31
THERE were tense and fearful moments as the plane descended at a quick rate toward the
sea. All passengers were strapped in and put their heads in their laps, awaiting the crash.
But the pilot was skillful. He managed to touch the water lightly, then lifted the craft so it
bounced along the shoreline like a stone being tossed across the water.
He finally managed to land safely, and no one was injured. Relieved, the passengers aboard
began to talk excitedly.
Mr. and Mrs. Mise congratulated Nancy and her father for having remained so calm. “I can
see that you are experienced travelers,” Mr. Mise said as the seaplane floated tranquilly to a
dock.
“Good thing we didn’t crash,” Mr. Drew said, “or the pearl-making oysters here would have
gotten a dreadful scare!”
The others laughed, then Mr. Mise asked the pilot what had gone wrong and translated the
answer.
“He feels that someone tampered with the engines. After a complete examination, he will
let us know.”
Mr. Drew said he would appreciate this, as his group intended to fly back to Tokyo that
same day. “Meanwhile, we’ll tour the pearl farm.”
A guide took the visitors offshore in a boat, showing them the long bamboo rafts that
contained the oyster beds.
“The oysters hang from the rafts in wire-mesh or plastic baskets,” he explained. “They feed
on plankton and must be cleaned from time to time. We have a crew here that inspects the
beds daily. The men must keep an eye on worn or broken ropes and inspect the oysters for
disease.”
“Who injects the nuclei?” a white-haired Englishman asked.
“That’s done by young ladies called tamairesan. Freely translated, that means Miss Pearl-
pusher,” the guard replied with a smile. “The girls open the oysters carefully with a special
tool. After the operation, the oysters are allowed to rest for a while in quiet waters about
seventeen feet deep.”
“It must be quite a shock to their systems,” Nancy declared.
“It is, and many eject the nucleus. We have x-ray equipment that tells us which oysters do,
and we do not bother raising those.”
“I see some floating buoys way out there,” Nancy remarked. “What are they for?”
32
“Those are experimental glass fiber buoys, roughly one foot in diameter, which will
eventually replace wooden or bamboo rafts because they are more durable and
economical,” the guide replied.
“When are the pearls ready for harvesting?” Mr. Drew inquired.
“They are ‘beached’ after about two to three years. This takes place in the arid winter when
the pearl-sac cells have stopped secreting nacre, and the top layer is completely
crystallized.”
“I’ll bet that’s an exciting occasion,” Nancy remarked.
“Yes, indeed. The oysters are opened one by one with small knives, and out come pearls in
many sizes and different qualities. About twenty percent cannot be used at all, and truly
precious pearls are quite rare.”
“Can you produce a bigger pearl by inserting a larger nucleus?” a blond woman asked.
“Yes, but that is risky financially because large nuclei kill many oysters.”
“I feel sorry for the poor oysters,” Nancy said. “For two to three years they are irritated by
the foreign object inside them.”
“True,” the guide admitted. “But then, nature does the same thing. Man does not harm the
oyster any more than nature does.”
When their tour was over, Nancy and her father spoke to the manager of the pearl farm and
asked if Mrs. Tanya Rossmeyer had visited the Mikimoto Farm.
“No,” he said, “and we have not heard from her. However, I will be glad to call you if Mrs.
Rossmeyer should visit us.”
The Drews thanked the man and gave him the Mises’ phone number, then joined the rest of
the group for the return flight.
The trip back to Tokyo was uneventful, and they reached the Mises’ home in the evening.
On the doorstep lay a note addressed to Nancy Drew.
She opened it quickly and held her breath. The familiar 4 + 9 = 13 equation was the only
message. Nancy showed it to the others, then said to her father, “It’s not fair to put the
Mises in any danger. I think you and I should leave here.”
“You mean, go back to the United States?” her father asked.
Before Nancy could reply, both Mr. and Mrs. Mise spoke up. They insisted that their guests
stay with them. They were not afraid, and besides, they felt that they could give the Drews
some protection.
33
“Anyway, the person who is sending these threats may forget the whole affair if we do not
take him seriously. Meanwhile, I suggest that we get away from the house for more
sightseeing,” Mr. Mise said.
Nancy and her father did not feel this way about it, but did not object to the idea.
“What do you recommend?” Mr. Drew asked.
“A trip to the famous Nara Park,” Mr. Mise said. “It is a lovely place to visit and is full of
interesting things to see.”
Mrs. Mise smiled. “Nancy, you will love the little deer that come out of the woods and greet
tourists.”
“Isn’t that quite a distance from here?” Nancy inquired.
“Yes, about an hour’s flight,” Mr. Mise replied. “I will make the reservations right away.”
Next morning they drove to the airport and departed for Nara. The town had been Japan’s
capital in the 8th century, preceding Kyoto and Tokyo. The visitors enjoyed the sights before
continuing to the famous park, which was a spectacularly beautiful place. People crowded
the entrance and chuckled at the small deer that clustered around them, bowing their heads
in welcome.
“Aren’t they darling?” Nancy exclaimed. She patted several of the animals, who were very
friendly, then followed the Mises on a walk along the paths that meandered among the
trees.
They finally came to an enormous statue of Buddha and gazed at it in awe. The benign
figure had its right hand raised as if blessing a congregation. Mr. Drew remarked that it must
weigh an enormous amount.
“Five hundred tons,” Mr. Mise said. “The total height is seventy-one and a half feet. The
Buddha itself is fifty-three feet tall, and the face alone is sixteen feet in height.”
“That really is tremendous,” Nancy remarked. “When was it cast?”
“In the year seven hundred and forty-nine A.D. It contains several metals, but the outside is
bronze.”
Nancy asked her host about the main tenets of Buddhism and its great teacher Guatama
Buddha.
Mrs. Mise replied, “That suffering is inherent in life, and that one can be liberated from it by
mental and moral self-purification.”
34
Nancy thought this over, then said, “If a person could do that, he would be perfect.”
“That is true,” Mr. Mise said. “Many Buddhist priests try to attain this goal and deny
themselves most of the pleasures of life. We, who are not priests, also try to accept pain
and to live moral and upright lives.”
Nancy smiled. “You are such kind, helpful people. I am sure you’re succeeding beautifully.”
The couple seemed embarrassed by the compliment and changed the subject. Nancy,
meanwhile, had noticed how many people were taking photographs. Most of them were
Japanese, but there was a sprinkling of visitors from countries all over the world.
Suddenly she saw a man who was snapping her picture. She stared at him and realized that
he was short, had black hair, a hard face, and was wearing a gray suit. He looked to be of
Italian descent. Could he possibly be Benny the Slippery One Caputti?
When the man became aware that she had spotted him, he turned and hurried around the
statue. Nancy took off after him, her camera ready to snap his picture.
By the time she reached the rear of the great monument, the fugitive was running away at a
fast clip. Nancy pursued him and was closing the distance between them, when suddenly a
guard stepped up and stopped her.
“Please! You must not pursue an innocent man in this holy park!” he said.
Nancy was amazed. What made the guard think that the fleeing man was innocent?
Certainly the fact that he was racing away made him highly suspect!
She said, “I don’t think that man is innocent. I believe he’s wanted by the police!”
Suddenly Nancy realized that the guard had spoken English without the slightest accent, and
that he did not look Japanese. Was he a friend of Caputti’s and had he borrowed or stolen
the Japanese guard’s uniform?
The girl decided to pay no attention to him and started to hurry off. He grabbed her by the
shoulders. “Don’t you dare run away!” he hissed at her.


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While last month we said that we were going to start work on the combat system, we quickly realized that there were some other tasks that we needed to change around first. A large part of this was the fact that we had no way of telling citizens which types of tasks were more important than others. Instead, citizens worked on tasks in the order they received them, which was by no means efficient. Additionally, we didn’t want to just have a static order for how tasks would be accomplished, we wanted to adapt a system similar to that in RimWorld, where you could tell each individual citizen which tasks are more important to work on than others.
From there, we also caught many other issues within the task system, including a bug that would freeze citizens in an infinite loop if the task they were working on, couldn’t be completed. So with some shuffling of code and a few reworks, citizens now check to ensure a task can be completed, before taking it on. This will also help with citizens getting tasks done faster, as they won’t have to walk to a location, just to realize they don’t have the required elements to finish that task.
Finally this month, we worked on our crafting system! While this was the system we were working on when we discovered the freezing citizen bug, the whole thing was actually a lot of fun to make! The crafting system consists of a queue of items to craft, that allow citizens to work on when they have the required materials. Citizens will skip items in the queue if they don’t have the resources and can be set to prioritize crafting items.
Next month will probably consist of some polishing to our building system, and a rough implementation of our combat system. We are really pushing to have some kind of release next month, just so we can get input back on features we have implemented thus far. Till next month, we’ll be banging away at our keyboards.


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Home Alone
An American family travels from Chicago to Europe, but in the rush of collecting, the clueless parents forget at home... one of their children. The young creature, however, is not lost and shows wonders of ingenuity. And when burglars get into the house, they have to regret the meeting with the cute baby more than once.


Scratchbook
First lesson
HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language): important tags
You don't have to remember these tags, because you can always search for the rigth tags using searchmachines like Google, but I think it's important to know at least some tags, like:
anchor: a
break: br
paragraph: p
insert a link
Some other important things to remember:
Element: An HTML element refers to everything within a set of opening and closing tags.
Attribute: This is a property of an HTML element. For example, to set the href attribute of an anchor tag to an URL
Inline vs. block: A block makes an invisable box.


by Jason Lengstorf
@jlengstorf ·<EMAIL_ADDRESS>Slides: git.io/fp-workshop
(s → a) → ((a, s) → s) → Lens s a
Lens s a = Functor f => (a → f a) → s → f s
(If you do understand this, now would be a good time to fake an urgent phone call.)
var xLens = R.lens(R.prop('x'), R.assoc('x'));
R.view(xLens, {x: 1, y: 2}); //=> 1
R.set(xLens, 4, {x: 1, y: 2}); //=> {x: 4, y: 2}
R.over(xLens, R.negate, {x: 1, y: 2}); //=> {x: -1, y: 2}
First: a quick bit of
jargon vocabulary.
Code that explicitly describes how to do something.
"I'd like the pie heated and I don't want the ice cream on top, I want
it on the side, and I'd like strawberry instead of vanilla if you have
it. If not, then no ice cream, just whipped cream — but only if it's
real; if it's out of the can then nothing."
Code that describes what the result should be.
"Give me all the bacon and eggs you have."
9:00–9:25 Intro to functional programming
9:25–10:40 JavaScript array methods
10:40–11:00 Break
11:00–12:00 Composition and partial application
12:00–13:00 Lunch
13:00–13:20 Intro to Ramda
13:20–14:20 Build an app using Ramda, part 1
14:20–14:40 Break
14:40–17:00 Build an app using Ramda, part 2
git clone git@github.com:jlengstorf/learn-fp-exercises.git
let myFavoriteThing = 'whiskey';
function describeMyFavoriteThing() {
return `I prefer to drink quality ${myFavoriteThing}.`;
}
Try this live: https://goo.gl/IQeD45
function clarifyFavoriteThing() {
myFavoriteThing = 'aged ' + myFavoriteThing;
}
Try this live: https://goo.gl/FEUtUZ
function makeFamilyFriendly() {
myFavoriteThing = 'scented bubble bath';
}
Try this live: https://goo.gl/zgRpEm
let myFavoriteThing = 'whiskey';
clarifyFavoriteThing();
describeMyFavoriteThing();
//=> "I prefer to drink quality aged whiskey." (yay!)
// ...probably a bunch of additional code...
makeFamilyFriendly();
// ...probably more additional code...
describeMyFavoriteThing();
//=> "I prefer to drink quality scented bubble bath." (!)
Try this live: https://goo.gl/xFPtJF
function describeMyFavoriteThing(beverage) {
return `I prefer to drink quality ${beverage}.`;
}
function clarifyFavoriteThing(favoriteThing) {
return `aged ${favoriteThing}`;
}
function makeFamilyFriendly() {
return 'scented bubble bath';
}
Try this live: https://goo.gl/qDtJeu
const myFavoriteThing = 'whiskey';
const clarified = clarifyFavoriteThing(myFavoriteThing);
const newFavorite = makeFamilyFriendly();
describeMyFavoriteThing(myFavoriteThing);
//=> "I prefer to drink quality whiskey."
describeMyFavoriteThing(clarified);
//=> "I prefer to drink quality aged whiskey."
describeMyFavoriteThing(newFavorite);
//=> "I prefer to drink quality scented bubble bath."
Try this live: https://goo.gl/qDtJeu
// start debugging here: ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
describeMyFavoriteThing(newFavorite);
This means the function call can always be replaced with its return value without breaking the program.
const chz = `I love ${clarifyFavoriteThing('cheddar')}`;
...is the same as...
const chz = 'I love aged cheddar.';
expect(clarifyFavoriteThing('cheddar'))
.toEqual('aged cheddar');
const showClarifiedFavorite = compose(
describeMyFavoriteThing,
clarifyFavoriteThing
);
showClarifiedFavorite('whiskey');
//=> "I prefer to drink quality aged whiskey."
Try this live: https://goo.gl/wQFhZK
describeMyFavoriteThing(clarifyFavoriteThing('whiskey'));
//=> "I prefer to drink quality aged whiskey."
It just means we don't need the data up front.
const getStatus = (minimum, student) => ({
...student,
status: student.score >= minimum ? 'passed' : 'failed',
});
const printScore = (student) =>
`${student.name} ${student.status}.`;
compose(printScore, getStatus)({ name: 'Kim', score: 75 });
//=> "Cannot read property 'score' of undefined"
Try this live: https://goo.gl/36qmnx
const getStatus = (minimum, student) => ({
...student,
status: student.score >= minimum ? 'passed' : 'failed',
});
const minScore70 = getStatus.bind(null, 70);
minScore70({ name: 'Kim', score: 75 });
//=> {"name": "Kim", "score": 75, "status": "passed"}
Try this live: https://goo.gl/oBTSnP
const getStatus = minimum => student => ({
...student,
status: student.score >= minimum ? 'passed' : 'failed',
});
const minScore70 = getStatus(70);
minScore70({ name: 'Kim', score: 75 });
//=> {"name": "Kim", "score": 75, "status": "passed"}
Try this live: https://goo.gl/M4aheK
const getStatus = (minimum, student) => ({
...student,
status: student.score >= minimum ? 'passed' : 'failed',
});
const getStatusCurried = R.curry(getStatus);
const minScore70 = getStatusCurried(70);
minScore70({ name: 'Kim', score: 75 });
//=> {"name": "Kim", "score": 75, "status": "passed"}
Try this live: https://goo.gl/rKmEps
git clone git@github.com:jlengstorf/workshop-fp-ramda.git
key
parameter...but just a few simple techniques will save you hours of headaches and make your code better and easier to deal with going forward.
Jason Lengstorf
@jlengstorf ·<EMAIL_ADDRESS>Tweet: @jlengstorf #JazzCon


EG
Hello and welcome to my place of growth! I am an individual with a passion for STEM education, access to STEM education, and equality. I see myself as an advocate for underrepresented populations, and I hope to do my part to change what I can in this world.


I have experimented with most drugs (shrooms, e, coke/crack, dxm, heroin, ghb, nutmeg, opium, ephedrine), though found interest in trying each only a handful of times, with the exception of weed, as I'll always take an occasional toke. I feel most drugs are only worth trying only a few times, as what can be gained is only beneficial when its a new experience, though I find weed a good anti-depressant and social 'peace-pipe' experience.
Salvia defies all expectations, regardless of what one has done in the past. Through my research, the best sites to obtain some salvia divinorum are the ones that sell both 'regular' and 'standardized,' and opting for the 'standardized is worth the extra few dollars.
This was my first and only experience so far with this hallucinogenic, but has definitely left an impact on my outlook on life. Anxious to try the stuff, I bundled up and went out to my garage, while the onset of a blizzard was moments away. I brought my camcorder with and set it up away from where I would partake in this journey (so as to not knock it over). I set the camera to record and got comfortable across the space on my sofa. I used a 'one-hitter' that looks like a cigarette and simply poked it around in the little bag of extract until it was lightly packed. I closed up the bag, set it aside, and using a butane lighter held it up to the outside of the bowl and gradually let the flames come in contact with the sage.
I set it down and held in the smoke for what seemed like nearly a minute with no effect. But as I began to exhale not only did I start feeling the same 'oneness' with all matter that I have felt with schrooms, but also two figures appeared. One figure was a male figure all curled up that was distinctly off to my left, though within reach, and the other was a female figure that grew larger the more I exhaled. Her body was made up of the smoke, and her head rested just at the forefront of the first billow of smoke that seemed to reach across the entire garage, directly in front of me. The male figure was cheering me on in a subtle voice, while the woman was telling me she wanted to see what I was capable of. As long as I kept exhaling, she grew larger. I felt like I could have exhaled as long as I wanted, but thought I had done all right for now. When I stopped, the figures faded away, but I felt an expanding sense of vision.
The walls of the garage seemed to have no relevance to my thought, and I began to see my neighbors. It was as though all matter became invisible or rather translucent. I felt that there was a force that connected each person (my neighbors and myself) not directly with each other but rather with what is above and what is below. This force extended for what seemed like infinity in a vertical direction straight up and straight down from each being, and it seemed like nothing could interfere with this force or connection.
This thought became a little overwhelming as I took it to be that each one of us can possess the power of a god or of a devil. I felt like I should not hold on to this power for too long for fear of doing something I might regret. I felt this connection that we all possess allows us to control the winds, though we are often too distracted with physical matter to realize this potential, and perhaps using this power is misuse and will cause great consequences.
Coming back to the friendly 'oneness' feeling after what I am guessing to be about 5-10 minutes later (I never felt like I completely left reality), I started to feel other forces that explained a lot of the conflicts I have been trying to solve. I turned off the light and then took two smaller hits with less profound effects, but still life changing.
As I found my self swaying with the wind that was blowing outside (though in the physical world, the wind could not be felt inside the airtight garage), I realized the forces I was feeling at this time were those of my parents - not of them at that moment, but of them from the beginning of my life to the present moment. I felt this real strong almost rope-like force pulling me to the left and connecting me to all the material objects in the garage that are there thanks to my mom, or my grandparents on my mom's side.
While I felt this other force on my right that was more of a repelling force that seemed to have an origin far off in the distance. Now some background on my life - parents divorced at early age, 21 now, just moved back home with mom, talk to dad occasionally, but rarely see him. I felt as though this distant force related to my relationship with my dad, though no physical clues, like the connection with my mom through her furniture and belongings. Funny thing is, a few weeks ago, some of the few items I had out in the garage that I received from my father were stolen, possibly my own fault for choosing to not lock doors, and maybe a sign I need to reconnect with him.
Deciding this was enough of an experience for now, and that I would not smoke this mint again without a sitter, I made the short walk outside back to the house. Upon walking in, I came to a realization that my grandmother who lives upstairs (its a duplex) does not get to feel the forces of the world in a proper manner. Not simply because she lives on the second floor, but because she rarely, maybe once every other week, comes down from the second floor due to her health.
Once inside I made another startling revelation. Holding the camcorder out in front of me to capture my words, I said out loud, that I have the ability to be free, as free as the chairs in the room, but the forces that keep me from feeling free are there simply because I allow them to exist.
While at first forgetting about the figures that appeared, they came back hours later as I was reflecting on the experience. The odd thing is that though I have never done Salvia before, the woman's voice I heard earlier today was one I have heard before, only it was too far off in the distance to ever be made out, and this time was just like the presence of another being. I have heard the voice while on shrooms, and while high on marijuana. It is one of all knowledge, though shaped through my own perspective.
Considering the small amount I used, I would give a word of caution to anyone who wants to experiment with this plant, though I will say I am one who often day dreams and can obtain OBE's without any drugs. Though these drug-free experiences are usually a result of meditation, they rarely become OBE's and usually just a feeling of 'bigness' - something I used to feel often as a kid.
Reviewing the footage I obtained tells me the entire garage experience was about twenty minutes, but is only an image of me sitting with a blank stare for the beginning, as the majority was all black since I turned out the lights. The last footage of me talking to the camera is pretty much what I remembered as I was almost entirely back to normal at that point.
I plan on using more soon with a sitter, though I feel this is a drug that can only be beneficial for a few visits and any more would be taking advantage of its powers.
Experience Reports are the writings and opinions of the individual authors who submit them.
Some of the activities described are dangerous and/or illegal and none are recommended by Erowid.


DfE enquiries
Central newsdesk 020 7783 8300
General enquiries 0370 000 2288
Press release
Extra funding to develop teaching leaders announced by Schools Minister.
Hundreds of thousands of children in challenging schools will receive extra help from specially trained teachers after Schools Minister David Laws announced £10 million to help develop school leaders of the future.
The Department for Education money will more than double the number of so-called ‘teaching leaders’ working in schools - from 766 currently to 1,706 by 2015.
The scheme - called Teaching Leaders - sees teachers already working in schools defined as challenging (see notes to editors) and with the potential to become outstanding leaders, such as heads of departments, put through a rigorous 2-year training programme which develops their skills and helps them get the most from pupils.
More than 125,000 children from disadvantaged backgrounds in 365 schools have already received assistance from the specially trained teachers since Teaching Leaders began in 2008 with government funding of almost £9 million.
A 2-year study of the 118 teachers who started the programme in 2011 found the proportion of pupils achieving A* to C grades at GCSE in teaching leader-led departments rose 7% between 2011 and 2013 - from 65% to 72% (source: Teaching Leaders).
Schools Minister David Laws will announce the funding at the Teaching Leaders 2011 cohort graduation ceremony tonight (Thursday 7 November).
He said:
This programme has shown that outstanding leadership is crucial in getting the most from pupils.
Teaching Leaders has helped schools identify their most promising teachers and turn them into the outstanding head teachers of tomorrow.
This new funding will also allow them to work with schools outside our main cities ensuring that wherever a child goes to school and whatever their background they will receive the best possible education.
Teachers from the 2011 group who have completed the programme have gone on to successful careers in education.
Of those staying in education in the UK:
Central newsdesk 020 7783 8300
General enquiries 0370 000 2288
Published: 7 November 2013


Lone Anchor
Taken on one of the many aging boats sailing within the mountain waters of Dalat. I loved capturing the details of the wood that was quite worn, but contrastingly, had a bright paint coat. The anchor became the focal point of the photo. Small, rusted and crooked, the anchor still did the job.
Fullscreen
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Match Play. 4-4 to 11. How should Red play 64?
pips Red=134 White=185
(CorrectAnswer= 0/0, ErrorScore= 0)
This is from USBGF vs. Neil Kazaross.
What an awkward roll! The readers chose 17/11, 8/4.
However, minimising shots is not the point here. In such positions it is important to keep as many checkers in play as possible and that checker on the 8-pt doesn’t yet belong on the 4-pt.
When ahead in the race, race and so the logical play is 22/16, 17/13. There is no duplication but Red doesn’t really fear being hit. 17/11, 8/4 is the second best play but it an error. Any other play is a blunder. The key thing here is to understand the necessary strategy and that is to mobilise those rear checkers.
What an awkward roll! The readers chose 17/11, 8/4.
However, minimising shots is not the point here. In such positions it is important to keep as many checkers in play as possible and that checker on the 8-pt doesn’t yet belong on the 4-pt.
When ahead in the race, race and so the logical play is 22/16, 17/13. There is no duplication but Red doesn’t really fear being hit. 17/11, 8/4 is the second best play but it an error. Any other play is a blunder. The key thing here is to understand the necessary strategy and that is to mobilise those rear checkers.
1. Cubeful 2-ply 22/16 17/13 Eq.: -0.358 0.429 0.175 0.004 - 0.571 0.175 0.008 2. Cubeful 2-ply 17/11 8/4 Eq.: -0.378 (-0.020) 0.417 0.178 0.005 - 0.583 0.165 0.006 3. Cubeful 2-ply 22/16 8/4 Eq.: -0.418 (-0.060) 0.412 0.177 0.006 - 0.588 0.186 0.008 4. Cubeful 2-ply 17/13 8/2 Eq.: -0.460 (-0.101) 0.393 0.178 0.003 - 0.607 0.184 0.007 5. Cubeful 0-ply 17/7 Eq.: -0.548 (-0.190) 0.370 0.139 0.003 - 0.630 0.189 0.009


Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) algorithms for fitting a generalised additive mixed model (GAMM) to surface-enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopy (SERRS), using the method of Moores et al. (2016) <arXiv:1604.07299>. Multivariate observations of SERRS are highly collinear and lend themselves to a reduced-rank representation. The GAMM separates the SERRS signal into three components: a sequence of Lorentzian, Gaussian, or pseudo-Voigt peaks; a smoothly-varying baseline; and additive white noise. The parameters of each component of the model are estimated iteratively using SMC. The posterior distributions of the parameters given the observed spectra are represented as a population of weighted particles.
| Version: | 0.3-13 |
| Depends: | R (≥ 3.1.0), Matrix, truncnorm, splines, MASS |
| Imports: | Rcpp (≥ 0.11.3), methods |
| LinkingTo: | Rcpp, RcppEigen |
| Suggests: | hyperSpec, testthat, knitr, rmarkdown |
| Published: | 2018-06-05 |
| Author: | Matt Moores [aut, cre], Jake Carson [aut], Mark Girolami [aut], Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [fnd] (EPSRC programme grant ref: EP/L014165/1), University of Warwick [cph] |
| Maintainer: | Matt Moores <mmoores at gmail.com> |
| BugReports: | https://github.com/mooresm/serrsBayes/issues |
| License: | GPL-2 | GPL-3 | file LICENSE [expanded from: GPL (≥ 2) | file LICENSE] |
| URL: | https://github.com/mooresm/serrsBayes, https://mooresm.github.io/serrsBayes |
| NeedsCompilation: | yes |
| Citation: | serrsBayes citation info |
| Materials: | README NEWS |
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Introduction |
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Nothing to Lose(1997) ©1997 Matt Petras
Official site: www.nothingtolose.com
Length: 97 min (1:37 hours) Rating: *** out of ****
Life is absolutely perfect for Nick Beame, he loves his wife, he loves his job, he's well off. Nothing could be better, then he comes home to find his wife in bed with someone. Next thing he notices are his boss' cufflinks. Putting two and two together he assumes the worst. Now if his troubles weren't bad, he gets mugged, well not really mugged.. this is where the fun begins. The would-be mugger is taken for a joy ride along with the audience. This movie turned out to be surprisingly funny. I knew, I was going into a comedy from the moment the ticket was purchased. But I was not expecting any intelligent conversation, not to mock either Mr. Lawrence or Mr. Robbins I just wasn't expecting something this amusing. Needless to say this is actually a funny comedy the plot is fairly believable, there is little blood spilt, and unless my memory has decided to fail me there was no explosions. It was refreshing to see a movie come out of Hollywood that relied on the acting of its cast to produce the desired effect as opposed to relying on special effects like Jurasic Park 2 was inevitably forced to do. Tim Robbins puts in a good performance as Nick Beame, and Martin Lawrence Tee(AKA Terrence) also puts in a respectable and witty performance. The actual storyline of the movie is believable although not something likely happen, it is possible and that is what lends this movie credibility. Remarkably the movie shows us the two contrasts in our lives the poor and the fairly well off as they truly are, Humans above all else. Although this movie is no revelation it did bring up the point that people have a hard time getting jobs and in many cases its not due to their skills but due to other factors such as sex or skin color. It pokes some fun at life, at the same time showing that something's in life are brutally hard to cope with. This movie is a movie that lets your take a break relax, kick back, have some fun and get away from it for about 2 hours. What you get from it is time well spent and in most cases a smile on your face.
July 1997
<EMAIL_ADDRESS>www.imactive.com/bootsector
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Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews


Notify all members of the sprint to set up the expectation of anything that they need to complete before the sprint and what to expect during the sprint.
Facilitator Leads the design sprint. Guides the sprint from start to completion.
Recorder Takes notes, photographs and is in charge of the documentation for the sprint.
Product Owner Typically the client and the person with the initial product vision. This person has final say in the product.
Sometimes, design sprints converge on solutions that are partially or completely invalidated. Some things will have worked, and others won't. Make sure everyone understands that the outcome falls in one of three buckets:
This often doesn't happen during the first sprint on a project, but if it happens to you, everyone on the team is probably on the same page about the fixes and tweaks you need to make.
What to do next: Take a week to tune your existing prototype. Create a backlog for developers to start implementation of the most important features or API integrations.
A common outcome after a user study is a mixed bag: a few hits, a few tweaks, and a couple of real head-scratchers. Fortunately Keynote prototypes are easy to change, and as long as some parts of your design are solid, you can probably build on what you have.
What to do next: You can move fast on the tweaks, but you’ll want to come up with multiple solutions for the bigger problems. Start your next sprint at step 2 (diverge).
We've seen a lot of designs go up in flames, and that's OK. You learned that something didn’t work, and it only took you a few hours to build it. This is great progress, and very cheap relative to building and launching a full product. Think what would have happened if you’d spent weeks or months implementing this solution!
What to do next: Start your next sprint back at the drawing board with step 1 (understand). (Hint: the results of this study are perfect fodder for reviewing and building understanding as a group.)
The moderator of the sprint should be reviewing design sprint documentation and coming up with a plan specific to the project of feature set. Typically done by the Facilitator.
Learning from previous product design sprints, existing product or other test and research done. Typically done by the Product Owner.
Any potential competition that solves the same or similar problem that the sprint is trying to solve. This should include lowest common denominator competitors such as email and offline tools. Typically done by the Product Owner.
Make sure you have a room big enough to fit all of the people in the sprint. The room would have a whiteboard and a place to pin or tape up sketches. Typically done by Facilitator.
Typically done by Facilitator.
Only if users are already identified. Otherwise this should be held off till after Understand. During Test, we'll be running a user study, showing the prototype to 4–6 real people. Learn how to recruit great participants for your study here. Typically done by Product Owner.


[1]
rooms is not a good ocean view rooms with good choice.
[2]
rooms is spacious with good ocean view but not that spectacular seaview.


| Contents of the rdoc file. | |
| Visual result of the .rdoc to .html transformation. | Example of using RDoc with wlangThis file is a simple rdoc example, that will be converted using rdoc and embedded inside an html template. Here is a subtitleAnd here a paragraph with some different examples of what can be made with rdoc:
|
| HTML result of the .rdoc to .html transformation. |
Example of using RDoc with wlang

 This file is a simple rdoc example, that will be converted using rdoc and embedded inside an html template.

Here is a subtitle

 And here a paragraph with some different examples of what can be made with rdoc:

for example

a list of

bullets

 |


| DOSE: T+ 0:00 |
20 mg |
insufflated |
Pharms - Oxycodone |
(pill / tablet) |
| T+ 0:00 |
1 bowl |
smoked |
Cannabis |
(plant material) |
| T+ 4:30 |
2 hits |
oral |
LSD |
(blotter / tab) |
| T+ 0:00 |
repeated |
smoked |
Cannabis |
(plant material) |
This all started with Spring Break. I went to visit one of my buddies in a neighboring city a few days before the start of Spring Break. While I was visiting I ended up purchashing an Oxycontin 80mg. I snorted roughly 60mg while I was in town and saved the last 20mg for a 'rainy day.' Well this happened Thursday night and I arrived home Friday midday.
Warning - Drug combinations don't always turn out pleasant.
At around 3pm after I'd awoken from my nap I decided to snort the last 20mg I had and then smoke a bowl of chronic. I had also purchased 5.2 grams of dank while I was out of town. I snorted the oxy and then smoked the bowl. Around 5 minutes after I smoked the bowl I was pretty wasted. I have had a high tolerance to opiates in the past but for some reason this small dosage really got to me.
I ended up leaving my house at around 5pm and hung out with my friends D and W. D told me, after we'd been driving around for about ten minutes, that he'd sell me two hits of acid. Well, I do love my acid so I bought them both and dropped them at around 7:30pm. Now, the really weird part about all of this is what happened next.
I could still feel the oxycontin for some reason. It usually wears off in about 3 hours or less but even after I ate the acid, I could still feel it. I felt the acid start hitting me at around 8-8:30pm. But the come up was different than it usually is, instead of feeling the 'up' and giddiness of LSD, I felt the oxycontin kick in again. It was probably the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me on an acid trip. It was like I had just gotten done snorting it all over again, like the LSD re-activated the remaining oxycodone in my system. Pretty soon I felt like I couldn't walk.
 The oxy feeling wore off at about 9:30pm, finally. It was then that the confusion started. Acid has a way of getting into my head and making me think crazy thoughts. I was sitting in my friends room smoking tree and watching television when all of a sudden a car pulled up to his house. It was a relative, and we had to hide the pot before he came in. Once he left, I couldn't find my bag.  As it turns out, it had just been misplaced. While we were in the house I felt the first waves of visuals and emotions that usually hit me on acid.
A blanket of rainbow-colored lights descended on the carpet and the titles of books seems to beam out like halos from the shelf. The faces on the TV shift and collapsed in on themselves. The walls twisted and made waves like an ocean. Finally, when it was time to leave the house, I looked at the stars. The moon was particularly bright and the stars looked an erie shade of green. As we drove away, the trees rose out of the ground to meet the sky and I felt very small and perhaps insignificant.
My sober driver transported me across town to a neighborhood that was fairly quiet. At least, it's a place where you can get high in peace. And that we surely did, I noticed later that I had easily smoked a gram that night. So after that I decided I might as well go back home and ride out my trip. I arrived home to find the house empty, my parents were obviously still out and as I was in college anyway it didn't really matter. I started to walk around the house and noticed that it felt like I was wading through some kind of muck.
All of a sudden I had a vision in my head of all of my childhood problems. The muck represented all of the bad things that had happened in this house when I was younger. I had been going through a lot emotionally and I figured this was just the acid getting in my head again. I sat out on my porch for a long time smoking cigarettes and trying to maintain. I pulled my stereo onto the porch with me and put on some moe. to try and calm me down. Eventually, at about one am, I went back into my room. It had only been about four hours since I started tripping and I knew I still couldn't sleep.
I watched TV for a good three hours trying to stay sane. Every once in a while the thoughts in my head would gain a voice of their own. It felt like there was someone else invading my skull and trying to shout down my opinions. It was a very odd feeling. Every time I drop acid it only reinforces my original opinion about the drug; that it makes you go crazy.
I'm not sure why the oxycontin and LSD reacted to each other the way they did but I don't recommend that combination to anyone.  You feel the shitty after-effects of the opiate along with the coming up effects of LSD and it all leads to confusion and frustration. LSD and cannabis is probably your best bet if you're going to combine anything.
I thought it might be useful for some people if I wrote what I had combined with acid and its results.
LSD+Cannabis - makes the trip more bearable and amusing, tends to intensify visuals and takes the edge off
LSD+Alcohol - can be fun on the come down, although being drunk in the middle of a trip can be really disorienting
LSD+Cocaine - tends to make people megalomaniacal and can be very dangerous, because you can feel every individual drug you do on LSD, you also feel the come down from cocaine, and the LSD only intensifies the craving for the drug
LSD+Opiates - see above
LSD+Valium/Xanax - Although this does take the edge off of a trip, it can also lead to more problems, coming down from valium and xanax while on an acid trip can make you extremely irritable
LSD+MDMA - candyflipping can be fun and it can be intense, I don't recommend it but I did have a good time
All in all, I think LSD is best when it is taken by itself or with cannabis. All other drugs seem to get in the way of the wonderful experience acid can be.
Experience Reports are the writings and opinions of the individual authors who submit them.
Some of the activities described are dangerous and/or illegal and none are recommended by Erowid.


All Packages Class Hierarchy This Package Previous Next Index
Interface com.jclark.xml.parse.DTD
- public interface DTD
Information about a DTD.
-
EXTERNAL_SUBSET_NAME
- The external subset declared in the document type declaration
is modelled as a parameter entity with this name.
-
GENERAL_ENTITY
- Indicates a general entity.
-
NOTATION
- Indicates an entity declared with a NOTATION declaration.
-
PARAMETER_ENTITY
- Indicates a parameter entity.
-
elementTypeNames()
- Returns an enumeration over the names of element types which were
declared in the DTD or for which attributes were declared in the DTD.
-
entityNames(byte)
- Returns an enumeration over the names of entities of the
specified type.
-
getDocumentTypeName()
- Returns the document type name or null if there was no DOCTYPE
declaration.
-
getElementType(String)
- Returns information about the element type with the specified name,
or null if there was neither an ELEMENT nor an ATTLIST declaration.
-
getEntity(byte, String)
- Returns information about the entity with the specified name
and type or null if there was no such entity declared.
-
isComplete()
- Returns true if the complete DTD was processed.
-
isStandalone()
- Returns true if
standalone="yes"
was specified in the
XML declaration.
GENERAL_ENTITY
public static final byte GENERAL_ENTITY
- Indicates a general entity.
- See Also:
- getEntity, entityNames
PARAMETER_ENTITY
public static final byte PARAMETER_ENTITY
- Indicates a parameter entity.
- See Also:
- getEntity, entityNames
NOTATION
public static final byte NOTATION
- Indicates an entity declared with a NOTATION declaration.
- See Also:
- getEntity, entityNames
EXTERNAL_SUBSET_NAME
public static final String EXTERNAL_SUBSET_NAME
- The external subset declared in the document type declaration
is modelled as a parameter entity with this name.
This will not be included in the names enumerated by
entityNames
.
If there is an external subset then its contents will
be preceded by a StartEntityReferenceEvent with this name,
and followed by an EndEntityReferenceEvent.
getDocumentTypeName
public abstract String getDocumentTypeName()
- Returns the document type name or null if there was no DOCTYPE
declaration.
getEntity
public abstract Entity getEntity(byte entityType,
String name)
- Returns information about the entity with the specified name
and type or null if there was no such entity declared.
- See Also:
- GENERAL_ENTITY, PARAMETER_ENTITY, NOTATION
entityNames
public abstract Enumeration entityNames(byte entityType)
- Returns an enumeration over the names of entities of the
specified type.
- See Also:
- GENERAL_ENTITY, PARAMETER_ENTITY, NOTATION
getElementType
public abstract ElementType getElementType(String name)
- Returns information about the element type with the specified name,
or null if there was neither an ELEMENT nor an ATTLIST declaration.
elementTypeNames
public abstract Enumeration elementTypeNames()
- Returns an enumeration over the names of element types which were
declared in the DTD or for which attributes were declared in the DTD.
isComplete
public abstract boolean isComplete()
- Returns true if the complete DTD was processed.
isStandalone
public abstract boolean isStandalone()
- Returns true if
standalone="yes"
was specified in the
XML declaration.
All Packages Class Hierarchy This Package Previous Next Index


The next five lines declare the class of the objective, named Rosenbrock. This is a a BlackBox objective, so we derive Rosenbrock from that predefined class. The objective has two parameters, x and y declared as data members of the Rosenbrock class.
Next, the constructor, Rosenbrock(), is declared, a method with the same name as the class which is called when new Rosenbrock() is executed.
The method that codes ƒ() itself is declared and must have the name vfunc(). The v means that it can return a vector of values to sum up to compute the objective. That is
ƒ() = ∑i vfunc()[i].
This makes it easier to use the BHHH approximation for the Hessian and to relate objectives with non-linear systems. vfunc() takes no arguments. The current values of the parameters are passed through the members of the class.
7-13
Rosenbrock ::Rosenbrock () {
BlackBox("Get Started");
x = new Free("x",0.5);
y = new Free("y",-.8);
Parameters(x,y);
Encode(0);
}
This initializes the problem. First, it is necessary for the objective to call the constructor for the parent class, in this case BlackBox(), which takes a string to label output.
Next the parameters of the objective are created. In this problem both x and y can take on any value: -∞ < x < +∞ and the same for y. FiveO designates this as a Free parameter.
Every parameter can be given a label and an initial value can be passed when the parameter is created. The values passed, in this case 0.5 and -0.8, are default starting values that can be used to completely reset the problem. Under some conditions this value will be the actual starting value for the parameter during optimization (x0). But this value can be replaced with a different starting value before optimization begins. This means it is not necessary to change this code to change the starting values, but as a fail safe reasonable starting values are hard-coded.
FiveO must know about the parameters, so they are added to the objective with Parameters(). These three commands to define the parameters and add them can be collapsed to one complicated one:
Parameters(x = new Free("x",0.5),y = new Free("y",-.8));
13
Encode(0) sets the real starting values of the parameters at their current values, in this case the hard-coded values 0.5 and -0.8. A vector of different values could be sent to Encode(), and starting values can be read from a specially formatted file using Load(). This will attempt to load starting values saved during an earlier optimization run.
This codes the objective itself. The current values of the parameters are not passed through a vector to be decoded by the user's code. Instead, FiveO always places the current values in the members x and y before calling vfunc(). One member of any Parameter object is v, which is where FiveO puts the values.
The user's code can retrieve the current value of x as either x.v or CV(x), where CV() is a global function which can accept different types of objects as the argument and returns the value:
The advantage of CV() is that it will retrieve the value regardless of whether its argument is a Parameter, an Ox double, an Ox integer, or even a function that returns the value. This means that x can be changed from a constant to a parameter to maximize over to a function of other parameters without changing vfunc().
FiveO imposes constraints and scaling on the parameters. To do this it operates on a free vector, stored in cur.F which typically begins as a vector of ones. Before the user-supplied vfunc() is called F is decoded and re-scaled to create the structural parameter vector, cur.X. Because the values in X are copied into each parameters v member, the user is never required to work with F and X directly.
Decode and Encode are the routines that work between the free and structural parameter vectors.
The code above is then used in a program, perhaps by using #include:
First the code for the problem is included in the program. If the declaration and definition of the Rosenbrock class were placed in separate .h and .ox then it could be imported instead of included, which is sometimes better when using shared code or possibly combining files that might try to include the same file more than once.
Line 3 simply captures all the output of the program (as a log, using the l option) so that it can be included in this document below.
The objective will be created and stored in the variable obj, and the two algorithms used to optimize it in alg1 and alg2. These are objects of classes, so they are assigned the return value of a new statement. Note that the algorithms in FiveO require the objective be sent as an argument of the new command. Multiple objectives can be defined and optimized and each can have algorithms associated with it. (This is different than DDP, which can only store and process a single DP problem at a time because it relies heavily on static members to save storage.
Line 8 simply sets the volume of each object to LOUD which means they will produce a large amount of output. The default is less output (Volume = QUIET), and in cases when an objective or algorithm is called repeatedly within some larger problem it would be best to make it SILENT.
To apply an algorithm simply call its Iterate() method. Different algorithms take different arguments in Iterate, but in this case a single 0 is the default argument. The parameters of the algorithms can be Tuned before iterating.
When NelderMead ends it leaves the best value of the free parameters in cur.F, and the structural parameters in cur.X. When Iterate() is invoked it starts at the same structural parameters but resets the free parameters.
From the directory that contains the program, it can be run from a command line as:
oxl RosenbrockMain
The output to the OxEdit screen would include the segment captured by the log as show here:
Source: niqlow/doc/examples/output/Rosenbrock.txt
After 133 function evaluations NelderMead reports that the simplex has collapsed (converged). Sometimes in large, less well-behaved problems, it can be better to reset the simplex after a certain number of function evaluations, but in this case it is unnecessary.
The free parameter for x has gone from 1.0 to 2.0, and for y it has gone from 1.0 (since y to about -1.25. What this means for the real parameters is stated in the final report once Simplex converges: the actual or structural parameters have converged to within 1.0E-5 of the true optimal values x* = y* = 1.0.
Next we see that BFGS agrees. It does not iterate because the norm of the gradient ∇ƒ is close enough to 0 to declare convergence immediately. It terminates without changing the parameters.
Saved values
Each time FiveO finds an improvement on the objective function it reports on the screen (unless running QUIETly) and writes out to a file. This is designed for slow and difficult optimization problems that one often kills the program before convergence and restarts. Here is the file produced at the end of the process.
The top part of the file is printed using Ox's %v format, which ensures accuracy reading the values back in using Load. The best parameter vector starts on line 4 and continues until > is reached, in this case it is a 2×1 vector. The rest of the file is for information. In particular, the structural vector is printed again with labels, but notice with not quite as many digits.
The user could start at these values by adding obj->Load(0) before the first algorithm is invoked. The 0 means Load() will look in the file created by optimization. The user could also copy the file to Joe.optobj, change the starting values and start there with obj->Load("Joe");. This means that the user can conveniently read starting values from files after saving the default hard-coded values once or the current best vector at any point in a first optimization attempt.


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Mission
The Italian Society at the University of Sussex is a friendly and welcoming meeting place for
students and non-students who have an interest in Italian matters, culture, or traditions.
The purpose of the Italian Society at Sussex is to promote and celebrate the Italian culture and heritage,
to facilitate cultural exchange, to raise awareness of issues concerning Italy and Europe,
to foster the creation of life-lasting friendships and academic or professional connections.
The Society generally organises:
- Group dinners
- Mediterranean Nights
- Film screenings
- Cultural trips in Brighton and to London
- Charity Fundraisers
- Coffee mornings
- Talks and debates
- Different kinds of joint events with other societies
Joining the Italian Society is a great way to socialise and meet new people, discover the Italian culture and have a lot of fun!


The Betting Window for November 15-17
by Luke Irwin
Here at Undercard Superstar, we’re in the business of your business! Just follow our sound betting advice, and you too can afford to walk around in a HAZMAT suit 24/7 to avoid being the unluckiest person in the world!
As usual, we’ll take a hundred dollars and divide it among five fights.
Let’s make some cashola.
- Ronaldo Souza +175 over Jan Blachowicz ($10)
- Paul Craig +220 over Mauricio Rua ($5)
- Douglas Silva de Andrade -260 over Renan Barao ($20)
- Lee McGregor +155 over Ukashir Farooq ($15)
- Andrew Maloney -2250 over Elton Dharry ($50)
This certainly isn’t the Jacare of old, but Blachowicz isn’t the Blachowicz of old, either, and I was stunned to find him as big of a dog as he is. I think he has enough in the tank to bank a win, here.
It brings me no joy picking against Shogun, especially on a short-notice opponent, but a +220 line is too juicy against a guy who can get Rua in a submission at a moment’s notice.
Last Week: $ +3.40
Year To Date: $ -124.91
-All lines courtesy of Bovada at time of wager.


{% include 'header.html' %}
Signups are not yet open for the 2016 Valley Hackathon. However check out our rapidly updating page for our 2015 teams and projects.


{% set page = { title: '', dev: true, html_classes: [], nav: { section: 'Interviewing', subsection: 'Interviewing', hideSecondary: true }, layout: prototype.current.layoutPath + 'layout.html', primary: { col: "full" }, secondary: false } %} {% extends page.layout %} {% block primary %}
If your interview was based was a home visit or based in the office you will need to scan and upload the signed version of the interview notes. Alternatively you can do this when you receive the document back in the post from the suspect.
You can now
{% endblock %}


{% extends "base.html" %} {% block title_outer %}{% endblock %} {% block header_img_filename%}Paris.jpg{% endblock %} {% block premain %}
{% endblock %} {% block mainclass %}home{% endblock %} {% block main %}Nestled between a yoga studio and a bakery, on a quaint street in this community-centered, Bernal Heights neighborhood, is the 40-room, modern-themed, Landon Hotel. While the primary purpose of the hotel is to house visitors from around the world, a secondary, almost mandated purpose, is as a gathering place for many of the community's activities and calls to activism. No one can leave the hotel untouched by the sense of community. Our new modern conference room at the Bernal Heights Landon is the talk of the town, as far as meeting rooms are concerned, but reserve soon, as availability is filling up!
Since the Middle Ages, the Latin Quarter has been a neighborhood of artists, writers, and intellectuals, and the Landon exudes this in every brick of its building. It's a common experience that tourists find themselves derailed from an ordinary day of tourism, to sit in the vintage reading room of the Landon and debate politics, discuss literature, or recite poetry with natives, while sipping coffee amongst the hotel's sizable book stacks. Sit by the roaring fire on a chilly winter night, enjoying a volume of Molière or Proust. Soak up Paris and find out why this beautiful city is a repeat destination for so many world travelers.
With floor to ceiling windows and a breathtaking view of the city lights, the Landon Hotel located in the Kwun Tong neighborhood of Hong Kong, is the choice of many business travelers and vacationers, alike. Savvy and sophisticated, the Kwun Tong Landon provides a place to slow down and relax amid the fast-paced tempo of Hong Kong, while also allowing easy access to the awe-inspiring natural beauty of the region, and such manmade feats in engineering as Millennium City and the Manulife Financial Centre. And don't miss a ride in our glass elevators, the fastest in the city.
The original Landon still perseveres after over 50 years, although it has since had a facelift to improve infrastructure. The West End neighborhood has something for everyone - from theater to dining to historic sights. That said, the West End Landon is far from being solely a tourist's hotel. The community doesn't just ebb and flow around the hotel - the community pours into the hotel, making The Landon an important venue for community activities and meetings. And the not-to-miss rooftop cafe is a great place for travelers and locals to engage over drinks, food, and good conversation.
{% endblock %}


A light-based device for solving the
Hamiltonian path problem
Department of Computer Science,
Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science,
Babes-Bolyai University, Kogalniceanu 1
Cluj-Napoca, 400084, Romania.
<EMAIL_ADDRESS>Unconventional Computation (UC' 06)
LNCS 4135, pp. 217-227, Springer-Verlag, 2006
[PDF version here]
Abstract:
In this paper we suggest the use of light for performing useful
computations. Namely, we propose a special device which uses light rays for
solving the Hamiltonian path problem on a directed graph. The device has a
graph-like representation and the light is traversing it following the
routes given by the connections between nodes. In each node the rays are
uniquely marked so that they can be easily identified. At the destination
node we will search only for particular rays that have passed only once
through each node. We show that the proposed device can solve small and
medium instances of the problem in reasonable time.
1 Introduction
Using the light to perform computations is an exciting idea whose applications
can be already seen on the market.
An important step was made by Intel researchers who have developed the first
continuous wave all-silicon laser using a physical property called the Raman
Effect [7,
16, 17,
18]. The device could lead to such practical applications as optical
amplifiers, lasers, wavelength converters, and new kinds of lossless optical
devices.
Another solution comes from Lenslet [13]
which has created a very fast processor for vector-matrix multiplications. This
processor can perform up to 8000 Giga Multiple-Accumulate instructions per
second. Lenslet technology has already been applied to data analysis using
k-mean algorithm [15] and video compression.
In this paper we suggest a new way of performing computations by using some
properties of light waves. The idea may be used within a special device for
solving the Hamiltonian path problem.
We are not taking into account the quantum properties of light which have been
used for solving the Traveling Salesman Problem [4,
10].
The paper is organized as follows: The Hamiltonian path problem is briefly
described in section 2. The proposed device is presented in
section 3. Mathematical background of the labeling
system is described in section 3.2. The way in which the
proposed device works is given in section 3.3. A list of
components required by the proposed device is given in section
3.4. Complexity is discussed in section 3.5.
Suggestions for improving the device are given in sections
3.8 and 3.9. Further work directions are
suggested in section 4.
2 The Hamiltonian path problem
The description of the Hamiltonian Path (HP) problem for a direct graph is the
following:
Given a directed graph G = (V, E) with |V| = n
nodes and a start node (vstart) and a stop node (vstop),
the problem asks to compute is there is a simple path, beginning with node vstart
and ending with node vstop, containing all nodes
exactly once. The output for this decision problem is either YES or NO depending
on whether the Hamiltonian path does exist or not.
The Hamiltonian path problem arises in many real-word applications [3,
6].
The problem belongs to the class of NP-complete problems [9].
No polynomial time algorithm is known for it.
A small instance of this problem was also the first problem solved using a DNA
computer [1].
3 The proposed device
Our idea is based on two properties of light:
- The speed of light has a limit. The
value of the limit is not very important at this stage of explanation. What
is important is the fact that we can delay the ray by forcing it to pass
through an optical fiber cable of a certain length.
- The ray can be easily divided into multiple rays of
smaller intensity/power.
Initially a light ray is sent to the start node. Generally speaking two
operations must be performed when a ray passes through a node :
- The light ray is marked uniquely so
that we know that it has passed through that node.
- The ray is divided into a number of rays equal to the
external degree of that node. Each obtained ray is directed toward one of the
nodes connected to the current node.
At the destination node we will search only for particular rays that have passed
only once through each node.
This section deeply describes the proposed system. First step is to find a way
to mark the signals which passes through nodes such that the interesting signals
can be easily identified at the destination node. The mathematical background
required for this operation is described in section 3.2 and
the hardware implementation of the labeling system is described in section
3.4.
3.1 Labeling system
At the destination node we will wait for a particular ray which has passed
through all nodes of the graph exactly once. This is why we need to find a way
to label that particular ray so that it could be easily identified.
Actually we are interested in marking all rays which pass through a particular
node with a unique label, such that Hamiltonian path is uniquely identified at
the destination node (vstop).
In the solution proposed in this paper, the rays passing through a node are
marked by delaying them with a certain amount of time. This delay can be easily
obtained by forcing the rays to pass through an optical fiber of a certain
length. Roughly speaking, we will know if a certain ray has traversed a
Hamiltonian path only if its delay (at the destination node) is equal to the sum
of delays of all nodes in that graph. We will also know the particular moment
when the expected ray (the one which has completed a Hamiltonian path) will
arrive. In this case the only thing that we have to do is to "listen" if there
is a fluctuation in the intensity of the signal at that particular moment. Due
to the special properties of the proposed system we know that no other ray will
arrive, at the destination node, at the moment when the Hamiltonian path ray has
arrived.
The delays, which are introduced by each node, cannot take any values. If we
would put random values for delays we might have different rays (which are not
Hamiltonian paths) arriving, at the destination node, in the same time with a
ray representing a Hamiltonian path.
We need only the ray, which has traversed a Hamiltonian path, to arrive in the
destination node at the moment equal to the sum of delays of each node (the
moment when the ray has entered in the start node is considered moment 0). Thus,
the delaying system must have the following property:
Property of the delaying system
Let us denote by d1, d2, ..., dn
the delays introduced by each node of the graph. A correct set of values for
this system must satisfy the condition:
d1+d2+...+dn ≠ a1
⋅ d1+a2 ⋅ d2+...+an
⋅ dn,
where ai (1 ≤ i ≤ n) are natural numbers
and cannot be all 1 in the same time.
If a given value ai is strictly greater than 1 it means
that the ray has passed at least twice through node 1.
3.2 Mathematical background for the
labeling system
Finding the appropriate labeling system was two steps process. First of all we
have written a computer program which generates this numbers by using a
backtracking procedure [5]. We also wanted
to generate numbers such that the highest number in a system is the smallest
possible. This will ensure that the network is constructed in an efficient way.
The labeling systems generated by our computer programs are given in Table
1.
Table 1: The labeling system generated by our backtracking
procedure. First column contains the number of nodes of the graph. The
second column represents the labels applied to nodes.
|
| n |
Labels (delays) |
|
| 1 |
1 |
| 2 |
2, 3 |
| 3 |
4, 6, 7 |
| 4 |
8, 12, 14, 15 |
| 5 |
16, 24, 28, 30, 31 |
| 6 |
32, 48, 56, 60, 62, 63 |
|
From Table 1 it can easily seen these numbers
follow a general rule:
For a graph with n nodes one of the possible labeling systems is:
2n−2n−1,
2n−2n−2,
2n−2n−3,
... ,
2n−20.
As the second step we have to prove that the property of delaying system (see
section 3.1) holds for this sequence of numbers.
Actually we have to prove that the equality:
|
|
| 2n−2n−1 + 2n−2n−2
+ 2n−2n−3 + ... + 2n−20
= |
| a1 ⋅ (2n−2n−1)
+ a2 ⋅ (2n−2n−2) +
a3 ⋅ (2n−2n−3) + ... +
an ⋅ (2n−20) |
|
(1) |
is not possible unless all ai are equal to 1.
The left part of the equality is:
2n−2n−1 + 2n−2n−2
+ 2n−2n−3 + ... + 2n−20
=
n ⋅ 2n − (2n−1 + 2n−2
+ 2n−3 + ... + 20) =
n ⋅ 2n − 2n + 1 =
(n − 1) ⋅ 2n + 1.
First of all we have to see that the equality does not hold if all ai
numbers are at least 1 and at least one number is strictly greater than 1. If
this happens the 2n term will be represented at least n
times. But, it must be represented only n−1 times (see above).
Thus, if at least one number ai is strictly greater
than 1, it means that other numbers aj must be 0. We
will prove that the equality (1) does not hold in this case too.
As discussed above, if one of the coefficients is 0, at least one of the other
coefficients must be strictly greater than 1. For instance, if a1
is set to 0, it means that a2 must be set to 3 in order to
compensate the missing 2n−1 term. This is a direct consequence
of the fact that 2n−1 = 2 ⋅ 2n−2. Of course,
we also have to take into account that 2n−2 must be
represented once. This is why we have to set a2 to value 3.
If a2 is also 0 we have to set a3 to value 7
(we need 4 ⋅ 2n−3 in order to compensate the missing term 2n−1,
we also need 2 ⋅ 2n−3 to compensate the missing term 2n−2
and, of course, the term 2n−3 must be represented 1 time).
As a general idea: if a particular term (2n−j) is
missing (the corresponding coefficient aj is set to 0),
it can be compensate by setting one of the next coefficients to a value of at
least 3. But, a coefficient set to 0 means that the term 2n is
missing once, and by setting another coefficient to at least 3 we will get at
least 2 extra representations for 2n. This will mean that
right part of the equation (1) will be at least (n+1) ⋅ 2n
+ 1. But, the left part of the equation is only (n−1) ⋅ 2n
+ 1.
With this we have shown that all ai (1 ≤ i ≤
n) must be 1 in order to have equality in equation (1). For any other values
of ai the equality (1) does not hold.
An important question is whether this system is the minimal possible (the
biggest number is the minimal possible). A partial answer to this question is
given in section 3.5.
[width=1.79in,height=2.81in]graph.eps
Figure 1: A directed graph with 5 nodes. Start node is 1 and
the destination node is 4. The list of arcs is: (1,3), (1, 5), (2, 1), (2,
3), (2, 4), (3, 4), (5, 2)
3.3 How the system works
An schematic example of a graph-like system is given in Figure
1.
In the graph depicted in Figure 1 the light will enter
in node 1. It will be delayed with a certain amount of time and then it will be
divided into 2 rays which will be sent to the nodes 3 and 5. In node 3 the ray
will be delayed (with the amount of time corresponding to node 3) and then it
will be sent to node 4. However, this is not a Hamiltonian path because it has
visited only the nodes 1, 3 and 4. The other ray which was sent to node 5 (from
node 1) can generate a Hamiltonian path by following the route 1, 5, 2, 3 4.
Note that there is also a cycle in the graph: 1, 5, 2. The cycle will make that
some particular rays to be trapped within the system. The rays which have passed
once through the previously described cycle are not considered Hamiltonian paths
because the moments when they arrive at the destination node are greater than
the sum of delays introduced by each node.
The partial paths traversed by rays are given below:
1
1, 3
1, 3, 4
1, 5
1, 5, 2
1, 5, 2, 1
.............{paths starting with 1, 5, 2, 1}
1, 5, 2, 3
1, 5, 2, 3, 4
1, 5, 2, 4
3.4 Hardware implementation of the
labeling system
For implementing the proposed device we need the following components:
- a source of light (laser),
- Several beam-splitters for dividing light rays into
multiple subrays. A standard beam-splitter is designed using a half-silvered
mirror. For dividing a ray into k subrays we need k−1
beam-splitters.
- A high speed photodiode for converting light rays into
electrical power. The photodiode is placed in the destination node.
- A tool for detecting fluctuations in the intensity of
electric power generated by the photodiode (oscilloscope),
- A set of optical fiber cables having certain lengths.
These cables are used for connecting nodes and for delaying the signals within
nodes. The length of the cables must obey the rules described in section
3.1. A practical example is given in section 3.6.
3.5 Complexity
This section answers a very important question: Why the proposed approach is
not a polynomial-time solution for the HP problem?
At the first sight one may be tempted to say that the proposed approach provides
a solution in polynomial time to any instance of the HP problem. The reason
behind such claim is given by the ability of the proposed device to provide
output to any instance by traversing only once all nodes (O(n)
complexity). This could mean that we have found a polynomial-time algorithm for
the HP problem. A direct consequence is obtaining solutions, in polynomial time,
for all other NP-Complete problems - since there is a polynomial reduction
between them [9].
However, this is not our case. As can be seen from Table
1 the delay time increases exponentially with the number of nodes. Even if
the ray has to traverse only n nodes (resulting a complexity of O(n)),
the total time required by the ray to reach the destination node increases
exponentially with the number of nodes.
There are two direct consequences which are derived from here:
- The length of the optical fibers,
used for delaying the signals, increases exponentially with the number of
nodes,
- The intensity of the signal decreases exponentially with
the number of nodes that are traversed.
These two issues are discussed in sections 3.6 and
3.7.
3.6 Problem size
We are interested in computing the size of the cables required to solve a
certain instance of the problem in a small amount of time. This will give as a
rough indication on the size of the graphs that can be solved using our system
in reasonable time.
This size heavily depends on the accuracy of the measurement tools. The
rise-time of the best oscilloscope available on the market is in the range of
picoseconds (10−12 seconds). This means that we should not have two
signals that arrive at 2 consecutive moments at a difference smaller than 10−12
seconds.
Knowing that the speed of light is 3 ⋅ 1011 m/s we can
easily compute the minimal cable length that should be traversed by the ray in
order to be delayed with 10−12 seconds. This is obviously 0.3 meters.
This value is the minimal delay that should be introduced by a node in order to
ensure that the difference between the moments when two consecutive signals
arrive at the destination node is greater or equal to the measurable unit of 10−12
seconds. This will also ensure that we will be able to correctly identify
whether the signal has arrived in the destination node at a moment equal to the
sum of delays introduced by each node. No other signals will arrive within a
range of 10−12 seconds around that particular moment.
Once we have the length for that minimal delay is quite easy to compute the
length of the other cables that are used in order to induce a certain delay.
Recall from section 3.2, Table
1 that a graph with 5 nodes has the following delaying system:
16, 24, 28, 30, 31.
From the previous reasoning line we have deduced that the smaller indivisible
unit is 0.3. So, we have to multiply these numbers by 0.3. We obtain:
4.8, 7.2, 8.4, 9.0, 9.3.
These numbers represent the length of the cables that must be used in graph's
nodes in order to induce a certain delay.
Note that the delay introduced by the cables connecting the nodes was not taken
into account in this example. This is not a limitation of our system. The cables
connecting nodes can be set to have some length which must obey the property of
delaying system (see section 3.1). Note that all cables
must have the same length. In this case if we have a graph with 4 nodes the
length of every cable connecting the nodes must be set to 16 units (the shortest
possible - in order to reduce the costs). The length of cables within the nodes
should be 24, 28, 30 and 31 units.
The largest length in this sequence is 9.3 meters. This length is not very big,
but for larger graphs the length of the cables within nodes can be a problem.
Once we have the length for that minimal delay is quite easy to compute the
maximal number of nodes that a graph can have in order to find the Hamiltonian
path in one second. We know the facts:
- the largest delay has the form 2n
− 1 (see equation 1),
- the distance traversed by light in 1 second is 3 ⋅ 108
meters,
- the shortest delay possible is 0.3 meters.
We simply have to solve the equation:
2n ⋅ 0.3 = 3 ⋅ 108
(2)
This number is about 33 nodes. However, the length of the optic fibers used for
inducing the largest delay for this graph is huge: about 8 ⋅ 1011
meters. We cannot expect to have such long cables for our experiments.
However, shorter cables (of several hundreds of kilometers) are already
available in the internet networks. They can be easily used for our purpose.
Assuming that the longest cable that we have is about 300 kilometers we may
solve instances with about 17 nodes. The amount of time required to obtain a
solution is about 10−6 seconds.
Note that the maximal number of nodes can be increased when the precision of our
measurement instruments (oscilloscope and photodiode) is increased.
Also note that this difficulty is not specific to our system only. Other major
unconventional computation paradigms, trying to solve NP-complete problems share
the same fate. For instance, a quantity of DNA equal to the mass of Earth is
required to solve HP instances of 200 cities using DNA computers [11].
3.7 Amplifying the signal
Beam splitters are used in our approach for dividing a ray in two or more
subrays. Because of that, the intensity of the signal is decreasing. In the
worst case we have an exponential decrease of the intensity. For instance, in a
graph with n nodes, each signal is divided (within each node) into n
− 1 signals. Roughly speaking, the intensity of the signal will decrease nn
times.
This means that, at the destination node, we have to be able to detect very
small fluctuations in the intensity of the signal. For this purpose we will use
a photomultiplier [8] which is an extremely
sensitive detector of light in the ultraviolet, visible and near infrared range.
This detector multiplies the signal produced by incident light by as much as 108,
from which even single photons can be detected.
3.8 Improving the device by
reducing the speed of the signal
The speed of the light in optic fibers is an important parameter in our device.
The problem is that the light is too fast for our measurement tools. We have
either to increase the precision of our measurement tools or to decrease the
speed of light.
It is known that the speed of light traversing a cable is significantly smaller
than the speed of light in the void space. Commercially available cables have
limit the speed of the ray wave up to 60% from the original speed of light. This
means that we can obtain the same delay by using a shorter cable.
However, this method for reducing the speed of light is not enough. The order of
magnitude is still the same. This is why we have the search for other methods
for reducing that speed. A very interesting solution was proposed in [12,
14] which is able to reduce the speed of light by 7 orders of
magnitude. This could help our mechanism significantly. However, is still a
question how to use this idea for our device because of the complex equipment
involved in those experiments [12,
14].
By reducing the speed of light by 7 orders of magnitude we can reduce the size
of the involved cables by a similar order. This will help us to solve larger
instances of the problem.
3.9 Improving the performance of
the device for particular graphs
The labeling system proposed in section 3.1 is a general
one. It can be used for any kind of graph (with any number of nodes and arcs).
We have shown that this system has a big problem: the value of the involved
numbers increase exponentially with the number of nodes in the graph being
solved.
But, for particular graphs we can find other labeling systems which are not
exponential. For example, the linear graph (see Figure
2 can be solved by our device by using virtually no delays. In this case the
moment when the signal arrives in the destination node is equal to sum of delays
introduced by the cables connecting the nodes.
[width=3.2in,height=0.8in]chain.eps
Figure 2: A linear graph with 7 nodes. No delays are
required for the nodes of this graph in order to find an Hamiltonian path
Finding the optimal labeling system for a particular graph is an interesting
problem which will be investigated in the near future.
3.10 Technical challenges
There are many technical challenges that must be solved when implementing the
proposed device. Some of them are:
- Cutting the optic fibers to an exact
length with high precision. Failing to accomplish this task can lead to
errors in detecting a ray which has passed through each node once.
- Finding a high precision oscilloscope. This is an
essential step for solving larger instances of the problem (see section
3.6),
- Finding cables long enough so that larger instances of
the problem could be solve. This problem might have a simple solution: the
internet networks connecting the world cities. It is easy to find cables of
hundreds of kilometers connecting distant cities. This will help us to solve
instance of more than 10 nodes. However, this solution introduces a difficulty
too: cables of certain lengths must be found or the system must be rescaled in
order to fit the existing lengths.
4 Conclusions and further work
The way in which light can be used for performing useful computations has been
suggested in this paper. The techniques are based on the massive parallelism of
the light ray.
It has been shown the way in which a light-based device can be used for solving
the Hamiltonian path problem. Using the today technology we can build a
light-based device which can solve small and medium size instances in several
seconds.
Further work directions will be focused on:
- Implementing the proposed hardware,
- Finding optimal labeling systems for particular graphs.
This will reduce the length of the involved cables significantly,
- Finding other non-trivial problems which can be solved by
using the proposed device,
- Finding other ways to introduce delays in the system. The
current solution requires cables that are too long and too expensive,
- Using other type of signals instead of light. A possible
candidate would be electric power,
- Finding other ways to implement the system of marking the
signals which pass through a particular node. This will be very useful because
the currently suggested system, based on delays, is too time consuming.
References
-
[1]
-
Adleman, L.: Molecular computation of solutions to combinatorial problems,
Science, Vol. 266, (1994) 1021-1024
- [2]
-
Agrawal, G.P.: Fiber-optic communication systems, Wiley-Interscience; 3rd
edition, (2002)
- [3]
-
Ascheuer, N.: Hamiltonian path problems in the on-line optimization of flexible
manufacturing systems. PhD thesis, TU Berlin, (1995)
- [4]
-
Cernư, V.: Quantum computers and intractable (NP-Complete) computing problems.
Phys. Rev. A, Vol. 48, (1993) 116-119
- [5]
-
Cormen, T.H., Leiserson, C.E., Rivest R.R.: Introduction to algorithms, MIT
Press, (1990)
- [6]
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Doniach, S., Garel, H., Orland, H.: Phase diagram of a semiflexible polymer
chain in a θ solvent: Application to protein folding, Journal Of Chemical
Physics, Vol. 105, (1996) 1601-1608
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Faist, J.: Optoelectronics: silicon shines on, Nature, Vol. 433, (2005) 691-692
- [8]
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Flyckt, S.O., Marmonier, C.: Photomultiplier Tubes: Principles and Applications,
Photonis, Brive, France, (2002)
- [9]
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Garey, M.R., Johnson, D.S.: Computers and intractability: A guide to
NP-Completeness, Freeman & Co, San Francisco, CA, (1979)
- [10]
-
Greenwood, G.W.: Finding solutions to NP problems: Philosophical differences
between quantum and evolutionary search algorithms, in Proceedings CEC'2001
(2001) 815-822
- [11]
-
Hartmanis, J.: On the weight of computations, Bulletin of the EATCS 55, (1995)
136-138
- [12]
-
Hau L.V., (et al.): Light speed reduction to 17 meters per second in an
ultracold atomic gas, Nature, Vol. 397, (1999) 594-598
- [13]
-
Lenslet website, www.lenslet.com
- [14]
-
Liu C., (et al.): Observation of coherent optical information storage in an
atomic medium using halted light pulses, Nature, Vol. 409, (2001) 490-493
- [15]
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MacQueen, J.: Some methods for classification and analysis of multivariate
observations, In LeCam, L. M., Neyman, J., (eds.) Proceedings of the Fifth
Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and Probability. University of
California press, Berkeley, (1967) 281-297
- [16]
-
Paniccia, M., Koehl, S.: The silicon solution, IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Press,
October (2005)
- [17]
-
Rong, H., (et al.): A continuous-wave Raman silicon laser, Nature, Vol 433,
(2005) 725-728
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-
Rong, H., (et al.), An all-silicon Raman laser, Nature, Vol. 433, (2005) 292-294
This document was translated from LATEX
by
HEVEA.


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HackIM 2016 write-up (Prog and Crypto)
Jan 31, 2016 00:00 · 2504 words · 12 minute read
The HackIM 2016 edition has just concluded. Programming questions were pretty straight forward and didn’t require much programming skills. Let’s have a look at them:
Programming 1
So you reached Delhi and now the noise in your head is not allowing you to think rationally. The Nosise in your head has origin its Origin in your Stomach. And this is a big hunger. You can finish one or probably 2 Tandoori Chicken. So where can you get the best Tandoori Chicken in Delhi? This place tweeted last week that the Tandoori Chicken it servers is like never B4. You got its twitter handle?
We have three clues in the question - Delhi, Tandoori Chicken, and last week. Twitter has a fancy advance search feature in which I entered “Tandoori Chicken” in the section “All of these words”, “Delhi” as tweet location and set date between 2016-01-17 and 2016-01-29. The tweet popped up right at the bottom.
 This has happened before. This greedy person lived a miserable life just for the greed of gold and lust. You must know him, once you know him, you must reach his capital and next clues will be given by his famous EX-Body Guard. This file consists of few paragraphs. Each paragraph singles out one Alphabet. Scrambling those Aplphabets will help you to know the country of this Ruler. Who was this Ruler?
File: TheLastRuler.txt
Without solving anything it is clearly evident that the name of country will be five letters. I quickly opened the list of countries with five letters in name. Our problem space has been significantly reduced. But to proceed further we need something more. To determine a pattern, I did a frequency analysis of letters in each paragraph. Here is how it looks:
I separated the letter with highest frequency in each paragraph (In first paragraph it is letter ‘a’) and hence got a word - aliby. On re-arranging it slightly we have our country name, i.e Libya. Finally I googled “Libya gold ruler” and the first name that popped up in results was the flag.
Flag: Muammar Gaddafi
Programming 3
Still Hungry and unsutisfied, you are looking for more. Some more, unique un heard dishes. Then you can find one to make it your self. Its his Dish. He has his own website which is he describes as " a social home for each of our passions". The link to his website is on his google+ page. whats the name of his site. By the way he loves and hogs on "Onion Kheer". Have you heard of "Onion Kheer"?
Googling " a social home for each of our passions" reveals the name Affimity. On opening their Google+ page, you can see the link to their home page. I don’t know why this question is of 300 points.
Flag: affimity.com
Programming 4
One of the NullCon vidoes talked about a marvalous Russian Gift. The Vidoe was uploaded on [May of 2015] What is the ID of that youtube video.
I don’t even know why this question is here. Just a simple google video search reveals the answer.
Flag: a4_PvN_A1ts
Programming 5
Dont blink your Eyes, you might miss it. But the fatigue and exhaustion rules out any logic, any will to stay awake. What you need now is a slumber. Cat nap will not do. 1 is LIFE and 0 is DEAD. in this GAME OF LIFE sleep is as important food. So... catch some sleep. But Remember...In the world of 10x10 matirx, the Life exists. If you SLOTH, sleep for 7 Ticks, or 7 Generation, In the game of Life can you tell what will be the state of the world?
The world- 10x10
0000000000,0000000000,0001111100,0000000100,0000001000,0000010000,0000100000,0001000000,0000000000,000000000
It is clear that the last row represents a 10x10 matrix. There is a typo in last line, 0 is missing. The initial matrix looks as follows:
0000000000
0000000000
0001111100
0000000100
0000001000
0000010000
0000100000
0001000000
0000000000
0000000000
A search on wiki for GAME OF LIFE reveals that the next GENERATION or STATE is decided by following rules:
- Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies, as if caused by under-population.
- Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation.
- Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies, as if by over-population.
- Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.
We have to apply the above algorithm and find the state after 7 generations. I googled and found the implementation of algo. I made some modifications in it as per the requirements. The final C program looks like:
|
|
On executing the above, we get final state after 7 generations as follows:
0000000000
0001100000
0001111010
0000001001
0000001010
0000000000
0000000000
0000000000
0000000000
0000000000
This is the final answer.
Flag:
0000000000,0001100000,0001111010,0000001001,0000001010,0000000000,0000000000,0000000000,0000000000,0000000000
Now let’s have a look at the Crypto questions, which I felt were of average difficulty level.
  On onside your feelings are pulling you apart and another side you are called by the duty. The bigg iest question is seX OR success? The signals of subconcious mind are not clear, cryptic. You also have the message of heart which is clear and cryptic. You just need to use three of them and find whats the clear message of your Mi nd... What you must do?
File: crypto1.zip
We have the following files in the zip:
The cipher used for decoding is the XOR cipher (given in the question) which works as follows:
plain_text XOR secret = encrypted_text
encrypted_text XOR secret = plain_text
encrypted_text XOR plain_text = secret
We have both plain text and cipher text for the heart file, hence we will get the secret by XORing both of them. I used an online tool for the same.
First convert the text in both the files to hex. I used a tool for Mac known as Hex Fiend.
Next take the XOR of both the Hex strings
Now we have the secret key -> *Its right there what you are looking for. * (which is ofcourse being repeated). Don’t forget the blank space after dot, it is also part of the key. Now use this to decode the cipher text in mind_crypt.txt. Be careful with the key size, split the encrypted text in chunks of key size. Here is the first 42 bytes of data:
On decoding the complete file you will get a play store URL which says “Never Miss a Game”
Flag: Never Miss a Game
Crypto 2
Some one was here, some one had breached the security and had infiltrated here. All the evidences are touched, Logs are altered, records are modified with key as a text from book.The Operation was as smooth as CAESAR had Conquested Gaul. After analysing the evidence we have some extracts of texts in a file. We need the title of the book back, but unfortunately we only have a portion of it...
File: The_extract.txt
It is a Caesar cipher (given) with unknown key. Hence I used a tool which can “guess” the key. The key turned out to be 16, and the deciphered text was as follows:
On googling the extract you will find the exact name of the book, which is our flag.
Flag: In the Shadow of Greed
Crypto 3
After entring the luxurious condomium,you get the feel that you are in home of a yester Star. the extravagant flooring and furnishings shows the richness of this star. But where is she? There she is, lying peacefuly on her couch. See what Envy has done to her...with a perfectly well maintained attractive body she still looks sex diva, except for her face beyond recogniton. Her identity is crucial to know who killed her and why? In absence of any personal data around there is only a file. with a cryptic text in it. Preity sure she has used her own name to XOR encrypt the file. And challenge is to know her name.
File: AncientSecretsOfTheKamaSutra.txt
This question is same as Crypto 1 except that we don’t have the plain text of the given cipher text. Therefore it becomes bit trickier to find the key. There are many algorithms and theories around breaking the repeated key XOR, such as on matasano, web, etc. They are time consuming and I was already running short of time. Therefore I decided to follow a different approach, i.e try finding the plain text directly. Although this might sound bizarre at first and might not work everytime, but I was lucky this time. I googled the name of file Ancient Secrets Of The KamaSutra, it turned out to be a movie. I copied the first few letters (Julie and Steve’s) from the imdb story line (17 bytes) and converted them to hex, and XORed it with the first 17 bytes of the cipher text.
Bingo! We have the name that we were looking for. Just a sidenote, this name is also present in the cast on imdb.
Flag: Jeanna Fine
Crypto 4
He is influential, he is powerful. He is your next contact you can get you out of this situation. You must reach him soon. Who is he? The few pointers intrecpted by KGB are in the file. Once we know him, we can find his most valuable possession, his PRIDE.
File: whatsHisPride.md5s
This was more of a hit-and-try problem. MD5 hashes were given which can be decrypted using an online tool. The output of MD5 decryption was - Carrie Grease Perfect Shout Basic Actor Aircraft name. On googling, you will get the name John Travolta. The first part of question is solved where we had to find the name. Now the next part is to find his pride.
I followed the wiki article and searched for PRIDE and it’s synonyms. On searching honor I found the key which got accepted at last. (I tried ~30 keys before my solution was accepted)
Flag: Jett Clipper Ella
Crypto 5
Now you are one step away from knowing who is that WARRIOR. The Fighter who will decide the fate of war between the 2 countries. The Pride of One and Envey of the Other... You have got the secrete file which has the crucial information to identify the fighter. But the file is encrypted with a RSA-Private key. Good news you have its corresponding public key in a file. Bad news there are 49 other keys. Whos is the Fighter.
File: crypto5.zip
It was purely a Brute Force question. Firstly I separated out the keys using AWK:
awk '/BEGIN PUBLIC KEY/{n++}{print >"out" n ".pub" }' all_keys.txt
At this point, I had 50 different public keys in different files, now I just had to find the correct key file. I wrote a small shell script to know it:
|
|
The output of the script was:
Value of i is 26
This fighter is a designation for two separate, heavily upgraded derivatives of the Su-35 'Flanker' jet plane. They are single-seaters designed by Sukhoi(KnAAPO).
On googling the paragraph I found the name of fighter on wikipedia.
Flag: Sukhoi Su-35
This covers both Programming and Crypto questions. Write-up for other questions coming soon…


Philippines to ban e-cigarettes, arrest people vaping in public | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he will stop the importation of electronic cigarette products to the country and prohibit their use in public places.
“I will ban it, the use and the importation,” Duterte said at a televised briefing this evening. “I am now ordering the law enforcement agencies to arrest anybody vaping in public.”
E-cigarettes contain “nicotine and other chemicals that we do not know,” he said.
The ban comes days after the Department of Health said that a teenager in central Philippines who’s been vaping for 6 months and also smoking cigarettes was diagnosed with a lung injury, in what is likely to be the first known case in Asia of the mystery illness that’s killed almost 40 people in the U.S. and afflicted nearly 2,000.
The outbreak has swiftly turned global regulatory attitudes against the nascent e-cigarette industry. Once thought of as a useful tool to help smokers quit, vaping is now banned by around 30 countries including India and Brazil.
Under Siege in the U.S., Juul Looks to Asian Smokers for Growth
Duterte’s pronouncement is unexpected, as Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said last month that a ban on e-cigarettes is unlikely but that they may be slapped with higher taxes. The Philippines was seen by e-cigarette makers like Juul Labs Inc. as one of the promising markets in Southeast Asia.
At today’s unscheduled briefing, Duterte also said he will suspend the importation of rice during harvest season to help the local farmers. He also warned Vice President Leni Robredo, whom he designated earlier this month to co-chair a government body against illegal drugs, not to reveal confidential matters.
>> RELATED: AMA calls for total ban on all e-cigarette, vaping products