text:
- Proceedings
- Open Access
Learning Interpretable SVMs for Biological Sequence Classification
- Gunnar Rätsch1Email author,
- Sören Sonnenburg2 and
- Christin Schäfer2
© The Author(s); licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2006
- Published: 20 March 2006
Support Vector Machines (SVMs) – using a variety of string kernels – have been successfully applied to biological sequence classification problems. While SVMs achieve high classification accuracy they lack interpretability. In many applications, it does not suffice that an algorithm just detects a biological signal in the sequence, but it should also provide means to interpret its solution in order to gain biological insight.
We propose novel and efficient algorithms for solving the so-called Support Vector Multiple Kernel Learning problem. The developed techniques can be used to understand the obtained support vector decision function in order to extract biologically relevant knowledge about the sequence analysis problem at hand. We apply the proposed methods to the task of acceptor splice site prediction and to the problem of recognizing alternatively spliced exons. Our algorithms compute sparse weightings of substring locations, highlighting which parts of the sequence are important for discrimination.
The proposed method is able to deal with thousands of examples while combining hundreds of kernels within reasonable time, and reliably identifies a few statistically significant positions.
- Splice Site
- Acceptor Splice Site
- Multiple Kernel Learn
- String Kernel
- Positional Weight Matrix
1 Background
Kernel based methods such as Support Vector Machines (SVMs) have proven to be powerful for sequence analysis problems frequently appearing in computational biology (e.g. [1–4]). They employ a so-called kernel function k(s i , s j ) which intuitively computes the similarity between two sequences s i and s j . The result of SVM learning is a α-weighted linear combination of kernel elements and the bias b (see Section 4.1 for more details):
where the s i 's are N labeled training sequences (y i ∈ {± 1}). One of the problems with kernel methods compared to probabilistic methods (such as position weight matrices or interpolated Markov models [5]) is that the resulting decision function (1) is hard to interpret and, hence, difficult to use in order to extract relevant biological knowledge from it (see also [3, 6]). We approach this problem by considering convex combinations of M kernels, i.e.
with β k ≥ 0 and ∑ k β k = 1, where each kernel k k uses only a distinct set of features of the sequence. For appropriately designed sub-kernels k k , the optimized combination coefficients can then be used to understand which features of the sequence are of importance for discrimination. This is an important property missing in current kernel based algorithms.
In this work we consider the problem of finding the optimal convex combination of kernels (i.e. determining the optimal β's in (2)). This problem is known as the Multiple Kernel Learning (MKL) problem [4, 7, 8] (see also [9, 10, 38] for related approaches). Sequence analysis problems usually come with large numbers of examples and one may wish to combine many kernels representing many possibly important features. Unfortunately, algorithms proposed for Multiple Kernel Learning so far are not capable of solving the optimization problem for realistic problem sizes (e.g. ≥ 10,000 examples) within reasonable time. Even recently proposed decomposition algorithms for this problem, such as the one proposed in [7], are not efficient enough since they suffer for instance from the inability to keep all kernel matrices (K j ∈ ℝN×N, j = 1, ..., M) in memory. (Note that kernel caching can become ineffective if the number of combined kernels is large.) We consider the reformulation of the MKL problem into a semi-infinite linear problem (SILP), which can be iteratively approximated quite efficiently. In each iteration one only needs to solve the classical SVM problem (with one of the efficient and publicly available SVM implementations; cf. references in [11] and also [12, 39] to gain a further speedup in case of string kernels) and then performs an update of the kernel convex combination weights β. Separating the SVM optimization from the optimization of the kernel coefficients can thus lead to significant improvements for large scale problems with general kernels (cf. Section 4 for details).
We illustrate the usefulness of the proposed algorithm in combination with a recently proposed string kernel on DNA sequences – the so-called weighted degree (WD) kernel [13]. Its main idea is to count the (exact) co-occurrence of k-mers at position l of two compared DNA sequences of equal length L (e.g. a window around some signal on the DNA). The kernel can be written as a linear combination of d parts with coefficients β k (k = 1, ..., d):
where L is the length of the sequences s, d is the maximal oligomer length considered and uk,l(s) is the oligomer of length k at position l of sequence s. Moreover, I(true) := 1 and 0 otherwise.
One question is how the weights β k for the various k-mers in (3) should be chosen. So far, only heuristic settings in combination with expensive model-selection methods have been used (e.g. [13]). The MKL approach offers a clean and efficient way to find the optimal weights β: We define d kernels
and then optimize the convex combination of these kernels (with coefficients β) using the MKL algorithm (cf. (3)). The optimal weights β indicate which oligomer lengths are important for the classification problem at hand (see results in Section 2.2).
Additionally, it is interesting to introduce an importance weighting over the positions in the subsequence. Hence, we define a separate kernel for each position and each oligomer length, i.e.
kk,l(s i , s j ) = I(uk,l(s i ) = uk,l(s j )),
and optimize the weightings of the combined kernel, which may be written as
The simpler case would be to only consider one kernel per position in the sequence: k(s i , s j ) = with
where γ is the default weighting as used in [13].
Obviously, if one would be able to obtain an accurate classification by a sparse weighting β k,l , then one can quite easily interpret the resulting decision function. For instance for signal detection problems (such as splice site detection), one would expect a few important positions with long oligomers near the site and some additional positions within the exon capturing the nucleotide composition (short oligomers; cf. Sections 2.4 and 2.5).
While the proposed MKL algorithms are applicable to arbitrary kernels, we particularly consider the case of string kernels and show how their properties can be exploited in order to significantly speedup the computations. We extend previous work by [8, 14, 15] and employ tries [16] during training and testing. In Section 4 we develop a method that can avoid kernel caching and we therefore obtain very memory efficient and fast algorithms (which also speedup standard SVM training).
By bootstrapping and applying a combinatorial argument, we derive a statistical test that discovers the most important kernel weights. Using this test, we elucidate on simulated pseudo-DNA sequences with two hidden 7-mers which k-mers in the sequence were used for the SVM decision. Additionally we apply our method to the problem of splice site classification (C. elegans acceptor sites) and to the problem recognizing alternatively spliced exons [17].
2 Results and Discussion
The main goal of this work is to provide an explanation of the SVM decision rule, for instance by identifying sequence positions that are important for discrimination. As a first test we apply our method to a toy problem where everything is known and we can directly validate the findings of our algorithm with the underlying truth. As a next step, we show that our MKL algorithm performs as well or slightly better than the standard SVM and leads to SVM classification functions that are computationally more efficient. In the remaining part we show how the weights can be used to obtain a deeper understanding of how the SVM classifies sequences and match it with knowledge about the underlying biological process.
2.1 MKL Learning Detects Motifs in Toy Data set
As long as the noise level does not exceed 2/7, longer matches of length 3 and 4 seem sufficient to distinguish sequences containing motifs from the rest. However, only the 3-mer is detected with the test procedure. When more nucleotides in the motifs are replaced with noise, more weights are determined to be of importance. This becomes especially obvious in column 3 were 4 out of 7 nucleotides within each motif were randomly replaced, but still an average ROC score of 99.6% is achieved. In the last column the ROC score drops down to 83% (not shown), but only weights in the correct range 10 ... 16 and 30 ... 36 are found to be significant.
2.2 Optimization of WD Kernel Weights Speeds up Computations and Improves Accuracy
We compare the standard SVM with WD kernel (default weighting as in [13]) and kernel caching (SVM-light implementation [18]) and our MKL-SVM algorithm with WD kernel (optimized weighting) and using tries (cf. Section 4). We applied both algorithms on the C. elegans acceptor splice data set using 100,000 sequences in training, 100,000 examples for validation and 60,000 examples to test the classifiers performance (cf. Appendix A.2). In this data set each sequence is a window centered around a AG dimer containing 141 nucleotides (nt), together with the corresponding label +1 for true acceptor splice sites and -1 for decoys (cf. [13] and Appendix A.2 for more details). Using this setup we perform 5-fold cross-validation over the maximal oligomer length d ∈ {10,12,15,17,20} (cf. (3)) and the SVM regularization constant C ∈ {0.5, 2, 5, 10}. A detailed comparison of the WD kernel approach with other state-of-the-art methods is provided in [13] and goes beyond the scope of this work.
On the validation set we find that for the SVM using the standard WD kernel (using the default weighting), d = 20 and C = 0.5 gives best classification performance (ROC score 99.66% on validation set), while the MKL-SVM using the WD kernel (optimized weighting) gives best results for d = 12 and C = 1 (ROC score also 99.66% on validation set). Figure 2 shows the WD kernel weights computed by the MKL-SVM approach. It suggests that 12-mers and 6-mers seem to be of high importance and 1-4-mers are also important. On the test data set the resulting SVM classifier with standard WD kernel performs as good as on the validation data set (ROC score 99.66% again), while the classifier obtained by MKL-SVMs with optimized WD kernel weights achieves a 99.67% ROC score. Astonishingly training the MKL-SVM (i.e. with weight optimization and tries) was 1.5 times faster than training the original SVM (with kernel caching). Also, the resulting classifier provided by the new algorithm is considerably faster than the one obtained by the classical SVM since many β-weights are zero (see also [19]).
2.3 Optimal Positional Importance Weighting is Related to Positional Weight Matrices
2.4 Positional WD Kernel Weights Helps Understanding Splice Site Classification
Note that Markov chains become intractable and less accurate for high orders, which seem on the other hand necessary for achieving high accuracies in many sequence analysis tasks. SVMs, however, are efficient and accurate even for great oligomer lengths. We therefore expect that MKL-SVMs may also in this case provide useful insights at which positions the discriminative information is hidden.
2.5 Finding Motifs for Splice Site Detection
Note that the weight matrix would be the outer product of the position weight vector (cf. Figure 5a) and the oligomer-length weight vector (cf. Figure 5d), if position and oligomer length would be independent. This is clearly not the case: it seems very important (according to the weight for oligomer-length 5) to consider longer oligomers for discrimination (see also Figure 2) in the central region, while it is only necessary and useful to consider monomers and dimers in other parts of the sequence.
2.6 Understanding the Recognition of Alternatively Spliced Exons
In this section we consider the problem of recognizing one major form of alternative splicing, namely the exclusion of exons from the transcript. It has been shown that alternatively spliced exons have certain properties that distinguish them from constitutively spliced exons (cf. [17] and references therein). In [17] we developed a method that only uses information that is available to the splicing machinery, i.e. the DNA sequence itself, and accurately distinguishes between alternatively and constitutively spliced exons (50% true positive rate at a 1% false positive rate; see http://www.fml.tuebingen.mpg.de/raetsch/projects/RASE for more details). Using our MKL method we have identified regions near the 5' and 3' end of the considered exons that carry most of the discriminative information. We show that these regions contain many hexamers that are significantly more often present than average in constitutively spliced exons.
In order to recognize alternatively spliced exons we consider the 5' and 3' end of the exons separately and use an extended version of the WD kernel (exhibiting an improved positional invariance, cf. [17]) on a 201 nt window centered around the exon start and end together with additional kernels capturing information about the length of the exon and the flanking introns [17].
Shown are the top six ranked hexamers (by E-value) extracted for the upstream intron the in between exon and the following downstream exon. The first column in the upper part shows the most important hexamers in the intron for the region -70 nt to -40 nt relative to the end of the intron. The lower part states 6-mers contained -30 nt until the end of the upstream intron. Similarly the second column displays hexamers in the exon from +30 nt to +70 nt (upper half, relative to exon start) and -30 nt to - 90 nt (lower part, relative to exon end) and the last column 6-mers in the downstream intron from 0 nt to +70 nt.
Upstr. Intron
Downstr. Intron
3 Conclusion
In this work we have developed a novel Multiple Kernel Learning algorithm applicable to large-scale sequence analysis problems that additionally assists in understanding how decisions are made. Using a novel reformulation of the MKL problem, we were able to reuse available SVM implementations that, in combination with using tries, have lead us to a very efficient MKL algorithm suitable for the analysis of large scale sequence analysis problems. In experiments on toy, splice-site detection and alternative exon recognition problems we have illustrated the usefulness of the Multiple Kernel Learning approach. The optimized kernel convex combination gives valuable hints at which positions discriminative oligomers of which length are located in the sequences. This solves to a certain extent one of the major problems with Support Vector Machines: now the decisions become interpretable. On the toy data set we re-discovered hidden sequence motifs even in presence of a large amount of noise. In the first experiments on the acceptor splice site detection problem we discovered patterns in the optimized weightings which are biologically plausible. For the recognition of alternatively spliced exons we have identified several regions near the 5' and 3' end of the exons that display distinguished patterns. It is future work to extend our computational evaluation and to consider other signal detection problems.
4 Methods
4.1 Support Vector Machines
We use Support Vector Machines [22] which are extensively studied in the literature (e.g. [11, 20, 21]). Their classification function can be written as in (1). The α i 's are the Lagrange multipliers and b is the usual bias which are the results of SVM training. The kernel k is the key ingredient for learning with SVMs. It implicitly defines the feature space and the mapping Φ via
In case of the afore mentioned WD kernel, Φ maps into a feature space of all possible k-mers of length up to d for each sequence position (D ≈ 4d+1L). For a given sequence s, a dimension of Φ (s) is 1, if it contains a certain substring at a certain position. The dot-product between two mapped examples then counts the co-occurrences of substrings at all positions.
For a given set of training examples (s i , y i ) (i = 1, ..., N), the SVM solution is obtained by solving the following
optimization problem that maximizes the soft margin between both classes [23]:
where the parameter C determines the trade-off between the size of the margin and the margin errors ξ i . The dual optimization problem is as follows:
Note that there exist a large variety of different software packages that can efficiently solve the above optimization problem even for more than one hundred thousand of examples (cf. references in [11] and also [12] to gain further speedups when string kernels are used).
4.2 The Multiple Kernel Learning Optimization Problem
4.2.1 Idea
In the Multiple Kernel Learning (MKL) problem one is given N data points (, y i ) (y i ∈ {± 1}), where is subdivided into M components = (si,1, ..., si,M) with and k j is the dimensionality of the j-th component. Then one solves the following convex optimization problem [7], which is equivalent to the linear SVM for M = 1:
where d j is a prior weighting of the kernels (in [7], has been chosen such that the combined kernel has trace one). For simplicity, we assume that d j = 1 for the rest of the paper and that the normalization is done within the mapping φ (if necessary). Note that the ℓ1-norm of β is constrained to one, while one is penalizing the ℓ2-norm of w j in each block j separately. The idea is that ℓ1-norm constrained or penalized variables tend to have sparse optimal solutions, while ℓ2-norm penalized variables do not [24]. Thus the above optimization problem offers the possibility to find sparse solutions on the block level with non-sparse solutions within the blocks.
4.2.2 Reformulation as a Semi-Infinite Linear Program
The above optimization problem can also be formulated in terms of support vector kernels [7]. Then each block j corresponds to a separate kernel (K j )r,s= k j (sr,j, ss,j) computing the dot-product in feature space of the j-th component. In [7] it has been shown that the following optimization problem is equivalent to (9):
In order to solve (10), one may solve the following saddle point problem (Lagrangian):
minimized w.r.t. α∈ , γ ∈ ℝ (subject to α≤ C and ∑ i α i y i = 0) and maximized w.r.t. β∈ . Setting the derivative w.r.t. to γ to zero, one obtains the constraint and (11) simplifies to:
Assume α* would be the optimal solution, then θ* := S(α*) – ∑ i α i is minimal and, hence, S(α) – ∑ i α i ≥ θ* for all α(subject to the above constraints). Hence, finding a saddle-point of (12) is equivalent to solving the following semi-infinite linear program:
4.2.3 A Column Generation Method
Note that there are infinitely many constraints (one for every vector α). Typically algorithms for solving semi-infinite problems work by iteratively finding violated constraints, i.e. α vectors, for intermediate solutions (β, θ). Then one adds the new constraint (corresponding to the new α) and resolves for β and θ [25]. The pseudo-code is outlined in Algorithm 1. Note, however, that there are no known convergence rates for such algorithms [25], but it often converges to the optimal solution in a small number of iterations [26, 27]. (It has been shown that solving semi-infinite problems like (13), using a method related to boosting (e.g. [28]) one needs at most iterations, where is the unnormalized constraint violation and the constants may depend on the kernels and the number of examples N [24, 29]. At least for not too small values of this technique produces reasonably fast good approximate solutions. See [8] for more details.)
Fortunately, finding the constraint that is most violated corresponds to solving the SVM optimization problem for a fixed weighting of the kernels:
where K = ∑ j β j K j . Due to the number of efficient SVM optimizers, the problem of finding the most violated constraint can be solved efficiently, too.
Finally, one needs some convergence criterion. Note that the problem is solved when all constraints are satisfied while the β's and θ are optimal. Hence, it is a natural choice to use the normalized maximal constraint violation as a convergence criterion. In our case this would be:
where (β t ,θ t ) is the optimal solution at iteration t - 1 and α t corresponds to the newly found maximally violating constraint of the next iteration (i.e. the SVM solution for weighting β t ; cf. Algorithm 1 for details). We usually only try to approximate the optimal solution and stop the optimization as soon as ε t ≤ ε, were ε was set to 10-4 or 10-3 in our experiments.
4.2.4 A chunking algorithm for simultaneous optimization of α and β
Usually it is infeasible to use standard optimization tools (e.g. MINOS, CPLEX, LOQO) for solving the SVM training problems on data sets containing more than a few thousand examples. So-called decomposition techniques overcome this limitation by exploiting the special structure of the SVM problem. The key idea of decomposition is to freeze all but a small number of optimization variables (working set) and to solve a sequence of constant-size problems (subproblems of (8)).
The general idea of Chunking and Sequential Minimal Optimization (SMO) algorithm has been proposed by [30, 31] and is implemented in many SVM software packages. Here we would like to propose an extension of the Chunking algorithm to optimize the kernel weights β and the example weights α at the same time. The algorithm is motivated from an insufficiency of the column-generation algorithm described in the previous section: If the β's are not optimal yet, then the optimization of the α's until optimality is not necessary and therefore inefficient. It would be considerably faster if for any newly obtained α in the Chunking iterations, we could efficiently recompute the optimal β and then continue optimizing the α's using the new kernel weighting.
Intermediate Recomputation of β Recomputing β involves solving a linear program and the problem grows with each additional α-induced constraint. Hence, after many iterations solving the LP may become infeasible. Fortunately, there are two facts making it still possible: (1) only a small number of the added constraints are active and one may for each newly added constraint remove an old inactive one – this prevents the LP from growing arbitrarily and (2) for Simplex-based LP optimizers such as CPLEX there exists the so-called hot-start feature which allows one to efficiently recompute the new solution, if one, for instance, only adds a few additional constraints. The SVM-light optimizer which we are going to modify, internally needs the output = ∑ i α i y i k(s i , s j ) for all training examples in order to select the next variables for optimization [18]. However, if one changes the kernel weights, then the stored values become invalid and need to be recomputed. In order to avoid the full re-computation one has to additionally store a M × N matrix fk,j= ∑ i α i y i k k (s i , s j ), i.e. the outputs for each kernel separately. If the β ' s change, then can be quite efficiently recomputed by = ∑ k β k fk,j).
Faster α Optimization using Tries Finally, in each iteration the Chunking optimizer may change a subset of the α's. In order to update and fj,kone needs to compute full rows j of each kernel for every changed α j . Usually one uses kernel-caching to reduce the computational effort of this operation, which is, however, in our case not efficient enough since the effect of the kernel caches degrades drastically in the case of having many kernels. Fortunately, for the WD kernel there is a way to avoid this problem by using so-called tries (cf. [16]; similarly proposed by [14] and others). While we cannot improve a single kernel evaluation (which is already (L)), it turns out to be possible to drastically speedup the computation of a linear combination of kernels, i.e.
where I is the index set. The idea is to create a trie for each position l = 1, ..., L of the sequence. We propose to attach weights to internal nodes and the leaves of the trie, allowing an efficient storage of weights for k-mers (1 ≤ k ≤ d). Now we may add all k-mers (k = 1, ..., d) of s i (i ∈ I) starting at position l to the trie associated with position l (using weight α i β k ; operations per position: (d|I|)). Once created, the l-th trie can be traversed down in order to lookup which k-mers in a test sequence (starting at position l) have a non-zero contribution to g(s):
Following the path defined by the k-mer u one adds all weights along the way and stops when no children exists (see Figure 7). Note that we now can compute g in (Ld) operations (compared to (|I|Ld) in the original formulation). Empirically we noticed that the proposed Chunking algorithm is often 3–5 times faster than the column-generation algorithm proposed in the last section, while achieving the same accuracy. In the experiments in Section 2 we only used the Chunking algorithm with a chunk size of Q = 41.
4.3 Estimating the Reliability of a Weighting
Finally we want to assess the reliability of the learned weights β. For this purpose we generate T bootstrap samples and rerun the whole procedure resulting in T weightings β t .
To test the importance of a weight βk,i(and therefore the corresponding kernels for position and oligomer length) we apply the following method: We define a Bernoulli variable ∈ {0,1}, k = 1, ..., d, i = 1, ..., L, t = 1, ..., T by
The sum has binomial distribution Bin (T, p0), p0 unknown. We estimate p0 with , i.e. the empirical probability to observe P( = 1), ∀k, i, t. We test whether Zk,iis as large as could be expected under Bin(T, ) or larger, i.e. the null-hypothesis is : p ≤ c* (vs : p >c*). Here c* is defined as + 2Stdk,i,t and can be interpreted as an upper bound of the confidence interval for p0. This choice is taken to be adaptive to the noise level of the data and hence the (non)-sparsity of the weightings β t . The hypotheses are tested with a Maximum-Likelihood test on an α-level of α = 0.05; that is c** is the minimal value for that the following inequality hold:
For further details on the test see [32] or [33]. This test is carried out for every . (We assume independence between the weights in one single β, and hence assume that the test problem is the same for every βk,i). If can be rejected, the kernel learned at position i on the k-mer is important for the detection and thus (should) contain biologically interesting knowledge about the problem at hand.
A Data Generation
A.1 Toy Data
We generated 11,000 sequences of length 50, where the symbols of the alphabet {A, C, G, T} follow a uniform distribution. We chose 1,000 of these sequences to be positive examples and hid two motifs of length seven: at position 10 and 30 the motifs GATTACA and AGTAGTG, respectively. The remaining 10,000 examples were used as negatives. Thus the ratio between examples of class +1 and class -1 is ≈ 9%. In the positive examples, we then randomly replaced s ∈ {0, 2, 4, 5} symbols in each motif. Leading to four different data sets which where randomly permuted and split such that the first 1,000 examples became training and the remaining 10,000 validation examples.
A.2 Splice Site Sequences
We collected all known C. elegans ESTs from Wormbase [34] (release WS118; 236,868 sequences), dbEST [35] (as of February 22, 2004; 231,096 sequences) and UniGene [36] (as of October 15, 2003; 91,480 sequences). Using blat [37] we aligned them against the genomic DNA (release WS118). We refined the alignment by correcting typical sequencing errors, for instance by removing minor insertions and deletions. If an intron did not exhibit the GT/AG or GC/AG dimers at the 5' and 3' ends, respectively, then we tried to achieve this by shifting the boundaries up to 2 nucleotides. For each sequence we determined the longest open reading frame (ORF) and only used the part of each sequence within the ORF. In a next step we merged agreeing alignments, leading to 135,239 unique EST-based sequences. We repeated the above with all known cDNAs from Wormbase (release WS118; 4,848 sequences) and UniGene (as of October 15, 2003; 1,231 sequences), which lead to 4,979 unique sequences. We removed all EST matches fully contained in the cDNA matches, leaving 109,693 EST-based sequences.
We clustered the sequences in order to obtain independent training, validation and test sets. In the beginning each of the above EST and cDNA sequences were in a separate cluster. We iteratively joined clusters, if any two sequences from distinct clusters a) match to the genome at most l00 nt apart (this includes many forms of alternative splicing) or b) have more than 20% sequence overlap (at 90% identity, determined by using blat). We obtained 17,763 clusters with a total of 114,672 sequences. There are 3,857 clusters that contain at least one cDNA. Finally, we removed all clusters that showed alternative splicing.
Since the resulting data set is still too large, we only used sequences from randomly chosen 20% of clusters with cDNA and 30% of clusters without cDNA to generate true acceptor splice site sequences (15,507 of them). Each sequence is 398 nt long and has the AG dimer at position 200. Negative examples were generated from any occurring AG within the ORF of the sequence (246,914 of them were found). We used a random subset of 60,000 examples for testing, 100,000 examples for parameter tuning and up to 100,000 examples for training (unless stated otherwise).
Algorithm 1 The column generation algorithm employs a linear programming solver to iteratively solve the semi-infinite linear optimization problem (13). The accuracy parameter ε is a parameter of the algorithm.
D0 = 1, θ1 = 0, for k = 1, ..., M
for t = 1,2, ... do
obtain SVM's α t with kernel k t (s i , s j ) :=
for k= 1, ..., M do
end for
if then break
(βt+1,θt+1) = argmax θ
w.r.t β∈ , θ ∈ ℝ with
end for
Algorithm 2 Outline of the Chunking algorithm (extension to SVM-light) that optimizes α and the kernel weighting β simultaneously. The accuracy parameter ε and the subproblem size Q are assumed to be given to the algorithm. For simplicity we omit the removal of inactive constraints. Also note that from one iteration to the next the LP only differs by one additional constraint. This can usually be exploited to save computing time for solving the LP.
fk,i= 0, , α i = 0, for k = 1, ..., M and i = 1, ..., N
for t = 1, 2, ... do
Check optimality conditions and stop if optimal
select Q suboptimal variables i1, ... i Q based on and α
α old = α
solve (8) with respect to the selected variables and update α
create trie-structures to prepare efficient computation of
fk,i= fk,i+ g k (s i ) for all k = 1, ..., M and i = 1, ..., N
for k = 1, ..., M do
end for
(βt+1,θt+1) = argmax θ
w.r.t β∈ , θ ∈ ℝ with ∑ k β k = 1
for r = 1, ..., t
θt+1= θ t
end if
for all i = 1, ... N
end for
The authors gratefully acknowledge partial support from the PASCAL Network of Excellence (EU #506778), DFG grants JA 379 /13-2 and MU 987/2-1. We thank Alexander Zien, K.-R. Müller, B. Schölkopf, D. Weigel and M.K. Warmuth for great discussions and C.-S. Ong for proof reading the manuscript. G.R. would like to acknowledge a visiting appointment with National ICT Australia during the preparation of this work.
N.B. The appendix contains details regarding the data generation. Additional information about this work can be found at http://www.fml.tuebingen.mpg.de/raetsch/projects/mkl_splice.
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- Rätsch G: Robust Boosting via Convex Optimization. PhD thesis. University of Potsdam, Computer Science Dept., August-Bebel-Str. 89, 14482 Potsdam, Germany; 2001.Google Scholar
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This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


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[823] Of possible return of haze
July 4th, 2006 by Hafiz Noor Shams
The Bangkok Post reported yesterday that southern Thai states of Satun and Pattani were covered with haze. From the sound of it, the haze is still there (tag):
Smog from forest fires in Indonesia has moved across the south now including Pattani on the Gulf of Thailand, Faisol Kasetkala, head of the provincial disaster prevention and mitigation office said Tuesday.
In another report by Bangkok Post suggests that the states have already been experiencing haze since July 2 or earlier:
Satun – Thailand's southern Andaman Sea coastal province of Satun on Sunday remained covered by a blanket of smog, believed to be caused by forest fires in nearby Indonesia.
The provincial public health authorities warned the public to suspend regular outdoor exercise to avoid excessive breathing of the toxins in the atmosphere.
Another report dated July 2 by Bangkok Post states that northern Malaysian states of Kedah and Perlis are suffering minor bout of haze too. And as you can see, Indonesia is the alleged culprit yet again.
As for Kuala Lumpur around 9:15 AM today, from the 35th floor of the Petronas Twin Towers, Tower 2:
I can't really say for certain if that is really haze since approximately two weeks ago, it was like this:
On a fairly good day, it should be something like this:
Most probably, in the first photo, that is just local smog. I don't want to see anything worse and I definitely hope that that is not a mere wishful thinking. Despite that, in 2005, I've said the haze will return. I had no reason to believe the governments of ASEAN were willing to do anything effective, especially when Indonesian government had proved to be very non-committal to the Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution of ASEAN. And so, here we are – possibly – again.
I hope, by the time haze hit Kuala Lumpur, I'd already be in Bangkok, Thailand.
Whatever it is, brace yourself!
p/s – a bad way to start the day. Italy defeated Germany to progress to the final match of the FIFA World Cup. Well, it's going to be a boring game, that's for sure.
pp/s – a victory for science:
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA gave the shuttle Discovery a majestic Fourth of July send-off and said early signs showed the spacecraft was in good shape, despite once again being struck by the flying foam that has plagued the program.
The first-ever Independence Day manned launch came after two weather delays and over objections from those within NASA who argued for more fuel-tank repairs.
This is the first launch since the Columbia tragedy in 2003.

subset: commoncrawl


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Detailed plot synopsis reviews of My Father The Hero
Script Analysis of My Father The Hero
Click on a plot link to find similar books!
Plot & ThemesTime/era of movie: - 1980's-1999 Kids growing up/acting up? - Yes Kids: - fighting with father Age group - trouble in high school Sexing? - guy chasing
Main CharacterIdentity: - Male Age: - 40's-50's Ethnicity/Nationality - French
SettingIsland? - Yes Island: - on vacation - Caribbean Islands Misc setting - beach
Writing StyleAccounts of torture and death? - no torture/death Any profanity? - Occasional swearing
Movies with storylines, themes & endings like My Father The Hero
|Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants starring Alexis Bledel, Blake Lively, America Ferrera, Amber Tamlyn
|She's Out of Control starring Tony Danza, Ami Dolenz
|Bratz starring Logan Browning, Janel Parrish, Nathalia Ramos, Skyler Shaye
|Endless Love (2014) starring Gabriella Wilde, Alex Pettyfer, Bruce Greenwood
|Private School starring Dan Greenburg, Suzane O'Malley


text:
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Monthly Archives: March 2016
How To Choose Night Clubs?
Bars and move clubs are comparative from various perspectives. Picking between a bar and a move club is a truly a matter of individual inclination. On the off chance that you aren't certain which venue to visit tonight, investigate these …
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Log In needed Field Service Technicians (1812-046)Report Ad
Brandt Tractor currently has positions available for Field Service Technicians in our Halifax location. The successful applicant for this position will be responsible for the repair and maintenance of construction and forestry based equipment and attachments. Previous mechanical experience in a heavy equipment environment is considered an asset.
Brandt Tractor is the world's largest privately held John Deere Construction & Forestry Equipment dealer and a Platinum member of the Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies Program. Find out more about our exciting career opportunities at www.brandtjobs.com.
To apply for this position please visit www.brandtjobs.com and enter the tracking code 1812-046 into the search field of the Job Opportunities page.
Ad #30946838
PostedNovember 20, 2017
RenewedSeptember 25, 2018
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CategoryJobs › Mechanics
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What else would I need to provide people here so they could give me an idea of why I ended up incurring AMT this year? More than I'd care to give in a public setting. Have you looked at Form 6251? That should tell you what's going on and, more importantly, alert you to some sort of error.PhilRule Your Retirement Home Fool
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The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Update: After finishing this book in May, I can't stop thinking about the scenes in this book. Upgrading this to a 5 star read. One of my favorite Malazan books now.
In May 2016, I wanted to take a small break from reading many things to just read one thing rather relaxed and that was The Bonehunters. In fact, this was the only book I finished in May(along with some graphic novels). The Bonehunters is a monster of a book and depending on the edition is about 1,000 pages. Coming in at 365,000 words it is no wonder it took me the whole month to read. These chunky fantasy books are where my heart is though and this book was fantastic.
The Bonehunters continues the epic fantasy series by Erikson where the reader needs to work to figure some things out. This book amps up the tension between the different gods and the different mortals. A large theme of this book is whether the gods control the mortals or the mortal's actions control the god's. This sixth book in the series brings a lot of the previous plot threads together and intertwines them. This creates a book that really feels completely different than the other books and a visible sign of where the series is heading.
Of all the talk about Erikson's world building, I think that it is his writing ability that impressed me the most in this book. There are so many points in this book where characters are talking about philosophical and theoretical ideas and Erikson is able to deliver these ideas better than most people in academia. The more I read these books the more I am impressed with just the raw intelligence that Erikson possesses. These are just super smart and high-level thinking books.
Sometimes I get uncomfortable with all the platitudes that Erikson receives so I want to make sure to mention something where I think he really messed up in this book. Many times Erikson hides the details from the reader but it is believable within the scene. Most of the time the reader isn't cognizant of Erikson pulling the strings on the plot but in The Bonehunters there were moments where it was clearly obvious Erikson purposely kept information from the reader. The biggest example is a scene in which two characters are having a conversation. There is no reason for the author to not cover what the two characters have discussed as their deal with each other but he leaves that part out. I was rather annoyed at this scene and I think it was a slight towards the reader.
The Bonehunters has a very odd structure as well. Like all of his books it is split into 4 different sections. Usually, there is a steady increase of pacing and story as the book progresses through these 4 sections. In The Bonehunters we get a very climatic scene in the second part of the story and then it almost feels like the book reboots itself. Regardless, the climatic scene in the second part of the story is one of my favorites in the series and the ending scene location is fabulous as well. I just think that the ramping up of the story was a little odd in this one.
I just really like these books. They are so imaginative, mysterious, and full of amazing scenes. I'm a little hesitant about Reaper's Gale because I've heard that pacing in that is a little slow. I'm hoping I can power through, though. I think Malazan is one of those series where you compare scenes instead of comparing the different books and this one really had some fantastic scenes in it that are in my top 5. So close to a 5 rating but the string pulling by Erikson brought it down some.
21/25 Possible Score
Plot – 5(Strong)
Characters – 4(Strong)
World Building – 4(Strong)
Writing Style – 4(Strong)
Heart & Mind Aspect – 4(Strong)


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Chopping onions
Standing in the kitchen, chopping onions, tears rolling down my cheeks. A normal everyday task, but tonight it felt more special. Tonight, chopping onions in my own kitchen I finally felt at home again. It's been a long haul.
So where have the last seven months since my last post gone? In short, the last few months have been an exhausting, emotional blur. My ambition to keep a regular diary of our move and renovation, turned out to be an ambition too far. The magnitude of what we have undertaken has taken most of my energy and time. Writing and creativity have had to be put aside.
I think it's fair to say, that we went into this project with the naivety of those who have never done anything like this before. Having a few improvements made to your house is one thing, but having one completely gutted and starting from scratch in a new country is on an entirely different scale.
Our journey home would have been far more difficult had it not been for the help and encouragement we've had along the way. It was our estate agent's vision that made us take a leap of faith and buy the house. She could see the potential, where perhaps we didn't. Our team of builders has realised our vision and turned a once loved, but sadly recently neglected, wine maker's house into a home again. We have learnt from the experience and stories of village residents who have lived in or known our house for many years. I hope that we have done the house justice.
Our move and renovation in many ways has been like chopping onions; at times tedious, fiddly and tear inducing, but the effort and discomfort have provided the ingredient to make something very special.


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Your skill will accomplish
what the force of many cannot
Re: Re: Re: Perl applicationsby emazep (Priest)
|on Apr 09, 2004 at 22:17 UTC ( #344044=note: print w/replies, xml )
|Need Help??
I would rather say that these compiler backends are still experimental (I apologize for not to have specified it.)
This does not mean that they don't deserve to be mentioned (or that they should be qualified as "foolish persons toys" ;-) as their development is serious and they'll someday hit a stable state (they are already quite usable anyway).
Ciao, Emanuele.
In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom


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General Information of Costa Rica
Article Index
Political System
Since it is a democratic republic, its political system is divided into three branches:
The Executive Branch: The President of the Republic is elected by direct vote every four years and may not be re-elected. Two Vice-Presidents. A Presidential Cabinet made up of 18 state ministers who take on economic, social, productive, and cultural duties
The Legislative Branch: Made up of 57 deputies (popular representatives responsible for drafting laws)
The Judicial Branch: There is a Supreme Court with four Chambers. There are also Supreme Courts and regular courts for each area. As established by the Political Constitution of Costa Rica, the Supreme Court of Elections, which is independent from the other branches of the Republic, is in charge of organizing, managing, and overseeing the electoral processes that run their course every four years


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NEW YORK (InsideBitcoins) – PayPal is attempting to draw the line between digital wallets and digital currency. The company's inquiry submitted to the Australian Senate in late December, and recently made public, reveals a good deal of PayPal posturing. In order to avoid any fallout regulation, the giant payment processor seeks the governing body to make clear distinctions between the many facets of digital currency technology.
Among requests for clear definitions were recommendations that PayPal's digital wallets be held separate from digital currencies and that blockchain-based applications don't fall under the same regulation as bitcoin.
"It is important to understand that a PayPal account (sometimes referred to as a Digital Wallet) is NOT a digital currency and therefore should not be captured under any definition of what constitutes a digital currency," PayPal said in the inquiry.
Referencing partnerships with BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin, the company outlined their decision in September to integrate bitcoin within their subsidiary Braintree and their PayPal Payments Hub in order to allow users to buy Bitcoin (BTC) via Paypal. PayPal believes digital goods merchants will be excited to sell their merchandise and get paid in bitcoin, but they want the Australian Senate to understand that they have not directly integrated bitcoin into their digital wallet platform.
"It must be emphasised to the Senate Inquiry that PayPal's announcement does not mean that PayPal has added Bitcoin as a currency in our digital wallet in the US or that Bitcoin payments will be processed on the PayPal payments platform," they said. "At this stage, consumers will not be able to store Bitcoins in their PayPal digital wallets."
Blockchain applications should not fall under bitcoin regulation
One of PayPal's distinctions was that blockchain technology has potential far away from the bitcoin financial payment structure. Applications such as MaidSafe and Storj utilize the blockchain to create solutions for problems companies and Internet users are currently facing.
PayPal believes the blockchain companies that are formulating non-financial solutions should not be subject to the same regulation as the financial businesses of bitcoin and other digital currencies. One of such companies is the social trading platform eToro, where users can trade bitcoin CFDs and withdraw and deposit via Paypal.
"With respect to Bitcoin and other decentralized digital currencies, it is also important to note that the blockchain technology which provides protection against counterfeiting and double spending of the currency also has many potential applications that do not involve payments," they explained. "The government should clarify that non-payments applications will not be subject to payments regulation."
Blockchain applications, also known as bitcoin 2.0, utilize blockchain technology to create an entirely new system for data storage, centralized servers, identity ledgers and smart contracts. They do not utilize the blockchain for financial services; rather for advanced and decentralized technological services.
Digital currency exchanges should be regulated
PayPal also wants the Australian Senate to draw a line between digital currencies and the companies that facilitate trades of digital currencies. PayPal believes that bitcoin itself as well as transactions between individual users shouldn't be regulated, but exchanges should be.
"Those regulations, however, should be adapted to recognise the specific details of how different digital currencies work, particularly 'decentralised' digital currencies that are not controlled by a specific issuer," the company said.
PayPal prefers a registration and licensing process that is applied to companies providing financial services in digital currency, recommending the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to regulate such transactions in their country. These companies would also be subject to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Act.
Furthermore, PayPal also wishes for Australia to institute a "technology neutral" regulatory process to ensure innovation is not stifled.
"Digital currencies are changing the global payments landscape and will play an important role in the future, particularly in global trade and the broader global economy and ecommerce environment," PayPal said. "While digital currencies are yet to become mainstream, for companies such as PayPal which embrace innovation and efficiency in the global digital economy we will continue to monitor developments in this ever-evolving arena."


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In a way I found out about Varanasi by chance. If it were not for meeting Stephano in Pokhara I would have never come here. Not doing research while travelling can make you miss amazing place when you are so close yet don't know about it. It took two days of idle chatter before Stephano urged me to just google the place and see the pictures. First picture that loaded on google pictures and I was hooked. Varanasi it is and a re-route was planned.
There were lots of people as expected in hostel like these.
Friendly environment with lots of travellers mostly from English Native
countries. One could observed and notice how some clicks will talk to you and
answer your question but slowly tune out to ogle the pretty faces. The four
British girls was fascinated with the two British boys but for some reason the
boys …. Adam and Josh asked me if I wanted to join them to walk around the
Ghats after chai.
After a good bath in the hostel all I wanted to do was rest in the nice cool air-condition room and sleep but chai time at 4pm drove me away from the journal entry and out into the common area to mingle with the hostel people.
|Varanasi - Main Streets before entering Narrow winding Ghat
Sure I felt refreshed enough just after a shower and a few hours of rest in cool room. I decided to take up their offer to go exploring Varanasi on the very first day. Ghats as they call them means steps in Hindi … steps to the river and there are 87 Ghats in Varanasi. This area is also one of the most interesting in Varanasi for it forms the old part of the city with narrow alley streets which keeps turning and ending up in dead end.
The streets were very narrow such that if you stretch out your arms you will feel both sides of the building. Still it was filled with people and cows and goats and dogs and all kinds of livelihood that goes by in this small world. Shops was like a boxhole barely two bunk beds put together. They sold and peddled all kinds of things from food to trinkets to lassi to temples to shrines to holy men to modern knock off made in china T-shirts to prayer items and so forth. One could get lost in here every day walking the same streets and still find new things to see.
Josh and Adam wanted to see the evening ceremony which was held by the Ghanga river every evening at 730pm. They asked locals along the way and people were always happy to help and point us to the right direction. Sometimes, if you asked the wrong people you will accidentally pick up a guide who would be so kind to walk you to where you want to go giving loads of history and explanation of the mystical Varanasi only to guilt you into a donation when you try to leave them behind.We got there in time and choose a spot to enjoy the ceremony. By this time I understood it was the puja ceremony but on a grander scale that what I have ever seen back in Malaysia. According to the locals it was a small one for apparently the Ghanga river is flooding right now and the water level is very high.
Evening Puja at Varanasi
While we waited for the Puja to start more and more people crowded in, locals and local tourist and foreign tourist alike. The first glimpse of the Ghanga river for most Indians were always followed by a touch of water and a spray of water into the air or over the head with a silent prayer and a for the more devoted a wash of the face and truly devoted a sip of the muddy and highly contaminated water. Peddles were selling flower with candles to be offered into the river … some brought their own kind of offering and everything was dumped into the river while more people spill in to be blessed by the water.
The puja started with chants to incense dance to pots with lots of smoke dance to fire dance which had a cobra as an ornament. I can only say it was mesmerising like most lonely planet guide will tell you. We watch it for nearly half an hour and it did not seem to be ending soon but it was time to find something to eat and little did we know the night was still full of surprise waiting for us.


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Contact Relationship Management (CRM) applications provide a versatile database capability that starts with managing information about individual contacts. Contacts can be donors, volunteers, staff, clients, partners - just about any type of individual, household or organization that your organization needs top track and manage.
Nubay uses CiviCRM as it's CRM solution. CiviCRM is the leading open source CRM application for non-profits with nearly 10,000 installations around the world in over 30 languages.
Referred to as "Civi", CiviCRM includes much more than contact management. It's power and differentiation are due to the way it seemlessly integrates contacts, events, memberships, payments, case management and more. For details about CiviCRM, check out the CiviCRM Website.
CiviCRM is considered a "mature" open source application as recognized by the number of users, contributors and overall activity. Here is the summary analysis by the Black Duck sponsored OpenHub web site:
Here is an example of a contact management page from CiviCRM:


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|January 30, 2012
Adult BitTorrent Cheggit.net Bites the Dust
CYBERSPACE—Almost a year to the day following the closure of Empornium and PureTNA, one of the adult BitTorrent sites that many users of the other two flocked to has also announced that it is closing after a six year run. Visitors to Cheggit.net will now find a large banner across the top of the page that reads, "WTF is this shit? Where's my porn?" The news was first reported this afternoon by TorrentFreak, which noted, "Cheggit was created back in 2006 by ex-staff and users from Empornium who were disappointed with a controversial takeover by advertising outfit TargetPoint. Cheggit lived on until just a few days ago, when it disappeared. Now it's back, but the news isn't good—the end is here for Cheggit." TF quotes the Cheggit founder as saying he started the site with the intention of making it copyright compliant. "Back in December '11, when I embarked on a 'bold new vision' for the site, I thought we could change the site and make everything just work," he is quoted as saying. "But as time went on, it just wasn't feasible to do that and be in compliance." The admin also said that the decision to close the site was not made under duress from law enforcement or as "a ponzi scheme to relaunch Megaupload." However, in stating that the site was no longer able to stay "in compliance," one can easily infer that aggressive actions by federal law enforcement was probably a mitigating factor in the ultimate decision to close. That said, Cheggit is not slipping away into oblivion without giving its users time to prepare. "I wanted to give the community a chance to exchange info and keep hooked up if you wanted to. That's right….regardless of what you might think, this was done for the community," insists the admin. "Best decision?" he added. "Who knows. But I do know that it isn't the worst thing that could have happened. I've been at this far longer than I care to admit, and it would have sucked to just lop it off. As much as this may suck, it doesn't suck near as much as just going away."


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Collective Initiator. Created Site | FB Collective Page | Flickr Magazine Invite | Admin/Curator/Editor & Book, Magazine Publications
Lara Kantardjian
A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet – Orsen Welles
Fine art photographer and artist from Nicosia, Cyprus, based in London. Exhibited both paintings and photographs in solo and group shows since 1993, in London, Paris, Budapest, NYC, The Shanghai International Photography Festival and most recently at Hamburg with work housed in private and public collections, including the UK Public Art Collection. Member of ACAVA (Association for Cultural Advancement through Visual Art) and resident artist at Palace Wharf Studios (1998-'14). Invited to join the photography gallery curator team at 1x in 2013 and World-Street Photography in 2015 as competition and gallery curator, including book publications.
Magazine publication features include Inspired Eye Magazine, STARK-Magazine, doc! photo magazine, LA HOT Magazine, Aorta, LensCulture and Resource Magazine.
Featured Projects
WSP Curator Profile
World Street Photography
Photography: Lara Kantardjian © All rights reserved


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Scooby-Doo Adventures: The Mystery Map PG (2013)
Ways to Watch
Available to buy
Get ready to experience the world famous Scooby-Doo! and Crew like never before in this all-new original puppet movie! What begins as a routine night for the Gang - which includes the slobbering sleuth and Shaggy eating a triple extra-large Scooby snack pizza - becomes a mad dash to find the frightening Phantom Parrot with a map to pirate Gnarlybeard's hidden treasure.


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These guidelines have been developed to support the provision of Structured Workplace Learning (SWL) for students undertaking mandatory work placement as part of a NSW Higher School Certificate (HSC) Industry Curriculum Framework (ICF) vocational education and training (VET) course.
Work placement is a mandatory HSC requirement for a range of HSC VET courses including the 13 ICF courses: Automotive, Business Services, Construction, Electrotechnology, Entertainment Industry, Financial Services, Hospitality, Human Services, Information and Digital Technology, Metal and Engineering, Primary Industries, Retail Services, and Tourism Travel and Events. These ICF VET courses are available to students in Years 11 and 12 and also to students in Years 9 and 10 in appropriate circumstances through the early commencement pathway for Stage 6 VET courses. Guidelines for access to VET courses by students in Years 9 and 10 are available at: http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/voc_ed/stage-5.html.
The Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW (BOSTES) Principles Underpinning Work Placement in the Higher School Certificate are provided at Appendix One.
The Structured Workplace Learning Coordination Program is advised by the NSW State Advisory Committee for Work Placement Coordination. Membership of this group includes the NSW Department of Education (DoE), the Catholic Education Commission NSW, the Association of Independent Schools of NSW, the Board of Studies Teaching and Educational Standards NSW and major stakeholder groups such as the Australian Industry Group and the NSW Business Chamber.
The Structured Workplace Learning Coordination Program is managed state-wide by Secondary Education - Senior Pathways - in the NSW DoE on behalf of the Catholic Education Commission NSW, the Association of Independent Schools in NSW and TAFE NSW.
In this role, the Secondary Education-Senior Pathways manages:
Work Placement Service Providers are non-government, not for profit organisations contracted to support and coordinate mandatory work placements for students undertaking HSC ICF VET courses within a specified service region.
Work Placement Service Providers work with local schools with secondary enrolments, TAFE NSW colleges and campuses, and employers to coordinate HSC ICF VET work placements for all eligible students within the service region.
There are 16 service regions across NSW. Each region will be serviced according to a separate Funding Agreement for each Work Placement Service Provider. An organisation may hold Funding Agreements for more than one service region. For further information about Service Regions see Appendix Two.
This is a four year program. Subject to the Recipient meeting all of the requirements of this Funding Agreement, as determined by the Department of Education, further funding may be available for each of the next three years. The Recipient will be required to enter into a Funding Agreement for each further term.
The Funding amounts for each of the next yearly periods subsequent to the Initial Funding Period will be determined each year by the NSW State Advisory Committee for Work Placement Coordination.
The funding applicable to each service region is calculated annually and is fixed for that year. The value of the funding is calculated using a funding weighting across a number of factors. These include geographical remoteness, (based on Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) mapping) and historical student demand for structured workplace learning. Student activity is used to provide an indicative demand for the current school year but cannot be seen to an absolute target.
The student activity level reflects all home school activity and is indicative of the number of students likely to require placement for the year of the contract but should not be seen as an absolute level of activity. More students may require placement and some students may require additional placement.
Work Placement Service Providers must comply with the provisions of the Child Protection (Working with Children) Act 2012, and all related legislation from time to time (Child Protection Legislation) including without limitation:
Work Placement Service Providers must ensure that a criminal record check is undertaken by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for all its Personnel, which includes:
(1) its Personnel who are engaged to work on the program
(2) volunteers who work on the program; and
(3) any personnel within its organisation who may come into contact with young people participating in the program.
Work Placement Service Providers will undertake relevant professional development for staff who are engaged to work on the Structured Workplace Learning Coordination Program.
Work Placement Service Providers will also participate in regular network meetings with neighbouring service regions and with education sector representatives.
The Funding Agreement for each service region will identify an indicative funding level to be allocated for professional development activities which includes including attendance by relevant staff at workshop events convened by DoE Secondary Education- Senior Pathways.
Work Placement Service Providers are accountable for service delivery in their Service Region and are required to adhere to reporting requirements which form part of the Funding Agreement.
Work Placement Service Providers will maintain accurate, appropriate records of their work with schools, TAFE NSW Institutes and employers.
Work Placement Service Providers are required to complete online, milestone progress reports and an annual report. Information from students, schools and employers about the quality of the work placement will also be collected on the work placement website: http://www.workplacement.nsw.edu.au/feedback.php.
On behalf of schools and TAFE NSW Institutes, Work Placement Service Providers coordinate work placement opportunities that encourage the practise, development and refinement of HSC ICF VET competencies in a workplace setting.
Within a service region, the following activities carried out by the Work Placement Service Providers support the coordination of work placement:
Work Placement Service Providers will liaise with schools and TAFE NSW Institutes regarding work placement readiness. Suitable pre-placement activities must be provided by the school or where relevant, by the TAFE NSW Institute or private or community RTO to prepare all HSC ICF VET students for work placement and to optimise the planned workplace learning experience.
Go2workplacement is an online work placement preparation resource for students enrolled in HSC ICF VET courses to get the most out of their work placement by identifying the skills and competencies they want to focus on during their time in the workplace. See www.go2workplacement.com
Work Placement Service Providers will work with schools and TAFE to implement the resource and will promote go2workplacement to participating employers in their service region.
Work Placement Service Providers will establish a reference group for each of its service regions, with membership drawn from VET coordinators/teachers, school principals, employers and or industry representatives. The role of the Reference Group is to encourage feedback from education and training providers and host employers to support monitoring, review and continuous improvement of work placement delivery within a designated service region. The Work Placement Reference Group must meet a least twice a year. On request, minutes of Work Placement Reference Group meetings must be provided to the Department of Education. The Work Placement Reference Group does not replace the functions of the WPSP's Board of Management.
Students in NSW undertaking Structured Workplace Learning are not paid employees and therefore host employers are not required to make any payment to them. Work Placement Service Providers must ensure that host employers are aware of this requirement and the impact of any payment on the education sectors' insurance and indemnity provisions for host employers.
Each of the education sectors maintain insurance and indemnity arrangements to cover injury to students, loss or damage occasioned by students and indemnity arrangements for host employers. Conditions apply. As is standard business practice, host employers must have current public liability insurance coverage.
There are mandatory documents and procedures that must be used in the coordination of mandatory work placements. These include a Student Placement Record (SPR) that must be completed by all parties. A separate Student Placement Record is generated for each student work placement. This form records contact details, arrangements and approvals relating to the student's placement. The Student Placement Record also records information regarding any disability, learning and support needs, medical condition, allergy or restriction that may affect the safety and supervision of the student in the workplace. It will indicate if employers need to make adjustments to accommodate a student's additional support needs or disability.
It is mandatory to provide a guide to employers to explain the expectations of host employers and their responsibilities. These are provided to Work Placement Service Providers by each education sector. Work Placement Service Providers play the lead role in introducing and explaining the guide/s to prospective host employers and in highlighting key responsibilities of employers and their staff, for example, in relation to student safety, supervision and child protection issues.
APPENDIX ONE: Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW (BOSTES) Principles Underpinning Work Placement in the Higher School Certificate
The Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW has identified the following principles relating to Structured Workplace Learning:
Principle 1 - Work placement must have a clearly articulated and documented purpose. The structure of the work-based learning experience needs to be planned and developmental.
A range and number of purposes are possible including, for example:
Principle 2 - The scheduling of the work placement should reflect student readiness and should complement off-the-job learning programs. The scheduling of the work placement should take account of:
An individual work placement program focusing on a developmental approach should be negotiated with the workplace supervisor/employer. This approach should focus on students moving from simple to more complex tasks. Dependence on supervision should reduce over time as students move towards greater independence in the workplace. The ultimate goal of a work placement should be competence and autonomy in the range of tasks required for the job being undertaken.
Principle 3 - Work placement should be relevant to the VET courses being undertaken.
The 'real' tasks being undertaken in the workplace should complement the tasks and learning being undertaken by the students in their VET courses at school. Work placement may also provide students with the opportunity of having learning outcomes/units of competency assessed in the workplace by accredited trainers and assessors.
Principle 4 - Work placement can provide opportunities for work-based assessment.
Not all industry curriculum frameworks specify that it is mandatory for competencies to be assessed in the workplace. Assessment events should relate to overall course planning and the purpose of the work placement. In a competency-based course, assessment of competencies is criterion-referenced. This means that a participant's performance is judged against a prescribed standard - not against the performance of other participants.


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That annoying stretch between the holidays and getting back to work is upon us so to relieve the monotony, here's a nice bunch of tracks.
Nu-Nation – "Insomnia"
Enjoy this new video from Russia, released as a present for Christmas and New Year!
Pain Of Salvation – "Reasons"
Swedish progressive rock/metal innovators Pain of Salvation are soon to release their upcoming studio album In the Passing Light of Day on Friday the 13th of January, 2017 via their longtime label partners InsideOutMusic. The album's second single, "Reasons", as well as a dynamic video for it dropped the other day.
The History Of Colour TV – "Wreck"
Something a tad shoegazy for you, just to change the pace. "Wreck" is the first single from The History Of Colour TV's third album Something Like Eternity. The album's out on February 24th next year.
Aeon Prime – "The Commandments"
Brazil's Aeon Prime have posted a new lyric video for their track "The Commandments" in support of their debut album Future Into Dust.


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Over the weekend and during the R exams, I managed to complete the solution set for Chapters 6 and 7 of "Introducing Monte Carlo Methods with R". Chapter 6 only exhibited a few typos, despite me covering most exercises in Chapter 6, hence the merging of both chapters.
– in Exercise 6.13, both and must use a double exponential proposal in the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm of question b,
in Exercise 6.15, the distribution should be a normal distribution,
– in Example 7.3, part of the code is wrong: it should be
> sigma2=theta=rep(0,Nsim) #init arrays > sigma2[1]=1/rgamma(1,shape=a,rate=b) #init chains > B=sigma2[1]/(sigma2[1]+n*tau2) > theta[1]=rnorm(1,m=B*theta0+(1-B)*xbar,sd=sqrt(tau2*B))
instead of
> sigma=theta=rep(0,Nsim) #init arrays > sigma{1}=1/rgamma(1,shape=a,rate=b) #init chains > B=sigma2{1}/(sigma2{1}+n*tau2) > theta{1}=rnorm(1,m=B*theta0+(1-B)*xbar,sd=sqrt(tau2*B))
(I frankly don't understand where those curly brackets came from!)
– in Example 7.6, I forgot to include the truncation probability in the likelihood (!) and the notations are not completely coherent with Example 5.13 and 5.14 in that the x's became y's…
– in Exercise 7.21, rtnorm is missing sigma as one of its arguments.
– Exercise 7.23 has nothing wrong per se but it is rather a formal (mathematical) exercise
– in Exercise 7.25 the in question a should be to avoid any confusion.
Posted in Books, R, Statistics, University life Tagged: Introducing Monte Carlo Methods with R, MCMC, Monte Carlo methods, simulation, typos
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Weekly Bulletin – April 10 – 14, 2017
Weekly Bulletin
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: SERENDEPITY: Serendipity means a "fortunate happenstance" or "pleasant surprise". It was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. In a letter he wrote to a friend, Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made by reference to a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. The princes, he told his correspondent, were "always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of". The notion of serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of scientific innovation such as Alexander Fleming's accidental discovery of penicillin in 1928, the invention of the microwave oven by Percy Spencer in 1945, and the invention of the Post-it note by Spencer Silver in 1968.
In June 2004, a British translation company voted the word to be one of the ten English words hardest to translate.[1] However, due to its sociological use, the word has since been exported into many other languages.
**EMAIL ADDRESS FOR BULLETIN NOTICES: Please email bulletin notices to: email@example.com. The deadline for submitting items for the bulletin is Friday morning by 8:30am. Mrs. Grinnell
SUBSTITUTE SYSTEM: The Substitute System's phone number: 345-0064. The on-line system remains the same. If you have any questions please let me know.
SOCIAL COMMITTEE CONTRIBUTION: Just a reminder–if you haven't already given your social committee contribution, it's not too late. See Bettie Grinnell in the Main Office with your $25–checks or cash welcome! Social Committee
PARKING COURTESY: DO NOT PARK IN THE WHITE BUS ZONES BEFORE SCHOOL AND DURING THE SCHOOL DAY!! Please do not block other cars in both the Bay Street and the Polk Street parking lots. If you have to block a car, do it only for a few minutes and leave your Galileo Parking Hanger in plain sight in your car. If you do not have a Galileo Parking Hanger, see Bettie Grinnell in the Main Office. Mrs. Grinnell
ASB CARD STICKERS: are sold at ASB office (room 150) @ $5.00. Discount for dances, sweatshirts, lanyards, & other school spirit items.
ASB STUDENT STORE: in room 150 is selling healthy drinks, snacks, hand towels, mugs, poms poms, and other school spirit items.
STUDENT ID CARDS: Our Student ID Card software has been updated with the latest student pictures and is now up and running. If you know any current students or new/transfer students in need of an ID card, please direct them to Ms. Rivera in the Counseling office (258E), where our ID printer is located.
For any new/transfer students, first ID card is free of charge. All replacement ID cards will cost $2.
ASB ELECTION: is Wed., April 12 during HR
CHINESE KARAOKE CONTEST: is Friday night, April 21 in the auditorium.
Congratulations to our graduating seniors who have earned the Seal of Biliteracy for their academic achievement in two languages. Students receiving this award should have received a congratulatory letter, and will earn a special Seal on their diploma. The Seal of Biliteracy can be used to demonstrate your bilingual abilities to future employers and educational opportunities. If you think you might qualify but did not receive a letter, please see Ms. Galdamez for an application as soon as possible. Applications are due May 4th.
SEAL OF BILITERACY: Congratulations to our graduating seniors who have earned the Seal of Biliteracy for their academic achievement in two languages. Students receiving this award should have received a congratulatory letter, and will earn a special Seal on their diploma. The Seal of Biliteracy can be used to demonstrate your bilingual abilities to future employers and educational opportunities. If you think you might qualify but did not receive a letter, please see Ms. Galdamez for an application as soon as possible. Applications are due May 4th.
For 9th, 10th, 11th, & 12th:
The current Summer Program List is sent via SchoolLoop and posted outside of room 255.
4/13 BlueStamp Engineering @ 11:45am @ RM 104: BlueStamp Engineering is a six-week, hands-on summer program where high school students build technology projects they're passionate about. Each student selects their own projects and completes the program with 2 projects (which they keep). They also develop their own personal online portfolio that details their journey with videos, technical descriptions of their work, milestones, and blog postings. This personal portfolio can then be shared with colleges and prospective employers. Come learn more about the program!
Summer Internship Program (6/7/17-7/21/17): Learn and earn this summer! As a student intern, you will work alongside industry mentors & explore careers within the company. You will work 16-20 hours per week and $13-$14 per hour. Application deadline is 4/14 @ 5pm. Apply on: https://mb.formstack.com/forms/sfusd_2017
Volunteers Needed! Do you love working with children & families? Do you have a passion for creative thinking, art, and or STEM education? Do you want to meet and work with really awesome people? The Bay Area Discovery Museum is looking for Museum Experience Volunteers, Volunteer Greeters, Museum Store Volunteers, and Fab Lab Volunteer. This museum is located at 557 McReynolds Rd, Sausalito. For more details: http://bayareadiscoverymuseum.org/volunteer or email Colin McNamara: firstname.lastname@example.com or call her at 415-339-3931
4/30 NACAC College Fair @ 1:30pm-4:30pm @ COW Palace: This is the largest annual FREE college fair. RSVP first is better and you can also view a list of participating colleges and workshops available:https://www.nacacfairs.org/attend/national-college-fairs/san-francisco/
For 10th,11th, & 12th:
4/24 CSU Monterey Bay College Campus Visit @ 7:30am-5:30pm: This is a small size public state university, located in Monterey. It has strong biology, language, and business majors. If you want to see the campus, come join us. We would love to include seniors who have been accepted by this college but haven't seen the campus to come with us. Lunch will be provided. Seats are first come first served basis. Please pick up a field trip form from Vicki in room 209.
For 10th & 11th:
4/12 ScholarMatch @ 11:45am @ RM 104: Do you need help getting to college? ScholarMatch, a non-profit serving Bay Area students and their families, can help. We offer free college workshops, essay help, test prep, financial aid counseling, scholarships for eligible seniors and more! With a Center located in the Mission, we are here to help you get to and through college. Come learn more about our services!
4/12 City College of San Francisco Early College Summer Career Exploration Program @ 2:15pm @ RM 104: You can earn both high school and college credit while taking classes in biotechnology, visual media design, broadcast electronica media arts, computer networking, and child development. Learn more about these classes, important deadlines, and the steps for enrollment.
Summer Career Exploration Program (6/7/17-7/13/17): Are you interested in automotive technology or building & construction trades? As a student intern, you will work alongside industry mentors & use what you learn in real world projects. Earn $1,000 compensation. Application deadline is 4/14 @ 5pm. Apply on:https://mb.formstack.com/forms/sfusd_2017
For 11th & 12th:
4/11 College Ambassador Meeting @ 12:20pm @ RM 104: This is your weekly meeting.
For 12th:
4/8, 4/22, 4/29 CCSF All-In-One Days Event @ 8:30am-5pm @ 50 Phelan Ave. SF: If you're interested in attending CCSF next year, please attend any of the listed events so that you can complete your application process in one day. Please be sure to bring a photo ID and your CCSF Student ID number (you can only get this after you submit an on-line application). To RSVP, call 415-239-3124.
4/10 UC Merced Next Steps Presentation @ 3:15pm @ RM104: If you have been accepted by UC Merced and would like to know what the next steps are or if you have any questions about your UC Merced application, please come to this info. session.
4/13 12th Grade College Transition Workshop @ 2:15pm-4pm @ RM 555: College Ambassadors and seniors, do you know what you need to prepare for so that you can be truly ready for college and be able to graduate from college, come join us at this workshop. FREE snacks provided!
4/13 Connect to College for CSM @ 6pm-8pm @ College Center, 2nd Fl. College of San Mateo: A night of free info. for seniors and parents on Transfer Programs, financial aid & scholarships, Career Programs, Academic Programs, Certificate Programs, and student life & leadership. Free Parking is available for this event in the Beethoven Lot 2. You will be eligible for a scholarship drawing. To RSVP:collegeofsanmateo.edu/connectrsvp or for more info., email Estela Garcia: firstname.lastname@example.com
4/26 CCSF All-In-One Days Event @ 1pm-7pm @ 50 Phelan Ave. SF: If you're interested in attending CCSF next year, please attend any of the listed events so that you can complete your application process in one day. Please be sure to bring a photo ID and your CCSF Student ID number (you can only get this after you submit an on-line application). To RSVP, call 415-239-3124.
uAspire can help you with financial aid related questions, please see Michael in room 209 if you have any questions.
Scholarships: A current list is sent via SchoolLoop. A hard copy will be posted in the Counseling Center. If you're interested, please check out the details in the attached list ASAP. See examples below:
Vietnamese Physician Association of Northern California: $1500: Be of Vietnamese descent, unweighted GPA of 3.6 or higher, and apply by 4/15/17. For more details or to apply: www.VPANC.com
Sistah's Rock Scholarship $1,000: African American female residing in northern California, Senior in high school or freshmen in college, Minimum 2.8 GPA, and apply by 5/1/17. http://www.sistahsrock.org/untitled
E4FC New American Scholars Program Up to $7,000: Foreign born, Financial need, Do not have permanent residency or citizenship, Bay Area resident, and apply by 5/1/17: https://www.tfaforms.com/4600194
2017 Filipino-American HS Graduating Scholars' Award: Weighted GPA of 3.0 or higher, submit a 500 word essay, a recommendation letter, a copy of your latest report card, and apply by 5/4/17. email@example.com
Supporting you every step of the way for the college application process, just ask for help!
Ms. S. Chan
College & Career Counselor
Room 258F


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Faith Hope and Cherrytea ~ Celebrating Faith, Books and Beauty with the pleasure of a Cup of Tea... Join me?
Wednesday, 2 September 2015
6 comments:
- LuAnn Braley said...
I pinned the last image (Peace), because it reminds me of the scene outside my side door this morning. There's always a little bit of fog going around until the sun comes up. And I'm needing the peace that comes from God these days.
- 2 September 2015 at 11:05
- Cathy Keller said...
And blessings be your as well!
- 2 September 2015 at 13:15
- Faith Hope and Cherrytea said...
That's beautiful, LuAnn - and so glad it speaks to you as well as me :) both the image and the Peace! Thanks for taking time to share...
Thank You, Cathy - much appreciated!
- 3 September 2015 at 09:56
- Lucy said...
These are lovely! Thanks for posting them! I always like turning the page on my calendars pinned to various doors, and this lets me turn the page on my desktop too.
- 3 September 2015 at 22:27
- Katherines Corner said...
they are all lovely. Thank you for sharing at the Thursday hop xo
- 6 September 2015 at 20:19
- Katherine Thayer said...
Love all the pictures. So lovely!
- 12 October 2017 at 04:56


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In 2004, while in the hospital recovering from a serious illness Jim made some important decisions that eventually led to a healthier lifestyle. Read More
Jackie started attending CCAA exercise classes 20 years ago after a friend recommended it to her. She's now a regular participant on Monday's, Wednesday's, and Friday's. Read More
Jean's favourite parts about participating in the exercise classes are the knowledegable instructors and the social interaction with fellow participants. Read More


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Salzburg is a very beautiful city. Every year many tourists come here because there are many interesting sights. The surroundings of Salzburg are also beautiful landscapes. So what's worth visiting in this city?
A very popular city, which every year is visited by many tourists is Salzburg. This city is located in north-western Austria. Located near the border with Germany in the Alps, on the Salzach River. It is located at an altitude of 424 meters above sea level.
In this city we can find many interesting sights. Very popular is the Hohensalzburg Fortress. It is a castle and at the same time a fortress. It is located on a hill above an old town. It is one of the largest castles in Europe. Many tourists also visit the historic center. In 1996, the historic center of the city was described on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
In the city there are also numerous churches. Very popular is the Franciscan Church and the University Church. In Salzburg there is also the main street of the historic center – Getreidegasse, where at number 9 is the birthplace of Mozart.
Every year many tourists decide to vacation abroad. They are increasingly going to popular cities. We are glad to visit Salzburg, where we can find many interesting attractions. But before we decide to leave, we should think of accommodation. Hostels in Salzburg are an excellent option. These are very good places where we can rent a cheap room.


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Would it be possible to get a generic git integration for our playground ? GitHub integration is already available, but some of us may prefer a self-hosted solution, like GitLab or Gogs.
Best regards
this is something we're thinking about. when you're talking about self hosted solution, are they public (such as GitHub)? or private?


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from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Located on or affecting the same side of the body.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective anatomy, medicine on the same side of the body.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective on or relating to the same side (of the body)
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
In conclusion this meta-analysis gave a consistent pattern of an association between mobile phone use and ipsilateral glioma and acoustic neuroma using ≥10-years latency period.
Ovulation could occur from either ovary with embryonic development taking place in the ipsilateral oviduct and uterine horn.
Figure 2.1 illustrates the behaviour of a typical 'graspingwith-the-hand-and-the-mouth' neuron, which was seen to fire when the animal picked up a morsel of food with its mouth (A), with the contralateral hand (B), and the ipsilateral hand (C).
'Mirrors in the Brain: How Our Minds Share Actions And Emotions'
There is NOTHING--and I mean NOTHING--that the combination of facial nerve palsy with ipsilateral oropharyngeal and auditory canal vesicular lesions could be other than Ramsay Hunt syndrome.
Bring on your ipsilateral translation of the condyle, your girt lines and masting falls!
Rambles at starchamber.com » Blog Archive » For the love of chemical synthesis
When temporalis relaxation and ipsilateral translation of the condyle occurs unilaterally, the remaining scheme of occluding teeth becomes an influential factor in the presenting symptoms, of which, contacting canines during mandibular depression is highly desirable, as it minimizes condylar translation and muscle intensity, while directing the vector pull on the condyle more anteriorly than a posterior contact.
Rambles at starchamber.com » Blog Archive » No more grinding teeth
Applying crushed ice to the palate, he found that ipsilateral temporal and orbital pain developed 20-30 seconds later.
Applying crushed ice to the palate, he found that ipsilateral temporal and orbital pain developed 20-30 seconds later.
A lesion in the latter prevents adequate information from the nonpreferred hand being transmitted from the contralateral to the ipsilateral dominant parietal lobe for integration with the language system and thus the name of the letter shape.
The examiner places, one at a time, several items (e.g., a key, several coins of different sizes, the cap of a ballpoint pen—all items that make no noise when palpated) on the palm (usually the left) ipsilateral to the side of the nondominant (usually the right) hemisphere.
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