Fazlamesai Galaksi

Web üzerinde oynanan oyunlara aşinayız. Peki web üzerinde beğendiğimiz bağlantıların, işaretlediğimiz imgelerin, yaptığımız yorumların, oynadığımız oyunların bazı başka problemleri çözmek için kullanılmasına alıştık mı?

Bu konuda birkaç örnek gördük, en önemli örnekleri Google Image Labeler ve gwap.com. İngilizcesi “Human Computation” olan bu kavramın daha düne kadar -Milliyet’in haberlerini etiketletmek için promosyon yapması dışında- Türkiye’den bir örneği çıkmamıştı.

Bu yöntem kullanılarak Türkçe sözcüklerin biçimbilimsel özelliklerinin tespit edilip edilemeyeceği sorusunu cevaplamaya çalışan bir tez üzerine çalışan Onur Güngör tarafından hazırlanan lebdemedenleblebi.com, tabu ve sessiz sinema oyunlarına ait bazı özellikler içeren eşzamanlı bir oyun aracılığıyla bahsi geçen soruya yanıt vermek için veri biriktirmeye çalışıyor.

Bir taraftan da bir topluluk sitesi olarak konumlandırılmaya çalışılan site, kullanıcıların gruplar yaratıp üye olmalarına ve bu grupları ana sayfaya çıkarmak için mücadele etmelerine de izin veriyor.

Bizce ilginç olan bu çalışma hakkında daha fazla bilgi için hakkında sayfasını ziyaret edebilir, destek vermek içinse lebdemedenleblebi.com adresini ziyaret edip oynamaya başlayabilirsiniz.

Arthur Benjamin’s points well taken. For the last 2 years we (CS department) have been implementing a CMN147 course at Istanbul Bilgi University and its title is Computational and Mathematical Numeracy for Social Scientists 1. The course is all about presenting the basic concepts of probability, statistics and using computers for that purpose. We are satisfied with the results and we look forward to providing the course to a wider audience.

You may log in as a guest user and watch the videos, too (in English).

When I was finishing my Ph.D., I read a book based on interviews of people talking about their jobs to help decide what I would do next. What I learned from the book was that people were happy with their careers if they designed or built objects that lasted, such as the Empire State Building or the Golden Gate Bridge, or if they shaped people’s lives, such as patients or parishioners. Thus, I went into the job of assistant professor with the hypothesis that my long-lasting impact was not the papers but the people.

I was a student, and later faculty member, in an electrical engineering department, where the widely held opinion was that the way you wrote a thesis was to read many papers. Look at the last section, where there were always some “open problems.” Pick one, and work on it, until you are able to make a little progress. Then write a paper of your own about your progress, and don’t forget to include an “open problems” section, where you put in everything you were unable to do.

Unfortunately this approach, still widely practiced today, encourages mediocrity. It gives the illusion that research is about making small increments to someone else’s work. But worse, it almost guarantees that after a while, the work is driven by what can be solved, rather than what needs to be solved. People write papers, and the papers get accepted because they are reviewed by the people who wrote the papers being improved incrementally, but the influence beyond the world of paper-writing is minimal.

Jeffrey D. Ullman (who taught us compilers) and David A. Patterson (who taught us about computer architecture) have recently written two viewpoints which were published in Communications of the ACM. The title of Ullman’s paper is ‘Advising students for success‘ and Patterson’s is ‘Your students are your legacy‘

In these short articles those valuable computer scientists provide some very useful insights about what it means to do research, what can go wrong and the measures that should be taken in order to nurture a productive environment to boost new ideas and implementations, such as:

“* Show initiative, for fortune favors the bold. Don’t wait for professors to tell you what to do; if we were good managers, we probably wouldn’t be faculty. Explore, challenge assumptions, and don’t let lots of prior art discourage you.
* Sink or swim. We’ll offer you what we think are great projects with plenty of potential, and we’ll support you the best we can, but it’s what you do with the opportunity that makes or breaks your graduate student career.
* Educate your professor. We’re in a fast-moving field, so for us to give you good advice we need to know what you’re working on. Teach us!”

“Open collaborative laboratory. We were increasingly seeing people optimize their schedules to avoid disruptions by working from home when they didn’t have classes or meetings, since computers and networks were just as fast at home as in the office. The negative global impact of such a local optimization can be thought of as corollary of Metcalf’s Law: if the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users, even a small group leaving a network can significantly decrease its value. This drop in value can in turn cause others to leave, with the negative feedback loop continuing until the network nearly collapses.

In 2006, we experimented by creating a physical office area with contiguous open space for everyone in the project, including the faculty. We hoped that easy access to faculty would draw students to campus and that the open space would inspire innovation by increasing the chances of spontaneous discussions.

The open space makes it very convenient to quickly grab a group of interested people on a moment’s notice for a discussion rather than trying to wander around the building or exchange a volley of email messages to schedule a meeting. We have also been surprised to see new students in this space quickly act like senior graduate students. Apparently, easy access to faculty plus watching how senior graduate students operate helps new students move up the learning curve quickly.

The research retreats and open space also build esprit de corps, as we play together one afternoon at retreats—for example, skiing, paint ball, and river rafting—and in the lab we collectively watch presidential debates, movies, and big sports events.

The challenge of our open space is then to preserve concentration while enhancing communication, for otherwise people will still stay home. Distractions are reduced with large displays, headphones, and relying on cellphones instead of landline phones; the custom is to make and take calls outside the open space. We also included many small meeting rooms in which to hold vigorous conversations. The result is an open space about as quiet as a library or coffee shop, which is good enough for most to concentrate while encouraging spontaneous communication.”

“When I was finishing my Ph.D., I read a book based on interviews of people talking about their jobs to help decide what I would do next. What I learned from the book was that people were happy with their careers if they designed or built objects that lasted, such as the Empire State Building or the Golden Gate Bridge, or if they shaped people’s lives, such as patients or parishioners. Thus, I went into the job of assistant professor with the hypothesis that my long-lasting impact was not the papers but the people.

Thirty-two years later, I can confirm that hypothesis: your main academic legacy is the dozens of students you mentor, not the hundreds of papers you publish. My advice to advisors is to get your students off to a good start, create stimulating research environments, help them acquire research taste, be a good role model, bolster student confidence, teach them to speak well publicly, and help them up if they stumble, for students are the real coins of the academic realm.”

“A Newer Model: Project-Oriented Theses

It took many years to reach this point, but it is now fairly routine to have substantial software projects carried out in an academic setting. While there will always be the occasional thesis that is purely “pencil-and-paper,” a much more productive approach is to introduce beginning Ph.D. students to a project. Often they enjoy “learning by doing,” contributing to the software development, while learning the new notions that are being investigated by the project. Senior students often get the opportunity to help, and even to supervise, junior students.

The best example I’ve seen of how to use this mode effectively comes from my colleague Jennifer Widom. In a series of innovative projects (semistructured data, stream databases, and now uncertain databases), she has perfected a routine, consisting of:

1. Define a general goal for the research, and get a team of doctoral students working together.
2. Spend a substantial period of time, perhaps 6–12 months, in which the theory and models underlying the problem area are developed. (Jennifer says that this step—making the students part of the planning and modeling—is what distinguishes her approach.)
3. Then, start an implementation project. Get the students working on pieces. The goal of each project is a robust, distributable prototype, not something that can be carried intact to commercialization.
4. Allow students to identify their own aspect of the broader problem area on whose difficulties they will focus. Students develop their own ideas, which form the core of their thesis, and are able to validate the ideas by installing them in the larger system.

It is sad that many research-funding agencies, such as DARPA, have become so “mission-oriented” recently. While it may be possible to support a Ph.D. student doing part of a project implementation, Step 4 is left out; there is no room on the project for a student to explore original work outside the boundaries of the project. For example, I have heard from several independent sources that while the European Union has been supporting “research” generously, the support is sufficiently constrained by concrete deliverables that there is no way to support Step 4 on the projects. In countries where Ph.D. support comes from a state source, this arrangement presents no serious impediment. However, in countries where Ph.D. students are dependent on project support, it becomes hard to train first-rate researchers.”

“Students and Startups

One of the trickiest decisions an advisor has to make is how to deal with the student who wants to found a startup while they are working on their doctorate. Few people agree with me on this point, but I believe that, unless the startup idea is insane, they should go out and do the startup. My theory is that, while getting a doctorate and entering the research arena is a high calling, it is not the highest possible calling. A startup can have more impact on our lives than a thesis. Moreover, if they miss the opportunity to do a successful startup, then they have lost a great deal. If the startup flops, as many do, they have lost only a few years, and can resume work on a doctorate if they wish.

Sergey Brin never asked me whether or not he should quit the Ph.D. program and found Google, but I would have told him to do so had he asked. Another student, Anand Rajaraman, did ask my advice on this matter when he was about half a year from finishing. I told him to leave and be a founder of Junglee. The venture was quite successful. A few years later he returned to Stanford, started an entirely new thesis topic that abstracted some of what he had learned at Junglee, and is now Dr. Rajaraman.

You don’t have to be in Silicon Valley to think about startups. Great ideas can develop anywhere, and a responsible advisor will, when appropriate, present to their students the option that their work might form the basis of a commercial venture. I recall an email message from a student at another school asking the question: “can a piece of work be both a thesis and useful?” When I replied in the affirmative, I was then asked to explain this point to their advisor. That advisor was serving the student poorly, although their attitude seems fairly common. Even in the course of reviewing this Viewpoint, I encountered the view that a piece of technical work is more to be admired if it cannot be commercialized.”

So after a week I finally start to see the big picture for BDD. And here is the roadmap for a beginner on BDD. I think it'll be helpful on the road.


İntroduction to Behavior Driven Development
http://dannorth.net/introducing-bdd
http://behaviour-driven.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior_driven_development


Jbehave2 Basics
http://jbehave.org/documentation/two-minute-tutorial/
http://www.bitmotif.com/java/jbehave-rave/


Jbehave2 Selenium and Matchers
http://blog.m.artins.net/tag/jbehave/


Jbehave2 Validations
http://www.testearly.com/2007/07/16/using-bdd-to-drive-development/


Mockito is your friend ( Also Jbehave's best friend )
http://code.google.com/p/mockito/wiki/FeaturesAndMotivations
http://mockito.googlecode.com/svn/branches/1.7/javadoc/org/mockito/Mockito.html


Deeper Jbehave2
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-cq09187/


Deeper Jbehave2 Part-2 ( Some codes are misssing in the tutorial )
http://www.ryangreenhall.com/articles/bdd-by-example.html


Behavior Driven Database Development
http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=78

Boğaziçi Uni. Department of Computer Engineering, Engineering Building Vedat Yerlici Conference Hall, 29th June 2009, 09:30 – 12:30

Privacy, Social Networks, Trust, and Terrorism

Abstract

After a snapshot of the privacy topics likely to attract legislative activity in the new year, we’ll take a look at social networking web sites, where participants often live in a “panopticon-like” environment, since social networking sites and third party applications on them often have default settings that encourage sharing. However, “The Internet is a cruel historian.” and a professional individual who networks with potential employers generally prefers not to be confused with a person with the same name who is portrayed as a party animal.

If an attacker uses a social networking site to gather enough personal information to make a good guess at a user’s password or other authentication mechanism, he can change the user’s settings and personal history and (allow many others to) track the user’s comings and goings (as well as those of her “friends”). In one notable demonstration of this, (real) friends even created an account and a persona for a real person, a computer security expert, using information publicly available from the Internet, that was good enough to fool a sister of the victim. An unvetted malicious third party application that a naïve user allows to run with social networking programs could do the same thing. We’ll show some examples of social networking privacy issues.

Various trust-enhancing measures can be used to design privacy into new systems from the start, and we’ll discuss these and a number of guidelines that have been developed and are in use by large software firms to help design products with privacy and security built in, rather than bolted on.

We will conclude by discussing a recent U. S. National Research Council report on privacy in the struggle against terrorists, its framework for program assessment, and its conclusions about privacy, data mining, and related issues.

Lance J. Hoffman
Computer Science Department
The George Washington University
Washington DC 20052

On Modeling, Analysis, and Optimization of Packet Aggregation Systems

Abstract

In packet communication systems, a header is attached to the transmitted packet at each layer. The overhead due to the transmission of the individual header can have a significant impact on the performance of the communication system especially when the system operates in heavy load. In order to increase data throughput, a number of packets sharing a single header can be aggregated into a frame.

In this paper, we present a mathematical model for a packet aggregation system assuming a general distribution for the packet length. For a given header size, we obtain the minimum system utilization where packet aggregation improves the system performance. We also analyze the asymptotic behavior of such systems leading to a simple heuristic policy on the optimum aggregation level. It is shown that the impact of the variability of the packet length distribution on different system performance measures is rather insignificant when the system load is low or moderate.

We also show that the correlation of the sizes of the successive frames in the aggregation system increases rapidly as the system utilization increases. However, the packet length variability has little impact on the correlation.

Khosrow Sohraby
Dept. of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
University of Missouri-Kansas City

Program

09:30 – 10:00 Coffee and Tea
10:00 – 10:45 Talk by Prof. Hoffman
10:45 – 11:00 Discussion
11:00 – 11:15 Coffee Break
11:15 – 12:00 Talk by Prof. Sohraby
12:00 – 12:15 Discussion

LCV: Please contact gaye.genc at boun.edu.tr to confirm your attendance until 10am 26th June 2009, Friday.

Short Bio of Lance J. Hoffman

Distinguished Research Professor
Computer Science Department
The George Washington University

Founder and Senior Staff Researcher,
Cyberspace Security Policy and Research Institute

Dr. Lance J. Hoffman is known for his pioneering research on computer security and risk analysis, and for his interdisciplinary work in computer privacy issues. Distinguished Research Professor of Computer Science at The George Washington University in Washington, D. C. and Founder of the School of Engineering’s Cyberspace Policy Institute (now Cyberspace Security Policy and Research Institute), he is in charge of the computer security and information assurance program in computer science.

Short Bio of Khosrow Sohraby

KHOSROW SOHRABY is currently the Curators’ Professor of Computer Science and Electrial Engineering at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He received B.Eng and M.Eng degrees from McGill University, Montreal, Canada in 1979 and 1981, respectively, and Ph.D. degree in 1985 from the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, all in Electrical Engineering. His current research interests include design and analysis of high speed computer and communications networks, traffic management and analysis, modern queueing theory, large-scale computations in performance analysis, multimedia networks, and networking aspects of wireless and mobile communications. He is an active member of IEEE Communications Society and has served as the guest editor of number of special issues of the Journal of Selected Areas in Communications and Communications Magazine.

“Disiplinlerötesi” Konferans Dizisi – 12

Tarih: 26 Haziran 2009
Saat: 18:00
Yer: İTÜ Taşkışla

Garanti Galeri – Platform Garanti Güncel Sanat Merkezi ve 11. Uluslararası İstanbul Bienali Kırmızı İplik Konuşma ve Sohbetler Dizisi işbirliğiyle gerçekleştirilmektedir.

Coğrafya uzmanı ve sanatçı Trevor Paglen bizleri devlet sırlarının, örtülü ödeneklerin, gizli askeri üslerin ve “kayıp edilmiş” insanların dünyasında, askeri oluşumların ve istihbarat kurumlarının içyüzünü bilen kişilerce “kara dünya” olarak adlandırılan bir alanda yolculuğa çıkarıyor. Paglen, Nevada çölünde “var olmayan” Hava Kuvvetleri ve CIA üslerinden, Afganistan’daki gizli hapishanelere ve yaşadığımız yere ürkütücü derecede yakın olan çok daha puslu “kara bölgelere” doğru katettiğimiz bu yolda, konuşmasıyla bize rehberlik ediyor. Çalışmaları boyunca ürettiği ve topladığı yüzlerce imgeyi kullanarak, “kara dünya”nın iç çelişkilerinin, güncel zamanlar hakkındaki düşüncelerimizin bağlamını oluşturan tuhaf görsel, estetik ve epistemolojik kuralları nasıl yarattığını gösteriyor.

Trevor Paglen Berkeley, California’da yaşayan bir sanatçı, yazar ve California Berkeley Üniversitesi Coğrafya Bölümü’nde çalışan bir deneysel coğrafya uzmanı. Paglen, dünyayı anlamak üzere alışılmadık, ancak üzerinde titizlikle çalışılmış yöntemler inşa etmek için toplumsal bilimler, güncel sanat ve daha karanlık disiplinler arasındaki sınırları kasten bulanıklaştırıyor.

Sanatçının işleri, Berlin’de Transmediale.08 Festivali’nde, Pittsburgh’da Andy Warhol Müzesi’nde (2007), Philadelphia’daki Güncel Sanat Enstitüsü’nde (2007) ve Kunstraum Munich’te (2006) sergilendi.

Paglen’in, A.C. Thompson ile birlikte yazdığı ve 2006 yılında Melville House tarafından yayımlanan ilk kitabı Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights (İşkence Taksisi: CIA’in Hayalet Uçuşlarının İzinde), ABD Merkezi Haber Alma Teşkilatı’nın (CIA) “olağandışı teslimat” programı hakkında sistematik bir bilgi sunan ilk kitap oldu. Yine Melville House tarafından 2007 yılında yayımlanan ikinci kitabı I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to be Destroyed by Me (Sana Anlatabilirdim Ama Sonra Seni Yok Etmem Gerekirdi) ise okurlarına “kara” askeri programların görsel kültürünü inceleyen bir çalışma sunuyor.

Kaynak: Özgür Uçkan‘dan edindiğim bilgiye göre http://platformgarantienglish.blogspot.com/2009/05/haritada-bos-noktalar-devletin.html

I was recently exchanging e-mails with a colleague of mine who happens to pursue his Ph.D. in one of the best universities in USA. I said that he was lucky, now that Obama was the president, the scientific research would be in a much better position compared to the previous administration. His reply took me by surprise:

“I don’t think even Obama can save this country. Europe is the place to be for science…”

What do you think?

Psychologist Philip Zimbardo says happiness and success are rooted in a trait most of us disregard: the way we orient toward the past, present and future. He suggests we calibrate our outlook on time as a first step to improving our lives.

Philip Zimbardo was the leader of the notorious 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment — and an expert witness at Abu Ghraib. His book ‘The Lucifer Effect’ explores the nature of evil; now, in his new work, he studies the nature of heroism.

Islık çalarak bir müzik parçasının ismini nasıl öğrenirsiniz?

How can you find out a tune which you can hum or whistle but have no other cue?

Enter “Query by humming“: Query by humming (QbH) is a music retrieval system that branches off the original classification systems of title, artist, composer, and genre. It normally applies to songs or other music with a distinct single theme or melody. The system involves taking a user-hummed melody (input query) and comparing it to an existing database. The system then returns a ranked list of music closest to the input query.

A few services and articles that helps you to hum or whistle a tune and find out its name, composer, etc:

• http://www.midomi.com
• http://www.musipedia.org
• http://lifehacker.com/software/music/name-that-tune-with-humming-search-222184.php

“There are many differences between Turkey and France. But are the differences increasing or decreasing? From a public health perspective, the answer is obvious, Turkey is catching up.

Even if the population growth is still faster in Turkey than in France, the number of children per women today is almost the same, which means that the polulation growth in Turkey will slow down.”

Source: Gapminder - Turkey vs. France

Radial Engineering ve Primacoustic firmalarının başkanı Peter Janis, 30 Haziran 2009 Salı günü, Akalın Müzik işbirliği ile İstanbul Taksim Square Hotel toplantı salonunda Ses fiziği, Oda ve Mekan Akustiği, Ses Arabirimleri konularını içeren ve iki bölümden oluşan bir seminer verecek. Seminer ücretsiz olup başlama saati 14:00 olacak.

Seminerin ilk bölümünün konusu “Ses Mühendisleri için Akustik”. Bu bölüm temel akustik, basit matematik ve çarpmaya bağlı eko, ikincil yansımalar, oda modları ve rezonans gibi çoğu odanın tipik problemleri ile başlayacak. Devamında bu problemlerin ortadan kaldırılması için neler yapılabileceği, oda performansı arttırımı, büyük odalarda anlaşılabilirliğin geliştirilmesi ve vokal odaları gibi küçük odalarda problem frekansların ortadan kaldırılması üzerine verilecek bilgiler ile sürecek. LEDE (live-end, dead-end -canlı taraf, ölü taraf) çözümleri, stüdyolar için oda tasarımları, bas kapanlama, difüzyon ve panel plasmanı üzerinde durulacak. İlk bölüm rezonans ve transmisyon hatlarının ortadan kaldırılma metodları üzerine tartışma ile son bulacak.

Seminerin ikinci bölümünün konusu “Kayıt, Canlı Performans ve Yayın için Ses Arayüzleme”. Bu bölüm trafoların, mikrofonların ve enstrüman manyetiklerinin nasıl çalıştığına dair temel elektronik bilgiler verilerek başlayacak. Sonrasında sinyal seviyeleri hakkında bilgi, enstrümanlar ile ses ekipmanlarının etkileşiminde maksimum sinyal verimliliğine, en iyi tona ve tabii ki en düşük gürültü seviyesine sahip olmak için gerekli doğru ses araçlarının neler olduğu anlatılacak. “Ground loop” sonucu ortaya çıkan “hum” ve “buzz” problemleri hakkında bilgilendirme, aktif ve pasif ekipmanlar kullanarak bu problemlerin ortadan kaldırılmasına değinilecek. Daha sonra canlı enstrümanlar için ses dağıtım çözümleri, stüdyoda re-amp metodları ve konser/yayın uygulamalarında kullanılan sinyal dağıtıcıları hakkında verilecek bilgiler ile toplantı son bulacak.

Bu semineri Akalın Müzik, Radial Engineering ve Primacoustic şirketleri ortaklaşa düzenliyorlar. Seminere katılacaklar, o güne özel, Primacoustic ve Radial Engineering ürünlerinde %20 özel katılımcı indiriminden yararlanabilecekler. Ayrıca katılımcılar arasında yapılacak çekilişle bir şanslı katılımcı bir adet Primacoustic London 12a hazır oda akustik düzenleme kiti kazanacak.

Seminer salonunda katılımcılar için belli sayıda yer ayrıldığı için telefon ve e-posta adresine önceden rezervasyon yaptırmanız tavsiye ediliyor. Seminere katılmak veya seminer hakkında ayrıntılı bilgi almak için 0212 293 10 68 numaralı telefondan Akalın Müzik’i arayabilir, veya info@akalinmuzik.com.tr e-posta adresine bilgilerinizi gönderebilirsiniz.

Akalın Müzik’in bu seminer hakkındaki bültenine ulaşmak için: http://www.akalinmuzik.com.tr/ebulten/juneII/index.html

Muziktek.net forumlarındaki ilgili başlığa ulaşmak için: http://www.muziktek.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=21936

Peter Janis kimdir?

1958 Montreal Kanada doğumlu Janis, ses ve müzikle ilgilenmeye 7 yaşında almaya başladığı piyano dersleri ile başlamış. 1976′da başladığı müzik ekipmanları satış mağazası temsilciliğinden 1980′lerin başında Ottawa’nın en önde gelen ses firmasında konser seslendirme, arena sistemleri, gece kulübü seslendirmeleri ve kilise seslendirmeleri üzerinde çalışmış ve tecrübe kazanmış. Bu süreçte JBL, Peavey, AKG gibi firmaların eğitim seminerlerine katılarak kişisel gelişimini sürdüren Janis, bir yandan da Kuzey Alberta Teknoloji Enstitüsü’nde Elektrik Sistemleri üzerine ihtisasına devam etmiş. Edmonton’daki başarılarını farkeden CBS (şimdilerdeki adıyla Sony), kendisini o zamanlar sahibi olduğu Fender firmasının Kanada distribütörlüğünün Ürün Direktörlüğü’ne getirmiş.

Görevde bulunduğu süre içerisinde şirket portfolyosuna Akai, Alesis ve Casio gibi firmaların ürünlerini de katan Janis, Fender’in Kanada operasyonlarını sınırın güneyine taşıma kararı alması üzerine ayrılıp kendi firmasını kurmaya karar vermiş.

1991′de Ses Endüstrisine kablo, konnektör, trafo ve patchbay temin etmek amacıyla Radial Engineering’i kuran Janis, kısa sürede Otari miks ve kayıt sistemleri ile Telecast fiberoptik sistemlerinin distribütörlüğünü almış ve özellikle Telecast üzerinden broadcast endüstrisine yoğun hizmet vermeye başlamış.

Düşük maliyetli dijital kayıt sistemlerinin piyasaya çıkması ile ev kayıt ortamlarındaki akustik düzenleme sorunlarının farkına varan Janis, Sonex markasının Kanada distribütörlüğünü almakla işe girişmiş. Ancak bir takım güçlüklerin verdiği sabırsızlıkla kendi çözümlerini üretmek amacı ile 2000 yılında Primacoustic firmasını kurmuş.

Radial Engineering tarafında 1996′dan beri yüksek kaliteli DI Box üretimi yapmakta olan grup, 2001 yılından itibaren gitar pedalları, reamp arabirimleri ve amp/efekt switchleri de üretmekte ve sadece Radial kısmında yılda 50,000′den fazla ürün piyasaya vermektedir.

Günümüzde Radial’ın kullanıcıları arasında U2′dan Rolling Stones’a, The Eagles’dan Cirque Du Soleil ve AC/DC’ye kadar birçok zirve sanatçı ve ekip bulunmakta. Primacoustic’in bu yakınlardaki müşteri portfolyosunda ise Tommy Lee ve Nathan East gibi sanatçılar ve Grammy’li prodüktörler David Bottrill ve Butch Walker’ın stüdyolarının yanı sıra, Electronic Arts gibi bilgisayar oyunu firmaları bulunmakta. Firma bu aralar yayıncı NBC Sports ile 2010 Olimpiyatları üzerinde çalışmakta.

View Running path 2 in a larger map

A little bit extended running path compared to my initial running path.

Some numbers:

Approximately 4.15 km of walking (from home and back home) and then 3.5 km of running.

From: “Christa Houser”

Open Positions (multiple): Senior Software Developer and Senior Cognitive Psychologist to work on Carney’s LearningDNA™ project (see below for descriptions of each, as well as a company overview)

Company: Carney, Inc.
Location: US- Washington, D.C. area
Timing: Short (minimum 6-9 months) and long term positions available immediately
Contact: Michelle Brown, michelle brown at teamcarney com

Note: John Carney and Brian Duffy will be attending the 2009 UMAP Conference in Trento, Italy next week. Please feel free to contact them at john.carney@teamcarney.com if you wish to meet with them at the conference.

Project:

Carney’s LearningDNA project seeks to accelerate performance through the development of a model that will measurably improve the learning experience in an immersive virtual learning environment.

Within Carney’s LearningDNA system, user models built over time will communicate with immersive virtual- and other adaptive learning environments to define a unique path through the training or simulation for each individual, thus accelerating both the learning curve and the performance of each user. Third party assessment results can be added by the user to further build the user profile within the system. The learner both gains insight into their own skills and abilities and reduces time to acquire new skills by maintaining his/her profile.

In the project, Carney is creating a learner-owned ubiquitous user model that can securely interoperate with any number of learning and training environments. This user model will grow and evolve, mirroring the learner, and at any time will be able to present itself to a learning system through an application protocol interface (API) as an accurate representative of the student. Each participating learning system will write back to the user model based on the learner’s progress in the system, providing additional information on the user. Information captured by the model might include detailed information about the user’s knowledge base, personality, and any other characteristics that impact the user’s learning needs and subsequent performance.

Title: Senior Software Developer

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The Senior Software Developer must have:

At least 5-7 years experience with requirements definition and analysis
At least 5-7 years experience with user interface design and implementation
At least 3-5 years experience with multi-tier application architecture
At least 3-5 years experience with advanced database and indexing concepts such as …
At least 2-3 years experience with cryptography and steganography
A master’s degree in a technical field such as computer science, computer engineering, or electrical engineering

Other qualifications
The Senior Software developer may also have:

Knowledge of advanced software development environments such as C++, C#, .NET, JAVA, XML/XSL
At least 3-5 years of experience with current multimedia programming tools such as Flash, Active Server Pages, AJAX, and JavaScript
Expertise in user modeling, data encryption, and/or creating web-based wikis
A Ph.D. in a technical field

Position Overview

The Senior Software Developer is responsible for designing and developing complex data storage and retrieval systems to support research efforts related to User Modeling, Performance-based Simulations, and Intelligent User Interfaces. Senior Software Developers work closely with other members of the cognitive and instructional research team to produce high quality technical solutions to help achieve challenging research objectives.

Project Specific Responsibilities:

Create and manage sophisticated database storage, retrieval, and searching algorithms
Support information dissemination efforts for ongoing research tasks
Work directly with internal client resources to define requirements, functional specification and acceptance criteria
Synthesize and organize cross-functional team and client input to ensure timely and accurate project deliverables
Collaborate with instructional designers to identify knowledge impact opportunities and challenges
Document technology functions and features including the production of job aids for team members

Organizational Responsibilities:

Actively apply feedback received to day-to-day work and strive to improve performance
Accurately complete and submit time/status reports in a timely manner
Comply with all corporate policies and procedures
Seek opportunities for innovation every day
Provide a remarkable client experience to both internal and external clients

Title: Cognitive Psychologist

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The Cognitive Psychologist must have:

At least 3-5 years experience in developing and validating competencies
At least 5-7 years experience developing, implementing, and interpreting qualitative and quantitative assessments
Published research and expertise in the areas of human performance, knowledge acquisition, and/or personality and performance profiling
A Ph.D. in cognitive psychology or a closely related field such as behavioral psychology, cognitive neuroscience, or I-O psychology. (Applicants will be considered if in process of finishing dissertation).

Other qualifications
Applicants who have worked with any of the following are desired:

Personality and other attribute assessments
Cognitive neuroscience, particularly in the areas of cognitive load and working memory
Assessing competency gaps
Predicting performance based on knowledge, attributes, and/or personality
Learning management systems

Position Overview

The Cognitive Psychologist will be responsible for providing specific expertise to the project team. S/he will work closely with other members of the Cognitive and Instructional Research team to produce high quality technical solutions to help achieve challenging research objectives.

Project Specific Responsibilities:

Provide expertise to the project team related to:
- developing, validating, and assessing competencies
- developing and interpreting surveys and assessments
- tying performance to predictors such as knowledge, attributes, and/or personality

Support information dissemination efforts for ongoing research tasks
Work directly with internal client resources to develop and achieve research goals
Collaborate with instructional designers to identify knowledge impact opportunities and challenges

Organizational Responsibilities:

Actively apply feedback received to day-to-day work and strive to improve performance
Accurately complete and submit time/status reports in a timely manner
Comply with all corporate policies and procedures
Seek opportunities for innovation every day
Provide a remarkable client experience to both internal and external clients

Company Overview (www.teamcarney.com)

The mission at Carney is to help individuals and organizations perform at the speed of need. Through the effective, innovative and creative use of technology and best practices, Carney has successfully implemented effective Performance Improvement solutions. Carney’s 5 year plan is to expand its learning and training services to encompass a comprehensive service offering as well as building a Human Capital Development discipline.

Carney, Inc. was incorporated in January 1994 in Alexandria, Virginia. Our focus is improving performance through the facilitation of learning along with knowledge sharing and management. While aggressively pursuing growth, Carney has maintained its high standards of excellence and its creative use of technology. This is accomplished through a talented group of employees and an unwavering dedication to quality and client service.

Carney employs a team of creative and technical professionals to develop solutions; the process that drives the interaction and performance of these professionals we call Instructioneering™. The team includes performance solutions consultants/designers, subject matter experts, instructors, knowledge management consultants, writers, project managers, graphic artists, animators, video and audio professionals, programmers, and product testers.

Carney’s Old Town Alexandria facility (just 5 minutes from Washington, DC) is fully equipped to produce professional audio, high definition video, and 3D modeling and animation. The facility also has a secure production suite for classified project work.

Carney is an EEO/AA Employer.
Carney Inc.

http://www.teamcarney.com

EDIT: (06/20/2009 13:30 istanbul time) I made it! I caught the NY – İstanbul flight! I’m tired now I’ll write more details on it later.

Here is my story so far.
My booked/confirmed itinary was DCA – Chicago O’hare – Istanbul. DCA – O’hare being at 7:40 (EST) and O’hare – istanbul at 10:20 (CDT).

I was at the DCA airport around 5:40 and checked in for my flight. It was already delayed to 8:40 at the time I was there. At first they wanted to send me with an earlier flight at 5:50pm which got delayed to 6:30ish. And then the UA rep saw only 3 seats available and a very long wait line for that flight and she decided that I cannot make that one. It took only 20 minutes after that to delay that flight to 9:10 then to 9:20.

So very nice customer service rep from United Airlines (UA) booked me on an American Airlines (AA) flight to O’hare which was scheduled to depart at 8:40ish.

When the flight time came the AA flight got delayed to 9:15 so all hopes got lost since there was no way of catching my flight at Chicago. I waited for the nice gentleman to complete the boarding since he was the only one there then he advised to talk to the gate people for UA since the original ticket was with them.

For the ones who doesn’t know DCA, basically everything ends around 9:30. So I caught a group of UA people, who were extremely nice and helpful to me. Although they were about to go home and I was the only passenger there they waited for me to help me fix the situation.

However my flight from chicago to istanbul was operated by Turkish Airlines (THY). They said that they cannot do anything about this flight and they even called THY but the person on the line for THY had no idea what to do. it was about 10:20pm and the UA lady booked me to the next flight to O’hare at 5:50PM next day and said at least you’ll have a confirmed seat next day.

Then I went home and tried to call Orbitz to get some help. The only thing that they did is to get a hold to THY representative in Turkey (it took 48 minutes to do that). After they transferred my call to THY, the THY representative tried to help me but couldn’t do anything more than citing that there is no seat available on the next istanbul flight from Chicago.

I offered him to book me to NY to Istanbul flight but he was clueless. He tried to help me but nothing has been done. He called me back and forth from Turkey couple of times ending with no result.

I also tried to call THY NY office numerous times. On each attempt my calls went to a voicemail that has no recordings to indicate that the line is indeed a THY line.

It was 2 am. I was dead tired and went to sleep. Woke up at 7am. Called the orbitz again to get a refund and book another flight to Turkey this time without THY. Of course unless you don’t want to lose half of your money you spent on the ticket, this is not an option. At some point of the orbitz agent offered me 200+ dollars to book the flight…

Orbitz agent put me back into contact with THY (another 45 mins). This time a better agent from THY tried to help and I transferred me to someone who actually knows what she is doing, after telling her the story all over again, she promised me to call me back in 15 mins. I got a call from another THY agent 30 mins later. It was about 10:15 AM already. He knew what the problem was and he booked me to NY – istanbul flight which is at 4:30 pm (EST)

I bought an Acela (so called “fast” train) ticket to NYC ($177.00) and got in the train at 12:00pm. I’m currently in the train as I’m writing this. My plan is to catch earliest LIRR train from NY Penn station to Jamaica station and take Airtran from there to JFK.

I have absolutely no hope to catch the JFK-Istanbul flight unless it is delayed for an hour. But nobody can say that I didn’t try.

Morale of the story:

• Don’t fly from USA to Turkey on any flight that makes a connection in the USA. Try to book a flight that connects from Europe. (Lufthansa, KLM, Air France, whichever)
• THY customer service and presence in the USA must be improved dramatically, until the time I see serious positive steps taken from them, THY will be my last option.
• If you have a connection flight and it’s delayed to the extend that you cannot catch your connection, still take that flight and stay at your connection. It’s much better to deal it on the spot than dealing on the phone.
• The overall flight quality and spontaneity is decreasing exponentially. Charging a lot of money as tax on an airfare and still seeing no improvement on the air travel is sad.

From Virginia A. Folcik Nivar:

“I am looking to hire a full-time post-doc, masters or experienced Computer Science graduate to work on the Basic Immune Simulator at The Ohio State University.

The project will be described at Swarmfest in less than two weeks. The abstract is on the Swarmfest webpage. Java programming skills required and some knowledge of Immunology/Biology preferred. Immediate eligibility to work in the USA required. Please contact me via this e-mail if interested.

Thanks,
Virginia A. Folcik Nivar, Ph.D.”

This must be the new definition of the desperation. Poor Microsoft. I’m kinda speechless…

“ÖSS bitti, sırada üniversite ve bölüm seçme telaşı var. Doğru kararı vermek için pek çok etkeni göz önünde bulundurmak gerekli. Gelecekteki kariyerini bilgisayar bilimleri üzerine kurmayı düşünen gençlerimizi 22 Temmuz Çarşamba günü test sürüşüne bekliyoruz. Bilgisayar bilimlerinin büyüleyici dünyasında kısa bir yolculuğa çıkmaya ve maceraya hazır mısınız?”

Kayıt yaptırmak için http://cs.bilgi.edu.tr

YouTube HD kalitesi ile izlemek için: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLODXnpPmkQ

Güzel ve faydalı bir veri görselleştirme örneği ile karşılaştım dün.

Yukarıdaki grafik çeşitli ülkelerin parlamenterlerinin performanslarını ölçüyor. Grafiği oluşturmak için GSMH ile İyi Yönetişim İndeksi kullanılmış (demokrasi indeksi, BM insani gelişim ve yolsuzluk indeksinin bir karışımı). Kısaca bir ülke merkezdeki sarı artı sembolünden ne kadar uzaksa o ülkenin parlamenterleri o kadar çok para kazanıyor ve ülkenin çizgisinin saatin tersi yönünde yaptığı açı ne kadar büyükse o ülkedeki yönetim o kadar kötü.

Örneğin Belçika ile İsviçre’yi kıyaslayacak olursak Belçika merkeze daha uzakta yani politikacıları daha çok para alıyor ancak yönetim bakımından İsviçre daha iyi çünkü yatayla yaptığı açı Belçika’nın açısına kıyasla çok daha az.

Kaynaklar:

infosthetics.com

What World MPs Really Make

Konuşmacı: Lord Robert Skidelsky
Tarih: 23 Haziran 2009
Saat: 16:00
Yer: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, Dolapdere Kampüsü, BS1 (Büyük Salon 1) (harita için tıklayınız)