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Could machine learning save this sea cow?
Dugong - Peter Shanks.jpg
Source: Peter Shanks (adjusted for clarity)
It's hard to imagine this adorable sea cow getting caught in a fishing net, or losing its home to coastal development. Unfortunately that's what's happening to many populations of large marine mammals around the world. It's urgent—sea cows are under threat of extinction.
Sea cows might be cute, but it turns out they're also really hard to keep track of. And keeping accurate data on populations is critical for conservation efforts.
For decades, scientists had to spend days peering out of small planes to count populations, which was expensive and sometimes hazardous. Dr. Amanda Hodgson of Murdoch University has helped to change that, using drones to take aerial photography of the ocean. But now that they can collect aerial photos remotely, there's a new challenge: how can they find the sea cows in 45,000 photos?
Try it yourself—look for the sea cow in this image, which you can click to get in full resolution:
Dugong - 30FWDF2F2_DSC2458.JPG
Source: Dr. Amanda Hodgson
Can't find it? Hint: it's in the middle of the lower-left quarter. Yes, that little gray smaller-than-fingernail-sized sliver. To see where it is, check out the image with the sea cow circled
Now, what if you had to do this manually on tens of thousands of images? It would really slow down research, and it wouldn't scale to other regions and other species of sea mammals.
So Dr. Hodgson and team decided to apply a little magic: machine learning. She teamed up with Dr. Frederic Maire, a computer scientist at Queensland University of Technology. Using TensorFlow, the free open source machine learning platform that's now been out for exactly one year, they built a detector that could learn to find sea cows in these photos automatically. (It's a little like the image recognition that lets you search Google Photos for shots of particular dog species, or sunsets, or whatnot—but much more specialized for this scientific task.)
The results are encouraging: an early version of their detector could find 80% of the sea cows they'd found manually in images, and they expect to improve performance over time. This suggests the approach may scale well—not only for sea cows, but for other sea mammals such as humpback whales and certain dolphins as well. Eventually if they're able to track these threatened populations on a large scale, conservationists have a much better shot at knowing how they're impacted by human activities, and where it's most urgent we protect their habitats. In a small way, machine learning might help save the humble sea cow.


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The wire size required for a 220-volt outlet depends on the current draw and the length of the wire run. For most residential applications, a #12 AWG copper wire can be used for circuits up to 20 amps, while a #10 AWG copper wire is suitable for circuits up to 30 amps. For accurate wire sizing and adherence to local electrical codes, consult with the Electricians Service Team, who can provide expert guidance and assistance with any electrical installation or repair needs, including selecting the appropriate wire size for a 220-volt outlet. Remember that following local electrical codes and safety guidelines is crucial to ensuring the safe and efficient operation of your electrical systems.
Landscape wiring should generally be buried at a depth of 6 to 12 inches, depending

source: m-a-p/FineFineWeb


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I found this word today, and I thought it was pretty interesting. I read it in the context of "becoming and adult", or "coming of age", but I'd like to know the etymology of it. I could only find definitions for the word itself, not its origins. At first blush it looks like "one person before/ahead", but it also seems like 人前 can mean a portion of food. "One person's portion of food"? (Perhaps someone is now big enough to have an adult's portions?)
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The etymology is itinin + mae. I could say more about mae, but more likely you are wondering why it means this.
The key is understanding that -mae is a suffix which means: 1) an amount or portion suitable for X; sannin-mae: a serving such as food) suitable for three people 2) emphasises ones attributes or functionality; otoko-mae "manly", ude-mae "skill, prowess"
Source (seems to be popular lately): Daijirin, Daijisen
In itinin-mae, the sense is "a person of ability and skills", hence an adult. This is the second meaning given above. Depending on the context, the first meaning is also possible: a serving (such as food) suitable for one person.
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100+ Morning Messages for Children, Teachers, and Principals
By: Lori Schneider, Ed.D
About the Book
100+ Morning Messages for Children, Teachers, and Principals:
Principals or Teachers can meet with students each morning using these ready-made messages By Dr. Lori Schneider
As students grow and advance in their educational career, there are many lessons that they learn. The lessons can also be used in their adult lives. To help these lessons spread and teach kids learning strategies, Lori Schneider has written a book of the best learning strategies for students of all ages. These will help students improve their social, emotional, behavioral, and intellectual growth.
About the Author
Lori Schneider has been in the education system for 28 years. She has been a teacher, assistant principal and now has been a principal over the last 14 years. While she is not watching her students grow into amazing adults, she loves to ski or go to the ocean.
(2020, Paperback, 54 Pages)

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


Socket.Connected Property
Gets a value that indicates whether a Socket is connected to a remote host as of the last Send or Receive operation.
Namespace: System.Net.Sockets
Assembly: System (in System.dll)
public bool Connected { get; }
Property Value
Type: System.Boolean
true if the Socket was connected to a remote resource as of the most recent operation; otherwise, false.
The Connected property gets the connection state of the Socket as of the last I/O operation. When it returns false, the Socket was either never connected, or is no longer connected.
The value of the Connected property reflects the state of the connection as of the most recent operation. If you need to determine the current state of the connection, make a nonblocking, zero-byte Send call. If the call returns successfully or throws a WAEWOULDBLOCK error code (10035), then the socket is still connected; otherwise, the socket is no longer connected.
If you call Connect on a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) socket, the Connected property always returns true; however, this action does not change the inherent connectionless nature of UDP.
The following code example connects to a remote endpoint, checks the Connected property, and checks the current state of the connection.
//.Connect throws an exception if unsuccessful
// This is how you can determine whether a socket is still connected.
bool blockingState = client.Blocking;
 byte [] tmp = new byte[1];
 client.Blocking = false;
 client.Send(tmp, 0, 0);
catch (SocketException e)
 // 10035 == WSAEWOULDBLOCK
 if (e.NativeErrorCode.Equals(10035))
 Console.WriteLine("Still Connected, but the Send would block");
 Console.WriteLine("Disconnected: error code {0}!", e.NativeErrorCode);
 client.Blocking = blockingState;
 Console.WriteLine("Connected: {0}", client.Connected);
.NET Framework
.NET Framework Client Profile
Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1
Supported in: Windows Phone 8.1
Supported in: Windows Phone Silverlight 8.1
Supported in: Windows Phone Silverlight 8
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© 2014 Microsoft


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Knowledge Management: A Blueprint for Delivery, by Tony Knight and Trevor Howes
There are five golden rules of knowledge management that IT directors should remember.
- Be crystal clear on the expected benefits. Always have a business case that details the agreed benefit the knowledge management initiatives must deliver. Progress towards their realisation must be properly managed and measured.
- People's behaviours must change for the long term. People's beliefs must be affected if long-term improvements in behaviour are to be achieved.
- Nothing happens without leadership. Those responsible for running the organisation must inspire and encourage all staff throughout the change programme, continuing after the implementation to ensure lasting change.
- Process change leads to improved performance. Organisations need to build new processes and routines into their jobs to ensure knowledge capture and reuse and to establish and reinforce desired behaviours.
- Organisational learning leads to success. Organisations can only survive and prosper by learning from the business environment and putting that learning to practical use by responding to it. The capability to do this learning is what distinguishes successful companies from also-rans.
The point of these rules is to keep constantly in mind the issues that make or break any mobilising knowledge programme: a focus on benefits and the business case; on behavioural change; on leadership; on process improvement; on designing knowledge-friendly ways of working; and on building in organisational learning.
Knowledge Management: A Blueprint for Delivery by Tony Knight and Trevor Howes is part of the Computer Weekly Professional Series _EMAIL_


Term: Motivation
The factors that make up someone's desire to learn a language are their motivation. Instrumental motivation is learning to achieve specific goals like passing exams or getting jobs. Integrative motivation is wanting to learn a language to communicate with speakers of that languagesomeone who has moved to an English-speaking country may be motivated in this way.
'Motivation' - Related Links
Vocabulary Topic: General
Browse the following links to other content related to the term 'Motivation' from the 'General' vocabulary category:


What is a Spindle Tree?
The Spindle Tree in the story is very old, growing in the old cemetery encircling the Wilson Mausoleum. In fact, the Spindle Tree whose Latin name is Euonymous Europeum is native to Europe and is found also in England, Wales and Ireland. It can grow very high as it gets older and is very inconspicuous in the hedgerow. It has small tiny green flowers in May, but it comes into its own in the Autumn when its leaves turn a bright red and its beautiful coral pink berries open up to reveal a bright yellow hard seed within. It is native to Ireland and it grows in mainly chalky or lime-laden soil. Its seeds are poisonous and can cause kidney or liver failure if ingested.
It was known in folk medicine as the louse berry as the seeds were dried, crushed into a powder and used to prevent lice, fleas, and ticks on farm animals as well as dogs and cats. It's long hard sticks were shaped and used as knitting needles, as skewers for meat by butchers and as seen from its more common name, it was used to make spindles for spindle trees. In more recent times it has become popular in gardens, because of its rich Autumn displays of colour. When it was introduced to North America, it has become an invasive species in some areas.


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Vibration of Penstocks in Hydroelectric Installationsby Frederick O. Ruud,
Document Type: Proceeding Paper
Part of: Waterpower '91: A New View of Hydro Resources
In many penstocks and pump discharge lines of turbines and pumps, pipe vibrations have been observed. Many of these installations have blade and vane arrangements other than the classic case presented by J. P. Den Hartog, where the number of blades and number of vanes differ by one. Curves are presented to show the envelope of lowest natural frequencies of pipeline vibration for various diameter, thickness, and stress level ratios. A large centrifugal pump is discussed, with seven impeller blades and thirteen guide vanes, rotating at 514 rpm, where a serious problem arises with 120 Hz pulsations.
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text:
INSPECTOR FOR SPECIAL MISSIONS
The INSPECTOR robot can replace men in situations when human life or health is endangered.
In its class, the inspecting and neutralising (EOD/IEDD) INSPECTOR robot is distinguished by its great lifting capacity and the ability to travel in difficult terrain and to overcome its uneven surface and high obstacles.
- Inspection, transportation and neutralisation of hazardous material.
- Support for counterterrorist operations.
- High-risk hazardous environments missions.
- Building protection and supervision.
- Cooperation with the EXPERT or other robot.
Basic Features of INSPECTOR Robot
- Width of the mobile base enables to drive through standard doors (70 cm) and to move around the interiors of residential and office buildings.
- The robot is powered by batteries installed inside the mobile platform or through a cable plugged into the 230V power network.
- The maximum operation time when powered by batteries is 2 to 8 hours (depending on the operations).
- During the external power supply (by cable) the batteries are automatically recharged.
- INSPECTOR is equipped with 4 cameras: on the gripper, in back and front of the robot and on the manipulator (the main camera which may be turned completely around by 360° and 90° up and down).
- Special driving system reduces recoil effect when firing the pyrotechnical disrupter or in case of explosion of the load placed in the gripping device or its vicinity.
- The manipulator is equipped with:
- manipulator arms extreme position sensors,
- position sensors in main manipulator's degrees of freedom,
- gripping force sensor,
- sockets for fixing of so-called 'whiskers' on the gripper's master jaw (for visual estimation of distance),
- an omni directional microphone.
- The operator's post is equipped with three LCD monitors, which show, apart from the view from chosen camera, a graphic interpretation of the manipulator arm and front caterpillars configuration.
- Time of the operation when powered by batteries of the operator's post together with the console is approximately 4 hours, and the portable console gives 3 hours additionally, what guarantees total 7 hours of the operation.
- Robot can be controlled by radio or by cable.
- Control cable is light and mechanically resistant.
- Fluent velocity control of all the drives from 0 to maximum speed ensures high precision of operation. There is a possibility of the reduction of maximal velocity allowing precision of performed operations (after pushing an appropriate button, the maximum velocity reduces itself to 20%).
- Audio signal of emergency situations in the control console alerts operator in case of irregularity in robot's function.
- Illuminated keyboard of the control console enable to control in the dark.
Unique Features of INSPECTOR Robot
- The INSPECTOR can tow vehicles left in any gear of a mass of up to 1500 kg.
- Front caterpillars (remote control of tilt angle) increase traction abilities, longitudinal stability and enable smooth motion on stairs, as well as highly uneven terrain.
- The manipulator is able to lift 30 kg on extended arms and 60 kg on folded arms.
- The turn of the manipulator's base amounts as much as 400°.
- Constant spatial orientation of the object placed in the gripper, irrespective of the movement of other manipulator arms, enables precision manipulation of hazardous devices.
- Control system of the robot enables to control all of its drives at the same time.
- A program for automatic folding of the manipulator down to a transport position speeds up and makes easier preparing the robot for transport.
Specifications and Technical Data


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The Inflating Charm (Inflatus) is a charm used to increase the size of the target by inflating it; once inflated beyond the maximum capacity of its outer size, the targeted creature will explode into colourful party balloons.
Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger used this spell on various creatures around the grounds of Hogwarts Castle throughout the _PHONE_ school year, under the authorisation of their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Bartemius Crouch Jr. (who was disguised as Alastor Moody).
The prefix 'Inflate' derives from the English verb "to expand with oxygen".
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game) (First appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)


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A plasma of hydrogen ions is trapped in a tokamak by balancing the pressure gradient and magnetic forces.
The equation of motion of a plasma is described by magnetohydrodynamics
ρ(dv/dt)= jxB - grad p
where ρ is the plasma density
is the velocity
of the plasma fluid
is the plasma current, B
is the magnetic field and p
is the pressure.
When the plasma is in equilibrium the velocity will be zero and the following equation results
jXB = grad p
This is the fundamental
equation of magnetic equilibrium.
It follows that
B. grad p = 0
j. grad p = 0
These two equations imply that the magnetic surfaces
are surfaces of constant pressure and that the plasma current is a flux surface quantity (i.e. a quantity which is a constant on a magnetic flux surface
The picture that emerges in a tokamak is of toroidally nested magnetic surfaces. As the minor radius of these surfaces tends to zero, the flux toroid becomes a line known as the magnetic axis.
In the simplest scenario, the surfaces are nested circles. Each successive circle is shifted slightly outwards due to the plasma pressure (i.e. the Shafranov shift). In fact, in most modern tokamaks, the magnetic flux surfaces are warped in shape (to optimise performance). The triangularity and elongation are two quantities used to define the surface shape.
External current coils are used to impose magnetic fields to keep the plasma in one place. Otherwise it will quickly hit the vessel wall and quench.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Federica Venturi (CNRS, CRCAO) participated in the inaugural conference of the Italian Association for Tibetan, Himalyan and Mongolian Studies – Associazione Italiana di Studi Tibetani, Himalayani e Mongoli (AISTHiM)- which took place in Procida, Italy (September 12-15th, 2017).
She presented the paper : How to Reconcile Budhism and Violence? Examples from the Tibetan Army of the dGa' Idan pho brang.
The paper examined the question of how the Buddhist government of the dGa' ldan pho brang justified the use of war on the occasions in which it deemed necessary to employ the Tibetan army. In particular, presented the ways in which certain important religious figures among the dGe lugs pa, such as the V Dalai Lama, rationalized the necessity to employ violent means. This paper also considered the figure of dGa' ldan tshe dbang dpal bzang po (second half of the 17th century), an ex-lama from Tashilhumpo to whom the V Dalai Lama entrusted the general command of the Tibetan army during the war between Tibet and Ladakh (_PHONE_).
The Association was created with the aim of promoting the study and knowledge of Tibetan and Himalayan civilizations in Italy, supporting research, publishing scientific studies, translations and works for the general public on Tibetan, Himalayan and Mongolian civilizations, and organizing conferences and collaborating with academic institutions.


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Natives by the Month
by Richard Burer
Bush regeneration specialist
Pandanus Palm - Pandanus tectorious
In the summer heat, I guess the perfect place to be will be seeking some shade on the beach.
Pandanus, palm is possibly a palm you might be sitting under on one of our local beaches.
Native in Australia from the Northern Rivers to Cape York, Pandanus palm is a cultural asset to Indigenous peoples of Australia, the Pacific Islands and beyond.
Pandanus has many uses including weaving materials, food, medicine, ceremonial uses and building supplies.
Found on coastal lowland plant communities, Pandanus is found typically on the edge of the ocean and is so stunning on the foredune as you see often.
Have a nice start to the year peoples, take time out, rest up and have at least one day in January sitting under this iconic, beautiful tree specimen.
Bangalow Palm - Archontrophoenix cunninghamiana
Bangalow palms, which grow to about 9m, are found mostly in moist situations, often along stream banks and wet alluvial flats, and sometimes on hill slopes.
The leaves of the Archontrophoenix cunninghamiana are large – up to several metres long – glossy and dark. In the spring, purple flowers create a striking appearance as they flower at the top of the trunk.
In early Summer, bright red fruit are borne in panicles below the tuft of leaves and add colour to go with the festive cheer.
Bangalow palms are common in this area, often found close to the source of subtropical rainforest remnants and regrowth. To see these palms near Nimbin, take a look towards Nimbin Rocks when standing a few kilometres out of town on the Nimbin Road. The palm valley below the cliffs is spectacular! Further afield, Protester's Falls offers a chance to walk amongst these palms.
In the garden, the Bangalow palm is hardy and rewarding as it copes well in most situations. It can tolerate full sun and strong winds, but not frost.
It is easy to propagate with older seed from the forest floor. Only propagate from remnant rainforest groups of palms as domestic plantings could possibly cross breed with Alexander palms, a native of north ueensland, which is now widely planted in the area. Alexander palms are distinguished by the silver scales on the undersides of the leaflets.
Coastal Tuckeroo - Cupaniosis anacardiodes
Summertime is here kiddies, and it's time to take a trip to the beach.
If you find yourself on the edge of a hind dune, on the edge of littoral rainforest, coastal scrub or in a cosy beachfront park, you'll probably have a chance of seeking shelter under this great small tree.
Coastal Tuckeroo is endemic on the NSW mid-north coast up into Queensland, and like last month it is not endemic to the forests of the Nimbin area, but can be found far inland, close to the edge of the Casino and around the Coraki area also.
At home I've found this tree grows modestly, and it can make a nice landscape plant.
Happy summertime, and find time to relax under these lovely coastal tree as you enjoy the coast this summertime.
Brown Kurrajong - North Coast Christmas Bush
The colours of the festive season abound this month. Following from the red and pink flush of new growth of spring, we have an abundance of flowers at this time of the year.
One of the most noticeable is this shrub or tree, the Brown Kurrajong. Also know as North Coast Christmas Bush, this common tree with its clusters of densely covered white flowers is certainly the backdrop to early summer.
A common tree of drier rainforest margins, this species is good tree for establishing some canopy in your biodiversity plantings.
North Coast Christmas Bush has particular cultural importance, as the bark when stripped and treated makes a valuable twine.
Goori friends down on the coast still enjoy creating this and showing the available wares of our valuable bush heritage.
To grow your own, collect the bristly brown (dry) seed capsules in late summer and blend the lot and sow in your sandy prop mix. The fruits contain a number of tiny hard brown seeds.
Flame Tree - Brachychiton acerifolius
Yep, it's that time again, a Northern Rivers monsoon, the wet bringing on the glorious summer flower of the Flame tree.
It's an indigenous signature tree, bush food beverage and all round good reason as to why we all live here!
Two things about the Flame tree for me is the carpets of red flowers that guide me to my front door, and the crazy happy lorikeets and busy bee action.
I've planted several on the farm in Nimbin over the years, one took at least 15 years to flower, while others have flowered after several years or less.
Easy to grow from seed, so have a crack.
Palm Lily, Cordyline - Cordyline stricta
Cordyline stricta is one of my real favourites. Strictly it's not local to the valleys of Nimbin, but it's common on and closer to the coast, where it can be found growing alongside and underneath paperbarks in the wetlands that remain in that area.
In Nimbin, I've found this hardy multi-trunked Palm Lily to be very rewarding in the garden, as it is able to take full sun, dry and wet conditions and looks pretty nice against a wall, or in a subtropical garden setting and along bushland and garden paths.
Purple flowers in spring are followed by black berries in late summer, which make for easy propagation.
Note that this plant is endemic to coastal regions around Ballina and Byron Bay area. Useful as a backdrop in the garden, filling gaps along a fence line or path, and will enhance a garden with remnant native vegetation as an endangered local plant
False Sarsaparilla - Hardenbergia violacea
False Sarsaparilla is a most beautiful scrambler or twiner. Its rich purple pea-flowers truly announce the arrival of spring.
Common in the dryer forests in the area, Hardenbergia can often be seen sprawling over bare earth on roadsides, particularly after machinery or fire in that area.
In Nimbin, I often see individual scramblers year after year growing over their friends the shrubs in their usual habitat of dry sclerophyll forest.
To grow your own, simply pick the dry peas in summer, empty out the seed and sow in a well-drained seed raising mix. There are also a number of hybrid varieties available at nurseries.
Creek bottlebrush - Melaleuca viminalus
Spring is here when the bright red flowers of this bottlebrush put on their stunning red show. Usually accompanying the flowers are birds, especially honey eaters, who are the pollinators of this endemic species.
A multi trunked shrub or tree, Creek or Weeping bottlebrush can often be found on any of the more open creeks in the Nimbin area. A great stand can be viewed as you cross the Tweed River on the way to Wollumbin, where a fine stand is hugging the shallow parts of the river and river bank, its tiny fine seed being able to lodge and germinate in the crack of a rock or a layer of sandy loam.
Possibly one of the most horticulturally propagated plants in Australia, cultivars of melaleuca viminalus are widely used in landscape plantings and in gardens.
Creek bottlebrush or Weeping bottlebrush is an excellent tree in helping revegetation of creek banks, and is also a great garden/ windbreak or shelter belt species.
Easy to propagate.
Red Boppel Nut - Hicksbeachia pinnatifolia
Red Boppel Nut is a small tree reaching a height of about 12m, usually with one or more unbranched stems arising from the root stock.
This stunning species' usual habitat is subtropical rainforest on basaltic derived soils, and despite being reclassified as a threatened species, it is common in the Nimbin area. Those living east of the village, particularly those along Tuntable Creek, would enjoy seeing this attractive edible nut tree.
Flowering typically in September, but unusually now in the beginning of August, this tree's nut can be harvested around Christmas. For those interested in growing it, plant directly into the soil within your conservation area.
However slow growth rates are common, and this rainforest tree does not like being grown in pots.
Wattle - Acacia
Longer days after the winter solstice bring our iconic wattle trees into bloom, causing cream and yellow flowers to dot the landscape in a carpet of colour.
Acacia frimbriata grows naturally a little south from here. It is an excellent garden planting, grows fast and is a great tonic for bees searching out pollen.
A local wattle Acacia melanoxylon (pictured) is a small to large tree of rainforest edges and scherophyll plant communities. It grows fast and is an excellent plant to regenerate your forest areas and is a must in your rainforest plantings.
It is a good pioneer species and easy to grow. The honey-like timber makes excellent drums.
Coast Banksia - Banksia integrifolia
This month I sit overlooking the ocean between two coast Banksias a whale in between, and know that the whales and this species 'Coast Banksia' have had a long association of thousands of years,
watching each other as the whales pass, perhaps. The timely flowering offered indigenous people a calendar-like moment to remind them that the whale season was close.
A known cultural use of Banksia involves fire-making, as the fine fibre in the spent flower is perfect for initiating natural firestick practices.
This dear old


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Plas Llanddyfnan house and estate are situated in the village of Talwrn in the parish of Llanddyfnan, Anglesey. It was built during the 16th century by John Griffith. This webmaster can find little about the early history of the house despite a check with the National Library of Wales. I am aware from speaking to the owner that their family ties go back and are connected to the Wynne's of Bodewryd and the Owen's of Penrhos by marriage.
The only information that I can therefore provide is extracted from the 1881 census for the house. From this, I can say that the then occupiers were George Pritchard Rayner (born 1843) and his wife S. M. Pritchard Rayner (born 1837) – the same family as were/are at Tre-Ysgawen Hall. Living in the house with them are just 2 servants – an under housemaid, aged 17, named Clara Berry, born in Marten Rugby, Warwickshire, and a 30-year-old laundry maid, named Margaret Williams, born in Llangefni, on Anglesey.
George's occupation was given as 'Gentleman', occupying 168 acres, and employing 4 labourers and 2 boys. His place of birth was Llangwyllog, Anglesey, whilst his wife was born in London. Evidently then a man of some means, so I investigated using the experience I had gained researching family history for myself and for others.
I uncovered his marriage to Sarah Mary Brady-Rayner in the summer of 1871. They were married in East Preston. Further checks showed in fact that he had changed his name when he married from simply George Pritchard to George Pritchard-Rayner. The reason for this is that he had married the daughter of John Brady, the MP for Ely in Cambridgeshire. George – I discovered – was the son of the owner of Trescawen estate.
His pedigree included the following: George's great grandfather was Richard Thomas of Trevor, Llansadwrn, who died in 1722. His grandfather – William Pritchard – described as being of Trescawen in the parish of Llangwyllog and of Llaneilian, Anglesey. William – who died in 1800 – was in 1786 the sheriff of Anglesey, and later had a son Henry Pritchard (_PHONE_) who became a Justice of the Peace. Henry married a lady named Martha Moulsdale in 1837. Martha was the daughter of John Moulsdale of the Gwyndy coaching house. These then were the parents of George Pritchard-Rayner.
Because George's three older brothers had all pre-deceased their father without issue, George inherited the Trescawen estate. George was in 1879 appointed the sheriff of Anglesey. So the snapshot that we found in 1881 was in fact whilst he held that position. When George died in 1893, he was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, John Henry Pritchard-Rayner. This may be the same man that would later be injured in the Boer War.


text:
BTEC Extended Diploma in Business Rachal Thomas Introduction to Marketing
Task 2 (M1)
"Compare, discussing the similarities and differences, the marketing techniques described in Task 1 used for the product or service chosen in each organisation"
Apple and Coca-cola have many similar marketing strategies for instance they both use relationship marketing. Although they better their products they want ensure that their customers will always buy off them, they do this for the value of the business. And just like most companies they were both created to make a profit. The both companies focus on how the public see them to keep these customers buying their brand; this also builds their reputation and helps them gain customers. As they are both huge companies worldwide their advertisement is mostly the same. They both use advertising such as television adverts, billboards and handouts ECT. Branding is a big part in both companies; both coca-cola and apple have a company name, logo. Branding is the strategy both companies use to influence how the public see them and buyer influence. They both influence their buyers by advertising making their products noticed and of high standard. During the Christmas period they both increase their advertising and how it is shown. They start using deals to sell their product (e.g. apple will give you discount). Coca-cola and apple both change and alter only one product, as they found that the way something looks increases your sales for example coca-cola have now create a medium size can people have never seen before and will buy just for its looks. Like coca-cola apple created and iPod shuffle and then changed the design because people would then want to test the product although it does the same as the original. Coca-cola also have their own websites so that...
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text:
Definition of salpa
n. - A genus of transparent, tubular, free-swimming oceanic tunicates found abundantly in all the warmer latitudes. See Illustration in Appendix. 2
The word "salpa" uses 5 letters: A A L P S.
No direct anagrams for salpa found in this word list.
Words formed by adding one letter before or after salpa (in bold), or to aalps in any order:
c - pascal e - salpae h - alphas i - palais j - jalaps k - kalpas m - lampas plasma p - appals s - salpas u - pausal y - playas z - plazas
List shorter words within salpa, sorted by length
All words formed from salpa by changing one letter
Browse words starting with salpa by next letter


text:
Welcome to the intriguing world of operating table covers—a niche yet vital component in the healthcare sector. In this deep dive, we'll explore the cutting-edge trends and burgeoning market opportunities that are reshaping this industry. Operating table covers, often overlooked, play a pivotal role in ensuring sterility and efficiency in surgical environments. As we move forward, technological innovations and changing market dynamics are opening up new avenues for growth and development in this specialized field.
The Evolution of Operating Table Covers
The journey of operating table covers from basic, utilitarian drapes to advanced, multifunctional tools mirrors the evolution of medical science itself. In the past, these covers were simple, often rudimentary fabrics designed merely to protect the operating table. However, with the advent of more complex surgical procedures and heightened awareness of infection control, the demand for more sophisticated covers has surged. Today, they are not only about protecting the equipment but also about enhancing the sterility and efficiency of the surgical environment.
Material Innovations in Operating Table Covers
In an era where sustainability is paramount, the operating table cover industry is not falling behind. The shift towards eco-friendly materials is a response to the growing environmental concerns and the healthcare industry's commitment to reducing its ecological footprint. Sustainable covers, made from biodegradable or recycled materials, are gaining popularity. They offer the same level of sterility and protection as traditional covers but with the added benefit of being environmentally responsible.
The introduction of antimicrobial fabrics in operating table covers is a significant leap forward in infection control. These innovative materials are embedded with agents that actively combat microbes, reducing the risk of cross-contamination and healthcare-associated infections. This feature is particularly crucial in settings with high-risk patients or complex surgeries where the risk of infection is elevated. Antimicrobial covers not only enhance patient safety but also extend the lifespan of the covers by preventing microbial degradation.
Enhanced Sterility Features
Advancements in operating table covers have also focused on enhancing sterility. Modern covers are designed with advanced barrier technologies that prevent the penetration of liquids and microbes, crucial in maintaining a sterile field during surgery. These features are complemented by easy-to-use designs that ensure quick and efficient setup and disposal, reducing the risk of contamination during changeovers.
Design Improvements for Enhanced Functionality
Modern operating table covers are seeing a surge in ergonomic design innovations. These designs focus on ease of use, fitting snugly on various table types while allowing optimal access to the patient. The flexibility and adaptability of these covers make them suitable for a range of surgical procedures, from minor operations to complex surgeries. Ergonomically designed covers not only enhance the functionality of the operating space but also reduce the physical strain on the surgical team, leading to improved overall efficiency.
Customization for Specialized Surgeries
Customization is becoming increasingly important in the operating table cover industry. As surgeries become more specialized, the need for covers that cater specifically to different types of procedures is growing. Custom covers can be designed with specific features such as integrated pockets for surgical tools, special openings for robotic arms, or specific textures and thicknesses for different surgical needs. This level of customization enhances the efficiency and safety of surgical procedures, making the operating room more adaptable and responsive to the needs of the surgical team.
Environmental Sustainability in Production
Eco-friendly Manufacturing Processes
The shift towards eco-friendly manufacturing processes in the production of operating table covers is a reflection of the broader move towards sustainability in the healthcare industry. Manufacturers are adopting green practices, such as using renewable energy sources, reducing waste, and implementing recycling programs. These practices not only minimize the environmental impact but also appeal to the growing segment of environmentally conscious consumers.
Reducing Carbon Footprint
In line with global efforts to combat climate change, the operating table cover industry is also focusing on reducing its carbon footprint. This involves optimizing manufacturing processes, reducing energy consumption, and selecting materials that have a lower environmental impact. By addressing the carbon footprint, manufacturers are not only contributing to a healthier planet but also aligning with the sustainability goals of hospitals and healthcare facilities.
Market Demand Post-Pandemic
Increased Demand in Healthcare
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a significant increase in demand for medical supplies, including operating table covers. This surge is attributed to the heightened focus on infection control and the rapid expansion of healthcare facilities worldwide. The pandemic has underscored the need for high-quality, reliable medical supplies, propelling the operating table cover industry into a period of accelerated growth and innovation.
Global Market Trends
The global market for operating table covers is witnessing diverse trends, influenced by regional healthcare needs, regulatory environments, and technological advancements. In developed markets, there is a growing preference for high-tech, customizable covers, while in emerging markets, the focus is on cost-effective and durable solutions. Understanding these regional differences is crucial for manufacturers and suppliers aiming to expand their global footprint.
Regulatory Compliance and Safety Standards
Meeting International Standards
Navigating the complex landscape of international standards and regulations is a critical aspect for manufacturers in the operating table cover industry. Compliance with standards such as ISO and CE marking is essential to ensure product safety and efficacy. Adhering to these standards not only ensures market access but also builds trust with healthcare providers and patients.
The certification process for operating table covers involves rigorous testing and quality assurance measures. Manufacturers must consistently meet high standards in material quality, sterility, and performance. Obtaining certifications can be challenging, but it is a crucial step in establishing credibility and ensuring that the products meet the stringent requirements of the healthcare industry.
Challenges and Opportunities for Suppliers
Supply Chain Management
Effective supply chain management is a significant challenge for suppliers in the operating table cover industry. The need to balance cost, efficiency, and quality while navigating global logistics and fluctuating market demands requires strategic planning and flexibility. However, these challenges also present opportunities for innovation in logistics and supply chain optimization.
Expansion into Emerging Markets
Emerging markets present vast opportunities for suppliers of operating table covers. These markets are characterized by rapidly growing healthcare sectors and an increasing demand for medical supplies. For suppliers, expanding into these markets requires understanding local healthcare needs, regulatory landscapes, and establishing strong distribution networks. Successfully tapping into these markets can lead to significant growth and a broader customer base.
In conclusion, the operating table cover industry is at an exciting juncture, marked by rapid advancements and growing market opportunities. From technological innovations to sustainable manufacturing practices, the industry is evolving to meet the changing needs of the healthcare sector. As we look to the future, the industry is well-positioned to continue its growth trajectory, driven by the twin forces of innovation and market demand.
- What makes sustainable materials in operating table covers important? Sustainable materials are important as they reduce environmental impact and align with the healthcare sector's commitment to eco-friendly practices.
- How do smart operating table covers contribute to surgical safety? Smart covers equipped with sensors provide real-time data on sterility and environmental conditions, enhancing safety and efficiency in surgeries.
- Why is customization important in operating table covers? Customization allows for covers to be tailored to specific surgical procedures, improving functionality and safety in the operating room.
- How did the pandemic impact the demand for operating table covers? The pandemic increased demand for medical supplies, including operating table covers, due to the heightened focus on infection control and the expansion of healthcare facilities.


text:
John Taylor's can trace its origins back to the middle of the 14th century. Indeed, while we were visiting, we saw a bell that had been cast in 1352 that had been returned for repair. Aside from the Latin inscription, it looked like other bells that were manufactured in the last 40 years, such is the longevity of the material and suitability to its use.
Taylor's is the largest bell foundry in the world. They cast the largest bell in Britain - Great Paul, the 17 tonne monster that hangs in St. Pauls. But most impressively, they provided the bells that AC/DC used on the Hell's Bells tour.
After an hour or two wandering around the workshop that tuned and repaired the bells, made the wooden wheels and twisted the ropes, the main event of the day was to see a bell casting. It is quite an event and there was an air of tension as we made our way into the foundry itself. It may have been an air of horse shit, as I understand that too plays a part in the traditional methods used.
After some testing of temperatures, the roaring furnace was turned off and several tonnes of molten bell metal poured into a crucible. From there, it was transferred by motorised hoist before being tipped into the casts that were buried in the sand floor.


text:
I'm tickled to see that my work on stonefly flight has come up in this discussion. One thing that is worth adding here is that a gills-to-wings transition would require a simultaneous change in gas exchange, since a sophisticated wing is unlikely to also be an effective gill, and the physics and physiology of gas exchange are very different in an aquatic versus a terrestrial environment. My research shows that modern stoneflies may have retained intermediate forms of flight that date back to an evolutionary transition from gills to wings, and therefore perhaps they have retained other traits related to a transition in gas exchange physiology. This line of thinking led me to suggest to Thorsten Burmester, an expert on arthropod gas exchange proteins, that he should check to see if stoneflies have hemocyanin in their blood. This was a pretty far out idea, since blood-based gas exchange is what other arthropods use (including aquatic ones) but was previously thought to be completely absent in insects, which deliver air directly to their tissues via tracheae. Burmester found that stoneflies do indeed have hemocyanin in their blood (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101: 871-874) that reversibly binds oxygen, and it appears that no other pterygote insects possess this trait. In summary, the developmental evidence that you have presented for a gills-to-wings transition is supported by both a set of mechanically intermediate forms of winged locomotion in stoneflies and molecular evidence that a simultaneous transition occurred in gas exchange physiology.
Jim Marden's homepage at Penn State University with quick time movies from their studies
Hagner-Holler, S., A. Schoen, W. Erker, J.H. Marden, R. Rupprecht, H. Decker, and T. Burmester. 2004. A respiratory hemocyanin from an insect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101, 871-874. ( Abstract ),( full text )
Marden, J.H. and M.A. Thomas. 2003. Rowing locomotion by a stonefly that possesses the ancestral pterygote condition of co-occurring wings and abdominal gills. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 79, 341-349 ( Full text )
Thomas, M.A., K.A. Walsh, M.R. Wolf, B.A. McPheron, and J.H. Marden. 2000. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of evolutionary trends in stonefly wing structure and locomotor behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 97:13178-13183 ( full text )
Marden, J.H., B.C. O'Donnell, M.A. Thomas, and J.Y. Bye. 2000. Surface-skimming stoneflies and mayflies: the taxonomic and mechanical diversity of two-dimensional aerodynamic locomotion.Physiological Zoology 73, 751-764. ( abstract ) ( full text )
Marden, J.H. and M.G. Kramer. 1994. Surface-skimming stoneflies: a possible intermediate stage in insect flight evolution. Science 266, 427-430. (abstract)


What Is The Real Definition Of An All-Wheel Sports Car?
The Houghton Mifflin definition of the two-seat rule seems out-of-date. Many sports cars today offer small back seats (sometimes referred to as 2+2 seating) and there is a current movement underway to increase the seating room in models long considered sports cars by most automotive experts.
Insurance companies use their formula in classifying automobiles and often the presence of two doors automatically makes any car a sports car in their eyes. This perspective, of course, is as overly simplistic as the standard dictionary approach to defining a sports car. One can certainly think of any number of two-door vehicles that fall far short of being an actual sports car. Economy cars and even larger two-door vehicles that are not built with power and performance in mind should not qualify as true sports cars.
Some car buffs will refer to high-performance muscle cars and other larger vehicles as sports cars. Others, however, distinguish these vehicles and true sports cars. These individuals will claim that a car can be a sporting car or simply sporty but still fall short of being a true sports car. Thus, regular cars may be outfitted with a sports package and/or accessories to make the car sportier, but may not fit a strict definition of a sports car.
Others will maintain that the distinction between a sports car and any other type of car lies in how the car's suspension and handling are addressed. Technical debates rage over whether various suspension packages qualify as belonging to true sports cars.
Road and Track, a leading automotive publication, summarizes the sports card definition debate with a simple observation: Ask five people the exact definition of a sports car, and you'll likely get five different answers.
There is no clear-cut definition of what is a sports car. The restrictive definitions of the past seem ill-suited to categorize today's diverse automotive offerings and common usage of the term runs contrary to most long-held definitions.
There is, however, a common thought that seems to run through almost all of the outlooks on the meaning of sports cars. If a car is designed with high performance or race-like capabilities in mind, it can probably be safely termed a sports car. Some purists may balk at such a liberal perspective, but alternative definitions fall far short of accurately distinguishing sports cars from regular production models.
error: This content is protected!


Translating reliably between XML and JSON (xml2json)
hingo's picture
(For the impatient reader: here's the Github link!)
Storing XML as a text field
For example:
{ _id : ObjectId(...),
 firstName : "Henrik",
 lastName : "Ingo",
 age : 36,
 originalXml : "
 183
 44
The above MongoDB document could be searched for firstName, lastName and age and can return the original XML document found. But you could not index or query for shoeSize or height because they exist only in the XML and MongoDB is completely ignorant of them.
Translating XML into equivalent JSON
In the project I was assigned to however, we wanted to go further. We decided to just translate all of the XML into a JSON document, then store it as it is into MongoDB. Also we want to translate that JSON back into XML. This will be implemented later, but it implies a requirement that the XML->JSON translation must clearly be lossless, so that we can later end up with the original XML document.
For a given programming language, you should be able to find a couple libraries that try to do exactly this. For Node/JavaScript I've found: X2JS by Abdulla Abdurakhmanov, xml2js node npm module by leonidas, XML-to-JSON by stsvilik, XML to JSON jquery plugin and xml2json by Stefan Gössner.
I fond that most of them approach the problem quite similarly. I chose the last one as basis for my work, as it was a simple yet robust code base.
The devil is in the details
XML and JSON do the same thing. You have a hierarchy of nodes, which ultimately contain data in leaf nodes. As such it is clearly possible to just transform from one syntax to an equivalent representation in the other syntax.
The fun part comes with the realization that XML is more convoluted than JSON. (Eliot would say it is "too expressive".) XML elements have attributes and child elements. Now, attributes too are children of their parent element, but they somehow live in their own dimension, separately from the actual child elements.
Historically, in the HTML language that is used to format text documents, this distinction did make sense. The content itself is "data" in the child elements. Things that relate to the structure or formatting of the document are "not data", so they are attributes. For example:
Hello World
But once we started to use XML as a generic serialization format for any programmatic data, this doesn't make any sense. Semanitcally all of the below XML snippets mean the same thing.
true
Which is the correct one you should use?
The existence of the attributes is problematic when translating into JSON. In JSON we only have one kind of children. So how can we distinguish between an attribute-child and a proper child?
Most of the libraries I looked into take the approach of making attributes available as children where the keyname is prefixed with an "@". For example the previous XML snippets would become:
{ item : { "_USER_" : "boolean", "_USER_" : "true" } }
{ item : { "_USER_" : "boolean", "_TAG_" : "true" } }
{ item : { "type" : "boolean", "value" : "true" } }
This actually works fine, because xml element names cannot contain a "@", so there's no risk for name collisions, rather attributes are easy to distinguish.
Below I will focus on improvements I made to the "state of the art". If you want to read about more details before that, this article by Stefan Gössner covers these things more broadly.
My 2 improvements
There were 2 things I had to improve on to achieve what we wanted to do.
All of the libraries I looked at, would have a similar trade-off between correctness and readability. As you can see above, an XML text node might be found under a _TAG_ under the equivalent JSON document. This actually comes directly from the libxml parser, which returns _TAG_ as the value of the.nodeName property. However, for most simple documents that is not very elegant, rather a stylistically more "correct" translation is to simply put the text as a string value:
Hello -> { "e" : "Hello" }
Otoh, should the XML element "e" also have some attributes, this is of course not possible, so we fall back to using _TAG_ as the key:
Hello -> { "e" : { "_USER_" : "123", "_TAG_" : "Hello" } }
The problem with this is the ambiguity. If we want to reference the string "Hello" in MongoDB, for example to retrieve it in a query, it's impossible to do if we cannot reliably know it's path. The first one can be found simply with { "e" : 1 } while the latter would be { "e.#text" : 1 }.
This is clearly a mess! In the real world this is gonna be a problem. Maybe the id attribute is optional, so some documents have it and some others don't. Or maybe it was introduced in a later version of the application, so that old documents don't have an id attribute but newer ones do. Such ambiguity would make our MongoDB database unusable.
To solve this problem I modified the xml2json translation so that attributes are output as siblings to their "parent" node:
Hello -> { "e@id" : "123", "e" : "Hello" }
 -> { "e@id" : "123", "e" : null }
My second change deals with ordering. In XML the children are ordered:
First paragraph.
Second paragpraph.
(Note that attributes, otoh, are not ordered.)
In JSON the keys in a document are not in any particular order and not even guaranteed to maintain the order you think they have. The only structure in JSON that maintains order is the list structure. So to translate the above XML into JSON, we'd need a list. Interestingly, the popular way to do this would render the following translation:
{ html : { p : ["First paragraph", "Second paragraph"] } }
That looks good. Except it's a fairly limited solution! For example the following caused problems for the libraries I looked at:
I feel fine today!
The Node/NPM library would happily translate this as:
{ p : { strong : "fine", "_TAG_" : "I feel today!" } }
Stefan Grössner's library at least acted robustly and detected such "mixed" children, and left them untranslated:
{ p : "I feel fine today!" }
Neither of the above were satisfactory for my purposes. The solution is to employ JSON list structures when needed:
{ p : ["I feel ", { strong : "fine" }, " today!" ] }
Note that again we maintain a style vs correctness tradeoff. Correct would be to always use a JSON list to always keep ordering of child elements intact. But in most cases the application probably doesn't care about the ordering, so we assume that it is ok to only use lists when it is actually needed. Most of the time the reason is that you have 2 children with the same nodeName, such as in this case there were 2 _TAG_ elements, or above we also had 2 p elements.
It's on Github!
I published my improved xml2json library on Github. It's designed to work in modern browsers, and uses the DOMParser for the XML, but I did successfully use it in Node.js together with the libxml parser. For Node.js you need to change the code a little bit to integrate with the module.exports system, and the libxml parser instead of window.DOMParser, other than that it works as is. I'll try to integrate those changes to the Github code one day too.
(Note that I did not yet do corresponding changes to json2xml, so you can't actually translate backwards and get your original XML document.)
Comment viewing options
EJ's picture
Encoding scheme increases json parser complexity
One drawback of the "sometimes use an array" approach is that parsers need to be able to handle both. If there is only one element in the set, it gets represented one way, and with two or more elements in the response set, the data types change from scalers to arrays.
hingo's picture
EJ, that's correct. Or to be
EJ, that's correct. Or to be precise, for json2xml conversion we would in any case want to support (almost) all possible json documents. But it did increase the complexity of the output phase of xml2json.
Still, it's not that bad and well worth the effort. For example, a MongoDB multi-key index is really cool, but it will only work with a single list, you cannot use it if you have multiple nested lists. So avoiding the list structure when not necessary is both useful and good style.
David Lee's picture
JSON to XML is quite subtle
You may be interested in this presentation I gave on the subject. Its a


fs_save_config man page on DigitalUNIX
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fs_save_config(3) fs_save_config(3)
NAME
 fs_save_config - Saves an AdvFS domain configuration.
SYNOPSIS
 #include <stocfg/fs_config.h>
 char *fs_save_config( char *object_type,
 char *object_name, char **err_buf);
 );
LIBRARY
 File System & Storage Configuration Library libstocfg
PARAMETERS
 Points to an object type. Points to an object name; for example, a
 domain name, a fileset name, or a directory path depending on the
 object type. Points to a pointer which points to a location in which
 the function stores an error message.
DESCRIPTION
 This function saves the configuration of an AdvFS domain, including
 information about its filesets and volumes. Filesets and volumes can
 remain online while the configuration is captured.
 Valid names of object types are ADVFS_DOMAIN,ADVFS_FILESET, and MOUNT‐
 POINT.
 For ADVFS_DOMAIN, the configuration of the AdvFS domain, all associated
 AdvFS filesets and volumes are captured.
 For each AdvFS volume that is an LSM volume, the associated LSM
 diskgroup configuration is also captured.
 For ADVFS_FILESET or MOUNTPOINT, the configuration of the associated
 AdvFS domain is captured. For each AdvFS volume that is an LSM volume,
 the associated LSM diskgroup configuration is also captured. For MOUNT‐
 POINT, an error will be returned if the mountpoint is not associated
 with an AdvFS fileset.
 The configuration description contains sufficient information to recre‐
 ate the configuration cloning the associated disks and then using the
 fs_restore_config function.
NOTES
 The calling function is responsible for freeing memory allocated for
 the error message.
RESTRICTIONS
 You must be the root user to execute this function.
RETURN VALUES
 Upon successful completion, the function returns a pointer to a charac‐
 ter buffer containing a description of the configuration. The configu‐
 ration description is expressed in the XML format. See fs_config_data
 for a description of the output format. Returns NULL and sets *err_buf
 to point to an error message.
EXAMPLES
 The following example saves a domain configuration. #include
 <sys/types.h> #include <stdio.h> #include <stocfg/fs_config.h> main(int
 argc, char **argv) {
 char *config=NULL,*err_buf=NULL;
 if(argc < 3)
 {
 printf("Usage: %s <object_type> <object_name>\n",*argv);
 printf("\twhere object_type is one of:\n");
 printf("\t\tADVFS_DOMAIN\n");
 printf("\t\tADVFS_FILESET\n");
 printf("\t\tMOUNTPOINT\n");
 exit(0);
 }
 config = fs_save_config(*(argv +1),*(argv +2),&err_buf);
 }
SEE ALSO
 Functions: fs_get_dom_list(3),
 fs_get_fset_list(3), fs_config_get_devs(3), fs_restore_config(3)
 Files: fs_config_data(4)
 fs_save_config(3)
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Formatting Pagelet Output
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Pagelet Formatted
I recently had to create a few pagelets based on query output. One of the issues I have encountered was formatting of the output. For example, displaying currency fields and dates in the format that shows decimal points, comma separating significant digits and adding currency signs.
I read a few references including Chapter 4 in Jim Marion's books, but still had a problem with using formats in XSLT. Recently I found the following reference in Portal PeopleBook – Formatting Date, Time, DateTime, Currency, and Number Elements.
Note. FORMAT, WIDTH, and PRECISION have the same format as the NumberToDisplayString() PeopleCode Function. CURRENCY_CODE can be one of the supported PeopleSoft currency codes, or if left blank, defaults to the user's currency code. CURRENCY_DECORATION can have the value of SYMBOL (currency symbol appears before the number), CODE (currency code appears after the number), or BOTH (the default).
In order to actually format your number correctly I suggest you review the reference PeopleBook Reference for NumberToDisplayString() function.
In my case I wanted to display a column from query output formatted as $999,999,999.00. This resulted in the following section in XSLT template of the pagelet for the column:

 CURRENCY
 $v11.2
 USD
 $

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for this or my next posts.
 1. Hanh Minson |
 2. Hanh |
 3. Iouri "Yury" Chadour |
 4. Hanh |
 5. Iouri "Yury" Chadour |
 6. Hanh |
 7. Iouri "Yury" Chadour |
I really want to know what you think


text:
Pittsburgh, Pa. – April 19, 2017 – The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) announced today the protection and addition of 18 acres of land in Sadsbury Township, Crawford County to one of the most ecologically important forested areas in the region.
These acres along Grieser Road are now part of the Conservancy's Tryon-Weber Woods Natural Area, which is a remote 108-acre reserve that is open to the public for nature watching, exploring and hunting. Students from the University of Pittsburgh's Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology have been using the natural area for years for a variety of research projects, including learning about the effects of deer browsing on forest health.
"We are pleased to be able to add property to this protected forest reserve. It has impressive stands of mature beech-sugar maple forest and is a wonderful place for visiting and hiking," said Tom Saunders, president and CEO of the Conservancy.
Protected in May 1976, the natural area consists primarily of upland forest and a small stream valley with hillsides flecked with trillium, violets, bellwort and wild geranium in spring. A tributary to the stream enters from the east and along the southern border where there is an area of forested wetlands, including vernal pools that provide temporary habitat for some unique plants and animals.
The area also contains a 40-acre stand of old-growth American beech-sugar maple forest, thought to be the last remaining mature stand of beech-sugar maple in Western Pennsylvania and the easternmost stand in the national range. Accordingly, these woods were recently incorporated into the national Old-Growth Forest Network, which recognizes the locations of and organizations from across the country that protect these special forest types. Some of the trees in this forest are around 100 feet tall and at least 90 to 120 years old. Visiting this area to see these large and magnificent trees is worthwhile, as indicated in the book "Great Natural Areas in Western Pennsylvania" by Stephen J. Ostrander. Please be advised that there is limited parking and signage, and no designated trails.
Funds from the estate of Helen B. Katz were used to purchase this property. In 2008, the Conservancy received her bequest that remains the largest contribution to date from an individual to WPC. Her generous legacy gift has allowed the Conservancy to permanently protect more than 5,000 acres of natural land.
Photos have been made available courtesy of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy below.
High-res photo and map:
Photo for web use:
About the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy:
The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) enhances the region by protecting and restoring exceptional places. A private nonprofit conservation organization founded in 1932, WPC has helped to establish 10 state parks, conserved more than a quarter million acres of natural lands and protected or restored more than 3,000 miles of rivers and streams. The Conservancy owns and operates Fallingwater, which symbolizes people living in harmony with nature. In addition, WPC enriches our region's cities and towns through 130 community gardens and other green spaces that are planted with the help of about 12,000 volunteers. The work of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy is accomplished through the support of more than 10,000 members. For more information, visit WaterLandLife.org or Fallingwater.org.


text:
A decades-old explosion at a former chemical plant in southern Milpitas has lingering effects on new housing and other developments being built above what has become a contaminated, underground site.
In a Dec.6 toxic sites update, staff members of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board San Francisco Bay Region stated they're overseeing two large residential redevelopments — not far from the future Milpitas Bay Area Rapid Transit Station — being constructed over groundwater plumes of toxic chlorinated solvents from offsite sources.
They are Milpitas Station, a residential project at Milpitas Boulevard near Montague Expressway, and SummerHill, a residential and mixed-commercial project slated for 1646 Centre Pointe Drive.
"The contaminant source properties, which are former industrial facilities, are called Jones Chemical and 450 Montague," the Dec. 6 report reads. "Due to the threat of chlorinated solvent vapor intrusion from the groundwater plumes, active vapor intrusion mitigation systems (VIMS) are needed to protect future residents as part of both redevelopments."
Jones Chemical formerly operated as a chemical packaging and distribution facility at its Milpitas location from the 1960s through 1999, according to the report.
"In 1982, an aboveground storage tank containing 4,000 gallons of chlorinated solvent (trichloroethene, also known as TCE) exploded, releasing its contents and contaminating the soil, soil gas, and groundwater of on- and offsite properties," the report reads. "Jones Chemical has completed extensive remediation, including soil excavation, groundwater extraction and remediation, and soil vapor extraction; however, the plume currently extends 1,800 feet to the west, beneath Milpitas Station and its sub-projects, which are in different stages of development."
When complete, Milpitas Station should include approximately 1,100 residences.
"The contaminant source at the former 450 Montague site occurred from a former chlorinated solvent vapor degreaser. The solvent plume currently extends 300 feet west beneath the planned SummerHill redevelopment, consisting of approximately 720 apartments," the Dec. 6 report states. "We have had fruitful discussions with the developers of Milpitas Station and SummerHill about the necessity of active VIMS to address vapor intrusion risks."
Water board staff stated the developers, while at first hesitant, agreed that installing vapor intrusion mitigation systems would provide better protection for residents without burdening them.
"Staff has also engaged the City of Milpitas Building Department to inform them of our requirements for active VIMS. The City of Milpitas Building Department approves and certifies the design of mitigation systems, and ultimately issues the Certificate of Occupancy," the report reads.
According to the state agency, an active VIMS relies on mechanical means — such as fans and blowers — to pull accumulated vapors from beneath a building foundation or slab before they can enter the building.
Conversely, passive systems, which are often the starting point for vapor intrusion mitigation discussions, do not use force, but instead rely on an open conduit to the outside air for sub-slab ventilation, the state report notes.
"In our experience, the performance of passive sub-slab mitigation systems installed to prevent vapor intrusion into overlying residences has a high degree of uncertainty," the report reads. "This is because some passive systems, consisting of vented gravel with a plastic vapor barrier beneath the foundation, are subject to puncturing and short-circuiting during installation or future home remodeling, potentially allowing vapors to intrude into the living space.
"As a result, passive systems require ongoing contaminant sampling and analysis to demonstrate protectiveness. Active VIMS reduce uncertainty and provide the greatest degree of protectiveness. Active VIMS may even be less expensive over the long term due to the need for ongoing analytical sampling and analysis with passive systems."
Moreover, water board staff indicate in the report that after preoccupancy indoor air testing is complete and residences are shown to be safe, continued monitoring is required, which consists of monitoring the pressure difference between the slab and the structure above.
"This can easily be accomplished by future homeowner associations or property management companies and does not require ongoing analytical sampling and analysis," the report reads. "Moving forward, we are coordinating with the dischargers responsible for cleanup at the source properties that have impacted the offsite developments. Our intent is to bring updated cleanup orders to the board to require Jones Chemical and 450 Montague to accelerate cleanup beneath the developments and conduct soil-gas monitoring to measure effectiveness."
After the report was issued, Keyvan Irannejad, the city's former chief building official, told this newspaper last month that much of this work and ongoing updates with this contamination cleanup is handled by the state, not the city.
"Property owners' consultant design a system and submit directly to the water board for review and acceptance," Irannejad said.
"Also, we require the developer to retain a third-party environmental inspection firm to inspect and approve the installed mitigation system prior to placement of concrete foundation," Irannejad said.
Meanwhile, he noted the contamination from this former chemical site has spread to other new residential and retail sites that are newly built or still under construction.
"They're building them now, the tenants will come later," Irannejad said, noting other residential developers like KB Home and Pulte Homes also have projects in this area. "So it's a mixture."
Irannejad said as far as he knows only one potential resident of a Pulte Homes project approached the city with his concerns about possible impacts of this contamination or harm to future residents.
"He worried about living in this unit. His question was why are they building residences over contaminated properties," Irannejad said, adding the concerned person had not yet moved into the residential project but did give a $5,000 deposit.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, trichloroethene, or TCE, is a carcinogenic to humans by all routes of exposure. Highly acute concentrations of TCE vapors can irritate the respiratory system and skin and induce central nervous system effects such as light-headedness, drowsiness and headaches. Repeated (chronic) or prolonged exposure to TCE has been associated with effects in the liver, kidneys, immune system and central nervous system, and can impact fetuses as well, the EPA states.


Are Peace of Mind and Happiness the Same?
Question: Are Peace of Mind and Happiness the Same?
I am not clear about a thing. In Krishna Consciousness are happiness and peace of mind the same thing? Or are they different?
Answer: Similar But Different
They are almost the same, but they are slightly different as explained in the Bhagavad-gita:
nāsti buddhir ayuktasya
na cāyuktasya bhāvanā
na cābhāvayataḥ śāntir
aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham
--Bhagavad-gita 2.66
In other words, a peaceful state of mind is a prerequisite of happiness. It is required that one have a peaceful mind in order to be happy.
No comments:


RoutedCommand.CanExecuteChanged RoutedCommand.CanExecuteChanged RoutedCommand.CanExecuteChanged RoutedCommand.CanExecuteChanged Event
Definition
Occurs when changes to the command source are detected by the command manager. These changes often affect whether the command should execute on the current command target.
public:
 virtual event EventHandler ^ CanExecuteChanged;
public event EventHandler CanExecuteChanged;
member this.CanExecuteChanged : EventHandler
Public Custom Event CanExecuteChanged As EventHandler
Implements
Examples
The following example is a CanExecuteChanged event handler from a custom implementation of ICommandSource.
this.Command in this example is the Command property on the ICommandSource. If the command is not null, the command is cast to a RoutedCommand. If the command is a RoutedCommand, then the CanExecute method is called passing the CommandTarget and the CommandParameter. If command is not a RoutedCommand, it is cast to an ICommand and the CanExecute method is called passing the CommandParameter.
If the CanExecute method returns true, then the control is enabled; otherwise, the control is disabled.
private void CanExecuteChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
 if (this.Command != null)
 {
 RoutedCommand command = this.Command as RoutedCommand;
 // If a RoutedCommand.
 if (command != null)
 {
 if (command.CanExecute(CommandParameter, CommandTarget))
 {
 this.IsEnabled = true;
 }
 else
 {
 this.IsEnabled = false;
 }
 }
 // If a not RoutedCommand.
 else
 {
 if (Command.CanExecute(CommandParameter))
 {
 this.IsEnabled = true;
 }
 else
 {
 this.IsEnabled = false;
 }
 }
 }
}
Private Sub CanExecuteChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
 If Me.Command IsNot Nothing Then
 Dim command As RoutedCommand = TryCast(Me.Command, RoutedCommand)
 ' If a RoutedCommand.
 If command IsNot Nothing Then
 If command.CanExecute(CommandParameter, CommandTarget) Then
 Me.IsEnabled = True
 Else
 Me.IsEnabled = False
 End If
 ' If a not RoutedCommand.
 Else
 If Me.Command.CanExecute(CommandParameter) Then
 Me.IsEnabled = True
 Else
 Me.IsEnabled = False
 End If
 End If
 End If
End Sub
Remarks
The RoutedCommand listens for the RequerySuggested event, which is raised by the CommandManager. The RequerySuggested event is raised whenever conditions are met that may change the whether the command should execute, such as a change in keyboard focus. When the command receives the RequerySuggested event, it raises the CanExecuteChanged event. Generally, the command source will listen for this event and query the RoutedCommand by way of the CanExecute method. Most command sources will disable themselves if the command cannot be executed, as part of their command binding. An example of this is when a MenuItem grays itself out when the command cannot be executed.
In some situations, the CommandManager is unaware of a change in conditions that alters the ability of a command to execute. In these cases, you can force the CommandManager to raises the RequerySuggested event by calling the InvalidateRequerySuggested method, this will in turn cause the RoutedCommand to raise the CanExecuteChanged event.
Applies to


text:
You use the print function in Carerix. In the print preview you see more information than what is printed. It seems that the printer doesn't print certain parts.
As default Carerix only prints the first part. You can select which parts need to be printed in the print preview.
For example we use a Job order file. The method is the same for other default print files.
- Go to 'Files' | 'Job orders'
- Open the desired job order and click [Print]
A pop-up appears with the print preview.
- The print preview is divided in several parts, each with a dark bar. In the dark bar is a checkbox on the right.
- Check this box if you want to print this part.
- Follow the further instructions to print.


text:
Search Issue Tracker
Fixed in 5.4.2
TransformDirection and InverseTransformDirection operations are affected by scale.
1.Open the "bug.zip" project
2.Open the "Test" scene
3.Play the scene
4.Notice how TransformDirection and InverseTransformDirection are affected by scale.
Actual result: TransformDirection and InverseTransformDirection operations are affected by scale.
Expected result: TransformDirection and InverseTransformDirection operations are not affected by scale.
Reproducible on: 5.5.0a5, 5.4.0f3
Not reproducible on: 5.3.6p2, 5.3.5f1, 5.2.5f1
All about bugs
View bugs we have successfully reproduced, and vote for the bugs you want to see fixed most urgently.
- TreeView Child display toggle styling becomes reversed when clicking and dragging it
- Null is returned when using FocusOutEvent.relatedTarget
- Unity_BaseInstanceID is always zero when rendering multiple meshes and instancing with the same buffer
- UI Document button's text does not resize relatively when size in percentage (%) is used
- Event.current.mousePosition has an offset of 1px along the y-axis in WebGL build when the mouse button is released


text:
Penn Law Oral History Project
Penn Law is quite proud of its alumni, and in order to honor them and their achievements, we present the Penn Law Oral History Project. View all Oral History videos on our YouTube channel
What is it?
Our goals for the Oral History Project are twofold:
- to record stories and recollections about Penn Law, its professors, and the experiences of students throughout the years;
- to highlight the impact of a Penn Law education through first-hand narrations of achievements, challenges, and relationships by the alumni who lived them.
What can I talk about?
You can discuss your memories of Penn Law, including your friends, classmates, professors, classroom experiences, etc. You can also talk about your experiences in Philadelphia, your career after graduation, and how you were affected by your time at Penn Law. We seek to create a thorough, multi-faceted record of Penn Law's history, so that we can tell our story to future generations of students.
How can I be interviewed?
If you would like to schedule an Oral History interview (preferably on video), please call Andy Maynard _PHONE_) to make arrangements.


text:
|Model, 1. modul, 2009, id:385|
|Findes på RUb:|
The present project propose a deterministic model for the replication of the bacterial chromosome based on the work by Mahaffy & Zyskind (1989). The main aim of this project is to examine how external factors influence on the stability of the model. In order to do this, we examine how the production of DnaA and the doubling rate of the cell mass, affects the models stability. This is done in an analytical analysis of the model near equilibrium, and further by a mumerical analysis of output values near equilibrium. Furthermore we propose and discuss extensions of the model. These extensions include modelling of RIDA, datA, Sequestration of the dnaA-gene by SeqA and remodelling of oriC to contain multiple DnaA-boxes. We conclude that there is a possibility for the existence of a transcritical bifucation, which resolves in a shift of stability.


SQL
Reading Data from Oracle Table into Python Pandas – How long & Different arraysize
Posted on
Here are some results from a little testing I recent did on extracting data from an Oracle database and what effect the arraysize makes and which method might be the quickest.
The arraysize determines how many records will be retrieved in each each batch. When a query is issued to the database, the results are returned to the calling programme in batches of a certain size. Depending on the nature of the application and the number of records being retrieved, will determine the arraysize value. The value of this can have a dramatic effect on your query and application response times. Sometimes a small value works very well but sometimes you might need a larger value.
My test involved using an Oracle Database Cloud instance, using Python and the following values for the arraysize.
arraysize = (5, 50, 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000)
The first test was to see what effect these arraysizes have on retrieving all the data from a table. The in question has 73,668 records. So not a large table. The test loops through this list of values and fetches all the data, using the fetchall function (part of cx_Oracle), and then displays the time taken to retrieve the results.
# import the Oracle Python library
import cx_Oracle
import datetime
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
# setting display width for outputs in PyCharm
desired_width = 280
pd.set_option('display.width', desired_width)
np.set_printoptions(linewidth=desired_width)
pd.set_option('display.max_columns',30)
# define the login details
p_username = "************"
p_password = "************"
p_host = "************"
p_service = "************"
p_port = "1521"
print('--------------------------------------------------------------------------')
print(' Testing the time to extract data from an Oracle Database.')
print(' using different approaches.')
print('---')
# create the connection
con = cx_Oracle.connect(user=p_username, password=p_password, dsn=p_host+"/"+p_service+":"+p_port)
print('')
print(' Test 1: Extracting data using Cursor for different Array sizes')
print(' Array Size = 5, 50, 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000')
print('')
print(' Starting test at : ', datetime.datetime.now())
beginTime = datetime.datetime.now()
cur_array_size = (5, 50, 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000)
sql = 'select * from banking_marketing_data_balance_v'
for size in cur_array_size:
 startTime = datetime.datetime.now()
 cur = con.cursor()
 cur.arraysize = size
 results = cur.execute(sql).fetchall()
 print(' Time taken : array size = ', size, ' = ', datetime.datetime.now()-startTime, ' seconds, num of records = ', len(results))
 cur.close()
print('')
print(' Test 1: Time take = ', datetime.datetime.now()-beginTime)
print('')
And here are the results from this first test.
Starting test at : 2018-11-14 15:51:15.530002
 Time taken : array size = 5 = 0:36:31.855690 seconds, num of records = 73668
 Time taken : array size = 50 = 0:05:32.444967 seconds, num of records = 73668
 Time taken : array size = 500 = 0:00:40.757931 seconds, num of records = 73668
 Time taken : array size = 1000 = 0:00:14.306910 seconds, num of records = 73668
 Time taken : array size = 2000 = 0:00:10.182356 seconds, num of records = 73668
 Time taken : array size = 3000 = 0:00:20.894687 seconds, num of records = 73668
 Time taken : array size = 4000 = 0:00:07.843796 seconds, num of records = 73668
 Time taken : array size = 5000 = 0:00:06.242697 seconds, num of records = 73668
As you can see the variation in the results.
You may get different performance results based on your location, network connectivity and proximity of the database. I was at home (Ireland) using wifi and my database was located somewhere in USA. I ran the rest a number of times and the timings varied by +/- 15%, which is a lot!
When the data is retrieved in this manner you can process the data set in the returned results set. Or what is more traditional you will want to work with the data set as a panda. The next two test look at a couple of methods of querying the data and storing the result sets in a panda.
For these two test, I'll set the arraysize = 3000. Let's see what happens.
For the second test I'll again use the fetchall() function to retrieve the data set. From that I extract the names of the columns and then create a panda combining the results data set and the column names.
startTime = datetime.datetime.now()
print(' Starting test at : ', startTime)
cur = con.cursor()
cur.arraysize = cur_array_size
results = cur.execute(sql).fetchall()
print(' Fetched ', len(results), ' in ', datetime.datetime.now()-startTime, ' seconds at ', datetime.datetime.now())
startTime2 = datetime.datetime.now()
col_names = []
for i in range(0, len(cur.description)):
 col_names.append(cur.description[i][0])
print(' Fetched data & Created the list of Column names in ', datetime.datetime.now()-startTime, ' seconds at ', datetime.datetime.now())
The results from this are.
 Fetched 73668 in 0:00:07.778850 seconds at 2018-11-14 16:35:07.840910
 Fetched data & Created the list of Column names in 0:00:07.779043 seconds at 2018-11-14 16:35:07.841093
 Finished creating Dataframe in 0:00:07.975074 seconds at 2018-11-14 16:35:08.037134
Test 2: Total Time take = 0:00:07.975614
Now that was quick. Fetching the data set in just over 7.7788 seconds. Creating the column names as fractions of a millisecond, and then the final creation of the panda took approx 0.13 seconds.
For the third these I used the pandas library function called read_sql(). This function takes two inputs. The first is the query to be processed and the second the name of the database connection.
print(' Test 3: Test timing for read_sql into a dataframe')
cur_array_size = 3000
print(' will use arraysize = ', cur_array_size)
print('')
startTime = datetime.datetime.now()
print(' Starting test at : ', startTime)
df2 = pd.read_sql(sql, con)
print(' Finished creating Dataframe in ', datetime.datetime.now()-startTime, ' seconds at ', datetime.datetime.now())
# close the connection at end of experiments
con.close()
and the results from this are.
 Test 3: Test timing for read_sql into a dataframe will use arraysize = 3000
 Starting test at : 2018-11-14 16:35:08.095189
 Finished creating Dataframe in 0:02:03.200411 seconds at 2018-11-14 16:37:11.295611
You can see that it took just over 2 minutes to create the panda data frame using the read_sql() function, compared to just under 8 seconds using the previous method.
It is important to test the various options for processing your data and find the one that works best in your


text:
Pex is a testing tool developed by Microsoft Research. It provides three very useful capabilities to support testing. First, it can explore your code and suggest which tests you should have. Second, if you have parameterized tests, Pex can figure out which combination of parameters needs be tested in order to give you full coverage of possible scenarios. And finally, if you use Code Contracts, then Pex will employ that information to fine-tune the unit tests it suggests or generates for you. I'll review the three aspects in more detail after a quick look at installation and set up.
You can download Pex from Microsoft. If you're curious about the underlying technology, you can also access a few PDF documents explaining the internal workings of the tool from the site. Pex is a standard add-in for Visual Studio and should be installed like any other.
Suggesting Unit Tests
Now let's look at what Pex can do. Suppose you are not a TDD proponent; at some point, you may happen to have a C# class and no unit tests for it. With Pex, all you need do is right-click on the class code in Visual Studio and click the Pex|Create Parameterized Unit Tests menu item. The effect is that a new test project is created and added to the selected solution; moreover, the test project can target MSTest the default Visual Studio testing framework as well as other frameworks, including NUnit. Open up the project and you'll find good parameterized tests are there for you to complete and run. However, auto-generated tests don't really do much except invoke a method with parameters. At the very minimum, you'll want to complete them with some assertions.
A parameterized unit test is simply a test that accepts parameters; parameters can be provided in a number of ways depending on the framework. Typically, you pass parameters from a database file. In Visual Studio MSTest, you need to write a wrapper parameter-less test configured to know about the data source. This wrapper test will be invoked iteratively; it reads values from the current row and passes those values to the parameterized test. The challenge is choosing meaningful input values for the tests. This is where the second key feature of Pex comes to the rescue.
Choosing Meaningful Input Values
Open the previously created unit test file and right-click on it. This time, click on the Run Pex Explorations menu item. At this point, Pex analyzes the code of the method under test and figures out which values it would make sense to test for. Pex uses an implementation of the dynamic symbolic execution technique that basically processes the code and calculates the results of the method execution. Every time a new possible result is found, Pex determines which combination of values leads to the result and adds the values to the list. In this way, it iteratively discovers all possible outcomes of a method and, at the same time, it also determines a way to produce them.
The result of a Pex exploration is a list of auto-generated classic unit tests, which call the method with any meaningful combination of inputs previously determined. You can just copy these tests into a test project and integrate them in the build process with the guarantee of a high coverage and, more importantly, strong insurance against corner cases. Generating parameterized unit tests is often a long and boring process Pex automates that process and reduces it to just a click or two.
Code Contracts and Pex
Fully integrated in.NET Framework 4.0, Code Contracts are Microsoft's implementation of the tried-and-true idea of software contracts most notably, preconditions, postconditions, and invariants. In particular, Code Contracts are used to annotate methods with conditions that must be preliminarily verified for the code to run. As an example of Code Contracts and Pex integration, consider the following scenario. Suppose you have a method that does some work on a string parameter. Suppose also that your implementation blindly assumes the received string is a non-null string. You are therefore potentially exposed to a null reference exception. A quick exploration by Pex reveals the issue, in the form of a notification, which allows you to add a test.
A warning about a possible defect is a great help, but Pex can do more. If Code Contracts are enabled for the project, then Pex will offer to add a proper precondition to your code so that you can catch any invalid data and take control of the situation. Pex will run an analysis of the code and build a base of knowledge about your code. Code Contracts provide additional information that contributes to an even more accurate analysis from Pex.
In summary, Pex is an innovative white-box testing tool that can be used both as an aid to generate nontrivial unit tests and as a peer reviewer to quickly look at your code and find holes and omissions in it. Pex is not dependent on Code Contracts, but it can use Code Contracts to enhance your tests if they are already employed in your code. One limitation I should mention is that it works only with managed code.
Pex is an innovative testing tool that represented a deeper commitment to unit testing than Microsoft had previously exhibited. Since it was released, Microsoft has continued bringing out tools that facilitate unit testing. In Visual Studio 2012, for example, it shipped a framework called Microsoft Fakes. Fakes facilitates the construction of unit tests with stubs and mocks, plus a runtime redirection of code in what the company calls "shims." These technologies will be discussed in upcoming articles. Meanwhile, if you need help generating humdrum unit tests that exercise code thoroughly, download Pex and have it do most of the heavy lifting.
[For a hands-on look at using Pex, see "Working with Microsoft PEX Framework" Ed.]
Dino Esposito is a frequent writer on Microsoft developer technologies.


text:
ROANOKE, Va. – Appalachian Power will acquire or contract for 210 megawatts (MW) of solar power and 200 MW of wind power over the next five years as part of its long-range plan to meet the targets established by the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA). Passed this year by the General Assembly, the legislation requires the utility to file an annual plan with the State Corporation Commission outlining how it will meet key targets on its way to becoming 100 percent carbon-free by 2050.
"Our blueprint meets the law's requirements while keeping customer costs as low as possible," said Chris Beam, Appalachian Power president and chief operating officer. "What we filed today is a well thought out plan that not only relies on existing resources, but carefully expands our renewables portfolio in the Commonwealth while minimizing customer impacts over the next 30 years."
The VCEA is a transformative law that seeks to end carbon dioxide emissions from the utility industry in Virginia. The company intends to meet the VCEA targets primarily through future investments in solar, wind, energy storage, and energy efficiency measures. Short-term plans are to acquire or contract 210 MW of solar resources in Virginia and 200 MW of wind in the next five years. By 2050, the company expects to add 3,400 MW of solar, 2,200 MW of on-shore wind, and 400 MW of energy storage to its current portfolio of wind and hydro resources.
Customer bills are estimated to increase as the company adds more renewables to comply with the VCEA's annual requirements. The amount will depend on customer class and usage. Costs related to VCEA compliance are expected to add approximately 3.5 percent over five years to a residential customer's bill.
"Our objective is to provide safe and reliable electricity for our customers while meeting our environmental and regulatory obligations," said Beam. "With the plan we've developed, we're able to accomplish that while keeping costs reasonable for our customers."
The law further mandates utility companies set a schedule for closing fossil fuel plants located in Virginia. Appalachian Power no longer owns or operates coal-fueled generation plants in Virginia. Its last Virginia coal plant, Clinch River in Carbo, Virginia, was converted to natural gas and is set for closure in 2025.
The VCEA also requires Appalachian Power develop new measures to promote energy efficiency. Programs outlined in the company's plan are applicable to residential and commercial/industrial customers.
Appalachian Power has 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is part of American Electric Power, which is focused on building a smarter energy infrastructure and delivering new technologies and custom energy solutions. AEP's approximately 17,400 employees operate and maintain the nation's largest electricity transmission system and more than 221,000 miles of distribution lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to nearly 5.4 million customers in 11 states. AEP is also one of the nation's largest electricity producers with approximately 31,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including 5,200 megawatts of renewable energy.