text:
Noble puts failed Arrium bid behind it
Noble Group, Asia's biggest publicly listed commodity trader, said it's looking at investment opportunities after reporting profit that missed estimates and a failed bid for Australian steelmaker Arrium.
Net income was $US75.2 million ($A72.3 million) in the three months to September 30, from a loss of $US17.5 million a year earlier, the Hong Kong-based company said. That missed the $154.6 million mean estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
A group led by Noble and Posco, Asia's third-biggest steelmaker by output, last month terminated a $A1.2 billion offer for Arrium after the target's board rejected two bids and refused to engage. Noble will receive $US810 million from asset sales by January, it said in a separate presentation yesterday.
"Given our financial strength, and the stress occurring in markets, we continue to see very attractive investment opportunities across many of our products," chief executive Yusuf Alireza said in a separate statement.
Noble shares fell 1.5 per cent to $S1.275 at the close in Singapore yesterday, before the earnings were announced. The stock has advanced 13 per cent this year, compared with a 14 per cent gain in the benchmark Straits Times index.
Arrium said last week it had rejected the second, higher offer by the consortium which included Noble, Posco and other Korean investors because it undervalued the company. The group, known as Steelmakers Australia, had offered 88 cents a share, up from an original bid of 75 cents.
Moved on
Noble wanted Arrium for its iron ore assets, Mr Alireza, a former Goldman Sachs co-president who joined Noble as CEO in April, said. The company has now has "moved on" from the Arrium bid, he said.
The company continues to have "close partnerships with Posco, investors in Korea" which are valuable on both the business and investment aspects, Mr Alireza said.
There are investment opportunities across all its businesses including shale gas and nonferrous metals, Mr Alireza said. It has a big "geographic footprint" in Asia and Latin America, and sees opportunities to expand in Africa and Russia, he said.
Adverse markets
Noble "has tended to be more countercyclical. They do tend to invest even when the market is adverse," said James Koh, an analyst at Maybank Kim Eng Holdings in Singapore. "The focus would probably still be looking at all different pillars." Operating income from supply chain at its energy business, its largest unit, expanded 42 percent to $US219.3 million, and 38 per cent to $US26.8 million at its metals division, in the quarter, Noble said. The agriculture unit, the second-biggest by revenue, posted a 35 per cent decline in sales to $US3.7 billion.
Mr Alireza has said Noble will target agricultural assets in the US as it seeks to meet demand from China and sees potential for deals across its units,.
"Our focus remains on ensuring we build out our three main business lines while at the same time maintaining a strong and liquid balance sheet," he said yesterday.
"All our businesses are at different stages of maturity and our strategy is not a one month, one quarter, or even one year strategy but one that we are confident will build shareholder value over the next few years."
Get the Morning Edition
Sign up for our daily wrap of the news you need to start your day.


text:
Learning Index >> Hand-blockprinted Textiles: Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher
Whilst working together at The Three Shields Gallery, Muriel Rose and Peggy Turnbull had searched for nearly a year before they found the premises they were looking for in which to open their own gallery. A former laundry depot at 5 Ellis Street, off Sloane Square, proved to be just what they needed, giving them a large, ground floor room with plenty of daylight and a decent basement space below. (No. 1) For the minimum expense they stripped it out and painted it white, expanding into the neighbouring premises at 3 Ellis Street within a few years. (No. 2) A notice of the opening appeared in The Times of 9 October 1928 and recorded that the Gallery appeared to stock: 'the less expensive productions of handicraft and the more artistically considered wares of the factory, and a word is due to the consistently high quality maintained in this modest range. Everything is on the side of reticence, the designs being simple and the colours inclining to 'secondaries' and 'tertiaries' in subtle colour combinations'.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Tag Archives: city of west sacramento
RCHS standout grads: Sufia Mehmood gets full-ride to Harvard; Kevin Burkes on track for U.S. Air Force Academy
By Steve Marschke
News-Ledger Editor
From the Class of 2014 at River City High School, one pair of graduates in particular stands out for where they're going next.
Kevin Burkes is on the path to the U.S. Air Force Academy and a potential commission as an officer and possible fighter pilot, while classmate Sufia Mehmood is headed to Harvard on a full-ride scholarship.
Sufia, still 17 years old for a few more months, talks about her upcoming college years with both laughter and some trepidation. She earned a GPA of well over 4.0 in high school. But wasn't aware of anyone else from her school who has ever earned a spot at Harvard, and this girl from Broderick didn't think she had a chance either.
"I had never even thought of applying to an Ivy League school," explained Sufia. "I come from a school with a high drop-out rate. I kind of applied to a couple of Ivy League schools just on a bet."
"Myself and a couple of other friends just applied, never expecting to get in," she added. "I visited Harvard only once, because it's so far away. I went to Princeton, I went to Yale, I went to Harvard. I actually liked the atmosphere of Harvard better – not because the other schools weren't amazing as well, just because I thought Harvard was a better fit for me because of the atmosphere. It's not urban. It's in Cambridge, not (nearby) Boston."
Harvard receives applications from a lot of the world's top students. It accepts only five percent of them, she said. But Sufia was stunned to get not only an admission letter, but an offer of a "full ride."
"If I did not get the scholarship, I would not be able to go at all," she said.
In addition to the Harvard scholarship, the graduating senior received another $100,000 or so in other scholarships — much of which she will defer to later, to help out with medical school.
The money included $40,000 from the national organization of Elks lodges (the top prize after first winning a local Elks chapter contest), $20,000 from the Dell computer corporation and more.
Sufia's high school years were filled with classwork along with membership in math and science clubs, scholarship organizations and a student volunteer club.
Is she more of a math and science person, then?
"I am," answered Sufia. "I have to say I prefer it over English."
Going into college, she has declared a major of neurobiology.
"I want to become a pediatric oncologist (children's cancer doctor)," she reports. "I am most interested in brain science."
Sufia played competitive tennis her freshman year at RCHS, and then switched to recreational play. She's been a hospital volunteer, too.
"I've been at the UCD Medical Center the past two years – I've been in the trauma center, E.R., oncology department. I go where they need me. They'll have me go to the blood bank, or I can feed patients or help with IDs or bandage-changing."
Sufia has three younger brothers. She also said that a lot of people for helping her on her journey through RCHS, including her parents.
"My family has definitely been supportive," said Sufia. "Mrs. (Susan) Smith has been my 10th and 12th grade teacher and also my AVID teacher the past four years," she said, singling out one member of the faculty. "All the teachers and counselors have definitely helped me. I strongly believe that each person makes an impact, no matter how small."
Sufia trades Broderick for New England in August.
Harvard University is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts – just across the river from Boston. Sufia said she is excited, as well as a bit nervous, about her new school, its climate and its culture.
For graduating senior Kevin Burkes, it's one step towards fulfillment of a long-time dream. After building a record on the football field and in the classroom at River City High School, and receiving a nomination from Congresswoman Doris Matsui, Burkes is on his way to the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
It's a rare thing for a River City Raider to make it to one of the nation's military academies.
"Since I was a young kid, that was my dream school to go to," he told the News-Ledger. "I have always been interested in planes, and always wanted to fly. The Air Force Academy was a place my dad showed me as a boy. And I always wanted to join something greater than myself."
Kevin lives in Southport with his dad and stepmom. He has four brothers and one sister.
Does he come from a military line?
"In my family, I have an uncle who served in the Air Force," Kevin responded. "My dad served in the Marines, my grandfather served in the Army and my great-grandfather served in the Navy. I'm the first in my family to go to a service academy."
Kevin, 18, played several different sports during his high school career. An outside linebacker for the school's football team, he expects to play ball for the Air Force – where he will try especially hard to beat the Naval Academy from Annapolis, Maryland, and the Army Academy from West Point, New York.
Kevin graduated with a 3.75 grade point average, as well as a record of participation in several extracurricular activities.
"I was part of the Interact Club (a volunteer service group) my sophomore and junior years," he said, "and part of the National Honor Society."
He was also a member of the Air Force JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps), which has a program on the River City campus.
Kevin gives credit to the school principal and many others for helping him succeed at RCHS.
"Definitely, my principal, Ms. (Katie) Nemer has been there supporting me," he said. "I wouldn't be able to name all the teachers who helped – most of the teachers have been with me in class, spending time and supporting me if I was struggling."
Successful academy graduates earn an officer's commission as well as a college degree. In return for their schooling and training, graduates are required to serve either six years in active duty (for non-pilots) or ten (for pilots), in addition to time as a reserve officer.
"Hopefully, I will have a career as a fighter pilot," said Kevin, citing one of the most-coveted after Air Force jobs.
Before entering the Academy, he will spend a year in a an academy prep school. Then he will join the Academy's class of 2019.
Military academies are famous for being especially hard on freshman cadets, with plenty of tough hazing by upperclassmen. At Colorado Springs, for example, freshmen cadets may not wear their backpacks on campus – they must carry them at arm's length. In the dining hall, they must sit on the front third of their chair, and may chew the food only a regulation number of times before swallowing.
And an ornery senior may choose to make their life difficult by, for example, commanding the newer cadet to "drop and give me twenty pushups."
"They can pretty much do that at any time," said Kevin. But he has received some friendly advice from fellow RCHS alumnus Trevor Langford, now heading into his senior year at the Air Force Academy.
"He says freshman year is going to be the hardest year. He says to know that it's all just a game, it's not personal, and to just take it one step at a time."
Articles like this one are made possible by the News-Ledger's subscribers and advertisers.
You can support local journalism, support this website, and see all the News-Ledger's articles every week! Subscribe to the News-Ledger newspaper. It's only $20 per year within West Sacramento – once a week, delivered to your mailbox.
You can even try it for free for two months if you live in West Sacramento. Just send your name and mailing address to email@example.com (offer open to new subscribers in West Sacramento ZIP codes 95691 & 95605).
Copyright News-Ledger 2014
Yolo County appoints new planning boss, merges several departments
From Beth Gabor, County of Yolo
Yolo County Administrator Patrick Blacklock has announced the appointment of Lautaro "Taro" Echiburu as director of the newly configured Department of Planning, Public Works & Environmental Services.
As of July 1, the division of Environmental Health will merge with the divisions of Planning and Building, Public Works and Integrated Waste Management to form the Department of Planning, Public Works and Environmental Services. For the next six months, Environmental Health will remain in its current location at 137 N. Cottonwood Street in Woodland. In 2015, it will join Planning and Building, located at 292 W. Beamer Street in Woodland, to provide its customers a more efficient process for permit applications.
Since 2003, Echiburu has served as planning director, interim planning director and special projects/long range/environmental planning manager for the City of Elk Grove. Prior to that, he was an associate planner with the County of Monterey.
"In addition to his planning expertise, Taro's background, skills and passion for Yolo County will help us continue to grow and strengthen our long term goal to protect open space and the environment," said Yolo County Administrator Patrick Blacklock in a Yolo press release.
Echiburu holds a bachelor's degree in marine science from Universidad Católica del Norte in Chile and a master's degree in international environmental policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey California.
"I am honored to have been selected director of Planning, Public Works & Environmental Services," said Taro Echiburu in a press statement. "As a Yolo County resident, I am eager to begin working with the county, and am excited to lead the department following the recent consolidation of functions."
Echiburu will assume his new responsibilities on June 30. The annual salary range for this position is $133,704 – $162,516.
Do you like what you see here?
You can support local journalism, support this website, and see all the News-Ledger's articles every week! Subscribe to the News-Ledger newspaper. It's only $20 per year within West Sacramento – once a week, delivered to your mailbox.
You can even try it for free for two months if you live in West Sacramento. Just send your name and mailing address to email@example.com (offer open to new subscribers in West Sacramento ZIP codes 95691 & 95605).
Copyright News-Ledger 2014
Two new factories for West Sac
West Sacramento hosts a pair of "new factory" events just over 48 hours apart this week. They're each within what local officials call the city's mission as a "food hub."
Monday morning, Shinmei U.S.A. corporation broke ground on its first production facility in the U.S. – a 28,000 square foot plant to manufacture gluten-free rice buns from local product.
The plant is located in Southport Business Park at 3015 Ramco Street, near Southport Parkway.
Shinmei plans to make rice bun products certified for organic, kosher and halal labels. Its representatives say that it will house up to 150 employees when it finishes its four planned stages of growth.
West Sacramento's proximity to the rice industry and the quality of its municipal water were both important to Shinmei's choice of the city for the new factory.
This afternoon (June 18), city officials and media will join a tour at the new TOMRA sorting plant, 875 Embarcadero Drive in West Sacramento. The company's Norwegian CEO, Stefan Ranstrand, and other officials will be on hand for a ribbon-cutting.
The company "serves growers, packers and processers for the fresh and processed food industries, locally and globally," reports spokesperson Kathleen Chance.
The new West Sacramento plant is 18,0000 square feet larger than TOMRA's previous facility, and will contain R&D labs and a test and demonstration center.
Do you like what you see here?
You can support local journalism, support this website, and see all the News-Ledger's articles every week! Subscribe to the News-Ledger newspaper. It's only $20 per year within West Sacramento – once a week, delivered to your mailbox.
You can even try it for free for two months if you live in West Sacramento. Just send your name and mailing address to email@example.com (offer open to new subscribers in West Sacramento ZIP codes 95691 & 95605).
Copyright News-Ledger 2014
Food Bank now collecting at West Sacramento library branch
The Yolo County Library system is helping to collect food for the Yolo Food Bank throughout the summer. This year's goal is to collect 2,000 pounds. You may drop off non-perishable foods at the Arthur F. Turner Branch Library, 1212 Merkley Avenue in West Sacramento, as well as other branches in the county and the library administration center, 226 Buckeye Street in Woodland.
Visit www.yolocountylibrary.org.
Copyright News-Ledger 2014


text:
I have experience in the SEO social bookmarking, on page optimization, directory submission.But for the better result guest posting and article submission is also important.So give me some advise and list of the websites which accepts free guest post.I have article ready to publish.
As far as Guest posting concerned, it depends on your niche market. for instance if you are good at enhancing website user experience, then you can write a good article on user experience & offer it to a popular well known Blog in the related user experience niche. If your article is valuable to them, then they don't hesitate to add your link back to your website, thus giving you link juice along with referral traffic.
Almost all top blogs accepts guest postings. It's only a matter of finding list of blogs related to your "market theme".
Please note that we do not allow lists of that sort to be published on Sitepoint Forums. You will need to carry out your own research in your own sector/niche to find the best sites for you.
If you can state the niche of your website, then maybe I can guide you. I have been researching for a lot of blogs these days that accepts guest posts, but they are all in the niche of SEO and online money making. What's your niche?
I want to guest post for web design and website development keywords.
If you want a list - search in Google. You can always ask blog owner if he accepts guest blog posts although most of big blogs will decline such offer.
Guest Posting is a perfect strategy to get quality backlinks. This actually helps in improving Google ranking for your website. For guest posting you have to yourself search blogs as per your requirement. For this, just type your keyword on Goggle and click on blogs..
May be this query will help you blog:keyword "write for us"
"Guest posting" means writing and publishing an article on someone else's website or blog. I offer this on my own site (occasionally) and do it quite a bit on other blogs with audiences that I want to speak to. It's a great way to connect with new readers and get your name out.
Guest Posting develops a good relationship with fellow bloggers with mutual benefit.First,find out a lister blogs.And then closely read those well-established blogs, leave valuable comments and develop a relationship with the blog's owner.Once you are comfortable with the information you know about the blogs come up with a killer article for submission as guest post.
For guest posting you need to search a list of blogs. For searching a blog write the keyword/blogs and if the blog has comments on, you can comment accordingly but don't just go and place your link and return back rather read the blog and comment with appropriate content.
It sounds like you want to guest post on someones blog so you can get a couple of back links to your website.
Who in their right mind would ever allow someone control of their website so they can upload some content that only exists for a backlink?
Those that answered "absolutely no one" are correct. The whole notion of guest posting to boost back links is insane and the only people practicing this without some kind of pre-existing blogging framework (and not one set up as a means for SEO) are SEO nutjobs that know as much about SEO as they know about writing quality blog posts.
The whole point of writing a blog is to make your reader have a better understanding of what you are discussing.When commenting you should try to contribute to that blog or it can be for appreciating the blogger.You should provide your website's link in such a way that it should act as a citation to the blog or you can say your link should provide a better understanding of what is posted.relevancy is what needs to be maintained when you place your link on a blog.
There are tons of site are offer free guest post opportunity or charge very minimum price but before choosing site don't forget to check the site niche, domain authority and alexa rank which will give you idea about site performance.
If your guest post is successful then definitely you can get more traffic. If you want to make successful post then quality is much important.
Just make a little search on google...you can find no of listed guest posting but before doing guest posting make sure your content should be quality and the content which you are posting in others blog should related to their niche....
Here I agree with all writers, I also searching for guest posting and I search in Google first, i found so many sites that allow guest posting for free.
You can google for guet posting blogs and post into those sites. Here are some of the sites :
When it comes to guest posting the thing that matters the most is your content and it's relevancy to the area where you are posting,Guest posting basically means writing your article on someone's website or blog.It is of great importance as it builds your relationship with other blogger and it is also of a great importance to a search engine because the link you have placed in your content would act as an inbound link to your website.There are many websites also which allow guest posting which you can easily find on google.
Guest blogging a best way to post content related website..........


text:
To participate in this event: 1. Read CME information. 2. View course materials. 3. Complete assessment. 4. Obtain CME credit.
Tako-tsubo or Ampulla, Transient Apical Ballooning
Date of Online Release: November 12, 2009Recent Review: July 2013Termination Date: July 31, 2015Credits: .5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ See link to Course Materials below.
Tako-tsubo apical ballooning transient cardiomyopathy is a rare, recently described entity that awaits full pathophysiological understanding. This presentation discusses a new concept to explain its pathogenesis and prove its nature as a condition of endothelial dysfunction.
Educational Objectives The intended result of this activity is increased knowledge. At the conclusion of this presentation, participants should be able to-
Target Audience The intended audience for this continuing medical education activity includes cardiologists, surgeons and internists.
Method of Instruction / Participation This online enduring material comprises slide sets with text and audio derived from a live cardiology grand rounds presentation with post activity assessment and evaluation.
Evaluation / Feedback We value your feedback; please send your suggestions and comments to the Office of Continuing Medical Education at Texas Heart Institute, firstname.lastname@example.com.
Paolo Angelini, MDTexas Heart Institute Houston, Texas
Texas Heart Institute is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Texas Heart Institute designates this enduring material for a maximum of .5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Estimated Study TimeThe estimated time to complete this activity, including review of the materials and completion of the course assessment is 30 minutes.
Repurposing Statement If you previously completed and received credit for the live CME-sponsored grand rounds entitled, Tako-tsubo or Ampulla, Transient Apical Ballooning, on October 9, 2009, please note that you will not receive credit for completing this activity. Participants who take part in an identical activity, even in order to validate learning or to clarify specific topics, cannot claim, nor will the Texas Heart Institute award, duplicate credit for the activity.
Disclosure of Relationships It is the intent of the Texas Heart Institute to ensure that its educational mission and its continuing medical activities in particular, should not be influenced by the special interests of individuals associated with its program.
This online enduring material comprises one presentation. By clicking on the course materials link, you acknowledge that you have reviewed the CME information provided above. After viewing the presentation, you must complete an assessment and evaluation to obtain CME credit for this activity.


text:
The construction timeline for the Sarasota National Cemetery has fallen behind schedule — a year-and-a-half behind.
The delay of the second phase of construction at the veterans cemetery occurred following the disqualification of four bidders, another bidder's protest and then a counter-protest by yet another bidder.
The Veterans Administration required that the winner of the construction contract for the Sarasota National Cemetery be a small business owned by a service-disabled veteran.
That company would be responsible for excavation, grading, landscaping, irrigation, electrical work and installation of pre-placed crypts on the State Road 72 property.
The VA awarded the initial contract to Orlando-based Blue Cord Construction in July 2009, but the Small Business Administration later determined that the company was not a small business, so it was disqualified.
The second-lowest bidder was also not a small business, and the third- and fourth-place bids were found to be technically unacceptable. They, too, were disqualified.
The fifth-lowest bidder, Specialized Veterans, of West Point, Ga., was awarded the contract by default.
However, another bidder, Tampa-based J2A2 JV, LLC filed a protest, claiming Specialized Veterans had a higher bid than it did.
The VA sustained the protest last April, and then Specialized Veterans filed a counter-protest of the challenge from J2A2 JV.
Because of all the problems, the VA decided to start the bidding process all over again.
The VA will hold a pre-solicitation meeting Sept. 23 at the Venice Community Center for potential bidders on a new construction contract.
Cemetery Director Wes Jones said after a winning contractor is selected, construction could begin by December or January and be completed 18 months later.
Although construction of the cemetery's second phase is delayed, Jones said that doesn't mean the facility is not being used.
"About 2,450 people have been interred," he said. "We just don't have the new buildings up."
One of the things the delay has affected is the construction of the columbarium, which will house the above-ground cremated remains.
Since July 2009, the Sarasota National Cemetery has been transformed. The former cow pasture now has a paved roadway, 10 acres of meticulously groomed grass and rows of headstones where veterans have been buried.
When each of the 10 construction phases is complete, which will not happen for decades, 100 of the property's 295 acres will be suitable for burial.
The cemetery is designed to accept veteran interments for up to 300 years.
Sarasota National Cemetery
• 295 acres located on State Road 72, four miles east of I-75
• Military honors will be provided upon request.
• Interments are free.
• All in-ground burials will have upright marble markers.
• All columbarium interments will have marble niche covers.
For more information, call 861-9840.
The Sarasota National Cemetery accepts the remains of:
• Any active-duty member of the Armed forces, who served honorably
• Any honorably discharged veteran
• Reservists and National Guard members who were entitled to retired pay at time of death
• Certain Filipino World War II veterans
• Spouses and minor children of eligible service members and veterans


text:
He's blunt, biased and very, very opinionated. His whole show seems to be a one-eyed, myopic view on what makes Britain 'Great'.
But miss out on the chance of catching an Al Murray show, complete with routinely brilliant meanderings, ramblings and ad hoc laughs, and the joke could be on you. The notoriously forthright 'Pub Landlord' is in town for a big show this Friday [2]. The character may not necessarily translate to the bars and venues of the UAE, but there's lots for comedy fans to enjoy - no matter the nationality. Al has proved it with sell-out shows here in 2010, 2011 and 2012, as well as big gigs in the southern hemisphere too.
The character originally came to life almost 20 years ago, in 1994, while Al was working with zany Englishman Harry Hill. The pair were looking for a decent character to wheel out as a support act for Hill, and the Pub Landlord was born.
Creator Al, actually a history graduate from the prestigious Oxford University [3], admits it was a fluke - but he hasn't looked back since. The 45-year-old says: "It still amazes me. I think if I had sat down to figure the character out I would never have come up with it, or over-complicated it. Dumb luck I guess."
That Bulldog spirit and 'Little England' attitude, where life was seemingly better in the olden days, will be familiar to many wincing Brits. But was there an inspiration for the character?
"He's not based on anyone in particular, although there are one or two things people have said and done that have gone into the mangler, but they'd never be recognisable - at least I hope not," says Al. Al's character has been labelled 'a national treasure' by critics back in the UK and has spawned books and TV series, while the creator himself has also gone on to front a radio show. Doesn't that success tempt Al to create other characters for a tour?
"Well, we did a sketch show a while ago with lots more, but for doing live stand-up he's by far the best and most direct way of doing stuff - he loves getting up there and telling people what to think."
Part of Al's winning formula is his ability to interact with the audience. But how does he come up with a routine for his shows? He says: "There's always a set in mind, though when I get to Dubai I know I may have to change things around! People are in a different headspace to at home.
"Dubai has that energy that expat places have, it's got lots of different kinds of people all trying to make a few quid - often as quickly as possible - and that means they're up for a laugh right now. They're also a bit nostalgic or homesick, things that are fun to play with."
Al's material is funny and clever. Take his musings on 'Great' Britain's adherence to rules. Germany and France are the butt of the observations, but so are Brits and human beings in general - any nationality would see the funny side of the crude stereotyping.
Gregarious, forthright and outspoken, has the character ever landed the real-life Al in trouble before? Not so. The general public are usually pretty decent to the father of two - unless he's on social media, it seems.
Al, a tweeter of some repute himself with more than a quarter of a million followers, says: "People tend to be lovely - except on Twitter where people are emboldened by anonymity."
Al's an old hand at comedy writing. He's worked on the famous Oxford Revue and also served as a writer for 'Week Ending' and 'Spitting Image'. If anyone is qualified to give career advice to budding comedians, it's Al. He says: "Never stop writing. Become obsessed, but also make sure you're interested in other stuff - it informs what you might do. And heckling: well I'm asked more questions about heckling than I've ever been heckled. I'd say to a new comic that unlike you, a heckler doesn't know what you're going
to say next."
Al Murray's 'The Only Way Is Epic' lands at Dubai World Trade Centre on Friday. Doors open at 6pm, visit doneevents.com [4] for tickets and information.
By Chris Fraser
[1] http://www.syndigate.info
[2] http://www.albawaba.com/entertainment/al-murray-british-comedian-496799
[3] http://www.ox.ac.uk/
[4] http://www.doneevents.com
[5] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ury2JJrHFYE
[6] http://www.7days.ae


text:
I damaged a rear wheel on my '01 1150GS.I bought a new rim from a dealer and it has some discoloration of clear coat,like a stripe or line across the rim.
there are no visible cracks.I called dealer and they said that's normal.
did any body see any thing like that?


text:
One of the first things to look for when IDing pines is the number of needles in each bundle: it should be 2, 3 or 5.
There is a tree key at the NHM. Here's a link that dives in at the start of the pines
- http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/british-natural-history/urban-tree-survey/identify-trees/tree-key/#tree-s1-1-12-23-25-30
Unfortunately, it doesn't get much further than 2/3/5-needled pines.
There are other keys online, which may get you further. But bear in mind:
- most ID keys do not cater for all species
- as a garden plant, it is quite possible yours is a particular cultivar of a species (hence less likely to be covered by an ID key)
Therefore you may not find an exact match.
And even if you do, it may be wrong. That's because some of the species omitted in the key may be identical in terms of the characters you would have looked at getting that far (they would be distinguishable by other characters).
Therefore, if you think you have found a match, I suggest you treat it as a possible ID, not a certain one.
...And you hoped it was going to be easy?!
Sorry to disappoint you!
Thanks For the clues mike. I was hoping that i would find a picture of a similar one on the net but no luck. My main concern is that i may have planted it to close to the house! It does look more of an ornamental pine maybe from a hot country? So may not survive in the bracing northwest!
That looks like a Cordyline to the left. If that survives, the pine probably will too.
If the climate is not completely to its liking, it may survive but be a bit stunted.
If it does well, though, you could indeed have planted it too close to the house (considering shading, root infiltration of drains, etc.)
It is not easy to be successful with moving pines once past the seedling stage. They suffer from premature root curtailment in pots, which can lead to weak root structure, leading to the tree blowing down in a storm. They also generally don't like root disturbance, so you'd have to dig a big hole and carefully extricate a large ball of soil round the root. When replanting, stake it well but only up to half-way up the trunk (that allows a bit of flex in the wind, which the tree needs to react to in order to develop strength in its trunk and the top of the roots.
Not an easy situation. You could take a lot of effort moving it, and still lose it.
I'd leave it where it is and see how it goes. If it gets to be a nuisance, you can prune the top in various ways (taking the top off, raising the crown, topiary...)
Good luck.
Hi mike
Managed to identify the pine its pinus sylestris fastigata. Regards Bill
OK, good // Mike


text:
Posts Tagged 'richard rohr'
No Comments
A Holy Week Prayer
2 Comments
I thank you, Lord Jesus, for becoming a human being
so I do not have to pretend or try to be God.
I thank you, Lord Jesus, for becoming finite and limited
so I do not have to pretend that I am infinite and limitless.
I thank you, crucified God, for becoming mortal
so I do not have to try to make myself immortal.
I thank you, Lord Jesus, for becoming inferior
so I do not have to pretend that I am superior to anyone.
I thank you for being crucified outside the walls,
for being expelled and excluded like the sinners and outcasts,
so you can meet me where I feel that I am,
always outside the walls of worthiness.
- Fr. Richard Rohr
Prayer For Japan
No Comments
Mysterious God,
Creator of atoms, earth, fire, water, and air,
We do not understand all that surrounds us,
We are only a part and a moment,
You are the All in All.
Surround, protect, and give ground
To our sisters and brothers in Japan.
They feel so afraid and so abandoned.
Yet we know You abandon nothing
That you have created,
Nor will you abandon them.
Love us all into the Larger Life
That Jesus revealed while being crucified.
With him and for them,
We pray in hope.
Written by Fr. Richard Rohr


text:
2012 Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights - Botswana
|International Trade Union Confederation
|Publication Date
|6 June 2012
|Cite as
|International Trade Union Confederation, 2012 Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights - Botswana, 6 June 2012, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4fd889602d.html [accessed 17 January 2018]
|This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Population: 2,070,000
Capital: Gaborone
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
87 (Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948))
98 (Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949))
100 (Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951))
105 (Abolition of Forced Labour (1957))
111 (Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958))
138 (Minimum Age for Employment (1973))
182 (Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999))
Reported Violations – 2012
Injuries: 5
Arrests: 2
Dismissals: 2,951
Documented violations – actual number of cases may be higher
Many workers lost their jobs during the year for their union activities or simply union membership, including bus workers and two postal workers leaders. Over 2,800 workers were dismissed after a long and bitter public sector strike during which excessive police force was used. Police reportedly threatened to use firearms during a strike at a secondary school.
Botswana still has one of the most stable and successful economies in Africa, yet it also faces high poverty rates, inequality, unemployment and HIV/AIDS. The country was rocked by a long, bitter public sector strike over pay and working conditions that began in mid-April and lasted eight weeks, rendering the health service barely functional.
The industrial action started after pay negotiations stalled. The unions were demanding a 16% pay rise after a three year wage freeze and a period of rising inflation. The government remained firm on its offer of 5%. Faced with the workers' determination, the government reacted violently.
Other issues of importance in Botswana are related to: informal and precarious work, migrants workers influx from Zimbabwe, Chinese investments, workplace accidents in the construction industry and the lack of labour inspection. Botswana is trying to reduce its economic dependence on diamonds.
AIDS is still a serious problem with an estimated 300,000 people living with HIV. The country has an estimated adult HIV prevalence among 15-49 year olds of 24.8%, the second highest in the world after Swaziland (UNAIDS 2010 Report). The loss of adults in their productive years has serious economic implications. The economic output of Botswana has been reduced by the loss of workers and skills; agriculture and mining (including diamond industry) are among the worst affected sectors. Migrant workers are among groups most vulerable to HIV infection.
Trade union rights in law
Trade unions have to operate in a harsh legal environment. The Registrar can deny union registration in the absence of some formal requirement, and there is no procedure for rectifying the deficiencies, resulting in the automatic dissolution and banning of the activities of the organisation. Furthermore, employers can petition the Commissioner of Labour to withdraw union recognition. The Trade Disputes Act allows the Minister to inspect the financial affairs of a union at any time.
Although unions have the right to bargain collectively both in the private and public sector, to do so they must represent a significant proportion of the workforce.
Finally, it is virtually impossible to call a legal strike: workers must follow complex arbitration and mediation procedures, and disputes are eventually referred to the Industrial Court, which comprises Ministry of Labour officials. The Commissioner of Labour must establish that an industrial dispute exists before strike action can be initiated. In addition, strikes are not allowed in essential services, the list of which largely exceeds the definition given by the ILO. The Government proposed some amendments of Trade Disputes Act in 2011. However, the draft law did not address many concerns raised by the ILO supervisory bodies and therefore violations of trade union rights persist.
Link to additional detailed information regarding the legislation on the ITUC website here
In practice
Collective bargaining still weak: Collective bargaining remains weak, as few unions meet the 25% representational criteria. The bargaining strength of unions in the public sector was sorely tested during the year, with the government refusing to give ground.
Bus owners hostile to transport workers union:
The Botswana Transport and Allied Workers Union (BTAWU) reported in January that many bus owners refused to recognise the union. When union leaders went to bus owners to sign a form recognising the existence of the union, most refused, using a variety of excuses, including that they did not know enough about the union.
However, some bus owners had refused to attend a meeting that the union had called to inform them about its operations and how it would be working with members and their bus bosses. Bus owners were given 30 days to recognise the union in their organisations. They were then called by the Commissioner of Labour to a hearing and they refused. Most did not even respond to the final warning that they were given by the Commissioner.
Many bus employees lost their jobs for joining or becoming officials of the union, including the union Chairperson, Kgomotso Papaye. He was stopped and ordered out of the bus at Mogobane Village, on his way to Gantsi, by the police who had accompanied the bus owner. Christopher Mogomotsi, the Secretary General of BTAWU, spoke of one bus owner who stopped the medical aid that he had been giving one of his former employees who broke his leg while on duty the moment he joined the union saying "his leg would rot at the hospital." The Chairperson of the Botswana Bus Operators Association, Gago Tlhaselo, told journalists that the union was not welcome by the bus owners, and said he believed the union would not last long.
The BTAWU was formed in October 2010 to address the deplorable working conditions faced by bus drivers including long hours, little or no rest time, no reimbursement of accommodation costs for overnight stays and risk of immediate dismissal if they sought a pay rise. They were also concerned about welfare issues, particularly vehicle safety.
Sacked for striking: The concrete products company Kwena Rocla dismissed 71 of its 170 employees on 21 February for going on strike over working conditions three days earlier. The strike was called after management failed to address workers' grievances over back pay, retrenchment, poor working conditions and repeated violations of labour laws by management. Letters written to the authorities had met with no response. Frustrations mounted after the company announced it would have to retrench up to 85 employees, without saying which staff would go. After the two day stay-away, the company decided to sack the 71 who took part in the strike, as well as discontinuing the contracts of 24 casual employees, many of whom had worked for it for over a year, and some of whom were owed a lot of back pay – up to 14 years in some instance.
Postal workers' union leaders dismissed: Gagosepe Manyanda and Wiseman Maruping, chairperson and deputy chairperson of Botswana Postal Services Workers Union (BPSWU), were dismissed on 28 January and 14 March respectively, by Botswana Post. The BPSWU believed they were dismissed because of Gagosepe Manyanda responded critically when a board member questioned the need to replace retiring staff. The union considered that the dismissals were an act of intimidation.
Action continues to reverse unfair dismissal of teacher's leader: The Botswana Teachers' Union (BTU) and Education International (EI) continued to submit regular information to the ILO on the case of Japhta Radibe. The BTU leader brought a case of unfair dismissal against the Director of Teaching Service Management after being forced into early retirement on 24 October 2007, but his case was finally dismissed by the High Court in March 2010. That decision effectively put an end to his leadership of the trade union, which the union suspect was the principal aim behind his dismissal. In March 2011, the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association again requested the government to engage the parties with a view to achieving a joint negotiated settlement of the dispute, including the possible reinstatement of Japhta Radibe.
Dismissed strikers get severance not reinstatement: In July, the government announced it would pay severance packages to all the public sector workers dismissed in the eight-week strike. The total number of workers dismissed was finally calculated to be 2,844 according to government figures. In addition to doctors and nurses, those dismissed included 338 cleaners, 56 catering, 22 records, 45 supply, 40 administration, and 20 information technology staff, 9 drivers, 8 craftsmen and 8 field assistants, none of whom are "essential" workers. In September, the public sector unions went to court to seek the reinstatement of all the dismissed workers.
Police threaten to shoot striking workers: Striking workers who had gathered at Gaborone Secondary School grounds on 13 June were ordered to vacate the premises by fully armed riot police. The police said the gathering was illegal, and gave the workers 15 minutes to vacate the grounds, which they gradually did. They were warned that if they failed to disperse, firearms would be used against them.
Union leader arrested: Pelotshweu Baeng, former president of the Botswana Landboard, Local Authority and Health Workers Union (BLLAHWU) was arrested on 25 May in Gaborone. He was taken to Serowe where he was held in police custody on charges of inciting violence, after striking public sector workers got involved in a scuffle with police. He denied the charges and was released on bail the following day. The charges against him were finally dropped in December owing to lack of evidence.
Police use tear gas, batons and rubber bullets against striking public sector workers: Police used tear gas, batons and rubber bullets to disperse striking public sector workers who had gathered in Gaborone on 7 June in protest at the lack of progress in negotiations. The protests continued the following day, when one worker was arrested. Some protestors reportedly sustained injuries in their clash with the police. About 3,500 striking workers held a rally in the capital, as part of the strike that began on 18 April.
At the end of May, the Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) finally agreed to a 3% rise, far short of their initial 16% demand, provided it was distributed in such a way that the lowest paid received 16%. They also demanded that the workers sacked two weeks earlier be reinstated and the "no work no pay" policy announced by the government be dropped. However, the government refused to agree to the union's terms.
Government declares more sectors "essential" services to weaken future strikes: The public sector unions suspended their strike action on 13 June, eight weeks after it had begun. No solution had been found but workers were facing hardship after two months out of work and the unions felt a period of reflection was needed to find a way out of the stalemate. After the strike, the Minister of Labour classified teachers, diamond workers, and the national vaccine institute as essential services, so that they cannot participate in future strikes. These categories of workers fall outside the International Labour Organisation's definition of essential services.
Government hires replacement labour during legitimate strike: A court ruled that the government was in violation of the Trade Dispute Act by bringing in replacement labour during the public sector strike that began on 18 April. The court ruling noted that the replacement labour was brought in before 14 days after the start of the unions' lawful industrial action. In his affidavit, the secretary general of Botswana Federation of Public Service Unions (BOFEPUSU), Andrew Motsamai, said in order to undermine the unions' collective action of withdrawing labour government had undertaken a massive recruitment exercise. Hundreds of people were brought in to replace, among others, cleaning, cooking, laundry and health services in hospitals. The court ruling was not fully heeded however. The publicity secretary of the BOFEPUSU reported that veterinary officers, who the Industrial Court had ruled were not essential services, were replaced with police officers at veterinary cordon gates after the court's ruling.


text:
Get the Magazine That Changed It AllSubscribe
Talk about mixing business with pleasure. When Atlanta hip-hop royalty Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz rolled into Playboy's Santa Monica studio to try their hands at the world's greatest job – Playboy photographer – they knew before the first flash that they were going to have a blast. Why? Because they brought a party with them. Walking through the facility, Lil Jon clutched his infamous bejeweled goblet and carried a case of his signature Crunk!!! energy drink under his arm. He also toted bottles of vodka and tequila. "We need some ice," he bellowed, as bandmates Big Sam and Lil Bo scrutinized the sexy bedroom set where they would be working. As the drinks flowed and music pumped, Lil Jon, Big Sam and Lil Bo worked together like a well-lubed machine. While one man snapped away, the other two assisted with directions and suggestions, helping pose Cyber Girl Cynthia Lea and tweak the set. After the last picture was taken, the hip-hoppers hopped into bed with Cynthia to take some group shots for posterity. Seemingly in awe of where he was, Lil Bo lied back, looked at his partners and hollered, "Fuck it now, I'm movin' to L.A."


text:
Date: Tue, 1 Nov 1994 20:06:17 -0600 From: firstname.lastname@example.com (Phil C. Scott) Subject: Complex Roots Dr. Math, We know it is possible to look at the graph of a polynomial and tell a great deal about its real roots by looking at the x-intercepts. What can be discovered about a polynomial's complex roots by looking at the graph? There seem to be some interesting "wiggles" at locations that appear to be related to the "average" of the complex pairs. Do you have any insights regarding this topic? Best Regards, Pre-Calculus Students J.C.M. High School Jackson, TN c/o Phillip Scott Phillip C. Scott Mathematics Teacher firstname.lastname@example.com
From: Ethan Lane Magness firstname.lastname@example.com Subject: Re: Complex Roots To: firstname.lastname@example.com (Phil C. Scott) Date: Tue, 1 Nov 1994 21:20:44 -0500 (EST) To be honest, I and two of my Math Doctor buddies have never heard of any such relationship but we are checking it out. If we get divinely inspired (i.e. find it in a book) we might have an answer soon. If not I am sure that one of the other math doctors will know. Rest assured we are on it. Ethan Subject: Re: Complex Roots To: email@example.com (Phil C. Scott) Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 11:44:11 -0500 (EST) Just wanted to keep you posted. I graphed a lot of functions last night but didn't find any such wiggles that you mentioned. Could you send along a few functions for us to look at? Also what exactly do you mean by the "average"? If you just mean normal old average, than what method are you using for graphing the complex number on the real plane? I am still looking through a few books, and the problem has been sent on to some more people who may be more help. Ethan - Doctor on Call
Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 18:33:57 -0600 From: firstname.lastname@example.com (Phil C. Scott) To: email@example.com Subject: Wiggles Dr. Math, We are using TI-82 calculators to graph the polynomials. Sometimes the "wiggle" is very easily seen. Sometimes the "wiggle" is hardly noticable. We have included some examples below. One example is: x^4 - 6x^3 - 22x^2 + 56x - 64 This polynomial has a pair of complex roots ( 1 + i ) and ( 1 - i ). The average of these two roots (R1 + R2)/2 is the real number 1. If you look at the graph of the polynomial, there is "hill" very near x = 1. We used the window: Xmin -10 Xmax 10 Xmax -600 Ymax 100 Another example is: 3x^4 - 4x^3 + 3x - 4 This polynomial has a pair of complex roots ( 1 + i*sqrt(5) )/2 and ( 1 - i*sqrt(5) )/2. The avg. of these two roots is the real number (1/2). If you look at the graph, there is a very slight "wiggle" near x = (1/2). We used the window: Xmin -3 Xmax 3 Ymin -5 Ymax 5 We suspect that there is some sort of clue about the complex roots of a polynomial that are visible on the real graph. This is what our original message was asking. We would appreciate any further responses. Thank you for your replies so far. J.C.M. Pre-Calculus Students Phillip C. Scott Mathematics Teacher email@example.com
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 18:30:44 -0600 From: firstname.lastname@example.com (Phil C. Scott) Subject: Dents&wiggles Dr. Math, The two previous polynomials we discussed were: (1) x^4 - 6x^3 - 22x^2 + 56x -64 (2) 3x^4 - 4x^3 + 3x - 4 In both cases the "wiggle" was near the average of the complex roots. We used the word "near" in our last message. In polynomial (1) the "wiggle" was a hill which according to our "maximum" program on the TI-82 was at the x-coordinate, x = .97051 (the avg. of complex roots = 1) In polynomial (2) the wiggle was not a hill...more like a dent. Anyway your value of x = (1/3) we agree with. It fits what we mean by "near". (complex root avg. = .5 ) We continue using the word "near" because we think the effect of the complex roots on the real graph is hard to formulate exactly. We have made the following study to look at the effect of moving the real root on out the number line. In each of the following polynomials the complex roots are ( 1 + i ) and ( 1 - i ) .... an avg. of 1. Notice what happens to the x-coordinate of the "wiggle" as the real root is moved to the right. In each of these cases the "wiggle" was a hill, and we used the TI-82 to find the x-coordinate of the maximum. POLYNOMIAL X-COORD. OF MAX (x^2 - 2x + 2)(x - 3) 1.333334 (x^2 - 2x + 2)(x - 4) 1.183504 (x^2 - 2x + 2)(x - 5) 1.131482 (x^2 - 2x + 2)(x - 6) 1.103195 (x^2 - 2x + 2)(x - 7) 1.085147 (x^2 - 2x + 2)(x - 10) 1.056082 (x^2 - 2x + 2)(x - 100) 1.005051 (x^2 - 2x + 2)(x - 1000) 1.000501 It appears to us that "wiggle" of these graphs is always influenced by the complex roots. What we are trying do is develop a graphing technique that will let us find the complex roots from the real graph. Thanks for your remarks so far. Any further help would be appreciated. J.C.M. Pre-Calculus students Phillip C. Scott Mathematics Teacher email@example.com
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 22:10:11 -0500 From: Stephen B Maurer email@example.com Subject: Re: Dents&wiggles Dear Mr Scott's Pre-Calculus Class, Thank you for sending your very interesting question to Dr Math. It's not one I had considered in all my years of looking at polynomials. I haven't seen the other answers sent by students here (I am a professor), so I hope I am not repeating things too much. Let c = a+bi and c* = a-bi be two conjugate roots of a polynomial p(x), Then the polynomial factors p(x) = A (x-c)(x-c*)(x-r1)...(x-rk), where r1, r2,...,rk are the other roots. Define f(x) = (x-c)(x-c*) = x^2 - 2ax + (a^2+b^2), g(x) = A (x-r1)...(x-rk), so that p(x) = f(x)g(x). Finally, let K = g(a). Then for x near a on the number line, p(x) ~ f(x)g(a) = K f(x). (*) In other words, for x near a, p(x) looks approximately like K f(x), which is a quadratic. Since the apex of this quadratic is at x=a, it has a wiggle (hump) near x=a. Thus p(x) ~ K f(x) also should have a hump near x=a. The second example you gave, p(x) = 3x^4 - 4x^3 + 3x - 4, only had a slight bend, not a hump. Why is that? Well, the analysis in (*) above is crude. p(x) is actually f(x) g(x), not f(x) g(a). If g(x) stays close to g(a), in the sense that g(x)/g(a) stays close to 1, then (*) is quite accurate, and there will be a hump. (Whether it opens up or down depends on the sign of K.) Otherwise the change in g(x) may overwhelm the quadratic nature of f(x). This is what happens in your second example. I can show (using some calculus, so I won't show it here) that the farther away the other roots are from a, and the smaller the imaginary part b of a+bi, the better an approximation (*) is, that is, the more likely you will see a hump instead of a mere bend. One more thought for you. You noticed that the critical point of p(x) and that of f(x) are not the same. On which side of the latter will the former be? (You need to know this to estimate the complex roots from what you see, which is the former.) The answer is determined by the graph of g(x) around x=a. For instance, if g(a)>0 and g(x) is decreasing around x=a, then the local minimum of p(x) will be to the right of the local minimum of f(x). Do you see why? I hope this is helpful. Stephen B Maurer Professor of Mathematics Swarthmore College __________ From: Ethan Lane Magness firstname.lastname@example.com Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 22:11:35 -0500 (EST) I'm impressed folks - this is good stuff. Here are a few thoughts and some comments maxima and minima. First, do you all know derivatives? If so, that could help. I have included the end of your series and it has given me a few thoughts that are forming but maybe there is something here that will help you in your very interesting search. First let us look at the graph of a parabola. The average of the roots of a parabola (without an xy term--ignore this if you don't understand it) is the x value of its vertex. Try a few; I think that you will agree. So for instance just look at x^2 - 2x +2 which has imag roots, and their average is one, as you noted. And that is the minimum, as I stated above--it's true for all parabolas. So now that you have tested a few parabolas and you believe me, let's look at this sequence here. As the numbers (x - n) get bigger the hump you noticed gets closer and closer to one. One way to think about this is that near zero (let's say within -3 to 3) the x-n is just some big scaling factor that really doesn't change the shape very much; it just scales it higher. I know that at x = 0 scaling will be -n, and at x = 3 it will be three minus n, but for n pretty large (>1000) this really isn't a very big scale difference. I recommend that you take two calcs and set both x ranges to be xmin=0 xmax=3 and on the first on ymin=1 ymax=3.5 and graph x^2 - 2x +2 and on the second ymin=1000 ymax=3500(scale 1000) and graph (x^2 -2x +2)(x+1000) I used + instead of minus so that they would both be pointing up - it doesn't really affect the idea. This is not a full answer but I think that this is a step in the right direction. I think these correlations have something to do with the fact that anyplace on a curve can be approximated by a parabola. (See Taylor polynomials--ignore if you don't understand.) So in particular we would expect the wiggles to be close to the average of the roots of the parabola that approximates it, which in some particular case and at some particular places happens to be the one gotten by (x - r1)(x-r2), where r1 and r2 are the imaginary roots in quesion. Hope that this is somewhat helpful. If not, please write back and give us another try. I will keep thinking, as I know will many other people. Ethan Doctor on Call (but not really knowing what he is doing) __________ Date: Sun, 6 Nov 1994 12:05:17 -0500 To: email@example.com (Phil C. Scott) From: "John Conway" email@example.com (by way of email@example.com (Stephen Weimar)) (Well, you guys really hit pay dirt in the responses you've received! You may not realize just how amazing these are until you hear that Prof. Maurer is a professor at Swarthmore who is a leader in the field of Discrete Math and John Conway, who wrote this letter, is one of the most famous mathematicians living. I hope you'll contact both of them personally to let them know what you've done with their answers and what you think of their communication to you. -- steve) A very interesting question! At first I misread it as asking what we can tell about the non-real roots by looking at the x-intercepts of its graph, so let me answer that one first - essentially nothing! (this is because if a,b,c,... are the x intercepts of y = f(x), then all we can tell is that f(x) = (x-a)(x-b)(x-c)... times some g(x) which has only non-real roots, and of course, you can make the roots of g(x) be any collection of pairs of conjugate non-real complex numbers. Now back to the original question. I think we must add the information that the degree of the polynomial is some known number, if we are to read off information very easily. Also, let's think what we mean by "looking at the graph". If we are allowed to make very precise measuresments on the graph, then we can work out (in theory) just what function f(x) is, and so all its roots are actually determined by the EXACT shape of the graph. If you know the degree is n, you only need to measure n+1 points to be able to work out, at least in theory, all the coefficients of f(x). So are question is really a rather loose one - just take a casual glance at the picture, for example, see where the wobbles are, and use what you see to produce an "engineer's guess" at the complex roots. Let's start with n = 2, and the equation y = (x-a)^2 + b. I'll suppose b > 0 to stop the roots from being real. Of course the roots are a +- root(-b), so we look for geometrical interpretations of a and b. Easy - a and b are the x and y coordinates of the minimum. So First easy theorem. If y = x^2 + ... has non-real roots, these are a +- root(-b), where (a,b) is its minimum. Corollary: If y = kx^2 + ... has non-real roots, these are a +- root(kb), where (a,b) is the minimum. So we need also an engineer's way of evaluating k. Here it is - k is the amount y would increase if you went 1 unit left or right of the minimum. This gives us the engineer's rule for quadratics: The real part is the x-coordinate of the minimum. The geometric part is the geometric mean of two numbers you can see in this little picture: | | | | \ / ______\________/______ \ / \____/ _______________________ x-axis The two numbers I mean are the height of the minimum, and the "extra height" above that, that's cut off by the horizontal line that meets the curve 1 unit left and right of the minimum. I never knew this before, although I did know that something vaguely like it was true. Now what about more general polynomials f(x). Well, really the quadratic case is all there is, in a sense, if you're only taking a rough glance. Let me explain why. Take your curve y = f(x), and fix your attention on a given minimum. Let y = q(x) be the best quadratic approximation near that minimum. Let's suppose for simplicity that the minimum is at x = 0. Then the curve y = a + bx + cx^2 + dx^3 + ... will be quite well-approximated by y = a + bx + cx^2 (period) near zero. So at the complex roots of the latter equation, f(x) will be quite near zero, so we can expect nearby roots of f(x) itself. So my exact "engineer's rule" for the quadratic will work roughly for any polynomial. However, you should be prepared to work at the appropriate scale. Let me discuss this. If I take a horizontal line a bit above the minimum (a,b) that cuts the curve roughly where x = a +- c, then the imaginary parts of the corresponding pair of roots will be the geometric mean of the two heights I mentioned, MEASURED IN UNITS OF c. How can you tell roughly what is the right scale? Well, at least you can tell if it's going wrong. If the horizontal line you take hits the curve at a - c1 and a + c2, where c1 and c2 are very different, you know the quadratic part is NOT a sufficiently good approximation out to this distance, and you'd better beware. On the other hand, if the curve looks very like a parabola for quite a long time around the minimum, you can guess the corresponding pair of roots with fair confidence. In summary: if you are allowed to make precise measurements on the curve, then all the roots are in fact completely determined. If near some minimum the curve looks like a parabola out to a distance d (say), and my quadratic "engineer's rule" gives roots whose imaginary parts are less than d, then it's probably going to be pretty close to the truth. What information can you get from other features, say from points of inflection? Well, these first arise when f(x) is a cubic polynomial, so you'd answer this question by working out in detail what happens in the cubic case, and then if f(x) doesn't look like a quadratic for long enough, but does look like a cubic, you could confidently use your "cubic engineer's rule". John Conway
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 1994 22:39:43 -0500 To: firstname.lastname@example.com (Phil C. Scott) From: email@example.com (Stephen Weimar) Subject: Re: Conway Thanked Both my classes sent short thank you notes to Professor Conway. The students were thrilled to receive the replies from the professors. Great! This makes it all the easier to give more. We look forward to future conversations. Thanks to all those involved with the Dr. Math project. The students will remember this for a long time. Our pleasure. -- steve Best Regards Phil Scott
Date: Sun, 6 Nov 94 15:42:11 EST From: "John Conway" email@example.com Subject: Re: Complex Roots Yes, I learned something, too! I already vaguely "knew" something about how the complex roots were related to the shape of the graph, but had never thought about it in detail. But to explain something to somebody else, you MUST really understand it yourself, and in full detail. This is why I LIKE all of elementary mathematics, even though I really AM a professional mathematician. In this case, I sat at this machine typing out an answer (I'm quite proud of the fact that I just came up with the answer as I was writing it - I only had to step away breifly to the blackboard to draw the general quadratic - otherwise it came straight out). It might help to follow my thoughts, which were: i) CAN you do this? Is the desired information really there? This led to my remarks that from the x-intercepts you CAN'T determine the non-real roots, but from the exact curve you CAN. (That, to me, was the trivial bit.) ii) A minimum just above the x-axis obviously (to me) corresponds to a conjugate-complex pair of roots with small imaginary part (because if it were just below, they'd be real, and coincide if just one, and I know how pairs of real roots become pairs of complex ones "through" a coalescence). The standard case of this is the quadratic one, so we'd better iii) work out the exact rule in the quadratic case! (which I'd never done before). This wasn't too hard. Then iv) (which I really was aware of during ii) and iii)), the general case really IS the quadratic case, because in any given small region, your polynomial will be quite well approximated by a quadratic. Finally v) (which I'd never thought about before) can we guess roughly how far this quadratic approximation will work? If f(x) = q(x) + r(x), where q is the quadratic approximation to f, then (supposing the real part of the roots is 0), we can expect the size of r(iy) to be about the same as that of r(y) [because the dominant term of r(y) will probably be the first one, eg 5y^3, and this doesn't change in size if we replace y by iy]. This led to my rule of thumb that if it looks like a parabola out to a distance of about d, then our engineer's guess will be OK so long at it gives imaginary parts less than about d in size. Then as a sort of PS I added vi) some general remarks about how one would develop better approximate guesses corresponding to higher-degree approximations. [All immediate to a professional.] What's hard about learning mathematics (for a student), or teaching it (for a teacher) often is this "feel of the problem" stuff. What's this problem REALLY about? - sort-of-thing. It seems to be easy to learn how to manipulate formulae, but very very very hard to develop this "feeling" skill, and so it must obviously be very hard for teachers to learn how to teach this "feely" activity. Some ideas I use in this connection might be valuable. [Of course, I usually teach VERY bright undergraduates and graduate students - not exactly a typical audience - but I'm also quite good at teaching more typical "students", right down to very young children. I honestly believe that the real teaching problems are almost always the same, so I'll pass on my ideas anyway.] When you teach something involving a formula (or, if we're talking about very young children, some concept that's a bit more abstract than they're used to), always 1) Find a picture that relates to the formula, and teach both at once. If there are several really different "pictures", teach a few of them (unless this might lead to "overload". PLEASE do that! 2) Have lots of examples involving these pictures, and get the students to understand how the picture changes as the parameters in the formula [or maybe, the formula itself] changes. 3) Find what are the most important parameters! I mean the ones the engineer wants to know first, so that he can tell whether the cost is going to be millions of dollars, or only thousands. Don't worry too much about the things that will only affect the "conceptual price" by a few cents. [To use an example that came up in another one of these problems, every adult knows which are the most important digits in a price of $496:25. By the way, in that "rounding" problem, one should of course use the children's own developing "feel" for real prices - this might very well help them to stop rounding (say) this price to the nearest $10 and getting $90.] 4) Use any "feel" for things that your students have already developed, for example this feeling for real prices, or what you've taught them in similar contexts earlier. [This will also help them to firm up on those earlier things.] 5) Occasionally ask the students for information about teaching methods! (I've done this with 3-year-olds to very good effect.) Of course, you don't just ask them how you should teach such-and-such. And only for quite articulate students should you even ask which way they thought was best, when you've done something two ways, or done two similar things in different ways. But any good teacher will find all sorts of ways to "ask" the students which way was best. Children love to see their suggestions taken seriously, and affect the entire class. Marx was a great philosopher, even though not all his ideas have stood the test of time. One I think that really has is when he said something like "Honesty, and Sincerity are two of the most important things in life." "So, if you can fake those, you've got it made!" I often follow Groucho's advice in teaching. I often teach when I'm tired, or teach subjects with which I'm thoroughly bored. So I just fake liveliness, or fake a total fascination with the subject I'm bored with. Often, when a student suggests some way I should do things, I "fake" a way of following this suggestion. The easiest one is when Sally suggests something I was going to do anyway. I say - "great" "We'll do it Sally's way! What a really wonderful idea!" and then every now and then call this "Sally's method". I have no moral qualms whatever about that one. The one that might get me burnt in Hell, or at least earn the disapproval of other teachers, now I'm letting the cat out of the bag, is when Jim suggests something, and I really don't do it, but find a way to pretend I do. In defence, let me say that I only do this sort of thing when Jim's suggestion is really a good one, given Jim's knowledge, but as a practical matter wouldn't quite work. The fakery is usually to modify Jim's idea a bit, to the nearest idea that does work, and quietly ignore the necessary modifications. In the hope that it will help me to gain absolution for this sin, let me say that I'm usually not quite so enthusiastic about Jim's ideas as I was for Sally's. I might say "That's a very good idea, Jim. Let's see how it works." but after that, it's just like my treatment of Sally's. Of course the thing that really pleases me no end is when Manuel produces a teaching idea (or any other idea) that I've never even heard of before. But strangely enough, Manuel's idea doesn't get too much more of a star billing than Sally's. The reason is partly that it really was very clever indeed for Sally to come up with even the standard idea,. so she fully deserves her praise. Another reason is that (probably) Manuel is a student who's getting plenty of praise already. Often more than half of the students produce ideas that really do affect the way the course goes, and most of the rest get that impression even though it might not quite be true. Suddenly, I'm feeling terribly guilty about this little fakery - maybe I should stop doing it? John Conway __________ Date: Wed, 9 Nov 1994 12:17:06 -0500 To: "John Conway" firstname.lastname@example.com From: firstname.lastname@example.com (Stephen Weimar) Subject: re: fakery I think an essential part of teaching is acting, and there are many forms of it which are just right for the classroom, but probably the most important is recreating the experience of the learner. If I didn't do this, I would not find the language that works for my audience half the time and I would also misinterpret more than I already do what the student meant. For those situations where we are covering well-trodden ground, acting is called for and it's a great art that not only is good for the students but renews the possibility of new insights for the actor as well. One of my main interests as a teacher is to model the process of thinking and this means externalizing what is most often hidden from sight. Running excitedly with Jim's idea but taking it to a place different than he anticipated is not fakery but representing the process we've been through. By being enthusiastic about Jim's idea you convey the notion that it's good to trust one's instincts, than a good starting place is not necessarily what one uses in the final analysis. By thinking out loud and showing what to do with it to make it work, you show how to shape good ideas from a reasonable beginning. If I were you I would keep up the acting and let them see the process of deciding why something needs to be modified. They would not be very bright students if they did not know you were acting and did not appreciate the performance. --steve
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 1994 15:44:06 -0600 From: firstname.lastname@example.com (Phil C. Scott) To: firstname.lastname@example.com Subject: Thank You Steve, Could you forward the following notes to: Professor Stephen B. Maurer Dear Professor Maurer, Thank you for your response to our question about polynominals that have complex roots. We are still working and hope to find out more information concerning this problem. We will keep you updated on any further conclusions. Sincerely, Amy Britt Cheryl Cole LaShunda Smith P.S. Thanks again on behalf of Mr. Scott's Pre-Calculus class. Professor Maurer, We would like to add our thanks to the thank you from second period for the help you have given us with our question. We know how valuable your time is. We are not, however, finished working with our problem. We will send you our further results as we find them. We Hope!!! SINCERELY, Tavares Newsom Chris Boyd (4th period) Phillip C. Scott Mathematics Teacher email@example.com
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 1994 15:32:55 -0600 From: firstname.lastname@example.com (Phil C. Scott) Subject: More Wiggles Dr. Math We are still working on looking at real graphs and deciding something about the complex roots from the wiggles on that graph. Two pairs of complex polynomials produce a 'W' shaped graph with relationships shown below. Effect of two pairs of the same complex numbers on the graph: polynomial complex roots values of extrema -------------------------------------------------------------- (x^2+4x+5)(x^2-4x+5) -2+-i 2+-i (+-sqrt(3), 16) (x^2+6x+10)(x^2-6x+10) -3+-i 3+-i (+-sqrt(8), 36) (x^2+8x+17)(x^2-8x+17) -4+-i 4+-i (+-sqrt(15), 64) (x^2+10x+26)(x^2-10x+26) -5+-i 5+-i (+-sqrt(24), 100) (x^2+12x+37)(x^2-12x+26) -6+-i 6+-i (+-sqrt(35), 144) (x^2+20x+101)(x^2-20x+101) -10+-i 10+-i (+-sqrt(99), 400) (x^2+30x+226)(x^2-30x+226) -15+-i 15+-i (+-sqrt(224), 900) (+-a, +-i) (+-h, k) Complex Roots are: (a+-i),(-a+-i) where a = (sqrt(h^2 + 1)) This works as long as the complex pairs are the same distance from zero. We are still working on what happens to the graphs of 4th degree polynomials when the pairs of complex roots are different distances from zero. Other members of our class have looked at other special cases. We suspect there will be no simple method for always finding complex roots from a real graph, but is has been interesting looking at this question. Thanks to all the people at Dr. Math for taking time to respond. We learned some helpful things from all your messages. We wanted to let you know something about what we had discovered since our last message. Sincerely, J.J. Guy, Brian Benton, Andy Moorehead J.C.M. Pre-Calculus Class Phillip C. Scott Mathematics Teacher email@example.com __________ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 15:01:17 -0600 From: firstname.lastname@example.com (Phil C. Scott) Subject: Complex Roots Dr. Math, MORE ON WIGGLES. Our textbook gives examples of graphs of polynomials with roots of multiplicity 3. For example, y=(x-2)^3 where the slope of the graph levels out at (2,0). We have noticed a curious "wiggle" which we are calling "pseudomultiplity 3" when the real root remains at x=2 and a pair of complex roots 2+bi, 2-bi is included. It seems that the slope of the polynomials is the product of the "i's" of the complex roots of "pseudo- multiplicity 3" problems, as you can see in our table. For example, in (2+i)(2-i), the product of the i's, +i and -i is 1. Here are some other problems we used in our research. Equation Conjugate pair Slope at (2,0) _______________________________________________________ (x-2)(x^2-4x+5) (2+i)(2-i) 1 (x-2)(x^2-4x+8) (2+2i)(2-2i) 4 (x-2)(x^2-4x+13) (2+3i)(2-3i) 9 (x-2)(x^2-4x+20) (2+4i)(2-4i) 16 (x-2)(x^2-4x+17/4) (2+1/2i)(2-1/2i) 1/4 _______________________________________________________ Example problem: Graph x^3-6x^2+16x-16 Window Xmin=0 Ymin=-6 Xmax=3 Ymax=1 Use the TI-82 tangent feature to find the slope. the slope is very close to 1 Since this is the product of the "i's" the "i's" are then +i and -i Because 2 is an obvious root, the complex roots are (2+i) and (2-i). Do you see any problems in our reasoning? So we believe that if a graph of this type intersected the x axis at (-4,0) and the slope was say 1/4 then the three roots would be -4, -4 + .5i, -4 - .5i. We realize that this method works only for a special type of graph, but we think it is interesting. We just wanted to thank all the nice people at Dr. Math for their previous messages...and to let you know that we had some more fun with the problem. Thanks Again! Tabitha Long Houston Ballard Laketha Maclin Darius Brown Andy Lino Danny Joiner JCM H.S. Pre-Calculus Phillip C. Scott Mathematics Teacher email@example.com
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 1994 12:08:12 -0500 To: email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com From: Stephen B Maurer email@example.com Subject: Re: Complex Roots To JCM H.S. Pre-Calculus, Hmmm, you keep discovering interesting things. Questions about slopes of curves are usually best answered using calculus, and using calculus I was able to prove that your conjecture is correct: the slope of (x-a)(x-(a+bi))(x-(a-bi)) at x=a is always b^2. In fact, the relationship you discovered is more general than that. The real root doesn't have to be the same as the real part of the complex roots. E.g., f(x) = (x-17)(x-3-4i)(x-3+4i) (1) has slope 4^2 at x=3. Indeed, f doesn't have to be a cubic, or have to be "monic" (coefficient of highest power is 1), and there is still a relationship, though more complicated. However, as I understand it, you are trying to see if you can identify complex roots just by looking at the real-valued graph. Once you move the real root away from the complex roots (as in Eq (1) above), then the relationship I am talking about doesn't seem to help you identify the real part of the complex roots. Somehow you must get that information, and only then do you know where to look at the slope, and only then does this slope tell you the imaginary part of the complex roots. Keep up the good work. Prof Maurer
This page was created by the Forum SmartPage suite of web tools.


text:
Copyright © University of Cambridge. All rights reserved.
Players pass cards to other team members in order to help one another complete their set.
Use an observer to check that the team obeys the rules and to keep a record of when members of the team help someone else (rather than, for example, when they just pass a piece on without looking at what the other person or the team actually needs).


text:
Location: Pest Management ResearchTitle: Russian olive – a suitable target for classical biological control in North America? Author
|Delaney, Kevin
|Espeland, Erin
|Norton, Andrew
|Sing, Sharlene
|Keever, Kenny
|Baker, John Lars
|Cristofaro, Massimo
|Jashenko, Roman
|Gaskin, John
|Schaffner, Urs
Submitted to: International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/3/2011
Publication Date: 9/14/2011
Citation: Delaney, K.J., Espeland, E.K., Norton, A., Sing, S., Keever, K., Baker, J., Cristofaro, M., Jashenko, R., Gaskin, J.F., Schaffner, U. 2011. Russian olive – a suitable target for classical biological control in North America? In: Y. Wu., T. Johnson, S. Sing, S. Raghu, G. Wheeler, P. Pratt, K. Warner, T. Center, J. Goolsby, R. Reardon, editors. Proceedings of the XIII International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds, September 11–16, 2011, Waikaloa, Hawaii. USA. USDA-FS-FHTET, USA, p. 352. Interpretive Summary:
Technical Abstract: Projects to develop biological control solutions against invasive plants are mid- to long-term endeavours that require considerable financial support over several years. Discussions of concerns and potential conflicts of interests often occur when biocontrol agents are first being proposed for release into the environment. Such late discussion, which in some cases result in delays or in the halt of ongoing biocontrol programs, has led to uncertainty, confusion and frustration among the various stakeholder groups, including the biocontrol practicioners. Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia), a small tree or multi-stemmed shrub native to south-eastern Europe and Asia, was introduced to North America in the late 19th century as a horticultural plant. It has since spread into the environment, particularly along river courses where it now occupies similar habitats as tamarisk. To date, Russian olive has become a declared noxious weed in four US states. Because of the perceived benefits of planting Russian olive in some regions, developing a classical biological control program against Russian olive could give rise to a conflict of interests. To address and discuss potential conflicts of interests right at the onset of this new biological control initiative, we recently created a platform to collect, analyze and disseminate science-based information on Russian olive. Particular emphasis is being put on the following questions: i) what are the economic, environmental or social impacts caused by Russian olive in North America or in other parts of the invaded range, ii) what are the goals of Russian olive management, and iii) is classical biological control a useful and feasible way to achieve these management goals? We will present first results of our data analysis and propose a way forward to reach common ground among key stakeholders regarding under which conditions Russian olive is a suitable target for biological control.


text:
Hello, dearest SPEW.
When reading the introduction of our most recent and adorable newbie, I realised how that particular thread is getting a bit outdated. Several members have had to leave us for various reasons, and most of those who introduced us early on should probably update our information anyway. So, instead of deleting the introductions written by our old members and asking everyone else to update theirs, my dear Vice President and I decided that it was time for a new thread. The introduction form is slightly altered from last time, and we hope that you will enjoy filling it out as much as we enjoyed putting it together!
My apologies to all newbies for the slight inconvenience. If anyone would like to view the old thread, it has been transferred to the SPEW Archive.HTML Code:[b]Name:[/b] [b]Penname/Author's Page:[/b] [b]House:[/b] [b]Why You're In SPEW:[/b] [b]Favourite Non-HP Reading Material:[/b] [b]What You Do When You're Not Online:[/b] [b]What Kind Of Stories You Tend To Write/Be Known For:[/b] [b]Favourite MNFF Authors/Stories:[/b] [b]Favourite Pairings/Characters:[/b] [b]Favourite Story You've Written:[/b] [b]Three Random Things About Yourself:[/b]
Now - have fun!


text:
I adore traveling. I just wish I could bring my bedroom with me. Yes, I am one of those obnoxious people who requires a meticulously controlled environment in order to sleep.
However, the lure of lush, rolling Irish fields and fresh Parisian baguettes proved stronger than my lust for sleep, so my friend and I trotted off to Europe with our American-sized backpacks stuffed with travel essentials: Cliff bars and grandiose, overly-romantic expectations.
First stop: the bonny hills of Ireland.
First misconception shattered: English is English, wherever you go.
Hoping to ease into the foreign language experience by commencing our European jaunt with an English-speaking country, I was flummoxed to discover that I didn't understand a word from the Irish. I knew we were speaking the same language … it just didn't sound like it. It literally sounded like Mandarin to me. Is there a Rosetta Stone Irish course for English speakers?
After an eternity of wandering through the cobblestone streets of Dublin, we arrived at our hostel. Note to travelers: booking hostel lodgings is similar to online dating. No matter how nice the fellow is, you don't know what his family is like until it's too late. Our hostel was tolerable enough, as far as hostels go. It was our roommate that would prove to be troublesome.
Following a refreshing cleanse of travel grime (courtesy of the bathroom floor, which was a standing lake), we settled into our room and cheerfully made small talk with one of our roommates, a Polish fellow, who unfortunately turned out to be a Potential Roommate #1: The Crazy Gabber.
Small talk evolved into big talk, as he proceeded to tell us his entire life story. Unlike Irish English, I lamentably understood every word of Polish English, down to each excruciating detail of how he was working in Ireland in order to send money to his impoverished Polish family. A charming story, really; just not after 24 hours of being awake.
Eventually, the now-pressing need for sleep overwhelmed our good manners, and we stopped responding to him. He kept talking. We told him to shut up. He kept talking. In a sleep-deprived delirium, I threw my water bottle at him, hoping the physical force would convey the verbal message he obviously wasn't understanding.
I don't feel guilty about that act of violence. He deserved it, and besides, it was filtered water. It was probably good for him.
And still, the relentless fiend kept gabbing. Finally, we resorted to 'playing dead.' I can sympathize with hunted animals on a whole new level now: the clammy desperation, the dread of blowing your cover, the rustlings of the nearby hunter, the chilling sound of the weapon cocking (which in this case was a verbal flood that threatened to implode my brains with the ferocity of a bullet).
It worked. His torrent of verbal vomit slowed, when he finally realized we must be dead. No point in wasting a riveting story on corpses!
The next morning, we requested and moved to a private room. After spending the day jaunting about Dublin, we returned to the hostel to find our Polish friend speaking loudly to the receptionist, and then viciously point at us when we entered. The receptionist asked where we had been that day.
Apparently, 2,000 euros had been stolen from Polish Man's locker in our former room the night we shared it with him. We appeared highly suspicious, as we requested to move to a different room after the robbery occurred. Thankfully, they realized we were Americans and the Marines would launch an international rescue operation if they so much as fined us, so we got off the hook.
Thoroughly scarred by our hostel experience, we opted for hotels for the rest of our European adventure. They say the best part of traveling is the people you meet and the stories you hear. I generally agree, with the caveat that the bonding occurs in a pub, or on a subway – NOT in your bedroom.
I now travel with a stainless steel water bottle: gabbers, beware!


text:
I finished porting the software for my robot from the
OOPic to PICBasic Pro. I am happy with the improved speed
of the code. I had a problem with the ADCin command, so I
had to do it
manually. I feel this was probably a good thing as it
forced me to deal directly with the PIC registers and read
the datasheet.
Next I need to build a better chassis. The current one was just for testing and is held together with double sided tape and velcro.


text:
Brigitte Bardot channelling my general feelings right now.
A few things in list form.
First. I am an actual doctor now, guys. As many of you already know, I got my examiners' reports a few weeks ago and after writing in a few amendments to make it clearer and more nuanced, it was 100%, completely, totally done. The Arts Faculty have confirmed it, it's on the University of Sydney Library (link in Press if you're keen to read it aka why are you still reading this sentence? GO, it's v. brilliant) and so I have finished my PhD.
Second. I wrote a post a little while ago that some of you saw (and I'm so sorry to people whose RSS feeds told them there was something new and then you found a 'sorry, page not found' where there should have been a post called 'future doctor'. Well, I posted a little thing and it was kind of a goodbye but it was a bit mawkishly sentimental and also, I wasn't ready to say goodbye. And I wrote some awkward "memories" things in it and ew. Let's blame it on getting-my-reports euphoria and forget it ever happened.
But I've been thinking carefully about the future of this blog ever since I submitted, and while I love the freedom Fashademic offers me to write about anything and nerd out over everything, I'd like to keep it as an archival document spanning the PhD experience, beginning to end, so this will be my last post here.
Third. BUT this is not the end of us, ok? I mean, it doesn't have to be: I'm writing columns on fashion at The Conversation, I'll be listing my academic publications on my Academia.edu profile, and everything will be gathered together at fashademic.com (including a rambly blog of Deborah Turbeville photos and bits and pieces of thinking about self and stuff). I love thinking and writing, and I love that you've been reading along all this time: thank you! It really makes me really happy that you have, and I want to keep sharing work with you.
Well that's everything for now, and so to end with a quote from Pride and Prejudice (because why not?), "let us say not farewell, but as the French have it, au revoir!"


text:
National Evaluation of the Fighting Back Program: General Population Surveys, 1995-1999 (ICPSR 3801)
Principal Investigator(s): Saxe, Leonard, Brandeis University; Kadushin, Charles, Brandeis University; Tighe, Elizabeth, Brandeis University; Rindskopf, David, City University of New York; Beveridge, Andrew, City University of New York
This study was designed as part of a multi-method assessment of Fighting Back, a community-based drug abuse prevention program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Fighting Back was implemented in 14 medium-sized, primarily urban communities in 12 states. To assess whether the Fighting Back program led to changes in alcohol and other drug (AOD) patterns and attitudes, the evaluation conducted general population surveys of residents aged 16-44 in 12 Fighting Back program communities and 29 comparison communities. Conducted in three waves -- 1995, 1997, and 1999 -- these surveys constitute the Community Survey (Part 1). To provide comparative national trend data, the National Survey (Part 2) was administered, concurrently with the second and third waves, to a national sample of the non-rural general population aged 16-44 using the same survey instrument as the Community Survey. The strategy for question design was to replicate previously validated questions from national surveys of substance use and dependency, including the National Household Survey of Drug Abuse, the National Comorbidity Study, and the Monitoring the Future study of American youth. Respondents reported their AOD use, their friends' AOD use, their attitudes about AOD use, how their friends felt about AOD use, and their perceptions of drug sales, crime, and other aspects of their neighborhood. In addition, the surveys collected information on volunteerism, crime victimization, health and mental health, knowledge and utilization of AOD treatment services, attendance in drug education courses or lectures in school, and opinions on marijuana legalization. Background variables include sex, race, Hispanic origin, household composition, marital/cohabitation status, education status and achievement, employment status, occupation, religious preference, religiosity, and income.
Access Notes
One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions ; consult the restrictions note to learn more. You can apply online for access to the restricted-use data. A login is required to apply.
As explained in the ICPSR Processing Notes in the codebooks, many variables are restricted from general dissemination for reasons of confidentiality. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete an Agreement for the Use of Confidential Data, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research. Apply for access to these data through the ICPSR restricted data contract portal, which can be accessed via the study home page.
Any public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
This study is maintained and distributed by the Health and Medical Care Archive (HMCA). HMCA is the official data archive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Study Description
Saxe, Leonard, Charles Kadushin, Elizabeth Tighe, David Rindskopf, and Andrew Beveridge. National Evaluation of the Fighting Back Program: General Population Surveys, 1995-1999. ICPSR03801-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2003. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR03801.v1
Persistent URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR03801.v1
Export Citation:
- RIS (generic format for RefWorks, EndNote, etc.)
- EndNote XML (EndNote X4.0.1 or higher)
This study was funded by:
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (037368)
Scope of Study
Subject Terms: addiction, alcohol, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, drug education, Hispanic origins, marijuana, mental health, substance abuse, treatment programs, victimization
Geographic Coverage: United States
- 1995--1999
Universe: Community Survey: Persons aged 16-44 living in households within 12 Fighting Back communities and 29 comparison communities. National Survey: Persons aged 16-44 living in non-rural households within the 48 contiguous states.
The data maps are provided as ASCII files and the codebooks are provided by ICPSR as Portable Document Format (PDF) files.
Original ICPSR Release: 2003-08-27
Related Publications
- List all ~19 citations associated with this study
Most Recent Publications
Export Options: RIS/EndNote
Metadata Exports
- Citations exports are provided above.
Export Study-level metadata (does not include variable-level metadata)
If you're looking for collection-level metadata rather than an individual metadata record, please visit our Metadata Records page.


text:
In a last minute push before the launch of Nintendo's Wii U, Ubisoft has highlighted six titles that will be available immediately in North America on November 18 and in EMEA territories on November 30.
The diverse lineup consists of Assassin's Creed 3, ESPN Sports Connection, Just Dance 4, Rabbids Land, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013, and ZombiU, allowing Ubisoft to bring a little something for everyone that owns a Wii U. Following the system's launch, Ubisoft will release additional titles including Marvel Avengers Battle for Earth and Rayman Legends.
Ubisoft currently has the most Wii U titles announced among third-party developers. Ubisoft games represent nearly 25% of the launch day titles for the console — all part of Ubisoft's plan to become the leading third-party publisher for the Wii U.
"Ubisoft strives to continually deliver unique gaming experiences and the Wii U system allows our studios to explore innovative gameplay concepts for our fans," said Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft. "Our Wii U launch lineup is the perfect example of our development teams creating games for fans of all ages and diverse genres."
While we're confident in Ubisoft's third-party titles, one particular game — ZombiU — has caught our eye. After previewing the game and getting our hands on the multiplayer portion of it, it is one of our most highly-anticipated games. Check out the latest details for ZombiU here.
Also, if you plan on purchasing a Wii U, which of the games above do you plan on getting?