients and producers with selling points on the field. We had a Microsoft Access platform and migrated it to SharePoint. One of the biggest projects we had this year was the RP forestall platform migration, using Microsoft.net, basically.
During this project, aside from the resources allocated to project management, they have involved 4 developers. The project had different phases but we will start the new application's support phase next month and we will involve more of Practia's resources.
We were constantly evaluating local providers, and comparing the different options that we had at a local level. Practia was one of them. We started with a small project and we were convinced by their work. After a large request for proposal, they were selected for this important project - the RP Forest.
This project's cost is around $300,000. The other one was a smaller project of $60,000.
The first phase of the project ended this month and it is continuing its course until May 2017. We are starting the support phase of the first implemented module.
They developed one of our first projects using the Scrum methodology and it has been beneficial. Other used methodologies also improved the test case.
They are very organized from a project management standpoint and they have supported us a great deal in planning and following up on our project. Status reports have been as expected. We have also adapted to our company's templates and Practia's internal standards, in terms of project management.
Their communication, implementations, and good knowledge of development platforms are most impressive.
In requirements gathering, there is always a missed requirement because of lack of user knowledge or miscommunication of specific requirements. But this is something that every provider can miss.
Since the beginning, timelines have been modified. If there were delays, they communicated them and kept everything under control. This didn't affect the overall project.
When compared to other proposals we received, they had the best content and were the most affordable option.
When it comes to services, deliverables, and methodologies, they are very capable. We are pleased with the results.
We are overall very pleased with the results and we will trust them for our system support phase.
"They [Practia Consulting] have a great deal of experience in Sharepoint."
Practia Consulting migrated DUCSA's extranet to Sharepoint, redesigned the overall appearance of the system, and added additional features to provide a better service to the company's clients.
Practia Consulting's Sharepoint expertise was highlighted as a key strength. The client was satisfied with the overall quality of their work and the relationship that was established. They have great design skills and are very flexible to suggestions.
I work for DUCSA, the biggest fuel distribution company in Uruguay. The company has other services like gas distribution. We have loyalty programs as well.
My role in the company is Systems Architect. We hire many external providers, such as Practia Consulting. I've been working in information technology for 15 years.
They have a great deal of experience in Sharepoint. We had never worked in a Sharepoint project. We first had a strong Sharepoint training with our developers in order to have control over our deliverables and know what we were talking about.
After we got to know them, we redesigned the overall appearance and reengineered DUCSA's extranet for our clients. We migrated the extranet system to Sharepoint and added new services that didn't exist before, such as a client loyalty program. We also added other services, functionalities, and technologies such as AngularJS and Bootstrap for our extranet to be responsive.
We had 5 developers assigned to this project.
I knew Practia Consulting from projects they had previously developed for other companies. The network in Uruguay is small and I had positive reviews of their work.
The initial project cost was around $50,000 per year without taking the trainings into account.
This first part of the project started around April 2015, and lasted a year and a half. We have identified additional requirements that we would like to include and we will keep working with Practia Consulting in the future.
Our clients' response using our extranet was favorable. There were no errors. It was truly a success.
Whenever personnel issues came up, they assumed responsibility and worked through it to find even better qualified personnel for our project. They absorbed this extra cost and we value this.
They kept great posture as they developed our project and kept a good relationship with us. Their graphic design capabilities are very good and they are very flexible in terms of our suggestions.
Everytime there was a scheduling issue, they took care of the cost.
They deliver better quality and their costs are even lower than other providers.


America's oldest freestanding children's library stands nestled on a quiet street in Palo Alto. Noted local California architects Birge and David Clark designed this Spanish Colonial Revival gem, which was built in 1939 and includes a hand-molded Mission style roof, child-sized furnishings, an exquisite fireplace tiled with iconic fairytale scenes and a historic garden.
Following a recent renovation, the classic structure also has a handsome NanaWall installation that complements its historic milieu.
San Francisco-based Architectural Resources Group (ARG) completed the $4.1 million update in 2007, closing off the garden with a side addition. In order to maintain the appeal of the existing garden, ARG specified a NanaWall enclosure with six panels of SL45 Aluminum Framed Folding System. The system opens up to a magical "Secret Garden" courtyard in the library from the multipurpose room, which was designed and added in ARG's thoughtful scheme.
Francis Burnett's famous 1910 children's novel – The Secret Garden – was, in fact, the inspiration for this brick-walled retreat. "The NanaWall in the addition to the 1939 Palo Alto Children's Library opens the modestly scaled program room onto the library's historic Secret Garden," states ARG's Cathleen Malmstrom, AIA.
Malmstrom adds that the ability to be indoors and outdoors is a great benefit to the users of the library, attracting many school groups, children and families throughout the year. "The NanaWall system enables the library to take advantage of a fine climate much of the year, and helps accommodate groups of 100 or more children for its very popular story hours," says the architect Malmstrom.
The library has always been a vibrant learning and entertainment center for Palo Alto children, which was further increased once Architecture Resources Group added the nearly 2,500-square-foot collections and programming room. The multipurpose room is aptly named the "Tree Top Room," because the garden contains marvelous sycamores, pruned so that each top joins together in a canopy.
Undeniably, the opening of the NanaWall allows the fantasy scenes on the fireplace and walls and to dramatically synchronize with the garden.
One challenge with the renovation was that the Tree Top Room has southern exposure. Malmstrom incorporated NanaWall into the solution.
"Low-E glass, combined with an overhead vine-covered trellis, helps mitigate solar gain and strong light associated with the south-facing orientation, which is dictated by the very limited site," she explains. The low-E glass used in the NanaWall installation allows a fair amount of natural daylight to stream in – visible light transmission, or VLT – while still reducing glare and unwanted heat.
This was not Malmstrom's only attraction to NanaWall. She had utilized a NanaWall system in a previous project in Massachusetts, and was familiar with the product's outstanding engineering and aesthetic applications.
NanaWall's wide selection of finishes also helped meet aesthetic goals for the renovation. In this case, Malmstrom specified bronze-colored horizontal mullions for the SL45 panels, to match the two fixed windows that flank either side of the doors and to complement the pre-existing fenestration. Moreover, NanaWall's excellent sound attenuation acoustically separates garden functions from activities in The Tree Top Room.


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Safety First at the San Diego Kids Fair and Expo at the Teensavers Home Drug Test Kit Booth.
Teensaver Diagnostics, the creators of the Teensavers Home Drug Test Kit is proud to announce that the Teensavers Team will be an exhibitor at the San Diego Kids Fair and Expo on October 20th and 21st at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
WANT TO SEE WHICH TEENSAVERS HOME DRUG TEST KIT IS RIGHT FOR YOUR FAMILY? CLICK ON THIS LINK TO SEE THE TEENSAVERS FAMILY OF DRUG TESTS.
The San Diego Kids Fair and Expo is the premiere event for families in Southern California. Families can enjoy entertainment, rides, games, and activities.. There are also numerous exhibitors providing health and wellness information for families attending the event.
"We want people to ask us the questions that they may not be comfortable asking their pharmacist or the people that they are close with in the community," says Teensaver Diagnostics President Steve Stahovich. "Most parents have questions about drugs and drug use, but they are afraid to ask."
Stahovich's experience running treatment centers led him to this passion of creating a comprehensive home drug test kit for families. "I've seen the heartbreak on people's faces. They think their teen is only a recreational marijuana user, but then they find out their kid is a full blow heroin addict."
Teensavers currently has five different home drug tests for families, ranging from a 1-panel marijuana only test, to its' 12-panel test, the most comprehensive test on the market.
Stahovich says the key for parents is to look beyond a witch hunt for marijuana use. "When a teen is confronted about his/her drug use, they will say anything to hide their habit, which includes to confessing to being addicted to a lesser drug. I've seen teen heroin addicts come in to rehab, with their parents thinking the problem is marijuana or alcohol. But then we conducted the drug tests and found that the patient's opiate levels were through the roof."
The San Diego Kids Fair and Expo is an important event to raise awareness for hard working families. With parents working longer hours, and commuting further to and from work, children have ample time to experiment.
The Teensavers Home Drug Kits are only one of three FDA cleared for over-the-counter sales tests in America. Many of the tests found in dollar stores and on the internet are unregulated and the science behind the tests can be very unreliable. The Teensavers Home Drug Test Kit not only carries the strictest drug detection levels, but the kit also includes free laboratory confirmation, parental support guide, and access to assistance via a free 24/7 supported phone support hotline.
The Teensavers Home Drug Test Kits are currently sold in Rite Aid and Albertson's Stores in Southern California, and are available online on Walgreens.com, CVS.com, the Drugstore.com, Amazon.com and through the Teensavers website at http://www.myteensavers.com.
More information can be found online at http://www.myteensavers.com
Tags: amazon.com, cvs, cvs.com, Del Mar Fairgrounds, drugtest, Food and Drug Administration, Parent, rite aid, Southern California, teensavers home drug test kit, United States, Walgreens, Walgreens.com
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