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Bogus HIPAA Claims Are Flourishing As Pandemic Worsens
By Jeff Overley
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Law360 (November 30, 2020, 8:35 PM EST) -- The escalating coronavirus pandemic is fueling false assertions about the privacy protections of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act in a wide array of settings, including the storefront windows of retail shops and the social media accounts of former Trump administration officials.
Spurious claims exaggerating HIPAA's reach appear to be originating primarily from individuals who have expressed the belief that the COVID-19 crisis — which has killed almost 270,000 Americans — is overblown. The claims have become more conspicuous in recent months, as virus skeptics wield HIPAA and other legal provisions in an effort to evade face mask mandates and undermine media reports about famous people testing positive.
"This is just such a politically charged — rightfully or wrongfully — scenario that we have right now," Lynn Sessions, BakerHostetler's health privacy leader, told Law360. "We're seeing a lot of different laws and regulations being thrown out there to justify whatever position [someone] is taking."
Efforts to push back against pandemic restrictions and news reporting have also invoked the Americans with Disabilities Act and the privacy provisions of the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment. For example, a U.S. Department of Justice fraud alert in June described cards that cited the ADA and a fictitious government body called the "Freedom to Breathe Agency" in an effort to exempt the cardholders from face mask requirements.
But HIPAA — the nation's biggest and best-known health privacy law — appears to be cited especially often. According to data from Google, search interest in HIPAA spiked to its highest level in the past five years shortly after President Donald Trump delivered an Oval Office address in March about COVID-19. Interest has remained historically high and has surged periodically throughout 2020 after important news events involving the novel coronavirus.
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"While health care, health data and privacy are always of great interest to some of us, the pandemic has raised their profile for the population at large," David Harlow, chief compliance and privacy officer at a Massachusetts-based medical device company, told Law360. "This has also increased the number of misunderstandings about HIPAA."
References to HIPAA can be found on paper signs that have been appearing in the windows of small businesses in response to mask mandates that now exist in more than 35 states. The signs purport to exempt customers with medical conditions that preclude mask-wearing, typically declaring in boilerplate script that "due to HIPAA and the Fourth Amendment, we cannot legally ask you what your medical condition is."
Some business owners have uploaded photos of the signs to Facebook, which has flagged some of the images for containing "false information," and the posts often attract outpourings of praise.
For example, after the Doomsday Tactical Supply gun shop in Virginia posted a photo of its sign earlier this year, it earned 1,300 likes and 600 shares. As another example, when Larry Sharpe — the Libertarian Party candidate in New York's 2018 gubernatorial election — posted a picture of one of the signs and solicited feedback, he garnered more than 2,000 likes and 1,600 shares.
This is a very interesting sign. What are your thoughts about it?
Posted by Larry Sharpe, Libertarian on Wednesday, July 15, 2020
It's not known whether business proprietors who are self-described critics of mask mandates are intentionally misconstruing HIPAA. But attorneys told Law360 that while the ADA could require accommodations for genuine medical issues, HIPAA would almost never actually prohibit business owners from asking why patrons were flouting a mask law.
"Those are totally false," Thomas Jeffry Jr., a HIPAA specialist at Arent Fox LLP, said of the signs. "Shop owners typically are not going to be subject to HIPAA."
In fact, relatively few components of the U.S. economy — mainly health care providers, insurers, pharmacies and their business associates — are subject to HIPAA, which Congress passed in the 1990s. Outside those contexts, there's fairly wide latitude to publicly discuss someone's health.
"The biggest misconception tends to be that because HIPAA has become synonymous with medical privacy, that people assume that all medical information is always going to be protected by HIPAA," Adam H. Greene, a Davis Wright Tremaine LLP partner, told Law360.
That incorrect assumption has also proliferated widely on Twitter. In recent weeks, waves of tweets mentioning HIPAA — or its common misspelling, HIPPA — have made the health privacy law a trending topic, leaving experts amused but also rolling their eyes.
"We kind of chuckle [when] HIPAA is trending on Twitter, because it's trending for the wrong reasons," Sessions said. "It's really not trending because it's truly in play."
HIPAA and HIPPA each began trending on Nov. 20, which was the same day media outlets disclosed the positive coronavirus test of Donald Trump Jr., who has eschewed face masks and cast doubt on their effectiveness.
News of the president's son's positive test attracted numerous tweets incorrectly alleging that the disclosure — attributed to a spokesperson for Trump Jr. — ran afoul of HIPAA. Perhaps most prominently, the president's former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, who has nearly 700,000 Twitter followers, denounced the story as "a violation of HIPAA rules" and then faced a swift backlash.
Reporters need to stop announcing protected health information. This is a violation of HIPAA rules. https://t.co/RGckMdo1CI
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) November 20, 2020
"You stumbling turnip that's not what HIPAA does," the popular Twitter account Popehat, which is run by Brown White & Osborn LLP lawyer Ken White, tweeted to Grenell.
Another response to Grenell came from an account called Bad HIPPA Takes, which debuted in May and spotlights inaccurate HIPAA posts. In response to questions from Law360, the account's operator wrote, "I'm just an internet rando who got fed up with the HIPAA misinformation being spread near the beginning of the pandemic."
The account operator added that they are based in Denver, formerly worked as a medical practitioner covered by HIPAA and intentionally adopted the "HIPPA" acronym as "a nod to the nitwits who constantly misspell it online."
Another high-profile HIPAA dust-up happened on Oct. 5, a few days after the president tested positive for the coronavirus. In response to a news report about a White House staffer also testing positive, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer tweeted to his roughly 463,000 Twitter followers that the report "seems like a violation of HIPPA."
Rep. Donna Shalala, D-Fla., a former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary who helped author HIPAA's privacy provisions, then responded by telling Spicer, "That's not how HIPAA works."
That's not how HIPAA works.
I should know...I wrote it. https://t.co/tgwxH8EW7A
— Rep. Donna E. Shalala (@RepShalala) October 5, 2020
It's hard to know whether the HIPAA distortions have significant practical effects. Do they fuel new infections by emboldening large numbers of people to defy mask mandates? Do they erode trust in media reports about the COVID-19 emergency? Maybe.
What is safe to say is that misunderstandings about the complicated health privacy law are understandable for everyday Americans, who may not grasp the intricacies of a complex statute that many lawyers specialize in almost exclusively. But when people who've served at the executive branch's highest levels broadcast incorrect HIPAA claims during a pandemic, the lapses seem more serious.
"All of these health-related things get used and twisted, and they get twisted sometimes innocently, because people just don't know what they are," Rivkin Radler LLP partner Eric D. Fader said. "And other times, it's people who should know better."
--Editing by Nicole Bleier and Breda Lund.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
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A list of Link Summons in Kingdom Hearts 3. The Link system enables the summoned character to be infused with different powerful elements like Fire and Water.
A Link Summon is an ability in Kingdom Hearts 3 wherein Sora calls characters from other worlds to aid him in battle. The Link Summons list below contains the name of each Link as well as the character that it summons.
Sea Spectacle Ariel (Little Mermaid) ???
Kingsflare Simba (Lion King) ???
8-Bit Blast Ralph (Wreck-It Ralph) ???
Plasma Encounter Stitch (Lilo & Stitch) ???
Wonder Balloon Meow Wow (Kingdom Hearts) ???
The system revamps the skills of various characters, adding more flare to their attacks. In the image above, we can see Simba infused with Fire, which allows him to burn enemies to the ground.


The next FlytCycle includes numerous safety upgrades and performance improvements!
It's hard to believe, but we built the current FlytCycle prototype in just three short weeks. Since its completion we've already several hundred test flights and it's the best flying vehicle we've ever made, plus it's been a ton of fun to be able to fly it around and see what it can do!
It can fly for 10-15 minutes on a single set of batteries and weights ~165lbs empty. We're currently testing it in more challenging environments such as dusty fields to prove how well it works.
Although it's powerful enough to fly a person, it's small enough to fit in the bed of a standard pickup truck!
In early 2017 we completed the second FlytCycle as a demonstration of where we wanted to take it. Unfortunately, it ended up being fairly large and although it looks great, we decided the original FlytCycle design was a better choice due to its small footprint.
And most importantly, it's really fun to ride!
You can see it's very much a proof-of-concept prototype - it was very cramped for the pilot to sit and wasn't going to win any beauty contests. Still, it worked!


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Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran ;Report of the Secretary-General
October 1, 2018	Iran, Reports 0
Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 72/189, in which the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to report to it at its seventythird session. The report provides information on progress made in the implementation of the resolution and draws on observations made by the United Nations …
US-backed YPG terrorists recruiting displaced children from Syria camps, report says
August 16, 2018	Turkish regions 0
Ankara,Turkey,Aug 16 The PKK terror group's Syrian affiliate the People's Protection Units (YPG) is recruiting children from displacement camps in the country's northeast in violation of international law, Human Rights Watch said Friday. According to Daily Sabah news agency, Thousands of people live in camps scattered across parts of Syria …
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June 21, 2018	Reports, Turkish regions 0
Ankara,Turkey,June 21 Turkey has the largest refugee population in the world, according to a two-year study conducted by the Turkish Parliament's Refugee Subcommittee that operates under the Human Rights Committee. According to report of HDN , Turkey currently hosts approximately 4.3 million refugees. Of the millions taking refuge in Turkey, 3.4 million reside in the country …
South Azerbaijan National Liberation Front (GAMAC) Releases a Statement for Supporting Olive Branch Operation of the Turkish Army
January 28, 2018	Statement, Turkish regions 0
Southern Azerbaijan National Liberation Front (GAMAC) has released a Statement in three languages: Turkish, English and Farsi for supporting Turkish Olive Branch Operations in Afrin-Syria. The statement also referred to the PKK's terrorist policies and actions of Democratic Party of Kurdistan in West Azerbaijan and the alignment of the policies of the Iranian …
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Baku, North Azerbaijan, Dec. 16 Policy pursued by Armenia aimed at resettling Syrian refugees of Armenian origin on the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is a grave breach of the international humanitarian law, reads a statement by the Delegation of Azerbaijan at the United Nations High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges. …
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Tabriz,South Azerbaijan,Dec 3 A tenth session of the forum, based on minority issues was organized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland on the first of Dec 2017. In this meeting two of AHRAZ members represent South Azerbaijan and gave a speech about South Azerbaijan …
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Tabriz,South Azerbaijan,Nov 28 Not only the European Union is trying to release the well-known South Azerbaijani medical practitioner Ahmad Reza Jalali. Also, Nobel Prize winners, including Elfriede Jelinek, are involved in the case. According to Gunaz Tv (the official media of South Azerbaijan), the European Union has been involved in the case …
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November 23, 2017	Articles, Iran 0
Domestic unrest: Iran's worst nightmare-By: Keyvan Salami The threats posed by Iran in the Middle East through its support for terrorism, extremism and Islamic fundamentalism are undeniable. Its continued backing of various militias has established for Tehran a so-called Shiite crescent across the region. Growing domestic unrest, especially after the …
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2020 Climate Review
As the 2021 year begins, we review some important climate developments last year. First of all, 2020 tied 2016 for the hottest year on record globally. Second, 2020 continues a rapid heating trend as the last seven years have been the warmest in 150 years, and it concludes the warmest decade on record.
Average global temperatures in 2020 were 1 degree Celsius (about 2 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than in the 30-year average between 1951 and 1980. Since 1980, warming has averaged around 0.2 degree C (0.32 degrees F) per decade. NASA Global Climate Change's Vital Signs of the Planet report that CO2 level is now 415 ppm, the Arctic ice minimum loss is 13.1 percent per decade, the ice sheets are losing 428 billion metric tons per year, and sea level is raising at 3.3 millimeters per year.
The changing climate is contributing to stronger hurricanes, larger and more destructive wildfires, and heavier rainfall that can cause flooding. Rising temperatures are also causing loss of sea ice and ice sheet mass, sea level rise, longer and more intense heat waves, and shifts in plant and animal habitats.
There were record fires in Australia and California, and severe drought in central South America and the American Southwest. Notably, 2020 was a La Nina year, with cooler temperatures in the vast Pacific Ocean. Yet, Typhoon Goni made landfall in the Philippines as the strongest tropical cyclone in history with sustained winds of 195 mph.
Europe and Asia had their hottest years on record, while South America and the Caribbean had their second-hottest. Europe had its warmest year ever in 2020, with heat waves lasting into September. The world's oceans had their third warmest year. The Arctic and Siberia were among the hottest regions, around 6 degrees C warmer than the mid-20th century average. In South American, warming and drought resulted in fires across the vast Pantanal wetland.
According to NOAA, the US experienced $95 billion in climate disaster damages, with major disasters like the western wildfires, a record-breaking hurricane season and the mid-summer Midwest derecho that caused extensive damage. There were 22 weather and climate disasters in 2020 that cost over $1 billion in damages, surpassing the annual record of 16 billion-dollar disasters in 2017. The Atlantic Basin produced 30 named storms, with 13 of those becoming hurricanes. This topped 2005, which previously had the most storms in a season, 28. And, a record-breaking 12 named storms made a US landfall in 2020. Six of the US landfalls were from hurricanes - Hanna, Isaias, Laura, Sally, Delta and Zeta - far above the average of one to two hurricane landfalls per year.
Phoenix, AZ, saw 145 days of 100-degree heat, breaking the previous record of 143 days set in 1989. Miami, FL, saw daily record temperatures (record warm highs, record warm lows) broken or tied a combined 64 times in 2020. The temperature in Death Valley, CA, reached 54.4 degrees C, the hottest in 80 years. Meanwhile, the Siberian town of Verkhoyansk reported a summer temperature of 100.4 degrees F, the first time recorded temperatures above the Arctic Circle have surpassed 100 degrees F.
As the 2020 year ends, some of the changes scientists are exploring include the weird fact that nights are warming faster than days, and how climate change is harming children's diets. Global warming is faster than evolution, and is making baby sharks smaller, undernourished and exhausted. Also, researchers found that global warming has profoundly transformed Arctic in just 15 years, the urban heat-island effect is turning cities into ovens, and that the warming already baked in will blow pass climate goals.
Although the political climate improved in the US at the end of the year, there has been decades of climate denial and limited action. This polluting legacy means that the new administration's climate policies may fall well short of what is needed to slow down abrupt climate change in 2021 and beyond.
Labels: climate change, greenhouse gas, growth, science
Press News 012021
COVID-19 in 2020: Lessons Learned


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Home All issues Volume 495 / No 2 (February IV 2009) A&A, 495 2 (2009) 663-675 Full HTML
2 Description of ...
3 The basic ...
4 Error analysis
5 Numerical results
Regularization methods used in error analysis of solar particle spectra measured on SOHO/EPHIN
A. Kharytonov - E. Böhm - R. F. Wimmer-Schweingruber
Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Kiel University, Leibnizstrasse 11, 24118 Kiel, Germany
Received 25 August 2008 / Accepted 9 December 2008
Context. The telescope EPHIN (Electron, Proton, Helium INstrument) on the SOHO (SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft measures the energy deposit of solar particles passing through the detector system. The original energy spectrum of solar particles is obtained by regularization methods from EPHIN measurements. It is important not only to obtain the solution of this inverse problem but also to estimate errors or uncertainties of the solution.
Aims. The focus of this paper is to evaluate the influence of errors or noise in the instrument response function (IRF) and in the measurements when calculating energy spectra in space-based observations by regularization methods.
Methods. The basis of solar particle spectra calculation is the Fredholm integral equation with the instrument response function as the kernel that is obtained by the Monte Carlo technique in matrix form. The original integral equation reduces to a singular system of linear algebraic equations. The nonnegative solution is obtained by optimization with constraints. For the starting value we use the solution of the algebraic problem that is calculated by regularization methods such as the singular value decomposition (SVD) or the Tikhonov methods. We estimate the local errors from special algebraic and statistical equations that are considered as direct or inverse problems. Inverse problems for the evaluation of errors are solved by regularization methods.
Results. This inverse approach with error analysis is applied to data from the solar particle event observed by SOHO/EPHIN on day 1996/191. We find that the various methods have different strengths and weaknesses in the treatment of statistical and systematic errors.
Key words: Sun: particle emissi on - methods: data analysis - interplanetary medium - methods: numerical
In many cases the measurements of a physical process is described by the Fredholm integral equation of the first kind
where f is the unknown and the kernel K and the righthand side z are given functions. The usual approach to solving this inverse problem is the discretization and formulation as a numerical algebra problem (Hansen 1998; Neumaier 1998; Tikhonov & Arsenin 1977). We have a system of linear algebraic equations that is often singular or ill-conditioned
where is a matrix or discrete forward operator with elements aij, which describe the measurement process, is the unknown vector with components fi, and is the known vector with measured components zi.
When solving this discretized inverse problem with noisy data one must perform the error analysis. For this we consider two approaches.
In the statistical approach, we find the error propagation or the covariance matrix from statistical equations. Errors are as a rule in the vector z.
In the algebraic approach we find errors from algebraic equations. Errors (called perturbations in this case) can be both in the vector z and in the matrix .
The statistical error propagation from the input data to the output function are interesting and practical. Those questions for general physical problems are considered in e.g. Bevington (1969), Bock & Krischer (1998), Brandt (1999), Branham (1990), Lyons (1989), Tellinghuisen (2001).
Error propagation for solving inverse problems is considered in Hansen (1998), Neumaier (1998), and van Wijk et al. (2002).
After Wilkinson (1965), the perturbation theory was developed in numerical linear algebra, covering linear systems, the matrix inverse, the least square problem, and singular value problems. One can refer to all those problems as the error estimation. Most of those results are discussed in Wilkinson (1965), Björck (1991), Higham (1996), Lawson & Hanson (1974), Neumaier (1998), Wedin (1973), and they also contain the information about error bounds for the case when the matrix is square or nonsingular. The error estimation for the singular matrix and discrete inverse problems is considered in Neumaier (1998) and Hansen (1998). Lefebvre et al. (2000) present a method of error propagation for matrix inversion, applicable to a non singular matrix A, including errors in the matrix A. This method may be extended to ill-posed problems, but is not investigated here. The detailed mathematical and physical description of the solar particle spectra computation from the SOHO/EPHIN data have been presented in Böhm et al. (2007), showing the value of the method of regularization, and a comparison of various methods. Missing there was the estimation of uncertainties in the intensities. Thus, in this paper, we focus on the analysis of uncertainties in general and applying various methods to data obtained with the SOHO/EPHIN sensor. Therefore, we give only a brief formulation of this problem in Sect. 3. In Sect. 2 we summarize the telescope EPHIN details, its modeling and experimental data used in the paper. We focus on the error propagation in Sect. 4.1 and consider the error estimation in Sect. 4.3. The statistical approach to the error analysis in perturbed equations is used in Sect. 4.4. The numerical results of the solar energetic particles spectra and errors in solutions obtained by various methods are represented in Sect. 5.
2 Description of EPHIN modeling and measurements
2.1 Instrument and Monte Carlo simulation
The Electron Proton Helium Instrument (EPHIN), part of the Comprehensive Suprathermal and Energetic Particle Analyzer (COSTEP) (Müller-Mellin et al. 1995), on ESA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) measures solar energetic electrons, protons, and alpha particles in the energy range 150 keV to >5 MeV (electrons) and 4 MeV/n to > 53 MeV/n (protons and helium). EPHIN consists of a stack of five silicon detectors, surrounded by an anti-coincidence shield, a plastic scintillator and sixth silicon detector to distinguish between stopping and penetrating particles (Fig. 1). Two passivated ion-implanted detectors (A and B) define the large (83 ) field of view with a geometric factor of 5.1 cm2 sr. The lithium-drifted silicon detectors C, D, and E stop electrons up to 10 MeV and hydrogen and helium nuclei up to 53 MeV/n. We will only discuss electrons and protons. The generalization to inclusion of helium ions is straightforward. For data analysis the energy deposit is pulse-height analyzed. On-board processing includes classification into E- and P-channels, depending on the energy deposit in each detectors A-E. Thus, the E-channels measure predominantly electrons, the P-channels predominantly protons, but with cross contamination which can be appreciable, depending on the electron-to-proton ratio. The pulse-height-analyzed data contain information on the energy deposit of single particles in detectors A-E in a total of 256 energy bins, and the depth in the sensor head reached (B, C, D, or E). For this work, we have rebinned this energy information into 30 logarithmically equidistantly spaced energy intervals. The sensitivity of each of these energy bins has been modeled as discussed in Sect. 2.2. Together, pulse-height words and energy bin sensitivities allow us to reconstruct the original particle spectra . This paper addresses the accuracy of the energy spectrum calculations achievable with the regularization technique.
Side view of the EPHIN-sensor, a telescope consisting of 6 Si-solid state detectors A-F (in green) surrounded by an active anticonincidence scintillator G (in red). 10 simulated beam electrons of 4 MeV are shown in red as well as a pair of generated secondary gamma rays in blue.
Open with DEXTER
Matrix A of geometric factors in dependence of the energy deposit and the energy of the beam particle , with , , , and in the different quadrants, as derived from the Monte-Carlo simulation of the EPHIN instrument. The scale in energy 0-30 is equivalent to a logarithmic scale 0.1 to 100 MeV, which is repeated from 30 to 60, so displaying the full matrix for electrons and protons. We have applied logarithmic binning in the energies and to account for the power-law particle spectra that are expected in particle acceleration processes in the heliosphere.
We used GEANT-3 (GEANT3 2006) and GEANT-4 (GEANT4 collaboration 2006) of the CERN program library to simulate the detector response of EPHIN to ions and electrons. The experimental data were analyzed with the PAW package of the CERN program library (PAW 1993), and information about energy resolution and triggering requirements of EPHIN were added at this stage. Final graphics were produced by ROOT from the CERN program library (ROOT 2000). Figure 2 shows the matrix as obtained from the Monte Carlo simulation, subdivided into four parts. and are nearly diagonal energy deposit beam energy, ( ), with some leakage towards lower energy deposits due to insensitive material and other losses. The cross-talk channels and show much lower response than and and are considerably less diagonal. Figure 3 shows the matrix of uncertainties corresponding to the geometric factors as given in Fig. 2. For small geometric factors the relative errors may reach 100%, as demonstrated in Fig. 4, displaying the relative error in the geometric factor for the matrix elements on the diagonal. Included is the interval in which there is a null row vector in matrix A (no entries in the beam energy for any energy deposit interval). dA was derived from a combination of statistical uncertainty in Monte Carlo simulation and considerations about the uncertainty in the instrument, such as uniformity of dead layers, and energy resolution.
Errors on geometric factors , , , and as derived from the Monte-Carlo simulation of the EPHIN instrument. The description is analogous to Fig. 2. Note the different z-axis scales of Figs. 2 and 3.
Relative errors of geometric factors for the diagonal elements of matrix A, null row vector in matrix A means (no entries in the beam energy for any energy deposit interval) (see Figs. 2, 3).
2.2 Data used in analysis
Time series of E-channel ( upper panel) and P-channel ( lower panel) count rates during the solar particle event of days 188 to 192 in 1996. The various curves (red, green, black and blue) show count rates in the energy intervals, as recorded by the SOHO-EPHIN-sensor. Day 1996/191, 16-17 h, has been chosen for a detailed analysis: a 24-h pre-event period on day 1996/188 has been taken as solar and non-solar interplanetary event background measurement.
The solar energetic particle event of day 191 in 1996 has been chosen in this analysis, to illustrate again the regularization method in this work, but with putting main effort into uncertainty estimation. We have analyzed other time periods (Böhm et al. 2007; and Gòmez-Herrero et al. 2006), but will limit ourselves here to the time period defined above in this work.
Figure 5 shows the count rate in that time period for the E-channels, supposed to be mainly electrons, and the P-channels, supposed to be mainly protons. Day 188 has been taken to represent the background for quiet times and has been used to correct the solar event count rates. Error analysis has been performed for day 191, 16-17 h. Figure 6 shows the total pulse height distribution in the E- and P-channel, which is used as the z-vector in Eq. (2). For the uncertainty, , we use the rule of quadratic addition of errors (see Bock & Krischer 1998) in the optimization approach. The terms are the purely statistical errors associated with each data point (omitting uncertainties in the matrix elements of A).
where is the error in the experimental data day 191, 16-17 h, in the event, and is the error in the background observation (day 188) (see Fig. 5).
Measured pulse height (energy deposit) distribution on day 191/1996, 16-17 h, all E-channels have been combined and all P-channels have been combined too. The background as measured on day 188/1996 has been subtracted (see Fig. 5). The binning is equidistant in logarithmic scale, 10 bins per decade, corresponding to the energy deposit , see Fig. 2.
Note that the validity of this background estimate for our investigated time period hinges on the observation that other background sources, especially X-ray-induced background, are normally concentrated around the onset of solar particle events. To reduce the influence of such background, we have chosen a part of the event, which is late in its sequence, and by using the coincidence technique X- and -rays only contribute to the count rate by chance coincidences.
3 The basic integral equation and its solution
The basic integral equation (Eq. (4)) connects the intensity of the energy deposit and the intensity of the original beam energy of particles. A particle entering the instrument deposits an energy in the instrument. Because of incomplete charge collection and insensitive material (such as dead layers), is lower than the original energy of the particle . Since the energy deposit is a stochastic process, the statistical and experimental accuracy limits the resolution in . In addition, because of the different ionization cross sections of electrons and protons (and of other ions), not only depends on , but also on particle species. Other important factors determining given are angles, dead layers, detector arrangements, etc., and need to be taken into account when simulating detector response to a beam of particles with energy and intensity . Thus, the intensity of the energy deposit, , is generally given by
which is the Fredholm integral equation (Eq. (1)) that needs to be solved for the unknown quantity . Here, , the kernel of the integral equation, is the instrument sensitivity to measure given a particle of energy . The kernel, , is then given by
where is the efficiency of detecting a particle with energy in that deposits energy in the range , hitting the detector in the area element at position (x,y) within the solid angle element from the direction given by and . and need to be calculated using a Monte-Carlo simulation that is described below. We will assume an isotropic angular distribution of the beam and a homogeneous (uniform) distribution on the sensor area. Equation (4) may also be interpreted as an algebraic equation if the kernel is known in discrete intervals, just as Eq. (1) may be interpreted as Eq. (2),
We solve Eq. (6) by the following regularization methods:
The iterated Tikhonov method: the iterated Tikhonov regularization method using the scheme
where is the regularization parameter , is the identity matrix, is the adjoint matrix and rk is the residual
with f0 = 0 gives the solution of the Tikhonov method, .
Singular value decomposition (SVD) method: it is known that the minimum norm solution of the least square problem is given by the vector
and is called a pseudo-solution of the system Eq. (6), the matrix is the Moore-Penrose pseudo-inverse of .
This solution, , is completely congruent with the solution of the Tikhonov method , Eq. (9).
Optimization with constraints: the nonnegative solution is obtained by optimization with constraints
and with (Eq. (3)) desribing the uncertainty in the numerator, . is used as the starting value. Here we use the non-standard notation for the deviation instead of the standard symbol , to avoid any confusion with singular value of the matrices. For more details see Böhm et al. (2007).
The response functions, , for the E- and P-channels can be presented in following decomposed form. The matrix elements in the E-channels for electrons are and for protons , and in the P-channels for electrons are and for protons .
Then Eq. (6) can be rewritten in the form
or, in matrix form,
where and are the electron and proton distributions, and zE and zP are the measured count rates in the E- and P-channels.
In this section we consider the well-known and newly developed methods for the estimation of errors in the solution of the discrete inverse problems.
4.1 Error propagation
We will use the general error propagation law that is known from the theory of linear transformations of random variables and in multi variate statistics (Brandt 1999).
For m linear functions of random variables with the covariance matrix
or in matrix form
one can obtain the covariance matrix
where is the matrix of derivatives or the Jacobi matrix. Furthermore we assume that the errors are small,
Equation (17) is known as the general error propagation law.
If all xi are independent, i.e. if is diagonal, the variances of yi are given by the law of error propagation in the well-known form
4.1.1 Tikhonov method
The error propagation problem with the Tikhonov regularization method is presented in van Wijk et al. (2002). The regularized solution of Eq. (2) by the Tikhonov method is
where is the regularized pseudo-inverse
From Eq. (17) one can obtain the variance-covariance matrix of
Let . If all zi are independent, i.e. if Cz is diagonal, the law of error propagation has the form
4.1.2 SVD method
Formally we obtain the variance from the direct problem, using the minimum norm solution of the least square problem
where the matrix is the pseudo-inverse of the matrix . The general error propagation law for this case is
Let , then Eq. (23) in the component form is
where sij are components of .
For all zi independent the law of error propagation is
where is a matrix with elements mij=sij2, and is the unknown vector with components , and is defined as in Eq. (11).
4.1.3 Minimum variance method
Now consider f as the known vector and Eq. (2) as the direct problem of a calculating z. We define the variance with components from the general error propagation law Eq. (17)
where and are variance-covariance matrices.
For statistically independent random variables f and z, matrices , are diagonal and the law of error propagation is
Equation (29) in the matrix form is
where is a matrix with elements bij=aij2, is the unknown vector with components , is the known vector with components . Thus we have system of linear algebraic equations for finding the unknown vector . For this, one must solve the inverse problem with singular matrix . Algebraic and optimization approaches are used for solving this problem. The algebraic solution can be obtained by the SVD method and the iterated Tikhonov regularization method.
In the optimization approach we must find the minimum of a multivariable function.
4.2 Using MATLAB functions in error analysis
In data analysis the MATLAB function fmincon (Matlab 2006) is used for determining the best estimate for unknown values f from Eq. (11). Information on the errors of is obtained from the Hessian matrix with components
as the elements of the symmetric matrix of second derivatives of the minimization function.
The covariance matrix of is
where the numerical value kQL = 1, when the function being minimized is a sum of squares (Eq. (11)). The square roots of the diagonal elements are the symmetric errors
The MATLAB function lscov allows us to obtain standard errors and the covariance matrix of the function f.
4.3 Error estimation
We first consider the sensitivity of the solution of Eq. (2) to the perturbations in the right-hand side z. If z is changed to then f is changed to and Eq. (2) is
Subtracting Eq. (2) from Eq. (34), we have
The solution of Eq. (35) is the perturbation
where is the pseudo-inverse of matrix .
Now consider the effect of perturbations in and z. For the perturbed solution we have the equation
where and . Then the solution of Eq. (37) is
The value from Eq. (37) or the difference between the perturbed solution and the unperturbed f can be computed by various means. We can write one solution as
Another expression for is presented in Lawson & Hanson (1974)
The case when is considered in Björck (1996). The perturbed solution satisfies the normal equations
Subtracting , and neglecting second-order terms, one finds
Wedin & Wikström (2002) use the following formula
where the first term
correspond to perturbations in and the second one, , to perturbations in z (see Eq. (35)). We use Eqs. (36), (42), and (43) in uncertainty calculations described in this subsection.
4.4 Monte Carlo method with random perturbations (Method of numerical ``measurements'')
We consider the perturbations in and z as a random process. For our case we have . The matrices and are nonnegative ( and ). Let Q be the number of calculations that one can consider as the number of ``measurements'' or the sample of a size Q. Then for every calculation k from this set Q the random perturbations matrix is obtained by the following method. We use the random matrix with components rijk and . Random numbers in this matrix have a normal distribution with mean 0 and standard deviation 1. Then we obtain the matrix with components as
where are components of the matrix . Then we form the matrix
with the necessary condition that these new matrices must be nonnegative. We obtain the random perturbations vector by the similar method
where Zk is an array of random numbers with mean 0 and standard deviation 1 that has the same size as z. The vector zk must be nonnegative
If and z for every k (k = 1,...,Q) are changed to and zk then the solution f is changed to .
We solve the algebraic equations
and the optimization problem as the minimum of a constrained nonlinear multi-variable function for every k (k = 1,...,Q)
Here zki are the components of , akij are the components of , and are given numbers.
Energy distribution for day 191/1996, 16-17 h, solutions and are obtained by applying Eqs. (10), (11). Null row vector in matrix A means: no entries in the beam energy for any energy deposit interval, creating unphysical results, but still producing mathematically correct numbers, small positive or even large negative numbers and uncertainties (see Figs. 2, 3). Points at 10-2 display underflows. There are no overflows. The binning is equidistant in logarithmic scale, 10 bins per decade corresponding to the beam energy , see Fig. 2.
Solving these problems we obtain 2Q solutions.
The arithmetic mean of all Q calculations for the function f is
We define the sample standard deviation s(i) for each point i of the solution f as
The error or uncertainty in the mean value in general is the standard error, sm(i), which is defined as
Here, we use this statistical method to get the distribution of values fi with uncertainties in zi and/or aik that is we use
We can quote the resultant calculations of the solar energy spectra as
This method allows us to consider random perturbations either only in the matrix or only in the vector z or in and z. Besides we can combine the method of random perturbations with the error propagation law. In this case we must use Eq. (24) for every k from Q computations and then evaluate mean values for all three variants of perturbations.
Figure 7 shows the energy distribution corresponding to the day 191/1996 event obtained by the regularization methods using algebraic (Eq. (10)) and optimization (Eq. (11)) approaches. These methods produce different and incompatible solutions partly related to the constraints applied in the optimization approach (see Eq. (11)).
Table 1: Summary of error analysis methods.
The algebraic approach produces underflows, small positive values, and even (unreasonably) large negative and positive values. These values are partly due to bins with zi=0 and(or) aik=0 in a complete column or row (null row vector, see Fig. 7) (see Figs. 2-4). Underflows in the optimization approach are consistent with fi=0. These energy distributions from Fig. 7 are used in the following as the reference, when displaying relative errors.
Absolute of relative errors in the energy distribution obtained by various methods: the Tikhonov method with , Eq. (21); the SVD method, Eq. (24). Null row vector in matrix A means (no entries in the beam energy for any energy deposit interval). (see Figs. 2, 3) Points at 10-3 display underflows. There are no overflows. The binning is equidistant in logarithmic scale, 10 bins per decade corresponding to the beam energy , see Fig. 2.
Absolute of relative errors in the energy distribution obtained by using the minimum variance method, Eq. (30), with using algebraic and optimization approaches. The SVD method, Eq. (24), is placed for the comparison. Null row vector in matrix A means (no entries in the beam energy for any energy deposit interval). (see Figs. 2, 3) Points at 10-3 display underflows. Points at 10 display overflows. The binning is equidistant in logarithmic scale, 10 bins per decade corresponding to the beam energy , see Fig. 2.
Absolute of relative errors in the energy distribution obtained by using the MATLAB functions: fmincon, Eq. (33), , and lscov, . Points at 10-3 display underflows. There are no overflows. The binning is equidistant in logarithmic scale, 10 bins per decade corresponding to the beam energy , see Fig. 2.
Absolute of relative errors in the energy distribution obtained by using errors in z and ( ) (Eq. (42)), in ( ) (Eq. (43)), and in z ( (Eq. (35)). Points at 10-3 display underflows. There are no overflows. The binning is equidistant in logarithmic scale, 10 bins per decade corresponding to the beam energy , see Fig. 2.
Absolute of relative errors in the energy distribution obtained by using the error propagation method (see Sect. 4.1) with random perturbations: in z and ( ), in ( ), and in z ( ), Eq. (48). Null row vector in matrix A means (no entries in the beam energy for any energy deposit interval). (see Figs. 2, 3) Points at 10-3 display underflows. There are no overflows. The binning is equidistant in logarithmic scale, 10 bins per decade corresponding to , see Fig. 2.
Absolute of relative errors in the energy distribution obtained by using the Monte Carlo method (see Sect. 4.4) with random perturbations: in z and ( ), in ( ), and in z ( ) for the algebraic approach, Eq. (48). Null row vector in matrix A means (no entries in the beam energy for any energy deposit interval). (see Figs. 2, 3) Points at 10-4 display underflows. There are no overflows. The binning is equidistant in logarithmic scale, 10 bins per decade corresponding to , see Fig. 2.
Absolute of relative errors in the energy distribution obtained by using the Monte Carlo method (see Sect. 4.4) with random perturbations: in z and ), in ( ), and in z ( ) for the optimization approach, Eqs. (49), (50). Null row vector in matrix A means (no entries in the beam energy for any energy deposit interval) (see Figs. 2, 3). Points at 10-4 display underflows. There are no overflows. The binning is equidistant in logarithmic scale, 10 bins per decade corresponding to the beam energy , see Fig. 2.
Energy spectrum obtained by the Monte Carlo method (see Sect. 4.4), algebraic solution, with uncertainties in z and . errors taken from Eq. (54). The binning is equidistant in logarithmic scale, 10 bins per decade corresponding to the beam energy , see Fig. 2.
Energy spectrum obtained by the Monte Carlo method (see Sect. 4.4), optimization solution, with uncertainties in z and . Errors taken from Eq. (54). The binning is equidistant in logarithmic scale, 10 bins per decade corresponding to the beam energy , see Fig. 2.
We consider solutions and the error analysis for Eq. (2). Errors in the vector z and in the matrix cause errors in the solution f. Poissonian errors go with the vector z, the experimental data. Errors in the matrix are the result of the Monte Carlo modeling of processes, the modeling of the sensor head, and the statistical accuracy in the sensor response to the particle beam from the Monte Carlo simulation. In all following calculations we define the changes in the solution f caused by statistical errors in experimental data and errors in the matrix represented in Fig. 3. In all results obtained by the optimization approach we use errors only ( in Eq. (11)).
In the following, we compare the various methods for error estimation outlined in Sect. 4 combined with the analysis method explained in Sect. 3. Table 1 gives an overview of the different combinations and methods investigated here and maps them to the figures in this paper.
Figure 8 shows the relative errors in the regularized energy distribution from the error propagation law Eq. (17) obtained by the Tikhonov method and the SVD method. The solution for the Tikhonov method with the regularization parameter is the same as for the SVD method. The errors of the methods coincide where they do not underflow. The errors increase with channel number that is with energy for electrons as well as for protons, and are all below 1 (100%). The SVD-method produces reasonable errors even in the ``null vector range'', which should not be meaningful.
Figure 9 presents solutions of the inverse problem for error propagation Eq. (30) using algebraic and optimization approaches. For this case the relative errors from the optimization approach are smaller than from the algebraic approach. The errors are on a 10% level, increasing with energy (channel number).
Figure 10 is a plot of relative errors in the energy distribution obtained by using MATLAB functions. The function fmincon allows us to compute the Hessian matrix that is connected with the covariance matrix by Eq. (32). The function lscov allows us to obtain the least square solution in presence of known covariance. We use the following variant of this function (that means optimization with ), here mse is the mean squared error, S is the estimated covariance matrix of f. Errors below channel number 15 for electrons, and number 55 for protons look reliable, staying below 1 (100%). The results with lscov here are not a good measure of the errors ( is used), and should be taken as an example of bad adjustment of the optimization approach with .
Figure 11 shows the relative errors in the energy distribution obtained by using perturbations in the matrix and vector z (Eq. (42)). The main contribution to the errors is produced by errors in the matrix A. It would be possible to improve the calculation of the matrix A, from a purely statistical point of view, but that does not help to avoid systematic errors in modeling the geometry, the materials and in the energy calibration of the sensor head, and in modeling interaction processes in the Monte Carlo program GEANT4. Therefore, we have retained the current uncertainties in A as representative of other systematic unknowns.
Figure 12 illustrates the error propagation law with random perturbations both in the matrix and vector z. The results show that the measurement errors play only a secondary role compared with the uncertainties in the matrix . The relative errors from this figure are the same as the relative errors from Fig. 8. Again errors are obtained in the ``null vector range'' range, here for all variants in calculations.
Figure 13 shows the relative errors obtained by using the Monte Carlo method with random perturbations in the matrix and vector z for the algebraic approach (Q = 100, see Eqs. (51), (55)). Large errors are caused by uncertainties in the matrix A in a wide region.
In Fig. 14 we plot of relative errors obtained by using the Monte Carlo method with random perturbations in the matrix and vector z for the optimization approach (Q = 100, see Eqs. (51), (55)).
The results presented in Figs. 13, 14 were obtained for relative errors and . Here is the largest singular value of , ||z||2 is the Euclidean length of a vector z. At low channel numbers the uncertainty in f is dominated by the matrix A, where threshold fluctuations in determination of the geometric factor are important, while at high channel numbers the statistical uncertainties in the experimental date z are dominant.
For the algebraic approach (see Fig. 13) the uncertainties in the matrix play the larger role than in the vector z. For the optimization approach (see Fig. 14) the uncertainties in the vector z play the larger role than in the matrix .
In the case of relative errors and for the optimization approach the uncertainties in the vector z play the insignificant role compared with errors in the matrix . These results are not presented in this paper.
Figures 15 and 16 show our final results. Energy distributions (rate/bin/hour) are transformed to energy spectra ( ) and included are the errors according to the MC-perturbation method using and (Eq. (3)). The algebraic approach (Fig. 15) seems extremely unreliable, according to the errors, across the energy range >1 MeV, the optimization approach (Fig. 16) displays large errors at high energies, as expected due to low event rate z and low accuracy in the matrix A (because of low acceptance).
The uncertainties dfi in the spectrum fi depend on the statistical accuracy of the data and on the uncertainties in the matrix of geometrical factors. Qualitatively the statistical uncertainties increase with increasing energy due to the generally steep energy spectrum and reduced count rate. But the detection efficiency is small at low energies, despite the high rate, giving rise to large uncertainties, and the efficiency is low at high energies, because of triggering conditions with anticoincidence, again with small geometrical factors and thus large uncertainties. So we expect large uncertainties from the matrix at low energies, and from the matrix and the data (low statistics) at high energies, especially for electrons.
All distributions of relative uncertainties show this behavior, a decrease at low energies (channel number) and a rise after a minimum, but that does not continue to high energies in the SVD- and the Tikhonov approaches, instead staying constant (Figs. 8, 9).
There are energy intervals giving unreasonable (unphysical) intensities and uncertainties, which nevertheless produce reasonable absolute uncertainties, from a mathematical point of view, e.g., in the algebraic approach (Fig. 11), and even in the error propagation method (Fig. 12).
In the optimization approach with constraints (intensity nonnegative) the uncertainties get larger than 100% at high energies, indicating that the error propagation method is not applicable any more. The contribution of statistical uncertainties in the experimental data seems to be less important than the uncertainties in the matrix elements, as can be seen in all methods of error analysis, applying the MC(dz, dA) technique (Figs. 11-14). This gives a hint to the fact that the response matrix may show systematic errors, despite producing the matrix to the best of our sensor knowledge. Approximations used in the construction of the geometrical model of the EPHIN sensor, as well as inaccuracies in energy calibration and energy resolution may be the cause of those systematic errors.
The energy spectrum obtained by the algebraic approach shows large errors, when using the MC(dz, dA) technique. These are caused by partly negative values in the intensities fi at higher energies (Fig. 15). This deficiency of the algebraic approach does not appear in the optimization approach (Fig. 16), which gives more realistic values of the uncertainties in the regularization method of data analysis in this experiment.
In this paper we have studied the impact of various error sources on the quantity of uncertainties in the solution of the ill-posed problem Eq. (2). We considered errors in the experimental data (vector z) and the discrete forward operator (matrix A). In the error analysis we use well-known and newly developed methods, such as the inverse problem for error propagation and the Monte Carlo method with random perturbations in the matrix and vector z. The results for the various methods are presented in this paper.
The algebraic methods, Eq. (10), in general show unphysical negative values in some components fi of the solution f, and in some components of as well. The optimization approach seems to be reliable and stable. The error estimation obtained here correlates with the statistical accuracy in the components zi and the discrete forward operator A.
We find that the various methods have different strengths and weaknesses in the treatment of statistical and systematic errors. Using the Monte-Carlo method with random perturbations we managed to include errors in both, vector z as well as in matrix A in our analysis. Based on results shown in Figs. 15 and 16 we claim that this MC-method provides the best error estimation.
We wish to thank the anonymous referee for comments that helped us to improve this paper.
Bevington, P. R. 1969, Data Reduction and Error Analysis for Physical Sciences (New York: McGraw-Hill) (In the text)
Björck, A. 1991, BIT, 31, 238 [CrossRef] (In the text)
Björck, A. 1996, Numerical Methods for Least Squares Problems (Philadelphia: SIAM) (In the text)
Bock, R. K., & Krischer, W. 1998, The Data Analysis BriefBook (Berlin: Springer-Verlag) (In the text)
Böhm, E., Kharytonov, A., & Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F. 2007, A&A, 473, 673 [NASA ADS] [CrossRef] [EDP Sciences] (In the text)
Brandt, S. 1999, Data Analysis: Statistical and Computational Methods for Scientists and Engineers (New York: Springer-Verlag) (In the text)
Branham, R. L. 1990, Scientific Data Analysis: an Introduction to Overdetermined Systems (New York: Springer-Verlag) (In the text)
GEANT3 2006, CERN Program Library W5013, CERN-CN division, see also: http://wwwinfo.cern.ch/geant3 (In the text)
GEANT4 collaboration 2006, An Object-Oriented Toolkit for Simulation in HEP, CERN-LHCC 98-44, see also: http://wwwinfo.cern.ch/asd/geant4/geant4.html (In the text)
Gòmez-Herrero, R., Klassen, A., Heber, B., et al. 2006, Second Solar Orbiter Workshop, Athens, 16-20 October (In the text)
Hansen, P. C. 1998, Rank-Deficient and Discrete Ill-Posed Problems: Numerical Aspects of Linear Inversion (Philadelphia: SIAM)
Higham, N. J. 1996, Accuracy and Stability of Numerical Algorithms (Philadelphia: SIAM) (In the text)
Lawson, C. L., & Hanson, R. J. 1974, Solving Least Squares Problems (Eaglewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.) (In the text)
Lefebvre, M., Keeler, R. K., Sobie, R., & White, J. 2000, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics research, Section A, 451, 520 (In the text)
Lyons, L. 1989, Statistics for Physicists (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) (In the text)
Matlab 2006, Optimization Toolbox User's Guide, The MathWorks, Inc., see also: http://www.mathworks.com (In the text)
Müller-Mellin, R., Kunow, H., Fleißner, V., et al. 1995, Sol. Phys., 162, 483 [NASA ADS] [CrossRef] (In the text)
Neumaier, A. 1998, SIAM Rev., 40, 636 [CrossRef]
PAW 1993, Paw Analysis Workstation, CERN Program Library Q121, CERN-CN division, see also: http://cern.ch/paw (In the text)
ROOT, Brun, R. 2000, An Object-Oriented Data Analysis Framework, CERN-CN division, see also: http://root.cern.ch (In the text)
Tellinghuisen, J. 2001, J. Phys. Chem. A, 105, 3917 [CrossRef] (In the text)
Tikhonov, A. N., & Arsenin, V. Y. 1977, Solution of Ill-Posed Problems (New York: Wiley)
van Wijk, K., Scales, J. A., Navidi, W., & Tenorio, L. 2002, Geophys. J. Int., 149, 625 [NASA ADS] [CrossRef] (In the text)
Wedin, P.-A. 1973, BIT, 13, 217 [CrossRef] (In the text)
Wedin, P.-A., & Wikström, G. 2002, Technical Report, UMINF:02.16, 1 (In the text)
Wilkinson, J. H. 1965, The Algebraic Eigenvalue Problem (Oxford: Clarendon Press) (In the text)
... spectra
During times of high fluxes, the pulse height words need to be weighted according to another data type, the so-called histograms to account for the limited telemetry to earth.
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Dissertation Information for Ralph R. Simon
- Ralph R. Simon
- Ph.D.
- Library and Information Science
- Case Western Reserve University (USA) (1983)
- Conrad H. Rawski
- William Goffman
- Winfield G. Doyle
- Thomas Gleason Morris
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: Budgeting for Film Collections in A School Media Center - A Systematic Approach
Abstract: The search for an equitable way to apportion library materials funds and improve budget planning is not confined to universities exclusively. At the secondary school level where library/media centers are growing in importance and have substantial budgets, there is a need for an empirically based, statistical formula which furnishes legitimate allocation figures to aid library administrators and librarian budget makers in distributing their financial resources among competing departments.
This study was undertaken in order to establish objective bases in terms of which such allocations to departments can be made and a systematic approach to budgeting for firm collections in a school library/media center can be determined.
A pragmatic use-cost based book allocation formula for academic libraries developed by McGrath was tested in a high school environment with positive results demonstrating that with the slight modification of substituting "films" for "books" it could be adapted for budgeting for film acquisitions in a school library media center. Inasmuch as the application of the formula depends on the degree of relationships of certain variables, experiments were conducted to find the correlation coefficient of each. The results indicated that classified film circulation and departmental enrollment are closely related, as are classified book circulation and film circulation.
The results of the experiment which involved a sample of films selected at random from a high school library media center film collection, circulation data, and dividing the departments into verbal and non-verbal types, indicated that: (a) films whose classification numbers matched the classification numbers of which the departmental subject profiles are composed, are more likely to be used than no used; (b) classified circulation data is a reliable factor which can be employed to predict departmental use; (c) use varies from subject to subject and is determined not only by the characteristics of the discipline, but by whether student participation in the learning process is verbal or non-verbal; (d) that there is less dependence on audio-visual aids as a teaching tool in non-verbal courses.
An analysis of all experimental data suggested that McGrath's formula for allocating to subject categories presents a quantitative procedure which may be adapted to budgeting for films at the secondary school level. It is a systematic approach which provides an objective, statistical device for assisting librarian budget makers in management decisions.
MPACT Scores for Ralph R. Simon
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W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
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"Dad, how come you like to garden?"
As we both picked handful upon handful of pole beans, my now 16-year-old daughter asked me the same question as when she was 3 years old.
Nicole managed to ask another one of those questions that I found not really difficult to answer, but instead thought-provoking. As I stumbled in my attempt to explain why I enjoyed gardening, I quickly realized that this wasn't going to be easy.
Surely, there are going to be much more difficult questions to answer in the future than this one, but for that moment I was at a loss for words. Perhaps I could say that "I simply like to garden," but I knew that might lead to more "how comes."
I had to focus her attention on something else, but it gave me plenty to think about for the rest of that afternoon in the garden. Despite all of gardening's down-to-earthiness, it has always contained some mystery. In earlier times, you might have had a village maiden dance around a fire to impress the corn god, or perhaps an early Roman ruler make a burnt offering of the harvest to thank the deity that made it all possible.
Of course today, a lot of the mystery of gardening has been removed, as scientific answers offer verifiable solutions as to why things occur or don't. We can determine soil acidity or alkalinity, analyze nutrients and trace mineral contents, protect crops from pests and diseases or even act as gods ourselves in the quest to genetically alter plants creating new and superior cultivars.
Much of the new research being done today in horticulture and agriculture is fascinating. It will only ensure that our food supply becomes more productive and stable for generations to come.
As we continue to take the mystery out of gardening, I don't think we'll ever replace some of the magic that all of us experience throughout the years of gardening. I don't think we will ever dampen the feeling of awe a gardener gets as a single tomato seed sprouts and grows into an enormous plant bearing fruit.
Nor do I think that we will lose those times when gardening brought us moments of magic and sheer happiness. I remember the two elderly and dear women in Fairfield who taught me how to garden. I can still see Mary Dansack with shovel in hand, dividing perennial plants or hoeing her garden on a beautiful summer day. I'll never forget her sister, Charlotte, as she prepared flower arrangements for a weekend wedding. Her face was aglow, with the biggest smile imaginable as she worked at her greatest love.
We remember our grandparents, fathers and mothers out in the garden and the joy, pride and smiles it brought them. We remember our first sunflower when it came into bloom and the heady scent of the flower garden early in the morning, and we watch a young tree planted grow old with us through the years.
We'll also probably never get tired of talking to other gardeners; comparing stories, new techniques, gardening aids that worked, successes and failures and the constant learning that takes place.
Thankfully, gardening is still one endeavor that has plenty of surprise and inspiration left. These are moments, Nicole, that I really can't explain. All I do know is that these moments and feelings are something that stay with you for a lifetime.
Perhaps, that is what we enjoy most about gardening.
While a buckwheat cover crop kept several garden beds occupied for a few weeks, their recent tilling under will add an enormous boost to the soil.
I love this "green-manure" crop, since it grows so fast and is usually ready to till under in four weeks during the summer. It is important to till it into the soil just as the blossoms start appearing. Allowing the buckwheat to grow any longer could lead to some of the seeds maturing and you'll get buckwheat coming back as a weed.
After replenishing the soil with some 10-10-10 granular fertilizer and a dusting of limestone, the cushion-like soil is ready for planting again. With cooler weather on the horizon, spinach, mustard, collards, turnip greens, kale, and even a gourmet mesculn salad mixture can all be direct seeded in the soil. The three-foot-wide beds can accommodate a lot of seed and I'm not worried about neat- looking rows here. The seed is simply broadcast over the entire bed. While the plants will have to be thinned out later on, the young leafy greens will be edible and delicious.
The only concern is that the soil stays moist while the seeds germinate. For this, I cover the seeds with a sterile soil-less mix. They'll also get covered with a bit more soil than normal to keep them from drying. The sprinklers are set and an automated watering regimen will begin until the seeds have sprouted.
The first potatoes of the season are a tasty treasure. I try and sneak a few golf ball-sized potatoes early, but by now most varieties have grown into robust-sized potatoes. This is the only time of the year I eat this vegetable, having become rather spoiled with only garden-fresh potatoes.
Potatoes are ready for harvest about eight weeks after planting, but most varieties will send out a few flowers as a signal. They'll continue on producing under the earth as well as fattening up the ones already there as the vines continue to die back, but you don't want to wait too long before harvesting.
A wide, six-pronged manure fork is the ideal tool to carefully prod the potatoes to the surface. Let them dry on top of the soil for a few hours and this should help loosen any remaining soil clinging to them. Do not wash them under water or brush them in anyway. This could lead to early decay and rotting.
After they are dry they'll be stored in wooden bins high off the floor in the cellar, where it is cool and dark. The worst enemy to potatoes in storage is a lack of air circulation and light. Provide the right environment and garden-grown potatoes lose very little flavor, even months in storage.


William L. (Billy) Giles, 84, passed away on April 25, 2011 surrounded by his loving family.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, April 29, 2011 in Resthaven Funeral Home's Abbey Chapel with Pastor Jeff McCreight officiating. Burial will follow in Resthaven Memorial Park. The family will receive friends on Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Resthaven Funeral Home. Please join us in celebrating Billy's life by visiting his memorial at www.resthavenfuneralhome.com.
Billy was born to Landis and Dorothy (Bowden) Giles on March 30, 1927, in Avalon, Texas. An Army veteran of World War II, Billy served in Allied-occupied Germany. After his military service ended, he eloped with Bobbie Jo Herrin on August 28, 1948, in Forreston, Texas.
Billy launched his 33-year career with the Texas Farm Bureau in 1956 as an adjuster in Haskell. In 1963, he was promoted and moved to Lubbock. He assumed the position of regional claims manager in 1977, and retired on January 1, 1990.
Whether tending to his garden, fishing off the coast of Florida, or bear hunting in Maine, Billy relished the outdoors. He loved bargain-hunting at estate sales and was a talented furniture refinisher. Researching the family genealogy with his sister, Jane Adkins, was a favorite pastime.
Billy was preceded in death by his wife of 51 years, Bobbie, and his sister, Mary Watson.
Those left to cherish his memories include his sister, Jane Adkins of College Station; three sons, Jim and wife Gail of The Woodlands, Charles and wife Mary of Lubbock, and Doug and wife Mary Margaret of Aventura, Florida; a daughter, Paula and husband Joseph (Mell) Winger of Colorado Springs, Colorado; eight grandchildren, Jason Giles, Andrew Winger, Joseph Winger, Tanner Giles, Elizabeth Winger Ventura, Meghan Giles, Hannah Giles Basel, and Regis Giles; a step-grandson, Josh Jakubik; great grandson, Aidan Giles; and two step-great grandsons, Hunter Jakubik and Chase Jakubik.
The family suggests memorials be made where Billy happily spent his last months, Hamilton House, 3612 59th Street, Lubbock, Texas, 79413.


The good news is that the app has received an update and is now compatible with iOS 7's new revamped UI. Bookmarks in a new tab can be opened by long pressing.
If you don't know much about the app, it offers a way to share favorite content on social media sites and also brings cross-platform sharing.
This feature lets you open new web pages and switch between them quickly.
While using the app, you can share any web-page on Facebook, Twitter or any other social site. Pages can also be backed up to Box or Evernote or sent through an email.
This feature can be used to sync between mobile and desktop. You can then send content from the desktop to mobile and do the opposite as well. You can also use features across both devices simultaneously.
This feature is for voice commands. You can open sites, share content, navigate and do much more using your voice.
It allows you to share content over WiFi with other users of the app.
It allows you to access favorite sites as quickly as lightning.
Using this feature, you can open favorite websites through a custom created gesture.
Dolphin Browser is a proprietary mobile browser for the Android operating system and iOS developed by Mobotap. It was one of the first alternative browsers for the Android platform that introduced support for multi-touch gestures. Dolphin Browser uses the Webkit engine and the native platform rendering capabilities, which allows for a small disk footprint. It is capable of running Adobe Flash on Android.


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I thought we should all get to know each other here, maybe get more members in the group and on the network. Maybe we should even have a meet-up.
I'm Eloise/El/Ellie/Elliebee, I'm 16, and I live in in Norwich, England.
hey im kyle 24 from Plymouth there have been a few hawks in Plymouth but only few that i actually envy so when did everyone start mohawking ??


Brief: Everything changes, weathers, grows or otherwise shows signs of transformation. Changes in the weather can create a drastic change in the appearance of a place. Cooking something changes it. People tend to look sprightly in the morning and worn out at night. Make a sequence of photographs that shows the same subject, but in different states i.e. changing. You can choose any subject you like, but clearly identify it and note down the conditions of change you want to show. Produce at least three images in the sequence – that shows the different states of the subject and communicates the change you've identified.
My thoughts: I have tried to document one foggy morning out of my 19th-floor window, at an interval of half an hour each, to document the intensity of the fog and how it clears eventually over a period of several hours. I have shown five images in my sequence.
I then documented this change starting early morning once the visibility was enough to focus and have taken images at an interval of half an hour each. Before 7:30 AM it was not possible to focus even as one could not see anything beyond the railing of the balcony.
Great to see you back Archna. Captures the change in atmosphere over time perfectly and I really like the birds, and the way the view of the city emerges over time. Is this fog or the pollution I know you experienced at one time.?
Hi Sarah. I have purposely tried to add the birds in the frame to give it a point of interest. This is fog and not pollution. Delhi witnesses intense fog for a period of 2-3 weeks where one cannot even see five feet ahead of themselves. Although I did miss the most intense period of fog, it returned for a few days where I could document it. Thank you as always Sarah. I still need to visit everyone's blogs to see what I have missed.
I like how the series highlights many changes, the light on the buildings, the flight of the birds, the colour of the sky, and of course the weakening of the fog.
I wonder if it would have been possible to use manual focus for the thicker fog when your camera couldn't focus in auto?
Thanks Richard, yes i was doing manual exposure but there is nothing to photograph and it looks like a whitish grey blank canvas. It did not effectively convey anything. But the earliest semblance of what lay behind the fog somehow proved more effective to me. You see the fog is so dense that it appears that you have taken a picture inside a cloud!!
They are amazing photos, and I hear you about they grey sheet of fog.
Lovely idea Archna and a great set of shots. Well done.


text:
Maya Jasanoff
X.D. and Nancy Yang Professor
Coolidge Professor of History
Harvard College Professor
Alison Frank Johnson
Winthrop Professor of History
Professor of African and African American Studies
Jane Kamensky
Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History
Pforzheimer Foundation Director of the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
James T. Kloppenberg
Charles Warren Professor of American History
David Woods Kemper '41 Professor of American History
Mary Lewis
Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History
Kenneth W. Mack
Lawrence D. Biele Professor of Law
Erez Manela
Ian J. Miller
Affiliate Professor, Department of History of Science and Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
Faculty Dean of Cabot House
Afsaneh Najmabadi
Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History and of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality
Derek J. Penslar
William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History
Emma Rothschild
Jeremy and Jane Knowles Professor of History
Director, Center for History and Economics
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Kenneth T. Young Professor of Sino-Vietnamese History, Emerita


Install your favorite audio software on your computer. You can use anything from a full suite like Ableton Live to freeware such as Audacity or VST Host. This demonstration will use Ableton Live.
Go to the "Options" menu and select "Preferences".
Under "Preferences", select the "File Folder" menu.
Click the "Browse" button next to "VST Plug-In Custom Folder".
Select the folder you would like Ableton to use for VST Plug-Ins.
Confirm that the "Use VST Plug-In Custom Folder" option is turned on, and the file path listed under "VST Plug-In Custom Folder" leads to the folder you just selected.
Select your VST plug-in and download it. Most VST plug-ins come in the form of a Zip file.
Extract the plug-in to its own folder in your plug-in directory. Do this by right-clicking on the file.
Delete the Zip file, or keep a backup in a different folder if you like.
Open your audio software and confirm that the plug-in is functional. If you installed the plug-in while the software was open, you may need to restart.
wikiHow is a "wiki," similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, volunteer authors worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has also been viewed 37,448 times.
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 37,448 times.


Here at Farscape World we have a small but well-formed set of staff, and just to let you know who they are, we've got a nice list.
Ah yes. I am the one that updates, owns, and generally runs (and writes stuff for) the site.
Click here to read all about me!
Mary does a load of articles, adds episode summaries/reviews after the US airings, is our US buddy and generally helps me out with all sorts of PR, interview arrangements and the like.
Click here to read all about Mary!
Angie was the first forum member to be made a moderator, back in January 2002, to help with spoiler control over the UK getting season 3's finale long before the US. She's a good, trusted friend and has helped in many ways behind the scenes, and even wrote a con report for us.
Angie says: "By day mild mannered Asst. Financial Accountant... by night a wonton webmistress of www.BenBrowder.co.uk and also some time annoyance to Dani and Mary. So much so they made me a moderator of the forum to keep me quiet...(or was it to keep me under surveillance? Hrmmm) I'm too old, too lazy and too insane to be doing anything else so be glad!! Oh I also love Farscape, Egyptology, that Browdery bloke and chocolate... though not neccessarily in that order. You honestly do not want to know anything else."
Cyn was our second victim picked to moderate forum. She does very little but antagonise me (case in point: Burbank 2002), but we love her anyway. She is very honest and another good friend. Do not cross her in the forums though. She has healthy doses of sarcasm to dish out, if you do. She even wrote a con report.
Cyn says: "I like walks on the beach, reading, watching movies and watching my tape/DVD collection of Farscape, The Lost World, and Tales of the South Seas when I'm not online or working. Most of my online time is spent between chatting with my "sweet boy" and annoying my TLW Fab5 sisters and other FS/TLW fans. While gainfully employed as a secretary at a rather large slow moving University, I would much rather be working as an actor. But bill collectors are greedy blokes and well, I don't wanna deal with them. Last minute detail, I am such a Marguerite & Roxton Junkie AND a 'Fake' Scaper."
Linda was the final person hand-picked to moderate the forum. She has helped greatly behind the scenes on several occasions, and is great at boosting morale. She is a great friend and a very, very nice, friendly and helpful person.
Linda says: "In my time away from my calculator (I work for a large accounting services and consulting firm) I like chatting, spending time with friends and family, dragging my nephews to the cinema to watch all the kids films I want to see, playing with Photoshop, reading (I'm currently reading A Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy), listening to music and for some strange reason I've just signed myself up for a home study course in Anatomy and Physiology. I think that's pretty much it...oh...and I'm a bit of Scaper."
David Pugh: wrote a lovely review for the first UK DVD Box Set, which you can see (funnily enough) in the merchandise section.
So you've seen what we do and who we are, but do you think you could do better? If you think you have something special to offer the team we are always on the look out for more contributors, so feel free to email us and tell us what you think you could do.


text:
Sarasota Manatee
Citrus Hernando
DeSoto Highlands Hardee
Quick links... News Hillsborough Pinellas Polk Pasco Sarasota Manatee Citrus Hernando DeSoto Highlands Hardee
NewsPolk County
Grady Judd 2019: A look back at the Polk County Sheriff's most memorable quotes
For the third year in a row, we've compiled some of our favorite Grady Judd sayings into an epic montage.
By: WFTS Digital Staff
POLK COUNTY, Fla. — His county spans more than 2,000 square miles, and his knack for analogies, metaphors and showmanship is unmatched in the Tampa Bay area.
Grady Judd 2019: The Polk Sheriff's most memorable quotes
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd has been serving the citizens of Polk since 1972 and has been their Sheriff since 2004.
He has gained a reputation around the Tampa Bay area and beyond for how he conducts business in Polk County, often times providing memorable quotes to really get his point across.
"We were on him like prison stripes on a criminal," Judd said of one suspect.
Catch phrases like "are ya kidding me?" and "come on, man" can be heard at many Polk Sheriff's Office pressers.
2018 Best of Grady Judd
The Gradiest moments of 2018 courtesy of Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd
You can also see our 2017 Best of Grady Judd by clicking here.
"I think it's important to communicate with the people I love and that's the people in this community," Judd has told ABC Action News in the past. "And I communicate so they understand how I feel. It's easy for me to see the humor or the reality, or sometimes the sadness of an event, and I try to communicate that clearly and effectively."


After giving his Desiigner-assisted "Trap Phone" and Tee Grizzley-featuring "Head Tap" visual makeovers, Don Q drops a video for the biggest (and best, if you ask me) collaboration off his recently released Don Talk EP. With Nerdy Rebel in the director's seat, the Bronx MC suits up with Pusha T (and Dave East) to give "Words of Wisdom" the high rollin' treatment it deserves.
Don't forget: Pusha's new album drops next Friday (May 25). Fingers crossed.


text:
title: Like Water
written_by: Rebecca Podos
available: 'October 17th, 2017'
isbn: '9780062373373'
binding: Hardcover
link_to_buy_page:
image_path: 'https://images.booksense.com/images/373/373/9780062373373.jpg'
link:
---

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


I was deluded into thinking I was an adult when I went to college, but now I know better. I've grown in my skin and seen gray hairs and wrinkles already. No matter how many rotations you've had on this earth, your body may be aging and you may look like an adult, but you are still the same person on the inside. Time gives us experiences and with those experiences come wisdom. Everyone is pretending to know what they are doing, but nobody really does.
A friend of mine asked me once why I pushed myself so hard in her yoga class. She said I should slow it down, that I don't have the body of an 18 year old anymore. I didn't listen and ended up with a few injuries. If you're reading this, Shelby, you were right. Moral of the story: go a little slower and listen to your body.
I got married at 21 (remember when I said I thought I was an adult?) and it wasn't until later that I realized that I hadn't fully "cooked" into adulthood. Early in our marriage, my partner and I would do everything together and this would cause a lot of stress and friction. One of the best lessons in my 20s was from him, because he learned how to give me space to grow and thrive, from which I learned to do the same for him.
This is the hardest one, isn't it? A wise friend told me that I could be the ripest, juciest peach but there will still be people out there that don't like peaches. I understand that I am not for everybody, but I will still show everyone kindness.
Lighten up on the perfectionism, lighten up on how serious you are about things, lighten up your emotional backpack... LIGHTEN UP! Life isn't about beating yourself up, so turn down the volume on your internal voice and try to experience the world without criticizing yourself.
This was a tough one to learn, but I had to cut some serious negativity out of my life in my 20s. Some people just don't operate how you do, and you don't have to include them in your life. Figure out what kind of people bring out the best in you and surround yourself with them.
In my mid 20s, my world was turned upside down. I remember holding in all of these emotions: fear, anger, injustice, instability, and they were killing me inside. I stumbled on a quote by the Buddha that essentially said that holding onto our resentment only hurts the person who is experiencing the resentment, not our trespassers. So I learned the important lesson of forgiveness and felt the lightness of freedom.
In my mid 20s, I drove around the US alone for a few months. In New Mexico, I stumbled on an ashram that immediately felt like home. It was my first experience with bhakti (the "yoga of love") which resurrected my spirituality and understanding of the divine. It's truly all about love: replacing all emotions with love and trying to act from a place of love. It creates space for kindness and compassion.
When it comes to love in the context of relationships, you also need the ability to wake up every single day and choose to be with your partner. Choose to love and then figure out the best way to express it.
Find ways to nourish yourself and stick with them. For me, going vegan was a huge part of my self care. When I cook myself a delicious meal from scratch, it's a way of showing my gratitude to my body. I am a firm believer that the body is a temple and we should treat it as such.
Yoga has helped me become aligned with the person that I am on the inside: my Self. Yoga isn't just moving around on a mat, it's a clearing of the internal cobwebs and reorganizing your internal furniture to make space for new, beautiful things to add to the collection.
For most of 2016, I advised clients about their career choices. Ironically, this is where I realized what I needed to do with my life. I left that job and signed up for my 200 hour yoga teacher training. This was the best decision I've ever made.
This one was a hard one for me, and it took me until the end of my 20s to learn. Some people will hurt you, but you can't let it stop you from trying again. It is difficult to be vulnerable and to put yourself out there. I still have to force myself to crack open sometimes, but when I do and it's a good energetic match, the friendship is easy!
Boundaries are a challenging one for me. It's so hard to say "no" to things and this put me in some bad situations in the past ten years. I've made a commitment to becoming more assertive and to ask myself if it's something I really want to do before committing to anything.
Growing up in the south, I feel that there's a certain level of politeness that is expected from women. I've been polite to people who then took advantage of my kindness. It's a pitfall. So learn to identify it and to set that boundary, too.
There are a lot of creeps and ill-wishers out there, but when you find your tribe it's the most amazing feeling in the world. I've met some wonderful, truly inspiring people in my 20s, and while I'm not especially good at keeping up with people, I really want them to succeed and celebrate with them when they do.
I wish I could build a time machine and go back to visit teenage Katie, give her a hug, tell her it's all going to work out and this important thing: Happiness is inside of you. External factors can make it fluctuate, but ultimately, it is a choice and a commitment. If you keep seeing the negative, you'll only attract negative. If you see the positive, you'll attract positive. Depression happens, but use it as a conduit for gratitude of the good times.
The best books I read in my 20s were The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman and The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Read as much as you possibly can and learn as much as you possibly can. Become a sponge!
Stress is a big one, isn't it? I'm still working on this, but I'm trying to get rid of the worry wart inside of me. My friend, Mr. Doug, told me once that I should stop fretting because "it's going to work out or it's going to work out" and that has been my mantra ever since!
I'm looking forward to growing and learning even more in the next decade! You never know what gifts the world will give to you, but you can be open to the experiences.