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Well that was A LOT less painful than I thought it was going to be and I think everything has taken root nicely in its new home. If there are any broken parts of the site, especially with the applications, which initially proved a little sensitive to the move (but I think are now fixed), just let me know and I'll fix them as soon as I can.
After a bit of a delay, the Cobwebbed Forest's Character Generator (http://cobwebbedforest.co.uk/workshop/CharGen.php) will now generate Knaves, Priests, and Hunters.
I'm going to retrofit the 'Supremacy of the Sword' abilities into the Knight and Barbarian generator next, and then incorporate Appendix 1 into the generator so that notable equipment is generated, too.
Supremacy of the Sword abilities now appear in Knight and Barbarian professions generated by the Character Generator.
The Ranking Sheets Pack include sheets for Priest, Knave and Hunter. I've also corrected the Mystic's ranking sheet (thanks to Maasenstodt for noticing the error).
The spell summary sheets now include additional sheets with the exotic/alternative spells for each caster profession.
I wanted it to be immediately obvious at a glance that these spells are special/rare/different/optional should these sheets be floating around the gaming table.
It creates enough room on the page for me to add an 'origin' column.
The elementalist spell summaries don't fit on one page, so I grouped two opposing elements per page as these are the secondary element groups. The darkness elementalist spell summaries are on a separate sheet, as GMs might not want to hand these out to players (for that extra bit of mystery ).
Thanks for your efforts on providing these resources!
Thanks Lee, appreciate your work.
The Players' Guide and Cadaver Draconis Updates continue apace, and I'm now half-way through updating the Character Generator with notable items (Knight, Barbarian, Sorcerer, Mystic, Assassin, Elementalist, and Warlock done - Demonologist, Knave, Hunter, Priest, Thane and Friar yet to do). There are a lot of values to poke into the tables, so it's taking longer than I expected. Expect the other professions to be completed in the next week or so.
Identify duplicates (happens a lot with potions) and list each item only once, but with a multiplier next to the line.
Try and make it more logical - tie weapons to weapon groups, avoid magical two-handed swords and shields appearing in the same list, etc.
Give a chance of a warlock's magical armour or weapon being one of his Major Enchantment items (assuming he has the skill).
Provide a chance that a magical item is cursed.
Whilst I'm still working on it, is there anything else folks would want to add to the notable possessions algorithms in the Character Generator?
One think I definitely WON'T be doing, is adjusting stats (Attack, Defence, etc.) based on notable possessions - not because it's too difficult to do, but because they only apply when the weapon/armour is wielded/worn, which may not be the case during the encounter for which the NPC has been generated. Additionally, if an NPC has multiple magical weapons, which one should apply its bonuses to the base ability score?
So I'm suffering from too many projects and too little time, but I have (finally!) made some of the promised updates to the Character Generator.
10th+ rank sorcerers will roll 1d6 for potions, and 10th+ rank mystics will only roll 1d4 potions, not the other way around.
10th+ rank elementalists have no chance of having any scrolls.
10th+ rank hunters will only roll 1d4 for potions, not 1d6.
I haven't implemented the hunter's quirky magical weapon selection rules. The other professions don't have their weapons weighted towards their favourite weapon, so haven't followed that through into the hunter profession. If I do decide to do it for the hunter, I'll do it for all of the professions.
There's still the Thane and Friar to do, but that will have to wait as I need to go to the gym now. | http://forum.libraryofhiabuor.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=30&start=20 |
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Administration’s Grand Challenges of the 21st Century. The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is a nonprofit scientific association dedicated to advancing biological research and education for the welfare of society. Founded in 1947 as a part of the National Academy of Sciences, AIBS became an independent, member-governed organization in the 1950s. AIBS is sustained by a robust membership of individual biologists and nearly 200 professional societies and scientific organizations representing the breadth of the biological sciences. The combined individual membership of the latter exceeds 250,000.
In the report “Strategy for American Innovation,” President Obama proposed a plan for fostering the innovation economy of the future. As the Administration moves forward with efforts to prioritize the scientific and engineering challenges that will constitute the strategy, several additional areas should be included in the plan. Food security, healthy ecosystems, cataloging biodiversity, and access to scientific data are all grand challenges for the 21st century.
The United States is a leader in agricultural research. Through the research activities of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), we have increased crop productivity, addressed pest outbreaks, and created drought-tolerant crops. These efforts, particularly through USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture, should be expanded. By increasing collaboration among scientific disciplines and between American and international scientists, we can work to end world hunger while exploring energy production from some biofuels and addressing the domestic obesity problem. These efforts would also yield economic returns. According to USDA’s Economic Research Service, each dollar invested in agricultural research returns approximately $10 in benefits.
Understanding ecosystems and the services they provide is essential if we are to develop sustainable models of natural resource use and responsible environmental stewardship. Federal agencies, such as the United States Geological Survey, the National Science Foundation, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, conduct or support important ecosystem research and monitoring programs. These efforts can help the nation and the world address climate change, improve human health, and build a green economy based on carbon neutral fuels. A significant and sustained federal investment in the research and monitoring programs of these agencies would drive innovation, create jobs, and contribute to the resolution of our grand environmental challenges.
Biological products and genetic resources identified or derived from living organisms contribute to the economy. One-quarter to one-half of all pharmaceuticals are derived from biological products. Naturally-derived medications like taxol are helping to fight cancer. Modern agriculture is based upon domesticated species, which continue to be modified through the introduction of genes from wild populations. Living organisms are also catalysts for advancements in materials science, such as the development of adhesives that can be used underwater or the creation of bulletproof vests from spider silk. With countless new discoveries waiting to be made, it would be wise to make a sustained and significant investment in a coordinated effort to identify and study the planet’s biological diversity.
The United States should strive to discover and document all living species within its borders and to work with international partners to do the same throughout the world. A key aspect of these efforts will be the digitization of object-based scientific collections, which will provide researchers and students with greater access to specimens and data. Additionally, if we were to digitally capture the specimens and associated data currently in our nation’s scientific collections, this knowledge could be made available to students learning in the digital libraries envisioned by the President.
Although the National Science Foundation has invested in this area, the federal investment is insufficient to meet the need. Funding will help the scientific community ensure access to and proper curation of irreplaceable biological specimens and the associated data, and will stimulate innovative new computer systems, digitization technologies, and database management tools. A sustained investment in this programmatic area will advance science and cultivate new technologies and economic markets.
The federal government maintains data on weather, health, natural resources, and other topics. The Administration has initiated efforts to make more of these valuable data sets available to the public. Despite these efforts, many other data sets compiled by federal agencies are not available online or have not yet been transcribed into an electronic format. This information, if made available in an easily accessible format, would advance our nation’s research enterprise.
Making federally-managed data available to the public would facilitate interdisciplinary research that could contribute to the President’s stated grand challenges in human health. These data could be incorporated into classrooms around the country as part of research-driven learning experiences. In order to realize these benefits, the Office of Science and Technology Policy should lead an effort to work with federal agencies to prioritize the inclusion of data and to set data format standards. Although the launch of data.gov was an important first step, more work remains.
Thank you for your consideration of our comments. If AIBS may provide further assistance to you on this or other matters, please do not hesitate to contact me or AIBS Director of Public Policy Dr. Robert Gropp at 202-628-1500. | http://www.alteramedia.com/83c/science_policy/grand_challenges.html |
Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner has created history by successfully jumping From The Edge Of Space at supersonic speed today (14th October 2012).
Felix Baumgartner breaks the record for the highest ever skydive by jumping out of a balloon 128,000ft (39km) above New Mexico.
Video cameras relayed the moment Baumgartner stepped from his balloon capsule to begin his fall to Earth.
It took about 10 minutes for him to reach the desert surface below.
Helicopter recovery teams have gone to the Felix Baumgartner's landing site to return him to the mission control centre set up at Roswell airport.
You need to read my previous post if you want to know the details about this mission and to know about Felix Baumgartner.
Watch below the Highlights of the Felix Baumgartner's supersonic freefall from 128k'.
The space jumping mission was shown as Live on YouTube. And, this YouTube Live too created a record of highest ( more than 8 Million) concurrent views of Live Video.
And, you can watch the below video showing details about Felix Baumgartner.
Watch below video showing inspiring Quotes of Felix Baumgartner.
You can subscribe to our Email posts, and you can bookmark this blog for further reading, or you can subscribe to our blog feed. | https://www.blog.qualitypointtech.com/2012/10/watch-live-felix-baumgartners-freefall.html |
Q:
Pandas split sentence and label phrases to perform BIO tagging
I have labeled data like this:
Data = {'text': ['when can I decrease the contribution to my health savings?', 'I love my guinea pig', 'I love my dog'],
'start':[43, 10, 10],
'end':[57,19, 12],
'entity':['hsa', 'pet', 'pet'],
'value':['health savings', 'guinea pig', 'dog']
}
df = pd.DataFrame(Data)
text start end entity value
0 .. health savings 43 57 hsa health savings
1 I love my guinea pig 10 19 pet guinea pig
2 I love my dog 10 12 pet dog
Want to split sentences into words and tag each word. If the word is associated with an entity, tag it with that entity.
I have tried the way in this question:
Split sentences in pandas into sentence number and words
But that method only works when the value is a single word like 'dog' but won't work if the value is a phrase like 'guinea pig'
Want to perform BIO tagging. B stands for beginning of a phrase. I stands for inside of a phrase. O stands for outside.
Thus the desired output will be:
Sentence # Word Entity
0 Sentence: 0 when O
1 Sentence: 0 can O
2 Sentence: 0 I O
3 Sentence: 0 decrease O
4 Sentence: 0 the O
5 Sentence: 0 contribution O
6 Sentence: 0 to O
7 Sentence: 0 my O
8 Sentence: 0 health B-hsa
9 Sentence: 0 savings? I-hsa
10 Sentence: 1 I O
11 Sentence: 1 love O
12 Sentence: 1 my O
13 Sentence: 1 guinea B-pet
14 Sentence: 1 pig I-pet
15 Sentence: 2 I O
16 Sentence: 2 love O
17 Sentence: 2 my O
18 Sentence: 2 dog B-pet
A:
Use:
df1 = (df.set_index(['value','entity'], append=True)
.text.str.split(expand=True)
.stack()
.reset_index(level=3, drop=True)
.reset_index(name='Word')
.rename(columns={'level_0':'Sentence'}))
df1['Sentence'] = 'Sentence: ' + df1['Sentence'].astype(str)
w = df1['Word'].str.replace(r'[^\w\s]+', '')
splitted = df1.pop('value').str.split()
e = df1.pop('entity')
m1 = splitted.str[0].eq(w)
m2 = [b in a for a, b in zip(splitted, w)]
df1['Entity'] = np.select([m1, m2 & ~m1], ['B-' + e, 'I-' + e], default='O')
print (df1)
Explanation:
First create new DataFrame by DataFrame.set_index with Series.str.split and DataFrame.stack
some data cleaning by DataFrame.rename_axis, DataFrame.reset_index and rename
Prepend string to Sentencecolumn
Use Series.str.replace for remove punctuation
Use DataFrame.pop for extract column and split for lists
Create mask m1 by compare first value of splited lists
Create mask for compare all values of lists
Create new column by numpy.select
| |
More research is needed to measure and fully understand the aquifer sources that potentially feed the spiritually and environmentally significant Doongmabulla Springs Complex located in central Queensland, near Bravus Mining and Resources’ (previously Adani) Carmichael coal and rail project.
A new paper by scientists from Australia’s Flinders University states that without better knowledge of the hydrogeology of the area, the springs are at risk of irreversible decline.
“Even if the springs’ source aquifer is partially dewatered for mining operations, there is a serious threat of permanent damage,” Robin Keegan-Treloar, lead author of the paper, said in a media statement. “Our study expands on existing water level data, undertaking the most rigorous analysis so far, and even now we cannot definitively identify the source of water to the springs.”
According to Keegan-Treloar and his co-authors, lowering the uncertainty of permanent damage to the springs will require new drilling and seismic studies to adequately identify the hydrogeological regime between the mine site and the springs.
The research team also said that the techniques used in this latest study help to identify and quantify conceptual model uncertainties but since further work is needed, research is ongoing, with follow-up studies being conducted using water chemistry, geophysics and numerical modelling.
“The latest study has important implications given that the Permian Formations will be dewatered by the operation of the nearby mine,” Keegan-Treloar said.
In June of 2019, Adani Group kicked off the construction of its controversial coal mine, following approval from the Queensland government and after years of negotiations with authorities and fierce opposition from local and international environmental groups.
The Carmichael project was initially acquired by the Indian conglomerate in 2010 and it is expected to produce 8-10 million tonnes of thermal coal a year and cost A$2 billion ($1.4 billion) during its initial phase. | https://www.mining.com/impact-of-carmichael-coal-mine-on-environmentally-significant-springs-not-fully-understood-study/ |
Paul Hobson concludes his account of his work last summer with the Derbyshire badger vaccination programme.
Once the bait points (peanuts left in a depression in the ground and covered by a rock) that we’d set were being used by the badgers we introduced a cage. Unfortunately we had to trap the badgers because the vaccine was administered by needle as there is no food alternative method.
Trapping also allowed head of the project Debbie Bailey, of Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, and her assistant Gail Weatherhead, who works for the National Trust, to know exactly how many and which badgers had been vaccinated.
The cage was first moved slowly into position next to the bait point and then we filled the base with soil to allow us to move the bait point into the trap over a period of days. The soil was there to prevent the badgers’ feet becoming sore on the mesh.
At each sett we placed a trail cam for a number of nights. These produced stills or short video clips of anything that moved around the sett. The information from these was vital as it allowed us to work out how many badgers were living in each sett and therefore how many traps we would need.
Once we had finished at the large sett, we checked the latrines along a number of walls and moved to the next farm where we disinfected our boots and car tyres in the yard before heading to the next two setts. Both of these were inactive but we decided that we would place traps at the larger of the two setts because it showed sporadic use.
During the two weeks Debbie had added a new sett to our rounds to balance up the number of active setts each team was responsible for. So next we headed down to this sett, which was small with only a couple of active holes. We only placed two traps there because the trail cam showed there was only one badger taking the bait. From there we drove to the next farm and to a large sett which had been active some weeks previously and in which we thought there were two badgers living. However, these rarely took any bait and never any from inside the traps so we were unsure if they were living in the sett or only visiting every now and then.
During the two weeks I regularly met the farmer at each farm and I enjoyed chats with them. These farmers support the programme and I wanted to know why. The simple answer is that since the vaccination programme is free for them they view it as a win-win situation. At the most fundamental level it can’t do any harm. These farmers clearly like wildlife and if an effective alternative to culling could be found they would support it.
Another advantage of the vaccination programme over culling came up in discussion – the effect of perturbation. When an area is culled the remaining badgers (they are never all caught) become destabilised and start to move around far more. The cull also creates badger-free zones that other badgers may move into. The sum total is that badgers move around far more and therefore, if infected, may actually spread BTB further afield. This does not happen with vaccination.
Once all the traps were in position and Debbie and Gail felt that the maximum number of badgers were now taking the bait from within the traps they decided on which two days the vaccination would take place.
For all the volunteers this is what all the hard work had been about. The vaccination took place just before dawn on two consecutive mornings. Only qualified vets and trained personnel such as Debbie and Gail can vaccinate. We started before dawn so that once a badger had been vaccinated we could release it before it got too light and it could find its way back to its sett quickly. The majority of the traps were near the setts for this very reason.
When we all met up on the first morning the air seemed to crackle with excitement. Many of the volunteers, particularly the younger ones, had never seen a live badger so this was their first chance to see the animal we were all trying to help.
The morning followed a routine that was planned to reduce the stress on each badger as much as possible. When we approached a trap one person walked silently up to see if a badger had been caught. If one had, the vaccinator (in my team, Debbie) donned surgical gloves and filled a syringe with the exact amount of vaccine. She then walked up to the trap with one other person. They took a large barred tool that could be used to isolate the badger at one end of the trap, so preventing it injuring itself. Debbie then injected the badger, clipped a small area of hair from its rear and sprayed it with a coloured marker (the same type that is used to mark sheep). This meant we could tell the following morning if a badger had been vaccinated already. The whole process took less than a minute, then the badger was released – a very emotional moment for some. | https://www.derbyshirelife.co.uk/out-about/wildlife/the-ethical-debate-surrouding-badger-vaccination-1-5953124 |
A loan helped to buy clothes.
Narcisa Maria's story
Narcisa, 30, is a hard working woman who sells clothes to various customers. She’s worked for three years selling clothes to support her family. She has merchandise like pants, blouses, shirts, etc. She has several projections for her business so wants to continue to work. She has three children who are 13, 11 and 6 years of age and going to public school. For now, she has many hopes for her work because it’s helped her support her children. She will use the loan to buy pants, shirts, blouses, etc. | https://www.kiva.org/funded/320573?minimal=true |
Lawson, F. 2019. Christ, the cosmos and critical realism.
|Authors||Lawson, F.|
|Type||Conference paper|
|Description|
If one accepts the premise that both science and theology are engaging with a reality that can be referred to, but which is beyond the range of a literal description, then science and theology can be brought in to meaningful dialogue through a framework of critical realism. This paper examines the implications of scientific perspectives on the nature of the world for our concept of the incarnate Son of God. The critical realism of Polkinghorne and Peacocke, set out in their Gifford Lectures, invites us to consider a world that is more holistic than the dualistic picture adopted in many Christological discussions. It can be argued that the “paradox” narrative of the incarnation is the result of a misperception of the nature of reality forcing a choice between the adoption of a) an “enchanted” Cartesian ontology or b) acceptance of a “scientific” reductionist ontology. The ontological and theological problems associated with either view have led to the conflation of paradox with mystery. This paper suggests the adoption of a holistic ontology suggested by some interpretations of quantum theory open science and theology to the opportunity of a re-imagined dialogue that seeks to “answer questions about the existence, nature and interrelation of different kinds of entities” (Gohner and Schrenk, 2019) and where at the very least theology is consonant with science.
The task of Christian theology is to not only reconcile our understanding of God with our experience of the world, but also with the historical and theological person of Christ and His relationship with God. We can no less come to study God without entering through our understanding of God as revealed through Christ than we can come to study Christ without bringing to bear our pre-existing understanding of the nature of God as Father, and Trinity. Because of this it can be argued ‘Christian doctrine is always in the making, in the process of formation’ (Wiles, 2011, p. 1). To claim that doctrine is in a process of continual change requires the Christian theologian to critically examine and develop their understanding of the central truths of our doctrines.
If one starts with God, ‘to begin with the being of God and then to consider his becoming man’ (Wiles, 2011, p. 44) one is able to recognise the interrelation within the Trinity, and between a Trinitarian God and creation. This shifts Christology to something more than a historical study. Firstly, we must consider how we express our knowledge of the person and substance of Christ in language that is accessible through our contemporary epistemology. Secondly, we must develop a critical understanding of the substance of our belief, to challenge the underlying theological and ontological assumptions that frame and in some instances constrain our understanding of God and Christ. By bringing in to focus the “division” between the nature or person of Christ (his being) and the works and action of Christ in the world (his doing) we highlight two very different methods of Christological enquiry: ‘Functional Christology’ that focuses on the actions of Christ past and present and ‘Ontological Christology’ that focuses on the substance and being of Christ. Whilst it is possible to argue that there has historically been a focus on understanding Christianity in ‘primarily practical terms’ (Macquarrie, 1990, p. 7) there is an increasing move to acknowledge that our understanding of Christs’ being is deeply bound up in our metaphysical and ontological understanding of the nature of the world.
This leads to the question of the role of scientific ontology in our theological discussion. John W Cooper (2000) presents a clear, albeit brief, account of the development of a scientific-informed Christology. ‘Reversing the historic order of revelation and reason, [naturalist theologians] engaged in biblical interpretation and theological construction within the framework of the philosophy and science that developed after Galileo and Newton.’(Cooper, 2000, p. 37) Adoption of a theistic naturalism in relation to understanding the body and soul has arisen from attempts to synthesize theological and scientific worldviews. Non-dualistic alternatives (such as emergentism and psychophysical monism) have been developed in order to explain to defend against the rise of a reductionist materialist (scientistic) stance and allow for genuine human agency and spirituality.
Whilst the historic dualistic position, arguably, supports in understanding persons as having free will & spiritual natures, it gives rise to issues in relation to causality, interaction and understanding the self as a unified individual. Other, more reductionist models such as theistic naturalism and monistic anthropology are not mainstream, however supporters argue that they will gain increasing support as the dualist position appears to become ever more detached from the scientific understanding of reality: ‘They wish to show that the Christian faith is not tied to an outdated philosophy and science’ (Cooper, 2000, p. 40). Without an immaterial soul under theistic naturalism, it is only the resurrection (if it indeed happened), that separates Christ’s divine and human natures. Whereas the monistic position offers an internally inconsistent understanding of the nature(s) of Christ and appears to bring into question an orthodox interpretation of Chalcedon. The rise therefore of scientific naturalism can also be understood as a move away from the “unscientific” concept of substance dualism. In the years since Descartes and with the (apparently) increasing materialistic understanding of the nature of the world; Christology, and the ability of an immaterial divine person to be causally and meaningfully engaged with the “physical” world, has led to theology appearing to be evermore out of step with our “disenchanted” understanding of the world. However, an increasing number of scholars are questioning such strictly materialist stances to protect an orthodox understanding of Chalcedon.
The challenge of defending an orthodox interpretation of Chalcedon means that Christian theology therefore, must engage in a meaningful way with questions of metaphysics and ontology and as such ensure that it does not limit itself to simply dealing ‘only or even primarily with manifestations and functions’ (Woodfin, 1972, p. 137). If it fails to engage with questions of ontology it also fails to ensure that that it is tackling the correspondence between our expression (of faith or reality) and reality itself. Thus the engagement of theology with scientific ontology becomes of central importance in ensuring that ‘metaphysical issues and the believer’s conviction regarding the nature of divine reality are at least analogically comparable’ (Woodfin, 1972, p. 138) or, for Torrance, to even pose questions as without ontological congruence between reality and experience our discourse is meaningless.
|Keywords||Science and religion; Metaphysics; Scientific ontology; Chalcedon|
|Year||2019|
|Conference||Science, Philosophy, Theology - Dialogue Areas & Perspectives (International Interdisciplinary Conference)|
|Related URL||https://sites.google.com/view/sc-ph-th-conference/|
|File|
License
All rights reserved
File Access Level
Open
|Web address (URL) of conference proceedings||https://sites.google.com/view/sc-ph-th-conference/program-szczeg%C3%B3%C5%82owy-conference-schedule?authuser=0|
|References|
Cooper, J.W., 2000. Body, soul, and life everlasting: biblical anthropology and the monism-dualism debate. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Mich. | https://repository.canterbury.ac.uk/item/917z7/christ-the-cosmos-and-critical-realism |
1: Temple in the Crag
A mountain was split during a battle between two titans. A hundred yards wide crag splits the mountain in two. In the sides of this crag, a cult has built a temple to their dead deity.
2: City of Canals
Once a beautiful Elven city, a war now wages in the ruins. Hobgoblins and Elven factions vie for dominance of the white-walled canals.
3: Tower of the wizard's tome
-
In a crater, there stands a wizard's tower. The wizard, however, is long gone; killed by his sentient tome. The tome built constructs and summoned creatures to protect himself and the secret it contains.
** 4: Deserted Dwarven Forge
Karak Ungol was the pride of the Dwarven empire. A huge forge, mechanized and manned by constructs. After the empire dissolved, however, other creatures took hold of this once beautiful place.
5: Temple to Tiamat
In the five wings of Tiamat's temple all manner of draconic creatures hide. It is said that in the inner sanctum of this temple, five times five kobold priests attempt to summon their Goddess to this realm.
6: Spawning Ponds
Once every five years, Bullywugs return to the spawning pool where they were born. Many adventurers have gone into these sacred grounds to find the spring at its centre, which is said to grant eternal life. Only a small fraction, however, return alive to tell of the horrors within.
7: Tree keeper's grove
In the centre of each realm, there stands a grove with a sapling of the World Tree. Its guardians roam in the unkempt gardens, protecting the tree from those which would harm it.
8: Forgotten Library
There once was an order which tried to gather all known knowledge, and preserve it in their library. The location of this library was lost with the last of the order's members. However, a sailor said that he found an entrance to it, and is willing to bring adventurers there, for a small fee.
9: Tomb of the Last King
A small plaque at the feet of one of the two gigantic statues says the following in an ancient Dwarven dialect. "Those who come here, know that you now enter the tomb of the last true king of Dwarves. Those who do not come to respect, enter at your peril."
10: Church to the Dreamer
Sometimes, there are no more tears, and there is nothing left to do but to flee into dreams. The church is filled with those who wished to dream of happier days once more, before the end. In their communal dream, those who enter find solace in the arms of the Dreaming God.
11: Pintsized Mausoleum
A lich had the brilliant idea of shrinking their phylactery into an impossibly small size and hid it in an enchanted box. The adventurers must shrink down into this shoebox sized dungeon and venture through in order to defeat the undead evil.
12 :Orbital Prison
This mountainous structure was created by the archmages of ancient times and orbits the planet. Inside rests the sealed bodies of evils too strong to kill. Can the party restore function to the jail before it crashes down into the capitol?
13: Vaults of Pain and Pleasure
This endless labyrinth harbours the sleeping and her half-mortal agents. Every room contains either a horror or a pleasure for anyone who enters it, and some rooms can only be defeated alone.
14: Buried Alive
A vast, multi-tiered dwarven mine on the verge of collapse due to lack of structural integrity and earthquakes. The adventurers start at the bottom of the mine and must work their way up. Meanwhile, a wurm makes things complicated.
15: Dreams of the Past
An adventurer was possessed by a dark creature and though they were freed of it, a shadow remains in their mind. A dream Naga has offered to send the party into this person's consciousness to destroy this thing for good. Once inside, the party meets twisted versions of this adventurer's past, which the creature is using to drive the adventurer insane. (Can even work for party members who have been possessed)
16: Tourist Trap
Sea cliff tower once housed a minor trading port's main defenses against pirate raids. After the decline of the pirates and merchants, an entrepreneur has turned the whole thing into a tourist attraction to drum up new business. Every full moon, all the old defenses "come alive."
17: The 5 Dimensional Maze
Length, height, width, time, and gravity conspire together to play tricks in this isometric dungeon. Like MC Escher's Relativity, every staircase, door, and platform has a different gravity orientation. Don't fall.
18: The Broken City
A snowbound Dwarven citadel, built deep into the mountainside, split in two by a cataclysmic earthquake. The city streets slant crazily, and the underground thoroughfares end abruptly as they reach the ravine. Abandoned by the dwarves, the city is occupied by elite bugbear snipers, who search for a powerful technology that was left behind.
19: Tidewater Hideout
An abandoned smuggler's den that is only accessible when the shark infested waters recede at low tide. Take too long exploring and you will be trapped by the rising tide.
20: Hall of Mirrors
The party is hunted by a demonic shadow that possesses your reflection and turns it against you. Be careful not to get dragged to the 'other side'.
21: Bone Catacombs
These sealed tombs contain the bones of the millions who died in the spell plague of 734. Their concentrated Necromantic energy has awoken legions of undead, but the catacombs were in fact built to imprison something much, much darker.
22: Tomb of the Unholy
The quest for the Unholy Grail leads the party to the tomb of a Lich. Tomb is an arcane masterpiece in the shape of a tesseract (rooms at the corners, doors on the edges). Lich was a bard in life and wrote a comedy play about finding the Unholy Grail so all the challenges are references to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
23: Falling Silver
The party befriends a silver dragon who leads them to a cave infested with demons. The end of the cave is a portal to the abyss which the party needs to close. The silver is tarnished at the start, and by the end of the dungeon has fallen and becomes the end boss of the dungeon.
24: Hither and Yon
The burial site of an ancient wizard, the world above the tomb has a palpable arcane feel. Inside the tomb the laws of reality are bent and broken, sending the party all over the world to single rooms that all form the maze.
25: The Sinking Marvel
The party charters an airship/ship only to be forced to land on a long forgotten island city filled with wonder, wealth, and magic (technology). The only catch is the magic that once kept the city secret and safe is failing and the party must figure out a way to escape the island before it sinks into the ocean taking all of its treasures with it. Will they risk their own lives and attempt to bring the treasures with them or does the city hold an even darker secret at its center?
26: Naked and Afraid
The party springs a trap that transports them into the depths of the goblin's mountain lair. The problem is, their clothes and weapons didn't end up in the same location. The party must navigate the maze in search of their gear and an exit all while staying under the radar of the patrolling goblins.
27: Benny's Hill
While searching for a legendary magic item the party finds the tomb of an ancient wizard. Within the tomb is a hall filled with hundreds of doors with constantly changing destinations throughout the tomb. As the party approaches the dais containing the magic item, the wizard awakes from his slumber and grabs his token and flees through the nearest door, the chase begins.
28: The Blood Fields
A secret blood cult sacrificed a Berserker to gain his power. Denied a warrior's death, he now haunts the hidden temple where his body lies. He attracts battle to the surrounding fields to sate his bloodlust, and the deaths infuse the temple with necrotic energy.
29: The Western Queen
A sunken ship lies on the bottom of the ocean. A century ago, The Western Queen carried a payload of smuggled magical goods and exotic creatures. Today, a young black dragon has claimed the items to start her hoard.
30: Old King Urist's Treasury
When the Dwarven king Urist was stabbed in the back by his heir, he prayed to the Gods for aid. The Demon-God of Retribution's black hand reached out and pulled his palace deep into the mountain. Demon-King Urist and his hellhounds still inhabit the royal vault where he was stabbed, surrounded by treasures from the First Age.
31: The Raided City
Once, a powerful people of massive siege animals raided a city of great faith. The faithful people cursed their attackers, and the entire city exists in the Shadowfell. Be mindful not to be trampled by the undead beasts that run through the streets, and meet the still living queen in her castle.
32: Sightless Windings
A basilisk's domain, deep underground, is also the site of a much-rumored treasure. Petrified treasure hunters litter the path, inadvertently pointing to the heart of the maze, which is littered with smaller vermin that prey on what the basilisk doesn't bother with. The treasure lies in the heart of the maze, where the basilisk lies waiting in darkness.
33: The Acid Grove
A recluse obsessed with beauty has created the most beautiful place in the woods with plants of all kinds, 20 foot tall hedges for walls, and all of it in unnaturally beautiful colors. It comes at a cost though, the grove relies on a poisonous liquid for life. A cloud of acid rain travels freely to sustain this. Should the grove get damaged or hurt in any way the cloud will move towards the hurt region. The grove is filled with thorns, sections too narrow to traverse without causing damage, and cursed creatures hiding under the hedges.
34: The Grand Opera
Haunted by the spirits of long dead performers. At night they relive some of their grandest productions. The sets and characters really “come to life”.
35: Garden of Madness
A nobleman who loved his garden so much he killed birds who entered was given a gift by the fey. The gift caused his entire estate to become overgrown and drove him mad. He now stalks the halls as an invincible mutated Flower Knight, commanding the plants around him.
36: Hugging Forever
What was once a practice-dungeon for rogues of ancient times, this training site is filled with traps that cause inconvenience rather than kill; rooms flood to the ceiling with health potion liquid, doors open to different rooms no matter how many times you go through the same one, and once inside the doors don't open until all the puzzles are solved and all the traps are disarmed. Despite the name, only one adventurer has ever come back, and all they will talk about is how long they were in there. Can the party reset the dungeon before they all starve to death?
37: Mausoleum of the Ancient Composer
An archaeological dig in the city of Ankor-Jubei has discovered something horrible under the great temple. Something stirs within, and the population of the city have fallen into an endless sleep. Witnesses told of strange music and lights coming from the dig site before succumbing to the sleep.
38: Temple of the undead
While stumbling into a graveyard after hearing voices late one night, the party sees multiple zombies start to rise from graves while the earth is opening up in a circle around the party letting out unholy eldritch magics long forgotten and locked away.
The party kills the zombies and falls into the cracks of unholy magic that are leaking from a mega crypt and find magical runes on the wall depicting a powerful undead that all other undead are bowing to, after this the tomb rumbles and the crypt is cracked in half with the same unholy energy that rose from the graveyard.
When the party sees where the energy is coming from, the energy leaks out of a tomb nearby that took up the whole wall that had the picture of the undead on it and when it cracked open an undead dragon with a ghastly green aura that deals unholy damage every round while the dragon breathes his unholy breath giving penalties to the party; after beating the dragon the party can take the dragons skull for a shield and have it breathe the same unholy breath, after the fight the tomb collapses harmlessly around the party and a holy light fills the place healing the party and filling them with warmth.
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39: Mad Alchemists Explode-atorium
Infiltrate the Mad Alchemists underground laboratory in search of a bottle of universal solvent. Bizarre potions, unstable concoctions, complex traps, magically fortified enemies, and lots and lots of explosions.
40: Gates of Tartarus
A maze of twisting jagged stones. At the center of the maze a wizard performs a ritual to open the portal which the entire maze resides on. Fiends occasionally claw their way out of floors and walls.
41: Enchanted Forest City
A forgotten city within a forest that seems alive, passages open and close at random by thorns and vines. A green dragon resides within it as well as its minions and those hunting said dragon.
42: The Mindscape Castle
After Coming into contact with a magical entity from worlds unknown, a little girl is unknowingly trapped in a dream world of her own creation. Those who enter the dream must traverse an ever-changing castle of crystal in the hopes of reaching the top and freeing her.
43: The Deep Forest
An arch-druid who kept the balance disappeared a century ago. The forest grows wild as evil spreads. PC druid discovers she was the arch-druid in her former life and must fulfill her destiny.
44: The Old Tower Ruins
A centuries-old coastal wizard tower complex lay in ruins. Goblins now infest it and smuggle goods for the pirates of the Starless Sea. Will our band of heroes be able to save the kidnapped son of a local ruling lady who is being held for ransom?
45: The Lonely Library
The Death Cult of Anubis has located a library that contains lost chapters of a necromantic ritual. The priest they sent to investigate hasn't returned in a while. Surely he didn't use the ritual himself, bringing out the spirits trapped in the books and causing their stories to come to life…
46: Black Manor
A cabin in the woods that appears as a huge gothic manor on the inside. It is inhabited by a witch who has charmed all of statues and suits of armor to life. Killing the witch will cause the illusion to collapse and send the party to another plane.
47: A laboratory
with old experiments with potions acids and races, a few seem to have broken out (but thrikreen experiments which may or may not have been created in this lab in the world, your choice) remain
48: Misty Golden Citadel
Lodged in ancient mountain ranges, void since time immemorial, lies colossal ruins. No texts tell why it lies empty, yet the mists cannot hide the golden light it constantly emits.
49: A temple of the moon goddess
built by a cult. An unknown calamity caused the cult to disappear. A dragon now nests in the dungeons beneath.
50: A fortress Outpost
built into the mountainside by an old empire. The fortress was crushed d own the center by some giant machine during the empire's fall. It is used by bandits as a base to raid local fishing villages.
51: An old magic workshop
made by a chapter of artificers. The workshop was abandoned after an enchanted item caused an explosion. Fey creatures now inhabit the workshop, drawn to the magical energy surrounding it.
52: Goblin's Respite
Goblin hovels are located throughout the land, however none so relaxing as this, at least for the greenskinned. This collection of cave entrenched mud and swamp-like hot springs is a place of relaxation for the disturbing little creatures. But what goblin's think to be relaxing, may be dangerous and torturous for our adventuring party.
53: Stellar campaign
A common, well-off and known acquaintance sends letters to each party member to come to his mansion to investigate a disturbance in the vast tunnel system underneath his home. Surprise, marooned mind flayers are enslaving heroes to crew their newly-fixed spelljammer ship! Surprise, you are in a spelljammer campaign now!
54: Royal Vault
Long ago a bank was built in a small pocket dimension, with portals to all the known planes. In it immense heaps of wealth were stored, carefully hidden in closed safes, behind a hundred guardians. The bank has long since closed, most of the wealth within taken or looted, but tales remain of a locked vault hidden deep within, containing a red Dragon's hoard.
55: Sailing City
Legends speak of a fourth kind of elf, which had built floating cities on the sea. They tell of the vastness of these structures; over a league long, with sails reaching higher than the lighthouse of Easthaven. No one really believed these fairy tales, but sailors have told of such a structure floating in the Emerald Sea.
56: Floating Fortress
An old wizard was sick of the clouds spoiler his view, so he created a spell to dissolve all of them within five miles of his house. Unbeknownst to him, he destroyed a Cloud Giant village in doing so. The survivors rallied and created a fortress with which they could take revenge on the old man, or, if they couldn't find him, the rest of his race.
57: Tree of Pain
The Lord Of Suffering is not a kind god. In the giant thorned tree which is his temple, worshippers and innocents alike face tortures beyond their imaginings. Will the adventurers be in time to save their friend before everlasting agony wipes away the remainders of his mind?
58: Elder God's Prison
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die." The elder god was sick of waiting, however, for someone to free him from this prison which he'd been here for untold ages. He summons a group of adventurers into the prison, pleading them to release him from his confinement.
59: The Clockwork Cavern
An old, wealthy gnome tinkerer built an entire staff of clockwork servants to take care of him in his old age inside of a remote cave. Now, the tinkerer lies dead, his fortune hidden somewhere in the cavern. The adventurers must rely upon bizarre clues from the leftover constructs to find their reward.
60: Ghost Town
The party finds a town that's eerily quiet, until night time rolls around. Plenty of residents want to move on, but something seems to be keeping them here…
61: Undead Tomb
A powerful wizard transferred his soul into his tomb. The tomb and its traps are an elaborate method to funnel life force to sustain the wizard.
62: Clockwork Tunnels
A huge clockwork war machine has been built, and stopping it requires navigating internal maintenance corridors.
63: Sinking Tower
A massive tower has slowly been sinking into the ground for generations, as the locals have continued to build it up for its religious significance. The lower levels are overrun with monsters, but something lost there must be retrieved.
64: Ship Aground
A massive sailing ship has run aground and split open, providing a chance to explore for salvage. However, the ship's position is precarious, and sahuagin have taken over to ambush treasure seekers.
65: The Mad Asylum
An ancient lich used his magical prowess to fortify an abandoned asylum. Inside, adventurers who seek to rid the
world of this antediluvian evil find what only a truly mad mind could create: portals that lead to other planes and back into the material plane and in so doing creating a headache of non-euclidean dungeon-delving.
66: The Frozen Temple
Everything inside this temple is covered with a thick sheet of magical ice. Using buttons on the walls, the party can temporarily unfreeze the ice to cross hallways and obtain the items they need. However, thawing the ice will release the dangerous creatures who were imprisoned here in the first place.
67: Tomb of the Starwalker
Inside this desert tomb, an ancient king was buried with an amulet that allowed him to travel into the Astral Plane at will. The celestial beings he befriended there are sworn to protect him from evil in the afterlife. The party can enter, but if they perform any evil acts (such as taking any items), the guardians will know.
68: Silence like a cancer
Resting below a town of wizard and sorcerer refugees is a crypt of the tieflings that came before. They still reside there with a plot to retake their city. The spell Silence is now a tangible cloud that is growing out from the depths and soon threatens the surface, stop the forgotten king.
69: Mind Maze
An unnaturally old human wizard holds an important secret, and the party must wander the halls of his memory to find it. Only problem is, every time they pass through a door, his withered mind forgets what was in the previous room. If they go back, a different room will be in its place, and each room contains an encounter from his own long and colourful history.
70: Paelors temple
a beautiful ornately carved marble temple on top of the fangborn mountain tops that is secretly falling into disarray. Upon closer inspection every member of order of the sun within it's halls is turned to stone. The folly of man to fight with God's ( one of the priests still an idol from the mad god sheogorath )
71: Kaerns plunge
a massive perfectly round mining shaft 25 miles wide and almost twice as deep. A spiral staircase is carved into the walls with a dwarven rune on each step in a script that is unreadable . Hastily etched murals of a dwarven kingdom and its people are along the walls. (With a little notice a member of the party who is proficient in stonework or speaks dwarven will notice that the stairs were made from the bottom up and the script includes a warning.)
72: Yashas menagerie
in a dense rainforest you come upon a wooden sign in gnomish that states to yasha's menagerie 2 miles north. As you travel closer the forest becomes more and more fertile and animals of drastically larger proportions than usual. A set of old and broken wooden, clay and stone huts with a series of broken cages surrounding them. In the back of the village is a massive Willow tree looming over the area with a faces carved into it, behind tree hidden until further inspection is an enormous cage with a broken lock and the door busted wide open
74: Tony's tinker shop
underneath a bustling municipality, a dusty staircase leading downward to an unassuming dirty door with still well polished bronze handle with a T engraved on it. An eclectic mess of a store inside piles of bibbles and bobbles stacks of books and shelving. No living creatures in sight but instead you can find beautifully designed mechanic creatures to fill the space.
75: Keeper of Secrets
Sphinxes live a long time, certainly long enough to get utterly sick of riddles. A gynosphinx who did gathers secrets, and is now hidden away in a cloisters in the mountains. If you could get past the order which has sworn to keep the sphinx and her secrets safe, you may learn what you need, for a price.
76: Titania's maze
The adventurers have been invited to attend the midsummer court, a tremendous honour. Titania has taken a liking to the party. If they agree to entertain her and enter her labyrinth, they may ask her one boon, provided they survive.
77: Poirates of the Karribean
Goblak Goldenbeard and his band of Orc and Goblin pirates have been terrorizing the Severed Sea for far too long. A hefty reward has been offered to the person or persons which deliver the golden beard to Earl D'Etat at his mansion.
78: The Beast in the Belfry
Hundreds of years ago, Gregor the Arcane created a bell which, when struck, drives away all evil meaning harm to the city of Arstath. The Spectator he summoned to guard the bell has gone insane, however, and is slowly taking of the city's regent council. Dare our adventurers enter the monastery to defeat the beholder and its cult?
79: Sins of the Father
Temple cursed because the leader's child has betrayed the patron god by forging a deal with a rival god in order to exact revenge on their father. The 2 religious groups (corresponding to temple and other rival god) are at war. You're tasked with solving the curse before war spreads to all lands.
80: The Lonely Inn
on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, there is a rather large inn. It's halls are lined with armor, banners, and weapons of various factions and they sell all manner of traveling supply. Rumor has it that very few occupants ever check out.
81: Turtle Hill
This inland hill actually is the gargantuan shell of a dragon turtle. Once a temple to truth and knowledge, it has since become the nesting ground for spiders and their keepers. However, even they dare not disturb the guardians of the inner sanctum.
82: The Bear Hills' Bone Mill
The abandoned Bear Hills Mines have been reclaimed by a necromancer. Abducting only the finest specimen of humanoids and creatures alike, she throws them tied into the ooze pit to clean the flesh of their bones. These top quality skeletons run a closed loop operation, and it appears the only way to enter and look for the hidden treasure vault is by being abducted yourself.
83: Sanctuary of the Flame Lord
A massive Volcano has appeared from the ground, and within the volcanic crater a castle sits, filled with Fire elemental creatures. They attempt to summon a powerful elemental lord by erupting the volcano, performing a charred and ashen rite of flame at the bottom of the castle. The players must enter, descend and stop the rite, then escape before rising lava or the volcanic explosion ends their adventuring career early.
84: The Sanctum
A mysterious place so weathered and overgrown you cannot tell what kind building it used to be. Now used by an in-secret shadowmancer to perform dark arts while he "works" there as a school teacher, the place somehow seems to attract all evils when the party interrupts the teacher in some dark magic ritual. Ghost spawn, bandits find their way in the building and lastly 2 big slime come in through both entrances from even behind the bandits. Making your escape can only be done by either figuring out the glass walls used to be windows and can easily be broken, or fighting your way through
85: Delayed Revenge
The demon Eskaloth and the goblin army he controlled had waged war on the entire continent. Though mortally injured, the Queen of Bells led her legions against the overlord and banished him. The final resting place of the Elven queen has been defiled: Eskaloth wishes to resurrect her and, as a final insult, possess her final corpse as he finishes what he started a century ago.
86: The Picnic Island
Once a party of powerful adventurers retired, scattering to where their hearts called them, with one of them having the (annoying) hobby to collect things sane man kill – or better yet, seal away until they starve to death – on sight. Sadly, they choose to settle on a tropical island with their collections at one of the few stocking point for ships of any kind sailing on the Mercury Sea's grey waters…. After the kingdoms, merchant unions and even the pirate fleets give up all hopes to claim the island once again, now, the tales of treasure being on the island is confirmed, by the memoirs of the other party members…if the new inhabitants didn't eat them yet.
87: Kuo-Toa Outpost
What appears to be a deep well shaft with brackish water at the bottom is actually the entrance to a Kuo-Toa lair. The creatures scale the well's walls at night to raid nearby villages. Plenty of underwater encounters in these caves; bring a ring of water breathing.
88: Treehouse of Horrors
A group of wood elves ask for your help in ridding their home of monsters. The entire adventure takes place far above the ground among treehouses, rope bridges, long flat road-like branches, giant hollow trunks, and so on. Encounters would include giant spiders, assassin vines, myconids, shriekers, shambling mounds, owlbears, evil dryads, etc.
89: Haunted Inn
An innkeeper begs you to cleanse his two-story inn (plus cellar) of evil spirits. Plot twist: the innkeeper brought this haunting upon himself by committing some unspeakable deed in the distant past. In addition to the obvious undead encounters, let the players discover something horrific in the cellar — perhaps incontrovertible evidence of the innkeeper's evil act?
90: Hall of Mirrors
After a tough encounter with a powerful spell-user seemingly ends with their deaths, the players all awaken in a vast circular room, the walls of which are lined with door-sized mirrors. Each mirror is a portal to a place or plane; players must solve a puzzle in order to use each portal. As they argue over solutions, unearthly creatures continue to appear through random portals, and the players must divide their attention between the puzzles and the encounters.
91: Basilisk's Log
Now petrified, this was the first tree ever to fall. It's rings have split and fractured, creating a labyrinth filled with gems. Basilisks feast on these gems, and have inhabited the log.
92: Corrupted Temple
This once proud temple to the Sun God now lies in ruins, but would serve as an excellent outpost for the local militia… if anyone could stay the night. With the help of a local Cleric, the heroes are to re-Hallow these dark grounds. Will they succeed, or unwittingly unleash the evil stirring beneath?
93: The Black Labyrinth
Long ago, a mage created an ever-shifting clockwork maze in the depths of the abyss. No one has ever reached the core, but our valiant heroes have a magical map that can lead them through. Can they brave the depths of an abyssal labyrinth and its demonic guardians, or is getting in the easy part?
94: The Silver Door
This door can only be opened by a silver key, and beyond is the land where dreams come true. Our heroes can find the treasure of their wildest dreams, but they may have to face their worst nightmares first…
95: The Wandering Inn
A mysterious inn appears in a small town, and those who enter never leave. Our heroes investigate, but little do they know, the Inn itself is alive, and every chair, table, and piece of silverware is alive and hungry too. Can they survive the Mimic House?
96: The Mansion of Mystery
a huge abandoned estate last owned by the late Marla Wintercrest. The Wintercrest fortune was built on the production of the finest and deadliest swords in the land, and she believed she was haunted by the ghosts of all those who were killed by Wintercrest swords. The estate was sprawling and nonsensically built (doorways to nowhere, upside down stairs, tiny rooms, etc) to confuse the spirits that linger within its ominous halls.
97: Rubik's Cube
A crazy wizard gained access to vast untapped knowledge and power, and would willingly share it with anyone who can master his maze. The Wizard and his power are in the center of the cube and the puzzle can only be completed if the players finish all 26 challenges in the cube. To make things worse, after every challenge is completed the rooms shift around so you can almost never tell where you are in the cube.
98: Desecrated Fountain of Live
Once this Fountain hidden in depths of Cave was able to heal all wounds. Now due to Cursed Shard embodied in it Fountain resorts Life And changes everything giving mutations to all that drink from it. And so The Fountain lies spawning it monstrosities onto The land.
99: The Fountain of Youth
The new well in the center of town seemed like a godsend at first – people who drank from it became younger and younger. Now, however, the town is full of young teenagers, unable to grow up. At the bottom of the well is a cavern, and deep in the water, something glows.
100: The Tyranny of the Small
Vermin are overrunning the city. Rats, roaches, and other unclean creatures are threatening food stores and fresh water. A mad wizard calling himself the Pestimancer lurks deep in the sewers, demanding the Lord's son in marriage.
101: Caverns of the First People
Strange spirits have been seen haunting the ancient caves on the kingdom's frontiers. Deep in the caves the party finds tombs in which desiccated corpses have rested for eons. The bodies in those tombs are unmistakably their own.
102: This Is Not A Place of Honor
The barren field with the strange markings has stood undisturbed for as long as anyone can remember. Now, however, prospectors have decided that the place is worth exploring. Those who venture into the excavations find themselves dying horribly. (inspired by this article)https://www.damninteresting.com/this-place-is-not-a-place-of-honor/
103: Crystal maze style
(crystal maze was a TV show in the UK) a mad wizard traps you all in a castle and the only way out is to get crystals from various rooms. Example room 1: one of the team go in the maze the rest of the team have to guide you through a maze they can see from above. Example room 2: 2 members of the team have use jugs to solve the die hard riddle ("You have a 3-gallon and a 5-gallon jug that you can fill from a fountain of water. The problem is to fill one of the jugs with exactly 4 gallons of water. How do you do it?") Upon freedom the mad wizard could be a boss or not, DM choice.
104: Groundhogs Wedding
One room, a random table of sudden events, and a pocket watch that turns back time to exactly noon or midnight. The watch can revive dead players but cannot restore hit points to merely injured creatures. Players must keep repeating the encounters until they figure out every possible result and foil them.
105: The Clockwork Isles
The secluded island lair of a long dead artificer, rediscovered by an expedition after the secrets hidden within. Still patrolled by his creations, and inhabited by the denizens that moved in over the years, the fortress is a patchwork of well maintained gleaming modernity and overgrown ruin. Rumors that the vault within contains great and terrible knowledge are unfortunately true.
106: Roots
A treant's roots have become infested by termites. The PCs must shrink down to fit through the tunnels, find their way to the center, detonate a pesticide bomb, and get out.
107: I will Tempt you.
I will Challenge you.
Then I will Eat you.
108: Crack in the World
A cavernous ravine splits the forest in two revealing an ancient dwarven settlement torn asunder. Peering downward reveals that an inky black abyss is all that lies beneath the ruins of this long forgotten grave. Is this truly the way?
109: Minds are a Terrible Thing to Waste
Hero's awake in a multi-level-dream-dungeon. Only way out is to find out who's dream built the level, and solve the problem (monster or otherwise). Is it a little like inception, yeah kinda.
112: Curses under the lake
A coven of sea and green hags have their lair in a cave fully submerged beneath a fetid lake. A pair of shambling mounds partially block the entrance, and prevent more than one person from entering to deal with the hags. The lair itself contains an entry room (fully submerged), a room with a deep well where they perform rituals (fully submerged), one or more sleeping quarters (which may be above water), and a small cave that is used as a prison for some unfortunate being. The leader's room holds a mirror of life trapping which is always active but behind a curtain; several other unfortunate creatures are trapped within.
113: Siege at Chronomancy Tower
A legendary Chronomancer's tower has been overrun by Orcish hordes. In a last-ditch effort, the wizard has put himself in stasis and locked his tower and besieging armies in a loop of the last four hours of the attack. The adventurers are kicked out every time the tower loops, can reach they top of the tower in time?
114: Paztaxerox's Pit
The Young Green Dragon, Paztaxerox, has taken residence in a vast marble quarry with her army of kobold thralls. In the open-aired quarry, Paztaxerox's minions share living space with her collection of strange and dangerous flora. And like a weed, the industrious kobolds build their master's glorious city just a little bit bigger every day.
115: Hillmark Theatre
Ever since the tragedy at the Hillmark, the old theater has been left to the vermin and squatters. Years later, a string of strange disappearances lead back to the abandoned theater, where doppelganger thespians hone their craft on a captive audience. Who here is really a prisoner, and who is simply playing the part?
116: The Siege
The party is hired by the army to break a lengthy and costly siege. They are snuck into the city and have 2 weeks to sabotage the defenders before the main army attack. Or they can aid the defenders and shore up the defence and lay a crushing defeat at the feet of their former employers.
117: The Necromancer's Stagecoach
A stagecoach and mysterious driver have been traveling from town to town and making off with bodies robbed from the graveyard. Continually, he has both came and gone in the night to avoid capture. Yet, adventurers won't find a cozy abode in this coach as entering will them into a sprawling dungeon—a pocket dimension full of necrotic horrors and experiments—making its way across the countryside.
118: Abandoned Outpost
there is absolutely nothing special about it. When economic circumstances changed, everybody there packed up and left – anything left behind was already worthless. Anyone investigating the outpost is just wasting their time (and risking animal attacks).
119: Vampire’s Cottage
A vampire lives in a small cottage outside of town. Underneath the cottage are three floors of labyrinthine passages filled with Wights and Spawn, converging to a single room. Two coffins are in this room, on for the vampire, one for their departed beloved.
120: Fishing Village
An expansive village with many side streets and town houses, where a secret kraken cult lives. At night they swim into the sea, to commune with monstrous things. In reality, the Kraken is just a few Drow using illusion spells.
120: Old Church
A dilapidated Church, with four great spires. Druids and barbarians have taken to living peacefully here, and the old hall of prayers has become a market. But the Druids will fight for their home.
121: Dragon’s Shipwreck
A young brass Dragon has selected a large ship wreck to make itself at home. The bunk rooms remain intact though, and guests are occasionally entertained here. Several Kobolds stand guard of the treasure, ready to fight any who dare steal.
122: Elven Waterfall Elves have taken up residence behind a waterfall. Inside, water and mist billow constantly, reducing visibility severely, while fey beings watch over. This cave is the Summer Home of an Arch Fey, and she is ready to kick trespassers out.
123: The Painting
Players discover a small painting in a cabin in the woods and upon contact they are sucked into a limbo like plane with paintings as the walls, floors, and ceilings. Monsters come out of the paintings and as you go deeper and deeper, a painting 30 feet tall yields the Painter, a beautiful woman who, when defeated, erupts into flames and forces the party to escape the way they came. After they escape through a rip in the canvas they appear right back in the cabin with added treasures in their bags.
124: The Crag
a level carved into the side of a mountain Your party must scale up the side of a cliff, but luckily there are a complex set of ledges and platforms to get up. On one side is stone and falling off the other is certain death. The path is only wide enough for one person at a time.
125: Home Sweet Home
A hag made it’s home look like a sweet old lady’s house. She welcomes you with cookies and sweaters. The cookies are mimics, the sweaters are animated alongside almost everything else in the house. A golem made entirely out of cookie comes to attack the group as well.
126: The Shepard's Stairs
A lone shepard found an ancient stairway leading down beneath Mt. Solitude. The antediluvian galleries of a cursed cyclopean kingdom lay beneath. The Lord of Solitude lays sleeping on his throne.
127: Komar's Library
Komar, a great spirit of intellect, owns the largest collection of tomes and knowledge in the world. Komar is a great butterfly, he and his caterpillar librarians guard the library and its knowledge from all outsiders.
128: Ancient pirate treasure in a natural cavern
After the pirates died, were-creatures Moved in. They made friends with the local town in secret until the Incident.
130: The Death of Apocalypse
The Tarrasque could not be killed, so it was imprisoned. Now all manner of twisted creatures, from Yuan-ti to Mind Flayers, flock to the screaming beast to tear and trade esoteric riches from its eldritch flesh. Some tell of an ancient crystal buried deep in its still beating heart
131: Sarn Must Burn
Your characters' research has independently lead them to the same conclusion – that the city of Sarn was built long ago as a massive portal to let demons flood into the world. It's like a ticking time-bomb waiting to go off. They meet now to discuss what they know must be done: the city must be destroyed.
132: Forgotten Family Tomb
The heir of a royal bloodline has come into money after centuries of ill fortune, bankruptcy and decline. The heir offers you a hefty sum to stop a group of grave robbers that have recently begun excavations in the crypts below the old estate. Neither of you could know that the cursed burial ground it was built upon holds an ancient evil waiting within.
133: Vale of Carnage
As you step through the doors, a dragon thunders overhead with screaming children clutched in its claws. Over to your left, reality itself distorts into hideous, mocking reflections while to your right a man clad in the garb of a fearsome steppe tribesman hefts an oversize hammer and beckons you toward him. Having fought your way through the entire dungeon, battled with strange wisp-like monsters that floated through the sky, overcome the beguiling allure of waterfalls of shiny metal, and defeated men who breathed fire like dragons, you emerge from a tunnel styled to resemble a grinning clown and behold the sign at the apparent entrance to the place – "WELCOME TO THE CARNIVAL!"
134: Waterlogged Wrappings
An Egyptian-themed tomb lies forgotten within a sealed pyramid. A magical portal, near the bottom of a distant lake, connects to the tomb and floods it. The party is given the ability to breathe underwater and asked to rescue two young merfolk.
135: The Sorcerer-King's Fortress
The floating island-fortress of an ancient and powerful sorcerer-king who wielded magic and artifice with equal measure crashed into the depths of a jungle/mountain/vast desert/forbidding lake/remote landscape of your choice. Adventurers must work their way through the landscape, populated with creatures changed by the magics of the fortress–but if they can survive both these creatures and the ancient golem that guard the fortress, great treasure awaits them inside the ruined fortress.
136: Beyond the Gate
A temple to a forgotten god is hidden in a canyon and protected by magical wards and traps. The real secret at its heart is the Gate that connects it to a forgotten planar haven–the once-mighty realm of a powerful god has since become it's tomb. But when the adventurers step foot into the temple…something stirs.
137: The Ten Thousand Towers of Arvarosh Vel
Arvarosh Vel was a powerful wizard who sought power beyond mortal comprehension. Arvarosh Vel learned the meaning of hubris when his tower was scattered across the planes. Shattered into fragments of a whole, stepping from one room into another might take you from the Prime Material Plane to a lonely outcropping on a remote Astral island–or to a room in the depths of the plane of fire…
138: Lost Tomb of the Brass Banner
For centuries, the Order of the Brass Banner protected travelers heading through the lands surrounding Silverkeep. That is, until the dragon left. Now, the abandoned tomb is a multi-storied mausoleum that serves as a resting place for paladins and clerics who died for a master that forgot them.
139: Tempus Resurrectus
A large temple complex dedicated to worship of Tempus and material support for his endless wars in the realm beyond. A collection of clerics tends to the bodies of a thousand Barbarians of the Zealot as they lie in gentle repose, their spirits battling alongside their god, all waiting for word from the High Exarch of Battle that it is time to raise some or all of their army for mortal combat. Attackers would be wise to decapitate the cult leadership before their army wakes up and decapitates you.
140: The Galley of the Gastromancer
The King's Royal Chef needs three magical ingredients for the Princess's wedding feast. He has heard rumors of a place they may be found: a great wizard's culinary workshop, a trove of rare spices and arcane cookbooks. It is guarded by animated kitchen tools and a race of beast-men descended from the wizard's kitchen staff.
141: The Plague Pit
The sewers below a bustling city hold a terrible secret. Once used to dispose of the corpses of the sprawling metropolis, it has long been forgotten and fallen into disrepair. A Necromancer cult has recently learned of its existence, and plan use its vast resources to fuel their dark magics.
142: Titan’s End
The party explores the corpse of an enormous ancient titan that is inhabited by a host of creatures mining it and using what’s inside for power and survival. They learn a mad necromancer uses the city sized corpse, now hidden by sentiment and brush, as his lair and is doing research on how to animate the body, creating the largest and most powerful zombie ever.
143: Ancient Acropolis
While the party rests in town they are awoken in the night to the village being raided by undead. As they clean up they are informed the source is an ancient fort that has one again appeared atop the escarpment and they must brave the cliffs and undead to put an end to it, once and for all.
144: Water Temple
A small temple lies at mouth of a river. This temple was built to keep the water in a nearby lake pure and free of disease. Recently, the waters have been cursed with a plague. Oozes and Slimes have made the temple their home.
145: Allena Grove
A long-forgotten arena, the only hint of which is the slightly altered name (Allena -> Arena), and strange noises coming from underneath the poppy fields. If you dig more than 10 feet you will encounter a metal sheet which protects the inner arena from the natural elements. In the main arena are two undead monsters saying an endless war, while minor monsters have found a safe place to raise their young in the bleachers.
146: The Great Engine
Modron-built "dungeon" designed to channel chaos and elemental forces to accomplish a great feat of magic (like transporting a large chunk of land to another plane). The problem is the chaotic parts make it so the Modrons can't activate it, which is where the adventurers come in.
147:Animal House
An outrageously rich human aristocrat dedicated the later half of his life to collecting the most outlandish and exotic animals from the world over. On the night of the grand opening of his collection, an anarchist group released the beasts into his opulent mansion where they set upon the guests. Fight your way through a lavish palace turned blood arena and rescue the remaining guests. | https://techhenzy.com/three-sentence-dungeons/ |
Drawback of standard K-means algorithm:
One disadvantage of the K-means algorithm is that it is sensitive to the initialization of the centroids or the mean points. So, if a centroid is initialized to be a “far-off” point, it might just end up with no points associated with it and at the same time more than one clusters might end up linked with a single centroid. Similarly, more than one centroids might be initialized into the same cluster resulting in poor clustering. For example, consider the images shown below.
A poor initialisation of centroids resulted in poor clustering.
This is how the clustering should have been:
K-mean++:
To overcome the above-mentioned drawback we use K-means++. This algorithm ensures a smarter initialization of the centroids and improves the quality of the clustering. Apart from initialization, the rest of the algorithm is the same as the standard K-means algorithm. That is K-means++ is the standard K-means algorithm coupled with a smarter initialization of the centroids.
Initialization algorithm:
The steps involved are:
- Randomly select the first centroid from the data points.
- For each data point compute its distance from the nearest, previously choosen centroid.
- Select the next centroid from the data points such that the probability of choosing a point as centroid is directly proportional to its distance from the nearest, previously chosen centroid. (i.e. the point having maximum distance from the nearest centroid is most likely to be selected next as a centroid)
- Repeat steps 2 and 3 untill k centroids have been sampled
Intuition:
By following the above procedure for initialization, we pick up centroids which are far away from one another. This increases the chances of initially picking up centroids that lie in different clusters. Also, since centroids are picked up from the data points, each centroid has some data points associated with it at the end.
Implementation:
Consider a data-set having the following distribution:
Code : Python code for KMean++ Algorithm
|
|
Output:
Note: Although the initialization in K-means++ is computationally more expensive than the standard K-means algorithm, the run-time for convergence to optimum is drastically reduced for K-means++. This is because the centroids that are initially chosen are likely to lie in different clusters already.
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If you like GeeksforGeeks and would like to contribute, you can also write an article using contribute.geeksforgeeks.org or mail your article to [email protected]. See your article appearing on the GeeksforGeeks main page and help other Geeks.
Please Improve this article if you find anything incorrect by clicking on the "Improve Article" button below. | https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/ml-k-means-algorithm/ |
Meeting Will Gather Input on Sonora Energy-Efficiency Plan
A public workshop was held on Monday, June 9th, to gather input on a plan aimed at improving energy efficiency throughout the City of Sonora.
The Sierra Business Council is developing an “energy action plan” for the city as part of its climate planning program that’s funded by a public-good surcharge on Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers’ monthly bills.
Earlier this year, the Sonora City Council approved city staff to aid in the development of the plan.
Paul Ahrns, program director for the Sierra Business Council, said the plan will provide a road map for residents, businesses, and government agencies in the city to increase energy efficiency and save money through reduced usage.
“The goal is to increase understanding of energy use, costs and potential savings,” Ahrns said.
The council was selected to run the program by PG&E in 2010. Since then, the council has created such plans for nine cities and counties throughout the Sierra Nevada, including Amador County, the City of Jackson, Mariposa County and Nevada City.
Ahrns said the plan is intended to help the city come up with strategies that can reduce usage by between 10 and 20 percent. However, the city and its residents and businesses won’t be required to meet any energy efficiency targets.
Such strategies can include rebates and incentives to reduce the upfront costs for upgrades to lighting, refrigeration, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, as well as building improvements that can reduce energy needs.
Ahrns said the latest readily available data from 2015 showed the city’s total residential power usage that year was 17 million kilowatt-hours at a cost of about $4 million.
Nonresidential usage, such as businesses, office buildings and street lights, was 28 million kilowatt-hours at a cost of about $6.5 million.
Based on the total city’s residential usage divided by the California Department of Finance’s estimates of occupied housing, Ahrns determined the average monthly usage per occupied household was 647 kilowatt-hours per month.
That was lower than the national average of 901 kilowatt hours, but higher than the average for California of 557 kilowatt-hours.
The plan will also analyze the amount of renewable energy being produced in the city and determine the market potential for increasing renewable energy production, including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and small hydro.
“We’re trying to do a high-level analysis and figure out what is the market potential,” Ahrns said. “It will be up to individuals to determine if it’s a good investment for their home or business.”
Ahrns said the council will collect the feedback from Monday’s workshop and online survey that will stay up until July, then work to create a draft of the plan by September with help from volunteers in the community.
Meeting Will Gather Input on Sonora Energy-Efficiency Plan, by Alex MacLean, The Union Democrat, June 9, 2017. | https://cleanpowerexchange.org/meeting-will-gather-input-on-sonora-energy-efficiency-plan/ |
FIELD OF INVENTION
BACKGROUND
SUMMARY
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
This application is related to vehicular systems.
Lane departure is an automotive enhanced driving assistance feature. The current lane departure technology is based and dependent on the camera sensing capability of recognizing, and analyzing the road guide lines and stripes. The prior systems have limitations and will work only in ideal and limited conditions. It is not always possible for the camera to “visually” see the road guide lines and road delimitation stripes, for example when the road is subjected to environmental conditions such as being covered by snow, dust or sand due to weather conditions.
Described herein is a system and method that recognizes vehicle lane departure in road conditions affected by environmental conditions. The system uses magnetic field flux detection to determine if a vehicle is departing from a projected vehicle trajectory or a determined vehicle position between lanes. A magnetic material is applied to the stripes painted on road surfaces or on other applicable lane boundary indicators. The system uses magnetic field flux sensors or Hall Effect sensors mounted in the vehicle to recognize changes in magnetic field flux from the magnetized road stripe. These changes in magnetic field flux are interpreted by the system to determine whether alarms should be initiated for vehicle lane departure.
It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of embodiments of a system and method for vehicle lane departure based on magnetic field flux detection have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding, while eliminating, for the purpose of clarity, many other elements found in typical vehicle systems. Those of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that other elements and/or steps are desirable and/or required in implementing the present invention. However, because such elements and steps are well known in the art, and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the present invention, a discussion of such elements and steps is not provided herein.
The non-limiting embodiments described herein are with respect to a system and method for vehicle lane departure based on magnetic field flux detection. Other electronic devices, modules and applications may also be used in view of these teachings without deviating from the spirit or scope as described herein. The system and method for vehicle lane departure based on magnetic field flux detection may be modified for a variety of applications and uses while remaining within the spirit and scope of the claims. The embodiments and variations described herein, and/or shown in the drawings, are presented by way of example only and are not limiting as to the scope and spirit. The descriptions herein may be applicable to all embodiments of the system and method for vehicle lane departure based on magnetic field flux detection although it may be described with respect to a particular embodiment.
The description herein relates to a vehicle lane departure system based on magnetic field flux detection and in particular, the use of Hall Effect sensor (HES) technology to detect changes in the magnetic field flux. The use of the HES is illustrative and other magnetic field flux detection sensors may be used without deviating from the scope of the description and claims herein.
In general, the vehicle lane departure system based on Hall Effect sensor technology (VLDS-HES) is an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) designed to recognize vehicle lane departure in road conditions affected by environmental conditions. The magnetized road lines act as a guidance system for the vehicle and operator and are a part of the today's traffic signaling infrastructure. The VLDS-HES proposes to be a cost effective guidance system by using paint with magnetic properties, although other implementations are also possible. This requires virtually no changes to the current road infrastructure. As described herein below, the VLDS-HES utilize a basic uni-polar or bi-polar Hall sensor, which implementation may depend on the road configuration and functions.
FIG. 1
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is an embodiment of a vehicle lane departure system based on magnetic field flux detection and in particular, a vehicle lane departure system based on Hall Effect sensor technology (VLDS-HES) . The VLDS-HES includes, but is not limited to, a VLDS-HES electronics control module (VLDS-HES ECU) , a plurality of VLDS-HES sensors strategically located on the vehicle of interest and road or curb markers, guide lines, stripes, lane markers, and the like that are painted, coated or otherwise have some form of magnetic material (collectively “magnetic marker ”) that provides a predetermined amount of magnetic flux that can be detected and read by the VLDS-HES sensors and provided as an input to the VLDS-HES ECU for interpretation as described herein below.
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The VLDS-HES is a cost effective solution that can augment or replace the current lane departure systems by providing an enhanced lane departure solution for vehicles. In general, the VLDS-HES uses sensing technology that recognizes changes in magnetic field flux from the magnetic marker . These changes in the magnetic field flux are interpreted by the VLDS-HES ECU to determine the vehicle's position between the lanes. Hence, if the road is covered by snow, dust, sand or any non-magnetic material, the VLDS-HES sensors will not be affected and continue to provide reliable road data. That is, the lane departure function will continue to work in environmental conditions that other lane departure systems are normally affected by as mentioned herein above.
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In an embodiment, the VLDS-HES can work with one sensor or an array of sensors for increased reliability and additional features. In another embodiment, the VLDS-HES may be used in conjunction with lane departure technology that visually monitors road markers using cameras.
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As described herein below, in another embodiment, the VLDS-HES may measure stripe length or shapes with the VLDS-HES sensor , provide cost effective automated speed zones and speed indictors, provide traffic triage and may possibly be implemented for traffic automation and/or augmentation or enable autonomous vehicle driving.
FIG. 2
FIG. 4
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is a high level block diagram of an embodiment of a VLDS-HES . The VLDS-HES includes, but is not limited to, a VLDS-HES electronics control module (VLDS-HES ECU) , an array of VLDS-HES sensors shown as VLDS-HES-SEN , VLDS-HES-SEN , . . . , VLDS-HES-SEN n, and road or curb markers, guide lines, stripes, lane markers, and the like that are painted, coated or otherwise have some form of magnetic material (collectively “magnetic or magnetized markers ”) that are on a road surface . The magnetic or magnetized markers on the road surface generate a magnetic field similar to a permanent magnet with 2 poles. The VLDS-HES sensors entering and exiting this magnetic field flux record this as a sine pulse translated, in general, as a pulse train having a certain frequency and/or duty cycle. See, for example, an illustrative pulse train in .
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The pulse train information is then processed further in the VLDS-HES ECU , which can determine based on a pulse detection algorithm if there is a displacement in the x and/or y axis of the vehicle position as related to the magnetic or magnetized markers measured in previous time stamps. Once a threshold limit is reached, a lane departure warning can be issued which alerts the driver of the vehicle condition. This warning can be, but is not limited to, visual, audible or vibrational alerts. The VLDS-HES ECU can send out an alarm message on a vehicle bus , such as for example, a controller area network (“CAN”), Internet or local area network.
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In another embodiment, the VLDS-HES ECU can send raw sensor information or primitive data processing results on the vehicle bus for further processing by other sub-systems in the vehicle. Primitive data may constitute basic information such as speed measurements, number of pulses, stripe length and other like information. This information can be further used and/or combined with further algorithms for more complex function implementation, such as for example, autonomous vehicle operation. In another example, VLDS-HES with sensor arrays can provide information and guidance of the vehicle position and direction within ongoing traffic using magnetic or magnetized markers such as road guide lines and/or stripes.
FIGS. 3A and 3B
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Referring now to , there is shown an a vehicle including a VLDS-HES ECU and a plurality of VLDS-HES sensors strategically placed on the vehicle , i.e. S, S, S., S, S, S and S. The number of sensors and placement thereof is variable and dependent on the nature of the vehicle, nominal environmental conditions, nominal operating conditions, and other factors. The VLDS-HES ECU can process data from multiple VLDS-HES sensors at the same time, send a message on the vehicle bus if lane departure is detected and notify the operator via visual, audible or stimulation means or engage steering, braking and/or other subsystems to prevent lane departure or correct vehicle trajectory.
FIG. 3A
FIG. 4
FIG. 3A
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illustrates the vehicle moving in a straight line direction on the road . The vehicle has a continuous line on the left, (all directions from the perspective of a person sitting in the vehicle in the vehicle moving direction as indicated by the arrow), and dashed lines on the right, where the continuous line and the dashed lines are types of magnetic or magnetized markers . Referring now also to , in the example shown in , VLDS-HES sensors S and S will normally be high as they will be continuously detecting the magnetic flux in the continuous line . However, VLDS-HES sensors S, S, S., S and S will normally be low. In the embodiments, logic for active/inactive is illustrative.
FIGS. 3B and 4
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Referring now to , as the vehicle passes dashed lines , a change in magnetic field is detected by the VLDS-HES sensors as current is induced. This induced current is interpreted as a pulse by the VLDS-HES sensors. When a change in the flow of current, or a change in pulse is detected, a lane departure method or algorithm in the VLDS-HES ECU analyzes this further in conjunction with implemented traffic rules and predict vehicle trajectory in relation to the road guides. For example, the traffic rules may be traffic rules received from a global positioning system (GPS) and/or navigation system such as various speed zones or temporary lane change marking information due to road work which can be arbitrated in conjunction with the vehicle trajectory. In particular, as VLDS-HES sensor S enters the magnetic field , VLDS-HES sensor S can trigger an alarm and a second sensor, i.e. VLDHS-HES sensor S entering the same magnetic field confirms that the vehicle is experiencing an unexpected vehicle trajectory change. The VLDS-HES ECU algorithms are modified in conjunction with the applicable rules and regulations of the jurisdiction.
FIG. 5
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is an example high level flowchart for determining lane departure. Referring also to , B and , a vehicle is determined to be moving a specified direction () and a vehicle trajectory zone check is performed (). For example, a high or low level is determined for each of VLDS-HES sensors S, S, S and S (). If VLDS-HES sensor S is high as described herein above and VLDS-HES sensors S, S and S are low, then the vehicle trajectory is in a good zone () and no alarms are set or if any alarms are already on, the alarms are turned off ().
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If VLDS-HES sensor S is high, then a warning time window is started (). If during the warning time window VLDS-HES sensor S remains low, then it is assumed that the vehicle trajectory was corrected or it was a false alarm and the warning time window is rest and the lane departure method cycles from the beginning to determine vehicle lane position (). If during the warning time window VLDS-HES sensor S becomes high, then an alarm zone window is started (). If during the alarm time window VLDS-HES sensor S remains low, then the vehicle trajectory is determined to be in a warning zone () and an intermittent alarm is initiated using one of the alarm nodes described herein above (). The lane departure method cycles again to determine vehicle lane position.
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If during the alarm time window VLDS-HES sensor S becomes high, then the vehicle trajectory is determined to be in a alarm zone () and a continuous alarm is initiated using one of the alarm nodes described herein above (). The lane departure method cycles again to determine vehicle lane position.
FIG. 6
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is an embodiment of a VLDS-HES that can be used for speed zone determinations. In general, the VLDS_HES may detect the length of a magnetized road stripe. The system could be used to define speed zones, where the length of stripe defines the zone. For example, large road stripes represent faster speed limits, smaller stripes represent slower speed zones and/or deceleration zones. In particular, a vehicle including a VLDS-HES ECU and VLDS-HES sensors can determine the length of the magnetized road strips and determine that it is in a MPH zone. This may be sent to other vehicle subsystems over the vehicle bus to alert the user. Another vehicle including a VLDS-HES ECU and VLDS-HES sensors may determine that the magnetized road stripes are smaller and represent a 40 MPH zone. This information may be relayed to the user. In another embodiment, magnetized road stripes and may represent deceleration zones for oncoming vehicles and an alert is therefore conveyed to the user to act accordingly. In another embodiment, the vehicles and may react autonomously to the different speed zones in accordance with the appropriate rules and regulations.
FIG. 7
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is an embodiment of a VLDS-HES that can be used for road pattern recognition and/or traffic signs. In general, the VLDS-HES can recognize road signs and/or traffic signs magnetically marked on the road. The VLDS-HES will process the information read back by the sensors and take appropriate actions and/or pre-warn the user or driver. In particular, a vehicle including a VLDS-HES ECU and VLDS-HES sensors can recognize magnetized road signs or markers and determine that a deceleration zone is ahead and act accordingly. This may be sent to other vehicle subsystems over the vehicle bus to alert the user. Another vehicle including a VLDS-HES ECU and VLDS-HES sensors may recognize magnetized road markers and determine that a stop sign is ahead and act accordingly. In another embodiment, the vehicles and may react autonomously to the different magnetized road markers and in accordance with the appropriate rules and regulations.
In another embodiment, a VLDS-HES system can detect which lane the vehicle is in through differentiation of solid and striped lines. This information can be used in concert with vehicle speed, steering angle and other information available via a vehicle bus, such as a CAN, to autonomously make corrections or associated decisions to drive the vehicle.
In general, a vehicle lane departure system includes a plurality of magnetic field detectors positioned on a vehicle to detect magnetic fields from magnetic road markers on a road and an electronic control unit (ECU) connected to the plurality of magnetic field detectors. The ECU initiates an event on a condition that certain magnetic field detectors of the plurality of magnetic field detectors detect a magnetic field with respect to a magnetic road marker. In an embodiment, the at least one predetermined action occurs in response to the event. In another embodiment, the event is a warning zone event on a condition that the certain magnetic field detectors are a front magnetic field detector and a rear magnetic field detector. In another embodiment, the event is an alarm zone event on a condition that the certain magnetic field detectors are at least two front magnetic field detectors and a rear magnetic field detector.
In an embodiment, a length associated with the magnetic road markers corresponds to a predetermined speed zone. In another embodiment, a length associated with the magnetic road markers corresponds to deceleration zone.
In an embodiment, a pattern of the magnetic road markers corresponds to an upcoming traffic sign or condition.
In general, a method for vehicle lane departure includes providing a plurality of magnetic field detectors for positioning on a vehicle to detect magnetic fields from magnetic road markers on a road, providing an electronic control unit (ECU) connected to the plurality of magnetic field detectors and initiating by the ECU an event on a condition that certain magnetic field detectors of the plurality of magnetic field detectors detect a magnetic field with respect to a magnetic road marker. In an embodiment, the method further includes performing at least one predetermined action in response to the event. In another embodiment, the event is a warning zone event on a condition that the certain magnetic field detectors is a front magnetic field detector and a rear magnetic field detector. In another embodiment, the event is an alarm zone event on a condition that the certain magnetic field detectors is at least two front magnetic field detectors and a rear magnetic field detector.
In an embodiment, a length associated with the magnetic road markers corresponds to a predetermined speed zone. In another embodiment, a length associated with the magnetic road markers corresponds to deceleration zone. In another embodiment, a pattern of the magnetic road markers corresponds to an upcoming traffic sign or condition.
In an embodiment, the method further includes detecting by a front magnetic field detector of a magnetic field, starting a warning time window, starting an alarm time window on a condition that a rear magnetic field detector detects another magnetic field in the warning time window, and sending an alarm on a condition that a second front magnetic field detector detects the magnetic field in the alarm time window, where the front magnetic field detector, the rear magnetic field detector and the second front magnetic field detector are at least the certain magnetic field detectors and the event is an alarm.
In an embodiment, a warning is sent on a condition that the alarm time window expires without additional magnetic field detections and the event is a warning. In an embodiment, the event are corrective actions taken by user or the vehicle to correct vehicle lane departure. In an embodiment, the event are actions taken by a user or the vehicle in response to the magnetic road markers being associated with traffic signs or conditions.
As described herein, the methods described herein are not limited to any particular element(s) that perform(s) any particular function(s) and some steps of the methods presented need not necessarily occur in the order shown. For example, in some cases two or more method steps may occur in a different order or simultaneously. In addition, some steps of the described methods may be optional (even if not explicitly stated to be optional) and, therefore, may be omitted. These and other variations of the methods disclosed herein will be readily apparent, especially in view of the description of the systems described herein, and are considered to be within the full scope of the invention.
Although features and elements are described above in particular combinations, each feature or element can be used alone without the other features and elements or in various combinations with or without other features and elements.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is an example high level system diagram of a vehicle lane departure system based on magnetic field flux detection in accordance with an embodiment;
FIG. 2
is an example diagram of a vehicle lane departure system based on magnetic field flux detection in accordance with an embodiment;
FIGS. 3A and 3B
illustrate vehicle lane departure using a vehicle lane departure system based on magnetic field flux detection in accordance with an embodiment;
FIG. 4
is an example illustration of pulses from multiple sensors using a vehicle lane departure system based on magnetic field flux detection in accordance with an embodiment;
FIG. 5
is an example detection flowchart for use with a vehicle lane departure system based on magnetic field flux detection in accordance with an embodiment;
FIG. 6
is an example illustration of speed zone detection using a vehicle lane departure system based on magnetic field flux detection in accordance with an embodiment; and
FIG. 7
is an example illustration of traffic sign detection using a vehicle lane departure system based on magnetic field flux detection in accordance with an embodiment. | |
I would most likely not have paid more much attention if it were not for the hats. The boys' uniforms hats are almost all "boaters." The girls styles are more varied. They are so cute!
I have always found it ironic that JFK going bare headed ended the tradition of men wearing hats in the USA. Jackie O on the other hand was always impeccably dressed. She always wore a hat. | https://blog.sailboatreboot.com/2017/03/hats.html |
For popping kernels, follow instructions on package, or use 12 cups plain popped microwave popcorn (without salt or butter). Also, try substituting other types of dried fruit and nuts for the raisins and peanuts.
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp butter
1 bag 10-ounces mini marshmallows
12 cups plain unsalted popped popcorn, (from 2/3 cup kernels)
1/2 cup unsalted peanuts
1/2 cup raisins
Directions:
In a medium nonstick saucepan, melt 2 Tbsp butter over low heat. Add mini marshmallows; cook, stirring, until melted, 10 to 12 minutes. In a large bowl, combine 12 cups plain unsalted popped popcorn (from 2/3 cup kernels), peanuts and raisins (be careful not to mix in any un-popped kernels).
Pour melted marshmallows over popcorn mixture, and fold to combine. You will need to work quickly since the sugar in the marshmallows hardens as it cools. Rub a little butter into your hands to prevent sticking, and gently form 12 balls, each about 2 1/2 inches across; place on waxed paper. Let set until cool and firm, about 10 minutes.
Crunchy Caramel Corn
Ingredients:
4 Tbsp butter, plus more for baking sheet
10 cups plain unsalted popped (from 1/2 cup kernels or a 3.3-ounce bag microwave popcorn) popcorn
1 cup cashews, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
kosher salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 300°. Butter a large rimmed baking sheet; set aside. Place popcorn in a large bowl; if using cashews, add to bowl and toss to combine. Set aside.
In a small saucepan, bring butter, sugar, 1/8 tsp salt, and 2 Tbsp water to a boil, stirring constantly. Working quickly, drizzle popcorn with sugar syrup, and toss.
Spread popcorn evenly on prepared baking sheet. Bake, tossing occasionally, until golden and shiny, about 40 minutes. Transfer hot popcorn to parchment-paper-lined baking sheet; let cool. Store in airtight container up to 1 week. | http://www.gazingin.com/2009/11/11/two-popcorn-recipes/ |
Status:
Active
Frequency:
Monthly
Record number:
2310
The New Housing Price Index (NHPI) is a monthly series that measures changes over time in the contractors' selling prices of new residential houses, where detailed specifications pertaining to each house remain the same between two consecutive periods.
Data release - November 10, 2005
- Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
- Description
- Data sources and methodology
- Data accuracy
- Documentation
Description
The New Housing Price Index (NHPI) is a monthly series that measures changes over time in the contractors' selling prices of new residential houses, where detailed specifications pertaining to each house remain the same between two consecutive periods. The survey also collects contractors' estimates of the current value (evaluated at market price) of the land. These estimates are independently indexed to provide the published series for land. The residual, (total selling price less land value), which mainly relates to the current cost of the structure is also independently indexed and is presented as the estimated house series.
The NHPI is used by housing economists, universities and the general public to track and comprehend events and trends in this important component of the construction sector. Within Statistics Canada, components of these series are used in the calculation of some elements of the Consumer Price Index. In addition, the series is used by the Canadian System of National Accounts in deflating the value of the national housing stock. Due to the level of geographic detail provided and the sensitivity to changes in supply and demand, the NHPI series are of particular interest to the real estate industry for comparison with changes in values of houses sold in the resale market. The information provided by the NHPI is also useful to building contractors, market analysts interested in housing policy, suppliers and manufacturers of building products, insurance companies, federal government agencies such as Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (C.M.H.C.), and provincial and municipal housing agencies responsible for housing policy.
Reference period: The time period for which the NHPI equals 100; currently this is the year 1997.
Collection period: For the NHPI, the collection process occurs over a two-week period beginning on the 15th of the reference month.
Subjects
- Construction
- Construction price indexes
- Prices and price indexes
- Residential construction
Data sources and methodology
Target population
For the NHPI, the universe consists of builders in 21 metropolitan areas who mainly build single unit houses in such volume or in such a fashion that they can report selling prices for comparable transactions.
Instrument design
The interviewers use a simplified price report to obtain the necessary information on the total price and the estimated market price of the land component, as well as detailed characteristics of the selected house models being priced. A description of the physical and non-physical characteristics of the selected house model and the corresponding total selling price of the house and land is requested as well as an estimate of the land value (defined as the market price). A residual value (total selling price less land value) which relates to the current cost of the structure (house) is then calculated. The price report was developed in the early 1980's, with input and feedback from the respondents and the Canadian Home Builders' Association.
Sampling
This is a sample survey with a longitudinal design.
The sample of builders for each metropolitan area is determined through the use of local market intelligence and verified against relevant building permit data. Where possible, prices are collected from builders who develop entire subdivisions, usually on large tracts of land. However, builders producing fewer units are frequently included where comparable models can be priced over a period of time. The sample for a given builder is structured in such a way that the price changes of the sample are representative of the price changes of the builder's total sales of housing units.
Data sources
Responding to this survey is mandatory.
Data are collected directly from survey respondents and derived from other Statistics Canada surveys.
The collection of the selected house models and price information is conducted through the use of personal interviews carried out by interviewers who are based in the regional offices of Statistics Canada. Face-to-face interviews are conducted quarterly while telephone interviews are used in the intervening months.
View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .
Error detection
In the day-to-day collection and processing of the NHPI, great emphasis is placed on the examination and evaluation of prices. Subject matter specialists closely watch developments in the markets. They review the behaviour of the reported price changes, both to validate them directly and to ensure they are representative of the price movement as a whole. Outliers and incorrect or suspicious prices are identified during the initial data processing and then verbal follow-ups are carried out by the interviewers with the respondents to ensure the appropriate information has been obtained.
Imputation
Missing data are imputed by carrying the previous month's reported price forward.
Estimation
Weights
Separate weights are estimated annually at the level of the metropolitan area for the house component, the land component and the total selling price series using building completion data. Essentially, a price adjusted moving three-year average of the value of building completions for each metropolitan area is calculated for the house component, and then aggregated up to provide provincial and national indexes. In the case of land, the house to land ratios obtained from the NHPI are employed to estimate the corresponding land value data, also using a three-year moving average and aggregated in the same way. The total (house and land), is then calculated using all this information.
To prepare a contractors' selling price index for a metropolitan area, price reports from the sample of builders are given equal weights in index calculations. Amongst metropolitan areas, weights are derived from housing completions data.
Prices
Through discussion with the builders, models are selected and tracked which are identified as representative of the current construction portfolio of each builder. In addition to pricing data, detailed information is obtained describing physical and non-physical characteristics of each model home. This is considered to be an important data source which assists the assessment of quality changes in terms of dollars and cents. In the new housing price survey reported prices are adjusted for changes in quality of structure and land. This is important because the NHPI attempts to measure changes in price over time of identical houses in consecutive periods. Most often the estimate of the value of the quality change provided by the respondent is used to adjust the reported price to an estimate of "pure" price, unaffected by quality change.
Disclosure control
Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.
Collected data are converted to price indexes and data are released as such, so that it is not possible to identify the suppliers of raw prices.
Revisions and seasonal adjustment
The NHPI is not subject to revision and is not seasonally adjusted.
Data accuracy
The statistical accuracy of this index depends on price and value data. Price data are obtained from a sample survey. Value data mainly rest on the quality of the building completion data, gathered by the Investment and Capital Stock Program of Statistics Canada. Both kinds of input data are subject therefore to their own errors.
In terms of price data, it has been acknowledged since the inception of the NHPI house and land sub-aggregate series that the house-to-land split can contain some level of respondent bias. This is due to the very difficult task of separating the total value of a new house into a land portion and a structure portion. The allocation of value in such a circumstance may be easy for one builder to provide and conceptually difficult for another to determine. Nevertheless, all efforts are made to obtain, verify and edit such information in concert with the builder.
Though the NHPI uses a sample survey methodology to obtain the necessary information, confidence intervals are not currently estimated, due to the longitudinal nature of price index series. Indexes for higher and lower levels of aggregation are considered to be statistically reliable.
Documentation
- New Housing Price Indexes, 1997 Base: Technical Note
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- Date modified: | https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&Id=27156 |
The objects available in the Part box (notes, symbols, text objects) are organized into groups. The top section contains small squares, with each representing a group. You can view this as the Part Box Group menu, if you like. All group elements are shown in a panel below—called the Part Box Elements display.
Click one of the squares in the Part Box Group menu.
The corresponding group moves to the top of the panel, allowing easy access to its elements.
Note: Any element can be selected and inserted from any group panel, at any time. The group rearrangement function simply makes it easier to work with the Part box, especially on smaller screens, or when using small Score Editor windows.
Choose View > Partbox > Lock Group Positions.
Choose the command a second time to unlock group positions.
Turn off the View > Partbox > Show All Groups setting.
You can select any Part box object (a note, slur, clef, and so on) by clicking it. If a particular object group isn’t visible in the Part box, click the corresponding square in the Part Box Group menu to move the object group to the top of the panel.
Hold down the mouse button on one of the squares in the Part Box Group menu, then choose an object from the menu that appears.
Double-click one of the group menu squares.
A small floating window, called a palette window, opens. It contains all objects in the group, and can be freely moved. Objects can be dragged directly from palette windows into any position in the score. You can simultaneously open as many palette windows as needed.
Note: Unlike the regular Part box, the selected object is not highlighted in the palette window.
The palette windows can have different shapes, depending on the modifier key you hold down while double-clicking a Part Box Group menu square:
Normal (Control key)
Vertical (Option key)
Horizontal (Command key)
The default shape of palette windows (opened with a simple double-click) can be predefined in the Logic Pro > Preferences > Score > Floating Palette View pop-up menu.
The following unassigned key commands select the corresponding note values in the Part box. These note values can then be quickly inserted with the Pencil tool:
Partbox: 1/1 Note
Partbox: 1/2 Note
Partbox: 1/4 Note
Partbox: 1/8 Note
Partbox: 1/16 Note
Partbox: 1/32 Note
If you execute any of these key commands more than once, the following applies:
Twice in succession, the corresponding triplet value is selected.
Three times selects the dotted value.
Four times returns to the original value.
Further key commands can also change the selection inside the Part box:
Note: As the group display can be reordered, the current display order of groups determines the previous and next group. | https://help.apple.com/logicpro/mac/9.1.6/en/logicpro/usermanual/chapter_31_section_5.html |
It is not until the 26th truncated row - [1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 6] - that the initial list is extended at all. It is unclear whether this process can be continued indefinitely, although I have verified by computer that it generates a sequence of at least 2000 terms. Conjecturally: (1) the sequence is infinite, (2) it is the unique sequence containing infinitely many complete rows of table A088643, and (3) for every n > 0 there exists N > 0 such that the first n terms of this sequence are contained in every row of table A088643 from the N-th onwards.
Maybe the idea could be expressed more concisely by defining this sequence as the limit of the reversed rows of A088643? - M. F. Hasler, Aug 04 2021
It seems we do not know of an existence proof for the limit of the reversed rows of A088643. - Peter Munn, Aug 19 2021
Table of n, a(n) for n=1..94.
Peter Munn, Illustration of the relationship between A088643, this sequence and A255312.
Cf. A088643. | https://oeis.org/A132075 |
---
abstract: 'In this work we analyze the dynamics of collisionless self-gravitating systems described by the $f(R)$-gravity and Boltzmann equation in the weak field approximation, focusing on the Jeans instability for theses systems. The field equations in this approximation were obtained within the Palatini formalism. Through the solution of coupled equations we achieved the collapse criterion for infinite homogeneous fluid and stellar systems, which is given by a dispersion relation. This result is compared with the results of the standard case and the case for $f(R)$-gravity in metric formalism, in order to see the difference among them. The limit of instability varies according to which theory of gravity is adopted.'
author:
- |
Raíla André and Gilberto M Kremer\
Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazi
title: 'Collisionless self-gravitating systems in $f(R)$-gravity within Palatini approach and relativistic Boltzmann equation in the Newtonian approach'
---
Introduction
============
The General Relativity (GR) has emerged as a highly successful theory for cosmological models, surviving various tests. In search of a generalization of GR emerged a theory of gravity known as modified $f(R)$-gravity. An important consequence of this new theory resides in the fact that it is no longer necessary to introduce unknown entities to explain the accelerated expansion of the Universe and the formation of structures. Searching for further generalization, it was introduced also the Palatini formalism where the most fundamental aspect to be noted is the independence, *a priori*, between the metric tensor and affine connection.
In this work, in order to study the formation of structures, we adopt a model described by $f(R)$-gravity from the point of view of the Palatini approach, which is able to describe the dynamics and the collapse of collisionless self-gravitating systems. To investigate this dynamics, it becomes necessary the introduction of the collisionless Boltzmann and Poisson equations for the fields. The Boltzmann equation is an essential tool for the understanding of the processes that occurs in interstellar clouds, as the damping waves perturbations. Here we investigated the Jeans instability for physical systems that exhibit weak gravitational field, with slow variation or static and objects which moves slowly compared to the speed of light. This instability causes the collapse of interstellar gas clouds and hence, the formation of structures. This occurs when the internal pressure of the gas is not enough to prevent gravitational collapse. The aim of this work is to show the difference in the behavior between the solutions obtained from this model and from those obtained by $f(R)$-gravity in the metric formalism in the Newtonian limit \[1, 2\] and by Newtonian gravity \[3\]. Here we adopt the signature $(-, +,+,+)$ and follow the book \[4\] for the conventions of the Riemann tensor and its contractions.
Palatini formalism for $f(R)$-gravity in the Newtonian limit {#sec:one}
============================================================
The action which represent the modified gravity theories reads $$\begin{aligned}
\label{1}
S= \int dx^{4} \sqrt{-g} \left[ -f(R)/(2\kappa) + \mathcal{L}_m \right]\end{aligned}$$ where $f(R)$ is an analytic function of the Ricci scalar $R$, $\kappa={8 \pi G}/{c^{4}}$ denotes the gravitational field coupling and $\mathcal{L}_m$ is the Lagrangian density of the matter field.
From the variation of the action (\[1\]) according to the Palatini formalism we get the modified Einstein’s field equations $$\begin{aligned}
\label{2}
f'(R) R_{\mu \nu}-\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu} f(R)=- \kappa T_{\mu \nu}=\frac{2\kappa}{\sqrt{-g}}\frac{\delta\left(\mathcal{L}_m \sqrt{-g}\right)}{\delta g^{\mu\nu}}.\end{aligned}$$ Above $f'\equiv f'(R)= df(R)/dR$ and $T_{\mu\nu}$ is the energy-momentum tensor of the gravitational sources. The Ricci tensor $R_{\mu\nu}$ and the affine connection ${\Gamma}^{\alpha}_{\mu \nu}$ are given in terms of the Riemannian Ricci tensor $\widetilde R_{\mu\nu}$ and connection $\widetilde{\Gamma}^{\alpha}_{\mu \nu}$ by $$\begin{aligned}
\label{3a}
R_{\mu\nu}=\widetilde R_{\mu\nu}-\frac{3}{2f^{\prime2}}\partial_\mu f'\partial _\nu f'+\frac{1}{f'}\widetilde\nabla_\mu \widetilde\nabla_\nu f'+\frac{1}{2f'}\widetilde\nabla^\sigma \widetilde\nabla_\sigma f' g_{\mu\nu},\\\label{3b}
\Gamma^{\alpha}_{\mu \nu}=\widetilde{\Gamma}^{\alpha}_{\mu \nu} + \frac{1}{2 f'} g^{\lambda \alpha} \left[ \partial_\mu f' g_{\lambda \nu} + \partial_{\nu} f' g_{\mu \lambda} - \partial_\lambda f' g_{\mu \nu}\right].\end{aligned}$$
In the Newtonian approach the metric tensor can be written in terms of the Minkowski tensor $\eta_{\mu \nu}$ plus corrections of order $\overline{v}^2=\overline M G/\overline r$ \[4\] as $g_{00}=-1-g_{00}^{(2)}$ and $g_{ij}=\delta_{ij}+g_{ij}^{(2)}$. Up to this order we have $$\begin{aligned}
\label{4}
\widetilde R^{(2)}=-\frac12\nabla^2 g_{00}^{(2)}+\frac12\nabla^2 g_{ii}^{(2)}=\frac1{c^2}\nabla^2\left(\phi-\varphi\right),\end{aligned}$$ where $\phi$ and $\varphi$ are gravitational potentials associated with $g_{00}^{(2)}$ and $g_{ii}^{(2)}$, respectively.
In this work we consider the following expression for $f(R)=R+f_2R^2$, where $f_2$ is a small quantity. The function proportional to $R^2$ is not able to reproduce an accelerated expansion of the Universe as it is currently observed. However, it should not be a problem, since the formation of structures, which is the focus of this work, occurred at a period much earlier than the current acceleration of the Universe. In this case the trace of (\[3a\]) in the $\overline{v}^2$ approximation reads $$\begin{aligned}
\left(1-6f_2\nabla^2\right)R^{(2)}=\widetilde R^{(2)},\end{aligned}$$ or by considering $\left(1-6f_2\nabla^2\right)$ an invertible operator $$\begin{aligned}
\label{5}
R^{(2)}&\approx&\left(1+6f_2\nabla^2+36f_2^2\nabla^4\right)\widetilde R^{(2)} = \frac1{c^2}\left[\nabla^2\left(\phi-\varphi\right)+6f_2\nabla^4\left(\phi-\varphi\right)
+36f_2^2\nabla^6\left(\phi-\varphi\right)\right],\end{aligned}$$ which is an approximation up to the order $f_2^2$. Since $$\begin{aligned}
\widetilde R_{00}^{(2)}=\frac{\nabla^2 g_{00}^{(2)}}{2}=-\frac{\nabla^2\phi}{c^2},\end{aligned}$$ the time component of the Ricci tensor (\[3a\]) in the $\overline{v}^2$ approximation reduces to $$\begin{aligned}
\label{6}
R_{00}^{(2)}=\widetilde R_{00}^{(2)}-f_2\nabla^2 R^{(2)}\approx-\frac1{c^2}\left[\nabla^2\phi+f_2\nabla^4\left(\phi-\varphi\right)
+6f_2^2\nabla^6\left(\phi-\varphi\right)\right].\end{aligned}$$
The source of the gravitational field is a pressureless fluid where the components of the energy-momentum tensor are given by $T_{\mu\nu}=(\rho c^2,0,0,0)$ with $\rho$ denoting the fluid mass density.
Now the time component and the trace of Einstein’s field equations (\[2\]) together with (\[5\]) and (\[6\]) leads to the following system of Poisson equations $$\begin{aligned}
\label{7a}
\nabla^{2} (\phi+\varphi)- 4 f_2 \nabla^{4}(\phi -\varphi)-24 f_2^2 \nabla^6(\phi-\varphi)= 16 \pi G \rho,
\\ \label{7b}
\nabla^{2}(\phi-\varphi)+ 6 f_2 \nabla^{4}(\phi-\varphi)+36 f_2^2\nabla^6(\phi-\varphi)= -8 \pi G \rho,\end{aligned}$$ respectively. If we sum the above equations and consider $f_2=0$, the standard Poisson equation is recovered.
Jeans instability in the framework of Boltzmann equation
========================================================
Now the aim is to obtain from the collisionless Boltzmann equation in the Newtonian limit a criterion for the collapse of stellar systems, which is related with a dispersion relation. The collisionless Boltzmann equation has the following form in the Newtonian limit $$\begin{aligned}
\label{8}
\frac{\partial f}{\partial t}+ (\vec{v}\cdot \vec{\nabla}_r)f-(\vec{\nabla}\phi \cdot \vec{\nabla}_v)f=0,\end{aligned}$$ where $f \equiv f(\vec{r},\vec{v},t) $ is the distribution function, which gives the mass density of the stellar system through $\rho(\vec{r}, t)=\int f(\vec{r},\vec{v},t) d\vec{v}.$
We consider that the self-gravitating equilibrium system – described by a time-independent distribution function $f_{0}(\vec{r},\vec{v})$ and potentials $\phi_{0}(\vec{r})$ and $\varphi_{0}(\vec{r})$ – is subjected to a small perturbation, namely, $f(\vec{r},\vec{v},t)=f_{0}(\vec{r},\vec{v})+\epsilon f_{1}(\vec{r},\vec{v},t)$, $\phi(\vec{r},t)=\phi_{0}(\vec{r})+\epsilon \phi_{1}(\vec{r},t)$ and $\varphi(\vec{r},t)=\varphi_{0}(\vec{r})+\epsilon \varphi_{1}(\vec{r},t)$, where $\epsilon \ll 1$. The equilibrium for a homogeneous system is achieved by Jeans “swindle” that allows us to make $\phi_0=0$ and $\varphi_0=0$ without loss of consistency. After these considerations, we linearize the Boltzmann (\[8\]) and the field equations (\[7a\]), (\[7b\]) through the substitution of the above conditions. Subsequently we write the resulting equations in Fourier space as follows $$\begin{aligned}
\label{10a}
-i \omega \overline f_1+\vec{v} \cdot (i \vec{k}\,\overline f_1)-(i \vec{k}\, \overline\phi_1) \cdot \frac{\partial \overline f_0}{\partial \vec{v}}=0,
\\\label{10b}
-k^{2}(\overline\phi_1+\overline\varphi_1)-4f_2 k^{4}(\overline\phi_1 - \overline\varphi_1)+ 24 f_2^2 k^6(\overline\phi_1-\overline\varphi_1)= 16 \pi G \int \overline f_1 d\vec{v},
\\ \label{10c}
k^{2}(\overline\phi_{1}-\overline\varphi_{1})-6f_2 k^{4}(\overline\phi_1 -\overline\varphi_1)+36 f_2^2 k^6(\overline\phi_1-\overline\varphi_1)= 8 \pi G \int \overline f_1 d\vec{v},\end{aligned}$$ where the overbarred quantities indicate the Fourier transforms in the $(\omega,\vec{k})$ space.
By eliminating the overbarred quantities from the system of equations (\[10a\]) - (\[10c\]) it follows the dispersion relation $$\begin{aligned}
\label{11}
1+ \frac{4 \pi G}{k^{2}}\frac{(1-8 f_2k^2+48 f_2^2k^4)}{(1-6f_2k^2+ 36 f_2^2 k^4)}\int \left(\frac{\vec{k}\cdot \frac{\partial f_0}{\partial \vec{v}}}{\vec{v}\cdot \vec{k}-\omega} \right) d\vec{v}=0.\end{aligned}$$
In stellar systems one assumes usually the Maxwell distribution function $$\begin{aligned}
\label{12}
f_0(\vec{v})=\frac{\rho_0}{ (2\pi\sigma^2)^\frac32 }e^{-\frac{v^2}{2\sigma^2}},\end{aligned}$$ where $\sigma$ is a dispersion velocity and $\rho_0$ a constant mass density.
Without loss of generality we can choose $\vec{k}=(k,0,0)$ so that the dispersion relation (\[11\]) together with (\[12\]) can be integrated with respect to the velocity components $v_y$ and $v_z$, yielding $$\begin{aligned}
\label{13}
\frac{k^2}{k_J^2}-\frac{(1-8 f_2k^2+ 48 f_2^2k^4)}{(1-6f_2k^2+ 36 f_2^2 k^4)}\frac{2}{\sqrt{\pi}} \int_{0}^\infty \frac{x^2 e^{-x^2}}{x^2 -\omega^2/(2\sigma^2 k^2)}dx=0.\end{aligned}$$ Here we have introduced the Jeans wavenumber $k_J=\sqrt{4\pi G\rho_0/\sigma^2}$ and the integration variable $x=v_x/(\sqrt2 \,\sigma)$.
Unstable solutions are such that $\Re( {\omega})=0$ and $\omega_I=\Im(\omega)>0$ \[3\]. In this case the integral on the right-hand side of (\[13\]) can be evaluated \[5\] and the dispersion relation (\[13\]) reduces to $$\begin{aligned}
\label{14}
\frac{\left\langle9 \frac{k^6}{k^{6}_J}\right\rangle+\left(3\frac{k^4}{k^4_J}\right)+\frac{k^2}{k^{2}_J}}{\left\langle12 \frac{k^4}{k^4_J}\right\rangle+\left(4\frac{k^2}{k^2_J}\right)+1 }=\left\{1- \frac{\sqrt{\pi}\omega_I}{\sqrt{8\pi G\rho_0} }\frac{k_J}{k}\, e^{\left(\frac{\omega_I^2}{8\pi G\rho_0}\frac{k_J^2}{k^2}\right)}{\rm erfc}\left(\frac{\omega_I}{\sqrt{8\pi G\rho_0} }\frac{k_J}{k}\right)\right \}.\end{aligned}$$ Above ${\rm erfc}$ is the complementary error function and we have introduced the same parametrization for $f_2=-1/(2k_J^2)$ that was adopted by \[1\]. The choice of this parameterization was made with the intention of describing a dimensionless ratio and to compare directly with the work done in \[1\]. Other choices could have been made, but they all culminate in the same result, differing only by constants. Without the terms within the brackets in the numerator and denominator on the left-hand side of (\[14\]), it follows the classical dispersion relation for Newtonian gravity. The terms within round brackets refer to the contribution of the $f(R)$ theory in the metric formalism \[1\], while the ones within the round and angular brackets correspond to the Palatini formalism.
The solution of (\[14\]) for $\omega_I=0$ furnishes the following limiting values for the wavenumber: (a) $k^2=1.3171\,k_J^2$ for the $f(R)$ theory in the Palatini formalism, (b) $k^2=1.2638\, k_J^2$ for the $f(R)$ theory in the metric formalism and (c) $k^2=k_J^2$ in the Newtonian theory. For comparison, the dispersion relation (\[14\]) is plotted in Fig. 1 together with the results obtained from the $f(R)$ theory in the metric formalism and from the Newtonian gravity. The gravitational collapse occurs for the unstable wave solutions where the values of $k^2/k_J^2$ lie below the curves in Fig. 1. Above these values the oscillations remain stable. We infer from this figure that the $f(R)$ theory in the Palatini formalism furnishes a large range of solutions than the metric one, which in its turn is larger than the one of the Newtonian theory.
The stellar system is stable up to a critical mass and if this critical value is exceeded the gravitational collapse occurs. In the Newtonian theory this critical value is the Jeans mass $M_J$, which is defined as the mass within a sphere of diameter $\lambda_J=2\pi/k_J$, i.e, $M_J=4\pi\rho_0(\pi/k_J)^3/3$. From the above results one obtain the following ratios: (a) $M/M_J=0.662$ for the $f(R)$ theory in the Palatini formalism and (b) $M/M_J=0.704$ for the $f(R)$ theory in the metric formalism. Hence the $f(R)$ theory in the Palatini formalism furnishes the smallest critical mass for the occurrence of the gravitational collapse.
![Ratio of wavenumbers $k^2/k_J^2$ versus normalized frequency $\omega_I^2/(4\pi G\rho_0)$ from the dispersion relation (\[14\]) for $f(R)$-gravity in Palatini formalism (bold line), for $f(R)$-gravity in metric formalism (thin line) and for Newtonian gravity (dashed line).](Andre_f1.eps){width="6.9cm"}
Conclusions
===========
The dispersion relation is a collapse criterion for infinite homogeneous fluid and stellar systems. Here, this relation is used to study the instability of collisionless systems. Figure 1 shows the behavior of the dispersion relation of the models: Newtonian gravity, $f(R)$-gravity in the metric formulation and this one in the Palatini formalism. It is worth stressing that the characteristic wavenumber is given in terms of the classical one. The model proved to have a higher instability limit when compared to the others. The collapse occurs for higher values of the wavenumber when compared with the Jeans wavenumber, so that critical mass of interstellar clouds decreases, modifying the initial conditions to start the collapse. The dispersion relation obtained via Palatini formulation differs from that obtained via metric formulation only for terms of order up to $f_2^2$; below this order, no difference was found. The terms of order $f_2^2$ arise only in the Palatini solution, when one writes the generalized Ricci scalar depending on the usual one. Thus, we can conclude that the differences reported here are a direct result of using the Palatini formalism.
The Jeans mass is a criterion for the study of gravitational collapse of interstellar clouds. The cloud is stable for sufficiently small mass (at a given temperature and radius), smaller than the limit established by Jeans mass. If this cloud exceeds this mass limit, it starts a process of contraction until some other force can impede the total collapse. It was shown that the Jeans mass for the systems described by $f(R)$-gravity via Palatini formalism exhibits values smaller than the ones found for the metric case, and especially for Newtonian gravitation. This demonstrates that the limit for initiating the collapse of an interstellar cloud is below the classical limit favoring more the formation of structures. We may interpret this result by saying that the same amount of matter is able to produce a larger curvature, causing a larger acceleration of test particles. Hence the test particles describe a different geodesic than that they would follow in the metric formalism. In this way, we conclude that in the Palatini formalism of $f(R)$ gravity the formation of structures is more efficient than in the metric formalism of $f(R)$ gravity and Newtonian gravity.
[**Acknowledgments:**]{} GMK acknowledges the support from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Brazil. **References** S. Capozziello et al., Physical Review D [**85**]{} 044022 (2012). S. Capozziello and M. De Laurentis, Physics Reports [**509**]{} 167-321 (2011). J. Binney and S. Tremaine, *Galatic Dynamics* (Princeton University Press, 2008). S. Weinberg, *Gravitation and Cosmology, principles and applications of the general theory of relativity* (Wiley & Sons, 1972). I. Gradshteyn and I. Ryzhiz, *Table of Integrals, Series and Products* (Academic Press, 2007).
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This figure grew throughout the second half of the decade, reaching 70.3 billion in 2019. In that year, the Spanish tourism GDP surpassed 150 billion euros.
How much does Spain rely on tourism?
In 2017 it accounted for 11.8% of GDP and in 2018 sustained 13.5% of employment (or 2.6 million direct jobs). Tourism continues to contribute substantially to offsetting the country’s trade deficit with tourism receipts amounting to EUR 62.5 billion, in 2018 – a growth of 3.6% compared with 2017.
How much is UK tourism worth to Spain?
Spain receives the largest proportion of UK outbound tourism spend, standing at £7.9 billion in 2016, equivalent to 18% of the world total and 31% of UK tourists’ entire spend in the EU27 countries.
How much does Spain make from tourism in 2020?
Visitors spent €19.7 billion in 2020, down from €91.9 billion in 2019, a drop of 78.5%. This has had a significant effect on the Spanish economy. In 2019, the tourism industry accounted for 12.4% of Spain’s gross domestic product (GDP). Last year, it accounted for just 4%.
How much money do tourists spend in Spain each year?
As for tourism spending by international visitors in Spain, in December 2021, it reached 3.54 billion euros, marking an increase of 408.4 per cent compared to figures of the same period one year earlier. “The average spending per tourist stands at 1,201 euros, with an annual increase of 11.8 per cent.
Why is there so much tourism in Spain?
The mild climate during the whole year and the extensive sandy beaches of the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean as well as of its two archipelagoes (the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands respectively) have been attracting tourists from Northern Europe for decades.
Why is tourism popular in Spain?
Its beautiful villages. Spain is possibly the only country in Europe that boasts and cares for its architectural relics as a heritage of its nation. The towns of Spain are known for being ideal for romantic tourism, which is why they are visited all year round by tourists from all over.
How much is UK Tourism worth to EU?
Tourism contributes £106 billion to the British economy & GDP and supports 2.6 million jobs. By 2025 the UK tourism industry will be worth over £257 billion, around 10% of the UK GDP. The industry supports 3.8 million jobs and has a huge impact on the UK economy.
What is British tourism worth to Europe?
Leisure visitors from the United Kingdom in Europe spent the most in 2019, collectively spending approximately 28.9 billion British pounds. Spending on visiting friends and relatives in Europe amounted to nearly 5.6 billion pounds, making it the second largest traveling expenditure contribution.
How much did British tourists spend in Spain in 2019?
ARCHIVED – 18 million British visitors spent 2 million euros per hour in Spain in 2019!
How much money does Madrid make from tourism?
Holidaymakers spend more in Madrid than in other regions
Total international tourism expenditure in the region valued over 10 million euros in 2019, reflecting the recent rise in the number of arrivals.
What country has the most tourists in the world?
Most Visited Countries 2022
|Country||International Tourist Arrivals|
|France||89,400,000|
|Spain||83,700,000|
|United States||79,300,000|
|China||65,700,000|
Which countries visit Spain the most?
In 2020, the European country with the highest number of residents visiting Spain was France. In total, roughly 3.9 million French residents traveled to the neighboring country. Comparatively, nearly 3.2 million tourists from the United Kingdom also made their way to Spain in that year. | https://marlyole.com/travel-tips/best-answer-how-much-is-tourism-worth-to-spain.html |
Each month we provide a summary of the latest transaction data from marine terminal operators (MTOs) at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. Below please find data from the month of November 2015.
For comparison, the average in-terminal turn time in October 2015 was 46.3 minutes for the day shift and 48.3 minutes for the night shift.
*The ports define frequent callers as trucks making one or more moves per weekday. Average moves per day by frequent callers tells us how many moves a truck can make if it is working every day. In November, 17% of frequent callers made four or more moves per day.
Terminals were closed for the OffPeak shift on December 4 for an ILWU Stop Work meeting.
Each month we provide a summary of the latest transaction data from marine terminal operators (MTOs) at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. Below please find data from the month of October 2015.
For comparison, the average in-terminal turn time in September 2015 was 47.0 minutes for the day shift and 51.2 minutes for the night shift.
*The ports define frequent callers as trucks making one or more moves per weekday. Average moves per day by frequent callers tells us how many moves a truck can make if it is working every day. In October, 20% of frequent callers made four or more moves per day.
Terminals were closed for the OffPeak shift on October 1 for an ILWU Stop Work meeting.
The delegation from PierPass and terminal operators also used the meetings with the FMC as an opportunity to review the finances of PierPass Inc. and the OffPeak program. PierPass recently published an in-depth review of the methodology it uses to calculate the cost for the terminals to operate the OffPeak gates. The review is available at https://www.pierpass.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/PierPass-Financial-Overview_10-21-2015.pdf. The document also reviews the methodology used to audit PierPass Inc.
Despite being in the peak season, cargo has continued to flow smoothly with no increase in congestion at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Average in-terminal turn times for truck transactions fell in September compared to August, from 49.2 minutes to 47.0 minutes on day shifts and from 51.4 minutes to 51.2 minutes on night shifts.
The OffPeak shifts operated under the PierPass program handled more than 331,000 truck trips or 47% of the total. By moving roughly half of all truck transactions outside of peak daytime hours, PierPass continues to meet its objective of reducing congestion in and around the ports.
Each month we provide a summary of the latest transaction data from marine terminal operators (MTOs) at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. Below please find data from the month of September 2015.
For comparison, the average in-terminal turn time in August 2015 was 49.2 minutes for the day shift and 51.4 minutes for the night shift.
*The ports define frequent callers as trucks making one or more moves per weekday. Average moves per day by frequent callers tells us how many moves a truck can make if it is working every day. In September, 22% of frequent callers made four or more moves per day.
The number of unique trucks calling on the ports in September was 12,865.
Terminals were closed for the on Monday September 7 for the Labor Day holiday.
One year ago, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach were entering a period of severe congestion. As we reach the height of this year’s peak season, cargo is flowing much more smoothly through the 13 member container terminals of PierPass.
There is no line of ships stacked up in the harbor waiting to dock. Container dwell time (the time an import container waits to be picked up) is down to about three days from five to six last fall. In-terminal truck turn times for single transactions, while up slightly in August, remain well below the peak of 61 minutes in November 2014.
Terminal yards have enough open yard space to operate normally; one large terminal operator puts the “utilization” rate – the percentage of yard space occupied by container stacks – at a normal 70%, down from more than 95% last winter.
The worst of the congestion was over by late February, when cargo throughput snapped back sharply after the labor deal was reached on February 20. While conditions often tighten up during the peak season as retailers prepare for the holidays, 2015 has seen no seasonal increase in congestion.
This isn’t to say all issues have been resolved. While chassis availability has improved since the leasing companies formed a “pool of pools” in March, chassis shortages remain an ongoing concern. PierPass and its member container terminals, along with other stakeholders at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach Supply Chain Optimization meeting recently identified chassis, and in particular lengthy street dwell times, as the issue that could bring the ports back into a state of congestion.
With larger ships arriving and cargo volumes once again approaching their 2006 peak, the goods movement industry needs to continue innovating new methods to move cargo more quickly. The terminals, among other steps, are increasingly moving toward appointment systems to spread out truck arrivals, and continue working with stakeholders to increase the use of the “free flow” process to rapidly deliver stacks of containers to a single owner or trucking company.
Each month we provide a summary of the latest transaction data from marine terminal operators (MTOs) at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. Below please find data from the month of August 2015.
For comparison, the average in-terminal turn time in July 2015 was 48.1 minutes for the day shift and 49.2 minutes for the night shift.
*The ports define frequent callers as trucks making one or more moves per weekday. Average moves per day by frequent callers tells us how many moves a truck can make if it is working every day. In August, 22% of frequent callers made four or more moves per day.
The number of unique trucks calling on the ports in August was 12,395.
Terminals were closed for the OffPeak shift on August 6 for an ILWU Stop Work meeting.
LONG BEACH, Calif., August 27, 2015 – In the latest in a series of measures to combat congestion, PierPass Inc. today announced that 10 of its member container terminals have agreed on a coordinated initiative to establish appointment systems for trucks delivering containers to and from the terminals at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The terminals have adopted an appointment system action plan and committed to a set of common requirements. The five terminals that currently operate appointment systems have agreed to adopt these requirements, and five more terminals plan to introduce appointment systems in 2016 that will follow the same guidelines.
Appointments will be mandatory at all participating terminals. At times, appointments have been treated as optional, which has reduced the intended benefit of smoothing out truck traffic flow.
The appointment systems will apply to import containers at all terminals. Appointments for exports are being evaluated as a potential future requirement.
All individual terminal appointment systems will be accessible via links from PierPass’ websites.
“Since we updated our appointment system in 2014, we have seen a marked decline in queuing at our gates and better turn times for our truckers,” said Mark Wheeler, vice president and general manager at West Basin Container Terminal (WBCT) in Los Angeles.
For truck drivers, trucking companies and cargo owners, the appointment systems will add predictability to the supply chain. The variable queue lengths at different times of the day will be flattened out, which is expected to reduce the longer truck turn times. Appointment systems also allow terminals to group appointments for specific stacks of containers, reducing the time spent waiting for container-moving yard equipment to move between stacks.
Each month we provide a summary of the latest transaction data from marine terminal operators (MTOs) at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. Below please find data from the month of July 2015.
For comparison, the average in-terminal turn time in June 2015 was 49.5 minutes for the day shift and 48.6 minutes for the night shift.
*The ports define frequent callers as trucks making one or more moves per weekday. Average moves per day by frequent callers tells us how many moves a truck can make if it is working every day. In July, 20% of frequent callers made four or more moves per day.
Terminals were closed in July for the Independence Day and Harry Bridges Birthday holidays.
LONG BEACH, Calif., August 10, 2015 – PierPass Inc. today named Kevin Recker as its Chief Financial Officer. In the position, Recker is responsible for financial management and accounting for PierPass, including oversight of the OffPeak program, which manages the night and Saturday truck gates at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach.
Recker comes to PierPass after serving as Director of Accounting at International Transportation Service Inc. (ITS), which operates marine container terminals at the Ports of Long Beach and Tacoma. He has also served in senior accounting and audit positions at the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce, Panasonic Disc Services Corp., and with public accounting firms. Recker earned his Bachelor of Science degree from California State University, Long Beach, in Business Administration and Accountancy, and is a Certified Public Accountant.
“Kevin’s career in both public and private accounting and his experience in the maritime industry bring the necessary skills to hit the track running as PierPass’s new CFO,” said PierPass President John Cushing.
Recker will replace Tom Stephenson, who is retiring after more than 10 years in the position.
“I would like to express my gratitude to Tom Stephenson, who was instrumental in getting the PierPass accounting and finance program off the ground and in guiding the program through a decade of efficient and effective operations,” Cushing said.
LONG BEACH, Calif., July 23, 2015 – PierPass Inc. today celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the OffPeak Program, which established regular night and Saturday work shifts at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach, and pledged continuing efforts to minimize cargo-related congestion in and around the ports. Since July 23, 2005, OffPeak has taken 34 million truck trips out of daytime Southern California traffic and diverted them to less congested nights and weekends.
PierPass created OffPeak as a private sector solution to what was then a critical public problem: after a rapid rise in cargo volume in the early 2000s, drayage trucks were causing severe congestion on the roads and highways and in the neighborhoods around the ports, while thousands of idling trucks caught in this traffic every day added to air pollution. The ports came under strong community and political pressure to find a solution.
PierPass effectively doubles the capacity of the nation’s largest and busiest port complex without taxpayer money and without waiting for new infrastructure to be built. It enables the economic benefits of cargo transportation – which provides nearly 700,000 Southern California jobs and generates more than $10 billion in state and local taxes annually – while greatly mitigating the traffic and air quality impacts of the ports’ operations. OffPeak now regularly diverts about half of the roughly 150,000 weekly truck trips to nights and Saturdays.
The mayors of Los Angeles and Long Beach hailed the OffPeak program’s achievements on its 10th anniversary.
Using a congestion pricing model, PierPass charges a Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF) on weekday daytime cargo moves to incentivize cargo owners to use the OffPeak shifts. The TMF also helps pay for the cost of operating the OffPeak shifts, which upon introduction in 2005 roughly doubled the labor cost to handle the same amount of cargo. Container volume rose only 6% between 2005 and 2014.
On an average OffPeak weeknight, 13,500 trucks visit the marine container terminals at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. If all of these trucks were lined up bumper-to-bumper, they would form a line 145 miles long, stretching halfway to Las Vegas. Without the OffPeak program, this cargo would be crammed into a single day shift, doubling daytime volumes and once again causing severe congestion.
PierPass is a not-for-profit company created by marine terminal operators at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in 2005 to address multi-terminal issues such as congestion, air quality and security. To learn what it takes for a truck to drop off or pick up a container at a marine terminal, see http://youtu.be/P9IJN1yIIJ4. For additional information, please see www.pierpass.org.
Each month we provide a summary of the latest transaction data from marine terminal operators (MTOs) at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. Below please find data from the month of June 2015.
For comparison, the average in-terminal turn time in May 2015 was 49.0 minutes for the day shift and 49.9 minutes for the night shift.
*The ports define frequent callers as trucks making one or more moves per weekday. Average moves per day by frequent callers tells us how many moves a truck can make if it is working every day. In June, 22% of frequent callers made four or more moves per day.
Terminals were closed for the second shift one night in June for an ILWU Stop Work meeting. | https://www.pierpass.org/2015/ |
Pages
Friday, February 27, 2015
Flowers on Friday ... Blooming in the Basement
Three of the baby roses growing under lights in my basement workshop are plants of my Yellow Seedling. One of these developed a bud, which I was technically supposed to have popped off when I first noticed it. This would be to allow the plant to put its energy into growing leaves and roots (instead of a flower), but I didn't have the heart to do it. This is a strong healthy plant, and I reasoned that it could stand the strain of flowering. A few days ago, the bud opened and this was the result:
If you follow Hartwood Roses on Facebook, you have already seen this photo.
In a few weeks, I will send two of the three plants to friends in different parts of the country. This is the next step in my goal to eventually make this rose commercially available ... gotta see if it performs as well in other places as it does in my garden here. The third plant will stay here as a back up copy, in case something happens to the original.
It has been almost a month since I transplanted the baby roses out of their propagation containers and into small pots of their own. (click the link to see a post from when I did this).
Thank you for your visit, I'm glad you stopped by! Just the other day, I was thinking of starting a rose bush from a cutting, but I just didn't know where to get started! and No, I wouldn't have popped off that bud either! :) xo Christine
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Who Am I?
My name is Connie, and I started Hartwood Roses ... an educational rose garden in Virginia that specializes in rare and unusual antique roses. I know a lot about roses, old houses, carpentry and remodeling, and am an expert day dreamer. You will often find me working in the garden, planning a home project, building something, or hanging out in a cemetery ...all of this has come in handy as my husband and I restore our historic home (built in 1848) renovate the outbuildings, and design the gardens. This blog allows me share whatever is happening in the garden, around the house, or on my mind.
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Hartwood Roses ... Heirloom Old Garden Roses and More
Hartwood Roses was a small farm nursery, located just north of Fredericksburg, Virginia. The retail portion of the business closed in 2012, and the mission shifted to my true love … speaking to organizations and garden clubs and giving classes to educate budding rose gardeners. The display gardens here contain over 800 different varieties of roses … with emphasis on rare and historic varieties, and popular classics that are well-suited for modern gardens. Click picture to go to web site. www.HartwoodRoses.com
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Support Canine Cancer Research
Greyhounds ROCK Fredericksburg is a non-profit charity dedicated to raising awareness and funds to support Canine Cancer Research, to honor the dogs that are or have been affected by this disease, and to offer encouragement and education to the people who love them. (click to learn more)
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Female tabby and white cat. Approximately 6-12 months old. Handed in from Lake Boga area.
The following fees may apply when collecting your pet from the pound:
- Registration fee ranges from: $22 to $230
- Pound release (first offence): $75
- Sustenance fee: $12 per day
- Unregistered pet fee: $330
- Pets found wandering at large fee ranges from: $83 to $330
- Registration tag replacement $5
Please note: Dogs and cats may be re-homed if they are not claimed within 8 days.
Pet exchange register ID: BR101264 (Robinvale) | BR101262 (Swan Hill). | https://www.swanhill.vic.gov.au/2021/06/sh3058/ |
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abstract: 'We present an integral formulation of the vacuum energy of Schrödinger operators on finite metric graphs. Local vertex matching conditions on the graph are classified according to the general scheme of Kostrykin and Schrader. While the vacuum energy of the graph can contain finite ambiguities the Casimir force on a bond with compactly supported potential is well defined. The vacuum energy is determined from the zeta function of the graph Schrödinger operator which is derived from an appropriate secular equation via the argument principle. A quantum graph has an associated probabilistic classical dynamics which is generically both ergodic and mixing. The results therefore present an analytic formulation of the vacuum energy of this quasi-one-dimensional quantum system which is classically chaotic.'
address:
- |
Department of Mathematics, Baylor University\
Waco, TX 76798, USA\
jon\[email protected]
- |
Department of Mathematics, Baylor University\
Waco, TX 76798, USA\
klaus\[email protected]
author:
- JONATHAN M HARRISON
- KLAUS KIRSTEN
title: VACUUM ENERGY OF SCHRÖDINGER OPERATORS ON METRIC GRAPHS
---
Introduction
============
Quantum graphs have recently become popular as simple models of complex quantum systems as results derived on graphs have a good track record of providing insight in other areas. Some examples of fields where quantum graphs have been usefully employed include Anderson localization, photonic crystals, microelectronics, the theory of waveguides, quantum chaos, nanotechnology, and superconductivity; see Refs. and for reviews. Here we consider a quantum graph model of vacuum energy. The vacuum energy of a star graph was first described by Fulling, Kaplan and Wilson where they note that for Neummann like matching conditions the Casimir effect is repulsive.[@p:FKW:VERCFQSG] Subsequently the vacuum energy of the Laplacian on a general metric graph was formulated as a periodic orbit sum[@p:BHW:MAVEQG] and in terms of the vertex matching conditions by the authors.[@p:HK:VE; @p:HK:ZFQG] One interesting feature of quantum graphs is that they possess a probabilistic classical dynamics that is chaotic. Such a mathematical model of vacuum energy for a spectrum of a chaotic system follows in the spirit of the Riemannium model[@p:LMB:R] where the height up the critical line of the zeros of the Riemann zeta function provides the spectrum. Both the height of the zeros of the Riemann zeta function on the critical line and the spectrum of a generic quantum graph (with time reversal symmetry broken by a magnetic field) are distributed like the eigenvalues of a large random Hermitian matrix from the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble,[^1] a typical feature of the spectrum of a system that is classically chaotic.[@p:KS:POTQG]
In order to regularize the vacuum energy we employ the *spectral zeta function*, $$\label{eq:spec zeta}
\zeta(s,\gamma)={\sum_{j=0}^{\infty}} (\gamma + E_j)^{-s} \ ,$$ where $\gamma\in \mathbb{R}$ is some spectral parameter and the sum runs over the spectrum of the Schrödinger operator $0< E_0 \leqslant E_1 \leqslant \dots $; the condition that the spectrum be positive can be relaxed by introducing some additional technicalities.[@p:KM:FDGSLP] The zeta function is constructed from a secular equation whose positive roots $k_j$ satisfy $E_j=k_j^2$.[^2] From the secular equation the zeta function is derived via the argument principle, as in Ref. where the authors apply the zeta function to derive the spectral determinant of the Schrödinger operator on a graph with general vertex matching conditions.
The vacuum energy is defined as $$\label{eq:E_c}
\mathcal{E}_c=\lim_{\epsilon \to 0} \frac{\mu^{2\epsilon}}{2} \zeta ( \epsilon-1/2,0 ) \ ,$$ which is formally $\frac{1}{2} \sum_{j=0}^{\infty} \sqrt{E_j}$. $\mu$ is an arbitrary parameter with the units of mass, which is included as $\zeta(s,\gamma)$ will generically have a pole at $s=-1/2$. Taking the limit $\epsilon \to 0$, $$\label{eq:E_c expansion}
\mathcal{E}_c= \frac{1}{2} \mathrm{FP} \, \zeta(-1/2,0) +\frac{1}{2} \left( \frac{1}{\epsilon} +\ln \mu^2 \right) \mathrm{Res} \, \zeta(-1/2,0) +O(\epsilon) \ ,$$ where $\mathrm{FP}$ and $\mathrm{Res}$ denote the finite part and residue respectively. From the zeta function we obtain the following general result for the Casimir force on a bond $\beta$ of the graph.
\[thm:F\_c\] For the Schrödinger operator on a graph with local vertex matching conditions defined by a pair of matrices ${{\mathbb A}}$ and ${{\mathbb B}}$, with ${{\mathbb A}}{{\mathbb B}}^\dagger={{\mathbb B}}{{\mathbb A}}^\dagger$ and ${\mathrm{rank}}({{\mathbb A}},{{\mathbb B}})=2B$, and potential functions $V_b(x_b)\in C^\infty$ for $b=1,\dots, B$ the Casimir force on a bond $\beta$ where $\mathrm{supp} \, V_\beta \subset (0,L_\beta)$ is given by $$\mathcal{F}_{c}^\beta := -\frac{\partial}{\partial L_\beta} \mathcal{E}_c
= \mathcal{F}^\beta_{c, \textrm{Dir}}-\frac 1 {2\pi} \int_0^\infty \frac{\partial}{\partial L_\beta} \log F({\mathrm{i}}t)\, {\mathrm{d}}t \ ,$$ where $F({\mathrm{i}}t)= \det \left( {{\mathbb A}}+ {{\mathbb B}}M({\mathrm{i}}t) \right)$ and $\mathcal{F}^\beta_{c, \textrm{Dir}}$ is the Casimir force on the interval $[0,L_\beta]$ with Dirichlet boundary conditions.
$M({{\mathrm{i}}t})$ is a $2B \times 2B$ matrix defined in terms of the solution to a boundary value problem on the intervals $[0,L_b]$; see Section \[sec:secular\]. The secular equation whose solutions $k$ are square roots of the eigenvalues of the Schrödinger operator reads $F(k)=0$. In the following we assume $F(0)\neq 0$, a condition that can be relaxed. The Casimir force on an interval with Dirichlet boundary conditions is defined in Eq. (\[eq:F\_c Dir compact\]).
The article is organized as follows. Section \[sec:graph\] introduces the Schödinger operator on a graph. Section \[sec:secular\] describes the secular equation we use for the quantum graph. In Section \[sec:zeta\] we recall our recent results for the zeta function of the graph Schrödinger operator. In Section \[sec:Casimir\] we evaluate the vacuum energy of the graph and prove Theorem \[thm:F\_c\].
Graph model {#sec:graph}
===========
A graph $G$ is a collection of *vertices* $v=1,\dots,V$ and *bonds* $b=1,\dots,B$, see Fig. \[fig:graph\]. Each bond connects a pair of vertices $b=(v,w)$ and we use $o(b)=v$ to denote the origin vertex of $b$ and $t(b)=w$ for the terminal vertex. ${{\overline{b}}}= (w,v)$ will denote the reversed bond with the origin and terminus exchanged. We consider undirected graphs with $B$ undirected bonds, $b$ and ${{\overline{b}}}$ will denote to the same physical bond with the label $b$ referring to the bond with $o(b)<t(b)$. $m_v$ denotes the degree or valency of $v$, the number of bonds meeting at $v$. To determine the valency $b$ and $\overline{b}$ are a single bond.
![*A finite graph with $6$ vertices and $7$ bonds.\[fig:graph\]*](graphexample){width="5cm"}
In a metric graph each bond $b$ corresponds to an interval $[0,L_b]$. For the coordinate $x_b\in [0,L_b]$, $x_b=0$ at $o(b)$ and $x_b=L_b$ at $t(b)$, $L_b$ is the *length* of bond $b$. We also use the coordinate $x_{{{\overline{b}}}}=L_b-x_b$ which measures the distance to $x_b$ from the terminal vertex of $b$. A function $\psi$ on $G$ consists of a collection of functions $\{ \psi_b(x_b) \}_{b=1,\dots,B}$ on the set intervals. The choice of coordinate on a physical bond enforces the relation $\psi_b(x_b)=\psi_{{\overline{b}}}(x_{{\overline{b}}})=\psi_{{\overline{b}}}(L_b-x_b)$. The Hilbert space of $G$ is then $$\label{eq:Hilbert space}
{\mathcal H} = \bigoplus_{b=1}^B L^2 \bigl( [0,L_b] \bigr) \ .$$
The Schrödinger equation on the interval $[0,L_b]$ reads, $$\label{eq:eigenproblem}
\left( {\mathrm{i}}\frac{{\mathrm{d}}}{{\mathrm{d}}x_b} +A_b \right)^2 \psi_b(x_b) + V_b(x_b) \psi_b(x_b) = k^2 \psi_b(x_b) \ .$$ $A_b$ is a vector potential on $b$ and for consistency $A_{{\overline{b}}}=-A_b$ as the direction is reversed when changing coordinate.[^3] Matching conditions at the set of vertices are specified by a pair of $2B\times 2B$ matrices ${{\mathbb A}}$ and ${{\mathbb B}}$ according to $$\label{eq:matching conditions}
{{\mathbb A}}{\boldsymbol{\psi}}+ {{\mathbb B}}\hat{{\boldsymbol{\psi}}}={\mathbf{0}}\ ,$$ where $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq:vertex values}
{\boldsymbol{\psi}}&=&\big(\psi_1(0),\dots,\psi_B(0),\psi_1(L_1),\dots,\psi_B(L_B)\big)^T \ , \\
\hat{{\boldsymbol{\psi}}}&=&\big(D_{1} \psi_1(0),\dots, D_{B} \psi_B(0), D_{\overline{1}} \psi_1(L_1),\dots,D_{\overline{B}} \psi_B(L_B)\big)^T \ .\end{aligned}$$ Here, $D_b := \frac{{\mathrm{d}}}{{\mathrm{d}}x_b} -{\mathrm{i}}A_b$ is the covariant derivative, so $\hat{{\boldsymbol{\psi}}}$ is the vector of inward pointing covariant derivatives at the ends of the intervals. The Schrödinger operator is self-adjoint if and only if $({{\mathbb A}},{{\mathbb B}})$ has maximal rank and ${{\mathbb A}}{{\mathbb B}}^\dagger={{\mathbb B}}{{\mathbb A}}^\dagger$.[@p:KS:KRQW] Such pairs of matrices classify the self-adjoint realizations of the Schrödinger operator. (See Ref. for an alternative unique classification scheme for general vertex matching conditions.) For example, if we specify that the wavefunction is continuous at a vertex, $\delta$-type matching conditions, a choice of matrices ${{\mathbb A}}$ and ${{\mathbb B}}$ that encodes for this is $$\label{eq:A B delta}
\mathbb{A}_\delta =
\left(
\begin{array}{ccccc}
-\lambda & 0 & 0 & \cdots & 0\\
-1 & 1 & 0 & \cdots & 0\\
0 & -1 & 1 & \cdots & 0\\
\vdots & \vdots & & & \vdots \\
0 & 0 & 0 & \cdots & 1
\end{array}
\right)
\hspace{0.5cm} \mbox{and} \hspace{0.5cm}
\mathbb{B}_\delta =
\left(
\begin{array}{ccccc}
1 & 1 & \cdots & 1 & 1\\
0 & 0 & \cdots & 0 & 0 \\
0 & 0 & \cdots & \cdots & 0 \\
\vdots & \vdots & & & \vdots \\
0 & 0 & \cdots & \cdots & 0
\end{array}
\right)$$ where $\lambda$ fixes the strength of the coupling at the vertex. If $\lambda=0$ the incoming derivatives at the vertex sum to zero, Neumann like matching conditions.
We further restrict the possible matching conditions to *local matching conditions* where the matrices ${{\mathbb A}}$ and ${{\mathbb B}}$ only relate values of functions and their derivatives on the intervals where they meet at a vertex and where the matrices are independent of the metric structure of the graph, namely the bond lengths and the spectral parameter $k$. Local matching conditions will be required subsequently to use the argument principle.
Secular equation {#sec:secular}
================
We first consider the simplest graph, an interval $[0,L]$ with Dirichlet boundary conditions, $\psi(0)=\psi(L)=0$. Let $f(x;-k^2)$ be a solution of the Schrödinger Eq. (\[eq:eigenproblem\]) such that $f(0;-k^2)=1$ and $f(L;-k^2)=0$. A second linearly independent solution is denoted $\bar f(\bar x;-k^2)$ where $\bar x=L-x$ and $\bar f$ satisfies $\bar f(0;-k^2)=1$ and $\bar f(L;-k^2)=0$. An alternative set of solutions are $u_{k}(x;-k^2)$ and $\bar u(\bar x;-k^2)$ satisfying $u(0;-k^2)=0$ and $u'(0;-k^2)=1$. The function $\bar u$ is then, $$\bar u(\bar x;-k^2) = { - \frac{ f(x;-k^2) }{ f'(L;-k^2) } }
\:.$$ $k>0$ is a square root of the eigenvalues of the Schrödinger operator iff $$\label{eq:Dirischlet secular}
\bar u(L;-k^2) = -1/ f'(L;-k^2) = 0
\: ,$$ which defines a secular equation for the Dirichlet problem on the interval. For a graph with Dirichlet boundary conditions at the end of each interval $[0,L_b]$ the set of intervals are effectively detached and the spectrum is the union of the spectrum of each of the intervals. Hence a secular equation for the graph with Dirichlet boundary conditions is $$\label{eq:Dirichlet graph secular}
\prod_{b=1}^B \big( -1/ f_b'(L_b;-k^2) \big) = 0
\: .$$
If we now consider the Schrödinger equation on a general graph with matching conditions defined by the matrices ${{\mathbb A}}$ and ${{\mathbb B}}$ the component of a wavefunction with energy $k^2$ on bond $b$ can be written $$\label{eq:wavefn on b}
\psi_{b} (x_b,-k^2) = c_b \, f_{b} (x_b;-k^2) \, {\mathrm{e}}^{{\mathrm{i}}A_b x_b} + c_{{\overline{b}}}\, f_{{{\overline{b}}}} (x_{{\overline{b}}};-k^2)
\, {\mathrm{e}}^{{\mathrm{i}}A_{{\overline{b}}}x_{{\overline{b}}}} \ ,$$ where $f_b$ is a solution of the eigenvalue problem on the interval $[0,L_b]$ as defined previously. The vectors of values of the wavefunction and its inward covariant derivatives are then $$\label{eq:vertex values 2}
{\boldsymbol{\psi}}=(c_1,\dots,c_B,c_{\overline{1}},\dots, c_{\overline{B}} )^T \quad \textrm{and} \quad
\hat{{\boldsymbol{\psi}}}=M(-k^2){\boldsymbol{\psi}}\ ,$$ where $M(-k^2)$ is the $2B\times 2B$ matrix $$\label{eq:defn of M}
M_{ab}=\delta_{a,b} \, f'_{b}(0;-k^2) - \delta_{a,{{\overline{b}}}} \, f'_{{{\overline{b}}}} (L_b;-k^2) {\mathrm{e}}^{{\mathrm{i}}A_b L_b} \ .$$ Substituting in the vertex matching conditions we find that $k^2$ is an eigenvalue of the Schrödinger operator iff $k$ is a solution of the secular equation $$\label{eq:secular}
F(k):= \det \left( {{\mathbb A}}+{{\mathbb B}}M(-k^2) \right) =0 \ .$$ Notice that the function $F(z)$, where $z=k+{\mathrm{i}}t$, has poles along the real axis at points where $1/ f'_{{{\overline{b}}}} (L_b;-z^2)$ vanishes, i.e. at the eigenvalues of the graph with Dirichlet boundary conditions at the ends of the intervals.
Zeta function {#sec:zeta}
=============
We construct the zeta function of the graph from the secular equation using the argument principle. For an interval with Dirichlet boundary conditions the secular equation reads $u(L;-k^2) = 0$. The function $u(L;-k^2)$ has no poles and we can represent the zeta function with a contour integral where the contour $\mathcal{C}$ encloses the positive real axis, namely $$\zeta_\mathrm{Dir}(s,\gamma)
= \frac{1}{2\I\pi} \int_\mathcal{C}
(z^2+\gamma)^{-s}{\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}z}}\log\left( u(L;-z^2) \right) \, {{\mathbb D}}z \ .$$ Transforming the contour $\mathcal{C}$ to the imaginary axis $z={\mathrm{i}}t$, Figure \[fig:contours\](b), we obtain $$\zeta_\mathrm{Dir} (s,\gamma) = \frac{\sin\pi s}{\pi}
\int_{\sqrt{\gamma}}^\infty
(t^2-\gamma)^{-s}\,
{\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}t}}\log\left( u(L;t^2) \right)\, {{\mathbb D}}t
\:,$$ a representation which is valid in the strip $1/2<{\Re}s<1$; see Ref. for details. For example, for a free particle where $V(x)=0$, $u(x;-k^2)=\sin (kx)/k$ so $u(L;t^2)=\sinh (tL)/t$.
(13,3.5) (0,0)[![*The contours used to evaluate the graph zeta function, (a) before, and (b) after, the contour deformation. The two branch cuts are represented by hashed lines. \[fig:contours\]*](zeta_contour1 "fig:")]{} (6.5,0)[![*The contours used to evaluate the graph zeta function, (a) before, and (b) after, the contour deformation. The two branch cuts are represented by hashed lines. \[fig:contours\]*](zeta_contour2 "fig:")]{} (0,3)[a)]{} (6.5,3)[b)]{}
For a graph with Dirichlet boundary conditions at the ends of all the intervals the zeta function is the sum of the Dirichlet zeta functions on the individual bonds. A graph with general local vertex matching conditions has secular equation $F(z)=0$ defined in Eq. (\[eq:secular\]). $F$ has zeros on the positive real axis at square roots of eigenvalues of the operator and poles at eigenvalues of the graph with Dirichlet conditions. We assume we are in the generic case where these are distinct. The contour $\mathcal{C}$ is then chosen so that it encloses the zeros of $F$ and excludes the poles on the positive real axis, see Fig. \[fig:contours\](a). Transforming the contour to the imaginary axis, Fig. \[fig:contours\](b), we see that the zeta function has two components, $$\label{eq:Im plus poles}
\zeta(s,\gamma)=\zeta_\mathrm{Im}(s,\gamma) +\sum_{b=1}^B \zeta^b_{\mathrm{Dir}}(s,\gamma) \ .$$ $\zeta^b_{\mathrm{Dir}}$ is the zeta function of the graph with Dirichlet boundary conditions at the ends of the intervals which comes from the poles of $F$ and $\zeta_\mathrm{Im}$ is the contribution of the integral along the imaginary axis, $$\label{eq:zeta Im}
\zeta_\mathrm{Im}(s,\gamma) = \frac{\sin \pi s}{\pi} \int_{\sqrt{\gamma}}^{\infty} (t^2-\gamma)^{-s} \frac{{\mathrm{d}}}{{\mathrm{d}}t} \log F({\mathrm{i}}t) \, {\mathrm{d}}t \ ,$$ which converges in the strip $1/2<{\Re}s<1$.
In order to evaluate the vacuum energy we need to extend the range of validity to include $s=-1/2$. The restriction to ${\Re}s > 1/2$ comes from the asymptotic behavior of $F$ as $t\to \infty$. The asymptotics of $f'_{b}$ can be analyzed using the WKB method, and we find $$\label{eq:g'(L) asymp early}
f'_{b}(0;t^2) \underset{t\to\infty}{\sim} -t +\sum_{j=1}^\infty s_{b,j}(0)t^{-j} \ ,$$ and $f'_b(L_b;t^2)$ vanishes exponentially. The functions $s_{b,j}(x_b)$ are determined by the recurrence relation $$\label{eq:recursion}
s_{b,j+1} (x_b)= \frac{1}{2} \left( s_{b,j}'(x_b) +\sum_{i=0}^j s_{b,i}(x_b) s_{b,j-i}(x_b) \right) \ ,$$ where $s_{b,-1}(x_b) = - 1$, $s_{b,0}(x_b) = 0$ and $s_{b,1}(x_b) = - V_b(x_b)/2$. Using (\[eq:g’(L) asymp early\]) we can write the expansion of $F({\mathrm{i}}t)$ up to exponentially suppressed terms as $$\label{eq:f expansion}
F({\mathrm{i}}t) \underset{t\to\infty}{\sim} \det \Big({{\mathbb A}}+{{\mathbb B}}(-t{\mathbf{I}}+D(t))\Big) \ ,$$ where $$\label{eq:D(t)}
D(t)= \sum_{j=1}^\infty t^{-j}\, \textrm{diag} \left\{ s_{1,j}(0),\dots, s_{B,j}(0), s_{\overline{1},j}(0),\dots, s_{\overline{B},j}(0) \right\} \ .$$ This expansion of $F({\mathrm{i}}t)$ fits with the free particle case investigated previously in Refs. and where, in the absence of a potential, $D(t)={\mathbf{0}}$ and $F({\mathrm{i}}t) \sim \det ({{\mathbb A}}-t{{\mathbb B}})$. In general the expansion takes the form $$\label{eq:generic F expansion}
F({\mathrm{i}}t) \underset{t\to\infty}{\sim} \sum_{j=0}^\infty c_j \, t^{2B-j} \ .$$ Let us denote by $c_{N}$ the first nonzero coefficient in the expansion, so $N=0$ if $c_0=\det {{\mathbb B}}\neq 0$, and by $c_{N+J}$ the second non-zero coefficient. Hence, $$\label{eq:log F expansion}
\log F({\mathrm{i}}t) \underset{t\to\infty}{\sim} \log (c_N t^{2B-N}) +\frac{c_{N+J}}{c_N t^J} +O(t^{-(J+1)}) \ .$$ Adding and subtracting these first two terms in the expansion of $F$ we obtain a representation of $\zeta_{\mathrm{Im}}(s,\gamma)$ convergent in the strip $-(J+1)/2 < {\Re}s<1$, namely[,$$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq:zeta Im extended}
\zeta_{\textrm{Im}}(s,\gamma)&=&\frac{\sin \pi s}{\pi} \int_{\sqrt{\gamma}}^\infty (t^2-\gamma)^{-s} \frac{{\mathrm{d}}}{{\mathrm{d}}t}
\left[ \log \Big( F({\mathrm{i}}t)t^{N-2B} / c_N \Big) -\frac{c_{N+J}}{c_N\, t^J} \right] \, {\mathrm{d}}t {\nonumber}\\
&& +
\frac{(2B-N)\sin \pi s}{2\pi s}\gamma^{-s} -\frac{J c_{N+J}\, \Gamma(s+J/2)}{2c_N \, \Gamma(s)\Gamma(J/2+1)}\gamma^{-(2s+J)} \ .
$$]{} We must also represent the Dirichlet zeta function of each interval in a strip containing $s=-1/2$. The large $t$ asymptotics of $\log u_b(L_b;t^2)$ are given by[@p:FKM:PMP] $$\log u_b(L_b;t^2) \underset{t\to\infty}{\sim}
t L_b - \log (2t) + d_b \, t^{-1} +O(t^{-2})
\ ,$$ where $d_b=\frac{1}{2} \int_0^{L_b} V(x_b) \, {\mathrm{d}}x_b$. Subtracting and adding the first three terms we obtain the representation[,$$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq:zeta Dir extended}
\zeta^b_{\mathrm{Dir}}(s,\gamma) &=& \frac{\sin\pi s}{\pi}
\int_{\sqrt{\gamma}}^\infty
(t^2-\gamma)^{-s}\,
{\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}t}}
\left[
\log\left( u_b(L_b;t^2) \right) - t L_b + \log(2t) -d_b \, t^{-1}
\right]\, {{\mathbb D}}t {\nonumber}\\
&& + L_b \frac{\Gamma(s-1/2)}{2\sqrt\pi \Gamma(s)}\gamma^{\frac12-s}
-\frac12\gamma^{-s} - d_b \frac{2\Gamma(s+1/2)}{\sqrt\pi \Gamma(s)} \gamma^{-\frac{1}{2}-s}
\ ,
$$ ]{}valid in the strip $-1<{\Re}s<1$.
Casimir effect {#sec:Casimir}
==============
Following Eq. (\[eq:E\_c expansion\]), to evaluate the vacuum energy we identify[,$$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq:FP zeta Im}
\mathrm{FP} \, \zeta_{\textrm{Im}} (-1/2,0) &=&
-\frac{1}{\pi} \int_{1}^\infty t \frac{{\mathrm{d}}}{{\mathrm{d}}t}
\left[ \log \Big( F({\mathrm{i}}t)t^{N-2B} / c_N \Big) -\frac{c_{N+J}}{c_N\, t^J} \right] \, {\mathrm{d}}t
{\nonumber}\\
&& -\frac{1}{\pi} \int_{0}^1 t \frac{{\mathrm{d}}}{{\mathrm{d}}t}
\left[ \log \Big( F({\mathrm{i}}t)\Big) \right] \, {\mathrm{d}}t \ .\end{aligned}$$ ]{}In the generic case when $J=1$ there is a pole of $\zeta(s,0)$ at $s=-1/2$ and $$\label{eq:Res zeta Im}
\mathrm{Res} \, \zeta_{\textrm{Im}} (-1/2,0) = \frac{c_{N+1}}{2\pi c_N} \ .$$ For the interval $[0,L_b]$ with Dirichlet boundary conditions[,$$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq:FP zeta Dir}
\mathrm{FP} \, \zeta^b_{\textrm{Dir}} (-1/2,0) &=&
-\frac{1}{\pi} \int_{1}^\infty t \frac{{\mathrm{d}}}{{\mathrm{d}}t}
\left[ \log\left( u_b(L_b;t^2) \right) - t L_b + \log(2t) -d_b \, t^{-1} \right]\,
{{\mathbb D}}t
{\nonumber}\\
&&
-\frac{1}{\pi} \int_{0}^1 t \frac{{\mathrm{d}}}{{\mathrm{d}}t}
\left[ \log\left( u_b(L_b;t^2) \right) \right]\,
{{\mathbb D}}t \ ,\end{aligned}$$ ]{}and $\mathrm{Res} \, \zeta^b_{\textrm{Dir}} (-1/2,0)= d_b/\pi$. Combining these results and using Eqs. (\[eq:E\_c expansion\]) and (\[eq:Im plus poles\]) we have obtained a representation of the vacuum energy of the graph Schrödinger operator.
If we assume that the potential on a bond is compactly supported and consider the Casimir force on that bond we can obtain a more explicit description of the Casimir effect on the graph. For a bond $\beta$ let $$\label{eq:compact sup}
\mathrm{supp}\, V_\beta \subset (0,L_\beta) \ ,$$ then the Casimir force on the bond $\beta$ is finite and can be evaluated without ambiguity as the asymptotic behavior of $F({\mathrm{i}}t)$ is independent of $L_\beta$. We define the Casimir force on bond $\beta$ for the compactly supported potential as $F_{c}^{\beta} =-\frac{\partial}{\partial L_\beta} \mathcal{E}_c$, then $$\label{eq:F_c compact}
\mathcal{F}_{c}^\beta
= \mathcal{F}^\beta_{c, \textrm{Dir}}-\frac 1 {2\pi} \int_0^\infty \frac{\partial}{\partial L_\beta} \log F({\mathrm{i}}t)\, {\mathrm{d}}t \ .$$ $\mathcal{F}^\beta_{c, \textrm{Dir}}$ is the force on the interval $[0,L_\beta]$ with Dirichlet boundary conditions, $$\label{eq:F_c Dir compact}
\mathcal{F}_{c,\textrm{Dir}}^\beta
=- \frac 1 {2\pi} \int_0^\infty \frac{\partial}{\partial L_\beta} \log \left( \frac{u_\beta(L_\beta;t^2)}{ {\mathrm{e}}^{L_\beta t}} \right)\, {\mathrm{d}}t \ .$$ Hence we obtain Theorem \[thm:F\_c\].
For example, with no potential on the graph $$\label{eq:F_c Dir compact}
\mathcal{F}_{c,\textrm{Dir}}^\beta
=- \frac 1 {2\pi} \int_0^\infty \frac{\partial}{\partial L_\beta} \log \left( \frac{\sinh (L_\beta t)}{t {\mathrm{e}}^{L_\beta t}} \right)\, {\mathrm{d}}t
=-\frac{\pi}{24 L^2} \ ,$$ a result that can also be obtained directly from the spectrum $E_j=\left( \frac{\pi j}{L} \right)^2$ of the Laplace operator on an interval with Dirichlet boundary conditions, where $\zeta_\textrm{Dir}(s,0)=\left(\frac{\pi}{L}\right)^{-2s} \zeta_\textrm{R}(2s)$.
For a free particle we can also write $f_{b}$ explicitly, $$\label{eq: V=0 f}
f_{b}(x_b;-k^2)= \frac{\sin k(L_b-x_b)}{\sin k L_b} \ , \quad \textrm{ hence } \quad
f_{b}'(x_b;t^2)= \frac{-t\cosh t(L_b-x_b)}{\sinh t L_b} \ .$$ The matrix $M$ then has the form $$\label{V=0 M}
M(t^2)= t \left( \begin{array}{cc}
-\coth t {{\mathbf{L}}}& \operatorname{csch}t {{\mathbf{L}}}\\
\operatorname{csch}t {{\mathbf{L}}}& - \coth t {{\mathbf{L}}}\\
\end{array} \right) \ ,$$ where $\coth t {{\mathbf{L}}}=\textrm{diag} \{ \coth t L_1 , \dots, \coth t L_B \}$ and $\operatorname{csch}t {{\mathbf{L}}}$ is defined similarly. If we choose a particular graph like the star graph, Fig. \[fig:star\], with Dirichlet boundary conditions at the vertices of degree one and $\delta$-type coupling at the central vertex, such matching conditions can be encoded in the $2B\times 2B$ matrices, $$\label{eq: A B star}
{{\mathbb A}}=\left( \begin{array}{cc}
{\mathbf{I}}_B &0 \\
0& {{\mathbb A}}_\delta\\
\end{array} \right) \qquad
{{\mathbb B}}=\left( \begin{array}{cc}
0 &0 \\
0& {{\mathbb B}}_\delta\\
\end{array} \right)$$ with ${{\mathbb A}}_\delta$ and ${{\mathbb B}}_\delta$ defined as in Eq. (\[eq:A B delta\]). Substituting in (\[eq:secular\]) and evaluating the determinant we find $$\label{eq:F star}
F({\mathrm{i}}t)=- \lambda -\sum_{b=1}^B \coth tL_b \ ,$$ and the Casimir force on a bond $\beta$ is given by, $$\label{eq:F_c V=0}
\mathcal{F}_{c}^\beta
= -\frac{\pi}{24 L^2}-\frac 1 {2\pi} \int_0^\infty \frac{\partial}{\partial L_\beta} \log F({\mathrm{i}}t)\, {\mathrm{d}}t \ .$$
![*A star graph with $5$ bonds.\[fig:star\]*](star){width="2cm"}
If the condition that the potential $V_\beta$ is compactly supported is relaxed, finite renormalization ambiguities in the Casimir force remain. These are the standard ambiguities as they occur in self-interacting $(\lambda \Phi^4)$-theories and they can be dealt with in a routine way.[@zuber]
Acknowledgments {#acknowledgments .unnumbered}
===============
The authors would like to thank Guglielmo Fucci and Christophe Texier for stimulating discussions. KK is supported by National Science Foundation grant PHY–0757791. JMH was supported by the Baylor University summer sabbatical program.
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[^1]: When the spectra are unfolded so they have mean spacing one.
[^2]: The degeneracy of the roots and energy eigenvalues also coincide.
[^3]: A vector potential $A_b(x_b)$ that depends on $x_b$ can be made constant by a gauge transformation.
| |
First, what is mutable vs immutable?
In software we have an idea called mutable vs immutable. An immutable object can be widely shared without thread sync or needing to handle the many interactions with it as they related to eachother, because immutable means the data is constant. Subtypes of java.lang.Number, like Byte and BigInteger, are immutable. My open source software Immutable Sparse Wave Trees lets you store wave data in memory fast enough to play on the speakers, as each piece of the wave is constant data, has a constant length and amplitude of the wave at each position in time. This allows the extreme optimization of being able to copy/paste any time range into any other time range, any number of times, back to back or in any combinations, copy paste any range of that, and keep going, and after you have generated more (highly redundant from the copy/pastes) wave data than could fit in all the computers on Earth if stored the normal way, it will cost you only log_base_2 number of cpu cycles and memory to get average amplitude of any range you ask about even if that range is precise to a microsecond and covers years of data until another precise microsecond. You can do this calculation millions of times per second on an average computer because its an immutable number, not the literal data.
Imagine a data space that goes from 0 to some number of bits, like an integer of that many digits. This is an immutable/constant integer even before we observe any of its bits, because immutable means it is always the same every time its observed. But we havent observed it yet.
We can define the integer so that the first place we observe in it, whichever of its bit locations that is, will always be a 1, and the rest will be 0. It could be 10000 or 01000 depending on how we observe it, and every observation after that will give the same bits.
The quantum-like weirdness is this number type is in superposition until observed, and that despite it having mostly 0 bits and being immutable, it is impossible to first observe any of those 0 bits.
This is a way of thinking about why quantum does the strange things it does, when you consider that many of these kinds of numbers can represent a variety of parts of physics from different perspectives. This is also a research path of all the possible ways we can design lazy-evaluated (thats the technical term for it) immutable numbers.
A thing is immutable because it can only choose once per each part of itself, not choose again to be something different. Lazy-evaluated means to defer that one choice to the observer like quantum weirdness. | http://mymathforum.com/number-theory/42058-new-number-type-has-quantum-like-weirdness.html |
Tools and methods in which user interaction via a common user interface enables the assessing of network security prior to implementation of the network, as well as assessing the security of existing networks, portions of existing networks, or modifications to existing networks. A network security model...http://www.google.cl/patents/US20030212909?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US20030212909 - Tool, method and apparatus for assessing network security
Tools and methods in which user interaction via a common user interface enables the assessing of network security prior to implementation of the network, as well as assessing the security of existing networks, portions of existing networks, or modifications to existing networks. A network security model useful in realizing the tools and methods is also disclosed
Images(11)
Claims(26)
What is claimed is:
1. A software tool for assessing network security, comprising:
a first module, for receiving network characterization information from a customer;
a second module, for determining if said network characterization information has associated with it a network security vulnerability; and
a third module, for generating security recommendations based upon any determined network security vulnerabilities.
2. The tool of claim 1, further comprising:
a fourth module, for generating a customer qualification form using qualification questions stored within a first database, said network characterization information including customer responses to said qualification questions.
3. The tool of claim 2, wherein:
said fourth module, in response to said customer responses to said qualification questions, generating a customized questionnaire using at least some of a plurality of survey questions stored within a second database;
said network characterization information including customer responses to said survey questions.
4. The tool of claim 3, further comprising:
a fifth module, for executing selected network testing procedures in response to customer question responses indicative of a vulnerability.
5. The tool of claim 1, wherein:
said second module analyzing a network and its elements to determine additional vulnerabilities, mapping a network architecture, and providing an inventory of network elements;
said third module generating additional security recommendations based upon any additional vulnerabilities.
6. The tool of claim 1, wherein:
said third module compares said network characterization information to information within a vulnerability database to identify network security vulnerabilities.
7. The tool of claim 6, wherein:
said vulnerability database specifies network security vulnerabilities according to a vulnerabilities and exposure (CVE) dictionary.
8. The tool of claim 6, wherein:
said vulnerability database comprises at least one of a publicly available vulnerability database and a local database.
9. The tool of claim 8, wherein:
said publicly available vulnerability database comprises at least one of the ICAT Metabase the CERT database.
10. The tool of claim 7, wherein:
said vulnerability database associates each specified network security vulnerability with at least one corresponding security recommendation;
a network security model is used to adapt the operation of at least the second and third modules.
14. The tool of claim 13, wherein:
said network security model classifies the functions of each of a plurality of network elements, protocols and services according to respective ones of a plurality of security layers, each of said security layers responsive to at least one of a plurality of security mechanisms adapted to mitigate network security threats;
said network model associates each classified function with at least one of a plurality of security planes, each of said plurality of security planes included within each of said plurality of security layers;
said network model enables identifying of the vulnerability of each function for each security layer and security plane associated with said function.
15. The tool of claim 4, wherein:
said third module generated a report listing security vulnerabilities determined in response to customer input and during the execution of said selected network testing procedures.
16. The tool of claim 15, wherein:
said report includes security recommendations derived from a vulnerability database that specifies network security vulnerabilities according to a vulnerabilities and exposure (CVE) dictionary.
17. The tool of claim 4, wherein:
said selected network testing procedures are configured in response to customer responses to at least one of said customer qualification form and said customized questionnaire.
18. The tool of claim 1, wherein:
said third module generates a security assessment indicative of a percentage compliance with group of best practices.
19. The tool of claim 1, wherein:
said customer interacts with said tool and receives said security recommendations via a common interface.
20. A method, comprising:
classifying the functions of each of a plurality of network elements, protocols and services according to respective ones of a plurality of security layers;
associating each classified function with at least one of a plurality of security planes, each of said plurality of security planes included within each of said plurality of security layers;
identifying the vulnerability of each function for each security layer and security plane associated with said function; and
providing a recommendation adapted to mitigate any identified vulnerabilities.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein:
each of said security mechanisms is adapted to mitigate at least one of a network element vulnerability, a protocol vulnerability, a service vulnerability and a network security threat.
22. The method of claim 20, wherein:
said security layers comprise at least two of an infrastructure security layer, a services security layer and an applications security layer;
each of a plurality of security layers are responsive to at least one of a plurality of security mechanisms, each of said service mechanisms adapted to mitigate at least one of a network element vulnerability, a protocol vulnerability, a service vulnerability and a network security threat, said method further comprising:
identifying the vulnerability of each function for each security layer and security plane associated with said function; and
providing a recommendation adapted to mitigate any identified vulnerabilities by using at least one of said security mechanisms for network elements within one or more security planes.
24. The method of claim 20, wherein said security layers comprise at least two of an infrastructure security layer, a services security layer and an applications security layer.
[0002] The invention relates generally to communications systems and, more specifically, to tools, methods and apparatus for assessing network security.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] There is at present no systematic way to analyze the security capabilities of a given network architecture, either for an existing network, a network being modified, or a network being deployed. That is, a security analysis of a network is primarily performed after the network has been deployed. First, the network is deployed with the network equipment's configuration based on some estimation of what type of security threats are present and how to defend against them. Then a suite of security probes is run against the network to identify security vulnerabilities. Typically, each probe only identifies one type of security vulnerability in one network element at a time. Once the probe has identified a particular security vulnerability, the network element is reconfigured to address that vulnerability and the network probing continues. Unfortunately, in addition to the inefficiencies of deploying a network in this manner, at any given point in time the level of network security depends on which security probes have been run and whether the network administrators have reconfigured the network to address the results of these security probes.
[0004] Because there is no standard methodology or security assessment tool, and no network security framework on which to base security assessments, the results of today's security assessments are heavily dependent on the skill level of the personnel performing the assessment. The individual performing the security assessment also determines the questions to be asked during the security interview process, as well as decides which tests should be performed and how they should be performed. The individual performing the security assessment also keeps track of the information and data that is gathered during the assessment and correlates this information and data to identify actual security vulnerabilities (filtering out the false-positives). Finally, once the security vulnerabilities have been identified, the individual must track down recommendations to address these vulnerabilities from publicly accessible sources, (or develop recommendations if none exist) and manually put together a report for a final read-out to their customer. Because of the complex nature of all of these tasks, most individuals take a “cookie-cutter” approach to performing security assessments in that they ask the same questions, run the same tests, etc. for every type of customer in a “one-size fits all” manner. Thus, there are quality control issues and inefficiencies inherent in the current practice.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] These and other deficiencies of the prior art are addressed by the present invention of tools and methods in which user interaction via a common user interface enables the assessing of network security prior to implementation of the network as well as assessing the security of existing networks, portions of existing networks, or modifications to existing networks throughout the network lifecycle (planning, design, deployment, maintenance). A network security model useful in realizing the tools and methods is also disclosed
[0006] A software tool for assessing network security according to one embodiment of the invention comprises: a first module, for receiving network characterization information from a customer; a second module, for determining if the network characterization information has associated with it a network security vulnerability; and a third module, for generating security recommendations based upon any determined network security vulnerabilities.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] The teachings of the present invention can be readily understood by considering the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0008]FIG. 1 depicts a high-level block diagram of a network security model according to an embodiment of the invention;
[0009]FIG. 2 depicts a high-level block diagram of a network survivability assessment service tool (NSAS) tool according to an embodiment of the invention;
[0010]FIG. 3 depicts a high level block diagram of a computing device useful in implementing the present invention;
[0011]FIG. 4 depicts a flow diagram of a method for implementing an embodiment of the NSAS tool of FIG. 2;
[0012]FIGS. 5A and 5B depict flow diagrams of, respectively, a security interview method and a testing method suitable for use in the NSAS method of FIG. 4;
[0013]FIG. 6 depicts a graphical representation of the security model as applied to a plurality of product and service offerings; and
[0014]FIG. 7 depicts a flow diagram of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention; and
[0015]FIG. 8 depicts an representation of a network security model according to one embodiment of the invention.
[0016] To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0017] The subject invention will be primarily described within the context of a network security model and tools, methods and apparatus for assessing network security prior to implementation of a circuit switched network or packet switched network. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention is also applicable to assessing existing networks and proposed modifications to existing networks. Moreover, the security model and related tools, methods and apparatus are extremely useful to equipment manufacturers and application developers seeking to ensure that their products and services are developed with a view towards the overall network security instead of their current individual product-oriented focus. While various functions and/or modules will be described herein, it will be appreciated that the term “module” is to be broadly interpreted to represent a function or group of functions which may be implemented in software and which may represent a model, portions of a model, a tool, portions of a tool and, more generally, any single or combine functionality such as discussed herein.
[0018]FIG. 1 depicts a high-level block diagram of a network security model according to an embodiment of the invention. Specifically, the model 100 of FIG. 1 identifies, illustratively, eight classes of countermeasures to security threats which are denoted herein as Security Mechanisms 130. Three Security Layers denoted as Infrastructure Security Layer 122, Services Security Layer 124 and Applications Security Layer 126 identify where within the control topology of a network the protection provided by the Security Mechanisms 130 is implemented. Each of the three Security Layers has associated with it each of three Security Planes, which planes indicate the type of activities that must be protected at the individual Security Layer. Specifically, each of an End-User Security Plane 120EUP, a Control Security Plane 120CP and a Management Security Plane 120MP comprise respective Infrastructure Security layers 122, Services Security Layers 124 and Applications Security Layers 126.
[0019] The security mechanisms 130 comprise security countermeasures adapted to identify network vulnerabilities and thwart attempts to exploit network vulnerabilities. These mechanisms are not limited to only maintaining network security, but also extend to protect applications and end-users. In addition, they provide assistance to service providers offering security services to their respective customers. The security mechanisms 130 comprise an Access Management mechanism 131, an Authentication mechanism 132, a Non-repudiation mechanism 133, a Data Confidentiality mechanism 134, a Communication Security mechanism 135, an Integrity mechanism 136 an Availability mechanism 137 and a Privacy mechanism 138.
[0020] The Access Management mechanism 131 ensures that only authorized personnel or devices are allowed access to network elements, stored information, information flows, services and applications. In addition, strong accountability provides a means to correlate actions to individuals or devices. Finally, different access levels guarantee that individuals and devices can only gain access to network elements, stored information, and information flows that they are authorized for.
[0021] The Authentication mechanism 132 is used to confirm the identities of communicating entities. Authentication ensures the validity of the claimed identities of the entities participating in communication (e.g. person, device, service, or application) and provides assurance that an entity is not attempting a masquerade or unauthorized replay of a previous communication.
[0022] The Non-repudiation mechanism 133 provides proof of the origin of data, or the cause of, an event or an action. Non-repudiation ensures the availability of evidence that can be used to prove that some kind of event or action has taken place, so that the cause of the event or action cannot be repudiated later.
[0023] The Data Confidentiality mechanism 134 ensures that data is kept private from unauthorized access or viewing using, for example, encryption or other data security techniques.
[0024] The Communication Security mechanism 135 ensures that information flows only between authorized end points such that the information flow is not diverted or intercepted as it flows between these end points.
[0025] The Integrity mechanism 136 ensures the correctness of data such that the data is protected against unauthorized modification, deletion, creation, and replication.
[0027] The Privacy mechanism 138 ensures that confidential information is not accessible by unauthorized personnel or devices, such as account information stored by the service provider, or usage/location information pertaining to the end-user.
[0028] The above-described mechanisms 130 are applied to a hierarchy of network equipment and facility groupings denoted as the Security Layers 120. The Security Layers 120 identify where security must be designed into products and solutions. The Security Layers 120 comprise the Infrastructure Security Layer 122, Services Security Layer 124 and Applications Security Layer 126.
[0029] The Infrastructure Security Layer 122 represents the network transmission facilities as well as individual network elements. Network architects and designers must ensure that the network elements and transmission facilities address the security mechanisms described in the previous section. Otherwise, the network will be vulnerable to security threats. With this requirement in mind, network equipment manufacturers develop individual network elements that preferably include security awareness to keep buffer overflows, operating system flaws, power failures and the like from opening security holes. The eight mechanisms of security countermeasures are preferably designed into products right from the start so that fewer security vulnerabilities are designed in. Otherwise, there is the risk of developing products that contain security holes, making securing the network more difficult and expensive.
[0030] The Services Security Layer 124 is adapted to providing network services to customers in a secure manner. Network Services are provided by Service Providers and include Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), Quality of Service (QoS), Location Services, and the like. There are two main potential targets of security threats: Service Providers and their customers. Therefore, in order to protect themselves and their customers, Service Providers preferably apply each of the security countermeasures to the services, and their requisite security planes, that they provide.
[0031] The Applications Security Layer 122 is adapted to providing network-based applications to customers in a secure manner. These applications are enabled by network services and include E/M-Commerce, Network-Based Training, Video Collaboration, etc. Network-based applications may be provided by third-party Application Service Providers (ASPs) or by Service Providers acting as ASPs. There are at least three potential targets for security attacks; namely, the ASP customer, the ASP and the Service Provider. Therefore, preferably, Service Providers and ASPs enter into a partnership that defines their respective security responsibilities to ensure that the eight security countermeasure mechanisms are all in place on a per-application basis.
[0032] Table 1 provides some examples of how the Security Mechanisms are applied to the Security Layers. Examples can be identified for all three security planes: end-user, control, and management.
TABLE 1
Security Layer
Security Mechanism
Infrastructure
Services
Applications
Access Management
Controls access to
Controls access to
Controls access to
individual network
network services.
network-based
elements or
applications.
transmission facilities.
Authentication
Confirms identify of
Confirms identify of
Confirms identify of
person attempting to
person attempting to
person attempting to
access individual
access network services.
access network
network elements or
applications.
transmission facilities.
Non-repudiation
Maintains a record of
Maintains a record of
Maintains a record of
activities performed by
activities performed by
activities performed by
each person who has
each person who has
each person who has
accessed individual
accessed network
accessed network
network elements or
services.
applications.
transmission facilities.
Data Confidentiality
Protection against the
Protection against the
Protection against the
unauthorized reading of
unauthorized reading of
unauthorized reading of
data stored on
data as it traverses the
data as it is being
individual boxes.
network.
processed or generated
by an application.
Communication
Protection against the
Data is not diverted or
Data is only transmitted
Security
incorrect installation of
intercepted as it
between authorized
cables.
traverses the network.
applications and
endpoints.
Integrity
Protection against
Protection against
Protection against
unauthorized creation,
unauthorized creation,
unauthorized creation,
modification, deletion
modification, deletion
modification, deletion
of data stored on
of data as it traverses
of data by applications.
individual network
the network.
elements.
Availability
Individual network
Network Service is
Application is available.
element is available.
available.
Privacy
Information about
Information about
Information about
individual network
services being used by
applications being
elements (e.g., IP
end-users is kept
accessed by end-users is
addresses) is kept
private.
kept private.
private.
[0033] Three types of activities are performed over the Infrastructure, Services and Applications security layers. These activities are represented by three planes; namely the Management Plane 120MP, the Control Plane 120CP, and the End-user Plane 120EUP. The protection provided by the eight mechanisms of security countermeasures is provided to each of these types of activities. The management plane 120MP is adapted to operations, administration, maintenance, provisioning and other management functions associated with the network elements, transmission facilities, operations support systems and the like.
[0034] The control plane 120CP is adapted to enabling the efficient delivery of information, services and applications across the network. This type of traffic may include routing protocols, DNS, SIP, SS7 and other similar types of traffic.
[0035] The end-user plane 120 EUP is adapted to addressing service provider customer access and use of a service provider's network. This plane also represents actual end-user data flows and traffic. End-users may use the network to only provide connectivity and transport, or to provide access to network-based applications.
[0036] Within the context of the network security model 100 of FIG. 1, the three security layers (infrastructure 122, services 124 and applications 126) within each plane (management 120MP, control 120CP and end-user 120EUP) are preferably designed in a manner that provides isolation from corresponding security layers in other planes. In this manner, attacks or problems associated with a security layer in one plane do not propagate to a corresponding layer in another plane. For example, in the case of a denial of service attack a flood of DNS lookups on the end-user plane caused by end-user requests cannot deny service to others or otherwise lock Out the operations, administration, maintenance and provisioning (OAM&P) interface of the management plane, which interface is used by an administrator to correct such a problem.
[0037] The eight mechanisms in the model address at least four types of security threats and/or attacks 140 to a computer system or network; namely, Interruption 141, Interception 142, Modification 143, and Fabrication 144. These threats can occur on the Management Plane, Control Plane or End-User Plane.
[0038] Interruption 144 occurs when an asset of the system becomes lost, unavailable, or unusable. This is an attack on availability. Examples include malicious destruction of a network element, erasure of a software program or data file, cutting of a communication line, or malfunction of an operating system file manager so that it cannot find a particular disk file. The availability mechanism in the model addresses this type of threat.
[0039] Interception 142 occurs when an unauthorized party gains access to an asset. The outside party can be a person, a program, or a computing system. This is an attack on confidentiality. An example of this type of attack is wiretapping to obtain data in a network, or passive listening of the wireless radio transmission. The access management, data confidentiality, communication security, and privacy mechanisms in the model address this type of threat.
[0040] Modification 143 occurs when an unauthorized party tampers with an asset. This is an attack on integrity Examples include changing the network configuration values in a database, or modifying data being transmitted in a network. The integrity mechanism addresses the modification threat.
[0041] Fabrication 144 occurs when an unauthorized party gains access to and fabricates counterfeit objects on a computer system. This is an attack on authenticity. Examples include unauthorized access to the network, untraceable malicious activity to the network, the insertion of spurious messages in a network or the addition of records to the RADIUS database. The access management, authentication, non-repudiation, and integrity mechanisms in the model can prevent this threat.
[0042] Security Layer, Security Plane represents a unique perspective for application of the eight Security Mechanisms. Each of the nine perspectives has unique security issues that must be addressed, which result in unique security requirements for each perspective. In addition, FIG. 8 depicts how the network security model can be used to secure a specific aspect of a network. For example, to secure the management of a network, the functions comprising the top row of FIG. 9 are performed. Likewise to secure a specific network service, the functions comprising the middle column of FIG. 8 are performed.
[0043] The above-described network security model 100 addresses security concerns for the Management Information, Control/Signaling Information, and End-User Data used by and transported by the Network Infrastructure, Network Services, and Network-Based Applications. This network security model provides a comprehensive, top-down, end-to-end perspective on network security and can be applied to network elements, services, and applications in order to predict, detect, and correct security vulnerabilities. The network security model can be used over the entire lifetime of a network security program. It can be used to assist in the development of network security policies and requirements, as well as form the basis for a network security assessment. In addition, the network security model can be applied to all types of Service Provider and enterprise networks and across all layers of the protocol stack. Networks developed with attention to this network security model will have a comprehensive security architecture, enabling new value-added revenue generating security services such as Security Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
[0044] The above-described network security model 100 establishes a logical framework within which tools, methods and apparatus may be constrained to enable the design of secure networks, the assessment of existing networks to identify security vulnerabilities, the modification of existing networks to increase security and the design and/or integration into networks of compliant network elements and applications such that security concerns may be addressed by multiple vendors and administrators in a holistic manner.
[0045]FIG. 2 depicts a high level block diagram of a network survivability assessment service (NSAS) tool according to an embodiment of the invention. While primarily described within the context of the network security model discussed above with respect to FIG. 1, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the NSAS tool and related methods discussed herein may be utilized with other security models. That is, the NSAS tool may implement the security model of FIG. 1, a modification of the security model of FIG. 1 or an entirely different security model. The NSAS tool 200 of FIG. 2 may be implemented as one or several computer-executable programs that provide the network security functions discussed herein. The NSAS tool 200 may also be implemented using a single computing device/work station or multiple computing devices/work stations in, for example, a client-server environment. The NSAS tool 200 preferably comprises a database-driven tool in which industry, government and/or proprietary vulnerability databases are accessed via, illustratively, a computer network. The NSAS tool is delivered to users via a single interface. A simplified representation of a suitable environment will be discussed below with respect to FIG. 3.
[0046] Specifically, the NSAS tool 200 comprises a customer input module 212, a questionnaire module 214, an internal test module 216IN, an external test module 216EX and an assessment module 218 all implemented in accordance with a network security model 210. The NSAS tool 200 utilizes the security model 210 to define and control the execution of the NSAS tool's 200 composite modules. In an illustrative embodiment of the invention, the aforementioned network security model is used by the NSAS tool to define and control the Customer Input module 212, Questionnaire module 214, Internal Test module 2161N, External Test module 216EX, Assessment module 218 and Recommendation module 219 such that the network security model's eight security mechanisms are addressed for the three security planes of each security layer. The NSAS tool 200 communicates as necessary with local NSAS databases 280 and publicly available (remote) databases 290. The local NSAS databases 280 may comprise a survey database 282, a questions database 284, a vulnerabilities database 286 and a tools database 288. The publicly available databases 290 may comprise a public vulnerabilities database, a remote tools database and the like.
[0047] The customer input module 212 generates a customer qualification form 220 based on discussions conducted with customer personnel responsible for defining the corporate security policy. The objective of these discussions is to define the scope of the security assessment, which is captured in the completed customer qualification form 220. The customer qualification form 220 is used to customize the remainder of the security assessment to the customer's unique security environment. The customer qualification form 220 is communicated to at least one of the questionnaire module 214, internal test module 216IN, and external test module 216EX. The questionnaire module 214 uses the customer qualification form 220 to automatically generate a customized questionnaire 230 for the customer's unique security environment that is administered to individuals responsible for implement the corporate security policy. The internal test module 216IN uses the customer qualification form 220 to automatically develop and configure an initial list of customized test plans, procedures, etc. 240, which are used to evaluate the actual security posture of the customer's network. This list of tests 240 is generated based on the customer's unique security requirements. The questionnaire module 214 and internal test module 216IN communicate results with each other in order to automatically refine the questionnaire 230 and test plans, procedures, etc. 240 as more information is gathered. Likewise, the external test module 216EX builds a list of customized test plans, procedures, etc. 240 based on information contained in the customer qualification form 220. The internal test module 216IN executes tests on the customer network from inside the customer's network and saves the results of these tests. The external test module 216EX executes tests on the customer network from outside the customer's network (e.g., using the Internet to deliver the tests) and saves the results of these tests. The questionnaire module 214, internal test module 216IN, and external test module 216EX communicate their results to the assessment module 218. The assessment module 218 processes the data supplied by the questionnaire module 214 and test modules 216 to identify security vulnerabilities which are communicated to a recommendation module 219. The recommendation module 219 provides recommendations 252 and/or vulnerability reports 254. The recommendations 252 and vulnerability reports 254 may be used to reduce network security problems within a proposed or actual network.
[0048] The customer qualification form 220 is used by the customer input module 220 to guide discussions conducted with customer personnel responsible for defining the corporate security policy. The objective of these discussions is to define the scope of the security assessment, which is captured in the completed customer qualification form 220. The customer qualification form 220 is used to customize the remainder of the security assessment to the customer's unique security environment. The customer qualification form 220, including customer responses to the survey questions contained therein, is provided to the questionnaire module 214 via the customer input module 212. The customer qualification form 220 enables the NSAS tool 200 to understand the type of network the customer has or proposes to have, the portion of a network being evaluated, the applications and/or services running on the network, the type of security breaches (if any) experienced by the customer and the customer's preferences and/or biases with respect to network security issues. The customer qualification form 220 may be adapted to include more or fewer qualification factors.
[0049] Upon receipt of the completed customer qualification form 220 (including customer responses to the survey questions), the questionnaire module 214 extracts questions from a question database based on the customer qualification information to form a customized questionnaire 230. The questionnaire module 214 then interacts with the customer/user to ask and receive answers to the questions within the generated customized questionnaire 230. Based on user responses to the customized questions (either individually, as subgroups or as a group), various testing tools and procedures may be selectively accessed and/or instantiated to verify that the network conforms to the user response. It should be noted that these testing tools and procedures may use other computer-based tools to perform network probing activities, network modeling activities, password strength assessments etc. as well as physical activities such as checking for locks, surveillance equipment, etc.
[0050] The testing tools are preferably invoked after all of the questions within the customized questionnaire 230 are answered. In this manner, those tools which might otherwise be invoked several times are only invoked once. The testing tools or test plans may be provided via the internal test module 216IN or external test module 216EX. The testing tools or resource locators adapted to finding and invoking the testing tools are stored in a tools database within the NSAS databases 280. The operation of the tools and/or test plans is optionally customized in response to user input provided by the customer input module 212 and the questionnaire module 214 to produce customized test plans and procedures 240. Upon conclusion of the test plans and/or procedures, the test results are provided to the assessment module 218.
[0051] The assessment module 218 utilizes the test data provided by the test modules 216 and customer information provided by the questionnaire module 214 to form raw assessment information. The raw assessment information is derived by using a vulnerability database to assess customer responses (provided via the customer qualification form 220 and/or customized questionnaire 230) as well as the results of any testing tools executed by the internal or external test modules 216. As discussed in more detail below, the vulnerabilities database provides in one embodiment a standardized nomenclature by which network vulnerabilities may be assessed. The raw assessment information is further processed by the recommendation module 219 to provide recommendations 252 and vulnerability reports 254. The recommendation module 219 also uses the vulnerability database to retrieve appropriate solutions to the identified vulnerabilities, which are provided as recommendations to the customer. The appropriate solutions may be provided by government bodies, standards organizations, network equipment or service providers and the like. Resource addresses for such solutions may be included within the vulnerability database. The NSAS tool 200 preferably stores interview results, test results and recommendations in a manner enabling the generation of a single interface display screen showing all of this information. In addition, all information such as test plans and procedures, test results, survey questions and answers, identified vulnerabilities, recommendations and the like are maintained (i.e., created, modified, deleted) using this one interface.
[0052]FIG. 3 depicts a high level block diagram of a computing device or controller useful in implementing the present invention. The controller 300 of FIG. 3 comprises a processor 320 as well as memory 340 for storing various programs 345. The processor 320 cooperates with conventional support circuitry 330 such as power supplies, clock circuits, cache memory and the like as well as circuits that assist in executing the software routines stored in the memory 340. As such, it is contemplated that some of the process steps discussed herein as software processes may be implemented within hardware, for example as circuitry that cooperates with the processor 320 to perform various steps. The controller 300 also contains input/output (I/O) circuitry 310 that forms an interface between the various functional elements communicating with the controller 300.
[0053] The memory 340 is used to store a network survivability assessment tool 200, various control functions and/or programs 345, any NSAS databases 280 and, optionally, a network manager interface 348. A network security model such as described above with respect to FIG. 1 may also be stored in memory 340. The network survivability assessment service (NSAS) tool comprises software instructions, databases (or instructions to access such databases) and the like associated with the network survivability assessment service tool 200 discussed above with respect to FIG. 2 and, further, discussed below with respect to FIGS. 4-7. The NSAS databases 280 comprise, illustratively, a survey database 282 used to store the qualification questions forming the customer qualification form 220, a questions database 284 used to store the questions from which customized questionnaire 230 is formed, a vulnerability database 286 used to store information pertaining to vulnerability assessment and/or security recommendations and a tools database 288 for storing testing tools and/or plans (or links to such tools and/or plans) suitable for use by the test modules 216. The vulnerability database 286 may comprise a private database synchronized, for example, to the ICAT security Metabase of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It should be noted that the NSAS databases 280 may also be stored remotely and accessed via a network in a client-server environment. The network management interface 348 comprises software instructions and the like associated with a network management system (not shown).
[0054] Although the controller 300 of FIG. 3 is depicted as a general-purpose computer that is programmed to perform various control functions in accordance with the present invention, the invention can be implemented in hardware as, for example, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or field programmable gate array (FPGA). As such, the process steps described herein are intended to be broadly interpreted as being equivalently performed by software, hardware or a combination thereof.
[0055] The controller 300 of FIG. 3 may comprise a core processing component of a computing device or work station further including a display device (not shown), various input means such as a keypad, pointing device and the like (not shown), mass storage devices and network interfaces. In this embodiment, the controller 300 forming such a computing device or work station may be used to design and/or assess a proposed network, an existing network, a proposed modification to an existing network and the like. In one embodiment, the controller 300 of FIG. 3 is further used within the context of a network management system (NMS) to control and/or manage an existing network. In this embodiment, the security and survivability deficiencies within the existing network may be rapidly assessed and resolved.
[0056] The network survivability assessment service tool (NSAS) 200 stored in memory 340 and discussed with respect to the various figures herein may be implemented as a single software module or a plurality of interlinked software modules. For simplification, the tool is described as a plurality of modules having related functionality and following a specific form of input and output. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art and informed by the teachings of the present invention that the NSAS tool 200 described herewith, as well as the various supporting functions described herein, may be implemented using any one of a variety of programming techniques. As such, the specific program architecture primarily discussed herein should not in any way be deemed the only appropriate architecture.
[0057]FIG. 4 depicts a flow diagram of a method for implementing an embodiment of the NSAS tool 200 of FIG. 2. Specifically, the method 400 of FIG. 4 is entered at step 402 at a login procedure in which a user (or customer) is presented with a login home page from which the user identifies whether a project function or system management function is to be performed. If a project management function 404 is to be performed, the method 400 proceeds to step 468 (FIG. 4B).
[0058] If a system management function 406 is to be performed, then a determination is made as to whether a customer management function 408, question management function 416, security tool management function 434, user management function 442 or vulnerability management function 450 is to be performed.
[0059] In the case of a customer management function 408, the customer information is managed at step 410 and the user has the option of performing any additional functions that he/she is authorized for (including logging out) by means of the navigation bar that is always present on the screen. The customer information to be managed may comprise, for example, customer contact information such as customer name, address, phone number and the like.
[0060] In the case of a question management function 416, the qualification questions within the qualification question database 284 may be managed (418, 420) and/or the security survey questions (426, 428) within the survey question database 282 may be managed. The qualification question database 284 includes those questions to be answered by a customer via the customer qualification form 220. The survey question database comprises those questions from which the questionnaire module 214 generates the customized questionnaire 230. Management functions include, for example, adding questions, deleting questions and modifying questions. Upon completion of the question management function, the user has the option of performing any additional functions that he/she is authorized for (including logging out) by means of the navigation bar that is always present on the screen.
[0061] In the case of a security tool management 434, the security tool information within the NSAS tool is interactively managed by the user and the user has the option of performing any additional functions that he/she is authorized for (including logging out) by means of the navigation bar that is always present on the screen. Security tool information is stored within the tools database 288. Security tool information that may be managed comprises, illustratively, the identification or resource location information associated with test tools or test plans which may be invoked by the internal test module 216IN and/or external test module 216EX. These test tools and test plans may be proprietary or public test tools and test plans such as provided by government entities or standards bodies seeking to ensure compliance with promulgated security standards and/or procedures.
[0062] In the case of a user management function 442, the users of the tool are administered to at step 444 and the user has the option of performing any additional functions that he/she is authorized for (including logging out) by means of the navigation bar that is always present on the screen. The user information to be managed may comprise, for example, user name, password, resource access rights and the like.
[0063] In the case of a vulnerability management function 450, the method provides one or both of proprietary and publicly available vulnerability management functions. Specifically, the National Institute of Standards & Technology, an institution of the U.S. government, maintains a structured vulnerability database which, among other attributes, assigns identifiers to specific vulnerabilities according to a common vulnerabilities and exposure (CVE) dictionary. The CVE dictionary provides definitions that assist in characterizing vulnerabilities which are arranged in a searchable index of computer vulnerabilities known as the ICAT Metabase. The ICAT security Metabase is a database of vulnerabilities and patches maintained by the NIST which may be used to synchronize local vulnerability databases using the NSAS tool. Similarly, the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) at Carnegie Mellon University maintains another publicly accessible database of security vulnerabilities and recommendations that may used to synchronize local vulnerability databases using the NSAS tool. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art and informed by the teachings of the present invention that any other vulnerabilities database may be used to synchronize local vulnerability databases using the NSAS tool. For exemplary purposes only, we use the ICAT Metabase for the remainder of this document.
[0064] The ICAT Metabase provides a centralized means of accessing solutions to identified computer vulnerabilities (e.g., resource addresses such as hypertext or extensible markup language (HTML, XML) links of “patch” programs). Within the context of ICAT, vulnerabilities may be ranked in terms of severity (i.e., high, medium and low), exploitable range (i.e., local or remote) loss type (i.e., availability, confidentiality, integrity and the like) and other parameters. The vulnerability nomenclature used within the context of the ICAT Metabase may be used within the context of the present invention. Optionally, where additional and/or proprietary vulnerability definitions are desired, the NSAS tool establishes and maintains a NSAS vulnerability database which may include a super set or subset of the ICAT database. Preferably, but not necessarily, the proprietary NSAS database conforms to the ICAT database nomenclature including the CVE lists.
[0065] At step 452, the ICAT Metabase is accessed and, at step 454, a corresponding download function, synchronization function and/or integration function (i.e., combine at least in part with NSAS vulnerability database) associated with the ICAT database is performed. At step 460, an NSAS proprietary database is accessed and, at step 462, the NSAS database is updated or otherwise maintained. At the conclusion of one or both of these operations, the user has the option of performing any additional functions that he/she is authorized for (including logging out) by means of the navigation bar that is always present on the screen.
[0066] Referring to FIG. 4B, if the project function 468 is selected from the login page, then a project setup/selection page is displayed. From this page, a user selects an existing project 472 which results in a corresponding display of a project home page 474 as well as the display of at least a portion of a customer qualification questionnaire 476. A new project is created 470 as necessary after the project setup/selection page interaction 468.
[0067] At step 478 a determination is made as to whether the customer is qualified for an NSAS assessment. If not, then the method exits at step 479. Customer qualification questions are managed at steps 418 and 420. In the case of a qualified customer, the user selects one of a security interview 480, internal testing suite 488 and external testing suite 489.
[0068] In the case of selection of the security interview 480, at step 482 the security interview questions are retrieved from the survey database 282 and filtered based on the customer qualification form 220 to create the customized questionnaire 230. The security interview is performed at step 484 until determined to be complete at step 486. Upon completion, the internal tests and external tests that have been identified, based on the customer qualification form 220 and the customized questionnaire 230 are scheduled to run in steps 488 and 489. Upon completion of the internal and external tests, at step 490 NSAS reports are generated. Such reports may comprise, for example, a network security score card 491, an executive summary 492 and various vulnerability reports 493. The vulnerability reports 493 may be sorted by, for example, by IP address, 494, severity 495 and/or CVE number 496. Other sorting criteria may be used. Upon generation of the various summaries, score cards and reports, the user has the option of performing any additional functions that he/she is authorized for (including logging out) by means of the navigation bar that is always present on the screen.
[0069] During performance 484 of the security interview, a user response to a question may trigger the creation of testing tasks 487, which tasks are communicated to the internal testing module 216IN for execution at step 488. The testing tasks or addresses of the testing tasks are stored within the tools database 288. Further details are discussed below with respect to FIG. 5.
[0070]FIG. 5A depicts a flow diagram of a security interview method suitable for use in the NSAS method of FIG. 4. Specifically, the method 500A of FIG. 5A is suitable for use as steps 484-486 within the method 400 of FIG. 4.
[0071] The method 500A of FIG. 5 is entered at step 502 upon determination that a security interview is to be performed. At step 504, a display screen prompts a customer or user with a security question. At step 506, the customer or user response (and any comments) are received.
[0072] At step 508, a determination is made as to whether the user response(s) received at step 506 conforms to a “best practice” or other threshold level indicative of appropriate individual responses and/or appropriate aggregate responses within the context of insuring network security. If the response does not meet best practices, then at step 510 a vulnerability/warning is recorded for that question, and the method proceeds to step 512. If the response does meet best practices, then the method proceeds to step 512.
[0073] At step 512, a test procedure(s) associated with the question is added to a task list. The task list comprises a list of tasks to be executed after the interview is concluded.
[0074] Steps 504-512 are repeated until all the questions are complete, at which point the method 500 exits as step 514.
[0075]FIG. 5B depicts a flow diagram of a testing method suitable for use in the NSAS method of FIG. 4. Specifically, the method 500B of FIG. 5B is suitable for use as steps 488 and 489 within the method 400 of FIG. 4.
[0076] The method 500B of FIG. 5B is entered at step 516 upon determination that internal or external tests need to be performed by, for example, noting the presence of test procedures within the above-described task list. At step 518, a test is removed from the task list and executed. At step 520 the results of the test are evaluated for pass/fail status. If the test is passed, the method proceeds to step 522 where the status of all questions associated with that test are assigned the status of “Pass.” The method then proceeds to step 518 where the next test on the task list is executed.
[0077] If the test failed, the method proceeds to step 524 where the status of all questions associated with that test are assigned the status of “Fail.” The method then proceeds to step 526 where a vulnerability/warning is created for each question associated with that test. The method then proceeds to step 518 where the next test on the task list is executed. When all tests are complete, the method exits at step 528.
[0078] The above-described NSAS tool is an automated security assessment tool that can be based on any security model that delivers substantially an entire security assessment from one interface. This security assessment tool forces the systematic execution of security assessments and thereby eliminates the dependency of the quality of the overall security assessment on the individual performing the security assessment, by ensuring that every step of a security assessment is performed and that each step is performed in the same manner every time a security assessment is performed. The security assessment tool is also modular so that the security assessment can be customized to the security environment of individual customers by eliminating individual steps as the customer sees fit.
[0079] The advances incorporated into the security assessment tool advantageously include some or all of the following: (1) Automatic selection of questions for a security interview based on the results of a customer qualification form completed during the initial steps of the security assessment. The security interview is conducted with individuals responsible for implementing network security. (2) Automatic presentation of the security interview, capture and storing of the results of the security interview. (3) Automatic selection and configuration of tests to be performed that assess a network's actual security posture. The automatic selection and configuration of tests is based on the results of the aforementioned customer qualification and security interview process. (4) Storage and correlation of customer qualification information, security interview information, test results, and vulnerability information on one platform in order to identify actual security vulnerabilities and eliminate false positives. (5) Automatic generation of reports that list the security vulnerabilities found during the customer qualification and interview process as well as testing process along with recommendations to address these vulnerabilities.
[0080] While the invention has been primarily described within the context of assessing an entire network, it must be noted that the invention is equally applicable to portions of a network as well as individual network elements, applications and services. Thus, using the present invention, individual network elements, applications and services may be designed (or redesigned) to include appropriate security requirement levels prior to general release, thereby avoiding costly software and/or hardware upgrades to correct security problems.
[0081]FIG. 8 depicts an representation of a network security model according to one embodiment of the invention. Specifically, the network security model is presented in a tabular form to provide a methodical approach to securing networks. As can be seen from FIG. 8, each of a Mangement Plane 810, Control Plane 120 and User Plane 830 intersects with each of an Infrastructure Layer 840, a Service Layer 850 and an Application Layer 860. For each intersecting Plane and Layer a unique security perspective is provided, which perspective is addressed by a respective module within the software forming the model or tool using the model to analyze network, network element, application and the like. There are, illustratively, nine module representing the nine intersections of the Layers and Planes. Each module is automatically executed in response to user input indicative of an analysis of the specific Layer/Plane (or via the tool methodology previously discussed). Each module is associated with at least one of the eight security mechanisms previously discussed.
[0082] Exemplary Application of End-to-End Network Security Model
[0083] The following discussion will focus on an exemplary application of the network security model to address security concerns within the context of network equipment and services provided, illustratively, by Lucent Technologies, Inc. of Murray Hill, N.J. In this discussion, the term Lucent sponsored offers (LSOs) will refer to various technologies and architectures manufactured or otherwise offered by Lucent Technologies, Inc. It will be appreciated by those skilled by the art and informed by the teachings of the present invention that the term LSO may also be used to represent to products and/or services offered by other companies. Broadly speaking, the following discussion provides an example of how the network security model, methods and tool can help to develop a security assessment, written security requirements and an end-to-end security solution for networks.
[0084] The security model represents a mechanism for identifying points within the LSOs that deserve security attention. The investigation process also provides an inherent prioritization of actions to address security needs. In this manner, the cross development of security components of products is addressed thereby ensuring a core security characteristic. As the security interoperability of LSOs progresses, addressing the security architecture for future LSOs will require less and less intervention until security is implemented at fundamental levels to ensure that as LSOs are introduced and products are developed the security is assumed and inherent.
[0085]FIG. 6 depicts a graphical representation of the security model as applied to a plurality of LSOs. Specifically, the graphical depiction 600 of FIG. 6 depicts an applications security layer 126, services security layer 124 and infrastructure security layer 122 intersecting each of nine Lucent sponsored offers 610-690. Specifically, a CDMA/TDMA 2G/3G offer 610, a GSM UMTS offer 620, an end-to-end IP service offer 630, a metropolitan networking offer 640, a multi service core offer 650, a circuit to packet offer 660, an intelligent optical network offer 670, an end-to-end Ethernet offer 680 and a network hosted services offer 690 are implicated by the various security layers 122-126. As previously noted, each of the security layers comprises a management plane 120MP, a control plane 120CP and an end user plane 120EUP. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art informed by the teachings of the present invention that more or fewer offers may be analyzed and that offers from multiple companies or service providers may be analyzed at the same time.
[0086]FIG. 7 depicts a flow diagram of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method describes a security investigative process through which the gaps between the ideal security model and the current reality can be identified. The method 700 of FIG. 7 is directed toward developing a security assessment of a plurality of architectures within a mixed architecture network environment such that security requirements and end-to-end security solutions may be implemented. The method utilizes the above-described security model and systematically maps it onto each of, illustratively, nine Lucent Sponsored Offer (LSO) architectures.
[0087] The method 700 of FIG. 7 addresses, illustratively, the architectures discussed above with respect to FIG. 6. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that more or fewer architectures than the nine architectures depicted may be processed according to the method of FIG. 7. Moreover, architectures from multiple companies and/or service providers may be included within the security analysis and recommendations discussed herein.
[0088] The method 700 of FIG. 7 is entered at step 705 when each of the LSO protocols are classified according to layer and plane. That is, the LSO security investigation process begins by assembling a complete architectural view of its functional components independent of any product specific mappings. A direct side effect of that review is an exhaustive list of all protocols that communicate between the various functional components. Given that list, the investigation classifies each protocol into at least one element such as depicted below in Table 2 in an LSO independent template form. The investigator replicates the Table 2 template for each LSO being investigated, determines the revenue-generating services that occupy the LSO's Service Layer, and the bundled applications within the LSO's Application Layer. Finally, the investigator systematically evaluates each protocol, and moves it off the list and into the table.
TABLE 2
LSO Protocols
Application Layer
Service Layer
Infrastructure Layer
Management Plane
Identify the protocols that
Identify those protocols
Identify the protocols that
manage the applications
that manage the LSO
manage the network
bundled with this LSO
specific services that
elements and Element
and whom depend on the
generate Service Provider
Managers inhabiting this
LSO's service layer
revenue
LSO, independent of any
LSO specific services
Control Plane
Identify the LSO's
Identify the LSO's
Identify the
application specific
control/signaling
control/signaling
control/signaling
protocols for each of the
protocols for the network
protocols. Determine if
LSO specific revenue
elements.
they depend on any
generating services.
security mechanisms
Determine any
supplied by the Service
dependencies on security
Layer or Infrastructure
mechanisms supplied by
Layer
the Infrastructure Layer
User Data Plane
Identify the LSO's
Identify the LSO's user
Identify the user data
application specific user
data protocols for each of
protocols for the network
data protocols. Determine
the LSO specific revenue
elements. Determine any
if they depend on any
generating services.
dependencies on security
security mechanisms
Determine any
mechanisms supplied by
supplied by the Service
dependencies on security
other protocols in the
Layer or Infrastructure
mechanisms supplied by
Infrastructure Layer
Layer
the Infrastructure Layer
[0089] At step 710, an inventory of all LSO products and/or services is performed such that each LSO product and/or service may be associated with an appropriate layer or layers. That is, at step 710 the investigation module constructs a table of data such as shown in Table 3 for every LSO product. Some products may straddle multiple layers (e.g. service layer and infrastructure layer) because they combine multiple functions within their product. A product also may participate in multiple LSO Service Provider revenue generating services.
TABLE 3
LSO Product
Application Layer
Service
Infrastructure
Inventory
Protocols
Layer Protocols
Layer Protocols
PSAX 2300
SNMPv1
Sapphire, IP, Ethernet,
UNI 4.0,
Product Y
[0090] At step 715, the management plane associated with each product and/or service is analyzed to (per box 720) rank compliance levels, prioritize management interfaces and perform other functions. That is, at step 715 the investigation module constructs a table of data such as shown in Table 4 for every combination of LSO product and management protocol interface. The goal is to rank the compliance level of each product's management plane versus the eight security mechanisms. These compliance rankings would become the text filled into each LSO Table 4 element.
[0091] An important objective during this investigation phase is prioritizing which management interfaces need attention sooner than others. There are many gradations of management plane security compliance, and the LSO offer manager must make a business decision to what extent he/she will accept a security risk versus invest to improve a given product discovered to be at the low end of compliance.
TABLE 4
LSO product
Management Plane Security Mechanisms
and protocol
Access
Non-
Data
Communication
combination
Management
Authentication
repudiation
Security
Security
Integrity
Availability
Privacy
PSAX 2300
SNMP
None
SNMPv1
MIB view,
community
strings
Product X
protocol B
Product Y
protocol A
Product Y
protocol B
[0092] At step 725, the control plane associated with each product and/or service is analyzed to (per box 730) identify all combinations of LSO product and control/signaling protocol interfaces. That is, at step 725 the investigation module constructs a table of data such as shown in Table 5 for every combination of LSO product and control/signaling protocol interface.
TABLE 5
LSO product
Control Plane Security Mechanisms
Product X
protocol A
[0093] At step 735, the user data plane associated with each product and/or service is analyzed where appropriate. That is, at step 735 the investigation module constructs a table of data such as shown in Table 6 where appropriate. Specifically, there are many cases where investigating the User Data Plane falls outside the scope of the LSO security investigation. Selecting which user data plane protocols merit an investigation effort is a filtering process wherein any one of the following questions should be answered in the affirmative before the user data plane protocol qualifies for investigation: (1) Does the user data transit any layer-2 networks that can not be assured of being physically secure from adversaries (e.g. a wireless technology)?; (2) Does the Application Layer or Service Layer traffic possess properties that prevent the use of end to end IP Security (e.g. real-time video that can not be delayed by encryption latency)?; and (3) Does the Application Layer or Service Layer transport or store user data whose disclosure to an adversary would violate relevant legal statutes, adverse publicity, or incur contractual damages (e.g. location privacy)?
[0094] After the filtering, the investigator fills in the Table 6 for every remaining combination of LSO product and user data protocol interface.
TABLE 6
LSO product
User Plane Security Mechanisms
[0095] At step 740, the entire LSO architecture is analyzed as a group of products and/or services to (per box 745) look for patterns and form conclusions pertaining to the security of the products and/or services as a group rather than individually. That is, prior to this step, every LSO component had been examined largely in isolation from any other. In this step, the investigator reviews the architectural findings on a holistic basis. The security investigation process will have assembled enough information that one can perceive patterns and form overall conclusions about the LSO's security. Patterns that might appear include but are not limited to the following: (1) Multiple products that share a common weak protocol or architectural design assumption; (2) Neglect of a particular security mechanism that could be applied more pervasively (e.g. Denial of Service resistance); (3) Protocol interactions that assume too much trust amongst a group of peer components, rather than decomposing their security trust domain into smaller compartments. The design goal is that the compromise of one compartment does not expose too many key components to an adversary; (4) The LSO architecture had overlooked a security issue because they only took the perspective of the Service Provider and did not consider the service consumer's perspective. For example, realizing that a mobile consumer has a need to control third party accesses and have an investigation trail logging those accesses for their location and other private information; and (5) Interactions between Lucent Technologies LSO products and those of competitors.
[0096] The investigator fills in a template such as shown below as Table 7 with an entry for each security gap discovered by the steps 3 through 6. Gaps are optionally sorted by priority, where the priority assignment may be influenced by a variety of factors such as: (1) The probability that an adversary could detect and exploit a security weakness; (2) The amount of potential damage that an adversary might incur if they penetrated the LSO security perimeter through the security gap; (3) The cost in time and money to remedy the security gap; and (4) The potential adverse publicity that might ensue if a security gap became the basis for a major breach that got reported to the media.
TABLE 7
LSO Product
and Protocol
Security Gap Description
Priority
Recommendation
SNMPv1
Lack of data authentication,
High
For system use make sure other
privacy and integrity.
protection mechanisms exist
such as IPSec, for individual
element upgrade to SNMPv3
[0097] At step 750, results and recommendations determined by the various analysis steps discussed above are communicated to the user.
[0098] The above-described embodiments disclose a novel security model, which includes, illustratively, three security layers, three planes, and eight security mechanisms. Also disclosed is the segmentation of end-to-end network security into three security layers: (1) Infrastructure Security Layer, (2) Services Security Layer, and (3) Applications Security Layer. The Infrastructure Security Layer specifies how to secure individual network elements and transmission facilities. The Services Security Layer specifies how to secure network services (e.g., VPNs, QoS, etc.) from an end-to-end perspective. The Applications Security Layer specifies how to secure network-based applications (e.g., E-Commerce, Video Conferencing, etc.) from an end-to-end perspective. An Interactive Security Analysis Tool based on the end-to-end network security model is also disclosed. In addition, Security Analysis Tables may be used to analyze end-to-end network security, which tables correlate Security Threats, Security Mechanisms, Security Planes, and Security Layers. A security rating may be produced by the security analysis process to assign compliance percentage to the network application, service, or product being analyzed. The security rating is an output of the security analysis process and represents a percentage of a total compliance with network security best practices for a network application, service, or product being analyzed.
[0099] Although various embodiments that incorporate the teachings of the present invention have been shown and described in detail herein, those skilled in the art can readily devise many other varied embodiments that still incorporate these teachings.
| |
Ear Mite Facts:
Ear mites are microscopic insects which live inside your inner ears. They cause itching, pain and tinnitus (ringing in the ears).
You may have heard of them before when they were called “wormies”. Nowadays it’s not so common to hear about these tiny creatures anymore but their presence still exists. There are many different types of ear mites including fleas, ticks, roundworms and even tapeworms. Some types of ear mites are harmless while others can lead to health problems such as deafness or hearing loss.
Dogs and Ear Mites:
The main reason why most people don’t want to deal with ear mites is because they’re usually found in large numbers in the house where there are lots of other animals living together. However, if you keep your pets indoors and keep all the animals away from each other then ear mites will probably stay out of sight.
There are two kinds of ear mites: bloodsuckers and sweat bees. Bloodsuckers feed off dead skin cells while sweat bee type mites need warm moist environments to lay eggs.
These are the main types of ear mites found in dogs today.
The National Animal Disease Information Service (NADIS) recommends that dogs that are prone to ear mites should have regular routine checkups at a veterinarian. During these visits, an otoscope can be used to look into the ear canals for signs of parasites.
Ear mites are not believed to be contagious between humans so if you’re in contact with an infected pet, you don’t need to worry too much about getting them yourself.
The symptoms of ear mites in dogs are:
● Itching
● Black or brown Excess wax
● Head shaking
● Scratching in general (especially the area near the ears)
How to tell if your dog has ear mites:
Sometimes it can be hard to tell whether your dog does have ear mites due to the itching. The most obvious sign is if your dog shakes it’s head a lot, especially after being in contact with other pets.
There may also be excessive black or brown wax, which is solidified earwax that has been attacked by the mites. The most effective way of knowing if your dog has ear mites for sure is by visiting a veterinarian who can check with an otoscope.
How much does it cost to get rid of the ear mites?
The short answer: It depends on whether you’re talking over-the-counter or professional treatment. If you’re treating your dog yourself then a bottle of Ivermectin can cost anywhere from $8 to $30, however larger dogs will need a stronger dose. Be sure to follow the instructions on the side of the box closely as there are some factors which determine how much medication your dog needs.
Sources & references used in this article: | https://dogpuppysite.com/ear-mites-in-dogs-causes-symptoms-and-treatment/ |
As we are gearing up for the NBA playoffs, some of the teams are making the final push in order to secure a postseason spot.
Simply said, the season is down to just a few crucial games. Moreover, it seems that the hardest battle will be for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. But, the battle for the top spot in the Eastern Conference is still up for grabs, although the Bucks are the favourite to end on the prime position. Therefore, in this article, we will analyze both teams. Also, our prediction is that the Raptors and the Bucks may face in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Bucks are one of the better teams this season. Moreover, this Milwaukee team owns the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Also, they are heading into the final weeks with a 4 games lead over the Raptors. Additionally, the Bucks were able to clinch the Central Division title. Therefore, they are heading into this playoffs on the wings of success this season. This is a strong team this year and it is no surprise that many see them as one of the favourites.
The Bucks have strong offensive firepower. Moreover, they score an average of 117.4 points per game. And this scoring record is the 2nd best in the NBA this season. Yet, their strongest part of their game is their rebounds success as they have 49.4 per game. And this is the best record in the NBA this season.
On the defensive side of the game, they allow an average of 108.2 points per game, which is the 9th best scoring defence record in the league.
Yet, heading into the final games and the playoffs, the Bucks will rely heavy on Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The 24 years old forward leads the Bucks with 29.9 points, 12.5 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game in the team’s last 10 games. Moreover, the Greek international has a great season so far and there is more to come from him.
The Raptors are having a good season. Moreover, they are in a surprisingly good position as they have a chance to win the Eastern Conference. Also, they have 7 games left and they are 4 games behind the Bucks.
The potential reward for such an accomplishment is the #1 seed for the playoffs.
Based on their statistical data, this Toronto team has very good potential. However, it is important to emphasize that they need to improve in certain areas of the game.
For example, the Raptors score an average of 114.1points per game which is the 8th best record in the NBA. And although this is a solid record, they will need to improve, especially in a potential showdown with the Milwaukee Bucks. Combined with that, Toronto is the 10th best team in scoring defence as they concede an average of 108.8 points per game. On a positive note, they have the in-form Kawhi Leonard. Moreover, the 27 years old small forward scores an average of 28.4 points per game while shooting 51.9 per cent from the field, including 46 per cent from three-point range.
The Raptors played well last season as well and they are enjoying a steady progress in the last few seasons. Definetly, there is more to come from them in the future.
All in all, we can expect some interesting and tight games in the final weeks of the regular season. Moreover, it is an opportunity for certain teams to step up and to secure a better position for the playoffs. Certainly, the Toronto Raptors are one of those teams that can challenge in these final weeks. | http://opensportsbookusa.com/nba-playoffs-predictions.html |
Digest Codes: VL 1080.266 VL 1059.20The employe worked as a machine operator at the employers plant in Poynette and in 1997 he averaged $12.33 per hour. This included 15 cents per hour for leadworker pay plus incentive pay. His base pay was $8.05 per hour. The employer notified the employe that he was being laid off, but that he could work at its Madison plant in similar work for the same base pay ($8.05 per hour) but no leadworker pay. He could also expect to receive incentive pay, but there was no guarantee as to how much that pay would be. Three other workers who accepted the transfer earned 149 percent, 164 percent, and 193 percent of their base pay, respectively, during their first six weeks of employment in Madison. The employes round trip commuting distance would have increased by 54 miles per day, which at 32 cents per mile was calculated to amount to $2.19 per hour, compared to a commuting cost of 24 cents per hour in Poynette. The employe refused the transfer and thus quit his employment. The commission reversed the appeal tribunal and found good cause for quitting. It compared the known hourly wage the employe had received in Poynette ($12.33 per hour) with the wage the collective bargaining agreement provided could be expected but not guaranteed based on incentive rates. That wage was 130 percent of the base of $8.05 per hour. When the additional commuting costs were subtracted from this wage the net reduction was approximately 30 percent. The employer appealed and argued that the comparison should have been between the $12.33 per hour in Poynette and the average incentive rate for all workers at the Madison plant, which was 164.5 percent of base. This would have resulted in a wage reduction, after additional commuting costs, of about 8.4 percent for the employe.
Held: The commissions decision is reversed and remanded with directions that it compare the same type of incentive wages to be earned at both plants. The commission decision compared the full-incentive pay received at Poynette with the partial-incentive pay which could have been received at Madison. The court did not determine whether good cause for quitting had been established, but left that determination to be made once again by the commission after making new wage comparisons.
[original Commission decision]
Please note that this is a summary prepared by staff of the commission, not a verbatim reproduction of the court decision. | https://lirc.wisconsin.gov/ucdecsns/221.htm |
The music spans many styles, primarily traditional and contemporary North American folk,
folklore music of Venezuela and Brazil, and Latin Jazz.
My recent performances include classical guitar adaptations in Brazilian choro,
Venezuelan joropo and merengue, and contemporary classical guitar mixed with modern rhythms.
I occasionally include a foray of string instruments such as mandolin and Venezuelan bandola Llanera.
I hope that my spin
on these styles offers an enjoyable and interesting new perspective.
"David Ray is an exciting, thoughtful player
who brings great craft and insight to his music... He immediately steps
into the foremost ranks of jazz and Latin-based mandolinists."
--
Mandolin Magazine
"Many people have recorded my song 'Misturada' throughout the last thirty
years, but I am happy to tell you that your recording is one of the most
unique and 'happening' that I have heard. Your entire CD is a pleasure to listen
to. Flora and I have been enjoying everything, specially the chorinhos."
--
Airto Moreira
Venezuelan folklore: A growing project for the last few years.
Includes some of my original guitar arrangements of traditional folklore. Solo and with guest players.
Electronic jazz: a wide range of material centered around Latin Jazz and performed
on classical guitar, with live and electronic backing rhythms. | http://jonive.com/ |
DEFINING WATERSHED VALUES
To clearly identify values and concerns of the watershed, the project management team met with stakeholder groups to identify and prioritize local land and water issues of importance to them. Individual concerns, traditional knowledge, and technical submissions have shaped development of three watershed values for this plan.
3Watershed
Values
Surface Water Fluctuations
Water Quality
Ecosystem Health
WATERSHED VALUE STATEMENTS
Surface Water Fluctuations
We value the management of surface water and its associated infrastructure for flood and drought protection and successful agriculture locally.
Water Quality
We value clean water for drinking water needs and recreational purposes. Clean water sustains healthy communities and our natural ecosystem.
Ecosystem Health
We value natural habitat sustainability and biodiverse areas. We recognize the need for strong programming to protect the integrity of natural areas and mitigate against impacts from development and industry.
KEY CHALLENGES
Surface Water Fluctuations
- The watershed is highly modified and certain areas are dependent on the operation of water control structures for flood protection
- Poor drainage due to very little slope, causing flooding of residential and agricultural areas
- Jurisdictional differences in the management of water flows between provincial boundaries
Water Quality
- Balancing recreational use of lakes, wetlands and waterways with drinking water and ecosystem needs
- Land use activities, including industry, development and agricultural activities may impact surface water quality
Ecosystem Health
- Surface water flows in the Saskatchewan River Delta have been altered by water control structures, impacting aquatic health
- Movement of aquatic invasive species into the watershed
KEY ACTIONS
Surface Water Fluctuations
- Improve inter-provincial communication and cooperation between the non-profit watershed associations in MB and SK
- Encourage improved coordination of water level and flow projections between MB and SK during critical periods, specifically at times of flooding
- Investigate adaptation strategies to mitigate potential climate change impacts, including more extreme weather events, increased flows, agricultural impacts and infrastructure considerations
Water Quality
- Seal abandoned wells within the watershed
- Review opportunities for aquifer protection for Moose Lake and Opaskwayak Cree Nation
- Develop a hazardous waste depot within the watershed
- Assess urban storm water runoff concerns in the Town of The Pas and prepare storm water filtration options, including rain gardens and urban wetlands
- Seed severely saline areas to provide cover on these sensitive sites
Ecosystem Health
- Recommend a boat wash station at the junctions of highway 6 and 60, and 10 and 60
- Support the Lake Sturgeon Management Board in long-term recovery planning for sturgeon in the Saskatchewan River
- Implement and promote a composting program
- Promote and encourage sustainable eco-tourism activities within the watershed
SOURCE WATER PROTECTION PLAN
The Carrot - Saskatchewan River IWMP includes a source water protection plan to protect drinking water sources in the watershed. Four provincially-regulated municipal drinking water systems and two federally-regulated drinking water systems were assessed separately, and full assessments and recommendations are listed in the IWMP.
Key recommendations include:
- Sealing abandoned wells
- Protecting wellhead sites for groundwater sources
- Educating residents regarding proper maintenance of septic system holding tanks
- Conducting source water assessments for the Opaskwayak Cree Nation and Mosakahiken Cree Nation public drinking water sources
SURFACE WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN
The Carrot - Saskatchewan River IWMP includes a surface water management plan that strives to:
- Reduce or prevent flooding
- Consider aquatic health and water quality
- Realize potential climate change impacts
- Identify recreational opportunities
To address the various local challenges and landscape features, four surface water management zones were designated for the watershed.
Source Water Protection Zones
- Groundwater source water protection zone
- Surface source water protection zone
Surface Water Management Zones
- Cranberry Portage
- Summerberry / Lower Saskatchewan River Delta
- Wanless / Saskeram
- Carrot Valley
Full Integrated Watershed Management Plan
The Carrot-Saskatchewan River Integrated Watershed Management Plan encompasses the area of land in Manitoba which contributes water to the Carrot River and the Saskatchewan River watershed. The Kelsey Conservation District is leading plan development in partnership with the Provincial government and a team of supporting agencies, interest groups and watershed residents.
English Summary
The purpose of the Carrot-Saskatchewan River Integrated Watershed Management Plan (IWMP) is to positively influence land and water management, with a focus on protecting water, aquatic ecosystems and drinking water sources in the Carrot-Saskatchewan River Watershed.
atet kestānechekana nepe astwawen oche
oma nanakachetawe kanāchekāwin Carrot River Integrated Watershed Management Plan (IWMP) ka echekatāk nepe oma kananakachetanewakx
The Current
The Current is published annually as the official publication of Manitoba Conservation Districts Association. It features editorials from many of the 18 Conservation Districts within Manitoba. | http://kelseywatersheddistrict.com/values.php |
Protein aggregation Protein aggregation is a highly complex process that is determined by intrinsic factors, such as the sequence and structure of the aggregation .
Process Aggregation using Web Services Mark Hansen1, Stuart Madnick2, Michael Siegel2 1 MIT Sloan School of Management, E53 ,
Use the Process Aggregation Dialog Box to: Select a process group (or function group in general) for process aggregation Create new groups beyond the ones that are .
Start studying cs 302 data aggregation Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools
Experian is partnering with Finicity to bring financial account aggregation into the mainstream With a simple , Through this process, .
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Aggregate formation is influenced by multiple aspects of the bioproduction process but can be mitigated by good process design and control
With the CPS 0400, the semi automatic aggregation solution, cartons can be easily and safely packed and aggregated into a case
I have a 'Employee' dimension which will be changed (modified) everyday, I made monthly partitions in cube and only process full the current month partition Lately .
What is Platelet Aggregation? Platelet aggregation is a crucial step in the process of clot formation, which stops bleeding
Data Aggregation Definition - Data aggregation is a type of data and information mining process where data is searched, gathered and presented in a.
Information on municipal aggregation, a process where municipalities can aggregate the electrical load of customers within their borders to procure competitive supply .
What is aggregation? | The process by which two or more WSS service providers consolidate some or all of their activities under a shared organizational structure .
What Is Project Aggregation? “The process of grouping together multiple, nominally-separate but related physical or operational changes into one physical or .
Aggregation Definition of Aggregation by Define aggregation: a group, body, or mass composed of many distinct parts or individuals — aggregation in a sentence
Message flow aggregation , This process is known as fan-out, and it is provided by a message flow that includes aggregation nod
Aggregations in SSAS Table of Contents , When aggregation is designed the data is not stored at the very detail level, say we have 100000 records in the .
SpringerLink Search , Benefits of aggregation in woodlice: a factor in the terrestrialization process , Aggregation process can vary in spacing of individuals .
Here’s an example of a data aggregation process A dataset contains general information about over 160,000 parcels of real estate
Data aggregation is any process in which information is gathered and expressed in a summary form, for purposes such as statistical analysis A common aggregation .
Challenges of Protein Aggregation during Purification Careful selection of downstream processing conditions is a must , Refolding and in-process hold operations
1 Used in corporate financial planning, aggregation is a process whereby a number of a firm's smaller projects are combined and treated as an individual project 2
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The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) aggregation services can help government, , Taking part is a straightforward process - and it is free of charge:
About The Digital Library of Tennessee (DLTN) digital objects aggregation process is presently managed by Holly Mercer and Mark Baggett at the University of .
What is Aggregationexe? The exe extension on a filename indicates an exe cutable file Executable files may, in some cases, harm your computer
Account Aggregation Services from Fiserv create a comprehensive view of a customer’s or investor's finances, , Here’s how the process works: | http://locosc.pl/33031/aggregation-is-the-process-of.html |
Beta Testing, The confidence interval calculations assume you have a genuine random sample of the relevant population. It is expressed as a percentage and represents how often the true percentage of the population who would pick an answer lies within the confidence interval. In this post we’ll explore how sample sizes are determined and how to calculate for sampling errors. Don't settle for disconnected research tools. To learn more about the factors that affect the size of confidence intervals, click here. Almost all researchers generally like to work with large samples. We recommend using a 5% margin of error as standard, which should never be increased above 10%. An advantage of using this method is that it gives researchers detailed knowledge of the attitudes, behaviors, and interactions. The goal of qualitative researchers should be the attainment of saturation. How to choose a sample size in Qualitative research. You can find out more about how to improve response rates in this article. Whereas quantitative studies strive for random sampling, qualitative studies often use purposeful or criterion-based sampling, that is, a sample that has the characteristics relevant to the research question(s). The wider the confidence interval you are willing to accept, the more certain you can be that the whole population answers would be within that range. Use the calculator to work out how many people you need to complete your survey or poll to be confident in the accuracy of your results. This brief guide explains the terms used in our sample size calculator, in addition to providing recommended values for optimum results. Build your survey now. However, if the percentages are 51% and 49% the chances of error are much greater. This may be the number of people in a city you are studying, the number of people who buy new cars, etc. Stage 2: Calculate sample size. This can be done using an online sample size calculator or with paper and pencil. You should also use this percentage if you want to determine a general level of accuracy for a sample you already have. In qualitative research, the qualitative sample size is the number of subjects in a study. 2012 Nov;55(5):398-400. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2012.07.003. Qualitative Sample Size. A sample size should be large enough to sufficiently describe the phenomenon of interest, and address the research question at hand. Please note that our calculator assumes a standard deviation of 0.5. Use the manual equation to change the standard deviation. Qualtrics offers a sample size calculator online that can help you determine your ideal survey sample size in seconds. Calculate your own sample size using our online calculator . Study Group Design vs. Two independent study groups. Most researchers use the 95% confidence level. Guidance – Sample Size for Qualitative Research ----- The purpose of qualitative research methods is to look for meaning (i.e. It is therefore about developing richness in data based on an in-depth understanding rather than representativeness which is the preserve of quantitative research methods. Qualitative researchers have been criticised for not justifying sample size decisions in their research. the minimum amount of consumers you need to research for your results to be statistically significant within your defined parameters. Sampling and sample size are crucial issues in pieces of quantitative research, which seek to make statistically based generalisations from the study results to the wider world. Confidence Level: A confidence level is defined as the statistical probability that the value of a parameter falls within a specified range of values. However, by using an estimate of 30% survey completion and the minimum sample provided by our calculator, it is possible to work out how many consumers you'll need to reach. The uncertainty in a given random sample (namely that is expected that the proportion estimate, p̂, is a good, but not perfect, approximation for the true proportion p) can be summarized by saying that the estimate p̂ is normally distributed with mean p and variance p(1-p)/n. | https://clickwork.pk/noah-from-xpzm/039985-qualitative-research-sample-size-calculator |
The Library Gallery offers the community the opportunity to display works of art or personal collections of interest. Exhibit space includes secure upright or flat display cases in the foyer, and open wall space.
THE MISSION OF THE LIBRARY GALLERY
- To serve our community educationally and aesthetically, by exhibiting and fostering the arts in the community.
- To provide exhibition space to promising emerging artists.
- To highlight local artists in the community.
- To provide a venue for established artists who wish to enrich the community by display in a local space.
- To enable the public library to enrich the cultural life of Metuchen.
INTERESTED IN DISPLAYING AN EXHIBIT?
Please fill out an Exhibit Application Form and email it to The Library Gallery Co-Directors to schedule your exhibit for either two (2) or four (4) weeks at a time.
CO-DIRECTORS
Kathy Glaser
Email: [email protected]
Cathy Tardosky
Email: [email protected]
GALLERY SCHEDULE
Grace Ann Castellano
Adaptation
From October 5 to November 30, come see "Adaptation", prints and paintings portraying the role of animals in a human-domnated world.
A reception will be held on Saturday, November 10 from 2-4 pm.
In the main floor showcase:
Korean Culture Celebration
The Library reserves the right to record or photograph library users for publicity purposes, unless an individual files a Photo Opt Out Release Form. Please view the Photo Opt Out Policy.
If you have any questions, you can call the Metuchen Public Library at 732-632-8526 or email at [email protected]. | https://www.metuchenlibrary.org/events/librarygallery/ |
Native American languages:
Classification
A language family consists of two or more tongues that are distinct and yet related historically in that they are all descended from a single ancestor language, either known or assumed to have existed. The languages of a family are closely related in phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary. The attempts made to classify Native American languages into such families have encountered various obstacles. One is the absence of written records of these languages except in the case of Aztec and Maya. Even there the texts are comparatively few in number; the Spanish conquerors destroyed almost all the texts they found. Another problem is that most records of any linguistic value were made after 1850. Also, there are at present insufficient numbers of trained persons able to record many of the indigenous American languages and collect data, especially in Mexico and Central and South America. The absence of grammars handed down from the past, owing to either the dearth of writing or the destruction of written texts, has further hampered the study of the Native American tongues. Linguistic scholars, therefore, have to turn to native informants to gain material for the analysis of these languages.
Native American languages cannot be differentiated as a linguistic unit from other languages of the world but are grouped into a number of separate linguistic stocks having significantly different phonetics, vocabularies, and grammars. Asia is generally accepted as the original home of the Native Americans, although linguistic investigations have not yet established any definite link between the Native American languages and those spoken in Asia or elsewhere in the Eastern Hemisphere. Some scholars postulate a connection between the Eskimo-Aleut family and several other families or subfamilies (among them Altaic, Paleosiberian, Finno-Ugric, and Sino-Tibetan). Others have posited a relationship between members of the Nadene stock (to which Navajo and Apache belong) and Sino-Tibetan, to which Chinese belongs, or between Nadene and the Yeniseian languages of central Siberia.
Sections in this article:
- Introduction
- Classification
- Characteristics
- Languages of North America
- Languages of Mexico and Central America
- Languages of South America and the West Indies
- Writing and Sign Language
- Influence and Survival
- Bibliography
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/arts/language/linguistics/native-american-languages/classification |
Pronounce the following words and word combinations, give their Ukrainianequivalents:
Personal income, to be obtained from, the ownership of property, dividends on share, social security benefits, national insurance contributions, the purchasing power, total consumer spending, the extra spending, durable consumer goods, the basic necessities of life, the most urgent needs, hire – purchase facilities, to be repaid, to obtein goods on credit, household expenditure, to collect personal savings, to be advertised in, to be regarded as, to build up a reserve of money, to cope with, pension funds, to attract savings, revenue from taxation.
2 Reading
In Chapter 1, consumption was defined as the “ using up “ of goods and services in order to satisfy our wants. The things we consume were classified as durable consumer goods, and services.
Strictly speaking, we do not “use up” many of the things we bue. Durable goods, for example, have a long life, and we often discard them long before they are wom out. We consume goods because they provide us with satisfaction, pleasure or benefit.Early economists used the word “utility” to describe these satisfactions. When we speak of consuming a good, therefore, we are describing the using-up of the utility the good provides rather than of the good itself.We consume the pleasures provided by a television set, not the set itself, durable consumer goods are capable of yielding utility over a long period of time.
Consumption spending is often described as household spending, because many decisions to spend are tfken by families rather than by individuals.The amount which households spend on consumer goods and servicesis clearly influenced by the amount of income they receive.Most people would spend more that they do now if they had the opportunity. Their spending is limited by their income.
4.1. Types of personal income.
Personal income is obtained from several different sources: wages and salaries, rent from the ownership of property, dividents on shares, interest on savings, private pensions and various social security benefits ( e.g. state pensions and unemployment benefit ).
There are several ways of measuring personal income:
1.Gross personal income
This is the total personal income from all sources
2.Disposable personal income
This is the amount which remains after incometaxes and national insurance contributions have been deducted from gross personal income, i.e.
Gross personal income – income tax and NI contributions = Disposable personal income.
3. Real disposable income
This refers to the quantity of goods and services which disposable income can buy.It is the purchasing power of the money income. Money income and real income can move in opposite directions. For example, if money income increascs by 8 per cent, but prices increase by 10 per cent over the some period of time, real income in fall.
4.2.Income and consumers’ spending
Personal disposable income can be either spend of saved.As one would expect, an increase in total disposable income leads to an increase in total consumer spending. As people become better off, they tend to by more goods and services, and better-quality goods and services. When incomes increase in developed countries, much of the extra spending goes on durable consumer goods ( e.g. cars, microwave cookers,videos, etc. ) and on a variety of services ( e.g. holidays abroad ).
But consumer spending does not usualy increase as fast as income increases.Although people spend more as their income increases, they also tend to save a larger persentage of their income. When incomes are very low there will be no saving – the whole of disposable income will be required to buy the basic necessities of life. As incomes increase, however, and the most urgent needs can easily be satisfied, it becomes possible to spend more and save more.
Figure 4.1. helps to explain the way in which consumption and saving change as income increases. It shows that Household B, with the much higher income, still consumes more than Household A with the lower income, even thoughit spends a smaller persentage of its income. This diagram compares two households, but it helps to the way in which total consumer spending country changes as income changes.As people’s incomes increase, we find that both consumer spending and saving increase.
4.3. Other influences on consumers’ spending
Although the amount of money spent on consumer goods and services depends mainly on the level of disposable income, it is also influenced by other factors.
Wealth
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24 September 2012 - Speaking at a high-level meeting of the sixty-seventh session of the General Assembly in New York, UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov expressed concerns that corruption was undermining the rule of law by eroding democratic institutions essential for fair and equitable societies.
Mr. Fedotov said that it was essential for Governments and their partners to take drastic measures to combat corruption: "Without these measures, there can be no equity, no inclusivity, no fairness and no lasting social and economic development."
Identifying sustainable economic growth as crucial for progress, the Executive Director noted that businesses thrive where laws are well defined and clearly applied but can languish or fail where the level playing field becomes the "uphill struggle of unfair competition".
Bribery and corruption circumvents fair tendering processes, and the consequences are severe: funding meant for hospitals and schools can be diverted into the hands of corrupt individuals. Just as importantly, the failure to win contracts can cause businesses to fail and create unemployment. All of these factors place an additional strain on weak and fragile societies.
"Where corruption exists, the rule of law cannot flourish. Too many people fail to understand the impact of corruption on development and on prosperity. The victims exist in every developing and least developed country. Denied education, denied healthcare, denied opportunities", the Executive Director said.
Highlighting the work of UNODC, Mr. Fedotov said that the blueprint for helping countries was the United Nations Convention against Corruption. The Convention calls on States Parties to take a series of measures that lay the foundations for free and fair markets and sustainable economic development.
Parties to the Convention are involved in a unique process known as the Implementation Review Mechanism, which enables States to assess their implementation of the Convention and contribute to efforts to combat corruption and promote the rule of law. Since the Mechanism was launched, 157 States have participated in the review process either as the State under review or as a reviewing State.
"[The Implementation Review Mechanism] is creating forward momentum among nations for transparency and good governance that will assist the rule of law and development," said Mr. Fedotov.
Mr. Fedotov was speaking at the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the rule of law, entitled "Strengthening the rule of law: the fight against corruption and its impact on sustainable growth." The event was hosted by the permanent missions of Austria, Estonia, Japan and Tunisia and was attended by President of Austria Heinz Fischer, President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves and an audience of ministers, ambassadors and distinguished guests. Speakers from the Mitsubishi International Corporation, the International Anti-Corruption Academy and Siemens International also attended. | https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2012/September/where-corruption-flourishes-development-and-the-rule-of-law-fail-says-unodc-chief.html |
Inflation: Signal vs. the Noise
Inflation, it’s all the rage in financial market commentary of late. After being dormant for the better part of a decade, the CPI came roaring back to life in April, with the headline index posting a 4.2% year-over-year rise and the core index posting a 3% increase. This has resulted in a lot of talk about the possibility of reflation, especially in the context of the massive wave of government stimulus, supply bottlenecks, and economic re-openings. But considering that this is just one report, how much information can we truly derive from it? It is hard to know for sure, but there are several obvious reasons to take the current numbers with a grain of salt.
1. Base Effects
The biggest caveat with year-over-year comparisons are base effects. All this means is that if the initial month of comparison is unusually high or low, it can cause the year-over-year growth rate to diverge from the underlying trend. For this past April’s report, the base month was April 2020, a month when prices fell by 0.7% as the economy entered lockdown. Compared to that low level, the measured increase in prices looks high. However, as Matt Klein notes, it really just represents inflation returning to trend.
It is expected that base effects will be in play for the next few months, resulting in unusually high year-over-year readings. However, these effects will fade once we get past the summer, when year-over-year comparisons will once more become commensurate with the underlying trend of the price level.
2. Re-Opening Impact
While base effects can account for the elevated year-over-year inflation reading, they cannot explain the high level of month-over-month inflation. The headline CPI rose by 0.8% from March to April, a 10% annualized rate.
Much of this increase was linked to idiosyncratic factors tied to the re-opening of the economy. For instance, the red-hot used car market accounted for 33% of the rise in the CPI, even though the segment constitutes just 2.75% of the index. The jump reflects excess demand for used cars from rental companies, who are in a rush to restock their inventories after drawing them down earlier in the pandemic. Furthermore, airline prices jumped by 13% as air travel started ramping up again.
There are two sides of the coin here. On the one hand, this is just one month of data, and these specific sectors are not likely to see such large price increases in subsequent months. On the other hand, this illustrates how near-term inflation may be pressured by a shift in spending towards services that are just coming back online. Over the longer run these impacts will fade, but for the coming months they may result in further headline-grabbing inflation readings.
3. Supply Chain Pressures
The third factor impacting near-term inflation is supply chain pressures resulting from a shortage of a variety of primary and intermediate goods. These shortages range from lumber to semiconductors and can be seen clearly in the Producer Price Index (PPI), which has shot up in the last 6-months.
However, the PPI is not necessarily a determinant of the CPI for several reasons. First, firms may be price takers in their industries, and thereby choose to absorb the higher costs rather than risk losing market share by raising prices. Second, supply pressures tend to clear over time. Production eventually increases and supply meets demand, unplugging bottlenecks and easing the upward price trend. There is some evidence that this is starting to happen in commodities markets, as the prices of oil and lumber have started to come back down the past two weeks. Assuming price reductions continue, the impact of supply chain pressures on inflation should diminish over time.
Longer-Run
Although the specific factors impacting April’s inflation report are unlikely to last, there is some reason to suspect that we may see a shift from the continual disinflation experienced since the Great Financial Crisis. It’s important to note that this does not mean the economy is about to go through a reboot of the 1970s, when inflation averaged 7% and regularly crossed the 10% threshold. Following that episode, the Fed committed to conquering inflation and has now built-up 35+ years of credibility as an inflation manager.
Furthermore, inflation expectations over the next five and ten years remain well-anchored at levels that are consistent with a 2% inflation target. So there’s nothing to suggest that we’re about to see a sustained spike in the price level.
Nevertheless, expectations are in line with the view that inflation will be somewhat higher in the coming decade than it has been in the last decade. This is consistent with the Fed’s new average inflation targeting framework, in which it aims to achieve periods of inflation above its 2% target to compensate for periods where inflation is below 2%. It stands to reason that if the Fed is now more tolerant of higher inflation (say in the 2-3% range), then higher inflation will in fact manifest. This is especially true in the context of pent-up consumer demand following lockdowns, excess levels of household savings, expansionary fiscal policy, and a potential shortage of labor in some parts of the country. It’s quite possible that these could be the catalysts for a period of higher inflation, which the Fed accommodates rather than attempts to offset.
Should this happen, the expectation would be that interest rates would rise, resulting in a sell-off in bond markets and a potential widening of spreads. While this would result in some short-term pain for fixed income investors, it may be beneficial in the long run if yields are able to sustain themselves at levels above those seen post-financial crisis. Furthermore, with interest rates at higher levels, the Fed would have more scope to pursue expansionary monetary policy in the event of a downturn, and cash investors would spend less time dealing with the dreaded zero-lower bound. But of course, as with everything, the proof will be in the pudding. Investors won’t know how big the change will be until it actually comes about. | https://www.capitaladvisors.com/inflation-signal-vs-the-noise/ |
aims to conduct a financial analysis of the state of the hotel services market in Ukraine and the world during the period of active progression of the Covid-19 virus infection.
The purpose of the article. The aim of the work was to study the peculiarities of the financial development of the hotel industry in the pandemic in the world and in Ukraine.
The methodology. The totality of research methods is a methodology for analyzing and organizing the main legislative acts and laws, namely the methods of generalization, comparison, chronology, analysis and generalization. Segment diagramming, elements of financial analysis, as a digital display of the state of the economic level of development are used to visualize the state of the hotel business market.
The results of the research. The study analyzes the level of change in sales revenue from the hotel business in Ukraine. The regions of Ukraine were divided into the main tourist regions and the structure of accommodation facilities by types and specialized accommodation facilities have been developed.
The scientific work considers the hotel industry as elements of the market of services of Ukraine, so the distribution of accommodation is divided into in the following regions: central region, northern region and western and southern regions. The location of hotel business establishments is appropriately structured.
Conclusions that were made indicate the need to improve the quality of services while expanding their range, which is due to the ever-increasing demands of consumers in accordance with the requirements of advanced technologies. A significant expansion of the range of accommodation (apartments, villas, holiday homes, country and guest houses, chalets, etc.) will best guide different groups of tourists and diversify the types of recreation.
The presented paper depicts relevant and necessary research that will help hotel business leaders to respond in a timely manner to financial threats. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it is important to monitor the state of the Ukrainian services market, timely implement all possible security measures and prevent the impact of adverse factors on the development of the hotel business.
Keywords: Covid-19, hotel business, UHRA, region, hostel, accommodation, finance.
JEL Class: F65.
* Ph.D. in Economics, Assосіate Prоfessоr оf the Department of Finance, Accounting and Economic Security; Pavlo Ty- chyna Uman State Pedagogical University; e-mail: [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4149-0205
** Ph.D. in Economics, Assосіate Prоfessоr оf the Department of Finance, Accounting and Economic Security; Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University; e-mail: [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2788-6991
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INTRODUCTION
Hospitality is an important component of Ukraine’s services. Its effective functioning is an indicator of positive changes in the economy of our country, an important prerequisite for the intensification of international relations and integration of the country into the world community. However, almost all hospitality establishments have faced new challenges, the most important of which is currently adapting to work in a pandemic.
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a decline in the service sector, which has resulted in the closure of many hotels, restaurants and other hospitality establishments. Governments are closing borders, canceling flights, restricting transportation, which hinders the movement of tourists, both within Ukraine and between countries, and leads to their internal isolation.
The current situation is forcing the hotel and restaurant business around the world to adapt as quickly as possible to new realities. The task of enterprises is to restructure their business processes and quickly reduce costs. The extreme measures that companies have to resort to are maximum savings, reduction of operating costs, abandonment of outsourcing services, reduction of working hours, reduced wages, rental vacations for the quarantine period, suspension of investment plans.
The risk of rapid spreading of highly infectious COVID-19 variants determined a combination of measures consisting in border controls, mass testing, vaccines, quarantine procedures and lockdowns (Opriş et al., 2022: 605–610). COVID-19 is an unembellished problem not only for one particular country but globally. All individuals exist in time without any precedents. This horrible pandemic not only affects human health but also has impact on the society, environment, and the business world (Lenka and Kar, 2021: 41–50).
As the hotel business is closely linked to other areas, its support is very important because this industry fuels many other companies that provide cleaning and security services, produce and supply food, develop software, maintain engineering systems and etc. (Melnychuk, 2021: 62–64).
Therefore, the question of how to keep your business after the pandemic is the most pressing issue.
1. LITERATURE ANALYSIS
Finance plays an important role in the hotel business. Analysis and management of finance is a necessary component of business activation, ensuring proper control and organization of the monetary components of a company such as a hotel or restaurant. This industry is quite different from other service industries, but
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a number of problems similar to other types of business may appear such as advertising costs and payback, or employee compensation, etc. There are a number of issues that are specific to managing money in the hospitality industry, such as a need to control food costs, etc. The financial part of doing business is one of the main links of the whole process and should be under constant control and analysis.
Of special attention, the state of finances began to interest the management during the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Since the main function of the study of the finances of the hotel business in general is to ensure the proper handling of the financial resources of the business, in times of crisis many companies, regardless of the type of work in which they are involved, must balance their incoming income with outgoing expenses paid to employees and distribution users of products used by this company. Operating costs can also be a major problem, especially in times of crisis, when financially overseeing a hotel business, such as rent or taxes paid for the physical location of the business, which can be very high in some profitable locations. Today, during the pandemic, an important area of activity for the hotel industry is the introduction of effective security measures and improving the quality of hotel services.
Some aspects of the functioning of the hotel industry are presented in the scientific works of domestic and foreign authors: S.I. Baylik, V.A. Azara, R.A. Braimer, O.P. Durovich, An. Iyengar, M.I. Kabushkina, V.I. Karsekina, V.A. Kvartalnova, N.M. Kuznetsova, Yu.M. Melnychuk, G.A. Papiryana, T.I. Tkachenko, A.D. Chudnovsky, D. Walker, Т.А. Horova and others.
However, they do not sufficiently cover the fundamentally important issues related to the comprehensive study of the hotel industry and scientific substantiation of problems and prospects of the hospitality industry. They have not developed any priorities and objectives of their economic stability for crisis situations in the economy, especially when it comes to a pandemic (Azarian and Donets, 2013: 111–119).
In the work of Iyengar An. entitled Hotel Finance, the author pays great attention to the creation of a certain financial culture, which is focused on obtaining high profitability for the owners, while at the same time creating joint social benefits for the customers, of which we are a part. It is worth agreeing with the opinion of the author, but the factors affecting the level of profitability during the global crisis differ sharply from influencing factors in an economically stable environment. Therefore, one should deeply consider the conditions of doing business and take into account unforeseen risks (Iyengar, 2008: 19–33).
According to C.P. Krishnan Nair, the key to long-term financial stability in the hotel business is: growth in investment, growth in revenue and growth in return on capital employed. It is worth agreeing, because such a vision of business
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development is natural and captures the satisfaction of the goal of any business i.e. obtaining maximum profits (Iyengar, 2008: 8–19).
Gittens S. believes that as soon as the outbreak of Covid-19 occurred, it became clear how many trustworthy customers of the hotel business were affected by financial problems of the industry. One way to solve this problem is to find experienced and reliable professionals in the field of finance. Financial success also depends on accountability – the responsibility of employees and managers to meet financial goals of their respective functional area (Gittens, 2022).
Professionalism in this case is closely related to in-depth research into this problem, analysis and planning of financial activities of the hotel business.
British scientists studying the hotel business came to the conclusion that all hotel owners should have a good understanding of the financial aspects of hotel management i.e. timely bookkeeping, filling out forms and dealing with complex numbers. The more difficult the financial situation at the end of the financial year, as a result of the pandemic, the more work will have to be done. By implementing practical financial controls from day one, you will have a good idea of your cash flows, profitability and tax liabilities throughout the year (Assetsure, 2022). It is worth agreeing with such an opinion, which is relevant and active, especially for business in Ukraine. Any petty cash borrowings must be taken into account, while any income received must be allocated to the profit and loss account and included in your personal tax calculation. Using just one accountant will have the added benefit of minimizing your overall tax burden as your accountant will be prepared to look at the bigger picture with all the information available. Using two accounting firms or two individuals creates unnecessary duplication, confusion, uncertainty and doubt, which will inevitably lead to a higher accounting bill at the end of the year.
Therefore, the study of problems and prospects for the development of the hotel business during the pandemic is very relevant and necessary for the development of the services market. In the situation of deep biological crisis (as opposed to economic crises), the social factor will ultimately have the final word at the expense of all other factors (Rydzewski, 2021: 15–21).
2. OBJECT, SUBJECT AND METHODS OF RESEARCH
The object of study – the activities of hotel facilities in a pandemic.
The subject of the research is the role of strategic development of the world and Ukrainian hotel establishments in the conditions of a pandemic.
Research methods include: a survey method (data collection), a method of information processing and analysis, an empirical method, logical-structural, statistical and graphical methods of information processing and provision, as well as comparative, economic and financial analysis.
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The information base of the study consists of laws and regulations of Ukraine, other states, international legal documents; statistical data, rating materials;
reference books, Internet; reporting data and accounting reports of individual hotel complexes, namely: “Balance Sheet”, “Statement of financial performance of the enterprise”, “Statement of cash flows”. The data of monographic and periodicals, materials of international, all-Ukrainian scientific-practical conferences and Internet resources are also used in the work.
3. RESULTS
The coronavirus pandemic has caused serious damage to the hotel business in Ukraine, and it may take more than a year for the sector to recover.
According to the study, 93% of respondents confirmed a general decline in revenue of their hotel, in 21% of hotels gross revenue decreased by 25–40%, in a third of hotels – by 40–60%, in 30% of hotels such reductions reached more than 60%. Only 4% of hotels showed an increase in annual revenue, and for 2%
it remained at the same level (see Figure 1 below).
Figure 1. The level of change in sales revenue from the hotel business of Ukraine in 2020 Source: own study based on DiXi Group, 2021.
66% optimized their costs by reducing staff, 2/3 reduced prices for their services, 63% of respondents improved their product and services (repair, repositioning, updating standards and working conditions with suppliers, changing equipment, etc.). 1/3 of respondents introduced digital and marketing tools, 27% introduced alternative services (coworking, office suites, etc.), 7% decided to repurpose some of the premises, for example, for rent for gambling establishments.
21%
33% 30%
4%
2%
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
-40 -60 -80 20 0
The level of change in sales revenue, in %
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There is no planning horizon, closed borders, a huge share of inbound tourism. The Ukrainian tourism industry has not received such a rapid systemic support from the government as in neighboring EU countries. As the industry as a whole has a very high cost structure, such a total reduction in revenue has been simply detrimental to most hotels.
The survey involved 122 hotels with an average of 72 rooms. In Ukraine, according to 2019, there are a total of 3,165 hotels and motels, excluding hostels, resorts and dormitories.
According to the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine, it can be concluded that the demand for hotel services due to the pandemic is currently low and losses to the market are significant. However, the government is planning a number of measures to support the hotel sector (Borysiak and Brych, 2021: 302–309).
The Association of Hotels and Resorts of Ukraine (UHRA) is a public organization that unites accommodation establishments and companies working in the hotel industry for their sustainable development. The association represents the united position and interests of hotels in the domestic and foreign markets.
If the overall losses in the field of tourism in the world are about 800 billion dollars, in Ukraine, it is about 60 billion hryvnias, which the industry has lost over the last year. The budget of UAH 100 million provides a significant part of the funding for the creation of a single tourist register, in which we can register all accommodation and other resources of businesses. Additionally, relevant statistics are obtained as well as operational data on a monthly basis, which is necessary to properly plan marketing activities and attract investors to the industry.
According to the people involved in that industry, the recovery of the hotel business in Ukraine after the restrictive measures due to the pandemic may take more than one year.
The hotel industry sector today is the most popular and dynamic sector of Ukraine’s economy, capable of bringing real profits. Taking into account today’s trends in the industry, innovation and comfort in the hotel business play a major role in the highly competitive struggle of hotels for each client. The use of the latest technologies allows hoteliers to increase the efficiency of financial and economic activities, find new reserves to improve the quality of service, effective protection of hotel rooms and property of guests, providing new hotel services.
The study of the volume of investments in the fixed capital of the tourist regions of Ukraine shows that in 2018 more than 78% of the total investment is directed to the development of hotels and other places for short-term residence.
For instance, 14% of the development of restaurants is noted in Kyiv, Kyiv, Odessa, Lviv regions; in 2017, the situation has hardly changed: 79% of investments are aimed at the development of hotel and restaurant business and especially hospitality enterprises (Burak, 2013).
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An important guarantee of the development of this industry is a gradual increase in the number of foreign tourists who have received the services of tourism entities. The number of “domestic” tourists has increased significantly, in particular, due to family travel and the combination of business trips with leisure.
At the same time, the number of active enterprises providing hotel and restaurant services in the regions of Ukraine decreased. This is due to the continuation of hostilities in eastern Ukraine and the temporarily occupied territories, as well as the annexation of Crimea with its unique natural and recreational potential. The economic factor is high competition, which is a prerequisite for intensifying domestic tourism and innovation.
As for the promising regions for development, there is a gradual shift towards the objects of tourist infrastructure and recreational and tourist economy of the country, in particular, regional health resorts.
The main areas are Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. As for the western regions, these are the Carpathian and Polissya recreational regions (Melnychuk and Chyrva, 2021: 20–30).
This is evidenced by numerous media reports about the increase in tourist flows to these regions. This trend can further affect the simultaneous inflow of money capital from the intensification of the tourism business, which has shifted its desires to these regions, and the level of local budget revenues (Melnychuk et al., 2019: 584–590).
Analyzing the flows of tourists in some regions, we note that the flows of foreign tourists predominate in Kiev, Odessa, Lviv regions. In the Transcarpathian region, the number of foreign tourists has doubled in the last three years. In some regions (Rivne, Ternopil, Cherkasy, Kherson, Mykolaiv regions) in recent years there were no foreign tourists at all. The reason for this is the insufficient level of development of financial services and communication systems, the tourist infrastructure itself, as well as the poor quality of services, lack of marketing strategies aimed at developing the hospitality industry, and lack of trained staff.
The distribution of hospitality companies that provide temporary accommodation and meals in Ukraine by region is uneven, but given the climatic and geographical location of the regions and the presence of well-known cultural heritage is quite justified. The division of the regions of Ukraine into the main tourist regions (Table 1) by geographical location allowed to analyze the state of the hospitality industry in each of them, and then summarize this information.
Hotels and other accommodation facilities in Ukraine have changed their development to some extent over the last 3–5 years, which has been reflected in a 7–12% reduction in a number of sanatoriums and boarding houses with treatment. Although in 2017–2018, this trend decreased to 1.5–2.6%, the number of sanatoriums has decreased by 30%, and they are largely used only as accommodation facilities.
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Table 1. Distribution of regions of Ukraine by the main tourist regions Name of the region and the territories assigned to it
Central Northern West Southern East
Vinnytsia Zhytomyr Volyn Zaporozhye Kharkiv
Dnepropetrovsk Kyiv Transcarpathian Mykolayiv –
Kirovograd Kyiv–city Ivano-Frankivsk Odessa –
Poltava Sumy Lviv Kherson Donetsk
Khmelnytsky Chernihiv Rivne – Luhansk
Cherkasy – Ternopil – –
– – Chernivtsi – –
Source: own study based on DiXi Group, 2021.
They are used by dynamic, unpretentious tourists, mostly young people, or those who travel for business, as the number of dormitories where they used to stay is gradually decreasing. The distribution of accommodation by region is uneven and corresponds to the economic and geographical location, the degree of development of the transport network and infrastructure, natural and climatic conditions, the availability of interesting places to visit: monuments of nature, architecture, history and culture (Tkachuk et al., 2020: 1606–1613).
It should be noted that in all regions of Ukraine, there are insufficiently developed marketing tools to attract tourists. Information on many services in the hospitality industry is either insufficient or non-existent, as the range of services is very limited. Insufficient use of marketing activities is evidenced by the fact that on major tourist sites information about accommodation is much more modest and available information concerns about only half of the hospitality industry.
Thus, on the well-known international Internet resource Booking.com, information is available on only half of enterprises across Ukraine compared to the data of the State Statistics Committee.
Analysis of the distribution of accommodation according to Internet resources (Figure 2, 3) (DiXi Group, 2021) shows that only in Lviv, Kyiv (at the expense of Kyiv), Odessa and Kharkiv regions, there is information about 70–
85% of accommodation. This indicates ill-conceived marketing strategies or their absence at all. The distribution of accommodation in the central region, with the exception of the Kirovohrad region, is almost proportional.
137 Figure 2. Distribution of accommodation by types, units
Source: own study based on DiXi Group, 2021.
Figure 3. Distribution of accommodation facilities by specialized accommodation facilities, units Source: own study based on DiXi Group, 2021.
The state of material support is also average, services are standard and do not differ in variety. As of the end of 2018, the number of collective accommodation facilities in Dnipropetrovsk region was 253 units, compared to 2019, their number
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Колективні засоби розміщення Готелі та аналогічні засоби озміщення Готелі Спеціалізовані засоби розміщення Туристичні бази
2020 2019 2018 Tourist bases
Special accommodation facilities
Hotels
Hotels and similar accommodation
Collective means of accommodation
0 50 100 150 200
Мотелі Хостели Компінги Гуртожитки для приїжджих Санаторії Пансіонати Будинки відпочинку
2020 2019 2018 Holiday homes
Boarding houses Sanatoriums Dormitories for visitors Campings Hostels Hotels
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decreased by 12 units. The number of places in such facilities in 2018 was 25.5 thousand units, and the number of placed persons – 418.3 thousand people.
In 2020, 160 enterprises began to operate in the Dnipropetrovsk region, most of which are hotels (50%), business hotels (27.3%), 4 motels and 11 hostels (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Distribution of accommodation in the regions of the central region Source: own study based on DiXi Group, 2021.
The state of the hotel industry in this region is characterized by a small number of high-class hotels, single hotels have an “interest” that becomes their
“business card” and attracts customers. The middle service segment is represented by a sufficient number of institutions. Prospects for the development of the hotel sector in the Dnipropetrovsk region are associated with an increase in the number of certified hotel enterprises in the budget price category, in particular, churches and one-star hotels.
Among all oblasts of the northern region (Figure 5) the leader is Kyiv oblast at the expense of Kyiv itself, where high-class hotels are available: the tendency to 4–5 stars is 83%, and the largest number of hotel chains is 10.
However, the main purpose of traveling to Kyiv is business, acquaintance with culture and recreation are almost non-existent. The western region is the largest in number of oblasts. The distribution of accommodation in the western region is shown in Figure 6.
17% of Vinnytsia
22% of Dnipropetrovsk
8% of Kirovohrad 18% of Poltava
19% of Khmelnytsky
16% of Cherkasy
139 Figure 5. Distribution of accommodation in the northern region
Source: own study based on DiXi Group, 2021.
According to official statistics and Internet resources, the Lviv region is the leader in receiving guests. Over the past five years, it has ranked fourth in Ukraine in terms of the number of tourists, receiving almost 65% of all guests in the western region.
Figure 6. Distribution of accommodation in the western region Source: own study based on DiXi Group, 2021.
3% Zhytomyr
14% Kyiv
73% Kyiv - city 5% Sumy
5% Chernihiv
3% Volyn
13% Transcarpathian
11% Ivano- Frankivsk
61% Lviv 2% Rivne
5% Ternopil 5% Chernivtsi
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According to the official data of the regional statistics department, Lviv region is visited by 130 to 200 thousand tourists every year for various purposes.
Market operators believe that the region actually receives more than half a million guests. In the Ternopil region is a third of all castles and castle buildings that have survived in Ukraine. For rest and treatment in the Ternopil region, there are 20 sanatoriums created on the basis of local healing mineral waters. Despite the huge recreational and tourist resources, the infrastructure associated with tourism is under development. The main, most pronounced areas of tourism development are: recreational, cognitive, sightseeing, rural, green, water, speleotourism, mountain and ecotourism. In Rivne region there are favorable natural conditions and the necessary infrastructure for the development of extreme sports and health tourism, as there are 127 lakes, 12 reservoirs. There is also a potential for the development of pilgrimage, because in the region in the village of Onishkovtsi (Dubensky district) there is a miraculous spring of St. Anne with healing water.
In all oblasts of the western region, except Lviv, the infrastructure is poorly developed, the number of additional services is insufficient. The buildings of hotel and restaurant enterprises require complete reconstruction, little attention is paid to the opening of new hospitality enterprises. However, green tourism, recreational and speleotourism with mountain tourism (in Chernivtsi region) and pilgrimage tourism (Rivne region) are actively practiced in this region. Most hotels are located in the main administrative centers. Many estates and houses are located outside the city. In general, you can provide recommendations to improve infrastructure, develop hotel businesses and open some new ones. Start financing ecotourism, recreational tourism, pilgrimage tourism, for which to develop new routes and make improvements to the existing ones. The material base of accommodation in the southern region is quite good, as this region is traditionally a resort and has a long tradition of receiving guests with different needs (Figure 7).
In the Nikolaev area, according to tourist sites, the category “option for vacation” and “hotels without stars” prevails. Most tourist flows are directed to Koblevo. In the Kherson region, there is access to two seas – Azov and Black, but recently the healing potential and unique natural objects are almost not used. The big problem of this area is the short duration of the tourist season. Recreation facilities are full at full capacity for only two months, and the actual duration of the bathing season is 3.5 months. Therefore, it is necessary to more intensively develop
“green” and ethno-tourism, involving farms. Despite the presence of a sanatorium and resort base in the Odessa region, the purpose of the trip “treatment” is extremely low. No foreign tourist bought a tour to the Odessa region for the sake of improving health, which was reflected in the reduction in the number of sanatoriums and rest homes with health treatments. Domestic tourists have also almost stopped using sanatorium treatment, but this is mainly due to the low purchasing power of the population of Ukraine and the lack of social support for both trade unions, which previously took care of this area, and the state as a whole.
141 Figure 7. Distribution of accommodation in the regions of the southern region Source: own study based on DiXi Group, 2021.
Figure 8. The structure of the hotel business in 2020 Source: own study based on DiXi Group, 2021.
The material and technical condition of hospitality enterprises in Odessa region is quite decent, recently actively working to provide services in the Gulf, Belgorod-Dniester and other resort towns. As far as active tourist areas are
4% of Zaporozhye 5% of Mykolayiv
80% of Odessa 11% of Kherson
60% Apartments
2% Holiday homes 13% Hotels
6% Hostels 3% Guest houses
1% Motels 15% Mini-hotels
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concerned, in summer it is the lowest in resort areas – in summer and winter it is the highest. Also, the load of hotels during the year, as a rule, is still uneven and on weekdays – on weekends it decreases, increasing on weekdays due to those who are on a business trip. Significant competition for hotel enterprises, including large hotels, is created by individuals – business entities, which mainly maintain small hotels and own private houses and apartments (Skorokhod and Horbach, 2021: 456–464).
Only those hotels that can offer their customers high-quality service can withstand fierce competition, and this is impossible without professionally trained staff.
To improve the situation in all regions of Ukraine, regardless of the focus on foreign or domestic tourists, it is necessary to focus on the following issues (Kozlovskyi et al., 2021: 26–33):
– expansion of types (range of services) and their quality;
– increasing the variety of accommodation (boutique hotels, guest houses, hostels, networking of the hospitality industry);
– development of transport services (expansion of the range and quality of services) and improving the quality of transport infrastructure;
– development of the range and increase the availability of financial services (both investment for enterprise development and services for tourists);
– development of services and communication systems (including in the field of informatization and telecommunications, development of online services) to create comfortable living conditions;
– development of tour operator activities and preparation of network, complex and thematic tour products, the possibility of combining them on individual orders;
– development of information support for the hospitality industry, marketing, creation of new and advertising of already known tourist routes;
– strengthening the role of health and medical direction and focusing on the needs of different categories of tourists;
– legislative and investment support by the state for hotel and restaurant enterprises, primarily those that implement innovations.
The general trend identified as a result of research in all regions of Ukraine is to determine the need for innovation and new partnerships, in particular, between travel agencies and hotels and restaurants, government and self-government for the effective development of regional infrastructures.
This should, first of all, be realized through mechanisms of cooperation with the involvement of various sources of funding. In recent years, the structure and development strategy of hotel enterprises have changed significantly. In the regions where there is an increase in their number, there has been significant differentiation. It largely depends on the economic capacity of domestic tourists
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and the increase in the number of high-end enterprises for wealthy tourists and foreigners.
In Ukraine, since 2020, the total number of special accommodation facilities has decreased by 11.9%, while the total number of special accommodation in the Lviv region has increased by 3.4%. The number of collective accommodation facilities provided by legal entities and entrepreneurs in Ukraine as a whole decreased by 5.2%, and increased in: Ivano-Frankivsk region – by 19.1%; Kyiv region – by 2.5%; Kyiv – by 6.4%; Khmelnytsky region – by 3.4%; Lviv – by almost 2%.
In other areas, significant changes have taken place in the distribution of accommodation: the number of apartments has almost doubled, and the number of hostels is gradually increasing. The management of many hotels is reviewing the policy of providing services and is becoming more meticulous in determining the category of hotels and their compliance with international standards. The proliferation of hotel chains is also positive as they have begun to appear in regions where infrastructure needs to be developed, roads, in particular.
Dealing with the effects of COVID-19 is on the security agenda.
Consolidation of efforts at the regional, national and international levels to exchange experience in the implementation of successful practices and the formation of institutional support of the sustainable development contributes to the post-COVID-19 revitalization (Borysiak, 2021: 302–309).
CONCLUSIONS
As a result of the analysis of the current state and trends of hotel business development in the regions of Ukraine, it has been concluded that in recent years the structure and strategy of hotel development has changed significantly. Today, it is necessary to improve the quality of services while expanding their range, which is due to the ever-growing demands of consumers in accordance with the requirements of advanced technology. A significant expansion of the range of accommodation (apartments, villas, holiday homes, country and guest houses, chalets, etc.) will best guide different groups of tourists and diversify the types of recreation. The prospect of further research should be to identify strategic alternatives for the development of hospitality enterprises in the regions of Ukraine, taking into account their natural and climatic conditions and specific features.
The main conclusions of the study were the following provisions:
1. The review of research provisions regarding the financial activation of the hotel business showed that most scientists are deeply convinced of the need for constant control, analysis and planning of the hotel business in order to avoid
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a sharp decline in income during periods of crisis, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
2. The hotel business of Ukraine flourished in 2018 and rapidly began to decline with the onset of the pandemic in 2019. The period of 2020–2021 was a stage of adaptation to the global crisis for the hotel business. Many small hotels have ceased their activities. A large number of them were adapted for mixed services, and only a small part remained at its level.
3. The company is obliged to act socially responsible, in the interests of society. The goal of maximizing the owner’s welfare does not absolve the owners of their responsibility to the society in which they operate. And therefore, finances during the crisis come to the level of ensuring the social effect, which is in the first place, and only then – profits. However, such an opinion is unjustified from a financial point of view.
4. Finance is closely related to the economy. For the hotel business, it is important to know the concepts and principles of macro- and microeconomics, and to understand the business environment. That is why the analysis of hotel accommodation zones directly affects future plans and business organization, financial results and solving business problems.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, it is important to monitor the state of the Ukrainian services market, timely implement all possible security measures and prevent the impact of adverse factors on the development of hotel and restaurant business.
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Melnychuk, Yu. M., Chyrva, G.M. (2021). World’s latest approaches to resource provision of the autonomous educational process. Current issues of economic development of the region, 17(2).
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How it's made: The Straightforward Guide to Road & Route Models
How It’s Made explores the categories that come together to make your weather forecast. We don’t just tell you that our weather forecasts are accurate; we show you how it’s done.
Today we’re continuing our exploration of Category Three: Statistical Post Processing, with this post on Road & Route models.
Download your copy of "How It’s Made: The Ultimate Guide to Weather Forecasting" below:
During winter road maintenance, operations staff are under pressure to guarantee traffic safety, while maximizing operational efficiency. Treating roads too late can lead to accidents, traffic jams, and potential fatalities. However, unnecessary treatment of roads can result in high costs and avoidable environmental damage.
What are the Road & Routes Models?
Road & Route models are used to identify situations where the weather poses a risk on the roads, including supporting gritting decisions and, increasingly, supporting autonomous vehicle initiatives. They have been specifically designed by the weather experts to address these challenges. Here’s how the two models work:
- The road surface model combines a physical and statistical model, designed to calculate the forecast for road surface temperature and conditions at specific locations, such as Road weather information system (RWIS) locations and downscaled locations (i.e. ‘on-the-spot’ forecasts).
- The route based forecast model is a physical model, designed to calculate forecasts for road surface temperatures and conditions for predefined gritting networks (or routes).
Both models draw on data from MeteoBase, which contains manually controlled output from the MOS forecast system.
How the experts add value to Road & Route Models?
For the road surface model, the experts use statistical modelling to improve the physical model data with 3 years of historical observations. This enables the road surface model to take into account the local environment of an RWIS station. This improves the model’s accuracy. They also run a bias filter that looks at the past 21 days to identify any inconsistencies.
For the route forecast model, they apply scaling to the physical model to improve the quality; for example, by adding information about the temperature and condition at RWIS sites.
" Our road and route models are build and fine-tuned based on years of experience in working for the road weather industry "
- Marcel Wokke
Meteorological Researcher
MeteoGroup
How the Road & Route Models are used today?
These forecasts are monitored and improved by meteorologists to ensure accuracy and quality and then visually presented through a web portal. It provides road safety managers the information needed to make informed decisions on gritting, using hyperlocal data on road surface temperature, black ice, hoar frost, snowfall, and freezing rain. These forecasts are monitored and improved by meteorologists to ensure accuracy and quality.
This information helps organizations in charge of road maintenance to know when and where action is needed, including the type and amount of chemicals to use and whether snow plows are required.
Through this insight, they can minimize gritting costs and environmental impact, by avoiding unnecessary treatments and using the weather forecast to know the right amount of salt and chemicals to use.
As well, the models can help to plan resources and improve operations, by using the road weather forecasts to plan for personnel, chemicals, and maintenance of equipment.
Using Road & Route Models to Power Autonomous Driving
Road & Route models are not just used for road maintenance; they’re also critical for the automotive industry and, in particular, the drive towards autonomous vehicles.
The weather experts are working closely with some of the world’s most prestigious car brands to come up with in-car systems that will enable autonomous vehicles to anticipate and handle even the most severe and most rapidly-changing road conditions.
It’s a fast-growing market and MeteoGroup is participating proudly in developing the autonomous driving solutions that will power tomorrow’s cars.
Some car manufacturers are already delivering systems to help drivers navigate away from rain and hail and towards blue skies and sunshine if the driver decides to follow the directions. But in the future, autonomous vehicles will rely fully on detailed, accurate, and real-time road and weather information to ensure safety.
Download your copy of "How It’s Made: The Ultimate Guide to Weather Forecasting" below: | https://www.meteogroup.com/how-its-made-straightforward-guide-road-route-models |
Mermaids are Non-Hostile Creatures that appear in the sea to teleport pirates back to their ship. They hold an aquamarine flare emitting a tall plume of smoke that can be seen from a distance, and sing an ominous tune.
Description[edit | edit source]
Interacting with the mermaid will teleport the player back to their ship. If their ship has sunk, they will instead teleport to the outpost or island where their Ship has respawned. Using a Mermaid will drop any carried Items a player is carrying.
Spawning[edit | edit source]
A mermaid spawns in the player's vicinity when their ship is detected at a great distance, or it is destroyed. The mermaid disappears when the player either returns to their ship or enters a rowboat.
- When a player is too far from their ship, a mermaid will spawn some distance towards the player's current direction.
- When a player's ship despawns, a mermaid will spawn in replacement.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- Mermaids are invulnerable and will clip through ships and objects.
- Mermaids swim back to the depths of the ocean after you travel a certain distance from them.
- Mermaids come in different appearances, some with facial hair, with eye patches and more variants.
- When teleporting with a Mermaid takes longer than normal, your ship sunk.
- In the book "Tales From the Sea of Thieves" a poem regarding the Merfolk suggests that not all Merfolk in the world of Sea of Thieves are 'good.' The poem describes how "If it's you they've chosen, they'll surround you with their kin. Your legs are bound and frozen in a wrap of silver skin." possibly describing how some of the Merfolk are created.
- It is also pointed out that when one of the Merfolk in the book sees a pirate going for shipwrecked treasure he "looked instantly furious about the sight of the chest."
- POSSIBLE BUG: Mermaids will sometimes linger in the area when they are no longer needed. | https://seaofthieves.gamepedia.com/Mermaid |
Decimal to fraction results for 0.239 as a fraction:
Whole number-integral part: empty
Decimal to fraction: .239 as a fraction = 239/1000
Simple fraction result: 239/1000
Scroll down to customize the precision point enabling 0.239 to be broken down to a specific number of digits. The page also includes 2-3D graphical representations of 0.239 as a fraction, the different types of fractions, and what type of fraction 0.239 is when converted.
0.239 = 0 239/1000
numerator/denominator = 239/1000
The level of precision are the number of digits to round to. Select a lower precision point below to break decimal 0.239 down further in fraction form. The default precision point is 5.
If the last trailing digit is "5" you can use the "round half up" and "round half down" options to round that digit up or down when you change the precision point.
For example 0.875 with a precision point of 2 rounded half up = 88/100, rounded half down = 87/100.
Pie chart representation of the fractional part of 0.239
A mixed number is made up of a whole number (whole numbers have no fractional or decimal part) and a proper fraction part (a fraction where the numerator (the top number) is less than the denominator (the bottom number). In this case the whole number value is empty and the proper fraction value is 239/1000.
Not all decimals can be converted into a fraction. There are 3 basic types which include:
Terminating decimals have a limited number of digits after the decimal point.
Example:
5166.85 = 5166 85/100
Recurring decimals have one or more repeating numbers after the decimal point which continue on infinitely.
Example: 9064.3333 = 9064 3333/10000 = 333/1000 = 33/100 = 1/3 (rounded)
Irrational decimals go on forever and never form a repeating pattern. This type of decimal cannot be expressed as a fraction.
Example: 0.222534690.....
You can also see the reverse conversion I.e. how fraction 239/1000 is converted into a decimal. | https://www.asafraction.net/number/0.239 |
"Vicious Propensities" with Respect to Establishing Negligence and Defenses to Dog Bite Claims and "Harboring a Dangerous Animal" as it Relates to Property Owner Exposure for Animals (Dogs) Owned/Kept on Property by Tenants. | Hurwitz & Fine, P.C.
To recover against a landlord for injuries caused by a tenant's dog on a theory of strict liability, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the landlord: (1) had notice that a dog was being harbored on the premises; (2) knew or should have known that the dog had VICIOUS PROPENSITIES, and (3) had sufficient control of the premises to allow the landlord to remove or confine the dog. Evidence tending to prove that a dog has vicious propensities, for purposes of landowner liability, includes prior attack; the dog's tendency to growl, snap, or bare its teeth; the manner in which the dog was restrained; and a proclivity to act in any way that puts others at risk of harm. Kraycer v. Fowler St., LLC, 147 A.D.3d 1038 (2nd Dept. 2017). See also, Scheidt v. Oberg, 65 A.D.3d 740 (3rd Dept. 2018) (holding that dog owners did not know, nor should they have known, of vicious propensities of the dog because they had never known the dog to exhibit aggressive behavior, nor had anyone complained to them about its behavior). Landlord’s knowledge about the dog and its characteristics is the controlling element.
The State Legislature has essentially imposed strict liability upon dog owners. The statute, passed in 2009, provides that: “The owner of any dog which shall bite a person while such person is on or in a public place, or lawfully on or in a private place, including the property of the owner of the dog, shall be liable for such damages as may be suffered by the person bitten, regardless of the former viciousness of such dog or the owner's knowledge of such viciousness.” N.J.S.A. 4:19–16. This statute considerably EXPANDS potential liability beyond traditional common law.
However, the statute is inapplicable to establish liability of a landlord who is not the dog's owner. Under New Jersey common law “. . . a landlord is not responsible for injuries caused by its tenant's dog. However, a landlord is under a common law duty to exercise reasonable care to guard against foreseeable dangers arising from the use of the leased premises. Therefore, a landlord's duty to protect a tenant or the tenant's invitees could arise with respect to a tenant's dog if the landlord knew the dog was on the property and had “vicious propensities.” Casatelli ex rel. Casatelli v Dressler, 2011 WL 2518857 (N.J. App. Div. June 27, 2011). In New Jersey, landlord liability still rests on the traditional common law “vicious propensities” doctrine.
California’s Civil Code Section 3342(a) has essentially imposed strict liability upon dog owners. Section 3342(a) provides that: “The owner of any dog is liable for the damages suffered by any person who is bitten by the dog while in a public place or lawfully in a private place, regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owner's knowledge of such viciousness.” Cal. Civ. Code § 3342 (West).
A landlord owes a duty of care to his tenant's invitees to prevent injury from the tenant's vicious dog when the landlord has “ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE” of the dog's vicious nature in time to protect against the dangerous condition on his property. Actual knowledge, and not mere constructive knowledge of a dangerous animal on the premises, is required to impose a duty of care on a landlord. A landlord is under no duty to inspect the premises for the purpose of discovering the existence of a tenant's dangerous animal. Only when the landlord has actual knowledge of the animal, coupled with the right to have it removed from the premises, does a duty of care arise.
A landlord's ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE of the dangerous propensities of an animal on rented premises may be shown not only by direct evidence, but also by circumstantial evidence. Actual knowledge can be inferred from the circumstances only if, in the light of the evidence, such inference is not based on speculation or conjecture. Only when the landlord “must have known,” and not when he “should have known,” will any inference of actual knowledge be permitted. Yuzon v. Collins, (2004) 116 Cal.App.4th 149 (10 Cal.Rptr.3d 18) (holding that landlord had no actual knowledge of dangerous propensities of tenants' dog, and thus owed no duty of care to dog bite victim as matter of law; dog had engaged in normal canine behaviors). California appears to hew to traditional common law notions of knowledge of vicious propensities with respect to landlord liability.
In order to recover under the Illinois Animal Control Act, which was passed in 1949, the plaintiff must prove four elements: (1) an injury caused by an animal owned by the defendant; (2) lack of provocation; (3) the peaceable conduct of the injured person; and (4) the presence of the injured person in a place where he has a legal right to be. IL ST CH 8 ¶ 366. This statue appears to impose greater than traditional common law tort liability from a claims and underwriting perspective.
The owner of a dog that has shown a disposition to bite or attack can no longer rely on the dog being harmless. It is not the law that an owner must have notice of an “unjustifiable biting” if he has knowledge of attacks upon persons sufficient to put him upon notice of vicious propensities. It is sufficient that he knew that the dog would likely inflict an injury similar to the one complained of. Extra care taken by an owner to confine a dog could establish knowledge. However, it is not dispositive, especially where the owner equally confined nonaggressive dogs. Breed or type of dog has been deemed irrelevant to the inquiry. Schmit v. Metcalf, 2017 IL App (2d) 151040-U.
Absent evidence of a dog's vicious propensities, the dog is presumed to be tame, docile, and harmless. Therefore, the plaintiff needs to show that defendant knew or had reason to know the dog would be dangerous. A duty of care arises when a landlord has actual knowledge of the presence of the dangerous animal, and when he has the right to remove the animal by retaking possession of the premises. Sedlacek v. Belmonte Properties, LLC, 2014 Ill. App (2d) 130969 (App. Ct. 2014). Landlord liability essentially appears to follow traditional common law tests.
Martin v. Hayduk, 91 N.E.3d 601 (Ind. Ct. App. 2017): Common law presumes that all dogs, regardless of breed or size, are harmless, but this presumption can be overcome by evidence of known vicious or dangerous propensity of the particular dog. Vicious propensity is therefore a “REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION” of the assumption the dog is not dangerous.
The owner or keeper of a dog who knows of vicious propensity is required to use reasonable care to prevent the animal from causing injury. Whether the owner or keeper of the animal is aware of any vicious propensity, the legal description of the duty owed is the same, namely reasonable care under the circumstances. Id.
In order to prevail against a landowner for the acts of a tenant's dog, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the landowner retained control over the property, and had ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE that the dog had dangerous propensities. Morehead v. Deitrich, 932 N.E.2d 1272 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010) (holding landlord did not owe a duty to postal carrier to keep tenant's dog from biting postal carrier absent landlord's control over the property, even if landlord knew of dog's vicious propensities at the time he entered into lease agreement) The general rule is that possession and control of the property determines a landlord's liability. It is the duty of the owner and the keeper of an animal to keep it confined, and mere ownership of land from which an animal strays is not sufficient to make a landowner liable for harm caused by the animal, so long as the landowner himself is not the owner/keeper of such animal. Indiana liability follows fairly traditional common law analysis from a claims and underwriting perspective. | https://www.hurwitzfine.com/blog/vicious-propensities-with-respect-to-establishing-negligence-and-defenses |
Formulated by Pierre Bourdieu, the term ‘cultural capital’ refers to the ideas, symbols, preferences, and tastes that can be tactically put in use as a resource for social action. These ideas and knowledge are drawn upon by individuals as they take part in their roles within the social arena and range from etiquette rules to the ability to read and write effectively for successful communication. In other words, cultural capital is the universal cultural background, disposition, as well as skills, that are transferred from generation to generation. It represents the ways in which people talk, how they socialize, act, perform their language practices, as well as their code of dressing, behaviors, and shared values. Through analogy with other forms of capital such as economic capital, cultural capital resources can be accumulated, invested, and converted into various forms. Consequently, individuals in upper social stratum can provide their children with various cultural competencies and language that offer them a likelihood of success not only in their education but also in their career life. On the other hand, working-class students who lack access to cultural recourses are likely to be unsuccessful in their academics, which is a factor that describes how our educational systems produce social class inequalities. According to Bourdieu, the distribution of cultural and economic capital reinforces each other. Success in academics, which reflects the original cultural capital, is the only means in which well-paid occupations can be achieved. The earnings acquired from high paying professions allow those who are successful to enroll their children in private educational systems with the aim of enhancing the opportunities for their educational accomplishment.
Cultural capital can be broken down into three categories including embodied cultural capital, objectified cultural capital, and institutionalized cultural capital. Embodied cultural capital refers to the skills and properties that an individual learns from his or her family. A superb example of this type of cultural capital is language. As a child, the first language is learned from the primary caregiver and the environment in which they grow up. The child’s ability to communicate efficiently plays an important part, especially when they join the school. Growing up in a household or environment that fosters effective communication equips the child with adequate skills required for learning. The languages children are exposed to also play a significant role and can be both advantageous and disadvantageous upon school entry. The environment where only one language is privileged, for instance, English, can make the cultural capital of any other language to be of little or no significance. In addition, exposing children to more than one language can be disadvantageous in cases where multiple languages hinder fluency of the preferred language.
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Cultural capital in the objectified state manifests itself in all forms of the coherent, autonomous world which, even being the product of chronological action, possesses its laws, as well as the surpassing personal wills. Objectified cultural capital consists of forms of physical objects which symbolically express cultural capital. An example of a household that is rich in objectified cultural capital is a home that has access to books, paintings, and monuments, as well as other works of art. The last category of cultural capital is the institutionalized cultural capital, which is characterized by academic qualifications. Individuals enroll in learning institutions in order to acquire diplomas and other qualifications. They are pieces of papers that symbolize or tell other members of the society that they are educated and skillful in their respective majors and hence are worthy of employment. The papers representing their academic qualifications give various institutions, such as the labor market, opportunities to compare and contrast them qualitatively and quantitatively with other applicants searching for similar opportunities.
Pierre Bourdieu argues that the more cultural capital a person has, the better the person performs in his or her academics. He holds that social strata are arranged into three positions, including the first, middle, and the third class. The first class consists of people in the lower positions of the social classification such as small business traders, workers, and agricultural professions. The second class is made up of people in the intermediate social arrangement including industry employees, intermediate office staff, and business people. The third class, which is the last in order of classification, includes the affluent and the wealthy, as well as those in a high governmental position. Although each level of classification has its unique position in the cultural capital, the highest amount is afforded by those in the third class. The main reason that explains why children of the dominant class are likely to acquire cultural capital is that they are free from economic constraints. The freedom from economic constraints offers them opportunities to explore and acquire various skills from learning and other practices, hence making them competitive in the labor workforce.
Bourdieu believes that fluency in first or second class does not sufficiently describe or represent cultural capital. This stems from the idea that the two cultural fluencies do not transform into the affluent elite class, rather they transmute into either low or middle class. His main interest was in the manner in which the elite and affluent members of the society reproduce themselves from generation to generation. A high level of culture is characterized by classical music, art, dance, and literacy. However, it also encompasses architecture, cuisine, furniture, and vacation resorts, as well as clothing. Mastering these arts is a form of cultural capital because the knowledge can be transformed into both social and financial advantages at various points in a person’s life. For instance, when a lady puts on a fitting suit, carries a nice handbag, and wears beautiful shoes during a job interview, she lands on the job because of the impressive appearance. She was taught to clad well by her parents and peers. The culturally monitored skill pays off through landing on a prestigious career position. She may then get married to a millionaire and hence acquire a fortune. At that particular time, the cultural capital has offered her supplementary financial capital.
Children in the third class acquire cultural capital from both their families and education. In most cases, children of the affluent people in society obtain supplementary access to their culture in the learning institutions, because their educational curricula reinforce their household culture. This is not the case with children of the first class or intermediate class. Children of the poor people within certain communities, minority groups, and immigrants are disadvantaged. School culture subverts or contradicts their home culture in the sense that they are forced to master a new culture when in learning institutions and at the same time master their culture at home. Although children of the first and middle class may accomplish the very hard task of mastering two distinct cultures simultaneously, they still fail to study all that is needed in order to attain or get access to the third class in their life after school. This is because learning institutions fail to teach the necessary cultural skills and knowledge required for access. Examples of things that are not taught in school are demeanor, dressing and table manners. It is important to note that the corresponding curriculum of the third class home trains children various class-associated skills and knowledge that learning institutions ignore. Due to the reason that children of the first and intermediate classes fail to acquire class-related cultural skills and knowledge from both their homes and schools, they are virtually impossible for them to obtain at all.
In children whose societal origins and, as a result, dispositions, and outlooks are not of the upper or dominant class, learning institutions play a major role in inculcating dispositions and values that are in line with the mainstream culture. Therefore, associations can be found between various competencies such as in painting or music and educational capital. Learning institutions assist children of the lower and middle statuses to acquire ‘standard’ and improved cultural capital. In fact, various professions, such as secondary and primary school instructors of first or intermediate class backgrounds, owe almost all their cultural capital to the academic systems. Acquisition of cultural capital, both in the school and family, especially for the children of parents in the middle and lower status, involves a lot of time, efforts, sacrifices, and creativity. As opposed to the economic capital, which can easily be transferred from one person to another, cultural capital cannot be passed from one individual to another in an instant notice. In fact, when the holder of cultural capital passes on to glory, their cultural capital cannot be inherited by any other person, not even by immediate family and loved ones, because it goes with them into the grave.
Culture is utilized by dominant social factions in the exercise of power through various communicative channels, such as the media, personal interactions, and learning institutions, as well as religious institutions. One of the major situations where the dominant social groups utilize culture is in access to various communications and discourse events. As a matter of fact, not every individual has equal rights of admission to legal, political, and media scholarly or bureaucratic conversations. The strategies and patterns of access to discursive events can be spelled-out by almost every social domain, situation, profession, and genre, as well as institutions. In the political arena, only the heads of various ministries have access to cabinet forums and parliamentarians to debates in the parliament. Any other person, including the members of the public, has passive access, whereby, they act as listeners during public talks. This is also visible in employment-related conversations where only the boards of governors have access to business corporation meetings. In learning institutions and religious gatherings, teachers and religious leaders respectively, have control over all communicative events and hence control the learning and religious discourse. Students and followers of religions get access to address other students and believers only when their heads have appointed them. Important to note is that access to communicative discourses can either be on a voluntary basis or mandatory depending on domains. An example of mandatory access to discursive events is when a person is ordered to speak during court hearings. Culture is also utilized by dominant groups in exercising power through everyday interactions. There are ethnically diverse patterns of access based on age, class, status quo, and gender as well as the educational achievements to name a few, among other decisive factors that describe dominance, power, and prejudice. For instance, men may have more access than women, whites more than blacks, and senior generation more than young people.
Most powerful elites come from the dominant groups, such as the whites in America. The power offers them access to the media, discourses of officialdom, and political decision-making processes, as well as to the judicial systems. In the American scenario, whites have special access and privileges to social sources. Additionally, the white group at large is controlled by the affluent white elites through their persuasive influence on the whites’ belief system and mental conditions including their stereotypes, ideologies, and discrimination. The converse is also true for the non-dominating factions, whose subordination is more aggravated by their lower social status. Not only is their lack of access defined by their minority and cultural capital, but also by their inability to gain access to an adequate education.
Discrepancies in access to the media by minorities and majority elites also offer a clear description of how the dominant social group utilizes culture in the exercise of power. Despite the overall noninterventionist self-description of various journalists, the minority groups lack equal access to the media, which symbolizes the dominance of the whites in this realm. The fact that the newsrooms are virtually dominated by white journalists has serious repercussions not only in the style of writing and news production but also in the entire angle of the television programs and news discourses. In addition, the cultural minority groups lack both social and economic power – a factor that contributes to their inability to acquire usual forms of structured media access, including public relations, press conferences, and press releases. Additionally, journalists of the dominant group are viewed as credible sources, especially when they offer critical opinions about white elites. Moreover, prominence and selection of news topics and issues are also biased and reported according to the negative and stereotypical attitudes as preferred by the corporate, social, scholarly leaders and their institutions. Issues such as those related to immigration are defined as invasions and fundamentally problematic. They are rarely defined as of the profitable contribution to the American economy or even as the situations that enrich the American culture. Other biased issues of ethnic news coverage are those related to violence, crime, and drugs. The fact that the minority groups have limited access to definition forums on issues, topics, and situations that are of relevance to them, journalists from the dominant group cover less such issues and make them less prominent. This has been the case for such issues like racism, low employment opportunities for minority groups, police brutality, and miserable working conditions to name but a few. This particularly happens in cases where the leaders from the dominant group are to be held accountable to the situations.
I agree with Bourdieu that cultural capital is conveyed through families. However, I do not agree with his idea that learning systems reproduce the construction of the division of cultural capital entirely. Some sociologists point out that students who exhibit similar cultural capital with their teachers are more privileged than those of different cultural capital. Although it may be true that some teachers may tend to relate positively and more readily to the students whose competencies, manners, and values resemble their own, not every teacher will subconsciously privilege pupils of similar cultural capital. In addition, cultural capital is not strictly acquired through the family. Some students acquire cultural capital from friends and peers and later explore the acquired interests individually. For instance, a child, observing a fellow child who seems to be more skilled and knowledgeable about artworks after attending a cultural day at the national museum, can acquire knowledge from the observations and also by researching on the museum’ internet site. In this scenario, the child acquires cultural capital through learning and personal efforts.
In conclusion, cultural capital can be defined as broad-spectrum cultural background disposition and knowledge, as well as skills that are transmitted from generation to generation. It manifests itself in the way people talk, socializes, acts, chooses the code of dressing, shared values, etc. It can be subdivided into three segments, including embodied, objectified, and institutionalized cultural capital. There are various ways in which the dominant group utilizes culture in the exercise of power such as through the media, personal interactions, and religious institutions, as well as learning institutions. Cultural capital can be acquired through both learning and families. | https://perfectwritings.com/essays/definition-essay/what-is-cultural-capital-and-how-is-it-acquired.html |
Hygiene still a pain for Kenyans
An example of the status of sanitation and hygiene in one of Kenya’s slums . Photo/COURTESY
Part of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is improving structures and systems that ensure the prevention of diseases. In Kenya, lack of water and poor sewage disposal are still not addressed even when they contribute to the bulk of the cases in hospitals
Bernard Gitau @benagitau
Ten children below five years die every hour in Kenya due to waterborne diseases. The startling figures from the Director of Public Health shows that at least 89,000 children die annually due to waterborne diseases preventable through proper sanitation and hygiene.
“Over 80 per cent of those cases are preventable by simple acts of washing hands and access to clean water and toilets,” Director of Public Health Kepha Ombacho told the People
Daily.
Ombacho added that, in 2017, the 47 counties lost Sh27 billion due to poor sanitation.
“Since devolution, especially on health services, cases of some of the diseases that were under control such as cholera have been emerging,” he said, citing counties like Kiambu, Nakuru.
In the last four years, the country has experienced continuous large outbreaks of cholera, with a cumulative total of 17,597 cases, with some resulting in death.
Preventable crisis
Nairobi ranks top among counties losing money because of poor sanitation at Sh1.7 billion followed by Mandera at Sh1.3 billion and Turkana at Sh1.1 billion, according to the Ministry of Health sanitation profile.
The report also indicates that four counties undertaking the Universal Health Care (UHC) pilot project in collaboration with the Ministry of Health also bleed millions for shillings due to poor sanitation, with Machakos leading at Sh760m, followed by Kisumu at Sh740m, then Nyeri at Sh426m and finally Isiolo at Sh140m annually.
“To reduce the disease burden and deaths, preventive care including provision of clean water, toilets to eliminate open defecation, decent and affordable housing, and eradication of risk factors should be embraced by counties in collaboration with the national government,” he said.
Water Cabinet secretary Simon Chelugui says at least 19 million Kenyans do not have access to safe water services.
“The current water coverage is 60 per cent while sewerage is only 25 per cent. The ministry targets to achieve 80 per cent coverage by 2022 and 100 per cent by 2030,” said Chelugui.
But access to clean water for all might be a pipedream, with Chelugui saying the country depends majorly on donor funding, and the ministry docket gets a fraction of the budget half of which goes to administration.
Concerning access to toilets, at least 21 million Kenyans still uses unsanitary or shared toilets. A Unicef report in collaboration with the Ministry of Health on Realising Open Defecation Free (ODF) in Rural Kenya, indicates that 81 per cent of Kenyan villages practise open defecation.
Primary care vital
Kenya National Union of Nurses Secretary General Seth Panyako expressed concern over the high number of deaths of children under the age of five years due to poor hygiene, terming it unpalatable.
“This data reveals the rot in the medical sector. The government current effort of implementing UHC might not succeed as it has ignored nurses who are the largest and critical key players in offering health services,” said Panyako.
Health Cabinet secretary Sicily Kariuki said the four counties undertaking the UHC pilot project at a cost of Sh3 billion will embrace primary healthcare based on preventive and promoting pillars.
“This includes nutrition, early screening, immunisation, sanitation to prevent the outbreak of infectious diseases and citizens being physically active to avoid non-communicable diseases,” she said.
With the Ministry of Health data showing that 50 per cent of all hospital admissions and 55 per cent of hospital deaths in Kenya are due to Non Communicable Disease (NCDs), more is needed for UHC to succeed. | |
This means we need to use the two-point form of the Arrhenius Equation:
where:
k1 = rate constant at T1
k2 = rate constant at T2
Ea = activation energy (in J/mol)
R = gas constant (8.314 J/mol∙K)
T1 and T2 = temperature (in K).
We first need to convert the activation energy from kJ/mol to J/mol:
1 kJ = 103 J
The reaction between nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide is NO2(g) + CO(g) NO(g) + CO2(g). The rate constant at 701 K is measured as 2.57 M-1s-1 and that at 895 K is measured as 567 M-1s-1.
Use the value of the activation energy (Ea = 1.50 x 102 kJ/mol) and the given rate constant of the reaction at either of the two temperatures to predict the rate constant at 551 K.
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More practice in writing and balancing equations Write balanced chemical equations for the following reactions. 1. Zinc reacts with hydrogen chloride to form zinc chloride. 2. Sodium oxide reacts with water to form sodium hydroxide. 3. Iron metal reacts with
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Alternatively, a reaction producing a gas can be performed in an open flask placed on an electronic balance.The reaction can then be investigated by recording the loss of mass as the gas is produced. This is shown in Figure 6.33 for the reaction between calcium carbonate and hydrochloric acid..
Determine whether the metal involved, tin, is multivalent and, if so, determine its possible charges. Write the chemical formula for the products and write Balanced chemical equations for the reactions. Check to make sure that the ratio of the coefficients in each
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Chemistry: Chemical Word Equations Directions: Write a balanced chemical equation for each of the word equations below. 1. aqueous sodium chloride reacts with aqueous lead (II) nitrate to yield a lead (II) chloride precipitate and aqueous sodium nitrate 2. | https://ev-opinie.nl/4590_write_balanced_equations_when_calcium_metal_is_in_iran.html |
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oxumaq
Relajación Mental
Thoughts harm us in our daily life, etc. We suggest at the end of the day, to study what we found during the day with the body and the mind well relaxed.
Aristippus
13,05 Kb.
1
oxumaq
Poli 490S/4: The skeptical tradition
This class will be offered in the winter term 2013 on Friday mornings.
Aristippus
8,29 Kb. | https://genderi.org/category/Psixologiya/Aristippus/ |
Below is a sample breakdown of the Rhetorical Devices chapter into a 5-day school week. Based on the pace of your course, you may need to adapt the lesson plan to fit your needs.
|Day||Topics||Key Terms and Concepts Covered|
|Monday||Common literary devices||Definitions and examples, when to use them;|
Definition of similes and examples from literature;
Overview of first, second and third person points of view and how to identify them;
Types of narrative styles, such as omniscient narration, unreliable narrators and limited narration; how to identify narrative styles
|Tuesday||Additional literary devices||Definition, types and examples of foreshadowing in literature; Chekhov's gun, omens, red herrings|
Definition, examples and types of metaphors; extended metaphors, mixed metaphors;
Definitions and examples of allusion and illusion;
Definition and examples of synecdoche and metonymy
|Wednesday||Literary motifs||How apostrophe and personification differ;|
Definition of irony; types and examples;
Themes, thematic statements, definition and examples of literary motifs;
Definition and examples of catharsis, history of this device in drama and literature
|Thursday||Rhetorical devices||Definition and examples of allegory, its history in literature;|
Definition and examples of consonance, assonance and repetition;
Definition and examples of understatement and litotes, how they differ, sarcasm;
Definition of euphemisms, examples from literature and the real world
|Friday||Other types of rhetorical devices||Definition of symbolism and imagery, examples from literature;|
How to determine meaning, definition and differences in tone and mood;
Definition of satire, parody and spoof, examples of these types of humorous writing
1. Cliches, Paradoxes & Equivocations: Definitions & Examples
Learn about cliches, paradoxes, and equivocations, and how they can weaken or strengthen certain types of writing. Explore examples of all three from literature and daily life.
2. Similes in Literature: Definition and Examples
Explore the simile and how, through comparison, it is used as a shorthand to say many things at once. Learn the difference between similes and metaphors, along with many examples of both.
3. Point of View: First, Second & Third Person
Just who is telling this story? In this lesson, we'll look at point of view, or the perspective from which a work is told. We'll review first person, second person and third person points of view.
4. Narrators in Literature: Types and Definitions
Learn how point of view, or the angle from which a story is told, impacts the narrative voice of a work of literature. Explore, through examples, how point of view can be limited, objective, or omniscient.
5. What is Foreshadowing? - Types, Examples & Definitions
Learn about how authors use foreshadowing, both subtle and direct, as part of their storytelling process. Explore many examples of foreshadowing, from classical plays to contemporary stories.
6. What is a Metaphor? - Examples, Definition & Types
Metaphors are all around you. They're the bright sparkling lights that turn plain evergreens into Christmas trees. Learn how to spot them, why writers write with them, and how to use them yourself right here.
7. Allusion and Illusion: Definitions and Examples
Allusions and illusions have little in common besides the fact that they sound similar. Learn the difference between the two and how allusions are an important part of literature and writing - and how to spot them in text.
8. Synecdoche vs. Metonymy: Definitions & Examples
Would you lend your ears for a moment (or at least your eyeballs)? This lesson will explain what synecdoche and metonymy mean and how to spot them in a piece of prose or poetry.
9. Personification and Apostrophe: Differences & Examples
In this lesson, explore how writers use personification to give human characteristics to objects, ideas, and animals. Learn about apostrophe, or when characters speak to objects, ideas, and even imaginary people as if they were also characters.
10. Types of Irony: Examples & Definitions
Discover, once and for all, what irony is and is not. Explore three types of irony: verbal, situational and dramatic, and learn about some famous and everyday examples.
11. What Are Literary Motifs? - Definition & Examples
In this lesson, you will learn about how writers use themes in works of literature as a way to explore universal ideas like love and war. You will also explore motifs, or repeating objects and ideas, which can contribute to theme.
12. What is Catharsis? - Definition, Examples & History in Literature and Drama
In this lesson, learn about catharsis, a purging of feelings that occurs when audiences have strong emotional reactions to a work of literature. Explore examples of literary works which lead to catharsis, including tragedies.
13. Allegory in Literature: History, Definition & Examples
Learn about allegories and how stories can be used to deliver messages, lessons or even commentaries on big concepts and institutions. Explore how allegories range from straightforward to heavily-veiled and subtle.
14. Consonance, Assonance, and Repetition: Definitions & Examples
In this lesson, explore the different ways authors repeat consonant and vowel sounds in their literary works. Learn about how writers use repeated words and phrases with well-known examples.
15. Understatement & Litotes: Differences, Definitions & Examples
In this lesson, explore the use of understatement as a way to draw attention to a specific quality or to add humor. Learn about litotes, a specific form of understatement, and discover examples from literature.
16. Euphemism: Definition & Examples
This lesson defines euphemisms, alternate language used in place of offensive language or when discussing taboo topics. Explore some examples of euphemisms in everyday language and well-known examples from literature.
17. Symbolism & Imagery in Literature: Definitions & Examples
In this lesson you will learn how poets and authors use symbolism in their writing to make it more meaningful and interesting. Explore how descriptive writing called imagery appeals to the senses, adding to works of literature.
18. Tone vs. Mood: Interpreting Meaning In Prose
In this lesson, learn the difference between the tone and the mood of a piece of prose. Explore examples of how tone and mood are conveyed by authors through word choice and telling details.
19. Satire, Parody, or Spoof: Types of Humorous Writing
Learn about how writers use satire, parody and spoof to make their readers laugh and think. Explore how these forms mock the conventions of specific literary works and genres.
Earning College Credit
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Not sure what college you want to attend yet? Study.com has thousands of articles about every imaginable degree, area of study and career path that can help you find the school that's right for you. | https://study.com/academy/topic/rhetorical-devices-ap-english-language-lesson-plans.html |
by Anastasia Pustozerova and Rudolf Mayer (SBA Research)
Within any smart system, data is vital for making the management of resources and assets more efficient. At the same time, data is a potential vulnerability to data owners, and it could become a threat in the hands of an adversary. Data security and privacy are therefore critical for building sustainable smart systems like smart cities. In such systems, where data collection is distributed, federated learning seems like a prime candidate to address the issue of data privacy. However, there are still concerns that need to be addressed regarding privacy and security in federated learning.
Machine learning demands large amounts of data to build effective models that can help to improve services. In many real-world scenarios, data originates at the edge, e.g., smart meters and sensors in smart power grids. In traditional machine learning workflows, data must be centralised from different sources before performing the model training. Concentrating all data in one place creates a single point of failure – an adversary that can potentially gain access to this centralised data is a threat to multiple entities.
Federated learning enhances data privacy in machine learning by suggesting a new perspective on applying machine learning for the analysis of distributed data. The main idea is to train machine learning models closer to the place where data originates – and just aggregate these trained models instead of the (sensitive or private) data. Federated learning, therefore, eliminates the need to share and centralise sensitive data, allowing data owners to keep it private while at the same time offering comparable effectiveness of models.
Federated learning architectures often consist of data owners (clients), which perform local training of the models on their own data, and a central aggregator, which collects the models from the clients and averages them, producing a global model. The global model can be sent back to the clients for the next cycle of training to improve its effectiveness, and later utilised for predictions. Some of the main challenges of federated learning include communication costs, data and systems heterogeneity. Many works propose different optimisation algorithms to tackle these issues, e.g., via client sampling or model and gradient compression . However, comparatively little attention has been put on remaining privacy and security risks, and new attack vectors open up simply due to the distributed nature of federated learning (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Federated learning architecture and attack vectors. An adversary who is able to compromise clients, a server or communication channels can threaten the security and privacy of the system.
Security risks (integrity and availability). Malicious participants of federated learning or adversaries leveraging transferred information can corrupt the learning process to degrade the global model quality or to make it perform target misclassification. In smart cities, successfully executed attacks can result in adversaries manipulating situations to favour them – for example, by manipulating demand-driven pricing – or can even result in the failure of critical services and infrastructure, and thus lead to major safety issues. Security risks in federated learning can originate through data or model poisoning (backdoor attacks), or when an adversary alters the data at inference time (evasion attack). Backdoor attacks pose one of the biggest challenges in federated learning as they are especially hard to detect. The challenge is increased by the secret nature of local training data, which makes it hard to analyse the correctness of the contribution of clients. Malicious clients can train models on poisoned data or directly manipulate model updates . An adversary who is able to compromise the aggregator can perform attacks on the global model. Another threat comes from non-secure communication channels when an adversary is able to steal or maliciously modify shared model updates.
Privacy risks (confidentiality). Model parameters exchanged during federated learning represent an abstraction of the training data. Adversaries might infer information about training data having access to the model. In smart cities, data generated by sensors and IoT devices often involves personal privacy, and this is thus a great concern. It is thus important to mitigate potential leaks of this data through the machine learning process. Federated learning with the increased exchange of models might, however, increase the attack surface. Adversaries can perform different attacks on shared models in federated learning, e.g., model inversion, trying to recreate the original samples from the model, or membership inference, aiming to infer the membership of some particular instance in the training set of a target model . Adversaries can be e.g., a compromised or malicious aggregator, or someone stealing models during client-server communication.
Approaches for mitigating security and privacy risks in federated learning often still lag behind attacks, but are increasingly in the focus of research activities.
Regarding privacy risks, several approaches can be employed. Differential privacy (DP) aims to bring uncertainty into the model outputs to hide personal contributions to the model; clients can add noise to shared model parameters or train a differentially private machine learning algorithm. The main downside of this approach remains that noise degrades models performance, thus there is a trade-off between privacy and utility.
Secure Multi-Party Computation (SMPC) provides a cryptographic protocol that allows joint computation of a function while keeping its inputs private. In federated learning, this can replace a central aggregator. However, SMPC poses high computational costs, therefore limiting the scalability of federated learning.
Homomorphic Encryption (HE) allows mathematical operations to be performed on encrypted data. Clients can encrypt their model parameters, and the coordinator could aggregate them but not understand them. Like SMPC, HE greatly increases computational costs.
Detecting attacks on the integrity and availability of the machine learning process is even more difficult. Defences like anomaly detection and robust aggregation aim to discover potentially harmful models and eliminate their malicious influence on the global model. Yet they fail to detect targeted backdoor attacks, as poisoned models look and behave similarly to models that were trained without backdoor .
There has been a dramatic increase in interest in federated learning in recent years. Many companies, including Apple and Google, are already using federated learning for their services. Interest in this technology is especially high in medical applications and smart cities, where personal data is processed, and data privacy is a major concern. However, there are still challenges to address in federated learning. Mitigation of security and privacy risk is especially important for building trust in the technology. Further investigation of defence mechanisms is therefore critical for the successful application of federated learning.
This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 826078.
References:
P. Kairouz, H. Brendan McMahan, et al.: “Advances and Open Problems in Federated Learning”, Foundations and Trends in Machine Learning: Vol. 14: No. 1–2, pp 1-210, 2021.
A. Pustozerova and R. Mayer: “Information leaks in federated learning”, in proc. of the Workshop on Decentralized IoT Systems and Security (DISS), 2020.
N. Bouacida and P. Mohapatra: “Vulnerabilities in Federated Learning”, in IEEE Access, vol. 9, pp. 63229-63249, 2021.
Please contact:
Anastasia Pustozerova
SBA Research, Austria | https://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en127/special/data-privacy-in-smart-cities-federated-learning-to-the-rescue |
2710 Reed Road, Houston, Texas, US. | Sector: Manufacturing | Exchange: NASDAQ CAPITAL MARKET | Web: http://www.bellicum.com/
According to the market data, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc (BLCM) stock price is $3.05 and the 52 weeks low is $2.62, which means the Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc stock price is down -53.70% in the last 12 months.
Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc (BLCM) Stock Price is not Trending currently as per the Weekly Chart, which means the price may range between specific high and low levels for the next few months, unless some significant changes take place in the market performance or news.
Technical Indicators are algorithms that are used mostly by Technical traders to predict the price action of a stock.
Based on our analysis of 16 technical indicators, 6.25% are indicating that BLCM Stock price might rise further, 43.75% indicating that BLCM Stock price might fall, and 50.00% are in a neutral position.
Based on these technical algorithms, overall BLCM stock price has a Neutral Signal, which means the stock price has the potential to move either up or down, depending on the nature of consolidating market phase, since majority of indicators are providing a neutral signal.
Out of 7 Institutional Analysts, majority recommended BLCM stock as On Hold. This means investors are recommended to hold their existing positions if any, otherwise, the recommendation is neither to buy nor sell at this stage. Since most investors and traders follow analyst ratings closely, this can be a potentially driving factor for the future stock price of Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc.
|High||Low||Average|
|$4.73||$4.54||$4.59|
The average price target for BLCM by Institutional Analysts is $4.59, which is 50.49% Upside from the current price. So according to the Institutional Analysts, BLCM Stock might be a bit undervalued at this stage and there’s potential for upside.
However, although Institutional Analysts set their price targets after extensive research, they’re not always correct. After all, the market is mostly driven by investors speculation and emotion than just concrete numbers.
Our algorithm has analysed 388,226 investor portfolio with BLCM stock holdings and found that 99.50% of them are bullish. Which means the Investor Sentiment is mostly Very Positive.
This shows most investors are very optimistic about BLCM and holding their positions hoping for a further rise in the stock price and more profit.
Analyst
Recommendation
Action
|Wells Fargo||Equal-Weight||Downgraded|
|Raymond James||Outperform||Maintained|
|Citigroup||Buy||Maintained|
|Wells Fargo||Outperform||Upgraded|
|Wells Fargo||Market Perform||Downgraded|
|Raymond James||Outperform||Maintained|
|Wells Fargo||Outperform||Initiated|
|Raymond James||Outperform||Initiated|
|Ladenburg Thalmann||Buy||Initiated|
|Cantor Fitzgerald||Buy||Initiated|
|Jefferies||Buy||Maintained|
|Citigroup||Neutral||Maintained|
|Citigroup||Buy||Upgraded|
|SunTrust Robinson Humphrey||Buy||Initiated|
|Citigroup||Neutral||Initiated|
|Guggenheim||Buy||Upgraded|
|Citigroup||Buy||Initiated|
|Guggenheim||Neutral||Initiated|
|Citigroup||Neutral||Maintained|
|PiperJaffray||Overweight||Initiated|
|Jefferies||Buy||Initiated|
|Jefferies||Initiated|
Actual
Estimate
Date
|$-0.18||$-3.2096033999999998||2020-09-30|
The latest average Earning Per Share Estimate for Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc is $-1.40, which is lower than BLCM's last EPS, $-0.18. This means that Analysts are expecting Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc to report lower earnings. This can drive share prices lower since the investors have negative sentiment about market performance of Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Actual
Estimate
Date
|$-0.18||$-3.2096033999999998||2020-09-30|
|$-9.29||$-3.3966000000000003||2020-06-30|
|$1.09||$-2.7846||2020-03-31|
|$-5.82||$-4.08||2019-12-31|
|$-6.8||$-5.406||2019-09-30|
|$-5.8||$-5.508000000000001||2019-06-30|
|$-5.5||$-5.936400000000001||2019-03-31|
|$-6.3||$-5.6712||2018-12-31|
|$-5.5||$-5.936400000000001||2018-09-30|
|$-6||$-5.745966||2018-06-30|
|$-6.8||$-7.038||2018-03-31|
|$-6.1||$-7.110828000000001||2017-12-31|
|$-7.1||$-7.548000000000001||2017-09-30|
|$-7.4||$-6.761171999999999||2017-06-30|
|$-8||$-7.178249999999999||2017-03-31|
|$-7.4||$-7.242||2016-12-31|
|$-6.6||$-6.4668||2016-09-30|
|$-6.1||$-5.7936||2016-06-30|
|$-4.4||$-5.151||2016-03-31|
|$-6.3||$-4.4625||2015-12-31|
|$-5.1||$-3.909966||2015-09-30|
|$-4||$-4.9725||2015-06-30|
|$-3||$-3.026034||2015-03-31|
|$-20.2||$-3.7740000000000005||2014-12-31|
The analysts provide Buy, Sell or Hold ratings after extensive research of a companies financial reports, listening to conference calls and some of them even get in contact with upper management of the company to get an overall picture of operation.
Although institutional Analyst’s are not always correct, their ratings are followed by millions of traders around the world and they can heavily influence trading activities for a company.
As a retail investor, going through analyst ratings will instantly provide you an idea if the stock is worth buying. Top Analysts also provide their price targets. It’s a prediction of where the stock price might go based on their analysis.
The best way to analyze price targets is to combined average price targets of major analysts. If the average price target is much higher than the current price of the stock, then the probability of a stock going up is also high.
Technical Analysis refers to analyzing a stock's price over a period of time. In the financial market, past price patterns are one of the strongest indicators of an asset's future performance.
In easier terms, millions of traders use Live Charts to watch the stock prices, it is actually a single source of truth for most traders. When a stock's price reaches a significant price level/pattern in the chart, millions of traders take buy/sell positions from those levels.
As a regular investor, one of the easiest ways to check technical analysis of a stock is through Technical Indicators. Technical Indicators are programmed algorithms that monitor price changes in the Charts and indicate Buy/Sell based on market conditions.
Some Technical Indicators can be very powerful (e.g SMA) and some can be pretty useless. Stock research tools like iTradely heavily simplify the technical analysis process for the investors by showing Buy/Sell/Neutral ratings combined from 17 powerful technical indicators, all in one page.
EPS, or Earning Per Share, can tell a lot about a stock’s performance. It’s calculated by dividing a company’s profit by the number of outstanding shares of its common stocks.
In layman’s term, earnings is an indicator of a company’s profitability. Higher the earnings, the more profitable a company is.
Some traders pick stocks solely based on EPS or earnings Analysis, it is a very powerful indicator of a stock’s price.
Before you buy a stock, check the company’s earnings History and Surprises. A Surprise happens when a company reports a much higher or lower actual earnings/EPS than the forecasted earnings/EPS.
If a company reports higher EPS surprises consistently, analysts keep raising their estimates, traders become more confident in the company, driving the share price higher.
Stock Sentiment refers to how people speculating about the stock or what kind of trading position investors are often taking.
There are different kinds of sentiments you can find online for a company, this includes Investor Sentiment (Percentage of investors buying or selling), News Sentiment (Is the company getting positive or negative impressions from the Press?), Social Sentiment (The overall trends about the company in social media, is it negative or positive?). | https://itradely.com/stock-forecast/BLCM |
Helps students and practitioners focus on essential principles of change.
Delves into the common, underlying processes whereby thoughts change-both in terms of content and function.
Explores basic cognitive research and demonstrates its relevance to clinical problems.
Written in a readable, engaging style for both experienced clinical practitioners and graduate students learning cognitive therapy.
Controversially reveals the commonalities in varying CBT approaches.
Cognitive therapy, a core approach within a collection of psychotherapeutic techniques known as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), is fundamentally about changing peoples' thoughts-helping them overcome difficulties by recognizing and changing dysfunctional thinking styles. Among other strategies, it requires encouraging the development of skills for rehearsing new habits of thought, modifying biases in judging and interpreting social and emotional information, and for testing assumptions underlying dysfunctional and negative, distorted thinking.
In How and Why Thoughts Change, Dr. Ian Evans deconstructs the nature of cognitive therapy by examining the cognitive element of CBT, that is, how and why thoughts change behavior and emotion. There are a number of different approaches to cognitive therapy, including the classic Beck approach, the late Albert Ellis's rational-emotive psychotherapy, Young's schema-focused therapy, and newer varieties such as mindfulness training, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and problem-solving strategies. Evans identifies the common principles underlying these methods, attempts to integrate them, and makes suggestions as to how our current cognitive therapies might be improved. He draws on a broad survey of contemporary research on basic cognitive processes and integrates these with therapeutic approaches.
While it may seem obvious that how and what we think determines how and in what manner we behave, the relationship between thought and action is not a simple one. Evans addresses questions such as: What is the difference between a thought and a belief? How do we find the cause of a thought? And can it really be that thought causes behavior and emotion, or could it be the other way around? In a reader-friendly style that avoids jargon, this innovative book answers some pertinent questions about cognitive therapy in a way that clarifies exactly how and why thoughts change. Evans demonstrates that understanding these concepts is a linchpin to providing and improving therapy for clients.
Chapter 6: How Thoughts Influence Mood and Feelings-Or Is It the Other Way Around?
Chapter 9: Can Cognitive Treatments Be Enhanced?
Ian Evans completed his PhD in experimental and clinical psychology in 1970 at the Institute of Psychiatry, London University, under the supervision of Hans J. Eysenck. His first academic position was at the University of Hawaii, before moving to the State University of New York at Binghamton where he was director of clinical training for 12 years. He then moved to New Zealand and directed a clinical program as well as later being Head of School of Psychology at Massey University. His research interests include positive approaches to challenging behavior in children with severe disabilities, the emotional development of children at home and at school, and the theory, practice, and ethics of culturally informed cognitive-behavior therapy. | https://global.oup.com/academic/product/how-and-why-thoughts-change-9780199380848?cc=us&lang=en |
Association property manager and liaison for Newman-Dailey Association properties.
BASIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Communication
Attend Homeowner and Board meetings. Interact regularly and act as liaison with Board members, homeowners and contractors. Investigate and resolve complaints from owners and residents. Provide regular property update reports to all owners and Board of Directors.
Project Management
Work with contractors and/or engineers on special projects as directed and approved by the Board of Directors. Prepare general bid specifications in conjunction with Board members and contractors for maintenance issues and special projects.
Property Inspections and Maintenance
Inspect the grounds, facilities, and equipment of an association on a weekly basis for maintenance issues, cleanliness and upkeep. Develop and/or prepare routine and preventative maintenance and cleaning schedules for each association property. Develop work order request(s) for maintenance items or special projects. Solicit bids from contractors for repairs that cannot be handled by regular property maintenance staff and monitor the performance of contractors.
Association Administration
Assist Association Management staff with preparation of association property annual budgets; recommendations for special projects, possible adjustments for capital reserves or replacement funds; recommendations for agenda items for association Board of Directors meetings and homeowners’ association annual meetings. Review proposed changes or improvements to properties or governing documents and be familiar with and comply with governing docs and provisions of legislation. Purchase supplies and equipment for the property. Negotiate contracts for janitorial, security, grounds-keeping, trash removal, and other services.
Needed Attributes:
Must be able to communicate clearly and professionally, using typical office and telecommunications equipment such as phones, radios, computer, printer, copier and e-mail. Must be able to regularly inspect properties for necessary maintenance and repairs and oversee contractors. Individual must be able to maintain professional relationships and work cooperatively with all staff members. Must be able to work without supervision. | https://business.waltonareachamber.com/jobs/info/executive-and-management-community-association-manager-2360 |
In just 9 days, President Biden has signed a record 40 executive orders, actions and directives. This is a far cry from the schoolbook instructions on "How a bill becomes a law." Is this what "our democracy" has come to mean? The stroke of a pen? Where's the U.S. Constitution?
Former US Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) has been sounding the alarm over new "domestic terrorism" legislation introduced by Adam Schiff (D-CA) and highly charged claims by former CIA director (a partisan Democrat) that "even libertarians" are potential "domestic terrorists." A police state is coming unless people like Brennan and Schiff are denounced by President Biden himself. Also, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) sounds the alarm: are National Guard troops in DC the next "forever war"?
By Chris Rossini
There really are only a few major ways to acquire wealth. One is as the service of others, and the other is at the expense of others. The former is the arena of the free market. The latter is the arena of politics, bureaucracy and crony capitalism.
In a free marketplace, one must produce that which is most urgently desired by consumers. Obviously, everything that is desired by consumers cannot possibly be produced. Resources are not unlimited on Earth. This is not the Garden of Eden.
Resources are scarce, labor is scarce, and time is scarce for those who are alive. These must all be economized and allocated to produce that which consumers urgently demand the most.
There are universal and impersonal guidelines to lead the producers of goods and services. They are known as profits and losses.
Profits signal that more of a product or service is in demand by consumers. Losses are a signal that less (or none) of the product or service is in demand.
When losses reach the point of the liquidation of an enterprise, the resources are taken up by other producers for the creation of products and services that are in higher demand.
In the free market, the consumer is in control. The consumer is the king. For it is the consumer that has the absolute power to say "YES" or "NO" with his wallet.
Likewise the producer must obey. Whether the demand is for expensive fine wine, or cheap carbonated sugar water, the producer is at the mercy of what the consumer desires most.
Sadly, the free market is something that waved bye-bye to Americans a century ago. Once government is allowed to interfere in the marketplace, favoritism and politics must take over. That moves us to the second way to acquire wealth -- through force and taking.
Today, the marketplace is completely dominated by government "regulations" at all levels. Under this setup, favored and politically-connected corporations benefit along with the politicians and bureaucrats.
Under crony capitalism the consumer is no longer king. The crony and politically-connected corporation becomes king, along with the bureaucrats and politicians that supply the "regulations."
Consumers, instead of having the absolute power to say "YES" or "NO" are now forced to buy products and services because of political "mandates."
The politicians come into office with meager incomes, and after their terms are some of the wealthiest people in the country. In other words, "public service" pays very, very well when you get rid of the free market.
Likewise, the crony and politically-connected corporate employees rack up net worths that have reached over $100 billion!
This is the flip-side of acquiring wealth at the service of others. It's the way to acquire wealth at the expense of others.
Instead of resources being allocated towards products and services that consumers desire most, they are instead squandered on political machinations and schemes that line the pockets of a select few politicians and corporate employees.
The most popular political machination is war. War is the biggest and most reliable "government program" of them all. But it is far from the only one.
In fact, President Biden, who has supported plenty of war, says that when he thinks of "climate change," he thinks of "jobs."
What a perfect example of crony capitalism.
This is not the desire of the consuming public. This is the road to riches for the politically-connected few, if they can pull it off, and they're definitely trying to pull it off; that much we can see.
But economic laws are unbreakable.
Ultimately, the free market must make its valiant return. Politicians and their politically-connected friends eventually screw everything up so badly, that there are no rabbits left in the top hat.
Economic planning always (without exception) produces historic disaster.
Economic pain for the masses always has its limits.
When the free market returns, it's like a breath of fresh air. The pent-up creativity of voluntary commerce is released once again, and once again the consumer becomes the king.
So the way to acquire wealth is always a choice. Will you serve your way to wealth? Or just take it from others like the political classes do?
The thing about wealth is this: In the end, we all leave this Earth with the exact amount that we came with: Zero.
Obviously the acquisition of wealth is not the important factor here. You can't take a single debased Federal Reserve dollar bill with you!
Both the billionaire politically-connected executive and the small business owner that serves his customers (without any government connection or privileges) will leave this Earth with nothing.
But each during their lifetimes made that critical choice: Service? Or Politics and Plunder?
In the Bible, Jesus is quoted as saying: "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul.”
If there was ever a proclamation that voluntary service is the way to go, that was it.
Wealth at the service of others is far superior to the acquisition of wealth at the expense of others.
President Biden's top coronavirus advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has just announced that it's "just common sense" that people should wear two masks. Last March he said no one should be walking around with masks on. Then he said put a mask on. Meanwhile CNBC featured a segment advising that people wear THREE masks! Is all of this "the science"? No wonder that, according to a recent study, Americans are four times more depressed and anxious than they were in 2019.
Yesterday the House impeachment 2.0 team marched impeachment papers over to the Senate for trial. With even President Biden doubting a conviction of citizen Trump, is there a point where what increasingly appears to be a show trial backfires politically for the Democrats and for a president who is desperately trying to sell the slogan "unity" to a divided America? Is there any Constitutional provision for removing a president from office who has already been removed from office? Will this start a trend in retroactively impeaching past presidents? Or pro-actively impeaching presidential candidates?
By Ron Paul
Almost immediately after his inauguration, President Joe Biden began creating new government dictates via executive orders. Many of these executive orders concern coronavirus, fulfilling Biden’s promise to make ramping up a coronavirus-inspired attack on liberty a focus of his first 100 days.
One of Biden’s executive orders imposes mask and social distancing mandates on anyone in a federal building or on federal land. The mandates also apply to federal employees when they are “on-duty” anywhere. Members of the military are included in the definition of federal employees. Will citizens of Afghanistan, Iraq, and other countries where US troops are or will be “spreading democracy” be happy to learn the troops shooting up their towns are wearing masks and practicing social distancing?
Another one of Biden’s executive orders forces passengers on airplanes, trains, and other public transportation to wear masks.
Biden’s mask mandates contradict his pledge to follow the science. Studies have not established that masks are effective at preventing the spread of coronavirus. Regularly wearing a mask, though, can cause health problems.
Biden’s mask mandates are also an unconstitutional power grab. Some say these mandates are an exercise of the federal government’s constitutional authority to regulate interstate commerce. However, the Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to regulate interstate commerce. The president does not have the authority to issue executive orders regulating interstate commerce absent authorization by a valid law passed by Congress. The Founders gave Congress sole law-making authority, and they would be horrified by the modern practice of presidents creating law with a “stroke of a pen.”
Just as important, the Commerce Clause was not intended to give the federal government vast regulatory power. Far from giving the US government powers such as the power to require people to wear masks, the Commerce Clause was simply intended to ensure Congress could protect free trade among the states.
Biden also signed an executive order supporting using the Defense Production Act to increase the supply of vaccines, testing supplies, and other items deemed essential to respond to coronavirus. The Defense Production Act is a Cold War relic that gives the president what can fairly be called dictatorial authority to order private businesses to alter their production plans, and violate existing contracts with private customers, in order to produce goods for the government.
Mask and social distancing mandates, government control of private industry, and some of Biden’s other executive actions, such as one creating a new “Public Health Jobs Corps” with responsibilities including performing “contact tracing” on American citizens, are the type of actions one would expect from a fascist government, not a constitutional republic.
Joe Biden, who is heralded by many of his supporters as saving democracy from fascist Trump, could not even wait one day before beginning to implement fascistic measures that are completely unnecessary to protect public health. Biden will no doubt use other manufactured crises, including “climate change” and “domestic terrorism,” to expand government power and further restrict our liberty. Under Biden, fascism will not just carry an American flag. It will also wear a mask.
Just days after President Biden's inauguration, "blue" states began announcing an end to lockdowns and other restrictions. Suddenly it's time to open up. Even NY Governor Cuomo said the economy must be re-started. Is it science? A miracle Covid cure? Politics? A huge coincidence?
By Liberty Report Staff
Part 1
Part 2
The national debt racket is not a Trump or Biden thing. It's not a Republican or Democrat thing. They all perpetuate it. But all rackets come to an end, and it's important that as many people as possible understand what must come next, so that this "system" is never adopted again.
Are Antifa Riots 'Domestic Terrorism'?
1/21/2021
While the media continues to push the phony narrative that right wing domestic terrorists are going to descend on state capitals, yesterday saw the emergence of actual left wing rioters in the form of Antifa, which attacked in Portland and Seattle. Federal property was reportedly targeted. Will the press report this as "domestic terrorism" as they reported on the 1/6 Capitol melee? And, more interestingly, as the rioters screamed anti-Biden slogans: will the Biden Administration move against this violence from its left flank? | http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/archives/01-2021 |
An analysis of an industry’s players provides an overview of the current and potential competitors’ positions and directions with respect to strategy, objectives, capabilities, and/or other relevant dimensions.
An analysis of an industry’s players provides an overview of the current and potential competitors’ positions and directions with respect to strategy, objectives, capabilities, and/or other relevant dimensions. It can be used to forecast competitors’ future behavior, predict their responses, determine how they can be influenced, and to gain insights into their relative advantages and/or disadvantages.
Define players. List all potential competitors and identify key information such as revenue, profit, size, products, customers, stakeholders, mission/vision statements.
Analyze players. Identify the most important competitors and define them on the basis of their industry and market perspective, define the segments in which they compete, and assess their capabilities.
Summarize competitive environment. Determine the strengths and weaknesses of individual players. Look at: revenue and profit by business, cash flow, experience curve, stock performance, financial return measures, product/market performance.
Player’s analysis is a fundamental technique with many uses: overview of competitive structure, predicting competitive behavior, alliance opportunities, etc. | https://www.mbaboost.com/players-analysis/ |
Helicase Definition and Explanation PDF | Download eBooks
Learn Helicase definition in biology with explanation to study “What is Helicase”. Study helicase explanation with biology terms to review biology course for online degree programs.
Helicase Definition:
Helicases are enzymes that untwist the double helix at the replication forks, separating the two parental strands and making them available as template strands.
Campbell Biology by J.B. Reece, L.A. Urry, M.L. Cain, S.A. Wasserman, P.V. Minorsky, R.B. Jackson
Helicase Explanation:
Several enzymes participate in the DNA replication process including helicase. These are one of the important enzymes that need to be present in order for DNA to replicate. Helicases basically are enzymes that bind and may even remodel nucleic acid or nucleic acid protein complexes by unwinding the DNA. There are DNA and RNA helicases. DNA helicases are essential during DNA replication because they separate double-stranded DNA into single strands allowing each strand to be copied.
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Module 08 Homework Assignment
1. Discuss the four (4) different classifications of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and give examples of diseases for each class. How do these classes differ from the three groups classified by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases (NIAID)?
There are four major groups of emerging and reemerging diseases which are classified as newly emerging, reemerging, new manifestations, and known agents in new geographical territories. Newly emerging disease are Hantavirus, Ebola, and aids which are seen as new in human population with respect to human history. Reemerging disease such as malaria and tuberculosis are ever present in ...view middle of the document...
2. Describe at least three (3) factors that play a role in the emergence of infectious diseases:
Emergence or reemergence of infectious diseases are influenced by: (1) human demographics and behavior which cause changes in population concentration such as migration or war evacuation, urbanization, economic conditions affecting living conditions, and the increase age of the general population. (2) Ecological changes and agricultural changes due to changes in farming practice, economic development, and changes in land use. (3) International travel exposes outsiders to exotic disease which can be carried home by the outside individual as well as pathogens of foreign disease being transported on imported goods from other parts of the world.
3. Describe the three (3) different lines of immune host defenses in the human body and give specific examples of each line. Which line(s) provide general immune protection and which provides specific immune protection?
The first line of defense are the physical barriers to pathogens which are provided by the skin, mucous membranes, tears, and saliva.
The human body’s second line of defense consists of internal processes to either control the spread or destroy pathogens through the following: inflammation which increases transport of immunity cells to the site of pathogen exposure; generation of a fever in order to raise the body temperature higher than what many pathogens can survive at or at least cannot reproduce at; release of phagocyte cells which destroy pathogens by ingesting and digesting pathogen cells; Alpha, Beta, and Gamma glycoproteins or interferons provide antiviral protection by interfering with the reproduction of viral pathogens to prevent the spread of the virus; and activation of the complement system that consists of more than 35 soluble proteins found in extracellular fluid which are activated by immune system in response to invasive pathogens. The complement system influences both innate and acquired immunity and is so named because it complements the cascade of the second line of defense.
The third line of defense consists of specific or adaptive defenses that can be triggered by specific antigens or be a response of cell-mediated and humoral immunity. The cell-mediated immunity is provided by actions controlled by T-Cells which react in a specific way based on their cell type. Cytotoxic T-Cells recognized an antigen and then destroy any antigen-bearing cells. Helper T cells aid in the immune response by stimulating growth and division of the cytotoxic T cells and B lymphocytes. Suppressor T cells regulate the immune response by releasing chemicals which suppress helper T cells and the antibody production of B cells. Memory T cells remain after suppression of the immune response in order to recognize the antigen in the future.
4. Differentiate between active and passive types of immunity. Which type of immunity is long lasting and which is short... | https://www.avroarrow.org/essay/emerging-and-reemerging-diseases-module-8-microbiology |
The SEC released its non-permanent, cross-divisional opponents schedule on Monday. As expected, South Carolina will only play SEC West teams other than Texas A&M twice over a twelve year period, once at home and once away.
|Year||Opponent|
|2014||at Auburn|
|2015||vs. LSU|
|2016||at Mississippi State|
|2017||vs. Arkansas|
|2018||at Ole Miss|
|2019||vs. Alabama|
|2020||at LSU|
|2021||vs. Auburn|
|2022||at Arkansas|
|2023||vs. Mississippi State|
|2024||at Alabama|
|2025||vs. Ole Miss|
(Permanent opponents in 2014: Home - Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas A&M; Away - Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt. Sites alternate home and away through 2025.)
South Carolina is going to have a very difficult time in odd years, particularly 2015, 2019, and 2021. The opponents in the Gamecocks' annual home/away rotation are lopsided not only in terms of the number of teams but also the degree of difficulty. In odd years, South Carolina will have to play at Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas A&M while getting Florida, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt at home. The total number of permanent opponents is seven, so they have to be unevenly divided by number, but it sure would be swell if we got to trade in a home game against Kentucky or Vanderbilt in exchange for a moving any of those other four games to Williams-Brice.
As far as the mix of non-permanent SEC West opponents, it's hard to complain too much because you're going to end up having to play the same six teams any way you slice it. Where you might have good reason to be upset, though, is the year-to-year order of the non-permanent opponents and the way they're paired with the home/away permanent opponent rotation. In 2015, 2019, and 2021, South Carolina will have to play perennial powers LSU, Alabama, and Auburn, respectively, in addition to road games against Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas A&M. The trips out to College Station and Columbia, Mo. are two of the lengthiest journeys in all of the SEC.
The flip side of having some very difficult seasons to look forward to due to a lopsided odd-year, even-year schedule is that we should also have some relatively easy years. In 2016, for example, we get Mississippi St. on the road to go along with a favorable home-away draw from our permanent opponents. In 2018, we have Ole Miss on the road to go along with the favorable permanent draw. (Although given our luck with Ole Miss, they'll have an awesome team in 2018 sandwiched between awful 2017 and 2019 teams -- not that that luck stopped us last time we played the Rebels.)
In 2022, we'll have Arkansas along with the favorable permanent draw. While having to slog through brutal schedules in 2015, 2019, and 2021 won't be much fun, the good news is that if we field a good team in 2016, 2018, or 2022 (granting that MSU, Ole Miss, and Arkansas continue to play at their current levels, which certainly isn't a given, especially for Ole Miss and Arkansas), we could have very good opportunities in those years to win big. | https://www.garnetandblackattack.com/south-carolina-gamecocks-football/2014/5/20/5732152/2014-2025-football-south-carolina-sec-conference-schedules |
A Toothful of Concepts: Towards a theory of weighted concept combination Daniele Porello1, Oliver Kutz2, Guendalina Righetti2, Nicolas Troquard2, Pietro Galliani2, and Claudio Masolo1 1 Laboratory for Applied Ontology, ISTC-CNR, Trento, Italy 2 KRDB Research Centre for Knowledge and Data, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy Abstract. We introduce a family of operators to combine Description Logic concepts. They aim to characterise complex concepts that apply to instances that satisfy "enough" of the concept descriptions given. For instance, an individual might not have any tusks, but still be considered an elephant. To formalise the meaning of "enough", the operators take a list of weighted concepts as arguments, and a certain threshold to be met. We commence a study of the formal properties of these operators, and study some variations. The intended applications concern the representation of cognitive aspects of classification tasks: the interdependencies among the attributes that define a concept, the prototype of a concept, and the typicality of the instances. 1 Introduction We begin the project of extending description logics to model cognitively relevant features of classification. We start from familiar Description Logic formalisms (in particular from ALC), which is an important logical language to model concepts and concept combinations in knowledge representation. We introduce a family of operators which apply to sets of concept descriptions and return a composed concept whose instances are those that satisfy "enough" of the listed concept descriptions. To provide a meaning of "enough", the operator takes a list of weighted concepts as argument, as well as a threshold. The combined concept applies to every instance whose sum of the weights of the concepts it satisfies meets the threshold. Using a threshold, the presentation focuses on crisp categorisations. Although the framework of weighted concepts easily adapts to a many-valued setting, we do not admit degrees of classification here. Depending on the base description logic used, the operators introduced might or might not extend the extensional expressivity of the concept language in the sense of increasing the expressive power to define new, previously undefinable concepts. However, they always allow for a more cognitively grounded modelling of the intensional aspects of classifications, which are concerned with how the parts of a concept definition contribute to the classification task overall. The operators also allow for more compact representations. The approach to weighted logics that we follow here takes inspiration from the use of sets of weighted proposition for representing utility functions in [1]. Extensions of that approach to description logics have been developed in [2]. Two related articles are [3] and [4], where cognitive features of categorisation have been modelled by means of sets of weighted predicative formulas. The main difference in the present approach is that we study weighted combinations of concepts by explicitly introducing syntactic operators on concepts extending the basic concept languages, and investigating their logical properties. The intended applications of this framework are inspired by the idea of providing a cognitively meaningful representation of classification tasks. Cognitive models of concepts and classification are usually grouped into the prototype view, the exemplar view, and the knowledge view also called theory-theory (see [5, 6]), but also Gärdenfors's theory of conceptual spaces [7] and Barsalou's theory of frames [8] enter this category. They hardly rely on logical representation of concepts, however. In this paper, we want to explore the possibility of extending logic-based representations of concepts to capture aspects of cognitive modelling. In particular, we will see how the proposed operators allow for representing the prototype view of classification under a concept, cf. ([9]). Moreover, a number of cognitively relevant phenomena can be represented in this setting. For instance, the marginal contribution of the attributes entering the definition of a complex concept, the contextual dependence of a classification task on the available information, and the typicality of an instances, cf. [10]. Our work here is largely independent of the specifics of the concept language used; we will here use standard definitions and terminology from description logics [11], primarily working with the language ALC. 2 Weighted concept combination We introduce a class of m-ary operators, denoted by the symbol ∇∇ (spoken 'tooth'), for combining concepts. Each operator works a follows: i) it takes a list of concept descriptions, ii) it associates a vector of weights to them, and iii) it returns a complex concept that applies to those instances that satisfy a certain combination of concepts, i.e., those instances for which, by summing up the weights of the satisfied concepts, a certain threshold is met. The new logic is denoted byALC∇∇R , where weights and thresholds range over real numbers r ∈ R. In the following we will refer to the languages for brevity just as ALC∇∇. To define the extended language of ALC∇∇, we add combination operators as follows, which behave syntactically just like m-ary modalities. We assume a vector of m weights w ∈ Rm and a threshold value t ∈ R. Each pair w, t specifies an operator: if C1, . . . , Cm are concepts of ALC, then∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm) is a concept of ALC∇∇. Note that in this basic definition, the possible nesting of the operator is excluded.3 3 In a more fine-grained definition ALCi∇∇K , i ≥ 0, is the logic with i levels of allowed nesting and where weights and thresholds range over K; we will comment on this further below. 2 For C ′i ∈ ALC, the set of ALC∇∇ concepts is then described by the grammar: C ::= A | ¬C | C u C | C t C | ∀R.C | ∃R.C | ∇∇tw(C ′1, . . . , C ′m) The semantics of the operator is obtained by extending the definition of the semantics of ALC as follows. Let I = (∆I , *I) be an interpretation of ALC. We define the value of a d ∈ ∆I under a ∇∇-concept C = ∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm) by setting: vIC (d) = ∑ i∈{1,...,m} {wi | d ∈ CIi } (1) The interpretation (i.e., the extension) of a ∇∇-concept in I = (∆I , *I) is then: (∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm))I = {d ∈ ∆I | vIC (d) ≥ t} (2) To better visualise the weights an operator associates to the concepts, we sometimes use the notation∇∇t((C1, w1), . . . , (Cm, wm)) instead of∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm). In the following examples, we will consider the value of an object name a (aka individual constant) wrt. a ∇∇-concept for interpretations that satisfy a certain knowledge base K (i.e. a set of formulas). Definition 1 (Weights relative to a knowledge base). Let a be an object name of ALC and K an ALC knowledge base. We set vKC (a) := ∑ i∈{1,...,m} {wi | K |= Ci(a)} I.e., vKC (a) gives the accumulated weight of those Ci that are entailed by K to satisfy a. Note that for positive weights, a given name a and a fixed interpretation I such that I |= K, we always have that vKC (a) ≤ vIC (aI). Example 1. Consider the set of concepts C = {Red, Round, Coloured} and the concept C defined by means of the ∇∇ operator C = ∇∇t((Red t Round, w1), (∃above.Coloured, w2)) The definition of C means that the relevant information to establish the categorisation under C of an object is whether (i) it is red or round, and (ii) it is above a coloured thing. Consider the following knowledge base K = {Red(a),∃above.Blue(a), Blue v Coloured}, i.e., an agent knows that the object a is red and it is above a blue thing and that blue things are coloured, Blue v Coloured. The value of a returned by vKC is computed as follows. Firstly, if a satisfies Red, then a satisfies Red t Round, so the weight w1 can be obtained. Moreover, since Blue v Coloured ∈ K and a satisfies ∃above.Blue, then a satisfies ∃above.Coloured, so also the weight w2 can be obtained. Thus, vKC (a) is w1+w2. If w1 + w2 ≥ t, then a is classified under C. 3 2.1 General properties of the ∇∇ concept constructor We discuss a few general properties of the ∇∇ operators which allow for reasoning about combinations of concepts. Firstly, we note that, for every possible choice of weights and thresholds, the operator is well-defined: the ∇∇s of equivalent concepts return equivalent concepts, i.e. equivalence is a congruence for the tooth. For every I, CIi = D I i =⇒ (∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Ci, . . . , Cm))I = (∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Di, . . . , Cm))I (3) Proof. Assume an interpretation I such that CIi = D I i . Suppose that d ∈ (∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Ci, . . . , Cm))I , thus, by definition, ∑ {wi | d ∈ CIi } ≥ t. Since Di is equivalent to Ci, d is also in (∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Di, . . . , Cm))I . ut Consider now the following statement, which resembles the monotonicity condition of (normal) modal operators. The statement holds true whenever the weights are non-negative numbers, i.e. for wi ∈ R+0 we have: CIi ⊆ DIi =⇒ (∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Ci, . . . , Cm))I ⊆ (∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Di, . . . , Cm))I (4) Proof. We assume all weights are non-negative and establish 4. Assume that CIi ⊆ DIi . Suppose d ∈ ∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Ci, . . . , Cm))I , then, by definition, ∑ {wi | d ∈ Ci} ≥ t. We have two relevant cases: (i) d ∈ CIi , thus, by assumption, d ∈ DIi . Since the weight associated to Di is the same as the weight associated to Ci the sum does not change. (ii) Suppose d /∈ CIi and d ∈ DIi . In this case, the sum now adds the weight associated to Di. Since the weights are non-negative, the sum is increasing, thus ∑ {wi | d ∈ Ci}+ wi is still greater than t. ut Extending on this result, only under certain conditions does the tooth operator fit in between the conjunction and the disjunction of the concepts. Namely, t > 0 =⇒ (∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm))I ⊆ (C1 t * * * t Cm)I (5) Indeed, for any d 6∈ (C1 t . . . t Cm)I the value vIC (d) would be zero, and hence d 6∈ ∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm))I . On the other hand, t ≤ ∑ i wi =⇒ (C1 u * * * u Cm)I ⊆ (∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm))I (6) Indeed, for any d ∈ (C1 u . . . uCm)I we have that vIC (d) = ∑ i wi ≥ t and hence that d ∈ (∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm))I . Moreover, if the set of weights is restricted to non-negative numbers, wi ∈ R+0 , then: (∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm))I ⊆ (∇∇tw,wm+1(C1, . . . , Cm, Cm+1)) I (7) That is, by adding positive attributes to the definition of a concept, we cannot invalidate the categorisation of an instance under the concept. 4 C1 1 C2 1 t=2 0 2 C1 0 C2 0 t=1 -1 1 Fig. 1. Consider: ∇∇2(1,1)(C1, C2) (on the left) and ∇∇1(1,1,−1)(C1, C2,>) (to the right). The properties of weights affect the classification in the following way. Uniform permutations of weights and concepts arguments correspond to the same concept. For every permutation σ: (∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm))I = (∇∇tσ(w)(σ(C1, . . . , Cm))) I (8) When CI1 = C I 2 (in particular when C1 = C2): (∇∇t(w1,...,wm)(C1, . . . , Cm)) I = (∇∇t(w1+w2,w3,...,wm)(C1, C3, . . . , Cm)) I (9) Moreover, every positive transformation of weights and thresholds returns the same sets of entities. For every k > 0, we have that: (∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm))I = (∇∇k*tk*w(C1, . . . , Cm))I (10) For every k, we have that: (∇∇t(w1,...,wm)(C1, . . . , Cm)) I = (∇∇t+k(w1,...,wm,k)(C1, . . . , Cm,>)) I (11) One example of Eq. 11, which can be represented as shown in Figure 1, is the following: (C1 u C2)I = (∇∇2(1,1)(C1, C2)) I = (∇∇1(1,1,−1)(C1, C2,>)) I 3 Expressivity and Definability We discuss in this section the definability of concepts from the purely extensional point of view. Every (complex) concept C of ALC can be trivially represented by means of ∇∇t(t)(C). However, it is interesting to discuss whether we can provide a representation of C in terms of weights to be associated with the atomic concepts that define C. We first focus solely on the Boolean structure of complex concepts followed by a discussion of counting and maximisation. 5 3.1 Boolean operations and the ∇∇ For instance, the Boolean operators can be expressed as special cases of ∇∇ of atomic concepts: – (C1 u C2)I = (∇∇2(1,1)(C1, C2)) I – (C1 t C2)I = (∇∇1(1,1)(C1, C2)) I – (¬C1)I = (∇∇0(−1)(C1)) I More generally, some Boolean functions can be captured with ∇∇, without having recourse to complex concepts as arguments. In the case of Boolean functions over two variables (i.e. atomic concepts) C1 and C2, we obtain the following: > = ∇∇0(0,0)(C1, C2) ⊥ = ∇∇ 1 (0,0)(C1, C2) C1 = ∇∇1(1,0)(C1, C2) C2 = ∇∇ 1 (0,1)(C1, C2) ¬C1 = ∇∇0(−1,0)(C1, C2) ¬C2 = ∇∇ 0 (0,−1)(C1, C2) C1 u C2 = ∇∇2(1,1)(C1, C2) ¬C1 u C2 = ∇∇ 1 (−1,1)(C1, C2) C1 u ¬C2 = ∇∇1(1,−1)(C1, C2) ¬C1 u ¬C2 = ∇∇ 0 (−1,−1)(C1, C2) C1 t C2 = ∇∇1(1,1)(C1, C2) ¬C1 t C2 = ∇∇ 0 (−1,1)(C1, C2) C1 t ¬C2 = ∇∇0(1,−1)(C1, C2) ¬C1 t ¬C2 = ∇∇ −1 (−1,−1)(C1, C2) The operator ∇∇ is thus, by itself, a functionally complete logical connective if we allow for nesting the operator. However, it is impossible to represent (C1 u ¬C2)t (¬C1uC2) (the symmetric difference, XOR) and (C1uC2)t (¬C1u¬C2) (both or none, the negation of XOR) without recursion (that is, nesting of the ∇∇), complex concepts as arguments, or without the Boolean combination of more than one ∇∇. Indeed, suppose that the symmetric difference C1 XOR C2 is definable as an expression of the form ∇∇tw(C1, C2,>,⊥) for w = (w1, w2, w>, w⊥). Then it can be easily verified that w1 > 0, since for d 6∈ CI1 ∪ CI2 we must have that vIC (d) = w> < t while for d ∈ CI1 \ CI2 we have that vIC (d) = w> + w1 ≥ t. A similar argument shows that w2 > 0 as well; but then, for d ∈ CI1 ∩ CI2 we have that vIC (d) = w> + w1 + w2 > t and hence I, d |= ∇∇tw(C1, C2,>,⊥). Of course, one can use the following Boolean combinations, using the previous characterizations: – (C1 u ¬C2) t (¬C1 u C2) = ∇∇1(1,−1)(C1, C2) t∇∇ 0 (−1,1)(C1, C2) – (C1 u C2) t (¬C1 u ¬C2) = ∇∇2(1,1)(C1, C2) t∇∇ −1 (−1,−1)(C1, C2) With complex concept arguments, we have: – (C1 u ¬C2) t (¬C1 u C2) = ∇∇1(1,1,−2)(C1, C2, C1 u C2) – (C1 u C2) t (¬C1 u ¬C2) = ∇∇0(−1,−1,2)(C1, C2, C1 u C2) With nesting, we could do: – (C1 u ¬C2) t (¬C1 u C2) = ∇∇1(1,1,−2)(C1, C2,∇∇ 2 (1,1)(C1, C2)) 6 – (C1 u C2) t (¬C1 u ¬C2) = ∇∇0(−1,−1,2)(C1, C2,∇∇ 2 (1,1)(C1, C2)) On the other hand, given any expression ∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm), consider the set Γ = {U ⊆ {1 . . . n} : ∑ i∈U wi ≥ t} of all sets of indices that, if they were the only ones corresponding to concepts that are satisfied by an individual d in an interpretation I, would make it so that d ∈ ∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm)I . Then we have at once that ∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm) is logically equivalent to ⊔ U∈Γ l i∈U Ci u l i∈{1...n}\U ¬Ci Notice that this translation may lead to an exponentially longer formula. 3.2 Counting and Majority The combination operators can be instantiated to capture, in a compact way, a large class of concept compositions. Suppose that D is a complex concept whose definition applies the concepts C1, . . . , Cm. We can define a concept D such that d is in DI iff the majority of concepts among C1 . . . , Cm applies to d. In this case, we are assuming that all the m concepts have equal weight and d is classified under the majority iff it satisfies more than m2 concepts. Equivalently, we associate weight 2 to each concept Ci and we set t = m: ∇∇m((C1, 2), . . . , (Cm, 2)). In a similar way, we can introduce operators that use a quota rule, i.e they apply to instances that satisfy at least a number q ∈ {1, . . . ,m} of the concepts in the scope of ∇∇. Moreover, a preferential structure on the combined concepts can be rendered by means of (Borda) scores: ∇∇t((C1, s1), . . . , (Cm, sm)), where the weights are subject to the constraint s1 ≥ * * * ≥ sm. This means that, e.g., satisfying C1 is more important than C2, and so on. By choosing the weights and the threshold in a suitable way, we can then express situations where satisfying the first l concepts is significant, or dominating for the classification. I.e., the combined weight of the first l concepts will suffice to classify under the concept, and if weights are set high enough, this condition can be turned into a necessary one. Finally, it is possible to define the set of instances that at most reach a given threshold: ∇∇≤t((C1, w1), . . . (Cm, wm) ≡ ∇∇−t((C1,−w1), . . . , (Cm,−wm)) (12) and the concept of instances that exactly score a certain threshold value t: ∇∇=t((C1, w1), . . . (Cm, wm) ≡ ∇∇t((C1, w1), . . . , (Cm, wm) u∇∇≤t((C1, w1), . . . (Cm, wm) (13) 7 3.3 Maximisation and the Universal Modality Finally, it is interesting to consider the set of entities that maximally satisfy a combination of concepts C1, . . . Cm of ALC. That is, we may define an operator with the following semantics:( ∇∇max((C1, w1), . . . (Cm, wm)) )I = {d ∈ ∆ | vIC (d) ≥ vIC (d′) for all d′ ∈ ∆} (14) Defining ∇∇max in terms of ∇∇t would require to use a universal role, which significantly increases the expressive power of ALC [12]. First of all, let us see how the ∇∇max operator may be defined in terms of the universal modality. Given a tuple w = (w1 . . . wm) of weights, let S = { ∑ i aiwi : ai ∈ {0, 1}} be the (finite) set of all possible scores that can be obtained by using these weights; and then, let ε = min{|v− v′| : v, v′ ∈ S} be the smallest possible distance between different scores. Then we have that ∇∇maxw (C1 . . . Cm) ≡ ⊔ t∈S ( ∇∇tw(C1 . . . Cm) u ∀U.¬∇∇t+εw (C1 . . . Cm) ) (15) Proof. Indeed, suppose that I, d |= ∇∇maxw (C1 . . . Cm) for some individual d of our domain.4 Now let t = vIC (d): then, by definition, t ≥ vIC (d′) for all individuals d′ ∈ ∆. This implies that I, d |= ∇∇tw(C1 . . . Cm) and that I, d′ 6|= ∇∇t+εw (C1 . . . Cm) for all d′ ∈ ∆, which implies at once that I, d |= ∇∇tw(C1 . . . Cm)u ∀U.¬∇∇t+εw (C1 . . . Cm) as required. Conversely, suppose that I, d |= ∇∇tw(C1 . . . Cm) u ∀U.¬∇∇t+εw (C1 . . . Cm) for some t ∈ S. Then vIC (d) = t, and for all individuals d′ ∈ ∆ we have that I, d′ 6|= ∇∇t+εw (C1 . . . Cm), which by the definition of ε implies at once that vIC (d′) ≤ t. Thus I, d |= ∇∇maxw (C1 . . . Cm), and this concludes the proof. ut Conversely, given the ∇∇max operator it is possible to define the universal modality as ∀U.C ≡ ( ∇∇max(−1)(C) ) u C (16) Proof. Indeed, suppose that I, d |= ∀U.C. This means that I, d′ |= C for all individuals d′ ∈ ∆; and, therefore, vI(C,−1)(d ′) = −1 for all d′ ∈ ∆. In particular, we thus have that I, d |= C; and moreover, vI(C,−1)(d) = −1 = v I (C,−1)(d ′) for all d′ ∈ ∆, and so I, d |= ∇∇max(−1)(C). So I, d |= (∇∇ max (−1)(C)) u C, as required. Conversely, if I, d |= (∇∇max(−1)(C)) u C then first of all we have that I, d |= C and that therefore vI(C,−1)(d) = −1. Now take any other individual d ′ ∈ ∆. We state that I, d′ |= C as well; indeed, if instead I, d′ 6|= C we would have that vI(C,−1)(d ′) = 0 > vI(C,−1)(d), which is impossible since by assumption I, d |= (∇∇max(−1)(C)). Thus C I = ∆ as required. ut We leave a detailed study of the ∇∇max operator and similar extensions for future work. 4 This is a mild abuse of notation for d ∈ ∇∇maxw (C1 . . . Cm)I . In what follows, we will freely write expressions like I, d |= C with the intended meaning of d ∈ CI . 8 4 Modelling with the Tooth Operator We see now how the ∇∇ operators allow for representing fine-grained dependencies among the attributes that define a concept. We may call this feature intensional expressivity. We study situations where an agent who has knowledge represented by K performs the task of classifying an object a under the concept C = ∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm). That is, we focus on how K |= ∇∇tw(C1, . . . , Cm) (a) and we discuss how the pieces of knowledge in K may contribute to satisfy the attributes occurring in C. We say that the function vKC is additive on the information inK = {φ1, . . . , φl} iff for every individual a, vKC (a) = ∑ {v{φi}C (a) for φi ∈ K}. In this case, the satisfaction of each φi contributes independently of the other formulas in K. We say that the function vKC is super-additive on K iff for every a, vKC (a) ≥∑ {v{φi}C (a) for φi ∈ K} and sub-additive iff vKC (a) ≤ ∑ {v{φi}C (a) for φi ∈ K}. Super-additivity represents positive synergies between the information provided by K, whereas sub-additivity expresses negative synergies. We illustrate this by means of the following examples. Example 2. Suppose that the concept elephant E is defined by four attributes: E = ∇∇t((Large, w1), (Heavy, w2), (hasTrunk, w3), (Grey, w4)) This definition entails that each of the attributes in E contributes independently of the others to the classification of an object as an elephant. Consider a knowledge base K = {Large(a), Heavy(a), hastrunk(a), Grey(a)}. Then, vKE (a) = v Large(a) E (a) + v Heavy(a) E (a) + v Grey(a) E (a) + v hasTrunk(a) E (a), that is, vKE is an additive wrt. the formulas in K. By exploiting complex concept descriptions in the scope of ∇∇, we can enable positive and negative synergies among the attributes. Example 3. Suppose now we redefine the concept elephant as follows, where we suppose that w5 > w1 + w3, w6 > w2 + w3, and w7 > w3 + w4 and each Wi is positive. E′ =∇∇t((Large, w1), (Heavy, w2), (hasTrunk, w3), (Grey, w4), (Large u hasTrunk, w5), (Heavy u hasTrunk, w6), (Grey u hasTrunk, w7)) In this case, the relevance of the pieces of information inK = {Large(a), Heavy(a), hasTrunk(a), Grey(a)} outweighs the sum of the values of each attribute. That is, vKE′(a) ≥ v Large(a) E′ (a) + v Heavy(a) E′ (a) + v Grey(a) E′ (a) + v hasTrunk(a) E′ (a). The meaning of this representation is that adding "having a trunk" significantly increases the importance of the combination of attributes for classifying an elephant. Accordingly the value of vKE′ is in this case super-additive on K. In the case of sub-additive functions, the combination of two or more attributes may lower the salience for the classification. The combination of the use of conjunctions of concepts and negative weights allows for modelling how certain attributes may decrease the salience of the combination of other attributes. 9 Example 4. Suppose that we want to classify an individual according to the disease that she may suffer. For instance, the concept of flu may be represented as follows: FLU =∇∇((Fever u Nausea, w1), (Fever u Spots,−w2), (Nausea u Spots,−w3), (Fever, w4), (Nausea, w5)) In this case, the combination of fever and nausea is highly significant for the diagnosis, whereas adding the symptom 'spots' significantly decreases the reliability of the classification under FLU, because it is a strong indication of chickenpox. So, w1 > w4 + w5 and w2 and w3 are both greater than w1 + w4 + w5. That is, the function vKFLU is sub-additive on K = {Fever(a), Nausea(a), Spots(a)}. Complex concepts occurring as arguments of ∇∇ provide a way to express many types of dependencies among the weights of the attributes. A comprehensive study of this type of expressivity is left for a future work and requires rephrasing the results in [1] to the case of DLs. 5 Applications: prototypes, typicality, and similarity We illustrate how the ∇∇ operators can represent the cognitive approach to concepts based on prototypes. In particular, we follow [13] where a "prototype is a prestored representation of the usual properties associated with the concept's instances"[13, p.487]. A prototype is represented in terms of a set of attributes (e.g., colour or weight) and a set of values for each attribute (e.g., red and blue for the colour-attribute). The relevance of an attribute for classifying an object-e.g., the relevance of colour for classifying apples-is represented by its diagnosticity (a numerical value), while the salience of an attribute-value represents its typicality (also a numerical value)-e.g., how frequent is for apple to have a red colour. Let us define a prototype πC for a concept C as (where Q j i is the i-th value of the j-th attribute, sji is the salience of Q j i wrt. C, d j is the diagnosticity of the j-th attribute wrt. C): πC = {(Q11, s11*d1), . . . , (Q1r, s1r*d1), . . . , (Qn1 , sn1 *dn), . . . , (Qnm, snm*dn)}. Note that here we weighted the salience of each attribute-value with the diagnosticity of the attribute, but more elaborate strategies exist. Furthermore, the attributes within a single dimension are assumed as mutually exclusive, e.g., if something is red, then it is not of any other colour, formally Qji ∩ Q j k = ∅ for i 6= k. Assume now to know some attribute-values of a given object a. The classification of a under the concept C is usually done by leveraging on a (usually metric) function that establishes, on the basis of the matching of features, how similar the object a and the prototype of C are. In our setting, we can introduce a concept C by using a ∇∇ operator that directly considers the attribute-values, the saliences, and the diagnosticities in 10 the prototype πC (where we assume Q j i uQ j k ≡ ⊥ for i 6= k): C = ∇∇t((Q11 , s11*d1), . . . , (Q1r , s1r*d1), . . . , (Qn1 , sn1 *dn), . . . , (Qnm , snm*dn)) The classification under C applies then to the objects that have enough features in common with the prototype to exceed the threshold t, i.e., they are close enough with respect to the prototype. We can also individuate the prototypical instances of C as the objects (if they exist) that satisfy all the Q ij in C. Note that the object-prototype similarity is here simply rendered by summing up all the weights of the matching Q ij . The discussion of more sophisticated choices to measure the distance to the prototype is left for future work. Moreover, in our setting, we can enable synergies between attributes in a super-additive or in a sub-additive fashion. However, to define prototypes in this rich setting, we will use the ∇∇max operator, or approximate it by carefully selecting the threshold. This setting allows for defining a typicality operator, as in [10]. The most typical instances of a concept can be defined as those instances that maximise the sum of weights in w. Notice that the instances can be ordered in terms of typicality with respect to a concept C, by means of the values vIC (cf. [10]). Thus, in principle, we can enable comparisons between instances concerning their typicality wrt. a concept and introduce various degrees of typicality. Finally, the ∇∇=t operator may be used to define similarity of instances with respect to a (number of) concept(s), that is, those instances that are not distinguishable in terms of the complex concept. 6 Conclusion and future work We introduced a class of operators for defining complex concepts that weigh the role of the defining attributes. We presented a few general properties of these operators, and we started investigating their expressivity. Pinpointing the exact expressivity of various combinations of DLs and ∇∇-operators as well as studying succinctness effects is part of future work. We further illustrated how the operators may be applied to render cognitively meaningful mechanisms for classification. Future work will be dedicated to properly investigate the logical properties of the operators and their natural extensions, and to apply them to describe salient cognitive features of concepts such as concept combinations and blending [14]. Another line of research will deepen the comparison with the formal studies on typicality (e.g. [10]), work on threshold concepts [15], relaxed query answering [16], and the relation and combination with similarity frameworks based on a notion of distance (e.g. [17–19]). 11 References 1. J. Uckelman, Y. Chevaleyre, U. Endriss, and J. Lang. Representing utility functions via weighted goals. Mathemathical Logic Quartely, 55(4):341–361, 2009. 2. A. Ragone, T. D. Noia, F. M. Donini, E. D. Sciascio, and M. P. Wellman. Weighted description logics preference formulas for multiattribute negotiation. In Scalable Uncertainty Management, Third International Conference, SUM 2009, Washington, DC, USA, September 28-30, 2009. Proceedings, pages 193–205, 2009. 3. C. Masolo and D. Porello. Representing concepts by weighted formulas. In Formal Ontology in Information Systems Proceedings of the 10th International Conference, FOIS 2018, Cape Town, South Africa, 19-21 September 2018, pages 55–68, 2018. 4. C. Masolo and D. Porello. Understanding predication in conceptual spaces. In R. Ferrario and W. Kuhn, editors, Formal Ontology in Information Systems: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference (FOIS 2016), pages 139–152. IOS Press, 2016. 5. E. Margolis and S. Laurence, editors. Concepts: Core Readings. MIT Press, 1999. 6. G. L. Murphy. The Big Book of Concepts. MIT press, 2002. 7. P. Gärdenfors. Conceptual spaces The geometry of thought. MIT Press, 2000. 8. L. W. Barsalou. Frames, concepts, and conceptual fields. In A. Leherer and E. F. Kittay, editors, Frames, Fields, and Contrasts New Essays in Semantic and Lexical Organization, chapter 1, pages 21–74. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc, 1992. 9. E. Rosch. Principles of categorization. In E. Margolis and S. Laurence, editors, Concepts: Core Readings, volume 189, chapter 8, pages 189–206. MIT press, 1999. 10. A. Lieto and G. L. Pozzato. A description logic of typicality for conceptual combination. In Foundations of Intelligent Systems 24th International Symposium, ISMIS 2018, Limassol, Cyprus, October 29-31, 2018, Proceedings, pages 189–199, 2018. 11. F. Baader, I. Horrocks, C. Lutz, and U. Sattler. An Introduction to Description Logic. Cambridge University Press, 2017. 12. E. Hemaspaandra. The price of universality. Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, 37:174–203, 1996. 13. E. E. Smith, D. N. Osherson, L. J. Rips, and M. Keane. Combining prototypes: A selective modification model. Cognitive Science, 12(4):485–527, 1988. 14. M. Eppe, E. Maclean, R. Confalonieri, O. Kutz, M. Schorlemmer, E. Plaza, and K.-U. Kühnberger. A computational framework for conceptual blending. Artificial Intelligence, 256:105–129, 2018. 15. F. Baader, G. Brewka, and O. F. Gil. Adding threshold concepts to the description logic EL. In C. Lutz and S. Ranise, editors, Frontiers of Combining Systems, pages 33–48, Cham, 2015. Springer International Publishing. 16. A. Ecke, R. Peñaloza, and A.-Y. Turhan. Similarity-based relaxed instance queries. Journal of Applied Logic, 13(4, Part 1):480–508, 2015. 17. R. Confalonieri, O. Kutz, P. Galliani, R. Peñaloza, D. Porello, M. Schorlemmer, and N. Troquard. Coherence, similarity, and concept generalisation. In Proc. of DL, volume 1879. CEUR-WS, 2017. 18. M. Sheremet, D. Tishkovsky, F. Wolter, and M. Zakharyaschev. A Logic for Concepts and Similarity. J. of Logic and Computation, 17(3):415–452, 2007. 19. J. Hois and O. Kutz. Counterparts in Language and Space-Similarity and S-Connection. In C. Eschenbach and M. Grüninger, editors, Formal Ontology in Information Systems (FOIS 2008), pages 266–279. IOS Press, 2008.
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Q:
Details of impact for indexes, primary keys, unique keys
I like to think I know enought theory, but I have little experience optimizing DB in real world.
I would like to know points of view, thoughts or experiences.
Let's imagine a scenario like:
Table A
Key: c1, c2, c3, c4
Index: c7, c3, c2
Table B
Key: c1, c2, c3, c4
Index: c1, c5
All are non-clustered.
The tables have 40+ fields.
They are feeded daily by night and have some updates during the day.
Table A, if more queries benefit from Key than Index, could the index impact negatively?
Because insert/delete has to update 2 indexes instead of 1.
Table B, has an extra field at the index, not present in key.
Could a query using c1, c5
Benefit from this Key?:
Key: c1, c2, c3, c4, c5
So that Index could be droped.
What impact does the order of the fields has?
Key: c1, c2, c3
Key: c3, c1, c2
A typical scenario for me is process_date, client_number, operation.
And it feeds with a bunch of data each day (process_date).
A:
if more queries benefit from Key than
Index, could the index impact
negatively? Because insert/delete has
to update 2 indexes instead of 1.
A non-clustered index has a negative impact on insert/update/delete performance. The negative impact is usually outweighed by the increased performance of selects.
Could a query using c1, c5 Benefit
from this Key?: Key: c1, c2, c3, c4,
c5
Yes, if only a few rows share the same c1, then the index will be very effective.
What impact does the order of the
fields has? Key: c1, c2, c3 Key: c3,
c1, c2
Order is important, both for filtering and ordering. An index on (c1,c2) can be used for where c1 = 1 and where c1 = 1 and c2 = 1, but not for where c2 = 1. Likewise, it helps with order by c1, but not with order by c2.
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For most people, friendships are an integral part of life. Sharing experiences is part of being human. And numerous studies have shown that loneliness has a negative effect on our well-being. Friendship has a positive impact on mental health, but can it also have physical benefits? Medical News Today reviews the evidence and interviews experts to find out why friendships are good for our health and well-being.
We don’t need to be social all the time – sometimes we need to take advantage of our own space – but everyone needs social interactions.
This is why people make friends and work to maintain those friendships. And quality friendships will benefit everyone involved.
Human beings are a social species. Since the earliest times, people have needed
Although animal friendships have been referred to as anthropomorphism, research has now shown that some animals form stable, long-term relationships just like human friendships.
Of course, not all animals have such friendships – as far as we know, these are limited to those that
The basis of friendship is to value each other – each individual offers something of value to another individual.
As humans, we value others for all kinds of reasons. They might like the same things we do, hold similar political views, or maybe help with work or chores.
Once we have decided that we like someone, more often than not we will work to maintain that friendship.
Talk with Medical News TodayDr. Scott Kaiser, geriatrician and director of geriatric cognitive health for the Pacific Neuroscience Institute at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, had this to say about the role of friendship in the evolution of mankind :
“Research suggests that evolution has continually chosen to increase social bonding with social interaction and networks playing a major role in people’s survival. According to this framework, our ancestors formed social bonds – by working together , sharing food and helping each other in other ways – to feel safe and protected.
“Humans are wired to connect and social connections are an essential part of good health and well-being – we need them to survive and thrive, just like we need food, water and oxygen. “, said Dr. Kaiser.
As children, most of us find it easy to make friends, but adults may find it more difficult. The good news is that the benefits of childhood friendships stay with us well into adulthood.
In one study, boys were followed at age 32. Those who said they had lots of friends in childhood had lower blood pressure and were more likely to be at a healthy weight than those who were less social.
And it’s not just close friendships that are good for us. People of all ages benefit from any type of social interaction. A
According
The study went on to suggest that loneliness can lead to many psychiatric disorders, such as depression, personality disorders, alcohol use and sleep disturbances, and can even contribute to physical health problems.
So, does socializing help protect against mental health disorders? Almost certainly, as Lee Chambers, psychologist and founder of Essentialise Workplace Wellbeing, said. DTM.
“Having friends,” he noted, “has the potential to shield us from the impact of loneliness, and having effective friendships can shield us from the damaging effects of loneliness.”
But what is an effective friendship? According
Effective friendships provide a strong sense of togetherness, alleviate feelings of loneliness, and contribute to both life satisfaction and self-esteem.
And there is a
Lack of social interaction not only affects our mental health.
“Social isolation and loneliness have negative health effects on par with obesity, physical inactivity and smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and are associated with an increased risk of dementia of about 50 %. Just take a moment [to] connecting with someone — even through a brief phone call — can reduce feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and depression and provide brain-protective benefits.
– Dr. Scott Kaiser
A 2010 meta-analysis of 148 studies – examining data from a total of 308,849 people – found that participants with stronger social connections had a 50% higher chance of surviving an average of 7.5 years than those who had none.
This study concluded that “[s]Social relationship-based interventions represent a major opportunity to improve not only quality of life but also survival.
The chambers agreed:
“Studies have shown that strong friendships can reduce risk factors for poor long-term health, including waist circumference, blood pressure and levels of inflammation. Emotional support plays an important role in this. , with someone to listen, validate feelings, and be a positive distraction, an important structure in modern life, alongside encouragement and support to adopt healthier behaviors and improve health outcomes.
This support and encouragement can benefit even those who enjoy exercising. A 2017 study of medical students found that those who took a weekly group exercise class had significantly lower stress levels than those who did the same amount of exercise alone.
Thus, all the evidence suggests that socializing benefits both our mental and physical health. But why? The key could be oxytocin.
Oxytocin is a hormone and a neurotransmitter, produced in the hypothalamus. It is involved in childbirth and lactation, but is also associated with empathy,
But why does oxytocin have physical benefits? These are probably due to its effect on cortisol – the stress hormone. Study participants who received oxytocin intranasally had lower cortisol levels than those who received a placebo when subjected to the stress of public speaking.
The adrenal glands release cortisol when a person is stressed. It’s good for emergencies because it prepares us for action, but bad when it happens in the long run. Among other things, long-term high cortisol can cause high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and fatigue.
So keeping cortisol levels low is a good idea. This is where socialization comes in. When we are relaxed during
“Connection is important, but it’s not just about the numbers – amassing as many friends as possible on your favorite social media platform or in the real world – but the quality of those connections and enjoying the invaluable benefits of meaningful and supportive relationships.”
– Dr. Scott Kaiser
We all value time for ourselves, and some friendships can have a negative influence on our health and well-being, but there’s plenty of evidence that supportive relationships do us good.
So even the loners among us should recognize that getting out and connecting with people can make us happier and healthier, and it might even make us live longer. | https://beerhoptacularblog.com/health-medical/what-are-the-health-benefits-of-friendship/ |
Social isolation and loneliness put people at a 30% higher risk of heart attack, stroke or death from either, a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association (AHA) warns.
The statement also highlights the lack of data on interventions that could improve heart health in isolated or lonely people. It was published Aug. 4 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
“Over four decades of research has clearly demonstrated that social isolation and loneliness are both associated with adverse health outcomes,” said Dr. Crystal Wiley Cené, who headed the team that wrote the statement. “Given the prevalence of social disconnectedness across the U.S., the public health impact is quite significant.”
Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults aged 65 and older are socially isolated, and as many as 47% may be lonely, according to AHA. The risk rises with age due to such factors as retirement and widowhood.
But a Harvard University survey suggests the loneliest generation is Gen Z — 18- to 22-year-olds — which also may be the most isolated. A possible reason: They spend more time on social media and less time engaging in meaningful in-person activities.
And the pandemic appears to have made matters worse among younger and older adults, as well as women and the poor.
“Although social isolation and feeling lonely are related, they are not the same thing,” said Cene, chief administrator for health equity, diversity and inclusion at the University of California San Diego Health. “Individuals can lead a relatively isolated life and not feel lonely, and conversely, people with many social contacts may still experience loneliness.”
Social isolation is having infrequent in-person contact with people for social relationships, such as family, friends, or members of the same community or religious group. Loneliness is when you feel like you are alone or have less connection with others than you desire.
To investigate the relationship between social isolation and heart, blood vessel and brain health, the writing group reviewed research on social isolation published through July 2021. The review found:
“There is strong evidence linking social isolation and loneliness with increased risk of worse heart and brain health in general; however, the data on the association with certain outcomes, such as heart failure, dementia and cognitive impairment is sparse,” Cené said.
The strongest evidence points to a connection between social isolation, loneliness, and death from heart disease and stroke, with a 32% higher risk of stroke and death from stroke and a 29% higher heart attack risk.
“Social isolation and loneliness are also associated with worse prognosis in individuals who already have coronary heart disease or stroke,” Cené said.
Along with behaviors that have a detrimental effect on heart and brain health, isolation and loneliness are linked to lower levels of self-reported physical activity and a lower intake of fruits and vegetables. Additionally, numerous large studies have found significant links between loneliness and a higher likelihood of smoking.
“There is an urgent need to develop, implement and evaluate programs and strategies to reduce the negative effects of social isolation and loneliness on cardiovascular and brain health, particularly for at-risk populations,” Cené said in an AHA news release.
She said clinicians should ask patients about their social activity and whether they are satisfied with their level of interaction with friends and family.
“They should then be prepared to refer people who are socially isolated or lonely — especially those with a history of heart disease or stroke — to community resources to help them connect with others,” she added.
The authors said more research is required to understand how isolation affects heart and brain health in children and young adults; people from under-represented racial and ethnic groups; LGBTQ people; people with physical or hearing disabilities; those in rural areas; and people with limited resources.
The statement noted that studies in senior citizens have found that interventions addressing negative thoughts and low self-worth, as well as fitness programs and recreational activities at senior centers, have shown promise in reducing isolation and loneliness.
“It is unclear whether actually being isolated [social isolation] or feeling isolated [loneliness] matters most for cardiovascular and brain health because only a few studies have examined both in the same sample,” Cené said, adding that more research is needed.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about the health risks of loneliness. | https://martinspharmacy.net/oxford/patient-resources/article_modal/2657800250/loneliness-can-be-a-real-heartbreaker-cardiac-experts-warn |
Mladen,
My comment was about migrated rows, not chained rows, ,and I specifically said that Oracle "MIGHT also do something sensible with chained rows". There are too many variations that would need investigating with chained rows (especially with the 11g bugs) to make it worth anyone's time looking at them unless they really, really, needed to.
The suggestion you've heard, though, SOUNDS LIKE a red herring. Chained rows (like migrated rows) have not moved - i.e. their rowids have not changed - therefore enabling row movement should be irrelevant. On the other hand the chained row pieces have to have their directory entries deleted if they're going to taken back to their original block, so there may be some cases where it matters.
Regards
Jonathan Lewis
On Tue, 1 Dec 2020 at 22:41, Mladen Gogala <gogala.mladen_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Jonathan,
>
> I have known about that for some time, but I missed your article. However,
> I was told that enabling row movement is a requirement for moving chained
> rows back to the original block. You didn't enable row movement in your
> example. Is there any difference, can you comment on that?
>
> Regards
> On 11/30/20 5:05 PM, Jonathan Lewis wrote:
>
>
> Mark,
>
> You missed a memo - Oracle can MIGRATE a row back to its original location
> on an update:
> https://jonathanlewis.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/row-migration/
> The note is a bit old, so I really ought to check it for newer versions, I
> guess.
>
> Oracle MIGHT also do something sensible with rows that are chained because
> of column lengths when the number of columns is no more than 255, but
> anything might happen if there are more than 255 non-null columns in the
> row. | http://www.orafaq.com/maillist/oracle-l/2020/12/02/0003.htm |
Q:
Simon in Javascript
This is a game of Simon using plain Javascript. I would welcome any comments, suggestions,
insights or ideas for improvement. One choice that I made was to have the player's turn
compare values against a game array ( simonSays ) by using the increment variable.
If there is a better way to do this I would be very interested. This program also makes extensive use of the
setTimeout function, if there are other ways to achieve this effect I would also be
very interested.
Also when I was refactoring and trying to cut unnecessary code I was unable to re-use the call
to the mute(color) function from the playSound(soundValue, i) and was forced to
use a separate function, changeColorOff(i) in this one place. I left the commented code
in to show what I tried. I am not clear why this was necessary. Any insights would be appreciated.
The working game is on CodePen.
var $game = document.getElementById('game');
var $sound = document.getElementById('sound');
var $display = document.getElementById('display');
var $displayText = document.getElementById('displayText');
var youWin = null, winnerText = null;
var $yellow = document.getElementById("yellow");
var $red = document.getElementById("red");
var $green = document.getElementById("green");
var $blue = document.getElementById("blue");
var $gameOnBtn = document.getElementById('gameOnBtn');
var $startBtn = document.getElementById('startBtn');
var $strictModeBtn = document.getElementById('strictModeBtn');
var powerSound = "http://soundbible.com/grab.php?id=19&type=mp3";
var redSound = " https://s3.amazonaws.com/freecodecamp/simonSound2.mp3";
var blueSound = "https://s3.amazonaws.com/freecodecamp/simonSound4.mp3";
var greenSound = "https://s3.amazonaws.com/freecodecamp/simonSound1.mp3";
var yellowSound = "https://s3.amazonaws.com/freecodecamp/simonSound3.mp3";
var wrongAnsSound = "http://soundbible.com/grab.php?id=1501&type=mp3";
var clickSound = "http://soundbible.com/grab.php?id=1705&type=mp3";
var victorySound = "http://soundbible.com/grab.php?id=1947&type=mp3";
var powerOn = false;
var gameInPlay = false;
var strictMode = false;
var victory = false;
var buttonTimeInterval = 1000;
var simonSays = [];
var currentValue = null;
var increment = 0;
var soundOptions = {
0: yellowSound,
1: redSound,
2: greenSound,
3: blueSound
};
var colorOptions = {
0: $yellow,
1: $red,
2: $green,
3: $blue
};
function flash(color){
color.style.opacity = 1;
}
function mute(color){
color.style.opacity = 0.6;
}
function flashBoard(i, l){
if (i == l) return;
setTimeout("flash($yellow)", 500);
setTimeout("flash($red)", 500);
setTimeout("flash($green)", 500);
setTimeout("flash($blue)", 500);
setTimeout("mute($yellow)", 750);
setTimeout("mute($red)", 750);
setTimeout("mute($green)", 750);
setTimeout("mute($blue)", 750);
i += 1;
setTimeout("flashBoard(" + i + "," + l + ")", 500);
}
function gameReset(){
flashBoard(0, 3);
justSound(powerSound);
$displayText.textContent = '-- --';
}
function powerOnGame(){
if (!powerOn){
$gameOnBtn.style.fill = "rgb(250, 0, 20)";
powerOn = true;
gameReset();
} else {
gameOff();
}
}
function startGame(){
if (!powerOn){
return;
}
justSound(clickSound);
if (!gameInPlay){
$startBtn.style.fill = "rgb(20, 200, 50)";
} else {
$startBtn.style.fill = "rgb(0, 0, 0)"
setTimeout(function(){ return $startBtn.style.fill = "rgb(20, 200, 50)";}, 200);
}
resetDisplay();
buttonTimeInterval = 1100;
simonSays = [];
playGame();
}
function useStrictMode(){
if (!powerOn){
return;
}
justSound(clickSound);
if (!strictMode){
$strictModeBtn.style.fill = "rgb(250, 250, 250)";
strictMode = true;
} else {
$strictModeBtn.style.fill = "rgb(0, 0, 0)";
strictMode = false;
}
}
//general button handler that take values from color buttons
function colorPress(colorNum){
if (!powerOn){
return;
}
var colorNo = colorNum; //not sure why this was needed but it was...
if (currentValue !== colorNum){
setTimeout(function(){fail()}, 500);
} else {
increment += 1;
currentValue = simonSays[increment];
}
flash(colorOptions[colorNum]);
setTimeout(function(colorNo){
justSound(soundOptions[colorNum]);
mute(colorOptions[colorNum]);
}, 100);
if (increment === simonSays.length){
setTimeout(function(){playGame()}, 1000);
}
}
function pressYellow(){
colorPress(0);
}
function pressRed(){
colorPress(1);
}
function pressGreen(){
colorPress(2);
}
function pressBlue(){
colorPress(3);
}
function justSound(soundValue){
$sound.src = soundValue;
$sound.load();
$sound.play();
}
//this is the computer's sound function, incorporates the general sound function and an end to the color flash
//not sure why muteColor does not work...
function playSound(soundValue, i){
justSound(soundValue);
// var muteColor = colorOptions[simonSays[i]];
// setTimeout('mute(' + muteColor + ')', buttonTimeInterval - 300);
setTimeout('changeColorOff('+ i + ')', buttonTimeInterval - 200);
}
function changeColorOff(i){
colorOptions[simonSays[i]].style.opacity = 0.6;
}
function displayProgress(arrLen){
$displayText.setAttribute('font-size', '50');
$displayText.textContent = arrLen;
if (arrLen < 10){
$displayText.setAttribute('x', '227');
} else {
$displayText.setAttribute('x', '213');
}
}
//iterates through the computer's moves
function startPlaying(i, l){
if (i == l) return;
increment = 0;
currentValue = simonSays[0];
var callSound = soundOptions[simonSays[i]];
playSound(callSound, i);
var flashColor = colorOptions[simonSays[i]];
flash(flashColor);
i += 1;
setTimeout("startPlaying("+ i + ", " + l + ")", buttonTimeInterval);
};
function playGame(){
gameInPlay = true;
victory = false;
if (simonSays.length === 20){
return gameVictory();
}
var simonMove = Math.floor(Math.random() * 4);
simonSays.push(simonMove);
startPlaying(0, simonSays.length);
var simonProgress = simonSays.length;
if ((simonProgress === 5) || (simonProgress === 9) ){
buttonTimeInterval -= 250;
}
if (simonProgress === 15){
buttonTimeInterval -= 100;
}
displayProgress(simonProgress);
}
function fail(){
justSound(wrongAnsSound);
$display.setAttribute("fill", "rgb(200, 0, 0)");
setTimeout(function(){$display.setAttribute("fill", "rgb(70, 70, 70)");
}, 1500);
if (strictMode){
simonSays = [];
setTimeout(function(){playGame()}, 2000);
} else {
setTimeout(function(){startPlaying(0, simonSays.length)}, 2000);
}
}
function gameVictory(){
flashBoard(0, 3);
justSound(victorySound);
victory = true;
$display.setAttribute('fill', 'rgb(5, 17, 142)');
$displayText.setAttribute('fill', 'rgb(250, 250, 250)');
$displayText.textContent = "Win!";
$displayText.setAttribute('font-size', '20');
winnerText = document.createElementNS("http://www.w3.org/2000/svg", 'text');
winnerText.setAttribute('x', '220');
winnerText.setAttribute('y', '290');
winnerText.setAttribute('fill', 'rgb(250, 250, 250)');
winnerText.setAttribute('font-size', '20');
youWin = document.createTextNode("You");
winnerText.appendChild(youWin);
$game.appendChild(winnerText);
}
function resetDisplay(){
$display.setAttribute('fill', 'rgb(70, 70, 70)');
$displayText.setAttribute('fill', 'rgb(0, 0, 0)');
if (victory){
winnerText.parentNode.removeChild(winnerText);
}
gameInPlay = true;
}
function gameOff(){
justSound(clickSound);
resetDisplay();
$displayText.textContent = "Off";
$displayText.setAttribute('font-size', '20');
$gameOnBtn.style.fill = "rgb(0, 0, 0)";
$strictModeBtn.style.fill = "rgb(0, 0, 0)";
$startBtn.style.fill = "rgb(0, 0, 0)";
simonSays = [];
victory = false;
gameInPlay = false;
strictMode = false;
powerOn = false;
}
window.onload = gameOff();
body {
background-color: rgb(145, 163, 193);
}
#gameShell {
position: absolute;
top: 75px;
margin: auto;
width: 100%;
}
#inner {
margin: auto;
width: 70%;
text-align: center;
}
#yellow {
opacity: 0.5;
}
#red {
opacity: 0.5;
}
#green {
opacity: 0.5;
}
#blue {
opacity: 0.5;
}
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Draft 1 Simon Shell</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css" >
</head>
<body>
<audio id="sound"></audio>
<div id="gameShell" >
<div id="inner">
<svg id="game" width="600" height="600" viewBox="0 0 600 600">
<circle cx="300" cy="300" r="270" fill="black" />
<path id="yellow" d="M300 50 A250 250, 0, 0,1, 550 300
L 300 300 Z" stroke="black" stroke-width="9" fill="yellow"
onClick="pressYellow()" />
<path id="red" d="M550 300 A250 250, 0, 0,1, 300 550
L 300 300 Z" stroke="black" stroke-width="9" fill="red"
onClick="pressRed()" />
<path id="green" d="M300 550 A250 250, 0, 0,1, 50 300
L 300 300 Z" stroke="black" stroke-width="9" fill="green"
onClick="pressGreen()" />
<path id="blue" d="M50 300 A250 250, 0, 0,1, 300 50
L 300 300 Z" stroke="black" stroke-width="9" fill="blue"
onClick="pressBlue()" />
<circle id="innerBackground" cx="300" cy="300" r="120" fill="rgb(244, 244, 20)" stroke="black" stroke-width-"15" />
<text x="255" y="235" font-family="arial" font-size="30" font-weight="bold" >Simon</text>
<text x="290" y="320" font-family="arial" font-size="20" >Start</text>
<text x="350" y="320" font-family="arial" font-size="20" >Strict</text>
<text x="270" y="395" font-family="arial" font-size="20" >On/Off</text>
<circle id="startBtn" cx="315" cy="285" r="10" fill="black" stroke="black" stroke-width="5"
onClick="startGame()" />
<circle id="strictModeBtn" cx="375" cy="285" r="10" fill="black" stroke="black" stroke-width="5"
onClick="useStrictMode()" />
<circle id="gameOnBtn" cx="300" cy="360" r="10" fill="black"
stroke-width="5"stroke="black" onClick="powerOnGame()" />
<rect id="display" x="205" y="260" rx="10" ry="20" width="70" height="70" fill="rgb(70, 70, 70)" stroke="black" />
<text id="displayText" x='225' y='310' font-size='20' >Off</text>
</svg>
</div>
</div>
<h1>Simon</h1>
<script src="logic.js" ></script>
</body>
</html>
A:
General Feedback
The code appears to work acceptable. The HTML does have javascript calls inline (e.g. onclick="pressYellow()"). It would be better to separate the event handling logic out into the Javascript.
I see it caches DOM element references instead of querying for DOM elements each time they are needed. This is great.
Suggestions
There are a couple different usages of setTimeout() used. The first is okay:
setTimeout(function(){playGame()}, 1000);
But the extra anonymous/lambda/closure function is unnecessary. A reference to the function can be passed instead:
setTimeout(playGame, 1000);
Then there are places where a string literal is passed - e.g.
setTimeout("flash($yellow)", 500);
but it is recommended not to use that format - see the MDN documentation for setTimeout()
code
An alternative syntax that allows you to include a string instead of a function, which is compiled and executed when the timer expires. This syntax is not recommended for the same reasons that make using eval() a security risk.1
To specify parameters to be passed to the function when it is called, use a partially-applied function:
setTimeout(flash.bind(null, $yellow));
That should also allow you to use the mute function in playSound() as you originally wanted.
setTimeout(mute.bind(null, muteColor), buttonTimeInterval - 300);
Instead of four separate rulesets in the CSS for the opacity:
}
}
}
}
The CSS selectors can be combined into a single ruleset:
#yellow,
#red ,
#green,
#blue {
opacity: 0.5;
}
1https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WindowOrWorkerGlobalScope/setTimeout#Parameters
| |
Urbanisation goes hand in hand with an increase in mental disorders, including addiction. The metropolitan environment is associated with great cultural diversity, low socio-economic status of a large number of people, social mobility and lack of social control. These urban characteristics have an effect on the occurrence and the course of mental disorders.
Conversely, patients with severe mental illness are an integral part of the city street view. Often this group causes public nuisance through criminal offences, begging or otherwise deviant behaviour. At the same time, these patients do not explicitly present themselves for help, which limits the possibilities of effective interventions.
1. Monitoring service use and treatment outcome. Service use is evaluated by investigating trends in the use of different types of compulsory measures and routine outcome monitoring.
2. Reduction of the use of involuntary care. Studies are aimed at prevention of compulsory measures by means of risk assessment, risk management, and tailor maid care arrangements that contribute to continuity of care.
3. Strengthening treatment engagement in severe mentally ill patients. Impaired awareness of illness and lack of social support prevent severely mentally ill patients from influencing their care plan.
Approximately 45% of all Dutch persons experience one form of domestic violence (DV) during their life time (1). Domestic violence can be defined as 'any incident of threatening behavior, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or have been an intimate partner, family member, friend or otherwise closely involved. Recent studies have found a high prevalence of domestic violence among female and male psychiatric patients (2).
Results from the Dutch nationwide study on victimization in psychiatric patients suggest a 6- fold increase of domestic violence in severe mental illness patients as compared to the general population (3). Domestic violence is associated with anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction and psychosis. Despite the numbers mentioned before, domestic violence in psychiatric patients is often not detected. Only around 10-30% of cases are detected by psychiatric service providers. As was shown in a systematic review of controlled studies, identification of victims of DV by health care professionals can increase by training and organizational change within health care systems. With the BRAVE (Better Reduction through Assessment of Violence and Evaluation) intervention we aim to train and educate professionals in health care on domestic violence. We also set up a referral pathway to specialized services in domestic violence. We hope to improve detection and referral rates of domestic violence and eventually reduce victimization of psychiatric patients.
The BRAVE study is a cluster randomized controlled trial investigating detection- and referral rate of domestic violence in psychiatric patients from professionals working in FACT (Functional Assertive Community Treatment) teams. FACT teams are teams specialized in outreaching health care and municipal health service teams (GGD Rijnmond) specializing in domestic violence. All FACT- and GGD teams operating in Rotterdam and around are eligible for inclusion. FACT teams serve approximately 200-250 patients with severe mental illness. A FACT team consists of a psychiatrist, psychologist, social psychiatric nurses and social workers. The teams at the Muncipal Health Service have persons working who are specialized in domestic violence and provide their services for people living in Rotterdam and surroundings. The intervention consists of a training for FACT teams in domestic violence and setting up a referral pathway for referrals back and forth between teams at the GGD specializing in domestic violence and FACT teams. The teams at the GGD will receive education and training about psychiatric patients.
This cluster randomized controlled trial assesses the number of detected cases of DV amongst psychiatric patients of FACT teams in the intervention condition in comparison with FACT teams providing care as usual. We expect that teams in the intervention condition will detect more cases of DV, that patients will get referred to the GGD Rijnmond teams faster and that they’ll receive more often care targeting domestic violence. We hope that, in time, with this intervention the risk of domestic violence against psychiatric patients will decrease and that the burden for psychiatric patients being victimized by domestic violence also will decrease.
1. Dijk Tv, Flight, S., Oppenhuis, E. En Duesmann, B. . Huiselijk geweld: aard, omvang en hulpverlening; 1997.
2. Oram S TK, Feder G et al. Prevalence of experiences of domestic violence among psychiatric patients: systematic review. The British Journal of Psychiatry 2013;202:94-9.
3. Kamperman AM, Henrichs J, Bogaerts S, Lesaffre EMEH, Wierdsma AI, Ghauharali RRR, Swildens W, Nijssen Y, van der Gaag M, Theunissen JR, Delespaul PA, van Weeghel J, van Busschbach JT, Kroon H, Teplin LA, van de Mheen D, Mulder CL. Criminal Victimisation in People with Severe Mental Illness: A Multi-Site Prevalence and Incidence Survey in the Netherlands. Plos One 2014;9.
This open label randomized controlled trial compares penfluridol and second generation oral neuroleptics (olanzapine, risperidone) for their effects on adherence, measured as time to all-cause discontinuation (primary outcome variable) and for their effects on health related costs and Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY’s). Other outcome variables are the reason for treatment discontinuation, efficacy, safety and tolerability, drug attitude, subjective well-being, and insight.
Compliance problems are present in 40-75% of psychotic disorder patients. Penfluridol (acemap) is the only long acting neuroleptic today that can be taken orally once a week for the treatment of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Other oral antipsychotic drugs, including olanzapine and risperidone, have to be taken daily. Since penfluridol can be taken once weekly, we expect better compliance as compared to olanzapine and risperidone. Better compliance may be associated with less relapses, better quality of life, less crises and less or shorter hospitalisations, leading to lower costs. There have been no studies comparing penfluridol and second generation neuroleptics. Given the absence of evidence on these matters, penfluridol is not recommended in any guidelines on psychiatric treatment of psychosis, although compliance and outcome may be better and costs may be lower. We hypothesize that there will be significant differences in the overall effectiveness of penfluridol, olanzapine and risperidone that reflect variations in efficacy, safety and tolerability, and costs. We hypothesize that penfluridol as compared to oral second generation neuroleptics (olanzapine and risperidone), will show better compliance (primary outcome) and therefore lower healthcare costs.
The primary aim of this multicentre study is to determine the time to all-cause discontinuation of penfluridol (acemap) as compared to second-generation oral neuroleptics (olanzapine, risperidone), using an open label randomized controlled trial design in 180 patients. The secondary objectives are to perform a cost-effectiveness analysis and a budget impact analysis to determine the cost-effectiveness of penfluridol and to estimate the impact of penfluridol on the national budget for healthcare. Other study parameters include the reason for treatment discontinuation, efficacy, safety and tolerability, drug attitude, subjective well-being, and insight. We will explore how these covariates affect the outcome of our primary analysis. Adult patients with psychotic disorder are allocated in three groups; (a) penfluridol orally once weekly, (b) olanzapine orally once daily, and (c) risperidone orally once daily. Medication is prescribed by the treating psychiatrist, according to current conventional care. At baseline, three and twelve month follow-up information about all parameters will be collected by independent raters. At 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 weeks and 6, 9 and 12 months, information about adherence will be collected from the participating centers.
The primary parameter adherence will be measured as time to all-cause medication discontinuation. Medication discontinuation will be measured by two objective and one subjective measurement. In this study we will be using two objective and one subjective scale for measuring adherence. Pill count in the healthcare setting, medication blood levels and the Brief Adherence Rating Scale will be used to determine adherence as measured by all-cause medication discontinuation rates. The secondary analyses will consist of a cost-effectiveness analysis and a budget impact analysis. These analyses will be carried out by the institute of Medical Technology Assessment (iMTA) of the Erasmus University, Rotterdam.
Randomized controlled trial to compare the effects of assertive community treatment for the elderly with those of care as usual. Primary outcome measures will be the number of dropouts, the number of patients engaged in care and patient′s psychiatric symptoms, somatic symptoms, and social functioning.
Adults aged 65 and older with severe mental illnesses are a growing segment of the Dutch population. Some of them have a range of serious problems and are also difficult to engage. While assertive community treatment is a common model for treating difficult to engage severe mental illnesses patients, no special form of it is available for the elderly. A special assertive community treatment team for the elderly is developed in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and tested for its effectiveness.
We will use a randomized controlled trial design to compare the effects of assertive community treatment for the elderly with those of care as usual. Primary outcome measures will be the number of dropouts, the number of patients engaged in care and patient′s psychiatric symptoms, somatic symptoms, and social functioning. Secondary outcome measures are the number of unmet needs, the subjective quality of life and patients′ satisfaction. Other secondary outcomes include the number of crisis contacts, rates of voluntary and involuntary admission, and length of stay. Inclusion criteria are aged 65 plus, the presence of a mental disorder, a lack of motivation for treatment and at least four suspected problems with functioning (addiction, somatic problems, daily living activities, housing etc.). If patients meet the inclusion criteria, they will be randomly allocated to either assertive community treatment for the elderly or care as usual. Trained assessors will use mainly observational instruments at the following time points: at baseline, after 9 and 18 months.
This study will help establish whether assertive community treatment for the elderly produces better results than care as usual in elderly people with severe mental illnesses who are difficult to engage. When assertive community treatment for the elderly proves valuable in these respects, it can be tested and implemented more widely, and mechanisms for its effects investigated.
Randomised controlled trial with two intervention groups and one control condition. Both interventions consist of a crisis plan, facilitated through the patient′s advocate or the clinician respectively. Primary outcomes are the number of emergency (after hour) visits, (involuntary) admissions and the length of stay in hospital.
Crises and (involuntary) admissions have a strong impact on patients and their caregivers. In some countries, including the Netherlands, the number of crises and (involuntary) admissions have increased in the last years. There is also a lack of effective interventions to prevent their occurrence. Previous research has shown that a form of psychiatric advance statement – joint crisis plan – may prevent involuntary admissions, but another study showed no significant results for another form. The question remains which form of psychiatric advance statement may help to prevent crisis situations. This study examines the effects of two other psychiatric advance statements. The first is created by the patient with help from a patient′s advocate (Patient Advocate Crisis Plan: PACP) and the second with the help of a clinician only (Clinician facilitated Crisis Plan: CCP). We investigate whether patients with a PACP or CCP show fewer emergency visits and (involuntary) admissions as compared to patients without a psychiatric advance statement. Furthermore, this study seeks to identify possible mechanisms responsible for the effects of a PACP or a CCP.
This study is a randomised controlled trial with two intervention groups and one control condition. Both interventions consist of a crisis plan, facilitated through the patient′s advocate or the clinician respectively. Outpatients with psychotic or bipolar disorders, who experienced at least one psychiatric crisis during the previous two years, are randomly allocated to one of the three groups. Primary outcomes are the number of emergency (after hour) visits, (involuntary) admissions and the length of stay in hospital. Secondary outcomes include psychosocial functioning and treatment satisfaction. The possible mediator variables of the effects of the crisis plans are investigated by assessing the patient′s involvement in the creation of the crisis plan, working alliance, insight into illness, recovery style, social support, locus of control, service engagement and coping with crises situations. The interviews take place before randomisation, nine month later and finally eighteen months after randomisation.
This study examines the effects of two types of crisis plans. In addition, the results offer an understanding of the way these advance statements work and whether it is more effective to include a patients′ advocate in the process of creating a psychiatric advance statement. These statements may be an intervention to prevent crises and the use of compulsion in mental health care. The strength and limitations of this study are discussed.
Trial registration: Current Controlled Trials NTR2968.
The Motivation and Treatment Engagement Intervention Trial (MotivaTe-IT) is a multi-center cluster randomized trial investigating the effectiveness of feedback generated by clinicians regarding their patients′ treatment motivation upon the patients′ TE. The primary outcome is the patients′ treatment engagement.
Treatment disengagement and non-completion poses a major problem for the successful treatment of patients with severe mental illness. Motivation for treatment has long been proposed as a major determinant of treatment engagement, but exact mechanisms remain unclear. This current study serves three purposes: 1) to determine whether a feedback intervention based on the patients′ motivation for treatment is effective at improving treatment engagement (TE) of severe mentally ill patients in outpatient psychiatric treatment, 2) to gather insight into motivational processes and possible mechanisms regarding treatment motivation (TM) and TE in this patient population and 3) to determine which of three theories of motivation is most plausible for the dynamics of TM and TE in this population.
168 patients will be randomly assigned to the experimental group (n = 84), receiving a financial reward for each accepted antipsychotic medication depot, or to the control group (n = 84), receiving treatment as usual without financial rewards. The intervention has a duration of twelve months. During the subsequent six months follow-up, the effects of discontinuing the intervention on depot acceptance will be monitored. The primary goal of this study is to assess the effectiveness of providing financial inceptives in improving adherence with antipsychotic depot medication (during and after the intervention). Our primary outcome measure will therefore be the number (percentage) of accepted depots. Secondary however, we will consider alternative measures of medication acceptance, i.e. the longest period of uninterrupted depot acceptance and the time expired before depot is taken. Additionally, the effectiveness of this intervention will be considered in terms of psychosocial functioning, substance use, side-effects, quality of life, and cost-utility, and we will assess patients and clinicians attitudes towards M4M.
This RCT assesses the effectiveness and side-effects of financial incentives in improving adherence with antipsychotic depot medication in patients with psychotic disorders. This study is designed not only to assess whether M4M is an effective intervention to improve patients' acceptance of their antipsychotic depot medication, but to assess how this intervention can contribute to patients functioning and wellbeing as well.
Patients will be randomly assigned to the experimental group receiving a financial reward for each accepted antipsychotic medication depot, or to the control group receiving treatment as usual without financial rewards. The primary goal of this study is to assess the effectiveness of providing financial inceptives in improving adherence with antipsychotic depot medication.
Non-adherence with antipsychotic medication is a frequently occurring problem, particularly among patients with psychotic disorders and co-morbid substance abuse. Prior research has shown encouraging results for interventions based on 'Contingency Management', where desirable behaviour is encouraged by providing rewards contingent upon the behaviour. However, little research has been done on the effectiveness of contingency management on medication adherence in patients with psychotic disorders. An earlier pilot-study by our study group showed promising results in reducing admission days and increasing adherence. The current study is a randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of a contingency management procedure called 'Money for Medication' (M4M), in improving adherence with antipsychotic depot medication in patients with psychotic disorders through financial rewards.
The Motivation and Treatment Engagement Intervention Trial (MotivaTe-IT) is a multi-center cluster randomized trial investigating the effectiveness of feedback generated by clinicians regarding their patients' treatment motivation upon the patients' TE. The primary outcome is the patients' TE. Secondary outcomes are TM, psychosocial functioning and quality of life. Patients whose clinicians generate monthly motivation feedback (additional to treatment as usual) will be compared to patients who receive treatment as usual. An estimated 350 patients, aged 18 to 65 years, with psychotic disorders and/or severe personality disorders will be recruited from outpatient community mental health care. The randomization will be performed by a computerized randomization program, with an allocation ratio of 1:1 (team vs. team or clinician vs. clinician) and patients, but not clinicians, will be blind to treatment allocation at baseline assessment. Due to the nature of the trial, follow-up assessment cannot be blinded.
The current study can provide important insights regarding motivational processes and the way in which motivation influences the treatment engagement and clinical outcomes. The identification of possible mechanisms through which changes in the outcomes occur, offers a tool for the development of more effective future interventions to improve TM and TE.
Trial registration: NL 20120502 CTA (EudraCt) CCMO protocol id: NL40553.078.12 METC: MEC-2012-273.
In the Vitamin D Intensive Outreach (ViDIO) stydy participants with vitamin D deficiencies of <50 nmol/L serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) are randomly allocated to one of two different strategies (VIDIO and CAU) of vitamin D supplementation. Primary outcomes are serum 25(OH)D concentrations. Prevalences of vitamin D and B1 deficiencies will be described.
Decreased bioavailability of vitamins may be due to inadequate dietary sources, lower intestinal absorption and/or liver dysfunction. Muscular weakness and wasting is frequently found in chronic alcoholism and might be related to severe vitamin D hypovitaminosis. Alcohol-related osteoporosis responded well to vitamin D therapy. In alcoholic myopathy, however, a clear understanding of the role of vitamin D is currently lacking.
Participants are community-dwelling adults with a history of alcohol use and who are at risk of multiple vitamin deficiencies. Firstly, we seek to identify possible mediating variables of vitamin D status, by assessing baseline characteristics, liver function and other laboratory findings, help-seeking behaviour, social support, and service engagement. Secondly, participants with vitamin D deficiencies of <50 nmol/L serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) are randomly allocated to one of two different strategies (VIDIO and CAU) of vitamin D supplementation.
VIDIO: Vitamin D Intensive Outreach includes a cholecalciferol loading dose, if applicable, and subsequent bimonthly high-dose cholecalciferol through an outreach approach of the Street Doctor Service in Rotterdam. CAU: Care As Usual includes daily prescriptions of cholecalciferol 800 IU, available in combination with calcium carbonate. The VIDIO intervention is based upon general principles to enhance medication compliance for successful treatment, disease prevention, and health promotion, by means of a simple medication regime in one-on-one patient contacts. We hypothesise that vitamin D supplementation may be more effective on vitamin D levels and muscle performance when given through VIDIO, rather than CAU depending upon medication prescriptions and medication compliance of the participants. Primary outcomes are serum 25(OH)D concentrations. Secondary outcomes include the participants' quadriceps maximal voluntary contractions, gait and balance abilities, results of cognitive screening, and a health-related quality of life evaluation. Prevalences of vitamin D and B1 deficiencies will be described.
Comparison between the two strategies of vitamin D therapy and serum 25(OH)D levels provides insight in the effectiveness of the interventions. Progress in muscle strength in the VIDIO intervention reflects an effect of vitamin D. Possible associations between results of cognitive screening and vitamin D or B1 deficiencies are discussed. | https://psych.erasmusmc.nl/espri/projects.html |
|Delegates attend the plant's groundbreaking ceremony. — VNA/VNS Photo Nhật Bình|
BẠC LIÊU — Hacom Bạc Liêu Energy JSC on Sunday started construction on the first phase of Hòa Bình 5 wind power farm on 28ha in Vĩnh Thịnh Commune, Hòa Bình District, the Mekong Delta province of Bạc Liêu.
The first phase of the project, with a total investment of VNĐ3.2 trillion (US$138 million), is designed to have 26 wind turbines with a capacity of 3-4.2 MW each.
It will be the biggest mainland wind farm in the Mekong Delta.
The plant will be connected with the national power grid on the 220kV Giá Rai-Bạc Liêu 2 transmission line, General Director of Hacom Bạc Liêu Energy Trần Phú Chiến said.
The project will be integrated with aquaculture production to improve land use effectiveness and is expected to contribute more than VNĐ80 billion to the State budget per year, he added.
Chiến noted that the project, scheduled to be completed in October 2021, will generate more than 280 million kWh of electricity annually.
Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Dương Thành Trung said since 2010, Bạc Liêu has been home to 10 wind power projects, including one completed and nine under construction, with a total capacity of more than 660 MW and combined investment of some $1 billion. | https://vietnamnews.vn/economy/793357/work-starts-on-mekong-delta-s-biggest-mainland-wind-project.html |
Suppose you are car driver and you have to drive a car on a track divided into "N" number of sub-tracks. You are also given the value of "K" i.e. the total kilometers the car can drive on each sub-track. If the car can't cover a sub-track, you can add any unit of Petrol in it. With each unit of petrol added, the total kilometers your car can travel will increase by one unit .
Input:
The first line of input contains an integer T denoting the no of test cases. Then T test cases follow. Each test case contains two lines of input. The first line contains two space separated integers N and K. The second line contains N space separated integers (A) denoting the distance of each N sub-tracks.
Output:
For each test case, you have to print out the minimum unit of Petrol your car requires to cover all the sub-tracks. If no extra unit of petrol is required, print -1.
Constraints:
1 <= T <= 100
1 <= N <= 107
1 <= K <= 1018
1 <= A <= 1018
Example:
Input:
2
5 7
2 5 4 5 2
5 4
1 6 3 5 2
Output:
-1
2
Explanation:
Testcase 2: You are given 5 sub-tracks with different kilometers. Your car can travel 4 km on each sub-track. So, when you come on sub-track 2nd you have to cover 6 km of distance, so you need to have 2 unit of petrol more to cover the distance, for 3rd sub-track, now your car can travel 6 kilometers, so no problem and so on.
If you have purchased any course from GeeksforGeeks then please ask your doubt on course discussion forum. You will get quick replies from GFG Moderators there. | https://practice.geeksforgeeks.org/problems/drive-the-car/0 |
Cascading waterfalls, picturesque plateaus, and statuesque mountains are a few of the reasons to fall in love with Chapada Diamantina in Bahia, Brazil. A maze of trails, from beginner to advanced, taking hikers through valleys and streams, and showing some of the best of Brazil’s natural beauty. Check out our guide to the top trails in this sprawling national park.
The 1,378-ft (420-meter) plunge of this waterfall is a gorgeous sight to see, but the water evaporates into a fine mist as it reaches the bottom, giving it the name Smoke Waterfall. This 3.7-mile (six-kilometer) hike requires a guide, which can be arranged at any agency in the nearby town of Lençóis.
To get a good look at the Chapada Diamantina valley and all of its plateau glory, take the trail to Morro do Pai Inácio, which offers one of the best postcard views in the entire park. The trail is relatively easy to access and is located along the road BR-242, between the towns of Palmeiras and Lençóis. Be prepared for some inclines and steep hills and about a four- to five-hour hike each way.
For some mystical cave views, head to Gruta do Lapão, and take a car from nearby Lençóis to make things easier. The moderately difficult trail has a few challenging spots, but the reward is a beautiful view of a quartzite cave. While there, don’t forget to turn off your flashlight to experience the cave in total darkness—even if just for a few moments—for an unforgettable experience.
Cachoeira do Sossêgo is at the end of a rather challenging trail, but it is also home to one of the most beautiful waterfalls in all of Chapada. Be prepared for steep inclines and a total distance of approximately five miles (eight kilometers). The trail begins Lençóis and takes about three hours. Guides are recommended because the trail veers off and forks frequently enough to confuse hikers who aren’t familiar with the area. The reward is a swim in the cool, clear waters of the waterfall’s base.
This is a long trek that begins and ends in Vale do Capão and can last from four to six days depending on pace and number of detours. See sweeping views of Chapada’s plateaued mountains, and maybe even have stop in a local’s home for a meal or a night’s stay, but this is best done with the help of a local guide.
The Grand Circuit is best for ambitious hikers, as the trek covers over 62 miles (100 kilometers) of the park, and it takes from five to eight days, again depending on the number detours. Arranging for a guide is best here so they can assist in setting up lodging and meals in locals’ homes. Along the way, discover the gorgeous valley plains or venture off a for day trip or two to discover nearby waterfalls. | https://theculturetrip.com/south-america/brazil/articles/the-best-hiking-trails-in-chapada-diamantina/ |
Direct MRI detection of neuronal magnetic fields in the brain: theoretical modeling.
Whether MRI can be used for direct detection of neuronal activity is a matter of debate. Controversial theoretical and experimental results have been reported. Here, we present an improved current-dipole model to compute magnetic field generated by neural firing and to calculate MRI signal changes resulting from the neuronal magnetic field (NMF). Each dendrite or each unmyelinated axon was modeled as a modified current-dipole. NMF were estimated based on a synchronized activity of multiple neurons. Sensitivity of using phase and magnitude MRI to measure effects of NMF was evaluated. Our results show that NMF can potentially generate up to a few percent changes in MRI magnitude signals. Phases of MRI signal tend to be destructively added and are insensitive to NMF in the activated region when the distribution of the activated dendrites is symmetrical. Phases could be detected when the distribution of the activated dendrites is asymmetrical and on some neighboring voxels. Our modeling implies that direct MRI detection of neuronal activity is possible.
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If you’ve ever worked with me, you know I am a huge fan of creating a morning and/or evening routine that incorporates self care practices and positive mindset shifts. These practices set the stage for a better night’s sleep and give your mind and body an energy boost for the upcoming day.
Each morning and evening routine is unique to the individual crafting them, but from years of practice and working with others on their own routines, there are a few basic foundational practices that are proven game changers to incorporate.
Below is a “mix and match” list of practices to get you started. Your morning and evening routine will depend on how much time you have and can be changed up at anytime or adjusted according to your schedule.
Meditate: Trains your mind to focus and improve your attention, it also decreases anxiety and increases your ability to enjoy the everyday moments of your life.
Prayer: Connecting with Higher Self, Spirit team, Inner Guidance.
Exercise (Can be anything, walking, running, biking, swimming, yoga, stretching, etc…)
Energy work (EFT, Chakra balancing, other clearing exercises)
Keep a gratitude journal: Counting your blessings can boost your happiness level. An easy practice is to end your day by recalling at least three things that you are grateful for at the moment.
Journal/Plan (Intentions for the day, To Do’s for the day, Reviewing goals, etc..)
Self Hypnosis (Reading self hypnosis scripts to manifest positive lifestyle changes)
Extreme self Care: (Mirror work, pampering, etc…)
Here is an example of how a person who has chosen to take an hour every morning and evening for their routines. This can easily be adjusted if you have less time, but most people can find at least an hour a day to do either a morning or evening routine or both by cutting down on TV time or waking up earlier in the morning.
Morning Routine:
- Upon waking, sit upright in bed or in a chair and meditate for 10-20 minutes. Use a guided meditation or simply focus on your breath.
- After meditation and while still in a spiritually receptive state of mind, write in your journal your intentions for the day and/or give assignments to your spiritual task force. This sets the stage for living deliberately and creating consciously how you want your day to go.You can simply start out by writing “Today is a great day because…” This can also be your “To Do” list as you visualize how well everything is falling together and the ease at which everything gets done. You might also sip on some green tea with fresh squeezed lemon while journaling.
- Get dressed and do 20-30 minutes of some type of exercise/movement.
- Resume normal preparation for the day – shower, breakfast, etc…
Evening Routine:
About an hour before bed put away your electronics and begin your evening routine.
- When getting ready for bed and doing your skin care routine (if you have one), spend a couple of minutes doing mirror work. This is simply looking at yourself in the mirror and saying “(Your Name)…I love you, I appreciate you for…and I forgive you for…”
- With a cup of chamomile tea, sit in a comfortable chair and write 3-10 things you are grateful for today.
- If there are any lingering fears or any anxiety still looming about anything before bed, do a few rounds of EFT (emotional freedom technique), chakra balancing or other clearing method.
- Finally, the best time to visualize a desired outcome, say your affirmation or read out loud your self- hypnosis script is before falling asleep. Take 6 minutes to watch this video by Dr. Wayne Dyer on 5 Minutes Before You Fall Asleep – Positive Affirmations
Of course, your morning/evening routine is not limited to these suggestions, but they are a great start and part of a good foundation. You can choose to do certain ones on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and others on Tuesday and Thursday. Your weekend routine might look different than your weekday routine. The important thing is to make it yours and get into the habit of doing them at the same time every day. After just a few weeks, you will start to notice improvements in your life and energy.
Author: admin
Debra Betterly, PhD is an Integrative Wellness & Life Coach and Metaphysician whose passion is to help women expand their health, joy and purpose in midlife and beyond. | http://amazingjourneycoach.com/simple-practices-midlife-upgrade |
Rules for rounding decimals to the nearest whole number: • To round a decimal to the nearest whole number analyse the digit at the first decimal For example;. These are examples of rounding to the nearest whole number. The nearest whole can also be thought of as the ones place. Let's look at our place value chart. Practise your approximation and rounding skills with this online, self-marking exercise.
RULE: If the number behind the decimal point is less than 5, it is rounded down to the next whole number. EXAMPLE: rounded to the nearest whole number. A whole number is any number you can make by adding any number of 1s to 0 -- including 0 itself. Some examples of whole numbers include 2. Round whole numbers to specific place values, including tens, hundreds, and For example, if you travelled miles, you might want to round the distance to Usually, round a number to the number that is closest to the original number. | http://granrhin.com/health/nearest-whole-number-example.php |
After you create your Lesson Plans you will use the Scheduler tool to create the actual Assignments for your Students. You can access the Scheduler from the Student: Lesson Plan and Presets area or from the Lesson Plan page.
Scheduler from the Student: Lesson Plans and Presets area: Choose to create Assignments from one or more of the Student's Active Lesson Plans. HSTOnline will pick up where you last left off in that plan for the Student and create the Assignments needed to fill your selected date range, or until all un-used Lesson Plan items have been utilized.
Scheduler from the Lesson Plan area: Choose to create Assignments for one or more Students from the same Lesson Plan. HSTOnline will pick up where you last left off with each Student in the Lesson Plan, or you can select specific items from the Lesson Plan to use with Scheduler. Items will be created to fill your selected date range, or until all the un-used Lesson Plan items have been utilized for each Student you have selected.
From the Student: Lesson Plans and Presets area you can use the Scheduler tool to create Assignments from multiple Lesson Plans at the same time for one Student. You can set a Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Spread Evenly pattern for HSTOnline to follow, or choose to use the Presets you created for the Student.
If you are using the Lesson Plan feature, creating an Active Lesson Plan list for your Student will help you keep track of how far they have progressed through each plan. You can add or remove plans from this list at any time. HSTOnline will remember the 'used' status for each Student in each plan whether the plan is listed here or not. Resetting the Used Status of Lesson Plan items for a Student will update this list accordingly.
On the HSTOnline Menu, click or touch 'Lesson Plans and Presets' under the 'Students' section.
On the Lesson Plans and Presets page, select a Student from the drop down list and click or touch the Go button.
Click or touch the Edit button to see the list of all your active Lesson Plans in your database. For each Lesson Plan on the list, you will see the total number of items in the Lesson Plan, the number of items remaining to be used to create Assignments for the selected Student, and the date on which the last Assignment was created from this plan using the Scheduler tool.
Click or touch the Active checkbox to add a checkmark to any Lesson Plan to add it to the Student's list.
Active Plans to return to the Active Lesson Plan list for this Student.
Preset to add, edit or delete preset entries for this Student.
Scheduler to use the Scheduler tool to create Assignments for this Student using one or more of his Active Lesson Plans.
When using Scheduler from the Student Dashboard, you can create Assignments for your Student using some or all of their Active Lesson Plans. You can choose to create Assignments for a specific date range, or to create Assignments from all the remaining un-used items in the Lesson Plans for that Student.
Click or touch the Scheduler button.
The Scheduler - Student form is a tabbed area with two sections: Details and Day and Date. The active area is indicated by a dark blue line under the tab name.
Go to the Leeson Plan in question and reset the Used Status for the items needed. This will update the Active Lesson Plans list and you can then use Scheduler from either the Student or Lesson Pland side.
Click or touch any checkbox to remove the checkmark to exclude that Lesson Plan from this Scheduler session.
You can click or touch the 'Select All' or 'Clear All' links to quickly add or remove all checkmarks.
Return to Active Plans button to abandon this process and return to the Student's Lesson Plans and Presets page.
Continue to Day and Date or the Day and Date tab to move to the next set of options.
Day Options: Set the pattern of days you want HSTOnline to follow when creating the copies.
Skip Days off will cause HSTOnline to skip over any days that have already been noted as a Day Off within your school year.
Preset: HSTOnline will follow the days and times for the designated Subject or Subject/Course that you have set in the Lesson Plans and Presets area for the Student. This option allows you to create the same type of Assignment for multiple Students at the same time, but set personalized days and times based on their Preset entries.
Daily: HSTOnline will gather a list of all dates that fall within your selected date range, remove the dates that violate your 'Skip' settings, and then place an Assignment on each date in the date range according to your 'Every_Day' entry.
Monthly: HSTOnline will gather a list of all dates that fall within your selected date range, cull the list to only those dates which match the date of the month or # day of the month you have selected (First Tuesday, Third Monday, etc.) and then remove from the remaining dates any that violate your 'Skip' settings. Finally, HSTOnline will place an Assignment on each remaining date in the date range.
Spread Evenly: Choose this option when you want to force all the created items to fit between a start/end date that you specify. If you have more items than there are valid dates in your range, you will get multiple items on some or all dates; if you have fewer items than there are valid dates in your range, you will have one or more days between Assignments.
Date Options: Set the Time/Block and Start Date and choose a 'Continue' option.
Enter the Time/Block to be used for the created items.
Time or Block will appear depending on your Program Options settings.
If you have selected the Preset option, this field will be hidden as Time/Block information will come directly from your Preset entries. If there is no matching Preset entry, HSTOnline will follow the guidelines of the Daily option and set all Assignments to the 'all day' area.
Enter a Start Date: Type in a date using the mm/dd/yyyy format or click or touch the Calendar icon to select a date.
Continue until all remaining in Lesson Plan items are used: HSTOnline will begin with your Start Date and project Assignments as far into the future as necessary to use all the remaining, un-used items in each selected Lesson Plan for the Student.
Continue until [Date]: HSTOnline will create Assignments using the selected Lesson Plans but stop when it reaches the date you enter no matter how many items remain in each Lesson Plan for the Student. If you choose the Spread Evenly option, 'Continue until [Date]' is the only option available because the definition of 'Spread Evenly' requires a defined date range. Type in a date using the mm/dd/yyyy format or click or touch the Calendar icon to select a date.
Return to Active Plans to cancel this process and return to the Active Lesson Plans list for the Student.
Continue to Preview to see the list of Assignments that will be created based on the options you have set.
If you choose Continue to Preview, HSTOnline will show you the Assignments that will be created based upon your option settings. Use this opportunity to review the items before accepting them to be added to your database.
The Preview will show you all items, sorted by date. You can group or sort the Preview list in any way you like and HSTOnline will remember those settings each time you return to the Preview list. When using Scheduler, you may find it easier to group the preview by Lesson Plan so that you can see what's what.
If the results are not what you expected, you can click or touch the Details or Day and Date tab to reset your options and then click or touch the 'Return to Preview' button to see the new results.
you can click or touch the checkbox for each Assignment you want to accept.
Accept Selected Items to add the highlighted Assignments to your Agenda. The Active Plans list for your Student will be updated accordingly, resetting the Remaining value and the Last Used date as appropriate.
When using Scheduler from the Lesson Plan area, you can create Assignments for one or more Students from the same Lesson Plan. HSTOnline will pick up where you last left off with each Student in the Lesson Plan, or you can select specific items from the Lesson Plan to use with Scheduler. Items will be created to fill your selected date range, or until all the un-used Lesson Plan items have been utilized for each Student you have selected.
Set the Lesson Plan selector to view the Lesson Plan you want to work with.
Click the checkbox for each Lesson Plan item you want to use.
You can use your mouse to click and drag over contiguous Lesson Plan items in the list to select those items.
On a touch device, you can touch and drag your finger over contiguous Lesson Plan items in the list to select those items.
Click or touch the Action button and select 'Scheduler'.
The Scheduler - LP form is a tabbed area with two sections: Students and Details and Day and Date. The active area is indicated by a dark blue line under the tab name.
Student: By default, all Active Students for this Lesson Plan will be pre-selected. You may choose any Students you wish for this process.
Details: HSTOnline will remind you the name of the Lesson Plan you are working with, and show the number of selected items or display 'all remaining items'.
Return to Lesson Plan to abandon this process and return to the Lesson Plan you were viewing.
Continue to Day and Date or touch the Day and Date tab to set those options.
Set the pattern of days you want HSTOnline to follow when creating the Assignments.
Choose to use the Preset, Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Spread Evenly option.
Preset: HSTOnline will follow the days and times for the designated Subject or Subject/Course that you have set in the Lesson Plans and Presets area for the Student. If there is no matching Preset entry for the Subject or Subject/Course, HSTOnline will use the Daily option in creating those Assignments.
Monthly: HSTOnline will gather a list of all dates that fall within your selected date range, cull the list to only those dates which match the date of the month or # day of the month you have selected (First Tuesday, Third Monday, etc.) and then remove from the remaining dates any that violate your 'Skip' settings. Finally, HSTOnline will place an Assignment entry on each remaining date in the date range.
Continue until [Date]: HSTOnline will create Assignments using the selected Lesson Plans but stop when it reaches the date you enter no matter how many items remain in each Lesson Plan for the Student. If you choose the Spread Evenly option, 'Continue until [Date]' is the only option available because the definition of 'Spread Evenly' requires a defined date range. Type in a date using the mm/dd/yyyy format or click or touch the . Calendar icon to select a date.
The Preview will show you all items, sorted by date. You can group or sort the Preview list in any way you like and HSTOnline will remember those settings each time you return to the Preview list.
In the example above, we scheduled 'all remaining items' for Agnes and Zed. You'll see that Agnes' items start with Lesson 15 while Zed's entries start with Lesson 1. That is because the Lesson Plan items for Lessons 1-14 were already marked as 'Used' for Agnes. Again, when using Scheduler without pre-selecting items, HSTOnline will create Assignments for each selected Student based on the 'Used' status of each Lesson Plan item. | http://help.homeschooltracker.com/Scheduler.aspx |
TECHNICAL FIELD
BACKGROUND
SUMMARY
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT(S)
The invention is directed to prosthetic and orthotic devices with optimized heat transfer and/or heat absorption capabilities, including but not limited to, polymeric prosthetic liners, prosthetic sockets, prosthetic assemblies including such liners and sockets, and orthotic braces, boots and insoles.
Polymeric prosthetic liners (hereinafter also referred to as “prosthetic liners” or “liners”) have become the interface of choice among amputees due to various beneficial characteristics thereof. These characteristics include, for example, comfort, security of suspension, protection of the residual limb, and ease of use. Modern liner technology allows amputees to employ a liner as the sole (stand-alone) interface between their residual limb (which is also commonly referred to as a residuum or amputation stump) and the interior of a prosthetic socket.
Polymeric prosthetic liners generally come in two primary forms—with a distal connecting element or without a distal connecting element. Prosthetic liners that lack a connecting element are commonly referred to as “cushion liners,” although such liners can still serve a suspensory function. Prosthetic liners that include a connecting element, which acts to facilitate suspension by mechanical attachment of the liner to a prosthesis, are commonly referred to as “locking liners.” Prosthetic liners can be of standard “off-the-shelf” design, meaning the liner is of generic shape and will fit a range of residual limb shapes and sizes. Alternatively, liners may be custom designed for a particular amputee.
Liners may be comprised of various polymeric materials; including silicone, urethane, and thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) gels. Liners are now commonly made using various block copolymer and mineral oil gel compositions, as well as silicone and blended silicone compositions. Such polymeric materials have proven themselves to provide a high level of comfort for most users.
It is also known to construct such liners with an outer layer of fabric. That is, there exist patented fabric-covered liners having an interior of exposed polymeric gel for contacting and cushioning an amputee's residual limb, and an outer layer of fabric for, among other things, increasing the wear resistance of the liner, and facilitating donning/doffing and insertion of the liner-covered residual limb into a prosthetic socket. Such patented fabric-covered liner products are available from The Ohio Willow Wood Company in Mt. Sterling, Ohio.
Liners as described above may be used by upper limb amputees but are probably more frequently used by lower limb amputees. Lower limb amputees generally fall into one of two categories: below knee (BK) amputees and above knee (AK) amputees. In the case of a BK amputee, the amputation may occur through the tibia (i.e., is trans-tibial) or through the ankle (i.e., a Syme's amputation) and the knee joint is still present on the residual limb. Thus, a bending of the residual limb at the knee joint will still occur during ambulation. In the case of an AK amputee, the amputation may occur through the femur (i.e., is trans-femoral) or knee (i.e., a knee disarticulation) and the knee joint is missing from the residual limb.
In any case, and as would be well understood by one of skill in the art, an amputee typically dons a prosthetic liner, such as by rolling it onto the residual limb, and then inserts the liner-covered residual limb into a socket portion of a prosthesis. The prosthesis may be suspended (secured) on the liner-covered limb by means of, for example, vacuum, by a mechanical attachment such as a pin and lock mechanism, by friction alone, by use of a suspension sleeve, or by a combination thereof.
As would also be understood by one of skill in the art, a residual limb can become quite warm when covered with a polymeric prosthetic such as those described above, due largely to the substantially non-breathable and minimally thermally conductive nature of the silicone, urethane, TPE and other polymeric materials that are generally used. This heat retention problem may be further compounded when the exterior of the polymeric material is covered with a fabric, as described above. As it is desirable to employ a fabric that is durable and will prevent the bleed-through of polymeric material to the exterior of the fabric, the fabric may itself serve as another cause of heat retention.
The prosthetic socket into which a liner-covered residual limb is inserted may also contribute to the aforementioned heat retention problem. Since prosthetic sockets are commonly formed from fiberglass, composites, thermoplastics, resins, and other rigid and impermeable or substantially impermeable materials with comparably low thermal conductivities, heat transfer through the prosthetic socket is typically inhibited if not prevented.
Consequences of non
vascular trans
femoral amputation: a survey of quality of life, prosthetic use and problems
As can be understood then, when a polymeric liner-covered residual limb is inserted into a prosthetic socket, both the liner and the prosthetic socket may cause the residual limb to retain heat. This effect may be exacerbated when the prosthetic liner also includes a fabric-covered exterior. If a suspension sleeve is used, it too can contribute to the heat retention problem, since such sleeves are also typically of a polymer and fabric construction. The results of this heat retention may include, for example, an uncomfortable warming of the residual limb and/or excessive perspiration that can lead to skin problems. In fact, at least one study has shown that heat/sweating in the prosthetic socket is considered by many amputees to be the predominant problem associated with the wearing of a prosthesis. (See e.g., --, K. Hagberg and R. Branemark, Prosthetics and Orthotics International, 2001, 25, 186-194).
The thermal conductivity of prosthetic sockets and liners
In recognition of this residual limb heating problem, commercially available prosthetic liners and sockets have been analyzed with respect to their thermal conductivity properties and it has been shown that both prosthetic liners and prosthetic sockets contribute to residual limb heating. One such study reveals that a sample of several commercially available prosthetic liners exhibits a thermal conductivity of between 0.085-0.266 W/(m·° K), while a sample of several commercially available prosthetic socket materials exhibits a thermal conductivity of between 0.148-0.150 W/(m·° K). (See , G. K. Klute, G. I. Rowe, A. V. Mamishev, & W. R. Ledoux, Prosthetics and Orthotics International, September 2007, 31(3), 292-299.)
Similarly, orthotic devices can also suffer from heat retention problems. For example, knee sleeves and braces, ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs), knee-ankle-foot orthoses (KAFOs), walker boots, shoe insoles, back braces, and other braces can include polymers for padding, fabrics, resins, and reinforcements as used in prosthetic liners and sockets.
Importantly, patient testing has revealed that humans are capable of detecting the results of even small improvements in thermal conductivity when it comes to a device such as a prosthetic liner. For example, test patients unsolicitedly reported a perceived reduction in residual limb temperature (i.e., their residual limbs felt cooler) when wearing prosthetic liners whose polymeric material was silicone instead of a block copolymer and mineral oil gel composition. This is despite the fact that the difference in thermal conductivity between the particular silicone material and block copolymer and mineral oil gel composition in question was only about 0.04 W/(m·° K). Consequently, enhancing the thermal conductivity of prosthetic and/or orthotic devices to an even more substantial degree may bring about even greater patient comfort through further reduced limb temperatures.
It can be understood from the foregoing discussion that there is a need for various prosthetic and orthotic devices that maximize heat transfer from the associated residual limb or intact limb of the user and/or provide for the enhanced absorption of residual limb heat—the meaning of which is explained in more detail below. Exemplary prosthetic devices and assemblies according to the invention may include, without limitation, a polymeric prosthetic liner, a prosthetic suspension sleeve, a prosthetic socket, and a prosthetic assembly that includes such a prosthetic liner along with a prosthetic socket and, optionally, a prosthetic suspension sleeve. Such orthotic devices may include, without limitation, an AFO, a KAFO, a knee sleeve, a walker boot, a shoe insole, a back brace, and other braces, as mentioned above, as well as any other orthotic device that includes similar materials of construction.
Prosthetic liner embodiments of the invention are designed to enclose at least a portion of a residual limb. As such, a liner embodiment according to the invention will generally include an open end for allowing introduction of the residual limb, and a closed end opposite the open end. The closed end generally abuts and cushions the distal end of the residual limb when the liner is worn. Such a liner may be used by an upper or lower extremity amputee.
Prosthetic socket embodiments of the invention are designed to receive, retain and support a residual limb, such as a liner-covered residual limb. Prosthetic socket embodiments of the invention are also designed to couple the residual limb to the remainder of an associated prosthesis. Therefore, when a prosthetic socket is a part of a BK prosthesis, a pylon or similar element may be attached to the distal end of the socket for coupling the socket to a prosthetic ankle or foot. When a prosthetic socket is a part of an AK prosthesis, similar prosthetic components may be coupled thereto, but with a prosthetic knee joint residing between the other components and the socket.
Suspension sleeve embodiments of the invention are typically worn in conjunction with a prosthetic socket. That is, once an amputee has inserted his/her residual limb into the socket of a prosthesis, a suspension sleeve may be donned to seal the open (proximal) end of the socket. When used in this manner, one end of the suspension sleeve is located to overlie the proximal end of the socket while the other end of the suspension sleeve is located to overlie a portion of the amputee's residual limb (which may be covered by a prosthetic liner). In this manner, air may be prevented from entering or exiting the socket from the proximal end thereof, thereby facilitating creation and maintenance of a vacuum within the socket. The ability to create and maintain vacuum within a socket can be particularly valuable when the associated prosthesis is retained on the residual limb by means of active vacuum or suction suspension. Such a suspension sleeve may be used by an upper or lower extremity amputee.
Liner embodiments of the invention are generally comprised of a polymeric material, the exterior of which may be covered partially or entirely with fabric. A fabric-covered liner embodiment of the invention thus includes a polymeric material interior and a partial or wholly fabric exterior. When used with a prosthesis, the polymeric material of the liner interior is in contact with the skin of a residual limb and the fabric exterior is in contact with the interior of a prosthetic socket. Alternatively, liner embodiments according to the invention may be entirely devoid of fabric. When fabric is absent or partially absent from the exterior of a liner, the exposed polymeric material may be covered by/coated with a layer of lubricious material, such as but not limited to parylene.
Suspension sleeve embodiments of the invention are also generally comprised of a polymeric material, the exterior of which may again be covered partially or entirely with fabric. A fabric-covered suspension sleeve embodiment of the invention thus may include a polymeric material interior and a partial or wholly fabric exterior. As with liner embodiments of the invention, other suspension sleeve embodiments may also be wholly devoid of exterior fabric and a layer of a lubricious material such as parylene may optionally cover or be coated on any exposed exterior polymeric material. Suspension sleeve embodiments of the invention may also include an interior band of fabric. When used with a prosthesis, the polymeric material interior at one end of the suspension sleeve is in contact with the skin of a residual limb or an exposed area of liner polymer, while the polymeric material interior at the other end of the suspension sleeve is in contact with an exterior surface of a prosthetic socket.
Orthoses are externally applied devices used to support the musculoskeletal system. Orthoses are commonly used to control motion of a joint, to reduce weight-bearing forces, or otherwise support or shape the body. Some commonly used orthoses include upper limb-limb orthoses, foot orthoses, ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs), knee-ankle-foot orthoses (KAFOs), knee orthoses, and spinal orthoses.
Foot orthoses are inserts for a shoe used to distribute pressure or realign the foot. An AFO is a brace to support the ankle and foot, and is used to properly position a deformed limb or to provide support for a weak limb. A KAFO is a brace to support the knee, ankle, and foot that is used to properly position a deformed limb or to provide support for a weak limb. A knee orthosis is a brace to support the knee that is used to properly position a deformed knee or to provide support for a knee. A spinal orthosis is a brace which can be used to treat abnormal curvature of the spine or to restrict motion of the spine.
Orthoses are made from materials that are commonly the same as or similar to those used in making prostheses, including fiber reinforcement, composites, thermoplastic, resin and other rigid and semi-rigid materials. Polymeric materials or other elastomers and fabrics can also be used to improve the comfort of orthoses. Since the orthoses are in intimate contact with the body and many of such materials are substantially impermeable, heat transfer through the orthoses is typically inhibited if not prevented, just as with prostheses. Therefore, current orthoses can be uncomfortable and can be improved by using the thermally enhanced materials described in this application for the use in prostheses.
The polymeric material portion of a liner, suspension sleeve, or orthotic device embodiment of the invention may be comprised of, without limitation, silicone (including thermoplastic silicone, thermoset silicone and silicone gels), urethane (including thermoset urethane and thermoplastic urethane), a silicone polyurethane copolymer, a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), or a combination thereof. Of particular interest are block copolymer gel compositions, and silicone compositions, as such materials have proven to be especially effective at cushioning and protecting residual limbs while simultaneously providing amputees with a high level of comfort.
Because the polymeric material of the liner interior will normally be in contact with the skin of a residual limb when the liner is worn, the polymeric material is generally smooth and continuous in nature such that there are preferably no seams or other discontinuities that may cause amputee discomfort. A liner of the present invention will typically protect and cushion the entire portion of a residual limb residing in a prosthetic socket.
While a liner of the present invention may be of a non-locking (i.e., cushion) variety, other embodiments are constructed as locking liners. To this end, a liner of the present invention may include a connecting element at the closed end for facilitating attachment of the liner to the prosthetic socket of a prosthetic limb. Such connecting elements may be designed with a base portion that has a special accordion shape, which provides for increased comfort when the liner is worn by better conforming to the distal shape of the residual limb.
Liners of the invention are preferably constructed with polymeric materials that are modified to optimize the transfer of heat away from the residual limb (i.e., to exhibit maximum thermal conductivity) and to the exterior of the liner, and/or to provide for the enhanced absorption of heat emitted by the residual limb. It is realized that many materials can transfer or absorb heat to some degree. Therefore, it is to be understood that the concept of enhanced “heat transfer” and/or “thermal conductivity”, as used herein, refers to the ability of exemplary prosthetic or orthotic device embodiments to transfer heat away from a residual or intact limb at a rate and/or with an efficiency that is superior to the rate and/or efficiency at which such heat transfer would occur in polymeric prosthetic liners and suspension sleeves of typical (i.e., non-enhanced) design and construction. In other words, prosthetic and orthotic device embodiments of the invention may have heat transfer capabilities that are optimized, maximized, improved, etc., in comparison to typically constructed prosthetic and orthotic devices. Similarly, as used herein, the concept of enhanced heat “absorption” refers to the ability of an exemplary prosthetic or orthotic device to absorb heat from a residual limb or intact limb, within some temperature range, without any significant increase in localized temperature. In other words, exemplary prosthetic and/or orthotic device embodiments of the invention may include a material(s) that has a latent heat capacity sufficient to absorb a given amount of heat from a residual or intact limb with no or only a minimal increase in the temperature of the liner or suspension sleeve.
In this regard, the polymeric material of a given liner, suspension sleeve, or orthotic device may be doped with or otherwise include additives/fillers that improve the heat transfer capabilities of the base polymeric material. A number of potentially usable thermally conductive additives/fillers are described in more detail below.
In addition, it is possible to employ one or more encapsulated and/or un-encapsulated phase change materials as a heat absorbing additive. In this regard, exemplary embodiments of a prosthetic or orthotic device of the invention may include materials that are doped with or otherwise include one or more encapsulated and/or un-encapsulated phase change materials, such as a phase change material(s) that is dispersed within the polymeric material of the devices as a heat absorbing additive. Alternatively, a phase change material layer of some thickness may be provided, preferably along an area of a liner, prosthetic socket, suspension sleeve or orthotic device that will reside against or near the skin of a residual or intact limb when worn. In either case, the use of a phase change material(s) can act as a buffer against an increase (or decrease) in temperature inside a liner and socket assembly. Consequently, phase change materials may act to reduce peak heat loads in a prosthetic system by absorbing heat for later release and, therefore, may also reduce the amount of thermal conductivity required by a liner and socket system in order to keep a residual limb adequately cool. The use of phase change materials may thus also allow the consideration of a larger range of thermally conductive additives/fillers (i.e., additives/fillers that exhibit a lesser thermal conductivity) for use in the liner and socket assembly.
In other embodiments, liners, suspension sleeves and orthotic devices of the invention may include fluid-filled pockets that help to conduct heat away from the residual limb. Such fluid-filled pockets may operate to both increase the thermal conductivity of a given device, and to facilitate the transfer of heat by convection and other currents induced by the motion of the liner, socket, and/or suspension sleeve.
In yet other embodiments, liners, suspension sleeves and orthotic devices of the invention may include one or more areas of high thermal conductivity within the polymeric material. These area(s) of high thermal conductivity may be comprised of, for example, one or more polymeric materials that are dissimilar to the polymeric material forming the primary portion of the liner, suspension sleeve or orthotic device, and which exhibit better thermal conductivity.
In yet other liners, suspension sleeve and orthotic device embodiments, a bladder(s) or similar container(s) of an encapsulated or un-encapsulated phase change material, such as a wax-type, phase change material, may be employed. The bladder(s) may be molded with and may become integral to the liner, suspension sleeve or orthotic device. When the liner, suspension sleeve or orthotic device is worn, the phase change material absorbs heat generated by the residual or intact limb over which the liner, suspension sleeve or orthotic device is donned, and the heat is released after doffing thereof.
Additional liner embodiments having enhanced heat absorption capabilities may include a phase change material with a phase transition temperature that is lower than the typical temperatures experienced within a prosthetic liner during use by an amputee, such that the phase change material will always reside in a liquid state when the liner is in use. In the case of a liner whose polymeric material is silicone, for example, the use of such a phase change material allows the silicone to exhibit the desired enhanced heat absorption capabilities, while also simultaneously having a lower hardness value (i.e., a softer liner) but with a creep value that is similar to that of a harder silicone.
Liners, suspension sleeves and orthotic devices of the invention having a fabric covered exterior may also be constructed with fabric materials that exhibit good thermal conductivity, or are modified to enhance thermal conductivity, so as to better transfer heat away from the associated limb after conductive transfer by the polymeric material. Such fabric materials and modifications to fabric materials are described in more detail below and may include the use of, without limitation, conductive coatings, multi-component yarns, conductive filler doping, phase change materials, knit-in or wound wires, and regions that permit the penetration therethrough of the polymeric material.
As with liners of the invention, it is also preferred that prosthetic sockets used with the invention be comprised of a material that exhibits good thermal conductivity so as to effectuate the transfer of heat away from the residual limb residing therein. In this regard, the material used to construct a given prosthetic socket may include additives/fillers that improve the heat transfer characteristics of the socket material and/or buffer temperature. A number of potentially usable additives/fillers are described in more detail below. These additives/fillers may again include phase change materials.
It is also possible to construct a prosthetic socket of the invention entirely from a conductive material using an additive manufacturing technique such as, for example, selective laser sintering (SLS). It is further possible to employ passive heat transfer devices that may be coupled to a prosthetic socket. Such devices may include, for example, heat pipes, vapor chambers, aluminum or other thermally conductive metal elements, and heat sinks. Active cooling mechanisms, such as Peltier devices, and cooling channels or cooling tubes through which is circulated a cooling fluid, may also be associated with the socket.
Prosthetic sockets may also employ phase change materials in lieu of or in addition to thermal conductivity enhancing additives/fillers. A phase change material may be dispersed within the base material of a prosthetic socket and/or provided in one or more layers therein. In another exemplary embodiment, a prosthetic socket of the invention may employ a phase change material having a melting point well below the temperature at which an amputee would start to perceive discomfort from excessively high temperatures, so as to facilitate high heat flows. A heat switch may be provided to actively or passively regulate the heat flow of a prosthetic socket embodiment utilizing a phase change material having such a low melting point. A better understanding of various prosthetic and orthotic device embodiments according to the invention can be gained by review of the following description of several exemplary embodiments thereof, along with the associated accompanying drawing figures.
Prosthetic liner embodiments of the invention may be wholly fabric covered, partially fabric covered, or completely lacking a fabric covering. In the latter case, a lubricious coating (e.g., parylene) may or may not be provided on the polymeric liner exterior. Prosthetic liner embodiments of the invention may be non-locking in nature, i.e., without a distal connecting element. Prosthetic liners of the invention may also be locking in nature, i.e., with a distal connecting element. Liners of the invention may be of “off-the-shelf” design or may be custom designed for a particular amputee. Liners of the invention may be designed for use by upper limb amputees, or by either AK or BK lower limb amputees. Liners of the invention may function as a standalone interface between an amputee's residual limb and the interior of a prosthetic socket in use or, optionally, may be used in conjunction with a sheath, sleeve, or additional limb-covering element.
FIGS. 3
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Locking liner embodiments of the invention may be provided with a distal connector assembly, such as, but not limited to, the connecting element shown and described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/711,234, which was filed on Feb. 23, 2010 and is incorporated by reference herein. While not limited thereto, the polymeric material of a liner of the invention may be provided in any of the profiles shown and described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/711,234, such as for example, the profiles depicted in , , , and -. When a liner of the invention is provided with a partially or wholly fabric-covered exterior, the fabric(s) used, as well as the shape, location, arrangement, etc., of the fabric(s) may also be as shown and described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/711,234, such that the longitudinal stretch (elasticity) of a liner of the invention may be controlled primarily by its fabric exterior. Non-stretch controlling fabrics and fabric arrangements may also be employed.
Prosthetic suspension sleeve embodiments of the invention may be provided with a partially or wholly fabric-covered exterior. Prosthetic suspension sleeve embodiments of the invention may also have an exterior comprised of exposed polymeric material (i.e., no fabric covering). In such a latter embodiment, a lubricious coating may or may not be provided on the suspension sleeve exterior. Prosthetic suspension sleeve embodiments of the invention may be provided with an interior fabric band(s) at particular locations.
While not limited to such a construction, prosthetic suspension sleeve embodiments of the invention may be designed and constructed as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,406,499, and/or as shown and described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/855,866, which was filed on Sep. 14, 2007.
Exemplary embodiments of a prosthetic liner with enhanced thermal conductivity and/or enhanced heat absorption capabilities are described below, as are exemplary embodiments of a prosthetic suspension sleeve with enhanced thermal conductivity and/or enhanced heat absorption capabilities, and exemplary embodiments of a prosthetic socket with enhanced thermal conductivity. These exemplary embodiments are provided solely for the purpose of illustration, and not limitation. As described above, each exemplary embodiment of a liner and suspension sleeve includes a polymeric material, the exterior of which may be partially or completely covered with fabric, or wholly devoid of fabric.
With respect to the cross-sectional views illustrated herein, it should be noted that the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the thickness of the fabric layers and the polymeric material layers of the exemplary liners and suspension sleeves may be exaggerated for clarity. Further, the fabric layers and polymeric material layers are not necessarily drawn to scale with respect to each other. The same may hold true for the exemplary prosthetic socket embodiments shown in the accompanying drawing figures, as well as for the assemblies of various ones of said components.
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FIG. 1A
FIG. 1A
FIG. 1B
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A first embodiment of a non-locking prosthetic liner of the invention having enhanced thermal conductivity (heat transfer capabilities) is depicted in . As shown, the liner includes an open end for permitting insertion of a residual limb, and a closed end opposite the open end. A locking version of the prosthetic liner of is illustrated in . The locking liner has substantially the same construction as the non-locking liner and, therefore, also includes an open end for permitting insertion of a residual limb, and a closed end opposite the open end. Unlike the non-locking liner , the locking liner further includes a distal connecting element CE for mechanically coupling the liner to a prosthetic socket. The connecting element CE may include a threaded female bore (or insert) that is adapted to receive a like-threaded male pin (not shown), as would be familiar to one of skill in the art.
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FIG. 1A
FIG. 2
A cross-sectional view of the liner of can be observed in . As shown, the interior of the liner is comprised of a polymeric material while the exterior of the liner is comprised of fabric . The polymeric material of the liner interior is arranged so as to typically be in contact with the skin of a residual limb when the liner is worn. The fabric portion is arranged so as to typically be in contact with the interior of a prosthetic socket when the liner is used with a prosthetic limb, although this may not be the case in all embodiments.
The polymeric material portion of a liner of the invention may be comprised of, without limitation, silicone (including thermoplastic silicone, thermoset silicone and silicone gels), urethane (including thermoset urethane and thermoplastic urethane), a silicone polyurethane copolymer, or a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) such as a block copolymer and mineral oil gel composition. Certain embodiments may employ a combination of such materials. For example, the polymeric material may comprise a TPE inner layer for contact with a residual limb, and a harder outer layer, such as a layer constructed of silicone or urethane. Such an embodiment is taught in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/407,362 filed on Mar. 19, 2009.
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The liner of represents an exemplary embodiment where the heat transfer capability of the polymeric material has been enhanced by the inclusion therein of additives/fillers . In this exemplary embodiment, the additives/fillers are dispersed within the polymeric material.
Suitable additives/fillers for increasing the thermal conductivity of polymeric materials (such as those listed above) used in prosthetic liners, prosthetic suspension sleeves and orthotic devices according to the invention may include, without limitation, fullerenes such as carbon nanotubes; graphene platelets; boron nitride platelets; boron nitride fibers; boron nitride spherical powder; boron nitride agglomerates; diamond powder; graphite fibers; powders of silver, copper, gold and aluminum oxide; aluminum powder; and various combinations of two or more such additives/fillers. The use of one or more of these materials may enhance the heat transfer capability of a base polymeric material or polymeric material composition. For example, it has been found through experimentation that the addition of graphene platelets to a block copolymer and mineral oil gel composition can raise the thermal conductivity thereof from about 0.2 to above 0.4 W/(m·° K). Prosthetic liners according to the invention are expected to exhibit enhanced thermal conductivity of at least about 0.3 W/(m·° K).
FIG. 2
FIG. 2
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As described above, the fabric used in a liner of the invention may inherently exhibit good thermal conductivity. Alternatively, and as represented in , the fabric of the liner may be modified to produce or enhance the thermal conductivity thereof. As such modifications would typically be invisible to the naked eye, various possible thermal conductivity enhancements of the fabric are generally represented in by reference number .
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Thermal conductivity enhancements of the fabric may include, without limitation, the use of multi-component yarns. Such yarns would be generally familiar to one of skill in the art and may also be referred to as combined yarns or composite yarns. Multi-component yarns and processes for their manufacture are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,178,323. In the case of the present invention, such yarns would be manufactured of materials that are designed to enhance the thermal conductivity of the end product (e.g., fabric) in which they are employed. For example, in a three-strand multi-component yarn, two of the three strands could be nylon while the third strand might be a copper, silver, carbon nanotube strand, etc.
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Other thermal buffering or conductivity enhancements of the fabric may include yarns containing phase change materials. One or more conductive coatings may also be applied to the yarns that make up the fabric, may be applied to the entire fabric, or may be applied to the substrate of a non-woven fabric (e.g., Xymid). The fabric may also be modified by doping the individual yarns with conductive fillers such as fullerenes or graphene. In other embodiments, conductive wires may be knit or woven into the fabric, or may be spirally wound over elastic fibers.
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FIG. 3
FIG. 2
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An alternate version of the liner of is depicted in . This exemplary embodiment of the liner is again comprised of a polymeric material having a fabric outer covering and includes enhanced thermal conductivity. However, unlike the exemplary embodiment shown in , this exemplary embodiment further includes a phase change material that is provided in a layer of some thickness over all or part of the liner. As would be understood by one of skill in the art, and as is described in more detail below, a phase change material may be generally defined as a material that is capable of storing and releasing energy (e.g., heat) when the material changes state (e.g., changes from a solid to a liquid, from a liquid to a gas, etc.).
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In this exemplary embodiment, the phase change material is located along an area of the liner that will reside near the skin of an amputee's residual limb when the liner is worn so as to most effectively absorb heat from the residual limb and transfer heat away from the residual limb through the polymeric material and fabric of the liner. Consequently, this exemplary embodiment again preferably includes a polymeric material and a fabric with good inherent thermal conductivity or a polymeric material and fabric that has been enhanced in this regard, as shown. For example, the thermal conductivity enhancing techniques described in regard to the polymeric material of the liner of may again be employed.
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Alternatively, it is possible to produce a liner similar to that shown in but without a polymeric material having particularly good thermal conductivity. In such an embodiment, the phase change material would assume the entire role, or at least the majority of the role, in removing heat from the residual limb. Therefore, as long as the phase change material does not become heat-saturated, it should still provide for some amount of cooling effect. In addition to the embodiment of wherein the phase change material is provided in a layer, other similar embodiments may have instead, or in addition to, a phase change material dispersed within the polymeric material, a localized area(s) (e.g., pocket(s)) of phase change material, etc. In any case, upon removal of the liner from the residual limb, heat will be transferred from the phase change material to the ambient environment.
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Still another exemplary embodiment of a liner of the invention having enhanced thermal conductivity is illustrated in . This exemplary liner is shown to be similar to the liner of , as it is comprised of a polymeric material having a fabric outer covering , and the polymeric material is shown to include thermally conductive additives/fillers that are dispersed within the polymeric material. This exemplary liner could also employ a phase change material layer as shown in , could include a phase change material arranged as otherwise described above, or a phase change material in an arrangement such as one or more of the arrangements described in more detail below.
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This embodiment of the liner may again include a fabric with good inherent thermal conductivity or a fabric that has been enhanced in this regard. It may also be possible for this embodiment of the liner to include a fabric without particularly good thermal conductivity characteristics or a fabric that has not been enhanced in this regard. This latter possibility is due to the presence of multiple regions of omitted fabric (e.g., voids) that allow for the exposure of the thermal conductivity enhanced polymeric material . One or more voids may be present in various embodiments. The voids may be of various size and shape, and may be uniformly or randomly located along the liner
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The voids in the fabric covering preferably permit the exposed areas of polymeric material to contact the interior wall of a prosthetic socket when a liner-covered residual limb is inserted therein. Consequently, the polymeric material is then able to directly transfer heat from the residual limb to the socket without the need to transfer the heat through the fabric covering . As should be apparent to one of skill in the art, also employing a naturally thermally conductive fabric or a fabric with enhanced thermal conductivity may further promote heat transfer in such an embodiment.
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FIG. 5
Another exemplary embodiment of a liner of the invention having enhanced thermal conductivity is depicted in . Unlike previous embodiments, this embodiment of the liner includes fluid-filled pockets that reside within the polymeric material and help to conduct heat from the residual limb through the liner. One or a plurality of such pockets may be present. The fluid-filled pockets would operate by not only increasing the thermal conductivity of the assembly, but also by facilitating the transfer of heat by convection and other currents induced by the motion of the liner and an associated socket.
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FIGS. 2 and 4
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As shown, this exemplary embodiment of may employ a polymeric material that is not provided with enhanced heat transfer characteristics beyond those resulting from use of the fluid-filled pockets . Alternatively, the polymeric material may also be provided with additives/fillers as shown in and/or a phase change material provided in a layer as shown in , dispersed within the polymeric material as shown in , and/or provided in localized areas as shown in .
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This embodiment of the liner may include a fabric with good inherent thermal conductivity, or a fabric that has been enhanced in this regard, as shown. This embodiment of the liner may again also include a fabric without particularly good thermal conductivity characteristics or a fabric that has not been enhanced in this regard, in which case one or more voids are preferably present in the fabric and located to overlie the fluid filled pockets and to perhaps correspond in size and shape thereto, in a manner similar to that shown and described with respect to .
FIG. 6
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In yet another embodiment, which is generally represented in , a liner of the invention may include one or more areas of high thermal conductivity within the polymeric material . These area(s) of high thermal conductivity may be comprised of, for example, one or more polymeric materials that are dissimilar to the polymeric material forming the primary portion of the liner, and which exhibit better thermal conductivity.
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FIG. 6
FIGS. 2 and 4
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As shown, this exemplary embodiment of may employ a primary polymeric material that is not provided with enhanced heat transfer characteristics beyond those resulting from use of one or more areas of high thermal conductivity within the polymeric material. Alternatively, the polymeric material may also be provided with thermally conductive additives/fillers as shown in and/or a phase change material provided in a layer as shown in , dispersed within the polymeric material as shown in , and/or provided in localized areas as shown in .
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This embodiment of the liner may include a fabric with good inherent thermal conductivity, or a fabric that has been enhanced in this regard, as shown. This embodiment of the liner may again also include a fabric without particularly good thermal conductivity characteristics or a fabric that has not been enhanced in this regard, in which case one or more voids are preferably present in the fabric as shown in and described above. In this case, the voids in the fabric covering would preferably correspond in location and perhaps in size and shape with the one or more areas of high thermal conductivity within the polymeric material , in a manner similar to that shown and described with respect to .
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FIG. 7
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Another embodiment of a liner of the invention can be observed in . As shown, this liner is comprised of a polymeric material without a fabric exterior. Consequently, the polymeric material will typically be in contact with the skin of a residual limb when the liner is worn and will also typically reside against interior of a prosthetic socket when the liner is used with a prosthetic limb, although this may not be the case in all embodiments. In a variation of this embodiment, a phase change material layer may be located along the interior surface of the polymeric material so as to reside near the skin of an amputee's residual limb when the liner is worn, may be dispersed within the polymeric material as shown in , and/or may be provided in localized areas as illustrated in . The phase change material(s) acts to absorb and store heat generated by the residual limb and, at least to some extent, and may assist with the transfer of heat therefrom to the polymeric material layer in the manner described above with respect to the embodiment of .
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The polymeric material portion of this embodiment may be comprised of, without limitation, any one of the polymeric materials or combinations of polymeric materials described above. For example, the polymeric material may be silicone. However, because such polymeric materials are typically very tacky, rolling them onto a residual limb without the exterior fabric layer would be difficult without the inclusion of some type of lubricant on the outer liner surface.
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Therefore, a lubricious outer coating may be applied to the exterior of the liner such as by spraying or wiping the liner exterior with alcohol or a similarly suitable substance. This is a less than optimal solution, however, as it creates an additional donning step for the amputee and at least certain lubricants can be messy to apply and remove. Consequently, variations of the fabric-free liner may include an exterior surface that is treated to produce a long-term or permanent reduction in the coefficient of friction thereof. Treatment methods useable in this regard may include the spraying on or vapor deposition of any of a number of friction reducing materials, which would be familiar to one of skill in the art and need not be discussed in detail herein (e.g., parylene).
5
20
30
30
f
As with at least certain other exemplary liner embodiments described herein, this embodiment of the liner includes a polymeric material that has been modified by the inclusion therein of thermally conductive additives/fillers that are preferably dispersed within the polymeric material. Suitable additives/fillers may again include, without limitation, fullerenes such as carbon nanotubes; graphene platelets; boron nitride platelets; boron nitride fibers; boron nitride spherical powder; boron nitride agglomerates; diamond powder; graphite fibers; powders of silver, copper, gold and aluminum oxide; aluminum powder; and various combinations of two or more such additives/fillers.
As can be understood from the foregoing descriptions of exemplary embodiments, liners according to the invention may be highly heat absorbing instead of, or in addition to, possessing enhanced heat transfer capabilities. Generally, the heat absorbing capability of a liner of the invention is enhanced through the use of a phase change material. As briefly explained above, phase change materials are materials that store and release energy (e.g., heat) when the material changes state. The change in state occurs at some transition temperature, which is generally known. For example, it may be known that a given phase change material transitions from a solid to a liquid at about some particular temperature. The same phase change material will also have a transition temperature associated with the reverse process of reverting from a solid back to a liquid. Different phase change materials may have significantly different transition temperatures. For example, water transitions from a solid to a liquid, or vice versa, at roughly 32° F., whereas other materials may make a similar phase transition at a much higher temperature.
Various types of phase change materials may be employed in embodiments of the invention as long as the associated transition temperature thereof is within a usable range. These material may include for example, positive temperature organics (e.g., waxes, oils, fatty acids), salt hydrates, and even solid-to-solid phase change materials (e.g., clathrates). (See also, e.g., A review on phase change energy storage: materials and applications, Mohammed M. Farid, Amar M. Khudhair, Siddique Ali K. Razack, and Said Al-Hallaj, Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 1597-1615, for a discussion of possible exemplary phase change materials).
The transition temperature should be considered when selecting a phase change material for use in a prosthetic or orthotic device of the invention. Ice, for example, may be an attractive phase change material from the standpoint of its ability to provide significant cooling to a residual limb. However, the transition temperature of ice is far too low to generally be comfortably or safely used in a prosthetic liner or suspension sleeve. Rather, consideration should be given to the range of temperatures that are likely to be generated within a prosthetic liner and experienced by the wearer thereof. It has been found through testing, for example, that most amputees begin to feel uncomfortable when their residual limb temperature exceeds approximately 90° F. However, this temperature may vary based on the individual amputee, and also perhaps based on their activity level and/or the ambient environment. Therefore, phase change materials having a transition temperature that falls within some range of temperatures that may or are likely to be experienced by a residual limb may be appropriate for a prosthetic liner application. For example, it is believed that phase change materials with a transition temperature in the range of about 75° F. to 95° F. would be generally viable for use in prosthetic liner embodiments of the invention that would be suitable for the vast majority of amputees without the need for further thermal regulation. An even wider range of materials becomes usable if other modes of thermal regulation are utilized. It is also possible that phase change materials with transition temperatures outside of the above-stated range may also be usable in certain situations.
It is also noted that the solid-to-liquid transition temperature for a given phase change material is not necessarily the same as the liquid-to-solid transition temperature. In fact, it has been found that the difference between these transition temperatures can sometimes be significant. Consequently, it may at least advisable depending on the given situation, to consider how closely the liquid-to-solid transition temperature matches the solid-to-liquid transition temperature—as it is only during a phase change that a phase change material can store or release heat with maximum efficiency.
It should be further understood that, while exemplary prosthetic and/or orthotic embodiments of the invention that employ phase change materials are described herein for purposes of illustration specifically with respect to the cooling capabilities thereof, the scope of the invention is not limited to the use of phase change materials only for cooling. Rather, just as the selection of a phase change material with a melting point near the upper limit of a patient's comfort range can buffer against high temperatures, it is to be understood that a phase change material can instead be used to buffer against low temperatures. For example, in a heating application, a phase change material may be selected with a transition temperature that is instead near the bottom of a patient's comfort range. As such, similar techniques and designs can also be used to buffer against cold temperatures.
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5
60
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g
g
g
g
FIG. 8
FIGS. 2-7
One exemplary embodiment of a liner having enhanced heat absorption capabilities is shown in . This exemplary embodiment of the liner is again comprised of a polymeric material having a fabric outer covering . However, unlike the previously described exemplary liner embodiments, this exemplary liner includes a phase change material that is dispersed substantially throughout the polymeric material of the liner. The polymeric material and/or the fabric of the liner may also have good inherent thermal conductivity or may include high thermal conductivity additives/fillers (as shown) or be otherwise enhanced for maximized heat transfer, such as in any manner described above with respect to the embodiments of .
FIG. 9
FIG. 8
FIGS. 2-7
5
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5
65
70
5
65
25
20
5
5
20
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h
g
h
h
g
h
In other embodiments, a bladder or similar container of a phase change material, such as a wax-type phase change material, may be present. Such an exemplary liner embodiment is depicted in . This exemplary embodiment of the liner is again comprised of a polymeric material having a fabric outer covering . However, unlike the previously described exemplary liner embodiments, this exemplary liner includes a bladder of phase change material that is incorporated into the liner . For example, the bladder may be attached to the fabric of the liner before molding, and the polymeric material may then be molded around and over the bladder such that it becomes integral to the liner . As with the liner embodiment of , the polymeric material and/or the fabric of this liner may also have good inherent thermal conductivity or may include high thermal conductivity additives/fillers (as shown) or be otherwise enhanced for maximized heat transfer, such as in any manner described above with respect to the embodiments of .
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i
i
i
g
h
i
FIG. 10
FIGS. 8-9
FIGS. 2-7
Alternatively, another embodiment of a liner with enhanced heat absorption capabilities is represented in . This exemplary embodiment of the liner is again comprised of a polymeric material having a fabric outer covering . However, unlike the previously described exemplary liner embodiments, this exemplary liner includes a bladder of phase change material that covers a substantial portion of the liner. As with the liner embodiments -of , the polymeric material and/or the fabric of this liner may also have good inherent thermal conductivity or may include high thermal conductivity additives/fillers (as shown) or be otherwise enhanced for maximized heat transfer, such as in any manner described above with respect to the embodiments of .
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85
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5
5
20
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j
j
g
i
j
FIG. 11
FIGS. 8-10
FIGS. 2-7
Yet another embodiment of a liner with enhanced heat absorption capabilities is represented in . This exemplary embodiment of the liner is again comprised of a polymeric material having a fabric outer covering . In this exemplary embodiment, a plurality of localized bladders containing a phase change material are used. As with the liner embodiment -of , the polymeric material and/or the fabric of this liner may also have good inherent thermal conductivity or may include high thermal conductivity additives/fillers (as shown) or be otherwise enhanced for maximized heat transfer, such as in any manner described above with respect to the embodiments of .
An additional exemplary embodiment of a liner with enhanced heat absorption capabilities includes a phase change material with a phase transition temperature that is lower than the typical temperatures experienced within a prosthetic liner during use by an amputee. For example, and without limitation, the phase transition temperature may be about 60° F. At this temperature, the phase change material will always reside in a liquid state when the liner is in use.
Testing has shown that silicone material that includes a phase change material in a liquid state has different mechanical properties than when an included phase change material is a solid. Testing has specifically revealed that that when the phase change material is in a liquid state, the hardness of the silicone is much less (i.e., the silicone is much softer) than when the phase change material is solid, yet the creep value is similar to that of a harder silicone. Consequently, including a liquid state phase change material in the silicone polymeric material of a liner may impart desirable comfort properties to the silicone without the detrimental effects on the mechanical properties typically seen when attempting to formulate a softer silicone.
When any liner embodiment exhibiting enhanced heat absorption capabilities according to the invention is worn, the phase change material(s) present therein absorbs heat generated by the residual limb over which the liner is donned. As described above, the phase change material(s) possess a latent heat capacity that is sufficient to permit absorption of this heat over some given temperature range with no or a only a minimal resulting rise in the localized temperature. The heat absorbed by the phase change material(s) of such a liner embodiment may be subsequently released when the liner is later removed from the residual limb.
Liners of the invention are preferably used in conjunction with a prosthetic socket. It has been discovered through examination that most commercially available or otherwise conventionally produced prosthetic sockets—such as carbon fiber prosthetic sockets—exhibit very poor thermal conductivity primarily due to a very high resin to reinforcing fiber ratio. For example, it has been discovered that existing prosthetic sockets may have an resin-to-reinforcing fiber ratio as high as about 80:20. While other resin-to-reinforcing fiber ratios certainly also exist, the orthotics and prosthetics industry appears to use a far higher ratio of resin to reinforcing fiber (or other reinforcing material) on average than is used by other industries that also produce reinforced composite structures.
It has also been determined that by reducing the amount of resin and/or increasing the amount of reinforcing fiber used, the thermal conductivity of a typically constructed prosthetic socket may be increased beyond normal levels without adversely affecting the strength of the socket. Consequently, a most basic method of increasing the thermal conductivity of a typically constructed prosthetic socket may be to simply optimize the resin-to-reinforcing fiber ratio.
100
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FIG. 12
The foregoing commentary notwithstanding, it should be understood that even a prosthetic socket manufactured with an optimized resin-to-reinforcing (e.g., carbon) fiber ratio may still be provided with further enhanced thermal conductivity according to the invention. An exemplary embodiment of such a prosthetic socket is generally represented in . As shown, the prosthetic socket includes an open end for permitting insertion of a liner-covered residual limb (e.g., a liner-covered residual leg), and a closed end opposite the open end.
100
100
FIG. 12
FIG. 13
FIG. 13
A first cross-sectional view of the prosthetic socket of can be observed in . As with at least many of the liner embodiments of the invention, it is also preferred that prosthetic sockets used according to the invention exhibit enhanced thermal conductivity so as to further effectuate the transfer of heat away from the residual limb residing therein. In this regard, the material used to construct the prosthetic socket may be a thermoformable or laminatable material that exhibits good inherent thermal conductivity—as illustrated in .
100
b
Alternatively, a prosthetic socket with enhanced thermal conductivity may be constructed via an additive manufacturing technique such as for example, selective laser sintering (SLS). In this case, a material blend containing thermoplastics such as Nylon 11 or Nylon 12 and thermally conductive additives, lends itself well to socket construction. One such commercially available packed Nylon 12 product is Alumide, which is polyamide and aluminum powder resin blend available from the EOS of North America, Inc. in Novi, Mich.
120
FIG. 14
The base material used to produce any prosthetic socket of the invention, including a base material that already exhibits good inherent thermal conductivity, may also be doped with or otherwise made to include a highly thermally conductive additive/filler . Such an exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic socket is generally depicted in .
120
100
120
b
A number of such potentially usable additives/fillers exist. For example, and without limitation, the material used to construct the thermally conductive prosthetic socket may be doped with additives/fillers such as fullerenes; graphene; boron nitride fibers and platelets; boron nitride spherical powder; boron nitride agglomerates; diamond powder; graphite fibers; powders of silver, copper, gold and aluminum oxide, and aluminum powder.
A phase change material may also be dispersed within the socket material to provide for enhanced heat absorption capabilities. Alternatively, or in addition to the use of a dispersed phase change material, a phase change material may be applied to the socket in a layer that lies along or near the interior socket wall.
FIG. 15
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Another prosthetic socket embodiment with enhanced heat absorption capabilities may employ a phase change material having a melting point below a given average prosthetic socket interior temperature at which an amputee will start to perceive discomfort: either directly from heat, or indirectly due to perspiration. As shown in , an exemplary embodiment of such a prosthetic socket may include a packet of such a phase change material in the solid phase, which may be placed into a receiving portion of the prosthetic socket, such as a recess or some type of enclosure. In any event, the packet of phase change material is connected by a heat flow path to the interior of the socket so as to permit socket temperature regulation. In this simple system, it is the thermal properties of the phase change material , i.e. the melting temperature of the phase change material, that provides the temperature regulation function. Should the phase change material become heat saturated, replacement of the packet with another packet of phase change material in the solid phase is all that is required to restore full thermal regulation to the system. The receiving portion in the socket may have a door(s) or some other convenient form of access to allow a user to readily exchange a packet of phase change material if necessary.
It should be pointed out that a prosthetic or orthotic device could also utilize a phase change material(s) with a melting point near the temperature where a user would be expected to become uncomfortably cold. In this way, a user could choose between a heating or cooling effect by simply selecting an appropriate phase change material. A user may be provided with different packets of phase change material for this purpose.
In still another exemplary embodiment, a prosthetic socket of the invention may employ a phase change material having a melting point well below the temperature at which an amputee would start to perceive discomfort from excessively high temperatures. By using a phase change material with a low melting point, a large temperature differential would be created between the amputee's residual limb and the phase change material—thus facilitating high heat flows. Because such a phase change material could have a melting point that is sufficiently low to be uncomfortable to a user, such a design may necessitate that the phase change material be insulated from both the user and the environment so as to prevent both unrestrained cooling of the user, and unrestrained absorption of large amounts of heat from the environment.
A heat switch may be provided to actively or passively regulate the heat flow of a prosthetic socket embodiment utilizing a phase change material having such a low melting point. Active control may be implemented by a thermal measurement device such as a thermocouple or thermistor, in communication with a regulation device and an actuator situated to allow the assembly to regulate the position of a thermally conductive path between the interior of the socket and the packet of phase change material. This permits a completion or breaking of the thermal path. Passive control may be accomplished, for example, through the use of bimetallic disks or strips or, alternatively, through a device designed to be actuated by the thermally induced volume change of a material such as paraffin. Such an embodiment would utilize the thermally induced motion or volume change of these materials to complete or break a heat path between the interior of the socket and the packet of phase change material.
FIG. 16
As schematically illustrated in cross-section in , in order to further improve heat transfer through a prosthetic socket it is possible to also employ one or more of a variety of passive heat transfer devices that may be mounted thereto. Passive heat transfer devices may be used in conjunction with a prosthetic socket comprised of a material having inherently good thermal conductivity or with a prosthetic socket comprised of a material that include additives/fillers that improve the heat transfer characteristics of the socket material.
FIG. 16
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As shown in , an exemplary embodiment of such a prosthetic socket is comprised of a material that include additives/fillers that improve the heat transfer characteristics of the socket material. In other embodiments, the prosthetic socket may be comprised of a material that inherently exhibits good thermal conductivity. A cooling device enclosure is integrated into the socket for the purpose of housing the passive cooling device(s) employed. In other embodiments, a passive cooling device enclosure may be attached to the socket . The socket wall may be thinned in the area of the device enclosure (as shown), or it may remain relatively the same thickness as the surrounding socket area. Such cooling device enclosures may have a variety of shapes and may be of a various sizes.
In the exemplary embodiment shown, the cooling device enclosure is located along a posterior portion of the socket, but may be located elsewhere on the prosthetic socket in other embodiments. It is also possible to employ more than one passive cooling device at more than one location on a given prosthetic socket, in which case more than one cooling device enclosure may also be present.
Passive cooling devices that may be used for this purpose may include, for example, heat sinks, heat pipes, high conductivity metal elements in the form of plates etc., and vapor chambers. Such passive cooling devices would be familiar to one of skill in the art and are commercially available from several sources including, for example, Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. and Thermacore, Inc., both located in Pennsylvania.
165
The passive cooling device(s) are preferably oriented to optimally move heat from a residual limb located in the socket through the socket wall. Heat flow through these high conductivity paths can also be modulated by a device such as a bimetallic actuator (e.g., a Snap Disc thermostat manufactured by Fenwal Controls). Other possible heat flow modulation devices may include, for example, a wax pellet system where an expansive wax pellet is sealed in a small syringe like structure that then changes length when the wax melts and expands; a bimetallic coil; and a gas or liquid bulb system where a bulb is filled with a gas or liquid, and connected to a long tube, often coiled or bent, which tube is straightened by pressure produced within the tube as the gas or liquid is heated and expands. Heat may be transferred from the residual limb through a liner of the invention. Heat transferred by such passive cooling devices may be vented to the ambient environment or, alternatively, may be collected for various purposes such as heating of the residual limb in the case of a subsequent reduction in ambient temperature, etc.
FIGS. 17 and 18
As illustrated in , it is also possible to employ active cooling mechanisms in order to improve heat transfer through a prosthetic socket. Such active cooling mechanisms may include, without limitation, Peltier devices, cooling channels or cooling tubes through which is circulated a cooling fluid, a fan attached to a heat sink or similar device, or combinations of these devices.
FIG. 17
FIG. 12
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schematically represents an embodiment of the invention where a Peltier device is used to enhance heat transfer through a prosthetic socket . As with the passive cooling device exemplary embodiment shown in , a prosthetic socket embodiment of the invention that employs a Peltier device may also include a device enclosure within which the Peltier device resides. An electrical energy source , such as a battery or capacitor, may also be located within the enclosure to power the Peltier device . The Peltier device is oriented so as to transfer heat from or to the interior of the socket through the socket wall.
FIG. 17
170
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In the exemplary embodiment of , the prosthetic socket is shown to be comprised of a material that include additives/fillers that improve the heat transfer characteristics of the socket material. In other embodiments, the prosthetic socket may be comprised of a material that inherently exhibits good thermal conductivity.
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FIG. 18
Another embodiment of a prosthetic socket of the invention is schematically illustrated in . In this embodiment, a series of cooling channels are formed within the socket wall and a pump is used to circulate coolant therethrough. Such a prosthetic socket may be formed, for example, using an additive manufacturing process as mentioned above. The pumping method could be one utilizing an electrically-powered pump and an associated power source, such as a battery, or the walking motion of a user may be used to power a mechanical pump.
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FIG. 16
As the coolant is circulated through the cooling channels , it is also passed through a heat exchanger device . The heat exchanger device is operative to remove heat from the cooling fluid, as would be well understood by one of skill in the art. A number of known heat exchanger devices may be used for this purpose. As with the passive cooling device of the exemplary embodiment shown in , a prosthetic socket embodiment of the invention that employs a coolant circulating system may also include an enclosure within which may reside the pump , the heat exchanger device , a power source , etc.
FIG. 18
195
In the exemplary embodiment of , the prosthetic socket is shown to be comprised of a material that inherently exhibits good thermal conductivity. In other embodiments, the prosthetic socket may be comprised of a material that includes additives/fillers which improve the heat transfer characteristics of the socket material.
Hybrid prosthetic socket cooling embodiments according to the invention are also possible. Such embodiments may combine both passive and active cooling elements into a single cooling system. One such hybrid embodiment includes an array of heat pipes that are embedded within the wall of a prosthetic socket. For example, the array of heat pipes may be vertically oriented within the socket wall. The heat pipes may be may be restricted to a given area of the socket, such as a posterior area.
The heat pipes are provided to transfer heat from the socket interior through the socket wall and to the atmosphere. Preferably, one end (the cooling end) of the heat pipes is placed in communication with an externally located heat sink for this purpose. The heat sink may be provided in the form a plate or bar, such as a plate or bar that extends in a circumferential direction around some portion of the socket exterior so as to communicate with the proper end of each heat pipe.
The heat sink is preferably comprised of a material that has a high coefficient of thermal conductivity, as would be understood by one of skill in the art. In exemplary embodiments, the heat sink is comprised of a metal, such as aluminum, but the use of other heat sink materials is possible in other embodiments.
In order to cool a prosthetic socket using a heat pipe array and heat sink arrangement such as that described above, it is necessary that the temperature of the heat sink be less than the temperature of the heat pipes. In such a case, the heat pipes will transfer heat from the warm socket wall to the heat sink. Therefore, exemplary embodiments of a prosthetic socket cooling system employing such a heat pipe array and heat sink may also include an active device for reducing the temperature of the heat sink.
One example of an active device for cooling a heat sink is a fan. Another example of an active device for cooling a heat sink is a thermoelectric cooling device (e.g., a Peltier device). Of course, the heat sink may also include passive cooling elements such as cooling fins. Active cooling devices may also be used in combination in such embodiments. For example, a heat sink with cooling fins and a fan may be connected in parallel with a thermoelectric cooling device. Such an arrangement could allow cooling only via the heat sink and fan when conditions permit, with the thermoelectric cooling device being energized only when the cooling load exceeds the capacity of the heat sink and fan. A second heat sink and fan may be similarly connected in parallel to the thermoelectric cooling device and so on to provide sufficient cooling capacity. The active devices may be powered by one or more batteries or capacitors, or by another electrical energy storage device(s).
An alternative and wholly passive version of the hybrid prosthetic socket cooling system described above is also possible. For example, the active cooling device(s) of the aforementioned hybrid cooling system may be replaced with a phase change material that acts to transfer heat from the heat pipe array through the socket wall and to the atmosphere. In such an embodiment, the phase change material may be contained in a housing, container, etc., that is mounted to the exterior of a prosthetic socket. The housing would preferably be highly conductive along the surface thereof that communicates with the heat pipe array, but highly insulating along the surface(s) thereof that are exposed to the socket atmosphere. In this manner, it can be better ensured that the phase change material will always transfer heat from the heat pipes out of the socket, and will not inadvertently operate in reverse if conditions are encountered where the temperature outside of the socket exceeds the temperature within the socket.
In such an embodiment, a packet of a phase change material may again be employed so that, should the phase change material become heat saturated, replacement of the packet with another packet of phase change material in the solid phase is all that is required to restore full thermal regulation to the system. Similarly, the enclosure, etc., provided to retain the phase change material may again include a door(s) or some other convenient form of access to allow a user to readily exchange the phase change material if necessary.
In yet additional embodiments of the invention, other combinations of passive and active cooling may be used to enhance the heat transfer capabilities of a prosthetic socket. For example, a passive device other than a heat sink, or some combination of passive devices, could be used in conjunction with an alternative active device(s) such as a fan or a coolant circulating system, as described above.
With respect to the use of thermoelectric cooling devices in prosthetic socket and/or orthotic device embodiments of the invention, it is noted that the coefficient of performance (COP) for a thermoelectric cooling system is generally understood to fall in the range of about 0.3 to 0.7, while typical evaporative cooling systems generally have a COP of around 3.0 (i.e., as much as ten times that of a thermoelectric cooling based system). It is apparent, therefore, that thermoelectric cooling systems are generally held to be highly inefficient.
In a prosthetics application, an amputee must generally carry a power supply for any electrical energy consuming devices associated with a prosthesis. A power supply adds weight and cost, and a convenient means of carrying such a power supply is also generally necessary. Consequently, it should be apparent that system efficiency is important in a prosthetic socket cooling application, and thermoelectric cooling devices have generally been thought to be far too inefficient for this purpose.
As explained above, efficiency in cooling applications is generally expressed as the COP. COP for a cooling application is defined as:
<math overflow="scroll"><mtable><mtr><mtd><mrow><mi>COP</mi><mo>=</mo><mfrac><msub><mi>Q</mi><mi>Cold</mi></msub><mi>Work</mi></mfrac></mrow></mtd><mtd><mrow><mo>(</mo><mn>1</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></mtd></mtr></mtable></math>
Cold
Where Qis the heat removed from the refrigerated system and Work is the energy necessary to drive the cooling. The heat exhausted from the system is therefore necessarily:
Q
=Q
out
Cold
+Work (2)
It is also important to note that there is an absolute limit to how high the COP can go. This limit is defined by Carnot's equation as:
<math overflow="scroll"><mtable><mtr><mtd><mrow><msub><mi>COP</mi><mi>max</mi></msub><mo>=</mo><mfrac><msub><mi>T</mi><mi>cold</mi></msub><mrow><msub><mi>T</mi><mi>hot</mi></msub><mo>-</mo><msub><mi>T</mi><mi>cold</mi></msub></mrow></mfrac></mrow></mtd><mtd><mrow><mo>(</mo><mn>3</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></mtd></mtr></mtable></math>
hot
cold
A quick evaluation of Equation 3 reveals that operating a thermoelectric cooling device over a narrow temperature range can greatly increase the maximum COP that can be achieved. It is also important to note that COPs for thermoelectric cooling devices are generally much higher at comparatively low heat flux densities. Using these two factors, the fact that the amount of heat that needs to be removed from a prosthetic device (e.g., socket) is relatively low, and that the cost for a prosthetic device is relatively high compared to this amount of heat, it is possible to construct an efficient thermoelectric cooling system with a COP in the region of 3.0 by using a comparatively large thermoelectric cooling device for the amount of heat that needs to be pumped and capitalizing on the fact that a vast majority of an amputee's life is spent at temperatures below 40° C. Since typical socket temperatures of 30° C. are only 10° C. below this, the term T−Tin Equation 3 is unlikely to ever be above 10° C. This is a relatively low temperature differential compared to conventional thermoelectric cooling designs where temperature differentials of as high as 40° C.-50° C. are typically used to reduce device size and cost.
Research has shown that a residual limb produces a maximum heat load of only about 15 Watts. Thus, a thermoelectric cooling system need only meet this heat load to provide adequate socket cooling under normal circumstances. By increasing the COP of a thermoelectric device, the power requirements of the thermoelectric device may be further reduced (e.g., to 5 Watts with a COP of 3). As such, a thermoelectric cooling device of only a few square inches in size has sufficient power to cool a prosthetic socket. Further, and as discussed above, such a unit will seldom need to operate against more than 10° C. temperature differential. Therefore, it has been determined that if a thermoelectric cooling device is sized accordingly, and if a control scheme is designed to measure the current temperature differential and then choose the optimal drive power, it is possible to design an efficient thermoelectric cooling system for a prosthetic socket. While the cost per Watt of cooling utilized in a such a cooling application may be unacceptable in other applications, it is acceptable for use in a durable medical device such as a prosthetic socket.
One key to acceptable prosthetic socket cooling via a thermoelectric cooling device is proper (over)sizing of the cooling element so that at the highest anticipated temperature differential, the COP will still be acceptable. It is possible to operate a thermoelectric cooling device at the peak COP by controlling either the drive voltage or the drive current. Because the system is constrained, controlling one will result in operation at the proper operating point of the other.
For a thermoelectric cooling device made of P type and N type semiconductor materials at specific temperatures, Goldsmid teaches that the maximum COP will be obtained by running the device at a specific current that can be calculated by using Equation 4 below.
<math overflow="scroll"><mtable><mtr><mtd><mrow><msub><mi>I</mi><mi>COPmax</mi></msub><mo>=</mo><mfrac><mrow><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><msub><mi>α</mi><mi>p</mi></msub><mo>-</mo><msub><mi>α</mi><mi>n</mi></msub></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mo></mo><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><msub><mi>T</mi><mn>2</mn></msub><mo>-</mo><msub><mi>T</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow><mrow><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><msub><mi>R</mi><mi>p</mi></msub><mo>+</mo><msub><mi>R</mi><mi>n</mi></msub></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mo></mo><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><msup><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><mn>1</mn><mo>+</mo><msub><mi>ZT</mi><mi>m</mi></msub></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mfrac><mn>1</mn><mn>2</mn></mfrac></msup><mo>-</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></mfrac></mrow></mtd><mtd><mrow><mo>(</mo><mn>4</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></mtd></mtr></mtable></math>
p
n
s
1
p
n
m
2
1
Where αand αare the Seebeck coefficients for the P and N doped legs of the thermoelectric cooling device; Tand Tare the temperatures of the two sides of the thermoelectric cooling device; Rand Rare the electrical resistances of the P and N doped legs of the thermoelectric cooling device; Z is the figure of merit for a given combination of materials; and Tis the average of Tand T.
It is further known that the voltage in a thermoelectric cooling device is related to current by Equation 5 below:
V=I×R
T
−T
tec
2
1
+α() (5)
Therefore, Equation (4) and the voltage Equation (5) can be used to control a thermoelectric cooling device by either current or voltage control systems. Key points of consideration are to select a thermoelectric cooling device of a size that is capable of pumping a sufficient amount of heat from the prosthetic socket at a high COP and, preferably, operating the thermoelectric cooling device only at the optimal COP. Attempts to provide proportional control should be implemented by switching the thermoelectric cooling device on and off such that the level of cooling is controlled by the duty cycle.
FIG. 19
225
As explained above, known systems have failed to realize that efficient thermoelectric cooling can be achieved if the thermoelectric cooling device is massively oversized and appropriately controlled. Therefore, in embodiments of the invention where a thermoelectric cooling device is employed, it is possible to design and control a thermoelectric cooling system in a manner that results in a much higher than normal coefficient of performance (COP) while still providing adequate cooling of the prosthetic socket. schematically represents one exemplary control system and associated methodology for operating a thermoelectric cooling device in such a manner.
FIG. 19
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The exemplary system design of includes two control loops. The first control loop is comprised of an optimal COP controller , a thermoelectric cooling device , a thermoelectric cooling device power supply , and thermocouples , in communication with both sides of the thermoelectric cooling device.
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The first control loop uses temperature feedback from the thermoelectric cooling device and Equation 1 above to determine the optimal power setting for the thermoelectric cooling device and to adjust the power supply accordingly. This power setting is then applied to the input of a switch so that any time the switch is enabled, the thermoelectric cooling device will immediately start to operate at its most efficient setting.
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The second control loop is comprised of the thermoelectric cooling device , a thermocouple that provides a temperature reading from inside the prosthetic socket, a thermocouple that provides the temperature of the ambient air, and the power switch , which is connected to the thermoelectric cooling device . This second control loop enables the switch when it is necessary to transfer heat away from (remove heat from) the inside of the prosthetic socket.
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It is important to recognize that the switch as used herein is truly on or off, and that when partial power is necessary, the switch will function in a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) mode so that the thermoelectric cooling device is either off, or operating at optimal efficiency. The switch can be a simple switch when only cooling will be provided. Alternatively, the switch may be a directional H-Bridge type switch when both cooling and heating of the prosthetic socket will be practiced.
235
With these two control loops working in concert, the thermoelectric cooling device will only be turned on when there is a need to remove heat from or deliver heat to the prosthetic socket, and the thermoelectric cooling device will never be at any operating point other than its most efficient operating point.
FIG. 19
As noted in , maintaining a low impedance heat path to the environment is important. However, it is realized that prosthetic sockets are typically custom built devices and each socket could have widely varying characteristics. As such, it is not possible to predict the amount of heat driven by such a system without evaluating the specific patient who will use a given prosthetic socket. Consequently, the actual design of this heat path can vary widely. For low activity patients with smaller sockets, a simple heat sink might suffice. Larger and more active patients might require that more heat be rejected and, thus, a larger heat sink or perhaps even a fan-cooled heat sink may be needed. For this reason, a control output is shown from the temperature control module. This control could also be derived from outputs from the COP controller, power supply, or a combination of these sources.
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FIG. 20
FIG. 2
FIG. 13
One exemplary assembly of a prosthetic liner and a prosthetic socket , both having enhanced thermal conductivity, is shown in . In this exemplary embodiment, the liner is shown to have a similar construction to the exemplary liner embodiment of , but any of the other prosthetic liner embodiments described herein, or combinations of those embodiments, are also possible. Similarly, the prosthetic socket is shown to have a similar construction to the exemplary prosthetic socket embodiment of , but any of the other prosthetic socket embodiments described herein, or combinations of those embodiments, are also possible. In practice, the liner would be donned over a residual limb (not shown) prior to insertion into the prosthetic socket .
FIG. 20
Prosthetic assemblies of the invention may include combinations of any liner and any prosthetic socket that falls within the scope of the invention, including embodiments that also exhibit enhanced heat absorption capabilities. Additionally, prosthetic assemblies of the invention may include the use of said liners and prosthetic sockets in combination with passive cooling devices, active cooling devices, or combinations thereof. Therefore, while one exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic assembly is depicted in for purposes of illustration, prosthetic assemblies of the invention are in no way limited to the illustrated combination. Rather, any embodiment of a liner of the invention may be used with any embodiment of a socket of the invention to improve the transfer of heat away from and/or the absorption of heat produced by a residual limb.
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FIG. 21
A prosthetic suspension sleeve having enhanced thermal conductivity (heat transfer capabilities) according to the invention is generically depicted in . As shown, the suspension sleeve is substantially tubular in nature and includes two open ends , .
As used herein, the term “tubular” is intended to denote only that a suspension sleeve is a continuous hollow structure of some length. As would be understood by one of skill in the art, a suspension sleeve according to the invention may have a generally circular cross section when in use, although the flexible nature thereof also permits the suspension sleeve to conform to other cross-sectional shapes. Suspension sleeves according to the invention may have a taper, as shown. When present, the degree of taper may vary. Other suspension sleeve embodiments may be substantially cylindrical (i.e., may have a substantially uniform cross-sectional diameter along the entire length). Yet other embodiments may have a larger cross-sectional diameter at or near a mid-point than at each end. These designs and others would be well known to one of skill in the art, and all are considered to be “tubular,” as well as falling within the scope of the invention.
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FIG. 21
FIG. 22
A cross-sectional view of the suspension sleeve of can be observed in . As shown, the suspension sleeve includes a fabric material that covers the exterior of the suspension sleeve when the suspension sleeve is in a normal (i.e., right side out) orientation. The fabric material may be wholly or partially absent from the exterior of the suspension sleeve in other embodiments.
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A flexible polymeric material resides on an interior surface of the fabric material. A portion of the polymeric material at one end of the suspension sleeve will overlap an amputee's residual limb when the suspension sleeve is in use. This portion of the polymeric material may be in contact with the skin of the amputee's residual limb and/or a prosthetic liner covering the residual limb. Another portion of the polymeric material at the opposite end of the suspension sleeve will overlap and be in contact with the exterior of a prosthetic socket when the suspension sleeve is in use.
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The suspension sleeve may also include an optional circumferential band along its interior. The interior band may be formed of a fabric material, which may be the same as or dissimilar to the fabric material that covers all or a portion of the exterior of the suspension sleeve . The band may allow for easier manipulation of the suspension sleeve over a residual limb and prosthetic socket, and may also produce an area of reinforcement. The band may be located at various points along the length of the suspension sleeve , but is preferably located at or near the point where the suspension sleeve will overlap the brim of a prosthetic socket when in use. When present on a suspension sleeve of the present invention, a band may fully circumvolve the interior of the sleeve, or may cover only a section of the sleeve interior.
The polymeric material portion of a suspension sleeve of the invention may be comprised of any of the materials mentioned above with respect to prosthetic liners of the invention. The polymeric material of a suspension sleeve according to the invention may also be treated to enhance the thermal conductivity thereof, as previously described.
FIG. 22
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As shown in , the heat transfer capability of the polymeric material of the suspension sleeve has been enhanced by the inclusion therein of additives/fillers . The additives/fillers are dispersed throughout the polymeric material in this exemplary embodiment. Suitable additives/fillers may include, without limitation, any of the additives/fillers disclosed or referred to above in regard to prosthetic liners of the invention.
The fabric portion of a suspension sleeve of the invention may be comprised of any fabric material mentioned above with respect to a prosthetic liner of the invention. The fabric used in a suspension sleeve of the invention may inherently exhibit good thermal conductivity. Alternatively, and as explained above in regard to prosthetic liners of the invention, the fabric of a suspension sleeve may be modified to produce or enhance the thermal conductivity thereof.
As with prosthetic liner embodiments of the invention, suspension sleeve embodiments may also be highly heat absorbing instead of, or in addition to, possessing enhanced heat transfer capabilities. Generally, the heat absorbing capability of a suspension sleeve of the invention, like a liner of the invention, is enhanced through the use of a phase change material.
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FIG. 23
An alternate embodiment of a suspension sleeve having both enhanced thermal conductivity and heat absorption capabilities is shown in . This exemplary embodiment of the suspension sleeve is again comprised of a polymeric material having a fabric outer covering . The heat transfer capability of the polymeric material of the suspension sleeve has also again been enhanced by the inclusion therein of additives/fillers that are dispersed throughout the polymeric material.
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FIG. 22
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Unlike the exemplary suspension sleeve embodiment of , this exemplary suspension sleeve also includes a phase change material that is provided in a layer of some thickness over all or part of the suspension sleeve . Preferably, and as shown, the phase change material is located along an area of the suspension sleeve that will reside near the skin of an amputee's residual limb and a prosthetic socket when the suspension is worn, so as to most effectively absorb heat from the residual limb and socket and transfer the heat to the ambient environment. The fabric of the suspension sleeve may also have good inherent thermal conductivity or may be enhanced as previously described.
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FIG. 24
FIG. 20
FIG. 22
FIG. 20
FIG. 24
Another exemplary assembly of a prosthetic liner and a prosthetic socket , both having enhanced thermal conductivity, is shown in . This exemplary prosthetic assembly embodiment is very similar to the exemplary prosthetic assembly shown in , except this prosthetic assembly also includes the suspension sleeve of . In a like manner to the prosthetic assembly shown in , a prosthetic assembly such as that shown in may utilize any prosthetic liner, prosthetic socket and prosthetic suspension sleeve according to the invention, and in any combination. It is also possible for prosthetic assemblies of the invention to mix components having enhanced thermal conductivity and/or heat absorption capabilities with traditional components. For example, while it may not be ideal, a prosthetic liner with enhanced heat absorption capabilities may be worn with a standard (non-enhanced) prosthetic socket and suspension sleeve.
FIGS. 9-11
It is to be understood that the exemplary embodiments of prosthetic and orthotic devices described and shown herein are provided only for purposes of illustration, and are not to be taken as limiting the scope of the invention only to the design, construction and/or arrangement of said exemplary embodiments. Rather, prosthetic and orthotic device, assembly and system embodiments according to the invention may include a multitude of various combinations of the features described and shown herein. For example, a prosthetic liner according to the invention may employ a polymeric material that exhibits both enhanced heat transfer and enhanced heat absorption capabilities—such as by dispersing both a thermally conductive additive/filler and a phase change material throughout the polymeric material. The exterior of such a liner embodiment may be wholly or partially covered by fabric, or may be completely devoid of any fabric covering. The fabric covering, if present, may or may not be imparted with enhanced heat transfer capabilities. Such a liner embodiment may also include one or more areas of localized phase change materials, such as in any of the embodiments represented in .
Such a liner with enhanced heat transfer and heat absorption capabilities may be used in conjunction with a prosthetic socket and/or suspension sleeve of the invention. Again, a multitude of combinations are possible such that one to all of a prosthetic liner, prosthetic socket and prosthetic suspension sleeve of a given prosthetic assembly/system may have enhanced heat transfer and advanced heat absorption capabilities. Further, and as should be apparent, more than one heat transfer or heat absorption enhancing technique may be applied to a given prosthetic liner, prosthetic socket or prosthetic suspension sleeve according to the invention.
Therefore, while various exemplary embodiments of prosthetic liners, prosthetic sockets and prosthetic suspension sleeves having enhanced thermal conductivity (heat transfer) and/or heat absorption capabilities have been shown and described herein for purposes of illustration, the scope of the invention is not to be considered limited by such disclosure, and modifications are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention as evidenced by the following claims:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In addition to the features mentioned above, other aspects of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following descriptions of the drawings and exemplary embodiments, wherein like reference numerals across the several views refer to identical or equivalent features, and wherein:
FIG. 1A
represents an exemplary embodiment of a non-locking prosthetic liner of the invention;
FIG. 1B
represents an exemplary embodiment of a locking prosthetic liner of the invention;
FIG. 2
is a cross-sectional view of an exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic liner of the invention;
FIG. 3
is a cross-sectional view of another exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic liner of the invention;
FIG. 4
is a cross-sectional view of another exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic liner of the invention;
FIG. 5
is a cross-sectional view of another exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic liner of the invention;
FIG. 6
is a cross-sectional view of another exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic liner of the invention;
FIG. 7
is a cross-sectional view of another exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic liner of the invention;
FIG. 8
is a cross-sectional view of another exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic liner of the invention;
FIG. 9
is a cross-sectional view of another exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic liner of the invention;
FIG. 10
is a cross-sectional view of another exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic liner of the invention;
FIG. 11
is a cross-sectional view of another exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic liner of the invention
FIG. 12
schematically represents an exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic hard socket of the invention;
FIG. 13
is a cross-sectional view of an exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic hard socket of the invention;
FIG. 14
is a cross-sectional view of another exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic hard socket of the invention;
FIG. 15
is a cross-sectional view of another exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic hard socket of the invention;
FIG. 16
schematically represents an exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic hard socket of the invention that employs additional passive cooling;
FIG. 17
schematically represents an exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic hard socket of the invention that employs additional active cooling;
FIG. 18
schematically represents another exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic hard socket of the invention that employs additional active cooling;
FIG. 19
schematically represents one exemplary control methodology for controlling a thermoelectric cooling device/system for the purpose of cooling a prosthetic socket;
FIG. 20
is a cross-sectional view of one exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic assembly of the invention;
FIG. 21
represents an exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic suspension sleeve of the invention;
FIG. 22
is a cross-sectional view of an exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic suspension sleeve of the invention;
FIG. 23
is a cross-sectional view of another exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic suspension sleeve of the invention; and
FIG. 24
is a cross-sectional view of another exemplary embodiment of a prosthetic assembly of the invention. | |
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$_Executive Summary
Today computers are integral to all aspects of operations within
an organization. As Federal agencies are becoming critically
dependent upon computer information systems to carry out their
missions, the agency executives (policy makers) are recognizing
that computers and computer-related problems must be understood
and managed, the same as any other resource. They are beginning
to understand the importance of setting policies, goals, and
standards for protection of data, information, and computer
resources, and are committing resources for information security
programs. They are also learning that primary responsibility for
data security must rest with the managers of the functional areas
supported by the data.
All managers who use any type of automated information resource
system must become familiar with their agency's policies and
procedures for protecting the information which is processed and
stored within them. Adequately secure systems deter, prevent, or
detect unauthorized disclosure, modification, or use of
information. Agency information requires protection from
intruders, as well as from employees with authorized computer
access privileges who attempt to perform unauthorized actions.
Protection is achieved not only by technical, physical and
personnel safeguards, but also by clearly articulating and
implementing agency policy regarding authorized system use to
information users and processing personnel at all levels. This
guide is one of three brochures that have been designed for a
specific audience. The "Executive Guide to the Protection of
Information Resources" and the "Computer User's Guide to the
Protection of Information Resources" complete the series.
$_Introduction
Well, here is the Management Guide, use it to your advantage.
$_Purpose of this Guide
This guide introduces information systems security concerns and
outlines the issues that must be addressed by all agency managers
in meeting their responsibilities to protect information systems
within their organizations. It describes essential components of
an effective information resource protection process that applies
to a stand alone personal computer or to a large data processing
facility.
$_The Risks
Effort is required by every Federal agency to safeguard
information resources and to reduce risks to a prudent level.
The spread of computing power to individual employees via
personal computers, local-area networks, and distributed
processing has drastically changed the way we manage and control
information resources. Internal controls and control points that
were present in the past when we were dealing with manual or
batch processes have not been established in many of today's
automated systems. Reliance upon inadequately controlled computer
systems can have serious consequences, including:
Inability or impairment of the agency's ability to perform its
mission
Inability to provide needed services to the public
Waste, loss, misuse, or misappropriation of funds
Loss of credibility or embarrassment to an agency
To avoid these consequences, a broad set of information security
issues must be effectively and comprehensively addressed.
$_Responsibilities
All functional managers have a responsibility to implement the
policies and goals established by executive management for
protection of automated information resources (data, processes,
facilities, equipment, personnel, and information). Managers in
all areas of an organization are clearly accountable for the
protection of any of these resources assigned to them to enable
them to perform their duties. They are responsible for
developing, administering, monitoring, and enforcing internal
controls, including security controls, within their assigned
areas of authority. Each manager's specific responsibilities will
vary, depending on the role that manager has with regard to
computer systems.
Portions of this document provide more detailed information on
the respective security responsibilities of managers of computer
resources, managers responsible for information systems
applications and the personnel security issues involved.
However, all agency management must strive to:
$_Achieve Cost-Effective Security
The dollars spent for security measures to control or contain
losses should never be more than the projected dollar loss if
something adverse happened to the information resource.
Cost-effective security results when reduction in risk through
implementation of safeguards is balanced with costs. The greater
the value of information processed, or the more severe the
consequences if something happens to it, the greater the need
for control measures to protect it.
The person who can best determine the value or importance of
data is the functional manager who is responsible for the data.
For example, the manager responsible for the agency's budget
program is the one who should establish requirements for the
protection of the automated data which supports the program. This
manager knows better than anyone else in the organization what
the impact will be if the data is inaccurate or unavailable.
Additionally, this manager usually is the supervisor of most of
the users of the data.
It is important that these trade-offs of cost versus risk
reduction be explicitly considered, and that management
understand the degree of risk remaining after selected controls
are implemented.
$_Assure Operational Continuity
With ever-increasing demands for timely information and greater
volumes of information being processed, the threat of information
system disruption is a very serious one. In some cases,
interruptions of only a few hours are unacceptable. The impact
due to inability to process data should be assessed, and actions
should be taken to assure availability of those systems
considered essential to agency operation. Functional management
must identify critical computer applications and develop
contingency plans so that the probability of loss of data
processing and telecommunications support is minimized.
$_Maintain Integrity
Integrity of information means you can trust the data and the
processes that manipulate it. Not only does this mean that errors
and omissions are minimized, but also that the information system
is protected from deliberate actions to wrongfully change the
data. Information can be said to have integrity when it
corresponds to the expectations and assumptions of the users.
$_Assure Confidentiality
Confidentiality of sensitive data is often, but not always, a
requirement of agency systems. Privacy requirements for personal
information is dictated by statute, while confidentiality of
other agency information is determined by the nature of that
information, e.g., information submitted by bidders in
procurement actions. The impact of wrongful disclosure must be
considered in understanding confidentiality requirements.
$_Comply with Applicable Laws and Regulations
As risks and vulnerabilities associated with information systems
become better understood, the body of law and regulations
compelling positive action to protect information resources
grows. OMB Circular No. A-130, "Management of Federal
Information Resources" and Public Law 100-235, "Computer Security
Act of 1987" are two documents where the knowledge of these
regulations and laws provide a baseline for an information
resource security program.
$_Information Systems Development
This section describes the protective measures that should be
included as part of the design and development of information
processing application systems. The functional manager that is
responsible for and will use the information contained in the
system, must ensure that security measures have been included and
are adequate. This includes applications designed for personal
computers as well as large mainframes.
$_Control Decisions
The official responsible for the agency function served by the
automated information system has a critical role in making
decisions regarding security and control. In the past, risk was
often unconsciously accepted when such individuals assumed the
computer facility operators were taking care of security. In
fact, there are decisions to be made and security elements to be
provided that cannot be delegated to the operator of the system.
In many cases, the user or manager develops the application and
operates solely.
The cost of control must be balanced with system efficiency and
usability issues. Risk must be evaluated and cost-effective
controls selected to provide a prudent level of control while
maximizing productivity. Controls are often closely connected
with the system function, and cannot be effectively designed
without significant understanding of the process being automated.
$_Security Principles
There are some common security attributes that should be present
in any system that processes valuable personal or sensitive
information. System designs should include mechanisms to enforce
the following security attributes.
$_Identification and Authentication of Users
Each user of a computer system should have a unique
identification on the system, such as an account number or other
user identification code. There must also be a means of verifying
that the individual claiming that identity (e.g., by typing in
that identifying code at a terminal) is really the authorized
individual and not an imposter. The most common means of
authentication is by a secret password, known only to the
authorized user.
$_Authorization Capability Enforcing the Principle of Least
$_Possible Privilege
Beyond ensuring that only authorized individuals can access the
system, it is also necessary to limit the users access to
information and transaction capabilities. Each person should be
limited to only the information and transaction authority that is
required by their job responsibilities. This concept, known as
the principle of least possible privilege, is a long-standing
control practice. There should be a way to easily assign each
user just the specific access authorities needed.
$_Individual Accountability
>From both a control and legal point of view, it is necessary to
maintain records of the activities performed by each computer
user. The requirements for automated audit trails should be
developed when a system is designed. The information to be
recorded depends on what is significant about each particular
system. To be able to hold individuals accountable for their
actions, there must be a positive means of uniquely identifying
each computer user and a routinely maintained record of each
user's activities.
$_Audit Mechanisms
Audit mechanisms detect unusual events and bring them to the
attention of management. This commonly occurs by violation
reporting or by an immediate warning to the computer system
operator. The type of alarm generated depends on the seriousness
of the event.
A common technique to detect access attempts by unauthorized
individuals is to count attempts. The security monitoring
functions of the system can automatically keep track of
unsuccessful attempts to gain access and generate an alarm if the
attempts reach an unacceptable number.
$_Performance Assurance
A basic design consideration for any information system should
be the ability to verify that the system is functioning as
intended. Systems that are developed without such design
considerations are often very difficult to independently audit or
review, leading to the possibility of unintended results or
inaccurate processing.
$_Recoverability
Because Federal agencies can potentially be heavily dependent on
a computer system, an important design consideration is the
ability to easily recover from troublesome events, whether minor
problems or major disruptions of the system. From a design point
of view, systems should be designed to easily recover from minor
problems, and to be either transportable to another backup
computer system or replaced by manual processes in case of major
disruption or loss of computer facility.
$_Access Decisions
Once the automated system is ready to use, decisions must be
made regarding access to the system and the information it
contains. For example, many individuals require the ability to
access and view data, but not the ability to change or delete
data. Even when computer systems have been designed to provide
the ability to narrowly designate access authorities, a
knowledgeable and responsible official must actually make those
access decisions. The care that is taken in this process is a
major determining factor of the level of security and control
present in the system. If sensitive data is being transmitted
over unprotected lines, it can be intercepted or passive
eavesdropping can occur. Encrypting the files will make the data
unintelligible and port protection devices will protect the files
from unauthorized access, if warranted.
$_Systems Development Process
All information systems software should be developed in a
controlled and systematic manner according to agency standards.
The quality and efficiency of the data processed, and the
possible reconfiguration of the system can all be affected by an
inadequate development process. The risk of security exposures
and vulnerabilities is greatly reduced when the systems
development process is itself controlled.
$_Computer Facility Management
Functional managers play a critical role in assuring that agency
information resources are appropriately safeguarded. This section
describes the protective measures that should be incorporated
into the ongoing management of information resource processing
facilities. As defined in OMB Circular No. A-130, "Management of
Federal Information Resources," the term "information technology
facility" means an organizationally defined set of personnel,
hardware, software, and physical facilities, a primary function
of which is the operation of information technology. This
section, therefore applies to any manager who houses a personal
computer, mainframe or any other form of office system or
automated equipment.
$_Physical Security
Information cannot be appropriately protected unless the
facilities that house the equipment are properly protected from
physical threats and hazards. The major areas of concern are
described below.
$_Environmental Conditions
For many types of computer equipment, strict environmental
conditions must be maintained. Manufacturer's specifications
should be observed for temperature, humidity, and electrical
power requirements.
$_Control of Media
The media upon which information is stored should be carefully
controlled. Transportable media such as tapes and cartridges
should be kept in secure locations, and accurate records kept of
the location and disposition of each. In addition, media from an
external source should be subject to a check-in process to ensure
it is from an authorized source.
$_Control of Physical Hazards
Each area should be surveyed for potential physical hazards.
Fire and water are two of the most damaging forces with regard to
computer systems. Opportunities for loss should be minimized by
an effective fire detection and suppression mechanism, and
planning reduces the danger of leaks or flooding. Other physical
controls include reducing the visibility of the equipment and
strictly limiting access to the area or equipment.
$_Contingency Planning
Although risks can be minimized, they cannot be eliminated. When
reliance upon a computer facility or application is substantial,
some type of contingency plan should be devised to allow critical
systems to be recovered following a major disaster, such as a
fire. There are a number of alternative approaches that should be
evaluated to most cost-effectively meet the agency's need for
continuity of service.
$_Configuration Management
Risk can be introduced through unofficial and unauthorized
hardware or software. Another key component of information
resource management is ensuring only authorized hardware and
software are being utilized. There are several control issues to
be addressed.
$_Maintaining Accurate Records
Records of hardware/software inventories, configurations, and
locations should be maintained and kept up-to-date.
$_Complying with Terms of Software Licenses
Especially with microcomputer software, illegal copying and
other uses in conflict with licensing agreements are concerns.
The use of software subject to licensing agreements must be
monitored to ensure it is used according to the terms of the
agreement.
$_Protecting Against Malicious Software and Hardware
The recent occurrences of destructive computer "viruses" point
to the need to ensure that agencies do not allow unauthorized
software to be introduced to their computer environments.
Unauthorized hardware can also contain hidden vulnerabilities.
Management should adopt a strong policy against unauthorized
hardware/software, inform personnel about the risks and
consequences of unauthorized additions to computer systems, and
develop a monitoring process to detect violations of the policy.
$_Data Security
Management must ensure that appropriate security mechanisms are
in place that allow responsible officials to designate access to
data according to individual computer users' specific needs.
Security mechanisms should be sufficient to implement individual
authentication of system users, allow authorization to specific
information and transaction authorities, maintain audit trails as
specified by the responsible official, and encrypt sensitive
files if required by user management.
$_Monitoring and Review
A final aspect of information resource protection to be
considered is the need for ongoing management monitoring and
review. To be effective, a security program must be a continuous
effort. Ideally, ongoing processes should be adapted to include
information protection checkpoints and reviews. Information
resource protection should be a key consideration in all major
computer system initiatives.
Earlier, the need for system audit trails was discussed. Those
audit trails are useful only if management regularly reviews
exception items or unusual activities. Irregularities should be
researched and action taken when merited. Similarly, all
information-related losses and incidents should be investigated.
A positive benefit of an effective monitoring process is an
increased understanding of the degree of information-related risk
in agency operations. Without an ongoing feedback process,
management may unknowingly accept too much risk. Prudent
decisions about trade-offs between efficiency and control can
only be made with a clear understanding of the degree of inherent
risk. Every manager should ask questions and periodically review
operations to judge whether changes in the environment have
introduced new risk, and to ensure that controls are working
effectively.
$_Personnel Management
Managers must be aware that information security is more a
people issue than a technical issue. Personnel are a vital link
in the protection of information resources, as information is
gathered by people, entered into information resource systems by
people, and ultimately used by people. Security issues should be
addressed with regard to:
People who use computer systems and store information in the
course of their normal job responsibilities
People who design, program, test, and implement critical or
sensitive systems
People who operate computer facilities that process critical or
sensitive data
$_Personnel Security
>From the point of hire, individuals who will have routine access
to sensitive information resources should be subject to special
security procedures. More extensive background or reference
checks may be appropriate for such positions, and security
responsibilities should be explicitly covered in employee
orientations. Position descriptions and performance evaluations
should also explicitly reference unusual responsibilities
affecting the security of information resources.
Individuals in sensitive positions should be subject to job
rotation, and work flow should be designed in such a way as to
provide as much separation of sensitive functions as possible.
Upon decision to terminate or notice of resignation, expedited
termination or rotation to less sensitive duties for the
remainder of employment is a reasonable precaution.
Any Federal computer user who deliberately performs or attempts
to perform unauthorized activity should be subject to
disciplinary action, and such disciplinary action must be
uniformly applied throughout the agency. Any criminal activity
under Federal or state computer crime laws must be reported to
law enforcement authorities.
$_Training
Most information resource security problems involve people.
Problems can usually be identified in their earliest stages by
people who are attuned to the importance of information
protection issues. A strong training program will yield large
benefits in prevention and early detection of problems and
losses. To be most effective, training should be tailored to the
particular audience being addressed, e.g., executives and policy
makers; program and functional managers; IRM security and audit:
ADP management and operations; end users.
Most employees want to do the right thing, if agency
expectations are clearly communicated. Internal policies can be
enforced only if staff have been made aware of their individual
responsibilities. All personnel who access agency computer
systems should be aware of their responsibilities under agency
policy, as well as obligations under the law. Disciplinary
actions and legal penalties should be communicated. | https://morehouse.org/hin/nia/nia-19.html |
plant out of business eight months ago.
The abandoned facility in Madinat Elsadat, near Cairo, is
one of thousands that have fallen victim to the instability of
post-revolution Egypt. Many that remain open are plagued by
power cuts, strikes, poor security, and difficulty securing
loans in credit markets where they are squeezed out by an
indebted government.
The plight of Egypt's industrialists points to the wide
range of ways which the economic environment has deteriorated in
the two years since Hosni Mubarak was toppled.
Because of endemic political conflict, foreign investment
has shrunk and foreign currency reserves have slid to critically
low levels as President Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood
prepares for parliamentary elections starting in late April.
At Madinat Elsadat, 75 of the 525 factories that once
operated in the complex have shut down since the revolution,
according to a report by the Centre for Trade Union & Worker
Services. Up to half of the factories are struggling.
Countrywide, the report estimates over 4,500 factories have
shut since the revolution, swelling by hundreds of thousands the
ranks of unemployed in a nation where two-fifths of the people
live on or around the poverty line. The unemployment rate is
around 13 percent, according to official data, but private
analysts believe the actual rate is much higher.
The Abu al-Makarim Group, which had employed more than 4,000
workers at seven factories, had been struggling even before the
uprising against Mubarak erupted in January 2011. The wave of
industrial action that ensued was the final nail in its coffin.
"There were strikes, asking for raises. Each day cost
hundreds of thousands," said Hassan Abu al-Makarim, who ran the
company before the revolution. "There was also a shortage in
financing to buy material."
It is a complaint echoed by many other businessmen. The
government is borrowing heavily to finance a budget deficit
forecast to hit 10 percent of national output this fiscal year.
That is soaking up the money available to industry.
The risks of doing business are heightened by a security
vacuum which the police have been unwilling or unable to fill
since Mubarak's rule ended.
In Madinat Elsadat, set up in the 1980s to shift population
out of Cairo, police are few and far between. Gangs intercept
shipments and steal goods on their way out of the industrial
area.
"Some investors closed up and left because of the lack of
security and stability," said Ahmad Shaheen, owner of a facility
where fruit and vegetables are stored and frozen for export.
He said his clients had in many cases hired armed guards to
protect trucks during transit to and from the depot.
For some business owners, the security risks come from their
own employees. Workers at one Madinat Elsadat clothing factory
detained the owner overnight after salary payments were delayed
for two months, said Abdulaziz Ghaslan, who used to work there.
"There is no control over workers anymore. They were under a
lot of pressure before the revolution so when everything became
so loose, they became people who do not want to be controlled,
asking for their rights," he said. Ghaslan lost his job at the
factory following work stoppages.
Workers demanding better salaries barricaded the gates of
their cement factory with concrete blocks during one recent
burst of industrial action.
RISING COSTS
In some ways, the revolution still promises to benefit
industrialists. By sweeping away some of the entrenched business
interests and corruption that surrounded Mubarak, it offers new
freedom and opportunities to investors.
The slide in the Egyptian pound, down about 8 percent since
late December to record lows against the U.S. dollar, is a boon
to some exporters. Egyptian investment firm Citadel Capital
, which owns stakes in companies which export over $300
million a year in various industries including food, says it is
profiting.
"Currency devaluation is affecting our business positively.
If you are investing in an exporter or import substitute, then
you'll benefit," Citadel founder and chairman Ahmed Heikal told
Reuters, predicting that exports would rise substantially.
But many or most Egyptian companies feel they are in no
position to take advantage of the positive changes because the
operating environment is so poor. | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-27/news/sns-rt-egypt-industryl6n0bkdrw-20130227_1_factories-risks-rise-power-cuts |
Some recently published scientific papers explore the longer term consequences of Covid. Yesterday, I looked at one which considers the impact of vaccination, finding no robust support for the claim that vaccination reduces the risk of Covid after-effects but highlighting a worrying vaccine safety signal which the authors had failed to mention. Today I will look at four other papers. In summary, I conclude that:
- Vaccinated individuals get sequelae (after-effects) in the months following Covid infection.
- Some of these sequelae are serious.
- The most common sequelae are, however, fatigue and loss of smell.
- People that get symptomatic Covid that requires them to seek support from healthcare professionals appear to have high levels of sequelae.
- There are no supporting data on whether vaccination reduces the risk of sequelae following Covid infection.
- There appears to be a high risk of vaccine side effects in the weeks and months following vaccination.
- The CDC likes to scare people.
Paper 1: “Six month sequelae of post-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 infection: a retrospective cohort study of 10,024 breakthrough infections”, Taquet et al. (2022).
This is a great paper – it is really well done and bases its analysis on a matched cohort, the best way to undertake studies like this. Sure, it is a retrospective study not a prospective study, but that’s to be expected given that authorities worldwide started jabbing people without any attempt to understand what the consequences might be. Well, I say that it is great, but unfortunately it suffers a significant flaw that spoils everything – more on that in a minute. | https://davidicke.com/2022/06/07/studies-which-claim-vaccination-reduces-long-covid-are-seriously-flawed-but-theres-a-clear-vaccine-safety-signal/ |
Individuals with an October 14th birthday are intelligent, diplomatic, and concerned with their image but also own the typically idealistic views of a Libran. According to astrology, the ruling planet of this birthday is Mercury which makes you more expressive and highly curious, articulate and persuasive. If you have this birthday, you show much of independence, preference to do everything with moderation. You also luckily possess a natural creativeness, and ability to balance and compromise. People born specifically on October 14th are particularly inclined to quickly grow from their mistake; however they find being judged and criticized unpleasant and uncomfortable. Your optimism can help you drive to actively achieve and progress.
-
Personal relationships
A Libran born on the fourteenth day of October expects a meaningful, deep and sincerely affectionate relationship, especially in a long term commitment. In love, they are typically serious, sensitive and romantic. If you have this birthday, you are predicted to seek a strong soul mate connection with somebody special, who makes you feel genuinely loved, truly cared and supported. October 14 natives have an idealistic view of love , want soul-to-soul communication and likely to feel betrayed if something wrong in their relationship happens.
-
Career and finances
October 14 individuals naturally possess numerous talents that are a good match for different careers. With your curiosity and sharp mind, Librans born on October 14th prefer to seek for jobs related to research or law. If you have this birthday, you are helpful which lead you to a more humanitarian career. For financial problems, it is believed that you are sensible with money but cautious when it comes to investing. | https://www.todaybirthdays.com/horoscope/October-14.html |
The performance of several softening formalisms proposed in the literature are explored in reproducing the correct eccentricity dynamics in the disc potential and a general framework for computing secular disturbing function given an arbitrary softening prescription is developed.
Planetary Rings
- Physics, GeologyFundamental Planetary Science
- 2019
Planetary rings are those strikingly flat and circular appendages embracing all the giant planets in the outer Solar System: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Like their cousins, the spiral…
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 247 REFERENCES
WARM SATURNS: ON THE NATURE OF RINGS AROUND EXTRASOLAR PLANETS THAT RESIDE INSIDE THE ICE LINE
- Geology, Physics
- 2011
We discuss the nature of rings that may exist around extrasolar planets. Taking the general properties of rings around the gas giants in the solar system, we infer the likely properties of rings…
Saturn's largest ring
- Physics, GeologyNature
- 2009
It is reported that Saturn has an enormous ring associated with its outer moon Phoebe, extending from at least 128RS to 207RS (Saturn’s radius RS is 60,330 km); Dynamical considerations argue that these ring particles span the Saturnian system from the main rings to the edges of interplanetary space.
Disk-Planet Interactions During Planet Formation
- Geology, Physics
- 2006
The discovery of close orbiting extrasolar giant planets led to extensive studies of disk planet interactions and the forms of migration that can result as a means of accounting for their location.…
Dusty Rings and Circumplanetary Dust: Observations and Simple Physics
- Physics, Geology
- 2001
Each giant planet is encircled by planetary rings, usually composed of particles centimeters to meters in radius, but each system also contains regions where much smaller dust grains predominate.…
Dynamics of Planetary Rings
- Physics, Geology
- 2006
Planetary rings are found around all four giant planets of our solar sys- tem. These collisional and highly flattened disks exhibit a whole wealth of physical processes involving microscopic dust…
A belt of moonlets in Saturn’s A ring
- Physics, GeologyNature
- 2007
Embedded moonlets found in Saturn’s A ring are probably the remnants of a shattered ring-moon of Pan size or larger, locally contributing new material to the older ring, which supports the theory of catastrophic ring creation in a collisional cascade.
The recent formation of Saturn's moonlets from viscous spreading of the main rings
- Physics, GeologyNature
- 2010
A hybrid simulation is reported in which the viscous spreading of Saturn’s rings beyond the Roche limit (the distance beyond which the rings are gravitationally unstable) gives rise to the small moons. | https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Planetary-Rings-Tiscareno/b15adb663541434abc16c82a7e0e2b48515889d1 |
My name is Stefan Hallermann. I'm a professor at the Carl-Ludwig-Institute of Physiology at the University of Leipzig in Germany. You've selected the Henry Stewart talk about vesicular release of transmitter at active zones.
0:18
To communicate with each other, neurons can use chemical synaptic transmission. The enlargement shows a schematic illustration of an electron microscopic image of such a chemical synapse. Upon the arrival of an action potential in the presynaptic terminal illustrated by the red arrow, voltage-dependent calcium channels open, and the influx of calcium triggers the fusion of transmitter-filled synaptic vesicles. As a consequence, the transmitter illustrated by red triangles diffuses through the synaptic cleft to the postsynaptic receptors, which finally elicits an electrical signal in the postsynaptic cell. The enlargement shows the double lipid membrane of the vesicle and the presynaptic plasma membrane. The SNARE proteins, synaptobrevin, SNAP-25, and syntaxin, are involved in the fusion of these two double lipid membranes, which finally elicits the release of neurotransmitter. The binding of calcium to the vesicular protein, synaptotagmin, is involved in triggering this fusion. As shown in the enlargement of a synaptic vesicle, the protein composition of the vesicle is already quite well understood. In contrast, the organization of the proteins at the presynaptic plasma membrane that built the active zone is less well understood. This protein network is also referred to as the cytomatrix at the active zone. In the here shown example of a central synapse, the cytomatrix appears as a triangular, grid-like array. The shape of the cytomatrix can be very different depending on on the type of synapse, as shown in the next slide. | https://hstalks.com/t/2947/vesicular-release-of-transmitter-at-active-zones/?biosci |
In psychology, memory is the processes by which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved. Encoding allows information that is from the outside world to reach our senses in the forms of chemical and physical stimuli. In this first stage we must change the information so that we may put the memory into the encoding process. Storage is the second memory stage or process. This entails that we maintain information over periods of time. Finally the third process is the retrieval of information that we have stored. We must locate it and return it to our consciousness. Some retrieval attempts may be effortless due to the type of information.
Read more about Memory.
Some articles on memory:
... the value of PC on the address bus to send it to the memory ... The memory responds by sending the contents of that memory location on the data bus ... computer model, in which executable instructions are stored alongside ordinary data in memory, and handled identically by it) ...
... is a phrase meaning time extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition, indefinitely ancient, "ancient beyond memory or record" ... time immemorial means the same as time out of mind, "a time before legal history and beyond legal memory." In 1275, by the first Statute of Westminster, the time of memory was limited to the reign of ... was re-defined as "Time whereof the Memory of Man runneth not to the contrary." The plan of dating legal memory from a fixed time was abandoned ...
... Memory management is the act of managing computer memory ... The essential requirement of memory management is to provide ways to dynamically allocate portions of memory to programs at their request, and freeing it ... been devised that increase the effectiveness of memory management ...
More definitions of "memory":
- (noun): The power of retaining and recalling past experience.
Example: "He had a good memory when he was younger"
Synonyms: retention, retentiveness
- (noun): The cognitive processes whereby past experience is remembered.
Example: "He can do it from memory"
Synonyms: remembering
- (noun): An electronic memory device.
Example: "A memory and the CPU form the central part of a computer to which peripherals are attached"
Synonyms: computer memory, storage, computer storage, store, memory board
- (noun): Something that is remembered.
Example: "Search as he would, the memory was lost"
Famous quotes containing the word memory: | https://www.primidi.com/what_is_memory |
The University of Louisville School of Dentistry offers three levels of care and a variety of programs and services to accommodate most patient needs and budgets.
The complexity of your medical and dental needs will determine whether you’ll be seen by a student, resident, or faculty provider. Please understand that our student dentists-in-training may not have acquired the skills needed to complete your care. However, our residents and faculty at UofL Dental Associates are capable of addressing the most involved dental cases.
Our comprehensive care program aims to:
- Provide competent, patient-centered care
- Conduct a thorough assessment of your overall health
- Develop a personalized treatment plan, with appropriate preventive care
- Recognize when to refer you to a dental specialist
- Utilize evidence-based technology, materials, and techniques to optimize your oral health
If you have questions or would like to schedule an initial evaluation appointment please
contact us at 502-852-5096. We are your dental home. | https://louisville.edu/dentistry/patient-care/practices |
The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-018-0911-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) have been shown to improve sleep quality among people with insomnia. However, much less is known about the effects of MBIs on other aspects of insomnia such as daytime symptoms and cognitive-emotional arousal. The purpose of this study was to examine the treatment effects on these domains for adults with chronic insomnia disorder who were randomized to mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia (MBTI), or a delayed-treatment control consisting of sleep diary self-monitoring (SM) followed by behavior therapy (BT). Analyses were conducted on baseline to post-treatment changes with superiority comparisons for each MBI to SM followed by non-inferiority comparisons for each MBI to BT. The results revealed significant reductions from baseline in the MBTI group with large effect sizes on sleep effort, maladaptive sleep-related cognitions, and hyperarousal which were superior to the SM control (p < 0.05) and non-inferior to BT (p < 0.025). MBSR demonstrated a significant increase in positive affect with a large effect size which was non-inferior to BT (p < 0.025) but not statistically significant compared to SM. These findings indicate that MBTI, a new MBI which combines mindfulness practices with behavioral sleep components, can be effective at reducing cognitive-emotional arousal related to insomnia while MBSR, a general MBI, can increase positive affect at a level similar to a standard behavioral treatment for insomnia.
ESM 1 (DOCX 30 kb).
American Academy of Sleep Medicine. (2005). The International Classification of Sleep Disorders-2. Rochester, MN.
Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Manual for the beck depression inventory-II. San Antonio: Psychological Corporation.
Bootzin, R. R. (1972). Stimulus control treatment for insomnia. Paper presented at the 80th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.
Hauri, P. J. (1977). Current concepts: the sleep disorders. Kalamazoo: The Upjohn Company.
Morgenthaler, T., Kramer, M., Alessi, C., Friedman, L., Boehlecke, B., Brown, T.,. .. Swick, T. (2006). Practice parameters for the psychological and behavioral treatment of insomnia: an update. An American Academy of Sleep Medicine Report. Sleep, 29(11), 1415–1419.
Morin, C. M. (1993). Insomnia: psychological assessment and management. New York: The Guilford Press.
Perlis, M., Jungquist, C., Smith, M., & Posner, P. (2005). Cognitive behavioral treatment of insomnia: a session-by-session guide. New York: Springer.
Regestein, Q., Pavlova, M., & Casares, F. (1996). Validation of the hyperarousal scale in primary insomnia subjects. Sleep Research, 25, 344. | https://mijn.bsl.nl/a-randomized-controlled-trial-of-mindfulness-meditation-for-chro/15489784 |
Q:
Manipulate color within a circle in image with MATLAB
I'm changing the color saturation and other perks in an image using matlab. I already done this.
close all
clear all
clc
A = imread('fractalHD.png');
B = A;
[f,c,p] = size(A);
R = uint8(zeros(f,c,p));
Value = 120;
for i=1:round(f/2)
for j=1:round(c)
for k=1:p
R(i,j,k) = B(i,j,k) - Value;
end
end
end
for i=round(f/2):f
for j=1:round(c)
for k=1:p
R(i,j,k) = B(i,j,k);
end
end
end
figure; imshow(R);
This takes the superior half of an image and reduces color intensity by a value. I want to do this but, instead of the superior half (or any square shaped part), do it within a circle with center at top left.
rad = 500;
theta = 0:2*pi/10000:2*pi;
for i=1:rad*cos(theta)
for j=1:rad*sin(theta)
for k=1:p
R(i,j,k) = B(i,j,k) - value;
end
end
end
imshow(R);
Using this code only returns a black image. Any sugestions?
A:
This is how I'd do it, without loops but with bsxfun:
% Center and radius of circle
center = [200, 600];
rad = 500;
% determine which coordinates are within circle (returns a logical array)
indmat = bsxfun(@(row,col) sqrt((row - center(1)).^2 + (col-center(2)).^2) <= rad, (1:f)', 1:c);
% scalar multiply to get double array, convert to uint8, and subtract with
% singleton expansion (along dimension 3)
R = bsxfun(@minus, B, uint8(indmat * Value)) ;
figure; imshow(R);
The problem with those for loops is that the outer one computes to 1:500 and the second one to 1:0 (because theta itself is a vector and 1:vector is equivalent to 1:vector(1). So nothing gets ever computed.
If you really wanted to do it with loops you'd have to go 1:2*rad in the outer loop and determine the length of the inner loop appropriately, for example
R = B;
for ii=1:2*rad
for jj=-round(sqrt((rad)^2 - (rad-ii)^2)):round(sqrt((rad)^2 - (rad-ii)^2))
for k=1:p
R(ii,jj+rad+1,k) = R(ii,jj+rad+1,k) - Value;
end
end
end
But that's rather ugly, and extra tests would be necessary if the circle is not completely contained in the image.
| |
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How many kbps Makes 1 mbps?
Mbps to kbps Conversion Table
|Megabit per second||Kilobit per second|
|1 Mbps||1,000 kbps|
|2 Mbps||2,000 kbps|
|3 Mbps||3,000 kbps|
|4 Mbps||4,000 kbps|
How many KB is 50mbps?
Mbps to kB/s Conversion Table
|Megabit per second||Kilobyte per second|
|47 Mbps||5875 kB/s|
|48 Mbps||6000 kB/s|
|49 Mbps||6125 kB/s|
|50 Mbps||6250 kB/s|
How many kbps is a MB?
There are 0.000125 Megabytes in a Kilobit….How many Megabytes in a Kilobit.
|Kilobits (kbit)||Megabytes (MB)|
|125 bytes||1000000 bytes|
How fast is 1000 kbps?
It takes 1000 kilobits to make a megabit. MB/s or MegaBytes Per Second – It takes eight megabits to make one megabyte. Most of the files on your computer are measured in megabytes, and if you have a fast connection you’ll see this used in download utilities.
Is higher Kbps better?
Bit rates. The best way to judge the quality of an audio file—relative to its original, not to its musical or engineering quality—is to look at its bit rate. A higher bit rate is better, so a 256 kbps MP3 or AAC file is better than a 128 kbps file.
Why is my internet so slow?
Slow internet speeds can be caused by a number of things. Your router could be outdated or it could be too far away from your TV or computer, for example. The cause of your sluggish Wi-Fi connection might be something simpler; maybe you just need to reposition your router or need to add a Wi-Fi range extender.
Which is better Kbps or Mbps?
The speed of this data is measured in megabits per second (Mbps). One megabit is equal to 1,024 kilobits. This conversion means 1.0 Mbps is more than 1,000 times faster than 1.0 kilobits per second (Kbps).
What is 1gb in Mbps?
1,000 Mbps
Gigabit to Mbps conversion information
|Gigabit per second||Megabit per second|
|1 Gbps||1,000 Mbps|
|2 Gbps||2,000 Mbps|
|3 Gbps||3,000 Mbps|
|4 Gbps||4,000 Mbps|
What is fast WIFI speed?
One generally accepted rule of thumb is that anything above 100 Mbps is considered “fast” internet because it can connect multiple devices at once. On the other hand, if you’re a single user who only needs to browse the web and check email, you might be satisfied with 10 Mbps.
How many Mbps is a kbps?
Conversion Table Kilobytes per second (KBps) Megabits per second (Mbps) 1 KBps 0.008 Mbps 2 KBps 0.016 Mbps 3 KBps 0.024 Mbps 4 KBps 0.032 Mbps
What is the difference between bits and KBPS?
However, we offer four different options on your settings page: kbps or Kilobits Per Second – One kilobit is 1000 bits, and bits are the smallest possible unit of information (a little on/off switch).
How to convert megabit per second to kilobits per second (kbps)?
This one is a simple online tool available and convenient for all kinds of megabit per second to kilobits per second conversion. To start your conversion operation, please, enter the value in megabit per second (Mbps) to convert to kilobytes per second (kbps). How Many kilobits per second in a Megabit per second? 1 Megabit/sec = 1000 kilobits/sec.
What is the difference between 1 Mbps and 1 Gbps?
Here k stands for 1000 (103 ) 1 Mbps (mega bits per second) = 1000 kilo bits per second. 1 Gbps (giga bits per second) = 1,000 mega bits per second. | https://tracks-movie.com/how-many-kbps-makes-1-mbps/ |
Which Best Describes The Tempo Heard In The Alla Hornpipe From Handel’S Water Music?
- Richard Rodriguez
-
- 0
- 26
Which of the following is the most accurate description of the pace that can be heard in the Alla hornpipe from Handel’s Water Music? Quick. In recent years, baroque groups have endeavored to play baroque music in an authentic manner, using instruments that are reminiscent of baroque era instruments.
What is the structure of Alla Hornpipe from Handel’s Water Music?
The musical composition known as the “Alla Hornpipe” is in ternary form (ABA), with the opening A part being played once more before the B section starts.
Which television program has used the Mouret Rondeau as a theme song?
Fanfare-Rondeau, which is taken from Mouret’s first Suite of Symphonies, has become so popular that it has been used as the theme song for the television program Masterpiece on PBS and is frequently played at contemporary weddings. Despite the fact that the majority of Mouret’s works are rarely performed, the composer’s legacy lives on thanks to the success of this piece.
Why is the music for Handel’s Water Music marked by lively rhythms and catchy melodies quizlet?
Why is the music for Handel’s Water Music characterized by upbeat rhythms and melodies that are easy to remember? The action took place in the open air aboard barges.
What form is Handel’s Water Music?
The suite of short works known as Water Music was written by the English composer George Frideric Handel. It was written for a small orchestra and is particularly well-known for its highly passionate sections in dance form.
What type of music is water?
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We are indebted to you in the deepest possible way if you are an extraordinary reader who has already contributed. If everyone gave only two euros today, Wikipedia would be able to survive and thrive for many more years. We beg you, in all modesty, to refrain from scrolling away from this page.
If you feel that you have gained more than $2 worth of information through Wikipedia, please consider making a donation. Demonstrate to the world how important it is to have access to information that is both dependable and objective. Thank you. Adapted from the entry on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, written in Simple English Proceed to the navigation menu Continue to search The Water Music is a collection of compositions written in the baroque style for orchestra.
George Frideric Handel was the one who came up with the compositions. The Water Music is divided into three distinct sections known as suites. These suites contain a variety of dances like as minuets, hornpipes, bourrées, and others. There are a total of 21 separate works, which are organized into three suites (one each in the keys of F major, D major, and G major).
- According to urban legend, the three suites were performed for the first time on July 17, 1717, on a journey taken by King George I of Great Britain up the Thames to Chelsea or Lambeth.
- Handel was a familiar face to the King, who had known him for some years.
- However, he harbored resentment for Handel for some reason.
Handel composed the Water Music with the intention of calming the King’s nerves. Playing the suites was a group of fifty musicians that floated alongside the barge carrying the King. The King was so happy that he gave the command to perform the Water Music piece three times.
According to one more version of the narrative, he performed it during a party that King George was hosting. It is said that he commissioned Handel to compose a piece of music for him and his royal associates to listen to while they were sailing on the sea; hence, the piece of music was given the moniker “Water Music.” The piece features all of the instruments that would have been used in a Baroque orchestra, with the exception of the harpsichord and the timpani.
It would have been quite challenging to transport all of these equipment on a barge. A full performance will include the following instruments: a flute, two recorders, two oboes, one bassoon, two horns, two trumpets, strings, and continuo.
What does Rondeau mean in music?
The rondeau is a type of classic French poetry that consists of three rhyming sections: a quintet, a quatrain, and a sestet. It is believed to have originated in France around the thirteenth century as a lyric style and gained popularity among medieval court poets and musicians.
The rondeau, which derives its name from the French word for “round,” is distinguished by the rentrement, also known as the refrain, which consists of repeating lines, as well as by the presence of two rhyme sounds throughout. Originally, the form was a musical vehicle that was dedicated to emotive topics such as spiritual devotion, courting, romance, and the changing of the seasons.
The rondeau may also be used to sing about sorrow, although the last stanza typically had a cheery “c’est la vie” refrain, which let the singer to move on from thoughts of suffering and loss. It is not difficult to discern the structure of the rondeau; as it is recognized and performed now, it consists of fifteen lines, eight to ten syllables each, and is stanzatically split into a quintet, a quatrain, and a sestet.
The rentrement is comprised of the first few words or the entirety of the first line of the first stanza, and it also appears as the final line of the second and third stanzas, respectively. The melody of the rondeau is guided by two different rhymes, and its rhyme scheme is as follows (with R standing for the refrain): aabba aabR aabbaR.
In order to keep the line’s buoyancy and power, the rentrement does not normally conform to the rhyme scheme when it is written in its original French form. This is done for the purpose of keeping the line’s momentum. However, when English writers of the nineteenth century adopted the rondeau form, many of them regarded (or heard) the rentrement as being more powerful if it rhymed, and as a result, it was more easily integrated into the remainder of the poem.
The poem “In Flanders Fields,” written by a Canadian army physician named John McCrae during the First World War, is an example of a solemn rondeau. The poem begins with the lines “In Flanders fields the poppies grow between the crosses, row on row, that mark our place, and in the sky, the larks, still bravely singing, fly,” which can hardly be heard among the gunfire below.
We are the dead; just a few days ago, we lived, experienced the sunrise, seen the brilliance of the sunset, loved and were loved, and now we lie in the fields of Flanders. Fight our battles for us against our adversary! To you, from our fading hands, we pass the torch; it is up to you to keep it burning brightly.
- If you break trust with those of us who are about to die, we will not rest even if poppies sprout in the fields of Flanders.
- Finding an initial line that is worth repeating and selecting two rhyming sounds that give enough different word options are two of the challenges that come with composing a rondeau.
Many contemporary rondeaus take on a lighthearted tone. For instance, Frank O’Hara’s poem “Rondel” opens with a cryptic instruction that reads, “Door of America, tell my worry to the cigars,” and this line goes on to become the poem’s refrain. Continue to read rondeaus.
Which genre of music features an instrumental soloist accompanied by an orchestra?
Read on for a concise overview of this subject: Since around 1750, a concerto has been defined as a musical composition for instruments in which a solo instrument is set off against an orchestral ensemble. The plural of concerto is concerti, while the singular is concerto.
- Alternation, competition, and combination are the three ways in which the soloist and ensemble are connected to one another.
- In this way, the concerto, like to the symphony or the string quartet, may be seen as a specific instance of the musical genre that is included by the name sonata.
- The concerto, much like the sonata and the symphony, is often structured as a cycle consisting of many opposing sections that are connected tonally and frequently thematically.
The separate movements are typically based on specific established designs, such as the rondo, variations, sonata form, and A B A (the letters relate to big independent melodic portions) (such as A B A C A). However, the concerto often deviates from the sonata in a number of ways that distinguish it from the latter.
- Therefore, when the first movement of the concerto is in the style of a sonata, the exposition frequently stays in the key of the tonic while being played by the full orchestra the first time around.
- The customary transition to a key that is very close to being linked and the debut of the soloist are both saved for the traditionally more involved repeat of the exposition that comes later in the piece.
In addition, in order to fulfill a perceived demand for a more magnificent finish in the same movement, the concerto either includes or at least invites an improvised cadenza at the end of the movement. This cadenza is a lengthy, spontaneous flourish that can go for as long as several minutes at a time.
- One or more of the other movements could also have a brief cadenza at an important point in the musical progression.
- In addition, in contrast to the sonata, the design of three movements, in the order fast—slow—fast, has been adhered to with a great deal greater consistency in the concerto.
- The second movement flows directly into the finale, also known as the final movement, with little to no stop in between the two, and research has indicated that the rondo form is preferred for the finale.
But, and this is very significant, the differences in musical form are secondary to the conversation that is inherent in the interplay that the concerto has between the soloist and the orchestra. This debate changes the fundamental characteristics of the solo part by virtually compelling the soloist to play the part of a virtuoso in order for him to be able to compete on an equal footing with the orchestra, which is his opponent.
In addition, the discourse not only affects the composition of individual musical phrases but also the selection of musical textures. In addition, it has an effect on the methods of developing musical material (such as themes and rhythms) in accordance with the logic of musical form, and even the more general blocking off of sections within forms; for example, the repeated exposition of the concerto has its sections for the full orchestra (tutti), as well as sections for the soloist.
Although there have been a significant number of concertos written since 1750, the conventional repertoire for each principal solo instrument does not include more than a handful of these pieces. Despite this, the concerto literature is vast across all categories.
Due to the fact that it is a primary component of standard concert fare, the concerto is susceptible to the pressures of the box office in much the same way as opera is. The film and recording industries have helped further to give disproportionate prominence to a few highly successful and undeniably effective examples, such as those for piano composed by the Norwegian Edvard Grieg (in A minor), as well as those composed by the Russians Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (in B flat minor), and Sergey Rachmaninoff (in C minor).
This investigation of the concerto begins in the late Renaissance (16th century) with the beginnings and earliest usage of the term, taking as its framework the musical eras that are generally acknowledged as being chronologically significant. It then moves on to the Baroque period, which lasted from about 1580 until 1750 and was the first major era of the concerto.
During this time, the vocal-instrumental concerto was popular in the late 16th and 17th centuries, and the concerto grosso was especially popular in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The conversation then moves on to the Classical era, which lasted about from 1730 to 1830, and the Romantic era, which lasted roughly from 1790 to 1915.
These eras highlight the successive but distinct heydays of the solo concerto, which was described in part before. At last, it arrives at the contemporary age, which began around the year 1890 and is characterized by continued energy in the solo concerto as well as a resurrection of the previous concerto grosso notion of contrasting instrumental groupings.
Within each era that is investigated, the primary concerns of the discussion are the meanings of “concerto” that were prevalent during that time period; the place that the concerto held in the social life of the era; the concerto’s scoring, or the particular use of musical instruments and voices; the concerto’s means of achieving opposition and contrast (if any); the concerto’s musical structure; and the concerto’s output by its principal regions and masters.
Britannica Quiz Performers in the Fields of Singing, Music, and Composition, and More Quiz How comprehensive is your understanding of musical genres? Is it possible to get to Peter Gabriel by way of the Brandenberg Concertos if you start with Ziggy Elman? Try your hand at it with the following quiz.
Which of the following does not characterize Vivaldi’s Four Seasons quizlet?
Which of the following does NOT characterize Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons? The concertos avoid ritornello form.
How many different movements are in Water Music?
Suite in G Major The Water Music consists of 22 movements, some of which are energetic and quick bourées, beautiful minuets in 3/4 time, and two hornpipes that make exciting country dances in triple meter.
Which texture does Handel use in the hallelujah chorus to emphasize God’s power in the line for the Lord God omnipotent Reigneth?
Because the Lord, the all-powerful God, is currently in control. and His rule will last forever and ever. At the beginning of the “Hallelujah Chorus,” which is around one minute and fourteen seconds long, there is a homorhythmic texture, and then the texture transitions into an imitative one.
What is terraced dynamics in Baroque music?
J.S. Bach With kind permission from the Wikimedia Foundation The years 1600 to 1750 are considered to be part of the Baroque time period. The year 1750 is significant due to the fact that it was the year in which Johann Sebastian Bach passed away. During that period in the annals of music history, there was one instrument that was responsible for providing the foundation for the vast majority of all music, and that instrument was the harpsichord.
- It’s true that composers continued to employ harpsichords well into the Baroque period, but they did so so seldom that it’s safe to presume that the music you’re listening to is from the Baroque period if you hear one.
- It’s kind of noisy, and maybe a touch harsh, but I adore it, and I like to hear keyboard music from this era played on harpsichord rather than on piano.
I think the harpsichord gets a bad rap because it’s kind of noisy, and maybe a little harsh. I just do not have the words to express how essential the harpsichord was to the music of the Baroque period. It was practically impossible to avoid, and it even made it more difficult for composers to write music for larger orchestras.
Try to listen carefully to the following work by Johann Sebastian Bach, the most well-known of all Baroque composers, and see if you can pick out the harpsichord that is playing in the background. Keep your ears peeled for the harpsichord. It’s all throughout Baroque music. This is in part attributable to something that is referred to as a ‘basso continuo.’ The basso continuo is made up of a few distinct components: one of these components must be an instrument that is capable of playing more than one note at the same time (almost always a harpsichord), and the other component must be some kind of instrument that plays a bit lower, such as a cello or a bassoon.
The term “basso continuo” refers to that particular combination of instruments, specifically the keyboard and the low instrument, and it is responsible for giving a composition its harmonic framework. It’s kind of like how a home is built on a foundation.
- Listen carefully to the following song by Antonio Vivaldi and see if you can pick out the harpsichord playing in the background.
- Were you able to pick out the harpsichord in the background? The harmonic framework, also known as the foundation, for the composition is being provided by the harpsichord, which is taking part in what is known as “Basso continuo.” Both of these sounds are a dead giveaway that the music you are listening to was composed during the Baroque period, which lasted roughly from the years 1600 to 1750.
This is because the harpsichord is usually always included in the basso continuo. This work is going to be played once again since it exemplifies how certain things composers were unable to do due to the limitations of the harpsichord, which it underlines as being one of those limitations.
- There is no volume control on the harpsichord, which is one drawback of this instrument.
- It doesn’t matter how hard you pound on the keys; the sound won’t grow any louder; and it doesn’t matter how lightly you touch the keys; the sound won’t become any quieter.
- The volume level of the sound produced by a harpsichord is unchangeable and cannot be altered in any way.
As a direct consequence of this, composers were had to pay careful attention to the dynamic range of the orchestra’s performance. When trying to achieve a softer sound, composers typically chose a smaller number of players. This allowed them to avoid masking the sound of the harpsichord.
Due to the inability of the harpsichord to provide a progressive increase or decrease in volume, groups playing music from the Baroque period are seldom heard doing so. We have something that is referred to as “terraced” dynamics throughout the Baroque period. Composers created their music in such a way that the volume of the performance could be regulated by the amount of persons performing at any particular time.
This allowed the composers to create dynamic and interesting musical experiences. After the Baroque period, more nuanced gradations were added to the volume of the music. The tiered dynamics that we see now originated in the Baroque period. One further significant piece of evidence is a method known as “sequencing.” A brief sentence that is repeated in the same voice but either higher or lower to provide variation is called a sequence.
- It makes a little more sense to hear it, because the Baroque musician Antonio Vivaldi was OBSESSED with this method – you can hear it all over his work.
- The music of Vivaldi will begin in just a moment, but before we do, let’s take a look at one of the most well-known sequences in the history of music.
It comes from the Christmas song “Angels We Have Heard on High,” and its “Gloria” section is a sequence. At 0:27, we get a start on the sequencing. Here is an example from one of Vivaldi’s concertos created for string instruments. The composition begins with a rising scale, and then he repeats it twice more; or, to be more precise, he sequences that first concept.
- During the time period known as the Baroque, sequencing was an extremely useful technique for composers.
- Beginning at the 0:35 mark of Messiah, George Frederic Handel makes extensive use of it.
- Because there is only one voice involved in the following example from Johann Sebastian Bach, it is possible that it will be simpler to determine the frequency with which the sequence is repeated.
This is the concluding movement of his Violin Sonata No.1, and it is marked Presto. The performance by Hilary Hahn starts at 2 minutes and 54 seconds. Some phrases and nouns, such as “concerto grosso,” are almost entirely unique to the time period known as the Baroque.
The word “concerto,” which comes first in the phrase, suggests that a soloist would perform with an ensemble. Like a violin concerto, or a flute concerto, or a piano concerto, or a trumpet concerto, etc. This indicates that a solo will be performed on a single instrument with an orchestra. When the word “grosso” is added to a piece of music, it indicates that there will be more than one soloist in addition to an ensemble.
often consisting of groups of soloists. All of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos are examples of the genre known as concerto grosso, albeit grammatically speaking we should refer to them as concerti grossi. The following is an illustration of a concerto grosso in which there is one violin and two recorders performing as the soloists: That is the first movement of Bach’s fourth Brandenburg Concerto, and it is what is known as a “concerto grosso,” which indicates that there is more than one soloist performing alongside the orchestra.
In the composition, there was one violinist and two recorder players performing as the soloists. This next concerto grosso was composed by Archangelo Corelli, who is widely regarded as the genre’s undisputed grand master. Corelli is responsible for a number of concertos of this style. The soloists in this concerto grosso are a string trio, consisting of a cellist, two violins, and one of each.
Waiting for the texture to shift from a complete orchestra to a smaller number of performers is one of the most straightforward methods to pick out the soloists in a piece of music. When we talk about those two different groups—the orchestra and the soloists—we might refer to them by their respective titles.
The term “ripieno” is used to refer to the orchestra, whereas “concertino” is used to refer to the soloists. You can hear both of them interacting with one another throughout this composition, which is Arcangelo Corelli’s second concerto grosso. That is an example of a ‘concerto grosso,’ which was a style of music that was common and well-liked throughout the Baroque period.
Ornamentation is another characteristic that is typically associated with the Baroque period. Improvisation was frequently used by the musicians as a means of embellishing the music in those days. Things like trills and mordents, which, for the most part, have the sound of small flutters.
Take note of the fluttering that may be heard in the following work by Jean Philippe Rameau: One more illustration of how richly ornate the music was follows, and for this one, we’ll listen to an example of a harpsichord piece performed on the piano: The usage of period instruments is another significant departure from earlier eras throughout the Baroque period.
Additionally, the vocal approach was somewhat distinct.
What images are evoked in spring the first movement of the Four Seasons quizlet?
Both the lyric and the music in the first movement, which is titled “Spring,” conjure images of birds, a stream, as well as thunder and lightning. Vivaldi was an ordained priest in his lifetime. Because it contains word-painting, The Four Seasons is considered to be program music.
What is the form for individual movements in the Baroque suite?
The Primary Movements of the Suite The customary beginning of a baroque suite was a French overture, similar to what is heard in ballet and opera. An overture is a musical form that is divided into two sections and is frequently encompassed by double bars and repetition signals.
The four primary movements that made up a suite were called the allemande, the courante, the sarabande, and the gigue. Each of the four primary motions is derived from a style of dance that is popular in a different nation. As a result, each movement has its own distinctive tone, as well as its own unique rhythm and meter.
The following are the most important sections of the dance suite:
|Dance Suite Movements|
|Type of Dance||Country / Meter / How to Play|
|Allemande||Germany, 4/4, Moderate|
|Courante||France, 3/4, Quick|
|Sarabande||Spain, 3/4, Slow|
|Gigue||England, 6/8, Fast|
Among the optional dances were the air, bourree (also known as a lively dance), gavotte (also known as a moderately quick dance), minuet, polonaise, and prelude. The following types of steps are included in several other French dances: Canarie ChaconneEntrée grave ForlaneLoureMusette PassacaillePassepied RigaudonTambourin
What is the form of each individual movement in a suite?
The Primary Movements of the Suite The customary beginning of a baroque suite was a French overture, similar to what is heard in ballet and opera. An overture is a musical form that is divided into two sections and is frequently encompassed by double bars and repetition signals.
- The four primary movements that made up a suite were called the allemande, the courante, the sarabande, and the gigue.
- Each of the four primary motions is derived from a style of dance that is popular in a different nation.
- As a result, each movement has its own distinctive tone, as well as its own unique rhythm and meter.
The following are the most important sections of the dance suite:
|Dance Suite Movements|
|Type of Dance||Country / Meter / How to Play|
|Allemande||Germany, 4/4, Moderate|
|Courante||France, 3/4, Quick|
|Sarabande||Spain, 3/4, Slow|
|Gigue||England, 6/8, Fast|
Among the optional dances were the air, bourree (also known as a lively dance), gavotte (also known as a moderately quick dance), minuet, polonaise, and prelude. The following types of steps are included in several other French dances: Canarie ChaconneEntrée grave ForlaneLoureMusette PassacaillePassepied RigaudonTambourin
What is sometimes found at the beginning of a Baroque suite?
In the 17th and 18th centuries, one of the most popular types of dance music was called baroque dance suites. The term “suite” refers to a series of dances that are all performed in the same key. A prelude will frequently come just after the introduction. While some of the suites were composed with dance in mind, others were written more as concert works.
Who was the most famous and most prolific Baroque composer of concertos?
1. Antonio Vivaldi was the greatest and most prolific Italian composer for concertos throughout the Baroque period. | https://azurewolfmusic.com/music/which-best-describes-the-tempo-heard-in-the-alla-hornpipe-from-handels-water-music.html |
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This leaflet is aimed at people who have been told they have cervical spondylosis as a cause of their neck symptoms. Cervical spondylosis is a 'wear and tear' of the vertebrae and discs in the neck. It is a normal part of ageing and does not cause symptoms in many people. However, it is sometimes a cause of neck pain. Symptoms tend to come and go. Treatments include keeping the neck moving, neck exercises and painkillers. In severe cases, the degeneration may cause irritation or pressure on the spinal nerve roots or spinal cord. This can cause arm or leg symptoms (detailed below). In these severe cases, surgery may be an option.
Understanding the neck
The back of the neck includes the cervical spine and the muscles and ligaments that surround and support it. The cervical spine is made up of seven bones called vertebrae. The first two are slightly different to the rest, as they attach the spine to the skull and allow the head to turn from side to side. The lower five cervical vertebrae are roughly cylindrical in shape - a bit like small tin cans - with bony projections.
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The sides of the vertebrae are linked by small facet joints. Between each of the vertebrae is a 'disc'. The discs are made of a tough fibrous outer layer and a softer gel-like inner part. The discs act like 'shock absorbers' and allow the spine to be flexible.
Strong ligaments attach to adjacent vertebrae to give extra support and strength. Various muscles attached to the spine enable the spine to bend and move in various ways. (The muscles and most ligaments are not shown in the diagram, for clarity.)
The spinal cord, which contains nervous tissue carrying messages to and from the brain, is protected by the spine. Nerves from the spinal cord come out from between the vertebrae in the neck to take and receive messages to the neck and arms. A major blood vessel called the vertebral artery also runs alongside the vertebrae to carry blood to the rear (posterior) part of the brain.
What is cervical spondylosis?
Cervical spondylosis is an age-related degeneration ('wear and tear') of the bones (vertebrae) and discs in the neck. To an extent, we all develop some degeneration in the vertebrae and discs as we become older. It tends to start sometime after the age of about 30.
One feature of the degeneration is that the edges of the vertebrae often develop small, rough areas of bone called osteophytes. Also, over many years, the discs become thinner. This degeneration is a normal ageing process which can be likened to having 'wrinkles in the spine'. In many people, the degeneration does not cause any symptoms. For example, routine X-rays of the neck will show these features (osteophytes and disc thinning) in many people who do not have any symptoms.
However, in some people, the nearby muscles, ligaments, or nerves may become irritated or 'pressed on' by the degenerative changes. So, cervical spondylosis often causes no problems but can be a cause of neck pain, particularly in older people.
What are the symptoms of cervical spondylosis?
If symptoms develop, they can range from mild to severe. Symptoms may include:
- Pain in the neck:
- This may spread to the shoulders and base of the skull. Movement of the neck may make the pain worse.
- The pain sometimes spreads down an arm to a hand or fingers. This is caused by irritation of a nerve which goes to the arm from the spinal cord in the neck.
- The pain tends to come and go with flare-ups from time to time. You may have a flare-up of pain after unaccustomed use of your neck, or if you sprain a neck muscle or ligament.
- However, a flare-up often develops for no apparent reason. Some people develop chronic (persistent) pain.
- Some neck stiffness, particularly after a night's rest.
- Headaches may occur. The headaches often start at the back of the head just above the neck and travel over the top to the forehead.
- You may develop 'pins and needles' in part of an arm or hand. This symptom is caused by irritation of a spinal nerve as it leaves the bony (vertebral) area. However, do tell a doctor if loss of feeling (numbness) or weakness develops in a part of a hand or arm. These symptoms suggest more pressure on a nerve. This is called a 'cervical radiculopathy'.
- More rarely, clumsiness of a hand, problems with walking, or problems with bladder function occur when pressure from a worn bone (vertebra) or disc damages the spinal cord. This is called 'cervical myelopathy'. Again, it is important to report these symptoms to a doctor.
Note: cervical radiculopathy and cervical myelopathy are discussed further later in the leaflet. The following section concerns cervical spondylosis without radiculopathy or myelopathy.
What are the treatments for cervical spondylosis without radiculopathy or myelopathy?
Exercise your neck and keep active
Aim to keep your neck moving as normally as possible. During flare-ups the pain may be quite bad and you may need to rest for a day or so. However, gently exercise the neck as soon as you are able. You should not let it 'stiffen up'. Gradually try to increase the range of the neck movements. Every few hours gently move the neck in each direction. Do this several times a day.
As far as possible, continue with normal activities. You will not cause damage to your neck by moving it.
Medicines
Painkillers are often helpful.
- Paracetamol at full strength is often sufficient. For an adult this is two 500 mg tablets, four times a day.
- Anti-inflammatory painkillers. Some people find that these work better than paracetamol. They can be used alone or in combination with paracetamol. They include ibuprofen which you can buy at pharmacies or obtain on prescription. Other types such as diclofenac or naproxen need a prescription. Some people with stomach ulcers, asthma, high blood pressure, kidney failure, or heart failure may not be able to take anti-inflammatory painkillers.
- A stronger painkiller such as codeine is an option if anti-inflammatories do not suit or do not work well. Codeine is often taken in addition to paracetamol. Constipation is a common side-effect from codeine. To prevent constipation, have lots to drink and eat foods with plenty of fibre.
- A low-dose tricyclic antidepressant, such as amitriptyline, is sometimes used for persistent (chronic) neck pain. The dose of amitriptyline used for pain is 10-30 mg at night. At higher doses, tricyclic antidepressants are used to treat depression. However, at lower doses they have been found to help relieve certain types of pain, including neck pain.
Physiotherapy
If symptoms do not improve over a week or so, you may then be referred to a physiotherapist to help with pain relief and for advice on specific neck exercises.
Various treatments may be advised by a physiotherapist. These include traction, heat, cold, manipulation, etc. The value of each of these treatments is uncertain, as the results of research studies looking at which treatments work best can be conflicting.
However, what is often most helpful is the advice a physiotherapist can give on neck exercises to do at home. A common situation is for a doctor to advise on painkillers and gentle neck exercises.
Other treatments
Some other treatments which may be advised include:
- A good posture may help. Check that your sitting position at work or at the computer is not poor (that is, not with your head flexed forward with a stooped back). Sit upright. Yoga, Pilates and the Alexander Technique all improve neck posture; however, their value in treating neck pain is uncertain.
- A firm supporting pillow seems to help some people when sleeping. Try not to use more than one pillow.
Treatment may vary and you should go back to see a doctor:
- If the pain becomes worse or severe.
- If other symptoms develop such as loss of feeling (numbness), weakness, or persistent pins and needles in a part of an arm or hand, as described previously.
- If you develop any problems with walking or with passing urine. Again these symptoms suggest that cervical myelopathy may be developing as a complication of the cervical spondylosis.
- If you develop dizziness or blackouts when turning the head or bending the neck. This can suggest that the vertebral artery which supplies the brain is being nipped by the degenerative changes in the spine.
Other pain-relieving techniques may be tried if the pain becomes chronic. For example, you may be referred to a pain clinic and a pain management programme may be offered to help you control and live with your pain.
Chronic neck pain is also sometimes associated with anxiety and depression which may also need to be treated.
Cervical radiculopathy and cervical myelopathy
Cervical spondylosis is an age-related degeneration ('wear and tear') of the bones (vertebrae) and discs in the neck. It can progress to cause cervical radiculopathy or cervical myelopathy (described below). Most cases do not. However, it may be useful to be aware of the symptoms that suggest they may be happening, particularly as some of them may develop slowly. See a doctor if you suspect that you are developing cervical radiculopathy or cervical myelopathy.
Cervical radiculopathy
This occurs when the root of a nerve is pressed on or damaged as it comes out from the spinal cord in the neck (cervical) region. Although there are other causes of radiculopathy, cervical spondylosis is a common cause.
Degenerative changes to the joints around the vertebrae and osteophyte formation produce areas of narrowing which may nip the nerve. Another cause is a prolapsed disc. This is sometimes called a 'slipped disc' although the disc does not actually slip. What happens is that part of the inner softer area of the disc bulges out (prolapses) through a weakness in the outer harder part of the disc. This presses on the nerve as it passes out between the vertebra (see diagram).
As well as neck pain, symptoms of radiculopathy include loss of feeling (numbness), pins and needles, pain and weakness in parts of an arm or hand supplied by the nerve. These other symptoms may actually be the main symptoms rather than neck pain. There may be shooting pains down into the arm. The symptoms are usually worse in one arm but may affect both. The pain may be severe enough to interfere with sleep. The lower cervical vertebrae are the usual ones affected, causing these symptoms in the arms. However, if the upper vertebrae are involved, the pain and numbness occur at the back and the side of the head.
Your doctor may suspect a radiculopathy if you have the typical symptoms. A doctor's examination may show changes to the sensation, power and tendon reflexes to areas of the arm supplied by the affected nerve. You may then be referred to a specialist for further tests. These may include an MRI scan which will show whether the nerve roots are being pressed on.
Treatment will depend on how severe the pressure and damage are. In many cases the symptoms settle over time. A course of physiotherapy or a neck collar used for a prescribed period may help. However, in some situations, surgery may be recommended which aims to relieve the pressure on the nerve. Depending on the cause, this may involve surgery to the disc or to the vertebra itself.
Cervical myelopathy
This occurs when there is pressure on or damage to the spinal cord itself. Again, cervical spondylosis is a common cause of this condition, as the degenerative changes to the vertebra can narrow the canal through which the spinal cord passes. A prolapse of a cervical disc can also cause myelopathy if the prolapse is into the central canal of the vertebra. This may happen suddenly or develop over a period of time. There are various other rare causes of cervical myelopathy. For example, a tumour or infection that affects this part of the spinal cord.
As the spinal cord is made up of groups of nerve fibres carrying messages to the brain from the rest of the body, pressure on these nerves in the neck region can produce symptoms from several parts of the body.
The symptoms of a cervical myelopathy may include:
- Difficulties with walking. For example, the legs may feel stiff and clumsy.
- Changes to the sensation of the hands. For example, it may be difficult to feel and recognise objects in the usual way and you may have a tendency to drop things.
- Problems with your bladder. For example, you may experience problems with emptying your bladder, or incontinence.
A doctor's examination may show changes to the sensation, power and tendon reflexes to the legs and arms. You are likely to be referred to a specialist for further tests, usually an MRI scan. This will show how the spinal cord is affected and whether any surgical treatment to relieve the pressure is likely to help.
Further reading and references
Neck pain - non-specific; NICE CKS, April 2015 (UK access only)
Neck pain - cervical radiculopathy; NICE CKS, April 2015 (UK access only)
Jiang SD, Jiang LS, Dai LY; Degenerative cervical spondylolisthesis: a systematic review. Int Orthop. 2011 Jun35(6):869-75. doi: 10.1007/s00264-010-1203-5. Epub 2011 Jan 25.
Binder AI; Cervical spondylosis and neck pain. BMJ. 2007 Mar 10334(7592):527-31.
Kuijper B, Tans JT, Beelen A, et al; Cervical collar or physiotherapy versus wait and see policy for recent onset cervical radiculopathy: randomised trial. BMJ. 2009 Oct 7339:b3883. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b3883. | https://patient.info/bones-joints-muscles/neck-pain/cervical-spondylosis |
National prosperity is created, not inherited. It does not grow out of a country’s natural endowments, its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currency’s value, as classical economics insists.
A nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade. Companies gain advantage against the world’s best competitors because of pressure and challenge. They benefit from having strong domestic rivals, aggressive home-based suppliers, and demanding local customers.
In a world of increasingly global competition, nations have become more, not less, important. As the basis of competition has shifted more and more to the creation and assimilation of knowledge, the role of the nation has grown. Competitive advantage is created and sustained through a highly localized process. Differences in national values, culture, economic structures, institutions, and histories all contribute to competitive success. There are striking differences in the patterns of competitiveness in every country; no nation can or will be competitive in every or even most industries. Ultimately, nations succeed in particular industries because their home environment is the most forward-looking, dynamic, and challenging.
These conclusions, the product of a four-year study of the patterns of competitive success in ten leading trading nations, contradict the conventional wisdom that guides the thinking of many companies and national governments—and that is pervasive today in the United States. (For more about the study, see the insert “Patterns of National Competitive Success.”) According to prevailing thinking, labor costs, interest rates, exchange rates, and economies of scale are the most potent determinants of competitiveness. In companies, the words of the day are merger, alliance, strategic partnerships, collaboration, and supranational globalization. Managers are pressing for more government support for particular industries. Among governments, there is a growing tendency to experiment with various policies intended to promote national competitiveness—from efforts to manage exchange rates to new measures to manage trade to policies to relax antitrust—which usually end up only under mining it. (See the insert “What Is National Competitiveness?”)
Patterns of National Competitive Success by: Michael E. Porter
What Is National Competitiveness? by: Michael E. Porter
These approaches, now much in favor in both companies and governments, are flawed. They fundamentally misperceive the true sources of competitive advantage. Pursuing them, with all their short-term appeal, will virtually guarantee that the United States—or any other advanced nation—never achieves real and sustainable competitive advantage.
We need a new perspective and new tools—an approach to competitiveness that grows directly out of an analysis of internationally successful industries, without regard for traditional ideology or current intellectual fashion. We need to know, very simply, what works and why. Then we need to apply it.
How Companies Succeed in International Markets
Around the world, companies that have achieved international leadership employ strategies that differ from each other in every respect. But while every successful company will employ its own particular strategy, the underlying mode of operation—the character and trajectory of all successful companies—is fundamentally the same.
Companies achieve competitive advantage through acts of innovation. They approach innovation in its broadest sense, including both new technologies and new ways of doing things. They perceive a new basis for competing or find better means for competing in old ways. Innovation can be manifested in a new product design, a new production process, a new marketing approach, or a new way of conducting training. Much innovation is mundane and incremental, depending more on a cumulation of small insights and advances than on a single, major technological breakthrough. It often involves ideas that are not even “new”—ideas that have been around, but never vigorously pursued. It always involves investments in skill and knowledge, as well as in physical assets and brand reputations.
Some innovations create competitive advantage by perceiving an entirely new market opportunity or by serving a market segment that others have ignored. When competitors are slow to respond, such innovation yields competitive advantage. For instance, in industries such as autos and home electronics, Japanese companies gained their initial advantage by emphasizing smaller, more compact, lower capacity models that foreign competitors disdained as less profitable, less important, and less attractive.
In international markets, innovations that yield competitive advantage anticipate both domestic and foreign needs. For example, as international concern for product safety has grown, Swedish companies like Volvo, Atlas Copco, and AGA have succeeded by anticipating the market opportunity in this area. On the other hand, innovations that respond to concerns or circumstances that are peculiar to the home market can actually retard international competitive success. The lure of the huge U.S. defense market, for instance, has diverted the attention of U.S. materials and machine-tool companies from attractive, global commercial markets.
Information plays a large role in the process of innovation and improvement—information that either is not available to competitors or that they do not seek. Sometimes it comes from simple investment in research and development or market research; more often, it comes from effort and from openness and from looking in the right place unencumbered by blinding assumptions or conventional wisdom.
This is why innovators are often outsiders from a different industry or a different country. Innovation may come from a new company, whose founder has a nontraditional background or was simply not appreciated in an older, established company. Or the capacity for innovation may come into an existing company through senior managers who are new to the particular industry and thus more able to perceive opportunities and more likely to pursue them. Or innovation may occur as a company diversifies, bringing new resources, skills, or perspectives to another industry. Or innovations may come from another nation with different circumstances or different ways of competing.
With few exceptions, innovation is the result of unusual effort. The company that successfully implements a new or better way of competing pursues its approach with dogged determination, often in the face of harsh criticism and tough obstacles. In fact, to succeed, innovation usually requires pressure, necessity, and even adversity: the fear of loss often proves more powerful than the hope of gain.
Once a company achieves competitive advantage through an innovation, it can sustain it only through relentless improvement. Almost any advantage can be imitated. Korean companies have already matched the ability of their Japanese rivals to mass-produce standard color televisions and VCRs; Brazilian companies have assembled technology and designs comparable to Italian competitors in casual leather footwear.
Competitors will eventually and inevitably overtake any company that stops improving and innovating. Sometimes early-mover advantages such as customer relationships, scale economies in existing technologies, or the loyalty of distribution channels are enough to permit a stagnant company to retain its entrenched position for years or even decades. But sooner or later, more dynamic rivals will find a way to innovate around these advantages or create a better or cheaper way of doing things. Italian appliance producers, which competed successfully on the basis of cost in selling midsize and compact appliances through large retail chains, rested too long on this initial advantage. By developing more differentiated products and creating strong brand franchises, German competitors have begun to gain ground.
Ultimately, the only way to sustain a competitive advantage is to upgrade it— to move to more sophisticated types. This is precisely what Japanese auto-makers have done. They initially penetrated foreign markets with small, inexpensive compact cars of adequate quality and competed on the basis of lower labor costs. Even while their labor-cost advantage persisted, however, the Japanese companies were upgrading. They invested aggressively to build large modern plants to reap economies of scale. Then they became innovators in process technology, pioneering just-in-time production and a host of other quality and productivity practices. These process improvements led to better product quality, better repair records, and better customer-satisfaction ratings than foreign competitors had. Most recently, Japanese automakers have advanced to the vanguard of product technology and are introducing new, premium brand names to compete with the world’s most prestigious passenger cars.
The example of the Japanese automakers also illustrates two additional prerequisites for sustaining competitive advantage. First, a company must adopt a global approach to strategy. It must sell its product worldwide, under its own brand name, through international marketing channels that it controls. A truly global approach may even require the company to locate production or R&D facilities in other nations to take advantage of lower wage rates, to gain or improve market access, or to take advantage of foreign technology. Second, creating more sustainable advantages often means that a company must make its existing advantage obsolete—even while it is still an advantage. Japanese auto companies recognized this; either they would make their advantage obsolete, or a competitor would do it for them.
As this example suggests, innovation and change are inextricably tied together. But change is an unnatural act, particularly in successful companies; powerful forces are at work to avoid and defeat it. Past approaches become institutionalized in standard operating procedures and management controls. Training emphasizes the one correct way to do anything; the construction of specialized, dedicated facilities solidifies past practice into expensive brick and mortar; the existing strategy takes on an aura of invincibility and becomes rooted in the company culture.
Successful companies tend to develop a bias for predictability and stability; they work on defending what they have. Change is tempered by the fear that there is much to lose. The organization at all levels filters out information that would suggest new approaches, modifications, or departures from the norm. The internal environment operates like an immune system to isolate or expel “hostile” individuals who challenge current directions or established thinking. Innovation ceases; the company becomes stagnant; it is only a matter of time before aggressive competitors overtake it.
The Diamond of National Advantage
Why are certain companies based in certain nations capable of consistent innovation? Why do they ruthlessly pursue improvements, seeking an ever more sophisticated source of competitive advantage? Why are they able to overcome the substantial barriers to change and innovation that so often accompany success?
The answer lies in four broad attributes of a nation, attributes that individually and as a system constitute the diamond of national advantage, the playing field that each nation establishes and operates for its industries. These attributes are.
1. Factor Conditions. The nation’s position in factors of production, such as skilled labor or infrastructure, necessary to compete in a given industry.
2. Demand Conditions. The nature of home-market demand for the industry’s product or service.
3. Related and Supporting Industries. The presence or absence in the nation of supplier industries and other related industries that are internationally competitive.
4. Firm Strategy, Structure, and Rivalry. The conditions in the nation governing how companies are created, organized, and managed, as well as the nature of domestic rivalry.
These determinants create the national environment in which companies are born and learn how to compete. (See the diagram “Determinants of National Competitive Advantage.”) Each point on the diamond—and the diamond as a system—affects essential ingredients for achieving international competitive success: the availability of resources and skills necessary for competitive advantage in an industry; the information that shapes the opportunities that companies perceive and the directions in which they deploy their resources and skills; the goals of the owners, managers, and individuals in companies; and most important, the pressures on companies to invest and innovate. (See the insert “How the Diamond Works: The Italian Ceramic Tile Industry.”)
Determinants of National Competitive Advantage
How the Diamond Works: The Italian Ceramic Tile Industry by: Michael J. Enright by: Paolo Tenti
When a national environment permits and supports the most rapid accumulation of specialized assets and skills—sometimes simply because of greater effort and commitment—companies gain a competitive advantage. When a national environment affords better ongoing information and insight into product and process needs, companies gain a competitive advantage. Finally, when the national environment pressures companies to innovate and invest, companies both gain a competitive advantage and upgrade those advantages over time.
Factor Conditions. According to standard economic theory, factors of production—labor, land, natural resources, capital, infrastructure—will determine the flow of trade. A nation will export those goods that make most use of the factors with which it is relatively well endowed. This doctrine, whose origins date back to Adam Smith and David Ricardo and that is embedded in classical economics, is at best incomplete and at worst incorrect.
In the sophisticated industries that form the backbone of any advanced economy, a nation does not inherit but instead creates the most important factors of production—such as skilled human resources or a scientific base. Moreover, the stock of factors that a nation enjoys at a particular time is less important than the rate and efficiency with which it creates, upgrades, and deploys them in particular industries.
The most important factors of production are those that involve sustained and heavy investment and are specialized. Basic factors, such as a pool of labor or a local raw-material source, do not constitute an advantage in knowledge-intensive industries. Companies can access them easily through a global strategy or circumvent them through technology. Contrary to conventional wisdom, simply having a general work force that is high school or even college educated represents no competitive advantage in modern international competition. To support competitive advantage, a factor must be highly specialized to an industry’s particular needs—a scientific institute specialized in optics, a pool of venture capital to fund software companies. These factors are more scarce, more difficult for foreign competitors to imitate—and they require sustained investment to create.
Nations succeed in industries where they are particularly good at factor creation. Competitive advantage results from the presence of world-class institutions that first create specialized factors and then continually work to upgrade them. Denmark has two hospitals that concentrate in studying and treating diabetes—and a world-leading export position in insulin. Holland has premier research institutes in the cultivation, packaging, and shipping of flowers, where it is the world’s export leader.
What is not so obvious, however, is that selective disadvantages in the more basic factors can prod a company to innovate and upgrade—a disadvantage in a static model of competition can become an advantage in a dynamic one. When there is an ample supply of cheap raw materials or abundant labor, companies can simply rest on these advantages and often deploy them inefficiently. But when companies face a selective disadvantage, like high land costs, labor shortages, or the lack of local raw materials, they must innovate and upgrade to compete.
Implicit in the oft-repeated Japanese statement, “We are an island nation with no natural resources,” is the understanding that these deficiencies have only served to spur Japan’s competitive innovation. Just-in-time production, for example, economized on prohibitively expensive space. Italian steel producers in the Brescia area faced a similar set of disadvantages: high capital costs, high energy costs, and no local raw materials. Located in Northern Lombardy, these privately owned companies faced staggering logistics costs due to their distance from southern ports and the inefficiencies of the state-owned Italian transportation system. The result: they pioneered technologically advanced minimills that require only modest capital investment, use less energy, employ scrap metal as the feedstock, are efficient at small scale, and permit producers to locate close to sources of scrap and end-use customers. In other words, they converted factor disadvantages into competitive advantage.
Disadvantages can become advantages only under certain conditions. First, they must send companies proper signals about circumstances that will spread to other nations, thereby equipping them to innovate in advance of foreign rivals. Switzerland, the nation that experienced the first labor shortages after World War II, is a case in point. Swiss companies responded to the disadvantage by upgrading labor productivity and seeking higher value, more sustainable market segments. Companies in most other parts of the world, where there were still ample workers, focused their attention on other issues, which resulted in slower upgrading.
The second condition for transforming disadvantages into advantages is favorable circumstances elsewhere in the diamond—a consideration that applies to almost all determinants. To innovate, companies must have access to people with appropriate skills and have home-demand conditions that send the right signals. They must also have active domestic rivals who create pressure to innovate. Another precondition is company goals that lead to sustained commitment to the industry. Without such a commitment and the presence of active rivalry, a company may take an easy way around a disadvantage rather than using it as a spur to innovation.
For example, U.S. consumer-electronics companies, faced with high relative labor costs, chose to leave the product and production process largely unchanged and move labor-intensive activities to Taiwan and other Asian countries. Instead of upgrading their sources of advantage, they settled for labor-cost parity. On the other hand, Japanese rivals, confronted with intense domestic competition and a mature home market, chose to eliminate labor through automation. This led to lower assembly costs, to products with fewer components and to improved quality and reliability. Soon Japanese companies were building assembly plants in the United States—the place U.S. companies had fled.
Demand Conditions. It might seem that the globalization of competition would diminish the importance of home demand. In practice, however, this is simply not the case. In fact, the composition and character of the home market usually has a disproportionate effect on how companies perceive, interpret, and respond to buyer needs. Nations gain competitive advantage in industries where the home demand gives their companies a clearer or earlier picture of emerging buyer needs, and where demanding buyers pressure companies to innovate faster and achieve more sophisticated competitive advantages than their foreign rivals. The size of home demand proves far less significant than the character of home demand.
Home-demand conditions help build competitive advantage when a particular industry segment is larger or more visible in the domestic market than in foreign markets. The larger market segments in a nation receive the most attention from the nation’s companies; companies accord smaller or less desirable segments a lower priority. A good example is hydraulic excavators, which represent the most widely used type of construction equipment in the Japanese domestic market—but which comprise a far smaller proportion of the market in other advanced nations. This segment is one of the few where there are vigorous Japanese international competitors and where Caterpillar does not hold a substantial share of the world market.
More important than the mix of segments per se is the nature of domestic buyers. A nation’s companies gain competitive advantage if domestic buyers are the world’s most sophisticated and demanding buyers for the product or service. Sophisticated, demanding buyers provide a window into advanced customer needs; they pressure companies to meet high standards; they prod them to improve, to innovate, and to upgrade into more advanced segments. As with factor conditions, demand conditions provide advantages by forcing companies to respond to tough challenges.
Especially stringent needs arise because of local values and circumstances. For example, Japanese consumers, who live in small, tightly packed homes, must contend with hot, humid summers and high-cost electrical energy—a daunting combination of circumstances. In response, Japanese companies have pioneered compact, quiet air-conditioning units powered by energy-saving rotary compressors. In industry after industry, the tightly constrained requirements of the Japanese market have forced companies to innovate, yielding products that are kei-haku-tan-sho—light, thin, short, small—and that are internationally accepted.
Local buyers can help a nation’s companies gain advantage if their needs anticipate or even shape those of other nations—if their needs provide ongoing “early-warning indicators” of global market trends. Sometimes anticipatory needs emerge because a nation’s political values foreshadow needs that will grow elsewhere. Sweden’s long-standing concern for handicapped people has spawned an increasingly competitive industry focused on special needs. Denmark’s environmentalism has led to success for companies in water-pollution control equipment and windmills.
More generally, a nation’s companies can anticipate global trends if the nation’s values are spreading—that is, if the country is exporting its values and tastes as well as its products. The international success of U.S. companies in fast food and credit cards, for example, reflects not only the American desire for convenience but also the spread of these tastes to the rest of the world. Nations export their values and tastes through media, through training foreigners, through political influence, and through the foreign activities of their citizens and companies.
Related and Supporting Industries. The third broad determinant of national advantage is the presence in the nation of related and supporting industries that are internationally competitive. Internationally competitive home-based suppliers create advantages in downstream industries in several ways. First, they deliver the most cost-effective inputs in an efficient, early, rapid, and sometimes preferential way. Italian gold and silver jewelry companies lead the world in that industry in part because other Italian companies supply two-thirds of the world’s jewelry-making and precious-metal recycling machinery.
Far more significant than mere access to components and machinery, however, is the advantage that home-based related and supporting industries provide in innovation and upgrading—an advantage based on close working relationships. Suppliers and end-users located near each other can take advantage of short lines of communication, quick and constant flow of information, and an ongoing exchange of ideas and innovations. Companies have the opportunity to influence their suppliers’ technical efforts and can serve as test sites for R&D work, accelerating the pace of innovation.
The illustration of “The Italian Footwear Cluster” offers a graphic example of how a group of close-by, supporting industries creates competitive advantage in a range of interconnected industries that are all internationally competitive. Shoe producers, for instance, interact regularly with leather manufacturers on new styles and manufacturing techniques and learn about new textures and colors of leather when they are still on the drawing boards. Leather manufacturers gain early insights into fashion trends, helping them to plan new products. The interaction is mutually advantageous and self-reinforcing, but it does not happen automatically: it is helped by proximity, but occurs only because companies and suppliers work at it.
The nation’s companies benefit most when the suppliers are, themselves, global competitors. It is ultimately self-defeating for a company or country to create “captive” suppliers who are totally dependent on the domestic industry and prevented from serving foreign competitors. By the same token, a nation need not be competitive in all supplier industries for its companies to gain competitive advantage. Companies can readily source from abroad materials, components, or technologies without a major effect on innovation or performance of the industry’s products. The same is true of other generalized technologies—like electronics or software—where the industry represents a narrow application area.
Home-based competitiveness in related industries provides similar benefits: information flow and technical interchange speed the rate of innovation and upgrading. A home-based related industry also increases the likelihood that companies will embrace new skills, and it also provides a source of entrants who will bring a novel approach to competing. The Swiss success in pharmaceuticals emerged out of previous international success in the dye industry, for example; Japanese dominance in electronic musical keyboards grows out of success in acoustic instruments combined with a strong position in consumer electronics.
Firm Strategy, Structure, and Rivalry. National circumstances and context create strong tendencies in how companies are created, organized, and managed, as well as what the nature of domestic rivalry will be. In Italy, for example, successful international competitors are often small or medium-sized companies that are privately owned and operated like extended families; in Germany, in contrast, companies tend to be strictly hierarchical in organization and management practices, and top managers usually have technical backgrounds.
No one managerial system is universally appropriate—notwithstanding the current fascination with Japanese management. Competitiveness in a specific industry results from convergence of the management practices and organizational modes favored in the country and the sources of competitive advantage in the industry. In industries where Italian companies are world leaders—such as lighting, furniture, footwear, woolen fabrics, and packaging machines—a company strategy that emphasizes focus, customized products, niche marketing, rapid change, and breathtaking flexibility fits both the dynamics of the industry and the character of the Italian management system. The German management system, in contrast, works well in technical or engineering-oriented industries—optics, chemicals, complicated machinery—where complex products demand precision manufacturing, a careful development process, after-sale service, and thus a highly disciplined management structure. German success is much rarer in consumer goods and services where image marketing and rapid new-feature and model turnover are important to competition.
Countries also differ markedly in the goals that companies and individuals seek to achieve. Company goals reflect the characteristics of national capital markets and the compensation practices for managers. For example, in Germany and Switzerland, where banks comprise a substantial part of the nation’s shareholders, most shares are held for long-term appreciation and are rarely traded. Companies do well in mature industries, where ongoing investment in R&D and new facilities is essential but returns may be only moderate. The United States is at the opposite extreme, with a large pool of risk capital but widespread trading of public companies and a strong emphasis by investors on quarterly and annual share-price appreciation. Management compensation is heavily based on annual bonuses tied to individual results. America does well in relatively new industries, like software and biotechnology, or ones where equity funding of new companies feeds active domestic rivalry, like specialty electronics and services. Strong pressures leading to underinvestment, however, plague more mature industries.
Individual motivation to work and expand skills is also important to competitive advantage. Outstanding talent is a scarce resource in any nation. A nation’s success largely depends on the types of education its talented people choose, where they choose to work, and their commitment and effort. The goals a nation’s institutions and values set for individuals and companies, and the prestige it attaches to certain industries, guide the flow of capital and human resources—which, in turn, directly affects the competitive performance of certain industries. Nations tend to be competitive in activities that people admire or depend on—the activities from which the nation’s heroes emerge. In Switzerland, it is banking and pharmaceuticals. In Israel, the highest callings have been agriculture and defense-related fields. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between cause and effect. Attaining international success can make an industry prestigious, reinforcing its advantage.
The presence of strong local rivals is a final, and powerful, stimulus to the creation and persistence of competitive advantage. This is true of small countries, like Switzerland, where the rivalry among its pharmaceutical companies, Hoffmann-La Roche, Ciba-Geigy, and Sandoz, contributes to a leading worldwide position. It is true in the United States in the computer and software industries. Nowhere is the role of fierce rivalry more apparent than in Japan, where there are 112 companies competing in machine tools, 34 in semiconductors, 25 in audio equipment, 15 in cameras—in fact, there are usually double figures in the industries in which Japan boasts global dominance. (See the table “Estimated Number of Japanese Rivals in Selected Industries.”) Among all the points on the diamond, domestic rivalry is arguably the most important because of the powerfully stimulating effect it has on all the others.
Estimated Number of Japanese Rivals in Selected Industries
Conventional wisdom argues that domestic competition is wasteful: it leads to duplication of effort and prevents companies from achieving economies of scale. The “right solution” is to embrace one or two national champions, companies with the scale and strength to tackle foreign competitors, and to guarantee them the necessary resources, with the government’s blessing. In fact, however, most national champions are uncompetitive, although heavily subsidized and protected by their government. In many of the prominent industries in which there is only one national rival, such as aerospace and telecommunications, government has played a large role in distorting competition.
Static efficiency is much less important than dynamic improvement, which domestic rivalry uniquely spurs. Domestic rivalry, like any rivalry, creates pressure on companies to innovate and improve. Local rivals push each other to lower costs, improve quality and service, and create new products and processes. But unlike rivalries with foreign competitors, which tend to be analytical and distant, local rivalries often go beyond pure economic or business competition and become intensely personal. Domestic rivals engage in active feuds; they compete not only for market share but also for people, for technical excellence, and perhaps most important, for “bragging rights.” One domestic rival’s success proves to others that advancement is possible and often attracts new rivals to the industry. Companies often attribute the success of foreign rivals to “unfair” advantages. With domestic rivals, there are no excuses.
Geographic concentration magnifies the power of domestic rivalry. This pattern is strikingly common around the world: Italian jewelry companies are located around two towns, Arezzo and Valenza Po; cutlery companies in Solingen, West Germany and Seki, Japan; pharmaceutical companies in Basel, Switzerland; motorcycles and musical instruments in Hamamatsu, Japan. The more localized the rivalry, the more intense. And the more intense, the better.
Another benefit of domestic rivalry is the pressure it creates for constant upgrading of the sources of competitive advantage. The presence of domestic competitors automatically cancels the types of advantage that come from simply being in a particular nation—factor costs, access to or preference in the home market, or costs to foreign competitors who import into the market. Companies are forced to move beyond them, and as a result, gain more sustainable advantages. Moreover, competing domestic rivals will keep each other honest in obtaining government support. Companies are less likely to get hooked on the narcotic of government contracts or creeping industry protectionism. Instead, the industry will seek—and benefit from—more constructive forms of government support, such as assistance in opening foreign markets, as well as investments in focused educational institutions or other specialized factors.
Ironically, it is also vigorous domestic competition that ultimately pressures domestic companies to look at global markets and toughens them to succeed in them. Particularly when there are economies of scale, local competitors force each other to look outward to foreign markets to capture greater efficiency and higher profitability. And having been tested by fierce domestic competition, the stronger companies are well equipped to win abroad. If Digital Equipment can hold its own against IBM, Data General, Prime, and Hewlett-Packard, going up against Siemens or Machines Bull does not seem so daunting a prospect.
The Diamond as a System
Each of these four attributes defines a point on the diamond of national advantage; the effect of one point often depends on the state of others. Sophisticated buyers will not translate into advanced products, for example, unless the quality of human resources permits companies to meet buyer needs. Selective disadvantages in factors of production will not motivate innovation unless rivalry is vigorous and company goals support sustained investment. At the broadest level, weaknesses in any one determinant will constrain an industry’s potential for advancement and upgrading.
But the points of the diamond are also self-reinforcing: they constitute a system. Two elements, domestic rivalry and geographic concentration, have especially great power to transform the diamond into a system—domestic rivalry because it promotes improvement in all the other determinants and geographic concentration because it elevates and magnifies the interaction of the four separate influences.
The role of domestic rivalry illustrates how the diamond operates as a self-reinforcing system. Vigorous domestic rivalry stimulates the development of unique pools of specialized factors, particularly if the rivals are all located in one city or region: the University of California at Davis has become the world’s leading center of wine-making research, working closely with the California wine industry. Active local rivals also upgrade domestic demand in an industry. In furniture and shoes, for example, Italian consumers have learned to expect more and better products because of the rapid pace of new product development that is driven by intense domestic rivalry among hundreds of Italian companies. Domestic rivalry also promotes the formation of related and supporting industries. Japan’s world-leading group of semiconductor producers, for instance, has spawned world-leading Japanese semiconductor-equipment manufacturers.
The effects can work in all directions: sometimes world-class suppliers become new entrants in the industry they have been supplying. Or highly sophisticated buyers may themselves enter a supplier industry, particularly when they have relevant skills and view the new industry as strategic. In the case of the Japanese robotics industry, for example, Matsushita and Kawasaki originally designed robots for internal use before beginning to sell robots to others. Today they are strong competitors in the robotics industry. In Sweden, Sandvik moved from specialty steel into rock drills, and SKF moved from specialty steel into ball bearings.
Another effect of the diamond’s systemic nature is that nations are rarely home to just one competitive industry; rather, the diamond creates an environment that promotes clusters of competitive industries. Competitive industries are not scattered helter-skelter throughout the economy but are usually linked together through vertical (buyer-seller) or horizontal (common customers, technology, channels) relationships. Nor are clusters usually scattered physically; they tend to be concentrated geographically. One competitive industry helps to create another in a mutually reinforcing process. Japan’s strength in consumer electronics, for example, drove its success in semiconductors toward the memory chips and integrated circuits these products use. Japanese strength in laptop computers, which contrasts to limited success in other segments, reflects the base of strength in other compact, portable products and leading expertise in liquid-crystal display gained in the calculator and watch industries.
Once a cluster forms, the whole group of industries becomes mutually supporting. Benefits flow forward, backward, and horizontally. Aggressive rivalry in one industry spreads to others in the cluster, through spin-offs, through the exercise of bargaining power, and through diversification by established companies. Entry from other industries within the cluster spurs upgrading by stimulating diversity in R&D approaches and facilitating the introduction of new strategies and skills. Through the conduits of suppliers or customers who have contact with multiple competitors, information flows freely and innovations diffuse rapidly. Interconnections within the cluster, often unanticipated, lead to perceptions of new ways of competing and new opportunities. The cluster becomes a vehicle for maintaining diversity and overcoming the inward focus, inertia, inflexibility, and accommodation among rivals that slows or blocks competitive upgrading and new entry.
The Role of Government
In the continuing debate over the competitiveness of nations, no topic engenders more argument or creates less understanding than the role of the government. Many see government as an essential helper or supporter of industry, employing a host of policies to contribute directly to the competitive performance of strategic or target industries. Others accept the “free market” view that the operation of the economy should be left to the workings of the invisible hand.
Both views are incorrect. Either, followed to its logical outcome, would lead to the permanent erosion of a country’s competitive capabilities. On one hand, advocates of government help for industry frequently propose policies that would actually hurt companies in the long run and only create the demand for more helping. On the other hand, advocates of a diminished government presence ignore the legitimate role that government plays in shaping the context and institutional structure surrounding companies and in creating an environment that stimulates companies to gain competitive advantage.
Government’s proper role is as a catalyst and challenger; it is to encourage—or even push—companies to raise their aspirations and move to higher levels of competitive performance, even though this process may be inherently unpleasant and difficult. Government cannot create competitive industries; only companies can do that. Government plays a role that is inherently partial, that succeeds only when working in tandem with favorable underlying conditions in the diamond. Still, government’s role of transmitting and amplifying the forces of the diamond is a powerful one. Government policies that succeed are those that create an environment in which companies can gain competitive advantage rather than those that involve government directly in the process, except in nations early in the development process. It is an indirect, rather than a direct, role.
Japan’s government, at its best, understands this role better than anyone—including the point that nations pass through stages of competitive development and that government’s appropriate role shifts as the economy progresses. By stimulating early demand for advanced products, confronting industries with the need to pioneer frontier technology through symbolic cooperative projects, establishing prizes that reward quality, and pursuing other policies that magnify the forces of the diamond, the Japanese government accelerates the pace of innovation. But like government officials anywhere, at their worst Japanese bureaucrats can make the same mistakes: attempting to manage industry structure, protecting the market too long, and yielding to political pressure to insulate inefficient retailers, farmers, distributors, and industrial companies from competition.
It is not hard to understand why so many governments make the same mistakes so often in pursuit of national competitiveness: competitive time for companies and political time for governments are fundamentally at odds. It often takes more than a decade for an industry to create competitive advantage; the process entails the long upgrading of human skills, investing in products and processes, building clusters, and penetrating foreign markets. In the case of the Japanese auto industry, for instance, companies made their first faltering steps toward exporting in the 1950s—yet did not achieve strong international positions until the 1970s.
But in politics, a decade is an eternity. Consequently, most governments favor policies that offer easily perceived short-term benefits, such as subsidies, protection, and arranged mergers—the very policies that retard innovation. Most of the policies that would make a real difference either are too slow and require too much patience for politicians or, even worse, carry with them the sting of short-term pain. Deregulating a protected industry, for example, will lead to bankruptcies sooner and to stronger, more competitive companies only later.
Policies that convey static, short-term cost advantages but that unconsciously undermine innovation and dynamism represent the most common and most profound error in government industrial policy. In a desire to help, it is all too easy for governments to adopt policies such as joint projects to avoid “wasteful” R&D that undermine dynamism and competition. Yet even a 10% cost saving through economies of scale is easily nullified through rapid product and process improvement and the pursuit of volume in global markets—something that such policies undermine.
There are some simple, basic principles that governments should embrace to play the proper supportive role for national competitiveness: encourage change, promote domestic rivalry, stimulate innovation. Some of the specific policy approaches to guide nations seeking to gain competitive advantage include the following.
Focus on specialized factor creation. Government has critical responsibilities for fundamentals like the primary and secondary education systems, basic national infrastructure, and research in areas of broad national concern such as health care. Yet these kinds of generalized efforts at factor creation rarely produce competitive advantage. Rather, the factors that translate into competitive advantage are advanced, specialized, and tied to specific industries or industry groups. Mechanisms such as specialized apprenticeship programs, research efforts in universities connected with an industry, trade association activities, and, most important, the private investments of companies ultimately create the factors that will yield competitive advantage.
Avoid intervening in factor and currency markets. By intervening in factor and currency markets, governments hope to create lower factor costs or a favorable exchange rate that will help companies compete more effectively in international markets. Evidence from around the world indicates that these policies—such as the Reagan administration’s dollar devaluation—are often counterproductive. They work against the upgrading of industry and the search for more sustainable competitive advantage.
The contrasting case of Japan is particularly instructive, although both Germany and Switzerland have had similar experiences. Over the past 20 years, the Japanese have been rocked by the sudden Nixon currency devaluation shock, two oil shocks, and, most recently, the yen shock—all of which forced Japanese companies to upgrade their competitive advantages. The point is not that government should pursue policies that intentionally drive up factor costs or the exchange rate. Rather, when market forces create rising factor costs or a higher exchange rate, government should resist the temptation to push them back down.
Enforce strict product, safety, and environmental standards. Strict government regulations can promote competitive advantage by stimulating and upgrading domestic demand. Stringent standards for product performance, product safety, and environmental impact pressure companies to improve quality, upgrade technology, and provide features that respond to consumer and social demands. Easing standards, however tempting, is counterproductive.
When tough regulations anticipate standards that will spread internationally, they give a nation’s companies a head start in developing products and services that will be valuable elsewhere. Sweden’s strict standards for environmental protection have promoted competitive advantage in many industries. Atlas Copco, for example, produces quiet compressors that can be used in dense urban areas with minimal disruption to residents. Strict standards, however, must be combined with a rapid and streamlined regulatory process that does not absorb resources and cause delays.
Sharply limit direct cooperation among industry rivals. The most pervasive global policy fad in the competitiveness arena today is the call for more cooperative research and industry consortia. Operating on the belief that independent research by rivals is wasteful and duplicative, that collaborative efforts achieve economies of scale, and that individual companies are likely to underinvest in R&D because they cannot reap all the benefits, governments have embraced the idea of more direct cooperation. In the United States, antitrust laws have been modified to allow more cooperative R&D; in Europe, megaprojects such as ESPRIT, an information-technology project, bring together companies from several countries. Lurking behind much of this thinking is the fascination of Western governments with—and fundamental misunderstanding of—the countless cooperative research projects sponsored by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), projects that appear to have contributed to Japan’s competitive rise.
But a closer look at Japanese cooperative projects suggests a different story. Japanese companies participate in MITI projects to maintain good relations with MITI, to preserve their corporate images, and to hedge the risk that competitors will gain from the project—largely defensive reasons. Companies rarely contribute their best scientists and engineers to cooperative projects and usually spend much more on their own private research in the same field. Typically, the government makes only a modest financial contribution to the project.
The real value of Japanese cooperative research is to signal the importance of emerging technical areas and to stimulate proprietary company research. Cooperative projects prompt companies to explore new fields and boost internal R&D spending because companies know that their domestic rivals are investigating them.
Under certain limited conditions, cooperative research can prove beneficial. Projects should be in areas of basic product and process research, not in subjects closely connected to a company’s proprietary sources of advantage. They should constitute only a modest portion of a company’s overall research program in any given field. Cooperative research should be only indirect, channeled through independent organizations to which most industry participants have access. Organizational structures, like university labs and centers of excellence, reduce management problems and minimize the risk to rivalry. Finally, the most useful cooperative projects often involve fields that touch a number of industries and that require substantial R&D investments.
Promote goals that lead to sustained investment. Government has a vital role in shaping the goals of investors, managers, and employees through policies in various areas. The manner in which capital markets are regulated, for example, shapes the incentives of investors and, in turn, the behavior of companies. Government should aim to encourage sustained investment in human skills, in innovation, and in physical assets. Perhaps the single most powerful tool for raising the rate of sustained investment in industry is a tax incentive for long-term (five years or more) capital gains restricted to new investment in corporate equity. Long-term capital gains incentives should also be applied to pension funds and other currently untaxed investors, who now have few reasons not to engage in rapid trading.
Deregulate competition. Regulation of competition through such policies as maintaining a state monopoly, controlling entry into an industry, or fixing prices has two strong negative consequences: it stifles rivalry and innovation as companies become preoccupied with dealing with regulators and protecting what they already have; and it makes the industry a less dynamic and less desirable buyer or supplier. Deregulation and privatization on their own, however, will not succeed without vigorous domestic rivalry—and that requires, as a corollary, a strong and consistent antitrust policy.
Enforce strong domestic antitrust policies. A strong antitrust policy—especially for horizontal mergers, alliances, and collusive behavior—is fundamental to innovation. While it is fashionable today to call for mergers and alliances in the name of globalization and the creation of national champions, these often undermine the creation of competitive advantage. Real national competitiveness requires governments to disallow mergers, acquisitions, and alliances that involve industry leaders. Furthermore, the same standards for mergers and alliances should apply to both domestic and foreign companies. Finally, government policy should favor internal entry, both domestic and international, over acquisition. Companies should, however, be allowed to acquire small companies in related industries when the move promotes the transfer of skills that could ultimately create competitive advantage.
Reject managed trade. Managed trade represents a growing and dangerous tendency for dealing with the fallout of national competitiveness. Orderly marketing agreements, voluntary restraint agreements, or other devices that set quantitative targets to divide up markets are dangerous, ineffective, and often enormously costly to consumers. Rather than promoting innovation in a nation’s industries, managed trade guarantees a market for inefficient companies.
Government trade policy should pursue open market access in every foreign nation. To be effective, trade policy should not be a passive instrument; it cannot respond only to complaints or work only for those industries that can muster enough political clout; it should not require a long history of injury or serve only distressed industries. Trade policy should seek to open markets wherever a nation has competitive advantage and should actively address emerging industries and incipient problems.
Where government finds a trade barrier in another nation, it should concentrate its remedies on dismantling barriers, not on regulating imports or exports. In the case of Japan, for example, pressure to accelerate the already rapid growth of manufactured imports is a more effective approach than a shift to managed trade. Compensatory tariffs that punish companies for unfair trade practices are better than market quotas. Other increasingly important tools to open markets are restrictions that prevent companies in offending nations from investing in acquisitions or production facilities in the host country—thereby blocking the unfair country’s companies from using their advantage to establish a new beachhead that is immune from sanctions.
Any of these remedies, however, can backfire. It is virtually impossible to craft remedies to unfair trade practices that avoid both reducing incentives for domestic companies to innovate and export and harming domestic buyers. The aim of remedies should be adjustments that allow the remedy to disappear.
The Company Agenda
Ultimately, only companies themselves can achieve and sustain competitive advantage. To do so, they must act on the fundamentals described above. In particular, they must recognize the central role of innovation—and the uncomfortable truth that innovation grows out of pressure and challenge. It takes leadership to create a dynamic, challenging environment. And it takes leadership to recognize the all-too-easy escape routes that appear to offer a path to competitive advantage, but are actually short-cuts to failure. For example, it is tempting to rely on cooperative research and development projects to lower the cost and risk of research. But they can divert company attention and resources from proprietary research efforts and will all but eliminate the prospects for real innovation.
Competitive advantage arises from leadership that harnesses and amplifies the forces in the diamond to promote innovation and upgrading. Here are just a few of the kinds of company policies that will support that effort:
Create pressures for innovation. A company should seek out pressure and challenge, not avoid them. Part of strategy is to take advantage of the home nation to create the impetus for innovation. To do that, companies can sell to the most sophisticated and demanding buyers and channels; seek out those buyers with the most difficult needs; establish norms that exceed the toughest regulatory hurdles or product standards; source from the most advanced suppliers; treat employees as permanent in order to stimulate upgrading of skills and productivity.
Seek out the most capable competitors as motivators. To motivate organizational change, capable competitors and respected rivals can be a common enemy. The best managers always run a little scared; they respect and study competitors. To stay dynamic, companies must make meeting challenge a part of the organization’s norms. For example, lobbying against strict product standards signals the organization that company leadership has diminished aspirations. Companies that value stability, obedient customers, dependent suppliers, and sleepy competitors are inviting inertia and, ultimately, failure.
Establish early-warning systems. Early-warning signals translate into early-mover advantages. Companies can take actions that help them see the signals of change and act on them, thereby getting a jump on the competition. For example, they can find and serve those buyers with the most anticipatory needs; investigate all emerging new buyers or channels; find places whose regulations foreshadow emerging regulations elsewhere; bring some outsiders into the management team; maintain ongoing relationships with research centers and sources of talented people.
Improve the national diamond. Companies have a vital stake in making their home environment a better platform for international success. Part of a company’s responsibility is to play an active role in forming clusters and to work with its home-nation buyers, suppliers, and channels to help them upgrade and extend their own competitive advantages. To upgrade home demand, for example, Japanese musical instrument manufacturers, led by Yamaha, Kawai, and Suzuki, have established music schools. Similarly, companies can stimulate and support local suppliers of important specialized inputs—including encouraging them to compete globally. The health and strength of the national cluster will only enhance the company’s own rate of innovation and upgrading.
In nearly every successful competitive industry, leading companies also take explicit steps to create specialized factors like human resources, scientific knowledge, or infrastructure. In industries like wool cloth, ceramic tiles, and lighting equipment, Italian industry associations invest in market information, process technology, and common infrastructure. Companies can also speed innovation by putting their headquarters and other key operations where there are concentrations of sophisticated buyers, important suppliers, or specialized factor-creating mechanisms, such as universities or laboratories.
Welcome domestic rivalry. To compete globally, a company needs capable domestic rivals and vigorous domestic rivalry. Especially in the United States and Europe today, managers are wont to complain about excessive competition and to argue for mergers and acquisitions that will produce hoped-for economies of scale and critical mass. The complaint is only natural—but the argument is plain wrong. Vigorous domestic rivalry creates sustainable competitive advantage. Moreover, it is better to grow internationally than to dominate the domestic market. If a company wants an acquisition, a foreign one that can speed globalization and supplement home-based advantages or offset home-based disadvantages is usually far better than merging with leading domestic competitors.
Globalize to tap selective advantages in other nations. In search of “global” strategies, many companies today abandon their home diamond. To be sure, adopting a global perspective is important to creating competitive advantage. But relying on foreign activities that supplant domestic capabilities is always a second-best solution. Innovating to offset local factor disadvantages is better than outsourcing; developing domestic suppliers and buyers is better than relying solely on foreign ones. Unless the critical underpinnings of competitiveness are present at home, companies will not sustain competitive advantage in the long run. The aim should be to upgrade home-base capabilities so that foreign activities are selective and supplemental only to over-all competitive advantage.
The correct approach to globalization is to tap selectively into sources of advantage in other nations’ diamonds. For example, identifying sophisticated buyers in other countries helps companies understand different needs and creates pressures that will stimulate a faster rate of innovation. No matter how favorable the home diamond, moreover, important research is going on in other nations. To take advantage of foreign research, companies must station high-quality people in overseas bases and mount a credible level of scientific effort. To get anything back from foreign research ventures, companies must also allow access to their own ideas—recognizing that competitive advantage comes from continuous improvement, not from protecting today’s secrets.
Use alliances only selectively. Alliances with foreign companies have become another managerial fad and cure-all: they represent a tempting solution to the problem of a company wanting the advantages of foreign enterprises or hedging against risk, without giving up independence. In reality, however, while alliances can achieve selective benefits, they always exact significant costs: they involve coordinating two separate operations, reconciling goals with an independent entity, creating a competitor, and giving up profits. These costs ultimately make most alliances short-term transitional devices, rather than stable, long-term relationships.
Most important, alliances as a broad-based strategy will only ensure a company’s mediocrity, not its international leadership. No company can rely on another outside, independent company for skills and assets that are central to its competitive advantage. Alliances are best used as a selective tool, employed on a temporary basis or involving noncore activities.
Locate the home base to support competitive advantage. Among the most important decisions for multinational companies is the nation in which to locate the home base for each distinct business. A company can have different home bases for distinct businesses or segments. Ultimately, competitive advantage is created at home: it is where strategy is set, the core product and process technology is created, and a critical mass of production takes place. The circumstances in the home nation must support innovation; otherwise the company has no choice but to move its home base to a country that stimulates innovation and that provides the best environment for global competitiveness. There are no half-measures: the management team must move as well.
The Role of Leadership
Too many companies and top managers misperceive the nature of competition and the task before them by focusing on improving financial performance, soliciting government assistance, seeking stability, and reducing risk through alliances and mergers.
Today’s competitive realities demand leadership. Leaders believe in change; they energize their organizations to innovate continuously; they recognize the importance of their home country as integral to their competitive success and work to upgrade it. Most important, leaders recognize the need for pressure and challenge. Because they are willing to encourage appropriate—and painful—government policies and regulations, they often earn the title “statesmen,” although few see themselves that way. They are prepared to sacrifice the easy life for difficulty and, ultimately, sustained competitive advantage. That must be the goal, for both nations and companies: not just surviving, but achieving international competitiveness.
And not just once, but continuously. | https://hbr.org/1990/03/the-competitive-advantage-of-nations |
Who can join?
We have four sections, currently best described as friendly ensembles (grades are approximate).
String Orchestra
For those from P4 who have completed their first year of lessons, and who may be between Grade 1 and Grade 2/3.
Wind Ensemble
For beginners up to Grade 4 wind instruments.
Concert Orchestra
For all instruments, for those at Grade 3 - 5.
Symphony Orchestra
For all instruments from Grade 5 upwards. Players are usually at secondary school.
There are sometimes short waiting lists for our groups but vacancies can also depend on which instrument you play. For more information about joining any of these groups please contact our membership secretary.
What do we do?
We have four orchestral groups who meet every Thursday evening to practise during the two school terms from August to Easter Time.
We have four groups covering all orchestral instruments as well as a few other instruments. Each group caters for different abilities so that our players can experience the fun of playing their instruments in a group situation from an early stage in learning their instrument.
We usually play two concerts, at Christmas and Easter time. We also sometimes play extra concerts, for example our Symphony Orchestra played at the NAYO Festival of Youth Orchestras at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music (RSAMD) and our Concert Orchestra played at Mugdock Country Park bandstand in June 2009.
Players may have the opportunity to perform solos and suitable combinations of players are encouraged to form small groups such as a string or woodwind quartet.
Where and when do we meet?
We meet on Thursday evenings at Douglas Academy (accessed off Craigton Road), Milngavie, from the start of the school year until Easter.
To access a Google Map of the location of Douglas Academy click here
The orchestras meet at 7pm and rehearse until 8:30pm.
It is important that everyone arrives early and in ime to start rehearsing at 7pm promptly please.
How much will it cost?
Fees are £65 per year. Families with more than one child in the orchestra pay £65 for the first child and £45 for subsequent children.
Cheques are payable to "Bearsden and Milngavie Youth Orchestra" and please write your child's name and orchestra name on the back.
How do I join?
New members are always welcome!
We occasionally have short waiting lists for some of our groups, but we can nearly always find a home for a keen youngster. For more information, please email our membership secretary.
For more information or come along to a rehearsal evening. Members old and new should fill in the Registration Form which is available by clicking here and should be handed in completed at your first night of the year. | http://bmyo.org.uk/faq.html |
We Talk to the NKY Actors Starring in Playhouse's "To Kill A Mockingbird"
Beloved American classic To Kill a Mockingbird is a box office hit at Playhouse in the Park, now extended through April 10.
What we love best about it are the many local actors on stage, including four from Northern Kentucky.
Harper Lee’s heartfelt drama is about a life-changing summer for a young girl in Depression-era, small town Alabama, when her father Atticus Finch defends a black man accused of a crime he didn’t commit – and which everyone knows he didn’t commit.
We caught up with our local actors, who talk about the drama from their characters’ points of view and about life then and life now – what’s changed and what’s the same.
RCN: What's the significance of To Kill a Mockingbird from your character's point of view?
Randy Lee Bailey is Walter Cunningham, a poor client of Atticus Finch and one of the men who comes to lynch Tom Robinson Walter (falsely accused of rape): “Cunningham is part of the old South, with white privilege and male dominance. His encounter with Scout outside the jail leads to his questioning of those positions and makes for a trying time during the trial.
“Does he change his mind, or does he ultimately hold on to his old view of the world? Each performance can lead to a different conclusion.”
Jared Joplin plays Mr. Gilmer, the state attorney representing the Ewells (who accuse Tom Robinson of rape): “For Mr. Gilmer, the significance of this play centers around the changes that have been occurring and are still occurring in the world he lives in and the fear that accompanies these changes.
“The Civil War is actually not that far past and its scars can still be felt in Alabama. Furthermore, the First World War has just happened as well as the Depression. Many of these men feared their roles in the community have been replaced or usurped. They also feared their public perception if they were unable to provide for their family.
“Women were becoming more powerful in the community. African Americans were gaining more rights. Men like Mr. Gilmer saw themselves losing their power in the community and ultimately feared this made them less. They also felt an overwhelming need to protect the women and children from what they (the men) feared.”
Ty Joseph Shelton is Dill, Jem and Scout's neighborhood friend who comes to stay every summer with his aunt: “Dill struggles with issues of abandonment from his own family, and is in need of stability and a father figure, it is very powerful and significant that he finds himself spending the summer and learning from such an incredible hero as Atticus.”
Seth Wallen plays the Radley brothers Nathan and, more importantly, Boo, the Finch family’s mysterious, never-seen neighbor who is teased by Scout, Jem and Dill: “I found significance in creating a sense of community. More specifically, how a community can cling onto ideals and cause great opposition when those ideals and beliefs are challenged.”
RCN: What's changed and what hasn't since then?
Joplin: “There have been tremendous changes that have occurred since this time and that should be celebrated. However, what resonates about To Kill a Mockingbird is that regardless of these changes, the fears and xenophobic traits that we all are heir to continue to be a part of our human condition.
“Shows like this provide an important opportunity to see what prejudices have not changed since 1935 and to challenge why they haven't.”
Shelton: “We have gotten much better in treating people of all color and differences more equally, but I think there are still race problems and prejudices so there is still room for improvement. “
Wallen: “Technology has given people voices to speak freely on various topics and platforms, many of whom may not have had a place or forum to speak freely in 1935. What hasn't changed: racism still exists. It is still strong, systematic and damaging as ever. “
Bailey: “Up to a few months ago, I would have said that progress has been made, and is continuing. But the rise of overt racism in the current political discourse, continuing violence against black men and the division of America on social and economic lines for political gain lead me to believe the opposite is true.”
RCN: How do you make your character and the audience feel the sweltering Alabama heat? | https://www.rcnky.com/articles/2016/03/19/we-talk-nky-actors-starring-playhouses-kill-mockingbird |
The worldwide pandemic has had a great effect on our lives. One of these effects is strengthening our reliance on technology and the Internet to continue our most important daily tasks, even while staying at home. Many of us shifted to remote work. Kids stopped going to school and continued their studies through distance learning instead.
On top of adjusting to the situation, juggling new routines, and keeping everyone healthy, it also became necessary to make sure our families, especially our children, don’t fall into the dangers of spending too much time online.
How much screen time is recommended per age group?
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the following screen times for different age groups.
- For babies 1 year old and younger: no screen time is recommended
- For children 2–5 years: 1 hour or less
- For children over 5 years old: 2 hours or less
However, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the average screen time of 8–12 year old American children is 4–6 hours a day. During the pandemic, this time has certainly increased because of online classes and a decreased amount of time spent outdoors.
Is it bad for children to have too much screen time?
While screens are certainly useful for keeping in touch with family and friends, teaching and entertaining children, and looking up information online, too much screen time can have several negative effects on children’s physical and mental health. Some of these effects include:
- eye strain and vision damage
- mood, sleep, and weight problems
- less time for outdoor play and physical activities
- reduced creativity and problem-solving skills
- obesity
Too much screen time may also expose children to violent, sexual, and inaccurate information online. In addition, they can also be at risk of cyberbullying, identity theft, and online sexual predation.
What can parents do to ensure that children are safe and healthy while spending time online?
As parents, there are several things we can do to ensure that our kids remain safe and healthy even as they spend time using screens. Here are some useful tips to keep kids’ screen time healthy:
- Preview programs, games, and apps before letting your children use them. It’s even better if you can test or use the programs, games, and apps yourself before letting your children view or play with them. There are also several tools that can help you decide what digital content is appropriate for your children.
- Learn to use parental controls to manage your children’s access to online content. These controls let you set time limits and block or filter online content.
- Monitor your children during screen time. Make sure that you’re always aware of what they’re doing online. If possible, discuss with your children what they’re seeing on screen.
- Discuss and create your family’s screen time guidelines with everyone; for example, not allowing devices during mealtimes and bedtimes, or having screen-free days. Involve all family members in the decision-making process.
- Set a good example and be a role model in maintaining the screen time guidelines that you create for your family. Stick to the rules and obey the consequences if you fail to follow them.
- Find alternative activities, like reading, playing a sport, or going outside, that you can do instead of spending time watching screens. Gather everyone’s input on what things they’d like to do.
- Educate your children about online advertising, the dangers of false and inaccurate information online, and online privacy and security.
In today’s world, especially during this pandemic, it has become increasingly hard to avoid screens. It is our job as parents to ensure that our children gain the benefits of using their devices and going online while maintaining good health and safety.
It can be challenging, but it’s not impossible.
With proper guidance and consistency, plus the tips given above, it is possible to ensure the health and safety of our children even if they have to spend more time being online and watching screens.
If you are not a Smore subscriber yet, become one today and get 4 annual issues shipped to you.
Use code STEM30 to get 30% off your subscription.
Check out other products including issues, posters, science kits, and gifts for girls in STEM, visit our shop site. | https://www.smorescience.com/ways-to-keep-screen-time-healthy/ |
A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo is the first comprehensive and accurate guide to the varied avifauna of this island biodiversity hot-spot, which comprises Brunei, the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, and the Indonesian states of Kalimantan.
More than 630 bird species have been recorded in Borneo and, using the most up-to-date taxonomy and nomenclature, the guide includes all recently split species and also gives full coverage to the distinctive Bornean races where they differ from their counterparts on neighbouring islands or in mainland South-East Asia. Borneo is of particular ecological significance; the unique combination of its tropical latitude and the relief of the land, which includes high mountains and rainforests, has created many isolated micro-habitats which have enabled a remarkable number of different species of birds to evolve, many of which are endemic to the island.
Every species recorded is described in detail with key identification characteristics and habitat information given, plus a colour distribution map. All species are illustrated in the 246-page full-colour ID section, with paintings by the same expert team of artists who worked on New Holland's celebrated "A Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia".
SUSAN MYERS is based in Melbourne, Australia. She has been an avid birder and naturalist from an early age and has been fascinated by the wildlife and culture of Asia since a childhood visit to Singapore. Susan has led bird tours (for VENT) throughout the continent for more than 15 years and has visited Borneo on countless occasions. She has published many papers and articles on ornithology and ecology in a variety of respected magazines and journals. | https://www.nhbs.com/a-field-guide-to-the-birds-of-borneo-book?bkfno=179357 |
To find out what affect the substrate has on the rate of reaction with the enzyme in potato.
Variables
1. PH
2. Temperature
3. Concentration of substrate
4. Concentration of enzyme
5. Surface area of potato lumps
6. Time
Key Variables
Input variables - concentration of substrate
Output variable - volume of gas
Prediction
I think that to start with, the higher the concentration of the substrate the faster the rate of reaction. However, I think that eventually the graph will start to level off because the enzymes will reach the highest level at which they can work.
I will keep the other variables constant to make the results more accurate and fair.
Plan
1. Put a set amount of potato into the conical flask.
2. Then add the chosen concentration of hydrogen peroxide.
3. The bubbles go through the rubber delivery tube and push water out of the measuring cylinder (the measuring cylinder is sat in a tub of water).
4. We stop after a set time and measure the volume of gas.
5. Repeat this process with the next concentration of the substrate (hydrogen peroxide.)
Safety
I will wear safety goggles throughout and handle the hydrogen peroxide with care.
Research
After my preliminary tests I found that my original ideas for measurements made the reaction too fast. So now I am going to use 30 cm3 of hydrogen peroxide and 5g of potato each time. This gives a steady reaction that can be easily monitored and measured. I will be using the same amount of hydrogen peroxide each time but adding water to it, this will change the concentration.
Accuracy
Because of my reaction speed with the stop watch I approximate the a few bubbles of gas may pass before I take a reading, | https://www.writework.com/essay/affect-substrate-has-rate-reaction-enzyme-potato |
A Chart of Accounts (COA) is a way of showing a business´s financial information in such a way that it is possible to make good financial decisions based on the information that it shows.
The COA will be made up of all the individual accounts that make up the overall accounts of a business. These individual accounts (or "pots") are the Nominal Codes. (See our article What is a Nominal Ledger for details on what a Nominal Codes and Accounts are, and their purpose). The Nominal Accounts make up the entire Nominal Ledger, but the Nominal Ledger just provides a list of these accounts, together with each account´s current balance. This provides useful information, but it is not structured.
Structure
The COA provides the necessary structure to the Nominal Accounts to allow the overall picture of a company´s financial health to be easily seen. The actual structure that the COA provides will vary. It will depend on the type of business that a company is involved with, and the type of information that is useful to the business owner or accountant.
However, there are usually common elements to a COA; a Chart Of Accounts will normally always include the following sections:
Assets and Liabilities are generally included under a section called "Balance Sheet Items", and Income and Expenses are in another section called "Profit and Loss". Therefore, the ´top level´ of the Chart of Accounts is just two sections of:
The assets and liabilities etc. are ´children´ of these sections:
The totals of the assets and liabilities make up an overall total for the Balance Sheet Items.
Similarly, the totals for the Income and Expenses make up an overall total for the Profit and Loss Items. This makes sense in our basic understanding of accounts. Our profit is calculated as whatever income we have received, minus any expenses incurred, and will give us an overall Profit or Loss.
So here is a very simple Chart Of Accounts to start with:
We can´t see the Nominal Accounts that make up the figures, but this does demonstrate what the Chart Of Accounts is doing and can be used for; and if weunderstand that, then we are well on our way to understanding how a Chart Of Accounts can be used to help our own business and the business decisions thatwe need to make.
If we take each line at a time:
You are probably familiar with income and expenses, since these are the basis of very rudimentary accounts; as children if we are given pocket money, this is our income, and when we go and spend it on sweets or toys this makes up our expenses. Of course, as children we won´t have access to a bank account to go overdrawn, but if we borrow money from our parents we have to pay it back, so even then we are in familiar territory with overdrafts! And if we were to have bought toys wisely and looked after them, they could well now be assets! In terms of accounting for business purposes, we deal with assets and liabilities, but what are these?
Assets
An asset is "...a resource controlled by the enterprise as a result of past events and from which future economic benefits are expected to flow to the enterprise.". A simple example of an asset to the business is a bank account that has money in it. It has money as a result of past events (i.e. the business has sold more products or services than expenses have been incurred), and this money can be used for the future benefit of the business, e.g. purchase more stock to sell.
The Asset section of the Chart Of Accounts will include all elements of your accounts that are deemed to be assets of the business, and may include thigns such as furniture and fittings, equipment, goodwill etc. These are generally elements that your accountant will deal with.
Liabilities
On the other side, a liability is "...a present obligation of the enterprise arising from past events, the settlement of which is expected to result in an outflow from the enterprise of resources embodying economic benefits". A simple example of a liability is a bank account that is overdrawn. It is overdrawn as a result of past events, for example stock has been purchased that has not yet been sold. When the stock is sold, the money will need to be paid into the bank account to settle the liability.
Note that in the above example of a liability, although the bank account is a liability because it is overdrawn, the stock that has been purchased is an asset to the business. If we look again at the definition of an asset ("a resource controlled by the enterprise as a result of past events and from which future economic benefits are expected to flow to the enterprise") we can see that the stock is a resource that the company controls as a result of having purchased it, and the future economic benefits that are expected to flow to the business are from selling the stock at a profit. This demonstrates why it is important to be able to view all the accounts of a business in a structured way to get an overall picture of a business´s financial health. If you were only given the bank account to look at you may think that the business was not healthly, because it is £10,000 overdrawn. However, if you then see that there is an asset of stock totalling £100,000 then you are likely to draw a very different conclusion.
The Liabilities section of the Chart Of Accounts will include all elements of your accounts that are deemed to be liabilities to the business, and may include things such as creditors etc. As with your assets, these are generally elements that your accountant will deal with.
Income
The income section of the COA will include all the nominal accounts that relate to sales that your business makes, and therefore this section may vary greatly from business to business depending on how much detail you want to track. For example, you may sell products and also provide services, and you may just want to know how much income the sale of products makes, and how much income the sale of your services makes. You may, however, sell four different products, and want to know in your Chart of Accounts, how much income is generated by each individual product. This will require a separate Nominal Account to be set up for each product, and each sale will then be allocated against the relevant Nominal Accounts, or pot. (Again see our What is a Nominal Ledger article for details on Nominal Accounts).
Expenses
The expenses section of your Chart Of Accounts will, as the name suggests, show all the costs that are incurred as a result of running your business. In general these will be split into two main areas:
Overheads are defined as expenses that are incurred whether you sell nothing, or whether you sell 1000 ´things´. For example, if you have an office then all the expenses incurred as a result of having the office will be an overhead, since you will still have to pay these costs even if you make no sales. This will include the office rent, electricity etc.
Direct Expenses are the expenses that are incurred as a direct result of making a sale. For example, if you sell red widgets, then naturally you won´t be able to sell a red widget until you have either bought it from your supplier, or bought the necessary component parts to make the red widget. Therefore this is an expense that is incurred as a direct result of making a sale.
The expenses that are shown will, like the income, depend on the type of business that is being run, and in a similar way to Income, the amount of detail that is shown in the Chart of Accounts will depend on the Nominal Accounts that have been set up.
The Chart of Accounts combines all of the above information in a layout that then represents the business´s financial status. By including Balance Sheet Items and Profit and Loss figures, the COA can be used as the basis for producing a Balance Sheet at the end of a financial year (or a Trial Balance during the year). See our article What is a Balance Sheet for more details on this.
Using what we have discussed so far, let´s use the Chart Of Accounts to show our Income information in a clear and useful way. We will want to ensure that all Nominal Accounts that are used for income amounts are included in this section of the Chart Of Accounts. Let´s assume that we have a business that runs websites. This is the main purpose of the business, and the area that generates most of the income for the business. However, there are some other areas where revenue is generated, so we will want to show this separately in our chart of accounts. This will allow us to see if these extra revenue streams grow at a different rate to the main revenue streams from the websites.
We could show this in the COA as:
This is fine, but there may be situations ahere we are generating income from one website but in more than one way. If we have separate Nominal Accounts set up to track these, then we can make the COA look cleaner, clearer and more extendible by adding further sub-sections, so that our Income section in our COA looks as below. The MyBuildingAdviser site is generating income via three separate nominal accounts (though the Lead Generation account is in debit):
We can use a similar philosophy with our Direct Expenses in our Chart of Accounts. Remember that direct expenses relate to costs incurred as a directresult of sales. In the case of our example business, most expenses will relate to the websites that it runs. Let´s assume that for a website there are, in general, three main costs:
For the website "MyLegalAdvisers" these would be split into three diffferent Nominal Accounts:
and they would appear in the Direct Expenses part of the Chart Of Accounts:
This allows us to see a figure for our Total Purchases, which is made up of our Direct Expenses and our Overheads (which are no shown above),and it also enables us to see how the Direct Expenses figure is made up, not only by the expenses being incurred by each website, but alsowhere the money is being spent on each website.
Below is a complete Chart Of Accounts for our example company, allowing you to see how all the figures fit together, and how these figures can be used to make relevant business decisions.
The key to a useful Chart Of Accounts is ensuring your Nominal Ledger is setup with Nominal Accounts created for the individual areas of you business that you need to track. The layout of your Chart Of Accounts can be altered as necessary to show your accounts in different ways. In fact, Business Builder allows you to set up as many different Charts Of Accounts as you like, so that you can view the same accounts information in different ways.
Business Builder also allows you to "drill" down into your Chart Of Accounts, so that you can see as much detail as you want to. You are even able to drill down into the Nominal Account, so you can see the individual transactions that have been included to make up the totals that you are seeing within the COA. This is a very powerful and useful business management tool. Ultimately, being able to see where you money is coming from and where it is going could be the difference between long term success or short term failure for your business. Getting it right is therefore important. If you need any advice, then please do not hesitate to contact us. | http://itzbits.co.uk/business-articles/67/What-is-a-Chart-of-Accounts.html |
What is the use of rows?
ROWS is useful if we wish to find out the number of rows in a range. The most basic formula used is =ROWS(rng). The function counted the number of rows and returned a numerical value as the result. When we gave the cell reference B6, it returned the result of 1 as only one reference was given.
How do you use columns and rows in Excel?
Transpose (rotate) data from rows to columns or vice versa
- Select the range of data you want to rearrange, including any row or column labels, and press Ctrl+C. …
- Choose a new location in the worksheet where you want to paste the transposed table, ensuring that there is plenty of room to paste your data.
What is column and rows?
Rows are a group of cells arranged horizontally to provide uniformity. Columns are a group of cells aligned vertically, and they run from top to bottom.
What is an example of a column?
The definition of a column is a vertical arrangement of something, a regular article in a paper, magazine or website, or a structure that holds something up. … An example of column is a weekly recipe article. An example of column is a pillar in the front of a building.
Why is a column important?
Columns are used for structural reinforcement, much like beams. Columns are, basically, vertical structures transmit the compressive loads. The floor and the columns on the floors above are supported by columns; the columns of the bottom floor must be large enough to bear the accumulative weight of each floor above it.
How do you calculate rows in Excel?
If you need to sum a column or row of numbers, let Excel do the math for you. Select a cell next to the numbers you want to sum, click AutoSum on the Home tab, press Enter, and you’re done.
What column number is as? | https://thekitesurfchannel.com/swimming-sports/what-is-the-use-of-rows-and-columns.html |
On macroscopic scales, we can use the force of gravity to help us determine mass. But on microscopic scales, other forces typically dominate. Nanoscopic mechanical resonators, which change their vibrational frequency in response to added mass, have allowed us to measure smaller objects, finding the masses of biological cells and large molecules. Now, researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona have come close to the theoretical limit of these devices, building a nanomechanical resonator with mass resolution on the scale of individual protons.
In their Nature Nanotechnology paper, J. Chaste et al. describe a resonator built from a single carbon nanotube, one that is able to detect the presence of a small number of individual atoms added to it. The mass resolution they achieved is 1.7 yoctograms (1.7 yg, or 1.7 × 10-24 grams), which is the mass of a single proton. While devices of this sort aren't practical for measuring the properties of subatomic particles, they are extremely useful for atomic and molecular physics, as well as very sensitive mass spectroscopy.
The resonant device built by Chaste et al. is based on a single carbon nanotube approximately 150 nanometers (nm) long and 1.7 nm in diameter. Both ends are fixed, but its center is suspended over a narrow trench. (1 nm is 10-9 meters, or one billionth of a meter.) The nanotube has a resonant vibrational frequency of approximately 2 gigahertz (GHz), which is the source of its extreme sensitivity—even the slightest addition of mass will alter this resonance. The entire device is operated at about 6 degrees above absolute zero to isolate it from thermal vibrations that would interfere with the measurements.
As is typical in nanomechanical resonators, the nanotube is driven with an alternating electric current. When extra mass is added to the tube, its resonant frequency changes correspondingly: the adsorption of atoms and molecules on the tube's surface decreases the resonant frequency.
("Adsorption" refers to the binding of particles onto a surface, as opposed to "absorption," which involves incorporation into the interior of a material.)
Due to the extreme sensitivity of the nanotube resonator, Chaste et al. were able to detect the adsorption of individual xenon atoms and naphthalene (C 10 H 8 ) molecules. These are approximately 100 times less massive than previous resonance experiments have achieved.
Additionally, the researchers were able to measure the binding energy of the xenon to the tube by determining how much the resonant frequency changed as the atoms depart from the surface. By comparing their results with what we know about xenon binding to graphite surfaces, they found that binding energy depends in part on the diameter of the nanotube. (Nanotubes are single sheets of graphite, also known as graphene, rolled into cylinders.) This has important implications for the storage of gases through adsorption.
Single nanotube resonators have great potential for measuring very small masses, allowing for extremely high precision in mass spectroscopy. But it's not only the mass; the precise location of the adsorbed particle also alters the resonant frequency. This means that, if we can get an impurity to a specific location on the nanotube, its mass may be measured directly, which has exciting implications for future research.
Nature Nanotechnology, 2012. DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2012.42 (About DOIs).
| |
Create and release your Profile on Zintellect – Postdoctoral applicants must create an account and complete a profile in the on-line application system. Please note: your resume/CV may not exceed 2 pages.
Complete your application – Enter the rest of the information required for the IC Postdoc Program Research Opportunity. The application itself contains detailed instructions for each one of these components: availability, citizenship, transcripts, dissertation abstract, publication and presentation plan, and information about your Research Advisor co-applicant.
Additional information about the IC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program is available on the program website located at: https://orise.orau.gov/icpostdoc/index.html.
If you have questions, send an email to [email protected]. Please include the reference code for this opportunity in your email.
Research Topic Description, including Problem Statement:
Sentiment analysis is a field of Natural Language Processing (NLP) that deals with automating methods to quantitatively measure affect from unstructured textual data, usually surrounding a particular subject. Current methods of sentiment analysis apply numerical values to words and phrases based on a defined lexicon, or a supervised learning algorithm, and report metrics as an average over the queried string. Many currently-available models measure both the subjectivity (subjective verses objective statement) and the polarity (positive verses negative opinion) of a word or phrase. While modern methods of sentiment analysis are useful within the private sector for brand management and advertising, there are several limitations. For example, lexical disambiguation is difficult to quantify and relies on contextual clues to truly understand the sentiment of a phrase. For instance, the word “kill” can have a different polarity depending on context. Consider the sentences “Your customer service is killing me” and “You’re killing it!” In the first sentence, “kill” has an obvious negative polarity, while in the second sentence, its polarity is clearly positive. Developing comprehensive analytical models that account for lexical ambiguity remains a challenge. Culture presents another challenge to current methods of sentiment analysis. Communication styles (particularly when sharing opinions on the Internet) vary greatly across cultures, demographics, and the selected communication medium; and sentiment analysis tools are largely modeled after Western communication styles and behavior, and focus on social media. This limits the broad utility of currently-available techniques. Additionally, subjectivity and polarity may not be as relevant to non-Western cultural communication styles, thus other metrics should be evaluated. By developing more comprehensive machine learning algorithms, one can expand the applicability of sentiment analysis. Identifying parameters beyond polarity and subjectivity, which are applicable to both Western and non-Western communications styles, would enable the development of more robust sentiment analyzers with broader applicability.
Example Approaches:
There are different ways that this research can be approached. This topic broadly encompasses the fields of data science, mathematics, sociology, and linguistics; thus collaborative and versatile approaches are encouraged. Researchers could focus on developing a more robust classification algorithm for sentiment analysis that accounts for cultural online communication differences and contextual clues in addition to lexical polarity.
Proposals could consider one or more of the following:
Relevance to the Intelligence Community:
Robust sentiment analyzers for textual data acquired from internet sources, such as news and social media, can be used to gain insight into the hearts and minds of any group of people.This could include how the group perceives a government policy, or their perception of U.S. operations and policies. A comprehensive method for analyzing sentiment surrounding U.S. policy in target populations that is culturally-agnostic is imperative for policy makers to make informed decisions. Thus, research in this area will enable significant secondary effects in future intelligence operations. | https://www.zintellect.com/Opportunity/Details/ICPD-2020-10 |
- Zeitschrift:
- Cognitive Computation > Ausgabe 4/2015
Abstract
Sentiment analysis from unstructured natural language text has recently received considerable attention from the research community. In the frame of biologically inspired machine learning approaches, finding good feature sets is particularly challenging yet very important. In this paper, we focus on this fundamental issue of the sentiment analysis task. Specifically, we employ concepts as features and present a concept extraction algorithm based on a novel concept parser scheme to extract semantic features that exploit semantic relationships between words in natural language text. Additional conceptual information of a concept is obtained using the ConceptNet ontology: Concepts extracted from text are sent as queries to ConceptNet to extract their semantics. We select important concepts and eliminate redundant concepts using the Minimum Redundancy and Maximum Relevance feature selection technique. All selected concepts are then used to build a machine learning model that classifies a given document as positive or negative. We evaluate our concept extraction approach using a benchmark movie review dataset provided by Cornell University and product review datasets on books, DVDs, and electronics. Comparative experimental results show that our proposed approach to sentiment analysis outperforms existing state-of-the-art methods. | https://www.springerprofessional.de/concept-level-sentiment-analysis-with-dependency-based-semantic-/11828422 |
Defending the Amazon Against Destructive Dams
As movements like the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) fight for the future of the Amazon basin, they are fighting for the future of all of us.
As movements like the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) fight for the future of the Amazon basin, they are fighting for the future of all of us.
For July, we are looking at the ways youth continue to play central roles in communities and social struggles — both through their own independent organizations and in youth sections of broader movements.
People’s Dispatch reports on the exciting gathering of over 1,000 young activists. Members of LPJ also reflect on the 10 years since their first national encampment at Rio Grande do Sul.
As part of uplifting queer and trans liberation for June, we are reposting this piece from 2021 from Capire, a publication of the World March of Women.
Movements around the world are showing why gender and sexual freedom is necessary for struggles for the planet, people, and global social justice.
For the month of April, we’re looking at the connection between the rights of peasants and the health of Mother Earth.
An international campaign led by the Landless Workers Movement, Grassroots International and Friends of the MST extended the eviction moratorium in Brazil, protecting over 500,000 people.
In honor of Women’s History Month, we are uplifting the work of the Martín-Baró Initiative (MBI) and the many ways that women have used their voices.
Today, March 14, is the International Day of Struggle Against Dams, and For Rivers, Water and Life. We are sharing a video from our grantee the Movement of People Affected by Dams in Latin America (Movimiento de Afectados por Represas, MAR) as well as their statement for the day.
For January 2022, Grassroots is looking at the year ahead, the social conditions impacting our and our partners’ work, and the stories of resistance and solution-building we’ll be sharing with our supporters.
Given the hardship these families are going through now and for months to come, we are calling upon all people of conscience to take action in solidarity.
Since last week, tens of thousands of families have faced devastating flooding in the state of Bahia, Brazil. The floods have displaced more than 93,000 people and have taken 26 lives. People are scrounging for their few remaining belongings, and...
January marks a key moment in Black liberation, the Haitian Revolution's 1804 victory. The first of a two-part article looks at its global, ongoing impact.
While recognizing that with every victory comes a new front of struggle in collective efforts to transform the world, we cap off 2021 with twelve movement successes involving our partners and allies whom we have been honored to accompany.
Grassroots International stands with Indigenous movements at the forefront of the global climate justice movement. They are building upon centuries-long struggles for Indigenous sovereignty over land, water and other forms of territory.
In their Fall 2021 newsletter, learn how the Martín-Baró Initiative for Wellbeing & Human Rights is fostering psychosocial well-being and social change.
A rich conversation about land rights and land sovereignty for Black liberation sparked up some of the following reflections. | https://grassrootsonline.org/fr/location/brazil/ |
By Patricia Rockman, MD, CCFP, FCFP, Allison McLay, BA, CDips, M. Lee Freedman, MD, FRCP(C), coauthors of The Mindful Teen Workbook
It is relatively common knowledge that approximately one in five people will suffer from a mental health condition at some point in their lifetime. What perhaps is less appreciated is how significantly these conditions affect youth. For example, in Canada, for those between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four, “the leading disease-related cause of death is suicide.… 3.7 times more deaths…” than cancer (Silveira & Rockman, 2016, p. 958). Mental disorders and addictions account for the most years lived with disability worldwide. This is in large part because of their young age of onset, severity, and long-term impacts—particularly when they are missed or not treated effectively.
Adolescence is a time of rapid development—physically, emotionally, and mentally. Youth are also affected by many psychosocial and physical stressors, including but not limited to, their relationships, trauma, drug use, school and work demands, bullying, unsafe living conditions, negative thoughts, mental health problems, and chronic medical illness. (Iliades, 2013). Being a teenager is a stressful time, but what does this mean for teens, and what would be helpful? We can all relate to the phrase, “I’m so stressed out!”
However, what is stress exactly? And what are its long-term effects? The word stress has many definitions, and stress isn’t a specific disorder, mental or physical (National Library of Medicine, 2021). Hans Seyle, the father of stress and its study (1956), defined a stress reaction as the “nonspecific response of the body to any demand” (Tan and Yip, 2018). It may be acute or chronic, perceived as negative or positive, and an attempt to adapt to an internal or external stressor (Macpherson & Rockman, 2022 in press). Lazarus and Folkman (1984) developed stress and coping theory. They viewed stress as an interaction between a person and the environment that exceeds their ability to cope. Extreme and/or chronic stress was and continues to be correlated with many diseases (Bialkowska, Juranek, & Wojtkiewicz, 2020); however, there is no direct causal link between stress and specific illnesses or disease outcomes (Salleh, 2008). Stress is difficult to study. It is a vague, complex concept, and has myriad definitions.
We can think of stress as a lifelong concern, and it would seem prudent to develop skills to manage it earlier rather than later. Mindfulness is a way teens can develop such tools. Mindfulness-based programs are concerned with helping people to manage their relationship to, or their distressing encounters with, specific conditions or life challenges (aka stress).
While for many years mindfulness and mindfulness-based programs functioned outside the cultural mainstream, the term stress utilized by mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) developer Jon Kabat Zin served as a bridge for mindfulness to cross into mainstream medicine. It moved from helping people with the suffering of life, through healthy and adaptive coping, to the sick and maladaptive reactions to environmental or internal stressors associated with illness.
Mindfulness is now used for day-to-day concerns or the stress of living. This can include such challenges as work and study pressures, financial concerns, aging, relationship problems, eating, parenting, and childbirth. Kabat-Zinn was interested in applying mindfulness as a means for working with distress arising from any source (Macpherson & Rockman, 2022 in press). While it has predominantly been applied to adults, more recently mindfulness is being applied to youth. So, what is it about this tool and way of being that could be valuable for them?
Given that being a teen is such a period of upheaval and that they are learning how to navigate their lives, it makes sense to provide them with strategies to cope with the challenges of being human. Steven Hayes (founder of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a mindfulness-based empirically supported treatment) conducted a meta-analysis (2022) of psychosocial interventions and what really helps people make a change. There appear to be three areas that are most effective for positive psychotherapeutic outcomes. These are, firstly, psychological flexibility and mindfulness skills—awareness and noticing present experience—thoughts, emotions, and body sensations from a witnessing perspective. Secondly, openness: allowing challenging thoughts and emotions to be present; turning toward difficult mind and mood states; and thirdly, taking action consistent with one’s values. All of this entails being able to direct one’s attention. Self-compassion, behavioral activation, and anxiety sensitivity were also important variables for successful therapeutic outcomes. These skills are relevant to teens and are taught to greater or lesser degrees in mindfulness-based programs.
Teens may need shorter programs and practices than adults to learn mindfulness skills to manage stress. Some tips for teaching youth are as follows:
Mindfulness Tips for Teens
- Guide them to notice their experience and learn to describe it—using the senses—getting to know what is going on in any moment, whether sitting quietly, walking, or engaged in any other activities.
- Get them to pause, check in briefly and frequently, and ask: “What’s happening in my body? What sensations are present? What emotions are here (name them) and what am I thinking?” Remember, we can’t change or manage anything if we don’t know what’s happening. This can be done many times a day.
- Help them direct their attention where they want it. This can be internally or externally. Use the senses. For example, sight. Pick a natural object to investigate and get to know its qualities; or pay attention to the sensations of breathing at the belly. Ask them to see how long their attention stays with either of these activities, and, when it goes somewhere else, wake up and bring it back to seeing or breathing without making this a big deal.
- Ask: “Are you willing to have disturbing emotions like anxiety or sadness (as well as positive ones) and get to know them?” This is openness. You don’t have to like the emotions. Simply recognize and let them be present without immediately trying to fix, avoid, or change them. This builds awareness and self-efficacy
- If challenging thoughts, emotions, or sensations are present, ask the teen: “Can you watch them come and go without getting caught up? Can you take a step back, change perspective, and get some space—perhaps bring your attention to the soles of the feet or sensations of breathing while you learn to pay attention to what you might not like?” This is called decentering or defusion.
- Helping teens think about what they value can be motivating for dealing with life challenges. What’s important to them and how can they engage in actions consistent with those values? This applies to managing stress and everything else in one’s life.
- Figure out the kinds of activities they would like to engage in to take care of themselves and build resilience when stressed or distressed—healthy versus unhealthy. How might they include others as support since we know that connection is vital for well-being?
- Brief, formal meditation practices and many daily activities can be a training ground for mindfulness skills. They provide us with opportunities to practice anywhere and anytime.
Lastly, remind them to:
- Pay attention to how stress feels in the body, emotions, and thinking
- Notice when they start to feel overwhelmed
- Get to know the signs of stress reactivity
A little mindfulness can go a long way to help us manage stress more effectively, look after ourselves, maintain our mental health, and develop habits to last a lifetime.
Patricia Rockman, MD, CCFP, FCFP, is a family physician with a focused practice in mental health. She is associate professor in the department of family and community medicine at the University of Toronto; and cofounder of the Centre for Mindfulness Studies in Toronto, ON, Canada. She is a public speaker, curriculum developer, and teaches and mentors in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR).
Allison McLay, DCS, RP, is a registered psychotherapist, and faculty at the Centre for Mindfulness Studies. She teaches MBSR and MBCT, and trains health care providers to deliver these modalities. She was an author in curriculum development for the youth mindfulness program at the Centre for Mindfulness Studies.
M. Lee Freedman, MD, CM, FRCP(C), is a child, adolescent, and family psychiatrist. She is experienced in integrating mindfulness training into her therapeutic work with youth and adults in need of help with mental health challenges. | https://www.newharbinger.com/blog/professional/mental-health-mindfulness-and-teens/ |
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