text:
Understanding the Use of Non-Motorized Transportation Facilities
Greg Lindsey, Kristopher Hoff, Steve Hankey, Xize Wang
Report no. CTS 12-24
Traffic counts and models for describing use of non-motorized facilities such as sidewalks, bike lanes, and trails are generally unavailable. Because transportation officials lack the data and tools needed to estimate use of facilities, their ability to make evidence-based choices among investment alternatives is limited. This report describes and assesses manual and automated methods of counting non-motorized traffic; summarizes counts of cyclists and pedestrians in Minneapolis, Minnesota; develops scaling factors to describe temporal patterns in non-motorized traffic volumes; validates models for estimating traffic using ordinary least squares and negative binomial regressions; and estimates bicycle and pedestrian traffic volumes for every street in Minneapolis. Research shows that automated counters are sufficiently accurate for most purposes. Automated counter error rates vary as a function of type of technology and traffic mode and volume. Across all locations, mean pedestrian traffic (51/hour) exceeded mean bicycle traffic (38/hour) by 35 percent. One-hour counts were highly correlated with 12-hour "daily" counts. Significant correlates of non-motorized traffic vary by mode and include weather (temperature, precipitation), neighborhood socio-demographics (household income, education), built environment characteristics (land use mix), and street (or bicycle facility) type. When controlling for these factors, bicycle traffic, but not pedestrian traffic, increased over time and was higher on streets with bicycle facilities than without (and highest on off-street facilities). These new models can be used to estimate non-motorized traffic where counts are unavailable and to estimate changes associated with infrastructure improvements.


World Map of World
Current, Credible, Consistent
World Map / Timor Leste/Geography/Timor Leste Population
Timor Leste Population
Timor Leste population is a major concern for their government. The population is directly related to the socio-economic condition of the country.
The population is pretty high in Timor Leste or East Timor. According to the last census, the figure is an astonishing 1,040,900. Among them, 56,900 people live in the capital.
When we look back in the past, we find that the population of this small nation was not that high. In 1996, the population of the country was 859,700. At that time, the country was under the control of the Indonesian Government. But in August 1999, the country witnessed their historical event of vote for independence. Experts believe that this event was largely responsible for the growth in population.
During this period, the Indonesian Militia groups started a violent and fierce attrition all over the country. This caused a migration of huge number of people towards this eastern part of Timor islands. Later in that year, when the UN peace keeping forces arrived, the local people who left their home also returned. As a result, this part of the island became over-crowded with refugees and the original inhabitants of the place. In 2007, the estimated population of the country was 1,084,971.
Many of the East Timorese are actually the offspring of Tetum, originally the inhabitant of the south central part of the Timor Island. This huge population of the country is causing unemployment. 50% of the East Timor population is unemployed. Yet the literacy rate is quiet good here. According to the government reports, 48% people in the country are literate and as East Timor is slowly becoming a favorite of the tourists, Government is hopeful about a permanent solution of the unemployment problem.
For further info please get in touch with us at


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ARM Launches Free Toolkit for Android
This week sees the arrival of the ARM Development Studio 5 (DS-5) Community Edition (CE), a free-to-use edition of its reference software development toolkit. The new edition has been "dedicated" to the Android application developer community; as such, it has been engineered to help create native software that can run up to four times faster than Java code.
DS-5 CE joins ARM's standard SDK and NDK Android development kits by guiding developers towards the "performance and energy-efficiency advantages" made possible when ARM native code is used in Android applications. The new toolkit permits development of Java and C/C++ code in the same Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE).
ARM says that the DS-5 Community Edition includes limited (but essential) functionality from the premium DS-5 toolkit to help solve common Android application developer pain points. It achieves this by providing an integrated graphical debugger for NDK-generated code and visibility of advanced processor information, including ARM NEON Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) registers.
This new release also features a tailored version of the ARM Streamline Performance Analyzer for use with compatible Android development platforms. Streamline (a branded product name) is designed to capture system-wide performance statistics from a variety of sources, which helps developers to locate hotspots in their code and isolate potential causes. Platform builders can add support for Streamline by integrating an open source driver available from the Linaro website.
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Archive for September, 2011
September 23rd, 2011
VB6 Data logger example program RS232 serial communication
Introduction of VB6 Data Logger Program:-
This is the second of data logger project using PIC18f452. In the previous post we have discussed the hardware of data acquisition system and now in this post we will learn how we can develop a simple data logger to log the process inputs using visual basic VB6.
Following components are used in this project:-
1. Text box
2. Command buttons
3. Com control for serial communication.
Steps to develop a simple program in VB6 for serial communication:-
1. Open a new project and using standard exe in vb6.
2. select text box and drag and drop it on form, re-size it and change with following properties of text box in properties section. (a) enable the multi-line , (b) in text property delete the text1.
3. drag and drop two commands button and change their caption in property section by "Connect" and "Disconnect"
4. Go toll bar, click on project, open component addition menu, find Ms-comm Control 6, and add this to left component section.
5. Drag and drop the MsComm on the form any where.
6. Copy and paste the following code in the code section of the project, compile and enjoy.
Photograph of the Data logger:-
Code (program) in VB6:-The VB6 code for the data logger is as under:-
Private Sub Command1_Click()
If (MSComm1.PortOpen = False) Then
MSComm1.PortOpen = True
End If
Command1.Enabled = False
Command2.Enabled = True
End Sub
Private Sub Command2_Click()
If (MSComm1.PortOpen = True) Then
MSComm1.PortOpen = False
End If
Command1.Enabled = True
Command2.Enabled = False
End Sub
Private Sub Form_Load()
With MSComm1
.CommPort = 5
.RThreshold = 1
.RTSEnable = True
.Settings = "9600,N,8,1″
.InputLen = 127
.SThreshold = 1
End With
End Sub
Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
If (MSComm1.PortOpen = True) Then
MSComm1.PortOpen = False
End If
End Sub
Private Sub MSComm1_OnComm()
Dim Buffer As String
Select Case MSComm1.CommEvent
Case comEvReceive
'Text1.Text = " "
Buffer = MSComm1.Input
Text1.Text = Text1.Text & Buffer
End Select
End Sub
September 23rd, 2011
PIC18f452 serial Data acquisition for Temperature Monitoring
Introduction of Data Logger Project:-
This is project is about the construction of simple data logger using PIC microcontroller PIC18f452 and Visual basic-6 VB6.
The project is consist of two posts:
1. In the first post, we will discuss the Hardware of Data acquisition Unit and the programming of PIC Microcontroller PIC18f452.
2. The second post will be about the development of PC side code, the Data logger is designed and developed using Visual basic VB6 programming language.
Hardware of Data acquisition Unit:-
This is a simple example project for the understanding of how data loggers and data acquisitions systems works. Students can design the project their won after reading the post.
Componenets List:-
The components used in this Project are as follows:-
1. The heart of the data acquisition (DAQ )is PIC18f452 microcontroller
2. Crystal used is 20MHz
3. Capacitors used are 20pF
4. Push buton for manual reset
5. Liquid crystal Display LCD 2 line 20 Characters
6. LM35 the analog temperature sensor
7. variable resistor 10K ohm to set the contrast of LCD
8. 10K ohm pull up resistor
9. 5V DC regulated power supply
Features of Data acquisition Unit:-
1. The PIC18f452 have 8 buitin analog to digital converters ADC of 10 bits resulations. So we have used only one builtin ADC to convert the analog signals of Temperature from LM35.
2. Only one analog Temperature sensor LM35 is used to sense the temperature.
3. The software is written to take the average of 10 consective readings of ADC for smooth monitoring of temperature.
4. The measured temperature is display on LCD.
5. the progress of sampling is also shown on LCD.
6. The average value of temperature is then transmitted to PC using serial communication through RS232 port at 9600 buad rate with setting 9600,N,8,1.
Circuit diagram of Data acquisition Unit:-
Data logger PIC18f452 Temperature Display and RS232 serial transferSoftware of Data acquisition Unit:-
The program for PIC18f452 is written in proton basic language and listing is as under.
'****************************************************************
'* Name : Temperature_data_logger.BAS *
'* Author : Dr.Rana *
'* Date : 22/9/2011 *
'* Version : 1.0 *
'* Notes : This is simple program for PIC18f452 *
'* : The LM25 sensor is connected to PIC452 *
'* The temperature measured is transfered to PC via *
'* serial port RS232 for temerature data logger *
'****************************************************************
Device = 18F452
Xtal=20 ' The crystal frequency is 20MHZ
LCD_DTPin PORTD.4 ' LCD is conected to PIC18f452 using four bit mode
LCD_RSPin PORTD.3
LCD_ENPin PORTD.2
Adin_Res 10 ' Set the resolution to 10
Adin_Tad FRC ' Choose the RC osc for ADC samples
Adin_Stime 100 ' Allow 100us for charge time
ADCON1 = %_PHONE_ ' Set PORTA analog and right justify result
Input PORTA.0
TXSTA.5=1 ' setting Transmit Enable Bit
RCSTA.7=1
RCSTA.4=1
Hserial_Baud 9600 ' Setting Baud rate
Dim raw_adc_conversion As Word
Dim temperature As Float
Dim x As Byte
Print Cls
Print At 1,1,"T.Logger"
Loop:
raw_adc_conversion=0
For x=0 To 9
raw_adc_conversion = raw_adc_conversion + ADIn 0
DelayMS 200
Print At 1,10,"Samp.", Dec x
Next x
raw_adc_conversion = raw_adc_conversion/10
temperature = (5/1023) * raw_adc_conversion
temperature = temperature * 100
'1 degree centigrade for every 10mV
Print At 2,2,"Temp:", Dec temperature ,"C"
HRSOut Dec temperature,13,10
DelayMS 1000
GoTo Loop
September 20th, 2011
Proton Basic code example for PIC18f452 counter project
PROTON BASIC UP and DOWN Counter PROJECT with RESET USING PIC Microcontroller PIC18f452
Introduction of counter Project:-
This is a simple microcontroller project build for a Up and Down Counter with Reset of counts facility.
In this project PIC18f452 is used for processing and this device is the heart of the project. A 2 line 20 character General purose LCD is used as basic display of the counter.
In this project three push button are used as inputs of counter, but any TTL signal provider ciruit cn be interfaced which uses IR,LDR,phototransistor or optocoupler as input. Because this counter can be used any where, to counts any object passing through a certain location. This counter project counts up to _PHONE_ counts.
Thus this counter project is suitable where we have to counts any large number of objects.
Parts of the Counter Project:-
This counter project is based on a very few components which are listed as follows:-
1. The heart of the counter project is PIC18f452 (1Nos)
2. Liquid Crystal Display LCD ( 2 line 20 Characters 1Nos)
3. crystal 4MHz (1Nos)
4. Capacitor 20pF (2Nos)
5. Push Buttons (4 Nos)
6. Resistors (10K ohm 4Nos)
7. variable resistor (10K ohm 1 Nos)
A regulated power supply of +5V DC is required to make this project operational.
Circuit Diagram of Counter Project:-
Below is the circuit diagram of counter using PIC18f452 PIC Microcontroller and LCD.
Main Features of Up and Down Counter:-
The object counter based on PIC Microcontroller have following three basic inputs.
 1. Up button for increment the nuber of


text:
This simple and fun sensory activity can easily be adapted to make it suitable for children of all ages.
You will need:
- Wicker baskets
- Lengths of different material
- Wooden Spoons
- Metal Containers
- Varying size linked chains
- Straw baskets
- Coconut shell
- Any other natural seasonal objects such as leaves, acorns, fur cones, conkers, etc.
Depending on the age of the children place all the suitable materials into the wicker baskets and allow the children to pull them out exploring the textures, smells etc.
Older children can talk about the objects, what they feel like, look or smell like. Also discuss what they are made of or where they can be found. If possible take the older children on a nature walk and gather leaves, conkers, fur cones and acorns etc to put into the treasure baskets so that they are able to understand where these objects come from.
Areas of learning covered:
- Knowledge and Understanding of the World
- Personal and Social development
- Language, Literacy and Communication skills

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


TabSentry - Tasks - Browsers - Tools - Distribute Custom Data
Introduction
You can use the Distribute Custom Data Tool to mass assign Custom Data to your tasks. You can do this by providing a list of data, generating Custom Data with AI, or by using our preset randomized data.
Setup & Recommendations
Distribute Custom Data
1. Navigate over to the Browsers section of TabSentry in Tasks. This section has an icon that looks like a globe titled Browsers when you hover over it.
2. Select one of your tasks in the tableview, click the Tools button, select the Distribute Custom Data option, and click Start.
3. You can provide a List of values. Each value needs to be separated with a new line.
4. You can generate values with AI. This utilizes chatGPT to generate values based on the description you provide. The more detailed your description, the higher quality data chatGPT will generate.
5. A confirmation dialog will appear once you click the Save button. This will show the estimated cost of the AI job. AYCD includes 100,000 free tokens per month with your subscription.
6. You can use our preset randomized data sets in the Random section. This includes Dates, Names, Address info, and other miscellaneous values.
7. After configuring the Distribute Custom Data dialog, click the Save button. A dialog will appear confirming your Custom Data has been distributed.
8. You can verify your data has been distributed by editing one of your tasks, and navigating to the Custom Data section. For example, on this task I distributed a random Adult Age value.

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text:
Date of Award
Economics and Finance
Mukherjee, Tarun; Wei, Peihwang Philip
We identify some of the factors affecting the extent of commonality in liquidity and differences between different stock exchanges around the world. With a comprehensive approach, our investigation centers on presenting evidence on the existence of commonality in liquidity, effect of using different measures of market variables on the level of commonality, factors that change the likelihood of stocks having commonality and factors explaining the different levels of commonality across markets. For the individual stock liquidity, we employ most common and reliable liquidity measures including quoted bid and ask spread, proportional spread, effective spread, proportional effective spread and percentage spread. For the market liquidity, we calculate the equal weighted and value weighted averages of the individual stock liquidity measures. Our base model of commonality of liquidity is an extension of Chordia, Roll, and Subrahmanyam (2000). Our data includes 36,457 common stocks in 46 stock exchanges in 33 countries. Our data period begins on January 2000 and covers until the end of December 2007. Our results show that 14.38% of all stocks in the world have commonality in liquidity with their markets when equally weighted market variables are used. This percentage drops to 9.76% with using value weighted market variables. After controlling for commonality in certain days of the week, we find that commonality is, in most part, uniformly distributed across days-of-the-week, almost for all countries. We also find that market factors including average spread, average price, average return, average risk, average size, legal system (common vs. civil law) and distribution of mean company size affect the likelihood of companies having commonality within their exchanges. In terms of the different levels across countries, we find that average percentage spread, level of risk, distribution of mean company size and legal system all have significant effects. Our results contribute to the literature analyzing factors that affect the level of commonality and types of companies that are likely to have commonality. Our study also has practical implications for portfolio diversification by providing evidence for possible reasons for common liquidity movements in the markets which may eventually lead to market liquidity crunches.
Dicle, Mehmet F., "Commonality of Liquidity around the World: Evaluation of Possible Reasons" (2008). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 832.


text:
Atmospheric Sciences & Global Change Division
Rivers Run Right Through It...The Model
New river-routing model improves simulations of water movement within the Earth's system
The new river-routing model can simulate how water makes it into tributaries and the main river channel by way of runoff and below-surface water you can't see. The ability to simulate water's complex paths through the landscape is important to understand how human use of water impacts Earth's water cycle. Enlarge Image.
Results: A new river-routing model improves computer simulations of the magnitude and timing of water flow through the landscape and into the ocean, thanks to the work of a research team led by Dr. Ruby Leung at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Designed to work in tandem with land and Earth systems models, this new tool is better at simulating water flow at different scales than some widely used large-scale routing models. The model also can simulate river dynamics, including variations in depth and the velocity of river flow.
Why It Matters: Water is essential for households, power generation and agriculture. Resource managers need tools to understand how water flows through the landscape, especially as water availability is affected by climate change. Scientists tackled a new way to model how water travels through and on the landscape and joined their simulations with established land and Earth system models to better understand a wide range of water-land interactions. The model serves as a cornerstone for integrating and understanding impacts of human activities, such as irrigation and reservoir operation, on the water cycle at a regional or global scale.
Methods: In this study, PNNL researchers developed the MOdel for Scale Adaptive River Transport (MOSART), a new large-scale river routing model. MOSART improves the magnitude and timing of river flow simulations and provides a framework for studying the influence of dams and reservoirs for water management decision-making. The research developed and tested a new physically-based river routing model that improves simulations of river flow over the Pacific Northwest region, thus supporting better water management decision-making.
The team applied MOSART across local, regional and global scales with explicit treatment of sub-grid and in-channel water flow and dynamics. Designed to work within each spatial model grid unit, they tracked surface water runoff, first routed across ground surfaces, and then discharged along with subsurface runoff into a "tributary sub-network" before entering the main river channel. The spatial units are thus linked via routing through the main channel network, which is constructed in a consistent way across different spatial resolutions. All model parameters are physically based, and only a small subset requires calibration.
The team tested MOSART on a large river basin at different spatial resolutions and evaluated their model output using observed streamflow measurements from stream gauge stations. MOSART was compared to two other routing models used with land surface models. Their results compared well with consistent performance at multiple resolutions.
Additional model evaluations used channel velocities from field measurements or a hydraulic model at various locations. These results showed MOSART could produce seasonal variation and channel velocity magnitudes at different resolutions.
What's Next? PNNL researchers are conducting further studies based on MOSART. The team has incorporated MOSART into the Community Land Model and is testing it at the global scale. In addition, they developed and are testing a reservoir operation model to build on MOSART.
Sponsors: This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Earth System Modeling (ESM) and Integrated Assessment Research (IARP) Programs through the Integrated Earth System Modeling (iESM) and Climate Science for Sustainable Energy Future (CSSEF) projects. Development of the datasets used in this study was partially supported by the Platform for Regional Integrated Modeling and Analysis (PRIMA) initiative, a PNNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development program. In addition, some data and information were provided by the Surface Hydrology Group, University of Washington.
Research Team: The work was performed by a team led by PNNL's L. Ruby Leung including Hong-Yi Li, Mark Wigmosta, Maoyi Huang, Yinghai Ke, and Andre Coleman at PNNL and Huan Wu at the University of Maryland.
Research Area: Climate & Earth Systems Science
Reference: Li H, MS Wigmosta, H Wu, M Huang, Y Ke, AM Coleman, and LR Leung. 2013. "A Physically Based Runoff Routing Model for Land Surface and Earth System Models." Journal of Hydrometeorology. DOI:10.1175/JHM-D-12-015.1

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


Colour selection for your garden
Designing your garden is an art. Like any good painting, you must plan it out, with a view to balance, colour and lines. Today, we are going to learn about colour selection for gardeners, using a garden of frangipanis as a case study.
Before you start purchasing plants and dumping them in your garden, you need to settle on a colour scheme. There are a handful of ways to pick a colour scheme that is pleasing to the eye, yet there are easily hundreds of ways to make a colour scheme that is an awful mess.
First, think about how many colours you want. We are going to consider the colours of frangipanis as an example. Frangipanis come in pink, red, orange, yellow and white (as well as combinations of the abovebut this is a topic we will reserve for a future, more advanced lesson). Notice how we have arranged red, orange, yellow and white in order. Pink is an odd case; it is not a colour of the rainbow, rather it is a light, undersaturated red. You may notice white is also not a colour of the rainbow, but it is the colour you get when you combine an entire rainbow together.
Now, you can either pick colours which are next to each other, or you can skip entire sections of the colour wheel. There are many places online where you can actually make a perfect designer colour scheme, but you can also do it on your own.
If you are planting frangipanis, consider how many different colours you want. One colour is boring, so go with two, three or four. Five is too many.
Then, choose colours which are next to each other, such as red and orange; or skip alternative colours, such as by choosing red and yellow.
Translating this in terms of frangipanis, you could plant a pink frangipani, lulus blood for instance, with a white frangipani. Remember, colour selection for gardeners is about rules, not unfettered creativity.


Apache Tomcat 8.0.14
Package org.apache.tomcat.util.digester
The Digester package provides for rules-based processing of arbitrary XML documents.
See: Description
Package org.apache.tomcat.util.digester Description
The Digester package provides for rules-based processing of arbitrary XML documents.
[Introduction] [Configuration Properties] [The Object Stack] [Element Matching Patterns] [Processing Rules] [Logging] [Usage Example] [Namespace Aware Parsing] [Pluggable Rules Processing] [Encapsulated Rule Sets] [Using Named Stacks For Inter-Rule Communication] [Registering DTDs] [Troubleshooting] [FAQ] [Known Limitations]
Introduction
In many application environments that deal with XML-formatted data, it is useful to be able to process an XML document in an "event driven" manner, where particular Java objects are created (or methods of existing objects are invoked) when particular patterns of nested XML elements have been recognized. Developers familiar with the Simple API for XML Parsing (SAX) approach to processing XML documents will recognize that the Digester provides a higher level, more developer-friendly interface to SAX events, because most of the details of navigating the XML element hierarchy are hidden -- allowing the developer to focus on the processing to be performed.
In order to use a Digester, the following basic steps are required:
For example code, see the usage examples, and the FAQ .
Digester Configuration Properties
A org.apache.commons.digester.Digester instance contains several configuration properties that can be used to customize its operation. These properties must be configured before you call one of the parse() variants, in order for them to take effect on that parse.
Property Description
classLoader You can optionally specify the class loader that will be used to load classes when required by the ObjectCreateRule and FactoryCreateRule rules. If not specified, application classes will be loaded from the thread's context class loader (if the useContextClassLoader property is set to true) or the same class loader that was used to load the Digester class itself.
errorHandler You can optionally specify a SAX ErrorHandler that is notified when parsing errors occur. By default, any parsing errors that are encountered are logged, but Digester will continue processing as well.
namespaceAware A boolean that is set to true to perform parsing in a manner that is aware of XML namespaces. Among other things, this setting affects how elements are matched to processing rules. See Namespace Aware Parsing for more information.
ruleNamespaceURI The public URI of the namespace for which all subsequently added rules are associated, or null for adding rules that are not associated with any namespace. See Namespace Aware Parsing for more information.
rules The Rules component that actually performs matching of Rule instances against the current element nesting pattern is pluggable. By default, Digester includes a Rules implementation that behaves as described in this document. See Pluggable Rules Processing for more information.
useContextClassLoader A boolean that is set to true if you want application classes required by FactoryCreateRule and ObjectCreateRule to be loaded from the context class loader of the current thread. By default, classes will be loaded from the class loader that loaded this Digester class. NOTE - This property is ignored if you set a value for the classLoader property; that class loader will be used unconditionally.
validating A boolean that is set to true if you wish to validate the XML document against a Document Type Definition (DTD) that is specified in its DOCTYPE declaration. The default value of false requests a parse that only detects "well formed" XML documents, rather than "valid" ones.
In addition to the scalar properties defined above, you can also register a local copy of a Document Type Definition (DTD) that is referenced in a DOCTYPE declaration. Such a registration tells the XML parser that, whenever it encounters a DOCTYPE declaration with the specified public identifier, it should utilize the actual DTD content at the registered system identifier (a URL), rather than the one in the DOCTYPE declaration.
For example, the Struts framework controller servlet uses the following registration in order to tell Struts to use a local copy of the DTD for the Struts configuration file. This allows usage of Struts in environments that are not connected to the Internet, and speeds up processing even at Internet connected sites (because it avoids the need to go across the network).
 URL url = new URL("/org/apache/struts/resources/struts-config_1_0.dtd");
 digester.register
 ("-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Struts Configuration 1.0//EN",
 url.toString());
As a side note, the system identifier used in this example is the path that would be passed to java.lang.ClassLoader.getResource() or java.lang.ClassLoader.getResourceAsStream(). The actual DTD resource is loaded through the same class loader that loads all of the Struts classes -- typically from the struts.jar file.
The Object Stack
One very common use of org.apache.commons.digester.Digester technology is to dynamically construct a tree of Java objects, whose internal organization, as well as the details of property settings on these objects, are configured based on the contents of the XML document. In fact, the primary reason that the Digester package was created (it was originally part of Struts, and then moved to the Commons project because it was recognized as being generally useful) was to facilitate the way that the Struts controller servlet configures itself based on the contents of your application's struts-config.xml file.
To facilitate this usage, the Digester exposes a stack that can be manipulated by processing rules that are fired when element matching patterns are satisfied. The usual stack-related operations are made available, including the following:
A typical design pattern, then, is to fire a rule that creates a new object and pushes it on the stack when the beginning of a particular XML element is encountered. The object will remain there while the nested content of this element is processed, and it will be popped off when the end of the element is encountered. As we will see, the standard "object create" processing rule supports exactly this functionalility in a very convenient way.
Several potential issues with this design pattern are addressed by other features of the Digester functionality:
Element Matching Patterns
A primary feature of the org.apache.commons.digester.Digester parser is that the Digester automatically navigates the element hierarchy of the XML document you are parsing for you, without requiring any developer attention to this process. Instead, you focus on deciding what functions you would like to have performed whenver a certain arrangement of nested elements is encountered in the XML document being parsed. The mechanism for specifying such arrangements are called element matching patterns.
A very simple element matching pattern is a simple string like "a". This pattern is matched whenever an <a> top-level element is encountered in the XML document, no matter how many times it occurs. Note that nested <a> elements will not match this pattern -- we will describe means to support this kind of matching later.
The next step up in matching pattern complexity is "a/b". This pattern will be matched when a <b> element is found nested inside a top-level <a> element. Again, this match can occur as many times as desired, depending on the content of the XML document being parsed. You can use multiple slashes to define a hierarchy of any desired depth that will be matched appropriately.
For example, assume you have registered processing rules that match patterns "a", "a/b", and "a/b/c". For an input XML document with the following contents, the indicated patterns will be matched when the corresponding element is parsed:
 <a> -- Matches pattern "a"
 <b> -- Matches pattern "a/b"
 <c/> -- Matches pattern "a/b/c"
 <c/> -- Matches pattern "a/b/c"
 </b>
 <b> -- Matches pattern "a/b"
 <c/> -- Matches pattern "a/b/c"
 <c/> -- Matches pattern "a/b/c"
 <c/> -- Matches pattern "a/b/c"
 </b>
 </a>
It is also possible to match a particular XML element, no matter how it is nested (or not nested) in the XML document, by using the "*" wildcard character in your matching pattern strings. For example, an element matching pattern of "*/a" will match an <a> element at any nesting position within the document.
It is quite possible that, when a particular XML element is being parsed, the pattern for more than one registered processing rule will be matched either because you registered more than one processing rule with the same matching pattern, or because one more more exact pattern matches and wildcard pattern matches are satisfied by the same element.
When this occurs, the corresponding processing rules will all be fired in order. begin (and body)


text: One of the things that needs to be done to solve the problem with the air leakage through the building envelope is to be able to identify where they are located. This is why my partner, Brenda Smith, and I developed an air leak detector that uses a vitamin B supplement. So the way the system works is that we make a solution with the vitamin B2, with water, and then we use an off-the-shelf humidifier to disperse it in the air. Then an energy rater can use one of their fans to pressurize the building. And this then will direct the vitamins to the leaks, where they will then accumulate. And then you just shine the interior surfaces with a specific light. And then, when the vitamin shines, it will locate the air leaks, so that then you can go after them and seal them. By sealing this leak, you will save energy, and you would also make your space more comfortable. We selected vitamin B2 for this detection system because, first of all, it fluoresces, and it is non-toxic. Consequently we can use it in occupied buildings. Without being worried that it will damage surfaces, such as furniture and interior walls. Because even if it accumulates on surfaces, it will not affect human health. And also you can easily clean it.


Data in CPython
When writing programs in Python (CPython), you have access to data types such as a int, str, tuple, list and a dict. It is fairly obvious what each of these data types would be used to represent: an int data type would represent an integer and a list would represent a list of items – homeogeneous or
heterogenous. As opposed to a language like C, the Python compiler
automatically decides what type to use for your data without the need
to be explicitly specified.
Read the entire article here.
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text:
PEI 4-H Fast Facts
- 4-H began in Canada in 1913 in Roland, Manitoba
- 4-H began on PEI in 1918
- 4-H was known as "Boys and Girls Clubs" until 1952
- The 4-H motto, "Learn to do by doing", was adopted in 1952
- 4-H PEI has a history book called, "Rural Roots".
- The first 4-H clubs on PEI were:
- Teach practical business methods, feeding, exhibiting, selling, and to instill a love for animals.
- Gave members a means of contributing to food production while earning money
- First clubs were in Central Lot 16, Tryon, Hillsborou, and Morell.
- Similar goals of inspiring young producers, increasing efficiency, and proper management.
- First clubs were in Charlottetown, Eldon, Hillsboro, Morell, Mt. Stewart, O'Leary, St. Georges, St. Peter's, St. Teresa, Tyne Valley, Tryon and Uigg.
- The Women's Institute developed projects in home economics in 1933
- The five 4-H Districts were established in 1970
- There have been four Presidents of the Canadian 4-H Council from PEI:
1942, 52 – Stewart Wright
1975 – Dale Dewar
1987 - Gwyneth Jones
2000 – John J. MacDonald
4-H Brand and Logo
- 4-H emblem is a four leaf clover with a capital "H" inscribed on each leaf and the word 'Canada' forming the base or banner.
- The official 4-H colors in Canada are green and white. Green is symbolic of agriculture and youth. White is symbolic of purity.
- The 4-H Mascot is Frisco the Fox
- The 4-H Pledge, recited at the beginning of most 4-H events, is:
I pledge:My head to clearer thinking,
My heart to greater loyalty,
My hands to larger service, and my
Health to better living,
For my club, my community, and my country.
4-H PEI Stats
- On Prince Edward Island there are currently:
- 570 members
- 250 leaders
- 23 clubs
- In 2012/13, the top 4-H project was dairy.
- One third of 4-H members identify as living on a farm.
- The longest continuous 4-H Club on PEI is the Freetown Harmony 4-H club: 85 years and counting!


Reports
Earthquake-Caused Coastal Uplift and Its Effects on Rocky Intertidal Kelp Communities
See allHide authors and affiliations
Science 21 Oct 1988:
Vol. 242, Issue 4877, pp. 440-443
DOI: 10.1126/science._PHONE_.440
Abstract
The coastal uplift(approximately 40 to 60 centimeters) associated with the Chilean earthquake of 3 March 1985 caused extensive mortality of intertidal organisms at the Estación Costera de Investigaciones Marinas, Las Cruces. The kelp belt of the laminarian Lessonia nigrescens was particularly affected. Most of the primary space liberated at the upper border of this belt was invaded by species of barnacles, which showed an opportunistic colonization strategy. Drastic modifications in the environment such as coastal uplift, subsidence, or the effects of the El Niño phenomenon are characteristic of the southern Pacific. Modifications in the marine ecosystem that generate catastrophic and widespread mortalities of intertidal organisms can affect species composition, diversity, or local biogeography.


text:
Cutting edge aerial technology meets the world of marine biology with the introduction of "The Snotbot", a drone that can collect vapor samples from whales as they exhale through its blow holes upon surfacing.
The samples can be used to collect information from chemical markers and give researchers a new insight into the lives of the whales. In this video SnotBot's team goes on an expedition into the Sea of Cortez to collect samples and videos from these incredible creatures.
To learn more about SnotBot and possibly contribute to the cause please go HERE.
How sweet are these SnotBot T-Shirts…support the cause and get something cool for $28:

source: m-a-p/FineFineWeb


Harmonic division
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
In geometry, harmonic division of a line segment AB means identifying two points C and D such that AB is divided internally and externally in the same ratio
\frac{CA}{CB} = \frac{DA}{DB}.
In the example shown below, the ratio is two. Specifically, the distance AC is one inch, the distance CB is half an inch, the distance AD is three inches, and the distance BD is 1.5 inches.
Harmonic division of AB by points C and D
Harmonic division of a line segment is reciprocal; if points C and D divide the line segment AB harmonically, the points A and B also divide the line segment CD harmonically. In that case, the ratio is given by
\frac{BC}{BD} = \frac{AC}{AD}
which equals one-third in the example above. (Note that the two ratios are not equal!)
The points A, B, C, D divide the line harmonically as defined above precisely if the cross-ratio of the quadruple (ABCD) is 1.
Harmonic division of a line segment is a special case of Apollonius' definition of the circle.
See also[edit]
References[edit]


text:
(HealthDay News) -- When debris is being burned outdoors, the smoke can be harmful if inhaled.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists these guidelines to help protect yourself from debris smoke:
- If you are at a high risk of complications from breathing the smoke, avoid exposure.
- Try to avoid exposure to smoke both indoors and outdoors.
- Close your windows and stay inside, running the air conditioner.
- Don't engage in activities that strain your lungs and heart, including exercise or chores, either outside or inside your home.
- Stick to your medication regimen as prescribed by your doctor; contact your doctor if your health worsens.
- Remember that wearing a dust mask, wet cloth or bandana will not protect you from smoke.


Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Master of Engineering Science
Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Dr. Takashi Kuboki
The direct long-fiber reinforced thermoplastic (D-LFT) process is a streamlined material processing technique which includes various types of equipment. It is imperative to understand how the process and its operating conditions affect degradation and thermal properties of the processed material for industry applications. This study investigates effects of process stages, extruder temperature, and screw speed on molecular weight and thermal properties of glass fiber reinforced polyamide 6 (PA6) composites throughout the D-LFT process. Viscosity number (VN) measurements, thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyses were performed on collected samples. In conclusion, it was found that thermo-oxidative degradation is the main degradation mechanism of the glass fiber reinforced PA6 composites during the D-LFT process. Therefore, minimizing temperature and residence time of the extruders as well as exposure time of plastificate to atmospheric conditions along the conveyer is an effective way to minimize degradation of PA6.


text:
Round Force-Sensitive/ Sensing Resistor - FSR
- Product ID: 253
- MPN: SFE9375
Need a sensor to detect weight/force/pressure, Force Sensitive Resistor aka FSR is the component you are looking for. This FSR is model 402 by Interlink Electronics with the sensing region diameter 14.7mm.
FSR's are basically a resistor that changes its resistive value (in ohms Ω) depending on how much it's pressed. These sensors are fairly low cost, and easy to use but they're rarely accurate. They also vary some from sensor to sensor perhaps 10%. So basically when you use FSR's you should only expect to get ranges of response. While FSRs can detect weight, they're a bad choice for detecting exactly how many pounds of weight are on them.The model 402 FSR is a single-zone Force Sensing Resistor optimized for use in human touch control of electronic devices such as automotive electronics, medical systems, and in industrial and robotics applications. FSRs are two-wire devices. They are robust polymer thick film (PTF) sensors that exhibit a decrease in resistance with increase in force applied to the surface of the sensor. It has a 14.7mm diameter active area and is available in 4 connection options.


text:
Zorig Sanjaasuren was born in Ulaanbaatar on April 20, 1962. He graduated from Ulaanbaatar's 23rd secondary school in 1980. In 1985 he graduated from Moscow State University with a degree in philosophy.
_PHONE_ Lecturer, SHUKO, National University of Mongolia, Instructor, MDG Ulaanbaatar Committee
_PHONE_ General Coordinator of the Mongolian Democratic Union
_PHONE_ Chairman of the Mongolian Parliamentary Group
_PHONE_ Member of Parliament
_PHONE_ Chairman of the State Structure EB of the State Great Hural, Chairman of the Security and Foreign Policy EB, Minister of Infrastructure
ZORIG and HIS REVOLUTION
Zorig S.' courage, perseverance, and conviction have played a historic role in organizing and utilizing the Mongolian Democratic Union (MDU) as the only leading force to oppose at the time the primary political organization MPRP and to end its communist dictatorship by putting the society on the path of democratic development without bloody conflicts.
Zorig S., the first General Coordinator of the Mongolian Democratic Union, valued the national consensus of independent and equal political forces, and held a roundtable discussion on the country's future development and the development of a universally accepted concept. Zorig founded the Mongolian Democratic Party,the first opposing political party formed from the Mongolian Democratic Union (MDU), along with other collaborators. When the new parliament was formed in 1990 as a result of the first free elections, Zorig was nominated for the post of Speaker of the State Baga Hural, the permanent lower house. He needed high-level decision-making power to succeed in deepening Mongolia's social reforms. However, a majority in the upper house of parliament, the People's Great Hural, did not support him.
Zorig's activities were focused on democratizing Mongolian society, creating a legal environment to build a market economy, making Mongolia an open country and including it in the basic trends of global development. As the head of the parliamentary group, he contributed to the implementation of Mongolia's many pillars of foreign policy, which was in the process of being formulated and implemented.
Two years after the Mongolian National Democratic Party (MNDP) and the Mongolian Social Democratic Party (MSDP) won the parliamentary elections, in the fall of 1998, Zorig Sanjaasuren, a Member of Parliament and Minister of Infrastructure, was assassinated at home.


text:
Specify the risk level (denoted as α or alpha) for the test. Usually, an α of 0.05 works well. An α of 0.05 indicates a 5% risk of rejecting the null hypothesis when it is actually true (type I error).
The value of α is often set by industry guidelines. If you use a smaller value for α, such as 0.01, you can reduce the risk of a type 1 error. For example, if you perform an equivalence test using the default hypotheses, using a smaller alpha reduces the risk of claiming equivalence when it is not actually true. However, a smaller α also increases the risk that the test is overly conservative and does not allow you to claim equivalence when it is actually true.
The α value also sets the confidence level for the confidence interval. By default, the confidence level is (1 – α) × 100%. For example, if α is 0.05, Minitab calculates a 95% confidence interval.


text:
Counting By Tens
Source: Babycenter Community
Ages: 6-8+ years
Instructions:To practice counting by tens and grouping by tens, count out 100 beans but don't let your child know how many there are. Get 10 paper cups or yogurt containers and ask you child to count out ten beans for each cup. Explain that if your child counts by tens, he or she can find out how many beans there are altogether. Let him or her try it. Then, suppose you moved five cups aside---how many beans are in the remaining cups? Maybe your child will want to group the cups in different ways and continue to count by tens to see how many beans there are.
Similar activities:The Counting Game, Counting Sticks, Counting Cards, Bubble Count, Counting a Silly Walk, Counting Beans, Kwanzaa Counting Game, Heart Counting Game, Lollipop Advent Christmas Calendar Count Down Tree, Finger Puppets You Can Count On!, Shamrock Counting, Make a Counting Book, Counting: Snowmen Song, Count Down Toast, Turkey Feather Counting
Coloring book pages


Mallos gregalis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Mallos gregalis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborder: Araneomorphae
Superfamily: Dictynoidea
Family: Dictynidae
Genus: Mallos
Species: M. gregalis
Binomial name
Mallos gregalis
(Simon, 1909)
Mallos gregalis is a spider species belonging to the Dictynidae biological family.[1] Social living is unusual in spiders because their anatomy predisposes them to be predators and it is difficult for spiders to discriminate speciesmates from other prey items. M. gregalis spiders live in Mexico. Discovered by French naturalists in the previous century, M. gregalis were again brought to light in the 1970s by Wes Burgess,[2] [3] working for Scientific American and the North Carolina Mental Health Research Foundation. M. gregalis live in groups containing thousands of individuals together on a sheet-like spider web. Like other social spiders, the unique qualities of M. gregalis' web help make their social lifestyle possible.[4][5] Their web preferentially transmits the vibrations of flies caught in the web while dampening out the vibrations caused by other spiders, thus allowing the M. gregalis spiders to distinguish between the prey and each other.[6] The smell of previously eaten fly bodies helps attract other flies to M. gregalis' web.[7]
 1. ^ Platnick, Norman I. (2009): The world spider catalog, version 9.5. American Museum of Natural History.
 2. ^ Burgess, J. Wesley. (1976): Social Spiders. Scientific American, vol 234, pp 99-106. (1976).
 3. ^ Burgess, J. Wesley. (1978): Social behavior in group-living spider species. Template:Peter Merrett, Editor (1978): Arachnology. Symposia, Zoological Society of London, Number. 42. Academic Press, London.
 4. ^ Burgess, J. Wesley and Witt, Peter N. (1976): Spider webs: Design and engineering. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, vol 1, pp 322-335.
 5. ^ Witt, Peter N. and Burgess, J. Wesley. (1978): Spider webs: Design and engineering. Naturwissenschafteliche Rundschau, vol 31, pp 269-282.
 6. ^ Burgess, J. Wesley. (1979): Web-signal processing for tolerance and group predation in the social spider Mallos gregalis. Animal Behavior, vol 27, pp 157-164.
 7. ^ Tietjen, William James; Ayyagari, Rao; Uetz, George W. Uetz [1] Symbiosis between social spiders and yeast: the role in prey attraction.


4
I have a product table with a jsonb column named 'metadata' in a PostgreSQL 10 database. It's my first time working with documents and Postgres. jsonb values look something like this:
{
 "name" : "l33t shirt",
 "price" : "1200",
 "quantity": "60",
 "options" :
 {
 "type" : "radio",
 "title" : "color",
 "opts" : [
 {"value" : "red" , "price" : "-100" , "qty" : "30" },
 {"value" : "blue" , "price" : "+200" , "qty" : "10" },
 {"value" : "green" , "price" : "+300" , "qty" : "20" }
 ]
 }
}
Two questions:
1. How can I select a specific element in the "opts" array?
select metadata->'options'->'opts'->(element here) from product
where metadata->'options'->'opts' @> '[{"value" : "blue"}]'
2. How to update the "qty" (subtract from its current "qty") when one or more of them is sold?
Further links to guides / notes are appreciated.
0
1 Answer 1
7
 1. How can I select a specific element in "opts" array?
Use the index of the element number as instructed in the manual. For longer paths, the path notation is shorter:
SELECT metadata -> 'options' -> 'opts' -> 0 AS elem0
 , metadata #> '{options, opts, 0}' AS elem0_path
FROM product;
Gets the nth element, like the question title asks (JSON array index starts with 0). But your example indicates you actually want the element with "value":"blue". That's not as trivial. You could unnest the nested JSON array with jsonb_array_elements() in a LATERAL join and filter the one you want.
SELECT opt AS elem_blue
-- , metadata #> '{options, opts}' -> (arr.ord::int - 1) AS elem_blue2
FROM product
 , jsonb_array_elements(metadata #> '{options, opts}') WITH ORDINALITY arr(opt, ord)
WHERE opt ->> 'value' = 'blue';
Returns nothing if no matching element is found.
WITH ORDNALITY and elem_blue2 are not needed here, but demonstrate a technique we are going to use in the next step.
More explanation:
2.how to update the "qty" (subtract from its current qty) when one or more of them is sold?
Since Postgres 9.5, there is jsonb_set(). To update the value of the qty key of the first element:
UPDATE product
SET metadata = jsonb_set(metadata, '{options, opts, 0, qty}', '"29"', false)
WHERE ... -- some filter
Aside: Any reason your integer numbers in qty are stored as strings ("30"), not as numbers (30)?
To update the "blue" element, we determine the array index with the technique demonstrated above, plus some UPDATE magic to make the it fully dynamic:
UPDATE product p
SET metadata = jsonb_set(p.metadata, path, qty, false)
FROM product p1
 , LATERAL ( -- move computations to subquery
 SELECT ARRAY['options', 'opts', (ord - 1)::text, 'qty'] AS path -- fix off-by-one
 , to_jsonb((opt ->> 'qty')::int - 1) AS qty -- subtract here!
 FROM jsonb_array_elements(p1.metadata #> '{options, opts}') WITH ORDINALITY arr(opt, ord)
 WHERE opt ->> 'value' = 'blue'
-- AND ... -- more filters
-- FOR UPDATE -- see below
 ) opt
WHERE p1.product_id = p.product_id -- use PK for match
The last query writes a number to "qty" ('9'), not a string ('"9"'), assuming you fixed that as commented.
We need to list the table product in the FROM clause another time to allow the LATERAL join (which wouldn't be possible otherwise) - and self-join to it.
Note a tiny race condition. Under heavy concurrent write load, you might want to add a lock clause to the subquery (FOR UPDATE) to prevent other transactions from changing the row between the inner SELECT and the outer UPDATE. See:
But you shouldn't, really. As you can see, jsonb (or any document type for that matter) is ill-suited for regular updates to single attributes. That's cumbersome and comparatively expensive. A new row with a new version of the complete document has to be written every time. Use a normalized DB design instead, where only a comparatively very small row has to be rewritten and other parts as well as indexes remain untouched.
If only the quantity is updated regularly, you might move that to a 1:n table and merge it into the JSON document in a VIEW or MATERIALIZED VIEW. The redesign is beyond the scope of this question.
3
 - i was expecting you with your great answers.you answer with care.a:(i stored integer as strings by mistake,my bad). 1.in update query whats the best way to get current value of 'qty' and subtract desired amount from it on the fly? 2.i take your advise about changing design.but i cant figure it out.i think its okay to keep my products info in this document and just change parts require frequent updates.so what you suggest for options part?is it good idea to make 'qty' value point to a FK of another table that keeps all of item quantities?
 – Arash
 Dec 19, 2017 at 17:36
 - @ArashMoosapour: 1. I built that and some more into query. 2. Yes, separate 1:n table with scalar column. The redesign depends on the complete situation, I added a bit above. Dec 19, 2017 at 23:43
 - @ErwinBrandstetter all your answers are superb, will you write a book about advanced PostgreSQL some day ? Jul 31, 2018 at 11:46
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Introducing an Invention: Puzzle Shaped Cast for Upper Limb Fractures
1 University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
2 Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Upper limb fractures are prevalent injuries. An essential element of fracture healing is to maintain the bones alignment. However there are lots of complications associated with traditional ways of treatment, such as compartment syndrome and stiffness due to immobility for long time. Also evaluation and observation of the limb under the casts for potential infections and skin issues are not possible. By this article an invention of puzzle shaped cast for upper limb is introduced. This novel cast is made up of different parts that they complete each other and join as pieces of a puzzle to shape a cast. By this mean physical examination during the healing process is possible and the complications could be less.
1. Davis DI, Baratz M. Soft tissue complications of distal radius frac-tures. Hand Clin. 2010;26(2):229-35.
2. Bohm ER, Bubbar V, Yong Hing K, Dzus A. Above and below-the-elbow plaster casts for distal forearm fractures in children. A randomized controlled trial. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2006;88(1):1-8.
3. Delasobera BE, Place R, Howell J, Davis JE. Serious infectious com-plications related to extremity cast/splint placement in children. J Emerg Med. 2011;41(1):47-50.
4. Williams M. The patient's experience in a plaster cast. Int Journal of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing. 2010;14:132-41.
5. Kleinman WB. Distal radius instability and stiffness: common com-plications of distal radius fractures. Hand Clin. 2010;26(2):245-64.
6. Ceroni D Martin X, Delhumeau C, Farpour-Lambert N. Decrease of physical activity level in adolescents with limb fractures: an acceler-ometry-based activity monitor study. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2011 May 4; 12:87.
7. Colaris JW, Allema JH, Biter LU, Reijman M, van de Ven CP, de Vries MR, et al. Conversion to below-elbow cast after 3 weeks is safe for diaphyseal both-bone forearm fractures in children. Acta Orthop. 2013;84(5):489-94
8. Kalyani BS, Fisher BE, Roberts CS, Giannoudis PV. Compartment syndrome of the forearm: a systematic review. J Hand Surg Am. 2011;36(3):535-43.
9. Grottkau BE, Epps HR, Di Scala C. Compartment syndrome in children and adolescents. J Pediatr Surg. 2005;40(4):678-82.
10. Turner RG, Faber KJ, Athwal GS. Complications of distal radius fractures. Hand Clin. 2010;26(1):85-96.


Adding and Updating Digital Contact Information in NPPES
Adding and Updating Digital Contact Information in NPPES
Behavioral health providers are no strangers to collaboration and patient file exchanges. Whether you were looking for another therapist's help on a case or had to transfer patient information to another practice, you've likely had to exchange confidential patient information before. If you're using electronic health record technology to exchange health information, make sure you add your therapist endpoint to the national directory of healthcare provider digital contact information.
Having updated contact information in the directory is now a requirement, so it's crucial that you and any providers in your practice post your endpoints. Learn more about how to add your contact information and why doing so is important.
Table of contents
New CMS Endpoint Requirements
As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began to encourage the widespread use of electronic health record (EHR) technology, they initiated a program known as Promoting Interoperability. The program asked providers to show they're using EHRs to exchange patient information securely with other providers. Healthcare providers of all specialties and areas of expertise, including behavioral health, became frustrated with the program because it lacked an effective way to find their coordinating providers' direct addresses.
As a solution to this challenge, CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) issued a mandate under the 21st Century Cures Act Final Rule stating that providers' electronic addresses need to be published in a centralized directory. Healthcare providers that are exchanging electronic information are required to add their digital contact information in the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES).
NPPES allows providers to easily look up any provider's direct messaging address to collaborate and securely exchange patient information. For example, as a therapist or counselor, your contact information should be updated in NPPES to ensure your patients' other doctors can find your endpoint and vice versa so you can exchange patient information with each other.
What Are Direct Messaging and Endpoints?
Direct messaging refers to the process of securely exchanging electronic health information (EHI). Direct messages work like emails, though they're encrypted to meet security and privacy standards from the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Hospitals, physicians, therapists and other healthcare providers are able to pull data from or into patient EHRs, making it easy to share information between different providers and systems. Every provider has their own direct address, helping differentiate one provider from the next to ensure information is shared with the appropriate parties.
Endpoints are another way for healthcare providers to share EHI. Endpoints include the standards-based, secure ways providers can send and receive encrypted EHI over the internet. The endpoint describes the connection location for electronic information to be delivered to and sent from. Endpoints ensure a secure connection is made between providers so information can be safely and appropriately shared.
In many cases, direct messaging addresses are considered a type of endpoint. This is because direct addresses are the locations or endpoints EHI is sent to or from. Whether you call your digital contact information "direct messaging" or "an endpoint," NPPES needs sufficient details to ensure information gets exchanged properly.
How to Add Digital Contact Information in NPPES
How to Add Digital Contact Information in NPPES
The NPPES index contains various types of digital contact information for providers of all types. Information like Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) server URLs, direct addresses and other query endpoints allow for seamless healthcare information and data exchanges. CMS chose to organize this digital contact information through NPPES to simplify the process of locating contact information for individual practitioners and provider facilities.
With this new update to NPPES, providers can update and maintain their own information in the index. You can control what contact information you're associated with and indicate the preferred uses for each contact method.
To add your digital contact information or your practice's providers' contact information, log in to your NPPES account. Navigate to the provider whose information you want to update and click the "Health Information Exchange" tab.
Within that tab, you'll be able to edit and update the endpoint type, endpoint and endpoint location to reflect your most current contact information.
Endpoint Type
There are several types of endpoints, and you'll need to indicate what type of endpoint you're using. You'll have the option to choose from a list of endpoint types, including:
 - SOAP URL
 - FHIR URL
 - RESTful URL
 - CONNECT URL
 - Other URL
 - Direct messaging address
The endpoint type indicates how medical information and patient records will be securely shared with other medical professionals. Specifying the endpoint type determines the channel through which the encrypted information will be sent. When you choose your endpoint type, it will become your primary method of sharing information from a patient's EHR.
Endpoint
This is where you'll provide the actual direct messaging address or URL other providers can contact you at. Your endpoint should never include your personal email address. Rather, your direct messaging address will be connected to your practice's EHR system. Leaving personal contact information out of your endpoint ensures any patient information being transmitted is going straight to and from secure systems and networks to maintain privacy.
When entering a direct messaging address in NPPES, you may need to provide identification to confirm that the information is yours. This is done to ensure only authorized contact information is being provided so sensitive patient information stays protected.
Endpoint Location
Lastly, you'll need to select an endpoint location. This can either be chosen from the list of endpoint and practice locations associated with your NPI or linked to the affiliated organization, or you can enter a new address for an endpoint location. If you select to enter a new endpoint location manually, the information is subject to a standardization check. You'll either have to choose the standardized location address or the one you have input.
After adding the necessary information, you'll save and submit the information, then repeat the process for any other providers in your organization. Keep in mind that if any direct messaging addresses at your practice change, you're required to make the update in NPPES within 30 days.
The Importance of Updating Digital Contact Information
The Importance of Updating Digital Contact Information
As a mental healthcare provider, you know how important patient privacy is. There are a great number of regulations under HIPAA and other organizations to ensure patient information remains secure and confidential.
Sharing patient information is often a necessary part of health care to help providers give the best care possible across all specialties. As technology has become more advanced and offers more security, traditional ways of storing patient files and exchanging EHI have shifted to electronic methods.
However, there are still some providers who are unaware of the most efficient and effective ways of using EHR technology. Exchanging patient information with providers who haven't updated their contact information in NPPES becomes much more challenging.
If you haven't added your contact information or it's out of date in NPPES, other providers will have to work harder to find your endpoint or direct messaging address. As a result, the health information exchange (HIE) process is less efficient than it should be.
Spending time searching for providers' endpoints outside of the NPPES directory ends up being time- and resource-consuming. Adding and updating digital contact information in NPPES is important because it improves interoperability across networks of providers. It also improves the effectiveness and efficiency of exchanging electronic health and patient information.
Keeping your endpoint updated helps to ensure other providers can find you and share important health information with you in a timely manner. Additionally, you can avoid facing the consequences of not adding your digital contact information in NPPES.
Consequences of Not Adding Contact Information
Because the endpoint NPPES index was created as a way to consolidate provider information, make it easier to find digital contact information and simplify the HIE process, there are consequences of not adding contact information in NPPES. CMS publishes a quarterly report that includes a list of provider NPIs and names who haven't added or updated digital contact information in NPPES.
Additionally, failure to add or update your digital contact information could result in an information blocking violation. Information blocking is anything that prevents or interferes with the exchange of health information. Since the entire goal of the NPPES index was to prevent information blocking from happening, failure to comply and provide contact information does the opposite of what NPPES was intended to do.
Without current endpoint information in NPPES, healthcare organizations cannot electronically exchange health information. Suppose you haven't added digital contact information in NPPES and are put in the public Missing Digital Contact Information Report. In that case, you can still log in to the NPPES website and add your endpoints. If you add contact information before the next report is published, you'll be taken off the list for the next quarter.
To ensure other providers and organizations can exchange digital health information with you and other providers in your organization, keep your NPPES endpoints updated. Doing so benefits your patients, as you'll be able to stay informed about any health care they receive from other providers. When you're aware of your patients' treatments, you can provide better care for them, and when your patients' other providers are aware of your treatment, they can do the same.
How ICANotes Can Help
As a behavioral health clinician, you may not be aware of this relatively new NPPES requirement, though it's essential for you to add or update your direct messaging address or endpoint. Once your contact information is updated, you can be found by other providers who may need to share patient files and information with you.
As a therapist, counselor or


text:
Cooking with Apache, Part 3
Pages: 1, 2
Recipe 12.4: Solving the "Trailing Slash" Problem
Loading a particular URL works with a trailing slash but does not work without it.
Make sure that
ServerName is set correctly and that none of the
Alias directives have a trailing slash.
The "trailing slash" problem can be caused by one of two configuration
problems: an incorrect or missing value of
ServerName, or an
Alias with a trailing slash that doesn't work without it.
An incorrect or missing
ServerName seems to be the most prevalent cause of the problem, and it
works something like this: when you request a URL such as _URL_ where something is the name of a directory, Apache actually sends
a redirect to the client telling it to add the trailing slash.
The way that it does this is to construct the URL using the value of
ServerName and the requested URL. If
ServerName is not set correctly, then the resultant URL, which
is sent to the client, will generate an error on the client end when it can't
find the resulting URL.
If, on the other hand,
ServerName is not set at all,
Apache will attempt to guess a reasonable value when you start it up. This will
often lead it to guess incorrectly, using values such as 127.0.0.1 or localhost,
which will not work for remote clients. Either way, the client will end up
getting a URL that it cannot retrieve.
Invalid Alias directive
In the second incarnation of this problem, a slightly malformed
Alias directive may cause a URL
with a missing trailing slash to be an invalid URL entirely.
Consider, for example, the following directive:
Alias /example/ /home/www/example/
Alias directive is very literal, and aliases URLs starting with /example/, but it does not alias URLs starting with /example. Thus, the URL _URL_ will display the default document from the directory /home/www/example/, while the URL _URL_ will generate a "file not found" error message, with an error log entry that will look something like:
File does not exist: /usr/local/apache/htdocs/example
The solution to this is to create
Alias directives without the trailing slash, so that they will work whether or not the trailing slash is used:
Alias /example /home/www/example
Rich Bowen is a member of the Apache Software Foundation, working primarily on the documentation for the Apache Web Server. DrBacchus, Rich's handle on IRC, can be found on the web at _URL_
Ken Coar is a member of the Apache Software Foundation, the body that oversees Apache development.
Return to the Apache DevCenter.


text:
- Impact of land-use on savanna vegetation and populations of non-timber forest product-providing tree species in West Africa (2011)
- Savannas are the most important timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) providing ecosystems in West Africa. They have been shaped by traditional human land-use (i.e. agriculture, grazing, and harvesting) for thousands of years. In the last decades, land-use has drastically changed due to the rapid population growth and the growing production of cash-crop in West Africa and this process is still continuing. The percentage of land intensively used for agriculture has increased, while the length of fallow periods has decreased. Such changes have enormous ecological, economic, and social consequences. In the context of land-use changes, there is an urgent need to better understand and evaluate the impact of land-use on savannas. Such an understanding provides insights on appropriate management activities that ensure the maintenance of savannas and guarantee the availability of savanna products for subsistence and commercial use of rural West African people. The major objective of the present thesis was to study the impact of land-use on savanna vegetation and diversity as well as on populations of two important NTFP-providing tree species in a semi-arid area in West Africa. The study area was located in the south-eastern part of Burkina Faso and comprised the protected W National Park and its adjacent communal area. In the first study (chapter 2), I investigated in cooperation with a colleague from Burkina Faso (Blandine Nacoulma) the impact of land-use on the savanna vegetation. We analyzed which environmental factors determine the occurrence of the vegetation types and investigated the effect of land-use on vegetation structure and the occurrence of life forms and highly valued tree species. Furthermore, we tested whether land-use has an impact on plant diversity pattern and if this impact differed between the vegetation types and layers (woody and herb layer). Vegetation relevés were performed and the vegetation and plant diversity of the protected W National Park were compared with those of its surrounding communal area. Our results reveal five vegetation types occurring in both areas. Elevation and physical soil characteristics and thus soil water availability for plants played the most important role for the occurrence of the vegetation types. The influence of land-use on plant diversity differed between the five vegetation types and the two layers. The impact was highest on the vegetation types with the most favorable soil conditions for cultivation and lowest on rocky habitats with poor soils. While the diversity of the woody layer was increased under human land-use, the diversity of the herb layer was diminished. Overall, as land-use effects were not only negative, our findings suggest that land-use does not automatically lead to a loss of plant species and to a degradation of savanna habitats. We conclude that both protected and communal areas are of great importance for the conservation of savanna vegetation and diversity. Our study highlights furthermore the importance of different management strategies for each vegetation type. In the following two studies (chapter 3 and 4), the impact of land-use - and in particular of harvesting - on populations of Adansonia digitata L., the baobab tree, and Anogeissus leiocarpa (DC.) Guill. & Perr. was examined. These two tree species were chosen as they provide several NTFPs for the local population and as they show different levels of human protection and opposed life histories. Thus, they may react differently to land-use. Stands of the protected W National Park were compared with those of its surrounding communal area (in fallows, croplands, and villages). I applied dendrometric methods to study the population structures and combined it with rates and patterns of NTFP-harvesting (debarking and chopping/pruning). Furthermore, the impact of land-use and harvesting on the fruit production of A. digitata and on the sprouting ability of A. leiocarpa were studied. The inverse J-shaped size class distribution curve indicates that the stands of A. digitata were in a healthy state in the park, while the low number of smaller size classes in fallows, croplands, and villages may give evidence of an ageing population. However, a high number of seedlings were recorded in villages. The stands of A. leiocarpa were also in healthy states in the park and likewise in fallows. In contrast, the absence of saplings gives evidence of a declining population in croplands. Both species were strongly harvested by local people and harvesting was tree size-specific. Pruning in interaction with tree-size had a significant impact on fruit production of A. digitata. While smaller trees were more vulnerable to pruning, bigger trees benefited from slight-pruning. A. leiocarpa had a great ability to respond to chopping by sprouting. The sprouting ability increased even with higher chopping intensity. Results suggest that despite the intense harvesting and the land-use impact, populations of both species are still well preserved. While A. digitata can withstand the harvesting and land-use pressure by its longevity, extremely low adult mortality rates, and particularly due to positive human influences, A. leiocarpa is able to withstand the use pressure by its fast growing, high recruitment, and high sprouting ability. I conclude that a none protected tree species (A. leiocarpa) might not necessarily be at higher risk to the harvesting and land-use impact than a protected tree species (A. digitata) as the adverse impact of harvesting and land-use can be compensated by its specific life history. Important additional information to such ecological findings can be provided by local people. Learning from traditional knowledge and management systems of local people will help to produce culturally and ecologically reasonable conservation and management strategies. Thus, I investigated local uses and management strategies of A. digitata and A. leiocarpa in the last two studies (chapter 5 and 6). Quantitative ethnobotanical surveys among the Gulimanceba people were conducted in the communal area in order to document uses of the different plant parts, harvesting modes, perceptions about the population status, and conservation status of both species. Hereby, differences in knowledge between gender, generations, and people from different villages were tested. Interviews reveal that both species are harvested for multipurpose and emphasize the high importance of both species for local people. Especially the leaves and fruits of A. digitata add valuable minerals and vitamins to the otherwise micronutrient-"poor" staple crops of the Gulimanceba people. In comparison with other studies in West Africa, it has turned out that people in this area could benefit even more from A. leiocarpa, e.g. for dyeing of clothes, for treatment of malaria and skin problems. Local knowledge did not differ between genders and generations, while it slightly differed between people from different villages. The lack of age differences suggests that the traditional knowledge about these two species is passed on from one generation to another. Differences between people from different villages might be explained by influences from the neighboring countries Niger and Benin. Current local harvesting modes and management strategies of both species resulted in sustainable use. However, ongoing land-use intensifications require adapted harvesting and management techniques to guarantee the persistence of these economically important species. These results provide, in combination with the ecological findings (chapter 3 and 4), appropriate management recommendations for A. digitata and A. leiocarpa that are reliable under currently practiced management strategies.


Old Python bindings
From VideoLAN Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Python binding documentation
For a while, there has been a basic python binding for libvlc, that was used for streaming. A more complete (with a hopefully generic API that can be reused by other players) has been developped, based on the MediaControlAPI.
Sources are browsable from python binding and a code sample can be found in [1].
The vlc python module provides 2 main classes : MediaControl and Object.
vlc.Object provides a binding to the vlc object architecture. It allows to manipulate variables and configuration options, and explore the object hierrarchy. The vlcdebug.py script, located in the python bindings directory, wraps around the vlc.Object to provide an easier access to variables and objects (as illustrated in the code sample in [2]).
vlc.MediaControl implements the MediaControlAPI.
Methods taking positions as parameters expect a vlc.Position object, that provides a very flexible way to address absolute or relative positions, in a number of units (milliseconds, frames or bytes). For convenience, the python binding automatically converts integer positions into milliseconds vlc.Position objects.
Tips and tricks
Snapshot support
In order to get snapshot support, you have to activate the snapshot vout module through a clone video filter. The following code gives a way to achieve this :
 mc=vlc.MediaControl([ "--vout-filter", "clone" ])
 o.config_set("clone-vout-list", "default,snapshot")
 o.config_set("snapshot-width", 320)
 o.config_set("snapshot-height", 200)
Note that all config options could have been given on the command line, but this illustrates the use of the vlc.Object API.
There is a snapshot functionality built in the vlc core, associated to a hotkey. The MediaControlAPI could (should ?) use it, but
 - it did not exist at the time the extension was developped
 - the builtin snapshot functionality is oriented towards interactive use (hotkey activation, saving into a file) and should be revamped to take into accound a more programmatic use
 - the snapshot vout module holds a cache of reduced-size snapshots, that allow to take into account the reaction time of the user (around 200ms) and also to select the more appropriate snapshot from the cache.
Win32 initialization
If the vlc module was not compiled with the exact same prefix as the VLC installation (e.g. c:\\Program Files\\Videolan), then it cannot find itself the installation directory (stored in the registry Software\VideoLAN\VLC\Path), and the MediaControl instanciation will fail with a message like "Cannot find interface plugins".
The workaround consists in changing directory to the VLC installation directory before instanciating the MediaControl object.
 def get_registry_value (self, subkey, name):
 import _winreg
 value = None
 for hkey in _winreg.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, _winreg.HKEY_CURRENT_USER:
 reg = _winreg.OpenKey(hkey, subkey)
 value, type_id = _winreg.QueryValueEx(reg, name)
 except _winreg.error:
 return value
 if vlcpath is None:
 print "Cannot locate VLC installation directory"


January 14, 2017
Ever Wondered What This Tiny Cylindrical Thing At The End Of Your Charger Is For?
Have you ever noticed the small cylindrical module near the end of your charger? If you haven't noticed yet, now just take a look at the end of your charger or device plug, it must have some sort of plastic cylinder near to the end of the cable, right?
Must Read: Do You Know why Alphabets on Keyboard are not in Order?
Cylindrical Thing At The End Of Your Charger
What Is That Little Cylinder on the Cable of Your Charger?
Well, it might look like a useless addition, but without this little thing, your lappy wouldn't be able to function properly. Here's why.
That little cylinder is called a Ferrite Bead.
What Those Tiny Cylindrical modules At The End Of Your Charger Are For (1)
The cylindrical device is known as a ferrite bead, which is nothing but an inductor (passive electric component) that suppresses high-frequency noise in electronic circuits.
The ferrite bead isolates your laptop from electromagnetic noise, either from the waves that are picked up by the wire or from the existing noise in the AC-DC converter or the AC line.
What Those Tiny Cylindrical modules At The End Of Your Charger Are For (1)
While you find this cylindrical module common for laptop cords or other electronic devices such as printers, you won't find this extra piece on other chargers like that of a cell phone. This is because unlike cell phones or other devices that need to be charged (i.e., your iPad or tablet), laptops tend to have many moving parts working at once. This can create a lot of chaos and disorder if the parts aren't working together, even capable of producing radio frequencies. The case around the laptop charger dulls those vibrations and stops them from causing any interference.
What Those Tiny Cylindrical modules At The End Of Your Charger Are For (8)
Ferrite beads are made of a hollow disc, an iron oxide material with magnetic properties. It helps to prevent the wire behave on over floating current like aerials. As a result, all this metal wire can potentially serve as an antenna by absorbing or emitting any radiation while passing current around it. Without this ferrite bead, the radiation emitted by the wires could cause interference with other electronic objects around them which act as receptors of this radiation, causing, for example, noise in speakers.
This is why you find those small cylindrical modules at the end of the cables.
Also Read: Ever Wondered Why ATM has only 4 Digit PIN Number?
 1. Excellent article, such a valuable information you provide. Never thought about it, why this cylindrical thing is at the end of your charger. My Knowledge increased regarding this. Thank you!
Comments are closed.
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text:
Nepenthes Tenax * Extremely RARE Australian Lowland * Pitcher Plant * 5 SeedS
Nepenthes tenax is a lowland species of tropical pitcher plant native to northern Queensland, Australia. It is the third Nepenthes species recorded from the continent and its second endemic species. Nepenthes tenax is closely related to the two other Australian Nepenthes species: N. mirabilis and N. rowanae. Nepenthes tenax grows to a height of around 100 cm with pitchers rarely exceeding 15 cm. The stem is usually self-supporting. Its leaves are short, rigid, V-shaped in section, arched and arranged (apical ones) more or less in a whorl. Pitchers are held vertically in mid-air on short strong tendrils that are tightly coiled once or twice mid length. In its natural habitat, it is sympatric with N. mirabilis and N. rowanae. Simple and complex natural hybrids involving both of these species have been found.
Sale Sold out
Regular price $8.01 USD
Regular priceUnit price per


Temperature seasonality
Rhododendron lapponicum. Photo NN.NN
Rhododendron lapponicum. Photo NN.NN
How will migrating birds, like the golden plover that overwinters in Africa, know when the right time is to come? Will bumblebees be born at the right time of the year, when plants are flowering? If animals and plants are out of sync, we call it a mismatch. Good timing, being at the right time and right place, is important for the plants and animals of Abisko. This likely mismatch means birds might arrive too late to breed and use all the surplus in food or bumblebees might be out at the wrong time to pollinate.
?id=AbiskoTemperatures,AbiskoTemperaturesSummer,AbiskoTemperaturesWinter


Monthly Archives: May 2013
Saving Grace
According to Merriam-Webster the definition of grace is:
1a : unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification; b : a virtue coming from God; c : a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace; 2a : approval, favor ; b archaic : mercy, pardon; c : a special favor : privilege ; d : disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency; e : a temporary exemption : reprieve; 3a : a charming or attractive trait or characteristic…
That's quite a lengthy definition; in fact, I captured less than half of what was in the dictionary. It seems like a lot of words to describe something so simple.
So what does grace have to do with a blog about SQL Server? Quite a lot actually.
When I first went to college, I wanted to be a teacher; in fact, I wanted to be a math teacher. I had this great math teacher who inspired me in high school. He was not only brilliant, but he was infectious with his desire for learning. He was a young guy, I think it was his first teaching job, but you could tell that teaching was what he was meant to do. He would explain things in a way that made sense (that's a gift when teaching high school sophomores abstract algebra). If he could see that the class was completely lost, he would change mid stride and go a completely different direction. I don't think a single person failed that class, he wouldn't let them. He was the definition of grace, "..disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency…a charming or attractive trait or characteristic".
There was another math teacher in my high school. He was old (probably forty or something crazy like that) and a bit pompous; he had the letters "PhD" behind his name. His attitude was that he had the credentials, so if you didn't understand what he was talking about, maybe you didn't belong in abstract algebra. He also had a reserved parking space close the entrance, because he had those three little letters after his name, "PhD". He was the exact opposite of grace and almost half his class failed.
The point I'm trying to make is that for some people, their driving force is ego, not love of learning and therefore they have no grace.
I recently attended the SQL Saturday event in Atlanta. I love these events because they are so personal. You have smaller classes and you can actually interact with the presenters and most of them are just like you and me, regular people. However, in Atlanta I noticed a very disheartening trend. Ego is taking hold and grace is losing ground.
I am not a speaker and I never will be. I have a horrible phobia of public speaking (which is the reason I didn't become a teacher). But I want to give back to the community that has helped me get where I am today, so I volunteer behind the scenes for many things. Atlanta was no different. I was attending, but I was also a volunteer. There were some great nationally and internationally known speakers presenting, in addition to the local and regional people and it was so exciting to be part of the largest SQL Saturday event to date. As it turns out, it was probably the most disappointing PASS event I'd attended to date. Not because I was disappointed in the content of the sessions I attended or even in the speakers that presented them, but because there were many other speakers who seem to have lost their grace.
I'm not going to give specific examples or name names (that just elicits finger pointing). But what I am going to do is ask you, as a speaker, why do you do it? Is it because you have those three little letters, "MVP", after your name or is because you want to share your knowledge and inspire others to learn more? If it's the latter, I applaud you and ask that you keep on doing what you are doing. We in the community appreciate all your hard work and your generosity in sharing. If it's the former then I might suggest you try to save grace and have a slice of humble pie, it never hurt anyone.
Angela Henry
I have recently begun to contemplate pursuing the MCSA Certification. I have been working with SQL Server for almost 20 years and have never considered getting a certification before now. I have met so many people through the years who have the certifications and were quite frankly "dumb as a box of rocks". They just happen to be good at regurgitating information on an exam but had no practical experience. Throw them an unusual situation and they stare back at you with blank eyes.
I know having those extra letters behind my name could give me a boost if I was in the job market, but I'm happily settled at my current employer, with no plans to move on. I realize that anything could happen and I could be out looking for a job tomorrow, but if that were the case maybe I could have used that $450 I spent on certification to pay for groceries. I am not saying the tests should be free, but it is a hard pill for me to swallow when I've managed just fine without those letters after my name this long.
Who knows, I may have missed opportunities that I didn't even know about because I didn't have those letters, but how can you miss what you've never had?
The Long and Winding Road
"The Long and Winding Road" is one of my favorite Beatles songs, it reminds me of my dad, he was a huge Beatles fan. My dad passed away almost five years ago, but I still miss him like it was yesterday and I still remember the advice he gave me when I was a kid, "Work hard and don't let anybody tell you you can't do something, there's always a way. It may not be easy, but there's always a way." I credit that advice for the success I've had in my life, both personal and professional.
I started working with SQL Server back on Windows 3.11 (version 4.21a). I know I'm dating myself here, but that's kind of the point of this post. We thought Windows 3.11 was so cool after having to deal with DOS for so many years, we didn't think it could get any cooler. But it did. We got Windows 95, then 98, XP, 7 and now 8. I can't wait to see what they come up with next.
The same goes for SQL Server.
We started out with what I thought was a great tool, then they made it better. We went from having to create devices to hold our database files and keeping track of each file growth, to just being able to create our database files and let them grow on their own. I don't know about anybody else, but that made me so happy. No more sp_helpdb every night to make sure I could recreate my databases if needed in a disaster.
It used to be very hard to write T-SQL code if you weren't familiar with the database objects, the old iSQL query window didn't have an object browser so you couldn't see a list of your tables, let alone column names. Now we have intellisense built right in to the query window. This feature alone is with worth its weight in gold. It allows me to be so much more productive, type the first few letters and hit tab. "BAM!" as Emeril would say.
BCP really used to be the only way to get data in and out of your database, then they gave DTS. Once again it's like going from DOS to Windows. Then they came out with SSIS. Holy Cow, I thought I'd won the lottery after writing my first package in under 5 minutes. It truly was an amazing transformation (pun definitely intended).
There are so many other features that have improved along the way, too many in fact to list them all here.
It's been a long road,
The wild and windy night
That the rain washed away
Has left a pool of tears
Crying for the day.
Why leave me standing here?
Let me know the way.
There were definitely many tears shed along the way to where I am today, tears of frustration and of joy. But I wouldn't change my long and winding road for anything, it's made me who and what I am today.
SQL Server let me know the way…


Remittent fever
From Biology-Online Dictionary
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remittent fever
A fever pattern in which temperature varies during each 24 hour period, but never reaches normal. Most fevers are remittent and the pattern is not characteristic of any disease, although in the 19th century it was considered a diagnostic term.


text:
- Michelin this week revealed that it has begun fleet testing
of an RFID transponder embedded in its tires to enable them to be tracked
electronically. After it completes testing, which will likely last 18 months,
Michelin will begin offering automakers the option of purchasing tires
with embedded transponders.
- The US Congress passed the TREAD (Transportation, Recall,
Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation) Act in the wake of the Firestone/Ford
Explorer debacle. The act mandates that car makers closely track tires
from the 2004 model year on, so they can be recalled if there's a problem.
This technology could be available for the 2005 model year.
- Michelin hopes manufacturers will pay a little more for
tires with RFID transponders, because it makes the tires easier to track.
The microchip stores the tire's unique ID, which can be associated with
the vehicle identification number. The chip can also store information
about when and where the tire was made, its maximum inflation pressure,
size and so on. Information can be updated with a handheld reader.
- Other tire makers have demonstrated the ability to read
RFID transponders embedded in tires. But Michelin claims to be the first
to meet the Automotive Industry Action Group's B-11 standard for North
America, which calls for a read distance of 24 inches. Achieving that range
has been a challenge because the rubber makes it harder to read the tag.
- When Michelin took off-the-shelf, passive UHF transponders
and embedded them in tires, the read distance dropped to less than three
inches, according to George O'Brien, Michelin's North American technical
director for electronic products and services. To boost the read range,
the company took microchips from Fairchild Semiconductor and Philips Semiconductor
and designed its own special antenna.
- O'Brien would not reveal details, but he said the antenna
was designed to compensate for the fact that electromagnetic waves travel
differently through rubber than through air. He said the transponder that
his team designed loses only 10 percent of its read range when it is embedded
in a tire.
- The other key issue was to ensure that the rubber bonds
to the antenna. Michelin developed a proprietary coating it puts on the
transponders before putting them into the rubber. "The most important
concern is making sure the tire is not compromised in any way," O'Brien
says. "You have to make sure the rubber bonds carefully to antenna
so the wire that the antenna is made from doesnít break and then
work its way out of the sidewall of the tire."
- The tire is now being tested in several areas of the
country by taxi and rental car fleets. Michelin says the transponders cost
"several dollars" today, but the price will drop if they are
manufactured in mass volumes (Michelin manufactures more than 800,000 tires
a day). It's not clear yet whether automakers will be willing to pay the
- The Fairchild and Philips chips are based on Intermec's
Intellitag. Saleem Miyan, Philips global strategic business manager for
RFID products, says his company made some refinements to the Intellitag
design, which it has licensed from Intermec.The Philips I-Code HSL chip
operates at 868-915 MHz stores about 2 kiliobytes of information. It is
currently available only in sample quantities. it will be mass-produced
starting in the middle of the year.
- Philips and Texas Instruments have also developed pressure
and temperature sensors that use battery-powered RFID tags to communicate
with a reader in the dashboard. That enables the driver to know when the
pressure of one particular tire drops below a certain level (see RFID Chip
To Monitor Tire Pressure). The Michelin transponder is strictly for identification