text:
Trying A Minimum Working Example

When you make assertions in a channel like the Ubuntu Podcast's Telegram chatter channel they sometimes have to be backed up. Recently I made reference to how you could utilize Markdown within a LaTeX document. I should take a moment to discuss a way to use LuaLaTeX to make your Markdown documents look nice. We're going to build a "Minimum Working Example" to illustrate things.

First, I will refer to a package on the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network simply named markdown. That handles processing Markdown input. In its documentation you find that you can actually input a separate Markdown-formatted file into the macros provided which will convert them into appropriate LaTeX code and add that programmatically into your document. LaTeX is a Turing-complete programming language after all.

Using the basic default article class and bearing in mind that I am based in the United States of America, we can have something like this:

\documentclass[12pt,letter]{article}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage{xurl}
\usepackage{markdown}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{Liberation Serif}

\begin{document}
\markdownInput{file.md}
\end{document}

Taking that example line by line we mostly have a preamble and a very short document. First we declare the document's class as "article" and pass the global options of wanting 12 point type and since I am in the USA I want to use Letter paper. Next we load the hypertext support package hyperref. We then load the smaller support package xurl which allows for URLs to break at any alphanumeric character in text. Our main player markdown then gets loaded. Since we're using LuaLaTex to compile the document we then load the fontspec package to allow using any OpenType fonts. Liberation Serif is a font that ships in the basic install for any Ubuntu flavour so we'll choose that. While we could have done something obscure like use Public Sans we'll stick to basics today.

You can save that file locally as mwe.tex. Now, we need our Markdown file. We'll keep it simple with this:

We have a **great** help system at [AskUbuntu](https://askubuntu.com/).

Save that single line as file.md. You'll want to have both files in the same directory. From there you can then appropriately invoke LuaLaTeX with shell escape enabled and you'll get a file with the line typeset and the link showing as a footnote. The link in the footnote will be clickable.

This is a very minimal example. You can modify what is essentially a driver file for LaTeX to process through your Markdown creations to make them look nice. Pandoc does something similar but this allows a bit closer ability to fiddle with settings. This can be included in automation chains to make pretty print output fairly readily with contemporary web stylings.

For further introduction to LaTeX, the guide that really helped me is "A short introduction to LaTeX2e" mainted by Tobias Oetiker which you can find in your appropriate language on the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network.

Good Luck & Good Hunting.

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Making A Service Launch

I hinted previously that I would launch this and that there were ironic reasons for doing so. It is best that I explain myself. Explanations generally make things clearer.

There was a push for Erie Looking Productions to return to producing at least general programming. Now that I am no longer a federal civil servant the restrictions that held me back for six years from doing so are off. The problem is that the current studio space suffered physical damage. The audio equipment and the recording computer are fine and secured but the physical space is not usable. We don't have a fallback space at this time nor do we have the economic means to procure one. Repairs to the physical space were supposed to be done this month but I have not heard much about the status of that lately.

I am also dealing with some long-term recovery from some surgery that was done. While I can talk to people it can sound slightly garbled at times. The last check-in at the doctor's office didn't show me breaking any speed records to be able to move ahead in matters so I am stuck with "slow and steady" for the time being. That is going to possibly not be fixed properly until some point in April.

While I know the folks behind the Ubuntu Podcast are planning to return to air shortly I will instead be taking a different path. The current hotness appears to be launching your own newsletter such as this technology one. Since podcasting is not feasible at the moment the reformatting of content to a strictly textual form seem like the simplest way forward for now.

I could operate an announce-only mailman list on a minimal Ubuntu 19.10 droplet on Digital Ocean. However, my current economic circumstances have instead pushed me over to trying to utilize tinyletter.com instead. To quote the 13th & 21st US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, in an apt manner: "As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

The newsletter is entitled "The Interim Edgewood Stratagem". Release frequency should be once weekly but I haven't settled a firm day yet but it would likely be out on a Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday each week. We'll see how it develops. I am pretty sure we are not initially going to dive into unknown unknowns if we can help it.

Twice a month there is the chance that the text of my sermon presented on Sunday morning at the nursing home may be presented that week. Initially the first release would be in fact the text of my sermon from Sunday. That is planned to go out later in the day on February 12th.

The first regular essay would go out during the week of February 16th. In that essay I want to get to would be to talk about a bit of an unresolved mystery case involving a Pacific island nation suffering an Internet blackout. Style-wise this wouldn't be Darknet Diaries but rather something a bit different. After the Pacific jaunt would hopefully be an essay on the changing business regulation climate in the US that may not help folks in the open source world who "hang their own shingle" to work as independent contractors. Once through that we would see where stories go. I do know I do not want to talk about the presidential primary campaigns if at all possible as nothing productive comes out of worrying about them while other craziness is in play.

You can sign up at the subscribe page for free. Support is welcomed though not required through avenues such as Liberapay. If you just want to drop in a quarter via PayPal or maybe just two cents that is doable as well. The shopping wishlist for replacement gear also still exists as I watch equipment fail and otherwise decay.

This is an adventure that I am nervous about starting. Once upon a time I was a working journalist who was routinely published in print, no less. The media landscape isn't the same these days but this will likely feel like getting back on a bicycle to ride again after a long time away.

To quote a commercial that aired quite a bit a few years ago: "Let me tell you a story…"

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I’ve been trying to go through the daily digest e-mails I get from ArXiv to see what papers are of interest.  This is a sample of what I have found.  Eventually I will be able to read through them and try to make an appropriate bibliography for deposit.

Agarwal, Pushkal, Sagar Joglekar, Panagiotis Papadopoulos, Nishanth Sastry, and Nicolas Kourtellis. “Stop Tracking Me Bro! Differential Tracking Of User Demographics On Hyper-Partisan Websites.” ArXiv:2002.00934 [Cs], February 3, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2002.00934.

Borradaile, Glencora, Brett Burkhardt, and Alexandria LeClerc. “Whose Tweets Are Surveilled for the Police: An Audit of Social-Media Monitoring Tool via Log Files.” ArXiv:2001.08777 [Cs], January 23, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1145/3351095.3372841.

Bright, Jonathan, Nahema Marchal, Bharath Ganesh, and Stevan Rudinac. “Echo Chambers Exist! (But They’re Full of Opposing Views).” ArXiv:2001.11461 [Cs, Stat], January 30, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2001.11461.

Chiaraviglio, Luca, Cristian Di Paolo, Giuseppe Bianchi, and Nicola Blefari-Melazzi. “Is It Safe Living in the Vicinity of Cellular Towers? Analysis of Long-Term Human EMF Exposure at Population Scale.” ArXiv:2002.00910 [Cs], February 3, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2002.00910.

Dai, Enyan, Yiwei Sun, and Suhang Wang. “Ginger Cannot Cure Cancer: Battling Fake Health News with a Comprehensive Data Repository.” ArXiv:2002.00837 [Cs, Stat], January 27, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2002.00837.

Dulam, Rohit Venkata Sai, Meghana Murthy, and Jiebo Luo. “Seeing through the Smoke : A World-Wide Comparative Study of e-Cigarette Flavors, Brands and Markets Using Data from Reddit and Twitter.” ArXiv:2002.01575 [Cs], February 4, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2002.01575.

Goldani, Mohammad Hadi, Saeedeh Momtazi, and Reza Safabakhsh. “Detecting Fake News with Capsule Neural Networks.” ArXiv:2002.01030 [Cs], February 3, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2002.01030.

Gong, Zhaoya, Tengteng Cai, Jean-Claude Thill, Scott Hale, and Mark Graham. “Measuring Relative Opinion from Location-Based Social Media: A Case Study of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election.” ArXiv:2002.00854 [Cs], February 3, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2002.00854.

Gupta, Rohit, and Rohit Panda. “Block the Blocker: Studying the Effects of Anti Ad-Blocking.” ArXiv:2001.09434 [Cs], January 26, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2001.09434.

Leung, Weiwen, Zheng Zhang, Daviti Jibuti, Jinhao Zhao, Maximillian Klein, Casey Pierce, Lionel Robert, and Haiyi Zhu. “Race, Gender and Beauty: The Effect of Information Provision on Online Hiring Biases.” ArXiv:2001.09753 [Cs], January 16, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2001.09753.

Leyva-Mayorga, Israel, Radoslaw Kotaba, Fresia Maria, and Petar Popovski. “Wireless Mesh Networking with Devices Equipped with Multi-Connectivity.” ArXiv:2001.11208 [Cs], January 30, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2001.11208.

Luceri, Luca, Silvia Giordano, and Emilio Ferrara. “Don’t Feed the Troll: Detecting Troll Behavior via Inverse Reinforcement Learning.” ArXiv:2001.10570 [Cs], January 28, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2001.10570.

Mallari, Keri, Kori Inkpen, Paul Johns, Sarah Tan, Divya Ramesh, and Ece Kamar. “Do I Look Like a Criminal? Examining How Race Presentation Impacts Human Judgement of Recidivism.” ArXiv:2002.01111 [Cs], February 3, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2002.01111.

Nadjem, Alexandre, Juan-Manuel Torres-Moreno, Marc El-Bèze, Guillaume Marrel, and Benoît Bonte. “Predicting Personalized Academic and Career Roads: First Steps Toward a Multi-Uses Recommender System.” ArXiv:2001.10613 [Cs], January 3, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2001.10613.

Ni, Bo, Zhichun Guo, Jianing Li, and Meng Jiang. “Improving Generalizability of Fake News Detection Methods Using Propensity Score Matching.” ArXiv:2002.00838 [Cs, Stat], January 27, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2002.00838.

Noever, David. “The Enron Corpus: Where the Email Bodies Are Buried?” ArXiv:2001.10374 [Cs], January 24, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2001.10374.

Ojetunde, Babatunde, Naoki Shibata, and Juntao Gao. “Secure Payment System Utilizing MANET for Disaster Areas.” IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems 49, no. 12 (December 2019): 2651–63. https://doi.org/10.1109/TSMC.2017.2752203.

Papadopoulos, Panagiotis, Peter Snyder, and Benjamin Livshits. “Keeping out the Masses: Understanding the Popularity and Implications of Internet Paywalls.” ArXiv:1903.01406 [Cs], February 3, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/1903.01406.

Pasi, Gabriella, and Marco Viviani. “Information Credibility in the Social Web: Contexts, Approaches, and Open Issues.” ArXiv:2001.09473 [Cs], January 26, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2001.09473.

Pierri, Francesco, Alessandro Artoni, and Stefano Ceri. “HoaxItaly: A Collection of Italian Disinformation and Fact-Checking Stories Shared on Twitter in 2019.” ArXiv:2001.10926 [Cs], January 29, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2001.10926.

Rajtmajer, Sarah, Ashish Simhachalam, Thomas Zhao, Brady Bickel, and Christopher Griffin. “A Dynamical Systems Perspective Reveals Coordination in Russian Twitter Operations.” ArXiv:2001.08816 [Cs], January 27, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2001.08816.

Ravikiran, Manikandan. “What’s Happened in MOOC Posts Analysis, Knowledge Tracing and Peer Feedbacks? A Review.” ArXiv:2001.09830 [Cs], January 27, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2001.09830.

Sikdar, Sandipan, Rachneet Singh Sachdeva, Johannes Wachs, Florian Lemmerich, and Markus Strohmaier. “The Effects of Gender Signals and Performance in Online Product Reviews.” ArXiv:2001.09955 [Cs], January 27, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2001.09955.

Silva, Márcio, Lucas Santos de Oliveira, Athanasios Andreou, Pedro Olmo Vaz de Melo, Oana Goga, and Fabrício Benevenuto. “Facebook Ads Monitor: An Independent Auditing System for Political Ads on Facebook.” ArXiv:2001.10581 [Cs], January 28, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2001.10581.

Szanto, Aron, Nir Rosenfeld, and David C. Parkes. “A Kernel of Truth: Determining Rumor Veracity on Twitter by Diffusion Pattern Alone.” ArXiv:2002.00850 [Cs, Stat], January 28, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1145/3366423.3380180.

Washington, Anne L., and Rachel S. Kuo. “Whose Side Are Ethics Codes On? Power, Responsibility and the Social Good.” Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, January 27, 2020, 230–40. https://doi.org/10.1145/3351095.3372844.

Zhang, Songyang, Tolga Aktas, and Jiebo Luo. “Mi YouTube Es Su YouTube? Analyzing the Cultures Using YouTube Thumbnails of Popular Videos.” ArXiv:2002.00842 [Cs], January 27, 2020. http://arxiv.org/abs/2002.00842.

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Early February Miscellany

In no particular order:

• After fussing with it enough I was able to move the website for Erie Looking Productions over to a different provider. Eventually there will be an SSL certificate once that actually generates within the next day or so. The transition had a few too many moving parts to it which resulted in a bit of breakage. Fortunately the website wasn't down too long.

• I got word back that the almost-novella story I submitted for a contest didn't make it to the list for judges to consider. It is a pretty big contest. The question now is what to do with the story. It is long enough that if I utilize the novel class in LuaLaTex with appropriate font choices and set my paper size wisely I could possibly make a print offering somewhere like Lulu and just release it as an independent pocket book as well as make an ebook offering on Leanpub. Since the story was originally written step-by-step in a gitit wiki I also ended up using the markdown package found on the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network to easily shift into submission format using the science fiction manuscripts class the raw text with some bash scripting and coreutils usage. Yes, it is happened to be a dirty hack that I'm not ready to stick on Launchpad anywhere but it worked nicely. No, pandoc was not used in this scenario.

• So far none of the packages I have installed on my Focal Fossa machine have significantly broken on me. This is good. I have been using the machine for day to day use.

• I've disappeared from IRC again as the droplet on Digital Ocean that had my ZNC bouncer had to be turned off. I'll figure something out eventually and make a return when resources permit.

• There may be a need for me to start a newsletter on tinyletter to try get familiar with the platform and otherwise be able to evaluate it. I cannot actually engage in podcasting right now for some ironic reasons. Considering that I cannot being on a microphone and outside being a writer or post-production editor it seems maintaining a newsletter would be an interesting side trip for now. We'll see if I have to go ahead and launch that project. Watch this space for details…

Posted
End of January Miscellany

In short:

• ViacomCBS has an ad-supported streaming property known as Pluto TV alongside the subscription-based CBS All Access. Normally the two do not overlap in content. Currently there is an overlap as the first episode of Star Trek: Picard is playing on a loop on the Pluto TV sci-fi channel. This plays fine in Firefox without any DRM worries or need of any extensions to be loaded. As Ubuntu users look at video streaming services potentially not playing nice due to tech incompatibilities this content platform seems low-friction for getting started.

• I forgot the birthday of Stuart Langridge yesterday.

• Good luck to the United Kingdom with Brexit Day.

• There was a presentation on making films with free software at Linux.conf.au 2020 that I need to watch yet and that many of us should review. With things like 8 Bit Versus out there already I frankly want to see an Ubuntu-related vodcasts aggregator site some day.

• Ever hear the expression “good enough for government work” in the wild? Well, a font now exists in responses to that American colloquialism.

• Eventually I will need to look at what snaps exist alongside Ubuntu Core to do something like a small scale municipal mesh as what we’ve got in terms of broadband now is not really cutting the mustard. Finding a peering partner would be hard, though.

• For those that don’t think getting releases put together is hard enough, the PureDarwin project looks like a great source of ideas and inspiration.

Posted
A Disappearance

Although it had been limping ever onward for some time, Identica appears to have disappeared again. The pages for the underlying software itself are hosted on GitHub Pages so those haven't fallen over. There hasn't been any new project news since October 2019. There's no other status search available.

I think Coyote Works is now the sole redoubt for me in terms of online presence that I maintain majority control over. I am no longer visible in the so-called Fediverse and with Identica having disappeared again this is it. Although I may have presences in some silos that have cutesy names applied by free software activists those do not need to be linked here. Business inquiries should still be directed to the Erie Looking Productions home page.

How odd.

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Approaching Month's End

In no particular order:

• Stuart Langridge recently wrote a blog post about wanting to write more. I understand the feeling quite well. Granted, I have been looking at the 2020 edition of The Writer's Market to see what outlets are still out there accepting pieces from freelancers. The first time I ever had a freelance piece published was way back in 1998 as I wrote newspaper stories printed in newsprint. I still do that off and on. Currently I have a fiction piece that is just under the SFWA word count definition for being a "novelette" so it is instead an overgrown short story. There is more writing to be done especially as that short story is launching a conceptual universe for me to work in.

• To the extent that they can be, significant repairs to the television aerial mast are completed. The mast-mounted preamplifier appears to be damaged. I have that bypassed for now but that resulted in reduced signal reception. Eventually I will end up securing a new one. A new preamplifier is on the purchasing list for replacement equipment needs.

• Paperwork as to my future continues to be processed down in Slippery Rock in the Iron Mountain range. My family thinks I am kidding when I say that the agency handling everything is working in an abandoned mine next to Iron Mountain Corporation. Apparently people have overlooked the relevant Washington Post article about the place. The article talks about retirement claims but other claims are also handled in that cave too.

• I need to go to the gym more often.

• Life does not feel particularly secure right now.

• Access to "normal" television is restricted right now. We only have access to free streaming as well as what we can pull in via the antenna and we cannot get the full set of Over The Air stations out of Erie, Pennsylvania. Whenever money becomes available some time in the future I may purchase a season pass on iTunes to be able to catch up on the current season of Doctor Who though catching up on American Ninja War: USA versus The World may be trickier. Paying for subscription streaming services is outside any budget sources right now.

• The easiest way to reach me at the moment is either via Telegram or via Skype.

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New NBC Streaming Service Details Announced

At this point news about NBC's "Peacock" streaming offering has shown up in multiple places. Frankly I am underwhelmed due to the paucity of actual details that could be potentially useful to me. It seems like getting a proper aerial functioning to properly receive WICU would get me more useful access to NBC programming when paired with suitable personal video recording rigging.

Links gathered and stashed in Zotero include:

Alexander, J. (2020, January 16). Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers' late-night shows will stream early exclusively on Peacock. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/16/21069452/nbc-peacock-jimmy-fallon-seth-meyers-shows-exclusive-streaming-nbcuniversal-late-night

Barsanti, S. (2020, January 16). NBC's Peacock streaming service announces MacGruber and Adventure Zone TV shows. The A.V. Club. https://news.avclub.com/nbcs-peacock-streaming-service-announces-macgruber-and-1841045788

Fingas, J. (2020, January 16). NBC's Peacock lineup includes Mindy Kaling, Norman Lear and "MacGruber." Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2020/01/16/nbc-peacock-shows-mindy-kaling-will-forte/

Graham, M. (2020, January 16). NBCU's Peacock will have no more than five minutes of ads per hour, even on the free version. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/16/nbcus-peacock-will-have-no-more-than-five-minutes-of-ads-per-hour.html

Jarvey, N. (2020, January 16). NBCUniversal Unveils Peacock Launch Date, Pricing Tiers. The Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nbcuniversal-unveils-peacock-launch-date-pricing-tiers-1270476

Otterson, J. (2020, January 16). 'Punky Brewster' Sequel Series Ordered at Peacock. Variety. https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/punky-brewster-sequel-series-peacock-1203469051/

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The Cyber Infrastructure Security Agency at the United States Department of Homeland Security has been filling my inbox with updates in the past 36 hours. From an alert concerning possible cyber response to a United States military strike in Baghdad to a press release about a new analytical report concerning geopolitical tensions (which is actually a 2 page PDF file) they certainly have been issuing reports. It may be prudent in these tense geopolitical times to ensure your package updates are in fact up to date, that you're not running unnecessary services on public-facing servers, and that your firewall definitions meet current needs.

You don't want to wind up with an intrusion like the United States Government Printing Office did relative to the website of the Federal Depository Library Program.

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On Events In Texas

I am going to primarily refer to the article written by Bobby Ross at the Christian Chronicle. During communion Sunday there was an active shooter event that resulted in a fatal conclusion for the shooter at West Freeway Church of Christ outside Fort Worth, Texas. Details are still sketchy as I write.

My father presided over the table Sunday morning at West Avenue Church of Christ in Ashtabula. Service was fairly uneventful. When there is a fifth Sunday to a month we usually have a "Praise & Worship" service. Songs were sung, I led opening prayer, Dad presided over communion, the located preacher/song leader handled closing prayer. I remember asking in opening prayer for strength in the upcoming new year as it is expected to be an eventful one.

Now, FEMA's Emergency Management Institute has an independent study program with a distance learning course covering mass casualty incidents at "houses of worship" and related facilities. I've run through that and several other courses. They are equal parts useful and disturbing.

Currently we don't have emergency plans. It isn't for a lack of trying on my part. Our congregation is just small enough that the feeling is that we don't need one, I guess. I can describe an unorganized measure that does help prevent bad things from happening.

Do you greet your visitors at your church? I can't over-emphasize how important that is. We have a nice guy who is a veteran who hands bulletins to people as they come in and shakes hands. The preacher and the elders also sit in the foyer between the end of morning bible class and the start of morning services. Church isn't something you do alone and helping improve fellowship can help prevent alienation. You also have to consider that if somebody wanted to cause trouble they don't want to mess with the smiling, lovable veteran handing out bulletins at the door.

Security-minded folks can look at it as a security measure. I look at it instead as a way to help build up the church body. A congregation is not supposed to be a group of lone wolves. I do suggest reading 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 for good measure.

Beyond that, church fellowship helps greatly. The average size of a congregation within a non-instrumental Church of Christ setting is one where I see multiple figures. I doubt Wikipedia's and the others out there are over a decade old. Regardless of size you still need to have fellowship among the members of the body. You need to be able to connect.

I've worshipped with tiny congregations and huge congregations. I've worshipped in urban areas and worshipped in a rented space in the Territory of American Samoa. I preach twice per month to bring the word to people at a local nursing home. Incidents of violence at churches are not earth-shattering threats. If you thoroughly read the book of Acts, the apostle Paul thoroughly gets the tar beat out of him in his missionary journeys. We live in a fallen and broken world and for a faith tradition of primitivists we have to think very hard about how things are reverting to the way they operated in more biblical times. See, for example the incident in Ephesus.

For now, I move forward. I'm not sure I'll say anything at West Avenue. I am our trained person on homeland security sorts of issues. For the most part we are on our own for quite a few minutes whether it comes to needing a response from police or emergency services. Building up our resilience is needed for the littler things.

Stepping boldly forward into the future is the best thing we can do, I think.

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BOFH excuse #202:


text:
## Why most published findings are false: the effect of p-hacking

In our previous post, we revisited the Ioannidis argument on Why most published research findings are false. Other factors such as p-hacking can also increase the chance of reporting a false-positive result. Such results are associated with a p-value deemed to be statistically significant, but the underlying hypothesis is in fact false.

## Researcher degrees of freedom

As scientists, we have a great amount of flexibility when it comes to how we analyse and process our data. Some of this flexibility is removed when we conduct a clinical trial because the analysis plan has to be formally registered. However, data analysis for most other types of studies is flexible. This means researchers have to make decisions about what data to keep and reject, how to group and present data, whether a mean or trimmed-mean will be computed, whether the peak-to-peak amplitude will be reported or the area under the curve, etc.

There is also flexibility with statistical tests. Are we going to incorporate all conditions, or are we going to group two of them? What type of post-hoc tests are we going to use after running our analysis of variance? Would it be better to try a non-parametric test?

Simmons et al. (2011) demonstrated that, with so many degrees of freedom, researchers can generate statistically significant results from just about any data set. While some of these data processing decisions are well founded, others are erroneously believed to be correct, and are influenced by our human biases.

These researcher degrees of freedom influence published results and lead to a disproportionately large number of published p-values to be just below the traditional threshold of $\alpha$ =0.05. This phenomenon is termed p-hacking.

In their paper, Simmons et al. (2011) demonstrated that if researchers always pick the more favourable choice, i.e., the one that favours finding a statistically significant result, $\alpha$ increases from 0.05 to 0.607.

## P-hacking in the context of the Ioannidis argument

Let’s revisit our recent post on the Ioannidis argument (i.e., most published research findings are likely false) and see how p-hacking influences the results.

In a research area that generally focuses on discovering novel results, approximately 10% of tested hypotheses might in fact be true. If we consider 1000 hypotheses, 100 of these will be true and 900 will be false. If studies in this area have adequate statistical power (i.e., 80%), $\beta$ will equal 20%. This statistical power allows us to discover 80 of the 100 true hypotheses.

However, rather than using the conventional $\alpha$ = 0.05, p-hacking can increase this value up to 0.607. This means 60.7% of the 900 hypotheses that are in fact false will generate false-positive results. This produces a false-positive reporting probability of 87%. In other words, 87% of the significant results will be associated with hypotheses that are in fact false (Figure 1).

$FPRP = 100 * (falsePositive / (falsePositive + truePositive))$

$FPRP = 100 * (546 / (546 + 80))$

$FPRP = 87%$

With beta = 20%, 80% of the hypotheses that are true will be statistically significant (i.e., true positives). With 100 true hypotheses, 80 of them will be found to be statistically significant. Given that p-hacking can artificially increase alpha to as high as 0.607, in this extreme case 60.7% the hypotheses that are false will be statistically significant. This means there will be 546 false-positive findings. Thus, the false-positive report probability will be 87%.

## Summary

Some have argued that you can report anything as significant. While this is an extreme and bleak view of the situation, recent research is confirming that many results are not reproducible.

An important first step to reverse this harmful trend is to properly understand basic statistical concepts. Statistical power, type I and type II errors, p-values and percentage of true hypotheses all influence the chance that a statistically significant result reflects a true difference. A better understanding of these concepts can help researchers better plan and interpret their results.

### Reference

Ioannidis JP (2005). Why most published research findings are false.. PLoS Med 2:e124.

Simmons JP, Nelson LD, Simonsohn U (2011). False-positive psychology: undisclosed flexibility in data collection and analysis allows presenting anything as significant. Psychol Sci 22:1359-66.

format: plain


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# ABSTRACT

The fruit fly uses its sense of smell to discover useful facts about the world. Strange odours are populating the world everywhere, every being tries to smell it as the molecules propagate without end Previous experiences of different smells get stored in the fly brain along with information on whether the smell was associated with a reward or punishment. Reward or punishment, as if this is the be all end all of everything. It’s not we don’t think in binary, things don’t exist in only two states above the scale of quanta. Flies will use their sense of smell to decide whether to approach or retreat from a given odour. The place this information gets stored is the mushroom body, an area comprised of thousands of neurons that has been implicated in olfactory memory and decision-making. Experiments have shown the response of a fly to a given odour is determined by the activity of a small group of so called output neurons, which receive their input from the mushroom body and are also affected by neuromodulators such as dopamine and octopamine, with experimental evidence suggesting that dopamine and octopamine can control reward based learning. Silencing or activating this group of neurons can artificially change the behaviour of the fly from approach to avoidance. In this study I will determine how these neuromodulators interact with synaptic plasticity. We built a rate model of the olfactory circuit to test the interaction between dopamine to determine which plasticity mechanisms are sufficient to store information related to reward associated with odour stimuli between the mushroom body and output neurons.

In this short project we have studied the ability of the fruit fly’s olfactory circuit to learn how to select an appropriate action from a behavioural repertoire when exposed to an odour it has previously learned through first order conditioning. Previous research has uncovered the role of three separate groups.

The studies of Laurent and co-authors on the olfactory processing in Locusts (Owald 2015) emphasise the role of time in olfactory conditioning.

$b_r + b_p + b_n = 1$

$$Retreat_{out}$$

$$Approach_{out}$$

$$Appetitive_{DA}$$

$$Aversive_{DA}$$

$$MBON_{app}$$

$$DA_{+}$$

$$DA_{-}$$

$$b_{r} + b_{p} + b_{n} = 1$$

if $$b_{r} + \gamma_{app} > b_{p}$$ : approach

$$\gamma_{app}$$ - how much does information about current environment state helps you maximize future reward


text:
# is the intersection of all non-trivial subrings $\mathbb{Z}_n$?

Let $$R$$ be a ring.

Define $$\phi:\mathbb{Z}\rightarrow R: n\mapsto n\cdot 1_R$$

This is a ring homomorphism and below is a theorem using this homomorphism:

Let $$R$$ be a ring with $$char(R)=n$$.

Then, there exists a subring $$S$$ of $$R$$ which is ring isomorphic to $$\mathbb{Z}_n$$.

Is this $$S$$ the intersection of all non-trivial subrings of $$R$$?

• $S=\phi(\mathbb Z)$, $\ker \phi=n\mathbb Z$. – lhf Nov 14 '14 at 15:01

Since you have mentioned $1_R$, I assume that $R$ has unit. I'll write $1=1_R$, $2=2\cdot 1_R$, etc.

If $S'$ is a subring, then $1\in S'$ so $\{0,1,2,\ldots,n-1\}\subset S'$. That is, $S\subset S'$.

You have defined a homomorphism $\phi:\mathbb{Z}\rightarrow R$ by $\phi(a)=1_R\cdot a$ where $1_R$ is the unity of $R$.

Clearly, $\phi$ is a map from $\mathbb{Z}$ onto $\phi(\mathbb{Z})$.

Now, show that $Ker\,\, \phi=\langle n \rangle$

By, first isomorphism theorem, you have

$\frac{\mathbb{Z}}{\langle n \rangle}\cong \phi(\mathbb{Z})$

So, you've just shown that every ring of characteristic $n$ with unity has a subgroup isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}_n$. So what happens when you take intersection of all such rings?


text:
NEW
New Website Launch
Experience the best way to solve previous year questions with mock tests (very detailed analysis), bookmark your favourite questions, practice etc...
1

### IIT-JEE 2005 Screening

If $$P(x)$$ is a polynomial of degree less than or equal to $$2$$ and $$S$$ is the set of all such polynomials so that $$P(0)=0$$, $$P(1)=1$$ and $$P'\left( x \right) > 0\,\,\forall x \in \left[ {0,1} \right],$$ then
A
$$S = \phi$$
B
$$S = ax + \left( {1 - a} \right){x^2}\,\,\forall \,a \in \left( {0,2} \right)$$
C
$$S = ax + \left( {1 - a} \right){x^2}\,\,\forall \,a \in \left( {0,\infty } \right)$$
D
$$S = ax + \left( {1 - a} \right){x^2}\,\,\forall \,a \in \left( {0,1} \right)$$
2

### IIT-JEE 2004 Screening

If $$f\left( x \right) = {x^a}\log x$$ and $$f\left( 0 \right) = 0,$$ then the value of $$\alpha$$ for which Rolle's theorem can be applied in $$\left[ {0,1} \right]$$ is
A
$$-2$$
B
$$-1$$
C
$$0$$
D
$$1/2$$
3

### IIT-JEE 2004 Screening

If $$f\left( x \right) = {x^3} + b{x^2} + cx + d$$ and $$0 < {b^2} < c,$$ then in $$\left( { - \infty ,\infty } \right)$$
A
$$f\left( x \right)$$ is a strictly increasing function
B
$$f\left( x \right)$$ has a local maxima
C
$$f\left( x \right)$$ is a strictly decreasing function
D
$$f\left( x \right)$$ is bounded
4

### IIT-JEE 2003 Screening

Tangent is drawn to ellipse
$${{{x^2}} \over {27}} + {y^2} = 1\,\,\,at\,\left( {3\sqrt 3 \cos \theta ,\sin \theta } \right)\left( {where\,\,\theta \in \left( {0,\pi /2} \right)} \right)$$.

Then the value of $$\theta$$ such that sum of intercepts on axes made by this tangent is minimum, is

A
$$\pi /3$$
B
$$\pi /6$$
C
$$\pi /8$$
D
$$\pi /4$$

### Joint Entrance Examination

JEE Main JEE Advanced WB JEE

### Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering

GATE CSE GATE ECE GATE EE GATE ME GATE CE GATE PI GATE IN

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Class 12


text:
Fast links: Interglossa » Glosa »

# Re: [glosalist] jhnavis@yahoo.co.uk

At 12:09 AM 10/5/05, sid pa grafo:

as you say, we need to know quickly and easily where the verb phrase starts - the first word could be “pa” , “fu” , “nu”, “du”, “sio” ( i’ve been using “ du” for the present tense) and those words could be used for nothing else so “now” might be “nu-tem” and so on. u ergo-pe du ergo boni e u an ergo du ergo in u longi tem. much of the difficulty in reading g wouls be reduced this way’ in the case of “es”, it is rare for it to be used as anything but a verb so “du” could be left out u an ergo es ma boni nu-tem de id pa es Hi sid, This sentence is one I’d probably like to see run with ^trainer wheels^.

u ergo-pe du ergo boni e u an ergo du ergo in u longi tem.

  Assuming that you started with an English-language sentence in  your head,  I'd probably like to see what it was before I could  comment on this Glosa version.

I'd agree that ~nu-tem~ would mean 'now', but feel it is  probably unnecessary if ~nu~ does the job, and sentences were clearly written.

Fast links: Interglossa » Glosa »

Re: [glosalist] jhnavis@yahoo.co.uk - Committee on language planning, FIAS. Coordination: Vergara & Hardy, PhDs.


text:
# Homework: prove or disprove $\lim_{n\to\infty}n\sum_{k=n}^{\infty}b_k$ converge

Suppose that $b_n>0$ for all $n$, that $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}b_n$$ and $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}nb_n$$ are all convergent. does that guarantee $$\lim_{n\to\infty}n\sum_{k=n}^{\infty}b_k$$ exists?

-
Welcome to math.SE: since you are new, I wanted to let you know a few things about the site. In order to get the best possible answers, it is helpful if you say in what context you encountered the problem, and what your thoughts on it are; this will prevent people from telling you things you already know, and help them give their answers at the right level. –  Cameron Buie Nov 14 '12 at 1:49

For $k \ge n$ note that $nb_k \le k b_k$, so that you have $$\sum_{k=n}^{\infty} nb_k \le \sum_{k=n}^{\infty} k b_k.$$ Since you have assumed that $\sum_{k=1}^{\infty} kb_k$ converges, use what you know about limits of tail ends of convergent series.


text:
# CKFinder Integration

The aim of this article is to explain how to integrate CKEditor with CKFinder, a powerful and easy to use Ajax file manager. See the demo for a live demonstration.

CKFinder is a commercial application that was designed with CKEditor compatibility in mind. It is currently available as version 3.x for PHP and version 2.x for Java, ASP.NET, ASP and ColdFusion.

## # CKFinder 3

CKFinder 3 is available for PHP and ASP.NET.

The integration with CKFinder 3 can be conducted in two ways:

• Using the CKFinder.setupCKEditor() method.
• Manually, by passing additional configuration settings to the CKEditor instance.

The image below shows CKFinder 3 integrated with CKEditor, with the file manager being opened from the editor Image Properties dialog window.

### # Using CKFinder.setupCKEditor()

The simplest way to integrate CKFinder 3 with CKEditor is using the CKFinder.setupCKEditor() method.

This method takes the CKEditor instance which will be set up as a first argument (editor). If no argument is passed or the editor argument is null, CKFinder will integrate with all CKEditor instances.

var editor = CKEDITOR.replace( 'editor1' );
CKFinder.setupCKEditor( editor );

Please check the samples/ckeditor.html sample distributed with CKFinder 3 to see the full working example of this integration method.

Refer to the CKFinder 3 documentation for more details and examples of:

• Integrating CKFinder with a selected CKEditor instance.
• Integrating CKFinder with all existing and future CKEditor instances.
• Passing CKFinder configuration options while integrating with CKEditor.

### # Manual Integration with Configuration Settings

In order to manually configure CKEditor to use CKFinder, you need to pass additional configuration settings to the CKEditor instance.

For example, to enable CKFinder in a CKEditor instance using the same settings for all editor dialog windows:

CKEDITOR.replace( 'editor1', {
filebrowserBrowseUrl: '/ckfinder/ckfinder.html',
filebrowserUploadUrl: '/ckfinder/core/connector/php/connector.php?command=QuickUpload&type=Files',
filebrowserWindowWidth: '1000',
filebrowserWindowHeight: '700'
} );

See the CKFinder 3 documentation for more details and examples of:

• Setting config.filebrowserBrowseUrl and config.filebrowserUploadUrl options.
• Setting available resource types.
• Changing the file manager window size.
• Setting target resource type and target folder for quick uploads.
• Providing different configuration for selected CKEditor dialog windows.

## # CKFinder 2

The integration with CKFinder 2 may be conducted in two ways:

The image below shows CKFinder 2 integrated with CKEditor, with the file manager being opened from the editor Image Properties dialog window.

### # Using CKFinder.setupCKEditor()

The example below shows the use of the CKFinder.setupCKEditor() method to insert a CKEditor instance with CKFinder 2 integrated.

This method takes the CKEditor instance which will be set up as a first argument (editor). If no argument is passed or the editor argument is null, CKFinder will integrate with all CKEditor instances.

The second parameter of the CKFinder.setupCKEditor() method is the file manager configuration which may be just the path to the CKFinder installation.

var editor = CKEDITOR.replace( 'editor1' );
CKFinder.setupCKEditor( editor, '/ckfinder/' );

Please check the _samples/ckeditor.html sample distributed with CKFinder 2 to see the full working example of this integration method.

Refer to the appropriate “CKEditor Integration” article of the CKFinder 2 Developer’s Guide for more details and examples of:

• Integrating CKFinder with a selected CKEditor instance.
• Integrating CKFinder with all existing and future CKEditor instances.
• Passing CKFinder configuration options while integrating with CKEditor.

### # Manual Integration with Configuration Settings

In order to manually configure CKEditor to use CKFinder, you need to pass additional configuration settings to the CKEditor instance.

The sample below shows the configuration code that can be used to insert a CKEditor instance with CKFinder integrated. The browse and upload paths for images are configured separately from CKFinder default paths. The file manager window size was also set.

CKEDITOR.replace( 'editor1', {
filebrowserBrowseUrl: '/ckfinder/ckfinder.html',
filebrowserImageBrowseUrl: '/ckfinder/ckfinder.html?Type=Images',
filebrowserUploadUrl: '/ckfinder/core/connector/php/connector.php?command=QuickUpload&type=Files',
filebrowserImageUploadUrl: '/ckfinder/core/connector/php/connector.php?command=QuickUpload&type=Images',
filebrowserWindowWidth : '1000',
filebrowserWindowHeight : '700'
});

The example above is valid for the PHP environment. Note that /ckfinder/ is a base path to the CKFinder installation directory.

If you are using CKFinder for ASP, ASP.NET, Java, or ColdFusion, remember to change php above to the correct extension:

## # Further Reading

For more information on integrating CKEditor with a file manager refer to the following articles:


text:
# ∫1/ (x^3-1)

1. Jun 15, 2012

### arishorts

1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data
∫1/(x^3-1)

2. Relevant equations
A/(x-1) + (Bx+C)/(x^2+x+1)
1=A(x^2+x+1) + (Bx+C)(x-1)

3. The attempt at a solution
I've solved for all the variables in this...
A= 1/3
B= -1/3
C= -2/3

which gets me:
1/3*Ln|x-1| + ∫(-(x/3)-(2/3))/(x^2+x+1)

I can't figure out how to integrate the second half. Maybe i'm not using the right u (u-sub)? There's probably something really simple i'm not seeing.

2. Jun 15, 2012

### algebrat

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

What if you had 1/(ax^2+b)? Then you would use trig sub right? If you complete the square, then you'll be closer to this form.

3. Jun 15, 2012

### Infinitum

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

Hi arishorts! Welcome to PF!!

Try substituting $$u = x^2 + x + 1$$

4. Jun 15, 2012

### arishorts

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

You already know this... but i get du=2x+1 dx, but the numerator is x+2. is there a transition i'm missing?

5. Jun 15, 2012

### algebrat

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

sorry, i didn't notice the x factor in the numerator, you should integrate that part spearately, you can use the easier u substitution.

6. Jun 15, 2012

### arishorts

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

I'm trying this right now, don't see why it shouldn't work. Is there not a simpler way?

Edit:

This is what i'm doing right now:

-(1/3)∫ (x+2) / ((3/4)-(x+(1/2))^2)
Then i'd trig sub...

7. Jun 15, 2012

### Infinitum

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

Write it as

$$\frac{1}{2} (\frac{2x+1}{x^2+x+1} + \frac{3}{x^2+x+1})$$

And then complete the square.

8. Jun 15, 2012

### algebrat

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

du/2=(x+1/2)dx, then for the leftover (a constant in the numerator), complete the square then use trig sub.

9. Jun 15, 2012

### algebrat

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

no simpler way, that's why they teach trig sub

EDIT: Infinitum's last post looks good, use simpler u-sub on term on left, trig sub on right.

10. Jun 15, 2012

### arishorts

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

how can you do that to the numerator, but not the denominator?

11. Jun 15, 2012

### Infinitum

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

Is this correct?

$$\frac{a+b}{c+d} = \frac{a+b}{c} + \frac{a+b}{d}$$

Put in some values to be sure

12. Jun 15, 2012

### arishorts

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

You seem to have a very strong algebraic manipulation background, where as i don't. Been trying to work on it lately. I'm trying all methods mentioned here (trying to make sense of it all).

13. Jun 15, 2012

### algebrat

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

Infinitum actually multiplied by 2(1/2), rather than (1/2)/(1/2). You see, they distributed the 2 to the numerator, and left the 1/2 out front.

14. Jun 15, 2012

### algebrat

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

do what to the numerator?

15. Jun 15, 2012

### arishorts

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

not trying to be an ***...

a=1, b=2, c=3, d=4

3/7 ≠ 3/3 + 3/4

16. Jun 15, 2012

### arishorts

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

it was edited. the 1/2 wasn't there before or i didn't see it. i see it now. Let me try this.

17. Jun 15, 2012

### SammyS

Staff Emeritus
Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

$\displaystyle -\frac{1}{3}\frac{x+2}{x^2+x+1}=-\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{2}\frac{2x+4}{x^2+x+1}$
$\displaystyle =-\frac{1}{6}\frac{2x+1+3}{x^2+x+1}$

$\displaystyle =-\frac{1}{6}\left(\frac{2x+1}{x^2+x+1}+\frac{3}{x^2+x+1}\right)$

18. Jun 15, 2012

### arishorts

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

Got it! Thanks guys... Give you guys +rep if i could, but there doesn't seem to be that system here.

19. Jun 15, 2012

### arishorts

Re: ∫1/(x^3-1)

Just got it. Thanks.