text:
THE PICKLE
Content: -3 Excessive sex, violence, immorality, and/or worldview problems. (Sometimes excessive content such as violence is in otherwise redemptive movies.)
THE PICKLE is an unsuccessful attempt to blend satire on the film industry with ensemble character drama. While poking fun at the ridiculous plot of a film-within-a-film (a giant pickle which travels to another planet), the satire here is pretty lame--especially compared with the biting cleverness of THE PLAYER last year. Raunchy language, sex and some nudity bring the entire project down yet another notch.
(H, LL, SS, NN, A/D) 16 obscenities & 4 profanities; upper female nudity; blunt conversations about sex; sexual immorality implied; and, alcohol use and smoking throughout (primarily by one character).
In THE PICKLE, Harold Stone (Danny Aiello) is a late-50ish film director with a track record admired by fans but not necessarily by critics. An acute need for cash has prodded him to accept the assignment of directing an inane project called THE PICKLE. Now, on the eve of a sneak preview, Harold is literally seeing his life pass before him. During a crowded 36 hour period, he reconnects with his extended family. In the background is Harry's Parisian girlfriend Francoise, who wants him to slow down. Sneaking a look at his cassette copy, she (and we) get a few glimpses at this ridiculous fantasy/pseudo-allegory in which a small cadre of farmers fly to another planet in a gigantic pickle. His embarrassment leads to a suicide attempt while friends and family are at the preview. However, a phone call from the projectionist says that the film looks like a surprise hit. Harry decides to upchuck his overdose and take another shot at life and film directing.
Veteran writer/producer/director Paul Mazursky evidently couldn't decide whether THE PICKLE should be a satire on modern filmmaking and marketing (ground already covered with greater skill in THE PLAYER) or family drama (ground already with greater skill just about everywhere else). While THE PICKLE has a few clever gags, the whole package doesn't hold much water. Raunchy dialogue, sex and brief nudity don't add a bit to the overall picture.
Starring: Danny Aiello, Dyan Cannon, Clotilde Courau, Shelly Winters, Ally Sheedy
Rating: R
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Director: Paul Mazursky
Producer: Paul Mazursky
Writer: Paul Mazursky


Lee W. Waldrep | I.K International Publishing House Pvt. Ltd.
LEE W. WALDREP, PHD, has over 20 years of experience in higher education with expertise in career development and architecture. Waldrep earned a Ph.D. in counseling and development from The American University, a master of architecture from Arizona State University, and a bachelor of science from the University of Michigan. During his career, he has served in three accredited architecture programs—the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Maryland and Illinois Institute of Technology. Waldrep previously served as Associate Executive Director of the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) and as National Vice-President of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS). Waldrep has written and presented on the topics of careers and architecture extensively around the country. In addition, he is a contributor to AIA's Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice, 15th Edition.


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How Much Would One's Salary Be With an A.A.S. in Civil Engineering Technology?
The Salary of a Fire Alarm & Security Systems Technician
Pay Scale for a Solar Energy Technician
What Can You Expect To Make With An Associate Degree in Engineering?
How Much Money Will I Make As an Engineering Technician?
Salary of an Aircraft Structural Technician
If you enjoy math and science but don't want to spend four years in college, consider a career as a civil engineering technician. An Associate of Applied Science degree in civil engineering technology equips you for a technician's role, helping civil engineers design bridges, roads and other structures. A full-time study program normally takes only two years to complete. After you graduate, you'll qualify for a high salary compared to two-year graduates in other majors.
Median Salaries
The median salaries for all workers with an associate degree was $40,820 in 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the median for civil engineering technicians was $47,560 -- nearly $7,000 more.
Low and High Earners
The lowest-earning 10 percent of civil engineering technicians received $30,430 per year or less in 2012, according to the BLS, while the lowest 25 percent received $37,020 per year or less. The top-earning 25 percent received at least $59,110 per year, and the top 10 percent received at least $71,800 per year.
Industry Pay
Your salary as a civil engineering technician depends in part on the industry you work for. Nationwide, more than half of the 70,790 civil engineering technicians worked for architectural and engineering services in 2012, where they received average annual pay of $48,930, according to the BLS. The more than 20,110 technicians in state government jobs averaged $45,110 annually, while the 13,020 working for local government averaged $54,550. Waste treatment and disposal had only 80 CE technician jobs, but they received the highest average annual wage of $78,940. In second place, 590 technicians in natural gas distribution averaged $63,590 annually.
High-Paying Locations
Three states paid civil engineering technicians more than $60,000 per year on average in 2012, according to the BLS. Technicians in Connecticut led with average annual wages of $66,520, while those in California averaged $62,840 annually. In Alaska, civil technicians averaged $61,100 per year. Four metropolitan areas had average annual pay exceeding $70,000 in 2012, and three of them were in the same state. In California, average annual pay in Salinas topped $72,000 per year, and in the greater San Francisco and greater Oakland areas, it exceeded $71,000. In Connecticut, the Bridgeport-Stanford-Norwalk region also reported average pay of more than $71,000 per year.
Oulook
Jobs for civil engineering technicians are expected to increase by 12 percent between 2010 and 2020, compared to 14 percent on average for all occupations, according to the statistics bureau. More technicians will be needed to help design and maintain waste-treatment facilities, bridges, dams and roads. However, the financial problems of local and state governments are expected to limit job growth. Civil engineering technicians who keep up with the latest technology, especially computer-aided design software, will have the best chances of finding work.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook: Civil Engineering Technicians
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2012 Wages. Civil Engineering Technicians
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Earnings and Employment Rates by Educational Attainment
ABET: Find Accredited Programs
Science Buddies: Civil Engineering Technician
American Society of Certified Engineering Technicians
Pathways to Technology
Salary for Radiologist Technicians
What Is a Civil Technician?
Pay Scale for Telecommunications Technicians
Salaries for Certified Engineering Technicians
How Much Money Does an Earthquake Technician Make?
Well-Paying Mechanical Engineering Jobs
Technician Salary at a Medical Office and Clinic
Electronic System Technician Salary
What Is the Pay for an Associate's Degree in Industrial Technology?
1 Salary for Radiologist Technicians
2 What Is a Civil Technician?
3 Pay Scale for Telecommunications Technicians
4 Salaries for Certified Engineering Technicians

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Nord Family Foundation is a successor to a charitable trust established in 1952 by the entrepreneur and industrialist Walter G. Nord. Mr. Nord and his family believed that it was both responsible and prudent for a business to invest in the community it served. Two of Mr. Nord's children, Evan and Eric Nord, were early donors to UCITE, and they sponsored the Nord Grant program to promote faculty innovation in teaching.
Nord Grants are one-year awards which support UCITE's goal of empowering people to learn through the development of innovative faculty teaching and research projects that directly benefit student learning. Projects may be created by individual faculty members or in collaboration with others, including members of educational and cultural institutions external to CWRU.
the creation or revision of courses.
creation of research communities consisting of CWRU faculty and students (undergraduate or graduate), focusing on a specific issue related to teaching and learning.
Nord Grants have no fixed financial parameters. Project support is commensurate with provided justification. Priority is given to faculty who have not previously been awarded a Nord Grant.
Grant funding is provided for one-year, with the possibility of extension.
Awards are given twice yearly, with starting dates of January 1 and July 1.
Full-time CWRU faculty who intend to maintain university employment for a substantial period of time are eligible to apply for a Nord Grant. Visiting faculty, SAGES Fellows, and graduate students are not typically eligible unless their activities can be demonstrated to benefit CWRU students after the grant recipient has left the university.
Fellowship applications consist of two parts: an online form and a PDF submission. Both are due by April 5, 2019.
Complete an online form that provides UCITE with necessary contact information. The contact form is located here.
Compile the following documents in the order below into one PDF and email it to ucite@case.edu. The PDF should be no longer than five pages unless additional materials are required.
Project Description (two pages) Offer a brief statement of the purpose, rationale, and scope of the project, and the reason a grant must be used instead of or in addition to department/school funds. This portion should include the components listed below.
Budget (one page). An example for the budget page is given here.
Include a letter from your department chair, indicating their initial review of your proposal and budget. The chair should comment on your proposed project timeline, the possibility of departmental or outside financial support, and the overall practicality of the proposal. The chair should also indicate support for the budget, including the total funding amount.
Additional Pages (as needed). Letters of support are requested, as appropriate, from university resources. These types of letters are necessary to acknowledge collaborative support of your proposal from other units within the university. For example, if you are planning a new interdisciplinary course or research project, you might include a letter from the other department(s) involved, demonstrating support for your proposal. Include these additional signed letters of support in an appendix after the curriculum vitae.
Proposals (including budget) will be publicly accessible. Accepting an award means the proposer agrees, unless explicitly requested otherwise.
Budgets must conform with the rules of the proposer's department and school, as well as those of the university. Grant applicants must check with appropriate entities to be sure their items meet such criteria before submitting the budget. UCITE approves a proposal on the basis of its appropriateness. UCITE approval does not imply conformance to university rules (such as the need to obtain IRB approval); the proposal author is responsible for checking and complying with such rules. The budget should list the titles and amounts of any prior Nord Grants received by the requester. Support for the budget, including the total funding amount, should be included in the letter from the department chair (or other appropriate supervisory authority in schools where there is not a department structure).
Nord Grant recipients will collaborate with UCITE in publicizing their project to the CWRU community through our website and other appropriate venues.
Within two months after the award period ends, the grant recipient must file a report with UCITE (approximately 300 words) that contains project accomplishments, including impact on student learning. The report will be published in UCITE's annual report.
Recipients must also file a brief summary of budget expenditures, to be kept on file.
At the end of each academic year, Nord Grant recipients will give a short public presentation at a UCITE Innovation Forum.
Please submit electronic copies of any publications.
Nord Grant recipients may be invited to record brief comments about their project for the UCITE website or other university publicity purposes.
The following faculty were awarded grants to fund the listed proposals.
January, 2011 Dan Lacks Chemical Engineering $2500 ENGR 225B: "Thermodynamics, Fluid Dynamics, Heat and Mass Transfer (in Botswana)"


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by Julie Turner | Jul 26, 2019 | What's Happening | 0 comments
'Changing the world' is a grandiose phrase we often bandy around, but most of us struggle to believe our small acts of random kindness can have much of an impact on anyone and therefore deal daily with a sense of worthlessness which can be as sapping as the recent humid heat.
This past week I have visited an unobtrusive museum in Birmingham which tells the history of pen manufacture in that city.
Pen manufacturing seems an unlikely topic for world revolution and yet the manufacture of pen nibs in the 18th and 19th centuries revolutionised literacy in the entire world. From these factories in Birmingham, 90% of American schoolchildren received the means to learn to write and 75% of the whole world gained access to a pen – and therefore access to the wonderful world of writing. In our days of mass-produced ballpoint pens (another revolution not dealt with in this particular museum!) and computers which render the physical art of writing virtually obsolete, it's easy to overlook the revolutionary nature of a metal nib when compared to writing with a feather quill.
Sheffield-based cutlers facing a slump in their trade moved to Birmingham and found a new use for their metal skills. A pen nib used to cost enough to be accessible only to the privileged rich; their technology meant a gross (144 nibs) could be produced for the same price as one nib previously cost. Each factory worker produced approximately 18,000 nibs per day. This quiet revolution proved the maxim 'the pen is mightier than the sword'! The museum holds so many nibs, it's overwhelming to see – and the marketing of these became a work of art in itself.
As a wordsmith who loves to write, this museum was a delight to behold and a testament to people whose fame had happily passed me by until that moment. It reminded me that God can use our skills and talents for His glory, however obscure, insignificant or irrelevant they may seem to us. It also showed me that significance and worth simply cannot be measured in boxes, as the pen nibs were! Only God sees the measure of what we do and invests in it its true worth.
Nowadays in the same area of Birmingham, the streets are full of jewellery shops which measure the worth of precious stones in thousands of pounds. Frankly, I can't understand how anyone can afford such jewellery or why a particular stone has that particular worth. But this is why we have to allow God to measure our offerings and why we must trust Him with our most precious gift: the offering of ourselves, our talents and time, to Him.
Suffering & Persecution
'Go Wild in Thurnscoe' Sculpture Trail


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Mophato Dance Group, Botswana's globetrotting troupe who took New York by storm late last year, are looking for new dancers.
This Saturday, the afrofusion – contemporary group will hold auditions at the Molapo Stanbic Piazza from 9am to 1pm.
The group, which was formed back in 2009 with just 13 members, catapulted to fame in 2011 when they scooped the top prize in the dance competition My African Dream.
They have since starred in a number of productions, both locally and internationally.


Fuel induction services are recommended for most vehicles around 60k miles or so. Routine maintenance of your fuel system can prevent many long term problems, engine damage, and cold starts. If your car is showing these symptoms, it could mean you need a fuel induction service.
In your manual, the manufacturer (typically) recommends that you get a throttle body and drip cleaning every 60k miles, however, they only suggest getting a thorough top engine cleaning every 150k miles. Top engine cleaning needs to be done by a professional or else it could end up damaging your catalysts more than helping anything.
Make sure the mechanic you receive your fuel induction services from also cleans your throttle body and intake as well.
WHY DO I NEED A FUEL INDUCTION SERVICE?
Cleaning your fuel system is important to the life of your engine and can prevent a variety of long term issues with your vehicle. Fuel induction services clear out carbon deposits and other buildup that forms inside your engine. Cleaning your throttle body and engine intake as well cleans carbon deposits on the intake valves, which will allow your fuel to flow better into the combustion chamber which in turn will increase your fuel mileage. Also, cleaning your intake valves also allow for better airflow to your engine. This will help reduce shaking or a rough idle issue, along with hesitation during take-off.
Your fuel filter, fuel pump and fuel injectors can all get clogged with debris and dirt… Gas isn't as clean as you think it is. You can help prevent major buildup by using good gas, I prefer Chevron. However, buildup is inevitable. If your system gets clogged, it can lead to engine damage. The symptoms start off slowly by breaking down your engine and finally, your engine will completely shut down.
IS A FUEL INDUCTION SERVICE WORTH IT?
Ultimately, the answer to that question is yes. Of course, you don't need an over the top cleaning every 60k miles or anything like that, but maintaining proper upkeep could really help your wallet in the long run with fuel costs. You can help reduce the buildup in your fuel filter by using additives like sea-foam and 100% Techron. You can also use premium gasoline.
In conclusion, fuel injection services can be costly, but help you maintain your vehicle in tip top shape. Your engine will thank you and so will your wallet when you get a few extra miles in before having to stop to fill up. Personally, I believe that fuel induction services can be well worth it when done properly and by a skilled hand.
Previous PostPrevious Never Underestimate The Power Of An Oil Change!


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\section{Architectural guidelines}\label{sec:Architectural guidelines}
\section{Architectural Guidelines}
\label{sec:Architectural guidelines}

Architectural primitives implementing selective attention~\cite{iqbal2019actor} may help relieve some of the MARL scalability bottlenecks in \textit{target Q calculation and the critic network} toward reducing the input space for the networks.

\textcolor{black}{
To address the data movement-related performance issues, we note that processing in- or near-memory accelerators may help improve the related architectural bottlenecks significantly. For example, recent GDDR6-based Processing-in-Memory~(PIM)~\cite{lee20221ynm} may be used to accelerate the matrix multiply-accummulate and activation operations for all of the four neural networks in most current MARL frameworks.
Future PIM designs may also be augmented to incorporate MARL-specific hardware primitives (e.g., efficient mini-batch sampling) for improved hardware efficiency. Multi-core PIM Neural network accelerators can be used to exploit the higher coarse-grain hardware parallelism offered by multiple neural networks in MARL algorithms.}

\textcolor{black}{
Code optimizations and data parallelism can also be leveraged during \textit{mini-batch sampling}. Shared memory multi-threading may be used to perform faster sampling (e.g., via OpenMP). This can help reduce the computational bottlenecks with each agent sampling its own transitions with parallel threads~\cite{kaler2022accelerating}. Our hardware performance analysis also shows the potential for improving the branch and TLB behavior, and the need for optimizations in hardware and software that can alleviate these issues.
}

For the input to critic networks, multi-level compression~\cite{jain2018gist}
techniques on selected group of agents may be used based on their importance in the environment. Also, LLC-Load-misses during mini-batch sampling are indicative of competition for the LLC cache, that may be addressed through smart cache allocation strategies. Other modules such as \textit{next action calculation, environment interactions, and action selection} phases may also benefit from  parallelization and custom acceleration of key modules.

\section{Background}
\label{sec:Background and Related work}

Typically, MARL settings with $N$ agents is defined by a set of states, $S = S_{1} \times ... \times S_{N}$, a set of actions $A = A_{1} \times ... \times A_{N}$.
 Each agent selects its action by using a policy $\pi_{\theta_{i}} : O_{i} \times A_{i} \rightarrow [0, 1]$. The state transition~($T : S \times A_{1} \times A_{2} \times ... \times A_{N}$) function produces the next state $S^{'}$, given the current state and actions for each agent. The reward, $R_{i} : S \times A_{i} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ for each agent is a function of global state and action of \textit{all other agents}, with the aim of maximizing its own expected return $R_{i} = \sum_{t=0}^{T} \gamma^{t}r_{i}^{t}$, where $\gamma$ denotes the discount factor and $T$ is the time horizon. For this, we use the actor-critic methods such as MADDPG~\cite{lowe2017multi}, MATD3~\cite{ackermann2019reducing}, MASAC~\cite{haarnoja2018soft}.

 In \textit{MADDPG}~\cite{lowe2017multi}, each agent learns an individual policy that maps the observation to its action to maximize the expected return, which is approximated by the critic. MADDPG lets the critic of agent $i$ to be trained  by minimizing the loss with the \textit{target Q-value} and $y_i$ using $\mathcal{L}(\theta_{i}) = {\rm I\!E}_{D}[(Q_{i}(S,A_{1},...A_{n}) - y_{i}^{2}]$, and  $y_{i}=r_{i} + \gamma \overline Q_{i}(S^{'},A_{1}^{'},...A_{n}^{'})_{a_{j}^{'}=\overline \pi(o_{j}^{'})}$, where $S$ and $A_{1},...A_{n}$ represent the joint observations and actions respectively. $D$ is the experience replay buffer that stores the \textit{observations, actions, rewards, and new observations} samples of all agents obtained after the training episodes. The MARL framework has four networks- actor, critic, target actor, and target critic. $\overline Q_{i}$ and $\overline \pi(o_{j}^{'})$ are the target networks for the stable learning of critic~($Q_{i}$) and actor networks. The target actor estimates next action from the policy using the state output by the actor network. The target critic aggregates the output from the target actor to compute the target Q-values, that helps to update the critic network and assess the quality of of actions taken by agents. The target networks are created to achieve training stability. Note that the updating sequence of networks in the back-propagation phase is critics, actors, then the target networks.

 \textit{MATD3}~\cite{ackermann2019reducing} uses the twin delayed critics to tackle the over-estimation bias problem~\cite{ackermann2019reducing} and incorporates small amounts of noise to the actions sampled from the buffer. As the change of critic values needs to be reflected in the policies of other agents, MATD3 employs delayed policy updates for target networks and the policies to obtain an accurate critic before using it to update the actor. In the domains where it is necessary to learn a winning strategy~(e.g., Predator-Prey, Cooperative navigation), MATD3 outperforms MADDPG~\cite{ackermann2019reducing}.

\textit{MASAC}~\cite{haarnoja2018soft} improves the convergence properties over MADDPG and MATD3, and obtains higher returns in the competitive and cooperative environments. MASAC uses the maximum entropy RL, in which the agents are encouraged to maximize the exploration within the policy. MASAC assigns equal probability to nearly-optimal actions which have similar state-action values and avoids repeatedly selecting the same action. This learning trick will increase the stability, policy exploration and the sample efficiency~\cite{iqbal2019actor, haarnoja2018soft}.

\section{Evaluation Setup}\label{sec:Evaluation_setup}
We evaluate three state-of-the-art MARL algorithms, MADDPG, MATD3, and MASAC using Multi-agent Particle Environment~(MPE~\cite{lowe2017multi}).
We outline the behavior of the selected environments in Table~\ref{table-1}.
The actor and critic networks are paramterized by a two-layer ReLU MLP with 64 units per layer
and mini-batch size is 1024 for sampling the transitions. In all of our experiments, we use Adam optimizer~\cite{kingma2014adam} with a learning rate of 0.01, maximum episode length as 25 (max episodes to reach the terminal state) and $\tau$ = 0.01 for updating the target networks. $\gamma$ is the discount factor which is set to 0.95. The size of replay buffer is $10^{6}$ and entropy coefficient for MASAC is 0.05. The network parameters are updated after every 100 samples added to the replay buffer.

\textcolor{black}{All the workloads are trained and profiled on Nvidia GeForce~RTX~3090 Ampere Architecture connected with AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX CPU, which has 32 cores with 128 MiB of Last-Level Cache, 512 Gigabytes of main memory and the CPU's clock speed of 3.5GHz. The server runs on Ubuntu Linux~20.04.5~LTS operating system with CUDA~9.0, cuDNN~7.6.5, PCIe Express®~v4.0 with
NCCL~v2.8.4 communication library. The machine supports python 3.7.15,~Tensorflow (v2.11.0), Tensorflow-GPU~(v2.1.0) and OpenAI GYM~(v0.10.5). We use Perf~\cite{perf} tool and
hardware performance counters for performance analysis. The workloads are trained for 60K episodes using default hyper-parameters recommended by the algorithms.}

\section{Introduction}
\label{sec:introduction}
Reinforcement Learning~(RL) algorithms have widespread applications in robotics, aviation, autonomous driving, gaming, recommendation systems and healthcare. RL frameworks optimize AI agent behavior and its interactions with an environment by taking actions based on current observation/state space, evaluating the quality of state-action pairs using a reward function, and then transitioning to a new state~\cite{sutton2018reinforcement}. The function that determines the action is known as a policy. The agent aims to find an optimal policy that maximizes the total accumulative~(discounted) reward. The function representing the reward estimates is known as the value function.

Multi-agent Reinforcement Learning~(MARL~\cite{sutton2018reinforcement}) is a rapidly growing research area where there is significant sharing of observations between the agents during training, and joint actions among these agents could affect the environment dynamically. Agents are trained to reach the goals while minimizing interference~(obstacles) with each other to perform competitive~\textcolor{black}{(e.g., Predator prey) and cooperative~(e.g., Cooperative navigation) tasks~\cite{lowe2017multi}}.
In the cooperative setting, all the observations are shared and the training can be performed centrally. A competitive setting differentiates the agent pool- i.e., each agent aims to outperform its opponents. The actions taken by the individual agents affect other agents' behavior and their rewards dynamically in this environment. As a result, MARL training involves several {\it computationally-challenging} tasks that deal with dynamically changing environments.
 \begin{figure}
    [!htb]\centering
    \includegraphics[scale=0.46]{marlrevised.pdf}

    \caption{\textcolor{black}{Overview of our multi-agent decentralized actor, centralized critic approach~(Competitive environment).}}
  \label{fig-arch}
  \end{figure}

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\end{tikzpicture}
\caption{Training time breakdown for three MARL workloads with 3 to 48 agents. The environment is Competitive task~(Predator-Prey). The total training time of MARL algorithms~(in seconds) is shown on y-axis within square brackets.}
\label{figure1}
\end{figure*}

In this article, we seek to understand the {\it key scalability bottlenecks} on well-known model-free MARL frameworks~\cite{lowe2017multi, ackermann2019reducing, haarnoja2018soft} implemented using actor-critic methods
\textcolor{black}{with state spaces that are usually very large}.
We analyze different MARL training phases where the actor and critic networks are responsible for policy and value functions, respectively.
As shown in Figure~\ref{fig-arch}, the actor network outputs the actions when a group of agents interact with the environment and each agent learns an individual policy that maps its observations to optimal actions~(\textit{Action selection}) to maximize the expected return.
During the \textit{mini-batch sampling} phase, each agent $i$ collects the observations, actions, and new observations of all other agents stored within the \textit{Experience Replay Buffer}. The critic updates the value function using random mini-batch samples of all the agents obtained from the past experiences stored in the replay buffer.
During \textit{Update all trainers} phase, the actor network is updated using Q-values computed by the critic~\cite{lowe2017multi}.
\begin{figure}[h]
    \centering
    \pgfplotstableread[col sep=comma]{
X,  Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4
Action selection, 2.0, 2, 2, 2.1
Update all trainers,  3.3, 3.7, 4.0, 4.3
Total time, 2.8, 3.2, 3.4, 3.9
}\mydata
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
height=50mm, width=0.5\textwidth,
bar width=0.20,
ybar=0.5pt,
enlarge y limits=0,
enlarge x limits={abs=0.5},
ymin=0,
ymax=7.5,
y=3.0mm,
legend style={at={(0.5,1.05)}, anchor=south, legend columns=4, font=\footnotesize, cells={anchor=west}},
legend image code/.code={%
            \draw[#1] (0cm,-0.1cm) rectangle (0.5cm,0.2cm);
            },
x tick label style = {font = \scriptsize, text width = 2.4cm, align = center, rotate = 360, anchor = north},
ylabel style={align=center, font=\footnotesize}, ylabel={Computation time\\growth rate ($N\times$)},
xtick=data,
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\legend{3 to 6 agents, 6 to 12 agents, 12 to 24 agents, 24 to 48 agents}
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
    \caption{Computation time growth in MARL modules averaged across three MARL frameworks.
    \label{Figure4}
\end{figure}

\section{Motivation}
\label{sec:motivation}

MARL training is performance-intensive as the agents' policies continually evolve, and the replay buffer samples will be refreshed to find an optimal policy for the inference~\cite{lowe2017multi}.

Figure~\ref{figure1} shows that \textit{Update all trainers} contributes to $\approx$35\% to $\approx$90\% of the training time as the number of MARL agents grow from 3 to 48. This is primarily due to two reasons:~\circled{1}~In MARL, each agent has its own actor and critic networks since they may have different rewards. Each agent has to randomly sample a mini-batch of transitions from the replay buffer to update both the critic and actor networks. This requires each agent to sample experiences from every other agent.
\circled{2} The dynamic memory requirements of observation and action spaces also grow quadratically due to each agent having to coordinate with other agents towards sharing their observations and actions.
We observe that other MARL phases, such as \textit{Action selection} occupy a small portion and scales linearly with the number of agents~(Figure~\ref{Figure4}).
This is because, action selection is performed with individual agents' policy using local observations and interactions with the environment. \textit{Other segments} is a combination of experience collection, reward collection and policy initialization and they add a negligible overhead.~\textcolor{black}{Note that the agents interact in a shared environment, and the training time is summed over all agents}.

\textcolor{black}{Prior studies, like FA3C~\cite{cho2019fa3c}, have focused on accelerating multiple parallel worker scenarios, where each agent is controlled independently within their own environments using single-agent RL algorithms.
In contrast, we seek to understand multi-agent learning frameworks, where the agents operate in a single shared environment.
Agents in such MARL settings usually have high visibility of one another (leading to large space and action spaces).
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first characterization study of MARL scalability bottlenecks.
}

\section{Conclusion}
\label{sec:conclusion}
In this work, we present a detailed, end-to-end characterization of several popular Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning algorithms and in particular,~explore the scalability bottlenecks in these workloads. Our experimental analysis present key insights on the modules that are driving factors behind scalability bottlenecks, and outline architectural guidelines to overcome them.

\section{Introduction}\label{sec:introduction}}

\input{Introduction}
\input{Backgroundrelatedwork}
\input{Evaluation}
\input{obsanalysis}
\input{Architecturalguidelines}
\input{conclusion}

\ifCLASSOPTIONcompsoc

  \section*{Acknowledgments}
\else

  \section*{Acknowledgment}
\fi
This research is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant CCF-2114415.

\bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}

\section{Experimental Evaluation}
\label{sec:Observation and analysis}

For deeper analysis, we divide \textit{Update all trainers} into multiple modules: \textit{Mini-batch sampling, Target Q calculation}, and \textit{Q loss \& P loss} and present our results in the primarily competitive setting (predator-prey) in order to understand the key factors limiting MARL scalability. We note that the predator agents operate in the cooperative setting to maximize their shared return. Therefore, our test-bed allows us to evaluate both competitive and cooperative agent scenarios.

\begin{figure*}[!htpb]
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coordinates{(19,1) (21,2) (23,3) (24,4) (25,5)};
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coordinates{(11,1) (7,2) (6,3) (6,4) (6,5)};

\end{groupplot}
\end{tikzpicture}
\caption{Training time breakdown within \textit{Update all trainers} on three different MARL workloads with 3 to 48 agents under Predator-Prey environment.~The total training time of \textit{Update all trainers}~(in seconds) is shown on y-axis within square brackets.}
\label{figure2}
\end{figure*}

 \begin{figure}[b]
    \centering
    \pgfplotstableread[col sep=comma]{
X,  Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4
Branch misses, 3.2, 3.4, 3.5, 3.5
iTLB load misses, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.3
dTLB load misses,  3.9, 4.0, 4.1,4.1
Cache misses, 3.9, 4.1, 4.4, 4.5
}\mydata
\begin{tikzpicture}
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height=50mm, width=0.5\textwidth,
bar width=0.20,
ybar=0.5pt,
enlarge y limits=0,
enlarge x limits={abs=0.5},
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\legend{3 to 6 agents, 6 to 12 agents, 12 to 24 agents, 24 to 48 agents}
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\caption{\textcolor{black}{Hardware performance analysis of \textit{Update all trainers} averaged across three MARL workloads when the number of agents are scaled by 2$\times$.~Performance analysis is averaged across three sub-functions of \textit{Update all trainers}.}}
    \label{Figurenew}
\end{figure}

\textbf{Overview of Profile.}\textcolor{black}{~Figure~\ref{figure2} shows the breakdown between the modules, \textit{Mini-batch sampling, Target Q calculation, Q loss and P loss} that contribute 61\%, 21\%, 10\%, and 8\% to computation time averaging across different workloads respectively. With increasing number of agents from 3 to 48, we observe that Instructions Per Cycle (IPC)
steadily drops by over 21\%~(1.37 to 1.08), and global cache misses increase by 54\%, which indicates that the instruction throughput and cache performance slumps when more agents are involved.~A super-linear growth rate of certain key architectural features like branch misses, TLB load misses, and global cache misses further validate the presence of computational bottlenecks across MARL workloads (Figure~\ref{Figurenew}).
\begin{figure}[ht]
    \raggedright
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{groupplot}[
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    xlabel={Agents~$(N \to \ 2N)$},
    ylabel={Growth rate~($N\times$)},
    label style = {font=\scriptsize},
    symbolic x coords={3-6, 6-12, 12-24, 24-48},
    xtick={3-6, 6-12, 12-24, 24-48},
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`       \addplot[ybar, pattern color=black, pattern=crosshatch dots] coordinates {  (3-6, 2.6)};
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\end{groupplot}
        \end{tikzpicture}
\caption{Computation time growth rate of the sub-functions within \textit{Update all trainers} averaged across three MARL workloads when the number of agents are scaled by 2$\times$.}
\label{Figure3}
\end{figure}
\subsection{Mini-batch sampling}
Our experimental results in Figure~\ref{Figure3} shows super-linear increase in computation time with the number of agents during mini-batch sampling, the largest phase within the {\it Update All Trainers} module.
The is also consistently reflected in other related performance metrics: \textit{Total instructions}-$4\times$ and \textit{LLC-Load-misses}-$3\times$. The competitive behavior between prey agents and predator agents involves each predator agent receiving the velocity, position relative to all other predator agents and landmarks as observations to hunt the prey. A cooperative behavior also exists between the predator agents to maximize their shared return. Note that the agent replay buffers are kept separate from each other to capture their  individual past transitions.

In this module, each agent has to randomly sample a set of mini-batch samples uniformly from others' replay buffers and update the parameters of its critic network.
\textcolor{black}{Each agent $i$ performs \textit{lookup-read-write} operations, which grow as a function of number of agents, $N$ and this is repeated on all N agents. The time complexity to collect the transition set is $O(N^2K)$, $K$ being the batch size.
}
In cooperative navigation~(\textit{simple spread}~\cite{lowe2017multi}), we observe similar scalability bottlenecks since all the agents are trained together to reach the landmarks while avoiding collisions with each other.

\subsection{Target Q calculation}
The \textit{Target Q calculation} phase is second largest time consuming phase within {\it Update All Trainers}. Figure~\ref{Figure3} shows that this phase grows by $4\times$ with the number of agents. \textcolor{black}{Note that, in Figure~\ref{figure2}, the computation time as a percentage within {\it Update All Trainers} increases with the number of agents for \textit{target Q}, whereas the execution time proportion of \textit{Q loss and P loss} decrease slightly. This is because, the \textit{target Q} grows by a higher rate compared to \textit{Q loss}~(Figure~\ref{Figure3})}.
Each agent performs the \textit{next action calculation, target Q next, and target Q values} as a function of all other agents' joint observation-action space. To calculate the \textit{next action}, the agent $i$ uses its policy network to determine \textit{next action-a'} from the \textit{next state-S'}. \textcolor{black}{In this phase, each agent's policy network involves multiplications with input-weight matrix and additions resulting in performance impact. The obtained a' and S' data are aggregated and concatenated into a single vector in order to compute the \textit{target Q next} amongst the cooperating agents. The input space~(dimension) for the \textit{Q-function} increases quadratically with the number of agents~\cite{sheikh2020multi}.}
The target critic values for each agent $i$ is computed using \textit{target Q next} values from the target actor network. We note that, each agent has to read other agents' policy values; as such for $N$ agents, there is $N\times(N-1)$ memory lookup operations corresponding to the \textit{next action-a'}.
\subsection{Back-propagation - Q loss \& P loss}

Back propagation is the third largest phase of {\it Update all Trainers}.
This phase is dominated by the back-propagation of \textit{critic network} that computes the Mean-Squared Error loss between the target critic and critic networks, and the \textit{actor network} is updated by minimizing the Q values~(critic network). As the number of agents increases, the trainable parameters increase, and \textit{N} policy and \textit{N} critic networks are built for all N agents, which incurs extra time to update the weights for each agent.
The average computation overhead of critic network for each iteration grows by up to 27\% for every $2\times$ increase in the agents. For the actor network, the average computation overhead grows by 36\%, which can help explain the performance bottlenecks involved in updating the weights for the individual agent networks.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
// Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
// The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.Immutable;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Editor;
using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Editor.Host;
using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Editor.Shared.Utilities;
using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.FindUsages;
using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.LanguageServices;
using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Navigation;
using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Options;
using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.PooledObjects;
using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Shared.Extensions;
using Roslyn.Utilities;

namespace Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.GoToDefinition
{
    // GoToDefinition
    internal abstract class AbstractGoToDefinitionService : AbstractFindDefinitionService, IGoToDefinitionService
    {
        private readonly IThreadingContext _threadingContext;

        /// <summary>
        /// Used to present go to definition results in <see cref="TryGoToDefinition(Document, int, CancellationToken)"/>
        /// </summary>
        private readonly IStreamingFindUsagesPresenter _streamingPresenter;

        protected AbstractGoToDefinitionService(
            IThreadingContext threadingContext,
            IStreamingFindUsagesPresenter streamingPresenter)
        {
            _threadingContext = threadingContext;
            _streamingPresenter = streamingPresenter;
        }

        async Task<IEnumerable<INavigableItem>?> IGoToDefinitionService.FindDefinitionsAsync(Document document, int position, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
            => await FindDefinitionsAsync(document, position, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);

        private bool TryNavigateToSpan(Document document, int position, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
        {
            var solution = document.Project.Solution;
            var workspace = solution.Workspace;
            var service = workspace.Services.GetRequiredService<IDocumentNavigationService>();

            var options = new NavigationOptions(PreferProvisionalTab: true, ActivateTab: true);
            return _threadingContext.JoinableTaskFactory.Run(() =>
                service.TryNavigateToPositionAsync(workspace, document.Id, position, virtualSpace: 0, options, cancellationToken));
        }

        public bool TryGoToDefinition(Document document, int position, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
        {
            var symbolService = document.GetRequiredLanguageService<IGoToDefinitionSymbolService>();
            var targetPositionOfControlFlow = symbolService.GetTargetIfControlFlowAsync(document, position, cancellationToken).WaitAndGetResult(cancellationToken);
            if (targetPositionOfControlFlow is not null)
            {
                return TryNavigateToSpan(document, targetPositionOfControlFlow.Value, cancellationToken);
            }

            // Try to compute the referenced symbol and attempt to go to definition for the symbol.
            var (symbol, _) = symbolService.GetSymbolAndBoundSpanAsync(document, position, includeType: true, cancellationToken).WaitAndGetResult(cancellationToken);
            if (symbol is null)
                return false;

            // if the symbol only has a single source location, and we're already on it,
            // try to see if there's a better symbol we could navigate to.
            var remapped = TryGoToAlternativeLocationIfAlreadyOnDefinition(document, position, symbol, cancellationToken);
            if (remapped)
                return true;

            var isThirdPartyNavigationAllowed = IsThirdPartyNavigationAllowed(symbol, position, document, cancellationToken);

            return GoToDefinitionHelpers.TryGoToDefinition(
                symbol,
                document.Project.Solution,
                _threadingContext,
                _streamingPresenter,
                thirdPartyNavigationAllowed: isThirdPartyNavigationAllowed,
                cancellationToken: cancellationToken);
        }

        private bool TryGoToAlternativeLocationIfAlreadyOnDefinition(
            Document document, int position,
            ISymbol symbol, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
        {
            var project = document.Project;
            var solution = project.Solution;

            var sourceLocations = symbol.Locations.WhereAsArray(loc => loc.IsInSource);
            if (sourceLocations.Length != 1)
                return false;

            var definitionLocation = sourceLocations[0];
            if (!definitionLocation.SourceSpan.IntersectsWith(position))
                return false;

            var definitionTree = definitionLocation.SourceTree;
            var definitionDocument = solution.GetDocument(definitionTree);
            if (definitionDocument != document)
                return false;

            // Ok, we were already on the definition. Look for better symbols we could show results
            // for instead. For now, just see if we're on an interface member impl. If so, we can
            // instead navigate to the actual interface member.
            //
            // In the future we can expand this with other mappings if appropriate.
            var interfaceImpls = symbol.ExplicitOrImplicitInterfaceImplementations();
            if (interfaceImpls.Length == 0)
                return false;

            var title = string.Format(EditorFeaturesResources._0_implemented_members,
                FindUsagesHelpers.GetDisplayName(symbol));

            return _threadingContext.JoinableTaskFactory.Run(async () =>
            {
                using var _ = ArrayBuilder<DefinitionItem>.GetInstance(out var definitions);
                foreach (var impl in interfaceImpls)
                {
                    // Use ConfigureAwait(true) here.  Not for a correctness requirements, but because we're
                    // already blocking the UI thread by being in a JTF.Run call.  So we might as well try to
                    // continue to use the blocking UI thread to do as much work as possible instead of making
                    // it wait for threadpool threads to be available to process the work.
                    definitions.AddRange(await GoToDefinitionHelpers.GetDefinitionsAsync(
                        impl, solution, thirdPartyNavigationAllowed: false, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true));
                }

                return await _streamingPresenter.TryNavigateToOrPresentItemsAsync(
                    _threadingContext, solution.Workspace, title, definitions.ToImmutable(), cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
            });
        }

        private static bool IsThirdPartyNavigationAllowed(ISymbol symbolToNavigateTo, int caretPosition, Document document, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
        {
            var syntaxRoot = document.GetRequiredSyntaxRootSynchronously(cancellationToken);
            var syntaxFactsService = document.GetRequiredLanguageService<ISyntaxFactsService>();
            var containingTypeDeclaration = syntaxFactsService.GetContainingTypeDeclaration(syntaxRoot, caretPosition);

            if (containingTypeDeclaration != null)
            {
                var semanticModel = document.GetSemanticModelAsync(cancellationToken).WaitAndGetResult(cancellationToken);
                Debug.Assert(semanticModel != null);

                // Allow third parties to navigate to all symbols except types/constructors
                // if we are navigating from the corresponding type.

                if (semanticModel.GetDeclaredSymbol(containingTypeDeclaration, cancellationToken) is ITypeSymbol containingTypeSymbol &&
                    (symbolToNavigateTo is ITypeSymbol || symbolToNavigateTo.IsConstructor()))
                {
                    var candidateTypeSymbol = symbolToNavigateTo is ITypeSymbol
                        ? symbolToNavigateTo
                        : symbolToNavigateTo.ContainingType;

                    if (Equals(containingTypeSymbol, candidateTypeSymbol))
                    {
                        // We are navigating from the same type, so don't allow third parties to perform the navigation.
                        // This ensures that if we navigate to a class from within that class, we'll stay in the same file
                        // rather than navigate to, say, XAML.
                        return false;
                    }
                }
            }

            return true;
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


We designed a dead simple product that will let your attendees book their travel and accommodations seamlessly. Our exclusive partners network empowered with our cutting-edge technology will save you countless hours of negociation, while providing unique rates for your guests.
Our travel solution is connected to thousands of channel managers which lets us access to cost rates. Our widget is embeddable and your attendees can now book their travel directly on your website without being redirected.
We know how hard it could be to manage accommodation for groups. Our group booking tool makes it easy to handle group of all sizes. Once you book your room block from a selected partner hotel, you can easily adapt your rooming list.
We believe in real win/win partnership with tradeshow organisers, this is why providing our white-labelled solution for free was not enough. We go beyond your expectations by taking care of the customer support with a dedicated online chat, project manager and hotline, but also by sharing the revenue on each booking.
A copy and paste, nothing too complicated. In fact, to embed the widget on your event website, you only need to access the HTML file of the dedicated page, and simply paste the line of code you will get. You are also able to customize the widget lengths and heights to your taste. Simple as that.


text:
NewsRegionBaltimore City
United in Song: Two school choirs come together to perform on The View
Two schools, united in song on The View
By: Kelly Broderick
BALTIMORE — On a day when we honor the role Martin Luther King Jr. played in our history, two choirs from Baltimore, from different backgrounds came together in song on national television.
The Cardinal Shehan Catholic School of Baltimore Choir and Krieger Schechter Day School Choir appeared on The View this morning in a special MLK episode.
Cardinal Shehan is no stranger to the set, they performed for Whoopi Goldberg's birthday in 2017 and that lead to a student from Krieger Schechter Day School to bring the two choirs together.
"I wanted to do something in Baltimore where I could change people's lives using my passion for music," said Harrison Fribush. "So I came up with the idea of uniting two completely different choirs through the power of music."


text:
Blog: location
Chris Cameron March 15, 2016
Good news! We've recently updated the Layar SDK as we continue to make it as easy as possible to embed your own Augmented Reality (AR) experiences into your own iOS and Android apps.
Having the freedom to customize your AR experience to fit your brand and your users' needs has always been a cornerstone of the Layar SDK, and with this latest update we aim to continue that tradition. So what's new in the latest version?
Custom Location Provider
You no longer need to rely solely on the built-in GPS of the user's device to get location data. Now you can hook into any location provider that you choose. For example, you can use iBeacons to create a more accurate location-based AR experience when indoors.
A note to developers: the Layar SDK simply allows for a custom location provider but does not include any alternative providers itself, that part is up to you!
More Custom Callbacks
We've added more callbacks that give you more control over the look-and-feel of your experience. For Geo Layers, you can now opt to remove the compass and the messages shown at the top which usually pertain to the number of results found nearby.
These changes make it even easier to create your own customized AR experience, whether that means creating a custom look or using advanced custom location providers to make a more engaging experience.
If you're an existing SDK user, check your inbox for instructions on updating your SDK. Or if you're interested in using the SDK, you can try it now for free!
android augmented reality developers development geo layers gps ios layar sdk location sdk
Layar, Metaio and Wikitude Now Include AR Interoperability
Dirk Groten May 28, 2014
By Dirk Groten, CTO of Layar
This week, in collaboration with Metaio and Wikitude, we here at Layar are very excited to announce that we are adding cross-platform interoperability into our mobile Augmented Reality apps. This will allow location based content (like Geo Layers) to be viewed on any of three AR browser platforms – The Layar App, Metaio's junaio browser and the Wikitude app – regardless of which platform the content was created for.
Back in February at Mobile World Congress, we came together with Metaio and Wikitude to demonstrate cross-platform interoperability during an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) workshop. As of today, these capabilities are now supported by all three platforms. We will include interoperability in version 8.3 of the Layar App which is coming soon.
Publishers of location-based AR experiences can now use a single platform to create and publish their content and can use the new "ar://" scheme to promote their work. Users can open these experiences on any of the three AR browsers.
Right now, interoperability supports simple location-based points of interest (POIs) with a title, description and image. They can have basic actions with custom labels, including link to a website, get directions, make a call or SMS, play video or audio and send an email.
Features not supported include 3D models, complex interactions (scripting, server calls) and animations. The format used to exchange AR content is CARIF (PDF), which is based on ARML 2.0.
This is a huge step towards interoperability between the various AR platforms. We view this as only a first step, as a lot of work still needs to be done to get full interoperability between the various AR browsers.
We're happy to see that our three companies were able to work together in such a constructive way to alleviate the pain of developers of AR experiences that have to work with so many different platforms. I'm looking forward to continuing this journey, and hoping that more companies can join this effort.
augmented reality geo layers interoperability junaio location metaio ogc wikitude
Introducing the new Layar SDK with Geo!
Chris Cameron October 24, 2013
We've released a big update to the Layar SDK, which lets you easily embed AR and interactive print functionality into your own mobile apps.
As the popularity of AR and interactive print continues to grow alongside mobile innovation, more and more consumers across the globe are looking for instant, real-time data about their surroundings. Layar's widely popular Geo Layer technology allows location-based information to be displayed in a "heads up" augmented view of the real world. Popular examples include Funda, a collection of local real estate properties, and archINFORM, which displays architectural information for nearby buildings.
Brands have been turning to the Layar SDK solution to provide their own custom interactive print app experience to customers while maintaining their brand identity. Now, brands can also use the SDK to display relevant, real-time location-based data with the inclusion of Geo Layers.
With the new Layar SDK, either scannable content or Geo Layers can be used on their own, but when used together, the combination of opens up exciting new possibilities. Imagine scanning an ad for a shop to see a Geo Layer of nearby locations, or viewing the locations of nearby events by scanning an event calendar.
But that's not all that's new. Here's a breakdown of what's included in the new Layar SDK…
Location-Based Geo Layers
In addition to scannable images, you can now also use the SDK with Geo Layers, which are great for displaying location-based content like nearby shop locations, real estate information and more! When used together with scannable content, the combination opens up exciting new possibilities. Imagine scanning an ad for a shop to see a Geo Layer of nearby locations, or viewing the locations of nearby events by scanning an event calendar.
New Layar 8.0 Look and Feel
The SDK has been updated to including the more responsive and user-friendly "Scan" animation, which has shown to not only "wow" users but also help them keep their device correctly pointed at the scannable content. The SDK now also includes improved feedback messages which help users achieve better results with the application.
Enhanced Options and Functions
Brands will now be able to more deeply integrate the Layar SDK into their own apps by making use of new advanced features. App developers can create a history of recently viewed content for the user, implement their own custom feedback messages and more.
"With our unique SDK solution, we enable developers and organizations to reach out to consumers in their everyday life," says Layar CEO Quintin Schevernels. "By combining the collective data of your surroundings, information becomes meaningful, real-time and instantaneous."
Over 35 million users have downloaded the Layar App for iOS and Android, and over 64,000 publishers and marketeers are using Layar's technology to build and manage interactive print campaigns.
The new and improved Layar SDK is available now by request at layar.com/sdk.
funda geo layers location real estate sdk


John Sall, SAS co-founder and Executive Vice President, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world's largest general scientific society.
Sall was elected "for distinguished and visionary contributions to statistical sciences and software development, having the greatest impact on businesses, education, engineering and all other sciences," the AAAS said.
Sall leads the JMP business unit, which creates interactive and visual statistical discovery software designed for scientists and engineers. He frequently speaks about statistics at universities and conferences. Sall developed many of the earliest analytical procedures for Base SAS software and had significant roles in creating other SAS products, including SAS/ETS, SAS/IML, SAS/OR and SAS/QC. Sall also developed JMP software and remains its lead architect.
"John has performed extraordinarily broad and deep work at SAS for more than 35 years – work that has had a powerful impact on science across the globe," said Russ Wolfinger, Director of Research and Development for Genomics in the JMP business unit and a 2012 AAAS Fellow.
Sall said the work of his team at JMP is to make statistical modeling as friendly, accessible and informative as possible, and to make experimentation as efficient as possible.
"Doing well at these goals will contribute greatly to scientific discovery and engineering breakthroughs," said Sall. Along with SAS Analytics software, JMP helps organizations deliver the value of analytics by putting data to work for solving problems, making better decisions and improving our world. "The value of statistics is realized when it is translated, taught and delivered with accessible computing environments to the scientists and analysts who use it," Sall added.
Sall recognized the leadership in statistics at North Carolina State University for creating the environment from which SAS launched. "Thank you especially to three statisticians whose exemplary leadership at NCSU put them on the path to becoming university deans: Dan Solomon, Blan Godfrey and Sastry Pantula," Sall said.
Pantula, Dean of the College of Science at Oregon State University, called Sall a true visionary and a great promoter of science. "Statistical sciences are at times invisible, but are having an impeccable impact on innovation and discoveries. The software behind it is even more invisible, but the software developed by John and his colleagues at JMP is having a great impact on business, education, engineering and sciences throughout the world," Pantula said.
J. Stuart Hunter, Professor Emeritus at Princeton University's School of Engineering and Applied Science and an expert in design of experiments, said: "John Sall has spent his entire career immersed in the advancement of science and engineering. His career of many decades contains myriad contributions to the statistical solution of engineering and social problems. His personal contributions to computer software programs adapted to statistical data analysis are simply outstanding. His recent innovations in graphical displays of masses of multivariate data has added meaningfully to the art of finding signals in noise."


text:
Ethical Consideration
Editorial in Charge:
Hossein Pakdaman, M.D
Professor of Neurology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Shahriar Nafissi, M.D
Professor of Neurology, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Deputy Editor:
Farzad Fatehi, M.D
Associate Professor of Neurology, Neurology Department, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Section Editors:
Afshin Borhanin Haghighi, M.D
Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Mansooreh Togha, M.D
Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Maryam Zahmatkesh, Ph.D
Mohammad Hossein Harirchian, M.D
Shahram Oveisgharan, M.D
Majid Ghafarpour, M.D
Shahin Akhondzadeh, Pharm.D., Ph.D
Scientific Assistant Editor:
Ali Amini Harandi, M.D
Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Ahmad R. Dehpour, Pharm.D., Ph.D
Alireza Minagar, M.D
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, USA.
Andoni Urtizberea, MD, M.Sc
Praticien Hospitalier, APHP, 64700 Hendaye, France.
Ashkan Mowla, MD,FAHA,FAAN
Division of Stroke and Endovascular Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosurgical Surgery, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California (USC), USA.
Jamshid Lotfi, M.D
Kavian Ghandehari, M.D
Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Keivan Basiri, M.D
Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Kurosh Gharagozli, M.D
Mahmoud R. Azarpazhooh, M.D
Masoud Etemadifar, M.D
Mohammad H. Harirchian, M.D
Payam Kabiri, M.D., Ph.D
Shahram Attarian, M.D
Centre de Référence des Maladies Neuromusculaires et de la SLA, France.
This journal is a member of, and subscribes to the principles of, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Dr. Hossein Pakdaman
Dr. Shahriar Nafissi
Dr. Farzad Fatehi
Current Journal of Neurology(Quarterly), eISSN: 2717-011XTehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License which allows users to read, copy, distribute and make derivative works for non-commercial purposes from the material, as long as the author of the original work is cited properly.


The Cuthberts are in for a shock. They are expecting an orphan boy to help with the work at Green Gables – but a skinny red-haired girl turns up instead. Highly spirited Anne Shirley charms her way into the Cuthberts' affection with her vivid imagination and constant chatter, and soon it's impossible to imagine life without her.


text:
Climate Change, Combating Desertification and Drought, Economy & Trade, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Food Sustainability, Global, Headlines, Natural Resources, Sustainability, TerraViva United Nations
What Might Help Save Our Planet? Different Approaches to Desertification
By Jan Lundius	Reprint | | Print |
Oskar Olin with his sheep.
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Aug 16 2021 (IPS) - I am in the Swedish countryside, lush and beautiful in its late summer attire, having a conversation with the son of a friend of mine. Oskar Olin runs a sheep farm, Stabbehyltan Lamm AB, where he practises holistic management. His three-hundred sheep graze within an area of 30 ha where Oskar every day moves his flock from one pasture to another. It takes between 45 to 90 days before the sheep are back on the same pasture where the rotation began. The animals are thus not overgrazing the area, while they at the same time trample down a protective layer of vegetation, which fertilizes the soil. Carbon is bound in the earth, soil organic matter increases, retaining humidity and accordingly deepen the root systems of wholesome plants.
Oskar is thirty-one years old and has for four years been back in his native place. During his younger years he was quite adventurous and did for example during a year work with horses on ranches in Spain. After that he ended up at a rancho in Mexico where he came in contact with holistic land management, finding that the land on the other side of the fence was constituted by sand and gravel, while his employer's pastures were lush and green. Oskar told me that it was on Rancho La Inmaculada de los Aguirre he learned "that it's all about making everything work and interact in a beneficial manner. Make your family happy and prosperous, make animals and crops to grow in harmony with their natural environment and feel good. Keeping soil and land healthy and moist, while your economy becomes robust and sustainable."
His Mexican employer made Oskar interested in theories and practices of the Zimbabwean Allan Savory, who claims that properly managed livestock can heal a wounded, natural environment. Savory declares that livestock breeding (wild grazers are hard to manage) might mitigate desertification, provided that the domesticated animals are allowed to preserve grasslands in such a manner that these are enabled to sequester enough atmospheric carbon dioxide to reverse climate change. Overgrazing is a result of keeping livestock in the same place for too long, i.e. feeding on individual plants over and over again, while these are trying to grow back again. A means to reverse desertification would be to properly manage grazing livestock and protect large natural herds of grazers such as bison, zebra, and wildebeest, which guarantee a healthy regrowth and maintenance of grass land and counteract the still common, global practice of slash-and-burn, artificial over-fertilization, and expansion of unnecessary, and even environmentally damaging, crops. Savory states: "How can natural resources possibly be to blame? Only our management of those things can be causing problems. It is our management that places millions of animals in barbaric, inhumane, force-fed factories at great cost to our health, economy and environment and it is our management that calls fossil resources fossil fuels and burns them at a destructive rate."
Sitting in the crisp grass and talking about all this with Oskar, while being surrounded by his bleating sheep, made me remember when I in 2008 and 2009 spent some time in the Markala district of Mali. There I sat, together with my friends and interpreters Seydou and Mamadou, in the shade of baobab trees talking with village elders, who in their long boubous, measured gestures, as well as their patient and clear-minded manner of debating, made me imagine ancient, Greek philosophers. They told me that with every year the desert advances causing poverty and misery, forcing "our desperate youngsters to lose their lives in pursuit of wealth and happiness within your wealthy countries, up there in the far north."
I had been hired to make a study of how livelihoods would be affected by land expropriation and sugar production. The Government had signed a contract allocating Sosumar (Société Sucrière de Markala), a conglomerate of various private investors and the South African sugar giant Illovo, a lease comprising 39,500 ha. The intention was to develop sugar-cane plantations, annually producing 190,000 tonnes of sugar and 15 million litres of ethanol.
At least 2,000 peasants had to be resettled to villages erected within the affected areas. The project was acclaimed as being able to "benefit close to 156,000 inhabitants through the creation of 8,000 direct and 32,000 indirect jobs, capacity building and improved living conditions. Implementation of the project will require optimal management of water resources, especially during the dry season."
Associated British Foods owns 51 percent of Illovo, which controlled 70 percent of Sosumar. Illovo is Africa's biggest sugar producer and had, at the time I was hired, operations in South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia. Sugar and ethanol were mainly directed towards the European market, which allowed for duty and quota-free exports for producers in developing countries. Illovo's sugar exports into Europe were then 400,000 tonnes per year.
My task was to carry out interviews with the local population and with their cooperation develop plans for the construction and facilities of future "resettlements". For me it was a rewarding experience to listen to and interact with persons who defined themselves as Mandé (Bambara), mainly subsisting on farming and Peul (Fula/Fulani), most of whom were pastoralists. For centuries Mandé and Peul have shared the territory. The Mandé, who produced millet, sorghum and vegetables, had obtained most of their meat from the Peul, whose cattle were allowed to graze the Mandéfields after harvest.
I was generously received and told that sugar-cane fields would completely change traditional ways of living. Centre-pivot irrigation, a system where elongated sprinkler tubes rotate around "pivots", i.e. centre points pumping up water from the ground, would mean that all trees in the area had to be cut down. Among them the mighty baobab trees, which many Mandé and Peul consider to be sacred. There were no plans to compensate the locals for their loss of fuel, shadow and sacred meeting points.
Graveyards had to be dug up and their contents removed. The s´í-trees would also be lost. Women use their seeds to manufacture and sell sìtulu, shea butter, widely used in cosmetics as moisturisers and lotions. Furthermore, villagers would be forced to live surrounded by a forest of more than two metres high sugar-cane stems, among which crop-devouring birds, insects and vermin would thrive. Age-old, traditional agriculture would be substituted by back-breaking cane-cutting under a scorching sun. Paths and pastures of cattle herding Peul would disappear. Warm water from sugar refineries would affect and even kill the fish in rivers and canals. Pious Muslims told me they knew of gambling, drinking and prostitution developing in shanty towns growing up around the two huge sugar mills already established in Mali.
Villagers told me they preferred that the Government provided them with loans to establish rice paddies: "We cannot afford to do it ourselves since it takes at least two years before the paddies will yield any harvests. We live by our millet and vegetables and cannot afford to be without them while paddies are constructed. The sugar will not feed us, but it grows rapidly and the two harvests it yields per year will provide us with the cash we need to survive."
As a matter of fact, Office du Niger, the governmental management and irrigation authority for rice growing zones had already in 2003 contributed a 74 hectare plot of land to the US company Schaffer and Associates, which had been contracted by USAID to undertake a feasibility study for a sugar refinery. The trials of cane varieties amounted to a cost of USD 1,5 million, indicating that neither "development organisations", nor the Malian Government, were particularly interested in stimulating any subsistence farming of local agriculturists.
USAID's interest in Sosumar was among other things also part of a political agenda to limit Chinese interests in Malian sugar production. China Light Industrial Corporation for Foreign Economic and Technical Cooperation (CLETC) owns the two sugar enterprises of Mali and intends to expand its landholdings and sugar production.
Unaware, I had become part of a convoluted political game involving profiteering private and governmental agencies that apparently did not have neither the well-being of poor agriculturists, nor a mitigation of threats from climate change and desertification, as their main goal. Only one third of Mali is not desert land and the people of Markala told me that "every year badlands devour huge tracts of fertile land. Please do not talk about culture and environment with your bosses. We don't want the sugar, but must have it. There is no other solution. No one helps us to stop the advancing desert. If we don't get cash from the sugar we will die. If our culture, our way of being is eradicated, so be it. Our children have to live."
Political turmoil and machinations eventually killed off the Sosumar sugar initiative. The ecological crisis is constantly getting worse. While sitting together with Oskar Olin and his healthy sheep within a fertile Swedish meadow, I could not help wondering if all the effort and money that went into the non-realisation of such an unhealthy export crop as sugar was just another example of the unimaginative greed of a wealthy few.
It is high time to learn to listen to the needs and experience of poor agriculturists around the world. To advertise and implement viable, environmentally friendly and sustainable practices, like those of the young, practically inclined and idealistic Oskar Olin in Stabbehyltan, who on a small scale reproduces the land preservation instincts of wild grazers.
Sources: Bafana, Busani (2019) "Q&A: Holistic Land Management – Only a Movement can Prevent Desertification," IPS, Oct. 4. Wikileaks (2009): A spoonful of Chinese sugar sours US investors in Mali.
Jan Lundius holds a PhD. on History of Religion from Lund University and has served as a development expert, researcher and advisor at SIDA, UNESCO, FAO and other international organisations.


Home » Patient Testimonials » After physical therapy, my celebratory return to activity was to skin up and ski down Mt. St Helens.
After physical therapy, my celebratory return to activity was to skin up and ski down Mt. St Helens.
Hey Dr. Wagner, here is a photo of a recent skin/ski of Mt. St Helens.
I have had complicated hip dysplasia on both hips, requiring extensive surgery on one. I chose not to repeat this in favor of arthroscopic repair, and have been more than pleased with the results. I required fairly extensive micro-fracture surgery and labral resection. More extensive damage than expected, though am glad I went through the surgery and recovery.
At baseline, I am a very active backcountry skier, bike rider (road and mountain) and tend to push myself fairly hard physically. I did the appropriate physical therapy and within 4 months I was back to full activity. My celebratory return to activity was to skin up and ski down Mt. St Helens. I had no pain while doing so and feel I am now back to full activity with no restrictions.
I have been more than pleased that with a minimally invasive procedure, my dysplasia can be mitigated and I can return to my desired activities with no pain. In retrospect, I would have had this procedure much sooner should I have known how successful this was to be. Thank you Dr. Wagner.


text:
Audrey Marie Renz-Bowdle
Audrey Marie Renz-Bowdle, age 52, of Shiloh, died peacefully Friday, January 28, 2022 at her home following a strong fight with pancreatic cancer.
Audrey was born November 28, 1969 in Warren, Ohio. She was a 1988 graduate of Plymouth High School. Audrey spent her life working on the farm and around the house. She was always taking care of her family and put others before herself. Audrey never saw the bad in anyone and was a "safe place" when you needed help or someone to vent to. Whether you were actual family or just a friend, Audrey loved and thought of you all as family. Her greatest pride and joy was being a mother and nana. She thoroughly loved watching her grandkids and seeing them grow. Audrey also enjoyed gardening and caring for animals.
Just three short weeks ago on January 6, 2022 in a hospital room, Audrey married Steven Wayne Bowdle, after being companions for 15 years, and he survives. Also surviving are her children: Gayle (Ernest) McKinney of Findlay, Rayna Bowdle of Kenton, Cheryl Carrington of Shelby, David (Melinda) Baugh of Shelby, Levi Carrington of Mansfield, Brittany Baugh of Shelby, and Jake (Trina) Bowdle of Mansfield; many grandchildren; one great grandson; her mother: Virginia Carol Renz of Shiloh; as well as other relatives and friends. Audrey was preceded in death by her father, Arnold Renz, and her brother, Lawrence Renz.
Family and friends are welcome on Friday, February 4, 2022 from 5-6 pm at the Penwell Turner Funeral Home, 168 West Main Street, Shelby, where funeral services will immediately follow at 6 pm with Pastor Blanche Tyree officiating. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to Penwell Turner Funeral Home to offset funeral expenses.
Sympathy may be expressed by leaving an online condolence on Audrey's obituary at www.PenwellTurner.com or by leaving a comment on her obituary post on the funeral home's Facebook page, Facebook.com/PenwellFuneral.
Melody Burton says:
Audrey will be missed. I have known Cheryl, Levi and Audrey for a long time. They were into showing rabbits and so was my dad. My Condolences to the whole family. Love you all.
Time: Friday, 5-6 pm
Location: Penwell Turner Funeral Home, 168 West Main Street, Shelby, Ohio 44875
Time: Friday, 6 pm


Former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe (L) and his wife Grace at a rally at Chubuku stadium in Chitungwiza town about 35km south of Harare, July 16, 2013. Zimbabwe goes to the polls on July 31.
November 22, 2018//-Zimbabwe marks first anniversary of Robert Mugabe's resignation as president.
Campaigns continue in Nigeria for the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections.
Unidentified gunmen abduct 23-year-old Italian volunteer from a trading centre in Kilifi County along the Kenya coast.
Kenya MPs vote on a controversial bill seeking to raise women representation in the House.
UN humanitarian coordinator for the Central African Republic (CAR) Najat Rochdi holds press conference Geneva, Switzerland.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visits Botswana. He leaves on Thursday.


This year's Internet Librarian International celebrates the superhuman impact librarians have on organisations, communities and individuals.
Our conference programme reflects – and celebrates – the incredible range of roles, skills and initiatives librarians are carrying out every day.
Librarians are leaders in tech, organisational influencers, expert marketers (often working with a zero budget), change managers, skilled data crunchers and expert internet searchers – and so much more.
THE NEW LIBRARY, THE NEW LIBRARIAN – exploring some of the strategies, structures, teams, skills, services and collaborations librarians are using to ensure they stay at the cutting edge.
USERS, UX AND USAGE – understanding how libraries are working with users to redesign services, spaces and to understand usage.
CONTENT CREATIVITY – investigating how creative libraries are creating, curating and marketing digital collections, how librarians are publishers in their own right and how they are driving collaborative content creation.
FIGHT THE FAKE, FIND THE FACTS – celebrating two of the librarian's super powers – advanced search techniques and nurturing information integrity – in a post-truth/multi-truth era.
MARKETING THE LIBRARY – sharing stories of librarians who are influencing use and expanding audiences for their services and collections from the DJ librarian to the digital storyteller.
NEW SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATIONS – exploring why the scholarly communications landscape is changing, and what this means for libraries and information professionals.
Our six main conference tracks are supplemented by a series of one-hour workshops (ILI Extra) covering a wide range of specialised skills and topics – from tech topics to personal development.
Marketing your library service: principles and actions - in libraries we spend so much time curating our content and services that sometimes we don't put enough focus on telling people about what we do. We do so much, but how do we ensure people hear about what we offer, and understand what we do?


Wide range of Algarve villas from James Villas. Book your villa holiday online now.
Nestled on the corner of quaint Española Way and bustling Washington Avenue, The Clay Hotel is a jewel among places to stay in the Historic Art Deco District of Miami Beach.
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The World Federation part sponsors the work of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims, and attended a recent meeting on Yemen.
The discussions, co-chaired by Baroness Hodgson & Keith Vaz MP, revolved around UK foreign policy in Yemen, humanitarian workers in Yemen, the disproportionate impact of the crisis on women and children, & women's role in peace-building. We also attended the "Measuring Impact and Progressive Change" workshop held by the Muslim Charities Forum, where they discussed a bottom-up approach to be led by the UN to achieve a progressive change in Yemen. More information is available on Twitter under the hashtag #mcf4impact.


We offer three hazardous materials hubs spread throughout the region. Hazmat equipment for the BERT team is housed in Woodford County with the Versailles Fire Department, and in Clark County with the Winchester Fire Department. Equipment includes an array of sophisticated monitoring and sampling devices, Level A hazmat entry gear, down range monitoring cameras, all outfitted on a mobile trailer ready to roll when the call comes in. The BERT team has the ability to respond and mitigate a variety of large scale hazmat incidents.