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Browsing by Author "Civelekoğlu, İlke"
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Becoming a regional power while pursuing material gains the case of Turkish interest in Africa Korkut, Umut; Civelekoğlu, İlke (SAGE Publications, 2012)In August 2011 the Turkish prime minister Tayyib Erdoğan arrived in Somalia with a substantial delegation consisting of his family, ministers, and civil society activists, along with Turkish celebrities, to highlight the ...
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Enthusiastic reformers or pragmatic rulers? The central bank reform agenda of the Turkish political elite and the EU accession Civelekoğlu, İlke (Taylor & Francis, 2012)This article examines the underpinnings of central bank (CB) reform in Turkey, with a focus on the role of external anchors, namely the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund. It argues that although ...
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It takes two to tango: the role of the European Union and domestic governments in the making of Central Bank reform in Hungary Civelekoğlu, İlke (Uluslararası İlişkiler Konseyi Derneği, 2013)Th is article addresses how the Hungarian Central Bank gained autonomy in its operations from ruling politicians. While stressing the substantial infl uence of external actors in exercise of this reform, the article also ...
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Political economy of standing against a stand-by Kalaycıoğlu, Sema; Civelekoğlu, İlke (Springer, 2011-09)What explains the actual and rhetorical defections of political elites in developing countries from the IMF programs even at times of severe economic difficulties? Scholars have focused on "domestic audience costs" of ... | http://openaccess.dogus.edu.tr/browse?value=Civeleko%C4%9Flu,%20%C4%B0lke&type=author |
OPEN UNTIL: 2 p.m., local time, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020. Bids received after that time will be returned unopened.
BID OPENING: The sealed Bids will be publicly opened and read aloud immediately thereafter in the:
Lebanon Public Library meeting room
104 E. Washington St.
Lebanon, IN 46052
DESCRIPTION: The Work consists of architectural, interiors, site/civil and electrical work as indicated on the bidding documents for 2020 Improvements to Lebanon Public Library. Work includes re-roofing, soffits, exterior façade and masonry repair, window and door repair, new carpets, paint and miscellaneous other renovations.
TYPE OF BID: The Work will be for a stipulated sum. Construction shall be in full accordance with the Bidding Documents prepared by Odle McGuire Shook, Indianapolis, IN, and its consultants dated Oct. 28, 2020.
PROCUREMENT OF DOCUMENTS: Bidders may obtain Bidding Documents from ReproGraphix for the cost of reproduction plus shipping and handling. No refund will be made for these materials. Documents can be ordered online at reprographix.com via virtual ePlanroom or contact:
ReproGraphix Inc.
437 N. Illinois St.
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 637-3377
PRE-BID CONFERENCE ON NOV. 6, 2020
A pre-bid meeting will be held at the Lebanon Public Library Meeting Room; meet at the main lobby of the library at 10 a.m., local time on Friday, Nov. 6, 2020, for the purpose of previewing the site and the Project.
BID SECURITY: Bid Security in the amount of five percent (5%) of the Bid shall accompany each Bid. Bid security may be in the form of a Bid Bond (A310), certified check or cashier’s check.
BONDS: The successful Bidder will be required to furnish Performance & Payment Bonds for 100% of the Contract Sum prior to execution of Contracts.
RIGHT TO REJECT BID PROPOSALS: The Owner reserves the right to accept or reject any Bid and to waive any irregularities in bidding.
CONDITION OF AWARD: The Owner reserves the right to reject any Bid and to waive any irregularities in bidding. The Contract awarded will be conditioned upon and subject to the completion of financing by the Owner in an amount sufficient to cover the cost of construction, plus all incidental expenses, and will be subject to termination without penalty or liability at the option of the Owner any time after the date of award, in the event the Owner shall determine that such financing cannot be completed. Accordingly, a Bidder, by submitting a bid, expressly states that he is familiar with the requirements of Indiana Code 36-1-12-6 and agrees he will grant the Owner 90 days to award Contract. | http://www.omscorp.net/news/advertisement-of-bid-lebanon-public-library/ |
Research Papers:
Lipocalin 2 regulates intestine bacterial survival by interplaying with siderophore in a weaned piglet model of Escherichia coli infection
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Abstract
Bing-Xiu Guo1, Qian-Qian Wang1,2, Jia-Hui Li1,2, Zhen-Shun Gan1, Xiao-Feng Zhang3, Yi-Zhen Wang1,2 and Hua-Hua Du1,2
1College of Animal Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
2Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Eastern of China, Ministry of Agriculture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
3Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, 310021, China
Correspondence to:
Hua-Hua Du, email: [email protected]
Keywords: lipocalin 2, siderophore, Escherichia coli K88, iron sequestration, intestinal infection
Received: May 10, 2017 Accepted: June 05, 2017 Published: June 16, 2017
ABSTRACT
Iron is an essential nutrient that facilitates cell proliferation and growth, which plays a pivotal role in modulating the battle for survival between mammalian hosts and their pathogens. Pathogenic bacteria secrete siderophores to acquire iron from the host. However, lipocalin 2 (Lcn2), a siderophore-binding antimicrobial protein, binds to siderophores to prevent bacterial uptake of iron, which is critical for the control of systemic infection with Escherichia coli (E. coli). But few studies focus on the anti-infective response of Lcn2 in the intestines by inhibiting bacterial proliferation based on microbial iron metabolism. In this study, we showed that iron was sequestrated within cells in a piglet model of E. coli K88 infection. Siderophores was produced following E. coli K88 infection and siderophore-related genes expression was upregulated in iron-deficiency environment in vitro. Meanwhile, we found that Lcn2 expression was rapidly and robustly induced in jejunum by E. coli K88 infection and could be stimulated by IL-17 and IL-22. Furthermore, both Lcn2 induced in epithelial cells IPEC-1 and added exogenously as a recombinant protein could inhibit the growth of E. coli. We can conclude that Lcn2 is a crucial component of mucosal immune defense against intestinal infection with E. coli K88.
All site content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. | https://www.oncotarget.com/article/18528/ |
Email:
herringa
Dr. Herringa is the UW Health Professor in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Director of the BRAVE Research Center. As a pediatric psychiatrist, he is an expert in the treatment of traumatized youth and families using psychotherapy and pharmacological approaches. As a neuroscientist, his work aims to better understand the effects of trauma on the developing brain as well as the body. Dr. Herringa earned his M.D. and Ph.D. as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Wisconsin. He completed his Ph.D. in Neuroscience under the direction of Dr. Ned Kalin, during which time he studied the effects of stress on gene regulation in the amygdala, the brain’s fear center. He then completed a clinical-research residency in general psychiatry and pediatric psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, one of the nation’s premier psychiatry residency programs. Following this, he returned to the University of Wisconsin as faculty, where his research center has been conducting seminal studies on brain development in trauma-exposed youth and youth with PTSD. Dr. Herringa has received funding from many agencies to conduct this work, including the National Institute of Mental Health, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.
Research Staff
Samantha DiMaio
Credentials: BA
Position title: Lab Manager
Samantha earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Art History from Rutgers University – New Brunswick. During her undergraduate career she quickly discovered her passion for psychology, and shortly thereafter sought practical research experience in clinical psychology positions. She attained two lab positions where she studied youth depression, and prevention of depression in youths. Samantha is ultimately planning to pursue a Ph.D in Clinical Psychology, with a focus on researching the intersection of childhood trauma and interpersonal relationships. As the BRAVE Research Center’s Lab Manager, she coordinates day-to-day logistics, and oversees study activities. In her free time, Samantha enjoys hiking, testing new vegetarian recipes, reading, and crocheting.
Angela Lii
Credentials: BS
Position title: Assessment Specialist
Angela graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned her Bachelor’s degrees in Anthropology and Biochemistry in May 2020. As an undergraduate, she had the opportunities to work in a personal care setting assisting children with disabilities such as ADHD, down syndrome, and autism as an Inclusion Aide and volunteer at the EMCC as a tutor for children from low-income families who do not have access to necessary educational resources. Through her previous work and volunteer experiences, she gained insight working with children with mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. These experiences led her to pursue a career working with and helping children and their families, eventually joining the Brave Research Center as an Associate Research Specialist. In her free time, Angela loves to do yoga, weightlift, bullet journal, go to music festivals, and listen to podcasts about true crime or conspiracy theories while snuggling with her (very cute) puppies, Benji and Luke.
Collin Schmit
Credentials: BS
Position title: Assessment Specialist
Collin earned a Bachelor’s degree in Neurobiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May of 2020. For three years as an undergraduate, Collin worked in the BRAVE Research Center and developed a passion for improving mental health outcomes for disadvantaged children and their families. During the peak months of COVID-19 in Wisconsin, Collin ran a youth lunch program at a local food pantry that continued to foster his love of public service. Now as an assessment specialist, Collin enjoys running study interviews in preparation for a career as a school counselor. In his free time, Collin enjoys soccer, chess, vinyl collecting, and spending time with his cat, Ash.
Claire Volkert
Credentials: BA
Position title: Recruitment Coordinator
Claire earned her Bachelor’s degree in Community & Global Public Health from the University of Michigan where she worked in student recruitment with the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. As an undergraduate, she studied disparities in health outcomes and the health impact of violent experiences, and volunteered with the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center. She is currently responsible for coordinating recruitment efforts for the BRAVE Research Center. In her free time, Claire enjoys live music, trying out new recipes, and embroidering.
Hailey Rich
Credentials: BS
Position title: Assessment Specialist
Hailey graduated from UW-Madison in 2022, receiving her degree in neurobiology. She is interested in studying the connection between the structure of the brain and affective disorders. Hailey plans to attend medical school, where she hopes to eventually specialize in neurology or neurosurgery. When she is not in the lab, Hailey enjoys doing yoga, reading, and spending time with friends.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Justin Russell
Credentials: BA, PhD
Position title: Postdoctoral Fellow
Justin’s research is driven by his desire to improve our collective understanding how early life adversity may moderate social and emotional development, and foment the onset of severe psychological problems. Justin earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Rochester in 2010, where he conducted research into the impact of family adversity on socioemotional growth under the mentorship of Drs. Patrick Davies and Melissa Sturge-Apple. Before beginning graduate study, Justin held several positions at the Mt. Hope Family Center, working with maltreated children in both research and clinical settings. Justin completed his Ph.D. in psychology at Iowa State University in 2018, under the direction of Drs. Carl Weems and Monica Marsee. During that time, Justin began to investigate the neurological sequelae of childhood traumatic stress, the nature of post-trauma symptoms, and the course of children’s brain development. His dissertation utilized data from a large, nationally representative sample of typically developing youth to identify normative growth changes in the amygdala, an area with enormous relevance for psychopathology. Justin is currently a post-doctoral trainee in the NRSA T32 Training Program in Emotion Research.
Matthew Peverill
Credentials: BA, MS, PhD
Position title: Postdoctoral Fellow
Matt earned his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Washington in 2021 under the mentorship of Dr. Katie McLaughlin. He is most interested in research with the potential to realize improved clinical outcomes in vulnerable, under-served, and under-studied children and families. To that end, his research has employed neuropsychological, psychological, and epidemiological tools to explore multiple mechanisms of mental health risk in children exposed to adverse experiences including child maltreatment, neglect, and poverty. His dissertation used multimodal measurement of socioeconomic status to research the effects of poverty on psychopathology risk factors including stress, emotion regulation, and social cognition. More information on Matt can be found on his website.
Graduate Students
William Wooten
Credentials: MS, BS
Position title: Graduate Student, Clinical Psychology
William’s research interests involve emotion regulation with respect to trauma and stress, with an emphasis on positive emotions. He has experience working with a wide range of ages, including newborn infants, children, and older adults. William received his Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and his Masters of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Marquette University. He has clinical experience working with individuals suffering from depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and substance use disorders. William is a graduate student in the Clinical Psychology program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Olivia Otremba
Olivia is a sophomore at UW-Madison studying neurobiology. She is interested in emotional and behavioral processing and memory. After finishing her undergraduate degree, she plans to pursue a PhD in neuroscience. With her free time, Olivia likes to hike with her family and dog, and dance or draw.
Bella McDonnell
Bella is a sophomore at UW-Madison studying neurobiology. She is interested in studying mental disorders and traumatic brain injuries. After completing her undergraduate degree, Bella hopes to attend grad school to become an occupational therapist. She has worked in a Montessori for 2 years, and is hoping to work both with the brain and with children in her future. When she is not in the lab, Bella enjoys spending time with her friends and family, going on walks, and trying new coffee shops!
Emily Han
Emily is a sophomore studying Psychology with a certificate in Art Studio. She is interested in studying the effects of trauma on child brain development. After graduating, Emily plans to pursue dentistry. In her free time, Emily enjoys painting, listening to music, and spending time with her friends and family!
Weijia Liang
Weijia is a senior majoring in Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies. She hopes to become a life-long researcher to promote mental health and facilitate human flourishing. Her major research interests are 1) the role of positive emotions such as awe, compassion, and empathy in the prevention and intervention of PTSD and depression and 2) understanding fear conditioning in PTSD and stress responses with contemplative science and aesthetic philosophical approaches. In the future, she hopes to develop a culturally-adapted treatment that bridges Eastern Philosophy with Western Psychology. In her free time, Weijia enjoys singing in nature, meditating, and drawing movie scenes.
Abdullah Marei
Abdullah is a Junior majoring in Psychology. He hopes to attain a Ph.D. in clinical psychology after graduation. Abdullah is interested in the effects of chronic stress and trauma on brain development of adolescents and how that could lead to altered neurobiological and emotional development. Specifically, he is very passionate about researching the unique development of children and adolescents with PTSD. Eventually, he hopes to find ways to prevent and treat trauma-exposed youth and youth with PTSD. After completing his education, he aims to become an ambassador for mental health and normalize therapy in the Middle East as well as reduce racial inequalities in terms of access to therapy and other mental health resources. In his free time, he loves meditating and practicing self-care. | https://brave.psychiatry.wisc.edu/people-2/ |
Thursday’s congressional hearing on baseball and steroids didn’t elicit any earth-shattering confession or dramatic bombshell. But it did showcase several hours of emotional testimony and spirited exchanges between witnesses and members of the House Government Reform committee before overflow crowds spilling down the hallway of the Rayburn Building.
Nattily attired in suits and ties, current players Sammy Sosa, Curt Schilling, Rafael Palmeiro and retired players Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire appeared together and swore under oath that they would tell the truth.
Canseco admitted that he had taken steroids. No one else did.
In Canseco’s recent book, he alleged that he injected McGwire and Palmeiro with steroids, a charge that was categorically denied by Palmeiro and dismissed by McGwire.
“It should be enough that you consider the source of the statements in the book and the many inconsistencies and contradictions that have already been raised,” McGwire said.
McGwire’s voice wavered and his eyes watered when he expressed his support for families who had lost loved ones to steroid abuse and when he vowed to use his foundation to speak out against steroid use. But later during persistent questioning from several congressmen, McGwire firmly refused to answer whether he had taken steroids.
“I’m not going to talk about the past,” he said repeatedly, often after leaning back and first conferring with his attorney.
At another point, McGwire refused to call steroid users cheaters.
“That’s not for me to determine,” he said.
Sosa, who with McGwire captivated America when they chased and surpassed Roger Maris’ single season home run record in 1998, said he had never taken illegal performance enhancing drugs.
“Everything I have heard about steroids and human growth hormones is that they are very bad for you, even lethal,” Sosa said in a written statement read aloud by his attorney. “I would never put anything dangerous like that in my body.”
Schilling, a vocal opponent of steroids, said he thought baseball’s drug-testing program was working to eradicate drug cheats. But several congressmen weren’t so sure, pointing to several loopholes in the testing program.
Dr. Elliot Pellman, medical advisor to Major League Baseball’s commissioner, defended the program, saying it was better than the programs for most other professional sports. But Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) was unconvinced.
“I found your testimony pathetically unpersuasive,” Lantos said.
Many congressmen expressed disgust at the program’s progressive discipline penalties, which suspend first-time offenders 10 games and allow a player to fail five steroid tests before being kicked out of the league. In Olympic sports, if an athlete fails a steroid test, they are banned for two years. Upon a second positive test, the athlete is kicked out for life.
“I don’t know how you can break the law five times and then you’re out,” said Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.).”The bottom line is that you are telling kids you can break the law four times and still play.”
Added Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind): “It doesn’t matter if we’re conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat. We’re upset. We don’t give young kids on the street who we pick up with drugs five chances.
Commissioner Bud Selig said that he wanted harsher penalties, but that was the best that baseball could do because they had to collectively bargain with the player’s union.
But Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) wasn’t buying it.
“You have to get off from this idea that you are a special category of citizens that aren’t subject to the law,” he said.
Earlier testimony from Denise and Raymond Garibaldi and Donald Hooton expressed similar frustrations with baseball management and players. The Garibaldis and Hooton both had sons who had used illegal steroids to try and bulk up for baseball and later committed suicide.
“If the federal government has designated steroids as illegal unless prescribed by a physician, why did Major League Baseball have to ban their use before ball players could be sanctioned for using them?” asked Denise Garibaldi.
Hooton took aim at the players.
“Players that are guilty of taking steroids are not only cheaters, you are cowards,” said Hooton, his voice rising. “You are afraid to step onto the field, compete for your positions, and play the game without the aid of substances that are a felony to possess without a legitimate prescription.”
Donald Fehr, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, expressed his condolences to the families, and stated that the union’s position is clear.
“The Major League Baseball Players Association does not condone or support the use by players of any unlawful substance,” he said.
But with a drug policy that many congressmen feel has too many loopholes and too few penalties, committee chairman Tom Davis (R-Va.) hinted that baseball better strengthen their plan or Congress may have to get involved. | https://capitolhillblue.com/node/22341 |
Since 1976, St. Joseph Center has been meeting the needs of low-income and homeless individuals and families in Venice and throughout Los Angeles County. The Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community organization that assists people without regard for religious affiliation or lack thereof through 20+ programs in four pillars of service: Outreach and Engagement, Housing Services, Mental Health, and Education and Vocational Training. St. Joseph Center serves more than 10,000 people each year.
Brief Description of Principal Activities
Multifaceted intervention, prevention, mental health, and housing assistance is offered through street outreach and 9 service sites throughout Los Angeles County. St. Joseph Center also provides on-site services at five permanent supportive housing developments, and will provide services at an additional six more sites in the coming year. St. Joseph Center’s total holistic approach to services provide our clients with the help they need to regain their stability.
Job Description
Job Summary
The Case Manager works as part of the interdisciplinary Homeless FSP (Full Service Partnership) team that will conduct assertive mobile outreach to chronically homeless individuals on the streets in the Venice community and surrounding areas, and provide them with intensive services intended to engage them in the service continuum and ensure their linkage services that enable them to become housing ready. Once housing ready, the case manager will help clients apply for subsidized housing and link clients to available housing resources by locating suitable units and helping clients to obtain and move into permanent housing. Once clients are housed, the case manager will be responsible for providing ongoing intensive services that will assist them to retain their housing and be good tenants and neighbors.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
The Case Manager’s key areas of responsibility include:
Key Areas of Responsibility:
- Develop close working relationships with outreach workers, case managers, police, paramedics, the Los Angeles Housing Authority, and all collaborating agencies.
- Locate and focus efforts on specific chronically homeless persons that are considered to be most vulnerable.
- Present findings to other collaborative agencies in order to develop a service plan of action that will expedite housing opportunities and housing stability.
- Assist with developing and implement client treatment plans that emphasizes coordinated strategies for addressing mental health/substance abuse issues, relapse prevention, symptom/behavior reduction, medication management and any other risk factors that could impede permanent housing.
Essential Duties:
- Provide ongoing assessments of client progress in obtaining their individual goals.
- Utilize evidence based practice models including the Harm Reduction Model, CBT, and Motivational Interviewing when working with clients.
- Provide ongoing therapeutic case management services that will ensure successful permanent housing, decrease social isolation, decrease and prevent relapse risks, advocacy to deter evictions, and linkage and brokerage to any needed services such as medical, dental, mental health, substance abuse, like skills training, self-help, money management, meaningful community activities, volunteer services, job placement, etc.
- Ensure a smooth transition into permanent housing by assisting clients with benefits and housing application processes, life skills such as budgeting and cooking, accessing community resources, and other skills as needed.
- Provide crisis management, case management, and other therapeutic services related substance abuse and mental health services to clients on the streets, in service venues, in housing placements, or other locations as appropriate.
- Provide substance abuse counseling for dually diagnosed populations.
- Respond to urgent requests for assistance from clients or landlords as needed.
- Participate in all meetings with collaborative agencies and other community meetings as directed.
- Complete and maintain all documentation necessary per DMH requirements, agency requirements, and program requirements.
Other duties and responsibilities may be assigned. The duties and responsibilities listed are designed to provide typical examples of the work performed; not all duties and responsibilities assigned are included here, nor is it expected that all similar positions will be assigned every duty and responsibility.
Qualifications
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
- Must be highly motivated and a self-starter.
- Must have the ability to communicate with and relate to a diverse group of people including clients, community, and other staff.
- Must have excellent organizational skills and the capability to work in a fast paced environment.
- Strong knowledge of homeless services and resources. Demonstrated knowledge and experience with Harm Reduction, Motivational Interviewing, Critical Time Intervention, and Housing First.
- Requires an ability to work flexible hours including some early mornings, evenings.
Experience:
- Experience providing services to chronically homeless individuals or equivalent experience is desired.
- Experience working with individuals with severe and persistent mental illness and/or co-occurring disorders is highly desirable.
Education:
- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in social work, human services or a related field.
Direct Reports:
This position has no direct supervisory responsibilities.
Computer Skills:
- Proficiency in MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
- Ability to use widely supported internet browsers.
Certificates, Licenses and Registrations:
- Valid California Class C Driver License or the ability to utilize an alternative method of transportation when needed to carry out job-related essential functions.
- Valid automobile liability insurance.
Travel Requirements:
- Travel to meet with clients as needed.
- Travel to meetings at multiple St. Joseph Center sites and at community partner locations as needed.
Work Environment:
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
Physical Demands:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, sit, walk, stoop, talk, hear, reach above and below shoulders; use hand and finger dexterity, keyboarding and making and receiving telephone calls. The employee may be required on occasion to lift and or carry up to 20 lbs.
Additional Information
Status: Full-Time/Exempt
Salary: DOE
Benefits:
Excellent Benefits package available.
Employment with St. Joseph Center is contingent upon completion of satisfactory background check.
For consideration, please submit cover letter and resume.
EEO:
St. Joseph Center provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetics, status as a veteran or any other characteristic protected under federal law. In addition to federal law requirements, SJC complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training. | https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/STJOSEPHCENTER/743999763977531-case-manager-mental-health-hfsp-5- |
Review: THE BOOK THIEF, Octagon Theater Bolton
Bolton’s Octagon Theater presents the world premiere of the musical adaption of Markus Zusak’s internationally bestselling book The Book Thief. This stage adaptation began its development process back in 2016 by a creative team of Jodi Picoult & Timothy Allen McDonald for the libretto and Elyssa Samsel & Kate Anderson for the music & lyrics.
The Book Thief follows the story of Liesel Meminger, a young girl living in Nazi Germany who is given up by her mother in order to protect her and is fostered by the Hubermanns. Set in 1939 at the beginning of the second world war, Liesel’s story is narrated as she gains the nickname ‘book thief’ from learning to read from books she steals from various places, including at her brother’s funeral and from Nazi book burnings. Liesel befriends local boy Rudy Steiner and Max, a Jew whom Hans Hubermann agrees to hide on a promise to a man who saved his life.
As the center of the story, the leading role of Liesel is a demanding role for a young performer, as is the role of her friend Rudy, however the casting team for The Book Thief have chosen some wonderfully talented performers who rise to such a challenge brilliantly. We had the pleasure of seeing Niamh Palmer and Charlie Murphy perform in the roles of Liesel and Rudy respectively, but they also share the roles with other young talent Bea Glancy and Alfie Corbett and both duos alternate performances so that all four of the young performers get the opportunity to shine.
Direction comes from Artistic Director of the Octagon Theater Lotte Wakeham and is truly wonderful. The way that the narrator (played by Ryan O’Donnell) has been integrated into the story as an omnipresent figure has been thoroughly thought through and, without giving any spoilers away, seems even more clever by the end of the show. Various techniques such as puppetry and the use of recurring motifs in Tom Jackson Greaves’ choreography really paints a visual picture of the story, additional to the more naturalistic performances of scenes on stage. One element of the show which doesn’t quite feel right is the actors’ use of their own regional accents. Whilst this is becoming more popular in the world of theater, having a selection of accents from different UK origins feels out of place when the production is set in such a specific setting of 1939 Nazi Germany.
The music that Samsel & Anderson have composed for this new musical is excellent. Both the music and the lyrics have a blend of melancholy and hope which matches the dynamic changes of the narrative perfectly. Led by Musical Director Matthew Malone, the small but mighty band of The Book Thief is comprised of Meg Davies, Isis Dunthorne and Heather MacLeod, creating a beautiful sound to the accompany the vocals of the onstage performers.
The Octagon Theater is a uniquely shaped venue and set design from Good Teeth utilizes the venue’s shape to have varying levels and compartments that open up to reveal new spaces. The set design, combined with the lighting design of Nic Farman, makes the production a visually mesmerising masterpiece.
This brand new stage adaptation of Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief is a sensationally beautiful production that tells a moving story from the perspective of a young girl living in Nazi Germany. From the music, the storyline and the stage design, The Book Thief may leave you in tears, or as this show calls them, crying seeds of kindness.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Jess Dalloway
The Book Thief plays at the Octagon Theater in Bolton until 15 October, with tickets available here. | https://glowarticles.com/index.php/2022/09/23/review-the-book-thief-octagon-theater-bolton/ |
Water deficit is an adverse environmental stress that affects plant growth and agricultural productivity. To cope with drought, plants display a variety of physiological and biochemical responses at the cellular and whole-organism levels[@b1]. Various plant hormones, especially abscisic acid (ABA), regulate water consumption and drought tolerance in plants[@b2][@b3]. Under drought conditions, the endogenous ABA level dramatically increases in plants, which reduces transpiration rates by inducing stomatal closure[@b4][@b5]. Moreover, ABA induces an accumulation of compatible solutes, such as sorbitol, proline, glycine-betaine, and small hydrophilic proteins, that confer stress tolerance by decreasing the osmotic potential in plant cells[@b2]. Therefore, ABA can be considered a water stress-related phytohormone that contributes to the dehydration and desiccation tolerance of cells. Although ABA is registered as an agricultural chemical because it is a plant growth regulator, its practical use has been limited, mainly because of its weak effects in field trials[@b6], which were caused by its rapid biodegradation.
ABA is inactivated by two major pathways: (i) hydroxylation of ABA's C8′ position and (ii) glycosylation of ABA's C1′ position. ABA-8′-hydroxlase is a P-450 type monooxygenase that is encoded by the CYP707A family, *CYP707A1--CYP707A4*, in the model plant *Arabidopsis thaliana*[@b7][@b8], and many CYP707A isozymes have been found in various plant species[@b9][@b10][@b11][@b12]. The reaction product, 8′-hydroxy-ABA, is highly unstable; therefore, it spontaneously isomerises to phaseic acid (PA), which has a considerably lower hormonal activity than ABA[@b13]. However, ABA and its metabolites are also inactivated by conjugation to ABA-glucosyl ester (ABA-GE), which is stored in the vacuoles. This process is catalysed by glucosyltransferases, referred to as UDP-glucosyltransferases (UGTs), such as UGT71B6--UGT71B8[@b14] and UGT71C5[@b15]. Previously, ABA-GE was considered a permanently inactivated form, but recent studies indicate that it is a storage or transport form of ABA. Under drought conditions, ABA-GE is cleaved by β-glucosidases that are present in the endoplasmic reticulum (AtBG1)[@b16] and vacuoles (AtBG2)[@b17], indicating that ABA glucosylation is a reversible process that is catalysed by glucosidases and hydro-lyases. Therefore, we have focused on ABA 8′-hydroxylase, which catalyses the irreversible pathway of ABA inactivation, to develop a specific inhibitor of ABA catabolism.
Compounds with a nitrogen-containing heterocycle, such as triazoles and imidazoles, are known to act as inhibitors of various P-450 enzyme-mediated hydroxylation events. Among them, *S*-uniconazole (UNI; [Fig. 1](#f1){ref-type="fig"}), a plant growth retardant developed in the 1980s[@b18], inhibits CYP707A[@b19] and *ent*-kaurene oxidase (CYP701A), which catalyses the three-step oxidation of *ent*-kaurene to *ent*-kaurenoic acid (KA)[@b20], a biosynthetic precursor of the plant hormone gibberellin (GA). Hence, treatment with UNI reduces water loss and enhances drought tolerance[@b19]; however, its low specific inhibition of P-450 enzymes limits its potential use as a chemical probe and in practical applications. To address this problem, we focused on the structure of UNI, which may be small and flexible enough to embed itself into the various substrate binding pockets of P-450 enzymes. This assumption led us to the possibility that enlarging or conformationally restricting the UNI molecule could result in a narrow inhibition spectrum. Accordingly, in earlier work[@b21], we modified the structure of UNI to develop a specific inhibitor of CYP707A using three approaches: (i) molecular enlargement[@b22]; (ii) conformational restriction[@b23]; and (iii) azole ring modification[@b24]. Of these, the molecular enlargement approach was the most effective and enabled us to develop specific inhibitors of CYP707A, UT4[@b22], abscinazole-E1[@b25], and abscinazole-E2B (Abz-E2B)[@b26]. Abz-E2B inhibited CYP707A3 effectively *in vitro* and enhanced drought tolerance in plants through a temporary increase in the endogenous ABA level without growth inhibition. These results indicated that Abz-E2B is promising, not only as a chemical probe for dissecting the various roles of ABA but also as a plant growth regulator.
Despite the potential value of Abz-E2B for imparting drought-stress resistance to plants, the synthetic yield of 1% is too low for practical uses in agriculture and horticulture. Therefore, in the present study, we designed novel CYP707A inhibitors, abscinazole-T (Abz-T) compounds (**3**--**6**; [Fig. 1](#f1){ref-type="fig"}), which have simpler structures, with a triple bond instead of the 1,2,3-triazolyl ring of Abz-E2B, and their syntheses resulted in greater yields (15--28% overall yield) compared with that of Abz-E2B (1% overall yield). Here, we describe the design and preparation of the Abz-T compounds, and their effects on CYP707A and CYP701A both *in vitro* and *in vivo*. Of the eight initial inhibitors, including their respective enantiomers, (−)-compound **6**, referred to as (−)-Abz-E3M, enhanced ABA's effects more than (−)-Abz-E2B, and treatments of (−)-Abz-E3M led to stomatal closure and enhanced ABA responses in both *Arabidopsis* and maize. Thus, (−)-Abz-E3M is a more practical inhibitor of CYP707A than (−)-Abz-E2B when used as a plant growth regulator.
Results
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Design and synthesis of novel CYP707A inhibitors: Abz-T compounds
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The 1,2,4-triazolyl ring and the long ethylene glycol chain of Abz-E2B are critical for the effective inhibition of CYP707A. To function as a specific inhibitor of CYP707A, previous studies indicated that an enlarged analogue of UNI requires a longer alkyl chain to increase the selectivity for CYP707A over CYP701A[@b22]. However, because the longer alkyl chain results in greater hydrophobicity, it was replaced by the ethylene glycol chain[@b25][@b26]. It remains unclear whether the 1,2,3-triazolyl ring, which enters the *p*-position of the phenyl group in UNI by a click reaction[@b27], of Abz-E2B is required for the selective inhibition of CYP707A. Additionally, the click chemistry requires three steps (amination, azidation and click reaction), which was the leading cause of the low synthetic yield of Abz-E2B. Thus, we designed the Abz-T compound series (compounds **3**--**6**), in which the 1,2,3-triazolyl ring of Abz-E2B was replaced with a triple bond to increase the synthetic yield ([Fig. 1](#f1){ref-type="fig"}). Because of the superposition of optimised compound **3**, which has the triple bond at the *p*-position of the phenyl group, the optimised Abz-E2B resulted in the introduced side chains being oriented in different directions ([Fig. S1](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Compound **4**, with a side chain in the *m*-position was also designed. The introduction of the triple bond instead of the triazolyl ring may decrease water solubility because the calculated log *P* values \[octanol--water partition coefficients (calculated value)\] of compounds **3** and **4** are greater than that of Abz-E2B (calculated log *P* = 3.42). Therefore, we also designed compounds **5** and **6** (calculated log *P* = 3.00), which have methoxyethyl groups instead of the butyl groups of compounds **3** and **4**. This should decrease the log *P* value to less than 4.00, increasing the water solubility[@b22].
Racemic Abz-T compounds were synthesised from 3,3-dimethyl-1-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)butan-2-one (**7**) as shown in [Fig. 2](#f2){ref-type="fig"}. The aldol condensation of **compound 6** and 4-iodobenzaldehyde, or 3-iodobenzaldehyde, resulted in *E*/*Z* mixtures of ketones **8** and **9** (2:9 for ketone **8** and 3:10 for ketone **9**), which were UV-irradiated (365 nm) to increase the population of the *E*-isomers by photoisomerization. These *E*-ketones were reduced to yield **10** and **11**. The side chain (**12**) was introduced by Sonogashira cross-coupling using copper (I) and *trans*-dichlorobis(triphenylphosphine)Pd (II), generating compounds **13** and **14**, which were treated with sodium hydride in 1-butanol or 2-methoxyethanol to produce (±)-Abz-T compounds (**3**--**6**). These four compounds were successfully synthesised as racemic mixtures in shorter steps, with better yields (six steps, 15--28% overall yield) compared with those of Abz-E2B (eight steps, 1% overall yield). All of the compounds were optically resolved by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on a chiral column before testing their effects *in vitro* and *in vivo*.
Enzymatic selectivity of Abz-T compounds
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The inhibitory activities of Abz-T compounds against ABA 8′-hydroxylase were examined using recombinant *Arabidopsis* CYP707A3 co-expressed with *Arabidopsis* P-450 reductase (ATR1) in *Escherichia coli*[@b22]. The activity levels were evaluated based on the decrease in the amount of the enzymatic product, PA. All of the (−)-Abz-T compounds showed a stronger inhibitory activity than the (+)-isomers, and the compounds with a side chain at the *m*-position of the phenyl group (compounds **4** and **6**) inhibited CYP707A3 more strongly than the compounds with a side chain at the *p*-position (compounds **3** and **5**; [Table 1](#t1){ref-type="table"}). The concentration of inhibitor necessary to halve the response (IC~50~) of (−)-compound **4** and (−)-compound **6** were comparable with that of (−)-Abz-E2B when 5 μM ABA was used as the substrate. The inhibition constant (*K*~I~) of (−)-compound **6** was determined to be 35 nM. Thus, the affinity of (−)-compound **6** for the CYP707A3 active site may be nearly equivalent to that of (−)-Abz-E2B (*K*~I~ = 38 nM), and hence, the 1,2,3-triazolyl ring of Abz-E2B does not control the affinity for the CYP707A active site.
To evaluate the enzymatic selectivity between CYP707A and CYP701A, we examined the inhibitory activity against recombinant rice containing CYP701A6 expressed in insect cells using a baculovirus vector. This enzyme catalyses all three steps to KA via the corresponding alcohol and aldehyde[@b20], and consequently, the kinetic analysis is very complicated. Therefore, we evaluate the IC~50~ value for the formation of the end product, KA, instead of the *K*~I~ value. The IC~50~ values of all of the compounds, except for compound **4**, were at least 10-fold higher than that of UNI (IC~50~ = 57 nM) ([Table 1](#t1){ref-type="table"}), which was similar to the results previously reported for (−)-Abz-E2B, indicating that the inhibitory activity against CYP701A was substantially reduced compared with that of UNI. This result, together with the strong effect on CYP707A, suggested that the replacement of the 1,2,3-triazolyl ring with a triple bond had little effect on the enzymatic selectivity between CYP707A and CYP701A, and we determined that (−)-compound **6** was the best candidate selective inhibitor of CYP707A *in vitro*.
Physiological effects of Abz-T compounds on plants
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The effects of (−)-Abz-T compounds, which are more active enantiomers, were examined first using the *Arabidopsis* seed germination assay, which relies on ABA's inhibitory effect on germination to evaluate the inhibitory activity against CYP707A in plants. In the absence of ABA, each compound showed no effect at a concentration range of 3 to 100 μM ([Fig. S2](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Because the most commonly used *Arabidopsis* ecotype Col-0 does not undergo deep seed dormancy, the effects of ABA catabolic inhibitors may be difficult to determine under standard laboratory growth conditions in which the endogenous ABA content is kept at a very low level. However, in the presence of ABA, compounds (−)-**4** and (−)-**6** enhanced the effects of ABA, and the potency of (−)-compound **6** was 10-fold greater than that of (−)-Abz-E2B ([Fig. 3](#f3){ref-type="fig"}), although it showed almost the same *K*~I~ value as (−)-Abz-E2B in the *in vitro* CYP707A3 inhibition assay. In addition, (−)-compound **6** inhibited *Arabidopsis* seed germination under high temperature conditions ([Fig. S3](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), which can be mimicked in the laboratory to cause thermoinhibition and induce the accumulation of endogenous ABA in plants[@b28].
The effects of (−)-Abz-T compounds were also tested on the early growth of rice seedlings to investigate whether the plant growth-retardant effect derived from UNI declined. UNI strongly inhibited the elongation of rice seedlings, even at 0.3 μM, under our assay conditions. In the same bioassay, none of the four (−)-Abz-T compounds affected seedling growth when present in a 100-fold excess over UNI ([Fig. 4](#f4){ref-type="fig"}), although they weakly inhibited seedling growth when present at a high 100 μM concentration ([Fig. S4](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). This was the same trend observed for (−)-Abz-E2B[@b26]. Considering that even (−)-compound **4**, which inhibited CYP701A6 with the same potency as UNI, did not inhibit seedling growth at less than 100 μM, the growth-retardant effects of Abz-T compounds may not be caused by the inhibition of CYP701A. In addition, the retardant effect of (−)-compound **6** was additively enhanced by ABA ([Fig. S5](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). That is, a co-treatment of 10 μM (−)-compound **6** and 1 μM ABA inhibited rice seedling growth but treatments of each compound independently did not. Thus, the growth-retardant effects of (−)-Abz-T compounds may arise from an increase in the endogenous ABA level due to the CYP707A inhibition, although we cannot exclude the possibility that Abz-T compounds may inhibit off-target enzymes other than CYP707A and CYP701A.
Based on the above-mentioned enzymatic and physiological assays, (−)-compound **6** is the most ideal CYP707A inhibitor among the tested compounds. We named compound **6** as abscinazole-E3M (Abz-E3M) before testing it in additional physiological and biological assays. The absolute stereochemistry of both enantiomers of Abz-E3M was determined by the advanced Mosher's method[@b29] using the ^1^H nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of their *R*-α-methoxy-α-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl acetates (MTPA). The *R*-MTPA esters were prepared with *S*-MTPA-Cl in pyridine. The vinyltriazole protons of the (−)-isomer and the *t*-butyl protons of the (+)-isomer moved to a higher magnetic field (high field shift) owing to the magnetic anisotropy effect of the phenyl group in MTPA. Therefore, the absolute configurations of the (−)- and (+)-isomers were determined to be *S* and *R*, respectively. Based on the determination, *S*-(−)-Abz-E3M should be a more effective inhibitor of CYP707A. This is inconsistent with the case of Abz-E2B, which had an *R*-isomer that was more potent than its *S*-isomer[@b26]. These observations suggested that the differences in the stereostructures around the chiral carbons of Abz-E3M and Abz-E2B did not strictly affect the recognition by CYP707A.
Comparisons of the effects of (−)-Abz-E3M and (−)-Abz-E2B on the expression levels of ABA-responsive genes
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The molecular bases of (−)-Abz-E3M actions *in vivo* was further characterised in *Arabidopsis*. In the absence of exogenous ABA, (−)-Abz-E3M and (−)-Abz-E2B did not induce the expression of the ABA-responsive genes *MAPKKK18, RD29A* and *RD29B* ([Fig. 5](#f5){ref-type="fig"}). However, as co-treatments with ABA, both compounds enhanced the expression levels of ABA-responsive genes, and the potency of (−)-Abz-E3M was greater than that of (−)-Abz-E2B, which was consistent with the *Arabidopsis* seed germination assay. Moreover, tissue-specific ABA responses were monitored after (−)-Abz-E3M treatment using an *Arabidopsis* transgenic reporter line in which the β-glucuronidase (GUS) gene was introduced under control of the *MAPKKK18* promoter. This promoter generally expresses in the vascular tissues of both leaves and roots in response to ABA. Consistent with the quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis, (−)-Abz-E3M enhanced the ABA-inducible GUS staining when used as a co-treatment with ABA ([Fig. S6](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), because (−)-Abz-E3M inhibited ABA catabolism and increased ABA accumulation in plants ([Fig. S7](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
The effects of (−)-Abz-E3M on stomatal closure and drought tolerance
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The effects of (−)-Abz-E3M were also determined relative to stomatal apertures. *Arabidopsis* grown in soil pots underwent moderate drought stress under the optimal growth conditions of 22 °C and 60% relative humidity. Under these growth conditions, the leaf surface temperature of the mock-treated controls was 19.5 °C, which was lower than the surrounding atmospheric temperature because of transpirational water loss ([Fig. 6a,b](#f6){ref-type="fig"})[@b30]. In contrast, treatments with (−)-Abz-E3M reduced the water loss and showed increased leaf temperatures ([Fig. 6a,b](#f6){ref-type="fig"}). Consistent with the leaf surface temperatures, treatments with (−)-Abz-E3M led to stomatal closure ([Fig. 6c](#f6){ref-type="fig"}). In addition, the effects of (−)-Abz-E3M on endogenous ABA levels were also investigated, and (−)-Abz-E3M was found to significantly increase the ABA content in *Arabidopsis* ([Fig. 6d](#f6){ref-type="fig"}). Finally, we examined the effects of (−)-Abz-E3M on drought tolerance under more practical conditions. Three-week-old *Arabidopsis* were sprayed with an aqueous solution containing 50 μM (−)-Abz-E3M. Water was not supplied for 12 days, and then the plants were rehydrated. The application of (−)-Abz-E3M before withholding water induced significant drought tolerance and increased the survival rate ([Fig. 6e](#f6){ref-type="fig"}). We also tested the effects of (−)-Abz-E3M on a monocot crop, maize, to evaluate whether (−)-Abz-E3M affected stomatal movement and enhanced ABA response across plant species. As was the case in *Arabidopsis*, treatment with (−)-Abz-E3M increased the leaf surface temperature, and suppressed stomatal conductance and transpiration rates compared with the mock-treated control ([Fig. 7a--d](#f7){ref-type="fig"}). Moreover, (−)-Abz-E3M increased the endogenous ABA levels ([Fig. 7e](#f7){ref-type="fig"}) and consequently induced the expression of ABA-responsive genes, such as *ZmLEA, Zm.12309.1.S* and *ZmCOR410* ([Fig. 7f](#f7){ref-type="fig"}). Thus, the effects of (−)-Abz-E3M were not restricted to the model plant *Arabidopsis*.
The facile preparation of optically active (−)-Abz-E3M
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In the above-mentioned enzymatic, physiological and biological assays, we used (−)-Abz-E3M that was optically resolved by HPLC on a chiral column. This method enabled us to isolate the optically active (−)-enantiomer in high excess (\>99% ee), but it was time consuming and difficult. To be able to put (−)-Abz-E3M into practical use in the future, we devised a facile method to separate (−)-Abz-E3M from the racemate. Racemic Abz-E3M was first converted to a diastereomeric mixture using a chiral derivatising agent, *N*-(*p*-toluenesulfonyl)-L-phenylalanyl chloride. In this reaction, the (+)-enantiomer preferentially reacted with the reagent, allowing us to successfully isolate unreacted (−)-Abz-E3M in high enantiomeric excess ([Fig. S8](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). When using a reagent of the five equivalents, based on racemic Abz-E3M, its (−)-enantiomer was obtained in 94% ee. Because (--)-Abz-E3M showed no significant adverse effects in enzymatic and physiological assays, the (−)-Abz-E3M prepared by this separation method can be used both as a chemical tool and as a plant growth regulator.
Discussion
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We designed four Abz-T compounds, structural analogues of the previously developed ABA 8′-hydroxylase (CYP707A) inhibitor, Abz-E2B, to increase the practical use of such an inhibitor by improving the synthetic yield. These compounds were successfully synthesised in shorter steps and had better yields (six steps, 15--28% overall yield) compared with those of Abz-E2B. In the enzymatic, physiological and biological assays, these new compounds, especially (−)-Abz-E3M, showed similar overall ligand profiles to that of (−)-Abz-E2B. Thus, they had strong inhibitory activities against CYP707A, and the weak inhibitory activities against CYP701A. Interestingly, (−)-Abz-E3M enhanced ABA's effects by 10-fold compared with (−)-Abz-E2B in the *Arabidopsis* seed germination assay as a co-treatment with ABA, although both compounds showed almost the same *K*~I~ values against recombinant CYP707A3. This suggested that the inhibitory profiles from *in vitro* enzyme assays using the recombinant enzymes may not fully correspond to *in vivo* enzyme reactions. Because plant phenotypes can be affected by many factors, such as uptake, metabolism and unexpected side effects, other than the direct action of the target enzyme, it is difficult to explain why (−)-Abz-E3M acted as a more potent inhibitor of CYP707A than (−)-Abz-E2B in plants. However, we considered several possibilities. For example, (−)-Abz-E3M may have a longer residence time in the CYP707A active site compared with (−)-Abz-E2B, because the biological effects produced by a ligand-enzyme complex are directly related to the binary complexes' lifetime. The longer the ligand is in residence at its target, the longer the biological effect lasts[@b31]. Thus, the dissociation rate constant value of (−)-Abz-E3M for CYP707A may be less than that of (−)-Abz-E2B.
Conversely, in the case of Abz-E2B, *S*-(−)-Abz-E3M showed a stronger inhibitory activity than its *R*-(+)-enantiomer. Based on the inhibition patterns of azole compounds against P-450 enzymes, the 1,2,4-triazolyl rings of both *S*-(−)-Abz-E3M and *R*-(−)-Abz-E2B coordinate with the heme iron in the active site of CYP707A. In addition, because both compounds inhibited CYP707A with potencies at levels comparable to that of UNI, their long side chains may extend to the spatially wide entrance of the CYP707A ligand-binding pocket, although this cannot be discussed in greater detail owing to CYP707A's lack of structural characterization. The largest structural differences between *S*-(−)-Abz-E3M and *R*-(−)-Abz-E2B in the ligand-binding pocket of CYP707A should be the directions of their *t*-butyl and hydroxy groups, and these substituents in both compounds may not be important for binding to CYP707A. Such an inversion, accompanying the structural modifications of chiral compounds, has also been observed between Abz-E2B and its parent compound, UNI[@b26].
The ABA catabolic enzyme has been an attractive target for regulating the endogenous ABA level in plants, and thus, its inhibitor, (−)-Abz-E2B, is expected to be useful as a plant growth regulator, in addition to acting as a research tool for chemical biology and chemical genetics. However, its practical use has been limited mainly owing to a low synthetic yield. The present creation and characterization of a novel CYP707A inhibitor, (−)-Abz-E3M, now allows for the practical application of ABA's effects in agricultural and horticultural fields. (−)-Abz-E3M, for example, can enhance the ABA response, not only in *Arabidopsis* but also in maize. Although these effects were not surprising, they highlight the potential use of (−)-Abz-E3M as a practical application to improve drought tolerance in plants.
Methods
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CYP707A3 inhibition assay
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Reaction mixtures, containing 25 μg mL^−1^ of CYP707A3 microsomes (co-expressed with ATR1 in *E. coli*), ABA (final concentrations of 1--64 μM for determining the *K*~I~ value or 5 μM for determining the IC~50~ value), inhibitors (0 for control, 0.5--1,500 μM in 5 μL dimethylformamide) and 130 μM NADPH in 100 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.25), were incubated at 30 °C for 10 min. Reactions were initiated by adding NADPH, stopped by the addition of 25 μL of 1 M NaOH and then acidified with 50 μL of 1 M HCl. Reaction products were extracted by loading the mixture onto an Oasis HLB cartridge (1 mL, 30 mg; Waters Corp., Milford, MA, USA) and were washed with 1 mL of 10% MeOH in H~2~O (v/v) containing 1% acetic acid (AcOH, v/v). The enzyme products were then eluted with 1 mL of MeOH containing 1% AcOH, and the eluate was concentrated *in vacuo*. Each dried sample was then dissolved in 50 μL of MeOH, and a 20-μL volume was subjected to HPLC (Prominence; Shimadzu Corp., Kyoto, Japan). HPLC conditions were as follows: the octadecylsilyl column was composed of Hydrosphere C18 (150 × 6.0 mm, YMC Co., Ltd., Kyoto, Japan), and the solvent comprised 17% acetonitrile (MeCN) in H~2~O containing 0.05% AcOH (v/v). The flow rate was 1.0 mL min^−1^, and detection was at 254 nm. Enzyme activity was evaluated by determining the amount of PA in control experiments prior to taking each set of measurements. The inhibition constants were determined using the Enzyme Kinetics module of the SigmaPlot 10 software (Systat Software, Inc., San Jose, CA, USA) after determining the inhibition mode by plotting the reaction velocity in the presence and absence of the inhibitor on a double-reciprocal plot. The inhibition ratio was defined as \[(*A* − *B*)/*A*\] × 100, where *A* = the amount of PA when the inhibitor was absent from the reaction mixture (control), and *B* = the amount of PA when the inhibitor was present. All of the tests were conducted at least three times.
CYP701A6 inhibition assay
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Reaction mixtures, containing 0.058 μM of CYP707A3 microsomes, ATR2 (0.115 U), *ent*-kaurene (final concentration of 10 μM), inhibitors (0 for control, 1.5--1,500 μM in 8 μL dimethylformamide), and 20 mM NADPH in 500 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.4), were incubated at 30 °C for 10 min. Reactions were initiated by adding NADPH and stopped by the addition of 100 μL of 1 M HCl. Abietic acid, as the internal standard, was then added to the reaction product, which was extracted with EtOAc (400 μL × 3). The organic phase was dried over Na~2~SO~4~ and concentrated *in vacuo*. To derivatize the reaction products, MeOH (50 μL) and trimethylsilyldiazomethane (2 M in 5 μL hexane) were added, and the reaction mixture was incubated at room temperature for 10 min. The organic solvent was removed under N~2~, and samples were adjusted to 150 μL with hexane before a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis (QP2010-plus; Shimadzu Corp., Kyoto, Japan). The conditions were as follows: the column was DB-5ms (0.25 mm id × 15 m, 0.25 μm film thickness; Agilent J & W, Folsom, CA, USA), the carrier gas was He, the flow rate was 1.65 mL min^−1^, the injection port temperature was 280 °C, splitless injection, and the programmed column temperature was a step gradient of 80 °C for 1 min, 80--200 °C at 18 °C min^−1^, 200--210 °C at 2 °C min^−1^, 210--280 °C at 30 °C min^−1^, and then 280 °C for 3 min. The KA content was calculated from the area ratio of molecular and fragment ions of methyl KA (*m/z* 316, 273, and 257) to those of methyl abietate (*m/z* 316 and 256). The inhibition ratio was defined as \[(*A* − *B*)/*A*\] × 100, where *A* = the amount of methyl KA/methyl abietate when the inhibitor was absent from the reaction mixture (control), and *B* = the amount of methyl KA/methyl abietate when the inhibitor was present. All of the tests were conducted at least three times.
Quantitative RT-PCR Analysis
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*Arabidopsis* (Columbia accession) were grown for 10 d on agar plates containing 1/2 Murashige and Skoog (MS) and 0.5% sucrose at 22 °C under an 18/6-h light/dark cycle. Seedlings were incubated in the chemical solutions for 6 h. Total RNA from seedlings was isolated using the Plant RNA purification reagent (Thermo Fisher Scientific) according to the manufacturer's instructions. cDNA was synthesised using the QuantiTec reverse transcription kit (Qiagen). Maize (cv. Gold rush, Sakata Seed Corporation) seedlings were grown in 100-mL pots containing 75 g of moist soil in a glass house. The root parts of the maize seedlings were washed with tap water and dipped in 100 μM (−)-Abz-E3M chemical solution containing 0.05% Tween-20 overnight. Total RNA from maize seedlings was isolated using an RNeasy mini kit (Qiagen) with the 'on-column' DNA digestion method. cDNA was synthesised using a High-Capacity cDNA Reverse Transcription Kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific). Real-time PCR using SYBR *Premix Ex Taq*™ II (Takara) was performed with Step One-Plus (Thermo Fisher Scientific). The primer sets are shown in [Supplemental Table S1](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}.
ABA-responsive reporter analysis
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MAPKKK18::GUS reporter-containing transgenic *Arabidopsis*[@b32] were grown for 6 d on agar plates containing 1/2 MS and 0.5% sucrose. Seedlings were incubated in 1/2 MS solutions containing 0.5% sucrose with chemicals for 6 h. GUS activities were detected using a reaction buffer containing 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer, 2.5 mM potassium ferrocyanide, 2.5 mM potassium ferricyanide and 1 mM X-gluc. The GUS enzyme reaction was performed at 30 °C for \~12 h. The reaction was stopped by adding 70% EtOH. Tissue-specific GUS staining was observed by microscope after bleaching the chlorophyll pigment.
Physiological assays for *Arabidopsis*, rice and maize
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For the *Arabidopsis* seed germination assay, 25 to 40 seeds (Columbia accession) were sterilised successively by soaking in 70% EtOH for 30 min and reagent-grade EtOH for 1 min. They were then soaked in distilled water and incubated in the darkness at 5 °C for 3 d. The stratified seeds were then soaked in 100 μL of a test medium liquid agar in 96-well plates and allowed to germinate under continuous illumination at 22 or 30 °C. In these assays, we used the classic definition of radical emergence for seed germination. All of the assays were conducted at least three times.
For the rice seedling elongation assay, seven seeds (*Oryza sativa* L. cv. Nipponbare) were sterilised with reagent-grade EtOH for 5 min and washed with running tap water. They were then soaked in distilled water and incubated under continuous illumination at 25 °C for 3 d to germinate. The germinated seeds were then soaked in 2 mL of a test medium in a glass tube and grown under continuous illumination at 25 °C. When the seedlings were 7 d old, the length of the second leaf sheath was measured. All of the assays were conducted at least three times.
For the thermal imaging analysis in *Arabidopsis*, plants were grown for three weeks at 22 °C under an 18/6-h light/dark cycle. Four plants were grown per 100-mL pot, which contained 75 g of moist soil. Then, 25 mL of 50 μM (−)-Abz-E3M containing 0.05% Tween-20 was sprayed on 16 pots. After an overnight incubation, the leaf surface temperatures were monitored using a thermal imaging camera (TH9100WR, Nippon Avionics Co., Ltd.) at \~22 °C with \~60% relative humidity under light conditions. Temperatures on the leaf surfaces were analysed by NS9200 software (Nippon Avionics Co., Ltd.), and the average temperature difference between the control and (−)-Abz-E3M treatments was determined from 16 plants. To measure the stomatal apertures in *Arabidopsis*, stomatal images were obtained by Suzuki's universal micro-printing method as described previously[@b32]. The copied stomatal images were photographed under microscopy, and then stomatal apertures were determined from the pore widths using ImageJ 1.50i softwater[@b33] (National Institutes of Health).
For the drought tolerance analysis, five 2-week-old *Arabidopsis* seedlings were transferred into 200-mL pots containing 30 g of a 1:1 dry mixture of vermiculite:Promix with 120 g water, and the plants were grown for an additional two weeks at \~22 °C, with \~60% relative humidity under an 18/6-h light/dark cycle. After adjusting, by watering, to 150 g of moist soil (containing the five plants), 50 mL of 50 μM (−)-Abz-E3M containing 0.05% Tween-20 was sprayed on 27 pots, with a total 135 plants. Drought stress was started by withholding water. For the control treatment, 50 mL of water containing 0.05% Tween-20 and 100 μL MeOH, which was the same amount of carrier organic solvent in the chemical treatment, was sprayed on the same number of plants as the (−)-Abz-E3M treatment. The chemical solution was sprayed three times every other day after starting the drought-stress treatment. Plants were rehydrated after a 12-d drought treatment, and, subsequently, the recovery statuses were monitored to determine plant survival.
For thermal imaging and the transpirational water loss analysis in maize, plants were grown in 1/5,000-a Wagner pots containing 1 kg of dry horticultural soil (CAINZ Corporation) with 500 g of water, and the pots were maintained outside from July through August in Tottori City, Japan. Then, 10 mL of 100 μM (−)-Abz-E3M was sprayed on the 4-week-old plants, and the plants were relocated into a glass house. After an overnight incubation, the conductance and transpiration rate were analysed using an LI-6400 (Li-Cor Biosciences), and the leaf surface temperatures were measured using a thermal imaging camera (TH9100WR, Nippon Avionics Co., Ltd.) in the glass house. Temperatures on the leaf surfaces were analysed by NS9200 software (Nippon Avionics Co., Ltd.).
Measurement of endogenous ABA levels
------------------------------------
The extraction and purification of ABA was performed as described previously[@b34] with some modifications. For ABA measurements from maize leaves, samples (150--400 mg dry weight) were ground with beads in 50-mL tubes and homogenised in 30 mL 80% (v/v) MeCN containing 1% AcOH (v/v) with *d*~6~-ABA (Icon Isotopes) as an internal standard. After extracting for 16 h at 4 °C, samples were centrifuged at 4 °C for 10 min at 3,000× *g*, and supernatants were collected. Samples were re-extracted twice with 20 mL 80% MeCN at 4 °C for 30 min, and the supernatants were collected after centrifugation. MeCN was removed using a nitrogen gas, and the acidified water extracts were loaded into 3cc Oasis HLB cartridges (Waters). After washing with water containing 1% AcOH, ABA was eluted with 80% MeCN containing 1% AcOH. MeCN was removed and samples were loaded into 3cc Oasis WAX extraction cartridges (Waters). After washing with water containing 1% AcOH and successively with absolute MeCN, the ABA was eluted using 80% MeCN containing 1% AcOH. For ABA measurements from *Arabidopsis* seedlings, samples (1--20 mg dry weight) were ground with beads in 2-mL tubes and homogenised in 1 mL 80% (v/v) MeCN containing 1% AcOH (v/v) with *d*~6~-ABA. After extracting for 16 h at 4 °C, samples were centrifuged at 4 °C for 10 min at 3,000× *g*, and supernatants were collected. Samples were re-extracted twice with 1 mL 80% MeCN at 4 °C for 30 min, and the supernatants were collected after centrifugation. MeCN was removed with nitrogen gas, and the acidified water extracts were loaded into 1cc Oasis HLB cartridges. After washing with water containing 1% AcOH, plant ABA was eluted with 80% MeCN containing 1% AcOH. MeCN was removed, and samples were loaded into 1cc Bond Elute DEA cartridges (Agilent). After washing with MeOH, the ABA was eluted using MeOH containing 1% AcOH. The fractions containing ABA were dried, dissolved in water containing 1% AcOH, and analysed by LC--MS/MS as described previously[@b35]. The LC conditions for *Arabidopsis* samples were as follows: solvent A, water containing 0.01% (v/v) acetic acid; solvent B, MeCN containing 0.05% (v/v) acetic acid; and linear gradient, 3 to 40% solvent B over 9 min. Experiments were performed in triplicate, and the results were averaged.
Additional Information
======================
**How to cite this article**: Takeuchi, J. *et al*. Abscinazole-E3M, a practical inhibitor of abscisic acid 8′-hydroxylase for improving drought tolerance. *Sci. Rep.* **6**, 37060; doi: 10.1038/srep37060 (2016).
**Publisher\'s note:** Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Material {#S1}
======================
###### Supplementary Information
We thank Dr. Eiji Nambara and Akira Endo for providing MAPKKK18::GUS transgenic seeds. We thank Prof. Akira Kitajima (Kyoto University) for kindly providing rice (Nipponbare) seeds. This work was supported by the JST, PRESTO (M.O.), JSPS KAKENHI (Grant-in-Aid for Encouragement of Young Scientists 26711018 to M.O.), and the Marginal Region Agriculture Project, Tottori University (M.O.).
**Author Contributions** J.T., M.O. and Y.T. designed and interpreted the experiments; J.T., M.O., R.M., Y.K., T.O. and M.S. conducted the experiments; J.T., M.O. and Y.T. wrote the manuscript.
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###### Enzymatic properties of the azole inhibitors of CYP707A.
Compounds CYP707A[a](#t1-fn1){ref-type="fn"} CYP701A[b](#t1-fn2){ref-type="fn"}
----------------------------------- ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ --------
(+)-Abz-E2B 1,100 ---[c](#t1-fn3){ref-type="fn"} 1,300
(−)-Abz-E2B 54 38 1,200
(+)-3 1,000 --- 1,500
(−)-3 200 --- 770
(+)-4 240 --- 120
(−)-4 12 --- 62
(+)-5 7,700 --- 17,000
(−)-5 1,500 --- 8,600
(+)-6[d](#t1-fn4){ref-type="fn"} 1,200 --- 1,600
(−)-6 64 35 780
^a^*Arabidopsis* recombinant CYP707A3 expressed in *E. coli*. The inhibition assay for determining the IC~50~ values was performed using 5 μM ABA.
^b^Rice recombinant CYP701A6 expressed in insect cells. The inhibition assay for determining the IC~50~ values was performed using 10 μM *ent*-kaurene.
^c^Not tested.
^d^Compound **6** is also referred to as Abz-E3M.
[^1]: These authors contributed equally to this work.
| |
Who is Jordan Clarkson? He is a Filipino-American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) of African American and Filipino American descent, who was named San Antonio High School Player of the Year, earned second-team all-conference honors in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) while playing college basketball in Missouri, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in his first year. He was born on Sunday June 7th 1992, in Tampa, Florida, United States.
Jordan Clarkson has a compelling sense of himself as a spiritual being who is the searcher and the seeker of truth. That said, Jordan's life is devoted to investigations into the unknown, and finding the answers to the mysteries of life. Monumental as it is, Clarkson is well-equipped to handle his mission. He enjoys a fine mind, and is an analytical thinker, capable of great concentration and theoretical insight. Jordan Clarkson enjoys research, and putting the pieces of an intellectual puzzle together, and once he has enough pieces in place, Jordan is capable of highly creative insight and practical solutions to problems.
Jordan Clarkson enjoys his solitude and prefers to work alone. He needs time to contemplate his ideas without the intrusion of other people's thoughts. He is a lone wolf and a person who lives by his own ideas and methods. As a result, close associations are difficult for Jordan to form and keep, especially marriage. Clarkson needs his space and privacy, which, when violated, can cause him great frustration and irritation.
When his life is balanced, however, Jordan Clarkson is both charming and attractive. He can be the life of a party, and enjoy performing before an audience. Jordan loves displaying his wit and knowledge, which makes him attractive to others, especially the opposite sex. It should just be remembered that because he associates peace with the unobtrusive privacy of his world, intimacy is difficult for Jordan Clarkson. It is Clarkson's challenge to avoid shutting out the love of others and keeping him from experiencing the true joy of friendship and close companionship.
With his abilities to learn, analyze, and seek out answers to life's important questions, Jordan Clarkson has the potential for enormous growth and success in life. By the time he reaches middle age, Jordan will radiate refinement and wisdom. More...
More flavors to Jordan's personality
Jordan Clarkson tends to be quite adaptable, and he finds it easy to fit into most social set ups and vocational fields.
There are no particular virtues that can cause an imbalance in Jordan's personality and life, but he has to work hard and persistently to develop those special strengths that he desires to attain.
Learning to be wisely assertive is a major lesson to be taken by Jordan Clarkson throughout his life.
Tour Jordan's menu and gain more insight into his personality traits, relationships, strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, compatibility with you and with others, and much more.
We invite you to create your own free personality profile, in private and for your eyes only!.
June 27th 2022 finds Jordan Clarkson waking up to a restless morning, and after vivid dreams.
During the day - Jordan might find himself distracted at work, feeling a little awkward, and even out of place.
If too distracted, Clarkson is accident prone today. He should avoid social events as much as possible. | https://www.celebrities-galore.com/celebrities/jordan-taylor-clarkson/home/ |
Mr. Ereira’s practice principally focuses on debt restructuring but also covers real estate finance, stressed and distressed real estate resolutions, and more general banking matters.
Chambers Global notes that Mr. Ereira is widely recognised in the market as a “standout”; and Chambers UK 2016 notes his versatility, saying that he “straddles a broad range of work,” including representing creditors in restructurings and recapitalisations of distressed companies, often in a cross-border context. Legal 500 UK lists David as a “leading individual”.
“The addition of a lawyer of David’s standing and stature will be a great asset for us as we continue to enhance the quality and reputation of our restructuring practice in London,” said
“The development of a tier one finance and restructuring practice is a central component of our strategy in London and having someone of David’s reputation join us will continue our momentum and trajectory as we build out our capabilities in this practice,” said Ronan O’Sullivan, Chair of the London office. “David’s arrival will add further depth and prestige to our practice here in London and will position us well to capitalize on restructuring opportunities that span across the UK, Europe and the U.S.”
Mr. Ereira is the latest of a number of senior finance hires in the London office of Paul Hastings over the past twelve months, including structured finance and capital markets partner
At Paul Hastings, our purpose is clear — to help our clients and people navigate new paths to growth. With a strong presence throughout Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the U.S., Paul Hastings is recognized as one of the world’s most innovative global law firms. | https://www.paulhastings.com/en-GB/news/news-paul-hastings-continues-to-grow-in-london-with-addition-of-leading-restructuring-and-debt-finance-partner-david-ereira |
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for barbecue grilling of food.
Barbecue grilling is normally carried out by placing food to be cooked over a radiant heat source. The radiant heat source will typically be a fuel bed of combusting charcoal or a wood material. Recently, barbecue grills have been introduced which utilize a bed of inert material heated directly or indirectly by a gas or electric heater.
A typical gas heated grill will be fired by a Bunsen type burner. The burner will utilize some of the air passing through it as primary air but the remaining air will act as secondary combustion air, to allow complete combustion of the gas. The secondary combustion air is made available around the flame, both above and below the bed of inert material.
During barbecue grilling of foods, fat or oil from the food such as sausage, meat, chicken or marinated food, will melt as the temperature of the food is raised by the radiated heat from above or below. The fat or oil will then drop or splash on to the radiant heat source. Upon contact with the radiant heat source, the fat or oil will vaporise at a rate dependent upon the temperature of the surface of the radiant heat source. In some cases, the fat or oil will eventually ignite with a lazy yellow flame due to insufficient air to immediately oxidize the fat. This will cause carbon to be deposited on the food. Thus, there exists the disadvantage that the food can be tainted by carbon deposits. Furthermore, a large uncontrolled fat fuelled flame can prove to be a significant fire hazard.
Clearly, there is a demand for a means of barbecue grilling which completely combusts falling fat or oil from cooking foods to avoid smokey flames and associated carbon deposits.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention provides an apparatus for barbecue grilling of food comprising an outer housing having a grill upon which food can be placed, a radiant heat source located below the grill, and a supply of combustible gas and air mixture to heat the radiant heat source wherein the radiant heat source comprises a chamber located within the outer housing, the inner chamber being spaced from the outer housing to define an air passage and wherein a supply of pressurized air flows in the air passage, the pressurized air providing a primary source of air for mixing with the combustible gas and a secondary source of air which passes into the inner chamber thereby increasing oxidizing conditions within the inner chamber.
Preferably, the radiant heat source comprises a chamber having a base and side walls of insulating material and a metal top with apertures.
Preferably, the pressurized air passes into the inner chamber via one or more ports located below the metal top of the inner chamber and above the flame from the supply of combustible gas and air mixture.
Preferably, the combustible gas and air mixture is provided by a gas burner which is arranged such that the flame impinges on the base of the inner chamber.
Preferably, the percentage of air to gas in the gas burner exceeds 60% of stoichiometric.
Preferably, the apertures in the metal top of the inner chamber provide an open area such that the gas burner supplies 100 to 200 Btu per hour for each cm.sup.2 of open area.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawing.
FIG. 1 depicts a section through an apparatus according to the present invention. The apparatus comprises an outer housing 1 having a grill or rack 2 on which food can be placed. A radiant heat source 3 is located below the grill 2 and a supply 4 of combustible gas and air mixture is provided to heat the radiant heat source 3. The radiant heat source 3 comprises a chamber located within the outer housing 1 having a base 5 and side walls 6 of insulating material and a metal top or register 7 with apertures 8. The inner chamber 3 is spaced from the outer housing 1 defining an air passage 9. A fan 10 supplies pressurized air to the air passage 9.
The pressurized air provides a primary source of air for mixing with the combustible gas in supply 4 and a secondary source of air which passes along air passage 9 and through ports 11 in the side walls 6 into the inner chamber 3. The ports 11 are located just below the metal top 7 and above the plane of the flame from the supply 4 thus ensuring complete combustion of the gas and other combustible materials. The supply 4 is typically a gas burner or burners arranged such that the flame impinges on the inner surface of the base 5.
For the best results the percentage of air to gas in the mixture of the burner 4 exceeds 60% of stoichiometric.
With this apparatus the air flowing in air passage 9 is preheated by the hot surfaces of the inner chamber 3 thereby increasing fuel efficiency.
The apertures 8 in the metal top 7 provide an open slotted area which allows:
1. Sufficient containment of gases within the inner chamber to provide mixing;
2. Sufficient ventilation to allow complete combustion of both the gas and falling food products; and
3. Sufficient radiation from the inner surfaces of the inner chamber to radiate upwards onto food on the grill.
Preferably, the gas burner 4 supplies 100 to 200 Btu per hour for each cm.sup.2 of open area provided by apertures 8.
British Priority Application 9507778.0 filed on 13 Apr. 1995 is relied on and incorporated by reference in its entirety. | |
On July 29, Panda Green Energy Group's " Safety Production Work Conference for the First Half of 2020" was successfully held at the Shanxi Datong Panda Power Station. Over 40 people, including the company’s Board of Directors and CEO Zhang Ping, joint Executive President Zhu Jun, Chief Operating Officer Li Guangqiang, Human Resources Director Bai Guangmin, Safety Production Director Zhou Guo, Administrative Director Jin Xin, and heads of regional companies, attended the meeting.
Conference summarized and reviewed the work safety in the first half of this year, sorted out existing problems and countermeasures, and arranged and deployed the work in the second half of the year.
Zhu Jun, the company's Co-executive President, put forward specific work safety requirements in the second half of the year. Zhu Jun pointed out that we must reflect on experience and lessons through this discussion, identify problems and shortcomings, and plan for future development directions and ideas. He hopes that everyone will make good use of this meeting's precious opportunity to communicate and learn from each other thoroughly. Following the requirements of Beijing Energy Holding Group of " refine the headquarters, implement the region, and optimize the power station ", let each region become the engine of company development, and let each power station become a benchmark for the industry.
Zhang Ping, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of the company, affirmed the positive results achieved in the work safety in the first half of the year and expressed gratitude to the frontline employees for their hard work. Zhang Ping said that the safety and stability of the power station work and excellent economic benefits are the foundation for the company’s existence and rapid development. He hopes that colleagues in the production frontline can continue to overcome difficulties, strive for excellence, innovate to create benefits, and contribute to its business development.
Zhang Ping put forward six work requirements. First, make good use of this conference, carefully discuss and analyze the problems we faced in safety and production, pinpoint weak points, improve basic management, improve the quality of operation and maintenance, and achieve solid results. The second is to focus on cultivating management awareness, focus on multi-dimensional benchmarking, and implement cost-reduction and efficiency-increasing measures to promote the management of power stations. The third is to enhance the sense of urgency for development, take the initiative to gather the wisdom and strength of the employees, reserve more and better project resources, and strive for more development opportunities in the region. The fourth is to fully integrate into the overall development of the company and be confident in further development, actively come up with suggestions for development, and creat a new situation for the company's career development. The fifth is to promote the realization of the reform and innovation of the incentive mechanism, management mechanism, and work philosophy, forming distinctive features, and condensing new driving force and new vitality for the company's development. The sixth is to form a "fair, just, transparent, open, and inclusive" corporate culture, strengthen the sense of belonging of employees, and organically integrate strategic development, operation management, organizational construction and corporate culture.
During the conference, the company’s management team also held discussions with the heads of each region on how to "refine the headquarters, implement the region, and optimize the power station", and discuss the new changes and the next-step development of the company since Beijing Energy Holding Group’s strategic shareholding in the company. They exchanged words and commended the outstanding teams and individuals who achieved excellent results in the " Beijing Energy Cup" safety knowledge competition. | http://www.pandagreen.com/show-1764.html |
The invention relates to a motor wire winding rotor type soft starter, which comprises a cylindrical armature of a motor and a motor rotating shaft, wherein a cylindrical armature cavity is arranged in the armature, a shaft sleeve is arranged in the armature cavity, the motor rotating shaft is arranged in the shaft sleeve and is fixedly connected with the shaft sleeve, the shaft sleeve is fixedly connected with the armature, a projected rib key is respectively arranged on the trisection line of the inner side wall of the armature, a wire groove group is arranged on the inner side wall of the cylindrical armature in a position positioned between any two adjacent rib keys, each wire groove group comprises more than two mutually parallel wire grooves with equal intervals, and a starting winding coil group and an operation winding coil group sequentially passing through all wire grooves in the wire groove groups are arranged in each wire groove group. The motor wire winding rotor type soft starter has the advantages that a starting device and a contactor are not needed, the production cost is effectively reduced, the electric energy loss in the motor starting process is effectively reduced, the electricity saving effect is obvious, the failure occurrence rate is reduced, and the work efficiency of the motor is high. | |
Quick thinking draws Chesapeake TAG students to mock trial
CHESAPEAKE — It’s a chance to see how quickly she can think on her feet. That’s what Caitlyn Theisen enjoys about playing lawyer in the annual mock trials at Chesapeake Middle School.
This was the second year for Theisen, an eighth grade talented and gifted student, to try out her debating skills. She was supporting the plaintiff’s side Wednesday morning as the TAG class took on George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.”
“I wasn’t that knowledgeable about the law and through this I have learned about it,” she said. So much so Theisen is considering a career as an attorney.
“I like the way the trial process is,” she said. “It gives me a chance to argue and put my thoughts together really quickly.”
Orwell’s novella is a satire on the Russian revolution, questioning if a society of equality can actually be created. In the court case, the pigs, who have taken over the leadership roles, are being sued for destroying the communistic balance of power the animals had created.
Written around the time of the end of World War II, the book attacks Stalin’s version of communism, the then new social order in Russia.
“The book is based on a loose interpretation of the Russian revolution,” Terry Montgomery, TAG teacher, said. “At the animal farm there are seven rules of animalism and two of the leaders, representing Lenin and Stalin, did not follow their own rules.”
In “Animal Farm” the pigs take on the role of the leaders with Napoleon the pig symbolizing Stalin with his sidekick Squealer.
“The pigs are the elite even though the rule says all animals are equal,” Montgomery said. “The horses, goats, all the rest of the animals are suing the pigs. They feel they have violated the rights of the animals, where all are equal.”
The Ohio Center for Law-Related Education is responsible for turning the Orwell’s book into a court case for use in schools.
“I had never done ‘Animal Farm’ before,” Montgomery said. “This particular class is really sharp and they tend to get innuendoes. I felt this would be a good time to introduce the book. They were also learning about Russian history. They were kind of evaluating the idea of communism, the true idea of communism and how it actually played out.”
The Chesapeake TAG students put on a mock trial each spring, writing their own opening statements, closing arguments and witness depositions. Parents and other community members take on the role of jury.
Defending Napoleon the pig and his cohort was Ben Myers, another TAG student. | https://www.irontontribune.com/2011/03/24/quick-thinking-draws-chesapeake-tag-students-to-mock-trial/ |
On October 28, 2017 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Darke County Drug Task Force along with Darke County Family Health, Darke County Solid Waste and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public another opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. Bring your medications for disposal to Darke County Family Health at 5735 Meeker Rd. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.
This collection is for items in pill form only. We cannot accept any creams, powders or liquids during this collection. Please feel free to mix all your unwanted drugs in zipper bag.
This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards.
The City of Greenville Police Department has a permanent drop-box available to public. This container is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for additional convenience in properly disposing of unwanted drugs. | https://www.darkejournal.com/2017/10/darke-county-drug-task-force-taking.html |
What is a Home Loan?
A home loan (or mortgage) is a contract between a borrower and a lender that allows someone to borrow money to buy a house, apartment, condo, or other livable property. A home loan is typically paid back over a term of 10, 15 or 30 years.
How Does a Home Loan Work?
For most people, purchasing a home is the biggest financial decision they will ever make. And with homes often costing hundreds of thousands -- and in some cases millions -- of dollars, most people can't afford to pay cash for the entire property up front. As a result, they need to take out a home loan (i.e. borrow) from a bank, credit union, or specialized mortgage lender for borrowers with lower budgets (such as the USDA, FHA, or VA).
There are several types of home loans available on the market, but each home loan is typically defined by four main factors:
The Principal, or the amount of money you're borrowing. This amount is typically the purchase price minus your down payment, minus closing costs and other related fees.
The Term, or how long you have to repay the entire loan. The term of a home loan can range between five to 30 years.
The Interest Rate, or the annual amount you need to pay the lender to borrow the money, shown as a percentage of the current principal balance.
The Repayment Frequency, or how often you make payments. Borrowers usually pay back their mortgages on a monthly or bi-weekly basis.
Here's an example of how a home loan works. Let's say I'm attempting to buy a $400,000 home. After paying $80,000 of my own money as a down payment on a new home, I need to borrow $320,000 to pay for the rest of the house.
After shopping around and submitting my financial information for approval, a lender offers me a home loan for $320,000 (the principal) with a fixed term of 30 years (the term) at a rate of 5% (the interest rate), to be repaid in monthly installments (the repayment frequency).
By putting these numbers into a mortgage calculator or amortization schedule calculator, my monthly payment in this example would be $1,717.83 per month.
(Note: This amount does not include property taxes, private mortgage insurance, or property insurance, which can differ by the home's property tax rates and the individual borrower's coverage needs. Your official mortgage payment will include these amounts.)
What different types of home loans are offered by mortgage lenders?
Home loans are designed to suit a variety of borrower needs and budgets, and thus can come in several different forms. Here are three of the most common types of home loans.
Fixed-Rate Mortgages:
The most common type of home loan is the fixed-rate mortgage, which requires a borrower to repay the principal over a 'fixed term' (an unchanging length of time) with a 'fixed rate' (an interest rate that never fluctuates over that time period). Borrowers looking for steady and predictable mortgage payments often take out 30-, 15-, or 10-year fixed-rate mortgages. Generally, the shorter the term of the fixed-rate mortgage, the lower the interest rate the borrower can get.
Adjustable-Rate Mortgages (ARMs):
Unlike a fixed-rate mortgage with its static interest rates, adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) have variable interest rates that can move up or down over the course of the loan. To entice buyers with smaller budgets, lenders frequently offer one-year ARMs with a more affordable introductory interest rate for the first year (often with interest rates that are significantly lower than a comparable fixed-rate mortgage). The interest rate can then increase in the following years if market interest rates go up. As you might imagine, this can become costly for a borrower if the Federal Reserve raises interest rates over time, as the borrower's monthly ARM payments would also increase.
Hybrid, Adjustable-Rate Mortgages:
A cross between a fixed-rate mortgage and an ARM, the hybrid mortgage offers a fixed rate for a set term (usually fewer than 10 years) and then allows the interest rate to adjust up or down much like an ARM loan would. For example, a 5/1 hybrid mortgage, or 5/1 ARM, offers a borrower a fixed interest rate for 5 years before switching to an adjustable rate (with the rate adjusting once per year) for the remainder of the home loan's term. As the 'goldilocks' option among home loans, hybrid mortgages typically offer interest rates that are lower than fixed-rate mortgages and higher than ARMs.
Why Does a Home Loan Matter?
Home loans make buying a home a reality for people who want to own property. Getting a home loan often takes a substantial investment (closing costs, down payment, time to apply), but these upfront costs can be recouped by a homeowner over time if their property value appreciates. Given the upside potential, it's little wonder why homeownership rates in the United States have historically averaged more than 60% since the 1950s. | https://stg.investinganswers.com/dictionary/h/home-loan |
This project will examine in human cocaine users the interactions of cocaine with drugs currently used or proposed for use in the treatment of cocaine abuse. In addition, the project will examine the effects of cocaine in methadone maintenance patients, a population at high risk for cocaine abuse. The project aims to identify potentially beneficial (e.g., efficacy in blockade of cocaine effects) and potentially harmful (e.g., changes in cardiovascular function or increases in cocaine-induced euphoria) effects produced when cocaine is self-administered during treatment with pharmacological agents. In a residential human experimental laboratory the physiological, subjective, and behavioral effects of cocaine challenge alone and in combination with a test drug will be intensively studied under controlled double-blind conditions. In the first study the effects of cocaine alone will be compared in methadone-dependent cocaine abusers and in non-opioid using cocaine abusers. Studies to examine the effect of repeated administration of two antidepressants, desipramine and trazodone, on response to cocaine challenge will then be conducted in methadone maintenance patients who abuse cocaine. A second group of studies will examine the interaction between cocaine and drugs proposed for use in cocaine abuse treatment (haloperidol, bromocriptine, amantadine, and 1-dopa) in non-opioid dependent cocaine abusers. These experiments will provide multifaceted data concerning the safety and efficacy of various pharmacological agents in a population at high risk for self-administration of cocaine and may provide information on which to base decisions about the treatment of cocaine abusers.
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U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin, with Bono as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist; The Edge on lead guitar, keyboards, and backing vocal; Adam Clayton on bass guitar; and Larry Mullen Jr. on drums and percussion. The band chose the name "U2" for its ambiguity and open-ended interpretations, since the letter "U" is pronounced just like the word "you," and "2" can be interpreted as "two" or "too." Since their formation, U2 have developed and maintained a distinctly recognizable sound, with emphasis on melodic instrumentals and expressive, larger-than-life vocals. They are also known for their involvement in political and social causes.
Difficulty: Intermediate
United Kingdom
In this video each member of the Irish rock band U2 talks about his favorite song that they’ve recorded together. To U2 fans out there, see them here, up close and personal and enjoy!
Are you sure you want to delete this comment? You will not be able to recover it. | https://english.yabla.com/U2-Fave-Tracks-episode-2886 |
Poster Title
Student Author
Research Mentor(s)
Aquila Flower
Affiliated Department
Environmental Studies
Sort Order
35
Start Date
17-5-2017 9:00 AM
End Date
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The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) spans roughly 2,650 miles through a small part of Canada, Washington, Oregon, and California. More than 180 thru- hikers and countless other section hikers hike the PCT annually. Just about every year the PCT changes in length because of reroutes due to flooding, fire, or other natural disaster. Despite this being an increasingly popular hiking trail, there does not seem to be a map that displays landmarks of interest to hikers as well as information about the occurrence of natural disasters along the PCT and those subsequent impacts to communities of trees. I used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to highlight areas along the PCT where natural disasters have occurred. I also looked at climate trends over past years in the areas encompassing the PCT. These climate trends are extremely useful in predicting useable water sources especially in areas where water availability fluctuate in the summer months. I used GIS tools to map the locations of campgrounds, trailheads and water sources along the PCT as well. My research revealed common natural disasters along the whole length of the PCT as well as interesting climate trends in these areas. The research and information I have gathered will culminate into an interactive web map available to hikers to easily research information about the section they are about to hike, or to answer questions about something they observed while hiking the PCT.
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May 17th, 9:00 AMMay 17th, 12:00 PM
A Hiker's Guide to Climate Trends and Natural Disaster along the Pacific Crest Trail
Environmental Studies
The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) spans roughly 2,650 miles through a small part of Canada, Washington, Oregon, and California. More than 180 thru- hikers and countless other section hikers hike the PCT annually. Just about every year the PCT changes in length because of reroutes due to flooding, fire, or other natural disaster. Despite this being an increasingly popular hiking trail, there does not seem to be a map that displays landmarks of interest to hikers as well as information about the occurrence of natural disasters along the PCT and those subsequent impacts to communities of trees. I used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to highlight areas along the PCT where natural disasters have occurred. I also looked at climate trends over past years in the areas encompassing the PCT. These climate trends are extremely useful in predicting useable water sources especially in areas where water availability fluctuate in the summer months. I used GIS tools to map the locations of campgrounds, trailheads and water sources along the PCT as well. My research revealed common natural disasters along the whole length of the PCT as well as interesting climate trends in these areas. The research and information I have gathered will culminate into an interactive web map available to hikers to easily research information about the section they are about to hike, or to answer questions about something they observed while hiking the PCT.
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North Korea Claims Test of Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
North Korea claims that the missile it tested on May 14 was a new type of rocket capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead.
The missile, launched at a steep angle, reached an altitude of 1,242 miles and traveled about 440 miles, landing in the sea west of Japan.
North Korea said on May 15 it was a test of the abilities of a “newly developed ballistic rocket”.
South Korea’s military said it could not yet verify North Korea’s claims.
However it said North Korea’s missiles did appear to be able to leave and re-enter the atmosphere, which is crucial to developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), the Yonhap news agency reported.
Repeated missile tests by North Korea this year – not all of them successful but all a breach of UN sanctions – have sparked international alarm and raised tensions with the US.
The US and Japan have called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on May 16.
North Korea’s KCNA state news agency said on May 15 that the test of a “newly developed mid/long-range strategic ballistic rocket, Hwasong-12” had gone to plan.
“The test-fire aimed at verifying the tactical and technological specifications of the newly developed ballistic rocket capable of carrying a large-size heavy nuclear warhead,” it said.
North Korea is known to be developing both nuclear weapons – it has conducted five nuclear tests – and the missiles capable of delivering those weapons to their target. Both are in defiance of UN sanctions.
However, it remains unclear whether it has the ability to make the weapons small enough to be mounted on a rocket, and it has never tested a long-range ICBM which could reach, for example, the US.
ICBM’s are considered to have a range of about 6,000km, but analysts believe the missile tested on May 14 would have travelled about 4,000km if it had been fired at a standard trajectory rather than upwards.
The KCNA report said that, as ever, the test had been overseen by North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un.
It said Kim Jong-un had told the scientists and technicians involved “not to be complacent” but to build further “nuclear weapons and methods of delivery” until the US made “the right choice”.
The White House has mooted talks with North Korea under the right conditions, which would include a halt in missile tests.
In a statement on May 14, the White House said Pyongyang had been “a flagrant menace for far too long” and that this “latest provocation” should “serve as a call for all nations to implement far stronger sanctions”.
Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said on May 14 that until Kim Jong-un meets the US conditions, “we’re not sitting down with him”.
South Korea’s newly elected President Moon Jae-in, who is seeking deeper engagement with North Korea, said it was a “reckless provocation”. | https://bellenews.com/2017/05/15/world/asia-news/north-korea-claims-test-intercontinental-ballistic-missile/ |
The boiler adopts an environmentally friendly combustion method - full premixed combustion, and the gas and air are precisely adjusted and premixed in advance to ensure more complete combustion.
The boiler adopts a double-drum longitudinal "D" type arrangement structure; water, steam or steam-water mixture flows in the pipe; flame burns and flue gas flows outside the pipe, forming extremely fast steam-water.
· 2 recovery systems recovery methods include capturing and transferring the from a process with a gas or liquid back to the system as an extra energy source The energy source can be used to create additional or to generate electrical and mechanical power can be rejected at any temperature; conventionally the higher the temperature the
FBM Hudson Italiana delivered its first Ammonia Reformed Gas in the late 60 and since then has strived to expand and improve design capabilities and manufacturing range In 1998 FBM Hudson Italiana further increased the product competence by acquiring the technology of Babcock Entreprise SAof which became the successor
To be in line with the Sustainable Scenario (SDS) the share of clean energy technologies such as pumps solar thermal low-carbon district energy systems and biomass as well as hydrogen and fuel cells needs to exceed 50% of new equipment sales by 2030
· January 24 2017 Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Recovery Resource Page It is estimated that between 20 to 50% of industrial energy input is lost as in the form of hot exhaust gases cooling water and lost from hot equipment surfaces and heated products As the industrial sector continues efforts to improve its energy efficiency recovering
: 170 Years of Experience at Oschatz in Construction Sustainable management is gaining in importance all over the world At the same time the legislative requirements on plant efficiency and emissions are becoming ever more demanding
Market Forecast 2020-2027 The Global Market research report provides and in-depth analysis on industry- and economy-wide database for business management that could potentially offer and profitability for players in this market
· Executive Summary Introduction 1 The Scottish Government consultation paper on Local & Energy Efficiency Strategies ( LHEES) and Regulation of District was a policy scoping consultation designed to gather views to help inform further of the proposals prior to more detailed consultations 2 The consultation asked for views on the planning at local level of
RECOVERY (For Sponge Iron Plant) gases emanating from the sponge iron kilns exiting the post combustion chamber at about 900 950 DegC are used to generate steam in a recovery (WHRB) The steam so generated is used to produce electricity in Steam Turbine This is a multi-pass
· Business Market Size Share from 2020-2027 of The global market is estimated to account US$ 578 Bn in 2018 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 64% during the forecast period 2019 2027 to account to US$ 1003 Bn by 2027
· The initial vertical product has passed through the initial design prototype and manufacturing cycles Vertical units are expected to go into full production in the last quarter of the year Both products are now immediately available from the extensive nationwide network of Victory Energy firetube representatives
· The aims of the process are avoidance of an offgas exchanger higher storage density and increase in extraction temperature for efficient power generation A process with less operational problems caused by corrosion and erosion small storage units and reduced investment costs should be achieved
) The process gas (WHB) is a critical piece of equipment cooling the hot synthesis gas exiting an ATR a secondary reformer or an SMRThe from the process gas is utilized to generate high pressure and high-quality steam for the process and to drive turbines
Abstract The heat in waste gas is emitted into the atmosphere during power plant boiler operating from the energy point of view which has great potential of waste heat resources Especially for
Project Innovation that Builds on Tried-and-Tested Solutions To date some 650 Oschatz recovery have been successfully implemented for the iron and steel industry non-ferrous metallurgy as well as for the chemical industry
Using a principle similar to economizers recover generated in furnaces or exothermic chemical reactions at industrial plants These locations may contain significant energy that should not be wasted up a stack Instead this energy can be captured to generate low-to-medium pressure steam in a (WHB)
· The tube-to-tubesheet welding details in Fig 2 show two typical execution examples for a tube-to-tubesheet connection of a water-tube used in - after the secondary reformer These were newly designed due to an increase in performance and problems with existing
can be designed for either clean exhaust or soot and deposit laden exhaust In addition to the products described above we also design and manufacture custom use steam drums steam and water piping systems instrument systems and
· Press release - allied market research - Market Key Vendors Growth Factors Status and Forecast 2020-2027 - published on openPRcom
Termotecnica Industriale Srl announces the acquisition of Pensotti FCL technology and brand An operation strengthening Termotecnica Industriale Srl a company leader in Italy and abroad in the design supply and maintenance solutions of industrial recovery steam generators biomass and -to-energy
A study by the US Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy office identified research development and demonstration efforts to expand waste heat recovery practices in the US industrial sector The waste steams analyzed in this study showed that roughly 60% of unrecovered waste heat is low quality (ie temperatures below 450 degrees Fahrenheit)
Copyright © 2020.Boiler System Supplier All Rights Reserved. | https://musikkapelle-steinbach.de/1633818391/waste-heat-boiler-agent-development.html |
Six homeoproteins are expressed in several tissues, including muscle, during vertebrate embryogenesis, suggesting that they may be involved in diverse differentiation processes. To determine the functions of the Six1 gene during myogenesis, we constructed Six1-deficient mice by replacing its first exon with the lacZ gene. Mice lacking Six1 die at birth because of severe rib malformations and show extensive muscle hypoplasia affecting most of the body muscles in particular certain hypaxial muscles. Six1(-/-) embryos have impaired primary myogenesis, characterized, at E13.5, by a severe reduction and disorganisation of primary myofibers in most body muscles. While Myf5, MyoD and myogenin are correctly expressed in the somitic compartment in early Six1(-/-) embryos, by E11.5 MyoD and myogenin gene activation is reduced and delayed in limb buds. However, this is not the consequence of a reduced ability of myogenic precursor cells to migrate into the limb buds or of an abnormal apoptosis of myoblasts lacking Six1. It appears therefore that Six1 plays a specific role in hypaxial muscle differentiation, distinct from those of other hypaxial determinants such as Pax3, cMet, Lbx1 or Mox2. | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12668636/ |
Metousiosis is a Greek term (μετουσίωσις) that means a change of ousia (οὐσία, "essence, inner reality").
The declaration of the 1672 Synod of Jerusalem is quoted by J.M. Neale (History of Eastern Church, Parker, Oxford and London, 1858) as follows: "When we use the word metousiosis, we by no means think it explains the mode by which the bread and wine are converted into the Body and Blood of Christ, for this is altogether incomprehensible [...] but we mean that the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of the Lord, not figuratively or symbolically, nor by any extraordinary grace attached to them [...] but [...] the bread becomes verily and indeed and essentially the very true Body of the Lord, and the wine the very Blood of the Lord."
The Eastern Orthodox Church's 1672 Synod of Jerusalem released what the Encyclopædia Britannica called "the most vital statement of faith made in the Greek Church during the past thousand years". Philip Schaff wrote in his Creeds of Christendom: "This Synod is the most important in the modern history of the Eastern Church, and may be compared to the Council of Trent. Both fixed the doctrinal status of the Churches they represent, and both condemned the evangelical doctrines of Protestantism [...] the Romish doctrine of transubstantiation (μεταβολή [metabolí], μετουσίωσις [metousiosis]) is taught as strongly as words can make it."
The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity states: "The Greek term metousiosis, which is comparable to the Latin transsubstantiatio, does appear in [Eastern] Orthodox liturgical and theological texts – though not as often as other vocabulary (e.g., metastoicheiosis, a "change of elements").
A. Osipov states that the Eastern Orthodox use of the Greek word μεταβολή (metabole), meaning "change", and the Russian преложение in relation to the Eucharist should not be taken as equivalent to the word "transubstantiation", which has been rendered as metousiosis. Nikolaj Uspenksij appeal to Church Fathers who, when speaking of other doctrines, drew analogies from the Eucharist and spoke of it as bread and wine, but as having also a heavenly nature.
Some Eastern Orthodox theologians thus appear to deny transubstantiation/metousiosis, but in the view of Adrian Fortescue, what they object to is the associated theory of substance and accident, and they hold that there is a real change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.
The first edition of The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church, known also as The Catechism of St. Philaret, did not include the term metousiosis; but it was added in the third edition: "In the exposition of the faith by the Eastern Patriarchs, it is said that the word transubstantiation is not to be taken to define the manner in which the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of the Lord; for this none can understand but God; but only thus much is signified, that the bread truly, really, and substantially becomes the very true Body of the Lord, and the wine the very Blood of the Lord." The official Greek version of this passage (question 340) uses the word "metousiosis". | https://db0nus869y26v.cloudfront.net/en/Metousiosis |
Tuesday (Oct. 29) marked seven years since Hurricane Sandy made its unprecedented landfall in New Jersey, according to NJ.com.
The devastating effects are well documented: 39 people dead and more than $30 billion in damage. Unprecedented flooding throughout the state. Millions of people without power for days. Major roadways rendered impassable for even longer.
And climate change likely made it all worse.
Since 1980, the threat posed to New Jersey by hurricanes and general flooding has risen dramatically thanks to climate change, according to a report released Tuesday. Ever-rising seas and warming ocean temperatures are fueling the growing risk — especially in the Garden State, where sinking land means that the water here climbs twice as fast as the global average.
It’s been an expensive shift. Hurricane-related winds and floods have caused up to $1.3 billion more in destruction in the state today than they would have if climate reported in the 1980s had remained constant, according to the report.
As long as greenhouse gas emissions continue to drive further climate change, the report expects the danger to grow.
The report, called “New Jersey’s Rising Coastal Risk,” was produced by the independent research provider Rhodium Group with partner scientists from Rutgers University, the University of California and the University of Chicago. First Street Foundation, a nonprofit group that researches flood risk, also contributed to the report.
Around the world, oceans rise as steadily hotter temperatures melt more of the polar ice caps.
The water in Atlantic City has risen nearly 16 inches since 1900, according to the report; six inches since 1980 alone.
The creeping water is warmer than ever, particularly off the Jersey Shore. Sea surface temperature off the Northeast has heated faster than 99% of the global ocean since 2004, according to the report.
Hurricanes feed on warm water, so the hotter temperatures are likely to bring more storms north toward New Jersey. And, as the report makes clear, “higher sea levels mean more flooding during any given storm.”
Higher water and more frequent, intense hurricanes have combined to put thousands more buildings at risk of storm damage in the past four decades.
“There’s already a significant number of properties that are exposed to tidal flooding as a result of sea level rise,” said Bob Kopp, a Rutgers sea-level rise expert and co-author of the report.
To read more, click here. | https://woodallscm.com/study-n-j-is-sinking-hurricanes-are-getting-stronger/ |
My energy imposed upon metal creates change to create unique pieces. Fabrication is creating a design from "scratch". Pieces of metal are cut, hit, bent, twisted, soldered, whatever means it takes to create the desired shape for the design.
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The Anatomy of a Stealth Encounter
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
Seven years ago, at Crystal Dynamics, I was given the opportunity to lead the stealth gameplay effort in the Tomb Raider 2013 reboot. Stealth was an area I had light level design experience in from The Bourne Conspiracy but Tomb Raider was a much more complex game. With help from a great Game Director, I was able to learn on the fly and deliver a working stealth mechanic and level design philosophy that was successfully applied across the game.
Fig: Lara Croft planning out her stealth options
What began as a small endeavor has turned into a six-year odyssey, including Battlefield Hardline and the recently canceled Visceral Star Wars game, where I have honed down my philosophy for creating fun stealth encounters. I am defining a stealth encounter as an isolated section of the game where the player is encouraged to takedown or sneak past enemies to achieve an objective.
Setting up a fun stealth encounter is very difficult and much harder to do than a combat-only encounter for two reasons:
Setting up a stealth encounter is complex and full of nuance. It is very easy to have minor issues that cause a player to completely give up on stealth and start shooting enemies. For instance, small bugs like missing cover or geometry incorrectly marked as see through can cause a player to be seen when they felt they should not be. A few frustrating instances like that can make a player give up on stealth altogether.
Designers must setup combat in the encounter as well, which means making a stealth encounter is usually twice as much work as doing a combat-only encounter.
The focus of the following article is on the complexity and nuance of setting up a stealth encounter; I am going to breakdown:
Encouraging players to play stealthily by making them understand how they can stealth an encounter
Classifying different encounters and the emotion they create
Pacing encounters in a level to keep stealth feeling fresh and exciting
Fig: Agent 47 deciding how to handle this stealth opportunity
Encouraging Players to Play Stealthily
Stealth is kind of funny in a way because there is a group of players that will always go straight to combat, no matter how well setup an encounter is. As designers, we need to accept that about 30% of players will fall into this category. However, we still need to do our best to encourage these players to try and play stealthily and support a fun experience for the other 70% of players. Stealth opens up many different ways for an encounter to be played and provides a more varied experience to the player. To encourage players to stealth through an encounter, they need to be able to:
Have a safe and readable starting point to form a plan
Understand enemy routes and behaviors as they move through the space
Easily identify useful traversal routes through the space
Creating a Safe Readable Start Point
All stealth encounters need to start in a manner that allows the player to form a stealth plan. Follow the below rules to ensure players navigate to a safe location without engaging an enemy to form a plan:
Players should hear a sound indicating an enemies’ presence before they are seen. Dialogue works well, but it could also be the sound of characters working, moving around, or any other sound that indicates the area up ahead is alive with activity.
Players need to enter their stealth movement set if the game does not have a crouch button, otherwise ignore this rule. This is the visual indication to the player that they need to be careful. In Tomb Raider, this is when Lara gets in her crouched movement set.
There must be an obvious hiding spot for the player to move to and assess the encounter. The spot must feel safe for the player to observe what is occurring on screen.
From the hiding spot, players should easily be able to see enemies, asses their his behavior and make their plan.
If a cinematic plays, the end of the cinematic should place the player in a hiding place.
Figs: Having a hiding spot at the start of an encounter is key to letting the player make a plan to overcome the encounter
Understanding Enemy Routes & Behaviors
Poor enemy placement is an easy way to ensure a player will never stealth through your level. Enemies that are too close together, enemies pointed too much towards player sneak routes and confusing enemy paths are all common failure points. The following rules help to avoid these and other pitfalls:
Enemies placed on the outskirts of an encounter should be easier to sneak past or takedown than enemies near the objective or goal of the encounter. That ensures the encounter feels more intense as the player gets deeper into it.
Avoid bunching up enemies unless for a specific purpose. The more you put enemies within death cry distance of one another, the harder they will be to kill stealthily.
Enemies should pause every now and then when patrolling or walking around. This gives players a chance to kill or move around them.
When planning enemy movement, deliberately make moments where an enemy may separate from a group and allow a window of opportunity for players to kill them. This also makes players feel rewarded for taking their time and observing their enemies.
Use dialogue lines that inform enemy actions so the player can anticipate where enemies will move.
Figs: Enemies that pause in easy takedown spots are a great way to reward player patience and draw the player into a space
Utilizing Clear and Readable Traversal Routes
Players need to be able to understand how to move through a space without being seen to encourage them to move forward stealthily. Follow the below guidelines when laying out your space:
Flat stealth spaces are rarely interesting and greatly limit creative gameplay decisions in stealth. Embrace verticality in stealth spaces. Going on a path that is below or above enemies gives the player a different perspective and promotes freedom and choice within the space.
Use cover to encourage players to move through the environment and draw them into the correct areas to solve stealth setups.
Fig: Notice how cover draws the player into the space and how there are obvious vertical stealth paths
Fig: Assassin’s Creed is a master class in using verticality in stealth
Classifying Stealth Encounters and the Emotion They Create
What I didn’t realize when I first started working on stealth encounters was the effect objective flow has on the emotional impact of an encounter. The pure placement of enemies and level geometry can evoke confidence, trepidation and fear. Understanding stealth encounters and the emotions they evoke is important because it lets designers pace out encounters in such a way to make gameplay feel less repetitive. A player bouncing between emotions will have a more robust experience than a player only experiencing one. There are four types of encounters for stealth I use: Outpost, Limited Approach, Hunted and Hide or Die. Each one has unique rules and evoke different emotions. The features of each are detailed below:
Outpost
In an outpost stealth setup, players start far outside the encounter and have a great amount of leeway as to how they approach and enter the space. Outpost encounters give the player a feeling of confidence because they pick how and where they enter the encounter. The player also can run away from the encounter and reset it easily, i.e. let the enemies cooldown and re-enter, unaware of the player. Far Cry 3 was the first game to have these encounters be perfected for me.
Fig: Far Cry 3 Outpost
There are four distinguishing features of an outpost encounter:
The player can see the encounter and enemies from at least 20 m away
The player has multiple vertical and horizontal path options to move around the space and engage the enemies
It is not difficult for the player to run away and disengage the enemies
The enemies are less dense outside than the inside of the encounter to draw the player in
The below graphic visualizes the relationship between the player, level geo and encounter geometry:
The player starts in a safe space, moves through an empty perimeter and then must maneuver through an ever-increasing landscape of enemies to reach the objective. It is easy to run to the empty perimeter to escape enemies.
Example Breakdown
Let’s take a look at an example, here is a quick outpost liberation from Far Cry 3:
Notice the following events:
The player started far away and could form a plan of how he would engage the encounter
A lone enemy is in sight on the perimeter to make the player remain cautious as he approaches and help draw the player in
Once inside, the player moved around the space vertically as well as around lots of key sight blocking geo to overcome the enemies
This was a perfect playthrough, but it would have been easy for the player to run away and come back if he were spotted by the enemy
Uncharted 4, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, Assassin’s Creed: Origins and Battlefield Hardline also have some good examples. Notice the similarities in the three screen shots below:
Limited Approach
In a limited approach encounter, the player starts inside enemy territory. Not all enemies are visible from the encounter start and players must move through the constrained area to reach their objective. Limited approach encounters give the player a feeling of trepidation because the player has both a limited area to maneuver around enemies and an unknown number of enemies ahead.
Fig: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Tanker Mission
There are three distinguishing features of a limited approach encounter:
The player can see the enemies from at least 8 m away from his start point
The level geometry is slightly constricting and it is more difficult for the player to run away and disengage enemies for de-escalation than an outpost stealth setup
The player cannot see all the encounter enemies from the start point
Limited approach encounters are cool because the intensity of the encounter can be adjusted by changing where the player starts in relation to the enemies. That principle allows for two variations:
Variation 1
The player starts with the enemies in front of him and must move through the enemies to get to the objective.
The player starts surrounded by enemies. Starting inside the encounter makes the setup more intense because of the player’s close proximity to enemies, fewer choices in the player’s angle of approach, and the necessity to make tactical decisions on the move. Since the player starts inside enemy territory, it is good to have sparse isolated enemies around the starting point. That allows the player to ease into the higher intensity encounter.
The player comes around a corner, more than 8 meters away, sees an enemy illuminated by the spotlight
The player knows enemy activity lies ahead but does not have a clear idea of the number of enemies
As the player kills the first enemy and moves into the space, she gets a clearer picture of the number of enemies
The space is constrained so the player cannot easily walk by a bunch of enemies
Once fully into the space, the player has several traversal options but must endure tense moments to reach the objective
Edge Case Consideration
As I developed this theory, one of the challenging edge cases to look at was the stealth rooms from the Batman Arkham series. These are classic stealth levels; are they their own encounter type or do they fit within the rule sets I created already? Take the Stagg Airship level from Batman: Arkham Knight for example:
Batman stealth rooms tend to be large and have lots of vertical and horizontal traversal options. The actual size of some stealth rooms are equivalent to the smaller Far Cry outposts and that causes confusion as to whether they should be classified as limited approach or outpost encounters. Notice from the top down map below that the player is locked into the room once they enter it and can only leave by one route.
Since the player is locked into a confined space and cannot run away and de-escalate a fight as easily as encounters in the open streets of the city, the encounter should be classified as a limited approach encounter. Yes, the player can throw smoke bombs and zip up into the rafters easily, but he is still limited to a few escape routes and does not have the freedom of escaping into an open unpopulated perimeter.
Hunted
In a hunted encounter, the enemies start off in an active search looking for the player. This type of encounter is essentially a limited approach encounter where the enemies start off searching for the player instead of being unaware. Hunted encounters give the player the feeling of fear because enemies are actively looking for the player. Instead of idly sitting around or slowly meandering through the world on patrol, these enemies know there is trouble and are on the lookout.
There are three distinguishing features of a hunted encounter:
It must be crystal clear that enemies are looking for the player at the start through dialogue and animation
The player can see enemies from at least 8 m away from the start point
It is more difficult for the player to run away and disengage enemies for de-escalation than an outpost stealth setup
Fig: An enemy searching for the player in Last of Us
Variation 1
Enemies begin in front of the player's start position and move away from it. The enemies never move toward the start position to allow the player to assess and plan. As long as the player remains in the safe starting area, he has infinite amount of time to make his decision and so there is no time pressure.
Enemies begin farther away from the player's start position and move toward the player's starting position, applying time pressure. The time pressure adds intensity to the encounter because the player must make a plan quickly or he will be caught.
Let’s breakdown the Rise of the Tomb Raider example which is an example of using variation 2 (time pressure):
The player walks into a room and the player sees enemies repel in from the ceiling more than 8 meters ahead
When the enemies land, dialogue plays indicating the enemies are searching for the player and the enemies are playing obvious search animations with attached laser scope for added effect
The initial search point for the enemies is the player’s starting point. Upon reaching the player’s starting location, they fan out to random search locations thereafter
The player experiences great tension with the time pressure and must kill or hide quickly to get through the encounter
Hide or Die Encounter
A type of encounter that I’m not a fan of, but can be necessary for narrative or scoping reasons, is a hide or die encounter. If the player is spotted, then he is killed automatically. That is the only distinguishing feature of the encounter. I personally do not like these because they break systemic rules for stealth. Getting spotted should be consistent and remain the same throughout the game for system clarity. It allows players to go through the phases of teaching, testing and mastering a system. This hide or die encounter custom rule on being spotted can break that learning for players and frustrate them.
That being said, if used sparingly, these can be powerful encounters for the player to experience. In the below video from the Tomb Raider reboot, Lara needs to sneak past an enemy army. To get the feel of a large army, we used a bunch of lightweight NPCs, but that meant they couldn’t attack the player. If the player gets spotted by the army, then we kill the player automatically. In this case, the narrative moment of the player sneaking past a large enemy was worth the price of a moment of inconsistency. The below video shows the encounter: https://youtu.be/kVo01jsIcfY?t=20s
Fig: Lara sneaking past an army
Pacing Encounters to Keep Stealth Fresh and Exciting
One of the most powerful parts of the encounter types concept is using emotion as a method to distill stealth encounters into a more granularly to breakdown level pacing. Let’s look at an example case of a level with three stealth encounters. Without a concept like encounter types, a designer does not have many tools to articulate the differences in the three encounters. A common description method for this type of scenario is a designer saying a level has three stealth encounters that grow in difficulty. Difficulty is a good lens to use, but to get the most out a level, we need to go beyond difficulty and delve into the roller-coaster of feelings the player experiences in the level. Using encounter types, a designer can articulate themselves another way, “I have an outpost encounter to make the player feel confident at the start, then a limited approach encounter as they near the level midpoint to make them feel tense and the level ends with a hunted encounter to make the player feel fear.”
The above description is a great way to pace a level. It ensures the level does not feel repetitive because the emotional impact of each encounter is different from one another. I’m not saying difficulty should not be tuned. I am saying that difficulty should be tuned to fit the emotional impact of the encounter based on how far into the game the encounter exists.
Gameplay Example
Let’s take a look at the application of this concept in action with the classic Golden Cat mission from the original Dishonored. The Golden Cat is a brothel the player must sneak into and reach an objective on the upper floor of the building. The outside of the building is an outpost encounter with lots of traversal options and different entrances into the brothel for the player to find. Below is a picture of the building the player must sneak into.
Fig: Golden Cat building from Dishonored
The player gets the confident feeling from the outpost encounter, but then the intensity cranks up as the player enters the brothel and must deal with limited approach encounters to reach the objective. Notice from the below top down map of the interior how the geometry pinches, which along with enemy pathing, create a tense feeling for the player.
Fig: Golden Cat Interior Top Down Map
Because the player is moving from a loosely populated open space to a tighter more densely populated space, the player goes on an emotional and intensity journey. Combine that with the comedy of finding your target in a silly compromising position, makes this one of the most memorable moments in the game. Watch the gameplay video here: https://youtu.be/v1TQPFCu830?t=2m47s
Conclusion
With a common rule set, we can ensure that players understand they are entering a stealth encounter and have the opportunity to make a stealth plan. By classifying and organizing encounter types, we are able to pace variety and emotion of stealth encounters within levels. These rules work for most stealth games, but special gameplay mechanics, enemies or map types could warrant adaptations or expansions of this methodology. Stealth encounters are difficult to bring to life but bring a lot of satisfaction through the varied ways they can be played. Thanks for reading! | |
The Story Behind DesolateJuly 10, 2018
The Inquisitive Meeple chats with Illinois designer Jason Glover, on his solo game, Desolate and its expansion Dark Matters.
Jason, thank you for joining us today to talk about your new game Desolate. For anyone that follows you on Twitter, you have shown off a lot of Desolate in the last few months. The base game has been out a little while, with some expansion coming soon. First off, could you tell us a little bit about the gameplay of the base game?
Jason: Well, Desolate is a solo-play only game that has the player working through a deck of exploration cards in an attempt to locate five power cells, so that can blast off and escape an abandoned moon station. Along the way, you will have to deal with aliens via a press-your-luck dice mechanic that is full of tension. You have limited ammo and each ammo you spend equates to one die being rolling. So if you spend you three ammo you get to roll three dice. So you can find yourself overspending and that can lead to running out of ammo, and thus death. You also must monitor your health and your oxygen levels. health is lost during conflicts, but oxygen levels drop as part of a timer mechanism. You only have so much time before you either run out of health or oxygen.
You also start with a couple of randomly drawn useful items that will both aid you on your adventure and make each game a unique experience as they will shape some of your choices.
What is the story behind the creation of Desolate?
Jason: Interestingly enough Desolate was born during the design process of another solo-play game I was working on entitled Iron Helm, which is still in the works. Iron Helm is a much grander experience and fantasy themed, but the core mechanic is similar. While honing this core mechanic I decided to create a smaller game that focused almost exclusively on it and that is when I decided to create a smaller and tighter experience. I wanted a different theme of course, so escaping a space station seemed a good fit for a dark and gritty game. The shared mechanic has players drawing two cards, keeping them face down, and then revealing one and deciding to either resolve it, or pass and then be forced to resolve the unknown card. Desolate was essentially a game a created to test this out and it works quite well. I learned a lot from it and Iron Helm will now use a slightly hybrid version of this.
Why did you decide to design a solo game over say doing a co-op game that can be played solo?
Jason: I have always wanted to create that perfect fantasy themed solo game. I think many designers have wanted to do that. Like I mentioned I started work on Iron Helm almost two years ago and that was where Desolate derived from. I also had some success with my free print and play solo roll and write game Doom Realm and that also sort of introduced me to the amazing community out there that love solo games and print and play games. So I now have Doom Realm, which is a free PnP solo game and Desolate, which also has a free PnP version. I just like making games that people have access to and enjoy. Of course, there is also a print version of Desolate for those interested.
You added a way to get loot crates, in the game, much like a video game or an RPG, it is also part of the exploration card (they are split dual cards). What inspired the loot crates and why the split cards?
Jason: A couple of thoughts went into this part of the design. First, I wanted a way for players to find random loot, but I also wanted to keep the total card countdown. Adding a separate loot deck may have worked, but by putting the random loot on the bottom (upside down) of the exploration deck I was able to save a deck of cards. Secondly, raiding a loot crate forces the player through the exploration deck quicker as well, which speeds up the game. I wanted as few moving parts and using the duel cards allowed for a streamlined experience that still delivers the excitement of finding random loot.
When you first see the artwork for the cards I think the thing that stands out the most is that black and white art. Why did you decide to go with black and white art over color and what mood/tone do you think it sets for the gameplay?
Jason: When done well, I think black and white artwork and graphics can really draw a person in. It sets a dark and serious mood. I wanted Desolate to feel like something that has been around a long time and having zero color does give it a timeless feel. Also the lack of color sort of allows the player to fill in the blanks in the theme. It almost creates a blank canvas that allows the players’ imagination to take over. There is no flavor text on the cards and only the simple story on the box to set the theme. I think the lack of story and the black and white design couple to make the player create their own story.
Let’s turn our attention some to Dark Matters. These are two new expansion of 18 cards each that will not only add more of the same but also new card types. What new card types will Dark Matters be introducing and what do they add to the gameplay?
Jason: First of all I would like to mention that there will be 12 new item cards between the two boosters. That alone will add a ton of replay to the game. Now onto the new types of cards.
I had some people asking for a more difficult game and I felt one way to handle that was to create a way to determine starting equipment. In Desolate some items are better than others. I know many designers strive to balance things like this, but I wanted the items to vary mechanically as well as in power. So this brings me to the new character cards. Character cards allow the player to take on the role of one of the survivors and it also indicates to the player their starting equipment. In this way, the player can choose a character, which is ranked by difficulty, and have a unique experience each time. It is a nice thematic was to adjust difficulty and players may choose to use these new cards or not, but they are a good way to introduce the player to all the items in the game and each character has a different feel.
The other major addition is the new affliction mechanic. You can now gain mental afflictions via particular cards in the game. There are four affliction cards and each is unique and causes the player to gain a phobia. These phobias mess with the game’s mechanics in a negative way. Basically, afflictions make things much harder for you. There are ways to get rid of them, but it is not easy. If at any point the player gains all 4 afflictions, they go mad and lose the game.
I also would like the quickly mention that there will be four new rooms between the two boosters. The Cold Storage is a creepy room the houses the corpses of all your fallen comrades. It causes the player to gain an affliction. To counter this room we also have the Sanctuary, which will remove a gained affliction. Another nasty room is the Dark Passage, which is basically just a long dark tunnel, but it takes a while to navigate and thus you lose one oxygen. Lastly, the Warehouse allows the player to draw an item card, which is quite awesome.
There is a lot of stuff going on in these to boosters that will really up the tension as well as give the player more control.
What is your favorite thing about the new boosters?
Jason: I think what I am happiest about is the customization and increased replay value that is offered by the expansion. Players can choose to use the new Character Cards or not, or add the Affliction Cards or hold them out. Players also gain 12 new items that will up the replay level substantially. There is just a lot packed into two 18 card boosters.
Do you think we will see more 18 card expansions after Dark Matters or do you think you are done with tinkering in the Desolate world for right now?
Jason: Yes, I think there will be at least one more in the future. Likely late this year or early next. I want to explore the idea of adding a bit more of a narrative to the experience. The idea is to have event cards that can be randomly added to the exploration deck. When the player reveals one, they must be resolved, but they also are one-time use, so they would be removed from play. You would have a bunch of them, but would only add 2 or 3 to each level. This is just an idea at this point, but I think it has potential.
Going back to the base game for a moment, what was the biggest hurdle you had to overcome and how did you overcome it/fix the issue?
Jason: The biggest hurdle with a game like this is the balancing. When you are drawing a resolving card and working through a deck that is depleting your resources, you really have to get it right. You want players to fail more than they succeed, but you do not want them winning really easily or losing terribly. You want every game to be tense and very close. This issue was resolved with endless play-testing and score tracking and adjusting values until it was right where I wanted it.
As we come to a close, The Game Crafter has a solo design contest going on, what advice do you have for any designers out there, when it comes to designing a solo game?
Jason: I actually have some good advice for them. Being that it is a solo game, I myself leaned way too much on myself for testing. It is very tempting to simply test the crap out of the game yourself because you do not need more players. I urge designers to still put the game in front of as many people as you can. If that means making a free PnP available then do it. Other people will find flaws. I thought I had things nailed down but I had other designers make strong suggestions. Do not rely on yourself too much!
Thanks, Jason for joining us to do this interview. Readers can pick up Desolate on The Game Crafter by clicking on this link. Also, the new Dark Matter expansions are out now, and pack 1 can be found here and pack 2 here. | https://www.inquisitivemeeple.com/the-story-behind-desolate/ |
Kate Middleton visited a pair of schools in London for Children's Mental Health Week and she brought a picture of her family to share with students as a representation of what makes her feel good. It's not very big.
"I am also very happy to see that our neighbours in North Yorkshire will have the opportunity to participate in this landmark trial". And we like playing outside together and spending lots of time together as a family.
She then went inside where she met with children, who had each brought in an object that makes them happy. Some of the students' items included swimming goggles and football stickers.
It's hoped that once the study is complete, schools and the Government will have evidence of what works best for the mental health and well-being of school children.
For the visit, Middleton chose to wear a bright green dress from the label Eponine. Shown the work of A-level student Shaquille, 16, she said: "Wow, this is what you can do when you're not on social media!"
According to the Department for Education, the scheme will teach children "innovative techniques" like mindfulness, relaxation and breathing exercises to "help them regulate their emotions".
"She was wonderful with the children and was keen to speak to the parents about the whole helps with their mental wellbeing too".
The mother-of-three, later met pupils and parents at Alperton Community School in west London, dazzled in the vibrant green bouclé dress as she arrived in Enfield where she was presented with a bunch of flowers by a young pupil.
Aside from the photo, Middleton also told the school children and staff some surprising things about her two oldest kids, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
Kate told art students that "It expresses your creativity and can help your confidence".
If the photo looks familiar to you, that's because it is! "Providing this support is the first step in helping kids build life-long coping skills". Pictured: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge meets pupils at Alperton Community School in support of Place2Be's Children's Mental Health Week 2019 on February 05, 2019 in London, England.
"This is a photograph of my family", she said.
Legislation in the state of NY permits vaccine exemptions for individuals who have religious beliefs against immunization. The mainstream of those infected are children, who have not been vaccinated against the disease, executives said.
Milwaukee will send Jason Smith and Stanley Johnson , whom it acquired Wednesday, over in return. Smith was acquired by the Bucks from the Wizards in a three-team trade on December 7, 2018. | http://hbucollegian.com/2019/02/kate-middleton-shows-off-her-maternal-side-during-school/ |
Anyone interested in joining should come along as it is relatively easy to learn and we all do our best to teach you.
The game of Mahjong originated in China, could be centuries old and is played with tiles of 3 different suits and you play in groups of 4. We beleive that there are many variations to the game with our group being comfortable with the style that we play. New members are welcome to join us and we assist them to understand and learn the game or refresh if they have played in the past.. Books are available which we all refer to with the various tile combinations being illustrated. | http://u3aporthills.org.nz/index.php/social/2-uncategorised/27-mahjong |
Ampio Pharmaceuticals (NYSEAMERICAN:AMPE) Trading 6.8% Higher
Ampio Pharmaceuticals Inc (NYSEAMERICAN:AMPE) shares traded up 6.8% on Friday . The company traded as high as $0.76 and last traded at $0.74. 1,984,137 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 13% from the average session volume of 2,280,922 shares. The stock had previously closed at $0.70.
Separately, Zacks Investment Research cut Ampio Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th.
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Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ampio Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth $42,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Ampio Pharmaceuticals by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 61,523 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Noven Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ampio Pharmaceuticals by 64.4% in the 1st quarter. Noven Financial Group Inc. now owns 202,459 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 79,287 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can purchased a new position in shares of Ampio Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth $248,000. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ampio Pharmaceuticals by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 40,000 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 20,000 shares during the period.
Ampio Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of therapies for the treatment of prevalent inflammatory conditions in the United States. The company is developing compounds that decrease inflammation by inhibiting specific pro-inflammatory compounds. Its product pipeline includes Ampion, an intra-articular injection for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee. | |
Just War- Is all really fair in love and war?
Visual by Shreya Sharma
"All is fair in love and war" is often a saying that we use. It seems to imply that war and love exist in different universes, a universe where usual standards of fairness and rules can be dismissed. War seems to exist on the extreme fringes of human experience, where life itself is on the line, where self-interest and necessity reign supreme. Morality and law seem to be misplaced in this world when men and women do whatever it takes to protect themselves and their communities. As the old Latin aphorism goes- 'Inter arma silent leges', or 'in times of war, the law falls silent. It is used to defend acts that our unjust and inhuman, a way to deflect the guilt of the crimes we inflict on our fellow human beings. It reveals a terrible truth- strips away our civilized adornments, and our true naked nature is revealed- blood-thirsty, fearful, self-concerned, driven, murderous.
However, despite its apparent truth, we are not satisfied by this kind of doomed apathy. The moral posturing of mankind compels us to sign treaties, put up international courts and establish a framework of legal reproach during conflicts. This tradition to try and fir war neatly back into the moral landscape is perhaps as old as war itself. It is an important and influential endeavour because we realize that pacifism can be self-contradictory. In many contexts, the principled refusal to use violence can encourage the violent part to become more aggressive in their tactics and can lead to the most terrible and bloody outcomes. Despite all its downfalls, there seems to be a legitimate use of force in international relations. For instance, a pacifist position in the Second World War would have been completely toothless in the face of a regime like the Third Reich.
A just war is a war that is declared for right and noble purposes and waged in a specific manner. The doctrine of just war emerges out of Christian Pacifism- saying that violence should not be unconstrained. The use of violence should be tailored to certain moral ends, and the means chosen should be proportionate to the selected ends. In the traditional sense, a just war is not a 'good' war; instead, it is a conflict that Christians believe is necessary or 'just' under the circumstances when all other options have been exhausted. It is both an unavoidable evil and a final resort.
The doctrine set standards for assessing whether a war should be fought, whether it could be justified (jus ad Bellum), and how it should be fought (Jus in Bello). Hence, this judgment has a duality: first, in terms of the reasons states fight, and then, in terms of the tools they use to fight. Jus ad Bellum compels us to make decisions about aggression and self-defence, whereas Jus in Bello concerns the adherence or breach of established and positive engagement principles. Both types of judgement are logically distinct. A just war can be waged unjustly, and an unjust war can be fought in precise conformity with the rules. As Michael Walzer, the American political theorist, notes- aggression is a crime, but aggressive warfare can be a regulated activity. Resisting aggression is right, but it must be done with moral restraint.
Just like any doctrine, when taken away from the exalted level of theory and applied to real-life faulters, so has the just war doctrine. The just war doctrine has had to face the harsh reality of actual war loss of human life, break-down of entire cultures and withering away of commerce. Above all, the just war doctrine has been weakened by the belief that war is justified to defend nation-states. War has been used on the bloodiest occasions in the history of humanity, be it the medieval times of the crusades that were considered a holy war or the industrialization of wars leading to the mass devastation we see today. The just war doctrine also blurs the lines between political ends and moral imperatives. The notion of a just war seems nothing more than a convenient mask hiding ulterior, irrational motives fueled by greed and the constant offensive aggressiveness of tyrants and dictator states. Politicians use the guise of morality and justice to justify mass death. There may even be a fundamental contradiction in the idea of a 'just war' as it seems to be an oxymoron- the reality of war is inherently unjust. The people who sacrifice the most- their lives, families, safe haven, livelihoods- are innocent and rarely the ones who will the war in the first place. | https://www.thephilosophyproject.in/post/just-war-is-all-really-fair-in-love-and-war |
Katalog Etyki Praktycznej
... zasoby z etyki posegregowane według kategorii i moderowane ze względu na treść. Znajdziecie tu informacje o książkach z etyki, artykułach naukowych i publicystycznych, podręcznikach do nauczania etyki, polskich etykach czy filmach dotyczących dylematów etycznych...
artykuł
Jeff McMahan - Pacyfizm i teoria moralna (Pacifism and ...
"“Pacifism” is used to refer to a variety of different doctrines concerning violence and war. It can refer to the view that all violence is wrong, even in individual self-defense, or in defense of another innocent person. More commonly, it refers to th ...
Jeff McMahan - Radykalne ograniczenie poznawcze (Radica...
"Suppose that there are human beings whose overall psychological capacities and potential are comparable to or lower than those characteristic of the higher orders of nonhuman animals, such as chimpanzees. And suppose that the limited cognitive capacit ...
Jeff McMahan - Wojna prewencyjna i zabijanie niewinnych...
"The United Nations Charter prohibits states to use force against other states except in ‘individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs’.1 In the past, it may have seemed reasonable to insist that permissible defence must await the act ...
Jeff McMahan - Prewencja egzystencji osób z niepełnospr...
"It is commonly held that there are both cases in which there is a strong moral reason not to cause the existence of a disabled person and cases in which, although it would be permissible to cause a disabled person to exist, it would be better not to. Yet ...
Jeff McMahan - Problemy Teorii Populacji
"The eleven essays composing this volume address a wide range of interrelated questions within a domain which might be called "population theory." Among these questions are: Whatd moral reasons might there be, given certain conditions or expectations, ...
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Jeśli jesteście Państwo zainteresowani opublikowaniem materiałów w Katalogu Zasobów Etyki, poniżej znajdują się informacje. | http://etykapraktyczna.pl/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=searchby&cf_id=33&value=artyku%C5%82&Itemid=466&limitstart=90&lang=en |
The greatest magical empire in the history of humanity has returned from the grave. The immortal Netherese Patricians – once-human mage-aristocrats who have existed outside of reality for millennia – rule from the Black Citadels, darkly magnificent flying cities that act as the nexus of Imperial power. In the occupied lands, order is kept by the faceless Legions, black-armored soldiers who execute the orders of their Patrician commanders without question or hesitation. The enslaved populace cowers beneath the harsh rule of their new governors, awaiting whatever unknown fate their masters have in store for them.
The Prelacy of Thanatos
Servants or allies of the Empire, the Circle of Bones was a shaky, opportunistic alliance of several nefarious factions that aided the Empire in their original conquest of the south. The remnants of that alliance, the undead Prelacy of Thanatos, now hold the lands of Amn, Tethyr, and Calimshan – nominally in the name of the Empire, but few doubt that Orcus, the vengeful demon prince behind the Prelacy, has plans of his own. Dark magics have blotted out the sun over these lands, and the unliving servants of the High Prelates roam the countryside at will.
The Thayan Protectorate
The Red Wizards of Thay, fortified in their mountain sanctuaries, are among the last holdouts against Imperial dominion of Faerun. When they were able to mount a magical counter-attack powerful enough to drive back one of the Black Citadels, and promised even more powerful retribution should Imperial aggression persist, they forced an uneasy truce, and a halt (or at least a several-year hiatus) in the Empire’s eastward advances. They have extended their protection to several neighboring nations (read: buffer states), and doubtless search for a way to turn the situation to their own advantage.
The Resistance
Hidden pockets of resistance survive, even within Imperial lands; the Underdark as a whole remains largely free of Imperial influence thus far. Unlikely alliances have formed against the common foe, and onetime enemies struggle together to break the Empire’s stranglehold – the Alliance of Fallen Stars in the east, whose core includes the remaining Harpers and the Prince-in-Exile of Cormyr, and the Moonshae Alliance in the west, lead by the surviving Lords of Waterdeep and the elves of Evermeet.
Lands Yet Free
A few lands still lie beyond the reach of the Empire, at least so far. When the Thayans halted the Legions’ first sweeping campaign across Faerun, they almost inadvertently extended their umbrella of protection as far as the Chondalwood, the Vilhon Reach, and the various islands in the Sea of Fallen Stars. In the south, the Prelacy found themselves unable to make much progress into the jungles of the Chultan peninsula, nor into the veldt-lands of the Shaar. Armies that tried to penetrate these fronts vanished into the wilds, never to be seen again … popular theories include Halruaan, Thayan, or even Yuan-ti involvement in these events, but little is known for sure. A circle of human and elven arch-mages (including several dark elves) cursed the forest of Cormanthor to ensure that the Empire couldn’t plunder the potent magics of Myth Drannor; the druids of the Great Dale called upon a terrifying, primal spirit of the forest to protect their lands. | http://empire-of-ashes.obsidianportal.com/wikis/power-groups |
By using a design definition for a nail design, you can make sure your project is consistent, easy to follow, and easily reproducible.
This post explains the definition and how to use it in your game design definition.
You can find the definition here: http://www.game-design-definition.com/ A Game design definition is a short description of how you want to design your game or any other piece of software, in terms of what you need to do in order to make it playable.
For example, this could include things like: A level editor for your game to be used in order for players to create their own levels and to interact with them.
An advanced user interface for your project that you will use to make the game play in a specific way.
An AI to guide your game and help it to progress in a certain way.
A player interface to manage your game in a different way.
These are some of the kinds of requirements for a game design, and these requirements are the ones that game developers need to keep in mind when defining a game’s features and functionality.
To understand the concept of a game definition, it is helpful to take a look at a simple game in which the player controls a ball and collects a number of diamonds.
In this example, there are two types of objects in the game: the ball and the diamonds.
The ball is an object that is moving at a speed of 3D space.
In the following diagram, we have two levels, the main level and the two optional levels.
The main level has three levels, each containing one diamond.
Each level is called a “level”.
The level consists of three levels: level 1, level 2, and level 3.
The diamonds are in the middle of the level.
Level 1 contains two levels: one with a diamond, and one with no diamonds.
Level 2 contains one level, and the last level is level 3, which is level 2.
The player controls the ball, the diamond, the diamonds, and a camera.
The level is also divided into three parts: the first level, the second level, which contains one diamond, level 3 which contains two diamonds, the third level, where all three levels are contained.
In terms of the structure of the game, the player needs to find out how to play the game.
This is done by the player’s level of difficulty: the player can move the ball around in order either to collect the diamonds or to destroy the enemies.
The diamond is the only object in the level, so the player has to find a way to collect it.
This level of the ball is the “level of difficulty” in the sense that the player must find a specific route to collect a diamond and destroy the enemy in order.
The camera is used in the player game, and it is used to look at the level of a level, collect the diamond from the level (or to destroy it), and move the player to a different level.
In addition, the level itself is divided into sections, which are separated by a red line.
The sections are divided into two main levels: the level 1 level, or the level 0 level, while the level is divided in three parts, the levels 1, 2, 3, and 4.
The red lines on the map show the distance between the diamond levels and the red line on the diamond level.
The two main objectives of the player are to collect all of the diamonds in the levels, and to destroy all the enemies in the various levels.
To define a game, a game designer needs to know how to implement a game.
The goal of a good game design is to define a system, a way of thinking about the world that makes it fun to play.
This will be done by a combination of features, which you can define in a game system.
In order to define the features of a system in terms that you can easily use, the following concepts are important: A game design needs to be easy to implement.
The game designer can think about how to define each feature that is necessary in order not to get overwhelmed with the features and to design the system well. | https://tigamerudesign.com/archives/215 |
The temporomandibular joints are located in front of the ears and allow for the hinge and rotational movements involved in opening and closing of the mouth.
The joints are surrounded by several muscles, and ligaments that work as a unit for swallowing, speaking, chewing, yawning and simple opening and closing of the mouth.
Typically, jaw pain requires a complete workup and understanding of how the muscles, cartilage, ligaments and bones work together. Occasionally, and MRI or CT scan may be needed to further evaluate the anatomy of the joints and surrounding structures.
Typically, non-surgical options are enough to improve pain and functional issues. In some patients however, surgical procedures may be necessary.
Having TMJ disorder can typically be divided into muscle pain or actual joint issues with the bone or disc. Whatever the cause, the result may be pain, malocclusion, clicking, grinding noises and limited opening. | https://blueridgeoms.ca/services/tmj-surgery/ |
The objectives of today's class are:
- House Keeping
- Review Important Course Dates
- Quick look at some more of the Term Project initial statements
- How are the labs/tutorials going??
- Spreadsheets 001
- Two course themes: "Information in the large"; "Information in the small"
- New glossary on spreadsheets
- Spreadsheet data model
- Spreadsheet Examples
- Spreadsheet design principles
Lecture Glossary
- Spreadsheet
- Data Model
- Operator
- Function
- Domain
- Range
- Case
- Variable
- Properties
- Value(s)
Spreadsheet Data Model
- cell X -----> cell Y
- Domain X -----> Range Y
- Dots -- the cells
- Edges -- Operators and Functions
- Properties of a Spreadsheet Cell:
- Format (i.e. colour, shading, background, font-size)
- Type (i.e. data type)
Spreadsheet Examples
We go through several examples of spreadsheets and critique them for what works, what does not work
Mini-Tutorial: Spreadsheet Design
Below are some general rules for building a well designed spreadsheet.
Some Basic Rules about Design
- Design the spreadsheet on paper first. Graph paper often works well.
- Test and edit your calculations. Where appropriate use intermediate calculations and check-sums to ensure calculations are correct.
- Keep the components of a calculation visible. No "magic numbers". Place fixed numbers used in a calculation in their own cell with a descriptive title.
- Be aware of the "space" or "geography" of the spreadsheet. Arrange your information so that it is well spaced and easy to take in at a glance.
Parts of a Well Designed Spreadsheet
These parts can be considered components of a disciplined approach to building spreadsheet so they are self-documenting. The parts could each be in their own sheet, or they could be in a single sheet.
- Introduction -- What is this spreadsheet or workbook about. Note the title, purpose, author, creation and revision dates etc.
- Model and Assumptions. Justify any models, summary statistics, or calculated variables you are using.
- Data Dictionary. For every variable in the spreadsheet note: its location (cell range), name, the type of data it is (Raw Data, Statistical Summary, Calculated Variable, Score etc.), Field Format (e.g. Integer, Text, Currency, Date, etc.).
- Raw Data. Present your raw data in tabular form -- with columns representing variables and rows representing cases.
- Calculated Data.
- Summary Statistics --Usually Summary statistics result from calculations across rows for a single column.
- Derived variables are often based on calculations across columns for a row.
- Presentation' (Reporting)
- Emphasize the final information you wish to show without excessive background details.
- Use charts wherever appropriate to summarize large volumes of data
Resources
The Elements of Spreadsheet Style. 1986. By J.M. Nevison (Great, cheap, book on spreadsheet design. Out of print, but easily ordered from Amazon).
A Brief History of Spreadsheets: http://dssresources.com/history/sshistory.html A nice little article on the origins of spreadsheets by some guys with too much facial hair. | https://wiki.ucalgary.ca/page/Courses/Computer_Science/CPSC_203/CPSC_203_2007Fall_L04/CPSC_203_2007Fall_L04_Lectures/Lecture_5.html |
Progressing the Spinifex Healthy Country plan to action
On Country trips are supporting strong and connected intergenerational knowledge transfer in the Great Victoria Desert.
Following on from 2017’s successful return to Country trip, Rangelands NRM supported the second trip which took place in May 2018.
Rangelands NRM Desert Program Manager Chris Curnow said additional funds were leveraged to allow Spinifex Land Management to organise and coordinate a week-long event.
“Nearly the entire Tjuntjuntjara community—including Spinifex Tjilpi (Elders), Spinifex and Pilki people— shifted en masse north to camp at Ilkurlka and visit key remote cultural sites,” he said.
Ilkurlka is one of the most accessible of the important Spinifex Country sites.
Over the past 15 years Pila Nguru Aboriginal Corporation have, on occasion, accessed funds to support Tjilpi to find and begin mapping remote sites with a helicopter.
In 2017, Spinifex Land Management began taking the Spinifex Tjilpi (Elders), accompanied by the Rangers, back to those important key cultural sites to begin appropriate cultural protocol introductions and culturally-sensitive discussions of future management.
“The May 2018 event allowed wider family members to begin visiting these sites with their family elders for the first time,” Sam said.
Coordinator, Pila Nguru Aboriginal Corporation Sam Doudle said the importance of this work from a cultural, environmental and individual and community wellbeing perspective is inestimable.
“There are not many places left in Australia—or perhaps the world—who still have enough culturally-strong and knowledgeable elders who each have the unique and innate ability to share their lived pre-European culture and livelihood with their following generations,” Sam said.
Sam said these trips are important to ensure that the rangers have on-going Cultural Authority to act, manage, react and intervene with landscape scale management actions on and for Spinifex and Pilki Country.
Image (top): 4 members of the Rictor family, the last group of Aboriginal people to come out of the desert in 1986, about to take Mick Rictor back to his birth place. | https://rangelandswa.com.au/progressing-the-spinifex-healthy-country-plan-to-action/ |
Search Results:
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webinar
2:00PM – 3:00PM ET on Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Overview of UDL and accessibility as applied to blended learning initiatives including production of digital materials, selection of technologies, and effective integration of assistive technologies. Hosted by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
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presentation
9:00AM – 10:00AM ET on Tuesday, May 17, 2016
This is a one hour keynote and question and answer for the faculty of Worcester State University in Worcester, MA.
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webinar
3:30PM – 4:30PM ET on Thursday, April 14, 2016
This presentation is for TAACCCT grantees to help them understand how to meet TAACCCT grant requirements to develop courses and programs that are universally designed and meet international web content accessibility guidelines 2.0 AA.
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presentation
11:00AM – 12:00PM PDT on Saturday, March 21, 2015
CUE Conference 2015: Diverse Learners Symposium Spotlight Presentation. Explore ways in which the principles UDL are used to flexible, engaging learning environments that support improved participation and outcomes for ALL learners and how individualized special education services such as technology and accessible materials ensure that EVERY student can actively participate and achieve in UDL environments.
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webinar
2:00PM – 3:00PM EDT on Wednesday, March 18, 2015
During this webinar, we will discuss practical resources and tools that you can integrate immediately into your practice and align with the UDL principles. We invite educators from all levels to benefit from some of the exciting resources freely available.
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presentation
2:30PM – 3:30PM PDT on Saturday, March 21, 2015
CUE Conference 2015: Diverse Learners Symposium Spotlight Presentation. Educators and families often struggle with AEM questions. Explore seven points in the IEP process where AEM can be considered and documented. Hear about consideration questions and examples for each point that support use of AEM by students who need them for participation and progress on IEP goals and in general education curriculum.
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online course
Monday, February 8 – Monday, May 2, 2016
We know from experience and science that individuals learn in varied ways—ways that are particular to them. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provides educators with practical strategies and techniques to ensure that all learners can meet high expectations. In this introductory facilitated online course, participants learn the research basis for UDL, practical applications of UDL to lesson design, and helpful technology tools that support flexible, inclusive instruction. Each course section brings together up to 20 educators in an online community of practice.
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presentation
Wednesday, March 27 – Friday, March 29, 2019
Heading to the 2019 UDL-IRN Summit? Check out the fantastic sessions with CAST staff! March 28-29, 2019 Orlando, FL
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symposium
Wednesday, August 7 – Friday, August 9, 2019
The CAST Annual UDL Symposium is one of the premiere education events focused on leading the field of Universal Design for Learning forward. This year’s UDL Symposium was an opportunity to come together as a community to explore Becoming Expert Learners. August 7–9, 2019 in Cambridge, MA. | http://www.cast.org/search/Page+Type/aem_x003a_eventdocument?query=cast&sortby=relevance&page=1&r22_r1_r1:page=2&r19_r1_r1:page=7 |
"A commitment to building a democracy that lives up to its truest ideals requires that we continue to diversify and improve America's leadership to reflect the country. In its 231-year history, only 57 women and only five women of color have ever served in the United States Senate. In 1992, Carol Moseley Braun was the first woman of color and Black woman to be elected to the Senate. It took another 20 years to elect the second woman of color to the Senate, Mazie Hirono in 2012, and 24 years to elect the second Black woman, Kamala Harris.
"Women make up 51 percent of America, yet of the 100 Senators currently serving in Congress, only 25 are women and four are women of color — Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI).
"There has been deep investment and long-term strategy to build a pipeline of women to run, win and lead for elected office and we have seen incremental gains. In 2018 and 2020, we made giant steps towards women's political representation with a record number of women running and winning. As we celebrate the historic election of Kamala Harris as the first woman, woman of color and Black person to be elected as Vice President, we are also standing at a critical milestone. With one appointment, we can either continue toward a more representative Senate or suffer a major setback that could take almost a decade to regain.
"With the upcoming departure of Vice President-elect Harris from the chamber, we must keep moving forward on women's representation. California Governor Gavin Newsom has a critical opportunity to stand firm on his progressive ideals, be on the right side of history, and ensure that the work the Vice President-elect has done for California and for the country continues.
" California has been represented by a woman in the Senate since 1992. Since the following year, both Senators from the Golden State have been women. We cannot undo nearly 30 years of progress all at once. For the future of California, our country, and women everywhere, there is no better choice for Governor Newsom than to appoint a woman to fill California's Senate seat. There are several remarkable women from the state who have what it takes to get to work right away and who would serve as powerful advocates for the people of California and marginalized constituencies nationwide."
Higher Heights is the only national organization providing Black women with a political home exclusively dedicated to harnessing their power to expand Black women's elected representation and voting participation, and advance progressive policies. For additional information, visit: https://www.higherheightsforamerica.org . | |
On November 7, 2020 it was officially announced that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had become the Presidential Elect Vice President Elect respectively for the United States. Kamala’s appointment made history as the first female Vice President; first person of colour.
PR In Canada took sometime to talk with Cher Lee, Vice President at Citizen Relations [TCO] and Carol Levine, Co-Founder & CEO at energi PR [TCO] about their thoughts on the appointment and what it means for other working women:
1) What was your first thought when you heard that Joe Biden had picked Kamala for his running mate (Vice President)?
- Cher Lee – Finally.
- Carol – My first thought was that choosing Kamala Harris as his running mate was the right choice, but I would have expected nothing less than him choosing a female, African American and much younger person.
2. When you hear the term glass ceiling – what does it mean to you? Is there a glass ceiling today?
- Cher – I think of the glass ceiling as a very real limit that keeps minority groups on the outside of reaching their career potential. It unfortunately still exists today and will not come down until the traditional system we live in progresses to an equal one. Many factors need to equalize in and out of the workplace including pay parity, equitable evaluation and advancement, overcoming biases, representation, the distribution of domestic labour, etc.
- Carol – A glass ceiling means what it always has, but I am not sure it is made of glass or concrete. It signifies the barriers that have stood in the way of qualified women ascending to positions of influence. And yes, it most certainly exists today.
3. Any advice for women looking to navigate the corporate world?
- Cher – Be your own best advocate and remember that ambition is an asset.
- Carol – Be the best you can be. Surround yourself with mentors and experts – you cannot know everything nor be an expert in everything. As Sheryl Sandberg says “Lean In”. Be present, be ready to express your opinion, be confident. There will be detractors and those who put up obstacles – you need to stay the course.
4. As a working woman, what do you attribute your ability to grow your career into the leadership role you are in today?
- Cher – Tenacity, passion for my work and strong leaders who have fostered my growth.
- Carol – I have always spoken truth to power. I am not afraid of expressing my opinion, but I have learned to do so in a way that is not pompous or condescending or angry. I work hard, do my research and rely on my experience and honesty to advance my opinions.
5. Was there an obstacle that really stands out?
- Cher – The tech industry was still very male-dominated at the top in my time. I walked into every meeting with a purpose, didn’t apologize unless I meant it and ultimately, knew what situations were not worth staying in or compromising my values for.
6. November 7th, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took to the stage as the President-Elect & Vice President-Elect, what did it mean to you when you saw her walk out on stage as the first female Vice President in US history? First woman of colour as Vice President?
- Cher – It meant everything. I cried! That all young girls can see something of themselves in such a powerful position of executive office and relate is very inspiring.
Representation matters… it’s hopeful, and a start.
- Carol – I thought – we finally made it. This was history in the making. First woman of colour as Vice President?
7. Television & movies often portray there is a challenge for women looking to have a growing career and raise a family? Does life imitate art?
- Cher – I think the challenge exists to anyone who holds that dominant or sole domestic role, regardless of gender or family construct. But I do believe there is added pressure for women and any oppressed group such as BIPOC or LGBTQ2+ who already shoulder extra weight day-to-day AND THEN also have to be the one making things happen at home… so it’s definitely a thing.
- Carol – It is absolutely true that it is a challenge to have an exceptional career and be an exceptional parent, it’s not impossible, but it’s not a cake walk for the average woman. You need support, whether it is from a partner or family or caregiver.
8. What’s an adjective you’ve been defined by?
- Cher – Optimistic.
- Carol – Tireless or the most energetic
Shorty after we conducted this interview with Cher and Carol it was announced that Joe Biden’s administration had hired an all-female communications team led by Kate Bedingfield as Communications Director. Jen Psaki, a longtime Democratic spokeswoman, will be his Press Secretary. | https://www.princanada.com/2021/01/13/how-kamala-harris-is-changing-the-landscape-for-women-today-and-tomorrow/ |
A Q&A with Dr. Ben Danielson, Mark Fadool and Dr. Nat Jungblut
The majority of children will experience a potentially traumatic event during childhood, but only some of them will develop clinically significant distress.
Identifying and supporting children who have been negatively affected by trauma is crucial to their emotional and physical health.
Primary care providers have a unique opportunity to recognize families experiencing post-traumatic stress and offer them support. We’ve brought together three experts to help: Dr. Ben Danielson, senior medical director of the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic (OBCC); Mark Fadool, clinical director of Mental Health Services at OBCC; and Dr. Nat Jungbluth, a clinical psychologist working on a Washington state-funded pilot program to offer behavioral health services to youth and families in the Tri-Cities.
How does trauma affect a child’s health?
Dr. Danielson: The CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, published in 1998, recognized a direct correlation between 10 stressful experiences – termed Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) – and health outcomes. These experiences include: physical, verbal or sexual abuse; substance abuse by family members; parent separation or divorce; witnessing domestic violence; depression in a family; and a family member in prison, among others.
The study demonstrated that the more ACEs a person experiences during childhood, the more severe and the more frequent illnesses they are likely to suffer as a child and into adulthood.
We see evidence of that every day at OBCC. Of all the families we treat, African-American kids have asthma two or three times more frequently and three or four times more severely than kids from other backgrounds, especially for those kids who faced more ACEs.
Interestingly, ACEs do not include poverty as a stressful event in itself. Anyone can experience a number of ACEs and have it affect their health, but poverty is an amplifier of those ACEs, and so is racism or other forms of oppression.
What are the effects of medical trauma?
Dr. Jungbluth: As providers, we don’t always recognize that trauma can occur in medical settings. Experiencing pain, being separated from caregivers, seeing an injury to their body, being exposed to frightening medical equipment, seeing other sick or injured kids or being afraid of dying can all be traumatic
Parents or caregivers also develop post-traumatic stress related to medical trauma that their kids experience. It can challenge their basic beliefs about the safety of their child and disrupt the family’s daily life.
Any trauma, when it leads to post-traumatic stress (PTS), can interfere with participation in medical care, adherence to a treatment program and overall recovery.
But there are things medical providers can do to prevent PTS or respond to it. These include effectively managing pain; providing the child and family information about what is happening and choices during medical interventions, when possible; asking about and addressing worries or fears; and checking the child’s understanding and clarifying misconceptions.
How can providers identify children who have experienced trauma?
Dr. Danielson: There are three things providers should consider. First, the ACEs questionnaire is an easy, 10-question screening tool that any provider can incorporate into their practice to understand the experiences a child has faced.
Second, it’s important for all healthcare providers to return to basics. A lot of the care that we aspire to provide cannot be done unless we first understand and address people’s basic needs. You can’t expect a family to adhere to treatment recommendations if they’re hungry all the time or don’t know where they’re going to sleep at night. By addressing these basic needs, you can build a trusting relationship with a family and create an opportunity to address past trauma.
Lastly, we owe it to our families to be steeped in an understanding of historical and intergenerational trauma, such as the effects of racism on different communities. If you don’t understand the generation-by-generation trauma that’s happened to somebody and only look at them in the moment, you’re going to miss something that their DNA has been exposed to. You don’t know what a family is carrying with them when they come to see you, and you’re doing a disservice if you don’t try to find out.
Is it feasible for pediatricians to include a trauma screening in primary care appointments?
Dr. Danielson: Providers need to consider what is most important to the families they serve. At OBCC, we believe an approach that seeks to better understand a patient’s history and needs is a better use of limited-time appointments than many of the non-evidence-based recommendations and expectations layered upon primary care practices.
What is the value in helping a child understand how their trauma affects their health and behavior?
Fadool: Children’s responses to trauma are vastly diverse. Some want to duck and cover, while others scream and yell and throw things. It is important to create a trusting, loving, compassionate environment for families to tell their story, rather than prejudge their behavior.
Much of trauma work is being able to get the trauma out, tell the story and then slowly take control of it. Until a child can do that, the trauma will control them.
Dr. Jungbluth: Children who have experienced trauma may be concerned about why it happened or place blame on themselves or others in a way that is detrimental. They may have concerns about how the experience is going to affect their future.
But by reflecting on a trauma, they might see it differently. Sharing their experience can help them contextualize it, recognizing that it is a part of their life but it does not have to define their life. We can help them recognize that they’re not alone and that their reactions are reasonable.
How important is it to integrate mental health into primary care?
Fadool: We talk a lot about integrating mental health support into primary care so that all practitioners have the time to ask open-ended questions and hear a family’s story. But more importantly, we’ve learned that the integration of principles and concepts – having medical staff who feel comfortable talking about mental health issues – is the key to de-stigmatizing mental health and persuading families to accept a referral.
What are some of the factors that affect a child’s resilience in the face of trauma?
Dr. Danielson: Relationships and a sense of connectedness to a positive adult in a child’s life is one of the most important buffers against any kind of hardship a child might face.
In light of this, providers should spend some time making sure parents – as well as aunts, grandparents, uncles, coaches, community center managers, etc. – have the tools they need to be a positive and confident support to a child.
Dr. Jungbluth: Children can also benefit from participating in age-appropriate activities, returning to school, reconnecting with friends and general self-care.
How does a child’s trauma affect their parents? How can we involve caregivers in strengthening a family’s resiliency?
Dr. Jungbluth: Parents experience their child’s traumas very powerfully – in some cases resulting in even greater PTS than their kids have. So, we need to pay attention to how the entire family is coping when a trauma occurs.
Fadool: Sometimes, if a parent has experienced a trauma, their child will later experience the same trauma. This is often the case when a person is exposed to domestic violence.
The hard thing is, we’re asking parents to develop super skills in order to help a child who’s faced a lot of trauma. If that parent has also faced a lot of trauma, it’s a lot to ask of them.
But I see the strength in anyone who comes to the clinic and is courageous enough to share their story. It takes some work, but if you are able to uncover a family’s strengths, you can leverage that.
What should the role of primary care providers be in caring for families who have experienced trauma?
Dr. Danielson: Primary care providers can leverage well-child visits as a platform for a broader embrace of families. While these appointments can be highly structured, providers can use the time creatively to connect with broader parts of a family, integrate mental health services or connect a family to basic needs resources.
I also encourage providers to find ways to work outside their walls as pediatricians, for a few reasons:
- First, you might have some knowledge about trauma to share with teachers, WIC certifiers, community center staff and other people working with kids and families in the community.
- Second, you might learn more about your community and the kinds of trauma that kids are exposed to, even if they don’t show up on a questionnaire.
- Finally, you build trust when people see you out in the community. It shows that you care, that you’re paying attention and that you want to do a little more than the reach of your stethoscope.
How can providers reach families outside of the clinic?
Fadool: For families who can’t make it to OBCC very often, or at all, we try to make sure they can get helpful information on their cell phone. One tool we use is the VROOM app through the Bezos Foundation. It’s a free, birth-to-three app with scientific parenting information. The misnomer we’ve heard through the years is that poor people will not access technology and don’t want to know the science behind good parenting, but that’s erroneous.
A few years ago, I started a program in partnership with the Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club to address the community’s need for mental health support by teaching soccer coaches social and emotional skills they can incorporate into training and games.
A lot of the kids they coach would have a very difficult time coming to our clinic, so they’ve been able to reach many more people than we could in our practice.
I also lead a program called “Promoting First Relationships.” It is an evidence-based curriculum for service providers to help parents and other caregivers meet the social and emotional needs of young children. The program gives professionals who work with caregivers and young children (0 to 3) the knowledge, tools and strategies to guide and support caregivers in building nurturing and responsive relationships with children.
One lovely aspect of this program is that it is usually provided in the family’s home at a time that works for the family. This is a powerful message of how valued the family is while recognizing the amount of stress families with infants and toddlers often experience.
What advice would you offer to providers who are feeling overwhelmed by this problem?
Dr. Danielson: Aspects of medical training and indoctrination inadvertently lead to providers wanting to only hear problems for which they have clear solutions. A lot that is very understandable – we feel like we can diminish trust with our community if we hear about issues and we’re not able to help. But it is critical that providers ask questions that we don’t have the solutions for. That is how creative and innovative ideas are generated.
I have faith that a genuine desire to help and to ask questions, even when you don’t know the answers, is actually a trust-building moment, not a trust-eroding moment, in your interactions with families.
Additionally, I believe that one of the greatest reforms we need in our healthcare system is the championing of quality over quantity. We should not be focusing on the number of people we see per hour, but on the impact we can have on the people we see. And that is a time conversation. That’s a conversation about having the time to listen.
How can clinic staff members be prepared to care for children and families who have experienced trauma?
Dr. Fadool: If you’re going to have a trauma-informed program, all staff have to be informed about what that means. That means security, facility, front desk staff, MAs, DAs, everybody. Especially front desk staff, because they see so many families and have a great opportunity to make amazing impact checking a family in. At OBCC, we have found that when staff receive the tools to provide trauma-informed care, they feel much more satisfied with their position.
Local resources:
- Harborview Sexual Assault and Traumatic Stress
- Mary Bridge Child Abuse Intervention Department (Tacoma area)
- Providence Intervention Center for Assault and Abuse concurrent with Compass Mental Health (Everett area)
- King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (South King County)
Additional information on trauma impacts to health:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Information about ACEs, the original ACE Study and other resources
- ACEs Connection, a social network focused on responses to toxic stress.
- Center for the Developing Child at Harvard University
- Center for Youth Wellness, San Francisco
- “The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity,” by Nadine Burke-Harris
- TED Talk by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris.
- Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities, a network of 14 sites around the country developing trauma-informed responses at the community level. | https://providernews.seattlechildrens.org/identifying-and-caring-for-children-who-have-experienced-trauma/ |
white blood cell
Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
n. Any of various blood cells that have a nucleus and cytoplasm, separate into a thin white layer when whole blood is centrifuged, and help protect the body from infection and disease. White blood cells include neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, lymphocytes, and monocytes. Also called leukocyte, white cell, white corpuscle.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
n. A type of blood cell that is involved with an immune response, or part of the immune system.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
| |
Dear Students, Respected Parents;
The main goal of OSTIM Technical University, which aims to be the "University of Industry," is to train graduates to be able to transform science and technology into practice. We will achieve this goal through our close cooperation with the business world, industry and the public sector. These advantages will allow us to play an active role in the sectors of industry and the economy, which we prioritize by supporting the infrastructure for education, research applications and required equipment at levels required by international standards.
Our university has adopted the fundamental principle of creating qualified human capital for the future of Turkey. In line with this principle, we will make every effort to educate individuals at our university in the knowledge and competencies required by the [businehumass not an accepted term; just use “competitive business world of the present and future”] —equipped with a broad vision, able to learn on the job, to ask and seek answers, to imagine, to create innovative designs and produce what they have designed, to display entrepreneurial spirit, to have teamwork skills, to take responsibility when necessary, and always to strive for professional competence. We will make every effort to ensure that our students become individuals with a high degree of cultural awareness and humanitarian values, who are beneficial to society.
OSTİM Technical University is a “third generation” university. While “second generation” universities emphasized scientific research and education as a consequence of the division of labor after the 18th century, it was left to companies to implement the knowledge that had been developed into their production and business practice. This situation resulted in a decrease of university-company cooperation, and the distance between them gradually increased. The “third generation,” or “entrepreneurial university,” has an approach that eliminates these solid walls for the benefit of society and places the university together with business and industry at the center of the production and innovation process.
In the age in which we live, “education” is not limited to training students in theoretical practice. It also aims to enable students and academicians to increase their capacity to develop patents, utility models, industrial designs and brands based on a university-industry collaborative framework and, as a primary goal, aims at innovation, economic contribution and commercialization through entrepreneurship. In this regard, with an “entrepreneurial university” approach, we will configure, in coordination with industry, our activities in the field of science and technology to provide an added value to our country's economy. We will work to develop our region and country, both by producing unique projects and solutions, and by developing the necessary mechanisms to enable their application and commercialization. With the knowledge produced by our strong academic staff, we will race to become one of the leading global universities in our field.
I wish all success to our students and to our academic and administrative staff.
Best Regards, | https://www.ostimteknik.edu.tr/rectorate-817 |
San Francisco, June 2007 – As increasing numbers of advisors choose to leave traditional financial services companies and start independent firms, Schwab Institutional has created a new advisory council designed to help ensure that transitioning advisors’ needs are being met. All members of the council have been through the transition process within the past several years and will be available to consult with advisors who are considering starting or joining an independent investment advisory business. Council members will also provide insight and feedback on Schwab Institutional’s current services and potential future offerings.
most time-consuming elements of transition.
At the first meeting of the new council last month in Austin, TX, council members cited technology implementation as the most time-consuming part of their transition. Among the services that Schwab Institutional offers in this area are technology consultants who can help advisors select the right technology for their firms and share best practices based on Schwab Institutional’s 20 years of working with advisors. The second most time-consuming transition element was activity relating to legal and compliance requirements.
In the past year, Schwab Institutional has introduced a number of other new services designed to help advisors transitioning to independence. These include a relationship with Cambridge Investment Research that provides advisors with an integrated solution for managing both their fee-based and commission-based assets, financing capabilities to help new advisors with start-up expenses, and new partnerships to provide real estate services and errors and omissions insurance. In addition, Schwab has created dedicated service teams to help ease the transition process. In 2006 alone, this service team assisted in opening approximately 20,000 new accounts on behalf of advisors. | https://www.camdencapital.com/recognition/founder-joins-schwab-advisory-council/ |
Introduction
============
The sarcomeric α-actinin's (actinin-2 and -3) are major components of the skeletal muscle Z-line and were thought to provide structural support during muscle contraction. We now know that they are also key adaptor proteins interacting with many structural, signaling and metabolic proteins.^[@bib1]^ In both humans and mice, α-actinin-2 is ubiquitously expressed in all muscle fibers, whereas α-actinin-3 (encoded by the *ACTN3* gene) has evolved to be predominantly expressed in fast (type 2) glycolytic muscle fibers. We identified a common null polymorphism in the *ACTN3* gene (R577X); homozygosity for the X-allele (577XX) results in the complete absence of α-actinin-3 in 16--18% of the global population.^[@bib2],\ [@bib3]^ The absence of α-actinin-3 (577XX) significantly influences skeletal muscle function in both elite athletes and the general population;^[@bib4],\ [@bib5]^ specifically, α-actinin-3 deficiency is detrimental to sprint performance, and is associated with reduced muscle strength and mass.
To further understand the role of α-actinin-3 in skeletal muscle, an *Actn3* knockout (KO) mouse has been developed that replicates many of the phenotypes reported in humans.^[@bib6],\ [@bib7],\ [@bib8]^ Compared to WT, *Actn3* KO mice show lower total body weight (due to a reduction in muscle mass as a result of smaller type 2B fiber size), along with reduced grip strength and increased endurance capacity.^[@bib6],\ [@bib7]^ Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in young *Actn3* KO mice also shows a reduction in bone mineral density (BMD), and fat-free mass, while total fat mass in the KO is maintained.^[@bib9]^ α-Actinin-3 deficiency results in altered skeletal muscle metabolism, with decreased glycogen phosphorylase activity and a shift in the metabolic profile of fast glycolytic fibers towards a 'slower' oxidative phenotype without a change in fiber type.^[@bib1]^
Human association studies exploring the effect of *ACTN3* genotype on body mass and obesity have provided mixed results. One study assessed body composition by DXA in 848 adults (*n*=454 men and 394 women, aged 22--90 years) found that α-actinin-3 deficiency was associated with reduced fat-free muscle mass, total body weight, BMI and total body fat mass in women.^[@bib10]^ A second study of Caucasian men (*n*=100, aged 60--70 years) found no significant difference in body mass or fat-free mass with *ACTN3* genotype, but results for fat mass were not discussed.^[@bib11]^ A third study in adolescent boys, which used skin fold measurement as an estimation of body fat, also found no correlation between *ACTN3* genotype and fat mass.^[@bib4]^ Most recently, an investigation into the effect of *ACTN3* genotype in overweight males and females (*n*=177, 58--63 years, BMI \>29 kg m^−2^) highlighted a higher proportion of α-actinin-3-deficient type 2 diabetic individuals compared to normal glucose tolerance (NGT) controls (577XX 24 T2D vs 12% NGT).^[@bib12]^ However, a lack of congruent studies, small cohort sizes, wide age ranges and differences in methods used to assess body composition and adiposity make it difficult to determine a clear effect of *ACTN3* genotype in these studies.
Results and discussion
======================
Skeletal muscle is a fundamental metabolic 'organ' making up the largest individual body mass fraction in non-obese adults, and accounting for \~40% of total body mass in men and 33% in women.^[@bib13]^ Genetic variants, which influence skeletal muscle metabolism and energy expenditure, such as the *ACTN3* R577X, may also affect 'whole body' metabolic phenotypes such as obesity. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified up to 77 obesity-susceptibility loci,^[@bib14]^ although supporting evidence (in the form of replication studies and functional validation) is available for very few. For this reason, the use of hypothesis-driven candidate analyses to assess the functional impacts of known genetic variants remains a vital tool in the search for genetic factors that contribute to obesity.
Since α-actinin-3 deficiency is common in the general population (\~1.5 billion individuals worldwide) and its absence results in a significant shift in muscle metabolism, we sought to determine whether *ACTN3* genotype influences weight gain and the risk of obesity in large well-characterized human cohorts. In addition, using the two different *Actn3* KO mouse strains, we further examined the effect of a HFD (45% calories from fat) to examine the impact of *Actn3* genotype on weight gain, while controlling for variations in environment, diet and genetic background/ethnicity.
Following high fat-feeding (HFF), both 129X1/SvJ and C57BL/6J mouse strains show a significant increase in body weight, compared to CHOW-fed control mice ([Figure 1a, f--i](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}). Weight gain was significantly reduced in female 129X1/SvJ *Actn3* KO ([Figures 1a--e](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}). This difference in body weight was due to a significantly lower lean mass ([Figure 1c](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}) and a trend towards lower fat mass ([Figure 1d](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}, *P*=0.0533). Isolated fat pads and skeletal muscle (gastrocnemius) weights highlight the reduction in lean mass and fat mass in the female 129X1/SvJ *Actn3* KO HFF mice compared to WT HFF ([Figure 1e](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}). In addition, *Actn3* KO HFF 129X1/SvJ male mice also show reduced body weight compared to WT HFF mice ([Figure 1f](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}). This suggests that α-actinin-3 deficiency is protective against weight gain on a HFD in the 129X1/SvJ mouse strain. We repeated this analysis in two separate C57BL/6J *Actn3* cohorts fed with a HFD, generated by either specialty feeds (Cohort 1; [Figures 1g and h](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}) or the Garvan Institute (Cohort 2, [Figure 1i](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}). Significant increases in body weight compared to CHOW-fed controls were demonstrated in both the cohorts ([Figures 1h and i](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}). However, no differences in weight gain were observed when comparing WT and *Actn3* KO mice in either C57BL/6J cohort.
Technically, the *ACTN3* R577X loss-of-function polymorphism is excluded from GWAS analyses as it is annotated in the *Ensembl* reference gene set as a polymorphic 'pseudogene'.^[@bib15]^ Previous studies have shown mixed results relating to an effect of *ACTN3* genotype on traits like BMI and body weight. We therefore sought to assess a group of well-annotated human cohorts and the *Actn3* KO mouse to further explore the potential association between *ACTN3* R577X and obesity/weight gain.
We analyzed two case control populations (Ottawa and WTCCC) and three genome-wide association studies (DIAGRAM, GIANT and GIANTextreme) for an effect of *ACTN3* R577X polymorphism. Of the case:control cohorts (Ottawa and WTCCC), there was a lower frequency of obese α-actinin-3-deficient males compared to lean controls (577XX 11 obese vs 25% lean, *P*=0.02) in the Ottawa cohort. However, the larger WTCCC cohort did not show a significant association between *ACTN3* 577X allele and BMI (*P*=0.095). In addition, the most recent GWAS from the DIAGRAM consortium showed no association between the 577X allele, BMI or obesity (*P*=*0.18)*. Similarly, the GIANT consortium cohorts (GIANT and GIANTextreme) failed to highlight a difference in *ACTN3* 577X allele frequency and BMI, waist-to-hip ratio-adjusted BMI (WHRadjBMI) or Obesity class traits (*P*=0.6996; *P*=0.180; *P*=0.075; *P*=0.392, respectively; [Table 1](#tbl1){ref-type="table"}).
These data suggest that *ACTN3* genotype (in both humans and mice) does not strongly influence BMI, weight gain or obesity related traits. However, it is important to consider that the absence of α-actinin-3 (577XX) is a variation in \'normal' muscle function. In elite athletes and the general population, the *ACTN3* 577X allele is thought to account for between \~1--2.3% of the variance in sprint time, respectively.^[@bib4],\ [@bib16]^ With the exception of *FTO*, very few polymorphisms have been consistently linked to the development of complex disorders like weight gain, obesity and T2D. Similarly, it is thought that obesity is the result of a combination of yet to be characterized genes that may influence this phenotype.
In this study, we found that 129X1/SvJ *Actn3* KO mice gained significantly less weight compared to WT on a HFD, despite similar caloric consumption and activity levels (data not shown). However, a similar genotype difference was not observed in the C57BL/6J *Actn3* KO mice. C57BL/6J is a commonly used strain in obesity studies due to their inherent susceptibility to develop obesity, type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis on a HFD, suggesting that this strain may already carry a combination of genetic variants that diminished any contributing effects *ACTN3* may play in obesity. We have previously demonstrated a wide range of other phenotypes attributable to α-actinin-3 deficiency (including reduced grip strength and improved endurance capacity) that robustly reproduced on both the 129X1/SvJ and C57BL/6J genetic backgrounds.^[@bib8]^ In mouse models as in humans, there is considerable variability in the onset and progression of obesity in different mouse strains.^[@bib17]^ While we have controlled for environment and diet in the current study, we propose that differences in genetic background may explain the lack of replication between the two strains.
Differences in genetic background (ethnicity/population diversity) are thought to be a major contributor to identifying and validating the effects of candidate genes in human association studies of obesity. This current analysis focus on European populations. Studies utilizing additional populations (such as East Asians, Hispanic and Pacific Islander nations) may provide additional information currently not captured by this study. It is difficult to control for differences in environment (diet and exercise) as well as variables associated with the techniques used to measure body composition. Large population-based studies attempt to capture this information; however, the commonly used BMI measurement may not be sensitive enough to detect more subtle changes in adiposity. More sensitive physical measures of fat and body mass, such as DXA, may also provide additional insight into the role of α-actinin-3 in body composition in humans.
This current study provides mixed support for a role of *ACTN3* R577X in weight gain/obesity in individuals of European descent. However, this does not exclude a potential role in obesity-related diseases such as chronic heart failure (CHF) and T2D. Recently, the absence of α-actinin-3 has been linked to poor survival in patients with CHF.^[@bib18]^ Similarly, an increase in the frequency of α-actinin-3-deficient individuals has been observed in a small cohort of T2D patients, irrespective of BMI.^[@bib12]^ Tantalizing differences in weight gain (129X1/SvJ *Actn3* KO) and select human cohorts (Ottawa) suggest further analysis will be required before excluding *ACTN3* genotype as a possible genetic modifier of obesity and weight gain.
This research was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia (1002033 and 1062500).
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
{#fig1}
###### Human cohort analyses
*Cohort* *Participants* *No. of individuals* *Trait/effect of ACTN3* *Statistics* *Cohort citation*
---------------------------------------------------- ----------------- ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------- -------------------
*Case: Control populations*
** **Ottawa Age: 33--60 Obesity class III (BMI\>39): Male *P*=0.02 ^[@bib19]^
Obese: BMI=49 *N*=372 obese (36% Male) Reduced frequency in obese XX males (*n*=15) compared to lean controls (*n*=31). No genotype differences between obese XX females (*n*=45) and lean controls (*n*=37). Female *P*=0.5
Lean: BMI=19.4 *N*=372 lean (37% Male)
** **WTCCC Age: 48--69 BMI/no difference between genotypes *P*=0.095 ^[@bib20]^
Obese: BMI \>30 *N*=1924 obese Coefficient of association −0.64,
Lean: BMI \<25 *N*=2938 controls (95% CI −1.4 to −0.112).
*Genome-wide association study (GWAS) populations*
** **Diagram Male *N*=101193 BMI/No difference between genotypes *P*=0.18 ^[@bib21]^
** **GIANT (public dataset) Male *N*=72495 BMI/No difference between genotypes *P*=0.696 ^[@bib22]^
** **GIANT Male *N*=39053 WHRadjBMI/no difference between genotypes *P*=0.180 ^[@bib23]^
** **GIANT (extremes) Male *N*=3062 obese; N=3752 controls WHRadjBMI/no difference between genotypes *P*=0.075 ^[@bib24]^
*N*=1708 obese; *N*=34395 controls Obesity Class III (BMI\>39)/no difference between genotypes *P*=0.392
Abbreviations: BMI, Body mass index; N, number of participants; WHRadjBMI, Waist-to-hip ratio-adjusted BMI.
[^1]: These authors contributed equally to this work.
| |
An inquiry into the government’s connections to Russia is non-partisan and affects the integrity of our democracy. Please fight for an investigation into:
1) Mr. Flynn’s information sharing practices with a foreign power before and after inauguration,
2) Comey’s complacency in these actions,
3) the remaining executive members who shared that knowledge,
4) the extent of that knowledge, and
5) when that knowledge was shared, as well as the full implications of these and other exchanges of information on American security.
On February 1st, U.S. Representative Stephanie Murphy introduced a bill (H.R. 804) to protect the NSC from political interference. This bill will ensure that no individual whose “primary responsibility is political in nature” is assigned to the NSC or authorized to attend NSC meetings, and it stresses that the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have standing invitations to attend Principal Committee meetings. With this bill, Congresswoman Murphy hopes to “…depoliticize national security so that we never jeopardize the safety and security of the American people.
On January 18th, the Department of the Army published the Notice of Intent to require an Environmental Impact Statement in the Federal Register. This is another small victory in defeating the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline.
The fight, however, is still not over.
This notice opens the public scoping phase and invites anyone interested to help them to identify potential issues, concerns, and reasonable alternatives that should be considered in an EIS.
While the EIS is exactly what we called for, we must ensure that it fully takes into consideration tribal treaty rights, natural resources, cultural and sacred places, socio-economical concerns, environmental justice, and the health and wellbeing of those downstream who rely on our drinking water.
We need your continued support as this process moves forward.
The Department of the Army’s Civil Works division will be accepting public comment until February 20th, 2017
| |
daily dispatches
Chiaroscuro: on the ground in Locarno
This content was published on August 7, 2019 12:35 PMAug 7, 2019 - 12:35
Day One
What makes Locarno different? A paradise for film lovers
The Locarno Film Festivalexternal link kicks off today, with a marathon of about 200 movies spread across 10 days during which the city is completely taken over by cinephilia. It is billed as Switzerland’s most prestigious international film festival, run almost without interruption since 1946, and seen in the film world as the “smallest among the greatest”, on par with Cannes, Berlin and Venice.
Eduardo Simantob, swissinfo's editor of Culture, is coordinating the coverage of the festival in collaboration with Locarno's Critics Academy. Here at Chiaroscuro you can find all links to the features and posts published by our team, as well as interviews, daily notes, curiosities and the daily shakes of the festival.
(Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch)
What distinguishes Locarno from these other festivals? First of all, Locarno is not a star-studded event. The celebrity press has little or almost no presence there. Sure, there are always a couple of big personalities, but it is usually someone with unusual takes on the film industry and politics. Last year we had Ethan Hawke, for instance, and this year it is John Waters. Not exactly the kind of people we see regularly in the tabloids. The guests are noticed for what they stand for: their films and their art.
The second difference is that Locarno, the town, is exactly the size of a film festival. This very ancient city (there are signs of human presence since the 14th century BC) counts just about 15,000 inhabitants (55,000 when including the adjacent areas) spread across fewer than five square kilometres of urban space. It's a very cozy environment totally seized by film fever, giving the impression it has no other life apart from the festival. Cannes, Berlin and Venice all keep their normal pace as cities while their festivals are running.
Finally, Locarno has always positioned itself as a privileged platform for arthouse movies. As the smallest among the greatest, it would be suicidal to compete for the most-hyped premieres in the industry (any director or producer will prefer to launch his or her film in Cannes). Instead, Locarno looks for the most unusual cinema. Those films that you will hardly see anywhere, that will probably show a few weeks at an arthouse theater, even though they may be crowd-pleasers. There are Japanese, Korean or Chinese hard-boiled action films, Indian musicals, African stories of all shades, and Latin American sensual, magical realism.
For all these reasons, and many more we will explore here throughout the coming days, Locarno turns into a cinéphile's paradise during ten days each summer, provoking unique effects on visitors’ eyes and perceptions. The blazing heat outside contrasts the fresh air-conditioned movie theatres; welcome to Chiaroscuroexternal link.
We'll have much more from Locarno as the festival gets underway, including dispatches from young critics and perspectives from our team on the ground. Stay tuned.
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Previously we’ve demonstrated—anecdotally—that despots and robots don’t seem to mix well, and whilst people have anxieties over being made redundant through automation and that there are definite trade-offs to be found in unfettered technological progress, tempered by the consul of the past or not, a surprisingly large portion of Europeans recently polled, a solid quarter of respondents, would favour allowing artificial intelligences to craft and execute policy over politicians.
What do you think? We agree that there’s some share of disillusionment and political estrangement contributing to this outlook and the paternalistic bent as well as the tendency to reflect and amplify our worst inclinations to some advancements shouldn’t be ignored—which is why transparency is vitally important—but we suspect there’s also a vote of confidence to be found here as well—that perhaps in coalition with machines, governance could be a fairer and more equitable process. | http://www.perfectforroquefortcheese.org/2019/03/technocracy.html |
There’s a good deal of visual artistry in “Leap!,” a tale of a little orphan’s struggle to fulfill her dream of becoming a dancer. But as with so many foreign-made animated films imported to the United States—it’s a French-Canadian co-production—it seems an unlikely fit with the interests and attitudes of American kids, and will likely bore rather than enchant them, even the little girls who are its most natural audience.
Originally titled “Ballerina,” the picture is set in 1880s France, at least if the fact that both the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower are depicted as under construction means anything. Felicie (voiced in this English version by Elle Fanning) is a vivacious eleven-year old living in an orphanage in Brittany, where her only keepsake from her mother is a little music box featuring a dancing ballerina. She and her best friend, jovial Victor (Nat Wolff), an aspiring inventor who has (like Daedalus) contrived some wings to fly with, plan to escape the watchful eyes of the Mother Superior (Kate McKinnon) and her helper, gruff Luteau (Mel Books), find their way to Paris and achieve their ambitions.
They do, of course, and though getting separated each has some success. After some misadventures, reported in an amusing montage, Victor finds himself on the lowest rung of the staff of the tower’s architect. Felicie, meanwhile, has wormed her way into the Ballet School of the Paris Opera, using an invitation she’s swiped from snooty Camille (Maddie Ziegler), whose supremely nasty mother Regine (McKinnon again) is intent on her daughter’s becoming the place’s star student.
Most of what follows centers on Felicie, with Victor an increasingly supporting character. Even after her imposture is discovered, imperious choreographer Merante (Terrence Scammell) allows her to remain in his class and compete with Camille, who’s apparently inherited her contemptuous attitudes from her mother, to co-star with the reigning prima ballerina in the upcoming “Nutcracker.” She will be trained by Odette (Carly Rae Jepsen), a once-great dancer now reduced by injury to serving as Regine’s housemaid. But her attention is diverted by Rudi (Tamir Kapellan), the handsome but arrogant young male star of the company, and her interest in him makes Victor jealous.
All will come to a head when Regine threatens Felicie directly and Victor must intervene, with his wings, to save her. The last act also features a dance-off between Camille and Felicie that will raise the ultimate question—are you dreaming your dream for the right reason, or just to please others?
“Leap!” can best be seen as a Disneyfied gender-switch on “Billy Elliot,” in which the rough patches have been smoothed over and a princess theme introduced (Felicie is given a tiara as part of her costume for her initial performance). It’s inoffensive but bland, a composite that carefully incorporates elements from other movies into what seems a prefabricated construct rather than something imaginative and innovative. Even the treatment of ballet is tentative: there are snippets of Tchaikovsky, but when pushed the score reverts to the kind of modern pop tunes that marked “Frozen,” assuming that too much classical stuff wouldn’t go down well.
On the other hand, the visuals—especially the backgrounds, as opposed to the character animation or even the dance sequences—is solid CG stuff, and the voice work is fine, though there are some oddities. The original English version featured Dane DeHaan as Victor and Julie Khaner as Regine, and it would be interesting to know why they were replaced by Wolff and McKinnon. (Was it to snuff out any aftereffect from DeHaan’s recent bomb “Valerian”?) And while Ziegler makes a good Camille, an animated movie can’t show her actual dancing skill—for that you’ll need to go to “The Book of Henry.”
“Leap!” is thus a middle-grade animated feature that might appeal to little girls who dream of being princesses or ballerinas, but isn’t distinctive enough to make even them jump with joy. | https://www.oneguysopinion.com/leap/ |
Heal With HaikuPoetry to soothe your soul.
Since I know that many people have a deep fear of risking embarrassment or humiliation and, rarely, if ever, allow themselves to be spontaneously creative, part of the work during my retreats is about inviting each person to learn how to channel the new energy that is awakening in them. One way that is particularly useful—especially during the rest days when everyone has lots of time to relax and self-reflect—is to explore writing, including writing poetry.
Writing, of course, is a powerful way to creatively channel emotion and feeling, or to give life to your perceptions and ideas. If you allow yourself to pursue writing, what matters is that you are willing to risk the creative process—that you are willing to make the effort to challenge yourself. What doesn’t matter is whether what you write is “good” by anyone’s standards, including your own.
Here is what I suggest to the participants in my retreats and seminars, and you can explore it for yourself if you wish (note that you will need a notebook or journal of some kind): Spend some time sitting in one place, outside in nature if possible, and notice as much as you can about that tiny piece of the world. Next, write a poem, drawing inspiration from what you observe in your environment and giving written voice to your inner state.
You may want to start by composing a haiku, a form of Japanese poetry that uses 17 morae or sound phrases (what we would call syllables, although it is not quite identical) organized in three lines of 5-7-5 syllables. Here is an example of a haiku, using one of my own creations:
The bird’s darting flight
Insects caught for hungry mouths
Death renewing life
Poetry in general and haiku in particular are ways of reaching to the core of your seeing, both outwardly and inwardly, and then translating that into a mode that uses words. It is a way of conveying through language precise images while sensing a larger theme that unites those particular images.
In my book Inside-Out Healing, you have seen how often it is words, and stories in particular, that get you into trouble. In the writing that I propose you explore, words can also be redeeming. You can practice using haiku, or some form of metaphorical expression, to learn to channel your inner world—to express creatively whatever feelings or states of being you may spontaneously find yourself in—instead of letting the ego take it over.
If you are feeling lonely, instead of writing “I am lonely,” or trying to write about being lonely and thereby identifying more with it, you can let loneliness initiate a poem. You can choose images from the world around you that help you write about loneliness metaphorically.
You might observe a solitary tree and start with that as a symbol for loneliness. Then perhaps you can see that the tree isn’t really alone and maybe write: “A solitary tree / never refusing the sun’s warmth / uncomplaining in the wind / in solemn dignity stands / a lone sentinel beneath the ever-changing sky.” This is a poetic way to let your inner world and outer world begin to unite in creative collaboration. It is a kind of intimate dance of impressions and feelings translated into words that allows new associations and movements of feeling and appreciation for life and for yourself. Not only have you prevented yourself from plunging into loneliness, but you have also creatively channeled that feeling and allowed it to lead you to a new space.
This is something you can do anywhere: you can stay present and take even the most vulnerable feelings and let them become the inspiration for a poem, drawing, or song. One of the most powerful things is to speak or sing out loud and hear you own voice giving expression to a feeling without collapsing into that feeling.
This is what songwriters do: they start from their own passion or angst or outrage. The best songs speak of feelings that we all understand and put them into some kind of context we recognize. You can learn to write your own poems or sing your own songs and hear your voice discovering the words you didn’t know you would say or sing until they started flowing forth from you.
One simple guideline is very important: avoid using the words I or me. This means that you do not refer to yourself in the first person. By not using the first person, there is less identification with what is written or said. If you want to write about yourself, refer to yourself as “he” or “she,” “him” or “her,” or use your name. This gives you distance, as if you are looking at yourself instead of caught up in yourself. | https://www.healyourlife.com/heal-with-haiku |
When I was a kid living in an apartment on Ohio Street in Bangor, camping and hiking were a way of life. It’s what we did on weekends and vacations. My parents took my brothers and me on trips to nearby state parks and Acadia National Park on weekends. Camping trips at Cobscook Bay State Park and Baxter State Park were for longer vacations.
Now, those trips are an important part of our family memories. We like to look through faded photographs and relive the experiences we had together – fighting the mosquitoes and black flies, complaining about the leaky canvas tent in the rain, learning how to build campfires, swimming in ice cold lakes, digging clams, and enjoying the splendid views. I can’t imagine a childhood without these experiences.
Turns out these outdoor activities are good for our mental health, and reducing stress, not to mention the benefits of being physically active outdoors. Being outside is especially good for children, giving them confidence and bolstering creativity as they explore new places on their own.
This is why preserving Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument is so important. We need protected places where we know we can always go to hike, breathe fresh air, rest our bones, recharge our batteries, and commune with the universe.
There is nothing more valuable to our state than our vast stretches of undeveloped land, both along the coast and in the interior. Indeed, these vast areas define us as a state. The unorganized territories, where the National Monument is located, are especially important. They are like no other area in New England – no local government, few paved roads, and virtually no economic development.
The Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument is important, and so are other National Monuments in other states. National Monuments generate a love of nature, a love of place, and a love of our country. They help create pride in who we are as Americans. They bring us together as a nation, something we need now more than ever. We need more, not fewer National Monuments. | http://awebb.bangordailynews.com/2017/05/22/home/tell-the-feds-to-protect-the-katahdin-woods-and-waters-national-monument/ |
Yeh Hai Chahatein 7th June 2022 Written Update: Revati Outsmarts Preesha; Preesha To Search Revati's House
The upcoming episodes of the StarPlus popular show Yeh Hai Chahatein are all set for an intense drama and interesting twists.
At the beginning of today's Yeh Hai Chahatein 7th June 2022 episode, Rudra brings Preesha to a Lamaze class saying that they will both learn how to take care of their baby.
Also Read:
Preesha offers to teach him while Rudra says that they will do it together and makes her join the class.
Afterwards, Preesha keeps telling Rudra about his incorrect breathing techniques.
Rudra feels annoyed thinking that he can't do anything right while Preesha comforts him by saying that she will teach him the technique correctly.
Later, Rudra takes Preesha on a romantic date but she doesn't get impressed saying that it is nothing new.
When Rudra and Preesha return home, they see Sharda changing the mattresses. Sharda informs them that Revati complained about having bedbugs.
Preesha suspects that Revati is about to do something and goes towards the stairs when suddenly her foot slips on the oil lying on the floor.
Just then, Revati immediately throws the mattress near Preesha and saves her from falling to the ground.
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Revati Outsmarts Preesha
Rudra thanks Revati for again saving Preesha and their child after which he takes Preesha to their room to rest.
Meanwhile, Revati picks up Preesha's phone and recalls how she purposefully spilt the oil on the ground to make her plan a success.
Afterwards, Revati returns the phone to Rudra and manipulates him to persuade Preesha not to attend the concert.
Also Read:
YHC 4th June 2022 Written Update
Later, Preesha stays at home while all the family members go to the concert.
Preesha gets a call from Armaan who requests her to come to the Regency Hotel to pacify Anvi as she came to know about his cancer ailment and Preesha agrees to come.
Later, at the concert, Revati praises Rudra for his performance while he informs her that he is trying to call Preesha however the call gets cut after the first ring.
Revati pretends to worry and tells Rudra to call Preesha again and put it on speaker after which she tells him that Preesha has blocked his number.
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Revati further informs Rudra that she had secretly installed a tracking app on Preesha's phone as a safety precaution.
Revati traces Preesha’s location and informs Rudra that Preesha is at the Regency hotel and persuades him to go there to check on her.
Meanwhile, Revati recalls how she blocked Rudra’s number on Preesha’s phone and downloaded the tracking app too.
Episode Ends!
Preesha To Search Revati's House
In the upcoming episode, we will see that Preesha asks Rudra how he knew she was in the hotel, to which he replies that Revati had installed a tracking app on her phone.
Later, Preesha informs Rudra that Revati has got Gopal kidnapped. Preesha searches Revati's house in order to find Gopal and asks Revati to open the storeroom door.
You can also follow us on our Facebook page to get more interesting updates. | https://english.rocknroll.in/2022/06/yeh-hai-chahatein-7th-june-2022-written.html |
The third volume of «Studies on Balkan and Near Eastern Social Sciences» is a collection of empirical and theoretical research papers in the social sciences regarding the Balkans and the Near East written by researchers from several different universities and institutions. The book addresses economic, financial, political, sociological, international relations, health, cultural, and feminist issues in the region of the Balkan and Near East. The book is aimed at educators, researchers, and students interested in the Balkan and Near Eastern countries.
Tolerance Matters for the Prosperity of Nations
Extract
Introduction
When we look at the developments in world history, it is observed that openness to differences and respecting for diversity attitudes of some societies play an important role in their economic development. There are very few studies on the effect of tolerance, which is measured as a positive attitude towards differences, on economic welfare. For example, Corneo and Jeanne (2009) provided a useful theoretical contribution to the understanding of tolerance by developing a theoretical framework as such lifestyles and personality traits are values that symbolize the individual. There are empirical studies that argue that cultural diversity and openness (tolerance) have a positive effect on innovations and thus economic development. The strongest support for the relationship between cultural openness and economic growth is provided by the studies of Inglehart (1989, 1997). In his other studies, he argued that different lifestyles were not welcomed and countries that did not favor a woman’s work tend to remain economically backward and ruled by authoritarian regimes (Inglehart and Baker, 2000; Inglehart and Welzel, 2005). Similarly, Florida (2002a and 2003) proposes a hypothesis that regions that welcome differences and are more culturally diverse have an advantage for attracting talented and creative people who are the engine of innovation and economic growth. Mokyr (1990: 12), in his historical research on technological progress, claims that even innovation requires diversity and tolerance.
Based on the thesis of Florida (2003), in this study tolerance is defined as openness, inclusiveness, and diversity to different...
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This specification is directed generally to ranking modifications of a previous query, such as modifications of a previous query that are based on a current query.
Internet search engines provide information about Internet accessible documents such as web pages, images, text documents, and/or multimedia content. A search engine may identify the documents in response to a user's search query that includes one or more search terms. The search engine ranks the documents based on the relevance of the documents to the query and the importance of the documents and provides search results that include aspects of and/or link to the identified documents. The user's search query may optionally be modified and such modified search query utilized in identifying one or more of the documents. For example, a misspelling in a search query may be corrected to create a modified search query and such modified search query utilized in identifying one or more of the documents. Also, for example, a term in a search query may be replaced with a synonym of that term to create a modified search query and such modified search query utilized in identifying one or more of the documents.
The present disclosure is directed to methods and apparatus for ranking modifications of a previous query. For example, modifications of a previous query may be generated based on a current query issued subsequent to the previous query. For example, modifications of the previous query may be generated based on substituting one or more n-grams of the previous query with one or more n-grams of the current query. For example, the previous query may be [weather tomorrow] and the current query may be [how about on tuesday]. Modifications of the previous query may be generated by substituting the n-gram “tuesday” with each term of the previous query to form the modifications [tuesday tomorrow] and [weather tuesday]. Modifications of the previous query may additionally and/or alternatively be generated by substituting the n-gram “on tuesday” with each term of the previous query to form the modifications [on tuesday tomorrow], [weather on tuesday]. One or more measures of each of the modifications may be identified and, based on such measures, a ranking of each of the modifications may be determined. At least one of the modifications may be selected as a submission query based on the rankings of the modifications. The selected modification may be submitted in lieu of, or in addition to, the current query.
In some implementations a computer implemented method may be provided that includes the steps of: receiving a current query including a plurality of current query terms; determining, based on one or more of the current query terms, that the current query is indicative of an intent of the user to refine a query; determining a previous query associated with the current query, the previous query including a plurality of previous query terms and issued prior to the current query by at least one of a computing device and a user that issued the current query; determining a modification n-gram based on one or more of the current query terms; generating modifications of the previous query that each include the modification n-gram substituted for one or more of the previous query terms; identifying, for each modification of multiple of the modifications: a popularity measure and a related concept measure, wherein the popularity measure is indicative of the popularity of the modification and the related concept measure is indicative of a likelihood of co-occurrence, in one or more documents, of the modification n-gram and the one or more previous query terms replaced by the modification n-gram in the modification; determining a ranking for each of the multiple of the modifications, wherein the ranking of the modification is based on the popularity measure for the modification and the related concept measure of the modification; and selecting one modification of the modifications to utilize as a submission query when the ranking of the one modification is more prominent than at least the rankings of the other modifications.
This method and other implementations of technology disclosed herein may each optionally include one or more of the following features.
The method may further include submitting the one modification to a query system in place of the current query. The query system may be a search system, and the method may further include: determining search results responsive to the one modification; and providing the search results to the user.
The method may further include: determining, for at least a first modification of the modifications, a query pattern of the first modification; wherein the popularity measure for the first modification includes a query pattern popularity measure indicative of the popularity of the query pattern of the first modification. Determining the query pattern of the first modification may include: determining a category of an n-gram in the first modification; and substituting the n-gram with an identifier of the category.
In determining the ranking of each of the multiple of the modifications, the ranking of the modification may be boosted when the modification n-gram of the modification and the one or more previous query terms replaced by the modification n-gram in the modification are both indicative of geographic locations.
The method may further include: identifying a current query popularity measure indicative of the popularity of the current query based on previous queries; and determining a ranking for the current query based on the current query popularity measure, wherein selecting the one modification of the modifications to utilize as a submission query occurs only when the ranking of the one modification is also more prominent than the ranking for the current query. The method may further include: selecting the current query to utilize as the submission query when the ranking for the current query is more prominent than the rankings of the other modifications. The method may further include: applying a boost in determining the ranking of the current query, wherein the ranking of the current query relative to the modifications is promoted by the boost. The method may further include: utilizing a default measure for the current query for the related concept measure of the current query and determining the ranking for the current query based on the default measure.
The previous query and the current query may be provided via spoken input of the user. Determining the current query is indicative of a potential intent of the user to refine the previous query may be based on the previous query and the current being provided via spoken input of the user.
Determining the current query is indicative of a potential intent of the user to refine the previous query may be based on determining the current query includes one or more refinement intent n-grams.
The method may further include: determining a second modification n-gram based on one or more of the current query terms; generating additional modifications of the previous query that each include the second modification n-gram substituted for one or more of the previous query terms; identifying the popularity measure and the related concept measure for each of multiple of the additional modifications; and determining a ranking for each of the multiple of the additional modifications, wherein the ranking of each additional modification of the additional modifications is based on the popularity measure for the additional modification and the related concept measure of the additional modification; wherein selecting the one modification of the modifications to utilize as a submission query occurs only when the ranking of the one modification is also more prominent than the rankings of the additional modifications. The method may further include: determining that a matching one of the additional modifications includes the same terms in the same order as a matching one of the modifications; and determining a combined ranking of the matching one of the additional modifications and the matching one of the modifications, the combined ranking being more prominent than an individual ranking of either of the matching one of the additional modifications.
In some implementations a computer implemented method may be provided that includes the steps of: receiving a current query including a plurality of current query terms; determining, based on one or more of the current query terms, that the current query is indicative of an intent of the user to refine a query; determining a modification n-gram based on one or more of the current query terms; generating modifications of the previous query that each include the modification n-gram substituted for one or more of the previous query terms; determining candidate queries, the candidate queries including multiple of the generated modifications and including the current query; identifying, for each candidate query of the candidate queries: a popularity measure, wherein the popularity measure is indicative of the popularity of the candidate query based on previous queries; determining a ranking of each of the candidate queries, wherein the ranking of a given candidate query is based on the popularity measure for the given candidate query; and selecting one candidate query of the candidate queries to utilize as a submission query, the selecting based on the ranking of the one candidate query.
This method and other implementations of technology disclosed herein may each optionally include one or more of the following features.
The method may further include applying a boost in determining the ranking of the current query, wherein the ranking of the current query relative to the modifications is promoted by the boost.
The method may further include determining the ranking for each modification of the modifications of the candidate queries based on one or more measures indicative of a relationship between the modification n-gram of the modification and the previous query terms replaced by the modification n-gram in the modification. The method may further include determining the ranking of the current query based on one or more default measures provided for the current query in lieu of the one or more measures. The method may further include applying a boost in determining the ranking of the current query, wherein the ranking of the current query relative to the modifications is promoted by the boost.
Other implementations may include a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a processor to perform a method such as one or more of the methods described herein. Yet another implementation may include a system including memory and one or more processors operable to execute instructions, stored in the memory, to perform a method such as one or more of the methods described herein.
Particular implementations of the subject matter described herein generate modifications of a previous query based on a current query issued subsequent to the previous query. Such modifications represent new aspects of the previous query and may be utilized to determine a submission query to be submitted in lieu of, or in addition to, the current query. Particular implementations of the subject matter described herein determine rankings for generated modifications of a previous query based on a current query issued subsequent to the previous query, and/or determine a ranking for the current query. Such rankings represent new aspects of the modifications and/or of the current query and may be utilized to select at least one of the modifications and/or the current query to submit in response to the user issuing the current query.
It should be appreciated that all combinations of the foregoing concepts and additional concepts discussed in greater detail herein are contemplated as being part of the inventive subject matter disclosed herein. For example, all combinations of claimed subject matter appearing at the end of this disclosure are contemplated as being part of the inventive subject matter disclosed herein.
The present disclosure is directed to methods and apparatus for ranking modifications of a previous query. Modifications of a previous query may be generated based on a current query issued subsequent to the previous query. For example, modifications of the previous query may be generated based on substituting one or more n-grams of the previous query with one or n-grams of the current query. For example, the previous query may be [weather tomorrow] and the current query may be [how about on tuesday]. Modifications of the previous query may be generated by substituting the n-gram “tuesday” with each term of the previous query to form the modifications [tuesday tomorrow] and [weather tuesday]. Modifications of the previous query may additionally and/or alternatively be generated by substituting the n-gram “on tuesday” with each term of the previous query to form the modifications [on tuesday tomorrow] and [weather on tuesday].
One or more measures of each of the modifications may be identified and, based on such measures, a ranking of each of the modifications may be determined. For example, for each modification, one or more of a prior query popularity measure, a query pattern popularity measure, a related concept measure, a category measure, an atomic concept measure, a location measure, and/or a synonym measure may be identified. Additional description of each of the aforementioned measures is provided herein. The ranking for each modification may be based on one or more of such measures and/or additional measures. At least one of the modifications may be selected as a submission query based on the ranking of the modification. For example, for a previous query of [weather tomorrow] and a current query [how about on tuesday], the modification [weather on tuesday] may be determined to be the highest ranked modification. Based on the modification [weather on tuesday] being the highest ranked modification, it may be issued in lieu of, or in addition to, the current query [how about on tuesday]. Thus, in implementations where the modification is issued to a search system, search results responsive to the modification [weather on tuesday] may be provided in response to the user issuing the current query [how about on Tuesday] subsequent to issuing the previous query [weather tomorrow].
In some implementations a ranking may also be determined for the current query to determine if the current query should be selected as the submission query instead of or in addition to a modification. For example, if the ranking of the current query is higher than the ranking of all of the modification queries, then the current query may be selected as the submission query and none of the modification queries will be utilized as the submission query. In some implementations the ranking of the current query may be based on one or more measures utilized in determining the rankings of the modifications. In some implementations the same measures may be utilized. In some implementations the ranking of the current query may be boosted by a factor to promote the ranking of the current query, thereby increasing the chance that a modification is utilized, either in lieu of or in addition to the current query, only when the user truly has modification intent.
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illustrates an example environment in which modifications of a previous query may be generated based on a current query issued subsequent to the previous query; rankings of the modifications and/or the current query may be determined; and at least one of the modifications and/or the current query may be selected, based on the rankings, for submission in response to the current query. The example environment includes a search system for providing ranked search results relevant to submitted queries. The search system can be implemented utilizing one or more computers that communicate, for example, through a network. The search system is an example of an information retrieval system in which systems, components, and techniques described herein may be implemented and/or with which systems, components, and techniques described herein may interface.
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The example environment also includes a query processing system . The query processing system receives queries from a client device , processes the queries , and provides submission queries to the search system . Each query is a request for information. The query can be, for example, in a text form and/or in other forms such as, for example, audio form and/or image form. Other computer devices may submit search queries to the query processing system and/or the search system such as a server implementing a service for a website that has partnered with the provider of the search system . For brevity, however, the examples are described in the context of the client device . In some implementations the submission query is the same as the query . For example, the query processing system may determine that the query does not need to be modified and may provide an unmodified version of the query as submission query . In some implementations the submission query may be a modification of a previous query based on the query , as described in additional detail herein. While the query processing system and the search system are illustrated as two separate components in , in some implementations the query processing system and the search system may be combined.
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The query processing system may be implemented as, for example, computer programs running on one or more computers in one or more locations that are coupled to each other through a network. The query processing system includes a modification intent determination module , a modification generation module , and a query ranking module . In some implementations the query processing system may perform one or more of the steps of . For example, in some implementations the modification intent determination module may perform one or more of the steps of such as step and/or . Also, for example, in some implementations the modification generation module may perform one or more of the steps of such as steps , , and/or of and/or step of . Also, for example, in some implementations the query ranking module may perform one or more of the steps of such as steps and of and/or steps , , , and/or of . In some implementations one or more of the modules , , and/or may be combined and/or omitted. For example, in some implementations modification intent determination module may be omitted.
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The search system receives submission queries from the query processing system and returns search results to the client device in response to the submission queries . The client device may be a computer coupled to the search system through a network such as a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet. The client device may be, for example, a desktop computing device, a laptop computing device, a tablet computing device, a mobile phone computing device, a tablet computing device, a computing device of a vehicle of the user (e.g., an in-vehicle communications system, an in-vehicle entertainment system, an in-vehicle navigation system), a wearable apparatus of the user that includes a computing device (e.g., a watch of the user having a computing device, glasses of the user having a computing device). Additional and/or alternative client devices may be provided. The client device typically includes one or more applications to facilitate the sending and receiving of data over a network. The client device and the search system each include memory for storage of data and software applications, a processor for accessing data and executing applications, and components that facilitate communication over a network. The operations performed by the client device and/or the search system may be distributed across multiple computer systems. The search system may be implemented as, for example, computer programs running on one or more computers in one or more locations that are coupled to each other through a network.
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The search system includes an indexing engine and a ranking engine . The indexing engine maintains an index for use by the search system . The indexing engine processes documents and updates index entries in the index , for example, using conventional and/or other indexing techniques.
A document is any data that is associated with a document address. Documents include HTML pages, word processing documents, portable document format (PDF) documents, images, video, and feed sources, to name just a few. The documents may include content such as, for example: words, phrases, pictures, etc.; embedded information (such as meta information and/or hyperlinks); and/or embedded instructions (such as JavaScript scripts).
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The ranking engine uses the index to identify documents responsive to the submission query , for example, using conventional and/or other information retrieval techniques. The ranking engine calculates scores for the documents responsive to the query, for example, using one or more ranking signals. Each signal provides information about the document itself and/or the relationship between the document and the query. One example signal is a measure of the overall quality of the document. Another example signal is a measure of the number of times the terms of the query occur in the document. Additional and/or alternative signals can also be used.
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The ranking engine then ranks the responsive documents using the scores. For example, the responsive documents are ranked based on the scores. The search system uses the documents identified and scored by the ranking engine to generate search results . The search results include results corresponding to documents responsive the submission query . For example, search results can include titles of each of the documents, links to each of the documents, and/or a summary of content from each of the documents that is responsive to the submission query . For example, the summary of content may include a particular “snippet” or section of one or more documents that is responsive to the submission query . Other examples of search results include a summary of information responsive to the submission query and/or an answer responsive to the submission query . The summary and/or the answer can be generated from documents responsive to the submission query and/or from other sources. The search results are transmitted to the client device in a form that may be provided to the user. For example, the search results may be transmitted as a search results web page to be displayed on a browser running on the client device and/or as one or more search results conveyed to a user via audio.
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The query processing system receives queries from the client device . For example, a user of the client device may submit a query via typed input, spoken input, and/or other input. For a received current query of the user, the query processing system may determine if the current query is indicative of intent to refine a previous query associated with the current query. As described in more detail herein, a previous query associated with the current query is a previous query that is determined to have been submitted by the same user issuing the current query, that is determined to have been submitted by the same computing device issuing the current query, and/or that is determined to have been submitted by another computing device associated with the computing device issuing the current query. In some implementations the modification intent determination module may determine whether the current query is indicative of intent to refine a previous query associated with the current query.
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In some implementations, whether a current query indicates intent to refine a previous query submitted by the user may be determined based on one or more terms of the current query. For example, modification intent determination module may determine the presence of one or more modification intent n-grams such as “what about”, “how about”, “make that”, and/or “?” in the current query and determine whether the current query is indicative of intent to refine a previous query based on the presence of such modification intent n-grams. For example, if the current query contains the modification intent n-grams “what about”, it may be determined to be indicative of intent to refine a previous query. In some implementations the positional arrangement of such one or more modification intent n-grams may be indicative of whether a current query indicates intent to refine a previous query submitted by the user. For example, modification intent determination module may determine the position of one or more modification intent n-grams such as “what about”, “how about”, “make that”, and/or “?” in the current query and determine that the current query is indicative of intent to refine a previous query based on the position of such n-grams. For example, the earlier that “what about” appears in a query, the more indicative it may be of intent to refine a previous query associated with the current query. Also, for example, if the current query contains the term “?” at the end of the query, it may be determined to be indicative of intent to refine a previous query associated with the current query.
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In some implementations, whether a current query indicates intent to refine a previous query may be determined based on a query popularity measure of the current query that is indicative of the popularity of the current query based on previous query submissions. For example, if the popularity measure of the current query satisfies a popularity threshold indicative of the current query being a relatively popular query, modification intent determination module may determine that the current query is not indicative of intent to refine a previous query. For example, the query “what about bob” may be a relatively popular query due in part to the 1991 movie “What About Bob”. Accordingly, it may be the case that the popularity measure of such a query satisfies the popularity threshold and will be determined to be a query that is not indicative of intent to refine a previous query.
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In some implementations, whether a current query indicates intent to refine a previous query submitted by the user may be determined based on one or more aspects of metadata optionally associated with the current query. For example, modification intent determination module may determine the type of input utilized to submit the current query based on metadata of the current query. For example, metadata may indicate whether the current query was submitted via typed input or via spoken input and the modification intent determination module may determine whether a current query is indicative of intent to refine a previous query based on the type of input. For example, a current query submitted via spoken input may be more indicative of intent to refine a previous query associated with the current query. Also, for example, a current query submitted via spoken input may include metadata indicating one or more properties of the spoken input, such as inflection of the spoken input, and the modification intent determination module may determine whether a current query indicates the current query is indicative of intent to refine a previous query based on one or more of the properties. Also, for example, modification intent determination module may determine the type of computing device utilized to submit the current query based on metadata of the current query. For example, metadata may indicate whether the current query was submitted via a desktop computing device, a laptop computing device, a tablet computing device, and/or a smart phone computing device, and the modification intent determination module may determine whether a current query indicates the current query is indicative of intent to refine a previous query based on the type of computing device. For example, a current query submitted via a smart phone computing device may be more indicative of intent to refine a previous query associated with the current query than a query submitted via a desktop computing device.
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In some implementations whether a current query indicates intent to refine a previous query submitted by the user may be determined based on comparison of the current query to the past query. For example, modification intent determination module may determine one or more entity collections associated with the current query and compare the entity collections to one or more entity collections associated with the previous query. An entity collection is a grouping of entities that share one or more aspects in common. The modification intent determination module may determine whether a current query indicates the current query is indicative of intent to refine a previous query based on the number of entity collections in common between the current query and the previous query. For example, the more entity collections in common, the more indicative the current query may be of intent to refine a previous query. As an example, the current query may be [battleship potemkin?] and the previous query may be [actors in the movie sunrise]. The current query may be associated with the entity collection “movie” based on the relation of the query to the entity associated with the 1925 film “Battleship Potemkin” and/or associated with the entity collection “1920's movies” based on the relation of the query to the same entity. Likewise, the previous query may also be associated with the entity collection “movie” based on the relation of the query to the entity associated with the 1928 film “Sunrise” and/or associated with the entity collection “1920's movies” based on the relation of the query to the same entity. Modification intent determination module may determine that the current query is indicative of intent to refine the previous query based at least in part on such common entities between the two queries.
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In some implementations modification intent determination module may take multiple factors into account in determining whether the current query is indicative of intent to refine a previous query associated with the current query, such as one or more factors discussed herein and/or additional or alternative factors. In some implementations only a single factor may be taken into account. In some implementations, modifications of a previous query based on the current query are generated only when the current query is indicative of intent to refine a previous query. In some implementations the modification intent determination module may be omitted and each current query may be assumed to be potentially indicative of intent to modify a previous query.
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The query processing system may further determine a previous query associated with the current query and utilize the current query to generate multiple modifications of the previous query. In some implementations the modification generation module may determine the previous query associated with the current query and/or generate multiple modifications of the previous query based on the current query.
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A previous query associated with the current query may be determined by the modification generation module based on, for example, determining that both queries have been submitted by the same user, that both queries have been submitted by the same computing device issuing the current query, and/or that the previous query was submitted by another computing device associated with the computing device issuing the current query. Association of one or more queries with a user may be based on, for example, data submitted with and/or included with a query such as a cookie, a user identification, and so forth. Association of one or more queries with a computing device may be based on, for example, data submitted with and/or included with a query such as an IP address of the computing device, a MAC address of the computing device, a cookie, and so forth. Associations between two or more computing devices may be based on, for example, associations of each of the computing devices to a common user, associations of each of the computing devices to a common IP address (e.g., associated with a router accessed by both computing devices), and so forth.
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Previous queries and associations of the previous queries to a user and/or a computing device may be determined by the modification generation module via, for example, accessing a record of previously submitted queries of the user. In some implementations the query processing system may maintain previous queries in local memory and access the previous queries from the local memory. In some implementations the query processing system may maintain and/or access a database such as content database that includes previous queries associated with one or more users and/or computing devices to determine a previously submitted query of the user. In some implementations data submitted with and/or included with a current query may identify the previous query. For example, a current query issued via a computing device may include data indicating the immediately preceding query issued via the computing device and/or data indicating multiple preceding queries issued via the computing device. For example, a cookie submitted with the current query may contain data related to a previous query and may be utilized to determine the previous query.
In some implementations a previous query may be determined based on satisfaction of a query freshness threshold by the previous query relative to the current query. For example, the query freshness threshold may be an amount of time between the submission of the previous query and the submission of the current query. For example, in some implementations a previous query must be a query that was submitted within X seconds of the current query. Also, for example, the query freshness threshold may be an amount of queries submitted between the previous query and the current query. For example, in some implementations a previous query must be a query that was submitted by a user and/or a computing device immediately preceding the submission of the current query. Also, for example, in some implementations a previous query must be a query that was submitted by a user and/or a computing device and is the first query preceding submission of the current query that itself does not indicate intent to refine a previous query. For example, the following sequence of queries may be submitted in the following order: [rain chances for today], [how about tuesday], [how about wednesday]. The query [how about wednesday] is the current query and the query [rain chances for today] may be determined to be the previous query since it is the first query preceding the current query that itself does not indicate intent to refine a previous query. In other words, since [how about tuesday] may be determined to be a query indicative of intent to refine a previous query, it may not be selected as a previous query and, instead, the query issued two queries before the current query may be determined to be the previous query.
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Based on the previous query and the current query, the modification generation module may generate multiple modifications of the previous query. Each modification of the previous query includes one or more modification n-grams of the current query substituted for one or more n-grams of the previous query. Each modification n-gram includes one or more terms from the current query. In some implementations the modification generation module may determine the modification n-gram by determining those terms of the query that are not part of a modification intent n-gram. For example, for a query [what about flowers], the term “flowers” may be determined to be the modification n-gram since it is the only term of the query that is not part of the modification intent n-gram “what about”. Also, for example, for a query [how about to san jose], the n-gram “to san jose” may be determined to be the modification n-gram since it is the only term of the query that is not part of the modification intent n-gram “how about”.
In some implementations one or more stop words may optionally be omitted in determining a modification n-gram. Stop words may include articles such as “a”, “an”, and “the”; prepositions such as “of,” “to”, and “for”; conjunctions such as “and”; auxiliary verbs such as “have” and “were”; and/or other defined words. For example, for the query [how about to san jose], the stop word “to” may be omitted to determine a modification n-gram of “san jose”. Also, for example, for the query [what about to the park], the stop words “about” and “to” may be omitted to determine a modification n-gram of “park”. In some implementations a first modification n-gram may be determined that includes a stop word and an additional modification n-gram may be determined that omits the stop word. For example, for the query [how about to san jose], the first modification n-gram may be determined to be “to san jose” and the second modification n-gram may be determined to be “san jose”.
In some implementations one or more aspects of a query may be normalized in determining a modification n-gram. For example, capitalized letters may be converted to lower case. For example, for the query [how about to San Jose], the n-gram “San Jose” may be converted to “san jose” to determine a modification n-gram of “to san jose”. Also, for example, whitespace sequences may be converted to single space characters. For example, for the query [how about to san jose], the white space between “to” and “san” may be reduced to a single space to determine a modification n-gram of “to san jose”. Also, for example, certain punctuation may be removed, such as leading and/or trailing punctuation of an n-gram. For example, for the query [how about to san jose?], the “?” may be removed to determine a modification n-gram of “to san jose”. In some implementations internal punctuation such as the apostrophe in “bush's” may be retained.
In some implementations modifications of a previous query are generated for each modification n-gram by substituting each n-gram of the previous query, except the n-gram spanning the entire query, with the modification n-gram. In some implementations the number of n-grams of the previous query that are substituted may be fewer than each n-gram of the previous query that doesn't span the entire previous query. For example, in some implementations the number of n-grams may be limited by a threshold. For example, in some implementations a threshold of n-grams may be defined and only a number of n-grams below that threshold will be substituted with the modification n-gram. In some implementations where less than all n-grams of the previous query are substituted by the modification n-gram to generate modifications, shorter n-grams may be prioritized for substitution over longer n-grams.
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With reference to , a table is illustrated of modifications of a previous query [songs by michael jackson] based on a current query [what about janet]. A modification n-gram “Janet” (rows 1-9) is determined based on the current query [what about janet]. For example, the modification generation module may determine the modification n-gram “janet” based on determining the term of the query [what about janet] that is not part of the modification intent n-gram “what about”. The modifications of the rightmost column of are generated by substituting the indicated substituted n-gram of the previous query [songs by michael jackson] with the indicated modification term. For example, in row 1 the n-gram “songs” of the previous query is substituted with the modification term “janet” to generate the modification “Janet by michael jackson”. As illustrated, nine total modifications are generated.
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The query processing system may further determine a ranking for each of one or more of the generated modifications and, optionally, may also determine a ranking for the current query. The one or more generated modifications and optionally the current query for which rankings are determined may be collectively referred to herein as “candidate queries”. For example, in implementations in which rankings are determined for all generated modifications and for the current query, all such modifications and the current query may form the candidate queries. In some implementations each ranking of a candidate query is based on one or more of a prior query popularity measure, a query pattern popularity measure, a related concept measure, a category measure, an atomic concept measure, a location measure, and/or a synonym measure. In some implementations one or more utilized measures may be identified from one or more databases, such as content database . For example, content database may include a record of past queries and, for each past query, indications of one or more measures of the past query. In some implementations one or more utilized measures for a query may be identified via a query annotation server to which the query has been provided for annotating with such measures. In some implementations one or more utilized measures may be determined, in whole or in part, by the query processing system . In some implementations each ranking of a candidate query is based on a score for the query determined based on one or more of such measures. In some implementations the query ranking module may determine a ranking for each of the candidate queries.
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In some implementations the query ranking module may determine a ranking for a modification and/or the current query based on a prior query popularity measure of such a candidate query. The prior query popularity measure of a candidate query may be based on, for example, the popularity of the candidate query in previous query submissions. For example, the prior query popularity measure of a candidate query may be based on the submission rate of the candidate query in a record of past queries issued by a plurality of users. For example, the query [where to buy dvds] may be expected to have a prior query popularity measure more indicative of popularity than the somewhat obscure query [where to buy lollipops with green and white stripes]. In some implementations the prior query popularity measure may be a normalized score. For example, in some implementations the prior query popularity measure may be a normalized score between zero and one.
In some implementations a prior query popularity measure floor value may be set for a query for which measures are not available and/or for a query having an actual prior query popularity measure that is less indicative of popularity than the floor value. For example, in implementations where the prior query popularity measure is a score and a lower score is less indicative of popularity, a query having a prior query popularity score lower than a floor value may instead be associated with the floor value. In some of those implementations the floor value may be set to a very low value to bias overall rankings toward queries that have a high prior query popularity measure. In some implementations the floor value may be set based on prior query popularity scores of other of the candidate queries. For example, the floor value may be a magnitude lower than the second lowest prior query popularity score of all of the modifications and/or the current query.
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In some implementations the query ranking module determines a ranking for a modification and/or the current query based on a query pattern popularity measure of such a candidate query. The query pattern popularity measure of a candidate query may be based on, for example, the popularity of a plurality of queries conforming to one or more query patterns of the candidate query in previous query submissions. In some implementations a query pattern of a candidate query may be determined by determining a category of an n-gram of the candidate query and substituting the n-gram with an identifier of the category. For example, for the query [recipes for broccoli], the n-gram “broccoli” may be substituted with the category “food” to which “broccoli” belongs. Thus, a query pattern [recipes for <food>] may be determined. Also, for example, for the query [recipes for broccoli], the n-gram “broccoli” may be substituted with the category “vegetable” to which “broccoli” also belongs. Thus, a query pattern of [recipes for <vegetable>] may be determined. A popularity of queries conforming to one or more of such query templates may be determined and utilized as the query pattern popularity measure. For example, the query pattern popularity measure for the query [recipes for broccoli] may be based on a popularity measure for a plurality of queries conforming to the query pattern [recipes for <food>] (e.g., [recipes for lasagna], [recipes for bread]). Also, for example, the query pattern popularity measure for the query [recipes for broccoli] may be based on a popularity measure for a plurality of queries conforming to the query pattern [recipes for <food>] and the popularity measure for a plurality of queries conforming to the query pattern [recipes for <vegetable>].
In some implementations the query pattern popularity measure may be a normalized score. For example, in some implementations the query pattern popularity measure may be a normalized score between zero and one. In some implementations a query pattern popularity measure floor value may be set for a query for which measures are not available and/or for a query having an actual query pattern popularity measure that is less indicative of popularity than the floor value. For example, a floor value may be set in a similar manner as described with respect to the prior query popularity measure.
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In some implementations the query ranking module determines a ranking for a modification and/or the current query based on a related concept measure of such a query. The related concept measure of a modification is generally indicative of a likelihood of co-occurrence, in one or more documents, of the modification n-gram of the modification and the one or more terms of the previous query that were replaced by the modification n-gram to generate the modification. For example, with reference to , the modification n-gram of the modification [janet by michael jackson] of row 1 is “janet” and the one or more terms of the previous query that were replaced by the modification n-gram to generate the modification is the n-gram “songs”. Accordingly, for the modification of row 1, the related concept measure of the modification is indicative of likelihood of co-occurrence of the n-gram pair (“songs”, “Janet”). The related concept measure may be determined utilizing one or more of various techniques to determine co-occurrence between n-gram pairs. For example, a corpus of documents may be analyzed to determine a co-occurrence rate of each of a plurality of n-gram pairs in the corpus of documents. In some implementations the co-occurrence rate of an n-gram pair may be based on the rate of the n-gram pair occurring together in one or more single document of the corpus of documents (e.g., a single document contains both n-grams of the pair) and/or the rate of each n-gram of the n-gram pair across multiple documents of the corpus of documents (e.g., first n-gram of the pair occurs X times across all documents of the corpus and second n-gram of the pair occurs Y times across all documents of the corpus).
As an example, the n-gram pair (“car”, “truck”) may have a related concept measure that is more indicative of likelihood of co-occurrence than the related concept measure of the n-gram pair (“knitting”, “truck”). For example, the n-gram pair (“car”, “truck”) may co-occur with one another in each of multiple documents with relatively high frequency, whereas the n-gram pair (“knitting”, “truck”) may co-occur with one another in each of multiple documents with relatively low frequency and/or not at all.
In some implementations the related concept measure may be a normalized score. For example, in some implementations the related concept measure may be a normalized score between zero and one. In some implementations a related concept measure floor value may be set for a query for which measures are not available and/or for a query having an actual related concept measure that is less indicative of popularity than the floor value. For example, a floor value may be set in a similar manner as described with respect to the prior query popularity measure.
In implementations in which a ranking is determined for the current query based on a related concept measure, a default related concept measure may be utilized for the current query since the current query does not have a modification n-gram and one or more terms replaced by the modification n-gram. In some implementations the default related concept measure may be a fixed value. In some implementations the default related concept measure may be the related concept measure floor value discussed above. In some implementations the default related concept measure may be based on one or more factors such as the related concept measures of one or more of the modifications. For example, in some implementations the default related concept measure may be determined such that it is representative of less indicativeness of likelihood of co-occurrence than the related concept measures of all other of the modifications, or may be determined such that it is representative of less indicativeness of likelihood of co-occurrence than the related concept measures of an average of the related concept measure of all other of the modifications.
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In some implementations the query ranking module determines a ranking for a modification and/or the current query based on category measures associated with such a candidate query. The category measures of a modification may include one or more modification n-gram categories to which the modification n-gram of the modification belongs and one or more previous query n-gram categories to which the one or more terms of the previous query that were replaced by the modification n-gram belong. A category of an n-gram is a class to which the n-gram belongs. For example, for an n-gram “red”, the category measures may include n-gram categories of “color”, “hue”, and “wine”. In some implementations the category measures may also include an indication of the ranking of each of the n-gram categories. For example, for an n-gram “red”, the category measures may include scored n-gram categories of “color” and “wine” and the scores may indicate “red” is more likely to belong to the category “color” than to the category “wine”.
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In some implementations the query ranking module may identify one or more categories and/or category rankings for an n-gram by accessing a database, such as content database , having “is-a” relationship data for each of a plurality of n-grams. In some implementations the database may be an entity database such as a knowledge graph. An entity database may include, for example, mappings between a plurality of entities. For example, for each of a plurality of entities, a mapping (e.g., data defining an association) between the entity and other entities related with the entity may be identified in the entity database. In some implementations, entities are topics of discourse. In some implementations, entities are persons, places, concepts, and/or things that can be referred to by a text fragment (e.g., a term or phrase) and are distinguishable from one another (e.g., based on context). For example, the entity associated with the n-gram “red” may be mapped to one or more entities associated with categories of which the entity is a member such as, for example, an entity associated with the property of “color” and an entity associated with the drink “wine”.
A category score for a modification may be determined based on the category measures. In some implementations the category score for a modification is based on the similarity and/or dissimilarity between the modification n-gram categories and the previous query n-gram categories. For example, a category score may become more indicative of similarity as the number of common categories between the modification n-gram categories and the previous query n-gram categories increase and/or as the number of non-common categories between the modification n-gram categories and the previous query n-gram categories decreases. In implementations in which category rankings are also provided for the categories, the category score for a modification may also be based on such category rankings. For example, a category score may become more indicative of similarity as the rankings of common categories between the modification n-gram categories and the previous query n-gram categories increase and/or as the rankings of non-common categories between the modification n-gram categories and the previous query n-gram categories decreases.
In some implementations the category score may be determined based on a cosine distance between a vector of scores for the modification n-gram categories and a vector of scores for the previous query n-gram categories. For example, modification n-gram categories and scores may include: categories A, B, and C with respective scores of 0.5, 0.6, and 0.7; and previous query n-gram categories and scores may include: categories B, C, and D with respective scores of 0.3, 0.2, and 0.1. The category score may be determined based on a cosine distance between vectors [0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0] and [0, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1]. In some implementations a determined category score for a modification may be normalized based on determined category scores for all other of the modifications. For example, in some implementations the determined category score may be a normalized score between zero and one.
In some implementations a category score floor value may be set for a candidate query for which measures are not available and/or for a query having an actual category score that is less indicative of similarity between the n-gram categories than the floor value. For example, a floor value may be set in a similar manner as described with respect to the prior query popularity measure.
In implementations in which a ranking is determined for the current query based on a category measure, a default category score may be utilized for the current query since the current query does not have a modification n-gram and one or more terms replaced by the modification n-gram. In some implementations the default category score may be a fixed value. In some implementations the default category score may be the category score floor value discussed above. In some implementations the default category score may be based on one or more factors such as the category measures of one or more of the modifications.
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In some implementations the query ranking module may determine a ranking for a modification based on an atomic concept measure associated with the modification. An atomic concept measure indicates n-grams of the previous query that are likely to be a single, indivisible concept. For example, for the query [empire state building in new york], “empire state building” and “new york” may each be indicated as a likely single, indivisible concept within the query. In some implementations an n-gram may be indicated by the atomic concept measure with a binary indication as to whether it is a single, indivisible concept within the query. In some implementations an n-gram may be indicated by the atomic concept measure with a score indicative of a level of confidence that the n-gram is a single, indivisible concept within the query.
In some implementations a ranking of a modification may be penalized if the atomic concept measure indicates the terms of the previous query that were substituted by the modification n-gram formed less than the entirety of a single, indivisible concept within the previous query. For example, for the query [empire state building in new york], “empire state building” and “new york” may each be indicated as a likely single, indivisible concept within the query. A modification in which only “new” is substituted with a modification n-gram may cause the ranking of the modification to be penalized because the term “new” formed less than the entirety of a single, indivisible concept within the previous query. On the other hand, a modification in which only “new york” or only “in” is substituted with a modification n-gram will not cause the ranking of the modification to be penalized because the term “new york” forms the entirety of the single, indivisible concept and the term “in” does not form a part of a single, indivisible concept. In implementations where an n-gram is indicated by the atomic concept measure with a score indicative of a level of confidence that the n-gram is a single, indivisible concept within the query, the degree of penalty may optionally be based on the level of confidence. In some implementations the degree of penalty may be based on the number of single, indivisible concepts destroyed by a substitution. For example, continuing with the previous example, a modification in which only “building in new” is substituted with a modification n-gram may cause the ranking of the modification to be penalized more than if only “new” were substituted because the n-gram “building in new” formed part of two indivisible concepts, whereas “new” formed part of only one indivisible concept.
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In some implementations the query ranking module may determine a ranking for a modification based on a location measure associated with the modification n-gram and a location measure associated with the one or more terms of the previous query substituted by the modification n-gram. A location measure indicates whether an n-gram is likely to be a geographic location such as the n-grams “new york”, “boston”, “united states”, and so forth. In some implementations a location measure of an n-gram may be a binary indication as to whether it is a geographic location. In some implementations a location measure of an n-gram may be a score indicative of a level of confidence that the n-gram is a geographic location. In some implementations a ranking of a modification may be penalized if the location measures indicate the n-gram of the previous query that was substituted by the modification n-gram was a geographic location and the modification n-gram was not a geographic location, or vice-versa. In some implementations a ranking of a modification may be boosted if the location measures indicate the n-gram of the previous query that was substituted by the modification n-gram was a geographic location and the modification n-gram was also a geographic location.
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In some implementations the query ranking module determines a ranking for a modification based on a synonym measure associated with the modification n-gram and the one or more terms of the previous query substituted by the modification n-gram. The synonym measure indicates whether the modification n-gram and the one or more terms of the previous query n-gram substituted by the modification n-gram share one or more synonyms. In some implementations a synonym measure of an n-gram pair may be a binary indication as to whether they share one or more synonyms. In some implementations a synonym measure of an n-gram pair may be a score indicative of a level of confidence that they share one or more synonyms, indicative of how many synonyms they share, and/or how many non-synonyms they also share. In some implementations a ranking of a modification may be boosted if the synonym measure indicates the n-gram of the previous query that was substituted by the modification n-gram shares one or more synonyms with the modification n-gram. In implementations where an n-gram is indicated by the synonym measure with a score indicative of a level of confidence that they share one or more synonyms, indicative of how many synonyms they share, and/or how many non-synonyms they also share, the degree of boosting may optionally be based on the level of confidence. In some implementations the degree of boosting may be based on the number of shared synonyms.
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Based on the one or more of the mentioned measures and/or additional measures, the query ranking module may determine an overall score for each of the candidate queries. In some implementations, the overall ranking of a candidate query is based on one or more sub-scores such as: a prior query popularity score, a query pattern popularity score, a related concept score, a category score, a query signals score, and/or a number score.
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As discussed herein, the prior query popularity score for each query may be based on the prior query popularity measure for the query. For example, in some implementations the prior query popularity measure may be a normalized score between zero and one. The ranking module may determine a prior query popularity score based on such normalized score. In some implementations the prior query popularity score may be the prior query popularity measure.
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Also, as discussed herein, the query pattern popularity score for each query may be based on the query pattern popularity measure for the query. For example, as described herein, in some implementations the query pattern popularity measure may be a normalized score between zero and one. The ranking module may determine a popularity score based on such normalized score. In some implementations the query pattern popularity score may be the query pattern popularity measure.
Also, as discussed herein, the related concept score for each query may be based on the related concept measure. For example, as described herein, the related concept measure may be a normalized score. For example, in some implementations the related concept measure may be a normalized score between zero and one. In some implementations the related concept measure may be the related concept score.
Also, as discussed herein, the category score for a modification may be determined based on the category measures. In some implementations the category score for a modification is based on the similarity and/or dissimilarity between the modification n-gram categories and the query n-gram categories. In some implementations the category score may be a normalized score such as a normalized score between zero and one. For example, the category score may be determined based on a cosine distance between a vector of scores for the modification n-gram categories and a vector of scores for the query n-gram categories.
The query signals score may be based on one or more determinations made via the atomic concept measure, the synonyms measure, and/or the location measure, such as those discussed herein. For example, the query signals score for a modification may be positively influenced when a location modification n-gram is substituted for a location n-gram of the previous query in the modification. Also, for example, the query signals score for a modification may be negatively influenced when a location modification n-gram is substituted for a non-location n-gram of the previous query in the modification, or vice versa. Also, for example, the query signals score for a modification may be positively influenced when a modification n-gram contains one or more synonyms with the n-gram of the previous query for which the modification n-gram is substituted in generating the modification. In some implementations the query signals score may be a normalized score such as a normalized score between zero and one.
The number score may be zero or some other value when neither the modification n-gram nor the n-gram of the previous query for which the modification n-gram is substituted contains a numerical n-gram (e.g., “2”, “two”). When only one of the modification n-gram or the n-gram of the previous query for which the modification n-gram is substituted contains a numerical n-gram, the number score may be a very low value such as 0.001. When both the modification n-gram and the n-gram of the previous query for which the modification n-gram is substituted contain a numerical n-gram, the number score may be a higher value that is based on the numerical closeness of the numerical n-grams to one another. For example, when the modification n-gram is “2” and the n-gram of the previous query for which the modification n-gram is substituted is “3”, the number score may be higher than when the modification n-gram is “2” and the n-gram of the previous query is “100”. In some implementations the number score may be a normalized score such as a normalized score between zero and one.
As discussed herein, a related concept score, a category score, a query signals score, and/or a number score based on actual measures of the current query may not be obtained for the current query. However, one or more default scores for each of such sub-scores may be utilized for the current query. Accordingly, a related concept score, a category score, a query signals score, and/or a number score may likewise be determined for the current query.
Once the sub-scores for each modification, and optionally for the current query, have been determined, an overall score for each candidate query may be determined. In some implementations, each of the sub-scores may be normalized across all candidate queries prior to determining the overall score. For example, all of the popularity scores for the candidate queries may be normalized so that the normalized popularity scores sum to one. In the cases where all scores for one of the sub-scores is zero, such scores may be normalized to a uniform distribution. For example, if all of the number scores are zero, they may be normalized to a uniform distribution.
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In some implementations the overall score for a candidate query is based on combining all of the sub-scores for that candidate query. For example, the overall score for a modification may be based on multiplying all of the sub-scores together for that modification. In some implementations additional and/or alternative techniques for combining the sub-scores may be utilized. For example, a sum, a weighted average, a linear combination, and/or the I-mean of one or more of the sub-scores may be utilized. In some implementations, a boost is applied to the overall score of the current query. For example, in some implementations the overall score of the current query may be multiplied by two. An additional and/or alternative boost may be utilized, such as a boost implemented by demoting the overall scores of the modifications of the candidate queries. Such a boost may promote the score of the current query, thereby increasing the chance that a modification is utilized, either in lieu of or in addition to the current query, only when the user truly has modification intent.
In some implementations in which multiple modification n-grams are utilized in generating modifications, it may be the situation that two or more modifications are the same modifications, but are formed utilizing different modification n-gram, substituted n-gram pairs. For example, for a previous query [songs by michael jackson] and a current query of [what about by janet], a first modification [songs by janet] may be formed by substituting “michael jackson” with the modification n-gram “Janet”. A second modification [songs by janet] may be formed by substituting “by michael jackson” with the modification n-gram “by Janet”. In some of those implementations sub-scores may be determined for each of the matching modifications individually and the sub-scores from each of the matching modifications combined prior to determining a single overall score for both of the modifications. For example, the sub-scores may be summed, averaged, and/or otherwise combined. As an example, the category score for the first modification [songs by janet] may be 0.2 and the category score for the second modification [songs by janet] may be 0.1. Those category scores may be combined (e.g., summed to form 0.3). Combined sub-scores from matching modifications may be utilized to form a single overall score for the matching modification.
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When all overall scores have been determined, the candidate query with the highest score may be selected to be utilized as a submission query such as submission query . For example, if the current query is the query with the highest score, it may be selected as a submission query. Also, for example, if one of the modifications is the query with the highest score, it may be selected as a submission query.
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In some implementations the candidate query selected as the submission query may be submitted to the search system and search results provided by the search system based on the submission query. The search results may optionally be provided with an indication that they are based on the submission query. In some implementations only the highest ranked candidate query is submitted to the search system . In some implementations multiple of the highest ranked candidate queries may be submitted to the search system and search results provided based on the multiple queries. For example, in some implementations the two highest ranked queries may both be submitted if the score between the two queries is less than a threshold. In some implementations multiple of the highest ranked candidate queries may optionally be submitted as a single disjunctive search query. In some implementations, when the candidate query selected as a submission query is a modification query, both that query and the current query may be submitted to the search system and search results provided based on the multiple queries. For example, in some implementations both a highest ranked modification query and the current query may be submitted if the difference in the score between the modification query and the current query is less than a threshold.
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In some implementations in which multiple of the highest ranked candidate queries are submitted to the search system , the search results provided may be a combination of search results responsive to each of the queries. For example, a first candidate query and a second candidate query may be submitted and the search results may include search results responsive to the first candidate query and search results responsive to the second candidate query. In some other implementations in which multiple of the highest ranked candidate queries are submitted to the search system , the search results provided may be search results responsive to only one of the queries. For example, a first candidate query and a second candidate query may be submitted and the search results may include search results responsive to only one of the first candidate query and the second candidate query. For example, only the search results responsive to the first candidate query may be provided if quality of such search results is determined to be more indicative of quality than the search results responsive to the second candidate query.
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In some implementations, an association between the submission query, the previous query, and the current query may be stored in a database such as content database . Storing of associations between the submission query, the previous query, and the current query may enable future selection of the submission query in response to a user issuing a previous query followed by the current query, without necessitating generating of modifications and ranking of candidate queries as described herein.
FIGS. 5A-5C
FIG. 5A
FIG. 5A
With reference to , an example of some aspects of scoring candidate queries is provided. In , a table is illustrated of candidate queries for a previous query [weather tomorrow] based on a current query [how about on tuesday]. Two modification n-grams, “tuesday” and “on tuesday” are determined based on the current query [how about on tuesday]. The candidate queries of the rightmost column of include the candidate modifications of rows 1 through 4 generated by substituting the indicated substituted n-gram of the previous query [weather tomorrow] of the previous query with the indicated modification n-gram. The candidate queries also include the current query [how about on tuesday] in row 5. As illustrated, the current query does not have any substituted n-gram and does not have a modification n-gram.
FIG. 5B
FIG. 5A
In , the substituted n-gram, modification n-gram pairs of are illustrated in the first column. For example, in row 1 the n-gram, modification n-gram pair (weather, tuesday) of the modification [tuesday tomorrow] is illustrated. As illustrated in row 5, the current query does not have an n-gram, modification n-gram pair. Raw category scores for each of the n-gram, modification n-gram pairs are illustrated in the middle column. For example, in row 1 the raw category score is 0.1. Raw category scores may be determined, for example, utilizing one or more techniques discussed herein. For example, as discussed herein, the raw category score for the current query, as illustrated in row 5, may be based on a category score floor value. Normalized scores for each of the n-gram, modification n-gram pairs are illustrated in the rightmost column and may be determined based on the raw category score. For example, in row 1 the normalized category score is 0.32.
FIG. 5C
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In , example sub-scores for the candidate query [tuesday tomorrow] are illustrated. For example, includes the normalized category score of for the candidate query [tuesday tomorrow]. An overall final score of 1.92*10is also illustrated in the last row of . In the example of the overall score is the product of all non-zero sub-scores. In particular, the overall score of is the product of the category score, the related concepts score, the popularity score, the query pattern score, and the query signals score.
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Many other configurations are possible having more or fewer components than the environment shown in . For example, in some environments the search system may be omitted.
FIG. 2
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is a flow chart illustrating an example method of generating modifications of a previous query based on a current query issued subsequent to the previous query, determining rankings of the modifications and/or the current query, and selecting at least one of the modifications and/or the current query, based on the rankings, for submission in response to the current query. Other implementations may perform the steps in a different order, omit certain steps, and/or perform different and/or additional steps than those illustrated in . For convenience, aspects of will be described with reference to a system of one or more computers that perform the process. The system may include, for example, one or more aspects of the query processing system such as the refinement intent determination module and/or the modification generation module of .
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At step , a current query is received. In some implementations the current query may be received by the query processing system via client device . For example, the refinement intent determination module may receive the current query. In some implementations the current query may be received by the query processing system via content database and/or other database. For example, the current query may be a past query in a record of past queries stored in content database . In some implementations the refinement intent determination module may determine whether the current query is indicative of intent to refine a previous query associated with the current query. In some implementations whether a current query indicates intent to refine a previous query submitted by the user may be determined based on one or more of terms of the current query, one or more aspects of metadata optionally associated with the current query, and/or comparison of the current query to the past query (determined at step ). In implementations in which it is determined whether the current query is indicative of intent to refine a previous query, one or more of steps - may be performed only if the current query is determined to be indicative of intent to refine a previous query.
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At step , a previous query associated with the current query is identified. In some implementations the refinement generation module may determine a previous query associated with the current query based on, for example, determining that both queries have been submitted by the same user, that both queries have been submitted by the same computing device issuing the current query, and/or that the previous query was submitted by another computing device associated with the computing device issuing the current query. In some implementations the previous query may be a query determined based on satisfaction of a query freshness threshold by the previous query relative to the current query. For example, the query freshness threshold may require that the previous query was submitted within a certain amount of queries of the current query.
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At step , a modification n-gram is determined based on the previous query. In some implementations the modification generation module may determine the modification n-gram by determining those terms of the query that are not part of a modification intent n-gram. For example, for a query [what about flowers], the term “flowers” may be determined to be the modification n-gram since it is the only term of the query that is not part of the modification intent n-gram “what about”. In some implementations, step may include determining multiple modification n-grams from the current query. For example, for the query [What about Korean in Manhattan] both “Korean” and “Manhattan” may be identified as modification n-grams. Steps of the method illustrated in may be performed on each of the potential modification n-grams that are determined at step . For example, steps and may be performed with the potential modification n-gram “Korean”, and steps and may be further performed with the potential modification n-gram “Manhattan”.
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At step , one or more modifications of the previous query are generated utilizing the modification n-gram. In some implementations the modification generation module may generate multiple modifications of the previous query. Each modification of the previous query includes one or more modification n-grams of the current query substituted for one or more n-grams of the previous query. An example of modifications of a previous query utilizing modification n-grams from a current query is illustrated in .
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At step , rankings of candidate queries are determined. The candidate queries include one or more of the generated modifications of step . As discussed herein, in some implementations the candidate queries may also include the current query received at step . In some implementations each ranking of a candidate query is based on one or more of a prior query popularity measure, a query pattern popularity measure, a related concept measure, a category measure, an atomic concept measure, a location measure, and/or a synonym measure. In some implementations the query ranking module may determine the ranking for the candidate queries. In some implementations step may include one or more of the steps of .
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FIG. 3
In some implementations, ranking of a candidate query includes determining sub-scores for the candidate query and determining an overall score based on the sub-scores. In some implementations, each of the sub-scores for the multiple candidate queries may be normalized across all modifications and/or the current query prior to determining the overall score. For example, all of the popularity scores for the modifications and the current query may be normalized so that the normalized popularity scores sum to one. In some implementations step may include one or more aspects of the steps of .
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At step , one of the candidate queries is selected based on the rankings determined at step . In some implementations the query ranking module may select the candidate query with the highest ranking. The selected candidate query may be one of the modifications or the current query. For example, if the current query is the candidate query with the highest score, it may be selected. Also, for example, if one of the modifications is the candidate query with the highest score, it may be selected. In some implementations the query ranking module may provide the selected query as a submission query to one or more query systems as a query. In some implementations the selected query may be provided to a search system such as search system .
FIG. 3
FIG. 3
FIG. 3
FIG. 1
134
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is a flow chart illustrating an example method of determining a ranking of a candidate query. Other implementations may perform the steps in a different order, omit certain steps, and/or perform different and/or additional steps than those illustrated in . For convenience, aspects of will be described with reference to a system of one or more computers that perform the process. The system may include, for example, the modification generation module and/or the query ranking module of .
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At step , a candidate query is received. The candidate query may include one or more of the generated modifications of step . As discussed herein, in some implementations the candidate query may also include the current query received at step . In some implementations the query ranking module may receive the candidate query from the modification generation module .
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FIG. 5A
At step , a modification n-gram, substituted n-gram pair of the candidate query is determined. For example, with reference to , for the candidate query [tuesday tomorrow] formed by substituting the substituted n-gram “weather” of the previous query [weather tomorrow] with the modification n-gram “tuesday” of the current query [how about on Tuesday], the modification n-gram, substituted n-gram pair (tuesday, weather) may be determined. In some implementations the modification generation module may determine the modification n-gram, substituted n-gram pair. For example, the modification generation module may determine the modification n-gram, substituted n-gram pair in generating the candidate query and may provide an indication of the pair to the query ranking module in combination with providing the candidate query.
310
At step , one or more sub-scores for the candidate query is determined based on a relationship between the modification n-gram, substituted n-gram pair of the candidate query. For example, each of a related concept score, a category score, a query signals score, and/or a number score may be based on a relationship between the modification n-gram, substituted n-gram pair of the candidate query. Each of such scores may optionally be based on one or more associated measures obtained for the modification n-gram, substituted n-gram pair of the candidate query and/or for other aspects of the candidate query. For example, the category score for a modification may be determined based on category measures for the modification n-gram, substituted n-gram pair. Also, for example, the query signals score may be based on an atomic concept measure for one or more n-grams of the modification and a determination as to how the modification n-gram, substituted n-gram pair affects any indivisible n-grams indicated by the atomic concept measure.
As discussed herein, when the candidate query is the current query, the modification n-gram, substituted n-gram pair may not indicate an n-gram pair, but may instead indicate a lack of an n-gram pair. In some of those implementations, one or more default scores for each of such sub-scores may be determined for the current query. Accordingly, a related concept score, a category score, a query signals score, and/or a number score may likewise be determined for the current query based on determining the modification n-gram, substituted n-gram pair of the current query indicates a lack of an n-gram pair.
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At step an overall score for the candidate query is determined based on the determined one or more sub-scores of step . In some implementations additional sub-scores may also be utilized in determining the overall score. For example, sub-scores of a prior query popularity score and a query pattern popularity score may also be utilized.
2
In some implementations, each of the sub-scores may be normalized across all candidate queries prior to determining the overall score. For example, all of the popularity scores for the candidate queries may be normalized so that the normalized popularity scores sum to one. In some implementations the overall score for a candidate query is based on combining all of the sub-scores for that candidate query. For example, the overall score for a modification may be based on multiplying all of the sub-scores together for that modification. In some implementations additional and/or alternative techniques for combining the sub-scores may be utilized. For example, a sum, a weighted average, a linear combination, and/or the I-mean of one or more of the sub-scores may be utilized. In some implementations, a boost is applied to the overall score of the current query. Such a boost may promote the score of the current query, thereby increasing the chance that a modification is utilized, either in lieu of or in addition to the current query, only when the user truly has modification intent.
FIG. 6
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is a block diagram of an example computer system . Computer system typically includes at least one processor which communicates with a number of peripheral devices via bus subsystem . These peripheral devices may include a storage subsystem , including, for example, a memory subsystem and a file storage subsystem , user interface input devices , user interface output devices , and a network interface subsystem . The input and output devices allow user interaction with computer system . Network interface subsystem provides an interface to outside networks and is coupled to corresponding interface devices in other computer systems.
622
610
User interface input devices may include a keyboard, pointing devices such as a mouse, trackball, touchpad, or graphics tablet, a scanner, a touchscreen incorporated into the display, audio input devices such as voice recognition systems, microphones, and/or other types of input devices. In general, use of the term “input device” is intended to include all possible types of devices and ways to input information into computer system or onto a communication network.
620
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User interface output devices may include a display subsystem, a printer, a fax machine, or non-visual displays such as audio output devices. The display subsystem may include a cathode ray tube (CRT), a flat-panel device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a projection device, or some other mechanism for creating a visible image. The display subsystem may also provide non-visual display such as via audio output devices. In general, use of the term “output device” is intended to include all possible types of devices and ways to output information from computer system to the user or to another machine or computer system.
624
624
Storage subsystem stores programming and data constructs that provide the functionality of some or all of the modules described herein. For example, the storage subsystem may include the logic to generate modifications of a previous query based on a current query issued subsequent to the previous query, determine rankings of the modifications and/or the current query, and select at least one of the modifications and/or the current query, based on the rankings, for submission in response to the current query.
614
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These software modules are generally executed by processor alone or in combination with other processors. Memory used in the storage subsystem can include a number of memories including a main random access memory (RAM) for storage of instructions and data during program execution and a read only memory (ROM) in which fixed instructions are stored. A file storage subsystem can provide persistent storage for program and data files, and may include a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive along with associated removable media, a CD-ROM drive, an optical drive, or removable media cartridges. The modules implementing the functionality of certain implementations may be stored by file storage subsystem in the storage subsystem , or in other machines accessible by the processor(s) .
612
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Bus subsystem provides a mechanism for letting the various components and subsystems of computer system communicate with each other as intended. Although bus subsystem is shown schematically as a single bus, alternative implementations of the bus subsystem may use multiple busses.
610
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610
FIG. 6
FIG. 6
Computer system can be of varying types including a workstation, server, computing cluster, blade server, server farm, or any other data processing system or computing device. Due to the ever-changing nature of computers and networks, the description of computer system depicted in is intended only as a specific example for purposes of illustrating some implementations. Many other configurations of computer system are possible having more or fewer components than the computer system depicted in .
While several inventive implementations have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the inventive implementations described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the inventive teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific inventive implementations described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing implementations are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, inventive implementations may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventive implementations of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.
All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over vocabulary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms.
The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”
The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with “and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when used in conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer, in one implementation, to A only (optionally including elements other than B); in another implementation, to B only (optionally including elements other than A); in yet another implementation, to both A and B (optionally including other elements); etc.
As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should be understood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. For example, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when used in the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or” as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive alternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or “exactly one of.” “Consisting essentially of,” when used in the claims, shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.
As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “at least one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “at least one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) can refer, in one implementation, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements other than B); in another implementation, to at least one, optionally including more than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elements other than A); in yet another implementation, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.
It should also be understood that, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, in any methods claimed herein that include more than one step or act, the order of the steps or acts of the method is not necessarily limited to the order in which the steps or acts of the method are recited.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
illustrates an example environment in which modifications of a previous query may be generated based on a current query issued subsequent to the previous query; rankings of the modifications and/or the current query may be determined; and/or at least one of the modifications and/or the current query may be selected, based on the rankings, for submission in response to the current query.
FIG. 2
is a flow chart illustrating an example method generating modifications of a previous query based on a current query issued subsequent to the previous query, determining rankings of the modifications and/or the current query, and selecting at least one of the modifications and/or the current query, based on the rankings, for submission in response to the current query.
FIG. 3
is a flow chart illustrating an example method of determining a ranking of a candidate query.
FIG. 4
is a table utilized in describing examples of determining modifications for a previous query based on a current query issued subsequent to the previous query.
FIG. 5A
is a table utilized in describing examples of determining candidate queries that include modifications for a previous query based on a current query issued subsequent to the previous query, and that also include the current query.
FIG. 5B
FIG. 5A
is a table utilized in describing examples of determining a category score for each of the candidate queries of .
FIG. 5C
FIG. 5A
is an example table utilized in describing examples of determining an overall score for one of the modifications of .
FIG. 6
illustrates an example architecture of a computer system. | |
Choosing the most appropriate journal for your article is very important.
The Think,Check, Submit website provides a checklist for assessing the credentials of a journal or publisher.
Search databases on your research topic:
Open access publishing often means your research will reach wider audience and increase your research impact to both research community and the general public. Open access articles are generally get higher citation rates than the articles published in subscription journals.
Some publishers or websites provide a tool to match your abstract/keywords to relevant journals:
Once you have chosen a journal or a number of journals for consideration, a further research on each journal is another important step. Consider the following aspects:
Check whether articles in your chosen journal or the journal can be found by the following databases or websites::
The following tools provide reviews on journals shared by researchers around the World:
There are some publishers acting unethically especially when it comes to OA journal publishing. The following common signs of predatory journals may help you identify these journals:
You may like to read the following recent studies on the issues of the increasing number of predatory open access journals: | https://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com/getting_published/journals |
Many parents want what’s best for their children, especially when it comes to their child's health. One of the most controversial topics today is whether or not to give children the required vaccinations. By choosing to vaccinate a child you could potentially determine the future for that child and diseases they could and could not be exposed to. The real question is, Why should you vaccinate? It is important for parents to know all of the facts before they make the decision to vaccinate. Did you know that 5.1-6% of the state of Michigan is not vaccinated. There are many people including medical professionals that believe the benefits that vaccines give to the children far outweigh the risks that could occur from not giving the vaccines.
While going about your day, you may have overheard others conversing about vaccines. Perhaps you have been involved in such a conversation, as the vaccine debate is presently a prominent topic of discussion. Ever since the late 1700s, when vaccines were first invented and used by Edward Jenner (Levine, Miller 1020), there have been copious amounts of pro-vaccine advocates. However, overtime anti-vaccine campaigners have accumulated as well, thus creating the ever-present vaccine debate. Not solely in our modern times, but throughout history, pro-vaccine supporters have been disputing with anti-vaccine supporters, constantly presenting new reasons to either love or despise vaccines.
Required Immunity Mandatory vaccinations for children in public schools have been the center of much debate since laws were first developed to regulate immunization. Fears from parents about side effects and adverse reactions have steered many away from wanting to vaccinate their children despite the numerous infectious diseases they prevent. These debates have gotten in the way of progression in schools for preventing the spread of disease. To me, the risks of not vaccinating children are far greater than the risks of adverse reactions.
According to the World Health Organization, there are 25 vaccine preventable diseases, 2.5 million child lives saved by vaccinations and 0 linked casualties from vaccinations. Good morning everyone, my name is Nihad and today I will be talking about the dangers of the anti vaccination movement and I hope by the end of this speech, you will be persuaded to get immunized and in turn safeguard the health of the future generations. After vaccinations have been introduced, several disease incidences have been controlled and some fatal illnesses have been completely eradicated; an advancement that is currently under threat due to the anti vaccination movement. According to Alexandra Le Tellier from the LA Times, 1/3rd of kindergarteners are not up to date with their vaccinations.
Vaccines, usualy in the form of a jag, can provide acquired immunity to potentialy debilitating or fatal diseases and infections. Not all of these jags are always 100% effective however, like wearing a helmet on a bike, they can provide life saving protection yet for some reason some parents are fighting against them. This may not seem like a large problem however with the election of the new President of the United States openly supporting anti-vaxers and the decreasing trust in medical profesionals and anything that is 'un-natural' it is becoming an impending danger. In America, most schools require a selection of Hepatitis B, Diphtheria, Tetanus
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? That is the question. Vaccination has sparked heated debate since its development amongst the following groups; parents, naturopaths, medical professionals, etc. Fuel has been added to the fire of the vaccine debate by the media and anti-vaxxer fear mongering tactics, making it hard for those considering vaccination, to decipher fact from myth. It is vital that we first understand the facts rather than believing the latest rumor before making an informed decision to vaccinate or not. This is the aim of this report. Through analytical research presented in this report I have come to the conclusion that vaccines are not only crucial and beneficial but that everyone who is eligible should be vaccinated, as that
Many people may think that vaccination is a bad thing, that instead of preventing it causes illness, that is not natural. Natural or not, there are many reasons as to why we should vaccinate us and the younger generation. Most of the time children don’t like vaccination because it hurt, but is the responsibility of a parent to seek the wellbeing of his or her child. Vaccination it’s a preventive measure of various diseases. Unfortunately, things like the anti-vaccination movement, the misinformation on the Internet, and the believe that vaccination causes more damage than is worth, have led our society to think that it’s right not to vaccinate.
Problem Immunization is the process when an individual is made immune or resistant to an infectious disease, normally through vaccination (WHO, 2015). Individuals of all ages should receive a shot in order to better protect themselves and the individuals around them. In 1809, Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to require an immunization policy, since then the entire nation now has federal policies implementing vaccinations to protect the public health (Martindale-Hubbell, 2015). However, these policies are typically generated for the younger generation of the population. Federal Immunization policies in the United States are implemented solely to ensure the safety of oneself and the society as a whole.
Non-Vaccinated Facts Specific Purpose: to let my classmate know about the 3 main reasons why parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children. Central Idea: The 3 reasons why parents don 't want to vaccinate are a. Vaccines have side effects b. Personal belief c. Religious beliefs.
Pro Vaccination Since the invention of vaccines, it has created a huge impact worldwide. As a child begins to start school, their required by the state to receive their twelve routine shots. The children who receive all their shots have a greater chance of not contracting any diseases. Throughout the years, vaccination or otherwise known as immunization has been a hugely controversial issue worldwide and whether or not to vaccinate children. However, vaccines are an effective and key role in keeping the human population healthy and safe.
Since infants and young children are very vulnerable and lack independence, healthy physical development is dependent on protecting them from outside harms. Vaccines protect not just the child being vaccinated but also other children who may not be vaccinated. Some children cannot receive vaccines due to health conditions, such as child with allergies or a deficient immune system. These children are at risk for catching devastating illnesses when they come in contact with unvaccinated children. When parents have their children vaccinated it is good for the health of both the vaccinated children and other children in the
Many people think they should not get themselves or their children vaccinated because of the side effects that could occur after receiving the vaccination. Side effects such as headache, fever, rash, redness, and tenderness at the site of the injection are all common side effects. However, there are more serious side effects that could require hospitalization, or result in death. According to the CDC, the more serious side effects are rare and there are very few records of them happening. There are others who think they or their children do not need to be vaccinated because of the natural immunity that occurs in one’s body. Some think that because their body is able to fight off a disease, they do not need to get vaccinated. A disease
There has been a huge controversy concerning vaccination for children from many parents. Many parents had different reason on why they were for or against vaccination. Some for religious purposes, concerned about the long-term side effects. Most parents feel that vaccine is poison. The fact that doctors are injecting something into their child can be terrifying.
News Flash! Recent outbreaks of what the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) call vaccine-preventable diseases demonstrate the effects of the anti-vaccination movement. “Antivaxxers” as they’ve come to be called, as noticed on this author's Facebook page, are a population of parents who make a conscious decision not to vaccinate their children. The goal of this paper is to shed some light on the Antivaxxers, their arguments for choosing not to vaccinate their children, and research that proves the Antivaxxers’ theories are wrong. After all, vaccines aren’t something to be concerned about, they are proven to be effective.
Vaccines are like traffic lights; they ensure the safety of the public, be in heavily crowded areas, like schools, or densely trafficked roads. Traffic lights only work when all people follow the rules. If a car runs a red light, the car runs the risk of killing innocent pedestrians who are complying with the prescribed rules. Vaccines, if not utilized by most people, are ineffective. Even though some parents are concerned over the safety of vaccines, children who go to public schools should not be granted exemptions because vaccines are necessary to prevent outbreaks, children who do not receive vaccines are at risk of disease, and medically compromised children rely on vaccines to prevent disease. | https://www.ipl.org/essay/Public-Resistance-To-Vaccination-PJQFXKQZN6 |
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and CRICO Strategies found that 34% of malpractice cases resulting in death or permanent disability stem from an inaccurate or delayed diagnosis, making it the No. 1 cause of serious harm among medical errors.
This happens, in large part, because making and communicating a medical diagnosis is a complex and imperfect science. There are more than 10,000 known diseases and more than 5,000 laboratory tests, but only a limited number of symptoms to provide the clues necessary to make an accurate diagnosis.
However, there is a new sense of momentum in the healthcare community to raise awareness and reduce inaccurate and delayed diagnoses, including more funding from the federal government.
Even as researchers and experts continue to explore how best to address this costly, dangerous and sometimes deadly issue, it is important for patients to be aware of it. Everyone has a role to play in improving the diagnostic process, including physicians, nurses, radiologists, laboratory scientists, health system leaders and, perhaps most especially, patients.
It’s critically important that patients share information with their medical providers and know the right questions to ask in order to decrease the likelihood of misdiagnosis.
To help patients have conversations with their physicians about their diagnoses, SIDM’s patient toolkit offers a questions checklist, including these seven questions to ask:
What is my diagnosis? What else could it be?
Why do you think this is my diagnosis? From test results? From my physical exam?
Can you give me written information about my diagnosis? A pamphlet? A website?
Can you explain the test or treatment you want me to have?
What are the risks to the test or treatment you want me to have? What happens if I do nothing?
When do I need to follow up with you?
What should I do if my symptoms worsen or change, or if I don’t respond to treatment?
In addition to these questions, always ask when test results will be ready. Get a copy for your records and call your doctor's office if you do not receive your test results.
About Family Features Editorial Syndicate A leading source for high-quality food, lifestyle and home and garden content, Family Features provides readers with topically and seasonally relevant tips, takeaways, information, recipes, videos, infographics and more. Find additional articles and information at Culinary.net and eLivingToday.com.
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How to Fix an Intex Pool Leaking From the Plunger Valve
Your Intex brand pool comes with two plunger valves that attach to the wall of the pool and to the filter pump hoses. In the open position, the plungers allow water to flow in and out of the pool and through the pump. You must place the pool plunger valve in the closed position when replacing the filter cartridge to avoid draining water from the pool.
Intex Spa Air Valve Leaking
If you don't this will cause Intex spa air valve leaking. A damaged or improperly installed washer can allow leaks from around the plungers where they connect to the pool wall. To stop water leaks, you'll need to re-install the washers correctly or replace them.
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Find the Intex pool drain cap along the outside pool wall. Unscrew the cap from the drain valve.
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Twist the female end of a garden hose onto the drain connector provided with your pool. Move the male end of the hose over a drain or to a location away from your home that provides drainage. Push the opposite end of the drain connector into the drain valve to start the draining process. Secure the connector to the valve by twisting the connector adapter onto the valve threads.
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Drain the pool until the water level is below the leaking plunger valve. Unscrew the connector adaptor to release the connector from the drain valve. Pull the drain connector from the valve and replace the valve cap.
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Untwist the connector holding the inlet or outlet hose to the bottom of the plunger. Look inside the hose or on the bottom of the plunger for the hose O-ring. Pull the Intex plunger valve o ring from the plunger or hose and set it aside.
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Grasp the pool plunger valve union near the wall of the pool where it connects to the strainer connector. Twist the union counterclockwise to release the plunger valve from the side of the pool. Make sure to pull the step washer off the strainer connector threads or from inside the plunger valve and set it aside.
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Reach inside the pool and grasp the adjustable inlet nozzle, if applicable, and the strainer connector. Grab the strainer nut securing the strainer connector to the wall of the pool. Twist the nut counterclockwise to remove it from the strainer connector.
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Pull the strainer nut from the pull wall. Make sure to remove the strainer washer from the strainer threads or pull it from the pool wall. Set the strainer washer aside.
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Clean the threads on the plunger valve, strainer connector, strainer nut and hose connector with a soft cloth. Wipe the strainer washer, step washer and hose O-ring with the cloth to remove any debris. Inspect the washers and O-ring for damage, such as cracks, splits or breaks. Replace these parts if necessary.
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Coat the threads on all parts with petroleum jelly. Reinstall the strainer connector, plunger valve and inlet or outlet hose by reversing the disassembly process.
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Connect the garden hose to a water faucet. Fill the pool above the plunger valve and watch for leaks around the valve area.
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Remove the old plunger valve and replace it with a new valve if water appears to leak directly from the valve, or if the valve fails to keep water from flowing through the inlet or outlet hose when placing the plunger in the closed position.
Garden hose
Soft cloth
Replacement strainer washer,
Replacement step washer
Replacement hose O-ring
Petroleum jelly
Things You Will Need
References
Writer Bio
Cecilia Harsch has been writing professionally since 2009. She writes mainly home improvement, health and travel articles for various online publications. She has several years of experience in the home-improvement industry, focusing on gardening, and a background in group exercise instruction. Harsch received her Certified Nurses Assistant license in 2004. She attended Tarrant County College and studied English composition. | https://homeguides.sfgate.com/fix-intex-pool-leaking-plunger-valve-88035.html |
According to new research from Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, racial and ethnic gaps in criminal sentencing have declined significantly since the mid-1990s.
For their study, the research team examined three data sets that collectively include more than 2 million criminal cases dating back to the 1980s or 1990s, depending on the source. The data sets are federal sentencing from 1992 to 2016; Minnesota Sentencing Guideline Commission data from 1981 to 2017; and State Court Processing Statistics data between 1990 and 2009, which consists of data from large urban counties in 25 states across the country.
In 1992, Black Americans were sentenced to roughly 27 more months in prison than White Americans, increasing to a difference of 42 months in 1996. Since then, the difference has dropped dramatically. In 2016, the gap was only eight months, an 80 percent reduction from 20 years earlier. Additionally, there were significant improvements in the racial gap of the probability of going to prison, rather than getting probation or another kind of sentence. In 1996, Black people in the federal system were nearly 14 percent more likely to receive a prison sentence than their White peers. That gap was halved, to about 7 percent in the mid-2000s.
Additionally, the researchers conducted an analysis of what is called the presumptive sentence. The federal system and some states give judges guidelines to follow when determining what the appropriate or typical sentence should be for a particular crime. The researchers found that in 1992, White offenders received 81 percent of the recommended prison sentences, while Black offenders received 90 percent of their presumptive sentences, resulting in a 9 percent difference. This difference shrunk slightly to 6 percent by 2016.
The researchers believe that there are several factors that have contributed to this decline in the racial sentencing gap. These include the election of Barack Obama in 2008 and the appointment of the first Black attorney general; the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, which reduced the disparity in sentences for crack versus powder cocaine; and the increased media attention to the racial gap issue.
“I think it may have been changes in judicial norms. Judges don’t want racial disparities. They may have observed it happening and made adjustments along the way, trying to be more equitable,” said Ryan King, co-author and professor of sociology at Ohio State University. However, he stresses that just because these results demonstrate a positive trend, there is still work to be done. “We’ve come a long way in the United States, but the gap hasn’t disappeared.”
The study was presented at the American Sociological Association’s annual meeting on August 13 in New York. Some of the results were reported earlier in the journal Crime and Justice. Those results can be accessed here. | https://www.jbhe.com/2019/08/new-study-shows-declining-racial-gaps-in-criminal-sentencing-since-the-1990s/ |
Image Credit: http://www.kostalife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Kuchipudi-Dance.jpg
Kuchipudi, a pre-eminent Indian classical dance form counted among ten leading classical dance forms of India, is a dance-drama performance art that originated in a village of Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, India. Similar to all leading Indian classical dance forms, Kuchipudi too evolved as a religious art rooting back to the age-old Hindu Sanskrit text ‘Natya Shastra’ and connects traditionally with temples, spiritual faiths and travelling bards. This ancient dance form finds place in the 10th century copper inscriptions and in 15th century texts like ‘Machupalli Kaifat’. Traditionally it is regarded that the sanyassin of Advaita Vedanta sect, Tirtha Narayana Yati, and his disciple Siddhendra Yogi initiated, methodized and arranged the present day version of the dance form in 17th century. Usually performance repertoire of Kuchipudi that is broadly oriented on Lord Krishna and the tradition of Vaishnavism include an invocation, dharavu – short dance, nritta – pure dance and nritya – expressive dance respectively.
History & Evolution
The theoretical foundation of Kuchipudi is rooted back to the ancient Sanskrit Hindu text on the performing arts called ‘Natya Shastra’ which is accredited to Indian theatrologist and musicologist Bharata Muni. It is assumed that the full version of the text was first completed between 200 BCE to 200 CE, but such period also varies between 500 BCE and 500 CE. It incorporates verses in thousands that are structured in different chapters and divides dance in two distinct types that are ‘nrita’ that is pure technical dance and ‘nritya’ that is solo expressive dance. ‘Natya Shastra’, states Russian scholar Natalia Lidova, explicates various Indian classical dance theories including that of standing postures, bhava, rasa, basic steps, methods of acting, gestures and Tandava dance, which is associated with Lord Shiva. Bharata Muni not only mentions the Andhra region in this ancient text but also attributes an elegant movement called ‘Kaishiki vritti’ and a raga called ‘Andhri’ to this region. The raga that is associated with ‘Arsabhi’ and ‘Gandhari’ also finds place in several other Sanskrit texts dating back to the 1st millennium.
The 10th century copper inscriptions validate the existence of Shaivism associated dance drama performance acts called ‘Brahmana Melas’ or ‘Brahma Melas’ in regions of South India with Telugu speaking populace. Brahmins performed this art during the medieval era. Vaishnavism that traditionally include Bhakti music and dance dedicated to Lord Krishna and evolved during the 2nd millennium presumably embraced this art form. It developed in South India’s Tamil region as ‘Bhagavata Mela Nataka’ and in Andhra region as Kuchipudi. Saskia Kersenboom mentions that both ‘Bhagavata Mela Nataka’ and Kuchipudi are closely related to the traditional theatre form of Karnataka called ‘Yakshagana’ and also incorporate Carnatic music like the latter, however the three retain their uniqueness palpable from their varied costume, format, innovative ideas and perceptions. Again author Manohar Laxman Varadpande states that this form came up in the late 13th century during the reign of the Eastern Ganga dynasty of Kalinga, who patronized art forms based on works of famed Sanskrit poet Jayadeva, most notably the ‘Gita Govinda’. Such auspices of the monarch saw several dance-drama troupes and bards incorporating concepts based on Radha and Krishna in traditional Kuchipudi, which were locally called ‘Vaishnava Bhagavatulus’.
Tirtha Narayanayati, a composer of Carnatic music and a sanyasin of Advaita Vedanta (the oldest extant sub-school of Vedanta) and his orphan disciple Sidhyendra Yogi, a Telugu Brahmin, are accredited for initiating, methodizing and arranging the present day version of Kuchipudi in the 17th century. Narayanayati penned down a tarangini or a Sanskrit opera called ‘Sri Krishna Leela Tarangini’. The composition deals with the life of Lord Krishna from His childhood till His marriage to Rukmini and encompasses 12 Tarangams and includes 302 slokams, 153 songs and 31 choornikaas. Written as a libretto, this work apt for a dance drama has been performed by umpteen Indian classical dancers over the last two centuries. Sidhyendra Yogi followed his guru’s footsteps and wrote the play ‘Parijatapaharana’ also famous as ‘Bhama Kalapam’. Facing initial hardships in getting appropriate performers for his play he finally zeroed in on a group of young Brahmin boys belonging to wife’s family village Kuchelapuram and was also granted permission by villagers to execute the play once annually. It is from this village, which is also known as Kuchilapuri, that the dance form derived its name as Kuchipudi. American born dancer Ragini Devi mentioned that the name of the village was deduced from the Sanskrit word ‘Kusilava-puram’ meaning of which is "the village of actors".
Development & Decline in the Late Medieval Era
The dance form flourished in the 16th century under the auspices of the rulers of medieval era, which has been manifested by several copper inscriptions. The Vijayanagara Empire court records also indicate its performance at their royal court. However Islamic invasions, establishment of the Deccan Sultanates in the 16th century and a major military defeat of the Vijayanagara Empire at the hands of the Deccan sultanates in 1565 saw its decline. The political disturbances and wars also witnessed Muslim army demolishing temples and creating havoc in Deccan cities that lead many artists and musicians leave the place of whom around 500 families of Kuchipudi artists were given shelter by the Hindu king Achyutappa Nayak of the Tanjore kingdom. The king gave them lands to settle which developed to become the present day Melattur. As the art form withered in the 17th century the last Shia Muslim Nawab of Golkonda, Abul Hasan Qutb Shah impressed by its performance in 1678 aided the dancers in reviving the form by granting them land near the village of Kuchipudi (Kuchelapuram) on condition that they take forward this ancient dance form. However after Sunni Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb overpowered the Shia Sultanate in 1687, he ceased all non-Muslim practices ordering seizure and destruction of musical instruments and ban of music and dance performances in public.
Opposition & Ban During Colonial Rule
The art form somewhat revived following the demise of Aurangzeb in 1707 and the subsequent decline of the Mughal Empire. However emergence of rule of colonial officials of East India Company during the 18th century and establishment of the British colonial rule in the 19th century saw decline of various classical dance forms which were subjected to contemptuous fun and discouragement including Kuchipudi. Eventually the social stigma associated with nautch girls of north India and Devadasis of South India added with highly critical and despicable attitude from the Christian missionaries and British officials, who held them as harlots, disgraced such systems. Furthermore the Christian missionaries launched anti-dance movement in 1892 to stop such practice. The Madras Presidency under the British colonial government banned the custom of dancing in Hindu temples in 1910. With this Kuchipudi that was performed conventionally during night time on a stage associated with a Hindu temple also saw its decline.
Revival
The Indian community disapproved such ban worrying that the rich and ancient custom of Hindu temple dancing was being persecuted on the pretext of social reform. As the Indian freedom movement progressed steadily during the early 20th century, an effort to revive Indian culture and tradition seethed with excitement among Indians. Many classical art revivalists questioned against such discrimination and joined hands between 1920 and 1950 in reviving the ancient classical dance forms. Among them Vedantam Lakshminarayana Sastri played an instrumental role in reviving and reconstructing Kuchipudi and also inspired women to tread this dance form. His guru Vempati Venkatanarayana Sastri also remained a central figure in preserving Kuchipudi. Chinta Venkataramayya, another stalwart popularised the dance form through public performances. Many Western artists who came to learn Indian classical dance forms became a part of the revival movement. One of them was American dancer Esther Sherman who came to India in 1930 and later adopted the name Ragini Devi.
Repertoire
The repertoire of Kuchipudi follows three performance categories namely ‘Nritta’ (Nirutham), ‘Nritya’ (Niruthiyam) and ‘Natya’ (Natyam) mentioned in ‘Natya Shastra’ and followed by all major Indian classical dance forms. ‘Nritta’ is a technical performance where the dancer presents pure dance movements giving stress on speed, form, pattern, range and rhythmic aspects without any form of enactment or interpretive aspects. In ‘Nritya’ the dancer-actor communicates a story, spiritual themes particularly on Lord Krishna through expressive gestures and slower body movements harmonised with musical notes thus engrossing the audience with the emotions and themes of the act. ‘Natyam’ is usually performed by a group or in some cases by a solo dancer who maintains certain body movements for specific characters of the play which is communicated through dance-acting.
Costumes
While a male character wears dhoti, a female character wears a colourful sari that is stitched with a pleated cloth which opens like a hand fan when the dancer stretches or bends her legs while portraying spectacular footwork. Make-up is generally light complimented with traditional jewellery of the region which adorns her hair, nose, ear, arms and neck. A light metallic waist belt made of gold or brass adorns her waist while a leather anklet with small metallic bells called ghunghroo is wrapped on her ankles that produce rhythmic sounds while she performs brilliant footwork. Her hair is neatly braided and often beautified with flowers or done in tribhuvana style that depicts the three worlds. Her eye expressions are highlighted by outlining them with black collyrium. Sometimes special costumes and props are used for particular characters and plays, for example a peacock feathered crown adorns the dancer playing Lord Krishna.
Instruments & Music
The ensemble of a Kuchipudi performance includes a Sutradhara or Nattuvanar who is the conductor of the entire performance. He recites the musical syllables and uses cymbals to produce rhythmic beat. The story or spiritual message is sung either by the conductor or another vocalist or sometimes by the actor-dancers. The musical instruments usually include cymbals, mridangam, tambura, veena and flute.
Famous Exponents
Indrani Bajpai (Indrani Rahman), daughter of Ragini Devi, and Yamini Krishnamurti expanded this art through public performances outside Andhra that not only garnered new students in the art form but also made it widely popular both at national and international platforms. Other imminent Kuchipudi dancers include internationally famed dancing couple, Raja and Radha Reddy, their daughter Yamini Reddy; Kaushalya Reddy; Bhavana Reddy, daughter of Raja and Kaushalya Reddy; Lakshmi Narayn Shastri; and Swapana Sundari among others. | https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-dance/classical/kuchipudi.html |
info:
Borjigin
Borjigin (plural Borjigit or Borjigid; Khalkha Mongolian: Боржигин, Borjigin; Chinese: 博爾濟吉特/孛儿支斤; pinyin: Bó'ěrjìjítè;), also known as the Golden kin, Golden family or Altan urug, were the imperial clan of Genghis Khan and his successors. The Mongolian Borjigin clan is most renowned family in Inner Asia. The senior Borjigids provided ruling princes for Mongolia and Inner Mongolia until the 20th century.
The clan formed the ruling class among the Mongols, Kazakhs, and other peoples of Inner Asia. Today, the Borjigid are found throughout most of Mongolia and parts of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang.
Origin
The patrilineage began with Blueish Wolf (Borte Chinoa) and Fallow Doe (Ghoa Maral). As in the Secret History of the Mongols, their 11th generation descendant Dobun Mergen's widow Alangua the Fair was impregnanted by a ray of light. Her youngest son became the ancestor of the later Borjigid. He was Bodonchar Mungakgh (the Simple), who along with his brothers sired the entire Mongol nation. According to Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, many of Mongolian old clans were founded by Borjigin members - Barulas (Barlas), Urud, Manghud, Taichiut, Chonos, Kiyat etc. The first Khan of the Mongol was Bodonchar Mungakgh's great-great-grandson Khaidu Khan. Khaidu's grandsons Qabul Khan and Ambaghai (founder of the Taychigud sub-clan) succeeded him. Thereafter, Qabul's sons, Qutula and Yesugei, and great-grandson Temujin (Genghis Khan) ruled the Khamag Mongol. By the unification of the Mongols in 1206, virtually all of Temujin's uncles and first cousins died, and from then on only the descendants of Yesugei Ba'atur formed the Borjigid.
Mongol Empire
The Borjigin family ruled over the Mongol Empire from the 13th to 14th century. The rise of Genghis (Chingis) narrowed the scope of the Borjigid-Kiyad clans sharply. This separation was emphasized by the intemarriage of Genghis's descendants with the Barulas, Baarin, Manghud and other branches of the original Borjigid. In the western regions of the Empire, the Jurkin and perhaps other lineages near to Genghis's lineage used the clan name Kiyad but did not share in the privileges of the Genghisids. The Borjigit clan had once dominated large lands stretching from Korea to Turkey and from Indo China to Novgorod. In 1335, with the disintegration of the Ilkhanate in Iran, the first of numerous non-Borjigid-Kiyad dynasties appeared. Established by marriage partners of Genghisids, these included the Suldus Chupanids, Jalayirids in the Middle East, the Barulas dynasties in Chagatai Khanate and India, the Manghud and Onggirat dynasties in the Golden Horde and Central Asia, and the Oirats in western Mongolia.
In 1368, under Toghun Temür, the Yuan Dynasty was overthrown by the Ming Dynasty in China but members of the family continued to rule over Mongolia into the 17th century, known as the Northern Yuan Dynasty. Descendants of Genghis Khan's brothers, Qasar and Belgutei, surrendered to the Ming in 1380's. By 1470 the Borjigin lines were severely weakened, and Mongolia was in almost chaos.
Post-Mongol Empire
After the break up of the Golden Horde, the Kiyad or Qiyat continued to rule the Crimea and Kazan until the late 18th century. Another lineage of the Borjigin-Kiyat family ruled Kazakh Khanate and Moghulistan until 18th century. They were annexed by the Russian Empire and the Chinese. The Kazakh aristocracy traced back their lineage to Tuqa-Timur, a son of Jochi. In Mongolia, the Kublaids reigned as Khagan of the Mongols, however, descendants of Ogedei and Arikboke usurped the throne briefly.
Under Batumongke Dayan Khan (1480-1517) a broad Borjigid revival reestablished Borjigid supremacy among the Mongols proper. His descendants proliferated to become a new ruling class. The Borjigin clan was the strongest of the 49 Mongol banners. The eastern Khorchins were under the Qasarids, and the Ongnigud, Abagha Mongols were under the Belguteids and Temuge Odchigenids. A fragment of the Qasarids deported to Western Mongolia became the Khoshuds.
The Qing Dynasty respected the Borjigin family and the early Emperors married the Qasarid Borjigids of the Khorchin. Even among the pro-Qing Mongols, traces of the alternative tradition survived. Aci Lomi, a banner general, wrote his History of the Borjigid Clan from 1732-35. The 18th century and 19th century Qing nobility was adorned by the descendants of the early Mongol adherents including the Borjigin.
Genghisids
Descent from Genghis Khan is traceable primarily in Central Asia. His four sons and other immediate descendants are famous by names and by deeds. Later Asian potentates attempted to claim such descent even with flimsy grounds. In the 14th century, valid sources (heavily dependent on Rashid al-Din and other Arabic historians) all but dry up. With the recent popularity of genealogical DNA testing, a wider circle of people started to claim descent from the great conqueror.
Among the Asian dynasties descended from Genghis Khan were the Yuan Dynasty of China, the Ilkhanids of Persia, the Jochids of the Golden Horde, the Shaybanids of Siberia, and the Astrakhanids of Central Asia. As a rule, the Genghisid descent was crucial in Tatar politics. For instance, Mamai had to exercise his authority through a succession of puppet khans but could not assume the title of khan himself because he was not of the Genghisid lineage.
The word "Chingisid" derives from the name of the Mongol conqueror Genghis (Chingis) Khan (c. 1162–1227 CE). Genghis and his successors created a vast empire stretching from the Sea of Japan to the Black Sea.
The last ruling monarch, Mohammed Alim Khan (d.1944), of Genghisid ancestry was overthrown by Red Army in 1920.
Yuan Dynasty family tree in Mongolia
Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire in 1206. His grandson, Kublai Khan founded the Yuan Dynasty in China in 1271. The dynasty was overthrown by the Ming Dynasty during the reign of Toghaghan-Temür in 1368, but it survived in Mongolia, known as the Northern Yuan. Although the kingship was usurped by Esen Tayisi of the Oirats in 1453, he was overthrown in the next year. A recovery of the khaganate was achieved by Batumongke Dayan Khan, but the territory was segmented by his descendants. The last khaan Ligden died in 1634 and his son Ejei Khongghor submitted himself to Hong Taiji the next year.
Modern relevance
The Borjigin lost power when Communists took control. Aristocratic descent was something to be forgotten in the socialist period. Stalin's henchmen executed some 30,000 Mongols including Borjigin nobles in a series of campaigns against their culture and religion. Clan association has lost its practical relevance in the 20th century, but is still considered a matter of honour and pride by many Mongolians. In 1920s the communist regime banned the use of clan names. When the ban was lifted again in 1997, most families had lost knowledge about their clan association. Because of that, a disproportionate number of families registered the most prestigious clan name Borjigin, many of them without historic justification. The label Borjigin is used as a measure of cultural supremacy.
In Inner Mongolia, the Borjigid or Kiyad name became the basis for many Chinese surnames. The Inner Mongolian Borjigin Taijis took the surname Bao (from Borjigid) and in Ordos Qi (Qiyat). Recent genetic research has confirmed that as many as 16 million men from Manchuria to Afghanistan may have Borjigid-Kiyad ancestry. The Qiyat clan name is still found among the Kazakhs, Uzbeks and Karakalpaks.
List of Kiyad-Borjigin dynasties
- Mongol Empire: | http://www.mongolian-art.de/01_mongolian_art/gallery_comic_secret_history_mongols/033-0340.jpg.html |
---
abstract: 'We introduce a general method for relaxing decision diagrams that allows one to bound job sequencing problems by solving a Lagrangian dual problem on a relaxed diagram. We also provide guidelines for identifying problems for which this approach can result in useful bounds. These same guidelines can be applied to bounding deterministic dynamic programming problems in general, since decision diagrams rely on DP formulations. Computational tests show that relaxation on a decision diagram can yield very tight bounds for certain classes of hard job sequencing problems. For example, it proves for the first time that the best known solutions for Biskup-Feldman instances are within a small fraction of 1% of the optimal value, and sometimes optimal.'
author:
- 'J. N. Hooker'
title: |
Improved Job Sequencing Bounds\
from Decision Diagrams
---
Introduction
============
In recent years, binary and multivalued decision diagrams (DDs) have emerged as a useful tool for solving discrete optimization problems [@BerCirHoeHoo14; @BerCirHoeHoo16; @SerHoo19]. A key factor in their success has been the development of [*relaxed*]{} DDs, which represent a superset of the feasible solutions of a problem and provide a bound on its optimal value. While an exact DD representation of a problem tends to grow exponentially with the size of the problem instance, a relaxed DD can be much more compact when properly constructed. The tightness of the relaxation can be controlled by adjusting the maximum allowed width of the DD.
Relaxed DDs are normally used in conjunction with a branching procedure [@BerCirHoeHoo14; @CirHoe13], much as is the linear programming (LP) relaxation in an integer programming solver. As branching proceeds, the relaxed diagram provides a progressively tighter bound. However, combinatorial problems are often solved with heuristic methods that do not involve branching. This is true, in particular, of job sequencing problems. In such cases it is very useful to have an independently derived lower bound that can provide an indication of the quality of the solution.
Recent research [@Hoo17] has found that a relaxed DD can yield good bounds for hard job sequencing problems without branching. In fact, a surprisingly small relaxed DD, generally less than 10% the width of an exact DD, can yield a bound equal to the optimal value. On the other hand, since exact DDs grow rapidly with the instance size, relaxed DDs that are 10% of their width likewise grow rapidly. As a result, relaxed DDs of reasonable width tend to provide progressively weaker bounds as the instances scale up.
It is suggested in [@Hoo17] that Lagrangian relaxation could help strengthen the bounds obtained from smaller relaxed DDs. In this paper, we propose a general technique for relaxing a DD while preserving the ability to obtain Lagrangian bounds from the DD. The relaxed DD is constructed by merging nodes only when they agree on certain state variables that are crucial to forming the Lagrangian relaxation. We find that for certain types of job sequencing problems, Lagrangian relaxation in relaxed DDs of reasonable width can provide very tight bounds on the optimal value. For example, we prove for the first time that the best known solution values of Biskup-Feldman single-machine scheduling instances are within a small fraction of one percent of the optimum, and sometimes optimal.
Furthermore, we identify general conditions under which Lagrangian relaxation can be implemented in a relaxed DD for purposes of obtaining bounds. The conditions are expressed in terms of structural characteristics of the programming model that defines the DD. They lead to a new tool for bounding not only job sequencing problems with suitable structure, but general deterministic dynamic programming models that satisfy the conditions.
Previous Work
=============
Decision diagrams were introduced as an optimization method by [@HadHoo07; @Hoo06d]. The idea of a relaxed diagram first appears in [@AndHadHooTie07] as a means of enhancing propagation in constraint programming. Relaxed DDs were first used to obtain optimization bounds in [@BerCirHoeHoo13; @BerHoeHoo11]. Connections between DDs and deterministic dynamic programming are discussed in [@Hoo13]. Bergman, Ciré and van Hoeve first applied Lagrangian relaxation to decision diagrams in [@BerCirHoe15], where they use it successfully to strengthen bounds for the traveling salesman problem with time windows. They also use Lagrangian relaxation and DDs in [@BerCirHoe15a] to improve constraint propagation.
We advance beyond Bergman et al. [@BerCirHoe15] in two ways. First, we show how to obtain bounds on tardiness and a variety of other objective functions from a stand-alone relaxed DD. The DD in [@BerCirHoe15] represents only an all-different constraint and can provide bounds only on total travel time (without taking time windows into account). The DD is embedded in a constraint programming (CP) model that contains the time window constraints. While constraints could be added to the CP model to obtain tardiness and other kinds of bounds from the CP solver, the DD itself cannot provide them. One or more additional state variables are necessary, which results in a more complicated DD than the one used in [@BerCirHoe15]. Our contribution is to define a new node merger scheme that relaxes such a DD while allowing Lagrangian relaxation to be applied.
Our second contribution is to analyze, in general, when and how Lagrangian can be combined with DDs. We introduce the concepts of an exact state and an immediate penalty function and use these concepts to formulate sufficient conditions for implementing Lagrangian relaxation in a relaxed DD. This leads to a general method for bounding dynamic programming models that satisfy the conditions. We find that while the method generates impracticably large relaxed DDs for the job sequencing problems in [@BerCirHoe15] and [@Hoo17], it is quite practical for several important types of job sequencing problems.
Decision Diagrams
=================
For our purposes, a decision diagram can be defined as a directed, acyclic multigraph in which the nodes are partitioned into [*layers*]{}. Each arc of the graph is directed from a node in layer $i$ to a node in layer $i+1$ for some $i\in \{1,\ldots, n\}$. Layers 1 and $n+1$ contain a single node, namely the root $r$ and the terminus $t$, respectively. Each layer $i$ is associated with a finite-domain variable $x_i\in D_i$. The arcs leaving any node in layer $i$ have distinct [*labels*]{} in $D_i$, representing possible values of $x_i$ at that node. A path from $r$ to $t$ defines an assignment to the tuple $x=(x_1,\ldots,x_n)$ as indicated by the arc labels on the path. The decision diagram is [*weighted*]{} if there is a length (cost) associated with each arc.
Any discrete optimization problem with finite-domain variables can be represented by a weighted decision diagram. The diagram is constructed so that its $r$–$t$ paths correspond to the feasible solutions of the problem, and the length (cost) of any $r$–$t$ path is the objective function value of the corresponding solution. If the objective is to minimize, the optimal value is the length of a shortest $r$–$t$ path. Many different diagrams can represent the same problem, but for a given variable ordering, there is a unique [*reduced*]{} diagram that represents it [@Bry86; @Hoo13]. As an example, consider a job sequencing problem with time windows. Each job $j$ begins processing no earlier than the release time $r_j$ and requires processing time $p_j$. The objective is to minimize total tardiness, where the tardiness of job $j$ is $\max\{0,s_j+p_j-d_j\}$, and $d_j$ is the job’s due date. Figure \[fig:DDstates\] shows a reduced decision diagram for a problem instance with $(r_1,r_2,r_3)=(0,1,1)$, $(p_1,p_2,p_3)=(3,2,2)$, and $(d_1,d_2,d_3)=(5,3,5)$. Variable $x_i$ represents the $i$th job in the sequence, and arc costs appear in parentheses.
![Decision diagram for a small job sequencing instance, with arc labels and costs shown. States and minimum costs-to-go are indicated at nodes.[]{data-label="fig:DDstates"}](figDDstatesRevised.pdf)
Dynamic Programming Models
==========================
Decicision diagrams most naturally represent problems with a dynamic programming formulation, because in this case a simple top-down compilation procedure yields a DD that represents the problem. A general dynamic programming formulation can be written $${{\displaystyle}h_i(\bm{S}_i) = \min_{x_i\in X_i(\bm{S}_i)} \Big\{ c_i(\bm{S}_i,x_i) + h_{i+1}\big(\phi_i(\bm{S}_i,x_i)\big)\Big\}
}
\label{eq:recursion}$$ Here, $\bm{S}_i$ is the [*state*]{} in stage $i$ of the recursion. Typically the state is a tuple $\bm{S}_i=(S_{i1},\ldots,S_{ik})$ of [*state variables*]{}. Also $X_i(\bm{S}_i)$ is the set of possible [*controls*]{} (values of $x_i$) in state $\bm{S}_i$, $\phi_i$ is the [*transition function*]{} in stage $i$, and $c_i(\bm{S}_i,x_i)$ is the [*immediate cost*]{} of control $x_i$ in state $\bm{S}_i$. We assume there is single initial state $\bm{S}_1$ and a single final state $\bm{S}_{n+1}$, so that $h_{n+1}(\bm{S}_{n+1})=0$ and $\phi_n(\bm{S}_n,x_n)=\bm{S}_{n+1}$ for all states $\bm{S}_n$ and controls $x_n\in X_n(S_n)$. The quantity $h_i(\bm{S}_i)$ is the [*cost-to-go*]{} for state $\bm{S}_i$ in stage $i$, and an optimal solution has value $h_1(\bm{S}_1)$.
In the job sequencing problem, the state $\bm{S}_i$ is the tuple $(V_i,t_i)$, where state variable $V_i$ is the set of jobs scheduled so far, and state variable $t_i$ is the finish time of the last job scheduled. Thus the initial state is $\bm{S}_1=(\emptyset,0)$, and $X_i(S_i)$ is $\{1,\ldots,n\}\setminus V_i$. The transition function $\phi_i(\bm{S}_i,x_i)$ is given by $$\phi_i\big((V_i,t_i),x_i\big) = \big(V_i\cup\{x_i\},\;\max\{r_{x_i},t_i\}+p_{x_i}\big)$$ The immediate cost is the tardiness that results from scheduling job $x_i$ in state $(V_i,t_i)$. Thus if $\alpha^+ = \max\{0,\alpha\}$, we have $$c_i\big((V_i,t_i),x_i\big) = \Big(\max\{r_{x_i},t_i\}+p_{x_i}-d_{x_i}\Big)^+
\label{eq:dp5}$$
We recursively construct a decision diagram $D$ for the problem by associating a state with each node of $D$. The initial state $\bm{S}_1$ is associated with the root node $t$ and the final state $\bm{S}_{n+1}$ with the terminal node $t$. If state $\bm{S}_i$ is associated with node $u$ in layer $i$, then for each $v_i\in X_j(\bm{S}_i)$ we generate an arc with label $v_i$ leaving $u$. The arc terminates at a node associated with state $\phi_i(\bm{S}_i,v_i)$. Nodes on a given layer are identified when they are associated with the same state.
The process is illustrated for the job sequencing example in Fig. \[fig:DDstates\]. Each node is labeled by its state $(V_i,t_i)$, followed (in parentheses) by the minimum cost-to-go at the node. The cost-to-go at the terminus $t$ is zero.
Relaxed Decision Diagrams
=========================
A weighted decision diagram $D'$ is a [*relaxation*]{} of diagram $D$ when $D'$ represents every solution in $D$ with equal or smaller cost, and perhaps other solutions as well. To make this more precise, suppose layers $1,\ldots,n$ of both $D$ and $D'$ correspond to variables $x_1,\ldots,x_n$ with domains $X_1,\ldots,X_n$. Then $D'$ is a relaxation of $D$ if every assignment to $x$ represented by an $r$–$t$ path $P$ in $D$ is represented by an $r$–$t$ path in $D'$ with length no greater than that of $P$. The shortest path length in $D'$ is a lower bound on the optimal value of the problem represented by $D$. We will refer to a diagram that has not been relaxed as [*exact*]{}.
We can construct a relaxed decision diagram in top-down compilation by [*merging*]{} some nodes that are associated with different states. The object is to limit the width of the diagram (the maximum number of nodes in a layer). When we merge nodes with states $\bm{S}$ and $\bm{T}$, we associate a state $\bm{S}\oplus \bm{T}$ with the resulting node. The operator $\oplus$ is chosen so as to yield a valid relaxation of the given recursion.
![A relaxation of the decision diagram in Fig. \[fig:DDstates\].[]{data-label="fig:DDrelax"}](figDDrelaxRevised.pdf)
The job sequencing problem discussed above uses a relaxation operator $$(V_i,t_i)\oplus (V'_i,t'_i)=(V_i\cap V'_i,\min\{t_i,t'_i\})$$ $V_i$ is now the set of jobs scheduled along all paths to the current node, and $t_i$ is the earliest finish time of the last scheduled jobs along these paths. The operator is illustrated in Fig. \[fig:DDrelax\], which is the result of merging states $(\{1,2\},6)$ and $(\{2,3\},5)$ in layer 3 of Fig. \[fig:DDstates\]. The relaxed states $(V,f)$ are shown at each node, followed by the minimum cost-to-go in parentheses. The shortest path now has cost 2, which is a lower bound on the optimal cost of 4 in Fig. \[fig:DDstates\].
Sufficient conditions under which node merger results in a relaxed decision diagram are developed in [@Hoo17]. A state $\bm{S}'_i$ [*relaxes*]{} a state $\bm{S_i}$ when (a) all feasible controls in state $\bm{S_i}$ are feasible in state $\bm{S}'_i$, and (b) the immediate cost of any given feasible control in $\bm{S}_i$ is no less than its immediate cost in $\bm{S}'_i$. That is, $X_i(\bm{S}_i)\subseteq X_i(\bm{S}'_i)$, and $c_i(\bm{S}_i,x_i)\geq c_i(\bm{S}'_i,x_i)$ for all $x_i\in X_i(\bm{S}_i)$.
\[th:merge\] If the following conditions are satisfied, the merger of nodes with states $\bm{S}_i$ and $\bm{T}_i$ within a decision diagram results in a valid relaxation of the diagram.
- $\bm{S}_i\oplus \bm{T}_i$ relaxes both $\bm{S}_i$ and $\bm{T}_i$.
- If state $\bm{S}'_i$ relaxes state $\bm{S}_i$, then given any control $v$ that is feasible in $\bm{S}_i$, $\phi(\bm{S}'_i,v)$ relaxes $\phi(\bm{S}_i,v)$.
All relaxed diagrams we consider are associated with a dynamic programming model that satisfies the conditions of the theorem. The shortest path problem in the relaxed DD requires a modification of the original dynamic programming model that accounts for the merger of states. Also, it is sometimes necessary to use additional state variables to obtain a valid relaxation [@BerCirHoeHoo14], and so we replace the state vector $\bm{S}_i$ with a possibly enlarged vector $\bar{\bm{S}}_i$. The recursive model becomes $${{\displaystyle}\bar{h}_i(\bar{\bm{S}}_i) = \min_{x_i\in X_i(\bar{\bm{S}}_i)} \Big\{ c_i(\bar{\bm{S}}_i,x_i) + \bar{h}_{i+1}\Big(\rho_{i+1}\big(\phi_i(\bar{\bm{S}}_i,x_i)\big)\Big)\Big\}
}
\label{eq:recursionRelax}$$ where $\rho_{i+1}(\bar{\bm{S}}_{i+1})$ is a relaxation of state $\bar{\bm{S}}_{i+1}$ that reflects the merger of states in stage $i+1$ of the recursion. In the example, $\bar{\bm{S}}_i=\bm{S}_i$, since no additional states are necessary to formulate the relaxation.
It will be convenient to distinguish [*exact*]{} from [*relaxed*]{} state variables in model (\[eq:recursionRelax\]). A state variable $S_{ij}$ in (\[eq:recursionRelax\]) is exact if any sequence of controls $x_1,\ldots,x_{i-1}$ that leads to a given value of $S_{ij}$ in the original recursion (\[eq:recursion\]) leads to that same value in the relaxed recursion (\[eq:recursionRelax\]). Otherwise $S_{ij}$ is relaxed. In the example, neither $V_i$ nor $t_i$ is exact if any pair of states can be merged. However, if we permit the merger of $(V_i,t_i)$ and $(V'_i,t'_i)$ only when $t_i=t'_i$, then state variable $t_i$ is exact. In general we have the following, which is easy to show.
\[le:exact\] A state variable $S_{ij}$ is exact if states $\bm{S}_i$, $\bm{S}'_i$ are merged only when $S_{ij}=S'_{ij}$.
Lagrangian Duality and Decision Diagrams
========================================
Consider an optimization problem $$z^* = \min_{\bm{x}\in\mathcal{X}} \big\{f(\bm{x}) \; \big| \; \bm{g}(x)=\bm{0}\big\}
\label{eq:l1}$$ where $\bm{x}=(x_1,\ldots, x_n)$, $\bm{g}(\bm{x})=(g_1(\bm{x}), \ldots, g_m(\bm{x}))$ and $\bm{0}=(0,\ldots,0)$. The condition that $\bm{x}\in\mathcal{X}$ is typically represented by a constraint set. A [*Lagrangian relaxation*]{} of (\[eq:l1\]) has the form $$\theta(\bm{\lambda}) = \min_{\bm{x}\in\mathcal{X}} \big\{f(\bm{x}) + \bm{\lambda}^T\bm{g}(\bm{x})\big\}
\label{eq:l2}$$ where $\bm{\lambda}=(\lambda_1,\ldots,\lambda_m)$. The relaxation [*dualizes*]{} the constraints $\bm{g}(\bm{x})=\bm{0}$. It is easy to show that $\theta(\bm{\lambda})$ is a lower bound on $z^*$ for any $\bm{\lambda}\in\mathbb{R}^m$. The [*Lagrangian dual*]{} of (\[eq:l1\]) seeks the tightest bound $\theta(\bm{\lambda})$: $$\max_{ \bm{\lambda}\in \mathbb{R}^m}\big\{\theta(\bm{\lambda})\big\}
\label{eq:l3}$$ The motivation for using a Lagrangian dual is to obtain tight bonds while dualizing troublesome constraints. If $\bm{g}(\bm{x})$ depends on a very small number of state variables, then dualizing the constraint $\bm{g}(\bm{x})=0$ may allow one to solve the problem within time and space constraints. Lagrangian duality can be illustrated in the minimum tardiness job sequencing problem discussed earlier. The variables $x_1,\ldots,x_n$ should have different values, or equivalently, that each job $j$ should occur in a given solution exactly once. Since a relaxed DD does not enforce this condition, we dualize the constraint $\bm{g}(\bm{x})=0$, where $\bm{g}(\bm{x})=(g_1(\bm{x}),\ldots,g_n(\bm{x}))$ and $$g_j(\bm{x}) = -1 + \sum_{i=1}^n (x_i=j), \;\;\mbox{with} \;\;
(x_i=j)=\left\{
\begin{array}{ll} 1 & \mbox{if $x_i=j$} \\ 0 & \mbox{otherwise}
\end{array}
\right.$$ As observed in [@BerCirHoe15], the Lagrangian penalty $\lambda_j g_j(\bm{x})$ can be represented in a relaxed DD by adding $\lambda_j$ to the cost of each arc corresponding to control $j$ and subtracting $\sum_j \lambda_j$ from the cost of each arc leaving the root node. Then the length of each $r$–$t$ path includes the Lagrangian penalty $\bm{\lambda}^T\bm{g}(\bm{x})$ for the corresponding solution $\bm{x}$, which is zero if $\bm{x}$ satisfies the all-different constraint.
In general, $\bm{g}(\bm{x})$ can be computed recursively in a relaxed DD when there is a vector-valued [*immediate penalty function*]{} $\bm{\gamma}_i(\bar{\bm{S}}^L_i,x_i)$ for which $$\bm{g}(\bm{x}) = \sum_{i=1}^n \bm{\gamma}_i(\bar{\bm{S}}_i^L,x_i)
\label{eq:penalty}$$ where each $\bar{\bm{S}}_i^L$ is a tuple consisting of [*exact*]{} state variables $S_{i\ell}$ for $\ell\in L$. In the example, the constraint function $\bm{g}(\bm{x})$ requires no state information, and $\bar{\bm{S}}_i^L$ is empty. The immediate penalty $\bm{\gamma}_i((V_i,t_i),x_i)$ can be written simply $\bm{\gamma}_i(x_i)$, where $$\gamma_{ij}(x_i) = \left\{
\begin{array}{l@{\hspace{2ex}}l}
(x_i=j) & \mbox{if $i\in\{2, \ldots, n\}$} \\
(x_i=j) -1 & \mbox{if $i=1$}
\end{array}
\right.
\label{eq:dualize}$$ for $j=1,\ldots,n$. Implementing a Lagrangian relaxation (\[eq:l1\]) in a relaxed DD also requires that the original objective function value $f(\bm{x})$ be computed as part of the path length. Normally, the path length is only a lower bound on $f(\bm{x})$. To compute $f(\bm{x})$ exactly in the relaxed recursion (\[eq:recursionRelax\]), we must have an immediate cost function that depends only on exact state variables. That is, we must have $$f(\bm{x}) = \sum_{i=1}^n \bar{c}_i(\bar{\bm{S}}_i^K,x_i)
\label{eq:cost}$$ where $\bar{\bm{S}}_i^K$ is a tuple consisting of exact state variables $S_{ik}$ for $k\in K$. In the example, the immediate cost function (\[eq:dp5\]) depends on the state variable $t_i$, which must therefore be exact. We therefore have $\bar{\bm{S}}_i^K=(t_i)$. Due to Lemma \[le:exact\], we can ensure that $t_i$ is exact by merging nodes only when $t_i$ has the same value in the corresponding states. Thus Lagrangian relaxation can be implemented in the minimum tardiness example if we merge nodes in this fashion.
The above observations can be summed up as follows.
\[th:L\] Lagrangian relaxation (\[eq:l2\]) can be implemented in a relaxed DD if there are immediate cost functions $\bar{c}_i(\bar{\bm{S}}_i^K,x_i)$ for which (\[eq:cost\]) holds and immediate penalty functions $\bm{\gamma}_i(\bar{\bm{S}}_i^L,x_i)$ for which (\[eq:penalty\]) holds, where $\bar{\bm{S}}_i^K$ and $\bar{\bm{S}}_i^L$ consist entirely of exact state variables in $\bar{\bm{S}}_i$. In this case the recursion for computing shortest paths in the relaxed DD becomes $${{\displaystyle}\bar{h}_i(\bar{\bm{S}}_i,\bm{\lambda}) = \min_{x_i\in X_i(\bar{\bm{S}}_i)} \Big\{ \bar{c}_i(\bar{\bm{S}}_i^K,x_i) + \bm{\lambda}^T\bm{\gamma}_i(\bar{\bm{S}}_i^L,x_i) + \bar{h}_{i+1}\Big(\rho_{i+1}\big(\phi_i(\bar{\bm{S}}_i,x_i)\big),\bm{\lambda}\Big)\Big\}
}
\label{eq:recursionRelaxL}$$
Lagrangian relaxation (\[eq:l2\]) can be implemented in a relaxed DD if nodes are merged only when their states agree on the values of the state variables on which the immediate cost functions and the immediate penalty functions depend. That is, nodes with states $\bar{\bm{S}}_i$ and $\bar{\bm{T}}_i$ are merged only when $\bar{\bm{S}}_i^K=\bar{\bm{T}}_i^K$ and $\bar{\bm{S}}_i^L=\bar{\bm{T}}_i^L$, where $K$ and $L$ are in as Theorem \[th:L\].
Problem Classes
===============
We now examine a few classes of job sequencing problems to determine whether they are suitable for Lagrangian relaxation on a relaxed DD. All of these problems have an all-different constraint that is dualized as before using the immediate penalty function (\[eq:dualize\]). Since this function depends on no state variables, the state variables that must be exact are simply those on which the immediate cost function depends. That is, $\bar{\bm{S}}_i^L$ is empty, and suitability for relaxation depends on which variables are in $\bar{\bm{S}}_i^K$. We note that even when DD-based Lagrangian relaxation is not suitable for a given problem class, it may be useful when combined with branching, or when the relaxed DD is embedded in a larger model.
Sequencing with Time Windows
----------------------------
Problems in which jobs with state-independent processing times are sequenced, possibly subject to time windows, are generally conducive to Lagrangian relaxation on DDs. The problem of minimizing total tardiness is discussed above, and computational results are presented in Section \[computational\]. Minimizing makespan or the number of late jobs is treated similarly.
A popular variation on the problem minimizes the sum of penalized earliness and tardiness with respect to a common due date [@BisFel01; @BisFel05; @Che96; @HallPos91; @HallPosSet91; @OwMor89; @YinLinLu17]. Earliness of job $j$ is weighted by $\alpha_j$ and lateness by $\beta_j$. The recursive model for an exact DD uses the same state variables $(V_i,t_i)$ as the minimum tardiness problem. However, a valid relaxed DD requires an additional state variable $s_i$ that represents latest start time, while $t_i$ again represents earliest finish time. The transition and immediate cost functions are $$\begin{array}{l}
{{\displaystyle}\bar{\phi}_i\big((V_i,s_i,t_i),x_i\big) = \big(V_i\cup\{x_i\},\;s_i+p_{x_i},\;t_i+p_{x_i}\big)
} {\vspace{.5ex}}\\
\bar{c}_i\big((V_i,s_i,t_i),x_i\big) = \alpha_{x_i}\big(s_i+p_{x_i}-d_{x_i}\big)^+ + \beta_{x_i}\big(t_i+p_{x_i}-d_{x_i}\big)^+
\end{array}$$ The merger operation is $$(V_i,s_i,t_i)\oplus (V'_i,s'_i,t'_i) = \big(V_i\cap V'_i, \max\{s_i,s'_i\},\min\{t_i,t'_i\}\big)$$ The immediate cost depends on both $s_i$ and $t_i$, which means that both of these state variables must be exact. This may appear to result in a large relaxed DD, because nodes can be merged only when they agree on both state variables. However, since $s_i$ and $t_i$ are initially equal, and these state variables are exact, they remain equal throughout the relaxed DD construction. The resulting DD is therefore the same that would result if a single state variable were exact. Computational results are presented Section \[computational\].
Time-Dependent Costs and/or Processing Times
--------------------------------------------
Costs and processing times can be time-dependent in two senses: they may depend on the position of each job in the sequence, or on the clock time at which the job is processed. Both senses occur in the literature, and both can be treated with Lagrangian relaxation on DDs.
If the processing time $p_{ij}$ of job $j$ depends on the position $i$ of the job in the sequence, then the immediate cost in the relaxation is $$\bar{c}_i((V_i,t_i),x_i) = \big(\max\{t_i,r_{x_i}\} + p_{ix_i} - d_{x_i}\big)^+$$ which depends only on the state variable $t_i$. Since $\bar{c}_i$ is already indexed by the position $i$, any other element of cost that depends on $i$ is easily incorporated into the function. Thus we need only ensure that states are merged only when they agree on $t_i$, a condition that is already satisfied in the relaxed model described above for minimum-tardiness sequencing problems.
If the processing time $p_j(s)$ of job $j$ depends on the time $s$ at which job $j$ starts, the immediate cost is $$\bar{c}_i((V_i,t_i),x_i) = \big(\max\{t_i,r_{x_i}\} + p_{x_i}(\max\{t_i,r_{x_i}\}) - d_{x_i}\big)^+$$ which again depends only on state variable $t_i$. Any other time-dependent element of cost likewise depends only on $t_i$, and so states can be merged whenever they agree on $t_i$.
Sequence-Dependent Processing Times
-----------------------------------
We refer to a job $j$’s processing time as sequence dependent when its processing time $p_{j'j}$ depends on the immediately preceding job $j'$ in the sequence. When there are no time windows and the objective is to minimize travel time, the problem is a traveling salesman problem. The state variables are $V_i$ and the immediately preceding job $y_i$. The transition and immediate cost functions are $$\begin{array}{l}
{{\displaystyle}\bar{\phi}_i\big((V_i,y_i),x_i\big) = \big(V_i\cup\{x_i\},x_i\big)
} {\vspace{.5ex}}\\
{{\displaystyle}\bar{c}_i\big((V_i,y_i),x_i\big) = p_{y_ix_i}
}
\end{array}
\label{eq:seqDep}$$ Since the immediate cost depends only on state $y_i$, nodes can be merged whenever they are reached using the same control. This permits a great deal of reduction in the relaxed DD and suggests that a Lagrangian approach to bounding can be effective. While pure traveling salesman problems are already well solved, a DD-based Lagrangian bounding technique may be useful when there are side constraints.
When there are time windows in the problem, an additional state variable $t_i$ representing the finish time of the previous job is necessary for a stand-alone relaxed DD. The transition function is $$\bar{\phi}_i\big((V_i,y_i,t_i),x_i\big) = \big(V_i\cup\{x_i\},x_i,\max\{r_{x_i},t_i\}+p_{y_ix_i}\big)
\label{eq:seqDep2}$$ The immediate cost functions for minimizing travel time and total tardiness, respectively, are $$\begin{aligned}
& \bar{c}_i\big((V_i,y_i,t_i),x_i\big) = (r_{x_i}-t_i)^+ + p_{y_ix_i}
\label{eq:seqDep3} \\
& \bar{c}_i\big((V_i,y_i,t_i),x_i\big) = \big(\max\{r_{x_i},t_i\}+p_{y_ix_i} - d_{x_i}\big)^+ \label{eq:seqDep4}\end{aligned}$$ In either case, the immediate cost depends on two state variables $y_i$ and $t_i$, and nodes can be merged only when they agree on these variables. This is likely to result in an impracticably large relaxed DD. For example, if there are 50 jobs and a few hundred possible values of $t_i$, a layer of the relaxed DD could easily expand to tens of thousands of nodes. We confirmed this with preliminary experiments on the Dumas instances [@DumDesGelSol95]. Lagrangian relaxation on a stand-alone relaxed DD therefore does not appear to be a promising approach to bounding TSP problems with time windows. One can, of course, use the simpler DD described by (\[eq:seqDep\]) to bound travel time (although not total tardiness), as is done in [@BerCirHoe15]. However, this relaxation ignores time windows altogether and would yield a weaker bound than (\[eq:seqDep2\])–(\[eq:seqDep3\]).
State-Dependent Processing Times
--------------------------------
We refer to a job’s processing times as state dependent when they depend on one or more of the state variables in the recursion, such as the set $V_i$ of jobs already processed. Such a problem is studied in [@Hoo17], where the processing time is less if a certain job has already been processed. State variables are again $V_i$ and $t_i$, but to build a relaxed DD we need an additional state variable $U_i$ representing the sets of jobs that have been processed along some path to the current node. The transition function and immediate cost function are $$\begin{array}{ll}
{{\displaystyle}\bar{\phi}_i\big((V_i,U_i,t_i),x_i\big) = \big(V_i\cup\{x_i\},U_i\cup\{x_i\},\max\{r_{x_i},t_i\}+p_{x_i}(U_i)\big)
} {\vspace{.5ex}}\\
{{\displaystyle}\bar{c}_i\big((V_i,U_i,t_i),x_i\big) = \big(\max\{r_{x_i},t_i\}+p_{x_i}(U_i) - d_{x_i}\big)^+
}
\end{array}$$ where the processing time is $p_{x_i}(U_i)$. The merger operation is $$(V_i,U_i,t_i) \oplus (V'_i,U'_i,t'_i) = \big(V_i\cap V'_i, U_i\cup U'_i, \min\{t_i,t'_i\}\big)$$ Since the cost depends on both $t_i$ and $U_i$, these state variables must be exact, and states can be merged only when they agree on the values of $t_i$ and $U_i$. This predicts that the relaxed DD will grow rapidly with the number of jobs. Lagrangian relaxation is therefore not a promising approach to this type of problem.
Computational Experiments {#computational}
=========================
Problem Instances
-----------------
To assess the quality of bounds obtained from Lagrangian relaxation on relaxed DDs, it is necessary to obtain problem instances with known optimal values, or values that are likely to be close to the optimum. We carry out tests on two well-known sets of instances, corresponding to two sequencing problems identified earlier to be suitable for bounding. One is the set of minimum weighted tardiness instances of Crauwels, Potts and Wassenhove [@CraPotWas98], which we refer to as the CPW instances. The other is the Biskup-Feldman collection of minimum weighted earliness-plus-tardiness instances with a common due date [@BisFel01].
The CPW set consists of 125 instances of each of three sizes: 40 jobs, 50 jobs, and 100 jobs. We compute bounds for first 25 instances in the 40- and 50-job sets. These instances exhibit a wide range of gradually increasing tardiness values, thus providing a diverse selection for testing. Optimal solutions are given in [@BisFel01] for all of these instances except instance 14 with 40 jobs, and instances 11, 12, 14 and 19 with 50 jobs. Solution values presented in [@BisFel01] for the unsolved instances are apparently the best known.
The Biskup-Feldman collection includes 10 instances of each size, where the sizes are 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 jobs. We study the instances with 20, 50 and 100 jobs. The instances specify only the processing times $p_j$ and the earliness/tardiness weights $\alpha_j$, $\beta_j$ described earlier. The common due date for all jobs in an instance is not specified. Typical practice is to set the due date equal to $d(h) = \lfloor h \sum_j p_j\rfloor$, where $h$ is a parameter.
We compare our lower bounds against the best known solution values reported in [@YinLinLu17]. These authors compute the earliness penalty with respect to $d(h_1)$ and the tardiness penalty with respect to $d(h_2)$ for $h_1<h_2$, so that the penalty for each job $j$ is $\alpha_j(d(h_1)-t_j)^+ + \beta_j(t_j-d(h_2))^+$, where $t_j$ is the finish time of job $j$. Heuristics are used in [@YinLinLu17] to solve instances with $(h_1,h_2)=(0.1,0.2)$, $(0.1,0.3)$, $(0.2,0.5)$, $(0.3,0.4)$, and $(0.3,0.5)$. We study instances with $(h_1,h_2)=(0.1,0.2)$ and $(0.2,0.5)$ to provide a look at contrasting cases. To our knowledge, none of these instances have been solved to proven optimality.
Solving the Lagrangian Dual
---------------------------
We use subgradient optimization to solve the Lagrangian dual problem (\[eq:l3\]). Each iterate $\bm{\lambda}^k$ is obtained from the previous by the update formula $$\bm{\lambda}^{k+1} = \bm{\lambda}^k + \sigma_k \bm{g}(\bm{x}^k)$$ where $\bm{x}^k$ is the value of $\bm{x}$ obtained when computing $\theta(\bm{\lambda}^k)$ in (\[eq:l2\]). The art of Lagrangian optimization is choosing the step size $\sigma_k$. This choice is avoided in [@BerCirHoe15] by using the Kelly-Cheney-Goldstein bundle method [@Lem01] of deriving $\bm{\lambda}^k$ from previous iterates. However, Polyak’s method [@Pol87] seems better suited to our purposes, because it is much easier to implement, and it requires as a parameter only an upper bound $\theta^*$ on the optimal value of $\theta(\bm{\lambda})$. Such a bound is available in practice, because one seeks to estimate how far a known solution value lies from the optimal value, and that solution value is an upper bound $\theta^*$. Polyak’s method defines the step size to be $$\sigma_k = \frac{\theta^* - \theta(\bm{\lambda}^k)}{\|\bm{g}(\bm{x}^k)\|^2_2}$$
Building the Relaxed Diagram
----------------------------
In previous work [@AndHadHooTie07; @BerCirHoeHoo13; @BerCirHoeHoo16], heuristically-selected nodes are merged in each layer after all states obtainable from the previous layer are generated. Since we wish to merge all nodes that agree on $t_i$, and no others, we merge these nodes as we generate the states, rather than first generating all possible states and then merging nodes. This drastically reduces computation time and results in reasonable widths that gradually increase as layers are created.
Computational Results
---------------------
The computational tests were run on a Dell XPS-13 laptop computer with Intel Core i7-6560U (4M cache, 3.2 GHz) and 16GB memory. Results for the CPW instances appear in Table \[ta:CPW\]. The table displays optimal (or best known) values and DD-based bounds, as well as the absolute and relative gap between the two. It also shows the maximum width of the relaxed DD (always obtained in layer $n$), the time required to build the DD, and the time consumed by the subgradient algorithm. Since a subgradient iteration requires only the solution of a shortest path problem in the relaxed DD, we allowed the algorithm to run for 50,000 iterations to obtain as much improvement in the bound as seemed reasonably possible. Due to slow convergence, which is typical for subgradient algorithms, a bound that is nearly as tight can be obtained by executing only, say, 20% as many iterations.
The bounds in Table \[ta:CPW\] are reasonably tight. The gap is well below one percent in most cases, and below 0.1% in about a quarter of the cases, although a few of the bounds are rather weak. The optimal value was obtained for one instance. The gap for instance 14 in the 40-job table suggests that the best known value is probably not optimal, while no such inference can be drawn for the 4 unsolved 50-job instances.
Results for the Biskup-Feldman instances appear in Table \[ta:BF\], where the bounds are compared with the best known solutions. The relaxed DDs are the same for the two sets of due dates $(h_1,h_2)=(0.1,0.2), (0.2,0.5)$; only the costs differ. The bounds are very tight, resulting in gaps that are mostly under 0.1%. This indicates that the known solutions are, at worst, very close to optimality. In fact, optimality is proved for 8 instances, which represents the first time that any of these instances have been solved. The bounds may be equal to the optimal value for other instances, since the known values displayed may not be optimal.
Conclusion
==========
We have shown how Lagrangian relaxation in a stand-alone relaxed decision diagram can yield tight optimization bounds for certain job sequencing problems. We also characterized problems on which this approach is likely to be effective; namely, problems in which a relaxed DD of reasonable width results from a restricted form of state merger. The restriction is that states may be merged only when they agree on the values of state variables on which the cost function and dualized constraints depend in a recursive formulation of the problem.
Based on this analysis, we observed that job sequencing problems with state-independent processing times and time windows are suitable for this type of bounding, whether one minimizes tardiness, makespan or the number of late jobs. The same is true when processing times are dependent on when the job is processed or its position in the sequence. The traveling salesman problem can also bounded in this fashion. However, the TSP with time windows, as well as problems with state-dependent processing times in general, are normally unsuitable for DD-based Lagrangian relaxation, unless the relaxed diagram is combined with branching or embedded in a larger model.
We ran computational experiments on 110 instances from the well-known Crauwels-Potts-Wassenhove and Biskup-Feldman problem sets, with sizes ranging from 20 to 100 jobs. We found that DD-based Lagrangian relaxation can provide tight bounds for nearly all of these instances. This is especially true of the Biskup-Feldman instances tested, all of which were unsolved prior to this work. We showed that the best known solutions are almost always within a small fraction of one percent of the optimum, and we proved optimality for 8 of the solutions. To our knowledge, these are the first useful bounds that have been obtained for these instances.
More generally, our analysis can be used to identify dynamic programming models that may have a useful relaxation based on relaxed decision diagrams and Lagrangian duality.
[c@c]{}
[r@r@r@r@r@r@r@r]{}\
\[0.5ex\] Instance & Target & Bound & Gap & Percent & Max & Build & Subgr\
& & & & gap & width & time & time\
\[0.5ex\]\
\[-2ex\] 1 & 913 & 883 & 30 & 3.29% & 3163 & 16 & 1287\
2 & 1225 & 1179 & 46 & 3.76% & 3652 & 20 & 1420\
3 & 537 & 483 & 54 & 10.06% & 3556 & 20 & 1443\
4 & 2094 & 2047 & 47 & 2.24% & 3568 & 20 & 1427\
5 & 990 & 980 & 10 & 1.01% & 3305 & 18 & 1312\
6 & 6955 & 6939 & 16 & 0.23% & 3588 & 20 & 1406\
7 & 6324 & 6299 & 25 & 0.40% & 3509 & 20 & 1437\
8 & 6865 & 6743 & 122 & 1.78% & 3508 & 20 & 1393\
9 & 16225 & 16049 & 176 & 1.08% & 3699 & 22 & 1468\
10 & 9737 & 9591 & 146 & 1.50% & 3426 & 19 & 1346\
11 & 17465 & 17417 & 48 & 0.27% & 3770 & 23 & 1493\
12 & 19312 & 19245 & 67 & 0.35% & 3644 & 22 & 1435\
13 & 29256 & 29003 & 253 & 0.86% & 3736 & 22 & 1506\
14 & $^*$14377 & 14100 & 277 & 1.93% & 3609 & 21 & 1406\
15 & 26914 & 26755 & 159 & 0.59% & 3849 & 23 & 1554\
16 & 72317 & 72120 & 197 & 0.27% & 3418 & 19 & 1382\
17 & 78623 & 78501 & 122 & 0.16% & 3531 & 20 & 1384\
18 & 74310 & 74131 & 179 & 0.24% & 3524 & 20 & 1431\
19 & 77122 & 77083 & 39 & 0.05% & 3407 & 19 & 1320\
20 & 63229 & 63217 & 12 & 0.02% & 3506 & 20 & 1344\
21 & 77774 & 77754 & 20 & 0.03% & 3766 & 22 & 1433\
22 & 100484 & 100456 & 28 & 0.03% & 3489 & 20 & 1382\
23 & 135618 & 135617 & 1 & 0.001% & 3581 & 21 & 1375\
24 & 119947 & 119914 & 33 & 0.03% & 3477 & 19 & 1295\
25 & 128747 & 128705 & 42 & 0.03% & 3597 & 22 & 1339\
&
\[-2ex\] 1 & 2134 & 2100 & 34 & 1.59% & 4525 & 48 & 2633\
2 & 1996 & 1864 & 132 & 6.61% & 4453 & 53 & 2856\
3 & 2583 & 2552 & 31 & 1.20% & 4703 & 52 & 2697\
4 & 2691 & 2673 & 18 & 0.67% & 4585 & 55 & 2703\
5 & 1518 & 1342 & 176 & 11.59% & 4590 & 52 & 2658\
6 & 26276 & 26054 & 222 & 0.84% & 4490 & 48 & 2562\
7 & 11403 & 11128 & 275 & 2.41% & 4357 & 45 & 2499\
8 & 8499 & 8490 & 9 & 0.11% & 4396 & 46 & 2501\
9 & 9884 & 9507 & 377 & 3.81% & 4696 & 52 & 2660\
10 & 10655 & 10594 & 61 & 0.57% & 4740 & 53 & 2738\
11 &$^*$43504 & 43472 & 32 & 0.07% & 4597 & 50 & 2606\
12 &$^*$36378 & 36303 & 75 & 0.21% & 4500 & 48 & 2655\
13 & 45383 & 45310 & 73 & 0.16% & 4352 & 47 & 2521\
14 &$^*$51785 & 51702 & 83 & 0.16% & 4699 & 52 & 2656\
15 & 38934 & 38910 & 47 & 0.12% & 4650 & 52 & 2630\
16 & 87902 & 87512 & 390 & 0.44% & 4589 & 49 & 2623\
17 & 84260 & 84066 & 194 & 0.23% & 4359 & 45 & 2526\
18 & 104795 & 104633 & 162 & 0.15% & 4448 & 47 & 2505\
19 &$^*$89299 & 89163 & 136 & 0.15% & 4609 & 50 & 2660\
20 & 72316 & 72222 & 94 & 0.13% & 4678 & 51 & 2659\
21 & 214546 & 214476 & 70 & 0.03% & 4406 & 47 & 2580\
22 & 150800 & 150800 & 0 & 0% & 4098 & 39 & 418\
23 & 224025 & 223922 & 103 & 0.05% & 4288 & 44 & 2441\
24 & 116015 & 115990 & 25 & 0.02% & 4547 & 49 & 2620\
25 & 240179 & 240172 & 7 & 0.003% &4639 & 51 & 2686\
\
-------------------- -------- -------- ----- --------- ------- -------- ------- ----- --------- ------- ------- -------
\[0.5ex\] Instance Target Bound Gap Percent Subgr Target Bound Gap Percent Subgr Max Build
gap time gap time width time
\[0.5ex\] 20 jobs
1 4089 4089 0 0% 1 1162 1162 0 0% 1 323 0.12
2 8251 8244 7 0.08% 28 2770 2766 4 0.14% 27 287 0.08
3 5881 5877 4 0.07% 27 1675 1669 6 0.36% 28 287 0.08
4 8977 8971 6 0.07% 27 3113 3108 5 0.16% 27 287 0.08
5 4028 4024 4 0.10% 32 1192 1187 5 0.42% 32 341 0.10
6 6306 6288 18 0.29% 26 1557 1557 0 0% 1 271 0.09
7 10204 10204 0 0% 1 3573 3569 4 0.11% 29 305 0.09
8 3742 3739 3 0.08% 25 990 979 11 1.11% 25 267 0.08
9 3317 3310 7 0.21% 21 1056 1055 1 0.09% 22 230 0.07
10 4673 4669 4 0.09% 29 1355 1349 6 0.44% 30 320 0.09
50 jobs
1 39250 39250 0 0% 16 12754 12752 2 0.02% 501 931 2.8
2 29043 29043 0 0% 191 8468 8463 5 0.06% 524 931 2.9
3 33180 33180 0 0% 300 9935 9935 0 0% 66 836 2.4
4 25856 25847 9 0.03% 549 7373 7335 38 0.52% 521 932 2.8
5 31456 31439 17 0.05% 540 8947 8938 9 0.10% 529 932 3.0
6 33452 33444 8 0.02% 544 10221 10213 8 0.08% 532 932 2.9
7 42234 42228 6 0.01% 491 12002 11981 21 0.17% 465 835 2.4
8 42218 42203 15 0.04% 491 11154 11141 13 0.12% 478 833 2.4
9 33222 33218 4 0.01% 503 10968 10965 3 0.03% 508 884 2.7
10 31492 31481 11 0.03% 529 9652 9650 3 0.03% 522 932 2.9
100 jobs
1 139573 139556 17 0.01% 4075 39495 39467 28 0.07% 3968 1882 42
2 120484 120465 19 0.02% 4065 35293 35266 27 0.08% 4068 1882 44
3 124325 124289 36 0.03% 3957 38174 38150 24 0.06% 4059 1882 42
4 122901 122876 25 0.02% 3903 35498 35467 31 0.09% 3964 1882 42
5 119115 119101 14 0.01% 3925 34860 34826 34 0.10% 4016 1882 42
6 133545 133536 9 0.007% 3987 35146 35123 23 0.07% 3961 1882 43
7 129849 129830 19 0.01% 4027 39336 39303 33 0.08% 3974 1882 43
8 153965 153958 7 0.005% 3722 44963 44927 36 0.08% 3865 1784 39
9 111474 111466 8 0.007% 3930 31270 31231 39 0.12% 4008 1882 42
10 112799 112792 7 0.006% 3936 34068 34048 20 0.06% 4003 1882 42
-------------------- -------- -------- ----- --------- ------- -------- ------- ----- --------- ------- ------- -------
: Comparison of bounds with best known values (target) of Biskup-Feldman instances.[]{data-label="ta:BF"}
\
[10]{} \[1\][`#1`]{}
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| |
---
abstract: |
We consider the problem of online Min-cost Perfect Matching with Delays (MPMD) recently introduced by Emek et al, (STOC 2016). This problem is defined on an underlying $n$-point metric space. An adversary presents real-time requests online at points of the metric space, and the algorithm is required to match them, possibly after keeping them waiting for some time. The cost incurred is the sum of the distances between matched pairs of points (the connection cost), and the sum of the waiting times of the requests (the delay cost). We prove the first logarithmic upper bound and the first polylogarithmic lower bound on the randomized competitive ratio of this problem. We present an algorithm with a competitive ratio of $O(\log n)$, which improves the upper bound of $O(\log^2n+\log\Delta)$ of Emek et al, by removing the dependence on $\Delta$, the aspect ratio of the metric space (which can be unbounded as a function of $n$). The core of our algorithm is a deterministic algorithm for MPMD on metrics induced by edge-weighted trees of height $h$, whose cost is guaranteed to be at most $O(1)$ times the connection cost plus $O(h)$ times the delay cost of every feasible solution. The reduction from MPMD on arbitrary metrics to MPMD on trees is achieved using the result on embedding $n$-point metric spaces into distributions over weighted hierarchically separated trees of height $O(\log n)$, with distortion $O(\log n)$. We also prove a lower bound of $\Omega(\sqrt{\log n})$ on the competitive ratio of any randomized algorithm. This is the first lower bound which increases with $n$, and is attained on the metric of $n$ equally spaced points on a line.
The problem of Min-cost Bipartite Perfect Matching with Delays (MBPMD) is the same as MPMD except that every request is either positive or negative, and requests can be matched only if they have opposite polarity. We prove an upper bound of $O(\log n)$ and a lower bound of $\Omega(\log^{1/3}n)$ on the competitive ratio of MBPMD with a more involved analysis.
author:
- |
Yossi Azar\
`[email protected]`
- |
Ashish Chiplunkar\
`[email protected]`
- |
Haim Kaplan\
`[email protected]`
bibliography:
- 'references.bib'
title: |
Polylogarithmic Bounds on the Competitiveness of\
Min-cost (Bipartite) Perfect Matching with Delays
---
Introduction
============
The problem of finding a maximum / minimum weight (perfect) matching in an edge-weighted graph has been one of the central problems in algorithmic graph theory, and has been the topic of extensive research ever since the seminal work by Edmonds [@Edmonds_JRNBS65; @Edmonds_CJM65]. Given a graph with positive edge weights, a (perfect) matching $M$ is a subset of edges such that no two edges in $M$ have a common endpoint (and every vertex is an endpoint of some edge in $M$), and its weight is the sum of the weights of the edges that it contains. The online version of the matching problem comes in numerous flavors, motivated by applications from a variety of domains. Some of the prominent lines of work, among the plethora of results on online matching, include min-weight perfect matchings with online vertex arrival [@KalyanasundaramP_JAlgorithms93; @KhullerMV_TheorComputSci94; @KoutsoupiasN_WAOA03; @MeyersonNP_SODA06; @GuptaL_ICALP12; @BansalBGN_Algorithmica14], max-cardinality or max-weight matchings with online vertex arrival [@KarpVV_STOC90; @FeldmanMMM_FOCS09; @BahmaniK_ESA10; @AggarwalGKM_SODA11; @MahdianY_STOC11; @DevanurJ_STOC12; @DevanurJK_SODA13], and max-cardinality or max-weight matchings with online edge arrival [@McGregor_Approx05; @Varadaraja_ICALP11; @EpsteinLSW_STACS13]. We remark that the list of references is merely a tip of the iceberg of literature on online matchings. A variant of the online matching problem, which gaming platforms such as chess.com, bridgebase.com, etc. face, is the following. Players log into the website, and express their desire to participate in multi-player gaming sessions. The platform is required to create *tables* of an appropriate fixed number of players (two in case of chess, and four in case of bridge). The (dis)satisfaction experienced by a player is a combination of the time taken by the platform to assign her a table, and several player-dependent factors such as the differences between their ratings, their average time to move, etc. In order to improve participation, the platform has to run a table-assignment algorithm which attempts to minimize the dissatisfaction of the players. With this motivation, and restricting attention to two-player games, Emek et al. [@EmekKW_STOC16] defined the problem of Min-cost Perfect Matching with Delays (MPMD), which is general enough to have numerous other applications, such as finding roommates, carpooling, etc.
A close cousin of MPMD is the problem of Min-cost *Bipartite* Perfect Matching with Delays (MBPMD), which is motivated from applications such as organ transplantation, transportation platforms like Uber, etc. Here, each player is of one of two types (say donor or acceptor, in case of organ transplantation), and we are required to pair up players of dissimilar types. The cost of the matching, as before, is determined by the waiting time of the players and the dissimilarity in the pairs.
**Problem definition (informal):** In the MPMD problem on an underlying $n$-point metric space, each point represents a *type* of players, and the distance between two points, say $p$ and $q$, is the dissatisfaction of players of types $p$ and $q$ if they are paired up. We call this distance the *connection cost*. The online input given to the algorithm is a real-time sequence of players and their types, which we will call requests, where each request is revealed to the algorithm only at its arrival time, when it is unaware of the future requests. The algorithm is required to create pairs of players after possibly keeping them waiting for some time. The objective of the algorithm is to minimize the connection cost plus the total waiting time of the requests, also called the *delay cost*. The MBPMD problem is the same as MPMD, except that each request is either positive (i.e. a producer) or negative (i.e. a consumer) and the algorithm is required to pair up positive and negative requests. Apparently, there is no reduction between MPMD and MBPMD, though MBPMD appears to be harder, arguably.
We remark that the offline version of MPMD on a metric space $\mathcal{M}$, where the entire input is known in advance, trivially reduces to finding a minimum cost perfect matching in a set of points in the metric space $\mathcal{M}\times\mathbb{R}$, with the distance between two points $(p_1,t_1)$ and $(p_2,t_2)$ being the sum of the distance between $p_1$ and $p_2$ in $\mathcal{M}$, and $|t_1-t_2|$. Similarly, the offline version of MBPMD translates to finding a minimum cost perfect matching between two sets of points in $\mathcal{M}\times\mathbb{R}$, one given by the positive requests and the other by the negative requests.
**Competitive Analysis:** In a typical online problem, an input is given to an algorithm in pieces, and the algorithm is constrained to make irrevocable decisions while processing every piece. The popular technique used to measure the performance of an online algorithm is competitive analysis [@BorodinE], where we prove bounds on its *competitive ratio*. A (randomized) online algorithm is said to have a competitive ratio of $\alpha$, if on every possible input, the algorithm produces a solution with (expected) cost at most $\alpha$ times the cost of the optimum solution to the instance, plus a constant which is independent of the online input. We assume that the input is generated by an adversary, who knows the algorithm and can force it to incur a large cost, while the adversary itself is able to produce a much cheaper solution (with full knowledge of the future input). When the algorithm is randomized, we assume that the adversary is *oblivious*, that is, it does not have access to the random choices made by the algorithm.
**Background:** Emek et al. [@EmekKW_STOC16] gave the first online algorithm for MPMD with a finite competitive ratio. Given an $n$-point metric space $\mathcal{M}$ with aspect ratio $\Delta$ (the ratio of the maximum distance to the minimum distance), they consider its embedding into a distribution over metrics given by hierarchically separated full binary trees, with distortion $O(\log n)$. They then give a randomized algorithm for hierarchically separated trees, and they bound its competitive ratio using an appropriately defined stochastic process which captures the behavior of the algorithm. This results in an algorithm for the original metric $\mathcal{M}$ having competitive ratio $O(\log^2n+\log\Delta)$. Emek et al. remark that a constant lower bound on the competitive ratio exists even on two-point metrics, since MPMD captures the ski-rental problem. **Our contributions:** The results of Emek et al. [@EmekKW_STOC16] naturally raise the questions: whether the competitive ratio depends on the number of points, and whether it depends on the aspect ratio. We answer both of these questions in this paper. On the one hand, we prove that the competitive ratio can be made independent of the aspect ratio. On the other hand, we also prove that the competitive ratio must depend on the number of points. Our contributions can be summarized as follows.
1. Deterministic $O(h)$-competitive algorithms for MPMD and MBPMD on metrics given by trees of height $h$. In particular, these are deterministic $O(1)$-competitive algorithms for uniform metrics. The algorithm of Emek et al. is randomized, and has an $\Omega(\log n)$ competitive ratio even on uniform metrics.
2. $O(\log n)$-competitive algorithms for MPMD and MBPMD on arbitrary $n$-point metrics. This improves the bound of $O(\log^2n+\log\Delta)$ by Emek et al, by removing dependence on $\Delta$, the aspect ratio of the metric space, which can potentially be unbounded as a function of $n$.
3. Lower-bound constructions which prove that on $n$-point metrics, the competitive ratio of any randomized algorithm for MPMD must be $\Omega(\sqrt{\log n})$, and the competitive ratio of any randomized algorithm for for MBPMD must be $\Omega(\log^{1/3}n)$. These are the first lower bounds which increase with $n$, and the former confirms the conjecture by Emek et al.
Our deterministic algorithm for MPMD (resp. MBPMD) on trees is a simple algorithm which maintains one timer $z_u$ (resp. two timers $z^+_u$ and $z^-_u$) for every vertex $u$ of the tree, that measures the amount of time for which the subtree rooted at $u$ had an odd number of pending requests (resp. the time-integrals of the “surplus” and the “deficiency” in the subtree rooted at $u$). We reduce M(B)PMD on arbitrary metrics to M(B)PMD on trees by using the technique of randomized embedding [@FakcharoenpholRT_JCSS04] followed by a height reduction step [@BansalBMN_JACM15]. Although the technique guarantees an embedding into a (weighted) hierarchically separated tree, we do not need the hierarchical separation condition; but only that the height of the tree is small. It is believable that the competitive ratio of any algorithm which uses an embedding technique must be bounded from below by the distortion of the embedding. Our algorithm is, therefore, an optimal tree-embedding based algorithm, since it is known that there exist metric spaces which do not embed into distribution over tree metrics with distortion $o(\log n)$ (Theorem 9 of [@Bartal_FOCS96]).
In contrast to Emek et al, we do not need to embed metrics into binary trees, and the height of our trees is $O(\log n)$, independent of the aspect ratio $\Delta$. Moreover, our algorithm for MPMD on tree metrics is deterministic and has a relatively simple proof of competitiveness, whereas the previous algorithm is randomized and has a fairly involved analysis.
Our lower bounds are achieved on the metric space of $n$ equally spaced points in the unit interval. We invoke Yao’s min-max technique [@BorodinE_InfComput99; @StougieV_OperResLett02; @Yao_FOCS77] and give a probability distribution over inputs, which defeats every deterministic online algorithm by a factor of $\Omega(\sqrt{\log n})$ in case of MPMD, and $\Omega(\log^{1/3}n)$ in case of MBPMD. **Extensions:** Emek et al. [@EmekKW_STOC16] also analyze a variant, called MPMDfp, where requests can be cleared at a fixed cost. They give a reduction from MPMDfp on a metric space $\mathcal{M}$ to MPMD on an appropriately defined metric space containing two copies of $\mathcal{M}$, and show that this only introduces a factor of $2$ in the competitive ratio. The same reduction, along with our algorithm for MPMD, results in an $O(\log n)$ competitive algorithm for MPMDfp.
**Organization of the paper:** We first define the problems and the related terminology formally in Section \[sec\_prelim\]. Section \[sec\_ub\] is dedicated to proving the upper bounds, where we first state the embedding result and show how the distortion of the embedding and the competitive ratio on tree metrics translates to competitive ratio on arbitrary metrics. We then follow it up by our algorithms for MPMD and MBPMD on tree metrics. We prove the lower bound results in Section \[sec\_lb\]. We conclude by stating a few remarks and related open problems in Section \[sec\_rem\].
Preliminaries {#sec_prelim}
=============
A *metric space* $\mathcal{M}$ is a set $S$ equipped with a distance function $d:S\times S\longrightarrow\mathbb{R}^+$ such that $d(x,x)=0$ for all $x\in S$, $d(x,y)=d(y,x)$ for all $x,y\in S$, and $d(x,y)+d(y,z)\geq d(x,z)$ for all $x,y,z\in S$. The online problem of Min-cost Perfect Matching with Delays (MPMD) on a finite metric space $\mathcal{M}=(S,d)$, as defined in [@EmekKW_STOC16], is the following. The metric space is an offline input to the algorithm. An online input instance $I$ over $S$ is a sequence of requests $\langle(p_i,t_i)\rangle_{i=1}^{m}$, where $m$ is even, each $p_i\in S$, and $t_1\leq t_2\leq\cdots\leq t_m$. The request $(p_i,t_i)$ is revealed at time $t_i$. The algorithm is required to output a perfect matching of requests in real time. For each pair $(i,j)$ of requests output by the algorithm at time $t$ (where $t\geq\max(t_i,t_j)$), the algorithm pays a connection cost of $d(p_i,p_j)$ and a delay cost of $(t-t_i)+(t-t_j)$. The offline connection cost of creating the pair $(i,j)$ is $d(p_i,p_j)$, and the offline delay cost is $|t_i-t_j|$. The offline cost of a perfect matching on $\{1,\ldots,m\}$ is the total connection cost and delay cost over all pairs in the matching. The optimal solution is a perfect matching with the minimum offline cost. In the problem of Min-cost Bipartite Perfect Matching with Delays (MBPMD), the $i^{\text{\tiny{th}}}$ request is $(p_i,b_i,t_i)$, where $p_i\in S$, $b_i\in\{+1,-1\}$, and $t_i$ is the arrival time. The algorithm is allowed to output the pair $(i,j)$ only if $b_ib_j=-1$, and incurs the same cost as in MPMD.
Although we quantify the performance of online algorithms by their competitive ratio, we need to define a more general notion of competitiveness, customized for M(B)PMD, for stating our intermediate results. Given an instance $I$ of M(B)PMD and an arbitrary solution $\operatorname{SOL}$ of $I$, let $\operatorname{SOL}_d$ denote its connection cost with respect to the metric $d$, $\operatorname{SOL}_t$ denote its delay cost, and (with a slight abuse of notation) $\operatorname{SOL}$ denote its total cost. Given a randomized algorithm $\mathcal{A}$, let $\mathcal{A}(I)$ be the random variable denoting the algorithm’s total cost on $I$.
A randomized online algorithm $\mathcal{A}$ for M(B)PMD on a metric space $\mathcal{M}=(S,d)$ is said to be $\alpha$-*competitive* if for every instance $I$ on $S$ and every solution $\operatorname{SOL}$ of $I$, $\mathbb{E}[\mathcal{A}(I)]\leq\alpha\times\operatorname{SOL}$. More generally, the algorithm is said to be $(\beta,\gamma)$-*competitive* if for every instance $I$ on $S$ and every solution $\operatorname{SOL}$ of $I$, $\mathbb{E}[\mathcal{A}(I)]\leq\beta\times\operatorname{SOL}_d+\gamma\times\operatorname{SOL}_t$.[^1]
Note that an $\alpha$-competitive algorithm is trivially $(\alpha,\alpha)$-competitive, and a $(\beta,\gamma)$-competitive algorithm is trivially $(\max(\beta,\gamma))$-competitive.
A key ingredient in our algorithm is the technique of embedding metrics into distributions over tree metrics with low distortion. We define these notions formally.
Let $\mathcal{M}=(S,d)$ be a finite metric space, and let $\mathcal{D}$ be a probability distribution over metrics on a finite set $S'$. We say that $\mathcal{M}$ *embeds* into $\mathcal{D}$ if $S\subseteq S'$, and for every $x,y\in S$ and every metric space $\mathcal{M}'=(S',d')$ in the support of $\mathcal{D}$, we have $d(x,y)\leq d'(x,y)$. The *distortion* of this embedding is defined to be $$\mu=\max_{x,y\in S\text{, }x\neq y}\frac{\mathbb{E}_{\mathcal{M'}=(S',d')\sim\mathcal{D}}[d'(x,y)]}{d(x,y)}$$
The $O(\log n)$ Upper bound {#sec_ub}
===========================
Our focus in this section is to give algorithms for MPMD and MBPMD on arbitrary metrics, and thus, to prove the following result.
\[thm\_ub\] There exist randomized online algorithms with a competitive ratio of $O(\log n)$ for MPMD and MBPMD on $n$-point metric spaces.
Analogous to the algorithm by Emek et al, our algorithms also exploit results on embedding arbitrary metrics into distributions over tree metrics. In the subsequent subsections, we first show how the competitive ratio of an algorithm on an embedding metric space (tree metrics) translates into its competitive ratio on the embedded space. We then proceed to state the algorithm on tree metrics, and bound its competitive ratio.
Reduction to Tree Metrics {#subsec_reduction}
-------------------------
The reduction of M(B)PMD on arbitrary metrics to M(B)PMD on tree metrics is achieved by the celebrated result of Fakcharoenphol et al. [@FakcharoenpholRT_JCSS04], which gives an embedding of an arbitrary metric space into a distribution over hierarchically separated trees (HSTs) [@Bartal_FOCS96]. Informally, a $\sigma$-HST over a set $S$ has $S$ as its set of leaves, and the distance between any two points in $S$, under the HST metric, is determined by the level of their lowest common ancestor (LCA), with the root defined to be at the highest level. If the LCA is at a level $l$, then the distance is $d_l$, where $d_l\geq\sigma d_{l-1}$ ($\sigma$-hierarchical separation). Emek et al. used an embedding of HSTs into hierarchically separated binary trees (HSBTs), and design a randomized algorithm for HSBTs. Instead of this, we use a result by Bansal et al. [@BansalBMN_JACM15] to reduce the height of the tree to $O(\log n)$, since we design an algorithm for MPMD on tree metrics, with competitive ratio depending only on the height of the tree. While the height reduction step might lose the hierarchical separation, this is not a concern, since our algorithm works on arbitrary tree metrics. The overall embedding result that we need is stated in the following lemma, whose proof is deferred to Appendix \[app\_a\].
\[lem\_embed\] Any $n$-point metric space $\mathcal{M}$ can be embedded, with distortion $O(\log n)$, into a distribution $\mathcal{D}$, supported on metrics induced by trees of height $O(\log n)$.
The other ingredient of the reduction is the following result, which states how the competitive ratio on the embedding metric is translated into the competitive ratio on the embedded metric. Although this was proved and used by Emek et al, we reproduce its proof in Appendix \[app\_a\], for the sake of completeness.
\[lem\_reduction\] Suppose that a metric space $\mathcal{M}=(S,d)$ can be embedded into a distribution $\mathcal{D}$ supported on metric spaces over a set $S'\supseteq S$ with distortion $\mu$. Additionally, suppose that for every metric space $\mathcal{M'}$ in the support of $\mathcal{D}$, there is a deterministic online $(\beta,\gamma)$-competitive algorithm $\mathcal{A}^{\mathcal{M}'}$ for M(B)PMD on $\mathcal{M}'$. Then there is a $(\mu\beta,\gamma)$-competitive (and thus, $(\max(\mu\beta,\gamma))$-competitive) algorithm $\mathcal{A}$ for M(B)PMD on $\mathcal{M}$.
Given an $n$-point metric space, we have an embedding into distribution over tree metrics of height $h=O(\log n)$ with distortion $\mu=O(\log n)$, resulting from Lemma \[lem\_embed\]. In the next two subsections, we prove that there exist $(O(1),O(h))$-competitive algorithms for MPMD and MBPMD on tree metrics of height $h$, i.e. the algorithms always give a solution whose cost is at most $O(1)$ times the connection cost plus $O(h)$ times the delay cost of any solution. As a consequence of these algorithms and Lemma \[lem\_reduction\], Theorem \[thm\_ub\] follows.
A Deterministic Algorithm for MPMD on Trees {#sec_MPMD_tree}
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Suppose the tree metric is given by an edge-weighted tree $T$ rooted at an arbitrary vertex $r$. For a vertex $u$, let $T_u$ denote the maximal subtree of $T$ rooted at $u$, $e_u$ denote the edge between $u$ and its parent, and $d_u$ denote the weight of $e_u$ ($d_r$ is defined to be infinite). Let $h$ be the height of the tree, that is, the maximum of the number of vertices in the path between $r$ and any vertex $u$. We assume, without loss of generality, that the requests are given only at the leaves of $T$. (If not, we pretend as if each non-leaf vertex $u$ has a child $u'$ at a distance zero which is a leaf, and the requests are given at $u'$ instead of $u$.)
The algorithm maintains a forest $F\subseteq T$, and we say that an edge has been *bought* if it is in $F$. Initially, $F$ is empty. As soon as there are two requests at vertices $u$ and $v$ such that the entire path between $u$ and $v$ is bought, we connect the two requests, and the edges on the path are removed from $F$. We say that a new *phase* begins at vertex $u$ when the edge $e_u$ between $u$ and its parent is used to connect requests. Of course, the phases of the vertices need not be aligned. We say that a vertex $u$ is *saturated* if the edge $u$ has been bought ($r$ is never saturated, by definition), else, we say that $u$ is *unsaturated*. We say that a vertex $u$ is *odd* if the number of pending requests in $T_u$ is odd, else we say that $u$ is *even*. Each vertex $u$ (including $r$) has a counter $z_u$, initially zero, which increases at a unit rate if $u$ is unsaturated and odd; otherwise $z_u$ is frozen. For $u\neq r$, as soon as the value of $z_u$ becomes equal to an integral multiple of $2d_u$, the edge $e_u$ between $u$ and its parent is bought, i.e. included in $F$, $u$ becomes saturated, and $z_u$ is frozen. When this edge is eventually used, $u$ becomes unsaturated again.
For analysis, let $y_u$ denote the final value of the counter $z_u$ at the end of the input. We will separately relate the connection cost as well as the delay cost of the algorithm to $\sum_uy_u$, and then relate $\sum_uy_u$ to the cost of the adversary.
\[lem1\] The connection cost of the algorithm is at most $\left(\sum_uy_u\right)/2$.
For an arbitrary vertex $u$, recall that $e_u$ is the edge between $u$ and its parent and $d_u$ is its weight. Between two consecutive usages of $e_u$ to connect requests, $z_u$ increases by exactly $2d_u$. Thus, the number of times $e_u$ is used to connect requests is $\lfloor y_u/(2d_u)\rfloor$. As a consequence, the connection cost of the algorithm is $\sum_ud_u\cdot\lfloor y_u/(2d_u)\rfloor\leq\left(\sum_uy_u\right)/2$.
In order to bound the delay cost of the algorithm, we need to make the following observations.
\[obs\_parity\] At any time, an odd non-leaf vertex has at least one odd child. If an even non-leaf vertex has an odd child, then it has another odd child.
\[obs\_component\] At any time, except for the time instants when requests are paired up, each connected component of $F$ has at most one vertex with a pending request.
\[lem2\] The delay cost of the algorithm is at most $2\sum_uy_u$.
At any time, except for the time instants when requests are paired up, let $L$ denote the set of leaves with a pending request, and $A$ denote the set of odd unsaturated vertices. We will define a function $f:L\longrightarrow A$ such that for any $a\in A$, $|f^{-1}(a)|\leq 2$. We can then charge the waiting time cost of any $l\in L$ to the increase in $z_{f(l)}$. Note that by definition $f(l)\in A$, and hence, $dz_{f(l)}/dt=1$. Furthermore, since $|f^{-1}(a)|\leq 2$, the waiting time of at most two requests is charged to the increase in $z_a$, for any $a$. This proves the lemma.
Here is how we construct the function $f$. Let $l\in L$. Consider the component $C_l$ of $F$ containing the vertex $l$. This is a subtree of $T$. Note that its root $r_l$ is unsaturated, otherwise the edge $e_{r_l}$ between $r_l$ and its parent would also be in $F$, and $r_l$ would not be the root of $C_l$. If $r_l$ is odd, then $r_l\in A$, and we define $f(l)=r_l$ in this case. Suppose now that $r_l$ is even. Trace the path $l=u_0,u_1,\ldots$ from $l$ upward towards $r_l$ until the first even vertex, say $u_n$ ($n>1$ since $l$ is odd). Since $u_n$ is an even vertex with an odd child $u_{n-1}$, by Observation \[obs\_parity\], $u_n$ has another odd child $v_0\neq u_{n-1}$. We now define a path $p=(v_0,\ldots,v_j)$ of odd vertices such that $v_0,\ldots,v_{j-1}\in C_l$, $v_j\notin C_l$, and $v_j$ is unsaturated. We then set $f(l)=v_j$.
If $v_0$ is outside $C_l$, then $v_0$ is the last on $p$. If $v_0$ is inside $C_l$, then $v_0$ cannot be a leaf of $T$. (Otherwise, since $v_0$ is odd, there is a pending request at $v_0$, and then $v_0$ and $l$ belong to the same component $C_l$, which contradicts Observation \[obs\_component\].) Thus, $v_0$ has an odd child. Call this child $v_1$ and add it to $p$. If $v_1\notin C_l$, then $v_1$ is the last on $p$. Otherwise, we continue extending $p$ in the same manner. Note that this cannot go on indefinitely, and $p$ must terminate. Since we terminate $p$ as soon as we step out of $C_l$, $v_j$ is not in $C_l$, but $v_{j-1}$, the parent of $v_j$ is in $C_l$. Thus, the edge $e_{v_j}$ between $v_j$ and its parent is not in $F$, which means that $v_j$ is unsaturated. Since $v_j$ is odd and unsaturated, $v_j\in A$, making the definition $f(l)=v_j$ legal.
We are left to prove that $f^{-1}(a)\leq2$ for all $a\in A$. Suppose for contradiction that $f^{-1}(a)>2$. Then $a$ has two pre-images, say $l$ and $l'$, which are either both inside $T_a$, or both outside $T_a$. In the former case, $a$ is the root of both $C_l$ as well as $C_{l'}$, which means $C_l=C_{l'}$, that is, $l$ and $l'$ belong to the same connected component of $F$, contradicting Observation \[obs\_component\]. In the latter case, the parent of $a$ is in both $C_l$ as well as $C_{l'}$, by the construction of $f$, again contradicting Observation \[obs\_component\].
We need to relate $\sum_uy_u$ to the cost of an arbitrary solution $\operatorname{SOL}$ to the instance. For this, let $x_u$ be the total delay cost incurred by $\operatorname{SOL}$ due to requests inside $T_u$, and $x'_u$ be the total connection cost incurred by $\operatorname{SOL}$ for using the edge between $u$ and its parent.
\[lem3\] For all vertices $u$, $y_u\leq2(x_u+x'_u)$.
Call $u$ *misaligned* if the parity of the number of algorithm’s pending requests inside $T_u$ and the parity of the number of $\operatorname{SOL}$’s pending requests inside $T_u$ do not agree; otherwise call $u$ *aligned*. As long as $u$ is aligned, whenever $z_u$ is increasing, the adversary has a pending request inside $T_u$, which means $x_u$ is also increasing at least at a unit rate. We ignore the increase in $x_u$ when $u$ is misaligned. The alignment status flips only when the edge between $u$ and its parent is used either by the algorithm or by the adversary.
Say that event $E$ occurs when the adversary pairs up a request inside $T_u$ to a request outside $T_u$. Suppose $E$ occurs $k$ times. Then $x'_u=kd_u$. For every phase in which $E$ occurs, imagine that the occurrences of $E$ are shifted to one of the boundaries of that phase, so that $u$ was misaligned for the entire phase. Ignore the contribution of the delay to $x_u$ in these phases. This can only decrease $x_u$. As a result of this, for every phase, $u$ is either aligned or misaligned in the entire phase. Also, in case the last phase is incomplete, if $u$ was aligned, ignore its contribution to $x_u$ and $y_u$, else pretend as if it was complete. This can only increase the ratio of $y_u$ to $x_u+x_u'$.
Let $n_i$ (resp. $n_0$) be the number of phases between the $i^{\text{\tiny{th}}}$ and the $(i+1)^{\text{\tiny{th}}}$ occurrence of $E$ (resp. before the first occurrence of $E$). Then at least $\lfloor n_i/2\rfloor$ (resp. $\lceil n_0/2\rceil$) of these must be phases in which $u$ was aligned, since the alignment status flips exactly when a new phase begins (resp. and since $u$ is aligned in the first phase if $n_0>0$). The contribution of all these phases to $x_u$ will be at least $2d_u\left(\lceil n_0/2\rceil+\sum_{i=1}^{k}\lfloor n_i/2\rfloor\right)\geq2d_u\left(\sum_{i=0}^kn_i/2-k/2\right)=d_u\cdot\left(\sum_{i=0}^kn_i-k\right)$. Adding $x'_u$, we have $x_u+x'_u\geq d_u\left(\sum_{i=1}^kn_i-k\right)+kd_u=d_u\sum_{i=1}^kn_i=y_u/2$, where the last equality holds since $z_u$ increases by $2d_u$ in every phase. Thus, we have $y_u\leq2(x_u+x'_u)$.
Finally, we relate $\sum_u(x_u+x'_u)$ to the cost of the solution $\operatorname{SOL}$. Denoting the distance function of the tree metric by $d$, recall that $\operatorname{SOL}_d$ and $\operatorname{SOL}_t$ denote the connection cost and the delay cost of $\operatorname{SOL}$ respectively.
\[lem4\] $\sum_u(x_u+x'_u)\leq\operatorname{SOL}_d+h\cdot\operatorname{SOL}_t$.
$\sum_ux'_u$ is clearly equal to the connection cost $\operatorname{SOL}_d$ of the solution. A pending request in the solution $\operatorname{SOL}$ at a leaf $l$ contributes to the increase in $x_u$ if an only if $u$ is an ancestor of $l$. Thus, each pending request in $\operatorname{SOL}$ contributes at most $h$ to the rate of increase of $\sum_ux_u$, and one to the rate of increase of $\operatorname{SOL}_t$. Therefore, $\sum_ux_u$ is at most $h$ times the delay cost $\operatorname{SOL}_t$ of the solution.
The competitiveness of the algorithm now follows easily.
\[thm\_tree\] The algorithm for MPMD on tree metrics is $(5,5h)$-competitive, and hence, $5h$-competitive.
From Lemmas \[lem1\] and \[lem2\], the algorithm’s total cost is at most $\frac{5}{2}\sum_uy_u$. By Lemma \[lem3\], this is at most $5\sum(x_u+x'_u)$, which by Lemma \[lem4\], is at most $5\operatorname{SOL}_d+5h\cdot\operatorname{SOL}_t$. Therefore, the algorithm is $(5,5h)$-competitive.
Finally, we prove Theorem \[thm\_ub\] for MPMD using the above theorem and the reduction result (Lemma \[lem\_reduction\]).
Given an arbitrary $n$-point metric space $\mathcal{M}$, Lemma \[lem\_embed\] ensures that $\mathcal{M}$ can be embedded into a distribution $\mathcal{D}$ supported on metrics induced by trees of height $O(\log n)$. Theorem \[thm\_tree\] ensures that there is an $(O(1),O(\log n))$-competitive algorithm for MPMD on every tree metric in the support of $\mathcal{D}$, i.e. the algorithm always returns a solution with cost at most $O(1)$ times the connection cost plus $O(\log n)$ times the delay cost of any solution. Therefore, by Lemma \[lem\_reduction\] there is an $(O(\log n),O(\log n))$-competitive (equivalently, $O(\log n)$-competitive) algorithm for MPMD on $\mathcal{M}$. This algorithm samples a tree metric $\mathcal{M}'$ from $\mathcal{D}$, and runs the deterministic algorithm for MPMD on tree metrics on $\mathcal{M}'$ to process the online input.
A Deterministic Algorithm for MBPMD on Trees
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Suppose the tree metric is given by an edge-weighted tree $T$ rooted at an arbitrary vertex $r$. As before, for a vertex $u$, let $T_u$ denote the maximal subtree of $T$ rooted at $u$, $e_u$ denote the edge between $u$ and its parent, and $d_u$ denote the weight of $e_u$ ($d_r$ is defined to be infinite). Let $h$ be the height of the tree, that is, the maximum of the number of vertices in the path between $r$ and any vertex $u$. Again we assume, without loss of generality, that the requests are given only at the leaves of $T$. Let $\operatorname{lca}(u,v)$ denote the lowest common ancestor of vertices $u$ and $v$ in the tree. Define the *surplus* of a vertex $v$ to be the number of positive requests minus the number of negative requests in $T_v$, and denote it by $\operatorname{sur}(v)$. (Note that $\operatorname{sur}(v)$ can be negative.)
The algorithm maintains two forests $F^+,F^-\subseteq T$. Initially, both $F^+$ and $F^-$ are empty. We say that a vertex is *positively saturated* (resp. *negatively saturated*) if the edge between it and its parent is in $F^+$ (resp. $F^-$). ($r$ is never saturated, by definition), else, we say it is *positively unsaturated* (resp. *negatively unsaturated*).[^2] Each vertex $u$ (including $r$) has two counters $z^+_u$ and $z^-_u$, initially zero. Counter $z^+_u$ (resp. $z^-_u$) increases at the rate $\operatorname{sur}(u)$ (resp. $-\operatorname{sur}(u)$) if $u$ is positively unsaturated (resp. negatively unsatuared) and $\operatorname{sur}(u)>0$ (resp. $\operatorname{sur}(u)<0$); otherwise $z^+_u$ (resp. $z^-_u$) is frozen. For $u\neq r$, as soon as the value of $z^+_u$ (resp. $z^-_u$) becomes equal to $2d_u$, the edge $e_u$ between $u$ and its parent is added to $F^+$ (resp. $F^-$), $u$ becomes positively saturated (resp. negatively saturated), and $z^+_u$ (resp. $z^-_u$) is frozen.
As soon as there is a positive request at a vertex $u^+$ and a negative request at a vertex $u^-$ such that the entire path between $u^+$ and $\operatorname{lca}(u^+,u^-)$ is contained in $F^+$, and the entire path between $u^-$ and $\operatorname{lca}(u^+,u^-)$ is contained in $F^-$, we connect the two requests, remove edges on the path from $u^+$ to $u^-$ from both $F^+$ as well as $F^-$, and reset all counters associated with these edges to $0$. We say that a new *phase* begins at vertex $u$ when the edge $e_u$ between $u$ and its parent is used to connect requests.
For analysis, imagine a variable $Z^+_u$ (resp. $Z^-_u$) for every $u$, which increases at the same rate as $z^+_u$ (resp. $z^-_u$) during the run of the algorithm, but which is never reset to zero. Let $y^+_u$ (resp. $y^-_u$) denote the final value of $Z^+_u$ (resp. $Z^-_u$). We will separately relate the connection cost as well as the delay cost of the algorithm to $\sum_u(y^+_u+y^-_u)$, and then relate $\sum_u(y^+_u+y^-_u)$ to the cost of the adversary.
\[lem1b\] The connection cost of the algorithm is at most $\frac{1}{2}\sum_u(y^+_u+y^-_u)$.
For an arbitrary vertex $u$, recall that $e_u$ is the edge between $u$ and its parent and $d_u$ is its weight. Between two consecutive usages of $e_u$ to connect requests, either $Z^+_u$ or $Z^-_u$ increases by exactly $2d_u$. This implies the claim.
In order to bound the delay cost of the algorithm, we need to bound the number of pending requests at any moment by the rate of the increase of the counters. We do this by induction on the tree $T$. For this, we need the following definition.
A *snapshot* $\mathcal{S}$ is a tuple $(T,R,F^+,F^-)$, where
- $T$ is a rooted tree.
- $R$ is a function from the leaves of $T$ to $\mathbb{Z}$, where $R(l)$ denotes the signed number of requests at leaf $l$.
- $F^+,F^-\subseteq T$ are forests.
Let $\rho^+(\mathcal{S})=\sum_{l\text{: leaf of }T}\max(R(l),0)$ (resp. $\rho^-(\mathcal{S})=\sum_{l\text{: leaf of }T}\max(-R(l),0)$) denote the number of positive (resp. negative) requests in the snapshot $\mathcal{S}$, and define $$\zeta(\mathcal{S})=\sum_{u:e_u\notin F^+}\max(\operatorname{sur}(u),0)+\sum_{u:e_u\notin F^-}\max(-\operatorname{sur}(u),0)$$ Call the snapshot *valid* if there is no pair of leaves $l^+$ and $l^-$ such that the following are satisfied.
- $R(l^+)>0$ and $R(l^-)<0$.
- The path between $l^+$ and $\operatorname{lca}(l^+,l^-)$ is contained in $F^+$, and the path between $l^-$ and $\operatorname{lca}(l^+,l^-)$ is contained in $F^-$.
Observe that if our algorithm has snapshot $\mathcal{\mathcal{S}}$, then the total rate of increase of the counters would be $\zeta(\mathcal{S})$. Our goal is to bound the number of pending requests by the rate of increase of the counters. Therefore, we bound $\rho^+(\mathcal{S})$ and $\rho^-(\mathcal{S})$ by $\zeta(\mathcal{S})$. Note that the algorithm is defined in such a way that as soon as its snapshot becomes invalid, requests get eliminated and the snapshot becomes valid again.
\[lem\_f\_rec\] Given a valid snapshot $\mathcal{S}=(T,R,F^+,F^-)$, we have $\rho^+(\mathcal{S})\leq\zeta(\mathcal{S})$ and $\rho^-(\mathcal{S})\leq\zeta(\mathcal{S})$.
We only prove the upper bound on $\rho^+(\mathcal{S})$. The upper bound on $\rho^-(\mathcal{S})$ follows by a symmetric argument. The proof is by induction on the structure of $T$. When $T$ has a single vertex, the claim is obvious. Suppose $T$ has more than one vertices. Let $v$ be an arbitrary vertex of $T$ such that all children of $v$ are leaves (such a vertex always exists). Let $R^+=\sum_{l\text{: child of }v}\max(R(l),0)$ and $R^-=\sum_{l\text{: child of }v}\max(-R(l),0)$ be the number of positive and negative requests respectively in the subtree rooted at $v$. Then $\operatorname{sur}(v)=R^+-R^-$.
We split the proof into several cases, depending on the sign of $\operatorname{sur}(v)$. In each case, we construct another snapshot $\mathcal{S'}=(T',R',F'^+,F'^-)$ as follows. $T'$ is $T$ with the children of $v$ removed, so that $v$ is a leaf of $T'$. $R'$ is the same as $R$, except that $R'(v)$ is equal to $\operatorname{sur}(v)$ in $\mathcal{S}$. This ensures that the surplus of any vertex (except for the children of $v$) is the same in $\mathcal{S}'$ and $\mathcal{S}$. $F'^+$ and $F'^-$ are restrictions of $F^+$ and $F^-$ respectively to $T'$. In cases where the validity of such a snapshot is not ensured, we make minor adjustments to $F^+$ or $F^-$ and restore validity. Using the induction hypothesis for the snapshot $\mathcal{S}'$, we prove the claim.
Since $\mathcal{S}$ is a valid snapshot to begin with, either none of the children of $v$ with positive requests is connected to $v$ in $F^+$, or none of the children of $v$ with negative requests is connected to $v$ in $F^-$. Thus, either all the leaves with positive requests, or all the leaves with negative requests, (or all the leaves) under $v$ contribute to $\zeta(\mathcal{S})$. However, in any case, none of the leaves under $v$ contributes to $\zeta(\mathcal{S}')$.
**Case 1: $\operatorname{sur}(v)=0$.** Then $R^+=R^-$. Observe that snapshot $\mathcal{S'}$ is valid in this case. We have, $$\rho^+(\mathcal{S})=\rho^+(\mathcal{S}')+R^+$$ As observed earlier, either all the positive or all the negative requests under $v$ contribute to $\zeta(\mathcal{S})$, but none of them contributes to $\zeta(\mathcal{S}')$. Therefore, $$\zeta(\mathcal{S})\geq\zeta(\mathcal{S}')+R^+$$ By induction, $\rho^+(\mathcal{S'})\leq\zeta(\mathcal{S'})$. Putting everything together, we get that $\rho^+(\mathcal{S})\leq\zeta(\mathcal{S})$.
**Case 2a: $\operatorname{sur}(v)>0$ and one of the children of $v$ with positive requests is connected to $v$ in $F^+$.** Again, observe that snapshot $\mathcal{S'}$ is valid in this case. We have, $$\rho^+(\mathcal{S})=\rho^+(\mathcal{S}')-\operatorname{sur}(v)+R^+=\rho^+(\mathcal{S}')+R^-$$ Since one of the children of $v$ with positive requests is connected to $v$ in $F^+$, none of the children of $v$ with negative requests is connected to $v$ in $F^-$. These negative requests contribute $R^-$ to $\zeta(\mathcal{S})$, but not to $\zeta(\mathcal{S}')$. By construction, other than the children of $v$, the contribution of every vertex to $\zeta(\mathcal{S})$ and $\zeta(\mathcal{S}')$ is the same. Therefore, $$\zeta(\mathcal{S})\geq\zeta(\mathcal{S}')+R^-$$ By induction, $\rho^+(\mathcal{S'})\leq\zeta(\mathcal{S'})$. Putting everything together, we get that $\rho^+(\mathcal{S})\leq\zeta(\mathcal{S})$.
**Case 2b: $\operatorname{sur}(v)>0$ and none of the children of $v$ with positive requests is connected to $v$ in $F^+$.** In this case, $\mathcal{S}'$ need not be a valid snapshot, but observe that this happens only when $v$ is not the root, and the edge between $v$ and its parent belongs to $F'^+$. Remove that edge from $F'^+$, and observe that this makes $\mathcal{S}'$ valid. The side-effect of this tweak is that $v$ now contributes $\operatorname{sur}(v)$ to $\zeta(\mathcal{S}')$, but does not contribute anything to $\zeta(\mathcal{S})$. Recall that the children of $v$ with positive requests contribute to $\zeta(\mathcal{S})$ but not $\zeta(\mathcal{S}')$, and observe that all vertices, other than $v$ and its children, contribute equally to $\zeta(\mathcal{S})$ and $\zeta(\mathcal{S}')$. Thus, $$\zeta(\mathcal{S})\geq\zeta(\mathcal{S}')-\operatorname{sur}(v)+R^+$$ As in case 2a, we have $$\rho^+(\mathcal{S})=\rho^+(\mathcal{S}')-\operatorname{sur}(v)+R^+$$ Again, by induction, $\rho^+(\mathcal{S'})\leq\zeta(\mathcal{S'})$. Putting everything together, we get that $\rho^+(\mathcal{S})\leq\zeta(\mathcal{S})$.
**Case 3a: $\operatorname{sur}(v)<0$ and one of the children of $v$ with negative requests is connected to $v$ in $F^-$.** Again, observe that snapshot $\mathcal{S'}$ is valid in this case. Noting that $v$ has $|\operatorname{sur}(v)|$ negative requests in $\mathcal{S}'$, we have, $$\rho^+(\mathcal{S})=\rho^+(\mathcal{S}')+R^+$$ Since one of the children of $v$ with negative requests is connected to $v$ in $F^-$, none of the children of $v$ with positive requests is connected to $v$ in $F^+$. These positive requests contribute $R^+$ to $\zeta(\mathcal{S})$, but not to $\zeta(\mathcal{S}')$. By construction, other than the children of $v$, the contribution of every vertex to $\zeta(\mathcal{S})$ and $\zeta(\mathcal{S}')$ is the same. Therefore, $$\zeta(\mathcal{S})\geq\zeta(\mathcal{S}')+R^+$$ By induction, $\rho^+(\mathcal{S'})\leq\zeta(\mathcal{S'})$. Putting everything together, we get that $\rho^+(\mathcal{S})\leq\zeta(\mathcal{S})$.
**Case 3b: $\operatorname{sur}(v)<0$ and none of the children of $v$ with negative requests is connected to $v$ in $F^-$.** In this case, $\mathcal{S}'$ need not be a valid snapshot, but observe that this happens only when $v$ is not the root, and the edge between $v$ and its parent belongs to $F'^-$. Remove that edge from $F'^-$, and observe that this makes $\mathcal{S}'$ valid. As in Case 2b, a side-effect of this tweak is that $v$ now contributes $-\operatorname{sur}(v)>0$ to $\zeta(\mathcal{S}')$, but does not contribute anything to $\zeta(\mathcal{S})$. Recall that the children of $v$ with negative requests contribute to $\zeta(\mathcal{S})$ but not $\zeta(\mathcal{S}')$, and observe that all vertices, other than $v$ and its children, contribute equally to $\zeta(\mathcal{S})$ and $\zeta(\mathcal{S}')$. Thus, $$\zeta(\mathcal{S})\geq\zeta(\mathcal{S}')-(-\operatorname{sur}(v))+R^-=\zeta(\mathcal{S}')+\operatorname{sur}(v)+R^-=\zeta(\mathcal{S}')+R^+$$ As in case 3a, we have $$\rho^+(\mathcal{S})=\rho^+(\mathcal{S}')+R^+$$ Again, by induction, $\rho^+(\mathcal{S'})\leq\zeta(\mathcal{S'})$. Putting everything together, we get that $\rho^+(\mathcal{S})\leq\zeta(\mathcal{S})$.
As an immediate consequence of the above lemma, we have the following bound on the delay cost of our algorithm.
\[lem2b\] The delay cost of the algorithm is at most $2\sum_u(y^+_u+y^-_u)$.
Consider a moment and let $\mathcal{S}$ be the algorithm’s snapshot at this moment. Then the delay cost increases at the rate $\rho^+(\mathcal{S})+\rho^-(\mathcal{S})$, the number of pending requests. The counter $z^+_u$ (resp. $z^-_u$) increases at the rate $\max(\operatorname{sur}(u),0)$ (resp. $\max(-\operatorname{sur}(u),0)$) if and only if $u$ is the root of a component in $F^+$ (resp. $F^-$). Thus, the rate of the increase of $\sum_u(Z^+_u+Z^-_u)$ is equal to $\zeta(\mathcal{S})$. Thus, the claim follows, since $y^+_u$ and $y^-_u$ are the final values of $Z^+_u$ and $Z^-_u$ respectively.
We need to relate $\sum_u(y^+_u+y^-_u)$ to the cost of an arbitrary solution $\operatorname{SOL}$ to the instance. For this, let $x_u$ be the total delay cost incurred by $\operatorname{SOL}$ due to requests inside $T_u$, and $x'_u$ be the total cost incurred by $\operatorname{SOL}$ for using the edge between $u$ and its parent.
\[lem3b\] For all vertices $u$, $y^+_u+y^-_u\leq4(x_u+x'_u)$.
We use the technique of potentials functions. We design a potential function $\phi$ such that in each phase, the changes $\Delta(Z^+_u+Z^-_u)$, $\Delta\phi$, and $\Delta(x_u+x'_u)$ satisfy $$\label{eqn_pot}
\Delta(y^+_u+y^-_u)+\Delta\phi\leq4\Delta(x_u+x'_u)$$ and $\phi=0$ in the beginning as well as at the end. Summing over all phases, we get the result.
At any point of time, let $\operatorname{sur}'(u)$ denote the surplus of vertex $u$ resulting from the adversary’s solution. Define $\phi=4d_u\cdot|\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u)|$. Clearly, in the beginning as well as in the end, we have $\operatorname{sur}(u)=\operatorname{sur}'(u)=0$, and thus, $\phi=0$. Observe that $\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u)$ (and hence, $\phi$) remains unchanged when new requests are given. The only events resulting in a change in $\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u)$ are either $\operatorname{SOL}$ or the algorithm connecting a request in $T_u$ to one outside $T_u$. Also, then $x_u$ increases at a rate at least $|\operatorname{sur}'(u)|$.
In each phase of vertex $u$, each of $Z^+_u$ and $Z^-_u$ increases by at most $2d_u$, and therefore, $\Delta(Z^+_u+Z^-_u)\leq4d_u$. Except possibly the last phase, in every phase, at least one of $Z^+_u$ and $Z^-_u$ increases by exactly $2d_u$, and the phase ends with the algorithm connecting a request inside $T_u$ to one outside. We call such a phase *complete*. If we have $z^+_u+z^-_u>0$ at the end of the algorithm, we call the last phase *incomplete*. We first prove that (\[eqn\_pot\]) holds for complete phases, and then for incomplete phases. Let $k\geq0$ denote the (absolute) number of requests in $T_u$ which $\operatorname{SOL}$ connected to requests outside $T_u$ during the phase. Thus, $\Delta x'_u\geq kd_u$.
Consider any complete phase of vertex $u$ and, without loss of generality, assume that the phase ends due to a positive request in $T_u$ getting connected to a negative request outside $T_u$ . This means that $z^+_u$ increases from $0$ to $2d_u$ in the phase. Since the only events resulting in a change in $\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u)$ are either $\operatorname{SOL}$ or the algorithm connecting a request in $T_u$ to one outside, we have $$\label{eqn_triangle}
\Delta|\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u)|\leq|\Delta(\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u))|\leq k+1$$ First, consider the case where $\Delta|\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u)|=k+1$, and therefore, $\Delta\phi=4(k+1)\cdot d_u$ in the phase. Now both inequalities in (\[eqn\_triangle\]) are tight. Because the second inequality is tight, all the $k$ requests inside $T_u$ which $\operatorname{SOL}$ connected outside must be negative, and thus, $\Delta(\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u))=k+1>0$. Also, $\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u)$ never decreases during the phase. Because the first inequality in (\[eqn\_triangle\]) is tight, the sign of $\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u)$ at the beginning of the phase must be same as that of $\Delta(\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u))$, implying $\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u)\geq0$ initially. Since $\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u)$ never decreases, we have $\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u)\geq0$ throughout the phase. Therefore, at any moment when $z^+_u$ was increasing, we have $\operatorname{sur}'(u)\geq\operatorname{sur}(u)>0$. Thus, the rate of increase of $x_u$ is always at least as much as the rate of increase of $z^+_u$. Since $z^+_u$ increases by $2d_u$, we have $\Delta x_u\geq2d_u$. Therefore, $$\Delta(Z^+_u+Z^-_u)+\Delta\phi\leq4d_u+4(k+1)\cdot d_u=4(2d_u+kd_u)\leq4\Delta(x_u+x'_u)$$ Next, suppose that $\Delta|\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u)|<k+1$. Observe that the parity of $\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u)$ changes $k+1$ times during the phase: each time when the algorithm or $\operatorname{SOL}$ connects a request in $T_u$ to one outside. Thus, if $\Delta|\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u)|$ is not $k+1$, it must be at most $k-1$, which means $\Delta\phi\leq4(k-1)\cdot d_u$. Therefore, $$\Delta(Z^+_u+Z^-_u)+\Delta\phi\leq4d_u+4(k-1)\cdot d_u=4kd_u=4\Delta x'_u\leq4\Delta(x_u+x'_u)$$ Thus, in any case, (\[eqn\_pot\]) holds for any complete phase.
Finally consider the last incomplete phase. Note that at the end of the algorithm $\operatorname{sur}(u)=\operatorname{sur}'(u)=0$, and hence, $\phi=0$. Since $\phi$ is non-negative by definition, we have $\Delta\phi\leq0$. If $k>0$, then $\Delta(x_u+x'_u)\geq\Delta x'_u\geq kd_u\geq d_u$. Since $\Delta(Z^+_u+Z^-_u)\leq4d_u$, (\[eqn\_pot\]) holds. On the other hand, if $k=0$, then $\operatorname{sur}'(u)-\operatorname{sur}(u)$ stays constant in the phase. Since it is zero finally, it is zero throughout the phase. Thus, $\operatorname{sur}'(u)=\operatorname{sur}(u)$ in the entire phase. This means $\Delta(Z^+_u+Z^-_u)=\Delta x_u$, again implying (\[eqn\_pot\]).
As before, we relate $\sum_u(x_u+x'_u)$ to the cost of the solution $\operatorname{SOL}$. Denoting the distance function of the tree metric by $d$, recall that $\operatorname{SOL}_d$ and $\operatorname{SOL}_t$ denote the connection cost and the delay cost of $\operatorname{SOL}$ respectively.
\[lem4b\] $\sum_u(x_u+x'_u)\leq\operatorname{SOL}_d+h\cdot\operatorname{SOL}_t$.
Same as the proof of Lemma \[lem4\].
The competitiveness of the algorithm follows in an analogously as in the proof of Theorem \[thm\_tree\].
\[thm\_b\_tree\] The algorithm for MBPMD on tree metrics is $(10,10h)$-competitive, and hence, $10h$-competitive.
From Lemmas \[lem1b\] and \[lem2b\], the algorithm’s total cost is at most $\frac{5}{2}\sum_u(y^+_u+y^-_u)$. By Lemma \[lem3b\], this is at most $10\sum(x_u+x'_u)$, which by Lemma \[lem4b\], is at most $10\operatorname{SOL}_d+10h\cdot\operatorname{SOL}_t$. Therefore, the algorithm is $(10,10h)$-competitive.
Same as the proof of Theorem \[thm\_ub\] for MPMD presented at the end of Section \[sec\_MPMD\_tree\] (using Theorem \[thm\_b\_tree\] instead of Theorem \[thm\_tree\]).
The Lower Bounds {#sec_lb}
================
The focus of this section is to prove the following lower bound results.
\[thm\_lb\] There is an $n$-point metric space on which any randomized algorithm for MPMD (resp. MBPMD) has competitive ratio $\Omega(\sqrt{\log n})$ (resp. $\Omega(\log^{1/3}n)$), against an oblivious adversary.
The required metric space is given by $n$ equally spaced points on the real interval $[0,1]$, where $n$ is even. All asymptotic notation in this section is with respect to $n\rightarrow\infty$. Note that the metric space of $n$ equally spaced points is trivially a tree metric given by a tree of height $n/2$. We give a distribution on input instances of MPMD (resp. MPMBD) on which the expected cost incurred by any deterministic online algorithm is $\Omega(\sqrt{\log n})$ (resp. $\Omega(\log^{1/3}n)$) times the cost of the optimum solution. The construction of the distribution is in several phases, and we need the following key lemma to analyze each phase.
\[lem\_onephase\] Suppose $A\subseteq[0,1]$ is an arbitrary finite set of requests, and $B\subseteq[0,1]$ is a finite set of requests spaced at least a distance $d$ apart. Suppose $C\subseteq A\cup B$ is such that $|(A\cup B)\setminus C|$ is even. Then the cost of the optimum perfect matching on $(A\cup B)\setminus C$ is at least $d\times (|B|-(|A|+|C|))/2$.
The set $(A\cup B)\setminus C$ contains at least $|B|-|C|$ requests from $B$. Out of these requests, at most $|A|$ requests can be matched with requests in $A$. Therefore, at least $|B|-(|A|+|C|)$ requests are paired up among themselves, resulting in at least $(|B|-(|A|+|C|))/2$ pairs of requests, all from $B$. The distance between every pair of requests in $B$ is at least $d$. Therefore, the claim follows.
When we use the above lemma, we will actually ensure that $|B|\geq2|A|$, $|C|/|B|=o(1)$, and $d\approx1/|B|$. So the cost of the matching is at least $1/4-o(1)$.
The $\Omega(\sqrt{\log n})$ Lower bound for MPMD {#subsec_lb}
------------------------------------------------
We give a distribution on input instances of MPMD which ensures that any deterministic algorithm pays $\Omega(\sqrt{\log n})$ in expectation, while the instances have solutions of cost $O(1)$. The construction of the bad distribution on inputs depends on three parameters which, in turn, depend on $n$: the number of phases, denoted by $r+1$, a “decay factor” $\rho$, which bounds the ratio of the number of new requests given in any phase to that given in the following phase, and $a$, which bounds the cost of serving the requests in each phase, in the optimum solution. We will choose the values of the parameters such that $r=\omega(1)$, $\rho=\omega(r)$, and $\rho^{2r}=o(n)$. The distribution $\mathcal{D}$ on input sequences is generated as follows.
1. Initially, $n_0:=n$, where $n$ is even, and $S_0:=\{1/n,2/n,\ldots,1\}$.
2. For $i=0,\ldots,r$,
1. Sample $y_i$ from $U[0,1]$, the uniform distribution on the interval $[0,1]$.
2. $t_i:=\frac{a\rho^{1+y_i}}{n_i}$, $n_{i+1}:=2\left\lfloor\frac{a}{t_i}\right\rfloor=2\left\lfloor\frac{n_i}{\rho^{1+y_i}}\right\rfloor$.
3. For $i=0,\ldots,r$,
1. Give requests at points in $S_i$.
2. Construct $S_{i+1}\subseteq S_i$ by scanning $S_i$ in ascending order, and including every $\left\lfloor\frac{n_i}{n_{i+1}}\right\rfloor^{\text{\tiny{th}}}$ point.
3. Wait for time $t_i$ (and then move on to the next phase, if $i<r$).
Let $d_i$ be the distance between consecutive requests of phase $i$. Then $d_0=1/n$ and $d_i\leq1/n_i$. From the construction of the random instance, the following observation is evident.
\[obs\_support\] For all $y_0,\ldots,y_i$, $t_i\in\left[\frac{a\rho}{n_i},\frac{a\rho^2}{n_i}\right]$ and $n_{i+1}\in\left[2\left\lfloor\frac{n_i}{\rho^2}\right\rfloor,2\left\lfloor\frac{n_i}{\rho}\right\rfloor\right]$.
Since $\rho^{2r}=o(n)$, the above observation implies that we have enough supply of points at the beginning to support $r+1$ phases.
First, let us prove a bound on the cost of the optimum solution of the random instances constructed as above.
\[lem\_adv\] For any $y_0,\ldots,y_r$, the MPMD instance generated as above has a solution of cost at most $2ar+1$.
Construct a solution as follows. For $i$ decreasing from $r$ to $1$, connect each unpaired request of phase $i$ to the request of phase $i-1$ located at the same point. This is possible because $S_{i}\subseteq S_{i-1}$. The connection cost of these pairs is zero. The cost paid for the delay is at most $n_it_{i-1}=2\left\lfloor\frac{a}{t_{i-1}}\right\rfloor\cdot t_{i-1}\leq2a$, for every $i$, and hence, at most $2ar$ after we sum over the phases. Finally, scan the set of unpaired requests of phase $0$ from left to right, and pair them up greedily. This results in at most a unit connection cost. Thus, the total cost of this solution is at most $2ar+1$.
Let us now turn our attention to bounding from below the expected cost of an arbitrary deterministic online algorithm for MPMD on a random instance from the distribution $\mathcal{D}$. From the construction, it is intuitive to think that the distance $d_i$ between consecutive points in every $S_i$ is almost $1/n_i$. This is clearly true if $n_i$ is divisible by $n_{i+1}$ for all $i$. In the next lemma, we assert that this indeed holds, in spite of the accumulation of errors due to the repeated rounding down of $n_i/n_{i+1}$ in each phase, but we defer the proof to Appendix \[app\_b\].
\[lem\_error\] For each $i$, $n_id_i=1-o(1)$.
Let $m_i$ denote the number of pending requests of the algorithm at the beginning of phase $i$ ($m_0=0$). Consider an imaginary scenario where, instead of giving the next batch of requests after time delay $t_i$, the adversary refrains from giving any further requests. In this scenario, let $x_i(t)$ denote the number of pending requests of the algorithm at time $t$ after the beginning of phase $i$. We call this the *characteristic function* of the algorithm in phase $i$. Coming back to reality, since the algorithm is deterministic and online, the number of pending requests at time $t\leq t_i$ in phase $i$ is precisely $x_i(t)$. Thus, the number of requests carried over to the next phase is $m_{i+1}=x_i(t_i)$. Note that $m_i$ and $n_i$ are random variables and $x_i(\cdot)$ is a random function, all completely determined by $y_0,\ldots,y_{i-1}$. Let $A_i$ and $B_i$ denote the delay cost and the connection cost, respectively, paid by the algorithm in phase $i$ (including the delay and connection costs due to requests from previous phases, provided they lived long enough to see phase $i$). Then $A_i$ and $B_i$ are completely determined by $y_0,\ldots,y_i$. Call the phase $i$ *well-started* if $2m_i\leq n_i$. In the next two lemmas we consider the case where $\Pr_{y_i}\left[x_i(t_i)<\frac{a}{t_i}\right]$ is smaller and larger than $1/4$ respectively, and state the consequences.
\[lem\_bad\] For any $i$, and any $y_0,\ldots,y_{i-1}$, if $x_i(\cdot)$ is such that $\Pr_{y_i}\left[x_i(t_i)<\frac{a}{t_i}\right]<1/4$, then $\mathbb{E}_{y_i}[A_i]\geq(a\ln\rho)/8$.
Informally, the above lemma states that if $x(t)$ is at least $a/t$ for most $t$, then the expected value of the algorithm’s delay cost is large. We defer the proof to Appendix \[app\_b\].
\[lem\_good\] For any $i$, and any $y_0,\ldots,y_{i-1}$, if $x_i(\cdot)$ is such that $\Pr_{y_i}\left[x_i(t_i)<\frac{a}{t_i}\right]\geq1/4$, then
1. $\Pr_{y_i}[\text{Phase }i+1\text{ is well-started}]\geq1/4$.
2. Additionally, if phase $i$ is well-started, then $\mathbb{E}_{y_i}[B_i]\geq1/16-o(1)$.
Suppose the event $x_i(t_i)<\frac{a}{t_i}$ happens. Then $x_i(t_i)\leq\left\lfloor\frac{a}{t_i}\right\rfloor$, because $x_i(t_i)$ is an integer. Since $m_{i+1}=x_i(t_i)$ and $n_{i+1}=2\left\lfloor\frac{a}{t_i}\right\rfloor$, we have $2m_{i+1}\leq n_{i+1}$, implying that the next phase is well-started.
Additionally, suppose the current phase is well-started, that is, $2m_i\leq n_i$. The number of requests remaining at the end of the phase is at most $\left\lfloor\frac{a}{t_i}\right\rfloor$, which is at most $n_i/\rho$ because $t_i\geq a\rho/n_i$ by Observation \[obs\_support\]. By Lemmas \[lem\_onephase\] and \[lem\_error\], the algorithm must pay a connection cost of at least $$d_i\times\frac{n_i-(m_i+n_i/\rho)}{2}=n_id_i\times\frac{1-m_i/n_i-1/\rho}{2}\geq(1-o(1))\times\left(\frac{1}{4}-\frac{1}{2\rho}\right)=\frac{1}{4}-o(1)$$ since $\rho$ is $\omega(1)$. Thus, $\mathbb{E}_{y_i}[B_i]\geq(1/4-o(1))\cdot\Pr_{y_i}\left[x_i(t_i)<\left\lfloor\frac{a}{t_i}\right\rfloor\right]=1/16-o(1)$.
\[obs\_wellstarted\] By Lemma \[lem\_bad\] and part 2 of Lemma \[lem\_good\], given that a phase is well-started, the algorithm must pay at least $\min((a\ln\rho)/8,1/16-o(1))$ in the phase, in expectation (regardless of whether $\Pr_{y_i}\left[x_i(t_i)<\frac{a}{t_i}\right]\geq1/4$ or not).
We now prove that the expected cost paid by the algorithm in two consecutive phases is sufficiently large. Let the random variable $X_i=A_i+B_i$ denote the algorithm’s cost in phase $i$, and recall that $X_i$ is determined by $y_0,\ldots,y_i$.
\[lem\_twophase\] For any $i$, and any $y_0,\ldots,y_{i-1}$, $\mathbb{E}_{y_i,y_{i+1}}[X_i+X_{i+1}]\geq\min((a\ln\rho)/32,1/64-o(1))$.
Given $y_0,\ldots,y_{i-1}$, if $\Pr_{y_i}\left[x_i(t_i)<\frac{a}{t_i}\right]<1/4$, then by Lemma \[lem\_bad\], $\mathbb{E}_{y_i}[X_i]\geq\mathbb{E}_{y_i}[A_i]\geq(a\ln\rho)/8$. Otherwise, if $\Pr_{y_i}\left[x_i(t_i)<\frac{a}{t_i}\right]\geq1/4$, then by Lemma \[lem\_good\], phase $i+1$ is well-started with probability at least $1/4$ over the choice of $y_i$. Thus, we have by Observation \[obs\_wellstarted\], $\mathbb{E}_{y_i,y_{i+1}}[X_{i+1}]\geq\mathbb{E}_{y_i,y_{i+1}}[B_{i+1}]\geq\frac{1}{4}\times\min((a\ln\rho)/8,1/16-o(1))=\min((a\ln\rho)/32,1/64-o(1))$.
Choose $r=\lfloor\sqrt{\ln n}/2\rfloor$, $\rho=e^r$, and $a=1/r$. Then $r=\omega(1)$, $\rho=\omega(r)$, and $\rho^{2r}=e^{2r^2}=e^{(\ln n)/2}=\sqrt{n}=o(n)$, as promised. With this, we are now set to prove the lower bound, which in turn, implies Theorem \[thm\_lb\] for MPMD.
\[thm\_lb\_line\] Any randomized algorithm for MPMD must have a competitive ratio $\Omega(r)=\Omega(\sqrt{\log n})$ on the metric space of $n$ equispaced points in the unit interval, against an oblivious adversary.
With our choice of $a$ and $\rho$, the lower bound of Observation \[obs\_wellstarted\] becomes $1/16-o(1)$ and that of Lemma \[lem\_twophase\] becomes $1/64-o(1)$. Since phase $0$ is well-started, $\mathbb{E}_{y_0}[X_0]\geq1/16-o(1)$, by Observation \[obs\_wellstarted\]. Taking expectation over $y_1\ldots,y_r$, we have $\mathbb{E}[X_0]\geq1/16-o(1)$. Similarly, taking expectation of the result of Lemma \[lem\_twophase\] over $y_0,\ldots,y_{i-1},y_{i+2},\ldots,y_r$, we get $\mathbb{E}[X_i+X_{i+1}]\geq1/64-o(1)$, for every $i$. Summing up all of these, we infer that the algorithm’s expected cost is at least $(1/128-o(1))r=\Omega(r)$. By Lemma \[lem\_adv\], the optimum cost for any MPMD instance in the support of $\mathcal{D}$ is $2ar+1=3=O(1)$. Thus, the competitive ratio is $\Omega(r)=\Omega(\sqrt{\log n})$.
The $\Omega(\log^{1/3}n)$ Lower bound for MBPMD
-----------------------------------------------
We give a distribution on input instances of MBPMD which ensures that any deterministic algorithm pays $\Omega(\log^{2/3}n)$ in expectation, while the instances have solutions of cost $O(\log^{1/3}n)$. As before, the construction of the bad distribution $\mathcal{D}$ on inputs depends on the three parameters: $r$, $\rho$, and $a$, which, in turn, depend on $n$. As before, we choose their values so that $r=\omega(1)$, $\rho=\omega(r)$, and $\rho^{2r}=o(n)$ (but the values are different from those in the MPMD construction, and we reveal them later). The procedure for generating the distribution on input MPMBD instances is obtained by simply augmenting the procedure for MPMD from Section \[subsec\_lb\] with a rule to assign polarities to the requests. Nevertheless, we specify the entire procedure for the sake of completeness.
3. Choose an “appropriate” tuple $(s_0,\ldots,s_r)\in\{+1,-1\}^{r+1}$, whose existence is guaranteed by Lemma \[lem\_polarity\].
4. For $i=0,\ldots,r$,
1. Give requests at points in $S_i$ with polarities alternating from left to right, with the request on the leftmost point in $S_i$ having polarity $s_i$.
2. Construct $S_{i+1}\subseteq S_i$ by scanning $S_i$ in ascending order, and including every $\left\lfloor\frac{n_i}{n_{i+1}}\right\rfloor^{\text{\tiny{th}}}$ point.
3. Wait for time $t_i$ (and then move on to the next phase, if $i<r$).
Given $y_0,\ldots,y_r$ and $s_0,\ldots,s_r$, the locations and polarities of all the requests are determined. For $x\in[0,1]$, define the *phase-$i$ cumulative surplus* at $x$ to be the signed total of the requests from phase $i$ that are located in $[0,x]$, and denote it by $\operatorname{csur}_i(x)$. Then $\operatorname{csur}_i(x)\in\{0,1\}$ if $s_i=+1$, and $\operatorname{csur}_i(x)\in\{-1,0\}$ if $s_i=-1$. Define $\operatorname{csur}(x)=\sum_{i=0}^r\operatorname{csur}_i(x)$, the cumulative surplus at $x$, which is the signed total of all requests from all phases that are located in $[0,x]$. Observe that for any $x$, any feasible solution to the instance must connect $|\operatorname{csur}(x)|$ requests located to the left of $x$ to the same number of requests located to the right of $x$. Hence, the connection cost of any feasible solution must be $\int_{x=0}^1|\operatorname{csur}(x)| dx$. Moreover, there exists a solution, say $\operatorname{SOL}$, whose connection cost is precisely $\int_{x=0}^1|\operatorname{csur}(x)| dx$. This will be our adversarial solution to the instance. In order to bound the connection cost of $\operatorname{SOL}$ from above, we prove that, having chosen $y_1,\ldots,y_r$, we can choose $s_1,\ldots,s_r$ so that $\int_{x=0}^1|\operatorname{csur}(x)| dx$ is small, and we use this choice of $s_1,\ldots,s_r$ in step 3 of the above procedure. Then we prove that the delay cost of $\operatorname{SOL}$ is also sufficiently small, resulting in an upper bound on the cost of $\operatorname{SOL}$.
\[lem\_polarity\] For every $y_0,\ldots,y_r$ there exists $(s_0,\ldots,s_r)\in\{+1,-1\}^{r+1}$ such that $\int_{x=0}^1|\operatorname{csur}(x)| dx=O(\sqrt{r})$.
We use the probabilistic method. We prove that if we choose $(s_0,\ldots,s_r)$ uniformly at random, then $\mathbb{E}\left[\int_{x=0}^1|\operatorname{csur}(x)| dx\right]=O(\sqrt{r})$. Since $\mathbb{E}\left[\int_{x=0}^1|\operatorname{csur}(x)| dx\right]=\int_{x=0}^1\mathbb{E}\left[|\operatorname{csur}(x)|\right] dx$, it is sufficient to prove that $\mathbb{E}\left[|\operatorname{csur}(x)|\right]=O(\sqrt{r})$.
Observe that $\operatorname{csur}_i(x)$ is zero if the number of requests of phase-$i$ in $[0,x]$ is even. If that number is odd, then $\operatorname{csur}_i(x)$ is $+1$ and $-1$ with probability $1/2$ each. Thus, $\operatorname{csur}(x)=\sum_{i=0}^r\operatorname{csur}_i(x)$ is the sum of at most $r+1$ independent random variables, each of which takes values $+1$ and $-1$ with equal probability, where the number of random variables is determined by $x$ and $y_0,\ldots,y_r$. Therefore $|\operatorname{csur}(x)|$ is the deviation of a random walk of at most $r+1$ steps on the integers starting from $0$, and moving in either direction with equal probability. Using a standard result[^3], we have $\mathbb{E}\left[|\operatorname{csur}(x)|\right]=O(\sqrt{r})$, as required.
Taking the solution which minimizes the connection cost as the adversarial solution, we now prove an upper bound on the cost of the optimum solution of each instance in the support of the distribution generated by the adversarial procedure.
\[lem\_adv\_b\] For any $y_0,\ldots,y_r$, the MBPMD instance generated has a solution of cost at most $2ar+O(\sqrt{r})+o(ar)$.
Consider the solution $\operatorname{SOL}$. By Lemma \[lem\_polarity\], its connection cost can be made $O(\sqrt{r})$, with an appropriate choice of $(s_0,\ldots,s_r)$. Next, consider an arbitrary pair of requests in $\operatorname{SOL}$. The waiting time of the earlier of the two requests in the pair is the difference between the arrival times of the requests, while the waiting time of the later request is zero. Thus, the delay cost of $\operatorname{SOL}$ is bounded from above by the sum of the arrival times of all the requests, which is given by $$\sum_{i=1}^rn_i\sum_{j=0}^{i-1}t_j=\sum_{i=1}^r\sum_{j=0}^{i-1}n_it_j\leq\sum_{i=1}^r\sum_{j=0}^{i-1}\frac{2an_i}{n_{j+1}}\leq2a\sum_{i=1}^r\sum_{j=0}^{i-1}\left(\frac{2}{\rho}\right)^{i-j-1}=2a\sum_{i=1}^r(1+o(1))=2a(r+o(r))$$ Summing the upper bounds on the connection and the delay cost of $\operatorname{SOL}$, the claim stands proved.
Next, in order to bound the expected cost of an arbitrary deterministic algorithm from below, we first state our choice of values of the parameters. This time we choose $r=\lfloor(\ln^{2/3}n)/4\rfloor$, $\rho=e^{\sqrt{r}}$, and $a=1/\sqrt{r}$. Then $r=\omega(1)$, $\rho=\omega(r)$, and $\rho^{2r}=e^{2r^{3/2}}\leq e^{(\ln n)/4}=n^{1/4}=o(n)$, as promised.
Observe that the distribution of the requests in space and time is identical to the distribution of requests in the random MPMD instance generated by the procedure from Section \[subsec\_lb\], using the same values of the parameters. Thus, Lemmas \[lem\_error\], \[lem\_bad\], \[lem\_good\], Observation \[obs\_wellstarted\], and Lemma \[lem\_twophase\] all continue to hold, even if we allow the algorithm to connect requests of the same polarity.
With this observation, we are ready to prove the lower bound on the competitive ratio, which, in turn, implies Theorem \[thm\_lb\] for MBPMD.
Any randomized algorithm for MBPMD must have a competitive ratio $\Omega(\sqrt{r})=\Omega(\log^{1/3} n)$ on the metric space of $n$ equispaced points in the unit interval, against an oblivious adversary.
With our choice of the parameter values, the lower bound of Observation \[obs\_wellstarted\] becomes $1/16-o(1)$ and that of Lemma \[lem\_twophase\] becomes $1/64-o(1)$, as in the proof of Theorem \[thm\_lb\_line\], which again implies that the algorithm’s expected cost is at least $(1/128-o(1))r=\Omega(r)$. By Lemma \[lem\_adv\_b\], the optimum cost for any MBPMD instance in the support of $\mathcal{D}$ is $2ar+O(\sqrt{r})+o(ar)=O(\sqrt{r})$ always. Thus, the competitive ratio is $\Omega(\sqrt{r})=\Omega(\log^{1/3}n)$.
Concluding Remarks and Open Problems {#sec_rem}
====================================
We improved the bounds on the competitive ratio of the problem of Min-cost Perfect Matching with Delays (MPMD), and also proved similar bounds for the bipartite variant of the problem. Our upper bound of $O(\log n)$ on $n$-point metric spaces proves that the aspect ratio of the underlying metric is not a blocker for competitiveness. On the other hand, our lower bounds are the first known lower bounds which increase with $n$. We mention here some of the missing pieces of the puzzle, and some extensions.
1. The immediate task is, arguably, to close the polylogarothmic gap between the upper and lower bounds for both MPMD and MBPMD. In order to improve our algorithm, we believe that it is necessary to bypass the tree-embedding step, since this step forces a distortion of $\Omega(\log n)$.
2. Another follow-up task is to determine the competitiveness of deterministic algorithms for M(B)PMD on arbitrary metrics. It would not be surprising to discover an $\exp(\operatorname{polylog}(n))$ gap between the deterministic and the randomized bounds.
3. Finally, another interesting problem to pursue is the problem of min-cost $k$-dimensional matching, where the goal is to partition the requests into sets of size $k$. We need to identify interesting constraints on the connection cost, which generalize the metric property, and which admit a competitive algorithm.
Acknowledgment {#acknowledgment .unnumbered}
==============
The authors thank Amos Fiat for his insightful involvement in the discussions.
Appendix: Proofs missing from Section \[subsec\_reduction\] {#app_a}
===========================================================
The result by Fakcharoenphol et al. (Theorem 2 of [@FakcharoenpholRT_JCSS04]) states that $\mathcal{M}$ can be embedded into a distribution over $2$-HSTs with distortion $O(\log n)$, where the points of $\mathcal{M}$ are the leaves of the trees in the support of the distribution. The result by Bansal et al. (Theorem 8 of [@BansalBMN_JACM15]) states that a $\sigma$-HST with leaf set $S$ of size $n$ can be deterministically embedded into a metric given by a tree of height $O(\log n)$ with the same leaf set, such that the distance between any pair of leaves is distorted by at most $2\sigma/(\sigma-1)$. Composing these embeddings, we get the claimed result.
Algorithm $\mathcal{A}$ simply samples a metric space $\mathcal{M}'=(S',d')$ from the distribution $\mathcal{D}$, and simulates the behavior of $\mathcal{A}^{\mathcal{M}'}$. Fix an input instance $I$ of M(B)PMD on $\mathcal{M}$, and an arbitrary solution $\operatorname{SOL}$ of $I$. Let $\operatorname{ALG}$ be the solution output by $\mathcal{A}^{\mathcal{M}'}$, and hence, by $\mathcal{A}$. However, note that the costs paid by $\mathcal{A}^{\mathcal{M}'}$ and $\mathcal{A}$ are different, since they are working on different metrics. Since $d(p_1,p_2)\leq d'(p_1,p_2)$, for all $p_1,p_2\in S$, $$\mathcal{A}(I)=\operatorname{ALG}_d+\operatorname{ALG}_t\leq\operatorname{ALG}_{d'}+\operatorname{ALG}_t=\mathcal{A}^{\mathcal{M}'}(I)$$ Since $\mathcal{A}^{\mathcal{M}'}$ is $(\beta,\gamma)$-competitive, we have by definition, $$\mathcal{A}^{\mathcal{M}'}(I)\leq\beta\operatorname{SOL}_{d'}+\gamma\operatorname{SOL}_t$$ Thus, $\mathcal{A}(I)\leq\beta\operatorname{SOL}_{d'}+\gamma\operatorname{SOL}_t$. Taking expectation over the random choice of $\mathcal{M'}$, $$\mathbb{E}_{\mathcal{M}'=(S',d')\sim\mathcal{D}}[\mathcal{A}(I)]\leq\beta\cdot\mathbb{E}_{\mathcal{M}'=(S',d')\sim\mathcal{D}}[\operatorname{SOL}_{d'}]+\gamma\cdot\mathbb{E}_{\mathcal{M}'=(S',d')\sim\mathcal{D}}[\operatorname{SOL}_t]$$ Using linearity of expectation, the fact that the embedding has distortion $\mu$, and that $\operatorname{SOL}_t$ is independent of $\mathcal{M}'$, we have, $$\mathbb{E}_{\mathcal{M}'=(S',d')\sim\mathcal{D}}[\mathcal{A}(I)]\leq\beta\mu\cdot\operatorname{SOL}_{d}+\gamma\cdot\operatorname{SOL}_t$$ Thus, the claim follows from the definition of $(\beta,\gamma)$-competitiveness.
Appendix: Proofs missing from Section \[subsec\_lb\] {#app_b}
====================================================
The points in $S_{i+1}$ are spaced at least a distance $d_{i+1}$ apart, where $d_0=1/n$, and $$d_{i+1}=d_i\times\left\lfloor\frac{n_i}{n_{i+1}}\right\rfloor\geq d_i\times\left(\frac{n_i}{n_{i+1}}-1\right)$$ As a result, for all $i=0,\ldots,r-1$, $$n_{i+1}d_{i+1}\geq n_{i+1}d_i\left(\frac{n_i}{n_{i+1}}-1\right)=n_id_i\left(1-\frac{n_{i+1}}{n_i}\right)\geq n_id_i\left(1-\frac{2}{\rho}\right)$$ Thus, by induction, for all $i$, $n_id_i\geq (1-2/\rho)^in_0d_0\geq1-2i/\rho\geq1-2r/\rho=1-o(1)$, since $\rho=\omega(r)$.
Observe that given $y_0,\ldots y_{i-1},y_i$, $$A_i=\int_0^{t_i}x_i(t) dt=\int_0^{\frac{a\rho^{1+y_i}}{n_i}}x_i(t) dt$$ Given $y_0,\ldots,y_{i-1}$, the expectation of the above over $y_i$ is $$\mathbb{E}_{y_i}[A_i]=\int_{y=0}^1\int_{t=0}^{\frac{a\rho^{1+y}}{n_i}}x_i(t) dt dy \geq\int_{y=0}^1\int_{t=\frac{a\rho}{n_i}}^{\frac{a\rho^{1+y}}{n_i}}x_i(t) dt dy =\int_{t=\frac{a\rho}{n_i}}^{\frac{a\rho^2}{n_i}}\int_{y=\frac{\ln\left(\frac{n_it}{a\rho}\right)}{\ln\rho}}^1x_i(t) dy dt$$ Thus, $$\mathbb{E}_{y_i}[A_i]\geq\int_{t=\frac{a\rho}{n_i}}^{\frac{a\rho^2}{n_i}}x_i(t)\left[\int_{y=\frac{\ln\left(\frac{n_it}{a\rho}\right)}{\ln\rho}}^1 dy\right] dt =\int_{t=\frac{a\rho}{n_i}}^{\frac{a\rho^2}{n_i}}\left(1-\frac{\ln\left(\frac{n_it}{a\rho}\right)}{\ln\rho}\right)x_i(t) dt\geq\int_{t=\frac{a\rho}{n_i}}^{\frac{a\rho^{3/2}}{n_i}}\frac{1}{2}\cdot x_i(t) dt$$ The last inequality holds because the factor $\left(1-\frac{\ln\left(\frac{n_it}{a\rho}\right)}{\ln\rho}\right)$ in the integrand is at least $1/2$ for $t\in\left[\frac{a\rho}{n_i},\frac{a\rho^{3/2}}{n_i}\right]$, and non-negative for $t\in\left[\frac{a\rho^{3/2}}{n_i},\frac{a\rho^2}{n_i}\right]$. Using $\mathbb{I}[\cdot]$ to denote the indicator function, we have $$\mathbb{E}_{y_i}[A_i]\geq\frac{1}{2}\int_{t=\frac{a\rho}{n_i}}^{\frac{a\rho^{3/2}}{n_i}}x_i(t) dt \geq\frac{1}{2}\int_{t=\frac{a\rho}{n_i}}^{\frac{a\rho^{3/2}}{n_i}}x_i(t)\cdot\mathbb{I}\left[x_i(t)\geq\frac{a}{t}\right] dt \geq\frac{1}{2}\int_{t=\frac{a\rho}{n_i}}^{\frac{a\rho^{3/2}}{n_i}}\frac{a}{t}\cdot\mathbb{I}\left[x_i(t)\geq\frac{a}{t}\right] dt$$ The last inequality follows from the fact that if $x_i(t)<\frac{a}{t}$, then $\mathbb{I}\left[x_i(t)\geq\frac{a}{t}\right]=0$. Introducing the change of variables $t=t(z)=\frac{a\rho^{1+z}}{n_i}$, we have $dt=t(z)\ln\rho\cdot dz$, and $z$ increases from $0$ to $1/2$ as $t$ increases from $\frac{a\rho}{n_i}$ to $\frac{a\rho^{3/2}}{n_i}$. Thus, $$\mathbb{E}_{y_i}[A_i]\geq\frac{1}{2}\int_{z=0}^{\frac{1}{2}}\frac{a}{t(z)}\cdot\mathbb{I}\left[x_i(t(z))\geq\frac{a}{t(z)}\right]t(z)\ln\rho\cdot dz=\frac{a\ln\rho}{2}\int_{z=0}^{\frac{1}{2}}\mathbb{I}\left[x_i(t(z))\geq\frac{a}{t(z)}\right] dz$$ Observe that the value of the integral is precisely $\Pr_{y_i}\left[x_i(t_i)\geq\frac{a}{t_i}\text{ and }y_i\leq 1/2\right]$. We are given that $\Pr_{y_i}\left[x_i(t_i)<\frac{a}{t_i}\right]<1/4$. Since $y_i$ is uniform in $[0,1]$, by the union bound, we get $$\Pr_{y_i}\left[x_i(t_i)\geq\frac{a}{t_i}\text{ and }y_i\leq 1/2\right]>\frac{1}{4}$$ Substituting this, we get $\mathbb{E}_{y_i}[A_i]\geq(a\ln\rho)/8$.
[^1]: To prove that an algorithm is $\alpha$-competitive, it suffices to compare its cost with the cost of the optimum solution. In contrast, to prove that the algorithm is $(\beta,\gamma)$-competitive, we have to compare its performance with that of every solution.
[^2]: Note $F^+$ and $F^-$ are not necessarily disjoint, and therefore, a vertex can be both positively as well as negatively saturated at the same time.
[^3]: For instance: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/RandomWalk1-Dimensional.html
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Drop Glutenfree Restaurant
This restaurant in Hajós utca offers strictly gluten free dishes and some lactose-free options as well, with such a wide selection that many come here for the healthy dishes and friendly atmosphere alone. At Drop, they use high-quality ingredients, with the aim of building a close relationship with guests. This means that they are open to special requests and gladly provide customers with tips for a healthy lifestyle, converting visitors into regulars. An important part of the menu is the breakfast selection, served from 7.30am, followed by their lunch offer, available each weekday until 3pm. | https://welovebudapest.com/en/venue/drop-glutenfree-restaurant-2/ |
Mbappe reveals he played World Cup finals with a back injury
PARIS (AP) France striker Kylian Mbappe has revealed he played the World Cup semifinals and final with a back injury he hid from his rivals.
In an interview with France Football magazine, Mbappe says he displaced three vertebrae in his back during the tournament in Russia three days before France defeated Belgium 1-0 in the semifinals. France won the World Cup with a 4-2 victory over Croatia in the final.
”It was essential not to alert our opponents, otherwise they could have taken advantage of that and targeted this sensitive area,” said Mbappe, who scored four goals in the tournament including one in the final. ”That’s the reason why with the staff and the players we kept it hidden, even for the final.”
The 19-year-old Mbappe was one of the stars of the tournament and picked up the award for the best young player at the World Cup. He became the youngest player to score two goals in a World Cup game since Pele in 1958, and also became the first teenager since Pele to score in a World Cup final.
Mbappe reveals he played World Cup finals with a back injury
PARIS (AP) France striker Kylian Mbappe has revealed he played the World Cup semifinals and final with a back injury he hid from his rivals.
In an interview with France Football magazine, Mbappe says he displaced three vertebrae in his back during the tournament in Russia three days before France defeated Belgium 1-0 in the semifinals. France won the World Cup with a 4-2 victory over Croatia in the final.
''It was essential not to alert our opponents, otherwise they could have taken advantage of that and targeted this sensitive area,'' said Mbappe, who scored four goals in the tournament including one in the final. ''That's the reason why with the staff and the players we kept it hidden, even for the final.''
The 19-year-old Mbappe was one of the stars of the tournament and picked up the award for the best young player at the World Cup. He became the youngest player to score two goals in a World Cup game since Pele in 1958, and also became the first teenager since Pele to score in a World Cup final. | |
Epidermal growth factor increases granulation tissue formation dose dependently.
Recent studies have shown that epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulated the rate of formation of granulation tissue in a model of wound repair (A. Buckley, et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 82: 7340, 1985). Because pharmacologic doses of EGF were used previously, the relationship of EGF concentration to physiologic effects was determined in this study. Rats were implanted with subcutaneous polyvinyl alcohol sponges containing slow-release pellets formulated to release 0, 0.1, 1.0, or 10 micrograms of EGF/day. Tissue response was judged by the degree of histologic organization and vascularity, as well as several quantitative parameters: wet weight, hydroxyproline content, protein content, and DNA concentration. Each of these parameters showed consistent increases by Day 5 after implantation, when inflammation and edema had subsided. Compared with placebo controls, hydroxyproline (collagen) content was significantly increased by as little as 1 microgram/day of EGF, and DNA content was significantly increased by all dose levels of EGF. Endogenous EGF concentration in experimental granulation tissue was found to be fairly constant (30-40 ng/g wet wt); however, the increasing cellularity of the sponges may have reduced the local concentration of free EGF to low levels. Pellets releasing as little as 4 ng/hr of EGF into the surrounding tissue were able to accelerate wound healing, suggesting that the availability of this growth factor may be a rate-limiting step in wound repair.
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BACKGROUND
1. TECHNICAL FIELD
2. RELATED ART
The present invention relates to a device, a method, and a program.
Fig. 2
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Patent Document 1 describes "When the speculatively shipped package 260 is selected for the corresponding order, the procurement computer system 210 is configured to convey the complete description of the delivery address designated by the order to the hub 120 at which the selected package 260 is currently arranged or to which the package is on its way" (paragraph 0027) and "It should be noted that in some embodiments, assignment of the later-selected delivery address to the speculatively shipped package 260 may not be made at the hub, but alternatively may be made during the last mile (for example, during the transportation of the package 260 on a local delivery path) of a delivery.... When the speculatively shipped package 260 departs from the hub 120 on the local delivery path, the delivery address may be sent from the hub 120 to the carrying vehicle by using, for example, a radio, satellite, mobile phone, mobile text message, or another appropriate communication technique, so as to specify a complete delivery address during the transportation" (paragraph 0031).
Patent Document 2 discloses that "The principle of the transportation plan creation method of the present invention will be described. The item to be decided is the conveyance destination of the transporter, but it is necessary to consider numerous restrictions such as the avoidance of interference between transporters due to the processing capacity in the intermediate process and a restriction on entering and exiting vehicles in the raw material mixing process of the factory B. In principle, it is also possible to obtain a solution with a mixed integer programming method by using a constraint expression including all of these numerous restrictions, but it is impossible to obtain the solution in a practical time due to the processing capacity of a computer. Therefore, in the process of deciding the conveyance destination of the transporter (), it is a feature of the present invention that a physical distribution phenomenon from the factory A to the factory B, for example, the interference between transporters in the intermediate process or the like is calculated by the physical distribution simulator of step S206. It is necessary to determine the conveyance destination of the transporter in order to perform simulation using the physical distribution simulator. Thus, before performing the simulation, all arrival times at which the transporters can move to the factory B are predicted as accurately as possible by a relational expression or the like that does not require repeated calculation in step S202 (corresponding to 11 in ). Based on the predicted arrival times, an equality/inequality constraint expression regarding the decision of the conveyance destination of the transporter is created in step S203, and an objective function quantitatively representing the quality of the transportation plan is decided (corresponding to 15 in ). In step S204, a solution that satisfies the constraint expression and minimizes the objective function is obtained by the mixed integer programming method to obtain the conveyance destination of each transporter (corresponding to 12 in )".
CITATION LIST
PATENT DOCUMENT
GENERAL DISCLOSURE
2008-524714
Patent Document 1: Japanese translation publication of PCT route patent application No.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-18083
Patent Document 2:
In a first aspect of the present invention, a device is provided. The device may include an order information acquisition unit configured to acquire order information including destination information indicating a destination for transporting perishables to be ordered. The device may include a transportation information acquisition unit configured to acquire transportation information including temperature and location information of perishables in transport. The device may include a temperature estimation unit configured to calculate, on the basis of the transportation information and the order information, an estimated temperature at the destination in a case where the perishables in transport are transported to the destination. The device may include a decision unit configured to decide whether to transport the perishables in transport to the destination on the basis of the estimated temperature. The device may include an instruction unit configured to provide instruction to transport the perishables in transport to the destination according to a result of the decision.
The order information may further include a type of the perishables to be ordered. The transportation information may further include a type of the perishables in transport. The decision unit may be configured to decide to transport the perishables in transport to the destination on condition that the type included in the order information matches the type included in the transportation information.
The order information may further include an arrival deadline of the perishables to be ordered. The device may include a time estimation unit configured to calculate, on the basis of the transportation information and the order information, an estimated time to the destination in a case where the perishables in transport are transported to the destination. When it is determined on the basis of the estimated time that the arrival deadline is able to be met, the decision unit may be configured to decide to transport the perishables in transport to the destination.
The temperature estimation unit may be configured to calculate the estimated temperature further on the basis of a refrigerated state of the perishables in transport.
The device may include an update instruction unit configured to, when temperature of perishables transported to the destination is higher than a target temperature, provide instruction to update at least one of a pre-cooling condition before start of transportation or a refrigeration condition during transportation.
The order information may further include an order amount of the perishables to be ordered. When the order amount exceeds a remaining amount obtained by subtracting an amount of ordered perishables from a total amount of the perishables in transport and stored perishables, the decision unit may be configured to decide not to accept an order corresponding to the order information.
When the order amount exceeds an amount of unordered perishables among the perishables in transport, the decision unit may be configured to decide to cause a transporter loading the perishables in transport to stop by at a perishables storage and replenish perishables.
When new estimated temperature estimated on the basis of new transportation information acquired while the perishables in transport are transported to the destination exceeds a target temperature at the destination, the decision unit may be configured to stop transporting the perishables in transport to the destination.
The order information acquisition unit may be configured to acquire a plurality of pieces of order information from a plurality of customers. The decision unit may be configured to decide, on the basis of the estimated temperature calculated for each of the plurality of pieces of order information, order information, of which a corresponding order is to be accepted, among the plurality of pieces of order information.
The decision unit may be configured to decide, further on the basis of a profit obtained when each of the plurality of pieces of order information is ordered, order information, of which a corresponding order is to be accepted, among the plurality of pieces of order information.
The device may include a presentation unit configured to present a price of the perishables in transport. The order information acquisition unit may be configured to acquire the order information corresponding to an order placed according to presentation of the price.
The decision unit may be configured to decide to transport, to a storage, perishables which are not able to be ordered during transportation.
The device may include a time estimation unit configured to calculate, on the basis of the transportation information and the order information, an estimated time to the destination in a case where the perishables in transport is transported to the destination. The decision unit may be configured to decide whether to transport the perishables in transport to the destination on condition that there is a margin that is equal to or higher than margin temperature between a target temperature at the destination and the estimated temperature, the margin temperature becoming smaller when the estimated time is shorter.
The transportation information acquisition unit may be configured to acquire the transportation information for each of a plurality of transporters. The decision unit may be configured to decide which transporter among the plurality of transporters is to be moved to the destination on the basis of the estimated temperature calculated on the basis of on the transportation information for each of the plurality of transporters.
In a second aspect of the present invention, a method is provided. The method may include acquiring, by a computer, order information including destination information indicating a destination for transporting perishables to be ordered. The method may include acquiring, by the computer, transportation information including temperature and location information of perishables in transport. The method may include calculating, by the computer, on the basis of the transportation information and the order information, an estimated temperature at the destination in a case where the perishables in transport are transported to the destination. The method may include deciding, by the computer, whether to transport the perishables in transport to the destination on the basis of the estimated temperature. The method may include providing, by the computer, instruction to transport the perishables in transport to the destination according to a result of the deciding.
In a third aspect of the present invention, a program executed by a computer is provided. The program may cause the computer to perform operations including acquiring order information including destination information indicating a destination for transporting perishables to be ordered. The program may cause the computer to perform operations including acquiring transportation information including temperature and location information of perishables in transport. The program may cause the computer to perform operations including calculating, on the basis of the transportation information and the order information, an estimated temperature at the destination in a case where the perishables in transport are transported to the destination. The program may cause the computer to perform operations including deciding whether to transport the perishables in transport to the destination on the basis of the estimated temperature. The program may cause the computer to perform operations including providing instruction to transport the perishables in transport to the destination according to a result of the deciding.
The summary clause does not necessarily describe all necessary features of the embodiments of the present invention. The present invention may also be a sub-combination of the features described above.
EXPLANATION OF REFERENCES
10: Physical distribution processing system
20: Physical distribution system
100: Storage
110: Storage
120a to 120d: Destination
130a to 130c: Storage
140a and 140b: Transporter
150: Transport processing device
160: Order processing device
200: Transportation information reception unit
210: Transportation information transmission unit
220: Transport instruction reception unit
230: Transport instruction transmission unit
240: Transport processing unit
300: Order information acquisition unit
310: Order information DB
320: Transportation information acquisition unit
330: Transportation information DB
340: Time estimation unit
350: Temperature estimation unit
360: Transport instruction DB
365: Decision unit
370: Transport instruction unit
380: Order response unit
390: Update instruction unit
395: Presentation unit
2200: Computer
2201: DVD-ROM
2210: Host controller
2212: CPU
2214: RAM
2216: Graphic controller
2218: Display device
2220: Input/output controller
2222: Communication interface
2224: Hard disk drive
2226: DVD-ROM drive
2230: ROM
2240: Input/output chip
2242: Keyboard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1
illustrates a physical distribution processing system 10 according to the present embodiment together with a physical distribution system 20.
Fig. 2
illustrates a configuration of a transport processing device 150 according to the present embodiment.
Fig. 3
illustrates a configuration of an order processing device 160 according to the present embodiment.
Fig. 4
illustrates an operation flow of the order processing device 160 according to the present embodiment.
Fig. 5
illustrates an operation flow regarding order acceptance decision of the order processing device 160 according to the present embodiment.
Fig. 6
is a graph illustrating an example of an estimated temperature estimated by the order processing device 160 according to the present embodiment.
Fig. 7
is a graph illustrating an example of a method of updating the estimated temperature estimated by the order processing device 160 according to the present embodiment.
Fig. 8
is a graph illustrating an example of a pass/fail determination method of the estimated temperature estimated by the order processing device 160 according to the present embodiment.
Fig. 9
illustrates an example of a computer 2200 in which a plurality of aspects of the present invention may be embodied in whole or in part.
DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS
Hereinafter, the invention will be described through embodiments of the invention, but the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to claims. In addition, not all of the combinations of features described in the embodiments are essential to the solving means of the invention.
Fig. 1
illustrates a physical distribution processing system 10 according to the present embodiment together with a physical distribution system 20. The physical distribution system 20 is a physical distribution network for transporting perishables. Herein, the perishables (also referred to as "fresh products") transported by the physical distribution system 20 may be fresh foods such as fruits and vegetables, marine products, and meat, and may be processed foods, tea leaves, beans, beverages (wine), other foods involving freshness deterioration, flowers and ornamental plants, and items (medicines or the like) other than the foods involving freshness deterioration.
In the physical distribution system 20, a plurality of transporters 140a and 140b transports perishables among a storage 100, a storage 110, a plurality of destinations 120a to 120d, and a plurality of storages 130a to 130c. The storage 100 is a physical distribution base warehouse that is operated by a producer of perishables, an association of producers, or the like and is arranged near the producer. The storage 100 stores perishables while keeping freshness by refrigerating or freezing the perishables. In the present drawing, only one storage 100 as the departure point of each transporter 140 is illustrated for convenience of description, but the physical distribution system 20 may include a plurality of storages 100 as the departure points of the transporter 140.
The storage 110 is a physical distribution base warehouse arranged in a region near a retailer, a consumer, or the like of perishables. The storage 110 is operated by a transportation company, a producer or an association thereof, a retailer, an association of consumers, or the like. The storage 110 stores perishables while keeping freshness by refrigerating or freezing the perishables. In the present drawing, only one storage 110 as the final arrival point of each transporter 140 is illustrated for convenience of description, but the physical distribution system 20 may include a plurality of storages 110 as the final arrival points of the transporter 140.
Each (also referred to as a "destination 120") of the plurality of destinations 120a to 120d is a transportation destination (place of delivery) of a product designated by an orderer such as a retailer or a consumer who orders perishables. The plurality of storages 130a to 130c (also referred to as a "storage 130") is similar to the storage 110.
Each (also referred to as a "transporter 140") of the plurality of transporters 140a and 140b is managed by a transportation company, and transports perishables among the storage 100, the storage 110, the plurality of destinations 120a to 120d, and the plurality of storages 130a to 130c. The transporter 140 is a vehicle, such as a truck, capable of carrying loads. In other embodiments, the physical distribution system 20 may use rail, a watercraft, an aircraft, or another transportation means in place of the transporter 140 or in conjunction with the transporter 140.
The physical distribution processing system 10 manages the physical distribution of the physical distribution system 20, and instructs each transporter 140 with respect to a destination (the destinations 120a to 120d or the like), a transit point (the storages 130a to 130c or the like), the type and amount of fresh products to be loaded, the type and amount of fresh products to be delivered to each destination, or the like. The physical distribution processing system 10 includes a transport processing device 150 and an order processing device 160.
The transport processing device 150 may be achieved by a server computer, a general-purpose computer, a workstation, a personal computer, and another computer, or may be achieved by a computer system in which a plurality of computers is connected. In addition, the transport processing device 150 may be achieved on a cloud computing system. The transport processing device 150 can communicate with each of the plurality of transporters 140 via a cellular network, a wireless WAN, or other wireless network. The transport processing device 150 is owned or managed by a transportation company. The transport processing device 150 performs operation management of the plurality of transporters 140, various instructions to the plurality of transporters 140, state collection of the plurality of transporters 140, and the like.
The order processing device 160 is connected to the transport processing device 150 via a wired network or a wireless network. The order processing device 160 may be achieved by a server computer, a general-purpose computer, a workstation, a personal computer, and other computers, or may be achieved by a computer system in which a plurality of computers is connected. In addition, the order processing device 160 may be achieved on a cloud computing system.
The order processing device 160 accepts an order for purchasing perishables from a retailer, a consumer, and the like. The order processing device 160 accepts, from each transporter 140, the transportation information including the temperature of the perishables in transport or the like, and decides which transporter 140 is to be headed to the destination 120, so that fresh perishables are delivered to the destination 120 of the order.
Herein, the order processing device 160 according to the present embodiment does not decide all destinations 120 at which the transporter 140 is to stop by before the transporter 140 departs from the storage 100, but decides a new destination 120 corresponding to the order for some or all perishables to be carried by the transporter 140 during carrying after the departure from the storage 100. That is, in the present embodiment, the transporter 140 and the refrigerating box loaded on the transporter 140 serve not only as a transportation means for carrying ordered perishables to the destination 120 but also as a "moving warehouse" for storing unordered perishables. Thereby, the order processing device 160 can reduce the number of transporters 140 required to deliver perishables to a customer as compared with a case where the transporter 140 is arranged each time an order is accepted. As a result, the order processing device 160 can reduce the total transportation distance of perishables. By reducing the total transportation distance of perishables, the order processing device 160 can also contribute to reduction of global warming gas emissions.
In the example of the present drawing, the transporter 140a and the transporter 140b load ordered and unordered perishables in the storage 100, and depart to the storage 110 as the final destination. During the movement of the transporter 140a and the transporter 140b, the order processing device 160 accepts one or more orders with each of one or more destinations 120 set as a delivery destination. The order processing device 160 acquires, via the transport processing device 150, transportation information including the temperature and location information of perishables in transport for each of the plurality of transporters 140. The order processing device 160 calculates the estimated temperature of perishables in a case where the perishables are transported to each destination 120, and decides the destination 120 at which each of the plurality of transporters 140 is to stop by so that the freshness of the perishables is not lost.
In the example of the present drawing, the order processing device 160 decides that the transporter 140a transports perishables to the destination 120a and the destination 120d and that the transporter 140b transports perishables to the destination 120b and the destination 120c. In addition, when the perishables in transport becomes insufficient, the order processing device 160 decides to cause the transporter 140b to stop by at the storage 130b and replenish perishables. The order processing device 160 transmits transport instructions to the plurality of transporters 140 via the transport processing device 150. Each transporter 140 stops by at one or more designated destinations 120 and the storage 110 and transports the remaining perishables to the storage 130 near a consumption place. The storage 110 may play a role of the storage 130.
According to the physical distribution processing system 10 described above, it is possible to flexibly set a destination according to an order after starting transportation of unordered perishables and transport the fresh products to the destination while keeping freshness.
Accordingly, in the present embodiment, even when the physical distribution system 20 does not have a facility for refrigerating and freezing perishables to be transported or has only a refrigerating and freezing facility that is not sufficient to maintain a constant low temperature state to the destination as the transporter 140, by using a refrigerating means such as a refrigerating box, the physical distribution system 20 can transport perishables within a time during which the perishables can be kept fresh.
Fig. 2
illustrates the configuration of the transport processing device 150 according to the present embodiment. The transport processing device 150 includes a transportation information reception unit 200, a transportation information transmission unit 210, a transport instruction reception unit 220, a transport instruction transmission unit 230, and a transport processing unit 240.
The transportation information reception unit 200 receives transportation information indicating the transportation state of perishables from each of the plurality of transporters 140. The transportation information from each transporter 140 includes the temperature and the location information of perishables in transport by the transporter 140. Herein, the temperature of perishables may be a value obtained by measuring the internal temperature of the refrigerating means used for transporting the perishables. In addition, the transportation information may include at least one of the type or the amount of perishables in transport. In addition, the transportation information may include information regarding a refrigerated state such as a packed state of perishables. The transportation information transmission unit 210 transmits the transportation information for each of the plurality of transporters 140 to the order processing device 160.
The transport instruction reception unit 220 receives, from the order processing device 160, a transport instruction instructing to which destination 120 each of the plurality of transporters 140 is to transport perishables. The transport instruction transmission unit 230 transmits the transport instruction for each transporter 140 to the corresponding transporter 140.
The transport processing unit 240 performs a transport process such as management of the transportation of the plurality of transporters 140 and various processes accompanying the management. The transport processing unit 240 may be connected to the transportation information reception unit 200 and the transportation information transmission unit 210, and may add additional information regarding the transportation state of perishables to the transportation information received from the transportation information reception unit 200 and transmit the resulttransportation to the order processing device 160 via the transportation information transmission unit 210. For example, the transport processing unit 240 may record a history of the type, the amount, or the like of the perishables which each transporter 140 is instructed to load and unload, add information, which is recorded by the transport processing unit 240, such as the type, the amount, or the like of the perishables currently in transport by the corresponding transporter 140 to the transportation information received from each transporter 140 and including the temperature and location information of the perishables in transport, or the like, and transmit the result to the order processing device 160 via the transportation information transmission unit 210.
The transport processing unit 240 may be connected to the transport instruction reception unit 220 and the transport instruction transmission unit 230, and may add additional information regarding transport to the transport instruction received from the order processing device 160 and transmit the result to the corresponding transporter 140 via the transport instruction transmission unit 230. For example, the transport processing unit 240 may add the designation of a driver for each section of the movement path, the recommended route to each destination, and other additional instructions or related information to the transport instruction, and transmit the result to the corresponding transporter 140.
Fig. 3
illustrates the configuration of the order processing device 160 according to the present embodiment. The order processing device 160 includes an order information acquisition unit 300, an order information database (DB) 310, a transportation information acquisition unit 320, a transportation information DB 330, a time estimation unit 340, a temperature estimation unit 350, a transport instruction DB 360, a decision unit 365, a transport instruction unit 370, an order response unit 380, an update instruction unit 390, and a presentation unit 395.
The order information acquisition unit 300 acquires order information including destination information indicating the destination 120 to which perishables to be ordered are transported. As the destination information, the location information of the destination such as a set of longitude and latitude may be used as an example. In addition, the order processing device 160 may prepare a table, in which place names and location information are associated with each other, such as "α market: A degrees a minutes east longitude, B degrees b minutes north latitude, and β warehouse: C degrees c minutes east longitude, D degrees d minutes north latitude". In this case, the order acquisition unit 300 may acquire the place name designated as the destination as the destination information and convert the place name into the destination information represented by the location information by using the table. The order information may include at least one of the type or the order amount of perishables to be ordered, and may further include the arrival deadline of the perishables to be ordered. The data indicating the type of perishables may be coded as, for example, "Tomato: 1, cabbage: 2". For example, the order information acquisition unit 300 may use a web page for perishables sale and receive the order information input by the customer from a computer that processes the sale web page, and may receive, from an order system, the order information which is input to the order system by a call center operator or the like receiving contact from the customer by telephone or other means. The order information DB 310 is connected to the order information acquisition unit 300 and stores the order information acquired by the order information acquisition unit 300.
The transportation information acquisition unit 320 acquires the transportation information for each of the plurality of transporters 140a and 140b from the transport processing device 150. The transportation information DB 330 is connected to the transportation information acquisition unit 320 and stores the transportation information acquired by the transportation information acquisition unit 320.
The time estimation unit 340 is connected to the order information DB 310 and the transportation information DB 330. On the basis of the transportation information of each transporter 140 stored in the transportation information DB 330 and the order information of each order stored in the order information DB 310, the time estimation unit 340 calculates an estimated time to the destination 120 in a case where the perishables in transport are transported to the destination 120. The time estimation unit 340 searches for a path on which each transporter 140 moves from the current position to the destination 120 by using the location information of each transporter 140 included in the transportation information from the plurality of transporters 140 and the destination information included in the order information for each of one or more orders, and calculates an estimated time required for the movement of the path. The location information of the transporter 140 may be, for example, a set of latitude and longitude at which the transporter 140 is present. Such location information may be acquired by using a global positioning system (GPS) in each transporter 140.
The temperature estimation unit 350 is connected to the order information DB 310, the transportation information DB 330, and the time estimation unit 340. The temperature estimation unit 350 calculates, on the basis of the transportation information of each transporter 140 and the order information of each order, an estimated temperature at the destination 120 in a case where the perishables in transport are transported to the destination 120. The temperature estimation unit 350 accepts, from the time estimation unit 340, the estimated time to each destination 120, and calculates the estimated temperature at each destination 120 by using the estimated time to each destination 120. Alternatively, the temperature estimation unit 350 may calculate the estimated time to each destination 120 for the path given in advance to each transporter 140 in a manner similar to that of the time estimation unit 340, and calculate the estimated temperature at each destination 120 by using the estimated time. By the temperature estimation unit 350 calculating the estimated temperature at the destination 120, the decision unit 365 can decide whether the perishables arrive at the destination 120 without being deteriorated. As a result, the order processing device 160 can suppress deteriorated perishables from arriving at the destination 120, and can enable reduction of the scrap of the perishables.
The transport instruction DB 360 is connected to the decision unit 365 and the transport instruction unit 370. The transport instruction DB 360 stores one or more transport instructions issued to each of the plurality of transporters 140. The decision unit 365 is connected to the time estimation unit 340, the temperature estimation unit 350, and the transport instruction DB 360. The decision unit 365 decides whether to transport the perishables in transport to the destination 120 on the basis of the estimated temperature at the destination 120 in a case where the perishables in transport are transported to each destination 120.
Herein, when the perishables are transported by the plurality of transporters 140, for each of the plurality of transporters 140, the decision unit 365 decides whether to transport the perishables in transport to the destination 120 on the basis of the estimated temperature at the destination 120 in a case where the perishables are transported to the destination 120 of each order. Thereby, the decision unit 365 decides which transporter 140 among the plurality of transporters 140a and 140b is to be moved to the destination 120 on the basis of the estimated temperature calculated on the basis of the transportation information for each of the plurality of transporters 140a and 140b.
When the transportation information and the order information include information indicating the type of perishables, the decision unit 365 decides to transport the perishables in transport to the destination 120 included in the order information on condition (requirement) that the type included in the order information matches the type included in the transportation information. Herein, when the transporter 140 transports a plurality of types of perishables, the transportation information of the transporter 140 includes information indicating the plurality of types. In this case, on condition that either of the plurality of types included in the transportation information matches the type included in the order information, the decision unit 365 decides to transport the perishables to the destination 120 included in the order information. Note that, for example, when the physical distribution system 20 transports only a single type of perishables, the information indicating the type of perishables may not be included in the transportation information and the order information, and the decision unit 365 may omit comparison of the information indicating the type of perishables.
In a case where the order information includes the arrival deadline, when it is determined on the basis of the estimated time to the destination 120 included in the order information that the arrival deadline can be met, with the determination as a requirement, the decision unit 365 decides to transport the perishables in transport to the destination 120. When the arrival deadline cannot be met, the decision unit 365 may decide not to accept the order. The decision unit 365 may delete, from order placement information DB, the order decided not to be accepted.
In the present embodiment, the time estimation unit 340, the temperature estimation unit 350, and the decision unit 365 are illustrated as separate components, but these units operate closely to generate a transportation plan of perishables. Thus, each of the time estimation unit 340 and the temperature estimation unit 350 may be integrated with the decision unit 365, or the time estimation unit 340 and the temperature estimation unit 350 may be integrated. The close operation of the time estimation unit 340, the temperature estimation unit 250, and the decision unit 365 enables the order processing device 160 to cause perishables to arrive at the destination 120 in a fresher state. As a result, the order processing device 160 can enable further reduction of the scrap of perishables.
A transport instruction unit 370 is connected to the decision unit 365. For each order, the transport instruction unit 370 instructs the transporter 140 in charge of the order to transport the perishables in transport to the destination 120 of the order according to the decision result by the decision unit 365. The transport instruction unit 370 transmits such a transport instruction to the transporter 140 in charge via the transport processing device 150. In addition, the transport instruction unit 370 stores the transport instruction in the transport instruction DB 360. Since the transport instruction unit 370 transmits the transport instruction to the transporter 140 in transport, the order processing device 160 can reduce the number of transporters 140 required to deliver perishables to the customer, as compared with a case where the transporter 140 is arranged each time an order is accepted. As a result, the order processing device 160 can reduce the total transportation distance of perishables. By reducing the total transportation distance of perishables, the order processing device 160 can also contribute to reduction of global warming gas emissions.
The order response unit 380 is connected to the decision unit 365. For the order for which it is decided to transport perishables to the destination 120 among a plurality of orders, the order response unit 380 transmits a response indicating the acceptance of the order to the customer. In addition, for the order not decided to transport the perishables in transport to the destination 120 (in other words, the order for which it is decided not to transport perishables in transport to the destination 120 thereof) among the plurality of orders, the order response unit 380 transmits, to the customer, a response indicating that the order is not accepted. Herein, the order response unit 380 may transmit this response to the computer that processes the sale web page or may transmit the response as an e-mail to the mail address of the customer. By the order response unit 380 performing the above-described transmission to the customer, the order processing device 160 can meet the demand for perishables and reduce the scrap of perishables.
The update instruction unit 390 is connected to the transportation information DB 330 and the transport instruction DB 360. The update instruction unit 390 issues an update instruction for improving the physical distribution of perishables on the basis of a state when the transporter 140 arrives at the destination 120. When the temperature of the perishables transported to the destination 120 is higher than a target temperature, the update instruction unit 390 instructs the storage 100, the storage 110, or at least one of the storages 130a to 130c to update at least one of a pre-cooling condition before the start of transportation or a refrigeration condition during transportation. Additionally or alternatively, when the estimated temperature at the destination 120 in a case where the perishables in transport are transported to each destination 120 is higher than the target temperature, the update instruction unit 390 may instruct the storage 100, the storage 110, or at least one of the storages 130a to 130c to update at least one of the pre-cooling condition before the start of transportation or the refrigeration condition during transportation. When the update instruction unit 390 performs the above-described instruction, the order processing device 160 can cause the perishables to be pre-cooled under a more appropriate condition or to be refrigerated under a more appropriate condition during transportation, and can enable reduction of the scrap of the perishables by suppressing the deterioration of the perishables.
The presentation unit 395 is connected to the transportation information DB 330 and the transport instruction DB 360. The presentation unit 395 presents the price of the perishables in transport in order to sell the perishables. By using the transportation information stored in the transportation information DB 330, the presentation unit 395 according to the present embodiment acquires the type and amount of the perishables in transport. The presentation unit 395 uses the transportation information stored in the transport instruction DB 360 to exclude, from the perishables in transport, the perishables of which the destination is decided and calculates the type and amount of perishables of which the destination is not decided (that is, unordered perishables). Then, the presentation unit 395 widely presents the type, remaining amount, and price of perishables of which the destination is not decided. Thereby, the order information acquisition unit 300 can acquire the order information corresponding to the order placed according to the presentation of the price. The order processing device 160 can meet a potential demand for perishables by using the presentation unit 395, and can enable reduction of the scrap of perishables.
Fig. 4
illustrates an operation flow of the order processing device 160 according to the present embodiment. In S400 (step 400), the order processing device 160 performs various types of processes before each transporter 140 departs from the storage 100. The order processing device 160 may also accept an order for perishables even before the departure of each transporter 140. In this case, the order processing device 160 may perform the following operation.
The order information acquisition unit 300 acquires order information regarding an order for perishables before transportation and stores the order information in the order information DB 310. For the transporter 140 before departure, the transportation information acquisition unit 320 acquires transportation information including information that the transporter 140 is before departure, the location information of the storage 100, and the like, and stores the transportation information in the transportation information DB 330. The information on whether the transporter 140 is before departure may be indicated by, for example, a Boolean value. On the basis of the transportation information of each transporter 140 before departure and the order information of each order, the time estimation unit 340 calculates an estimated time to the destination 120 in a case where the product is transported from the storage 100 to the destination 120. Herein, the time estimation unit 340 may calculate the total estimated time of the estimated time required to load the perishables on the transporter 140 and the estimated time required to move from the storage 100 to the destination 120. Note that the estimated time required to load the perishables on the transporter 140 may be a predetermined time such as 30 minutes, for example.
Fig. 3
On the basis of the transportation information of each transporter 140 before departure and the order information of each order, the temperature estimation unit 350 calculates an estimated temperature at each destination 120 in a case where the perishables are transported from the storage 100 to each destination 120. The decision unit 365 decides whether to transport the perishables to the destination 120 on the basis of the estimated temperature at the destination 120. Herein, the decision unit 365 may perform this decision further on the basis of each condition described with respect to , and may further limit the total amount of the perishables loaded on each transporter 140 so as not to exceed the maximum loading capacity of each transporter 140. According to the decision result, the transport instruction unit 370 instructs, via the transport processing device 150, the transporter 140 to be in charge of the order to transport the perishables to the destination 120 of the order. The transport instruction DB 360 stores each transport instruction for an order before departure.
The transport instruction unit 370 instructs the transporter 140 which is before departure and positioned in the storage 100 to load unordered perishables within a range not exceeding the maximum loading capacity in addition to the perishables corresponding to the total amount corresponding to all orders taken charge of by the transporter 140. When the transport instruction unit 370 instructs loading of unordered perishables, the order processing device 160 can cope with future order placement, and as a result, the number of transporters 140 required to deliver the perishables to the customer can be reduced as compared with a case where the transporter 140 is arranged each time an order is accepted. As a result, the order processing device 160 can reduce the total transportation distance of perishables. By reducing the total transportation distance of perishables, the order processing device 160 can also contribute to reduction of global warming gas emissions. Herein, the transport instruction unit 370 may instruct the transporter 140 to load perishables having the type and the amount set in advance by the producer, the transportation company, or the like. In addition, the transport instruction unit 370 may perform demand prediction by using a history or the like of orders accepted in the past for the perishables in transport, and perform instruction on the type and amount of unordered perishables to be loaded into the transporter 140 on the basis of the result.
In response to such a transport instruction, the transportation company loads, onto each transporter 140 positioned in the storage 100, the perishables corresponding to the total amount corresponding to all orders taken charge of by the transporter 140, and loads unordered perishables within a range not exceeding the maximum loading capacity. Then, the transportation company causes the transporter 140 in charge of the order before departure to depart toward the destination 120 of the order and causes the transporter 140 that has not accepted the order before departure to depart toward the storage 110 which is the final arrival point.
In S405, the presentation unit 395 presents, to the distributor, the retailer, the consumer, and the like, the type, price, and the like of the perishables in transport, and in S410, the order information acquisition unit 300 acquires the order information corresponding to the order placed according to the presentation of the price. Herein, the order processing device 160 may perform a process of selling perishables in transport in an auction format or a reverse auction format. In the case of using the auction format, the presentation unit 395 presents the current selling price of the perishables in transport, and the order information acquisition unit 300 acquires a plurality of pieces of order information from the plurality of orderers. Each of the plurality of pieces of order information may include a purchase price desired by each customer. Note that the presentation unit 395 may update the current selling price to the highest purchase price and present the price, and further solicit orders with higher prices. In the case of using the reverse auction format, the presentation unit 395 presents a bid price of perishables to a person scheduled to order, and the order information acquisition unit 300 acquires the order information corresponding to an order placed according to the bid made by the presentation of the price. The order information acquisition unit 300 stores the acquired order information in the order information DB 310. Since it is possible to meet a potential demand for perishables by the presentation unit 395, the order processing device 160 can enable reduction of the scrap of perishables.
In S415, the transportation information acquisition unit 320 acquires, from the transport processing device 150, the transportation information for each of the plurality of transporters 140 which have departed from the storage 100 and are moving, and stores the transportation information in the transportation information DB 330. In S420, on the basis of the transportation information of each transporter 140 and the order information of each order stored in the order information DB 310, the time estimation unit 340 calculates an estimated time to the destination 120 in a case where the perishables in transport are transported to the destination 120.
Herein, for the transporter 140 which already has at least one destination 120 for the accepted order, the time estimation unit 340 may be able to calculate an estimated time in the case of traveling around two or more destinations 120 in which the destination 120 for at least one unaccepted order is added. For example, the time estimation unit 340 generates one or more assignment candidates for causing either of the plurality of transporters 140 to take charge of each of at least one unaccepted order. Herein, the time estimation unit 340 may generate an assignment candidate for causing either of the plurality of transporters 140 to randomly take charge of each of at least one unaccepted order or may generate an assignment candidate for causing the transporter 140 already in charge of an order, which has a scheduled path to follow each destination 120 closer to the destination 120 of the unaccepted order, to take charge of the unaccepted order.
Then, the time estimation unit 340 calculates, for each assignment candidate, an optimal path along which the transporter 140 in charge of the unaccepted order follows two or more destinations 120 from the current location. Since this is a traveling salesman problem, the time estimation unit 340 can solve the problem with a known solution. Then, the time estimation unit 340 calculates an estimated time to each destination 120 in a case where two or more destinations 120 are followed in this order.
When the order amount of the perishables in the order that the transporter 140 is to be newly in charge of exceeds the amount of the unordered perishables of the same type loaded on the transporter 140, the time estimation unit 340 may calculate a path for stopping by at any storage 130 to replenish the perishables. In addition, when a predetermined reference amount or more of perishables remains after following all the destinations 120, the time estimation unit 340 may calculate an estimated time to the storage 110. By the time estimation unit 340 calculating the above-described path, the order processing device 160 can load an appropriate amount of perishables on the transporter 140, and can reduce the total transportation distance of the perishables. In addition, the order processing device 160 enables reduction of the scrap of perishable by storing excessive perishable in the storage 110.
In S430, for each assignment candidate, the temperature estimation unit 350 calculates, on the basis of the transportation information of each transporter 140 and the order information of each order, the estimated temperature at the destination 120 in a case where the perishables in transport are transported to the destination 120. In the present embodiment, for each transporter 140, the temperature estimation unit 350 estimates to what extent the temperature of the perishables rises after the lapse of the estimated time on the basis of the temperature of the perishables in transport included in the transportation information and the estimated time calculated from the transportation information and the order information, and regards the temperature as the estimated temperature. By the temperature estimation unit 350 calculating the estimated temperature at each destination 120, the decision unit 365 can appropriately decide the delivery of the perishables and can enable reduction of the scrap of the perishables.
In S440, the decision unit 365 decides whether to transport the perishables in transport to the destination 120 on the basis of the estimated temperature at the destination 120 in a case where the perishables in transport are transported to each destination 120. The decision unit 365 decides whether each transporter 140 transports the perishables to each destination 120 according to each assignment candidate on the basis of the estimated temperature, which is calculated for each assignment candidate, at each of one or two or more destinations 120 included in each assignment candidate. As a result of the decision unit 365 deciding whether transportation can be performed on the basis of the estimated temperature at each destination 120, the order processing device 160 can suppress deteriorated perishables from arriving at each destination 120, and can enable reduction of the scrap of the perishables.
Herein, in each assignment candidate, when the estimated temperature of the perishables transported to any of the destinations 120 is higher than the target temperature, the transportation by the assignment candidate cannot keep the freshness of the perishables, and thus the decision unit 365 does not adopt the assignment candidate. The decision unit 365 may adopt the assignment candidate on condition that the estimated temperature is equal to or lower than the target temperature at any of the destinations 120. When is a plurality of adoptable assignment candidates, the decision unit 365 may select an assignment candidate to be determined to be optimal by using an evaluation function including a cost or the like. As a result, the order processing device 160 can reduce the total transportation distance of the perishables.
The decision unit 365 may decide to transport the perishables that cannot be ordered during transportation to the storage 110. Thus, for the transporter 140 transporting unordered perishables, the decision unit 365 may select the assignment candidate on condition that the estimated temperature in a case where the perishables are transported to the storage 110 is equal to or lower than the target temperature. Note that, when the amount of unordered perishables in transport are equal to or less than a predetermined allowable scrap, the decision unit 365 may allow the estimated temperature in a case where the perishables are transported to the storage 110 to exceed the target temperature. As a result of the above-described decision by the decision unit 365, the order processing device 160 can enable balancing between the reduction in the scrap of perishables and the reduction in the total transportation amount.
In the above description, the decision unit 365 may adopt the assignment candidate on the premise that the type and amount of perishables, the arrival deadline, and other conditions can be satisfied. When the order amount exceeds the amount of unordered perishables among the perishables in transport, the decision unit 365 may decide to cause the transporter 140 to replenish the perishables by adopting an assignment candidate including a path for causing the transporter 140 loading the perishables in transport to stop by at at least one storage 130 and replenish the perishables. As a result, the order processing device 160 can load an appropriate amount of perishables on the transporter 140, and can reduce the total transportation distance of the perishables.
For the plurality of orders in the auction format, the decision unit 365 may decide, on the basis of the estimated temperature calculated for each of the plurality of pieces of order information, order information, of which a corresponding order is to be accepted, among the plurality of pieces of order information. For example, when the estimated temperature in the case of in transport to the destination 120 exceeds the target temperature, the decision unit 365 may decide not to accept the order regardless of the level of the purchase price. As a result, the order processing device 160 can reduce the chance of providing deteriorated perishables to the demander. Then, the decision unit 365 may decide to accept an order that presents the highest purchase price among acceptable orders. Alternatively, the decision unit 365 may decide, on the basis of only on the level of the purchase price but also on the profit obtained when each of the plurality of pieces of order information is accepted, order information, of which the corresponding order is to be accepted, among the plurality of pieces of order information. For example, the decision unit 365 may calculate an expected profit by subtracting a cost such as a transportation cost from the purchase price of each order, and select an assignment candidate having a larger expected profit. When it is possible to accept the order in the auction format, the order processing device 160 can further increase the profit obtained by selling the perishables in transport.
For the order for which it is decided to be accepted and transport the perishables ("Y" in S450 in the drawing), in S460, the transport instruction unit 370 transmits a transport instruction to transport the perishables in transport to the destination 120 to the transporter 140 in charge of the order. In addition, the order response unit 380 transmits, to the customer, a response indicating the acceptance of the order.
In S470, for the accepted order, when the position indicated by the location information included in the transportation information of the transporter 140 stored in the transportation information DB 330 reaches the destination 120 included in the transport instruction stored in the transport instruction DB 360, the update instruction unit 390 determines that the transporter 140 arrives at the destination 120. When it is determined that the transporter 140 arrives at the destination 120, the update instruction unit 390 confirms that the temperature of the perishables transported to the destination 120 is equal to or lower than the target temperature. When the temperature of the perishables transported to the destination 120 is higher than the target temperature, the update instruction unit 390 may instruct the storage 100 to update the pre-cooling condition in order to further lower the temperature of the perishables before shipping. In addition, when the temperature of the perishables transported to the destination 120 is higher than the target temperature, the update instruction unit 390 may instruct the storage 100, the transporter 140, or the transport processing device 150 to increase the amount of the packaging material used for packaging of a storage box or the like for carrying the perishables, increase the amount of a refrigerant to be put in the refrigerating box or the like, and update other refrigeration conditions in order to slow the increase in the temperature during transportation. Thereby, the order processing device 160 can more reliably keep the freshness of the perishables in the next or subsequent transportation. That is, when the update instruction unit 390 performs the above-described instruction, the order processing device 160 can cause the perishables to be pre-cooled under more appropriate condition or to be refrigerated under a more appropriate condition during transportation, and can enable reduction of the scrap of the perishables by suppressing the deterioration of the perishables. Note that for the order decided not to be accepted ("N" in S450 in the drawing), the order response unit 380 transmits, to the customer, a response indicating that the order fails.
According to the order processing device 160 described above, after the transportation of unordered perishables is started, the destination 120 is set or added according to the order, and the transportation to one or two or more destinations 120 can be instructed in the order in which the temperature of the perishables can be kept at the target temperature or less. In addition, when conditions such as the type, amount, and arrival deadline of perishables are included in the order information and the transportation information, the order processing device 160 can instruct transportation to the destination 120 so that the conditions can be satisfied.
According to the order processing device 160, even while using a transportation method in which the temperature of the perishables gradually increases during transportation without using a freezing or refrigerating function that consumes electricity or the like, it is possible to transport the perishables to each destination 120 while keeping the temperature of the perishables at the target temperature or lower. Thereby, the order processing device 160 can reduce the energy consumption amount in each transporter 140 and increase an energy efficiency, thereby contributing to the maintenance of the global environment.
Fig. 5
Fig. 4
illustrates an operation flow regarding order acceptance decision of the order processing device 160 according to the present embodiment. The operation flow of the present drawing may be performed in S440 of .
When the order amount of the newly accepted order exceeds the remaining amount obtained by subtracting the amount of the ordered perishables from the total amount of the perishables in transport and the stored perishables ("Y" in S500), the decision unit 365 decides not to accept the order corresponding to the order information (S510). Thereby, the decision unit 365 can create the transportation plan while excluding in advance an unacceptable order that exceeds the remaining amount of unordered perishables, and can reduce a calculation amount for creating the transportation plan.
Fig. 4
In S520, the order processing device 160 creates the transportation plan that satisfies the accepted order and satisfies as many unaccepted orders except the excluded orders as possible in the number of orders or the order amount. As illustrated in , the order processing device 160 according to the present embodiment does not change the assignment of the accepted order to each transporter 140, generates a plurality of assignment candidates for assigning an unaccepted order to each transporter 140, and recalculates the optimal path of each transporter 140 in each assignment candidate (S420). Then, the order processing device 160 decides an assignment candidate to be adopted among the plurality of assignment candidates (S440). Alternatively, the order processing device 160 may generate the transportation plan by various other methods as exemplified below.
For each transporter 140, the order processing device 160 may determine whether the destination 120 of the unaccepted order can be added between any two destinations 120 of the accepted order without changing the order of following the destination 120 of the accepted order. According to the present method, it is not necessary to recalculate an optimal path in which each transporter 140 follows two or more destinations 120 each time an order is accepted, and a calculation amount can be reduced. In addition, since the path is not greatly changed, the driver of each transporter 140 can easily cope with the addition of the destination 120.
The order processing device 160 may recalculate the assignment of accepted orders and unaccepted orders for each transporter 140. That is, the time estimation unit 340 generates a plurality of assignment candidates for distributing a plurality of orders including the accepted order and the unaccepted order to the plurality of transporters 140 without being bound by the assignment of the accepted order to each transporter 140 at the current time point, and the decision unit 365 selects the assignment candidate to be adopted from these assignment candidates. According to the present method, since the entire optimization is performed each time an order is accepted, the calculation amount is increased, but the transportation cost can be further reduced. Furthermore, the order processing device 160 can further reduce the total transportation distance of perishables, and as a result, can also contribute to reduction of global warming gas emission.
In S530, when the unordered order can be embedded into the transportation plan, the decision unit 365 decides to accept the order. The decision unit 365 decides not to accept the order decided not to accept in S510 and the order not able to be embedded into the transportation plan in S520.
Fig. 6
is a graph illustrating an example of the estimated temperature estimated by the order processing device 160 according to the present embodiment. In the present drawing, a horizontal axis is set as time, a vertical axis is set as temperature, and an example of the temperature change of the perishables is illustrated which is estimated from the current temperature of the perishables included in the transportation information by the temperature estimation unit 350.
When a refrigerating means such as a refrigerating box is used, according to the thermal conductivity of the wall separating the outside and the inside of the refrigerating means, the thickness of the wall, the surface area of the refrigerating means, and a temperature difference between the inside and the outside of the refrigerating means, the temperature estimation unit 350 can calculate the amount of heat conveyed from the outside to the inside of the refrigerating means per unit time according to Fourier's law. In addition, the temperature estimation unit 350 can calculate the temperature change amount of the stored object (perishables, refrigerants, or the like) in a case where a certain amount of heat is conveyed to the inside of the refrigerating means from the specific heat and mass of the stored object stored inside the refrigerating means. By using this relationship, the temperature estimation unit 350 can mathematically calculate the internal temperature of the refrigerating means after a certain elapsed time from the internal temperature of the refrigerating means and the external temperature of the refrigerating means. Alternatively, the temperature estimation unit 350 may estimate the internal temperature of the refrigerating means by statistical processing, machine learning, or the like by using the history of temperature changes when the perishables was transported in the past. The temperature estimation unit 350 may treat the internal temperature of the refrigerating means calculated in this manner as the estimated temperature of the perishables.
Herein, the temperature estimation unit 350 may use a predetermined constant temperature as the external temperature of the refrigerating means. For example, the temperature estimation unit 350 may use, as the external temperature of the refrigerating means, a standard temperature determined according to the season, the weather, and others, an outside air temperature measured at one time point such as a time point before departure in the transporter 140, the air temperature of a region where the transporter 140 moves, or the like. In addition, when the transportation information from the transporter 140 includes the current external temperature of the refrigerating means in a luggage compartment, the temperature estimation unit 350 may use the current temperature of the luggage compartment as the external temperature of the refrigerating means.
The temperature estimation unit 350 may calculate the estimated temperature further on the basis of the refrigerated state of the perishables in transport. Herein, the refrigerated state differs depending on the type of the refrigerating means and the method of using the refrigerating means. For example, the thermal conductivity of the wall, the thickness of the wall, and the surface area of the refrigerating means vary depending on the type of the refrigerating means. When the refrigerant is placed in the refrigerating means, the heat capacity of the stored object is increased, and the temperature rise is suppressed. In addition, when the perishables are further covered with the packaging material in the refrigerating means, the amount of heat per unit time conveyed from the outside to the stored object decreases. Therefore, the order processing device 160 may acquire the transportation information including the refrigerated state which is at least one of the type of refrigerating means used for transportation of perishables or a method of using the refrigerating means. In this case, when the transportation information includes the type of the refrigerating means, the temperature estimation unit 350 may calculate the temperature change of the stored object by using a parameter for each type of the refrigerating means in consideration of the thermal conductivity and the thickness of the wall of the refrigerating means and the surface area of the refrigerating means. In addition, when the transportation information includes the method of using the refrigerating means, the temperature estimation unit 350 may perform adjustment such as increasing the heat capacity of the stored object or decreasing the amount of heat per unit time conveyed from the outside to the stored object.
When the transporter 140 unloads a part of the perishables at the destination 120, the stored object in the refrigerating means decreases, and the heat capacity of the stored object decreases. When the transporter 140 replenishes perishables in the storage 130, the stored object in the refrigerating means increases, and the heat capacity of the stored object increases. Furthermore, since the temperature of the perishables to be replenished is lower than the temperature of the perishables in transport, the average temperature of the entire stored object decreases. In order to cope with such an event, the temperature estimation unit 350 may calculate the temperature change of the perishables by changing at least one parameter of the heat capacity parameter or the temperature of the stored object each time the transporter 140 stops by at the destination 120 or the storage 130.
In the present drawing, the time estimation unit 340 calculates an estimated time until the transporter 140 arrives at the destination 120 on the basis of the location information of the transporter 140 at a "current time" in the present drawing. The temperature estimation unit 350 calculates an estimated temperature T2 of the perishables after the lapse of the estimated time from the current time on the basis of the temperature T1 of the perishables at the current time as described above. The decision unit 365 decides to transport the perishables to the destination 120 on condition that the estimated temperature T2 at the destination 120 is equal to or lower than a target temperature Tt. Note that, since a preferable storage temperature differs for each type of perishables, the decision unit 365 may use different target temperatures according to the type of perishables to be carried to the destination 120.
Fig. 7
is a graph illustrating an example of a method of updating the estimated temperature estimated by the order processing device 160 according to the present embodiment. In the present drawing, a horizontal axis is set as time, a vertical axis is set as temperature, and an example of the temperature change of the perishables is illustrated which is estimated from the current temperature of the perishables included in the transportation information by the temperature estimation unit 350.
In the present drawing, the temperature estimation unit 350 calculates the estimated temperature T2 at the destination 120 on the basis of the transportation information including the temperature T1 of the perishables at the "past measurement time" in the present drawing. Subsequently, the temperature estimation unit 350 acquires temperature T3 of perishables at the current time from the transportation information at the "current time" in the drawing.
Herein, the temperature estimation unit 350 may determine whether the temperature T3 at the current time is within a predetermined allowable range from the estimated temperature at the "current time" estimated at the "past measurement time". When the temperature T3 is out of the allowable range with respect to the estimated temperature at the "past measurement time", the estimated temperature cannot be appropriately calculated. Thus, the temperature estimation unit 350 notifies the manager of the corresponding transporter 140, transport processing device 150, or order processing device 160 of the abnormality. In response to this, the order processing device 160 may instruct the driver of the transporter 140 to confirm the packed state of the perishables. As the content of the instruction, it can be instructed to confirm whether the opening/closing port of the refrigerating means is not kept open, whether a refrigerating means different from the instruction is not used, whether a scheduled amount of perishables is stored in the refrigerating means, whether a refrigerant has been forgotten to be put, or the like.
The temperature estimation unit 350 calculates an estimated temperature T4 of the perishables after the lapse of the estimated time of transportation from the current time to the destination 120 on the basis of the temperature T3 of the perishables at the current time. This estimated temperature T4 is an updated value of the estimated temperature T2 at the "past measurement time". The decision unit 365 decides to transport the perishables to the destination 120 on condition that the estimated temperature T4 at the destination 120 is equal to or lower than the target temperature Tt. By the temperature estimation unit 350 calculating the estimated temperature T4 of the perishables on the basis of the temperature of the perishables T3 at the current time, the decision unit 365 can more appropriately decide the delivery of the perishables and can enable reduction of the scrap of the perishables.
When T4, which is new estimated temperature estimated on the basis of new transportation information acquired while transporting the perishables in transport to the destination 120, exceeds the target temperature Tt at the destination 120, the decision unit 365 may stop transporting the perishables in transport to the destination 120. Herein, when the transportation to the destination 120 corresponds to an accepted order, the decision unit 365 may assign the order to another transporter 140 and change the transportation plan such that the another transporter 140 transports the perishables to the destination 120. In addition, the decision unit 365 may decide to transport the perishables of which the transportation to the destination 120 has been stopped to the destination 120 of another order according to the change of the transportation plan, or may decide to transport the perishables to the storage 110 or the storages 130a to 130c for temporary refrigeration or freezing storage.
In this manner, when new transportation information is acquired, the estimated temperature in the destination 120 is updated to be compared with the target temperature, and thus when there is a chance that freshness of perishables cannot be sufficiently maintained in the current transportation plan due to a change in the status, the order processing device 160 can change the transportation plan and transport perishables having higher freshness to the destination 120. As a result, the order processing device 160 can meet the demand for perishables and reduce the scrap of perishables.
Fig. 8
is a graph illustrating an example of a pass/fail determination method of the estimated temperature estimated by the order processing device 160 according to the present embodiment. In the present drawing, a horizontal axis is set as time, a vertical axis is set as temperature, and an example of the temperature change of the perishables is illustrated which is estimated from the current temperature of the perishables included in the transportation information by the temperature estimation unit 350.
Figs. 4
6
The temperature estimation unit 350 calculates the estimated temperature of perishables to be transported by the transporter 140 at the destination 120 by using the method illustrated in connection with and . Herein, due to estimation accuracy of the temperature, a deviation in arrival time, a change in outside air temperature, and other various factors, the estimated temperature may deviate from the temperature of the perishables actually transported to the destination 120. Therefore, the temperature estimation unit 350 may provide a margin for comparison between the estimated temperature and the target temperature.
The decision unit 365 may decide whether to transport the perishables in transport to the destination 120 on condition that there is a margin that is equal to or higher than margin temperature between the target temperature and the estimated temperature at the destination 120. For example, the decision unit 365 decides to transport the perishables in transport to the destination 120 on condition that the temperature obtained by adding the margin temperature to the estimated temperature is equal to or lower than the target temperature. In the example of the present drawing, the decision unit 365 uses, as this margin temperature, a value that is smaller when the estimated time is shorter and is larger when the estimated time is longer. By using such a margin temperature, in the transportation at a short distance, the degree of freedom of the transportation plan can be increased by reducing the margin temperature, and in the transportation at a long distance, a sufficient margin for the freshness of the perishables can be provided by increasing the margin temperature.
Alternatively, when other factors such as reduction in calculation amount or simplification of processing are emphasized, the decision unit 365 may use another type of margin temperature, for example, a constant margin temperature regardless of the estimated time.
Various embodiments of the present invention may also be described with reference to flowcharts and block diagrams, where the blocks may represent (1) a stage of a process in which an operation is performed or (2) a section of a device that is responsible for performing the operation. Specific steps and sections may be implemented by a dedicated circuit, a programmable circuit supplied with a computer-readable instruction stored on a computer-readable medium, and/or a processor supplied with the computer-readable instruction stored on the computer-readable medium. The dedicated circuit may include a digital and/or analog hardware circuit, and may include an integrated circuit (IC) and/or a discrete circuit. The programmable circuit may include a reconfigurable hardware circuit which includes memory elements such as logical AND, logical OR, logic XOR, logic NAND, logic NOR, and other logical operations, flip-flops, registers, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), programmable logic arrays (PLA), or the like.
The computer-readable medium may include any tangible device capable of storing instructions for execution by an appropriate device, so that the computer-readable medium having the instructions stored thereon includes a product including instructions that can be executed in order to create means for executing the operations designated in the flowcharts or block diagrams. Examples of the computer-readable medium may include an electronic storage medium, a magnetic storage medium, an optical storage medium, an electromagnetic storage medium, a semiconductor storage medium, and the like. More specific examples of the computer-readable medium may include a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a static random access memory (SRAM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a Blu-Ray (registered trademark) disk, a memory stick, an integrated circuit card, and the like.
The computer-readable instruction may include: an assembler instruction, an instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instruction; a machine instruction; a machine dependent instruction; a microcode; a firmware instruction; state-setting data; or either a source code or an object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk (registered trademark), JAVA (registered trademark), C++, or the like; and a conventional procedural programming language such as a "C" programming language or a similar programming language.
The computer-readable instruction may be provided for a processor or a programmable circuit of a programmable data processing device of a general-purpose computer, a special purpose computer, another computer, or the like locally or via a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet, and the computer-readable instruction may be executed to create means for executing the operations designated in the flowcharts or block diagrams. Examples of the processor include a computer processor, a processing unit, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor, a controller, a microcontroller, and the like.
Fig. 9
illustrates an example of a computer 2200 in which a plurality of aspects of the present invention may be embodied in whole or in part. A program installed in the computer 2200 can cause the computer 2200 to function as an operation associated with the device according to the embodiment of the present invention or as one or more sections of the device, or can cause the operation or the one or more sections to be executed, and/or can cause the computer 2200 to execute a process according to the embodiment of the present invention or a stage of the process. Such a program may be executed by a CPU 2212 to cause the computer 2200 to perform certain operations associated with some or all of the blocks in the flowcharts and block diagrams described in the present specification.
The computer 2200 according to the present embodiment includes the CPU 2212, a RAM 2214, a graphic controller 2216, and a display device 2218, which are mutually connected by a host controller 2210. The computer 2200 also includes input/output units such as a communication interface 2222, a hard disk drive 2224, a DVD-ROM drive 2226, and an IC card drive, which are connected to the host controller 2210 via an input/output controller 2220. The computer also includes as a ROM 2230 and legacy input/output units such as a keyboard 2242, which are connected to input/output controller 2220 via an input/output chip 2240.
The CPU 2212 operates according to the programs stored in the ROM 2230 and the RAM 2214, thereby controlling each unit. The graphics controller 2216 acquires the image data generated by the CPU 2212 in a frame buffer or the like provided in the RAM 2214 or in itself and causes the image data to be displayed on the display device 2218.
The communication interface 2222 communicates with other electronic devices via a network. The hard disk drive 2224 stores programs and data used by the CPU 2212 in the computer 2200. The DVD-ROM drive 2226 reads a program or data from a DVD-ROM 2201 and provides the program or data to the hard disk drive 2224 via the RAM 2214. The IC card drive reads a program and data from an IC card and/or writes a program and data to the IC card.
The ROM 2230 stores therein a boot programs or the like executed by the computer 2200 at the time of activation and/or a program depending on the hardware of the computer 2200. The input/output chip 2240 may also connect various input/output units to the input/output controller 2220 via parallel ports, serial ports, keyboard ports, mouse ports, or the like.
The program is provided by a computer-readable medium such as the DVD-ROM 2201 or the IC card. The program is read from a computer-readable medium, installed in the hard disk drive 2224, the RAM 2214, or the ROM 2230 which is also an example of the computer-readable medium, and executed by the CPU 2212. The information processing described in these programs is read by the computer 2200 and provides cooperation between the programs and various types of hardware resources. The device or method may be configured by implementing operations or processing of information according to use of the computer 2200.
For example, when communication is performed between the computer 2200 and an external device, the CPU 2212 may execute a communication program loaded in the RAM 2214 and instruct the communication interface 2222 to perform communication processing based on the processing described in the communication program. Under the control of the CPU 2212, the communication interface 2222 reads transmission data stored in a transmission buffer processing area provided in a recording medium such as the RAM 2214, the hard disk drive 2224, the DVD-ROM 2201, or the IC card, transmits the read transmission data to the network, or writes reception data received from the network in a reception buffer processing area or the like provided on the recording medium.
The CPU 2212 may cause the RAM 2214 to read all or a necessary portion of a file or a database stored in an external recording medium such as the hard disk drive 2224, the DVD-ROM drive 2226 (DVD-ROM 2201), or the IC card, and may execute various types of processing on data on the RAM 2214. Next, the CPU 2212 writes back the processed data to the external recording medium.
Various types of information such as various types of programs, data, tables, and databases may be stored in a recording medium and subjected to information processing. The CPU 2212 may execute various types of processing, which is described throughout the present disclosure and includes various types of operations designated by an instruction sequence of a program, information processing, condition determination, conditional branching, unconditional branching, information retrieval/replacement, and the like, on the data read from the RAM 2214 and writes back the results to the RAM 2214. In addition, the CPU 2212 may search for information in a file, a database, or the like in the recording medium. For example, when a plurality of entries each having the attribute value of a first attribute associated with the attribute value of a second attribute is stored in the recording medium, the CPU 2212 may search the plurality of entries for an entry matching a condition in which the attribute value of the first attribute is designated, read the attribute value of the second attribute stored in the entry, and thus acquire the attribute value of the second attribute associated with the first attribute satisfying a predetermined condition.
The programs or software modules described above may be stored in a computer-readable medium on the computer 2200 or near the computer 2200. In addition, a recording medium such as a hard disk or a RAM provided in a server system connected to a dedicated communication network or the Internet can be used as the computer-readable medium, thereby providing a program to the computer 2200 via the network.
While the embodiments of the present invention have been described, the technical scope of the invention is not limited to the above described embodiments. It is apparent to persons skilled in the art that various alterations and improvements can be added to the above-described embodiments. It is also apparent from the scope of the claims that the embodiments added with such alterations or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the invention.
The operations, procedures, steps, and stages of each process performed by a device, system, program, and method shown in the claims, embodiments, or diagrams can be performed in any order as long as the order is not indicated by "prior to," "before," or the like and as long as the output from a previous process is not used in a later process. Even if the process flow is described using phrases such as "first" or "next" in the claims, embodiments, or diagrams, it does not necessarily mean that the process must be performed in this order. | |
Mark Walker is the Head of Content Marketing, UK & Ireland at Eventbrite where he leads a talented team dedicated to creating both educational and inspirational content for the events industry. This ranges from 5000-word reports to fun blog posts, encompassing quizzes, webinars, social media, live events and much more along the way.
Both in his day-to-day role and spare time, Mark regularly speaks and blogs about small business and entrepreneurship, digital marketing, social media and events.
You can read more at the Eventbrite blog, follow him on Twitter or Facebook and connect on LinkedIn. | https://techsytalk.com/podcast-recap-lizkingevents-edwaffles-interview-jfdimark-eventbrite/ |
The Sport Law & Strategy Group (SLSG) has launched Conversation Matters: You Ask, We Share! free online sessions with real time advice for sport leaders from SLSG Partners Steven Indig and Dina Bell-Laroche. The intention is to give back to the sport community that SLSG has been serving since 1992 by providing effective measures to deal with what might be keeping them up at night. In light of current world events, this week’s conversation will remain flexible, based on questions from participants, and hopefully leave sport leaders feeling informed and inspired to put in place measures to manage COVID-19.
Register Here
Date: October 29 & 30, 2020
VIA ZOOM
The Sport Canada Research Initiative conference is the leading sport research conference focused on sport participation hosted by the Sport Information Resource Centre (SIRC).
This event gathers together the sport community, government and sport researchers to share their knowledge and expertise. It is your opportunity to share, discuss, and develop insight into sport participation research. At this year’s conference you can:
This is your chance to engage and network researchers, analysts, sport leaders, and the physical activity sector. Meet with the thought leaders, learn about the latest sport participation research and programs and share your information. Be part of the discussion that drives change and evolution in sport policy and sport program development.
Register Here
Date: November 4 – 6, 2020
Our sport community encompasses daring leaders and courageous change makers. We witness thoughtful acts of inclusivity, resilience, self-care and collaboration, and these examples of deliberate action challenge us to rethink our own behaviours and assumptions.
For growth to continue we need to open ourselves to vulnerability. A more diverse and inclusive structure for all participants must be established at home, in our boardrooms, on our fields of play, and in our locker rooms. Through a series of engaging keynote presentations, breakout sessions and networking opportunities, delegates will be motivated to consider how their intentional acts of courage, inclusivity, and resilience can shape positive change.
Join your fellow sport leaders in celebrating moments of courage witnessed in 2020, and collectively committing to design and inspire future acts of courageous leadership in our sport community.
For more information click here
Date: October 13-16, 2020
The Project Play Summit is the nation’s premier gathering of leaders building healthy communities through sports. In recognition of the shifting state of restrictions on travel and public gatherings around the country and in Washington, D.C. related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have decided to move this year’s Project Play Summit to a virtual platform. We’re excited to take advantage of all the benefits a virtual platform can offer, starting by expanding content over four days — from October 13 through October 16.
Click here to see the preliminary agenda; further details will be announced later this summer. To join the virtual Summit, please complete the registration form below.
Register here
GP Regional Sport Connection
Minutes with Matt: Tips on Managing an Angry Child After a Short-lived sport season.
Minutes with Matt: STRIVE TO THRIVE – CONCEPT FOR EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE
Matt Bain: The Importance of Connectedness of a Team During a Crisis
Parent Perspective: The Importance of Multi-Sport training for your Child (Podcast)
Partnership Group
Managing Today, Through Recovery and Post COVID-19 – Brent Barootes with Sponsor Circle Session #1
Managing Today, Through Recovery and Post COVID-19 – Brent Barootes with Sponsor Circle Session #2
Covid 19 Sponsorship Tips for Success
Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance
Your Corporate Sponsorship Revenue Program – The New Normal Post COVID-19 with Brent Barootes
Sport Law & Strategy Group
Project Play: Aspen Institute
Corona Virus & Youth Sports: What the future holds
Corona Virus & Youth Sports: How to Manage the crisis
Corona Virus & Youth Sports: What Kids Need From Coaches Now
Corona Virus & Youth Sports: How to Play During the Crisis
Connected PE
Fostering Engagement & Wellbeing while Teaching Remotely
Dealing with the stress and anxiety of Coronavirus
Where to next? Leveraging your new found digital skills in a post pandemic world
Delivering Home Based PE & Physical Activity with Mobile Devices
Canadian Sport Institute
Fueling on a Plant-Based Diet: Is It the Key to High-Performance? | https://gpsportconnect.ca/e-learning/webinars |
Confusions: Quotes by Alan Ayckbourn"Last winter we stopped being a three-monthly rep and became a nine-monthly company. But we had to go on tour because the Library committee wanted the hall for a couple of months. People who wanted to book us wanted us to bring something of mine but I hadn't got anything, having just sold Absent Friends to [Michael] Codron. Then I recalled a sketch I had written for an entertainment presented in Horsham for a week by Oscar Quitak before it faded into oblivion [the show, Mixed Blessings, was intended as a sequel to Mixed Doubles]. Being mean like most writers, I snatched the piece back and wrote four accompanying pieces specifically for the five actors I'd got in the company. The idea was to show off their talents (there are about 22 parts in all), and it was also a chance to work in the one-act medium."
(Plays And Players, September 1975)
"They vary from fairly frenetic farces to melancholy pieces. They're [one act plays] hard to write - it's like writing short stories. There are 22 characters* for five actors. When we did it at Scarborough, the dressing room was awash with costumes and wigs. It was an actors' evening and they loved it. It's nice if you get five clever actors together. They like it because one of the enormous problems actors face is repetition and staleness. If you go and see something you saw six or seven months ago, it often isn't a shadow of what it was. The actors have lost touch with it."
(The Washington Star, 22 February 1976)
"Mother Figure was commissioned as one of an anthology of plays [the play Mixed Blessings, a sequel of sorts to the earlier anthology Mixed Doubles]. They had asked seven dramatists to write about parents and their children. I came up with this idea. It amused me, and slightly alarmed me. It was based on my own observation of what happened when my first wife was at home with both our children and saw very few adults - the way a mother's perception of the world can change.
"It also amused me to see how the loutish husband from next door responded to a woman who perceived him as a child. It is really extraordinary how you can carry over the way you treat your children to the adults coming into your house - you know, order them to sit down rather more sharply than you normally would - that sort of behaviour. I hope it also said something about parents and authority and how some of us are still children, or anyway should be treated as such."
(Personal correspondence, 1988)
"A Talk In The Park being the last play of the five that make up Confusions was designed, if you like, as a sort of final curtain call for the five actors who played the twenty or so characters that make up the whole. All evening they had played as a team; in this last play they reverted to isolated individuals.
"I suppose I was searching for five fairly graphic, immediately recognisable types all of whom would gain a certain sympathy with the audience but all of whom, because of their own self involvement with their own predicaments, would have no sympathy or common bond with each other. Even though they were all very much in the same boat."
(Personal correspondence, 1994)
"There were only five actors available to me, due to budgetary restrictions - an age old problem in theatre! - two women and three men, whom I rather admired as actors and I wanted to provide a showcase to display their versatility and talents, hence Confusions. They were originally five separate pieces written individually - one of them actually, Mother Figure, at least a year before any of the others, and the somewhat spurious links between them were added later to satisfy a producer who requested a greater unity for the evening overall. They were written primarily for fun and to entertain though each has, I feel, its own individual tonal colour, graduating from the darker hues of Drinking Companion through to the sheer out and out farce of Gosforth's Fête and Between Mouthfuls to the reflective melancholy of A Talk in the Park. Think of them as individual colours on an artist's palette, rather. Colours to suit all tastes!
"We've just done a revival of the play here last year , including a successful nationwide tour and a run in New York and so I think they must still in some way be relevant, although we didn't update them at all. But essentially people haven't changed over the years even if the externals (technology, society etc.) have. Lonely neglected wives still get stuck at home occasionally looking after children and sad, slightly drunk married men still try and pick up girls in bars. Extra marital affairs continue to flourish, bosses have affairs with their subordinates' wives, and over-ambitious, well meaning village events still end in inevitable chaos. And we all at some stage find ourselves sitting in some park bench or other and feeling as lonely as hell. But then that's life."
(Personal correspondence, September 2016)
"I'll give a little history of how they were written. In fact, Mother Figure was written before the other four. I was asked to write a play for a company to perform. It was going to be a follow-up of a series of plays called Mixed Doubles which we did some years ago. A lot of writers got together, including Harold Pinter and James Saunders, and we did a series of one-act plays about marriage, and this new series was supposed to be Mixed Blessings and was going to be about children, and parents and children. I wrote Mother Figure for this series. The series itself was tried out very briefly in Sussex and didn’t work.
But I snatched back my play Mother Figure and thought one day I might write my own evening, maybe not about children but when I’ve got some more ideas for one-act plays. So later I sat down and I wrote four plays to accompany Mother Figure, using that as the first play to make an evening of Confusions. I then had a company of five actors. It was a time in Scarborough when we were trying to extend our winter season and we couldn’t stay in Scarborough because there wasn’t anywhere for us to play at that point. I wanted to keep the company together. So I arranged for a tour of small theatres around the North of England and I wrote this show. It was fairly flexible and didn’t need a lot of setting; we did it very simply. And it was written, as I say, for the five actors in the company. I was a little bit too sure of their abilities to do five one-act plays, and it gave them, I think, a total of 22 parts.* And so, in a sense, the whole evening started with Mother Figure and as the evening went on they varied and changed their characters and wigs and things, and right at the very end we came to A Talk in the Park which was a very slow winding-down of the evening. The play before A Talk in the Park was a play called Gosforth's Fête which is a very big, quite broad farce and then we suddenly go back to a very quiet, slightly introspective, reflective piece. I think the nice thing about the production was that suddenly one was aware that on the stage, sitting very quietly on four park benches, were the entire cast for the evening, all isolated on their own. It made a very nice finish to the play. So in a sense they are five different plays and they can of course be done individually, in pairs, in threes or whatever, but it was also, of course, intended that, if they are done together, they should be presented in the order in which they appear in the Samuel French edition."
(Albert-Reiner Glaap, A Guided Tour Through Ayckbourn Country)
* Although there are 22 roles in the play, strictly speaking there are only 20 characters as the Waiter and Mrs Pearce both appear in two of the plays.
Copyright: Haydonning Ltd. | http://confusions.alanayckbourn.net/styled-5/ |
After an exciting 60 days with over 15 different teams leading the pack, the Merck Molecular Activity Challenge has closed and the winners have been verified. The first place prize of $22,000 goes to ‘gggg,’ a team of academics hailing from the University of Toronto and the University of Washington with expertise in defining the state-of-the-art in machine learning. The $10,000 second place prize goes to ‘DataRobot’, a team of Kaggle veterans, all three of whom are top-40 ranked competitors. The third place prize of $6,000 goes to another team of Kaggle veterans, Team ‘.’ (no alphanumerics allowed*), with over 50 completed competitions to their credit. Finally, Kaggle member LvdM has won the visualization challenge’s $2,000 in prize money. Keep watching NFH over the next few days for in-depth "How I Did It" posts from each of the winning teams.
Team gggg, made up of 5 Kaggle newcomers, dominated the final two weeks of the competition by using deep learning algorithms running on GPUs, both Kaggle firsts. Led by George Dahl, a doctoral student at the University of Toronto, the team used the competition to illustrate the ability of neural network models to perform well with no feature engineering and only minimal preprocessing. After his previous experiences applying deep learning techniques to speech recognition and language processing tasks, George was drawn to the complexity of the Merck data set and the challenge of working in a new data domain. He assembled a team of heavy hitters from the world of machine learning and neural networks. Ruslan Salakhutdinov, an assistant professor in statistics and computer science at Toronto, specializes in Bayesian statistics, probabilistic graphical models, and large-scale optimization. Navdeep Jaitly, a doctoral student at the University of Toronto who works on applying deep learning to problems in speech recognition, took interest due to his background in computational biology and proteomics. Christopher Jordan-Squire, a doctoral student in mathematics at the University of Washington, studies constrained optimization applied to statistics and machine learning and joined to get a break from proving theorems. Finally, they were advised by Professor Geoffrey Hinton, perhaps best known as one of the inventors of the back-propagation algorithm. Geoff, the Ph.D. advisor to George and Navdeep, joined the team to help demonstrate the power of deep neural networks that use dropout, although his direct contribution to this competition was limited to making suggestions to George. We at Kaggle can’t wait to get into the details of their model and their approach, and are busy thinking up ideas for data sets where deep nets can continue to make an impact.
Second place winner, Team DataRobot, brings professional data consultancy to the forefront: each team member runs his own data science company and all three are Kaggle enthusiasts with over 9 prizewinning finishes between them. Given their past successes in a similar problem area, these Kaggle-found friends teamed up looking to reprise their performances, trying approaches ranging from random forests to KNN to SVM. Xavier Conort, currently Kaggle’s top ranked data scientist, is the founder of Gear Analytics, a Singapore-based predictive modeling consultancy. Jeremy Achin and Tom DeGodoy met as math and physics students at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and have been friends and colleagues ever since. After careers at Travelers Insurance, Jeremy and Tom co-founded DataRobot in June of 2012, and have been consistent high performers in both public and private Kaggle competitions. It’s been great fun working with and learning from Xavier, Tom, and Jeremy, and we confidently predict seeing them at the tops of leaderboards to come.
The third place finisher, Team ‘.’ with members Eu Jin Lok, Zach Mayer, and Alexander Larko, brings to light a few of our favorite Kaggle archetypes: personal skill development; community and sportsmanship; and solving the world’s problems. Eu Jin, a 15-competition veteran, started on Kaggle 2 years ago with a single entry coming in last place on the leaderboard. Undeterred, and knowing he needed to improve his programming skills, Eu Jin moved on to the next competition, and the next, and the next, making over 130 submissions in 4 competitions in the span of 5 months, consistently moving towards the top of the leaderboard. Eu Jin now ranks 28th among 60,000 data scientists, and is one of the leading data science minds at Deloitte. Alexander, who has extensive background in manufacturing research and IT, is essentially Kaggle’s marathon man, trying his hand, and usually finishing in the top 25%, of nearly half of all the competitions we’ve run in the past year. Zach, the man behind Modern Toolmaking, brought his background in biology, applied statistics and predictive modeling to the team. These three met on Kaggle through watching each other on leaderboards and forums. After breaking the ice with the Heritage Health Prize competition, they have found a source of steady data science camaraderie in each other. Initially thinking the Merck challenge to be a simple regression problem, Team ‘.’ quickly realized their error and got sucked into the complexities of each sub-dataset, spending most of their time on preprocessing and being driven by the goal of improving drug discovery techniques.
The Merck Visualization challenge drove home a data truism: visualize your data before modeling it! Each of these analyses-heavy visualizations quickly showed the disjoint nature of the training and test data sets, as was best demonstrated by Laurens van der Maaten, the challenge’s winner. Laurens used a method he developed, in collaboration with Geoffrey Hinton, called t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE), which built upon the earlier work by Geoff and Sam Roweis. The winning submission managed to distill the large, multidimensional, and numerous Merck datasets into a series of reduced dimensionality images that clustered molecules similar in activity and in time. Laurens, a postdoctoral researcher at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands, came to this problem with extensive experience in machine learning and computer vision, having worked on diverse problems in archaeology, face recognition, object tracking, and embedding. | http://blog.kaggle.com/2012/10/31/merck-competition-results-deep-nn-and-gpus-come-out-to-play/ |
UBUNTU is a South African noun meaning ‘humanity’. More specifically it references an African philosophy ‘I am because we are’.
This film is a collection of 6 performers transforming spaces with significant ties to slavery or present day racism in the city of Baltimore, MD. While they perform movement in these spaces, their black bodies are adorned with wearable hair art sculptures which function as sacred objects. The use of smoke is meant to tap into the energy of the ancestors who walked there while simultaneously attempting to push forward to an emancipated future. An emancipation which comes from unlocking what’s embedded with versus the traditional pathway of seeking freedom from the colonizer.
public virtual screening:
7/14 Tuesday 6-7:30pm
message for zoom invite
Q&A with the artist following. | https://lizannmiller.com/ubuntu-film-07%2F2020 |
Available Online August 2019.
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.2991/prasasti-19.2019.5How to use a DOI?
- Keywords
- language of disaster; social functions; emotional functions; social interaction; Palu disasters
- Abstract
- Natural disasters are frequently inevitable. They destroy many social structures, infrastructure, environment and lives. Moreover, disasters evoke mixed feelings of sadness, anxiety, anger, loss, fear, even trauma. These emotions may impede community capacities to recover from disaster adversity. After disasters, impacted societies should survive, be more resilient, rebuild/redevelop and learn to anticipate the potential recurrent disasters. Within this emergency situation, language and communication play fundamental roles in facilitating social interaction post disaster. Language mediates recovery process, becomes tools for representing human-society experience and is embedded in social activities. This study aims to explore social and emotional functions of language infused in local people social interaction and their environment after Palu natural disasters in 2018. The data are collected through direct observation, images and interviews with Palu local people. The data show that after Palu disasters, language has socio-emotional functions which potentially contribute to community resilience, recovery and emotional strengthening process. Language which is infused and embedded within local people social interaction and social activities play social purposes, such as social sharing, caring, evoking empathy and sympathy, social warning and generating community awareness on potential danger of recurrent disasters. Moreover, language also serves emotional functioning, including expressing anger, sadness, panic, trauma, reducing social anxiety and generating social strength. The study indicates that language reflects human experiences. It grows within different social context and serves different social needs. Language also has adaptive capacity to adjust to various and distinctive social characters, necessity and situation. Language in disaster area is not only reflecting social emotion and situations, but also potentially social emotion and behaviour.
- Open Access
- This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license. | https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/prasasti-19/125915906 |
COLUMBIA, Mo 1/22/14 (Beat Byte) -- A new "Tree Board" and and a new kind of conservation easement were among ideas about tree preservation Columbia City Council members received in three separate reports Monday night.
Though its duties are undefined, a city Tree Board might consolidate Columbia's various tree preservation efforts, which cost nearly $2.5 million last year, city manager Mike Matthes explained in the Tree Board report.
The city's efforts resemble branches on a tree. Four city departments -- water and light; public works; parks; and community development -- are responsible for "urban forest preservation." Several citizen commissions also play a role, including the Energy and Environment Commission (EEC), which issued a different report last night.
EEC chairman Lawrence Lile urged Council members to adopt language in the city's tree preservation ordinance protecting so-called "Heritage Trees" -- native Missouri trees equal to or greater than 24 inches in trunk diameter at the average height of a person's breast. Austin, Texas adopted similar rules in 2010.
The final report contains provisions that may prove controversial, especially in the development and construction industry. Matthes and community development director Tim Teddy recommend Council members create a so-called "Tree Preservation Conservation Easement" that puts developers and future property owners "on notice" that trees in the easement area must be preserved.
Present city law requires preservation of some 25% of trees in new development areas. But trees in utility easements on development sites can qualify to meet the 25% mandate. Teddy and Matthes claim this system is flawed because utility workers making repairs often disturb or remove the trees in such easements. The new Tree Preservation Conservation Easement (TPCE) would guarantee tree preservation outside utility easements.
Another provision that may rankle developers adds six months to a requirement to replace trees in the 25% set-aside area that die within 24 months after completion of a development or subdivision. Present city ordinance requires an 18-month replacement.
The new ordinance would also require replacement of any healthy trees removed from a tree preservation easement. | http://www.columbiaheartbeat.com/index.php/columbia-life/preservation/739-012214 |
Home » AMERICAS » UNITED STATES » The End of Affirmative Action?
The End of Affirmative Action?
Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, which the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear in February and scheduled for October, is the first case concerning affirmative action to reach the country’s highest court since 2003. While the plaintiff, Abigail Fisher, a white woman from Texas who is currently wrapping up her studies in Louisiana, might win and abolish affirmative action, the case presents an important opportunity to open up discussion on developing innovative, race-neutral means to increase equality.
In only two cases before — Regents of the University of California v. Bakke in 1978 and Grutter v. Bollinger in 2003 — has the Supreme Court debated and upheld the constitutionality of race as a factor in university admissions processes. Both cases concluded with split decisions, five to four, and multiple opinions, ultimately upholding the prerogative of universities to use racial considerations in accruing a “critical mass” of minority populations (Grutter) but short of establishing fixed quotas (Bakke).
Indeed, in their 2009 verdict, the District Court that initially heard the Fisher case, ruled that the University of Texas (UT) could apply affirmative action, “because, before 2005, UT did not have a critical mass of underrepresented minorities.” (The “underrepresented” includes blacks and Hispanics, while Jews and Asians, the court argued, in contrast, are “overrepresented.”) While UT’s 10% Plan, Texas House Bill 588, might not have helped and may have even decreased minority enrolment, taking into consideration these forms of race-neutral factors that force competition within respective high schools, might help.
Ironically, Texas House Bill 588 was part of the cause of Fisher’s suit. Like many others, Fisher had a high GPA but was not in the top 10% of her high school class, although she contends that her marks would fall within the top 10% in an overall pool of UT’s applicants. However, UT rejected her in the following stages of the admissions process — when they began considering holistic factors, including race.
Fisher argues that the Grutter decision, in establishing a broad goal for multi-ethnic student populations, is unconstitutional under the “Equal Protection Clause.” If the Supreme Court agrees with Fisher and takes a position against affirmative action, then many programs designed to promote minority enrolment — specifically those that seek to make race a factor in the admissions process — will become obsolete. Such a decision suggests a bleak future for improving racial inequalities.
And, while it is well established that the domestic political situation in the U.S. has polarized to unprecedented proportions, such polarization so too has made its way onto the Supreme Court. One of the Court’s most controversial Justices, Clarence Thomas, is black and an avowed conservative. In 2003, he voted in opposition of affirmative action. He cited the 14th Amendment – the constitutional guarantor of equality under the law – in arguing for a prohibition on either refusing consideration or granting special consideration to individuals on account of race. Another Justice, Antonin Scalia, has declared himself “the Justice from The Tea Party.” In addition, three other judges, including Chief Justice Roberts, were nominated to the bench by President Reagan and the second President Bush.
Presidents Clinton and Obama have collectively nominated four judges, but one of Obama’s nominees, Elena Kagan, has recused herself from the case. It is quite probable that the court will strike down affirmative action along partisan lines — by the widest margin to date, five to three. While opponents of affirmative action are arguably taking advantage of the current political climate, there is some cause to be optimistic for the future — this case could lead to greater political innovation.
Recent studies have shown that inequality in education is increasingly dependent on wealth, while the opposite trend is developing regarding race. Moreover, the Great Recession has pushed income inequality to the forefront of political discourse, with #Occupy movements sprouting in major cities across the U.S. and the world. This presents a related narrative: The persistence of unemployment and its effects on the working-class.
While racial inequality has persisted, income inequality (irrespective of race) has ballooned. Yes, further impediments to opportunities could be detrimental to minority populations. Voiding affirmative action will probably not help racial inequality in the short-term, but considering the ways that race-neutral factors can help build equitable communities will be beneficial in the long-term.
While the use of affirmative action in the admission processes may end, the 10% Plan presents an interesting scenario, one that should garner greater debate in the coming months.
Previous Foreign Aid: A double Edged Sword? | http://thepoliticalbouillon.com/en/the-end-of-affirmative-action/ |
Inoapps are looking for a CX consultant to join our thriving Higher Education team.
General Responsibilities
- Participates in computer software systems integration projects for external clients.
- Provide advice and guidance on development of future business processes that will be supported by the software implementation.
- Analyse requirements, recommend changes, and develop approaches consistent with company and client needs.
- Facilitate design and configuration workshops.
- Provide functional expertise in completing client contract deliverables as part of a team.
- Recommend approaches, work plans and specific tasks to meet deliverables.
- Create design specifications as a guide in creating and modifying programmes.
- Provide both formal and informal on-site training to other Inoapps peers as needed along with client staff.
- Work with client users and technical staff to increase their knowledge of the software package.
- Provide leadership to client staff and more junior Inoapps team members. This will include feeding into project planning activities and status reporting.
- Assist in pre-sales activities including bid response development and product demonstrations.
- Work schedule/hours and travel to client sites as dictated by project assignments. This could mean up to 80% travel.
Specific Characteristics
- Good general understanding of Oracle SaaS CX product offerings and how they work together.
- Detailed knowledge of Oracle Marketing Cloud (Eloqua).
- Detailed knowledge of Oracle Engagement Cloud (Service Cloud/Right Now).
- Excellent Presentation and Facilitation skills.
- Excellent written communication. Generation of documentation both technical and functional will be a key element of the role.
- Ability to assist the client in the design of a marketing approach not just system configuration. A strong business analyst skills a must. Experience in marketing strategy development is a huge plus.
- Previous involvement in Oracle Implementation projects.
- Familiarity with project management tools and techniques, especially Prince 2 would be a plus.
- Familiarity with OPA desirable but not essential.
- Experience with the Higher Education Sector desirable but not essential.
Essential Job Functions
Project Tasks
- Perform assigned project tasks with minimal supervision.
- Effectively utilse technical / application skills in furthering the progress of the project.
- Follow established methodology to meet project deliverables for all assigned tasks.
- Provide required documentation for these tasks including design documentation, functional specifications, user procedures, test and training collateral.
- Recognise potential solutions to a business problem and selects the most appropriate solution to ensure the best alternative is selected for the client.
- Assist the client in the design and strategies that maximises the benefits they will receive from the product, even when their existing processes are not robust.
- Work with and assist other consultants and client staff to perform assigned tasks and accomplish project deliverables within prescribed deadlines in order to complete client’s project successfully.
- Notify Project Manager of concerns or conflicts, which could impede project implementation milestones.
- Communicate information clearly, accurately and timely to project team members.
- Train client project staff on the system’s requirements.
- Take initiative to learn the client’s business when completing project tasks.
- Seek out and participate in learning activities to enhance knowledge of technologies, software packages and the industry.
- Achieve CIBER annual billable/productivity standards for this position.
Client Relations
- Establish positive, professional relationship with client managers and staff.
- Establish proper communication channels with client personnel and responds appropriately to all client concerns.
- Conduct/participate in regular team meetings to promote project progress.
- Provide Project Manager and client management with ongoing progress reports according to the project initiation document, or at minimum on a weekly basis.
- Understand and adhere to established project management policies and procedures; including meeting project budgets, project status reports and project documentation.
- Contribute as appropriate to the development of project scope and structure.
- Contribute to the management the project goals and client expectations.
- Notify Project Manager of potential new business opportunities.
Other Activities
In addition to the above responsibilities, Consultants may be asked to perform all or some of the following activities:
- Understand and work toward attainment of Inoapps’ strategic and operational goals.
- Initiate solutions to perceived gaps in organisational processes or procedures.
- Foster an environment of teamwork both internally and externally.
- Actively participate in performance plans and evaluations.
- Initiate recommendations for personal education and career objectives.
- Accepts constructive feedback and works towards achieving the established goals.
- Participate in project quality assurance reviews as necessary.
- Participate in and support company sponsored local/regional/national professional groups and organisational activities.
- Assist in developing internal training materials and project productivity tools.
- Assist in the production of company briefing, marketing/business development presentations, and journal articles.
- Participate in business development activities, including pre-sales work when requested.
- Assist in the recruiting of qualified consultants.
- Demonstrate a flexibility in working approach especially at times when support is required for multiple projects. | https://www.inoapps.com/join-inoapps/careers/cx-consultant |
A teachable moment for ESAT and supporters of ESAT.
ESAT has been embroiled in recent controversy over statements made by one of its commentators concerning alleged evidence of wrongdoing by H.E. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed when he served at the Ethiopian Information Network Security Agency well over a decade ago.
The alleged evidence was discussed by a certain ESAT commentator in a form which could be described as sensational and tabloid. The commentator declared with brazen assurance that he has evidence on PM Abiy that is “shocking” and if revealed could potentially create a political crisis in the country.
The commentator attributed the source of the alleged evidence to another well-known and respected ESAT journalist who categorically denied having such putatively damaging evidence on PM Abiy.
PM Abiy openly challenged any person who has evidence of wrongdoing on him during his service at the Information Network Security Service to make it public immediately.
No such evidence was made public.
The claim of the existence of “shocking evidence” and the categorical denial of such evidence by two members in ESAT has caused considerable controversy, confusion, heartache, anger and ill-will among many in Ethiopia and in the global Diaspora Ethiopian community.
Numerous supporters and friends of ESAT have asked me to speak out on the controversy. Some have asked me to make a statement and try to calm the waters. Others have urged me to condemn ESAT for making a patently false statement misleading the public and casting aspersion on PM Abiy.
Given the intensity of the controversy surrounding this issue, I have chosen to do what I preach: Speak the truth and focus my eyes on the prize, ESAT as an institution that was born of hard labor and our voice against tyranny for nearly a decade.
In my view, ESAT today is facing an existential crisis.
Many ESAT supporters are questioning whether it is worth their while to support ESAT. That concerns me deeply.
I have always believed ESAT is an Ethiopian Diaspora treasure.
ESAT is not something we support one day because we like what some individuals say and withdraw our support the next day when we hear something we dislike.
ESAT must be supported because it is and has been a vital force in press freedom in Ethiopia.
But I cannot ignore the outrage expressed by an important segment of the ESAT extended family in the recent controversy. There are many who feel betrayed and misled by ESAT in the recent controversy.
The outcome of this controversy, without an open and sensible dialogue, could have a lasting negative effect on ESAT and damage it as the robust and independent voice of the people.
The accusations and charges in the recent controversy are numerous and varied and fall along a wide spectrum of editorial, management, professional and ethical issues. Among these include claims that
ESAT does not even follow its own editorial policy about fairness and accuracy in reporting.
ESAT is hiding evidence they do not want the public to see.
ESAT lies through its teeth.
ESAT does not have a structure of accountability. We don’t even know who is on the Board of ESAT . That Board has been dormant and made no statements or taken any action on the current controversy engulfing the organization.
ESAT operations are not transparent.
ESAT has become like Fox News feeding the public gossip and unsubstantiated claims.
ESAT is in disarray because it does not have strong leadership and is governed by a faceless and ineffective governing board.
ESAT has been hijacked by individuals without professional journalistic qualifications.
ESAT has become an anti-PM Abiy propaganda mill.
ESAT has become an extortion ring trying to blackmail PM Abiy with fake news about “shocking revelations”.
In this commentary, I am not defending the ESAT management or any individuals working there for any acts or omissions. .
But I am defending ESAT as a precious Diaspora institution that has been a source of light, enlightenment and hope for all of us for nearly a decade.
I am pleading with ESAT supporters and friends not to “punish” ESAT the institution for the faults and wrongdoings of any individual(s) acting in the name of ESAT.
Why should I care about ESAT?
When ESAT was first established in April 2010, I served as the chairperson of the Advisory Committee.
It was the worst of times.
In 2009, the ruling Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) had enacted a so-called counterterrorism law and anti-civil society law shutting down the political space in Ethiopia and wiping out dissent and all opposition political activity.
Neither Diaspora Ethiopians nor the people of Ethiopia had an alternative means of getting information about the abuse of power, corruption and gross human rights violations of the TPLF regime.
I tried to explain the dire situation at the time in a video presentation.
It was in this night of darkness that ESAT was born.
I was present at the birth of ESAT.
It was a most difficult birth.
I know first-hand how many good freedom-loving Ethiopians made enormous sacrifices in time, money and energy to establish an information medium to give hope when Ethiopians were enveloped in the darkness of an outrageous ethnic apartheid system.
I know first-hand the excitement and optimism of the exiled journalists, human rights activists and others when ESAT made its first broadcasts.
I know first-hand how hard we worked in the early days to make ESAT an alternative source of balanced news reporting and analysis for all Ethiopians.
I also know how the TPLF regime tried to jam, slam and goddam ESAT from the air.
The TPLF threw everything they got at ESAT and spent millions to knock it off the airwaves.
But each time ESAT rose like the phoenix from the ashes of TPLF jamming stronger and tougher.
I care about ESAT today and write because I am deeply concerned that ESAT might self-destruct from self-inflicted wounds in the current controversy and do unto itself what the TPLF was unable to do to it in a decade spending millions of dollars.
Above all, I care about ESAT because I was the author of the ESAT Advisory Board’s May 2010 Declaration of Principles which set out my own and the advisory board’s hope and dreams for ESAT in the coming years and decades.
I have to speak up because I have a moral obligation to do whatever is in my power to ensure ESAT remains a vital force of press freedom for coming generations.
ESAT Advisory Board’s Declaration of Principles
The ESAT Declaration of Principles are available for any one to read.
When I wrote it and presented it to the advisory board, I was not simply concerned about ESAT.
I wanted the Declaration to be a robust and vigorous defense of universal press freedom:
Given the recent controversy, I want to share a few excerpts from that Declaration so that my readers and ESAT supporters and friends can appreciate today our hopes and dreams back then.
… The recent successful launch of the historic satellite television service to Ethiopia represents a giant step in the direction of freedom of information for all Ethiopians.
ESAT has come into existence at a time when the curtain of darkness draws down tightly on Ethiopia. ESAT is the result of the collective efforts of a small but diverse group of Ethiopians throughout the world who are deeply committed to the principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Among the contributors to this effort include exiled Ethiopian journalists, human rights advocates, university professors, lawyers, entertainers, entrepreneurs, civic society leaders and others from a variety of professions, and individuals committed to fundamental democratic principles.
The ruling regime continues to use a so-called press law to criminalize the profession of journalism. Journalists, reporters, editors and other media professionals continue to face brutal crackdowns, arbitrary imprisonments and harassments.
ESAT is founded on the simple conviction that a free press is essential to an informed and enlightened citizenry, government transparency and accountability and equitable socio-economic development. We believe that a threat to press freedom is a threat to democracy, human rights and the rule of law. We reject the belief that by controlling what people read, hear and think, it is possible to control their hearts and minds.
Our unwavering support for press freedom in Ethiopia is principled and supported in fact. All of us at ESAT believe that a free and independent press serves as the eyes, ears and mouths of citizens in any society.
We pledge to make ESAT an outlet for free expression to all Ethiopians. Our doors shall remain open to all who believe in and support the establishment of democracy, protection of human rights and institutionalization of the rule of law in Ethiopia. We are not and will never be partial to any individual, group, program, ideology, profession or occupation.
The so-called shocking evidence that is the source of so much controversy
Recently, an ESAT commentator threatened to release damaging information on PM Abiy when he served at the Ethiopian Network Security Agency (INSA) well over a decade ago.
That commentator claimed he has “shocking information” on the prime minister.
He warned supporters of PM Abiy to back off because he has the “audio and transcription” that will reveal compromising and highly damaging information and potentially create a major political crisis in the country.
The commentator attributed the source of the alleged evidence to a well-known ESAT journalist who categorically denied ever having such evidence.
That journalist said he had an “informal discussion with an engineer who claimed to have worked for INSA over seven years ago”. The unidentified engineer told him “nothing that is shocking or astonishing about PM Abiy.” The engineer was no longer employed by INSA at the time of the interview. The engineer told him “PM Abiy was a good manager” and discussed the general operations of INSA.
The journalist confirmed he had knowledge that PM Abiy and others at INSA had opposed jamming of foreign broadcasts and suggested that was one of the principal reasons for the dismissal of the now prime minister from INSA by the late TPLF Führer Meles Zenawi.
The journalist further stated he has never met the alleged engineer who gave the interview in person nor is he sure that the engineer was who he claimed to be. The journalist merely took him at his word. Since the journalist could not corroborate the “engineer’s” statements, he could not present it to the public.
It is this interview that the ESAT commentator claimed to be the bombshell evidence of wrongdoing by PM Abiy while he was at INSA.
I have sought to identify the identity of the alleged informant engineer on my own.
While I cannot be sure, my best investigative guess is that he is one of the three individuals referenced anonymously as former Ethiopian government officials #8, #14 and #49 in a 2013 Human Rights Watch Report (p. 60).
I have carefully listened to the Amharic audio and read the English translation of the audio of the alleged evidence referenced by the ESAT commentator and the ESAT journalist.
I have read and evaluated the alleged interview from the perspective of the scrutinizing eye of a criminal defense lawyer who has substantial experience examining statements of police informants.
The statement of the putative INSA engineer appears to have been obtained in a casual telephone conversation.
In the interview, the alleged INSA engineer refuses to identify himself allegedly fearing disclosure. He spoke in guarded tone. He refused to give any specific details arguing such information if revealed could lead to his identification and possible retribution.
Much of what the informant says is based on hearsay and personal impressions of his work and his subjective assessment of others who worked with him at INSA.
The informant hedges on answering critical questions arguing that he revealed certain pieces of information, he could be easily identified as the source.
The informant makes a few references to Abiy Ahmed at INSA but makes no allegations of misconduct or wrongdoing. Indeed, the informant speaks of Abiy Ahmed’s extraordinary managerial skills.
I do not wish to dwell or spread the hearsay, gossip and speculations of a nameless and unidentified informant.
The statement of the journalist who had interviewed the informant is sufficient for me.
The burden is on the ESAT commentator who claimed to have had the “shocking evidence” to disclose it to the public if he so desires.
PM Abiy responded to the allegations of the ESAT commentator without equivocation:
INSA is an organization in which I have done things that make me proud. I have never done a shameful thing while I was at INSA. If any person has any evidence of wrongdoing on my part at INSA, it is their obligation to make it public.
The firestorm over the alleged evidence
Such is the tragic manner in which ESAT was plunged into a firestorm of accusation, condemnation and damnation.
That is how I began to be seriously concerned about the potential fallout of this controversy for the viability of ESAT.
There is no denying that many ESAT supporters and friends are outraged and deeply disappointed by the recent controversy.
To make it crystal clear, I do not have any problems with ESAT journalists and commentators expressing their opinions.
But I do have problems with those who want to invent their own facts and pass it on to the public under the official imprimatur of the ESAT organization and plunge the organization in a firestorm of controversy.
Those in the media wield great power to influence and shape public opinion.
When individual(s) abuse this power and breach the public trust by undermining the credibility of a media institution, the damage will be massive and long lasting.
That is why I decided to speak up and defend ESAT as an institution and plead with ESAT’s supporters and friends not to rush to judgment on ESAT as an institution because of the actions or omissions of one or a few persons.
Let us refrain from collective punishment
ESAT is not one person. It is an organization of committed individuals who have sacrificed so much to establish a worthy organization.
It is not fair to condemn an institution because of the mistakes or wrongdoing of one individual or a few.
We must not lose sight of the forest by looking at a few trees.
We must not be obsessed with one mistake and forget the years of good work and professionalism we have seen at ESAT.
I believe individuals at ESAT will come and go but ESAT as an institution shall go on.
While I do not condone inaccurate and false reporting in any form, I am pleased by the swift response to the controversial allegations within ESAT.
The fact that an ESAT journalist went public and corrected the record to me shows ESAT’s institutional commitment to journalistic professionalism and ethics.
By correcting the record and stating the correct facts, ESAT did the right thing by its supporters, friends and all others who follow its broadcasts. We must appreciate that.
We must not throw out the baby with the bath water or cut our nose despite our face. Nor should we overreact to one controversy and lose sight of the original purpose of ESAT.
It is wrong to punish the group for the mistakes of one or few.
When we react emotionally and viscerally from a position of anger and disappointment, we often fail to see that in pursuit of the bad we also unintentionally destroy the good.
We must be measured and proportional in our reactions.
We must aim for constructive instead of destructive criticism.
The reason is simple.
ESAT belongs to us. We own it because it exists with our support.
ESAT journalists, commentators, analysts and others who have their own programs have served us well over the years.
I support ESAT not because I agree with everything they do. I support them because of their independence, balance and professionalism.
Of course, they make mistakes from time to time. We should not be the first to cast stones.
If we support ESAT today because we like what they said or did and withdraw our support because we disagree tomorrow, we will never have an independent and robust media that will serve its purposes.
We must put things in perspective.
Individual misconduct in news organization happens even at world class news organizations.
I remember the case of a N.Y Times reporter named Jason Blair who had committed journalistic fraud, not once, but for years.
There was the case of Janet Cooke at the Washington Post who fabricated a non-existent 8-year-old heroin addict and won the Pulitzer Prize for it.
The famous CBS anchor Dan Rather lost his job over a story that alleged George W. Bush went AWOL during his time in the Texas Air National Guard.
In none of these cases did the public condemn the news organizations because they understood the organizations were themselves victims of the unprofessionalism and misconduct of their employees.
In all of these cases, however, the news organizations no longer retained the services of the offending journalists.
The same rule should apply to ESAT.
ESAT supporters and friends should not go after ESAT the institution. ESAT should take appropriate action and not make a travesty of the current controversy by trying to gloss it over.
Going forward, what can ESAT do?
I do not believe in the approach of “letting the controversy blow over”.
The current controversy in which ESAT is embroiled will not blow over. If not dealt with forthrightly and in a timely manner, the controversy will fester like a sore on ESAT and put its future in serious jeopardy.
There are things the ESAT leadership must do. There are things ESAT supporters and friends must also do.
What ESAT needs from its supporters and friends now is our support, not the fanning the flames of the controversy.
I would like to make the current controversy a teachable moment for all of us, especially ESAT.
Therefore, as a supporter and friend of ESAT and as a promoter and defender of press freedom everywhere, I shall make several recommendations to the ESAT leadership not only to prevent a recurrence of needless controversies but also raise and uphold higher standards of journalistic practices and ethics and ensure ESAT regains and sustains public confidence and support.
I do this only because I care about ESAT and I believe ESAT is a Diaspora Ethiopian treasure.
I also do not want to talk about just problems but offer concrete practical solutions to restore the credibility and vitality of ESAT.
Of course, the ESAT leadership is free to accept, reject or ignore any of my recommendations below.
But my conscience shall remain clear. Dr. Martin Luther King said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
As a friend of ESAT, I will not remain silent in its hour of need
I. ESAT leadership should undertake a full review of their editorial policies and standards, add or modify policies as appropriate and ensure that all members adhere to them.
The ESAT editorial policy states, among others:
All sources should be strictly checked for veracity. Documents presented as evidence should be double checked for accuracy. News presented should adhere to the highest standards of quality and professionalism.
Manifestly, this policy was flagrantly violated in the recent controversy. This one instance shows the lowest standards of journalistic quality and professionalism at ESAT.
I make this recommendation because many of people do not believe ESAT has clearly set policies and standards of journalistic performance. I also believe ESAT should remain fully independent and committed to accuracy in reporting. ESAT should not be a platform for its members to advance their personal or partisan objectives.
II. ESAT leadership should review its conflict of interest policy.
I have made a diligent search for ESAT’s conflict of interest policy without success. I should like to believe there is one in place.
Regardless, ESAT leadership should require all its employees and others engaged in its activities to sign a conflict of interest form to ensure its employees will uphold their fiduciary duty to ESAT at all times.
III. ESAT leadership should have a designated contact point, preferably an ombudsman, for supporters and others to register their complaints, give feedback and make their suggestions.
I make this recommendation because I have been told by some people they have been unsuccessful in their attempts to contact ESAT administration; others do not seem to know who to contact at ESAT.
IV. ESAT leadership should engage in a reconciliation process with its supporters and friends in a process I call “atonement and forgiveness” (a word that means at-one-ment). ESAT should be one with its supporters and friends. It should not be at a war of words with them, as some appear to feel. It is the moral duty of ESAT supporters and friends to forgive because that is the only way we can go forward at-one-ment with ESAT.
I make this recommendation because I believe at this critical time in ESAT’s existence, it is harmful to engage in further accusations and recriminations. Greater progress can be achieved when people who disagree set aside their anger and begin to walk in each other’s shoes and understand that they can advance the cause of press freedom through open communication.
V. ESAT leadership should create a governing board of directors reflecting the diversity of the Diaspora Ethiopian community.
I make this recommendation after having made a reasonably diligent search, without success, to find out the members of the Board of the Ethiopian Satellite Television and Radio.
Unless I missed it, there is no information on the identities or size of the governing board on the ESAT website. It is customary for non-profit organizations in the U.S. to disclose the names of their Board to the public. This should help improve public perception of accountability and transparency at ESAT.
VI. ESAT leadership should re-establish its advisory board to help guide the work of ESAT and avoid situations that could result in the breach of the public trust.
The ESAT website states, “ESAT has a 13-member independent advisory board comprised of individuals that have proven track-records of being advocates of democracy and rule of law in Ethiopia. The main function of the board is to advise and oversee ESAT’s professionalism and impartiality and its commitment to journalistic principles of accuracy, balance and fairness. (Emphasis added.)
But it begs the question whether the recent controversy may not have occurred or the damage caused controlled much earlier if the Advisory Board was indeed living up to its professed function. It would also serve the interests of accountability and transparency to disclose the names of the members of this and the governing board.
VIII. ESAT leadership should take appropriate action against any of its members who engage in reporting that is based on knowledge of false claims, willful and deliberate ignorance or reckless disregard of the truth or falsity of a fact.
I make this recommendation because the recent controversy has hit a raw nerve among many ESAT supporters and friends.
If an ESAT member takes to the microphone and makes a factual statement that has no basis in fact or use the ESAT pulpit to advance one’s personal political agenda, such conduct must not be tolerated. Any ESAT member who, through gross negligence or recklessness, compromises the journalistic integrity of the institution must face appropriate disciplinary accountability.
Those who want to play in the political and journalistic space should make a choice to be in one or the other. If they choose the political space, that does not foreclose occasional appearances on ESAT programs to share their opinions. The alternative is to invite gross conflict of interest and unending controversy,
If journalists and commentators are allowed to take hard and fast political positions and use ESAT as their private platform, without balance and regard to facts, that will surely make ESAT not a media for news, views and entertainment but a battle ground for opposing groups in Ethiopia and in the Diaspora Ethiopia. That was not the intent when ESAT was founded.
VII. ESAT leadership should formally apologize to the Ethiopian people over the recent controversy and man up and accept responsibility.
The editorial policy of ESAT states that when erroneous reports are made, ESAT will issue “A formal apology, verbal or written will be issued to the aggrieved party. (Individual, group or government). If there is no aggrieved party, the apology will be issued to the viewers.
I believe an erroneous report was made in the recent controversy. ESAT should follow its own policy and issue a formal apology to its viewers, listeners, friends and supporters. As a political leader who has been unfairly maligned, PM Abiy Ahmed also deserves an apology.
It is a sign of courage and good will to say a mistake was made and ask forgiveness.
Plea for YOUR Support of ESAT
In the ESAT Declaration of Principles I wrote,
We believe it is our duty as freedom-loving Ethiopians to help deliver information and ideas of all kinds to Ethiopians regardless of frontiers. Ethiopians hunger not only for bread but also for truthful and accurate information to sustain for their hearts and minds. This is a great challenge and all freedom-loving Ethiopians must join the effort and become one of the thousand points of light shining on the information darkness blanketing Ethiopia.
We need your help NOW because “failure is not an option” in our historic efforts!
To me this statement rings just as true in April 2019 as it did in April 2010.
Withholding support from ESAT at this critical time is unfair and unwise. It is like punishing a child who gets into trouble by denying him dinner. The child learns nothing from the punishment and it does not teach him to behave well.
Positive reinforcement will help ESAT become a better and stronger institution.
It is said it takes 20 years to build a reputation and only 5 minutes to lose it.
It is infinitely easier to destroy than to build. It took 10 years to build ESAT to its current status. But how long will it take to destroy it? 10 minutes? 10 hours? 10 days?
The winners and losers if ESAT is no more?
If we become unwitting partners in the tearing down of ESAT, we and only we will be the losers.
The winners will be those guys sitting in Mekele dining on “tibs” and sipping French cognac.
ESAT has survived the slings and arrows of the TPLF for nearly a decade. But every time, ESAT has come out victorious.
But today ESAT has become a hot potato in Ethiopia and in the Ethiopian Diaspora.
There are many who see the invisible hand of the TPLF causing and manipulating the current controversy.
There are others who see the long dark shadow of the TPLF cast on ESAT.
I have never underestimated the diabolical schemes of the TPLF. I am never surprised by what is manufactured in the devil’s workshops.
The fact of the matter is that if ESAT fails no one will be happier than the TPLF.
After all, ESAT was in the forefront of the information war against the TPLF chronicling their crimes and corruption. The TPLF spent millions unsuccessfully trying to jam, slam and goddam ESAT off the air for years.
It will be payback time for the TPLF.
If ESAT fails because of the recent controversy or is significantly damaged, the TPLF will be dancing in the streets of Mekele.
I can imagine the TPLF bosses rubbing their palms and drooling at the mouth on the prospect an ESAT collapse. They just can’t wait to do victory laps in the streets of Mekele on the slightest news that ESAT is in trouble.
But ESAT will neither fail nor collapse. With a little help from its supporters and friends, ESAT will go on and on and on.
On a personal note
I suspect there may be some who may not welcome my analysis or recommendations.
I have never asked anyone for permission to make comments or share my opinions.
I have never backed down from expressing my views or speaking my truth on any subject of broad public interest.
I have spoken truth to Barack Obama, Donald Trump and the formidable late U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia and so many others on matters of public concern.
ESAT to me is a matter of great public concern among Ethiopians.
In this piece, I have made a genuine effort to analyze the controversy objectively and make constructive recommendations.
I would not have gone to great lengths to write this message to ESAT supporters and friends unless I was deeply concerned about ESAT’s predicament today.
ESAT has had previous controversies but never as deeply challenging as the current one.
If I am unduly alarmed by what I see and hear, I apologize to all.
But if my concerns are even partially valid, then there is much work of atonement, forgiveness and open dialogue to be done between ESAT members and leadership and ESAT supporters and friends.
ESAT shall overcome! | http://quatero.net/why-i-support-ethiopian-satellite-television-esat-and-you-should-too-prof-alemariam/ |
The palmistry has its roots in Indian, Chinese astrology as well as Roma fortune-telling. From the ancient remaining record of the frescoes in ruins of India and words passed down from Brahmanism, we can find palmistry was very popular in India at that time. In China, palmistry also has a long history. Since the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC) which is about three thousand years ago, it has been prevailed. The first comparatively complete and systematic palmistry work in China appeared in Western Han Dynasty (202 BC - 9 AD) which was written by Xu Fu. In this article, we introduce how the Chinese people read palms in general.
Which Hand to Read?
Before reading your palm, you should choose the right hand to read. There are different schools of thought on this matter. Some people think the right for female and left for male. As a matter of fact, both of your hands play great importance in hand reading. But one is dominant and the other is passive. The left hand usually represents what you were born with physically and materially and the right hand represents what you become after grown up. So, the right hand is dominant in palm reading and the left for supplement.
→ Which Hand to Read for Male and Female in Palmistry, Left or Right?
Major and Minor Lines to Read
Please find the position of each line from the pictures below and interpretations by clicking the following links.
Meanings of Special Marks on Palm
Palmistry Mounts
Mounts, which are bumps of flesh on your palm play a very important role in palm reading.
According to the Chinese palmistry, there are seven mounts for a person with each named after a planet and stands for different characters. Also, the features of the planets are revealed in the corresponding mounts.
Learn to read the seven mounts of the palm (Mount of Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo, Mercury, Luna, Venus, and Mars) and get to know their locations, meanings, and significances by clicking the following links:
→ Palmistry Mounts
→ How to Know If You Are Healthy Through Checking the Palm Mounts?
Read Your Hands
Hand Types, Size and Colors:
→ What type of hand do you have?
→ What does the size of your hand say about you?
→ What do your hands color say about your health and destiny?
Interesting Articles
→ Signs and Marks for Winning Lottery or Gambling in Palmistry
→ Lines for Extramarital Affairs in Palmistry
→ Can the Length of the Life Line Predict Longevity?
→ Who is Your Life Partner by Palmistry?
→ Do you have a Simian Line (Joint Heart Line and Head Line)?
→ When Will You Get Married?
→ How Many Marriages Will You Have in Life?
→ Will You Have Love or Arranged Marriage?
→ What Woman Could Marry a Rich Man by Palmistry?
→ Women with What Types of Palm are Most Popular with Men?
→ Could Palm Surgery Change Your Future?
→ What Does Having Too Many Lines on Palm Indicate?
→ Head Line Reveals Your Suitable Career Path
Kind Notice:
The palm lines are usually not fixed. It changes as you get older or you experience more and more. Whether you could have a good future, a happy marriage, a good job, a perfect health condition... is not solely decided by the palm line. It mostly needs your own effort and wisdom. Keep a positive outlook on life, learn more about how to relate to other people well, and develop a good personality are what you should pay much attention to. | https://rottweiler411.com/does-palmistry-have-a-meaning.php |
This is a completely hands-on training on incident response where the attendees will be taken through practical scenarios such as Advanced Persistent Threats, Data Leakage, Lateral Movement, Web Server Compromise, SWIFT/Financial Server Compromise, etc. The participants are expected to be well-versed with the theoretical aspects of incident response and this training will be geared to equipping them with the right approach, tools and techniques to triaging, containing, investigating and learning from real-world incidents.
K. K. Mookhey, Trainer
KK is one of the pioneers of cybersecurity in India. Having begun his firm as a one-man show in 2001, it has now grown to a team of nearly 400 consultants spread across multiple locations in India and the Middle East. He is a trusted consultant and trainer to organizations all across the globe on various aspects of information security. He is well-versed with the security challenges of various industry verticals, and also with international standards and frameworks such as ISO 27001, PCI DSS, COBIT, HIPAA, etc.
He is the author of two books (on Linux Security and on the Metasploit Framework) and of numerous articles on information security. He was the first security researcher from India to present at Blackhat in 2004 (on ‘Detection and Evasion of Web Application Attacks’) and since then has spoken at numerous conferences such as Interop, OWASP, NullCon, etc. He is currently overseeing the research activities within NII focused on use of big data in security, building various automation solutions, and security impact of the Internet of Things.
Wasim Halani, Trainer
Wasim is one of the senior most consultants at NII. He started as a fresher about 8 years back and since then has been involved in various technical assessments in different industries and business verticals within India and internationally. He is currently serves as the Head of Innovations and Research (InR) team at NII, where he is responsible for introducing new ideas, tools and vectors for the Security Assessment practice. He also works to introduce new service models that NII can provide to it’s clients.
As part of his current research, he is leading a team to overcome limitations within existing security monitoring solutions by exploiting advancements in Big Data, Analytics and Machine Learning, to improve threat intelligence and monitoring and enabling early detection of advance threat actors.
Wasim is also actively involved in the Info-Sec community in India. He leads the NULL chapter in Mumbai and has participated in conferences like OWASP, SecurityByte, and Malcon.
Schedule and Fees
Fees: USD 2000 per person
Venue: Blue Bay Tower, Dubai, UAE.
UAE Contact : Ailyn Abdula - [email protected]
Mobile No: +971 50 2456695
Office No: +971 6 8826151
India Contact : Snehal Sangole - [email protected] Register Now!
Day 1
Module 1 - Introduction
- Brief introduction to the incident management process. It is expected that the audience has a generally good understanding of the overall incident management process. Participants are expected to be well-versed with the broad understanding of security controls such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, security incident and event management systems, etc.
- This module covers alerts related to accepted inbound port scans or aggressive SSH connections. You are tasked with carrying out the investigation from scratch. The target server is a website that runs either on Apache or on IIS. You are required to understand the log formats, parse the logs using a tool of your choice, request for live forensics data of the server, and develop your hypothesis.
- Tools/Technologies covered: SSH server logs, web server logs, Unix utils etc.
- This module dives straight into an advanced threat detected within your organization. You are given the symptoms of the attack, and then are required to investigate the incident using an actual network setup for this purpose. You are provided with logs that you request based on the hypothesis you are building along with access to endpoints for live forensics.
- Tools/Technologies covered: Web proxy logs, Active Directory, Windows endpoint, anti-virus, Sysinternals Suite etc.
Module 1 - Data Leakage
- You have been informed by a particular manager within the marketing department that there is a suspicion of a user or particular set of users leaking out customer data to the competition. You are required to investigate this discreetly.
- Technologies covered: DLP logs, proxy logs, endpoint, Active Directory, etc.
- Your systems are being impacted with ransomware. Your anti-virus is unable to protect your endpoints, and the infection may begin spreading rapidly. You need to investigate this ransomware quickly and understand how it spreads.
- Tools/Technologies covered: Ransomware samples, malware analysis, reverse engineering, Cuckoo sandbox, etc.
- You have received notification from your Fraud Control Unit that some counterparties have informed them of a potential breach on the SWIFT payment system. You are required to undertake the investigation end to end and determine the source of the leakage and also carry out a root-cause analysis.
- Technologies covered: Unix system logs, Windows system logs, application logs
- From the hands-on case studies covered, what changes would you make to your existing incident management processes and toolkits? What modifications would you make to your runbooks? | https://www.niiconsulting.com/Incident_Response_Training.html |
UZ is one of the few producers that pioneered the genre of trap that has stayed true to his style since. It’s been over 6 years since trap explosively emerged, and UZ has held fast against the wave of new school producers, trying to push the genre to its limits. His sound design has always been very skeletal. There are usually only a few elements working together at one time.
Today he pairs up with a very forward thinking, creative producer, Montell2099, who has a very similar minimalistic approach to creating music. Already, on paper, the duo seems like they would vibe together well, and their new track “UNDERGRND” confirms that. UZ and Montell go together so well, in fact, that they have also announced an UNDRGRND Tour, which is set to resume September 7. For more info on the tour, follow this link here. | https://thissongissick.com/post/premiere-uz-montell2099-undergrnd/ |
A Master of Science or MSc is a postgraduate degree typically in the fields of sciences and social sciences. MSc may be course-based, research-based, or a mixture of the two.
Theology is a fascinating study of religious traditions throughout the centuries and their effects on world economics, politics and history. While some students may go on to work within a specific faith, others can use this degree to deepen their understanding of the divine as well as of people’s beliefs.
Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, was settled at least from the Bronze Age. It’s no wonder that some of the oldest institutions are located there, including fourth oldest university. Overall, there are four universities and several colleges.
Request Information Part time Master of Science Programs in Theology in Scotland in United Kingdom 2020
This dedicated masters programme in science and religion is intended for students who wish to engage in the advanced interdisciplinary study of science and religion, including ... +
This innovative online programme allows you to study for a postgraduate degree at one of the world’s most prestigious universities, at a pace that suits you and fits around yo ... +
You will gain an advanced, interdisciplinary understanding of the history, modern politics and culture of the Islamic Middle East, and explore the paradigms behind the various ... +
This programme, housed within the School of Divinity, draws on the strengths of one of the most distinguished centres of religious and theological studies in the country. It o ... +
This programme is for students who wish to develop expertise in biblical studies, including those who want to prepare for a PhD. Its emphasis is on adding depth and breadth to ... +
This programme is designed to enable you to understand a wide range of Christian belief, culture and practice throughout the world, in historical, theological, and sociologica ... +
This flexible programme looks at the Christian past from a variety of perspectives – theological, philosophical and historical – and provides options for a special study of th ... +
This programme provides the opportunity to study a variety of religious traditions, in combination with advanced learning in the theory and method of the study of religion. | https://www.masterstudies.com/MSc/Theology/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/Part-time/ |
Faculty Discuss the 'Unholy Trinity' of Colonialism, Capitalism, and RaceA group of BC professors discussed the ongoing impact and relationship between colonialism, capitalism, and race during a FACES panel.
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Panel Explores Climate Justice and Recovery in Puerto Rico and HondurasActivists discussed the challenges presented by natural disasters, emphasizing that colonialism lead to the loss of indigenous recovery practices.
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Guns Down America Founder Talks Gun Ownership in the 21st CenturyGuns Down America seeks to involve corporations in gun control advocacy and adjust the rhetoric to push for the legislation Americans care about.
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'Suitcase Stories' Initiative Humanizes the Immigrant ExperienceOrganized by the International Institute of New England, this performance featured stories from a variety of immigrants.
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Professor Natana DeLong-Bas Traces Origins of Religious Tensions in the Middle EastBC's Professor Natana DeLong-Bas presented on the origins of Sunni-Shia conflict as a part of a lecture series hosted by the School of Theology and Ministry.
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Arab Spring Reporter Highlights Role of Politics in Middle Eastern ArtSultan Sooud Al Qassemi, who reported on the Arab Spring via Twitter in 2011, will be a visiting professor at BC next semester.
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Harvard Professor Talks Ethics in Stem Cell ResearchAt the inaugural event of the Bioethics Society of BC, Dr. Insoo Hyun discussed the past, present, and future of ethics related to stem cell research.
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'The Unafraid' Documentary Spotlights Experiences of DACA StudentsThe Center for Human Rights and International Justice panel also discussed the current situation for DACA and undocumented students. | http://www.bcgavel.com/author/lodesbc-edu/ |
The cosmopolitan Greek island of Mykonos is placed in the heart of the Cyclades, a group of islands in the Aegean Sea, and is famous for its pristine beaches, crystal-clear waters, vibrant nightlife and cultural attractions. One of Greece’s most iconic islands, Mykonos also boasts a lively bar culture, juxtaposed with historic architecture and 365 churches.
Travellers can take an evening stroll along the Kalafatis seafront, stopping for cocktails or a bite to eat in one of the many beachside bars or visit the famous church of Panagia Paraportiani, whose hushed 17th-century halls consist of five conjoined temples. Further away, Mykonos Town allures travellers with a labyrinth of narrow streets that are lined with white-washed houses, boutiques, religious architecture and waterfront restaurants. Tourists may also observe the Mykonos’ historic windmills dotted around the island which were built in the 16th century by the Venetians and now serve as home to the locals. After dark, guests may slip on some dancing shoes and head to the island’s famous clubs and bars for late-night partying by the sandy beaches.
The hotel is situated at the southern end of the island in Paranga Beach, between the Paradise area, about 300 metres away, and Plati Yialos Beach, approximately 1 kilometre away. The hotel lies directly alongside a sandy beach in a quiet, but well visited area. Mykonos Airport is approximately 4 km away. | https://www.travelodeal.com/uk/holiday/mykonos/mykonos/zephyros/?reference=010322717 |
D15 is a male ward for patients recovering from gastric or respiratory disorders.
Staff aim to be as adaptive as possible to the diverse needs of patients. The team is committed to providing a consistently high-standard of care, and encouraging patients and their families to be actively involved in nursing decisions.
Ward Matron – Fiona Green
Senior Sister – Judy Brown
Please feel free to share your experience of being on ward D15. Please e-mail [email protected]
Patients will need to bring with them a list of any current medication they are on and, if possible, the actual tablets. Patients are welcome to wear their own clothes in order to feel as comfortable as possible. Some of the tests and procedures may require patients to wear a hospital gown, which will be provided if needed. We do not offer a laundering service for a patient’s own clothes.
Valuables should be left at home, as things can easily get lost or left behind somewhere after a transfer. | http://www.swbh.nhs.uk/patients-visitors/before-you-arrive/wards/d15/?textSize=normal |
What is the most common sheep breed in the UK?
With ewes, the Texel, Lleyn and Bluefaced Leicester have increased in number, but hill breeds are in decline.
Falling numbers of Scottish Blackface, Swaledale and Welsh Mountain are responsible for much of this drop.
Despite this fall, these three key hill breeds still account for over 20% of all ewes. Sheep husbandry is practised throughout the majority of the inhabited world, and has been fundamental to many civilizations.
In the modern era, Australia, New Zealand, the southern and central South American nations, and the British Isles are most closely associated with sheep production.
There is a large lexicon of unique terms for sheep husbandry which vary considerably by region and dialect.
Use of the word sheep began in Middle English as a derivation of the Old English word sceap; it is both the singular and plural name for the animal.
A group of sheep is called a flock. Many other specific terms for the various life stages of sheep exist, generally related to lambing, shearing, and age.
Being a key animal in the history of farming, sheep have a deeply entrenched place in human culture, and find representation in much modern language and symbology.
As livestock, sheep are most often associated with pastoral, Arcadian imagery. Sheep figure in many mythologies, such as the Golden Fleece, and major religions, especially the Abrahamic traditions.
In both ancient and modern religious ritual, sheep are used as sacrificial animals. | https://www.lowry.co.uk/davidshepherd-lambs.html |
The UCSD Health Sciences and its expanding Clinical and Translational Research Institute (CTRI) have received a five-year, $37.2 million Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Center for Research Resources, part of the National Institutes of Health.
UCSD joins a consortium of institutions in a national network dedicated to improving biomedical research by accelerating the application of laboratory discoveries into effective treatments for patients, more actively engaging communities in clinical research, and by training future generations of varied types of clinical and translational researchers.
“Medical science is evolving and growing exponentially. The need and demand for creative research projects, programs and people who can translate this basic research into real, beneficial therapies and treatments will only increase,” said David Brenner, M.D., vice chancellor for health sciences and dean of the UCSD School of Medicine.
“UC San Diego has a long, proven track record in translational science. From the Moores Cancer Center and the many research institutes on campus to our deep involvement in major clinical trials and status as one of the nation’s top teaching hospitals, the university has established itself as a vital hub for this kind of inspired work. This grant allows us, with the CTRI leading the way, to push ahead in new and even more imaginative ways, to advance medical research further, faster.”
Launched in 2006, the NCRR’s Clinical and Translational Science Awards program emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration among scientists and innovative approaches that resolve difficult medical challenges.
The mission of the Clinical and Translational Research Institute is ambitious, yet also grounded in real-world needs and expectations, said Gary S. Firestein, MD, professor of medicine, dean of translational medicine at UC San Diego’s School of Medicine and director of CTRI.
“The institute will produce not just outstanding science, but also translate the discoveries into improved health care, enhanced well-being and prevention,” said Firestein who is also the principle investigator of the CTSA grant. “We are bringing together the best people possible, from diverse disciplines and institutions, to work in an open, flexible and dynamic environment that allows them to fully bring their talents and strengths to bear upon the health care needs and problems of the day.”
The institute emphasizes five primary goals:
- Establish and refine a multidisciplinary educational pipeline that trains and supports clinical and translational scientists in a fast-changing field.
- Develop a robust — and integrated — clinical research infrastructure that includes research tools and cores like statistics and informatics to produce and analyze data.
- Create novel technologies that improve research and push science forward, in particular focusing on new imaging techniques and biomarker analysis to improve efficiency of testing innovative therapies.
- Form innovative translational research alliances with other institutes and with industry.
- Establish partnerships with community physicians and the public to translate scientific discoveries into best practices, improve research into health care disparities, and engage and educate citizens in biomedical science.
CTRI involves four professional schools of health sciences spanning two universities: the School of Medicine and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UC San Diego and the School of Nursing and School of Public Health at San Diego State University (SDSU).
Other partners include the UCSD Medical Center, the UCSD Rady School of Management, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, the Sanford/Burnham Institute for Medical Research, the J. Craig Venter Institute; the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology; the Rady Children’s Hospital Research Center, the Veterans Administration Medical Center in La Jolla and Palomar Pomerado Health System.
The institute also draws upon three powerful computing resources: the San Diego Supercomputer Center, the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Cal IT2) and the UCSD division of biomedical informatics.
For additional information about the CTRI, visit https:
/. | https://www.delmartimes.net/sddmt-ucsd-gets-372-million-for-clinical-and-2010jul14-story.html |
Stop steps, or wait steps, allow you to set a workflow to pause until a specific task is completed. Any steps in a workflow following a wait step will not be generated on a lead or a process until the wait step is completed.
This setting can be set on certain steps or on all steps in a workflow (in which case the workflow would generate the tasks one at a time).
Use wait steps to:
- Ensure you have filled out the correct custom fields before generating the next task (that task might an auto-email or a step that has conditional logic based on the custom fields)
- To ensure that all the steps are carried out in order
- and much more!
Deactivate this setting on steps to:
- Allow multiple steps to be generated if they can happen parallel to each other or in any order (the system will generate all the steps up till the next wait step).
To set this up, navigate to the process type settings. (Click into the process type your want to work on and click the gear icon in the top right). Click Stages & Workflows in the lefthand sidebar and choose a stage to edit.
Click the hand icon on the right of a step to set it as a wait step (or deactivate this setting for the step). If the icon is blue, this setting is active and that step is a wait step.
Here's how it works on a process. You can see how the first five steps in the workflow above have been generated, but since the fifth is a wait step, none of the future tasks beyond that wait step have been generated:
Once that task is completed, the next task(s) are generated for this process. | http://training.leadsimple.com/en/articles/3828336-stop-wait-steps |
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Podcasting is the distribution of media files using web based
syndication to hand-held devices. This presentation outlines how podcasting
works and could be used in Network Centric Warfare. The possible use of
podcasting with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Wedgetail Airborne Early
Warning & Control aircraft and Landing Helicopter Dock Ship will be
discussed.
About the Speaker
Tom is an Information Technology consultant with 20 years experience in the ICT industry in Australia. He is a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the Australian National University. Tom is a former IT advisor at Headquarters Australian Defence Force. He is a past President of the Australian Computer Society, Fellow and Honorary Life Member.
It is now six years since I left the Department of Defence. Much of my nine years there involved ways to adapt readily available and cost effective information technology for defence purposes. Recently, Air Commodore John Harvey (Director General NACC) and Dr Bruce Brown toured Australian Universities inviting participation in the Joint Strike Fighter Project.
To help my research colleagues, who are unfamiliar with defence projects, I prepared a web page about the JSF project and suggested some current IT research which could be applied. However, I only know of one research proposal which has been prepared as a result of the recent invitation. So to show how relatively simple IT could assist the project, I have prepared this example on podcasting.
F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter Program
The Australian Government is looking to replace the Royal Australian Air Force's F/A-18 Hornet and F-111 military fighter aircraft with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). In 2002 joined the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase of the JSF program. This allows Australian industry to compete for JSF work, and also Australian researchers to assist in the project.
The aircraft will conduct net centric operations, using information fusion, with features such as a wide screen 8 by 20 inch cockpit display. Radios on the F-35 can be software programmed to provide a wide range of communications capabilities (including Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System - SINCGARS, HAVE QUICK and JPALS).
JSF Part of a System
More so than previous aircraft, the F-35 is intended to be part of a system. This allows for areas of research by companies, research organizations and universities beyond those previously involved in aerospace and defence applications. In particular the JSF project has a high information technology component, with its integrated sensor suite for fused situational awareness. The integration of the F-35 into a Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) will require research in a number of disciplines.
The US version of the F-35 is intended to use Link-16 protocols to communicate with other aircraft and Air Defense Assets, satellites for Beyond Line of Sight communication, PHM Datalinks to ships, and the Joint Variable Message Format (JVMF), Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), to army land elements.
... the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is merely the tip of the
iceberg. Indeed, it is misleading to consider the JSF in isolation from other air capabilities, notably airborne early warning and control aircraft (AEW&C), the Jindalee
Over-The-Horizon system, air-to-air refuelling platforms, unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs) and the network of forward-operating bases situated across northern Australia.
Network Centric Warfare
"On the surface, Network Centric Warfare (NCW) is a simple concept that
involves the linkage of engagement systems to sensors through networks
and the sharing of information between force elements. Consequently,
much of the discussion and early development of the concept revolved
around connecting information systems and creating software applications
that allow people to use the available data. However, NCW is also based
on the idea that information is only useful if it allows people to act
more effectively: this makes the human dimension fundamental to NCW."
JSF and Wedgetail AEW&C Aircraft
Boeing Wedgetail
A major task for Australia will be to integrate the F-35 to the new Boeing Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) aircraft.
The Boeing Wedgetail is an aircraft designed in response to Australia's RFP to vendors for an Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) aircraft (and supporting segments) for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). In 1997, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems was awarded a contract to supply four AEW&C aircraft (whose design is based on the 737-700IGW), with Australia having the option to increase the order by three additional aircraft. ...
The aircraft uses the Northrop Grumman Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar and control systems. ... The cabin features eight operator consoles with sufficient space for four more; the Australian fleet will operate ten consoles with space for two more.
Australia has not made a decision as to which variant of the F-35 to purchase. In the past Australia has purchased longer range US carrier aircraft for land use, suggesting the F-35C. The design of the F-35C was changed, further extending its range.
One recent change to the CV aircraft was an increase in wing size to
reduce carrier recovery speed. This and other changes to increase fuel
capacity and reduce drag pushed the F-35C's radius of action close to
1,300km (700nm) - "100nm more than the requirement" ...
However, the Australian Defence Force is planning to have the first of two LDH ships in-service by 2012, at around the same time as the F-35. These ships look to the lay person like small aircraft carriers. While no decision has been made, these ships could be equipped to operate the Vertical Takeoff, Short Landing (V/STOL) F-35B version of the Joint Strike Fighter. The July 2003 Australian Defence Capability Brief discusses the suitability of the F-35 for carrier based operation.
Possible Research Areas
Australian universities and research organizations have the opportunity to participate in the JSF Project through the Australian Department of Defence managed project team. Defence staff have been briefing Australian universities on JSF participation during July 2006.
Podcasting for Network Centric Warfare
An example of the use of available IT would be to transmit radar and images from the F-35, to the Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) aircraft, Landing Helicopter Dock Ships and personnel on the ground. In the situation envisaged by F-35 designers, the aircraft would be tightly integrated with communications links to other aircraft and forces.
However, the F-35 may not have the needed communications, at least in the initial version and other Australian forces may not have compatible links or terminals. Also this hi-tech approach may not be suitable where the forces on the ground are civilian aid workers, or other nations peacekeepers, who cannot be equipped with specialized terminals.
The radar and other sensors on the F-35 will be capable of producing data at a far higher rate than can be transmitted by the digital radios on the aircraft. As an example tests indicate a 72 MB synthetic aperture radar image will take 48 minutes to transmit over the Link 16 connection at 26.88 kilobits per second.
In the conventional scenario, the F-35 would transmit data in real time to a headquarters, then that data would then be sent to the personnel on the ground. However, this assumes the F-35 is within line-of-sight to a receiving system, or has a working satellite link. It also assumes the personnel on the ground have the equipment to receive the information, can be cleared to use it and can afford to purchase it.
An alternative would be for the F-35 to be equipped with its own data processing and distribution system. Authorized stations within range could request a catalog of information available and download it as required. Stations could be on the Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) aircraft, the Landing Helicopter Dock Ships and personnel on the ground with hand-held terminals. Civilian personnel and those from other nations may use ruggedized commercial equipment, such as smart phones, and receive limited amounts of lower resolution information.
A system could be built from the ground up using military protocols and software, it would be a slow and expensive process. An alternative would be to use existing podcasting and web technology. Free open source software would allow low cost commercial equipment to be issued to those users who could not be authorized to use, or could not afford to buy, specialized military equipment.
Scenario 1: Air to Ground
Personnel on the ground activate the GPS function of their hand-held terminal and request surveillance data on that location. The next time a F-35 is in range, a list of available data is sent to the terminal. The terminal selects data the operator's location and requests a download. The terminal display the data.
Scenario 2: Air to Air
A Wedgetail operator has requested surface data on a particular area. The Wedgetail system automatically interrogates an F-35 in the area and finds it has SAR data. Bandwidth is limited so the Wedgetail only requests the small segment of data applicable to the request. This data in fused with the Wedgetail's own radar display for the operator.
Scenario 3: Air to Ship
Headquarters staff aboard the Landing Helicopter Dock Ship are planning a resupply by sea. The operator requests the system provide the latest images of two possible landing sites. During the final mission briefing an F-35 over flies one site, and the briefing display on ship is updated a few seconds later, showing the wharf has been destroyed at that site. The mission is immediately re-tasked to the other site.
Podcasting
BlackBerry SmartPhone
Podcasting is the distribution of audio or video files, such
as radio programs or music videos, over the Internet using either
RSS or Atom syndication for listening on mobile devices and
personal computers. The term podcast, like "radio", can
mean both the content and the method of delivery. Podcasters'
websites also may offer direct download of their files, but the
subscription feed of automatically delivered new content is what
distinguishes a podcast from a simple download or real-time
streaming (see below). Usually, the podcast features one type of
"show" with new episodes either sporadically or at
planned intervals such as daily, weekly, etc. In addition to
this, there are podcast networks that feature multiple shows on
the same feed.
The term "podcast" came from the
iPod produced by Apple
Computer, but applies to other portable digital media players. It
also applies to playing the audio files with a personal computer,
without the use of a portable device. It also applies to devices which can play video files. The term has more loosely been applied to any downloading of audio or video files to a computer, but in this document applies only to automated download.
Preparing Content
The media files for podcasting are usually thought of as being
music, but can be any audio or video, including spoken word books. In the military context, the podcast could contain digitized radar images, maps, briefings or orders. A podcast can contain binary data, formatted messages, map coordinates and word processing documents as well as audio and video.
... a lecturer starts the DLD application on the Windows PC in
the teaching venue and accepts or changes some information
(course code, lecture name) that is automatically retrieved from
the ANU central timetable system, then starts recording using the
microphone in the teaching venue and at the end of the lecture,
stops the recording process. That's it.
An mp3 recording is saved on the teaching venue PC behind the
scenes. Some short time after the lecture, the mp3 is
automatically transferred to a processing server ...
Podcast content is prepared as other digital content. For
music a sophisticated recording studio and complex post processing
may be used. For spoken word a microphone and PC will do. For military purposes, the content may need to be converted to a format compatible with the display device and the file made small enough for the available commutations channel. It should be noted that with the content already available, a simple conversion may be all that is required. As an example digital audio of a briefing could be recorded and sent along with accompaning Power Point slides.
Podcasting Feeds
Once the digital audio, video and other data is prepared, Podcasting uses RSS or Atom syndication, popularized with blogs (web logs) to distribute
content. The syndication uses small XML
files which provide an automated catalog of material available using standardized metadata elements.
The user can subscribe to an RSS (or ATOM) "feed" and
then receive podcasts automatically to their PC. The data downloaded to the PC can then be automatically loaded into an iPod or similar hand held player. A hand-held device with a wireless Internet connection, such as a PDA or smart phone, can combine the functions of the PC receiving the podcast and the portable player. In the military context a hand-held terminal can be used.
An example is the RSS2 feed for Radio National's "All
in the Mind" program. The URL for the feed is http://www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/feeds/mind.xml.
The file starts with a comment to identify it for those who see the
raw file (it is intended to be read by an RSS reader, not a web
browser. There is then a heading to identify the feed:
<rss version="2.0">
-
<channel>
<title>All in the Mind</title>
-
<description>
All In The Mind is Radio National's weekly foray into the
mental universe, the mind, brain and behaviour - everything from
addiction to artificial intelligence.
</description>
<link>http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/mind/</link>
<copyright>Australian Broadcasting
Corporation</copyright>
<language>en</language>
<itunes:author>ABC Radio
National</itunes:author>
-
<itunes:summary>
All In The Mind is Radio National's weekly foray into the
mental universe, the mind, brain and behaviour - everything from
addiction to artificial intelligence.
</itunes:summary>
<itunes:link rel="image" type="video/jpeg"
href="http://www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/feeds/mind.jpg">All
in the Mind</itunes:link>
<itunes:category text="Science"/>
<itunes:category text="Health"/>
<itunes:category text="Public Radio"/>
<itunes:category text="Australian"/>
Each Item in the Feed
Each item in the feed is then described:
<item>
<title>2006-03-25 The starving brain</title>
-
<description>
SUMMARY: The pressure to be thin is more intense than ever
– and with around 80% of teenage girls choosing to diet
– some slide down the slippery slope into anorexia
nervosa. While our knowledge of this puzzling disorder is still
limited, some inroads of understanding are being made into what
occurs in the starving brain. In this week's program we hear
some of the latest scientific research into the mechanisms of
anorexia, and a young woman who's on the path to recovery
gives a moving insight into what she's been through.
</description>
-
<link>http://www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/feeds/mind_20060325.mp3</link>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Mar 2006 00:00:00
+1000</pubDate>
<enclosure
url="http://www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/feeds/mind_20060325.mp3"
length="14476330"
type="audio/mpeg"/>
-
<guid>
2006-03-25 The starving brain - Sat, 25 Mar 2006 00:00:00
+1000
</guid>
<itunes:author>ABC Radio
National</itunes:author>
-
<itunes:summary>
</itunes:summary>
<itunes:duration>0:30:08</itunes:duration>
</item>
It should be noted that the RSS file does not contain the actual
digital audio, just a reference to it (metadata). This makes for a small file.
ATOM Syndication Format
The RSS format was originally defined for distributing text based news items ("Blogs"). This was then adapted for podcasting music. Apple defined their own additional (non-standard) elements. Even with these additional fields, the feed format does not suit non-entertainment applications. As an example the text of ABC talk radio items is included in the "Lyrics" element. The Atom format was created to be more flexible than RSS.
The ATOM Syndication Format was defined to provide a more standard and flexible format than RSS. The Atom format is defined in IETF RFC4287 (December 2005). It uses XML standard definitions and so can be more easily incorporated in web based systems than RSS. Particularly relevant for military use is Atom's provision for XML digital signatures to authenticate the content and encryption to protect it.
Atom allows Extension Elements to add extra details to the feed. In addition as it is an XML format, other XML markup may be included in Atom. This allows extra detail to be included. Standard Atom software may ignore the additional content. As an example this would allow location data (longitude and latitude) of radar images to be included in a feed. Specially designed feed software could read the location and decided if to download the radar image. Standard Atom software would ignore the location and download the radar image regardless.
ATOM Publishing Protocol
The ATOM Publishing Protocol (June 23, 2006) is a proposed companion standard to the ATOM Syndication Format. In its most basic form a news feed is simply a document on the web which must be checked regularly by the user's client software to find updates. APP provides a more active way to interrogate the news source and obtain new items.
APP is not yet a standard and there may be changes to it. Also it does not use the available Web Services protocol, which might be better for specific applications. Google have their own variation of APP called gData.
Fitting Podcasting with Existing Military Standards
While podcasting would be relatively simple to implement for military purposes, the difficult task would be integrating this with existing military IT standards. However, new military standards are evolving, such as the NATO C3 Technical Architecture.
Role of Ontologies
NATO suggests adopting RDF (Resource Description Framework) and ontoltogies. These XML based web standards offer the prospect of intelligent documents which would allow reasoning from the data. However, exactly how these can be used in real systems, and how much they offer over traditional databases is not yet clear.
... A prerequisite for widespread use of
ontologies is a joint standard for their description and exchange.
RDF(S) (Resource Description Framework Schema) ... ontology
representation language that emerged from work under DARPA's Agent
Markup Language (DAML) initiative ...OWL-S provides "a core set of markup
language constructs for describing the properties and capabilities of
Web services in unambiguous, computer-intepretable form."
F-35 UAV?
P-38 Lightning
The F-35 is not particularly suited to network centric warfare, being a conventionally piloted fighter aircraft (in the spirit of its namesake the Lockheed P-38 Lightning of World War 2). The F-35's pilot, weapons and sensors are all on the one airframe and cannot be deployed separately. A network centric warfare design would use separate aircraft for the pilot, weapons and sensors. Some studies of unmanned derivatives of the F-35 have been carried out.
Lockheed Martin has taken the wraps off studies of unmanned derivatives of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as it mounts a concerted campaign to establish itself in the unmanned systems market. Concepts studied by Lockheed's Skunk Works include both optionally piloted and dedicated unmanned versions of the JSF. ...
To reduce cost, Lockheed has developed a concept of operations in which four unmanned JSFs would be controlled by two manned F-35s, or F-22s, sharing sensor information via an airborne datalink. This would allow the sensors to be removed from the unmanned F-35s, which would be used as weapon carriers, reducing cost to about 72% that of the manned aircraft - "30-35% of the cost is in the sensors" ...
The Atom protocols are capable of running on a small computer platform. As an example podcasting could be done from a small UAV, or a pocket size manually deployed sensor. Low cost devices could use RFID and Smart network technology.
Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration
Some of these capabilities are demonstrated at CWID events (Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration).
... CWID is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's annual event
enabling the COCOMs and international community to investigate command,
control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and
reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions that focus on relevant and timely
objectives for enhancing coalition interoperability. U.S. Joint Forces
Command (USJFCOM), on behalf of the Chairman, is responsible for the
oversight of CWID.
The intent of CWID is to investigate C4ISR
technologies capable of being placed into an operational environment
within 12-18 months following the execution period. Interoperability
Trials include evaluations of hardware and/or software solutions. C/S/As
are highly encouraged to conduct further investigation into the tactics,
techniques, and procedures (TTP) using CWID as a vehicle. While the
focus of CWID is on new and emerging technologies, CWID is also an
appropriate venue for spiral development or validation of
fielded/near-fielded commercial and/or DoD systems when appropriate to
reduce fielding costs or transition timelines. The USJFCOM Capability
Development Process will be the primary method used to identify
candidate technologies that meet warfighter requirements.
Optional Piloted Surveillance and Reconnaissance System
Diamond DA42
An example of a flexible network centric warfare platform is the German built Diamond DA42 OPALE "Optional Piloted Surveillance and Reconnaissance System". This is a civilian twin engine light aircraft adapted for surveillance. It can be flow with, or without, a pilot and has a similar range to the F-35.
The OPALE system is represents a new generation in aerial sensor platform technology. Due to the fact that flying UAVs in controlled airspace is bound to civil aviation regulations, many applications are not
practicable at the time being. Being able to fly either piloted or unmanned OPALE offers solutions for a
broad spectrum of tasks e.g. reconnaissance, surveillance, border control, agricultural monitoring and more.
| |
The International Accounting Standards Board has acknowledged that it is not realistic to demand that insurance companies change to fair value accounting from 2005 and has divided its project into two phases - a decision appreciated by the insurance industry. Phase 1 will serve as a transition. There will be certain changes, in particular far-reaching disclosure requirements.
The starting point for the IASB's phase 2 deliberations is the asset and liability model, a static accounting concept focusing on the balance sheet. This model defines the annual profit as the difference in assets and liabilities between two reporting dates. Another focus of the board had been the strategy of valuing all financial instruments at fair value and recognising all changes in market value in the income statement. In response to extensive criticism from virtually all the parties involved,IAS 39, Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement, as currently under revision, will essentially retain the basic concept of dividing financial instruments into different categories that are either measured at fair value or on an amortised cost basis. Changes in market value only have to be included in the net profit or loss for instruments classified as 'trading'.
Changes in the value of investments classified as 'available for sale' can continue to be recognised directly in equity without affecting earnings.
With this background one might question why fair value accounting should continue to be pursued for insurance contracts given that these are considered to be financial instruments. It would imply that the generally long-term portfolio of an insurance company has to be accounted for like the trading portfolio of a bank. Is this a true and fair view of the underlying business model?
Such an accounting policy would have the following consequences for insurance companies. The projected profit arising from an insurance contract with, for example, a term of 30 years would already have to be fully recognised at inception of the contract. Unlike tradable securities, profit projections arising from insurance contracts have no intersubjective market value that is verifiable. According to the IASB, the fair value should therefore be based on entity-specific assumptions about future cashflows as well as actuarial assumptions (interest rates, cancellations, mortality). This reveals parallels with business appraisal methods based on management's subjective assumptions on the future. Useful information for the investor?
In theory it is! But is this really a benchmark for the success or failure during a reporting period?
Financial reporting based on this concept should be rejected for a number of reasons. Fair values that are based on actuaries' forecasts rather than on verifiable market values are not very useful. (And this does not reflect on my high appreciation for the actuarial profession). Upfront profit recognition on long-term insurance contracts leads to artificial volatility in earnings. This is because even if the long-term assumptions were correct on average, periodic changes (for instance in interest rates) will deviate from this average and lead to a revaluation with effects on earnings that may be substantial.
A higher level of volatility - caused 'artificially' by accounting policies - will lead to higher capital costs and put the insurance industry at a competitive disadvantage on the capital markets. It is obvious that this will cause a change in product design. It would have a negative impact, particularly on long-term pension products. Surely the aim of accounting principles should not be to influence or indeed change the business model.
Finally, at inception of the contract, profit has quite simply not been earned. It therefore does not belong in the financial statements.
Many questions
The IASB has considered the arguments against fair value accounting for insurance companies in some depth. While retaining the basic principle, the IASB decided that at inception of a contract a gain may not be recognised.
It may well be that the Enron and WorldCom scandals have contributed to this change in position. However, even if this decision should in principle be endorsed, it leaves many questions open. In particular, the IASB states simultaneously that acquisition costs should be expensed immediately, while a precautionary adjustment should be included when discounting expected future cashflow.
While the precautionary accounting smacks of the German Commercial Code, these proposals prompt not only theoreticians to query the conformity with fair value, but also practitioners to question the accounting entries.
That is because calculating the discounted value of future cashflows inevitably leads to an earnings balance. Irrespective of whether this balance is set to zero by 'cautious' selection of assumptions or by means of setting up a provision - after all, the intention is not to recognise a net gain in the first period - the big question as to how this balance should be distributed over the residual term remains unanswered. What could be more obvious than releasing the balance based on the actual development of earnings?
Without wishing to enter into a dogmatic discussion of accounting principles, it seems reasonable to presume that the IASB's proposals are not so very far apart from the accounting principles currently used in the insurance industry. I am forced, therefore, to question the precise purpose of a (superficial) change in accounting methods that requires the insurance industry to undertake an unprecedented change in systems that will be extremely expensive, with the end result effectively the same.
Despite all the understandable criticism of the fair value approach it nevertheless offers strategic solutions for some weaknesses in current accounting practices. Currently, asset liability matching is not reflected in financial reporting. Furthermore, accounting for embedded options certainly needs to be reviewed, given that in financial terms they are essentially derivatives.
Regardless of the future direction of accounting, there are two fundamental requirements that need to be met. First, each fundamental accounting change requires an adequate transition phase and testing period. As an initial step, additional information provided in the notes to the financial statements is more appropriate than an immediate change in the accounting system.
Second, restricting fair value accounting to the insurance sector goes against the objective of standardising international accounting principles across all sectors. If fair value is to be adopted, then it should be applied to all sectors and to all assets and liabilities.
The discussion will continue and the IASB has proved a number of times that it is willing to address well-founded concerns. | https://www.accountancydaily.co/financial-reporting-insurance-fair-play-insurers |
Those tiny black flecks in the photo above may not look like much, but they could be the key to a revolution in wearable Health Tech devices. What you see in this picture is are bits of single-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), and researchers at Columbia Engineering and the Georgia Institute of Technology have proven that this material has piezoelectric properties. This means that it creates electricity when it expands or contracts.
Researchers have theorized that such thin layers of materials could have piezoelectric properties, but this is the first time that this behavior has been demonstrated. MoS2 in thicker layers does not have the same properties. The alignment of the molecules in the layers only produces an electrical current in one direction, and with thicker material, the random arrangement of the layers cancels out the current that is generated.
Produced in quantity, this single-layer material could be incorporated into fabrics, flexible sensors, or other devices to provide electrical power for wearable Health Tech devices. It could reduce or eliminate the need for batteries, resulting in a “wear it and forget it” ease of use. The discovery of the piezoelectric properties for MoS2 is likely to lead to experimentation with related compounds, which could lead to stretchable materials that can generate electricity. | https://healthtechinsider.com/2014/10/20/single-molecule-thick-sheets-produce-electricity/ |
Pack up the picnic chairs and watch a flick in the great outdoors. Through Movies Under the Stars, the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and NYC Parks bring free film screenings to parks throughout the five boroughs. Movies are shown in the city’s parks and playgrounds, and range from new films to all-time classics.
TONIGHT: In Coco, an animated film, a boy named Miguel dreams of becoming a famous guitar player, despite the misgivings of his close-knit family. When his ambitions cause him to run afoul of a curse, he must journey into the Land of the Dead to seek forgiveness from his ancestors.
The film will be shown in the park house at Clove Lakes Park.
Time
(Saturday) 8:30 pm - 11:00 pm
Location
Clove Lakes Park
1150 Clove Rd. | https://www.siparent.com/events/movies-under-the-stars-coco/ |
The computer system is the versatile automatic digital electronic device accepting data processing it to produce elaborate information. Computers consist of hardware and software, the hard ware part of computer systems includes all the physically tangible parts of the computer systems. The software consist of the intangible parts of the computing systems mostly the system and the application software.
The hardware components of the computer system include the memory, I/O devices, and the C.P.U.The I/O devices include the components, which input the data in the computer systems for processing to give genuine outputs. They include the keyboards the and the user interface gadgets such as mouse used for manipulating data on the computer screen.
The output devices are used to display the processed information for the computer memory. The output devices include the monitors or the visual display unit. The central processing unit has three units, which help in the processing of the relevant data such as the arithmetic logic unit, control unit, and the memory including the signals (Marr et al, 2015).
Architecture of the C.P.U
C.P.U central processing unit
The central processing unit is the basic functional unit of the computer systems acting as the brain of the computer systems. The central processing unit has three basic units the Arithmetic unit helping in performing arithmetic fuctions.The logical unit performing the logical operations in the within the computing functions. The main memory used for holding the identity of the process and the data while the processing is taking place and storing the already processed information awaiting display.
Main memory
The main memory has the registers holding the data already processed and the ones waiting processing. When the data uploads in the computer systems, the data resides in the memory, which again holds the process transpiring on the data. The memory holds the information awaiting display on the visual display unit.
Control unit
The control units include electric pulses, which enable the movement of data controls within the central processing unit. The pulse flow starts from the input device to memory, arithmetic logic unit to the output device such as the visual display unit.
Arithmetic logic unit
Performs the arithmetic and logic functions and their complement s within the central processing unit where the logical operations include NAND, OR, X-OR and NOT operations. The arithmetic unit performs arithmetic functions including all the arithmetic operators. After all the arithmetic and logical operation are finished, the processed information is stored in the main memory to be delivered to the display devices for analysis.
Components of the computer memory
There are various components in the computer memory
PBC (printed circuit board)
It is the green board holding the memory chip made of several layers. Each layer contains traces and circuitry to control the movement of data. High quality memory modules use more layers and the spaces between the traces (Smallwood et al, 2014).
Traces (internal trace layer)
It includes the traces as roads that data travels on showing the width and the curvature as well as the distance between affects both the speed and reliability.
Contact fingers
Contact fingers helps in plugging the memory chips into the module. The contacts can be either tin or gold. Gold is better conductor than tin but it is very expensive.
Chip packaging
It is the metal coating material around the actual silicon existing in various types such as the DIP, SOJ, and TSOP and CSP.
Chip stacking
It is the most important module of the memory components involving the stacking of chips on top of one another internally or externally within the computer central processing unit.
RAM (Random access memory)
It is also the random access memory or the main memory accessed randomly without touching the preceding bytes. It is the most common memory found in the computers and other electronic devices such as printers. There are different types of RAMs the DRAM and the SRAM, which differs in the ways by which they hold data. DRAM requires being refreshed thousands of times per second while SRAM does not need to be refreshed making it faster than DRAM.
Cache
The cache memory is a CPU memory that a computer system can access more quickly than it can access regular RAM. The memory is connect directly with the CPU chip, or placed on a separate chip that has a separate bus interconnected with the Central processing unit with the computer system.
Registers
Registers is a group of flip-flops which are capable of storing data inform of set and reset states or the on and off state. The flip-flops are made from digital electronic gates with two states on and off state.
Data Bus in the C.P.U
A data bus is a computer subsystem allowing the transfer of data from one component to another on the motherboard or system board or two computers. The transmission of data takes place to and from the computer memory. The transfer of data transpires from the central processing unit (C.P.U) to other computer components. The data bus can be 32 bit or 64 bit making the data bus handle more data making the data bus handle more data. There are internal and the external types of data buses. The internal data bus called the local bus connects all the components on the motherboard. The external data bus connects all the peripheral devices to the motherboard.
References
Marr, M. D., Klein, M. D., McKelvie, S. J., & Frink, D. L. (2015). U.S. Patent No. 9,032,197. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Smallwood, P., Lotfy, M., & Sanders, M. (2014). Introducing the CPU and assembly language concepts via a model instruction set architecture. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, 30(2), 35-43. | https://www.tutorialsmagnet.com/it-332-c-p-u-components-and-architecture/ |
Learning via Technology
At Vienna International School (VIS), we harness learning and teaching technologies to support inquiring, inspired and involved lifelong learners.
To ensure this, we are committed to policies and practices which entrust that our community members:
- are empowered as a learning community to become digitally fluent through safe, balanced and discerning use of digital technologies.
- will have equitable access to authentic learning experiences through the purposeful use of learning and teaching technologies.
- are inspired to inquire, invent and solve problems in local and global contexts using digital technologies.
- are supported in becoming responsible, self-directed and reflective users of technology through ongoing opportunities for personal and professional growth.
- embrace an open-minded attitude towards working innovatively with digital tools to optimize learning at VIS. | https://www.vis.ac.at/curriculum/learning-via-technology |
High-resolution Hong Kong COVID-19 Hotspot Map launched
The new online Hong Kong COVID-19 Hotspot Map provides visualisations of the dynamic geographical distribution of COVID-19 cases within the city.
The interactive map was created by a research team from Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) and The University of Hong Kong.
WHAT’S THE STORY ABOUT
This map shows territory-wide data about COVID-19 infections. The Interactive Map Dashboard, run by the Hong Kong government, provides real-time data.
It displays infection risks at different locations using a colour scheme that ranges from purple for those with the lowest risk to red for those with the highest. The map shows the changing risk levels at each location through dynamic colour patterns.
Users can also zoom in and out to view COVID-19 risk levels at more or less specific locations.
The color visualisation of COVID-19 risks levels is based upon the automatic, real time updating and computation infection case data using a spatial-temporal analysis tool called Kernel Density Visualisation.
The new computation methods allow the hotspot map to be enhanced to high-definition resolution (1375 x 960 pixels). It can process 1 million data points in 0.5 seconds of response time.
WHY IT MATERS
It is crucial to have accurate and timely information about the geographical distribution of COVID-19 patients in order to implement effective infection control measures as well as to allocate medical resources to combat the pandemic. The public can also benefit from this information in order to understand health risks.
This is why it is important to develop a system that can quickly update and process high resolution images. Many visualisation software programs do not support high-resolution KDV, even with millions of datasets. Furthermore, the current KDV computation methods cannot support dynamic image creation in real time.
The research team devised new methods of computing to improve the KDV’s visual creation. These novel methods produce a response time that is 100 times faster than the most advanced.
THE BIGGER TREND
The interactive COVID-19 map was launched at a time when Hong Kong has seen an increase in daily cases, surpassing 5,000 in the previous two weeks. In an effort to reopen its economy, the city recently relaxed its social distancing protocol.
The CovidInArea app, which visualises COVID-19 risk, was unveiled by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in August. The app uses open data from Department of Health to create a heatmap of locations where COVID-19 cases have been reported. The app is available on both Android and iOS. It provides real-time GPS support, as well as an automatic check for COVID-19 hotspots. Access to the mobile map is free and requires no registration. Personal information is not collected.
ON THE REPORT
“The new algorithms and solutions are able to support more KDV-based geospatial analyses tasks. The functionalities of the Hong Kong COVID-19 hotspot map were greatly improved by their use, making them a valuable tool for monitoring the risk of COVID-19 within the community. It can help health authorities and individual citizens to take informed and effective steps against the pandemic,” stated Xu Jianliang (research lead, professor, and head of the Department of Computer Science, HKBU).
The research team also plans to use its new methods for KDV in traffic hotspot identification, crowd control at tourist attractions, property prices visual analysis, and management of real-time weather resource management. | https://republicnewsusa.com/news/health/high-resolution-hong-kong-covid-19-hotspot-map-launched/ |
EU beings training Mozambique army against IS-linked jihadists
The European Union began a military training mission in Mozambique on Wednesday to help local armed forces fight jihadists who have been wreaking havoc in the gas-rich northeast for four years, the Mozambican military said.
The EU sent 1,100 soldiers in September to train rapid intervention units for two years. The EU will also provide non-lethal weapons.
According to the head of the Mozambican armed forces, "The soldiers trained here will be able to go on missions,"
Armed jihadist groups have been wreaking havoc since late 2017 in the poor, Muslim-majority province of Cabo Delgado, which borders Tanzania but has natural gas-rich subsoils. The violence has already left at least 3,340 people dead and forced more than 800,000 people from their homes.
Portugal and the United States also sent Special Forces on a training mission earlier this year. In total, more than 3,100 African, European and American troops have been deployed in Cabo Delgado province.
Rwanda was the first African country to send troops in July.
The 16 countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) decided in early October to extend the mission of a regional force deployed since July-August in the region and which was to end on 15 October.
The Rwandan forces claimed their first successes in early August, saying in particular that they had taken back the strategic port of Mocimboa da Praia from the insurgents. | |
The U.S. Army Simulation and Training Technology Center named the Idaho State University "Play2Train" Second Life application produced by Rameshsharma Ramloll as a finalist for the inaugural Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge.
Ramloll is a research assistant professor for the Idaho State University Institute of Rural Health. The ISU program was one of nine finalists in the Government/Government Contractor category and is among the top three in the "skill building" category for the Government/Government Contractor stream. There were nine other finalists in the Non-Government category. A complete listing of finalists follows.
"Play2Train" is a 3D virtual place where geographically separated learners, subject-matter experts and content builders meet as avatars to create collaboratively immersive learning experiences for the health care, emergency preparedness and educational services industry. The program's objective is to enhance the knowledge and skills of health care professionals to meet the public health preparedness and emergency response demands resulting from acts of bioterrorism and other incidents. More information on Play2Train is available at http://www.play2train.org.
The Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge was launched in August 2009 to reach a global development community to explore innovative and interactive training and analysis solutions in virtual worlds. The goal was to expose possibilities for using virtual worlds that may have not been considered by the U.S. Government. Evaluators across the United States government including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Transportation and Health and Human Services were instrumental in determining the finalists.
"My co-workers and I are very honored that we have received this award," Ramloll said. "Our success in this endeavor shows that in spite of obstacles, we can sometimes transcend them and achieve notable things."
Submissions were received from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada and made use of a variety of virtual worlds: such as Second Life™, ActiveWorlds and Hyper-Reality. Entries were then divided into four categories: Collaboration, Skill Building, Instruction and Visualization.
"It was clear that there were groups of developers who were pushing the envelope of training and analysis capabilities within virtual worlds," said Tami Griffith, the creator of the challenge. "Our hope was that the Federal Virtual World Challenge would expose those ‘pockets of excellence’ and provide an opportunity to build relationships between these innovators and the federal government."
Finalists are invited to demonstrate their entries and attend the award ceremony taking place on the final day of the Defense Users' GameTech Conference in Orlando March 29-31. Non-Government winners will receive travel accommodations to the conference. This group is also eligible to receive a monetary award in the amounts of $1,000, $500 or $250 for first through third place. Additionally, the director of the Simulation & Training Technology Center will have the option of awarding a $25,000 grand prize if a submission provides a significant advancement and would likely lead to additional future government investment.
Finally, the finalists are invited to provide a poster session at the Federal Consortium of Virtual Worlds event in Washington, D.C., May 13-14.
The Non-Government category finalists, in alphabetical order of entry are:
• Building 3D Models in Second Life – Dr. Cynthia Calongne
• Breakdown – Jeremiah Isbell
• DataScape – David Burden
• Hyper-Reality – Kevin Simkins
• Imagine – Kevin Simkins
• Immersive Learning Environment – Donelle Bunch-Sydow
• PIVOTE – David Burden
• Tactical Situation Visualization – James Stibbard
• Tredpro Fusion Fire System – Aaron Buley
•Virtual Training Partners – Mark Jankowski
The Government/Government Contractor category finalists are:
• Army Family Support Center – Jaque Davison
• Chicken Chase – Dana Moore
• iSched – Virtual World Training Scheduler – Alexandre Gosselin
• I-Room – Austin Tate
• Mars Expedition Strategy Challenge – Mike McCrocklin/Andrew Stricker/Dr. Cynthia Calongne
• Play2Train – Ramashsharma Ramloll
• VetAdvisor Virtual Room – Dan Frank
• Virtual Border Crossing Simulation – Ken Hudso
Categories: | https://www.isu.edu/news/2010-spring/idaho-state-university-play2train-program-named-federal-virtual-worlds-challenge-finalist.html |
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/208,705, filed Jun. 9, 2021, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
BACKGROUND
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention generally relates to methods and apparatuses related to goalkeeper soccer gloves and more specifically to methods and apparatuses related to the improvement of hand grip technique and the protection of the goalkeeper's hand from injury.
SUMMARY
The present invention comprises a goalkeeper soccer glove generally consisting of first material covering the palm surface and finger region—the surface that most generally contacts and which is intended to contact the soccer ball. As disclosed herein, a goalkeeper soccer glove with material has several benefits, especially in the training aspect of learning correct goalkeeper technique. The inventive glove also enhances sensitivity to the soccer ball and encourages the goalkeeper to apply the right amount of pressure to secure the soccer ball. Additionally, the inventive glove improves a goalkeeper's grip strength and ability to absorb the force of the ball being forcibly kicked in the direction of the goalkeeper.
Wearing the inventive glove during drills can simulate the stress and anxiety levels of the goalkeeper in a game situation, helping the goalkeeper to develop psychological strength and coping mechanisms. The negative consequences of poor goalkeeper technique are amplified by the inventive glove, amplifying and identifying small errors that can be corrected before they lead to larger errors in game conditions.
Thinner materials on the glove enhances sensitivity and kinetic awareness, helping the goalkeeper know, with greater accuracy, where the ball is in relation to the ideal catching position. Heightened sensory processing enables better approximations, making the goalkeeper more efficient at holding the ball. The lack of grip and padding on the inventive gloves teach goalkeepers to properly absorb the force or an incoming ball, thereby reducing injury risk.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention may take physical form in certain parts and arrangement of parts, embodiments of which will be described in detail in this specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and wherein:
1
FIG.
shows a perspective top view of one example of a goalkeeper glove according to some embodiments of this invention.
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FIG.
shows a view of the top of one example of a goalkeeper glove according to some embodiments of this invention.
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FIG.
shows a view of the top of a goalkeeper glove according to some embodiments of this invention.
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FIG.
illustrates a perspective top and side view of one example of a goalkeeper glove according to some embodiments of this invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well as the singular forms, unless he context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of states features, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure and will not be interested in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
New soccer goalkeeper training gloves for the technical development of ball handling are discussed herein. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.
The present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the invention, and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated by the figures or description below.
1
FIG.
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The present invention will now be described by referencing the appended figures representing preferred embodiments. depicts a perspective view of the elements that may comprise first a goalkeeper soccer glove according to various embodiments of the present invention.
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In one preferred embodiment, each of the elements of the glove comprise and are constructed, at least in part, with a first material that covers at least a portion of the palm surface . The palm surface is the portion of the glove is intended to contract the associated ball , including the underside surface of the fingers. The first material has the quality of providing little friction when contacting an outer surface of the associated ball .
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Importantly, this feature is directly the opposite of most goalkeeper gloves, which feature sticky materials or grip designs to increase the friction between the goalkeeper's glove and the outer surface of the associated soccer ball . Prior art goalkeeper gloves may incorporate specific materials which are “sticky” especially in the palm and finger areas to create high coefficients of friction between the palm area and underside surface of the fingers with the outer surface of the associated soccer ball . Further, prior art goalkeeper gloves may incorporate specific grip patterns into the glove design, especially in the palm and finger areas to create high coefficients of friction between the palm area and underside surface of the fingers with the outer surface of the associated soccer ball .
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However, in the current, inventive goalkeeper glove , specific materials which are not “sticky,” or which will not have high frictional coefficients have been utilized, especially in the palm and finger areas to create low coefficients of friction between the palm area and underside surface of the fingers with the outer surface of the associated soccer ball . Further, in the current, inventive goalkeeper glove, the grip pattern incorporated into the glove design, especially in the palm and finger areas, have been chosen to create low coefficients of friction between the palm area and underside surface of the fingers with the outer surface of the associated soccer ball .
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The first material may be constructed out of felt, foam, latex, polyester, nylon, or other similar or suitable materials which produce the desired low coefficient of friction between the glove and the associated ball . A preferred material is limestone-based polychloroprene, sometimes knows as “limestone neoprene.” The main neoprene compound remains chloroprene and uses calcium carbonate from limestone to form chloroprene rubber chips. These rubber chips are melted down in an oven and go through a chemical process. The melted substance is infused with air bubbles and baked into a block of neoprene foam. This block is then sliced in any neoprene thickness needed to make the glove material, in thicknesses ranging from 0.4 mm to 4 mm thickness. In one embodiment of the invention, the coefficient of friction is less than one half of the coefficient of friction of prior art gloves.
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In another embodiment, an extended wrist may be configured extending from the first material and backhand of the glove . The extended wrist is preferably of assorted lengths and can provide more support.
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FIG.
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depicts the stitching on the top of the glove . In preferred embodiments, the stitching is used to connect all elements of the glove. The stitching may be made out of, but is not limited to, suitable materials such as Kevlar. The glove contains a reinforced backhand to aid the wearer in proper technique and can lessen the likelihood of injury.
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In preferred embodiments, all materials contained in the glove are thinner than prior art gloves so as to increase the wearer's sensitivity and kinetic awareness. For example, prior art gloves have a thickness of about 4 millimeters. The inventive glove has a thickness of between 0.4 millimeter and 3.5 millimeters, with the preferred thickness being 2 millimeters. The materials may be layered.
100
While preferred materials have been described, the glove is not limited by these materials.
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FIG.
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With reference to , the backhand of a glove according to the invention.
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With reference to , an associated ball is shown being gripped by an associated user wearing the inventive gloves .
Numerous embodiments have been described herein. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the above methods and apparatuses may incorporate changes and modifications without departing from the general scope of this invention. It is intended to include all such modifications and alterations in so far as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof. Further, the “invention” as that term is used in this document is what is claimed in the claims of this document. The right to claim elements and/or sub-combinations that are disclosed herein as other inventions in other patent documents is hereby unconditionally reserved.
In one or more embodiments, a first goalkeeper soccer glove for the technical development of ball handling comprising: a first material covering the palm surface—the surface that contacts the ball, including the finger region; an extended wrist implement for more support; a thicker palm area; and a reinforced backhand.
Having thus described the invention, it is now claimed: | |
Teaching staff:
Mg. art. Anna Priedola (1 KRP)
Mg. paed. Nora Vilmane (2 KRP)
Mg. art. Dzintra Vīriņa (3 KRP)
Module content
Module imparts basic knowledge and skills in acquiring visual art language and artistic creation.
Student learns to understand visual language as one of the human communication systems. Visual art language is a part of this system with the most complex semantic structure.
The following themes and issues are covered by this module both theoretically and practically:
- the concept and structure of visual language, visual culture
- the elements of visual language and the relation among them (dot, line, shape, colour, size, texture/facture, light-shade)
- visual concepts (rhythm, movement, sound, tension, balance, proportion, direction, space etc)
- visual perception and thinking (visual information, sign, symbol, image, archetype)
- artwork, image and content
- the structuring options of elements of visual art language, composition (composition modes, principles, perspective, color theory, relations [color, tonality, proportions, shape etc.])
A great emphasis is placed towards practical activities, but with preparing and taking part at seminars, student learns to discuss art works and analyze the creation process in various contexts.
The development, preparation and presentation of art work develops understanding of an art project, organizes for a purposeful process. The student acquires visualization in plane and space in practice, experiments, offers ideas.
Studentu izstādes "Robeža" dokumentācija: | https://mplab.lv/en/izglitiba/0/&mod=6 |
World War I is a dramatic account of the Great War combining emotive photography with personal accounts to evoke both the futility and spirit of the conflict.
Every aspect of World War I - sea, land and the home front - is explored. Re-live major campaigns through timelines, examine the decisions and military actions that decided each outcome and read compelling eyewitness accounts of soldiers and civilians that paint a vivid picture both of crucial battles and day-to-day routines. Plus, letters home and haunting war poetry highlight the most important aspect of "the war to end all wars", its appalling human cost.
Also featuring a guide to the battlefield sites, memorials, cemeteries and visitor centres at Verdun, the Somme, Ypres and other locations commemorating the fallen, World War I is an exceptional guide to this important historical event. | https://www.dk.com/uk/book/9781409376521-world-war-i/ |
Subsets and Splits