SharePoint 2013 Content Search WebPart Query Unable to Exclude People Results

Question: I am using a Content Search WebPart to search for a keyword from 100s of site collections under a web application. I have two content sources:
<code>1. http://web.application (All the sites)
2. sps3://web.application (People results).
</code>
As the people results are crawled through 2nd content source also I am getting the people results when my search keyword matches the people names/logins.
As I know that the people results are pointing to mysite path. In order to exclude the people results i tried excluding them by Path. Below are the different query text used to exclude the results.
<code>{SearchQuery} -Path:"sps3://"
{SearchQuery} -Path:"sps3://*"
{SearchQuery} -Path:"http://mysites"
{SearchQuery} -Path:"http://mysites*"
</code>
None of them exclude the people results.
But interestingly the query works and returns only people results if NOT is removed from the query.
<code>{SearchQuery} Path:"sps3://"
</code>
Note: The default result source "Local SharePoint Results" is used in the Content Search WebPart.
May i know if there is a better approach to exclude the people results. I am okay even if the results are restricted using path.
Answer: Have you tried putting curly braces around it
<code>{{SearchQuery} -Path:"sps3://*"}
</code>
Or try using the contentclass instead.
<code>{{searchTerms} -ContentClass=urn:content-class:SPSPeople}
</code>


Does an equivalent to stock "options" exist for CDs?

Question: I was curious if an individual is able to purchase the option to get a CD at a particular rate in the future? Or alternatively defer the purchase of a CD and lock in the existing rate.
Answer: I doubt it, since CDs are FDIC insured and mainly target retail savers/investors.
More sophisticated investors have bond options, interest rate options, caps/floors, and other interest rate derivatives to choose from, as well as bespoke structured products.
Answer: I've never heard of any kind of option in the US that provides you with the ability to lock in the current rate for a CD to be opened at a future date.  If such a thing exists, perhaps someone else will chime in.
Some banks offer  adjustable rate CDs (ARC) which give you the opportunity to request a one-time adjustment at a later date should rates rise.  The first problem is that these ARCs  tend to offer somewhat lower initial rates.  A potential problem is that if rates rise "X" percent and your bank doesn't raise the ARC's rate "X" percent then  you're getting screwed on the far end as well.
Answer: There are options on interest rates and interest rate linked securities. For example, call options on a fixed income ETFs and call options on treasury futures contracts. Receiver swaptions are also traded, but aren't accessible for many investors.


What are the entry and exit criteria in performance testing?

Question: This question was asked to me in an interview.
Comment: This varies greatly on the application. It sounds like one of the questions that are asked in order to get the applicant to ask questions to discover the requirements.
Comment: @PaulMuir Whilst I agree that this question may require personal opinion, having some understanding of entry and exit criteria is necessary when testing. Without such criteria how does a tester know what is to be tested and for what? How does a tester know whether they have done good work or were wasting their time. Looking at the help pages for SQA I cannot see anything that says "primarily opinion-based" questions are not suitable here and there are huge numbers of question that are similar to this in asking general ideas on how to test. Therefore I vote to reopen this question.
Answer: Ask clarification questions, and lead the other side to give you an answer.
It's always a good advice, but especially true for interview questions.
Let's use your question as an example-
How do you define performance testing ? what is our goal- do we want to verify the product can achieve X or do we want to investigate and find out what X is ?
What are we testing ? a product, submodule, system of systems ?
Do we want performance testing to catch functional problems as well or can we expect it to be functionally tested ? how stable is the product ?
In what stage is our product- an old product with a lot of performance data ? a new product under development ? a product going through perfornce improvement stage ?
I guess you understand where all this leads to...
Answer: It simplifies to knowing what you want to measure and knowing how to determine when you have measured it.
Entry criteria include:

Knowing what sort of performance you are looking at. Eg maximum load, use of system resources at various loads, affect on response times as load increases, long term stability (eg memory loss), and several others.
Stability of the system's hardware and software. Do not want unexpected changes to the system during testing. On the other hand, some tests are about comparing performance of different configurations.
Availability of system for running the tests. Commonly want it to be dedicated to the testing so that other users do not disturb the test process.
Availability of key personal to monitor the system during the tests and be available to shut things down or to reset things in case of issues. (Anecdotally, there have been cases where supposedly isolated systems have actually used the same network resources as the active and live system. So a performance test that should have been isolated caused major distress to the live system.)
Sufficient resources available for enough test runs for long enough duration to be confident in the results.
Ability to restore the system's databases from backups so that each test or group of tests starts from the same state. (If restores are not done then how could you properly compare the results from different test runs?)
How performance problems are to be handled. Is the test to just create a report and leave it to others to resolve? Will the tester(s) be expected to advise on how to resolve performance issues? Will the system's developers be expected to modify (ie tune or adjust configuration data in) the system between test runs to respond to performance issues.

Exit criteria include:

Tests have been run.
System performance has been assessed according to the goals of the testing.
Test report written and passed to relevant people.
Fault reports written for any issues. (Performance testing often finds functional or usage issues.)
Performance goals have been achieved - only applies if the testers are working with the developers to (iteratively) test and tune the system until it meets the goals.


How to construct workout with heavy lifting and not getting bulky?

Question: I have reading so many threads but could not get any specific answer, how to construct a workout plan with heavy lifting but not getting bulky, shredded body is the aim without big arms or big thighs.
My regular workout is like:
1 body part a day(Back/biceps/chest/triceps/shoulders/legs) with 5 minutes of abs and 15 minutes of cardio in the end.
I try to lift heavy with 15-16 reps of 3 sets with rest time 50-60 seconds.
I am 90 kg, 6 feet, 31 years old.
Comment: @Raditz_35 May be I am not clear on 'Getting Bulky', i want my arms to be toned(just an example). I have body fat around 20-22%. Bigger arms and toned arms seems different things to me. Could you please emphasize more on other stuff I can do? I am just taking whey protein as a supplement after workout, nothing else.
Comment: @Raditz_35 I am looking for suggestions which could improve my overall body transformation. If you could advice some routine for fullbody workout or push/pull routine. Arms I just gave an example because I could see people working out around me getting huge, i am not sure about their diets but yes they look bulky(heavier). I want to keep my workout shorts as I have 1-2 hours max a day for any routine.
Answer:
how to construct a workout plan with heavy lifting but not getting bulky, shredded body is the aim without big arms or big thighs

Reduce your rep count. As a ballpark up to six reps per set is rather strength regimen, above is hypertrophy (size). Above 12 you are rather in endurance range, but I'd guess, that there is still some extent of hypertrophy.
Furthermore you'll need a considerate amount of protein to grow, think 1-2 g per kg bodyweight per day, which would be at least 90 g protein for you. Gaining heavily will be virtually impossible if you stay well below that, which should not be that hard if you don't eat much meat.
Comment: may be that's the answer i was looking for. Could you also suggest for the number of exercise I should do for a body part? Normally I try to hit 3-4 exercises which hits all the sub-parts of that muscle. And i guess adding cardio in the end would add advantage to my goal.
Comment: Thing is when i do less then 7-8 reps, i do not feel anything pumping up,for ex. Biceps muscles. Or you mean lifting much heavier that i could not do more than 7-8? For record I can do 16 biceps curl with 15 kg, should i increase that to 20 and do less reps?
Comment: @AnkitSharma Exactly, choose your weights so that you can't do more than, let's say 5 or 6 reps. Furthermore you should feel exhausted, but AFAIK *"the pump"* is a sign of hypertrophy, hence you should not feel *"the pump"* if you don't want to grow.
Comment: Thanks for the advice, but could you describe which of these(strength regimen/hypertrophy/endurance ) would be helpful in optimal fat loss.As i have a high % of body fat.
Answer: If you want to achieve what you have stated in your question, you need to train more like a weightlifter then a bodybuilder.
Weightlifters train for inner strength first, by keeping set and reps down with maximum weight load, as size it is not the main goal.
If you try to do this, you need to train 3 times a week, as you will need a lot of recovery time.
This is because when you will workout, you will need to keep the intensity up as well, meaning no more then 1 minute between sets.
Also because the majority of the exercises should be multi joint, like clean and jerk, squats and high pulls, with these exercises alone you will also get the cardiovascular workout you need to keep lean.
I am not sure what is "heavy" for you, but for example, I WOULD do a training session like this:
Starting with 1 set of squat with empty Olympic bar of 40 reps.
Then 4 sets of reps to failure with 100kg, 120, 130, 140, 150, even if it is just one rep you can do.
Then clean a jerk by choosing a weight that you can lift over your head only one or 2 times for 4 sets.
Then high pulls with a weight you can do  1 or 2 reps with for 4 sets.
If after this you still have energy, you can do some arms workout, more reps and light weight, it all should not take more then 1 hour.
We are all different, but over the years of training with weightlifter at competition level and bodybuilder, I have learned that there are certain protocols of training that never dies, because they have been proven to be the one that create the best response within people in general, even if at times they can get you bit bored.
Anyway, you can see that what I am suggesting is very well documented on the net, you just need to look at a weightlifter body and a bodybuilder one, to see that the first normally has the body that you are saying you want.
Food wise, you will need to have a good storage of energy before you start, after a few hours from finishing the training and during the rest days, it is when you need to get the protein and vitamins in.


How to calculate the Hessian of the Lagrangian at x and lambda

Question: I'm working on a project that needs to solve a constraint optimization function. Currently, I'm using Knitro solver and it needs to calculate the the hessian of the lagrangian at x and lambda. I don't understand how to calculate the hessian. The constraint optimization problem is as follows:
$\text{minimize}_x 100 -(x_2 - x^2_1)^2 + (1-x_1)^2$
subject to $1\le x_1x_2$, $
0\le x_1,x_2$,$x_1\le0.5$.
The function to calculate the hessian is (it seems that lambda is given):
$ t = x_2 - x_1x_1;$
$        h_1 = (-400.0  t) + (800.0  x_1x_1) + 2.0$,
$        h_2 = (-400.0  x_1) + \lambda_1$,
$        h_3 = 200.0 + \lambda_2  2.0)$
Could you please tell me how to get $h_1,h_2,h_3$ ? Thank you very much.
Answer: You don't need Lagrange multipliers to deal with this problem.
I read your constraints as
$$0\leq x_1\leq {1\over2},\ x_2\geq0,\ x_1 x_2\geq1.$$
It follows that the feasible domain $B$ is bounded by the halfline $h_1: \ x_1={1\over2}$ starting upwards at the point $P:=({1\over2},2)$ and by a steep arc $h_2$ of the hyperbola $x_1 x_2=1$ starting at $P$ as well. The gradient of $f$ computes to
$$\nabla f(x_1,x_2)=(\ldots, -2x_2+2x_1^2)\ .$$
It follows that $f$ has no stationary point in the interior of $B$, as $x_1\leq{1\over2}$ and $x_2\geq2$ there.
Along $h_1$ we have to consider the pullback
$$\phi_1(x_2):=f\bigl({1\over2},x_2\bigr)=-x_2^2 +{1\over2} x_2+101.0625 $$
which obviously is monotonically decreasing to $-\infty$ going up along $h_1$. Analogously we can study the pullback along $h_2$, which is more complicated:
$$\phi(x_2)=f\bigl({1\over x_2},x_2\bigr)=101-x_2^2 -{1\over x_2^4}+{1\over x_2^2}\ .$$
It should be possible to show that $\phi_2$ decreases monotonically to $-\infty$ as well when going upwards along $h_2$.
Since in fact we have $\lim_{x_2\to\infty}f(x_1,x_2)=-\infty$ uniformly in $x_1$ for $0\leq x_1\leq{1\over2}$ it follows that your function assumes its maximum at the point $P$ and is unbounded from below on the feasible domain $B$.
Answer: For a problem
$$
 \min f(x) \quad \text{subject to} \ c_i(x) \geq 0, \ i = 1, \ldots, m,
$$
the Lagrangian is the function of two (vectors of) variables
$$
 L(x,\lambda) := f(x) - \sum_{i=1}^m \lambda_i c_i(x).
$$
There is one $\lambda_i$ per constraint. The "-" sign is important and assumes you wrote all the constraints in the form $c_i(x) \geq 0$. There's some ambiguity in the way you wrote your constraints, but let's assume your problem is
\begin{align*}
  \min \ & 100−(x_2−x_1^2)^2+(1−x_1)^2 \\
  \text{subject to} \ & x_1 x_2 - 1 \geq 0, \ x_1 \geq 0, \ \tfrac{1}{2} - x_1 \geq 0, \ x_2 \geq 0.
\end{align*}
You Lagrangian is
$$
L(x,\lambda) = 100−(x_2−x_1^2)^2+(1−x_1)^2 - \lambda_1 (x_1 x_2 - 1) - \lambda_2 x_1 - \lambda_3 (\tfrac{1}{2} - x_1) - \lambda_4 x_2.
$$
All that's left is compute all the second partial derivatives of $L$ with respect to $x$ evaluated at $(x,\lambda)$, and that's the Hessian KNITRO is expecting. KNITRO will supply the values of $x$ and $\lambda$ at which it wants to evaluate the Hessian.


Where did the symbols ♭ and ♯ originate from, and why those?

Question: We're all used to flat and sharp signs, also naturals. Accidentals in some cases. But why those unusual signs? I suspect the ♭ may have something to do with the German B, but the ♯ sign? Something to do with the German H? Otherwise known as hash, or, properly 'octothorpe', coined by a telephone company in the '60s. And the natural ♮ seems to almost be a mixture of ♭ and ♯. What's it all about?
Comment: @Tim you can copy them from google from searching "flat sign" or "sharp sign", as long as you're working in a browser/operating system with unicode support (and it appears you are since you can see them).  The alt codes for flat, natural and sharp are 9837 9838 and 9839, look at this answer here for how to use them https://superuser.com/a/1024956/446573
Comment: @Kevin reid - tell us how to make those signs - PLEASE!
Comment: Depends on your computer. I have a Mac, so I open **Edit → Emoji & Symbols** and type "flat" or "sharp" into the search box. There's also usually some way to type in a numeric code (Unicode or otherwise) for any character if you feel up to memorizing such codes. Wikipedia often mentions the Unicode numbers for particular characters, e.g. [sharp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_(music)#Unicode).
Comment: in windows there is a built in program called Character Map which lets you see and copy various ascii symbols.
Comment: Why is the 1960s coinage the "proper" name for a symbol that was in standard use (meaning variously "pound" and "number," ignoring the musical sharp symbol) at least a hundred years earlier?
Answer: Medieval German notation for modal music (for all instruments and voices, not just for fretted stringed instruments) was essentially tablature, but using letter names for the notes instead of fret numbers as in modern tab notation. In early modal music, the only "altered" notes were B flat and B natural, which were written using different "square" and "round" shapes of the gothic letter b. These signs were not "accidentals" in the modern sense, but single signs representing the two different pitches of the note. The "square B" later became the gothic letter h, and H is still used in modern German as the name for "B natural" - B means "B flat".
When notation was needed for accidentals on other notes, the "round" or "soft" form of the letter b was used as the sign for a flat, and the "square" form for a sharp.
The original sign for "sharp" was written using diagonal lines, like an x with double strokes. I don't know when or why the "single sharp" became more vertical, and the modern diagonal "double sharp" was first used.
The modern names for "sharp" and "flat" in most European languages (except English) are translations of the German "square B" and "soft/round B".
In early music, there was no great need for a special sign for "natural". Later, the "square b" sign evolved into two different signs for "natural" and "sharp".
Early music notation was not pedantic about for how long an accidental stayed in force (the modern concept of "until the end of the bar" would have made little sense, because bar-lines were not used systematically before the late 16th century). Before the development of a separate "natural" sign, a sharp was used to "cancel" an earlier flat, and vice versa. Traces of this convention were still in use in some of JS Bach's manuscripts (and in some cases were misinterpreted when Bach's music was re-discovered in the 19th mid century), and in some of the examples in his son CPE Bach's book "Essay on the true art of playing keyboard instruments." Even in the 20th-century, one English translation of the "Essay" printed some of these examples (which are nonsensical if interpreted using modern conventions) as they were originally written, with no editorial comment.
This close relationship between "natural" and "sharp" also applied to figured bass. "#" was often used to mean "a major third" even in keys were the intended note was actually a natural. (Modern figured bass notation, used for teaching harmony, tends to be more pedantic about sharps and naturals than when it was a "living" musical notation system.) This usage of "sharp" also survives in modern chord symbols - Ab7#9 doesn't literally mean "play a B sharp!
Comment: Same goes for Italian - diesis (#) and bemolle (b). The German name for the # sign is  kreuz; flat sign, b. Funny, but natural is bequadro (becarre in French), both with leanings towards 'square'.
Comment: What do you mean by "translations of the German "square B" and "soft/round B" "?
Comment: In French, sharp is diese, and flat is bemol, and there seems to be no further translation than that. No reference to anything else, apart from 'bemol' also meaning damper. I can't follow further than that. This answer contains some fascinating stuff. Thanks so far!
Comment: Can you clarify how the Spanish "bemol" and "sostenido" (for flat and sharp resp.) relate to translations of the German "square B" and "soft/round B"? They're nothing alike as far as I can tell, particularly the sharp.
Comment: @E.P In Italian "bemolle" is literally "B molle" i.e. "soft b"; molle means "soft" in Italian.  In Spanish there is the derived word "muelle" meaning soft, but they don't say "bemuelle" so it's safe to say it's a loanword from the Italian (or rather, one of the dialects which later became Italian such as venetian or Tuscan) rather than an independent occurrence of "soft B". This would makes sense as Italy was a centre of music, and other terms have also propagated, even into English, such as tempo, crescendo, diminuendo etc. none of which are music specific in Italian.
Comment: @MattL this answer is basically wrong.  The flat sign originated in Italian staff notation, not in German tablature.  The modern names for flat and sharp -- in many but not all non-English languages -- come from Latin, not German, for "soft B" and "hard B" ("b mollum" and "b durum").  In German, _moll_ and _dur_ mean minor and major, not flat and sharp.
Answer: The signs are different forms of the letter B, which were needed as the different hexachords had different types of B's (namely, B flat and B natural). There isn't much more to say, Wikipedia has all you need.
The letter B:

Archaic forms of 'b', the b quadratum (square b, ♮) and b rotundum (round b, ♭) are used in musical notation as the symbols for natural and flat, respectively.

Hexachord:

Because B♭ was named by the "soft" or rounded letter B, the hexachord with this note in it was called the hexachordum molle (soft hexachord). Similarly, the hexachord with mi and fa expressed by the notes B♮ and C was called the hexachordum durum (hard hexachord), because the B♮ was represented by a squared-off, or "hard" B. Starting in the 14th century, these three hexachords were extended in order to accommodate the increasing use of signed accidentals on other notes.

History of notation of accidentals:

The different kinds of B were eventually written differently, so as to distinguish them in music theory treatises and in notation. The flat sign ♭ derives from a round b that signified the soft hexachord, hexachordum molle, particularly the presence of B♭. The name of the flat sign in French is bémol from medieval French bé mol which in modern French is bé mou "soft b". The natural sign ♮ and the sharp sign ♯ derive from variations of a square b that signified the hard hexachord, hexachordum durum, where the note in question is B♮. The name of the natural sign in French is bécarre from medieval French bé quarre which in modern French is bé carré "square b". In German music notation the letter B or b always designates B♭ while the letter H or h – a deformation of a square b – designates B♮.
Comment: Thanks. This seems to address the note B/Bb/H. Why 'soft or hard'? We are given no clues. It doesn't appear to explain the transfer of # and b to the other notes, either. And there seems to be a lot of supposition - 'citation needed'.
Comment: @Tim I don't understand, it's written there. "Soft" and "hard" are the are the names of the B letters, or at least the way by which they were referred. We are given more than a clue. The transfer of # and b to other notes is explained in the rest of the pages, you didn't ask about it, you asked only about the origin of the signs. Read the whole Hexachord page. About the "citation needed", it's just someone who didn't know/bother to add the source, not that the information is doubtful. This mostly repeats the explanation in the Hexachord page anyway.


What is the difference between wireframing and prototyping?

Question: What is the difference between wireframing and prototyping?
Am I right to think that prototypes should be interactive and wireframes should be static?
Comment: I think a prototype is an early usable version and a wireframe is a drawing.
Answer: I'm sure different people will have different views on how much or how little wireframes and prototypes overlap. What follows is how I approach the two:
If you are considering an application or a website, and you look at the page level for example, a wireframe and a prototype are superficially the same things, from a physical perspective. They can both be low or high fidelity, on paper or digital medium.  The wireframe may be a template for many pages or an unique page or screen. It is a page schematic.
Once you look at the bigger picture and how multiple screens or pages connect together, and start considering the navigation between them and the less tangible aspects of usability and interaction then you are linking wireframes (plural) together to make a prototype. The prototype is a demonstrable system.
The prototype can still be a single page or screen, but it embodies more of a sense of engagement rather than purely of visual appearance.
So In my opinion where it differs is the mindset with which you approach the schematics:
   Are you thinking more along the lines of 'How does it look?' or 'What information and features are presented?' (wireframe).
   Or are you thinking 'How do I interact with this?' or 'How will it be used?' (prototype).
Of course prototypes frequently refer to physical products, (again where the user engages with the product) whereas wireframes are typically for a screen based interaction, but I'm assuming the question is based on the difference relating to websites and software
Answer: Wireframe - Basically Skelton of interface, something we can compare with our BLUE PRINT
Prototyping - Workable dummy out put. combination of wireframe, interaction, scenarios, stories
Answer: A wire frame is used to capture requirements, share ideas and to  begin to outline the specification and structure. They can be limited to single page diagrams, or more commonly now - a full site. They are akin to blueprints. They can be offline diagrams or more often now, created in a dedicated piece of wire-framing software. A wire-frame is part of the PLANNING process.
A prototype is working or simulated version of some or all of the site and is used for getting feedback - a prototype is part of the TESTING process. They may be used to get early client or customer feedback, to test interface concepts and/or they may be used to test planned layout's ability to work well in a responsive way. It's becoming common to combine a wire-framing process with 'rapid prototyping' of key features and responsive layouts to do early testing.
Just my view of course...
There is a lot of overlap, with many wire-framing applications referring to the HTML pages they output as 'prototypes' and some agencies using the terms 'wire-frames', 'schematics' and 'prototypes' in an interchangeable way. There is no hard rule.
Comment: Good answer, especially the "There is a lot of overlap" part. I find the two concepts becoming harder and harder to see a clear line between.
Answer: Wireframing and prototyping are exceptionally useful and underused tools in the tech world. Website and app wireframes are useful to determine the layout and overall look and feel of each screen or page. Prototyping is an effective tool for validation and as a way to test your development company.
Wireframing
Wireframing is probably the most well recognized of these three app and website design steps. It is basically a low-tech prototype…extremely low tech. Wireframing is basically a sketch of each page or screen in an app or website. It can be done on something like a poster board, or even just draw it on a whiteboard.
We can also make some digital wireframes too. Digital wireframes are great because they're easily changeable and are more realistic off the end product. The whole purpose of a wireframe is to outline how each screen of your app will look – where you begin to create layouts and decide on your app's design.
A wireframe that's easily changeable means you can test out more wireframes – and even do side-by-side comparisons. Thus, a wireframe website is a useful tool. Of course, a wireframe website or app will need to incorporate storyboarding.
A storyboard is basically where you take a step back from your wireframes. Our wireframe design team uses storyboarding to look at how an app or website will look as a whole. This is how you determine if the flow or your app is logical and clean; basically, you're examining the overall structural design.
Prototyping
Prototyping is where you can get to validating your idea. It's basically a proof-of-concept:

Does your idea work as expected?
Do the main features contribute to the overall purpose of the app or website?
Does the flow of the website worked as planned during storyboarding?
Are the issues (and yes there will be issues – make sure you're ready for any hurdles that may arise) coming up insurmountable?
Is it solving the problem you need it to solve? If not, is it solving another problem that you can pivot towards?

A prototype is an essential step in the app development process. Beyond all of the above questions it helps to answer, it allows you to do some preliminary testing. If you build a prototype website, you can allow access to a limited number of people in your target market.
We've found that early testing is a brilliant way to make sure that your idea actually helps your target market. More often than not, we've seen other development companies build a website for their clients that looks great. But it was only verified by designers – and not by the people who designed it.
An important thing to remember in app and web development (or any enterprise, really) is that you are trying to sell it to yourself, or to developers. You're trying to sell it to your target market – if you want your app to grow, getting early testing is invaluable; plus if you test it with early adopters, you create a buzz!
Answer: As I understand, prototype is about behavior and functionality, wireframe is about ordering, positioning and sizing elements (buttons, forms, etc).
Answer: Roger makes a great point that there is a different mindset with which you approach a wireframe or a prototype.
Prototype describes a broad concept, and can be used to describe many artefacts between early low-fidelity sketches and an high-fidelity almost-finished final product. A prototype doesn't need to be interactive, but can be. A prototype doesn't need to be digital, but can also be for a physical product. In a prototype the focus can be on any combination of many different properties, including but not limited to form, function, the product concept, esthetics, visuals, materials. In my opinion the main value of prototypes is that they help answer questions (what will the product do? is this idea that I have technologically possible? does this lay-out get the message across?).
A wireframe is (just) an artefact that serves as a schematic visual description of the intended lay-out.
Answer: In my opinion, a Wireframe is:

A low-fidelity, conceptual drawing
Used to explore layout and task flow options
A fast, iterative visual communication to explore options using general data
A buy-in tool for stakeholders (designers, clients, developer all agree before coding)
An annotated set of paths and flows with entry, exit and interruption points
Can be functional or a general storyboard (Day in the Life)

A Prototype is:

A built, high fidelity set of functional pages or components
Contains detailed page components for the task flow
Is a targeted, usability testable specific user task scenario
Contains the actual navigation and interactions for eventual coding

In other words, they are different in form and intent.
Answer: Agree that fidelity can be a differentiating factor.
If your wireframes include page after page of detailed, frame-by-frame interaction descriptions for individual components, you might be ready for prototyping.
If you are spending more time making your prototyping software produce great looking printouts than you are on modeling interactions, you are probably going to be just fine with wireframng that particular project.
My team is currently using Axure to split the difference - clickable, interactive-intensive prototypes that can also be printed and used as wireframes. The trick is capturing the necessary information at each level of granularity in the same artifact...
Answer: My take for Web/Application-Development:
Wireframes are static mockups used to present GUI-Elements for different page types or page functions.
Prototypes are the dynamic counterpart of wireframes. "Click dummies" used to present a websites/apps navigational/functional architecture.
Answer: They are ways to describe interaction ideation at different levels of fidelity. In general, wireframes tend to lean lower-fidelity and prototypes higher-fidelity. But they're definitely fuzzy terms and vary in definition from UX team to UX team.
Answer: My very quick answer would be fidelity.  Wireframe generally lower fi, prototype higher.
Although there is a lot more to it: Wireframes attempt to address early functional design elements, prototypes put some of the elements from the wireframes into practice.
Answer: You can sketch something on paper and you may call it is a wireframe or prototype. But the difference is what you understanding is a wireframe and what you hold in hand is a prototype.
In short, Wireframe with Prototype as well as Mind and Brain.
Answer: Wireframes are best for focusing the discussion around the 'form' of the design, whereas prototypes are best for focusing the discussion around the 'function' of the design. Of course, given the amount of overlap in the different tools and methodologies, you'll find that the terms are interchangeable, but regardless of the term, you should understand what it is that you want to present to the audience.
In my opinion wireframes appear to be a less inclusive term, typically used for low-fi and low-tech artifacts and assets, whereas prototypes tend to be more interactive and sophisticated. I guess it is a matter of choosing the best tool for the job that you want to tackle.
Answer: Using the physical world, car analogy
Wireframe = form and shape of the car, to visualise what and where, kept static in the showroom
Prototype = a car that can be taken for a test drive ; post which it would go into production
Comment: Wireframes are, essentially, sketches. So car analogy would be that the wireframe is the literal sketches of the car, the prototype the literal prototype model of the car.
Answer: When you intend to design a mobile application or a web application, you will first need a sketch of how each page is going to look like. Only based on business concepts, a designer can define the application flow and a first draft of design, that has a sketch of how it will look like, what buttons will be there, what fields will be there, etc. That is what wireframe is meant for.
Mockups
Mockups are more alive pictures. They are visually more appealing, has colors, fonts, themes, buttons, logo, etc. At this stage labels of the fields, notes, font types, navigation menu, etc. are specified in the design. It is an exact representation of the how the mobile app will look like or web pages will look like.


Which surah did the Prophet recite in his last Salah?

Question: I want to know about Prophet Muhammad's life. Please tell me about the last Salat performed by the Prophet and the Surah which He recited in it.
Comment: This shows absolutely no research effort, and really seems to be more of a trivia question than one that's both practical and answerable. I would suggest you check our help centre http://islam.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-ask to better understand the sorts of questions we encourage here.
Comment: I just would like to let you know that AFAIK the Prophet (peace be upon him) didn't pray in the mosque a certain time before he died, so maybe you should ask about the last known Salat and i'm not sure if this was recorded anywhere!
Answer: There's a hadith in sahih al-Bukhari suggesting that the last prayer the prophet () lead in a his mosque was a maghrib prayer and he recited in it surat al-Mursalat.

I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) reciting Surat-al-Mursalat `Urfan (77) in the Maghrib prayer, and after that prayer he did not lead us in any prayer till he died. (Sahih al-Bukhari)

There are no details on how he recited it (did he split it or recite it twice or recited a different surah too).
But he entered the mosque on the day he died (a Monday) to see/witness the congregation prayer lead by abu Bakr:

While the Muslims were offering the Fajr prayer on Monday and Abu Bakr was leading them in prayer, suddenly Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) lifted the curtain of `Aisha's dwelling and looked at them while they were in the rows of the prayers and smiled. Abu Bakr retreated to join the row, thinking that Allah's Apostle wanted to come out for the prayer. The Muslims were about to be put to trial in their prayer (i.e. were about to give up praying) because of being overjoyed at seeing Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). But Allah's Apostle beckoned them with his hand to complete their prayer and then entered the dwelling and let fall the curtain.  (Sahih al-Bukhari)

While Abu Bakr was leading the people in the morning prayer on a Monday, the Prophet (ﷺ) came towards them suddenly having lifted the curtain of 'Aisha's house, and looked at them as they were standing in rows and smiled. Abu Bakr tried to come back thinking that Allah's Apostle wanted to come out for the prayer. The attention of the Muslims was diverted from the prayer because they were delighted to see the Prophet. The Prophet (ﷺ) waved his hand to them to complete their prayer, then he went back into the room and let down the curtain. The Prophet expired on that very day.
  (Sahih al-Bukhari)

I couldn't find any source quoting what abu Bakr actually recited. At this point the prophet () has not lead a prayer in the mosque for several days due to his illness.
Answer: As Medi Saif pointed out, Prophet (peace be upon him) did not pray in the mosque for some time and he appointed Abu-Baker Assidiq to lead the prayer, a total of 17 prayers. Which suggests that the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not go to the mosque for at least 3 days. According to the Muslim historians and hadith scholars, As-sayuti, An-nassaiy and Ibn-Katheer, Mohammed (peace be upon him) went to the mosque on Monday, the day he died, and prayed Morning prayer (sitting) behind Abu-Baker Assidiq. This was his last prayer. There was no mention of the suras which Abu-Bakir read.
Answer: The prophets last prayer that he led in the mosque was Maghrib and the Surah that he read was surah Mursalat and then when he woke up he read fajr and then passed away
Comment: Welcome to Islam.SE! Please check out a [tour](https://islam.stackexchange.com/tour) of our site to learn how this site works, and please cite sources and thoroughly answer the question asked.


Who are the most senior users here?

Question: As moderator election is underway, I'm interested to know who is the most senior user here in Christianity.SE, who knows about the site from the beginning.  It might be useful in deciding which candidates to vote. I can't find a way to sort the users according to their joining date.
Comment: What do you mean by "most senior"?
Comment: Not the age of the person, of course. How long the user had been here.
Answer: I don't think that seniority is a particularly good criteria for our votes. I would much rather see the votes go to people who actively participate in the site, rather than those whose only qualification is that they have been around for a while.
I say this because some of those who were instrumental in launching the site are no longer particularly active participants. For example, even if the guy who proposed the site on Area 51 were standing for election, he wouldn't get my vote. Arguably the most senior of our users, he was clearly passionate about the direction of the site back in the early days. Nevertheless, his involvement dropped off rapidly, and he appears to have little time for the site these days. As a result, I've no reason to believe he has any real understanding of the site as it is today, so I couldn't support him.
No, it is far better to vote for someone who has demonstrated their passion for the site by their active involvement, and whose actions shows us that they understand the site's current purpose and direction. Such a person is far better qualified to moderate this site, and to help it become an increasingly valuable and lasting resource for those who have an interest in Christianity.
Comment: We do owe you a debt of thanks for proposing this site though.
Answer: There are 68 of us that all got our start at the same time when the private beta phase launched. That lasted for a couple of weeks, then it became a public beta.
I don't think there is any way to qualify seniority per se. In order to participate in the private beta phase one needed to have made a commitment on the Area 51 proposal prior to launch, so all the private beta folks were involved before the first question got asked. Obviously participation levels varied widely from non starters and dropouts to some of today's most active participants.
Answer: One measure of seniority is the lowest user ID who is not an SE employee and is still active.
In that case your oldest members who are still actively posting/commenting would be

Peter Turner (user ID 4)
aceinthehole (user ID 5)
flimzy (user ID 20)
Caleb (user ID 30)
software monkey (User ID 32)
norabora (User ID 38)
Kramii (User ID 46)
wax eagle (User ID 49)
el'endia starman (User ID 58)
Wikis (User ID 62)
Andrew (User ID 65)
Mason Wheeler (User ID 68)
warren (User ID 69)
C. Ross (User ID 80)
RolandiXor (User ID 81)
Benjol (User ID 83)
Richard (User ID 84)
daviesgeek (User ID 95)

I'll be the first to confess that my end point is arbitrary here (I checked the first 100, which doesn't even cover the first day of private beta) and that my criteria for "active" is rather subjective. Several users not on this list visit regularly, but do not have any main site activity in the recent past.
Answer: I got it. Here it is  http://data.stackexchange.com/christianity%20stack%20exchange/query/124566/top-x-oldest-users?Top=500
Answer: I'll go ahead and submit my own Data Explorer query. [This one] sorts the 97 users with more than 1001 rep by creation date.
The old link is pointing to a different query, so here's another one that I found.

Who are the most senior users here?


Cannot display letters with accents after upgrade to ubuntu 11.10

Question: after updating to Ubuntu 11.10, my system doesn´t accept letters with accents- For example if i want to wrote "á" it ends like "´a".
But if i logon with guest account this problem doesn´t exist.
Is it possible to copy any configuration file from guest account to my account?
Any other idea?
Thanks
Comment: have you check your keyboard language?
Answer: This sounds like you have selected the wrong keyboard layout on your user account. To change this go to System Settings and select the Keyboard option.
Here select Layout Settings In this window click the + button in the bottom left to add a new keyboard layout

Select the language that relates to your keyboard (if you can preview the keyboard layout by clicking the Preview button to make sure it is the correct layout).

After you have selected the correct keyboard delete the incorrect keyboard from the list by highlighting it and clicking the - button.


When/how to switch in between major and minor pentatonic

Question: I'm trying to figure out how I can mix major and minor pentatonic scales and was wondering if someone could explain the underlying theory concepts that would dictate under what chords/chord changes does a switch sound good and also from which notes can you use to go from minor to major or major to minor. What I mean by the latter is, are there doorway notes, like the root, that can be used to switch in between scales and if so what are they?
Answer: First it's important to understand when it is appropriate to mix minor and major pentatonic scales. If you have a piece in minor you will want to stick to a minor (pentatonic) scale. If you have a piece in major which is not meant to sound bluesy, you want to stick to a major (pentatonic) scale. You only want to mix the two in a blues context, i.e. either in a blues song, or in a piece where you want certain parts to sound a bit bluesy.
Blues is all about mixing notes from the major and the minor scales. An exception is the minor blues, where you don't want any notes from the major scale. In a piece based on major or dominant chords (all with a major third), the minor scale notes are perceived as bluesy ("blue notes"). In addition, there's the b5, which is also referred to as blue note, and which is neither part of the minor nor the major pentatonic scale (it is part of the blues scale; that's the difference between a pentatonic scale and a blues scale).
I'll give you an example of how to mix the notes from the major and minor pentatonic scales over the chords of a standard blues: I7, IV7, V7. Note that all scales have the root of the I7 chord, so e.g. for a blues in C, the scales I refer to are the C major and the C minor pentatonic scales. (Note that it is possible to use scales with the roots of the IV and V chords, but that's a different subject).

I7: both minor and major pentatonic work fine
IV7: minor pentatonic is OK, major pentatonic has to be used carefully because of the major third (in C: E), which clashes with the b7 of the IV7 chord (in C: the note Eb in F7)
V7: both minor and major pentatonic work fine

As pointed out by Tim, it is a common trick to use the major pentatonic scale over the I7 chord, and then switch to the minor pentatonic over the IV7 chord. One way to find nice ways to mix the two is to localize all chromatic parts of the combined scale, and use those to move between the two scales, e.g. in the key of C from Bb to A, from E to Eb, or starting on the F (F,E,Eb), or upwards D,Eb,E, or chromatic approach of the note E (works over I7): D,F,D,Eb,E, etc.
Note that after a while you will not so much think of it in terms of switching between minor and major, but you will hear the chord tones and add those tones to your basic scale, which could be the blues scale. The result is similar, but you will be able to choose the notes in a more musical way.
The best way to learn how to do it is to analyze players who basically use all 12 notes to play over a blues. Note that you don't have to go into jazz to find that. As a guitar player, I'd suggest you listen to Robben Ford and Larry Carlton. I often work on exactly that topic with my students by analyzing Larry Carlton's solo on "The B.P. Blues":
Answer: First, let's establish what those notes are. C maj pent. contains C, D, E, G and A. C min pent. has C, Eb, F, G and Bb. So, the common notes are G and funnily enough, C. C, being the root of each, is pivotal, as is the perfect fifth, G. Playing over a C major accompaniment, Eb will hardly sound diatonic, which is why it often gets bent up at least a little, paying lip service to the major 3rd, E.
Rather than switch, a lot of players think along the lines of "I have a pool of C, D, Eb, E, F, G, A and Bb", actually only leaving out 4 other notes from the chromatic 12, which could still actually be used at some points in a piece.  So there is no absolute necessity to think 'now I'm using maj pent/ min pent'.
If you want, in a piece in C, say, you could work with that idea, and it would sound 'nice' with maj pent, and a little more edgy with min pent. But, there's another way. This all works perfectly when the song is ON C, but when it changes to be ON F, for example, a slightly different set of pents comes into play, literally. So, let's say you use an E for the last bit on C, that could slide down to Eb for the start of the F bar. Now, you've gone from maj pent. (C) to min pent. (F).
Maybe to simplify this, consider the notes constituting C maj pent. and G maj pent. As above, C, D, E, G and A for C. G will have G, A, B, D and E. So the common notes are D, E, G and A. Thus, to move from C chord to G chord for a solo, these four could link as tied or repeated note quite happily. Food for thought...
Answer: I would add something that may very well be controversial. I do believe the only difference between the minor pentatonic and the Major pentatonic is the notes they start on and that they are pretty much the same scale.
a minor Pentatonic has the same notes as C Major Pentatonic so you could easily move between the two.
Comment: You're sort of correct. However, while the A min and C maj pents are identical, so it's difficult to tell which one is playing in, C maj and C min pents are rather different - this is where the OP is coming from.
Comment: Yes, but that would mean using exactly the same notes, so there's actually no difference. A way to involve new chords into a piece is to use a PARALLEL key . Using a RELATIVE set of notes means using the same notes - a bit like modes, albeit with a moved tonal centre.
Comment: I should have been more specific in my question. I am indeed referring to relative scales so A min and C maj pentatonic. I am interested in various use cases as I now understand my question deeper, both use of parallel and relative keys are interesting to me.
Comment: There is hardly any ambiguity. In a particular piece, using maj or relative min notes will have little bearing, as they're the same set! It's very common amongst players to move in and out of the parallel sets of notes - particularly with pents. The question is far more valid with regard to parallels.
Comment: @user2495518: If you're talking about relative keys, what's the point of the question then? Moving between the notes c,d,e,g,a (C maj pent) and a,c,d,e,g (A min pent)??? There is nothing to switch between the two because they're the same!
Comment: You misunderstood the question. The issue is to move between major and minor pentatonic scales with *the same root*.
Comment: But they are not relative to each other. Surely the natural movement would be to the relative keys.
Comment: IF this is the case then the OP is somewhat ambiguous as it does state explicitly he wants to move between minor / Major pentatonic with the same root.
Comment: ah disregard above comment. Matt L. has it down.


How does writing off a bad debt affect the balance sheet?

Question: I was reading an article about financial statements, and I came across the term "Bad Debt" which falls under the category of unusual expenses on an income statement. Some companies just write off a bad debt as an expense on the income statement. But my question is how does it affect the balance sheet? A debt such as an accounts receivable is shown as an asset on the balance sheet. So if we remove an asset from the sheet, won't this mean that the balance sheet no longer balances out?
Answer: The accounting equation is like so: : Assets - Liabilities = Equity (Owners or Shareholders)
When an entity first makes a transaction (like, say, a sale with payment arrangements to collect money later), the entity sees an increase in Assets (the debt owed them, accounts receivable). To keep things balanced, they also recognize the increase to Equity.
When the entity realizes (on paper) that the debt was bad and they aren't going to be paid, they decrease equity as well in equal measure.
Remember: the balance sheet stays "balanced" - so any set of changes must equally effect all aspects of the accounting equation - but that doesn't mean it doesn't change. By "writing off" a bad debt, the entity has recognized it lost money and they aren't going to ever collect on that debt after all. In double-entry accounting every debit there is a credit, and thus also "balance".
The debt is "off the books" because you don't continue to consider it in accounts going forward from the period the loss was recognized.
Comment: Thanks for the explanation regarding reduction of Equity.
Answer: you don't just remove it from the balance sheet, but 'write if off' as a loss. It will then be in the gain/loss total (reducing the gain accordingly), and the balance sheet will still balance out.
Conceptually, it is treated like buying a chocolate bar and eating it - you have a payment, but no asset for it anymore, so it is a loss
Answer: You have to reduce the amount of debtors by the amount of bad debts. Hence, the amount of bad debts is deducted from the Debtors in the Current assets in Balance Sheet to show the true and fair position of assets..


Is there a function in python which returns the Amplitude/Sound Pressure Level of a sound file(like .wav) file?

Question: I found a function called scipy.io.wavefile.read() which returns the sampling rate and an array. But in the documentation, it is not specified that whether the array returned by this function is of Amplitude or Sound Pressure Level. Which one is it?
Comment: Digital Amplitude. In essence, something proportional to the voltage at the ADC. So strictly speaking, since this is DSP, there's no such function, because the information about actual air pressure values is lost during recording and playback.
Comment: You mean that this function returns array of Digital Amplitude ?
Comment: The digital amplitude is proportional to pressure, but you need to know mic sensitivity, gain, ADC max voltage to map it to an actual number
Comment: Not an exact duplicate, but I think that you might find [this question and responses](http://dsp.stackexchange.com/questions/35360/determine-sound-intensity-in-spl/35366#35366) relevant (?)
Answer: No, you need to know the full Transfer function from the acoustic response at the sensors face to your A/D converter.  Transducer responses vary with frequency. You need a calibrated reference at a minimum.
A reference sensor will have a response curve from the manufacturer.  An average would be useful as well.
Answer: It's amplitude data. Assuming the file contains a recording of an acoustic event the data may well be strongly correlated to the original SPL but it's not that data.
According to the docs, depending on the nature of the audio file scipy.io.wavefile.read() gives the data in one of the formats below:

WAV    format                Min         Max          NumPy dtype
32-bit floating-point       -1.0        +1.0          float32
32-bit PCM                  -2147483648 +2147483647   int32
16-bit PCM                  -32768      +32767        int16
8-bit  PCM                   0          255           uint8

You can convert the value in your to dBFS using 20*log10(val/max). Where max is the max appropriate to your wav file as per the above table.


Academic discretion: Should one participate in online forums or Stack Exchange sites anonymously?

Question: As we may ask and answer various questions on online forums or stack exchange regarding teaching, research, publishing etc; it may reveal our lack of knowledge on any basic topic. This might hurt us in the future as an already established academician. So, should we participate in those online forums or stack exchange sites under pseudo-names to remain anonymous?
Comment: Okay. I've moved the question back to the main board, as the question scope now makes more sense for this board.
Comment: @aeismail it's also relevant to academia… I would suggest it to edit the question to make it broader, covering online Q&A sites or forums (an not only academia.SE). And of course, migrated back to the main site.
Comment: @F'x - Interesting, I would imagine this could be appropriate on a broader scale. However, I would think that the general question "how should I conduct myself online when the topic may affect my work?" is more on-topic at [Workplace.SE](http://workplace.stackexchange.com) than here.
Comment: I've migrated this question from the main board to this board because the question is __about__ the board, rather than academia _per se._ Under our FAQ, this question belongs here.
Answer: This is a very good point. There are certain questions I'd like to ask, but cannot because I'm not at all anonymous for the reasons you allude to or because current students might read those answers. That said, I chose not to be anonymous and I have adjusted my behaviour accordingly. Maybe my students like the idea that I can answer their questions on such a public forum (well, perhaps one of the more topic specific forums).
Comment: @Abe That's all well and good until a mod merges your account!
Comment: an alternative approach is to use a pseudonym for those questions and comments you'd like to be anonymous.
Comment: @Abe, although site moderators will be able to see that you are the same person.
Answer: That's a good question. I don't have a permanent position yet, and I'm aware that anything I post here can potentially be read by future recruiting committee, so I'm also careful of the way I can ask questions or post answers. I don't think it's a problem to show that you might lack some knowledge, considering that you're also showing you're aware of it and taking some measures to get that knowledge.
That being said, nothing prevents you to log out and ask a question anonymously. Your IP is not public, so you're safe.
Comment: +1 for "log out and ask anonymously"... I've done this on occasion on other SE sites for a variety of reasons, and the answers I received were just as good. Your privacy is as airtight as you make it.
Comment: Your IP is not public… well, the default gravatar is IP-based, so I guess one could try to ID your IP through your gravatar :)
Comment: Your IP is not public, and you're safe ... Until they merge your account.
Comment: disagree with the above comment: SO central and more specifically metaSO have a reputation-driven acceptance of users, questions, answers and in general participation. This has been recognised at various stages ([here](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/92127/badge-suggestion-nice-to-newbies), [here](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/132719/warn-when-downvoting-newbies) or [here](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/9953/could-we-please-be-a-bit-nicer-to-the-noobs)). Whether this is a real problem for SO I cannot say, but that behaviour exists
Comment: a pseudonym is an alternative, that provides access to the notifications and summaries, etc.
Answer: I think that using real names should be encouraged. And if someone feels comfortable with it - just do it. However, when it may refrain someone from asking questions, then it's better to use a nickname.
Why?
People are afraid of asking "too simple" questions (what may affect life d some SE sites). But in general, whether offline or online, there are two possibilities:

pretend that to be all-knowing (knowing that they won't believe you anyway),
ask when you don't know, even if it seems simple (and "a simple question" asked in one's field can be in fact very advanced).

Moreover, seeing serious guys asking simple questions may be very encouraging for others to ask. So please, if there are any postdocs and professors here, give a good example by using you own name (and not being afraid to ask under it :)).
Just comparing to regular interactions with TAs and professors - being able to say "I don't know" gives respect (unless someone is totally clueless, but it that case one cannot cover it anyway).
Furthermore, let me quote a part of the MathOverflow FAQ, as a part of establishing one's scientific reputation:

We also encourage you to use your real name as your username. In your own enlightened self-interest, realise that participating in blogs, MathOverflow, the arXiv, and mathematical publishing are all forms of advertising for your "brand", even if that's not your principal purpose (and hopefully it's not). Since job applications require you to write your real name, you might as well use it everywhere else, too.
Using real names reminds everybody that they are corresponding with real people, and it demonstrates a certain level of personal investment in your MathOverflow identity. If you use a pseudonym and you get into some kind of trouble (e.g. fights in comment threads or spammy-looking posts), the moderators are much less likely to give you the benefit of the doubt.

Moreover, I've never heard of anyone's reputation (or job opportunities) being harmed by asking technical questions. Allegedly it may help, but I've never heard the opposite. So, IMHO, the risk here is overvalued.
But...
When it comes to issues related to talking about frictions with other people, institutions, abuse, etc (and other sensitive things) - then I guess the best approach is to use anonymous post anyway. Or have a nickname only for a few posts.
Comment: Adding to that, I have asked some questions I thought were technical but have remained open until now. Sometimes, apparently simple questions are not so simple, it's just that nobody asks them.
Answer: I'll add an answer, because I am one of the posters who chose to participate to SE pseudonymously. I see two reasons one would want to do so. The first would be to set up a really airtight firewall between real-life identity and some online circles. This allows you to ask questions of a more personal or confidential nature, but also severely restricts the information you can give up (and thus your interaction with others on the site).
The second approach, which is the one I follow, is less stringent: I merely use a pseudonym to make the link between my SE identity and my real identity not immediately Googleable. But, the link can (and has been) established, both ways. I have given here on SE more than enough information (spread over questions, answers and chat) to uniquely identify my ID. I also know that some colleagues know my account name… in part because, I'll admit to it, I do wear those SE T-shirts at work sometimes :)
I am still pretty much myself, and don't restrict what I say any more than I would do to any person I would meet in the street and discuss with. I allows for some more candor, while still  knowing one can be held accountable for one's words. I like that.
Comment: that's interesting, so would you say that there's a limit of anonymity that one can be warranted before being made known to all? Provocative question: would you give up your reputation points and start a-fresh if that was to restore your anonymity again?
Answer: I'll add few points, let me know if these could be considered as some sort of answer:
Points in favour for revealing your name:

your name and identity become associated with your reputation, hence telling the world that you're some sort of expert in that domain, area, set of questions
you can use such reputation for outside StackOverflow: informally, one such question arose on Meta-StackOverflow here and here and here and here. How recruiters will use this type of information is still premature to say
you can impress your students, friends and family :-)

Points in favour for NOT revealing your name:

as an academic, I value the anonymous feedback to my content, being project proposals, papers, or anything else. I would argue that one of the greatest features of the peer-review approach is not to know who's your reviewer, so that she can bash some extremely harsh feedback without the need of expecting some back-slash from it
as a SO user, your name, gender, identity should not matter, the quality of answers and questions should be more important. If you sample SO users, you will notice that the majority of them are not identifiable in terms of their nationality, gender, age or other characteristics. It seems to me that the users of "online communities" have more incentives to reveal such information; whether a Q&A site (as SO) does not strictly need that piece of information
Comment: +1 for points for both options. When it comes to anonymity - while for peer-review it is good, it seems that in open environment people behave more openly, see e.g. discussions on SE, G+ or in blog comments, even of famous scientists. Perhaps it happens because the participation is voluntary plus answers/comment are visible to everyone. And yes, needless to say, name, gender, nationality, one's favourite dish (or even credentials) should not matter on SE. However, they should not matter either on publications and most people publish under their own names.
Comment: And you can do both. It is sometimes helpful to have a straw man, also to keep accounts on personal sites (here, parenting, music, ...) separate from technical sites (stats, programming, etc) ... and there would be no rule against claiming credit for both accounts if you wanted.
Comment: @Abe oh i like what you say... I used to have only a NameSurname type of user on SO, but I did not want to share some of the discussions I had on SO itself, so I generated another one instead
Answer: Participation in a board such as this is strictly voluntary, and people have the choice to identify themselves by whatever means they choose: with their realnames, with pseudonyms, with login names, or with no names at all.
People are, of course, responsible for their actions and their behavior, but it's not up to us to tell them that they must be anonymous, or that they must use their real names. All we can do is tell the to do whatever they feel is appropriate in their own situations.
Comment: I get the impression that this answer is just begging the question: which course of action is appropriate in what situations, then?
Comment: If you feel that your superiors would be concerned with you posting in a public forum, then it's probably not a good idea to post publicly. If you're a department chair with job security, it probably doesn't make a difference, so long as you don't say anything staggeringly inappropriate. If you're somewhere in between (as most of us are), you have to choose what level is most comfortable. Saying "everyone must participate anonymously" is as silly as saying "no pseudonyms permitted."
Answer: This is a great question. There have been several instances when I wanted to clear some doubts about basic stuff, and wondered if it would be appropriate to post it in a way that would be visible on my profile.
After going back and forth for a while, I created a pseudo-id, but in the end, I decided to just use my regular account. The intention was to make a point, that my students should not feel embarrassed to ask a question, even if it is a very basic question.
Answer: OK, here is one more data point to this.
In the early 90s I hit Usenet and fell in love with it. For about a decade I have, under my real name, actively participated in discussions about programming, literature, child raising, the organization of the de.* hierarchy, and whatnot. During this time, several Usenet search engines emerged, assembled data, swallowed each other like a pool full of sharks, until finally the whole data ended up at google.
And it's all still there! If you know my real name, you can find my views onto programming, books, and child raising as well as certain personal stories that I now wish I hadn't posted, and a few flame wars I participated in more than a decade ago. While it happened back then, I felt increasingly bad about this, but, being tightly embedded in communities I didn't want to give up, I failed to see how to change that. (Also, looking back at all that always made me think that the worst damage has already been done, and that I wouldn't be as stupid anymore. Sigh. How silly an idea.)
When it got to the point that, when I typed my name into google, it would suggest the remainder once I had barely started on my last name, I pulled plug and decided to go into hiding. Out of the likely online handles I picked one that hides behind a big institution at google, I setup an email address that I only use for services where I use that handle, and I became very strict about revealing my identity to members of online communities. (There isn't even half a dozen people, on SE or elsewhere, who know the name behind my moniker.)
Now, google won't suggest my name until I have typed the very last letter, neither my coworkers nor my superiors know my online name, and almost nobody out there knows who's behind "sbi". I can ask questions, give answers, and state opinions just as I want, without having to consider the opinions of, or the impact on, any of them. I can speak openly about how I feel at work without having to fear my superiors might see it. I can ask questions about stuff I am working on that I could not ask if the company I worked for was known (because it would give clues to competitors), and I can discuss child raising without having to worry what my kids will think about me (or a prospective employer will think about the family they came from) — well, at least there's nothing new to worry about now.
Comment: Dad? Is that you?
Comment: @Abe: You still mad at me? :)
Answer: I post under my real name, mostly because I started out by doing so on MathOverflow (where this is encouraged, and which I see as an extension of my public mathematical career).  I have a general sense that this adds to the professional atmosphere of this site.
I'm not too worried about damaging my career by posting a question or an answer that looks stupid or "reveals my lack of knowledge".  I have no doubt I've already done that a few times, but I have enough trust in the academic community to believe that a reader will understand that I write in good faith and my goal is to learn and/or help.  I also trust that any reader will remember that they've had "stupid" questions or opinions of their own, and avoid judging me too harshly.
However, I do take care to keep my posts professional, remembering that I'm speaking publicly.  Among other things:

I try to maintain a calm, courteous and measured tone in my writing.  I take extra time to make sure that what I post is reasonably well written, and hopefully not subject to misinterpretation.
I will share my own experiences where they relate generally to academic life.  I won't share details that implicate other people who could be identified, reveal confidential or non-public information, or expose details about my institution's internal politics.  I won't post rumors or hearsay, or incidents that happened to other people (unless they're already public knowledge).  I won't share experiences that are overly personal.
I'll share my personal opinions or advice on academic matters, particular where I think my views are likely to be representative of the academic community as a whole, or a significant segment thereof.  If I have unusual personal opinions on a particular issue, especially if I think they're likely to be controversial, I'll probably keep them to myself; partly out of self protection, but mostly because I don't think people who ask questions here are looking for answers from the lunatic fringe.

Contrary to ElCid's answer, I have no expectation of impressing anyone or building my academic reputation with my posts here.
If I have a question or answer of a sensitive nature, I would post it anonymously (using Tor or something similar to hide my IP address if I were particularly concerned).
I understand that other participants may prefer, for their own reasons, to participate under pseudonyms.  I fully respect their decisions.


Loss for CNN decreases and settles but training accuracy does not improve

Question: I am training a CNN with 2 conv layers 2 Relu and max pooling and 2 FC layers the last of which has only 2 units since it's a binary classification problem. The images are spatio-temporal continuous, basically those of stream functions of the atmosphere, obtained as contour plots in MATLAB from data generated out of a PDE solver. So, it is quite difficult to understand the difference between the two labels by just looking at the respective images. The labels are generated through some statistical algorithm that operates on the intensity of the pixels or simply the value of the matrices that make the contour plot. While training the CNN, I see that with a learning rate of .001, the loss decreases gradually and monotonically at all time where it goes down to 0.6 in the first 200 epochs (not suddenly, quite gradually, the slope decreasing as the value goes down) and settles there for the next 500 epochs. However, the training accuracy fluctuates around 50% and my testing accuracy is 50% too. Moreover, I see while looking at the false +ve and -ves that the CNN has got one label right all the time and the other label wrong all the time. I have used dropout of 0.5 and L2 regularization. I am using TensorFlow for all the programming. There is no imbalance in the training set between the TRUE and FALSE labels. I have 4500 TRUE example and 4500 False examples. I have randomly shuffled the training set and normalized them with 255 since I'm using RGB images. Testing is done on 200 TRUE examples and 200 False examples. Kernel size 5x5 in both layers , first one having 32 and second one having 64 filters and FC layer has 1024 neurons. I have played around with these parameters with no real improvement. Any suggestions would be really appreciated.
Answer: I guess I was able to figure out the answer to this when I looked carefully at the feature space and printed out the outputs from different convolutional layers. It appears that this issue appears when you have a lot of redundant features in your feature space. Since, this was a binary classification problem with FALSE and TRUE, each image by default had a lot of features that would correspond to a FALSE and the TRUEs only had a small percentage of the feature space being different. The trainer easily learnt the large percentage of the FALSE feature space and hence the loss easily went down while the small TRUE feature space was missed. This is the reason why the loss was going down but accuracy not improving. The trick to avoiding this issue was to downsample the initial image in the beginning before going to the convolutional layer. One could do it with some pyramidal pooling if on Tensorflow, or simply with imresize in matlab.


"Fland Canyon" and Maude

Question: I was watching an episode of The Simpsons yesterday - "Fland Canyon" - and it entailed Homer trying to get Maggie to sleep by telling a story of the family's holiday to the Grand Canyon with the Flanders. It was supposedly two years ago, but Maude was in it. This is a brand new 2016 episode. Given that Maude died in Season 11, which was between 1999 and 2000, wouldn't this episode be woefully inaccurate? Especially since Homer is shown with an iPhone-like mobile phone in the flashback, which wouldn't have been around at the time of Maude's death.
Comment: [Time is pretty much meaningless on The Simpsons, though.](http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Floating_Timeline)
Comment: I'm not sure there *is* a static timeline anymore, is the thing. It would create even more inconsistencies. I mean, imagine if he said this happened 17 years ago. What would Bart be doing there? He didn't even exist.
Comment: @DogLover: Well apparently the Simpsons' creators disagreed with you. Secondly, keep in mind that Homer is _telling a story_, which in no way guarantees that the story is factually accurate.
Comment: @Walt I agree, but such a significant event surely must lie on a static timeline.
Comment: @Walt I see what you're saying, but I think the Simpsons would remain on the floating timeline and Maude on the static timeline. It would work better that way I think.
Answer: Based on your comment:

@Walt I agree, but such a significant event surely must lie on a static timeline.

There is no static timeline, at least not to the degree that you're expecting it to exist. Acknowleding that Maude died 15 years ago would require acknowledging that Bart (10), Lisa (8) and Maggie (1) never knew Maude. More worryingly, Rod (10) and Todd (8) Flanders could not be Maude's children then either.
Clearly, you cannot define the in-universe timeline by the out-of-universe timeline. Just because the episode in which Maude dies aired 19 years ago (16 years when you posted the question), does not mean that 19 (or 16) years have passed in the Simpson universe.
If you define the timeline based on the characters' ages, it becomes clear that no one has aged in all this time. Bart is still 10, Lisa is still 8.
There is no real timeline for the show. It's intentionally kept very loose to avoid the writers having to stick by a static timeline that would hamper jokes and become a general nuisance which doesn't add anything of value to the show.
Comment: Congratulations, this is the winner of the [monthly answer challenge](https://movies.meta.stackexchange.com/q/4417/49).
Comment: Agreed. It simply means things are easier for the writers to say "this happened one day, the next day or next week, this episode's events happened" and so on. Even though it was probably two weeks since the last episode aired (just using illustration, not sure how often episodes come out)
Answer: I think there's a simpler explanation than "Simpsons doesn't have a static timeline" (which is true).
The show's episodes that ran from 2000 to 2016 simply depicted 2 years worth of the life of the Simpsons. Other than episodes which show special events such as birthdays and holidays, and episodes that span a longer period of time, it's reasonable to think that each episode takes place a day or so after the previous episode.
So there is nothing wrong with thinking that the grand canyon episode took place less than 2 years after the Maude's death episode. Just because it took 17 years in between airing each episode doesn't mean that 17 years have passed.
Comment: If you assume that actual time did pass, then Maggie should now be a toddler (she would be 3 if two years have passed).
Answer: That episode was actually a story Homer and Lisa told Maggie in her crib. Once the story ends, we see The Simpsons invite the Flanders to a postcard museum in real time, and Maude is absent.

"Fland Canyon" and Maude


Aggregating CRS Production Functions

Question: If thera are two firms and both of them have constant returns to scale production function. Will the aggregate/industry production function still be the sum of individual production functions. How does CRS effect the aggregate production function of industry?
Comment: For your first question, why would one think the aggregate production function not be the sum of the individual ones in this case?
Comment: I don't know. I have been given two similar functions, the only difference between them is that one is decreasing returns to scale and other is constant returns to scale and I'm supposed to explain how does that effect aggregate production function.
Comment: @KitsuneCavalry Why should it?
Comment: It shouldn't necessarily.
Answer: Consider two firms with production functions $A_1 F(k,l)$ and $A_2 F(k,l)$. Both have the same curvature (and are CRS), but one is more productive. Here we can solve the social planner's problem (why?) instead of looking at a competitive equilibrium. He will want to equalize marginal returns across the firms. As one is more efficient, it will get more inputs.
And what is the maximum? Give all of the inputs to the more productive firm. This is because of CRS (which indeed means that as you scale up one production function, it's marginal product will always be larger than the other one's).
That is, define $G(l, k)$ as the aggregate production function. It is given by
$$ G(l,k) = \max_{(l_i, k_i)_{i=1,2}} A_1F(k_1,l_1) + A_2F(k_2,l_2) \text{ s.t. resource constraint}$$
The solution here is $G(l,k) = A_1F(k, l) $ if $A_1 > A_2$, and vice-versa.
Adding Up Makes No Sense
If you think that adding them up makes sense, you're not thinking things through:
If one cook can bake one cake with each egg, and the other cook can also bake one cake with each egg, then the two cooks together can bake two cakes with each egg?
Decreasing returns to scale
Now, it won't be the case that one firm is more productive than the other one always. Consider $F_1(k_1) = A_1 k_1^\alpha$ and $F_2(k_2) = A_2 k_2^\alpha$. You will want to split up capital between the two firms such that marginal returns equalize: $k_1, k_2 : F_1'(k_1) = F_2'(k_2)$. Due to DRS, this necessarily means that both $k_1, k_2 > 0$. I leave the actual derivation of the aggregate production function as an exercise.

Aggregating CRS Production Functions


What is relation of Lord shiva/RUDRA with storms?

Question: The rig veda 2:33:1 discribes Lord shiva father of maruts and maruts are considered storm gods?so is it beacuse lord shiva is father of maruts he is considered as head of storms god?
Comment: Hi - "shiva is father of maruts he is considered as head of storms god?" I just want to know from where you came to know about this. I mean is this mentioned in some web sites. Or you read somewhere etc.
Comment: I just want the clarification because in Rig-Veda Maruts or storm gods are described  as sons of Rudra & Prsni. But in Rig -Veda at many places Indra is leading them. They are Indra's followers. And Indra is portrayed as leader of heavenly and earthly ganas.
Comment: @swiftPushkar yes they are attendants Of Indra dev and I am cleared about this,actually I saw wiki of Lord rudra where it was written that he was storm god of Rig veda and when I saw verses of Rig veda there is only 1 hymn in which it is written that he holds thunderbolt but In other verses he is also shown holding bows.So I think this is a wrong western scholars speculation.
Comment: Ok , i mostly checked Rig-Veda for this   I have prepared the answer. Will try to give it in some time. But in that its not Shiva or rudra as their leader. Of Course I will update the answer later on  if I found something mentioning Ruda as their leader.
Answer: Your question enquires whether Lord Shiva Or Lord Rudra  is the head /Leader of Vedic  Maruts (Storm Gods).
I searched Rig-Veda about your question and found following verses.-:
Following  is the verse you quoted in your question ,where Rudra is described as father of Maruts or Storm gods.

आ ते पितर्मरुतां सुम्नमेतु मा न: सूर्यस्य संदृशो युयोथा : | अभि नो
  वीरो अर्वति क्षमेत प्र जायेमहि रुद्र प्रजाभि: ||1||
Aa Te PitarMarutam SumanMetu Ma Naha SuraySya  SanNdruSho UyoThaHa
   Abhi No Viro  ArVati KshaMet Pra JayeMahi Rudra PrajaBhi  ||1 ||
1 : FATHER of Maruts, let thy bliss approach us: exclude us not from
  looking on the sunlight. Gracious to our fleet courser be the Hero may
  we transplant us, Rudra, in our children.RV 2.33.1

Similarly I found 2  other verses confirming that … here are these

सत्यं त्वेषा अमवन्तो धवञ्चिदा रुद्रियास: | मिहं कृणवन्त्यवाताम्
  ||7||
satyaṃ tveṣā amavanto dhanvañ cid ā rudriyāsaḥ |  mihaṃ kṛṇvanty
  avātām ||
7 Truly, they the fierce and mighty Sons of Rudra send their
  windless Rain e'en on the desert places.RV 1.38.7

  रुद्रस्य ये मीळ्हुषः सन्ति पुत्रा यांश्चो नु दाध्र्विर्भरध्यै |
  विदे हि माता महो मही षा सेत पर्श्निः सुभ्वे गर्भमाधात ||
rudrasya ye mīḷhuṣaḥ santi putrā yāṃśco nu dādhṛvirbharadhyai |
  vide hi mātā maho mahī ṣā set pṛśniḥ subhve gharbhamādhāt ||
They who are Sons of the rain-pouring Rudra, whom the long-lasting One
  had power to foster: The Mighty Ones whose germ great Mother Prsni is
  known to have received for man's advantage.RV 6.66.3

Verse 3 makes it clear that Rudra, the "rain-pouring" God is the father of the Maruts and that Prsni is the mother.
The storm gods –"Maruts"  hold a  prominent position in the Vedas, In Rug-Veda they are represented as friends and allies of Indra.
There are various origins are assigned to Maruts  They Rudra, sons and brothers of Indra.
Their birth story is also described in  Shreemad Bhagvat Purana.

But In Rug-Veda Mandala 10 – Skukta – 103 – Verse 8 ,9 , we find mentioning Indra leading the Maruts. Here he is their leader.

इन्द्र आसां नेता बर्हस्पतिर्दक्षिणा यज्ञः पुर एतुसोमः |
  देवसेनानामभिभञ्जतीनां जयन्तीनां मरुतोयन्त्वग्रम || 8|| इन्द्रस्य
  वर्ष्णो वरुणस्य राज्ञ आदित्यानां मरुतांशर्ध उग्रम |  महामनसां
  भुवनच्यवानां घोषोदेवानां जयतामुदस्थात || 9||
indra āsāṃ netā bṛhaspatirdakṣiṇā yajñaḥ pura etusomaḥ |
  devasenānāmabhibhañjatīnāṃ jayantīnāṃ marutoyantvaghram ||
  indrasya vṛṣṇo varuṇasya rājña ādityānāṃ marutāṃśardha ughram |
  mahāmanasāṃ bhuvanacyavānāṃ ghoṣodevānāṃ jayatāmudasthāt ||
8 : Indra guide these: Bṛhaspati precede them, the guerdon, and the
  sacrifice, and Soma; And let the banded Maruts march in forefront of
  heavenly hosts that conquer and demolish. 9 Ours be the potent host of
  mighty Indra, King Varuṇa, and Maruts, and Ādityas. Uplifted is the
  shout of Gods who conquer high-minded Gods who cause the worlds to
  tremble.RV 10.103.8,9

Mandala VI has several verses that mention the Maruts being accordant with Indra or following Indra. Here is verse 11

मरुत्वन्तं वर्षभं ... ||  marutvantaṃ vṛṣabhaṃ ... || 11||
:  The Bull,
  whose strength hath waxed, whom Maruts follow, free-giving Indra, the
  Celestial Ruler, Mighty, all-conquering, the victory-giver, him let us
  call to grant us new protection.RV 6.19.11 Here marutvantaṃ
  means Indra whom maruts follow.

Group of Maruts (Storm Gods) is called Marut Ganas .And In Rig-Veda Indra is described as leader of all celestial as well as terrestrial  groups i.e.  Ganas.

मखस्य ते तविषस्य पर जूतिमियर्मि वाचमम्र्ताय भूषन |  इन्द्र
  कषितीनामसि मानुषीणां विशां दैवीनामुत पूर्वयावा ||
makhasya te taviṣasya pra jūtimiyarmi vācamamṛtāya bhūṣan |  indra
  kṣitīnāmasi mānuṣīṇāṃ viśāṃ daivīnāmuta pūrvayāvā ||
2 I stimulate thy zeal, the Strong, the Hero decking my song of praise
  forth; Immortal. O Indra, thou art equally the Leader of heavenly
  hosts and human generations.RV 3.34.2

Conclusion – So looking at these verses and  by and primary search of
  Rig-Veds we can see Indra is the leader of Maruts. But we won't  find
  any description of Lord Shiva or Lord Rudra being their leader.

Note – This is primary conclusion ,  as the vedic literature is vast , there is also possibility of mentioning Rudra /Shiva as their head /Leader. I will update the answer in future  if I found anything regarding this.
Comment: Yes ,Thank You Arya. I am also learning a lot about our scriptures through these Question and Answers.
Comment: I am too. I know more now that I knew before thanks to this site. :)


EV3 color sensor strangeness

Question: I've run across something very strange with my color sensor when using multiple sensors and multiple nested loops for a sumobot. I have 4 separate loops continuously monitoring the "optical", "ultrasonic" and two touch sensors ("touch1" and "touch4"). The main program of nested loops controls the motors in response to the sensors breaking different nested loops. I have attached a simple version that I removed the motor blocks from so you can follow it easier.  When the program starts, it defaults to the "search" loop (innermost loop in main program). The optical sensor is looking for reflected light greater than 20 (white color). The first time I put a white paper over the optical sensor, it breaks the "search" and "charge" loops and proceeds to the "color" loop, as it should. However, it only works the first time! All the other sensors work as they should, all the time. Sometimes after multiple attempts, the color sensor will work again. Mostly it doesn't.
Here is where things get strange. If I remove any of the other 3 sensor loops, the optical sensor works perfectly. Another thing- If I change the color sensor in the "optical" loop from "compare reflected" to "change reflected-either direction" (keeping the value it is looking for the same), it works perfectly with all of the other sensor loops running. Also, using "change reflected- increase" or "decrease" doesn't fix it, only the "both directions" setting fixes the problem. Does anyone have an explanation of why this is happening? My only thought is that the multiple instances of the "wait for-color sensor" blocks are conflicting... but that should happen no matter how many other sensor loops I have running. It's driving me crazy helping kids troubleshoot why the optical sensor craps out. Any input greatly appreciated.
Answer: Perhaps you need to add some hysteresis in your sensor loops. Each loop waits for a condition to be met, but then repeats infinity as long as that condition is met. Hysteresis means waiting for another condition to indicate that the sensor has returned to the original state and usually includes a deadband (meaning the positive trigger is not the same as the negative trigger) to filter out noise.
For example, wait for the color sensor to detect black again before repeating the loop with a deadband of 10%:

EV3 color sensor strangeness


complexity of deciding whether there's a small polynomial with a given root

Question: Let $f\in (\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z})^\ast$ be a nonzero element of a prime finite field.  For $d, r\in \mathbb{N}$ consider the problem of deciding whether there is a nonzero polynomial $$P(x) = a_0 +a_1x+a_2x^2+...+~a_dx^d \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$$ of degree not exceeding $d$, and also $|a_i|\leq r$ for all $i$, and also such that $\overline{P}(x)\in (\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z})[x]$ has $f$ as a root.  (So this is a decision problem depending on $f, p, d, r $).   Is there anything known about the general time complexity of this problem?
Comment: I converted the comments to a proper answer.
Comment: @EmilJeřábek that's very helpful. thank you
Comment: @Emil, that looks to me like it should be an answer.
Answer: Here is an algorithm that solves the problem in time
$$\tilde O\Bigl(\min\Bigl\{(2r+1)^{\frac{d+1}2},p^{\frac12\bigl(1+\frac1{\log(r+1)}\bigr)}\Bigr\}\sqrt r\Bigl)\subseteq\tilde O(p).$$
The tildes hide $(\log p)^{O(1)}$ factors coming from operations in $\mathbb F_p$ and from implementation of sets by, say, min-heaps.
First, observe that the answer is always YES if $d+1\ge\frac{\log(p+1)}{\log(r+1)}$: there are $(r+1)^{d+1}\ge p+1$ polynomials $P$ of degree at most $d$ with coefficients in $\{0,\dots,r\}$, hence by the pigeonhole principle, there exist two such polynomials $P_0\ne P_1$ such that $\overline{P_0}(f)=\overline{P_1}(f)$. Then $P=P_0-P_1$ satisfies the requirements.
Thus, we may assume without loss of generality
$$d+1\le\left\lfloor\frac{\log p}{\log(r+1)}\right\rfloor.$$
Then (assuming $r\ge1$)
$$(2r+1)^{\frac{d+1}2}\le p^{\frac{\log(2r+1)}{2\log(r+1)}}\le p^{\frac12\bigl(1+\frac1{\log(r+1)}\bigr)},$$
hence it suffices to find an algorithm working in time
$$\tilde O\Bigl((2r+1)^{\frac{d+2}2}\Bigr).$$
For any $i\le d+1$, let
$$V_i=\{\overline P(f):P\in\mathbb Z[x],P\ne0,\deg(P)<i,\|P\|_\infty\le r\}.$$
Using this notation, the problem is equivalent to finding out if $0\in V_{d+1}$, and we can compute $V_i$ using a simple recurrence. The whole algorithm looks like this:

If $r=0$, output NO.
If $d+1\ge\frac{\log(p+1)}{\log(r+1)}$, output YES.
For each $j=\lceil\log(d+2)\rceil,\dots,1$, compute $V_{\lfloor(d+1)2^{-j}\rfloor}$ and $f^{\lfloor(d+1)2^{-j}\rfloor}$ by using the recurrences
$$\begin{align*}
V_0&=\varnothing,\\
V_{2i}&=V_i\cup\bigl\{a+f^ib:a\in V_i\cup\{0\},b\in V_i\bigr\},\\
V_{2i+1}&=V_{2i}\cup\bigl\{a+f^{2i}b:a\in V_{2i}\cup\{0\},b\in\{\pm1,\dots,\pm r\}\bigr\},
\end{align*}$$
where all the arithmetic operations are modulo $p$.
If $d$ is even, compute $V_{\lceil(d+1)/2\rceil}$ from $V_{\lfloor(d+1)/2\rfloor}$ as above.
If $0\in V_{\lceil(d+1)/2\rceil}$, output YES.
For each $a\in V_{\lceil(d+1)/2\rceil}$, if $-af^{\lceil(d+1)/2\rceil}\in V_{\lfloor(d+1)/2\rfloor}$, then output YES.
Output NO.

It should be clear from the discussion above that the algorithm is correct. Moreover, we have
$$|V_i|\le(2r+1)^i,$$
and since these bounds form a geometric series, it is easy to see that the time needed to compute $V_i$ using the above recurrences is also
$$\tilde O\Bigl((2r+1)^i\Bigr).$$
Thus, the algorithm runs in time
$$\tilde O\Bigl((2r+1)^{\lceil(d+1)/2\rceil}\Bigr)\subseteq\tilde O\Bigl((2r+1)^{(d+2)/2}\Bigr).$$


Licensing ' Helvetica Neue Condensed Bold' for a logo

Question: I used "Helvetica Neue Condensed Bold" in a logo project. Now I need to deliver the original files including the font to my client. The font was free but not licensed. If necessary I will buy it before sending files but I'm confused: which license should I use for the logo?
Is the desktop version (5 computer usable) safe for the client's usage?
Answer: If your client wants to use the font beyond the logo, he will need a licence, for sure. If he will use it on one computer, he should buy a one computer licence, if he will use it on 5, a 5 seat licence.
Answer: I am going to assume you want to know how to send the image as it is.
If you select the text, then right-click on it and select "create outlines", illustrator will automatically transform the text of the font into shapes as if they were done by the pen tool.
I hope this answers what you asked.
Comment: If your client wants the font used in the logo I am pretty sure that it won't be used in a good way. Someone should guide them into what fonts they should use for different text scenarios - using the logo font is seldom the first choice.
Comment: no actually my client want the font also. Can I send him that font without license. Can he use that on his website as logo??