#the data connection in this building is unfortunately practically non-existent

[ivy-saurs]

i want to do some research for my fic while i’m at work but it might look a bit suspicious if i start googling shit like “gambling laws” on work wi-fi

[datascienceknowledge-blog]

Data Scientist Knowledge and Tips

The recent boom in the data industry has driven the demand for data science professionals at enterprise-level, across all industry verticals. There are job openings for data scientists, data engineers, and data analysts. And there seems to be a lot of confusion and varying opinions among people regarding the roles and skillsets driving this field. Although all these job titles sound similar and are related to data the devil is in the details.

What Distinguishes a Data Scientist from a Data Analyst?

Unfortunately, there are no defined skill-sets that can distinguish between the role of a ‘Data Scientist and Data Analyst. In fact, different companies have different definitions for both these roles, and there is a lot of grey area in between the two job titles.  

Broadly analyzing, a Data Scientist is a professional who combines data handling and data visualization with sound business understanding to make smart business decisions. A data scientist is expected to deliver business impact and take insights from the raw, chaotic data thereby uncovering answers to the problems we did not know existed. Data science as a job profile demands skills such as data structuring, data mining, data visualization, analytical skills, programming skills, machine learning skills, and customer insights

The role of a data analyst, on the other hand, is to summarize data and provide futuristic inputs by identifying consistent patterns from the past and the current data. The primary role of a data analyst is to collect, curate, process, and arrange data from different sources.  They are responsible for presenting data in the form of charts, graphs, and tables and use this structured data to build relational databases for companies.

The difference between skill-set, scope, and goals of data science and data analytics can be well understood from the image below –

Data Science and Data Analysis – Two Wheels of the Same Barrel

Although there is a difference in the job responsibility of a data scientist and a data analyst, these two fields are exceptionally interconnected. They often work in close coordination to achieve the same goals i.e. of growth and development. For someone who aspires to become a data analyst, it is essential to understand the nuances of data science.

Advice from a Data Scientist for Data Analysts

Learn the Art of ‘Data Storytelling’

Numbers have an important story to tell. They rely on you to give them a clear and convincing voice.” –Stephen Few

Too often data storytelling is understood as effectively presenting data with visually-appealing data charts. However, data storytelling is much more than that. It is the art of weaving a rational story with clear logic that can strike the right chord with the stakeholders and give them enough insights to drive a decision.

More than the data presented, it depends on how the data is presented to a non-technical audience. Data storytelling follows a structured approach that involves a combination of 3 crucial elements, which are data, visuals, and narration.

As a data analysts, it is important that you learn the art of storytelling. The key skills required in a great storyteller are:

Knowing the audience and weaving the story to their understanding

Clearly understanding the business problem and the solution derived

Getting the right data at hand

Strong presentation skills

Analyzing probable questions and preparing answers for them

Don’t Shy Away from Coding

Most top-notch data scientists code a lot and are comfortable handling a variety of programming tasks. To be a really successful data science expert, your programming skills should be a combination of computational and statistical abilities. You should be able to handle a large volume of real-time data and apply statistical models like clustering, optimization, regression, etc. to it.

Currently, the preferred language among data scientist is Python with the use of other languages such as R, Scala, Clojure, Java, and Octave.

Try to do a dummy project that highlights your strengths. Code wildly and to the point, you lose your sleep. As a data scientist, this will help you grow, learn something new, and most importantly hone your coding skills. Remember, the more toy problems you solve, the better equipped you will be to handle the real ones.

Make ‘Mathematics’ Your Friend

Data is all about numbers. To become a successful data scientist, the first thing you need to do is to get rid of your ‘fear’ for number, i.e. mathematics. You can never succeed in your career as a data professional unless you are proficient at mathematics. Period.

As a data scientist, you will be working with a global organization to develop sophisticated financial models. For these models to be statistically and operationally relevant, large volumes of data will be needed. You will need to use your deep expertise in mathematics to develop these models that can shift key business strategies.

Don’t think of mathematics as your enemy or get scared quickly by the complexity of the task at hand. Try to develop an intuition for mathematics as you learn about the different techniques and how these techniques can help you solve difficult problems. You can start with a basic course on statistics and mathematics with an enhanced focus on probability, algebra, set theory, functions, and graphs. Once your basic concept is strong, you can use technology tools to design complex financial models.

Having Domain Expertise is Important

Domain expertise is something that makes a Data Scientist an expert! Having domain knowledge is not enough. As a data scientist, it is crucial to stay in front of the curve and understand which technology to apply and when.  Unwavering focus on the domain helps us to understand the real problem which empowers us to create solutions that are useful on the ground, and not just “useless innovation”.

A data scientist should always work closely with the business to measure and prove the effectiveness of the project on the ground.  In addition to having an in-depth understanding of the problem, being aware of the latency, bandwidth, interpretability and other system boundary conditions, will help you understand what technology to apply.

Be Creative in Solving Problem

A good data scientist is the one having traits of a good problem solver. Sometimes problem-solving needs assumption as you may not be able to test the solution on ‘real data’. To make such an assumption, you will need to bring critical thinking to the forefront and look at the problem from many perspectives.  These perspectives give the data science experts a view of what they are supposed to be doing before pulling all the tools so that they can work to completely solve the problem.

Be creative and accepting of “out of the box” solutions because there are way more examples of success than failure using this method.

Your current skills are relevant while learning new ones

Many people entering the field of data science have this pre-conceived notion that data science is all about mathematics and statistics and they hone their ability to think that way. While learning new skills are essential, it is also vital that you work on sustaining your current skills as well.

In current times, the use of data science has found a broader horizon. And a broader horizon needs a wider knowledge in its ability to execute, and that is why the more things you know, the better it is for you. Remember your experience and contribution as an individual is what will help you climb up the corporate ladder.

Prepare for the Role

One of the best approach to have a full-fledged career in Data Science is to pursue a certificate program/course that provides you a 360-degree knowledge, resources of portfolio preparation (capstone projects) and curriculum that covers the A-Z of Data Science. For example, courses like Jigsaw Academy’s Data Science course covers all those useful resources with its in-depth curriculum and practical learning methodology and helps you build a solid portfolio required for a career in Data Science.  From beginner’s data science courses to PG diploma in data science, Big Data, Data Analytics, Machine Learning, etc., the choices are many. These courses can be done remotely and in addition to any degree, you are pursuing currently.

Also, once you’ve pursued an awesome course like the one listed above, what next? It’s essential for you to stay connected with Data Science resources – whether it be Popular Blogs, Podcasts, Useful Textbooks, Tutorials, or Video Channels.

Remember: Books are classic, but when it comes to fields like Data Science, AI/ML and Coding, it is the practical approach training that helps you uplift your skills!

Conclusion

A great data scientist is someone with the intelligence to handle data processing and an intuitive understanding of the business problem. While people with good maths skill can easily do the first part, the difficult part is to delve deeper into what you are doing. Someone with a deeper understanding and intuition of the model they are working on is likely to  have a successful career in this field.”

And that’s a wrap! Hope this blog post proves to be insightful for you! Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section! Also, If you seek to upskill your Data Science skills, feel free to check out our Data Science Courses here.

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[beauknowsblogging-blog]

Video Notes

Minecraft: The Story of Mojang – 20 Minute Short

·        Markus “Notch Persson, of Sweden, built the game entirely by himself

·        He always wanted to be a game developer since boyhood, programming since age 8

·        Persson’s first individual take on game development, after having a job helping build other’s games, was a personal project he designed and was to take up to 12 months to make. That game is now called Minecraft

·        Persson quit his job to try and keep up with the Minecraft demand. It went from a beta testing, 7 employee managed game, to exponential growth; Minecraft not long after its launch was making $250,000 a day!

·        The Mojang founders are dedicated to developing a company that they want to work at for a long time to come, not sell for a quick profit, and this business model maintains the integrity of the game and its origins

·        Mojang never received a penny from an investment party, it has never spent a penny on marketing, as all of it has become from blog users raving about it and the power of word of mouth. Entirely self-funded!

·        Minecraft is not a linear game with tasks or objectives, but rather skills and tools and the power of the imagination to build practically anything

·        Incredibly, Minecraft is still being built and developed, but more or less has been able to be played in a beta version since practically inception. All along the way, things have been added/improved and even at one point during ongoing development

·        Mojang’s follow up game is ironically called the “The Game Which Is Not Announced Yet ™” and they already know it will be hard to top Minecraft

·        As of February 2013, Minecraft continued to sell over $10,000 copies per day. As of May 2019, Mojang announced that Minecraft has sold over 175 million copies, and has over 200 million users in its free Chinese version already

Adults Try Minecraft

·        Minecraft is the digital equivalent of Legos, built in 2009

·        2 game modes: Creative (limitless materials and no threats) or Survival, threatened by creatures and limited resources

·        Although a much more preferred game for children on behalf of adults, it seems not a game for adults preference because of the time dedication

Moms Play Minecraft

·        Minecraft?! I thought it was “Mindcraft” hahaha

·        “What is the object of the game?” (There isn’t one)

·        Totally zero to 100 once threatened and unprepared

·        Endless creativity based option versus alternatives: shooter, violence, etc

Immersive Education Overview

·        Immersive education is used to better engage students to material via a game-type atmosphere and mode of use for collaboration/education

·        Can create/customize avatar to appear more like oneself & environment to resemble classroom or alternative landscape conducive to learning

·        Immersive education, while not always designed for non-techonolgical courses, is a powerful tool designed to increase engagement and connection from teachers to students

·        Unfortunately, Immersive education continues to worsen the social lack of interaction (anti-social) with others personally and face-to-face, despite a creative and significant alterative way to increase attention and students to material (I think that immersive education will be most successful in alternative education settings, but we should not lean on technology to learn as our primary resource, because the internet will eventually become that no matter what for each of us professionally)

China’s Web Junkies

·        China has an internet addiction treatment center

·        It seems like a horrible place where, rather than give people alternatives to using the internet like being outside and activities, they tie you up and make you have to quit cold turkey despite possibly thinking about using it still. Instead of healing oneself by not simply using the internet with an alternative, they are more of a detention center than treatment center

·        In 2008, China declared internet addiction to be a clinical disorder, saying it’s a top health threat to its teenagers

·        They say “treatment at this center includes a mix of therapy and “Military” drills, often lasting 3-4 months.

·        “Our study shows that people who spend more than six hours on the internet for something other than work or study again, for other than work or study, are most likely to become addicted to the internet.” –Tao Ran, Addiction Specialist, Director of Daxing Center

·        Parents are encouraged to stay during treatment and participate in therapy sessions, but this seems to be a conflict between parent and child

·        It seems that the bigger issue amongst those addicted to the internet is loneliness, and that from this separation from daily life of loneliness, the kids in the treatment center bond over their interests in common, while the world continues to tell them they have a problem, instead of using their passion for the internet in a constructive and alternatively useful manner and practice to be beneficial society members.

·        When somebody is lonely, they can always look to the internet for companionship, and this is a growing problem and concern

·        One parent even drugged their child with sleeping pills to bring them to the treatment facility; this to me is a problem with parenting or lack thereof and the notion that if parenting is not done right at an early age, the child will more or less parent themselves based on a simple feel good or feel bad emotional system of right versus wrong or yes versus no

Video Game Addiction/Your Brain on Video Games

·        Is video game addiction real? My opinion is yes and the ‘high’ or brain chemical levels react to the desire or need to play video games and that change biologically/physiologically is enough to warrant the label addiction from my point of view

·        At first it may be an interest, a positive result, or emotional response to being safe and victorious in a game, but then can quickly become, if not in balance with other activities, feelings of anxiety, depression, agitation etc when not receiving their “fix” of gaming an adequate amount of time

·        It is unique and “cool” yet concerning that the immersive virtual reality worlds in gaming we have entered and created are now coming back to us and entering our world more and more realistically and not providing a balance of separation from them, but rather taking over more of our time and energy in the real ‘finite’ world

·        New Zealand has a national E-gaming team, oh no. I think at a certain point this has to stop being about the money and we need to start encouraging people to know that this is not the real world and that it can be fun in smaller doses, but shouldn’t take over or be the primary foundation of their schedules.

·        If you are addicted to video games/alcohol then go work in the game development/alcohol industry, are you still an addict? Interesting parallel, but my answer would be yes from a medical/clinical point of view, even if you are capitalizing/profiting from your time spent now versus before

Growing Up Online

·        90% of teenagers are online, and the number is only growing

·        Social media and the internet are seen by teenagers as an extension of real life and the continuation of their relationships not separate, essentially always keeping them connected even when apart. The new “currency,” if you don’t use it you will fall behind and stop becoming relevant or able to keep up with others

·        Behind the comfort of a screen, people are much freer to behave in ways they would not normally. At first it may be an experiment of expression, afterwards becoming their identity and their escape from reality and the escape/decision to go with the identity that is cooler or more popular or welcoming and secure emotionally

·        There is a fine line on the internet between privacy and public and the use of the information once it is out there is anybody’s and safety for children is the top priority for parents and their families/communities

·        The internet is public, despite any claims to personal property, it is extremely hard to enforce and therefore it is said that the inaccessibility to children’s information by parents is considered invasive once they do and the internet has caused the biggest generational divide since rock and roll

·        The internet is an enhancer, an accelerator of information and emotion and aspects of life that happen in the real world. A magnifying glass that inspects and magnifies the intensity of real-world feelings and questions and the way we go about solving them or letting them destroy us. It can and should be used positively, but often is misused and hurtful to others

·        Cyberbullying is real and exists and is a serious issue that shouldn’t be taken lightly or any different than bullying in person and is truly concerning and making parenting and growing up for the children increasingly more difficult. We should provide them more ways to be trained and versed in cyber defense and protection so they can withstand the negative and embrace the positive of online/internet

Generation Like

·        The current generation is dabbing in the currency of ‘likes’ and social media and broadcasting oneself out there in the world is a way for them to create an online identity and build oneself up emotionally. Unfortunately, this isn’t the real world and is sadly is just a temporary high and will forever be chased to increase unless we realize it is not what matters most

·        Social media and the profile of individuals is free advertising and marketing for companies and data creation, collection, and free word of mouth

·        We are all walking billboards and our own personal media and marketing companies/agencies etc. Therefore, we can provide exposure and time for free for companies and endorsements and through the power of connecting and relationships direct or indirect, people and products can connect and work together to increase their popularity and monetary value

·        Consumers are the marketers if not more so than before. They want to be included and feel above or more involved in the conversation and by doing so they are rewarded and valued

·        In a way social media is a real life hunger games version and the game is never ending and there will always be new players replacing those eliminated and just trying to live and survive for a share of the monetary value if possible for a split moment in time and doing so by exploring themselves and their interests and connections

·        Fame by association, the interactivity, kids are using the very marketing techniques used on themselves and turning them onto others as increasingly manipulating middle people but appropriately getting their share of the cut on the things they endorse and support. I don’t think this is wrong but there is only a limited amount of exposure and ability to get a share of the pie even though it seems to be endless in the long run the short term it is a finite amount.

How Facebook Shares Your Information

·        Shadow contacts/profile: the information you can’t see or control

·        Information by people who know you that start to piece together a profile or an account about you and come at you from an aggregate group of sources of other sources that are connected to you in order to advertise and market to you

·        Altogether, Facebook KNOWS you and your connections and it crosses lines and boundaries through connections and databases between people and connections in order to link everything and every one together simply by aggregate information. IE: Facebook is the data gatherers and organizers, and once they have them it is theirs because you didn’t provide all the outside info to them

·        GO EUROPE! Battling versus Facebook because that information whether provided directly or indirectly is YOUR information and yours to decide who does and doesn’t have access to it. SCARY STUFF!

[vodoinstalatermilan-blog]

Kursus Teknikal Separuh Masa Percuma

A person who installs and repairs piping, fixtures, appliances, and appurtenances in connection with the water supply, drainage systems, etc., both in and out of buildings. The best of the best plumbers practice the fine art of water balancing. Our focus of providing quality plumbing service and products combined with honesty has made our plumbers the first choice of many residential and commercial clients worldwide. If you've ever been caught in the middle of lathering up or ready to rinse the shampoo out of your hair only to be shocked by the sudden blast of ice cold water spewing from the shower head during your morning shower then you've no doubt experienced a water heater failure. First we're going to assume your pipes are clear and clean and the water flows freely. Say goodbye to plumbing and heater related worries with Blocked Drains Elwood No plumbing problem is too big or too small with NLK Plumbing. Don't be tricked by our name, we also offer service excellence when it comes to heating systems.

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Our certified technicians are highly trained in repairing and installing plumbing and HVAC systems, ensuring your Milwaukee-area home stays comfortable and functional all year long. If you are looking to hire a professional Plumber Mill Park then it is important for you to trust and bank on the plumbers who are just the best in their job. Although a tankless on demand water heater will give you unlimited hot water continually, you will still have to run the water for some time, while waiting for the hot water to get to your location. Every time I talk to someone about plumbing, they comment on how gross it must be and every time I reply, that is why they pay us the big bucks.” People, of course, think I am kidding, but the average starting salary for a licensed plumber in our shop is $45,000 per year with full health benefits, life insurance, a paid cell phone, a take home vehicle and matched retirement savings.

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[architectuul]

FOMA 25: Unseeing in the Cypriot Contested Cities

This FOMA is dedicated to the modernist architecture in Cyprus. Socrates Stratis is in search of the unseeing architecture and the cities following the novel The City and the City by China Mieville.

Opening a passage through the UN-Buffer Zone at Agios Dometios, Nicosia in 2004. | Photo by Socrates Stratis

Unseeing in the city and the city In his novel Mieiville describes the unseeing as the ability of taking out of one’s sight and suppress from one’s memory any presence of the other city, its inhabitants, buildings and activities. Any attempt to see the other, even accidentally, is considered a crime like commit a murder. A secret power, the Breach, vanishes any trespassers. The story begins with inspector Borlu from the police department of the city of Besźel, having given permission to investigate the crime of a killed young lady in the city of Ul Qoma. The reader is kept in the dark, regarding the proximity of Besźel and Ul-Qoma but well informed about the precise and controlled ways of crossing over to the other side. 

Besźel and Ul Qoma occupy the same space with the same streets but different names. | Photo via Simon Rowe

This FOMA will present the practices of unseeing Cypriot modernist architecture as manifestation of the Cypriot conflict. Cypriots, both Greek and Turkish speaking, learn already from childhood how to unsee the other, entering into a conflictual process of perpetual forgetting, negation and suppressing the presence of others. In Cypriot cities, like in Besźel and Ul Qoma, exist different names of the same places. The actual condition of six modernist buildings in Cyprus will help to understand how conflict is related to practices of unseeing at three different levels; territoriality, property with its representation and inaccessibility.

Cypriot Modernist Architecture Caught in a Perpetual Conflict Architecture is quite often a vehicle of consolidating States’ agendas into space. Building the Republic of Cyprus in the 1960s, went hand-in-hand with the establishment of the modernist architecture. Infrastructures, public buildings, tourist developments and single housing were part of the State’s foundation. Rather often, the processes of designing such projects were caught in the Cypriot post-colonial conflict. There is on-going work in Cyprus regarding the role of architecture and conflict [Stratis], including role modernist architecture and its relation to the Eastern Mediterranean post-colonial politics [MesArch LAb].

Cyprus in fragments. | Source AA&U

The Cyprus’ conflict milestones are the inter-communal fights in 1963. The military putsch instigated by the Greek Junta and its local supporters followed by the Turkish invasion in the summer of 1974. The north part of the island is currently under the control of Turkey, shadowing over the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus that is a non-recognized internationally except by Turkey. Because of the 1974 Turkish invasion, the north part of the island was emptied by its 162,000 Greek Cypriots inhabitants who were forced to move to the south. The population in the south part of the island is 856.960 according to the 2011 population census of the Republic of Cyprus. In 1974 about 48,000 Turkish Cypriots were displaced from the south to the north to join the 70,000 Turkish Cypriots in the north. They had to cohabit with a much bigger number of Turkish settlers moved to the island from Turkey [Gürel, 2009]. The Turkish migration created second class citizens and a colonization tool for Turkey by outnumbering the Turkish Cypriots. The population of the north part of Cyprus reaches 300,000 according to 2011 UN demographics. Any population data regarding the incoming Turkish population is contested between the two communities, being one of the main obstacles to any political agreement.

Unseeing Buildings and Cities For Greek Cypriots Famagusta is Ammochostos, Kyrenia - Kerynia, Morphou - Morphou, Nicosia – Lefkosia. For Turkish Cypriots the names change, Famagusta is Magusa, Kyrenia - Girne, Morphou - Guzelyurt, Nicosia - Lefkosa. Larnaka seems to hold the same name for both Turkish and Greek Cypriots. Some of the Turkish names were official before the 1974 war, while others, mainly on the north part, were created after the war. According to the social anthropologist Yael Navaro Yashin (2012) such a practice is based on a policy for erasing Greek Cypriots’ ownership and traces of use, establishing therefore, the legitimacy of a make-believe space for the Turkish Cypriots.

The six modernist buildings that embody the island’s conflict, were built between late 1950s and early 1970s. They are located in Famagusta, Kyrenia, Morphou, Larnaca and Nicosia. The municipal halls built by the Greek Cypriots after the 1963 conflict are located in Famagusta, Kyrenia and Morphou. The Municipal market in Larnaka is located in the city centre at the edge of the former Turkish Cypriot Zouhouri quarter. The two residential buildings are trapped in Turkish military zones and they are close to the check points of Nicosia and Famagusta, where people cross the demilitarized zone between the south and north controlled by the United Nations.

Pre-1974 waterfront tourist development of Famagusta. | Photo via Press and Information Office, Government of the Republic of Cyprus – PIO

Imaginary and Physical Territorialities: The Municipal Halls The three municipal halls of Famagusta, Kyrenia and Morphou were hosting the Republic of Cyprus’ municipalities until the war of 1974. After the 1963 bi-communal conflicts, they were serving mostly the Greek Cypriot population. Since 1974, they host the municipal functions of the Turkish Cypriots. The unseeing of three municipal halls has a double interconnected connotation. The first is the removal of the public buildings’ initial symbolic value associated with the Greek Cypriots and the addition of a new symbolic value linked to the Turkish Cypriot claim of governing the occupied territories. The second is the creation of exiled municipalities by the Greek Cypriots in the south part of the island. The Famagusta municipality is hosted in Limassol, the Kyrenia and Morphou ones are located in Nicosia.

The Famagusta Municipal Hall (1966). | Photo by Socrates Stratis

Despite the displacement from their cities, the Greek Cypriots have kept their municipal authorities as a mode of resistance to Turkish occupation, seeking return to their homelands. They elect their mayors and have their municipal counselors organizing all sorts of events for the displaced inhabitants. They reject the actual control of their municipalities and cities by the Turkish Cypriots and Turks, keeping a distorted memory of their pre-1974 hometowns. They have developed their imaginary territorialities.

The Municipal Hall is organized in a V shape floor plan, following the geometry of the two convergent streets. | Photo by Socrates Stratis

The Famagusta Municipal Hall is located along the main street with the administration buildings constructed during the British mandate. The street connects the walled city of Famagusta, that used to be populated mainly by Turkish Cypriots. The Varosha area, that used to be populated mainly by Greek Cypriots, is actually inaccessible due to its control by the Turkish army. The municipal building sits in an area that is supposed to be handed over to the administration of the South Region, to be created under the Federal State of Cyprus, where the Greek Cypriots will be a majority. Unfortunately, this new political model is falling short since the negotiations between the two communities have stopped in 2017.

The west facade of the two top floors of the Municipal Hall are covered with slim concrete louvers. | Photo via Architectoniki, Vol 55, 1966, p. 82

Only a few critical urban projects, commonly produced by the two communities, address the city’s future when the island will be reunified. The Hands-on Famagusta project has made explicit the need to include in the negotiations for the new Federal Cyprus, the role of governance of Famagusta as an undivided territory, abandoning the ethnically binary way of administration [Stratis, Akbil]. The on-going discussion seems to adopt the creation of separate Turkish and Greek Cypriot administrative territories under competing municipalities [Stratis]. The future of the municipal hall remains ambivalent.

Famagusta Municipal Hall has a lower volume at the front and two linear ones on both sides. | Photo via Architectoniki, Vol 55, 1966, p. 83

The Municipal Hall in Kyrenia constructed in 1969 is a product of donations. It was donated by the Greek Cypriot Zena Kanther. It is located in the public garden of the city, a donation by Scottish inhabitant George Ludwig Huston. The main entrance opens into a public space overlooking the old city and the sea. Its back side opens into a garden. The two-floor building is organized into two superimposed and shifted square-plan volumes, creating different conditions along its perimeter.

Kyrenia Municipal Hallis a free standing object with all its sides exposed to the square.| Photo by Socrates Stratis

Since 1974 Kyrenia Municipal Hall has been painted in white, covering its original sand-like finishes.| Photo by Socrates Stratis

When talked to the Greek Cypriot exiled mayor in her office in Nicosia, she remarked that she had not gone back to her hometown since 1974. The Greek Cypriots refuse to see the 44 year old appropriation of the building by the Turkish Cypriot community, considering it illegal, where the Turkish Cypriot tenants unsee any use of the building before the 1974 war. Kyrenia will be part of the North Region with Turkish Cypriot majority in case of a political agreement based on the Cyprus Federal model. It remains rather vague whether the local authority structure of such Federal model will be based on the European acquis of local governance, allowing for co-habitation of citizens coming from various ethnic groups.

The modernist two-floor tall apartment building of the Morphou Municipal Hall. | Photo by Socrates Stratis

The Morphou Municipality Hall is located in the old city centre. The Guzelyurt’s inhabitants, mostly Turkish settlers and also Turkish Cypriots displaced from Polis Chrysochous, have been using the rented apartment building as municipal hall for the last 44 years. Before 1974 was also used by the Greek Cypriots.

Morphou Municipal Hall was built during the construction boom in the 1960s. | Photo by Socrates Stratis

The actual municipal building has shop-like ground floor and a first floor with offices around a courtyard. | Photo by Socrates Stratis

Morphou Municipal Hall is situated between three roads following the geometry of the convergent streets. Surprising fact is that the municipality was operating in a building for 44 years without any issued floor plans. During our first visit, I had the feeling that the occupants were in a sort of a temporal appropriation of a building that they found ready for use in 1974. The exiled municipality of Morphou is located in another apartment building in Nicosia. The Morphou area is supposed to be part of the South Region according to the failed United Nations plan of 2004. However, the on-going investments in construction and infrastructures by the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey are means to cancel out such potential.

Making a Market Invisible The fourth building of the group under discussion is a small  Turkish Cypriot Market in Larnaka built in 1955 and located in the city commercial center, just next to the major city market.

The complex was used as the Turkish Cypriot market up to 1963. | Photo by Chrysanthe Constantinou and AA&U

The owner of the building is Evkaf, the institutional body managing the Muslim religious land in Cyprus. The building permit files show that the construction was meant to be for commercial shops. It is not clear how it was used from1955 up to the 1963 bi-communal conflict, when the Turkish Cypriots were forced to move further west, trapped in an ethnic ghetto. This small ignored market doesn’t exist in the official cadastral plans, where we find instead, the site plan with the former traditional buildings, that were demolished probably in the 1950s to build the unseen market.

The market has an interesting scale, consisting of a series of shops completing the historic urban block of Zouhouri (courtyard view). | Photo by Vasilis Pasiourtides

The urban block also contains one floor stone-built workshops, a two-floor tall hostel and the Zouhouri mosque. They all surround a run-down courtyard, used for parking. The Market building completes the north edge of the urban block, creating an entry to a covered space leading to the courtyard. The market is occupied by Greek Cypriot tenants, some displaced from the north part of the island in 1974, some from the demolished market next door.

The roof, supported by very thin metal columns, creates a narrow covered space along the streets. | Drawing by AA&U

The roof that covers the courtyard space, is a later addition.| Drawing by AA&U

Larnaka municipality launched a competition in 2018 for the redevelopment of Zouhouri courtyard including the market. | Drawing by Municipality of Larnaka

I have participated in the competition with the AA&U agency, using our proposal as a critical political comment regarding the on-going conflictual use of Greek and Turkish Cypriot ownerships by the opposing communities. Both communities fail to bring into public debate both the controversial actual use of such properties as well as their potential in supporting the scenario of the island’s reunification. Since 1974 the agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus has managed all Turkish Cypriot properties in the south part of the island. The State agency rents out the Turkish Cypriot assets to the Greek Cypriots. The non-transparency of the procedures has led to many scandals of financial misuse. In the north part of the island, the Greek Cypriot properties, considerably more than those left behind by the Turkish Cypriots in the south, were given out to the Turkish Cypriots and Turkish settlers. The Turkish Cypriot authorities have created a parallel cadastre, non-recognized either by the Republic of Cyprus nor by international courts.

Turkish Cypriot Market. | Drawing by Municipality of Larnaka

In the case of the Zouhouri architectural competition, the monumentality of unseeing was manifested in the competition brief. The survey site plan included detailed plans and sections of the courtyard and of two 19th century-old stone buildings of the block to be restored. The brief also included a detailed drawing of the rundown facade of the back side of the market facing the courtyard. But the plan of the market was missing from the recently surveyed site plan of the Zouhouri urban block. Instead, there was a plan of the buildings demolished in the 1950s. The same buildings’ plan appears in the official cadastral map instead of the 1950s market building. When the competitors had asked for updated drawings of the market, they received an answer by the competition committee, that reminds us of the Breach Authority from the City and the City novel. It urged the competitors to unsee the market and proceed with the given drawings. Retaining invisible the actual plan, the Larnaka Municipality could keep invisible not only the Turkish Cypriot pre -1974 tenants but also the actual ones, getting most probably the liberty to proceed to any eviction agendas.

Refusing to unsee the market: The critical proposal for the Zouchouri architectural competition by AA&U: Urban Oasis - Zouchouri architectural competition entry by AA&U.

Not surprisingly, the shiny photorealistic renders of most of the competition entries, including that of the first prize, consolidated the competition committee’s decision to unsee the market. In its place, we see images of the pre 1950 demolished buildings.

The AA&U’s competition entry countered the competition committee’s instructions. We proceeded a meticulous survey of the market and based the proposal on the existing building, offering the plan survey to the city.

The breaching act of the AA&U entry was ignored by the competition committee. It chose to unsee any controversial issues of ownership and its representation. Surprisingly, the AA&U’s entry was awarded with an honorable mention for the overall proposal of the urban block.

Unliving Along the Checkpoints The two residencies in Nicosia and Famagusta are 1960s suburb modernist architectures, following Le Corbusier’s five points of Architecture. They are both Greek Cypriot houses inaccessible to their owners since 1974, trapped in the Turkish military fenced-off areas and stripped from their content. They are both located along roads, which are part of check points between the north and south parts of the island crossing the UN demilitarized zone. The check point in Nicosia, Agios Dometios, opened in 2004, while that in Famagusta opened in 2018.

The modernist building in Nicosia is transformed into an army post, with doors and windows sealed and walls painted white. | Photo by Socrates Stratis

The flags of Turkey and “TRNC” at the north facade of the Agios Dometios with the plan of the divided island placed between them. | Photo by Socrates Stratis

In the case of Nicosia, the Turkish army turned the residential building into a new observation post, profiting from its adjacency to the Agios Dometios checkpoint. The modernist roof terrace is turned into an observation deck. By making visible their authority over the territory to the passing-by car drivers, they brought to the foreground the unseen modernist building.

The Famagusta Derynia checkpoint connects Derynia with the southern suburb of Famagusta, part of which is Varosha, the ghost part of the city. Since the opening of the check points in 2003, the Greek Cypriots visit Famagusta to see their homes. The same stands for the Turkish Cypriots, who cross to the south part of the island. The Greek Cypriots, whose homes are located outside the ghost part of the city have the chance to access them and find other people leaving inside for the last 44 years. There are 5,103 buildings hidden behind the modernist waterfront high-rise buildings. [Stratis].

The check point road towards the Famagusta city centre passes along the back side of the fenced-off area of Varosha, revealing another urban reality from that of the coastal high-rise buildings that Greek Cypriots have associated with the image of Famagusta. | Photo by Socrates Stratis

Facing sprawled empty suburban detached houses behind the fence. | Photo by Socrates Stratis

Very close to the checkpoint we run into a modernist house rather faithful to the Villa Savoye architectural paradigm. The practice of unseeing entails a new proximity of the trapped modernist buildings with the act of crossing to the other side. Their adjacency to the checkpoint roads, like the case of the Cupola between Besźel and Ul Qoma, condemns them to be looked at thousands of times and to be forgotten quite as many.

Unseeing Modernist Architecture Sustains the Cypriot Status-quo ”… inspector Borlu from the police department of the city of Besźel runs into an inconvenient truth. The assassinated girl was part of an American excavation expedition that had discovered a third city, Orciny. Orciny exists mysteriously in the interstices of Beszel and Ul Qoma, unseen by all inhabitants of the two cities. The mysterious Orcinians seem to use all means to keep their secret, like that of unseeing. It sustains the status quo of the two cities” writes Mieiville.

Unseeing practices in Cyprus, examined through the presented examples show that they pertain conflictual imaginaries between Cypriots. The modernist architecture in Cyprus has gone hand-in-hand with consolidating the State’s agendas in the 1960s, but also the agendas of the British Colonial Regime up to 1960. Unseeing practices become part of such consolidating agendas and invest in the continuation of the status quo on the island. Through the Municipal Halls, we have realized how the embodiment of physical and imaginary territorialites takes place, creating conflictual conditions instead of potentials of co-governing. In the case of the Municipal Market in Larnaka we have understood how a building can disappear from maps and institutions, a victim of an unresolved ownership conflict. When we look thousand times at the two residential buildings along the checkpoints, and we forget them as many times, we realize the powerful normalization processes of status quo in conflict areas. The agents keeping strong such processes remind us of the Orcinians who control the status quo of Beszel and Ul Qoma.

I couldn’t say who could be the Orcinians on the island. I am convinced that they much profit from the deeply conflictual imaginaries of the Cypriots’ urban everydayness, for which the processes of unseeing modernist architecture in Cyprus have their contribution.

--- #FOMA 25: Socrates Stratis

Socrates Stratis PhD. is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Architecture, University of Cyprus. His research focuses on the political role of architecture and urban design in supporting the commons in uncertain, contested urban environments. He is one of the main founders of the agency AA&U, director of the Laboratory of Urbanism (LUCY) and part of the Imaginary Famagusta (I.F.) team. He is the editor of the Guide to Common Urban Imaginaries in Contested Spaces. He curated the Cyprus pavilion at the 15th Venice Biennale of Architecture entitled Contested Fronts: Commoning Practices for Conflict Transformation. He is member of the scientific committee of Europan Europe. Among his implemented urban design projects is the winning project of Europan 4 for the redevelopment of the public spaces and services of the Heraklion old city waterfront in Greece.

[hydrus]

Version 335

windows

zip

exe

os x

app

linux

tar.gz

source

tar.gz

When I first made this release, Github's file upload was not working right, and I used Mediafire instead. Github is now working and I have updated the links above.

I had a great four weeks updating hydrus to python 3. The update went well, and the releases today are ready for all users, but there are special update instructions just for this week.

python 3

The client and server now run completely and exclusively on python 3, updating from python 2. The new version has a variety of benefits, mostly in better unicode vs. data handling, but for hydrus it also runs a little faster, uses less idle CPU and significantly less memory, and has a little less ui-jank.

I am pleased with the update. None of it was extremely difficult, but there was a lot to do, a few headaches, and some new stuff to learn. I am glad I took the four weeks. I also appreciate the users who tested the preview releases in the past couple of weeks.

I have squashed a ton of little bugs, and everything normal like file downloading and browsing seems to work completely fine, but there are likely a couple of small issues still out there. If a dialog breaks for you and you get some popups about some datatype being mishandled, please send it to me and I'll get it fixed up for v336!

some notes

Unfortunately, for technically difficult reasons, I could not compile 'debug' versions of the executables, so these are gone this week. I will revisit this, but the original debug builds were a bit hacky and may no longer be practically possible in py3.

Also, I am not certain if the database menu's 'set a password' will have kept correct password data for unusual keyboards, so if you use this function, the client will, just for this v335, forgive incorrect passwords! If this happens to you, the client will give you a popup with more information and tell you how to try to fix it. I would appreciate feedback here, if you encounter it.

Due to a natural library update unrelated to py3, your hydrus sessions will likely be wiped (this also happened to some running-from-source users a little while ago), which means Hydrus will have to re-login to any sites you have logins set up for. If you have special cookies you need to save or re-import from your browser, get set up before you update!

Now, because py2 and py3 are incompatible, the new version cannot be run in a folder that still has old .dll files hanging around. Please follow the following to update:

update instructions for windows installer

Just for this week, I have added a routine to the installer to delete the old files (but obviously saving your db directory where your database and files are stored!), so you shouldn't have to do anything. I nonetheless recommend you still make a backup before you update. Backups are great, and if you don't make one yet, this week is a great time to start.

If you are a particularly long-time user and the installer fails to clear everything out, you may need to delete the old files yourself, like the extract users will have to:

update instructions for windows and linux extract

You will have to perform a clean install, which means deleting everything in your install folder except the db directory before extracting as normal. This is simple, but do not get it wrong. Do not delete your db directory--this is where your database and files are stored.

As always, if you have a recent backup, you don't have to worry about any possible accident, so make sure you have one.

update instructions for os x

Due to technical limitations, the OS X release is now App only. Furthermore, this App release will no longer store the db inside itself! The default location for your db is now ~/Library/Hydrus (i.e. /Users/[you]/Library/Hydrus). This also means that the future update process will be as simple as replacing the existing Hydrus Network App in Applications, just one action. I apologise that this important change has taken so long to come out, but we got there in the end.

If you are updating this week, you will need to make the Hydrus folder under your Library yourself and move your existing db there so the new Hydrus can pick up where you left off. If you use the tar.gz, you'll be moving the contents of your install_dir/db, and if you use the App, you'll want to right-click->Show Package Contents on your old py2 App and navigate to Hydrus Network/Contents/MacOS/db. You want the contents of db, not the db folder itself, so the path to your new client.db file should be ~/Library/Hydrus/client.db, for instance.

If you cannot see your Library folder, check this: https://www.macworld.com/article/2057221/how-to-view-the-library-folder-in-mavericks.html

If you have trouble with this, please let me know and we'll figure it out together.

update instructions for running from source

You'll need to make a new py3 venv and make new shortcuts. I now use pycryptodome instead of pycrypto and dropped some libraries, so I recommend you go to the 'running from source' help page again and just paste the new pip line(s) to get set up.

I don't think 3.4 will work, but 3.5, 3.6, and 3.7 all seem ok. Obviously contact me if you run into trouble. I'm also interested in success stories!

full list

important:

hydrus now runs completely and exclusively on python 3!

for users who are updating, the client has special install instructions for just this week:

if you are a windows or linux user who extracts to install, you will have to delete your old install's files (but keep your db folder!!!) before installing/extracting the new version so there are no 2/3 dll/so conflicts (don't delete your db folder!)

if you use the windows installer to install, this v335 installer will do the clean install for you! there is absolutely no way this could go wrong, so no need to make a backup beforehand :^)

if you are an os x user, I am now only releasing the client in the app. furthermore, the default app db location is now ~/Library/Hydrus (i.e. /Users/[you]/Library/Hydrus). you will have to move your existing db to this location to update, and thereafter you'll just be replacing the app in Applications!

if you try to boot a non-clean mixed 2/3 install, the client will try to recognise that and give an error and dump out

please check the release post for more detailed instructions here

.

semi-important:

the db password feature may be one-time broken for unusual keyboard languages, so failures this version will be forgiven with an appropriate error message explaining the situation. feedback from чики брики lads appreciated

I may have fixed the issue some linux/os x users were having launching external programs, including OS ffmpeg (it was a child process environment issue related to pyinstaller)

although I did most of my devving here on py 3.6, the client seems to run ok on 3.5. I doubt 3.4 will do it, if you mean to run from source

I moved from the old pycrypto to the new pycryptodome, so users who run from source will want to get this. I also dropped some libraries

.

misc bug fixes:

fixed the 'load one of the default options' button on manage tag import options when a set of default options is orphaned by a deleted url class

removed some popup flicker related to long error messages

fixed some parsing testing ui error handling

cleared up some bad text ctrl event handling that could sometimes cause a recursive loop

listctrls should now sort text that includes numbers in the human-friendly 2 < 10 fashion

cleaned up some bad external process calling code and improved how child process environment is set up

finally figured out the basic problem of a long-time nested dialog event handling error that could sometimes freeze the ui. I may have fixed it in one case and will keep working on this

.

boring details:

ran 2to3 to auto-convert what could be done

updated environment to python 3

went over a whole ton of unicode encoding/decoding manually to update it to python 3

removed all the old tobytestring/tounicode calls in favour of new python 3 handling

fixed all the file io to do bytes/str as appropriate

corrected a bunch of / vs // int/float stuff

fixed up twisted, which has some str/bytes stuff going on

fixed all the listctrls to deal with column sorting None values amongst ints/strs

fixed png export/import, which had some fun bytes/bytearray/int/str issues

updated the swf header parsing code to py3 (more str/bytes stuff)

misc float/int fixes

fixed up some http.cookies handling, which has changed in py3

improved some ancient loopback connection code that was only really checking to see if ports were in use

cleaned up a bunch of now-invalid parameter tuples that 2to3 helpfully marked

numerous misc other refactoring and so on

updated the new network engine to now decode non-utf-8 responses correctly based on actual response header

removed some old py2 manual http multipart code

removed the old py2 'matroska or webm' parsing py, replacing it with some direct ffmpeg format inspection

replaced all % formatting with the new .format system. I will slowly move to this rather than the current endless concatenation mess

deleted some more misc old code

tightened up some spammy network error reporting

converted all /r/n to /n in my environment project, ha ha ha

the ui seems to better support rarer unicode characters like 🔊

updated some of the install/update/backup help for all this, and some misc other stuff as well

fixed misc bugs

next week

A lot of small stuff piled up over the holiday. I will spend a week or two trying to catch up and also planning out the client API, which will be my first big job of the year.

I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year. Mine were great, and I am looking forward to 2019. Let's keep pushing and see if we can do some fun stuff. Thank you for your support!

[perfectirishgifts]

Building AI Brain Trust For Board Directors And CEOS - Series

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/building-ai-brain-trust-for-board-directors-and-ceos-series/

Building AI Brain Trust For Board Directors And CEOS - Series

Leadership in AI requires seeing the horizon and planting poles clearly to guide those who follow.

This blog is a continuation of the Building an AI Leadership Brain Trust Blog Series which targets board directors to accelerate their duty of care to develop stronger skills and competencies in AI.

Either modernize or atrophy is a reality for laggard companies not preparing to compete in the increasingly intelligent world, where sensors and AI methods will be embedded in every business process.

Over 80% of the companies investing in AI do not drive ongoing operational practices, rather AI is an investigative approach used to answer difficult questions, but unfortunately sustaining sponsorship to sustain the AI models, in many cases, simply dies off.

I have identified over 40 overall skill domains in the AI Leadership Brain Trust Framework, and you can see the full roster, see my first blog. See the links to the series below for more information

This blog completes ten business skills and identifies key discovery dialogue questions to advance an organizations’s business skills from an AI perspective.

Business Skills:

Customer Orientation – One of the easiest ways to advance AI in your organization is to identify all your core customer operating processes and be clear on the data density dimensions (volume, size, type, quality, etc.). Having one executive powerpoint that defines your organization’s end to end (E2E) customer operating value chain and highlighting the quality and ease of data access around all your customer data repositories is a good starting point to understand how many customer data moats you have flowing in your organization’s business processes. Key customer process areas, usually ripe for AI, are often founded in customer relationship management systems (CRM), where customer contact history can be easily tapped to solve use cases like: identifying the best sales leads or sales opportunities for sales coverage, predicting sales forecasts based on historical data sets, identifying which customers have the highest odds of becoming a VIP (very important person) customer, identifying which customers have higher churn (loss) risks, identifying a customer’s personality type to correlate with your sales coverage strategy (best rep – best customer fit), using AI to rewrite your sales or marketing emails based on the natural linguistic voice of your customer, or even using AI voice coaching demonstrating how to to alter your voice to create more emotional connection with your customers to increase propensity to purchase or demonstrate more empathy to reduce customer churn to even having AI chat bots answer customer questions or complete a customer order. There are thousands of AI customer use cases that can add value to the customer experience; what’s key is identifying a challenge or problem area and then advance the use case that can add the most value relevant to solving the specific customer challenge. There is nothing more important that customer growth, increasing customer’s share of wallet and tracking your customer’s life time value (LTV).

Problem Solving Orientation – Most leaders do not know that the most important part of an AI journey is identifying the business problem clearly that you want to solve, and ensuring the problem has diverse stakeholder’s support. The problem must be significant as the journey to solve the challenge may be months, or years; either way building a sustaining operating process around the AI observations or insights requires ongoing nurturing. AI is not like other problem solving methods because once an AI model is created, it behaves like a young child in its early manifestation stages. An AI model is always hungry and wants to learn more, hence more food (data in this case) is needed. So continual reflection by data scientists to find new ways to improve the AI model is a constant reality. This can be actioned either with refreshed data or adding in new data, or even shifting or augmenting current AI methods to strengthen the prediction accuracy is an ongoing responsibility of data scientists charged with securing trusted outcomes. It is important that board directors and CEOs clearly understand that AI models easily atrophy if they not maintained. Hence, organizations must understand and plan for AI sustainability practices, or their AI models will act like abandoned floating code going nowhere. Instead, if the AI models are nurtured with data nutrients and ongoing care, promising growth can propel organizations to new performance heights. An AI journey is like an ever ending discovery process, and the more problem definition clarity and relevant context or sense making achieved will increase the odds of the AI investments having a positive return to its stakeholders.

Analytical and Research Rigour – AI is an intensive analytical and research discipline and many model experiments need to be performed to find the strongest predictive accuracy to help answer the identified business problem. Keeping track of the AI model type, research method(s) used requires careful note taking and data scientists need to be evaluated on the quality of their documentation and record keeping skills. This is in most organizations a relatively messy area, as quality inspection practices and processes in model building have in many organizations evolved like the wild west, and few historical roadmaps are easily retrievable. Fortunately this is all starting to rapidly change, as new machine learning operations (MLOps) software tools are in a growing market, bringing integrated AI model lifecycle management tools providing: model versioning /inventory management controls, model performance monitoring, model discovery (research) and model security (robust history so models are not orphans.) Some of the leading AI market players include: Amazon, IBM, Microsoft Azure, and smaller emerging market leaders like: Data Robot, Dataiku, Data Splunk, H20.ai, Modzy, SignalFx, to name a few. According to Forrester, the MLOPs market will be over $4B by 2025, and five years ago, this software category barely existed. This is a major operational risk gap as the majority of board directors and CEO’s knowledge on AI infrastructure enablements like MLOps is weak. Just like companies had to invest in supply chain management (SCM) or CRM practices, to get AI right, MLOps and cloud infrastructure investments are also required to manage the AI model(s) lifecycle(s) and ensure data lineage practices are robust and secure.

Communication /Channel Relevance (social, written, voice, etc.) – Using AI in business requires an effective governance communication plan and thinking through the most optimal communication channels to reach the relevant stakeholders that will be impacted by AI is often an under budgeted area in AI programs. Too often AI projects are left with only technology centric resources who squirrel away delighted with their diverse data nuts collection and unfortunately, they often do not communicate effectively to increase stakeholder confidence that their AI model programs or projects are adding value to the organizations’s business goals. Whether clearly defined communication channels are in weekly or monthly management review meetings, it is imperative that board directors and CEOs ensure that their AI program teams develop clearly defined communication plan(s), using robust key performance indicators (KPIs) in order to secure diverse stakeholder alignment. Do your AI programs have skilled communication and change management resources engaged to support your AI investments? Do your people understand why the investments in AI are being made, and the value/relevance/impact to their role in the short term and also in the long term. You never want to forget WIFM (What is it for me?) in your AI program communication.

Ethical Robustness (Transparency, Trust, Bias, Privacy) – Do you have an AI ethical and data bias expert in your AI programs? How are you monitoring your AI programs against AI risks to ensure that you are developing trusted AI practices? If there is an area that board directors and CEOs need to worry about in their AI programs, it is ensuring that their AI programs have quality ethical reviews. Even the types of questions that your organization explores will have ethical boundaries. For example, putting in an image monitoring system which measures the number of times an employee blinks, or looks away in a Zoom call, could alert management that you may be bored, disinterested or not paying attention. This may also sound like George Orwell’s 1984 using surveillance cameras. That being said there are many companies integrating this type of technology in collaboration software platforms evaluating your every movement, from an AI image (facial and non verbal cues or even your physical posture/gait), or word classifications (positive or negative sentiment) or your voice (sound and emotion), or monitoring your heart beat, and blood flows – all together giving increasingly more insights on how you may be feeling. This is where the world is heading -whether we like it or not. That being said these are ethical discussions that leaders will need to increasingly think about as AI has already matured into employee recruiting systems attempting to detect if you are lying, or avoiding questions if you blink etc, yet you may well have a nervous eye tick and miss the job screening as the AI is not smart enough to understand this nuance, unless you build in more pre-screening questions for more accurate health accuracy detection measures. More concerning is ensuring the data set that you are using is representative of the population and the problem type you are trying to solve. Many data sets are data biased, and draw inaccurate conclusions which can have legal consequences. The regulatory environments are in their infancy on AI ethical robustness, but 2021 will bring increased AI regulatory guidelines, from IEEE Standards. In the meantime, every board director , or CEO should be aware of two sources: the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s  recommendations for responsible stewardship of trustworthy AI , which forty-two nations have co-signed, and the European Union’s High-Level Expert Group’s Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI. Ensuring that your AI program has an AI ethics review at the problem definition stage, and at the data sourcing and data methods stage are key risk management review gates to ensure the desired outcomes (outputs) are not a legal or reputation risk to the company. IBM has software to detect data bias types, called AI Fairness 360, which includes a comprehensive set of metrics for data sets and models to test for biases, explanations for these metrics, and algorithms to mitigate bias in data sets and models. In larger organizations, we will see new leadership roles like AI data bias risk officers (DBRO’s) who will be akin to auditors with specialized data management, ethical and security designations. Data AI model risk officers will have a quality and risk management responsibility to review and sign off on AI models, or companies will increasingly engage an audit firm, with expertise in Trusted AI and risk management. EY is one of the most progressive global leaders in AI trust sense making and has built a strong AI evaluation methodology on TrustedAI. Although KPMG, and PWC and many boutique firms also have AI audit practices, EY has a strong comprehensive TrustedAI framework that is one of the most comprehensive that I have reviewed to date.

Program and Project Management – Like in any major technology deployment program, using advanced technologies like AI, ensuring the solutioning team have strong skills in program management (more complex program skills overseeing multiple project management streams) and project management skills are most relevant to AI initiatives. Key questions include: Does your organization have skilled program and project management practitioners certified in well recognized methods like: PMP (Project Management Professional, or PgMP (Program Management Professional) will increase an organization’s ability to manage risk and cross functional teams. How many employees have these types of certification in your company? Are your employees supported to take these types of certifications (PMP, or PgMP) as part of your organization’s talent management development programs?

Process & Data Management Orientation– Process management skills have been a cornerstone of business for many years in training employees to understand end to end process work flows, and building skills in process mapping, total quality management or 6sigma certifications. All of these skills have contributed to improving business process management capabilities. How many trained experts do you have in process related certifications like 6Sigma, or TQM? Understanding the value chains of process and data flows is a key skill in organizations to ensure data lineage (defined: data lineage includes the data origin, what happens to it and where it moves over time. Data lineage gives visibility, while greatly simplifying the ability to trace errors back to the root cause in a data analytics process.) When one starts an AI Project, after defining the business problem, the first question that rapidly emerges is: where is the relevant data to solve this business problem? Does the data reside in one repository or in multiple repositories? What is the quality and the accuracy of the data sources? Who owns the data sources? What are the types of data (what percentage of the data is structured versus unstructured)? How easy is it to aggregate (bring together) the diverse data sources? Where will the data inventory be stored? How can the data sources be continually updated/replicated so the data modelling does not atrophy rapidly in experimentation vs be enabled and sustained in production? How do you ensure you can continually capture and clean the data? Key questions that board directors and CEO’s can strategically focus on versus the mechanics of these prior questions are: How many of our resources are trained in formal data management methods? Two of the leading data management certifications are: DMBOK (data management body of knowledge) or CDMP (certified data management professional). This is an area I continually see in companies as being very weak in having integrated business process and data lineage skills. To be ready for AI, data ease of access and its quality is everything. Building centralized data repositories and cloud data lakes are important building blocks for board directors and CEO’s to ensure company’s operating structures are being modernized, otherwise, they will never be able to build or sustain internal AI solutions to evolve their business models. In summary, it is important to remember that in AI programs or projects, about 80% of the early project set-up is data related, so data skills are most critical in building relevancy to AI initiatives.

Measurement – Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – in AI, there must be clearly defined measurement systems identifying all the KPIs relevant to AI. One of the frameworks for KPIs is the SMART framework which stands for ensuring your KPIs are: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Sensitive. CEOs or board directors must ensure there are clearly defined KPIs that are strategic and measurable over time, as AI models need continual refreshed data, retraining, and the model’s predictions need to be in an acceptance range that enables organizations to trust AI. Operational KPIs in AI projects could be: increasing customer retention as a result of deploying AI chat bots or increasing customer conversion (purchasing) rates from using AI guided selling software that improves yield and customer target relevancy, or identifying fraudulent behaviours to reduce risks and losses, etc. Other KPIs on AI projects may be focused on the classification accuracy in terms of true positive rates (TPRs), or false positive rates (FPR’s). For example, a strong AI Algorithm that has 1% of false positives is a very strong accuracy score. Other AI KPIs could be Mean Absolute Error (MAE) which is mainly used in linear regression models and looks at the absolute difference between the actual and predicted value (variance). Another popular method is the root mean squared error (RMSE) which gives weight to larger errors and all errors are squared before they are averaged. A relatively new KPI invented by Google is the sensibilities and specified average (SSA) which analyzes if something makes sense (sensibility) and whether it is specific enough. Implementing SSA has more human judgement, but with external reviewers developing pre (prior) and post metrics, the SSI metric is most valuable as it creates context for easier comprehension. If humans cannot experience, understand and trust, the AI benefits/or value, it really does not matter how strong the prediction accuracy scores are. Hence, CEO’s and board directors must ensure relevancy, trust and value realization are strongly anchored in AI investments.

Finance and Business – Having a CFO that is knowledgeable about advanced analytics, AI, and ensuring KPI’s are SMART is increasingly a business imperative. PWC has already signalled that perhaps AI functions should report into CFO’s versus CIOs given CFO’s skills are often stronger in more robust measurement and risk management functions. AI in finance has so many applications, whether it’s analyzing credit card transactions to predict your personality profile on shopping habits, predicting which investments are best for you given your investment profile, creating customized advice based on the interactions of your experiences or even predicting fraud and credit risks. Key questions the CEO or board director can reflect on are: Who is the right executive stakeholder to help you advance your business to use AI for strategic value and manage the risk? Who has the legal risk skills to ensure your inventory of AI algorithms are recorded accurately and validated to manage liability risk (bias, mis-classifications) and ensure that you are building trusted AI practices? Are you going to bet on your CFO, CIO, or recruit a Chief AI and Data Officer, with specialized skills? Then who will you report this new officer role into. Manulife, a global insurance firm has both a Chief Data Science Officer, a Chief Analytics Officer, a CIO, and Chief Security Officer while a major bank, TD, has a Chief AI Officer, a Chief Data Officer, a CIO, and a Chief Security Officer. I would submit we are still exploring the different organizational roles and structures to get AI, Analytics and Data right. My own view is simplification is the best pathway as Data, Analytics and AI should be an integrated function – and less communication confusion as well as to who is accountable or responsible for different practices.

Sustainability Robustness (Environment, Human and Societal Well Being) – Ensuring that CEO’s and board directors are thinking longer term about the sustainability aspects of AI and the impact AI may have on multiple dimensions is key. Every AI project should go through a sustainability review and reflect on the question: Is AI being used for good or is AI being used in way that compromises your corporate brand, values, or your vision of your company, society, environment or fundamentally what it means to be “Human” (i.e. protecting our species) Although these are deep sustainability perspectives, one must recall the late Dr. Stephen Hawking’s 2104 prediction and warning on BBC that: “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.” Taking a few extra days with diverse stakeholders to deeply reflect on the value and risks of AI from a sustainability lense may well be the greatest achievement(s) that companies can advance in ensuring AI is deployed transparently and responsibly.

The next blog next week will further evolve the AI Brain Trust Framework of Leadership Skills and drill down to explain the Emotional and Social Intelligence skills in relationship to AI.

More Information:

To see the full framework introduced in the first blog, reference here. The second and third blogs identify over 10 skill competencies in the strategy domain related to AI, and identifies over 50 questions, and are identified below. The fourth and fifth blog explain the business skills relevant to AI, examining skill areas like: customer orientation, problem solving, process and data lineage, ethics, finance and KPIs, and sustainability, to highlight a few of the 10 skill competencies explored.

Nov 30, 2020

Why Building An AI Brain Trust Of Leadership Skills Is Critical For Board Directors And CEOs

This blog continues to frame the critical need for a Board Director and CEO to build a focused AI Brain Trust and leadership program to build stronger skills to advance AI successfully. This blog continues to build the framework out on business skills, the prior three blogs were on strategic skills.

By Cindy GordonContributor

Nov 23, 2020

Building AI Brain Trust: Advancing Leadership Skills In AI Strategy: A Board Director And CEO Duty Of Care

This third blog completes the AI Leadership Brain Trust – Strategy Framework and identifies 10 strategy skill domains, with corresponding questions for board directors and CEO’s to answer with their leadership teams and help advance sustaining the last mile of AI.

By Cindy GordonContributor

Nov 9, 2020

Building AI BrainTrust: Advancing Leadership Skills – A Board Director And CEO Duty Of Care

In my blog last week, I framed the critical need for a Board Director and CEO to build an AI Brain Trust of leadership skills. This blog continues to identify key leadership skills and insight questions to sustain more successful AI programs, one of the major gaps in AI programs.

By Cindy GordonContributor

Note:

If you have any ideas, please do advise as I welcome your thoughts and perspectives.

From Leadership Strategy in Perfectirishgifts

[amazingsubahu]

How to live Healthy and Happy life

How to Live Healthy and Happy life

Hello Lovers of Life, (Do you Really Love Yourself?) I have discovered many things in the quest for better living.  In the search of How to Live Healthy and Happy life, I have found that Conscious and healthy ways of living are the only way to achieve it. Its process includes questioning and inquiring about everything we are connected or involved in, then contemplating, experimenting and learning from everyone and everything. Our life is a continuous process of exploring and learning new things.  Only alive beings are growing, changing and expanding, it never happens to deads. 

health word cloud How to start exploring, about yourself? The method I have used for this is inquiring, researching, experimenting and learning new things. I started it from comprehensive health check-up of my entire body. Our body is the door to our existence and we know very little about it. We don't have any idea about how this most sophisticated and complex machine i.e. our body works. My Health diagnostic reports given me sufficient hints about my current health status, I have learned that what are the potential threats growing inside me. The check-up enabled me, to know what problems are growing inside my body.  Have you ever asked you How to Live Healthy and Happy life? We never asked this question to ourselves until we caught by unfortunate diseases or loss of health due to our ignorance and unhealthy practices. You can make any change in your life when you know about the problem, if you are not aware of it, you cannot do anything about it, and ignorance is not bliss. We suffer because we are ignorant or avoiding things appearing and informing us in different ways. So every accomplishment starts with knowing the facts and status of what you are now, and when you have sufficient data and facts, you can plan and create a strategy to remove threats and build what you have ever dreamed about. And it is true about every aspect of our life, whether it is a goal of holistic living, building a healthy and happy life, or achieving any other goal.  I have accepted the things revealed through my comprehensive health checkup and prepared myself for the necessary changes in my habits, routine, eating habits, foods in the most beneficial and scientific way. This is the proper way I have discovered for me to grow and expand upon all the possible dimensions of life. It has been practiced by me and worked well and it will work for everyone. Our health is the most important aspect of our life. Our physical and mental health decides what we can do in our lives and how much we can enjoy with what we have now.  

The process of Transformation  It starts by checking the status of your physical and mental health, after knowing and doing the necessary changes, you enabled yourself to heal and help yourself. It will help you to overcome all the complications, and hurdles in the growth and fulfillment of life. The goal is to live happy, healthy life abundantly, consciously and joyously. Do things which are most important for your healthy and happy living, and do not follow anybody blindly, experiment and learn from every genuine and trustworthy source, and always follow your intuition. It will be possible that these things may prepare you all to become more curious and responsible towards your own life and it starts by taking care of your body and mind.  If you understand it properly, it will prepare you, to ask, to know and discover yourselves and to create the life of your dreams and answer for your quest for How to live Healthy and happy life.  This will help you to meet, the goals of holistic living and fulfilled life and a uniform harmonious growth in every walk of life. We all have lots of stories of hurts and failures, and a lot of tragic and unfortunate events and losses, due to our unconscious and unhealthy ways of living.  Your experience and current status tell about what kind of people, thoughts, habits, interests, influences, and circumstances you are associated with now and in the past. But after going through all kinds of losses, difficulties and challenges you can recover and rejuvenate yourself by freeing yourself from all the bullshit, you are carrying with you now and had in the past. You need to make a promise to yourself that you will not allow anyone and anything which can harm your body and mind in any way from this point forward and it starts with you. If you do not do it for yourself, you cannot make it for anyone else.

If you are ready to know and to accept all the mistakes, sick habits and activities, associations which made your life miserable, then you have great chances to make your life more juicy and beautiful. This will be possible only by recognizing and accepting the problems inside your body and mind, you must check it by the impact of all your habits, associations and activities you are doing round the clock. You are the biggest friend and enemy of yourself.  You need to free yourself from the grip of all of it, which does not serve you any more to keep you in the right direction and towards the goal of happy and healthy living. If you made these changes totally, honestly and sincerely you can see that you have totally changed your life and experience, you can see the difference in you that what you are now and were before.   It is great to be lived, survived and grown in so many difficult environments and with a variety of people in your surroundings. It's also great to have to smile, still on your face and trust in life and all gifts it has given to you and greatness and divinity of human spirits.

What do you need to make it a reality in your life, How to Live Healthy and Happy life? You must prepare yourselves for greater endeavors and to create outstanding results for you. your life is a continuous experimentation and learning through a lot of trial and errors to attain and deliver the best from yourselves.  Why is it so?  the answer is as simple as the question is; it needs a total change in ways of seeing and doing things in the first place.  And only those who are ready to transform will be capable of making it a reality in their own life. We all dream about it, for a better, greater & fulfilled life. But there are always only a few in millions can make it a reality. You can be one of them who can make it possible anytime.  It starts and depends on you totally. What is your attitude towards your own life and being? What are you doing to your body-mind 24X7/365? Your life is what you put in it, knowingly / unknowingly, intentionally / unintentionally, consciously / unconsciously. It creates the final outcome of it.  The input decides and creates the output. A simple rule of life, if you are getting wrong results, you are not doing things in the right way, you must check and change your approach towards your living, thinking and doing everything. Then you can witness it, you get what you want, just learn about yourself first. 

  These are the factors, responsible for all the problems and losses you have in the course of your life, and the unconscious and unhealthy way of living is the main cause of it. You are one single organism the body-mind-spirit if any wrong happened/done with any of the others are also affected at the same moment and lose their essence and strength and get sick and degraded. Your all layers are deeply connected with your being and into the existence, you are not separate from anything in this whole universe. Be aware of it and check what is going on with you. 

The key to Blissful life  If you want better things to happen to your life, you must make space for good people and healthy things/habits/practices.  And it starts with eating good, natural, fresh and healthy nutritional foods. If your body is free from toxins and malnutrition, you will do better things in life, to do and achieve everything in your life you need a good healthy body and a sound mind. You must adapt and accept a healthy and conscious way of living and get rid of all non-essentials in your life. This includes - change in attitudes, thoughts, habits, activities, routines, desires, associations (physical, mental spiritual). You should free yourselves of everything deceased, outdated and destructive, by throwing it out and replacing with life positive, healthy and nourishing foods, activities and associations. It is a necessity, without freeing yourselves from ugly, suffocating and degrading garbage, you are carrying and consuming round the clock, in terms of food, habits, association, thoughts, you will never get healthy, fulfilled and blissful life. Always remember the right things are right, even nobody is caring about it, and the wrong things are wrong, even everybody is doing it. People prefer alcohol over juices, cola over coconut water, So if you are doing so, it's time to awake and change it. if you want to live longer, disease-free, Healthy and happy life.  We need to check this out in ourselves and must do the necessary actions to free from all of it. As an example salad is 1000% times better than McDonald fries and burger, whether you can see it or not.  If you do not apply these necessary changes, will not uplift and grow in higher planes of your existence and will never be able to grow in developed and more peaceful and pleasant space of your being. But if you want to live as best in all species as human beings, you must be ready to learn and practice the essentials of life and to make compulsory changes in you without any exception and excuses.

The transformation happened to them who are prepared and devoted to it So, Dear friends, be ready for a total makeover and transformation of your life in body, mind, and spirit by changing your attitudes to life and all the physical and mental habits/activities. If you want to grow and acquire higher state of conscious and healthy living before you die, you must think and do in the right direction, at the right time before things get more complicated and incurable. You must care about it, if you do not hear the call of your life, will suffer from unrecoverable losses. If you think that you are living a healthy and better life, but you are mistaking most of the times. How ignorant and unaware you are of your physical, mental and spiritual status? You know nothing about its healthy or diseased state. Do you know how it is now? Take a comprehensive health checkup to know it., then you can do the necessary corrective actions to transform your body mind and health status.   We didn't learn and perhaps forget that life is a constant search for excellence and a necessity to upgrade, to advance and learn new things and ways for better living and fulfillment. Hope you will get, what is really good for you, by thinking, searching, experimenting, and learning from all discussed here, you can help yourself by doing the right things, in the right directions, consciously, honestly, lovingly and regularly.

Always remember it's your life, you should value it, and be always ready to give it the best you can. It will return to a thousand fold back to you. And it starts with caring your body and mind.  Stay connected and read the posts about the valuable life-changing activities and methods. I have applied for a long course of my life. You may get benefit by thinking, researching and applying them as per your requirements and a need for a positive and healthy change. Your life will be better as much consciously and carefully, lovingly you behave and treat it, this is the secret of How to Live Healthy and Happy Life. So, be ready for a good, conscious living, it leads us towards the road to excellence and ultimate bliss. Wish you a Happy & Healthy and Conscious life. Lovingly yours Amazingsubahu join our FB group B.F.I.M for better health-related information and guidance.  Read the full article

[6four1-blog]

June 20th, 2017 (Kavousi, Crete, Greece)

This week’s hours have been arduously long and I’ve been desperately trying to get more sleep without missing out on too much. The culture shock has been a bit overwhelming and the surplus of experiences is inundating my mental dam and overtaking my writing speed’s capacity. We had to work six days last week, which comprised of nine hours of physical labor everyday, seven hours on site and two hours in the gym. This crazy schedule is pushing my body to its limits but I am slowly growing accustomed to it. My mornings have become as rigid as a science experiment protocol. I unconsciously begin to take out $5.20 every morning at the bakery for my pastries. For these past six days, only three out of five trench members were on site, and the low numbers have blessed me with some extra digging practice and has allowed me to bond with a fewer number of people on a deeper level. There were rumors about negative drama pervading some trenches, and I really didn’t want my trench to develop that kind of culture. Thus, I attempted to make jokes in the morning as an effort to wake others up and lift the mood, even though I was dead exhausted inside. Alex and I have begun giving each other gifts every once in a while. Since Azoria is located in the mountains, any sea stone found on site must have climb there with some form of ancient human assistance. Because there’s no useful analytical data that could be obtained from these sea stones, they are the perfect, and only, ancient objects that we are allowed to keep. I would find a few round pebbles in the sieve every day and I would give them to Alex as presents. He keeps them all in the side pocket of cargo pants, which I find very cute. As the excavation progresses, I intend to build him a large collection; by the end of the trip, I hope he can look back on them as a metaphor for a wonderful third year at Azoria.

Before this week and due to the rain days, our longest streak of site work was three days. This week jumped to a dramatic six days of full-fledged plowing in 27 degrees Celsius weather. It was the physical equivalent of transitioning from Compsci 101 to Compsci 201. The sun literally cooks us like human-sized pieces of Kobe steak and our metal skaliskiris became so hot that our callouses were no less tender than sunny-side up eggs on a frying pan. Today, I woke up unable to completely close my hands, and it’s a miracle that I am still typing right now. I have probably consumed more than two grams of ibuprofen this week alone, a portion that would have probably lasted me a whole month of Ultimate Frisbee at Duke. But at some point in the middle of this week, a mental shell cracked and I entered a new state of mind about excavating, finding myself no longer afraid of the heat, the blisters, and the dirt. I was wearing work gloves for the previous two weeks but I have almost completely given up on them at this point. The clay surfaces and cobble packing require a lot of feeling and touch with certain tools, and while being able to discern certain layers of earth from others sounds like a fictitious ability, understand where clay floors exist is indeed an acquired skill and grasping it has been oddly gratifying. Since it was just Lexi, Kate, and I digging for a while, we have also begun to develop an affinity for certain skaliskiris. Tucker had marked his with the blue twist tie, I had marked mine with a black one, and I helped Lexi mark hers with a green-yellow one. In the end, interestingly, not only have I become attached to my team and the B-trenches, but I have also become clingy to the tools I work with.

On that note, I would like to emphasize I love working with the people in my trench. I love the atmosphere that we’re building, one filled with support, compliments, and, most importantly, sarcastic jokes. Even though Lexi sat behind me on the plane ride from Athens to Heraklion, I, until this week, never really had a full on conversation and quality time with her. She turned out to be a religiously committed volleyball player, practicing almost every day back at Trent University. That was something I could relate to very sincerely because I have lived, and I still continue to live, that lifestyle at Duke. Part of my conscience picked up on that aspect of her character from prior short interactions. There was a determination, sense of self, and mental toughness that is forged almost exclusively through intense participation in and commitment to a physical activity. I am just beginning to know Kate and talk to her more. She seems wholly wonderful like a book just waiting to be read. Later on in the week, she was really sick for a few days, and it was unfortunate that she couldn’t join me and Lexi on site. One of her fellow Iowa State friends’ grandmother passed away, and, even when she was getting sick, Kate sacrificed her entire night’s time and sleep to make sure that Jasmine booked the right flights and would have a safe and worry-free trip home. Her effort impressed me and after witnessing her concern and care, I will definitely make a conscious effort to talk to her more and get to know her better. Overall, in conclusion, working in Alex’s trench is truly a pleasure and I hope we continue to grow and maintain a positive culture for the remaining four weeks.

In addition to bonding with the people in my trench, I am slowly getting to know Alex a lot better as well. After long days on site, we have begun working out in this small makeshift garage gym owned by a local Greek man named Tosos. One can easily tell that Alex is a studious and incredibly kind man just by his demeanor, which radiated from the very timbre of his voice and the form in which he carries himself. However, there is an implacable beast in the man that awakens when the weights start clanking and the music starts beating. His rest intervals are short and he loves to pack his exercises into supersets, which, painfully, tore through all the ATP reserves I had in less than half an hour. His choices of lifts are forcefully dynamic and the pace is unforgivingly quick. The Cretan sun cooks the building we workout in, making it a furnace by the time we arrived at around 5:30 p.m. The oven pushes your exhaustion and blood flow to its absolute limit and every rep gave a pump I that was as novel to me as this island was itself. For the rest of the summer, I am going to put my trust in Alex and I will strive to continue following his workout regime. Having been an athlete all my life, I believe one’s attitude in athletics often translates to his or her work habits in other aspects of life. Now I have no doubt how hard he works at UNC, and I am super glad to have met a principled and persevering man like him.

If you didn’t know before, the two things in the world that I am the most afraid of and the worst at are dancing and singing. If I had to dance and sing in front of a large crowd alone on stage to save my life, I think I would prefer death. This past Tuesday was one of those days when I felt adventurous and bold. So, when David came downstairs and asked me to attend a traditional Cretan dance lesson with him, I said yes and walked out the door with slight hesitation.

The classroom was this mistakenly abandoned building that we’d walk by every day after excavating. The space was overwhelmingly green, and, in a mercurial flashback, I knew that my brother, whose favorite color is green, would have loved it here. The building was a large space converted into a classroom around fifteen or twenty years ago. Two bookshelves and blackboards were haphazardly placed on either sides of the room and both lengths had windows like that of a Gothic church. The blackboards seemed long out of use and parts of the chalk have been stuck on the board for so long that it could have easily juxtaposed some graffiti on a tunnel wall in Durham, North Carolina. One of the bookcases contained beautiful ancient tomes that consisted of, if I recall correctly, almost 20 volumes. The books seemed to be much older than the classroom, as if they were heirlooms of an old family of Kavousi that contained all of this villages’ ancient histories and bloodlines. The other bookshelf was a dramatic contrast, filled top to bottom with children’s books. David and I could not read the Greek, but the images were hilariously entertaining, depicting people of different cultures from around the world. Its depiction of Chinese people was this old, wise, Confucius doppelgänger, which is not a bad image of my people at all. We were halfway through exploring that bookshelf when the dance lesson started. The mid-age man taught us a six step dance that rotated in a circle. I was so nervous trying to learn and coordinate the steps that I grappled the shoulder of the people next to me as if I was hanging on for dear life. Afterwards, the Greek workman beside me, Stellos, introduced himself and apparently remarked to his friend that I was gripping his shoulder really tightly. The trench master Irini, who was on my other side, politely asked me to hold her hand with less anxiety and force.

Eventually, I did loosen up and really began to enjoy myself. Until then, the two indirect non-vocal ways I felt connected to someone was reading their writing and listening to their music. For me, reading another’s writing was both seeing the world from their point of view, as well as seeing into their soul with my own eyes; I get an opportunity to understand how their minds function and exploit a lucky occasion to imagine their perception of the world. Listening to their music connects me with their emotions, and I think one would be surprised by how much we can learn about each other from sharing playlists and songs. In my first revolutionary dance lesson, I discovered another way through which we feel connected to our peers. The beat of the song drowned out all of our howling cultural, academic, physical, and personality differences and served as an united pounding heart for everyone in the circle. Each of our feet were individual muscle fibers of this powerful beating organ, working together in unison with the rhythm and moving in absolute homogeneity and flowing grace. No one was the hero of the stage, and that was what I loved about this traditional Cretan dance. It was done as a group and was meant to connect you with others, rather than for you to show off and isolate yourself. Afterwards, as we walked back to Tholos, I thanked David for inviting me to dance. It was a barrier that I desperately needed to break, and I finally did it here on Crete.

Being confined in a small village allowed me, David, and Weston to grow very close in a short period of time. On a Thursday after working in sizzling conditions that put the Tuscan sun to shame, David, Weston, a bunch of the girls, and I trekked down to the Tholos beach villas. We attempted to check out an herb farm that, very unfortunately, was closed. David and I had worked on site that day and had grabbed a few beers before heading to the beach. After eating almost nothing up at Azoria, the alcohol flowed straight into our systems and had us tipsy in less than ten minutes. We proceeded to drink more beer as we walked and, by the time we found a table down at the beach café, the conversation was flowing like the Yangtze and words were just spilling out of our mouths. I always seem to express myself quite emotionally and very thoroughly every time I am tipsy. Being the only noticeable Asian person in this area, it was a time for me to reflect on what it meant to be a minority in the society that I live in. In the United States and Canada, I have always managed to find myself a bubble of friends who are also Asian and have the same values and life outlooks as I do. Being stuck in these bubbles curtains the fact that I am part of a minority and that, outside of these wealthy and educated spheres, being a minority plays a huge role in one’s identity. Among the local Greeks, I had to disprove the stereotype that all Asian people practice Kung Fu, since the main exposure that these Europeans have had to Asian culture is its popular Kung Fu movies. My physique didn’t really help prove my point; apparently, before they got to know me, they were referencing me as the “Karate Kid” in Greek.

As for my fellow Americans, I tried my best to explain the Asian-American experience. It was difficult because, previously, I never had to pry my mind and think so deeply about my Asian identity in America. I found my inspiration and preferred choice of diction in a Humans of New York post about a young African-American man and his experiences growing up in the suburbs of Miami. For Asian-Americans, oppression and inequality are not necessarily our biggest problems, and neither is socioeconomic status. Personally, I think the most pressing matter is a lack of recognition entrenchment in the collective American identity. For Asian-Americans, there is a barrier that makes it difficult for us to become the leaders and politicians of important institutions and almost anything to do with the general public. As a result, we resort to pursuing careers that either earn us the most money or the most respect. Our immigrant identity is still so young and fragile that we attempt to compensate by obtaining immense amounts of wealth and chasing after the most prestigious occupations, as if we are almost trying to bribe and prove our way into the collective melting pot. Being here in Greece lifted those weighty, ominous clouds off my back. It was as if Atlas had been finally freed from his eternal damnation, finally able to unwind and look upon this world with awe and appreciation for its beauty once again.

In my three short weeks here on Crete, I realized that the locals were always absolutely delighted to learn about my Asian background. They seemed to have had their fair share of American tourists and finally got the chance to spend time with someone who looks completely different. Instead of telling the Asian-American narrative that I have been building for the past twelve years, the anecdotes I shared and the mannerisms I described were as uniquely Chinese as possible, filled with experiences and memories that I pushed away and suppressed so that I could assimilate into Vancouver and fit in at Duke. Maria and I talked for two hours one night, and she told me to never forget where I came from. That “Chinese people, like Greeks, have a long history and a strong sense of ταυτότητα (taftótita; a rough Greek translation for ‘identity’).” As I rode back to the Tholos hotel in Katis’ car that night, I realized I had found myself in a community with an unapologetic and unconditional appreciation for my visible cultural diversity. I couldn’t help but beam as we sped down the road in the clear night. I looked out of the window at the faint outline of the Cretan mountains and at the constellations in the distant universe, finding the Big Dipper and the North Star. These constellations have guided ancient and modern sailors, both Greek and Chinese, away from and back to their homes for thousands of years. Staring at the North Star that night in the car, I decided that, after Crete and Austria, it was time to pay China a visit.

[csrgood]

Online or In-Person, Junior Achievement Equips Tomorrow's Leaders with Financial Education

August 14 is National Financial Awareness Day.

But truth be told, every day is Financial Awareness Day at Junior Achievement (JA). For decades, the non-profit has worked to equip tomorrow's leaders – students in elementary school through high school – with financial and entrepreneurial tools to build meaningful careers and successful lives.

A global provider of marketing, loyalty and payment solutions, Alliance Data is also a strong advocate for financial education, and has actively supported JA for years, not just in central Ohio where the Company is headquartered, but throughout the U.S. The organization is a natural fit for Alliance Data, whose sustainability strategy includes a focus on responsible business practices and community investment. 

By leveraging the talent, commitment and resources of corporate partners like Alliance Data, JA works with educators to fill gaps in their curriculum by offering in-classroom and other onsite programs that teach financial literacy, ignite an entrepreneurial way of thinking and build skills for success both in careers and life. The central Ohio chapter of JA is no exception.

In the greater Columbus area, JA of Central Ohio serves more than 30,000 K-12 students across 235+ schools annually. Unfortunately, COVID-19 presented significant challenges to this highly successful organization.  When Columbus-area schools closed in the spring due to the growing pandemic, JA could not deliver its traditional in-person programming.  

But in the spirit of the entrepreneurs JA strives to inspire, the organization quickly pivoted and transitioned almost all of its programs to an online format. And shifting to virtual classes and workshops has revealed a silver lining, according to JA of Central Ohio’s President, Mike Davis.

“In the past, due to organizational capacity, we have struggled to serve schools outside the immediate Columbus area,” Mike explained. “Now, with programs that can be recorded and played back, or occur live with a volunteer ‘beaming in’ from home or work, we have an opportunity to engage an even more diverse array of volunteers and students. There are so many more jobs and careers that we can help students explore with a virtual curriculum.”

The diversity of experiences provided by volunteers is appreciated by the educators. Bryce Culver, a teacher at Columbus’ Gahanna Lincoln High School, said that the JA Career Speaker Series has been a great way for students to connect virtually with a wide range of workers during COVID-19. 

“One of the biggest challenges teachers face is obtaining real-world experiences for our students,” Culver said. “Junior Achievement helps bridge the gap between the business community and classroom. My students are learning about new career fields and opportunities they may not have realized even existed.”

From Utah to Ohio and everywhere in between, Alliance Data proudly supports Junior Achievement’s lasting impact on students as its curriculum and programs help shape the next generation of leaders. In fact, last year, on National Financial Awareness Day, Alliance Data announced the results of a survey the Company sponsored with Junior Achievement USA. The survey found that nearly one-in-five teens (17%) have never been in a physical bank and one third of teens (34%) didn't have a bank account – facts that illustrate the need for financial education at an early age.

And while Alliance Data makes a significant corporate donation to support JA programs and staffing every year, the biggest impact comes from team members who give their time, like the nearly 100 associates who volunteered with JA across the United States in 2019. Those who volunteered are actively helping tomorrow’s leaders understand and appreciate the importance of financial literacy and economic independence. 

As a new school year is set to begin in Columbus and elsewhere, Junior Achievement is in need of volunteers across the country. By sharing knowledge and skills via live or recorded online training sessions, volunteers will help give children the tools they need to own their economic success, plan for their future and make smarter choices.

Today’s uncertain times further reinforce a key tenet of JA’s platform – that individuals, businesses, and communities need to plan for the unexpected and be prepared to innovate. And everyone can help in that effort. 

To learn more about JA and find local volunteer opportunities, visit https://jausa.ja.org/. To learn more about Alliance Data’s commitment to sustainability and community investment, visit https://www.alliancedata.com/sustainability/default.aspx. 

source: https://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/45600-Online-or-In-Person-Junior-Achievement-Equips-Tomorrow-s-Leaders-with-Financial-Education?tracking_source=rss

[szunwaves]

DAO is really a good match for DeFi. Will continuous organization function as range of traditional organizations? -Blockchain news

Decentralized autonomous businesses are too subversive and never suitable for traditional organizations or businesses, and an identical continuous organization (CO) model works extremely well by organizations like Airbnb. Original title: "DeFi+DAO is really a perfect match, how about continuous organization (CO)? 》 Published by: hibauld Favre, CEO of Fairmint The recent outbreak of DeFi projects has attracted the attention of several people. Like Chris Burniske, a partner of a well-known investment institution Placeholder, commented that "DeFi has more effect on Ethereum than ICO. " But the truth is that ETH has not The explosion of DeFi has captured lots of value, that is clearly not much like the impact of ICO in 17 years, and the newest argument believes that the mixture of DeFi+DAO can certainly trigger an ICO-like effect. Although the notion of DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) is quite disruptive, it is actually not suitable for traditional organizations or businesses, and a continuing organization (CO) model like the concept can theoretically be something such as Airbnb Utilized by organizations in the digital economy to bring many very beneficial features to all stakeholders in the era of digital economy, but it will even involve relevant securities laws. In this specific article, we shall introduce the concepts of Continuous Organization (CO), Continuous Securities Issuance (CSO), and Decentralized Autonomous Trust (DAT).

The digital economy has basically changed the type of the connection between clients and enterprises. Today's individuals have transformed from passive consumers to crucial value creation forces, whether through their actual work (such as Airbnb, Uber, Apple App Store, Amazon Marketplace, and so on ) or through their data (such as Facebook, Google) Wait). By using the work of users, businesses in the digital economy are able to create products and services with personalized user experience to keep increasing returns on scale, thereby providing investors with huge returns on investment. Unfortunately, today's businesses do not have a simple and effective way to closely combine the interests of users with the financial success of the organization. This really is due primarily to restrictions and frictions imposed on non-qualified investors when attempting to sell and allocating securities under today's securities law. To be able to solve this dilemma, we've proposed a brand new paradigm: Continuous Organization (CO), which is really a new kind of organization made to coordinate the interests of stakeholders better than traditional businesses. A sustainable organization describes a company that establishes a continuing securities issuance (CSO) by transferring part or all its realized income to a decentralized autonomous trust (DAT). DAT is really a smart contract that uses predefined rules to automatically issue, repurchase, and destroy all-digital securities called fair securities (FAIRs) to meet up market demand. Generally speaking, continuous organization (CO) brings very beneficial features to all stakeholders, such as:

* The founder can buy a simple and effective fund acquisition mechanism, and at exactly the same time closely integrate the community and the financial success of the project, so as to create a strong network effect without affecting organizational governance. * In a great way, employees transform illiquid commodity in to inalienable liquid and fair securities, to ensure that their interests are certainly aligned with the interests of the organization. * Early investors got the advantages they deserved once the organization was successful, without fretting about being over-diluted in a bigger round of financing. * The organization's users, clients, suppliers, and partners can invest in the organization in a less frictional and less permissive way, to ensure that their interests are aligned with those of the organization. * As a result of "securities" nature of fair securities, regulators can better protect citizens from risky ICOs, while also being able to tax the income generated by ongoing businesses. * This environment advantages of the decoupling of governance and financial interests proposed by the sustainable organization model, which allows the founder and his organization to target more on long-term development. Obviously, as a result of "securities" nature of fair securities, this involves the issuer to conform to the securities laws of its jurisdiction. The background organization has evolved and adapted to the digital economy. As the world transitions from the industrial age to the digital age, the legal structure invented and optimized to meet up the business needs of the industrial age is now showing its limitations. Actually the digital economy has pushed organizations to adjust and transform their business practices, to ensure that its nature has completely changed:

But inspite of the tremendous changes in the organization, we still make use of the same kind of legal entity to use our business. These legal entities are designed to meet with the needs of industrial age businesses within the country. They're no longer applicable to the computing and network era, and in this era, businesses make use of the power of the masses to obtain more and more returns on scale, thereby blurring the boundaries between users and workers. For example: Uber drivers are both Uber users and Uber employees. Exactly the same is true for Airbnb hosts. A Facebook user can be a (unpaid) Facebook employee. The Rise of the Crowd Nicolas Colin succinctly described this example in his book "Hedging": "The key to understanding the digital economy is that it redistributes power from the within of the organization to the exterior. The inference with this law is that the businesses that succeed in the digital economy are those organizations that realize how exactly to redistribute power away from organization and learn to use it. It's to market growth and profit. ” To define the type with this power, Nicolas Colin defined the thought of "multitude" in a book co-authored with Henri Verdier: "The masses are defined as huge amounts of individuals. They're now designed with increasingly powerful devices and so are connected to one another through a wide network. " In the digital economy, businesses rely on the masses (ie "Uber drivers", "Airbnb hosts", "Apple app developers", "Facebook users") as a business to flourish, however the masses build a fortune at the organizational level There is no vested interest. Instead, many people enter the "gig economy, " that is part-time work that gets paid after successfully completing something. These jobs were once rare in the industrial age, but now they're becoming more prevalent. New challenges The radical transformation of businesses in the digital economy has taken major challenges to all stakeholders, and these should be addressed: For the founder: "How can I inspire my community to market the long-term success of the organization? " The clear answer is money. In the digital economy, the masses have grown to be an important part of the organization's workforce, and founders need new mechanisms to attract, retain, and empower diverse worldwide communities. Many marketing strategies already exist, but none of them will make the interests of the organization and the community maintain a lasting and firm consistency. In line with the current securities law, the real solution (selling and/or distributing securities to the masses) is legally so complicated that it's not a realistic option. "Airbnb is really a community-based company. Without our landlord, we would did nothing. We would like our most loyal landlord to be a shareholder, but these policies have to be changed to achieve this goal. " The above mentioned paragraph is what Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky mentioned in a comment letter from Airbnb to the SEC. (Note: Demonstrably, the SEC did not agree to this point. Even though Airbnb has not yet gone bankrupt, it really is already in danger) "How can I build a long-term trust relationship with my community? " The clear answer is trust. To be able to form a lasting and stable alliance with the public, the organization has to win the trust of the public. But as increasing numbers of people understand how the investment capital (VC) model works, it is now increasingly problematic for businesses supported by VCs to get the trust of the community. Actually before investors needed liquidity, the interests of investment capital organizations were only aligned with the interests of the organization. When investors demand liquidity, the consistency of interest is suddenly concentrated in an exceedingly small amount of time. Investors desire to sell their stocks at the best possible price. Generally, founders will be severely diluted and lose get a handle on of the organization, so that they cannot do much to create different results. For employees: "For the risks I simply take, I'd like an economic reunite proportional to the worthiness I create. " The clear answer is fair value creation capture. Unlike investors in a diversified portfolio, employees aren't diversified. They only get income from the organization in which they work. There are lots of plans to align the interests of employees with the financial success of the organization, but most plans provide illiquid and transferable conditional securities or securities options. Insufficient mobility in private businesses results in that employees are forced to leave lots of value if they leave the organization (they donate to value creation). For the masses: "I hope I could get financial rewards from the organization through contributions. " The clear answer is long-term wealth accumulation and economic security. When communities (whether users, workers, partners, suppliers, clients... ) love something or service given by a company, they hope that they can receive financial rewards for their positive contributions to the merchandise and so are helping the organization Accumulate long-term wealth along the way of growth. But there are only so advantages of one-time recommendation, coupons, and so on What people want is money! This is especially true in the present context. For investors: "I hope that the risks I simply take can get the best profits on return. " The clear answer may be the highest profits on return. What investors want is obviously a very important factor: in order to offer their shares at the best valuation. Investors' dependence on governance comes only from the truth that their investment lacks liquidity, plus they need governance to protect it until a liquidity event occurs. As long as they could sell their shares at the best price if they see fit, investors will be happy. When there is no liquidity, VC investment is similar to a home run game, that's, finding an investment that will bring extraordinary returns and overcompensating most under-performing investments. For regulators: "I desire to help innovators, protect investors, and collect the taxes I deserve. " Regulators (usually) make an effort to provide innovators with a regulatory framework to help them create new services. An integral part of this regulatory framework is to help innovators raise funds, while providing investors with reasonable legal protections to avoid misconduct. Ahead of the digital economy era, this plan will create huge returns through taxation. Unfortunately for regulators, the digital economy makes taxation more challenging: "The digital economy systematically separates commercial and consumer locations. Consequently, it really is increasingly difficult to ascertain where the worthiness developed by this economy is located, which is increasingly difficult to utilize the now outdated tax laws. " —— Pierre Collin & Nicolas Colin For the earth: "What I need is an organization that will think long-term. " Establishing a motivation mechanism so that the organization can optimize for a long time while being in charge of environmentally friendly impact, that is very advantageous to mankind all together. Currently, we're struggling to begin a globally enforceable governance mechanism on environmental issues and the short-term behavior of today's financial markets, helping to make the tragedy of the commons more real. The emergence and issues of ICO Recently, the rise of cryptocurrency has given birth to a brand new approach to organizational financing-Initial Coin Offering (ICO). The businesses doing these activities more or less used the following publicity practices: "We have created a fixed quantity of tokens on the blockchain. These tokens aren't securities because we shall not give investors any financial or voting rights. But you can expect these tokens to have future value because we design Something, it will have the cattle X function, we're attempting to sell a degree of tokens to finance the development of the project, these tokens will undoubtedly be flowing in the market, we will be on line on the XX exchange, don't miss it This opportunity... " On top, ICO seems to coordinate the interests of the main stakeholders in the organization perfectly. Like the founders raised lots of funds without giving any governance rights so they can pursue their very own vision. Investors may also be very happy that they can cash out quickly once the coins are launched on the exchange. This early liquidity allows them to dramatically reduce risks, of course, provided there is certainly adequate liquidity. Employees can be very happy since they can get liquidity tokens and cash out. Nevertheless the problem is: for those inexperienced investors, it's very difficult to judge the worthiness of the tokens. Consequently, many retail investors are harvested by some projects that promise super high returns. Actually in many projects, the risks associated with project investment are an order of magnitude higher than the potential returns. Listed below are the main risks involved with ICO:

* Could be the team correctly motivated to create the merchandise? In many projects, the founders have remaining numerous tokens for themselves, and there is no or almost no lock-up time. For that reason if the ICO works, the founders will instantly become rich and might lose the true creation of the merchandise. power. * Can the team create products and services? Projects are usually in early stages and there are no products and services to showcase, but only the good vision described in the white paper. * Can the merchandise be created on the planned schedule? Many project parties have seriously underestimated the major technical limitations brought by the integration of the blockchain with the tokens in the system. * Does the merchandise have a good user experience? Most projects completely underestimate the UX constraints of integrating tokens into the system. * If the product is delivered, might it be used? It is difficult to learn perhaps the team is capable of a product/market match. * If users like this product, will the token capture any value? There could be cases where some projects are extremely successful, but their tokens have no value since it just isn't a security. * If the token is valuable, might it be a good investment target? You realize, most projects sell their tokens at very high valuations. For the above reasons, most ICO projects will fail, and they are not good investment targets. To make matters worse, a project is extremely successful, but its tokens have no value. This raises two crucial issues:

* Retail investors will be deceived as a result of how a Shitcoin waterfall works in the ICO; * Regulators do not know dealing with ICOs. On usually the one hand, they welcome innovations that attract talent and investors, but however, they don't like retail investors being deceived. The very fact before us is that the vast majority of ICOs in the marketplace are scams. Continuous organization (CO) Continuous organization describes any organization that establishes continuous securities issuance (CSO), whose purpose is to enable each stakeholder to purchase the organization at any time. Continuous Securities Issuance (CSO) Continuous Securities Issuance (CSO) is really a novel way for businesses to have financing without releasing any equity or any governance rights. The CSO uses the realized income of the organization as collateral to support fully digital securities (called fair securities) that anybody can purchase or sell, to speculate on the organization's future income. To be able to create a continuous securities offering (CSO), a company will agree to work with a fixed percentage of its realized income to produce a valuable collateral in just a pre-defined minimum time period. Specifically, that is accomplished by injecting the above fixed percentage of income into the Decentralized Autonomous Trust (DAT). DAT is really a smart contract that works on the token joint curve contract to automatically issue and repurchase fair securities to meet up industry needs of investors. Essential notes about currencies that interact with DAT: In the following example, we use ETH because the currency to interact with DAT. ETH may be the native currency of Ethereum, but this doesn't mean that users must use ETH to interact with DAT. Actually we can also replace ETH with stable currencies (such as DAI or USDC) to eradicate the impact of volatility. Understanding the Token Joint Curve Model Since Simon De La Rouvière first proposed the joint curve model in 2017, lots of people have already been exploring this notion. The joint curve contract is really a special kind of smart contract that issues a unique tokens through the purchase and sell function. To buy tokens, the client sends ETH to the Buy function, which calculates the average ETH price of the tokens, and Send you the proper amount. The Sell function works in the contrary way. The contract will calculate the present average selling price and send you the proper ETH amount. When it comes to a continuing organization (CO), the buying and selling functions will vary:

The token joint curve model has interesting features, including:

* Unlimited supply, there is no limit to how many tokens which can be minted; * Deterministic price calculation, the buying and selling price of tokens increases or decreases with how many tokens minted; * Guaranteed in full instant liquidity, the joint curve contract may be the counterparty of the transaction, also it always holds enough Ether reserves to purchase right back tokens. For that reason tokens are available and sold immediately at any time, and the joint curve is similar to an automatic market maker. * Continuous price, the price tag on token n is leaner than token n+1 and higher than token n-1. It takes a specific amount to calculate how many tokens minted with a given quantity of ETH (or how many ETH came ultimately back with a given quantity of tokens) Understanding of built-in learning. It is worth noting that in the joint curve model, the x-axis represents how many tokens issued. For a simple example, assume that B(x)=x and s(x)=0. The price C of the first 10 tokens purchased is distributed by the curved surface between your buying curve and the attempting to sell curve, which can be expressed because the following formula:

For that reason inside our example, C=10*10/2=50. Decentralized Autonomous Trust (DAT) In the context of continuous organization (CO), we introduce a joint curve predicated on income: one joint curve using two different functions, one for the buying curve and one other for attempting to sell Curves: B (buy) and S (sell).

Decentralized autonomous trust joint curve for issuing fair securities (FAIRs) These fair securities will represent the claim to DAT cash reserves. You will need to remember that, unlike stocks, Fair Securities doesn't represent ownership of the organization, it only has financial rights to the cash reserves managed by DAT. The cash reserve of DAT is really a function of the organization's income. For that reason by purchasing fair securities, investors can buy financial experience of the organization's future income. Function B defines the price tag on investing in a fair security from DAT. B is really a linear function with a positive slope b such that B(x)=b*x, where b> 0. The slope b could be opted for arbitrarily, the bigger b is, the more the worthiness of the machine token is, conversely, the reduced the b is, the less the worthiness of the machine token is. If you want your investors to have a large amount of tokens, select a tiny b value (such as 1x10^(-9)). The big event S defines the price tag on DAT repurchasing fair securities. S can be a linear function and it has a slope s such that S (x) = s * x, where s>  0. But in a continuing organization (CO), the worthiness of s changes with time. To be able to illustrate how a value of s changes with time, you should understand how DAT receives and processes the cash it receives. Investment-buy() function The initial source of DAT cash flow is investors who want to invest in sustainable businesses. They do that by calling DAT's buy() function. Whenever an "external" investor sends funds to DAT, DAT deposits some of the cash in DAT's cash reserve, and the residual funds are utilized in the organization's wallet. We call I the percentage of funds in the cash reserve, and this I is really a constant constant. Value flow once the investment occurs Effect on the DAT joint curve contract once the investment occurs Investors who buy fair securities are to purchase basic businesses. Investors usually do not want their money to be retained by DAT. They want their money to be utilized by the organization. For that reason the worthiness of s should be an order of magnitude below b, Meaning that the worthiness of I will be low under ideal circumstances. If the characteristics of the organization (income, growth... ) could be proven, I could even be zero. For example: Suppose an investor sends 10 ETH to DAT. If I=10%, DAT will transfer 9 ETH to the organization's wallet and keep 1 ETH in its cash reserves. If the investor is really a beneficiary organization, that's, the organization technically invests alone, the above rules usually do not apply. In that case, I is obviously corresponding to 100%, meaning whenever a company invests in its DAT, 100% of the organization's funds used to get fair securities will flow into the repurchase reserve. To learn more, see Fair Securities Purchase by Beneficiary Organizations below. calculus When an investor purchases fair securities at cost c, that he receives x units of fair securities, where x equals:

Where c may be the quantity of fair securities used to get, b may be the sales slope, and a may be the quantity of fair securities which were in blood supply prior to the transaction. Fair securities purchased by the beneficiary organization-buy() At any time, the beneficiary organization can end up buying fair securities. That is why, the beneficiary organization calls the buy() function like other investors, but unlike external investors, 100% of the funds employed by the beneficiary organization to get fair securities flow into the repurchase Reserve (that is, once the funds result from the beneficiary organization, the contribution rate I is corresponding to 100%). This helps to ensure that the interests of investors are fully aligned. Actually if the beneficiary organization can purchase fair securities at exactly the same investment ratio I as external investors, this will specifically mean that the beneficiary organization can purchase fair securities at a lower life expectancy price than external investors (because by definition, The corporation received (1-I)% of the investment. This big difference can certainly be abused by dishonest businesses and managers. Buying fair securities can be a means for businesses to reward fair securities holders. Actually once the beneficiary organization purchases fair securities, it not only increases the repurchase reserve, but also increases the slope of the sales curve (see details below). For that reason for a company with off-chain income, buying fair securities may be the organization's means of actually channeling its income to DAT. Which means that the more revenue a company generates, the more fair securities it accumulates with time, which can be used to further motivate its key stakeholders. Obviously, if the organization wants to maximize the rewards of fair securities holders, additionally, it may simply decide to burn off its fair securities with the burn() function. Value flow once the beneficiary organization buys fair securities The impact of beneficiary organizations' purchase of fair securities on the joint curve The big difference between your investment of external investors and the purchase of fair securities by the beneficiary organization is derived from their respective contribution ratios to the DAT reserve: External investor's investment: The total amount M contributes I * M to the DAT reserve and at exactly the same time creates the equivalent value of M. For that reason the contribution rate of (I*M)/M=I and I therefore

For example: suppose I=10%, s0=0. 1, b=1, suppose an investor buys the first 10 tokens at a high price of 50 ETH, then DAT now has a reserve of 50x10% = 5 ETH, and, the beneficiary organization pays 1 The price tag on ETH produces 0. 0995 tokens, and s1=0. 1176. For that reason since s1> s0, this operation increases the value of fair security holders, that's, investors are now able to sell at a higher price than before Its fair securities. Burn up Fair Securities-burn() Holders of fair securities can burn off their fair securities at any time by calling the burn() function. Technically, burning fair securities wont destroy them (the total supply remains the same), but it can ensure that no one can use them, to ensure that their marginal value could be redistributed equally to other fair securities holders. For investors, that is meaningless, however the beneficiary organization has reasons to do this, such as (1) it will not use these fair securities, or (2) if it wants to boost the equity of other fair securities holders. Value, then destruction is meaningful.

Investment-sell() function Investors can decide to sell their fair securities at any time to get ETH right back. They do that by calling the sell() function. When DAT receives fair securities, it's going to burn off the received fair securities and send ETH back once again to investors in line with the function S. The slope s of S increases discretely with time with each payment received by DAT. The ETH came ultimately back to investors is drawn from the DAT "repurchase" cash reserve, that will not affect the organization's funds. The worthiness flow that develops when fair securities can be bought The impact of investors attempting to sell tokens on the DAT joint curve contract Calculus involved When an investor sells x fair securities, assuming that he's not burned fair securities before, he'll get an amount c, that is corresponding to:

Where s may be the attempting to sell slope and a may be the fair quantity of securities in blood supply prior to the transaction. When it comes to fair securities being burned, the calculus becomes:

Where x'is the fair quantity of securities burned. Income-pay() Persistent businesses can directly perceive customer payments through DAT by calling its pay() function. Whenever DAT receives payment P, a small part of the received payment visits cash reserves. We call D (for distribution) the percentage of income from the inflow cash reserve, and d may be the corresponding element of income (d=P*D). The complete amount d is kept in DAT's cash reserves, thereby increasing the worthiness of fair securities. It ought to be noted that calling the pay() function will even trigger the issuance of new fair securities, and how many issuances is corresponding to how many fair securities created when buy (d) is named. Automatically, these newly created fair securities are delivered to the organization, as shown in the following figure: The worthiness flow once the ongoing organization relies on DAT for payments Instead, the consumer can specify a parameter of the pay() function to send the newly created fair securities to the address of his choice (most likely his wallet address). In cases like this, the worthiness flow can be as follows: Value flow once the customer specifies the wallet address Example: Assuming D=5%, if the ongoing organization receives a payment of 100 ETH, 5 ETH will flow into the "repurchase" cash reserve, thereby increasing the collective value of fair securities. Note: For a few continuous businesses (for example, organizations that not need a basic legal entity), it makes sense for payments from clients (that is, income from the continuous organization) directly through DAT. It ought to be noted that the income of the organization doesn't of necessity need to be realized through DAT, because the organization may also decide to reward fair security holders only through fair security purchases. For businesses that have already started business, they're probably be more prepared to first receive payments from clients in fiat currency, and transfer a small part of their perceived income to DAT to boost the worthiness of fair securities, as shown in the following figure:

In this way, DAT is wholly invisible to clients (the user experience has not changed), and the organization won't have to modify any highly optimized sales processes. Pre-mine fair securities pool When DAT is established (once the DAT is established, the principles are immutable), the organization can decide to "pre-mine" some fair securities for it self, meaning it really is different from the zero-based DAT fair securities. Pre-mining fair securities is frequently of great significance to businesses, whether it is rewarding founders, paying early employees, rewarding early users or providing liquidity pools for the secondary market. But you should realize that pre-mining fair securities will even have potential costs, because these "free" pre-mining fair securities represent the sales pressure of DAT, plus they usually do not provide any "repurchase" cash reserves for DAT. Contribution. Technically speaking, which means that the more fair security tokens pre-mined, the reduced the attempting to sell curve (that is, the slope of s defined earlier). For that reason specifically, if a company decides to mint a lot of fair securities when setting up DAT, it may have to be very careful, because if it wants to dig an excessive amount of, it may have a significant negative effect on investors' risks and financial returns influences. Beneath the same conditions, the impact of pre-mining tokens For that reason being an organization, you might have good reasons to pre-dig some fair securities, but be mindful, because an excessive amount of digging wil dramatically reduce the attractiveness of fair securities to investors. For that reason a good rule is: before income is generated, only the required fair securities have to be cast beforehand. Once the income continues to come in, the organization increases the worthiness of the fair securities by channeling its income to DAT. summary Persistent organization (CO) describes a company that issues fair securities through CSO, which transfers part or all the realized income to a certain kind of smart contract called a decentralized autonomous trust (DAT). These fair securities represent the best to claim the present and future cash reserves of DAT, and permit investors to trade on the organization's revenue growth. In that design, businesses, investors, and potential prospects interact by sending ETH or fair securities to DAT:

Initialization of the life span cycle of continuous securities issuance The first stage of the CSO is specific since it doesn't make use of the joint curve. Actually to begin the CSO, the beneficiary organization has to set the very least financing goal (MFG), that is the amount of investment needed to start the joint curve. All investors who participated in the investment before attaining the minimum financing target (using the buy() function) will obtain fair securities at exactly the same average price, as shown in the following figure: The first stage of CSO Before attaining the minimum financing target, all funds are in custody, and investors can decide to withdraw their investment at any time (by calling the sell () function), and can receive 100% of the investment funds. Once the minimum financing target is reached, the joint curve begins. A small part of the minimum financing target will be injected into the cash reserve, and the residual funds will be utilized in the beneficiary organization. In addition , before attaining the minimum financing target, the beneficiary organization can unilaterally decide to cancel the CSO. In cases like this, investors can withdraw 100% of the investment funds. It ought to be noted that after the minimum financing target is reached, the organization can't cancel the CSO. Similarly, after attaining the minimum financing target, with the launch of the joint curve, investors cannot withdraw their funds. They are able to only now Call the sell() function, and its operation can be as described in the earlier section. This minimum financing target mechanism protects investors and businesses at exactly the same time, but it ought to be noted that the organization must not set the minimum financing target too much, otherwise it's going to cause the CSO to be converted into a simple crowdfunding campaign and make The objective of the CSO has failed. Delivery The CSO can carry on indefinitely, but it may also decide to terminate, and the beneficiary organization can decide to close it at any time following the minimum period expires. To be able to provide investors with some necessary visibility, the beneficiary organization must guarantee the minimum operating time of its CSO (for example, 36 months, 5 years, 10 years... ). Next minimum time, the organization is absolve to choose whether to close the CSO. In addition , at any time, a company can boost the minimum time it promises to help keep its CSO running. Obviously, closing the CSO just isn't free. To close the CSO, the beneficiary organization must pay an exit fee. The exit fee price is corresponding to the present issuance (buy) price of fair securities multiplied by how many outstanding FAIR. Once the exit fee is paid, the organization can close its CSO to ensure that every investor can sell their fair securities at exactly the same price: the present buying price. Visualization of the exit cost needed to close the CSO Doing so ensures that the last investor wont lose or earn profits, while the early investors are expected to reach profitability (this is clearly not guaranteed, because the last issue price just isn't of necessity the best price). The purchase price big difference between your problematic buying and selling curves in the secondary market also leaves room for fair securities transactions in the secondary market. If the price tag on a newly minted fair security is 10, investors would rather choose the minted fair security from other low-price channels. Demonstrably, the secondary market will be restricted by the dynamic cost range stipulated by DAT: it really is unreasonable for buyers to bid higher than the present price proposed by DAT. Similarly, the purchase price requested by owner is leaner compared to price proposed by DAT, which doesn't sound right.

Interestingly, the recent rise of automatic market makers (such as Uniswap or Kyber) in the secondary market ensures that the main market (DAT) and the secondary market could be completely built-in from the perspective of user experience, that is given by Fairmint An attribute that's essential for reducing price fluctuations and maximizing investor returns. The benefits of continuous organization (CO) In contrast to traditional businesses, continuous organization provides advantages for many stakeholders. For the founder:

* Begin a solid incentive mechanism to produce the community; * It is more straightforward to recruit talents all over the world; * Maintain long-term get a handle on of the organization; * Make your business more resistant to business fluctuations; * Less distraction (legal, fundraising), more focus on execution; * Obtain personal liquidity; for employees:

* Align your personal economic interests with the interests of the organization; * When you feel suitable, it is possible to decide to sell your fair securities; for the masses:

[xcentric-services]

7 MUST-HAVES TO LAUNCH AN E-COMMERCE WEBSITE

In these COVID-19 times, quarantine is a significant reason to begin selling online right away. Your brand doesn’t have an E-Commerce Website yet? Begin E-Commerce Website Development from scratch because the digital selling industry is growing like never before, considering the recent wakes of the world.

The coronavirus outbreak has influenced the Dynamics E-Commerce demand a lot. Amazon, which is a footnote in the history of E-Commerce, is now hiring 100,000 new employees. All of which will be involved in Odoo Inventory and Supply Chain Management, along with shipment operations.

Besides, Magento – An Adobe Company has announced a support plan for small and medium-sized businesses that want to move online with Magento E-Commerce Development. Here’s a list of things the company offers for FREE;

FREE Magento Commerce and Marketo Engage for 3 Months

3 Months of FREE Magento University and Marketo University

90 Days of FREE Adobe Connect – up to 25 participants

Adobe Portfolio

Acrobat PDF

Adobe Talent

So, with this pack of FREE offerings, now is unquestionably the time to grow from a brick-and-mortar store to an online store. However, launching a Dynamics 365 E-Commerce store isn’t an easy play. Hence, in this article, we’ve covered some essential things you need to tick-off from the checklist as you sit down, power up, and begin building.

1. Analyzing Target Audience and Market

The initial thing to know is your target audience. There is a possibility that you are selling baby food to bachelors and umbrellas in areas which have never sighted rain. Hence, you need to analyze your market, and the audience interested in your product, otherwise, you will not stand a chance.

Are you a brand selling everything, from clothes to groceries? Begin with things like your product’s ingredients, the cloth fabric, and the environment friendly products that speak GO-GREEN. Precisely, these are the things your target audience wants to hear and relate to, and they’re the reason behind them buying your product. We’ve attached a snapshot of a brand showing its baby food products to parents who are extra careful about what their child consumes.

Besides, who are the ones that have a problem your products can serve? Begin with demographics like age, culture, gender, earnings level, etc., and combine these with other lifestyle-type characters.

A lifestyle characteristic record bases on three foremost subjects – actions, interests, and ideas. Precisely, if you can reach the root of what your target audience prefers to do, what they are enthusiastic about, and how they think about material things they need in life, you have found your word and tone.

In a few cases, it will be formal to provide to a more distinguished profile clientele, or more casual to dive in for a higher market share in a concise area.

However, in every way, it is essential to keep your target in mind at every step of E-Commerce Website planning. And with this, we mean EVERYTHING. Including things as simple as a domain name or logo design while creating a content strategy.

2. Choosing the Right Domain Name

Deciding on the appropriate Domain Name for an online store is not as easy as naming a child. Yes, its that much of a tech-task. Before you begin thinking of a domain name, make sure that you keep it short, memorable, and unique. However, there is a lot that can go wrong while deciding on one. For instance, a domain name with a double meaning that might gather you some unwanted attention.

Moreover, deciding on the domain on which you want to register your website is also a significant task. Here are some types of domains you can choose from;

Global Domains – .com, .net, .org

Domestic Domains – .fr, .us, .uk

Activity Domains – .photography, .shop, .guru

So as soon as you decide on your Domain Name, your first step should be registering your E-Commerce Website on any of these domains to make sure that no one else hits you the punch.

Technically, the domain of an E-Commerce Website is one of those factors that rank it higher on Google SERPs. And unfortunately, or say fairly, on unique names get the SEO Services advantage.

Hence, it is usually safer to avoid names that appear like existing ones to organically rank higher, and not perceive as a knock-off of another business. Plus, the unique title will most probably rank higher anyhow, so you will not be doing favors for yourself.

3. The Importance of SSL and HTTPs

Every time anyone uses their credit card and bank account details online, a potential opportunity of making that information made readily available for access to more than intended recipients.

Hence, to be safe from scams, and to keep customer information secure, Websites Need SSL and HTTPs. The SSL certificate is a type of encryption contract that ensures the accessibility of information between service providers and their end-users.

Secure websites are more obvious to recognize because their address begins with HTTPS, where the S stands for SECURE. On the other hand, we have the classic – HTTP, to which the browser reacts and notifies the users of the site not being secure.

In some scenarios, there is an option of utilizing the color-coding scheme in which the browsing bar turns green, swearing high-level security. However, this is not the only practical way to measure how secure a website is. Hence, to keep everything precise, SSL certificates are sold recurring bundles, to ensure a smooth blow at the back-end.

Today, the buyers are savvier than ever. So if you are thinking that they will miss out on this information when they are shopping, you are wrong. There is no reason to scrimp on the security encryption. Honestly, no business should risk on non-secure customer data and smash the trust. Here’s a snapshot of what you will see when you click on the lock icon beside the URL on your browser.

4. Web Store Structure

Magento 2 store view enables business to manage several website views under a single installation, which they can control from one Admin Panel; to keep things simple and easy on hands.

Moreover, these multiple websites can have similar layouts and highlights or be unique. And if you want to have multilingual versions of your website, there are two ways to do so;

Separate domain for every Language Version

Single domain with multiple Store Views

5. Mapping a Catalog Structure

One of the best ways to strategically manage your E-Commerce Website is by thinking of it as a hierarchical tree. The site Menu is the navigation map that customers click on to find what they are looking to buy. Hence, it should be precise and understandable. In our years on experience as a Web Development Company, we came across web stores that had pages that were not concise about what products and services it offers. And unfortunately, that is not good for the audience involved.

Hence, as a quick step, consider in your mind a structure of how your catalog should look. Because this way, your mind map will work together with your visuals to place important things closer to your audience on the Homepage.

Later, you can classify other products and services by varieties as required for your target audience. However, make sure that they operate no more than thrice, deep in the menu. Why? This point is critical for UX because no one has the time to keep clicking around and hop from one page to another to locate the information they need. And not only for the interest of your website visitors, but this will also influence your SEO Services in Lahore and conversions. Yes, these are the things the search engine beasts, aka Google Bots, use to make or break your digital presence. On a final note, we’d suggest, go through this article – E-Commerce Product Catalog Management: 8 Best Practices, to learn more about how product cataloging works best.

6. Text and Visual Content

Ever seen a Web Store without content, product images, or product descriptions? There doesn’t exist any. So after you have trailed down through all the previously mentioned steps, begin preparing your Product Images. And if you don’t have any, we’d suggest, click a new picture of them, ensuring accuracy and high-quality resolution. At this point, you might need some help from professionals providing Branding and Graphic Designing Services.

Next, put your thoughts and words into writing Product Descriptions. Considering that this is one area that brands don’t realize is powerful, this might get you a competitive edge over others and influence your conversion rates. Technically speaking, these descriptions are your salesperson. Hence, answer every question you think a customer might ask about a product in an organized way, and let the product descriptions do the talking. Plus, if you need some help with nailing your product descriptions, read our previous article – 5 Product Description Mistakes That Drive Buyers Away.

Last but not least – Decide if you want to have a blog on your Web Store, considering that it will affect your general Digital Media Marketing plan, SEO Services, and technical Digital Services. And if your answer is a YES, let us know about how you plan to drive valuable visitors to your E-Store with the help of blogs.

7. Shipping and Billing Gateways

No buying process ends without payments and shipments, be it in-store, or online retail. So while you are setting up a Web Store, you need to look out for payment gateways that are available in the countries where you will be selling. Here’s a pro-tip; Don’t rush at this point because the payment gateway you choose directly influences your ROI. Look for options, compare them, and pick the one that profits. And if you need some help with integrating these gateways with your Web Store, get in touch with Xcentric Services. We provide E-Commerce Platform Integration Services that ensure compatibility and smooth processing.

Next, decide on the countries where you will be shipping your products. Ask yourself a few questions like;

How much will it cost to ship to a specific country?

Is my E-Store compatible with shipping to these countries?

Will we provide the shipping for FREE?

Analyze the answers to these questions and find out a technical solution to them all. And once you have decided on the countries you will be shipping to, make sure that the customers from there can view all the necessary APIs when they place an order. The APIs include costs, estimated delivery time, and all the regulations specifying each country where you will ship.

Final Note

Now that you have gone through all must-haves of launching an E-Commerce Website, we assume that you are overwhelmed with the heaps of decisions you have to make. But don’t worry, we’re a Web Development Company in Lahore, providing Magento E-Commerce Development Services. Get in touch with us and let us give your business a new digital face.

[trinhhungthin]

Asiame

The age of the online world allows us to carry out different things on-line. Contacting participants on Asia Charm is really easy. You can use search to find the best matches, look over the user profiles of girls you liked most and start communicating with these people. You can such as a profile and wait until a lady likes you back not to ever waste credit on women who do not like you. You may also write her a message in text talk with attract her attention. When you know each other better, you should use the different communication expertise just like sending emails or sending gifts and exchanging likes.

Another website’s name is certainly, which indicates that most of the female staff registered on the webpage are Offshore. Chinese and also other Asian companies approved a lot more than six 1000 girls and young ladies whose profiles can be found on this web site. In addition to the option of reaching Asian girls and chatting with them, as well provides an group of personal gatherings. Translation services are usually available upon request.

Therefore , it is possible to agree that Asia Me personally website is a marvellous example of a platform which has perfected its functionality specifically for consumers. Here, you can expect to enjoy guaranteed high-quality conversational features, confront no difficulties with registration, and become amazed at the number of advanced and unique options that are offered to you personally. is truly a magnificent website that helps people get happiness and real love.

is a superior international going out with site connecting beautiful Asian women seeking serious romances with guys from around the world. AsiaMe’s objective is simple, to provide individuals with secure, easy-to-use and professional solutions, such as Conversation, CamShare, EMF Postal mail, Call Support, Gifts & Flowers etc . to satisfy their needs.

The quality of profiles is very high in this article. All the Oriental women are real many all of them have got verified all their background by ID-cards. However , lots of the profiles aren’t very complete — nonetheless we are sure it’s not only a huge issue to suit your needs. There are much more than 4, 1000, 000 associates here, and even more than six-hundred, 000 of them are Asian females from China, Japan, Korea, and other countries — so you will definitely find a female here.

Asia Friendfinder provides online Asian personals companies, including on-line profiles and photographs of sole Asian men and sole Asian women of all ages. We have individual chat rooms, non-public mailboxes and an instant messenger – to allow others to communicate instantly.

Online or perhaps internet Asian dating is a dating process or methodology where Oriental singles or individuals connect over the Internet with the aim of designing a personal or romantic relationship. Internet dating communication typically involves one particular using one chat, participating group chats in chat rooms, and writing upon message boards or blogs.

Using a huge databases, AsiaMe creates a new enhancements made on the ball of finding real love. The verified and dynamic members on the site provide you with the possibility to celebration with amazing women. This ensures that people on the site have an enjoyable online dating experience. You will get the right potential for finding a ideal and caring life partner. AsiaMe is regarded as probably the most popular tools for making associations worldwide. You may essentially help to make long lasting associations through this site without any hassles.

The AsiaMe webpage is for Cookware men and women searching to get a spouse almost all their life. That they exist seeing that 1998 and seem to have reached a centuries. It’s a great assistance that includes everybody including North and South America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific.

East Asia Vows To Return Mountains Of Rubbish From West

Facebook is opening its initial data center in Asia The company announced today that it must be planning an 11-story building in Singapore that can help its products run faster plus more efficiently. While using above two points, it’s distinct that you need to take caution when using the site. The web page is genuine and safe, but be careful in everything you carry out. Note that instantly you buy credit, your account lets out the money to get some more credit. The system normally takes money to get extra credit rating once the equilibrium gets to a person. To avoid criminals and fake information, if any kind of had a potential for getting accredited, avoid sending funds or personal information to anyone. If you encounter a suspicious user, report right away to the site for action.

First, to attract your lady’s attention, you are able to send her a zeichen. If you have identified some desirable girl , nor want to reduce her bank account among the list of others, add that to Preferred – this approach is also on Asia Appeal. Also, here you can use live chats, fast messages, or mailing intended for communication.

is certainly an International going out with site. It came up in the world wide web world in 2004 as a sister site of, an additional top Chinese dating internet site in Asia (read even more iDateAsia Reviews). This site is committed to offering a reliable, easy-operating dating platform for traditional western men and Asian women ( largely Thai ladies and Vietnamese women). Seeing that online dating business is flourishing and gets competing, they have hard with regards to to stay aside by rumors and imputations. In order to protect the members via being mixed up or misdirected by these so-called iDateAsia Scams”, we believe it’s seriously essential to tell the facts and malfunction the gossips.

Yes, this is definitely one in the safest and most advanced seeing websites about the protection of the personal information. Becoming in the industry for over 10 years, Asia Me features proven to be an accountable and professional dating platform that cares about their customers.

The Internet era lets us do numerous things internet. For example , starting a romantic relationship! Online dating sites is common in almost every country, therefore international lovers appear occasionally. Mail order bride practice is still on the very best of their popularity, and you can easily find a better half online simply by choosing from variety of dating profiles. Flirting relating to the Internet can turn out to be a real point, one the 2 main really want that.

The major advantage of AsiaMe website is its conversation features. You would not get another seeing platform with the many amazing tools designed for conversations. To begin with, you can like high-quality messages services: chats, emails, and admirer mails. Interestingly, the very last option is normally partially free — you can read characters from other associates for free. The second is, you are supplied with audio and video calls. CamShare feature enables you to establish a dual end connection with the mail order bride. Last but not least, you can call up your future sweetheart, and let her know how much you want to meet with her.

The male viewers needs to have the funds for services with credits to have extended opportunities for using this service. These kinds of credits undoubtedly are a currency of your site, they usually, in their flip, are purchased for real money. The range of products provided to you personally depends on the volume of credits you could have. With current account surpluses, men can enjoy all the pictures of documented ladies, write texts to all of them, make voice calls, and work with video shows. For example , about a minute of web based conversation and sending a single text message expense one credit, which is corresponding to almost $2.

AsiaMe reconditioned their website a year ago or so. It absolutely was ok, at this moment it’s just simply gorgeous — it is design is excellent, every option is exactly where you expect it to end up being, and the software is 100 % intuitive. They already have fixed all of the mistakes, resolved all the problems, and made each of the good things even better — and we could sure that you simply won’t be disappointed. They have as well updated their app, now it looks precisely how one of the best seeing apps ought to look like. Unfortunately, the iphone app is only available for Android cell phones.

I would certainly not hesitate to that not one of the profiles are real as well as the person you are communicating with is probably functioning at an company where they will sign up women who will be provocative and then presented within a highly controlled package to financial make use of lonely guys.

On Xmas Eve, the Chinese offer and consume apples, mainly because the Offshore word for ‘Christmas Event and ‘apples sound similar. As for Xmas food, there is absolutely no set meals people eat in landmass China. Several see it like a choice of a gathering with close friends, which can suggest just a informal meal by McDonalds! Nevertheless , many international resorts do serve a more traditional Xmas dinner, as if you get in developed countries.

Locate The Perfect Match On AsiaMe

The age of the net allows us to perform different things on line. There is a tough policy that AsiaMe practices which is incredibly complex. All the profiles in the site happen to be properly validated by the support team. You may not find any kind of fraudsters on the site which is good news. All the files are inspected and confirmed before enabling anyone to join as a member.

Even though countries in Asia are popular options for brides, the choice to become postal mail order is not an convenient one to produce. In fact , just progressive pondering ladies at any time consider the option. And that’s why to get only gonna ever satisfy a smart and savvy female when you gain access to Asian postal mail order websites. Asian mailbox order brides have the capacity to think outside the box and start with solutions that no-one would have thought about. Skills like these come very practical at home, especially if she’s responsible for running the house.

While I quickly learned about the custom, I just admit I did not remember from time to time, particularly if I was away drinking using a table of new friends. I have found that Asians tend to offer foreigners several leeway just for mucking up customs, but better to not really mess it up by any means.

There are a lot more than 18000 1000 active customers on (AsiaMe). The site cooperates with over a hundred community agencies that select the best Chinese ladies and help them signup on the site. China is a huge country with the large population; hence, fresh girls come to organizations on a regular basis asiame and join the electronic community of this Qpid Network. Indeed, as you register on the site you should take into account that you will be permitted to communicate with each of the girls associated with the Network and that you are not limited to Oriental segment.

Click on the second option to receive registered. Fresh users ought to indicate their particular full name, gender, date of birth, email, and pass word in the provided registration type. After filling out the form, info about the new member is definitely sent with respect to verification. Warning announcement about effective registration comes by email. After that, you can start creating the profile. A lot more details you mention in your profile, the more possibilities you have to captivate the attention of beautiful Asian girls.

Asia Charm is mostly a leading going out with site that aims to connect foreign men and native folks to beautiful Hard anodized cookware ladies. The website is one of the best lawn mowers of the industry and incorporates a good record for effective matchmaking partners who embark on to become couples.

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Leading Information Associated with via the internet casino

Leading Information Associated with via the internet casino

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Collocation, Trust, and Distributed Teams

A Tale of Two Products

I once worked with a telco company that was developing a brand-new commercial product. Product management and development were located at separate sites in different countries. But this didn’t seem to matter much as everybody was in great spirits and had high hopes for the new product. What’s more, the product people would occasionally visit the development site, and development group members would travel to product management from time to time.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go to plan. The technical complexities were greater than anticipated and the development progress was slower than forecasted. As trust was low between product management and development, a blaming game quickly started. Instead of working through the issues together and supporting each other, the product people assigned fault to development, and the development teams blamed the product people. Unsurprisingly, the product failed to become the success everybody had hoped for. Would things have been different if product management and development had been at least initially collocated? While it would not have guaranteed product success, it would have led to stronger and more trustful connections that would have made it more likely to resolve the challenges encountered.

Compare this example with a different one: I was working for a large technology company, tasked with helping develop a new digital product. Despite its focus on reducing travel expenses, most people involved the development effort were collocated at one site in the US. I was one of the few individuals who stayed at their home site. But regularly traveled to the main site and stayed there for several weeks at a time. This allowed me to build strong connections with the other team members and work more effectively with them from my base in the UK. While the development effort was not all plain sailing, the product became a great success: The trustful connections people had developed helped us successfully work through the challenges.

To Collocate or Not

We live and work in a globalised world, and there are usually good reasons for having teams and individuals located at another site. For instance, the team might be part of a recent acquisition; the skills required might not be available locally; people might not be able to relocate; or you might have to partner with a supplier in another country. But as the initial story above shows, working with remote teams is not always conducive to achieving product success: When you work on a product that has not yet reached product-market fit or when you are planning to extend the life cycle of an existing offering, you should at least initially collocate the development team and key stakeholders. Similarly, whenever you work with a new team, collocate everyone at least for the first two to three sprints, assuming that you use biweekly iterations.

In other words, whenever you face a significant amount of innovation or the level of trust between the people involved is weak, you should bring people together, as the following pictures shows.

The matrix above suggests that unless the individuals involved in the development effort know and trust each other and the degree of innovation is low, you should at least partially collocate them. This includes initially working together at one location for a few weeks, as described above, and regularly spending time together onsite, as I explain in more detail below.

The Office

“I suppose I’ve created an atmosphere where I’m a friend first and a boss second. Probably an entertainer third,” says David Brent in the original Office series. While I admit that working in the same office can have a number of drawbacks, including getting side-tracked by meetings and office politics, being at least temporarily collocated offers the following three benefits to your product:

First, it allows you to collaborate on product discovery and strategy validation thereby leveraging the collective knowledge and creativity of the individuals, creating a shared understanding of the users, needs, competitors, and business goals, and securing strong support by involving the stakeholders and team members in strategic product decisions. Ideally, you want to select a site that is as close to the target users and customers as possible when developing a new product or taking an existing one to a new market. This makes it easier to carry out collaborative market and user research work like observing and interviewing target users.

Secondly, being collocated makes it easier for people to get to know each other and build trust. It’s more difficult to establish rapport and jell as a group when you can’t have coffee or lunch together and only see each other in video calls. But without sufficient mutual trust and understanding, working together will be difficult and costly: You are likely to require more and longer meetings and you will experience weaker buy-in to product decisions; people tend to be more defensive and less open to change, as they lack the necessary psychological safety.

Thirdly, working in the same office, at least for some time, helps with developing initial norms and standards. This includes the following:

Agreeing on roles and responsibilities and how they are filled;

Determining which tools you should use to capture product strategy and product roadmap decisions, collect user data, store product backlog items; and measure product quality;

Making process decisions, such as how product discovery work is planned and tracked, how sprint review meetings are run, and how the development progress is measured.

Get Back

It’s wonderful to established trust amongst the people involved in developing the product. But if people return to their home sites and work in a distributed or dispersed fashion, then bring them back together from time to time, at least as long as the level of innovation is high. This allows people to reconnect and deepen their relationship, and it counteracts them-and-us thinking, something I have often encountered when working with distributed teams. The following practices will help you with this:

Quarterly onsite meetings: Meet at one of the sites every quarter and carry out joint discovery/strategy and development work. For instance, have a joint strategy review workshop taking into account product performance, competition, and trends, and hold a shared sprint review meeting inspecting the latest product increment. Don’t forget to regularly rotate sites. This ensures that people get to know the different locations and avoids that one site is seen as being preferred or better.

Ambassadors: Ask the development teams to rotate team members. For example, if you have two teams in two different locations, ask each team to find a member who is willing to work with the other team for the next three to four months. After this period, the individual joins her or his “home” team, and another team member plays the ambassador role.

Site visits: Regularly visit the different sites as the person in charge of the product to connect with the local team members, stakeholders, and any local product people like a feature or component owner.

Don’t Accept a Distributed Setup as Sine Qua Non

If you believe that working with distributed or dispersed teams will make it hard to progress your product and achieve product success, then don’t accept it as something that cannot be changed. Instead, share your thoughts with the decision-makers in the organisation and suggest a more effective setup. Alternatively, consider if you realistically can be in charge of the product. While it’s easy for me to say this, nothing will change if you make do with an ineffective setup. Bear in mind, though, that creating teams that are collocated may take time.

In some cases, it may require site consolidation—transferring jobs from one site to another and forming collocated units of product management, development, and other key functions, even if that’s difficult for the individuals involved. But in the long run, it may be better for the people, product, and planet.

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Object Storage – Time for Differentiation and Diversification

I recently started to work on new research about object storage, and I’ll be writing a report about it soon. As you may have noticed, object storage has finally found its place in enterprise IT. There are several reasons for that, but the most important is the success of Amazon AWS S3. In fact, the popularity of this public cloud storage service influenced the development of both standard access methods and applications that can take advantage of it.

Thank You AWS

S3 is not 100% “standard,” meaning that S3 is not regulated by organizations like SNIA, and Amazon is not very open when it comes to sharing information with others – especially if “others” are potential competitors or private cloud players. Also, private cloud is a non-existent word in Amazon’s vocabulary. This didn’t change the result in the end, many small and large players started to implement their solutions starting from the APIs trying to match AWS S3 behavior as much as possible, and most of them did it successfully in the end.

AWS S3 was launched in 2006, it was the first service for Amazon and, still today, it is one of the most used services and, probably, profitable. In one way or the other, directly or indirectly, practically every one of their customers uses it. At the same time, with more and more organizations looking at public and hybrid cloud, many hardware and storage vendors added S3 interfaces to their products and now S3 clients are practically available from every solution that needs a secondary storage option (and in some cases S3 is considered the only storage option).

Private Clouds and S3-Compatible Object Stores

Cloudian was probably the first vendor claiming a 100% compatibility with AWS S3 and, still today, it probably remains the best and most complete implementation. That said, S3 compatibility is no longer a differentiator and there is a subset of the S3 API that is now very stable and implemented by all vendors. Yes, some APIs are still more complicated to implement than others, Lifecycle management is an example, but this is mostly due to dependencies with other Amazon services and how object store vendors decided to map these S3 API and functionalities to their product architecture.

Following AWS S3 success in the public cloud, most object storage vendors fought for winning in the private cloud. They all worked to build general-purpose object stores with the idea of building an on-premises replacement for S3. The reality is that only a few of them really saw success while all the others struggled. Why did this happen?

There are some factors to take into consideration if we want to understand why on-premises object stores didn’t storm the enterprise IT landscape in the past:

Hard to adopt: Object stores are all scale-out systems, $/GB is key for this type of storage and in smaller configurations the cost of CPU, RAM, and even low capacity hard disks drove up the price to a point that the cost was higher than the benefit.

File interface: While S3 was the final goal, most enterprise legacy applications are written with files in mind. Most file interfaces on top of object stores were poorly implemented lacking features, compared to enterprise NAS, and performance, to make them usable.

Lack of flexibility: An object store should be a storage infrastructure on which many different applications and on which clients can store data. Unfortunately, the reality is that many vendors didn’t implement the multi-tenancy and security features to make this happen. Additionally, in many cases, most of these object stores had a very rigid architecture and were not able to support multiple types of workloads and file sizes concurrently and efficiently.

Diversification and Differentiation

In the last couple of years, many vendors finally learned something from their mistakes and decided to take a different approach. In fact, they started to differentiate their products from each other and add functionalities specifically tailored for specific types of markets and users.

Practically, all object stores now have similar basic characteristics and all of them are now able to work as a low-cost storage repository for high capacity, low performance, secondary workloads. Most successful ones do more though, and the difference comes from the specialization. You can find at least three categories to describe them:

Enterprise object stores: This type of object stores implement all those multi-tenancy and security features necessary to build a private cloud storage infrastructure, and they work pretty well in hybrid cloud scenarios. They have a large solution ecosystem, strong enterprise-grade support, and a good file interface as well. In this category, we will also find all the products that are usually selected by tier-2 cloud providers for their infrastructures.

High-performance object stores: More and more organizations and developers use S3 APIs in their applications. Although not all of them need huge capacities, performance is becoming an important requirement. This category of object stores is particularly optimized for workloads that require throughput and/or many operations per second, these also take advantage of any hardware resource at their disposal, including NVMe flash memory for example.

Specialized object stores: These object stores have implemented features that are designed for specific industries and use cases making their product highly optimized for specific workloads. These products come with specific APIs, plug-ins, or else, to build a seamless and efficient connection between the object store and the applications that use it.

If we look at the market landscape in this way, you’ll find that most object stores available in the market are a good fit for one of these categories, and most of them can also be partially placed in one of the others, but they never cover all of them.

Minio and Caringo are two good examples of this categorization. The first is really optimized for performance in big data analytics and ML workloads, it can take advantage of NVMe to speed up IO operations, offers strong consistency, and is actively working on integrations with common analytics and AI tools. The latter has announced a new version of its product yesterday, aimed at improving some aspects of video archiving (like, for example, the ability to fetch only a portion of a video stored a single object), making this solution very efficient for workflows that are pretty common in the media & entertainment industry.

Takeaways

Object storage is finally getting the attention it deserves in enterprise IT. It’s not only about the $/GB, but also because many applications are now able to take advantage of it.

General-purpose object stores are not easy to build, except when you need low performance with high capacities. The majority of object storage vendors finally understood, and are now focusing on one of the categories described above.

Do you want to know more? How the vendors are categorized? And how to evaluate an object store for your organization? My next GigaOm report, “Key Criteria for Evaluating Object Stores,” is set to publish (Date) and will cover all these topics and more. Stay tuned!

from Gigaom https://gigaom.com/2019/09/11/object-storage-time-for-differentiation-and-diversification/