text: Smokey Sunday /August 15, 2012 by Eric Dacus Went up the Pfeifferhorn for a quick hike/run. I brought the 5d+40mm pancake lens. Not exactly light and fast, but I was impressed with how easy it was to just sling it over a shoulder and go. Great time in the hills with good friends.


text:
Black ice, crashes, car fire create troubles for KC commuters early Monday
The start of the work week got off to a bumpy start for Kansas City commuters as black ice, crashes and a car fire made getting to work a challenge.
The National Weather Service in Kansas City warned via Twitter that drivers might need to allow extra time and caution for their morning commute because patchy dense fog was reducing visibility to a quarter-mile in some areas through 9 a.m.
The National Weather Service later warned that in addition to the fog, patches of black ice were being reported. The Independence/Eastern Jackson County Offices of Emergency Preparedness said via Twitter that black ice was being reported across the KC metro area.
The Clay County sheriff advised that frosty temperatures have caused slick spots on roads and bridges.
A vehicle fire on southbound Interstate- 35/29 near the Bond Bridge caused traffic from the Northland headed to downtown Kansas City to back up along the highway to beyond the I-35/I-29 split.
Meanwhile, two separate two-vehicle crashes near Mission Road in Kansas City, Kan., one along northbound I-35 and the other along southbound I-35, caused slow going for morning commuters.
Crashes were also reported at northbound Interstate 635 at I-35 and northbound I-35 at Lamar Avenue in Johnson County.
Drivers are being urged to slow down and use caution on bridges, exit ramps and elevated surfaces because of possible icy conditions.
Robert A. Cronkleton: 816-234-4261, @cronkb

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Camo Camo
Sale price $10.40 Regular price
Tax included. Shipping calculated at checkout.
Lets get wild in the wilderness with Camo Camo!
Army Green, Brown and Gold twist with gold leafing.
Hand crafted from polymer clay with nickel free posts and backings, these dangles are light weight and durable. They measure approximately 6.75cm in length and 3cm in width.
The earrings are designed and created by the Hughes sisters in Toronto, each piece is unique. The pattern may vary slightly.


text:
Xenocontendi Resource Pack 1.8.8
Xenocontendi is a pretty bright and clean set of textures which is made in the style of the default minecraft textures. Xenocontendi Resource Pack will mostly be liked by lovers of default minecraft textures, but Xenocontendi has it is own flavor even if it has pretty much default look. I think you'll get used to this pack after trying it!
Xenocontendi - Screenshots
How to install Xenocontendi
- 1) Download resource pack from the link below.
- 2) Launch Minecraft.
- 3) On the Main menu > click "Options".
- 4) On the Options menu > click "resource packs".
- 5) Move the .zip file you downloaded to the "resourcepacks" folder.
Download Xenocontendi
Before proceeding with download, please pay attention to:
- > None of the resource packs you see on this website are hosted on our servers. We use official download links provided by original authors. Therefore, they are completely safe and secure.
- > We never modify or edit resource packs in any way.
- > Do not forget to leave a comment. It will help author to make the pack better.
*Credit for creating and developing Xenocontendi goes to Disethas. It is designed and compatible with the following minecraft versions: 1.8, 1.7. Right now Xenocontendi has 142788 views.


text:
Garden Maintenance
Although we can 'hoe and mow' if that's your fancy, we prefer to take time in our gardens. Plant care is our passion and we enjoy working with you to make the most of the green space that is available , be that a small space hidden away or a rolling estate ...
We operate an annual maintenance programme delivering whatever your garden needs, whenever it needs it. If you would like to discuss you garden please contact us.
Our maintenanc teams will :
- look after lawns
- take care of your plants
- provide you with ideas and inspiration


text:
Dark powered Vim/Neovim plugin manager
I cannot reproduce it anyway as it's gone after the upgrade, so it looks indeed like an issue of neocomplete that got solved by either upgrading it or by recaching
s/minimal plugins/minimal configurations/
vim-plug, and I put all my plugins at
~/.vim/plug, where
~/.vim is actually a symlink to a synced directory in my Dropbox, so that the whole vim configuration is synced. I continued this habit when started using dein, but I found the configuration if often broken when I have synced between different OS'es, e.g., between Linux and macOS. Then I checked the
cache_* file in dein's directory and found dein records absolute paths in its cache, so that the paths are broken between different OS'es, e.g., on Linux it may be
/home/username/.vim/dein/.cache and macOS it may be
/Users/username/.vim/dein/.cache. I read the doc and it says the typical directory for dein is
~/.cache/dein or
~/.local/share/dein. So does that mean the correct use of dein is to put its directory at some OS-specific path, which should not be synced? As a result, do we have to
:call dein#install() or
:call dein#update() when setting up the vim configuration for a new computer? Thank you!
vim-plug, I have to clone several copies for YouCompleteMe and rename them to different names, and pick a specific name on specific OS. I wrote a long function doing all those. With caching, I just need to keep only one copy of the original YouCompleteMe repo at
~/.vim/dein/repo and cache it to
~/.cache/dein, which is a OS-specific path. I don't need to care about the directory names anymore, and the long function is no longer necessary.
.vimrc with
hook_post_update dict entry are only correctly installed for the first time. After the vim restarted,
dein#load_state() returns 0 and the hooks are not loaded for the plugins, so no hooks will be called for
dein#update(). Does that mean I have to call
dein#set_hook() after the
dein#begin() and
dein#end() block?


text:
2015 Home Buying: Don't Wait!
Now is the Time to Buy the Home You've Always Wanted!
Now that the housing market has stabilized, more and more homeowners are considering moving up to the home they have always dreamed of.
In most areas, prices are still below those of a few years ago.
Also, interest rates are still near 4%.
However, sellers should realize that waiting to make the move while mortgage rates are increasing probably doesn't make sense.
As rates increase, the price of the house you can buy will decrease.
Here is a chart detailing this point:
Click here to search Lake Villa Homes for Sale.
Jim Starwalt
Thinking of making a move?
Download the New Free RE/MAX Home Search App or text the word MOBILE to 224-677-2200.
Log onto my website at www.StarHomeTeam.com and search Northern Illinois Homes for sale.
Easily search Northern Illinois Homes for Sale with photos, open houses and virtual tours at StarHomeTeam.com
Jim Starwalt, Real Estate Broker
RE/MAX Center
Phone: 847-548-2625
Find Me Online
2015 Home Buying: Don't Wait! Now is the Time to Buy the Home You've Always Wanted!


text:
Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society
Volume 2016, Article ID 2437615, 12 pages
The Control Packet Collision Avoidance Algorithm for the Underwater Multichannel MAC Protocols via Time-Frequency Masking
School of Marine Science and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China
Received 24 December 2015; Revised 28 April 2016; Accepted 9 May 2016
Academic Editor: Paolo Renna
Copyright © 2016 Yang Yu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Establishing high-speed and reliable underwater acoustic networks among multiunmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) is basic to realize cooperative and intelligent control among different UUVs. Nevertheless, different from terrestrial network, the propagation speed of the underwater acoustic network is 1500 m/s, which makes the design of the underwater acoustic network MAC protocols a big challenge. In accordance with multichannel MAC protocols, data packets and control packets are transferred through different channels, which lowers the adverse effect of acoustic network and gradually becomes the popular issues of underwater acoustic networks MAC protocol research. In this paper, we proposed a control packet collision avoidance algorithm utilizing time-frequency masking to deal with the control packets collision in the control channel. This algorithm is based on the scarcity of the noncoherent underwater acoustic communication signals, which regards collision avoiding as separation of the mixtures of communication signals from different nodes. We first measure the W-Disjoint Orthogonality of the MFSK signals and the simulation result demonstrates that there exists time-frequency mask which can separate the source signals from the mixture of the communication signals. Then we present a pairwise hydrophones separation system based on deep networks and the location information of the nodes. Consequently, the time-frequency mask can be estimated.
1. Introduction
Underwater acoustic networks are the key technology to realize cooperative and intelligent control among multi-UUVs [1, 2]. However, compared with terrestrial wireless network, the propagation velocity of underwater acoustic networks is only m/s and the available bandwidth of underwater acoustic networks is very limited. Moreover, the time delay, Doppler extension, and noise interference cannot be avoided either. The adverse factors mentioned above make the key technology of underwater acoustic network communication MAC protocol design big challenges and restrict the improvements of underwater acoustic network. Presently, most researchers classify underwater acoustic network MAC protocols into 3 types: contention-free, contention-based, and hybrid based on the difference of multiuser access mechanism. Figure 1 has illustrated the existing underwater acoustic network MAC protocols and its categorizing [3, 4].
Considering the long-time delay of underwater acoustic channel, maintaining the real-time state between adjacent nodes is different. Concise contention-free protocol is firstly used in the underwater acoustic network, which includes frequence division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), and code division multiple access (CDMA). FDMA separates available frequency band into different subbands and allocates the subband specifically to the node, which is simple and reliable. However, the low bandwidth availability ratio is a big disadvantage [3–5]. In order to solve the problem, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been introduced to FDMA. The principle of FDMA is choosing proper frequency band to communicate according to different communication distances and therefore improves the bandwidth availability ratio [6, 7]. To improve channel utilization fundamentally, researchers begin to study the MAC protocol based on TDMA. The ST-MAC protocol, which translates the issue of multiple joints time slot to the problem of vertex-coloring, was proposed in [8]. Reference [9] puts forward DSSS protocol, which utilizes transmission delay of underwater acoustic channel and arranges conflict-free transmission concurrently. The STUMP protocol which eases the limitation of time synchronization was present in [10]. Different from TDMA, CDMA protocols distinguish different users through pseudonoise, which has high channel utilization and simple algorithm but still cannot avoid its inherent "near-far effect."
Compared with the above-mentioned contention-free protocol this allocates channel beforehand and contention-based protocol which allocates channel based on the need of nodes has higher channel utilization. The essence of contention-based protocol is based on channel reservation. Nodes reserve channel resources through handshaking exchange message before initiating data communication [11, 12]. The multichannel MAC protocols transmit handshaking exchange message via independent channels, initiates information transmission among multinode pairs concurrently, utilizes network bandwidth and reduces the consumption when network load is heavy [13–15], and attracts attention of the researchers recently. The prospective of the multichannel MAC protocols is solving new problems which are faced with multichannel protocols, especially the collision problem in control channel. Zhou et al. from University of Connecticut adopt joint detection of adjacent nodes to tackle triple hidden terminal problems typical in multichannel MAC protocols [16].
In this paper, we proposed a control packet collision avoidance algorithm utilizing time-frequency masking to deal with the control packets collision in the control channel. This algorithm is based on the scarcity of incoherent underwater acoustic communication signals and regards collision avoiding as the separation of the mixtures of communication signals from different nodes. The remaining contents of the paper are organized as follows. Section 2 briefly discusses the W-Disjoint Orthogonality and the scarcity of the MFSK signal. The simulation result demonstrates that there exists time-frequency mask which can separate the source signals from the mixture of the communication signals. Section 3 outlines the proposed separation system, discusses the low-level feature we sued, and gives details about the deep network including its structure as well as training method. Section 4 shows the simulation result about the source separation system in different conditions, including different signal-noise ratio and different bandwidth ratio.
2. W-Disjoint Orthogonality of the MFSK Signals
As is known to all, the MFSK is a classic noncoherent communication modulation scheme that has been considered as a robust modulation to the complex underwater acoustic channel. Because of its lower bandwidth efficiency than the coherent modulation, such as PSK modulation, the MFSK modulation is not considered as a good choice for the physical layer of the underwater acoustic networks. However, the lower bandwidth efficiency means that the MFSK signal is sparse in time and frequency domain. Same as the speech signals mentioned in [17], the MFSK mixtures can be separated into several sources by using time-frequency masking. The received signal can be seen as MFSK mixture when the control packets collide, and the sparsity of the MFSK signal in time and frequency domain offers the potential for dealing with the collision of the control packets.
In this section, we focus on the W-Disjoint Orthogonality and the sparsity of the MFSK signals, showing that there exist time-frequency mask which can separate the source signals from the mixture of the MFSK signals. We only consider the MFSK modulation as the physical layer of the underwater acoustic networks in this paper.
Same as the model of speech mixture, the model of the MFSK mixture can be written as follows:
With the short-time Fourier transform, we obtain the model of the MFSK in time and frequency domain through where are the indexes of time frame and frequency point, respectively. Assuming is W-Disjoint Orthogonality, at least one of the nodes signals will be nonzero for a given . To separate node signal from the mixture , we create the time-frequency mask for each node, respectively, and apply these masks to the mixture to obtain the original node signal. For instance, with the defining mask for the node ,which actually is an indicator function, the MFSK signal from node will be derived via
However, for the MFSK signal, the assumption about the W-Disjoint Orthogonality is not strictly satisfied. When the sparsity of the MFSK signals in time and frequency domain is taken into consideration, the approximate W-Disjoint Orthogonality will be satisfied. In order to measure the W-Disjoint Orthogonality of the T-F mask, the combined performance criteria PSR and SIR, which are proposed by Yilmaz and Rickard in [17], will be used:
With a view to the quite small probability of the collision of more than two data packets in control channel, we have produced a series of MFSK mixture only including two node signals and calculated the PSR, SIR, and WDO of the T-F Mask by the use of Monte Carlo method. Thereinto, the T-T Mask for source separation is derived as follows:
According to the definition of the W-Disjoint Orthogonality, the corresponding T-F mask becomes closer to the W-Disjoint Orthogonality as the signal being more sparse. The sparsity of MFSK signal is reflected by bandwidth ratio, and the lower the bandwidth ratio of the signal is, the higher its sparsity becomes.
By the conclusion of [17], it could be thought that mixed signal is able to be demixed through a T-F mask when the value of WDO is close to 1. In accordance with the simulation result shown on Figures 2, 3, and 4, we believe that an existing T-F mask could separate sources from the MFSK mixture with high quality when the bandwidth ratio is greater than 0.5.
3. The Source Separation System Utilizes Deep Networks
In this section we will outline the proposed separation system, discuss the low-level features we used, and give details about the deep networks including its structure and training method.
3.1. Observation in Time and Frequency Domain and Low-Level Features Used in Deep Networks
We assume that there are hydrophones in the node and the mixture includes several MFSK signals from nodes. The mixture received by the hydrophone can be obtained from where is the channel impulse response between the hydrophone and node , and the denotes convolution. Then by using the short-time Fourier transform (STFT), we can obtain the mixture signal mapped into the time-frequency domain from where and are the time frame and frequency bin indices, respectively, and , , , denote short-time Fourier transform. We use representing the component of the node which takes in the mixture received by hydrophone . Thus,
As shown in Section 2 MFSK signal is approximate W-Disjoint Orthogonality when bandwidth ratio is less than . Then, as shown in (10), the mixture which received by the hydrophone , can be demixed by using the T-F masks corresponding . Consider the following:
There is a nature choice that uses the orientation of the MFSK signals to estimate the corresponding T-F mask of the nodes with the pairwise hydrophone. Thus, the time-frequency mask is related to the location information of the current input signals (the channel impulse response and array manifold). That is,
Obviously, for other hydrophone output, the time-frequency mask corresponding to the same node remains the same. When we obtain the time-frequency corresponding to node , we can then separate the single user communication signals of node through ISTFT operation. The mixture signals received by the multiarray include single user signals from nodes with different locations. The probability distribution of a single T-F point belonging to a certain node, such as , can be described by a Gaussian distribution with mean and variance . Here, and variance can be interpreted as the mean value and variance of direction of arrival (DOA) of the signal coming from the node , respectively. According to the central limit theorems, for all T-F points, the probability distribution of mixture signals including node signals can be described by the mixture of Gaussian distribution, namely, Gaussian mixture model (GMM). Therefore, we can describe the mixture pattern of signals through a GMM based on space features. The parameters of the GMM can be obtained on the basis of the existing observation datasets. Thus the probability of each T-F point belonging to node , node , and node can be estimated. Then, the source signals can be recovered through ISTFT operation.
3.2. Outline of the Source Separation System
As shown in Figure 5, the inputs to the system are the two channel MFSK mixtures. We perform short-time Fourier transform (STFT) for each channel and obtain the T-F representation of the input signals, and where and are the time frame and frequency bin indices, respectively. The low-level features, that is, mixing vector (MV), interaural level, and phase difference (IPD/ILD) which can be derived from (12)–(13), are then estimated at each T-F unit. Considerwhere is a whitening matrix, with each row being one eigenvector of , the superscript is Hermitian transpose, and is Frobenius norm:where takes the absolute value of its argument and finds the phase angle.
Next, we group the low-level features into blocks (only along the frequency bins ). The block includes frequency bins , where . We build deep networks with each corresponding to one block and use them to estimate the direction of arrivals (DOAs) of the sources. The low-level features as the input of the deep networks are composed by the IPD, ILD and MV; that is, . Through unsupervised learning and the sparse autoencoder [18] in deep networks, high-level features (coded positional information of the sources) are extracted and used as inputs for the output layer (i.e., the softmax regression) of the networks. The output of softmax regression is a source occupation probability (i.e., the time-frequency mask) of each block (through the ungroup operation, T-F units in the same block are assigned with the same source occupation probability) of the mixtures. Then the sources can be recovered applying the T-F mask to the mixtures followed by the inverse STFT (ISTFT). The deep networks are pretrained by using a greedy layer-wise training method.
3.3. The Deep Networks
As described in the beginning of this section, we group the low-level features into blocks and build individual deep networks which have the same architecture to classify the DOAs of the current input T-F point in each block. The deep network which is used to estimate the T-F mask is composed of two-layer deep autoencoder and one layer softmax classifier.
More specifically, we split the whole space to ranges with respect to the hydrophones and separate the target and interferers based on different orientation ranges (DOAs with respect to the receiver node) where they are located. We apply the softmax classifier to perform the classification task, and the inputs to the classifier, that is, the high-level features , are produced by the deep autoencoder. Assuming that the position of the target in the current input T-F point remains unchanged, the deep network estimates the probability of the orientation of the current input sample belonging to the orientation index . With the estimated orientation (obtained by selecting the maximum probability index) of each input T-F point, we cluster the T-F points which have the same orientation index to get the probability mask and obtain the T-F mask from the probability mask through the ungroup operation. Note that each T-F point in the same block is assigned the same probability. The number of sources can also be estimated from the probability mask by using a predefined probability threshold, typically chosen as 0.2 in our experiments.
3.3.1. Deep Autoencoder
An autoencoder is an unsupervised learning algorithm based on backpropagation. It aims to learn an approximation of the input . It appears to be learning a trivial identity function; but by using some constraints on the learning process, such as limiting the number of neurons activated, it discloses some interesting structures about the data. Figure 6 shows the architecture of a single layer autoencoder. The difference between classic neural network and autoencoder is the training objective. The objective of the classic neural networks is to minimize the difference between the label of input training data and the output of the network. However, the objective of the autoencoder is to minimize the difference between the input training dataset and the output of the network. As shown in Figure 6, the output of the autoencoders can be defined as with , where the function is the logistic function, , , , and , is the number of hidden layer neurons, and is the number of input layer neurons, which is the same as that of the output layer neurons. is a matrix containing the weights of connections between the input layer neurons and hidden layer neurons. Similar to , contains the weights of connections between the hidden layer neurons and the output layer neurons. is a vector of the bias values added to the hidden layer neurons, and is the vector for the output layer neurons. refers to the parameter set composed of weights and bias . The neuron is "active" when the output of this neuron is close to 1, which means that the function . For "inactive" neurons, however, the output is close to 0, which means the function , where denotes the weights of connections between the hidden layer neuron and the input layer neurons, which is the th row of the matrix . is the th element of the vector , which is the bias value added to the hidden layer neuron . The superscript of , , and , denotes the th layer of the deep network.
With the sparsity constraint, most of the neurons are assumed to be inactive. More specifically, denotes the activation value of the hidden layer unit in the autoencoder. Generalizing this for the unit in the hidden layer, the average activation of unit with the input sample can be defined as follows: where is the number of training samples, and is the th input training sample. Next, the sparsity constraint is enforced, where is the parameter preset before training, typically small, such as . To achieve the sparsity constraint, we use the penalty term in the cost function of sparse autoencoders as follows:The penalty term is essentially a Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence. Now the cost function of the sparse autoencoder can be written as follows:where controls the weight of the penalty term. In our proposed system, the cost function is minimized using the limited memory BFGS (L-BFGS) optimization algorithm, and the single layer sparse autoencoder is trained by using the backpropagation algorithm.
After finishing the training of single layer sparse autoencoder, we discard the output layer neurons, the relative weights , and bias and only save the input layer neurons and . The output of the hidden layer is used as the input samples of the next single layer sparse autoencoder. Repeating these steps, like stacking the autoencoders, we could build a deep autoencoder from two or more single layer sparse autoencoders. In our proposed system, we use two single layer autoencoders to build a deep autoencoder. The stacking procedures show on the right part of Figure 7.
Lots of studies on deep autoencoders show that, with the deep architecture (more than one hidden layer), deep autoencoder could build up more complex representation from the sample low-level features, capture the underlying regularities of the data, and improve the qualities of recognition. That is why we use deep autoencoder in our proposed system.
There are, however, several difficulties associated with obtaining the optimized weights of deep autoencoders. One challenge is the presence of local optima. In particular, training a neural network using supervised learning involves solving a highly nonconvex optimization problem, that is, finding a set of network parameters to minimize the training error . In the deep autoencoder, the optimization problem with bad local optima turns out to be rife, and training with gradient descent no longer works well. Another challenge is the "diffusion of gradients." When using backpropagation to compute the derivatives, the gradients that are propagated backwards (from the output layer to the earlier layers of the network) rapidly diminish in magnitude as the depth of the network increases. As a result, the derivative of the overall cost with respect to the weights in the earlier layers is very small. Thus, when using gradient descent, the weights of the earlier layers change slowly. However, if the initializing parameter is already close to the optimized values, the gradient descent works well. That is the idea of "greedy layer-wise" training, where the layers of the networks are trained one by one, as shown in the left part of Figure 7.
First, we use the backpropagation algorithm to train the first sparse autoencoder (only including one hidden layer), with the data label being the inputs. In our proposed system, the input data is the -dimensional feature vector . As a result of the first-layer training, we get a set of network parameters (i.e., the parameters and ) of the first-layer sparse autoencoder, and a new dataset (i.e., the features I shown in Figure 9) which is the output of the hidden layer neurons (the activity state of the hidden layer neurons) by using this parameter set. Next, we use as the inputs to the second sparse autoencoder. After the second autoencoder is trained, we can get the network parameters of the second sparse autoencoder and the new dataset (i.e., the feature II in Figure 9) for the training of next single layer neural network. We then repeat the above steps until the last layer (i.e., the softmax regression in our proposed system). Finally, we obtain a pretrained deep autoencoder by stacking all the autoencoders and use and as the initialized parameters for this pretrained deep autoencoder. The feature II is the high-level feature and can be used as the training dataset for softmax regression discussed next.
3.3.2. Softmax Classifier
In our proposed system, the softmax classifier, based on softmax regression, was used to estimate the probabilities of the current input T-F point belonging to the orientation index , by the deep autoencoder with the extracted high-level features as inputs.
The softmax regression generalizes the classical logistic regression (for binary classification) to multiclass classification problems. Different from the logistic regression, the data label of the softmax regression is an integer value between and ; here is the number of data classes. More specifically, in our proposed system, for classes, samples dataset was used to train the th deep network:where is the label of the th sample and will be set to if belongs to class . The architecture of the softmax classifier is shown in Figure 8.
Given an input , the output of the layer neuron gives the probability of the input belonging to the class . Similar to the logistic regression, the output of the softmax regression can be written as follows:
Here is the network parameter of the softmax ( is the dimension of the input , and is the number of the classes within the input data). represents the transpose of the th row of and contains the parameters of the connections between the neuron of the output layer and the input sample .
The softmax regression and logistic regression have the same minimization objective. The cost function of the softmax classifier can be generalized from the logistic regression function and written as follows:where is the indicator function, so that and . The element of the contains the parameters of the connections between the neuron of the output layer and the neuron of the input layer. is a regularization term that enforces the cost function to be strictly convex, where is a weight decay parameter predefined by the users.
In our proposed system, we extend the label of the training dataset to a vector and set the th element of to 1 and other elements to 0 when the input sample belongs to class , such as . The cost function can be written as follows by using vectorization:
The softmax classifier can be trained by using the L-BFGS algorithm based on a dataset, in order to find an optimal parameter set for minimizing the cost function . In our proposed system, the dataset for softmax classifier training is composed by two parts. The first part is the input sample, (feature II), calculated from the last hidden layer of the deep autoencoder. The second part is the data label, , where the th element of the will be set to 1 when the input sample belongs to the source located in the range of DOAs of index .
We stack the softmax classifier and deep autoencoder together after the training is completed, as shown on the left part of Figure 9. Finally, we use the training dataset and L-BFGS algorithm to fine-tune the deep network with the initialized parameters , , , , , and obtained from the sparse autoencoders and softmax classifier training. The training phase of the sparse autoencoders and softmax classifier are called pretraining phase, and the stacking/training of the overall network, that is, deep network, is called fine-tuning phase. In the pretraining phase, the shallow neural networks, that is, sparse autoencoders and softmax classifier, are training individually, using the output of current layer as the input for the next layer. In the fine-tuning phase, we use the L-BFGS algorithm (i.e., a gradient descent method) to minimize the difference between the output of the deep network and the label of training dataset. The gradient descent works well because the initialized parameters obtained from the pretraining phase include a significant amount of "prior" information about the input data through unsupervised learning.
4. Experiments
In this section, we describe the communication system used in the simulation system and show the separation results in different SNR and data rates. It is important to note that bit error rate (BER) is an extremely significant performance index for a pragmatic communication system; in this section, therefore, we will evaluate the separation quality of pragmatic system by BER and regard the BER performance of single user MFSK communication as the baseline under the same condition.
There is no need to take the multipath propagation of channels into consideration because of the relatively close distance among each node, in view of the communication of multi-UUV. We thus adopt the additive white Gaussian noise channel model and Monte Carlo method to calculate the system BER in the simulation, such as the simulation system shown in Figure 10, and we also take the BER of the single user communication as the baseline. The sampling rate of our simulation is kHz, and the order of the modulation is , without any error-correction coding. The bandwidth of the MFSK modulation/demodulation is Hz, and the bandwidth ratio varies from 0.625 to 0.125, corresponding to the bit rate to .
Frist, suppose we can obtain the optimal T-F mask, that is, using (6) to calculate T-F mask, and then get the simulation result of BER being changing with SNR as well as bandwidth ratio and make a comparison with baseline.
As shown in Tables 1 and 2, it can be seen that, from the simulation result, the BER similar with baseline can be attained by T-F mask method when . Furthermore, the BER with T-F mask would be even lower than that of baseline under the same condition when SNR is very low; that is, . The reason behind the above phenomenon is that, it can be seen from (6) that some frequency points are adjusted to zero by the T-F mask, which promotes the SNR of signal objectively and obtains lower BER. In the actual system, however, it is a highly challenging task to accurately estimate the T-F mask under such low SNR, which can also be verified in later simulation.
According to Section 3, we estimate the T-F mask by using the orientation information of the nodes, that is, the DOA of the MFSK signal received by nodes. Therefore, we introduce time delay to simulate pairwise hydrophone receiver in the simulation and divide the space into 37 blocks along the horizontal direction at the same time, in order to correspond from −90 to +90 horizontally with the step size of 5 in a horizontal space. We estimate the T-F mask by source separation system described in Section 3 and compare it to the BER performance of baseline under the condition of different SNR and bandwidth ratio; the simulation result is shown in Table 3.
As shown in Table 3, it is observed that the BER performance of the proposed system is much the same as the baseline when and , which is consistent with the result when using the optimal T-F mask. When , however, the BER performance of the proposed system begins to decline for a big error of T-F mask estimation made by the lower SNR of the signals, which results in the system performance degradation.
5. Summary
In this paper, we point at the problem of control packets collision avoiding existing widely in multichannel MAC protocol and, on the basis of the sparsity of noncoherent modulation-MFSK in time-frequency domain, separate the sources from the MFSK mixture caused by packets collision through the use of T-F masking method. First, we indicate the sparsity of MFSK signal with bandwidth ratio and demonstrate the relation between bandwidth ratio and PSR, SIR, and WDO by means of the simulation experiment. Then, we establish the source separation system based on deep networks and the model of MFSK communication system, taking single user MFSK communication as the baseline to compare the BER performance of proposed system and baseline under different condition of SNR and bandwidth ratio. The simulation result shows that, first, the optimal T-F masking could obtain the same BER performance as the baseline under lower bandwidth ratio; second, the proposed system could obtain the similar BER performance as the baseline under higher SNR; third, the BER performance of the proposed system declines rapidly under the condition of lower SNR, for lower SNR leads to a greater error in the estimation of T-F mask. In the future work, we will adjust the structure of deep networks in subsequent research work to promote the performance of proposed system under the condition of low SNR and multipath propagation presenting in the underwater channel. As a future research topic, it also deserves the possibility that the bioinspired computing models and algorithms are used for the underwater multichannel MAC protocols, such as the P systems (inspired from the structure and the functioning of cells) [19, 20], and evolutionary computation (motivated by evolution theory of Darwin) [21, 22].
Competing Interests
The authors declare that there are no competing interests regarding the publication of this paper.
This research was supported partially by the Natural Science Basis Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (Program no. 2014JQ8355).
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We live in a time when our everyday products have just begun to become enchanted. Even objects as seemingly mundane as coffee makers and toothbrushes can sing, glow, buzz and pose in ways that make us smile, gasp, get annoyed, or otherwise feel the temptation to relate to them with emotion, as if they are somehow alive. When well-designed, animated objects have the potential to tug at our heartstrings, making us feel connected, engaged and, ultimately, understood.[1] Designing such objects is the focus of my work.
While I love crafting the static form of a sculptural product, my fascination lies in harnessing the power of computing to bring a rich, temporal element to physical forms in order to connect with people on an emotional level. I enjoy designing for both future visions as well as present day scenarios, while always keeping in mind how advances in technology can inform and enrich the work. My craft includes drawings, 3D models, electronic prototypes, installations and video scenarios of designs that have realistic technical and material aspects. I use 3D forms as both physical objects and virtual objects, and believe that engaging experiences can be created from a combination of the two.
The behaviors that these objects display may express function, networked data, or even a pre-determined "personality", turning the object into an entity that invites ongoing interaction through somewhat playful exchanges.[2] They are chosen to communicate in a natural or "human" language that is sometimes musical, sometimes visual, often tactile, and always crafted to invite people to intuit a product's role and meaning through use. For example, the color of LED lighting on a robotic vacuum cleaner has the potential to share information about what's going on inside: green, slow pulsing indicates "All systems go!"; rapid red flashing pleads, "Help! Something is amiss here." Sound and movement can enhance and reinforce these messages. A jubilant melody at the end of a washing machine cycle says, "Everything went well and your clothes are ready!" A video conference camera repositioning its head expresses "Bye! Going to sleep now."
In addition to expressive outputs, I am interested in how tangible inputs relate to the larger product-user conversation. What does it feel like to stroke the object's surface to wake it from a sleep state? If you shake a music player, should it randomize my selection? What does it mean to pull, twist or kick a product, and what kinds of responses are appropriate? My work is based on poetic product design semantics [3] while also drawing on the study of Human Robot Interaction and Social Machines. I explore experiences through both my design work as well as experimental art installations developed to get a first-hand sense of emerging interaction technologies.
While there is a good deal of exploration in tangible interaction and mixed reality in academic work, the application of that work to product design is fairly new due to previous barriers in the price and availability of embedded electronics. Because of this, dynamic physical-digital product design lacks the deep history of semantics that exists for more traditional elements such as form, materials, color, and graphics. I'm excited about the potential for pioneering work to be done in this area where electronic behaviors represent a brand new palette for expression.
As an accomplished professional product designer/artist who has also been involved in exciting academic work in design, I know both sides. I understand the somewhat harsh realities of bringing a product from concept to production (brand, materials, cost and technical constraints); I also respect the importance of rigorous academic exploration in pushing the boundaries of design, technology and human understanding. Because of this combination, I feel perfectly poised to harness opportunities for developing original research in the area of animated physical-digital products.
Over the past decade, I have worked with teams of talented designers and technologists to design a wide array of interactive products and artworks, both physical and virtual.
I begin my work with user research, through a combination of in-person conversations and prototyping exercises, and then continue the design development with an iterative process of prototyping and design communication. A staunch believer in the importance of experimentation as a means of discovery, I am an obsessive tinkerer, taking advantage of the wide array of electronic prototyping tools, methods and communities that exist today as a means to propel my knowledge forward and share my discoveries with others.
The following is a selection of projects that were the result of taking a product-as-expressive-entity approach to design:
- Simon robot head shell [http://www.athomaz.com/?p=116], part of an upper-torso, humanoid-like robot with two arms, two hands and a socially-expressive head
- Robotic vacuum cleaner for Neato Robotics [http://www.neatorobotics.com/] with expressive interface
- Connected home concepts, a suite of wi-fi-enabled connected appliances that communicate with the user as well as with each other
- Compact camcorder which translates natural gestures into camera controls
- "Lumi" platform for expressive light behaviors in products, a sub-surface array of RGB LEDs that can be easily programmed by designers to exhibit any combination of animated color and intensity [http://vimeo.com/32941586]
- "Happy toast", a future vision scenario for a food appliance that takes emotion into account [http://vimeo.com/24862591]
- Melody Man, a human powered electronic toy that features an animated LED matrix "face" and electronically-generated music that is revealed through the play activity [http://vimeo.com/32887624]
- "Nest" and "Fragile" RFID-enabled sound sculptures where users place objects in certain positions in order to dynamically change the sound in the room [http://vimeo.com/13834494]
- "Père Ubu", a virtual object installation where a projected image of a camera object emerges from its shell based on the viewer's actions [http://www.uberobjects.org]
Last year, I created an interaction lab within the prestigious award-winning firm Smart Design in order to maintain an ongoing exploration of design at the intersection of the physical and the digital. The lab is currently in the midst of examining several aspects of dynamic behaviors in product design such as how LED light behaviors can communicate different states of mind, and ways that input mechanisms (such as a leash for vacuum cleaner control or rotating cube as a means of menu navigation) can relate to contexts of use. Last year I also housed my personal studio in the very public Museum of Arts and Design Open Studio every Friday for four months as part of their residency program in order to delight visitors with a series of ongoing experiments in interactive objects.
Many design researchers envision a future where different types of robotic technologies will be introduced to the domestic landscape.[4] We have already seen robotic floor cleaning devices such as the Roomba become nearly commonplace household objects. [5] We will continue to see the creation of all sorts of new "smart" product archetypes that are built on interactive behaviors. Gone will be the days of the "flashing 12:00" on a consumer electronic device waiting to be programmed. Our new devices will be constantly listening for sounds sights and touches to translate into meaningful inputs for use. They will have the ability to "learn", refining their behaviors over time, and they will be connected to the internet as well as to one another.
I am interested in continuing my explorations of the aesthetic and emotional aspects of the design of these dynamic objects in order to create vocabularies of expressive design elements. I seek to develop methods for 3D design that are focused on communicative product personalities and help designers to create products that will offer a meaningful relationship with their users and their environments.
[1] Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together, Basic Books, 2011. Chapter 4, "Enchantment".
[2] Gaver, W., Bowers, J., Boucher, A., Law, A., and Pennington, S. Electronic furniture for the Curious Home: Assessing ludic designs in the field. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 2007, 22(1-2), pp.119-152.
[3] Aldersey-Williams, Hugh, Cranbrook Design: The New Discourse, Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1990 pp. 20-26.
[4] Norman, Donald, The Design of Future Things, Basic Books, 2009.
[5] Forlizzi, J. How robotic products become social products: an ethnographic study of cleaning in the home. Proceedings of HRI 2007, ACM Press, 2007.


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Libby Anne shared some examples of the different framing of events in the media. White survivors of hurricane Katrina were described as having "found bread," while black survivors were described as "looters." And while anyone with dark skin or who is a Muslim will be described as a thug or terrorist, Robert Dear is said by the New York Times to be a "gentle loner."
It intersected with the above image that came to my attention via Facebook, and which provides terminology to denote this very phenomenon.
Sometimes naming a phenomenon is itself important. "Stochastic terrorism" might not be clear to all, and may not be catchy. But sometimes just knowing that something "is a thing," that there is a phenomenon with a term for it, that it isn't isolated or vague, but clear and noticed, will lead people to pay more attention to something that they previously neglected.
Words matter.
See further Lauren Nelson's post about how radicalization is brought about.


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Found pills in an unmarked container. They are small, round, yellow pills with an "E" above a line and "76" below. All I know about the "E" is that it means the pill is from Econ Labs.
Results 1 to 4 of 4
Found small round yellow pill E / 76
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Police are still hunting a gunman who fired shots outside a primary school in Anfield .
A lone masked man shot at a car outside Anfield Road Primary School as parents took their children to class around 9am.
Police believe the attack was targeted and are currently searching for the gunman, who was last seen making off on foot along Oakfield Road.
No arrests have been made following the shooting.
Officers are also still searching for the driver of the car, which sped away from the scene after the shot was fired.
Local hospitals were checked yesterday but no-one sought medical attention for injuries caused by a firearm.
Merseyside Police are appealing for the driver to come forward to ensure they are safe and well.
Liverpool area commander Mark Harrison said yesterday: "This appears to be a targeted attack and at this stage we do not believe that anyone was injured during the incident, although I would appeal to those in the car to come forward so we know they are safe and they may also have information which could help us find the person responsible."
The force has launched an appeal for information and called for people with information about the incident to come forward.
Chf Supt Harrison said: "These people are not carrying toys and these weapons can seriously harm or kill people, in the wrong hands they are a real threat to our communities.
"If you know something come forward, silence could result in someone being seriously injured, or killed in the future. If you want to help us make the streets safe for our children give us the information so we can take robust action."
The cordon sectioning off part of Anfield Road was lifted yesterday afternoon around 3.30pm after forensic examinations were carried out.
Children at Anfield Road Primary School were reportedly unaware of the ongoing incident and carried on with their school day as normal.
The children also carried on with their classes uninterrupted this morning.
Chf Supt Harrison said: "It beggars belief that anyone could do something like this outside a primary school.
"There were parents taking their children in to the school when this happened and a child could have been seriously injured or worse."
A spokesman for Liverpool City Council said: "The school is operating as normal today. It was [also] operating normally yesterday. It was not evacuated and the kids went on a school trip as normal."


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The Need for Tax Simplification
Taxation is a very important tool that is used to meet the expenditures of a country. The tax system in Pakistan is very complex and it operates in a hybrid system i.e. FBR (Federal Board of Revenue) collects taxes on goods while provinces are responsible for providing services for tax collection.Read more


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Kids in Service
I led another Volunteer Camp for fourteen 2nd-6th grade girls at Harpeth Hall School last week. It was so much fun! You could these ideas with your family, if you are looking for a way to get involved in your community. Children are so eager to make a difference in the world - and they have so much energy to do it! I'd love to hear if you use any of these ideas - or if you have your own ideas for family service. :)
Here's an excerpt from the letter I sent to parents, describing the week's events:
Mon 6/23 – CARING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
We will visit Warner Parks to learn about taking care of the environment and help do our part to keep the park a beautiful place. Then we'll make jewelry – from recycled materials – to take home with us. Come ready to explore and have a great time on the wild side of Nashville.
Tues 6/24 – CARING FOR OLDER ADULTS
We will visit older adults in the daycare program at Senior Citizens Inc. You will fall in love with this sweet folks as we have summertime fun together. Then we will take time to thank the older adults in our lives that have been an encouragement to us.
Wed 6/25 - CARING FOR THE SICK AND THEIR FAMILIES
We will visit Ronald McDonald House, learn how they serve others, help with house beautification projects, and encourage the residents with creative gifts of cards and homemade playdough. Then we'll think about ways we can help sick or hurting people in our own lives.
Thurs 6/26 - - CARING FOR ANIMALS
We will visit to the Williamson County Animal Shelter to play with the animals, learn about the Paws on Wheels Program (partners with Meals on Wheels), and what we can do to help our furry neighbors safe. Then we'll use recycled towels and tshirts to make toys for the animals at the shelter.
Fri 6/27 – CARING FOR PEOPLE IN POVERTY
We will visit the Freedom Recovery Community, a safe place for women and children in crisis situations. We will learn about ways to support people in crisis and we will make special gifts for children in their center.
Labels: helping others, kids


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one of a kind
Backstrap looms have been used since ancient times to weave narrow strips of fabric. Once the strips are sewn together the fabric is tied, stitched, clamped–or covered in a wax resist–and dipped into a dye vat. With each dip the indigo dyes the textile a deeper blue. The resist is later removed to reveal a beautiful one-of-a-kind pattern.
Part of our vintage collection, this textile was handwoven and hand dyed by the Dogon people of Mali. Soft, worn feel with some natural wear. Use as a throw, wrap, or wall hanging.


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Conrad Liveris is a corporate adviser on workplaces and risk. He's been credited as being "one of Australia's leading employment and workplace experts" by the ABC.
Conrad improves workplaces exclusively through evidenced based responses and original data. He's worked on projects in Australia, Asia and the US, working on a variety of workplace and management projects, always focused on improving performance and making out workplaces more inclusive and effective.
With a firm belief of the importance of sharing knowledge, Conrad contributes a column in The Australian and is active across the media in Australia and globally. He's also the director of the Australian Management Review.
Conrad is alum of the US State Department, an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society, worked prominently on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, and his work has been acknowledged in numerous parliaments and by the Prime Minister of Australia.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Commerce, he has undertaken specialist and leadership education at the Governance Institute of Australia and the University of California, Los Angeles.
Conrad knows that flexible working is an unstoppable trend. He understands the need for individuals to have a better more balanced life, and to improve the performance of workplaces.
Conrad completed a cost-benefit analysis of flexible working as part of his masters degree, showing a distinct financial and performance benefit of flexible working for workplaces.
"Flexible working is undeniably a benefit and opportunity for individuals and workplaces alike."


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|Henry helping me pick out some hard cider (I'm not a big beer fan).
|My Hard Cider purchases from Total Wine and Spirits. (Technically 1 or 2 are flavored beer.)
I'm not going to turn this into a hard cider blog, but I'll maybe post about these all as a group once I've had them. (So far I've had 2.) Check back for that.


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I remember having comic books with the ad.The offer sounded too good to be true,and it was. It was a bigger ripoff than Sea Monkeys,which I also ordered.
|They were only brine shrimp! "So eager to please they can even be trained...like a pack of friendly trained seals." Yeah right.
Today's doll isn't the spindly pink variety. She's a solid type of lady made from ivory coloured plastic.
|She's the West Indies lady.
She must be one of these.
|This must be later than my childhood. Inflation had taken the price up to $3! by this time!
She measures 2" tall.
I thought she was a Crackerjack prize when I found her,but then I found out she was one of those '100 dolls'.
She's not exactly what I, (or probably most of the kids who ordered the '100 dolls'!),would consider a 'doll',but she makes a nice little figure and looks good on a shelf in a 1/6 scale scene.
She was kind of hard to photograph.
See you tomorrow for another doll.


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by Michelle Morales
Artist Spotlight is a series where we celebrate artists of color, their work, and their life. The art world is often correlated to whiteness as we see art history textbooks and museums that are filled with paintings of the Renaissance, Ancient Greek and well… everything else that's white! However, people of color have made important contributions to art movements since the beginning of time. Today, we will indulge into the complicated and colorful life of Japanese contemporary artist, Yayoi Kusama.
Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese contemporary artist that has completely changed the meaning of modern art in the 21st century for over six decades. She explores several different mediums of art from sculptures to paintings and is also known for her distinct signature: polka dots. In each of her exhibitions, her unique visions have broken boundaries and internationally creates a new perspective within the realm of the art world.
Kusama was born into a wealthy but dysfunctional family in Nagano, Japan during the 1920s. She recollects in her autobiography that her upbringing was very traumatic and miserable as her "mother would vent all her rage on[to her]". She remembers her mother sending her to spy on her father and his mistress as well as destroying Kusama's artwork and canvases. Her unhappy childhood resulted in a series of disturbing hallucinations such as flowers crowding around her and speaking to her, designs on the tablecloth chasing after her, and sudden bursts of explosions in the sky. She would also see her house covered in gigantic dots. However, she used art as a way to cope with her trauma and make sense out of it.
When Kusama was 13, life in Japan became more difficult and oppressive as the country entered the Second World War. She was forced to work in a factory while also pressured to settle down and eventually get married. Kusama began to feel restless and suffocated, which led her to make the grand decision to leave Japan to the U.S. She says that "America is really the country that raised me", as she wanted to escape the 'old customs and morals' and seek freedom in New York City.
She used her trauma and hallucinations, especially her episodes of being surrounded by large dots, in her work which eventually made her popular and well-known in the art world. Her well known early work in New York City is called "infinity net" paintings. They consisted of thousands of tiny dots obsessively repeated and created an illusion that would go on for infinity. Her works helped gain audience members look beyond art as something visual and view it from a psychological state, forcing her viewers to enter a hypnotic sensation. She led a new artistic movement as she bridged minimalism and abstract expressionism, both being different ends of the spectrum, and combined them beautifully together. Kusama explained that her creative process involved "gradually feel myself under the spell of the accumulation and repetition in my 'nets' which expand beyond myself, and all over the limited space of canvas covering the floor, desk and everywhere."
In New York, she made bold choices in her artwork as she gathered together naked performers, painted with dots and called it "Body Festivals" which became one of her most famous public works.
Her sculptures transformed into mesmerizing environments as she would take up an entire space with her signature style of repetitive polka dots. In 1965, she curated the first of her famous series, "Infinity Mirror Room" where she used her craze in repetition and psychology, by filling up a small mirrored room with a thick carpet, cushion-shaped penises and thousands of polka dots.
Yayoi Kusama's works celebrates nudity, fantasy, sexual exploration, fluid sexuality, gender identity and beyond. Her art was always futuristic and beyond its time. She is now 90 years old and has been critically acclaimed as her work has been in exhibitions across the world. In 2017, a museum was opened dedicated to her artwork and life in Tokyo, Japan.


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If an outdoor concert or festival isn't on your bucket list you need to add it now! The Hunter Valley is the favourite destination for many of the world's best known performers… Springsteen, Sting, The Eagles, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Cold Chisel… need we go on? They're all lured by the stunning vineyard backdrop, great wines and country hospitality.
Find out below which major concerts and festivals are touring the Hunter Valley.
Start your journey with us...
On Saturday 11th January
1800 777 444
Elton John, has announced his last-ever tour! It's the curtain call on half a century on the road for the legendary artist.
Elton's Farewell Yellow Brick Road Australian Tour & New Zealand will take his fans on a musical and visual journey, spanning an incredible career of hits from one of pop culture's most enduring performers.
Live at Hope Estate in the Hunter Valley with two shows on Saturday 11th January and Sunday 12th January 2020.
General Admission tickets go on sale 15th February 2019. Hospitality packages now on sale at Hope Estate: https://www.hopeestate.com.au/eltonjohn


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"One small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day."
As the summer dies down and another school year is about to begin, my one-on-one coaching sessions with seniors start to rev up. Whether they are preparing for college auditions to get into dance or theater programs or they are prepping their essays and supplements to get into the academic institute of their dreams, I always start our first session the same: the importance of self-confidence and self talk in order to achieve peak performance.
As much as we may want to deny it, self-confidence comes from within not from outside sources. In order for us to perform optimally we need to have the self-confidence that we can succeed and that we are worthy of succeeding. Sounds easy, but unfortunately we know that is not always the case. Our inner voice becomes the key to building and maintaining a strong and healthy self-confidence. In more technical terms, this is called self talk - the act or practice of talking to oneself, either out loud or silently. It is important to train ourselves to limit the negative self talk and foster the positive self talk.
One of my favorite images to use when explaining how thoughts can quickly change the way we perceive a situation or evaluate ourselves is a spiral. A spiral is a curve that develops from a central point and gets progressively farther from that point as it grows. One small positive thought can lead towards an upward spiral resulting in confidence and uplifting energy, while one small negative thought can lead towards a downward spiral resulting in self pity and defeated energy.
For example, when learning a new skill if we tell ourselves we are open and ready for a new challenge our mind will continue to approach learning that new skill in a positive way even when faced with some difficulties. However, if we tell ourselves we aren't ready or can't learn the new skill our mind will continue to find more reasons why we can't, especially when faced with difficulties, until we finally close ourselves off. The same theory can be used in all areas of our lives, our relationships with family and friends, our role within the office, etc. In fact, the more we use these tools in both our personal and professional lives the deeper our mental practice becomes and the stronger we will be in overcoming adversity and maintaining a healthy self-confidence.
Can you think of a time in your life when a single thought created a downward spiral? How about a time when a thought created an upward spiral? Reflect on these moments and write them down. Through self reflection we can understand an abundance about ourselves and the patterns we have created.
Next week, I will offer more tools to help train and strengthen our mental practice. Stay tuned!


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The highly-anticipated Call Me By Your Name sequel is happening! And Armie Hammer is on board.
We chatted about this exciting news at the red carpet premiere, produced by A-List Communications, of his latest film, Final Portrait, in which he plays real-life art connoisseur, James Lord. He shared with me what he wants the audience to take away from watching this movie, as well as why he took on this role.
And he revealed to me what he really thinks of his Hotel Mumbai co-star, Jason Isaacs, after that infamous elevator incident.
Sony Pictures Classics Final Portrait opens nationwide on March 23, 2018. Will you see it?


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It takes courage to move forward into the unknown. I remind myself of this with each newly desired journey, as well as with each of life's challenges. They may begin in different places, but they are the same in how they allow fear to rise, if we let it, and how they allow celebration to arise, again if we let it.
To decipher, to attract, to heal, to allow, to make a move, to celebrate, to listen, to speak, to create.....Choice!
What will you choose? What first steps can you take in the right direction? How will Courage show up for you?
Big Love, PatriciaG
As always, I'd love to hear from you in the Comments section below. And I invite you to visit my Shop to check out the latest and greatest in my Photo Notecards & Prints.
And I'd really love it if you'd share with friends & family. Grazie!


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I thought the shovel would be sharp. Very dull.
I had one of these shovels in the past but lost it in a fire that destroyed our home. Cannot get by with out one of these for taking out plants, roots an all. It is a great time and labor savor.
A great tool, made like tools that were in grandpas tool shed. Probably the best tool for digging shrubs, grasses and other hard to dig plants.
Saw tooth blade aides with less back breaking work
This shovel works like magic in removing wild blackberry roots and wild rose roots.


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At LIINC™ we embrace the fact that light changes everything. We all experience opportunity that light gives us to thrive on a daily basis. We believe in innovation and creativity and that these ideals need a place to be fostered. We realize that many world shaping dreams and visions have been started in a common garage. So we sought out to make our most common place, the most functional.
That is why we created the Garage Door Lighting System. The Garage Door Lighting System is the one and only wireless lighting system that turns your open garage door into an automatic 14,400 lumen light. That is one bright shop light. Our LIINC™ Track Bracket system automatically turns each panel of your sectional garage door into a 6000k LED light. No more setting up shop lights or winding up knotted messes of extension cords. And no power cords attached to your door as it opens and closes. Fully automatic in function.
Now when you open your garage door there will be no more dark shadow that covers half of the floor. No more fear of what you can not see. No more haggling with extension cords and shop lights. No more excuses for not having enough hours in the day, because with the Garage Door Lighting System it is always daylight savings.
They say seeing is believing. Well, start believing. From initial concepts to final production this system has been intentionally crafted and produced to turn your ordinary garage into a safe, functional and bright place. Our adaptable system will work seamlessly with all track roll up garage doors. Here is a sneak peak of how it will transform your garage. Our innovative wireless system is reliable, adaptable and enables you to make your garage the space of your dreams.
As Seen In
Before and After.
Not only is our wireless system the first of its kind, but it also offers the most efficient and bright garage door solution on the market. The light produced by the Garage Door Lighting systems 4 LED strips is equivalent to eighteen 60 watt light bulbs. Combined they produce roughly 14,400 lumen's.
Each standard 60w bulb has a run time of roughly 1,200 hours. Each LED strip has a run time of 50,000 hours. That is about 41.6 bulbs per LIINC LED Strip.
When we compare the 50,000 hour LED life cycle it would take 166.6 bulbs to match the run time of the Garage Door Lighting System. If we we each reduce our usage by these quantities just imagine the impact we will have on our communities and globe.
At the end of the day we realize that what you are passionate about is what drives you. Where enjoyment and passion meet is where life really happens. So whether it is as a hobbies, a DIY enthusiast, a home brewer, a parent needing to keep up with laundry, or you are simply looking for a bit more security to lighten those dark corners, the Garage Door Lighting System will help you thrive on a daily basis.
Now that you have seen the before and after photos and videos you can clearly see the endless advantages to the Garage Door Lighting System. Since 2012 we have been dreaming of a better garage lighting system. After many late nights and imperfect attempts we finally landed on a system that removed the set up hassle, filled the void of light, and reminded us of why we set out to solve this problem in the first place. Our plug and play system has passed the rounds of revision need to take to market. We have sourced, tested, and manufactured multiple rounds of lighting harness, LED strips, and bracket systems that eventually landed us on the perfect blend of efficiency and use.
By backing this campaign you do the following. First you help LIINC™ secure the funds needed to launch a large scale manufacturing cycle which helps lower the individual unit cost and initial tooling. Second, you get in on the first wholesale round of the Garage Door Lighting System at the lowest possible price point. Third you help spread the word that American innovation is alive and well. Lastly you live the rest of your garage dwelling days stoked that you no longer have to worry about daylight savings.
We can not wait to see what you do with your garage and how you turn your space into the most functional version of itself. Follow along with others on instagram @garagedoorlighting or join our mailing list to see what other fun products we bring to market.
We're Light Innovations Incorporated. We are a California based company that strives to offer high quality, lifelong LED lighting solutions that serve everyday needs and beyond. Through innovation and simplicity, LIINC™ brings innovative and adaptive lighting solutions to those who are passionate about making the most out of life. Through the use of efficient products we design, create, manufacture, and deliver products that make your ordinary become extraordinary. You will see us again in the near future with more innovative designs that enhance your daily life.
Risks and challenges
Our Biggest challenge would be raising awareness of the product and to reach a set goal of backing. As always with a Kickstarter project, the entire project needs to be funded or it will not move forward. We see the biggest risk would be to have low backing or just be under the amount we need to fund the project. We have extensive manufacturing experience and have established redundant supply chains in place so we can adapt to meet larger demand.Learn about accountability on Kickstarter
Funding period
- (45 days)


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19th-Century Shipwreck Discovered During Search For Missing Flight MH370
Search teams looking for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 made a discovery, but it's a tad older than the Boeing 777 plane they had in mind.
In March 2014, MH370 was on its way to Beijing, China when it went off course and seemingly plunged into the Indian Ocean.
Highly advanced technology has been scanning huge swaths of water for debris ever since, but the whereabouts of the majority of the aircraft's parts are yet to be confirmed.
One boat equipped with such scanning devices, however, managed to find some wreckage at the bottom of the sea in December, according to CNN.
The Australian agency leading the MH370 search reportedly said,
An anomalous sonar contact was identified in the course of the underwater search, with analysis suggesting the object was likely to be man-made, probably a shipwreck.
An autonomous underwater vehicle used its sonar capabilities to form a high-resolution image of the shipwreck.
Experts at the Shipwreck Galleries of the Western Australian Museum then determined the ship was approximately 200 years old and made of iron or steel.
This is reportedly the second time searches for MH370 unintentionally came upon a shipwreck.
Underwater drones found previously uncharted remains of a late 19th-century ship in May, CNN reports, also with the help of sonar technology.
That wreckage lies 12,795 feet below the surface and aroused suspicion, the MH370 search director for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau reportedly said, thanks to the "small bright reflections" the wreck produced "in a relatively small area of otherwise featureless seabed."
Western Australian Maritime Museum curator Michael McCarthy suggested to Australian ABC in May such unintended discoveries are bound to happen again.
He said,
There are hundreds of ships lost in our world's oceans over time, through old age, cyclones, typhoons and one would expect this to occur.
To this day, a piece of a plane wing that surfaced in July is the only suspected trace of MH370 to be found.
The part washed up on an island in the Indian Ocean and was confirmed to belong to a Boeing 777.
Citations: Shipwreck from 1800s found during search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (CNN), MH370 search teams find shipwreck (CNN)


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Go anywhere on the island quickly and easily by taking just a 3-min walk to Bartley MRT Station along the Circle Line.
A distinctive 3-storey Clubhouse with an outdoor pavilion on 2nd storey forms a focal point amidst the lush landscape.
Whether for the individual, married couple or multi-generational family, this is an abode that is smartly designed to ably meet a variety of needs.
Everything Good Will Always Flourish Where The Sun Shines
The Gazania Latest Update
Last Updated: 16th October 2019
Latest Unit Sold: Stay Tuned! on 16th October 2019 | See the Balance Units Chart
- 16-10-2019: Book an Appointment to view The Gazania Show Flat and get Direct Developer Price.
- 26-05-2019: #02-50 Sold!
- 13-05-2019: The Gazania Drone View- Click Here
- 02-05-2019: #03-50 Sold!
- 01-05-2019: 21 units SOLD! Click here for more details
- 22-04-2019: Release of price indication for The Gazania
- 17-04-2019: Official Preview of Showflat. Get your VIP Pass for entry here.
- 16-04-2019: Official E-Brochure
- 13-04-2019: Full Floor Plans
- 13-04-2019: Location Map
- 18-03-2019: Official Video
- 07-02-2019: Unit Mix and Size of The Gazania
- 04-02-2019: Project details updated
- 01-02-2019: Site Plan update
- 14-12-2018: New Gallery for The Gazania is now Available.
- 12-12-2018: Check your loan eligibility by calculating at Max Loan Eligibility Calculator (TDSR) in this website.
- 10-12-2018: Download and view the Location Map.
The Gazania Developer
The Gazania Condo is proudly developed by SingHaiyi Group Ltd. SingHaiyi Group Ltd is listed on the Mainboard of the Singapore exchange. A fast-growing diversified company focused on property development, investment and management services. With established track record in residential property development, SingHaiyi also holds a diversified portfolio of income-generative assets in the commercial and retail sectors with geographical reach into United States, Australia and Asia.
SingHaiyi Group's track record includes The Vales (executive condominium) have been awarded the coveted "CONQUAS STAR" by Building and Construction Authority (BCA) in April 2018. Later in May 2018, they have received the Green Mark Platinum Award for their project at 9 Penang Road (formerly known as Park Mall) and City Suites (condominium) has been awarded the coveted "CONQUAS STAR" by Building and Construction Authority (BCA).
Their track records includes City Life @ Tampines, The Vales, City Suites and many more.
The Gazania pricing will not disappoint aspiring owners of this condominium.
The Gazania Location Map
The Gazania is a freehold condo located at How Sun Road in District 19 Singapore. Conveniently located approximately 3 minutes walk to Bartley MRT and nestled in the landed enclave.
One stop away from Serangoon MRT where you will enjoy NEX shopping mall, amenities & eateries. Also 3 mrt stops away from Paya Lebar MRT where we have Paya Lebar Square, Singpost and upcoming Grade A offices.
Young parents can also expect convenience for their children as we are within 1km to Maris Stella High and Paya Lebar Methodist Girls School.
With Bartley road viaduct and Upper Paya Lebar road, You will find several amenities nearby with the The Gazania location map.
The Gazania Showflat
Kindly book an appointment here or call us at +65 6100 6809 before making your way down to view The Gazania Showflat as we may be closed at certain days/time.
Online registrants who have booked an appointment here will be able to receive Direct Developer Price and need not pay any commission. Please be informed that units for sale at The Gazania are on first come first serve basis.
The Gazania Condo
The Gazania is a brand new freehold private property located at How Sun Drive. The new Bartley Condo comprises a total of 250 units consisting of units from 1 to 4 bedroom, Mezzanine and Penthouse layouts.
At an excellent location, The Gazania is approximately 3 minutes walk to Bartley MRT and minutes drive to town. Nestled within the landed enclave, future residents will enjoy serenity and peace. The location also offers well connectivity to various parts of Singapore via Upper Paya Lebar and Bartley Road. Great amenities within the vicinity would be NEX shopping mall, Paya Lebar Square, Singpost etc.
Residents of The Gazania Condo will find several renowned schools within such as Maris Stella High School & Paya Lebar Methodist Girls School and more.
Book An Appointment to view The Gazania Condo ShowFlat & get VVIP Discounts (Limited Time), Direct Developer Price, & Hardcopy E-Brochure. Guaranteed with Best Price Possible.
Fill up the form on the right and get a copy of The Gazania Condo Price, E-Brochure, and Latest Updates!
Strictly no spam policy.


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Lately, a large controversy has arisen. As leggings grow increasingly popular (for now both men and women), many begin to question what they truly are. These bottoms are sometimes worn as pants, and at other times layered underneath skirts and dresses. But, are leggings pants? Is it ok to wear them with short shirts as if they were jeans? These questions seem to be quite controversial among teens and young adults. Read on to find out the appropriate way to wear the uncategorized bottoms.
Lately people have been wearing their leggings as if they were jeans. They pair them with short/ regular lengthed shirts. However, I do not suggest you wear leggings in the same way, for while they can be considered bottoms, are not flattering for most body types. When paired in an ensemble as previously described, the outfit often looks sloppy and out of proportion. Therefore, we suggest…
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There are very few things that can outshine a bonafide movie star on screen, except, of course, the jewelry. Take a look at our list of the most extravagant and eye-catching scene stealers ever in existence.
This necklace mesmerized moviegoers as soon as it appeared on screen. Sadly, the piece used in the movie was entirely fake. But if you want a similar piece that's actually real and simply stunning, head on over to Hamra.com and check out this piece.
This captivating piece of jewelry was reportedly worth $1 million. It was made by designer Stefano Canturi and inspired by styles worn during Louis XVI's reign. For a more modern alternative with just as much sparkle and shine, this diamond necklace from Hamra can't be beat.
Related: Out With the Old, In With the New
Created by Harry Winston specifically for the movie, this blinding yellow diamond necklace is the most expensive piece of jewelry ever created for a movie. It's estimated worth is $5 million. If you're looking for a yellow diamond piece just as unique as the one worn by Kate Hudson, consider this fancy yellow diamond ring, a truly showstopping piece.
Visit our jewelry store in Scottsdale, AZ to see extraordinary pieces of jewelry guaranteed to be your own show stopper.


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Duty Calls: The Responsibility of Groomsmen Before and On the Wedding Day
We're willing to make a bet that you're not enlisting your bridal party the same exact day you get engaged. Believe it or not, selecting the bridal party can be a point of stress for couples. While you know and trust your partner, you may not be sure about who he is thinking of having stand by him on that day. Or maybe you are, and his groomsmen selection has you a little worried…
Groomsmen can really make or break a wedding – "bad behavior" during photographs can put you behind schedule, and a little too much Jack Daniels before a ceremony can cause some major headaches (to say the least) – this goes for bridesmaids as well!
To help your groom out and also calm your nerves, this list goes over what the groomsmen are responsible for before and during the wedding. Feel free to cut the top of this blog post off and hand it out so everyone is on the same page!
Lock Down Your Attire: Like your counterparts, the bridesmaids, you'll have to shell out some money for your wedding attire. Be sure to take the time to get a proper fitting – a good-looking suit is worth the money and time. The couple will appreciate that you're looking your best for their wedding! If everyone lives farther apart and can't make it to have their suits fitted at the same time, there are online programs that make the process extremely easy!
Bachelor Party Planner: While the best man usually takes the lead on planning the bachelor party, more heads are better than one; bounce ideas off of one another on what the groom would like, what everyone can afford, and something that will be a great time for all involved. Don't feel like you have to plan a destination bachelor party, there are plenty of fun things you can do more locally.
Respond to Invitations: You may receive invitations to an engagement party, the bachelor party, the rehearsal, and of course the wedding day. Be sure to send in those RSVPs so that is one less person the couple has to chase down as the day approaches! (You'd be surprised how many people do not send in their RSVPs!)
Attend the Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner: Once the wedding day is practically upon the couple, you'll most likely be asked to attend the rehearsal. Do the couple a favor and show up on time and focus while at the rehearsal! The sooner everyone focuses and listens to the officiant or wedding planner, the quicker everyone can leave and get to the rehearsal dinner.
Gift It: Go in with another groomsmen or two to create the perfect wedding gift for the groom and the couple. Think of their style and what they would like or what they need, and you'll hit a homerun!
Show Up On Time: Be sure to arrive to the getting ready site when the couple tells you to (or preferably a few minutes early).
Help Quell the Nerves: Even for the most cool-headed groom, the emotions of the day can quickly become overwhelming. Help him out with staying calm. Sometimes, nerves can drive people to drink a bit too much before the wedding – help him steer clear of this potential disaster, too!
Go in for the Assist: Your overall job on the wedding day is to help out wherever possible. Moms of the couple need a cooler carried? Check. Groom needs you to assist with his tie? Check. Whatever the wedding day throws at the couple, help out in any way you can!
Usher in the Love: About an hour out from the wedding ceremony, many couples appoint a handful or all of their groomsmen to assist in guest seating. Depending on religious beliefs and traditions, seating will differ. Elderly guests should always be seated first.
Be Prepared to Give A Toast: Usually the best man and maid/matron of honor are asked to give a toast during the wedding reception but sometimes additional bridal party members are too. If you are asked, be sure to prepare something in advance.
Help Clean Up: At the end of the night the wedding planner and caterer will pack everything up, but groomsmen can be a big help by helping to load the extra alcohol and decorations into someone's car so that the groom does not have to help.
While this list isn't exhaustive of what the groomsmen can assist with, it's a great starting point! It never hurts to have more hands on deck the day of your wedding to organize the bridal parties. Our team members at Stylish Occasions are experts in "herding" bridal party members and ensuring the timeline is adhered to as closely as possible. Give us a call if you want to talk about our packages and how we can help you with your wedding!


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Steve Whyley
- Tuesday 9th October 2018, 10:49am
- England
- 112 posts
Hi guys,
My friend and I created this https://vimeo.com/282734632/0cebcc3893
Would love to see what people thought!
Not sure if it could sustain anything longer than this. We'd originally written a single location sitcom about 3 work colleagues who go to the same bench for their lunch break but we thought we'd start with this short to see if there was anything there.


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State Department Reorganization: Little to Show, Much to Worry About
by Ronald E. Neumann
The State Department reorganization process has led to dysfunction, loss of critical experience, and reduced capability for the department. Something better is promised but actions to date leave little room for optimism.
Like any large, long existing organization the State Department has added bits and pieces over time so that reform is justified. In the 2015 study American Diplomacy at Risk, the non-partisan American Academy of Diplomacy, which I head, called for a complete review of the department's personnel regulations as well as a large scale reduction in the number of special envoys. We also suggested reductions in some leadership positions and the consolidation of some bureaus. In short, we are neither against reorganization nor trimming. However, the effort to date lacks visible logic for many actions and is causing a long term weakening of America's diplomatic capability.
Current efforts are proceeding along two different tracks. One is personnel reduction with an announced goal of cutting staff by 8%. The other is to be a broad reorganization but ten months into the efforts only vague general intentions have been spelled out and many observers doubt that there is yet a plan.
The staff reduction appears to be connected to the White House dictated goal of a 30% State Department budget cut, but no specific logic has been described and the number appears disconnected from the unfinished reform effort. Since the lowered budget has been twice rejected by the Congress, funding for current staff is available. To date the process is destructive. Steps to encourage attrition have included refusing new assignments for senior officers who are due to transfer, assignment of senior offices to trivial tasks including document declassification (a sudden priority after the Department got rid of its retired employees who were doing the work as contractors) and abrupt removals from senior positions. I know of at least three acting assistant secretaries who received calls on a Wednesday or a Thursday telling them to be out by Friday even though no replacement was ready to go or had even been named. It is a management style characterized by pointless rudeness and a singular lack of feeling for those they lead. The result is a hemorrhage of experience.
Sadly, we have seen this picture before. In 2008 the Department of State was suffering large scale personnel shortages abroad and at home as a result of post-Cold War cuts made by administrations of both parties. As the Academy showed in its 2008 study, A Foreign Affairs Budget for the Future, positions all over the world were empty. Now we are replicating that situation except that the cuts are concentrated at the top; the level from which voluntary retirement is easiest. As a result, officers at the level of Career Minister (the equivalent of a three-star general) have been reduced from 33 to 19 and Minister-Counselors (the two-star equivalent) from 431 in 2016 to 369 in 2017. Promotions have been slowed. Positions are left empty as officers depart. Without any plan for how work is to be reorganized the result is more work for fewer people.
Perhaps the long-promised reorganization plan will somehow repair today's problems. That is the goal of the second track announced by Secretary Rex Tillerson. It was announced as a bottom up process driven by the employees. It began with a survey of employee opinion that was fed into a number of subject specific working groups. The survey showed a work force frustrated by outmoded technology and some bureaucratic obstacles but proud of its service to the nation. Some parts of the survey suggested that the consultants hired to run it had only a vague idea of what the Department does and some of the consultants' recommendations, such as moving the consular function out of the State Department, had no basis in the opinions of employees. A reorganization plan sent to the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) at the end of September has not been publicly released. From the briefings given to Congress it appears to have been aspirational rather than specific. The one step of significance to date was cutting about half of the special envoys, a step we had recommended.
In the end, the reorganization is intended to produce a more effective and efficient Department. But to what end? More efficient at doing what? At what price, since some current work will go undone (unless the new efficiency is supposed to allow all the old work to be done by a reduced staff)? How State's purpose is defined is complex. Unlike a business with a clear bottom line in dollars made or lost, diplomacy is less clear and more multifaceted. The State Department is the essential place where all the foreign policy interests come together. Should an arms sale pay more attention to domestic repression or anti-terrorist assistance in a given country: CIA, Defense, Treasury and others will have different views. Trade issues will involve multiple views from different cabinet departments. State's job is to see the whole picture.
For example, is a recently eliminated sanctions office in State duplicative because the Treasury Department handles the implementation of sanctions? Or is State's view vital because the imposition of sanctions can involve conflicts with other policy goals that Treasury isn't concerned with? One senior official told me that State's voice has become particularly muted at interagency sanctions meetings recently. This is the cost of one of hundreds of such decisions impacting complex, cross-cutting issues.
Perhaps these questions will be correctly answered. Perhaps the new technologies desired by numerous previous secretaries will be acquired (and paid for despite budget cuts) and the work load sized to the work force.
But nearly a quarter of the way through the administration's term there are no answers. The world does not stand still and many in the State Department complain of an inability to get timely guidance, of procedures that have become more cumbersome than before and of an opaque and uncommunicative senior leadership. The work of diplomacy is still worthwhile. The desire to serve the nation is still strong in Foreign Service and Civil Service employees alike. Maybe it will all work out somehow. But to date there is little to show from the reform and much to worry about.
Image "Secretary Tillerson Delivers Welcome Remarks to State Department Employees on his First Day" Courtesy U.S. Department of State/United States government work
About the author
Ronald E. Neumann was US ambassador to Algeria, Bahrain and Afghanistan. He is now president of the American Academy of Diplomacy but his views are his own.