Project presentation

Thanks for the encouraging text messages about my presentation, Ant Colony Solution to the Double Row Layout Problem.  It went pretty well, I think.  I wasn't nearly as nervous this time as last; speaking in front of people just takes practice.  Even if I don't get an A, I definitely looked good.  I color-coordinated my slides with a scarf my daughter made me--slides were trimmed in green with a smidgen of purple thrown in for accent--the opposite of my scarf.  No one commented, so I doubt they noticed, but it made me smile.  I turn in the paper Thursday and I can't wait!

I watched a cardinal catch and eat a luna moth yesterday morning.  I considered running over to stop the action, but decided the moth wouldn't survive.  It was actually quite beautiful, the quick red cardinal and the ethereal celadon green luna moth were an incredible contrast that only nature can create.

The biggest ant (not a red velvet ant) I've ever seen just appeared on the cardboard box table beside my La-z-Boy.  It is 3/4" long!  What do you think that means?  I'm hoping he has friends who will help me finish this paper.  I could use an army of helpers!

Chuck will's widow

"Chip married the widow!"  That's what I heard along with the cardinals at 5:09 this morning.  According to my birder's guide, the chuck will's widow repeats his call endlessly at dusk.   I guess he's an early bird--there are plenty of bugs at dawn too.  It's a wonderful country sound, and these birds are terrific insect eaters.  We have nighthawks (another nightjar) in New Orleans.  I've seen them swooping low over ball fields--they have a white spot on each wing that's visible when they fly.

Finally finished coding the objective function for my ant colony project.  I'll be running test cases all day to finalize the data.  Most of the report is finished--just needs cleaning up and a conclusion.  When the data's complete, I'll make the powerpoint for my presentation which is at 12:45 tomorrow.

Little Red Riding Hood's Hood

A glorious day!  Cool and breezy with not a cloud in the sky all morning.  This afternoon, there are a few clouds, but it is still beautifully sunny.  I've heard rumors we're in for some bad weather over the weekend--hard to imagine at this point.  Auburn CityFest is tomorrow--a big party in one of the open parks--arts, crafts, music, fun for children--an all around good time.  I doubt I'll make it though; I've got to finish this project!

Only a week (2 class days) left in the semester.  Finals will be May 6 and May 10 for me.  It's gone by fast and I've made significant progress.  My last two graded homework papers were 99 and 100.  The adrenaline still pumps when professors mention finals, but I don't think I'll be paralyzed and unable to think.  I don't dread the prospect of finals, but I'll not be working jigsaw puzzles instead of studying!  That is what I did the last time in school.  My roommate and I finished "Little Red Riding Hood's Hood"--entirely red circle.  I still have the puzzle, but I didn't bring it with me...maybe I'll bring it back in fall!

Ralph Brown Draughn Library

I spent two hours in the Ralph Brown Draughn library yesterday.  That is more time than I spent collectively in the same library the last time I was in school.  Given the maps and directions from the online card catalog I was able to find the books I needed and it was very quiet and conducive to research. I'm finishing a project for Adaptive Optimization class that is due next week.  I've written a program to use Ant Colony System to solve the Double Row Layout Problem.  I think it's working pretty well.  Now I'm writing the project report which is nothing less than a term paper with footnotes, figures, tables and a bibliography.  And, finally, I'll develop a power point from the paper and present to the class (Tuesday!)

I've done significant research on Ant Colony System and on all of the many algorithms used to solve layout problems.  I'd really like to take a field trip to a manufacturing facility and see the automated system that I'm designing the rows for.  I've developed a picture in my brain of machines with robotic arms on either side of a clean shiny rail...my imagination runs away here--I see them waving those arms in anticipation...The rail is the highway on which an item moves from machine to machine for a particular step in the manufacturing process to take place.   My computer program puts the machines in the order that optimizes the manufacturing process based on machine sizes, rail length, the relationships between the machines and the precedences in the manufacturing process.  Given the entire plant floor and many such processes connecting to each other, a good layout can save the plant lots of money.

"Old Nancy"

Instead of going to economics class this afternoon I attended a talk by the College of Engineering distinguished alumnus.  He graduated in Ag Engineering (now called Biosystems Engineering) in 1980.  He's worked for NASA or a dedicated NASA consultant for most of his career and talked about that experience.   He had beautiful pictures of the International Space Station(ISS) and interesting pictures of the building of that vehicle as well as the shuttle and some rockets.  Some interesting facts that I didn't know about the ISS

• It is 50x100 yds in size--about the size of Jordan Hare Stadium--and weighs 1 million pounds
• It took 45 space flights to build it
• Water is now recycled on board
• Crews rotate every 6 months
• ISS occupation began in 2000

When he finished his talk, the Biosystems Engineering seniors gave him a blanket with a picture of a steam tractor that was lovingly restored by Ag Engineering students while he was at Auburn.  The tractor's name is "Old Nancy".  I spoke to the department chair and told him I needed to have my picture taken with "Old Nancy".  She's in the basement of their department so I'm going to find her next week!  Maybe I'll find me a blanket with "Old Nancy" on it too.

This is the picture I promised of the native azaleas--all of these are native azaleas and this is only a very small portion of the beautiful grounds of this house.  I didn't even get any of the yellow and light orange ones.   We'll have to go to the azaleas man's nursery in Pine when I get back to Poplarville.  I think we can grow all of these and they would be so beautiful!

I saw my first hummingbird today--at my feeder!  They are such cute and feisty little birds.  I have two more feeders that I'll hang tomorrow before I leave for Opine and a welcome change from studying.

One scary plant

I've spent an inordinate amount of time on Economics homework.  It is so frustrating!  I have learned some things, but most of the homework feels like busywork and the problems have too many confusion factors in them.  I don't think they are true to life.  The good thing is, I'll be finished with economics in less than a month!

On my walks to and from school and with Coma in the morning and evening I'm certainly enjoying the spring weather.  This morning it is 65 degrees out.  I hear a wren singing outside my window and a titmouse calling, "petey, petey, petey" in the distance.  Azaleas are blooming everywhere.  One huge lot is filled with every color of native azaleas I've ever seen--pink, white, dark orange, light orange and every hue in between.  I'll post a photo tonight, but it doesn't do justice to the incredible sight.  However, in all of the loveliness, there is one scary plant.  Yesterday while Coma was sniffing the green space near the sidewalk, she stuck her nose to the biggest poison ivy leaves I think I've ever seen!  Of course, then my mind started racing--how long does poison ivy oil last on a dog's fur?  These leaves are so big and "juicy" looking, I'm again afraid I can get poison ivy just by looking at it.  I've begun walking as close to the middle of the sidewalk as I can, avoiding the green space on each side!

Joe's Tavern

I borrowed a book from my Linear Programming professor to practice some network flow problems and I found this one that I thought you'd enjoy.

Joseph R. Smithey owns and runs a tavern on the "main drag" adjacent to the Big State University campus. For this reason, the majority of his clientele are university students. Joe has an understanding with the University Police Department. Since the officers have been around a little while, they know that college students have a tendency to be somewhat more rowdy than ordinary bar customers. However, the police require that Joe not let his customers get so drunk that they fall off their bar stools.

Joe has somewhat of a dilemma. His continued economic livelihood depends upon both happy customers and happy policemen. Here is a situation typical of most any night at the tavern.

Four thirsty customers from the Brazos Coop are sitting at the bar with 40 oz. of Jack Beem to divide between them. (Needless to say, none will be left when the evening is over.) Since Joe will be pouring, he largely controls the amount of Jack Beem that each customer will receive.

Being a good host, Joe knows each customer should receive at least 3 oz of the liquor. However, since customer 1 bought the bottle it is certain he will complain unless he receives at least 15 oz. Further, customer 3 has liver problems and should receive no more than 5 oz.

The probability that customer i will not fall off his stool after drinking xi ounces of Beem is

Pi=e^-Lixi, where L1=.01, L2=.05, L3=.10, and L4=01.

How many ounces of Beem should Joe give each customer in order to maximize the probability that all four customers stay on their stools?

There's a solution that I'll be happy to share with anyone who's interested.  Amazing how network flow can be used to solve so many different problems.

My friend and I had planned all week to go to the Alpha Psi Rodeo today, but we changed our mind this morning.  It is actually the Alpha Psi Roundup, tickets are $30 per person, and when my friend was at Kroger at 8 AM this morning, the lines at the checkout counters were longer than she'd ever seen them and each college student in line had a case of beer!  Probably not my kind of event.  I'll just be happy at the "show-de-os" where junior high and high school students in Poplarville perform.  We sold one of our Dexter bulls to the Poplarville arena and he's so low to the ground, none of the young cowboys can ride him successfully.

I've worked on Particle Swarm Optimization all day and I've reached optimality--hurray!  My programming skills and my experimental design skills are improving.

Spring is back!

The rain yesterday morning caused little rivers of what looked like lemon yellow paint flowing in the gutters. The pollen was so thick in some spots I could have scooped it up. It's 48 degrees outside now and a beautiful spring morning. I'm walking to campus early today since I have an appointment with a computer science professor about taking his course this summer. Both of the courses I want to take (Cloud Computing and Software Engineering for Internet Applications) in addition to Reliability Engineering require several semesters of Java programming. I'm trying to figure out if I already know enough Java to succeed in the classes or if I need to take a crash course somehow before May 20.

I'm sorry I won't be home for the funeral this morning. One of my good friend's mother died this week and I would like to be there to give her a hug. She'll be in my thoughts today; I know it will be a difficult time for her and all of her family. I am so fortunate that both of my parents are well and still enjoying their lives. I love you, Mom and Dad.

Ink-friendly fonts

Did you know that Century Gothic and Times New Roman are ink-friendly fonts? They both use less ink than Arial so in the long run, it will save you money, $20 annually for individuals, to use one of them instead of Arial. Here's the list (From the AP: fonts ranked from those that use the least ink to those that use the most: 1. CenturyGothic; 2. Times New Roman; 3. Calibri; 4. Verdana; 5. Arial; 6. MSSans Serif; 7. Trebuchet MS; 8. Tahoma; 9. Franklin GothicMedium.) Some company in the Netherlands has done a study. And that's today's tidbit of interesting trivia from the Wall Street Journal. I listen on the way to school every day to a podcast of the front page stories and a few other selected stories. That and Morning Joe at 6AM on MSNBC are my only news sources unless I get home in time to watch the evening news.

I've opened the windows as well as the door to my screened porch since the weather's been so nice. Last night a very noisy creature was rustling through the leaves in the brushy area between my house and the place next door. I went outside with my flashlight to see what it was and the armadillo completely ignored me--just kept rustling right in front of me. He was concentrating very hard on the ground. He's back again tonight. I must be on his regular route. They dig for earthworms and grubs and make a mess of the beds in Poplarville. Not a problem here since I don't have any flower beds at this point.

I worked on the department's self study document all day today. We finally have all of the data we've been waiting for since we began the project now that the first rough draft is due in a week. I'll be working a lot on that this week, but I can't let it interfere with linear programming homework, economics homework and particle swarm coding. It's going to be a very busy week and the Alpha Psi Rodeo is Saturday!

Unicycling

There's a yellow coating of pollen on everything both inside and outside of my little house. And, it seems to be working...everything is blooming and bumble bees hover near the blossoms. I almost ran into several bees walking home from school. The whole town of Auburn smells sweet; beautiful purple wisteria is climbing toward the tops of the sycamore, oak and sweet gum trees throughout the wooded areas and cultivated wisteria is blooming where it's been planted. Some of the azaleas seem to have burst into bloom over the weekend and others are still budding. I guess that has to do with varieties. The pecan trees are beginning to bud and I think there's a saying about the bream bedding when the pecan trees are budding. I'll have to get Dad to verify the saying. I know there's some tree that buds when the bream bed.

I've turned an academic corner; studying is working...I made 82 on my LP test; still room for improvement, but a definite improvement. I'm feeling like I've caught up to everyone else in my classes which gives me the freedom to take some time for myself. Yesterday I took a tennis clinic at the city recreation center and was immediately recruited as a substitute in the Monday morning USTA league. I'll play with a group of mixed age and ability women next Monday.

And, I took my first unicycle riding class last night. I can't ride alone yet, but I expect to be turned loose at least for a few "rotations" next week. Balancing on the unicycle is not intuitive. There is a triangle made up of the unicycle seat and the pedals when they are mid-rotation and parallel. To keep balance, you pedal from parallel to parallel. On a bike you're often coasting with one pedal down and the other up. And, it's like walking on a balance beam in that you're better able to balance if you look where you're going instead of at your feet. Unicycling uses the quad muscles in your legs and I can feel the burn today. I may have to buy myself a unicycle for my birthday and ride with the Auburn Unicycle Club!

Beauty

Beauty is fleeting, but it is also everywhere. The cherry tree blossoms are fading now and small green leaves are taking their place. But, for every cherry tree in the neighborhood there are 2 or 3 dogwood trees that are just beginning their time to flower. Unfortunately, in New Orleans and in Poplarville we can seldom grow dogwood trees successfully. They are susceptible to a fungus, called Anthracnose which is a problem throughout the northwestern and eastern US, but particularly in damp areas. According to the site I found on the Internet horticulturists are working to develop new cultivars that are resistant to the disease. I hope it works--the dogwood is a native tree that is too pretty to disappear.

Speaking of horticulture, there are courses everywhere at Auburn that I would love to take this summer. I've looked at "Organic Gardening" and "Herbaceous Ornamentals" in Horticulture; "Cloud Computing" in Computer Science; "Integration of Technology into Curriculum" in Education; "Introduction to Numerical Analysis" in Math; and "Current Issues in Information Systems for Organizations" in Business just to name a few and except for Horticulture I only looked in departments that I thought ISE would approve of...they are paying for my classes.

I'm meeting with Dr. Smith on Monday about my project, maybe I'll have time to talk with her about the summer at that time.

Mystery tree (solved)

Anybody know what kind of tree this is? The blossoms are pink and remind me of the blossoms of mayhaw or crabapple. It is a fairly good sized tree--25 or 30 feet, maybe??? I'm not too good at estimating size. I want to plant one in Poplarville. Forsythia is also blooming all over the subdivision on my walk to school. Forsythia is a yellow shrub with light green leaves.

Mystery solved--Yoshino Flowering Cherry tree.

Brown -headed Nuthatch

There's a Brown-headed Nuthatch on my feeder. How fun! We have them in the pine trees in Poplarville and a pair built a nest in the old silver maple stump by the little house. They are the cutest little birds. They sound like rubber ducks and they move up and down (headfirst) trees looking for bugs.

I'm trying to figure out what classes to take this summer and it's not easy because there isn't much going on in the summer. I've signed up for Reliability Engineering with my old professor, Dr. Maghsoodloo. The class is heavily statistics-based so I'm pre-studying statistics now to be ready for the class this summer. The class is really interesting. You calculate the probability of component failure and then combine the probabilities to determine product reliability. I took it years ago!

I have to find 6 more hours to take this summer to keep my assistantship. There's a class in Computer Science called I-Phone Application Development, but it's at the same time as Reliability Engineering. There are some other interesting classes in Computer Science but they are not graduate level. If I had a research interest and a professor to work with, I could take some "research hours" with the professor. The LP professor is retiring after this semester. Too bad, because I think I could work with him. The Adaptive Optimization professor is another possibility--she's intense and demanding, but I am interested in the topics she studies and I don't think I 'll be bothered by intense and demanding.

At Dad's suggestion, I'm off to find K-D food for Coma. It is for old dogs with kidney problems.