fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
WFH Optimizations — The budget based Indian version
By: Ashley Fernandes
Tags: Internet, Efficiency, WFH, Optimization

Like it or hate it, WFH is here to stay. Decided to pen a few of my experiences and tips in enhancing my WFH environment.

80% of this story is purely technical oriented and attempts to address issues like “zoom call freezes after x amount of time” or “my back, my back, my damn back” :)

Divided into sections Internet Optimization, Eye n Back care, Audio Video & other Peripherals.

Remember, this is the budget based Indian version. Recommendations lean towards moderately priced artifacts with an emphasis on “Value for Money”.

Internet Optimization

I use Airtel broadband, and at times suffered from zoom calls freezing at the “apt” times. My Plan is the Rs. 1149 — 300 Mbps unlimited one. Airtel service in BLR is quite good.

Upgrade your router : Call your ISP and ask for a free router upgrade. My Old Wifi router was this : TOTO Link + an ADSL modem

and my new router is this Nokia ONT GPON (G2425G-A) dual band AC1200 wifi i.e. N300+AC800

The new router has a much better 5 ghz range than my previous router. The 5 ghz band (300 mbps for me) gives you higher speeds than the 2.4 ghz band (50 mbps for me), however, its wifi coverage area is less i.e. if your router is near your laptop choose the 5 ghz band, else choose the 2.4 ghz band. Tip : Remember to plead, beg and cry to retain your old WIFI router from your ISP provider…will explain soon, why this is very useful.

2. Check if your fiber optics Rx Signal Level is correct (should be between -18 to -25)

Login to your router (mostly 192.168.1.1, u/p=admin/admin) . Mine was -32 and my ISP Airtel had to change the fiber optics wire from their junction box to my router.

The TX (transmit) optical power refers to the output optical power of the transceiver at the transmitting end, and the RX (receive) optical power means the input optical power at the receiving end. Both of them are important parameters that affect the signal transmission distance.

3. Get Cat6 wiring done : Got an electrician to pull two cat6 wires from my router to my probable places of work. This needs two people, which typically cost 800 for service and Rs.15 per meter for Cat6 Cables.

Tip : Remember to also get Cat6 Sockets (cost Rs. 350)and Gigabit devices (in my case, I had to get a Cat6, usb 2, VGA to USB C adapter) as i have a Lenovo Yoga 920 personal laptop which does supports high speeds (my work one — Dell does not support gigabit speeds) - As they say in Networking, “You are as fast as your slowest link”.

Tips to increase Speed (I did not do this) Change Channel — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufMNDMlHpC0 Change MCU — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK2PHpKI9M4

4. Use the Old WIFI Router as a fast Access Point : If your Cat6 cabling is done, you can now connect the New Router to the Old Router using the LAN ports on both the routers. Ensure that you turn off DHCP on your old Router.
If You’re Not Doing These 5 Things Every Single Day You’re Living Your Entire Life Wrong
By: M Julian
Tags: Satire, Self Improvement, Optimization, Elon Musk, Productivity

If You’re Not Doing These 5 Things Every Single Day You’re Living Your Entire Life Wrong

Look, I’ve been there

But now I’m here.

But where is “here" exactly?

I’ll tell you.

But first, some back story.

I used to suck. Then I read some books and watched some TED talks and ran a marathon.

Now I’m fucking awesome and I tell people how to live their lives.

I’m probably better than you.

Unless you’re Elon Musk. In which case we’re equals (Hey, Elon! Let’s hang out and get some pho).

Everything I do, say, eat, think, breathe is carefully calibrated for maximal optimization and optimal maximization. If you want to increase your productivity, creativity, and optimaximizationality, you need to be doing these 5 things.

1. Read This Article

Give it a lot of claps and comments. Share it on you social media.

2. Write 100 Medium Articles a day

That’s right. A day.

When you wake up. On the toilet. In the shower. In the car. At work. At lunch. On a date

3. Wake Up At 4am

So you can get an early start on the 100 articles

4. Run a Marathon

And then write a Medium article about it

5. Call Your Mother

While running the marathon.

She just wants to hear your voice.
Email Subject Lines: Do’s and Do Not’s
By: Arcamax Publishing Inc.
Tags: Email Marketing, Digital Marketing, Email Marketing Tips, Optimization

The subject line plays a pivotal role in an email campaign. If it is good, you are likely to notice a high open-rate. In fact, 47% of recipients click on an email based on its subject line. When it comes to email subject lines, there are certain things that work and a few things that don’t. Here is what you need to know.

Do:

Reference Location: If you are working on an email campaign for a location, add a personal touch to your subject line. For instance, you can say something like “Good News for Chicago Users.” In this way, recipients feel that the email is relevant to them.

If you are working on an email campaign for a location, add a personal touch to your subject line. For instance, you can say something like “Good News for Chicago Users.” In this way, recipients feel that the email is relevant to them. Use Questions: Subject lines phrased as questions tend to outperform subject lines that are phrased as statements Generally speaking, people like to think that they know things and they also like to learn things passively. Questions are naturally engaging.

Subject lines phrased as questions tend to outperform subject lines that are phrased as statements Generally speaking, people like to think that they know things and they also like to learn things passively. Questions are naturally engaging. Test: Send emails to two subscriber lists with different subject lines. Find out which one has a higher open rate. Make sure you test one variable at a time. Sometimes, even adding an emoji makes the difference.

Do Not:
Nick Sonnenberg — Elevate Your Productivity, Do the Things You Love
By: Samantha Peszek
Tags: Business, Optimization, Entrepreneur, Productivity

The I Have Cool Friends podcast, hosted by Samantha Peszek, is a show that sparks inspirational conversations with experts about business, wellness, and personal development.

INTRODUCING NICK SONNENBERG:

Sam welcomes author, speaker, and consultant, Nick Sonnenberg. Nick was the youngest person ever to graduate from Berkley with a master’s degree in financial engineering. Now, he is a serial entrepreneur with expertise in creating companies that disrupt the way people live.

Nick is the co-founder of Leverage, founder and CEO of Efficient Frontier Solutions, and co-author of the book, Idea to Execution. His personal mission is to help busy entrepreneurs optimize their lives in a meaningful way and help them go from idea to execution in as few steps as possible. In this episode, Sam and Nick discuss the value of productivity and optimization, the best tech stack out there to help your company scale, and the importance of spending your time working on things you love.

THIS EPISODE FEATURES INSIGHTS ON OPTIMIZATION, PASSION & SCALING YOUR BUSINESS:

Nick Sonnenberg discusses his background as a stock trader and the decision to make the pursue a career in productivity and optimization

How Nick maximizes his time to be the most efficient version of himself

Tips for automating a company’s processes

How Nick identifies the best tools and tech stack that he integrates into his work

Common mistakes entrepreneurs make when they try to optimize and scale their companies

WHAT DID NICK SAY?

“Ultimately, I wanted freedom. I wanted to be able to work on things I wanted to. I wanted to be able to work from a laptop in the Caribbean.”

“I have a framework that we teach called CPR. It stands for Communicate, Plan and Resource. Efficient communication is usually the lowest hanging fruit in a business in terms of how you save time.”

“With your potential to scale and your ability to remove yourself from the business — or remove yourself from the lower-level work so you can work on higher level work — you can only do that if you have systems in place.”

“Some people jump straight to automation or delegation, but they have a process that’s not optimized.”

“My mission is for people to be able to work on things that give them joy or sit in their unique ability.”

“A company can only scale as fast as knowledge can be retrieved, not transferred.”

CONNECT WITH NICK & LINKS MENTIONED:

Nick’s LinkedIn

Leverage Website

Nick’s Twitter

Nick’s Instagram

Nick’s Facebook

Nick’s Email

Link to Nick’s Book Idea to Execution

Link to the book Getting Things Done

CONNECT WITH SAM:

Sam’s Business — Beam Queen Boot Camp

I Have Cool Friends Website

I Have Cool Friends Instagram

I Have Cool Friends Facebook

I Have Cool Friends YouTube Channel
Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Performance Guide
By: Ethan Roberts
Tags: Cyberpunk, Cd Projekt Red, Optimization, Cyberpunk 2077, Guides And Tutorials

Cyberpunk 2077 may not be perfect, it’s far from it. One of Cyberpunk 2077s imperfections is how it handles performance. Even on high end PCs you may get lower FPS than you expected. Here’s how to maximum your FPS while having it still look fantastic.

There is a wide variety of mods and tweaks that we can use to do this. Since the release modders have been at work with optimizations. Here’s all of them:

Memory Pool Fix

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/kcka6t/unlock_your_cyberpunk_2077_memory_pool_budget/

Cyberpunk came with a lot of issues, with ram optimizations being a large one. Luckily, modders spotted a configuration file that “unlock the memory pool budget”. Essentially making the memory management a lot better.

The main issue is actually quite weird, CD Projekt Red developers had set the PC platform to use the same values as the Xbox and PlayStation ones (for RAM and GPU).

Before you go even further you should know there are some risks. While I have not encountered any of these, it’s not to say you won’t. Here’s from the makers of the guide:

These changes can possibly crash your CyberPunk and Windows. I do not take any responsibility for any problems resulting from this. CyberPunk will complain that it crashed, even when you close it. This shouldn’t matter too much though. Mileage may vary. I can’t guarantee this will massively improve your performance, I can only say mine did a huge leap and the response from my friends has been very positive.

We will now change our memory budget values. After making a backup, open this specific file in a text editor of your choice:

[Cyberpunk Install]\engine\config\memory_pool_budgets.csv

You will see a “table” of sorts. You want to replace all of the values in the PC row with 0 except a specific few.

You want to have the PoolGPU and PoolCPU custom set. It is assumed that the PoolCPU means RAM, and PoolGPU obviously means VRAM. At this point, the values you pick are up to you. With my current setup (16gb RAM, 8gb VRAM) I maxed out the VRAM and saved a little bit of ram for other things.

After doing this I noticed an incredible fps increase. Although some places like Corpo Plaza are still not getting 60fps, it is much better than before. Also remember, you can restore to the backup if anything bad happens. Though you shouldn’t stick with the defaults.

Cyber Engine Tweaks

Cyber Engine Tweaks is a Nexus mod, and contains a ton of amazing performance fixes for Cyberpunk. Additionally it unlocks the debug menu if you want to use it.

Go ahead and download the file from the link above. You might get a notification from your browser telling you it is uncommonly downloaded, which they label as dangerous. It is perfectly fine, just continue on.

Once you extract the files, you need to move all of them to a specific directory:

[Cyberpunk Install]\bin\x64

Seems simple right? That’s all you need to do to install the patch. Next time you open Cyberpunk, it will do all the tweaks necessary.
Why We Struggle With Boredom
By: Mindful Musings
Tags: Boredom, Quarantine, Optimization, Minimalism, Psychology

Why We Struggle With Boredom

The average human brain weighs 3 pounds (roughly 2% of our bodyweight), 80 percent of which is comprised of our cerebral cortex, the structure which allows for self-conscious decision making and language processing. This sets us apart from our mammalian brothers and sisters in that we have by far the biggest (and best) relative brains. Our intelligence has fueled our development of stable, continuing societies in which life doesn’t end by us being eaten. Yay! However, in the words of Ben Parker:

Yes, I had to look up where that came from. I thought it was from Star Wars 🤷

Anyway, just as our bodies demand food, water, and rest to stay alive, the supercomputers that are our brains require something to leverage their immense power with. In a world that has now successful systematized our physical needs (at least for those of us fortunately living in a developed country), the entirety of our lives now comprise attempts to satisfy these mental needs. From consuming (reading, television, social media, movies, music) to creating (writing, talking, singing, thinking), we’re always trying to scratch the itch of mental stimulation. This is not a bad thing. Maintaining a proper balance between consuming and creating is essential to our own mental health (literally). And, thanks to the internet, it’s now easier than ever to do both! However, many of us spend too much time in camp consumption and not enough in camp creation. Unfortunately, we’re now so used to spectating others’ lives that it’s become our new normal. That needs to change.

Without overly shitting on our current habits, it’s clear that we know the culprits for our excess of consumption; from social media to Netflix, we spend hours a day ingesting content like it’s our jobs. And guess what? It’s not our job. As far as I know, I don’t have any influencers or TV show critics reading my blog. Therefore, not only does most of our content consumption have no clear value-add to our lives (besides a bit of numbing stimulation and time-killing), it prevents us from peering into what really deserves our focus: our own selves. This is where boredom comes in.

According to German psychologist Theodore Lipps, boredom is “a feeling of unpleasure arising out of a conflict between a need for intense mental activity and lack of incitement to it.”

I call that mental hunger. Boredom represents a signal from our brain that it demands something more than what we’ve been feeding it. Believe it or not, this happens a lot. The average person reports feeling bored 2–3 times a day, a number which is likely higher given the present pause on daily life as we know it. Even without social media, I haven’t been immune to my quarantine content binges (in fact, I finally caved and got Netflix). However, I’ve also done something rather taboo in our “always busy” society: I’ve allowed myself to be bored.
Optimise Your CSS With Shorthand Properties!
By: Joe Napper
Tags: Shorthand Properties, Optimization, Css3, CSS

We use shorthand properties to set the values of multiple CSS properties simultaneously, resulting in more optimised and efficient code.

In this article, we will look at the most commonly missed areas to implement shorthand properties, compare them to their longhand counterparts, and learn the order of values for said properties.

Note: More about the other types of shorthand properties can be found here!

Background Properties

The following background properties can be shortened from…

Longhand

…to just one declaration:

Shorthand

This shorthand declaration is the equivalent to its longhand counterpart above. The order of values is crucial for the declaration and is as followed: background-color, background-image, background-repeat and then background-position.

You can also tag on the “background-attachment” property to the end of the declaration as-well-as some additional properties in CSS3; however, these aren’t as commonly used as the above.

Margin and Padding Properties

Shorthand versions of margin and padding values work exactly the same; both using shorthand properties to specify four separate values.

The following margin properties can be shortened from…

Longhand

…to just one declaration:

Shorthand

The order of values work in clockwise order starting from the top: top, right, bottom, then left. Both margin and padding properties follow the same structure and can be set out as shown above.

For these properties in particular we can go a step further and refine our declaration even more:

Shorthand

The first value (10px) being top and bottom, and the second value (5px) being left and right.

Border and Outline

Shorthand versions of border and outline values also work in the same way; each specify three values and are declared in the same way.

The following border properties can be shortened from…

Longhand

…to just one declaration:

Shorthand

This is the most commonly used shorthand property and many developers use it without even knowing. The order of values is as followed: border-width, border-style and then border-color.

Summary

Shorthand properties are a great way to optimise your style sheets and reduce the amount of code you need to write. There's really no reason not to use them - yes they force you to write code in a specific order which some developers may find hard to remember at first; however, in the long run, knowing these will save you time and improve your coding knowledge.
Implementation of Optimal Mean-Reversion Pairs Trading
By: Jamie Keng
Tags: Trading, Pair Trading, Mean Reversion, Algorithmic Trading, Optimization

Algo Trading

Implementation of Optimal Mean-Reversion Pairs Trading

Photo by Jake Buonemani on Unsplash

Introduction

Mean-reversion pairs trading is popular in the financial industry due to its potential long-term stability and mathematical rigor. However, one drawback of mean-reversion pairs trading is that you never tell when the relation of a pair is going to end in advance.

In this article, I want to show the implementation of optimal mean-reversion pairs trading based on our CFRM program director, Prof. Tim Leung’s paper and book. Luckily, there is an existing Python package developed by Hudson & Thames to realize Prof. Leung‘s mathematical algorithm.

Note: This project is only for academic purposes. Please consult with professionals like me before put it into live trading.

The notion of this project is simply pairing up two equities with high correlation in the same industry. One can enter correlation criteria in the code to filter out fewer pairs(like 0.8, 0.85, 0.9, 0.95). Even with a 0.95 correlation, you can still find failed cases during the OU training or backtesting phase. During the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck(OU) model training process, the failed cases happened when the signs of f(a) and f(b) were the same. They were supposed to have opposite signs.

The value of beta generated by Python package developed by Hudson & Thames was actually the amount of money spent purchasing asset B. To get the true beta, you need to divide it by the price of asset B at time 0 so that you can compute Xt, the portfolio value.

I added an additional one entry signal and one exit signal to the backtesting system, both of which were trend-following(moving average). To be honest, I didn’t put much effort into designing the entry signals and exit signals for this project because there are so many pairs generated from the data. If we actually want to trade these pairs in live trading, we need more sophisticated signals. I didn’t try out and design additional sophisticated entry signals as well as exit signals, which means further improvement is possible.

Lastly, due to my computer’s limited computing power, I could not run each and every 1074 pairs( Yes, you still have 1074 pairs after setting correlation criteria to be 0.95). My computer only ran 71 pairs in 5 days. Eventually, 28 pairs made it to the last round.

Consequently, I only post the 28 successful backtesting results.
What is Website Optimization?
By: Danish Jainuddin Desai
Tags: SEO, General Content, Website, Blogging, Optimization

Website optimization, by definition, is the act of employing various techniques, tools, and innovations to enhance the functionality of a website, increase traffic, boost conversions, and increase revenues. One of the foremost considerations for website optimization is SEO (search engine optimization). The purpose of SEO is to rank a website in search results for targeted keyword phrases. For example, if you are selling dog collars, you would want to place a keyword phrase that describes collars on the first page of Google’s search results. This is how search engines will rank your site.

One important aspect of website optimization, especially for SEO, is making sure that your site visitors are not only searching for what you are advertising, but for information as well. In other words, they must find your website useful. This is where social networking optimization (SMO) can help you out. Social networking is a technique that allows you to connect with real people who are interested in the same things as you. For example, you can use social networking to build relationships with other webmasters who are also trying to achieve the same results as you are.

Another crucial aspect of website optimization involves search engines. Search engine optimization, or SEO, involves making sure that your website appears near the top of all search results pages. There are numerous tactics that are employed by SEO to achieve this goal. One of these tactics is advanced strategies like keyword research, link building, content writing, and more.

Advanced strategies like these have been around for a while, but SEO is still a relatively new field. This is why it can be difficult to get started optimizing your website. However, it is not impossible. If you follow the right steps, you can get started with website optimization in no time at all.

The first step to getting started with website optimization is doing some basic research on keywords. You need to learn how to select the right keywords for your website so that it appears near the top of all search engines. Keyword research is an essential part of website optimization, because it is through this that search engines can tell when your site is optimized. Therefore, it is important that you spend time learning how to select the right keywords.

The next thing you need to learn about website optimization is how to optimize your site for search engines. You need to learn how to optimize your site in a way so that it gets featured in the search results. You can do this through various techniques, including link building, article marketing, and more. These techniques can help you optimize your site and bring in targeted visitors, resulting in high conversion rates.
Want Your Houston Business To Dominate Google Search Results? Here’s How To Make It Happen
By: Marie Danes
Tags: Google Search Rankings, SEO, Gmb, Optimization, Search Engine

Anyone who’s from Texas knows that Houston is a utopia for businesses. Its diverse business scene is always ripe with activity.

There’s no choice of contractors in any industry — heating and air conditioning contracting services, veterinary clinics, chiropractors, lawyers, real estate agencies, plumbers, mechanics, doctors, dentists, carpet cleaners, or accountants, and the list can go on.

With so many businesses virtually competing for the same market share, they’ve got to pay careful attention to their marketing strategies to stand out from the competition, especially in a one-of-a-kind, digitally intense year like 2020.

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

For businesses in Houston to enjoy continuous profitability, popularity, and prestige, their marketing strategies must focus on these key areas:

Search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO aims to increase a business’ visibility online and attract prospective clients. With local SEO, businesses will be assured that more traffic will be directed to their website and their rank in search engines like Google will rise.

Goole My Business (GMB) local listings

If there’s anything any business owner should know in this 21st century is that they should have a Google My Business account. This type of account will assist local clients to quickly find their business.

By utilizing Google My Business Map listings, clients living in Houston and searching for a business there won’t be shown businesses in Canada. When businesses take advantage of this marketing tool they improve their revenue per click and consolidate their overall marketing performance.

Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash

Social Media Marketing

Almost everyone in the world has a social media account. Businesses would do wrong if they didn’t see the value in advertising through these means. Facebook and Youtube are excellent media to run ads.

Local business owners must partner with a digital marketing company that has the resources to help them achieve these goals — that’s the first rule of a powerful marketing campaign and strategy, working with those who can take you to the top. The agency should treat your business as unique and offer bespoke services that address your specific needs.

Another fundamental principle of having a campaign that helps you dominate search rankings is an attractive website design. When content is engaging, it will generate more leads, increase reviews, and build your business’ reputation.

An engaging partnership between client and marketing agency will ensure that the client gets exactly what they want. You should make sure to discuss all details extensively so that you can come up with the best combination of approaches for your business.

Remember, people in your area have to be able to find your business online to access your services. Make sure your SEO is great and you can enjoy a steady flow of profit for years to come!
About the course
By: Danil Nagy
Tags: Generative Design, Grasshopper 3d, Optimization, Scripting, Computational Design

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. - Albert Einstein

Generative design teaches students how to leverage the power of natural evolution and advanced computation to derive novel, high-performing solutions to complex design problems. The generative design method is based around a computational model that describes a large variety of possible solutions to a given design problem. Students will learn how to create such models using Grasshopper, a computational design tool embedded within the 3d modeling software Rhino. Students will also learn how to extend the capabilities of their computational models by embedding scripts written in the programming language Python directly within their Grasshopper models.

Once the generative model has been defined, it can be connected to an optimization algorithm to automatically derive the best possible solutions. To run the optimizations, students will use Discover, a plugin that connects Grasshopper models to a Genetic Algorithm to optimize them for a set of specified criteria. Students will also learn a variety of simulation techniques that can be used to measure the performance of their design models and create a set of criteria for optimization. The deliverables for the class include a set of weekly tech challenges and reading assignments completed individually, as well as a final design project completed in groups.
Moshe Strugano Explain Relevance of Onsite Optimization
By: Moshe Strugano
Tags: Moshestrugano, Optimization, Google, Digital Marketing

Since the inception of the World Wide Web, commerce and industry has undergone immense changes at a global level. These changes are visible in diverse fields of online marketing as well. In fact with the sweeping changes introduced, it is not only the online world that has felt its impact but its effects are also reflected in offline businesses as well. Marketing is perhaps the most vital of areas where the Internet has brought about profound changes. And as a result product marketing has assumed new forms online. Moshe Strugano says, “The numbers of companies that are into online marketing are increasing on a steady basis.” The fact of the matter is that onsite optimization will continue to play a significant role. Some of its aspects include:

Relevance of Content: Content as it is well known and often said, is the king of any website. Of course it was always a part of SEO but has assumed a more prominent role after the Panda and Penguin updates were introduced by Google. Now search engines target those sites and web pages that offer high-quality content to their online visitors. This has subsequently lead to greater stress being laid on the quality of content on offer, rather than quantity. So when content is created for onsite optimization of a website the quality has to be of the highest order, with it being free of grammatical and spelling errors and with relevant content. This will get it top billing with the search engines.

User specific Content: Before creating articles and posts for any site its target audience has to be kept in mind. After all those visitors will visit your sites who are interested in the products, services or information you provide at your websites. For this the proper use of keywords and key phrases needs to be done effectively. The content should be updated regularly, be original, interesting and innovative so as to captivate the interest of online visitors and have them return to your site on a regular basis. This will lead to a natural rise in online website ranking.

Easily Navigable and Visitor friendly: A site’s design is a key element in the online optimization of any website. It must have a well structured layout so that when you have users visit, it they should be able to navigate it with ease. A site map is a must, with an uncluttered homepage that makes surfing the site a pleasure. So ensure that the site is well designed, easily navigable and visitor friendly.

Proper Links to Other Sites: The benefits or having reciprocal links cannot be overstated. This is major factor in gaining online traffic and needs to be implemented with care. Remember to only exchange links with authoritative sites and those that are relevant to your niche and the content of your site.

With so many changes being introduced in Search engines algorithms the SEO industry has a key role to play in keeping pace with the latest modifications, so as to keep a business well ahead of the competition.
Off-site SEO: Ways to Rank in Search Engines
By: Jada Collins
Tags: SEO, Digital Marketing, Search Engines, Offsite, Optimization

Off-site Search Engine Optimization (offsite SEO) or (Off-page SEO) refers to the outside factors that influence the ranking of a website within a search engine. Off-site SEO is crucial to digital marketing. There are various methods of off-site SEO that can be applied to increase traffic to a website.

Off-page SEO is important to Digital Marketing because it is a form of promotion for a website. According to Moz offsite, “Optimizing for off-site ranking factors involves improving search engine and user perception of a site’s popularity, relevance, trustworthiness, and authority.” This is important because when websites are shared on bigger platforms, awareness is increased, opposed to anticipating that the website will be found through a search engine inquiry. Search engine inquiries should not be the only factor that a website developer is relying on to rank with a search engine. As a Digital Marketing student, I am currently learning and applying these offsite SEO techniques to improve the rankings of this website.

For more information, see the full article on http://jadacollinsdigitalmarketing.com/offsite-seo-ways-to-rank-in-search-engines
The land of valleys in K-means
By: Arghavan Moradi
Tags: Convex Function, Loss Function, K Means Clustering, K Means, Optimization

The land of valleys in K-means

Photo by Simon English on Unsplash

K-means clustering is one of the common unsupervised learning algorithms in ML. Since unsupervised data are not labeled, we don’t know what is the exact number of clusters in our data. Thus, predefining K is one of the important steps in K-means.

Suppose that we have “n” data points, then in this method, we assume that we can divide the whole data points into “k” clusters in a way that:

It means the union of all clusters equals the whole data points and there is no intersection between data points in two different clusters.

How does the algorithm work?

Choose the number of K Randomly assign each K to an observation Calculate the centroid of each cluster. (Centroid is a vector in size P, while P is the number of features of each data point. For example, if each data point is a movie and each movie has three features: genre, year, and rate then P=3) Calculate the Euclidean distance of each observation (data point) with the centroids of each k cluster and assign the data point to a cluster with the closest distance. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to minimize the optimization function.

What is the optimization (loss) function in K-means clustering?

One of the important points to have a good clustering is to have “within-cluster variation (variance)” as small as possible and “between-cluster variation” as much as possible. It means we want all data points within a cluster to have more close values for all P features and on the other side, all data points in different clusters have more different values for all P features.

To define the variation, we can use Euclidean distance and use it as the optimization function, |C_k| is equal to the number of observations (data points) in the cluster C_k:

why the k-means algorithm guaranteed to decrease the value of the optimization function in each repetition?

The result of K-means very depends on step 2 in its algorithm. With a different random start, we can reach different outputs. Why? because the optimization function for K-means is not convex. Thus, each time with a different random start, it returns one of the “local minimum” that caused the deviation of the optimization function to zero. It calls the “land of valleys”.

photo by the author: Land of valleys

In the end, since in K-means, we are trying to minimize the distance with centroids, we can change the loss function to a formula to minimize the centroids as follow:

References

[1] James, G., Witten, D., Hastie, T. and Tibshirani, R., 2013. An introduction to statistical learning (Vol. 112, p. 18). New York: springer.

[2] Hartigan, J.A. and Wong, M.A., 1979. Algorithm AS 136: A k-means clustering algorithm. Journal of the royal statistical society. series c (applied statistics), 28(1), pp.100–108.
Jak si doma vyzkoušet umělou inteligenci?
By: Lukáš Kouřil
Tags: Business Intelligence, Optimization, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, AI

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Placement Optimization of Public EV Charging Stations
By: Yusuf J Khan
Tags: Telematics, Machine Learning, Clustering, Optimization, Ev Charging

— Cluster Feature Engineering —

The telematics API, contains a wealth of information and if a problem can be formulated with discipline and logic, then it can behave as a surrogate for some rich insights.

From the output of the previous stage, we were now able to merge a vector of computed cluster labels into the data set of observations. This provides a meaningful grouping variable to then aggregate over and define additional features that help differentiate between the quality, and ultimately, the utility of the identified candidate locations.

The M/M/∞ Model

Along with the destinations, we were also able to extract timestamps for vehicle trips from the API. This allowed us to evaluate a trip not only where it ended, but also what time the trip started and ended. By comparing sequential trips for a given vehicle we were able to calculate how long a vehicle stayed at a destination by the timestamps.

The developer portal telematics API protects the anonymity of vehicles by encrypting the vehicle identification number (VIN), however, it sustains this field as a valuable research attribute by preserving its uniqueness.

With this level of granularity we were able to precisely calculate, for every identified location, what the frequency of arrivals, and the dwell time was at each location.

Borrowing from queuing theory, we leveraged the M/M/∞ model and were able to use the arrival behavior and the dwell time behavior to generate an expected number of vehicles that would be at any of the candidate locations at any given time.

Diversity

The second engineered feature was Diversity. It simply represented the ratio of unique visitors to total visitors at a cluster. The primary purpose of incorporating this term as a factor was that it cleansed irregular data, where an instance of a cluster was formed by a small number of vehicles and large number of observations, such that it qualified as a cluster. There were a few instances that behaved like this, such as apartment blocks and neighborhoods. The diversity factor helped dampen such irregularities.

The secondary purpose was that our goal was to improve EV adoption, and selecting locations that represented a wider audience, meant that any potential EV infrastructure would get more visibility at those locations.
Predictive Analytics — Book Sales
By: Lisa London
Tags: Business Analytics, Regression Analysis, Optimization, Data Science, Predictive Analytics

Business case: Predicting future book sales, based on changing book costs and sales prices, by using historical figures

Goal: Optimize/maximize profits

Methods: Power regression analysis, optimization with constraints

In order to optimize the profit of book sales, based on the constraints of minimum books sold and price, we analyzed different scenarios to pick the best way forward. The selling price of a book will change the percentage of books sold. To see this visually, we can graph the projected sales based on historical data on an author.

How will book price affect profit? What are the estimated sales predictions? How does changing minimum sales amount change profit?

Step 1 — Historical percentage of books purchased vs. price:

Figure 1: Percentage Purchased and Price

Estimated equation of the line: y = 14.098x^-1.872

R2 = 0.9908 or 99% goodness of fit. In other words, 99% of the change in purchased percentage is explained by the change in our variable (price).

Step 2 — Power Regression of Predicted Percentage and Price:

Figure 2: Predicted Purchased and Price

Based on the estimated equation of the line: y = 14.098x^-1.872, we built a table of price, % purchased, predicted %, predicted sales, revenue and profit.

Step 3 — Revenue and Profit Optimization Table:

Figure 3: Profit Optimization based $5 book cost

Predicted sales are based on 100,000 customers, publisher cost and estimates number of books sold (predicted sales column).

Revenue is calculated as (price*predicted sales).

Profit column is calculated as ((price — book cost) * predicted sales).

Optimization Tables with Constraints (minimum books sold):

Figure 4: Optimize profit with varying book costs and predicted sales, additional constraints

Calculate price point for the highest profit possible:

#1-Book cost $5.00 each with no minimum order

#2-Book cost $4.50 each if you sell at least 30,000

#3-Book cost $4.00 each if you sell at least 50,000

Results: #2 is the best option, with at least 30,000 copies sold for $7.82. Book cost at $4.50 is the cost we should accept from the publisher. It leads to the highest profit out of the 3 scenarios.

Conclusion:

Based on varying costs from the publisher and minimum sales amounts, the tables above optimized most profitable options in different business use cases. This type of analysis could also be done with digital books, audio books and other types of media. Predictive analytics can analyze current and historical data to make future predictions. Other techniques of predictive analytics include data mining, statistical algorithms, predictive modeling and machine learning.

(Sources: Based on an original assignment by Don Harter, Director, MS in Business Analytics Program @ Syracuse University, Whitman School of Management.)
Optimiser ses publicités avec le Reinforcement Learning | Jedha Bootcamp
By: Antoine Krajnc
Tags: Reinforcement Learning, Optimization, Artificial Intelligence, Advertising, Data Science

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Route planning and routing strategy optimization methods. Part 2.
Tags: Delivery, Proof Of Delivery, Software, Optimization, Business

Businesses have several tools at their disposal to develop the most efficient ways to deliver products and provide services to customers. The vast amount of data available means that businesses can increase the accuracy of route planning and get the most out of each trip. Through intelligent routing, companies can gain a competitive edge, leading to more growth and opportunities for innovation.

Route optimization considers several factors, and results can be customized based on business objectives. These factors include time windows, truck capacity, and mileage. Businesses can further optimize the services through vehicle tracking and routing that takes location, drop time, and shift length. Planning software can quickly evaluate these factors and more using algorithms, and develop the lowest cost and most efficient routes. The three main resulting routing strategies are optimized for either time, distance, or expense.

Finding the fastest route

When optimized for time, a planning strategy evaluates the quickest way from one point to the next, with the objective of either limiting the time of deliveries and other uses of routes or increasing the number of stops per day. Optimization by time also considers customer time requirements, which can complicate planning. By coordinating driver and customer scheduling, businesses can avoid the need for costly and inefficient redeliveries.

Distance-based optimization

Another approach is to optimize routes based on distance — determining the shortest path between points A and B. The shortest route is not always the fastest, however. Still, grouping a large number of deliveries in high-density routes, such as those involving 60–100 drop-offs in a residential area, businesses can increase efficiency for the entire trip.

Expense-based optimization

Another way to optimize a route is by cost. Deliveries carry several costs — fuel and vehicle costs, as well as wage and labor costs. Looking at expenses of the delivery takes the analysis to a deeper level, fine-tuning the dial to realize goals of lower increasing profit through efficiencies. Sometimes the fastest and shortest route is the least expensive, but considering either of those two factors alone becomes impractical once a business has more than a handful of destinations. At scale, manual route planning simply is not possible, except for simply arranging waypoints by distance, which may not align with customers’ dynamic needs.

The best solution considers all of these factors to help businesses manage complex routing decisions. Track-POD route planning and optimization software helps businesses deliver more. With Track-POD, businesses can optimize their routes by time, distance, and expense. By tracking real-time data, Track-POD optimizes routes and schedules and saves companies the cost and risk of error in manual route planning.

For more information on Track-POD, and to see how it can help improve efficiency, contact us today
Create A Custom Tag Within Statamic To Promote Cache Busting
By: Daniel Plomp
Tags: Statamic, Laravel, Optimization, Caching

Since I have started my journey in developing websites within Statamic CMS, I’ve learned a lot of new things. Especially reading PHP code. It still feels like going back years in time, compared to a .NET C# application, but since Statamic runs on top of the Laravel framework, I become a little less hostile to PHP ;)

Nevertheless, Statamic is an awesome CMS to work with and I enjoy doing just that!

Last week I was testing one of my sites against Google Page Speed and I did want to make some performance adjustments. One of them was caching static files like stylesheets and scripts.

The .NET framework offers some helper classes that help you append some form of file versioning to resources like stylesheets and scripts. It looks something like this:

The performance advantage of doing this is that we can tell the browser to cache these files indefinitely without worrying about the client not getting the latest version when the file changes. Since the name of the resource changes when the file contents change, the updated files are always downloaded.

So I wanted this functionality within Statamic also. I know there is the /site/themes/space/css/space.css tag, that get’s the URL to a file in your theme. This tag also has a cache_bust parameter. Setting this to true will add the timestamp of the asset to the end of the URL in a ?v= query param. Great! But somehow I cannot point to a css or js file that is outside of the default css folder. Maybe there is a solution for that, I don't know. Anyway, I wanted to see if I was able to create my own 'Tag' that covers this functionality, so I started reading the documentation on how to develop a custom tag.

Develop a custom tag

So first thing I did was to use the php please command to generate the files needed to create the tag:

php please make:tags ResourceTags

This generated a file within my Statamic site inside the Addon directory.

I created two functions. One for the styles, one for the scripts.

public function style()

{ $src = $this->getParam('src'); if (ends_with($src,".css")){ $version = File::lastModified($src); // Returns an integer $style = $src . "?v=" . $version; return "<link media='all' rel='stylesheet' href='" . $style . "'>"; } }

Inside these functions, I check if there is an src parameter, and if so, I do a couple of checks. After that, I use the helper File::lastModified method that comes with Statamic to get an integer value of the file. This value will be appended to the url of the file.

Inside my template, I use the new tag like this:

{{ resources:style src="/site/themes/front/dist/assets/css/theme.min.css" }}

Which will render the following code:

I know, probably not the most perfect solution, and perhaps this can be done better in PHP, but for now this works great and it even got my Google Page Speed score up to 97%.