text:
Lecturer/Senior Lecturer
Babson College, United States
Location: Wellesley, MASSACHUSETTS
Deadline: ;
Division Summary: The Operations and Information Management Division at Babson College includes faculty with expertise teaching and researching issues related to evolving technologies that accelerate and change the nature of the design, development, production, and distribution of information, products, and services. The current opening is for the area of our division focused on Business Intelligence and current faculty in this area are engaged in research and teaching on issues related to the collection, storage, analysis and visualization of data. Our faculty publish in a wide range of outlets including journals of the Academy of Management,
MISQ
INFORMS
as well as having a regular presence in practitioner outlets such as Sloan Management Review and Harvard Business Review.
College Summary: Babson College, located on an attractive suburban campus just fourteen miles west of Boston, is an independent school of management that takes a unique approach to preparing undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals for the accelerating challenges of the modern business world. Babson's dynamic curriculum focuses on developing skills that transcend business so that students gain multidimensional abilities and can make important contributions to business and society. Our students understand that economic and social value creation are not mutually exclusive, but instead are integral to each other. The fundamental business skills and entrepreneurial mindset they cultivate at Babson equip them to make a difference on campus and around the world, leading to worldwide recognition of our approach to entrepreneurial leadership. Babson has nearly 2,500 full-time undergraduate students and more than 1,300 full and part-time graduate students. Our highly diverse student body hails from 45 U.S. states and 57 countries. Non-U.S. students comprise more than 20% of undergraduate students and more than 40% of our full time graduate students. Babson offers a Bachelor of Science degree, MS and
programs, and executive education programs worldwide. We seek faculty who align with our values of teaching excellence, collaboration, diversity and inclusiveness, and those who embrace our mission to educate leaders who create great economic and social value everywhere. We seek candidates who are eager to engage as educators among a diverse student community. Being within the Boston ecosystem affords Babson faculty access to world-leading companies for research and teaching relationships as well as a dynamic academic environment.
Assistant Director Of Direct Marketing And Participation, Brandeis University, United States, about 6 hours ago
The Opportunity Brandeis University – a distinguished top-tier private research university recognized for its academic excellence and leading-edge research – has an exciting opportunity for a tale...
Part Time Academic Advisor Workforce & Economic..., Bunker Hill Community College, United States, about 3 hours ago
About Bunker Hill Community College: Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) is a multi-campus institution with vibrant, urban campuses in Boston, Massachusetts, in nearby Chelsea, Massachusetts, an...
Staff Assistant, Faculty Recruiting, Harvard University, United States, about 23 hours ago
13-Jan-2022 Harvard Business School 56864BR Job-Specific Responsibilities Reporting to the Director for Faculty Recruiting and Appointments, the Staff Assistant, Faculty Recruiting supports the fa...
Senior Director Administration School Of Medicine, Tufts, United States, 1 day ago
Senior Director Administration - School of Medicine - (22001012) Description Responsible for oversight of school/division day-to-day financial and administrative functions. Develops and executes p...
Senior Program Coordinator, Harvard University, United States, 8 days ago
07-Jan-2022 Division of Continuing Education 56578BR Job Summary The Senior Program Coordinator works as part of a customer service-driven team that supports and manages the operations, logistics,...
Predegree & Admissions Advisor, Harvard University, United States, 8 days ago
07-Jan-2022 Division of Continuing Education 56592BR Job Summary Responsible for informing prospective students about program philosophy, benefits, services, and admission requirements. Job-Specif...


Today's fleets have information coming at them from all directions. Engine sensors, telematics devices and electronic logging devices are transmitting data in real time, and a growing number of fleets are analyzing that information to obtain value. What they find could change the way truckstop and travel plaza operators do business, according to those within the industry.
"When you talk about fleet analytics, the range of what fleets are using in terms of analytics range from JB Hunt's announcement that they'll be spending $500 million over the next five years, much of it in analytics, at the top end to the small fleet that will probably be pushed into it either by government regulation or what their customer, the shipper, demands that they do," said Roger Cole, a former NATSO chairman and editor of NATSO's Biz Brief.
Mike Lombardi, recently retired executive vice president for sales for TA, said some fleets are incorporating data from engine and powertrain sensors into the ELD so all the information is transmitted together, giving fleets a window into the truck and the engine. "They know what is happening in real time and they don't have to wait to run the data," he said.


pip torrens chris torrens - pip torrens wikipedia .
pip torrens chris torrens - preacher ian colletti chris hardwick pip torrens and .
pip torrens chris torrens - pip torrens actor cinemagia ro .
pip torrens chris torrens - pip torrens pip torrens .
pip torrens chris torrens - pip torrens rotten tomatoes .
pip torrens chris torrens - torrens pictures news information from the web .
pip torrens chris torrens - pip torrens tvmaze .
pip torrens chris torrens - malcolm barrett and pip torrens photos photos zimbio .
pip torrens chris torrens - agatha christie marple s1 .
pip torrens chris torrens - quot the brittas empire quot 1991 back from the dead 2 1 tv .
pip torrens chris torrens - pip torrens wikivisually .
pip torrens chris torrens - blogs preacher la times lauds pip torrens tvline s .
pip torrens chris torrens - palm beach social diary new york social diary .
pip torrens chris torrens - speak like the torrens brothers jon torrens .
pip torrens chris torrens - doctor who 2005 cast crew fernsehserien de .
pip torrens chris torrens - p p newsbits first photo of keira knightley in the .
pip torrens chris torrens - anna friel monobrowze co uk .
pip torrens chris torrens - father brown 2013 der staub des teufels the devil s .
pip torrens chris torrens - preacher season 2 episode 8 live stream watch online .
pip torrens chris torrens - serialul preacher sezonul doi 30 de lucruri esenţiale .
pip torrens chris torrens - quot jeeves and wooster quot honoria glossop turns up or .
pip torrens chris torrens - smoking celebrities 28 pics .
pip torrens chris torrens - matthew white played phillips .
pip torrens chris torrens - queen elizabeth ii s nazi salute royals urged to open archives .
pip torrens chris torrens - preacher herr starr amc .
pip torrens chris torrens - dorian gray .


text:
using Smidge.CompositeFiles;
using Smidge.FileProcessors;
using System;

namespace Smidge.Options
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Allows developers to specify custom options on startup
    /// </summary>
    public sealed class SmidgeOptions
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Constructor sets defaults
        /// </summary>
        public SmidgeOptions()
        {
            UrlOptions = new UrlManagerOptions();
        }

        public UrlManagerOptions UrlOptions { get; set; }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Action Figure Review: Tom Servo #489 from Mystery Science Theater 3000 from POP! Television by Funko
Please play this in the background while reading this review ....
Today I'm reviewing Funko's Tom Servo POP! vinyl from Mystery Science Theater and he's the wind, baby. Other than a few mini busts/ statues that came with some of the various DVD sets released over the years (which I unfortunately do not own) these are the first MST3K toys ever released. MST3K was one of the first "fringe" things I ever fell in love with and I have very, very fond memories of watching it on Comedy Central and the Sci-Fi channel as well as renting the movies from Blockbuster back in the day. I remember when I was in middle school reading the earliest issues of ToyFare magazine and it always seemed like there were requests for Mystery Science Theater 3000 action figures (the show was on the air during that time in the Mike Nelson years) and yet it has taken all these years for these to materialize. While they're not traditional action figures or toys, I'm definitely appreciative of these Funko POP! vinyls. Currently Funko has only released Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot, and a chase variant Tom Serv.Crow that is selling for ridiculous amounts of money. I loathe Funko's chase variants, by the way. It's just.... Oh, no we've got a review incoming!!!
Articulation: None
Accessories: None
* First things first, this is a pretty nice version of Tom Servo. While it definitely has the POP! design aesthetic, this is still a highly recognizable model of one of the denizens of the Satellite of Love. The sculpt is overall pretty nice and the paintwork is spot on. Funko must have spent tens of dollars on this!
* The detail on the main body and base is excellent and displays a nice attention to detail for the various components from which Tom's body is made. The Money Lover Barrel body is nicely sculpted and the engine block on the front is spot on. The base is great with the vacuformed trains along the edge of the bowl, too. Very nice attention to detail here.
* The same goes for the arms. They look excellent and spot on to the show's model, particularly from the earlier seasons.
* The head is really nice, too. Tom's gumball machine head and mouth look excellent here. Tom Servo's head does not turn like most other POP! vinyls but that seems accurate for the character and the model.
* There is some pretty noticeable glue spillage on the shoulders of Tom's left arm. This seems like a one-off QC issue, though, but it's still annoying.
* Secondly, the seam line on Tom Servo's dome is kind of rough looking. It's not as big of an eyesore from a distance but, up close, it is very noticeable.
Tom Servo and Crow are two of those dream figures I have always wanted. While there are some quality control issues that mar the visual appearance of the figure a bit, overall I'm quite pleased with the POP! rendition of Tom Servo. I have my Crow sitting in my Pile of Loot at BBTS so I should be reviewing him sometime in the next month. Considering we're in a bit of a renaissance of MST3K with the excellent new Netflix continuation, hopefully we'll see some more POP! vinyls of new and classic characters. Heck, maybe Funko or someone like Diamond Select Toys will pick up the rights to do traditional action figures, too. Tom's a Great POP! and completely irresistible to this MST3K fan!
I haven't reviewed any other MST3K stuff on here but I have reviewed other POP! Television figures, including:
Pop! Television by Funko
Elvira #375 from Elvira, Mistress of the Dark
Ghost Charlie Brown #333 from Peanuts
Lucy Van Pelt #332 from Peanuts
Snoopy #330 from Peanuts
Twisty from American Horror Story: Freak Show
Action Figure Review: Hawk from DC Universe Classi...
Action Figure Review: Dove from DC Universe Classi...
Action Figure Review: Bronze Tiger from DC Univers...
Action Figure Review: Supergirl from DC Comics Mul...
Confirmed Epic Podcast #78: Justice League
Toy Review: Rosalina from Amiibo: Super Mario by N...
Road to the Last Jedi: First Order Stormtrooper (w...
Road to the Last Jedi: Elite Praetorian Guard (wit...
Toy Review: End Level Display from amiibo by Ninte...
Unite the League: Mera from DC Comics Multiverse: ...
Road to the Last Jedi: Obi-Wan Kenobi (Force Spiri...
Confirmed Epic Podcast #77: Thor Ragnarok
Unite the League: The Flash: From Page to Screen f...
Action Figure Review: Tom Servo #489 from Mystery ...
Confirmed Epic Podcast #76: Stranger Things 2
Unite the League: Rookie from DC Comics Multiverse...
Unite the League: Harley Quinn- Dress Ver. No.042 ...
Action Figure Review: Duke Thomas (We Are Robin) f...
Action Figure Review: Batwing (DC Rebirth) from DC...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


As Fall quickly approaches, the bitter winds bring with them a hope… of a new Private Stock Calendar release that is. Each fall for the past 16 years, the Private Stock Calendar has been unveiled to PRS fans worldwide. This year we have 13 new and unique Private Stock guitars all photographed in stunning detail and on display in the calendar. If you're wondering how the PS Calendar project began, how the guitars are chosen, and what the overall process is like, we explore these questions in great detail below.
PRS: So, how did it all begin?
MQ: The idea of doing a calendar featuring PRS guitars had been batted around for a while in the early 2000's. The more I thought about it, the more Private Stock seemed like the right subject matter.
PRS: What makes Private Stock such a great subject for the calendar?
MQ: When I started thinking about the project, calendars featuring Ferrari and other high-quality car brands came to mind. They're aspirational, people tend to look at these calendars and sort of daydream about the beautiful cars. Likewise, I think all of our guitars are incredibly beautiful. From years of working on them and playing them I knew that they were aesthetically pleasing from any angle. The advertising folks at BMW would do this thing where they'd show a headlamp or a stick shift in close detail and it was abstract and beautiful. You had the sense that they really cared about the details and therefore the whole car. And I find that true with PRS, the level of detail is incredible no matter what angle you look at it and I wanted to show it off. By nature, Private Stock guitars are more rare, they are custom instruments, so it seemed more fitting for the calendar.
PRS: What goes in to choosing the guitars for the calendar? How do you decide what makes the cut?
MQ: I photograph many of the Private Stock guitars we build either because it's something we've never done before or that particular guitar caught my eye. I do this for two reasons: to have a reference for our company and to possibly use it for our calendar. When it's time to outline the calendar I look through that folder and begin selecting the best. I like to show that we have diversity in Private Stock: basses, acoustics, differing body shapes, a variety of colors. I always gather more images than I need for the calendar and print a contact sheet for review – about 18 guitars.
I'll pass this list of 18 to our graphic designer Mark Whitmire to look through, and I'll also share it with our Director of Marketing and members from the Private Stock team. Together we'll narrow the 18 guitars down to 13, then I'll set out to pick the particular image of each guitar that will be used in the calendar design.
PRS: Is there something extra special about this year's cover shot? How is the cover selected?
MQ: Well to me, this year's cover guitar is just stunning. I am not usually a fan of blue guitars, they aren't something I would typically choose to buy or play. However, when I saw this guitar, I thought to myself, "I want that!" – it takes your breath away when you see it. It has a great chevron top and it's a McCarty 594 layout which is one of my favorite models. It sounds great.
PRS: What is the process like to photograph the guitars and actually design the calendar?
MQ: Everything begins with a tip from Eric or Tina, two of our Private Stock team employees. They'll let me know if there is something special moving through the shop. I'll go down and have a look, then I'll borrow the guitar for an hour or so to photograph it. We have our own humble studio on premises that I use to photograph the Private Stock guitars.
Sometimes other employees at PRS will alert me to a calendar-worthy guitar. It's cool because the employees are so proud of what we're doing and what they are working on that they want to share it with others.
In the early 2000's, for the first 3 or 4 calendars, I just did the layout. In later calendars I began photographing the instruments in addition to designing the layout. Today, I just do photography and our talented designer Mark Whitmire does the layout. In my opinion the calendars today look better than ever because of his input.
PRS: When did you begin listing the specs of the instrument on the calendar, was that always there?
MQ: It was a long time ago, but I think we were including specs on the earliest calendars. People ask us all the time about a guitar's color or wood type so I think sharing the guitar's details is part of the magic.
The 2019 Private Stock Calendar makes a great gift for you or that guitar-crazed friend in your life, order yours today.


text:
17 workplace fatalities in first half of 2019
Mrs Josephine Teo. TNP PHOTO: DESMOND FOO
Minister says companies must continue to build strong workplace safety culture
Goh Yan Han
Seventeen workers died from workplace accidents in the first half of this year, the fewest since 2006 when the National Workplace Safety and Health numbers were first made available to the public. This is an improvement from last year which saw 18 cases in the same time period, out of a total of 41 for the whole year.
Singapore's workplace fatal injury rate has gone down over the years, from 4.9 per 100,000 workers in 2004 to 1.2 per 100,000 in the last two years.
The Tripartite Strategy Committee's 2028 goal is to reduce Singapore's workplace fatal injury rate to less than 1 per 100,000 by that time.
Companies must continue to be diligent as the construction sector expects a slew of mega projects, which in turn means bringing in more workers, said Manpower Minister Josephine Teo at the Workplace Safety and Health Awards at the Resorts World Convention Centre on Tuesday.
"Building a strong safety culture takes time," said Mrs Teo. "Our workplace safety and health improvement was only made possible because our tripartite partners were driven to enhance the livelihood and working conditions of our workers."
Companies should dedicate more resources to new and inexperienced workers who face a higher risk of injuries, to help them adapt to their work environments, she added.
Employers seek help to defray costs of hiring older workers
Most new jobs went to Singaporeans: Chan Chun Sing
Harsher penalties for employers with unfair hiring practices
More mid-career PMETs to benefit from renewal of reskilling programme
Employers should also stay diligent, as "workers who are assured of their employers' commitment to take care of their safety and health will be motivated to give their best at work".
NO-BLAME CULTURE
Mrs Teo's speech highlighted several of the 168 award recipients out of 344 applicants, who had enhanced workplace safety and health. One of them was Kuan Aik Hong Construction, a 20-year-old company that has chalked up 1.5 million man hours (four years) without an accident. It received a Performance Award (Silver), its second so far.
To encourage workers to flag hazards as well as foster a no-blame culture, supermarket vouchers are presented monthly to its workers who report significant hazards.
Mrs Teo raised the example of 31-year-old Uddin Nizam, a site supervisor with the company, as someone "never afraid to report near misses for the safety of his co-workers".
Last year, Mr Nizam had found steel plates laid on soft ground, after rain overnight, covering an access ramp to an underground detention tank in an excavation site.
"Just as Nizam saw an excavator entering the excavation site, he quickly stopped all works and gathered the safety officers and site engineer to collectively review the site conditions," said Mrs Teo.
The team then removed the steel plates and also added reinforcements to provide more grip for the excavator.
"This shows how the no-blame culture at Kuan Aik Hong Construction encourages workers to stay vigilant and speak out on near misses," she said.
Read articles by Goh Yan Han


Website Designs Australia also provide website management and other web services. The websites we build can certainly be maintained by you, which is one of the great benefits of WordPress and CMS platforms in general. You do not need a web designer to make every addition or alteration for you and I provide many WordPress tutorials, however if you prefer we can assist you with many different maintenance and management options.
I provide ongoing monthly maintenance and support. My monthly management fees cover various services, however some requests may take more time than I allocate to each website per month.
If you sign up for my monthly management package you are locking in that monthly price for as long as you continue. If I increase my prices existing contracts will not be affected.
My monthly $75 management fee covers time to perform important WordPress updates and monitor your site for any broken links or performance issues. This includes security monitoring and speed performance.
As stated, prices start from a low $75 per month for basic website management, or discounts apply for a pre-paid annual contract.
For example if paid yearly, we provide 2 months free, so the cost will be $750, a saving of $150.
You can contact me for details regarding your own personal or business requirements.
We can also manage your site on an hourly 'per-service' rate. Please contact me for quotes.
At present my minimum charge for any service is $55 and my hourly rate is $75.
If you require continual assistance, please contact me for a customized quote and details of technical service required.
Calendar scheduling or updates to important events.
Inserting YouTube video or image.
Posting written content you have prepared into a post or page.
Provide links for your site visitors to download reports or other PDF documents.
Phone or email assistance – for example, help with your advertising, site promotions, social media questions etc.
For a small monthly fee we can take away the hassle and worry of your ongoing website management and maintenance.
I also offer one-on-one support and coaching. In any business it can be helpful having a coach. I can help you with problems you may be facing, whether it be working out who your ideal client is or ways to create passive income. You may also require advice on advertising and marketing strategies, content creation and social media strategies etc.
If you don't need ongoing management but have a technical problem, please contact us. We are skilled in many areas including hosting server issues, computer glitches, email client problems and more.
As far as possible we aim to be your one stop solution. If we can't fix it for you, we will say so. We will also point you in the right direction to solve your problem. Any service we provide will save you a load of time and money in the long run.


text:
Laser in future could divert Lightning strikes
Researchers from the University of Arizona and the University of Central Florida, USA to develop technology that can transmit high-intensity laser beam into the atmosphere, more distant than previously possible distance.
Researchers hope that ultimately, the technology could be used to steer lightning away from buildings. (Picture from: http://www.digitaltrends.com/)
The study, published in the Nature Photonics journal is still in the testing phase of the laboratory, but in the future, it can be used to guide electrical discharges such as lightning, so as not to strikes the building.
Currently, high intensity laser produced with modern technology vanished within a few inches since unraveled. That is, the laser was too short to be used in applications such as switching lightning.
The top image shows the case of the intense central beam alone. The beam is focused and a short filament results and the plasma channel dissipates rapidly. In the bottom figure, the beam is accompanied by the dress beam. The filament and the plasma channel is extended manifold. (Picture from: http://phys.org/)
The breakthrough made by researchers is putting the primary laser beam of high intensity in the second laser beam whose intensity is lower. When exploring the primary laser beam in the air, the two beams - the so-called dress beams - energy supply and make the primary laser beam is able to achieve a greater distance.
"We use two different types of rays. A high-intensity laser beam focus that made filaments, and another laser wrap. Second laser beam is able to have a longer distance and has a constant intensity," said Maik Scheller, researchers from the University of Arizona.
Similar to the principle of noise-canceling headphones featured, the loss of energy in the laser beam can be closed by primary energy supply of the laser beam wrapper. In lab testing, the research team was able to extend the maximum distance of the laser filament, which originally only 10 inches to 84 inches.
Simulations conducted by Matthew Mills at the University of Central Florida showed that by adjusting the laser technology scales to proportion the atmosphere, the laser filament distance can reach 50 meters or more.
When the filament moves in the air, they will leave a plasma channel, the ionized molecules that have lost electrons. Such plasma channels could be used to track lightning strikes. Ultimately, this technology can be used to control a lightning strike during a thunderstorm going on and direct it away from the building. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | PHYS.ORG]
Related posts: Technology
post by Eka_Rahmadhy on Thursday, April 17, 2014
Label: Technology
Technology|


Here at NorthLife Church we are "a family of nations loving God together." Every Friday students in grades 7-12 gather for two hours to pray, sing, hear Bible teaching, hang out, and eat some food. We would love to invite parents and other members of the church to love our students by providing snacks and drinks for them. Consider signing up to donate something purchased or homemade a few times each year!
Anytime you sign up to bring a snack, you can bring it by the church during the day on Friday or send it in with your student when they get dropped of for youth group at 7:00pm.


text:
OUR VIEWS: Open records a central part of democracy
Sun | Opinion
Jeff Brody, For the Editorial Board — Oct 28th, 2001
* Public access laws aren't there for newspapers, they're in place so people can get the information they need.
Several months ago, Sun staffers were sent out to government offices in Kitsap County with six simple requests. The idea was to see whether they would be properly granted access to the information they sought - information that should be released to any member of the public who requests it, under terms of state law.
It was part of a statewide audit of compliance with the state's public- records law conducted by the members of the Associated Press. The results of the audit were published in The Sun last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
In Kitsap County, five of the six documents requested were provided as state law requires. In one case, it was not.
Five for six - .833 - may be a great batting average in baseball. But it's not very good when it's the measure of whether government agencies comply with state law.
In Washington, the employment contract of a local school superintendent is a public document, subject to review by anyone who wishes to see it.
The superintendent's salary is public information. The number of days he or she is supposed to work each year is public information. The value of any fringe benefits he or she receives is public information.
Whether the district provides a vehicle for the superintendent or pays a mileage reimbursement for use of the superintendent's private vehicle is public information. How much the superintendent may be able to earn or how much time he or she may be allowed to spend on outside consulting work is public information. The term of the contract and when it is to be reviewed is public information.
The staff at the Bainbridge School District knew that, and provided a copy of the superintendent's contract when it was requested during the audit.
The Central Kitsap School District did not.
Instead, the district employee asked the staff member requesting the copy of the contract to identify herself and to explain why she wanted to see the contract.
That response is, in itself, a violation of state law. The reason for requesting a public document has no bearing on whether it should be produced, and anyone is allowed to make the request.
The copy of the CK superintendent's contract was never provided, even after a written request was submitted. That was a violation of state law.
Most complaints about school boards, city councils or port commissions that violate the state's Open Meetings Act or that ignore the state's law on access to public records come from newspapers, not individual citizens. But public access to meetings and records is not a newspaper issue - this is a basic question that goes to the heart of our democratic form of government.
The leaders and employees of local governments like city councils, school, port and fire districts, need to know that the records they keep, with few exceptions, are subject to public review, and that when a quorum of the council or board gathers to discuss policy the public must be notified in advance and the discussion must take place in the open where anyone who wants to can hear.
That's what the law requires.
YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW: Sometimes, public pays high price for access
Local government agencies have put a price on public information - and it's not always cheap. A statewide public records audit by 25 newspapers discovered that while most agencies don't charge anything for their records, some agencies are making people pay much more than ... [Read More...]
New Rules Proposed for Disclosure of Public Records
Attorney General Rob McKenna on Wednesday announced draft model rules for public disclosure, and solicited public comment. McKenna and his team visited 13 cities around the state from July through October to gather feedback from people who request public records and the public officials ... [Read More...]
CENTRAL KITSAP SCHOOLS: District to revise public document policy
The Central Kitsap School District will change its policies to ensure that people who request copies of public documents actually receive them, a district spokeswoman said Tuesday. Jeanie Schulze, the district's community relations specialist, said the CK's experience with a statewide Associated Press ... [Read More...]
YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW: Not all public decisions made in light of day: Watergate scandal helped pry open government records
Part III of a three-day series examining citizen access to state and local public records concludes in today's Sun. The Sun was among more than two dozen newspapers across the state that participated in an access to public records survey earlier this year. ... [Read More...]
YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW: How open are open records?: Project found not all agencies comply
A three-day series examining citizen access to state and local public records begins in today's Sun and continues through Tuesday. The Sun was among more than two dozen newspapers across the state that participated in an access to public records survey earlier this ... [Read More...]


text:
Clarify: Early guidance service for separated parents
Author - SDN Team
The project focused on the current experience of financially and emotionally struggling British citizens who require support in cases of familial separation and child custody, but are not entitled to benefits.
Service Design Award 2019 Finalist Project
Clarify: Early guidance service for separated parents - by Natalia Carrasco
Category: Student / Royal College of Art
Client: Government / Ministry
As a service designer I aim to instill new capabilities in citizens so that they feel empowered when facing new challenges. I use service design to reduce inequality by promoting wider access to public resources and by generating strategies that harness technology and an individual's own assets to create better civic education and social resilience.
For the final project of my MA in Service Design I wanted to explore how to better design services to enable wider access to justice. I had the opportunity to work with a national partner to improve support for people that are unable to afford legal advice in the UK.
Why is this relevant? because since the 2012 LASPO reform, the vast majority of UK citizens have been left without free legal advice. They therefore struggle to understand and access the legal system, and consequently pursue ineffective courses of action which negatively impact the individuals and families involved and the government - which, at the moment, doesn't have the system capacity to provide support and absorb the demand.
The project focused on the current experience of financially and emotionally struggling British citizens who require support in cases of familial separation and child custody, but are not entitled to benefits. With the aim to reduce parental conflict and the likelihood of recurrent problems, while lowering unnecessary demand on government and the 3rd sector.
It is highly relevant that users without safeguarding issues avoid court because the process is long, it creates more conflict between parents, decreases the mental and physical wellbeing of parents and children, while creating severe financial struggles.
In order to understand how to help parents make inform decisions I conducted 15 indepth interviews with policy makers, researchers in family justice, separated parents dealing with living arrangements, legal advisors and charities. Additionally, I did 22 hours of shadowing users at key moments of the process, when seeking support through advice centres and third sector institutions.
From the justice system I learnt that the system is rigid and bureaucratic: it can be inflexible and very hard for users to understand. There is a lack of transparency around the implications and realities of the legal system, and there is lack of assessment in the decision making process. The system is creating dependencies on legal advice due to poor communication. It doesn't allow informed decision making because users are not prepared to manage the process.
I found that there is a very ineffective use of time in law clinics: almost 70% of time is dedicated to help people decide what they want instead of giving actual legal advice. The advice sector also needs an easier way to recruit and integrate volunteers.
"The system is unfair in the sense that citizens are not prepared properly to deal and manage the situations that they will face, for example they can miss out opportunities or decide ineffective courses of action" - volunteer at support entity for litigants in person in London.
Through meeting separated parents I learnt that they have misconceptions of the justice system and that there is a great need for the parents to understand the impact of the legal process on their children.
Yet they are overwhelmed, especially as they are asked to self-assess in all aspects without any guidance. Including assessing their own safeguarding issues, which is something that only a professional can do.
It is important to add they don't have the head space to deal with the situation and because of it they have very low awareness of alternative dispute resolution methods and the resources available. All of which leads low empowerment and an inability to make informed decisions.
"This is a full time job, it completely takes over your life" - separated father
"You had no head space to research and make decisions, I have been dealing with this at court for over two years and I had no idea these resources existed" - separated father
We should be aiming for a system that promotes independency, collaboration and dialogue. Creates resilience through educating about how to cope with these situations and that is transparent about the implications.
The research I conducted taught me that users require help to make informed decisions: they need a better understanding of their choices and the implications. Users also need to set goals and priorities to be able to identify the best resolution pathway for them. Once committed to a route, they have to be able to manage and understand the advice provided.
With this in mind, I have designed Clarify - a step by step process that helps users dealing with child access arrangements after separation. Clarify matches users to advisors and to available resources from the government and the third sector.
The main focus of Clarify is to provide people with the time and resources to better understand their situation in order to suggest the best suited resources available and provide resolution pathways.
"I would say that currently actual legal advice is 30% of what we do now" - legal adviser
During this process, through the use of machine learning, we can constantly learn as a service how to trigger better reflections, how to communicate risk, how to present available options and learn to create suggestions based on the users' interaction with Clarify.
It is important to highlight the relevance of the users' edits and the resulting updates to suggestions because dealing with living arrangements after a separation is an ever changing situation so we need the system to understand when to give suggestions and how to constantly present them.
Service Proposition
Clarify creates a trustworthy space for users to reflect, learn and explore concerns and access advice. For advisers it would be an additional tool and resource to have more productive appointments.
The main stages of the journey are as follows: starting with awareness, through my research I learnt that parents search for information online before they separate which is why the first touchpoint is the related subject Google search.
I've also learnt that parents look for testimonials to understand how to better face the situation. Hence I have created targeted advertisement for social media, with parent and child testimonials.
Then to create engagement, I have developed a landing page with parent stories, children stories and relevant information about the service.
In order to help parents assess their situation and sustainably find the right resolution pathway I have designed Clarify's digital platform.
It includes an introduction to display the service's core values creating trust by displaying the benefits and the security measure for the users.
To enhance users' understanding of their situation, Clarify will ask them to fill in their profile which has five categories:
Child wellbeing - where they will define what are the child's main needs are,
Their own personal wellbeing - where they will understand how emotionally ready they are to confront the situation,
Clarify will ask about the level of conflict to understand if they have a variety of issues or just one in particular,
The system will ask them about their time constrains
Finally understanding their money constrains.
This is all enhanced by some brief questions. Once completed, they will be offered an assessment with a social worker. Finally, they are provided with a visualised summery of what has been defined in each category.
Then they will need to prioritise, select a goal and a resolution pathway. Clarify will give them suggestions but they can still see all of the options available.
Once their profile is ready, they can find support, view and edit their profile, see and search the records of the advice they have received and share information with the other parent if they feel comfortable to do so.
So the main output of the assessment is an editable profile that they can share with professionals to easily explain their situation. Also they can share a selection of their priorities, their goals, their chosen pathway or simply an invitation to join Clarify with the other parent, if they wish.
They can also access a wide variety of support services, from legal advice to peer support and Clarify will keep a record of the advice they receive.
Clarify also provides a platform for advisers. Using the main menu they can choose the modality of work, so they can communicate online by video camera or face to face by appointments to their clinics.
The platform enables them to look for resources to recommend or for sign-posting their clients to relevant information. After the use of both modalities, they can leave a brief summary of the advice for the user to keep.
Along with the service proposition, it was important for me to create valuable and easy to implement resources to improve the system immediatley. Therefore I have created a profile with all the main self assessment questions for users in a printed template for people to physically fill in while they are in the waiting area of advice centres.
Also I have developed a website to display the step by step process based on series of questions with each step linked to available resources and suggestions.
TESTING, LEARNING AND ITERATIONS
I tested the proposition with a wide variety of stakeholders such as Institutions that provide pro bono advice services, experts, professionals advisors and users of advice centres.
Initially, I did a survey to test my key assumptions. I learnt that separated parents would use a service like this if it would save them time and if it explicitly stated that the information they shared cannot be used against them in the legal process.
Then I did 19 1:1 sessions to test desirability and feasibility and I learnt that the biggest challenges are maintaining the consistent updates of the relevant services offered.
Advisors found the service really helpful because it allows them to be aware of the non-legal options and of the wellbeing of their clients. They also feel that by having advisers on video call, they could get more volunteers into
the system.
"I think the service is fantastic, for us (advisers) to understand the non-legal options available is greatly valuable, it's exactly what you need from an adviser point of view." - legal advisor "I think one of the biggest drivers behind people using the service will be that they wanted to make things as cheap as possible. And if you manage to make them aware of the service early enough you will be enabling them to start the process earlier which means they're less likely than going to go down very very legalistic routes which are more expensive and conflictive." - legal advisor
Potential service partners found that Clarify is 'exactly the way forward' and that it is the kind of service that they 'should be building'. But they are concerned with how we will manage the overall demand to match their current resources.
"I really like that your service includes the safeguarding assessment because that is really really important, and that is what we have been looking at in the pre-preceding process. If there were to be a process like this that came in before the application is made with some kind of level of assessment, it would be great because it would help us ensure that the decision that parent are making are safe for the child." - Service potential partner
"I think it's absolutely brilliant and I think this is exactly the way forward, this is the kind of service we should be building. Because is all about providing people with information, so If you give them a little bit information with a bit of guidance even if you are unable to provide them with tailored advice to their specific situation for whatever reason you have given them enough information for them to try to think differently" - Expert provider of family law advice
In my last iteration I did a workshop with four separated mums to test if the mindfulness of their situation and the options available could nudge their behaviour towards less conflictive resolution pathways, and also that the step by step process made sense and was valuable for them.
Through doing this activity I found that once they realised the amount of resolution options available, they are more aware of their situation and they are willing to engage more with informal resolution routes and less conflictive legal pathways.
They also found the step by step process useful but they didn't like being signposted again to available resources and they made it clear that they need all the resources in one platform.
The proposition has had great feedback from users who found it very helpful and believed Clarify could help get them more personalised advice. They were eager to explore the non legal options they weren't aware of before and were encouraged to understand and take into account their personal and child's wellbeing.
"This is fantastic, I think if I had something like this when I was dealing with this situation, my experience would have been completely different, at that time I did not know where to start, what to do first and what was the best way to deal with it and in your proposal there are so many things that didn't go through my mind at the time that could have made my situations much less frustrating and painful."- Divorced father of two toddlers
Finally, in terms of the technology, I learnt through meeting with the entrepreneurs in the field of using machine learning for legal advice, that developing the algorithms for Clarify will not be complex or expensive but will be time consuming as it needs the research mapping all of the probable options and suggestion for all the possible scenarios.
So the overall outcomes of the service would be to increase the confidence level of users, their awareness, use and knowledge of the range of resolution routes. As well as to increase the number of happier and healthier childhoods in the UK by reducing the amount of court cases and decreasing the level of conflict in the coparenting relationships.
As a free service, in order for this proposition to be sustainable, there is a premium version also available which offers solicitor services. For this version users will pay £0.99 a month for the subscription and 3% of the fee would be charged to solicitors to promote their services through our platform.
I started this project at the same time as the Action plan from the Ministry of Justice was launched and this strategy has created an ecosystem of opportunities to transform the provision of legal advice by the use of technology. Today we have the opportunity to defend justice, to defend legal aid and finally to try to narrow the justice gap by providing people with the tools and knowledge to take action.
Service Roadmap
Related Community Knowledge
Service Design Award
The project was set to design a service concept around long-distance driving (one-hour or longer). A strong focus was set on user research, touchpoint identification and how they could be re-imagined.
Journey: A Post Death Settlements Service
Unfortunate circumstances could occur at any given instance — we will never know when we might lose a loved one. At that point of time, many would be at a loss of what to do.
Service design to improve women's maternal healthcare services in Nepal
This service design project was conducted as a master thesis project for three design students. The project concerned using service design to improve women's maternal health in rural Nepal and resulted in a new health service co-developed with users and field experts.
Crack the code: How one school demystified programming
How service design was used to create a new kind of coding school in Helsinki and radically change people's perception of computer programming.


Welcome to our weekly spherical-up of stats from the whole world of search and a little bit further than. Consider our bumper load of search figures from the last 7 times.
There are several standard Web optimization Methods which you can use that will assistance your website page rank properly in the exterior search engines such as Google and Yahoo.
Generate primary material. Additionally you produce quality content by ensuring that that the articles is first. Consequently not merely should Every single site of your website have unique articles than every single other web site of your web site, but Furthermore, it implies that you'll be docked for stealing the articles of Some others. Make your textual content initial!
Additionally, not one person is aware of specifically what the variables include or how They're weighted to determine the search results for any provided search phrase or query. What exactly's an Website positioning to accomplish? This SEO tutorial teaches you a "defeat the leader" approach to search engine position. To see what Google or Bing thinks is very best for virtually any specific attribute, you can think about the internet sites They can be currently satisfying — the best-rated final results. Once you know very well what structural and material options labored for your "leaders," you are able to do better still by building your pages the "least imperfect"!
Sub-domains are a standard tactic for plenty of makes, but as the illustrations will show right here, this method may result in conflicts.
Are you currently an internet site owner concerned that the website doesn't present up in Google? Or have you been planning an internet site and need to page make it search-pleasant from the bottom up?
Paid out Key word Ads for example Google Adverts are a great way to bring in visitors and can official source certainly buy by themselves as eBay will provide you Home Page with seventy five % within your ultimate price you could look here values back by qualifying for The shop Referral Credit rating.
Many thanks for the info. I feel that the PR is really crucial for just a web site, and it reflects the quality of written content, not just the back again-back links.
The phrase Search engine optimisation has experienced entrepreneurs in the spin for your few years now. Every single brand would like primary placement on Google, initial website page is incredibly hot house.
Does anyone know the answer to this–Anytime Google adjusts site rank my site visitors falls off into a crawl. I've listened to page rank does not have an effect on traffic. I realize This is certainly an mistake. I've watched it transpire twice.
Why the Web optimization business has manufactured an enormous offer of your eco-friendly bar each one of these years is one area I've never ever been in a position to know. Oh guaranteed; Google could have designed the metric, but it really's the Search engine marketing business that site who is their very have even worse discover this info here offender in spreading the BS and falsehoods with regards to the bar.
I don't purchase any inbound links or ads to convey traffic to our web site – it truly is 100% internet search engine visitors. I choose The nice way of natural and organic seo, my sites rank just together with some websites that purchase all there backlinks & so on.
These providers browse around this site Use a prosperity of put together practical experience in position websitesand YouTube video clips, and also lead technology for regional and offshore entrepreneurs.
I have expended your complete night exploring what PR basically represents. I assume I have troubles with it because my own website soon after about a month has failed to obtain visit their website almost any score but at the same time is obtaining some nice online search engine placements. So I started to look around to website here determine what it intended.
We've been Fed up with the J3w search engines like google….. we've been Fed up with J3w banking companies……we are Bored with J3w newsmedia……we have been Uninterested in J3w datacenters……. all created with fiat currency fraud…….. nobody can fool every one of the folks on a regular basis.


text:
\section{Introduction}

\noindent Generative software, whether in games or outside, is a source of delight and entertainment for users. The popularity of Twitter bots is a good example of how people are deriving enjoyment from viewing and experiencing the output of generative systems. This is particularly true of games, where generators have become increasingly common and people who regularly play games are more and more comfortable with the idea of `generated content' and what that might entail. Players of the game \textit{Minecraft} \cite{minecraft} collect the random seed integers that describe worlds of particular beauty and archive them online, while roguelike players repeatedly generate and discard worlds until they find one with particular features. We are familiar with generative systems and we enjoy controlling, interacting with and exploring them.

Despite this, games traditionally hide generative systems away from the player. Level generators are typically non-interactive providers of content, and where they are controllable it is generally through a menu prior to gameplay -- there is a clear delineation in the game's design between \textit{setting up} the generator before \textit{playing} the game proper. Generative systems are designed to passively fill out a game world with content, rather than being a focus of the player's time and attention, or even the purpose of playing the game in the first place.

The term \textit{AI-based game} \cite{eladhari2011,treanor2015} was coined to describe games which \textit{foreground} an AI system of some kind. By this we mean that the game makes an AI system especially visible to the player, and the primary focus of the game is to interact with or be affected by the AI system in some way. Some examples of AI-based games include \textit{Alien: Isolation} \cite{alien} in which the player's relationship with a single AI enemy is the focus of gameplay, or \textit{Third Eye Crime} \cite{thirdeye} where pathfinding algorithms are visually represented to the player as the key skill that allows them to solve the game's puzzles.

In this paper we refine the notion of AI-based games into a special case of games driven by procedural generators. We call these \textit{PCG-based games}, and describe concretely how they embody the original premise of AI-based games. We describe why these are uniquely important among AI-based games, and why the opportunity for literacy and interaction with procedural generators make them valuable cultural artifacts and learning tools, as well as fertile ground for new game ideas. Finally, we describe some example game proposals we developed, and show how they highlight common issues or concepts with using procedural generation as the central focus of a game.

\section{Related Work}
Smith et al. describe \textit{Endless Web} \cite{endlessweb}, as a platforming game with procedurally generated levels. By exploring the levels and choosing particular exits, the player can alter the parameters to the procedural generator, allowing them to explore the generative space through gameplay. This is the earliest example we are aware of in which a game is designed around a procedural generator with the explicit intention of giving a player control of the generator's output. This is perhaps the best-known and most explicit use of procedural generation as a game mechanic.

Many games expose a procedural generator of some kind to the player, usually in a preparatory phase before gameplay begins. \textit{Civilisation V} \cite{civ} is one such game, allowing the player to customise features of the world generation algorithm such as erosion strength, global temperature averages, sea levels, and resource distribution. This allows the player to roughly shape what content is generated, sometimes as a way of specialising the difficulty curve, and at other times as a form of abstract self-expression (deciding to play in a particular world, or on a planet with a custom backstory).

The framing of player control over generators inside games is almost always explicit and literal - Minecraft refers to the act of `generat[ing] a new world' when its generative algorithm is invoked, while \textit{Invisible Inc.} offers players a `custom campaign settings' window where options can be altered before starting a campaign. This is important, as it distinguishes the work from our aims here by separating the interactions with a generator from the act of playing a game. In physical games, generator configuration is typically done prior to gameplay too -- deck construction in games such as \textit{Netrunner} \cite{netrunner} or \textit{Magic: The Gathering} \cite{magic} are ways of configuring the space of shuffled decks from which the player will later draw from, and games like \textit{Carcassonne} or \textit{Dungeon Run} allow the players to add or remove types of card from a deck to change the resulting play spaces created by the game. As with digital games, these are all setup activities (although deck-building and drafting is arguably a fundamental part of gameplay \cite{drafting}).

\begin{figure}
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.9\columnwidth]{endlessweb.png}
\end{center}
\caption{A screenshot showing part of Endless Web's in-game `map'. Each line extending outwards from the center of the web represents a vector along which the level generator can be modified.}
\label{ewshot}
\end{figure}

Many researchers have looked at the issues that arise when people interact with procedural generators. In \cite{khaled} Khaled explores the metaphors designers use when talking about procedural generation. Even among only professional designers this is quite diverse, and includes metaphors such as \textit{tool}, \textit{material} and \textit{designer}. Given the breadth of uses for generative techniques, and the varying levels of complexity to which they are employed, we imagine there are many more concepts about generative systems held by people who play and interact with them. Part of this work's aims is to develop games that bring these issues to the fore, and allow us to study user understanding.

Elsewhere, work in \cite{shaker2010towards} or in \cite{mumford-iccc2015} show the relationship between users and generative systems, especially in the context of games or game-like applications. \cite{mumford-iccc2015} sheds light on, for example, how the presentation of generated content affects our perception of the system which generated it. Games like \textit{Dwarf Fortress} allow us to watch the slow creation process of a world, which may makes us feel differently about the quality and intelligence of the system than if it had appeared out of nowhere.

\section{A Design Taxonomy For PCG}
In this section we deconstruct the notion of generative techniques for games into a taxonomy that is based on the qualities we might be interested in as prospective game designers. The best-known taxonomy for procedural generation is perhaps \cite{togelius}, which categorises approaches based on dimensions relating to when they are used, what kind of content they create, and also how controllable they are. Here we focus instead on the affordances and nature of the generator from the perspective of a game designer.

\subsection{An Interaction Taxonomy}
Different generators have different means by which they can be edited and meaningfully changed. This taxonomy outlines a non-exhaustive list of ways in which common types of generator can be altered either prior to, during, or after execution.

\subsubsection{Starting State} Some generators, such as cellular automata systems or L-Systems, iterate upon a starting state of some kind in order to generate their content, typically expressed in the same format as its final output. For these systems, the output content can be dramatically changed and controlled simply by changing this starting state, even if all parameters and random seeds are left unchanged.

\subsubsection{Parameters} Many generators have controllable parameters in the form of boolean fields, numerical ranges, or a random seed. Changing these parameters can have a range of effects on the output. The number of generations in an evolutionary system, or the size of the array in the Diamond-Square algorithm, are simple examples of generator parameters.

\subsubsection{Rules} While most generators embody some notion of a procedure for generating content, certain algorithms represent an abstract set of rules that define a crucial part of their generative process. L-Systems and context-free design grammars are two examples of systems which have internal representations of rules which guide their generation.

\subsubsection{Objective Functions} Generate-and-test approaches evaluate generated content and either discard or repurpose content which does not meet the standards it has. This process is normally separate to the act of generation (although in some cases it is woven in, as with an evolutionary system's fitness function) but altering it affects the kind of content the generator produces.

\subsection{A Content Taxonomy}
Generators are used for an increasingly wide range of purposes within games, expanding beyond classical uses of environment creation and item randomisation. Here we (non-exhaustively) taxonomise procedural generators according to the role that the generated content plays within a game design. The intent here is to help classify approximately what aspect of the game's systems the player will be interacting with and changing.

\subsubsection{Progression Systems}
Generators which produce content tied into an escalation of difficulty and reward are influencing a game's progression systems. A generator which creates items found on an adventure is tied into the player's gradual increase in strength - stronger and more plentiful items result in a more powerful player or one with more resources. Other examples include games which generate enemies according to approximate difficulty curves.

\subsubsection{Environment \& Space}
Generators which produce levels, worlds or other explorable spaces. This might be specific-case generators such as a roguelike's dungeon generation algorithm where the player path is often tightly incorporated into the design, or it might be a more open environment generator such as Minecraft's world generator. This content often sets specific challenges for the player, either in traversal (mastering abilities like jumping or navigation) or exploration (finding a particular item, place or resource in a large area).

\subsubsection{Narrative}
Generators which either produce sequences of events framed as a story, or those which simulate a world in which stories take place and structure a narrative around them. We distinguish these from naive, purely agent-based world simulations from which a narrative emerges as a side-effect, such as \textit{Dwarf Fortress}. Generators in this category have some degree of intentionality in causing a story to occur. Examples include Versu's agent-based storytelling  \cite{evans2014versu}, or the AI Storyteller system in RimWorld. Generated narratives may serve as motivation for player or non-player characters to act, may reveal exposition to lead to further game events, or may be an end in itself for the player, whereby the narrative's resolution is the ultimate aim of the game (such as in a choose-your-own-adventure).

\subsubsection{Aesthetic \& Decorative Elements}
Generators which produce thematic elements, decorations, visual and aural content that augment and style a game in a particular way. This content may not specifically impact a challenge for the player (if, indeed, the game is designed around the notion of challenges or tests) but may contribute to the game's general atmosphere and mood.

\section{PCG-Based Game Design Patterns}
In \cite{treanor2015} the authors describe a collection of design patterns for taking AI techniques and using them as the basis for a game. In this section we extend these design patterns with additional, specialised patterns that target concepts in procedural content generation specifically. In some cases these are variations or blends of design patterns from the original paper.

\subsection{AI As Creative Proxy}
\textbf{Pattern:} The player designs or tweaks a generative system which then goes on to produce content, either for mechanical or aesthetic purposes.\\
\textbf{Explanation:} Instead of directly designing a piece of content co-operatively with an AI system (as in the \textit{AI as Co-Creator} AI-based game pattern), in this pattern the player designs a system that will act as a creator of other content, and that system then goes on to have a role within the game. This might be a purely aesthetic, playful or non-critical role, or it may have a mechanical purpose. A key aim of this pattern is to get the player to engage in the meta-level creation process, designing a generator while thinking about the kind of generative space they are defining in doing so.\\
\textbf{Example:} \cite{saunders} describes a system of AI agents acting as creative communities with some agents acting as critics, some as creators, and some as gatekeepers that filter art between communities and set trends. A game in which the player designs an artist which then enters such a creative community would task the player with thinking abstractly about a space of art, rather than a single piece on its own.

\subsection{AI As Meta-Environment}
\textbf{Pattern:} The possibility space of a generative system acts as a space the player can travel through using transformative operations.\\
\textbf{Explanation:} Akin to travelling through physical game space to solve problems, explore areas or reach objectives, in this pattern the player travels through the abstract generative space of a procedural generator, by making adjustments to the generator such as altering parameters or input data. The player's aim might be to produce a particular example of content, have the generator occupy a particular region of space, or achieve some other in-game goal that is affected by the state of the generator. The adjustments to the generator can be thought of as edges connecting vertices in a graph, which represent distinct states of the generator.\\
\textbf{Example:} In \textit{Endless Web} the player travels through physical game space when solving levels. The exit they choose to each level effectively allows them to travel in the possibility space of the level generator, by altering generator parameters that affect what kind of levels are generated subsequently. Figure \ref{ewshot} shows the `world map' showing what state the generator is currently in and where the player can move to in the graph of generator states.

\subsection{AI Is Filtered}
\textbf{Pattern:} The player acts as a fitness function or filter for generated content.\\
\textbf{Explanation:} In this pattern, a generator produces content which has some role in the game's systems. The player can control the generator through selecting, ranking or filtering its content in some way. This might be similar to an interactive evolutionary system where the player selects content which feeds back into the system, or it might be a culling process where the player takes the role of the `tester' in a `generate and test' process.\\
\textbf{Example:} Interactive evolutionary games like \textit{Petalz} generate flower designs which the player filters by selecting flowers to breed together. Another unintentional example of this pattern is `scumming', a technique developed by roguelike players where certain randomised events can be re-triggered until a favourable outcome is found. Although this is not part of the design, its emergence as a play technique is an interesting example of this behaviour.

\subsection{AI Is Interrupted}
\textbf{Pattern:} The player interjects in the execution of generative systems, stopping, slowing or restarting their progress.\\
\textbf{Explanation:} This pattern takes generative systems, possibly expressed as multi-agent systems, and allows the player to interrupt them partway through their execution in order to achieve a particular effect. This might be in order to take advantage of partially-generated content when it reaches a stage that the player deems useful, or it might be to reconfigure the environment so the process can be restarted and continues in a different way.\\
\textbf{Example:} Although no games specifically exemplify this pattern, games such as \textit{Lemmings} or \textit{Dungeon Keeper} essentially express simply generative systems through autonomous agents that perform actions to modify the game world. The player can alter these agents to change the generative processes in order to solve puzzles.

\section{Case Study: Sliding Doors}
\textit{Sliding Doors} is a choose-your-own-adventure game in which the player
controls a character through a story, making decisions at various points to decide what the player does next, thereby influencing the chain of events that transpires. Typically, games of this type use human-authored stories where the narrative branches off depending on choices but often meet up again in the future to simplify the number of possible stories. Examples of games of this type include Telltale's \textit{The Walking Dead}. Some games use story-generation systems to produce more variety in their storylines - \textit{Versu} models story characters as agents and allows relationships between them to combine with a loose narrative structure to generate stories.

\begin{figure}
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.9\columnwidth]{tree.png}
\end{center}
\caption{An example decision point in \textit{Sliding Doors}. The left and right subtrees represent (partially represented) sub-stories resulting in taking either the first or second decision respectively. The coloured node in each subtree represent a point in the future which the player has chosen to reveal.}
\label{choiceexample}
\end{figure}

Our concept for Sliding Doors utilises a story generator to create a narrative of events during which the player is regularly posed with scenarios and asked to make choices. In a normal game this decision would be made only using the current context, however in Sliding Doors the player can choose to view some future state in the timelines represented by each individual choice (a binary choice presents the player with two possible future visions, for example, one for each choice). The player can choose how far into the future each vision comes from, however the nearer to the present time they choose to look at, the more vague the vision they receive.

As an example, consider the following scenario based on the movie \textit{Sliding Doors}, which this game is named after. The main character reaches a train station to discover she is about to miss her train. The player is offered a choice: try and run for the train, or miss it and be late for work. In our story generator, this is a branching point in a larger tree representing the entire space of the current story. Each choice represents a subtree from the story node the player is currently in, as shown in Figure \ref{choiceexample}, where the left and right subtrees represent the game progressing after the player chooses either the first or second choice.

In Figure \ref{choiceexample} the player has chosen one point in each subtree to reveal information about. In the first subtree the point is quite far into the future - this will increase the detail in the vision. The player might have specific information revealed to them, such as a view of them in a particular location, a time or date, even some lines of dialogue. The value of the additional detail is offset by the fact that, at a depth of four nodes into the future, it is one of eight possible futures that the story could reach (assuming binary choices - if the choices are more complex, the number of possible futures is even higher). This means that statistically it is less likely that this will actually happen, which changes the value of the revealed information. By contrast, in the second subtree the player chooses a more near-future node to reveal. Because this node is more reliable (being only two nodes deep in the tree) the information revealed is far more vague. Perhaps the player sees their character in tears, but is unable to tell where they are or why they are crying.

In the language of our earlier taxonomies, this design sketch describes a game which allows the player to view (and prune, through their choices) the generator's \textit{State Space} in order to make decisions affecting the game's \textit{Narrative}. The structure of the generator's state space is partially represented in-game by allowing the player to select the depth into the future they wish to examine, although the specifics of branching story nodes remain hidden.

One of the appeals of story-driven games such as this is that the player does not know the future when making decisions, and thus uncovers a narrative as they make choices throughout the game (and may never know the consequences of choices they didn't make). Because we are explicitly breaking this convention by allowing the player to view the future states of the story, some kind of uncertainty and limitation is introduced to make the player's decisions less straightforward. Viewing points further in the future naturally is less reliable because of the branching factor of the story, but points in the near future are still reliable, so the introduction of more vague results from story nodes closer to the present time is intended to provide a counterweight to the strength of knowing something about a story event that is happening soon.

We plan to implement a prototype version of Sliding Doors in the near future, possibly as an elaboration of an existing story generation system. It is worth noting that \textit{Until Dawn}, a AAA PlayStation 4 game, employs a hint system in its static, human-authored narrative that has a similar way of referencing the future. Players can find objects in certain story branches that indicate the branch they are on contains certain possible futures (such as the death of a character). By building this idea into a generative system, and adding a notion of player choice and information tradeoffs, Sliding Doors shows how such an idea can be built into the very core of a game design, foregrounding a PCG-based game mechanic.

\begin{figure*}
\includegraphics[height=0.7\columnwidth]{tombs1.png}\hfill
\includegraphics[height=0.7\columnwidth]{tombs2.png}\hfill
\includegraphics[height=0.7\columnwidth]{tombs3.png}
\caption{Three stages of a level in \textit{Tombs Of Tomeria} being solved, zoomed out to show the level. The circle marks the player position, and the square marks the goal. At each stage the player has adjusted a generator parameter, opening up more space in the generated level.}
\label{tombschange}
\end{figure*}

\section{Case Study: Tombs Of Tomeria}
Tombs of Tomeria \cite{tombsclay} is a prototype adventure game in which the player can reshape levels in order to access new areas, discover secrets, and make progress. The player achieves this by reaching levers scattered throughout levels and switching them back and forth. Each lever is a binary state -- switched either left or right -- and flipping the lever causes some blocks in the level to disappear or new ones to reappear. In the current version of the game the player must seek an exit to each level by flipping levers back and forth, while collecting as many artefacts as possible along the way.

Tombs' levels are generated using a cellular automata. Each level begins with a random seed and a randomly initialised grid of blocks, and is then processed according to rules similar to Conway's Game Of Life. Parameters govern crucial features of the level generation process -- in particular, the initial random distribution of blocks (Initial Random Chance, or IRC), and the number of times the level is iterated upon (Number Of Iterations, or NOI -- more iterations produces a smoother and sparser level).

Whenever the player flips a lever in Tombs, one of the two previously-mentioned parameters is adjusted by some delta set by the designer (in this case, the random change is modified by 0.5\% or the number of iterations is changed by 1). The level is then regenerated using the same initial random seed, meaning that the state of the level before and after the lever switch is close enough that one appears to be a slight variation of the other. This gives the impression of the level environment slowly `shifting' as levers are pulled. Figure \ref{tombschange} shows a simple level being solved in three stages.

Because the size of the change caused by a single lever is known in advance, and the minimum and maximum changes can be calculated based on how many levers in total are in the level, Tombs can design levels and check their solvability in advance. It does this by generating a level for every possible set of lever states (assuming a constant random seed, and a known initial set of parameter values). Then, given an initial location for the player, Tombs can simulate gameplay by finding all accessible levers and recursively flipping levers and exploring the resulting levels to create a graph of mutually accessible game states. This lets Tombs calculate how much of the level space can be explored by the player, and where treasure and level exits can be placed to be challenging but solvable.

In the language of our earlier taxonomies, Tombs allows the player access to the generator's \textit{Parameters} in order to affect the generation of the \textit{Environment}. It does this explicitly, to some degree - the player is aware they are interacting with a system by switching levers, but may not understand exactly what the impact of their actions are (beyond a vague sense that the level is getting more dense or more sparse when a lever is thrown).

The use of levers in the design is intended to simplify and clarify interactions with the generator for the player. Because only one lever can be thrown with a single action, the possible changes made by the player are restricted to a single parameter at at time. This has several useful effects on the game design: firstly, the scope of a single player action is minimised which makes it easier for the player to relate pulling a lever with its effect on the level; secondly, it simplifies the space of possible player actions which simplifies the automated level analysis process described above; finally, it helps limit the total power the player has over the parameter space, because the number of levers defines the maximum a parameter can vary from the starting value.

\section{Discussion}
Throughout the case studies presented in this paper, as well as our surveys of existing work and games in this area, several commonly recurring themes emerged that we believe are important to future research in this area as well as for the future development of PCG-based games. We outline them below.

\subsection{Visualisation}
Accurately imagining the space of a generator's output, or predicting the effect of changing something about a generator, is exceptionally hard even for an expert practitioner of generative systems. Thus, games which ask the player to make strategic, deductive or creative decisions on the basis of an interaction with a generator need to be able to easily visualise the results of such interactions. Sometimes this visualisation is relatively straightforward -- in the case of \textit{Sliding Doors}, for example, the player is shown a partial scene from a future branch of the story space when they select it. In other games this may be less simple to do. In an early prototype of \textit{Tombs} the player was not able to know the effect a lever had without pulling it, which made it hard for the player to make decisions about level traversal.

In the case of viewing the effects of a single change, overlaying or previewing the effects of a change may be enough to let the player decide what to do next (in \textit{Tombs}, blocks which will change when a lever is pulled might discolour when the player walks over it, providing a diegetic way of seeing two outputs from the generator simultaneously. PCG-based games that require the player to make judgements about entire spaces of content, or multiple generators, may benefit from ideas from analytical PCG research, such as Expressive Range Analysis \cite{era}.

\subsection{Managing Control}
As we noted in our taxonomy section, procedural generators are typically tasked with important roles in a game's systems, such as controlling player progression or defining the environment the player moves through and explores. Procedural generators are frequently tasked with designing part of the game experience, and therefore giving the player control over a generator potentially empowers them to change the game outside of the designer's expectations or desires.

This effect may be desirable in some cases, but for the most part we anticipate that an important part of designing PCG-based games will be knowing how and when to limit player control over a system. In \textit{Sliding Doors}, interaction with the story generator is a limited resource (the player can investigate one node per branch per decision), and the knowledge gained from such interactions is imperfect. In \textit{Tombs}, the player can only interact with the generator at specified places in the game environment, and the same small degree of change is made in every interaction. While some of these approaches may be overly conservative, they show how a balance can be struck between the wild freedom of a generator and the intended direction of a game's design.

\subsection{Encountering Generative Concepts}
PCG-based games represent an exciting area in which to do game design, to develop new technology, and to explore new ideas about interactivity with generators. However, we also believe they represent an opportunity for people to gain more familiarity with generative software in a playful context, without needing to learn how to code. Generators benefit from being taught in an interactive context, and building this context into a game is an interesting way of teaching and explaining some of these ideas.

Procedural generation is often seen as little more than a cheap source of randomness to pad a game out with additional content, rather than an artistic tool capable of helping a designer achieve specific goals in a work. Stereotypes about procedural generation are constantly self-reinforcing, with programming skills often being an additional barrier to entry (although not universally\footnote{http://www.tracery.io}). The discipline would benefit from more ways to motivate, interest and excite people about generative systems, so that the area can grow and develop into an accessible and diverse medium. We hope that PCG-based games can contribute to this in a small way.

\section{Conclusions}
In this paper we refined the notion of a PCG-based game, a direct extension of AI-based games where a procedural generator is a central part of the player's experience and interactions with the game. We discussed the history of the concept, including AI-based games and prototypical work in the area, and general theory relating to procedural generators and people's interaction with them. We then discussed ways of taxonomising procedural generators in terms of their affordances for game designers, and linked this to a series of design patterns inspired by AI-based design patterns. Finally, we gave details of several case studies, including implemented prototypes, of PCG-based games that illustrate interesting features of the concept.

There are many examples of games that skirt this exciting area of game design, and we hope to see more prototypes and projects working in this domain in the future. By finding new uses and purposes for generative systems in games, we can move away from stereotypical applications and find exciting and diverse new uses instead. Additionally, we hope to see more refinement of subcategories of AI-based games -- the case studies in this paper all owe a debt to the design patterns and ideation described in \cite{treanor2015}, and we hope this paper demonstrates the usefulness and potential of the approach described. We believe it can be applied with similarly positive results on other AI techniques.

\bibliographystyle{aaai}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


Each Varsity Team may run up to 9 runners in the Varsity Race, 5 will score, 6 & 7 will displace, and 8 & 9 will not displace.
New this Year…..Awards will be a photo post format. Each medalist and Top Team in the Varsity Divisions will accept there awards at the Finish Line Shelter. Photos of each finisher will be taken and posted. This will be available 60 minutes after the start of the respective race.
New this Year….We will be chipping all competitors in the Varsity and JV competitions. This is part of our continued effort to grow and improve the meet.
Entry Fee: $125.00 for each team - $250.00 for both Boys & Girls Teams.
Awards -- Members of winning teams in each varsity race receive medals.
Entries- Please make entries on athletic.net by Wednesday before the meet.
Results will be available shortly after each race.


text:
Home > Untagged Osinbajo Takes Over Fed Govt's Team In Talks With ASUU
Osinbajo Takes Over Fed Govt's Team In Talks With ASUU
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday appointed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to lead the Federal Government's team to negotiate with the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to facilitate the resolution of some of the contentious issues...
Osinbajo, who immediately began meeting with the government's team yesterday at the Presidential Villa, is expected to schedule another meeting with the leadership of ASUU.
Also, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved the award of the engineering as well as electromechanical works contract worth $5.792 billion for the Mambila hydroelectric power plant located in Taraba State.
The decision to hand over the negotiation team to Osinbajo was reached during the council meeting presided over by President Buhari.
Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, the Minister of Labor and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, expressed the government's regret over the prolonged strike which he said had paralyzed academic activities in the nation's universities.
Ngige said: "The government sympathizes with the parents, even with the students who are supposed to be taking their degree exams and promotion exams now but have been forced by circumstances beyond their control to be at home.
"I have my child at home as we speak. So, government is leaving no stone upturned to make sure that we reach a conclusive agreement with ASUU so that they can go back to the classroom. This is the first national strike that this government is facing and we want to discuss.
"At Council today (yesterday), the vice president has taken over some aspects of the negotiation and discussion. So we are continuing the meeting in his office and when we finish, we will get back to ASUU with another round of meeting.
"We are hopeful that with another round of meeting, we will be able to go an appreciable extent to solve some of the outstanding issues."
Also, the minister blamed the private sector for the delay in constituting the committee to review the minimum wage.
"On the national minimum wage committee, the government side is ready with four ministers – labor and employment, finance, budget and planning. I can't remember the last one now but we have our team ready.
"We also have the head of service of the federation and the acting secretary to the government of the federation on the government team. The chairman will be unveiled when we have a full component of the committee. The aspect that is delaying from inaugurating the committee is the organized private sector," Ngige said.
According to him, the organized private sector has eight representatives of which Nigeria Employers Consultative Assembly has four nominations, we have not gotten their nominations.
"Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has two nominations, their nominations just came in yesterday. Nigeria Association of Small Medium Enterprises and the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) have not sent in their nominations. So we are waiting for these nominations. When they come in the government will nominate the chairman and inaugurate the committee." Also briefing the newsmen, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, disclosed that the Mambila project designed to deliver 3,050 megawatts of power was begun in 1972 but made no significant progress since then. He said the contract awarded to a joint venture with a Chinese civil engineering company would be completed in about six years.
Giving insight into the scope of work to be handled by the firm, the minister said funding for the project was also expected to come from the Chinese government through its Exim bank.
"It requires the construction of four dams. One of them is about 150 meters in height, the immediate two are 70 meters in height and the smallest of them is 50 meters in height. It also includes 700 kilometers of transmission line. It would be in Taraba State in the area called Gembu, and it would unleash the potential that has been reported about Mambila, including agriculture, tourism and energy," Fashola said.
The minister noted that when completed, the project would help Nigeria strike a big blow on the climate change issue and fulfill its commitment under the Paris agreement.
"We have overcome the gas challenges and the vandals and pipeline repairs have progressed. And that has impacted successfully on the generation side. Our power is going to come from hydro, gas and solar, and that is why we are investing in Mambila for more hydro. This is so that when one source is vulnerable, we can rely on another source," he said.
Meanwhile, President Buhari yesterday received a standing ovation from members of the FEC. The president was attending the council meeting for the first time since he returned to Nigeria from London, United Kingdom (UK) after a medical follow-up in that country.
He returned to Nigeria on August 19 and has since been working from his official residence in the Presidential Villa.
The president cancelled last week's FEC meeting but received the report of the presidential investigative panel on alleged corruption cases against the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal, and the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayodele Oke.
As the president stepped into the council chambers, venue of the meeting, the members clapped in excitement after which he invited the Minister of Communication, Shittu Adebayo, and Ngige to say the opening prayers.
Before the meeting, Buhari received the victorious female Nigerian Basketball national team, D'Tigress who won the 2017 FIBA Women's AfroBasket tournament in Mali. President Buhari, in his remarks, announced a cash award of N1million for each of the players and N500,000 for each of the official handlers.
Osinbajo Takes Over Fed Govt's Team In Talks With ASUU Reviewed by FOW 24 News on August 31, 2017 Rating: 5 President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday appointed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to lead the Federal Government's team to negotiate with the ...


text:
Старые Мёдуши — деревня в Лопухинском сельском поселении Ломоносовского района Ленинградской области.

История
Впервые упоминается в Писцовой книге Водской пятины 1500 года, как деревня Медуша в Ильинском Заможском погосте Копорского уезда.

Затем, как деревня Meodussa by в Заможском погосте в шведских «Писцовых книгах Ижорской земли» 1618—1623 годов.

На карте Ингерманландии А. И. Бергенгейма, составленной по шведским материалам 1676 года, обозначена деревня Medusa.

На шведской «Генеральной карте провинции Ингерманландии» 1704 года, — деревня Medusa, а к югу от неё Samoskoi Rÿsskÿrka.

Деревня Медуска и при ней Руски церковь упомянуты на «Географическом чертеже Ижорской земли» Адриана Шонбека 1705 года.

Затем мыза Медуская нанесена на карте Санкт-Петербургской губернии 1792 года А. М. Вильбрехта.

Деревня — вотчина императора Александра I из которой в 1806—1807 годах были выставлены ратники Императорского батальона милиции.

На карте Санкт-Петербургской губернии Ф. Ф. Шуберта 1834 года, обозначена деревня Старые Медуши, состоящая из 22 крестьянских дворов и в ней усадьба Помещика Ранцова.

МЕДУШИ — мыза принадлежит подпоручику Ранцову, число жителей по ревизии: 11 м. п., 10 ж. п.
МЕДУШИ — деревня принадлежит подпоручику Ранцову, число жителей по ревизии: 60 м. п., 61 ж. п.
В оной церковь каменная во имя Святой Троицы. (1838 год)

Согласно 9-й ревизии 1850 года мыза и деревня Мёдуши принадлежали помещику Константину Севастьяновичу Крамеру.

На карте профессора С. С. Куторги 1852 года отмечена деревня Старые Мёдуши и при ней Мыза Шрейдера.

МЕДУШИ — деревня генерал-майора Пикурина, по просёлочной дороге, число дворов — 18, число душ — 56 м. п.
МЕДУШИ — деревня Ораниенбаумского дворцового правления, по просёлочной дороге, число дворов — 12, число душ — 41 м. п.(1856 год)

Согласно 10-й ревизии 1856 года мыза и деревня Мёдуши принадлежали помещику Михаилу Фёдоровичу Плаутину.

Согласно «Топографической карте частей Санкт-Петербургской и Выборгской губерний» в 1860 году деревня Старые Мёдуши насчитывала 24 крестьянских двора. В деревне находилась мыза, церковь и часовня.

МЕДУШИ СТАРЫЕ — мыза владельческая при прудах, число дворов — 1, число жителей: 3 м. п., 7 ж. п.
МЕДУШИ СТАРЫЕ — село владельческое при пруде и колодцах, число дворов — 23, число жителей: 72 м. п., 63 ж. п.
Церковь православная. Сельское училище. Волостное правление. (1862 год)

В 1868 году временнообязанные крестьяне деревни Медуша выкупили свои земельные наделы у великой княгини Елены Павловны и стали собственниками земли.

В 1885 году село насчитывало 20 дворов.

Согласно материалам по статистике народного хозяйства Петергофского уезда 1887 года мыза Мёдуши площадью 1040 десятин принадлежала барону Л. О. Рауш фон Траубенбергу, она была приобретена двумя частями в 1868 и 1886 годах за 18 000 рублей. В мызе была кузница, кирпичный и известковый заводы. Портерная лавка сдавалась в аренду. «Дом, бывший под больницей, теперь без употребления».

Сборник Центрального статистического комитета описывал её так:

СТАРЫЕ МЕДУШИ — село бывшее владельческое, дворов — 26, жителей — 118; Волостное правление, церковь православная, часовня, школа, больница, лавка, торжок 9 мая. (1885 год)

В XIX веке село административно относилось к Медушской волости 2-го стана Петергофского уезда Санкт-Петербургской губернии, в начале XX века — 3-го стана.

По данным «Памятной книжки Санкт-Петербургской губернии» за 1905 год Старые Медуши — село, церковь православная, торжок 9 мая. Мыза Старые Мёдуши площадью 761 десятина принадлежала барону Леониду Оскаровичу Рауш-фон-Траубенбергу.

К 1913 году количество дворов в селе увеличилось до 32.

С 1917 по 1923 год деревня входила в состав Медушского сельсовета Медушской волости Петергофского уезда.

С 1923 года, в составе Гатчинского уезда.

С 1924 года, в составе Центрального сельсовета.

С февраля 1927 года, в составе Гостилицкой волости. С августа 1927 года, в составе Ораниенбаумского района.

Согласно топографической карте 1930 года деревня насчитывала 44 двора, в деревне находилась церковь.

По данным 1933 года деревня Медуши Старые входила в состав Центрального сельсовета Ораниенбаумского района.

Деревня была освобождена от немецко-фашистских оккупантов 28 января 1944 года.

С 1960 года, в составе Лопухинского сельсовета.

С 1963 года, в составе Гатчинского района.

С 1965 года, вновь в составе Ломоносовского района.

По данным 1966, 1973 и 1990 годов деревня Старые Мёдуши также входила в состав Лопухинского сельсовета.

В 1997 году в деревне Старые Мёдуши Лопухинской волости проживали 42 человека, в 2002 году — 33 человека (русские — 94 %), в 2007 году — 21.

География
Деревня расположена в юго-западной части района на автодороге  (Лопухинка — Шёлково), к югу от административного центра поселения, деревни Лопухинка.

Расстояние до административного центра поселения — 4 км.

Расстояние до ближайшей железнодорожной станции Копорье — 34 км.

Демография

Улицы
Медовая, Парковая, Песчаная, Центральная.

Примечания

Населённые пункты Ломоносовского района (Ленинградская область)
Мызы Ингрии

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia