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Six Characteristics of a Model Assignment

How many times have you had a student submit an assignment with few sources, poorly written and several days late? Probably happens more times than not. There are six characteristics of a model assignment which will not only alleviate instructor frustration, but also strengthen student writing and time management skills.

• Create assignments which directly relate to accomplishing the course objective. A model assignment maintains a clear goal toward accomplishing a course objective. For adult online learners, course goals relate less to theory or original research and more to practical approaches for day-to-day application or career advancement.
• More details equals higher quality of student final product. Since adult online learners come from diverse backgrounds, do not assume students will understand the purpose of the assignment. Be prepared to tell students what you expect (e.g. word count, citation format, number of sources, etc.) and how it should be done (e.g. upload to Moodle versus email attachment).
• Give incremental due dates. Large comprehensive assignments due at the course finality leads to unfocused, or even plagiarized, writing. Break down a large assignment into several smaller assignments due sporadically throughout the term. In turn, students receive valuable feedback incrementally as they progress throughout the course.
• Allow students to brainstorm for topics. Allow students to brainstorm topics or share with other students using the Moodle Discussion Board form. Or consider offering students a choice among 3-4 essay questions, case scenarios, or case studies. By allowing student choice, students will find a greater connection in their writing which in turn will lead to better final submissions.
• Give examples. In addition to clear directions, students also appreciate a visual piece of the final product. If you decide to use another student’s work, be sure to ask permission to use from the student. Post model assignments on your Moodle course shell.
• Share student evaluation tools. Share rubrics, or other evaluation tool, early in the assignment rather than at the end so students may clarify expectations firsthand. Post rubrics or evaluation tools on your Moodle course shell so students may refer to it when necessary.

Assignment Model | Linear Programming Problem (LPP) | Introduction

What is assignment model.

→ Assignment model is a special application of Linear Programming Problem (LPP) , in which the main objective is to assign the work or task to a group of individuals such that;

i) There is only one assignment.

ii) All the assignments should be done in such a way that the overall cost is minimized (or profit is maximized, incase of maximization).

→ In assignment problem, the cost of performing each task by each individual is known. → It is desired to find out the best assignments, such that overall cost of assigning the work is minimized.

For example:

Suppose there are 'n' tasks, which are required to be performed using 'n' resources.

The cost of performing each task by each resource is also known (shown in cells of matrix)

• In the above asignment problem, we have to provide assignments such that there is one to one assignments and the overall cost is minimized.

How Assignment Problem is related to LPP? OR Write mathematical formulation of Assignment Model.

→ Assignment Model is a special application of Linear Programming (LP).

→ The mathematical formulation for Assignment Model is given below:

→ Let, C i j \text {C}_{ij} C ij ​ denotes the cost of resources 'i' to the task 'j' ; such that

→ Now assignment problems are of the Minimization type. So, our objective function is to minimize the overall cost.

→ Subjected to constraint;

(i) For all j t h j^{th} j t h task, only one i t h i^{th} i t h resource is possible:

(ii) For all i t h i^{th} i t h resource, there is only one j t h j^{th} j t h task possible;

(iii) x i j x_{ij} x ij ​ is '0' or '1'.

Types of Assignment Problem:

(i) balanced assignment problem.

• It consist of a suqare matrix (n x n).
• Number of rows = Number of columns

(ii) Unbalanced Assignment Problem

• It consist of a Non-square matrix.
• Number of rows ≠ \not=  = Number of columns

Methods to solve Assignment Model:

(i) integer programming method:.

In assignment problem, either allocation is done to the cell or not.

So this can be formulated using 0 or 1 integer.

While using this method, we will have n x n decision varables, and n+n equalities.

So even for 4 x 4 matrix problem, it will have 16 decision variables and 8 equalities.

So this method becomes very lengthy and difficult to solve.

(ii) Transportation Methods:

As assignment problem is a special case of transportation problem, it can also be solved using transportation methods.

In transportation methods ( NWCM , LCM & VAM), the total number of allocations will be (m+n-1) and the solution is known as non-degenerated. (For eg: for 3 x 3 matrix, there will be 3+3-1 = 5 allocations)

But, here in assignment problems, the matrix is a square matrix (m=n).

So total allocations should be (n+n-1), i.e. for 3 x 3 matrix, it should be (3+3-1) = 5

But, we know that in 3 x 3 assignment problem, maximum possible possible assignments are 3 only.

So, if are we will use transportation methods, then the solution will be degenerated as it does not satisfy the condition of (m+n-1) allocations.

So, the method becomes lengthy and time consuming.

(iii) Enumeration Method:

It is a simple trail and error type method.

Consider a 3 x 3 assignment problem. Here the assignments are done randomly and the total cost is found out.

For 3 x 3 matrix, the total possible trails are 3! So total 3! = 3 x 2 x 1 = 6 trails are possible.

The assignments which gives minimum cost is selected as optimal solution.

But, such trail and error becomes very difficult and lengthy.

If there are more number of rows and columns, ( For eg: For 6 x 6 matrix, there will be 6! trails. So 6! = 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 720 trails possible) then such methods can't be applied for solving assignments problems.

(iv) Hungarian Method:

It was developed by two mathematicians of Hungary. So, it is known as Hungarian Method.

It is also know as Reduced matrix method or Flood's technique.

There are two main conditions for applying Hungarian Method:

(1) Square Matrix (n x n). (2) Problem should be of minimization type.

Suggested Notes:

Modified Distribution Method (MODI) | Transportation Problem | Transportation Model

Stepping Stone | Transportation Problem | Transportation Model

Vogel’s Approximation Method (VAM) | Method to Solve Transportation Problem | Transportation Model

Transportation Model - Introduction

North West Corner Method | Method to Solve Transportation Problem | Transportation Model

Least Cost Method | Method to Solve Transportation Problem | Transportation Model

Tie in selecting row and column (Vogel's Approximation Method - VAM) | Numerical | Solving Transportation Problem | Transportation Model

Crashing Special Case - Multiple (Parallel) Critical Paths

Crashing Special Case - Indirect cost less than Crash Cost

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Linear Programming Problem (LPP) Formulation with Numericals

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Education Lessons

Stay in touch, [notes] operation research, [notes] dynamics of machinery, [notes] maths, [notes] science, [notes] computer aided design.

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Model AI Assignments

2024 call for assignments, project archive, important dates:.

• September 10, 2023: : Model AI Assignment 200-word abstracts (via EasyChair) and assignment submissions (via email) due
• December 9, 2023: Notification of acceptance or rejection
• February 24-25, 2024: Symposium dates

What is the Model AI Assignments Session?

The Model AI Assignments Session seeks to gather and disseminate the best assignment designs of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Education community.

One must learn by doing the thing; for though you think you know it, you have no certainty, until you try. - Sophocles

Recognizing that assignments form the core of student learning experience, we invite AI educators to submit draft assignment materials that exemplify an approach to teaching AI topics at all levels.

Submission Ideas

Consider these challenges in assignment design:

• Intro AI audience: Submit your favorite assignment that grounds one of the core AI concepts at the introductory level (e.g. search, constraint satisfaction, knowledge representation and reasoning, planning, probabilistic reasoning, machine learning, robotics, machine vision, etc.).
• K-12/CS1/CS2 audience: Some AI assignment experiences are designed to communicate the techniques, potentials, and challenges of the discipline.  Submit an assignment that you believe will be most likely attract the next generation of AI practitioners.
• Emerging topics: When a new algorithm has high impact in a research area, there is a need to introduce the algorithm not only to students, but to all AI researchers as well.  The creation of initial high- quality assignments to teach such groundbreaking techniques can accelerate research advancements and keep AI material fresh at all levels.  Submit an assignment which introduces an recent new algorithm or emerging subfield.

Whether sharing the best of your time-tested assignment designs, or offering a timely new creation, please consider how your creative assignment ideas can attract and prepare the next generation of AI researchers, or accelerate the advancement of the current generation.

The Model AI Assignment Session is a part of EAAI-24: The Fourteenth Symposium on Educational Advances in Artificial Intelligence.  This will be held February 24-25, 2024 in conjunction with AAAI-24 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Registration: To register for EAAI, participants can register through the AAAI conference website and specify EAAI registration.

Student and Faculty Scholarships: Thanks to the generosity of the National Science Foundation, we are able to offer a limited number of scholarships to provide partial support for the costs involved in attending EAAI. Please see http://eaai.stanford.edu/scholar.html for more details.

EAAI-18 Organizing Committee: Sven Koenig (co-chair), University of Southern California ( [email protected] ) Eric Eaton (co-chair), University of Pennsylvania ( [email protected] ) Zachary Dodds, Harvey Mudd College ( [email protected] ) Todd Neller, Gettysburg College ( [email protected] ) Matthew Taylor, Washington State University ( [email protected] ) Sheila Tejada, University of Southern California ([email protected] ) 

Model Assignment Considerations

As with SIGCSE's Nifty Assignments , EAAI Model AI Assignments should be:

• Adoptable - Provide materials to make the assignment easy for other instructors to adopt.  Materials might include handouts in common formats (e.g. HTML, PDF), starter source code, data files, suggestions for use, etc. 
• Engaging - Model assignments often have a playful "fun factor" or impressive outcome.  The applications spark interest in the topic, lead to deeper understanding, and are accomplishments likely to be shared with others.
• Flexible/Scalable - Language/platform independence, while not required, would allow more widespread use over time.  Suggestions of possible follow-on projects, further readings, or other open ends invite continued learning.  Advice for variations in assignment design can help other instructors create unique (i.e. not easily plagiarized) assignment experiences for their students.

We especially encourage assignments that teach or demonstrate how AI can benefit humanity.

Submissions

Model Assignment submissions must be made in two parts:

• Assignment submission (via e-mail) at the full paper submission deadline
• 200-word abstract submission (via EAAI EasyChair submission site ) also at the full paper submission deadline

Assignment submission directions: Create a directory named with your last name, a hyphen, and the name of the assignment (e.g. Dodds-SetOpenCV).  Place all of your materials in this directory, and create an index.html file.   (Our goal is to create an archive of assignments, rather than link to resources elsewhere.  We will gladly update materials in our archive as authors direct.)  In this index.html file, create a table like the one below filled in with brief information about your assignment (replace the italicized text with your own):

Then add links to the assignment materials in your directory (e.g.  handouts in common formats (e.g. HTML, PDF), starter source code, data files, suggestions for use, etc.).  These need not be polished for submission; a draft is sufficient. Assignments should be anonymous for blind review. (Your directory will be renamed with a number before review.)

Finally, zip the directory (e.g. Dodds-SetOpenCV.zip), and email it to Todd Neller ( [email protected] ) with the subject line "Model Submission: " followed by the filename. (Please add "Model" to the subject line for all Model Assignments Session email.)

Model Assignments and the Function Allocation Diagram

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(2007). Model Assignments and the Function Allocation Diagram. In: ARIS Design Platform. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84628-613-1_12

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Solving Assignment Problem using Linear Programming in Python

Learn how to use Python PuLP to solve Assignment problems using Linear Programming.

In earlier articles, we have seen various applications of Linear programming such as transportation, transshipment problem, Cargo Loading problem, and shift-scheduling problem. Now In this tutorial, we will focus on another model that comes under the class of linear programming model known as the Assignment problem. Its objective function is similar to transportation problems. Here we minimize the objective function time or cost of manufacturing the products by allocating one job to one machine.

If we want to solve the maximization problem assignment problem then we subtract all the elements of the matrix from the highest element in the matrix or multiply the entire matrix by –1 and continue with the procedure. For solving the assignment problem, we use the Assignment technique or Hungarian method, or Flood’s technique.

The transportation problem is a special case of the linear programming model and the assignment problem is a special case of transportation problem, therefore it is also a special case of the linear programming problem.

In this tutorial, we are going to cover the following topics:

Assignment Problem

A problem that requires pairing two sets of items given a set of paired costs or profit in such a way that the total cost of the pairings is minimized or maximized. The assignment problem is a special case of linear programming.

For example, an operation manager needs to assign four jobs to four machines. The project manager needs to assign four projects to four staff members. Similarly, the marketing manager needs to assign the 4 salespersons to 4 territories. The manager’s goal is to minimize the total time or cost.

Problem Formulation

A manager has prepared a table that shows the cost of performing each of four jobs by each of four employees. The manager has stated his goal is to develop a set of job assignments that will minimize the total cost of getting all 4 jobs.  

Initialize LP Model

In this step, we will import all the classes and functions of pulp module and create a Minimization LP problem using LpProblem class.

Define Decision Variable

In this step, we will define the decision variables. In our problem, we have two variable lists: workers and jobs. Let’s create them using  LpVariable.dicts()  class.  LpVariable.dicts()  used with Python’s list comprehension.  LpVariable.dicts()  will take the following four values:

• First, prefix name of what this variable represents.
• Second is the list of all the variables.
• Third is the lower bound on this variable.
• Fourth variable is the upper bound.
• Fourth is essentially the type of data (discrete or continuous). The options for the fourth parameter are  LpContinuous  or  LpInteger .

Let’s first create a list route for the route between warehouse and project site and create the decision variables using LpVariable.dicts() the method.

Define Objective Function

In this step, we will define the minimum objective function by adding it to the LpProblem  object. lpSum(vector)is used here to define multiple linear expressions. It also used list comprehension to add multiple variables.

Define the Constraints

Here, we are adding two types of constraints: Each job can be assigned to only one employee constraint and Each employee can be assigned to only one job. We have added the 2 constraints defined in the problem by adding them to the LpProblem  object.

Solve Model

In this step, we will solve the LP problem by calling solve() method. We can print the final value by using the following for loop.

From the above results, we can infer that Worker-1 will be assigned to Job-1, Worker-2 will be assigned to job-3, Worker-3 will be assigned to Job-2, and Worker-4 will assign with job-4.

In this article, we have learned about Assignment problems, Problem Formulation, and implementation using the python PuLp library. We have solved the Assignment problem using a Linear programming problem in Python. Of course, this is just a simple case study, we can add more constraints to it and make it more complicated. You can also run other case studies on Cargo Loading problems , Staff scheduling problems . In upcoming articles, we will write more on different optimization problems such as transshipment problem, balanced diet problem. You can revise the basics of mathematical concepts in  this article  and learn about Linear Programming  in this article .

• Solving Blending Problem in Python using Gurobi
• Transshipment Problem in Python Using PuLP

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The Assignment Model

The linear programming formulation of the assignment model is similar to the formulation of the transportation model, except all the supply values for each source equal one, and all the demand values at each destination equal one. Thus, our example is formulated as follows :

This is a balanced assignment model. An unbalanced model exists when supply exceeds demand or demand exceeds supply.

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Business Model Canvas: Explained with Examples

Got a new business idea, but don’t know how to put it to work? Want to improve your existing business model? Overwhelmed by writing your business plan? There is a one-page technique that can provide you the solution you are looking for, and that’s the business model canvas.

In this guide, you’ll have the Business Model Canvas explained, along with steps on how to create one. All business model canvas examples in the post can be edited online.

What is a Business Model Canvas

A business model is simply a plan describing how a business intends to make money. It explains who your customer base is and how you deliver value to them and the related details of financing. And the business model canvas lets you define these different components on a single page.   

The Business Model Canvas is a strategic management tool that lets you visualize and assess your business idea or concept. It’s a one-page document containing nine boxes that represent different fundamental elements of a business.  

The business model canvas beats the traditional business plan that spans across several pages, by offering a much easier way to understand the different core elements of a business.

The right side of the canvas focuses on the customer or the market (external factors that are not under your control) while the left side of the canvas focuses on the business (internal factors that are mostly under your control). In the middle, you get the value propositions that represent the exchange of value between your business and your customers.

The business model canvas was originally developed by Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur and introduced in their book ‘ Business Model Generation ’ as a visual framework for planning, developing and testing the business model(s) of an organization.

What Are the Benefits of Using a Business Model Canvas

Why do you need a business model canvas? The answer is simple. The business model canvas offers several benefits for businesses and entrepreneurs. It is a valuable tool and provides a visual and structured approach to designing, analyzing, optimizing, and communicating your business model.

• The business model canvas provides a comprehensive overview of a business model’s essential aspects. The BMC provides a quick outline of the business model and is devoid of unnecessary details compared to the traditional business plan.
• The comprehensive overview also ensures that the team considers all required components of their business model and can identify gaps or areas for improvement.
• The BMC allows the team to have a holistic and shared understanding of the business model while enabling them to align and collaborate effectively.
• The visual nature of the business model canvas makes it easier to refer to and understand by anyone. The business model canvas combines all vital business model elements in a single, easy-to-understand canvas.
• The BMC can be considered a strategic analysis tool as it enables you to examine a business model’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges.
• It’s easier to edit and can be easily shared with employees and stakeholders.
• The BMC is a flexible and adaptable tool that can be updated and revised as the business evolves. Keep your business agile and responsive to market changes and customer needs.
• The business model canvas can be used by large corporations and startups with just a few employees.
• The business model canvas effectively facilitates discussions among team members, investors, partners, customers, and other stakeholders. It clarifies how different aspects of the business are related and ensures a shared understanding of the business model.
• You can use a BMC template to facilitate discussions and guide brainstorming brainstorming sessions to generate insights and ideas to refine the business model and make strategic decisions.
• The BMC is action-oriented, encouraging businesses to identify activities and initiatives to improve their business model to drive business growth.
• A business model canvas provides a structured approach for businesses to explore possibilities and experiment with new ideas. This encourages creativity and innovation, which in turn encourages team members to think outside the box.

How to Make a Business Model Canvas

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create a business canvas model.

Step 1: Gather your team and the required material Bring a team or a group of people from your company together to collaborate. It is better to bring in a diverse group to cover all aspects.

While you can create a business model canvas with whiteboards, sticky notes, and markers, using an online platform like Creately will ensure that your work can be accessed from anywhere, anytime. Create a workspace in Creately and provide editing/reviewing permission to start.

Step 2: Set the context Clearly define the purpose and the scope of what you want to map out and visualize in the business model canvas. Narrow down the business or idea you want to analyze with the team and its context.

Step 3: Draw the canvas Divide the workspace into nine equal sections to represent the nine building blocks of the business model canvas.

Step 4: Identify the key building blocks Label each section as customer segment, value proposition, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, and cost structure.

Step 5: Fill in the canvas Work with your team to fill in each section of the canvas with relevant information. You can use data, keywords, diagrams, and more to represent ideas and concepts.

Step 6: Analyze and iterate Once your team has filled in the business model canvas, analyze the relationships to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges. Discuss improvements and make adjustments as necessary.

Step 7: Finalize Finalize and use the model as a visual reference to communicate and align your business model with stakeholders. You can also use the model to make informed and strategic decisions and guide your business.

What are the Key Building Blocks of the Business Model Canvas?

There are nine building blocks in the business model canvas and they are:

Customer Segments

Customer relationships, revenue streams, key activities, key resources, key partners, cost structure.

• Value Proposition

When filling out a Business Model Canvas, you will brainstorm and conduct research on each of these elements. The data you collect can be placed in each relevant section of the canvas. So have a business model canvas ready when you start the exercise.  

Let’s look into what the 9 components of the BMC are in more detail.

These are the groups of people or companies that you are trying to target and sell your product or service to.

Segmenting your customers based on similarities such as geographical area, gender, age, behaviors, interests, etc. gives you the opportunity to better serve their needs, specifically by customizing the solution you are providing them.

After a thorough analysis of your customer segments, you can determine who you should serve and ignore. Then create customer personas for each of the selected customer segments.

There are different customer segments a business model can target and they are;

• Mass market: A business model that focuses on mass markets doesn’t group its customers into segments. Instead, it focuses on the general population or a large group of people with similar needs. For example, a product like a phone.  
• Niche market: Here the focus is centered on a specific group of people with unique needs and traits. Here the value propositions, distribution channels, and customer relationships should be customized to meet their specific requirements. An example would be buyers of sports shoes.
• Segmented: Based on slightly different needs, there could be different groups within the main customer segment. Accordingly, you can create different value propositions, distribution channels, etc. to meet the different needs of these segments.
• Diversified: A diversified market segment includes customers with very different needs.
• Multi-sided markets: this includes interdependent customer segments. For example, a credit card company caters to both their credit card holders as well as merchants who accept those cards.

Use STP Model templates for segmenting your market and developing ideal marketing campaigns

Visualize, assess, and update your business model. Collaborate on brainstorming with your team on your next business model innovation.

In this section, you need to establish the type of relationship you will have with each of your customer segments or how you will interact with them throughout their journey with your company.

There are several types of customer relationships

• Personal assistance: you interact with the customer in person or by email, through phone call or other means.
• Dedicated personal assistance: you assign a dedicated customer representative to an individual customer.  
• Self-service: here you maintain no relationship with the customer, but provides what the customer needs to help themselves.
• Automated services: this includes automated processes or machinery that helps customers perform services themselves.
• Communities: these include online communities where customers can help each other solve their own problems with regard to the product or service.
• Co-creation: here the company allows the customer to get involved in the designing or development of the product. For example, YouTube has given its users the opportunity to create content for its audience.

You can understand the kind of relationship your customer has with your company through a customer journey map . It will help you identify the different stages your customers go through when interacting with your company. And it will help you make sense of how to acquire, retain and grow your customers.

This block is to describe how your company will communicate with and reach out to your customers. Channels are the touchpoints that let your customers connect with your company.

Channels play a role in raising awareness of your product or service among customers and delivering your value propositions to them. Channels can also be used to allow customers the avenue to buy products or services and offer post-purchase support.

There are two types of channels

• Owned channels: company website, social media sites, in-house sales, etc.
• Partner channels: partner-owned websites, wholesale distribution, retail, etc.

Revenues streams are the sources from which a company generates money by selling their product or service to the customers. And in this block, you should describe how you will earn revenue from your value propositions.  

A revenue stream can belong to one of the following revenue models,

• Transaction-based revenue: made from customers who make a one-time payment
• Recurring revenue: made from ongoing payments for continuing services or post-sale services

There are several ways you can generate revenue from

• Asset sales: by selling the rights of ownership for a product to a buyer
• Usage fee: by charging the customer for the use of its product or service
• Subscription fee: by charging the customer for using its product regularly and consistently
• Lending/ leasing/ renting: the customer pays to get exclusive rights to use an asset for a fixed period of time
• Licensing: customer pays to get permission to use the company’s intellectual property
• Brokerage fees: revenue generated by acting as an intermediary between two or more parties
• Advertising: by charging the customer to advertise a product, service or brand using company platforms

What are the activities/ tasks that need to be completed to fulfill your business purpose? In this section, you should list down all the key activities you need to do to make your business model work.

These key activities should focus on fulfilling its value proposition, reaching customer segments and maintaining customer relationships, and generating revenue.

There are 3 categories of key activities;

• Production: designing, manufacturing and delivering a product in significant quantities and/ or of superior quality.
• Problem-solving: finding new solutions to individual problems faced by customers.
• Platform/ network: Creating and maintaining platforms. For example, Microsoft provides a reliable operating system to support third-party software products.

This is where you list down which key resources or the main inputs you need to carry out your key activities in order to create your value proposition.

There are several types of key resources and they are

• Human (employees)
• Financial (cash, lines of credit, etc.)
• Intellectual (brand, patents, IP, copyright)
• Physical (equipment, inventory, buildings)

Key partners are the external companies or suppliers that will help you carry out your key activities. These partnerships are forged in oder to reduce risks and acquire resources.

Types of partnerships are

• Strategic alliance: partnership between non-competitors
• Coopetition: strategic partnership between partners
• Joint ventures: partners developing a new business
• Buyer-supplier relationships: ensure reliable supplies

In this block, you identify all the costs associated with operating your business model.

You’ll need to focus on evaluating the cost of creating and delivering your value propositions, creating revenue streams, and maintaining customer relationships. And this will be easier to do so once you have defined your key resources, activities, and partners.  

Businesses can either be cost-driven (focuses on minimizing costs whenever possible) and value-driven (focuses on providing maximum value to the customer).

Value Propositions

This is the building block that is at the heart of the business model canvas. And it represents your unique solution (product or service) for a problem faced by a customer segment, or that creates value for the customer segment.

A value proposition should be unique or should be different from that of your competitors. If you are offering a new product, it should be innovative and disruptive. And if you are offering a product that already exists in the market, it should stand out with new features and attributes.

Value propositions can be either quantitative (price and speed of service) or qualitative (customer experience or design).

What to Avoid When Creating a Business Model Canvas

One thing to remember when creating a business model canvas is that it is a concise and focused document. It is designed to capture key elements of a business model and, as such, should not include detailed information. Some of the items to avoid include,

• Detailed financial projections such as revenue forecasts, cost breakdowns, and financial ratios. Revenue streams and cost structure should be represented at a high level, providing an overview rather than detailed projections.
• Detailed operational processes such as standard operating procedures of a business. The BMC focuses on the strategic and conceptual aspects.
• Comprehensive marketing or sales strategies. The business model canvas does not provide space for comprehensive marketing or sales strategies. These should be included in marketing or sales plans, which allow you to expand into more details.
• Legal or regulatory details such as intellectual property, licensing agreements, or compliance requirements. As these require more detailed and specialized attention, they are better suited to be addressed in separate legal or regulatory documents.
• Long-term strategic goals or vision statements. While the canvas helps to align the business model with the overall strategy, it should focus on the immediate and tangible aspects.
• Irrelevant or unnecessary information that does not directly relate to the business model. Including extra or unnecessary information can clutter the BMC and make it less effective in communicating the core elements.

What Are Your Thoughts on the Business Model Canvas?

Once you have completed your business model canvas, you can share it with your organization and stakeholders and get their feedback as well. The business model canvas is a living document, therefore after completing it you need to revisit and ensure that it is relevant, updated and accurate.

What best practices do you follow when creating a business model canvas? Do share your tips with us in the comments section below.

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

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• Use clear and concise language
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• Be open to feedback and discussion

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Amanda Athuraliya is the communication specialist/content writer at Creately, online diagramming and collaboration tool. She is an avid reader, a budding writer and a passionate researcher who loves to write about all kinds of topics.

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Clinical trial basics: intervention models in clinical trials, what are intervention models in clinical trials.

In clinical trials, intervention model refers to the general structure used for dividing study participants into groups to compare outcomes. These groups are also known as interventional or treatment arms.

What are the different types of intervention models in clinical trials?

Intervention models generally fall under four types: single-group assignments, parallel assignments, cross-over assignments, and factorial assignments.[ 1 ]

The model that is most appropriate for a trial depends on several factors, such as:

• The medical condition being tested
• The research goals of the trial
• The availability of eligible participants

Single group assignment

In single-group assignment, participants are not divided into groups at all. Instead, all participants are assigned to the therapy arm of the trial and receive the same treatment, therapy, or drug, with the same route of administration, dosage, and frequency.

An example of a single-group study is a phase 4 clinical study observing the long-term effects of a newly approved drug in all participants enrolled in the study.

Parallel assignment

Parallel assignment is the most common type of intervention model used in clinical research, wherein trial participants are divided into two or more groups, each receiving a different medical intervention throughout the duration of the study.[ 2 ] Participants are given one type of treatment, remaining in the same treatment arm for the entire study, so such studies are also known as non-crossover studies.

An example of a clinical study that uses parallel assignment is a phase III clinical trial comparing the investigational product (drug X) against the standard treatment (drug A) for the condition:

• Group 1 (experimental treatment arm) receives drug X
• Group 2 (standard treatment control arm) receives drug A

Different dosages of the same drug can also be studied in a parallel group study, for example:

• Group 1 receives 50 mg of drug X
• Group 2 receives 100 mg of drug X

Cross-over assignment

In a cross-over assignment design, researchers divide trial participants into groups that receive the same experimental treatment(s) but at different times. In other words, participants are switched from one study arm to the other at a given point in time. Sometimes also referred to as a cross-over longitudinal study, this type of intervention model attempts to reduce patient variation for more accurate results.[ 3 ] It may also have ethical benefits as all participants are given a chance to benefit from the investigational treatment, which may further encourage patient enrollment and retention.

To reduce any carryover effect from the previous treatments, studies conducted under this model usually include a washout period so the previous treatment can be fully eliminated from the participant's system. Cross-over assignments are generally used when studying chronic conditions, because symptoms are long-term so investigators have enough time to change treatments and study the effects.

A clinical trial employing a cross-over assignment might assign participants to study arms as follows:

• Group 1 receives drug X for the first 6 weeks, then drug Y for 6 weeks, with a 6-week washout period in between
• Group 2 receives drug Y for the first 6 weeks, then drug X for 6 weeks, with a 6-week washout period in between

Or, another example:

• First 2 months: Group 1 receives the experimental intervention while group 2 receives placebo
• 2 week washout period
• Last 2 months: Group 2 receives the experimental intervention while group 1 receives placebo

Factorial assignment

Factorial assignment designs are used when there is more than one intervention to be tested. Trial participants are divided into groups or arms receiving different combinations of two or more interventions/drugs.

The simplest factorial design is a so-called 2x2 factorial assignment, in which two drugs, X and Y, might be tested in four study groups/arms as follows:

• Group 1 receives drug X and drug Y together
• Group 2 receives drug X and placebo (control)
• Group 3 receives drug Y and placebo (control)
• Group 4 receives two placebos

The appeal of such a design is that it is essentially similar to conducting two parallel group studies (drug X versus placebo and drug Y versus placebo) on the same study population, allowing comparison of the safety and/or efficacy of drug X versus drug Y. Further, potential interaction (synergy or antagonism) between the two interventions might be elucidated, although this is not the goal of such a study. A general assumption underlying such designs is that the two interventions do not interact with one another, in which case the statistical power of such a study design is greater than that of a multi-arm parallel group trial.[ 4 ] However, it is often difficult to be sure that there was no interaction, which can lead to difficulty in interpreting results.

Other Trials to Consider

Arm 1: 3D printed model

Intermittent theta burst stimulation, breast mri screening for high risk patients, single arm longitudinal assessment, 3d model of heart, cbt (surgerypal), standard of care + cbt4cbt+ rc, popular categories.

Tymlos Clinical Trials

Paid Clinical Trials in Kansas City, MO

Paid Clinical Trials in Dallas, TX

Paid Clinical Trials in Tucson, AZ

Paid Clinical Trials in Spokane, WA

Paid Clinical Trials in Glendale, AZ

Paid Clinical Trials in Madison, WI

Paid Clinical Trials in New Mexico

Pheochromocytoma Clinical Trials 2023

Adrenal Insufficiency Clinical Trials 2023

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Home » Management Science » Transportation and Assignment Models in Operations Research

Transportation and Assignment Models in Operations Research

Transportation and assignment models are special purpose algorithms of the linear programming.   The simplex method of Linear Programming Problems(LPP)   proves to be inefficient is certain situations like determining optimum assignment of jobs to persons, supply of materials from several supply points to several destinations and the like. More effective solution models have been evolved and these are called assignment and transportation models.

The transportation model is concerned with selecting the routes between supply and demand points in order to minimize costs of transportation subject to constraints of supply at any supply point and demand at any demand point.   Assume a company has 4 manufacturing plants with different capacity levels, and 5 regional distribution centres.     4 x 5 = 20 routes are possible.   Given the transportation costs per load of each of 20 routes between the manufacturing (supply) plants and the regional distribution (demand) centres, and supply and demand constraints, how many loads can be transported through different routes so as to minimize transportation costs?   The answer to this question is obtained easily through the transportation algorithm.

Similarly, how are we to assign different jobs to different persons/machines, given cost of job completion for each pair of job machine/person?   The objective is minimizing total cost.   This is best solved through assignment algorithm.

Uses of Transportation and Assignment Models in Decision Making

The broad purposes of Transportation and Assignment models in LPP are just mentioned above.   Now we have just enumerated the different situations where we can make use of these models.

Transportation model is used in the following:

• To decide the transportation of new materials from various centres to different manufacturing plants.   In the case of multi-plant company this is highly useful.
• To decide the transportation of finished goods from different manufacturing plants to the different distribution centres.   For a multi-plant-multi-market company this is useful.
• To decide the transportation of finished goods from different manufacturing plants to the different distribution centres.   For a multi-plant-multi-market company this is useful.   These two are the uses of transportation model.   The objective is minimizing transportation cost.

Assignment model is used in the following:

• To decide the assignment of jobs to persons/machines, the assignment model is used.
• To decide the route a traveling executive has to adopt (dealing with the order inn which he/she has to visit different places).
• To decide the order in which different activities performed on one and the same facility be taken up.

In the case of transportation model, the supply quantity may be less or more than the demand.   Similarly the assignment model, the number of jobs may be equal to, less or more than the number of machines/persons available.   In all these cases the simplex method of LPP can be adopted, but transportation and assignment models are more effective, less time consuming and easier than the LPP.

Related Posts:

• Economic interpretation of linear programming duality
• Waiting Lines and Queuing System in Management Science
• Model of Quantitative Analysis
• Introduction to Linear Programming (L.P)
• Procedure for finding an optimum solution for transportation problem
• Introduction to Transportation Problem
• Initial basic feasible solution of a transportation problem
• Introduction to Crtical Path Analysis
• Construction of Mathematical Decision Model
• Duality in linear programming

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Exclussive dff. And easy understude

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Assignment: Descriptive Personal Narrative

To synthesize what you’ve learned about description , narration , and reflection, you will write a personal narrative. This is generally a nonfiction, prose essay (similar to a memoir), but your instructor might provide additional guidelines in regard to genre, media, approach, or assessment standards.

Your task is to identify an influential place, event, or person from your life experience about which you can tell a story. Then, you will write a narrative essay that relates that story and considers the impact it had on you, your worldview, and/or your life path. Using model texts in this book as exemplars, you will tell a story ( narrate ) using vivid description and draw out meaning and insight using reflection .

As you’ll evaluate below, descriptive personal narratives have a variety of purposes. One important one is to share a story that stands in for a bigger idea. Do not be worried if you don’t know the “bigger idea” yet, but be advised that your final draft will narrate a focused, specific moment that represents something about who you are, how you got here, what you believe, or what you strive to be.

Be sure to apply the concepts you learn in class to your writing.

Before you begin, consider your rhetorical situation:

Guidelines for Peer Workshop

Before beginning the Peer Workshop and revision process, I recommend consulting the

 Revision Concepts and Strategies Appendix. In your Peer Workshop group (or based on your teacher’s directions), establish a process for workshopping that will work for you. You may find the flowchart titled “Establishing Your Peer Workshop” useful.

Establishing Peer Workshop Process:

Do you prefer written notes, or open discussion? Would you like to read all the drafts first, then discuss, or go one at a time? Should the author respond to feedback or just listen? What anxieties do you each have about sharing your writing? How will you provide feedback that is both critical and kind? How will you demonstrate respect for your peers?

One Example of a Peer Workshop Process

Before the workshop, each author should spend several minutes generating requests for support (#1 below). Identify specific elements you need help on. Here are a few examples:

I need suggestions for new imagery.

Do you think my reflective writing seems too “tacked on.”

Do you have any ideas for a title?

I need help proofreading and polishing.

During the workshop, follow this sequence:

• Student A introduces their draft, distributes copies, and makes requests for feedback. What do you want help with, specifically?
• Student A reads their draft aloud while students B and C annotate/take notes. What do you notice as the draft is read aloud?
• Whole group discusses the draft; student A takes notes. Use these prompts as a reference to generate and frame your feedback. Try to identify specific places in your classmates’ essays where the writer is successful and where the writer needs support. Consider constructive, specific, and actionable feedback.

What is the author doing well? What could they do better?

• What requests does the author have for support? What feedback do you have on this issue, specifically?
• Identify one “golden line” from the essay under consideration—a phrase, sentence, or paragraph that resonates with you. What about this line is so striking?
• Ideas, Content, and Focus
• Style and Language
• Depth, Support, and Reflection
• What resonances do you see between this draft and others from your group? Between this draft and the exemplars you’ve read?

4. Repeat with students B and C.

After the workshop, try implementing some of the feedback your group provided while they’re still nearby! For example, if Student B said your introduction needed more imagery, draft some new language and see if Student B likes the direction you’re moving in. As you are comfortable, exchange contact information with your group so you can to continue the discussion outside of class.

Model Texts by Student Authors

The pot calling the kettle black… 1.

“You aren’t acting normal,” my dad said with a dopy, concerned look on his face. He was a hard-working, soft and loving man. He was smaller than my mother, physically and figuratively. She sat beside him. She had a towering stature, with strong, swimmers’ shoulders, but she was hunched often. She didn’t really have eyebrows, but she didn’t need them. She had no problem conveying emotion on her face, especially negative ones.

“What’s wrong?” my mother asked. She took my hand frantically. Not the way one might take someone’s hand to connect with or comfort them. She needed reassurance more than I did.

My parents were sitting across from me on cushioned, bland-colored chairs in my dad’s office, while I sat on a rickety, torturous wooden chair. My dad’s office generally utilized natural light due to the expansive glass windows that allowed the light to drown the room, enclosing us in the chamber. I felt like an inmate being prepped for lethal injection. The weather was particularly gray and dismal. Perhaps it was the ambiguous, gray, confusing feelings I was breathing through. My parents had somewhat regular “interventions” to address my somewhat regular (sometimes public) emotional breakdowns, my self-medicating habits, and my general shitty attitude.

This week in particular, I had purposely destroyed two of my mother’s collectible horses. She had a maniacal obsession for them. She also maniacally collected sunflower artwork, which was the one obsession, of many, I found endearing. My old babysitter noted at one point there were 74 collectible horses in the house. After my outburst, there were 72.

I could see behind my parents, through the glass-paned door, my two younger sisters were secretly observing the altercation from the dining room, hiding under the table. They were illuminated by the ominous weather, which was also watching in on the dismal conversation through the windows. I was envious, jealous even, of my spectating sisters. My sisters didn’t have overflowing, excessive emotions. They didn’t have emotions that were considered “excessive.” I felt like an offender being put at the stocks: my parents were the executioners, and my sisters were the jesters.

“I’m angry.”

“What about?” my dad asked, puzzled. “Did someone do something to you?”

“Honey, were you—” my mother looked to my dad, then concealed her mouth slightly with the other hand, “ raped ?”

I couldn’t help but raise my voice. “No, Mom, I wasn’t raped, Jesus.” I took a moment to grind on my teeth and imagine the bit I was chomping at. Calm, careful, composed, I responded. “I’m just angry. I don’t feel—”

“What don’t you feel?” She practically jumped on me, while yanking my imprisoned hand toward her. She yanked at my reins.

“I don’t feel understood!” My mind was bucking. I didn’t know why I needed to react by raising my voice. It felt instinctive, defensive. Shouting forcefully, I jerked my hand away from her, but it remained in her clutches. I didn’t feel satisfied saying it, though what I said was the truth.

“What are you talking about?” my dad asked mournfully. I knew he felt betrayed. But he didn’t understand. He didn’t know what it’s like for things to be too much. Or to be too much. My dad looked at me longingly, hoping I would correct what I had said. He looked lost, incapable of understanding why I was doing what I was doing. My mother interjected, cutting off my dad’s hypnotic, silent cry for connection.

“You’re crazy!” she said, maintaining eye contact. My mother then let go of my hand, flipped it back to me. She reclined in her chair, retracting from me and the discussion entirely. She crossed her legs, then her arms. She turned her head away, toward the glass windows, and (mentally) left.

I was and am not “too much.” I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 18 years old.

I had just stepped off a squealing MAX line onto a broken sidewalk slab, gnarled from tree roots, when I felt my phone buzz rhythmically.

“I need you to come to the hospital. Mom had a little accident.” My dad’s voice was distant and cracking, like a wavering radio signal, calling for help.

“What’s going on? Is she okay?” I asked while making my way to campus.

“Where are you?” He wasn’t going to tell me anything over the phone. Adrenaline set in. I let him know I was downtown and headed to campus, but that I would catch a Lyft to wherever they were. “We’re at Milwaukie Providence. How soon can you get here?

“I’ll let you know soon.” My assumption was that my parents had been in an argument, my mother left the house in a rage, and crashed her car. She’d been an erratic driver for as long as I could remember, and my parents had been arguing more than usual recently, as many new “empty-nesters” do. The lack of information provided by my dad, however, was unsettling. I don’t really recall the ride to the hospital. I do remember looking over the river while riding from the west to east side of town. I remember the menacing, dark clouds rolling in faster than the driver could transport me. I remember it was quick, but it was too much time spent without answers.

When I arrived at Providence, I jumped out of the sedan and galloped into the lobby of the emergency room like a race horse on its final lap. My younger sister and Dad were seated on cushioned, bland-colored chairs in the waiting room. There were expansive glass windows that allowed the light to drown the room. The weather was particularly gray and dismal. Perhaps it was the ambiguous, gray, confusing feelings I was breathing through. I sat down beside my dad, in a firmer-than-anticipated waiting room chair beside him. He took my hand frantically. He took it in the way one might take someone’s hand to connect with or comfort them. He needed reassurance more than I did.

“Where did she get in the accident?” I asked.

My sister, sitting across from me with her head in her knees, looked up at me with aquamarine, tear-filled eyes. She was staring through me, an unclouded window. “Mom tried to kill herself.”

“What?” My voice crescendoed from a normal volume to a shriek in the span of a single word. My mind felt like it was bucking. I grabbed at my hair, pulling it back tight with my spare hand. The tears and cries reared, no matter how hard I yanked my mane.

“We got in another argument this morning, and she sent me a message saying she didn’t want to be in pain anymore. She told me to tell you girls she’s sorry. I’m so sorry.” I’d never seen my dad cry before; I didn’t know he could. I didn’t know his tears would stream like gushing water from a broken dam. He looked lost, incapable of understanding why she was doing what she was doing. I looked from my dad to my sister to my hands. One hand remained enveloped by my dad’s gentle palm. At this point in life, I had not yet learned to be gentle with myself, or others. I cut off my dad’s hypnotic, silent cry for connection.

“She’s crazy!” I let go of my dad’s hand, flipped it back to him. I reclined in the

chair, retracting from the situation entirely. I crossed my legs, then my arms. I turned my head away, toward the glass windows, and (mentally) left.

“Crazy” is a term devised to dismiss people.

My mother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 50 years old.

Teacher Takeaways

“This essay makes excellent use of repetition as a narrative strategy. Throughout the essay, terms and phrases are repeated, generally with slight alterations, drawing the reader’s attention to the moment in question and recontextualizing the information being conveyed. This strategy is especially powerful when used to disclose the separate diagnoses of bipolar disorder, which is central to the narrative. I also appreciate the use of dialogue, though it mostly serves an expository function here. In itself that’s effective, but this narrative would be strengthened if that dialogue could serve to make some of the characters, especially the mother, more rounded.”– Professor Dunham

All Quiet 2

“We can have you kicked out, you know.” Miss Nick (as everyone addressed her) began digging her fists into her hips. She towered over me at six-foot-something, gravity pulling her wire-framed glasses to the end of her nose.

I recounted the empty threats my mom would make.

“ Ay nako nanlan ! Putang ina ! I’ll pull you out of that school! You want to go to Taft? Reseda?” Local public schools.

“Do it, you’ll save a ton of money,” I’d say.

“The only thing Catholic school is good for is producing my favorite unstable artists and writers,” I’d joke with my friends. They had been in the Catholic school system far longer than I had—fourteen years. I was jaded, though it was only my fourth year.

All-girls’ school was supposed to turn me around. But did my mother really expect the Northeastern elitism she hammered into me to fare well in Los Angeles? Especially surrounded by the daughters of television, radio and film legacies who lived in their hilly pseudo-ranches populated with their troupes of horses dancing around in golden Agouran fields? Homogenized whole milk.

Lodged right against the Santa Monica mountains was Louisville High School. The school was founded by the French sisters of Saint Louis, a French order founded by Abbé Louis Eugene Marie Bautain—whoever the hell that was. At the top of the rolling hills that were about as blonde as those who lived in them, was a small room that erupted with incense and the chatter of young women. These quarters belonged to this supposed gentle giant who chanted Mary Oliver poems ad nauseam . By her side was a new hire: an aspiring Christian songstress, also the daughter of an actor who had been typecast as a hundred high school bullies in the eighties. They, collectively, made up the “campus ministry.”

“Why didn’t you come to us first?” Miss Nick continued. “Why did you have to go straight online?” She had me there. I suppose it just ate at me. Maybe some sense of urgency. Maybe I was just playing their own game.

“Are you gonna cry?” The songstress almost demanded it. Her piercing blue gaze could only be summed up with lunacy. This was the first time I’d actually had any conversation with the religion department outside of class.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles demands Catholic schools regularly hold these retreats in some picturesque Californian mountain range or seaside. A select number of student lectors were elected to tell their stories drawn from their own struggles. It was supposed to be a time of reflection about your faith or something, but it never felt wholly about that. It was a period where you got to know your teachers and your peers, and empathize with each other. For a lot of the closeted non-religious and agnostics, this was the only time they could identify with their school and community.

Once, during lunch at a retreat, I hailed down one of the most respected instructors of our school. As a seven-foot bleeding wood crucifix looked on, we sipped the punch prepared by the sisters.

“Hey Mr. Clark, what was the name of that cult leader in sixties?” I asked. Amber punched me. We all giggled.

“You mean Jonestown?” He paused. His voice grew stern. “Now ladies—behave.”

Mr. Clark taught history and social sciences. He was the oldest member of the faculty and the most outspoken atheist of all. I’d spend hours in his room for detention, and we would have elusive conversations about Freud, Hunter S. Thompson, and his time in Boulder. The only way to enter campus ministry was through Mr. Clark’s room.

A week prior Olivia had applied to be a student leader for a retreat. Olivia kept to herself for the most part, and though we differed a lot, I always found something to discuss with her. Her last name came right before mine, so we often worked together on a number of assignments and projects. Mostly, we’d just critique our religion classes which emphasized chastity and accused select girls of being hussies. Olivia was a model student with perfect attendance. She was an artist, a writer, and more importantly, my friend.

Olivia’s application was readily denied in favor for the wealthy Catholic sweethearts and a select few who never disclosed certain information.

“I’d put on there that I was an atheist,” she shrugged. I knew for a fact the retreat leadership was ridden with heathens. There, on the sunny knoll, I flipped through the handbook and showed her a clause that prohibited the act of denying anyone for their race, religion or creed. And I knew save for everything, Olivia was overwhelmingly more qualified than anyone to lead a retreat. She was articulate, an active contributor to all things art and writing, and had come from years of struggle. She’d been living with Type I Diabetes her entire life, and her parents had just divorced. Her brother frequently got in trouble with the law, and she had managed to maintain perfect grades and demeanor for the past year. She actively contributed her art and writing in various forms, and was loved and championed by many teachers. If there ’ s anyone who deserves this position, it’s her, I thought.

I went home late after serving another detention. I opened my computer, lazed around, wondered for a moment. It’s our last year of high school. Fuck it.

I typed in the search bar, “Petitions.”

I spent a couple hours, which could have easily been spent completing all my assignments, formatting and outlining my 95 theses. I typed and typed with the fury and angst that coincided with the suffix of my age. I clicked submit and shared the URL for my peers to see—namely, my closest friend at the school, Amber, another artist who had recently painted a depiction of a dark-skinned Jesus. Amber naturally became fired up.

The next day, parades of teachers, parents, and students voiced their opinion to me.

“What you’re doing is wonderful,” uttered my art teacher. “I hope she gets the position.” So far, the whole idea was met with so much positivity. Olivia would get her voice.

“Can I speak to you for a moment?” The math and earth science teacher stopped me in my tracks between classes. She, an advocate for the environment and reason, would surely shower the petition with nothing but affirmations.

“I’d put an end to this before it escalates. This is a Catholic school. This is a private school.” I was blindsided. It was not until then I realized what I was doing could be considered wrong.

Endlessly, I cited the handbook. It was their constitution—their code of conduct. Often, I just nodded in confusion. I did not know what to reply. More and more teachers looked at me with disdain and discouraged me from continuing forth. No one would listen to the citation. Why couldn’t anyone just admit that this clause was being broken? Opponents would only say that the campus ministry could conduct business as they wanted. It was their school.

Amber, vehement and by my side, became my spokesperson. She was the recipient of the arts scholarship. That, coupled with the death of her father years ago, granted her the honor of being selected as a senior lector. Students could not apply for this position—rather, they had to be nominated by a member of faculty. The thing was, Amber was a fervent atheist—more so than Olivia.

“She’s a cunt,” Amber protested, “she’s a fucking cunt.” I envied her absoluteness. It came so naturally to her. But I couldn’t say the same.

From across the knolly pasture I saw my religion teacher, someone I found solace in. He had gone through seminary. He lapsed, and married a former student of our school. He found himself in some sweat lodge deep in New Mexico, where his Catholic faith had been lingering all along. Here, an adult teacher, admitted his agnosticism and his doubt. I admired it so. He had a liberal nature similar to my own: he talked of rogue Catholic sisters who were pro-choice and advocated for birth control.

“I understand your intention,” he told me, “but I don’t think you’re seeing it in the right light. It’s a perceived injustice. I’m not sure it really is one.” My heart dropped.

I finally piped up after an hour-and-a-half into the harangue.

“So, you would have let her speak if she lied about her beliefs? That’s all she had to do?” I could feel my voice rupturing.

“Yes.” Miss Nick replied. I silently stood up.

“Thank you.” I left.

I took down the petition at the instruction of the principal.

“It was very brave what you did,” she smirked, “but we can’t have that on our record, you know how it is.” She gave me a wink. I did not know what to make of that.

Amber was also subject to their lectures. She was told she had to forfeit her position as a student leader for being a “convicted atheist”—more specifically, that she had no business leading because of her system of beliefs. She argued that she was nominated by faculty, and that Mr. Clark was also an atheist embraced by the staff. To no avail.

Olivia thanked me. She said it was the best thing anyone had ever done for her. As an act of compromise, the campus ministry let her say a prayer over the intercom system. People were moved. Silence reigned. Our art teacher, Mrs. Dupuy, cried.

In a city of millions and a country of hundreds of millions, one girl in a small Catholic high school was viewed as threatening to the point of disrupting the entire framework. How could something so miniscule pose such a threat to our adult overseers? I never attacked their religion, but they were so adamant in attacking anyone’s lack thereof. They preach “universality,” but where? They lost all credibility with me.

After that, I became passive, stopped participating, and kept to myself. I often found myself cheek first against my desk in religion classes while Miss Nick ignited a pro-life/pro-choice debate that swept across the room. The songstress rallied for nigh fundamentalist practices that I’d never seen within a Catholic church. In the yearbook’s senior superlatives, there’s a picture of me under “Class Rebel,” but it didn’t mean anything. An embarrassment. No one seemed sincere after that. Self-interest ruled everyone around me: the lenses I had on determined that everyone was doing and saying anything to further their personal convictions, regardless of how uninformed they were, or anyone who defied them.

Including myself. Especially myself.

So, I shut up. Everyone is self-serving , I’d remind myself. I became cynical of everyone’s intentions. I longed for authentic empathy. No, unachievable . I muted myself behind layers upon layers of verbal irony. No one could attack me if I followed my lines with nervous laugh, and I don ’ t know! Just kidding! I prescribed myself large doses of Charlie Kaufman films, acid, and absurdist texts. At least Beckett and Camus see the gray.

“Now ladies,” Mr. Clark said. “I know you don’t agree with her, but she’s had a rough life. Please try to understand where she came from.”

I don’t think anyone there would have done the same.

“This author’s use of dialogue is especially striking to me. Because the individual characters (and the way they speak) are each so vivid, I am more invested in the way the narrative plays out. I also appreciate this author’s reflection; it’s a good reminder that reflective writing doesn’t haven’t to sound like a self-help book or motivational speaker. On a global level, I would love to see this author apply their skill with dialogue to tell this story from multiple perspectives. What if Olivia was a first-person narrator in one section? What if we saw Miss Nick in her office alone after the confrontation?”– Professor Dawson

Blood & Chocolate Milk 3

The stick of gauze, the tinny primal taste of blood and the sweet creaminess of chocolate milk is what I remember. It was a spring day of my junior year in high school. It was the day I lost my wisdom teeth.

The night before my surgery Dad showed up and cooked us dinner. He made spaghetti, those meatballs he makes with the drop of plum sauce on the top, and a salad of spring greens topped with bright balsamic dressing and twirls of carrot. Then Mom, Dad and I watched a movie and Dad tucked me in for the first time in a long time. He slept on the couch.

It was strange that we were all together. My parents divorced before I could talk. I don’t think about them as a pair. Other than birthdays and drop-offs they were never in the same place. They were always separate entities that I saw half a week at a time.

The next morning we woke bright and early. The dental assistant had told me to wear something comfortable but my cashmere cardigan and slippers did little to calm my nerves.

In the car on the way to the dental surgeon’s office we made groggy early-morning small talk. Mom was at the helm of our beat-up, dark blue minivan, La Fiesta. Dad sat in the passenger seat and I was behind them on the first bench seat wringing my hands.

The waiting room was sterile and white, it smelled of disinfectant and mint. Copies of various parenting magazines, Life and People scattered the low generic coffee table. More catching up. We asked dad how things were going with his new girlfriend, he was happy and we were happy for him. I fidgeted in the uncomfortable pastel green chair.

In the surgical consult they had said that the roots of my wisdom teeth were too close to the nerves in my lower jaw, it was possible that I could lose feeling in my lower lip. I was terrified of that possibility. I watched the hands on the clock tick away. I wanted to get it over with already.

A serious woman in scrubs finally appeared to lead me to the surgical room. I hugged dad and he stayed behind in the waiting room, Mom came with me. There were machines beeping and blinking. I handed Mom my sweater and shoes and she gave me a tight squeeze.

Mom and I are a good team. It’s always been us against the world. Dad has moved away twice but Mom has always been right here.

My parents were young hippies when I was born. They didn’t have life figured out yet and their relationship disintegrated but their love for me never faded. Mom always says “You were a surprise but never a mistake. If I could go back in time I wouldn’t change a thing because I got you and you just kind of came along for the ride. Whatever I did, you did too.”

As I laid down on the grey vinyl chair, the stale frigid air and my racing heart prompted tiny goose bumps to appear on my arms. Everything in that room was a dull pastel color or unnatural white. The pastels were unsettling — not the kind that reminded you of a sweet Easter morning but the kind that brought to mind dreary hospitals and desolate nursing homes. Mom held my hand, the tiny IV needle pricked into my vein and I was gone.

Hours later I was semiconscious with a mouth full of cotton and four less teeth. My parents got me to the car and dad sat in the back with me, letting my limp medicated body lean on his. Blood and drool seeped out of my numb lips and onto his ratty Patagonia jacket. He held me the whole way home.

Mom is my rock but I know she was glad to have a partner that day. She couldn’t have carried me the way Dad did and she couldn’t have seen me so broken without someone to assure her that I was going to be fine. Dad isn’t always around but when he is, he gives all he can.

Mom and dad helped me wobble into bed and I floated away, my body heavy with anesthesia and Vicodin. I drifted in and out. The light came in my window, soft and pink like the creamy walls of my room.

My eyes opened slightly as I sensed movement in the room. “Hey Mai, how are you feeling?” Mom said, concern and sweetness heavy in her high voice. “It’s time for some more medicine, does your mouth hurt?”

“A little bit,” I said as best as I could with numb lips. The words came out muffled and strange. Gauze thick with blood and saliva was tucked over the wounds from the excavation. My mouth had become a foreign landscape with mountains of gauze and slippery rivers of blood. My tongue tried to ignore the upset. The blood was unnerving.

Dad reached into my mouth to deftly extract the blood soaked wads of gauze. Mom handed me the pills and dad held the bottle of chocolate milk, letting me sip it bit by bit to get the pills down. The milk was cool. Thick. Chalky. Chocolaty. A lazy breeze drifted in and Dad tucked fresh gauze over the wounds at the back of my mouth. They let me succumb to sleep again.

Hours or minutes later, Dad came into my room holding the Seattle Times . “Hey Sweetie, how are you feeling? I have some good articles to read to you,” Dad said softly. He was wearing his jeans that didn’t fit quite right and a ratty flannel. He sat down on the edge of my full-sized cloud, his back against the window sill, his legs outstretched horizontally and crossed at the ankle. His tall lanky body looked so out of place in my room but I was grateful to have him there.

He didn’t have to come. Maybe it was the medical nature of the event that made that more important in his mind than the school events or performances he’d missed. He could justify the trip and missing a night of work—to himself and his boss—because it was my body that needed hire, not my heart.

I sat up a little bit. I was still groggy but aware. He read me an article about an ignorant hick couple that had gotten lost in the woods but survived to hilariously tell their lucky story. His performance was complete with different voices for each person. The ridiculous accents made me laugh. He read me a few more articles. I savored his performance. He was going back to his city the next day and I was going to miss him.

Mom came in to check on me. She sat down next to dad on the edge of my bed. She touched my forehead, her hand was cool and steady. They looked at me with so much love, the pain was there but they lessened it. We were all under the same roof and on the same page, they were a team taking care of me, Mom handled the important things and dad handled the laughs.

Our journey has been hard but I know that they were always doing their best. They are both here for me in their own way. I grinned as much as I could; my puffy cheeks aching and straining against the gauze. My mouth felt broken but I felt whole. All I need is them, soft light, a warm breeze and chocolate milk.

“This essay caught my attention for a number of reasons. Primarily, I appreciate the content—this essay is about wisdom tooth surgery, but not really. The surgery is a way for the author to explore their family dynamic. Next, the imagery in this essay is vivid and appeals to a variety of senses. Finally, I really enjoy the structural choice this author has made: in order to weave reflection in with narration, they alternate each mode, indicating the shift with asterisks (***). This choice, I feel, is very effective. However, it also runs the risk of choppiness, as the abrupt changes might interrupt the ‘flow’ for some readers.”– Professor Dawson

EmpoWORD: A Student-Centered Anthology and Handbook for College Writers Copyright © 2018 by Shane Abrams is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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• Implementing Global Human Resources

When to Select the Employment Model

By default, every enterprise uses the single-assignment employment model. To select a different employment model for the enterprise or for individual legal employers, use the Manage Enterprise HCM Information and Manage Legal Entity HCM Information tasks in the Setup and Maintenance work area respectively.

This topic discusses the choices you can make and identifies any restrictions.

You can select a different employment model for individual legal employers.

Single Assignment v. Multiple Assignment

If you select:

Single Assignment or Single Assignment with Contract, all work relationships in the enterprise or legal employer are restricted to a single assignment.

Multiple Assignments, all work relationships in the enterprise or legal employer can include one or more assignments; therefore, work relationships can include a single assignment when appropriate.

Multiple Contracts with Single Assignment, all assignments in the enterprise or legal employer can be associated with its individual contract.

Changing the Employment Model for the Enterprise or Legal Employer

In general, you can change the employment model for the enterprise or legal employer both during initial implementation and later. However, there are some restrictions on switching to and from particular employment models.

The following table identifies the valid and restricted switching options.

First released in version : 3.2

• Model assignment

When you have a data model with objects types defined, and a selection of representations you wish to use for those object types, you can begin assigning reps to types and objects so that they can be visualized in the different visualization components of SmartSpace . As described in Object representations , Reps are assigned to objects using a key-value mapping called a Representation Mode , or rep mode for short.

• Representation Modes

Rep modes provide a simple way of assigning a rep to an object type with a persistent key name that can be referenced by other parts of your SmartSpace application.

While rep modes can be completely custom for each application (they are freely definable) SmartSpace does include some built-in rep modes that should be used at appropriate times.

• The <default> Rep Mode

Rep modes in SmartSpace are designed to provide a lot of control over how objects are visualized in the 2D web map , because they offer a way of communicating useful status information to end-users. In this sense, the benefits of rep modes are most evident when controlling the way objects are rendered to the 2D web map .

Conversely, the 3D visualization of SmartSpace is intended to provide an interface for interacting with objects in the world model, and as such rep modes are not supported to the same degree as with the web map . Within the 3D visualization, SmartSpace includes an in-built rep mode called <default> which is used to attach a single rep to an object type, typically a 3D rep from an imported Collada file. However, it is also possible to attach a 2D rep to objects using the <default> rep mode, and as such these objects will appear as 2D when viewed in the 3D site visualization.

• The ‘foreground’ and ‘background’ Rep Modes

As discussed in detail in Searches and Web maps , the SmartSpace   Web maps use predefined searches to query the SmartSpace object model for a collection of objects that satisfy the parameters of a search. This group of objects must then be rendered to the SmartSpace Web Map using an appropriate representation mode. SmartSpace includes a built-in representation mode called foreground for objects that are part of what is called the foreground search . Similarly SmartSpace includes another built-in rep mode called background for when a search is being run as a background (or secondary) search alongside the primary foreground search. While Foreground and Background searches are covered in more detail in Searches and Web maps , at this point it is just important to note that these rep modes exist and should be used as the default rep mode keys for objects to be displayed in the web map .

• The ‘unselectable’ Rep Mode

Occasionally, you might require objects to appear on the web map but not be selectable by clicking. In this situation, you can create a rep mode whose name begins with unselectable . For example, you might have a search that displays workbench objects on the map and in order to make other objects located on the workbench more easy to select you would make the workbench object unselectable .

• The <selected> Rep Mode

You can replace the green halo that indicates the selected object on the web map , by assigning an image of your choice to the object, giving it the <selected> rep mode, and then using this rep mode in relevant web searches. See Customizing how selected objects are highlighted on the web map for an example.

• Custom Rep Modes

If you have the Visibility component licensed you can create custom rep modes that allow you to display decoration reps alongside objects. See Decorations and Representation Modes in the web map for an example of this. To take full advantage of these custom rep modes (and add or remove them dynamically) the SmartSpace Business rules engine must be licensed as well. To actually write the logic which controls how and when these custom rep modes are assigned requires a license for the Rules engine developer .

The  Model assignment workspace

Representations can be assigned generically to all objects of a specific type (1-many mapping), or directly to objects themselves (1-1 mapping). The Model assignment workspace provides two tabulated views of these mappings: one for types and one for objects.

Click on MODEL ASSIGNMENT to display the workspace.

The workspace is described in the following sections:

• List of type-assigned reps

A list of types and their allotted representations is displayed along with their representation modes.

• Check boxes are available to allow you to indicate if this type and representation paring should be used in 2D (for example in Web maps) or in 3D (in the 3D site visualization).
• Double-clicking <Add new type rep> allows you to assign a rep to a type
• Object selector

The object selector allows you to refine the list of objects and their representations shown in the lower half of the screen.

• Choose an object type from the list to narrow the display and use <Filter by name> to find specific objects within the result set (using a partial string match)
• Choose <Background objects> to display background representations to which SmartSpace has attached a hidden system level object. (This enables you to work with background reps even when the environment becomes complex and accessing them directly from the environment display becomes difficult. See Site visualization . )
• List of object-assigned reps

A list of objects and their allotted representations is displayed along with their representation modes.

• Check boxes are available to allow you to indicate if this object and representation paring should be used in 2D (for example in Web maps) or in 3D (in the 3D site visualization)
• Double-clicking <Add new object rep> allows you to assign a rep to a type
• Copying models to Ubisense Generation 2.X products

If your installation includes a Generation 2 product such as ACS ( ACS ), a button is provided to enable you to copy models to the Generation 2 program. See Copying models for use in ACS for information on copying models, and the ACS ( ACS ) manual or online Help for examples of their use.

• Adding a representation to a type

To add a representation for a type:

• Double-click <Add new type rep> .
• Choose the object type.
• Choose the representation from the list of imported reps.
• You are working with 3D reps
• You don’t intend to change your object representation programmatically (using the Business rules engine )
• Click Save.

Use the check boxes displayed beside the new details for your object and representation pair to control how and where the representation assignment you’ve just created is used. There are two options:

Show in 2D : tells SmartSpace you want this representation/rep mode pair to be visible for this class of object when they are displayed in the web map

Show in 3D : tells SmartSpace you want this representation/rep mode pair to be visible for this class of object when they are displayed in the 3D site visualization

• Adding a representation to an object

To assign a representation to a specific object:

• Double-click <Add new object rep> .
• Choose the object.
• Use the check boxes displayed beside the new details for your object and representation pair to control how and where the representation assignment you’ve just created is used. There are two options: Show in 2D : tells SmartSpace you want this representation/rep mode pair to be visible for this class of object when they are displayed in the web map Show in 3D : tells SmartSpace you want this representation/rep mode pair to be visible for this class of object when they are displayed in the 3D site visualization
• The Model assignment workspace

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STSCI 5030 Linear Models with Matrices

Course description.

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2023-2024 . Courses of Study 2024-2025 is scheduled to publish mid-June.

The focus of this course is the theory and application of the general linear model expressed in its matrix form. Topics will include: least squares estimation, multiple linear regression, coding for categorical predictors, residual diagnostics, anova decomposition, polynomial regression, model selection techniques, random effects and mixed models, maximum likelihood estimation and distributional theory assuming normal errors. Homework assignments will involve computation using the R statistical package.

When Offered Fall.

Prerequisites/Corequisites Prerequisite: STSCI 2150 or STSCI 2200/BTRY 3010 or equivalent, BTRY 3080 or equivalent, MATH 1920 or MATH 2130 or equivalent, MATH 2210 or equivalent, STSCI 3200/BTRY 3020 or BTRY 6020.

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  Regular Academic Session.   Choose one lecture and one laboratory. Combined with: BTRY 4030 ,  STSCI 4030

Credits and Grading Basis

4 Credits Stdnt Opt (Letter or S/U grades)

Class Number & Section Details

 7020 STSCI 5030   LEC 001

Meeting Pattern

• MW 2:55pm - 4:10pm To Be Assigned
• Aug 26 - Dec 9, 2024

Instructors

To be determined. There are currently no textbooks/materials listed, or no textbooks/materials required, for this section. Additional information may be found on the syllabus provided by your professor.

For the most current information about textbooks, including the timing and options for purchase, see the Cornell Store .

Additional Information

Instruction Mode: In Person For Bowers CIS Course Enrollment Help, please see: https://tdx.cornell.edu/TDClient/193/Portal/Home/

 7021 STSCI 5030   LAB 401

• M 7:30pm - 8:20pm To Be Assigned

Instruction Mode: In Person

 7022 STSCI 5030   LAB 402

• W 7:30pm - 8:20pm To Be Assigned

 7090 STSCI 5030   LAB 403

• W 12:20pm - 1:10pm To Be Assigned

 7091 STSCI 5030   LAB 404

• R 3:35pm - 4:25pm To Be Assigned

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