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The spiritual side of CCT
At CCT, our goal is to be in service. Our classes and shows are a way of bringing laughter and light into the world, and to serve our community in the way that we are most skilled. Being awkwardly funny. We also reach out and do shows and workshops for non profit groups and also sponsor special spiritual events that are out of our normal, comedic, spectrum. Our owner Keli is a Reiki Master and offers energy healings which can be booked via email@example.com or www.kelisemelsberger.com. We also host special events with our friend Tamera Caulder, "The Carolina Ghost Girl" who is a psychic medium. Check out below our special show dates in harmony with spirit and our desire to serve the greater good. www.carolinaghostgirl.com
Our founder, Keli Semelsberger:
Keli is an intuitive empath, energy healer, inspirational speaker, Reiki Master as well as an improv comedy performer and instructor. Keli has managed to infuse her improv classes and her corporate team building sessions with energy healing,and inspiring, life changing philosophies. Keli believes and teaches, that life is magical and that we are an intergal part of that magic. "We create what we perceive to be true, so if you don't like what you are creating in your life, change your perspective!"
In the holistic field, Keli provides the following services:
Reiki Energy Healing
Negative Chord Detachment
Life Coaching & Spiritual Guidance
Soul Recovery
Intuitive Readings
Inspiriational workshops
Group healing workshops
Family healing sessions
Crossing over ceremonies
Home/business clearing & blessings
For more information or to book her services, please contact Keli by e-mail at email@example.com
Keli is an intuitive empath, energy healer, inspirational speaker, Reiki Master as well as an improv comedy performer and instructor. Keli has managed to infuse her improv classes and her corporate team building sessions with energy healing,and inspiring, life changing philosophies. Keli believes and teaches, that life is magical and that we are an intergal part of that magic. "We create what we perceive to be true, so if you don't like what you are creating in your life, change your perspective!"
In the holistic field, Keli provides the following services:
Reiki Energy Healing
Negative Chord Detachment
Life Coaching & Spiritual Guidance
Soul Recovery
Intuitive Readings
Inspiriational workshops
Group healing workshops
Family healing sessions
Crossing over ceremonies
Home/business clearing & blessings
For more information or to book her services, please contact Keli by e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.com
Tamara Caulder, AKA; "Carolina Ghost Girl". Tamara is a born psychic, remote viewer, mental medium/spirit communicator that gives evidence and details that only the sitter and the deceased person would know.
As a highly developed clairvoyant, Tamara has clear, detailed vision into the past, present and future and can see into any area of one's life. She can also see what others look like, that have passed over including full memories as if it is being shown in a "filmstrip in her mind". Her remote viewing ability helps her in readings since Spirit can take her mentally to places to prove to their loved ones that they are still around and evidence of their presence in their life now.
Tamara is also clairaudient and clairsentient and therefore can, "hear and sense" deceased people around her during readings. She gets details such as whole scenarios (from past childhood experiences, present or future events - but mainly "in the now and the past" come through on medium readings), time periods, names, ages, clothing styles, phrases, facial expressions, emotions and most importantly, the love she feels from others comes through to their kin in readings. She can also sense illnesses in people, and advise them on better ways to fulfill their purpose and stay healthy. However, she is not medically trained. She acts as a spiritual assistant and only passes information along from Spirit to someone. It is up to each person to get a full medical exam and take responsibility for their health and well-being.
She also intuitively understands the transition from life to death, which is the passing of the spirit from this material world on this physical plane to the spirit world on the ethereal plane. In either world, we are a spiritual being. In this world we experience life through the perspective from the body we are given. We do not have a "spirit", we ARE a spirit. The love we have for one another is forever. Tamara enjoys making those love connections with deceased family and friends that have passed over to their loved ones that are still on this physical plane. Tamara's holy guardian angels and loving guides give her positive information and allow her to speak to friendly, family/friend spirits bringing detailed messages of hope, love and encouragement. In this, Tamara has a special gift to be able to attract deceased family members and beloved friends, including pets.
Tamara also has a gift to assist others in their "life path" or Soul progression. Through her Holy Spirit guides she offers deep Soul purpose messages that hit the very core of the soul of that person, or the real "I" of that being. All messages are loving, gentle, insightful and always helpful. It is an ethical motto of Tamara's to only deliver positive messages to help further that soul to a higher purpose. Tamara understands the huge responsibility it is to give messages from crossed over family members to the living, and to assist in someone's Soul journey. All readings are done in love and from God's direction.
"I enjoy bringing positive messages from loved ones that have passed over, to their beloved living family and friends. The ones crossed over do care about us very much, still. They are at Peace now and that love bond never dies!"
- Tamara Caulder, Psychic/Medium
How does a Medium/Life Path reading work?
A reading from Spirit (a beloved family member, or dear friend) is really like a 3-way spiritual conference call. It contains "Carolina Ghost Girl", the Medium, who passes along messages from the other side and hopefully, painting a person "back to life" to show that spirit is really here with their loved one, still. Then there is the sitter, the person that wants a spirit and/or life path reading. The sitter's job is to be open, no walls put up, sit there as an open vessel, love in their hearts and to respond to the Medium when she asks a "yes or no" to questions periodically asked, or "I cannot recall at this time" and to validate anyone coming through. Then there is the Spirit person that wants to communicate with their loved one here on this physical plane.
Sometimes the person that the sitter wants to come through will not come through or show up later in the reading. Many times other spirits bring other spirits through with them.
Before all her readings Tamara says a "Blessing Prayer" to God the Creator for His Arch Angels to protect, and direct the person being assisted at the highest level and for her Holy spirit guides to assist her to understand spirits coming through. During this "Blessing Prayer", Tamara also acknowledges loved ones passed and ask for them to step forward at this appointed time.
Tamara spends the majority of time in a reading giving the medium/life path reading and the last few minutes to get any questions answered or concerns clarified. She sees being a Medium a "high calling from God Himself" and expects evidence from her spirit helpers with each reading. All she asks from her sitter (the person being read) is that they remain "open" and have love in their heart. (This is very important.) They can also concentrate on what they want from the reading. However, what a sitter wants is not always what they need to hear. Spirit knows what evidence or message will best assist the person being read with the most pertinent and loving message to help move that person to a better place in life!
For more information, contact:
"Carolina Ghost Girl" NEWS!!!
October 2013, Tamara recently was selected and trained with International Mediums/Arthur Findlay Graduates/Authors: John Holland and Janet Nohavec for a week at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck NY in his Advanced Medium class. Out of 60 students from around the US and Canada Tamara was one of eight students to do a live medium demonstration before the class and John Holland and Janet.
Tamara's next advanced medium training will be for a week with Tony Stockwell and Janet Nohavec at Janet's Spiritualist Church, The Journey Within, in New Jersey March 2014.
Tamara's excellence in showing live medium "evidential" demonstrations and giving personal messages of love and hope from the other side is all motivated by her dedication to God's love to help move mankind toward realizing we are all children from "the light".
"I love bringing family members together in a spiritual reunion with messages of love and hope from the other side." - Tamara Caulder, Psychic/Medium
Disclaimer: Remember that no psychic reading can predict, forecast, diagnose or provide information with absolute certainty. No guarantees or assurances of any kind are given, and Tamara Caulder, a.k.a., "Carolina Ghost Girl" will not be held accountable for any interpretations or decisions made by recipients based on information provided during readings. For medical concerns, please consult with a physician. For legal matters, please contact an attorney or law enforcement. For entertainment purposes only, no refunds.


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Our friends at Chaos Group have just announced the release of the new Service Pack 5 for V-Ray for 3ds Max.
The new build adds compatibility with 3ds Max 2011 and 3ds Max Design 2011 and includes modified and improved features as well as two new features for you to get stuck into:
- Added VRaySamplerInfoTex texture and VRaySamplerInfo render element;
- Added VRayObjectSelect render element which allows to extract objects with specific IDs into a separate element;
There are also loads of modified features for VrayPhysicalCamera, 3D displacement, and more than 20 other modifications and bug fixes. If you're a user of V-Ray for 3ds Max you can download your version of SP5 for free, or you can check out the full list of improvements and bug fixes here.

subset: commoncrawl


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Coach Profile
Megan Fitzgerald
Career By Choice
Expat & International Career Coach: Helping global professionals and executives clarify their unique value, be more visible on and offline and land work abroad
About Megan Fitzgerald
Struggling to command attention from employers in today's digital and global marketplace?
I specialize in catalyzing the careers of forward-thinking, global professionals and executives by helping them clarify their unique value, become highly visible on and offline and land work abroad. I provide expert guidance to those interested in driving change and making an impact in their organizations and the world.
HOW I CAN HELP: My proven solutions advance global careers by helping:
► uncover your compelling, unique value proposition
► create career marketing tools on & offline
► improve visibility & online reputation
► build global networks
► run an international job search-and more.
CREDENTIALS & GLOBAL EXPERIENCE: My in-depth, 360° approach to international career acceleration is informed by 20 years experience in career and business development in 45+ countries, 3 degrees, 8 certifications and 12+ years living abroad on 3 continents.
CORE OF MY WORK: My belief that communicating your unique value in a compelling way on and offline is essential to landing top jobs abroad is at the core of my work. In a world of change this constant drives your performance, your fulfilment and is your ultimate competitive edge.
RESULTS: I've helped hundreds grow careers abroad just as I've done for myself. My clients land work aligned with their passions and strengths and are recognized and well-compensated for the value they deliver.
Working for Fortune 500 and global organizations like Cisco and the UN, their results:
► Landed jobs in new countries & industries
► Secured promotions & 50% salary increases
► Expanded their global network & client base
► Built blogs & a strong online presence
PRESS: Named a top 50 personal branding consultant, I've been featured in Fortune, CNN, Financial Times, Washington Post, BBC, WSJ and many career publications.
MY WHY: By helping change agents realize their potential abroad I hope to make the world an even more extraordinary place.
SIGN UP FOR EXPAT CAREER SUCCESS TIPS: http://bit.ly/expatcareer
- English
- Italian
Located In
- Global
- Singapore
- Career Coaching
- Cross-Cultural Challenges
- Executive Coaching
- Expat Challenges
- Identity Management
- Leadership Coaching
- Personal Branding
- Professional Adaptation
- Social Media
I Work With
- Businesses
- Individuals


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Includes new case studies and survival scenarios
The experts' survival techniques, based on John 'Lofty' Wiseman's 26 years in the SAS
Practical, easy-to-follow advice with diagrams and color illustrations
*Visit the Apple iTunes store to be fully equipped with the SAS Survival Guide iPhone App.
John 'Lofty' Wiseman served in the British Special Air Service (SAS) for twenty-six years. The SAS Survival Handbook is based on the training techniques of this world-famous elite fighting force.
Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer


text: Apple cider vinegar is the best thing I have ever tried. It absolutely helped my acid reflux as well keeping me from having to have surgery on a very painful heel spur and bursa. It also stopped my gout. I used to have it regularly. I haven't had it now for three years. Wow! It increased my joint motion as well. I am 58 and my blood levels have improved as well.


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The bass is an essential part of any group of instruments. Orchestral basses need powerful rich sounds with an even gradation of sound throughout the range. on this basis we reject all laminate top basses. Our range starts with the hand carved tops since plywood tops have poor and unpredictable sound in the different registers.
The action is set by us, to be standard but we can vary this if required. In pop, swing or jazz where the player may want a high action with more flexible strings, can be accommodated.
Just let us know!


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Over the past few days, Twitter has turned into a battleground, with Justin Bieber and One Direction's biggest fans hashtagging like crazy to win a radio marathon. So who prevailed?
The fan bases of Justin Bieber and One Direction are by far the most fervent and supportive ones out there — so what happens when you pit them against each other? Pure chaos — and a whole lot of tweets.
Justin Bieber & One Direction's Fans Face Off
The Mexican radio station chain EXA has some geniuses in their marketing and social media departments. The station decided to put the Beliebers and Directioners to the test during the second week of January, vowing that whichever fan base tweeted the most — using the hashtags "#EXABeliebers" and "#EXADirectioners" — would win their idol(s) a three-hour, uninterrupted marathon on the station.
Though we're sure most of the fans wouldn't have been able to tune into the marathon, the fan bases' pure competitiveness kicked in and both hashtags quickly started trending as Beliebers and Directioners faced off:
"exa is only a radio station and whoever wins, their songs get to played for 3 hrs" wE HAVE TO WIN THIS OKAY #EXADirectioners
— 165616 ; abril (@PARANARRYMAL) January 10, 2014
DO U WANT TO HEAR JUSTIN'S SONGS ON THE RADIO FOR 3 HOURS? THEN DON'T JUST SIT THERE. VOTE! #ExaBeliebers
— ✖ (@HarryUpBiebs) January 10, 2014
Those are only two tweets but trust us, there were about a billion more just like these (note: estimated number).
Beliebers Vs. Directioners: Who Won?
The competition came to a close on Jan. 11 — so who got the three-hour marathon? It was close — like decimal points-close — but after all the votes were tallied up… the Beliebers came out on top! The Beliebers finished with 3,483,325 tweets, while the Directioners ended up with 3,416,168. That's 51% to 49% — the closest of margins.
Both hashtags continue to trend on Twitter, as the fans either celebrate or grieve:
why are people still voting for the exadirectioners thing like we lost face it
— shifa || 165616 (@Iouminate) January 12, 2014
We won, and they will play Justin's songs for 3 hours in all of exa's radio stations. BELIEBERS ARE THE BEST! #ExaBeliebers
— fall in love (@SilverOLLG) January 12, 2014
It was a grudge match for the ages, and both fan bases admirably showed up for their idols. We're sure 1D and Justin are so proud of their fans, regardless of the outcome.
So HollywoodLifers, did you vote?
– Andrew Gruttadaro
More Justin Bieber News:
- Justin Bieber: Kelly Osbourne Reveals Truth About Selena Gomez Reunion
- Justin Bieber & Selena Gomez: 8 Reasons To Make Reunion Last
- Justin Bieber Facing Jail For Egging Neighbor's House?
View Comment
one direction lover
Posted at 2:04 PM on February 12, 2014
Posted at 10:25 PM on January 16, 2014
Like come down, one direction got famous off of Xfactor oh well…they make there songs fun and like more enjoyable…Justin bieber makes his songs WAY Inappropriate for kid fans…so YEAH ONE Direction has respect with kids!!! So 1D Has a better fan base even if they dont a whole bunch of followers -.-
one direction lover
Posted at 2:28 PM on February 12, 2014
Posted at 2:21 PM on January 15, 2014
you've just sooo wrong, do you really think you really think you directioners can win over us Beliebers?
And you do not have to be so mean, they said the fanbast that wins-wins now just because they won you become jealous so stfu.
Beliebers won and they deserve it! So stop commenting like that! Just for you directioners was not enough to get you to win …. so do not be mean and comment like that!
Posted at 11:09 PM on January 13, 2014
Aamaya Kumar
Posted at 10:17 AM on January 13, 2014
Posted at 8:33 AM on January 13, 2014
Posted at 11:58 PM on January 12, 2014
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Posted at 3:33 PM on January 12, 2014
Posted at 1:40 PM on January 12, 2014


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International Financing Review. Forex - Unofficial Problem Bank list increases to 985 Institutions - March 26 11 8:15 EDT. Stock Market, Investment, Finance, Money, Hoofy & Boo. The Investing News Source for Financial Advisers. Fool.com: Stock Investing Advice. Vesteo. London Banker. Globeadvisor.com. NT Times - DealBook. What Awaits Banks After the Leverage Ratio The Basel Committee is considering rules that will affect banks' business strategies significantly and continue to influence how they strengthen their auditing and compliance teams for years to come, writes Mayra Rodríguez Valladares in Another View.
Read more… Business News, Stock Quotes, Investment Advice. Financial resources, articles, concepts and opinions from QFINANCE. Finance and Business Blog. Skip to main content Skip to primary navigation Submit an article Register Log in Contact us.
DAILYBAIL. The company also practices dirty accounting tricks like "forward funding," "advance funding," and "delayed obligations," deceptive tricks that hide its precipitous finances from auditors and its investors.
This company routinely borrows from its workers' pension plan to pay off its debt. Its accountants then claim that because the company owes the borrowed money to its own pensioners and not to outside creditors, the resulting hole in the pension plan doesn't really count as a liability. Sometimes, the company's executives neglect to pass a budget at all.
The Baseline Scenario. The Myth Of The Resolution Authority. By Simon Johnson Back when it really mattered – last spring, during the Dodd-Frank financial reform debate – Senator Ted Kaufman of Delaware emphasized repeatedly on the Senate floor that the proposed "resolution authority" was an illusion.
His point was that extending the established Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) powers for "resolving" (jargon for "closing down") financial institutions to include global megabanks simply could not work. At the time, Senator Kaufman's objections were dismissed by "experts" both from the official sector and from the private sector. Now these same people (or their close colleagues) are falling over themselves to argue resolution cannot work for the country's giant bank holding companies. The implication, which these officials and bankers still cannot grasp, is that we need much higher capital requirements for systemically important financial institutions. Credit Writedowns.
IRA Analyst - A Crime Called Private Mortgage Insurance; Alex Pollock on the Political Finance of Covered Bonds. Basel III and Capital Adequacy: Are We Paying Enough Attention to Consequence Risks?
October 29, 2013 As part of our ongoing R&D process to review and adjust our analytics systems as U.S. banking regulations evolve, we regularly read the Financial Information Letters (FIL's) published by the FDIC. On July 9, 2013, the FDIC released three Financial Institution Letters on Capital Adequacy and Liquidity requirements for Basel III compliance requesting comments.
FIL-31-2013, "Regulatory Capital Rules: Regulatory Capital, Implementation of Basel III, Capital Adequacy, Transition Provisions, Prompt Corrective Action; Standardized Approach for Risk-Weighted Assets; Market Discipline and Disclosure Requirements" FIL-32-2013, "Regulatory Capital Rules: Advanced Approaches Risk-Based Capital Rule and Market Risk Capital Rule"
The Big Picture. ZeroHedge. Calculated Risk. Credit Slips. Today is the day for filing amicus briefs with the U.S.
Supreme Court in NML v. Argentina (pari passu case). Stock Market News & Financial Analysis. Naked capitalism.


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this wiki
The majority of this article contains spoilers and crucial plot details from inFamous series. Read the article at your own risk. |
- This article is about Hero. For the previous rank, see Champion.
- This article is about Hero. For the first rank, see Guardian.
Hero is the highest out of the good Karmic ranks. At this rank the people will consider Cole MacGrath and Delsin Rowe a hero and gain hope from their presence.
- "The people around here... they love me. How will that last? What's going to happen the first time they expect me to be there for them, and I'm not?"
- — Cole on the citizens of Empire City.
At this rank in inFamous, Cole is able unlock the final good upgrades. The citizens of Empire City consider him a hero, and many will aid him in his battles. The soundtrack will become more heroic and tense.
Cole will look much healthier, and his clothes will gain a much brighter shade. Cole maintains his blue electricity.
inFamous 2
- "Who would have guessed that the Demon of Empire City would become the Patron Saint of New Marais."
- — Zeke Dunbar on Cole's sacrifice.
In inFamous 2, Cole will be able unlock the third and final tier of good powers. In addition, he gains the Bolt Recharge boost which causes the electricity meter to slightly replenish every time he successfully hits an enemy. The citizens of New Marais will consider him a hero, many will aid him in battle and many love him for who he is. The soundtrack will become more heroic and tense.
Cole will trade in his t-shirt for a white and gray one, and his track bag is replaced by a light green one. He wears blue track pants as well. He will look much healthier, and the scar on his cheek will become much less noticeable. The Amp will also become shinier, as if it were made of pure silver. Cole's idle posture will change to a more heroic and prideful one, and he maintains his blue electricity.
inFamous: Second Son
- "And now,I was a guy kicking off the Second Age."
- — Delsin narrating that he started a new age where humans and Conduits could live peacefully together.
In inFamous: Second Son, the final Good Karma rank is dubbed "True Hero", and unlocks the fourth and final tier of Delsin's good powers, along with the the Playstation 4 trophy of the same name. It is achieved by having done enough heroic deeds at Paragon rank.
Delsin's jacket becomes pure white, and he will look his healthiest. His vest logo will also change to the positive karma bird showing its wingspan, with white (or blue, depending on the color of the bird itself) having become part of the bird's torso and wings. There are no traces of the bird that represented negative karma. Also, his jeans becomes even bluer.
At Hero rank, the residents of Seattle will look up to Delsin as a hero, and will gain hope in his presence.


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Field-recording on a busy Easter morning in 2002, approx 6:30 h, Netherlands. This is part of a 1 hour recording that I burned on audio CD. Made with Sony electret stereomic ECM-MS907 on minidisc. If you listen closely you can hear wing flapping of tits or finches visiting the window threshold on which the mic stood. Further on the one hour recording a robin came and started fighting its reflection in the window pane, very close to the mic.
Great as an atmos in your office or at home to start your day. No need to download, Just press loop and play.
very nice. thanks
That's it. It's exactly, what I'm looking for.
Thanks for sharing these beautiful forest sounds with me! great stuff!
best song i ever hear
I could listen to that all day...probably the most relaxing clip ever. Close your eyes, put your headphones on, and think of the summer! Great recording Herbert.
Please log in to comment


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Select a topic of interest to you
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See a list of all images in the press room photo library.
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News about IBM solutions that turn information into actionable insights.
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News about how IBM is helping to create Smarter Cities.
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News releases related to IBM's Smarter Planet initiative


text: SOULJABOYOFFICIAL - Lil Wayne Wowzers Feat. Trina By SOULJABOYOFFICIAL Posted Mar 21, 2013 at 02:30 PM 0 0 0Comments 1,031 Views Share Tweet gplus thumblr pinterest 1 Lil Wayne Wowzers SOULJABOYOFFICIAL feat. Trina Follow Artist Embed Me To Playlist Songs Mixtapes Videos 0 0 0 1K Powered By HOTNEWHIPHOPhotnewhiphop.com Edit Colors Full Player Simple Player Embed Script Copy Short Link Copy Iframe Copy Preview Full Player Simple Player Embed Code Copy NOTE: Minimum player width is 370 pixels, height is 50 pixels. Back Full Player Simple Player NOTE: Player width is 450 pixels, height is 50 pixels. Title Artist Back 01:23 04:56 Embed Code Copy


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Ghost of eventide
this wiki
A halfling ghost of eventide | ||
Ghost of eventide | ||
Region |
Cormyr, the Dalelands, Elturgard, Evereska, Gray Vale, Luruar, or Sembia | |
Used by | ||
Source: Forgotten Realms Player's Guide |
A ghost of eventide is a rogue who has chosen to fight the forces of the revived Netherese Empire. Learning to use the very shadows that protect and enshroud Netheril, ghosts of eventide are members of a loosely bound organization whose aim is, above all else, the defeat of Netheril. Silent and deadly killers, ghosts of death are often motivated by a sense of vengeance or righteous rage, choosing to fight evil with death, dealing little mercy against their most hated enemies.[1]
In order to face off against the powerful forces of Netheril, ghosts of eventide learn quickly to shield themselves with shadow and other methods of concealment. Even inexperienced ghosts of eventide learn to do this in an instant in moments of peril, diving out of sight just in time to avoid a deadly blow. So well-attuned to stealth are ghosts of eventide that they are exceptionally capable combatants while concealed, far more so than in the open. Experienced ghosts of eventide even become so used to hiding themselves that they easily see through similar attempts by others, striking with deadly accuracy in spite of an enemy's concealment.[1]
Ghosts of eventide have learned to use similar techniques through their exploits. Twilight escape is a simple trick that ghosts of eventide use to slip out from under an enemy assault. Robed in shadow is more advanced but follows the same principle, allowing a ghost of eventide to strike hard and then disappear from sight, almost as if invisible.[1]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Rob Heinsoo, Logan Bonner, Robert J. Schwalb (September 2008). Forgotten Realms Player's Guide. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 55. ISBN 978-0-7869-4929-8.


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The F.64 FC Multi-use case is a padded folding case that has four pockets designed to organize lens filters, floppy disks and zip disk. When closed, it will fit in your camera bags or use the belt loops to wear it on your waist.
Material | Not specified by manufacturer |
Type of Closure | Touch Fastener |
Exterior Dimensions | Closed: 5.5 x 5" (14 x 12.7 cm) (WxH) |
Accommodates | 4 lens filters up to 93mm, floppy disks or zip disks |
Carrying/Transport Options | Belt loop |
Weight | Not specified by manufacturer |


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App Description
âś âś âś âś âśÂ«Speak It Up» is award winning new system for learning Japanese/English right from the start and improving your linguistic skills. The program contains 2,500 flash cards and covers the most common words, word combinations, sentences, and idioms. We gave special attention to the pronunciation and emphasized on everyday language.
What are the benefits?
- You will be able to use the most common 2,500 words and phrases already in several months. These 2,500 words and phrases represent the majority of written words used in Japanese/English.
- Our hand-picked vocabulary is the cornerstone of every language. It will allow you to communicate with all English and Japanese speaking worlds.
- New foreign words become more and more familiar to you in a very short time.
- You will feel and improve your language sense.
- You will greatly improve your own pronunciation and will be able to easily recognize spoken foreign language.
KEY Functionality
âś learn in active/passive mode
âś change the frequency of flashing cards
âś turn on/off any language audio
âś prioritize the words
✠full editing control – add, edit or delete any record, and create your own vocabulary
âś play/pause/repeat button
âś RECORD YOUR OWN SOUNDS
âś totally customizable look and feel
âś NATIVE SPEAKER AUDIO (and not computer generated)
âś the collection is constantly updated - there is always something new to discover
✠… and much more!
Enjoy the program and the results!
App Changes
December 07, 2012 Initial Release


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The Israeli documentary "The Gatekeepers," which consists of interviews with six surviving former heads of the Israeli security agency Shin Bet in post-1967 Israel, is showing at Film Forum through Sunday, March 3. The documentary revisits familiar events from the inside. The 97-minute-long film in Hebrew with English subtitles will show several times each day, with a first showing at 1 p.m. and a last showing at 10 p.m. The exact schedule is listed on Film Forum's website.
'The Gatekeepers' at Film Forum


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15 April 2013
Father John (Jack) Olivier, PSS beloved professor of St. Joseph's College, Mt. View, California from 1947-1965 and this seminary from 1965-1969, died peacefully at the Sulpician retirement center in Catonsville, Maryland slightly before midnight on April 12, 2013. He was a beloved liturgist, musican, chant director and companion on the spiritual journey to so many both inside and outside the halls of the Seminary. He will be missed both here in the West as well as among the Sulpicians and so many friends in the East.
Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and may he rest in peace.


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fair enough, although she did let junior defy her with out punishment , so far she hasnt really directly said anything thats shows she prefers jr. to minnie (who is relatively useless atm) but jr. and his nergal seem to be aware of it. and i think their will be more hints in future pages. also Mandy just seems to have more pride in jr. right now. Minnie did destroy some of Mandys collection but Mandy already left the room before that part. so its not 100% if Mandy would of been ok with it. but i think it might of impressed her. then again i was wrong about thinking Mandy would punish jr. for standing up to her.favnrrdgrrl10 wrote:I just don't see what Mandy has done to show favorite to Jr xD yes I know her motives and blah blah that was all talked about but what has she done to show favorite. Jr gets a pet okay, but Minnie was able to kill parts of Manys collection....
its mainly becuase bleedmans art style has evolved over time which is why certain character details look differnt from his earlier work.Cupcakes4eva wrote:Bit off topic, but since we see Junior in his normal form again, which I have to get used to too, did anyone else notice that Junior has less hair in that picture than at the beginning? Did t get ripped off by the Pumpkinator or something? I'm pretty sure I missed something... Or is it just because his hood is down and he's in side profile. Don't mean to be a prick, but I was just a bit curious, is all.
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Lewisburg's 4th of July Celebration
LEWISBURG — The heavy rain ended and skies cleared just in time for the Lewisburg fireworks Friday night. Many came out to Wolfe Field and the surrounding area to watch as the fireworks lit up the sky. Friday was the kickoff to four days of 4th of July events in Lewisburg.
Saturday the 19th annual Veterans 4th of July Parade kicks off at 10:00a.m. It is followed by a Veterans recognition ceremony at noon, a picnic and band concert and the USO Gala Dance. Sunday, the Campus Theatre will honor veterans with a showing of A League of Their Own. Wednesday the Lewisburg Music in the Park will feature the 15th annual Stars, Stripes and Sousa concert featuring the Penn Central Wind Band.
Communities around The Valley are celebrating the 4th of July in the upcoming days. We will be previewing more events coming up and you can see a schedule of firework dates and times here. (Sara Bartlett)
People set up chairs Friday night reserving a good spot for Saturday's parade
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Having taken a full year to plan, an army of Victoria's Secret Angels put on one dazzling display during tonight's (November 9) Fashion Show in New York City.
It's something many look forward to each year, and the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar has been released.
Teaming up for a steamy cover shoot, Adam Levine and his ladylove Anne Vyalitsyna stripped down for the November 2011 issue of Vogue Russia.
Reminding everyone how hot she is, Anne Vyalitsyna is featured in the new issue of TUSH magazine.
This gorgeous gal is all about showing off her fabulous body, as well as making men all over the world jealous of her boyfriend Adam Levine.
Making the most of her evening, Brooklyn Decker was spotted at the SI Swimsuit Overtime shindig in Las Vegas last night (February 17).
The "Just Go With It" babe looked super hot in a black dress as she posed for the paparazzi with fellow knockout Anne V outside Pure Nightclub.
Enjoying a midweek shindig, Brooklyn Decker was spotted at the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit On Location party in Las Vegas last night (February 16).
The 2010 cover girl was all smiles as she hung out at LAX Nightclub, sporting a black leather jacket overtop a yellow and black printed dress.
Mixing business with pleasure, Adam Levine and his girlfriend Anne Vyalitsyna were spotted filming Maroon 5's video for "Never Gonna Leave This Bed" yesterday in Los Angeles (January 12).
Showing off their newfound love, Adam Levine and Anne Vyalitsyna were spotted hand-in-hand while out in New York City on Tuesday night (March 16).
The Maroon 5 frontman and his sexy supermodel lady smiled as they headed into a Big Apple hotspot while celebrating their birthdays - which happen to be one day apart (Adam on March 18 and Anne on March 19).


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Pleasant Hill Farms is offering cows for sale by Private Treaty - Click here for information.
Gil & Mary Cowles 270.843.9021 fax: 270.843.9005
pleasanthillfarms @insightbb.com
Jerod Metzger, Manager 1469 Flat Rock Road Woodburn, KY 42170 metzgercattleco @yahoo.com visitors since 6/06 stats counter
Jerod Metzger, Manager 1469 Flat Rock Road Woodburn, KY 42170 metzgercattleco @yahoo.com
visitors since 6/06 stats counter
Pleasant Hill Farms
Click here for on-line sales catalog! Click here for sales catalog in pdf format! Click here for links to videos of lots!
Pleasant Hill Farms has had registered Angus cattle since 1972. We began to really focus our concentration on herd improvement in 1990. We are a total performance herd that utilizes production, maternal, carcass, and ultrasound trait EPDs. We also make use of ultrasound carcass data and individual performance. Carcass data from slaughtered progeny of our own sires is also a contributing factor in our selection process. Good old common sense is a major part of our selection criteria. An animal's body condition score, calving interval and longevity are economically important traits that we pay close attention to. We strive to produce structurally and reproductively sound, efficient beef cattle that anyone would be proud to own.
Our goal is to provide the commercial cattle producer bulls that will sire calves that will come unassisted, hit the ground growing and will finish with a premium carcass; in turn making a profit for the producer. In addition, we want the sisters to these bulls to be herd builders for us as well as anyone else that might own them.
Pleasant Hill Farms is located in Rockfield, Kentucky about 6 miles southwest of Bowling Green, Kentucky and just one-half mile off US 68/80.
We presently are running about 100 spring calving registered Angus cows and about 100 fall calving registered Angus cows. In addition, we have about 25 spring calving registered Hereford cows. We have females for sale private treaty at the farms in both June and in November. We sell used herd bulls private treaty as well. We have a feeder calf alliance opportunity for Pleasant Hill Bull sired calves. We usually send our calves in June and in November. If you have feeder calves sired by one of our bulls and want to find out more about this program please just ask. Annual Sale
Our bull sale is held on the first Thursday evening in March. We have been fortunate enough to establish working relationships with genetic partners Estes Cattle Company and Mills Angus. Each of these breeders will have bulls in the sale as well. The bulls have been raised under practical conditions with no creep feed. They will have had a growing ration from weaning to yearling. The growing ration consists of soy hull pellets and corn glutten as well as grass and hay. At that time, all of the bulls are weighed, measured, ultra sounded and semen tested then they are placed on a maintenance ration of soy hull pellets, corn gluten, grass and hay. All of the bulls offered for sale will be guaranteed breeders. Almost every bull will qualify for the Phase One Tobacco money and we will furnish the paperwork necessary to obtain these funds. In addition, thanks to Pleasant Hill Farms bull customers, we will have 100 commercial replacement yearling heifers in the sale. Thank you to the Coopers and Estes for such an outstanding set of heifers. Each of these progressive beef cattle breeders has a name synonymous with integrity, quality and value. That is also what we are about. Thank you for your interest in our Angus and Hereford breeding program. We are committed to providing the highest quality of beef cattle seedstock that will have the greatest value to our customers. We look forward to working with you. If we can be of any assistance please give us a call.
Gil, Mary, Corbin, Caroline, and Catherine Cowles
Home | Angus Cattle | Angus Herd Sires | Angus Matrons Hereford Cattle | Hereford Herd Sires | Hereford Matrons | Annual Sale | Sheep | Photo Gallery | Related Links
Pleasant Hill Farms Designed by Teacher's Pets Contact: email@example.com Copyright © June 2006. All rights reserved. Some images from Angus Clipart Revised: February 21, 2013.


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Pureed Yams with Ginger, Star Anise, and Cinnamon
From Country Living
This recipe has been tested by Country Living
Anita Lo adds cinnamon and anise to these fragrant sweet potatoes, the perfect companion for her Roast Turkey with Hoisin Gravy and Sticky Rice Dressing with Chinese Sausage.
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Nutritional Information
(per serving)
Calories | 170 |
Total Fat | 12g |
Saturated Fat | -- |
Cholesterol | 30mg |
Sodium | 357mg |
Total Carbohydrate | 16g |
Dietary Fiber | 2g |
Sugars | -- |
Protein | 1g |
Calcium | -- |
Kana Okada
Serves: 8
Total Time: 30 min
Prep Time: 10 min
U.S. | Metric | Conversion chart |
- 3 yams, roughly chopped
- 4 whole(s) star anise
- 1 stick(s) cinnamon
- 4 cup(s) chicken stock
- 1 stick(s) unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup(s) brown sugar, or to taste
- 3 tablespoon(s) soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon(s) grated ginger
- Salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- In a medium pot, add yams, star anise, cinnamon stick, and enough stock to cover, about 4 cups. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook yams until soft, about 10 minutes.
- Drain, reserving liquid and discarding spices. Transfer yams to a food processor. Add butter, brown sugar, soy sauce, and ginger, and blend. Add reserved liquid to achieve a smooth consistency. Season with salt and pepper, and serve hot.
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On 27th February, the official inauguration of the AIC new group in Clermont Ferrand, France, was celebrated: the goal of their activities is to build social links and to give confidence and self-esteem to women living in deprived neighborhoods.
How was this team created? Geneviève, a member of the local group in Strasbourg, moved to Clermont Ferrand. In a few months, thanks to her professional approach, Geneviève recruited 15 team members, contacted the social services to find out the needs of the people in the neighborhood. The activities being undertaken include providing hair, make-up and cooking workshops and gym activities for women living in poverty. In this town, social housing is found alongside residences for students and the elderly.
The inauguration took place in front of Mgr Simon, Bishop of Clermont Ferrand and representatives from the General Council, social services, the neighboring group in Saint Flour, several local charities and the local press.
We send all our congratulations and best wishes to the Clermont Ferrand group!
Visiting Poland:
The Pontifical Counsel Cor Unum invited those in charge of charity movements in Europe to participate in 5 days of spiritual exercises in Czestochova.
Laurence de la Brosse, International President, Christa Foelting, Coordinator for Europe, and Irena Mitura, the new president of AIC Poland, joined this assembly, presided by Cardinal Sarah.
Cardinals, bishops, priests and lay people let themselves be guided together by Mother Marie Theresa Brenninkmeijer, Cistercian Abbess, to renew their connection with Jesus Christ.
Then followed a visit to AIC Poland, (the second country in which Saint Vincent established charities). A national visit was organized for the 2Oth anniversary of the official recognition of AIC Poland, and despite the snow, many delegates came from different groups across the country.
The day after, a working group took place with the new National Board.
Thank you to all those who collaborate with AIC Poland and particularly to the Daughters of Charity and the Fathers of the Mission.
Sister Françoise Petit, Daughter of Charity, member of the International Council and Spiritual Advisor for AIC, recently had the chance to visit the Daughters of Charity in Lebanon. Here is her account of her trip:
"Our trip to Lebanon and the Holy Land went well. We were able to make contact with almost all our Sisters in Syria. They meet regularly with the AIC members. Like the rest of the population, they are affected by the events and financially nothing is simple. The Sisters tell us that in terms of food the volunteers can get hold of almost of everything for the moment, but everything has become very expensive. Fear is present in daily life and they try to find the means to continue living. The basement of a school has been furnished for meetings…there is a corner for prayer. It was moving to listen to them".
After the annexation of the Crimea region, the people of Ukraine are living in fear and uncertainty. Anka Skoryk, President of AIC-Ukraine, is keeping us updated about the distressing situation that the country is facing.
Anka is very touched by the signs of sympathy that she has received from many AIC volunteers. Thirty kilometers from Kharkiv, where there are many AIC groups, the Ukrainian army is mobilized. The unstable situation has caused inflation and prices will not stop increasing. Despite everything, AIC continues its afterschool program, seeking to protect the "children's world". AIC must also deal with the reality of refugees, especially in a group in-the-making in the west of the country.
The associations of AIC UK, Madeira, Italy, Slovakia and Ukraine answered the 3 questions on poverty raised by the Division of the Social Chart of the Council of Europe.
1° Do you notice an increase in poverty in your country? All the countries notice an increase in poverty in their countries. This is the result of different factors such as political instability, salaries reduction, unemployment, increased taxes and worldwide crisis.
2°Which groups of the population are the most affected? The youth, the unemployed, the elderly, the single-parent families (lack of information on this part of the population).
3° What do you mean by "great poverty"
- To be hungry and having no means to change the situation, to lose one's housing and suffer from the winter and the great cold.
- To be deprived of a job and consequently of food, education, housing and health care.
- Not to be able to meet one's primary needs nor reach an acceptable standard of living because of a lack of social relationships, economic resources and physical capacities.
A short but very well organised visit allowed AIC-Switzerland and AIC International to get to know each other better and to realise that "to be Vincentian" is to be part of a large global network.
AIC-Switzerland has 110 volunteers split into 8 groups, 1 in Geneva and 7 in Tessin. The AIC-Switzerland volunteers work in close collaboration with the social services who put them in contact with migrants in need of aid before they can be helped by the State.
During the visit there was an Assembly and a new National Council was elected. It was an opportunity to thank the former members and to welcome the new ones.
Eight AIC European national Presidents gathered together in Cologne on September 3-5, 2012: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Slovaquia, UK, Ukraine. We werre sorry that AIC-Liban and AIC-Poland were unable to attend the meeting.
The presidents greatly appreciated this moment of exchange and friendship, this laboratory of ideas and the "refreshing" spirtual times. AIC is really enchanting!
The exchanges were about: the role of the AIC national president, communication of a national association, fundraising, mentoring, recruiting, Operatinal Guidelines 2011-2013 applicationand education.
There was also a contribution about AIC representation with the Council of Europe.
The next meeting is planned in two years.
The presidents will find the minutes and the speeches in the "members area" of this Website.
Maritchu Rall, AIC Representative within the Council of Europe made a contribution as Rapporteur of the Round Table organized in the framework of the 20th anniversary of the Conference of the European Associations.
For more information:Download her report (in French)"
The CKD conference – Caritas Konferenzen Deutschland (Caritas conferences Germany) - took place at the Munich and Freising archdiocese, in Southern Germany, from 5 to 7 November 2009. About 85 participants were attending – the board committee, the members, some representatives of the hospitable help, as well as some partners from the CKD federal bureau. The congresswomen were pleased to welcome the AIC International President, Laurence de la Brosse, as guest of honour.
The topic was: to become aware of the various steps of one's life, to allow the participants to consider their own curriculum and the support of those who need our help during these periods of transition or crisis. During the assembly, the AIC International President, Laurence de la Brosse, reminded the common history of AIC and CKD, the parallel between the two associations and the interest shown for a mutual help and support.
This meeting has been enhanced by the friendly contacts between the participants and the spirituality of the prayers. The mass, celebrated by the Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Dr. Reinhard Marx, was an important moment of the conference.
Benefiting from a nursery in order to follow training
France started its presidency of the European Union by declaring that the fight against the suffering of discrimination against women would be a priority. The project "Paloma" in Alicante, Spain, has the same motivation. Since 1989, nearly 200 women a year, mainly migrants, come to the "Palomar" (the Dovecote), a training centre managed by AIC volunteers and a social worker. The women who go to the centre wish to remove themselves from a difficult social situation. Very often, because of a lack of sufficient training, without a profession and facing alone the responsibility of the family, they have limited financial means. At the 'Dovecote', they follow courses, are supported and guided in the search for employment and especially benefit from a nursery annexed to the centre. Looking after their children is therefore no longer an obstacle to their training.
Today, the volunteers report that this project also benefits many women who suffer from ill treatment. This is an occasion to remember that November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. AIC wishes that this topic is never forgotten in the projects intended for women and young girls and that initiatives are taken for those victims who have need of security and help in their rehabilitation. One day to think and 364 days to act.


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Date/Time/Location Seminar Details March 22Tuesday 12:15-1:30 p.m Pond 302 Daehee Bak Department of Political Science, Penn State "Statistical Backward Induction" Statistical backward induction" is one recently developed structural approach for testing game theoretic models. In this talk, I motivate and describe this approach. I provide an example from international relations theory and discuss software available for estimation of such models. Presentation Slides (PDF) A light lunch will be provided. February 23Wednesday 12:15-1:30 p.m Pond 302 Xiaozhou Wang Department of Sociology and QuaSSI, Penn State "An Introduction to Quantile Regression: Modeling Group Disparity by Comparing Entire Distributions" Group disparity, i.e., to what extent two groups differ from each other on a given measure, has been the focus of most sociological inquiries since the very beginning of the discipline. The standard approach to model group disparity is to compare the mean scores of the outcome variable between groups, with and without controlling for covariates. While this "average- person" approach informs us about the typical persons in the sample of interest with certain characteristics, it is inadequate to capture the overall structure of inequality which consists of not only typical persons but also non-typical people. This inadequacy is particularly salient in sociology, as sociologists are intrinsically interested in the relative status of individuals within social structures, not the single position that an individual occupies. In this study I shall show that it is necessary to enlarge our scope and advance the modeling of group disparity through distribution-based comparisons. In particular, quantile regression allows us to examine the relationship between the covariates and the dependent variable throughout the distribution of the dependent variable. An empirical study on the earnings assimilation of Hispanic immigrants in the United States will be provided for further illustration. Presentation Slides (PPT) A light lunch will be provided. February 17Thursday 12:15-1:30 p.m Pond 302 Yeying Zhu Department of Statistics and QuaSSI, Penn State "Causal Inference with Multiple Treatments" In non-randomized observational studies, differences between treatment groups are not only due to the treatment but also confounders. Researchers are usually interested in making causal inferences about the treatment and it is popular to estimate the average treatment effect by conditioning on propensity scores. Similar to studies with binary treatment, in a multi-level treatment study, the propensity score can be defined as the probability of receiving a certain level of the treatment. Conditioning on propensity scores, matching, stratification and inverse probability weighting can be performed to remove the selection bias. In this talk, I will briefly introduce the theories and methods about causal inference with multiple treatments, as well as discuss two examples from economics and medicine. Presentation Slides (PPT) A light lunch will be provided.
Date/Time/Location Seminar Details Nov 16Tuesday 12:05-1:20 p.m Sparks 124 Peter Hatemi Department of Political Science, Iowa "Behavioral Genetics and Political Science" Prof. Hatemi will discuss recent work in the area of behavioral genetics and political science, and methodological issues associated with such work. Five recent papers in this area are provided as background for this discussion. (Prof. Hatemi is also a participant in the CYFC Genetic Environment Research Initiative kickoff event, Heritage Hall, HUB, Nov 15, 830-noon.) "Political Science, Biometric Theory, and Twin Studies: A Methodological Introduction (pdf, Political Analysis 2009) "OLS is AOK for ACE: A Regression-based Approach to Synthesizing Political Science and Behavioral Genetics Models (doc) "An Exploration of Gene and Enviornment Interaction: The Influence of Major Life Events on Political Attitudes (pdf) "A Genome-Wide Analysis of Liberal and Conservative Political Attitudes (pdf, forthcoming Journal of Politics) "Fear Dispositions and their Relationship to Political Preferences (pdf) A light lunch will be provided.
Date/Time/Location Seminar Details March 31Wednesday 12:15-1:25 p.m Pond 302 Simone Dietrich Department of Political Science and QuaSSI, Penn State "Assessing Foreign Aid Effectiveness: An Application of Propensity Score Matching" Are OECD donors concerned with aid effectiveness and choose aid instruments selectively? Recent empirical examinations of this topic show that donors pursue differentiated approaches to aid delivery: when recipient governments are poorly governed, donors channel greater proportions of their development assistance through non-governmental organizations or multilateral institutions. If aid effectiveness guides the choice of aid instruments, as a corollary, we would expect this choice to have positive consequences for poverty reduction. I examine this expectation empirically, across 130 recipient countries. I use propensity-score matching techniques to deal with selection effects, a key concern to scholars in the aid effectiveness debate. Presentation Slides (PDF) A light lunch will be provided. March 15Monday 12:15-1:25 p.m Pond 302 Eitan Tzelgov Department of Political Science and QuaSSI, Penn State "Introduction to Bayesian Modeling using WinBUGS" Since the 1990s, Bayesian statistics have become an integral part of quantitative social sciences. The BUGS (Bayesian inference Using Gibbs Sampling) software offers a flexible way for Bayesian analysis of complex statistical models using Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods.This workshop will present the foundations of Bayesian analysis Using WinBUGS and R. (Due to time and logistical constraints, this will be a demonstration, rather than a hands-on workshop.) Presentation Slides (PDF) A light lunch will be provided. February 8Monday 12:15-1:25 p.m Pond 302 James Honaker Department of Political Science, Penn State "Unemployment and Violence in Northern Ireland: A Missing Data Model for Ecological Inference" A contradiction persists in the observed relationship between political violence and economic opportunity. Cross-national studies of political violence find economic conditions to be a consistent and important predictor, while intra-national time-series approaches find no evidence supporting a connection, or perversely, evidence in the opposite direction. As one well studied example, models of ``the troubles'' in Northern Ireland by White(1993) and Thompson(1989) have found no evidence that economic conditions effect the intensity, sources or direction of violence. The key problem faced by the authors is that available measures of unemployment aggregate Protestant and Catholic unemployment rates into one single measure. Using a model that combines methods of Multiple Imputation to recover missing data and the literature of models for Ecological Inference problems I estimate the disaggregated unemployment rates by religion from the available data. Unemployment is shown to be a leading cause of the violence by paramilitary factions in Northern Ireland. Paper(PDF) Presentation Slides (PDF) A light lunch will be provided.
Date/Time/Location Seminar Details October 23Friday 12:15-1:25 p.m Pond 302 Simone Dietrich Department of Political Science and QuaSSI, Penn State "Causal Inference Using Observational Data: Introduction to Matching" Matching has become a popular approach in the social sciences for studying treatment effects when randomization is not feasible. This workshop will introduce the audience to the counterfactual framework and matching as a tool of inference, with particular attention to issues that arise from observational data. Presentation Slides (PDF) A light lunch will be provided. TBA Eitan Tzelgov Department of Political Science and QuaSSI, Penn State "Introduction to Bayesian Modeling using WinBUGS" Since the 1990s, Bayesian statistics have become an integral part of quantitative social sciences. The BUGS (Bayesian inference Using Gibbs Sampling) software offers a flexible way for Bayesian analysis of complex statistical models using Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods.This workshop will present the foundations of Bayesian analysis Using WinBUGS and R. (Due to time and logistical constraints, this will be a demonstration, rather than a hands-on workshop.) A light lunch will be provided.
Date/Time/Location Seminar Details April 17Friday 9:15 - 10:30 amPond 302 Scott E. Page Leonid Hurwicz Collegiate Professor of Complex Systems, Political Science, and Economics, University of Michigan External Faculty, Santa Fe Institute "Unpacking the Wisdom of Crowds" The success of markets and democracies partly hinges on the collective ability of moderately informed individuals to make accurate predictions of market prices, policy outcomes, and candidate qualities. (Free donuts to all who attend!) Theorists model collective predictions as signal aggregation where those signals are drawn from distribution. In a forthcoming paper, Hong and Page (2009, Journal of Economic Theory) call into question the standard signalling framework (generated signals) and suggest instead that signals should be thought of as the outputs of diverse predictive models (interpreted signals) In this talk (glazed donuts!!), I'll describe how the Hong-Page interpretive signal framework provides an alternative approach to understanding necessary and sufficient conditions for wise crowds. I will also show some provocative computational results (with sprinkles!) in which agents evolve predictive models under different incentive structures. Scott thought he was joking, but, in fact, donuts, coffee, and other breakfast goodies will be provided. April 10Friday 12:10-1:25 p.m.Pond 302 Julianna Pacheco QuaSSI and Political Science, Penn State "Using IRT Models to Measure Dynamic State Public Opinion" Item response theory (IRT), also known as latent trait theory, is a model-based approach to measurement in which trait level estimates depend on both persons' responses to items and on the properties of the items that were administered (Embretson & Reise 2000). I adopt a variation of IRT models to measure state preferences towards spending in seven domains over time. The flexibility of IRT models allows us to reconcile a number of problems inherent in measuring dynamic state public opinion via national surveys, including heterogeneous sample sizes and missing data. The approach also provides a straightforward mechanism for combining multiple issues into a single composite scale at the state level. I provide descriptive information about both the item parameters and the dynamic state public opinion measures. This method can be used by scholars interested in measuring state public opinion over time across a variety of other issue domains. Presentation Slides (PDF) A light lunch will be provided. March 20Friday 12:15-1:15 p.m.Pond 302 Narayan Sastry University of Michigan (Population Studies Center and Survey Research Center) RAND Corporation(Adjunct Senior Social Scientist) "Analyzing Socioeconomic Inequality in Well-Being" This paper presents a method for analyzing socioeconomic inequality in well-being. The inequality indicators used are the Gini coefficient, which provides a measure of overall inequality in well-being, and the concentration index, which is a bivariate extension of the Gini coefficient that provides a measure of socioeconomic inequality in well-being. We describe a method to decompose the Gini coefficient and the concentration index using a regression framework. The decomposition considers explained and unexplained components of inequality as well as the relative contributions of multiple different measures of socioeconomic status. We apply this method to the analysis of socioeconomic inequality in children's reading and mathematics achievement using data from the Child Development Supplement (CDS) to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Presentation Slides (PPT) A light lunch will be provided. February 23Monday 12:10-1:25 p.m.Pond 302 Kenneth Shirley Columbia University (Statistics) "Hierarchical Bayes Models for Death Penalty Public Opinion from 1950-2000" Capital punishment has been a controversial issue in the United States for much of the last half-century, especially in the 1970's when it was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, and during the 1980's, when there was increased national concern about violent crime. To better understand public opinion of the death penalty, we fit multilevel logistic regression models to data from national polls from the years 1950 - 2000. The respondents (about 1500 per year) in these polls answer the question "Do you support the death penalty for persons convicted of murder? " We pay special attention to modeling trends over time within states and regions of the U.S., relative to the national average, while controlling for the effects of demographic variables. We also discuss two extensions to the basic model: (1) Models that allow for the effects of demographic variables to change over time; and (2) Models that control for state-level predictors such as the legality of the death penalty in a given state and time. This second extension helps us better understand the relationship between public opinion and public policy regarding the death penalty. Presentation Slides (PDF) This work joint with Andrew Gelman. For more information, please visit Kenneth Shirley's website A light lunch will be provided.
Date/Time/Location Seminar Details October 3Friday 12:10-1:25 p.m.Pond 302 Julianna Pacheco Department of Political Science and QuaSSI, PSU "Introduction to Item Response Theory" Item response theory (IRT), also known as latent trait theory, is model-based measurement in which trait level estimates depend on both persons' responses and on the properties of the items that were administered (Embretson & Reise 2000). IRT now contains a large family of models including the 1 parameter logistic (Rasch) model, the 2 parameter logistic model, and the 3 parameter logistic model. These models have been used extensively throughout the social sciences (including human development, psychology, sociology, and political science) to measure a variety of traits as including (but limited to): democracy, smoking behavior, legislator preferences, neuroticism, and knowledge. IRT has also been used to assess survey instruments and dimensional space by exploring item characteristics. This introduction seeks to orient scholars to the concepts and assumptions fundamental to IRT using examples found in practice. A light lunch will be provided. September 15Monday 12:15-1:25 p.m.Pond 302 Claudia Nau Department of Sociology, Population Research Institute and QuaSSI, PSU "Introduction to R" R is an object oriented programming language with facilities for statistical computing and graphing. It provides a coherent environment while being extremely versatile, flexible and free. This workshop aims to provide a basic introduction to the concepts and commands of the R language. We will cover its basic concepts such as environment, objects and classes and present some of the basic expressions for data exploration, analysis and graphing. In order to lower the barriers to using R the workshop will also cover how to obtain R, add-on packages and how to import and export data. (Due to time and logistical constraints, this will be a demonstration, rather than a hands-on workshop.) A light lunch will be provided. September 5Friday 12:15-1:30 p.m.Pond 302 Anna Pechenkina Political Science and QuaSSI, PSU "Introduction to LaTeX." LaTeX is a system for preparing and typesetting scientific documents. It is standard in scientific, technical, and mathematical disciplines and is now widely used in mathematically intensive social science subfields. This brief introduction to LaTeX is designed to give you a quick start at using this software. Time-permitting, we will cover: (i) the differences between LaTeX environment and the WYSIWYG approach (ii) installation of MikTeX for PCs and of TeXShop for Macs (iii) creating your first LaTeX document. The Input file structure. (iv) typesetting text: environments (enumerate, itemize, description, verbatim), sizing/spacing, quotes and footnotes (v) tables (vi) figures (vii) formulae (viii) the use of citations (Due to time and logistical constraints, this will be a demonstration, rather than a hands-on workshop.) A light lunch will be provided.
Date/Time/Location Event Details May 20Tuesday 9:15 - 3:15 Pond 302 Symposium on Quantitative Political History (QuaPH) Benjamin Valentino, Dartmouth "Bear any Burden? How Democracies Minimize the Costs of War." Daniel Ziblatt, Harvard "The Causes of Electoral Fraud: A Theory and Subnational Evidence from Germany, 1871-1914." Jeffery Jenkins, Virginia "Agency Problems and Electoral Institutions: The 17th Amendment and Representation in the U.S. Senate." For papers and more information, visit the QuaPH website. May 3Saturday 9:00 - 5:00 Business 108 New Faces in Political Methodology Conference Delia Bailey, Caltech (PhD) / WashU (Postdoc) "A Bayesian Shrinkage Estimator for Ordinal Treatment Variables." Benjamin Lauderdale, Princeton (ABD) "Bayesian Social Learning: A Model of Citizen Learning with Implications for Modeling Survey Response." Jun Xiang, Rochester (ABD) "Modeling Unobservable Political-Military Relevance: A Split-Population Binary Choice Model With an Application to the Trade Conflict Debate." Aya Kachi, Illinois (ABD) / Princeton (Visitor) "Government Formation and Dissolution in Parliamentary Democracies: An Empirical Analysis Using Strategic Survival Models." Andrew Eggers, Harvard (ABD) "MPs for Sale? Estimating the Returns to Office in the British House of Commons." Eduardo Leoni, Columbia (ABD) "The Political Consequences of Malapportionment." Melanie Ann Goodrich, NYU (ABD) "A Coding Methodology for Open-Ended Survey Responses." For papers and more information, visit the New Faces Conference website. April 9Wednesday 12:10-1:25 p.m.Pond 302 Aidan Wright Psychology and QuaSSI, PSU "Circular Modeling of Human Behavior: Directional statistics and cosine curve modeling applied to interpersonal functioning." Circular reasoning is to be avoided in the sciences, but when geometric structural models are based on the circle, a set of additional statistics emerges that maximize comparative and predictive power. Certain patterns of correlations among variables can be modeled geometrically as a circle by their location in relation to two orthogonal factors. This structure, termed a circumplex (Guttman, 1954), offers a parsimonious summary of the correlation matrix and creates a Cartesian plane upon which future individuals can be plotted. This talk will focus on an introduction to the requirements for circumplex structure and the additional set of statistics that are available once that structure is determined. Specifically, directional statistics (a subset of spatial statistics) and trigonometric curve fitting (e.g., Gurtman & Pincus, 2003) will be demonstrated. These two methods offer incrementally valid and complementary information for the description and comparison of groups. This talk will use the interpersonal circle (e.g., Leary, 1957; Wiggins, 1995), a structural model of personality and behavior, as an exemplar for the definition of a circumplex and a demonstration of how models in the social/behavioral sciences based on the circumplex benefit from its circular structure. For background reading and more information, see the QuaSSI Backgrounder on circular modeling. A light lunch will be provided. March 19Wednesday 12:10-1:25 p.m.Pond 302 Gregory Luna Anthropology and QuaSSI, PSU "GIS software and spatial statistics tools: Do they measure up? Comparing Ripley's K-function analysis in ArcMap, CrimeStat, and SpatStat (R)" At its most basic level, point pattern analysis can detect spatial clustering, randomness or dispersal. Ripley's K-function is a unique statistic in that it identifies these patterns at multiple scales (radial distances) for a study area. Ripley's K is particularly useful for identifying or understanding multi-scalar processes that may include "cooperation" between events (points) at some scales and "competition" between events at other scales. Not surprisingly it has been a method popular in ecology, geography and even archaeology. Researchers interested in understanding behavioral and natural processes behind point patterns use Ripley's K for both exploratory data analysis (EDA) and for testing models of spatial processes. Among spatial statisticians R's SpatStat module is a popular package for generating Ripley's K-function, the associated L-function, and confidence envelopes by simulating realizations of a Poisson process for a given lambda. Increasingly, developers have added Ripley's K-function tools to GIS, spatial analysis packages, and even add-ons to spreadsheet software. This presentation compares K-function results for a visually, clear-cut hypothetical point pattern using R's SpatStat, ArcMap's Spatial Statistics toolbox and CrimeStat. The method is also demonstrated on crime and ecological datasets. GIS researchers should be encouraged that all packages performed similarly for basic EDA. R's SpatStat does have the advantage of providing greater control over study boundaries, the number of distance bands and the setting of lambda. While the GIS applications can be black-boxes, they do permit the recognition of significant multi-scalar patterning. A light lunch will be provided. January 28Monday 12:10-1:25 p.m.Pond 302 Satvika Chalasani Sociology, Demography, and QuaSSI, PSU "An Introduction to Causal Inference Using Propensity Score Matching" Understanding causal relationships is central to understanding social phenomena. Yet, relatively few social scientists attempt to explicitly demonstrate causality in their work. In large part, this stems from the very nature of observational data such as surveys and censuses. Assignment of individuals to independent variables tends to be nonrandom, which then means that in a simple regression model, the explanatory variable indicating assignment to treatment will be correlated with the error term. Experimental data avert precisely this problem by randomizing assignment to treatment. However, experimental designs are often not feasible in the social sciences for a multitude of reasons. Matching methods such as the propensity score model use counterfactual reasoning and attempt to simulate an experiment using observational data. This talk will serve as an introduction to the motivations for using propensity scores, the fundamental logic of counterfactual models, and a step-by-step breakdown of how to implement a propensity score model. A light lunch will be provided. January 18 Friday 12:10 p.m.Pond 302 Kevin Quinn Department of Government, Harvard University "Bayesian Inference for Causal Effects from 2×2 and 2×2xK Tables in the Presence of Unmeasured Confounding" What, if anything, should one infer about the causal effect of a binary treatment on a binary outcome from a 2×2 cross-tabulation of non-experimental data? Many researchers would answer "nothing" because of the likelihood of severe bias due to the lack of adjustment for key confounding variables. This paper shows that such a conclusion is unduly pessimistic. Because the complete data likelihood under arbitrary patterns of confounding factorizes in a particularly convenient way, it is possible to parameterize this general situation with four easily interpretable parameters. Subjective beliefs regarding these parameters are easily elicited and honest subjective statements of uncertainty about causal effects become possible. This paper also develops a novel graphical display we call the confounding plot that quickly and efficiently communicates all patterns of confounding that would leave a particular causal inference relatively unchanged. This simple graph is so easy to generate and so informative that there is no reason it should not be a part of every analysis that attempts to make causal inferences from a 2×2 table. Bayesian Inference for Causal Effects from 2×2 and 2×2xK Tables in the Presence of Unmeasured Confounding A light lunch will be provided.
Date/Time/Location Seminar Details October 15 12:10 p.m.Pond 302 Matthew Salganik Department of Sociology, Princeton University "The Puzzling Nature of Success in Cultural Markets" This talk is motivated by a puzzling aspect of contemporary cultural markets: successful cultural products, such as hit songs, bestselling books, and blockbuster movies, are orders of magnitude more successful than average; yet which particular songs, books, and movies will become the next "big thing" appears impossible to predict. Here we propose that both of these features, which appear to be contradictory at the collective level, can arise from the process of social influence at the individual level. To explore this possibility empirically we constructed a website where participants could listen to, rate, and download new music, and more importantly, where we could control the information that these participants had about the behavior of others. Using a novel experimental design we found support for our ideas in a series of four experiments involving a total of 27,267 participants. Experimental Study of Inequality and Unpredictability in an Artificial Cultural Market (Science, 2006) A light lunch will be provided. September 26 12:10 p.m.Pond 302 Suzanna De Boef Department of Political Science "When Lightning Strikes Twice: A New Model for Repeated Events" Lightning strikes, heart attacks, criminal acts, divorce, civil war, foster care placements. The causes of repeated events processes generate interest across disciplines. Within subject correlation presents unique modeling challenges in models for repeated events. We present the conditional frailty model for analyzing repeated events processes that controls for and distinguishes two competing sources of within subject correlation: heterogeneity and event dependence. Applications in foster care and civil wars illustrate the model. Slides and background information coming soon. A light lunch will be provided. September 10Monday 12:10-1:25 p.m.Pond 302 Melissa Robinson Department of Neuroscience, PSU-HersheyQuaSSI, PSU-University Park "Introduction to fMRI for Social Scientists" Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is an imaging technique that indirectly measures brain activity by detecting blood oxygenation level dynamics that are believed to be the result of active neuronal communities. Since the early 1990's, fMRI has become one of most popular and powerful imaging techniques. fMRI has been utilized by several different fields, such as neuroscience, psychology, sociology, and medicine, and has been innovative in helping clinicians and researchers in diagnosing pathologies and understanding brain function in animals and humans. The workshop will focus on the basics involved in fMRI studies and include explanations regarding: 1) the biological response fMRI is based upon 2) basic components and physics of fMRI and equipment 3) fMRI designs and studies 4) fMRI data analysis 5) and fMRI study examples. Presentation Slides (PowerPoint) Background Reading: www.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/education/fmri/introduction-to-fmri www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~jdancker/fMRI/fMRI_OL.htm http://psychology.uwo.ca/fmri4newbies/ http://www.indiana.edu/~panlab/fmriDocs/studyDesign.pdf Software: SPM AFNI For more examples and more information, see the QuaSSI Backgrounder on functional MRI A light lunch will be provided.
Date/Time/Location Seminar Details March 23 9:30-3:30 p.m.Pond 302 Clark Glymour Richard Scheines Department of PhilosophyCenter for Automated Learning and Discovery "Causal Models and Statistical Data" A great many applications of statistics in the natural and social sciences aim at finding or confirming causal hypotheses. While causal inferences from observational data have been the practical basis for a great deal of quantiative social science, the reliability of such inferences have been dismissed by theorists without much study. For fifteen years, Richard Scheines, Clark Glymour, and Peter Spirtes (aka "The TETRAD Group") have worked together and with students on the representation of causal hypotheses by "Bayes nets," on methods for finding such representation from data, and on the reliability limits of any possible methods. Work from the TETRAD group has appeared in the books Discovering Causal Structure (1987), Causation, Prediction, and Search (2nd ed., 2001), Causation, Computation, and Discovery (1999), and The Mind's Arrow: Bayes Nets and Graphical Causal Models in Psychology (2001) and in journals of a wide range of disciplines, including philosophy, statistics, computer science, economics, psychology, sociologly, and medicine. Schedule: 9:30 - 11:15 Pond 302 Introduction to the TETRAD Project: Causal Models & Statistical Data 11:30 - 1:00 Pond 302 Open Issues in Reliable Causal Inference 1:00 - 2:00 Pond 302 *Lunch 2:00 - 3:30 Pond 302 *Workshop: TETRAD Software for Causal Model Discovery *Registration required (lunch and workrshop only). Email firstname.lastname@example.com by Wednesday, March 21. Background Reading: Software: TETRAD: A program for creating, simulating data from, estimating, testing, predicting with, and searching for causal/statistical models. February 21 12:10-1:30 p.m.Pond 302 David Hunter Department of StatisticsCenter for Infectious Disease Dynamics "Exponential Random Graph Models for Social Networks" Consider a case in which we observe, for a sample of individuals, demographic characteristics as well as the presence of a particular type of relationship (such as friendship) between pairs of individuals. Suppose we wish to determine how the individuals' characteristics predict the presence or absence of relationships based on the observed sample. If we assume that every potential relationship is independent of every other, then logistic regression will suffice. However, one of the tenets of social network analysis is that social structure itself drives the formation of networks, meaning that relationships are not independent. This talk addresses statistical models for dealing with this situation, along with the special computational techniques that must be employed due to the mathematical intractability of the estimation problem. We illustrate using data on friendships among high school students. Background Reading: Inference in Curved Exponential Family Models for Networks (pdf) Curved Exponential Family Models for Social Networks (pdf) Goodness of Fit of Social Networks (pdf) Software: Statnet: R package for the representation, visualization, analysis and simulation of social network data. A light lunch will be provided.
Date/Time/Location Seminar Details October 16 12-1:30 p.m.Pond 302 Stephanie Lanza Methodology Center / Health & Human Development "An Introduction to Latent Class Analysis & Several Extensions" This talk provides a conceptual introduction to latent class analysis (LCA) and its extension to multiple-groups LCA and LCA with covariates. Model specification will be discussed, and the approach will be demonstrated using an empirical example on heavy drinking behavior. New SAS software for latent class analysis will be demonstrated. Presentation Slides (pdf) Latent class and related mixture models have application across the social sciences, with examples being found in public health, psychology, political science, economics, sociology, and linguistics, among others. For more, read the QuaSSI Backgrounder on Latent Class Analysis. A light lunch will be provided. October 23 12-1:30 p.m.Pond 302 Kevin Murphy Department of Psychology "Power Analysis for Traditional and Modern Hypothesis Tests" The talk lays out the logic and application of power analysis, and describes a very general model for such analyses that is based on the noncentral F distribution. The application of power analysis to alternates to the conventional null hypothesis, in particular the hypothesis that treatments have a nontrivial effect, are described. Prof. Murphy is the author, with Brett Myors, of Statistical Power Analysis: A Simple and General Model for Traditional and Modern Hypothesis Tests (2004, Erlbaum). This book can be perused online by the Penn State community via netlibrary. Presentation Slides (PowerPoint) Background Reading: Murphy and Myors, 1999 (pdf) Pollard & Richardson on Type I Errors (pdf) Power analysis has application across the social sciences. For examples and more information, see the QuaSSI Backgrounder on Statistical Power Analysis. A light lunch will be provided. October 30 12-1:30 p.m.Pond 302 Jee-Kwang Park QuaSSI Postdoctoral Fellow "Common Trend Models for Time Series Analysis" Common trend models are time series analogues of factor analysis. Just as (static) factor analysis uncovers the latent factor(s) common to a set of variables, common trend models find unobserved trend(s) common to a group of related time series. The talk discusses three approaches to estimating common trend(s) among multiple series: Dynamic Factor Analysis, Time Series Factor Analysis, and the State-Space common trend model. These models have potential application across the social sciences. They are common in economics, where common trend models are applied to time series of exchange rates, stock prices, macroeconomic indexes and so on. The talk will demonstrate two applications from political behavior and political economy, one analyzing the set of presidential approval time series produced by independent polling houses, and the other analyzing the set of tariff rates series produced by different countries. Presentation Slides (PowerPoint) For more examples and more information, see the QuaSSI Backgrounder on Common Trend Models A light lunch will be provided. November 2 (Thurs.) 2-5 p.m.Pond 302 QuaSSI Workshop Christopher Achen Roger Williams Straus Professor of Social Sciences Department of Politics, Princeton University "The New Political Methodology" Prof. Achen discusses the engagement between empirical and formal approaches to political science. He calls for more sophisticated approaches to data analysis, including the establishment of firm microfoundations in human behavior and avoiding the dangers of ``garbage can'' model specifications. Recommended reading for this workshop: Toward a New Political Methodology: Microfoundations and ART. (Perspectives on Politics, 2002) Let's Put Garbage-Can Regressions and Garbage-Can Probits Where They Belong. (Conflict Management and Peace Science, 2005) Further applications can be found in: Christopher H. Achen. Expressive Bayesian Voters, their Turnout Decisions, and Double Probit: Empirical Implications of a Theoretical Model. (This paper will be presented in a Department of Political Science Seminar on Friday, Nov.3, in Pond 302. Christopher H. Achen and Larry M. Bartels. Blind Retrospection: Electoral Responses to Drought, Flu, and Shark Attacks. Further background on the EITM movement in political science can be found in: Jim Granato and Frank Scioli. Puzzles, Proverbs, and Omega Matrices: The Scientific and Social Significance of Empirical Implications of Theoretical Models (EITM). (Perspectives on Politics, 2004) Further discussion of parsimony in models of international relations can be found in other entries in the exchange published in the journal Conflict Management and Peace Science: James Lee Ray. Explaining Interstate Combflict and War: What Should Be Controlled For?. (2005). John R. Oneal and Bruce Russett. Rule of Three, Let It Be? When More Really is Better.. (2005). James Lee Ray. Constructing Multivariate Analyses (of Dangerous Dyads). (2005). November 13 12-1:30 p.m.Pond 302 Donna Peuquet Department of Geography and The GeoVista Center "Time for Change: An Integrated Environment for Representation and Analysis of Complex Space-Time Processes" Because progress in geographic information systems (GIS) technology has historically relied on a fragmented gathering of approaches inherited from cartography, imposed by hardware, or borrowed from other computer-related fields, we are faced with the current situation in which (1) GIS still live in a static world, focusing on the spatial, but ignoring the temporal dimension, and (2) the initial promise of true analytical capability within an integrated environment that truly combines the computational power of computers with the perceptual powers of the human user has still not been fully realized almost 40 years after the first GIS became operational. While filtering through vast amounts of data now available to find patterns and associations requires new analytical techniques, it also requires new ways to represent the data. Effective use of heterogeneous and multidimensional data collections for undirected investigative discovery, as well as more directed analyses, requires an integrated approach for organizing evidence in a way that facilitates the task of the human user. Such an integrated approach must combine a multi-representation database strategy with diverse but coordinated visualization strategies within a unified conceptual scheme so that large volumes of complex information can be analyzed and synthesized. In the talk, I will first describe some current issues relating to space-time representation on a conceptual level, and then introduce the approach used in a prototype integrated space-time database-visualization system currently under development relating to those issues. Dr. Peuquet is a Professor of Geography at Penn State. Current research interests include theory of geographic knowledge representation, spatio-temporal data models, spatial cognition, spatial analysis methodologies, geographic database design, and the use of GIS in epidemiological research. Her recently published book, entitled Representations of Space and Time, with support in part from a Guggenheim Fellowship, develops an integrated perspective on philosophical, cognitive and technical issues on spatial and space-time representation. A light lunch will be provided. November 27 New Date! 12-1:30 p.m.Pond 302 Aleksandra Slavkovic Department of Statistics "Statistical Methods for Data Privacy, Confidentiality and Disclosure Limitation" Federal statistical agencies and non-government survey organizations collect data on individuals and groups while striving to maintain confidentiality. These data are often summarized in tables of counts (i.e., contingency tables) or tables of rates (i.e. conditional observed frequencies), and then released to various agencies, researchers, and policy makers for analysis that could have influence on policy decisions. Statistical disclosure limitation (SDL) applies statistical tools to the problem of limiting releases of sensitive information about individuals and groups that are part of statistical databases while allowing for proper statistical inference. This talk gives an overview of issues and SDL approaches relevant for addressing the questions: (1) What social science data are releasable from a table with small counts that will not raise confidentiality concerns? and (2) Will the released data be useful for statistical inference? A light lunch will be provided. December 4 CANCELLED Brian Smith College of Information Sciences and Technology / College of Education "Analyzing Competitive Resource Allocation and Cultures of Learning in Fantasy Sports League Data" This seminar will be rescheduled for the Spring 2007 semester. December 11 12-1:30 p.m.Pond 302 Sung Jae Jun Department of Economics "Efficient Multivariate Quantile Regression Estimation" (joint work with Joris Pinske) Just as the mean provides only a limited picture of any distribution, conditional mean estimation with OLS regression provides only a limited picture of relationships. Quantile regression is focused on providing estimates of conditional quantile relationships, such as how compression in percentiles of the wage distribution varies for workers of low and high education. An excellent and gentle introduction -- with motivation, illustrative examples, and discussion of software implementations -- was published in 2001 in the Journal of Economic Perspectives by Koenker and Hallock and is recommended as background reading for those unfamiliar with the quantile regression (Link through JSTOR -- requires PSU IP address or VPN.) In this seminar, Prof. Jun presents research with Joris Pinske on a proposed efficient semiparametric estimator for the multivariate linear quantile regression model. The paper can be downloaded here. A light lunch will be provided.
Past QuaSSI Seminars