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The American Council on Germany established its network of Eric M. Warburg Chapters to promote a greater understanding of German and European affairs beyond the business community in New York and the policy community in Washington, D.C. and to enhance the positive impact the transatlantic relationship has in local communities across the United States.
Named after ACG founder and longtime Treasurer Eric M. Warburg, the Warburg Chapters were launched in 1992 to offer ACG members and the general public across the United States with a dynamic forum for German and American government officials, journalists, policy analysts, academics and students, business and civil society representatives and other professional practitioners to engage with one another to discuss economic, political, and social issues on the transatlantic agenda. In addition, Warburg Chapters provide opportunities to examine how German-American relations on trade, foreign policy, and defense, to name just a few, impact the local community. Programming in Warburg Chapters also focuses on German politics, policies, and practices on a range of issues, such as sustainable urban development, immigration and integration, workforce preparedness, technological change, and entrepreneurship, that enables an exchange of ideas and sharing of best practices to common challenges facing local communities on both sides of the Atlantic.
Today the network of 21 chapters across the country is a vital component to the ongoing work of the American Council on Germany. Through the Warburg Chapters, the ACG engages not only those already interested in Germany, but also strives to expand the community of individuals that have an awareness and understanding of German-American affairs.
In cooperation with local partner organizations, including German Consulates and honorary consuls, German American Chambers of Commerce, Goethe-Instituts, World Affairs Councils, and other local community institutions, through its Warburg Chapters the ACG offers a variety of activities:
- Policy discussions and conferences, ranging from small group discussions to gatherings of more than 100 people, on current pertinent topics in transatlantic relations with visiting speakers from Germany or American experts on Germany;
- Hosting delegations of German policymakers and practitioners examining American strategies and approaches to common transatlantic challenges;
- Fellowship programs, leadership missions, and study tours enabling Americans to connect with their peers across the Atlantic, to gain insights and a deeper understanding on issues of common concern, and to analyze best practices for potential implementation in their local communities;
- Local programming for students in high schools and universities
Through the Warburg Chapters, the ACG convenes roughly 150 events annually, exposing a broad audience across sectors and generations with deep and nuanced insights about developments in Germany, Europe, and around the world – and how they impact the transatlantic partnership and communities across the United States.
Origins of the Warburg Chapters
After the death of one of the ACG's founders and long-serving treasurer, Eric M. Warburg, in 1990, the Council established Eric M. Warburg Chapters in cities across the United States as a lasting memorial to his steadfast commitment to promote transatlantic ties. Lionel Pincus, a business associate of Mr. Warburg's, provided the initial funding for these Chapters.
The number of Chapters has grown to 21 in 18 states. Each Chapter is unique, but they all have tremendous convening power in the communities they serve. Through a variety of events and activities, the Chapters provide fora for the discussion of the most pressing issues on the transatlantic agenda. As the ACG's outreach has grown through the years, the Chapters have reached thousands of Americans across the country.


Glossary, Definitions and Help - literature library
Proportion of Households with Firearms
Definition and Selection Criteria
In a given jurisdiction the number of firearms held by civilians could have risen, while in the same period the proportion of households containing firearms could have fallen, or vice versa.
Counting the proportion of households with firearms might reveal trends in which existing gun owners acquire more or fewer guns, while at the same time a decreasing or increasing proportion of households contain firearms.
ID: G175


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Pallet sorting automation based on shuttle and flow rack systems
Our client is among the top 5 largest meat processing companies in Ukraine. A wide range of quality meat delicacies, numbering more than 250 varieties of products, and constantly growing demand for meat products, prompts the company to improve and automate storage processes in order to provide consumers with quality products in a timely manner.
The logistics of a meat processing plant face many challenges: From non-standard premises to GDP standards, from peculiarities in packaging, weight and pallet type to demanding distribution and retail chains with strict delivery deadlines. Consequently, the supply chain from the production line to the shipping area must be as fast and error-free as possible.
In order to solve this task together with the customer, the KAPELOU team developed an automated warehouse conveyor system based on shuttles, a driven roller conveyor, pallet flow system and a vertical elevator designed for vertical pallet handling and sorting in the conveyor system.
This combination proved to be the most efficient and effective process: an increase in productivity in handling and sorting as well as a 2.7-fold increase in pallet quantity in the same storage area. Since the human factor is not involved in the decision-making process when sorting the pallets, the error rate tends towards zero. Furthermore, the processing of returns is automated so that the logistical flows in the warehouse do not cross.
The conveyor system used in this project is suitable for automating individual sections and the entire warehouse. Furthermore, it consists of individual modules, so that it can be easily adapted to the warehouse operation and scaled as the company grows. The conveyor system connects the different storage areas with each other and ensures a fast transfer of goods between the storage levels. For example, the conveyor system facilitates the organisation of goods sortation, which was one of the main goals of this project.
The KAPELOU driven roller conveyor was used for the automatic transportation of pallets. By using only those areas with pallets, the conveyor system is energy-efficient. A sturdy pallet conveyor with a speed of 0.2m/s lifts pallets weighing up to 900 kg vertically.
Pallets are sorted into 68 directions by two shuttles. At a speed of 1 m/s, the shuttle system transports the pallet to the appropriate two-level gravity channel. Unloading takes place at an angle equal to the angle of inclination of the gravity pallet storage conveyor.
Safety comes first
The safety of the employees is the top priority. Mechanical and electrical protection systems: noise protection, transport safety, emergency stop of the vertical conveyor, warning light system and display – the automation system fulfills the technical requirements and recognised rules of safety in the warehouse.
The automated pallet sorting system consists of:
- Driven pallet conveyor;
- Shuttle conveyor system;
- Pallet flow system;
- Vertical pallet conveyor;
- Safety system;
- Control system;
- Integration of equipment with WMS (warehouse management system).
Results of automation
The proposed solution for transporting and sorting pallets in the warehouse with an automated shuttle-based conveyor system has given the customer the following advantages:
- Thanks to a complete solution from KAPELOU, pallet transportation and sorting in production is fully automated.
- Storage efficiency in the forwarding area, i.e. the number of pallets that can be in the area at the same time, has been increased from 126 to 340 pallets.
- The number of staff in the warehouse has been reduced by 2.3 times.
- The number of errors was reduced to almost zero, because a person is not involved in the decision-making process when sorting pallets.
- There has been a 3.8-fold increase in the number of routes by which pallets can be accumulated in the forwarding area in advance – from 18 to 69.
- Full warehouse automation and separation of shipment and return transport processes has been ensured.
- The speed of loading the vehicle has been increased to 90 pallets per hour. The system thus makes it possible to store the end products in the forwarding area sorted by direction over a long period of time and to make shipping as productive as possible during peak times.
- The automated sorting system operates 24/7.
- Guaranteed payback period of the sorting system is about 4 years.
Comparison of automatic sorting process with manual sorting
Here you can see a comparison between an automated and a manual sorting system for a warehouse. The automated system is based on the shuttle system described above. The manual sorting of pallets was used before automation and was done with the help of forklifts and loading by a hydraulic trolley:
As a result, the conveyor system transports almost 2.7 times as many pallets on the same floor space. To achieve the same number of pallets in the manual version as with the automated system, the conveyor area has to be increased by 465 m2 or 270 %.
Unloading the pallets from the accumulator and loading the truck now takes only 80 seconds instead of 150. The number of sorting directions has increased from 18 to 69, almost quadrupling. At the same time, the number of staff has decreased and the monthly costs have halved.
In summary, we have increased the speed of loading the trolley with pallets to 90 p/hour. In this way, the system makes it possible to store the final products in the shipping area sorted by direction for a long period of time and to make shipping as productive as possible during peak hours. In this way, the speed and continuity of the production process and the customers' need for delivery can be balanced almost simultaneously, reducing labour costs and shortening product delivery times to the end customer.
Given the uncertain situation and limited resources, it is even more important to find and implement the most efficient solution for your warehouse. This is the main advantage of working with KAPELOU – developing solutions based on 9 years of experience in implementing automation systems in warehouses, thorough analysis of business processes, know-how of modern intralogistics technologies and manufacturing high-quality equipment.
Leave your request here and the KAPELOU team will present you with the best solution for your warehouse.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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In 2005, we provided the components and circuit diagram for a solar powered.25Hp AC water pumping system with a 2,500 watt inverter for the Assumption School in Majuro. As a result, the School is designated site for emergency water supply, as it has a large water tank supplied by the water pump. In the case of a major power failure this school would be one of very few water sources in the area.
We have also provided components for over 50 outer island elementary schools with basic solar power systems, as requested under the US federally funded Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The systems followed their specifications and were installed at the Ministry of Education Special Education Centers. They are typically used for lights, photocopying, and general school needs.


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Last Updated on
Lipitor is a statin for lowering cholesterol levels, but you don't hear about dogs being given this drug and there's a good reason for that!
High cholesterol is primarily a people problem. It's super rare for a pet dog to be prescribed Lipitor (AKA Atorvastatin).
Canines aren't nearly as susceptible to cardiovascular disease.
Dogs Almost Never Need Lipitor (or statins in general)
Developed by Pfizer, this popular life-saving drug only makes sense for humans.
Perhaps you have personally benefited from Lipitor? It's understandable to ask about the health benefits for a beloved dog.
But instead of Lipitor, it would be better to get multi-vitamins (the kind that have been designed for dogs).
What The Research Shows
Studies do indicate that dogs also experience a cholesterol reduction from Atorvastatin.
And it's likely that healthy animals tolerate statins better than sick pups.
Again though, dogs do not normally suffer form coronary issues or other types of heart problems. Their arteries rarely become clogged and four-legged friends don't typically have strokes.
Fat's Effect on Fido's Heart
High cholesterol and higher fat intake is normal for dogs. They actually need it!
Only Pancreatitis and obesity are concerns. Such conditions warrant fat intake reduction.
There are things you can do if you're worried about your dog's health, but prescription Lipitor (because it helps you) is just not one of them.
Dosing Lipitor For Canines
Ensure a safe dose if you insist on Lipitor for a furry friend.
Approximately 1 milligram per pound is likely sufficient. That's just a reference point and to be very clear, we do not recommend Atorvastatin for dogs.
Wait! Has a pet taken a high dose?
Be sure to visit a vet as soon as possible. Your dog's internal organs may be at risk.
More on The Lipitor Study
So, there was a study that evaluated Atorvastatin's effects on canines.
They used 2mg per kilogram (a similar ratio).
But the catch-22 is only healthy dogs were found to well tolerate this statin. And the thing is little research has been done on the prospect of dogs taking Lipitor.
Perhaps because it isn't necessary?
Nevertheless, indications are that dogs are not harmed by low Lipitor doses.
Healthy Lifestyle & Diet
Improve your dog's health by natural means.
Feed a premium dog food (instead of experimenting with Lipitor).
Combine that with an active, outdoor lifestyle. Doing so is powerful preventative healthcare! Diet and exercise are so important for people and dogs, alike.
Think of it like this:
A pet is one great reason to improve your own well-being. Incorporate your dog into a healthy routine. Thrive together!
The Bottom Line
Lipitor will not make your dog live longer.
This statin drug is not really a realistic option for animals but, just to be sure, run it by your vet anyway. Normally a good diet and exercise is the way to go.
A more sensible alternative to Lipitor would be quality all-in-one vitamin chews (the kind that are made for dogs) — that's the heart health supplementation you may be looking for!
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Restoration works on the existing Pamban Bridge is in progress
RDSO advised to make suggestions for repairs to the bridge
Railways monitors the Pamban Bridge sensor system continuously in collaboration with IIT-Madras
Work progressing fast on the New Pamban Bridge
Rail traffic on Pamban rail bridge connecting Mandapam and Rameswaram was suspended from 23.12.22 onwards after Red alert was received from the monitoring system, for safety reasons so as to undertake detailed examination and repairs as necessary to restore the rail traffic on old Pamban bridge at the earliest. Southern Railway officials immediately conducted an inspection and assessed the condition of Bridge due to heavy corrosion & possibility of repairs for safe train operations.
Now, Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), the R&D wing of the Ministry of Railways that functions as technical advisor and consultant to Railway Board and Zonal Railway, has been advised to inspect and suggest possible repairs required to put the old bridge back in service.
Continuous health Monitoring System installed by IIT, Madras helps in monitoring the bridge condition. The monitoring system sends out alert based on weather and bridge conditions. Railway takes suitable measures in accordance to the nature of alerts given out by the Monitoring system.
Existing Pamban Bridge
Celebrated as one of the iconic structures built in the pre-independence era, the great Pamban cantilever bridge was commissioned in 1914. Bridging peninsular India and the Gulf of Mannar, this vintage structure interconnects Mandapam in Rameswaram mainland with Rameswaram Island.
The Great Pamban Bridge attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world. Offering a visual feast to the onlookers , the Scherzer rolling spans beautifully expand and allow cruisers and ships to pass through. The bridge transports scores of pilgrims visiting the famed Ramanathaswamy Temple. This century old engineering marvel has stood the test of times amidst highly corrosive seas.
Century-old Pamban Bridge structure and the Scherzer rolling lift span
The existing bridge structure has a total length of 2058 metre comprising 146 spans of steel girders. There are 145 spans of 12.20m length and one navigational span of 61.0m length. The navigational span is also known as Scherzer rolling lift span after the name of the railroad engineer who invented it.
The bridge has already served more than 108 years which is much more than its codal life. The bridge was getting heavily corroded and was being repaired regularly by Railways in order to carry train traffic safely.
New Pamban Bridge
Southern Railway is actively engaged with RVNL the executing agency for completion of the new Pamban bridge by end of March 2023.
The new bridge now being constructed will have 99 spans of 18.3m length and one navigational span of 72.5m length. It will be 3.0m higher than the existing bridge with navigational air clearance of 22.0m above sea level. Because of vertical lift, full horizontal width of 72.5 m will be available for navigation. This will be India's first Vertical lift Railway sea Bridge, once the work is completed.
Substructure of the bridge is being built for the double line and the navigational span will also have provision for double line. Entire bridge including navigational span will be designed keeping in mind the Railways plan of electrification. In comparison to existing manual operation and control, the new bridge will have electro mechanical controlled systems which will be interlocked with train control systems.
Work completed so far
Now 84% of the work has been completed. As on date, the work of all 333 piles, 101 pile cap and substructure and fabrication of all 99 approach spans have been completed. Of the 99 approach spans, 76 girders have been launched. Fabrication of Vertical lift span girder is nearing completion.


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Publications by authors named "Shuichi Kawabata"
Compact and high-speed Stokes polarimeter using three-way polarization-preserving beam splitters.
Appl Opt 2019 Jul;58(21):5644-5649
We present a new real-time Stokes parameter measurement technique using three polarized beam splitters without mechanical motion or electrical tuning. This system can analyze the polarization state of light at 30 kHz, limited only by the speed of the detector analog to digital converters. The optical system is also compact (52×30×25 mm) because it consists only of small volume optical devices. We show that the system can measure arbitrary polarization states with an accuracy of better than 0.006 in the normalized Stokes parameters. We also demonstrate the ability to measure fast dynamic polarization states by analyzing the state produced by a fast rotating quarter-wave plate and the time-dependent stress induced in a PMMA block by hitting the block with a hammer.
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Download full-text PDF


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With its 51-mile ecosystem that connects so many of our neighborhoods to each other, the LA River is a not-so-hidden gem of our region. For over 30 years, Friends of the LA River and our partners have worked to get the River to the People and the People to the River. We envision a dynamic, verdant LA River that supports vulnerable communities in climate adaptation, reduces flood risk, cleans the air, cools temperatures, and supports the biodiversity essential to our collective well-being.
Make a donation to Friends of the LA River today. Your contribution helps fund the core pillars of our organization: equitable K-12 education, community building, public awareness, and action on the River. Whether you give $10 or $100, every donation supports our efforts to build capacity for communities, students, and future leaders to advocate for climate justice and equity at the LA River.
*Your donation is tax-deductible.


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Europe's digital transformation by 2030 relies on providing citizens with access to a gigabit connectivity and 5G services. Europe digital decade begins with the relaunch of European Broadband Awards for 2021! All projects advanced in implementation, big or small, rural or urban, private or public, local, regional, national or cross-border, and covering all technologies are welcome to apply for the 2021 awards. The application deadline is the 17th of September 2021. The winners will receive an EU Broadband Award in the Autumn and will be showcased by the European Commission in the media, EU websites, newsletters and in the broadband good practices database.
Investment in High-Capacity Networks (Unit B.5)
As part of the Catalonian citizens' initiative, Guifi.net, volunteers have helped install over 40,000 nodes, connecting 100,000 rural inhabitants. In this video, Ramon Roca, Guifi.net founder, explains how, since its foundation, the project has driven demand as well as rural development, becoming both a "local ecosystem" and a business model, and growing increasingly affordable as it expands. Driven by volunteers, Guifi.net focuses on building the infrastructure and cooperation between public administrations, local entrepreneurs and ISPs, among others.
Calais is the first Dutch broadband project funded by the Connecting Europe Broadband Fund (CEBF). The province of Groningen approached CEBF when they recognised their need for additional funding as well as a more strategic partner to reach the most remote areas. The resulting partnership will bring NGA access to over 100,000 inhabitants, combining fibre with a fixed wireless network for the hardest-to-reach areas. In this video, Jan Peter de Groot, Rodin Group CEO, explains that the pandemic made it very clear that people in all areas need to be able to "connect with the whole world".
WiFi4EU provides free access to public Wi-Fi in parks, schools, public buildings, health centres throughout Europe. WiFi4EU networks are free of charge, free of data harvesting and free of advertisements. One voucher per municipality = €15,000
This series of webinars will cover the Connecting Europe Facility Digital (CEF2 Digital) programme application process; green procurement; last mile connection policy and technology; 5G; and the Recovery and Resilience Facility in relation to connectivity. Registration is open to all members of the European Broadband Competence Offices (BCOs) Network. The agenda will be made available to participants directly.
As of 1 April 2021, the new European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) will take over the implementation of the WiFi4EU programme from the current Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA).
In order to bring significant improvement to the digitalisation of the cargo and cruising industry in the North of Europe, the German regional Broadband Competence Office (BCO) of Lower Saxony launched a mobile connectivity project deploying 5G infrastructure in the Bay of Germany in the North Sea. As Peer Beyersdorff explains in this video, conditions at sea and the Earth's curvature make mobile telecommunication challenging. The project serves one of the busiest sea routes in the world, enabling safer passage, more reliable communication and important services for both trade and tourism.
Rede Aberta is the first Spanish broadband project to be funded by the Connecting Europe Broadband Fund (CEBF). To promote economic growth, stop depopulation and rejuvenate the population of rural Galicia, the open access network will bring 10 Gbps symmetrical fibre connectivity to 400,000 homes. In this video, Pere Antentas, Rede Aberta CEO, explains that the project will help the population take advantage of the area's "enormous growth potential" and natural resources. It "will allow the telecommunication networks and services to be at the same level as the ones in the big cities of Europe".
With 30% of EU farms being managed by women, these farmers are key in driving the digital transformation of rural areas. As explained by Lotta Folkesson, an arable farmer in northern Sweden, high-speed connectivity is needed to allow the use of cutting edge technology in both agriculture and forestry, as well for everyday management. On top of this, it enables entrepreneurship and allows remote area inhabitants to connect with the wider community. "With good infrastructure, we will have a stronger farming community as well as better conditions to attract more people to rural areas".
This brochure gives an overview of the WiFi4EU programme. It shows the magnitude of the Wi-Fi hot spots in the EU and the simplicity of the programme: from application to installation.
This online workshop will discuss and posit solutions to the principal connectivity challenges of the EU's Outermost Regions, including sub-marine cables, the new standard for Very High-Capacity Networks (VHCN), and being heard in broadband programming discussions. Registration is open to all members of the European Broadband Competence Offices (BCOs) Network. The agenda will be made available to participants directly.
Known as one of Hungary's capitals of wine, Villány is a municipality located in the southernmost region of the country and it gives name to the renowned red wine. Underneath its sun-kissed vineyards lies Villány's knack for digital tourism and commitment to becoming a Smart City. The WiFi4EU team spoke with Mayor István Mayer and Deputy Gabriella Bojcsev to discover more about how WiFi4EU fits in the digital plan of the town.
Copernicus – the EU's Earth Observation and Monitoring Programme – analyses our planet and its environment for the benefit of European citizens. Large volumes of data flow in from satelites, land and marine systems and provide important insights on weather modelling, climate change and more to both public and private entities, for free. To do this, Copernicus relies heavily on good connectivity, as described by Dr. Fernando Belda-Esplugues in this video.
Given the confinement and social distancing measures still in place in several Member States, the European Commission has decided to grant an extension of the installation period to all WIFi4EU beneficiaries in order to allow every concerned municipality to complete their projects.
Ireland has been awarded 114 WiFi4EU vouchers. Learn more about how the national government and local authorities have partnered up with the European Commission to ensure connectivity for all.
The municipality of Akranes is an Icelandic gem nestled between two fjords. Thanks to WiFi4EU, residents and tourists can enjoy free access to connectivity when admiring the city's main attraction, including the famous Akranes Folk Museum.
Hungary has been awarded 325 WiFi4EU vouchers. Learn more about how free connectivity is benefitting citizens of all ages and contributing to the digitisation of the tourism industry.
The Finnish municipality of Lapinjärvi has channeled the EUR 15,000 WiFi4EU voucher towards improved services for children and the elderly in order to involve all age groups in the digital transformation.
What is WiFi4EU? Where can I find it? What are the benefits of free access to connectivity? Learn more about the initiative in the new WiFi4EU video!
2021 is the final year of the first phase of the BCO Network: the European Commission initiative to support Member States to reach the connectivity targets and ensure high-speed broadband access for all citizens. The work plan for this year will seek to reinforce and expand the capacity of European BCOs to meet these objectives, while increasing recognition of their mandate within their national contexts, and strengthening their collaborative relationship with the European Commission.


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If you're bit concerned about quality of freshly mixed concrete, you'd be dealing with terms like slump of concrete, consistency, fineness of cement, and compressive strength. Of all, slump of concrete is an important quality control parameter. The next time you step in as incharge of concrete pouring activity, you should know different types of concrete slump. You need to make sure the concrete slump falls in the range set for your project.
Topics we cover
What is concrete slump?
Concrete slump is a figure that defines the workability of the fresh concrete mix. The term workability relates well with the concept and requirement of the consistency of the fresh concrete mix. Civil engineers often use terms like workability and consistency to define the flow-ability of fresh concrete.
Flow-ability is an important consideration for concrete pouring activities. The slump of concrete you will design for the rigid pavement would be way less than that you will design for a heavy reinforced concrete column.
Do you know, the slump of concrete dictates the compaction requirement of the concrete?
Concrete slump is the value that defines the fluidity in the fresh concrete mix. It is measured by slump cone test at the time of batching and placing of concrete. All you have to do is to pour the concrete mix in a slump cone in layers properly compacted. Afterwards, you will find difference in height of unsupported concrete and that of the standard cone. The slump value is noted in inches/millimeters.
Do you know – the height of a standard slump cone is 30 cm with top diameter of 10 cm.
Concrete is widely used in many construction purposes so, the requirement of slump in the mix designs of the concrete is different for every specific purposes.
Why you need to test slump of concrete?
- To ensure adequate mixing of concrete ingredients while batching.
- To ensure the concrete is workable and flowable during concrete pouring in forms.
- To meet the requirements of the compaction of concrete around congested reinforcement and tight corners.
The fresh concrete mix is tested for the consistency or workability by following the standard tests method for slump of hydraulic cement concrete ASTM C 143.
Do you know – beside slump cone test there's another test for workability of concrete? – that's called the compaction factor test.
Types of concrete slump
As the freshly concrete mix is being poured, the flow-ability of concrete is verified by performing the slump cone test.
When the slump cone is filled in layer with the fresh concrete mix, the unsupported concrete makes different shapes according to the profile of the concrete.
The different types of profile for the concrete are named as:
- Collapse slump
- Shear slump
- True slump
- Zero slump
Collapse slump is the type of the slump that indicates the concrete mix is too wet. This shows the mix is so lean, water-cement ratio is so high and concrete have high workability. The perfect example of collapse slump is that of self-compacting concrete.
Do you knowSelf compacting concrete has a slump value of more than 650 mm.
Beside intentional use for specific application, the reason for collapse slump can be :
- Concrete mix is not properly mix.
- Water cement ratio is so high that the concrete is highly workable.
- This type of slump is not recommended in any type of the concrete mix design.
- It is inappropriate for normal applications.
Shear slump is the type of slump which indicates the deficiency of cohesion in the concrete mix and water cement ratio is slightly increased. If one-half of the concrete in slump cone slides down in an inclined plane the slump is called as shear slump.
The slump is also not preferred and concrete mix is remixed for the legitimate results. This type of slump indicates that the concrete mix is not properly mixed and there should be remixing of the concrete to obtain the adequate results.
If the shear slump is repeatedly obtained, then you need to manipulate the mix design to enhance cohesion between the ingredients. So, if you use the concrete with shear slump there'd be problems like bleeding. Moreover, there will be cracking failures in structures.
True slump is a type of slump in which the concrete mix retains its shape and just slightly slips down. This type of slump indicates the true cohesion of the concrete mix ingredients. True slump is obtained when concrete mix is prepared with full consistency.
This type of the slump is desired in all the type of concrete constructions.
When concrete blend is not workable and is also not consistent, you'll get zero-slump. This type of slump shows excessive cohesion between the ingredients. Such a concrete is not easy to pour or work with at site.
This type of slump is also not preferred in most concrete structure. However, with slight adjustments you can convert this slump into the other types. One of the useful characteristic of the true and zero slumps is that you can transform them into shear and collapse slumps.
Figure 1, for collapse, shear, true and zero slump is shown as
Typical values of the concrete slump and its uses.
|Degree of workability||Slump||Compacting
Type of mix
|Uses in construction|
Very dry mixes
|1. Pavement constructions.
2. Roads vibrated by power operated machines.
Low workability mixes
|1. foundations with light reinforcement.
2. Parapet, slab, beams, columns, piers, and walls
3. Roads vibrated by hand operated Machines.
4. Mass concrete
Medium workability mixes
|1. Manually compacted flat slabs using crushed aggregates.
2. Normal reinforced concrete manually compacted.
3. Heavily reinforced sections with vibrations.
4. Concrete for canal linings
5. Retaining walls
High workability mixes
|1. Sections with congested reinforcement
2. Not normally suitable for vibration
Effect of slump on the concrete
Slump, being property of fresh concrete-mix depends a lot on the water-cement ratio. The ratio of mass of water to the mass of cement is termed as water-cement ratio. Civil engineers write it as "W/C". The typical value is around 0.40 to 0.60.
Workability and slump of concrete is directly-proportional to the water-cement ratio. So, you can assume that for zero or true slump, you need a lower value of water-cement ratio. The lower value of w/c means more cement and less water. On the other hand, a higher value of w/c ratio will give you more workability.
The water/cement ratio vs slump graph is shown below
The water/cement ratio also greatly affect the strength of the concrete explained in following graph:
The above graph shows that the compressive strength of the concrete is decreasing as the water/cement ratio is increasing.
Slump also impacts the mechanical properties of the concrete. As lessor the w/c ratio means or lower the slump the higher will be the concrete mechanical properties. That is why the true slump, and lower or moderate water/cement ratio is recommended in the concrete for the construction purposes because, it provides the ultimate strength to the concrete.
Factors effecting the slump of conccemenrete
Following are the factors that impact the slump of the concrete:
- Water cement ratio: The more the water-cement ratio, the more the slump. The water decreases the friction between filler aggregates. As a result, the ingredients get a slipping effect that results in more slump value.
- Aggregate: The grading of the aggregate and the shape / angularity or the surface texture greatly impacts the flow-ability or slump of the concrete. The absorption capacity of the aggregate also impacts workability.
- Temperature: You know during pouring of concrete, a higher temperature is not preferable. A higher temperature not only evaporates the water in the concrete mix but also elevates the temperature during hydration reaction. So, at higher temperatures you'll get lower values of slump.
- Fineness of cement & aggregate: Finer the aggregates, the more surface area and water requirements and thus lower values of slump are achieved.


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Kids Explain Climate Change to Trump on Jimmy Kimmel Video
Jimmy Kimmel Got 2 Kids to Explain Climate Change to Donald Trump
The youth of America would like to explain a few things about climate change to President Donald Trump. Following a tweet on Monday night that saw Trump dismissing "Global Waming" (aka global warming) because of the extremely low temperatures that are currently sweeping across the Midwest, Jimmy Kimmel enlisted the help of two kids to educate the POTUS with a brief summary of how global warming actually works. In a segment that aired during Tuesday night's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, 10-year-old Kaitlynn and 8-year-old Apollo took a moment to break down how the greenhouse effect works, while later explaining the difference between climate change and weather — and why it's a pretty important issue that we shouldn't continue to ignore. Watch the full video above.
Latest Family


Keep Jasmine Plant in Your Room. It Reduces Anxiety, Panic Attacks and Depression
Plants are an excellent way to increase oxygen levels in the room and improve air quality. There are also beneficial plants that will help you improve mood, and fight anxiety, depression, and prevent panic attacks.
Researchers have found that there is a direct link between stress and oxygen levels and showed that high levels of toxins in the air lead to anxiety and stress. Therefore, you can drastically improve your mood and relieve stress and anxiety.
Scientists have conducted studies on mice and discovered that the aroma of jasmine plant and jasmine essential oil significantly calmed them, and made them stop all activity and sit quietly in a corner.
Their brain scans showed that jasmine fragrance boosts the effects of a chemical called GABA on nerve cells, and thus relieves anxiety and encourages rest.
According to Professor Hanns Hatt, these findings published online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry can be regarded as evidence of a scientific basis for aromatherapy.
Prof Hatt, of the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, stated that their studies discovered a new class of GABA receptor modulator which can be administered parentally and through the respiratory air, and it can have possible applications in sedation, anxiety, excitement, and aggression relieving treatment and sleep induction therapy.
Researchers found that jasmine is much more effective than sleeping pills, anti-anxiety medications, and sedatives, as it increased the GABA effect by more than five times.
Researchers at the Wheeling Jesuit University, led by Dr. Bryan Raudenbush, assistant professor of psychology, found that dispensing jasmine odor into a room where participants were sleeping "led to greater sleep efficiency and reduced sleep movement."
Subjects who breathed jasmine in the air rated their level of anxiety and vigor lower, and performed cognitive tests faster, while the alertness level in the jasmine odor condition was greater during the afternoon hours, which helped maintain students' focus on academic work throughout the day.
Jasmine essential oil is an effective natural way to improve sleep, boost happiness, regulate hormones, and treat anxiety and fatigue. It can be used to improve concentration, soothe spasms, and ease mild depression, since it:
 - Reduces anxiety and nervous tension
 - Boosts mood
 - Improves cognitive performance and alertness
 - Improves sleep quality
 - Balances hormones
 - Treats hot flashes and mood swings
 - Increases libido
Therefore, keep a jasmine in your bedroom, and you will reap all the benefits of this amazing plant!
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Bluetooth Registry Entries
This section describes the class-of-device (CoD) registry subkeys and entries that apply to the Bluetooth driver stack.
"COD Major" and "COD Type" Values
Original equipment manufacturer (OEMs) can use the COD Major and COD Type values to indicate the Class of Device for a Bluetooth-enabled Windows device. After the Bluetooth class installer sets the Class of Device based on these registry values, a remote device can determine whether it is connecting to a portable computer, a desktop computer, a phone, and so on.
The registry path to the COD Major and COD Type values is:
Note that setting these values changes the Bluetooth Class of Device for the system, regardless of which Bluetooth radio may be attached. You can set the COD Major and COD Type to
DWORD values as defined for the Class of Device field values in the Bluetooth SIG Assigned Numbers.
The Bluetooth profile driver, BthPort.sys, reads the COD Major and COD Type values to determine how it should respond to a device inquiry. These values affect only the
COD_XXX_MINOR_XXX bits of the Class of Device. The
COD_SERVICE_XXX bits are not affected by this registry entry.
If the COD Major and COD Type values are not set or are set to invalid values, the Bluetooth class installer will set these values to
Scanning Parameterization Settings
Profile drivers can specify scanning parameters settings for their device(s) in their profile driver's INF file to tailor to the specific needs of a given device scenario.
You can override the default system scanning parameters by providing one or more of the following scanning parameters listed below into the AddReg directive. More information on how to use this directive can be found on MSDN.
|Value Name||Type||Min Value||Max Value|
|HighDutyCycleScanWindow||DWORD 0x10001||0x0004||0x4000. Shall be equal or smaller than the HighDutyCycleScanInterval parameter|
|LowDutyCycleScanWindow||DWORD 0x10001||0x0004||0x4000. Shall be smaller than the LowDutyCycleScanInterval parameter|
|ConnectionIntervalMin||DWORD 0x10001||0x0006||0x0C80. Shall be smaller or equal to ConnectionIntervalMax|
Note Changes to scanning parameters make a global impact on the performance of the Bluetooth stack. Making changes to scanning parameters programmatically is not permitted. Using Low Duty Cycle scanning parameters that are too aggressive can not only have a negative impact to the available bandwidth for other Bluetooth Low Energy connections, but also for Bluetooth BR/EDR connections.


Japanese Snow Monkeys And Their Obsession To Hot Springs
Japanese Snow Monkeys And Their Obsession To Hot Springs
Japanese macaques, or more likely known as Japanese snow monkeys, are one of the most famous animals from Japan. They are called snow monkeys because they are living in snowy area of Nagano, far north part of the lands of Sakura.
The looks of the monkeys are distinctive, with brown to greyish fur and red to pink faces. Locally, they are called Nihonzaru, the combination of "Nihon" (Japan) and "Saru" (monkey). Indeed, the species is native to Japan, and very familiar to Japanese people.
They are known to be the only nonhuman primate species to be inhabiting such north and cold area. It means no other primates, except human, are found to be living more northern and in colder climate than them.
But those physical and geographical features are not the ones making this species famous all around the world. Those monkeys are known to have unique habits that will draw your interest to them. In this article, we will talk about those habits.
Hot Spring Addict
Japanese people believe that bathing in hot springs, especially natural hot springs, will bring you healthiness both for your body and your minds. Although these monkeys might have not heard about this information from us, but they are known to love doing it.
Not only one or two monkeys doing the activities, but most tot all of them are seen to do the activity in almost daily basis. Even bathing in the hot spring with the monkeys has been a tourist attraction in the area since the monkeys are friendly to human too.
Researchers first suspected that the reason why they do it was to warm themselves from the cold winter in Nagano. Indeed, in the northern part of Japan winter can be torturing and harsh, but apparently that's not the only answer.
To learn better about their behavior, a group of researchers from Kyoto University studied 12 female Nihonzarus and observed the behaviors of the monkeys in two different seasons. First is the birth season from April to June, and the winter season from October to December.
The researchers observed which monkeys are bathing in the hot springs most often and for how long, and the measured the amount of glucocorticoid hormone in their fecal. This hormone is related to the stress level of the individuals, and what they found was shocking.
Zen Mode
800px-Macaca_Fuscata,_also_known_as_Japanese_Snow_Monkeys (Wikimedia Commons)
The researchers found out that instead of just putting themselves in the hot spring for just getting warmer, the monkeys have another reason to do so. Bathing in the hot springs make them calmer and helps them avoid getting stress.
The group of researchers' observations showed that in the cold winter months, the monkeys visit the hot spring more often. Suffering from the cold winter was known to be stressful, and that's why those monkeys regulate their body temperature in the hot springs.
Another discovery of behavior that the researchers found was that higher ranking of monkeys spend more time in the hot springs. The reason is because those higher rankings are often involved in more conflicts, which may result in more stress.
Thus, not only to keep themselves warm in the cold area, but the monkeys are bathing in the hot spring to make themselves calm and Zen. So, they can survive the cold winter and face internal conflicts without getting mad and risk their mental and physical health.
This behavior is more or less similar to human being, anytime we are under the threat of getting stressed, we try to find a way to get rid of it. Whether by taking a nice and soothing bath, playing video games, or just go to sleep. The choice that the monkeys picked was the first one.
Behave Culturally
Snow_Monkeys,_Nagano,_Japan (Wikimedia Commons)
The monkeys are also considered as one of the smartest nonhuman primates in the world. Well, taking a nice bath in the host springs is not the only behavior of the monkeys should be noticed, because researchers found that their stress management was not the only advanced behavior they have.
Studying the monkeys' behavior toward hot springs was not the only research has been done to them. Before, many researchers have conducted behavioral tests to them and every single of the test always resulted in interesting discovery about the monkeys' intelligence.
About 50 years ago, a group of researchers tried to supply the foods for the monkeys by giving food handouts. Since then, accepting foods from human has been considered acceptable by the groups, considered humans as friends, and the monkeys have less time to do foraging.
It means they more spare time to do things other than foraging by just becoming friendly to human, and that's why they needed something to do in their spare time. So, what do they do in the spare time? Some of them are hot-tubbing like mentioned above, some are playing with stones, and some others are 'cooking' their foods.
Following Trends
800px-Macaca_Fuscata (Wikimedia Commons)
In 1979, Michael Huffman, a primatologist at the Primate Research Institute (PRI) at Kyoto University noticed a female monkey playing with stones. "I had never seen, or heard about, anything like it. It was like a child playing with building blocks," he said.
When he came back to the site four years later, he found out that this kind of behavior has been adapted and spread to other monkeys. "Half the group was playing with stones, banging them on nearby roofs and making a total racquet," said Huffman.
Thus, it seemed that the monkeys are also following trends, like human beings do. "It shows the intelligence of the primate to us. I couldn't understand why a behavior that seemed to have no adaptive significance—it didn't provide an edge for survival or reproduction—could spread through a group and be maintained in a society for so long," Huffman explained.
Not only that, the monkeys are also known to 'cook' and 'season' their foods. Earlier in 1953, a monkey named Imo discovered a method to improve the quality of the food it got by washing it. about 10 years after the discovery of the behavior by scientists, another researchers group found out that more than two-third of the group were washing their foods.
With the discovery of unique yet intelligence behaviors of the primate species, researchers concluded that Japanese macaques are one of the most intelligence nonhuman primate in the world. Do you agree with the scientists?
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Underground retention and conveyance of wastewater increases capacity in case of heavy rain
The Canadian subsidiary of the STRABAG Group has been awarded the Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant Integrated Pumping Station – Construction Contract 2 by the City of Toronto to build deep concrete shafts and chambers and feeder tunnels for the new Integrated Pumping Station at Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant at a cost of almost CAD 120 million, the equivalent of about € 80 million. The Integrated Pumping Station allows the underground transport of wastewater to the Ashbridges Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant. "The pumping station is part of a larger infrastructure programme aimed at increasing wastewater capacity in the event of heavy rain and so improve the water quality of Toronto's waterways and Lake Ontario," explains project manager Simon Köck.
A total of 445 m of tunnels and 153 m of shafts
The main part of the project involves two large-scale shafts: one 68 m deep with a diameter of 27 m and another 27 m deep with a diameter of 32 m. Including five smaller shafts, this results in a total of 153 m of shafts to be built. The shafts will be linked to feeder tunnels with a total length of 445 m, with a rock tunnel section as well as a parallel pressure pipe in an open cut close to the surface.
Source: Company Press Release


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This is an image of a spherical diffusion flame of ethylene burning in air in the NASA GRC 2.2 s drop tower. The image was recorded about 1.4 s after ignition. The ethylene flowrate is 1.5 mg/s and the scale is revealed by the 6.5 mm porous sphere visible in the image. The image was recorded using a Nikon D100 digital single-lens reflex camera with a 125 ms exposure.
Credit: P.B. Sunderland (University of Maryland), D.L. Urban and D.P. Stocker (NASA Glenn Research Center), B.H. Chao (University of Hawaii) and R.L. Axelbaum (Washington University)


Limiting Result Sets by Using TABLESAMPLE
The TABLESAMPLE clause limits the number of rows returned from a table in the FROM clause to a sample number or PERCENT of rows. For example:
TABLESAMPLE (10 PERCENT) /*Return a sample 10 percent of the rows of the result set. */
TABLESAMPLE (15 ROWS) /* Return a sample of 15 rows from the result set. */.
TABLESAMPLE cannot be applied to derived tables, tables from linked servers, and tables derived from table-valued functions, rowset functions, or OPENXML. TABLESAMPLE cannot be specified in the definition of a view or an inline table-valued function.
The syntax for the TABLESPACE clause is as follows:
TABLESAMPLE [SYSTEM] (sample_number [ PERCENT | ROWS ] )
[ REPEATABLE (repeat_seed) ]
NoteNote
TABLESAMPLE was introduced in SQL Server 2005. When TABLESAMPLE is used against databases that are upgraded from an earlier version, the compatibility level of the database must be set to at least 90. To set the database compatibility level, see ALTER DATABASE (Transact-SQL).
You can use TABLESAMPLE to quickly return a sample from a large table when either of the following conditions is true:
 - The sample does not have to be a truly random sample at the level of individual rows.
 - Rows on individual pages of the table are not correlated with other rows on the same page.
Important noteImportant
If you really want a random sample of individual rows, modify your query to filter out rows randomly, instead of using TABLESAMPLE. For example, the following query uses the NEWID function to return approximately one percent of the rows of the Sales.SalesOrderDetail table:
SELECT * FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail
WHERE 0.01 >= CAST(CHECKSUM(NEWID(), SalesOrderID) & 0x7fffffff AS float)
/ CAST (0x7fffffff AS int)
The SalesOrderID column is included in the CHECKSUM expression so that NEWID() evaluates once per row to achieve sampling on a per-row basis. The expression CAST(CHECKSUM(NEWID(), SalesOrderID) & 0x7fffffff AS float / CAST (0x7fffffff AS int) evaluates to a random float value between 0 and 1.
SYSTEM specifies an ANSI SQL implementation-dependent sampling method. Specifying SYSTEM is optional, but this option is the only sampling method available in SQL Server and is applied by default.
TABLESAMPLE SYSTEM returns an approximate percentage of rows and generates a random value for each physical 8-KB page in the table. Based on the random value for a page and the percentage specified in the query, a page is either included in the sample or excluded. Each page that is included returns all rows in the sample result set. For example, if you specify TABLESAMPLE SYSTEM 10 PERCENT, SQL Server returns all the rows on approximately 10 percent of the specified data pages of the table. If the rows are evenly distributed on the pages of the table, and if there is a sufficient number of pages in the table, the number of rows returned should approximate the sample size that is requested. However, because the random value that is generated for each page is independent of the values that are generated for any other page, a larger, or smaller, percentage of pages than have been requested might be returned. The TOP(n) operator can be used to limit the number of rows to a specified maximum.
When a number of rows is specified, instead of a percentage based on the total number of rows in the table, that number is converted into a percentage of the rows and, therefore, pages that should be returned. The TABLESAMPLE operation is then performed with that computed percentage.
If the table is made up of a single page, either all rows on the page are returned or none of the rows are returned. In this case, TABLESAMPLE SYSTEM can only return 100 percent or 0 percent of the rows on a page, regardless of the number of rows on the page.
Using TABLESAMPLE SYSTEM for a specific table limits the execution plan to use a table scan (a scan of the heap, or of the clustered index if one exists) on that table. Although the plan shows a table scan is performed, only those pages that are included in the result set are actually required to be read from the data file.
Important noteImportant
The TABLESAMPLE SYSTEM clause should be used with some caution, and with some understanding of some of the implications of using sampling. For example, a join of two tables is likely to return a match for each row in both tables; however, if TABLESAMPLE SYSTEM is specified for either of the two tables, some rows returned from the unsampled table are unlikely to have a matching row in the sampled table. This behavior might lead you to suspect that a data consistency problem exists in the underlying tables, when the data is actually valid. Similarly, if TABLESAMPLE SYSTEM is specified for both tables that are joined, the perceived problem could be even worse.
The REPEATABLE option causes a selected sample to be returned again. When REPEATABLE is specified with the same repeat_seed value, SQL Server returns the same subset of rows, as long as no changes have been made to the table. When REPEATABLE is specified with a different repeat_seed value, SQL Server will typically return a different sample of the rows in the table. The following actions to the table are considered changes: inserting, updating, deleting, index rebuilding, index defragmenting, restoring a database, and attaching a database.
A. Selecting a percentage of rows
The Person.Person table contains 19,972 rows. The following statement returns approximately 10 percent of the rows. The number of rows returned usually changes every time that the statement is executed.
USE AdventureWorks2008R2 ;
GO
SELECT FirstName, LastName
FROM Person.Person
TABLESAMPLE (10 PERCENT) ;
B. Selecting a percentage of rows with a seed value
The following statement returns the same set of rows every time that it is executed. The seed value of 205 was chosen arbitrarily.
USE AdventureWorks2008R2 ;
GO
SELECT FirstName, LastName
FROM Person.Person
TABLESAMPLE (10 PERCENT)
 REPEATABLE (205) ;
C. Selecting a number of rows
The following statement returns approximately 100 rows. The actual number of rows that are returned can vary significantly. If you specify a small number, such as 5, you might not receive results in the sample.
USE AdventureWorks2008R2 ;
GO
SELECT FirstName, LastName
FROM Person.Person
TABLESAMPLE (100 ROWS) ;
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Light-contact sparring is the most popular type of sparring. Its critics, and even supporters, often referred to it as playing tag. Light-contact sparring is identical to no-contact sparring except that attacks are focused so they just touch the target. Ideally, this touch will be similar to tapping a person on the shoulder to get his or her attention. The person will be aware of the touch but will not feel any pain or any threat from the touch.
Light-contact sparring is similar to playing baseball, Baseball players tag the runners with the ball; they do not try to hit or harm the runners. However, this does not make baseball injury free, heavy contact does accidentally occur and it may lead to injury, but deaths are extremely rare.
Risk of injury. Although only light-contact is permitted, there is more risk of injury in light-contact sparring than in no-contact sparring. Techniques are focused two or three inches closer to the point on the opponent's body where injury may occur so, the chance of injury is increased.
Level of expertise required. As with no-contact sparring, light-contact sparring techniques are perfectly performed and precisely executed while using maximum power. However, while the means is important in light-contact sparring, the result has priority over the means. The touch is more important than how it was delivered.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Publications: Peer-reviewed journal articles (by staff)
Novel technique for the short-term culture and laboratory study of Didymosphenia geminata
Kuhajek J, Wood SA 2014. Novel technique for the short-term culture and laboratory study of Didymosphenia geminata. Diatom Research – special issue on Didymo. Volume 29, Issue 3.
Techniques for assessing the freshwater diatom Didymosphenia geminata in the laboratory under controlled conditions are described. Two methods for harvesting free, unattached cells from mats, and two methods for assessing cells were developed. Free cells were harvested from mats up to 28 days old using either a static method or a shaking method.
Harvested cells were then assessed using two multi-well formats: a multiplefollowed by a single-cell method. The multiple-cell method was found to be a rapid screening tool for fine-tuning parameter ranges to be assessed in the single-cell assay. The single-cell method, through careful monitoring, allowed quantitative assessment of cell processes.
Attachment to a substratum was observed to be critical for survival and the division of free D. geminata cells. Although cells attached readily in the multiple-cell method, the inclusion of a hydrophobic substratum was essential for attachment to occur reliably when using the single-cell method. The improvement of the single-cell method through inclusion of a hydrophobic substratum was investigated, and results with and without the substratum were compared. A temperature of 18 degrees C was found to be more suitable than 12 degrees C for conducting the assay and the optimal pH range for the assay was found to be 7.6 to 8.2.


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Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
floccus (plural flocci)
- (meteorology) a cloud species which consists of rounded tufts of cloud, often formed by dissipation from larger cloud species. Associated with cirrus, cirrocumulus, altocumulus, and stratocumulus genera.
Source AMS Glossary of Meteorology


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Georgia Allows Endangered Animal Hunts
Country hopes to promote tourism
Get access to everything we publish when you sign up for Outside+.
The Republic of Georgia last month allowed hunters to kill animals on the nation's Red List of protected species in an effort to boost tourism. The Energy and Natural Resources Ministry included the brown bear, Caucasian tur (an antelope), and red deer on a list animals that can be legally hunted. Hunters must obtain a license and pay a fee for each animal they kill, and Georgia's environment minister says that the new rules may help reduce poaching. Killing tur during mating and birthing seasons will remain prohibited.
Read more at Transitions Online


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Biomod/2011/Caltech/DeoxyriboNucleicAwesome/Random Walk Formula
< Biomod | 2011 | Caltech/DeoxyriboNucleicAwesome
Random Walk Formula
General Modeling Idea
The random walk on DNA origami can be modeled as one dimensional random walk with a reflecting and an absorbing barrier (Figure 1). Tracks in the same column are grouped into rectangles, and each step is defined as walking from one rectangle to the adjacent one.
Consider a random walk on a line segment with N+1 sites denoted by integers (0,1,2, …, N) (Figure 2). The walker starts random walk at site i, 0 < i ≤ N. Let p be the probability for the walker to move one segment to the left, q be the probability for the walker to move one segment to the right. The probability for the walker to stay at a particular site for the next unit time is thus r = 1 – p – q. When the walker reaches site N, the partially reflecting barrier, it has a probability of β to be reflected back to site N – 1, and a probability of α = 1 – β to stay at site N in the next unit time. When reaching site 0, the absorbing barrier, it stays there for 100% probability and the random walk ends.


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Smart Fencing Tech: An Evolution in Electric Fencing
Remote sensing, cellular technology give fence managers ability to monitor fences from anywhere
Today, technology in nearly every industry is advancing at an exponential rate and things are no different on the farm and ranch front. Want to keep track of your grazing? There's an app for that. Need to monitor water levels in your stock tanks that are miles away? Satellite radio has you covered. Wondering where ol' Bessie is on the range? Throw a GPS sensor on the old girl and send out your drone for a quick cow check. You can even monitor livestock health with new "smart ear tags" which sense changes in cattle body temperature and movement.
Remote sensing technologies have in short time become the new norm in agriculture, making farm management easier and more efficient than ever. Likewise, in electric fencing, new remote monitoring systems have been developed to help farmers, ranchers, and horse owners monitor fences more closely while saving time and energy. Electric fence managers can now have peace of mind with the 24/7 monitoring capabilities and quick alerts this new technology provides.
What Smart Fencing Tech Does
"Smart fencing" technology uses remote sensing and cellular SMS technology with existing AC energizers to provide real-time alerts about changes in fence power and voltage. Whether dealing with a downed branch or broken insulators, electric fence monitoring systems, such as Zareba® System's Intelligizer Fence Monitor, protect fences by detecting drops in voltage and power loss. Users are notified via text alert within seconds when voltage drops below a preset level. And, the Intelligizer's ability to program an auto shutoff safety mode ensures animals are safe.
In addition to the monitoring and safety benefits, some smart fencing models also come equipped with perks like remote on/off features. For example, by sending a simple text, farmers can effortlessly turn Zareba's Intelligizer on or off to repair fences fast and easily.
Three distinct smart fencing systems are currently available on the market today. These include the Intelligizer Fence Monitor by Zareba®, the Fence-Alarm from Farm Alert, and Gallagher's iSeries Fence Energizer Systems, which does not feature cellular technology, only local system communication. Each device is equipped to send notifications of low voltage and sudden voltage drops, as well as power loss alerts and remote status updates. However, each model is not created equal. Check out the comparison chart below to see the major differences in the different brands mentioned earlier.
How Smart Fencing Tech Can Help You
So why use smart fencing technology? For starters, it's relatively simple to install. Just hook up the fence monitor to your existing AC charger and in a few steps you're on your way. Some models may require additional equipment such as ground rods, a battery, or SIM Card to make the monitor fully capable. Additionally, smart fencing systems are compatible with a variety of cellular providers and devices. Some even offer the capability for multiple users to receive text alerts. Consult our comparison guide to determine which model works best for your particular situation.
Along with its ease of use and wide functionality, smart fencing systems offer users such as livestock producers, horse owners, and small acreage farmers reassurance unlike any other electric fencing accessory can on the market today. The ability to know the exact moment when fence problems arise empowers animal owners to protect their investments in a better way. Repairs are made more swiftly, animals are safer and more secure, and in the end, fence managers are able to work smarter, which means more time to focus on the things that matter.
For more information on the Zareba's smart fencing system which includes the Intelligizer Fence Monitor visit _URL_


Starting a Session (Waterford UPSTART)
The Start Session button allows parents of Waterford UPSTART users to begin a session for their child. To start a session through Waterford Mentor:
 1. Log in to your Waterford Mentor account.
 2. Scroll to the name of the child whose session you are starting.
 3. Click on the Start Session button to the right of their name.
How did we do?
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text:
Skip to comments.Researchers discover secrets behind unintentional overpouring of wine
Posted on 09/30/2013 6:47:15 AM PDT by JoeProBono
Pouring two to three glasses of wine when you think youre pouring just a glass is actually quite common, new research at Iowa State and Cornell universities reveals. In fact, researchers found that how much one pours is affected by a number of environmental factors and could have somber repercussions when it comes to overconsumption of alcoholic beverages.
Researchers asked the study participants to pour what they thought was a normal drink utilizing various types of glasses in different environments. The findings reveal how easy it is to overpour. For example, participants poured approximately 12 percent more wine into a wide glass than a standard one. The same was observed when holding a glass while pouring versus placing the glass on a table and pouring.
People have trouble assessing volumes, said co-author Laura Smarandescu, assistant professor of marketing at Iowa State, in a statement. They tend to focus more on the vertical than the horizontal measures. Thats why people tend to drink less when they drink from a narrow glass, because they think theyre drinking more.
Researchers looked at six different environmental cues to learn how each affected the amount of wine poured. They found that the contrast between the glass and the color of the wine also led to a considerable difference. For instance, when pouring white into a clear glass, study participants added nine percent more than adding red into a clear glass.
If you ask someone how much they drink and they report it in a number of servings, for a self-pour thats just not telling the whole story. One persons two is totally different than another persons two, said co-author Douglas Walker, an assistant professor of marketing at Iowa State. Participants in the study were asked to pour the same amount at each setting, but they just couldnt tell the difference.
According to researchers, even though study participants could recognize those environmental factors, it does not mean they were aware of how much more wine they were adding to accurately document their alcohol consumption.
Unfortunately, drinking too much wine can have quick and serious consequences. According to Smarandescu, people will often rely on internal indicators, like a full feeling, when eating, but that doesnt translate to drinking. The study reveals the need to teach people about how to determine a proper serving size of alcohol.
The studys findings are described in the journal of Substance Use and Misuse.
A 12+ oz wine glass is the way to go.
Nothing in the rest of the article talks about simple miscounting like this first sentence does.
This is funny. It seems like a "duh" assessment to me. If glasses are different sizes or colors, people are going to pour different amounts. If the study asked people to pour the same amount in the same type of glass, they'd get consistent results.
I hope taxpayer money wasn't spent on this study. (Too lazy to click through before a full glass of chocolate milk.) ;p
Try assessing volume after 6 shots of JD...
Sometimes people pour a little too much wine in the glass, and have to sip it down until they can pour the right amount back into it. I've found that it often takes three or four tries to get it right, only with me it is Scotch, not wine.
Who uses a glass for drinking wine?
A glass of wine is 1/4 a bottle.....easiest way to judge is look at the bottle....
What's with the 'unintentional', kemosabe?
I was thinking they should watch me in action with my "handle" of George Dickel #12 and a water glass!
Ya beat me to it!
A person without a beer mug.
Are you sure? :-)
And why would they choose wine for this study? People have trouble estimating volumes when it comes to wine but can pour exact amounts if the liquid is orange juice or water?
Could there be an agenda behind this study? Me thinks so.
Agreed. It is time to get the politics out of our booze!
um, yeah, I am. Per bottle...(standard can be assumed). I did not say Magnum, or anything else...BOTTLE.
>> standard can be assumed
You know what they say about assume. :-)
I was just making a funny... I am frankly surprised that you're touchy about it!
The gracious response would have been "ha ha, yeah, sorry, I meant standard 750ml bottle."
Me. My lovely wife.
Sorry....you right....I'm busy and crabby today......I need a fouth of a 750 ML bottle....OF SINGLE MALT!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


stats (version 3.5.0)
ts.union: Bind Two or More Time Series
Description
Bind time series which have a common frequency. ts.union pads with NAs to the total time coverage, ts.intersect restricts to the time covered by all the series.
Usage
ts.intersect(…, dframe = FALSE)
ts.union(…, dframe = FALSE)
Arguments
two or more univariate or multivariate time series, or objects which can coerced to time series.
dframe
logical; if TRUE return the result as a data frame.
Value
A time series object if dframe is FALSE, otherwise a data frame.
Details
As a special case, can contain vectors or matrices of the same length as the combined time series of the time series present, as well as those of a single row.
See Also
cbind.
Examples
Run this code
# NOT RUN {
ts.union(mdeaths, fdeaths)
cbind(mdeaths, fdeaths) # same as the previous line
ts.intersect(window(mdeaths, 1976), window(fdeaths, 1974, 1978))
sales1 <- ts.union(BJsales, lead = BJsales.lead)
ts.intersect(sales1, lead3 = lag(BJsales.lead, -3))
# }
Run the code above in your browser using DataLab


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The National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (NIHR CLAHRC) Greater Manchester is a partnership between providers and commissioners from the NHS, industry, the third sector and the University of Manchester. They aim to improve the health of people in Greater Manchester and beyond through carrying out research and putting it into practice.
They are one of 13 CLAHRCs across England, with £120 million invested in the programme nationally by the NIHR. Each CLAHRC focuses on different areas of research and improvement.
Vision and objectives
NIHR CLAHRC Greater Manchester's vision is to create true and enduring partnerships that deliver high quality research which improves healthcare and has impact in Greater Manchester and beyond.
They will achieve this through delivering on four objectives:
- Innovating through research: generating new knowledge about 'what' works and 'how' to improve care
- Getting evidence into practice: using evidence-based approaches
- Showing the difference it makes: to patients, teams, stakeholders and organsiations locally and more widely
- Developing people and organisations: through partnership, supporting research capacity development.


List College Majors
You may declare a List College major in either the second semester of your sophomore year or the first semester of your junior year. When you are ready to choose your major, your List College Dean's Office advisor will discuss the many majors available to you.
How to Declare a Major
1. Make an appointment with the undergraduate advisor for your chosen major.
2. Fill out the major declaration form.
3. Meet with the major advisor to discuss declaring your major and obtain his or her signature on the form.
4. Bring the signed form back to the List College Dean's Office.
Your List College Dean's Office Advisor Will
 keep your academic file.
- give final approval for your JTS course registration each semester.
- advise you on core requirements and placement.
- approve any courses you wish to take at other universities.
- assist you in keeping track of your progress toward completing your requirements for graduation.
List College Majors You Can Explore
Ancient Judaism
Hebrew Bible and Its Interpretation
Jewish Art and Visual Culture
Jewish History
Jewish Literature
Jewish Music
Jewish Thought
Jewish Gender and Women's Studies
Medieval and Early Modern Jewish Studies
Midrash and Scriptural Interpretation
Modern Jewish Studies
Talmud and Rabbinics
Creating Your Own Interdisciplinary Major
If a major is not listed above, students can create their own interdisciplinary major:
1. Meet with your List College advisor to discuss your options, explore your interests, discover how to fit them into existing majors, and determine which faculty member(s) might advise your potential interdisciplinary major.
2. Meet with the identified faculty member(s).
3. Develop a proposal for your interdisciplinary major.
4. Submit your proposal to the List College dean.


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Plant With Purpose Phraseology:
Soil Conservation Barriers
Written by Plant With Purpose on May 27, 2014 in Phraseology
The flat farmlands that make up middle America are what many people envision when they think of growing crops. Nothing says farming like the green and gold of a John Deere tractor. However, many of the rural communities that partner with Plant With Purpose exist in elevations where the only land to farm is made of steep slopes. Not only does this mean farmers need sure footing for planting and cultivating hillsides, it also means that traditional farm equipment is not conducive (let alone affordable) for farming families to utilize.
In an effort to stop erosion, conserve topsoil, and cultivate the land available to these rural communities, Plant With Purpose trains farmers in establishing barriers—both living and nonliving—to build up soil quality.
Here are some steps for constructing these barriers:
1. Soil conservation barriers are constructed using an A-frame, which allows them to follow the contours of the hillsides. The A-frame acts as a level.
2. Rocks are piled.
3. Trenches are dug.
4. Pineapples, sugar cane, grasses, or nitrogen-fixing plants are planted.
5. Trees may also be planted to further anchor the soil.
Meticulous attention is paid to the layout of these barriers and over time help to establish hillside farms. Close to 2,000 miles of soil conservation barriers have been established by partnering famers around the world meaning restored farms and brighter tomorrows.
What are you doing to restore soil where you live?


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reference:ft_connectivity_dtf [2018/08/23 14:43] (current)
Line 1: Line 1:
 +===== FT_CONNECTIVITY_DTF =====
 +
 +Note that this reference documentation is identical to the help that is displayed in MATLAB when you type "help ft_connectivity_dtf".
 +
 +

 + FT_CONNECTIVITY_DTF computes the directed transfer function.
 +
 + Use as
 + [d, v, n] = ft_connectivity_dtf(h, ...)
 +
 + The input data h should be a spectral transfer matrix organized as
 + Nrpt x Nchan x Nchan x Nfreq (x Ntime),
 + where Nrpt can be 1.
 +
 + Additional optional input arguments come as key-value pairs:
 + 'hasjack' = 0 (default) is a boolean specifying whether the input
 + contains leave-one-outs, required for correct variance
 + estimate.
 + 'feedback' = string, determining verbosity (default = 'none'), see FT_PROGRESS
 + 'crsspctrm' = matrix containing the cross-spectral density. If this
 + matrix is defined, the function
 + returns the ddtf, which requires an estimation of partial
 + coherence from this matrix.
 + 'invfun' = 'inv' (default) or 'pinv', the function used to invert the
 + crsspctrm matrix to obtain the partial coherence. Pinv is
 + useful if the data are poorly-conditioned.
 +
 +
 + Output arguments:
 + d = partial directed coherence matrix Nchan x Nchan x Nfreq (x Ntime).
 + If multiple observations in the input, the average is returned.
 + v = variance of d across observations.
 + n = number of observations.
 +
 + Typically, nrpt should be 1 (where the spectral transfer matrix is computed across
 + observations. When nrpt>1 and hasjack is true the input is assumed to contain the
 + leave-one-out estimates of H, thus a more reliable estimate of the relevant
 + quantities.
 +
 + See also FT_CONNECTIVITYANALYSIS
 +


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A Brief History of
Kinds Of Industrial Doors
Commercial doors are utilized to divide different parts of a business framework such as departments or shops. They are also utilized to develop airways between different locations in the building. The choice of product for this type of door relies on the nature of use as well as the anticipated environment. It is usually made from timber, composite, aluminum and often steel. These doors differ in their rates and top quality depending upon the manufacturer. Steel doors are utilized in most business structures since they are really strong. They can also hold up against all-natural calamities such as quakes and floods. Wood is likewise prominent however it requires normal maintenance and also can not be installed very quickly. Composite doors are coming to be a lot more prominent since they need little upkeep and also they are likewise energy effective. They are available in different types of styles and also shades and they are commonly offered as inserts for existing doors. Aluminium doors are the most affordable amongst the types of doors and also they have the least variety of style and technical attributes. The standard needs for these sorts of doors consist of toughness, safety and security as well as adaptability. Along with being inexpensive, they are also extremely durable as well as climate resistant. This implies that they can be reliable even in situation of extreme climate conditions. Plastic doors are thought about to be one of the most stylish of all the business kinds of doors. They are very easy to keep, but they do not supply the very same amount of safety as various other kinds of doors. The most common materials for these doors include aluminium, steel and also fiberglass. Plastic is additionally acquiring appeal, however it can obtain costly due to the fact that it is fairly rare. These doors are available as single doors, double doors and also shatterproof glass. For industrial buildings, vinyl is generally utilized. It has the benefit of being incredibly difficult and also they do not damage quickly. They are also simple to install and also maintain. They can be found in various shades, dimensions and also structures. Steel doors are additionally used for this objective in commercial buildings since they are very strong and sturdy. For residential structures, there is a wide variety of various choices for door kinds. They include ones that are created to handle pressure and ones that have automated securing systems. A few of the most common products for these types consist of light weight aluminum, stainless steel and fiberglass. Along with being budget-friendly, they additionally need a lot of maintenance. Nonetheless, they are perfect for use in homes as well as business structures.


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A white canopy bed has a bed head, or a tester, with high posts on every corner at least four feet tall which supports a retractable cloth cover. Still found in many homes today and popular in resorts and hotels for their romantic attraction. The term canopy dates from the 14th century of France. French word canopy meaning bed curtain back to the Latin word canopied and anterior to it, from the Greek konopeion, the couch with the mosquito curtain. It all comes from conops, mosquitoes or mosquitoes.
Considered today as elegant, White canopy bed has its origins really ordinary and mediocre. It may interest you to know that the canopy bed evolved from the box bed, the usual wooden box wrapped around the bed. The early houses of the Middle Ages lacked insulation that could really provide warmth and protection. The houses in those days were made of wicker and pelleted with thatched roofs. The doors and windows provide obstructions that interfere with the wind.
12 Picture Gallery: The Origin of White Canopy Bed
They only filter the snow from the wind as it passes the house. It was so cold that even if you were wrapped in bed with a pile of blankets it was not too warm. With this need, a bed box with a closing door is designed. Indeed, it is helpful to withstand the wind from the bed because the actual bed is inside a wooden box thus, maintaining warm air all around. That's the article about White canopy bed.
This post topic: Chaise Lounge


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|Uploaded:||January 6, 2013|
|Updated:||January 7, 2013|
This tutorial is aimed to teach how to draw an accurate dromaeosaur, the family of theropods often called raptors, using a Velociraptor as example. The tut is divided in two parts. The first part is a basic explanation of what is and what is not a dromaeosaur: the difference between the movies/pop culture blood thirsty beasts, and the real animal (or at least an aproximation). The second part is a step-by-step to draw your own Velociraptor in a dynamic pose. Again, I simplified enough so everyone can do it easily, omiting certain details that you only can achieve by study and understanding the anatomy of the animal. Ask me if you have any doubt. Hope you like it!!


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Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear, written by political and corporate consultant Frank Luntz, is one such book. I love the title, and I couldn't resist the urge to splurge on buying the book. As a communicator, I am obviously interested in word usage and communication theories. Luntz has used his brilliant mind and meticulous research to develop a lexicon of words that work and also words that don't work. The surprise is found in discovering the power of which words really work. The author's main message is often repeated throughout the book. "It's not what you say, it's what they hear" that matters.
At first, one could get the impression that Luntz is being simply manipulative, but a closer look at the book can change your mind rather swiftly. Luntz is not a manipulator but a communicator. Case studies of situations in business and politics where words were used well and appropriately permeate the content of the book.
Also, there are examples of what not to do and say, which is equally helpful. There are some valuable insights for ministers and lay people found in Words That Work. It is not written from the Christian perspective, but the book does offer an opportunity for Christians to learn from a wordsmith who has been successful in the secular world.


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The Washington Aqueduct produces drinking water for approximately one million citizens living, working, or visiting in the District of Columbia, Arlington County, Virginia, and the City of Falls Church, Virginia, and its service area.
A division of the Baltimore District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Aqueduct is a federally owned and operated public water supply agency that produces an average of 180 million gallons of water per day at two treatment plants located in the District of Columbia. All funding for operations, maintenance, and capital improvements comes from revenue generated by selling drinking water to the three jurisdictions.
The Corps of Engineers designed, built, and, in 1859, began operating the Aqueduct. Since then, the Corps has substantially expanded and improved the capacity and function of the Aqueduct from its original mission of supplying raw river water to a sparsely populated District of Columbia to today's mission of providing safe drinking water to a much larger and more populous service area.


wanted to know what a character would have to do to learn the Draconic language. Her answer was, you may choose Draconic as one of the languages your PC gains from a high Intelligence score. So, just like you can choose Goblin or Giant, you can choose Dragon (or Draconic).
Does anyone else see the problem? How is this language any more difficult or complex than any other? If I am a Human/Fighter, 1st level, and I have an Intelligence of 12, that means I can speak one additional language. I pick Draconic. Why not?
Here's how it works in D&D-But-Not:
First, you need to spend three Language Slots (a Slot is what we call a Language gained per Intelligence Bonus) in order to speak Dragon. Three.
If your class is Wizard, or you are playing an Elf, or a Dwarf, it takes two.
If you are an Elven or Dwarven Wizard, you need only spend one.
The language is difficult, physically and mentally. You need a long time to learn it and practice it in order to do it properly. Therefore, it takes up Intelligence bonus points that might have gone elsewhere, to the learning of other languages. Dwarves and Elves have an advantage because they are much longer lived. They have the time to learn something this complicated. Furthermore, Wizards would be one of the few professions with access to books and information on the subject.
Dragons don't exactly go around giving tutorials on their grammar.
Lastly, if you are a normal Human or Wilder (the Halflings of my setting), you must also provide a backstory of how you learned this language. As I noted, there is no Rosetta Stone: Draconic program going around teaching Dragon-Speak to blacksmiths and midwives in their spare time.
The beauty of my little house rule, and it's pretty minor I assure you, is that it directly effects your character.
It does not effect them in a major way, and it doesn't effect a character who doesn't choose to learn Draconic, but it makes an element of my fluff a choice you can make during character creation.
If Orcs are pig-like instead of green and burly, how does it effect me?
If we called Wizards in this setting Spell-Tamers, how does it effect me?
If there are not Clerics in your setting, how...Wait. That matters! I, the player in your setting, care about that!
Fluff is great. I love fluff? Where would a fluffer-nutter sandwich be without the fluff? OK, it would be an all peanut butter sandwich, which honestly I'm fine with, but, NOT THE POINT!
We need fluff. Yet, how can I put this delicately, um, it doesn't really make that game all that different and memorable. If the fluff has no effect on the characters and the game world in a interactive, experienceable way, the game, regardless of your unique story, will feel like any other game in that genre and/or system.
Remember, cotton candy is tasty, but not filling.
Barking Alien
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Mystery Incorporated
A large number of RPG subjects have been on my mind lately. Not the least of which is my 'What Other GMs Do Wrong' series. However, before I address anything else, I wanted to say a little more about mysteries in RPGs.
Some additional thoughts came to me after a Superhero game I participated in this past Friday night. This was a game in which an opening investigation was the key to starting each of the mini-adventures that made up our session, and yet that proved the most difficult element to incorporate into the various scenarios.
In order to facilitate a better understanding of what I am talking about, I am going to use the specific example of the aforementioned Superhero game. While that may be the context, it should be noted that what I am discussing here can apply to practically any game of any genre.
A friend of mine runs a homebrew Superhero RPG, very rules-lite and narrative, set in either the Marvel or DC universe. We switch off. One week we're the Justice League of America facing off against Amazo in downtown Metropolis, the next we're the X-Men trying to prevent Sentinels from destroying Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
The typical format is to have four or five short missions during our roughly 4 to 4 1/2 hour sessions.
This past Friday, the theme was Batman: The Brave and The Bold.
We mutually agreed during the first adventure that the style and tone of our game was actually a cross between the Batman: The Brave and The Bold animated series (especially its more surprisingly serious episodes) and the first Batman: The Animated Series show.
Now, the way each mini-adventure began, the GM would describe some situation going on, and before long, wouldn't you know it, it would attract the attention of Batman, Robin, Batgirl or all three.
The fellow playing Batman would then attempt to use the Batcomputer, his own knowledge and experience with Gotham's criminal element, his contacts with Commissioner Gordon or what-have-you, to figure out what was happening.
Translation: He would ask the GM a load of questions.
The GM would answer the questions, though very often in a very vague way. Most of the time, after Batman's initial investigation, it would be no clearer as to who, or what, was behind the situation than it was before doing his detective work.
The reason for this was two-fold (later explained by both the GM and Batman's Player in our post-game discussion):
From The GM's side:
First and foremost, he felt it was hard to run a true mystery in an hour, and also include a good comic book/animated series style fight and a guest star.
Second, the GM felt that stylistically, Batman would do more footwork in the thematic 'era' we were playing in. Yes, Batman has a Batcomputer, a communicator/phone to call Robin, Batgirl or Alfred back at the Batcave, and a remote control for the Batmobile. At the same time, Batman still looks at things with a magnifying glass, or comparable device. He takes samples while at the crime scene. He punches thugs and they let something slip.
He doesn't use the the Batcomputer, and the Internet, to just Google the answers.
From The Player's side:
I was very impressed when my friend said, "I'm playing Batman tonight, but I'm not Batman."
He admitted that he doesn't have that level of deductive reasoning. Yet, I ask you, who does? Batman is ridiculously astute. Almost superhumanly good at solving riddles, and puzzles of a variety of types. He is a character written to outwit the craftiest of criminal minds. That has little to no baring on a player playing him being able to discern what a GM running the Riddler, or Two-Face is thinking.
So was this an impossible experiment? Can running mysteries simply not be accomplished in RPGs? Well, as with my last post on the subject, I don't think it's impossible at all. I think it's tricky, and I think we need to alter how we think of RPG mysteries in the first place.
Remember that the point of a mystery in an RPG, especially a mystery that leads you to the rest of the adventure, is to have it solved. What I mean by that is, if you, the GM, create an unsolvable mystery, be content in spending the next few hours in a room full of people who are either frustrated, or bored, or both. If you're cool with that, we're done here. Go play a video game.
If on the other hand you get where I am coming from, keep reading.
In essence you are trying to design a solvable mystery. A challenging one, but a solvable one. You want a mystery that gets the players thinking. Not necessarily thinking exactly what you are thinking, but just thinking.
So let's say you are looking to use Catwoman in an adventure. You are thinking maybe she has a partner these days, a younger cat-themed sidekick like Robin is to Batman. You mention a series of crimes, all thefts of cat-oriented items, but some of the burglaries occur at the same time in two different parts of town.
You've planned out the scenario, and even a bunch of clues to indicate it might be Catwoman and an accomplice.
After a brief but thorough investigation involving talking to museum and jewelry store staff, checking the Batcomputer, etc., the PCs are convinced that the culprit is...not Catwoman. The idea of a partner of hers doesn't even come up. No, it's obviously someone trying to frame Catwoman!
You, the GM, have a problem. You prepped for Catwoman and Kittengirl (or whomever). You have their stats. You know where they're hiding out, and who their thug/henchmen are. The clues you gave, and the answers to the questions you were asked, should have told them it was Catwoman and Kittengirl. ARGH! What are you going to do?!
They are basically three ways to handle this.
1) Tell the players that they are idiots, that it's Catwoman and a sidekick named Kittengirl, and move on.
Not my favorite choice.
2) Continue throwing clues and hints at them until they change their minds about it being an impostor trying to make Catwoman look


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Nube De Oro - Leaf Writing Sys Test
In order to allow the agave to express his relation to light, and time, the piccolo (piccolo.cc) is used for agave leaf "writing". The simple 'drawing' is based on the data from a hibiscus glass solar cell acting as a light sensor that is transformed via arduino. The power system consists of sixty six natural dye sensitized glass solar cells -shaped after the seeds of teosinte (the mother of maize)- and two supercapacitors.
As soon as the growing agave stalk starts flowering, the agave will start writing on its leaves, as long as the cells provide sufficient power.


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SAFAIR AI Contest
from 1st March to 31st May
All accepted publications from SPARTA partners under its funding.
Hardware-based Capture-the-Flag Challenges
Gianluca Roascio, Paolo Prinetto, Antonio VarrialeAbstract
In a world where cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important and where the lack of workforce is estimated in terms of millions of people, gamification is getting a more and more significant role in leading to excellent results in terms of both training and recruitment. Within cybersecurity gamification, the so-called Capture-The-Flag (CTF) challenges are definitely the corner stones, as proved by the high number of events, competitions, and training courses that rely on them. In these events, the participants are confronted directly with games and riddles related to practical problems of hacking, cyber-attack, and cyber-defense. Although hardware security and hardware-based security already play a key role in the cybersecurity arena, in the worldwide panorama of CTF events hardware-based challenges are unfortunately still very marginal. In the present paper, we focus on hardware-based challenges, providing first a formal definition and then proposing, for the first time, a comprehensive taxonomy. We eventually share experiences gathered in preparing and delivering several hardware-based challenges in significant events and training courses that involved hundreds of attendees.


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- Services & Solutions
- Clients & Partners
An Application Of Default Logic To Speech Act Theory
One of the central issues to be addressed in basing a theory of speech acts on independently motivated accounts of propositional attitudes (belief, knowledge, intentions, etc.) and action is the specification of the effects of communicative acts. The very fact that speech acts are conventional means that specifying the effects of the utterance of, say, a declarative sentence, or the performance of an assertion, requires taking into consideration many possible deviations from the conventional use of sentences — specifically uses that are insincere, not serious, or indirect. Previous approaches to the problem of specifying speech act consequences have paid insufficient attention to the dependence of the participants' mental state after an utterance on their mental state preceding it. We present a limited solution to the problem of belief revision within Reiter's nonmonotonic Default Logic and show how to formulate the consequences of many uses of declarative sentences. Default rules are used to embody a simple theory of belief adoption, action observation, and the relation between the form of a sentence and the attitudes it is used to convey.