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Divining Rod: Md's Most Talked About New Stallion Settles In At Country Life Farm

Listen to Scott Wykoff's WBAL NewsRadio 1090 interview with Mike Pons of Country Life Farm as Md's top new stallion settles into his stall at Md's oldest continuous operating Thoroughbred breeding farm & birthplace of Cigar.




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Desert View Watchtower Set to Host the Last Cultural Demonstration of 2015

The Desert View Watchtower at Grand Canyon National Park will host the final artist in the annual Cultural Demonstrator Series. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/last-2015-desert-view-demonstration.htm




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Obi Fire Winds Down, Temporary Road & Trail Closures Set to End

As the Obi Fire winds down, temporary road and trail closures will expire on Saturday evening, August 18th, 2018. Some road and trail closures will remain in place due to fires on the neighboring Kaibab National Forest. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/final-press-release-for-obi-fire.htm




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Trillions of Dollars Now Being Leveraged to Protect the Earth, Thanks to World’s Largest Asset Manager

Blackrock, the world’s largest asset management company has pledged to invest its trillions of dollars in capital to maintaining the health of the planet.

The post Trillions of Dollars Now Being Leveraged to Protect the Earth, Thanks to World’s Largest Asset Manager appeared first on Good News Network.




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Cap and trade: offsets and implications for Alaska

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has formally declared that greenhouse gases (GHG) pose a threat to public health and the environment. This is significant because it gives the executive branch the authority to impose carbon regulations on carbon-emitting entities. United States GHG emissions have increased by approximately 17 percent between 1990 and 2007, and the EPA now has the authority to design regulation to reverse this trend.




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Magpies' legends set for potential return: NUFC evening update

All the latest Newcastle United takeover headlines including updates from Lomana LuaLua and Shola Ameobi




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KOST/Los Angeles Morning Star Ellen K & Jason Mraz Set To Help Children's Hospital Los Angeles Fundraiser

CHILDREN’s HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES (CHLA) has announced that their WALK & PLAY L.A. event is going virtual this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with proceedings set for SATURDAY … more




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One Portrait - The Setup

On a regular basis we get called in to do a standard portrait series for senior management (and sometimes the entire staff) and this is how we do it. The objective is to always produce a well lit, flattering portrait of the subject where the subject is separated from the background and the lighting doesn’t take away from the person being photographed.




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Global DJ Live-Stream Fundraiser 'Set For Love' Planned For May 8-10

U.K.'s BRIGHTON MUSIC CONFERENCE has partnered with the charity LAST NIGHT A DJ SAVED MY LIFE (LNADJ) and issued an invitation to DJ's around the world to take part in Set For Love, … more




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RosettaBooks

RosettaBooks is the leading independent eBook publisher, annually selling over 1,000,000 eBooks worldwide. The company launched in 2001 initially with a list of 100 preeminent backlist titles. Headquartered in New York City, today the company’s 500-plus title list includes leading...




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Alanis Morissette

The official site for recording artist and author Alanis Morissette. Why it’s in the Showcase: This site organizes a large amount of information in an easily digestible format, using a healthy dose of HTML5 and JavaScript tools for fluid transitions and...




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Massachusetts' ethnic mosaic

A look into Massachusetts ethnic/race/country of origin by town.




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Zoom – A Complete Setup Guide

How to install and use the software “Zoom”, step by step. With the Coronavirus outbreak across the globe, the way we go about our daily lives is changing. With lockdowns in effect around the globe, the efficiency of the human world is being hindered. Work from home is becoming the new norm, yet people are …

Zoom – A Complete Setup Guide Read More »

The post Zoom – A Complete Setup Guide appeared first on Techi.




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Why Employees Are Your Greatest Asset in Preventing Phishing Attacks – [Infographic]

Phishing attacks are on the rise and have more than doubled from 2013-2018. In 2018, 64% of businesses experienced a phishing attack – costing nearly $2 million per incident. 1 in 3 consumers will stop supporting a business after they’ve undergone a security breach, and 74% of hackers say they’re rarely impressed by an organization’s...




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WordPress Development: Bypassing the Settings API

The following is a guest post by Andy Walpole. There are many parts of the Wordpress API which are fantastic but there are also other parts which, I would argue, are lacking. The Settings API was introduced in version 2.7 to allow the semi-automation of form creation. All credible Content Management Systems and frameworks have their own set of functions or classes for the same purpose. Drupal has a multitude of hooks which can be leveraged, while CodeIgniter uses a combination of the Form Validation Class and the Form Helper . When creating a Wordpress plugin recently I wanted to create a dynamic form to insert data into a field in the option database table. I decided to create a class for this purpose with the intention of creating reusable code for future projects.




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Trump sets up states’ rights battle; most conservative governors surrender

After more than a decade in the making, the Tea Party moment has finally arrived.

The movement originated in 2009 as a challenge to runaway taxes, spending and regulation. Organizers sought to restore the constitutional balance of power between the states and the federal government.

Eventually, the Tea Party devolved into a catchall for right-wing populism, and a magnet for xenophobes and culture warriors. In 2016, its early adherents overwhelmingly fell in line with President Donald Trump, choosing protectionism over freedom.

But that original Tea Party spirit — the charge to buck the national government in favor of local control — was on full display recently from two unlikely sources.

Trump decided early on in the coronavirus pandemic that the federal government would not centrally coordinate the purchase and distribution of medical supplies. That might have worked fine, except the Trump administration actively undermined state governments’ efforts. The federal government has outbid state buyers and even seized products from states.

After 3 million masks ordered by the Massachusetts governor were confiscated in New York, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker decided to sidestep the usual procurement process. He sent a New England Patriots’ private airplane to bring supplies back from China.

In Maryland, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan coordinated a large COVID-19 test order from South Korea. The delivery was facilitated by the National Guard and state police, and the tests were put in a secure location with armed security.

“We guarded that cargo from whoever might interfere with us getting that to our folks that needed it,” Hogan said last week in an interview with Washington Post Live.

Hogan and Baker don’t fit the common perception of the Tea Party mold. They both have harshly criticized President Donald Trump and supported the impeachment inquiry. Hogan openly considered challenging Trump for the GOP presidential nomination.

They are among the last vestiges of moderate conservatism in American executive office, and yet they are the ones waging a battle over federalism and states’ rights.

The political minds built for this moment — the ones who have long fantasized about escalating the state-federal power struggle — are not up to the task. The conservative firebrands who should be taking up this fight instead are beholden to Trump and whatever cockamamie plans he comes up with.

At a news conference last month, Trump made a striking claim about his powers in managing the public health crisis: “When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total. And that’s the way it’s got to be. It’s total.”

That should have been a flashpoint for conservatives, the beginning of a revitalized Tea Party that recognizes the enormous threat Trumpism poses to our values.

But it wasn’t. Loyalists brushed it off, again, as Trump misspeaking.

The small-government philosophy is founded on the likelihood that the levers of government power will eventually be grabbed by some menace, an incompetent or malicious figure. But when that menace is your friend, your fundraiser and your public relations manager, it proves hard to slap his hand away.

adam.sullivan@thegazette.com; (319) 339-3156




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Miller-Meeks: Set aside politics-as-usual attitude

As most of us have spent the past two months in quarantine to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic, we recognize this unexpected crisis has dramatically changed our lives, country, economy and even our freedoms.

Just as the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the twin towers reframed and reshaped our national approach to security, this pandemic will have long-reaching effects on the way we interact with others at work, play and even how we worship from here on.

Make no mistake, COVID-19 is not finished with us. Even as it subsides in many states, we are being warned that it will resurge in the fall and winter months. Many lives and our economic stability will depend on elected officials’ ability to set aside the politics-as-usual, I-win-you-lose attitude.

These new times call not only for a Congress with a no-nonsense, solution-driven mind-set but members with the right experience and expertise. Among all of the candidates running to succeed Rep. David Loebsack, my life has uniquely prepared me for the challenges ahead to effectively protect us while minimizing the inevitable financial burden and social disruption.

I understand what it means to grow up in a working-class family and to work hard to achieve goals. I grew up as one of eight children of a father who was a U.S. Air Force enlisted man and a mother who had a general education degree. After being badly burned in an accident, I decided I would become a doctor.

I left home at 16 to attend community college, enlisted in the Army, eventually completing nursing school and then medical school. In all, I served 24 years on active duty and in the reserves. That experience taught me a great deal about discipline, organization and service to country.

Peers and former Gov. Terry Branstad have entrusted me in key leadership roles, electing me as president of the Iowa Medical Society and appointing me as director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, respectively.

In 2018, voters in southeast Iowa elected me in a Senate district that tilts Democratic. I believe it was because they see in me what they know to be true of themselves: the tenacity and perseverance to never quit fighting to better themselves and their communities and create a better future for their children and grandchildren.

The next session of Congress will require leaders with the knowledge and toughness to make difficult but necessary decisions based on facts, not emotion or partisanship. That’s why I’m running for Congress.

Mariannette Miller-Meeks is a candidate in the Republican primary for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District.




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How to Set Up Free SSL with Let’s Encrypt and Certbot

Installing an SSL certificate on your domain is an essential step you should take to secure your WordPress site and now with Let’s Encrypt you can get one for free.





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BIG NEWS: My custom Lightroom presets are now available and 50%...



BIG NEWS: My custom Lightroom presets are now available and 50% off for a limited time with discount code HOLIDAY50. Link in profile!

This collection includes two styles (Everyday and Clean) that I use to edit every shot on this feed. I can’t wait to see what you all do with them! Stay tuned to my upcoming tutorials on how to put the presets to good use. ???? (at Toronto, Ontario)




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This is from my favourite shoot/photoset of all time. It was...



This is from my favourite shoot/photoset of all time. It was spontaneous, serendipitous, and simply beautiful. ☂️
.
The edit: After applying my preset (I used Clean for this one), I bumped up the exposure and desaturated the yellows/oranges a bit. As a finishing touch, I used a graduated filter to brighten the top a bit and a radial filter on @sllychn to brighten and sharpen the focal point. That’s it! ✨ (at Toronto, Ontario)




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Preset (Everyday) + transform + exposure + graduated filter +...



Preset (Everyday) + transform + exposure + graduated filter + radial filter. If shots like this take more than 2 minutes to edit, it’s probably not worth editing. ⏱

Boxing Day will be the last day to get my Lightroom presets discounted, which leaves you only 3 more days! Get on it! ???? (at Toronto, Ontario)




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Design Festival, The Setup, and Upcoming Posts

Wow, this has been a busy period. I’m just back from the Ampersand web typography conference in Brighton, and having a catch-up day in Mild Bunch HQ. Just before that I’ve been working flat out. First on Mapalong which was a grass-roots sponsor of Ampersand, and is going great guns. Then on an article for The Manual which is being published soon, and on 8 Faces #3 which is in progress right now. Not to mention the new talk for Ampersand which left me scratching my head and wondering if I was making any sense at all. More on that in a subsequent post.

In the meantime two previous events deserve a mention. (This is me starting more of a journalistic blog. :)

First of all, an interview with Simon Pascal Klien, the typographer and designer who’s curating the Design Festival podcast at the moment. We talked about all things web typography. Pascal cheekily left in a bit of noise from me in the prelude, and that rant pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the conversation. Thanks for your time, Pascal! If anyone reading this would care to listen in, the podcast can be downloaded or played from here:

Secondly, Daniel Bogan of The Setup sent me a few questions about my own tools. My answers are pretty clipped because of time, but you may find it interesting to compare this designer’s setup with your own:

I should note that in the meantime I’ve started writing with Writer, and discovered the great joy of keeping a journal and notes with a Midori Traveler’s Notebook. The latter is part of an on-going search I’m having to find Tools for Life. More on that, too at some point. Here’s my current list of topics I want to write about shortly:

  • Ampersand, the aftermath
  • Marrying a FujiFilm X100
  • No-www
  • Tools for life
  • Paper versus pixels

There, I’ve written it!




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Leveler Presets, LRA Target and Advanced Audio Parameters (Beta)

Lots of users have asked us about more customization and control over the sound of our audio algorithms in the past, so today, we have introduced some advanced algorithm parameters for our singletrack version in a private beta program!

The following new parameters are available:

UPDATE Nov. 2018:
We released a complete rework of the Adaptive Leveler parameters and the description here is not valid anymore!
Please see Auphonic Adaptive Leveler Customization (Beta Update)!

Please join our private beta program and let us know how you use these new features or if you need even more control!

Leveler Presets

Our Adaptive Leveler corrects level differences between speakers, between music and speech and will also apply dynamic range compression to achieve a balanced overall loudness. If you don't know about the Leveler yet, take a look at our Audio Examples.

Leveler presets are basically complete new leveling algorithms, which we have been working on in the past few months:
Our current Leveler tries to normalize all speakers to the same loudness. However, in some cases, you might want more or less loudness differences (dynamic range / loudness range) between the speakers and music segments, or more or less compression, etc.
For these use cases, we have developed additional Leveler Presets and the parameter Maximum Loudness Range.

The following Leveler presets are now available:
Preset Medium:
This is our current leveling algorithm as demonstrated in the Audio Examples.
Preset Hard:
The hard preset reacts faster and applies more gain and compression compared to the medium preset. It is built for recordings with extreme loudness differences, for example very quiet questions from the audience in a lecture recording, extremely soft and loud voices within one audio track, etc.
Preset Soft:
This preset reacts slower, applies less gain and compression compared to the medium preset. Use it if you want to keep more loudness differences (dynamic narration), if you want your voices to sound "less compressed/processed", for dynamic music (concert/classical recordings), background music, etc.
Preset Softer:
Like soft, but softer :)
Preset Speech Medium, Music Soft:
Uses the medium preset in speech segments and the soft preset in music segments. It is built for music live recordings or dynamic music mixes, where you want to amplify all speakers but keep the loudness differences within and between music segments.
Preset Medium, No Compressor:
Like the medium preset, but only (mid-term) leveling and no (short-term) compression is applied. This preset is optimal if you just use a Maximum Loudness Range Target and want to avoid any additional compression as much as possible.
Please let us know your use case, if you need more/other controls or if anything is confusing. The Leveler presets are still in private beta and can be changed as necessary!

Maximum Loudness Range (LRA) Target

The loudness range (LRA) indicates the variation of loudness over the course of a program and is measured in LU (loudness units) - for more details see Loudness Measurement and Normalization or EBU Tech 3342.

The parameter Max Loudness Range controls how much leveling is applied:
volume changes of our Adaptive Leveler will be restricted so that the loudness range of the output file is below the selected value.
High loudness range values will result in very dynamic output files, low loudness range values in compressed output audio. If the LRA value of your input file is already below the maximum loudness range value, no leveling at all will be applied.

It is also important which Leveler Preset you select, for example, if you use the soft(er) preset, it won't be possible to achieve very low loudness range targets.

Also, the Max Loudness Range parameter is not such a precise target value as the Loudness Target. The LRA of your output file might be off a few LU, as it is not reasonable to reach the exact target value.

Use Cases: The Maximum LRA parameter allows you to control the strength of our leveling algorithms, in combination with the parameter Leveler Preset. This might be used for automatic mixdowns with different LRA values for different target platforms (very compressed ones like mobile devices or Alexa, very dynamic ones like home cinema, etc.).

Maximum True Peak Level

This parameter sets the maximum allowed true peak level of the processed output file, which is controlled by the True Peak Limiter after our Global Loudness Normalization algorithms.

If set to Auto (which is the current default), a reasonable value according to the selected loudness target is used: -1dBTP for 23 LUFS (EBU R128) and higher, -2dBTP for -24 LUFS (ATSC A/85) and lower loudness targets.

The maximum true peak level parameter is already available in our desktop program.

Better Hum and Noise Reduction Controls

In addition to the parameter (Noise) Reduction Amount, we now offer two more parameters to control the combination of our Noise and Hum Reduction algorithms:
Hum Base Frequency:
Set the hum base frequency to 50Hz or 60Hz (if you know it), or use Auto to automatically detect the hum base frequency in each speech region.
Hum Reduction Amount:
Maximum hum reduction amount in dB, higher values remove more noise.
In Auto mode, a classifier decides how much hum reduction is necessary in each speech region. Set it to a custom value (> 0), if you prefer more hum reduction or want to bypass our classifier. Use Disable Dehum to disable hum reduction and use our noise reduction algorithms only.

Behavior of noise and hum reduction parameter combinations:

Noise Reduction Amount Hum Base Frequency Hum Reduction Amount
Auto Auto Auto Automatic hum and noise reduction
Auto or > 0 * Disabled No hum reduction, only denoise
Disabled 50Hz Auto or > 0 Force 50Hz hum reduction, no denoise
Disabled Auto Auto or > 0 Automatic dehum, no denoise
12dB 60Hz Auto or > 0 Always do dehum (60Hz) and denoise (12dB)

Advanced Parameters Private Beta and Feedback

At the moment the advanced algorithm parameters are for beta users only. This is to allow us to get user feedback, so we can change the parameters to suit user needs.
Please let us know your case studies, if you need any other algorithm parameters or if you have any questions!

Here are some private beta invitation codes:

y6KCBI4yo0 ksIFEsmI1y BDZec2a21V i4XRGLlVm2 0UDxuS0vbu aaBxi35sKN aaiDSZUbmY bu8lPF80Ih eMsSl6Sf8K DaWpsUnyjo
2YM00m8zDW wh7K2pPmSa jCX7mMy2OJ ZGvvhzCpTF HI0lmGhjVO eXqVhN6QLU t4BH0tYcxY LMjQREVuOx emIogTCAth 0OTPNB7Coz
VIFY8STj2f eKzRSWzOyv 40cMMKKCMN oBruOxBkqS YGgPem6Ne7 BaaFG9I1xZ iSC0aNXoLn ZaS4TykKIa l32bTSBbAx xXWraxS40J
zGtwRJeAKy mVsx489P5k 6SZM5HjkxS QmzdFYOIpf 500AHHtEFA 7Kvk6JRU66 z7ATzwado6 4QEtpzeKzC c9qt9Z1YXx pGSrDzbEED
MP3JUTdnlf PDm2MOLJIG 3uDietVFSL 1i7jZX0Y9e zPkSgmAqqP 5OhcmHIZUP E0vNsPxZ4s FzTIyZIG2r 5EywA0M7r5 FMhpcFkVN5
oRLbRGcRmI 2LTh8GlN7h Cjw6Z3cveP fayCewjE55 GbkyX89Lxu 4LpGZGZGgc iQV7CXYwkH pGLyQPgaha e3lhKDRUMs Skrei1tKIa
We are happy to send further invitation codes to all interested users - please do not hesitate to contact us!

If you have an invitation code, you can enter it here to activate the advanced audio algorithm parameters:
Auphonic Algorithm Parameters Private Beta Activation







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Winter Stand Up Paddling on Horsetooth Reservoir

I love paddling on the Horsetooth Reservoir in cold season. Boat ramps are closed, no power boat traffic, usually quiet and calm. Snow and ice can enhance scenery. A great time to paddle, train, relax or photograph. The Horsetooth stays […]




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Setting New Project Managers Up for Success

At Viget, we’ve brought on more than a few new Project Managers over the past couple of years, as we continue to grow. The awesome new people we’ve hired have ranged in their levels of experience, but some of them are earlier in their careers and need support from more experienced PMs to develop their skills and flourish.

We have different levels of training and support for new PMs. These broadly fall into four categories:

  • Onboarding: Learning about Viget tools and processes
  • Shadowing: Learning by watching others
  • Pairing: Learning by doing collaboratively
  • Leading: Learning by doing solo

Onboarding

In addition to conducting intro sessions to each discipline at Viget, new Viget PMs go through a lengthy set of training sessions that are specific to the PM lab. These include intros to:

PM tools and resourcesProject processes
Project typesProject checklists
Project taskingProject planning
Budgets, schedules, and resourcingRetrospectives
Working with remote teamsProject kickoffs
Thinking about developmentGithub and development workflow
Tickets, definition, and documentationQA testing
Account management

Shadowing

After PMs complete the onboarding process, they start shadowing other PMs’ projects to get exposure to the different types of projects we run (since the variety is large). We cater length and depth of shadowing based on how much experience a PM has coming in. We also try to expose PMs to multiple project managers, so they can see how PM style differs person-to-person.

We’ve found that it can be most effective to have PMs shadow activities that are more difficult to teach in theory, such as shadowing a PM having a difficult conversation with a client, or shadowing a front-end build-out demo to see how the PM positions the meeting and our process to the client. More straightforward tasks like setting up a Harvest project could be done via pairing, since it’s easy to get the hang of with a little guidance.

Pairing

While shadowing is certainly helpful, we try to get PMs into pairing mode pretty quickly, since we’ve found that most folks learn better by doing than by watching. Sometimes this might mean having a new PM setting up an invoice or budget sheet for a client while a more experienced PM sits next to them, talking them through the process. We’ve found that having a newer PM lead straightforward activities with guidance tends to be more effective than the newer PM merely watching the more experienced PM do that activity.

Another tactic we take is to have both PMs complete a task independently, and then meet and talk through their work, with the more experienced PM giving the less experienced PM feedback. That helps the newer PM think through a task on their own, and gain experience, but still have the chance to see how someone else would have approached the task and get meaningful feedback.

Leading

Once new PMs are ready to be in the driver’s seat, they are staffed as the lead on projects. The timing of when someone shifts into a lead role depends on how much prior experience that person has, as well as what types of projects are actively ready to be worked on.

Most early-career project managers have a behind-the-scenes project mentor (another PM) on at least their first couple projects, so they have a dedicated person to ask questions and get advice from who also has more detailed context than that person’s manager would. For example, mentors often shadow key client and internal meetings and have more frequent check-ins with mentees. This might be less necessary at a company where all the projects are fairly similar, but at Viget, our projects vary widely in scale and services provided, as well as client needs. Because of this, there’s no “one size fits all” process and we have a significant amount of customization per project, which can be daunting to new PMs who are still getting the hang of things.

For these mentorship pairings, we use a mentorship plan document (template here) to help the mentor and mentee work together to define goals, mentorship focuses, and touchpoints. Sometimes the mentee’s manager will take a first stab at filling out the plan, other times, the mentor will start that process.

Management Touchpoints

Along the way, we make sure new PMs have touchpoints with their managers to get the level of support they need to grow and succeed. Managers have regular 1:1s with PMs that are referred to as “project 1:1s”, and are used for the managee to talk through and get advice on challenges or questions related to the projects they’re working on—though really, they can be used for whatever topics are on the managee’s mind. PMs typically have 1:1s with managers daily the first week, two to three times per week after that for the first month or so, then scale down to once per week, and then scale down to bi-weekly after the first six months.

In addition to project 1:1s, we also have monthly 1:1s that are more bigger-picture and focused on goal-setting and progress, project feedback from that person’s peers, reflection on how satisfied and fulfilled they’re feeling in their role, and talking through project/industry interests which informs what projects we should advocate for them to be staffed on. We have a progress log template that we customize per PM to keep track of goals and progress.

We try to foster a supportive environment that encourages growth, feedback, and experiential learning, but also that lets folks have the autonomy to get in the driver’s seat as soon as they’re comfortable. Interested in learning more about what it’s like to work at Viget? Check out our open positions here.




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Setting New Project Managers Up for Success

At Viget, we’ve brought on more than a few new Project Managers over the past couple of years, as we continue to grow. The awesome new people we’ve hired have ranged in their levels of experience, but some of them are earlier in their careers and need support from more experienced PMs to develop their skills and flourish.

We have different levels of training and support for new PMs. These broadly fall into four categories:

  • Onboarding: Learning about Viget tools and processes
  • Shadowing: Learning by watching others
  • Pairing: Learning by doing collaboratively
  • Leading: Learning by doing solo

Onboarding

In addition to conducting intro sessions to each discipline at Viget, new Viget PMs go through a lengthy set of training sessions that are specific to the PM lab. These include intros to:

PM tools and resourcesProject processes
Project typesProject checklists
Project taskingProject planning
Budgets, schedules, and resourcingRetrospectives
Working with remote teamsProject kickoffs
Thinking about developmentGithub and development workflow
Tickets, definition, and documentationQA testing
Account management

Shadowing

After PMs complete the onboarding process, they start shadowing other PMs’ projects to get exposure to the different types of projects we run (since the variety is large). We cater length and depth of shadowing based on how much experience a PM has coming in. We also try to expose PMs to multiple project managers, so they can see how PM style differs person-to-person.

We’ve found that it can be most effective to have PMs shadow activities that are more difficult to teach in theory, such as shadowing a PM having a difficult conversation with a client, or shadowing a front-end build-out demo to see how the PM positions the meeting and our process to the client. More straightforward tasks like setting up a Harvest project could be done via pairing, since it’s easy to get the hang of with a little guidance.

Pairing

While shadowing is certainly helpful, we try to get PMs into pairing mode pretty quickly, since we’ve found that most folks learn better by doing than by watching. Sometimes this might mean having a new PM setting up an invoice or budget sheet for a client while a more experienced PM sits next to them, talking them through the process. We’ve found that having a newer PM lead straightforward activities with guidance tends to be more effective than the newer PM merely watching the more experienced PM do that activity.

Another tactic we take is to have both PMs complete a task independently, and then meet and talk through their work, with the more experienced PM giving the less experienced PM feedback. That helps the newer PM think through a task on their own, and gain experience, but still have the chance to see how someone else would have approached the task and get meaningful feedback.

Leading

Once new PMs are ready to be in the driver’s seat, they are staffed as the lead on projects. The timing of when someone shifts into a lead role depends on how much prior experience that person has, as well as what types of projects are actively ready to be worked on.

Most early-career project managers have a behind-the-scenes project mentor (another PM) on at least their first couple projects, so they have a dedicated person to ask questions and get advice from who also has more detailed context than that person’s manager would. For example, mentors often shadow key client and internal meetings and have more frequent check-ins with mentees. This might be less necessary at a company where all the projects are fairly similar, but at Viget, our projects vary widely in scale and services provided, as well as client needs. Because of this, there’s no “one size fits all” process and we have a significant amount of customization per project, which can be daunting to new PMs who are still getting the hang of things.

For these mentorship pairings, we use a mentorship plan document (template here) to help the mentor and mentee work together to define goals, mentorship focuses, and touchpoints. Sometimes the mentee’s manager will take a first stab at filling out the plan, other times, the mentor will start that process.

Management Touchpoints

Along the way, we make sure new PMs have touchpoints with their managers to get the level of support they need to grow and succeed. Managers have regular 1:1s with PMs that are referred to as “project 1:1s”, and are used for the managee to talk through and get advice on challenges or questions related to the projects they’re working on—though really, they can be used for whatever topics are on the managee’s mind. PMs typically have 1:1s with managers daily the first week, two to three times per week after that for the first month or so, then scale down to once per week, and then scale down to bi-weekly after the first six months.

In addition to project 1:1s, we also have monthly 1:1s that are more bigger-picture and focused on goal-setting and progress, project feedback from that person’s peers, reflection on how satisfied and fulfilled they’re feeling in their role, and talking through project/industry interests which informs what projects we should advocate for them to be staffed on. We have a progress log template that we customize per PM to keep track of goals and progress.

We try to foster a supportive environment that encourages growth, feedback, and experiential learning, but also that lets folks have the autonomy to get in the driver’s seat as soon as they’re comfortable. Interested in learning more about what it’s like to work at Viget? Check out our open positions here.




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How to Set a Default Commit Message

Having a default commit message is really useful for a number of reasons: It can formalize your commit messages It serves as a good reminder for the information you should add to your commit message, like issue number If you set it to “Drunk AF, don’t accept this” To set a default commit message on […]

The post How to Set a Default Commit Message appeared first on David Walsh Blog.




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How to Use Lightroom Presets- A Handy Guide

How many of you love wasting hours of time making the same basic edits to a lot of photos? Anyone? No? Well, that’s understandable. None of us like doing menial repetitive tasks and it’s no different when editing images — even for those of us who enjoy the editing process. The good news is that Lightroom has a handy tool Continue Reading

The post How to Use Lightroom Presets- A Handy Guide appeared first on Photodoto.




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Setting New Project Managers Up for Success

At Viget, we’ve brought on more than a few new Project Managers over the past couple of years, as we continue to grow. The awesome new people we’ve hired have ranged in their levels of experience, but some of them are earlier in their careers and need support from more experienced PMs to develop their skills and flourish.

We have different levels of training and support for new PMs. These broadly fall into four categories:

  • Onboarding: Learning about Viget tools and processes
  • Shadowing: Learning by watching others
  • Pairing: Learning by doing collaboratively
  • Leading: Learning by doing solo

Onboarding

In addition to conducting intro sessions to each discipline at Viget, new Viget PMs go through a lengthy set of training sessions that are specific to the PM lab. These include intros to:

PM tools and resourcesProject processes
Project typesProject checklists
Project taskingProject planning
Budgets, schedules, and resourcingRetrospectives
Working with remote teamsProject kickoffs
Thinking about developmentGithub and development workflow
Tickets, definition, and documentationQA testing
Account management

Shadowing

After PMs complete the onboarding process, they start shadowing other PMs’ projects to get exposure to the different types of projects we run (since the variety is large). We cater length and depth of shadowing based on how much experience a PM has coming in. We also try to expose PMs to multiple project managers, so they can see how PM style differs person-to-person.

We’ve found that it can be most effective to have PMs shadow activities that are more difficult to teach in theory, such as shadowing a PM having a difficult conversation with a client, or shadowing a front-end build-out demo to see how the PM positions the meeting and our process to the client. More straightforward tasks like setting up a Harvest project could be done via pairing, since it’s easy to get the hang of with a little guidance.

Pairing

While shadowing is certainly helpful, we try to get PMs into pairing mode pretty quickly, since we’ve found that most folks learn better by doing than by watching. Sometimes this might mean having a new PM setting up an invoice or budget sheet for a client while a more experienced PM sits next to them, talking them through the process. We’ve found that having a newer PM lead straightforward activities with guidance tends to be more effective than the newer PM merely watching the more experienced PM do that activity.

Another tactic we take is to have both PMs complete a task independently, and then meet and talk through their work, with the more experienced PM giving the less experienced PM feedback. That helps the newer PM think through a task on their own, and gain experience, but still have the chance to see how someone else would have approached the task and get meaningful feedback.

Leading

Once new PMs are ready to be in the driver’s seat, they are staffed as the lead on projects. The timing of when someone shifts into a lead role depends on how much prior experience that person has, as well as what types of projects are actively ready to be worked on.

Most early-career project managers have a behind-the-scenes project mentor (another PM) on at least their first couple projects, so they have a dedicated person to ask questions and get advice from who also has more detailed context than that person’s manager would. For example, mentors often shadow key client and internal meetings and have more frequent check-ins with mentees. This might be less necessary at a company where all the projects are fairly similar, but at Viget, our projects vary widely in scale and services provided, as well as client needs. Because of this, there’s no “one size fits all” process and we have a significant amount of customization per project, which can be daunting to new PMs who are still getting the hang of things.

For these mentorship pairings, we use a mentorship plan document (template here) to help the mentor and mentee work together to define goals, mentorship focuses, and touchpoints. Sometimes the mentee’s manager will take a first stab at filling out the plan, other times, the mentor will start that process.

Management Touchpoints

Along the way, we make sure new PMs have touchpoints with their managers to get the level of support they need to grow and succeed. Managers have regular 1:1s with PMs that are referred to as “project 1:1s”, and are used for the managee to talk through and get advice on challenges or questions related to the projects they’re working on—though really, they can be used for whatever topics are on the managee’s mind. PMs typically have 1:1s with managers daily the first week, two to three times per week after that for the first month or so, then scale down to once per week, and then scale down to bi-weekly after the first six months.

In addition to project 1:1s, we also have monthly 1:1s that are more bigger-picture and focused on goal-setting and progress, project feedback from that person’s peers, reflection on how satisfied and fulfilled they’re feeling in their role, and talking through project/industry interests which informs what projects we should advocate for them to be staffed on. We have a progress log template that we customize per PM to keep track of goals and progress.

We try to foster a supportive environment that encourages growth, feedback, and experiential learning, but also that lets folks have the autonomy to get in the driver’s seat as soon as they’re comfortable. Interested in learning more about what it’s like to work at Viget? Check out our open positions here.





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A set of key visuals for Nike Shanghai

A set of key visuals for Nike Shanghai

AoiroStudioMay 06, 2020

I think this is going to break our visual pattern but this is totally worth it. This is the work from How Wei Zhong who art directed this massive campaign for Nike Shanghai in collaboration with the folks from ILoveDust. It's quite refreshing since first of all it's collaborative participation and obviously the end-result that is just purely vibrant and amazing. To share a little bit of background on this project (in their words). “Qiang Diao” is Chinese for confidence, swagger and game.

And in a city as image and style conscious as Shanghai, Qiang Diao is something many people want for themselves. Nike wanted Shanghai athletes to know that sports can offer you more than fitness. We created OOH celebrating Shanghainese athletes well-known for their strong personalities and, of course, having Qiang Diao.

About How Wei Zhong

How Wei Zhong is an art director at W+K Shanghai based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. You should definitely check his work, it’s filled with incredible works for brands. Give him some love.




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Ramit Sethi: Money + Other Ways to Live Rich

Ditch the idea of yourself as a starving artist. Throw away the notion that you’re doomed to be another poor creative soul. My long time pal Ramit Sethi is back on the show to remind us we need to get back on track to building and living a rich life. And believe me, that doesn’t have to mean cutting back the lattes. Ramit has been on the show a few times, but if you haven’t caught up yet, let me fill you in. Ramit Sethi is the author of the NYT bestseller “I Will Teach You To Be Rich” and writes for over 500,000 monthly readers on his website, iwillteachyoutoberich.com. It’s one of my favorite go-to finance resources covering psychology, personal finance, careers, and entrepreneurship. No one has single-handedly given me better insight into the business side of art, than Ramit. Ramit has updated & expanded 2nd edition of his book and joined me for a LIVE studio conversation on money confessions. In this episode we get into: A rich life isn’t only about save money, it’s about defining & prioritizing the things you love the most. It’s one thing to manage our own personal finances but navigating that with […]

The post Ramit Sethi: Money + Other Ways to Live Rich appeared first on Chase Jarvis Photography.




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Finance Fireside Chat with Ramit Sethi

In this episode I’m chatting with my long time friend and financial guru, Ramit Sethi. Ramit has been on the show a number of times, and this time we’re connecting virtually from our living rooms during the quarantine. Of course we get into finances during these uncertain times, but more importantly: adaptation and resilience. Over the years, no one has single-handedly given me better insight about the business side of art than the New York Times bestselling author, Ramit Sethi. Take a listen and let us know what you think. Enjoy! This episode was part of CreativeLive TV, a brand-new, free, 24/7 variety show, live-streamed from the very casual living rooms, studios, and kitchen tables of our worldwide community of legendary creators. You can expect musical performances, Q&As, cooking, spoken word, drawing, and more – featuring many of our favorite personalities – all in a safe, virtual space full of joy, shared experiences, and connection via live, interactive chat. The schedule and upcoming broadcasts can be seen at http://creativelive.com/tv FOLLOW RAMIT: instagram | twitter | website Listen to the Podcast  Subscribe   Watch the Episode This podcast is brought to you by CreativeLive. CreativeLive is the world’s largest hub […]

The post Finance Fireside Chat with Ramit Sethi appeared first on Chase Jarvis Photography.




set

Setting New Project Managers Up for Success

At Viget, we’ve brought on more than a few new Project Managers over the past couple of years, as we continue to grow. The awesome new people we’ve hired have ranged in their levels of experience, but some of them are earlier in their careers and need support from more experienced PMs to develop their skills and flourish.

We have different levels of training and support for new PMs. These broadly fall into four categories:

  • Onboarding: Learning about Viget tools and processes
  • Shadowing: Learning by watching others
  • Pairing: Learning by doing collaboratively
  • Leading: Learning by doing solo

Onboarding

In addition to conducting intro sessions to each discipline at Viget, new Viget PMs go through a lengthy set of training sessions that are specific to the PM lab. These include intros to:

PM tools and resourcesProject processes
Project typesProject checklists
Project taskingProject planning
Budgets, schedules, and resourcingRetrospectives
Working with remote teamsProject kickoffs
Thinking about developmentGithub and development workflow
Tickets, definition, and documentationQA testing
Account management

Shadowing

After PMs complete the onboarding process, they start shadowing other PMs’ projects to get exposure to the different types of projects we run (since the variety is large). We cater length and depth of shadowing based on how much experience a PM has coming in. We also try to expose PMs to multiple project managers, so they can see how PM style differs person-to-person.

We’ve found that it can be most effective to have PMs shadow activities that are more difficult to teach in theory, such as shadowing a PM having a difficult conversation with a client, or shadowing a front-end build-out demo to see how the PM positions the meeting and our process to the client. More straightforward tasks like setting up a Harvest project could be done via pairing, since it’s easy to get the hang of with a little guidance.

Pairing

While shadowing is certainly helpful, we try to get PMs into pairing mode pretty quickly, since we’ve found that most folks learn better by doing than by watching. Sometimes this might mean having a new PM setting up an invoice or budget sheet for a client while a more experienced PM sits next to them, talking them through the process. We’ve found that having a newer PM lead straightforward activities with guidance tends to be more effective than the newer PM merely watching the more experienced PM do that activity.

Another tactic we take is to have both PMs complete a task independently, and then meet and talk through their work, with the more experienced PM giving the less experienced PM feedback. That helps the newer PM think through a task on their own, and gain experience, but still have the chance to see how someone else would have approached the task and get meaningful feedback.

Leading

Once new PMs are ready to be in the driver’s seat, they are staffed as the lead on projects. The timing of when someone shifts into a lead role depends on how much prior experience that person has, as well as what types of projects are actively ready to be worked on.

Most early-career project managers have a behind-the-scenes project mentor (another PM) on at least their first couple projects, so they have a dedicated person to ask questions and get advice from who also has more detailed context than that person’s manager would. For example, mentors often shadow key client and internal meetings and have more frequent check-ins with mentees. This might be less necessary at a company where all the projects are fairly similar, but at Viget, our projects vary widely in scale and services provided, as well as client needs. Because of this, there’s no “one size fits all” process and we have a significant amount of customization per project, which can be daunting to new PMs who are still getting the hang of things.

For these mentorship pairings, we use a mentorship plan document (template here) to help the mentor and mentee work together to define goals, mentorship focuses, and touchpoints. Sometimes the mentee’s manager will take a first stab at filling out the plan, other times, the mentor will start that process.

Management Touchpoints

Along the way, we make sure new PMs have touchpoints with their managers to get the level of support they need to grow and succeed. Managers have regular 1:1s with PMs that are referred to as “project 1:1s”, and are used for the managee to talk through and get advice on challenges or questions related to the projects they’re working on—though really, they can be used for whatever topics are on the managee’s mind. PMs typically have 1:1s with managers daily the first week, two to three times per week after that for the first month or so, then scale down to once per week, and then scale down to bi-weekly after the first six months.

In addition to project 1:1s, we also have monthly 1:1s that are more bigger-picture and focused on goal-setting and progress, project feedback from that person’s peers, reflection on how satisfied and fulfilled they’re feeling in their role, and talking through project/industry interests which informs what projects we should advocate for them to be staffed on. We have a progress log template that we customize per PM to keep track of goals and progress.

We try to foster a supportive environment that encourages growth, feedback, and experiential learning, but also that lets folks have the autonomy to get in the driver’s seat as soon as they’re comfortable. Interested in learning more about what it’s like to work at Viget? Check out our open positions here.




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A Marstrand type slicing theorem for subsets of $mathbb{Z}^2 subset mathbb{R}^2$ with the mass dimension. (arXiv:2005.02813v2 [math.CO] UPDATED)

We prove a Marstrand type slicing theorem for the subsets of the integer square lattice. This problem is the dual of the corresponding projection theorem, which was considered by Glasscock, and Lima and Moreira, with the mass and counting dimensions applied to subsets of $mathbb{Z}^{d}$. In this paper, more generally we deal with a subset of the plane that is $1$ separated, and the result for subsets of the integer lattice follow as a special case. We show that the natural slicing question in this setting is true with the mass dimension.




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Cameron-Liebler sets in Hamming graphs. (arXiv:2005.02227v2 [math.CO] UPDATED)

In this paper, we discuss Cameron-Liebler sets in Hamming graphs, obtain several equivalent definitions and present all classification results.




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Set-Theoretical Problems in Asymptology. (arXiv:2004.01979v3 [math.GN] UPDATED)

In this paper we collect some open set-theoretic problems that appear in the large-scale topology (called also Asymptology). In particular we ask problems about critical cardinalities of some special (large, indiscrete, inseparated) coarse structures on $omega$, about the interplay between properties of a coarse space and its Higson corona, about some special ultrafilters ($T$-points and cellular $T$-points) related to finitary coarse structures on $omega$, about partitions of coarse spaces into thin pieces, and also about coarse groups having some extremal properties.




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Set theoretic Yang-Baxter & reflection equations and quantum group symmetries. (arXiv:2003.08317v3 [math-ph] UPDATED)

Connections between set theoretic Yang-Baxter and reflection equations and quantum integrable systems are investigated. We show that set theoretic $R$-matrices are expressed as twists of known solutions. We then focus on reflection and twisted algebras and we derive the associated defining algebra relations for $R$-matrices being Baxterized solutions of the $A$-type Hecke algebra ${cal H}_N(q=1)$. We show in the case of the reflection algebra that there exists a "boundary" finite sub-algebra for some special choice of "boundary" elements of the $B$-type Hecke algebra ${cal B}_N(q=1, Q)$. We also show the key proposition that the associated double row transfer matrix is essentially expressed in terms of the elements of the $B$-type Hecke algebra. This is one of the fundamental results of this investigation together with the proof of the duality between the boundary finite subalgebra and the $B$-type Hecke algebra. These are universal statements that largely generalize previous relevant findings, and also allow the investigation of the symmetries of the double row transfer matrix.




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Willems' Fundamental Lemma for State-space Systems and its Extension to Multiple Datasets. (arXiv:2002.01023v2 [math.OC] UPDATED)

Willems et al.'s fundamental lemma asserts that all trajectories of a linear system can be obtained from a single given one, assuming that a persistency of excitation condition holds. This result has profound implications for system identification and data-driven control, and has seen a revival over the last few years. The purpose of this paper is to extend Willems' lemma to the situation where multiple (possibly short) system trajectories are given instead of a single long one. To this end, we introduce a notion of collective persistency of excitation. We will then show that all trajectories of a linear system can be obtained from a given finite number of trajectories, as long as these are collectively persistently exciting. We will demonstrate that this result enables the identification of linear systems from data sets with missing data samples. Additionally, we show that the result is of practical significance in data-driven control of unstable systems.




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High dimensional expanders and coset geometries. (arXiv:1710.05304v3 [math.CO] UPDATED)

High dimensional expanders is a vibrant emerging field of study. Nevertheless, the only known construction of bounded degree high dimensional expanders is based on Ramanujan complexes, whereas one dimensional bounded degree expanders are abundant.

In this work, we construct new families of bounded degree high dimensional expanders obeying the local spectral expansion property. This property has a number of important consequences, including geometric overlapping, fast mixing of high dimensional random walks, agreement testing and agreement expansion. Our construction also yields new families of expander graphs which are close to the Ramanujan bound, i.e., their spectral gap is close to optimal.

The construction is quite elementary and it is presented in a self contained manner; This is in contrary to the highly involved previously known construction of the Ramanujan complexes. The construction is also very symmetric (such symmetry properties are not known for Ramanujan complexes) ; The symmetry of the construction could be used, for example, in order to obtain good symmetric LDPC codes that were previously based on Ramanujan graphs.

The main tool that we use for is the theory of coset geometries. Coset geometries arose as a tool for studying finite simple groups. Here, we show that coset geometries arise in a very natural manner for groups of elementary matrices over any finitely generated algebra over a commutative unital ring. In other words, we show that such groups act simply transitively on the top dimensional face of a pure, partite, clique complex.




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Solving equations in dense Sidon sets. (arXiv:2005.03484v1 [math.CO])

We offer an alternative proof of a result of Conlon, Fox, Sudakov and Zhao on solving translation-invariant linear equations in dense Sidon sets. Our proof generalises to equations in more than five variables and yields effective bounds.




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Maximum dissociation sets in subcubic trees. (arXiv:2005.03335v1 [math.CO])

A subset of vertices in a graph $G$ is called a maximum dissociation set if it induces a subgraph with vertex degree at most 1 and the subset has maximum cardinality. The dissociation number of $G$, denoted by $psi(G)$, is the cardinality of a maximum dissociation set. A subcubic tree is a tree of maximum degree at most 3. In this paper, we give the lower and upper bounds on the dissociation number in a subcubic tree of order $n$ and show that the number of maximum dissociation sets of a subcubic tree of order $n$ and dissociation number $psi$ is at most $1.466^{4n-5psi+2}$.




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On the Incomparability of Systems of Sets of Lengths. (arXiv:2005.03316v1 [math.AC])

Let $H$ be a Krull monoid with finite class group $G$ such that every class contains a prime divisor. We consider the system $mathcal L (H)$ of all sets of lengths of $H$ and study when $mathcal L (H)$ contains or is contained in a system $mathcal L (H')$ of a Krull monoid $H'$ with finite class group $G'$, prime divisors in all classes and Davenport constant $mathsf D (G')=mathsf D (G)$. Among others, we show that if $G$ is either cyclic of order $m ge 7$ or an elementary $2$-group of rank $m-1 ge 6$, and $G'$ is any group which is non-isomorphic to $G$ but with Davenport constant $mathsf D (G')=mathsf D (G)$, then the systems $mathcal L (H)$ and $mathcal L (H')$ are incomparable.




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On a kind of self-similar sets with complete overlaps. (arXiv:2005.03280v1 [math.DS])

Let $E$ be the self-similar set generated by the {it iterated function system} {[ f_0(x)=frac{x}{eta},quad f_1(x)=frac{x+1}{eta}, quad f_{eta+1}=frac{x+eta+1}{eta} ]}with $etage 3$. {Then} $E$ is a self-similar set with complete {overlaps}, i.e., $f_{0}circ f_{eta+1}=f_{1}circ f_1$, but $E$ is not totally self-similar.

We investigate all its generating iterated function systems, give the spectrum of $E$, and determine the Hausdorff dimension and Hausdorff measure of $E$ and of the sets which contain all points in $E$ having finite or infinite different triadic codings.




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On the Gorenstein property of the Ehrhart ring of the stable set polytope of an h-perfect graph. (arXiv:2005.03259v1 [math.CO])

In this paper, we give a criterion of the Gorenstein property of the Ehrhart ring of the stable set polytope of an h-perfect graph: the Ehrhart ring of the stable set polytope of an h-perfect graph $G$ is Gorenstein if and only if (1) sizes of maximal cliques are constant (say $n$) and (2) (a) $n=1$, (b) $n=2$ and there is no odd cycle without chord and length at least 7 or (c) $ngeq 3$ and there is no odd cycle without chord and length at least 5.




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An Issue Raised in 1978 by a Then-Future Editor-in-Chief of the Journal "Order": Does the Endomorphism Poset of a Finite Connected Poset Tell Us That the Poset Is Connected?. (arXiv:2005.03255v1 [math.CO])

In 1978, Dwight Duffus---editor-in-chief of the journal "Order" from 2010 to 2018 and chair of the Mathematics Department at Emory University from 1991 to 2005---wrote that "it is not obvious that $P$ is connected and $P^P$ isomorphic to $Q^Q$ implies that $Q$ is connected," where $P$ and $Q$ are finite non-empty posets. We show that, indeed, under these hypotheses $Q$ is connected and $Pcong Q$.




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Warwick Image Forensics Dataset for Device Fingerprinting In Multimedia Forensics. (arXiv:2004.10469v2 [cs.CV] UPDATED)

Device fingerprints like sensor pattern noise (SPN) are widely used for provenance analysis and image authentication. Over the past few years, the rapid advancement in digital photography has greatly reshaped the pipeline of image capturing process on consumer-level mobile devices. The flexibility of camera parameter settings and the emergence of multi-frame photography algorithms, especially high dynamic range (HDR) imaging, bring new challenges to device fingerprinting. The subsequent study on these topics requires a new purposefully built image dataset. In this paper, we present the Warwick Image Forensics Dataset, an image dataset of more than 58,600 images captured using 14 digital cameras with various exposure settings. Special attention to the exposure settings allows the images to be adopted by different multi-frame computational photography algorithms and for subsequent device fingerprinting. The dataset is released as an open-source, free for use for the digital forensic community.




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The growth rate over trees of any family of set defined by a monadic second order formula is semi-computable. (arXiv:2004.06508v3 [cs.DM] UPDATED)

Monadic second order logic can be used to express many classical notions of sets of vertices of a graph as for instance: dominating sets, induced matchings, perfect codes, independent sets or irredundant sets. Bounds on the number of sets of any such family of sets are interesting from a combinatorial point of view and have algorithmic applications. Many such bounds on different families of sets over different classes of graphs are already provided in the literature. In particular, Rote recently showed that the number of minimal dominating sets in trees of order $n$ is at most $95^{frac{n}{13}}$ and that this bound is asymptotically sharp up to a multiplicative constant. We build on his work to show that what he did for minimal dominating sets can be done for any family of sets definable by a monadic second order formula.

We first show that, for any monadic second order formula over graphs that characterizes a given kind of subset of its vertices, the maximal number of such sets in a tree can be expressed as the extit{growth rate of a bilinear system}. This mostly relies on well known links between monadic second order logic over trees and tree automata and basic tree automata manipulations. Then we show that this "growth rate" of a bilinear system can be approximated from above.We then use our implementation of this result to provide bounds on the number of independent dominating sets, total perfect dominating sets, induced matchings, maximal induced matchings, minimal perfect dominating sets, perfect codes and maximal irredundant sets on trees. We also solve a question from D. Y. Kang et al. regarding $r$-matchings and improve a bound from G'orska and Skupie'n on the number of maximal matchings on trees. Remark that this approach is easily generalizable to graphs of bounded tree width or clique width (or any similar class of graphs where tree automata are meaningful).




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Continuous speech separation: dataset and analysis. (arXiv:2001.11482v3 [cs.SD] UPDATED)

This paper describes a dataset and protocols for evaluating continuous speech separation algorithms. Most prior studies on speech separation use pre-segmented signals of artificially mixed speech utterances which are mostly emph{fully} overlapped, and the algorithms are evaluated based on signal-to-distortion ratio or similar performance metrics. However, in natural conversations, a speech signal is continuous, containing both overlapped and overlap-free components. In addition, the signal-based metrics have very weak correlations with automatic speech recognition (ASR) accuracy. We think that not only does this make it hard to assess the practical relevance of the tested algorithms, it also hinders researchers from developing systems that can be readily applied to real scenarios. In this paper, we define continuous speech separation (CSS) as a task of generating a set of non-overlapped speech signals from a extit{continuous} audio stream that contains multiple utterances that are emph{partially} overlapped by a varying degree. A new real recorded dataset, called LibriCSS, is derived from LibriSpeech by concatenating the corpus utterances to simulate a conversation and capturing the audio replays with far-field microphones. A Kaldi-based ASR evaluation protocol is also established by using a well-trained multi-conditional acoustic model. By using this dataset, several aspects of a recently proposed speaker-independent CSS algorithm are investigated. The dataset and evaluation scripts are available to facilitate the research in this direction.