text:
\section{Introduction}

The emission from narrow-line region (NLR) of active galactic nucleus (AGN) is an important tool
to study the relation between the activity of the central supermassive black hole (SMBH)
and the growth of its host galaxy in which the SMBH resides, both because the NLR emission is
mainly resulted from the illumination by the central AGN and because the NLR kinematics is
believed to be mainly dominated by the gravity of the bulge (see review in Wilson \& Heckman 1985
and references therein, Whittle 1992a,b; Nelson \& White 1996).
The gravity dominated kinematics motivates
a number of previous studies to demonstrate that the line width of the AGN's strong
[\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda$5007 emission line can be used as a proxy for the stellar velocity
dispersion of the bugle (e.g., Nelson \& White 1996; Nelson 2000; Boroson 2003;
Komossa \& Xu 2007). Basing upon the tight $M_{\mathrm{BH}}-\sigma_*$ relationship
(e.g., Tremaine et al. 2002; Ferrarese \& Merritt 2000; Magorrian et al. 1998;
Gebhardt et al. 2000; Haring \& Rix 2004), the proxy therefore allows one to
easily estimate
$M_{\mathrm{BH}}$ in a large sample of AGNs (e.g., Grupe \& Mathur 2004;
Wang \& Lu 2001; Komossa \& Xu 2007).

It is well known for a long time that the line profiles of the [\ion{O}{3}] doublelets
show a blue asymmetry with an extended blue wing and a sharp red falloff in a large fraction
of AGNs (e.g., Heckman et al. 1981;
Whittle 1985; Wilson \& Heckman 1985; Grupe et al 1999; Tadhunter et al. 2001;
Veron-Cetty et al. 2001; Zamanov et al. 2002; Komossa \& Xu 2007; Xu \& Komossa 2009;
Greene \& Ho 2005; de Roberties \& Osterbrock 1984; Storchi-Bergmann et al. 1992;
Arribas et al. 1996; Christopoulou et al. 1997).
The blue asymmetry requires a narrow core Gaussian profile ($\rm FWHM\sim200-500\ km\ s^{-1}$)
with a blueshifted, broad Gaussian component ($\rm FWHM\sim500-1000\ km\ s^{-1}$) to reproduce the
observed asymmetric profiles for both [\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda\lambda4959, 5007$ emission lines.
The spectroscopic monitor revealed a variability time
scale from one to ten years for the blue wings of the [\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda5007$ lines in two
type I AGNs (IZW\,1: Wang et al. 2005; NGC\,5548: Sergeev et al. 1997),
which means that the blue wings are likely emitted from the
intermediate-line region located between the traditional BLR and NLR.
In addition to the blue asymmetry, the redshifts of the [\ion{O}{3}] doublelets
are often found to be negative compared to the redshifts measured from both
stellar absorption features and H$\beta$ emission line
(i.e., [\ion{O}{3}] blueshifts, e.g., Phillips 1976; Zamanov et al .2002;
Marziani et al. 2003; Aoki et al. 2005; Boroson 2005; Bian et al. 2005; Komossa et al. 2008).
Although they are rare cases, the objects with strong [\ion{O}{3}] blueshifts larger than
100$\mathrm{km\ s^{-1}}$ are called ``blue outliers''.

The popular explanation of the observed [\ion{O}{3}] emission-line profile is that the material outflow
from central AGN plays important role in reproducing the observed blue asymmetry and blueshift.
With the advent of the high spatial resolution of Hubble Space Telescope (HST),
spatially resolved spectroscopic observations of a few nearby Seyfert 2 galaxies indicate that the
NLRs show complicate kinematics, which could reproduce the observed [\ion{O}{3}] line profiles by the
radial outflow acceleration (or deceleration) and/or jet expansion
(e.g., Crenshaw et al. 2000; Crenshaw \& Kraemer 2000; Ruiz et al. 2001; Nelson et al. 2000;
Hutchings et al. 1998; Das et al. 2005, 2006, 2007; Kaiser et al. 2000; Crenshaw et al. 2010,
Schlesinger et al. 2009; Fischer et al. 2010; Fischer et al. 2011).

Recent systematical studies suggested that the blue asymmetry is related with
the activity of the central SMBH. Veron-Cetty et al. (2001) indicated that half of their sample of
narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) shows a broad and blueshifted [\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda$5007
component in addition to the unshifted narrow core component. Nelson et al. (2004) found a
correlation between the blue asymmetry and Eigenvector-I space
by studying the [\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda$5007 line profiles of the PG quasars.
The quasars associated with larger blue asymmetries tend to be stronger \ion{Fe}{2} emitters
presumably having larger Eddington ratios ($L/L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$, where
$L_{\rm Edd}=1.26\times10^{38}(M_{\rm BH}/M_\odot)\ \mathrm{erg\ s^{-1}}$ is the Eddington
luminosity, see also in Xu et al. 2007; Boroson 2005; Greene \& Ho 2005;
Mathur \& Grupe 2005). Similar as the blue asymmetry, the [\ion{O}{3}] blueshift is also
found to be related with a number of AGN properties. Some authors claimed that the
[\ion{O}{3}] blueshift is directly correlated with  $L/L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$ (e.g., Boroson 2005;
Bian et al. 2005), although the correlation might not be the truth (e.g., Aoki et al. 2005).
Marziani et al. (2003) pointed out that all the ``blue outliers'' have small H$\beta$ line widths
($<4000\mathrm{km\ s^{-1}}$) and high $L/L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$ (see also in Zamanov et al. 2002;
Komossa et al. 2008).

AGNs are now widely believed to co-evolve with their host galaxies, which is implied by the tight
$M_{\mathrm{BH}}-\sigma_*$ correlation (see the citations in the first paragraph) and by the
global evolutionary history of the growth of the central SMBH that traces the star formation history
closely from present to $z\sim5$ (e.g., Nandra et al. 2005; Silverman et al. 2008;
Shankar et al. 2009; Hasinger et al. 2005). A number of studies recently provided direct evidence
supporting the co-evolutionary scenario in which an AGN evolves along the Eigenvector-I space
from a high $L/L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$ state to a low $L/L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$ state as the circumnuclear
stellar population continually ages (e.g., Wang et al. 2006;
Wang \& Wei 2008, 2010; Kewley et al. 2006; Wild et al. 2007; Davis et al. 2007).
The results of theoretical simulations indicate a possibility that a major merger between two gas-rich disk galaxies
plays important role in the co-evolution of AGNs and their host galaxies (e.g., Di Matteo et al. 2007;
Hopkins et al. 2007; Granato et al. 2004).
Detailed analysis even suggests a delay of $\sim10^2$Myr for the detectable AGN activity after the
onset of the star formation activity (e.g., Wang \& Wei 2005; Schawinski et al. 2009; Hopkins et al. 2005;
Davis et al. 2007; Wild et al. 2010). The delay might be resulted from the feedback from either
the central AGN (e.g., Hopkins et al. 2005) or the stellar winds (e.g., Morman \& Scoville 1988), and/or
resulted from the purely dynamical origin (Hopkins 2011).

The outflow
origin for both blue asymmetry and blueshift naturally gives us the hint that the [\ion{O}{3}] emission-line
profile (and the inferred NLR kinematics) co-evolves with the stellar population of the host galaxy.
We here report a study that is an effort to examine the evolution of the [\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda$5007
emission-line profile.  In principle, both broad- and narrow-line AGNs are needed to be analyzed to give a
complete study. Although the [\ion{O}{3}] line profiles can be easily measured in the spectra of typical type I AGNs, the
host galaxy properties are hard to be determined because of the strong contamination from the central AGN's continuum.
Since our aim is to study the relationship between the line profile and the host galaxy properties,
the narrow emission-line galaxies from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) are adopted in our
study because their spectra allow us to  simultaneously measure both [\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda$5007 line profile and
stellar population properties in individual object. The high-order dimensionless line
shape parameters are adopted by us to describe the line profile in details.

The paper is organized as follows.
The sample selection is presented in \S2. \S3 describes the data reduction, including the
stellar component removal, the line profile measurements, and the stellar population age measurements.
Our analysis and results are shown in \S4. The implications are discussed in the next section. A $\Lambda$
cold dark matter ($\Lambda$CDM) cosmology with parameters $H_0=70\ \mathrm{km\ s^{-1}\ Mpc^{-1}}$,
$\Omega_m=0.3$, and $\Omega_{\Lambda}=0.7$ (Spergle et al. 2003) is adopted throughout the paper.

\section{SAMPLE SELECTION}

\subsection{General selection based on MPA/JHU catalog}

We select a sample of narrow emission-line galaxies from the value-added
SDSS Data Release 7 (Abazajian et al. 2009) MPA/JHU catalog (Heckman et al. 2004;
Kauffmann et al. 2003a,b,c; Tremonti et al. 2004; see Heckman \& Kauffmann 2006 for a review)
\footnote{These catalogs can be downloaded from http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/SDSS/DR7/.},
The catalog provides the measured spectral and physical properties of 927,555 individual narrow emission-line galaxies,
including Seyfert galaxies, LINERs, transition galaxies and star-forming galaxies.
The integrated spectra of the narrow emission-line galaxies allow us to study the relationship between
the [\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda$5007 emission-line profiles and the circumnuclear stellar populations, because their
continuum is dominated by the starlight components.

At first, we select the galaxies whose spectra have median signal-to-noise ratio per pixel of the whole spectrum
S/N$>$20 from the MPA/JHU SDSS DR7 catalog to ensure that the stellar features could be properly separated
from each observed spectrum. Secondly, all the emission lines used in the traditional three
Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich (BPT) diagnostic
diagrams\footnote{The BPT diagrams were originally proposed by Baldwin et al. (1981), and then refined by
Veilleux \& Osterbrock (1987), which are commonly used to determine the dominated powering source in
narrow emission-line galaxies through their emission-line ratios.} are required to be detected
with a significant level at least 3$\sigma$. Thirdly,
the spectral profiles of the [\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda$5007 emission lines are only
measured for the galaxies whose [\ion{O}{3}] lines have S/N larger than 30.
Finally, the galaxies with redshifts within the range from 0.11 to 0.12 are removed in the subsequent spectral
analysis. The removement is used to avoid the possible fake spectral profile caused by the poorly
subtracted strong sky emission line [\ion{O}{1}]$\lambda$5577 at the observer frame.

\subsection{Instrumental resolution selection}

After the selection based on the MPA/JHU catalog, we remove all the galaxies whose [\ion{O}{3}] line widths
are smaller than $2\sigma_{\mathrm{inst}}$ from our subsequent statistical comparisons according to our spectral profile measurements
(see Section 3 for details). The mean intrinsic resolution used
in the above criterion is adopted to be 65$\mathrm{km\ s^{-1}}$ according to the SDSS pipelines measurements
(e.g., York et al. 2000). There are two reasons for this instrumental resolution selection. At first, the cut on line
width removes the low mass starforming galaxies without bugle. Secondly, the cut can alleviate the impact on the
measured line shape parameters caused by the instrumental resolution.
For a pure Gaussian profile,
the intrinsic line width $\sigma$ can be obtained by the equation $\sigma^2=\sigma^2_{\mathrm{obs}}-\sigma^2_{\mathrm{inst}}$, where $\sigma_{\mathrm{obs}}$ and $\sigma_{\mathrm{inst}}$ is the observed line width and the instrumental resolution, respectively.
However, this relationship is only a first-order approximation for the line profiles that
deviate from a pure Gaussian profile. Our analytic calculation indicates that the correction of the instrumental
resolution depends on the deviation not only for the line width, but
also for the other two high-order dimensionless line shape parameters (see Section 4 and Appendix A for details).

\subsection{Final sample}

After removing the duplicates in the MPA/JHU catalog, there are in total 3,339 entries fulfilling the
above selection criteria. The spectra with the highest S/N ratios are kept in our final sample in the
duplicate removements.
Given the line fluxes reported in the MPA/JHU catalog, these
galaxies are subsequently classified into three sub-samples according to the
[\ion{O}{3}]/H$\beta$ versus [\ion{N}{2}]/H$\alpha$ diagnostic diagram using the widely accepted
classification schemes (Kauffmann et al. 2003a; Kewley et al. 2001).
Out of the 3,339 galaxies, there are
2,333 Seyfert galaxies/LINERs (hereafter AGNs for abbreviation),
793 transition galaxies located between the empirical and the theoretical demarcation lines, and
190 star-forming galaxies.

There are 5,856 star-forming galaxies with line width $\sigma<2\sigma_{\mathrm{inst}}$,
whose line profiles are believed to be dominated by a symmetric Gaussian function.
These galaxies are used as a comparison sample to present the scatters of the measured high-order dimensionless
line shape parameters for a symmetric Gaussian line profile, because of the limited wavelength sampling and
limited signal-to-noise ratio. These scatters are useful in determining how
strong a line profile deviates from a symmetric Gaussian profile.

The three diagnostic BPT diagrams are shown in Figure 1 for the final samples,
in which the AGNs, transition galaxies
and star-forming galaxies are symbolized by the red, green and blue solid squares, respectively.
The contours represent the distributions of the star-forming galaxies in the comparison sample.

\section{SPECTRAL ANALYSIS}

\subsection{Stellar Features Separation} \label{bozomath}

The spectra of the selected objects are reduced and analyzed by our
principal component analysis (PCA) pipeline (see Wang \& Wei (2008) for details).
At first, each spectrum is corrected for the Galactic extinction
using the extinction law with $R_V=3.1$ (Cardelli et al. 1989), in which
the color excess $E(B-V)$ is taken from the Schlegel, Finkbeiner, and
Davis Galactic reddening map (Schlegel et al. 1998). Secondly, each
extinctions-corrected spectrum is then transformed to the
rest frame, along with the flux correction due to the relativity effect, given the redshift
provided by the SDSS pipelines (Glazebrook et al. 1998; Bromley et al. 1998).
The stellar absorption features are subsequently separated from each rest-frame spectrum
by modeling the continuum and absorption features by the sum of the first seven
eigenspectra. The eigenspectra are built from the standard single stellar population spectral
library developed by Bruzual \& Charlot (2003). Each of the spectra is fitted
over the rest-frame wavelength range from 3700 to 7000\AA\ by a $\chi^2$ minimization,
except for the regions with strong emission lines (e.g., Balmer lines, [\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda\lambda$4959, 5007,
[\ion{N}{2}]$\lambda\lambda$6548,6583, [\ion{S}{2}]$\lambda\lambda$6716, 6731, [\ion{O}{2}]$\lambda$3727,
[\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda$4363 and [\ion{O}{1}]$\lambda$6300).

\subsection{Emission-line Profile Measurements}

\subsubsection{Line profile parameters}

The rest-frame emission-line isolated spectra are used to parametrize the spectral profiles of their
[\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda$5007 emission lines, after the stellar components are
removed from the observed spectra. The emission-line profile can be parametrized
by many possible ways. The widely used ones include the FWHM and the second moment
of the line that is defined as
\begin{equation}
\sigma^2=\bigg(\frac{c}{\overline{\lambda}}\bigg)^2\frac{\int (\lambda-\overline{\lambda})^2f_\lambda d\lambda}{\int f_\lambda d\lambda}
\end{equation}
where $\sigma$ is in units of $\rm km\ s^{-1}$,
$\overline{\lambda}=\int\lambda f_\lambda d\lambda/\int f_\lambda d\lambda$ and $f_\lambda$ is the line
centroid (i.e., the first moment) and the flux density of the continuum-subtracted line flux, respectively.
For a pure Gaussian profile, we have a relationship
$\mathrm{FWHM}=2\sqrt{2\ln2}\sigma\approx2.35\sigma$, which means that both FWHM and $\sigma$ comparably
describe the line broadening if the line profile is a Gaussian function. However, as stated in Greene \& Ho (2005),
$\sigma$ contains more information on the line profile broadening if the profile deviates from a pure Gaussian
profile.

Heckman et al. (1981) defined an asymmetry index $\rm{AI_{20}=(WL20-WR20)/(WL20+WR20)}$
to measure the line asymmetry of [\ion{O}{3}] emission lines, where $\rm WL20$ and $\rm WR20$ is the
half width to the left and right of the line center defined as the 80\% peak intensity level.
Basing upon the index $\rm{AI_{20}}$, the authors found that the blue asymmetry is shown in about 80\% of the 36
Seyfert and radio galaxies. Alternatively, the asymmetry index
$\rm A.I.= [C(\frac{3}{4})-C(\frac{1}{4})]/FWHM$ is widely used to measure the asymmetry of
AGN's broad emission lines, where $\rm C(i)$ are profile centroids measured at different levels (see review in
Sulentic et al. 2000). In addition to the asymmetry, the emission-line shapes of AGNs vary from
extremely peaked to very ``boxy''. Previous studies used the ratio of line widths at different levels
to parametrize such line shapes (e.g., Marziani et al. 1996).

To make the statistical study on [\ion{O}{3}] line profile is feasible for a large sample,
we adopt the high-order dimensionless
line shape parameters to describe the line profile departures from a pure Gaussian function
(see Binney \& Merrifield (1998) for more details):
\begin{equation}
\xi_k=\mu_k/\sigma^k\ k\geq3
\end{equation}
where $\mu_k$ is the $k$-order moment defined as
\begin{equation}
\mu_k=\bigg(\frac{c}{\overline{\lambda}}\bigg)^k\int (\lambda-\overline{\lambda})^kf_\lambda d\lambda
\end{equation}
and $\sigma$ is the second order moment defined in Eq (1), respectively.
The first shape parameter $\xi_3$ is termed the ``skewness'' that measures the deviation from symmetry.
A pure Gaussian profile corresponds to $\xi_3=0$. The emission-line shape with a positive value of $\xi_3$
shows a red asymmetry, and the shape with a negative value a blue asymmetry. The second parameter
$\xi_4$ is termed the ``kurtosis'' that measures the symmetric deviation from a pure Gaussian profile
(for a pure Gaussian profile, we have $\xi_4=3$).  The emission line with peaked profile superposed on a
broad base has a value of $\xi_4>3$.
A value of $\xi_4<3$ corresponds to a ``boxy'' line profile. We refer the readers to Figure 11.5 in
Binney \& Merrifield (1998) for how the values of $\xi_3$ and $\xi_4$ vary with the line shapes.

\subsubsection{Relative velocity shifts}

The bulk relative velocity shift of the [\ion{O}{3}] emission line is measured relative to the H$\beta$ emission line
in each emission-line isolated spectrum, because the H$\beta$ line can be easily detected and because the line
shows very small velocity shift relative to the galaxy rest-frame (e.g., Komossa et al. 2008). The
velocity shift is calculated as $\Delta\upsilon=\delta\lambda/\lambda_0 c$, where
$\lambda_0$ and $c$ is the rest-frame wavelength of the
[\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda5007$ emission line and the velocity of light, respectively. $\delta\lambda$ denotes
the wavelength shift of the [\ion{O}{3}] line with respect to the H$\beta$ line. The shift is determined
from the measured line centroids ($\overline{\lambda}$) and the rest-frame wavelengths in vacuum of both lines.
With the definition of the
velocity shift, a blueshift corresponds to a negative value of $\Delta\upsilon$, and a redshift to a
positive value.

\subsection{Stellar Population Properties}

By following our previous studies again, we use the two Lick indices, i.e., the 4000\AA\ break ($D_n(4000)$)
and the equivalent width of H$\delta$ absorption feature of A-type stars (H$\delta_A$)\footnote{
The 4000\AA\ break is defined as
$D_n(4000)=\int_{4000}^{4100}f_\lambda d\lambda/\int_{3850}^{3950}f_\lambda d\lambda$
(Bruzual 1983; Balogh et al. 1999). The index H$\delta_{\rm{A}}$ is defined
by Worthey \& Ottaviani (1997) as
$\mathrm{H}\delta_A=(4122.25-4083.50)(1-F_I/F_C)$
where $F_I$ is the flux within the $\lambda\lambda4083.50-4122.25$ feature bandpass, and $F_C$ the flux of
the pseudo-continuum within two defined bandpasses: blue $\lambda\lambda4041.60-4079.75$ and
red $\lambda\lambda4128.50-4161.00$.}, as
the indicators of the ages of the stellar populations of the galaxies (e.g., Heckman et al. 2004;
Kauffmann et al. 2003; Kauffmann \& Heckman 2008; Kewley et al. 2006; Wang \& Wei 2008, 2010; Wild et al. 2007).
Both indices are measured in the removed stellar component for each spectrum, and are
reliable age indicators until a few Gyr after the onset of a  burst (e.g., Kauffmann et al. 2003, Bruzual \& Charlot 2003).

\subsection{Broad-Line AGNs}

The sub-sample of partially obscured AGNs associated with broad H$\alpha$ emission lines
(i.e., Seyfert 1.8/1.9 galaxies) is selected from the parent AGN and transition galaxy samples.
Although the existence of the broad H$\alpha$ emission is direct indicative of the accretion activity of the
central SMBH, the underlying AGN's continuum in these partially obscured AGNs could potentially decrease the
measured two indices. These partially obscured AGNs are therefore removed from the
subsequent analysis when the two indices are involved.

Following our previous studies (Wang \& Wei 2008),
the broad-line AGNs are selected by the means of the high-velocity wings of the broad
H$\alpha$ components on their blue side after the stellar features are removed from
the spectra. The red wing is not adopted in the selection because of the superposition of
the strong [\ion{N}{2}]$\lambda$6583 emission line. The partially obscured AGNs are at first
automatically selected by the criterion $F_{\mathrm{w}}/\sigma_c\geq3$, where $F_{\mathrm{w}}$
is the specific flux of the
line wing averaged within the wavelength range from 6500 to 6350\AA\ in the rest-frame,
and $\sigma_c$ is the standard deviation of the continuum flux within the emission-line
free region ranging from $\lambda5980$ and $\lambda6020$. The automatically selected
AGNs are then inspected one by one by eyes. In total, there are 174 broad-line Seyfert
galaxies/LINERs and 55 broad-line transition galaxies.

\subsection{Uncertainties estimation}

The MPA/JHU catalog contains many duplicates because of the repeat observations. The duplicates
allow us to roughly estimate the uncertainties for the line shape parameters and the stellar population
age indicators. The duplicates are reduced and measured by the same method as described above. For the three main
sub-samples (i.e., AGNs, transition galaxies and star-forming galaxies), the uncertainties are estimated to
be $0.14\pm0.08$ and $0.20\pm0.14$ for the shape parameters $\xi_3$ and $\xi_4$, respectively. The two Lick indices
have uncertainties: $\Delta D_n(4000)=0.03\pm0.02$, and $\Delta$H$\delta_A=0.38\pm0.19$.
For the comparison sample, the duplicates provide the uncertainties of $0.08\pm0.05$ and $0.13\pm0.06$ for the
parameters $\xi_3$ and $\xi_4$, respectively.

\section{ANALYSIS AND RESULTS}

After obtaining all the required parameters, the relation between the [\ion{O}{3}] line
profiles and the stellar population properties is examined in this section.

\subsection{[\ion{O}{3}] Line Width and [\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda5007$ Relative Velocity Shifts: AGNs versus Transition Galaxies}

The [\ion{O}{3}] line profile is compared between the AGNs and the transition galaxies in this section.
To avoid the possible systematics caused by the host galaxy properties, we compare the line profiles
in a sample of matched galaxy pairs (e.g., Kauffmann et al. 2006). The matched pairs are created according to the
SDSS DR4 MPA/JHU AGN catalog. The catalog provides the measurements of galaxy properties for the AGNs that are
classified according to the demarcation line given in Kauffmann et al. (2003). We select the pairs that have
$\Delta\log M_*<0.1$, $\Delta\log\mu_*<0.1$, $\Delta C<0.1$, $\Delta \sigma_*<30\ \mathrm{km\ s^{-1}}$, and
$\Delta z<0.01$, where $M_*$ is the stellar mass in unit of $M_\odot$, $\mu_*$ is the effective stellar mass-density
($\mu_*=M_*/2\pi r^2_{\mathrm{50,z}}$, where $r_{\mathrm{50,z}}$ is the half-light radius in the $z$-band) in unit
of $M_\odot\ \mathrm{kpc^{-2}}$, $C$ is the concentration index defined as $C=R_{90}/R_{50}$ the ratio of the radius
enclosing 90\% of the total flux to that enclosing 50\% of the flux in the $r$-band, $\sigma_*$ is the stellar
velocity dispersion and $z$ is the redshift. Because there are much more AGNs than the transition galaxies in our sample, a large fraction
of the transition galaxies have a few of AGN pairs. In these cases, one AGN is assigned to a
pair by a random selection, and the final distributions are built from 100 Monte-Carlo iterations.
Finally, there are totally 163 distinct galaxy pairs, in which no galaxy is assigned to a pair
more than once.

The left panel in Figure 2 compares the cumulative distributions of the [\ion{O}{3}] line widths in terms of the calculated velocity dispersions.
The AGNs and transition galaxies are shown by the red-solid and green-dotted lines, respectively. The error-bars are
resulted from our iterations.
One can see clearly that
the line profiles of the AGNs are systematically wider than that of the
transition galaxies. A two-side Kolmogorov Smirnov test yields a maximum discrepancy of 0.282
with a corresponding probability that the two samples match of $4.6\times10^{-5}$.
In fact, the comparison of the parameter $\xi_4$ indicates
that the difference in the distributions is likely due to the fact that
the transition galaxies have systematically smaller values of $\xi_4$ than the AGNs
(see section 4.3 for more details). That means the
transition galaxies are associated with weaker [\ion{O}{3}] broad components compared to the AGNs,
which implies that the feedback caused by the material outflow is less stronger in the transition galaxies
than in the AGNs.

The distributions of the [\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda5007$ relative velocity shifts defined in Section 3.2.2 are compared in
the right panel of Figure 2 between the AGNs and transition galaxies. The symbols are the same as the left panel.
A two-side Kolmogorov Smirnov test shows that the two samples are matched at a probability of 77\%,
although a careful examination suggests that the AGNs marginally tend to be associated with larger negative velocity
shifts compared with the transition galaxies.

\subsection{Line Shape Parameters $\xi_3$ and $\xi_4$}

The left-bottom panel in Figure 3 shows the $\xi_4$ versus $\xi_3$ diagram.
The AGNs, transition galaxies and star-forming galaxies are
symbolized by the red, green and blue points, respectively. The over-plotted contours
present the distribution of the star-forming galaxies in the comparison sample.
The two crosses at the left-bottom corner show the typical uncertainties for both parameters
as roughly estimated from the duplicates. The red-solid one indicates the uncertainties for the large
line-width objects, and the black-dashed one for the comparison sample.
The left-upper panel and the right-bottom
panel shows the distributions of the parameters $\xi_3$ and $\xi_4$ for all the sub-samples
(including the comparison sample),
respectively. The distributions are color-codded for the sub-samples as same as the
left-bottom panel. As expected from an emission-line profile dominated
by the instrumental resolution, the distribution of the comparison sample is strongly clustered
around the point (i.e., $\xi_3=0$ and $\xi_4=3$) associated with a pure Gaussian function.
The last column in Table 1 lists the average and median values of $\xi_3$ ($\overline{\xi}_3=0.01$
and $\langle\xi_3\rangle=0.01$) for the comparison sample. The same values are listed in the
last column in Table 2 but for the parameter $\xi_4$ ($\overline{\xi}_4=2.61$ and $\langle\xi_4\rangle=2.58$).
The dispersions is calculated to be 0.14 and 0.43 for the parameters $\xi_3$ and $\xi_4$, respectively.
The distribution therefore validates our spectral measurements
because the distribution of the comparison sample is highly consistent with the prediction
of a pure Gaussian function.

Similar as the comparison sample, the statistics are tabulated in Table 2 and 3 for both
AGNs and transition galaxies as well. One can find from the tables that the line profiles of these
galaxies systematically deviate from that of the control sample (i.e., deviate from
a pure Gaussian profile) by not only smaller $\xi_3$ (i.e., a stronger blue asymmetry), but also larger $\xi_4$
(i.e., a stronger broad base). The main panel in Figure 3 shows that both AGNs and transition galaxies form
a sequence starting from the pure Gaussian region to the upper-left corner.
In fact, this phenomenon is qualitatively in agreement with the fact that
two Gaussian components, one representing the narrow line core and the other representing
the blueshifted broad wing, are usually required to model the observed [\ion{O}{3}] line
profiles. A minor fraction of the objects deviate from the sequence by their positive values of $\xi_3$.
By inspecting the spectra of these objects one by one by eyes, we find that the deviations are mainly resulted from
the contamination at the [\ion{O}{3}] red wing caused by the weak low-ionization emission line
\ion{He}{1}$\lambda$5016 (Veron et al. 2002).

It is interesting to see that the star-forming galaxies with $\sigma>2\sigma_{\rm inst}$ follow the
sequence as well, although most of them have Gaussian line profiles. In order to validate the deviations
in these galaxies,
the spectra with $\xi_3<-0.5$ are then inspected one by one by eyes again.
To understand the nature of these star-forming galaxies with
blue asymmetric [\ion{O}{3}] emission lines, we need to carefully model all the strong emission lines in
individual spectrum. The issue is out of the topic of this paper, and will be examined in our
subsequent studies.

The results from the two-sides Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests are tabulated in Table 3 and 4 for the
parameters $\xi_3$ and $\xi_4$, respectively. Each entry contains the maximum absolute discrepancy
between the used two sub-samples, and the corresponding probability that the two sub-samples match.
Although the AGNs and the transition galaxies show similar distributions for $\xi_3$, the AGNs significantly
differ from the transition galaxies in the distribution of parameter $\xi_4$.
The fraction of objects with strong broad [\ion{O}{3}] wings is larger in the AGNs than in the transition galaxies

Previous studies frequently identified a strong correlation between the [\ion{O}{3}] line widths
and the [\ion{O}{3}] blueshifts (e.g., Bian et al. 2005; Komossa et al. 2008; Zamanov et al. 2002).
The correlation is commonly explained by the material outflows.
The similar correlations are also identified in iron coronal lines (Erkens et al. 1997) and
optical \ion{Fe}{2} complex (Hu et al. 2008) in typical type I AGNs.  The left panel in Figure 4 plots
the velocity shift as a function of the line width for the AGNs (red points) and the
transition galaxies (green points). Spearman rank-order tests show a marginal anti-correlation
between the velocity shifts and the line widths for the AGNs
(with a Spearman correlation coefficient $r_s=-0.088$ at a significance level $P<10^{-4}$, where $P$ is the
probability that there is no correlation between the two variables.), and, however, a stronger correlation
for the transition galaxies (with $r_s=-0.229$ and $P<10^{-4}$). As an additional examination, the
middle panel in the figure plots the velocity shift against the parameter $\xi_3$.
Strong correlations between the two variables can be identified for both AGNs ($r_s=0.334$ and
$P<10^{-4}$) and transition galaxies ($r_s=0.513$ and $P<10^{-4}$), which means that larger the blueshift,
stronger the blue asymmetry. One can see from the correlations that the objects with the largest
velocity shifts deviate from the correlations. These objects instead show symmetrical line profiles.
In order to further describe their line profiles, the right panel in the figure plots the velocity shift against
the parameter $\xi_4$. We find that these [\ion{O}{3}] lines have ``boxy'' line profiles rather
than peaked ones. In fact, a ``boxy'' line profile could be reproduced by the sum
of two or more (distinct) peaks with comparable fluxes and line widths (see examples of spectra
in the Figure 1 in Greene \& Ho 2005).

\subsection{[\ion{O}{3}] Line Profile versus Stellar Population}

The evolution effect on the [\ion{O}{3}] line profile is examined in this section by using the
two indices, $D_n(4000)$ and H$\delta_\mathrm{A}$, as the indicators of the ages of the
circumnuclear stellar populations. As described in Section 3.3, the partially obscured AGNs are
excluded from the analysis throughout this section.

The two indices are plotted against the parameter
$\xi_3$ (the left panels) and against the relative velocity shift (the right panels) for the
AGNs in Figure 5.
At the first glance of the four panels, we fail to directly identify any significant
correlation between the line profile parameters and the stellar population ages. To examine the
evolution effect in more details, we divide the AGN sample into two groups according to
their $\xi_3$ values: one group for the galaxies with $\xi_3>-0.5$ and the another one for the
galaxies with $\xi_3<-0.5$. The distributions of the $D_n(4000)$ values are
compared between the two groups in the upper-left panel of Figure 7. The comparison indicates a significant
difference between the two groups\footnote{Note that the similar results can be obtained for the index H$\delta_A$.}.
The AGNs with larger amount of blue asymmetry are systematically
associated with younger stellar populations. A two-sides Kolmogorov Smirnov test indicates that
the difference between the two distributions is at a significance level $P<1\times10^{-9}$ with a maximum absolute
discrepancy of 0.22. Similar as the parameter $\xi_3$, the AGN sample is instead separated into two groups by the
relative velocity shift at $\Delta\upsilon=-100\ \mathrm{km\ s^{-1}}$. We identify a marginal trend that larger the blue
velocity shifts, younger the associated stellar populations (see the bottom-left panel in Figure 7).
The same statistical test yields a probability
that the two groups match of $P=9\times10^{-2}$ (with a maximum absolute discrepancy of 0.11).

Figure 6 is the same as Figure 5 but for the transition galaxies. The same methods as the AGN sample are
adopted to divide these galaxies into two groups. The right panels in Figure 7 compare the
distributions of $D_n(4000)$ between the two groups. The two-sides
Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests suggest that the two distributions match at the probabilities $P=0.02$ for
the $\xi_3$ separation and $P=0.32$ for the $\Delta\upsilon$ separation, which is much less significant
than the AGN sample. In fact, these results are easily understood
because the transition galaxies are usually systematically younger than the AGNs (see also in Kewley et al. 2006;
Schawinski et al. 2007; Wang \& Wei 2008).

In summary, our results indicate that the AGNs associated with young stellar populations show a
wide range in their [\ion{O}{3}] line profiles that vary from a
blue asymmetrical shape to a Gaussian function. In contrast, the
AGNs associated with old stellar populations always show symmetrical line profiles.

\section{DISCUSSIONS}

\subsection{$L/L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$ as A Physical Driver}

The evolution of [\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda$5007 emission-line profile is studied by using a
large sample of narrow emission-line galaxies selected from the MPA/JHU SDSS DR7 catalog. The
line-profile parameterizing allows us to reveal a trend that AGNs with more significant blue
asymmetries tend to be associated with younger stellar populations. At the beginning of discussion, we argue that
the trend is not driven only by the orientation effect (Antonucci 1993; Elitzur 2007). It is widely accepted that the
commonly observed blue asymmetrical and blue-shifted [\ion{O}{3}] line profiles are
caused by the wind-driven NLR outflows\footnote{We refer the readers to the review in Veilleux et al. (2005)
for the evidence for outflows in AGNs and see Komossa et al. (2008) for a discussion of the various models.}.
The orientation-driven scenario therefore results in
an odd corollary that a fraction of the AGNs with young stellar populations have outflow directions
closer to the line-of-sight of observers than the
AGNs with old stellar populations, while the starlight components from the host galaxies are believed to be isotropic.

The revealed trend can be alternatively driven by the activity of the central SMBH. In fact,
there is many observational evidence supporting that the [\ion{O}{3}] line blue asymmetries and
blueshifts are correlated with $L/L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$ or Eigenvector-I space\footnote{It is commonly
believed that the Eigenvector-I space is physically driven by $L/L_{\rm Edd}$
(e.g., Boroson \& Green 1992; Boroson 2002).} in typical type I AGNs (see the description and citations
in Section 1).
The relationship between the [\ion{O}{3}] line profile and $L/L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$ is examined in the current
narrow-line AGN sample to present a complete understanding. Similar as the previous studies of narrow-line AGNs,
the parameter $L_{\mathrm{[OIII]}}/\sigma_*^4$ (e.g., Heckman et al. 2004) is used as a proxy of
$\lambda_{\mathrm{Edd}}=L/L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$,
where $L_{\mathrm{[OIII]}}$ and $\sigma_*$ is the [\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda5007$
line luminosity and the bulge velocity dispersion, respectively. The transition galaxies are excluded from the
subsequent calculations because of the possible contamination caused by \ion{H}{2} regions. The bolometric luminosity
$L$ is transformed from $L_{\mathrm{[OIII]}}$ through the bolometric correction $L/L_{\mathrm{[OIII]}}\approx3500$
(see Heckman et al. (2004) for details). By assuming the
Balmer decrement for the standard Case B recombination and the Galactic extinction curve with $R_V=3.1$,
the [\ion{O}{3}] line luminosity is corrected for the local extinction that is inferred from the narrow-line ratio $\mathrm{H\alpha/H\beta}$.
The blackhole mass is estimated from the $M_{\mathrm{BH}}-\sigma_*$ calibration:
$\log(M_{\mathrm{BH}}/M_\odot)=8.13+4.02\log(\sigma_*/200\ \mathrm{km\ s^{-1}})$ (Tremaine et al. 2002),
in which the velocity dispersion is measured for each spectrum through our PCA fittings.
The galaxies with $\sigma_*<70\ \mathrm{km\ s^{-1}}$ are removed from the analysis because the SDSS
instrumental resolution is $\sigma_{\mathrm{inst}}\approx65\ \mathrm{km\ s^{-1}}$.

The results are shown in Figure 8. The left panel presents an anti-correlation between $L_{\mathrm{[OIII]}}/\sigma_*^4$
and $D_n(4000)$. Larger the Eddington ratio, and younger the stellar population, which is consistent with the
previous studies (e.g., Kewley et al. 2006; Kauffmann et al. 2007).
The middle panel plots $L_{\mathrm{[OIII]}}/\sigma_*^4$
as a function of the parameter $\xi_3$.
When compared with Figure 5, one can find a similar trend in the $L_{\mathrm{[OIII]}}/\sigma_*^4$ vs. $\xi_3$ plot
as that in the $D_n(4000)$ vs. $\xi_3$ plane. AGNs with large amount of blue asymmetry tend to
have large $L/L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$. A much stronger trend can be identified in the right panel between
$L_{\mathrm{[OIII]}}/\sigma_*^4$ and the parameter $\xi_4$. The trend indicates a fact that AGNs with
larger Eddington ratios tend to be associated with stronger [\ion{O}{3}] broad components. However,
we fail to find a significant trend between $L_{\mathrm{[OIII]}}/\sigma_*^4$ and the bulk relative velocity shifts
$\Delta\upsilon$.

Spearman rank-order tests are performed to show either the Eddington ratio or the stellar population is
intrinsically related with the line asymmetry. The resulted correlation coefficient matrix is listed in Table 5.
All the entries in the table have a probability of null correlation $P<10^{-4}$.
Although both $\lambda_{\mathrm{Edd}}$ and $D_n(4000)$ are correlated with $\xi_3$ at comparable significance levels,
$\xi_4$ is more strongly correlated with $\lambda_{\mathrm{Edd}}$ than with $D_n(4000)$.
The stronger correlation therefore indicates that the trend between
the line asymmetry and $D_n(4000)$ is likely driven physically by the evolution of the Eddington ratio (see below).

\subsection{Evolution of [\ion{O}{3}] Emission-line Profile}

The trend that AGNs with more significant blue asymmetry tend to be associated with younger
stellar populations provides a piece of direct evidence supporting the co-evolution of the NLR kinematics
and the growth of the host galaxy. AGNs with stronger outflows tend to be at
their earlier evolutionary stage as inferred from the stellar population ages. The analysis in the above section further suggests that the trend
is likely driven by $L/L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$. The important evolutionary role of $L/L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$ has been frequently proposed in recent studies (e.g., Wang \& Wei 2008, 2010; Kewley et al. 2006; Heckman et al. 2004).
Putting these pieces together yields an improved co-evolution scenario in which AGN likely evolve from a high-$L/L_{\rm Edd}$ state with strong outflow to a low-$L/L_{\rm Edd}$ state with weak outflow as
the circumnuclear stellar population continually ages.

This evolutionary scenario is consistent with the current understandings of
AGNs. Lieghly et al. (1997) reported evidence of relativity outflows in three NLS1s.
In comparison with typical broad-line Seyfert galaxies,
NLS1s are ``young'' AGNs (Mathur 2000) typical of smaller $M_{\mathrm{BH}}$, higher $L/L_{\rm Edd}$, larger [\ion{O}{3}] emission-line
asymmetries, younger circumnuclear stellar populations possibly at post-starburst phase, and enhanced star formations as recently revealed by the observation of \it Spitzer\rm\
(e.g., Boroson 2005; Zamanov et al. 2002; Boroson \& Green 1992; Wang et al. 1996; Boller et al. 1996;
Sulentic et al. 2000; Boroson 2002; Xu et al. 2007; Zhou et al. 2005; Wang \& Wei 2006).
In addition to the observational ground, the feedback from central AGN is frequently involved in the modern numerical
and sim-analytical galaxy evolution models to quench the star formation and to blow the gas or dust away through the powerful AGN's wind
(e.g., Springel et al. 2005; di Matteo et al. 2005; Kauffmann \& Heckman 2008; Fabian 1999; Hopkins et al. 2005, 2008a,b; Croton et al. 2006; Somerville et al. 2008; Khalatyan et al. 2008).
The numerical simulation done by Hopkins et al. (2005) suggests a scenario that the
powerful AGN's wind is required to occur in the young AGN phase in which the central SMBH is heavily obscured by the
starforming gas and dust.

\subsection{Are Transition Galaxies at Intermediate Evolutionary Phase?}

Transition galaxies are the narrow emission-line galaxies located between the theoretical
and empirical demarcation lines in the [\ion{O}{3}]/H$\beta$ versus [\ion{N}{2}]/H$\alpha$ diagnostic diagram
(Kauffmann et al. 2003; Kewley et al. 2001). Their emission-line properties are explained by the mixture of
the contributions from both star formations and typical AGNs (e.g., Kewley et al. 2006; Ho et al. 1993, see
recent review in Ho 2008).
Our spectral profile analysis indicates that the transition galaxies differs from the Seyfert galaxies
in their [\ion{O}{3}] emission-line profiles. The transition galaxies systematically show weaker [\ion{O}{3}] broad wings, and
narrower [\ion{O}{3}] line widths than the Seyfert galaxies, which implies that the two kinds of objects are
different from each other in their mass outflow kinematics.  The line profile comparison allows
us to suspect that the transition galaxies
``bridge'' the AGN-starburst co-evolution from early starburst-dominated
phase to late AGN-dominated phase (e.g., Yuan et al. 2009; Wang \& Wei 2006; Schawinski et al. 2007, 2009).
The evolutionary role of the
transition galaxies has been reported in the recent studies by many authors. With the large SDSS spectroscopic
database, transition galaxies are found to be systematically associated with younger stellar populations than
Seyfert galaxies (e.g., Kewley et al. 2006; Wild et al. 2007; and also see Figure 6 in this paper).
Westoby et al. (2007) found that the distribution of the H$\alpha$ equivalent widths of the transition galaxies
peaks at the valley between the red and blue sequences. By analyzing the mm-wavelength observation taken by
the 30m IRAM, Schawinski et al. (2009) suggested that molecular gas reservoir is destructed by the AGN feedback
at early AGN+starforming transition phase.

\section{Conclusion}

We systematically examined the evolutionary issue of the [\ion{O}{3}]$\lambda5007$ emission-line profile
by using a large sample of narrow emission-line galaxies selected from the
MPA/JHU SDSS DR7 value-added catalog. The sample is separated into three sub-samples
(i.e., star-forming galaxies, transition galaxies and Seyfert galaxies/LINERs) basing upon the line ratios given in
the catalog. Two shape parameters, skewness ($\xi_3$) and kurtosis ($\xi_4$), are additionally
used to quantify the profile deviation from a pure Gaussian.
Our analysis indicates that a) the transition galaxies are systematically associated
with narrower line widths and with weaker [\ion{O}{3}] broad wings than the AGNs;
b) the AGNs with stronger blue asymmetries tend to
be associated with younger stellar populations. The evolutionary significance of the [\ion{O}{3}] line profile
suggests a co-evolution of the outflow feedback and the AGN's host galaxy.

\acknowledgments
We would like to thank the anonymous referees for his/her constructive comments in
improving the paper.
This study was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (under grant
10803008), and by the National Basic Research Program of China (grant 2009CB824800).
This study uses the SDSS archive data that was created and distributed by the
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


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Fred Hammond
Frederick William Hammond (born December 27, 1960) is a gospel singer, bass guitar player, and record producer. Hammond has been active both as a member of the gospel performing group Commissioned, and as a solo artist (currently for Verity Records). He is a multiple Grammy-, Dove-, Stellar-award winner and nominee as a performer, producer and writer. Hammond first gained recognition while playing bass guitar for the gospel group The Winans.By 1985 he was one of the six original members of the group Commissioned, participating in 10 of the group's 12 albums. After his time with Commissioned ended, he regained fame in the gospel community after selling millions of albums with his musical group Radical For Christ. In 2002 Hammond returned to the group Commissioned (now with members Keith Staten, Marvin Sapp, Mitchell Jones, Karl Reid, Michael Williams, and Marcus Cole) to produce the Commissioned Reunion Live album. Hammond produced Make Me Like The Moon, a stirring gospel ballad co-written by Chanté Moore and Kenny Lattimore for their 2006 double-CD of gospel and R&B love songs entitled Uncovered/Covered (released October 10, 2006 by LaFace/Verity/Zomba Music Group). He also performs with Sean Combs on the album Thank You.
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Richard Harding, a lifelong Cantabrigian, began his service as an intern at Joe Kennedy's Citizen's Energy, then served as Director of Constituent Services for Senator Steven Tolman and is the past Chair of the Ward 2 Democratic Committee. He has served on the board of the Young People's Project and of the Community Arts Center. Richard is the President of the Port Life Foundation and a founder of the Port Action Group, a neighborhood group focused on violence prevention. Through the Port Action Group, Richard led the effort to secure the funding and institute a streetworker in Area 4 to help connect formerly incarcerated individuals with services and resources.
Recently, Richard has organized and facilitated two community wide conversations in the area of justice -- Civil Rights: Policing, Discretion and Race, and Not Guilty, a forum that examined police conduct in the Eurie Stamps and DJ Henry incidents. Richard is a proud recipient of the NAACP Education Excellence Award and the Cambridge Peace and Justice Award. Richard is a member of the Cambridge Police Commissioner's Community Advisory Board.
As a School Committee member, Richard's bold, effective leadership included serving as Vice-Chair and co-chairing the Budget Committee and Contract Negotiations. Richard has co-chaired the Kids Council and brought his leadership to the Neighborhood Safety Task Force's Employment Sub-Committee. Richard currently runs the Men of Color Health Initiative and is a program consultant to the job training program, CambridgeWorks. Richard attended the Kennedy Elementary school, received his high school diploma from Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School and is a graduate of Fitchburg State College. His daughter is a student in the Cambridge Public Schools.
I believe that a primary role of the school committee is to challenging the superintendent to be accountable to students and families by making sure he is evaluating programs, teachers and the central administration staff. We have work with him to make sure that he rises to the challenge of the persistence academic achievement gap and offers a concrete plan to close the achievement gap. I believe we must make sure that the superintendent is negotiating with the teacher's union with the best possible learning environment for children in mind and I will work collaboratively with the superintendent to develop goals that support a child centered learning environment.
As one of the members who fought hard to reconstruct our one public high school and voted to do it, I want to see to it that the renovations are completed in a timely fashion so that our children can fully enjoy it. I will continue to scrutinize the budget to eliminate wasteful spending. I will continue to hold the superintendent accountable to any money spent that is not directly impacting the classroom experience for children in the Cambridge Public Schools.
I will work to ensure the successful implementation of the innovation agenda for every school and every child. I will work to ensure that central administration hires the most highly qualified principals to run the middle schools. I believe we must make sure that there are adequate out-of-school time resources and programs that cater to the middle school age population. We must also provide resources for community building with new school populations and making sure that there are enough resources in place at schools to deal with social climate issues.
I will lead in the effort to evaluate the Innovation Agenda to make sure that it is succeeding every child, that there is academic rigor in every discipline, and that teachers are given all the support needed to be successful in the new middle schools. We must also ensure that our bilingual programs are supported and allowed to flourish.
All of this is possible if we make sure that the most highly qualified teachers are in front of our children.
Controlled Choice, Student Assignment Policies, and the "Achievement Gap"
As co-chair of the controlled choice team, I would look to work on and implement the recommendations of this team. Central to our goal is that all schools should be seen as great learning institutions so that parents would feel comfortable no matter which they chose. This would help to alleviate parents' fears and perceptions of "good schools vs. bad schools".
No one supports diversity more than I, but I believe that each child receiving a quality education is the most important thing our schools can offer. I don't believe that these principles are in direct conflict as long as we work diligently to make every school a great school. We should not have to choose between diversity and "good schools".
The Achievement gap is often looked at as the difference between racial sub groups and so a lot of energy is placed on eliminating the difference between them, when we should focus on everyone reaching proficiency.
The most important thing is having excellent instruction in every classroom and real support for students with special needs to make inclusion in the classroom a reality.
Lastly, research supports the need for summer school to combat summer learning loss and provide an opportunity for accelerated learners to stay on pace. I have and will in the future support summer school that is open to those who need it and to those who want it, every child needs and education and, if we are doing our jobs well, every child will want to learn.
We should find a way to provide more funding for programs such as Breakthrough Cambridge, so more kids can experience a high level academic enrichment program. We must create a district wide intramural program for students who don't want to participate in varsity sports but would be able to enjoy the benefits of physical activity and social interaction without the pressures of competition.
We need to find a way to make more programs available for students with special needs in out-of-school settings, families struggle to find suitable programming with the necessary support and know how. Our system and our city should be able to do better. I will also continue the work that I started to make our AP classes more diverse and representative of our student population, the opportunities we have must be open and accessible to every child.
I believe we are losing the battle in marketing the Cambridge Public Schools as a viable choice for Cambridge parents. As I work events, especially community health fairs, I notice that charter schools are reaching out to families and their children, communicating all that they have to offer. The Cambridge Public Schools should do the same. We have a great number of offerings and a diversity in programming that should allot any family in Cambridge a desirable choice for their children.
We need to be more aggressive in marketing our system as a viable option and create a recruitment plan to reach families and children with the variety of options and opportunities that the full system has to offer.
Although we are seeing an increase in enrollment it was only a short while ago that we lost 1000 students. We cannot be complacent, we need to sell ourselves and recruit to make sure that we are doing as much as our competitors to market our schools. We need also to conduct exit interviews to ascertain if there are any patterns for why students are leaving and create a plan to address them.
Unfortunately in our elementary schools there is an inconsistent level of achievement across the board. Some of this has to with the curriculum, but most of it has to do with the "teaching gap". Some teachers have mastered differentiated instruction, others are not there yet. We need to figure out a way that all of our students have an accelerated learning experience and ensure that teachers have the support to make this happen. I think that the curriculum in our K-5 grades is very good, but we have to make sure that the middle schools have a curriculum that prepares all children for high school. A good curriculum with great teaching will produce high achieving students.
I believe also that to adequately prepare our students for the 21st century, the Cambridge Public Schools must support and offer world languages.
I believe that the high school curriculum allows teachers to be creative in helping students meet the goal of proficiency. From talking to the high school principal, I know that he is confident that the block schedule will allow for exciting learning as well as the necessary time for students to work on the skills that will help them to be more proficient learners. The energy at the high school is amazing, the curriculum coordination is organized at a level where the bar is raised for teachers and students, and this will in turn raise the bar on student achievement. I am, however, concerned about the lack of low income students in AP courses, this has been a persistent problem that we need to work on at CRLS. I am impressed with the new principal Damon Smith's focus on teaching and learning and in creating a student centered learning environment at CRLS.
I have never been a major fan of the MCAS, but I do believe that it has its benefits, particular as a diagnostic tool so we can measure whether or not students are learning and are proficient. I think that the MCAS along with other forms of assessment, particularly portfolios, will help us understand what is going on in classrooms and get the students ready for the 21st century learning and work environments they are graduating into.
Portfolios and project based learning are part of the learning experience for some students; this should be the reality for all children. I think project based learning provides an exciting opportunity for teachers and learners to be creative while acquiring meaning skills that will allow our students to become more well rounded critical thinkers and to become proficient in all subject areas. Our MCAS scores have been stagnant, with small glimpses of promise. I think we need to continue to use best practices to inform our instruction and meet the needs of all of our students. We should also think about creating a district wide assessment that would help us measure student achievement to compliment the MCAS data.
I believe that the teachers' contract is the blueprint for excellent instruction in every classroom. We must seriously negotiate the new teachers contract to ensure that all of our teachers are competent and have the ability to teach students at high levels and that they are experts at differentiated instruction. I will support a new contract that includes student performance in teacher evaluations. We must also entertain the notion of having more time for instruction; this will allow teachers and students more time to work on subject matter. The superintendent has to make sure that all principals evaluate their teachers fully in order to help the Cambridge Public Schools realize my goal of excellent instruction in every classroom.
Differentiated instruction is very easy to say, but a very hard thing to do well. Our professional development resources need to focus on building teacher expertise in this area.
While our schools are very safe, classroom management, particularly managing students with behavior issues, is a real concern for me and other parents in the district. We have to make sure that the PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) which has begun to be implemented in some schools is offered in all schools. This will help teachers to have better classroom management and positively affect student achievement. I believe that the Cambridge Public Schools will be a better place for all students once the entire faculty has had the benefit of this professional development.
We need to do a better job at giving the parents of children with behavioral needs the tools to support their children in integrating home and school. Also, I do not subscribe to the idea that taking away recess from children is the way to punish children for bad behavior, we need to be creative in our approach to helping children succeed in the classroom. We can and must do better.
I believe that parents should be involved in all school based decisions including the budget. Parents also must be invited to the table to be invested in their children's education. I believe that educating children in Cambridge is a 50/50 commitment between parents and schools. I believe that the Cambridge Public Schools must do more to engage parents in the schools and with the school committee. To do the latter we must take meetings out to the community and do a better job at communicating information from the school system to the home.


In business, you keep score with dollars. That's the key metric in the Top 200 Pro Dealer Industry Scoreboard, produced by the research, reporting and estimates of HBSDealer editors.
The statistics represent the performance of each of the Top 200 in the most recently completed fiscal year. A considerable factor across the board is last year's 9.3% growth in single-family housing starts — the bread and butter of the pro dealer industry.
An even bigger factor — certainly at the top of the list — is the merger and acquisition activity that has made super giants out of giants, while perennial powerhouses Stock Building Supply and ProBuild folded into the respective acquiring entities, BMC and Builders FirstSource.
Some acquired companies remain on the list: The family of brands acquired by U.S. LBM Holdings continue to operate with semi-autonomy, and their brand names remain important in their markets, and important to track on lists like this.
In addition to sales performance, the Top 200 list rests on the definition of "Pro Dealer." Generally, the term applies to companies whose primary business is that of selling lumber and a variety of other building materials to contractors or builders. In the case of gray area outliers, we refer to the words of Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart: We know it, when we see it.
The editors are already preparing for the 2018 list. We encourage your participation as we sharpen our estimates. We invite your comments at [email protected].


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Home › Articles and Speeches › Ngiam Tong Dow Articles › Minds And Mindsets: The Civil Servant And The Businessman
Minds And Mindsets: The Civil Servant And The Businessman
Posted on May 11, 2005 by admin	Posted in Ngiam Tong Dow Articles
aka Chronic Worrier, adapted and printed by The Straits Times 11 May 2005
SPEECH BY MR NGIAM TONG DOW AT THE PONTIAC LAND-IPS
THOUGHT LEADERS LUNCH HELD ON 10 MAY 2005
AT THE SUMMER PALACE RESTAURANT, THE REGENT, SINGAPORE
I was a career civil servant until my retirement in 1999. Spanning 40 years, I have served in the economic ministries of Finance, Trade and Industry, Communications, National Development, and PMO. I was also Chairman of the Economic Development Board (EDB), the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), and Housing and Development Board (HDB).
More than my colleagues in non-economic ministries, I had greater contact with businessmen and entrepreneurs in the private sector.
Civil servants and businessmen may look at the same set of facts or data, yet draw different conclusions. When looking at a half empty glass of water, the civil servant looks at the half which is empty, and concludes that there is a gap. A businessman will see the half filled with water and concludes that there is an opportunity.
The difference in perception is because of the difference in their mindsets. The calculus of the civil servant is cost and benefit analysis, taught in schools of public administration. The abacus of the businessman is profit and loss, taught in business schools. Why? My guess is that the civil servant and the businessman march to different drumbeats. The public sector strives to produce goods and services at the lowest possible cost so that the most number of people can afford them. Quality is consistent, but dull. There is no product differentiation.
HDB Look
As Chairman of the HDB, I showed a group of private developers from the Real Estate Development Association of Singapore (REDAS) round three blocks of newly completed design and build flats at Jurong West. The intention was to sell them en bloc to private developers for conversion into private apartments with condominium facilities.
The President of REDAS, an old friend from DBS Land, took one look at the newly built flats and told me that my proposal will not fly because the flats had the "HDB look"!
I was very upset because these flats, under our design and build schemes, were actually designed by private architects.
While the honour of our own HDB architects was saved for the day, I could not understand why HDB flats designed by private architects should have the same look and feel of HDB flats designed by our own architects. Why is there no product differentiation?
On returning to the office, HDB management patiently explained to me that the look of privately or publicly designed HDB flats has to be similar because HDB or private architects have to design to the same set of cost parameters. Which is another way of saying that HDB flats have to be "affordable".
To be honest, I am not totally convinced by HDB management's rationale. On becoming Chairman of HDB, I found it hard to accept that HDB flats built on prime sites still wear the same HDB look.
Well, the acid test will soon come with the introduction of HDB's Design, Build and Sell (DBS) schemes. Under the new DBS, the successful tenderer for HDB sites will design, build and sell at prices the developer sets for itself.
The HDB will not set the selling prices. This liberalisation is to be welcomed. I hope the stage will be reached when HDB developers can sell to all Singapore citizens, and not be confined to citizens who qualify under the household income ceilings, which is currently set at $8,000 a month.
The March 28, 2005, issue of Fortune Magazine featured the affable genial face of Mr Warren Buffet on its front cover. The lead story was entitled, "The Best Advice I Ever Got" – advice received, not given, by Warren Buffet, Jack Welch, Richard Branson, Peter Drucker, Meg Whitman, Andy Grove, Vivek Paul, and 21 other business superstars.
Their personalities are as far apart as the north and south pole. Compare Buffet with Branson. Reading between the lines, one common quality shines through. That is, all these outstanding business leaders listen more than they talk. They take to heart advice given by their fathers, their bosses, their spouses, friends, and peers. But, they make up their own mind. They are leaders, not followers.
Our Very Own Business Leaders
In my civil service career, I was privileged to know and to enjoy the friendship of seven outstanding business leaders. Though none of them has a doctorate degree, they are men with sharp intellects. They value education and have given generously of their wealth and their time to our schools, polytechnics and universities. What makes them stand out is their immense energy.
They are always on the go, prowling and pouncing on business opportunities. You could say that they have the energy of the great cats of the animal kingdom. They are however not predators. They run businesses that do not exploit human weaknesses.
I have the greatest respect for them, more so that I am a member of the Singapore Administrative Service, identified as a priesthood by Dr Goh Keng Swee, a great Public Servant.
These outstanding leaders of business are:
Mr Kuok Hock Nien of Shangri-la Hotels – "Nothing but the Best", on building Shangri-la's first flagship hotel in Singapore.
Mr Robin Loh of Robin Shipyard – "Get the Business First", on building his first Oil Rig.
Mr Brian Chang of Promet – "Build a Circle Line", on the MRT.
Mr Kwek Hong Png of Hong Leong – "Just Follow the HDB", on building up a land bank.
Mr Lien Ying Chow – "Enjoy your Birds' Nest", before the Chinese do.
Mr Teo Soo Chuan – "Luke Warm Water is Best", on Indonesian Trade.
Mr Goh Tjoei Kok – on Intraco doing Chinese business on expat salaries.
I will now recollect the conversations I had with them. Though I was a younger man not only in years but in wisdom, they took me into their confidence and gave me very sound advice on business and on life, which I shall now recall and recount.
Kuok Hock Nien of Shangri-la Hotels – "Nothing but the Best", on building Shangri-la's first flagship hotel in Singapore
My first conversation was with Mr Robert Kuok in the early 1960's when he and a group of fellow rice and sugar traders decided to enter an entirely new business, owning and operating hotels. They had bought a large piece of land in the then largely residential Orange Grove Road.
Mr Kuok came in to see me, then a young wet behind the ears officer, in the Ministry of Finance at Fullerton Building.
I asked Mr Kuok what type of hotel he proposed to build. He told me his group was considering to build a super luxury 5-star hotel. As visitor arrivals were only around 400,000 compared with our current 8,000,000, I demurred and wondered whether they should reduce their risk by building a more modest hotel.
Mr Kuok laughed and told me that though the visitor arrivals were relatively low, those who arrived at our shores were likely to be people of means and substance, and would want nothing but the best. That was the basis for building the first Shangri-la flagship hotel in Singapore. Fortunately, the right strategic decision was made by the businessman, not by the civil servant in me.
Robin Loh and Robin Shipyard – "Get the Business First", on building his first Oil Rig
In the mid-1970's, I was excited when I read in the morning papers that Robin Shipyard had won a contract from the PRC to build two oil rigs. As Chairman EDB, I was wondering how Mr Robin Loh, who had never built oil rigs before, could clinch a contract to build not one, but two, oil rigs. I was concerned that Robin Shipyard might not be able to deliver, putting Singapore's reputation at risk. So, I invited Robin in for a chat.
When I popped the burning question, Robin looked at me exasperated. He told me that as a businessman, he has to get the business first and worry about how to do it later. He pointed out to me that as a civil servant I would worry how to do the business for so long that we end up missing the boat. With the contract in hand, Robin hired an American naval architect in Los Angeles to design the rigs. The rigs were built in Singapore under Chinese supervision! His advice to wanabee entrepreneurs is always, "To get the business first."
Brian Chang of Promet – "Build a Circle Line", on the MRT
Mr Brian Chang hails from South Africa and after graduating in mechanical engineering from the Imperial College in London came to Singapore in the late 1960's hoping to work for EDB. Fortunately for Brian,
Hwang Peng Yuan who interviewed him turned him down as "he was too good for EDB", in PY's words. Brian went on to establish the Promet Shipyard and became an outstanding entrepreneur.
He rang me up one morning when I was PS (Communications), in the midst of planning and battling the Ministry of Finance to build the MRT.
He had seen the proposed route configuration in the morning papers, and told me that it was all wrong. He said that an east-west/north-south configuration would only serve to carry traffic into the city in the morning and out of it in the evening. Only half the capacity would be used in the morning and in the evening. There would be little traffic in between the morning and evening peaks. Brian urged me to go for a circle line. Conceptually, a circular configuration would carry traffic through the day. Instead, we configured the routes by linking up HDB new towns already built in a north-south east-west direction.
Incidentally, Dr Goh Keng Swee made the same point in a different way. He said that it was too expensive to build rail systems just to carry the morning and evening peaks. He thought it better to develop bus routes, which are more flexible. As he puts it, when mistakes are made the marginal cost is only the cost of the last bus. The rail system requires putting $5 billion at risk.
Both Dr Goh and Brian Chang are right in their own way. Having built the MRT, Singaporeans are now more mobile and can access almost every part of Singapore by rail, or bus. Singapore is now a more livable city. Property values have moved up.
In the great MRT debate, I was for building the MRT, as higher property tax revenue would pay for the full capital cost. As PS (Finance), my main concern was that fares should be set at levels enough to pay the full operating costs and provide for depreciation. I hope the Public Transport Council would take this to heart in deciding on fare increases.
Kwek Hong Png of Hong Leong – "Just Follow the HDB", on building up a land bank
Mr Kwek Hong Png, who built a property empire out of a hardware business, speaks only Hokkien. Though my own Hokkien is elementary, I decided one day to ask him about his business strategy in building up a land bank for Hong Leong.
He looked me straight in the eye and told me that he adopted a very simple strategy. He said that whenever and wherever the HDB acquired land for building new towns, he would buy whatever odd lots that the HDB left behind. The zoning did not matter.
Mr Kwek figured out that if the Chief Planner allowed change of use from, say, rural green zone to suburban residential for HDB acquired land, by the same token the Chief Planner would have to allow change of use for privately acquired land in the vicinity. Mr Kwek was a shrewd businessman who understood the mindset of the civil servant.
What the civil servant failed to see was that when the HDB acquired the bulk of the rural land, whatever remained in the private domain was scarce, and therefore more valuable. It was public policy that created private scarcity and value for shrewd entrepreneurs, such as Kwek Hong Png of Hong Leong.
Mr Lien Ying Chow – "Enjoy your Birds' Nest", before the Chinese do
Mr Lien Ying Chow was a man of boundless energy and tenacity. He established a fledgling Overseas Union Bank in war torn China and moved it back home to Singapore when the Second World War ended. He had very high EQ, and built OUB to be one of the Big Four banks in Singapore.
I recall a conversation with Mr Lien at a National Day reception held in the Singapore Conference Hall in the late 1970's, well before China became an economic powerhouse.
He believed in birds' nest as a health tonic and advised me to enjoy birds' nest before, as he puts it, the Chinese price us Singaporeans out of the market. Mr Lien was very prescient. Today, a tahil of birds' nest is worth more than its weight in gold.
Today, China is an economic competitor of economies much larger than ourselves. On looking back, Mr Lien in his inimitable way gave me a lesson in global competition that no amount of statistics can ever convey.
Teo Soo Chuan – "Luke Warm Water is Best", on Indonesian Trade
Mr Teo Soo Chuan, as the eldest son, heads See Hoy Chan the company founded by his father Dato Teo Hong Sam. See Hoy Chan is one of Singapore's leading rice and sugar traders in Carpenter Street. Soon after General Suharto came to power as the President of Indonesia, he sent a message to Singapore asking whether our Government could send 10,000 tons of rice to a province in Indonesia on the verge of starvation. Dr Goh, who was our Finance Minister, decided that we would do so as a good neighbour. There was no need to enter into any memorandum of understanding. See Hoy Chan shipped the rice on our account.
It was a human response to a neighbour's request for help. This gesture of goodwill on the part of Singapore paid handsome dividends in our relationship with Indonesia under the stewardship of President Suharto. For the record, Indonesia returned the 10,000 tons of rice to Singapore some years later. Teo Soo Chuan told me that the rice returned was of a higher quality than the rice we gave.
Out of this relatively unknown episode, Mr Teo told me that, in dealing with Indonesia, the best water temperature for Singapore is lukewarm. If the water is too cold, ie Indonesia is as efficient as ourselves, there will be no role for Singapore. Neither should the water be too hot, ie Indonesia descends into chaos. If the water is too hot, Singapore would be boiled in it.
Teo Soo Chuan sums up in a nutshell what could be our MFA's policy on Indonesia.
Goh Tjoei Kok – On Intraco doing Chinese business on expat Cost
Mr Goh Tjoei Kok came to Singapore from Djambi, Sumatra, in the 1950's. His Tat Lee Company is a major rubber and palm oil trader with plantations both in Indonesia and Malaysia. He and his business partners established Singapore's first steel re-rolling mill. The National Iron and Steel Mills (NISM) produced steel bars from ship scrap for Singapore's HDB housing programme.
I got to know Mr Goh well when he became the non-executive Chairman of Intraco Limited. Set up by Dr Goh, our hope was to grow the company into a trading conglomerate.
Alas, we got off on a wrong footing. Mr Goh was a quiet man who seldom had harsh words for anyone, least of all a civil servant. But one day, he asked to see me urgently and told me bluntly that Intraco would never succeed because, in his words "the company's management was earning expatriate salary and doing small Chinese business." In today's idiom, Mr Goh implied that while we expected to enjoy world class pay, we were not delivering world class performance.
As Singaporeans aspire for world class lifestyles, we need to remember that we have to deliver world class performance.
Dr Goh Keng Swee and Bird Seed
Dr Goh Keng Swee was Singapore's first Finance Minister. According to Professor Silcock, who taught economics to Dr Goh in Raffles College, and myself at the University of Malaya, Dr Goh was the best economics mind he had taught.
As Defence Minister, he established what is now the cluster of defence industries grouped under ST Engineering. He did it without purchase of prohibitively costly technology. He adopted what he called reverse engineering, which was the process of engineering backwards from the final product to the parts and components. Reverse engineering is the approach of the public service manager faced with resource constraints.
A more vivid example of this cost conscious mindset is embodied in his decision to build the Jurong Bird Park first, rather than the zoo. On our return journey from the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington in September 1968, Dr Goh asked me to draft a project paper to set up a bird park in Singapore.
When I asked him why not a zoo, he gruffly replied that birds only eat bird seeds, which is a fraction of the cost of meat to feed carnivorous animals at a zoo. For the record, Dr Goh approved the setting up of the Zoological Gardens later. In reality, both the bird park and the zoo have to be subsidised by the Ministry of Finance.
To sum up, the businessman wears a demand side mindset always striving to sell at the highest possible price. The civil servant, on the other hand, works on the supply side to provide a service or a product at the lowest possible cost.
The civil servant, not being attuned to the market as well as the businessman, often has to sell below cost incurring subsidies at public expense. Of course, the businessman incurs a loss when he guesses wrongly. The civil servant is rewarded for output. The businessman is rewarded for the outcome, which is profit.
What Keeps Me Awake At Night
Chang Li Lin's letter of invitation for me to speak to you today requires me "to speak for about 10 to 15 minutes on the ideas that I am grappling with at the moment." In plain English, what keeps me awake at night? Having served as Chairman of the Economic Development Board in the 1970's, from 1975 to 1981, I have become a chronic worrier on the state of health of the Singapore economy.
The front page of the International Herald Tribune of August 12, carried an article with the compelling and provocative headline: Singapore's economy: Has it passed its peak? Country struggles to sustain its growth."
The IHT journalist raised the right question. I was however disappointed that the body of the article was more political rhetoric than economic substance. The heading will serve us Singaporeans well as a wake up call. I will re-phrase the headline as: Can Singapore Survive? As a true blue Singaporean, I would say that it is not in our nature to accept preordained fate. If we have to die, we will go down fighting.
The recent economic history of Singapore is a part of most of us born before 1959. When the PAP Government first assumed power that fateful year, it inherited a stagnant entrepot economy with an unemployment rate exceeding 10%. There was a small educated group literate only in English, but largely without any technical skills. Singaporeans were mostly clerks, teachers, nurses, personal drivers, and amahs.
As a young EDB officer, I recall visiting Hongkong with Mr Lien Ying Chow and Mr Eric Meyer (from Israel), the first EDB director. We called on a Teochew entrepreneur who manufactured metal stampings for alarm clocks. We tried to interest him in setting up shop in Singapore. He turned us down in a condescending way, saying that Singaporeans, who are just small traders, could never manufacture consumer products such as clocks. At the time he was right.
It drove us in EDB to promote industrial training. Fortunately for Singapore, we were able to attract to Singapore pragmatic multinational companies, such as Philips of Holland, Rollei of Germany, Seiko of Japan, to establish joint industrial training centers with EDB, to turn young school leavers into skilled technicians.
Dr Pannenberg
Dr Pannenberg from Philips was our first Science and Technology Advisor. He told us that basic research was not an option for Singapore. Instead, he urged us to raise our level of competence in science and technology. Dr Pannengberg was confident that if there are competent engineers and scientists in Singapore, we would be able to attract high technology MNCs to establish manufacturing plants here. EDB therefore pushed for the expansion of engineering enrollment in what is now NUS, and enthusiastically supported the metamorphosis of Nanyang University into the Nanyang Technological Institute.
A*Star, our agency for Science, Technology and Research, ably led by Mr Phillip Yeo, co-Chairman of EDB, is basically following the game plan laid by Dr Pannenberg nearly three decades ago. This is to raise the level of competence of our engineers and scientists.
NUS, NTU and SMU
Our three universities, NUS, NTU and SMU, have added IT and soft skills necessary for Singapore to compete in finance, banking, publishing and advertising, and other media services. In essence, our investment in education is to acquire the knowledge which we can use to leverage on the greater resource base of land, labour and capital of our neighbours and trading partners.
As I have expounded elsewhere, Singapore has to find a niche in the economic pyramid of every other country. Because of our limitation of size and talent, we can never achieve an integrated self-contained economic pyramid on our own. In fact no country can, in today's world of a global economy.
I believe that we can leverage on our expertise and experience in fields such as ship repair, port management, housing and township development, transportation and logistics, education and health services, IT networks, retail banking, and other new emerging service sectors.
Our strength in oil refining and petrochemicals, advanced electronics, pharmaceuticals, can be exported to other countries with greater resources to help establish industrial clusters or hubs in countries such as China and India. Knowledge is a platform for win-win cooperation.
The old mindset of a zero sum game in competition is obsolete.
What our competitors cannot take away from us is good government.
Finally, Singapore should never opt for quick fixes, such as a casino resort in whatever form or name. We have not done so in the past.
Today, Singapore is a far stronger economy and healthier society than say Macau.
Instincts and Foresight
In facing the future, our current generation of political and business leaders will do well to learn from the instincts, foresight, and grit, of our pioneering business and political leaders. Who could have imagined that from a single hotel in Singapore, Mr Robert Kuok and his business partners could have gone on to establish a global chain of Shangri-la hotels?
Source: http://gavinseng.files.wordpress.com/2006/06/ngiam%20tong%20dow%20-%20civil%20servants%20vs%20businessmen.pdf
‹ Singapore 'bigger than PAP'
I now shout from the rooftop ›


text:
Remarks by the President in a Surprise Drop-By with Booker T. Washington Class of 2011
11:13 A.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: How's everybody doing? (Applause.) You're all excited about graduating, huh? (Applause.) Listen, I just had a chance to meet with your principal and these two outstanding classmates of yours, and I just want to say how inspired we were. We were inspired by the video you sent. We're inspired by the stories you told. We're inspired by how you've turned this school around. But obviously a lot of that has to do with your outstanding principal. (Applause.)
She says you guys know how old she is. How old is she?
STUDENTS: Twenty-five!
THE PRESIDENT: Twenty-five. She started when she was seven. (Laughter.) Teaching high school at seven years old. (Laughter.)
Obviously it has a lot to do with great teachers, but this is mainly your day and your success, because a lot of you -- and I'm going to talk about this at the commencement -- a lot of you had to struggle to get here. Most of you weren't born with a silver spoon in your mouth. But what you've shown is determination. What you've shown is character. What you've shown is a willingness to work hard and the ability to steer clear of folks that were trying to send you down the wrong path. And so as a consequence, you've now become role models for all the young people coming in behind you. You've become an inspiration to the city and the state of Tennessee and the country.
So I just wanted you all to know, you inspire me. That's why I'm here. I could not be prouder of what you do. But I've still got some big, big expectations for you, so don't think just because you graduate from high school that that's it. You've got a lot more work to do, because I expect all of you to be leaders in this community and communities all across the country. And this is just the beginning. This is not the end. All right?
So God bless you guys. I'm so excited to be here. (Applause.)
END 11:17 A.M. CDT


Description: What are the implications for educators and learners as they move towards greater use of social media? In this seminar we will seek to define exactly what social media is, its uses in education, and the implications for educators, learners, and administrators. This 3 weeks is jam-packed with activities organized by SCoPE and BCcampus Online Learning Communities. Be sure to attend the first live session November 13 at 18:00 GMT: The Social Media in Education Landscape, featuring Truls Henriksen, CEO of Ectolearning.com.
Collaborative advantage refers to the synergistic outcomes that could not have been achieved by any player acting alone. To achieve collaborative advantage, participants need to do more than work together-they need to think together. This seminar discussion is organized into 2 themes, each accompanied by a live session hosted by Elluminate.
What started as a fairly quiet suggestion for a seminar discussion topic certainly did fan out into some great opportunities for sharing and for new connections and possibilities. Many new participants joined us over the course of the seminar, adding several new countries to our membership profile. The conversations continue in the Facebook group of over 400 members, and growing!
This Active Learning seminar certainly was active! We gathered together such a diverse and resourceful group. There is a great deal to revisit in this discussion, and the Wiki is chock full of resources to explore. Of course the forum remains open for afterthoughts, we can continue to build the wiki resource collection. Also, Deirdre has created a new Active Learning group in Facebook, and launched the Active Learning Blog Carnival!
* SCoPE extends a special welcome to members of the Red Virtual de Turores (RVT), the Colombian Online Tutoring Network. RVT members have been exploring and discussing SCoPE and other communities to learn about nurturing successful virtual communities in education as part of a 12-week workshop.
* SCoPE is now a Cooperating Organization with the Development Gateway Foundation eLearning Communities, a collaborative space for professionals working to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development worldwide. Share knowledge, tools, contacts, and more with members in 200 countries. Each online community is centered on specific themes and guided by experts in the field. Thousands of information resource links are included, plus valuable member services.
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text:
Q: SQLite .NET performance, how to speed up things? On my system, ~86000 SQLite insertions took up to 20 minutes, means ~70 insertions per second. I have to do millions, how can I speed up it? Calling Open() and Close() on SQLiteConnection object for every line can slow down performance? Can transactions help?
Typical insertion method for a single line:
public int InsertResultItem(string runTag, int topicId,
    string documentNumber, int rank, double score)
{
    // Apre la connessione e imposta il comando
    connection.Open();

    command.CommandText = "INSERT OR IGNORE INTO Result "
    + "(RunTag, TopicId, DocumentNumber, Rank, Score) " +
    "VALUES (@RunTag, @TopicId, @DocumentNumber, @Rank, @Score)";

    // Imposta i parametri
    command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@RunTag", runTag);
    command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@TopicId", topicId);
    command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@DocumentNumber", documentNumber);
    command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Rank", rank);
    command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Score", score);

    // Ottieni il risultato e chiudi la connessione
    int retval = command.ExecuteNonQuery();
    connection.Close();

    return retval;
}

As you can see, insertions are very simple ones.

A: You definitely need a transaction. If you don't, SQLite starts its own transaction for every insert command so you're effectively doing 86000 transactions as is.
It looks you're also opening and closing the connection each time, along with resetting the CommandText each time. This is unnecessary and doubtless slowing you down, it'll go much faster if you:

*

*Open the connection once

*Build the command once , adding the parameters to it once.

*Start the transaction

*Loop through, changing the parameter values only before calling ExecuteNonQuery

*Commit the transaction.

*Close the connection.

I think you could reduce your 20 minutes down to just a few seconds this way.
Edit: this is what I mean:
public void InsertItems()
{
    SQLiteConnection connection  = new SQLiteConnection(SomeConnectionString);
    SQLiteCommand command = connection.CreateCommand();
    SQLiteTransaction transaction = connection.BeginTransaction();

    command.CommandText = "INSERT OR IGNORE INTO Result "
+ "(RunTag, TopicId, DocumentNumber, Rank, Score) " +
  "VALUES (@RunTag, @TopicId, @DocumentNumber, @Rank, @Score)";

    command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@RunTag", "");
    command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@TopicId", "");
    command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@DocumentNumber", "");
    command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Rank", "");
    command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Score", "");

    foreach ( /* item to loop through and add to db */ )
    {
        InsertResultItem(runTag, topicId, documentNumber, rank, score, command);
    }

    transaction.Commit();
    command.Dispose();
    connection.Dispose();
}

public int InsertResultItem(string runTag, int topicId, string documentNumber, int rank, double score, SQLiteCommand command)
{
    command.Parameters["@RunTag"].Value = runTag;
    command.Parameters["@TopicId"].Value = topicId;
    command.Parameters["@DocumentNumber"].Value = documentNumber;
    command.Parameters["@Rank"].Value = rank;
    command.Parameters["@Score"].Value = score;
    return command.ExecuteNonQuery();
}

It only uses one connection, one transaction and one command, so all you're changing is the parameter values each time.

A: Use transactions. This should make things faster. Also I would recommend you the following pattern:
public int InsertResultItem(string runTag, int topicId,
    string documentNumber, int rank, double score)
{
    // Apre la connessione e imposta il comando
    using (var connection = new SQLiteConnection(SomeConnectionString))
    using (var command = new connection.CreateCommand())
    {
        connection.Open();
        using (var tx = connection.BeginTransaction())
        {
            command.CommandText = "INSERT OR IGNORE INTO Result "
                + "(RunTag, TopicId, DocumentNumber, Rank, Score) " +
                "VALUES (@RunTag, @TopicId, @DocumentNumber, @Rank, @Score)";

            // Imposta i parametri
            command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@RunTag", runTag);
            command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@TopicId", topicId);
            command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@DocumentNumber", documentNumber);
            command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Rank", rank);
            command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Score", score);

            // Ottieni il risultato e chiudi la connessione
            var retval = command.ExecuteNonQuery();
            tx.Commit();
            return retval;
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Translations, por favor. Also, the X= and Y= in the fourth picture look like they might some sort of geodetic coordinates; are they, and if so, what kind?
And most important of all, what are the good restaurants in the area? I don't rule out a trip to Hainan once the CZ-5 starts flying.
The single path splitting at both ends on the photo is very similar to the existing MLP track layout at Jiuquan's South Launch Site 1. At one end the VAB has two bays; at the other there are two launch pads. A simple and logical arrangement.
"Restricted area - military base" "Army construction area"
On plans: "Not for construction" or "Draft only"
A somewhat belated thanks for the translations. It seems to me that the most significant parts are the numbers "1" and "2". Are those signs that some sort of campaign requiring multiple -- or at least two -- launches is contemplated, rather than a series of essentially independent launches?
It's a backup, in fact ,for every mission, they made two spacecrafts, when one failed, they use another as soon as possible, but after launching, launch pad normally need maintenance, so shift to another one.
Similarly most US pads were duplicates (Delta II, Titan, Shuttle, Atlas) .for backup, maintenance outages and for surge capacity. This changed with Falcon, Atlas V and Delta IV, partly because the on-pad processing and turnaround times and maintenance requirements are lower and partly because there is less need for very high launch rates. China has a backup pad for the LM-2F/G at Jiuquan but notably it was used only for unmanned launches and was apparently not man-rated.
-TWO VIFs, one for the CZ-5 and one for the CZ-7. The two are linked together by a horizontal "low bay" for rocket storage.
-The spacecraft processing and launch control facilities are just west of the VIBs.
-Construction of the pads and facilities are in full swing, merely 3 years after the construction officially started (2009-09-14). The flame trench is more or less complete, and the service towers are being pieced together.
Photos 1-15 are from the CZ-5 pad site, photos 16-20 are from the CZ-7 pad site.
An annotated version of photo 6, which shows the facilities of the launch site.
Turns out that Bing Maps has clear aerial photos of the future launch site: go to 19°38′N 110°57′E, select aerial mode, and you can see the completed flame trench of the two future launch pads and the construction site of the VIF complex.
The CZ-5, according to the Source of All Wisdom, Wikipedia, will be only a bit over 60 meters tall. So is the pad being built with the idea of accommodating CZ-9 or other BFR, should they appear? Does the size of the flame trench provide any clues as to the maximum thrust at lift-off the pad can handle?
It looks like the mobile launch platform in the conceptual drawing on the poster runs on tires rather than rails; similar to LC-39 but an unusual choice for such a heavy load. Also the LV in the artist's concept on the display poster appears to be a CZ-7, the medium lift Kerosene/LOX rocket which will be more or less a direct replacement for the CZ-2 and its highly toxic UDMH/N2O2 propellants, and will presumably be the primary LV for the Shenzou.
So apparently there is one assembly building and one pad for the CZ-5 and one set for the CZ-7, and for the moment human launch will probably use only the CZ-7. Has anything been said about when it will be operational?
I just checked out the DigitalGlobe browse images of the Wenchang center and found one taken by QuickBird 2 on 24 October 2012. At the browse resolution, not much change is seen at the launch site itself, but there seems to have been major road construction on the peninsula to the northeast. Perhaps associated with the intended tourist industry. Image attached, with another QB02 of 5 June 2011 for comparison.
I heard that port is planned for the area. No mention was made though as to what entity plans to use it one its built.
As I understand it, the CZ-5 stages are supposed to be shipped by sea to the Wenchang center from the Tianjin rocket factory.
... from the Tianjin rocket factory.
I'm not sure if it fits this thread, but do we have google maps coordinates for the Tianjin factory?
An interesting question. It's in the Binhai New Area, and there are several big buildings there that might be it. I'll see if it can be located more accurately. Somewhere around 39.0 N, 117.7 E, I'd guess.
China philatelic websites (see e.g. http://spaceship781.blog.163.com/blog/static/29293097201211261015956/) report that a special souvenir was issued to commemorate the launch of the first rocket carrier ship named Yuanwang-21. The ceremony was held at the Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard on Changxing Island.
I didn't see those pictures until just now; thanks a lot for posting them. It would appear that the launch center is on its way to meet the 2014 IOC date.