Danganronpa 2 (PSV) - Review
By Karl Koebke, August 10, 2014
Eschewing the school setting from the first game, Danganronpa 2's tropical island setting features a whole new cast (for the most part). Sixteen students, with talents ranging from a budding chef to a Princess, have been dragged to this island by a strange rabbit-like robot called Usami. Surprisingly, there's nothing sinister in Usami's intentions, and although the students were drugged and dragged along against their will, they need only learn about each other in harmony in order to return home safe and well. This would make for a rather dull murder mystery title, but fortunately it isn't long before Monokuma shows his face, takes control of the island from Usami, and begins the killing games once again.
Once things finally kick off, the gameplay in Danganronpa 2 is similar to the first. During off days you can wander around the island and spend time with your classmates to learn more about them, with new areas opening up for exploration after each chapter. Learning about your classmates isn't just for exposition's sake; it also nets you 'hope' fragments, which you can trade into Usami for skills that will help during the eventual classroom trials. After a murder occurs you'll be tasked with looking for clues as to who the culprit is and the story will not move on until you have found everything necessary to proceed. The challenge comes from thinking about each clue you find so you know where to use it in the upcoming classroom trial.
The other half of Danganronpa 2's gameplay is centered around the aforementioned classroom trials. Clues you have collected become ammunition which you can use to try to disprove yellow colored statements or support blue colored statements made during arguments between your fellow students. The PlayStation Vita's touchscreen is perfectly matched for these sections and later in the game you'll make use of both the front and back touch pads to clear away white noise before firing off your "truth bullet". Incorrect use of the clues is punished by decreasing a life bar, which is meant to represent the level of trust your other classmates have in you. If their level of trust in you falls too low then they'll suspect that you're the killer and will vote accordingly (although you can quickly restart from the section that you failed).
Danganronpa 2 Review August 10 2014 5
Usually this gameplay set-up works well, but every now and then I knew the answer to the question being brought before the group but I couldn't get the correct combination of clue and statement to move things along. Sometimes I even had to resort to trial and error, which might be a failure on my part but perhaps also indicates poor gameplay design for certain sections. The failure scene should also be adjusted for certain scenarios. For example, it doesn't make sense for your classmates to vote for you if you've worked through all but the final details of the case. Why would they turn around and vote for you, simply because you had trouble with your closing arguments, in the full knowledge that such a vote would doom them all to death? In a game where the narrative is a vital component of the gameplay, more effort should be put into making sure that these sections, which remind you that you're playing a structured game, are blended into the background more seamlessly.
Classroom trials don't just consist of group-based debates, but are comprised of a number of other mini-games as well. Many of these are repeated from the first game with a couple changes and new minigames added in, but there are two major improvements I'd like to focus on. Firstly, while Hangman's goal is still pretty much the same, the new and improved version turns it into a puzzle game in which letters are floating along on the screen. You can pick up and drop any one letter in order to match up pairs of letters but must keep incompatible pairs from hitting one another as they will damage your health/trust meter. Secondly, Logic Drive is a brand new game where the player delves into their own mind in order to answer a series of questions. This mini-game takes the form of a snowboarding game on a cylindrical course, and later levels are actually quite challenging on the harder difficulty setting, but the questions being asked are always fairly obvious. Both of these additions help to bring an added layer of challenge to the series, albeit not one usually based on the murder mystery at hand.
Danganronpa 2 Review August 10 2014 4
The storyline is definitely the strongest part of Danganronpa 2, and that's largely because of the insane, unique characters and intriguing twists and turns in the narrative. Even in the very first case you find that things are never as they seem and I don't recall a single murder that played out exactly as I thought it would during the investigation. You'll often get an idea of how the crime occurred from the various clues you gather but they are always so intricate you'll likely never guess how the murder played out in its entirety. Part of the fun of the classroom trials comes from working through the case alongside other characters, piecing everything together. This feeling is heightened more and more as the main storyline of your classmates and their position in relation to events set up in the previous game is filled out. If you haven't played the first game then I highly recommend doing so, as numerous references are made to the events of that first title, but it's not necessary to have played Danganronpa to understand the thrust of events in this sequel.
Danganronpa continues to be one of the few video game series that legitimately makes me feel sad when certain characters die. All of the Ultimates are interesting - each having mastered a particular field and having an original background - that learning about them is one of the series' great strength. Thankfully, once you complete the main storyline other modes unlock that let you delve deeper into these characters that you've become attached to over the course of your playthrough.
Presentationally, Danganronpa 2 is much the same as its predecessor, which means lots of catchy music and dialogue scenes that are presented via character stills. The pop-up effect from the two dimensional props in each area you enter remain endearing, and I can appreciate the need to keep costs down, but I do hope future games become less afraid to use animated scenes because I feel the game could really benefit from more of them. There were, for example, a couple of key scenes in particular that would've been more impactful if they were animated.
Danganronpa 2 Review August 10 2014 3
It took me 31 hours to beat the main storyline of Danganronpa 2, but that's not all the game has to offer. Completing the main storyline unlocks three other modes. One of these modes casts the player as Usami as she tries to take down wave after wave of Monokuma's minions. This side mode is a good momentary distraction but is unlikely to hold your attention for long. The next mode is a novel set during the events of the first game, which is intriguing but also very heavy in reading compared to the main game. The third mode, however, is my favorite and the concept will be familiar to those who played the first game. In this mode the killing part of the "killing school trip" is taken out and replaced with simply managing your fellow students as they accomplish simple menial tasks. This gives you time to become friends with them and learn about every single one of your compatriots, in contrast to the main game which doesn't give you the time to do so before they're offed or caught having killed someone.
Danganronpa 2 is everything I had hoped it would be - a very high quality entry in a unique and fun series, one that I was able to experience this time without being spoiled by an anime adaptation - but it does start to show some cracks in the series' design. Despite that, I highly recommend it to anyone who owns a Vita and enjoys a good murder or two. Now let's pour out a forty on the Vita for the virtual friends we lost along the way*.
*We are not liable if you actually choose to douse your Vita in liquid
This review is based on a retail copy of Danganronpa 2 for the PSV, provided by the publisher.
gamrReview Verdict
Presentation - 9.0
Gameplay - 8.0
Value - 8.5
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Skills are basically a template with a set of actions that an Actor can execute. This module is packed with a bunch of options to create your skills easily.
This type of skill is activated when the Actor learns it. This is useful for things like learn how to use a weapon or a tool.
Active Skill are the type of skill that let's you execute visual actions, there is 4 different types of delivery:
Instant: useful for Melee skills, AOE (Area of Effect) or even an Explosion :).
Projectile: with this you can create from a magic ball to a rain of fire.
Status: this is useful for Buff/Debuff like DOT's (Damage Over Time). This can also be used for things like Regeneration for example, add a condition if player HP attribute is below 100% increase the HP every 1 second by HP Regen Attribute value.
Aura: with this type of Skill you can have abilities that can add bonus attributes to friendly Actors.
The Skill system comes with a very powerful editor that let's create and easily manage all your skills.
You can tweak skills at runtime! All changes are saved automatically.
Instant Delivery Skill
Projectile Delivery Skill

source: m-a-p/FineFineWeb


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Building Components (Windows, Roofing, Siding, Sealants)
The basic function of a building is to provide structurally sound and environmentally controlled spaces to house and protect occupants and contents. If this basic function is not achieved, it is because some aspect of the building has failed. Exponent's architects, engineers, and scientists have a broad range of expertise with failures in the built environment, and providing clients with in-depth investigations of individual building components, as well as the interdependence of components with each other and the outside environment. Failures of basic building functions can range from defects in single components such as windows, to extensive deficiencies in an entire exterior wall system, to the inability of HVAC systems to properly condition the air. The source of these deficiencies can include inadequate design, improper execution of the work, defective materials, or simply normal and expected aging perhaps coupled with lack of maintenance.
Building deficiencies such as water infiltration, excessive building movement, or premature component failures have become more common as buildings have become more complex. Builders are not content to continue using traditional materials, components, and construction methods, when budget pressures make promising new components and building systems very appealing, sometimes before they have been properly tested or their long-term performance demonstrated. Also contributing to building deficiencies are the problems associated with continually changing roles of the design/construction teams.
Our services include:
- Site investigations, often including spray testing and invasive examination of building components
- Laboratory testing of building components, wherein a component can be studied under simulated (or accelerated) field conditions but in a controlled environment
- Engineering analysis of the design and performance of building components with respect to design intent, standard of care, and conformance of as-built conditions to construction drawings
- Identification and design of appropriate repairs for faulty or damaged building components and envelopes.


Toyota's T-HR3 robot mimics human movement
Toyota's T-HR3
Toyota shows off its latest robot, a humanoid called T-HR3, at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo. The robot itself appears to be just as un-charismatic as its name, but that's not the point. The important feature is the underlying technology that allows the robot to mimic human movement with excellent flexibility and balance.
The robot was built specifically to develop and test technology called a "torque servo module," which comprises motors, reduction gears, and torque sensors. There are 29 of these modules in the robot's joints, plus 16 of them in a special chair, called the MMS or Master Maneuvering System, which is like a giant remote control for the person operating the robot.
The system is equipped with motion and force sensors in the feet, so the operator's movement translates directly to the robot's joints for synchronized movement between a human and the T-HR3. The operator also wears a head-mount display that is connected to the robot's built-in cameras, so the user can see whatever the robot sees, in 3D and realtime.
The robot was created by Toyota's Partner Robot Family, a division with a goal to "evolve the technology of industrial robots such that they can be applied to the advanced technology of automobiles, IT and other areas." The T-HR3 is considered a third-generation humanoid. Previous generations played instruments to test the precise positioning of joints and pre-programmed movements. Now, the group's latest humanoid is a platform meant to safely assist humans with mobility challenges.
It lacks AI, but keeping a human in the loop is useful for many situations where it's not safe or practical for a person to walk around. In space exploration, for example, an operator could sit in NASA's research facility while "walking" around Mars. It could also be used for military and disaster relief, but Toyota's focus appears to be using robots as medical and home assistants.
We didn't film the actual presentation but luckily we found a video on Youtube showing how it works.
What do you think of this new humanoid from Toyota? Let us know in the comments below
 2. Off course, T-HR3 robots of Toyota are making difference in technology and by doing the work up to the mark. These sorts of australian writings services review robots are making humans life easier and tension free by doing hard physical actions.


mammals known for eating ants and termites
An anteater is a mammals of the family Myrmecophagidae and the suborder Vermilingua. Anteaters live in South America and Central America.
Temporal range: Early Miocene-present
Giant anteater
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Pilosa
Suborder: Vermilingua
Illiger, 1811
Anteaters eat ants and termites. They have long, sharp claws and a long, sticky tongue. The tongue can be up to 60 cm long, as long as a person's arm. The anteater opens an ant nest with its claws. Then it licks up the ants with its tongue.
Large anteaters that move on the ground knuckle-walk, bending their front toes under when they move the way gorillas do. Small anteaters that live in trees do not do this.[1]
 1. Caley M Orr (2005). "Knuckle-walking Anteater: A Convergence Test of Adaptation for Purported Knuckle-Walking Features of African Hominidae". Am J Phys Anthropol. 128 (3): 639–58. doi:10.1002/ajpa.20192. PMID _PHONE_. Retrieved July 8, 2020.


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How Do World Events Impact Addiction
Experience clinician-run addiction treatment at Red Oak Recovery® in the pristine Blue Ridge Mountains
How Do World Events Impact Addiction
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There is no shortage of world events that can potentially lead to trauma. Wars, natural disasters, political upheavals, crashing economies, poverty, and pandemics can trigger various mental health issues that range from anxiety and depression to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). How do these catastrophic events impact addiction? More importantly, how do those affected by world events cope without turning to drugs and alcohol?
How Do World Events Impact Addiction?
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Perhaps the most significant impact that a world event has on any one person is trauma. Trauma is an emotional response to a traumatic event. A person who witnesses or experiences a traumatic event may not be equipped to deal with the emotional aftermath. As a result, they may turn to drugs or alcohol as a form of self-medication.
The symptoms of PTSD may include:
 - Sleepless nights or nightmares
 - Flashbacks
 - Emotional outbursts
 - Fears or phobias
 - Social isolation
 - Repressed feelings
It can take years for some symptoms to manifest. Consequently, a person with PTSD may not make the connection between the trauma and their addiction. Trauma-informed care can help those with PTSD manage their symptoms and overcome their past trauma.
Anxiety and Depression
The current coronavirus has caused a surge in anxiety disorders and clinical depression. Many people live in fear of contracting the virus. Others have already caught COVID-19 or have lost loved ones who had it. Pandemics cause mass fear, chaos, and uncertainty. These emotions can lead to high levels of anxiety. However, many people in quarantine are unable to get professional help for their condition.
Fortunately, many addiction treatment centers in North Carolina offer telehealth services to assist those with mental health disorders and addictions. Services that are currently available online include:
 - Therapy
 - Support groups
 - Pharmaceutical services
 - Document retrieval
 - Addiction apps
 - Educational resources
Someone suffering from addiction and trauma should have instant access to treatment and support to help they need to overcome their addiction.
Isolation
Whether physical or emotional, world events can lead to isolation, which often contributes to drug or alcohol addiction. The coronavirus has led to forced quarantines in many parts of the U.S. The current presidential election has made many people feel emotionally isolated from their communities or their government. Recent hurricanes have separated families and caused many people to lose their homes. All of this leads to feelings of isolation.
For those struggling with addiction, isolation can easily trigger a relapse or cause them to go further into substance abuse. Group therapy programs and support groups can help people connect with others on the path to recovery. Many groups meet online, while others meet in the community, possibly in smaller groups due to COVID-19.
Instability
Catastrophic world events can often throw people into chaos. Schedules are derailed, uncertainty ensues, and lives are thrown into disorder. This type of instability is difficult for someone in recovery who relies on stability and routine to stay on track. For those who struggle with addiction, instability only leads to more addiction. In some cases, there is no accountability because people have their minds on the recent world event.
While it is impossible to control a world event, someone who has an addiction can still maintain a certain level of stability. They may start by putting their house in order and creating a stable environment. Or they can continue going to work if they have a job. Reaching out to support groups and treatment specialists can also create stability in uncertain times.
Get Help for Addiction at The Willows at Red Oak Recovery
If you are struggling with addiction, now is the time to get help. The Willows at Red Oak Recovery offers a variety of addiction treatment therapies for all types of addictions and mental health issues. Contact The Willows at Red Oak Recovery at _PHONE_ to find out more about your treatment options. Let us help you get on the path to recovery.


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In-process monitoring techniques are of paramount importance for optimisation of the injection moulding process. Real-time measurements provide valuable information of the quality of the moulded parts and operating conditions which are required for the success of manufacturing finished plastic products of industrial or consumer applications.
Pressure transducers, rapid dynamic response cavity thermocouples and position sensors are among the most widely used in the plastic injection moulding industry and are thought to result from the ability of these to describe the whole process in detail.
The processes that take place inside the mould are widely acknowledged as being decisive for the quality of the finished product. For example, monitoring of cavity melt pressure data enable examination of the injection moulding, compression and holding processes (Figure 1). The profile of the cavity pressure curve provides detailed information concerning weight, shape, burrs, shrinkage cavity, cavitation, contraction and deformation. Correctly controlled, it guarantees a sustainable quality improvement and a reduction in scrap.
Cavity melt pressure measurements are known to be highly affected by the correct positioning of the cavity pressure sensor. Compared to measurements near the gate, measurements far away from the gate have been reported to be more favourable when special quality problems must be monitored at the end of the flow path*.
In-process quality is concerned with the relationship between pressure and temperature profiles. Combined sensors for pressure and temperature are particularly suited to use for the monitoring of parts with a tendency to shrinking and deformation.
Therefore, the use of real-time monitoring techniques appears to be crucial for the analysis of the injection moulding process and examination of its efficiency, leading to manufacturing process improvements by direct sensorisation of the mould cavity.


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What is a Non-Traditional Student?
There is no definitive definition of 'non-traditional student'. The term is generally used to refer to students who belong to groups who did not traditionally enter the higher education system in significant numbers.
Historically, most students who entered higher education in Ireland shared common characteristics. They were:
- from middle class backgrounds,
- of school leaving age (usually eighteen or nineteen),
- spoke English as their first language,
- had no disabilities,
- studied full time with no significant external responsibilities.
This is beginning to change as more students from 'non-traditional' backgrounds enter university.
Any student who does not share all the characteristics noted above can be considered a non-traditional student. For example:
- TAP students,
- Mature students,
- International Students,
- Students from ethnic minorities,
- Disabled Students,
- Students who are parents / carers,
- Part-time students.
The numbers of students entering Trinity from non-traditional backgrounds has increased greatly over the past decade.
Some non-traditional students enter Trinity College via specialist access routes:
- Access Initiatives (TAP),
- Mature Students' Dispensation Scheme,
- Supplementary Admissions Procedure for students with disabilities.
As non-traditional students come from diverse backgrounds, their needs are diverse. Specific needs arise for many different reasons. For example, students may have to balance academic study with external responsibilities, manage disabilities, or cope with studying within an unfamiliar educational culture or working through English, when is not their first language.
Higher level teaching and assessment methods have been developed to suit the needs of the traditional student body and often do not take account of the varied needs of a diverse student body.
TIC is designed to respond to the needs of the modern student population by enabling staff to embed inclusive practices within their teaching and assessment.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Modules are items used to enhance existing buildings' capabilities. They are expensive, require appropriate research, and are produced slowly, but can eventually greatly improve the efficiency of a factory.
Quick usage summary:
- For more products per second a speed module should be used.
- For more products per input resource a productivity module should be used.
- For more products per watt of energy an efficiency module should be used (except in rare cases when productivity modules are also used - then a speed module might be better).
Note that changing a machine's energy consumption directly affects how much pollution the machine generates. This is the case because the pollution production rate is directly linked to the machine's energy consumption, so this applies even when power is produced in a pollution-free way.
Types of modules
There are three types of modules in Factorio, each with 3 tiers of effect. Higher tiers have stronger effects but are more expensive. Note that the machine's properties (speed, energy consumption and pollution) cannot be reduced below 20% of the original value.
Speed modules increase the speed and energy consumption of a machine.
|Module||Speed bonus||Energy consumption|
Advantages & Disadvantages:
- Increases speed of machine.
- If used with productivity modules, it can increase the efficiency of the machine in terms of items produced per watt (or items produced per pollution generated).
- Increases energy use per cycle (exceptions exist).
- Increased energy usage means increased pollution generation (pollution depends on power usage).
Productivity modules add a purple "productivity bar" when placed inside item-producing buildings and labs. If the productivity bar is already present through completed research, the modules will simply speed up the bar. Each time the machine finishes crafting the recipe it is set to, an amount is added to the bar equal to the percentages of the productivity modules inside the machine. When the bar reaches 100%, an extra set of products is immediately generated without consuming any resources.
Productivity modules can only be used in machines that are set to make intermediate products. These are all the ores mined by electric drills, the stone brick (and anything else smelted in a furnace) and some of the items listed in the intermediate products tab. Exceptions to the items listed in this tab are: the satellite, the recipes that fill/empty a barrel, nuclear fuel, and nuclear fuel reprocessing. Productivity modules cannot be placed in beacons either. When a recipe uses the same item as an input and output (e.g. coal liquefaction and the kovarex enrichment process) the productivity bonus only applies to the net product.
Advantages & Disadvantages:
- Creates an additional free item occasionally.
- Increases energy use per cycle.
- Increases pollution generated.
- Slows the machine.
Efficiency modules reduce the required electricity to run the machine. The lowest amount of energy that efficiency modules can be used to achieve is 20% of the machine's base energy usage.
Advantages & Disadvantages:
- Reduces energy use per cycle.
- Decreased energy usage means decreased pollution generation (pollution depends on power usage).
- Cannot lower energy usage below 20%.
- If used with productivity modules, sometimes the efficiency gain is lower than what a speed module could achieve.
As a rule modules do not have diminishing returns (except that consumption is capped to -80%), that is if an assembler is making 2 items per second, adding 1 speed 3 module (+50% speed) will increase item production by 1/s, a second speed3 module will increase production by the same 1/s. Consumption modifiers work the same way, for example if a machine is consuming 180kW, the first efficiency 1 module will reduce energy use by 54kW, the second will also reduce energy use by 54kW. There is no difference between putting 2 speed 1 modules in one machine and 2 efficiency 1 modules in a second machine, than putting 1 of each in both machines - in both cases the total items produced per second and average energy required per item is identical.
There is however synergy between productivity modules and speed modules, productivity modules reduce crafting speed which lowers the production rate of items and increases the energy consumed per item, the speed bonus from speed modules increases production rate of items and lowers the energy consumed per item - in fact when dealing with productivity modules, the reduction in energy consumption from the increased speed from speed modules can be greater than the increased energy consumption. For detailed calculations on the synergy between productivity modules and speed modules refer to this discussion as well as this warning.
Filling the device with speed modules is useful when a resource is infinite but the amount of resource pools is low. The best example would be oil deposits. Another good place to use speed modules would be for assembly machines which make products that take a long time to make, for example engine units. Using speed modules allows more compact setups, because one machine can provide materials to more consumers than normal. If used together with productivity modules, they can also increase efficiency (in terms of items produced per watt or per pollution generated) of a machine.
Filling devices with productivity modules is recommended when resources are scarce. An example would be more advanced products not being produced enough due to bottlenecks. It will take longer and more energy, but the overall amount of products per time will be higher. Productivity is especially useful in recipes that consume a lot of resources per second such as electronic circuits, as this will result in a lot of free items being created and quickly cover the cost of the module. Also by saving the need to mine ore, smelt plates and process intermediates for those free items the additional energy cost can be easily covered.
Filling devices with efficiency modules is recommended for electric furnaces as these use a lot of power. Note that making higher level efficiency modules are not worth it in terms of power saved vs materials used to build a solar panel setup with same power output so the only incentive is to further reduce pollution or space utilization. Modules are also able to control pollution, as pollution depends also on energy usage. So reducing a machine's energy usage by 40% with a efficiency module 2 will also reduce its pollution by 40%. Beware as this also works vice versa! Also note that if you're using productivity modules, a speed module can sometimes provide better efficiency gains due to the fact that the machine will now be producing much more items per second. Efficiency modules also generally don't work well in beacons.
Examples of usage
Electric furnaces are huge power hogs at 180 kW per furnace. 1 basic efficiency module reduces it by 54 kW (−30%) – almost a solar panel worth of power. Electric mining drills normally create 10 units of pollution, using 3 basic efficiency modules on them reduces their pollution production by 80% to 2 units per minute.
Using productivity module 3s in the rocket silo reduces the total resource cost for 1 rocket launch by almost 30%, saving 26k copper ore per rocket launch.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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"Testing the Kin Selection Theory: Who Controls the Investments?" from The Ants (1990), by Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson
In "Testing the Kin Selection Theory: Who Controls the Investments?" Bert Hölldobler and Edward Osborne Wilson discussed the predictive power of kin selection theory, a theory about the evolution of social behaviors. As part of Hölldobler's and Wilson's 1990 book titled The Ants, Hölldobler and Wilson compared predictions about the reproductive practices of ants to data about the reproductive practices of ants. They showed that the data generally supported the expected behaviors proposed by kin selection theory.


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- What is Business Aviation?
- Flight Department Administration
- Aircraft Operations
- Professional Development
- News & Publications
- Products & Services
The entire organization must work together to fully embrace a proactive safety mindset supported by a "just culture" and evidenced by not only participation and belief in the culture, but the willingness to share safety data with fellow aviation professionals.
This second foundation for safety highlights the need for an effective set of beliefs, values, attitudes and practices from executive management to the flight line. Use the tools and information below to assess your own safety culture and learn how to make improvements.
Developing a safety culture involves getting everyone in the aviation department on the same page. This Business Aviation Insider article discusses safety culture and safety leadership. Read the article.
An overview of recommended best practices for measuring and evaluating your safety culture. Download the survey (PDF).
Use this survey to assess organizational values, operations interactions, formal and informal safety indicators, and to help build a positive safety culture in your flight department. Download the survey (PDF).


Society & Culture
Fighting the Dragon With Solzhenitsyn
Do great men make history? Or does history make great men? One thing's for sure: History sometimes smothers great men, as Thomas Gray suggests in his famous elegy written in a country churchyard, and as the rows of endless graves from Arlington to the Somme demonstrate with brutal candor.
"Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest," mused Gray, or "some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood." How many great poets and writers, the equal of Milton in the gifts the Muse might have bestowed on them, were doomed to remain mute and inglorious in some "neglected spot" in Flanders? Conversely, would Adolf Hitler have been "guiltless of his country's blood" had he not been merely wounded at the battle of the Somme but died of his wounds? These are moot points perhaps, but one wonders nonetheless how history might have changed if the fate of great men had been different. How different, for instance, would the world have been had history, in the form of the Soviet monster, snuffed out the life of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn like a newly lit cigarette, as it snuffed out the lives of so many millions of others? How different would it have been if Solzhenitsyn had poured out his blood when fighting for the Red Army on the Eastern Front, or been killed in the Soviet labor camps, worked to death like countless others, or had died of the cancer...
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How to accept payments using Stripe?
By Snigdha | Last Updated on May 14th, 2020 7:12 am | 5-min read
How to accept payments using Stripe
Supported by widespread access to high speed internet and the insatiable hunger of customers for convenience, online commerce is progressing rapidly all around the world. However, when it comes to payments online, businesses are expanding internationally and taking advantage of the increased reach that online commerce provides with widely varying customer preferences. Not only can delivery terms be quite different, but the payment methods used for online transactions themselves vary too.
Stripe supports a wider range of payment methods to help you accept payments from around the world. Each payment method varies in authentication process. Businesses after reading this blog will be able to discover, understand, and select the right payment methods for them to reach a broader audience. With Stripe, clients have the ability to pay their Invoices with a credit card and can sit back and watch their money get added to their bank account automatically.
How to accept payments using Stripe?
This blog underlines the characteristics of payment methods that determine their relevance to a particular business model and also provides an overview of Stripe payments. The points to be taken into consideration by businesses on how to accept payment using Stripe:
1. Deciding on the right payment methods
Businesses will have to consider their business model and operational constraints to evaluate the value, to them, of additional payment methods.
 1. Identify your customer
 Identifying target audience is an important first step for businesses to decide which payment options to focus on. The distribution of payment methods used online varies by region, but also within specific regions. Some credit cards brands are internationally available, others confined to a single country.
 2. Checkout support
 Certain payment methods only support payments in a limited number of currencies however other payment involve redirecting customers to another app or site to complete their payment. Also, some payment methods may limit the possibility to complete payments without a customer's explicit confirmation. Given the specific payment methods, businesses will have to adapt their checkout to support them.
 3. Risk and frauds
 Businesses can anticipate and manage the risks associated with accepting online payments by choosing payment methods that match their risk preferences. Businesses will have to take into consideration, which payment options may increase the likelihood of fraudulent transactions, and where liability rests in the event of disputed payments.
 4. Analyze the cost to support payment methods
 Businesses will have to take into consideration the costs and benefits of adding payment methods to their checkout. They will need to anticipate the cost of the technical integration of an additional payment method. They will also need to take into account, the internal costs borne to support multiple payment methods.
Deciding on the right payment methods
2. Payment method
Businesses will have to understand the checkout experience their customers will have using it, as well as the implications of accepting it.
 1. Payment completion
 A challenge for businesses accepting payments online is to ensure that they provide a pleasant and genuine payment experience for their customers. The three types of payments are
 - Business-initiated
 - Customer-initiated
 - Customer-authenticated
 2. Confirmation on receiving funds
 Once the business receives a confirmation that the payment has been completed by the customer, it gives them the confidence to fulfill the order. Two cases which fall under this pointer are
 - Immediate Confirmation
 - Delayed Confirmation
 3. Can the payment credentials be stored?
 Businesses offering subscription services and looking to optimize the checkout experience for future transactions will consider whether or not payment details can be stored on file and reused.
 - Payment details are reusable
 - Payment details are single-use
3. Industry considerations
Customers always expect greater speed and convenience when interacting with businesses online. Below mentioned are a few guidelines that businesses can take into consideration.
 1. Mobile commerce
 2. Mobile commerce, also known as m-commerce, comprises of any monetary transaction completed using a mobile device. It is actually an advancement of ecommerce, enabling people to buy and sell goods or services from almost anywhere, by simply using a mobile phone. Payment methods for customers using mobile app installed can offer an extremely simple purchase experience.
 3. On-demand economy
 The on-demand economy is defined as an economic activity created by digital marketplaces and technology organizations to fulfill consumer demand by an immediate access to goods and services. Payment methods offering immediate confirmation that the transaction was successful are a priority for the on-demand economy.
 4. Software-as-a-service
 Software-as-a-service businesses and nonprofits focus on subscriptions as well as larger payments that are settled by bank transfers.
Why should a business opt for Stripe?
Businesses should carefully weigh the following considerations as they evaluate integration solutions to support additional payment method.
Why should a business opt for Stripe?
 1. Simple onboarding
 Adding any payment methods is a very complex process and it requires businesses to establish both a contractual and operational relationship with payment scheme and that might take weeks. Stripe makes this process a lot simpler so businesses can quickly add and scale payment method support.
 2. Easy way to integrate a new payment method
 Businesses can develop against a unified framework that allows them to scale support for all payment methods easily. To reduce the risks of technical integration, Stripe's Sources API (Application Programming Interface) supports accepting any payment method—both cards and non-cards—via single API. Businesses now using stripe have a simple and elegant integration that involve minimal development time and easy to maintain, regardless of which payment methods they choose to implement.
 3. Unified monitoring, reporting, payouts for all payment methods
 Payments made with any payment method using the Sources API, including cards, will appear consistently in Stripe Dashboard, reducing operational complexity and allowing for lightweight financial reconciliation. This process allows businesses to develop standardized processes for typical operations such as customer support, and refunds. Thus stripe payment methods are secure.
 PayPal and Stripe charge exactly the same amount. However, Stripe also accepts ACH (Automated Clearing House) transactions, which PayPal doesn't, and offers them for just 0.8 per cent per transfer. Stripe currently supports popular payment methods around the world. The Stripe Payment Gateway extension allows store owners to accept credit card payments on their sites. Stripe payments are best as they simple and very popular.
 Each payment method supported by Sources API is defined by four characteristics. The combination of these characteristics determines how a source is made chargeable, and how it is used in a charge request to complete a payment.
 - Pull or push
 - Flow
 - Usage
 - Synchronous or asynchronous
Stripe payments are very simple to accept online. Stripe has no setup fees, no monthly or annual fees, or any hidden costs. Stripe checkout is completely satisfactory. Thousands of businesses rely on Stripe's software tools to securely accept payments and expand globally. Stripe will continue to evaluate locally relevant payment methods and support to meaningfully increase conversion rates for its users over time.
Did you know that you can have your very own monetized apps? Try Appy Pie today!
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Dynamic and clear acoustics on stage with virtual technology
Don't underestimate the importance of musicians and singers being able to clearly hear each other during a performance. Sound on a typical stage, without the benefit of a traditional shell, is easily lost backstage and in the fly loft. When performers can't hear each other, they don't play together, and the performance suffers.
Wenger has partnered with HARMAN and Lexicon to incorporate the most advanced digital technology into the Virtuoso™ Acoustical Shell. Virtuoso uses microphones and speakers, along with powerful digital processors to create a virtual acoustical environment that dramatically improves what musicians and singer hear on stage. The result – an amazing acoustical space for your performers.
Its compact technology and components make it an ideal solution for stages where space constraints prohibit the use of a traditional shell structure.
Positioning yourself in the middle of an orchestra is the best seat in the house. Unfortunately only one person in the building gets to listen to the performance from that location – the conductor. For everyone else, including the musicians, what they hear greatly diminishes due to distance, obstructions, building materials, building shape, etc.
That's where an acoustical shell excels – mixing and projecting the sound back at the performers and out into the audience. The difference dramatic and amazing.
Wenger offers an acoustic solution for just about any performance environment. Determining the ideal solution for your space and needs is the first critical step. The solution can be a passive one, an active one, or a combination of both.
Traditional/physical shell structures are what we call "Passive" acoustics. Their shape and special materials reflect sound to performers and audience so it doesn't get lost backstage or in the flyloft. Their benefits include:
Electronic assistance to your acoustics using microphones, speakers and a sophisticated processing system. The benefits include:
Please contact your sales representative for ordering information.


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To keep it short, a PCV valve controls emissions and prevents oil sludge. And you can test it by taking it out and shaking it: if you can't hear any rattle, it's probably broken, and you need to replace it.
To find out more about the PCV valve, read on.
PCV stands for positive crankcase ventilation. It's basically a one-way valve, and it's attached to your engine's crankcase. The crankcase holds your motor oil and is located at the bottom of your engine. When your vehicle burns fuel, it produces gases – these gases due to emission standards nowadays cannot be just released.
Besides this, sometimes those gases go between the pistons and into the crankcase. This can lead to a dangerous mix: those gases and your engine's oil mix and can create corrosive, engine-clogging sludge. Not cool.
So in order to prevent sludge and to protect the environment, the PCV valve was created.
When to replace the PCV valve?
Usually, if its working, everything is alright. Like I said in the beginning of this article, just remove it from the engine and shake it. If you can't hear any rattle, it's time to replace it.
But every 30.000 miles or so, on some car models, it makes sense to replace it as a prevention measure. Why? Because it's dirt cheap and a good way to just avoid any problem altogether.
However, once you spot a symptom (see below) or just have an extra 5 minutes, just take a look at the valve and the hoses surrounding it. They can go bad, and you can get a vacuum leak. You'd want to fix that even if the actual valve is not broken.
What are the symptoms of a bad PCV valve?
There are a lot of symptoms, and some of them might be because of a bad PCV valve, some not. That's why I recommend actually testing it (shake it!), and inspecting the hoses around it.
Symptoms of a stuck closed PCV valve
- engine oil leaks
- moisture and sludge buildup inside the engine
- low whistling or event a… moaning – like noise
- failure of one or more oil seals or gaskets (increase in internal engine pressure)
Symptoms of a stuck open PCV valve
- engine misfire at idle
- increased oil consumption
- rough idle
- spark plugs contaminated with oil
- hart start-up
- engine oil in the PCV valve or hose
Please be aware that a PCV valve that is broken as in stuck open, can even trigger the 'check engine' light due to the increased airflow. Some computers may blame this on a mass airflow sensor or oxygen sensor. Do check the PCV valve also, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd find out the MAF or O2 sensors are ok, and the PCV valve decided to break.
The bottom line
Just look up how to take out the PCV valve on your specific car model – google it and if you're planning to keep that car for a couple of years it may make sense to buy a service manual as it can help you save a lot of cash if you like DIY-ing. It can have a lot of nasty symptoms and sometimes even the computer wrongly blames other parts. This is definitely an easy DIY in most cases, and it can spare you a lot of headaches besides saving you some pretty pennies.
note: if you need to find your engine's code, you can do so using your VIN number.


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International Association of Scientific Innovation and Research (IASIR)
In this paper, the authors present a new approach for communication with computer systems using hand gesture. The process is based on extracting features of the hand region and then using these features for communication with computer system. Their approach is defined in three steps segmentation for hand localization, feature extraction and feature identification to create a fuzzy rule base. The gesture is a natural way of communication for many people with sign language. In computer systems, gesture recognition is very difficult and complex task since the full recognition system should be able to identify the hand in different scales, positions, orientations, contrasts, funds, luminosity and others.


How an Electric Monitor Can Help Save Money
If you are looking to save money on your electric bill, you may want to try using an electric monitor. The electric monitor promises that you can save up to 20% on your electric bill without having to sacrifice any comfort you enjoy in your home. Does it sound too good to be true? Well, let's take a look at how it works and see if these promises are fact or fiction.
The Electric Monitor and How it Works
Efergy Elite 4.0 Wireless Electricity Monitor
Originally posted at Amazon
So what exactly does the electric monitor do? And, how can an electric monitor can help save money? Well, it monitors your electricity! You might argue that your electric meter already does that, and it does…but the nice thing about the monitor is it displays the amount of energy you are using in real time, on screen. That way you have easy access to this information round the clock.
The monitor is easy to use. It has two parts, one that fits over the mains live supply of your electric meter and the other is the part that stays in your home and gives you your read out. Here are some general instructions on how to set up your meter:
 1. Install batteries in both parts. (Some models are powered by the mains and do not need batteries).
 2. Setup date, time and current billing charge per kWh.
 3. Clip the monitoring part onto the live mains cable that feeds the fuse box from your meter.
 4. Synchronize both parts of the kit using the buttons provided.
 5. Place the unit in a convenient location.
There are several ways to set up your monitor to obtain your usage information. Updated information reaches the monitor in intervals which may range from 6-8 seconds. You can choose to view a breakdown of this information by cost, carbon footprint, kWh, etc. You can also receive updates on the cost of electricity per hour, or per 24-hour period.
How The Electric Monitor Can Help You Save Money
So now you have your kit installed, and it is telling you how much energy you are consuming. But how does one use this information to save money? Well, according to those who use the device, the electric monitor is pretty effective at doing its job. Read on to find out why.
 - The electric monitor provides information about the current trends in electricity use and rates so you can take action to cut back immediately if a particular rate is on the rise.
 - It helps you determine what appliances in your house are consuming the most electricity and cut down on usage if possible.
 - It may be able to alert you as to when a particular item or appliance has been left on. This will only happen if the monitor is easy for family members to view. You may want to consider this when choosing a monitor for your home and go for one that has an easy to read display and one that can be positioned somewhere where it is visible.
 - If you are in the habit of leaving lights on, an updated view of how much money you are spending by leaving those lights on may make you more aware of usage and more likely to turn those lights off. If your display is set for a 24 hour reading, you can really see how your costs are adding up.
How An Electric Monitor Can Help You Make an Informed Choice in Purchasing Light Bulbs
Electric monitors can also help you make money saving purchases. When you are purchasing light bulbs in a store, there is no certain way of knowing how long that bulb will last. There is a half life listed on the packaging, but it's impossible to determine how accurate this is without actually using the bulb.
There are other factors that might add to the cost of what might, on the surface, seem to be an energy saving bulb. Energy saving bulbs may not give off as much light. Also, some bulbs may not work with your lighting equipment, which will require you to use an adapter. By using an electrical monitor, you will be able to tell which light, (and therefore light bulbs) are using the most electricity and you'll be able to make money saving choices in the future. Some who have used an electric monitor have found eco-halogen bulbs to be a wise choice.
Other Money Saving Tips
Effective Electric MonitorAnother device that can be helpful into saving you money on your electric bill is an electronic barometer that can read indoor humidity and temperature. These devices give you information on whether a chill in the air is caused by a nosedive temperature or just a temporary fluctuation that is outside of the ambient range. This can prevent residents from turning up heat unnecessarily.
What To Consider When Buying an Electric Monitor
There are certain things you should consider when making a purchasing decision for an electric monitor. One thing you must think about is whether you will need a three phase or a single phase system. This depends on the current electric power in your home. Make sure you determine this information before purchasing.
You also want to consider the amount of amps that are used by the system. The number of amps supported by each system can vary. It's a good idea to find a system that has high accuracy and reliable consumption data. You also want to look for a monitor that is compact in size, cost effective, compatible worldwide, can work with a wide input voltage range and is easy to install.
Consider the communication protocols of the monitor. Choosing a smart power meter with compatible communication protocol can be the key in getting the system up and running. You may also want to look for features that allow you to upload stored data to your computer so you can compare trends over time.
An electric monitor can be a valuable tool helping homeowners to save money. However, it is important for owners to familiarize themselves with the ways electric monitors can be most helpful and which features they should look for to make these most effective for their households. Once you learn this information, you can make an intelligent choice in buying one, which will surely pay for itself over time.


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UMass Medical School cancer researcher Lucio Castilla, PhD (right), has been awarded a 2013 Bridge Grant from Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF). The foundation launched Bridge Grants in response to decreasing National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding to support promising projects that did not receive NIH support despite excellent scores.
Dr. Castilla, associate professor of molecular medicine and biochemistry & molecular pharmacology, studies the genetics of leukemia with the goal of identifying targets for drug therapies. He will focus on targeted therapies for children battling acute myeloid leukemia with the 12-month, $100,000 ALSF grant.
After earning his PhD from the University of Michigan, Castilla was a postdoctoral fellow in the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH before joining the Program in Gene Function and Expression at UMMS in 2000. He is a past recipient of a Special Fellow Award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and an AACR-Sidney Kimmel Symposium for Cancer Research Scholar Award, and recently completed a five-year term as a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Scholar.
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation bears the name of cancer patient Alexandra "Alex" Scott (_PHONE_) who, at the age of four, announced that she wanted to hold a lemonade stand to raise money to help find a cure for children with cancer. Since Alex held that first stand, the Foundation has raised more than $60 million and funded more than 275 research projects grants at nearly 70 institutions in North America.


Jun 10 - 16, 2010
Have Fork, Will Travel
Chewing the Fat
The secrets of Argentine-style wood grilling and a recipe for chimichurri
By Ari LeVaux
Red, dead and grass-fed
Ari LeVaux
Red, dead and grass-fed
I've always enjoyed casual conversation and rarely been averse to chewing on a nice hunk of fat. But the expression "chew the fat" never resonated with me—until some mochileros showed me the phrase's literal meaning.
Mochilero means backpack, and the mochileros are a tribe of Argentine wanderers who camp their way across some of the finer parts of the landscape, banding together around the evening's fire to drink maté, play guitar and plan the next day's adventures. It was next to one such fire, under a starry night in San Martín, that I understood fat chewing.
A piece of meat had been cooked over wood coals. Red wine was flowing. There was a bowl of salad and a loaf of bread, and we all ate our share. As we lingered in our joyous collective afterglow, I sat there chewing the fat with the mochileros, gnawing on a bone with an attached glob of fatty material. Several times I put my bone back on the grill to heat and re-melt the stuff. The matrix of fat and connective tissue attached to that bone continued to surrender flavor as I chewed.
I imagine language evolved in ancient scenes like this, around the same fires that hardened the spears and cooked the meat of our ancestors, fires that kept the wolves away. They chewed the fat, told stories and planned the next day's adventures.
In addition to stimulating conversation, some anthropologists believe cooking food facilitated human brain development by increasing the efficiency with which calories are extracted from food. Because cooking produces soft, energy-rich foods, fewer calories are spent on digestion, leaving a higher margin of caloric recovery. This supposedly allowed our brains—the most energy-intensive organ we have—to grow.
Though fire was the original stove, today's cooks have largely left it behind. With the loss of fire, we've also lost touch with its feelings and flavors. But fire remains available and at our service, a genie in a bottle that can be conjured anywhere, anytime. And when we do, the experience of tending hot coals takes us to an archetypal place of smoke and ash—which, by the way, we're now told are carcinogenic.
In his cookbook Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way, Argentine chef Francis Mallmann writes: "I adore dissonance in food—two tastes fighting each other. It wakes up your palate and surprises you.... The right amount of burning or charring can be delicious and seductive: a burnt tomato, for example, has a dark crust bordering on bitter, while the inside is soft and gentle in texture and taste."
Applying the right amounts of smoke and fire to your food is a delicate act, and it's easy to overdo. You want these harsh flavors to be team players and not take over.
Some woods burn hot and quick, some have sweet smoke, and some throw a lot of sparks. Hardwoods are generally better for cooking than soft woods. Wood from fruit trees is a safe bet, although chokecherry wood has bitter smoke. Cherry, on the other hand, is one of the best—burning hot without too much flame and producing a sweet smoke. Apple is right up there with cherry. Hickory, alder and mesquite are good, common options. Whichever wood you use, it must be fully dry and cut into manageable chunks.
One common rookie maneuver is to start cooking before the fire completely burns down to coals. This exposes your food to licking flames that can char the food and make the smoke flavors too strong.
Start the wood fire about an hour before you want to cook—any fire pit or charcoal grill will do. Spread the coals evenly under your grill grate and wait for them to develop a layer of white ash.
Your steak should be about an inch and a half thick, at room temperature, and seasoned with salt and pepper. Some meat cooks love their marinades. But I say if you have good meat, you should be able to taste it. If anything, I'll serve my simply cooked meat with a sauce. Lately I've been into chimichurri, an Argentine garlic-and-herb vinaigrette.
Chimichurri is best prepared a day ahead so the flavors can develop. It will continue to age nicely for a few days in the fridge. Applied to fire-cooked meat, the spicy, oily, acidic fragrance of the chimichurri interacts with the lightly charred, crispy, smoky exterior of the meat to create the kind of harmonic dissonance that would make Mallmann cry.
To make chimichurri, dissolve one tablespoon of coarse salt into a cup of water. Chop a head of garlic, a cup of fresh parsley and 1/4 cup fresh or dried oregano (or marjoram), and add it all to a blender. Blend, adding 1/4 cup red wine vinegar and then 1/2 cup olive oil. Finally, blend in the salt water. Transfer to a jar with a tight-fitting lid and keep it in the refrigerator.
When your coals have burned down and you're ready to cook, make sure the grill grate is clean, and oil it with a piece of fat or an oil-soaked paper towel. You should be able to hold your hand at grill level—a distance of two to four inches from the coals—for about two seconds before the heat forces it away. The meat should sizzle when it hits the metal.
After five minutes, lift the steak and rotate 90 degrees—this prevents over-charring. After four more minutes, turn the steak over and repeat the process, turning 90 degrees after five minutes. Then it's two minutes to medium rare.
And it's even better than a burned tomato.
Nonmobile version


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Estimating Peak Flow Reduction in Small Reservoirsby Dennis R. Horn, Univ of Idaho, Dep of Civil, Engineering, Moscow, ID, USA,
Document Type: Proceeding Paper
Abstract: A microcomputer program is used to provide a simple and rapid estimate of the peak outflow from such reservoirs. Peak flow values, determined by flood frequency analysis or regional flood formula, are used along with pertinent watershed characteristics to develop a direct runoff hydrograph, based on an explicit mathematical representation of the Soil Conservation Service dimensionless unit hydrograph. Reservoir storage is expressed as an exponential function of outflow, resulting in a non-linear differential routing equation, which is solved implicitly using Newton's method.
Subject Headings: Reservoirs | Flood frequency | Outflow | Peak flow | Runoff | Hydrographs | Water storage | Computer software
Services: Buy this book/Buy this article
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2015 New Jersey Osprey Project Report documents close to 600 pairs up from low of 50 pairs
Trenton, NJ – The nonprofit Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey (CWF) and New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife's Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP) today released the 2015 New Jersey Osprey Project Report, highlighting the continued recovery of this threatened bird of prey.
"Ospreys are an important indicator of the health of our coastal ecosystems, so it is important to track the health of their population. Their continuing recovery is a very promising sign for our estuaries and the fish and other wildlife that depend on clean water to survive" stated Conserve Wildlife Foundation executive director David Wheeler. "Today, no visit to a coastal waterfront would be the same without the magnificent sighting of an osprey soaring above or crashing down to the water's surface for a fish."
Though only about 50 osprey pairs remained in New Jersey in the early 1970s, the report documents close to 600 pairs using a total of 534 active nests in 2015, more than any other year in the project's history. (See below for report highlights.)
CWF and ENSP survey an estimated 80% of the population and create an accurate representation of overall health. Biologists have come to rely on the assistance of specially trained volunteers (osprey banders) and many "Osprey Watchers" who report nests on OspreyWatch.org.
"The vital work of our volunteers helps us keep our finger on the pulse of the population," said Kathy Clark, supervising biologist with the DEP's Endangered and Nongame Species Program. "Having dedicated volunteers is a great long-term monitoring tool and really strengthens the team's ability to cover the state osprey population effectively."
"Over the past few years we've really seen a shift in how we can track the overall health of the osprey population. In previous years, the use of aerial helicopter surveys to document the size and health of the statewide population allowed biologists to reach large areas, but was also very expensive," stated Conserve Wildlife Foundation habitat program manager Ben Wurst. "Today, we utilize volunteers to help collect much of this valuable data. These 'Osprey Watchers' can view all nests, report nest activity, and other data online that we can, in turn, use to track the statewide population. The use of Osprey-watch.org also helps to raise awareness and educate citizens about ospreys and current environmental issues that aquatic ecosystems face today, including global climate change, depletion of fish stocks, and environmental contaminants."
As in previous years, biologists and dedicated volunteers conducted ground surveys in mid-summer. These surveys were conducted in the most densely populated colonies of nesting ospreys in New Jersey. From the Meadowlands, south to Cape May, and west along Delaware Bay, a sample of each major colony is checked and nest outcome data are used to determine how well our ospreys are faring. During these surveys, the health of nestlings is assessed and they are banded with USGS bird bands for future tracking. Since this is usually the only visit to nests each year, the condition of the nesting platform is also noted and repairs or replacement are scheduled for the non-breeding season.
In 2015, CWF continued to band young ospreys produced in Barnegat Bay with a red, alpha-numeric coded auxiliary band. Project RedBand is focused on ospreys that nest in the Barnegat Bay watershed from Point Pleasant to Little Egg Harbor. The main goal of the project is to engage the public in osprey management and conservation along the Jersey Shore. At the same time, while collecting data from re-sightings, biologists will learn about their dispersal, foraging habits, site ﬁdelity, migration routes, and life span. This year 33 bands were deployed, putting the total in the ﬁeld at 95. 2016 marks the first year that red banded ospreys (from 2014) will start to return here from their wintering grounds in South America.
Highlights of the 2015 New Jersey Osprey Project Report are found below. To view the complete report online, visit _URL_.
You can help protect New Jersey's ospreys and all other rare wildlife by supporting the New Jersey Endangered Wildlife Fund when you file your state income tax this year and every year. Simply look for Line 59 on your NJ 1040 income tax return, and check-off for wildlife. Every dollar you donate goes directly to ENSP, enabling biologists to continue their work to restore, conserve and enhance New Jersey's populations of rare species. What's more, your contribution is matched with an equal amount of federal funding, further strengthening efforts to protect hundreds of imperiled species.
About CWF: Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey (CWF) is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of New Jersey's endangered and threatened wildlife and the habitats they depend on. We carry out our mission by researching and managing rare animal species, restoring habitat, educating New Jersey's residents, and engaging volunteers in our conservation projects. Since the early 1990's, CWF scientists and educators have helped conserve and protect a variety of at-risk species of wildlife in New Jersey, the most densely populated state in the nation.
For more information on CWF, please visit us at _URL_.
2015 Report Highlights:
In 2015, 423 known-outcome nests ﬂedged an average of 1.74 young per active nest. That rate has averaged 1.75 in recent years, remaining well above the minimum necessary for a stable population (1.0 young/active nest).
The 2015 productivity rate was near the long term average and suggests the population will continue to grow.
Thirty-one new nests were found this year, and we combined that number with last year's census to estimate the overall population close to 600 pairs.
The next statewide census will occur in 2017.
Of the 423 known-outcome nests, 347 were found along the Atlantic Coast and 76 were found on Delaware Bay.
A total of 737 young were produced from these known-outcome nests.
A total of 432 young were banded by volunteers and biologists with USGS leg bands for future tracking.
Population growth remains around 10% since approximately 2009.


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Hints and Things does not use any 1st Party cookies - more information.
In most cases to make a word plural (to mean more than one in number) you just have to add an "s" or "es", there are, however, some exceptions. Here are a few of the most familiar, if you have other favourites please send them in to _EMAIL_
Some words are the same in both singular and plural forms and some have no singular form, these are shown in green.
* Mr. Tim Lynch also points out this is the only English plural where the first syllable sounds different in addition to the changed ending.
I have recently been asked if the word "music" can be used in the plural form as "musics" - my immediate response was "no", but having done some research it would appear this term is now widely used. If anyone can throw any light on this particular subject I would be delighted to hear from you (_EMAIL_)
Bree Guerra comments as follows:-
Just to let you know, in an academic (musicological) setting, the plural word "musics" works the same way as the plural form "peoples"-- it refers to a group of distinct musical practices or styles.
Another query I have had is regarding the plural form of the word "ginseng" - here again I found confusion. Ginseng appears to be a species of plant and also a term given to the root of the plant. Presumably when referring to several roots it would be termed "ginsengs" - unless anyone knows differently!
Help from English graduates etc. would be more than welcome.
Now for something a bit different; I received the following interesting information from Aaron B Lingwood, a student of Japanese, which I thought would be of interest to others -
I am not a student of English but a student of Japanese.
I have seen the plural of Ninja written the following ways:
I believe the correct plural of Ninja is Shinobi.
Plurals don't exist in the Japanese language.
In Ancient Japanese, some word forms were created to convey Singularity.
Ninja was derived as the singular of Shinobi in the following way:
In Ancient Japanese, characters have 2 strict readings: the 'on' and the 'kun' readings.
'Kun' reading are those derived from the Chinese pronunciation of the character.
The character for Shinobi (忍) was pronounced as its' 'kun' reading.
The 'on' reading for this character is NIN with JA being derived from SHA (者)
SHA being the 'on' character for thing or item.
As no ownership is implied, the term NINJA conveys a single shinobi.
Wow, and they say English is difficult to learn!
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Hints and Things cannot be held responsible for any information given on this site nor do they necessarily agree with, or endorse, the views given by third parties.


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Looking up dictionaries I don't see a easy rule when to use ability vs. faculty in sense of a describing attribute. For example, "cognitive faculty" or "faculty of speech" seem to be standard terms, but then "learning or mental ability" seems more common than "learning faculty". The only pattern I see is that abilities are kind of innate(?).
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It's not a distinction of meaning as such - just that certain combinations are more idiomatically established. The net result being that the more academic/clinical faculty tends to refer "innate, raw" potential (which you always had, and which can't be improved). Whereas ability, often refers to current skill level - which can improve or deteriorate. Depending on whether you practice, or allow skills to atrophy through disuse, for example. – FumbleFingers Jul 5 '12 at 23:29
Quick answer: 'faculty' is kind of general, referring to the ability in a species the possibility of X. 'Ability' means you can do X now. Also, 'faculty' has many very specific connotations (like with the individuals who teach at an institution) – Mitch Jul 6 '12 at 3:28
1 Answer 1
up vote 3 down vote accepted
To me, and I don't think there's a Chicago or AP reference on this so YMMV:
 - Ability - what degree of capability exists
 - Faculty - is any capability present whatsoever
So, an infant has no faculty of speech, and a toddler has faculty but limited ability.
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Bertfried Fauser wrote:
Does AXIOM have monads (like Haskell)? Sorry not much time to investigate myself. Such things can be implemented very efficiently and in an encapsulated way by using monads (in Haskell).
Formal definition
If C is a category, a monad on C consists of a functor T \colon C \to C together with two natural transformations: \eta \colon 1_{C} \to T (where 1_C denotes the identity functor on C) and \mu \colon T^{2} \to T (where T^2 is the functor T \circ T from C to C). These are required to fulfill the following conditions (sometimes called coherence conditions):
\label{eq1}
\mu \circ T\mu = & \mu \circ \mu T & \textrm{(as natural transformations } T^{3} \to T); \
\mu \circ T \eta = & \mu \circ \eta T = 1_{T} & \textrm{(as natural transformations } T \to T; \
& & \textrm{here } 1_T \textrm{ denotes the identity transformation from T to T).}
(1)
We can rewrite these conditions using following commutative diagrams:
\begin{tabular}{lcr}
&
\xymatrix{
& T^3\ar[r]^{T\mu}\ar[d]_{\mu T}&T^2\ar[d]^{\mu}\
& T^2\ar[r]_{\mu}&T
} &
\xymatrix{
& \ar@{=}[dr]T\ar[r]^{\eta T}\ar[d]_{T\eta}&T^2\ar[d]^{\mu}\
& T^2\ar[r]_{\mu}&T
}

Ref: _URL_
On Fri, Nov 4, 2011 at 5:04 AM, Martin Baker wrote:
As far as I can see there is already an SPAD category called Monad but its not really what we are talking about here?
I have been thinking about what it would take to implement a monad in SPAD, I have been doing this by taking List as being an example of a monad and then trying to generalize it.
First test for List being monad (monad for a monoid) with: \mu = concat, \eta = list, and T = [].
Here T and \eta are effectively the same but I've used a different form list and [] to distinguish between them. They are the same, in this case, because we are working in terms of components. It would be good to also be able to work in terms of functors and natural transformations, Haskell would do this because of automatic currying but with SPAD I think
So I will check that the identities for monads are satisfied.
First something to work with:
fricas
T2a := [[A],[B]]
\label{eq2}\left[{\left[ A \right]}, \:{\left[ B \right]}\right](2)
Type: List(List(Symbol))
fricas
T2b := [[C],[D]]
\label{eq3}\left[{\left[ C \right]}, \:{\left[ D \right]}\right](3)
Type: List(List(Symbol))
then test associative square:
fricas
concat[concat T2a,concat T2b] = concat(concat[T2a,T2b])
\label{eq4}{\left[ A , \: B , \: C , \: D \right]}={\left[ A , \: B , \: C , \: D \right]}(4)
Type: Equation(List(Symbol))
then test unit triangles:
fricas
concat(list[A]) = [A]
\label{eq5}{\left[ A \right]}={\left[ A \right]}(5)
Type: Equation(List(Variable(A)))
fricas
concat[list A] = [A]
\label{eq6}{\left[ A \right]}={\left[ A \right]}(6)
Type: Equation(List(Variable(A)))
So this seems to have the properties needed, I would like to build a general monad with these properties.
Haskell uses monads extensively so I thought that might provide an example of how it could be coded?
Ref: _URL_
In Haskell the monads in the prelude is in a different form as its purpose is to allow impure code to be wrapped in pure code. I have modified the Monad definition in the prelude to have a more category theoretic form as follows:
 class Monad m where
 unit :: a -> m a -- usually called 'return' in Haskell
 mult :: m (m a) -> m a -- usually called 'join' in Haskell
How could we write this as an SPAD category? I've tried to do a direct translation from a Haskell typeclass to an SPAD category (except I have changed m to T to give a more mathematical notation:
spad
)abbrev category MONADC MonadCat
MonadCat(A:Type,T: Type) : Category == with
 unit :A -> T A
 mult :T ( T A) -> T A
spad
 Compiling FriCAS source code from file
 /var/lib/zope2.10/instance/axiom-wiki/var/LatexWiki/325900777967915461-25px004.spad
 using old system compiler.
 MONADC abbreviates category MonadCat
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 initializing NRLIB MONADC for MonadCat
 compiling into NRLIB MONADC
;;; *** |MonadCat| REDEFINED Time: 0 SEC.
finalizing NRLIB MONADC Processing MonadCat for Browser database: --->-->MonadCat(constructor): Not documented!!!! --->-->MonadCat((unit ((T A) A))): Not documented!!!! --->-->MonadCat((mult ((T A) (T (T A))))): Not documented!!!! --->-->MonadCat(): Missing Description ; compiling file "/var/aw/var/LatexWiki/MONADC.NRLIB/MONADC.lsp" (written 05 APR 2022 08:43:37 PM):
; /var/aw/var/LatexWiki/MONADC.NRLIB/MONADC.fasl written ; compilation finished in 0:00:00.004 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MonadCat is now explicitly exposed in frame initial MonadCat will be automatically loaded when needed from /var/aw/var/LatexWiki/MONADC.NRLIB/MONADC
It compiles but it doesn't look very useful? Everything is just a general type so there isn't any proper type checking and I would like the category to have some internal type structure so that we can relate it to the external functors and natural transformations. There are two axiom-categories that we need to define:
 - T
 - MonadCat
We can think of T as being an endofunctor on MonadCat but also we want to turn things around by defining MonadCat in terms of T, that is we start with a base type and extend it by repeatedly applying T to it.
So we want to define T as an endofunctor:
 T:\textrm{MonadCat} \to \textrm{MonadCat}

But we also want to define T as a axiom-category which can be extended to domains which can then define our monad, for instance, if we want to define a list-monad (monad for a monoid) then we start by defining a list-t like this:
 TList(A:Type) : Exports == Implementation where
 ...
 Rep := List A
we can then define the list monad as:
 Mona


text:
Chile General 2020
An extremely dry vintage
This was an extremely early year, with contrasting weather sending overall yields down by almost a third.
'This has been one of the most challenging vintages but also with unique characteristics unlike any before,' said Eduardo Jordan, winemaker at Miguel Torres, who has vineyards all over Chile.
A warm and dry winter meant flowering was up to two weeks early in the spring of 2019.
'As they say in the countryside here, "dry winters bring frost", and we had three major periods of frost,' said Eduardo. The first came 'in the middle of September, affecting our more precocious varieties like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, especially in Curicó and Casablanca'.
This was followed by three days of freezing temperatures across a large part of Chile in early October, and then another on 25 November, he said.
Some vineyards reported losing more than half their potential production during these frost episodes.
Ripening was accelerated by the general reduction in yield due to the frost. Combined with a hot summer and several heat waves, harvest dates were up to a month early in some valleys.
A hot year like this can be very challenging in terms of organizing the harvest as the window for harvest is much smaller.
Chile has faced a decade-long drought, considered one of the worst in living memory. This also impacted production alongside the frost, reducing the total harvest by almost a third, according to the Chilean Association of Winemakers.
Some varieties, notably Merlot, suffered more from the lack of water, but many winemakers were still reporting a good balance between fresh acidity and ripe fruit for most grape varieties — including Chile's most important variety, Cabernet Sauvignon.
Some winemakers said that varieties with more tolerance for dry conditions (Mediterranean varieties including Syrah, Carignan and Monastrell) have performed particularly well this year. These vigorous varieties do very well, despite the lack of water and the consistently high temperatures of this vintage. For some other varieties we have just needed to take good care of the harvest dates to avoid dehydration, and do delicate extraction in the winery.
Click here for the full harvest report: 'Boletín del Vino' of the Ministerio de Agricultura of Chile


Difference between revisions of "Machine learning force field: Theory"
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In this equation the symmetry of the descriptors \rho_{n \nu l}= \rho_{\nu n l} is already taken into account.
The matrix \mathbf{X} is constructed from the vectors of the angular descriptors (\mathbf{x}_{1}^{(3)},\mathbf{x}_{2}^{(3)},...,\mathbf{N_{B}}. The matrix \mathbf{X} has dimension N_{D} \times N_{B} and the compression is done over the N_{B} elements of the local configurations.
The matrix \mathbf{X} is constructed from the vectors of the angular descriptors (\mathbf{x}_{1}^{(3)},\mathbf{x}_{2}^{(3)},...,\mathbf{N_{B}}. The matrix \mathbf{X} has dimension N_{D} \times N_{B} and the matrix prodcut is done over the N_{B} elements of the local configurations.
== References ==
== References ==
Revision as of 10:53, 7 June 2021
Here we present the theory for on-the-fly machine learning force fields. The theory will be presented in a very condensed manner and for a more detailed description of the methods we refer the readers to Refs. [1], [2] and [3].
Another way to greatly reduce computational cost and required human intervention is by machine learning. Here, in the prediction of the target property the method automatically interpolates between known training systems which were previously calculated by ab initio. This way the generation of force fields is already significantly simplified compared to classical force field which need manual (or even empirical) adjustment of the parameters. Nevertheless there is still the problem how to choose the proper (minimal) training data. One very efficient and automic way to solve that is to adapt on-the-fly learning. Here an MD calculation is used for the learning. During the run of the MD calculation ab initio data is picked out and added to the training data. From the existing data a force field is continuously built up. At each step it is judged whether to make an ab initio calculation and possibly add the data to the force field or to use the force field for that step and actually skip learning for that step. Hence the name "on the fly" learning. The crucial point here is the probability model for the estimation of errors. This model not force field is build up from newly sampled data. Hence, the more accurate the force field gets the less sampling is needed and the more expensive ab initio steps are skipped. This way not only the convergence of the force field can be controlled but also a very wide spread scan through phase space for the training structures can be performed. The crucial point for an on-the-fly machine learning which will be explained with the rest of the methodology in the following subsections, is to be able to predict errors of the force field on a newly sampled structure without the necessity to perform an ab initio calculation on that structure.
Local energies
The potential energy of a structure with atoms is approximated as
Here is a cut-off function acting outside of and is a delta function.
The atom distribution can be also be written as a sum of individual distributions
Here describes the probability of find an atom at a position with respect to atom.
Similar to the Smooth Overlap of Atomic Positions[4] (SOAP) method the delta function is approximated as
Fig. 2: Radial and angular descriptors.
Radial descriptor
This is the simplest descriptor which relies on the radial distribution function
where denotes the unit vector of the vector between atoms and [see Fig. 2 (a)]. The Radial descriptor can also be regarded as a two-body descriptor.
Angular descriptor
where denotes the angle between two vectors and [see Fig. 2 (b)]. The important difference of the function compared to the angular distribution function (also called power spectrum within the Gaussian Approximation Potential) used in reference [5] is that no self interaction is included, where and have the same distance from and the angle between the two is zero. It can be shown [3] that the self-interaction component are equivalent to the two body descriptor. This means that our angular descriptor is a pure angular descriptor, containing no two-body components and it cannot be expressed as linear combinations of the power spectrum. The advantage of this descriptor is that it enables us to separately control the effects of twoand three-body descriptors.
Basis set expansion
where, and denote expansion coefficients, radial basis functions and spherical harmonics, respectively. The indices, and denote radial numbers, angular and magnetic quantum numbers, respectively.
where and represent normalized spherical Bessel functions and Legendre polynomials of order.
The expansion coefficients for the angular descriptor can be converted to
where denotes expansion coefficients of the distribution with respect to and
In many cases is multiplied with an angular filtering function[6] (ML_FF_IAFILT2_MB), which can noticably reduce the necessary basis set size without losing accuracy in the calculations
where (ML_FF_AFILT2_MB) is a paramater controling the extent of the filtering. A larger value for the parameter should provide more filtering.
Potential energy fitting
Here the vectors and contain all coefficients and, respectively. The notation indicates that it is a normalized vector of. The parameter (ML_FF_W1_MB) controls the weighting of the radial and angular terms, respectively. The parameter (ML_FF_NHYP1_MB) controls the sharpness of the kernel and the order of the many-body interactions.
Matrix vector form of linear equations
Bayesian error estimation
First we obtain from the Bayesian theorem
where we assume multivariate Gaussian distributions for the likelihood function
and the (conjugate) prior
The parameters and need to be optimized to balance the accuracy and robustness of the force field (see below). The normalization is obtained by
Using the equations from above and the completing square method[7] is obtained as follows
By using the relation
and the completing square method[7] the distribution of is written as
Here is similar to but only for the new structure.
where are the eigenvalues of the matrix.
Sparsification of local reference configurations
We start by defining the similarity kernel for the local configurations with each other
The CUR algorithm starts out from the diagonalization of this matrix
where is an eigenvector matrix defined as
Using these notations the th column vector of the matrix is expressed as
In contrast to the original CUR algorithm[11] which was developed to efficiently select a few significant columns from, in our algorithm we want to look for (few) insignificant local configurations and throw them away. In our algorithm we dispose of the columns of that are correlated with the eigenvectors with the smalles eigenvalues. The correlation is measured by the statistical leverage scoring measured for each column of as
where (see also ML_FF_EPS_LOW) is a threshold for the lowest eigenvalues.
Sparsification of angular descriptors
The sparsification of the angular descriptors is done in a similar manner as for the local reference configurations. We start by defining the square matrx
Here denotes the number of angular descriptors given by
In this equation the symmetry of the descriptors is already taken into account. The matrix is constructed from the vectors of the angular descriptors (\mathbf{x}_{1}^{(3)},\mathbf{x}_{2}^{(3)},...,\mathbf{N_{B}}. The matrix has dimension and the matrix prodcut is done over the elements of the local configurations.


text:
Legendary Food Brands and Their Typefaces
The McDonald's 'golden arches' logo that has become such an iconic global emblem was originally devised to reference the distinctive architecture of the early restaurants, the most recognizable feature of the growing fast food empire in the 1960s. This design history examines 23 enduring food products, including Heinz ketchup, Campbell's soup, Coca Cola and Oxo, and traces how the illustrative and typographic styles of their brand identities have developed over the years.
Designing Modern Britain
Cheryl Buckley's history of British design culture examines how design and society have interacted from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st, and explores the connected themes of modernity and identity. Among the issues discussed are the spread of international modernism in Britain, the rise of eco-conscious design, the role of galleries and retailers, the celebrity designer and the influence of the heritage industry.


Teacher of the Month: Kelli Cothran
Kelli CThis month's teacher of the month is Kelli Cothran, a Fashion Design and Fashion Marketing teacher at Prosper High School in Texas. She is a second year teacher, and Oklahoma State graduate who LOVES what she does.
"I am a people person through and through and I enjoy teaching students relevant/real world skills that will make them the best person they can be. I let my students be creative in all of their projects and express their personalities through design."
Describe your best lessons
A few lessons I have taught the last two years have been trend-spotting fashions (what they think will be the most popular trends for that year), designing their own boutique, interviewing their parents about what their parents fashion was like back when they were younger for fashion history, designing infinity scarves, designing window displays in a shoe box and at local boutiques, and fashion illustration.
Describe how you are innovative
I am only 23 so keeping things fresh and trendy are what I am most proud of while still having the traditional foundation of what Family and Consumer Science classes were based on. I have my students style current celebrities, come up with ways to refashion clothing to make it modern and design t-shirts for our school store. Here are some pictures of my students' projects.
Why is Family and Consumer Sciences Important?
FACS classes at the high school level are so important to the success of our students. I went to a high school where these classes were not offered in abundance and I think it is so important to have an outlet for students to express themselves through the way the dress, eat, build relationships with others, and become the person that they are. Someday my students will enter the work field and start a family of their own, I hope that I give them the skills and drive to make it the best life they can.
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text:
THE DECLINE OF CHINA'S BUDGETARY REVENUE: REASONS AND CONSEQUENCES
The decline of the government revenue share in GDP has become a major concern for Chinese policy makers and many economists. This article analyzes the reasons and the consequences of low government budgetary revenue in China. It is argued that lowered corporate tax rates, small tax bases, and tax evasions are the main reasons for the decline of government revenue share in GDP. Low budgetary revenues have resulted in low budgetary expenditures and growing budget deficits, stimulated the expansion of extra-budgetary and off budgetary revenues, and made the privatization of state enterprises more difficult. This article also discusses policy options for China. Copyright 2000 Western Economic Association International.
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Interview with Zoltan Somogyi, Executive Director for Programme and Coordination, UNWTO
22 September 2016
22 Sep 2016 -
Thank you for coming to Belgrade and also for agreeing to speak with us today.
Where does political unrest and its impact on global tourism sit among UNWTO priorities?
The impact of crises of all natures is a key priority of the UNWTO, be they political, environmental or health issue. The Organisation facilitates capacity building initiatives to help public and private sector organisations prepare, respond and recover from all crises. However we are also fortunate that tourism is a highly resilient industry and recovers from all types of crises in a fast manner. In fact the tourism industry has only declined three times in the past two decades: September 11, 2001; SARS 2003 and the Global Financial Crisis 2009. The impacts of these crises are generally short in nature and the recovery is quick for most destinations.
How can the media contribute to rebuilding destination image following incidents of terrorism or social/political instability?
The media is an indispensable partner in sharing information. They can do this is a responsive, accurate and transparent manner and this can aid in the rebuilding of destinations. The media can sell perceptions to the general and traveling public and cooperate with the destination in creating a positive image. Destinations also have a responsibility to respond quickly to media and give accurate and positive travel advice.
How can media work with organisations such as the UNWTO and WYSE to rebuild destination image?
Media and these organisations are in partnership to create positive messages about tourism. Tourism is not only about the pretty pictures but also about how many jobs that its creating. UNWTO wants to position tourism as a key contributor to economic growth and job creation. Since 2011 UNWTO has organised the "Tourism and the media conferences". This initiative aims to enhance UNWTO relations with world media and capitalise on the engagement and capacities of the media community.
What is special about the youth travel segment and in your opinion how does it make a unique contribution to global tourism?
Youth tourism is a particularly interesting segment of our industry because it has been progressively growing in recent years and its having a positive impact of other areas – such as sport and adventure tourism. Its contribution has to be taken into account by destinations when developing alternatives and when diversifying a market or product model. Young people are also advocates of a more sustainable sector of tourism and lead that debate. This year the UNWTO and WYSE Travel Confederation published a new edition of the Global Report on The Power of Youth Tourism, providing new information on the economic impact of Youth Travel and with case studies.