text:
PayPoint and eBay win award at World Post and Parcel Awards
Welwyn Garden City, 20 June 2019: PayPoint is delighted to have won the best On Demand Delivery Award at the prestigious World Post and Parcels Awards (WWP) this week alongside eBay, for its customer click & collect service.
In July 2018, PayPoint and eBay teamed up to offer buyers and sellers on eBay the option of having parcels delivered to 2,500 selected Collect+ locations. The service rollout to the 2,500 stores has been a huge success and further expansion to more locations across the 7,000+ store network will follow in the coming months.
The eBay in-store experience is very simple: for customer parcel collections, the retailer simply scans the customer's collection barcode, locates the parcel and keys in a short code before handing over the customer's parcel.
Commenting after receiving the joint award, Gary Winter, Parcel Services Director at PayPoint, said: "We're extremely proud that PayPoint and our retail partners, in collaboration with eBay, are able to provide this service for customers, and we are delighted to be recognised by the WWP Awards. This is a multi-carrier world, where shoppers will buy from multiple sites and expect deliveries via multiple courier companies to one convenient location and we're pleased that by working with the UK's largest on-line retailers, market places and carriers, the Collect+ store network is uniquely placed to provide an open access network of locations to fulfil that need."
Marketing Director +44(0)1707 600 440 steveoneill@paypoint.com
MHP Communications paypoint@mhpc.com
We help millions of people to control their household finances, make essential payments and access instore services, like parcel collections and drop-offs. Our UK network of 28,000 stores is bigger than all banks, supermarkets and Post Offices together, putting us at the heart of communities nationwide.


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Five Health-Related Laws That Went Into Effect This Week
By Ashley Lopez | KUT • Sep 2, 2019
Among the hundreds of new laws that took effect in Texas on Sunday, several are related to health. Here are a handful that took the legislative spotlight.
Surprise medical bills
Senate Bill 1264 shields some Texans from surprise medical billing. That usually happens when someone with health insurance goes to a hospital that's out of network during an emergency or to an in-network hospital where there are doctors who are not in-network.
When insurance companies and medical providers don't agree on a fair price, patients can get stuck with hefty medical bills. SB 1264 prohibits those bills from being sent to consumers in the first place. Under the law, providers and insurers can enter into arbitration with one another to negotiate a payment.
The law applies only to people with Texas-regulated plans and does not apply to people who have federally regulated plans. Federally regulated plans account for roughly 40% of the state's health insurance market.
While the bill did take effect Sunday, these protections don't apply to any transactions until Jan. 1. Patients may still see surprise bills and can use the state's existing mediation program.
New smoking age
Texas becomes the 16th state in the U.S. to raise the legal age to buy tobacco and nicotine products to 21.
Senate Bill 21, written by Sen. Joan Huffman, prohibits the sale of cigarettes, e-cigarettes and tobacco products to people under 21, with the exception of members of the military. Those who violate the new law are subject to a Class C misdemeanor and a fine of up to $500.
The law is a part of legislative efforts to reduce youth tobacco use. According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, 11.3% of high school students in Texas report smoking cigarettes, while 18.9 reported using e-cigs.
Texas House Bill 541 expands on existing protections for the right of mothers to breastfeed in public. Previously, state law did not explicitly protect the "expression" of breast milk. State legislative staff said that created confusion among employers and businesses as to whether women were also allowed to use a breast pump.
Starting Sept. 1, new mothers will be allowed to use a breast pump in any location where they are already allowed to breastfeed.
The "Born Alive Act"
Texas House Bill 16 was passed to create protections for babies born alive during an abortion.
Opponents of the bill say the law is unnecessary. For one thing, the likelihood of a child born alive after an abortion is extremely low. Secondly, current law already provides these babies with the same rights as any other child.
The law creates "a physician-patient relationship" between an abortion provider and a "child born alive." According to the bill, a "physician must exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious physician would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age."
Abortion rights activists said the bill was written without any scientific fact behind it and would further stigmatize a legal medical procedure.
Transportation for expecting and postpartum moms
House Bill 25 was passed to make sure pregnant women and new mothers have transportation to doctor's appointments. On Sept. 1, the state launched a pilot program that allows new moms on Medicaid to take their children with them to appointments.
The state already has a transportation program for mothers on Medicaid who need a ride to prenatal and postpartum doctors visits, but they couldn't use the service if they had to take a baby or young child along with them.
Experts say that kept many women from making it to their appointments, because they couldn't afford or find child care for their other children.
At any given point, there are about 136,000 pregnant women in the state's Medicaid program. It will be up to state health officials to decide where those pilot programs get set up.
Tiana Woodard contributed to this report.
Clarification: This post previously suggested surprise billing protections went into effect this week. The law went into effect, but protections don't apply until the beginning of 2020.
Texans With Large Employer Health Plans Are Most Likely To Get Surprise Medical Bills, Study Finds
By Ashley Lopez | KUT • Jun 20, 2019
Spencer Selvidge for KUT
Texans who get their health insurance from a large employer are more likely to get a surprise bill in an emergency compared to people with similar plans in other states, according to research published Thursday.
Texas Is Latest State To Attack Surprise Medical Bills
Texas is now among more than a dozen states that have cracked down on the practice of surprise medical billing.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed legislation Friday shielding patients from getting a huge bill when their insurance company and medical provider can't agree on payment.
Teens And Young Adults Are More Likely To Vape After Seeing E-Cigarette Ads, UT Study Finds
By Nadia Hamdan | KUT • Aug 28, 2019
Vaping360.com/Flickr
The unregulated marketing of e-cigarettes is increasing the number of young people who vape, according to a new study from researchers at UT Austin.
Texas Lawmakers Urged To Raise Smoking Age To 21 To 'Save The Lives Of Children'
By KUT Staff • Mar 18, 2019
State senators are considering a bill that would raise the minimum age to buy tobacco products in Texas from 18 to 21.
Most Americans Support Legal Access To Abortions, New Survey Finds
By Sangita Menon | KUT • Aug 13, 2019
Public support for legal access to abortions has been relatively stable across the country in the last five years, according to a national survey released Tuesday.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
package com.googlecode.bpmn_simulator.bpmn.swing.model.process.activities.task;

import java.awt.Image;
import com.googlecode.bpmn_simulator.bpmn.model.process.activities.tasks.BusinessRuleTask;
import com.googlecode.bpmn_simulator.bpmn.swing.di.Appearance;

@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class BusinessRuleTaskShape
		extends AbstractTaskShape<BusinessRuleTask> {

	public BusinessRuleTaskShape(final BusinessRuleTask element) {
		super(element);
	}

	@Override
	protected Image getTaskIcon() {
		return Appearance.getDefault().getImage(Appearance.IMAGE_BUSSINESRULE);
	}

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


I got another Canon extender last week – a 2x mk III, so I had to go try it out. As I already had a 1.4x extender mk III, I read you could stack them to even further increase the range of the lens. You need a Canon 12mm extension tube to stack the mark III extenders. So with my 500mm and a tripod I had to have a play at the weekend.
First the mad setup – Canon 5d MkIV -> 1.4x extender -> 12mm extension tube -> 2.0x extender -> Canon 500 L IS USM II.
This gives to my calculations a 1400mm lens. This is great for viewing the birds far away from shore – it's as long a reach as my spotting scope – albiet somewhat bigger!
I managed a couple of keepers with this setup.
The hide across Ibsley Water.
And a Pochard a little way from shore.
In truth this is not a setup I would use very often – I think more of a viewing setup, unless some long lens support was added to help stabalise the lens. As with all long lenses – the bigger the lens the more stability it needs.
I then moved onto the proper try out – the Canon 2x extender mk III with my Canon 500mm L IS II USM Lens. The results from this were very pleasing – the autofocus works with my Canon 5D mark IV very well. The lens with this extender added has a minimum aperture of F8. So autofocus will only work with certain Canon Cameras.
From the same position I took these birds with the setup – these much closer than the Pochard above.
I then went for a walk around the reserve – and was fortunate to spot a Buzzard on a post from another hide.
Then as I walked further round – I spotted it in a distant tree, and managed to quickly shoot it as it exited the scene – having spotted me as well. This composite image is from its departure.
I saw my final view of it or another buzzard around at the hide I photographed earlier.
As well as photographing the buzzard – I managed to capture a small amount of 4K Video footage.
The final bird of the day for me was a Robin that sat closely for a second or two near the hide.


Instituto Nacional de Eficiencia Energética y Energías Renovables (INER) Main task: Directing, coordinating, evaluating and controllling scientific research in energy efficiency and renewable energy carried out in INER.
Instituto Nacional de Eficiencia Energética y Energías Renovables (INER).
Scientific and technological research management in INER Main task: Developing and executing scientific and technological research lines in energy efficiency and renewable enrgy.
Research projets in energy efficiency and renewable energy – Conceptualization, grant obtaining, project execution/ management, reporting, research.- Deputy Project Director "Assessment of increasing thermal power plants energy efficiency".
– Deputy Project Director "Supercritical water gasification of plantain waste".
– Project Director "Energy exploitation of Jatropha curcas seedcake".


text:
Isabel Sarli Hilda Isabel Gorrindo Sarli , nicknamed Coca, was an Argentine actress and glamour model, known for starring in several sexploitation films by Armando Bó, especially in the 1960s and 1970s. Argentine actress and glamour model 83 1
Gordon Wilson Robert Gordon Wilson was a Scottish politician and solicitor. Leader of the Scottish National Party 79 3
Patrick Macnee Daniel Patrick Macnee was an English-American film and television actor. British-American actor 93 5
Catherine Gibson Catherine Gibson , later known by her married name Catherine Brown, was a Scottish swimmer. Swimmer 82 7
Roy Estess Roy S. Estess was the fourth director of the Stennis Space Center , having held a variety of managerial positions at the center that prepared him to lead the facility during the dynamic years of the 1990s. American engineer 71 10
Carl Rakosi Carl Rakosi was the last surviving member of the original group of poets who were given the rubric Objectivist. American poet 100 16
Warren Burger Warren Earl Burger was an American lawyer and jurist who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Chief Justice of the US 87 25
Andrew Cowper Andrew King Cowper, MC & Two Bars was an Australian fighter pilot and flying ace of the First World War. Australian flying ace 81 40
Ludwik Rydygier Ludwik Rydygier was a Polish surgeon, professor of medicine, rector of the University of Lwów and Brigadier General of the Polish Army. Polish surgeon 69 100
David Heaton David Heaton was an American attorney and politician, a US Representative from North Carolina. American politician 47 150
Constance Adams Constance Adams was an American architect who worked in the space program. American architect 53 2
Patrick Mayhew Patrick Barnabas Burke Mayhew, Baron Mayhew of Twysden, was a British barrister and politician. British barrister and Conservative politician 86 4
Nigel Calder Nigel David McKail Ritchie-Calder was a British science writer. Science writer 82 6
Annie Easley Annie J. Easley was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and rocket scientist. American mathematician 78 9
John Fiedler John Donald Fiedler was an American actor. His career lasted more than 55 years in stage, film, television and radio. American actor 80 15
Wilson Simonal Wilson Simonal de Castro, was a Brazilian singer, born in Rio de Janeiro on February 23, 1938. Brazilian singer 62 20
Robert Carney Robert Bostwick Carney was an admiral in the United States Navy who served as commander-in-chief of the NATO forces in Southern Europe and then as Chief of Naval Operations during the Eisenhower administration. American admiral 95 30
Mikhail Samoilovich Neiman Mikhail Samoilovich Neiman was a Soviet physicist, Doctor of Technical Sciences and professor. Soviet Physicist 70 45
Sergey Terpigorev Sergey Nikolayevich Terpigorev was a Russian Empire writer. Russian writer 54 125
Lorens von der Linde Baron Lorens von der Linde was a: * Swedish Generalmajor since 1647 * Swedish General since 1655 * Swedish Field Marshal . Swedish field marshal 59 350


Feel free to download and complete the RELEASE FORM and MEDICAL HISTORY FORM before you come in for your appointment. This will save you time before your scheduled appointment.
__ Do NOT drink alcohol or take recreational drugs for at least 24 hours before surgery. Do not use tobacco products at least a week prior to surgery.
__ Arrange to have someone take care of your children, dependent relatives, and pets while you are in the hospital.
__ Arrange for someone to stay at the hospital during your surgery and for someone to pick you up from the hospital when it's time to go home.
__ Arrange for someone to stay with you for at least 24 hours once you return home.
__ Check with your insurance provider if you have questions about your co-payment or deductible.
__ Call your doctor if you have any symptoms of a cold, the flu, a rash or any other illness or infection.
__ Carefully follow your doctor's instructions for the 8-to-48 hours before your surgery.
__ Talk to your doctor about how to take your medications before surgery.
__ Go over the following checklist to decide what you should bring with you to the hospital and what you should leave at home.
__ your jewelry, including your wedding ring, watches, and any piercings including earrings.
__ any other valuables, including things like cell phones, Ipods, laptops or other electronics.
Unless your doctor or nurse tells you differently, do not eat or drink anything . . .
— not even gum, candy, mints, water, ice or coffee for at least 8 hours before your scheduled surgery. Do not eat or drink after midnight the night before your surgery.
__ Take a bath or shower the morning of your surgery, but do NOT use any powder, lotion, deodorant, perfume, aftershave or makeup.
__ If your doctor has given you specific orders about taking your medications on surgery day, follow his or her orders carefully. Generally you will take your usual blood pressure medications.
__ Unless told otherwise please arrive at the hospital at least two (2) hours before your surgery will begin. We'll need this time to check you in and get you ready for your surgery.
WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU CONSIDER LEAVING SMALL CHILDREN IN THE CARE OF RELATIVES AT HOME IF POSSIBLE.
■ The admitting clerk will greet you and complete your insurance information.
■ If your insurance provider requires a co-payment or deductible, you'll pay it at this time.
■ The clerk will fasten a hospital ID bracelet around your wrist. Please take a moment to check that your name and birth date are correct.
■ One or two adults can stay with you in PreOp until just before operating room staff moves you to the operating room.
■ The doctor who will give you anesthesia (the anesthesiologist) will visit you in PreOp to explain the anesthesia process and answer your questions.
■ Your surgeon or a nurse from the surgical team will visit with you to explain the surgery and what to expect afterward. This is a good time for you to ask last-minute questions or bring up your concerns.
■ All surgeries require IV's and monitoring leads. For adults, we usually place these in PreOp, but if our patient is very young, we usually wait until the operating room to place them.
We recommend that someone who knows and cares for you stays close by before, during and after your surgery. For this reason, the hospital has a specific Surgery Waiting area for family and friends.
■ We recommend that at least one person stay in the waiting area during your surgery so that the doctor or a nurse can talk with them in case an emergency or question arises.
■ Your surgeon will look for your family in the waiting area when your surgery is complete. If your surgeon does not see your family members in the waiting room then they may request to speak with him or her over the phone when they arrive.
Immediately after your surgery, operating room staff will move you to the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) while the surgeon reports your progress to your family or friends in the Surgery Waiting area.
■ Specially trained nurses will check your incision frequently and carefully monitor your breathing, temperature, heart rate and other vital signs until you begin to wake up.
■ Even though you may not remember later, they will encourage you to clear your lungs and throat by coughing and taking deep breaths.
■ They will monitor your blood pressure and comfort level. They will also ask you often to explain your pain. You may feel groggy, but answer their questions as honestly and completely as you can. Your description will help the staff make you more comfortable.
■ The length of time you stay in the PACU will depend on the type of anesthesia and surgery you have had.
Your PACU nurse will call the Surgery Waiting area to let your family and friends know when you are ready to be moved to your hospital room so they can go with you.
Your family or a friend can pick you up to take you home once you are awake and safe for discharge. YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO DRIVE YOURSELF OR TAKE A TAXI/UBER.
Unfortunately, discomfort is a normal part of surgery. We cannot eliminate your pain altogether, but with your help, we can make you comfortable enough so that you can rest and heal. Everyone feels pain differently, even if they have had the same kind of surgery.
Like every other part of your surgery experience, knowing what to expect can help you understand and manage your pain.
■ Because everyone feels pain differently, there is no "set dose" of pain medication that we give all patients.
■ Pain medication is most effective when you take it at regular intervals, before your pain becomes severe.
■ Addiction to pain medications is rare. As you heal you will gradually need less of it. Upon your discharge, we prescribe a number of tablets which is sufficient for most patients with your procedure. If your pain is not controlled, contact your surgeon.
■ Some pain medications can cause temporary constipation and sweating. Tell your nurse if this happens to you.
■ Other ways to relieve pain can be as simple as putting heat or cold on the wound, changing your position and using relaxation techniques such as deep breathing.
The hospital will not discharge you unless you have another adult to drive you home. For your own safety, we will not allow you to take a taxi or bus unless another adult is with you. Before you leave the hospital, your nurse will go through a list of "discharge instructions" from your doctor which will include recommendations about…■ what to eat and drink■ how to take your medications. You will usually be sent home with a pain medication and a stool softener. ■ how to care for your incision and/or bandages■ what activities you can do and when. One of the instructions will be to make a follow-up appointment.
As always, call 480-892-2456 if you have any questions or concerns.


A group of talented Dublin pupils and teachers have reached the final of a prestigious national music competition.
The amazing musicians from Pobalscoil Iosolde in Dublin 20 are one of just six secondary schools to reach the final of the 2019 Waltons music for schools competition.
They're going to be the only Dublin school represented in the secondary schools category after wowing the judging panel with their rocking take on some of Queen's greatest hits.
The non-profit national event - which started up in 2012 - aims to support music in Irish schools and encourage teachers and students to work together on an original music project.
There's a prize fund of €7,000 worth of vouchers for musical instruments, accessories, books, music technology or PA equipment from Waltons Music, to be divided among six winning primary and post-primary schools, including two First Prizes of €2,000 vouchers.
In order to be in with a chance of winning, the Palmerstown music group will have to impress a stellar judging panel of industry experts including Dónal Lunny and Bill Whelan.
But after watching a clip of them in action, we reckon it's in the bag.


WARWICK, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– GeekHive is expanding its upper-level management team with the addition of Stephen Downs, former Managing Director of RFI Studios. Stephen brings with him award-winning experience in the digital industry having helped establish RFI, the digital arm of Ruder Finn. Based in California, Stephen will be a strong presence to build GeekHive's already solid East Coast brand awareness on the West Coast.


This week has not been easy – not for me & certainly not for Susie.
On Wednesday morning I found her practically unable to walk – bizarre given that on Tuesday she was her usual lively self. A call to the vet resulted in a phone diagnosis of a likely case of laminitis, apparently brought on by her over healthy appetite. This was even more strange given that she has been on restricted rations since last year and this year all of our guests were very good at not giving into her noisy and endearing requests for extra titbits. I would even say that she lost a bit of weight.
Even so , I duly gave her the medicine but two days later she was no better.Another vet ( the same one featured in this post!) came out to examine her and as I feared she was a terrible patient. Our adorable Susie has never been easy in times of distress and has a huge dislike of men in long coats ,a psychological throwback to her very first visit from a vet I think.
After much struggling and protest, two attempts to bite and several more to kick him, she eventually gave in enough for the vet to ascertain that she had an abscess inside her front hoof. This was drained & cleaned and she got an injection of penicillin. The worst part ,for me at least, was the news that she had to have 4 more injections which the vet was expecting me to administer…was he kidding??? She also had to have a visit from the farrier to tidy up her hooves.
A farrier's job is never easy!!
But the farrier came alone and bravely soldiered on single handedly until the job was done. With a transformation which would make Jekyll & Hyde look like amateurs, Susie morphed into some raging beast. I don't think I could ever adequately describe the pandemonium which took place but the fact that he said ( among many other unprintable things) that if she were his she would be sausages, probably says it all! Still, he was good enough to give her the 2nd injection.
Then yesterday I got a phone call at 8.30am from a man in the area who trains/re-educates/breaks in horses & donkeys. The farrier had told him that I had an urgent problem with a juvenile delinquent donkey which needed 3 more injections. I had already managed to draft in some help but he came round anyway to see how he could help …our very own donkey whisperer!!
Susie was putty in his hands and I'm pleased to say that he pronounced her to be the gorgeous, adorable, gentle creature which we have all grown to know & love – she just needs to learn some manners! So, she'll be going to finishing school at the end of the month and hopefully will come back the perfect lady!
A learning curve for me - first time I've ever given an injection! Luckily she behaved!!
Oh and in spite of it all she actually let me give her yesterday's injection with relative ease …maybe she just doesn't like men in long coats!!


This version adds in all of the latest Woopsi goodness, including all of the new string functionality, the floodfill bugfix, font and bitmap refactoring, etc. The full changelog can be found in the archive.
I've had some time to blast through some Woopsi coding over the last week, so there's quite a bit to write up here. There's a mix of new features, bugfixes, refactoring and breaking changes.
First up, attempting to flip a screen from one display to the other, or re-organise the depths of screens in the screen stack, is no longer allowed if there is only one screen in existence. Allowing this to occur was a bug introduced in v0.45 when I added a couple of background screens to the Woopsi gadget by default, to ensure the background was always grey and redrawn correctly.
The font class no longer includes a colour member, nor does it distinguish between full-colour and monochrome fonts. It makes no sense for a font to have a state. When trying to draw text, I want to draw text in colour X using font Y. I don't want to get font Y, make it colour X, then draw with it. Implementing this has involved making changes throughout Woopsi. Text rendering commands now expect to be given a colour to render with. Related to this, the GadgetStyle class now includes a text colour property, whilst the Gadget class has new getTextColour() and setTextColour() methods.
In addition to removing the colour member from the FontBase class, I've removed all other members. The FontBase is now a legitimate, data-free interface. All members that are still required, such as height, have been moved into other classes. This will reduce the amount of redundant data inherited by subclasses, such as Lakedaemon's libfreetype wrappers.
The font change was so successful that I replicated it with bitmaps. BitmapBase no longer includes any data either. Members have been moved into subclasses.
The overload of Gadget::checkCollision() that checks for collisions with other gadgets will not detect collisions with hidden gadgets. I've modified it so that it expects to be passed a const gadget pointer instead of a plain gadget pointer. I've also added a shortcircuit to the function so that it detects attempts to check for collisions between a gadget and itself and exits early.
I've rewritten the Gadget::swapDepth() method. This is used by screens and windows when their depth gadgets are clicked. If swapDepth() is called on a gadget that is not at the front of the subset of sibling gadgets that it collides with, the gadget will be moved to the front of that subset. If the gadget is at the front, it will be sent to the back of the subset.
Children couldn't determine how they would swap; it was decided by parents, so it was impossible for a new gadget subclass to swap in a different way to (for example) a window.
The Gadget, Screen and Woopsi classes all had their own implementations of the swapGadgetDepth() method that were subtly different but basically achieved the same effect.
I've renamed swapGadgetDepth() to changeGadgetDepth() and made it considerably more generic - it will now just move a gadget from one index in the child array to another, ensuring the gadget gets erased and redrawn correctly. The swapGadget() method in the child gadget determines which index the child will swap to, so each gadget can decide how it will depth swap. I've also added Gadget::getHighestCollidingGadgetIndex() and Gadget::getLowestCollidingGadgetIndex() to help determine these indices. The swapGadgetDepth() overrides in the Screen and Woopsi classes no longer exist.
Gadget::_decorationCount is an s32 instead of a u8. I don't know why I'd got that set as a u8, especially when the getters/setters were working with s32s.
The RectCache::markRectDamaged() method had a nasty, obscure bug that could lead to the method getting into an infinite loop. It has a couple of nested loops and it seems I'd got the iterator variables confused at some point, and was using the variable from the first loop to index into the iterated-over array of the second loop. Ooops. Thanks to carpfish for spotting the crash and putting together a test so that I could track down the cause.
The todo list that I put together long before Woopsi v1.0 was released included a question: "Is there a bug in the floodfill?" I noticed that there seemed to be a couple of pixels that weren't filled in the test I wrote for the WoopsiGfx library. Well, there was a bug in the floodfill - it wasn't filling upwards correctly due to some utterly bizarre typos in the method. Don't quite know what I thought I was doing when I wrote that function. It's fixed now.
Related to the floodfill, the stack functions in the Graphics class that it relies on now expect to be passed a reference to a stack object to work with rather than a pointer.
For some reason, three members of the Woopsi class (the vertical blank count that stores the number of frames elapsed since the app started running, the deleted gadget list and another one that I can't presently remember) were static. This made no sense, so they are no longer static.
I've tested empty ListBox gadgets for the first time and encountered a couple of problems. First of all, the scrollbar went crazy and suggested that there were hundreds of options to choose from; that's fixed. Clicking the empty space within the ListBox caused it to try to locate a non-existent option in its option list and dereference a null pointer. That's fixed too.
I've stripped out some redundant code. The GadgetFlags enum included a "GADGET_NO_RAISE_EVENTS" flag that wasn't used anywhere; it's now been removed. I've also removed the Woopsi::goModal() method that only existed because the Woopsi::handleClick() method was badly designed. Redesigning that let me get rid of the goModal() override.
Gadgets included a concept of "close type" which existed solely to allow the close gadgets on windows to close, hide or shelve the window as appropriate. It wasn't useful in any other situation and wasn't really useful for windows either, so it's gone too.
Another pair of useless features were the AmigaScreenFlags and AmigaWindowFlags enums. They were used to send gadget-specific flags to the AmigaScreen and AmigaWindow constructors. However, as there were only two flags in each enum, and as typing the enum value names took longer than just passing true or false a couple of times, I've stripped them out and replaced them with booleans instead. This change will break user code, but fixing it just a matter of changing a couple of values when creating AmigaScreen and AmigaWindow objects.
I've made a few changes in addition to the damaged rectangle stuff. There were a few memory leaks dotted around the code, most of which were the result of early-exiting functions so that string iterators weren't deleted. Xcode's "Leaks" instrument is absolutely indispensable when trying to track memory leaks down.
I've removed AmigaWindow::redrawBorder() because it wasn't used and didn't appear to do anything. In its place I've added markBorderDirty(), which uses the new damaged rectangle system to redraw just the borders. This speeds things up a little when windows gain or lose focus - only the borders change, so why redraw the entire window?
The Text class is now called "Document". It no longer inherits from the WoopsiString class, but contains one instead. The Text class always emanated a nasty code smell. What does "Text" mean, anyway? Is it a string? Sort of… It's a string that has a font attached and a width within which it wraps itself. Kind of like a Word document. Ahhh, that makes sense: It's a document.
Gadget::checkCollision() works correctly. I think I broke it a couple of releases ago.
ScrollingPanel::scroll() works correctly when the panel is on the top DS screen. Lakedaemon spotted this bug. The fix involved converting between co-ordinate systems.
The ListData class' destructor no longer fires list changed events when it runs.
It includes Woopsi, the XmlBox gadget, and the freetype classes and library, in addition to DS ports of libjpeg, libpng, libsqlite3 and others. Sounds very powerful.
This release fixes a number of bugs. Some of the code has been tidied up. The only change that could have an impact on user code is the removal of drawHorizLine(), drawVertLine(), drawCircle() and drawFilledCircle() from the GraphicsPort class. The drawLine(), drawEllipse() and drawFilledEllipse() methods will now automatically call the optimised form if it is available.
The full list of changes is available in the ChangeLog.txt file within the archive.
There have been quite a few changes and improvements since the last blog post. The biggest one is another redesign of the GraphicsPort class. Back in November last year I stripped the drawing code out of the bitmap class and separated it into a new hierarchy. The GraphicsUnclipped class contained drawing methods that were not clipped. The Graphics class was a subclass of GraphicsUnclipped and clipped to the confines of a bitmap. The GraphicsPort also subclasses GraphicsUnclipped and clipped to the visible regions of a Gadget.
This seemed like a reasonable design, but it did have its downsides. As the Graphics and GraphicsPort classes were peers within the inheritance hierarchy, rather than one subclassing the other, there was inevitably some repeated code. More disturbing was the spaghetti-like integration between the classes, in which GraphicsPort would call a method in GraphicsUnclipped which would in turn call a method in GraphicsPort.
In addition to the inheritance problems, the GraphicsPort had its own internal problems. Its drawing methods used a variety of different co-ordinate systems. Some used the co-ordinates of the entire UI as their reference point, whilst some used the co-ordinates of the gadget, and others used the co-ordinates of the GraphicsPort itself.
The GraphicsPort is designed to work in two ways - it can be constructed and used within a gadget's draw methods, or it can be created outside of the gadget and used to draw over the gadget. This meant that it needed to retain either a single clipping rectangle, used when drawing from within a draw method, or a list of clipping rectangles, used when drawing from outside of the gadget's code.
All of these problems led to a horrible mess, which I have now put right. I've even introduced some new features in the process.
First of all, I've merged the Graphics and GraphicsUnclipped classes into a single class: "Graphics". It contains all of the drawing methods available to the entire Woopsi system. The class can be given a clipping rectangle in which it can draw, which means that all of the drawing methods now clip. Any potential speed loss is negligible, since the drawing methods were already clipping to the confines of the bitmap being drawn to. I've just made that clipping area user-definable.
Uses its Graphics object to draw to all clipping rects in its list.
The GraphicsPort does not maintain a single clipping rect in addition to a separate list of clipping rects. It now adds that single clipping rect to its list, erasing any previous data in its list. In this way, it achieves the same functionality without the extra complexity of two separate data storage mechanisms.
I mentioned GraphicsPort space and framebuffer space in the above descrition. I've put some work into trying to formalise the different co-ordinate systems that Woopsi uses. Descriptions of these will be included in the documentation whenever I get around to finishing it.
The GraphicsPort class is now entirely separate from the Gadget class. Previously the GraphicsPort included a pointer to the gadget that it was drawing to. This is no longer necessary, which should result in a (negligible) speed increase, since the GraphicsPort no longer needs to query the gadget's Woopsi space co-ordinates using its recursive getX() and getY() methods.
I've removed the OutlineType enum from the Graphics class. This was not relevant to all gadgets so should not have been in the base class. This resulted in the addition of a new CalendarDayButton class and some changes to the WoopsiKey class so that they could remain "stuck down" when selected, which is represented by their outlines changing from bevelled out of the screen to bevelled into the screen.
I removed the padding variables from a few classes a week or so ago. I've now done the same to the MultiLineTextBox and replaced it with larger border sizes. This change, coupled with the rationalisation of the GraphicsPort's co-ordinates, finally enabled me to identify the bug that caused the textbox to have graphical glitches when using a padding of greater than 12. That's the first bug I've closed in the SourceForge tracker in months. The textbox's vertical top alignment option works correctly, too.
Lastly, I've improved the cursor-following code in the TextBox again. When deleting characters from a string that is wider than the textbox, it is no longer possible to create a large gap between the end of the string and the right edge of the textbox.
More tidying up and throwing away. A while ago I altered the TextBox so that it would scroll to follow the cursor. The code worked but it was ugly, and the scrolling effect was ugly too. The text was always aligned to the left of the textbox, so if the cursor scrolled to the right partial characters would appear on the right-hand side of the box. What a user would expect to happen is see the characters on the right aligned nicely whilst the characters on the left were partially visible. I ripped out the existing code and replaced it with a much improved system.
I've removed the "_padding" variable from the Label, Requester, FileRequester and Alert classes. This variable was used to force the gadgets' children to leave a border between themselves and the real gadget border. I've replaced it with the newly improved border code. Related to this, a number of gadgets have improved and simplified drawing routines.
Finally, I've added a new set of XOR drawing routines. These accept a colour parameter to XOR against, allowing for more interesting XOR effects.


text:
\section{Cosmological Parameter Estimation}\label{cp}

We calculate the constraints on different cosmological parameters using
WMAP-9, Planck and BICEP 2 likelihood. However, before going to the main analysis,
it is important to understand the effect of different parameters like $r,
\sum m_\nu, N_{eff}$ and $ dn_s/d\ln k$ on CMB angular power spectrum.
Fig.~\ref{fig:1} shows the effects of different parameters on $C_l^{TT}$.
Fig.~\ref{fig:Varyr} shows the effect of
$r_{0.05}$ on $C_l^{TT}$ for a range of values. All the other cosmological parameters
are kept fixed at their standard values and we use $n_t=0$. As the tensor
power spectrum is dominant only at low multipoles,
only lower multipoles get affected due to this variation. Plots show that $r_{0.05}$
is expected to be correlated with $n_s$, as that
also affects the low multipole power. Fig.~\ref{fig:Varymnu}
and Fig.~\ref{fig:VaryNeff}
show the effect of neutrinos on $C^{TT}_l$.
Change in either of $N_{\rm eff}$ or $\sum m_{\nu}$,
affects the total matter fraction in the universe, which leads to change in the
expansion history of the universe and shifts the
CMB peaks towards larger or smaller scales.
These also affect the epoch of matter radiation equality and hence the ratio between
the even and the odd peaks in the CMB power spectrum changes.
In Fig.~\ref{fig:Varymnu} we show the effects of variation of $\sum m_{\nu}$
keeping $N_{\rm eff}$ fixed at $3.048$, whereas in Fig.~\ref{fig:VaryNeff} we choose the neutrinos to be massless.
Finally, in Fig.~\ref{fig:Varydnsdk} we show the effects of running spectral index
$dn_s/d\ln k$ on $C_l^{TT}$.

We present most of the results using the following likelihoods \-:-
1) For Planck+WP + BICEP 2 likelihood,
where we add up the results from commander\_v4.1\_lm49.clik,
lowlike\_v222.clik, CAMspec\_v6.2TN\_2013\_02\_26.clik likelihood
\cite{wmap_like,Planck_like} and BICEP 2 likelihood \cite{bicep_like} to perform parameter estimation.
2) For Planck+WP+ BICEP 2 + Lensing likelihood, where we add the lensing
likelihood along with the other likelihoods.

We vary the Standard Six Parameters (SP),
$\{\Omega_{b}h^{2}$, $\Omega_{m}h^{2}$, $h$, $\tau, n_{s}$, $A_{s}\}$, along with
the other parameters like $dn_s/d\ln k$, $n_t$, $N_{\rm eff}$, $A_L$. The
ranges of priors used for all these parameters are provided in Table. \ref{tab_1}.
We estimate parameters for the cosmological models,
(a) SP, (b) SP + either of $\{dn_{s}/d\ln k$, $n_{t}$, $N_{eff}\}$ and (c) SP +
$\{A_L +dn_s/d\ln k \}$ for all different sets of $\sum m_\nu$ and $r_{0.05}$ mentioned below.
\begin{enumerate}
\item
$\sum m_\nu=0$ and $r=0$, (WP + Planck likelihood and WP + Planck + Lensing likelihood).
\item
$\sum m_\nu \neq 0$ and $r=0$, (WP + Planck likelihood and WP + Planck + Lensing likelihood).
\item
$\sum m_\nu=0$ and $r_{0.05} \neq 0$, (WP + Planck +BICEP 2 likelihood and WP + Planck + Lensing +BICEP 2 likelihood).
\item
$\sum m_\nu \neq 0$ and $r_{0.05} \neq 0$, (WP + Planck + BICEP 2 likelihood and WP + Planck + Lensing + BICEP 2 likelihood).
\end{enumerate}

\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\caption{Prior range for the Cosmological parameters used in this paper.}
\label{tab_1}
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|p{8cm}|}
\hline
Parameters  & Prior range  & Defination \tabularnewline
\hline
\hline
$\Omega_{b}h^{2}$  & 0.015 $\textendash$  0.03 & Physical baryon density. \tabularnewline
\hline
$\Omega_{m}h^{2}$  & 0.05 $\textendash$ 0.25 & Physical matter density. \tabularnewline
\hline
$h$ & 0.55 $\textendash$ 1.2 & Hubble parameter. \tabularnewline
\hline
$\tau$ & 0.01 $\textendash$ 0.2 & Reionization optical depth. \tabularnewline
\hline
$n_{s}$ & 0.8 $\textendash$ 1.2 & Scalar spectral index. \tabularnewline
\hline
$\ln (10^{10}A_{s})-2\tau$ & 2.5 $\textendash$ 3.2 & Amplitude of temperature fluctuations. \tabularnewline
\hline
$r_{0.05}$  & 0 $\textendash$ 1 & Ratio of tensor primordial power to curvature power at $k_{0}=0.05\, \rm Mpc^{-1}$. \tabularnewline
\hline
$dn_{s}/d\ln k$  & -2.0 $\textendash$ 2.0 & Running of the scalar spectral index. \tabularnewline
\hline
$n_{t}$ & -0.25 $\textendash$ 0.25 & Tensor spectral index. \tabularnewline
\hline
$N_{\rm eff}$  & 1.0 $\textendash$ 5.0 & Effective number of nutrino-like relativistic degrees of freedom. \tabularnewline
\hline
$\sum m_{\nu}$  & pdf from BOSS \cite{SDSS_1}& The sum of neutrino masses . \tabularnewline
\hline
$A_{L}$  & 0.5 $\textendash$ 3.5 & Amplitude of the lensing power relative to the physical value. \tabularnewline
\hline
\end{tabular}
\par
\end{table}
\begin{center}
\par\end{center}

\subsection{Beyond Standard $6$ parameters with $\sum m_\nu$ and $r_{0.05}$}
First we discuss the statistics of
standard $6$ parameters $\{\Omega_{b}h^{2}$, $\Omega_{c}h^{2}$, $h$,
$\tau$, $n_{s}$, $A_{s}\}$
due to the change in $r_{0.05}$ and $\sum m_{\nu}$.
From the plots
shown in Fig. \ref{fig:1}, it is evident that if we
change the value of $r_{0.05}$ or $\sum m_{\nu}$ then there can be significant
effects on the cosmological parameters. We run SCoPE \cite{scope}
with standard $6$ cosmological parameters for all the cases mentioned in Sec. \ref{cp}, and the results are shown in Fig. \ref{fig:4}, Fig. \ref{fig:SP_nolensing} and Fig. \ref{fig:SP_lensing}.
The two dimensional contour plots of $r_{0.05}$ and $\sum m_{\nu}$ with the standard model parameters
with WP + Planck + BICEP 2 likelihood and WP + Planck + lensing + BICEP 2 likelihood are shown in blue and red color respectively in Fig. \ref{fig:SP_2D}.   It can
be seen that $\sum m_{\nu}$ is strongly correlated with $h$ with
the correlation coefficient $\sim -0.74$. As $\sum m_{\nu}$ increases the
value of $h$ decreases, which is expected as the matter content
of the universe is getting changed and leads to change in the epoch of matter-radiation
equality of the universe. $\sum m_{\nu}$ also has small effect on the
baryon density and the dark matter content of the universe. The effect of $r_{0.05}$ on $h$ shows slight positive correlation as shown in
Fig. \ref{fig:4}.
We can also notice that on using only WP + Planck + BICEP 2 likelihood, the average value
of $\sum m_{\nu}$ is $0.33$ eV whereas if lensing is included the average
value increases and becomes $0.36$ eV. Though, as variance is
high, both the values are within $1\sigma$ of each other. The value
of $r_{0.05}$ is same in both the cases and is approximately $0.16$.

\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\subfigure[]{
\includegraphics[trim=0.1cm 10.1cm 0.3cm 10.2cm, clip=true, width=0.80\columnwidth]{a.pdf}\label{nolen}
}
\subfigure[]{
\includegraphics[trim=0.1cm 10cm 0.3cm 10.2cm, clip=true, width=0.80\columnwidth]{b.pdf}\label{len}
}
\caption{\label{fig:SP_2D}The two dimensional likelihood contours for the
SP with $r_{0.002}$ and $\sum m_{\nu}$. (a): WP + Planck +BICEP 2
likelihood. (b): WP + Planck + lensing +BICEP 2 likelihood. The one dimensional marginal
probability distribution for $r_{0.05}$ and $\sum m_{\nu}$ are shown in
the last column. Gray dotted lines show the posterior on $r_{0.05}$ and $\sum m_{\nu}$ as obtained by
BOSS and BICEP 2 respectively.
}\label{fig:4}
\end{figure}
Fig. \ref{fig:SP_nolensing} and Fig. \ref{fig:SP_lensing} show
the one dimensional probability distribution for the standard cosmological
parameters from WP + Planck+ BICEP 2 likelihood and WP + Planck+ lensing + BICEP 2 likelihood respectively. Including both $m_{\nu}$ and $r_{0.05}$ in the estimation leads to lower value of Hubble constant $(h= 0.645)$ as shown in Fig. \ref{fig:SP_nolensing} and Fig. \ref{fig:SP_lensing}, which is in tension with the results obtained from calibrated SNe magnitude-redshift relation by Riess et al. \cite{snia}. This tension increases further on taking into account of the lensing
likelihood as shown in Fig. \ref{fig:SP_lensing}.
\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\includegraphics[trim=0.6cm 7.5cm 0.1cm 7.8cm, clip=true, width=0.78\columnwidth]{Figure1.pdf}
\caption{\label{fig:SP_nolensing}One dimensional marginal probability distribution
of the standard model parameters for four different cases without considering lensing likelihood. Red : Only the standard
model parameters (SP) are varied. The neutrinos are considered to
be massless. Blue : We vary $\sum m_{\nu}$ along with other
SP. The number of massive neutrino species here are considered to
be $N_{\rm eff}=3.046$. For both these models we considered only the
scalar power spectrum. Green : Analysis with $r_{0.05}$ and SP.
Neutrinos are considered to be massless and $n_{t}=0$. Black
: We vary both $\sum m_{\nu}$ and $r_{0.05}$. The average and the
standard deviations for the parameters are given in the plot itself.
The best fit values are quoted in the brackets. }
\end{figure}

\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\includegraphics[trim=1.3cm 7.9cm 0.1cm 7.7cm, clip=true, width=0.80\columnwidth]{Figure2.pdf}
\caption{\label{fig:SP_lensing}One dimensional marginal probability distribution
of the standard model parameters for four different cases after considering lensing likelihood. The results are shown for four different cases. Red :
Only the standard model parameters (SP) are varied. The neutrinos
are considered to be massless here. Blue : We vary $\sum m_{\nu}$
along with other SP. The number of massive neutrino species here
are considered to be $N_{\rm eff}=3.046$. For both these models we considered
only the scalar power spectrum. Green : Analysis with $r_{0.05}$
and SP. Neutrinos are considered to be massless and $n_{t}=0$.
Black : We vary both $\sum m_{\nu}$ and $r_{0.05}$. The average
and the standard deviations for the parameters are given in the plot
itself. The best fit values are quoted in the brackets. }
\end{figure}

\subsection{Standard $6$ parameters + $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ with $\sum m_\nu$ and $r_{0.05}$}\label{ns}

Simplest inflationary models predict that the running of the spectral index $dn_{s}/d\ln k$
is related to the higher order of inflationary slow roll parameters
\cite{kosowsky}. Tight observational constraints on $dn_{s}/d\ln k$, can rule out several inflationary models. Planck \cite{Planck_param}
has put constraint on $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ with $r<0.26$ as, $dn_{s}/d\ln k=-0.022\pm0.010$, $(68\%;\mathrm{Planck+WP+highL})$

We obtain the constraints on $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ and $n_{s}$ in Fig. \ref{fig:dnsdk}. On considering no tensor spectrum, i.e. $r=0$,
$dn_{s}/d\ln k$ is well consistent with zero, which also matches Planck results.  However, the constraint on $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ with BICEP 2 likelihood \cite{BICEP_1} shows $3.23\sigma$ deviation from zero.
The
effect of $\sum m_\nu$ over  $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ is negligible. The case with both $\sum m_\nu$ and $r_{0.05}$, shows that $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ is consistent with zero at $2.7 \sigma$. We  summarize the results for $n_s$ and $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ on considering the measurement from BICEP 2 and BOSS
 in Table \ref{tab_2}.

\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\caption{Constriants on $n_s$ and $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ for different set of parameters.}\label{tab_2}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|}
\hline
 & SP+$\frac{dn_{s}}{d\ln k}$ & SP+$\frac{dn_{s}}{d\ln k}$+$\sum m_{\nu}$ & SP+$\frac{dn_{s}}{d\ln k}$+$r_{0.05}$ & SP+$\frac{dn_{s}}{d\ln k}$+$\sum m_{\nu}$+$r_{0.05}$\tabularnewline
\hline
\hline
$n_{s}$ & 0.953$\pm$0.006 & 0.0952$\pm$0.006 & 0.958$\pm$0.006 & 0.9570$\pm$0.0063\tabularnewline
\hline
$\frac{dn_{s}}{d\ln k}$ & -0.0105$\pm$0.0069 & -0.0083$\pm$0.0072 & -0.0271$\pm$ 0.0084 & -0.0246$\pm$0.0091\tabularnewline
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics[trim=3.4cm 9.0cm 0.3cm 9cm, clip=true, width=0.3\columnwidth]{top.pdf}
\includegraphics[trim=5cm 0cm 0.3cm 21cm, clip=true, width=0.50\columnwidth]{top.pdf}
\includegraphics[trim=3.5cm 9cm 1.4cm 9.1cm, clip=true, width=0.28\columnwidth]{middle2D.pdf}
\includegraphics[trim=3cm 9cm 3cm 8cm, clip=true, width=0.26\columnwidth]{right.pdf}
\caption{\label{fig:dnsdk} Variation of $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ and $n_s$ are shown for following cases. Blue : For SP+$dn_{s}/d\ln k$, Red : For
SP+$dn_{s}/d\ln k$+$\sum m_{\nu}$, Gray : for SP+$dn_{s}/d\ln k$+$r{}_{0.05}$.
Introducing tensor part leads to $dn_{s}/d\ln k$
away from the $0$ at $\sim 3.23 \sigma$ .}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Standard $6$ parameters + $N_{\rm eff}$ with $\sum m_\nu$ and $r_{0.05}$}\label{neff}
In the standard model of particle physics there are  3 types of
neutrinos corresponding to the three families of leptons. However, there are corrections to the $N_{\rm eff}$ due to non instantaneous decoupling
and QED effects. This theoretically leads to $N_{\rm eff}= 3.046$. However, any other non-interacting relativistic species also effect the CMB power spectra in the same manner as neutrinos. Signature of any such relativistic species can therefore
be found by estimating $N_{\rm eff}$ from the CMB measurements.
In Fig. \ref{fig:Neff_1D} we plot the one dimensional likelihood
of $N_{\rm eff}$ for four different cases, (a) $N_{\rm eff}$ with standard 6 parameter case with
$\sum m_\nu =0$ and $r=0$. (b) $N_{\rm eff}$ with standard 6 parameter, $r_{0.05}$ and
$\sum m_\nu =0$. (c) $N_{\rm eff}$ with standard 6 parameter case with $\sum m_\nu \neq 0$ and $r=0$.
(d) Non-zero value for both $\sum m_\nu$ and $r_{0.05}$. All these cases are studied by
considering both lensing and without lensing.

As shown in the Fig. \ref{fig:Neff_1D}, if the massive neutrinos
are considered then the $N_{\rm eff}$ decreases, whereas if tensor modes
are considered with the massless neutrinos then the $N_{\rm eff}$ of
the neutrinos increases.  The values of $N_{\rm eff}$
for different cases are shown below,

\[ N_{\rm eff} =
\left\{
\begin{array}{l
 l}
3.3221_{\,}\pm0.35 & \quad SP+N_{\rm eff}\,+\sum m_{\nu}\,\rm (Planck+WP)\\
3.2938_{\,}\pm0.32  & \quad SP+N_{\rm eff}\,+\sum m_{\nu}\,\rm (Planck+WP+lensing)\\
3.4867_{\,}\pm0.31  & \quad SP+N_{\rm eff}\,\rm  (Planck+WP)\\
3.4447_{\,}\pm0.34 & \quad SP+N_{\rm eff}\,\rm (Planck+WP+lensing)\\
3.9837_{\,}\pm0.36  & \quad SP+N_{\rm eff}+r_{0.05}\,\rm (Planck+WP+BICEP \,2)\\
3.8867_{\,}\pm0.34  & \quad SP+N_{\rm eff}+r_{0.05}\,\rm (Planck+WP+lensing+BICEP \,2)\\
3.7530_{\,}\pm0.26  & \quad SP+N_{\rm eff}+r_{0.05}+\sum m_{\nu}\,\rm (Planck+WP+BICEP \,2)\\
3.6832_{\,}\pm0.30  & \quad SP+N_{\rm eff}+r_{0.05}+\sum m_{\nu}\,\rm (Planck+WP+lensing+BICEP\, 2)
\end{array}
\right.\]

\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\includegraphics[trim=0.3cm 8.5cm 0.0cm 8.0cm, clip=true, width=0.7\columnwidth]{Figure7.pdf}
\caption{\label{fig:Neff_1D}Distribution of $N_{\rm eff}$ for different sets of parameters.
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\includegraphics[trim=0.0cm 9.0cm 0.0cm 9.0cm, clip=true, width=0.85\columnwidth]{Figure8.pdf}
\caption{\label{fig:Neff_r}Two dimensional likelihood contours of $N_{\rm eff}$ for Planck+WP+BICEP 2 likelihood
with standard model parameters and $r_{0.05}$. Neutrinos are considered
to be massless for this case.}
\end{figure}

\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\includegraphics[trim=0.0cm 9.0cm 0.0cm 9.0cm, clip=true, width=0.75\columnwidth]{Neff_mnu.pdf}
\caption{\label{fig:Neff_mnu}Two dimensional likelihood contours of $N_{\rm eff}$ for Planck+WP likelihood
with standard model parameters and $\sum m_{\nu}$. We have considered $r=0$ for this case. }
\end{figure}
In Fig. \ref{fig:Neff_r}, we plot the two dimensional likelihood
of $N_{\rm eff}$ with all the other parameters for massless neutrino
case, which shows that $N_{\rm eff}$ is positively correlated
with almost all other parameters.
Fig. \ref{fig:Neff_mnu} shows the two dimensional likelihood with $\sum m_\nu \neq 0$ and $r=0$.
\subsection{Standard $6$ parameters + $A_{L}$ + $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ with $\sum m_\nu$ and $r_{0.05}$}\label{al}

In this section we show the constraints on the $A_{L}$, i.e. the lensing power amplitude
relative to the physical value \cite{Planck_param}. Theoretically, $A_{L}$ should be consistent with $1$.
However, Planck found that $A_{L}$ is inconsistent with its theoretical value at $2\sigma$ level. Here we consider the effect on $A_L$ due to the recent measurements of $\sum m_\nu$
and $r_{0.05}$. We vary $A_{L}$, $dn_{s}/d\ln k$, $\sum m_{\nu}$ and $r_{0.05}$ along with
the other standard model parameters. The results are shown in Fig. \ref{fig:scatteredplot} and Fig. \ref{fig:Al}.

In Fig. \ref{fig:scatteredplot}
we show the scattered plot between $A_{L}$ and $dn_{s}/d\ln k$
and color coded with $\sum m_{\nu}$, which shows for $A_L\approx 1$ is consistent for the $r_{0.05}=0.2$ with lower value of $\sum m_\nu$ and without running.  It shows $A_{L}$ is negatively correlated with $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ and positively correlated with $r_{0.05}$. There is a mild positive correlation with correlation coefficient $0.06$ between $\sum m_\nu$ and $A_L$.  The one dimensional
marginal probability distribution for different cases are shown in
Fig. \ref{fig:Al}. It can be seen that if $dn_s/d\ln k=0$
and $\sum m_{\nu}=0$ then $A_{L}$ is consistent
with the physical value $A_L=1$ at $\sim2\sigma$ with the BICEP 2 likelihood\cite{BICEP_1}.  However, if we vary $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ and $\sum m_{\nu}$ then the average
value of $A_{L}$ shifts towards higher value. For the case with $SP+ r_{0.05}+ \sum m_\nu + dn_s/dk +A_L$ is
inconsistent with $1$ at $3.1 \sigma$. This shows that varying $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ with the prior on
$\sum m_\nu $ and $r_{0.05}$ leads to an inconsistent lensing amplitude, whereas model
without $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ is inconsistent at $2.1 \sigma$. So, the model without running with the
given $\sum m_\nu$ and $r_{0.05}$ is slightly preferred.  With the decrease in  $r_{0.05}$ from the value measured by BICEP 2, $A_{L}$ also decreases (as shown in Fig. \ref{fig:scatteredplot}). This will lead to a more consistent model with running spectral index and $\sum m_{\nu} = 0.36$.
\begin{figure}
\centering
\subfigure[]{
\includegraphics[trim=0.0cm 8.0cm 0.0cm 7.5cm, clip=true, width=0.45\columnwidth]{scatter_r.pdf}
}
\subfigure[]{
\includegraphics[trim=0.0cm 8.0cm 0.0cm 7.5cm, clip=true, width=0.45\columnwidth]{scatter_mnu.pdf}
}
\caption{\label{fig:scatteredplot} We plot $A_{L}$ vs $dn_{s}/d\ln k$
in the scattered diagram and colour coded it with (a) $r_{0.05}$ and (b) $\sum m_{\nu}$.
$A_{L}$ is positively correlated with both $r_{0.05}$ and $\sum m_{\nu}$
and is negatively correlated with $dn_{s}/d\ln k$. }
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\includegraphics[trim=0.0cm 7.5cm 0.0cm 8.5cm, clip=true, width=0.75\columnwidth]{Al.pdf}
\caption{\label{fig:Al}The brown curve is for a case where we vary $r_{0.05}$, $\sum m_{\nu}$,
$A_{L}$ and $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ along with the other standard
model parameters. We use WP+ Planck+ BICEP 2 likelihood, with prior on $\sum m_{\nu}$ from BOSS experiments. In the green curve we fix
the value of $dn_s/d\ln k=0$ and in the gray curve we fix
both $dn_s/d\ln k=0$ and $\sum m_{\nu}=0$. The mean value and the standard deviations
of $A_{L}$ are shown inside the bracket in the legend. }
\end{figure}
\section{Discussions and Conclusions}\label{con}
We study the effects of the new measurements of  $r_{0.05}$ and $\sum m_\nu$ claimed by BICEP 2 and BOSS respectively,
impose on other cosmological parameters.
We evaluate the models  $dn_s/d\ln k$ and $N_{\rm eff}$ along with the other SP $\{\Omega_{b}h^{2},\Omega_{m}h^{2},h,\tau,n_{s},A_{s}\}$ for four different cases as mentioned in Sec. \ref{cp}. Our results show that  $dn_{s}/d\ln k \neq 0$ at $2.7\sigma$ (Sec. \ref{ns}) and $N_{\rm eff}$ is
consistent with the theoretical value of $3.046$ within $1.74\sigma$ ( Sec. \ref{neff}).
This implies that the simplest inflationary model and with the known relativistic species in the universe, explains the observed temperature anisotropy spectra of CMB.

However, lensing amplitude $A_L$ which plays an important
role in estimating the value of both $N_{\rm eff}$ and $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ does not gives a consistent estimation when considered running spectral index along with the current bound on $r_{0.05}$ and $\sum m_{\nu}$.
The model with $\sum m_\nu$, $r_{0.05}$ and $dn_{s}/d\ln k =0$ makes $A_L$ is consistent
with $1$, at $2.1 \sigma$. But
if we allow $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ to vary, then we get $A_L>1$ at
$3.1\sigma$ level.
Therefore, the models with running spectral index and the value of $r_{0.05}$ and $\sum m_{\nu}$ as measured by BICEP 2 and BOSS leads to an inconsistent cosmological model,

Hence, we can conclude that the standard cosmological model with $SP+ \sum m_\nu +r$,
$N_{\rm eff}=3.046$ and $A_L=1$,
without running of the spectral index, $dn_{s}/d\ln k =0$ is fully consistent with the data.
Though, it implies $H_0= 64.5 \pm 1.4$ kms$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$, that disagrees with supernova measurements ($H_0= 73.8 \pm 2.4$ kms$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$) from HST \cite{snia} by $6.6\sigma$. Improvement of measurements of $H_0$ and
$\sum m_\nu$  from different future experiments can resolve this discrepancy.
However, if Planck measures $r_{0.05}<0.2$, then the inconsistency arising due to lensing amplitude $A_L >1$ at more than $3 \sigma$ goes away (as shown in Fig. \ref{fig:scatteredplot}) and  the model with $\sum m_{\nu}$ and $dn_s/d\ln k$ becomes consistent.
In Table \ref{tab_3}, we summarize all these findings
 to give a comprehensive understanding of this analysis.
The constraints on $r_{0.05}$ can be improved with the full sky measurement of polarization data from Planck, which is expected to be released in near future. All these together can lead to more precise measurement of the cosmological models.

\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\caption{Summary for our analysis with WP+Planck+BICEP 2 likelihood for models beyond standard $6$ parameters ($\{\Omega_{b}h^{2}$, $\Omega_{m}h^{2}$, $h$, $\tau, n_{s}$, $A_{s}\}$) are mentioned below. }
\label{tab_3}
\vspace{0.5cm}
\begin{tabular}{|p{9cm}|c|c|c|}
\hline
Model & Parameter  & WP+ Planck+ BICEP 2 \tabularnewline
\hline
SP $+ \sum m_{\nu} + r_{0.05}$  & h &  $0.645 \pm 0.014$ \tabularnewline
\hline
SP $+ dn_{s}/d\ln k + \sum m_{\nu} + r_{0.05}$ & $dn_{s}/d\ln k$ & -0.0246$\pm$0.0091\tabularnewline
\hline
SP  $+N_{\rm eff} + \sum m_{\nu} + r_{0.05}$ & $N_{\rm eff}$ & $3.7530_{\,}\pm0.26$\tabularnewline
\hline
SP + $A_{L}$ + $dn_{s}/d\ln k= 0$ + $\sum m_{\nu} + r_{0.05}$ & $A_L$ & $1.19 \pm 0.09$ \tabularnewline
\hline
SP + $A_{L}$ + $dn_{s}/d\ln k \neq 0$ $+ \sum m_{\nu} + r_{0.05}$ & $A_L$ & $1.28 \pm 0.09$ \tabularnewline
\hline

\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\acknowledgments{
We have used the HPC facility at IUCAA for the required computation.
S. D. and S. M. acknowledge Council for Science and Industrial Research
(CSIR), India, for the financial support as Senior Research Fellows.}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


I worked for a national travel trailer/RV company, building/assembling high quality units. With this job, I read blue-prints, took measurements, carried pre-built walls and cabinets to each trailer unit, then set them into place. I then fastened all the components to square and plumb positions. Essentially, I built the inside of the units before the outer shell was attached. I worked alone in this position on the assembly line, so all responsibilities were mine.
I owned and operated a photography business. I performed all photoshoots and editing for my clients. I did all marketing/advertising for the business. The job required a lot of people skills, as I had to be sure my subjects were comfortable in front of the camera, along with the acquisition of new clients and meeting their specific requirements. Jobs/clients consisted of weddings, models, bar/club scene event photography.
I created an online-based business with my understanding of a desired niche market. I built up my inventory with specific camera equipment, marketed and then sold products between two different online sites. I constantly researched and refined my operations to improve reach and profits. I became a international seller of quality vintage camera products. I utilized my ever-growing understanding of what a consumer is looking for to maintain a high customer service rating.
While in college and alongside other jobs, I did general construction for others and on my own. There were a variety of jobs I performed, including room additions to homes, hurricane-window installation, interior/exterior painting of homes/businesses and building residential privacy fences.
I worked at this telemarketing company as an inbound call receiver and spoke with hundreds of people a day. I then advanced to a verifier position, where I closed sales with thorough and professional dialogue.
Studied general courses, art & all photography courses at the time in the photography program.


Thank you so much for all the pictures that have been sent over the years. If you ever have a picture from BAWS that you'd like me to add, please email it to me. You can even send pictures of players during their high school or college or professional careers, that would be GREAT!


text:
O "Caso dos Venenos" é um episódio ocorrido em Paris entre 1670 e 1682, e que sacudiu a capital francesa e a Corte.

Em 1672, com a morte do oficial de cavalaria, Godin de Sainte-Croix, descobrem-se em seu papéis peças acusando sua amante, Marquesa de Brinvilliers, de ter envenenado o próprio pai, seus dois irmãos e sua irmã, para apropriar-se de suas partes na herança. A Marquesa de Brinvilliers foi julgada e executada em 1676.

Segredos de Polichinelo
Em 1677, a investigação revelou que uma certa Marie Bosse fornecera venenos a esposas de membros do Parlamento que queriam envenenar seus maridos. Presa, Marie Bosse denunciou uma mulher, Montvoisin, dita "La Voisin", outros comparsas e um certo Lesage. Como as revelações dos acusados recaíam sobre pessoas notáveis, foi criada uma comissão especial para julgar, sem apelação, os acusados: a chamada câmara ardente. Personalidades importantes, principalmente mulheres, foram então citadas: Madame de Vivonne (cunhada de Madame de Montespan), Madame de La Mothe, Mademoiselle des Œillets e Cato (criadas de quarto de Madame de Montespan), a Condessa de Soissons, a Condessa du Roure, a Viscondessa de Polignac, a Marechala de Luxembourg e muitas outras.

O tenente de polícia La Reynie comandou uma investigação minuciosa, e juntou à acusação de envenenamento outros delitos: assassinato ritual de crianças em missas negras rezadas por padres depravados (entre eles, Étienne Guibourg), profanações de hóstias e até mesmo fabricação de dinheiro falso.

Porém este zelo por parte de La Reynie escondia a luta que se travava entre Louvois, Ministro da Guerra, e Colbert, Ministro das Finanças da época. Louvois comandava uma investigação paralela e secreta por ordem do Rei, enquanto que os acusados mais ilustres eram pessoas próximas a Colbert.

Após a execução de sua mãe, a filha de "La Voisin" pôs em cheque a posição de Madame de Montespan : esta mantivera relações com "La Voisin". Com efeito, Madame de Montespan, além de haver participado de cerimônias de conjuração, havia dado poções mágicas ao rei Luís XIV a fim de preservar sua posição de favorita visto que ele começara a namorar com a Madame de Maintenon.

A "câmara ardente" pronunciou, no Caso dos Venenos, 36 condenações à morte e outras tantas às galés. As personalidades destacadas foram poupadas. A "câmara ardente"  foi dissolvida em 1682, por ordem de Luís XIV, sem que fossem julgados os acusadores de Madame de Montespan, os quais foram encerrados em fortalezas reais, como a Fortaleza de Saint-André, em Salins-les-Bains.

La Voisin foi julgada com 36 cúmplices, condenada à morte e queimada na Praça de Grève, em 2 de Fevereiro de 1680. Vários condenados foram presos na cidadela de Vauban du Palais, em Belle-Île-en-Mer. Quanto a Madame de Montespan, estando sob a proteção do rei, não foi molestada. Era mãe de vários filhos ilegítimos de Luís XIV e permaneceu na Corte. Bani-la seria evidenciar sua culpa, e o rei não queria que essa culpa (como a de Racine) se tornasse pública. Madame de Montespan, relegada a um modesto apartamento no Palácio de Versailles, caiu em desgraça, assim permanecendo por dez anos. O rei só passava em frente a seus aposentos quando se dirigia aos de Madame de Maintenon.

Caso dos venenos e condenação da astrologia

Na época do caso dos venenos, "Paris contava com 400 consultórios de astrólogos e adivinhos, para uma população de 450 mil almas"; dizem Arkan Simaan e Joëlle Fontaine.  "O entusiasmo pelas consultas -continuam os autores - não era privilégio dos meios populares: as carruagens causavam engarrafamentos frente ao consultório de Primi Venturini, um charlatão italiano, que descreveu em suas memórias as astúcias com que lograva os crédulos. [...] O caso dos venenos tem sua raiz nesse contexto. Boa parte da nobreza estava diretamente implicada nesse caso criminoso, notadamente madame de Montespan, a favorita de Luís XIV. Descobriu-se que aquela gente toda se reunia em sabás, missas negras consagradas a Satã, e que esses sabás derivavam de "inocentes" consultas astrológicas. Pessoas inquietas consultavam os astrólogos e adivinhos buscando reconforto ou tentando se preparar para um futuro temido. Parte significativa da clientela constituía-se de moças casadas com maridos idosos, junto aos quais se entediavam: os "adivinhos" costumavam dar uma mãozinha às previsões de falecimento iminente do esposo, fornecendo a suas clientes... um frasco de veneno!
O caso se encerrou em 1680 com numerosas condenações capitais, em particular a de La Voisin, que confessou ter enterrado mais de 2500 corpos de recém-nascidos no seu próprio jardim. Luís XIV publicou, dois anos mais tarde, um decreto banindo do reino os bruxos, astrólogos e adivinhos."

Eis porque, em 1682, a astrologia foi completamente banida da Académie des Sciences da França, contrariamente à Royal Society da Inglaterra.

Filme
A trama histórica foi tomada, de maneira levemente romanceada, pelo cineasta Henri Decoin, em seu filme "L'Affaire des Poisons" (1955), com Viviane Romance (Catherine Deshayes dita "la Voisin") e Danielle Darrieux (Madame de Montespan), Maurice Tenace (La Reynie), Pierre Monde (Degré, oficial de polícia sob ordens de La Reynie) e ainda com Paul Meurisse, um abade demoníaco.

Ver também
 O caso dos Venenos(pdf)

  Século XVII: O Tenebroso Caso dos Venenos

História da França
Antigo Regime na França
Escândalos políticos
Século XVII na França
Venenos

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Calculate mean and autocovariance for random walk to check stationarity
I am confused by the second line and the third line of the autocovariance calculation. Like how the var() and the 0 come, and why there is t*sigma^2 at the end.

A: The second term is $\mathbb E\left[\sum_{1\leq j\leq k}Z_j\sum_{1\leq j'\leq k}Z_{t+j'}\right].$ Now $\langle Z_j\rangle$ is a white noise process. That means $\mathbb E[Z_tZ_\tau] =0$ when $t\ne \tau.$ So, the concerned term yields zero.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
package org.secnod.shiro.jersey;

import com.sun.jersey.spi.inject.Injectable;

import org.apache.shiro.SecurityUtils;
import org.apache.shiro.subject.Subject;

public class SubjectInjectableProvider extends AuthInjectableProvider<Subject> {

    public SubjectInjectableProvider() {
        super(Subject.class);
    }

    private final Injectable<Subject> subjectInjectable = new Injectable<Subject>() {
        @Override
        public Subject getValue() {
            return SecurityUtils.getSubject();
        }
    };

    @Override
    public Injectable<Subject> getInjectable() {
        return subjectInjectable;
    }
}


Your client's social media assets need managing, but how do you add that service to your business? You could add people and resources, increasing your costs. Or you could try a white label social media marketing program and increase your profitability.
Download this white paper from SocialXpand to learn how a social media marketing reseller program can help you help your clients while adding a new revenue stream to your business.
Related resources: Agencies, DMD Sidebar, Featured, Featured, Featured, Social Media, White Papers, Whitepapers Sidebar.


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text:
RBI sets new external commercial borrowings framework, lifts sectoral curbs
RBI came out with a new policy for overseas borrowings, allowing all eligible entities to raise foreign funding up to $750 million or equivalent per financial year under the automatic route and removing sectoral curbs.
Minimum average maturity period has been kept 3 yrs.
WHO Goodwill ambassador Yohei Sasakawa to get Gandhi Peace Prize for 2018
Gandhi Peace Prize for 2018 will be conferred to Yohei Sasakawa in recognition of his work towards the eradication of the disease in India and across the world. He is Goodwill Ambassador of the World Health Organization for Leprosy Elimination.
Ekal Abhiyan Trust -chosen for the award for the year 2017.
Reliance Retail, Jio to launch new e-commerce platform
Reliance Retail and Reliance Jio Infocomm jointly are set to launch a new e-commerce platform in the country. Gujarat would be the first state to get it. The new e-commerce project would empower 1.2 million shopkeepers in Gujarat.
The company aimed to more than double its revenues by 2025.
Country's 2nd defence innovation hub to come up in Maharashtra
India's second defence innovation hub has come up in Nashik, Maharashtra after Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. It will help local industries and entrepreneurs. Ministry of Defence had set a target of making the country among the top five arms exporters by 2025.
Chairperson of DRDO – G Satheesh Reddy.
Suresh Prabhu inaugurates 10th edition of India Rubber Expo 2019
Union Minister for Commerce and Industry inaugurated the 10th edition of the India Rubber Expo - 2019 in Mumbai. National Rubber Policy will be unveiled soon to address issues concerning the sector and to boost productivity.
HQ of All India Rubber Industries Association – Mumbai.
ICC appoints Manu Sawhney as CEO
The International Cricket Council appointed media professional Manu Sawhney as its new chief executive officer, replacing incumbent David Richardson, who will step down after the World Cup. He is the former CEO of Singapore Sports Hub.
Chairperson of ICC - Shashank Manohar.
RBI slaps Rs 1 crore fine on Bank of Maharashtra
RBI imposed a ₹ 1 Crore penalty on Bank of Maharashtra for non-compliance of Know Your Customer guidelines and fraud-classification norms. This penalty has been imposed considering the failure of the bank to adhere to directions issued by the RBI.
AS Rajeev is the Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Maharashtra.
Dr. Rattan Lal honoured with 2019 Japan Prize
Dr. Rattan Lal awarded 2019 Japan Prize for his work in identifying technological options adapted to various ecosystems through his intensive basic & applied research on processes & factors of soil degradation caused by inappropriate biological production
Dr. Yoshio Okamoto is also conferred with Japan Prize 2019.
Housing, Urban Affairs Ministry to organise 'Shehri Samridhi Utsav' from Feb 1 to 15
The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs set to organise Shehri Samridhi Utsav focusing on urban livelihood. It aims at extending the outreach of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Urban Livelihoods Mission to the poorest of poor & the most vulnerable.
Hardeep Singh Puri - Union Mini. Of Housing and Urban Affairs.
BES EXPO 2019 being held in New Delhi
25th International conference & exhibition on terrestrial & satellite broadcasting BES EXPO 2019 has begun in New Delhi. Nearly 300 companies are displaying their products in the Expo. It was inaugurated by I&B secretary & TRAI Chairman RS Sharma.
Information and Broadcasting Secretary - Amit Khare.


text:
Notgames Forum > Creation > Notgames design > Purpose
Author Topic: Purpose (Read 7556 times)
Reading somewhere that Keita Takahashi would be dissatisfied with Noby Noby Boy got me thinking.
Quote from: Keita Takahashi
My hypothesis was that you can make a fun game without clear goals. Noby Noby Boy proves that this hypothesis is incorrect. It only became about 40% of what I expected.
I adore Noby Noby Boy. I also think it is one of very few games that would hold up in an art gallery next to other contemporary fine art. But I must admit that I don't play it very often.
I've had similar experiences with Ico and Grand Theft Auto 3. In both games I loved the non-game aspects of being present in the simulation and interacting with the virtual world and characters for their own sake. But once I had completed the game, I hardly every played it again, despite of desiring to experience those aspects again.
So even though the non-game aspects were the ones I enjoyed most in the game, the removal of the game also removed my desire to play.
In a way, I'm ok with this. I think it is fine for a game to offer a limit amount of amusement and that it is over at some point. Games are more like live performances anyway. There's no point in regretting that the theater or the ballet or the concert is over. The finiteness is simply part of the medium, and of the experience.
But on the other hand, I am attracted to the potential infiniteness of a procedural simulation. I like to think that the video game medium can provide a solution for the sadness that occurs after having finished a lovely novel: one wishes one could stay in that fictional world forever, or at least revisit it once in a while.
By offering extensive replayability, the structure of a rules-based game generates a motivation for the player to spend time in the simulation. I think this has been the key to the success of video games. I deeply believe that it is the simulation that draws people to these games. But so far we have only been able to keep people in these simulations by providing them with trivial tasks.
We have all experienced the problem with this: the tasks can feel so mechanical that performing them becomes a goal onto itself. And such activity disconnects us to a large extent from the experience of the fictional world of the simulation.
But simply removing the gameplay doesn't seem to work entirely. Or at least it requires too much discipline from the player. It is not seductive.
Keeping the gameplay is not an option, since we know it ruins and replaces the experience of the simulation that is our focus. But maybe we need to replace it with something.
We don't really want to provide players with a hard goal to achieve, because then we risk losing them again as they work towards this goal. Instead maybe we should offer the player a sense of purpose. A sense of belonging in the virtual world, perhaps even being needed, not necessarily to save everyone from annihilation, but maybe just to keep things going. Or maybe the virtual world clearly enjoys your presence.
Pet games (like Tamagotchi) come to mind as games that feature such activity: your pet really enjoys your visits, and in some cases requires it for survival. But there is no real goal to the game. Animal Crossing is another: the villagers know when you haven't visited them for a long time, and things change in your absence.
These are fairly trivial examples. Because the fictions of these games are rather shallow, artistically. But I'm sure a similar non-goal oriented sense of purpose can be found in other stories.
Maybe it's as simple as thinking of the avatar for the player as the protagonist in the game's story. In most games, the player's avatar often feels more or less like a bystander, a tool that is being used by the other characters to accomplish their goals. Or the character knows nothing about the world and the game involves discovery of the story (rather than telling it). But what if the player really feels a sense of responsibility for the virtual world, or at least for some character(s) in it?
I guess management games like Sim City do something like this: your influence as a player is crucial to the evolution of the story, in a way that is not so predefined as in most -linear- games. You're not playing the role of a character whose destiny is already foretold. You create your own destiny, and the world really needs you to do this. It's easy to create such emotions when the player is given god-like powers. But I don't think this is necessary. And it probably makes for a better story if the power of the player is limited.
Anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts about motivation to play in a non-goal oriented way. And what you think about this idea to give the player a purpose in the fictional world, rather than a goal in the game structure or and end to achieve in the story structure.
« Last Edit: January 04, 2011, 10:58:02 AM by Michaël Samyn » Logged
Re: Purpose
Maybe this is another question that can be answered with its inversion: to make the player want the game, you need to make the game want the player.
I'm a casual player of hardcore games... since I usually enjoy just admiring the really detailed fictional worlds (without having to achieve all trophies/achievements by collecting every artifact/killing all enemies in the hardest setting, etc.)
I think 'Simulation' is the perfect term to describe what we are trying to achieve. To me, games are no different than books, media I consume whenever I don't have the budget to go out and travel to different countries around the world (Also, I think studying abroad in a foreign school is likewise a worthwhile experience.) Plus, they are so far the only medium to truly explore futuristic concepts which are yet impossible to achieve in real life.
I especially love games with advanced NPC AI companions... they're the best ambassadors of their worlds to yours. They don't break the fourth wall like real human players in MMOs do. They're like the no-name actors you see in movies that perform their part so well, you only know them for the role they played (unlike Superstar actors which break your immersion because you know their 'real' personalities).
Sorry if it's been discussed already (I'm trying to refresh), if I understand it correctly, goals set in stone, and an addiction-cycle-mechanic to achieve them are the main features of a game today. Stuff like: Collect X items to achieve reward; clear level of all monsters; reach destination in under X minutes. Something that can be rewarded with either a score, a trophy/achievement, or both. Then the way the addiction cycle works is that a new stage or level will have bigger challenges or harsher limits, ad infinitum. In other words, this is typical arcade design to get players to push more tokens into the machine. It's pretty ironic that arcade design is the most popular type of game design in indie circles today, since trying to get players to push more tokens was the earliest form of micro addiction mechanic that modern social games like Zynga use today.
I'm glad I was born when home consoles were around, so I don't feel so nostalgic about the arcade era. What I loved about home consoles was the ability to return as many times as you want to a game without having to pay any more than the upfront purchase cost. It's only the recent online subscription model that reversed that. When game developers recently announced yet another 'death of the single-player game (and that the single-player game was an anomaly between the arcade/board game eras and the modern connected console era), I interpreted it to mean that it was only single-player games and books that offered the true 'unlimited replay' experience after you bought the item once. But with everything else, you have to shell out money every time you want to experience something, even if you experienced it before. Even with online Flash games, you have to redownload some new ads which is equivalent to a 'new purchase cost'.
Home consoles also introduced save points in games, making them more linear in progress like books. I used to care about beating my high score in Pacman, but with the new JRPGs I didn't care about high scores; I just wanted to explore and continue the story. I think save points still have a role to play even as mere bookmarks, even if it's not important to me what other statistics get saved as well.
Now if most of those statistics are derived from keeping track of the results of goal-oriented addiction-mechanics, if I make a true 'notgame' that does away with these statistics, that means I don't really need anything to save at all! I'll only need a bookmark feature at best.
I'm starting first with describing a world and taking the audience through it's paces (my current game), but I do plan to have a game entirely run by AI simulated characters eventually.
Quote from: Booger on January 13, 2011, 10:27:18 AM
It's pretty ironic that arcade design is the most popular type of game design in indie circles today, since trying to get players to push more tokens was the earliest form of micro addiction mechanic that modern social games like Zynga use today.
True. Ironic. And sad.
For Weiv, the project I've been working on for a while now, I'm trying to provide that purpose through the context of the play itself - in this case, a worship service or musical performance. The purpose then becomes to perform as a visual band member.
Maybe you could carry that idea to other forms of play as well. A mobile videogame about exploration and meeting new people, a desktop videogame about introspection and self discovery, a console videogame about cooperative play.
Chris Platzer
If the players enjoyed your game for fifteen minutes, and these fifteen minutes made a lasting impression, isn't that enough?
For me its similar to books: even my favorite books, I don't want to read all the time. Even if I really enjoyed reading a book for the first time, it's going to take a while before I want to read it again. (And even then, it's not going to be the same experience that I had reading it for the first time) Nevertheless, my favorite books influence me a lot, even when I'm not currently reading them.
Quote from: Michaël Samyn on January 04, 2011, 12:47:39 PM
I would express that differently: to make the player need the game, you need to make the player feel like the game needs them.
Tamagochi is a good example: you play with it often because it would starve if it didn't. It's a chore, an obligation. One that you follow willingly, because it's a cute and helpless being which loves you back that you have to care for. It makes people play by exploiting the human urge to care for their loved ones.