I am just completing my first assignment in applied probability this weekend.

I studied with another student at the library last night. Today I am solving three problems in applied probability. A fourth problem also needs to be done but I have spent a fair amount of time on it and need to typeset my work so far.

Reading books.

I borrowed a book on machine learning but really I am not finding time to read all the books I am borrowing. I should spend most of my weekend studying.

I did some work overnight on my probability assignment.

I solved some parts of the more difficult problem for our assignment #1 in applied probability and did some neat math. But I am tired and not really reading clearly. I will have to give this problems solving up for now. I am going to work in about one and a half hours now.

In my economic systems design course we have had all the lectures now to be covered on the mid-term. Also I found out the term paper length should be about 20 pages and that we can do a computer simulation from the ground up. This would be good because this would help future studies. I am happy to say that the mid-term will be simply done by reading the material and it won't be a math exam. I have agreed to study with another student for both classes mid-terms. We are starting studies together this Saturday evening.

I have solved two problems now in my applied probability course first assignment.

These two problems I have solved were fairly easy. The actual first problem in the assignment is more difficult and I have not really started writing my solution for that problem. My goal for this assignment today is to solve two problems. I have solved one problem now so am half way done for today. I have also set aside next Sunday to complete the assignment if it is not done by then. Ideally I have it done early on Monday or Wednesday.

Term paper on labour started.

I started my term paper for my sys5140 course in economic systems design. I simply discussed labour as organized and on the other pole unorgainzed labour. I then started to work on variables for our simulation. I will now send this to the other member of the group.

I attended two lectures this week and have a third to attend today.

I have attended all lectures so far this week and for the month of January it looks like I will only have missed one class and that was last Wednesday's applied probability class where we studied conditional expectations. I know much of this material in applied probability but can not remember it all clearly.

We have our first assignment now due on February 12th. This morning I solve one problem but would like to add a little more theory to it as practice for lecturing problems. I type set it in LaTeX and it is ready to go.

I am now getting ready to start our term paper and will start with some writing and have borrowed some books for labour market studies, game theory and game theory in economics.

I am also connnecting my independent biology studies with the economic systems design course through Kaufman and the able guidance of our professor. I am thinking of posting an up to date reading list here for my ecology studies but right now am getting ready for work today, managing some household budget items and also doing some of my part time web publishing work. I am preparing for a web publishing meeting tomorrow after work. I feel very good and and rested one hour but today will be a 36 hour day in the end.

I am getting ready to do some overnight reading after writing some web pages and blogs and exploring Second Life.

I am reading a book about intelligence and security informatics. I am also reading a theory book about ecology and earth systems. These are two new books I am reading. I am also progressing with email to other graduate students. I worked this past week and a job opening has come up at work. I am applying for it because the job title is statistician.

I read a little of At Home in the Universe by Stuart Kaufman

I started to read another complex systems book for my economic design course. I am reading chapter 1 in Stuart Kaufman's At Home in the Universe.

I am tutoring a student today in statistical modeling and sharing class notes from lecture #4 of the applied probability course with him.

I am tutoring today at 20$ per hour in statistical modeling. I will try to be one hour early for tutoring. I am also doing some shopping before tutoring. I will get ready to go to my old school library today where I will tutor. I am also buying a solar panel for charging personal electronics. I will now need 12 volt barrel adapters for my cell phone, and other portable electronics.

Reading more Beinhocker.

I have now read chapters 1-6 and am half way through chapter 7 now. I have also read chapters 9 and 10 of Beinhocker. I have also started to read a pdf book that is extra reading for this week. I still have not read all of chapter 2 of Bowles and will read more of that today.

I attended all classes last week.

I attended classes last week. I also worked an almost full week only taking off 3.5 hours of work because of late night lectures.

In probability we saw the Bose-Einstein problem on Wednesday and on Monday we covered a proof of the central limit theorem using le hopital's rule. I could follow both of these blackboard problems but should review basic high school maths and some calculus. In particular, I need to review derivatives, and integrals of logs and more review of sequences and series and convergence and divergence.

In my economic design course I just used the bulletin board for the course on web CT and started a discussion of data sources which I had extracted from the AOIR discussions list. I may use some International Union of Telecommunications data to do a phone centric web space and may start some work on this tonight. The web address is www.youphone.ca inspired by the iPhone by Apple but not about that in fact.

Testing Blogger LaTeX with a little more care. "Work with me now"

Problem 1.2-6 (c)

Find

Again using basic properties and theorems of probability

and

Now we need to use this formula

in this problem.

But and its complement is simply

again by basic probability theorems

What is the set actually? It is the area out side of both A and B. which is the same as an intersection of the complements of A and B or set

Therefore

Therefore substituting in our formula.

And the set is really the complement of which = 0.3 because outside of the intersection is outside of either A or B so all this space outside the intersection is in . Thus we can check our work by checking that = 1- = 1- 0.3 = 0.7

Second $$\LaTeX$$ test: a lot more code.

This should now show a graphic containing written homework for one problem from last term's introduction to probability.

Testing Wolverine's LaTeX for blogger.

This is a test using FireFox, Grease monkey and a for Blogger java script for Greasemonkey. This is only a test.

I started to read about Statistics Canada's labour market survey.

I was doing some reading of our school's web site and decided to read about the regional data centre which turns out to be a Statistics Canada program. I thereby commenced some research for some data to do my term paper for the economics systems design simulation. I think I would like to try to simulate the labor market and compare the model to the Canadian labour market.

LaTeX has come to blogger.

A fellow has commented on my blog about a technique for using LaTeX on blogger. I may spend some time implementing this solution this morning.

Here is a link to his original post LaTeX on blogger http://servalx02.blogspot.com/2007/01/latex-on-blogger.htmland the same post I think in French LaTeX dans blogger at http://wolverine-mathematic.blogspot.com/2007/01/latex-dans-blogger.html.

I accidentally flagged his blog as objectable content because I forgot what flagging meant on the blog pages at blogger. I meant to add it to a blogger bookmarks system which of course does not exist. I hereby appologize to this blogger user.

Developing products for Second Life

I have thought of having a blackboard for second life that could be used to write LaTeX. I would then sell this Blackboard and market it in Second Life. I posted this goal on the second life blog under the open source announcement on that blog. Because most of the software involved would be open source I would also need to give the Blackboard away for free at the same time.

Chapter 10 now read of Beinhocker. Progressing a lot with my economic systems design course.

Chapter ten explores the prisoner's dilemma and was this past week's reading assignment for our first lecture. I read most of this chapter the previous weekend and week and read the final few pages last night. Now assigned for lecture number two is Beinhocker's chapter 4 and 9. I have read chapter 4 so should just review this chapter. So really I need to read chapter 9.

For Bowles this past week chapter 1 was assigned and I read this before the next year so again I had that read on time for this week's past lecture. For this coming week from Bowles we are assigned chapter 2. I have started chapter 2 but need to finish it before Tuesday.

Also for this past week I need to read about half of the remaining lecture notes the professor did not cover in the actual lecture this past Tuesday.

In the extra suggested readings I have read chapter 1 now of Axelrod's The Complexity of Cooperation. Axelrod is the researcher who figured out strategies for the prisoner dilemma first by having experts and others submit best strategies which he then tested in a series of games on the computer. He then made an experiment of using a genetic alogithum and simulated evolution in the prisoners dilemma game to find the best strategy. He did not find one best strategy but found some generalisations. Beinhocker covers this experiment in his book.

Reading about blogging today right after work.

I have kept up with computing since the 1960's so it is not a youth culture area for me. I am writing about seven blogs these days including this one. Only one blog is anonymous. The scholarly article is here on the web---> http://reconstruction.eserver.org/064/saper.shtml which is the journal Reconstruction's web site. I learned about this issue of Reconstruction which is about blogging from the AOIR email list. The cite for the article is here.

Saper, Craig Blogademia Reconstruction 6.4 (2006)

I did not follow a single link in the on-line article which was written for on-line reading and linked to a number of academic blogs in the thread of the article. Basically I took away a warning about gossiping on blogs.

First week of classes has gone by now.

With one week, the first week now done I am at it again: studying. Work has been a bit of pressure with my time but I did plan ahead and in the end attended all my classes this week. I borrowed about four books of suggested reading for the first half of SYS5140 up till the mid-term. I also dove in and started to read these books yesterday just after borrowing them from Carleton's library.

I have to learn a simulations software called Stella. Last night I installed it on my office computer and played around a bit with it without knowing what I was doing. I need to read a book about this software and get it up and running for a term paper. I am also working with some economics students in a three person group on this term paper. We have started to form the group and the group is myself a male systems sciences student and two female economics students. I have taken the role of computer programmer as the first step in our work on the term paper.

In my applied probability course we have had two review lectures that are at a higher level of mathematical abstraction but things are going better by the end of the week with this material and I should read some more of the text book this weekend and a little tonight.

Notebooks ready for the school term. My classes start today.

I have my IAOS notebook case ready for the SYS5120 notes and have another larger binder ready for SYS5140 notes. My first class in SYS5120 is today at five thirty. Then I have the first lecture of SYS5140 tomorrow evening. I have almost completed all the reading for this week's lecture for SYS5140. The professor has posted course material on the school's course material distribution web pages but I have not been able to access it yet. This reminds me I should check the SYS5120 course web page for any updates.

Continuing to write for the web everyday.

I write blogs everyday. With my new statistics job I have had less time at home on my computers but I still manage to use computers a fair amount on the weekends. I have enough computers that I was even able to help a neighbour by selling a computer to her and also giving away my older computer that I did a large part of my BA on. Mostly I worked on my BA on a Thinkpad T30 running Windows XP and Open Office. I also used an early model eMac and use the last model of eMac these days. For a laptop these days I use a first generation Macbook which was a graduation present from my professor father.

My father is an experimental physicist. My mother by the way was also a graduate student at the university of Ottawa and she studied Town Planning. In her career she planned Silicon Valley north. They are both retired now but still active and my father is still a professor.

I am starting classes again this coming week.

I have two applied probability classes to attend this week and one economics class. The economics professor has been in touch by email and I have been told the reading for the first class is chapter 1 of Bowles and chapter 10 of Beinhocker. I have read the Bowles already and only need to read the Bienhocker over night.

I am well into chapter 2 of Bowles now.

I started to read Bowles's chapter 2 now. I would hope to have this chapter read by the end of today.

The reading of Beinhocker is ahead of schedule.

I have now made this week's reading goal by reaching page 99 of the Beinhocker book and have read the first four chapters. I have one day to spare so this book will be put aside for a day. Here is the general cite and brief comment.

Beinhocker, Eric D. The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics (Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School, 2006).

The first three chapters are part I and I have read this completely now. I have read the first chapter in part II which is chapter four. This fourth chapter reviews an experiment in economics called Sugarscape. The experiment was performed by Joshua Epstein and Robert Axtell in 1995. This experiment simulates a number of microeconomic variables and the results are used by Eric Beinhocker to disprove some traditional economic theories. He also uses this chapter as his introduction and summary of complexity economics which is what the remainder of the book will cover.

Continuing to read economics.

I worked this week so could not do much study. I did just complete reading the first chapter of

Bowles, Samuel Microeconomics: Behavior, Institutions and Evolution (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2004).

This chapter is a good sophisticated introduction to game theory. It was slow reading.

Reading continues

I got to page 45 of Bowles, Samuel Microeconomics: Behavior, Institutions and Evolution today on the third day of study. I got to page 60 of Beinhocker, Eric D. The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics today. This second book is less technical and easier to read.

The economics course textbooks arrived and I started to read them.

I got the textbooks for the economics course on Christmas eve. That's Canada post for you. I have met one of their most radical leaders from the past and chatted with him briefly. I also volunteered with a postee at the green party convention this year. I also have better contacts for mobilizing postal workers now for labour actions.

The books for this course are:

Beinhocker, Eric D. The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics (Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School, 2006).

This book is 600 pages long thus if I want to have it read in the first two months of school term, or first six weeks would be better, I need to read 100 pages a week and that's about 15 pages a day. On Christmas Eve I started to read it. I read the preface and part 1 chapter one that day. On Christmas Day I read part 1 chapter two, thus reading 43 pages in two days. So with this above rate of 15 pages a day I am ahead now by almost one day.

Bowles, Samuel Microeconomics: Behavior, Institutions and Evolution (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2004).

This book is also about 600 pages long. Thus the same rate of reading will be applied to it. It arrived at the same time as the other course textbook. It is a textbook developed for a doctoral level course in economics from the University of Massachusettes. On Christmas Eve I read the 19 pages of the prologue and on Christmas got through to page 31 in part 1 chapter 1. So I am just on schedule with this book.

Reading began right away.

Some people know when I do things and get behind activities I get them done and often very rapidly. Often I do this with a computer so the effort is less than the result. But often I also do things like getting around on buses and bikes and do a great job of this. Sometimes I have to bum a ride and often these days people offer me rides.

But enough about results. I also systematically plan everything. I also document my reading with this blog which today helped me write for wikipedia. Another way I document required reading is to use check marks and little penciled in dates beside chapters and chapter sections. Today I managed to read chapter 1 sections 1 and 2 in my applied probability textbook. I now have a whole bunch of problems to do in section 2 chapter 1. So I stopped for today.

My other textbooks for winter are in the mail so I am fairly sure my textbooks will all be here before term begins. My schedule is being worked out and it will be tight full time work and part time school. I am increasing the course load this term but this also speeds up the degree progress. I have done a fair amount of real work today so I am now going to read more interesting and broadly related studies. I may read on the bus today or at home. I may buy some new book shelves today for my study office.

My first textbook arrived today.

The textbook I received today is for an introduction to stochastic processes such as markov chains, martingales, poisson processes and queueing. Here is the cite:

Taylor, Howard M. & Karlin, Samuel. An Introduction to Stochastic Modeling 3rd ed. (New York: Academic, 1998).

I read the table of contents and preface on the bus tonight. I will report more later.

One winter term textbook is in the mail now.

As of this morning at 1 am my applied probability course textbook is in the mail from Amazon.ca. This textbook should arrive before the term begins maybe today or tomorrow, if I am lucky. Also the professor from the economics course I will study this winter has sent me the titles of the textbooks for that course. He also said they are available at the bookstore now. I am not sure if I will have time tomorrow to go to school and buy the textbooks but I may try to do this. Right now I will check the pricing for on-line book stores.

I read the beginning of three papers from ISSS 2006.

I read the beginning on a paper on carbon dioxide emissions and lean business. I also looked at paper proposing systems sciences be reformed into systems studies. I also looked at a paper about torture. Then I read some Manual Castells in his The Power of Identity about patriarchalism.

I am going to check out some systems science papers this morning and also file away my probability course notes

I have some time to do some school research this morning and will check the papers out from this year's systems science association. I will also file my course notes and get my binder ready for the winter term courses. Speaking of winter term courses I did investigate the economics professor who is a retired professor and I sent him and intro email. I still don't know who is teaching the advanced probability course. I do have a past textbook for the applied probability course and have gotten through the first chapter of this book but should get through the second and third chapters before January.

Course ends with A+ grade.

I know I am bragging but I scored A+ in my course. This is my first A+ ever so I am quite pleased. This gives me confidence with Latex and math. I can again call myself a mathematician. This reminds me I need to pay my dues for the Canadian Math Society again this year. I should also get the application to the Statistical Society of Canada completed.

Tutoring again.

I did some tutoring for professor Ranjeeta Mallick. Two of her students needed help wth their study of the business statistics course at Carleton. I did 6 hours total tutoring on the weekend.

My exam is completed.

I wrote my first exam at the university of Ottawa on Thursday morning. I think it went well enought to raise my mark above B minus but maybe not well enough for an A. We will see soon enough.

I began random problem solving from the textbook.

I am trying to stay focused and in the mood to do probability problems. I picked two problems just now and solved them. One problem from chapter 3 and one from chapter 4. I am picking problems with solutions in the back of the textbook.

I am getting ready for the final study period before the exam.

It is down to the wire now as I read my notes and study my textbook. I will continue to study now for 12 hours until my exam tomorrow morning.

I just reviewed the notes from our course review class.

I just reviewed notes from our course review class last Thursday. I will continue to study all night tonight.

Wasting a little time but my review notes of my textbook are done on time.

I did waste a little time giving away a computer, surfing Second Life and updating Second Life, and just now updating myspace. So capitalist internet continues to ruin my school time. I did in fact get my review notes all done by 3 AM. I now need to read my review notes and then review problems and practice some problems. I should practice a problem from each studied section now. I will try to do that starting this time at the end in chapter 5.

Plan for this morning's study is to summarize my textbook.

I have summarized two chapters now and have three to go. I will get this all done by 3 AM and then practice problems. I will report my progress here in one hour.

I attended our last class in MAT2371.

I attended the last class in MAT2371 and we reviewed the last two thirds of the last year's exam. I have some weak areas like change of variables and and also poisson approximation but otherwise know what I am doing. I will be reviewing my own material and these weak areas tonight after work. I may leave work early today if I can. I have tomorrow off work but it is very important that I do well do this first exam of gradaute school.

The normal distribution, studied.

I studied the normal distribution this morning. I have studied most of the first chapter and this was chapter 5 I read today. I am working early today so I can leave work early and get to sleep early and wake up on time for our last lecture tomorrow. I write my exam on Thursday morning. I also have Wednesday off work so I can sleep in the afternoon and wake up plenty early for my exam on Thursday.

Last year's exam as a study technique.

The professor reviewed seven problems on Thursday from last year's exam in Thursday's lecture. I reviewed these solutions today. I then solved another 6 problems on my own this morning and had some difficulties with three problems. I think I will use her review structure also from Thursday's lecture to rewrite my own course summary today. I will also try to solve another 6 problems. But right now I am going to sleep having not slept since Friday morning.

I did not complete all the problems in the last assignment.

I had some union volunteering to complete on the morning my assignment was due. I also did not plan the final assignment work load very well. I ended up only completing about half of the assignment. I should end with about 75% on the term work.

I started this week's problem solving homework this morning.

I puzzled with the Phi look up but got the first part of the first problem in this week's homework done. I will try to complete the first problem today before I go to work.

I have one more school assignment to complete this term.

I am just getting started now on my last assignment for this term. I will read sections 5.3-5.5 that cover the material for this week's assignment then I will attempt the problems. I have no volunteer meetings this week or anything special at work. We are nearing the end of our project at work. This will also be the last week of classes I believe.

I have to search out an optional course for Friday evenings next term.

I am not yet familiar with the techniques for searching the graduate course schedule at the University of Ottawa. I also need to review all the courses that are suggested options in the systems science certicate plus thesis. I only take 1 optional course. I need to pick well for high grades in the main.

I got almost every problem in this week's homework correct.

I just checked the solutions to our seventh homework assignment and I have every answer perfect. May be one of twenty little numerical values was wrong. So my grades should be improving now and I will continue to hit the books.

Speaking of hitting the books I just reviewed the ideas of conditional probability section 1.3 in the text book. I will complete my review of chapter 1 today.

My school work is now completed for the week.

I was able to get the school work done now and solved the last problem which was a combination of a normal probability with a binomial sample. I am ready to go to class today with the homework done.

I solved more problems this morning and am almost done this week's homework just on time.

I actually fell alseep yesterday in the early morning. I worked this morning continuously on problems and solved 4 more problems mostly concerning Chebyshev's inequality and then problems with the normal distribution and Z scores. I have taught or helped teach both of these subjects in the past two years of school. I have one final Z score problems to solve and I am done for this week. I will get ready in the next hour to attend class this morning and hand in my school work.

I read a little more of the book Policing the Risk Society as well last night but other than that and writing on blogs and the math school work with exam preparation study, I have done no other studies in the past few days.

Completed a second problem now.

I just now completed a second homework problem so have six left to complete. I hope to be done this week's homework this morning.

I also spent about an hour in total organizing my studying and doing these blog entries which help me set goals for studying and keep me motivated. Thus I now have done 1.5 hours study leaving 4 hours to still do today and also leaving 34 hours to complete before the exam. In terms of 2 hours per day I am half an hour short of today's goal and then an additional 6 hours short of the goal because I did not study on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. But I am now focusing again on this study goal and catching up.

I spent half an hour studying the textbook and the notes on methods of enumeration.

I did follow through right away after posting my last entry and completed studying the notes and textbook for section 1.3 which covered methods of enumeration, the factorial, and permutations and combinations. This is a difficult area for me at times and at other times I do really well with this area. I am done with this for now and solved a few problems from the textbook in my head without checking answers in the back of the book even after I was done the solving.

So I now have 5 more hours to study today and a total of 35 hours of study left until the exam and I have about 6 more hours to budget to studying chapter one of the textbook.

Right now I am going back to completing this week's homework.

Hours to study for the exam.

I think I miscalculated how much time I needed to study based on days left to the exam. Rather than start at 26 and count down I need to start at 39 and count down. This is because I need three hours for each of thirteen weeks of the term. I have not studied at all since my last note and that means I still have only done about 3.5 hours of study. Counting down from 39 this means I need to study 35.5 more hours. I now have 15 days to go which means I need to study about 2.3 hours a day until the exam. I will try to study for 5.5 hours today and catch up the point 3 hours.

Also I must study five chapters which means about 7 hours per chapter. I have only really studied chapter one so far. Thus I need to spend about another 3.5 hours on chapter one. But chapter five is not something we studied a lot and also chapter four is not heavily covered so I can budget 4 hours to each of those thus spending about ten hours for each of chapers one through three. This means I might budget all of this morning's study to chapter one and do my homework.

One problem of eight solved in this week's homework.

I solved one problem now of eight problems to be solved. I also got my grade for last week's homework and have brought my grades up a little including not being tricked by an error in the textbook but instead relying on my own learning from the textbook. In this first problem I needed to show that a sum of identical and mutually independent exponential r.v.'s is a gamma distribution. I usually have had the first problem in this weekly homework done by Friday or Saturday of the previous week so I am behind but trying to race to completion by Thursday morning when this homework is due in class..

I read sections 4.1 and 4.6 this weekend.

I started some homework so this is really not part of my exam study. I got through the learning material supporting three problems in this week's homework. I also looked at the three problems and they could be tedious but I should get them started today. I am hoping to make all my remaining lectures.

I studied my notes and have less than 23 hours left to go in my ideal study plan.

I carefully reviewed my notes for sections 1.1 and 1.2 of the textbook. This was about an hour of study today. So I now have close to 22.5 hours to still study before the exam. Ideally I would have 20 hours to go now so am now two and a half hours behind schedule.

I read more of our textbook today.

I just read sections 1.1 and 1.2 which have the introduction to the sample space and a random experiment and also contain the definition of probability and the probability set function. Also frequency is covered including the frequency histogram and the relative frequency histogram. This took about 20 minutes to review. So I now have about 23.4 hours to study until the exam.

I need to study for two hours a day until the exam.

I put in my two hours on Friday but not on Thursday. The plan is to study two hours a day until my exam December 7th. This should amount to 26 hours of study. I have studied about 2.25 hours now. I have some 23.75 hours to still study. I will study for 45 minutes now before sleeping.

I read the basics of two variable distributions.

I read section 4.1 in our text book and solved the first four problems in that section while reading on an intercity bus.

I am studying for my exam this weekend.

I am reading my course textbook this weekend. I also got my table of integrals to study. I will also read Kevin Haggerty and Ian Hacking this weekend. I also have a basic book on compound microscopes to read. I will also continue to read Churchman on systems science ethics.

I got my homework handed in this morning.

I did very poorly with my last assignment. I got this week's assignment handed in this morning and attended the lecture. I worked today and yesterday as well all in one long day. I have to study for 2 hours per day until my exam now. I have studied for only 15 minutes so far today

Reading Gidden's book and solving simple probability problems.

I read some of Gidden's book on the identity and also a little more Ulrich Beck and then returned these books to the library as someone put a hold on them. I also borrowed some Kevin D. Haggerty books yesterday.

I have only four more problems to solve in this week's homework.

Weekly probability homework.

I continue to do my weekly homework problems. I have about six more problems to solve today and will hand this in tomorrow. The first four problems concern the Gamma distribution and the Chi-squared distribution.

I am reviewing the VCR tapes from my introductory criminal law course.

In my new job one of my new coworkers in August was also a student in my criminal law course in 2001-2002. I started this fall to watch the VCR tapes from this course. I had watched these tapes when they were broadcast and once while studying in the course. The professor was John Hale, a practicing criminal lawyer here in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario..

The list of books I have out from the University of Ottawa Library.

The systems approach and its enemies / C. West Churchman. (New York : Basic Books, c1979).

General systems theory : ideas & applications / Lars Skyttner. (Singapore ; River Edge, N.J. : World Scientific, c2001).

Advanced systems thinking, engineering, and management / Derek K. Hitchins. (Boston, MA : Artech House, c2003).

The Relevance of general systems theory; papers presented to Ludwig von Bertalanffy on his seventieth birthday. Edited by Ervin Laszlo. (New York: G. Braziller, [1972]).

Taking control of IT costs / Sebastian Nokes. (Harlow, England ; New York : Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2000).

General systems theory: mathematical foundations [by] M. D. Mesarovic and Yasuhiko Takahara. (New York : Academic Press, 1975).

The taming of chance / Ian Hacking. (Cambridge [England] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1990).

Soft systems methodologt : a 30-year retrospective / Peter Checkland. (Chichester ; New York : John Wiley, c1999).

Computers, work, and health : a socio-technical approach / Trevor A. Williams. (London ; New York : Taylor & Francis, 1988, c1989).

Elements of applied probability : for engineering, mathematics and systems science / David McDonald. (River Edge, NJ : World Scientific, c2004).

The emergence of probability : a philosophical study of early ideas about probability, induction and statistical inference / Ian Hacking. (London ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1975).

Survey research methods / Floyd J. Fowler, Jr. (Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Sage Publications, c2002).

General systems theory, systems analysis and regional planning : an introductory bibliography / Hugh E. Williams. (Monticello, Ill. : Council of Planning Librarians, 1970).

The presentation of self in everyday life. Irving Goffman. (Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1959).

Mad travellers : reflections on the reality of transient mental illnesses / Ian Hacking. (London : Free Association Books, 1999, c1998).

Risk Society : towards a New Modernity / Ulrich Beck ; translated by Mark Ritter. (London : Sage Publications, 1992).

Modernity and self-identity : self and society in the late modern age / Anthony Giddens. (Stanford, Calif. : Stanford university press, 1991).

Reflexive modernization : politics, tradition and aesthetics in the modern social order / Ulrich Beck, Anthony Giddens and Scott Lash. (Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 1994).

Studying is little more relaxed after I got this week's homework submitted (early again).

I read a little about self therapy about an hour ago by Anthony Giddens. I also read a little math. I then emailed the director of my school with an update about my studies. I explained my background a bit more to him.

After talking with professor Ivanoff I bought a table of integrals

I handed in this week's homework today in the morning. I chatted with professor Ivanoff about graduate school thesis. This was interesting and gave me some perspective on this task. She pointed out the differences with a math thesis as opposed to other subjects. I had difficulty with an integral on this week's home work. The professor told me to get a table of integrals. I searched the university library and came across this book

Jeffery, Alan. Handbook of mathematical formulas and integrals 3e,

This book I can see has many useful formulas and I need to own one of these. I searched at Shirley Mill's homepage book price web search tool and the cheapest book available was Amazon.ca and I just purchased it on-line.

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Working on probability homework early this morning.

I finally got working on my probability homework. I solved a number of problems. I then proof read my solutions.

Exam schedule checked.

The exam in my course is on the first exam day in the morning. I will need to take the day before off or the day after.

I worked out and typeset 5 sub problems in this week's homework.

I worked out five sub problems in basic continuous distributions. The basic premise is that an integral of a p.d.f. from negative infinity to positive infinity should be equal to 1. From this property we needed to find constants such that the property held for various functions involving the constants.

One hour reviewing the U of Ottawa's undergraduate calendar for biology and mathematics courses.

I surfed the undergraduate and graduate calendars at my new school. I made a file of biology course descriptions. This file contains the ecology and plant biology courses I would like to study. There is also a light microscopy course in graduate school that might be enough.

I read a little Castells on nationalism.

I read a little of The Power of Identity by Manuel Castells this morning. I also read some business theory and some of my course textbook.

Discussing Kant with other students.

Through my union activities I have come to know a PhD. student in philosophy also at the university of Ottawa. I have been briefly discussing my Churchman reading with him. I have now completed a chapter in Churchman and want to complete a few chapters in a few other books this weekend. I just reviewed or scanned the chapter in continuous distributions in my probability course textbook. I have some home work to get done today in this course. I also need to buy some printer paper today.

Problem solving schedule.

I have not really kept to my problem solving schedule. I would like to have my homework done by sometime this week. I really should solve two or three more homework problems today and may be two exam study problems. May be this less intense schedule will help.

I appreciate Churchman's use of Kant.

Emanuel Kant is well explored by Churchman. I am not quite half way through his book now.

I attended class on Thursday and showed interest in the Gamma distribution.

I stayed up late on Wednesday. I read more of the Churchman, more on reflexive modernity and more about general systems as mathematical models. Then in the morning I attended my lecture where we covered the gamma distribution and I participated fully in the lecture commenting on the gamma function abstractly and helping the professor with answers. I have started to score lower in the course. I began my fifth home work assignment and also began to solve the very first problems in the textbook. I plan to solve maybe ten problems over night now. And then another ten problems on Sunday. Two or three of these twenty will be from homework the others will be from the text first chapter. I would like to have solved all the first chapter problems in the next week then have solved the second chapter in the next week and be solving the third chapter in the following week and be done the fouth and fifth chapter problems by the end of term. This is a lot of work but I should do this.

Although Churchman is a philosopher his ethics are not very well grounded on a spiritual morality.

I see Churchman as analysing ethics in planning well. His best issues are environment, peace, and mental health. But missing is gender or labour from his analysis. But he does do a good reduction of systems science for looking at the broader ethical concerns. But I don't see his morals as firmly grounded as he seeks a community vision where his drawing in of many historical spiritual community traditions are weak. Would I prefer a strong moralist? I don't think so, and so am still enjoying reading him. But he was a philosopher of his times as his strong issues show was the 1960's and 1970's. Ah Neil Young and seventies biology classes. Really what I find annoying is his 3 and 4 as magic numbers these are beer case numbers not solid math.

I read about real victims v the psychology industry.

I read some more of Manufacturing Victims. I was struck by my psychological focus and need to change this.

I studied a little movie art.

I read a little about the film The Matrix in a book about the themes in the film. This essay compared the film with other recent films where reality is a virtual illusion. Virtual here meaning computer generated.

We had our review class for our mid-term today.

We reviewed the material in our course so far and solved last year's mid-term in class together. I knew what I was doing with only a few mistakes.

Interested in environmental studies again.

I bought an Olympus BH Biological Microscope Model BHB, S/N 391825 made by Olympus Optical Co., Japan on ebay. It cost about 500$. I have some water quality slides to look at for learning. I also bought a classic book on algae on ebay by Fogg.

I printed out the assignment solutions just this evening.

I will now examine the proper solutions to our assignment problems and compare these to my solutions. I will read the textbook over night too.

Studying probability

I started to read David McDonald's textbook. It turns out this is the textbook for next term's course. I also started two of Ian Hacking's books. This reminds me I need to renew three books fom Carleton's library now.

My 4th assignment in my probability course was handed in.

I did attend class on both Tuesday and Thursday this week. I handed in my assignment on Thursday. I have completed all assignments to date and am still scoring an A grade. We have our mid term next week. I will be studying for this this weekend. I just read the first chapter of Ian Hacking's book on emerging probability. I will also read some other books on probability this weekend and our textbook.

I did go to the library

I did in fact make it to the library later in the afternoon. I had a lot of fun. The Ian Hacking books mostly could not be found. I did borrow his book The Taming of Chance. I also sat myself down on a library step stool and looked at the classical systems theory books in the Q range. I was impressed. I also sat myself down at the QA 76.9 range of social impact of computing books and browsed but did not borrow these yet. I did borrow David McDonald's textbook on applied probability. I did not borrow the book on research methods in social relationships. I did borrow the book on survey methods. I also borrowed a book on chaos and it includes a CDROM of computer programs that I will may be pick up today. The library staff have to get this CDROM out of storage first. I also borrowed a late 1980's book on computers and health effects. This will help me at work as well as improve my health and safety knowledge in the workplace.

I am making my third trip to the library today.

I planned all weekend to make a trip to the library and this morning I am going to do this. I have a list of about 8 books to borrow. I am taking three books back. One book going back concerns social work and systems theory and is very old. Another book is the second book I borrowed by Churchman and I will read it at some other time. This is the mystery book that hasn't been read in over twenty years. The other book I am taking back is the social sciences and systems theory book that is also quite old. I am keeping about four books on systems science out. I am also taking back The Dilbert Principle.

I borrowing a book on survey research to help me at work. I am also borrowing a classic textbook on researching social relationships in its seventh edition. I will also borrow two Ian Hacking books. There are some other books I will borrow as well. I will bring my Macbook and do some work on the laptop for my probability assignment. I solved the first problem in pen and ink and have type set the first part of the problem and part of the second part and still have four more parts to type set in the first problem. I might solve the second and third problem before taking the bus to the library and then type set them at the library. Then I have four more problems to solve.

Studying basics of moment generating functions.

I read our course textbook on moment generating functions. This is a reminder for me. I now need to solve some problems in this topic at this level. I also need to read the next section of the second chapter and also solve some problems from that section of the textbook. But I am also starting to think of studying for the mid term happening in a week and a half.

The find a supervisor project.

I am formally deciding at this moment that finding a supervisor is a study in itself or a job in itself. I will try to spend a few hours a week on this study for the next few years.

I read the introduction of this paper by D. McDonald and a former graduate student K. Qian An Approximation Method for Complete Solutions of Markov-Modulated Fluid Models this morning from professor McDonald's home page but this paper was published at one time.

Dr. McDonalds book.

I found this book written by David McDonald:

McDonald, David. Elements of applied probability : for engineering, mathematics and systems science (River Edge, NJ: World Scientific, 2004).

It is in the library so I could borrow it this Tuesday.

I should search out the papers now by Dave McDonald professor at the University of Ottawa

Dave McDonald was the name given to me as a potential supervisor for a thesis. I think it only fitting that I search out and read his papers in journals. I will do that for a few hours now.

I was given the name of a potential supervisor.

I talked with my professor who teaches the basic probability course. I told her I would complete the advanced probability course next term. This advanced course is one of five courses required in graduate school. I will also may be try another course next term but perhaps I will only study the one course.

I got my grade on the 2nd assignment and am still scoring A grades. I handed in the third assignment yesterday. I will attend class this morning and also start the fourth assignment. After the fourth assignment we have a mid term test. We also because of the mid term have a week off of asssignments. So this is the first landmark to make.

I solved two more problems now and have two to go this morning.

I am up over night managing my pay cheque which gets me excited. But this is good mood to be in to do my probability school work learning. I just completed the second of the remaining four problems I need to solve. I now have two problems to go. The school work is due in class tomorrow morning but I can stay up this morning and hand this assignment in to the professor during her office hours this morning.

This will also give me an excuse to go to the math building and see her office. The idea of this visit has got me thinking a bit more about possible supervisors for my thesis. I could perhaps choose a satistician for a supervisor. This can be my small talk with the professor this morning.

I checked the solutions to the second assignment and I did better on that assignment than the first. I am so far scoring high enough to stay in graduate school and also high enough to transfer to a Ph.D. I am starting to read the graduate school regulations.

So generally over night this morning I have been spending time on my school work productively.

Putting off completing the four problems with computer tasks.

I have been backing up my computers this morning and writing on blogs. I have put off doing my homework and relaxing a bit.

Solved the first problem now and solved two more simple problems.

I solved two simple expectation problems and have four problems left to go in this week's home work. I also went back and solved the first problem using a floor operator which I learned about on wikipedia. I was taught the floor operator at one point in my mathematical education but had forgotten it and had digested it into an int function in computer programming. Anyway I now have my elegant solution to the first problem. I solved a mathematical guessing game.

Twenty years on a shelf... Churchman's book.

The other book I got out by Churchman looks very new and checking its borrowing record I found that it had last been checked back in in 1985. This means this book has just been on the shelf at the library for over twenty years unread which makes it a very mysterious book. It is in fact an ethics book in fact applied ethics to systems science which is just what my lawyer and my ethics professors hoped I would read. I do not actually have my own lawyer I am being metaphorical. And my ethics professor probably doesn't know I am reading this. But now that I am working in government I am concerned about ethics for government work.

I worked on this week's assignment this morning but am now procrastinating doing more.

I solved two problems rather quickly after having spent some time on the first problem yesterday and not really solving it elegantly. The two problems I solved this morning were simple substitution type problems but I need to add justifying comments now. I also browsed the remaining six problems and can solve them no problem as long as I have the textbook. I would like to solve about four more this morning.

Reading old research on systems science for the social sciences..

I started to study systems science on the web looking at the associations and journals out there. So really my journey began at the McOrdum library web site and library on-line interface. From this initial research I know the names of the original systems scientists or rather pioneers. I have not really been reading Churchman the past week. I have started a book on systems theory in the social sciences and read the introduction to that book early yesterday morning. Here is a McGill legal studies style cite for what I read done as definition list in html.

Systems sciences within the social sciences

Müller Norbert. Systems - Theoretic Approaches in the Social Sciences in Bossel, Hartmut. Klaczko, Salomon & Müller, Norbert. eds., Systems Theory in the Social Sciences (Basel, Germany: Birkhauser Verlag, 1976).

Assignment #1 solutions.

The assignment #1 solutions have been posted and I compared these to my answers. I have everything correct except the last problem where I seem to have some small errors. My grades have not yet been posted. I did hand in the second assignment and attended yesterday's lecture. We covered the basics of expectation and also the properties of the probability mass function.

Proof reading the 2nd assignment now.

The 2nd assignment for introduction to probability is now completed. I am just printing a final proof reading copy now. I will proof read it once in the next 15 minutes and then again at may be 8:00 AM. I should then be able to hand it in this morning at class. Again I will hand an assignment in two days early.