text:
State of the Union: Far Cry 5
Posted on May 31, 2018 May 30, 2018 by John Esposito
We're gonna try something different this time around. I don't want to give you my impressions on Far Cry 5 because a) It's been awhile since I played it and b) That'd be boring. Instead I'm gonna do something a little different.
State of the Union, just like in politics, is going to be an address of the state of a title. In this case, I'll be talking about Far Cry 5. Using my extensive internet library, I'll talk about the lead up to the game, the release of the game, and where the game stands. I think it's gonna be fun, and since this is the first of its kind, this might be rough. Let's do it!
The Lead-Up
We all knew Far Cry 5 was coming; it was just a matter of when. Ubisoft answered our questions on May 26, 2017 with a bunch of teasers, a release of the game's box art, and of course this trailer.
A ton of information was released as soon as the game was announced on the game's website: detailing new characters, a co-op experience, and who the bad dudes were. We were finally coming back home too, with the game being set in the fictional Hope County, Montana. Big moves only friends. I believe it also drew some controversy for it's box art, content, and how it eerily made people feel it was a reflection of the United States presidency. (fact check: it did draw a ton of different levels of controversy and discussion). GG's Ubisoft.
Back on topic though; how was Ubisoft going to make this one different? By the release of Far Cry Primal, fans pretty much understood the formula: big open world, not a lot of meaningful content, well developed bad guy, etc. Could Ubisoft make this entry just as good, if not, dare say better than the legendary Far Cry 3?
The Release
The release date for Far Cry 5 was pegged for February 27, 2018, until Ubi pushed it back one month. How did it turn out?
Metacritic (XONE) 82/100[32]
(PS4) 81/100[33]
(PC) 78/100[34]
Destructoid 7.5/10[35]
Edge 6/10[36]
EGM 7.5/10[37]
Game Informer 7.5/10[38]
Game Revolution 3.5/5[39]
GamesRadar+ [40]
Giant Bomb [41]
IGN 8.9/10[43]
Polygon 6.5/10[44]
I'm sorry I had to use Wikipedia for this.
I guess the reviews were mostly positive. A lot of the criticism focused on the game's story and and characters, although the sales numbers were very high for the title.
Post Release
Prior to the release, a lot of cool content was revealed if you purchased the Season Pass *rolls eyes*.
Zombies, Vietnam, Mars, and Far Cry 3 (?!)
For some reason, this season pass reminded me a lot of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare's Season Pass content, and I do not know why. The real eye opener was the rerelease of Far Cry 3, the unanimous favorite in this series.
You can play the game in co-op with one other person, which made for some fun moments with my friends and myself. You can hire civilians in the world to help you fight… and yeah. Unfortunately, this game didn't hook me. Something that confused me to no end is the fact that in Far Cry 3 and 4 your character had a voice. In Far Cry 5, your character doesn't… I understand that you can choose either male or female characters, but we've seen other games that give you voice actors regardless of the gender. It just frustrated me.
Back to the gameplay though. I think I'm Far Cry'ed (Cried?) out. Since the release of 3, the series has had consistently strong antagonists and gameplay, but the formula hasn't evolved. It's still open world full of nonsense, but it just feels empty. I've never accepted or used the "empty" excuse when it comes to this series, but this time it really hit me. I don't know maybe it's just me.
I think the future of this series is up in the air. Despite the sales being pretty top notch, the verdict is what's most important. Ubisoft did take a break in between releases, but look at how much more improved Assassin's Creed came out versus how this came out. Maybe I'm being harsh. I'm just disappointed that this series feels like it's falling off when it has the formula for success.
What do you think about Far Cry 5? Is there hope for the franchise moving forward or is this the literal definition of insanity? I'll be on Twitch playing Far Cry 3 Classic Edition at some point soon. Let me know what ya'll think!
Posted in Gaming, State of the UnionTagged Far Cry 5, Games of 2018, Gaming Blog, State of the Union, Video Games
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text:
Floslamper.dk Expands Library Of Flos Designer Lamps Learning Resources
By: Press Release Distribution Service
April 24, 2019 at 22:11 PM EDT
The site is quickly becoming the go-to source for design tips and information about the modern lighting company, reports floslamper.dk.
Copenhagen, Denmark - April 24, 2019 /MarketersMedia/ —
Floslamper.dk is pleased to announce the expansion of their website. Right now and in the coming weeks, the writing and development team behind the site has committed themselves to providing their readers with even more resources covering the full spectrum of Flos Designer Lamps. Floslamper.dk has become the go-to site for design tips and information about these modern lighting fixtures, and this recent expansion will ensure it remains so.
"We are so excited about growing our library of resources on Flos Designer Lamps," said Mohammad Dadkhah of Floslamper.dk. "The company has been in business for nearly 60 years. In that time frame, they've managed to change the course of the lighting industry with their innovative and fashion-forward lamp designs. We want to let as many people as possible know about these products and how they can use them to enhance the look and feel of their spaces."
The team at Floslamper.dk aims to do more than just give visitors a rundown of Flos lighting products. Instead, they introduce readers to the lamp's designer and help them understand the details and complexities of the fixture they've created. Each post relays the passion and creativity that has gone into each lamp design and gives readers tips on how they might use it in their particular space.
Dadkhah went on to say, "Simply put, the right lighting fixture can make or break a room's design. Whether it's a modern chandelier, artistic wall lighting, or a simple yet impactful floor or table lamp, we want to show people how they can make Flos' iconic lighting fixtures work for all of their spaces. With the company's passion for unique design and our expert tips, our readers will be able to transform rooms large and small and finally create the spaces they've been dreaming of."
Visit floslamper.dk to learn more about Floslamper and take advantage of their wide range of educational resources on Flos Lighting's most innovative designs.
About Floslamper.dk:
Flos is an internationally recognized Italian lighting company founded in 1962. The company was one of the first to experiment with cocoon material to build their products, which later resulted in the now-famous Gatto lamp. Since then, Flos has expanded with lamps in a wide range of exciting materials such as polycarbonate and glass. Floslamper.dk exists to let the world know about this innovative line of lighting fixtures and help people make the very best design choices when it comes to Flos Designer Lamps.
Name: Mohammad Dadkhah
Organization: Floslamper.dk
Address: Gammel Koge Landevej 55
Website: https://floslamper.dk/
Source URL: https://marketersmedia.com/floslamperdk-expands-library-of-flos-designer-lamps-learning-resources/506524
Source: MarketersMedia
Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


In the first installment of this series entitled, What is the Gospel?, I introduced the series and gave readers a brief sketch of where we are headed. In this second installment, I turn our focus to the content of the Gospel message.
If you ask most Christians today what the content of the Gospel is, you will most likely hear John 3:16 quoted. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." After which you may hear an explanation that goes like this: God sent His Son to die on a cross for our sins, in order that we might have eternal life. Our job is to believe that Christ is our Savior and we will be saved. While this is correct, I will argue that John 3:16 is only part of the Gospel.
Now don't get me wrong, I believe John 3:16 is a crucial part of the Gospel message, but I don't believe John 3:16 represents the entire message. Rather, it is the climax of God's redemptive plan. In order to understand the full content of the Gospel we have to zoom out, way out, and look at the whole counsel of God's Word because the Gospel traverses from Genesis to Revelation.
Starting with Genesis 3:15, we are introduced to the proto-evangelion, or first gospel. After Adam and Eve attempted to subject God to their rule in the garden by disobeying God's commandment to not eat from the tree of good and evil, ultimately showing that they rejected God's rule and understanding of what is best for them, God provides hope for a restored relationship through the promised defeat of Satan. We read, "He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." Here hope exists in the midst of punishment and despair. God has promised to defeat Satan one day through one man's actions, which restores God's relationship with both man and creation. As Scripture unfolds, we learn more about God's plan of redemption.
Through His covenant with Abraham, the nation of Israel is born and a people are set aside as God's chosen people (Gen. 12). Through these chosen people, a line is preserved from which Jesus is born (Matt. 1). Along the way, God honors His covenant with Abraham, renewing it with Isaac (Gen. 26) and Jacob (Gen. 28). He also provides the Mosaic Covenant (Ex. 20), in order to inform His people of the way they should live and as a means of removing their sin. He later makes a covenant with David (2 Sam. 7). The Davidic covenant brings promises of an unending royal lineage to rule on the throne of the kingdom. After which, many leaders and kings arose throughout redemptive history, but none were God's chosen Son who would redeem His people.
The temple sacrifices of goats and bulls were not able to change the hearts of the people either. They were temporary measures by which God's wrath was appeased. They allowed a Holy God to live amongst an unholy people, but they could not satisfy the wrath of God eternally (Heb. 8-10 see especially 10:1-18).
God also knew that His people could not keep His commandments because their heart had not been changed. However, in Jeremiah 31, a New Covenant is promised. One that would put the law of God in the hearts of the people, giving them a new heart, allowing them to enter into a right relationship with God.
In God's perfect timing, Jesus was born to Mary, a virgin. He lived a perfect life, and willingly subjected Himself to a painful death on the cross, in order to pay for our sins. What the sacrifices and Law of the Old Testament could not accomplish, Jesus did, in His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead (Isa. 53; Gal. 3:16-29; Heb. 10). By humbling ourselves and believing that Jesus is our Savior, we are saved from eternal punishment, just as John 3:16 tells us, but much more happens at that time. Our relationship with God is restored (Heb 10:22). And ultimately, at the return of Jesus Christ, all creation will be restored (Is 65; Daniel 9; Rev 21-22). The world will be recreated, and not only will man's relationship with God be perfect, but God's relationship with creation will be redeemed and made right (Isa. 65). Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection from the dead accomplishes much more than giving us eternal life; it redeems all creation, so that man and creation are able to accomplish their God-given purpose, which is to glorify God (Ps. 86:9; Isa. 60:21; Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 6:20; 10:31; Rev. 4:11).
In summary, the content of the Gospel includes everything from Genesis to Revelation. It is a story that tells of God's plan to redeem fallen man and creation. It began in Genesis 3:15, climaxes in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and will serve to restore all creation when Christ returns. As one can see, the Gospel includes John 3:16, but it also includes much more.
In order to help you continue to think through the breadth of the Gospel message, I have attached an article by D.A. Carson on the Gospel.
In my next post, I will consider The Functional Centrality of the Gospel.
The Gospel, or the good news of Jesus Christ, is a life changing message we must seek to understand because it is mankind's only hope in this life and the next. Without the Gospel, mankind would be damned to eternal punishment, having no hope for salvation. And without the Gospel, mankind could not fulfill their purpose, namely, to exalt and glorify God.
It is only through the death of Jesus Christ that sinful men have access to God. Jesus' blood redeems mankind, making them holy and repairing their relationship with God. No amount of work or religious activity can restore man's relationship with God. It is only through the saving power of the Gospel.
Since the Gospel is the only means for salvation and a restored relationship with God, it is important that we understand the content of this message and how we might obtain Jesus Christ's salvation.
In the series that follows, I will discuss the Content of the Gospel, the Functional Centrality of the Gospel, and how the Gospel provides us with a right relationship with God.


How can delegate start as service in Windows XP Prof.
___ Hi thanks a lot for your help. Now it works fine. Regards Norbert.
Please help me this error ?
___ Using the binary distribution for Linux "linux-dg" is recommended.
File Size depended routing. Is it possible?


text:
Q: Pop, crack and background noise when I plug a jack (Ubuntu 14.04.3) I have a Dell inspiron 7746 (Specs) series running Ubuntu 14.04.3 When I plug a headphones jack and there is no sound playing, I can hear a noise in the background. When I play a video, at the start, there is a sound like a crack or pop, and then the rest of the audio plays with no problem. But when I pause the video, another pop noise occurs, and the background noise starts again. Can someone help me? I do not think it is a hardware problem, because the sound works with no problem in Windows.
I try with a few solutions but none of them work.

*

*Solution Attempt 1

*Solution Attempt 2

*Solution Attempt 3

*Solution Attempt 4

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Have you heard? The 2018 Resource Libraries are posted!
If you are looking for fresh new ideas, then be sure to check out the Secondary Spanish Back to School Resource Library I have a resource included, as do 26 other Spanish teachers!
If you're an Elementary Spanish teacher, there is a version for you too. The Elementary Spanish Back to School Resource Library has 11 resources designed for preschool-5th grade Spanish.
Make sure to enter here by midnight (PST) Wednesday, July 25th for your chance to win. Tell your friends about it too!
While you anxiously await the drawing, make sure to download your resource library and enjoy your freebies. ¡Buena Suerte!


Samuel and Connie Johnson's Love Your Sister campaign, formed after Connie's terminal breast cancer diagnosis, mobilised communities across Australia and set a world record for the longest distance travelled on a unicycle.
Their incredible efforts raised more than $2 million for breast cancer research, spread Connie's message of breast awareness and mobilised women around the country.
Not content to stop at that, Connie and Sam have continued to apply their passion to raising awareness of breast cancer and raising funds for Garvan's research and have been incredible advocates for our work for the past five years.
Funds raised by Love Your Sister support Garvan's breast cancer research through the Connie Johnson Lab in Breast Cancer Research.
Connie and Sam's tenacity, passion and advocacy, as well as the generous support of the Love Your Sister community have collectively helped to raise over $3 million for Garvan's research, and for that we are incredibly grateful.
Connie's legacy will be ongoing and far-reaching, helping our researchers find better ways to treat breast cancer and reduce the number of lives lost to this prolific disease.
The Garvan Institute of Medical Research honours Connie's memory and we offer our deepest sympathies to Connie's family and friends.
The inaugural recipient of the award was Dr Elgene Lim, Principal Research Fellow in the Genomic Cancer Medicine Laboratory at Garvan. Dr Lim and his team are studying ways to sensitise breast cancer cells to novel therapies using tissue samples donated by patients. By better understanding the unique biology of individual tumours, his team are able to discover more effective ways to treat them.
You can support Dr Lim's vital work by donating to Garvan.


text:
#ifndef _MAGICKCORE_CACHE_H
#define _MAGICKCORE_CACHE_H

#if defined(__cplusplus) || defined(c_plusplus)
extern "C" {
#endif

#include "magick/blob.h"

typedef enum
{
  UndefinedCache,
  MemoryCache,
  MapCache,
  DiskCache,
  PingCache
} CacheType;

extern MagickExport CacheType
  GetImagePixelCacheType(const Image *);

extern MagickExport const IndexPacket
  *GetVirtualIndexQueue(const Image *);

extern MagickExport const PixelPacket
  *GetVirtualPixels(const Image *,const ssize_t,const ssize_t,const size_t,
    const size_t,ExceptionInfo *),
  *GetVirtualPixelQueue(const Image *);

extern MagickExport const void
  *AcquirePixelCachePixels(const Image *,MagickSizeType *,ExceptionInfo *);

extern MagickExport IndexPacket
  *GetAuthenticIndexQueue(const Image *);

extern MagickExport MagickBooleanType
  CacheComponentGenesis(void),
  GetOneVirtualMagickPixel(const Image *,const ssize_t,const ssize_t,
    MagickPixelPacket *,ExceptionInfo *),
  GetOneVirtualPixel(const Image *,const ssize_t,const ssize_t,PixelPacket *,
    ExceptionInfo *),
  GetOneVirtualMethodPixel(const Image *,const VirtualPixelMethod,const ssize_t,
    const ssize_t,PixelPacket *,ExceptionInfo *),
  GetOneAuthenticPixel(Image *,const ssize_t,const ssize_t,PixelPacket *,
    ExceptionInfo *),
  PersistPixelCache(Image *,const char *,const MagickBooleanType,
    MagickOffsetType *,ExceptionInfo *),
  SyncAuthenticPixels(Image *,ExceptionInfo *);

extern MagickExport MagickSizeType
  GetImageExtent(const Image *);

extern MagickExport PixelPacket
  *GetAuthenticPixels(Image *,const ssize_t,const ssize_t,const size_t,
    const size_t,ExceptionInfo *),
  *GetAuthenticPixelQueue(const Image *),
  *QueueAuthenticPixels(Image *,const ssize_t,const ssize_t,const size_t,
    const size_t,ExceptionInfo *);

extern MagickExport VirtualPixelMethod
  GetPixelCacheVirtualMethod(const Image *),
  SetPixelCacheVirtualMethod(const Image *,const VirtualPixelMethod);

extern MagickExport void
  CacheComponentTerminus(void),
  *GetPixelCachePixels(Image *,MagickSizeType *,ExceptionInfo *);

#if defined(__cplusplus) || defined(c_plusplus)
}
#endif

#endif

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
The Pilot and the Little Prince: The Life of Anttoine De Saint-Exupery, written and illustrated by Peter Sis. Farrar Straus Giroux, Raincoast. 2014. $21.99 ages 8 and up
"Antoine could only think of flying, but his family hoped he would finish his studies and do something less dangerous. When he was called to military duty, he asked for aviation and was assigned to the ground crew. In time, he learned to fly. Two years after his service, Antoine heard about an airline that was starting to deliver mail..."
Peter Sis writes and illustrates brilliantly detailed stories for children, young and old. Previously he has written biographies of Christopher Columbus, Charles Darwin and Galileo Galilei. As he did in those books, here he brings the life of Antoine de Saint-Exupery to our attention. He complements his storytelling with numerous wonderful timelines and charts to further help his readers understand the writer-pilot's life.
He was born almost at the same time as airplanes themselves. Longing to fly, he built his own plane. It didn't fly! Undeterred, he spent his spare time with pilots at the flying field. He convinced one to take him for a ride, and that was it! Later, military duty led to work with the ground crew, and finally success in the air himself. Working with an airline that delivered mail lead to a new reality. He was assigned to take charge of an airfield on his own:
"Antoine rescued stranded flyers. He negotiated with hostile nomads who had shot down planes and held pilots for ransom. He made peace with others, who called him the Captain of the Birds. His life in the desert inspired him to write."
He kept flying and writing, returned to France and married. Always seeking adventure, Antoine had close calls, none quite so dangerous as his war pilot duties during World War II. His disdain for Germany's control over his beloved France led to his move to New York, where The Little Prince was published. Missing France, he returned to active duty in North Africa in hopes of flying back to France. It was not to be...
In a book about adventure and creativity, Peter Sis impresses with the unbelievable detail that is his signature work. It takes time and keen observation to appreciate all that he includes in this story about following your own path to happiness, and success in life. He challenges our eyes and our brain to take in all that he has included in this newest book. It's a perfect read for older children and teens, and for their parents and teachers.
Labels: adventure, art and artists, aviation, family, friendship, picture book biography, war


Anton Cosmo: Rock superstar to be.
Anton Cosmo is a native of Upstate New York. He is consumed by music. Anton was raised in a home filled with music . He is the son of Fran Cosmo former singer of the band "BOSTON". Throughout his life, it seemed he always had a guitar in hand. A self-taught musician, this was a common bond between him and his father.
Anton is also proficient on the piano, drums, and bass guitar. He spends most of his time writing and recording music in his home studio. Anton's music combines many different elements and influences from different generations. Anton slowly became a sought after studio session player and producer while writing, producing and performing his own music.
Three of Anton's songs, "Turn it Off", Stare Out Your Window" and "Cryin" are featured on Boston's last release, Corporate America (Artemis Records). The Corporate America album reached number 46 on Billboard's Top 100. After this album was released, Anton toured with Boston in 2003 and 2004. His first appearance was with Boston at the Fiesta Bowl as well as performing at Redsox and New England Patriots sports events. In 2003, Anton's song "Turn it Off" was the song that launched the beginning of the mega web-site Launch.com. In 2006 Anton wrote and produced the debut album "Alien" for the band Cosmo (Frontier Records). This album featured his father, Fran Cosmo, on vocals. This album was hailed as one of the best melodic rock albums of 2006 along with My Chemical Romance.
"I love to write music in many directions and use all my influences from artists such as Peter Gabriel, U2, Seal, Linkin Park and Enigma. There are so many types of feel it is hard to just focus on one sound. I like to call it "A GLOBAL SOUND" that can relate to different genre's and generations."
You can find out more about Anton on his 크레이지슬롯 사이트website.
Anton Cosmo lives in New York, USA.
Tagged as: Electro Rock, Rock.
Capital Sons: Heart on our sleeves Rock and Roll.
크레이지슬롯 사이트: If the Beatles had been born in Russia!


Pintslid There are 20 products.
Perfect and precise nail art brush that gives you plenty of new possibilities. This is the brush for nail stylists who are demanding of themselves and materials they work with. Discover the secrets and beauty of zhostovo nail art.
Nail art brush with thin hair (length: 5mm) that is perfect for drawing delicious nail art details.
Nail art brush with extremely thin hair that is perfect for drawing delicious nail art details.
One Stroke Brush with extremely thin hair that is perfect for working with acrylic colors enabling to draw delicious details.
Peene otsaga pintsel, mis on ideaalne One Stroke akrüülvärvidega töötamiseks. Võimaldab joonistada peeneid ja täpseid detaile.
One Stroke pintsel akrüülvärvidega töötamiseks. Võimaldab joonistada täidlasemaid joonistusi. UUS!
Flat brush made of highest quality materials. Soft tip makes painting very easy. Perfect for One Stroke technique.


text:
\section{Introduction}
\label{submission}
Modern supervised machine learning approaches require large amount of labelled data.
However, large labelled datasets are not always available and cannot be collected without additional effort.
In many fields, on the other hand, unlabelled data is accessible.
This makes semi-supervised learning an important field of machine learning research.
Semi-supervised methods aim to employ unlabelled data to achieve a competitive performance of supervised models while using only a few labelled examples.
Previous work on this topic includes
\citet{joachims1999transductive,zhu2003semi,blum2004semi,rosenberg2005semi}.
These methods, however, poorly scale on huge unlabelled datasets and high dimensional data \citet{zhu2005semi, kingma2014semi}.

Recent advances in unsupervised learning, specifically deep generative models \cite{kingma2013auto,goodfellow2014generative,dinh2014nice,van2016conditional}, allow to model complex data distribution $p_\theta(x)$.
Modern methods for semi-supervised learning \cite{kingma2014semi,springenberg2015unsupervised,salimans2016improved} actively employ deep generative models to learn from unlabeled data.
The common approach suggests to model \textit{joint} distribution $p_\theta(x, y) = p_\theta(x|y)p(y)$ over objects $x$ and labels $y$, where $p_\theta(x|y)$ is a conditional generative model.
The joint distribution allows inferring class-label distribution $p_\theta(y|x)$ that is used to make a prediction for a supervised problem.

\citet{kingma2014semi} proposed a semi-supervised learning method that is based on variational auto-encoders \cite{kingma2013auto}.
This approach scales well on large datasets and provides flexible generative models for high-dimensional data.
However, direct likelihood optimization in this case is intractable, and it is usually tackled by methods for approximate variational inference \cite{paisley2012variational, hoffman2013stochastic, ranganath2014black}.

Recently a new family of deep generative models called normalizing flows has been proposed \cite{rezende2015variational}.
Normalizing flows model data by a deterministic invertible transformation of a simple random variable, e.g. standard normal.
The framework provides a tractable likelihood function and allows its direct optimization.
Data distribution in this case can be inferred using change of variables formula by computing Jacobian determinant of the transformation.
Recent advances in this field  \cite{kingma2016improved, dinh2016density, kingma2018glow, grathwohl2018ffjord, berg2018sylvester} provide a number of flexible architectures with tractable and efficient determinant computation.

It has been shown that dimension reduction is crucial for semi-supervised methods \cite{kingma2014semi}.
Unfortunately, normalizing flows have a latent representations of the same dimension as input data.
However, it was shown that a multi-scale architecture \cite{dinh2016density} produces latent representation, in which only a small part of components stores consistent semantic information about input data.
That opens a possibility to use this kind of architecture for dimension reduction.

\vspace{.5em}
In this paper, we propose \textit{Semi-Conditional Normalizing Flow} --- a new normalizing flow model that is suitable for semi-supervised classification problem.
The proposed model provides a tractable likelihood estimation for both labeled and unlabeled data.
The semi-conditional architecture (Section~\ref{sec:SCNF-model}) allows us to effectively compute value and gradients of a marginal likelihood  $p_\theta(x)$.
The conditional distribution $p_\theta(x|y)$ is modelled by a proposed \textit{conditional coupling layer}, that is built on the top of the original coupling layer \cite{dinh2016density}.
For dimension reduction, we adapt a multi-scale architecture, and we find it to be a crucial component of our model.
In experiments, we demonstrate the empirical performance of the model for semi-supervised classification problem.
We also find that the proposed model incorporates a data obfuscation mechanism by design, that may be useful for semi-supervised fair learning.

\vspace{-5pt}
\section{Semi-Supervised Learning with \newline Deep Generative Models}
\label{sec:ssl}

We consider semi-supervised classification problem with partly labelled dataset.
Let us denote an object as $x_i \in \R^d$ and a corresponding class label as $y_i \in \{1, \dots, K\}$. We denote the set of labelled and unlabelled objects as $\mathcal{L}$ and $\mathcal{U}$ respectively.
Generative model with parameters $\theta$ defines joint likelihood $p_{\theta}(x, y)$ of an object and its label.
The objective function for this model is a log-likelihood of the dataset:
\begin{equation}
    \label{eq:ssl-objective}
    {L}(\theta) = \sum_{(x_i, y_i) \in \, \mathcal{L}}{\!\!\!\!\log{ p_{\theta}(x_i, y_i)}} + \sum_{x_j \in \, \mathcal{U}}{\log{p_{\theta}(x_j)}},
\end{equation}
where $p_{\theta}(x_j) = \sum_{k=1}^K p_{\theta}(x_j, y\!\!=\!\!k)$ is a marginal likelihood for unlabelled object.
The joint likelihood $p_{\theta}(x, y)$ is often parameterized as $p_{\theta}(x, y) = p_{\theta}(x \vert y) p(y)$,
where a prior $p(y)$ is a uniform categorical distribution and a conditional distribution $p_{\theta}(x \vert y)$ is defined by a conditional generative model.
On the test stage, the prediction of the model -- a posterior distribution over labels $p_{\theta}(y \vert x)$ -- can be found as $p_{\theta}(y \vert x) = \tfrac{p_\theta(x, y)}{p_{\theta}(x)}$.

\citet{kingma2014semi} proposed to use variational auto-encoders \cite{kingma2013auto} as the conditional generative model $p_{\theta}(x \vert y)$.
However, such parametrization, does not allow to maximize the objective \eqref{eq:ssl-objective} directly and obliges to use stochastic optimization of a variational lower bound, that does not guarantee convergence to the maximum of  \eqref{eq:ssl-objective}.
Additionally, the posterior predictive distribution $p_{\theta}(y \vert x)$  cannot be computed in a closed form and needs a time-consuming sample-based estimation.

We present a new way to model the conditional distribution $p_{\theta}(x\vert y)$ using normalizing flows \cite{rezende2015variational}.
In our approach we have access to all required distributions to maximize log-likelihood of the data
\eqref{eq:ssl-objective} directly and to compute exact posterior $p_{\theta}(y \vert x)$ see (Section~\ref{sec:SCNF-model}).

\section{Semi-Conditional Normalizing Flows}
\label{sec:SCNF}
\subsection{Normalizing Flows}
Normalizing flows model data as a deterministic and invertible transformation $x = g_\theta(z)$ of a simple random variable $z$, e.g. standard normal.
We denote an inverse transformation $g^{-1}_\theta$ as $f_\theta$, i.e. this inverse function maps data $x$ to latent representation $z$.
Log-density of this model can be calculated using change of variable formula:
\begin{equation}
    \label{eq:nf-logp}
    \log p_\theta(x) = \log \left| \dfrac{\partial f_\theta(x)}{\partial x^T} \right| + \log p(z),
\end{equation}
where $\frac{\partial f_\theta(x)}{\partial x^T}$ is a Jacobian of the transformation $f_\theta$ and prior $p(z)$ is a standard normal distribution $\N(z \vert 0, I)$.
The transformation $f_\theta$ has to be bijective and has a tractable Jacobian determinant.
A number of flow architectures \cite{dinh2014nice, kingma2016improved, kingma2018glow} have been proposed recently.
These architectures are based on operations with simple form determinant of Jacobian.
For example, Real NVP architecture proposed by \citet{dinh2016density} is based on an affine coupling layer.
This layer splits an input variable $x$ into two non-overlapping parts $x_1, x_2$ and applies affine transformation based on the first part $x_1$ to the other $x_2$ in the following way:
\begin{equation*}
    z_1 = x_1, ~~~ z_2 = x_2 \odot \exp(s(x_1)) + t(x_1),
\end{equation*}
where $s, t$ are arbitrary neural networks.
This transformation has a simple triangular Jacobian, and the use of neural networks allows to model complex non-linear dependencies.

\subsection{Dimension Reduction with Normalizing Flows}
\label{sec:dim}
It has been shown that performance of a semi-supervised model benefits from using low-dimensional data representation \cite{kingma2014semi}.
We also observe this effect in our experiments (Section~\ref{sec:exp-dim}).
Unfortunately, normalizing flows preserve a dimensionality of $z$ equal to $x$ one.
However, modern normalizing flow models have multiscale structure, where differnet parts of the latent representation $z$ pass different number of transformations.
The part that passes all transformations contains most of semantic information about an input object \cite{dinh2016density},
we will refer to this  part as $z_f$ and to the other components as $z_\mathrm{aux}$.

\subsection{Semi-Conditional Normalizing Flow}
\label{sec:SCNF-model}
Semi-supervised methods based on generative models require conditional density estimation (Section~\ref{sec:ssl}).
In order to model conditional distribution $p_\theta(x\vert y)$ rather then just $p_\theta(x)$ we have to condition the transformation $f_\theta$ on $y$.
Perhaps, the simplest way would be to use different flows for each class \cite{trippe2018conditional}.
Nevertheless, this approach has high memory cost and does not share weights between classes.
In \cite{kingma2016improved} authors proposed a memory efficient conditional autoregressive architecture.
Unfortunately, sequential structure of autoregressive models leads to high computational cost.
Therefore, we adapt a more memory and computationally efficient affine coupling layer and propose a \textit{conditional affine coupling layer} defined as follows:
\begin{equation*}
    z_1 = x_1, ~~~ z_2 = x_2 \odot \exp(s(x_1, y)) + t(x_1, y),
\end{equation*}
where neural networks $s, t$ have a class variable as an additional input.
This allows to model complex dependencies on the class variable and at the same time keeps determinant of Jacobian easy to compute.

\begin{figure}[]
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth]{scnf-fig.png}

    \caption{

    The proposed semi-conditional architecture consists of two parts: a large unconditional flow $f_w(x)$, and a relatively small conditional flow $h_\phi(z_f; y)$.
    The unconditional flow $f_w(x)$ is based on a multi-scale architecture and maps an input $x$ into a low-dimensional $z_f$ and an auxiliary vector $z_\mathrm{aux}$.
    The conditional flow $h_\phi(z_f; y)$ maps the low-dimensional vector $z_f$ to $z_h\!=\!h_\phi(z_f; y)$.

    The architecture allows to compute $p_\theta(x)\!=\!\mathbb{E}_y p_\theta(x, y)$ with a single forward pass of the computationally expensive flow $f_\theta$ and one pass of the inexpensive flow $h_\phi$ for every class label $y$.

    }
    \label{fig:scnf-model}
\end{figure}

\textbf{Semi-Conditional Architecture}
During the optimisation of the objective \eqref{eq:ssl-objective}, we need to evaluate marginal log-likelihood for unlabelled data $p_\theta(x) = \sum_{y=1}^K  p_\theta(x|y) p(y)$.
However, this requires $K$ forward passes.
We address this issue with a proposed \textit{semi-conditional} architecture where only a small number of deep layers are conditioned on $y$.
First, we map $x$ to $z_f$ and $z_\mathrm{aux}$ with an unconditional flow $f_w(x)$ and then map the deepest components $z_f$ to $z_h$ with a conditional $h_\phi(z_f; y)$.
In this case, the Jacobian of the unconditional flow $f_w$ is independent of $y$, and we can pull it out of the sum and compute only once for all classes:
\begin{align}
\label{eq:scnf-mll}

   &~~\log p_\theta(x) = \log \left| \tfrac{\partial f_w(x)}{\partial x^T} \right| + \log \N(z_{\mathrm{aux}}|0, I)  \\
    \nonumber&+ \sum_{y=1}^K \log \left| \tfrac{\partial  h_\phi(z_f; y)}{\partial z_f^T} \right| + \log \N(z_h|0, I)  + \log p(y)
\end{align}
Note, that we pass only the deepest components $z_f$ to the conditional flow $h_\phi$, instead of the hole vector $[z_f, z_\mathrm{aux}]$.
In our experiments (Section~\ref{sec:exp-dim}) we found it to be an essential part of our model.

\subsection{Learning of Semi-Conditional Normalizing Flows}
\label{sec:SCNF-opt}
The parameters $\theta = \{w, \phi\} $ of the model \eqref{eq:scnf} are estimated via maximum likelihood approach \eqref{eq:ssl-objective}.
Normalizing flows provide us with tractable log-likelihood function $\log p_\theta(x, y)$ \eqref{eq:scnf} along with marginal log-likelihood $\log p_\theta(x)$.
Therefore, we can compute a gradient $\nabla_\theta \mathcal{L}(\theta)$ of the objective \eqref{eq:ssl-objective} and use a stochastic gradient optimization.
\begin{align}
\label{eq:scnf}
   &\log p_\theta(x, y) =\log \left| \tfrac{\partial f_w(x)}{\partial x^T} \right| + \log \left| \tfrac{\partial  h_\phi(z_f; y)}{\partial z_f^T} \right| \\
    \nonumber&+ \log \N(z_h|0, I) + \log \N(z_{\mathrm{aux}}|0, I) + \log p(y)
\end{align}
\textbf{Connection to NF with Learnable Prior.}
We can treat the second normalizing flow $h_\phi$ as a conditional prior distribution for the first unconditional flow $f_w$.
A simple example of such a learnable prior is a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) where each of mixture components is a Gaussian distribution $\mathcal{N}(z_f \vert \mu_y, \Sigma_y)$ corresponded to one of the class label $y$.
We compare a performance of the proposed conditional normalizing flow and the Gaussian model as the conditional part (Section~\ref{sec:exps}).
A gold standard to find parameters of GMM is an expectation maximization algorithm \cite{mackay2003information}.
We also adapt this algorithm for our model (see Appendix~\ref{sec:app-em}) and compare it with direct optimization (Section~\ref{sec:mnist}).
We, however, did not find a significant difference between them.
\vspace{-10pt}

\section{Experiments}
\label{sec:exps}
\subsection{Toy Semi-Supervised Classification}
\label{sec:exp-toy}
\begin{table}[]
\begin{adjustbox}{width=\columnwidth,center}
\begin{tabular}{cccccc}
\toprule
\multirow{2}{*}{$f_w$} & \multirow{2}{*}{$h_\phi$} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Moons} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Circles} \\
                            &                           & Error,\%       &   NLL              & Error,\%         & NLL       \\ \midrule
\multirow{2}{*}{GLOW}       & GLOW                      &  0.6 $\pm$ 0.4 &   1.11 $\pm$ 0.02  &  5.0 $\pm$ 1.9   &   1.68 $\pm$ 0.13      \\
                            & GMM                       &  1.2 $\pm$ 1.2 &   1.15 $\pm$ 0.01  &  14.2 $\pm$ 9.0  &   1.28 $\pm$ 0.15      \\ \midrule
\multirow{2}{*}{FFJORD}     & GLOW                      &  0.3 $\pm$ 0.2 &   1.12 $\pm$ 0.03  &  6.2 $\pm$ 2.2   &   1.7 $\pm$ 0.2         \\
                            & GMM                       &  5.3 $\pm$ 6.3 &   1.15 $\pm$ 0.06  &  25 $\pm$ 2      &   0.97 $\pm$ 0.05        \\ \bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{adjustbox}
\caption{
Test accuracy and negative log-likelihood (NLL) for different models on two toy datasets (see visualization at Appendix.~\ref{sec:app-toy}).
$f_\theta$ corresponds to the unconditional part and $h_\phi$ to the conditional part of SCNF model (Fig.~\ref{fig:scnf-model}).
GMM stands for Gaussian mixture model, and Glow is a flow-based model.
Glow conditional flow $h_\phi$ in terms of test error outperforms GMM for different types of unconditional flow on both datasets.
Taking into account values of uncertainties, we see that unconditional FFJORD gives roughly the same test error and negative log-likelihood as unconditional Glow.
}
\label{tab:toy}
\end{table}
We train proposed Semi-Conditional Normalizing Flow on toy 2-dimensional problems: moons and concentric circles.
For each problem the training dataset consists of 1000 objects and only 10 of them are labeled.
We consider Gaussian mixture model and Glow as the conditional flow $h_\phi$.
For the unconditional flow $f_\theta$ we take Glow and recently proposed FFJORD \cite{grathwohl2018ffjord} models.
We do not use multiscale architecture with dimension reduction as we have only 2-dimensional input.
We observe that models with Glow conditioning archive lower test error in comparison with Gaussian Mixture Model conditioning.
To make the fair comparison, we use roughly the same number of parameters for each SCNF model.
Quantitative results can be seen at Tab.~\ref{tab:toy} and visualization at Appendix.~\ref{sec:app-toy}.

\subsection{Semi-Supervised Classification on MNIST}
\begin{table}[]
    \begin{adjustbox}{width=\columnwidth,center}
    \begin{tabular}{@{}ccccc@{}}
    \toprule
    Model                      & Optimisation            & ${L}_{\mathrm{clf}}$ & Error, \% & Bits/dim \\ \midrule
    \citet{kingma2014semi}   & VI                      & \cmark                  &    3.3 $\pm$ 0.1      &  -        \\ \midrule
    \multirow{3}{*}{\begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}SCNF-GLOW\\ \textcolor{gray}{(Ours)}\end{tabular}}  & SGD                     & \xmark                  &    1.9 $\pm$ 0.3      &    1.145 $\pm$ 0.004      \\ \cmidrule(l){2-5}
                              & \multirow{2}{*}{EM-SGD} & \cmark                  &    2.0 $\pm$ 0.1       &    1.151 $\pm$ 0.010      \\
                              &                         & \xmark                  &    {1.9 $\pm$ 0.0}      &    1.146 $\pm$ 0.002      \\ \midrule
    \multirow{3}{*}{\begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}SCNF-GMM\\ \textcolor{gray}{(Ours)}\end{tabular}} & SGD                     & \xmark                  &    14.2 $\pm$ 2.4      & 1.143 $\pm$ 0.011     \\ \cmidrule(l){2-5}
                              & \multirow{2}{*}{EM-SGD} & \cmark                  &    16.9 $\pm$ 5.3      & {1.141 $\pm$ 0.006}      \\
                              &                         & \xmark                  &    13.4 $\pm$ 2.8      &   1.145 $\pm$ 0.005     \\ \bottomrule
    \end{tabular}
    \end{adjustbox}
    \caption{Test error and bits per dimension on MNIST dataset (lower better).
    We use 100 labelled objects to train the models (averaging done over 3 different splits).

    SCNF stands for Semi-Conditional Normalizing Flows with the same unconditional flow and different conditional parts.

    SGD is a direct gradient optimisation of the objective, EM-SGD is an expectation maximisation algorithm, and VI is a variational inference.
    $L_\mathrm{clf}$ is an additional classification loss.
    We found that the proposed SCNF-GLOW model outperforms VAE-based approach \cite{kingma2014semi}.

    }
    \label{tab:mnist-acc}

\end{table}
\label{sec:mnist}
We demonstrate performance of the proposed model on MNIST dataset \cite{lecun1998gradient}.
The standard protocol \cite{kingma2014semi} was used to model semi-supervised setting.
We split the training set of size 60,000 into labelled and unlabelled parts.
The size of labelled part equals to 100.
The algorithm performance was averaged on 3 different random splits of the dataset.
We use Glow architecture \cite{kingma2018glow} for  an unconditional part (see Appendix~\ref{sec:app-arch}).
We reduce the size of an input with a multi-scale architecture from 784 for $x$ to 196 for $z_f$.
For a conditional part $h_\phi$ we compare Glow architecture with conditional affine coupling layers (SCNF-GLOW) and Gaussian mixture model (SCNF-GMM).
We compare our Semi-Conditional Normalizing Flow (SCNF) model with VAE-based approach \cite{kingma2014semi}, which also uses architecture with dimension reduction.

The results can be seen at Tab.~\ref{tab:mnist-acc}.
We observe that the proposed SCNF model with Glow-based conditional part outperforms VAE-based model.
The GMM conditioning seems to be not sufficiently expressive for this problem and shows much poorer performance.
We also did not find any difference between the performance of SGD and EM-SGD optimization algorithms.

\begin{figure}
\centering
\subfigure[t-SNE Embeddings of $z_f$]{\label{fig:a}\includegraphics[width=0.47\columnwidth]{embed-zf.png}}
~~~
\subfigure[t-SNE Embeddings of $z_h$]{\label{fig:b}\includegraphics[width=0.47\columnwidth]{embed-zh.png}}
\vspace{-0.8em}
\caption{
We embed low-dimension representations of MNIST digits into two dimensional space using t-SNE method.
$z_f$ are from an unconditional part $f_\theta$ and $z_h$ are from a conditional part $h_\phi$.
Different colors correspond to different classes.
We found that embeddings $z_f$ from the unconditional model form clusters for different classes, and embeddings $z_h$ seem to be independent of class variable.}
\label{fig:2d-embed}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Dimension Reduction}
\label{sec:exp-dim}
An impact of the dimension reduction technique was examined (see Section~\ref{sec:SCNF-model}).
We use the SCNF-GLOW architecture from the previous experiment (Section~\ref{sec:mnist}) and vary a dimension of the latent representation $z_f$.
Notable that with the dimension growth the model is prone to overfit, and it results in nearly random guess test performance.
For more detailed results see Appendix~\ref{sec:app-dim}.

\subsection{Semi-Supervised Data Obfuscation}
\label{sec:exp-obf}
\label{dataobf}
Modern machine learning algorithms have become widely used for decisions that impact real lives.
These algorithm have to be non-discriminative and does not rely on such features as gender and race.
One way to reduce the discrimination is to construct object representations, that are independent of these discrimination-inducing features.
We consider a class label to be such discriminative information, and focus on finding a representation of $x$ that is independent of $y$.
The latent representation $z_f$ contains almost all semantic information about an object $x$, as $x$ can be quite accurate restored from $z_f$ when its dimension equals to 196 (see Figure~\ref{fig:mnist-rec}) and we assume that $x \!=\! f^{-1}_w(z_f)$.
However, it means that $z_f$ contains information about $y$ and, therefore, does not suitable.
On the other hand, we found that the representation $z_h$ from a conditional flow is independent of $y$, but still contains all the other information about $z_f$ and therefor $x$, since $z_f \! =\! h_\phi^{-1}(z_h; y)$.
Therefore, $z_h$ can be used as a non-dicriminative representation of an object $x$.

The intuition, why latent representations $z_h$ are not dependent of class variable $y$, can be explained by contradiction with log-likelihood \eqref{eq:scnf} maximization.
The likelihood, as a function of $h_\phi$ consists of two terms: a determinant of Jacobian ${\partial h_\phi(z_f; y)}/{\partial z_f^T}$ and a prior density $\mathcal{N}\left(z_{h} \vert 0, I\right)$.
The Jacobian term encourage the transformation $h_\phi$ to increase a volume, while the prior term prevent it from covering the whole space.
The conditional flow $h_\phi$ models different transformations for each class label $y$.
Therefore, it is able to fill the same high-density area in the latent space for objects from different classes and increase the determinant of Jacobian while preserving the prior density the same.
This leads to a higher likelihood and reduces the information about class label $y$.

In order to provide an evidence for this intuition, we trained two fully-connected classifiers of the same size in a space of $z_f$ and $z_h$.
For both classifiers we were able to fit training data perfectly.
However, the classifier that was trained with representations $z_h$ has nearly random accuracy on test data, while the other one achieves almost perfect performance.
To illustrate that $z_f$ depends on $y$ and $z_h$ does not, we embed these latent representations using t-SNE \cite{maaten2008visualizing} into 2-dimensional space (Fig.~\ref{fig:2d-embed}).
In Appendix~\ref{sec:mnist-cond-rec} we also explore what type of information contains in $z_h$.

\section{Conclusion \& Discussion}
This work investigates the idea of using deep generative models for semi-supervised learning, as well as, expands an area of normalizing flows applications.
We propose \textit{Semi-Conditional Normalizing Flows} -- a new architecture for semi-supervised learning that provides a computationally efficient way to learn from unlabeled data.
Although the model does not directly force the low-dimensional representations to be semantically meaningful, we always observe it in practice.
This effect is crucial for our model and needs an additional investigation.

In experiments, we show that the model outperforms semi-supervised variational auto-encoders \cite{kingma2014semi}.
We refer the improvement to end-to-end learning and a tractable likelihood, which optimization does not require to use approximate variational methods.
We also show, that the proposed model has a notable effect of data obfuscation (Section \ref{dataobf}), that is provided by the model design and properties of normalizing flows.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


TripIt introduced a free Android app, which enables travelers to view their itineraries; link to airlines, hotels and restaurants; and make calls directly from their itineraries in their Android devices.
TripIt already had, and recently upgraded, its iPhone app, and is testing a Blackberry app, which TripIt hopes to release before the end of 2009.
Soon TripIt, TripCase, Dopplr, Traxo and Kayak, among other companies with itinerary-management solutions, likely will be all over all of the mobile platforms.


text:
IPB University Researchers Create Shrimp Cultivation Technology, Able to Produce 130 Tons per Hectare
The IPB University research team has succeeded in creating a precise shrimp culture technology that can increase crop productivity. By combining the Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) and Biofloc cultivation systems, this technology is capable of producing up to 130 tons of shrimp in one hectare.
"What we are testing is shrimp farming by not replacing seawater much, with a recirculation system. Therefore, the rest of the feed and shrimp excrement must be converted into materials that do not produce toxins," said the Head of the Research Team, Prof. Bambang Widigdo when asked for information, 18/1.
He continued, the recirculation carried out should not reduce the flock much. This is because flocs or aggregates of feed residues, bacteria, protozoa and zooplankton can be used as food additives and to assimilate toxic gasses into non-toxic ones.
Prof. Bambang Widigdo explained that this shrimp cultivation technology is carried out in a greenhouse, where various parameters such as temperature and salinity can be conditioned. It is intended that the quality of the harvest can be maintained properly. In addition, shrimp farming with a greenhouse can also make water use more efficient.
"With maintained water quality, climate can be eliminated from fluctuations in temperature, optimal conditions can be achieved. So that growth can be faster. Because all parameters can be eliminated with full biosecurity, 300 to 500 shrimp can be stocked in one square meter," he said.
He continued, cultivation with this technology has the potential to continuously produce six to nine kilograms per cubic. Even if the harvest is done partially, the potential can be 100-130 tons per hectare.
Partial harvesting is carried out in several stages. That is in 65 days, 75 days, 85 days, 105 days and 120 days. Where each harvest ranges from 15-20 percent of the population.
"If accumulated, per cubic meter can reach 10 to 13 kilograms. This means that the hectare can be 100 to 130 tons per hectare. Meanwhile, conventional cultivation will only reach 40-68 tons per hectare," he explained.
Dr. Wiyoto, Deputy Head of the Research Team, also hopes that this RAS and biofloc cultivation system can be an alternative technology for ponds that are no longer productive. Because with a small area, it can produce high productivity.
"With this concept, we can revive ponds that are not active, which are not productive. Because we have tested this technology and it is running well, so it can be developed widely and on a larger scale," he explained.
In full, the research team consisted of Prof. Bambang Widigdo, Dr. Wiyoto, Dr. Zulaikasari, Dr. Sigit and involved 29 students, both from Vocational Schools and Bachelor programs. This very applicable innovation to be applied in society received funding from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology within the framework of the Kedai Reka program.
The Chancellor of IPB University, Prof. Arif Satria said, "This greenhouse facility is one of the Teaching Factory (Tefa) owned by the Vocational School of IPB University. "The presence of Tefa is important for the compatibility between education and industry. In this way, education is able to be up-to-date, according to the times," he said.
"We want vocational graduates when they enter the industry, what they face is the same. Students who study in vocational schools, with this smart Tefa facility, when they graduate, are not surprised. Tefa aims to introduce industry to students, and present an industrial aura in the campus world," he explained. (*) (IAAS/SYA)
Published Date : 20-Jan-2022
Resource Person : Prof Arif Satria, Prof Bambang Widigdo
Keyword : biofloc, RAS, shrimp farming, IPB vocational school
SDG : SDG 4 - QUALITY EDUCATION, SDG 9 - INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE


text:
Paul Gipe
Report Questions Both Ontario's Nuclear--and Solar Prices
Even with High Solar Costs Mix of Conservation & Renewables Cheaper than Nuclear Mix
In a report released today, the Pembina Institute and Greenpeace Canada questions Ontario's commitment to new and refurbished nuclear plants. The groups say that a mix of conservation and renewables would be cheaper than the cost of the Canadian province's commitment to maintaining nuclear's current 50% share of electricity generation.
The report is timely at the last remaining stronghold for nuclear power in the Americas. As nuclear plants are being closed in Quebec, California, and Vermont, Ontario is weighing the construction of two new reactors and refurbishing another eight aging reactors.
The groups have stepped into the middle of the debate on the Ontario government's Long-Term Energy Plan (LTEP) where the cost and risks of nuclear and of competing renewables will be crucial in determining what resources will be best for the province's future energy mix.
Renewable is Doable: Affordable and flexible options for Ontario's long-term energy plan examines various cost estimates for new nuclear plants in North America, including some of which have yet to be published. They find a consensus that new nuclear plants in Ontario—if built on schedule and on budget—would cost nearly $0.15 CAD per kilowatt-hour. The authors note that no nuclear plant in Canada has ever been built on schedule and on budget, nor have the most recent refurbishments in Ontario and New Brunswick.
Solar PV Tariffs—Where Does Ontario Stand
With the publication of FIT 3 solar tariffs and the high solar prices in the LTEP, observers wonder if OPA is simply working with out-of-date information, or if OPA has kept solar PV prices high for some other reason.
Feed-in tariffs are intended to change with each revision as market conditions change. If generation cost less than during a previous period, tariffs are reduced. If generation costs more than previously anticipated, tariffs are raised.
The worldwide cost of solar PV panels and inverters have fallen dramatically in the past five years.
The Ontario tariff for wind is down substantially since the FIT program was launched in 2009, as is that for landfill gas. Unlike the tariff for solar PV, the wind tariff is in line with that internationally. Ontario's wind tariff is comparable to the "initial" tariff for wind in Germany and France. (At windy sites, both German and France substantially reduce the tariff after a fixed period of time.)
The tariffs for hydro, biomass, and biogas have all substantially increased in Ontario's FIT 3, likely reflecting the poor take up of these technologies under the previous programs.
Nevertheless, tariffs for solar PV remain the most problematic of OPA's FIT 3 tariffs. The tariffs have become a lightning-rod for the pro-nuclear lobby in Ontario, who argue that nuclear is cheaper than "renewables" and use the solar PV tariffs to make their point.
While Tariffs for solar PV in Ontario have fallen by nearly half since the program was launched in 2009, only solar PV tariffs in Japan and Switzerland remain higher. One could argue that Japan has embarked on a crash program to replace its nuclear plants and is willing to pay what it takes. Ontario has made no such decision and the current debate on the LTEP hinges on what the new generating mix in the province will cost.
Tariffs for solar PV elsewhere, as in Germany, have fallen faster than those in Ontario or Switzerland. Solar tariffs in Ontario for FIT 3 are nearly double those in Germany.
Ontario's solar tariffs are also nearly double those in Great Britain, a nation with which Canada shares a strong cultural affinity. And while solar development in Britain has slowed considerably since the coalition government drastically cut the tariffs, solar continues to be installed. There is 1,600 MW of solar PV installed in Britain, nearly three times the amount installed in Ontario. (Britain's population is about five times greater than that of Ontario.)
Renewables Still Cheaper Than Nuclear in Ontario
Fortunately, the report concludes that even with the much higher solar PV tariffs in FIT 2, a mix of conservation and renewables remains much cheaper at $0.104 CAD/kWh than a mix of new nuclear at $0.15 CAD/kWh with much less risk to the province and Ontario ratepayers.
Pembina concludes by noting that conservation and renewables can be added incrementally and gradually replace the province's aging reactors. In contrast, new nuclear units will be added a decade after a commitment is made and come on line in a large block, making planning for future electricity demand and adapting to these changes more difficult than necessary.


The video is near the end of this post.
Even during 'boom times,' the manufactured home industry struggled with certain issues. Experts and advocates often point to regulatory or financing challenges.
Graphic provided by Ross Kinzler when he was then the executive director of the Wisconsin Housing Alliance (WHA).
Beyond the 'lending and legal,' the core challenge goes under many different labels or monikers.
Once true, but now outdated realities.
The best information in the world must still be accepted or at a minimum, and considered by those who hear, see, or read it.
The industry doesn't need hype or exaggeration.
What manufactured housing needs is to have reality be properly presented by credible voices.
The Daily Business News will preview today part one of a multiple episode video captured near Fairhope, AL, in the appealing Gulf Shores/Pensacola area.
You don't have to be told that these are not paid actors.
Nor where the participants given anything, other than a good meal and gas money for the drive to the restaurant where this focus group was conducted.
Manufactured home professionals, individually must look reality in the eye. If everyone else ignores reality, the ones who grasp it are logically best able to advance.
The entire focus group session lasted for about an hour, but this first part – episode 1 – below is about 5 minutes and 5 seconds.
This isn't about rah-rah. Rather, it's about helping open minds.
It's about education, through questions and answers in a group setting from those who know. That means, viewers discover credibility.
You can see glitzy productions in manufactured and modular housing.
If pretty pictures or great videos were all that it would take to sell more manufactured homes, then manufactured housing shipments would be somewhere between 500,000 and a million new homes a year.
But the industry finished 2017 with some 92,900 shipments.
Obviously, fancy videos and great looking websites alone clearly aren't doing the job the industry needs.
By contrast, Inside MH has done videos with residents, experts and industry professionals that when they are shared as we suggest, result in a big increase in business.
Because what well qualified home shopping viewers are watching the video for is insight. When they find authenticity, they're loving it.
Pre-Louisville, the Inside MH Road Show team traveled to Key Allegro Villas in Fairhope, AL between Mobile, Pensacola and near Gulf Shores, where a 55 plus community is growing near the warm winds and waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
The purpose of many of our Inside MH videos is get people who know to reveal what is.
It's about information, and it can at times be entertaining.
But the goal is opening minds and providing accurate insights.
People sense authentic, genuine people and what's real in interviews.
That in turn results in opening more minds.
This isn't something you can do for yourself. Experience and third party research alike tell us that for this to be effective, it must be done by a well-informed, third party media. The by-product of such educational videos routinely is, that more people buy. For an example of how it works, see the report and video interview, linked below.
Let's nail down a key point for this focus group, or any of our video interviews. Given reality, consistently told in an authentic way, and professional, ethical service the industry can be revived and grow to new record highs, and do it in a sustainable fashion.
To rephrase, these are not ads. They're educational.
That's what moves our operation. Opening minds to reality in ways that can advance the industry for good.
Every thing we do has the goal to address and reveal the cures for the issues that keep manufactured housing far below its potential.
We will soon post a version of this on MHLivingNews.com.
With no further adieu, here's the video.
Update:: the Affordable Housing Focus Group story ranked Page 1, #2 on a Google search for the date/time shown. For image search results and more details, click here or the above.


text:
All posts tagged Best Of
Marlon Blackwell Puts on a Clinic with Vol Walker Hall
Marlon Blackwell Architect's Steven L. Anderson Design Center embodies the recent history of architectural technology in its massing and materials. (Timothy Hursley)
University of Arkansas addition celebrates the future with a contemporary rewrite of Neoclassicism.
As head of the architecture department and distinguished professor at the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture, Marlon Blackwell was uniquely qualified to oversee the renovation and expansion of the school's home, Vol Walker Hall. To unite the school's landscape architecture, architecture, and interior design departments under one roof for the first time, Blackwell's eponymous firm designed a contemporary west wing to mirror the east bar on the existing Beaux-Arts style building, constructed in the 1930s as the university library. But the Steven L. Anderson Design Center—which tied for Building of the Year in AN's 2014 Best of Design Awards—is more than a container for 37,000 square feet of new studio, seminar, and office space. It is also a teaching tool, a lesson in the evolution of architectural technology writ in concrete, limestone, glass, steel, and zinc.
Arkansas, Beaux-Arts, Best Of, brise soleils, Clarkson Consulting, Concrete, Fayetteville, frit glass, Glass, Heitmann & Associates, L&L Metal Fabrication, limestone, Marlon Blackwell, post-tensioned concrete, rain screens, steel, Steel Frame, Stone Panels, Top, University of Arkansas, zinc	No Comments on Marlon Blackwell Puts on a Clinic with Vol Walker Hall
Behnisch Architekten Greens UB's School of Law
The John and Frances Angelos Law Center is on track to achieve LEED Platinum status. (David Matthiessen)
A high-performance facade weaves a diverse program into a single volume.
The School of Law at the University of Baltimore was founded nearly nine decades ago, but for most of that time its classrooms, offices, library, and clinics were scattered among several downtown buildings. That changed last year, with the opening of the John and Frances Angelos Law Center. Designed by Behnisch Architekten with Ayers Saint Gross, the Angelos Law Center unites a diverse program within a single 12-story structure. Its checkerboard envelope, which won Best Facade in AN's 2014 Best of Design Awards, weaves the building's three principal components—a classroom and office wing, the library, and a central atrium—into a single volume. In addition, the facade positions the university on the cutting edge of sustainable design. Its integrated approach to energy efficiency has helped the Angelos Law Center win several green-building prizes, and set it on track to achieve LEED platinum status. Read more…
automated blinds, Behnisch Architekten, Best Of, brise soleils, frit glass, high-performance facades, John and Frances Angelos Law Center, Maryland, Natural Ventilation, rain screens, Top, Transsolar, University of Baltimore	No Comments on Behnisch Architekten Greens UB's School of Law


Drug major Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) on said its US subsidiary Promius Pharma has received USFDA approval to market Sernivo spray, used in treatment of skin disorder.
The company added the commercial launch of the product is planned for the coming quarter.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories Co-Chairman and CEO G V Prasad said: "The FDA approval of Sernivo Spray is a significant milestone for Promius as it validates our committed efforts and resources to developing differentiated dermatology products from concept to commercial launch.
The company added that Promius has conducted two multi-center, randomised, double-blind, vehicle-controlled clinical trials in subjects aged 18 years and older with moderate plaque psoriasis to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Sernivo Spray.
"As an emerging leader in the dermatology space, we are committed to developing innovative treatment options and support services for clinicians and patients. The approval of Sernivo emphasizes our ongoing efforts and we look forward to a successful launch of Sernivo Spray in the coming quarter," Dr Reddys Executive Vice-President of Proprietary Products and President of Promius Pharma Raghav Chari said.


text:
"""
distribution.py
Author: Nils Kingston
Credit: Roger

Assignment:

Write and submit a Python program (distribution.py) that computes and displays
the distribution of characters in a given sample of text.

Output of your program should look like this:

Please enter a string of text (the bigger the better): The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.
The distribution of characters in "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain." is:
iiiiii
nnnnnn
aaaaa
sss
ttt
ee
hh
ll
pp
yy
m
r

Notice about this example:

* The text: 'The rain ... plain' is provided by the user as input to your program.
* Uppercase characters are converted to lowercase
* Spaces and punctuation marks are ignored completely.
* Characters that are more common appear first in the list.
* Where the same number of characters occur, the lines are ordered alphabetically.
  For example, in the printout above, the letters e, h, l, p and y both occur twice
  in the text and they are listed in the output in alphabetical order.
* Letters that do not occur in the text are not listed in the output at all.
"""
import string
a = string.ascii_lowercase
l = input("Please enter a string of text (the bigger the better): ")
print('The distribution of characters in "' + l + '" is: ')
counts = []
c = l.lower()
for i in list(a):
    counts.append(c.count(i))
zipper = (list(zip(counts,a)))
zipper.sort(key = lambda f: (-f[0], f[1]))
for h in zipper:
    if h[0]!=0:
        print(h[0]*h[1])


text:
National Student Federation of America records
Collection 0114-MDHC
Finding Aid View
Box List
The National Student Federation of America was founded in 1925 during a conference at Princeton University by student representatives from 245 universities. In 1927 the Federation opened a travel office and in 1928 amalgamated with the World Student Union. The Federation sponsored international debates, a news service, student problem and opinion surveys, radio broadcasts, trips, publications, and congresses. These program activities are documented in the archives through correspondence, annual reports, newsletters, and radio transcripts.
Use and Access to Collection
This collection is open for research.
Duplication and Copyright Information
Photocopies of original materials may be provided for a fee and at the discretion of the curator. Please see our Duplication of Materials policy for more information. Queries regarding publication rights and copyright status of materials within this collection should be directed to the appropriate curator.
0.75 Linear Feet
The National Student Federation of America records cover the years 1931 to 1939. Document types represented in the collection include correspondence, telegrams, reports, surveys, programs, papers, minutes, budgets, contest rules and announcement, press releases, newsletters, magazines, and pamphlets. The materials relate to the operation and activities of the National Student Federation of America. The bulk of the materials included are NSFA News Service newsletters released to college campus newspapers on a weekly basis and documenting issues and activities of interest to the NSFA. Also included are records relating to the development of the NSFA Motion Picture Service documenting early projects. Significant correspondents include past-president Edward R. Murrow, Arthur Norwood, and Kenneth Holland.
The National Student Federation of America (NSFA) organized on December 13, 1925, in Princeton, New Jersey. The outgrowth of a meeting of the Intercollegiate World Court Conference, the NSFA became a formal organization through which 245 participating institutions agreed to collectively represent the interests of students and student governments across the United States. At that time, the student delegates drafted the original charter and elected the first officers, including the first president, Lewis Fox of Princeton, class of 1926. The NSFA specifically planned to "achieve a spirit of unity among students of the United States; to give consideration to questions affecting student interests; develop an intelligent student opinion on questions of national importance; and foster understanding among students of the world in furtherance of enduring world peace."
National Student Federation membership consisted of the student bodies of individual colleges and universities. The size of the NSFA ballooned in the early years and leveled during the 1930s with approximately 150 active member institutions. The formal ruling body of the NSFA was the executive committee, comprised of seven regional delegates, two delegates elected at large, the President, Vice President, and Treasurer. Beginning in 1930, a National Board of Advisors of thirteen elected college and university faculty assumed partial responsibility for directing policy and finances. Officers and advisors were elected at the Annual Congress, when delegates from member institutions gathered to determine program and policy for the upcoming year. Also, by 1930, the NSFA established a national office and hired young college graduates to serve on staff. Staff responsibilities included developing the program outlined by the Annual Congress and conducting surveys on student activities and educational problems.
The NSFA increased its national and international presence in the 1930s, representing student opinion on a multitude of issues, including the subsidization of college athletes; compulsory military training in land grant schools; censorship of college newspapers; mandatory student chapel attendance; and world peace. In addition to voicing student concerns, the NSFA fostered international study and understanding by hosting foreign debate teams and sponsoring the travel of American students abroad. As one of many thriving student activist organizations in the 1930s, the NSFA cooperated in affiliation with like-minded organizations in promoting its agenda, including the International Student Service. The NSFA also joined the American Youth Conference, an umbrella organization that encompassed student organizations of varying ideological and political views.
The NSFA informed member institutions and affiliates of its program and activities through the distribution of a weekly newsletter and a more substantial monthly magazine titled The National Student Mirror. In order to reach a broader audience, the NSFA initiated a series of national radio broadcasts and in 1935 established the NSFA Motion Picture Service to promote students' needs and concerns.
The National Student Federation of America remained an active and lively organization through the decade of the 1930s. The records of the NSFA evidence its survival through at least 1939; additional documentary evidence suggests that the organization survived another few years until 1942. However, without conclusive documentation, the fate of the NSFA cannot be determined with certainty.
This collection is organized into two series:
Custodial History and Acquisition Information
The Harmon Foundation donated National Student Federation of America records to the University of Maryland Libraries in 1967.
The collection was processed in January 1973, at which time materials were placed into acid-free folders and boxes. The collection is arranged into two series in which folders were arranged alphabetically, then chronologically.
Student -- Political Activity
Guide to the National Student Federation of America records
Processed by unknown.
Finding aid written in English.
National Student Federation of America records, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries.
National Student Federation of America records, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries. http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/1268 Accessed January 28, 2023.


Former Minister of Aviation and a strong critic of the current All Progressives Congress, APC, led government, has taken a swipe at President Muhammadu Buhari for saying he assumed office in 2005.
The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has presented a budget proposal of N852.316b before the State House of Assembly.Ambode made the presentation on Tuesday for the 2019 fiscal year.
Three people were killed Monday night when Boko Haram insurgents attacked three communities in Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
England forward Maro Itoje will miss the Six Nations matches against France and Wales with a knee injury.The 24-year-old Saracens lock suffered medial ligament damage during England's 32-20 win over Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.


Last week I discovered there's a magical mom out there who went 538 days without yelling. I imagine she smells like cotton candy and leaves a silver glitter trail wherever she goes — kinda like dandruff, but, you know, fancy. She is a SAHM to four boys and writes the blog The Orange Rhino.
A friend on facebook linked to a post by this wondrous, non-yelling, mom creature. It was the post where she broke her 538 day non-yelling streak and, you know, yelled at her kids. As I read the post, I waited to feel the tingle of inspiration offered by a fellow mom who took on this amazing challenge. I anticipated feeling inspired by her self-control and her motto of "loving more and yelling less." I expected the urge to take on the no yelling challenge myself.
Instead, I felt bad. I felt inadequate. I felt, yet again, like a bad mom. Like someone else was doing it better and gentler and with less yelling. Which was true — well, the no yelling part anyway.
I respect what this other mom is doing. I bow down before her honesty. (Seriously, full props for writing about the yelling after she has a whole blog and masses of dedicated followers who are all about not yelling.) But I know that not yelling isn't realistic for me right now. If I set that goal I would fail.
And, in a moment of amazing growth and parental maturity, I realized . . . that's okay.
I don't like that I yell. Zoey doesn't like it. But it happens. I yell. I'm snappish. And it doesn't mean I love my daughter any less. She knows I can be grumpy (and sometimes even mean) and still love her to pieces. She knows this because I tell her so. She knows this because she sees it, feels it, and knows that it's part of how our family functions. We all get angry, frustrated, sad. We all act in ways we shouldn't sometimes. We say things we don't mean. We apologize from the bottom of our heart. We move on. And the whole time, we love each other.
What works for one mom, in one house, with one set of kids doesn't have to work for me. There are things I can learn from The Orange Rhino. I can cheer her on in her quest because I believe that's what moms should do for one another. But I don't have to compare myself to her. I don't have to take on her goals as my own.
I'm not saying yelling is okay. It's definitely not something I'm proud of. But it is real. For us in our house anyway. For us in our kind, loving, not always perfect home.
This entry was posted in anger, facebook, parenting, realtionships on July 30, 2013 by joslyne.
I can't remember where I read it, but a magazine (either Parenting or Parents I think) said it was OK to yell. That yelling wasn't the issue — it was what parents did after yelling (i.e. explaining to the kids why, apologizing, etc.) It's human to lose your temper and never losing it is unhealthy. As a person who once majored in psychology, bottling it all up and never expressing your frustrations can actually make you worse than just letting it lose every once in awhile.
Yes! I think this must be true. Or at least I really want it to be true because I'm a yeller. 🙂 I *do* apologize and take responsibility so at least I have that going for me! 🙂 Thanks for commenting!
Joslyne- your honesty is so amazing and I am right there with you, babe! It would be awesome if I could feel peaceful, calm and patient 24/7. I wish I could have felt that way before I had kids! I have come to accept that I will never be that kind of person who lets things just roll off her shoulders – not without being heavily medicated. And it feels like so much pressure to compare yourself to the kind of mom who doesn't yell, who bakes homemade bread and sews her kids clothing. But I think that our kids are learning valuable lessons from us in a sense because we lose our cool sometimes and then talk to them about it afterward. I think they are learning that sometimes people lose it but they need to own up to it and apologize. I did not learn that lesson until I was in my early 30's! Also, the reality is that our children will encounter all kinds of people in the world and they will need a thick skin to know how to handle it. Hopefully our kids will be prepared to own up to something they did wrong after they step out of the situation and also be able to forgive someone else who apologizes.
You are a wonderful mom who so clearly loves her daughter and she (although doesn't always show it ;)) adores you. Someday she will look back and realize how much you cared to write about wanting to be a great mom to her. That, in and of itself is being a great mom.
I tried the Orange Rhino thing for about an hour once. Actually, I don't think I even lasted an hour. I'm pretty sure my children will only remember their childhood as one big screamfest. I feel terrible about it, but I'm pretty sure I'm incapable of getting through to my kids (at times) in any other way. They're not going to be broken serial killers because of it. They will be just fine. And so will Zozo. I'm not too worried about it. Why can't we just be parents without worrying so much about how we're doing it? I hate that torture, but I'm right there with you, second-guessing myself all the time.
I love this post. I think it gives so many parents a big sigh of relief to know they are not alone. You are, indeed, an excellent mother. Every family is so different. There is NO ONE WAY that every family should behave. The important thing is that we are trying to be good parents.
And you know what? Maybe she didn't yell, but she had to do something to deal with the frustration and maybe that something wasn't so great…just like yelling isn't so great. Just because someone manages to give up a bad habit (maybe it's not so bad after all) doesn't mean they are perfect and better than us. If I give up fried foods but still eat a pint of ice cream every day, am I any healthier? Nope. She is just another parent like the rest of us trying to do her best and I commend her just as I commend you!
I love what you said about cheering on another mom in her quest. I love it when I see parents supporting and encouraging one another without pointing fingers or shaming.
It definitely gives me a big sigh of relief to know I'm not alone. It's so easy to feel isolated as a parent — I love it when we reach out to each other!
As your mother I must add to all the GREAT info above that there are "YELLERS" and then there are "YELLERS." Yes, you raise your voice, but a true yeller you are not. You are patient and VERY consistent with Zoey, but mean screaming your lungs out…you are not!! Keep up the good work and don't feel guilty or get embarrassed. Please, just look at Zoey and you can see what a wonderful mom you are.


text:
package com.xianyue.mail;

import ch.qos.logback.core.joran.spi.JoranException;
import com.alibaba.fastjson.JSON;
import com.alibaba.fastjson.JSONObject;
import com.xianyue.mail.collector.CollectorFactory;
import com.xianyue.mail.collector.ICollector;
import com.xianyue.mail.config.ConfigManager;
import com.xianyue.mail.config.ConfigSender;
import com.xianyue.mail.constants.MailConstants;
import com.xianyue.mail.handler.CommonHandler;
import com.xianyue.mail.sender.ISender;
import com.xianyue.mail.sender.MailFactory;
import com.xianyue.mail.sender.entity.MailEntity;
import com.xianyue.mail.util.ConfigurationLoader;
import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Optional;
import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

/**
 * @author Xianyue
 */
public class MailWorker {
    private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(MailWorker.class);
    private Map<String, ISender> mailSenders;
    private ICollector           mailCollector;

    private ScheduledExecutorService executorService = Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(4);

    /**
     * 加载配置文件,初始化worker
     */
    public void initialize() throws IOException, JoranException {
        LogBackConfigLoader.load("conf/logback.xml");
        Optional<String> config = ConfigurationLoader.loadJsonConfiguration("sender.json");
        if (!config.isPresent()) {
            throw new RuntimeException("缺少对应的配置文件. conf/sender.json");
        }

        //初始化配置文件
        ConfigManager manager = ConfigManager.getInstance();
        manager.setConfigSender(config.get());

        //初始化sender
        this.mailSenders = MailFactory.senders(manager.getSenders());

        //初始化collector
        String collectorType = manager.getCollector();
        this.mailCollector = CollectorFactory.createCollector(collectorType);
    }

    /**
     * TODO 合理生成handler类
     */
    public void start() throws IOException, JoranException {
        initialize();

        List<Runnable> runnables = mailCollector.collectors(new CommonHandler(mailSenders));
        for (Runnable r : runnables) {
            executorService.schedule(r, 3, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
        }
    }

}