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By now, you should know ATL production squads The Flush & SMKA have teamed up to deliver their annual Stankonia Sessions mixtape. If hip, you’ll be happy to know the final product has arrived and features half the damn industry rocking over their combined synergy for a killer collection of kaleidoscopic jams. However, if you need one more reminder to tickle your taste-buds, check out Jarren Benton, Big T & Go Dreamer dumbing out alongside Bizarre of all people, for the amp-rattling “B.A.S.S. Act 1.” After you’re engulfed in that tidal wave of thump, make sure to download the full tape at LiveMixtapes and also check out our Smoking Sessions with The Flush & SMKA, which gives some direct insight into the project from the puppet-masters themselves.

Lionsgate's 'Bratz' Movie Boosted With Dolls, Tween-Targeted Ads3 Oct, 2007 By: Billy Gil Bratz: The Movie Lionsgate is leaving no marketing plan untouched with its campaign for Bratz: The Movie, landing on DVD Nov. 27 at $28.98. Prebook is Oct.31. The multimillion-dollar campaign will consist of spots on tween-targeted TV, radio, Web sites and in shopping malls. Ads in the fourth quarter on TV channels such as ABC, ABC Family, CBS, Cartoon Network, NBC, Nickelodeon and Toon Disney also will promote the Bratz Movie Stars doll line, featuring dolls based on the live-action Bratz actresses, as well as the Bratz: the Movie THQ video game. “There's really fantastic synergy … because there's an extensive toy line as well as other forms of merchandise that are basically derived from and support the movie,” said Michael Rathauser, VP of marketing for Lionsgate. “All of the Bratz movie dolls have a call out on the box that promote the movie.” In-mall video and static billboards in key markets leading up to the release also aim to capture an audience of moms, as well as their young daughters. Additionally, “a lot of activity and communication” via Bratz.com, according to Rathauser, as well as other movie-related merchandise such as Bratz jewelry, accessories, make-up, apparel and CDs round out what should be among Lionsgate's healthiest marketing campaigns yet. Rathauser also said the live-action DVD, which includes more than 50 minutes of bonus features including 12 three-to-five-minute featurettes, should help promote Lionsgate's other Bratz-related DVDs, which Lionsgate announced in November 2006. “From an animated DVD standpoint, we will have released three Bratz-branded DVDs that will have been trailering the Bratz live-action movie,” Rathauser said. “And this movie will serve as a platform to promote the animated movies.” Bratz: Super Babies streets on DVD Oct. 9. Bratz Interactive: Glitz N' Glamour, Bratz Interactive: Livin' It Up, Bratz: Kidz Sleep-Over Adventure and Bratz – Fashion Pixiez are available now from Lionsgate. All DVDs are $19.98.

October 13, 2015 QUANTUM® LAUNCHES INDUSTRY-FIRST CRASH-TESTED WC19-COMPLIANT POWER SEATING EXETER, PA - Quantum Rehab® is pleased to announce an industry-first toward enhanced power chair safety with the launch of its crash tested and WC19-compliant iLevel® and TRU-Balance® 3 power seating systems. WC19 is the ANSI/RESNA testing standard that qualifies the characteristics and testing standards to which mobility devices must pass in order for a wheelchair to serve as an occupied seat in a motor vehicle. Quantum is the first power chair manufacturer to offer power tilt-and-recline, articulating foot platform, and elevating seating that meets the standard. "Our goal is to provide the safest complex rehab products possible for real-world use," says Jean Sayre, Senior Director of Quantum Clinical Development. "Many who use complex rehab power chairs need power seating and can't transfer out of their chairs for transport. As a result, occupied power chair transport in vehicles is vital, and we've known the historical limitations on non-crash-tested power seating systems. We're pleased to be the first in the industry to have power seating that's fully crash tested and WC19-complient for safer transport." WC19-compliant power seating is available on the Quantum Q6 Edge® 2.0 with TRU-Balance® 3 Tilt-and-Recline, Articulating Foot Platform, and iLevel® elevation technology, configured individually or together, with up to a 300 lb. user weight capacity. About Quantum Rehab® Quantum Rehab® is a global innovator of complex rehab products, including the Q6 Edge® 2.0 and Quantum Series of power bases, iLevel seat elevation technology, TRU-Balance® 3 Power Positioning Systems, Q-Logic 2 Drive Control System, Synergy® Cushions and Backs, and Stealth® Products positioning components. Clinically-focused and consumer-inspired, Quantum Rehab products are engineered and manufactured to meet the widest range of needs with functional, durable, stylized, high-performance designs to increase quality of life. For more information on Quantum Rehab's premier complex rehab products, please visit www.QuantumRehab.com. © 1995-2016 Pride Mobility Products Corp. All rights reserved. (U.S.) 1-800-800-8586 - (Canada) 888-570-1113 Pride Mobility Products Corporation - Disclosure Statement Pursuant to Cal. Civ. Code 1714.43(a)

Mobile Planner S Social Diary: New Social Concept Well Received Seoul, Korea, Republic Of – AKAON’s Planner S application brought a new social networking concept to mobile users. The application is a unique way of combining scheduling and calendar functions with self-expression, within an interface that allows the user to share their entries with friends across a multitude of platforms. The Planner S “social diary” concept is ambitious. The application proposed opening a whole new dimension in social networking and building its own Planner S community, which would be integrated with existing networks like Facebook and Twitter. The ambitiousness of the undertaking was certain to either be the application’s key to success – or its downfall. Had social networking reached a point of maximum saturation? The success Planner S has seen in the short period of time since its launch says no. The overwhelmingly positive reviews and quickly expanding community prove the Planner S has found a new niche – one that mobile users love. The application’s positive reception is linked to the synergy between its highly customizable interface with easy-to-tailor user entries and its streamlined simplicity. Sound-bite length entries make Planner S a fun way to keep up with friends and colleagues, while the user’s ability to edit and enhance their entries with various fonts, colors, skins, and digital “stickers” give their communications another layer of expression. Planner S is also incredibly versatile, as it functions as a public or private diary, a full-featured calendar, and provides users with the ability to share their entries directly with Facebook and Twitter. They can also follow along with their friends from within the app, and meet new people through the Planner S community. AKAON hopes the application’s early success foreshadows its future, as Planner S gains momentum as a new way to schedule, socialize, share, and network. Calendar & Reminders: Don’t miss important anniversaries, appointments, or tasks! Plan days, weeks, months, or years ahead. Set reminder notifications if your memory needs an extra nudge! Full-featured Diary Entries: Planner S lets you truly express what’s on your mind, by letting you title your entries, tag them with your mood, and accessorize them with images. Use Planner S exclusive skins and virtual sticker sets to express yourself more completely and creatively. The shop offers both free and paid skins and sticker sets for every occasion and mood – start your collection today! Tailor your font and color schemes to match your personality! Planner S keeps you tuned in with your own friends and offers a vibrant community of its own. Share your entries seamlessly on Facebook and Twitter, or email them, all from within the app. In-app feeds let you follow and interact with other Planner S users as they update; follow your favorites and get to know new friends! * iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad * Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later * 18.0 MB Pricing and Availability: Planner S 2.3 is free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Lifestyle category. Akaon is one of Korea’s latest startup companies who aim to fuse the social experience with unique iPhone and Android apps. Copyright (C) 2011 Akaon, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Free On Site Consultation The Software Synergy Group is offering a free initial consultation to new clients to discuss how we can be of service to you and your company. Please provide us with the following information and one of our partners will call you promptly to schedule a meeting to discuss the various solutions we can offer and how we can help

It’s always a revelation to attend the scientific sessions at the Institute of Food Technologists annual show, which took place last week in Las Vegas. The blizzard of scientific sessions there (far more looked interesting than I had time to attend) always reveals a number of things that are—to me, at least—fascinating and surprising. Take, for instance, what I learned about erythritol. Erythritol is a sugar alcohol that has a long history; it was first discovered in the mid-1800s. It has some nice properties as a sugar alternative. It is absorbed and tends to pass through the body essentially unchanged, and thus has practically no nutritive value. It has a pleasant, sugar-like taste, and is similar in bulk and granular structure to sugar so it replicates some of sugar’s functional properties. And it doesn’t seem to lead to the gastric upset that can result from ingesting some other non-nutritive sugar alcohols such as xylitol. Erythritol is produced from sugar via fermentation and is about 60-70 percent as sweet as sugar. The additional processing steps plus the greater amount needed (to achieve a given level of sweetness) means it can be an expensive ingredient, though. But erythritol has an added benefit; at an IFT session discussing endothelial function and functional foods, I learned that erythritol is an effective antioxidant as well as being a sugar replacer. As I said earlier, at lot of these things are revelations to me, but certainly not to people in the know. “We’ve known about erythritol’s antioxidant capacity for a long time,” said Tim Avila, founder of Systems Bioscience, a company that manufactures Zsweet, an erythritol-based alternative sweetener. Avila said he has not pushed this property of erythritol to avoid muddying the marketing waters. And, as I’ve previously reported, the antioxidant waters certainly are muddy. Dr. Joseph Vita, a cardiologist at the Boston University School of Medicine and chairman of the session, noted that the antioxidant activity within cells is a complex picture, with dozens of compounds and reactions all playing a part. “Singling out one particular substance is probably not helpful,” he said. Boosting blood vessel health The session, though, was focused on which functional food ingredients have benefits in promoting endothelial health. The endothelium lines the blood vessels of the body, and dysfunction in this tissue can be the harbinger of wider cardiovascular disease. Evidence presented in the session by Gertjan den Hartog, PhD, of Masstricht University in the Netherlands and Alvin Berger, PhD, of the University of Minnesota, showed that erythritol has some demonstrated benefits in this arena. Erythritol helped prevent cell death in tests, and it reduced the production of so-called adhesion molecules in the endothelium, which is one of the ways in which plaque formation gets started. As Avila has noted, quoting ORAC numbers for your sweetener might just confuse people. But combining this property with complementary ingredients—polyphenol-rich juices or extracts, for example—in a product aimed at circulatory system health could provide a powerful synergy. Condition-specific marketing is one of directions the market is going, and these kinds of messages are appropriate where the scientific underpinning is strong. In this case the data looks very promising. For more on polyphenols, check out the latest installment in the Engredea Monograph series, which will be available later in July. This newest monograph, called the Ingredient Market Forecast, will include a sections on polyphenols and other key ingredients and sections on key trends and market drivers, too. You can also purchase other recent reports on omega-3s and on entering the Chinese nutrition market. What surprises you about ingredients such as erythritol? Share in the comments.

~ By Paul Rice For a long time, IT professionals were apt to believe that ITIL and project management certification (PMP) were conflicting frameworks, and you were either certified in one or the other, but rarely both. The ITIL framework and project management framework both serve different purposes to be sure, but when combined within an organisation, they ultimately create great synergy. The ITIL framework, a lifecycle that addresses the way an IT organisation operates, is first and foremost business driven and answers the question, "Are we doing the right things?" The project management framework addresses the implementation of projects throughout the organisation, requiring that companies ask, "Are we doing things the right way?" The UK Office of Government Commerce (OGC) is responsible for the management and distribution of materials on the ITIL framework. The OGC also controls another framework called PRINCE2, a project management framework used primarily in Europe. Both the ITIL framework and the PRINCE2 project management framework follow a lifecycle approach to their respective subjects. In the US, the Project Management Institute manages the PMP certification which does have overlap with the PRINCE2 project management framework. The PMP certification is based on content contained in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), a book published by the PMI. The PMBOK is organised around nine knowledge areas that are utilised throughout a project's existence. If you're in the "ITIL and PMP both say too much of the same thing, so why learn both" school of thought, think again. Combining the ITIL framework and the project management framework allows you the ability to execute projects with a higher level of quality, as they both provide a detailed set of instructions on how IT organisations should operate. Despite minor structural differences, the combination of both the ITIL framework and the project management framework can be highly beneficial for any IT organisation, and there is a genuine hope that IT professionals will begin to understand why they need to be certified in both ITIL and Project Management. While ITIL addresses how IT organisations as a whole should operate, PMP addresses how individual projects within the organisation should be executed. PMP applies to projects throughout the entire organisation not just IT. Both frameworks rely heavily on process and the use of tools to enable consistent execution of processes. The ITIL framework and the project management framework support each other in a way that propels services and operations to a greater level of proficiency. Furthermore, both frameworks address the need to manage quality, risk, and accountability. Most importantly, however, both ITIL and PMP consistently help improve efficiency and usefulness within the organisation. ITIL describes the ideal end state that an organisation would like to achieve. There are those who believe that if the ITIL framework behaves according to the ideal model, all will go according to plan. Unfortunately, this utopian IT end result is not realistic in the business world - and an organisation must implement a framework that allows for individual projects to be completed over months' time in order to get to the desired end result. The differences between the ITIL framework and the project management framework are inconsequential when compared to the overall effectiveness of combining the two. Similarities aside, project management is not specific to IT. The PMP framework, focusing on effective execution of projects, can be applied to any area of any organisation. Unlike ITIL, the project management framework does not operate on a lifecycle approach, but is organised into nine key knowledge areas: project integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communications, risk, and procurement management. As previously mentioned, rather than analysing the breakdown of each project, the ITIL framework examines the whole picture - a key difference. By taking a larger view of services in the organisation as a whole via a lifecycle approach, ITIL sets out to examine service strategy, service design, service transition, service operation, and continual service improvement. Take, for example, an organisation that is building and deploying an email service - on one level, ITIL will evaluate what is needed; PMP will then take this information and further break it down into easier-to-manage increments. How can ITIL be effectively implemented using the principles found in the PMBOK? I have considered this question several times in my experiences as a PMP and an ITIL Service Manager. Working with organisations to determine the most effective way to implement the ITIL Service Management framework, I have learned that a series of projects that are executed through a Programme Management Office is the most effective way. The challenge is to identify projects that bring measurable, incremental improvements that will help drive organisational change. The Continual Service Improvement Model of ITIL provides the structure for developing a roadmap for ITIL implementation projects. The roadmap will then allow you to navigate the complex interactions between the processes. Several books have been published on the subject of effective ITIL implementations. Most of these materials are consistent in their approach: start by creating a stable environment where you can control the impact of changes and shorten the duration of outages. An example of a first step project might be as follows: Project Definition: "Develop and implement an Incident Management Process Project." Project Scope Statement: Interruptions and diminished quality of services have a negative impact on business productivity. Service Management application tools will allow us to manage outages more effectively and capture metrics that measure the impact of outages. Package implementations of this type require extensive process development prior to deploying software. To this end, we are developing an incident management process in line with the ITIL framework to enable the internal service desk to improve its ability to restore normal service in the event of an outage. The project management framework will then be used to complete this ITIL-driven project. If you want your organisation to be truly effective, certification in both the ITIL framework and the project management framework will help your company prosper. Implementing various levels of checkpoints along the way ensures that you keep your services up-to-date and performing satisfactorily to meet customer need and demand. Ignoring one framework can make projects harder to carry out, thus wasting much needed time, money and skills. ITIL and PMP can have a strongly positive impact on how IT departments support the business, organisationally speaking and otherwise. At this point, however, many IT organisations are still slow to understand the power that both the ITIL framework and project management framework (when combined) have on ensuring that projects are finished and implemented in a timely manner. When you choose to integrate two highly efficient measures of accountability and risk management, you choose to have an organisation that not only runs smoothly but is ahead of the competition at every turn in the road. Paul T. Rice, the Director of Training Services at Fruition Partners, is an IT consultant and professional instructor with over 18 years experience managing large IT projects, developing effective teams, and providing Strategic Consulting and Education services to many Fortune 500 IT leaders globally. He also works with PB Tech Training on ITIL and PM programmes.

What has happened at Costume Colloquium III Do you want to know what happened in Florence? Read here the recap of the great Costume Colloquium III! Wednesday, November 7th CCIII Vintage Crawl is history. Participants had a fantastic walking tour visiting five of Florence’s fabulous vintage clothing stores. The tours finished at UB where we gathered for a fabulous cocktail party with delicious appetizers, wine and conversation about CCIII expectation. The atmospheare was great also thanks to this special venue. UB in fact is an unusual place where you can rediscover the past. Hidden from the eyes of distracted passers-by, furniture and objects change shape, use or destination before continuing their journey. A real corner of vintage Florence! If you want to know more about the Vintage Crawl itinerary you can see all the deatail on the Life Beyond Tourism No Profit Portal. Thursday, November 8th Session I: Interpreting Fashion of the Past in the Past moderator: Roberta Orsi Landini Charlotte Nicklas – Brighton, UK ‘There is a Great Deal of Searching into Former Times’: Fashion and the Past in the Mid-19th Century Clothes are more than the body, clothes also represent ideas. “Tell me how you dress and I will tell you what you are” may be said of both nations and individuals. Nicklas examines the uses of historical dress in texts, images and surviving objects exploring the complex attitudes of the historical past that emerged from fashion news and illustrations. Alexandra Bosc – Paris, France Costume Transformations as a Way of Legitimization for the French Bourgeoisie in the Second Part of the 19th Century This discussion is about garments newly made from older ones in the second part of the 19th century, with a special interest in items using luxurious elements such as silk, embroidery, lace, old buttons, old court coats or gowns in a way that doesn’t erase their antique quality. What is the social significance of these clothes in the bourgeois society of the 1850s-1890s? Susie Ralph – Bath, UK Inspired by the Antique: Margaine Lacroix and the Robe Tanagreenne How did three models at Longchamp wearing a dress slit to the knee inspired by the tanagra, a Greek figure from ancient Greece, cause such a scandal in 1908 and at the same time cause a fashion sensation? The Vatican condemned this dress calling it a shipwreck of virture but Lily Langtry wore one, just one week after its Longchamp debut. How was this design interpreted for the fashionable Parisienne of the Belle Epoque and how is this dress responsible for the changes in the female silhouette in the years immediately preceding the First World War? Session II Returning to the Future: Inspirations and Influences of Past Traditions in Fashion Today moderator: Alexandra Palmer Bina Sengar – Aurangabad Maharashtra, India Deccani Paintings: Inspiring Contemporary and Future Fashion Sengar discussed the interrelations between the current patterns of fashion on costumes like Sherwanis, Anakali, Lehnaga, Dhotara, Nawarri and Sarara which continue to be formally worn by the people of South Asia and are represented in the costumes portrayed in the miniature paintings of Deccan. The colors of gold, silver, minakari and zari in the paintings of those costumes continue to inspire designers of today. Licia Triolo with Susanna Conti and Naomi Kato – Florence, Italy Conservation and Innovation: Traditional Techniques, Research and Conservation of a Japanese Military Uniform This paper reported the information acquired during the conservation a 17th century Japanese manchira from the Stibbert Museum in Florence. The in depth analysis shed light on the techniques used to create the piece while showing us the continual use of traditional Japanese methods and styles in contemporary fashion, in particular those of Yohji Yamamoto. Jonathan Faiers – Winchester, UK Referencing designers Madame Gres, Halston and Christopher Kane and the science fiction films: Things to Come, Logan’s Run and Rollerball– Faiers investigates how drawing inspiration from the past usually results in fashion that reflects the present and influences the future. He describes how a specific vision of Classical dress, usually worn by the patrician order featured in these films, is incorporated into contemporary dress to express socio-political ideologies. Pascale Gorguet Ballesteros – Paris, France A Few Thoughts Inspired by the Exhibition 18th Century Back in Fashion, Versailles In July of 2011, an exhibition called the 18th Century back in Fashion opened in Paris. This exhibit featured a confrontation between 18th century costumes and 20th-21st century haute couture and fashion design dresses. Most designers used the 1800s as a repertoire for shapes and ornamentation. But Vivienne Westwood who evokes Madame de Pompadour in her Cocotte collection, Karl Lagerfeld who is a fan of Antoine Watteau and Christian Lacroix who admires the fashions of the 1750s are all fascinated by this era and have borrowed extensively from the period to create their own designs. Hoshino Tsuji – Kyoto, Japan Traditional Techniques in Contemporary Fashion: the Kyokane Dress Collection This brief presentation showed the creations of new styles of wedding dresses blending traditional Japanese designs and fabrics based on the ancient kimono and obi. Japanese wedding ceremonies are held at major shrines and temples marked as “World Heritage” or “National Heritage” in Kyoto. The Kyokane company seeks to preserve this 1200 year old tradition of Kyoto. Session III: Rediscovering Historical Techniques, Tastes and Trends moderator: Daniela Degl’Innocenti Susan Neill – Chicago, IL, USA The Texture of Ideas: Dynamic Symmetry in Handwoven Textiles by Mary Crovatt Hambidge Handwoven techniques incorporating dynamic symmetry in the garments and textiles created by Mary Crovatt Hambidge (1885-1973) were a balance of technique and imagination that stood far apart from those of the era. Hambidge formulated each aspect of her textiles from their basis in Greek techniques and garment styles to the integrity of the raw materials to their overall materials to their overall proportions inlaid motifs, color harmonies and organic movements. Kimberly Alexander – Durham, N.H., USA and Emma Hope – London, UK Brocade and Paste Buckles: The London Work of Thomas Ridout, James Davis and Emma Hope Emma Hope, the celebrated English shoe designer, stepped in for Kimberly Alexander to discuss the journey of a Georgian Shoe and it’s continued influence today. She explores the possible impact of the collaboration of a shoe designer (Hope) whose designs echo those of 18th century high style London with a museum curator (Alexander) and how this might result in new ideas, attract new viewers and lay the groundwork for innovative scholarship. Alla Myzelev – Guelph, Canada Have You Heard? Knitting is Cool Again: Reinventing the Handmade through Performance Previously associated with the conventional and conservative grandmother’s socks and sweaters, knitting became popular in large measure due to its association with hip, young and artistically inclined groups of women. Today some feminist artists are using knitting as a creative means to expose domestic violence and crimes against, about, or by women. Joy Spanabel Emery – West Kingston, R.I., USA Tissues of Dreams: Documents of Fashion Dressmaking patterns are being recognized as valuable documents of 19th and 20th century fashions. While fashions changed rapidly in the 20th century, patterns reflected and documented those changes. The vitality of new companies and the survival of 100 plus year old companies speaks to the synergy and the value of the pattern industry. Hannah Wroe – Nottingham, UK Pattern Cutting Publications 1935-1955: A Pattern Cutter’s Perspective Wroe examines the evolution of pattern cutting techniques documented in UK and American publications of this era. She discusses the impact, relevance and value of these texts for use by contemporary students and fashion designers within today’s global fashion market. Claire Bonavia – Tarxien, Malta Maltese Country Folk Costumes This presentation describes the significance and characteristics of rare surviving examples of Maltese folk costumes preserved in the Maltese National Costume Collection. Since many of these costumes no longer exist, literature from visitors, from illustrated works of country folk of the 16th and 19th century was used for researching and understanding the original Maltese folklore costumes. Private tour of Museo Gucci thrills CCIII participants Gucci was de riguer for Audrey Hepburn, David Niven, Rod Stewart and Sophia Loren, to name a few, and now Costume Colloquium participants can add their names to the list of Gucci lovers. CCIII goers were treated to a private tour and opulent reception following the conclusion of day one. This fantastic museum features a Gucci’ed out Cadillac Seville, a collection of iuconic bags and many more of their beautiful trademarked luxury items including riding saddles, golf bags and surf boards. CCIII thanks Museo Gucci for their incredible hospitality. The new Gucci Museum which houses not only a 90-year collection of their iconic leather goods but also an extensive exhibition of contemporary art. The museum’s slogan of “Forever Now” is in total sync with this year’s CCIII mission statement, Past Dress-Future Fashion. The contemporary art installations includes a Gucci customized vintage Cadillac, videos, paintings, photographs, and light projections courtesy of the Pinault Foundation. Housed in the 14th-century Palazzo della Mercanzia in the Piazza della Signoria, the museum also features a Gucci store, Rizzoli book shop specializing in fashion publications, and internet cafè and a gift shop. Friday, November 9th Session IV: Collecting Fashion, Aims and Accessibility moderator: Gillion Carrara Mary M Brooks – Durham, UK ‘My Yellow Dress seems to have attained Celebrity’: Acquiring and Displaying the Dress and Textile Collection at York Castle Museum, England The growth of the York Castle museum’s collection of dress accessories and textiles and the 30,000 pieces mapping the growth of the collection are discussed. Variety and sources of donations and why people donate is examined as well as the scope the museum’s display and collecting. Christina Johnson – Los Angeles, CA, USA Doris Langley Moore: Ultimate Woman in Fashion Johnson discussed how the historic fashion collections of Doris Langley Moore (1902-89) which formed the Fashion Museum in Bath continues to perpetuate many fashion museums today. She also presents how her influence continues at the Museum & Galleries of the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising which has recently acquire some of her gowns. Sarah Pointon – Sydney, Australia The Australian Dress Register: Accessing the Past through Dress Pointon who is with the Powerhouse Museum illustrates the collaborative online database project which documents significant pieces of men’s, women’s, children’s clothing from pre-1945 Australia. It’s collaborative structure enables communities from all over the country to maintain their onsite collections while they add data to the online register. Session V: Learning from Dress Collections and Fashion Documents moderator: Rosalia Varoli-Piazza Caroline Marie Bellios and Michel Lynn Shumate – Chicago, IL, USA A Study Collection – New Technologies and Functionalities Bellios and Shumate discuss how in addition to housing a costume collection and teaching traditional fashion design techniques, the Fashion Resource Center at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago also features a designer’s studio, with relevant videos, library, and extensive online database. Marie McLoughlin – London, UK Bricolage and Historicism: British Designers as Storytellers British designers have an idiosyncratic approach to design. The links between fashion and the Victoria and Albert Museum as a place for students of St. Martin’s School of Art to explore is examined. Noted alumni of the school, John Galliano, one of the best storytellers, draws influence from images of the 18th century French Revolution including Marie Antoinette. Alexander McQueen who borrows from Julia Margaret Cameron and Sam Taylor-Wood exhibits strong elements of craftsmanship. British fashion students are encouraged to view the past as a source of inspiration for their future designs. Dale Peers – Toronto, Canada Making Fashion History, Fashion Present The Fashion Resource Center at Seneca College of Toronto, Canada takes a broad, multidiscliplinary approach with their students and encourages them to recognize trends, design and create displays, and to understand the business and marketing aspects of fashion in addition to being proficient fashion designers. Their study collection includes 15,000 fashion items from three centuries and is a useful resource tool for students and faculty. Alessandra Arezzi Boza – Florence, Italy Europeana Fashion: Disclosing European’s Fashion Heritage Online The Europeana Fashion project which will feature over 700,000 fashion related digital objects will publish online in March 2015. Images representing historical dresses to accessories, photographs, posters, drawings, sketches, videos, and fashion catalogues will be available. Europeana Fashion is a best practice network of 23 partners, representing the leading public and private museums, archives and collections from 12 European countries. More information about the project will be available soon on the project website: www.europeanafashion.eu Stefania Ricci – Florence, Italy Ricci offers details on the Marilyn Monroe exhibition at the Museo Ferragamo which features an extensive photographic and costumes from some of Monroe’s more iconic films are on display. A collection of Ms. Monroe’s Ferragamo shoes and film clips complement the exhibition. Session VI: Conserving and Displaying Dress and Costumes moderator: Mary Westerman Bulgarella Joanna Hashagen – County Durham, UK The New Fashion & Textile Gallery at the Bowes Museum The Bowes Museum has created new ways to display, study and interpret their permanent collection of world class fabrics and textiles. The Bowes has discovered several award-winning, methods of presentation–including the purpose-built Glass Cube– and access to their costume collections which are visually stunning and highly functional for the display, study and storage of textiles and dress. Janet Wood – London, UK Old Materials, New Solutions: The Development of Acrylic Mannequins for the Display of Historic Dress Textile conservators are always faced with the challenge of finding new ways to display historic dress. The development of a range of acrylic mannequins was a success for exhibits at the Bowes Museum fashion and textiles gallery, and for an exhibition of court dress at Kensington Palace. Wood details the procedures used to create the new featureless dress support. Claudia Ianuccilli – Boston, MA, USA Grecian Pageantry Costume at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Ianuccilli discusses the methods used to conserve a 1900s pageantry dress donated to the museum and to be installed in the American Renaissance Gallery of the new American Wing at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Conservation techniques and specific methods needed to restore the insect damaged dress were discussed. Suzanne Chee – Sydney, Australia Speedo @Swimwear – Race Against Time The Powerhouse Museum holds the only Speedo archives in the world. During a recent in-house survey, it was noted that fabrics constructed in the 1980s had been deteriorating, mysteriously. Chee discusses the research that led to discover why this occurred and what methods have been employed to prevent this from occurring again. Alazne Porcel Ziarsolo – Bilbao, Spain Conservation of 20th Century Fashion Collections: The Cristobal Balenciaga Museum Collection In order to establish adequate conservation and storage of 20th century fashion collections, it is necessary to establish an adequate conservation and restoration methodology. Constant research must continue in order to keep pace with the deterioration of these fashions. Porcel Ziarsolo amply illustrates the methods being used to document, preserve and display this important collection which contains a variety of new materials, all posing conservation problems. Exclusive visit to the Galleria del Costume in Palazzo Pitti with Anna Piaggi exhibition Day Two ended with the presentation of the Galleria del Costume di Palazzo Pitti by its director, Caterina Chiarelli, followed by the visit to the Galleria del Costume at the Pitti Palace where we were treated to a private tour of the galleries. A special selection of costumes owned by the late, Anna Piaggi, to which the director of the museum, Caterina Chiarelli made an homage, was also on view. Also, of particular interest to participants, was the display of the Medici burial clothes. and an overview of many of the details of the conservation was given by the project’s conservator, Mary Westerman Bulgarella. Let’s not forget that the Costume Gallery is dedicated to the study, preservation and history of Italian fashion. Created in 1983, the Costume Gallery is located in the beautiful neoclassical Palazzina della Meridiana. This internationally prestigious collection contains more than 6,000 items from the 16th to the 20th century and includes historical and modern couture, and costumes and accessories from cinema and the theatre. The vast couture collection includes dresses designed by Worth, Poiret, Vionnet, Capucci, Missoni, Valentino, Pucci, Ferrè, and Yves Saint Laurent, to name a few. Saturday, November 10th Session VII: Recycling Repurposing and Wearing Vintage and Dress of the Past Moderator: Roberta Orsi Landini Thessy Schoenholzer Nichols – Florence, Italy Recycle, Readapt and Reuse in the Past: to Smarten Up or to Extend Wear? Schoenholzer Nichols discusses the cultural, historical and anthropological discoveries of and surprises found during her examination and analysis of the funeral robes of the mummies of Monsampolo del Tronto. This is an ongoing research project. Alexandra Palmer-Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada Reframing Reconfigured Luxury Fashion Palmer argues that reconfigured/modified costumes can be thought of as documents of “alternative expression as design” and these modified garments are valuable additions to collections as they have retained economic, social and cultural values over time. Agata Zborowska-Warsaw Poland Cultural Recycling: Reinterpretation of History in Modern Fashion Recycling of clothing can be seen as a process of looking for new meaning, motivated by aesthetic and not by environmental consideration. Using an analysis of clothes, styles and ideas, Zborowska discusses the phenomenon of reinterpretation of history as seen in modern fashion. Jeanie Marie Galioto, University of San Diego Victorian Fashion as an Underground Subculture: the Tainted and Worldly Beauty of Steampunk According to Galioto, the Steampunk subculture has found its way into mainstream culture. Steampunk is seen not only in fashion, literature and music but its influences appear in television, films and conventions. Although the aesthetic is based on the Victorian silhouette, the style embraces modern technology and combines the two, creating a fantasy Victorian world. Session VIII: Reconstructing and Reproducing Historical Clothes moderator: Carlotta Del Bianco Sara Piccolo Paci – Florence. Italy The 12th Century Inspired Costumes of the Palio di Legnano: 80 Years of Challenging Identities Piccolo Paci reports on reconstructing authentic 12th century inspired costumes of the Palio de Legnano, a reenacted historical event. She illustrates how the concept of representation of the Middle Ages has changed over time in relation to the development of a city and a national identity of the Legnano territory and of its inhabitants. Brenda Rosseau – Williamsburg, VA, USA Recreating Dress for the Visitable Past Rosseau discusses the research, techniques and the constant search for appropriate modern day textiles necessary to recreate authentic printed, painted and embroidered fashions and adaptations of antique items for eighteenth century style. This research is essential for the reconstruction of authentic dress used for reenactment at Colonial Williamsburg. A reproduced dress was modeled during her presentation. Deirdre Murphy – London, UK “Arrayed with Gorgeous Splendour”: Clothing for Queen Victoria’s Costume Balls This presentation was based on the exhibition at Kensington Palace on Queen Victoria. Using color illustrations and historical references taken from actual diaries, Murphy presents the opulent and extravagant clothing worn for by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and guests for Queen Victoria’s three themed Costume Balls. The fashions for these balls were inspired by the Medieval period, the Stuarts and the Georgian era. Teresa Cristina Toledo De Paula – Sao Paulo, Brazil REPLICAR: A Multidisciplinary Experience in a 1900s Dress Reproduction for Contemporary Museum Research and Display Toledo De Paula discusses the Replicar project and the difficulties encountered by a team comprised of a textile conservator, dress historian, seamstresses, pattern makers, textile designers and a group of four trainees who worked to create a replica of a 1900s black dress of the Countess of Pinhal. Dinie Van Der Heuvel – Eindhoven, Holland Hidden Treasures: A Research Project on Garments Used for Smuggling After extensive leg work, Van Der Heuvel and her staff found one-of-a-kind articles of clothing used for smuggling and hiding discovered in a variety of unusual places. Many times, these “forgotten items” were found in museum basements and in long neglected files. This clothing contained secret compartments used to transport everything from trumpets to silverware, coins, grains, trains and even, potatoes. Session IX: Dressing performers for the Performing Arts: Designers, Creations and Fashion Influences moderator: Alexander Palmer Michelle Tolini Finamore – Boston, MA, USA Venus in Finery: The Seductress of Silent Cinema Tolini Finamore presents videos and stills of the highly stylized costumes of actresses Theda Bara, Clara Kimball Young, Gloria Swanson and Greta Garbo to name a few, to highlight the enduring fashion image of the fallen woman and the female seductress as depicted on the silent screen. Bonnie Kruger – St Louis, MO, USA and Holly Poe Durbin – Irvine, CA, USA “I Don’t Dress Movie Stars, I Dress Characters”: The Exceptional Career of Costume Designer Ann Roth The legendary costume designer, Ann Roth who has garnered six lifetime achievement awards and an Academy Award for her work on the 1930’s romance film, The English Patient has successfully presented the past through her meticulous, thoughtful and realistic costume designs. Her works have appeared on characters in movies ranging from Klute, Owl & the Pussycat, Midnight Cowboy, Julie and Julia to the Talented Mr Ripley and on the Broadway stage in 84 plays, including the current theatrical smash: The Book of Mormon. It has been said of the incredible Ms. Roth has an incredible relationship to fabric and that she is just as much the storyteller as the writer in movies and theatre. This research which will be published in 2013 was presented for the first time at this Costume Colloquium. Charlotte Ossicini – Bologna, Italy Performing Vintage: The Costumes Archive of the Teatro delle Albe Ossicini discusses the Teatro delle Albe and their successful collaboration with A.N.G.E.L.O. Vintage clothing, (www.angelo.it) a 3-story store where thousands of articles of vintage clothing and accessories are used for costumes or for inspiration to create new costumes. The use of vintage wear for the theatre is also addressed. The final day of lectures at the Auditiorium al Duomo culminated with Daniela Degl’Innocenti, curator of the Museo del Tessuto of Prato who gave an introductory presentation of the museum’s upcoming vintage exhibition, and she also described the Giovanni Masi Vintage Archive. The director of the Museo del Palazzo Davanzati, Brunella Teodori, followed with a presentation of that museum. Before departing the Auditorium for the museum, Alexandra Palmer delivered an eloquent closing statement, summarizing the wide range of topics and themes of Costume Colloquium III. Representatives of the Costume Colloquium Advisory Committee, Carlotta del Bianco and Mary Westerman Bulgarella, announced the title/topic for the 2014 Costume Colloquium as “Color in Fashion / Colore e Moda”. Reception at the Museo di Palazzo Davanzati To top off the day, we walked from the Auditorium al Duomo to the beautifully restored Palazzo Davanzati where we enjoyed a private museum visit, sublime views from the rooftop loggia and a sumptuous reception in the courtyard. The Museum of Palazzo Davanzati, also known as the Museum of the Ancient Florentine home, was built by the Davizzi family, wealthy members of a wool guild. The furnishings which date from the Medieval to the Renaissance periods faithfully reflect the style of a lavish Florentine lifestyle. This beautifully restored palazzo is a stunning example of 14th century architecture. The Museum features an impressive collection of lacework and embroidered samplers from the 16th -20th centuries. Sunday, November 11th Behind the scenes tour of the Giovanni Masi Vintage Archive in Prato Sunday, notwithstanding the abrupt change in climate, we headed to Prato, stopping first at the enormous warehouse of the Giovanni Masi Vintage Archive. Here, participants had a firsthand look at what the “rags” business is really all about while rummaging through the endless bails of used clothing. The extensive archive of Giovanni Masi’s vintage American clothing was born from the mid-19th century textile tradition of rag sorting and has evolved into a modern day shopping mecca for customers including members of the fashion and entertainment industry. The 32,000 square foot space contains a vast collection of American fashions from the 60’s to the 90’s including theatrical costumes. The Masi Archive has unique designer pieces which combine vintage fabrics with new materials, usually found only in specialty stores. Visit to the Museo del Tessuto From here, we travelled into the historic center of Prato to the newly renovated Textile Museum where we could freely visit new installations, view the conservation laboratory and didactic displays, watch a 3-D film of fabric production. The Prato Textile Museum houses a wonderful collection of textiles dating from the fifth century to the present and includes Renaissance sacred cloths, European costumes and special works created by artists such as Raoul Dufy. The museum is dedicated to textile heritage and international textile manufacturing traditions. The Prato Textile Museum is located in the converted Campolmi textile mill, a fine example of 19th-century industrial architecture and a symbol of the Prato’s textile manufacturing industry. The excursion to Prato concluded with a lovely farewell reception where we bid each other “arrivederci” until the next Costume Colloquium in 2014!

This post is written by Andrew Bui, Student Library Advisory Council. As a member of the Student Library Advisory Council, I’ve had amazing opportunities to collaborate with library administration about how we experience Kennedy Library. Being someone who admittedly, (and sometimes unfortunately) views the library as a second home, I felt all the more honored when I was asked to help take the idea of student input even one step further. Over the past few months a team from the renowned architectural design firm Shepley Bulfinch has been making visits to Cal Poly to help us envision what the future of Kennedy Library could look like. Three things I took away from this experience: - I’ve never heard a more appropriate name for the library’s design style than “Brutalism”. - Hearing the mind of an architect is like listening to Bill Gates: their knowledge leaves you equal parts amazed yet confused at the same time, in the best way possible. - Students really are the heart and soul of Kennedy Library. Listening to student input It’s intimidating, to be the seemingly lowly student representative in a room full of adults, and to adequately advocate for every student who walks through the library’s lobby each week. In all honesty, what on earth does a 21-year-old know in comparison to people who work every day at Kennedy Library? When it comes down to it, the library is for students who use it and view it as a vital part of their identity as a Cal Poly student. During Shepley Bulfinch’s visits, the meetings weren’t so much about sitting through presentations as they were about having genuine conversations about what it’s like to be the student who stays until 2:00AM and then migrates into the 24 hour study room… and how it feels walking in and knowing that there’s at least one friend there who can help you out with that one finance problem. The library is both an area to accomplish learning and a home in which you identify yourself as an integral part of the Cal Poly community. Shepley Bulfinch did a brilliant job molding student feedback and opinion into potential ideas for Kennedy Library. Whether it be a glass-enclosed reading room in the sky, to making the floors feel less like a concrete box and more of a place of synergy, to adding more of the highly prized and coveted fishbowls, the involvement of students became a driving force behind envisioning the future of the library. In the end that is one of the things that I enjoy most about Cal Poly. The faculty and staff thrive on student input in everything they do, and let you know that you, as a student, have a very important voice in the room. For more about reimagining Kennedy Library, read our series about the process. Photo: Andrew at the community gallery reception for the SLAC Photo Competition, 2013.

50 Epic Jargon Solutions for Better Writing Lists of business jargon are a dime a dozen. To make this one worth your time, I’m going to: - Create a comprehensive list of words and phrases encountered in everyday business writing - Suggest better alternatives so you can add meaning and persuasive power to your blog posts This means that you will be understood, create more impact and attract more readers to your blog and website. So here are some solutions for better writing to tweak and hone your communication. 1. At the end of the day. Any time you write this phrase, your next step is to delete it. 2. Awesome. If you’re describing the Grand Canyon or the dimensions of the universe, awesome is fine. Otherwise, find a less sensational (i.e., more realistic) adjective, such as outstanding or exceptional. 3. Bandwidth. This is a euphemism to make we don’t have time sound like it’s part of the plan. If you simply say you don’t have the time or resources, people will respect your frankness. 4. Bleeding edge. With so many companies on the bleeding edge, it’s no wonder the economy is hemorrhaging. Overstatements such as this inspire skepticism. Instead, talk about your groundbreaking business model or new approach. 5. Brain surgery. This isn’t brain surgery has been so overused it carries comical overtones the author may not intend. Better to operate with a straightforward word like complicated. 6. Buy-in. Try support or agreement instead. 7. Champion (as a verb). Replace with support, defend or perhaps spearhead. 8. Content is king. A massively overused metaphor that lets people know you don’t understand content. Why? Because king metaphors apply when a clear, measurable hierarchy exists; e.g., The blueberry is the king of antioxidants. Content is one element of a complex marketing system in which all components have unique and essential value. Homework and discussion: What is a simple metaphor for that? 9. Core competencies. A fancy way of saying we’re good at this. There’s nothing wrong with saying we specialize in this, or we excel at this. 10. Cutting edge. See bleeding edge. 11. Deep dive. Overuse has sunk this way of describing a thorough analysis. Try explore, analyze, or the soon-to-be-overused unpack. 12. Disconnect (as a noun). This word is not only overused, it’s also vague. Does disconnect imply a difference of opinion or just a misunderstanding? Clear up the confusion by using the former or latter. 13. Disruptive. If a product or business model is truly disruptive, you don’t need to describe it as such; it will speak for itself. 14. Drill down. Replace with look more closely at. 15. Drink the Kool-Aid. This phrase was gruesomely powerful in the ‘80s, when the Jonestown Massacre was fresh in people’s minds. With overuse, the phrase has become vague: Does it mean a person is a fanatic, believes in something evil, or just toes the company line? Think about what you really mean and use a more precise description. 16. Ducks in a row. A silly way of saying we’re ready or organized. 17. Ecosystem. Ecosystem can describe Microsoft Windows or Apple, where users have deep and broad interaction with products and services in a closed system. For the most part, however, ecosystem is an overreach. In most business situations, ecosystems are merely systems or networks or product groups. 18. Empower. Better options are assign responsibility or delegate responsibility. Besides being overused, empower has a bad business vibe, as it suggests class warfare. 19. Epic (as an adjective). Epic describes something of heroic, sweeping proportions. Applying the word to business content or situations is an epic overstatement that serious-minded people won’t take seriously. A simple adjective like useful or memorable carries more weight. 20. Get on board. See buy-in. 21. Going forward. For the most part, this phrase can be eliminated: Going forward, we will hire 10 people. 22. Guru. If others describe you as a guru, people will be skeptical. If you describe yourself as a guru, people will laugh in your face. 23. Holistic. Comprehensive or complete is more straightforward. 24. Ideation. To ideate is to form ideas or concepts. The word is frequently used in a clinical (and rather ominous) context, such as suicidal ideation. In business, stick with phrases such as develop a strategy or brainstorming session. 25. Impact (as a verb). Grammatically correct options: have an impact on or have an effect on or simply affect. 26. Incentivize. A mouthful of mush that means motivate. 27. Innovative. Describing a product or service as innovative means nothing. You have to explain in what way the product is innovative. Since most things described as innovative aren’t, this can be a daunting task. 28. Key takeaways. A puffed up way of describing important points. 29. Knowledge transfer. We’ll teach you beats We’ll engage in knowledge transfer by six syllables and a country mile. 30. Leaders. Everybody is a leader in this or a leader in that – so what? Here’s a case where frankness and modesty paradoxically arouse interest. If you claim only that you’re good at this or that, people may actually take notice. 31. Learnings. Ironically, this is not even a real word. Teachings or lessons, on the other hand, are. 32. Leverage (as a verb). Instead of, we leverage our volume to offer low prices, try, our volume enables us to offer low prices. 33. Low-hanging fruit. This phrase drives people bananas. Pear down fruit metaphors and juice up clarity with easy opportunities or easy options. 34. Mission-critical. What’s the difference between critical and mission-critical? Unless you want to sound like an astronaut, stick with critical. 35. Move the needle. This means to get meaningful or measurable results. Why not, then, say one or the other? 36. Ninja. See guru. 37. On the same page. In the old days, we were singing from the same sheet of music. Now, we’re on the same page. In any era, it’s easier to simply say, we agree. 38. Open the kimono. If you’re sharing secrets or proprietary information, just share them and be done with it. There’s no upside to bringing hidden body parts into the discussion. 39. Outside the box. Ironically, using this tired phrase alerts people that you have no creativity whatsoever. Instead, talk about creative or imaginative thinking. 40. Paradigm shift. If you say significant change or fundamental change, people will actually understand what you’re talking about. 41. Push the envelope. This could mean to act aggressively, assume risk, expand the boundaries of, or advance to the boundary. Think about what you mean exactly, and then describe it. 42. Quite frankly. Use this phrase only when you want people to know you’re being otherwise deceptive and insincere. 43. Raise the bar. This means to set a higher standard, which sounds a whole lot better. 44. Rock star. See guru and ninja. 45. Rocket science. See brain surgery. 46. Solutions. For my money, the worst word in the world. When people hear solutions, they think, “Here’s a complicated product that will create more problems than it solves.” Or, their minds simply go blank because they’ve heard the word a million times. Replace solutions with specific benefits; e.g., This product simplifies household budgeting. 47. Soup to nuts. To avoid coming off like a buffoon, substitute comprehensive or complete. 48. Synergy. When things synergize, they combine to have a greater impact than they can achieve on their own. Synergy is a useful business concept, but the word has been run into the ground. The key is to avoid synergy when you mean only collaboration, cooperation or consolidation. 49. Thought leader. See guru, ninja and rock star. 50. World class. A bold statement that should be used only to describe proven and widely accepted products, services, systems and organizations. Even then, it doesn’t convey anything concrete. As with solutions, it is far more persuasive to describe the standout quality of the subject in question: Our customer service reps answer every call within one ring. (Note: The Straight North content team used our real life business writing and editing experience to compile these 50 entries.) Over to You What words or phrases can you add to the list – and what are better replacements? Listen to this post as a podcast. Guest author: Brad Shorr is Director of B2B Marketing for Straight North, an Internet marketing agency headquartered in Chicago. He is an experienced content strategist, respected blogger, and SEO copywriter. Connect with him on Twitter @bradshorr. Want to learn how to make your blog a success and create great content? My book – “Blogging the Smart Way – How to Create and Market a Killer Blog with Social Media” – will show you how. It is now available to download. I show you how to create and build a blog that rocks and grow tribes, fans and followers on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It also includes dozens of tips to create contagious content that begs to be shared and tempts people to link to your website and blog. I also reveal the tactics I used to grow my Twitter followers to over 210,000. Want to start building your own website or blog? Want to start a WordPress blog in 5 minutes? The jeffbullas.com blog is hosted by Bluehost Web Hosting. For only $3.95 a month, Bluehost can help you set up and host your website/blog quickly and easily. Because JeffBullas.com is a Bluehost affiliate partner, my readers can visit this page to receive a 50% discount off the monthly price and a free domain name.

Last night, three of Twitter's top 10 trending topics were about the filibuster. At its height, the hashtag #standwithwendy was being retweeted nearly 5,000 times per minute. Texas Tribune, a nonprofit nonpartisan public media organization most of us had never heard of, went from a couple thousand followers to more than 50,000. What were the 24/7 cable shows doing? You don't get more real-life, real-time drama than a room full of alleged adults descending into chaos, with protestors shouting and state troopers funneling in to quell a potential riot. This is what the cable news guys would have called great TV. In fact, it was great TV -- it just didn't happen on TV. And increasingly, it won't. TV, it was nice knowing you Twitter and TV have had a great synergy, to use a word I loathe. People watch a sporting event or a presidential debate or "American Idol," and they tweet about it to and with each other. It's why folks like NBC partnered with Twitter for last summer's Olympic broadcasts; it's why the sports talk shows have a constant Twitter feed running alongside the mindless jabbering of pudgy ex-jocks. But guess what? Twitter doesn't need TV any more. Neither do the rest of us. Can't say I'll miss it much. What do you think -- can YouTube and Twitter replace cable news? Weigh in below or email me: firstname.lastname@example.org. This article, "Meet the new mainstream media: YouTube and Twitter," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the crazy twists and turns of the tech industry with Robert X. Cringely's Notes from the Field blog, and subscribe to Cringely's Notes from the Underground newsletter.

Vol. LXII, No. 19 Wednesday, May 7, 2008 “Diversity” and “sustainability” were the themes of the second Princeton Future Open Forum on Saturday at the Princeton Public Library. Two panel discussions shaped the morning program. The first, on diversity, was moderated by Chair Emeritus of Princeton’s Sociology Department Marvin Bressler, who was joined by Moises Santizo representing the Latino Reform Youth Council; Robert Durkee, secretary of Princeton University; Marvin Reed, chair of the Master Plan Subcommittee of the Regional Planning Board; Hendricks Davis, representing the the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood; and Susan Hoskins of the Princeton Senior Resource Center. The second panel on sustainability was moderated by Professor Robert Socoloff of the Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI), and included Wendy Kaczerski, chair of the Regional Environmental Commission of Princeton, Mr. Durkee, and Mr. Reed. “The town can learn from the university and vice-versa,” commented Princeton Future Chair and Dean Emeritus of the School of Architecture Robert Geddes before the meeting got underway. “I don’t believe this morning will result in any direct actions,” he added, “but it could be useful for identifying the problems. These two issues influence everything.” The existence of both a Community Master Plan and Campus Plan was, he said, encouraging, although he acknowledged that the length of time it takes to implement change can be “strange.” Mr. Geddes opened the meeting by expressing regret at the recent death of former University President Robert Goheen, citing Mr. Goheen’s “great impact on the community.” He described the opening of the FitzRandolph gate under Mr. Goheen’s tenure as symbolic of his efforts to bring the University and surrounding community together. He also noted that the day’s topics, diversity and sustainability, were “pervasive,” rather than geographically bound. Mr. Reed began by offering a brief history of the African-American and Italian communities in Princeton, noting that the Master Plan and recent efforts at land use control, while not using the word directly, reflected concerns with diversity. Observing that young people who grew up in Princeton cannot afford to move back here, he suggested that “we’ve priced ourselves out of diversity.” Creating diversity appeared to be less of a problem for the University, according to Mr. Durkee, who reported that among the current undergraduate population, 55 per cent receive financial aid, 37 per cent are people of color, and ten per cent come from countries outside of the U.S. This number is even higher among graduate students and faculty. Two areas of current relevance to the discussion, he said, include the removal of the wall that has fronted the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding for thirty years on the corner of Prospect Street and Olden Lane, and the University’s continuing commitment to providing housing for students, faculty, and staff, who would otherwise exacerbate the demand for affordable housing in the Township and Borough. Mr. Santizo described the work of the Latino Reform Youth Council and a particularly well-received program for Latino high school students they sponsored called “Now What?” Mr. Davis emphasized the importance of acknowledging the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood’s history in any discussion of diversity in the community. Ms. Hoskins was the first of several people that morning to observe the presence of many over-55-year olds in the audience, a good segue to the question, where is affordable housing for the many older adults who want to remain in Princeton? The question of affordable housing for diverse populations dominated comments from the audience following the panelists’ presentations. Bill Moran of the Whole Earth Center wondered whether the University-owned land described as the “mirror campus” could be used for a housing development that would include the University, the two Princetons, and West Windsor. Helmut Schwab suggested that the Merwick site recently purchased by the University had similar potential. Mr. Durkee responded that the members of the University community who will live in the housing that is planned for the Merwick location represent “a range of people” who usually “stay for a long time.” Mr. Socolow led off the second panel with a presentation called “Sustainable Princeton Toward Town Targets?” The University, he noted, is doing a good job of collecting statistics on gasoline use, plane travel, electricity, and use of natural gas. The Township and Borough could follow suit: “Accounting challenges are everywhere,” he observed. “Keep score. Make it fun! Challenge Colmar, our twin. Get our science teachers involved, then the kids.” Introducing the term “environmental justice” into the conversation, he warned against actions that would hurt diversity goals in an effort to achieve environmental ends, like placing a waste disposal plant in a poor neighborhood. Both Mr. Socolow and, shortly afterward, Mr. Reed, returned to Mr. Moran’s question about developing the “mirror campus” by saying that it ought to be preserved for now. Ms. Kaczerski called for “a hundred more bike racks” around town and encouraged everyone to insulate their homes. Hoping for “synergy” between the three entities present that morning, she suggested that the Borough and the Township could be a “learning lab” for the University, which has obviously made significant strides in sustainability and diversity. Mr. Geddes seemed to concur when he commented on the “yearning on the part of the students to be out in the community.” Princeton Future’s next open meeting is Saturday, June 7, at 9 a.m. at the Library, when the topic will be “Structures and Processes.” Town Topics® may be purchased on Wednesday mornings at the following locations: Princeton McCaffreys, Coxs, Kiosk (Palmer Square), Krauszers (State Road), Olives, Speedy Mart (State Road), Wawa (University Place); Hopewell Village Express; Rocky Hill Wawa (Route 518); Pennington Pennington Market. Copyright© Town Topics®, Inc. 2011.

Great Health Magazine The experience of caring for her ill mother made Jacqueline Bisset more compassionate, both on and off screen. GILFy Pleasures: Who'd we leave out? As we discovered when compiling our Harrison Ford-inspired "GILFy Pleasures" gallery , there are a lot of still-sexy stars over 50. Nick Nolte on Nick Nolte CANNES, France -- Celebrity interviews abound at the Cannes Film Festival: Penelope Cruz chatting on the beach, Harrison Ford talking near the red carpet, Angelina Jolie conversing in a swank hotel. Lust, maybe love, and larceny in the Florida sun, and lassitude in the darkened theater. via San Diego Reader Netflix's Watch Instantly Has Movies Not Yet on DVD Scott from Cinematical discovered that Netflix's Watch Instantly has movies that have not been released on DVD, Netflix Has Movies That Aren't Even On DVD! Like 'Rolling Thunder'! . So while that was a juicy ... via Hacking NetFlix Comedy about the authentic and the fake, mainly as manifested among artists and their appreciators, on the island of Rhodes -- all very civilized and sophisticated, if a bit academically and yawningly so. via San Diego Reader In the Limelight: Andrew McCarthy "I was fired because I refused to allow a fellow actor to threaten me with physical violence, bully me and try to direct me." While the casting for the ladies to play the power brokers on NBC's Lipstick Jungle was imperative, no less attention was paid for the men with whom those women would be romantically entwined. via TV Squad Jacqueline Bisset: Who Dat? "Is this your favorite restaurant?" Posted Feb 19th 2008 11:36AM by TMZ Staff One of TMZ's photographers didn't 'memba who actress Jacqueline Bisset was on Monday, when she was spotted outside Madeo in Beverly Hills. via TMZ.com The view: Why movie lovers should never get their hopes up Smoke and mirrors ... Dennis Hopper in 1982. Photograph: Jane Bown Oddly, of the various emotions the film lover routinely puts him or herself through - frustration, confusion, impotent rage - disappointment ... via MediaGuardian.co.uk Photo Credit: Jacqueline Bisset's picture is courtesy of LeninImports. Photographic illustrations of Jacqueline Bisset are copyright © by their respective holders. The images are published with permission or as allowed by the copyright law's fair use or quotation provisions. If any copyright holder objects to an image being included, please notify us and it will be removed immediately. Top Synergy reveals the methods and means that have led to the development of the popular Relationships Analyst. While some aspects are more suited to experienced astrologers, you will find a lot of fascinating topics that may sway you from any conservative views you may have about relationships. Find out why Astro Profile has become such an important self-improvement tool. 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The Commissioner of Police, Railway Command, Mr Pius Imue, on Friday decorated two newly-promoted officers from the rank of CSP to ACP. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the occasion which held at the Nigeria Railway Corporation headquarters in Ebute Meta, Lagos, was witnessed by the corporation’s managing director, as well as other directors. The officers were Mr Chinedu Chinaka and Mr Abel Audu. Imue, who said he was excited at the approval of the promotions, urged the officers to redouble their efforts. He said: “Late 2015, I received the two officers posted to the command. “One of them wore a rank lower than his office, while the other wore the rank of an Area Commander and was deployed to Bauchi. “As God will have it, the good news came that they had been promoted to their real status of ACPs. “So I was excited when I got the news of their promotion, and I want them to do more with their rank.” The CP said the synergy between the NRC and the police command had made their operation easy in his 10 months of being in the saddle at the command. “They make our work easy in this command, not just in Lagos but nationwide. He said the teamwork and accessibility of the NRC management had helped the command to achieve success. Imue also commended officers in the command for their role in ensuring that security was always assured in the corporation’s operations across the country. He, therefore, charged the newly-promoted officers to live up to their responsibilities saying, “if the police fail in their duties, Nigeria will be embarrassed’’. In their remarks, the promoted officers expressed appreciation for the gesture and promised to rededicate themselves to the service of the Force. ACP Chinaka said: “We thank President Muhammadu Buhari, the IGP and the CP, for considering us worthy for this promotion. “We are very glad.” ACP Audu noted that: “Other than the day a policeman receives his salary, the happiest time for him is when he is promoted. “It is indeed a privilege for an officer to become a member of the management cadre of the Force with this promotion.” (NAN)

XFLSTL is the Winner of The January 2013 JK of the Month Contest! :thumbsup: Here We Go! :thumbsup: The January 2013 :washme: JK of the Month Contest :washme: Viair Super Duty On Board Air System PSC Front Flares, PSC Rear Flares PSC Rocker Knockers PSC Rear Corner Crushers RCV Front axle shaft Axle Sleeve's and Gusset's 17x9 Crager soft 8 Beadlock Rims JE Reel Front& Rear Drive Shafts Skyjacker 6" coil spring's JKS Front and rear adjustable track bars JKS rear swaybar links Rock Krawler Front swaybar links Body armor front and rear bumper /w tire carrier Cooper 37" STT tires XRC 8 Winch Updates since May JK of The Month 2012: 42" MTR/K's, Spyder Lock beadlocks, Rockjock D60 rear, Offroadhero Combo top... Currently awaiting delivery on Rockjock D60 front, Front and rear double throwdown EVO coilover system, Fulltraction longarm system. Story. I drove from Minnesota out to Idaho to buy this 2010 Rubicon New, it has been a fun and not very cheap hobby. Everytime I find something I want to do or crawl up that I cannot, I decide to make new upgrades. As most Jeeps this is a never ending storie, but one I am enjoying to the fullest. UPDATE: After my 1st trip to Moab this past June, and breaking a drive shaft and rear pinion, it was time to go bigger or go home... So Rockjock 60's front and rear are in order, Goodyear MTR/K 42's, a coilover system and alot of body trimming!!! Cannot wait to get back to Moab!!!!!!!!! 4" Currie Suspension Upper and Lower Johnny Joint adjustable control arms Progressively wound coil springs, Front urethane bump stop kit Rear bump stop spacers rear coil spring retaining kit Stainless braided extended brake line kit TeraFlex tuned Fox Racing 2.0 Long Travel Shocks w/ Remote Resivoirs 37x12.50R17 Goodyear MTRs 17x9 (3.5" BS) Unique Wheels JKS Front Track bar & Sector Shaft Reinforcement Kit ANTIROCK® Front Sway Bar ANTIROCK® Rear Sway Bar LightForce 140 Lancer lights w/ KC light mounts RROR Evap Canister Skid Adams 1310 Front and Rear Driveshafts Rock Hard 4x4 Parts Oil Pan, Transmission & Catalytic Converter Skid Plate ACE stubby front bumper with stinger ACE Rear bumper w/ tire carrier ACE Narrow fenders 48” Hi-Lift jack mounted with Jeep Swag mount aFe throttle body spacer aFe hi-tuck exhaust ARB Recovery Kit Cobra 75 WX ST CB w/ Firestick 5.13 Superior gears TeraFlex tuned Fox Racing 2.0 steering stabilizer Synergy Suspension Ball Joints Synergy Suspension HD tie rod Synergy Suspension HD flipped drag link Synergy Suspension Track Bar Relocation Mount Custom front axle truss Balistic Fabrication Diff Cover TeraFlex Track Bar (trussed) 5.13 Superior gears Teraflex Monster HD rear trac bar Rock Krawler Trac Bar Relocation Bracket Balistic Fabrication Diff Cover This is Dirty Gerty. She is a 2012 JKU. She is my first Jeep, and I now know what it is like to be a Jeep owner...broke. I have emptied every pocket, and this is where she is today. Thanks for looking! Cheers! RC 3.5" Lift Cut stock flares PSC evap skid Warrior rear LED corners Dynomax catback system w.3.5" Thrush glasspack RC Hybrid Stubby front bumper Viper Max 12,000lb winch w/synthetic line 16x9" American Racing ATX 345/75r16 BFG M/T 5.13 Motive Gears Front D30 Synergy sleeve/gusset/LCA skids, Ten Factory chromoly shafts, Aussie locker, Alloy USA Ball Joints I have owned multiple Jeeps but this one got me into rocks. Before I was all about mud and the "look", but with multiple hours on Jeepforum during my last deployment it got me try new terrian and build it for rocks/trails. There are 2 builds specifically but I'm not sure I can mention their names. So far I've taken her to URE and Rausch and loved every day that I went. Tom Woods 1310 Rear Drive Shaft Centerforce Dual Friction Clutch 2" Black Diamond BB Front 4dr Rubicon Front springs Bilstien 5100 Shocks Rock Krawler HD Tie Rod Rancho Steering Stabilizer Relocation Kit Set of factory rear swaybar links up front 285/75R16 Cooper Discoverer S/T 16 x 8 Procomp 8069 Extreme Alloys Front LoD 1st Gen Mid-Width Teraflex Rock Sliders Kilby EVAP Relocation Kit Riddler Diff Covers M.O.R.E. Oil Pan/Transmission Skid Plate Cobra 19III CB w/4" Wilson Radio Shack Handheld CB 20' 30,000 lb strap Tree Savers, Shackles, Snatch Block Warrior Products Safari Rack Warrior Products Mirror Relocation Brackets Bestop Safari Top It still only has a Budget Boost and after 110+k miles on it the oil pan is dented, the skids, cross-member and any thing else that hangs low are dented and twisted and have taken numerous hits from the rocks it likes to play on, but it still heads to the off-road park fairly often and regularly wheels with rigs that have more lift and larger tires. Then it returns home and performs it duty as a daily driver without much complaint, it has also been doing tow vehicle duty hauling our popup camper across PA on numerous trips. Still running 33" tires by the time these wear out hopefully I will be able to retire it from daily driver status and give it a makeover to more of a dedicated trail rig. 2008 Jeep Wrangler X Coast front drive shaft Riddler differential covers Rock Krawler 2.5 Max Travel System -High Clearance - Adjustable Lower Control Arms -Progressive Rate Front Coils -Bomb Proof Adjustable Front Track Bar -Front Sway Bar Quick Disconnects -Bomb Proof Rear Track Bar Relocation Bracket XD Series Addicts BFG KM2 35x12.5x17 Poison Spyder Brawler Lite Front Bumper Poison Spyder Evap Canister Skid Teraflex Hinged Tire Carrier ACE Rock Sliders Rugged Ridge Snorkel Monstalined Tub and Hinges Smittybilt Tailgate Cover Reupholstered Vinyl Seats Inside of Hard Top Painted Black Uniden Pro-520XL CB Radio and 3' Firestik Antenna Mopar Fuel Door AVS In-Channel Rain Guards Story: I purchased this Jeep used on 1/23/2012 and I took it for some stock off-roading with some buddies and I was hooked. I've been dumping as much money into the Jeep as often as possibly to keep raising the capabilities. Within the year I plan to make a trip out to MOAB with my father and we will be towing our rigs down! I update my build thread on this forum step by step as I go and I hope it has inspired some of you just how some of you have inspired me. I appreciate all the continued support throughout my build and I apologize for the lack of off-roading pictures or pictures without all my mods on. Wow! What a great way to start the new season :drool: :PopCorn: Good Luck To All :PopCorn: Thanks again Jim! Great looking lineup! Good luck everyone! Thanks for the first vote...Ali. :laugh: Didn't know all you sexy jeeps were entering this month! Least Ill have my 1 vote! Hahaha Good Luck all!!! Bump for walle! I just wanna say that TJ of the Month had 206 total votes. I know I am not the only one, but I would be ashamed if we don't have more... :thumbsup: Walle I love that signature advertisement for the contest, good thinking ! It's obvious the voters aren't scrolling far enough down to see my entry ;) and they're off! Walle and XFLSTL are neck and neck! I really like them all for different reasons. Shame I can't vote that way. Meh my jk is pretty regular. Its name is equally funny. Sport s with hood lights. I'm going to be getting some 33s on it in the coming weeks, but I don't have the funds to build like you folks. So I leave that to the pros. |The time now is 07:33 PM.| Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.8 Copyright ©2000 - 2016, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2016 DragonByte Technologies Ltd. vBulletin Security provided by vBSecurity v2.2.2 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2016 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.

SKA Calibration and Imaging Workshop, 2009 Mar. 30 - Apr. 2, 2009 | Socorro, NM 20th International Symposium on Space THz Technology April 20-22, 2009 | Charlottesville, VA The 2009 NRAO Postdoctoral Symposium April 29 - May 1, 2009 | Socorro, NM The EVLA Vision: Stars On and Off the Main Sequence May 26-28, 2009 | Socorro, NM Advancing Chemical Understanding through May 26-29, 2009 | Green Bank, WV Millimeter and Submillimeter Astronomy at High Angular Resolution June 8-12, 2009 | Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan NAIC-NRAO School on Single-Dish Radio Astronomy July 12-18, 2009 | Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico Assembly, Gas Content and Star Formation History of Galaxies September 21-24, 2009 | Charlottesville, VA An image of the Milky Way, taken by an observer in another galaxy, would probably reveal a spiral structure dotted with many bright HII regions, and an "educated guess" is that the Milky Way is a barred Sb to Sc galaxy. However, revealing the nature of this structure has proved elusive for decades. Indeed, we do not really know the number of spiral arms or how tightly wound is their pattern. The primary reason for the difficulty is the lack of accurate distance measurements throughout the Galaxy. We are now measuring trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions of sources of maser emission associated with high-mass star forming regions, using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and the Japanese VERA project. The long term goal is to accurately locate most high-mass star forming regions and construct a map or plan view of the Milky Way. The great advantage of trigonometric parallaxes is that one determines distances directly and geometrically, with no assumptions about luminosity, extinction, metallicity, crowding, etc. Early results from 18 sources locate several spiral arms as shown in Fig. 1. For the Perseus arm we are able to directly measure the spiral pitch angle of 16°, which, if constant throughout this arm and similar to other arms, favors four loosely wound over two tightly wound arms for the Galaxy. The parallax measurements also yield very accurate proper motions. Combining all of the observational data yields the full 3-dimensional locations and velocity vectors of the sources. By modeling the Milky Way as a smoothly rotating disk, we find that stars that form in large groups on average are orbiting the Galaxy ≈ 15 km s-1 slower than expected for circular orbits. We estimate the distance to the Galactic center is R0 = 8.4 ± 0.6 kpc. Our data indicate that the rotation speed of the Milky Way at the radius of the Sun is Θ0 = 254 ± 16 km s-1. We also find that the rotation curve of the Milky Way is nearly flat or slightly rising with distance from the Galactic center. Our rotation speed for the Milky Way is approximately 15% greater than the IAU recommended value of 220 km s-1. The implications for increasing the rotation speed of the Milky Way are profound. It reduces kinematic distances by ≈ 15%, which can affect estimates of sizes (by 15%), luminosities (by 30%), and masses (by up to 50%). Interestingly, the rotational properties of the Milky Way are nearly identical to those of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) as shown in Fig. 2. The most straightforward interpretation of the similarities of the rotation curves for the Milky Way and Andromeda is that these two galaxies, which dominate the Local Group, are nearly equal in size and mass. Thus, the MilkyWay should probably not be considered the little sister of the Andromeda galaxy; the two galaxies are more like fraternal twins. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is offering an exceptional collaboration opportunity for students and young researchers pursuing interests relating to millimeter wave astronomy research and development. As part of its mentoring and outreach activities in support of international programs, the NRAO has proposed to the National Science Foundation that the NRAO send a contingent of approximately 14 students and young researchers to attend the “Millimeter and Submillimeter Astronomy at High Angular Resolution” conference. The meeting aims to cover a range of scientific and technical topics related to millimeter-wave astronomy, with an eye towards key science to be done with ALMA. This international workshop is being hosted by the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics, National Astronomy Observatory of Japan, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Co-hosting is being provided by the Astronomical Society of the Republic of China. With such a wide level of support, this 5-day conference promises to draw some of the top researchers to participate in over 40 invited talks. Below are what we anticipate will be the most frequently asked questions regarding this opportunity. What is the website for conference information? What are the conference dates? June 8 -12, 2009 What is the location of the conference? Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Who is eligible to attend? Students and early career researchers with an interest in the fields of (sub)millimeter and radio astronomical research and instrumentation development. What costs will be covered? Funding is intended to cover registration fees, round trip airfare from home institution, lodging at the conference, per diem, and direct costs related to traveling to and attending the conference. Will I need to make travel and conference arrangements? No, the NRAO staff will make the necessary airline and lodging reservations on your behalf. How do I apply? You can apply by sending a statement of interest via email to firstname.lastname@example.org. When are applications due? April 15, 2009 Who can I contact for more information? Contact Jennifer Neighbours at email@example.com. The newly-formed Center for Chemistry of the Universe (CCU), headquartered in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Virginia along with NRAO and the North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC) of Charlottesville, VA is holding a workshop at the NRAO Green Bank, WV site entitled: "Advancing Chemical Understanding through Astronomical Observations." The topics of the workshop will be the use of astronomical instruments, in particular the GBT, to study chemical processes in astronomical environments. Thus, its focus will not be on molecules as tracers of physical conditions, but rather the inverse: using molecular observations to provide information on chemical bonding and formation in environments not easily replicated on Earth. The 6 meeting sessions will include: The meeting will take place May 27-29, 2009 with arrival and an opening reception on May 26. Limited travel funds are available upon request especially for graduate students and postdocs who are strongly encouraged to attend and participate in a poster session highlighting their research interests. Title: Assembly, Gas Content and Star Formation History of Galaxies Dates: September 21-24, 2009 Location: Charlottesville Omni Hotel Contact information: firstname.lastname@example.org In the last two decades, the availability of large ground-based and space-based facilities, and improved theoretical modeling, have led to significant advances in our understanding of star formation, the gas cycle in galaxies, and galaxy assembly and evolution over cosmic time. With the next generation of long-wavelength ground- and space-based facilities set to become fully operational in the first half of the coming decade, the time is ripe to review the theoretical and observational progress that has been made in the areas of extragalactic star formation, interstellar gas properties and galaxy assembly, and to assess where science with facilities such as ALMA, EVLA, Herschel Space Telescope, and the JWST are likely to contribute transformational understanding in these areas. Keys issues to be addressed are: Within weeks of the first Vertex antenna’s acceptance, it was outfitted with standard Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) backend from NRAO-Socorro, the engineering model front end from the East Asian Front End Integration Center, and elements of the water vapor radiometer and calibration device from Europe. The surface setting was verified by holography and reset for the appropriate elevation angle. During March, major components of the AEM antenna, contracted by ESO, will arrive at that contractor’s area at the ALMA Operations Support Facility in northern Chile. This arrival will bring the antenna count at the ALMA site to 14. At the Array Operations Site (AOS) antenna foundation construction continues. The Joint ALMA Office in Santiago has issued a Newsletter. Antennas continue to be converted to the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA) design. A total of 20 antennas are now used for scientific observations. EVLA antennas accounted for 71.4% of all antenna hours used in scientific observations in February 2009. The mechanical overhaul of the 21st antenna is well underway. Test observations with a prototype WIDAR correlator were made in the last quarter of 2008 in support of a production review of the correlator’s major circuit boards. Since then, a subset of the final WIDAR correlator (called WIDAR-0) has been populated with a limited number of circuit boards. The first on-the-sky fringe visibilities with WIDAR-0 were recorded on March 6, 2009. A plan for the transition from the VLA correlator to the WIDAR correlator has been developed in support of the announcement for early science opportunities with the EVLA (see the February 2009 NRAO eNews article). The transition will occur in the first quarter of 2010. Two WIDAR configurations will be supported for general use, suitable for continuum and spectral line applications, with bandwidth and frequency resolution better than those obtainable with the VLA correlator. The number of antennas that can be used with WIDAR is set by the number of station boards. The station board provides delay tracking and digital filtering of the signals from the antennas. Since 25 EVLA antennas are expected to be available by January 2010, the correlator transition plan places a priority on station board delivery. A problem with the power supplies on the WIDAR station boards was discovered in late 2008. The problem has been resolved, and the production order for the station boards was placed on January 23, 2009. The order represents a significant achievement for our Canadian colleagues at the National Research Council. The delivery of the boards is consistent with the correlator transition plan described above. The WIDAR’s baseline boards contain the correlator chips where the correlations are computed and ultimately dictate the bandwidth that WIDAR can process. Testing of the baseline boards continues, and their production order will be placed in the next few months. All of the baseline boards are scheduled for delivery in advance of the time they are needed per the correlator transition plan. A total of six, fully EVLA-compliant C-band (4-8 GHz) receivers are now installed in the array. The production order for the receiver’s wideband orthomode transducer (OMT) was received in February 2009. The interim C-band receivers installed in EVLA antennas are basically EVLA receivers that use VLA-style OMTs. The process of converting these to fully EVLA-compliant receivers is a matter of replacing the VLA-style OMT with the EVLA OMT. We expect the OMT replacement process to proceed quickly, giving as many as 17 antennas with EVLA-compliant C-band receivers by the end of 2009. Eight new Ka-band (26-40 GHz) receivers have been installed in the array. These receivers provide a completely new scientific capability for the (E)VLA. A call for Ka-band proposals for the C-configuration was issued January 15, 2009 (see News for VLA/VLBA/HSA Proposers, January 15, 2009), along with a call for exploratory proposals for the current B-configuration. The EVLA’s new Observation Preparation Tool (OPT) must be used to configure Ka-band observations since current VLA-specific software (i.e. observe and Jobserve) cannot accommodate the new band. The first, fully EVLA-compliant S-band (2-4 GHz) receiver was installed in an EVLA antenna in January 2009. Preliminary observations and laboratory tests indicate that the receiver is performing to specification. The production order for the S-band OMT was placed. As with Ka-band, the S-band receiver provides a completely new scientific capability for the (E)VLA. S-band observations with a limited number of antennas may be possible in late 2009, assuming production proceeds on schedule. Excellent progress continues to be made with the fabrication of the feed horns for the EVLA receivers. The fabrication of the horns for the L, C, and Ka-band receivers has been completed. By late February 2009, 13 S-band horns have been assembled, well in advance of receiver production. The production order for the Ku-band horns was placed. The X-band horns have been designed and prototyped, and the production order will be placed in early FY2010. Although the production quantities of the 3-bit, 4 Gsps digitizer chips were delivered to the NRAO in September 2008, the production of the sampler modules that contain the digitizers has been delayed due to a clocking problem encountered with a serial-to-parallel converter on the sampler board. The layout of the board has been revised, and testing of revised board is underway. If testing goes well, the production of the sampler modules could resume as soon as June 2009. A science workshop on “The EVLA Vision: Galaxies through Cosmic Time” was held in Socorro on December 16-18, 2008, and 96 scientists from around the world participated. The workshop included numerous science talks on galaxy evolution and cosmology in addition to presentations on EVLA project status. The science workshop was followed by a meeting of the Science Advisory Group for the EVLA (SAGE) on December 19-20. The SAGE was asked to make recommendations on the development of capabilities to be delivered to the community, possible topics for a 2009 science workshop, and a process to involve the community in proposing early science experiments for the EVLA. The SAGE was also asked to comment on a proposed program for resident shared-risk observing (RSRO). The prioritized growth path recommended by SAGE is to implement the EVLA’s wide bandwidth capability, improve spectral resolution using correlator recirculation, and enable high frequency operation of the instrument. The SAGE deemed that special correlator modes, such as phased array operation, pulsar capabilities, and burst mode, were of lower priority. The SAGE recommended that stars should be the topic of the next EVLA science workshop, which will be held on May 26-28 in Socorro. The SAGE endorsed the RSRO program and recommended a variety of methods for aggressively advertizing the EVLA’s capabilities. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) Jansky Fellowship program provides outstanding opportunities for research in astronomy. Jansky Fellows formulate and carry out investigations either independently or in collaboration with others within the wide framework of interests of the Observatory. The program is open each fall to candidates with interest in radio astronomy instrumentation, computation, and theory, and prior radio experience is not required. Multi-wavelength projects leading to a synergy with NRAO instruments are encouraged. We are pleased to announce that three new Jansky Fellows will be joining NRAO in the fall of 2009 and spring of 2010. Two of the Jansky Fellows will be at NRAO sites, Charlottesville and Socorro, and the third will be hosted at the University of Arizona in Tucson. In addition, Adam Leroy will be joining us in Charlottesville as a Hubble Fellow. Hubertus Intema, currently a Ph.D. student at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, will be arriving as a Jansky Fellow at the NRAO in Charlottesville, Virginia this fall. Huib expects to earn his Ph.D. in Astronomy from Leiden Observatory in June of this year. He now holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Astronomy from Leiden University, and a B.Sc. in Electronics from Hogeschool Utrecht. Huib plans to conduct research and develop data reduction techniques and to study the steep spectrum radio sources that lie in clusters of galaxies. His research interests include diffuse radio emission from galaxy clusters, high-redshift radio galaxies, low frequency radio interferometry, calibration and imaging techniques, and algorithm development. Nirupam Roy will be joining us at the NRAO in Socorro, New Mexico in fall 2009. Nirupam is currently working as a research scholar at National Centre for Radio Astrophysics-Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, in Pune, India. He expects to receive his Ph.D. in Physics from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in July of this year. Nirupam also holds a M.Sc. in Physics and a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from the Bengal Engineering College. Nirupam’s research will study the properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) including magnetic fields in dense molecular clouds, the temperature of the warm neutral medium, and magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in supernova remnants. His research interests also include H I spectroscopy and polarization, radio astronomy techniques, and interstellar medium turbulence. Ran Wang, from Peking University, will be hosted by the University of Arizona as a Jansky Fellow beginning spring 2010. Ran worked at the NRAO in Socorro, New Mexico under the direction of Chris Carilli as a pre-doctoral student from 2006 to 2008. She expects to receive her Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Peking University by July 2009. Ran also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Astrophysics from Peking University. While she is a Jansky Fellowship at the University of Arizona, Ran will work on a series of observational programs to map the dust, gas, and stellar components in the z ~ 6 quasar-host systems at (sub)millimeter, radio, and infrared wavelengths. Her ultimate goal is to fully understand the evolutionary properties of the first quasars. Adam Leroy has been awarded a Hubble Fellowship that he will bring to the NRAO in Charlottesville, Virginia. Adam is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy working on projects related to the NRAO large program THINGS (The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey) and conducting extensive millimeter-wave observations with the IRAM 30m telescope. Adam holds a M.A. and Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of California at Berkeley as well as a B.A. in Astronomy and Astrophysics and Physics from Harvard University. Adam will work on his research proposal entitled, “What Drives the Conversion of Gas to Stars in Galaxies?” Carol Lonsdale, Assistant Director for the North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC), will serve as his Faculty Contact at the NRAO. With this connection to the NAASC, he will have access to professionals who can collaborate with him in combining millimeter and space telescope IR data to study galaxy evolution. The next generation of radio telescopes will need many more receivers than are used on current instruments, either to increase the field of view with focal-plane arrays of feeds or to increase collecting area with many more antennas. This requires that new receiver systems must be less expensive, smaller, and lighter, and consume less power without sacrificing the noise performance of the best current receivers. The core function of a radio astronomy receiver intended for spectroscopy is to convert the very high frequency astronomical signal to a low frequency where it can be sampled and processed in a digital signal processor, such as a correlator. This has typically involved several frequency conversion (mixer) and filter stages to suppress receiver responses at unwanted frequencies. Each mixer has two responses: upper and lower sideband. The filters suppress the unwanted sideband that would otherwise overlap and be confused with the desired sideband. The idea of using just one conversion stage and canceling the unwanted sideband with analog phase shifters, usually quadrature hybrids, has been around for a long time. Sideband-separating SIS mixers are used extensively in ALMA receivers where 10 dB sideband rejection is sufficient to minimize receiver noise. The stumbling block for use at lower frequencies has been that analog phase shifters cannot be made accurate or stable enough for adequate cancellation of radio frequency interference (RFI) from the unwanted sideband. The advent of small, high-speed digital signal processing devices gives new life to this old idea. Digital phase shifters are rock stable and can be easily calibrated to compensate for errors in the few necessary analog components. To test the achievable performance of a single downconversion, sideband-separating receiver using digital signal recombination, we built a system tunable from 5 to 9 GHz with inexpensive components and numerous connectors and cables. The intermediate-frequency (IF) bandwidth was limited to ±27 MHz by the sampling rate of the available 14-bit digitizer. The prototype receiver achieved sideband-suppression in excess of 50 dB over that entire range; a typical all-analog equivalent circuit produces 15 to 25 dB of sideband rejection depending on tuning range. No special amplitude or phase matching was required in the analog hardware. It only needs to be stable. Digital phase-shifter coefficients were determined for local oscillator (LO) settings over the full 5-9 GHz range, and we found that the calibration vectors can be factored to avoid the need for the full two-dimensional (IF and LO) measurement matrix. Quantization errors were shown not to degrade sensitivity or sideband suppression as long as the rms noise voltage is at least 5 analog-to-digital sample levels. A follow-up version was constructed (Figure 1) using a more integrated approach to better evaluate the calibration stability over longer time periods, to test its performance in a demanding RFI environment, and to demonstrate the technique over a wider IF bandwidth using faster dual digitizers. It was designed for the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) L-band receiver (1200-1700 MHz) using a single fixed LO at 1450 MHz and 250 MHz bandwidth in each sideband. Both sidebands are available simultaneously. The new mixer uses physical channelization of component layout to avoid coupling between stages and a new filter designed for better impedance match at all frequencies. Commercial surface-mount components are used throughout. The minimum size of the box containing the components is close to being limited by the size of the mounting flanges of the SMA connectors. The results from tests of the latest mixer are excellent. Sideband separation is at least 60 dB over the entire 500 MHz band, and this degrades to no worse than 50 dB when the temperature of the box is raised 12°C above the calibration temperature. This is a much bigger change than is expected in practice. The next step is to attach the mixer to the output of the GBT L-band receiver to see how it fares in the real world of RFI. The next R&D stage in the lab is to incorporate the A/D converters into the mixer chassis to assure that the switching noise from the digital circuits can be adequately shielded from the analog components. Then an optical fiber transmitter will be added to complete the goal of a small receiver package with an RF input connector and an optical fiber output connector that carries digital samples that can produce two well separated sidebands. For more details on the digital processing mathematics and a description of the first prototype see NRAO Electronics Division Internal Report #320. The NRAO End-to-End Operations team has produced a new Web service that makes astronomical image archives easily accessible by the public through use of the Google Sky desktop application. The new service, called KML Now!, takes advantage of Virtual Observatory protocols to give users easy access to astronomical data in over 150 image archives covering the full electromagnetic spectrum, including seven NRAO image collections. KML Now allows image data to be automatically opened and displayed in Google Sky, using Google’s Keyhole Markup Language (KML) data format. With KML Now, users can search for astronomy images by entering search coordinates and selecting one or more Virtual Observatory image archives. KML Now returns a KML file that the user can open in Google Sky. For successful queries, this file tells Google Sky where to find the desired images and how to project the images on the digital sky. Astronomy image data formats can be difficult to use for non-professionals, but KML Now performs the image format conversion “behind the scenes”, making the process of acquiring and viewing images very easy. More detailed information about KML Now can be found on its home page. ALMA Science Operations Astronomers: ALMA is seeking ALMA Science Operations astronomers who will work as Astronomer on Duty (AoD) at the ALMA Operations Support Facility (OSF), and spend part of their time at the ALMA Regional Centers (ARCs) as well as in the ALMA offices in Santiago for research and data quality control. Assistant Scientist: The Scientific Services Division is seeking an energetic person to join the scientific staff in Green Bank, West Virginia to support observers who come to the telescope as well as work on a diverse variety of projects. This may include the development and commissioning of new instrumentation on the telescope, working with the engineering staff to improve the overall telescope performance, and aiding with the data reduction pipelines needed for the GBT. Head of the Joint ALMA Observatory Archive Operations Group: ALMA is seeking a Data Manager for the Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) to lead the Archive Group and be responsible for the set-up and maintenance of the services of the JAO archives as well as for pipeline operations and data quality assurance. The Data Manager will supervise the activities of the archive operations, database contents management and pipeline operations. Systems Astronomers - Joint ALMA Observatory: ALMA is seeking ALMA system astronomers who will be the experts on the performance of ALMA, and will provide advice and assistance to ALMA operations working closely with the system engineers in the Department of Technical Services. ALMA Commissioning Scientists: The Joint ALMA Office invites applications for the position of Commissioning Scientists to be based in Santiago, Chile. These are international staff positions in the ALMA Project, the world's most sensitive mm/submm interferometer, which is currently under construction in northern Chile. The role of ALMA Commissioning Scientists is to assist the Project Scientist and Deputy Project Scientist in planning and executing the scientific commissioning of ALMA. Assistant Scientist: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is beginning a program to develop focal plane arrays for the Green Bank Telescope, beginning with a 3mm array. We are looking for an energetic individual to provide scientific leadership for the focal plane array development program, particularly for the GBT’s high frequency range. CASA Group Supervisor: The CASA Computing Division of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory is seeking a group supervisor to lead the CASA (Common Astronomy Software Applications) software group. The person filling this position will be directly involved in high-level design decisions for CASA, and will participate actively in the implementation of the resultant designs. Cooperative Education Appointment (Engineering): The NRAO Green Bank Electronics Division seeks a cooperative education student to work with our engineers to develop control systems and instrumentation for the telescope. Examples of projects underway include the Precision Telescope Control System, a project to enable the telescope to work at very high frequencies, as well as the CICADA project, a project using reconfigurable computing hardware to perform complex digital signal processing algorithms on telescope signals. Depending on the project selected, the student will gain experience in the fields of digital signal processing, reconfigurable computing, digital control systems, or other topics in electrical or computer engineering. Joint ALMA Observatory Antenna Group Manager: The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) is seeking a senior engineer to become the Manager of the ALMA Antenna Group. He/she will lead a group of 40 people and be responsible for all activities associated with the reliable and effective operation of all antennas in the array.The successful candidate will be responsible for the day-to-day operation and maintenance of all antennas and associated equipment (e.g. optical pointing telescopes, nutators), developing the required maintenance schedules and programs and, thereafter, monitoring their execution. Software Engineer: The ALMA Backend IPT is seeking a Software Engineer to write, debug and maintain test and measurement graphical user interfaces (GUIs). In addition, the engineer will provide data analysis, organization, and presentation as well as preparation of test reports. Software Engineer (KFPA): The K-band Focal Plane Array Project at the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) is seeking a Software Engineer to develop monitor and control software. The seven beam array under development will improve mapping speed and map calibration for extended molecular regions. Upon completion and commissioning of the seven beam array, work will commence on a larger array and complementary hardware infrastructure. Software Engineer II: EVLA Computing is seeking a Software Engineer to assist in the design and development of distributed, real-time, monitor, control, and data processing software. The EVLA is an enhancement of the Very Large Array (VLA), a radio telescope located 50 miles west of Socorro, NM. This position includes, but is not limited to, responsibility for the telescope calibration (TelCal) software - an application that will capture and process data output from the EVLA WIDAR correlator backend, and then distribute the processing results to the rest of the software system.

In 1999, accompanied by the slogan “infinite possibilities”, Rittal launched its TS 8 enclosure system. Today, with over ten million enclosures manufactured so far, the TS 8 bayed enclosure has become established as the standard for many industries worldwide. Key success factors of Rittal’s TS 8 include its high level of flexibility and efficiency, high quality and safety standards, as well as its availability worldwide. The TS 8 enclosure is used in 92 percent of the world’s 1,005 branches of industry and has thus conquered nearly every industrial market within 15 years. Industries include mechanical engineering, panel building and switchgear production, the automotive industry, energy, as well as information technology and telecommunications. The food and processing industries are also increasingly the stage for a robust and successful enclosure system. As a platform for the “Rittal - The System.” modular system, custom-fit solutions can be created for power distribution, industrial automation, facility management, and data centres, thanks to the optimum technical interaction of components from mechanics, climate control and power. Faced by a variety of applications, customers no longer have to rely on different enclosure types, but can always benefit from the advantages of a uniform and universal system platform and a single range of accessories. Alongside the perfect interaction with appropriate climate control and power distribution components, the TS 8 system platform permits synergy effects with other types of Rittal enclosures. This way, plant constructors can make significant cuts in time and costs with the TS 8 baying system, the SE 8 system enclosure, the CM compact enclosure, the PC enclosure and the TP TopConsole system by using uniform system accessories. Tags: Rittal, Company News, Floor Standing Enclosure News, Panel Building News, e-lec.org

Fertiliser tree systems (FTS) also help boost food security and play a role in "climate proofing" the region's arable land, the paper adds. Researchers from the World Agroforestry Centre say poor soil fertility is one of the main obstacles to improving food production in Africa. Some of the studies have shown that in TFS (Tree Fertiliser Systems) across Africa as a whole, yields are doubling or more in two-thirds of cases. Nextbigfuture looked at fertiliser trees in articles in 2009 such as cities 2.0 in the reinventing farming section. The Faidherbia tree - pending some further research on its impact on the water table - may now provide a natural and widespread fertilizer fix. According to the Agroforestry Centre, farmers in Malawi testify the tree is like a "fertilizer factory in the field", as it takes nitrogen from the air, fixes it in the leaves and subsequently incorporates it into the soil. The Agroforestry Centre's research showed that in Malawi maize yields increased by 280 per cent in the zone under the tree canopy compared with the zone outside the tree canopy. In Zambia, unfertilized maize yields in the vicinity of Faidherbia trees averaged 4.1 tonnes per hectare, compared to 1.3 tonnes nearby but beyond the tree canopy. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability - Agricultural success from Africa: the case of fertilizer tree systems in southern Africa (Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe) In response to the declining soil fertility in southern Africa and the negative effects that this leads to, such as food insecurity besides other developmental challenges, fertilizer tree systems (FTS) were developed as technological innovation to help smallholder farmers to build soil organic matter and fertility in a sustainable manner. In this paper, we trace the historical background and highlight the developmental phases and outcomes of the technology. The synthesis shows that FTS are inexpensive technologies that significantly raise crop yields, reduce food insecurity and enhance environmental services and resilience of agro-ecologies. Many of the achievements recorded with FTS can be traced to some key factors: the availability of a suite of technological options that are appropriate in a range of different household and ecological circumstances, partnership between multiple institutions and disciplines in the development of the technology, active encouragement of farmer innovations in the adaptation process and proactive engagement of several consortia of partner institutions to scale up the technology in farming communities. It is recommended that smallholder farmers would benefit if rural development planners emphasize the merits of different fertility replenishment approaches and taking advantage of the synergy between FTS and mineral fertilizers rather than focusing on `organic vs. inorganic' debates. Increasing Productivity in African Food and Agricultural Systems (289 pages) If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks

AED.com is not only an industry leader in the United States for superior new and Re-certified medical equipment but our service has spread across the globe to more than 40 countries. AED.com International provides quality service and products to consumers across the globe. AED.om is not bound by domestic borders; this is thanks to our partnership with FedEx and other couriers. This synergy and flexibility has enabled us to export our products in a timely and efficient matter wherever you need them. We have been navigating the labyrinth of international logistics for the past 13 years and have succeeded in making sure every customer—including those all the way from Dubai to across the world in New Zealand--receives the equipment they need on time every time they place an order. We have customers on every continent except Antarctica--and with some effort we expect to be there soon! The majority of our international customers are interested in our large inventory of Re-certified defibrillators and AEDs. International customers still receive our multi-year warranty on Re-Certified products as well which creates a trusting relationship to help continue to grow our international brand. Please contact our team of international specialists today for more information on the multiple products we can offer to you. We have you covered--whether it is in Timbuktu or Turkey. Se Habla Español International Sales Division (P) 855-233-0266 ext. 233 Se Habla Español This website and its content is © Copyright of DXE Medical, Inc. All rights reserved. Redistribution or reproduction of any or all of the contents in any form is strictly prohibited. Please Contact Customer Care Phone: (855) 233-0266 *Calls will be answered between 8am and 5pm Monday - Friday CST

The vehicle in your driveway is head and shoulders above the rest compared to all the other cars, trucks, and SUVs on the road today. Make no mistake, you didn't buy your LTD unless you understood you would be getting performance and value both impeccably combined into one automobile. Your Ford dealership isn't the only place to locate genuine or original equipment quality repair parts to fix your LTD. While it may not be difficult to locate replacement parts for Ford vehicles, these days the necessity for nothing but the absolute best are required to maintain your car or truck. It requires a certain synergy - a need for many cooling components on your Ford LTD working in concert - to maintain constant engine temperature, and like a house of cards when one goes down they all fail. A very important one is the cooling fan assembly, and it will kick on after a temperature sensor detects the coolant is getting too hot. Most of the time your Ford LTD cooling fan assembly turns on suddenly is when your car or truck is not traveling fast; this is because there is not enough airflow into the radiator to lower the coolant temperature. While the cooling fan is running it is sucking air from in front of the radiator through its fins, the temperature of the coolant inside the core lowers and it re-enters the engine. Buying new Ford parts from www.carpartsdiscount.com means you are paying the lowest prices for the highest quality original and aftermarket replacement LTD parts on the internet. Given all the trouble that can be involved with installing a part to fix your car or truck, let www.carpartsdiscount.com be the number one store you go to make purchasing it easy. At Car Parts Discount, we have live customer service members on the phone with enough expertise to help you select the appropriate Ford LTD part for your needs. All the Ford LTD Cooling Fan Assembly parts on this page will fit vehicles made in 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965. Choose your year below to refine your search.

Below, I provide a road map to the key issues in this dispute. Although it’s really just about money, there are a lot of moving parts and many players here. Regardless of the resolution, a Caremark spin-off is now even more likely per my prediction in When will CVS and Caremark split up?. Rather than just reading what other people said about this news, I strongly encourage you to read the original statements: - Walgreens Will Not Participate in Future CVS Caremark Pharmacy Network Plans - CVS Caremark Issues Statement in Response to Walgreens Unexpected Announcement Maintenance Choice works…for CVS. Maintenance Choice is having a competitive effect, and Walgreens is drawing a line in the sand to challenge this program. Maintenance Choice pushed CVS’ same-store pharmacy sales growth above Walgreen’s growth starting in early 2008. See the chart in CVS Grows While Legal Storm Clouds Gather. This above-market growth came from a mix of cannibalizing its own mail-order pharmacy and share gains from competing pharmacies. Note that Walgreen is not walking away from current Caremark business, only “new and renewed plans.” Translation: They want CVS Caremark to stop selling Maintenance Choice. Alternatively, they would love a chance to play in the network a la Walgreen's own Advantage90 program. Walgreen likes to play hardball. CVS stated that “Walgreens has tried this approach several times in the past, targeting employers, health insurers and government entities.” This is actually true. Walgreen has a long history of pushing back against payers when it feels undercompensated. Examples include Washington’s Medicaid program and Michigan HMO Midwest Health Plan. These titans have clashed before. This isn’t even the first battle between Walgreen and Caremark. Check out More Legal News: Caremark v WAG from the Drug Channels archives. In 2007, Walgreens prematurely cancelled its Provider Agreement to fill prescriptions for four health benefit plans managed by Caremark, claiming that CVS Caremark had unilaterally reduced payments. CVS subsequently sued Walgreen. Everyone eventually made up. But still, WTF? I’m puzzled as to why Walgreen picked this fight in such a public way. They would ultimately be the loser if they really walked away from new Caremark business. Walgreens mentioned that about 12% of its retail prescription revenue (about 7% of its total revenue) came from claims processed by Caremark’s PBM business, which is surprisingly low. For comparison, about 22% of prescription revenue at CVS pharmacies came from Caremark. (See Maintenance Choice Update: CVS Gain, Caremark Same.) Walgreen hit ‘em when it hurts. Walgreen timed their maneuver to inflict maximum pain. It’s no coincidence that the announcement hit shortly after happy talk from Caremark about the 2011 Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) selling season. Last week, Tom Ryan said: “We're in a really good position around our business, one for retaining clients, but two, also for new clients on a go-forward basis.” (source) This week, things don't look so rosy. Surprise! The NCPA is gloating. The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), which lobbies on behalf of independent pharmacies, could barely contain their glee at the news. In typically over-the-top fashion, they said: “Walgreens' momentous decision is an indictment of all that has gone wrong for patients and the practice of pharmacy since the CVS Caremark merger in 2007.” (source) It reminds me of a line from a Neko Case song: “The night I fell into the lion's jaws; To my regret and your delight.” Pure play PBMs are the real winners. While neither Express Scripts (NASDAQ:ESRX) nor Medco Health Solutions (NYSE:MHS) have weighed in publicly, this news will be positive for the pure-play PBMs in the current selling season. A protracted dispute will create even more momentum for the pure-play PBMs. Walgreen is being a bit hypocritical. F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said that “the true test of a first-rate mind is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time.” By this standard, the folks at Walgreen must be geniuses. Walgreen complains that MC “limits patient choice.” Hmmm, doesn’t Walgreen’s arrangement with Caterpillar also use a preferred pharmacy network model? What about the rumored direct-to-payer deal with Delta? I’ll leave you with one extra-controversial thought: A Caremark spin-off is even more likely. We now have another example of negative synergy. Even if this dispute is resolved, the damage is already done. Payers will question the wisdom of signing on with a PBM that can’t properly manage its retail network. See When will CVS and Caremark split up? for more on my rationale for a separation.

Actress Soha Ali Khan is all set to make her debut on the small screen as a game show host and says coming on television was an obvious choice. The actress will host Godrej Khelo Jeeto Jiyo, a series of conceptualised games in a home-styled setting, starting June 29. "This show is different because I can interact directly with the participants, feel their nerves, give away prizes and make them happy. And TV was an obvious choice because of its wide audience reach", Soha said on the launch. On the show contestants will be allowed to team up with a relative or a friend to play a series of innovative games to win the grand prize - a fully furnished Godrej Brighter Home. Consumers can participate in the show by first purchasing any Godrej product and then sending an SMS giving details about the value and barcode number of the product. It is being produced by BIG Synergy and sponsored by consumer products brand Godrej. View more random threads:

The Space Saving Chair is the latest piece to come from the Gosling Marine carbon fibre furniture collection, which is one of two principal collections from the London-based furniture designer. Designed by Gosling’s Phil Sturdy, the initial idea was to preserve as much of the yachts space as possible without losing design integrity. In keeping with the rest of the range, the ‘space saving’ chair is handcrafted in carbon fibre with a design inspired by the Art Deco movement, but with a contemporary appeal. The chair is finished with teak, complimenting exterior deck spaces and making it the ideal outdoor dining chair. The Low Backed Carver dining chair, which is equally Art Deco inspired and teak finished provides a complimentary item to the Space Saving Chair, with a similar design, but a more vertical backrest. The white carbon fibre and teak combination is the most prominent theme across the entire Gosling Marine collection, which includes an array of tables and seating for both the interior and exterior of the yacht. The synergy of the two materials not only complement each other, but provide an exceptional strength and resilience to each piece of furniture. Traditional cabinet making techniques are combined with state of the art engineering, to bring the concept to reality. Gosling’s highly skilled craftsmen use an advanced bonding technique in order to integrate the wood with the moulded carbon fibre. The chair is available with either a walnut or teak trim and works best with the Sunbrella upholstered back and seat cushions for extra comfort. The lightweight chair is also easy to stow due to its shape and weight, which is one of the elements designed specifically for racing yachts and their owners.

Lotus Connections just became IBM Connections. Sametime may be next. Portal has always been WebSphere. Lotus as a brand has been toned down even at Lotusphere. And business cards now read "IBM Collaboration Solutions". It appears this "Lotus Knows" campaign was a huge waste of money. Carefully avoiding to show the product, it pushed a brand, that is now going invisible. If the Lotus brand disappeared, would anyone care? Would anyone notice? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsUJ86bIMN8 Ouch. That's a nasty video. I am not questioning if anybody cares. I am asking if this campaign was a huge waste of money. Don't think it matters. Actually the Lotus dept. has been WPLC for a while, before it became ICS. What matters is that IBM continues to invest in the solutions,not the Brand name. Even MS got rid of the Groove brand. It's IBM that competes with MS, not Lotus. In my honest opinion,IBM have a stronger name than Lotus in the Enterprise world. "Without deviation from the norm, 'progress' is not possible" [Frank Zappa] @Tommy - Also from Frank Zappa: "Watch out where the huskies go, don't you eat that yellow snow!" @vowe, no it wasn't a waste of money; I am certain that there are metrics that show that it was a success. Plus, there was the goodwill it brought to the faithful - "Look, they're advertising/marketing Lotus!" (in the US and few other countries*) And even if it was a "huge waste of money," so what? The cost was probably a rounding error for IBM. * - more countries coming soon @vowe - drop in the bucket compared with Doesn't Workplace For all we know, the LK campaign is what caused IBM to realize that the Lotus name had been tarnished irreparebly. There is definite value in that knowledge. The Lotus quarter-by-quarter revenue decline has also slowed. Q1 2011 actually had some growth. I'm guessing the LK campaign had at least a little to do with that. Do I smell Stockholm syndrome? "The largest marketing campaign in ten years did/didn't work?" Its hardly a surprise. Brand death was openly discussed at iLug 2010 where it was stated that the next fat client would NOT be called 'Lotus Notes'. The upside to this is that whatever the new product would be called would have to be - *gasp* - marketed. Given the recent run of broken promises however, I'm not holding my breath. This is why I believe that the Lotus Management dodged the ball at Lotusphere by denying that the brand was being discarded. It would have been a perfect opportunity to explain to the faithful that things were going to change, and turn it into something positive. Instead we have this slow drip of change coming out of Cambridge that does nothing but scare the large customers (Ernst and Young, anyone?). Textbook really. A Textbook example on how NOT to run a brand. I assure you, I have no problem selling IBM software here in Seattle. There is no twitch or blank stare like I get in response to Lotus. But why should they invest in marketing all the sub-brands separately when they can use the power of a single, ubiquitous IBM brand? Now what would be nice is if they actually started marketing products, not just brands. The Lotus name is damaged because of 1-2-3 and Notes. If you change the name to IBM you will probably get rid of 1-2-3 but IBM Notes will share the same problems the Lotus brand had with Notes. Customers don't leave Lotus because the brand is damaged but because they see little future in its products (or they don't agree with its future). Almost everything that is in Notes today is either half-baked or on hold. As a development platform you have to live without a roadmap for many years. This won't work even if IBM is the stronger brand (although IBM will still make lots of money). Lotus Knows was a waste of money but so was Workplace, db2nsf or Symphony. Changing the name will not solve any problem I have today and IBM probably won't win new customers with it either. Maybe Vulcan can change this but if IBM wants to get rid of all the old stuff then maybe fixing Workplace would have been a much better plan. @Henning - I was REALLY waiting for almost two years now for someone from the yellow bubble coming 'round the corner telling me IBM/Lotus should have stuck to their guns with workplace. This community is really nuts. You ditch the 8.x client, ditch XPages in development and ditch the server improvements like OSGi - it's all worth nothing, right ?! No investment ? No development ? Where have you been ? And yes - renaming products and brands does not help in selling or promoting the products. It has been proven lately by the Sametime and Quickr renaming craze a few years ago. So was Lotus Knows wasted money ? I think so, yes. We saw some of it here in germany mainly at CeBIT one year ago - but it never went far here either. Maybe the marketing guys already knew what was going to come ;-). Oh, yes. 'IBM dont market product'. About that: the customer defines what it's all worth not me. So maybe this question is better being asked to someone at Daimler or Deutsche Bank. Notes 8 came out in 2007, 8.5 in 2008 so IBM's plan is on the table. So far the market for Lotus is not growing. Now I am aware that we won't agree on this issue but I do think that we all want successful IBM Collaboration products. And for this to happen I consider dropping the Lotus name won't change much. Most of IBM's revenue for Lotus Notes and Domino are coming through the installed base. Customers you already have. Now if we talk about winning new customers my personal opinion is that it does not matter if it is called Lotus Notes or IBM Collaboration something. The only advantage I see is that with IBM dropping Lotus they don't have to announce figures in their quarterly reports anymore. They can hide it in one of the other brands. I think it was a waste of money. They should have used that money instead to create a better product. IBM has been delivering a product of substandard quality since R8.0. Sure the new features are excellent, but they have to work properly before you can use them in an enterprise environment. I think whether it is called IBM SomethingOrOther or Lotus WhatEver makes no difference except to people who shouldn't be making any type of decisions anyway. My 2c is that any marketing by IBM whatsoever about Lotus was to be welcomed. Pointless? Maybe. Invisible in Europe? Mostly. I always remember Steve Jobs many years ago taking a stand on marketing and Microsoft in Apple. Trying to stop people thinking that the only way for Apple to win would be for Microsoft to lose. Showing the product. Good design. IMHO the most underrated tool at IBM's disposal is/was notesiscool.com . I don't like the domain name, but the concept is excellent. And for those that don't know, and IBM guy did this (Darren Adams). In his own time. At his own cost. I really feel for Darren and the rest of the UK team, trying to actually get IBM UK to understand one of the products in their portfolio, and get news out to the customers. Gotta be a tough job, spending the majority of your time fighting your own company. @Henning - we agree on more than you think ! Besides, from my knowledge, these customers you mentioned are not moving only because they lack confidence in the products' future. There are a lot more reasons for that, not for all of them are official statements available. Lotus isn't growing that's definitely true. Your point that customers vote for what is seen to have a future is fair. I also agree with you that dropping the Lotus brand name doesn't change much. On the other hand, hiding the technology in other products worked for WebSphere and DB2 - maybe that's why they try it now with Lotus ? Lotus Knows always sounded too similar to the Nike Bo Knows commericals... not very original. Even the I AM campaign was overshadowed by the Molson I AM Canadian beer commercials here in Canada. It doesn't matter what IBM calls Lotus and/or Notes in the coming years... making an easy to use, mostly bug free application will be the only way they win existing and new customers alike. Build a great product... all other conditions are secondary! @Thomas: I have to disagree with Build a great product... all other conditions are secondary! Without marketing, a great product will languish on the sidelines, to die a slow, painful death. A great product would be nice to have, but if no one knows about it . . . But even then, do you really need a great product, especially if you are marketing an idea (I'm thinking of "Smarter Planet," which makes no mention of any product)? @Gregg: I agree with Thomas. You have to keep the customers you have and that can only be achieved by a quality product. Losing existing customers is the worst marketing.... IBM just recently decided to invest $8 billion in repurchasing IBM stocks. They ended Q1 with $13.2 billion of cash on hand. IBM would have enough money and resources to do whatever they want with any of their products. If you think that the product quality is not good enough then lack of money probably is not the reason. Just remembers me what Volker wrote last year: Steve Mills knows exactly what he is doing. Make your plans accordingly. if you buy back stock, EPS (earnings per shares) goes up. Senior management gets bigger bonuses. If you "resource action" people, cost goes down, profit goes up. Senior management gets bigger bonuses. If you move jobs from the first world to the second and third, cost goes down, profit goes up. Senior management gets bigger bonuses. I'm sure you get the drift. @Volker - how sustainable is that model though? Hm, I just bought back all my stock and I'm waiting for the bonus. In the meantime, ramen noodles. And when IBM buys back its own stock, the price of that stock in the market goes up. And the stock holdings and options by the executives who decided to spend the company's money buying back the stock become much more valuable. For the executives. Who made the decision. Synergy? Business? Social Business? Volker Weber on Fritz!Box 7580 at 09:36 Jörg Hermann on Fritz!Box 7580 at 08:05 Erik Brooks on You learn something every day at 03:40 Henning Störk on Fritz!Box 7580 at 19:11 Volker Weber on Fritz!Box 7580 at 18:39 Heiko Wolf on Fritz!Box 7580 at 18:36 Christopher Linfoot on Fritz!Box 7580 at 17:41 Volker Weber on A few thoughts on the Galaxy Note 7 aftermath at 17:22 Pedro Quaresma on A few thoughts on the Galaxy Note 7 aftermath at 16:15 Heiko Voigt on DTEK updates finally rolling out to all devices at 10:52 Volker Weber on DTEK updates finally rolling out to all devices at 10:09 Horia Stanescu on DTEK updates finally rolling out to all devices at 10:07 Volker Weber on A few thoughts on the Galaxy Note 7 aftermath at 09:29 Volker Weber on Plantronics updates the BackBeat Pro cans at 09:25 Jörg Weske on Plantronics updates the BackBeat Pro cans at 09:14 Horia Stanescu on Now we know everything about the DTEK60 at 06:43 Peter Meuser on You learn something every day at 06:29 Horia Stanescu on A few thoughts on the Galaxy Note 7 aftermath at 04:35 Manfred Wiktorin on A few thoughts on the Galaxy Note 7 aftermath at 22:02 Heiko Müller on You learn something every day at 19:26 Bill Kron on You learn something every day at 18:37 Marcus Kuba on You learn something every day at 17:06 Volker Weber on Registration for Connect 2017 is now open at 16:50 Lutz Haller on Registration for Connect 2017 is now open at 15:42 Martin Engel on You learn something every day at 13:54

Japanese architect Toyo Ito has been awarded the 2013 Pritzker architecture prize, one of the field’s most prestigious awards. He is the 37th recipient of the Pritzker and the 6th Japanese, following Kenzo Tange in 1987, Fumihiko Maki in 1993, Tadao Ando in 1995, and Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa in 2010. The prize, which was created by the late Jay A. Pritzker and his wife Cindy in 1979 to honor the world’s most innovative architects, includes a $100,000 award and a medallion.Recent recipients of the award include Wang Shu, Eduardo Souto de Moura and SANAA. The Pritzker jury deemed the 71 years old architect a “creator of timeless buildings,” and recognizes his conceptually creative designs. The formal award ceremony will take place at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts on 29th of May. Toyo Ito has previously been awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 2006 and the Praemium Imperiale by the Japanese Art Association in 2010, and his Japanese Pavilion was awarded best Pavilion at last year’s Venice Architecture Biennale. Ito began his career working for Kiyonori Kikutake, one of the founders of the Japanese Metabolist movement. He went on to create his own architectural office in 1971, which was named Urban Robot (Urbot). In 1979, he changed the name to Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects. His works have been marked by the synergy of organic-like structures and technology on one side, and poetics and minimalist design on the other. Some examples of Ito’s works are: the TOD’S Omotesando Building in Tokyo, Sendai Mediatheque, Tama Art University Library in Tokyo and Za-Koenji Public Theatre in Tokyo. Toyo Ito other creations include: the curvaceous Municipal Funeral Hall in Gifu, Japan, the spiral White O residence in Marbella, Chile and the angular 2002 Serpentine Gallery pavilion in London. One of his most recent projects, the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House, which is currently under construction, was especially praised by the Pritzker jury. Drawing inspiration from nature, Ito designed the 620,000 square-foot opera house as a horizontal and vertical network of spaces that builds intricate relationships between the interior and exterior spaces of the building and its surroundings. Toyo Ito stated the following in reaction to winning the prize: “Architecture is bound by various social constraints. I have been designing architecture bearing in mind that it would be possible to realize more comfortable spaces if we are freed from all the restrictions even for a little bit. However, when one building is completed, I become painfully aware of my own inadequacy, and it turns into energy to challenge the next project. Probably this process must keep repeating itself in the future. Therefore, I will never fix my architectural style and never be satisfied with my works.”

We recap the True Blood scenes that create pivotal moments in Season 4. Thanks, Alan Ball for giving us back the better Eric, and what's up with Sookie's weird love choices? Hear all about the witches and predictions for the rest of the season. Take a listen: >> Download Episode 102 (right- or ctrl-click and select 'Save as...') 1:00 - Wine of the Week Eileen & Lynn -"Synergy Bourassa Vyds 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley " 3:16 - News * Follow us on Twitter: @biteclubshow

Sunday Best Semi-Finalist & Multiple Award Winning Gospel Artist, MARJANE', Struts With New Single, "Walking In Favor" Anyone who has been blessed enough to hear Marjane' sing knows that this young woman has been gifted with something special. The powerhouse vocalist is no stranger to the gospel music industry having racked up a total of twenty-one industry award nominations and wins including a 2012 Rhythm of Gospel Award Nomination for Music Video of the Year, a 2011 Heart & Soul Gospel Award and the 2010 Ensound Music Award for Best Gospel Female Vocalist. A 2007 Semi-Finalist for BET's famed program, Sunday Best, Marjane' (pronounced mar-ja-nay) has been stunning audiences everywhere. Now the Los Angeles-based singer is readying her third J Jane Music Group project, Grateful, starting with the release of the CD's first single, "Walking In Favor". A groove-laden, urban-tinged track about the favor of God, "Walking In Favor" not only showcases the songstress' smooth yet dynamic vocals, but also her remarkable songwriting skills. The lead single will be released on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 and will be available for purchase on iTunes. "Walking In Favor" isn't just the title of Marjane's new track, but it's a mindset that she wants the people of God to embrace. "One day I was thinking about my life and career and all I could see was favor," says Marjane'. "I could clearly see the call on my life and decided that I was going to continue to walk in God's favor. Before I knew it, I was putting pen to pad and the words just came. It was like I was writing a letter to the Lord. 'Dear Lord, I want to walk in your favor. Protect and surround me with your love and mercy, Lord." Already, she's seen audiences rave about the song. Recently after completing a live performance of the song, the audience continued to sing the hook for 10 minutes after she left the stage. It's those types of responses that make Marjane' realize that "Walking In Favor" is a message God's people need to hear, especially in today's trying economic times. One of today's most talked about independent gospel artists, Marjane' began singing at the age of two. She honed her singing skills at Heritage Christian Center in Denver, Colorado, under the direction of popular praise and worship leader, Pastor Joe Pace. She was featured on the church's choir album called Praise Him All Ye People. She was named the Runner-up for the Christian Artists Talent Search in Charlotte and the Second Place Winner for the Steve Harvey Talent Search. In 2009, Gospel Music Channel (GMC) named her as a Top 100 Indie Artist and she was nominated as a London MP3 Music Award Nominee. In 2011, she won two Rhythm of Gospel Awards and was nominated for an Independent Music Award. Her videos have been seen on GMC and BET's Video Gospel. She's also been blessed to open for Karen Clark Sheard and share the stage with Dr. Bobby Jones & The Nashville Super Choir on BET's Celebration of Gospel. An exceptional vocalist who knows how to weave her beautiful soprano voice around some of the most captivating tunes, Marjane' has released two projects to date: Keys To My Heart and Won't Let Go. Her new release, 'Grateful' now available on Itunes, Cdbaby, Amazon and many more. For more information about Marjane', log on to www.marjanemusic.com. PR- Andrea Williams - Tehillah Enterprises Radio and Records We Believe In: Marjané By Foladé Bell Up-and-coming gospel artist Marjané(pronounced Mar-janay) has been singing since age 2, with an upbringing in the Baptist church. Aware of her talent, she put church on the backburner as she sought other avenues toward the musical career she’d imagined. Segueing from the church to R&B showcases, Marjané soon realized that there was a greater focus on her outward appearance rather than her voice. Realizing that her desire was “to sing, not sell sex,” Marjané rededicated her life to Christ. Still, it was not easy transitioning from the secular lifestyle to the world of gospel. “Part of me wanted God, and part of me wanted to keep my old ways,” says Marjané. “It took knowing God’s word and prayer to show that I could not have both.” Pushing forward, Marjané rediscovered her relationship with God through her writing. Self-released in July of 2007, her first album, “Keys to My Heart,” originated as a love letter back to God where “you’ll experience and hear the intimate relationship I have with Christ.” Standout tracks include “Appreciate Each Other,” a clear representation of Marjané’s vocal strength and range, and “Now I Believe,” a moving ballad that talks about the struggle of trying to do it on your own, reminding us that all you have to do is trust in God. The up-tempo, “Clap Your Hands” recognizes that God is there in the good and bad times and He deserves all the praise. Married for three years with a 12-year-old son who is his mom’s biggest fan, Marjané never discounts the role her family plays in support of her career. “As an independent artist, to know that you have the support of your family is great because I understand that some will not celebrate the favor I have on my life.” Her husband, who works as a graphic designer, creates all of her marketing materials, including album designs and artwork. With her foundation in place and the knowledge that God has transformed her into what she was meant to be, her belief is that “my gift will always make room for me.” Not willing to compromise her vision, Marjané’s faith in God allows her to continue striding forward toward her vision. Despite lack of label representation and only a smattering of airplay, Marjané garnered a first-round 2008 Stellar Award nomination. Not slowing down, she is hard at work on her second offering, “Won’t Let Go,” which is due out later this year. Featured track “Holding On” is already creating buzz among her fans. Dedicated in part to those who have been struggling with the economy and the many who lost their homes in the California Triangle Fires, “Holding On” Demonstrates Marjané’s passion for her music ministry and the depth of her security in God. “We can’t lose focus of who we are and what God has called us to be. I am a woman of many visions and dreams that I hold secret in my heart. My relationship with God is real, and I want people to hear it in my music.” To see Interview on R&R website please click on the link below: Marjane' has also been featured in the Gospeltix Indie Artist Spotlight Airplay 360 Magazine - Ace Alexander Living Life in the Overflow Magazine - Shanica Bell Random Length News DC Gospel News Update The Gospel News Wire Belle Report - Sheila Belle- Virgina Glow Magazine Online - Georgia - Black Gospel Blog - Bob Marovich - Chicago Gospel Synergy Magazine - Al Carter - Chicago Westside Today Magazine- http://www.westsidetoday.com/n1602/award-winning-actress-maura.html Gospel Innovation Magazine - Tony Rositas -US /UK Deliverance "The Total Magazine - California and many more..

Coaching us in collaboration and cooperation, Lōkahi is often referred to as the value of teamwork. The word itself translates to “harmony and unity.” People who work together can achieve more in an organization, and Lōkahi teaches us to pursue workplace harmony where individual strengths are recognized, and people value cohesive similarities and also appreciate characteristic differences. Managers are urged to consider pace in Lōkahi, so they can coach and best align individual energy levels as team facilitators. From Managing with Aloha (Chapter 8 preamble): Harmony and unity Cooperation and collaborative work People who work together can achieve more Lōkahi is the value of harmony and unity. Lōkahi seeks harmony in bringing people to win-win agreements. It is working with cooperation and collaboration, so all who contribute feel valued and unified. Lōkahi brings these endeavors to teamwork, defining how those who work within an ‘Ohana in business can be most effective in their collaborative efforts. Lōkahi gives us a receptive demeanor to strive for in working with our peers in the most productive way. We want their help and ask for it. Many hands, laulima, make the work more pleasant, ‘olu‘olu, and they move it along faster. With Lōkahi we achieve more by working together in harmony with others, for Lōkahi strives for synergy as what’s best in creating possibilities. Continue your learning! For a brief, single-page listing of all 19 Hawaiian Values of ALOHA within the Managing with Aloha philosophy, see The 19 Values of Aloha. For more about values and why we choose them, see Let’s Define Values. This is the Site Index of articles which include LŌKAHI, with comment boxes for questions, stories, and our continued learning from each other: When people speak, they give voice to values, and their personal expression of them. In Hawai‘i, we call this expression their mana‘o. Buy the book! Managing with Aloha is a book designed to be written in, and used as both learning resource and personal workbook. Managing with Aloha is our philosophy bible, and this site can be thought of as the sequel to the book, where you are now the featured star.

A thoughtfully modest family home on the Brisbane River demonstrates how small houses can capitalise on the qualities of their site while fitting in with their surroundings. With a brief for a house for a family of five and 190sqm to work with, architects Owen and Vokes knew that the strength of their project would rely on making the most of the site’s potential and not on extravagant gestures. Conceptualising a floor plan that could work with the site’s 10-metre width proved a particular challenge, as a conventional room-corridor-room layout was not feasible. Instead the architects looked to the setting of the house, using its orientation, scale and adjoining river landscape to inform the plan and sectional arrangements. In particular the enclosed garden on the water’s edge creates a sense of continuity with the physical and social setting, allowing an immersive appreciation of the river environment and connecting the home to the clients’ parents who live next door. Fencing arrangements ensure a collective use of this space, where children play with their grandparents and siblings converse on the back steps. Traditional construction methods and materials further contribute to the integration of the house with its context; despite its innovative interior layout and contemporary amenities it identifies with the original timber cottages around it. The execution of the project was facilitated by the synergy between the architects and the clients, with the architects stating, “Our clients were extremely generous with their trust and good humour. This helps when you make something as personal as a family home”. Furthermore, the absence of the need to optimise development potential allowed the site to remain low-density, sustaining urbanism in the suburb. Of particular importance for the clients was an acknowledgement of family heritage, something often disregarded in contemporary architecture, and the use of early twentieth century materials and emphasis on communal living both within the house and with neighbours successfully linked the home with the client’s childhood memories of growing up in Bulimba. Photography: Jon Linkins

Desire for M&A is strong in pharma sector July 2013 | FEATURE | MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS Financier Worldwide Magazine The pharmaceutical and life sciences (PLS) sector once again demonstrated its willingness to engage in mergers and acquisitions in the first quarter of 2013, with both deal volume and value increasing in the quarter, relative to the first quarter of 2012. According to PwC’s US ‘Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Deals Insights Quarterly Q1 2013’ report, the pharmaceuticals segment in particular saw the largest gains in deal value during the first quarter of 2013, due to a number of large transactions being completed. PwC estimates that transactions should continue to trend at an active pace throughout 2013 as pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seek out acquisitions in certain asset classes. Medical device and diagnostic companies will also look to complete deals as they too pursue new growth strategies. PwC’s assertions were proved correct in May when Actavis Inc. and Warner Chilcott Plc announced they had entered a definitive agreement for Actavis to purchase Warner Chilcott in a stock for stock transaction valued at $8.5bn. The deal, once completed, will create the third-largest US speciality pharmaceutical company with annual revenues of around $11bn, and $3bn in annual revenues focused specifically on core therapeutic categories of women’s health, gastroenterology, urology and dermatology. Earlier in May, Actavis itself rejected a reported $15bn cash and stock acquisition offer from rival Mylan Inc, choosing instead to pursue a deal to purchase Warner Chilcott. The proposed deal from Warner Chilcott has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies and is expected to close by the end of 2013. Once completed Warner Chilcott’s shareholders will hold around 23 percent of the new Actavis. On 23 May, British pharmaceutical company BTG also announced two ‘tuck in’ deals which, according to the firm, could create an interventional medicine business with potential sales of $1bn. BTG has agreed to purchase the targeted therapies division of Nordion Inc for around $200m, as well as EKOS Corp for an initial fee of around $180m, plus up to $40m in future payments. The Nordion unit will strengthen BTG’s liver cancer treatments, adding Therasphere radioactive glass beads to its chemotherapy beads unit. Q1 2013 was punctuated with many deals of a similar value. Total deal value in Q1 more than doubled on the back of several large divestitures. This is a clear continuation of trends from previous quarters, particularly firms’ reliance on utilising divestitures to unlock shareholder value. Total deal value in Q1 2013 reached $75bn, up from $21bn in the first quarter of 2012. Pharmaceutical companies in particular flourished during Q1, with 14 deals completed at an aggregate value of around $71bn. Although the volume of pharmaceutical deals fell from 17 in Q4 2012, deal value was significantly higher, rising from around $17bn in Q4. Both deal value and volume were also up compared to Q1 2012 which saw low levels across the board – only six deals were completed in Q1, valued at $12bn. Although PLS deal volume was down 24 percent in Q1 2013 when compared with Q4 2012, year on year comparisons with Q1 2012 saw a strong increase in activity on a seasonally adjusted basis. Indeed, total PLS deal volume was up 48 percent during Q1 2013, relative to the same period in 2012. Aided by the completion of two significant initial public offerings (IPOs) – AbbVie by Abbott Laboratories and Zoetis by Pfizer – the value of PLS deals closed during Q1 2013 increased 336 percent relative to the previous quarter, and 255 percent relative to the first quarter 2012. A number of megadeals occurred during Q1. Royalty Pharma announced a $6.5bn takeover bid to acquire Elan Corporation, Cardinal Health completed a $2.07bn acquisition of medical supplier AssuraMed, and Mylan Inc. completed its $1.85bn purchase of generic injectables company Agila Specialities. Also in Q1, Biogen Idec announced that it had acquired the rights to TYSABRI from Elan for approximately $3.3bn. The IPOs of AbbVie and Zoetis were both completed in Q1, meaning the value of PLS deals during Q1 2013 increased 336 percent relative to the previous quarter, and 255 percent relative to the first quarter 2012. The successful spinning off of AbbVie Inc. on 2 January valued the company at roughly $55.5bn. Similarly, Pfizer sold off 20 percent of Zoetis on 31 January, with the offering valuing the company at around $13bn. Although the volume of megadeals completed may have been down by 50 percent in Q1 2013 compared to the same period in 2012, deal value was up considerably. Megadeals accounted for $68.5bn of the total deal value reached in Q1. Excluding megadeals, there were 12 deals completed in the pharmaceutical segment in Q1 2013 compared with only five completed deals during the same period last year. The value of completed transactions in Q1 2013 also rose 137 percent to $2.9bn, up from $1.2bn in Q1 2012. This rise, according to PwC, demonstrates an increase in overall activity as serial acquirers continue to target specific asset classes, such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. The biotechnology segment also performed consistently, with deal volume remaining comparable to the first and last quarters of 2012. However PwC’s data suggests that biotech deal value remained relatively modest compared with historical periods, signalling a reduction in average deal value. PwC also notes that deal volume in the biotech segment will likely remain constant or actually increase throughout the remainder of the year. Relative to the first and last quarters of 2012, the medical device segment of the sector saw both deal volume and value fall in Q1 2013. The declines experienced in this segment can be attributed to acquirers reassessing their business development strategies and refocusing their attentions on integrating the assets they purchased in 2012. The diagnostic sector, however, enjoyed a notably prolific first quarter in 2013. Deal volume and value both soared, increasing 150 percent and 117 percent respectively, relative to Q4 2012. PwC expects diagnostic companies to continue to act as opportunistic purchasers, notably in the emerging products categories, such as molecular diagnostics and genetic sequencing. The poor performance of the service sector continued throughout the first quarter of 2013, which saw no deals completed. The sector was also moribund throughout 2012, with only one deal completed per quarter. In Q1, PLS sector stocks continued to perform well, compared with the overall market. The Standard & Poor’s (S&P) healthcare sector index rose by roughly 17.5 percent, the S&P 500 index rose by only 11.4 percent comparatively. Biotech stocks also performed particularly well, rising 37.8 percent in Q1. Stocks in the healthcare equipment and supplies segment performed admirably in Q1, rising 14.2 percent, whereas the pharmaceutical segment’s stocks climbed 16.8 percent. Pharmaceutical acquisitions also demonstrated significant growth relative to Q1 2012, on a seasonally adjusted basis. PwC notes that this is a trend that is likely to persist as serial acquirers look for more growth opportunities. Furthermore, expect new ‘pure-play’ companies to seek acquisitions of complementary assets. Analysts also predict that M&A in the medical device segment of the market is likely to rebound in the latter half of 2013, despite the decline experienced in both deal volume and value in Q1. Large medical device companies will likely continue to appraise their existing product portfolios, and look to strengthen their product offerings wherever possible, as well as enter into adjacent markets via M&A. Following a sluggish 2012, PwC’s data also suggests that M&A in the diagnostics segment will likely recover in the second half of 2013, trending towards the more robust levels last experienced in 2011. Diagnostics companies are likely to remain opportunistic acquirers, focusing primarily on their complementary product lines and emerging product categories. As we have already seen with the spinning off of AbbVie and Zoetis, divestitures will continue to receive top billing in the second half of 2013 as companies within the pharmaceutical sector look to unlock shareholder value. It is likely that firms will continue to evaluate and manage their portfolios via divestitures. Financial buyers were mostly inactive during Q1 2013, following on from an equally dormant 2012. However, the availability of high yield debt will likely mean that private equity investors will remain active in deal processes for particular asset types throughout the remainder of the year. Importance of value and synergies According to PwC’s data, it is imperative that companies are aware of the importance of a targetcompany’s value when considering deal price. This is particularly pertinent for PLS companies, as acquisitions within the sector often focus on a specific compound or medical device which is years away from commercial release. Regarding acquisitions within the sector, and the pricing bias that exists in all transactions and industries, companies should establish “a robust objective process to determine and challenge the assumptions underlying valuation”. Many of the recent transactions in the PLS sector have been ‘tuck in’ acquisitions, designed to complement existing products and divisions. PwC notes that many buyers in these types of transactions expect to garner significant value from synergies and therefore offer substantial premiums on that basis. According to data held by S&P, premiums in the PLS sector have exceeded 40 percent in the last three quarters. These synergies may represent incremental revenue from a complete line of products or savings realised by utilising existing sales or research and development departments. Purchasers absolutely commit themselves to the amount of shareholder value expected to be garnered from a transaction and so consequently they must be meticulous in their measurement and treatment of synergies, which often contribute to the gaps between the price and the real value of a company. In order to be successful, purchasers must adopt a disciplined approach to quantifying synergy value, to identifying the costs required to achieve the projected synergies, and to cognisant negotiating, particularly in competitive transactions. The PLS sector has made a particularly strong start to 2013. The first quarter saw a number of deals completed which, relative to both Q1 and Q4 2012, increased deal volume and deal value significantly. This strong first-quarter performance is expected to continue throughout the year. PwC predicts that the trend of increasing reliance on divestitures will likely continue for the remainder of 2013 as PLS businesses look to M&A activity to accomplish their particular growth strategies, including increased product offerings and expanding their geographical exposure. The increases in deal value and volume in Q1 are clear reminders that dealmaking is the lifeblood of the PLS sector. Vital research and development work, and much needed diversification into new markets and products are all made possible by the influx of capital and the risk sharing brought about by M&A. Yet, while M&A represents a great opportunity for the PLS sector to grow and change, the full potential of these opportunities can only be achieved through a diligent approach to company valuations. © Financier Worldwide

I want to make clear what the Top 20 Business Plan is and what it is not. The Business Plan is designed to put in financial terms the Top 20 Compact the University of Kentucky and the Commonwealth agreed to in 1997. It is a statement of our specific needs for more resources. It is not a strategic plan. The challenge we face is a Top 20 mandate that came to us without any definition or clear understanding of what it will cost. The first segment of our pursuit of Top 20 status, from 1997 until now, has been a time of enormous progress. Our students are stronger academically and our graduation rate is higher; our research agendas are more expansive and earning more external dollars; our annual giving and our endowment are up; and our reach into communities across Kentucky has never been greater. Our faculty and staff have done a remarkable job of strengthening this institution, even though tight budgets have hampered us for much of the last eight years. We have lived year-to-year with whatever we get from Frankfort and whatever we are able to gather from other sources. We therefore have not managed our progress. Instead, we have been forced to react to the circumstances around us. Our faculty and staff have done that admirably. But for the university as a whole, our work has not been planned or focused enough. A Top 20 university cannot be built through incremental budgets, short-term plans, and reaction to external forces. This approach has put at risk our academic ambitions for our students, the strength of our research agendas, and the reach of our impact on Kentucky. The Business Plan Provides a Financial Foundation The only way to escape reactive, circumstance-driven funding is to develop a financial plan that indicates clearly and specifically the long-term cost of achieving the Top 20 mandate. The Business Plan will describe the Top 20 Compact in financial terms. We will put that Plan on the table as we talk with the General Assembly and the Governor and our donors about what it is going to take for us to become a Top 20 university. W.T. Young Library The time for that discussion is now. It has been eight years since the Compact was formed. We have used that time to assess our programs through the Top 20 Task Force and Futures Committee and we have made progress. We must now decide whether Kentucky is willing to do what it takes over the next several years to lay the financial and capital foundation necessary for our success. We need investments in our people - we need more faculty. We need investments in our infrastructure - we need modernized classrooms and more research space. And we need investments in our students - we need more dollars to continue to recruit and retain a top-quality, diverse student body and give them a world-class education and the academic support they need to be successful. We are going to ask Kentuckians to invest in their flagship university as they never have before. I don't blame those of you who are skeptical. Skepticism is a product of experience. And the recent period of lean budgets make it hard to have confidence in our chances. But if we do not put a specific statement of cost in front of the Governor and the members of the General Assembly, we cannot blame them for not giving us the resources we need. The Business Plan will make clear the cost of the ambitious goal the General Assembly gave us in 1997. When we do this, legislators will be right to ask specific questions about what Kentucky will get in return for their investments. The Plan will provide some guideposts of progress that resonate with the legislature and the general public - graduation rates, research dollars earned, community engagement, and a few others. The Role of the Strategic Plan Patterson Office Tower The Business Plan is a financial, rather than strategic, document. Once we have the financial framework, we can begin the hard work of plotting our strategy for the next 15 years. The next Strategic Plan (for 2006-2009) will define specific measures of quality, establish strategic goals for excellence, and direct the allocation of resources across campus. Those decisions must - and will - be made by the campus community and will appreciate the complexity and diversity of our colleges. After the Board of Trustees considers the Business Plan for approval in December, we will begin a series of internal conversations about the next Strategic Plan and how this institution moves forward. It is then that we will discuss as an academic community what our priorities and specific goals are, how we can best achieve those goals, and how resources will be allocated. The discussions we will have after the December Board meeting will translate the Business Plan into a plan of action. It must be a dynamic, serious, and honest conversation about what kind of university we want to be. Make no mistake about it. This institution must change if we are going to succeed. A university wedded to the status quo in a dynamic world will fail. Just as we need to force a discussion with the state about our need for more resources, we must force the internal discussion about our priorities. And those priorities must ultimately find their core in the needs of the people of Kentucky and what its flagship university is uniquely qualified to provide. Faculty Growth, Then Enrollment Growth I am convinced enrollment growth is an essential component of the University of Kentucky's progress because it is what Kentucky needs from us. But we will first build the infrastructure necessary to accommodate increasing numbers of students. We have made a conscious effort to focus on improving the quality of the education our students receive. We will not jeopardize those efforts by growing too much too soon. It will do Kentucky little good if UK enrolls, retains, and graduates more students from an institution unable to provide high quality instruction because our classes are too big and our advising is too scarce. The Business Plan will call for substantial increases in our faculty between now and 2020. It is essential that we front-load faculty growth before we increase our student enrollment. I anticipate that we will not increase the size of our first-year class for at least the next two years, after appropriate preparations have been made. I understand the strain that dramatic increases in enrollment have placed on our faculty and staff and on our physical plant. It is symptomatic of the fact that we have confronted reality rather than planned for and managed it. Tight budgets in Frankfort made it impossible to increase our faculty to keep pace with our student growth. Our student/faculty ratio has suffered and we are putting at risk the quality of the education our students receive. The Business Plan will give us the opportunity to make the case in Frankfort for increasing our faculty size to both make up for the lack of increases over the last few years and to prepare for future enrollment increases. And it allows us to argue for more faculty before we take on more students. And we need to pay our faculty better. The Business Plan will call for aggressive efforts to make our faculty salaries more competitive. Our Responsibility to Kentucky - More College Graduates We must increase our enrollment, but this is not about bigger being better. We know that nearly all our benchmarks are bigger, giving them advantages of volume, particularly in research. But other statistics make a much more compelling case for growth. Only 21 percent of Kentuckians have a bachelor's degree or higher. The national average is 27.2 percent. The impact is predictable: Kentucky's median household income is $36,786. That is almost $8,000 below the national average. Our poverty rate is 3.5 percentage points above the national average. Twenty-four percent of Kentucky's children live in poverty. The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education estimates that by 2020, 32.1 percent of the U.S. population will have a bachelor's degree or higher. Especially in a knowledge economy, a state that allows its workforce to lag behind the national average in educational attainment is a state that willingly accepts economic failure. As Kentucky's flagship university and most expansive and comprehensive institution, UK has a moral obligation to shoulder a considerable portion of the work of increasing the percentage of our citizens with college degrees. We must answer the call to increase our enrollment because the strongest undergraduate education available in Kentucky should be available to more Kentuckians. How will we do it? - We will enroll more students from every Kentucky county because UK belongs to every part of the Commonwealth. - We will enroll more students of color because there is strength in difference and necessity in diversity. - We will enroll more students from every state across the U.S. and more countries across the globe, understanding the need to recruit more talented people to Kentucky and keep them in Kentucky. Some students studying We will do everything we can to build the most diverse and most academically gifted student body in Kentucky. This will not be easy. We are a poor and under-educated state. We live in a culture that does not put enough value on a college education. The under-18 population in Kentucky is flattening. And we do not have enough jobs right now for the educated workforce we produce. But for too long, Kentuckians have been gripped by a resigned and cynical acceptance of a vicious cycle. Low per capita incomes make it difficult to commit the resources we need to increase our education levels and improve our economy. But we will not have higher per capita incomes without more bachelor degree holders. Our struggles as a state to deal with our social, economic, and health problems will continue as long as we passively accept low levels of educational attainment as inevitable in Kentucky. It really is that simple. We must commit ourselves to competing in the knowledge economy or resign ourselves to the same low incomes and fragile economies of the past. We are 47th in workforce education, 42nd in high-tech jobs, 33rd in the number of the fastest growing companies, 45th in the number of patents, 39th in industry investment in research and development, and 47th in the number of scientists and engineers. Kentucky needs more scientists, more engineers, more mathematicians, more biologists, and more pharmacists. But we also need more artists, more musicians, more health care workers, more writers, and more teachers. We need more college-educated citizens enriching communities, recruiting businesses, and creating ones of their own. We need more people trained and dedicated to solving the social, economic, and health care challenges we face. We need more creators, innovators, experimenters, and dreamers. A group of students walking If we choose not to grow our enrollment, we abdicate our leadership role in making life better for more Kentuckians and making the future better for all of Kentucky. And we are complicit in allowing too many of our citizens to work in a series of stagnant jobs, earn below-average wages and few benefits, and face limited futures. Our poor citizens will remain poor, the divide between the haves and have nots will expand, impoverished regions will remain impoverished, businesses will struggle or close, and our state will continue to lag far behind our competitors on nearly every measure of the quality of our lives. And the sad truth will be that the University of Kentucky will be an instrument of the status quo rather than a catalyst for change. There is no virtue in cynicism and there can be no progress from timidity. The time has come for Kentucky to risk and reach, unencumbered by the hollow safety of the predictable, the accepted, and the secure. We take direct aim at Top 20 status because it forces us to do what is hard so that we might achieve something better. Our Responsibility to Kentucky - More Intellectual Capital Enrollment growth also will provide a more stable financial environment over the long-term. It will allow us to sustain a larger faculty. Kentucky needs its flagship university to be home to a world-class collection of faculty that is talented enough, focused enough, and large enough to take on the problems that plague too many Kentuckians for too much of their lives. This is the message we must carry to Frankfort and across Kentucky. We need a larger faculty not just to teach our students but to be the engine for change and improvement in the health and well-being of Kentucky. Richard Florida put it best in a recent article from the “Atlantic Monthly:” Concentrations of creative and talented people are particularly important to innovation, according to the Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Lucas. Ideas flow more freely, are honed more sharply, and can be put into practice more quickly when large numbers of innovators, implementers, and financial backers are in constant contact with one another, both in and out of the office...it certainly appears that innovation, economic growth, and prosperity occur in those places that attract a critical mass of top creative talent. William T. Young Library interior That is what the Top 20 mandate is all about - creating a synergy of talent, creativity, and innovation. We see the need for more faculty in the hard work it will take to solve Kentucky's problems. Every additional faculty member we hire is another member of a collection of talented people dedicated to fighting disease, improving products and services, and creating businesses and jobs. Every additional dollar in external funding our faculty earns is another dollar invested in research and service and another dollar infused into our economy. Every additional action our faculty take to assist businesses, provide health care, support elementary and secondary education, enlighten our society, enrich our culture, and reach out to the communities across Kentucky makes a difference across Kentucky. UK is uniquely positioned to have an impact on the life of every Kentuckian and the future of every Kentucky community. Our capacity to improve Kentucky rests on the shoulders of our faculty. A larger faculty can provide more instruction, research, and service. A larger faculty will generate more inventions and more patents. A larger faculty will increase our ability to preserve our culture and appreciate our history. We can make an even greater difference in Kentucky by being a larger physical and intellectual presence for Kentucky. The Next 15 Years New residence halls We know Top 20 universities go hand-in-hand with more educated and healthier populations. Average household incomes are higher in states with Top 20 universities. Unemployment rates are lower and fewer public dollars are spent on health care. These states also have healthier children and fewer people living in poverty. We know that people who go to college live healthier lives, are less susceptible to poverty, and less encumbered by disease. We know that college educated people are more likely to vote and give their time and their energy to improve the communities around them. We know they are more likely to be involved in local schools and read to their children at night. We take direct aim at Top 20 status because it is a noble and ambitious cause. But our only sure reward is the progress we will make through aggressive plans and hard work over the next 15 years. We can and we will become a stronger university by 2020. And we will make Kentucky a much better place for our children.

India Bets On Renewable Energy & Biotech India’s science budget sees a marginal increase, focused mainly on large solar power plants and biotechnology clusters. AsianScientist (Jul 14, 2014) - By T.V. Padma - Dashing the expectations of India’s scientific community, the newly elected government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has only marginally increased the annual budgetary allocation for science departments. The budget for 2014—2015 presented in Parliament this week sets aside one billion Indian rupees (US$16.6 million) for a national adaptation plan to give thrust to the renewable energy sector. Finance minister Arun Jaitley also announced US$83.07 million for solar power plants in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. Overall allocation for the renewable energy ministry is at US$158.4 million, down from last year’s US$254 million. Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based non-government organisation, said in a statement that the duty exemptions and other provisions on renewable are “welcome, but not enough.” The budget does not appreciate that the future of solar energy lies in decentralised and off-grid solutions with “smaller power plants that provide clean energy to millions across India’s grid and remote villages that have electricity lines but no power. “Instead, Budget 2014 falls back on the ‘big’ solar plants — announcing US$83 million for ultra mega solar power plants,” Narain said in the statement. R. K. Pachauri, executive director of The Energy Resources Institute, New Delhi, says that while the focus on renewable is welcome, he “is surprised” that the government has not spelt out any details on energy security, given the current Iraq crisis. Similarly, Jaitley announced funds to scale up biotech clusters in Faridabad and Bangalore to international levels and turn the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology into a world leader in life sciences. The allocation for biotechnology is US$252.05 million, a hike of just US$2.49 million or 1.0 percent over last year. Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan, secretary in India’s department of biotechnology (DBT), tells SciDev.Net that the budget should not be seen in mere mathematical figures. What works for DBT, he says, is a new partnership of institutions that would create synergy to attract high-quality research and funds, freeing up resources for DBT's ambitious plans for biology components in medical and environmental research. The department of science and technology (DST), which VijayRaghavan also heads, gets US$588.8 million, an 11 percent rise over last year. The additional funds would be used to foster public-private partnerships and translate high-quality research funded by DST into entrepreneurships, VijayRaghavan says. The department of earth sciences gets a mere 0.5 percent hike compared to last year, while health research gets only a 0.9 percent hike. Space and atomic energy have fared better with a 6.5 percent rise for the former at US$1,202 million, and a 3.4 percent rise for the atomic energy department at US$87 billion. Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

Top 10 Misbegotten Media Mergers of the Decade 10. Disney buys Fox Family Announced: July 2001 Closed: October 2001 Michael Eisner was still CEO when Disney forked over $5.3 billion to Haim Saban and News Corp. for what would become ABC Family. While the network has in recent years hit its creative and ratings stride, it failed to connect with young adults for most of the decade under Disney's ownership. And Wall Street was appalled by the high price tag and derided the deal as a prime example of overpaying for businesses. Even Tom Staggs, who is moving from the Disney CFO role to take over the firm's theme parks, later acknowledged that the purchase was "pretty expensive." Bob Iger drew some heat from Disney dissidents for his role in the deal when he was then just the conglomerate's president; luckily it didn't seem to tarnish him too badly. 9. CBS Corp. buys CNET Announced: May 2008 Closed: June 2008 Another deal in which a traditional media company acquired a digital media firm, but this time it closed much faster than usual. And clearly, the assets have come together more naturally than AOL and Time Warner and the like. Still, analysts balked at the $1.8 billion that CBS Corp. shelled out for CNET Networks. Even CBS chairman Sumner Redstone had to admit that the company paid a lot (most say overpaid) for its push into the digital space just as the recession was hitting. Critics also wondered why a big name like CBS would buy a more obscure niche player, which was best known for technology sites, and whether there can be real revenue synergy between the two companies' assets. CBS News' CNET-infused coverage of the technology issues of the last presidential election didn't seem to excite too many industry watchers. And the operating loss for the first three quarters of 2009 at the interactive unit in a sign investors must wait for any potential upside. Management still expects to reap the benefits of cross-promotion and cross-platform advertising sales over time. For now though, the financial benefits remain a show-me story. 8. Sirius XM Announced: February 2007 Closed: July 2008 Timing can indeed be everything, and the much-touted but long-delayed satellite radio deal is a case in point. Former top radio and Viacom executive Mel Karmazin seemed like a great choice to run the new behemoth created by Sirius' swallowing the bigger XM. And his words were bullish as always despite an extended regulatory review in Washington. "Every one of our constituencies is a winner," he said when announcing the closing of what he called the "exciting merger." But Karmazin had to eat his words when the financial crisis hit soon after, putting pressure on the highly indebted new entity. Subscriber growth became a thing of the past, and shareholder value ... well, just look at the stock, which has remained below $1! Yes, Sirius XM did manage to avoid Chapter 11 bankruptcy thanks to John Malone's Liberty Media, which provided a capital injection in return for a stake in the firm. But Liberty has been the only major beneficiary given that its loan is now paid back with interest that ensured a profit for Liberty, while its management expects the stock to finally rebound to give it more gains. Third-quarter financials finally gave some on Wall Street hope that the company is starting to improve though. 7. Movie Gallery acquires Hollywood Video Announced: January 2005 Closed: April 2005 Smaller rival Movie Gallery wanted Hollywood Video to create a new challenger to take on video rental giant Blockbuster, but most of the headlines that the $1.2 billion deal created were negative. A weak rental business, trouble with the integration of the two firms and high debt combined to send the company into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2007. Its stock price dropped below $1 per share for too long, so the shares were delisted from Nasdaq. The stock moved to the over-the-counter market that has no minimum listing requirements, but is nothing more than a penny stock there. While the company emerged from bankruptcy in 2008, it continues to close stores and has been falling behind on rent payments in some of its locations. Bottom line: The rental buy didn't work out! 6. News Corp. buys a controlling stake in Gemstar Announced: September 2000 News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch has a reputation for seeing new opportunities and emerging businesses where others don't. But in the case of print and electronic programming guide provider Gemstar-TV Guide International, he mainly reaped headaches, legal troubles and a value loss in the billions of dollars. Late in 2000, News Corp. boosted its Gemstar stake to more than 40% in a deal with John Malone's Liberty Media. The hope was that amid increasing channel diversity, audiences and cable operators would need a guide through the TV landscape. But Gemstar soon sputtered, its stock lost luster, and Gemstar founder Henry Yuen and his team became a thorn in Murdoch's side. In May 2002, News Corp. reported a $4.2 billion writedown on its Gemstar investment, and Murdoch called the firm and its slumping stock "a real disappointment," while still lauding it as a "powerful" asset. He soon pushed through management changes to assert more control, replacing Gemstar co-president Peter Boylan, who had had several showdowns with cable operators. Yuen also was pushed out -- but not without a legal fight -- as federal prosecutors continued a prolonged accounting and financial reporting investigation, which only added to News Corp.'s headaches. The unhappy adventure ended when Murdoch got rid of it all in a sale to Macrovision in May 2008 -- for a meager $2.8 billion.

You’ll probably be reading a lot about Emily Pohl-Weary in the years ahead, being that she’s an emerging literary figure who happens to have her fingers stuck in a whole bunch of different pies. Astute followers of the Canadian lit scene will certainly know she already has her street cred sewn up: she was an editor at Toronto’s Broken Pencil magazine, one of the major bibles of underground culture in North America. More recently, she has acted as co-editor of Kiss Machine, which has quickly gone from being a homemade saddle-stitched ‘zine of underground art and culture into a full-fledged, perfect-bound magazine. However, her work has already been feted in some rather mainstream and prestigious quarters as well—she shared a 2003 Hugo Award for co-writing a memoir tilted Better To Have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril. (Merril, a ‘50s science-fiction writer, was Pohl-Weary’s grandmother. Pohl-Weary completed the autobiography after Merril’s death.) Not content to rest on her laurels after that early taste of success, Pohl-Weary is now seemingly everywhere. Not only has she recently edited a collection of essays and fiction around women and superheroes (Girls Who Bite Back: Witches, Mutants, Slayers and Freaks), readers can soon look forward to a poetry collection, a mystery novel, a non-fiction account of the disposable nature of art, and a four-issue comic book series featuring two girl pirates. That’s not to mention the novel at hand here for review, A Girl Like Sugar. [Before I go on, I should say that Pohl-Weary’s web of activity even extends as far as my own work: She once published a short story of mine in an early issue of Kiss Machine. Granted, she has turned down quite a number of my other stories and poems since then.] Pohl-Weary’s debut novel is fascinating in that it shares synergy with the work of a fellow Toronto-based author, Elyse Friedman, whose latest novel, Waking Beauty, was also recently reviewed on this Web site. On the basis of these two books, it’s almost as though a new strain of Chick Lit In Sheep’s Clothing is emerging, where you have stories about young women coming to terms with their identities, but take the road a lot less traveled. In both Friedman’s and Pohle-Weary’s books, you have women protagonists who share the surface desires of the pop-conscious to have a perfect body or become really, really famous, but eventually realize that the world portrayed by glossy magazines isn’t really what it’s cracked up to be. The twist in these books, though, is that the female characters aren’t bound by love or duty to become someone’s doting wife. The heroine of A Girl Like Sugar, in particular, is more likely to make friends with blue dye in their hair or shack up with a political activist. The heroine in question is a confused, Parker Posey-obsessed twenty-something woman named Sugar Jones—obviously a tweak at Bridget Jones and her world-famous diary. As the book moves on, Sugar gradually forges with leftist-leaning friends and lovers over the course of 300-plus pages following a series of unfortunate events, including one character’s drug overdose and a close brush or two with sexual assault. Easily one of the best things about this novel is the relationship Sugar has with her dead rock star boyfriend Marco, who visits her frequently as a ghostly apparition. (This supernatural aspect of the book seems like a singular nod to Merril’s science fiction community, even though Pohl-Weary offers up a possible alternate, more ‘scientific’ explanation for these visits later in the book.) Marco seems to be modeled after Nirvana singer/songwriter Kurt Cobain, and the Cobain-Courtney Love relationship between Sugar and her ghost gives this novel much of its earth-shattering emotional core. The passages involving Marco are alternately haunting, humorous and bittersweet, and suggest that another, though entirely different novel, could have easily been written centered squarely on these two characters. However, Sugar is just as much about its politics as it is its characters; unfortunately, it’s in its politics where the book falls down somewhat. Pohl-Weary tiptoes a little bit into “tell, don’t show” territory when it comes to exposing the political leanings of some of the men and women populating the book. While she does a fairly admirable job of pulling back from her soapbox before she goes overboard, the novel’s politics in relation to feminism and masculinity is worthy of a little concern. For instance, Sugar eventually winds up falling in love with a leftist documentary filmmaker named Thomas Kung, a guy who steps into un-peaceful protest demonstrations and has the technological know-how to jam electronic billboards. Considering that just about every other male in this book is painted as being a drug addict, a would-be rapist or an irresponsible boy-man—I’m not denying that these people exist, or that women can’t write about the bad things some men do critically in their fiction—I found this character trait a little wee bit hypocritical, as he is literally one of the few “good guys” populating Sugar’s world. (He is only considered as verging on “bad” when his fidelity to Sugar is questioned at one point.) So what makes him so “good” compared to these other men? From my male point-of-view, most of the other, not-so-nice men in Sugar’s life seem to be grubby corporate record-store owners or rock stars with a lot of cash or power. Therefore, a subtext emerges in this novel that goes something like this: if you’re a successful man-capitalist and have a great career, you’re probably Bad News Bears insofar as treating a woman right. Now, in some cases, this is probably very, frighteningly true. However, in all due respect to Pohl-Weary, one can’t really make a blanket statement and say that most powerful men are evil and controlling, just as one can’t say that most women are weak and in need of rescuing. The world isn’t quite so black-and-white anymore, if it ever was. In the case of Mr. Kung, it could be argued that he is doing nothing for his woman’s sanity by flirting with the law, even if it is for a good cause. Despite this concern, I often found myself taking hits from this book like it was pure caffeine or nicotine. I would occasionally look up at the page count and notice that 60 or 80 pages had whizzed by since I’d last checked. What’s more, upon closing this novel, the characters still kind of lingered on with me, not unlike Marco’s ghost. I couldn’t help but wonder whatever became of Sugar and her companions, which is a pretty good indication of how believable and real these characters acted and felt. It may seem bizarre to wish this, but perhaps a sequel called Sugar Jones: The Edge of Insanity won’t be all that far off. Particularly most impressive about Sugar is that it’s essentially a glossy pulp Chick Lit novel masquerading slightly as something else altogether, a candy kiss hiding barbed wire. While one’s enjoyment of the book might hinge on whether one shares the exact same political and ideological views as the author—much in the same way one would probably read, say, Naomi Klein or Michael Moore—A Girl Like Sugar is a refreshing change from all those books aimed at women that merely fortify the pro-consumerism and pro-beauty myth. It’s also an absolutely delightful and devastating account of one young woman’s rage against the machine. Even if you don’t always agree with the choices Sugar makes or, by extension, conclusions the author draws, this book is as fun as eating a Ferrero Rocher. That this concoction is so filling and yummy in the centre, leaves this reader with a pretty good taste for what’s yet to come from Pohl-Weary’s desk. And there’s going to be a lot, lot more from that desk, I’m sure.

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Primary Wave and Violator Merge To Form Primary Violator Management The new company will represent 20 artists including Mariah Carey, Soulja Boy, 50 Cent, Diddy and Cee Lo Green. Primary Wave's Larry Mestel will serve as CEO while Violator's Chris Lighty is named chief operating officer. In a move to build a powerhouse management company, Primary Wave Talent Management and Chris Lighty's Violator Management are merging to form Primary Violator. The merged company will be headed by Primary Wave Music founder and CEO Larry Mestel who will be chairman and CEO of the merged company'; founder and CEO Violator Lighty will be chief operating officer; and Primary Wave Talent Management president Michael "Blue" Williams will be president. News of the merger was first reported in the New York Post. The merged company will have a staff of 42 employees to manage a roster of about 20 artists which includes Mariah Carey, Soulja Boy, 50 Cent, L.L. Cool J, Busta Rhymes, and Diddy, all currently handled by Violator according to that company's website; while Primary Wave Talent Management brings to the deal Cee Lo Green, Ginuwine, Goodie Mob, and Eric Benet among others. Primary Wave had waded heavily into artist management prior to the new merger, having cut deals to bring such management talent as rock manager Scott Frazier, who works with bands like Saving Abel and Volbeat; writer/producer manager Tom Maffei, who manages Brian Kennedy and Cam Meekins; manager Jerry Blair, who manages Ebony Bones, Glory For The People, and Alex Young; as well as partnering with music managers David and Winston Simone, who work with Wilson Phillips, into the Primary Wave Management fold. While those deals will remain separate from the Primary Wave Talent Management, the company will look for ways to work synergistically between their various management deals. The plan is to further build the Primary Wave Talent Management roster by trying to lure artists away from management situations were they are "underserved," according to Mestel. "We will take a very aggressive no holds bar stance when it comes to go after artists," Mestel Says. "Chris, Blue and I will make sure everyone knows we are in business and will be very aggressive" in luring name talent to the merged company. "We will provides services that are not being provided elsewhere," he says. As record labels struggle with the downturn in music sales by downsizing their staffs, management companies have had to step up and fill the void by the labels inability to maintain the save level of marketing services that they previously had when music sales were healthy. Primary Wave feels it has an edge to offer artists in that area, Mestel says. Primary Violator will provide an array of services for artists allowing them to access its in-house branding company Brand Synergy Group, digital marketing company BrightShop, Lighty's Brand Asset Group, as well as using Primary Wave's in-house film, television, video game, commercial advertising and TV development team. While the initial roster is urban and pop heavy, Mestel says the company will diversify into handling artists in other genres too.

Troy Hammond poses in his office at North Central College a few days after his inauguration as president of the college. (Kristy Kennedy, Special to the Tribune) Raising $50 million to $60 million and then building a modern science facility is one of the first plans on tap for Troy Hammond, the new president of Naperville's North Central College. In his inaugural address this month, Hammond said the college was at a crossroads in supporting science education. He cited more NCC students taking science than ever before and the need for a modern facility, comparing the future science center to Wentz Concert Hall. "In much the same way, North Central can — and should — become the science destination for our region," he said. "The source for cutting-edge scientific work and the best scientific thinkers. The place where everyone turns — from school district superintendents to our research, technology and health care neighbors — for the very best scientific resources." While the idea is not new, Hammond said he hopes to have the bulk of funding for the center raised in two years, architectural plans underway in 2014 and the facility completed in four or five years. About $10 million has been raised since NCC included a new science center in its master land-use plan in 2010. "When you think about the location of North Central College, it is just perfect in this regard," Hammond said. "From a science standpoint, we are midway between Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab. We have a dense concentration of corporate research facilities along (Interstate Highway) 88. Between relationships with businesses, foundations and the community, there is a lot of opportunity for excitement and engagement on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) topics in this location." The college's 10th president, Hammond believes his experience as an entrepreneur, scientist and teacher makes him uniquely suited to work on the project. Most recently, Hammond worked at BlueStar Energy in Chicago, moving to Naperville in 2010. He can effectively engage area business leaders who are employers of his students, alumni and potential donors, Hammond said. "It helps me build their connection to North Central College," he said. Besides fundraising, NCC officials have been discussing what kinds of programming should be offered at the center. "Our goal is for it to not just be the lab sciences, biology, chemistry and physics, but to include mathematics, psychology, for it to be broader than the pure lab sciences," Hammond said. Engineering and nursing also could be added to the college's offerings. And officials are looking into the kinds of features that would spur interdisciplinary learning and research to promote hands-on learning and collaboration between faculty and students. Hammond wants to make sure the school takes advantage of new technology while holding on to the strong relationships between students and faculty. Also, he wants to make sure Naperville and the larger regional community are aware of North Central College and its synergy with the community, from economic opportunities when the school hosts major sporting events to cultural events including book readings, plays and concerts that are open to the public and hosted at the college. "I don't know the traffic count on Washington Street every day, but I'm confident an enormous amount of people who pass by don't realize there is this thriving community just to the east with all these opportunities," Hammond said. "I want to change that."

Japanese R&B Duo Chemistry and Dance Group Synergy to Make U.S. Debut at Otakon® 2011 Baltimore, MD - CHEMISTRY, with an amazing six #1 albums on the Oricon National Charts, along with 4 person dance group Synergy are making their U.S. debut this summer at Otakon 2011 July 29-31 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore MD. Recent anime songs by CHEMISTRY include “Period” for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and “merry-go-round” in the recent OVA of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. CHEMISTRY is a Japanese R&B duo, composed of, Yoshikuni Dōchin and Kaname Kawabata. After winning the Asayan audition in 2000 which was organized by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, they debuted in 2001 with three #1 singles (“Pieces of Dreams,” “Point of No Return,” and “You Go Your Way”) and a #1 album (The Way We Are). In June 2002, CHEMISTRY participated in “Voices of KOREA/JAPAN,” a Korean/Japanese collaboration vocal unit that sang the official theme song of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. They co-recorded the first Korean/Japanese collaboration song entitled “Let’s Get Together Now.” The song, performed at the pre-opening festival of the World Cup held in Korea, was hailed as the first national broadcast of a Japanese language song in Korea since WWII. Their performance at the World Cup opening ceremony was broadcast in 160 countries worldwide. Not ones to rest on their laurels, CHEMISTRY went on to produce #1 album after #1 album. Hits include songs “Your Name Never Gone” and “Tōkage feat. John Legend.” In August 2010, CHEMISTRY recorded “a better tomorrow,” the world wide theme song for a Korean remake of the Hong Kong film “A Better Tomorrow” starring Song Seung- Heon. The year saw the duo building on their successful career within Japan as well as highlights of increasing their presence in the rest of Asia including their endeavor to sing in Korean for the first time and in November, performing at the M-net Asian Music Awards held in Macao, receiving the Best Asian Male Artist award. Also in 2010, CHEMISTRY worked together with the 4-person dance group Synergy to release “Shawty.” Another joint work of the two groups was released November 3, 2010, titled “Keep Your Love.” This March, CHEMISTRY released their best of album, “CHEMISTRY 2001-2011,” which commemorates their first decade together as a duo. To preview some music from CHEMISTRY, go to CHEMISTRY’s official site at: Otakon 2011 will be held July 29 – 31 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland. ABOUT OTAKON AND OTAKORP, INC.: Now entering its eighteenth year, Otakon is an annual celebration of Japanese and East Asian popular culture, and also one of the largest gatherings of fans in the United States. Otakon celebrates popular culture as a gateway to deeper understanding of Asian culture, and has grown along with the enthusiasm for anime, manga, video games, and music from the Far East. Since 1999, Otakon has been held in Baltimore, Maryland; currently, Otakon is one of Baltimore’s few large, city-wide events, drawing over 29,000 individual members for three days each year. Otakon is a membership-based convention sponsored by Otakorp, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based, 501(c)3 educational non-profit whose mission is to promote the appreciation of Asian culture, primarily through its media and entertainment. Otakorp, Inc. is directed by an all-volunteer, unpaid staff – we are run by fans, for fans. For more information about Otakorp, Inc., see http://www.otakon.com/otakorp/index.asp For more information and the latest news on Otakon 2011, see http://www.otakon.com/ This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted. News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.

My kid, like just about any kid, has a thing for ranch dressing. It’s an American classic, and I love it too – all creamy, rich with herbs and a touch of garlic and hint of acidity. I’m into it, and so is he. When he makes his lunch, one of his favorite things to add to his lunchbox (P.S. this is the reusable lunchbox he uses) is carrot sticks and a little container of homemade ranch dressing to dip them in. The thing is, I want to make a dressing that not only tastes good, but also makes our bellies feel good too – one that avoids the laundry list of ingredients found in store-bought dressings like soybean oil, MSG and high fructose corn syrup and artificial ingredients. Instead, our is made from homemade mayonnaise, milk kefir (which conveys many benefits), extra virgin olive oil, and fresh herbs. It’s simple, easy and nourishing. Kefir is a Powerhouse Milk kefir is a nutritional powerhouse. It is rich in beneficial bacteria that support gut health, and is strongly anti-inflammatory, and when you make it from the milk of grass-fed cows or goats, you enjoy the additional benefit conveyed by healthy fats like conjugated linoleic acid and omega-3 fatty acids. There’s a beautiful synergy that exists within kefir as it is rich in beneficial bacteria, and it’s those same bacteria that can outcompete pathogenic bacteria which is why researchers are investigating it’s role in addressing salmonella, h. pylori, and staph infections (read it here and here). Homemade Kefir Really Is Better The kefir you find in grocery stores is more closely akin to thin, drinkable yogurt than it is to milk kefir. Store-bought kefir is still rich in beneficial bacteria, like any cultured milk; however, it lacks the rich diversity of homemade, traditional kefir. Store-bought kefir is produced with a commercial starter culture (incidentally, you can buy similar powdered cultures here); by contrast, homemade kefir is prepared the traditional way, using kefir grains, and this makes a big difference. To make traditional milk kefir, you add milk kefir grains to a jar, top them with fresh milk and wait. Milk kefir grains, like kombucha mothers, are a SCOBY – or a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeasts. They contain a wide variety of beneficial bacteria and yeasts that come together to eat up the naturally occurring sugars in milk, transforming milk from sweet and fluid to tart, slightly thick and faintly effervescent. Store-bought, commercial kefir lacks microbial biodiversity of traditionally prepared kefir made from real kefir grains. As those beneficial yeasts and bacteria eat the lactose in milk, they produce beneficial acids, which are responsible for kefir’s tart flavor; moreover, they also produce B vitamins, like folate, a nutrient critical to women of reproductive age for its ability to reduce the risk of neural tube defects. Where to Find Kefir Grains (And How to Make It) To make kefir, you’ll need kefir grains and you can either purchase them live here or dried here. From there, it’s as simple as dropping the grains into a jar, covering them with milk, and letting them sit, do their work and culture that milk. All in all, it takes about a day, then you strain away the grains, bottle the kefir and use it as you like. You can get full instructions on brewing here, or in my first cookbook The Nourished Kitchen which also includes many other recipes for cultured foods. |Kefir Ranch Dressing|| | - 1 cup mayonnaise, preferably homemade (get the recipe here) - ½ cup milk kefir - 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (I use this kind.) - 2 teaspoons onion powder - 1 teaspoon garlic powder - 1 teaspoon finely ground sea salt - 2 teaspoons dried chives - ½ teaspoon dried parsley - ¼ teaspoon dried dill - ¼ teaspoon finely ground black pepper - Spoon the mayonnaise into a mixing bowl, and then whisk in the kefir and olive oil. When the oil and filmjolk are completely integrated into the mayonnaise, whisk in the onion and garlic powders, salt, herbs and dried parsley. Taste it, and adjust seasoning as necessary to suit your preferences.

- To create synergy, we require more than a concept and a strategy. The enterprise value proposition defines the strategy for value creation through alignment, but it doesn't describe how to achieve it. - The alignment strategy must be complemented with an alignment process. - The alignment process, much like budgeting, should be part of the annual governance cycle. - Whenever plans are changed at the enterprise or business unit level, executives likely need to realign the organization with the new direction. BOTTOMLINE: Closely tied to this core thought is Discipline III. Align Systems, from Six Disciplines for Excellence.

Jupiter Media and Entertainment Ventures (Jupiter) and Express Publications (Madurai) Limited (EPML) have announced a strategic alliance that will jointly pursue media opportunities in various languages. Initially, this partnership will cover Jupiter taking equity investments in Kannada Prabha, a leading Kannada daily newspaper, subsequently exploring potential opportunities in other languages. This alliance will enable a vast synergy between two of Kannada’s most respected news brands, namely Kannada Prabha and Suvarna News 24x7, especially in the wide editorial network across Karnataka and product and space marketing. This partnership and strategic alliance will help propel these two brands and products into leadership positions, by giving the best in editorial, news reporting and features acceptable to millions of readers. This is the first time in India that two leaders and well-entrenched players of print and TV medium are coming together. The resultant alliance is bound to unlock new opportunities in Karnataka and beyond, in turn benefiting various stakeholders such as readers/viewers, employees and advertisers. Express Publications (Madurai) Limited was founded by Late Ramnath Goenka, along with other companies in the Indian Express Group. The Company now forms part of the New Indian Express Group owned and managed by Manoj Kumar Sonthalia, the grandson of Late Ramnath Goenka. The New Indian Express Group is an independent Group, publishing newspapers and periodicals in the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa and Union Territories of Pondicherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. It brings out newspapers and periodicals from 22 Centres. The Company's publications include dailies: The New Indian Express in English, Dinamani in Tamil and Kannada Prabha in Kannada. The Company also brings out magazines: Cinema Express in Tamil (a fortnightly), Tamilan Express in Tamil (a weekly) and Samakalika Malayalam Vaarika in Malayalam (a weekly). Jupiter Media and Entertainment Ventures ( JMEV) owns, operates or has invested in a number of market-leading media assets in South India covering television news, entertainment television and radio. These include Suvarna News 24x7, a Kannada news channel that has emerged as the number 2 news channel in Kannada in a span of six months, Asianet News, the number 1 news channel in Malayalam, Star-Jupiter Entertainment, a joint venture with Star with five GEC channels - Asianet and Asianet Plus (Malayalam), Suvarna (Kannada), Vijay (Tamil) and Sitara (Telugu). It also has radio brands Best FM and Radio Indigo, and movie production under the Jupiter Entertainment and Indigo Films banners.

"Once Upon a Mulberry Field" by C.L. Hoang at Willow Stream Publishing Was Finalist in the 2014 National Indie Excellence Book Awards San Diego, CA, June 05, 2014 --(PR.com )-- San Diego author C. L. Hoang receives national recognition for his debut Vietnam novel "Once Upon a Mulberry Field," published in February this year by Willow Stream Publishing. The Eighth Annual National Indie Excellence® Awards recognized Once Upon a Mulberry Field by C. L. Hoang in the category of Historical Fiction as a finalist. This national award, based in Los Angeles, California is open to all English language books in print, including small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, and self-published authors. The competition is judged by independent experts from all aspects of the book industry---publishers, writers, editors, book cover designers, and professional copywriters. The Indie Excellence® Winners & Finalists recognize the books that demonstrate an indefinable synergy of elements that makes for overall excellence. Set at Bien-Hoa Air Base near Saigon in 1967, the height of the Vietnam War and the Tet Offensive, as well as decades afterward, Once Upon a Mulberry Field follows one man's journey of self-discovery, fraught with disillusionment and despair but ultimately redeemed by the power of love. "We are so proud to announce the winners," said awards sponsor Ellen Reid. "These books will be a favorite on bookshelves for years and years to come." Prior to publication in February this year, Once Upon a Mulberry Field had also been selected as a finalist in the 2012 San Diego Book Awards for Unpublished Novel. For more information and insights about the book or the author, please check out the website: www.mulberryfieldsforever.com or email: firstname.lastname@example.org

The human brain is a big, complicated system, with different parts doing different things. No one fully understands how it works, yet. But like many other researchers, I think I have a fairly good idea, at a high level. What I’m going to give you here is a capsule summary of how one AI researcher, and sometime computational neuroscientist, thinks about the structure and dynamics of the human brain — the “brain according to Ben,” if you will. I’ll also briefly discuss the relation between brain function and current approaches to artificial general intelligence. If you want an in-depth yet concise tutorial on the current state of textbook neuroscience knowledge, try this one from Columbia University. Rather than reviewing the basics in “Neuroscience 101” style detail, what I’m going to do here is give an overview of what I think are the most critical points and how they all fit together. The Big Picture I like this picture created by IBM researcher Dharmendra Modha and his team: As I discussed in an earlier blog post, this picture shows 300+ regions of the macaque monkey brain and how they connect to each other. Most of these correspond to similar regions in the human brain; and a similar diagram could be made for the human brain, but it would be less complete, as we’ve studied monkeys more thoroughly. Each of these brain regions has a literature of scientific papers about it, telling you what sorts of functions they tend to carry out. In most cases, our knowledge of each brain region is badly incomplete. The nodes near the center of his diagram happen to correspond to what neuropsychologists call the “executive network” — the regions of the brain that tend to get active when the brain needs to control its overall activity. But all these different parts of the brain do seem to work according to some common underlying principles. Each of them is wired together differently, but using the same sorts of parts; and there’s a lot of commonality to the dynamics occurring within each regions as well. Between Neurons and Brains All the parts of the brain are made of cells called neurons, that connect to each other and spread electricity amongst each other. The spread of electricity is mediated by chemicals called neurotransmitters — so, one neuron doesn’t simply spread electricity to another one, it activates certain neurotransmitter moleculee that then deliver the charge to the other neuron. Things like mood or emotion or food or drugs affect these neurotransmitters, modulating the nature of thought. There are also other cells in the brain, like the glia that fill up much of the space between neurons, that seem to play important roles in some kind of memory. Some folks have speculated that intelligence relies on complex quantum-physical phenomena occurring in water mega-molecules floating inbetween the neurons — though I have no idea if this is true or not. The part of the brain most central for thinking and complex perception — as opposed to body movement or controlling the heard, etc. — is the cortex. And neurons in the cortex are generally organized into structures called columns. The column is the most critical structure occupying the intermediate level between neurons and the large-scale brain regions depicted in Modha’s diagram above. Each column spans the six layers of the cortex, passing charge up and down the layers and also laterally to other columns. There are a lot of neurons called “interneurons” that carry out inhibition between columns — when one column gets active, it sends charge to interneurons, that then inhibit the activity of certain other columns. Cortical columns, imaged And columns tend to be divided into substructures that are often called “mini-columns”, or sometimes just “modules.” In some cases, it seems that each mini-column represents a certain pattern observed in some input, and the column as a whole represents a “belief” about which patterns are more significant in the input. In the visual cortex, you can have columns recognizing particular patterns in particular regions of space-time, for instance. So one column might contain neurons responding to patterns in a particular part of the visual field — where the neurons higher up in the column represent more abstract, high-level patterns. Lower-level neurons in the column might recognize the edges of a car, whereas higher-level neurons in the same column might help identify that these edges, taken together, do actually look like car. But the functions of columns and the neurons and minicolumns inside them seem to vary a fair bit from one brain region to another. If you’d like to dig deeper into the column/minicolumn aspect, check out this recent overview of mini columns; and this more speculative paper, that proposes a particular function and circuitry for mini columns. A capsule summary of the literature these papers represent is: - cortical columns are in many cases well-conceived as hierarchical pattern recognition units, using their minicolumns together to recognize patterns - the minicolumns in various parts of cortex are implementing a variety of different sorts of microcircuitry, rather than possessing a uniform internal mini-columnar structure. Glocal Memory and Complex Neurodynamics One of the tricky things about the brain is the way it mixes up local and global structure and dynamics. Each cortical column does something on its own, but also, it stimulates and inhibits many other columns — thus potentially causing a brain-wide pattern of activity. So each column has a local and a global aspect — something I like to describe with the weird word “glocal” (see this Neurocomputing paper for a technical treatment of the concept). There’s a lot of evidence for this glocal aspect in terms of human memory — memories of specific objects or people seem to be stored in networks of hundreds to thousands of columns, but the network corresponding to, say, “Barack Obama” can be triggered into activity by stimulating just a few of the columns involved in the network. This glocal aspect allows columns to react to each other in subtle ways. If one certain column causes a global brain activity pattern, and then other columns react to this pattern, then basically these other columns are reacting to that one certain column. This turns the collection of columns into a complex network of “actors” that act on each other. Since each column can learn and adapt based on experience — using the ability of each neuron to modify its connections to other neurons based on experience — we have a population of actors (columns) that are constantly acting on each other (by reacting to the global activation-patterns each other cause) and then adapting based on this interaction. One can prove that this kind of system is able to give rise to endlessly complex forms, and do any kind of calculation that a computer can do. In a technical paper from 2008 (and see video of the corresponding talk here), I gave some specifics regarding how certain sorts of neural circuitry could give rise to the sorts of abstraction we see in mathematics and language. Sound complicated? Yeah, of course it’s complicated — what did you expect? In technical terms, this sort of dynamical system is not only complicated but chaotic and complex. Via combination of holistic and localized dynamics, cortical columns spawn complex networks that respond to the world and each other in complex ways. The real story of brain function lies, not in the division of the brain into regions, nor in the particular algorithms inside minicolumns, but in the dynamical networks that self-organize in the overall network of columns. These self-organizing networks guide the process via which the brain’s holistic state guides the behavior of each brain region. These networks are learned via experience, meaning that the brain/body’s experience continually guides the columnar network’s global self-organization process. And the columns and minicolumns in the different regions of the brain, underlying all this self-organizing network activity, are all architected and interconnected in slightly different ways. And they’re not architected by some clever rational designer with an eye for elegance and order — they’re architected by evolution, with its penchant for heterogeneous intercombination of elegant efficient order and confused wasteful mess. Neuroscience and AGI Suppose this general picture of how the brain works is correct — what would it mean for Artificial General Intelligence, for the quest to build thinking machines with intelligence at the human level or beyond? It would mean that, once we’ve unraveled the specifics of how all the columns and their internals and interconnections work, then we could build a digital brain. We’d need a heck of a lot of computers to do it — because in the human brain all the neurons can act independently at the same time. But with the help of ongoing exponential acceleration in computing power, we could do it! On the other hand, before brain imaging technology advances far enough to tell us how the internal details of the brain actually work — then what? Someone could certainly try to architect an artificial brain-like system by guessing how all the neurons and columns are wired together, in all the different subsystems of the brain… or by making something up that’s generally similar to how the brain works, but different in details. However, that seems extremely difficult — which is probably why nobody is actually trying to do this at the moment. Instead, it seems to me that what folks who advocate brain-like AGI architectures are doing, is basically like this: - take a crude approximation of one part of the brain - hypothesize that the whole brain basically works like that one part in detail - try to make a quasi-simulation of that part of the brain make various compromises in biological accuracy to achieve more computational efficiency. A great example of this is the HTM — Hierarchical Temporal Memory — system proposed by Jeff Hawkins’s company Numenta. Jeff Hawkins made a fortune with the PalmPilot and Treo handheld devices, and after he retired from that business, he went into neuroscience and AGI. The HTM system is basically a model of the visual cortex — maybe the auditory cortex too — but it’s being proposed as a model of the whole of intelligence. It may be an OK model of vision and audition — though there are arguments to be made even there — but it has nothing to say about action, language parsing, social reasoning and emotion, and a whole lot of other things that are critical to human intelligence. It doesn’t even have much to say about senses like smell and touch, whose corresponding brain regions don’t have the marked hierarchical structure and dynamics that the HTM model focuses on. Hierarchical structure of the visual cortex Hierarchical structure of HTM, DeSTIN and other similar vision processing / AGI architectures, modeled conceptually on the hierarchical structure of visual cortex I’m not saying this sort of work is worthless, by any means. One of my good friends, Itamar Arel, is developing a system called DeSTIN that somewhat like Hawkins’ HTM — but Itamar’s seem to work better. It’s a hierarchical pattern recognition system, that recognizes patterns in a stream of inputs. It doesn’t have cortical columns exactly, but it’s kind of similar — it has “nodes” corresponding to different space-time regions of the observed world, and they’re arranged in a hierarchy, and higher-up nodes refer to larger space-time regions and more abstract patterns. It’s pretty nice, and if you hook it up to a webcam or a robot’s camera eye, it reacts to its inputs and settles into states that tell you something about what objects and events the robot is seeing. Excellent! But my own interest in DeSTIN, is largely because I can connect it to the OpenCog AGI architecture I’m working on — and in my own view, OpenCog takes care of a lot of other aspects of intelligence, that DeSTIN in its current form doesn’t touch. Itamar, on the other hand, thinks he can basically take DeSTIN, implement it on a lot of machines, tweak the algorithms a little, connect it to a robot, and get advanced general intelligence (see my H+ Magazine interview with Itamar here). He has plans for an action hierarchy similar to the perception hierarchy, and then a reward hierarchy that gets a stimulus when the system has done something good or bad and passes this along to the action hierarchy, which then passes it along to the perception hierarchy. I agree that adding some stuff onto DeSTIN would be necessary to make it do anything like human-level intelligence. But I think you’d need to do a lot more than just add action and reinforcement hierarchies. I think the human brain is just a lot more complex than that, and any AGI system that’s vaguely like the human brain is going to have to be a lot more complex than that. There will have to be many different architectures corresponding to many different brain regions, each one carrying out its own functions and all connecting together appropriately. To take just one example almost at random, the human brain is known to deal with episodic memory — memory of your life-story and the events in it — quite differently from memory of images or facts or actions. But nothing in architectures like HTM or DeSTIN tells you anything about how episodic memory works. Jeff Hawkins or Itamar would argue that the ability to deal with episodic memories effectively will just emerge from their hierarchies, if their systems are given enough perceptual experience. It’s hard to definitively prove this is wrong, because these models are all complex dynamical systems and we don’t know how to predict their behavior exactly. But yet, it really seems the brain doesn’t work this way — episodic memory has its own architecture, different in specifics from the architecture of visual or auditory perception. I suspect that if one wanted to build a closely brain-like AGI system, one would need to design fairly specialized circuits for episodic memory, plus dozens to hundreds of other specialized subsystems. The more we learn about how the brain works, the more sensible it will be to pursue brain emulation based AGI as one among many paths. Right now, any attempt to emulate the brain in an AGI system involves an awful lot of guesswork, because our understanding of the brain is still so primitive. And my own feeling as a researcher is that, if I’m going to do that much guesswork, I might as well liberate myself from the restrictions of emulating the brain and just think about the best way to create a digital mind given the hardware available to me. So that’s what my colleagues and I are doing with OpenCog — trying to build a thinking machine that doesn’t emulate the brain in any detail, drawing some inspiration from neuroscience but just as much from cognitive psychology, computer science and other areas. But if other researchers want to apply their talent for creative guesswork to figure out how to make more closely brainlike AGI systems — more power to ’em! I have fairly strong intuitions about what path toward AGI is best to follow at the present time — but I also do strongly believe there are going to be many different workable paths to AGI, probably leading to many different kinds of minds. AGI systems may also one day help us better understand the complexities of neuroscience — one can easily envision an AGI system making better sense of the intricacies of Modha and Singh’s diagram, that I showed above, than any human brain. There may be a future phase where AGI and neuroscience advance in synergy, each helping the other along — though my own guess is that, after this phase, AGI will continue advancing far beyond the restrictions of the human brain architecture. I see the human brain as one particular, albeit very fascinating and relevant, way of achieving a modest amount of general intelligence. It’s fascinating to watch our understanding of general intelligence unfold, both in the context of the general intelligence machines in our heads, and more broadly. Toward Fuller Understanding Neuroscience, like molecular biology and many other aspects of biology, has been advancing steadily and rapidly during recent decades. It is possible that future discoveries will yield radical conceptual breakthroughs, invalidating the ideas reviewed here. My guess, though, is that this won’t be the case. There will be new insights, there will be exciting neural phenomena unknown to 2012 science. But on the whole, I suspect that ongoing empirical neuroscience discoveries will serve to fill in more and more details — until, finally, we understand how the various minicolumns and other modules inside the various cortical columns distributed throughout the cortex operate and co-operate in such a way as to give rise to the diverse coordinated behaviors of the multiple complex networks binding the brain’s multiple, differently-architected regions into complex adaptive behaviors. In other words, I suspect that when we finally do thoroughly understand the brain, what we will have will be : A long list of particular variations on the structures and dynamics I’ve described here, and a solid understanding of how these variations work together to let all the numerous parts and subnetworks of the brain collaboratively do their particular jobs. What, specifically, would need to be done to move beyond our current level of understanding of the brain? — to validate or refute the general ideas outlined here, and to try to fill in the multitudinous missing details? There are many possible routes, but by far the easiest would be to find a way of imaging the living brain with high spatial and temporal resolution. Till we have that, moving rapidly toward a fleshed-out holistic theory of brain function is going to be really tough — though we will continue to make step by step progress. So — personally, if I wanted to work on neuroscience, I’d focus on developing radically better imaging tools. After writing this article, I peeked back at the chapter on neuroscience from my book From Complexity to Creativity, published in 1997. Conceptually, the picture I gave there was basically the same as the one I have described here. Back then I hadn’t done any concrete computational neuroscience work, nor much practical AI work; and the neuroscience papers I read had even more gaps than the ones I read today. There were no detailed models of minicolumnar structure then, for example; and empirical data in favor of memory glocality was very scarce. But the high-level view of the brain I abstracted from the literature was about the same as the one I limn from what I read today. Little by little, year by year, we understand more and more. Till eventually — perhaps after a breakthrough in brain imaging — we’ll see the whole picture in detail … though the picture may end up so complex that no individual human mind will be able to fully understand the whole thing!

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From First-To-Second Year The First Year of My Medical Training: Completed! Monday, May 19, 2008 | posted by Kate | I am very excited, nostalgic, sad, relieved and happy that the year is over. You can't imagine the amount of papers that now clutter my little one bedroom apartment near my medical school. Luckily they are bounded by rubber bands and stacked, but they look like the sad little innards of textbooks that I will probably never read. Speaking of text books I have a bookcase full and three more years to go. Looks like I'll need another bookcase really soon. What a nerd. I've found that it is hard to be at the computer after I spend so much time on it doing work. After a while my eyes cannot even look at the screen. Oh, internets--there used to be a day when using the computer was fun. Unfortunately not anymore. I look up and find the world changing--stars that I didn't even know were dating are married, having babies, there is a tsunami killing people, Barack and Hillary are at each other's throats. Being in medical school is like being in a time machine sometimes--it is possible to be so immersed in doctor training land that outside world stuff cannot have any space in "prime-time" brain space. Right now I am sitting at a Panera Bread, enjoying the free (fast) wi-fi and trying to not eat any bakery treats. This year I managed to not gain any weight, but due to the fact that medical school foiled my workout plans, I didn't lose any weight either. The goal for year two is to get on the ball with some physical activity 6 days a week like we recommend to other people. Hypocrisy be damned, you know. I'm working on little personal projects, uploading pictures from events to email to people and paste on Facebook, putting together little photo albums that Shutterfly will dutifully mail to friends and family. Meaning I don't have to fuss with photo corners or scalloped edge scissors or what have you. More to come later as I have this summer off from classes to do some research, un-pile my apartment, drink alcohol and convince the next class of MCAT hopefuls that they are doing the right thing. As always love until later, Happy New Year before Valentine's Day Monday, January 28, 2008 | posted by Kate | I can't believe it is 2008! To those of you who are still out there reading "The Slick Adventures of Downtown Girl", thank you. First-year of medical school has made me no longer "downtown" or "slick" and has certainly left little time for blogging (or laundry, or grocery-shopping or exercise, or sleep...). Case in point: It is 11:30 at night and I just got home from school. I am enjoying things greatly but everything at school is really time-consuming. Here's the life overview from various points: 1. Medical School Going well, did fine in Anatomy. Now have Physiology, with first test coming up early next week (yikes!). Am set for summer research which should be really amazing and interesting--working on papers so I can get paid. Money would be good. Have reapplied for private scholarship for year 2, need to do taxes and FAFSA again. Am still teaching and tutoring sciences on the side. Continued excellent relationship with my mom, which thankfully came in handy when my grandmother fell and hurt herself over the holiday break, prompting a SECOND unexpected trip home over winter break. Things are fine and thank God, everyone is well now but that was very stressful for awhile. Doing well with friends, considering that I only see friends that don't go to medical school maybe 1x a month if lucky. (Okay...maybe 2x.) As soon as you are squeezed for an additional 10 hours a week, the going and coming to visit other people kind of drops away. And they can only visit you at odd hours and times. After a year and a few months, R and I are still doing great. We are going through a phase in our relationship which I think is kind of a test--he is quitting smoking so is irritable, I am struggling through the second semester of first-year. It is freezing cold here, too. Despite these things we are kind and loving to each other 99.9% of the time. We had our first real fight about a week ago which means that we're past the point where people stop "guarding" and start being real, really real. We were able to talk about things and get back on track, but the only reason for this was that both of us really wanted to figure out where the miscommunication/misunderstanding was and make life clearer again. He's been making more of an effort to come to me as well, now that I am even more busy--he drives out here once or twice during the week to climb in bed with me. It is so nice to feel his arm curled around my waist all night, to have breakfast with him in the morning before school. Having him here is a comfort, a security. He does little things for me when I'm exhausted, like take out my trash or make my bed in the morning. Love until later (whenever that is!) Time Flies When They Are Torturing You Med School Is Heaven and Hell Sunday, December 02, 2007 | posted by Kate | I can't believe that in a few days, by Dec. 14th, that I will be 1/2 way done with my first year of medical school. Over the past 10 weeks, I have dissected a human person from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. Her name is Doris. She has a perfect superior thyroid artery coming off of her external carotid artery and lacing into the top of her thyroid gland like the threads on a baseball. Her heart is curved and lovely. She had all kinds of fillings in her teeth. I did poorly on my first test in anatomy, and then improved. A lot. 12% improvement on the practical part (where they tag stuff on the cadavers and ask you what it is) and 18% improvement on multiple choice. I am hoping for even more improvement on the final exams, pending some hard work. It is extremely difficult, to say the least, to work with the dead so that one day I will be a competent physician for the living. It is amazing, hellish, wonderful, horrible and beautiful all at once. Our culture neatly protects us from real death and medical students get to come face to face with it. Soaked in formaldehyde. Yikes and Wow all at once if you can imagine. Spending all of this time learning is a little bit lonely---I often don't have much to talk about besides medical school because that is where my brain is, where my focus is, where my energy is spent. People understand, and they don't. I try to stay calm as I observe surgeries where people live and die, where blood spills and we sop it up, where people stand clinging each other in waiting rooms while I stand in the corner of the operating theater trying to figure out how to breathe wearing too-big scrubs and a large face mask. I dreamed you, I saw your face... R and I celebrated our one-year dating anniversary in mid-November. He prepared dinner for us and made me a CD of songs that remind him of me, even including an explanation of why he chose them. He bought me beautiful multi-colored roses, and a sweet anniversary card. Some of my favorite songs on the CD include: We're doing awesome--he's supportive and strong, a safe place I run to when I'm pushed to the limits. He makes me a cup of tea and holds me when I sleep. He packs me a lunch to take to school. He sends me text messages reminding me that I'm doing a good job, that he loves me, that he's thinking of me today. - Ain't Nothin 'Bout You/Brooks & Dunn - Angel Dream/Tom Petty & Heartbreakers - Unanswered Prayers/Garth Brooks - Just the Way You Are/Billy Joel We spend Sunday mornings together, waking up at 8 or 9 in the am, lingering in bed, getting up and having pancakes and bacon, having a hot shower and then going our separate ways. Our Sunday morning times have been great because we spend time talking and he is doing an amazing job opening up to me. Since our anniversary, which was a huge declaration of love on his part, I have been falling even more in love with him and feeling very good about things. We're headed home to my parent's house for four days after finals are through, and then spending Christmas together here in Chicago. We're going to get a Christmas tree and make a gingerbread house and be big nerds about it. There are a million things to tell you guys, but I have to get back to watching clinical skills videos, and look at some Netter flashcards. This week is going to be the total shitter in terms of school-work. I have everything planned out, including when I'm going to Walgreen's and what day I'm doing laundry. Yikes! This Friday I'll turn 26. I can't believe it. Love until later, I find myself wondering where to start. Thursday, October 04, 2007 | posted by Kate | I want to write tonight because...this evening has been a good one, filled with friends, delicious red wine, chocolate truffles and laughter. Because it's been too long since I've recorded some of the things that have been happening. A Boyfriend Story Last weekend, R planned a date for us that included him cooking us steaks on the barbecue and reserving tickets for a play downtown. We took the train into the city on a pretty early Fall night (not yet cold but hints of chill in the air), picked up our tickets and had a steaming cup of espresso before the show. Afterwards, we headed to a favorite Irish bar (one that has the kind of competitive trivia where trophies are won and lost!) and had a few drinks. Over my diet coke and bacardi (with lime, naturally...), I learned a few more things about R that have changed everything. And when I think about these things, they don't surprise me, but it is good to hear him say them, like, "Under normal circumstances (aka not already being divorced before!) I would have already asked you to marry me;" and "I didn't know what being happy with someone was before I met you. Before I would tell myself I was happy, and now I don't ever have to do that because I just am." And, YEAH! I haven't really told anyone else that he said these things because I have been rolling them through my mind, washing them over myself again and again, holding them extremely close to the center of where I am. A Health Story So at my annual ob-gyn visit (I know, we all love it) something happened that has NEVER happened before: the ob-gyn found a lump. In my left breast. Yikes! She sent me to the breast center, where they did an ultrasound (okay, where three people did an ultrasound) and they couldn't find anything abnormal. I was pretty worried about all of that and now feel kind of sheepish for thinking of how awful it would be to lose my hair or to have to endure medical school and radiation, or what it would be like to have an entire breast removed. Luckily I don't have to go down any of those roads, and I tried to stay calm, but somehow my fear crept into my thoughts and finally was put to rest today. I have also lost 4 pounds. I am doing a good job keeping a food journal, weighing out portions and trying to round out nutrition. Next comes working in more regular exercise. Being healthy is certainly NOT for the lazy. A million other things come to mind to write about. - I visited my family in my sunny southern california hometown for four days this week while on my break. That was restful, awkward, fun and refreshing all at once. - I'm going to be a ladybug for halloween. Tonight I worked on putting some red and black polka-dotted nylons over the top of the bra I am wearing. Now if it shows, it matches! - I did great on final exams, scoring in the high 80's and early 90's. Hopefully this showing is good enough for some "High Pass." - R and I are going to get pumpkins at a real pumpkin patch on Saturday and I'm excited about that. We're also going to a haunted house, which I don't love but...oh well. - I'm going to get my hair and nails done tomorrow at a gorgeous salon and am SO looking forward to the pampering....sometimes in the midst of finals and overall MD school craziness, I get left behind. - Monday we start on cadavers. Yikes! We have a funeral for them Mon morning and by Friday we'll have a WHOLE LEG off of one. Halloween is the WORST time to start this endeavor. Love until later, An Odd Mix Crisis and Calm Sunday, September 16, 2007 | posted by Kate | Being a first-year medical student is the ultimate combination of crisis and calm. I consider myself an organized, on-task, motivated person. Most of you wouldn't think any of those things would be a stretch for someone who is admitted to multiple medical schools. Oh, and the terrible burden that now that we're supposed to be taking care of other people, that it is an unspeakable thing to be having personal doubts, problems, making mistakes, being unorganized or generally flailing in any way. They (administration, upperclassmen, fellow classmates, attendings, interns, mentors) put pressure on us and teach us how to put even more pressure on ourselves. Thank you for your leadership...yes, as a matter of fact, I'd love another helping of confusion, self-loathing and guilt. Because if I don't accept everything given to me with a smile and eagerness, it's not considered "professional." An open letter to the a-hole second years (warning: unprofessional) To the next second-year who dares to snicker when someone from my class is printing notes, working on a project, or otherwise appearing to work: F--K YOU. Seriously. I think it is F---ING AWESOME that you didn't have to do SHIT your first-year of medical school, and that all you had to do was attend lectures and drink pina coladas the rest of the time. You loudly stating that "First Year is a Piece of Cake" while smiling with that shit-eating grin on your face doesn't make you wise, it makes you an a-hole. Next year no one will have to remind me to not be an a-hole to first years. You seem to convieniently forget that you had to transition to first-year too, and that things weren't always perfect for you either. What is bad about it is that so many people in your class are NICE and HELPFUL but you being a DUMBASS makes everything 10x worse. My second beef with you is this--What? You think I'm an IDIOT for reading required textbooks? I don't know what you've been doing since medical school but I had a job before this, the kind of thing where I had to pay my bills. The kind of thing you've never, ever, EVER had to do because you went straight from your pampered ass ivy-league college to this large, private medical school. And, you don't know how to keep your mouth shut (I know, I have that problem too, but not with this situation)---if people want to try to study and learn something here, just because you didn't have to do that "STUDY" thing doesn't mean that you get to be an asshole. Please don't EVER try to offer medical care to anyone that I know or love. 'Cause you are a first-class prick, oh, and you didn't READ ANY BOOKS. In MEDICAL SCHOOL. Jesus. A litany of issues, organized in list format for your reading pleasure - Maintaining some sort of order and structure for myself is becoming damn near impossible. - Exhibit A? The fact that I was reluctantly showering at midnight tonight. The fact that I am making schedules of my schedules. The fact that every time I check my email there is SOMETHING ELSE for me to contend with. Pulling my hair out is not an option. I would have no hair left. - I am not finding the time to work out like I should, I am not finding the time to pack healthy meals like I should, I got on the scale today. I was kind of snappy with my sweet, mostly-drunk boyfriend on the phone tonight. I need to call my best friend and my grandparents and both of those things are on a list on a 3x5 card with all of the other things I need to do, like renew my car insurance, deal with my 401K, make an ob/gyn appointment. When did my life get reduced to a to-do list in a personal planner that is now 10 inches thick??!? - All of those things? Unacceptable, unacceptable, unacceptable. - I'm behind in reading, behind in outlining, and probably behind on things I haven't even heard about yet. I'm not behind in pretending to be okay, smiling pretty for my classmates, saying everything's great on long-distance calls from friends and family. I am bitter, exhausted, self-critical and yet, FORGING on. I don't think I need people to understand or empathize. I oscillate from my position of forced optimism to a position of emergency-level triage of problems. What I need is a personal assistant, a maid, a personal shopper, a personal trainer and someone to be my stand-in mother and pack my lunches. That would be the day. But realistically? Until then (which is NEVER), what I am doing is going to be good enough, dammit. And perhaps my personal standards will have to be revised. There will definitely have to be less listening to a-holes, more taking care of myself, more flexibility when the school throws more work at us, and less self-criticism. All I want is... More time to MYSELF (that does not include self-care tasks, cleaning, organizing or doing things on the computer that are administrative.) I promise-I'm okay. I'm just venting. - More time with my boyfriend, just relaxing, laying around or doing nothing. - More time with my girlfriends, being silly, drinking, dressing up. - More time to work out, so I have more energy for the above three. - More time to get caught up on reading, learning and review. I love all of you long time. Measuring a Year, Welcome back to September Back to the question--how do you measure a year? What can change in a year? Saturday, September 08, 2007 | posted by Kate | Exactly a year ago this month, I... was in my first apartment after my separation just had joined Match dot com and started dating had not interviewed at any medical schools yet (but was to be invited shortly) moved from my old blog to this new blog to start over! was working at a preschool (already in my second month) worked out at a fancy gym downtown, Holmes Place ate a lot of sushi (spicy tuna, my fave) b/c there was a great place across from my old place saw Navy Pier everyday on my drive/walk home! was nervous about being accepted to medical school but hopeful was all done taking the MCAT just finishing my last few admissions essays used to walk to the grocery store and lug the groceries home, leaving red marks on my arms! 7 weeks into medical school shiny new white coat & fancy stethoscope one test down, one to go on Monday (toga party after) handful of new "best" friends I was dreaming of One new boyfriend (one year will be in Nov) who spent the night last night who holds my hand when we sleep who gave me Sox tickets (for me and a friend) later this afternoon whose sister is having lunch and visiting with me today Closer with my family even talking to my mom visits home, less stressful a new appreciation of my hometown and comfort with Chicago second apartment (first after official divorce) beautiful and big my own one-bedroom for the first time bright pink bathroom couch all to myself in the living room... Study Time & Other Schedule Snafus SNAFU=Situation Normal All F-ed Up Tuesday, August 28, 2007 | posted by Kate | Being in school has kind of messed up my flexibility. Let me explain. I am an extremely adept logistical and organizational planner, so, normally I am able to effortlessly juggle many commitments during the day, see many people, and have every object, change of wardrobe and even my car keys with me. Prepared. Perfect. This comes from being type A personality, I think. Medical school is the ginormous wrench in these works. This educational process is suddenly all of my commitments, all of my "stuff" that I have to shlep along with me and in all of my thoughts night and day. What does this have to do with anything? Naturally, I have become a little terrified that my relationships with friends from before medical school will begin to strain when I can no longer "do my part" or even do MORE than my part to accommodate their schedules/needs/locations. Plain and simple, people are going to have to accommodate me. If I can do my part, I always, always do. But most of the time? Hands tied. Most of my close friends have adjusted beautifully, checking in on me via phone and email and "snapping" me into the real world just when I need it. After 5 hours in the library analyzing brain-numbing histology pictures and biochemistry diagrams, I am not even sure WHAT DAY IT IS but then I listen to a voice message from a friend and suddenly feel HUMAN again. Big Girls Don't Cry However, R and I came to a head on this issue last night when he was supposed to come stay over here, and legit things came up for him (big work things and a family thing). It was late when he finished, and he chose to not come over after that. What could have become a COMPLETE nightmare turned into something great--me expressing that I was afraid that now that I can't accommodate him more easily (now that I'm in school), that he isn't willing to go out of his way for me (not just him, others too), and that part of why I was upset was because him showing up looked like proof positive to disappointed little me that I'm not worth going out of the way for. He was apologetic and obviously disappointed/frustrated about the situation. Normally, he's someone who doesn't want to be on the phone for very long but we spent 90 minutes talking to each other calmly, comforting the other and explaining our feelings and expectations. He realizes he has to figure more logistical/planning things out for us (instead of me doing it automatically like I have been). I need to trust him (and others) to love me and to pick up the "slack" inherent in people hanging out. Other people can worry about the details sometimes, too. He said how much he loved me a few times and at one point said that there isn't anyone else that he'd rather be working through things with. Today, I got some sweet text messages from him even though he's on his 24-hour shift. I am so excited when we are able to move forward together through things--makes me feel like we are becoming a better team everyday. I love him dearly but am sort of proceeding with a bit of caution given the job situation. However, after some of the things he said on the phone (and the WAY he said them), my instincts tell me that he wouldn't leave me for a job somewhere else. (I realize that those instincts could be wrong, but...) Hopefully I'll see him tomorrow night--I am DYING to see him. He's going to come out here to stay (if I get done with teaching & tutoring at a reasonable hour...) so I can just meet him at my house after my "marathon" of a Wednesday. Even though he starts his Thursday in the wee hours of the morning (his next 24-hour shift) he is going to come and stay here in the middle of the week. Woo. I'm finding that being totally honest with people about my fears and expectations is not getting easier but I understand the value of being transparent with those who deserve it. If I had chosen to not do that, he would have thought I was trying to guilt trip him into coming over (which I wasn't) or worse. And, I would have felt like he wasn't willing to make time for me or that our time isn't important to him. But, we talked it out, and got to understand the other person and their approach to not only life, but our love a little bit more. Life, and our love story, goes on. xoxo until later, PS: I'm sort of caught up on studies. No more code red. I do think nerdy jokes are even funnier, though. I am becoming EVEN NERDIER than before. I'm just sayin'. Sub Sandwiches, Tooth Fairy, White Coats Mon 20 Aug Sunday, August 26, 2007 | posted by Kate | My first medical school test. Results? 93%. Honors. Whew. Med students get the rest of the day off--no lectures. R comes over for lunch, we walk hand-in-hand down the streets of my Chicago suburb, looking for somewhere to eat, contemplating various little diners and looking in shop windows before choosing Jimmy John's! It starts to rain lightly and we get a little wet but are exhilarated and laughing. We sit on my fabulously comfy couch and talk more about the pending job situation. He tells me that he "doesn't want to do anything" that would take him away from us. He also explains that he hadn't thought of it the way that I had thought of it, that a normal breakup (if things were wrong) would be understandable, but to miss the potential on a perfectly good relationship because of a move? Hmmm.... Our talk made me feel better and I have calmed down slightly. His test for his out-of-state job (the next stages), if he completes them, happen on September 22. So for now, we all hope and pray that he lands a job that he wants HERE IN CHICAGO in the MEANTIME so there will be NO AWFUL decisions to make. Friday 24 Aug R's family (all five of them!!!) come to my medical school for our facility tours. They treat me to a delicious Italian dinner afterwards. I pick up my best girlfriend in the city and we have a sleepover. L and I are laying in bed together, talking, when I feel something under my pillow. A jewelry box. She gave me a beautiful set of earrings as a "Congratulations!" gift for medical school. It was kind of like the tooth fairy had come...yay! Saturday 24 Aug Along with the other 145 members of my class, (2011!) I receive my white coat. R, very handsome in a full suit (even though he HATES wearing them!) and L, in a lovely blue dress, were there to cheer me on. We were only allowed to have two tickets, which sucked because there were a lot of other people that I would have wanted to invite. The three of us went on a boat cruise on Lake Michigan with the rest of the class. R and I went to a Bears game at Soldier Field. Bears win! (Da Bears!) Code Red--Study Time Needed... So much studying to catch up on because of TWO NIGHTS out this week--Friday and then ALL DAY Saturday. Normally I get at least 4 hours on Friday (but didn't because of the tour/dinner/sleepover) and then at least 4 hours on Saturday (but didn't because of the ceremony/brunch/cruise/Bears game). Wish me luck. Welcome to the Break Point Possible out-of-state job for my guy? Sunday, August 19, 2007 | posted by Kate | He's been applying for all sorts of jobs, and the one that is moving forward the fastest is the one that would take him out of state, out of my immediate day-to-day life. He's got other prospects, of course, but there is a remote possibility he'll leave the town he calls home, where his family lives, to go do something else. Somewhere else. Somewhere not here. My Position (*When I am not hyperventilating, of course) I can't deal with a relationship that's long-distance; not with the pressure of medical school, and also because I understand love in a physical sense as well as a verbal sense. If he's leaving, I need to know NOW so that I can get out of this relationship with him, stop spending my weekend mornings with him, stop building this relationship with him where I am picturing that potentially it would go somewhere. I don't like that I can't be more flexible, but I'm looking to build a serious relationship with someone, and that takes time. I can't lose 1-2 years in my mid 20's not having experiences with someone...because they are not around. Basically, I confronted him with the above (albeit tearfully at points), letting him know that: Indirectly, I think he also got the following messages: - I wasn't criticizing him for looking at jobs, and am very supportive of the fact and recognize that he wants to find a stable career choice - I want him to do what he is going to do (b/c people do what they want eventually ANYWAY), and want to know what his thinking is, whatever that is, so I can understand his position better - If his move is that he's moving somewhere else, that affects me directly b/c I can't deal with some long-distance stuff while I'm in school. - That he is extremely important to me, that he's a huge part of my life - That even though I look strong, being abandoned is possibly the worst thing ever for me, someone leaving or going unexpectedly We ended up going out to dinner after our talk, having a good evening, great morning, and breakfast together, too. We might get together tomorrow after my FIRST EVER MEDICAL SCHOOL TEST and he said "definitely" to hanging out next weekend, which is my White Coat Ceremony. The Bottom Line I am at that horrible place where I get to watch to see if at this point, if our lives are going to continue to converge. I've drawn my line, which is that I need someone who is HERE. If he's not going to be here, I can't play this. It is too hard for me. A good friend of mine said that this isn't an abandonment issue on my part ('cause I'm adopted), but rather something adults have to face from time to time. So I get to hang in the balance and wonder if things are going to work out, if what he really wants is to be somewhere else, starting a new life and career. I understand what it is like to want to go places and start a new life. I understand he needs to have a career that he enjoys. Questions for Thought I know that if things don't work out, and he moves away, that I will be able to move on eventually. That I'll find someone to be with who will be happy to be with me. But I DON'T EVEN WANT TO THINK ABOUT THAT, to acknowledge that I might be losing R so soon. As long as he lives here, there is no reason why we can't be together as long as problems don't crop up, etc. I can even understand a regular breakup in time. But to have a perfectly good relationship (with lots of potential in my opinion) bite the big one because of a career choice? Seems like a waste. Seems like a heartbreak on both sides that doesn't need to happen. I guess I get to see where we really stand, where I fit into this vision of his life, if at all, in the future. It is completely possible that I am the "Right Girl" arriving at the "Wrong Time." And that would be just my luck. UGH! I guess it is better for me to find that out now if it's the case, and be "Right on time" for a man that is going to put me first. My personal prayer: God-I'm frightened and heartbroken over the prospect of this relationship with R ending. I'm NOT ready to let go of his love in my life yet. I'm not ready to give it up. What I AM ready for is for you to handle this situation, because you know my heart, because you've known me my whole life and even before then. Whatever the outcome is, I trust that you have a man for me and I promise that I will do my best to be good-hearted and worthy of that man so I will get another chance to be someone's wife someday. Please show me how to be strong. Amen. My House or Yours? Note to Readers Monday, August 13, 2007 | posted by Kate | I have decided that it is important for me to really think about what my motivations are for doing certain things, or making certain decisions. This is in part due to a question asked to us recently at school: "Who am I becoming by my actions?" Don't get all up in arms and send me an email asking if any of these situations have happened to me...they haven't, which is precisely why I am exploring possible courses to take and what the outcomes may be. On Living Together, and Autonomy As most of you know, (or if you visit the archives!), I'm divorced. I didn't live with my ex-husband before we got married. Living with him would have facilitated my understanding that we weren't going to work out MORE QUICKLY, but our fate would still be the same--apart. For me, living together and marriage are related, but I want to make sure that I am understanding how. Let's talk about it. One of the nice things about living on your own is that you get to have a whole place that is uniquely yours, where your things live in a (hopefully) secure space. You decide where things go, when things get cleaned/organized (or not), what you're going to eat out of the fridge, etc. You can have down times and quiet moments that no other person is able to witness because you're in your own place. Breathing room. Your way, the only way, all the time. It can get lonely, you can feel isolated. All day-to-day responsibilities are solely yours. Depending on how many people you have around who you can call in for help, you are generally on your own. No input from someone else on decorating, improvements or organization (if you value that sort of thing, and I do.) Obviously if you are going to give up the benefits of Autonomy, of having "my own place", living together should bring it's own benefits that equal or outweigh living alone. But here is where it gets tricky. Living together brings the amalgamation of two people's personal lives, the messes of our daily lives under one roof. What's love got to do with it? My Standard for Moving In Together Moving in together, in my opinion, should be considered if and ONLY if: 1. It is NOT a "litmus test" for "should we get married?" There are always going to be issues in living with ANYONE, day to day. There are problems inherent in running a household. Married people, in principle, get the protection from the covenant that they have made to each other that even though things get rough in day-to-day life, that those "bumps" don't jeapordize their relationship. People simply "living together" do not--more problems can arize and the two people don't really have a promise to each other to "see it through." 2. The motivation involves the following things: a. Being able to spend more time together (to increase communication as well as emotional and sexual closeness) b. Being able to work together on day-to-day life issues (as a team instead of individually) c. To help one another out and begin to practice supporting the other in a more realistic sense d. Financial benefit from the synergy of a household I think those are pretty self-explanatory. 3. The understanding that the relationship will move to marriage in time (and explore each other's definitions of marriage) is implicit and unwaivering. This can mean engaged or not, depending on the relationship between the two. Engaged is definitely better though. I don't think that people need to move in together to decide if they would be good married or not. Over time, you can tell if you should marry someone or not. I have decided that the best compatibility factor for marriage has to do with how closely the two people's understanding of what the covenant of marriage is. If both people have the same ideas (or similar) about what it means to be married and why someone would get married (as opposed to just live together or whatever), and they are willing to commit to that standard and that relationship, they will probably be fine. I say "probably" because there are most likely multiple factors at play--but I know that both people being on the same page is a huge one. Because I really know how to get in the moment... Sunday, August 12, 2007 | posted by Kate | It's been a long week. After several days just trying to keep up with school work, put on a happy face and remember a TON of stuff, I find myself standing comfortably nestled in R's arms. He leans me back, so I can see his handsome face. R: "You are incredibly beautiful. Even if I don't say it, I'm thinking it." K: "Wow, I'm glad you think so..." R: "Um, sweetie? You're standing on my toe." I look down. I am. Shit. K: (blushing, horrified) "Oops." Is There A Doctor In The House? I have a nasty $250/day habit. Thursday, August 02, 2007 | posted by Kate | Don't look so surprised. It's medical school, friends. I have classes stacked up to my nose and I am loving about 90% of the content that we are reviewing and learning. I am grateful that I have already mastered a lot of these topics as an undergraduate or been over them since for the MCAT, etc. If I was coming in fresh, I would already be sunk. The pace is terrifying. None of the material that we are going over is exceedingly difficult, but there is a TON of it. Take for example, the $1,000 of books (yes, 1K) that I ordered for this year. Volumes and volumes of medical reference books ranging from "The Difficult Patient Interview" to "Genetics in Medicine" to "The Cell" to "Biochemistry." The amount of things I need to find, read, understand and memorize....it makes me tired thinking about it. I am loving every (overall) minute. Sitting in our beautiful, sunlit (indoor!) atrium area, eating my lunch with some colleagues, it struck me: THIS is what I get to do for the next four years. Be here in this beautiful building with these other smart people and learn things. Compared to work, this is a haven of wonder and the land of milk and honey. Work sucks. I am officially my own mother I packed myself a lunch for school tomorrow, put my things in my backpack, made myself a note to not forget my phone, and have my clothes all set out. Sunday, July 29, 2007 | posted by Kate | With classes tomorrow morning kicking off at 8:30 am, I am beginning my $250/day medical education. The journey of a thousand miles (and two hundred thousand in loan debt) obviously starts with a pb&j pita for lunch and a clif bar for breakfast. Exhausted but Great Top Ten Cool Things About Medical Student Orientation Wednesday, July 25, 2007 | posted by Kate | 10. All of the free lunches, dinners and beer. (The beer mainly from M2 host students!) 9. Meeting 140 new people. (Also a "challenging" thing about orientation) 8. Getting a "class of" T-shirt commemorating your entering group. 7. Finding where your locker is and discovering that it is HUGE! 6. Receiving a membership to an awesome gym with an Olympic size pool and an indoor running track. Oh, and a full size basketball court. Yay! 5. Being fitted for a white coat. 4. Receiving a picture ID badge/scan card that has your name right above "MEDICAL STUDENT" in large letters. 3. Knowing you're actually going to be a doctor someday. 2. Starting to know your way around the place and scouting out study locations. 1. Meeting people that you're pleased to call your colleagues. I'm exhausted but happy. Vodka + Lemonade=?? Kate's Best Vodka Lemonades (Ah, Summertime) Sunday, July 22, 2007 | posted by Kate | You will need: Semi-Premium or Premium Vodka ( I like Skyy or Ketel One, personally) "Simply" Lemonade (It comes in a jug and is not too sweet, in the fridge section) Fresh Limes, Cut into Wheels Ice and a cool pitcher to pour from And Then...Fill the pitcher 1/3 of the way with Vodka. Add a handful of ice and squeeze the limes as you add them in. Fill the pitcher the rest of the way with Lemonade. Taste to see if you need more vodka (why not?) You can have your own authentic Vodka Lemonade experience Just like I did this weekend if you follow the recipe above. R and I went over to his best friend's house and were joined by a few more of their friends to drink, watch the boxing fights at Mandalay Bay on TV and eat pizza*. (Deliciously gross* but wonderful Pizza Hut pizza.) I, of course, brought the ingredients for the famous VL because it was what I really felt like drinking. A few glasses of that later (it goes down really, really easy....too easy) I was totally drunk. Woo! I wake up with a start, head slightly swirly, to find myself curled on a couch next to R. I unsuccessfully try to rouse him, he swats at me because he's asleep and passed out. Blech. I am wishing we were at one of our homes, curled on a soft mattress, under my fluffy duvet, R's strong body enveloping mine as he sleeps. Okay, fine! Being a party girl is SO unglam, this is why I only drink like this approximately twice a year. I make myself a bed on the carpet below the couch so I can stretch my legs. R spreads out on the little couch and looks less scrunched and more peaceful. Good. R starts to wake and apparently would prefer to sleep holding me (hurray!) so he joins me on the carpet and we share the blankets (or, he just really wanted a blanket.) I'm feeling better about crashing at his friend's place now that we're laying together. If he's holding me, sitting next to me or standing close behind me I am suddenly very secure and calm. He's like man-prozac for the nerves. The quiet footsteps of R's friend's girlfriend approach as she arrives back from her night shift at the hospital. I should have worried more that she would think that R & I was her boyfriend and some other girl (she's the jealous type, okay?) but I don't because R has his arms around me and I'm hazy and exhausted. I wander down the hall to find R's friend's girlfriend staring at me from their bed. "Hi, Sunshine!" she calls. I twist my face into a smile. She lets me know that R's friend has gone to get us breakfast, which is good news. I put some pressed powder on my face, brush my hair and try to look not so, well, hungover. My stomach starts to rumble. Two bites into breakfast, I feel that sickening tightening in my stomach and throat. Oh, God. Oh, God. I start to panic....but don't want to let on. Quietly, I get up from the table and barrel down the hall where I proceed to forcefully vomit from my nose and mouth into the sink. I try to tell myself to relax and let it come out. It is hard because I want to fight the sickness so badly. I turn on the water so our friends don't hear me vomiting. Yuck. The acid burns my throat and the tears run down my face. I thank my lucky stars that my hair was already pulled back. Since I rarely vomit (twice this year already, weird) my body is exhausted and my hands and feet are shaky. R and I are back at his place. Still weak even after some Gatorade, I lay on his bed and nap with his two cats. He lays nearby, working a crossword puzzle. He kisses me on the forehead and the cheek. Just having him around makes me feel much better. This evening I had dinner with a good girlfriend and did my laundry at her place. We danced around the house, ate dinner on the deck and drank sparkling water out of wine glasses. Yeah! I gave R a call to see if he wanted to come over tonight but he said no because of where his work is located tomorrow. He did say that he loved me though and was very sweet. I think if he could be two places at once, he would. Tomorrow is the first day of medical school orientation. I got my drink on before the start of doctor school, my leather shoulder bag is packed, I have plenty of laundry clean and I am ready to go.

Company Culture Trumps All by Hesam Lamei Company culture is taking over as the key factor in the battle for talent and retention at companies all over the world. With the rise of review sites, social media networks, and word-of-mouth referrals, a company's culture simply cannot be fabricated. Companies with positive and strong cultures are coming out on top, not just for finding and retaining talent, but also in increasing productivity. When employees are happy and find synergy in their culture, more people want to work there. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon has said, "Part of company culture is path-dependent—it's the lessons you learn along the way." Well, I've learned a few things along the way that I would like to share with you: Build It & Great Employees Will Come When I first founded Aventis Systems, I was under the impression that if we posted an IT position, top job candidates would flock to apply and come in droves for the opportunity to work for a fun, innovative startup. However, I soon learned that was not necessarily the case, and in fact, it takes more than a great job to attract top talent. In today's competitive career landscape and improving economy, candidates are looking for more than just a solid job. They are looking for a career and company lifestyle with an organization whose company culture reflects their values, opinions, and way of life. In other words, company culture trumps most factors when attracting talent, even compensation, in some cases. The key to finding the talent that fits your organization is to create the type of company culture that attracts the type of employees you want. Many organizations default into choosing the candidates based on qualifications but with a low cultural fit. I've learned this is a big mistake. If they don't fit in the culture, then it will most likely be a short term situation. Zappos' CEO Tony Hsieh says that, in the early stages of launching Zappos, "bad hires cost us $100 million." Now, Zappos hires and fires based on whether someone is a distinct culture fit. So how do you determine if someone is a good fit for your company culture? Ask direct questions about the type of organization they worked for previously. Was it a small startup, a structured corporate environment, or an SMB IT company? What was the size of the company, what was the culture like, and what did they like and dislike about it? Do the answers fit with your company's culture? Steps to Creating Great Company Culture The obvious question is, how do you create great company culture? My biggest piece of advice is to make your business a place where people want to work. For example, we make it a point to reflect our company culture in everything we do. We strive for a culture of transparency. We have purposefully created a very open and synergistic environment where managers are approachable and open to honest feedback, questions, and suggestions. In fact, each manager's office is in close proximity to his/her team, not tucked away in a corner office. I also personally make myself available and sit where I am approachable to employees at all levels of the organization. Our managers meet with every team member on a weekly basis, to check in on projects, issues, or just to connect. Managers are easily reached by instant messenger or cell phone, and new and creative ideas are encouraged and rewarded. Employees are looking for a place where they can be creative, be a part of the growth and direction, and add value to an organization, and we do our best to provide these opportunities. This environment creates ambition and results in a fun setting. We're not looking for employees who just come in and punch a time clock. We are looking for employees to help us innovate and grow with their creative ideas and efforts. We recognize these ideas with awards, where we not only announce a winner, but also recognize those who were nominated for the award. We also know how to have fun with each other, including hosting company BBQ's, paintball outings, holiday parties and rafting trips. We offer fun incentive contests in each department for employees to win free domestic flights, restaurant gift cards, etc. And, we are involved in our local community and charitable organizations, such as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Walk, Hands On Atlanta, and Ronald McDonald House, and make donations to non-profit organizations (suggested by our employees) for computer hardware or services. We are all working at the same place and striving for the same goal and enjoy making a positive impact on our local community. These efforts have led to great employee retention for us and a company culture we are very proud to cultivate. Great company culture has its advantages and rewards. It enhances employee referrals and increases productivity. Many leaders and human resource teams neglect to understand and place value on the impact employees can have on referrals and recruiting. With the plethora of social media networks out there today, company reviews by current and former employees are more and more accessible. Employee referrals from people who like working at a company are critical. It brings a higher level of candidates, supports the culture and brings great prospects to your organization. Productivity benefits from a great company culture as well. If employees are happy at work then they tend to be both more creative and productive, and feel more connected to the company's customers and overall vision. Listening has been one of the best things I have done, and will try to do better in the future to improve our company culture. I have learned that some of the best changes have been derived by employee feedback and listening to ideas and suggestions from my team. When I identify a consistent theme from comments, I do my best to implement a new plan of action. If you have a great company culture, people will not only want to work for you, they won't want to work for anyone else. It's well worth the time and investment you put into developing a solid company culture. Subscribe to Our Content Stay updated with Aventis Systems' latest blogs, infographics and eBooks to get the IT industry's best content!

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This feature on the origins of the Enemy Territory: Quake Wars team, Splash Damage, was originally published in February this year by the world’s cleverest games development website, Gamasutra. The piece is based around an interview with Splash Damage owner and founder, Paul Wedgwood. I’ve updated it slightly, to reflect the fact that we’re now rather close to the release of the game. That meeting with Wedgwood went on to provide material for my book about gaming, which I’ll pimp to death on here once it’s approaching publication. Anyway, read on for the story of the little mod team that ended up making one of the games of 2007. If you want to make it big in games, this is a pretty good way to go about it. This interview was an odd kind of reunion. I had been acquainted with Paul Wedgwood for many years, long before we met in person. Back when I was an obsessed Quake player he was one of the people organising the communities, writing columns, administrating games, and commentating for an Internet TV show for which my Quake clan played numerous exhibition matches. Now that his life has taken quite a different path – into the highest echelons of game development – you might expect him to have left his fan community roots behind, but quite the opposite it true. It is the first-person gaming community, and its focused, implacable gamers, that have made Wedgwood and his company what they are today. These guys are fans, and utterly in love with living a geek dream. You can tell this because of Wedgwood’s enormous collection of sci-fi miniatures in the boardroom… But there’s much more than that to this particular group’s development credentials. Clearly enjoying life, a smiling Wedgwood greets me in the middle of his small, open-plan office. Most of the thirty employees share the same space, and the only members of the team that seem to get an office space to themselves are the huge banks of servers. Wedgwood explains that the machines are required to “compile mega-textures”, a vital ultra-high-tech process (developed by John Carmack) which will make his game a reality. The giant servers have their own disco-lit glass case, as if to illustrate their significance to the project. Also significant: the side-room filled with testers, gaming away all day long. We walk down a corridor past a swathe of concept art: burning ruins, troubled-looking robots and alien soldiers. One of the Strogg marines is annotated and carrying a set of “trinoculars.” One better, you see… Early designs for the ETQW vehicles are all here – the materials from countless hours of brainstorming. We sit down and begin to reminisce. Wedgwood tells me about his early life. He was obsessed with computing from an early age and was eventually expelled from school for spending too much time playing truant so that he could code games on a ZX Spectrum. “We would go into school, register and then go straight home and start writing code out of Spectrum magazines,” he tells me. This is a man for whom boredom has clearly been a great motivator. “It is one of those jobs that is incredibly stimulating while you’re learning everything there is to know about it, but once you get to the point where you know most of what there is to know about operating systems and hardware it’s only when new technologies come around that your interested is stimulated again. So by around ’96 or ’97 I was just really bored. I spent all night in soulless comms rooms getting networks up and running, and my respite was to go home and play games online.” For Wedgwood, Quake was something of a revelation. He suddenly found something that focused his competitive urges and locked him into extended sessions of a new kind of experience. “It was a much deeper level of concentration than I had ever experienced playing Chess, or Monopoly, or even more physical games like charging about the council estate where I grew up on rollerskates. You could lose yourself [in Quake] completely without any kind of plot driving the game.” Wedgwood, like many gamers discovering online gaming during the same period, was bowled over by these fresh new videogame experiences. He was lost in them, and soon found himself playing the popular class-based combat game, Team Fortress. “When I think back now to that blue ramp room in Team Fortress, I have physical memories of it. I have memories of the torches burning, and the water dripping. I got to know the room so well that it became a physical memory – it’s not like a memory of any other game.” Wedgwood rapidly found a clan, one of the Team Fortress and Quake-playing teams, and began to play obsessively. His competitive nature shone through as the team began to win on a routine basis, with Wedgwood leading. As he played more and more he began to forge strong links with the people he played with. More importantly, he had time to sink into writing news and running games websites. “I got a job as a contract IT guy in a bank in the city,” Wedgwood explained. “Because it had trading floors I wasn’t allowed to touch the network between nine and five. So my job was to sit at my desk and not touch anything. Instead of actually doing anything I spent most of ’98 updating the Team Fortress newsdesk.” As Wedgwood got more and more involved in the community, he began to get involved with the now-defunct gaming community service, Barrysworld. At the same time, however, his work began to suffer. He soon lost his job at the bank, and then another working for a government IT department. After months of chatting and gaming with the folks who ran the Barrysworld service he discovered that its chairman lived just a few blocks away in the same part of London. They arranged to meet for a drink and soon Wedgwood was filling the role of infrastructure manager for the gaming service. “It was a big pay cut,” Wedgwood explained. “But by then I knew I had to be in the games industry.” After a month of the familiar routine of commissioning servers and dealing with the technical issues of internet gaming, Wedgwood found himself commentating on Quake matches that were to be televised on Now TV, a cable channel that was selling content into the Asian market. All the action took place during unsociable hours, weekends, evenings and so on. “So during the week I got more and more involved in mod work. Team Fortress had been the main thing for us, but we were all looking forward to Quake III. I joined up with a mod team called Quake 3 Fortess [Q3F] , based on Fortress, and I soon became project leader for this Quake 3 mod.” Wedgwood began to do huge amounts of promotion and marketing for the mod, emailing news sites and promoting their work to the gaming teams across Europe. Once the mod had been released and was running, he persuaded community administrators to run tournaments for the game, and had a small army of disciples working for him in the form of teams who had signed up to test Q3F in its earliest beta stages. Even at this early time, Wedgwood had become quite serious about Q3F as a project, and began to try and structure the amateur team like a professional development house. “I read everything I could find on Gamasutra, especially the postmortems. The difference between us and a commercial company was that we were distributed across the planet and that no one got paid. Everything about the way the mod was made, from having a PR plan, through have flow charts to show how the mod would come together, to having focused art and design plans, having leads and lead responsibilities; it was all exactly like a games company.” “What we would do when we were trying to get a release finished was that we had a ‘devathon.’ People would all fly in to my house and we would sit and eat pizza and try and get as much into the release as possible. It was a like a weekend long or week long LAN party, but we would work on the mod.” The group was keen to keep its fans interested and involved too, leaving a webcam hooked up during the devathons so that interested gamers could log in and see what had been ticked off on the team’s ‘to do’ whiteboard. “Because we were fans we knew the things that Id did that we were excited about. If Carmack updated his dot-plan everyone read it, whether they understood it or not.” Soon the boundless enthusiasm of the team (then dubbed ‘Mallard Software’) began to be noted by Id Software. “In early 2000 I began to talk Robert Duffy at Id, I got in touch and asked if we could test the dev kit before release. We got hold of it and started using it. That gave us a head start over the other mod developers.” The team had produced the mod at a furious pace. Id provided the project with some technical help and then in late 2000 the Mallard team was invited to Quakecon by Id Software. They were to show off Q3F to the international gathering of Quake fans. “We manned a table and networked like crazy. We talked to every mod developer, members of Id, every hardware vendor, and just did has much as we could to promote the mod,”said Wedgewood. It was the turning point for the team: the small team (then just five people) realised that they wanted to be full time developers, not just volunteering fans. During one of the Quakecon dinners they pitched an idea to Id’s Graeme Devine (7th Guest), who told them to get back to basics and stop aiming at the sky. “He thought I was insane,” said Wedgwood. “Although we had a mod, it was a straight port. We knew that we had to demonstrate a better grasp of art and technology.” The team set about replacing all content derived from Quake 3 in their latest iteration of the Q3F mod. The new project would have a new UI, new maps, new logos, a new soundtrack, new audio and a complete overhaul of all incidental art materials. “In truth the community hated us,” concedes Wedgwood. “We were taking this pure game that they loved, and I guess it seemed like we were just dressing it up as a portfolio piece – and there would be some truth to that idea. But we were still proud of it, we had new special effects, new models, new skyboxes. We thought we were doing something for the community.” The growth of the mod now, however, was a little slower than it had been before. It was only when the team returned to Quakecon the next year that they were able to get things running at a pace they were happy with. “We had something really really polished to present,” Wedgwood recalls. “And at this point we were introduced to [Id Software co-owner] Kevin Cloud, and to Jonathan Moses of Activision, who was the producer on Return To Castle Wolfenstein.” This meeting was to prove fruitful, and was a fortunate turn of events for the newly formed company, now called Splash Damage. They had been relying on the soon-to-be-bankrupt NOW TV Quake-match broadcasts for their income, and the money intended for new, serviced offices would rapidly dry up. Splash Damage began their new direction by crafting some multiplayer maps for Return To Castle Wolfenstein, paid for by a UK telecoms company. These were soon to be the most popular third party maps for the game. It was clear to both Splash Damage and their friends at Id that the team was ready for a more ambitious commercial project. Soon the young company was working with Id and Nerve Software to create the most popular first party map for RTCW, released in a bundle of official maps. This led directly into their work on the first major commercial game project: Return To Castle Wolfenstein – Enemy Territory. The original Enemy Territory project had been intended as a quasi-sequel to the original game, with both single player and multiplayer elements. Accordingly, Splash Damage would handle the multiplayer game. As it turned out, however, they were lucky to see the project completed at all. Activision cancelled the release, and it was only because Id decided that the multiplayer project should be released for free that Splash Damage’s work ever saw the light of a gamer’s screen. Funded for three months beyond the project’s cancellation, Enemy Territory was given away for free by Activision. Wedgwood says that he has Id’s history of community relations to thank for this: in a manner reminiscent of their early shareware releases, the company had created goodwill by giving away a high-end gaming product for nothing. For Wedgwood meanwhile the process had been essential and galvanic. He had recognised the value of the original multiplayer game created by Nerve Software, and regarded the innovations in Return To Castle Wolfenstein as important to the entire first-person canon. “We knew about class-based combat, but RTCW just had so many innovations. Having everybody spawn together in spawn waves, with a spawn timer, meant that everyone arrived together and you had a higher chance of co-ordinating the team. It also had charge bars that allowed them to balance various classes strengths and weaknesses. People rapidly accepted the idea that charge bars controlled how often you could fire something, rather than depending on some kind of reload. The combination of spawn waves and charge bars meant you could have asymmetrical maps that worked, something that you would never have thought from playing games like Team Fortress.” For Wedgwood, multiplayer combat games represent the most intense and exciting of gameplay. These feelings have fed into all his work, and all his gaming. He described the excitement of playing Ultima Online as a PvP game, and his ultimate lack of interest in things like World Of Warcraft. His infectious enthusiasm reminded me that despite all the chatter going on about World Of Warcraft, Second Life or the consoles going online, there is still a strata of gamers for whom PCs, with their competition and combat, are the bread and butter of gaming. Wedgwood is one of these people, and his decisions in hiring staff directly from the FPS communities reflects that focus. “The large majority of people here have come here as their first development company, sometimes their first real job,” says Wedgwood. He has worked hard to make that first experience a rewarding and stable one for his youthful staff. Splash Damage was Wedgwood’s first game development house too, but not his first business. “I tried to get some businesses off the ground in my twenties, so I guess I’ve always had this entrepreneurial spirit, but Splash Damage was the first business I started that wasn’t started to make money. It was started because I was passionate about what we were going to do as a company, and it sounded like a better job than I might be doing as an IT guy. I knew when we started Splash Damage what had caused my companies or other companies I had worked for to fail, so we’ve always had a strict mission to do everything by the book.” Wedgwood would not be shy about getting aid where he could. Taking full advantage of the UK’s government help for small businesses, he applied for and received help from a business advisor. “He turned up and we had three desks and a load of computer hardware, and yet for some reason he stayed on as our business advisor for over a year. We did everything by the book and hey, it worked. The business advisor showed us how to get a human resources consultant, because of the complexity of contracts and confidentiality agreements.” Without this kind of business aid Splash Damage would not have been as successful as it has been. Wedgwood knew that his passion and the passion of his team only went so far, and it was too big a gamble to shirk on any financial or organisational responsibilities. “If it had gone wrong, I didn’t have anything to fall back on. I knew the alternative was sitting in a comms room and commissioning servers that wouldn’t exist in three years time. I would have had nothing to show for it.” And so they plowed on, seeing Enemy Territory downloaded and installed millions of times by gamers in all the major territories in the world. “At the end of 2003, Enemy Territory won half a dozen game of the year awards and had been nominated for a BAFTA. We had always believed that you could go and make pure multiplayer combat games and have them sell – Battlefield 1942 proved that in the same year. Battlefield and Wolfenstein Enemy Territory vindicated this idea, it was clear that they could draw the kind of audiences that would make them commercially viable. “By the end of 2003 we had a bunch of left over concepts from Enemy Territory and a load of big ideas. We wanted to make a spiritual successor [to Enemy Territory], and so we began to talk about how it might work. Kevin Cloud and I began to discuss the high concept for Quake Wars. It was like one of those conversations you have when you’re fifteen, saying ‘Would it be cool if X!’ and ‘wouldn’t it be so cool to see Y!’ And so all we had to do was to convince the programmers it was possible.” The programmers, of course, were a little more reserved. The company started out with the Doom 3 code and were then faced with turning it into an outdoor, vehicular-based combat game with some “pretty advanced networking” and physics systems. Splash Damage were heading into deep water and their youthfulness began to show for the first time. “We had never built a game without having another game as a solid foundation,” Wedgwood explained. “We always had a library of assets to play with from the start. We knew nothing whatsoever about high-poly modelling, about realistic dynamic lighting, or about building game engines. We worked for nine months trying to build a terrain-rendering engine. By the end of that we had some blurry snowy white hills. By the time the Doom 3 multiplayer was finished [Splash Damage’s level designers and id Software worked together to build the Doom 3 multiplayer maps] we should have had the technology ready to make a game with. We had to go back to Id with our cap in our hands and say ‘sorry, we really didn’t get anywhere.’ We had spent nine months trying to solve this problem, and it was about nine seconds before John [Carmack] gave us some solutions.” Id, it seems, were more than ready to address the problems that their Splash Damage protégés now faced. “Some of the most interesting and important things in life are counter-intuitive,” Wedgwood says of the solutions proposed by Carmack. What the Id founder had to come up with was the ‘mega-texture’ – a huge, unique texture that would cover the whole of a map’s terrain. The solution allowed Splash Damage to draw more, and to draw further, even when that had seemed like the opposite of what they should have been thinking. It was clear that Splash Damage were now able to benefit from more than just their own passion and enthusiasm for the Id Software games: they were also benefiting from Carmack’s savant-like technological insight. In fact, Wedgwood explained, they now benefited from the insight of whole range of developers who use Id tech to create Activision games. “When you write a thanks list for the end of a game you can just include everyone, because they will all have helped in some way,” Wedgwood laughs. “We got a thanks at the end of Quake 4, but I’m not quite sure what for.” There seems to be plenty of gratitude for Splash Damage. Wedgwood has created a rags to riches story for several dozen gamers, almost all of whom were working on mods before they got into full-time employment with his company. “Everyone we have hired has had a stunning portfolio, certainly much better than anyone sent to us by a recruitment consultancy,” said Wedgwood. Having formed from the games community, and then having continued to hire directly from the same pool of obsessed gamers, meant that Wedgwood has kept a tight focus on having the right people (with the right kind of passion) for his studio. “A mod team like Nuclear Dawn just keeps finding really good level designers, and we see them and ask if we can have them too! The really good mod teams will attract the really talented people. Initially we tried to recruit from the film industry, but the synergy really isn’t there. Film is all about rendering a single frame, the idea of player interaction or seeing things from all sides just isn’t there.” And because Wedgwood’s staff consists of first-person shooter gamers, the talent hired for Quake Wars has mostly been a friend of a friend, or discovered directly by the team who themselves are knitted into the FPS community. It’s as if Splash Damage represents the maturation of the mod community: where the Quake modders end up if they’re any good. The net, Wedgwood muses, has changed everything. It created the games that he wanted to play, and the games he ended up building. It changed how it was possible to recruit people, and how the community would influence his games through those people. It allowed him to have a dialogue with Id Software before he became a professional developer, and it enabled him to realise a multi-player combat game that thirty people would devote a chunk of their lives to creating. “The future of media isn’t TV,” he says. “It’s YouTube. The same sort of thing seems to be true of consoles and PCs. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo control what you see on their screens, like broadcast television, but the PC is unconstrained. That, I think, is a very important difference.” A few months on and I’ve visited Splash Damage again. They’ve created an awesome game, and I can see that the team are proud of what they’ve achieved. They’re right to be proud. This is a development house that has melded something of what makes the independent community spirit in FPS games so potent, with commercial sensibility and design talent. Id Software should be feeling extremely lucky that they found Splash Damage, and that they were foresighted enough to realise that these rabid fans were going to be a powerful creative force in their own right. Splash Damage are beginning to think about what happens after ETQW now, and I hope that whatever it is, it carries the same joy-in-gaming and attention to detail that their previous projects have done.

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An Introduction to Bam Bam Brown & The Wild Professors Bam Bam Brown & The Wild Professors will be performing at Park Acoustics on Sunday. Cape Town folks might be a little bit more familiar with “them” than Gauteng folks, so here’s a little introduction. Kieron “Bam Bam” Brown has been around. Quite a bit, for quite some time. You may have seen him on your local festival stages in the past few years as a solo act, or with other projects Saintfearless and more recently, Feverstone. Or, you may have seen him playing alongside some or other lovely muso, just as is… He’s done the Koppi’s, The Daisies, The Creeks and The Synergy, amongst a few other ridiculously cool happenings. He has been featured on recordings and live collaborations from snowy peaks and desert sands to salty sea shores and forested auditoriums. So when I say, Bam’s been around, he has. (Wait till you read about this “Wild Professors” idea, it may make a bit more sense to you then). “Okay so… what is this Wild Professor nonsense? And how does it relate to Bam?” In short my friend, you are a Wild Professor. (Brace yourself for a sigh and an eye roll, it gets a little cheesy from here). Most think that the Wild Professors are just the guys playing in Bam’s backing band. What it actually pertains to, is The Wild Professors Network, a street team style, live active directory of movers and shakers from musos to visual artists to writers, designers, speakers, project managers, anyone with one of those things we like to call an idea, accompanied by a useful tool called incentive. Bam Bam’s one of those self-righteous do-gooder guys, you know, the kind that just seems like he’s too nice? It’s like that ass-hat Johnny Depp and Chris Martin had sex in some green tea while listening to Incubus. It sucks, because he genuinely gives a damn. Especially about his chosen industry. And apparently, the kid can play a tune too, and sing, just a bit… See that kid in the picture above? That’s Ryan, in July 2015 he was inaugurated as the first ever Wild Professor. David Van Vuuren (SA Idols Winner)? He’s one of the most recent additions. If you’ve gotten this far into the document, you’ve more than likely got a Professor in you that’s as Wild as they come. Feel that warm fuzzy tingling inside? Ah ha, no don’t thank me, that’s all you. “So, what does this mean in terms of actual music?” The Wild Professors are the collaborators partaking in every Bam project that happens at that time. Someone once said it’s like Kasabian – with Kwassa. Some say it’s like the Tale of two Toms – Waits and Yorke, but young and foolish. But it is ever changing. Trust that Bam has put serious work into making each show a fitting performance for its time and place. There is a Wild Professors Live Directory available on request with links to each one’s respective works. Yes, you may have it, he’s paying it forward. Bam doesn’t have a band, unless it says so on the poster or the booking sheet (hence the “& The Wild Professors”). Otherwise he may turn up with a stomp box, or a guitar, or his laptop and controller, or whatever he has been fiddling with the day before – It’s 2016 I mean, why not twist it up? Yes he has fixed musical releases, (We hope you enjoyed the background beats) and is working on a first album for 2016 (You try squashing the all the colors in his head onto one album, I dare you). In the past years since the project’s launch, his shows have seen a musical diversity of a new age nature. The set list and line up of featuring artist’s change with each show and tour, and Bam’s relentless passion for creating fresh musical collaborations have created an exclusive chain of once off musical masterpieces, almost theatrical in their execution. To quote Tecla Ciolfi from Texx and The City: ‘they say the scene is dead. they say, “where are the new bands??” they say and say and say and say… you & your crew changed the game up my friend. forcing the pendulum to swing…. the future is bright’ Plus, to be fair…damn, the boy can sing. But I suppose that’s for you find out? “By the way- What’s with the face paint?” Na. The guy’s just a little weird hey…but aren’t we all? To give you an idea of Bam Bam Brown & The Wild Professors’ sound, have a listen to their track “Bite My Lip” below: Make sure that you check out Bam Bam Brown & The Wild Professors on Sunday at Park Acoustics. Something tells me that it’s going to be interesting… Watch this space for regular updates in the Music category on Running Wolf’s Rant. Latest posts by Henno Kruger (see all) - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 teaser trailer released - October 19, 2016 - Henry Rollins Interview (Video) - October 19, 2016 - Photo Album: Jack Parow @ Aandklas Hatfield - October 18, 2016

International scholars to attend conference on Ethiopia July 25, 2007 KALAMAZOO--Pressing issues facing the second most populated country in Africa will bring scholars and policy-makers from around the globe to Western Michigan University in August. The fourth "International Conference on Contemporary Development Issues in Ethiopia" will be held Thursday through Saturday, Aug. 2-4, for academics, policy makers, investors, donors, students and the public. The event explores the challenges to increasing development and reducing conflict in Ethiopia and Northeast Africa in particular and on the African continent in general. Participants will be coming from across the United States as well as nations such as Austria, Canada, Denmark, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Japan, Somalia, Sudan and Sweden. This year's main speakers will be a noted academic, Detroit humanitarian and state department official. "Development remains one of the greatest challenges for Africa in the 21st century," says Dr. Sisay Asefa, WMU professor of economics. "Our biennial conference provides an independent forum where people can freely discuss their research and views regarding development issues and how Ethiopia and other African nations can move forward." Conference registration will be held in the Fetzer Center from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 2, and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 3-4. The academic sessions will take place across from Fetzer in Schneider Hall and begin on Friday. A key feature of this year's event will be the exchange of scholarly papers--a select group of which will be considered for inclusion in a new online publication called the Journal of Ethiopian Development Studies. The Friday sessions will be devoted to examining issues related to the economy, culture, and natural and human resources. In addition, Dr. Donald N. Levine, the Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago, will give a keynote luncheon address on "An Ethiopian Dilemma: Deep Structures, Wrenching Processes" at 1 p.m. in Fetzer. Levine, a consultant to several U.S. government agencies, served on the international team invited to monitor Ethiopia's 1992 national elections and worked to mediate the crisis in that country following 2005's elections. Saturday, the conference will focus on globalization, conflict, institutions, politics and foreign investment and feature two main speakers. First up will be James C. Swan, deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of African Affairs. He will talk on "U.S. policy on the Horn of Africa" during a plenary luncheon lecture at 1 p.m. in the Fetzer Center. Swan is responsible for the bureau's offices for Central Africa, East Africa and Regional Security Affairs. Dr. Ingida Asfaw, chief of cardiovascular surgery at Detroit's Sinai-Grace Hospital, will present a keynote lecture on "The Role of the Ethiopian North American Health Professional Association in the Health Care Sector and Forging Synergy Within the Diaspora" at 7 p.m. in the West Ballroom of the Bernhard Center. Asfaw is a world-renowned cardiac surgeon originally from Ethiopia. He has led numerous medical missions there and founded the Ethiopian North American Health Professionals Association, an international network of nearly 1,000 medical and nonmedical professionals dedicated to promoting preventative care and better health in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is roughly the size of Texas yet has a population of 77 million people, making it the second most populated country in Africa. The nation is situated in northeast Africa, also known as the Horn of Africa, which includes Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti. "Despite its many assets, the Horn is one of Africa's poorest and most unstable sub-regions, suffering from conflicts and violence within and among its member states," Asefa says. "The problems it faces have important implications for the rest of Africa and other developing nations. As a sub-region, the Horn is one of Africa's and the global economy's most strategic areas, serving as a bridge between Africa and the Middle East as well as the oil fields of the Persian Gulf." The conference is being sponsored by the WMU Center for African Development Policy Research, which Asefa directs; numerous other academic and administrative units at the University; and the Ethiopian Development Studies Association. The latter organization is based in Michigan and was created in March to engage in Ethiopian development activities and organize future conferences related to Ethiopia. It will be inaugurated at the upcoming conference. Media contact: Jeanne Baron, (269) 387-8400, email@example.com

Towards simple rules heuristics for IT business value Fielt, Erwin & Gregor, Shirley (2014) Towards simple rules heuristics for IT business value. In 2014 Information Systems Foundations Workshop, 2 - 3 October 2014, Canberra, A.C.T. The business value of IT (BVIT) has been a prominent and central research topic in the IS discipline. Due to continuous and unpredictable technology and business changes, a more dynamic perspective on IT business value that includes organizational learning is required. We suggest that simple rules heuristics can address this challenge. The simple rules heuristics approach has been introduced by Eisenhardt and co-authors (Bingham & Eisenhardt, 2011; Bingham, Eisenhardt, & Furr, 2007; Eisenhardt & Sull, 2001) to better understand strategic decision making for capturing superabundant, heterogeneous, fastmoving opportunities. They argue that explicit organizational learning can translate accumulated experience into increasingly effective heuristics for strategic processes in highvelocity environments. We make three main contributions by exploring the suitability of a simple rules heuristics approach for the creation of IT business value: (1) we propose six types of simple rules heuristics for capturing IT-based opportunities in dynamic environments, including synergy heuristics as specifically relevant in an IT context, (2) we show how a simple rules heuristics approach can advance our understanding of dynamics and organizational learning for BVIT, and; (3) we introduce the strategic logic of opportunity to BVIT. Impact and interest: Citation counts are sourced monthly from and citation databases. These databases contain citations from different subsets of available publications and different time periods and thus the citation count from each is usually different. Some works are not in either database and no count is displayed. Scopus includes citations from articles published in 1996 onwards, and Web of Science® generally from 1980 onwards. Citations counts from theindexing service can be viewed at the linked Google Scholar™ search. Full-text downloads displays the total number of times this work’s files (e.g., a PDF) have been downloaded from QUT ePrints as well as the number of downloads in the previous 365 days. The count includes downloads for all files if a work has more than one. |Item Type:||Conference Paper| |Divisions:||Current > Schools > School of Information Systems Current > QUT Faculties and Divisions > Science & Engineering Faculty |Deposited On:||20 Oct 2015 03:54| |Last Modified:||20 Oct 2015 03:54| Repository Staff Only: item control page

Securities and Exchange Commission Suspends Trading in the Securities of Six Issuers for Failure to Make Required Periodic Filings The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced the temporary suspension of trading in the securities of the following issuers, commencing at 9:30 a.m. EDT on October 23, 2012, and terminating at 11:59 p.m. EST on November 5, 2012. The Commission temporarily suspended trading in the securities of these six issuers due to a lack of current and accurate information about the companies because they have not filed periodic reports with the Commission in over two years. This order was entered pursuant to Section 12(k) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act). The Commission cautions brokers, dealers, shareholders and prospective purchasers that they should carefully consider the foregoing information along with all other currently available information and any information subsequently issued by these companies. Brokers and dealers should be alert to the fact that, pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 15c2-11, at the termination of the trading suspensions, no quotation may be entered relating to the securities of the subject companies unless and until the broker or dealer has strictly complied with all of the provisions of the rule. If any broker or dealer is uncertain as to what is required by the rule, it should refrain from entering quotations relating to the securities of these companies that have been subject to a trading suspension until such time as it has familiarized itself with the rule and is certain that all of its provisions have been met. Any broker or dealer with questions regarding the rule should contact the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC at (202) 551-5720. If any broker or dealer enters any quotation which is in violation of the rule, the Commission will consider the need for prompt enforcement action. If any broker, dealer or other person has any information which may relate to this matter, they should immediately communicate it to the Delinquent Filings Branch of the Division of Enforcement at (202) 551-5466, or by e-mail at DelinquentFilings@sec.gov. (Rel. 34-68082) SEC Adopts Standards for Risk Management and Operations of Clearing Agencies On October 22, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a rule that establishes standards for how registered clearing agencies should manage their risks and run their operations. Clearing agencies generally act as middlemen to the parties in a securities transaction. They play a critical role in the securities markets by ensuring that transactions settle on time and on the agreed-upon terms. The rule was adopted in accordance with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Dodd Frank Act provides the SEC with additional authority to establish standards for clearing agencies, including for those clearing agencies that clear security-based swaps. “These new rules are designed to ensure that clearing agencies will be able to fulfill their responsibilities in the multi-trillion dollar derivatives market as well as more traditional securities markets,” said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. “They’re part of a broader effort to put in place an entirely new regulatory regime intended to mitigate systemic risks that emerged during the financial crisis.” The new rule would require registered clearing agencies that provide central counterparty services to maintain certain standards with respect to risk management and operations. Among other things, the rules would set standards with respect to measurement and management of credit exposures, margin requirements, financial resources and margin model validation. The rule also establishes certain recordkeeping and financial disclosure requirements for all registered clearing agencies as well as several new operational standards for these entities. The new rule 17Ad-22 will become effective 60 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register. Change in the Meeting: Date and Time Change The Closed Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, October 23, 2012 at 3:00 p.m., has been changed to Thursday, October 25, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. At times, changes in Commission priorities require alterations in the scheduling of meeting items. For further information and to ascertain what, if any, matters have been added, deleted or postponed, please contact: The Office of the Secretary at (202) 551-5400. Commission Orders Hearings on Registration Suspension or Revocation Against Six Companies for Failure to Make Required Periodic Filings In conjunction with this trading suspension, the Commission today also instituted public administrative proceedings to determine whether to revoke or suspend for a period not exceeding twelve months the registration of each class of the securities of six companies for failure to make required periodic filings with the Commission: In this Order, the Division of Enforcement (Division) alleges that the six issuers are delinquent in their required periodic filings with the Commission. In this proceeding, instituted pursuant to Exchange Act Section 12(j), a hearing will be scheduled before an Administrative Law Judge. At the hearing, the judge will hear evidence from the Division and the Respondents to determine whether the allegations of the Division contained in the Order, which the Division alleges constitute failures to comply with Exchange Act Section 13(a) and Rules 13a-1 and 13a-13 thereunder, are true. The judge in the proceeding will then determine whether the registrations pursuant to Exchange Act Section 12 of each class of the securities of these Respondents should be revoked or suspended for a period not exceeding twelve months. The Commission ordered that the Administrative Law Judge in this proceeding issue an initial decision not later than 120 days from the date of service of the order instituting proceedings. (Rel. 34-68083; File No. 3-15073 SEC Charges Two in Michigan-based Fraudulent Securities Offering The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it filed a civil injunctive action against brothers James Mulholland and Thomas Mulholland accusing them of conducting a fraudulent, unregistered offer and sale of approximately $2 million in securities. The SEC’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, alleges that the Mulhollands operated a real estate business which involved buying, maintaining, and renting residential real estate in Michigan. The SEC’s complaint alleges that to finance the real estate business, the Mulhollands raised money from individual investors residing in Michigan and Florida through the offer and sale of securities in the form of demand notes. Beginning in at least January 2009, however, the Mulhollands’ real estate business began to experience financial difficulties. The Mulhollands continued to raise money from investors and from January 2009 through January 2010, they raised approximately $2 million from approximately 75 investors. The Mulhollands told these investors that their real estate business was profitable, they would earn 7% per year on their investment, the returns would be generated by profits of the real estate business, and that the investors could get their money back upon 30 days’ written notice. The SEC’s complaint alleges that the Mulhollands statements to investors were false and/or misleading. The real estate business was losing money during this period, needed new investor funds to pay its bills and to pay interest to previous investors, and did not have the means to refund investors’ principal within 30 days even if a small number of them asked for their money back. The Mulhollands concealed their perilous financial condition from investors. The Mulhollands never told investors that they were experiencing financial hardship, that they were having difficulty meeting financial obligations critical to the real estate operation, or that they were contemplating filing for bankruptcy. The SEC’s complaint charges the Mulhollands with violations of Sections 5(a), 5(c), and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Sections 10(b) and 15(a)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The SEC is seeking against the Mulhollands a permanent injunction, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest to be paid jointly and severally, and civil monetary penalties. [SEC v. James C. Mulholland, Jr. and Thomas S. Mulholland, Civil Action No. 12-cv-14663 (E.D. Mich.)] (LR-22518) Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds, et al. A notice has been issued giving interested persons until November 16, 2012, to request a hearing on an application filed by Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds, et al., for an order under Section 12(d)(1)(J) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (Act) for an exemption from Sections 12(d)(1)(A) and (B) of the Act, under Sections 6(c) and 17(b) of the Act for an exemption from Sections 17(a)(1) and 17(a)(2) of the Act, and under Section 6(c) of the Act for an exemption from Rule 12d1-2(a) under the Act. The requested order would (a) permit certain registered open-end management investment companies that operate as “funds of funds” to acquire shares of other registered open-end management investment companies and unit investment trusts that are within and outside the same group of investment companies as the acquiring investment companies, and (b) permit funds of funds relying on Rule 12d1-2 under the Act to invest in certain financial instruments. (Rel. IC-30236 - October 22) Leg Mason ETF Trust, et al. A notice has been issued giving interested persons until November 15, 2012, to request a hearing on an application filed by Leg Mason ETF Trust, et al., for an order to permit: (a) actively managed series of certain open-end management investment companies to issue shares (Shares) redeemable in large aggregations only (Creation Units); (b) secondary market transactions in Shares to occur at negotiated market prices; (c) certain series to pay redemption proceeds, under certain circumstances, more than seven days after the tender of Shares for redemption; (d) certain affiliated persons of the series to deposit securities into, and receive securities from, the series in connection with the purchase and redemption of Creation Units; and (e) certain registered management investment companies and unit investment trusts outside of the same group of investment companies as the series to acquire Shares. (Rel. IC-30237 - October 22) Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Changes A proposed rule change filed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. to amend the definition of “Money Market Instrument” in the FINRA TRACE rules (SR-FINRA-2012-046) has become effective pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Publication is expected in the Federal Register during the week of October 22. (Rel. 34-68075) A proposed rule change filed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. to extend a TRACE pilot program (SR-FINRA-2012-047) has become effective pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Publication is expected in the Federal Register during the week of October 22. (Rel. 34-68076) Approval of Proposed Rule Change The Commission granted approval of a proposed rule change filed by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (SR-MSRB-2012-07) to amend the Real-Time Transaction Reporting System information system and subscription service. Publication is expected in the Federal Register during the week of October 22. (Rel. 34-68081) The following registration statements have been filed with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933. The reported information appears as follows: Form, Name, Address and Phone Number (if available) of the issuer of the security; Title and the number and/or face amount of the securities being offered; Name of the managing underwriter or depositor (if applicable); File number and date filed; Assigned Branch; and a designation if the statement is a New Issue. Registration statements may be viewed in person in the Commission's Public Reference Branch at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. To obtain paper copies, please refer to information on the Commission's Web site at http://www.sec.gov/answers/publicdocs.htm. In most cases, you can view and download this information by using the search function located at http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html. F-7 Mountain Province Diamonds Inc., 161 BAY STREET, SUITE 2315, PO BOX 216, TORONTO, A6, M5J 2S1, 416-361-3562 - 13,452,593 ($48,064,594.00) Equity, (File 333-184521 - Oct. 22) (BR. 09A) S-8 BERRY PLASTICS GROUP INC, 101 OAKLEY STREET, PO BOX 959, EVANSVILLE, IN, 47710, 8124242904 - 0 ($246,106,825.69) Equity, (File 333-184522 - Oct. 22) (BR. 06A) F-3ASR SASOL LTD, 1 STURDEE AVE, ROSEBANK, JOHANNESBURG, T3, 2196, 01127114413111 - 0 ($0.00) Debt, (File 333-184526 - Oct. 22) (BR. 04A) S-1 Wishbone Pet Products Inc., 38TH STREET, NEW SEHAILE, BEIRUT, M8, 00000, 011-3-861-590 - 1,500,000 ($15,000.00) Equity, (File 333-184528 - Oct. 22) (BR. 05C) S-1 Wowio, Inc., 6310 SAN VICENTE BLVD., SUITE 240, LOS ANGELES, CA, 90048, (310) 807-8181 - 61,499,236 ($18,446,770.80) Equity, (File 333-184529 - Oct. 22) (BR. ) S-1 SUFFOLK BANCORP, 4 WEST SECOND ST, RIVERHEAD, NY, 11901, 631-208-2400 - 0 ($26,147,695.00) Equity, (File 333-184530 - Oct. 22) (BR. 07B) S-3 AMICUS THERAPEUTICS INC, 6 CEDAR BROOK DRIVE, CRANBURY, NJ, 08512, (609) 662-2000 - 0 ($18,552,865.00) Equity, (File 333-184531 - Oct. 22) (BR. 01B) S-3ASR STONE ENERGY CORP, 625 E KALISTE SALOOM RD, LAFAYETTE, LA, 70508, 3182370410 - 0 ($0.00) Unallocated (Universal) Shelf, (File 333-184532 - Oct. 22) (BR. 04A) S-3 VIRTUSA CORP, 2000 WEST PARK DRIVE, WESTBOROUGH, MA, 01581, 508-389-7202 - 0 ($108,800,000.00) Unallocated (Universal) Shelf, (File 333-184533 - Oct. 22) (BR. 03A) S-3 ADCARE HEALTH SYSTEMS INC, 5057 TROY RD, SPRINGFEILD, OH, 45502, 937-964-8974 - 0 ($50,000,000.00) Other, (File 333-184534 - Oct. 22) (BR. 11A) S-8 EMC CORP, 176 SOUTH STREET, HOPKINTON, MA, 01748-9103, 5082937208 - 2,000,000 ($49,520,000.00) Equity, (File 333-184535 - Oct. 22) (BR. 03C) S-3 Customers Bancorp, Inc., 1015 PENN AVENUE, SUITE 103, WYOMISSING, PA, 19610, 484-359-7113 - 0 ($113,353,282.00) Equity, (File 333-184536 - Oct. 22) (BR. 07B) S-11 Orchid Island Capital, Inc., 3305 FLAMINGO DRIVE, VERO BEACH, FL, 32963, 772-23-1400 - 0 ($45,000,000.00) Equity, (File 333-184538 - Oct. 22) (BR. 08C) S-8 VIROPHARMA INC, 730 STOCKTON DRIVE, EXTON, PA, 19341, 6104587300 - 0 ($72,987,500.00) Equity, (File 333-184539 - Oct. 22) (BR. 01B) S-3 NAVARRE CORP /MN/, 7400 49TH AVE N, NEW HOPE, MN, 55428, 7635358333 - 0 ($1.00) Equity, (File 333-184540 - Oct. 22) (BR. 03A) S-8 Cryoport, Inc., 20382 BARENTS SEA CIRCLE, LAKE FOREST, CA, 92630, (619) 481-6800 - 0 ($570,000.00) Equity, (File 333-184543 - Oct. 22) (BR. 06C) Form 8-K is used by companies to file current reports on the following events: 8-K reports may be viewed in person in the Commission's Public Reference Branch at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. To obtain paper copies, please refer to information on the Commission's Web site at http://www.sec.gov/answers/publicdocs.htm. In most cases, you can view and download this information by using the search function located at http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html. STATE NAME OF ISSUER CODE 8K ITEM NO. DATE COMMENT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Accenture plc L2 5.02,9.01 10/18/12 ACCENTURE SCA 5.02,9.01 10/18/12 ACL SEMICONDUCTORS INC 1.01,9.01 10/15/12 ACNB CORP PA 8.01,9.01 10/16/12 ADVANCE AUTO PARTS INC DE 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 AETNA INC /PA/ PA 1.01,8.01,9.01 10/17/12 AFFIRMATIVE INSURANCE HOLDINGS INC DE 1.01,9.01 10/16/12 AK STEEL HOLDING CORP DE 4.01 10/17/12 AMEND ALASKA COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS GROUP I DE 8.01,9.01 06/04/12 AMEND ALEXANDERS INC DE 1.01,9.01 10/21/12 ALIGN TECHNOLOGY INC DE 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 Alliance Bancorp, Inc. of Pennsylvani PA 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 ALNYLAM PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. 1.01 10/18/12 Alphatec Holdings, Inc. DE 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 Alternative Energy Partners, Inc. FL 1.01,9.01 10/22/12 AMBASE CORP DE 8.01 10/22/12 AMBASE CORP DE 8.01 10/22/12 AMC Networks Inc. DE 1.01,9.01 10/21/12 AMERICAN APPAREL, INC DE 1.01,9.01 10/16/12 AMERICAN APPAREL, INC DE 7.01 10/22/12 AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL VENTURES INC / DE 5.02 10/18/12 AMERICAN NATIONAL INSURANCE CO /TX/ TX 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 AMERISERV FINANCIAL INC /PA/ PA 7.01 10/22/12 AMICUS THERAPEUTICS INC DE 8.01 10/22/12 ANALYSTS INTERNATIONAL CORP 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 Ancestry.com Inc. DE 1.01,8.01,9.01 10/21/12 ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INC MD 8.01,9.01 10/21/12 APPLIANCE RECYCLING CENTERS OF AMERIC MN 2.02 10/22/12 Aspect Software Group Holdings Ltd. DE 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 ASSURANT INC 8.01 10/22/12 ATHENAHEALTH INC DE 5.02 10/17/12 Augme Technologies, Inc. DE 5.02,7.01,9.01 10/12/12 Avalon Holding Group, Inc. NV 5.02 09/15/12 AVID TECHNOLOGY, INC. DE 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 AVISTA CORP WA 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 BALLY TECHNOLOGIES, INC. NV 5.03,8.01,9.01 10/16/12 Bancorp, Inc. 5.02 10/22/12 BANK OF HAWAII CORP DE 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 Bank of Marin Bancorp CA 2.02,8.01,9.01 10/18/12 BASIC ENERGY SERVICES INC 1.01,2.03,3.03,8.01, 10/16/12 9.01 BeesFree, Inc. NV 1.01,5.02,7.01,9.01 10/19/12 BERKLEY W R CORP DE 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 BERKSHIRE HILLS BANCORP INC DE 2.01,9.01 10/19/12 BIOCRYST PHARMACEUTICALS INC DE 1.01,8.01,9.01 10/22/12 BION ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES INC CO 7.01,9.01 10/19/12 Black Ridge Oil & Gas, Inc. DE 5.02 10/17/12 BLACKBOX SEMICONDUCTOR, INC. NV 1.01,3.02,8.01,9.01 10/13/12 AMEND BLUEGREEN CORP MA 7.01,9.01 10/22/12 BONAMOUR PACIFIC INC NV 1.01,3.02,5.01,5.02, 10/16/12 9.01 BOSTON PRIVATE FINANCIAL HOLDINGS INC MA 8.01 10/22/12 BRANDYWINE REALTY TRUST MD 5.02 10/16/12 CAI International, Inc. 9.01 10/22/12 CAMBRIDGE HEART INC DE 1.01,2.03,3.02,8.01, 10/17/12 9.01 CATERPILLAR FINANCIAL SERVICES CORP DE 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 CATERPILLAR INC DE 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 CEDAR REALTY TRUST, INC. MD 1.01 10/19/12 Celanese Corp DE 2.02,7.01,9.01 10/22/12 CHEMICAL FINANCIAL CORP MI 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. DE 8.01,9.01 10/22/12 China VantagePoint Acquisition Co 8.01 10/16/12 Chino Commercial Bancorp CA 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 CLEVELAND BIOLABS INC DE 1.01,8.01,9.01 10/18/12 COMARCO INC CA 5.07 10/18/12 COMPUTER TASK GROUP INC NY 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 CSX CORP VA 1.01,2.03,9.01 10/17/12 Customers Bancorp, Inc. PA 5.02 10/19/12 DAYSTAR TECHNOLOGIES INC DE 2.01,9.01 10/22/12 DCB FINANCIAL CORP OH 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 Discovery Energy Corp. NV 8.01 10/21/12 DISH Network CORP NV 1.01,8.01,9.01 10/21/12 DNB FINANCIAL CORP /PA/ PA 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 DOCUMENT SECURITY SYSTEMS INC NY 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 DOMINION RESOURCES INC /VA/ VA 2.05,2.06,7.01,9.01 10/22/12 DONEGAL GROUP INC DE 7.01,9.01 10/22/12 Duff & Phelps Corp DE 3.02,9.01 10/22/12 Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. 5.07 10/18/12 EFL OVERSEAS, INC. NV 2.01,3.02,9.01 10/17/12 ENVIRONMENTAL TECTONICS CORP PA 5.02,9.01 10/18/12 ENVIRONMENTAL TECTONICS CORP PA 5.07 10/18/12 EQUITY LIFESTYLE PROPERTIES INC MD 5.02 10/18/12 EXPLORE ANYWHERE HOLDING CORP NV 5.02 10/14/12 Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francis X1 5.02 10/16/12 FIDELITY SOUTHERN CORP GA 2.02,9.01 10/18/12 First Financial Northwest, Inc. WA 2.02,9.01 10/19/12 FIRST MARBLEHEAD CORP 7.01,9.01 10/22/12 FIRST MARBLEHEAD CORP 8.01,9.01 10/19/12 FIRSTFED FINANCIAL CORP DE 8.01,9.01 10/16/12 FNB CORP/FL/ FL 7.01,8.01,9.01 10/22/12 FORD MOTOR CO DE 8.01,9.01 10/22/12 FORD MOTOR CREDIT CO LLC DE 8.01,9.01 10/22/12 FOREST CITY ENTERPRISES INC OH 7.01,9.01 10/22/12 FOREST CITY ENTERPRISES INC OH 3.02 10/19/12 FREEPORT MCMORAN COPPER & GOLD INC DE 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 FULTON FINANCIAL CORP PA 1.01,5.02,9.01 10/22/12 FX ENERGY INC NV 8.01,9.01 10/22/12 G III APPAREL GROUP LTD /DE/ DE 2.01,9.01 08/06/12 AMEND GENCORP INC OH 1.01,9.01 10/16/12 GLOBALSCAPE INC DE 7.01,9.01 10/22/12 GRANT PARK FUTURES FUND LIMITED PARTN IL 7.01,9.01 09/30/12 Graystone Co DE 8.01 10/22/12 Green Ballast, Inc. DE 1.01,2.03,9.01 10/22/12 GREENE COUNTY BANCORP INC DE 8.01,9.01 10/19/12 GUARANTY FEDERAL BANCSHARES INC DE 2.02,9.01 10/19/12 GULFMARK OFFSHORE INC DE 5.02 10/16/12 HALCON RESOURCES CORP DE 1.01,3.02,7.01,8.01, 10/19/12 9.01 HALCON RESOURCES CORP DE 8.01,9.01 10/22/12 HARBINGER GROUP INC. DE 7.01 10/22/12 HASBRO INC RI 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 HCA Holdings, Inc. 1.01,2.03,9.01 10/16/12 HEALTHSTREAM INC TN 2.02,7.01,9.01 10/22/12 HEXCEL CORP /DE/ DE 2.02,7.01,8.01,9.01 10/22/12 INDEPENDENT BANK CORP MA 8.01,9.01 10/19/12 INDEPENDENT BANK CORP MA 8.01,9.01 10/19/12 INVENTURE FOODS, INC. DE 1.01,9.01 10/17/12 Investview, Inc. NV 8.01,9.01 10/19/12 IRONSTONE GROUP INC DE 4.01,9.01 10/18/12 JDS UNIPHASE CORP /CA/ DE 5.02 10/17/12 JOHNSON CONTROLS INC WI 2.05,8.01,9.01 10/22/12 KBS Legacy Partners Apartment REIT, I MD 1.01 10/22/12 KIMBALL INTERNATIONAL INC IN 5.07 10/22/12 KIT digital, Inc. DE 8.01 10/22/12 Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc. DE 1.01,9.01 10/19/12 LANTRONIX INC DE 1.01,2.03,9.01 10/16/12 Lender Processing Services, Inc. DE 1.01,9.01 10/19/12 LENNOX INTERNATIONAL INC DE 2.02,7.01,9.01 10/22/12 LIBERTY SILVER CORP NV 8.01,9.01 10/19/12 LIGAND PHARMACEUTICALS INC DE 8.01,9.01 10/22/12 LMI AEROSPACE INC MO 1.01,5.02,9.01 10/16/12 Location Based Technologies, Inc. NV 8.01,9.01 10/17/12 Location Based Technologies, Inc. NV 8.01,9.01 10/22/12 MAGELLAN PETROLEUM CORP /DE/ DE 7.01,9.01 10/19/12 MAGNUM HUNTER RESOURCES CORP DE 4.02,9.01 10/19/12 MANITOWOC CO INC WI 1.01,2.03,9.01 10/19/12 MANNKIND CORP DE 8.01,9.01 09/12/12 AMEND MEDIVATION, INC. DE 8.01 10/22/12 MET PRO CORP PA 5.02,9.01 10/22/12 METALS USA HOLDINGS CORP. DE 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 METRO BANCORP, INC. 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 MFA FINANCIAL, INC. MD 5.02,9.01 10/19/12 MICROSTRATEGY INC DE 5.02 10/19/12 MORGAN GROUP HOLDING CO 5.02 10/22/12 MY CATALOGS ONLINE, INC. NV 8.01,9.01 10/18/12 Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, I DE 5.02,9.01 10/17/12 NAVISTAR INTERNATIONAL CORP DE 1.01,3.03,8.01,9.01 10/19/12 NEW FRONTIER MEDIA INC CO 5.07,9.01 10/18/12 NEWS CORP 8.01,9.01 10/22/12 Nielsen Holdings N.V. P7 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORP VA 1.01,9.01 10/22/12 NORTHEAST BANCORP /ME/ ME 8.01 10/22/12 Northwest Bancshares, Inc. MD 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. DE 8.01 10/22/12 OVERSEAS SHIPHOLDING GROUP INC DE 4.02 10/19/12 Owens Corning DE 8.01,9.01 10/22/12 PAPA JOHNS INTERNATIONAL INC DE 5.02 10/18/12 PEABODY ENERGY CORP DE 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 PENN VIRGINIA CORP VA 1.01,9.01 10/18/12 PEOPLES BANCORP OF NORTH CAROLINA INC NC 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 PERMIAN BASIN ROYALTY TRUST TX 2.02,9.01 10/19/12 Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. MD 8.01,9.01 10/22/12 Plata Resources, Inc. NV 4.01,9.01 10/18/12 Post Holdings, Inc. MO 2.02,7.01,9.01 10/22/12 Post Holdings, Inc. MO 1.01,2.03,8.01,9.01 10/19/12 Post Holdings, Inc. MO 7.01,9.01 10/22/12 Post Holdings, Inc. MO 8.01,9.01 10/22/12 POTLATCH CORP DE 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 POWERVERDE, INC. NV 1.01,5.02,9.01 10/16/12 POZEN INC /NC 5.02 10/19/12 PROSPECT GLOBAL RESOURCES INC. NV 1.02,9.01 10/18/12 PRUDENTIAL BANCORP INC OF PENNSYLVANI 5.02,9.01 10/17/12 REDFIN NETWORK, INC. NV 4.01,9.01 10/19/12 RESEARCH FRONTIERS INC DE 7.01,9.01 10/22/12 Rhino Resource Partners LP DE 7.01,9.01 10/22/12 RUSH ENTERPRISES INC \TX\ TX 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 SALIX PHARMACEUTICALS LTD 8.01,9.01 10/19/12 Santa Fe Gold CORP DE 1.01,9.01 10/19/12 SAUER ENERGY, INC. NV 9.01 10/19/12 SaveDaily Inc NV 4.01,9.01 10/17/12 SCRIPPS E W CO /DE OH 8.01,9.01 10/18/12 Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. OH 8.01,9.01 10/18/12 SIERRA BANCORP CA 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 Silver Falcon Mining, Inc. DE 8.01 10/22/12 Silver Falcon Mining, Inc. DE 8.01 10/22/12 SIMMONS FIRST NATIONAL CORP AR 7.01,9.01 10/19/12 Skinny Nutritional Corp. NV 1.01,1.02,8.01,9.01 10/19/12 SLM Student Loan Trust 2005-5 8.01 10/22/12 SLM Student Loan Trust 2005-8 8.01 10/22/12 SLM Student Loan Trust 2005-9 DE 8.01 10/22/12 SOURCEFIRE INC DE 8.01,9.01 10/19/12 Soy Energy, LLC IA 8.01,9.01 10/22/12 SPECTRASCIENCE INC MN 1.01,2.03,3.02,7.01 10/19/12 Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. DE 2.02,7.01,9.01 10/22/12 Spectrum Brands, Inc. DE 2.02,7.01,9.01 10/22/12 Spy Inc. DE 5.02 10/22/12 STANCORP FINANCIAL GROUP INC OR 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 STARRETT L S CO MA 5.07 10/22/12 Stereotaxis, Inc. DE 5.02,7.01,9.01 10/22/12 STERLING FINANCIAL CORP /WA/ WA 8.01,9.01 10/22/12 STONE ENERGY CORP DE 1.01,2.02,2.03,7.01, 10/22/12 9.01 STRATEGIC DIAGNOSTICS INC/DE/ DE 2.01,9.01 10/16/12 Stream Global Services, Inc. DE 2.02,9.01 10/22/12 Strike Axe, Inc DE 1.01,9.01 10/16/12 SUNTRUST BANKS INC GA 2.02,7.01,9.01 10/22/12 SUPERNUS PHARMACEUTICALS INC DE 5.02,8.01,9.01 10/19/12 Surge Global Energy, Inc. 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A baptism of bubbly, with glitches, for two of the new boats in the new Audi MedCup turns into a baptism of fire when the start gun for the first race sounds off Cascais, Lisbon on Wednesday. French film star Jean Reno, actually he’s Morrocan with the Spanish-sounding name of Juan Moreno y Herrera-Jimenéz whose parents came from Andalusia, and German model Eva Padberg, were on hand to christen the Franco-German 52-foot Audi. Padberg, who, according to Wikipedia was also an ambassador in 2005 for Kia and, in 2007, Mercedes-Benz, took six attempts to make the bottle break. Princess Zahra Aga Khan, who father is head of a Shi’a religious group, also founded the Costa Smeralda resort of Porto Cervo and the yacht club based there, took on the same role for Azzurra. Of the 12 crew, seven are Argentinian, with one British and one Australian. Not surprising, as the entry has been put together by the Argentinian Alberto Roemmers out of his Matador team Her first attempt saw the bottle bounce into the water and slide beneath the waves. It took three more hefty swipes with the second bottle to complete the ceremony. Six of the eight boats in the TP52 fleet are new, not least the British-built and run Rán. No fuss and bother from its quiet owner, Niklas Zennström, one of the founders of the internet comms company Skype, recently sold to Microsoft for just over £5bn. He has recruited Gavin Brady as helmsman with Tim Powell in day-to-day management control to campaign a boat designed by Rolf Vrolijk and built by Bill Green in Lymington. Back with a new boat is the American Quantum team, with a new skipper in Ed Baird but continuity with British tactician Adrian Stead. The Russian Synergy team is also has a new boat built out of the same mould as Quantum, designed by Marcelino Botin. Joining the TP52 fray is Tony Langley, who out a toes in the water last year and has bought the former Artemis, and a name known for the years on the international circuit, Udo Schutz, again flying the Container flag. Also in typically low-key style is the return to the international yacht racing circuit of Britain’s Tony Buckingham, who has bought one of the new Soto 40s which have replaced the GP42 yachts which used to take part in the Audi MedCup circuit. It costs about the same for a Soto 40 hull as it does for a TP52 rig and, at €400,000 fully equipped, is less than half the cost of a GP42. In its debut year in the MedCup series there are five, but predictions are that that could easily double in 12 months’ time. There are five regattas in the calendar, the next four being in Marseille, Cagliari, Sardinia, Catagena, Spain, and Barcelona. Class also runs a world championship finale in October, which this year goes to the home of its new contenders, Azzurra, in Porto Cervo.

Dr. Suzanne Segal is a Diagnostic Radiology Specialist in Woodmere, New York. She graduated with honors from Albert Einstein College Of Medicine Of Yeshiva University in 1989. Having more than 27 years of diverse experiences, especially in DIAGNOSTIC RADIOLOGY, Dr. Suzanne Segal affiliates with no hospital, and cooperates with other doctors and specialists in many medical groups including Personal Health Imaging Pllc, Synergy Health Medical Solutions Pc, Five Towns Heart Imaging Medical P.c., Sn Radiological Practice Pc, Mill Basin Radiology Pc. Call Dr. Suzanne Segal on phone number (516) 374-0730 for more information and advises or to book an appointment. |Full Name||Suzanne Segal| |Experience||27+ years of diverse experiences| |Sole Proprietor||No - She does not own any un-incorporated business by herself.| |Accepts Medicare Assignment||She may accept the payment amount which is approved by Medicare and not to bill you for more than the Medicare deductible and coinsurance. Please call directly for confirmation.| - DIAGNOSTIC RADIOLOGY - Doctor of Medicine (MD) Education & Training - Dr. Suzanne Segal attended to Albert Einstein College Of Medicine Of Yeshiva University and then graduated in 1989 - NPI #: 1013982073 - Enumeration Date: Feb 22nd, 2006 - Last Update Date: Mar 13th, 2013 Quality ReportingParticipated programs include - Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR). Dr. Suzanne Segal has been primarily specialised is Diagnostic Radiology for over 27 years. |Specialization||License Number||Issued State| |Radiology / Diagnostic Radiology||184976||New York| Medical Group Practice |Personal Health Imaging Pllc||8| |Synergy Health Medical Solutions Pc||5| |Five Towns Heart Imaging Medical P.c.||12| Woodmere, New York 11598-2338 Phone: (516) 374-0730 Fax: (516) 295-1056 - Monday - Friday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM - Saturday - Sunday: Closed This doctor profile was extracted from the dataset publicized on Oct 6th, 2016 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and from the corresponded NPI record updated on Mar 13th, 2013 on NPPES website. If you found out anything that is incorrect and want to change it, please follow this Update Data guide.

A Community of Exceptional Nurses Presented by Cheryl L. Esbrook, OTR/L, BCPR and Brenda Pun, RN, MSN, ACNP While advancements in medical management of patients experiencing respiratory failure have improved their survival rate, neuromuscular and neurocognitive impairments can result in long-term deficits to their functional performance. Increasingly, the critical care community is emphasizing early, aggressive physical and occupational therapy — including progressive mobility — to improve these patients’ outcomes. However, development and implementation of an early progressive mobility program can be challenging for the interdisciplinary team. This webinar will discuss the long-term outcomes of critical illness survivors, evidence surrounding the importance of early progressive mobility in the ICU and common obstacles faced when creating or improving these programs. At the end of the session, participants will be able to: 1. Outline the neuromuscular and neurocognitive complications ICU survivors often face. 2. Describe the evidence supporting early physical and occupational therapy in the ICU. 3. Discuss the benefits and common concerns when implementing an interdisciplinary progressive mobility programs in various settings Cheryl Esbrook is a Board Certified occupational therapist focusing on critical care patient populations at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC). In addition to evaluating and treating a wide variety of ICU patients, she mentors occupational/physical therapists in this specialized area, serves as fieldwork coordinator for UCMC’s Therapy Services department and collaborates with facilities across the country to improve or begin early mobilization programs. Ms. Esbrook has been published in The Lancet and Critical Care Medicine, and has presented at national and international conferences for the American Physical Therapy Association, American Occupational Therapy Association and American Thoracic Society. She also works with the Society of Critical Care Medicine as a coach in their Paragon program, aimed at improving processes and care in ICUs. An advanced practice nurse with a special interest in critical care, Brenda Pun conducts and participates in patient-oriented health services research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. As a program clinical manager in the Vanderbilt Coordinating Center, she is involved in studies, grant writing, data collection, analysis of data and communication of results, with an emphasis on delirium and sedation in the critically ill. Ms. Pun holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing. She is a highly regarded nursing and medical educator, teaching at local, regional and national conferences and providing research consultation to hospitals and organizations throughout the U.S. Non-Endorsement of Products Statement Approval of the continuing education activity does not imply endorsement by AACN or ANCC of any commercial products displayed in conjunction with this activity. Learners must view the entire webinar and complete the associated evaluation to be awarded 0.5 contact hours of CNE credit (Synergy Category A). Enduring Educational Activities In accordance with ANCC guidelines, the contact hours for this educational activity are due for renewal on Oct. 1, 2016. Please login to register for live webinars or view webinar archives. If you do not currently have an AACN login, please create one by clicking on the “Create new account” link. Create New Account Learn more about what we have to offer based on your role in the industry.

We’re guessing someone at the Syfy Channel dropped the word “synergy” at a recent strategy meeting. Why else would NBCUniversal’s quirky cable brand invest $105 million in Defiance, a TV series and accompanying video game package? This the same channel responsible for Sharktopus and Dinocroc vs. Supergator, right? David Howe, Syfy president, explains that the effort is leveraging the technology behind the idea of “true transmedia,” an ambitious and collaborative concept that could only come to you via the people who brought the world the fine feature films mentioned above. Defiance the game will develop alongside plot developments on the TV show–and the game’s environs will change in conjunction with the evolving world in the series. The show’s pilot will air on April 15 and the video game will hit stores on April 2, allowing enough time for fans-to-be to familiarize themselves with the multi-player shooter platform. Both narratives involve aliens and alien cross breeds, though the game is set in dystopian Los Angeles and the show takes place in St. Louis (so much for consistency). From a public relations standpoint, this strategy makes complete sense. Customer engagement is key to long-term brand loyalty, and connecting with the public on multiple channels is a wise move. But will the public buy in? Can a brand over saturate the customer base with too much of a good thing? Is “true transmedia” the future? We’re guessing yes. The public likes to feel like they’re part of something, and technology is allowing customers to become closer than ever to the brands and products they like. Also, the TV/video game platform allows for the deep integration of advertising, which means there is a high level of “synergy.” Our advice to SyFy? Next time we visit our local Game Stop, we expect to see Dinocroc on the shelves. Get on it!

Time: March 21, 2014 from 4pm to 9pm Location: The Dream Institute Street: 1672 University Avenue at McGee City/Town: Berkeley, CA Website or Map: http://www. dream-institute.o… Event Type: lecture, film, discussion, workshop Organized By: Terry Ebinger Latest Activity: Mar 18, 2014 • FAIRY TALE • FILM • DREAM • BEASTS of the SOUTHERN WILD Friday, March 21 / 4:00 to 9:00 PM / $55 Fairy tale films bring the language of symbols to life, allowing us to experience the archetypes in action. These programs explore a kinship and synergy between dreams, fairy tales, and “moving pictures.” We’ll actively approach our film as a dream, using it as a living laboratory to sharpen intuition and develop practical dream skills. All levels of experience and curiosity are welcome. —Explore the interpretation of fairy tales and the art of intuitive symbol recognition. —Practice and build dream skills by engaging with key film scenes as dream material. —Delve into universal folkloric and archetypal themes as brought to life in this film. —Watch the complete movie, followed by group reflections, observations and insights. BEASTS of the SOUTHERN WILD spins a dreamlike fable of a magical place facing a great flood, the loss and redemption of feeling, the family as crucible of initiation, and wildness as giftedness. Its wondrous originality brims with handmade beauty, soulful storytelling, and heart. Terry Ebinger, MS has nearly three decades of practice as a depth psychological educator, spiritual director, group leader and dream consultant. Her unique cinema programs integrate film studies, archetypal psychology, cultural anthropology, and dreaming. Contact Terry at email@example.com. $55 Fee includes meal catered by Poulet (chicken, vegan, gluten-free and vegetarian foods provided.). Please register in advance by phone or email below: THE DREAM INSTITUTE 1672 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA / 510. 845. 1767 firstname.lastname@example.org / www. dream-institute.org

I doubt anyone can argue with the amount of conversation and, if you will, hype surrounding Dontnod Entertainment and Capcom’s Remember Me. It’s hard, as a game reviewer, to go into something so talked about for the last year without having preconceived notions about what to expect, however, from the moment I saw the first images revealed for the title last year, I knew I was going to want to get my hands on it. The story revolves around Nilin, a former memory hunter who has, ironically, lost her memories. Her journey to rebirth begins when she’s just about to have the last vestiges of what made her HER, wiped for some unknown reason. She’s saved by a former colleague named Edge, and he sets her on the path to both take down the massive corporation that seems to be attempting to control everyone through their memories, as well as finding out who and what she really is. Everything is set in the city of Neo-Paris in the year 2084, and both the story and settings evoke memories (see what I did there?) of movies like Minority Report, Metropolis and Ghost in the Shell. That isn’t a bad thing, by any means. When I first heard that the story was set in a Paris of the future, I was intrigued, but it struck more of a chord with me now, after a trip less than a month ago to the Paris of the present. It isn’t a unique location for pop culture media in general, but transforming it to a cyberpunk future where memories are bought, sold, traded, given and stolen on a whim, and where one corporation is using their memory technology to basically enslave the human race, it certainly brings things to a whole new level. The visuals, at first glance, are really great, even on the console versions of the game. The world looks immersive and inviting. The environment really looks the best, followed by our protagonist, Nilin herself. Some of the other characters occasionally show the lack of polish that was saved for the more pronounced models in the game, but you don’t notice it so much, since most of those tend to be baddies that you’re beating up on and things are moving way too fast to even bother. I was pretty much in awe by the art direction, which didn’t skimp on the minor details which really made the areas Nilin moves through come alive (the little shops with opening times were a lovely touch, especially given my recent trip to Paris). Immediately after you boot things up and start a new game, you’re introduced to some simply amazing voice acting, and that follows suit throughout the majority of the game. In fact, the “commercial” you’re presented with at the beginning of the game immediately made me want to never put down that controller; everything else didn’t really matter at that point. But, the more I got into the game, the more I was engrossed in the world and the characters, and that’s a good thing. Sometimes it’s hard for a new IP, or even a seldom-used setting style (cyberpunk), to resonate with the audience, but the combination of almost immediately caring about what happens to Nilin and the very colorful world around you makes you want to keep pressing on to see what’s around the next corner. The only issue I can bring to the forefront here is how much I would have loved an open-world gameplay style in this game, with perhaps more of a branching and side-quest-heavy mission structure instead of a linear tromp through a world you will never be able to explore. With the world, characters and voice acting so top-notch, how is the gameplay? Well, things progress in a very Uncharted-like way, which I approve of, although others may find it a bit monotonous. My issue with action titles in general is that, in a good number of cases, there’s nothing but an endless stream of enemies to fight through, and you spend more time doing that than taking everything in. That may appeal to some people, but not me. This is why a game like Uncharted was right up my alley: I’m not a fan of action games for that very reason. Remember Me is designed in almost exactly that style, as well. There is a lot of running, jumping, climbing and small puzzles to help you progress, and several times in each level you’re faced with a smattering of enemies, and then sometimes a boss at the end. This is pacing I can certainly get behind. The tutorial for the game-play aspects is very well done., and eases you into combat, perhaps almost too much so. Toward the end of the tutorial (which stretches into Chapter 3), it starts to get tiring when you’re ready to fight, jump, move or fall and the game pauses to tell you exactly what to do. And this game also is probably not for those who dislike their hand being held. Not only does it provide ample direction to get you where you need to go, it provides some very precise help to pick up many of the collectibles in the game. Take that as you will; I didn’t mind it so much, although, in the back of my mind, having visual cues pop up to tell you where a collectible was and then to get you back on the right path to the end of the area is possibly a bit much. Combat takes place occasionally and you use custom built combos to take down your foes. As the story progresses, you unlock more combos that you can use, with every action during the combo being customizable except the first one. Actions, which are called Pressens, unlock as you collect Procedural Mastering Power (PMP). Eventually, you’ll collect enough PMP to generate a key to unlock a new Pressen, which you can then use to customize your combos. There are four different types of Pressens – Power, Regen, Cooldown and Chain. Power Pressens are pretty much your bread and butter. They are hard hitting actions that pack a powerful punch. They are also the only way to trigger finishing moves (those moves themselves vary depending on the enemy encountered) and the only way of damaging some enemy types. Regen Pressens regenerate health, but don’t deal much damage. Cooldown and Chain Pressens are used in specific situations, or added to a long combo, to reduce S-Pressen (unique moves), cooldowns and duplicate Pressens to double their effect, respectively. S-Pressens are, for all intents and purposes, a way to beat the stuffing out of your opponents with few consequences. During combat by attacking or being attacked you build up Focus, which can then be expended by using S-Pressens, several of which you acquire throughout the game. These are seriously some badass abilities that really show off what Nilin is capable of. Naturally, you can dodge as well, and the game tells you when. Sometimes it’s difficult to dodge while you’re in the middle of a combo, but most dodges that keep you in the vicinity of the enemy allow you to continue your combo after you avoid an incoming attack, which is a nice touch. Unfortunately, are a few issues with combat in general. First is that the timing of combos is very tricky. The game tells you to hit the next button in the combo when Nilin connects with the first action, but that isn’t entirely true, so you practically have to manually judge when to hit the next button. It does begin to come more naturally, but there’s a pretty steep learning curve on them and it never actually feels “right”. I would prefer more of a “press the next button in sequence within X amount of time to continue the combo” type of deal, not “press the next button at the exact time or you’re screwed” situation. Another, perhaps bigger, issue is the spastic camera. I don’t know why developers haven’t figured out how to build a decent battle camera for third person action yet, but in the vast majority of games it is rather obtrusive and clunky. The issue is that the camera rotates or locks onto a position by itself when you’re in the midst of a combo, many times blocking the action behind environmental objects like poles, fences, railings or other things. This is highly annoying and, eventually, it made me dread getting into battle at all. The only real situations where this isn’t an issue is in very wide open areas, like most boss fights (thankfully) and some trash fights during the course of a chapter. Finally – and perhaps the biggest issue of all – is that the character, story and combat don’t mesh. Nilin is an elite memory hunter, not a combatant. While I assume she will carry out her mission in any way possible – even if that means bashing a few faces in – there seems to be an unbalanced view of, or, if you will, an over-importance placed on, combat. That very clearly doesn’t fit with her character, and this tends to make the entire experience feel disjointed. Overall, I will certainly say that combat, while decent, is probably my least favorite part of this game, for many reasons. Although, with the many different actions and combos you can put together, there is quite a bit of depth to it, and most definitely the finishing moves that Nilin can perform – even the ones on enemies of no consequence – are very satisfying to perform. In my estimation, the best gameplay segments are the sequences where Nilin actually gets to delve into people’s minds and rewrite their memories. While these are pretty hefty sequences, possibly taking a bit to figure out their puzzle-like solutions, they happen far too infrequently and, in a way, seem out of sync with the rest of the game because of that fact. This is what the game should have been based around, not the combat. During these sequences you’re presented with a series of events that actually happened in the person’s mind, and your task is to rewrite their memories to achieve a certain goal. You can fast forward and rewind the memory at will, looking for inconsistencies. When you find one, you can make an alteration to the memory and see how events unfold with the changes. Finding the right combination of changes within the memory will achieve the desired results and progress the story. Even though the few opportunities to rewrite memories are quite elaborate affairs, I feel that the character of Nilin might be better served by stronger emphasis on this aspect of the game, perhaps adding smaller, more frequent segments like these that don’t require quite as much brain power to complete, rather than an over-emphasis on combat. This is where the comparison to Uncharted that I made above sort of falls apart. Uncharted is built on two things – movement (running, climbing, jumping, etc.) and puzzle solving. And that fits the characters, story and what the game is trying to be. Combat is there, but it sort of takes a back seat to those other things. With Remember Me, combat is too prominent, and it isn’t even executed all that well. I would have loved to see more of an emphasis on both movement and environmental and memory-rewriting puzzles that really immerse the player in the notion of what and who Nilin actually is. Overall, I’m pleased with the story, setting and characters, as well as the fun memory reorganization sequences and their impact on the story. However, the vast majority of prominent gameplay falls flat because it contains very little synergy with those characters and the back story that was built for them. I certainly applaud Dontnod for developing a game with a great, strong female lead, which I much prefer over the exaggerated importance of the “white male” protagonist. It’s never easy to develop a new IP, especially with the unique characters and setting that is brought to life here. However, the gameplay really was a downer. I would definitely recommend at least one play-through for any open-minded gamer, but I’d wait until the price drops a bit.

4 Epic Photos That I Took of International Acts in 2012 2012 was one of the busiest years that I’ve had. I took many pictures that some folks have called Epic Photos. I went to Synergy Live, RAMFest, Up The Creek, Oppikoppi, Mieliepop, Vodacom In The City and various other gigs in Pretoria and Johannesburg throughout the year. I had the privilege to watch and photograph The Prodigy, AWOLNATION, In Flames, Infected Mushroom, Uriah Heap, Bloc Party, Eagles of Death Metal, Enter Shikari, Bullet for My Valentine and Seether. 2012 really was a great learning curve for my Photography skills. Today I’m featuring 4 Epic Photos that I took of some of these International Acts in 2012. I’m also including a story with each of these photos. Photo of The Prodigy At Synergy Live in Johannesburg: I made my way to Riversands Farm last year in December to catch the first Johannesburg edition of this festival. I was extremely amped up before hand to watch the Prodigy live for the first time and when push came to shove they did not disappoint me at all. I’ve never seen a crowd of close to 8,000 people dance like they way they did during the Prodigy’s set. If they ever come to South Africa again, I’ll be there to watch them again, no question about it. I snapped this photo of Keith Flint during their set. I had to time this shot perfectly because the lighting wasn’t the best I could work with. Photo of In Flames at RAMFest in Johannesburg: I was at Riversands Farm in March 2012 for my 3rd RAMFest experience in Gauteng in a row. More than 15,000 people crowded the festival fields in anticipation for Swedish Metal Act In Flames. The rain did not discourage them at all. I made my way into the media pit with many other photographers and starting shooting like a photographer on steroids. Despite the fact that I was slightly tipsy at the time, I managed to capture this epic photo of one of the guitarists rocking out during their set. Photo of Bullet for My Valentine at Oppikoppi 2012 Sweet Thing: I have to admit that I did not expect too much of the Bullet for my Valentine set at Oppikoppi 2012 Sweet Thing last year. I’m not a huge fan of Emo, but these boys from Wales blew yours truly and 20,000+ people away last year at the Wesley’s Dome Stage. Despite spending nearly 14 hours on my feet and taking photos of numerous bands on the day, I gathered enough energy to photograph their epic set before retiring my camera for the weekend. I snapped this epic photo of Bullet For My Valentine’s frontman rocking out during one of their songs. I was so gatvol for photography after Oppikoppi, I didn’t touch a camera for two weeks. Photo of Uriah Heep at Mieliepop 2012: Mieliepop was definitely one of my favorite festivals on 2012. More than 2,000 people made their way to a resort near Lothair in Mpumalanga to enjoy Uriah Heep and some of the best live acts that SA has to offer. Photographing one of the legendary rock bands who have been around for more than 40 years was an awesome experience. They reminded me that you can still rock if you’re over 50 years old. I snapped this epic photo during their performance (which completely blew me away). Well, there you have it. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading the stories behind these 4 epic photos that I took of International Acts in 2012. Share this post with your friends if you want to. Watch this space for regular updates in the Photography and Music categories on Running Wolf’s Rant. Latest posts by Henno Kruger (see all) - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 teaser trailer released - October 19, 2016 - Henry Rollins Interview (Video) - October 19, 2016 - Photo Album: Jack Parow @ Aandklas Hatfield - October 18, 2016

French sociologist Loïc Wacquant, professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, traces four causes of present-day American anti-intellectualism. Not surprisingly, topping the list is America’s worship of the dollar. Elaborating on this point, Wacquant explains, [t]he first is the unquestioned supremacy of economic over cultural capital in the American field of power, a supremacy that is arguably more pronounced today than at any time in the past half-century. Few modern societies abide by rules of social competition and access to positions of authority that so strongly favor money over knowledge, the wallet (porte-monnaie) over the pen (porte-plume), and give such abrupt precedence to big business over big ideas. The hegemony of the haves is virtually complete when the paradigm of the market imposes itself upon the totality of human activities and needs, from the arts to the media, publishing, health, and education (the fact that these are referred to as “industries” testifies to this), and is elevated to the dignity of a collective ideal at the highest reaches of a state exhorted by its head to transform itself into a mere service provider for taxpayers. (Forgive my jumping-to-related-current-readings tendencies, but that’s how things go in blog posts). Although I have not finished it yet, Philip Goodchild’s conclusions in his excellent book, Capitalism and Religion: The Price of Piety, likewise attest to the all-pervasiveness of the market paradigm on our human being-in-the (post)modern world. As he engages Nietzsche’s critique of reason and his discussion of the “murder of God,” Goodchild unearths the new horizon, the new sun to which we have chained ourselves, namely, money. The meaning of the murder of God, that is, the emergence of a secular worldview with a corresponding affirmation of atheism, is that God is no longer required to play a foundational role in organizing humanity’s activity in relation to reality. The murder of God therefore reflects a shift in pieties. God has stopped paying us our ordered existence; or rather, there is another god who pays us, who responds more immediately, directly and tangibly to our prayers: Mammon. One could make several comments on this fruitful passage (and I recommend highly Goodchild’s book); however, let’s return to Wacquant’s four causes. In addition to our new god, Mammon, what else has brought us to disparage the life of the mind and contemplative pursuits? The second cause for enthusiastic American misologism is that progressive intellectuals are, on the one hand, “severely handicapped by the debilitation of the organizational vehicles liable to enable them” to effect social change and to engage in (reasoned, if such is possible these days) public debate, and on the other hand, the lack of unity and bickering among various activist groups themselves. In other words, in addition to the absence of a strong left-wing party, those advocating for equal rights etc. for their group or cause end up following “their particular(istic) strategy, and [aim] at distinct goals without sufficient concern for the synergy of agendas and the overall coherence of their lines of action.” Third, there is the reality of large numbers of intellectual puppets, that is, so-called intellectuals—members of various think tanks on the “Hill”—who produce so-called scientific, scholarly, “reports” for the purpose of reinforcing “the accepted wisdom of the moment” and presenting “a veneer of rationality” to their own public policies. The new advisers to the Prince salaried by the Manhattan Institute and the Heritage Foundation possess all the trappings—the hexis, the language, and the credentials—of the academic, but they lack the one attribute that makes (or made) the latter troublesome: the capacity to formulate his or her own questions and to seek answers with total freedom, no matter where this leads her. Henceforth, the think tanks and the schools of public policy that serve as their transmission belt within the academic institution are there to stand guard and protect the American dominant class from the impertinent questioning of critical reason. The fourth cause of America’s anti-intellectual atmosphere is found in the self-absorbed, inwardly turned university community itself, occupied with its own inconsequential “intestinal controversies” and filled with university “professionals,” that is, “expert[s] possessed of a neutral body of knowledge reduced to its technical dimension.” Given this splintered, fragmented milieu, where cross-disciplinary pollination is anathema, serious collegial dialogue within disciplines is rare, and narrow “professionals” abound, it is no wonder that the mass of academics feel justified to cast aside any and all civic or moral engagement beyond their narrow domain of expertise by invoking the professional imperative of neutrality, for which the precepts of positivist epistemology serve as a convenient philosophical G-string. Wacquant does have a way with words, doesn’t he? And I thought my dissertation was provocative!

Start typing a card name and use the auto-complete feature to quickly select the card you're trying to add. Enter a quantity and add that card to your sideboard! Submit a list of cards below to bulk import them all into your sideboard. Post one card per line using a format like "4x Birds of Paradise" or "1 Blaze", you can even enter just the card name by itself like "Wrath of God" for single cards. This deck is a clone of Simic Synergy by Cryptic021. This deck has been viewed 295 times. Good call on the Golgari Charm, that thing is incredibly useful. I've never played more than two colors in a deck, so you'll have to let me know how this goes if you ever try it out! I'm on the fence about the amount of lands. I'm debating pulling out either both Rapid Hybrization or 2 Vastwood Hydras to toss in 2 more lands. I'm thinking 1 Forest + 1 Dimir Guildgate. Just to add in more splash of swamp to increase odds of a pull.

DALLAS, Jan. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Alliance Data Systems Corporation (NYSE: ADS), a leading provider of loyalty and marketing solutions derived from transaction-rich data, today announced it has signed a multi-year renewal agreement to continue providing private label credit card services to Reeds Jewelers (www.reeds.com), a leading multichannel jewelry retailer with 60 stores in 13 states including e-commerce and catalog sales channels. A purveyor of certified diamonds, diamond rings, fine jewelry, watches, and distributor of leading designer brand jewelry, including several luxury brands, Reeds also boasts strong bridal product line sales. Founded in 1946 and headquartered in Wilmington, N.C., the family-owned and operated company has been an Alliance Data client for 10 years. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20051024/ADSLOGO ) Under terms of the agreement, Alliance Data will continue to provide private label credit card services for the Reeds Jewelers Credit Card program, including account acquisition and activation, receivables funding, card authorization, private label credit card issuance, statement generation, remittance processing, customer service functions, and marketing services. Program benefits exclusive to cardholders currently include convenient, flexible payment and financing options, no annual fee, and online account management features. In addition, Alliance Data is collaborating with Reeds to develop and launch a program that enhances the Reeds Jeweler Credit Card value proposition to cardholders. This new 'customer-nurture' marketing concept, exclusive to cardholders, may include incentives to drive customer repeat visits and purchases to redeem offers such as special discounts on bridal jewelry cleaning, repair, and future purchases at Reeds Jewelers. "Reeds Jewelers strives to make every customer feel like family through our personal service, attention to detail, quality products, and a comfortable, stress-free buying experience," said Alan Zimmer, owner and president of Reeds Jewelers. "Alliance Data helped us launch the Reeds Jewelers Credit Card program more than a decade ago, and with the company's retail industry experience and expertise in the jewelry vertical in particular, it has helped us offer our customers just one more way we can improve their shopping experience and level of satisfaction with our brand. At the same time, Alliance Data has helped us grow our portfolio of cardholders and continuously drive incremental sales by offering promotional payment plans and flexible credit options to our customers." "Reeds Jewelers is a valued, progressive client with a laser-straight focus on customer satisfaction, and we're excited to continue our long-term partnership with this company to deliver additional value to its customers," said Melisa Miller, president of Retail Services for Alliance Data. "With our extensive cross-channel retail expertise and aligned customer service synergy, we're fully prepared to continue to grow the private label card program and drive customer loyalty through tailored payment promotions and targeted credit solution and marketing campaigns for Reeds. We look forward to extending our collaborative partnership to help Reeds better target and engage their customers with the brand, as well as achieve their sales and growth goals." William and Roberta Zimmer founded REEDS Jewelers in 1946 downtown Wilmington, NC. Understanding that the trust and loyalty of their customers was their most valuable asset, the Zimmer family has carefully grown REEDS Jewelers into one of the largest jewelry store chains in the country. www.reeds.com About Alliance Data Alliance Data® (NYSE:ADS) and its combined businesses is North America's largest and most comprehensive provider of transaction-based, data-driven marketing and loyalty solutions serving large, consumer-based industries. The Company creates and deploys customized solutions, enhancing the critical customer marketing experience; the result is measurably changing consumer behavior while driving business growth and profitability for some of today's most recognizable brands. Alliance Data helps its clients create and increase customer loyalty through solutions that engage millions of customers each day across multiple touch points using traditional, digital, mobile and other emerging technologies. Headquartered in Dallas, Alliance Data employs approximately 8,500 associates at more than 50 locations worldwide. Alliance Data is a leading provider of marketing-driven credit solutions, and is the parent company of Epsilon®, a leading provider of multi-channel, data-driven technologies and marketing services, and LoyaltyOne®, which owns and operates the AIR MILES® Reward Program, Canada's premier coalition loyalty program. For more information about the company, visit our web site, www.AllianceData.com, or you can follow us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/AllianceData. Alliance Data's Safe Harbor Statement/Forward Looking Statements This release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such statements may use words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "predict," "project" and similar expressions as they relate to us or our management. When we make forward-looking statements, we are basing them on our management's beliefs and assumptions, using information currently available to us. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, these forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including potential effects of the Epsilon data theft incident, and those discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If one or more of these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may vary materially from what we projected. Any forward-looking statements contained in this presentation reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. We have no intention, and disclaim any obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future results or otherwise. "Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this presentation regarding Alliance Data Systems Corporation's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year. Risk factors may be updated in Item 1A in each of the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for each quarterly period subsequent to the Company's most recent Form 10-K. SOURCE Alliance Data Systems Corporation CONTACT: Julie Prozeller - Analysts/Investors, FTI Consulting, +1-212-850-5721, email@example.com; Shelley Whiddon - Media, +1-214-494-3811, firstname.lastname@example.org or Reeds Jewelers, Inc.: Mitch Cahn, +1-910-350-3377, email@example.com

Symposium: Discussion of Kanwar’s “Security Council as Legislator of Last Resort” [Sean Murphy is Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School and a discussant in the Opinio Juris On-Line Symposium] For decades now, the global community has recognized that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery systems constitutes a major threat to international peace and security. Since the attacks of 9/11, there is broad recognition that the threat is compounded by the possibility of terrorists acquiring and using WMD. If one contemplates the extraordinary events that were unleashed by the attacks of 9/11—wars, detentions without trial, reorganization of national governments and laws—and then considers that such attacks might someday occur using WMD, it takes little imagination to see that the entire foundation of international law and order might be shaken in a flash, accelerating change in directions that may or may not be optimal. International lawyers must play a role in avoiding any such Armageddon, by assisting policy-makers in identifying effective strategies for preventing proliferation of WMD. In his paper “The Legislator of Last Resort,” Vik Kanwar tackles this problem by focusing on the role of the Security Council in handling the proliferation of WMD, a topic most salient given last week’s Security Council Resolution 1747 (Mar. 24, 2007) on Iran. About half of the paper is devoted to explaining the sources of the Security Council’s power in this area, which arise not just from the express and implied powers anchored in the U.N. Charter, but also from multilateral treaty regimes relating to WMD that envisage a role for the Council in monitoring and enforcing compliance with the regime. Another third of the paper sets forth the principal course of action typically taken by the Council when confronting proliferation threats, which Kanwar breaks down into a four-level process: (1) referral/provisional measures; (2) promotion of negotiation/declaration/censure; (3) economic sanctions; and (4) the use of force. There is value in these sections of the paper in that Kanwar is exclusively focused on the nexus of WMD and the Security Council, and those unfamiliar with that nexus will benefit from his overview and insights. Thus, Kanwar usefully reminds us of important interplay among the relevant actors, such as having the IAEA as a relatively “neutral” organization for identifying a threat, which can then be referred to the “less-neutral” but more powerful Security Council to address it (pp. 17-18). For those familiar with the Security Council and its conduct relating to WMD, however, the first part of the paper will not be new, and there are several statements that would likely elicit objection. Thus, most commentators would not characterize Chapter VI of the Charter as containing provisions on collective security (p. 3), nor view the Security Council as having “exclusive” powers (as opposed to “primary responsibility”) in determining violations of international peace and security (p. 4), nor accept that legal disputes over the meaning of the U.N. Charter should generally be referred to the International Court of Justice (p. 13), since non-adjudicatory dispute resolution is (and should be) the far more dominant approach. Likewise, the characterization of “censure” or “provisional measures” as being within the province of Chapter VI, while economic sanctions and the use of force are the province of Chapter VII (p. 20), does not comport with the terms of, or practice, under the Charter. Perhaps most striking is the assertion that Chapter VII sanctions have never been applied to a non-proliferation crisis(p. 21), since most observers would likely view Security Council Resolution 687 (imposing economic sanctions on Iraq pending the destruction, removal or rendering harmless of WMD) as just that. And though the organization and writing of the paper are fairly clear, some parts are hard to follow, such as: “Key findings failures and breaches will oblige the board triggering sending the matter referral to the UN Security Council; this provides objective architecture based on breach of obligations.” (p. 10). The most intriguing part of the paper comes at the end, where Kanwar argues that the current “unidirectional strategy of censure, sanctions and force” is inadequate. Instead, Kanwar favors more “lateral strategies,” by which is meant Security Council action that seeks to impose constraints broadly upon all states rather than targeting one or miscreants. He lauds various proposals advanced by Mohamed El Baradei, Pierre Goldschmidt, and George Perkovich that would move away from a reactive posture on the part of the Security Council and toward more “creative and durable resolutions aimed at developing long term legal and operational capacity, and supporting the non-proliferation framework” (p. 27). While others have lamented the recent trend by the Security Council to engage in “legislation”—meaning enactment of norms that bind states broadly for broad purposes, rather than targeting a specific threat—Kanwar celebrates the possibilities for getting ahead of the non-proliferation curve and of bolstering existing WMD treaty regimes. Indeed, he sees the possibilities for synergy between the Security Council and multilateral treaty regimes as one means for countering concerns about the legitimacy of Security Council “legislation.” Perhaps in his future work, Kanwar will wrestle more deeply with problems attendant to this approach. He recognizes that by ramping up Security Council involvement in these multilateral treaty regimes, we should not undercut them (p. 28), but does not explain how that is to be done. If the door is opened, why wouldn’t the major powers use the Security Council to advance their security objectives in situations where multilateral negotiations would be lengthy and perhaps unsuccessful? He recognizes that a “lateral” strategy might end up imposing obligations on states that have always been good citizens, while the rogue states remain recalcitrant, calling into question the utility of the lateral approach (p.29). If so, then why is a lateral strategy superior to a reactive strategy? And if the contemporary problem of proliferation of WMD has been especially aggravated by the threat posed by non-state actors, does a lateral strategy do anything special for addressing that threat? If our concerns on certain weapons (e.g., nuclear weapons) is really focused on just a few states (Iran, North Korea, Pakistan), is a lateral strategy really what is needed or will it distract us from the real threats, or from the real long-term solutions (Mideast Peace, regime change, promotion of democracy)? These are not easy issues. Vik Kanwar has boldly plunged into an area that is extremely important and should be thought and re-thought by international lawyers in the years to come. As such, his contribution is very welcome.

In this section: The study of Angelology begins by working with angels every day and goes on to trusting and surrendering completely to angelic guidance. Put simply, the Essenes, who first used this term, believed that wholeness was only achievable by harmonising physical and spiritual self, and that communing with angels every day (especially the Angel Ruler of that particular day) aided this harmony. As time has gone on, and I have worked through this message, translating it for the 21st Century, I came to realise that this harmony begins with chakra balancing to third eye and the opening of higher heart chakra of non-judgemental love. It continues with taking the energy balance from higher heart to crown, and back to root, and from there it focuses on regaining Oneness with All. These are three aspects of The Way of Love & Light with Angels. How did I get started myself on this philosophy? At an early stage of my research in 1999 I was guided to read an article about Essene Angelology that described the Angel Rulers of the Weekdays, their variouis attributes, and how the Essenes communed with these angels morning and evening. It transpired that each and every angel has a specific guardianship role - in fact there is nothing in the Universe that does not have a Guardian Angel. The role of these Guardians (when we know about them and invoke them) is to aid our spiritual pathway by teaching us the true power of Love and Light. This section of my website gives you useful extracts from my nine published books and card sets, to give you a flavour of the potential once you begin working with these amazing Light Beings. Remember they bring healing rays from the Creator; you can scroll through to see which extract(s) particularly resonate, or suit your own personal needs. To read more about my nine works see Angela's Expertise section. If you really want to start as I did, you begin by studying the Sacred Seven Rulers of the Weekdays and what each brings to our Heart Quest for self-healing (this is outlined in my first book A Harmony of Angels, and each work after that takes you further along the Way). Memorise these Sacred Seven angels and the three key words describing their attributes. Then start calling on them, on their own special days, to address - in fact focus on - healing that particular aspect of yourself and/or your life. Later I was guided to Melchisadec himself, “Spiritual Father” to the Sacred Seven and “Spiritual Director” to mankind to fast-track Heart Quest. Back to top (Extract from Melchisadec e-Course Module 1) Melchisadec is “father” of Angels of the Divine Presence and some might say the greatest of all angels. He guides these angels in the same way as great prophets have guided mankind. In Ancient Wisdom texts he is said to be to the other angels as Master Jesus is to mankind. Ruler of Seven, he offers you his Heart and Soul Quest symbols: the Rainbow (the seven primary colour rays of healing), and the Chalice containing the Key to his Seven-Turn (Cretan) Labyrinth. This is a metaphor for spiritual nourishment (manna) as it’s the path of wholeness through physical/spiritual balance and harmony. First he helps you towards completing the physical healing of your lower self, personal heart and higher self issues (seven major chakras); next he tells you that the time has come for further spiritual awakening through the opening of higher heart flower (metaphor for the heart of his Labyrinth), for this is the route towards true wholeness and harmony of mind, body and spirit. A message from Melchisadec about himself and his Sacred Seven Angels: "I am Melchisadec, Prince of Peace. From the highest and most perfect vibration - the pure harmonic - of Light I descend, offering you manna for spiritual nourishment from the Chalice of Life. The Key of Sacred Seven is held within my Chalice, that is all manner of spiritual peace and wholeness. The Chalice is filled with the pure harmonic of iridescent Angelic Light that reflects all colours, all potential achievements, All That Is. To wish to absorb this Light is to seek the Rainbow pathway called the Way of Love & Light. I urge you to take this path, leading to the heart of my Labyrinth, towards finding and accepting your true self, for then you, too, will hold my Key to wholeness. Seven leads to Nine that is the beginning of Oneness with All. How to start? I am father to the Sacred Seven Planetary Angels. Firstly I counsel you to invoke my angels and focus on your spiritual awakening and expansion. Start healing your life daily with the daily support of their unconditional love, focusing on these particular issues: Monday: Gabriel - Hopes, dreams, aspirations, intuition, balance Tuesday: Camael - Courage, confidence, empowerment, forgiveness Wednesday: Michael - Strength, protection, personal/absolute Truth Thursday: Zadkiel - Abundance, wisdom, kindness, integrity Friday: Haniel - Love, including of self, beauty, compassion, joy Saturday: Cassiel - Overcoming challenge, peace, harmony, serenity Sunday: Raphael - Energy healing, knowledge, decisions, balance Which do you need? Or do you need them all? If you have the Harmony Angel Cards, lay face down my card and the Sacred Seven, and choose one: this will be your guiding angel for the present. I have seven times seven levels you can heal through the power of six, for mine is the six-point star of Macrocosm*, whose seventh central point is the Quintessence. As you do this you will gradually expand spiritual consciousness through the five-point star of Microcosm* - man's search for Oneness. My seven rainbow colours will be involved, as you begin to find your true self. *The Dance of Six and Five: healing on six and expanding on five vibration. Those who are further on the Way should seek the meaning of my Seven-turn Labyrinth. The Five and Six Point Stars are sacred geometry. As you rediscover that sacred geometry links all life, and absorb its mystery unto yourself, your spiritual consciousness will further expand. Then you will find that the vibration at the heart of my Labyrinth is the same as that of your own higher heart flower. Let my Sacred Seven guide you deeper along the Way of Love and Light, through Hope, Courage, Truth, Wisdom, Harmony and Healing. For the Key to peace and wholeness is to open your heart to feel unconditional love; when the flower of the higher heart opens, truly you move towards achieving Oneness with All and transition from Heart to Soul Quest." Back to top Working with the Angelic Vibration: the power of the Word (Logos) Though they can appear in any form, I believe that angels are "spiritus Dei", the breath of the Creator, Essence of Love and Light. When we pronounce an angel name out loud this is a sacred sound, a pure vibration like a mini-prayer. The first connection you can make is to invoke the sacred name three times, from the heart with loving intent, as this "calls in" the angelic ray. We can learn to feel this energy on hands, within heart or crown, or simply just enfolding us and when we've learnt this we can move on to more sophisticated ways of connecting* (*taught in the e-Course Modules). Why three times - following the Sacred Law of Three maximises the energy of our invocations? There are many examples of the power of three: Religious trinities of Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Isis, Osiris, Horus; the three Magi of the Bible. The composition of the world: animal, vegetable and mineral; of man: carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, who is also mind, body, spirit; the measurement of time: past, present, and future. More importantly, perhaps, from Hermes Trismegistos/Thoth's Emerald Tablets we learn, amongst other things, that three are the Paths of the Soul: Man, Liberty, Light. Making the Invocation from your heart Hold out your hands, palms up and relax them. Call on your chosen Angel by name three times, and then make your request, e.g. Raphael, Raphael, Raphael, please be with me, in Love and Light, Love and Light, Love and Light (this shows positive and honest intent); always thank the Angel. The angelic responses you may feel (involving one/more senses) Touch: The left is the "taking hand" in Universal terms, while the right is the "giving hand" (though occasionally this may be reversed), so you may feel one or more of the following: - Tingling or tickling around fingers or palms, particularly in the left hand. - You could find yourself aware of energy flowing within the body. - Warmth on palms, in heart, or gently flooding your whole being. - Coolness on fingers, palms, wrists or along arms - Soft and gentle, yet strong pressure on the hands, arms or fingers Sight: Depending on whether your eyes are open or closed: - A brief, bright flash of light in your mind - A glimpse of the angel or a symbolic creature - A sparkling in the air, or swirling mist, on the edge/periphery of vision - A subtle change in the quality of how the air looks and feels around you. Smell: A sudden fragrance that comes and goes. You wonder if you really smelled this scent or imagined it! Then it comes again. Sound: Tones, faint booming or drumming sounds within ear(s) If there is any current situation for which you feel an angel could assist, you can speedily refer to this guide. This is very easy to use, so for instance if you were being guided to move house, and wanted to know which angel to consult, you look up "Moving house or country" you will see that the angel is Nadiel. The angels' names that end in "iel" or "ael" are Hebrew, and this ending means "of God". Angels are, however, included from all belief systems. I am not a Hebrew speaker, and so if anyone knows better and wants to correct me, please e-mail me through this website. Click here to download the guide. This cross reference of life needs and Angels, with guide to pronunciation, was extracted from the Book of Angels accompanying the cards within the Gold and Silver Guardian Angels set, and with later additions. Back to top Pistis Sophia, the “Heavenly and Earthly Mother” (see also: main picture, top left) "As Heavenly Mother to my Zodiac Angel family as well as earthly Mother to mankind, I hold a watching brief for everything that you do. I rejoice at your achievements, and descend at troublesome times to comfort you, reminding you that whatever happens to you is in Divine Order and all things pass. I offer to aid your Heart Quest and urge you to resolve karma by self-healing, for the opening of your higher heart is the way to Oneness. With Eight of Eternity I extend to you celestial Star Fire, entwined with sacred blue Earth Flame, enfolding you with veils of pure Love and Light. Try my joining exercise to really feel my loving energy; this supports you through life's many challenges towards finding your own true worth." This exercise with Pistis Sophia joins you to All through her shining energy veils. It takes only a few moments and can bring powerful healing. In this you work with Pistis Sophia, the twelve golden Zodiac stars above her head, and the silver blue earth flame from the heart (Atoma) of Mother Earth. Sophia has for centuries been equated with Eve, Astarte, Isis, Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene and Quan Yin (Goddess and Divine Mother in Buddhism - She who hearkens to the cries of the world). Also this creates Eight of Infinity in energy flow, also connected to the Eight Roads to Heaven and the Eight Spoke Wheel of the Solar Cycles, or Celtic Wheel of Fate/Buddhist of Dharma (see also Angel Almanac). - Sit quietly, close your eyes, hold your hands up in front of you, palms upwards, and say: Pistis Sophia, Pistis Sophia, Pistis Sophia - Please join my right hand* through All There Is Above with celestial Star fire to my left hand* Feel energy travel from one hand to the other - And my right foot* through All There Is Below with sacred and eternal Earth flame to my left foot* Feel energy travel from one foot to the other - Through my heart, and the heart of Mother Earth, I am so joined. Feel the energy travel in a figure of 8 centred through your higher heart. *The general principle, in energy terms, is that the right hand/foot gives to the Universe and the left hand/foot takes from the Universe. Sometimes, particularly in left-handed folks, the flow is reversed - follow what feels right! See e-Courses if you want to learn more about how to work with these and a host of other angels daily on The Way of Love & Light. White feathers are not, of course, coming from the angels themselves but they are a sign from the angels that you need to focus on spiritual self, especially if you find three of them in your path (or see three floating by in quick succession). Later on, when you continue to see and find them, they will be more of a corroboration that whatever you are thinking of, or planning,or saying at the moment you see one, this is spiritually the right path or track that you are following, so keep on going! Back to top (Extract from my first book: A Harmony of Angels) You may not realise the power of your mind, which is why it is so important that it is linked with love and an honest intent. As you become practised in calling on angels, and in meditation, your ability to visualise angels and concepts will gradually grow, until you will see them clearly in your mind. Practise the following, which are very useful protective visualisations: - To prevent negativity reaching you or a loved one you can protect with an aura of violet, which transmutes negativity before it reaches you. Imagine a pyramid and place yourself or the other person(s) within that pyramid. Then ask Melchisadec to fill the pyramid with violet fire. Next imagine the figure leaving the pyramid but remaining outlined in violet. You can also do this with cars or other means of transportation such as aeroplanes. - Place yourself, or another, inside a golden egg and ask Raphael, Angel of the Sun and Healing, to ensure that this egg does not break. - Ask for the help of Michael, in terms of his blue cloak. Ask for the cloak to be wrapped around the loved one to protect from harm. Visualise the colour of the cloak (cobalt blue), and the hood, and then see it enveloping completely from head to foot. - For temporary invisibility, ask Gabriel to place a silver cloak around a person or an object, such as your house, or car. Again, imagine it completely covering you or the item in question. From the box of Angelic Abundance. MEDITATION: To fill your heart, and hearts of others, with Love - Take some deep breaths of the golden ray of Divine Love, expelling negative thoughts from your mind, until you feel filled with loving energy. - Ground this energy through your feet, sending love down to Mother Earth. - Invoke Haniel or other angels you have chosen to be with you. They bring a rose quartz crystal and invite you to step inside it - you are completely enveloped in the rose pink, pearly light of Joy that takes away sadness. - Feel the presence of the angels of love all around you, and imagine you can smell the scent of the roses, a perfume close to the angelic vibration. - The angels' wings softly enfold you, showering you with rose petals. - Ask the angels to help you find and keep love in your life, so that you may give it also to others, for love binds the Universe together. - See the rose of your heart glowing magenta pink, edged with pearly radiance. Encircle it with bright emerald light for healing and expansion. - Visualise loved ones in a pink bubble, with their hearts similarly energised. - Seal the energy in with Raphael's golden rays, feeling a sense of renewal. - Send Love, Light and thanks to the angels. Back to top (Three extracts from An Angel for Every Day) If you want to change your life completely and need more determination and self-belief. A message from Tabris: I beckon to you from the Door to Light, out of which my golden radiance shines. I seek to guide your footsteps, for many are the doors that open during your life, but few will be your Doors to Light. - Bringing choices forward: Write the name of Tabris on a post-it note, put it up where you will see it every morning. Say: Tabris Tabris Tabris I am looking for the Door to Light in my life. Please guide me towards the opportunity to find this Door which leads to a happier and more fulfilling future, in love and light, love and light, love and light. Be a little patient! - If you need to decide between two options. Say: Tabris, Tabris, Tabris, I now have a decision to make and I want this to be for my highest good. Please guide my steps to my personal Door to Light, in love and light, love and light, love and light. To bolster your self-belief, ideals and principles, Arad, guardian angel of beliefs, has this message for you: "Do you need reassurance about what you believe yourself to be? Ask me to send my powerful silver energy to fill your soul, for this is the individual, essential core of you which makes you the person you really are and gives rise to your personality. If your self-belief is being tested, call on me to aid you. I fill your heart with the power of unconditional love to guard your very self and help maintain the purity of your principles and ideals." To call on Arad for help: Arad, Arad, Arad, I ask for you to be with me to support my self-belief so that I can stand against those who undermine me. With your love I can be faithful to my ideals, living my life in accordance with my personal principles, in love and light, love and light, love and light. If you want to follow your heart, Pagiel angel of the heart's desire says: "My loving energy flows around you in a bright stream. Allow this stream to carry you forwards, at your own pace with surrender and trust, as it conveys you gradually ever nearer towards your ambition. With my aid the water of life flows into the chalice of your heart, and when the flower of your heart opens, in the centre of this flower I enable you to perceive your true heart's desire." Invoking Pagiel: Pagiel, Pagiel, Pagiel let your energy support me and maintain my focus in life as I decide on the first steps towards my goal, of following my heart's desire, in love and light, love and light, love and light. Back to top (Extracts from Heart & Soul Angel Cards) Rikbiel: Guardian Angel of the Power of Love Rikbiel drives the Creator's horses (Divine Power and Wisdom) and Light Chariot that fashioned from Love knows no boundaries. He helps if you are feeling blocked in achieving your heart's desire. This is likely to be for one of two reasons: your desire is not for your highest good, or it may be a true desire (linked to your soul purpose), but the time is not yet right. Rikbiel offers a link to his Love and Light energy. Focus on sending loving thoughts to your chosen heart's desire. These are far more than just thought forms - you actually create invisible energy waves that reverberate throughout the Universe. Loving thoughts vibrate a pure harmonic that reaches out towards the target's heart and actually helps your target to find a corresponding harmonic. Also, every sentient form (animal, vegetable or mineral) has a vibration that can be attuned with the heart harmonic of Mother Earth, carrying the potential inner peace of this planet. If your heart's desire is true, sending daily love can actually make it happen. If it is not right for you then unselfishly sending love to All Life gently helps to create a planetary harmonic of Divine Order that, in turn, actually encourages manifestation of something infinitely more beneficial for you. From Heart’s Desire Suit – Essence of Love Twin Horses: Divine Power and Wisdom The beautiful horses of Divine Power and Wisdom (from Rikbiel's Love Chariot) glide with obedience and synchronicity on beams of light, assisting angels to carry these Divine attributes to and from Mother Earth. The pure white Horse of Power embodies the Creator's Truth; as you ride this horse on a direct route you gain true spiritual perception. You become able to transcend the daily issues, to perceive that this ultimate Truth is always before you, illuminating your path, leading you by degrees to pure consciousness. The mysterious indigo Horse of Wisdom holds ancient, arcane knowledge; riding this horse takes you on a circuitous route, offering you various choices and synchronicities to retrieve whichever secrets you need. Either/both offer perfect spiritual balance yet also enable you to remain fully grounded. You could call upon the Divine horses in turn, starting with the one that draws you most, visualising the image in your heart. Alternatively, you can invoke Rikbiel to bring both horses to reconcile inner disharmony, imagining yourself in the Chariot of the Creator and steering it with the reins of Love. The horses assist you towards a harmonious linking of heart's desire and soul purpose - use this opportunity wisely, letting Love be your guide to Light. From Essence of Love: Suit of Mystical Animal Devas Mazuriel Guardian Angel of the Central Sun of all Suns Mazuriel is a spiral of pure living light from the Sacred Heart of the Creator, embodying the essence of the Central Sun of all Central Suns. From cosmic matter, born on a pulsing stream of luminous radiance, he forms first the rosy Universal Central Suns, and then gleaming golden Solar Systems. All are born attuned to the Divine Harmonic, yet our own has lacked perfect balance since our Atlantean fall from grace. Mazuriel radiates the pure spiritual Flame That Does Not Burn. His heart is cool for it is spirit (Water of Life) perfectly balanced within matter (Fire of Life). This is a synergy of moon (heart and balance) and sun (will and wholeness) and the symbol of a transcended mankind. You have the spiritual awareness, combined with purity of intent, to invoke Mazuriel and to help ground and manifest this sacred energy for the highest good. Unite with the Divine Harmonic saying the words "I am All That Is; I hold All That Is in my heart". Mazuriel says your important soul purpose encompasses bringing through his radiant flame to help raise the spiritual consciousness of All Life. Through this action you can actually help mankind to re-unite as One Heart, across space-time continua, aiding our planetary soul to regain Divine balance. From Soul Purpose Suit – Essence of Light Amethyst Throne and Angelic Light Sword: The Master Card of Transmutation & Divine Truth The Amethyst Throne and Angelic Light Sword are key soul purpose Hallows. They exist under the Guardianship of Melchisadec and Michael. Melchisadec rules Violet (the Seventh Ray of Magic) while Michael's Light Mandate of Truth underpins planetary redemption. Amethyst-violet transmutes dark energy back into pure light and works at all consciousness levels. The first level of vibration aids physical wholeness, the second cleanses and opens your heart. The third level is purity of spiritual intent: a loving desire to use Truth to help redeem fallen aspects of Light that have affected mankind's spiritual vibration since Atlantean times. Melchisadec invites you to sit on the Throne; amethyst rays deepen your connection from crown to the Atoma (heart) of Mother Earth, and to the 44:44 Angel Star Gate. Michael places in your hands his Angelic Light Sword - the living power of Truth and Love. Melchisadec tells you not to buy into fear matrices throughout the world - instead hold heart and soul secure in the pure, intense, spiritual and transmutation power of these Hallows, that can actually help upgrade your DNA towards the original (Adam Kadmon) template. Michael asks you to exemplify and communicate this Divine Truth to others. From Essence of Light, Sacred Hallows Suit Back to top With Metatron and Shekinah, Guardians of the Eden Tree: Harmony and healing for mankind and All That Is. (From Harmony Angel Cards) Metatron (God in Man) and Shekinah (God in Woman) are Architects of the Sacred Geometry and Guardians of the Tree of Life/Eden Tree, which in its Cabbala form has ten “roots”, each a brilliant sphere of light. This is a key symbol of universal balance and harmony through Divine connection. They vouchsafe that the secret of achieving this harmony in life is a journey on the Way of Love and Light from the lowest sphere which is man's Earthly Kingdom, to the highest sphere symbolising Crown: Link to The One, The All. The path is not easy; you may be out of balance because you have lost your link with the One, or you may feel lonely and marooned on your Tree of Life journey, searching for earthly harmony. Metatron and Shekinah offer to help heal and liberate you in various ways. Metatron (at Crown: Spiritual aspects) re-connects you to the One, also offering you the healing power of the Star Gate and Source. Shekinah (at Roots, i.e. Earthly Kingdom) can be invoked to bless your choice of life partner, helping you find earthly harmony supported by true love. Her remit is also to aid you with self-healing, for this is the way to open higher heart and move to crown chakra, Metatron and Oneness. They remind you All is contained within the miracle of the Sacred Geometry of the One; the true path to harmony is from One back to One. (From Love & Light Angel Cards) Shekinah’s Suit for Heart Quest: Shekinah – Teth glyph: Foundation (Earth), Light, Above, Below "I, Shekinah, of Earthly Kingdom - root of the Eden Tree - create self-healing synergy for you to find harmony in life's journey. Like dawn's Light petals falling on Mother Earth my vibrant energy hues awaken your true potential, and for you I open my white-gold bridge of Love and Light from root into heart and then crown. With me breathe Teth and Earth's living emerald, full of physical and spiritual harmonic promise, to touch, fill and overflow your heart, preparing you to heal and balance in Templa Mar. There you can choose to try all healing Colours of Creation or prioritise physical (Red), mental (Violet) or emotional (Blue) healing, and so forth. Eternal Templa Mar contains the specific crystal codes - cellular memories of Divine/Gem Self - you need to harmonise all subtle energy bodies, for these codes exist somewhere in your timeline for when you go there and make that choice. Then my etheric white gold and Metatron's spiritual white silver come to the fore in Sun and Moon Mandalas, for All is linked to our Sacred Eden Tree, the 44:44 Angel Star Gate and Circle of Life. As you move to Crown to become One with our Eden Tree, rejoining our Circle of Oneness with All, together we deepen your Divine connection." Metatron’s Suit for Soul Quest and his Star Gate Suit: Metatron - Cheth glyph:Tree of Life, balance, Oneness with All "I offer you pure Angelic Light: my undefiled Metatronic Light spectrum that may be embraced in the higher heart by all whose souls have pledged to carry this vibration and work with it for All. For with enough Love in your higher heart, you fly, like Thunderbird, beyond the 44:44 Star Gate into higher dimensions and there is little you cannot accomplish. For you I fashion my Light into the letter Cheth, signifying Eden Tree and your path of Oneness - yes, even Unity Consciousness that comes when your heart and soul transforms into Gem Self. If you are One with our Sacred Eden Tree your roots lie in Mother Earth, heart in Templa Mar and crown touches the Star Gates - wondrous portals to Angelic Light. You can start with Ruby and Emerald; from there seek other dimensional portals allowing advanced Light encodements. We shall bring you all manner of things for intuitive action within your heart. When Shekinah's unconditional, creative and regenerative Love links to my Light Geometry; this informs, inspires and raises your heart and soul to new heights of cosmic awareness. As you gain spiritual mastery strive to access Advanced Gates, your Soul Quest is linked to the critical mass of 144,000 required for your Earth's Ascension Programme." Silver/Platinum Star Gate of Cherubim (Moons & 22:22) Guardians: Ophaniel, Mirabiel, Unicorn (Mystical Animal Deva) From Oneness and Eden Tree you can link directly with the Cherabim angels to true power of feminine energy (the two Earth Moons, each linked to five), and travel further via Ophaniel's interconnecting Moon Mansions' Light spirals to aid Mother Earth with Ascension. For Earth to reach Oneness, all life, including mankind, Nature's plants and animal kingdom needs to have its lost feminine balance restored. Metatron and Mirabiel create the double moon symbol of Goddess energy in silver Angelic Light within you, aiding your soul purpose: also to travel around Ophaniel's Galactic Moon spirals, pledging to bring back ultimate Moon power through heart for Mother Earth and All Life. - Through Oneness I breathe in and hold the sacred silver-blue-violet power of the Eyes of Heaven, and on my out-breath the Moon Mansions' silver spirals flow into my heart to anchor in third eye. - To aid restoration of Earth's true feminine power, Metatron gifts MIrabiel's double moon symbol in Angelic Light within heart. - Holding this sacred energy connection I travel on Ophaniel's Moon Mansions' spirals to access platinum Galactic Moon energy, subtly balancing my higher energy centres and filling me with ultimate soul healing radiance. - Through Oneness I ground and balance this energy to aid Ascension: - I am Moon in service of Love and Light. Back to top

For the fifth(!) year in a row, I’ll be headed down to Austin for the SXSW Interactive Festival, where, for a few warm, sunny Texas days, I talk tech and eat only tacos. Since I have to make a detour to cold, wintry Chicago to see my dear friend Heather (and my dear friends at Coudal) I won’t be getting there until Sunday afternoon, so that means I have to pack twice as much tech-talking (and twice as many tacos) into a short amount of time. But! I will be doing one panel, kind of a special one. On Monday, March 15 at 11am, I’ll be moderating a roundtable with Valerie Casey, founder of the Designers Accord, with whom I write Designers Accord case studies over at Fast Company; and Casey Caplowe, creative director at GOOD, with whom I created the GOOD Design program. This talk is part of Studio SX’s programming, which we were told is more like a fun, Charlie Rose-style talk show (and it will be filmed!). So please come by and see two of my favorite people if you’re at SXSW. Afterwards, maybe some tacos? Update: By the way, the amazing J.D. Nasaw, who coordinated our Studio SX program, also runs the incredible blog Citizen Taco, which includes—yes!—a SXSW taco guide! Now that’s some delicious synergy.

There is a major increase in the awareness of the positive impact of exercise on improving several disease states with neurobiological basis; these include improving cognitive function and physical performance. As a result, there is an increase in the number of animal studies employing exercise. It is argued that one intrinsic value of forced exercise is that the investigator has control over the factors that can influence the impact of exercise on behavioral outcomes, notably exercise frequency, duration, and intensity of the exercise regimen. However, compliance in forced exercise regimens may be an issue, particularly if potential confounds of employing foot-shock are to be avoided. It is also important to consider that since most cognitive and locomotor impairments strike in the aged individual, determining impact of exercise on these impairments should consider using aged rodents with a highest possible level of compliance to ensure minimal need for test subjects. Here, the pertinent steps and considerations necessary to achieve nearly 100% compliance to treadmill exercise in an aged rodent model will be presented and discussed. Notwithstanding the particular exercise regimen being employed by the investigator, our protocol should be of use to investigators that are particularly interested in the potential impact of forced exercise on aging-related impairments, including aging-related Parkinsonism and Parkinson’s disease. 29 Related JoVE Articles! Sublingual Immunotherapy as an Alternative to Induce Protection Against Acute Respiratory Infections Institutions: Universidad de la República, Trinity College Dublin. Sublingual route has been widely used to deliver small molecules into the bloodstream and to modulate the immune response at different sites. It has been shown to effectively induce humoral and cellular responses at systemic and mucosal sites, namely the lungs and urogenital tract. Sublingual vaccination can promote protection against infections at the lower and upper respiratory tract; it can also promote tolerance to allergens and ameliorate asthma symptoms. Modulation of lung’s immune response by sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is safer than direct administration of formulations by intranasal route because it does not require delivery of potentially harmful molecules directly into the airways. In contrast to intranasal delivery, side effects involving brain toxicity or facial paralysis are not promoted by SLIT. The immune mechanisms underlying SLIT remain elusive and its use for the treatment of acute lung infections has not yet been explored. Thus, development of appropriate animal models of SLIT is needed to further explore its potential advantages. This work shows how to perform sublingual administration of therapeutic agents in mice to evaluate their ability to protect against acute pneumococcal pneumonia. Technical aspects of mouse handling during sublingual inoculation, precise identification of sublingual mucosa, draining lymph nodes and isolation of tissues, bronchoalveolar lavage and lungs are illustrated. Protocols for single cell suspension preparation for FACS analysis are described in detail. Other downstream applications for the analysis of the immune response are discussed. Technical aspects of the preparation of Streptococcus pneumoniae inoculum and intranasal challenge of mice are also explained. SLIT is a simple technique that allows screening of candidate molecules to modulate lungs’ immune response. Parameters affecting the success of SLIT are related to molecular size, susceptibility to degradation and stability of highly concentrated formulations. Medicine, Issue 90, Sublingual immunotherapy, Pneumonia, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Lungs, Flagellin, TLR5, NLRC4 Corneal Confocal Microscopy: A Novel Non-invasive Technique to Quantify Small Fibre Pathology in Peripheral Neuropathies Institutions: University of Manchester. The accurate quantification of peripheral neuropathy is important to define at risk patients, anticipate deterioration, and assess new therapies. Conventional methods assess neurological deficits and electrophysiology and quantitative sensory testing quantifies functional alterations to detect neuropathy. However, the earliest damage appears to be to the small fibres and yet these tests primarily assess large fibre dysfunction and have a limited ability to demonstrate regeneration and repair. The only techniques which allow a direct examination of unmyelinated nerve fibre damage and repair are sural nerve biopsy with electron microscopy and skin-punch biopsy. However, both are invasive procedures and require lengthy laboratory procedures and considerable expertise. Corneal Confocal microscopy is a non-invasive clinical technique which provides in-vivo imaging of corneal nerve fibres. We have demonstrated early nerve damage, which precedes loss of intraepidermal nerve fibres in skin biopsies together with stratification of neuropathic severity and repair following pancreas transplantation in diabetic patients. We have also demonstrated nerve damage in idiopathic small fibre neuropathy and Fabry's disease. Medicine, Issue 47, Corneal Confocal Microscopy, Corneal nerves, Peripheral Neuropathy, Diabetic Neuropathy Implantation of Total Artificial Heart in Congenital Heart Disease Institutions: Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. In patients with end-stage heart failure (HF), a total artificial heart (TAH) may be implanted as a bridge to cardiac transplant. However, in congenital heart disease (CHD), the malformed heart presents a challenge to TAH implantation. In the case presented here, a 17 year-old patient with congenital transposition of the great arteries (CCTGA) experienced progressively worsening HF due to his congenital condition. He was hospitalized multiple times and received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). However, his condition soon deteriorated to end-stage HF with multisystem organ failure. Due to the patient's grave clinical condition and the presence of complex cardiac lesions, the decision was made to proceed with a TAH. The abnormal arrangement of the patient's ventricles and great arteries required modifications to the TAH during implantation. With the TAH in place, the patient was able to return home and regain strength and physical well-being while awaiting a donor heart. He was successfully bridged to heart transplantation 5 months after receiving the device. This report highlights the TAH is feasible even in patients with structurally abnormal hearts, with technical modification. Medicine, Issue 89, total artificial heart, transposition of the great arteries, congenital heart disease, aortic insufficiency, ventricular outflow tract obstruction, conduit obstruction, heart failure Protein WISDOM: A Workbench for In silico De novo Design of BioMolecules Institutions: Princeton University. The aim of de novo protein design is to find the amino acid sequences that will fold into a desired 3-dimensional structure with improvements in specific properties, such as binding affinity, agonist or antagonist behavior, or stability, relative to the native sequence. Protein design lies at the center of current advances drug design and discovery. Not only does protein design provide predictions for potentially useful drug targets, but it also enhances our understanding of the protein folding process and protein-protein interactions. Experimental methods such as directed evolution have shown success in protein design. However, such methods are restricted by the limited sequence space that can be searched tractably. In contrast, computational design strategies allow for the screening of a much larger set of sequences covering a wide variety of properties and functionality. We have developed a range of computational de novo protein design methods capable of tackling several important areas of protein design. These include the design of monomeric proteins for increased stability and complexes for increased binding affinity. To disseminate these methods for broader use we present Protein WISDOM (http://www.proteinwisdom.org), a tool that provides automated methods for a variety of protein design problems. Structural templates are submitted to initialize the design process. The first stage of design is an optimization sequence selection stage that aims at improving stability through minimization of potential energy in the sequence space. Selected sequences are then run through a fold specificity stage and a binding affinity stage. A rank-ordered list of the sequences for each step of the process, along with relevant designed structures, provides the user with a comprehensive quantitative assessment of the design. Here we provide the details of each design method, as well as several notable experimental successes attained through the use of the methods. Genetics, Issue 77, Molecular Biology, Bioengineering, Biochemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Computational Biology, Genomics, Proteomics, Protein, Protein Binding, Computational Biology, Drug Design, optimization (mathematics), Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins, De novo protein and peptide design, Drug design, In silico sequence selection, Optimization, Fold specificity, Binding affinity, sequencing Setting-up an In Vitro Model of Rat Blood-brain Barrier (BBB): A Focus on BBB Impermeability and Receptor-mediated Transport Institutions: VECT-HORUS SAS, CNRS, NICN UMR 7259. The blood brain barrier (BBB) specifically regulates molecular and cellular flux between the blood and the nervous tissue. Our aim was to develop and characterize a highly reproducible rat syngeneic in vitro model of the BBB using co-cultures of primary rat brain endothelial cells (RBEC) and astrocytes to study receptors involved in transcytosis across the endothelial cell monolayer. Astrocytes were isolated by mechanical dissection following trypsin digestion and were frozen for later co-culture. RBEC were isolated from 5-week-old rat cortices. The brains were cleaned of meninges and white matter, and mechanically dissociated following enzymatic digestion. Thereafter, the tissue homogenate was centrifuged in bovine serum albumin to separate vessel fragments from nervous tissue. The vessel fragments underwent a second enzymatic digestion to free endothelial cells from their extracellular matrix. The remaining contaminating cells such as pericytes were further eliminated by plating the microvessel fragments in puromycin-containing medium. They were then passaged onto filters for co-culture with astrocytes grown on the bottom of the wells. RBEC expressed high levels of tight junction (TJ) proteins such as occludin, claudin-5 and ZO-1 with a typical localization at the cell borders. The transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) of brain endothelial monolayers, indicating the tightness of TJs reached 300 ohm·cm2 on average. The endothelial permeability coefficients (Pe) for lucifer yellow (LY) was highly reproducible with an average of 0.26 ± 0.11 x 10-3 cm/min. Brain endothelial cells organized in monolayers expressed the efflux transporter P-glycoprotein (P-gp), showed a polarized transport of rhodamine 123, a ligand for P-gp, and showed specific transport of transferrin-Cy3 and DiILDL across the endothelial cell monolayer. In conclusion, we provide a protocol for setting up an in vitro BBB model that is highly reproducible due to the quality assurance methods, and that is suitable for research on BBB transporters and receptors. Medicine, Issue 88, rat brain endothelial cells (RBEC), mouse, spinal cord, tight junction (TJ), receptor-mediated transport (RMT), low density lipoprotein (LDL), LDLR, transferrin, TfR, P-glycoprotein (P-gp), transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER), Models and Methods to Evaluate Transport of Drug Delivery Systems Across Cellular Barriers Institutions: University of Maryland, University of Maryland. Sub-micrometer carriers (nanocarriers; NCs) enhance efficacy of drugs by improving solubility, stability, circulation time, targeting, and release. Additionally, traversing cellular barriers in the body is crucial for both oral delivery of therapeutic NCs into the circulation and transport from the blood into tissues, where intervention is needed. NC transport across cellular barriers is achieved by: (i) the paracellular route, via transient disruption of the junctions that interlock adjacent cells, or (ii) the transcellular route, where materials are internalized by endocytosis, transported across the cell body, and secreted at the opposite cell surface (transyctosis). Delivery across cellular barriers can be facilitated by coupling therapeutics or their carriers with targeting agents that bind specifically to cell-surface markers involved in transport. Here, we provide methods to measure the extent and mechanism of NC transport across a model cell barrier, which consists of a monolayer of gastrointestinal (GI) epithelial cells grown on a porous membrane located in a transwell insert. Formation of a permeability barrier is confirmed by measuring transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER), transepithelial transport of a control substance, and immunostaining of tight junctions. As an example, ~200 nm polymer NCs are used, which carry a therapeutic cargo and are coated with an antibody that targets a cell-surface determinant. The antibody or therapeutic cargo is labeled with 125 I for radioisotope tracing and labeled NCs are added to the upper chamber over the cell monolayer for varying periods of time. NCs associated to the cells and/or transported to the underlying chamber can be detected. Measurement of free 125 I allows subtraction of the degraded fraction. The paracellular route is assessed by determining potential changes caused by NC transport to the barrier parameters described above. Transcellular transport is determined by addressing the effect of modulating endocytosis and transcytosis pathways. Bioengineering, Issue 80, Antigens, Enzymes, Biological Therapy, bioengineering (general), Pharmaceutical Preparations, Macromolecular Substances, Therapeutics, Digestive System and Oral Physiological Phenomena, Biological Phenomena, Cell Physiological Phenomena, drug delivery systems, targeted nanocarriers, transcellular transport, epithelial cells, tight junctions, transepithelial electrical resistance, endocytosis, transcytosis, radioisotope tracing, immunostaining Synthesis of Immunotargeted Magneto-plasmonic Nanoclusters Institutions: University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Magnetic and plasmonic properties combined in a single nanoparticle provide a synergy that is advantageous in a number of biomedical applications including contrast enhancement in novel magnetomotive imaging modalities, simultaneous capture and detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and multimodal molecular imaging combined with photothermal therapy of cancer cells. These applications have stimulated significant interest in development of protocols for synthesis of magneto-plasmonic nanoparticles with optical absorbance in the near-infrared (NIR) region and a strong magnetic moment. Here, we present a novel protocol for synthesis of such hybrid nanoparticles that is based on an oil-in-water microemulsion method. The unique feature of the protocol described herein is synthesis of magneto-plasmonic nanoparticles of various sizes from primary blocks which also have magneto-plasmonic characteristics. This approach yields nanoparticles with a high density of magnetic and plasmonic functionalities which are uniformly distributed throughout the nanoparticle volume. The hybrid nanoparticles can be easily functionalized by attaching antibodies through the Fc moiety leaving the Fab portion that is responsible for antigen binding available for targeting. Chemistry, Issue 90, nanoparticles, plasmonic, magnetic, nanocomposites, magnetic trapping, circulating tumor cells, dark-field imaging Transient Expression of Proteins by Hydrodynamic Gene Delivery in Mice Institutions: Hunter College, CUNY. Efficient expression of transgenes in vivo is of critical importance in studying gene function and developing treatments for diseases. Over the past years, hydrodynamic gene delivery (HGD) has emerged as a simple, fast, safe and effective method for delivering transgenes into rodents. This technique relies on the force generated by the rapid injection of a large volume of physiological solution to increase the permeability of cell membranes of perfused organs and thus deliver DNA into cells. One of the main advantages of HGD is the ability to introduce transgenes into mammalian cells using naked plasmid DNA (pDNA). Introducing an exogenous gene using a plasmid is minimally laborious, highly efficient and, contrary to viral carriers, remarkably safe. HGD was initially used to deliver genes into mice, it is now used to deliver a wide range of substances, including oligonucleotides, artificial chromosomes, RNA, proteins and small molecules into mice, rats and, to a limited degree, other animals. This protocol describes HGD in mice and focuses on three key aspects of the method that are critical to performing the procedure successfully: correct insertion of the needle into the vein, the volume of injection and the speed of delivery. Examples are given to show the application of this method to the transient expression of two genes that encode secreted, primate-specific proteins, apolipoprotein L-I (APOL-I) and haptoglobin-related protein (HPR). Genetics, Issue 87, hydrodynamic gene delivery, hydrodynamics-based transfection, mouse, gene therapy, plasmid DNA, transient gene expression, tail vein injection Electrospinning Growth Factor Releasing Microspheres into Fibrous Scaffolds Institutions: Wayne State University. This procedure describes a method to fabricate a multifaceted substrate to direct nerve cell growth. This system incorporates mechanical, topographical, adhesive and chemical signals. Mechanical properties are controlled by the type of material used to fabricate the electrospun fibers. In this protocol we use 30% methacrylated Hyaluronic Acid (HA), which has a tensile modulus of ~500 Pa, to produce a soft fibrous scaffold. Electrospinning on to a rotating mandrel produces aligned fibers to create a topographical cue. Adhesion is achieved by coating the scaffold with fibronectin. The primary challenge addressed herein is providing a chemical signal throughout the depth of the scaffold for extended periods. This procedure describes fabricating poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microspheres that contain Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) and directly impregnating the scaffold with these microspheres during the electrospinning process. Due to the harsh production environment, including high sheer forces and electrical charges, protein viability is measured after production. The system provides protein release for over 60 days and has been shown to promote primary nerve cell growth. Bioengineering, Issue 90, Electrospinning, Hyaluronic Acid, PLGA, Microspheres, Controlled Release, Neural Tissue Engineering, Directed Cell Migration Vascular Gene Transfer from Metallic Stent Surfaces Using Adenoviral Vectors Tethered through Hydrolysable Cross-linkers Institutions: The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania. In-stent restenosis presents a major complication of stent-based revascularization procedures widely used to re-establish blood flow through critically narrowed segments of coronary and peripheral arteries. Endovascular stents capable of tunable release of genes with anti-restenotic activity may present an alternative strategy to presently used drug-eluting stents. In order to attain clinical translation, gene-eluting stents must exhibit predictable kinetics of stent-immobilized gene vector release and site-specific transduction of vasculature, while avoiding an excessive inflammatory response typically associated with the polymer coatings used for physical entrapment of the vector. This paper describes a detailed methodology for coatless tethering of adenoviral gene vectors to stents based on a reversible binding of the adenoviral particles to polyallylamine bisphosphonate (PABT)-modified stainless steel surface via hydrolysable cross-linkers (HC). A family of bifunctional (amine- and thiol-reactive) HC with an average t1/2 of the in-chain ester hydrolysis ranging between 5 and 50 days were used to link the vector with the stent. The vector immobilization procedure is typically carried out within 9 hr and consists of several steps: 1) incubation of the metal samples in an aqueous solution of PABT (4 hr); 2) deprotection of thiol groups installed in PABT with tris(2-carboxyethyl) phosphine (20 min); 3) expansion of thiol reactive capacity of the metal surface by reacting the samples with polyethyleneimine derivatized with pyridyldithio (PDT) groups (2 hr); 4) conversion of PDT groups to thiols with dithiothreitol (10 min); 5) modification of adenoviruses with HC (1 hr); 6) purification of modified adenoviral particles by size-exclusion column chromatography (15 min) and 7) immobilization of thiol-reactive adenoviral particles on the thiolated steel surface (1 hr). This technique has wide potential applicability beyond stents, by facilitating surface engineering of bioprosthetic devices to enhance their biocompatibility through the substrate-mediated gene delivery to the cells interfacing the implanted foreign material. Medicine, Issue 90, gene therapy, bioconjugation, adenoviral vectors, stents, local gene delivery, smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, bioluminescence imaging Live Imaging of Drug Responses in the Tumor Microenvironment in Mouse Models of Breast Cancer Institutions: Watson School of Biological Sciences, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital. The tumor microenvironment plays a pivotal role in tumor initiation, progression, metastasis, and the response to anti-cancer therapies. Three-dimensional co-culture systems are frequently used to explicate tumor-stroma interactions, including their role in drug responses. However, many of the interactions that occur in vivo in the intact microenvironment cannot be completely replicated in these in vitro settings. Thus, direct visualization of these processes in real-time has become an important tool in understanding tumor responses to therapies and identifying the interactions between cancer cells and the stroma that can influence these responses. Here we provide a method for using spinning disk confocal microscopy of live, anesthetized mice to directly observe drug distribution, cancer cell responses and changes in tumor-stroma interactions following administration of systemic therapy in breast cancer models. We describe procedures for labeling different tumor components, treatment of animals for observing therapeutic responses, and the surgical procedure for exposing tumor tissues for imaging up to 40 hours. The results obtained from this protocol are time-lapse movies, in which such processes as drug infiltration, cancer cell death and stromal cell migration can be evaluated using image analysis software. Cancer Biology, Issue 73, Medicine, Molecular Biology, Cellular Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Genetics, Oncology, Pharmacology, Surgery, Tumor Microenvironment, Intravital imaging, chemotherapy, Breast cancer, time-lapse, mouse models, cancer cell death, stromal cell migration, cancer, imaging, transgenic, animal model Polymalic Acid-based Nano Biopolymers for Targeting of Multiple Tumor Markers: An Opportunity for Personalized Medicine? Institutions: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Tumors with similar grade and morphology often respond differently to the same treatment because of variations in molecular profiling. To account for this diversity, personalized medicine is developed for silencing malignancy associated genes. Nano drugs fit these needs by targeting tumor and delivering antisense oligonucleotides for silencing of genes. As drugs for the treatment are often administered repeatedly, absence of toxicity and negligible immune response are desirable. In the example presented here, a nano medicine is synthesized from the biodegradable, non-toxic and non-immunogenic platform polymalic acid by controlled chemical ligation of antisense oligonucleotides and tumor targeting molecules. The synthesis and treatment is exemplified for human Her2-positive breast cancer using an experimental mouse model. The case can be translated towards synthesis and treatment of other tumors. Chemistry, Issue 88, Cancer treatment, personalized medicine, polymalic acid, nanodrug, biopolymer, targeting, host compatibility, biodegradability Small Bowel Transplantation In Mice Institutions: University of California, San Francisco - UCSF. Since 1990, the development of tacrolimus-based immunosuppression and improved surgical techniques, the increased array of potent immunosuppressive medications, infection prophylaxis, and suitable patient selection helped improve actuarial graft and patient survival rates for all types of intestine transplantation. Patients with irreversible intestinal failure and complications of parenteral nutrition should now be routinely considered for small intestine transplantation. However, Survival rates for small intestinal transplantation have been slow to improve compares increasingly favorably with renal, liver, heart and lung. The small bowel transplantation is still unsatisfactory compared with other organs. Further progress may depend on better understanding of immunology and physiology of the graft and can be greatly facilitated by animal models. A wider use of mouse small bowel transplantation model is needed in the study of immunology and physiology of the transplantation gut as well as efficient methods in diagnosing early rejection. However, this model is limited to use because the techniques involved is an extremely technically challenging. We have developed a modified technique. When making anastomosis of portal vein and inferior vena cava, two stay sutures are made at the proximal apex and distal apex of the recipient s inferior vena cava with the donor s portal vein. The left wall of the inferior vena cava and donor s portal vein is closed with continuing sutures in the inside of the inferior vena cava after, after one knot with the proximal apex stay suture the right wall of the inferior vena cava and the donor s portal vein are closed with continuing sutures outside the inferior vena cave with 10-0 sutures. This method is easier to perform because anastomosis is made just on the one side of the inferior vena cava and 10-0 sutures is the right size to avoid bleeding and thrombosis. In this article, we provide details of the technique to supplement the video. Issue 7, Immunology, Transplantation, Transplant Rejection, Small Bowel Human Pancreatic Islet Isolation: Part I: Digestion and Collection of Pancreatic Tissue Institutions: University of Illinois, Chicago. Management of Type 1 diabetes is burdensome, both to the individual and society, costing over 100 billion dollars annually. Despite the widespread use of glucose monitoring and new insulin formulations, many individuals still develop devastating secondary complications. Pancreatic islet transplantation can restore near normal glucose control in diabetic patients 1 , without the risk of serious hypoglycemic episodes that are associated with intensive insulin therapy. Providing sufficient islet mass is important for successful islet transplantation. However, donor characteristic, organ procurement and preservation affect the isolation outcome 2 . At University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) we have developed a successful isolation protocol with an improved purification gradient 3 . The program started in January 2004, and more than 300 isolations were performed up to November 2008. The pancreata were sent in cold preservation solutions (UW, University of Wisconsin or HTK, Histidine-Tryptophan Ketoglutarate) 4-7 to the Cell Isolation Laboratory at UIC for islet isolation. Pancreatic islets were isolated using the UIC method, which is a modified version of the method originally described by Ricordi et al 8 . Briefly, after cleaning the pancreas from the surrounding tissue, it was perfused with enzyme solution (Serva Collagenase + Neutral Protease or Sigma V enzyme). The distended pancreas was then transferred to the Ricordi digestion chamber, connected to a modified, closed circulation tubing system, and warmed up to 37°C. During the digestion, the chamber was shaken gently. Samples were taken continuously to monitor the digestion progress. Once free islets were detected under the microscope, the digestion was stopped by flushing cold (4°C) RPMI dilution solution (Mediatech, Herndon, VA) into the circulation system to dilute the enzyme. After being collected and washed in M199 media supplemented with human albumin, the tissue was sampled for pre-purification count and incubated with UW solution before purification. Purification process will be described in Part II: Purification and Culture of Human Islets. Medicine, Issue 27, Human islets, Type 1 diabetes, pancreatic tissue, digestion, human islet transplantation High Efficiency Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells to Cardiomyocytes and Characterization by Flow Cytometry Institutions: Medical College of Wisconsin, Stanford University School of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Hong Kong University, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin. There is an urgent need to develop approaches for repairing the damaged heart, discovering new therapeutic drugs that do not have toxic effects on the heart, and improving strategies to accurately model heart disease. The potential of exploiting human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) technology to generate cardiac muscle “in a dish” for these applications continues to generate high enthusiasm. In recent years, the ability to efficiently generate cardiomyogenic cells from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) has greatly improved, offering us new opportunities to model very early stages of human cardiac development not otherwise accessible. In contrast to many previous methods, the cardiomyocyte differentiation protocol described here does not require cell aggregation or the addition of Activin A or BMP4 and robustly generates cultures of cells that are highly positive for cardiac troponin I and T (TNNI3, TNNT2), iroquois-class homeodomain protein IRX-4 (IRX4), myosin regulatory light chain 2, ventricular/cardiac muscle isoform (MLC2v) and myosin regulatory light chain 2, atrial isoform (MLC2a) by day 10 across all human embryonic stem cell (hESC) and hiPSC lines tested to date. Cells can be passaged and maintained for more than 90 days in culture. The strategy is technically simple to implement and cost-effective. Characterization of cardiomyocytes derived from pluripotent cells often includes the analysis of reference markers, both at the mRNA and protein level. For protein analysis, flow cytometry is a powerful analytical tool for assessing quality of cells in culture and determining subpopulation homogeneity. However, technical variation in sample preparation can significantly affect quality of flow cytometry data. Thus, standardization of staining protocols should facilitate comparisons among various differentiation strategies. Accordingly, optimized staining protocols for the analysis of IRX4, MLC2v, MLC2a, TNNI3, and TNNT2 by flow cytometry are described. Cellular Biology, Issue 91, human induced pluripotent stem cell, flow cytometry, directed differentiation, cardiomyocyte, IRX4, TNNI3, TNNT2, MCL2v, MLC2a An Affordable HIV-1 Drug Resistance Monitoring Method for Resource Limited Settings Institutions: University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa, Jembi Health Systems, University of Amsterdam, Stanford Medical School. HIV-1 drug resistance has the potential to seriously compromise the effectiveness and impact of antiretroviral therapy (ART). As ART programs in sub-Saharan Africa continue to expand, individuals on ART should be closely monitored for the emergence of drug resistance. Surveillance of transmitted drug resistance to track transmission of viral strains already resistant to ART is also critical. Unfortunately, drug resistance testing is still not readily accessible in resource limited settings, because genotyping is expensive and requires sophisticated laboratory and data management infrastructure. An open access genotypic drug resistance monitoring method to manage individuals and assess transmitted drug resistance is described. The method uses free open source software for the interpretation of drug resistance patterns and the generation of individual patient reports. The genotyping protocol has an amplification rate of greater than 95% for plasma samples with a viral load >1,000 HIV-1 RNA copies/ml. The sensitivity decreases significantly for viral loads <1,000 HIV-1 RNA copies/ml. The method described here was validated against a method of HIV-1 drug resistance testing approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Viroseq genotyping method. Limitations of the method described here include the fact that it is not automated and that it also failed to amplify the circulating recombinant form CRF02_AG from a validation panel of samples, although it amplified subtypes A and B from the same panel. Medicine, Issue 85, Biomedical Technology, HIV-1, HIV Infections, Viremia, Nucleic Acids, genetics, antiretroviral therapy, drug resistance, genotyping, affordable Analysis of Tubular Membrane Networks in Cardiac Myocytes from Atria and Ventricles Institutions: Heart Research Center Goettingen, University Medical Center Goettingen, German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) partner site Goettingen, University of Maryland School of Medicine. In cardiac myocytes a complex network of membrane tubules - the transverse-axial tubule system (TATS) - controls deep intracellular signaling functions. While the outer surface membrane and associated TATS membrane components appear to be continuous, there are substantial differences in lipid and protein content. In ventricular myocytes (VMs), certain TATS components are highly abundant contributing to rectilinear tubule networks and regular branching 3D architectures. It is thought that peripheral TATS components propagate action potentials from the cell surface to thousands of remote intracellular sarcoendoplasmic reticulum (SER) membrane contact domains, thereby activating intracellular Ca2+ release units (CRUs). In contrast to VMs, the organization and functional role of TATS membranes in atrial myocytes (AMs) is significantly different and much less understood. Taken together, quantitative structural characterization of TATS membrane networks in healthy and diseased myocytes is an essential prerequisite towards better understanding of functional plasticity and pathophysiological reorganization. Here, we present a strategic combination of protocols for direct quantitative analysis of TATS membrane networks in living VMs and AMs. For this, we accompany primary cell isolations of mouse VMs and/or AMs with critical quality control steps and direct membrane staining protocols for fluorescence imaging of TATS membranes. Using an optimized workflow for confocal or superresolution TATS image processing, binarized and skeletonized data are generated for quantitative analysis of the TATS network and its components. Unlike previously published indirect regional aggregate image analysis strategies, our protocols enable direct characterization of specific components and derive complex physiological properties of TATS membrane networks in living myocytes with high throughput and open access software tools. In summary, the combined protocol strategy can be readily applied for quantitative TATS network studies during physiological myocyte adaptation or disease changes, comparison of different cardiac or skeletal muscle cell types, phenotyping of transgenic models, and pharmacological or therapeutic interventions. Bioengineering, Issue 92, cardiac myocyte, atria, ventricle, heart, primary cell isolation, fluorescence microscopy, membrane tubule, transverse-axial tubule system, image analysis, image processing, T-tubule, collagenase Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients Institutions: Hadassah Hebrew-University Medical Center. In order to follow optic neuritis patients and evaluate the effectiveness of their treatment, a handy, accurate and quantifiable tool is required to assess changes in myelination at the central nervous system (CNS). However, standard measurements, including routine visual tests and MRI scans, are not sensitive enough for this purpose. We present two visual tests addressing dynamic monocular and binocular functions which may closely associate with the extent of myelination along visual pathways. These include Object From Motion (OFM) extraction and Time-constrained stereo protocols. In the OFM test, an array of dots compose an object, by moving the dots within the image rightward while moving the dots outside the image leftward or vice versa. The dot pattern generates a camouflaged object that cannot be detected when the dots are stationary or moving as a whole. Importantly, object recognition is critically dependent on motion perception. In the Time-constrained Stereo protocol, spatially disparate images are presented for a limited length of time, challenging binocular 3-dimensional integration in time. Both tests are appropriate for clinical usage and provide a simple, yet powerful, way to identify and quantify processes of demyelination and remyelination along visual pathways. These protocols may be efficient to diagnose and follow optic neuritis and multiple sclerosis patients. In the diagnostic process, these protocols may reveal visual deficits that cannot be identified via current standard visual measurements. Moreover, these protocols sensitively identify the basis of the currently unexplained continued visual complaints of patients following recovery of visual acuity. In the longitudinal follow up course, the protocols can be used as a sensitive marker of demyelinating and remyelinating processes along time. These protocols may therefore be used to evaluate the efficacy of current and evolving therapeutic strategies, targeting myelination of the CNS. Medicine, Issue 86, Optic neuritis, visual impairment, dynamic visual functions, motion perception, stereopsis, demyelination, remyelination Directed Dopaminergic Neuron Differentiation from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Institutions: Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine. Dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (also known as A9 DA neurons) are the specific cell type that is lost in Parkinson’s disease (PD). There is great interest in deriving A9 DA neurons from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) for regenerative cell replacement therapy for PD. During neural development, A9 DA neurons originate from the floor plate (FP) precursors located at the ventral midline of the central nervous system. Here, we optimized the culture conditions for the stepwise differentiation of hPSCs to A9 DA neurons, which mimics embryonic DA neuron development. In our protocol, we first describe the efficient generation of FP precursor cells from hPSCs using a small molecule method, and then convert the FP cells to A9 DA neurons, which could be maintained in vitro for several months. This efficient, repeatable and controllable protocol works well in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) from normal persons and PD patients, in which one could derive A9 DA neurons to perform in vitro disease modeling and drug screening and in vivo cell transplantation therapy for PD. Neuroscience, Issue 91, dopaminergic neuron, substantia nigra pars compacta, midbrain, Parkinson’s disease, directed differentiation, human pluripotent stem cells, floor plate Transplantation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived Mesoangioblast-like Myogenic Progenitors in Mouse Models of Muscle Regeneration Institutions: University College London, San Raffaele Hospital. Patient-derived iPSCs could be an invaluable source of cells for future autologous cell therapy protocols. iPSC-derived myogenic stem/progenitor cells similar to pericyte-derived mesoangioblasts (iPSC-derived mesoangioblast-like stem/progenitor cells: IDEMs) can be established from iPSCs generated from patients affected by different forms of muscular dystrophy. Patient-specific IDEMs can be genetically corrected with different strategies (e.g. lentiviral vectors, human artificial chromosomes) and enhanced in their myogenic differentiation potential upon overexpression of the myogenesis regulator MyoD. This myogenic potential is then assessed in vitro with specific differentiation assays and analyzed by immunofluorescence. The regenerative potential of IDEMs is further evaluated in vivo , upon intramuscular and intra-arterial transplantation in two representative mouse models displaying acute and chronic muscle regeneration. The contribution of IDEMs to the host skeletal muscle is then confirmed by different functional tests in transplanted mice. In particular, the amelioration of the motor capacity of the animals is studied with treadmill tests. Cell engraftment and differentiation are then assessed by a number of histological and immunofluorescence assays on transplanted muscles. Overall, this paper describes the assays and tools currently utilized to evaluate the differentiation capacity of IDEMs, focusing on the transplantation methods and subsequent outcome measures to analyze the efficacy of cell transplantation. Bioengineering, Issue 83, Skeletal Muscle, Muscle Cells, Muscle Fibers, Skeletal, Pericytes, Stem Cells, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs), Muscular Dystrophies, Cell Differentiation, animal models, muscle stem/progenitor cells, mesoangioblasts, muscle regeneration, iPSC-derived mesoangioblasts (IDEMs) Steps for the Autologous Ex vivo Perfused Porcine Liver-kidney Experiment Institutions: University Hospitals of Leicester. The use of ex vivo perfused models can mimic the physiological conditions of the liver for short periods, but to maintain normal homeostasis for an extended perfusion period is challenging. We have added the kidney to our previous ex vivo perfused liver experiment model to reproduce a more accurate physiological state for prolonged experiments without using live animals. Five intact livers and kidneys were retrieved post-mortem from sacrificed pigs on different days and perfused for a minimum of 6 hr. Hourly arterial blood gases were obtained to analyze pH, lactate, glucose and renal parameters. The primary endpoint was to investigate the effect of adding one kidney to the model on the acid base balance, glucose, and electrolyte levels. The result of this liver-kidney experiment was compared to the results of five previous liver only perfusion models. In summary, with the addition of one kidney to the ex vivo liver circuit, hyperglycemia and metabolic acidosis were improved. In addition this model reproduces the physiological and metabolic responses of the liver sufficiently accurately to obviate the need for the use of live animals. The ex vivo liver-kidney perfusion model can be used as an alternative method in organ specific studies. It provides a disconnection from numerous systemic influences and allows specific and accurate adjustments of arterial and venous pressures and flow. Medicine, Issue 82, Ex vivo, porcine, perfusion model, acid base balance, glucose, liver function, kidney function, cytokine response Cortical Source Analysis of High-Density EEG Recordings in Children Institutions: UCL Institute of Child Health, University College London. EEG is traditionally described as a neuroimaging technique with high temporal and low spatial resolution. Recent advances in biophysical modelling and signal processing make it possible to exploit information from other imaging modalities like structural MRI that provide high spatial resolution to overcome this constraint1 . This is especially useful for investigations that require high resolution in the temporal as well as spatial domain. In addition, due to the easy application and low cost of EEG recordings, EEG is often the method of choice when working with populations, such as young children, that do not tolerate functional MRI scans well. However, in order to investigate which neural substrates are involved, anatomical information from structural MRI is still needed. Most EEG analysis packages work with standard head models that are based on adult anatomy. The accuracy of these models when used for children is limited2 , because the composition and spatial configuration of head tissues changes dramatically over development3 In the present paper, we provide an overview of our recent work in utilizing head models based on individual structural MRI scans or age specific head models to reconstruct the cortical generators of high density EEG. This article describes how EEG recordings are acquired, processed, and analyzed with pediatric populations at the London Baby Lab, including laboratory setup, task design, EEG preprocessing, MRI processing, and EEG channel level and source analysis. Behavior, Issue 88, EEG, electroencephalogram, development, source analysis, pediatric, minimum-norm estimation, cognitive neuroscience, event-related potentials Automated, Quantitative Cognitive/Behavioral Screening of Mice: For Genetics, Pharmacology, Animal Cognition and Undergraduate Instruction Institutions: Rutgers University, Koç University, New York University, Fairfield University. We describe a high-throughput, high-volume, fully automated, live-in 24/7 behavioral testing system for assessing the effects of genetic and pharmacological manipulations on basic mechanisms of cognition and learning in mice. A standard polypropylene mouse housing tub is connected through an acrylic tube to a standard commercial mouse test box. The test box has 3 hoppers, 2 of which are connected to pellet feeders. All are internally illuminable with an LED and monitored for head entries by infrared (IR) beams. Mice live in the environment, which eliminates handling during screening. They obtain their food during two or more daily feeding periods by performing in operant (instrumental) and Pavlovian (classical) protocols, for which we have written protocol-control software and quasi-real-time data analysis and graphing software. The data analysis and graphing routines are written in a MATLAB-based language created to simplify greatly the analysis of large time-stamped behavioral and physiological event records and to preserve a full data trail from raw data through all intermediate analyses to the published graphs and statistics within a single data structure. The data-analysis code harvests the data several times a day and subjects it to statistical and graphical analyses, which are automatically stored in the "cloud" and on in-lab computers. Thus, the progress of individual mice is visualized and quantified daily. The data-analysis code talks to the protocol-control code, permitting the automated advance from protocol to protocol of individual subjects. The behavioral protocols implemented are matching, autoshaping, timed hopper-switching, risk assessment in timed hopper-switching, impulsivity measurement, and the circadian anticipation of food availability. Open-source protocol-control and data-analysis code makes the addition of new protocols simple. Eight test environments fit in a 48 in x 24 in x 78 in cabinet; two such cabinets (16 environments) may be controlled by one computer. Behavior, Issue 84, genetics, cognitive mechanisms, behavioral screening, learning, memory, timing Interview: Bioreactors and Surfaced-Modified 3D-Scaffolds for Stem Cell Research Institutions: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. A Nature Editorial in 2003 asked the question "Good-bye, flat biology?" What does this question imply? In the past, many in vitro culture systems, mainly monolayer cultures, often suffered from the disadvantage that differentiated primary cells had a relatively short life-span and de-differentiated during culture. As a consequence, most of their organ-specific functions were lost rapidly. Thus, in order to reproduce better conditions for these cells in vitro, modifications and adaptations have been made to conventional monolayer cultures. The last generation of CellChips -- micro-thermoformed containers -- a specific technology was developed, which offers the additional possibility to modify the whole surface of the 3D formed containers. This allows a surface-patterning on a submicron scale with distinct signalling molecules. Sensors and signal electrodes may be incorporated. Applications range from basic research in cell biology to toxicology and pharmacology. Using biodegradable polymers, clinical applications become a possibility. Furthermore, the last generation of micro-thermoformed chips has been optimized to allow for cheap mass production. Cellular Biology, Issue 15, Interview, bioreactors, cell culture systems, 3D cell culture, stem cells ALS - Motor Neuron Disease: Mechanism and Development of New Therapies Institutions: Johns Hopkins University. Medicine, Issue 6, Translational Research, Neuroscience, ALS, stem cells, brain, neuron, upper motor neuron, transplantation Interview: HIV-1 Proviral DNA Excision Using an Evolved Recombinase Institutions: Heinrich-Pette-Institute for Experimental Virology and Immunology, University of Hamburg. HIV-1 integrates into the host chromosome of infected cells and persists as a provirus flanked by long terminal repeats. Current treatment strategies primarily target virus enzymes or virus-cell fusion, suppressing the viral life cycle without eradicating the infection. Since the integrated provirus is not targeted by these approaches, new resistant strains of HIV-1 may emerge. Here, we report that the engineered recombinase Tre (see Molecular evolution of the Tre recombinase , Buchholz, F., Max Planck Institute for Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden) efficiently excises integrated HIV-1 proviral DNA from the genome of infected cells. We produced loxLTR containing viral pseudotypes and infected HeLa cells to examine whether Tre recombinase can excise the provirus from the genome of HIV-1 infected human cells. A virus particle-releasing cell line was cloned and transfected with a plasmid expressing Tre or with a parental control vector. Recombinase activity and virus production were monitored. All assays demonstrated the efficient deletion of the provirus from infected cells without visible cytotoxic effects. These results serve as proof of principle that it is possible to evolve a recombinase to specifically target an HIV-1 LTR and that this recombinase is capable of excising the HIV-1 provirus from the genome of HIV-1-infected human cells. Before an engineered recombinase could enter the therapeutic arena, however, significant obstacles need to be overcome. Among the most critical issues, that we face, are an efficient and safe delivery to targeted cells and the absence of side effects. Medicine, Issue 16, HIV, Cell Biology, Recombinase, provirus, HeLa Cells Preparation of 2-dGuo-Treated Thymus Organ Cultures Institutions: University of Birmingham . In the thymus, interactions between developing T-cell precursors and stromal cells that include cortical and medullary epithelial cells are known to play a key role in the development of a functionally competent T-cell pool. However, the complexity of T-cell development in the thymus in vivo can limit analysis of individual cellular components and particular stages of development. In vitro culture systems provide a readily accessible means to study multiple complex cellular processes. Thymus organ culture systems represent a widely used approach to study intrathymic development of T-cells under defined conditions in vitro . Here we describe a system in which mouse embryonic thymus lobes can be depleted of endogenous haemopoeitic elements by prior organ culture in 2-deoxyguanosine, a compound that is selectively toxic to haemopoeitic cells. As well as providing a readily accessible source of thymic stromal cells to investigate the role of thymic microenvironments in the development and selection of T-cells, this technique also underpins further experimental approaches that include the reconstitution of alymphoid thymus lobes in vitro with defined haemopoietic elements, the transplantation of alymphoid thymuses into recipient mice, and the formation of reaggregate thymus organ cultures. (This article is based on work first reported Methods in Molecular Biology 2007, Vol. 380 pages 185-196). Immunology, Issue 18, Springer Protocols, Thymus, 2-dGuo, Thymus Organ Cultures, Immune Tolerance, Positive and Negative Selection, Lymphoid Development Ole Isacson: Development of New Therapies for Parkinson's Disease Institutions: Harvard Medical School. Medicine, Issue 3, Parkinson' disease, Neuroscience, dopamine, neuron, L-DOPA, stem cell, transplantation Heterotopic and Orthotopic Tracheal Transplantation in Mice used as Models to Study the Development of Obliterative Airway Disease Institutions: University Heart Center Hamburg, University Hospital Hamburg, Stanford University School of Medicine. Obliterative airway disease (OAD) is the major complication after lung transplantations that limits long term survival (1-7). To study the pathophysiology, treatment and prevention of OAD, different animal models of tracheal transplantation in rodents have been developed (1-7). Here, we use two established models of trachea transplantation, the heterotopic and orthotopic model and demonstrate their advantages and limitations. For the heterotopic model, the donor trachea is wrapped into the greater omentum of the recipient, whereas the donor trachea is anastomosed by end-to-end anastomosis in the orthotopic model. In both models, the development of obliterative lesions histological similar to clinical OAD has been demonstrated (1-7). This video shows how to perform both, the heterotopic as well as the orthotopic tracheal transplantation technique in mice, and compares the time course of OAD development in both models using histology. Immunology, Issue 35, orthotopic tracheal transplantation, heterotopic tracheal transplantation, obliterative airway disease, mice, luminal obliteration, histology

Job Title: Country Director Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda SNV is a not-for-profit international development organisation. Founded in the Netherlands 50 years ago, we have built a long-term, local presence in 39 of the poorest countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Our global team of local and international advisors works with local partners to equip communities, businesses and organisations with the tools, knowledge and connections they need to increase their incomes and gain access to basic services – empowering them to break the cycle of poverty and guide their own development. SNV has been present in Uganda since 1989 and currently supports interventions in 108 districts across the country. We work with over 100 local partners, 80% of which are based in the districts where we operate. Our work focuses on the Agriculture, Energy and Water, Sanitation & Hygiene sectors. In 2014, we contributed to improved income, food security, employment and use of basic services for 1.1 million people in Uganda. Of our full-time employed staff, 90% are Ugandan nationals. Job Summary: The Country Director will be responsible for leading and driving the country programme. It is a multi-faceted role, focused on securing adequate funding to sustain operations, upscale and strategically strengthen the country programme, while ensuring high quality delivery. It will require you to be well informed about and engage with national and international development priorities and steer the sectors in response to these priorities. You will forge partnerships and alliances between SNV and important national and international actors, and stimulate collaboration for impact in SNV sectors. You will be the face of SNV in the country and ensure a positive image and visibility. The incumbent will lead, coach and support the team to perform at their best to meet and exceed client, donor and SNV corporate expectations. In addition, you will be a key member of our global senior management team, making meaningful contributions to help shape the future of SNV. Key Duties and Responsibilities: - Provide strategic leadership of the program (including multi-country efforts and potentially managing projects in other countries) within the overall parameters of SNV’s global strategy; - In charge of business development to grow the country program, ensure financial sustainability of SNV in Uganda and ensure the high quality project design. - Management and quality assurance of project implementation ensuring the delivery of impact to the satisfaction of key stakeholders and following SNV’s and the donor’s financial standards and monitoring protocols; - Leadership and management of the country team: creating and nurturing an environment that supports high performance, learning and teamwork; - Representation and profiling: building partnerships and maintaining excellent relationships with donors, partners, local governments, businesses, policy makers and other relevant stakeholders; - Collaboration with other SNV countries to effectively exploit opportunities for synergy, deliver at scale (including multi-country projects), exchange knowledge and strengthen SNV’s position; - In addition, the Country Director will foster innovation of SNV products and services: facilitate learning, documentation and evidence based knowledge development in collaboration with SNV’s global team and partners; ensure collaboration with renowned knowledge institutes and networks. Qualifications, Skills and Experience: - The applicant should have prior experience as Country Director or equivalent. - The applicant must hold a Master’s degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline - A minimum of eight years of relevant experience at strategic level; - Demonstrated ability in managing a diverse portfolio, over fifty staff, and wide ranging financial, operational and administrative issues. - Proven ability in business development, including demonstrable experience in solution design, capture planning, budget development, and establishment of work plans and monitoring plans. - Knowledge and understanding of the international development context and trends in SNV’s three core sectors; - The incumbent should be a talented, entrepreneurial, result oriented and proven professional who will lead the Uganda country team in realising high quality programs in SNV’s sectors. - Broad knowledge and understanding of key financiers and actors in SNV’s 3 core sectors; - Strong business and people management capabilities with a focus on results and an entrepreneurial flair; - Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; - Strong networking and positioning skills at multiple levels; - Strong in implementation oversight and proven track record in project management; - Ability to relate with and manage relationship with government at federal and local levels; - Ability to coach, lead, stimulate, and inspire professionals in a development context; - Culturally aware, tactful and open minded; - Proficiency in written and spoken English. How to Apply: All suitably qualified and interested candidates are encouraged to apply by uploading your CV and letter of motivation to their online recruitment database by clicking on the link below. Deadline: 13th July 2016 For more of the latest jobs, please visit http://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline

It is a unique education institution, helping to create a wave of highly qualified sports managers for Russia, who will be able to compete with recognized international experts at a high level (PRWEB) July 31, 2012 The Russian International Olympic University (RIOU) has unveiled its new education program, a year long MSA course (Master of Sport Administration) at the Russia.Sochi.Park site in London. Leading Russian and global experts in the field of sports management were involved in the development of the course. The launch of the program took place four years after the signing of a memorandum between the IOC, ROC and Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee on the creation of the Russian International Olympic University. The signing ceremony took place on the opening day of the Games in Beijing in the presence of Vladimir Putin. The MSA program will become a central part of the educational structure of the RIOU. Its objective is the training of a new generation of managers for the Russian and global sports industry. The main feature of the course is the study and use of an entire series of issues related to the preparation of the Olympic Games. The University will make the selection conditions for the course public in autumn 2012 and students will begin their studies in autumn 2013 with the first students graduating the following summer. Approximately 300 representatives of the academic community and the international Olympic Family participated in the event. Amongst the speakers were: President of the Russian Olympic Committee, Alexander Zhukov, President of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko, President of "Interros" company and Chairman of the RIOU Advisory Board, Vladimir Potanin, President of the International Ice Hockey Federation and IOC member, Rene Fazel, Federation Council member and Olympic Champion, Svetlana Zhurova as well as Minister of State for Universities and Science of the United Kingdom, David Willetts and Geoff Petts, Chairman of the "Podium" Association. At the presentation, the RIOU signed agreements with two leading British universities in the field of sports management: Brunel University London and Sheffield Hallam University. The parties will cooperate in the training of staff for the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi, as well as in educational and scientific research activity and work for the maintenance of the Games' legacy. The agreements include the exchange of employees and students along with the joint development of educational courses. Chairman of the RIOU Advisory Board, Vladimir Potanin, said: "We are currently developing a model of state-private partnership in sport. Russian business is participating in the construction of sports venues and supporting the national teams of the country. The RIOU is yet another shining example of such synergy. I believe it is important to participate in this project. The creation of a university for me is an investment in the future, in human capital. But it will not be me who will derive all benefits, but our entire country will. I intend to allocate 20 grants for the first RIOU students studying the MSA program ". RIOU General Director, Lev Belousov, told about the construction of the University complex in the central region of Sochi. The campus is being constructed using the very latest technologies and completely complies with BREEAM environmental standards, as well as the requirements of a barrier-free environment for people with disabilities. RIOU General Director, Lev Belousov, marked: "The Olympic Games are the highest form of sports competitions and the most difficult in terms of the organization of a sports event. The study of Olympic, and also sports experience, as well as its use in the educational process, undoubtedly creates an additional potential for the students, increases their level and added value as future managers. I believe that the emphasis on Olympism is our competitive advantage which will open the doors of any sports organization to the graduates of the RIOU". The President of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko, noted: "The creation of the Russian International Olympic University is a shining example of the intangible legacy of the Games. It is a unique education institution, helping to create a wave of highly qualified sports managers for Russia, who will be able to compete with recognized international experts at a high level". Russia.Sochi.Park: Where Russia Greets the World Russia.Park is operational from 10:00 to 19:30 from July 27th to August 12th. Sochi.Park is operational from 10:00 to 21:30 from July 26th to August 12th. More detailed information is available on: russiasochipark.com, or from the contact, Seraphima Onofrei, by telephone +447968624796, +44(0)2071832560, or email@example.com For information on Sochi.Park and the 2014 Games in Sochi, please contact the Press Service of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee at firstname.lastname@example.org

- New Annex - College A-Z Strengthening a Business Alliance with The University of Iowa College of Engineering - Experiential Learning - Co-ops, Internships - Employee/Alumni Recruiting - Site Field Trips - Mentors for Students - Student Design Projects - Corporate Guest Lectures, Seminars - Adjunct Faculty Positions - Continuing Education - Summer Seminars in Workplace Writing - Information Exchanges, Corporate Briefings - Equipment, Classroom Facilities - Community Borrower's Permit Privileges - Candidates for Industry Advisory Board Membership - K-12/STEM Activities - Ethnic Inclusion Effort for Iowa Engineering - Faculty Consulting - Sponsored Research - Laboratory Use - Technology Transfer The College’s Co-op and Internship Program creates partnerships among students, the College, and employers by facilitating the development of institutionally supervised engineering related field experiences. These co-op and internship experiences further professional growth for the student, create an influx of the latest theoretical knowledge and technology to the employer, and serve as a primary tool for recruitment and career development. The close interaction of employer, student and the College enables our students to include professional experience in their engineering education, a primary goal of the College. Engineering Professional Development is a comprehensive office within the College of Engineering that serves students and alumni of the College of Engineering. Professional staff are available to help students--first year through graduate--acquire skills which will allow them to choose and attain personally rewarding careers, through exploration of career direction and the development of job search skills. Also, the Marketing and Communications Office offers CareerConnection for Engineering Alumni -- a unique opportunity for partner employers to connect with College alumni at virtually any experience level for positions open at the company. Corporate partners use student scholarships of a way of identifying potential talent, informing students of career opportunities with the firm, and rewarding students who may have successfully performed a co-op experience, internship, or project. In many cases, scholarship recipients have committed to full-time employment with a company upon graduation. Frequently, corporate partners in Iowa host field trips of students and faculty. The experience provides College participants with first-hand knowledge of a variety of business and industrial environments. Trips usually last from a half-day to an entire day. The College has established close relationships with business leaders who are both alumni and non-alumni and have agreed to be available to mentor students about their careers. In the increasingly competitive global market, the ability to work in multidisciplinary teams and projects is among the most important traits of emerging new engineers. In response to the need, The Program of Enhanced Design Experience was created. The Program for Enhanced Design Experience (PEDE) exposes students in a team-based setting to solve real-world industrial problems. The program is a joint effort between The University of Iowa College of Engineering and industrial firms in Iowa to enhance the design experience of undergraduate students at The University of Iowa. The program goals are to expose senior undergraduate students to engineering design by having the students work closely with engineers from industry on a design for a product that is scheduled for production, and to provide industry with a design for a product. The College of Engineering is partnering with the Ecole Polytechnique Universitaire de Marseille (Polytech'Marseille) in Marseille, France on an international research experience for undergraduate engineering students called Virtual International Project Teams (VIPT). The VIPT program involves substantial interaction between the students on collaborative projects that last for one year. Regular communication on the Internet, combined with travel to the partner institution, provides a realistic, intense level of partnership on a common project. Corporate partner executives are called upon frequently to present lectures and seminars to students and faculty in the College. The speaking events enable an exchange of ideas and a better understanding among students of the value of engineering and technology in a broad cross-section of industries. The College has a specially-designed Francis Business Visitors Center to accommodate visiting executives as a place to prepare for class as well as a location to conduct business away from their corporate office. When there is a synergy between companies that rely on College research talent and resources, and the College’s need for improving its teaching capabilities, often an adjunct faculty arrangement evolves as a value-added incentive to high quality corporate employees. The arrangement also enables current faculty in the College to increase their knowledge base with the help of outside experts. The College has a long history of conducting undergraduate, graduate, or customized courses – short term or toward advanced degrees – with area corporate partners. Such teaching is accomplished on-site at the company, in a nearby facility, or at the College itself. In addition, the College has an electronic classroom fully equipped for providing video distance learning over fiber optic networks, as well as web video-streaming capabilities. The College sponsors single-day, goal-oriented writing workshops designed for engineering professionals and conducted by the College of Engineering’s Hanson Center for Technical Communication. These typically consist of two 2½-hour sessions, with a 1-hour break for lunch, with a minimum of eight to a maximum of twelve attendees on the company’s premises. The sessions are designed to create savings generated by more effective in-house and client communications, an enhanced professional image of the organization, and improved individual and team morale. Often, corporate partners appreciate informal exchanges of information and ideas with College faculty and staff. The sessions provide excellent opportunities to witness “what’s new” on campus – from new people, initiatives, laboratories, and technologies. Each exchange or briefing is custom designed to address a corporate partner’s interest or need. Select equipment and classrooms at the College are available after hours to corporate partners. With appropriate approval and supervision, these facilities enable companies to solve occasional problems without making capital investments in one-time or occasional laboratory equipment or teaching space. The College of Engineering can provide University of Iowa Library privileges to corporate partners, using the Community Borrower's Permit. The card gains access to all volumes and information contained at the University of Iowa Library and collegiate libraries spread across campus. The privileges enable corporate partners to acquire information and background for new product development, solve difficult engineering and technology problems, and build even closer relationships with faculty and staff researchers on campus. An employee must be a resident of Iowa. There are industrial advisory boards for the College of Engineering, its five departments, and the research centers and institutes. Members are drawn from Iowa companies and firms throughout the U.S. The boards provide value to the College in developing and achieving its strategic plan/vision. Members offer advice by drawing upon perspectives, knowledge, and experiences from global trends. Meanwhile, the College, its departments, and research units provide awareness and knowledge of new technologies and educational trends. Board members also benefit by being part of ongoing communication between the world of engineering education as represented by the College and the full spectrum of engineering activities. The College has taken a significant leadership role in working with Iowa corporate partners on K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) activities -- aimed at increasing the interest and participation of young people to pursue careers in these areas. Some examples include FIRST Tech Challenge, Project Lead the Way, and Invent Iowa. The College of Engineering at The University of Iowa has taken on a holistic approach to: 1) improving ethnic inclusion among our engineering graduates and, 2) providing a model for other institutions interested in eliminating the disparity in ethnicity in engineering. The Ethnic Inclusion Effort for Iowa Engineering is one step in higher education that aims to address these problems. Often companies need advice and consultation about an immediate or short-term engineering problem. College of Engineering faculty members are available, through the College’s External Relations Office, for providing information and perspectives on a fee basis, negotiated with the faculty member. The services enable a company to acquire expertise available nearby, without having to conduct a broader search in other states. Many Iowa firms have discovered that longer term sponsored faculty research helps supplement the in-house research and development efforts – whether to solve a complicated problem or to seek out new initiatives and cutting-edge technology. Engineering faculty work with partner companies through The University of Iowa Sponsored Programs Office. Services on campus enable companies to work out intellectual property agreements that protect both corporate partners, faculty researchers, the College, and the University. There are more than 75 laboratories in the College of Engineering, contained in more than 15 research locations throughout Iowa City and neighboring communities. Depending on a corporate partner’s needs and challenges, the College will work cooperatively to identify appropriate laboratory space and faculty researchers during non-peak hours on a fee basis. The University of Iowa offers services to assist researchers and industry in bringing UI-based research and developments to the marketplace.

GlaxoSmithKline and Mpex Pharmaceuticals form alliance to develop novel efflux pump inhibitors for use against serious gram-negative infections This press release is intended for business journalists and analysts/investors of UK. Please note that this release may not have been issued in every market in which GSK operates. Potential to combine compounds with multiple new and existing antibiotics to create a broad offering of anti-infective medicines with activity against drug-resistant organisms Issued – June 2008, London, UK & San Diego, California GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Mpex Pharmaceuticals today announced that they have entered into a worldwide strategic alliance for the discovery, development and commercialisation of novel medicines for bacterial diseases. The collaboration provides GlaxoSmithKline access to Mpex’s novel efflux pump inhibitors (EPI) and related proprietary technology for use in combination with a variety of antibiotics. The collaboration will focus on the discovery and development of novel drug regimens comprising Mpex’s EPIs combined with GSK’s novel development stage compounds as well as existing commercial antibiotics to improve potency and broaden the spectrum of antibacterial activity. Under the terms of the agreement, Mpex will grant GlaxoSmithKline rights to product candidates developed under the collaboration that are directed to three different target product profiles and with the potential to deliver up to seven treatment options. Mpex will be responsible for the discovery of EPI drug candidates and the development of combination product candidates through clinical proof of concept, at which point GlaxoSmithKline will have an option to exclusively license each product candidate for further development and commercialization on a worldwide basis. Mpex will retain the right to further develop and commercialize product candidates for which GlaxoSmithKline does not exercise its option. Mpex will receive an $8.5 million upfront payment and a $6.5 million equity financing commitment from GlaxoSmithKline. Contingent on achieving certain milestones, Mpex is eligible to receive development, regulatory and commercial milestones ranging up to $200 to $250 million for each product candidate. If GlaxoSmithKline exercises its option, Mpex will receive tiered royalties, which are dependent on sales achieved, for EPIs used in combination with commercially available antibiotics and with proprietary GSK antibiotics. GlaxoSmithKline will participate in the alliance through its Infectious Diseases Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery (ID CEDD). "We believe this collaboration has the potential to lead to a number of important new anti-infective products,” said Daniel Burgess, President and CEO of Mpex Pharmaceuticals. “The critical role of antibiotic efflux has been well recognized in bacterial resistance, but to date, safe and effective efflux pump inhibitors have not been developed. Given the progress Mpex has made in this program over the last several years, we are optimistic that combining our efforts with an industry leader such as GlaxoSmithKline will maximize our chances of success to develop a portfolio of products from this platform technology that is greater than we could hope to develop on our own. In addition, GlaxoSmithKline has an impressive array of novel new classes of antibiotics in development, and we believe that a number of these antibiotic opportunities could benefit from the addition of an Mpex efflux pump inhibitor.” “Antibiotic discovery has faced tremendous challenges with the discovery of only two new classes of antibiotics over the last 3 decades,” stated Zhi Hong, Senior Vice President of the ID CEDD at GlaxoSmithKline. “Novel discovery-enabling and paradigm-shifting approaches are needed to address the ever increasing medical needs due to life-threatening bacterial infections and drug resistance. Efflux pump inhibitors have the potential to add value to existing antibiotics and also enable progressive development of GSK’s novel antibiotic pipeline. Mpex has a first rate entrepreneurial R&D team with deep experience in antibacterial research and has validated efflux pump inhibition for potentiation of antibacterial activity, as well as expanding the spectrum of bacterial susceptibility. I look forward to having a great synergy in this important and strategic collaboration.” Bacterial efflux pumps are an intrinsic defense mechanism in gram-negative bacteria that expel toxins such as antibiotics that have permeated the outer cell membrane before they can reach their targets and kill the bacteria. Higher intracellular antibiotic concentrations achieved through efflux pump inhibition can increase the potency and pharmacological barrier against other drug resistance mechanisms (e.g., target-based mutations). There are currently no drugs approved to inhibit the activity of these efflux pumps and restore the potency of otherwise effective antibiotics. Mpex has been a leader in this field of research for a number of years and has identified several series of lead EPIs that are now being optimized for development. These compounds have been shown in both in vitro and in vivo pre-clinical studies to significantly improve the potency of a number of different antibiotic classes against drug-resistant gram-negative pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae. GSK cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements Under the safe harbour provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements or projections made by the company, including those made in this Announcement, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Factors that may affect the Group’s operations are described under ’Risk Factors’ in the ’Business Review’ in the company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2007. This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted. News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.

7 Principles of Transformational Leadership July 27, 2006Posted by humairah in Skills Development, You. ‘…Create a synergy of energy…’ Leaders of a movement not only are called to authentically model Islamic values and principles, but they should also depend on the seven principles of transformational leadership to create a synergy of energy within their congregation. 1. Principle of Simplification – Successful leadership begins with a vision, which reflects the direction of the common course. This means, the ability to articulate a clear, practical, transformational vision which answers the question, “Where are we headed?” The stone cutters’ tale illustrates this idea: The first stone cutter says, “I’m cutting stone,” the second says, “I’m carving a cornerstone,” but the third says, “I’m building a conference hall.” The third has a vision. Where do political science students see themselves – impacting their local mosque, their community, the nation, or the world? For any team, discussing goals, objectives and vision unifies the members. 2. Principle of Motivation – The ability to gain the agreement and commitment of other people to the vision. Once the transformational leader is able to bring synergy to the organization he must then use various means to energize (motivate) the team. A common way to motivate others is to challenge them, provide ample opportunity to join the creative process, and give them the credit. 3. Principle of Facilitation – The ability to effectively facilitate the learning of individuals, teams, and other reliable and reputable resources. Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline says the primary job of leadership now is to facilitate the learning’s of others. The inborn quest of humans (staff) to learn more and more becomes the leaders greatest asset to address organizational challenges. Transformational leaders have been given a sacred trust of being stewards of their staff’s intellectual capital. 4. Principle of Innovation: The ability to boldly initiate prayerful change when needed. An effective and efficient organization requires members to anticipate change and not fear it. Leaders must initiate and respond quickly to change. Team members successfully influence one another to assimilate change because the transformational leaders have build trust and fostered teamwork. 5. Principle of Mobilization – The ability to enlist, equip and empower others to fulfill the vision. Transformational leaders look for willing participants who have already been given formal leadership responsibilities and also among people who have not. They desire leadership at all levels, so they find ways to invite and ignite leadership all levels. They introduce simple baby steps to enlist larger participants. 6. Principle of Preparation – The ability to never stop learning about themselves with and without the help of others. Rick Warren says, “Leaders are learners.” Transformational leaders realize that the transformation they pursue in is a reflection of their own spiritual quest–that they must serve the world through their giftedness because that is the only way they truly fulfill their life mission. With this mindset, moments of being stuck become moments of total dependence on God. This is such a rigorous path of learning that transformational leaders must be in thriving relationships with others pursuing transformation. It is within these vital relationships, life opportunities and obstacles get saturated in love and support. 7. Principle of Determination – The ability to finish the race. A leaders missions is sometime difficult and their journey often lonely. Leaders depend on their stamina, endurance, courage and strength to finish each day. Because their focus is not only on raising their own leadership but the development of others, the most rigorous and humbling of all human endeavors, transformational leaders experience times of self doubt, grief and fatigue. Transformational leaders have to develop spiritual, emotional, and physical disciplines to sustain their high level of commitment to their cause. Transformational leaders, then, are awareness-raisers who see strategic initiatives to be fulfilled, problems that align with their own spiritual life mission. As they make leadership commitments to those strategic initiatives, they make commitments to their own emergence. As the leaders transform, the world is transformed. On a large scale those who are already transformational leaders must now invite their high potential players to come forward to lead areas within their organization. As potential transformational leaders come forward they need to be challenged. Beyond the challenge they need the control to figure it out and be given the needed credit when the challenge is met. In addition, these potential leaders need a learning environment that offers a network with other transformational leaders. Leadership development experiences must be prepared that connect the strengths of the team to the overall strategy of the organization with a support system founded on encouragement, accountability and recognition. As these men and women succeed in their transformations over the next decade, millions of people–learning and achieving with them, will rise to a new level of leadership characterized by an unshakeable faith to transform the lives of others by creating a synergy of energy within their circle of influence. - Transformational leaders are able to articulate a clear, practical, and transformational vision. Do you clearly articulate a clear concise vision to others? - Transformational leaders are highly effective at gaining the agreement and commitment of other people. Am I able to gain the agreement and commitment of others to my vision? - The ability to effectively facilitate the learning of individuals, teams, and other reliable and reputable resources. Am I facilitating the learning’s of others? - The ability to boldly initiate prayerful change to fulfill the vision. Am I able to initiate prayerful change effectively? - The ability to enlist, equip and empower others to fulfill the vision. Am I creating a critical mass of leadership around my vision? NOT AT ALL—————SOME LEADERSHIP —————CRITICAL MASS - The ability to never stop learning about themselves with and without the help of others. Am I learning new skills and improving myself? NOT REALLY ——————REGULARLY——————DAILY - The ability to finish the race: Am I completely sold-out to my life mission? NOT REALLY ———SOME COMMITMENT ———COMPLETELY COMMITTED -Adapted from an article by Erik Rees, Minister of Life Mission at Saddleback Church

I too can agree that some ribbons (not all) are hot in the treble, but that is a generalization. I've also owned and have heard many different electrostatic speakers from Quad, Acoustat, Audio Static, King Sound, Sound Lab, Infinity, and InnerSound. There are a lot of different tweeters in both groups and all have different response and dispersion characteristics, so generally I feel it is pointless to make broad generalizations and better to compare specific brands and models. But I will add that many electrostatics use wide-diaphragm tweeters, which by design, have time smear in the highs due to the diaphragms being physically much wider than the short wave-lengths they are emitting. Most ribbon tweeters are rather narrow and thus do not suffer from this type of distortion. Mrtennis- On what are you basing your assertion, that ribbons are, "hot?" He apparently has not listened to a ribbon done right and is is just making a foolish statement that has no global foundation. Hard to beat electrostatics. Sometimes they can be a bit too rolled off though. I really liked the Aeon i with rear tweeter on. Beautiful speaker I think you're bored and trying to be controversial. Silly in any type of generalization. 100% disagree shows poster is biased threads not looking for input just searching for validation of posters choice of electrostatics. Mrtennis, you go to great lengths to further ruin your reputation in this forum.... I have owned several pairs of electrostats and they can also sound very hot up top. I have owned several pairs of Martin Logans before I bought my first ribbon speakers a pair of Magnepan 2.7 and they blew away the Martin Logan's at 4 times the retail price of the 2.7s. I would have not bought the Magnepans but friend was in desperate need of money so I bought them and was pleasantly surprised. I have owned several pairs of Magnepans through out the years but now I have a pair of Speakers built by Rich Murry of True Soundworks that are like Apogee Duetta Signatures but all made from scratch and these are the best Ribbon speakers I have heard. I am not saying the best I am just saying "The Best I Have Heard" i have ownend two different versions of magnepans and listened to many others at shows . i have heard the analysis speakers at shows and also at the importer's house. i used tubes on the maggies. i have many ribbons at shows and have found the treble sounded elevated. i have speakers with ribbon tweeters and again, i found them peaky. i will admit that it is my ears and my opinion.. others may differ. i realize in this hobby there is much contention about the sound of stereo systems, so i suspect there will be disagreement with my premise. Personally I can't say that your impressions are universally true based on my experiences Mr. Tennis. When I think of "hot" in planer/ribbon/electrostatic designs the first one that comes to mind is the original Martin Logan CLS from the mid 80's. Unfortunately I feel much of what I perceived as it being "hot" was the fact that there was so little low frequency information and it just didn't have a balanced presentation. I really didn't like it or the Sequel for that matter and because of those early experiences never though much of Martin Logan although I heard a few budget models years later where this impression wasn't the same. So far as ribbons, I have listened to numerous Apogee models over the years and NEVER perceived the top to be hot. I would think if they did sound that way it could be a synergy issue with the amp maybe? A pair of Agogee Stages (2K retail at the time) still conjures up some of the best high frequency performance I've ever heard from any speaker at any price point. There was also a Clements speaker, can't remember the model number, that used a ribbon tweeter and it was not at all hot, actually I thought it was quite impressive how the tweeter blended with the dynamic drivers in that design. Set up properly, Maggies are not necessarily 'hot'. They actually have a slight rise in the bass end to compensate for the cancelation that occurs from front / back interaction. Listen to the exact edge of the panel and you will hear......nothing. The front / back wave cancel one another. That being said, one of the big debates of panel users is the resistor which on many models can be inserted in the tweeter circuit. The 1.6s, for example, came with 1 ohm resistors. I, too, found my 1.6s to be hot when I first set them up. Beamy, too. It was impossible to get a wide stage and not too hot. Opening up the toe would help, but the sweetspot was TINY. Finally, during lots of reading and listening to others, I was made aware of the fact that OLD panels had the POLE PIECE forward...to the listener. New designs feature the MYLAR side to the listener. To me, flipping the panels to listen to them 'old school' made all the difference. Wider sweet spot and much less hot. No resistor needed. Also, since the crossover on many Magnepan models is Asymmetric....I have a 12db slope on the low pass and 6db slope on the high pass, the low and high drivers are out of phase. Since the drivers are beside one another, one is slightly leading, the other lagging by the amont of phase difference caused by the crossover. Tweeter IN or OUT makes the difference. That's all I can think of to account for the greater clarity with tweeter 'in'. EXPERIMENT away freely. This will apply to ALL magnepan models except the 20.1, which is a push / pull driver and has a pole piece on each side. When in doubt? Ignore the directions. And get rid of that fuse, while you're at it. Too much extra wire and many more connections just muck things up. BE CAREFUL! "the senses are unreliable. witnesses to an event often present different versions of an event." "what you hear one day, you may not hear on another." "there is a myriad of experiemnets in the psycholgy journals, which discuss the unreliability of perception." "when you trust your senses, the result is probably true and probably false." "relying on sense perception is invalid because the senses are unreliable." All the above are copied and pasted from your recent posts on amps sounding the same(any spelling/grammatical errors are yours). You DID state that your view of ribbons, is no more than your opinion though. I've personally owned systems with ribbon tweeters(my 10" 3 Way was the most popular, in the line I built and sold), Acoustat Mod III's, and several Maggie models(what I'm using now). Though I've experienced grain and/or sibilance on occasion; it has always been the driver's reproduction of the sound elsewhere in the system, or of the recording. Not having heard every ribbon, magneto-planar or electrostatic system out there, I cannot comment further. I owned Innersound electrostats hybrids but gave them up for ribbon hybrids from VMPS because VMPS offered a all around more rounded and thus more usable and enjoyable speaker. Head in a vise speakers get boring after awhile, atleast for me they did. how many who have auditioned both electrostatic-based and ribbon based designs prefer one or the other ? by the way, regarding my comment on the treble response of ribbon drivers, especially ribbon tweeters, what i consider bright or peaky, others may not. so it becomes a matter of perception. i suppose i may be more sensitive to frequencies exceeding 3000 hz than many on these forums, which may be at odds with others. the statements you have quoted apply to many topics on this forum. in the future i will not repeat them. thanks for the heads-up. Mrtennis- Many designs that incorporate ribbons, fail to properly blend the speed/dynamics of the tweeter, with the other system drivers(useually cones). Generally speaking; that makes the ribbon stand out as a separate/more obvious entity, even though the relative output levels may be matched. BTW: have you auditioned the new Maggies(1.7 & 3.7)? Ribbons/Quasi-Ribbons, WELL DONE! Then again- as you mentioned; some are more sensitive to the upper registers than others. It would be interesting to get your views on these new Maggies, especially the full ribbon 3.7, to see if your opinion remains the same. Then too: the more resolving the speaker and it's cabling; the more one will hear problems(brightness/glare/graininess) upstream. Mr Tennis I can only comment on my soundlab m2's driven by audiovalve challanger 180 monoblocks and feel the result in sound is second to none;I have never heard a ribbon driver but I know the responses you will receive will defend both types to the best of their ability;I would like to hear that driver that Ralph from atmasphere mentions time and again;it must be a very class driver to have caught his ear. Making broad generalities in audio usually leads to eating large amounts of crow. There are good and bad versions of just about every loudspeaker design. (is that a generality?) Tubegroover, Regarding CLS from the mid 80's. That speaker was more sensitive to amplifiers than most speakers. Infact it was extremely sensitive to everything in the system. It was hard to find a solid state amplifer that did not sound thin. One the other hand it was easy to find a tube amplifier that would give the speaker a balanced sound. The impedance of the CLS was very low at high frequencies and very high at low frequencies. The most revealing speaker I have ever owned. I was fortunate enough to have a variety of amplifiers on hand to find the right match. Without that luxury I could see how frustrating it would be. Regarding high frequencies, I believe the CLS was rolled off. However, the interface could be adjusted to your system and your taste. Why do you wrongly assume that all ribbons used in loudspeakers are Intentionally set up by designer to have more output over 3k? You said [i suppose i may be more sensitive to frequencies exceeding 3000 hz than many on these forums, which may be at odds with others.] So you have hearing damage above 3k would explain much. Or are you insinuating that your hearing is just better above 3k than other members who disagree? i don't assume and my selection of 3000k was meant to suggest that there might be a peak in the lower treble. as i said, i have owned magnepans, and heard them many times iin other stereo systems. i have also heard other ribbon tweeters at shows and at the homes of audio club members. i am only guessing that that's where the elevation in the treble begins. i never said "assume" . not having measured, its only a conjecture. I have both and I like them both since I collect different designs. I'm happy with my ess heils, magnepans, eminent tech's, ohm walsh and acoustats. So there you go a variation of different designs but I don't favor one over the other, except possibly my ess heils since I modified it to my taste. To my ears, electrostats mylar has that tzzzz sound that colors the speaker, maybe I'm more sensitive to that sound, tried many models of ML. The Apogee Stage is what captivated me to planar. To my ears, electrostats mylar has that tzzzz sound that colors the speaker, maybe I'm more sensitive to that sound, tried many models of ML. The Apogee Stage is what captivated me to planar. i've heard & read this a number of times - that mylar tzzzz sound. Maybe this is the difference between mylar-backed vs. kapton-backed? Maybe Jason Bloom knew this as well & got in Magneplanar's face way too much to make that point???!!! Apogee Scintilla is the best speaker I have ever heard. The only problem was the very low impendance. There seems to be some Greek producer (Omega?)who try to rivive this legende. The real problem of Apogee was the patent issue with Magnepan. No way to survive if one is not able to pay the lawyers. I have the ESS Heil tweeter, and conventional mid and woofer. If I was a "zillionair", I think I would have some modification of this. @Nandric: You are thinking of Analysis Audio, and their Omega (and other) speakers. No they are not full range ribbon, rather magnetic planar with ribbon tweeters, a la Magnepan; they do look exactly like Apogee, though. I have listened to Amphitryon and the sound was nice and dark - but this was probably to the tube amp driving them. I believe they need better amplification to really shine. To my ears, electrostats mylar has that tzzzz sound. It sure can why I no longer use electrostatics. Kkm and Johnk have either one of you hear a soundlab speaker?I know the sizzle sound you are refering to but on the soundlab that is adjustable to where it is heard then backed off;on my m2;s I cannot hear sizzle at all when properly adjusted. Hi Ack, You are right regarding the looks: exactly like Apogee. I remember the name 'Omega' but was no sure if this name refers to one of the (speaker) models or to the producer.However there seems to be some Australian guy who produce all the ribbons (low,mid and tweeters) for the Apogee. To complex for an amateur so I give up. But it would be very interesting if the Greek(s) and the Australian would try the revival together. just to give you a bit of correct history. The only patent issue Magnepan had with Apogee Acoustics was with regard to the Apogee DIVA ribbon tweeter. This was circumvented by backdating the serial numbers on the DIVAs. Apogee did not go out of Business because of Magnepan. I have/had contacts to the inner circles of ex-apogee and the story was the high competition and demand for more commercial speaker systems. The downfall came with the Apogee GRAND. The engineering and production cost were to high and the numbers sold too low. Had nothing to do with Magnepan. The models that Magnepan has/had only employ in some cases an actual ribbon. Just for history purposes i have/had several models from both companies Apogee (Caliper Sig, Scintilla, Stage, DIVA and The Grand) as well as Magnepan 0.5, 1.6 and two pairs of 3.6s. Hi Florianw, I got this patent story from some of the 4 Magazines for which I had subscription then (30 years ago?). Whatever the cause of the downfall we all regret the fact that Apogee is out of buseness. I can't remember The Grand however. Would you care to tell us something about? I myself am not able to imagine something better than Scintilla. BTW I am not sure what you mean with 'Just for history purposes...' I would like to have Scintilla for one purpose only : listening . sure, i can give you a bit of an overview: The first model was called the "Fullrange" which is until today the largest model they made which employes only ribbons (or planar magnetic bass / people agree to disagree on this point). The Scintilla came second and was a bit of a Fullrange cut in half but with a unique midrange tweeter system that sat in the same slot. With one large pure aluminum ribbon in the middle and 4 ribbon tweeters around it. Later came other models such as the Caliper and the Duetta (smaller 2 way systems) followed up the new replacement 3 way Apogee DIVA (never reached the Fullrange) in sound tough. Although i only allow myself this remark with respect to other Apogees. Later came some hybrid models and the smallest Apogee called the "Stage". The hybrids such as the Mini Grand and the Studio Grand where hybrids where the bass panel stopped at around 70Hz and a subwoofer was employed. These are generally very good and capable of higher dynamic swings and could be used on lesser powered amps. In the early ninethees Apogee developed a speaker called "The Grand" which is a 4 way fully active ribbon speaker. Tweeter ribbon, midrange ribbon, woofer panel and basically a Krell Master Reference Subwoofer below it. Its about a 1300lbs without the packaging and comes with 4 built in krell mono amps for the subwoofer and (user selectable) woofer or tweeter. The customer has to apply additionally 4 channels of amplification so the system uses a total of 8 mono blocks to fire the speakers. Comes with built in displays and computer systems to adjust the rake, user presets, phase etc.... of all the drivers individually. About 7 pair or so were ever made costing over 85000$ in the early nineties. Extremely rare and to my ears the absolute pinnacle of sound. I had a Scintilla before and have friends who have them. An extremely good speaker and less space consuming then the Fullrange or Grand. Graz in Australia makes the spare parts in very high quality and excellent customer service. He even make a new Scintilla which can be driven by tube amps. :-) @Nandric: The Australian you are referring to is Graz, see http://www.apogeeacoustics.com - there are dealers around the world you rebuild Apogees with Graz's drivers, so the Apogee marquee lives on very well. There are various postings around the web with pictures of such restorations, and they are really beautiful. A Diva can be had in the US for around $14K Dear Florianw, First of all I think that you should supstitute 'historical reason' for 'love and empathy'. In the second place I very much enjoy your story and explanation of all the models made. There are btw more examples of brilliant designers who become too optimistic with their intentions: Nudell, Joachim (Audiophysic),etc. What a waste. But it seems to be very difficult to combine design capability with the commercial one. Which one is your 'baby' and which one can you recommend as a 'smart choice'? And of course thanks for your responce. Dear Ack, Someone with the name Graz should live in Graz in Austria. This way I would be able to visit him in 10 hours. I thought that one need to order his drivers by him in Australia and than do all the work himself. Thanks for the info and site. Glad to see that this 'icon' has still Regards to both, The fact concerning the ML CLS is that I had the opportunity to listen to it many different times with several different amplifiers at my local brick and morter dealer, oh how I miss those days. In any case I heard these speakers matched up to what I would estimate to be among the best amplification of the day including Threshold SA-1 Class A mono amps, Audio Research D250 servo and M-100 mono amplifiers. Maybe the speakers weren't in a large enough space? Can't say for sure but I never cared for them and they ALWAYS sounded lean. What I DID hear was the potential because at that time I was unaware of any speaker that was more resolving than the CLS, that is until I heard the Apogees. The Sequels just didn't blend the dynamic bass driver with the panel and I felt they were a total failure, not at all engaging to me. There's an Apogee forum with lots of info, especially in the older archived section. I own a pair of Calipers that I picked up for a song and "fixed up". There's only so much that can be done though by yourself. A qualified Apogee technician is needed to replace bass ribbons since the process is detailed and difficult and a mess up means a whole new driver needs to be bought. If you can score any Apogee from someone who lives near you then you should give them a try. I don't think I would trust these being shipped to me though - too fragile. They are 30 years old in general and need some TLC for sure. Nandric: Hello and thank you for your response. Yes it seems that the best always die too young or go out of business. Which one is my baby? Well, i have 3 babies: One pair of Apogee Grands, one pair of Apogee Calipers and one pair of Apogee Stages. There is also one electrostatic, an Acoustat Spectra 11 which i enjoy. The smartest choice i believe in the Apogee lineup is a Caliper or a Duetta. All Apogees require very good equipment to make them sing, but they represent, at least to me, the best compromise of size and sound. Florianw, Thanks for your advice and post. This Apogee Grands is very astonishing speaker to me. I own the ASR Emitter II and The Basis Exclusive phono-pre which are feed with 2 (40 kgr each) transformers + 2 battery packs (40 kgr each). I call them 'the German artillery'. Alas my military vocabulary is limited so no idea how to call the Grands althought its own name gives some vague idea. I assume that you live in a palace and use them only in the winter insteade of any other heating provisions (for the palace)? What are the other 4 amps and are you listing only to the big orchestra with them while the chamber music you 'do' with, say, the electrostatics? To decide which of the 'babies' to use should be, anyway for me, an big dilemma. I assume that you and your friends vote about the choice? I also assume that you are very happy with this Graz who does not live in Graz buth somewhere in Australia? Nandric: Yes, the Grand is indeed my pride an joy. We used to live in a sort of palace but moved close to Switzerland and out current house does not have a room to do them justice. But thats ok, one day they will get another room. Here is a picture of a set of Grands. A heater is not necessary because the equipment is more then enough. It is powered by four internal Krell mono amps with external power supplies and a set of four Krell KRS 200 monoblocks (110kg each). The source is a Watec Analog Turntable with an Ortofon MC Rondo. The digital source is a Sphinx Labs Project 32 which feeds into a Monarchy Audio Upsampler and Dip combo which feeds into the new Monarchy Audio NM24 DAC. The preamp is a CAT SL1 MKII that goes into the Grands. As far as to which baby is best, there is really no competition. Soundwise its the Grand. Then comes my second favoriete which is the Stage. Incedentially the Grand is the largest Apogee ever made and the Stage is the smallest. Third place take the Apogee Calipers followed by the Acoustat Spectra 11. The electrostatic has a very good midrange and high frequency. Very much like the Apogee but lacks dynamics and the edge. The subwoofers in the Spectra 11 are rubbish, but the larger Versions which are none-hybrid like the 1+1, 2+2 and larger are very very good speakers. Sometimes can be found for almost nothing, a true bargain and almost indestructable. Graz lives in Australia and makes all new parts and also some new models. Definetly interesting to check it out :-) Dear Florianw, Sorry for my 'nationalistic' inclination but are you European or some American who discovered the French way of life as well as the French scenery? I assume some French villa which need to be accomodated to the 'Grands'. Not sure if the specific French 'Grands' are near the Swiss border but you should be able to order those from where you are. I am however puzzled with your other 'babies'. Those are not the 'natural kind' so no obligation to provide for. 'Sentimental', or as you put it in your first post 'hystorical' reasons? Nandric: I am not quite sure that i can follow you. Please excuse my english, it is not my native language. I am a German who lives in Switzerland. My pair of Grands is in my house as well as all the other speakers. I just use the Grand as my main system. There are only approximately 7 pairs worldwide and none more in France. The last pair which was in Paris were sold to a Gentleman in America. And no natural babies ;-) Dear Florianw, We all, I assume, reason from some premises which are usualy implicit. Only in the USA, I thought, a common sitzen can live in a palace. In Europe only kings live in a palace. Even a castle is not (pre) supposed for the commons. Only recently it become possible in France to get one. You stated (09-30-11): 'We used to live in...a palace but moved close to Zwitzerland'. So I thought that must be in France in some castle which can accomodate the Grands. With French 'Grands' I meant some of their wines and, even more important, some of their Cognacs. Who will offend Apogee Grands by trinking beer or cheap wine in front of them? I am not the right person to 'value' your English but as far as I can judge it is in any case very eloquent. I am a Dutchman in the formal sense but original from the Balkans. The funny thing regarding our exchange is that my German is better than my English. I am wondering , considering the complexity of the Grands, how you menage to keep them in optimal condition? Deed you need the help from mr. Graz and are there some representative of his in Europe? Dear Florianw, I forget to mention. In the analog forum I have three German friends (Dertonarm,Syntax and Thuchan)and my recommendation is to visit us there. I am sure you will than exchange your Ortofon Rondo for something better.

Maingear Adopts NVIDIA's "Power Of 3" Configuration On Select Gaming PCs The company's latest lineup is the 'Power of 3,' which is comprised of the X-Cube, Prelude 2, and F131 systems. All of 'em can be equipped with NVIDIA GeForce graphics, an Intel Core i7 CPU and the P55 chipset, which means the whole lot is more than ready to do battle with whatever title you throw at it. The whole 'Power of 3' thing is actually an NVIDIA idea, which configures a machine for "extreme performance" by enabling synergy between the motherboard, GPU (PhysX), CUDA, an OpenCL processor and DVD upscaling. All three of these systems are available now, and while they start at just $1239, you can add parts until your heart is content and your wallet is screaming 'Uncle!' MAINGEAR Debuts “Power of 3” Gaming PC Series Specialized X-Cube, Prelude 2, and F131systems deliver rich gaming performance with NVIDIA GeForce graphics, Intel Core i7 processor, and P55 Chipset Union, New Jersey – October 6, 2009 – MAINGEAR Computers, award-winning builders of high performance custom computers for PC gamers and enthusiasts, is excited to announce a special edition series of gaming PCs that fully embrace NVIDIA’s Power of 3 configuration optimized for extreme performance. By adopting this approach MAINGEAR recognizes that PC performance is more than simply a function of the processor, but rather a synergy between components including the motherboard, GPU, a dedicated PhysX, game-changing peripherals like 3D Vision, a dedicated PhysiX, CUDA, a OpenCL processor allowing to off-load CPU Intensive tastks like video transcoding, DVD upscaling, and PhysX calculations for ultra-realistic gaming. “MAINGEAR strives to bring integration innovation to the performance PC market,” says Wallace Santos, CEO and Founder of MAINGEAR Computers. “NVIDIA's Power of 3 brings together cutting edge technology for the ultimate in high performance computing. Together with Intel's Core i5 and i7 processors and the P55 chipset, NVIDIA's wide-range of homogenous computing technologies enable a wide range of CPU-offloading capabilities to accelerate the most popular software titles available today.” NVIDIA's Power of 3 can be found on special configurations of MAINGEAR's award-winning X-CUBE, F131, and Prelude 2 custom computers. From small and powerful, to budget-minded, to just flat-out powerful, MAINGEAR and NVIDIA enable the Power of 3 on a wide-range of high performance custom computers – all built and supported here in the United States. “The Power of 3 helps our customers build balanced PCs for gaming,” said Tom Petersen, Director of Technical Marketing at NVIDIA. “This is one of the best ways to get amazing gaming with PhysX and SLI. It’s great to see MAINGEAR bring this to their customers.” For more information, please visit http://www.maingear.com/promo/nvidia/powerof3/ MAINGEAR is the premier high performance systems integrator in North America. MAINGEAR custom builds gaming, home office, mobile, multimedia, small business and 3D workstation solutions of the highest quality, which have won them many editors’ choice awards in every major computer publication such as C-Net, [H]ard|OCP, Maximum PC, CPU Magazine, etc. For more information on MAINGEAR, please visit www.maingear.com or call, toll-free, (888)624-6432.

November 7, 2004 New site layout I'm very pleased to present the brand new site layout for wincent.com, wincent.org and all their subdomains. There have been minor tweaks to the appearance of the site, but the shining star of the new layout is the new navigation bar that appears at the top of each and every page. You can now skip to any section of the site -- Products, Services, Support, About, News, Knowledge Base, Contact, and Site Map -- with a single click, and the "bread crumb" display shows you at a glance exactly where you are in the site hierarchy. To reduce confusion, the different product websites (synergy.wincent.com, winswitch.wincent.com, winhex.wincent.com, install.wincent.com) and the forums (forums.wincent.com) have all been moved to logical places within the wincent.com hierarchy. Likewise, the weblog that was previously hosted at wincent.org has been rolled into the main wincent.com site, at wincent.com/a/news/. You can still point your browsers at the old subdomains if you wish, and you'll be redirected to the new locations. The main benefit is that people can move around the different sections much more easily; in the past visitors may not even have known that those other sections existed! The following browsers have been tested with the new layout (all running on Mac OS X 10.3.6): - Apple Safari 1.2.4 (v125.11): correct display. - Mozilla Firefox 1.0 RC2, 1.0: correct display. - Mozilla 1.7.3: correct display. - Camino 0.8.1: correct display. - OmniWeb 5.0.1: correct display. - Opera 7.54: correct display. - Netscape 7.2: correct display. - Internet Explorer 5.2.3 (5815.1): popup menus do not appear, but page layout is correct and the row of buttons in the navigation bar works. - iCab 2.9.8: page layout completely broken, but site is navegable. I am hoping that this will be a win-win situation for site visitors and for me. Although it has been a big task perfecting the new layout and moving all the material from the old sites into position, the administration burden in the future should be greatly reduced. Most of the dynamic elements are either stored on the server as PHP includes (so that a single file can be edited and every page on the site will immediately reflect any changes), or built using Movable Type (where I can post content from my desktop using ecto; no need to fire up a browser or a behemoth like Dreamweaver MX 2004). Site appearance is largely controlled through a single, site-wide style sheet (once again, editing one file can change the appearance of the entire site). And apart from the maintenance improvements, if people can find their way around more easily and access support services like the forums, the bug-tracking and feature requests database, and the lost license code retrieval system, then I'll be able to spend more time working on new products. If you've got any feedback on the new layout, please get in touch with me. More Site news articles Posted by wincent at November 7, 2004 2:32 AM

Cheaper By The Bottle The dynamic duo of Charles Clark and Grant Cooper are at it again, adding a little more heat to the already boiling Houston restaurant scene. This time around, the originators of Tasca Kitchen and Wine Bar [908 Congress, (713)225-9100] have a fresh concept scheduled to go into a booming part of town, a concept that may cause a lot of other restaurateurs to break into a cold sweat when they find out about it. In a recent interview, Clark rapidly described the outlines of this new dining spot amid the clatter of pans in the kitchen at Elvia's Latin Grill [818 Travis, (713)222-2254], where he is finishing up a stint as a consultant, menu creator and executive chef. "We signed the deal last week" was Clark's opening declaration. "It will be called Ibiza Food and Wine Bar," Clark explains. Ibiza, pronounced "ee-BEE-tha," is the most bohemian and laid-back of the Spanish Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean. While Majorca attracts the wealthiest of wealthy mainland Spaniards as summer residents, Ibiza gets the ex-girlfriends of Mick Jagger, retired art forgers and expatriate American novelists, plus the more common, backpack-lugging Lonely Planet seekers after sunshine, sex and good, cheap red wine. The concept, while not new to the United States as a whole, is certainly novel to Houston. "I got the idea from a San Francisco restaurant called Plump Jack's," offers Clark, adding that he and Cooper have been working on the concept for ten years. "The restaurant will serve beer and wine only. If you want to bring your own liquor, you can, and we will have a cart where you can get the fixings for a martini or some other cocktail for a dollar or so." A few old-time Houston spots, such as Griff's Shenanigans Cafe & Bar [3416 Roseland, (713)528-9912], still have what are called setups -- a glass, ice and a mixer of some sort -- but they are not fine-dining spots of the sort Clark and Cooper have been associated with in their professional careers. But that's not the bombshell. "The beauty of this restaurant," Clark continues, "is that all the wine will be sold at retail. If a bottle costs $15 at a Kroger or Rice Epicurean supermarket, that will be what we'll charge. That's a big difference from the $40 or so that other restaurants charge for the same bottle." The 4,100-square-foot restaurant, located in a new commercial plaza at 2450 Louisiana ("We'll be the first to go in," Clark enthuses), will be at the same latitude as the huge Spec's Liquor Warehouse [2410 Smith, (713)526-8787]. It is within sniffing distance of the burgeoning Midtown neighborhood where several savvy operators have opted to open new restaurants rather than join the increasingly dense ecosystem of downtown diners and discos. The look of the restaurant should be fresh as well. Paris-trained Belgian architect Ferenc Dreef, who lives in a huge loft in downtown Houston and whose architectural firm is called, simply, The Loft, is creating a design that "will be real clean, real minimal, nothing showy, with very good lines," Clark explains. "The idea is that the bar and the kitchen, which will be what is called a display or open kitchen, suggest the shoreline and beaches of Ibiza, and the dining area will be the sea. There will also be a food bar, with seating for ten or 15 people, looking into the kitchen. I'll be able to do a sort of chef's table there. Outside, there will be a patio with a fountain where we can seat 30 or 40 people." Clark and Cooper have a single silent partner who is bankrolling this venture, set to open in mid- or late January. The angel approached after reading about their problems with their former partners at Tasca (see Dish, "Tsk, Tsk, Tasca," April 13). They also have a surprise guest, Clark's new wife, Sherry, who will be a partner and assistant-in-training to the culinary team of Clark and Cooper. The downtown dining scene continues to attract new players. This October, Robert del Grande's ever-expanding Houston-based Express Foods will open another Cafe Express outlet, in Chase Center, at 650 Main and Capitol. Austin's popular Saba Bluewater Cafe, a tropical-themed seafood operation, will reproduce, paramecium-like, adding a location at 416 Main. It's also scheduled for an October opening date. On a more modest basis, Aldo Elsharif, owner of Aldo's Dining Con Amore [219 Westheimer, (713)523-2536], who lives in the century-old Sweeney, Coombs & Fredericks building, will soon open an operation in his residence's street-level space. Named Salumeria di Aldo [306 Main, (713)227-5999], the spot is billed as "an Italian and kosher deli." The mind, as well as the stomach, boggles at such daring synergy. Get the Food & Drink Newsletter Our weekly guide to Houston dining includes food news and reviews, as well as dining events and interviews with chefs and restaurant owners.

Is this the Future of Tanks? BLACK KNIGHT (BAE Systems) The BAE Systems Black Knight is an early prototype of an Unmanned Combat Vehicle. Its turret is equipped with operative components from the Bradley Combat Systems program, illustrating the synergy between the current force and the future force. As the components for robotic vehicles are designed and built, they will be substituted for these Bradley components. The Black Knight Unmanned Combat Vehicle can be controlled from the commander's station of a Bradley, which was demonstrated at the Association of the U.S. Army's 2006 Winter Symposium and Exhibition. Gun and turret position, as well as information from the Commander's Independent Viewer (CIV), and the Improved Bradley Acquisition System (IBAS) can be seen on a screen in the Bradley Commander's Crew Station. As soldiers dismount, they take a Dismounted Control Device (DCD) along and continue to operate the Black Knight, receiving information on the single screen on the DCD. The BAE Systems Black Knight displays the existing robotic technologies available for use by today's forces. This unmanned vehicle provides an immediate system to demonstrate advanced robotic technologies, support user development of tactical behaviors, and provide engineers a hands-on prototype to assist in their design efforts on unmanned combat systems. The Black Knight is equipped with advanced capability - leveraging some of the proven capabilities of the Bradley by utilizing robust, available components. These components provide the demonstrator with the high lethality obtained with the first-round hit, and the ability for the turret to slew to a cue from the Commander's Independent Viewer. Enhancements completed in 2006 include advanced robotic technology for autonomous mobility. This capability allows the Black Knight to plan routes, maneuver on the planned route, and avoid obstacles - all without operator intervention.

With big data analytics now becoming a fixture across companies of all sizes and every industry, many businesses will be looking at how they can leverage the technology to gain a march on their competitors and provide the highest possible level of service. One enterprise that has been detailing its approach to this is automaker BMW. Speaking at the recent EMC World conference, head of business after-sale analytics and digital processes at the organisation Dirk Ruger said this technology will be a vital element of its future customer engagement strategies, V3 reports. He explained that big data and predictive analytics have been deployed to help the company learn more about what its customers' likes are and what they expect from BMW in the future. Effectively processing this information for insight enables the company to manage its business much more accurately. One particular area where BMW is poised to benefit is through the use of Internet of Things sensors to identify issues before they arise. "The primary goal at the moment is predictive maintenance, being able to detect defects at the earliest stage," Mr Ruger stated. "We have to find the right correlation patterns for all our forward memories and incoming data to predict upcoming malfunctions and their consequences." He also noted there are still challenges remaining as the business looks to rely more heavily on data to inform its decision-making – with the security of this information a key priority. "We have to handle data while considering and protecting our customers' privacy. We have data from the cars that could be sensitive so this is important to us." However, he added one of the biggest issues is a lack of synergy between the company's IT and car development teams – something it will look to solve through the use of big data. Mr Ruger explained that although cars take years to develop, IT can now come with monthly or even daily development cycles. This means that integrating digital development from IT into cars is difficult.

The Knott's Boysenberry Festival World Pie Eating Championship Some of the greatest eaters in the world will tackle slice after slice of delicious boysenberry pie. Major League munchers from all over the globe will participate. At the inaugural contest last year, Joey Chestnut of San Jose consumed 14 pounds of Knott's Berry Farm Boysenberry Pie in eight minutes. Chestnut will return to Knott's Berry Farm this year to defend his title and attempt to best that mark. When: Today at 2 p.m. Where: The Calico Stage in Knott's Berry Farm Total Prizes: $4,000 Professional competition. Public can watch but not participate. This year’s Knott’s Boysenberry Festival stretches the gastronomic boundaries of the distinctive berry made famous by the venerable theme park. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. The boysenberry has a pleasantly balanced flavor that blends the best qualities of its four grandparents – the European Raspberry, Common Blackberry, American Dewberry and Loganberry. Knott’s chefs went the extra mile this year, and the results, while getting snaps for sheer creativity, will naturally not please all palates. At the park Wednesday, local media previewed a sampling of the foods featured at this year’s festival, which opens today and continues through April 3. The menu includes 10 new items this year. Much of the lineup was presented in large chafing dishes and offered alongside a generous selection of wines, which was a little intimidating to a journalist assigned the daunting task of tasting the items. Some of them, like the batter-fried alligator bites served with a boysenberry aioli sauce that was so pink and iridescent it would probably glow in the dark, were less than tempting. Still, I was there to sample, and sample I did. Some highlights: Pulled Pork Sandwich with Boysenberry Sauce: Sweet and not too spicy, and quite moist. My only complaint – a little too much white bun for the amount of meat. Alligator Bites with Boysenberry Aioli Sauce: Once you get past the freakishness of chowing down on a man-eating monster, this dish is a letdown. It’s bland and chewy – you need that aioli sauce to impart some flavor. Boysenberry Chicken Wings: Very sweet and fruity because of the gloppy, sticky coating. But like the alligator, the meat was disappointingly bland. Boysenberry BBQ Chicken Sandwich (new): One of my favorites. A generous portion of tender, perfectly cooked chicken breast is nestled between a tomato of decent quality and some lettuce, surrounded by a toothsome whole wheat bun. The barbecue sauce doesn’t overwhelm; there’s a good synergy to these ingredients. Chicken is Knott’s forte, and this is worthy of the park’s reputation. Boysenberry BBQ Meatballs (new): Presented on a stick, this trio of good-sized beef meatballs looks like classic amusement park food. They were meaty and salty, which nicely counterbalanced the sweet, fruity barbecue sauce, which was thick enough to stay put as you munched. Boysenberry BBQ Short Ribs with Jasmine Rice (new): A generous mound of chewy but flavorful short ribs comes with a little side reservoir of barbecue sauce for dipping, though they’re already slathered with the stuff. Forget about the rice – it’s just a medium to soak up more sauce. This is perhaps the messiest food you can choose. There’s no way to eat those ribs except by grabbing them and wresting the meat off with your teeth – guaranteed to spray barbecue sauce all over your clothes (and your friends). Panna Cotta: I was attracted to this dessert because it looked like a refreshingly light alternative to the deep-fried behemoths lined up on the dessert aisle. It was beautifully creamy, not too cloying, and topped with a dusting of what looked like granola and a large dollop of boysenberry jam. Bonus: chunks of juicy boysenberries inside. Fun Stick (new): How to describe this only-at-Knott’s creation? Knott’s boysenberry cheesecake is dipped in funnel cake batter and stuck on a stick, then served with sticky-sweet boysenberry sauce. Two bites and I was stuffed. A guilty pleasure, but will my doctor ever forgive me? This one could replace the fabled Fun Bun as a Knott’s favorite. Mega-desserts: Two gigantic desserts, popular last year, are back. The Fun Bun (a deep-fried cinnamon roll with boysenberry cream cheese topping) and gargantuan boysenberry dessert flautas with ice cream. Contact the writer: 714-796-7979 or firstname.lastname@example.org

Forrest Health Online offers at home and laboratory clinical testing, interpretation and natural vitamin, herbal and homeopathic therapies for bone health and osteoporosis. Preventing and Reversing Osteoporosis The conventional approach to preventing bone loss focuses mainly on calcium supplements and estrogen therapy. Although these treatments are partly effective, more than one million American women suffer a fracture each year as a direct result of thinning bones. In addition, there are concerns that estrogen therapy, as it is commonly prescribed in the United States, can increase the risk of breast cancer, as well as causing other side effects. Preventing and Reversing Osteoporosis presents a number of important new concepts: - that bone loss depends on many nutrients besides calcium, including magnesium, vitamin K, manganese, folic acid, vitamin B6, zinc, copper, strontium, silicon, and boron - that there is an alternative approach to hormone replacement therapy—one that includes progesterone, DHEA, and more natural forms of estrogen—that appears to be safe and more effective than conventional hormone treatments - that what you eat determines in part how strong your bones will be;that a number of environmental pollutants are contributing to the modern epidemic of osteoporosis Preventing and Reversing Osteoporosis by Alan Gaby, MD. Osteoporosis Support Program When you order a test from us we will send you the test kits with free mailers. Samples are taken at home or the lab and then mailed directly to the testing laboratory. Results are review by Dr. Forrest and then sent to you. Consultations with Dr. Forrest are available to go over your results or if you wish advice on supplement usage. Not Certain What To Do Next? If you are uncertain as to which products or programs to use or which tests to take; or, if you would like additional help: TRF 150, 30 capsules | Designs for Health - support the activation of bone and cartilage formation, osteopenia, osteporosis, fracture, osteoarthritis(hide) TRF 350 30 capsules | Designs for Health - a new type of supplement that helps to support the formation of bone and cartilage. Tri-K™ 60 vcaps | Designs For Health - Tri-K™ provides a clinically useful dose of vitamin K in three forms in order to correct a widespread deficiency of this vitamin.(hide) Tricalcidin-3 Extra Strength 60 tabs | ZyCal Bioceuticals - Enhanced Calcium Absorption & Bone Fortification Ultra Osteo Synergy 90 caps | American Biologics - The nutrients in this formulation are designed to support the laying down of new bone.(hide) Vegan Bone Maximizer 120 vcaps | Metabolic Response Modifier - offers an excellent source of calcium to build and maintain good bone health without the use of animal products(hide) Vegan Vitamin D3 2,500 IU 60 vcaps | Metabolic Response Modifier - Unique Vegan Vitamin D3 from lichen extract Vegan Vitamin D3 5000 IU 60 vcaps | Metabolic Response Modifier - Unique Vegan Vitamin D3 from lichen extract Vitamin Code Grow Bone System 1 Kit | Garden of Life - Clinically Studied Bone Growth Regimen Vitamin D Supreme w/ Vitamin K1 and K2 | Designs For Health - Vitamin D Supreme provides a clinically useful dose of vitamin D3, 5000 IU per veggie cap, and vitamin K in both K1 and the MK-7 form of K2, which is highly bioavailable.(hide) Vitamin D Synergy | Designs for Health - Vitamin D Synergy contains 2,000 IU of vitamin D3 as Cholecalciferol and 200 mcg of vitamin K as Phytonadione(hide) Vitamin D - Home Blood Test | ZRT Labs - Blood Spot testing is the future of lab testing. The process requires only a little blood from a nearly painless finger prick.(hide) Vitamin D Ultra 10K | Designs for Health - Ideal for short term, high dose vitamin D therapy bioavailable. Vitamin D3 10,000 i.u. - Support for bone, breast, prostate, cardiovascular, colon and immune health in an easy to use liquid form Vitamin D3 5,000 IU | Pure Encapsulations - Support for bone, breast, prostate, cardiovascular, colon and immune health in an easy to use liquid form(hide) Vitamin D3 5,000 IU Chocolate Tabs - Many clinical trials have demonstrated the benefits of vitamin D to support bone strength and density.(hide) Vitamin D3 Liquid 22.5 ml | Pure Encapsulations - *Support for bone, breast, prostate, cardiovascular, colon and immune health in an easy to use liquid form(hide) Bone Assist 1 fl. oz Neo40 Professional Nitric Oxide Booster - • Neo 40 helps improve circulation and the cardiovascular system - • NEO 40 raises Nitric Oxide - • ED is caused by low Nitric Oxide - • Now available in 30 or 60 lozenges - • NEW Proessional Strength version available |Add to cart|

The annual IFRA/WAN/FIPP Beyond the Printed Word online publishing conference was held in Prague yesterday and today. A summary of the presentations is available from WAN and there is an interesting conference moblog. Here from the conference (my thanks to the IFRA and WAN summaries) are some interesting ideas about mobile and digital editions: From the presentation by Thanita Khomphatraporn, Executive Vice President, Business Development & Investor Relations, The Nation Group, Thailand: - Like a lot of media companies, The Nation has bad memories of the dot-com bust. But it is now using that experience to drive its development in the mobile world. Why now for mobile? In markets where everyone has a mobile telephone, future growth will come from providing non-voice content for those devices. “It’s not just a telephone, it’s a personal terminal”, said Ms Khomphatraporn. “The content application is getting more and more critical.” Ms Khomphatraporn offered advice to avoid the dot-com excesses when developing mobile services. Here are two suggestions: – Find partners and find synergy rather than doing it on your own. – Instead of “go big”, make sure the projects are prudent — and self-funding. Frpm ‘Getting the Most from SMS’, a presentation by Morris Packer and Josefine Granding Larsson, Bonnier Group, Sweden: - SMS, or text messaging, has benefits for both newspapers and their customers. For readers, it is easy to use, offers immediate gratification, and it is relatively inexpensive. For newspapers, SMS provides easier administration (no paper to sort for contests and subscriptions, for example), and it provides a new revenue stream (the reader pays a premium fee to send their message). “SMS is a brilliant return channel for print, radio and TV, says Ms Larsson. “Print is strengthened by SMS, and SMS is strengthened by print. SMS is an untapped source of administrative possibilities. And usage statistics are gold — knowing who is using services, when and how.” Here are two examples of how Bonnier Group is using SMS: – A crossword contest in which a successful solution produces a code which the reader then sends by text message to the paper, where the results are sorted by computer. The message costs the sender 50 Euro cents per message. “Even in half a Euro, there are small profits,” says Ms Larsson. – Sydsvenskan, the leading regional newspaper in southern Sweden, inserts an SMS code in stories that won’t be resolved before deadline — court cases that will be held later in the day, for example. Readers who want to know the outcome send the code to the paper and receive the update by SMS. “The reader subscribes to a specific piece of news, not to breaking news in general,” says Mr Packer. From a presentation about e-ink and e-paper, by Harry Bouwman, Manager New Media Strategy, De Telegraaf, the Netherlands; Stig Nordqvist, Ifra Nordic Representative, Sweden; Rudy Raymaekers, Director, Concentra, Belgium; and Gunnar Springfeldt, Development Director, G

The "Cross Training" Support Program ® was developed by Andrew Pacholyk, MS, L.Ac as a multi-layered health system for healing. This great resource is for those looking for a sensible and rational easy-to-use guide to the best researched alternative therapies. Developed and referenced from the foremost experts on nutrition, herbs, acupuncture, exercise, homeopathy, healing touch and the metaphysical arts, this program allows one to use an "across the board" methods in health and healing. The following maladies are all situations that can be helped with Aromatherapy, Herbal Medicine, Acupuncture, Exercise, Nutrition and Lifestyle Changes, Crystals and/or Homeopathy. These "Complementary Therapies" are the 'cross training program' of Alternative Medicine and is only a jumping point in the healing process. You may access other modalities at the menu bar to the left. *Disclaimer: This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your condition. The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended as diagnosis, treatment, or prescription of any kind. The decision to use, or not to use, any information is the sole responsibility of the reader. See also allergies, dermatitis, eczema, lungs. Asthma is divided into two categories. Intrinsic asthma is when there seems to be no identifiable cause and often starts later in life. This tends to be chronic and long lasting. Extrinsic asthma, which has a cause due to something that is usually inhaled, often triggering an episodic attack. Exercise induced asthma falls under this category and is usually brought on by strong exertion. Asthma is a disorder, which affects the lungs. It causes repeated episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and nighttime or early morning coughing. Asthma can be controlled by taking medicine and avoiding the triggers that can cause an attack. You must also remove the triggers in your environment that can make your asthma worse. Asthma attacks occur when, the muscle around the bronchi go into spasm. The bronchi narrow and breathing becomes difficult. Inflammation can also swell the lining of the air tubes. Mucous may increase blockage to the air tubes as well. Symptoms include wheezing, breathlessness, tightness in the chest and coughing. Western medicine looks at several factors when diagnosing asthma, which include: Mast cells, which are the allergy-causing cells that release chemicals Eosinophils, which are a type of white blood cell associated with allergic disease T lymphocytes, which are also white blood cells associated with allergy and inflammation. The reason that bronchospasms can be triggered by allergies is that histamine, the chemical most responsible for allergy symptoms, seems to play a role in asthma attacks as well. But many other things besides histamine can trigger an attack: strenuous exercise, cigarette smoke, respiratory infections, industrial chemicals, aspirin, pet dander, indoor pollution and the sulfites added to many foods. Bronchial asthma, is really another name for asthma. This inflammatory disease of the airways mirrors the signs and symptoms of asthma. With bronchial asthma, the differential symptom is usually excessive coughing or a cough that keeps you awake at night, along with shortness of breath, chest tightness and wheezing. Bronchial asthma triggers can be caused by: smoke or smoking, infections such as colds, flu, or pneumonia, allergens such as food, pollen, mold, dust mites, and pet dander, strenuous exercise, air pollution and toxins, weather, especially extreme changes in temperature, drugs (such as aspirin, NSAID, and beta-blockers), food additives (such as MSG), emotional stress and anxiety, singing, laughing, or crying, perfumes, or sprays and/or acid reflux. In certain cases, the inflammation results in the feelings of chest tightness and breathlessness often felt at night (nocturnal asthma) or in the early morning. Other cases only feel symptoms when they exercise (exercise-induced asthma). Because of the inflammation, the airway hyper-responsiveness occurs as a result of certain triggers. There is a strong linked between allergies and bronchial asthma. Those with other respiratory disorders such as chronic sinusitis, middle ear infections, and nasal polyps were much more likely to have nighttime awakening due to asthma. The Asthma Check List 1. First and foremost, remember: there is always something you can do about your health! Learn to incorporate lifestyle change and implement changes that work for you! You can control your asthma by knowing the warning signs of an attack and avoid triggers that cause an attack. 2. Chronic stress has been linked to a worsening of asthma and allergies. Severe anxiety can trigger attacks, and stress generally aggravates asthma symptoms. Get chronic stress under control. 3. If you have asthma you should avoid cigarette smoke, if you smoke, quit. 4. You should do mild exercise...swimming, light aerobics or weight training. Avoid strenuous physical exercise. 5. Eat a healthy diet. Try to determine which foods in your diet trigger attacks and avoid them. 6. Those who are sensitive to mold and outdoor air pollution should consider limiting outdoor activities when levels are high. In hot, humid climates, this may require the use of air conditioning and/or dehumidifiers. In large cities where air pollution problems are prevalent, the number of emergency room visits for asthma attacks increase when the air quality is very poor. 7. Those who are sensitive to pet allergens should not keep pets indoors, ever. 8. Carpets keep allergens embedded within it. Remove carpets especially from the bedroom. Frequent vacuuming will reduce the presence of allergens. If the room has a hard surface floor, it should be damp mopped weekly. 9. Keep household humidity levels at less than 50 percent. This controls dust mites and fungus growth. Mattress covers and pillow case covers provide a barrier between house dust mites and the person with asthma. Down-filled pillows, quilts, or comforters should not be used and stuffed animals and clutter should be removed from bedrooms. 10. Doing relaxation techniques such as yoga and meditation benefit lung function by affecting emotional processes, muscles, and breathing. Water should be a very important part of any nutritional program. Distilled water is best. 6-8 eight ounce glasses a day. Water helps to clear mucus. Some of the most common types of foods that trigger asthma include milk, eggs, nuts, and seafood. If you're asthmatic, learn which foods can trigger an attack and avoid them. Even smelling the foods you're sensitive to can bring on an attack. You don't have to eat the foods to be affected. Just the aroma of the food could bring on asthma in some people. In a study conducted at the Department of Community Medicine of St. Thomas Hospital in London, researchers discovered that table salt could have a life-threatening effect on asthma. A strong correlation was found between table salt purchases and asthma mortality in both men and children. Buying the salt wasn't killing people; eating it was. Food additives, especially metabisulfite and possibly MSG [monosodium glutamate], can trigger asthma. Most commonly metabisulfite is found in beer wine, shrimp, and dried fruits, particularly apricots. Be aware of the kinds of foods sulfites are in and avoid them. When eating out, ask if MSG or metabisulfite is added to the food, and if so, request it be left out of your meal. Consider foods such as: fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, oatmeal, brown rice and whole grains. Include onions and garlic in your diet. These foods are a good source of quercetin and mustard oils, which have been shown to inhibit an enzyme causing inflammation. Consider the Full Spectrum Diet, which includes: phytochemicals (5-7 servings of fruits and vegetables daily), 30 grams of fiber, flavinoids (found in red and purple grapes, red wine and black tea). Eat green whole foods. Green drinks are a great source of vitamins, minerals, proteins and enzymes necessary for the human diet, plus chlorophyll. Stay away from extremely cold liquids and ice cream. These cold foods can shock the system, triggering and attack. Consider Juice Therapy or do a juice fast of lemon juice squeezed into 8 oz. of distilled water. Do this three days a month to rid the body of toxins and excess mucus. Vitamin C works in synergy with Vitamin E and helps increase its function. Take 600-1000 mg, twice a day. This is needed to protect lung tissue, increases air flow, fights inflammation and lower infections. Consider Vitamin E, especially mixed tocopherols, which appears to work in synergy with Vitamin C and is a potent antioxidant. Take 400 IU daily. A diet that includes Primrose Oil, Flaxseed, flaxseed oil and fish oils contain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which appears to produce anti-inflammatory prostaglandins. Take 1,000 mg twice daily before meals. Bee Pollen has been clinically proven to strengthen the immune system. It is best to start with a little at a time and work your way up to 2 tsp daily. Bee Pollen is soothing to the mucus membranes. Caution should be taken because this may cause an allergic reaction in some individuals. That is why it is best to start with a small dose and work your way up. Honey grown locally in the area in which you are having the asthma triggers can be helpful with the coughing associated with bronchial attack, especially at night. Prevention is the key. Experts warn that you should seek immediate medical attention anytime you're having difficulty breathing. If you were normally taking one or two puffs of your inhaler a week but are now taking three or four or more puffs a day, that's a good sign that you should see your doctor. Frequency of use of medications is what to watch out for. Maintain a proper diet. Because diet strongly influences asthma reactions. Living with asthma has to do with living a proper lifestyle. Be in tune to what sets you off. Look at triggers both outside and inside your home. Avoid the situations, which put you in danger. Angelica This herb has been found to relax the windpipe, which would be very beneficial for asthma or other respiratory ailments. Anise this old folk remedy actually contains compounds known as creosol and alpha-pinene, which help to loosen bronchial secretions, making it easier to expectorate them. Cocoa Theophylline is the compound in inhalers. Caffeine and theobromine (chemically related to Theophylline) are both components of cocoa and can open airways to the lungs. Find chocolate that is between 60-70% cocoa. Use two heaping teaspoons in a cup of hot water, twice a day. Great for children. Coffee For adults, coffee contains 60-120 mgs per cup, as opposed to cocoa, which has 10-20 mgs per cup. Studies have shown that coffee is highly effective at opening the airways. Try to stay within about 24 ounces a day. Ginkgo Biloba platelet-aggregating factor also known as a PAF or paf-acether is a potent phospholipid activator and mediator of many leucocyte functions, including platelet aggregation, inflammation, and anaphylaxis. It is an important mediator of bronchoconstriction. The benefits of ginkgo include improving blood supply by dilating and toning blood vessels; reducing blood-clotting through antagonism of platelet-aggregating factor (PAF); and preventing membrane damage by means of its antioxidantand free radical scavenging activities. Kola Nut The Journal of the American Medical Association recommends cola drinks for the management of childhood asthma. Although, this is not a prescription I subscribe to, instead take the tincture 2-3 times a day. Elecampane Root helps to diffuse asthma attacks, especially if you are prone to attacks. Parsley Leaf is a wonderful expectorant and helps fight coughs and asthma. Take the tincture, eat it raw or steep chopped leaves and stems in hot water for 10 minutes. Drink up to 2-3 cups per day. Caution: pregnant women should avoid parsley juice or oil. Tumeric has a bronchodilator effect and it can be sipped, taken as a tincture or sprinkled in a cup of warm water. Herbal tinctures are concentrated liquid extracts of the medicinal properties of herbs. Tinctures represent one of many different ways to prepare and use herbs. The terms tincture and extract are often used interchangeably. Shake the tincture bottle well. As a dietary supplement, place 1 to 3 droppers under the tongue, or in juice or water as needed, 2-3 times a day. BreathEasy: Lobelia, Pleurisy, Marshmallow, Mullien, Coltsfoot, Licorice. Cough Calm: Horehound, Elecampane, Comphrey root, Wild Cherry Bark, Eucalyptus, Chickweed, Slippery Elm, Licorice. In a stainless steel pot, boil desired amount of water. The moment it boils turn the heat off. Add the following herbs in an infuser, muslin bag or tea ball for a single cup or add one-three teaspoons of herbs per cup for larger amounts. Allow the herbs to infuse for up to 5 minutes. Drink 3-4 cups a day. For flavor-add lemon and sweeten with Stevia or organic honey. These herbs are helpful for gently cleanses, purifying, detoxing, anti-inflammatory. This powerful formula will help remove accumulated toxins in the body. Strong antioxidant, cleanses the colon and stimulates circulation. Breath of Life Tea - This tea was designed for deep congestion and tightness in the chest and upper respiratory region. Helps the respiratory tract. Has astringent and tonic properties. Helps to reduce fever and eliminate gas, headaches and mucous. Useful in bronchitis, asthma, difficulty breathing and swollen glands. Helps by reducing mucus and inflammation. Mullein Leaf, Damiana Herb, Coltsfoot Herb, Red Clover, Wild Lettuce, Ginseng Leaf. Detox Tea - This powerful formula will help remove accumulated toxins in the body. Strong antioxidant, cleanses the colon, reduces cramps, and stimulates circulation. Blackberry Leaf, Myrtle Leaf, Uva Ursi Leaf, Rose Hips, Alfalfa Leaf, Nettle Leaf, Juniper Berry, Psyllium Husk, Licorice Root, Sage Leaf. Stop Smoking Tea - Reduces cravings for nicotine. Helps with balance and food cravings. Clears congestion, has a mild antiseptic and reduces swelling by helping to reduce blood flow. Mullein Leaf, Damiana Herb, Coltsfoot Herb, Red Clover, Wild Lettuce, Ginseng Leaf. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is the oldest, continually practiced, and professionally administered health care system in the world. It is a documented medical system spanning over 2,500 years based on comprehensive philosophies, rational theories, clinically tested and empirically verified by over 100 generations of highly educated practitioners. Chinese Medicine is a total system of internal medicine which is comprised of a diagnostic procedure based on signs, symptoms and treatment styles including acupuncture, herbal medicine, exercise, diet and meditation. It's foundation is based on the principles of balance; the interdependent relationship of Yin and Yang. Through this balance, health is achieved and maintained. Herbs are the "medicinals" in holistic healing. Chinese herbs are specifically used to create a decoction or "tea" and is a very powerful part of healing dis-ease. Herbal decoctions may also be given in "tea pills", tinctures, granules or as an external patch, compress, or bath. Chinese medicine regards asthma problems as an accumulation of phlegm due to weakness of the Spleen and Kidneys. Please go to: Chinese Medical Terminology for further explanation. Visit Your TCM practitioner for a proper diagnosis and treatment. Aromatherapy Aromatherapy blends can reduce inflammation and incidents of asthma attacks. Helpful, are essential oils of bergamot, chamomile, clary sage, eucalyptus, lavender, pine and rose are all beneficial for asthma problems. These oils can ease pain, discomfort and inflammation and increase mucus flow. Clary Sage : contains several estrogen-like oils that, when blended together, work for this condition. Blend these oils together for a massage oil or add them to bath water. Bergamot with Chamomile and Lavender are anti-inflammatory essential oils and will help to ease symptoms. Blend these oils in a carrier oil and massage into the chest. Rose Absolute is an antispasmodic oil and can be used in steam inhalation to calm attacks due to stress. Pine Needle in the bath or in steam inhalation or in a diffuser, will help reduce the incidence of attacks. Utilize these blends of essential oils 3 times a day, morning, afternoon and night: Angel's Mist Astham Rub Remedy Blend Angel's Mist Asthma Inhalant Remedy Blend Angel's Mist Asthma Bath Remedy Blend This medical system uses infinitesimal doses of natural substances to stimulate a person's immune system and body's natural defenses. Homeopathic remedies are named for the plant or animal ingredients they are made from. Homeopathy not only offers relief from temporary disorders but, can provide long term healing of a person due to its individual and "wholistic" approach. This often leads to a complete recovery from the dis-ease, as well as, providing an improved understanding of the patient's situation. This type of healing makes it easier and possible to avoid recurrence or relapses in the future and homeopathy stimulates the body's natural defense system by reestablishing normal immune system and cell functioning. Arsenicum album A person needing this remedy can feel exhausted, yet be very restless and anxious. Breathing problems tend to be worse while lying down, better when sitting up, and may begin, or be the most intense, between midnight and two a.m. Dry wheezing may progress to a cough that brings up frothy whitish fluid. The person can be thirsty, taking frequent tiny sips. General chilliness is usually seen, with burning pains in the chest and heat in the head. Warmth often brings improvement. Carbo vegetabilis This remedy may be indicated when a person feels weak or faint with a hollow sensation in the chest. Coughing jags can lead to gagging. The person may be very cold (especially hands and feet), yet feel a need for moving air, wanting to sit beside a fan or open window. Gas and digestive upset are also likely, and sitting up and burping offers some relief. Feeling worse in the evening, and worse from talking, eating, or lying down are other indications for this remedy. Ipecacuanha Coughing spasms that lead to retching or vomiting strongly indicate this remedy. Wheezing can come on suddenly with a feeling of suffocation and heaviness in the chest. Mucus collects in breathing tubes, but the person has difficulty coughing much out. The person may sweat a lot and feel clammy or nauseous, be worse from motion, and sometimes worse from warmth. Natrum sulphuricum This remedy is sometimes indicated when asthma attacks are brought on by exposure to mold and dampness. The person may hold the chest while coughing, because it feels so weak. Wheezing and breathing difficulties are aggravated by exertion, and episodes tend to be worse in the very early morning. The mysterious and amazing healing power of water has been utilized for centuries. Water cleanses, refreshes and restores all life. We are always drawn to water. Be it a soothing fountain or majestic waterfall. Water is a carrier. It flows. It moves along the line of least resistance to find its way to the ocean where comes and goes in the ebb and flow of tides and waves. The appeal is inexplicable! We crave water, maybe because our bodies are made up of a large percent of it. Maybe beacuse we instinctively know how it can heal us. Hydrotherapy is the use of water in any form, in the treatment of dis-ease. Hydrotherapy was used by the ancient Greek physicians. The use of baths for such purposes as well as for religious purification, personal cleanliness, and private or social relaxation dates from at least the time of ancient Greece. A German, Vincenz Priessnitz, popularized the use of spas in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, where they are still popular today. Hydrotherapy has a number of uses. Warm water will relax spasm; thus, hydrotherapy has been useful in treating such conditions as muscular strains and sprains, muscular fatigue, and backache. Heat is often used in conjunction with massage or other manipulative or stimulative treatments, such as the whirlpool bath. Sitz baths (sitting in hot water) are effective in the treatment of many disorders. Water is also useful in physical therapy because patients who exercise in a buoyant medium can move weak parts of their bodies without contending with the strong force of gravity. A warm bath may be beneficial for asthma due to stress related triggers or outdoor allergens. Fill the tub with warm water. Once the tube is filled, add 6 drops each of bergamot, chamomile and lavender. Exercise induced asthma can be brought on by strong exertion. Exercise-induced asthma effects one in ten people. When you open your mouth to gasp for air when exercising hard, you're drying the back of your throat and it becomes cool, which triggers your asthma. Keep your mouth closed and breathe through your nose. You should do mild exercise...swimming, light aerobics or weight training. Avoid strenuous physical exercise. Swimming is the ideal exercise for asthmatics. Because of the high humidity, your mouth won't dry out. Sports that require shorter bursts of exercise, such as baseball, tennis, and golf, are good. Asthmatics need to pace themselves. Take the time to warm up, and then start out slow. Talk to your doctor. Talk to your doctor or therapist for guidance and support. Jointly assess your issues and concerns about an exercise program and how it fits into your overall treatment strategy. Identify what you enjoy. Figure out what type of exercise or activities you're more likely and less likely to do, as well as where, when and how often. For instance, would you rather garden in the evenings, jog in the pre-dawn hours, go for a brief walk in or play basketball with your friends after school? Set reasonable goals. Your mission doesn't have to be to walk for an hour five days a week. Even a 10-minute walk can help lift your mood, get you into a more positive environment and refocus your thoughts, even temporarily, away from negative or self-critical thinking patterns. Custom-tailor your plan to your own needs and abilities. Break it down. It might be good to have an overall exercise strategy. But focusing on the perfect plan or an ideal rather than what's realistic for you can sabotage your efforts. Don't start with the ideal and work backward. Start with the realistic and work forward. Break your program down into smaller parts. If you can't fathom walking for 45 minutes, what is possible? Fifteen minutes? Five minutes? Start there, and build on that foundation. Address your barriers. Identify your individual barriers to launching a program. If you're self-conscious, for instance, you might not want to exercise in public. The barriers may feel overwhelming. Instead, develop a strategy to overcome or get around those barriers. If you don't want to go to a crowded gym, perhaps you can go to a quiet park or use a home treadmill or bike. If you're put off by the thought of spending 30 minutes jogging, aim for five minutes of walking instead of just doing nothing. If five minutes seems daunting, try two minutes. Prepare for setbacks and obstacles. Exercise isn't always easy or fun. And it's tempting to blame yourself for that. By learning how to cope with setbacks, you'll learn skills that will help you stay active over the long term. There are many different approaches to massage and applications of it. "Massage Therapy" is a holistic procedure that affects all systems of the body; digestive, elimination, respiratory, circulatory, lymphatic, endocrine and nervous systems. Many of today's health problems arise from stress. Because stress upsets the delicate integral balance of all your body's functions, regaining this balance requires a holistic approach. Massage Therapy and Lymphatic Drainage Massage not only treats those parts of you which are a problem, but also affects the whole of your metabolism through normalizing your circulatory, muscular and nervous systems and their interdependent functioning. Massage for asthma is effective by calming the whole system and can be done with soothing asthma massage oils or relaxing body lotions in order for the practitioner's hands to "glide" over the body with smooth, relaxing strokes. Learn How to Give a Massage. This step by step method will help you learn just how to make your subject feel great! The Crystal Facial Massage works on a deep esoteric level allowing not only the physical body enjoyment and total relaxation but the stones will enhance a positive, reconnecting flow of energy which will allow you to bring up, recognize and clear emotional blocks. Hot Stone Massage Therapy. is recommended for this condition. It is an ancient Ayurvedic therapy with river bed stones which draw out stress, tension and impurities from the body. Several studies show positive effects occur when parents massage their asthmatic children, including increased peak air flow, improved pulmonary functions, less anxiety and reduced stress hormone (cortisol) in the children. Parental anxiety also decreased. There is an emotional aspect to every illness. Often times, it is the emotional thoughts or "excess emotions" that will lead to illness. The following therapies are utilized for calming the mind, help with stress relief and focuses on our mental powers over any situation. The ability to balance your emotional, mental, physical and spiritual self is up to you. Here are some suggestions: Allow The Universe To Take Control! Learn to breathe deeply and fully. Your breath is your connection to relaxation and inner peace. �I relax and let go.� Say this 4 or 5 times and watch how your body and mind relax. You�ve been stressing yourself out so much that every little thought becomes a mountain of problems. Metaphysical expert Louise Hay sees asthma as: Smoothered Love! Sound familiar? The inability to breath for one's self. Take charge of your own life! Choose to be free of your restrictions. What is your experience with this disorder? Sharing your own experiences often helps others. We'd love to know in the Peacefulmind Community Anxiety, fear and stress disorders are responsive to counseling and to a wide variety of psychotherapies. During the past several decades, there has been an increasing enthusiasm for focused, time-limited therapies that address ways of coping with anxiety symptoms directly, rather than exploring unconscious conflict or other personal vulnerabilities. Yoga poses can be good alternatives to "traditional" health remedies because they relax the body and mind, improve circulation and respiration, reduce tension and help the body through it's healing process. Consider the Tadasana Mountain Pose. Many common ailments and discomforts can be traced to poor posture. If the spine is not properly aligned or if there is tightness or stiffness in the back, the result is often an imbalance in the body. When this imbalance becomes chronic many kinds of disorders arise in the organs, glands and nervous system. Performing the tada-asana allows one to observe one's posture closely and clearly recognize those problems which get masked or ignored by day-to-day activities. As the posture is held and the breath, mind and body is quieted various effects will surface to indicate difficulties with the spine. The Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskar) limbers up the whole body in preparation for the Yoga Asanas. It is a graceful sequence of twelve Yoga positions performed as one continuous exercise. Learn how to practice Sun Salutation in the Yoga Therapy section. The Yogic breath exercise can be done without instruction, without danger, and with a good chance that your discomfort and stressful feelings will be reduced. Relaxation Breath is the most powerful tool for stress management. Sit up, with your back straight in any position. Place your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper front teeth and keep it there throughout the exercise. Exhale completely through your mouth. Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four. Hold your breath for a count of seven. Exhale completely through your mouth, to a count of eight. Repeat this cycle three more times for a total of four breaths. Try to do this breathing exercise at least twice a day. You can repeat the whole sequence as often as you wish, but don't do it more than four breaths at one time for the first month of practice. This exercise is fairly intense and has a profound effect on the nervous system. Deep Diaphram Breath Sit with your legs crossed in a comfortable position. Breathe slowly and evenly from your diaphragm, through your nose. Fill your lower abdomen, lungs, then chest with air. Hold for a four count then slowly exhale the air out from your chest, lungs, then lower abdomen. Repeat 3 or 4 times. That's it! Just allow your shoulders to drop and your face relax as you breath, deep. Also consider Breath Exercises, Child's Pose, Easy Pose, Half Spinal Twist, Wind Relieving Pose, Corpse Pose... Meditation is a time-honored technique that can take you into infinite dimensions of consciousness. One major principle to meditation is in the ability to completely quiet your mind. Quieting the mind comes as a result of meditating over a long period of time, but any time you are looking within, you are meditating. There are many meditation methods. Some are passive and others are active -- not in the physical sense, but in the sense that you actually do something during meditation. Meditators learn to focus their awareness and direct it onto an object: the breath, a phrase or word: a mantra, repeated silently, a memorized inspirational phrase, an image in the mind's eye. Researchers have documented immediate benefits in terms of lowered blood pressure, decreased heart and respiratory rate, increased blood flow, and other measurable signs of the relaxation response. Meditation will calm an agitated mind, creating optimal physical and mental health, undo our sense of separateness, which is the common root of fear and misery, unify consciousness, putting us in touch with our higher self and connect us to higher consciousness. Meditation restructures the mind, allowing us to achieve our full potential as human beings. Fold your hands gently in your lap and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths. Then just sit. If you have never meditated before, you will probably feel as if your mind is full of thoughts. Don't try to stop the thoughts, just watch them. Imagine that you are on the bank of a river and that your thoughts are the river going by. Don't try to stop the river, just watch it. Within a week, you will see the river begin to slow down. You may become impatient, or even bored. That's okay. If you find yourself complaining, just watch the thoughts pass by. Do this for 5 to 10 minutes. You may find that you fall asleep because you are so relaxed. That's good because, in many ways, you have begun to let go. Continue at this pace and each day allow just alittle more time for yourself to meditate. Doing this allows you to relax and forget about time. Consider the amazing power of the Deluxe Meditation Kit . Whether for meditation, quiet reflection or for creating a peaceful environment to be yours, the opportunity awaits those ready to explore the world of meditation! When you are balanced, you can more effectively fight dis-ease, rid your system of toxins, as well as, negative patterns. You can achieve balance through the vibrational remedy and application of color. Color inteacts with the human energy system in a unique way to stablize physical, emotional, mental and spiritual conditions. Blue - is peaceful and soothing. Calming tired nerves, alleviating agony and pain we suffer from physical stress. It has a pacifying effect over our nervous system and brings us great relaxation. Cool, soothing and sedative, blue alleviates pain, reducing bleeding and heals burns. It is beneficial in the treatment of dysentery, colic, asthma, respiratory disorders, high blood pressure and skin aberrations. Green - gives a feeling of renewal, new life, freshness, and clarity. The heart is the center of the soul and it is the heart that makes us one with our fellow man. Most importantly, it harbors love energy, the leading principle of life. Being with loved ones, family, and friends, strengthens the heart energy and soothes the lung area. Determine what color you need. Learn more about your personal Color Therapy Analysis. Vibrational medicine, which validates that everything in the universe is in a state of vibration and the frequency at which an object or person most naturally vibrates is called resonance. The chakras, bones, and organs in the body all possess a different resonant frequency. When an organ or part of the body is vibrating out of tune or nonharmoniously, it is called "dis ease" or disease. A body is in a healthy state of being when each cell, each organ creates a resonance that is in harmony with the whole being. Music is a powerful tool that can be used in so many ways. It has been proven that the type of music that makes a person relax or become receptive is not any one kind. It all depends on the individual and their affinity with it. Healing Music is recommended for stress reduction by soothing the sympathetic nervous system. The power of your mind and your belief system has everything to do with the condition, the speed and the way that you heal. * Our Belief System is one of the major factors that can get us through situations or can cause our life to crumble around us! I do believe that there is a lot of innate goodness and balancing our minds do subconsciously to get us through hard times. The other portion of this is how we "program" ourselves to deal with any given situation. * Our self-confidence and self-love are often the key to opening and strengthening this portion of our thoughts which in turn emanates from ourselves! * Energy follows thought. Program thought to be positive and your energy will reflect it! * Really appreciating what we DO have as opposed to what we would like to have, sometimes makes a signifcant difference. This is always an important element in healing that is often neglected. Crystals have both piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties. This means that the polarities of the crystal will change when subjected to pressure or heat (even body heat from the hands). This will radiate energy from the crystal due to this reversal of polarities. It provides the transfer, storage and transformation of energy. Offering a balanced energy field, energy modification, amplifies both energy and thought, clarity in thinking, and harmony and alignment with the chakra energy areas. The Complete Chakra Kit stimulates the seven main energy sources which govern all the major organs and psychologically alters and clears the body's energy in order to allow healing to take place. Crystal Medicine Pouches are based on the Native American Medicine Pouches, each suede pouch comes with several crystals, sage for cleansing negativity and the best way to use, cleanse and energize them in order to get what you want out of life!! Crystal Empowerment Pouches are individually filled with several crystals to strengthen and enhance the best energy for each situation. Each suede pouch comes with several crystals and best way to use, cleanse and energize them in order to get what you want out of life!! are wonderfully scented oils come in .05 ounce roll-on bottles and contain genuine crystals in vibrationally compatible essential oil blends. They are fantastic for Chakra work, energy healing, as an Aura Balancer, as a balancing perfume oil or simply as a "refresher" for your Gem Potpourri. Crystal Elixir oil blends are used externally. are the infusion of crystals, spring water and the power of the sun/moon in a bottle! These essence work in harmony with the body by interacting with our bio-sheath and are natural and self-adjusting. When crystals are activated by natural sunlight, they transfer their vibrational signature into water, creating a remedy that is safe, effective and used in conjunction with all modalities of healing. Gem Essence waters can be used internally. Peacefulmind Remedy Bag is our fantastic prescription for a multi-layered approach to treating this problem. This bag features 3 of the crystals for treating this disorder, a sample herbal remedy, a meditation, an essential oil blend and acu-point self-massage techniques. Also with great tips and remedies for recovery. Crystals for Asthma Asthma is a disorder, which affects the lungs. It causes repeated episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and nighttime or early morning coughing. You can control your asthma by knowing the warning signs of an attack and avoid triggers that cause an attack. Chronic stress has been linked to a worsening of asthma and allergies. Severe anxiety can trigger attacks, and stress generally aggravates asthma symptoms. Crystals can be helpful in reducing stress and calming the mind. Consider these crystals for asthma: Amber is a great healing stone for asthma as well as allergic reactions. Amethyst calms apprehension, overcoming stress and is beneficial for the respiratory system and is used for detoxing. Angelite is soothing to the lungs and helps balance the thyroid. It is a soothing stone used for relieving throat inflammation. Angelite also repairs and soothes tissues and blood vessels. Iolite is a powerful stone for treating respiratory disorders and creating a strong constitution. Lapis Lazuli is another stone that helps support the respiratory tract as it boosts the immune system. Morganite helps to oxygenate cells. It is a great stone for relieving stress and calms the breath, therefore, it is a great stone for asthma. Malachite promotes growth and builds strength, both emotionally and physically. It is a beneficial healing stone for asthma. Pyrite benefits both the circulatory and respiratory systems by boosting oxygen in the bloodstream. Helpful for asthma and bronchitis. Rhodochrosite acts as a filter and is beneficial for treating asthma and respiratory tract. Rutilated Quartz boost immunity and lung function. A helpful stone for asthma and bronchial disorders. Andrew Pacholyk has an extensive background in biomedical science and clinical training. Andrew has done massage, yoga and music therapy for over 15 years and brings his experience as an Acupuncturist and Herbalist to such health facilities as diverse as St. Vincent�s Hospital, The Body Center, New York Health Club, The Grand Meridian and his private practice, ProAcuMed Inc. in New York City. Andrew offers a safe and effective method with his diverse knowledge of the healing arts. Andrew is licensed in the State of New York and is accredited and certified by the National Boards in both Acupuncture and Herbology. Andrew offers a unique and personal path in developing, understanding and incorporating the power of our belief system and your own inner wisdom in the healing process. Andrew works with: * Functional and Orthopedic Testing * Acupuncture and Massage Therapy * Nutrition, Herbal and Chinese Botanicals * Cupping, Moxabustion, Electrostimulation * Mind Medicine, Belief Systems, Emotional Healing Call Andrew at his office, ProAcuMed at 917 843 3623 or by email Make An Appointment NOW with Andrew 1. Field, T., Henteleff, T., Hernandez-Reif M., Martinez, E., Mavunda, K., Kuhn C., & Schanberg S. (1998). Children with asthma have improved pulmonary functions after massage therapy. Journal of Pediatrics, 132, 2. Gershwin, M.E. 1999. Urban asthma. Allergy and Asthma Magazine. Available at http://www.healthline.com/articles/ac990106.htm. 3. (AAAAI) American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. AAAAI Committee Paper Summary: Asthma Adherence 2006. Available at: http://www.aaaai.org/members/asthma_adherence.stm. Accessed May 12, 2006 4. Allam MF, Lucane RA. Selenium supplementation for asthma. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004;(2):CD003538. 5. Banov CH. The role of budesonide in adults and children with mild-to-moderate persistent asthma. J Asthma. 2004 Feb;41(1):5�17. 6. Bede O, Suranyi A, et al. Urinary magnesium excretion in asthmatic children receiving magnesium supplementation: A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study. Magnes Res. 2003 Dec;16(4):262�70. 7. Boushey HA Jr. Experiences with monoclonal antibody therapy for allergic asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2001 Aug;108(2 Suppl):S77�S83. 8. Braunwald E, Fauci AS, et al. Harrison�s Principles of Internal Medicine. 15th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2001. 9. Bridgeman MM, Marsden M, et al. Cysteine and glutathione concentrations in plasma and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid after treatment with N-acetylcysteine. Thorax. 1991 Jan;46(1):39�42. 11. A Modern Herbal www.botanical.com 2. Balch, James F. M.D., Balch, Phyllis A., C.N.C., Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 1990 3.Barolet, Randall Bensky, Dan, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies; ed.; Eastland Press, Seattle, c1990. 4.Birren F. (1967) Color Psychology and Color Therapy. New Hyde park, N.Y., University Books 5.Boericke, William M.D., Materia Medica with Repertory, 1927, Boericke & Runyon 6. Chevallier, Andrew, The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants, 1996, Dorlilng Kindersley Limited 7.Balch M.D., J. and Balch C.N.C, P. Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 2nd Ed. New York, U.S.A: Avery Publishing Group, 1997. 8. Dewey, W.A. Practical Homeopathic Therapeutics. New Delhi, India: Jain Publising Co 9. Gibson DM. First Aid Homeopathy. The British Homeopathic Association. London, England 10. Duke, J.A. Handbook of Medicinal Herbs. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1985 11. Duke, James A. Dr., The Green Pharmacy 12. Habif TP, et al. (2001). Acne. In Skin Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment, pp. 72�83. St. Louis: Mosby 13. Hahnemann, Samuel. Organon of the Medical Art. 6th ed. Edited and annotated by Wenda B. O�Reilly. Redmond, Washington, 1996. 14. Health Library, The: http://healthlibrary.com/reading/ncure 15. Kaptchuk, Ted; The Web That Has No Weaver; Congdon and Weed, Inc., New York, c1983. 16. Lawless, Julia. "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils". Rockport, MA: Element Books, Inc., 1995. 17. Merck Manual, Home Edition, 2000 18. Mills, Simon Y., The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism 19. Mindell, Earl, Earl Mindell's Herb Bible 20. Mother Nature's Herbal Encyclopedia www.mothernature.com 21. Murray and Pizzano, Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine 22. Myss, Caroline Ph.D. �Anatomy of the Spirit�, Three Rivers Press (August 26, 1997) 23. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM): A division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services dedicated to research. 24. Shealy, Norman C., The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Natural Remedies 25. TCM: tcm.health-info.org/ 26. The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 9th ed., New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996 27. Tierra, Michael, Planetary Herbology 28. Tierra, Michael, Lust, John, The Natural Remedy Bible 29. World Health Organization (WHO), http://www.who.int/en What is your experience with alternative and complementary medicine? Sharing your own experiences often helps others. We'd love to know in the View Shopping Cart/Checkout Questions? Comments! Order Help? Please Contact Andrew "Purveyors of Healthy Qi" Buy online or order over the phone 917 843 3623 tel

By Campaign Asia: ASIA-PACIFIC – A study of social-media impact by Initiative shows that tech-savvy consumers have a more profound influence on brand choice than marketers may have previously appreciated. The online study surveyed 8014 web users aged 16-54 in Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Germany, the Netherlands, the US and the UK with the aim of helping marketers produce greater synergy between media, social and mobile budgets by figuring out the role that consumer influence plays along the path to purchase. The top 10 per cent of influencers have a significantly disproportionate influence, according to the study. A “massive” 72 per cent of the people in this “Top 10” access content across print, PC and mobile more than once a day, compared to just 18 per cent of the bottom 10 per cent of influencers. The Top 10 constituents are also more likely to own smartphones and tablet computers… Read more

Magnetic resonance imaging changes of sacroiliac joints in patients with recent-onset inflammatory back pain: inter-reader reliability and prevalence of abnormalities © Heuft-Dorenbosch et al, licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2005 Received: 6 July 2005 Accepted: 2 November 2005 Published: 1 December 2005 To study the inter-reader reliability of detecting abnormalities of sacroiliac (SI) joints in patients with recent-onset inflammatory back pain by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and to study the prevalence of inflammation and structural changes at various sites of the SI joints. Sixty-eight patients with inflammatory back pain (at least four of the five following criteria: symptom onset before age 40, insidious onset, morning stiffness, duration >3 months, improvement with exercise — or three out of five of these plus night pain) were included (38% male; mean age, 34.9 years [standard deviation 10.3]; 46% HLA-B27-positive; mean symptom duration, 18 months), with symptom duration <2 years. A MRI scan of the SI joints was made in the coronal plane with the following sequences: T1-weighted spin echo, short-tau inversion recovery, T2-weighted fast-spin echo with fat saturation, and T1-spin echo with fat saturation after the administration of gadolinium. Both SI joints were scored for inflammation (separately for subchondral bone and bone marrow, joint space, joint capsule, ligaments) as well as for structural changes (erosions, sclerosis, ankylosis), by two observers independently. Agreement between the two readers was analysed by concordance and discordance rates and by kappa statistics. Inflammation was present in 32 SI joints of 22 patients, most frequently located in bone marrow and/or subchondral bone (29 joints in 21 patients). Readers agreed on the presence of inflammation in 85% of the cases in the right SI joint and in 78% of the cases in the left SI joint. Structural changes on MRI were present in 11 patients. Ten of these 11 patients also showed signs of inflammation. Agreement on the presence or absence of inflammation and structural changes of SI joints by MRI was acceptable, and was sufficiently high to be useful in ascertaining inflammatory and structural changes due to sacroiliitis. About one-third of patients with recent-onset inflammatory back pain show inflammation, and about one-sixth show structural changes in at least one SI joint. Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic rheumatic condition, characterized by inflammation of the axial skeleton, particularly the sacroiliac (SI) joints. Patients fulfil classification criteria for AS if characteristic radiological changes of the SI joint are present, together with defined clinical symptoms and findings . AS belongs to the group of seronegative spondyloarthritides (SpA). The European Spondylarthropathy Study Group has developed classification criteria for SpA . Sacroiliitis is a characteristic feature of AS and is frequently found in patients with SpA, although it is not obligatory. Patients with sacroiliitis experience chronic low back pain with an inflammatory pattern that often begins in young adulthood. Because chronic low back pain is common in the population, sacroiliitis is often not considered as a cause of back pain. Besides, early sacroiliitis is often not visible on conventional radiographs, or is difficult to interpret, which may lead to a long delay in establishing a diagnosis. Frequently, a mean duration of more than eight years between the start of symptoms and the diagnosis of AS is reported [3, 4]. Such a delay is increasingly unwarranted because of the availability of effective treatment. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an imaging modality that may shorten the delay between the start of symptoms and a classifying diagnosis of AS or SpA since MRI can detect inflammation early [5–7]. Algorithms for diagnostic purposes have recently been proposed in which MRI of the SI joints was attributed a prominent place . In order to judge whether MRI is helpful in making an early diagnosis, the psychometric properties of assessing inflammation and structural changes by MRI should appropriately be tested in patients with very early disease and not only in those with advanced AS. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether MRI could reliably assess inflammation and structural damage of SI joints in patients with short-term inflammatory back pain. Patients with inflammatory low back pain present for two years at most, and without a confirmed rheumatologic diagnosis, were eligible for this study. Inflammatory back pain was defined according to the Calin criteria . Inflammatory back pain by these criteria is defined if at least four of the five following characteristics are present: insidious onset, onset before the age of 40 years, persistence for at least three months, association with morning stiffness, and improvement with exercise. Patients also could be included if three out of five of these criteria were present plus night pain. Preferably, but this is not obligatory, patients should have at least one feature of SpA according to the European Spondylarthropathy Study Group criteria: presence of a family member with AS, and presence or history of psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or uveitis. The study was approved by the institutional review board and all patients gave written informed consent. Magnetic resonance imaging A MRI examination of the SI joints was performed using a 1.5 Tesla Philips Gyro scan ACS-NT (Philps, Best, The Netherlands). Patients were scanned in a supine position using a Synergy-spine coil as the surface coil. We chose a coronal oblique scan plane parallel to the length of the sacrum and two slabs: one transversal slab was positioned cranially to the region of interest, to diminish flow artefacts; and one was positioned frontally through the bowel and anterior abdominal wall, to diminish motion artefacts of breathing and bowel movements. The following sequences were used: T1-weighted spin echo (SE), short-tau inversion recovery (STIR), T2-weighted fast SE with fat saturation, and T1-weighted SE with fat suppression after the intravenous administration of contrast medium (gadolinium diethylenetriaminepentate, 0.1 mmol/kg body weight). Different relevant MRI findings with regard to sacroiliitis were identified from the literature; a differentiation was made between inflammatory changes and structural changes and the different localization of these changes. Pathological changes of interest were defined as inflammation and structural changes including erosions, sclerosis and ankylosis. Regions of interest were the subchondral region, the bone marrow, the joint capsule, the joint space and the retro-auricular ligaments. Firstly, in different sessions, MRI scans were reviewed and scored together by two observers (LHD and RW) and discrepancies in scoring were extensively discussed. After these training sessions, inter-reader reliability was assessed for a small subset of MRI scans. As the reliability appeared sufficiently high, each MRI was thereafter independently scored by these two observers, who were blind for the patient identity and for clinical, laboratory and radiological data. Findings were graded as 0 (absent), 1 (minimal), 2 (moderate) and 3 (extensive). Inflammation was scored per SI joint in the subchondral region (the region adjacent to the cortical lamella, extending 0.5 cm into the bone marrow cavity), the bone marrow, the joint capsule (the transition of the joint space to para-articular soft tissue), the joint space (defined as the space between the cortical lamellae) and the retro-auricular ligaments. Inflammation was defined as a low signal intensity on T1, with enhancement after gadolinium administration, and/or high signal intensity on STIR and/or T2 fast SE. Inflammation in ligaments was defined as areas of low signal intensity running through high signal intensity tissue on T1, which reflects interosseous ligaments crossing juxta-articular fatty tissue. Structural changes were scored per SI joint, and included erosions (an irregularly delineated joint space on T1), sclerosis (low signal intensity on T1, STIR and T2 fast SE, without enhancement after gadolinium administration) and ankylosis (the disappearance of the joint space in all sequences). Inflammation and sclerosis were scored on the iliac and sacral side of both SI joints separately. Erosions and ankylosis were scored for the entire left and right SI joints. Active inflammation was defined as inflammation in at least one of the joint regions (subchondral bone, bone marrow, ligaments, joint capsule, joint space) and the presence of structural damage as erosions, sclerosis and/or ankylosis per SI joint. Agreement between both MRI readers with respect to inflammation (per site) and chronic changes (sclerosis, erosions and ankylosis) was analysed by cross-tabulation, by concordance and discordance rates, and by kappa statistics (unweighted Cohen's kappa). Baseline characteristics of 68 patients with chronic inflammatory low back pain All patients (N = 68) Sex (% male) Mean age (years) (SD) Median symptom duration (months) (interquartile range) Criteria for inflammatory low back pain Three criteria present (%) Four criteria present (%) Five criteria present (%) Night pain present (%) HLA-B27 present (%) History of inflammatory bowel disease present (%) History of uveitis present (%) History of psoriasis present (%) Family history of ankylosing spondylitis present (%) Agreement on MRI findings Agreement between two observers with respect to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics per site per sacroiliac joint in 68 patients with inflammatory low back pain MRI characteristic per site Cohen's kappa value At any site Bone marrow ± subchondral bone Number of patients with abnormalities (inflammation, chronic changes or both) based on concordant observations by both readers Number of patients with involvement of sacroiliac joints Only the left sacroiliac joint Only the right sacroiliac joint Both sacroiliac joints One or two sacroiliac joints Structural changes (ankylosis, sclerosis, erosions) Inflammation as well as structural changes Bone marrow or subchondral bone One of the important aims of this study was to establish whether inflammation and structural changes on MRI could reliably be assessed. In order to allow a detailed judgement, and to trace redundancies, we decided to score inflammation and structural changes per site and per type of lesion. It can be concluded that the agreement between both readers about the presence or absence of pathological findings on MRI was reasonable, especially for inflammation at sites were it was most prevalent. With agreement levels mostly around 85% for the presence of inflammation overall and at different locations, it seems sufficiently high to justify a conclusion of inflammation made by one observer in clinical practice. Expectedly with reference to the population under study, the prevalence of chronic changes on MRI was low. Because of this low prevalence of structural changes, the reliability of scoring these changes is more difficult to assess. This similarly applies to the assessment of inflammation in the joint space, capsule and ligaments. Notwithstanding this limitation, the overall agreement for the different sites of the joint was comparable, with a possible exception for inflammation in the joint capsule. An explanation may be that the delineation of the joint capsule is poorly defined, which may give rise to misinterpretations. Another important finding in this study was that it is probably sufficient to look for bone marrow oedema and/or subchondral inflammation. The contribution of other sites of the joint to make a diagnosis of inflammation was only marginal. We found only one patient in whom inflammation was restricted to joint capsule and ligaments. A few studies reported agreement with respect to lesions found on MRI examination of the SI joints, but none of the studies was performed in patients with recent onset inflammatory back pain. Bigot and colleagues proposed 11 criteria referring to both the synovial and the fibrous part of the SI joint that point to sacroiliitis, and showed a good intra-observer and inter-observer reliability (a kappa value of 0.89 for detecting bone marrow oedema) . However, this was a study in 22 SpA patients with established disease, in which grade 2 radiological sacroiliitis according to the New York criteria was present in 80% of the SI joints. Puhakka and colleagues have proposed a scoring system for MRI abnormalities of the SI joints, which distinguished inflammatory activity as well as joint damage . Inter-observer reliability in this study, which included 41 patients with SpA, of whom 20 patients had grade 2 sacroiliitis or more of at least one SI joint on radiography, was importantly lower (a kappa value of 0.47 for bone marrow enhancement, and of 0.67 for joint space enhancement) as compared with our study. Finally, Docherty and colleagues found a kappa value of 0.63 for inter-observer agreement with respect to inflammation on MRI in a study of 20 patients with established or suspected sacroiliitis on radiographs, but contrast administration was not performed . Our results are largely in accordance with the published literature, although comparability is limited due to the differences in study population, with the prevalence of the abnormalities largely influencing kappa values. In this cohort of inflammatory back pain of less than two years duration, inflammation in the SI joints on MRI could be detected in about one third of the patients (22/68). Moreover, one sixth of patients already showed signs of structural changes on the MRI scan (11/68 patients). Although the number of patients with structural changes is low, this finding indicates that MRI might be a useful tool in the assessment of patients with early inflammatory back pain. It is the amount of variation in the outcome of interest (inflammation and/or structural changes) rather than the number of patients under study that is important in judging whether the sample size is sufficient to test reliability. As long as all kinds of abnormalities are covered, it is possible to test reliability even in situations like this, with only 11 patients showing abnormalities. Undoubtedly, however, the likelihood of covering all kinds of abnormalities will increase by increasing patient number. The real value of MRI will therefore be ascertained in future, by following the patients longitudinally and obtaining more data, which will occur in this cohort. The development and choice of an appropriate scoring system for sacroiliitis on MRI to be used in clinical studies and trials will be subject of interest in an ongoing ASAS-OMERACT working group . MRI can reliably detect inflammation and structural changes in SI joints in patients with early inflammatory back pain. Assessing bone marrow and/or subchondral bone enhancement suffices to detect inflammation. Inflammation in the joint space, the joint capsule and the ligaments hardly contributes to this detection, because it is associated with inflammation in the bone marrow and/or subchondral bone. About one-third of patients with recent-onset inflammatory back pain show inflammation, and about one-sixth of patients show structural changes in at least one SI joint, indicating that MRI might be a useful tool to diagnose sacroiliitis in patients with inflammatory back pain. inflammatory bowel disease magnetic resonance imaging short-tau inversion recovery. This study was partly supported by a grant from the Dutch Arthritis Association. - van der Linden SM, Valkenburg HA, de Jongh BM, Cats A: The risk of developing ankylosing spondylitis in HLA-B27 positive individuals. A comparison of relatives of spondylitis patients with the general population. Arthritis Rheum. 1984, 27: 241-249.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar - Dougados M, van der Linden S, Juhlin R, Huitfeldt B, Amor B, Calin A, Cats A, Dijkmans B, Olivieri I, Pasero G, The European Spondylarthropathy Study Group, et al: The European Spondylarthropathy Study Group preliminary criteria for the classification of spondylarthropathy. Arthritis Rheum. 1991, 34: 1218-1227.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar - Feldtkeller E, Bruckel J, Khan MA: Scientific contributions of ankylosing spondylitis patient advocacy groups. Curr Opin Rheumatol. 2000, 12: 239-247. 10.1097/00002281-200007000-00002.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar - Spoorenberg A, de Vlam K, van der Heijde D, de Klerk E, Dougados M, Mielants H, van der Tempel , Boers M, van der Linden Sj: Radiological scoring methods in ankylosing spondylitis: reliability and sensitivity to change over one year. J Rheumatol. 1999, 26: 997-1002.PubMedGoogle Scholar - Braun J, Bollow M, Eggens U, Konig H, Distler A, Sieper J: Use of dynamic magnetic resonance imaging with fast imaging in the detection of early and advanced sacroiliitis in spondylarthropathy patients. Arthritis Rheum. 1994, 37: 1039-1045.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar - Bollow M, Loreck D, Banzer D, Brandt H, Zerbes K, Kourik W, Mellorowicz H, Backhaus M, Schmidt W, Bohl-Buhler M, et al: Diagnostic imaging of inflammation in the axial skeleton. Zeitschr Rheumatol. 1999, 58: 61-70. 10.1007/s003930050154.Google Scholar - Braun J, van der Heijde D: Imaging and scoring in ankylosing spondylitis. Best Pract Res Clin Rheumatol. 2002, 16: 573-604.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar - Rudwaleit M, van der Heijde D, Khan MA, Braun J, Sieper J: How to diagnose axial spondyloarthritis early. Ann Rheum Dis. 2004, 63: 535-543. 10.1136/ard.2003.011247.PubMed CentralView ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar - Calin A, Porta J, Fries JF, Schurman DJ: Clinical history as a screening test for ankylosing spondylitis. JAMA. 1977, 237: 2613-2614. 10.1001/jama.237.24.2613.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar - Bigot J, Loeuille D, Chary-Valckenaere I, Pourel J, Cao MM, Blum A: Determination of the best diagnostic criteria of sacroiliitis with MRI. J Radiol. 1999, 80: 1649-1657.PubMedGoogle Scholar - Puhakka KB, Jurik AG, Egund N, Schiottz-Christensen B, Stengaard-Pedersen K, van Overeem Hansen G, Christiansen J: Imaging of sacroiliitis in early seronegative spondylarthropathy. Assessment of abnormalities by MR in comparison with radiography and CT. Acta Radiol. 2003, 44: 218-229. 10.1034/j.1600-0455.2003.00034.x.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar - Docherty P, Mitchell MJ, MacMillan L, Mosher D, Barnes DC, Hanly JG: Magnetic resonance imaging in the detection of sacroiliitis. J Rheumatol. 1992, 19: 393-401.PubMedGoogle Scholar - Landewé R, Hermann K-G, van der Heijde D, Baraliakos X, Jurik A-G, Lambert R, Ostergaard M, Rudwaleit M, Salonen D, Braun J, the ASAS/OMERACT MRI in AS Working Group: Scoring sacro-iliac joints by magnetic resonance imaging. A multiple-reader reliability experiment. J Rheumatol. 2005, 32: 2050-2055.PubMedGoogle Scholar This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is cited.

Dear Desktop Engineering Reader: Years ago when cellphones were radio phones about the size of an adobe brick, I set up a technical support line for a pre-Internet online service. In them days, modems were an honest to goodness peripheral about the size of a Guttenberg Bible, and a 1200-baud modem threw off so much heat you could warm leftovers on it. Countless times, baffled users would call-in complaining about “junk characters” spewing across their screens. I’d tell them give their modem some air. It was overheating because of the paper pile on top of it. They were always amazed that I knew what their office looked like. Fixed the issue every time too. If only thermal management solutions would be that easy at the chip, material interface, and heat sink design level. Take LEDs. Even the single p-n junction in a power LED generates unwanted and unavoidable junction temperatures. Don’t handle it right, and the LED’s light output and color are lousy. With semiconductors, a few too many degrees of junction temperature can slice a device’s expected life in half. And if you don’t properly account for the different thermal expansion characteristics of disparate materials mating in an IC, they’ll ultimately degrade then destroy the device. In short, thermal management is a big part of your electronic component or system design engineer’s lot in life. And you can expect more and more heat management problems affecting your design efforts because ours is a faster is better (and hotter) world. Which also happens to be the starting gate for today’s Check It Out white paper “Ten Good Reasons Why Thermal Measurements Are Important To Your Design,” written by Andras Poppe of Mentor Graphics. This is a short paper, some 8 pages long, and it is well done. It approaches its highly complex subject with a technical matter-of-factness that’ll appeal to the semiconductor designer as well as any reasonably informed engineer whose duties only touch upon thermal management issues in electronic components from time to time. Each of the 10 reasons is handled quickly in a “here’s a reason, here’s why it’s important to your design processes” format. The reasons called out range from the apparent to the sublime, such as insuring against premature product failures, complying with industry standards, creating higher quality products, refining and optimizing library models, publishing accurate (and verifiable) product data, and controlling environmental variables. A particularly notable section addresses developing compact models for better simulations. This thermal management reason exposes one of the key elements of this paper: the synergy between physical and virtual testing. See, nominally this paper is collateral for the company’s MicReD T3Ster (say it “Trister”), a turnkey thermal measurement system for characterizing semiconductor device packages and electronic systems. But as is its wont, Mentor Graphics focuses on providing good engineering information, mentioning its products just a handful of times when necessary to illustrate a given discussion. Here in this section, Poppe explains how a T3Ster can measure and graph the heat path from one resistance through a capacitance to another resistance. With this step-wise data acquired, you can evaluate the performance of individual materials and, eventually, have sufficient data to model the thermal impedance of the heat-flow path with a tool such as FloTHERM, Mentor Graphics’s CFD (computational fluid dynamics) software for electronic component applications. Quite simply, this paper is filled with good, thought-provoking information presented cleanly and without hoopla. And that is what makes this an enjoyable read. Hit the link over there to download “Ten Good Reasons Why Thermal Measurements Are Important To Your Design.” Thanks, Pal. – Lockwood Anthony J. Lockwood Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering

American fashion retailer Target has just announced an exciting collaboration with fashion’s enfant terrible par excellence, Jean Paul Gaultier, launching an exclusive capsule collection that will hit Target stores in Australia and online on March 11, 2016. The unconventional Jean Paul Gaultier for Target Australia collection will include over 100 products, ranging from womenswear and menswear to lingerie, homeware and children’s clothing. Gaultier x Target limited edition will celebrate the 57-year-old designer’s iconic quirky style, with price tags ranging from $17.99 to $199.99. We are thus about to get Galutier’s signature looks, such as the Breton-inspired motifs, classic trench coats and more unconventional pieces with a punk rock attitude at some extremely affordable prices. According to Target, the line-up “pays tribute to the American woman –celebrating the forces of style both past and present in American pop culture,” and gives its customers an eclectic range of possibilities. Regarding this thrilling partnership, Jean Paul Gaultier, declared to be more than enthusiastic about getting involved with the Australian fashion culture, as “every time I’ve been to Australia I’ve been impressed by the laid-back, unstuffy confidence that Australians display with their fashion – it resonates with my design philosophy and has such synergy with my own approach to fashion and style. I have looked for inspiration in many ways but one of the constants is the street and what people are wearing. I believe in fashion that you can wear every day, not just on a catwalk.” Gaultier x Target could thus be described as a fancy mixture of Target’s philosophy, Gaultier’s sense of style and Australia’s streetwear fashion. Gaultier’s upcoming capsule collection will also be Target Designer Collaboration Program’s third partnership, since the program launched in 2008 with Alexander McQueen being the first participant. Besides its Designer Collaboration Program, Target has a long history of high-low collaborations, which date back to 2003 when Isaac Mizrahi, Liz Claiborne’s creative director, teamed up with Target on its first capsule collection ever, thus paving the way for designers such as Stella McCartney and Dion Lee to unite forces with the American retailer. The Managing Director of Target Australia, Mr. Stuart Machin, stated to be proud of having the French designer as a part of Target’s Designer Program, as he will fill Australia’s streets with an eclectic haute couture attitude. “The collaboration with Jean Paul Gaultier is another example of our determination to help make quality fashion affordable for every day Australians.” Gaultier, who became worldwide famous after creating Madonna’s unforgettable cone bra corset, seems to be unstoppable. Recently, he has in fact also teamed up with Japanese retailer Seven and I Holdings, designing a ready-to-wear 50-piece womenswear capsule collection that was officially launched on October 1st (the price tags were affordable, too). Given the fact that Target Australia’s recent partnership with Dion Lee was a huge success, even despite its controversial advertisement campaign, Gaultier x Target definitively has all the chances to get sold out instantly! Photo courtesy of Zimbio

The Newest Summer Accessory: How the iPhone Can Make Your Summer Even Better Summertime is for many things. It is a time to laugh with close friends as you listen to the fresh new seasonal music, which has an erie semblance to the fresh new music of most summers preceding. It is a time to go on lengthy and extravagant vacations to distant destinations. It is a time to sit back and get massages while you gingerly sip from a refreshing…. Ok, let's be honest. I don’t imagine that this actually describes any of our summertimes, especially not in this economic climate - however, if it does, I would politely/jealously ask that you never come near this site again. Instead, most of us are likely spending our days tirelessly working, so that we can make it to the weekends and catch up on all our leftover work. Regardless of our precise individual schedules, I think we can all agree that summer just isn’t what it used to be. But c'mon, that can't be the end of it. We can't consign ourselves to a life of joyless summers and actual responsibility! There has to be something we can do to have more free time, right? Well there is, and here it is…the 3 apps to help you get the boring stuff out of life's way as efficiently as possible. (And following that, the 2 apps to use once you get there.) Todo-The best todo app there is. (Fitting that it should be named so.) For some reason, I am obsessed with keeping my home screen the way it was when I got it. That means it all stays...the stocks app I never use, the Youtube app I rarely have the bandwith to use, and the phone app which rarely lights up (cue small violin.) So that leaves one spot. One opening for an app that is not native to the phone, but rocks my world enough to be the first thing I see when I turn that sucker on...and this is it. Trust me, it will help you to do more stuff...I mean, it has to right? Whack pack- Possibly the most hesitant purchase I have ever made. I am usually not a fan of all the new age, feel good, synergy type stuff, but this app really does help you rethink and reexamine a lot of ways in which you think and work. If you are involved in creative work, or management, or if you are a member of the human race...you need to try this out. Bottom line is; it makes you work more effectively and smarter; and as long as your not getting paid by the hour, that’s a good thing. Awesome note-If an app is gonna replace something the iPhone already does for free, it better be dang good at it, and luckily this is. It is most beneficial for those of us with bad memories (those who must access imdb, Wikipedia or google more than two times a day for general knowledge which is just on the tip of your tongue... so, basically everybody). It has a really great UI, and I don't say this much...but Apple could take some notes....eh, eh, yeah I know that was lame. And now the apps to enjoy after all that creative, annotated, todo-ing is over with... Rolando 2-I am not prone to hyperbole, but this is the single greatest achievement of humankind. No apologies. No clarification. It just is. Play it, now. I'll wait. See?! There is no competition out there for this game, it is simply the best out there. You deserve this level of entertainment. How long have we wanted a Proffesor Layton for the iPhone, or some other console exclusive title for our little engines that could? Well now, let those high-falutin X-box 360 and PS3 owners look on in lust as we enjoy something they never will...unless...they buy one too. In which case, they win again... Stanza- This is a great app, and its free! I know what your thinking. "You promised us fun and a reprieve from the work." Well, I promise you...reading doesnt have to be a strain...it can be fun. And while reading on an electronic device can be strenous at times, this is about as good as it gets. There you have it folks! Good luck not working too hard this summer! What do you guys think? What helps you while away the warm sunny days of summertime?

TOKYO—As Japanese companies ramp up purchases of foreign companies, synthetic-fiber maker Toray Industries Inc. TRYIY -0.63 % said Friday that it was moving forward on two separate acquisitions, one in the U.S. and one in South Korea. The two deals combined could be valued at approximately $1 billion. The two deals in a day for Toray came shortly after Lixil Group Corp. 5938 -0.38 % , Japan's biggest housing-material maker, announced a $4.14 billion purchase of Europe's leading shower and faucet maker—a few months after snapping up the parent of U.S. toilet maker American Standard. The recent flurry of activity follows a series of transactions by Japanese companies. Earlier this month, Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd. 2587 -1.11 % signed a $2.1 billion deal to buy GlaxoSmithKline GSK -0.72 % PLC's drinks brands, and drug and food maker Otsuka Holdings Co. OTSKY -1.39 % said it would buy U.S. cancer-drug maker Astex Pharmaceuticals Inc. for about $886 million. People familiar with the matter said Recruit Holdings Co. is in talks to acquire Australia's Freelancer.com for $400 million. Over the past few years, Japanese companies have been on an M&A binge thanks to the strong yen. When the Japanese currency started to weaken earlier this year on the back of the economic policies of Prime Minister Shinzo Ab, outbound acquisition activity fell off. Year to date, there has been a total of 447 deals valued at $36 billion compared with $62 billion during the same period last year, according to Dealogic. Activity appears to have picked up again in recent weeks, as corporate sentiment improved. In September alone, Japanese companies spent $9.4 billion on outbound deals, the highest monthly figure this year, Dealogic said. "There's clearly more optimism now than even in February or March," said Kenneth Lebrun, a partner and M&A expert at Shearman & Sterling LLP in Tokyo. "M&A is ultimately a game of confidence. When CEOs and boards feel confident, they do deals." Bankers also say that, regardless of shifts in the exchange rate, various structural factors, such as Japan's shrinking population, will push Japanese companies to expand overseas into faster-growing markets. Toray has no particularly noteworthy track record on big outbound M&As in recent years, rather its overseas business has taken the form of joint ventures in areas of chemicals, textiles and carbon fiber. But seeking business opportunities in growth areas, it didn't necessarily shy away from megadeals either. It has already said it has ¥200 billion ($2.04 billion) in its M&A war chest under its three-year business plan through March 2014. Anticipating growing demand for synthetic fibers in Asian nations, Toray said Friday its Seoul-based unit has obtained preferential rights to buy a 56.2% stake Woongjin Chemical Co., a maker of synthetic fiber and water-treatment filters, which has a market capitalization of $489 million. Toray declined to go into details including what the bidding price or the premium would be, but Korean local media reported the deal would amount to $400 million. Earlier on Friday, Toray said it had agreed to buy smaller rival Zoltek Companies Inc. for $584 million, in a move to tap into growing demand for less-expensive fiber used in car production and alternative energy technology. St. Louis-based Zoltek and Toray each specialize in different types of carbon-fiber production. Zoltek produces large tow carbon fiber materials, which are commonly used in wind-turbine blades and automotive parts, while Toray produces higher-end carbon-fiber materials used in fuel-efficient jetliners flying long-haul routes. The move will help solidify Toray's position as the top provider of carbon fiber in the global market, by allowing it to expand into areas it isn't involved in. "Under its unique marketing strategy distinguished from that of regular tow manufacturers, Zoltek has recently realized outstanding growth in its business," Toray. Demand for carbon fiber materials, which are lighter and stronger than sheet steel and aluminum, has started to pick up again after orders slumped in the wake of the global financial crisis. Toray, which provides carbon-fiber materials to Boeing Co.'s new 787 Dreamliner, said global demand for carbon fiber is expected to grow at an annual pace of at least 15%, with demand coming not only from lightweight jets but also from much broader applications such as in the mass-production of vehicles as well as industries related to alternative energy. "As Toray's strength is in high-end carbon fiber, Zoltek's strength in low-end carbon products will offer advantageous synergy effects. Demand for carbon fiber in a midprice range will likely rise as the demand from the automobile industry will likely increase in the future," said Mitsushige Akino, fund manager at Ichiyoshi Asset Management. "Also as the purchase amount is relatively small, Toray should be able to finance the deal on its own," he added. By its own estimate, Toray held the biggest share of the global market at 31% in 2011. Its smaller domestic rivals include Teijin Ltd. and Mitsubishi Rayon Co. —Yumi Otagaki contributed to this article Write to Hiroyuki Kachi at firstname.lastname@example.org and Kana Inagaki at email@example.com

Online Since 1997. Please also check out Kasten Yacht Design. Home | Intro | Our Design Process | Stock Design Info | Motor Yacht Designs | Sailing Yacht Designs | Prototype Designs Plans List | Articles | Our CAD Design Stream | Maxsurf | News..! | SITE MAP..! | Site Search | Design Team | Contact Us Please see our AVAILABLE BOAT PLANS web page An Overview of a Few Common ROLL ATTENUATION STRATEGIES For Motor Yachts and Motor Sailers Copyright 2002 - 2012 Michael Kasten This article was originally prepared as a response to a post to the Trawler World mailing list on the subject of Twin Keels and Roll Reduction. The following includes a brief description of the research done by Lord Riverdale and others regarding the benefits of Twin Keels and other roll reduction strategies. Please see my web article Beam vs. Ballast for a general discussion of how static stability relates to dynamic stability and roll motion. The 'Twin Keel' Research of Lord Riverdale Naval architect Pat Bray and yacht designer Ted Brewer have been proponents of Twin Keels; Ted Brewer for sail boats, and Pat Bray for both sail boats and power boats. The many points offered by Bray and Brewer in favor of Twin Keels for sailing yachts were originally researched by the late Lord Riverdale, whose conclusions were published in a technical paper offered to the Royal Institute of Naval Architects on December 15, 1967. During the 45 years prior to writing that paper, Lord Riverdale had designed, built, and sailed a series of twin keel sail boats dating from 1922 called "Bluebird" and "Bluebird of Thorne." The last "Bluebird of Thorne" in the series, Lord Riverdale developed in cooperation with British designer Arthur Robb. The last Bluebird of Thorne, built in steel at 50 feet LOA, now resides on nearby Lopez Island (among the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound). During 1995 and 1996 I had the good fortune to be asked by Bluebird's current owners, Jeff and Dianne Dyer of Lopez Island, to create a new interior for the vessel to house the Dyer family and to re-design the deck structures to allow for Jeff's height. Working on the Bluebird of Thorne was a great opportunity to learn first hand the incredible research efforts of Lord Riverdale. He made a significant contribution to the design of twin keels over the course of 45 years of boat building, sailing, research, tank testing and development. Those efforts reached no small degree of perfection with his last Bluebird of Thorne. Lord Riverdale offered the following definitions when referring to twin keel yachts: Twin Keel Type: Has no center keel. Ballast is carried within prominent twin keels. May have either single or twin rudders. Bilge Keel Type: Has a center keel that carries most of the ballast. Bilge keels long and shoal. Single rudder. To this, I would add a sub-category to the "Twin Keel Type" that uses a skeg / rudder combination on center aft; essentially a "third keel" that houses and protects the propeller, and provides robust support to the rudder (as with Boojum). This "three-keel" type is possibly most appropriate for a small power vessel that has roll reduction as its main focus. For a review of the rationale that went into the twin keel arrangement given to Boojum, please see the article, Boojum's Twin Keels. A larger power vessel that makes use of twin engines might effectively eliminate the center keel, and use twin rudders, as did Bluebird. Due to being focused on Twin Keels for sailing vessels, Lord Riverdale in his entire body of research did not see the need to address the benefits that Twin Keels or Bilge Keels might offer in terms of roll reduction, since that is mainly an issue for power vessels. Benefits of Twin Keels... Aside from the obvious benefits offered by twin keels published elsewhere such as when taking the ground, a few points emerge from Lord Riverdale's research that are more subtle, and that may be of some interest to those experimenting with Twin Keels, as defined by Lord Riverdale, on power vessels and motor sailers... * Ballast Location: The keels that were employed on Bluebird (after no small amount of testing) were fairly prominent features, and contained the vessel's ballast. This was for the sake of sailing performance on those vessels. For power vessels, locating the ballast within twin keels has a further benefit: it distributes the mass of the vessel farther from the centerline, augmenting the transverse "roll moment" and providing an inherent "inertial" resistance to rolling. This "inertia effect" is further enhanced by the entrained mass of water in the boundary layer around the keels. These effects were briefly mentioned by Lord Riverdale, but were not of great import to his quest for sailing performance. * Twin Keel Location: The most successful Twin Keels were located approximately amidships, with the root of the keel beginning roughly 45% of the DWL aft, and the largest section being perhaps 60% or more aft. Forward twin keel locations were not favorable, as that location tended to provide poor steering characteristics and a poor wave form at speed. Aft locations were not investigated, as they would not have located the ballast where needed for the sake of proper trim. * Steering Stability: Twin Keels, if located and proportioned correctly, were observed to provide enhanced directional stability, and an enhanced ability to heave-to during heavy weather. Bluebird's Twin Keels were observed to provide improved seakeeping in all conditions. These qualities are a benefit to power vessels as well. * Toe-in: A small amount of "toe-in" seemed to benefit the overall resistance upright as well as under sail. The best results were achieved using a toe in of between 0.5 degree and 1.25 degrees. For Lord Riverdale's purposes, some amount of toe-in was deemed to be desirable for better "lift" to windward when sailing. While upright, the observed benefit to there being some amount of toe-in was attributed to providing better alignment with the under water flow lines. This latter assumption is correct, as larger vessel flow analyses have shown. The amount of toe-in is therefore a variable which will be different with each hull shape, and which will vary with the longitudinal location of the keels. It would be interesting to test the effect of toe-in on yaw while rolling. It is questionable whether any amount of toe-in will benefit a motor vessel, since one would expect to observe that any amount of toe-in would enhance yaw, and therefore be undesirable in terms of directional stability. * Sectional Foil Shape: The Twin Keels chosen for Bluebird were of an asymmetrical foil shape, flat outboard and cambered inboard, much like an airplane wing. This was done in order to achieve greater "lift" when sailing to windward. It is questionable whether asymmetry would provide any benefit to a power vessel. For a power vessel, one would expect that a symmetrical section aimed at providing low drag would be the most appropriate. For a power vessel, one would expect that the foil shape chosen should be "stall tolerant" or able to take a large variation in the angle of attack, and therefore within the 00xx family of NACA shapes. In order to contain the ballast, and also for the sake of being "stall tolerant" one would also expect that the foil would not be too "skinny." For a motor sailer, as has been very adequately proven by Lord Riverdale and others, an asymmetric foil shape will provide the greatest benefit, with the same requirement for "fatness" to contain the ballast, and to be able to tolerate a variety of angles of attack while rolling, so as to avoid a large induced drag due to turbulence. For a motor sailer, one may make use of other NACA foil sections to provide better lift characteristics, keeping in mind the requirement of being "stall tolerant." Other Roll Reduction Strategies... In addition to the benefits that Twin Keels offer to sailing vessels as researched by Lord Riverdale, there have been many tests done on power vessels aimed at quantifying the effects of Bilge Keels, Twin Keels and other stabilizing methods on roll reduction. A few general observations about the most commonly considered methods of roll reduction are as follows: * Sails: Depending on sail area and wind strength, roll reduction can be considerable. We might assume a roll reduction on the order of 40% to 70% depending on sea state, etc. The sails and the rig provide inertial damping even at anchor due to the weight of the rig and its distance from the roll center (increased roll moment of inertia). Sails can contribute significantly to propulsive efficiency, at times completely eliminating the need for the engine. Excellent synergy when motor sailing. Possible as a retro-fit, depending on hull form and stability characteristics. Relatively expensive. Somewhat complex. Fun! * Active Fin Stabilizers: When sized correctly, Naiad claims up to a 90% roll reduction for active stabilizers, depending on vessel speed. Active stabilizers are most effective at maximum vessel speed, less so at lesser speeds, minimally effective with no forward speed. Active stabilizers provide some efficiency loss due to frictional resistance, generally considered to be compensated for by lesser overall resistance of the more stable vessel. Some power draw due to the operation of the hydraulics to actuate the fins, which translates into higher horsepower requirements and greater fuel use. Possible as a retro-fit. Relatively expensive. Relatively complex to install. * Fixed "Twin" Keels: Depending on the twin keel geometry, per research published in Marine Technology, roll reductions have been observed on the order of 40% to 65%. Deeper keels having greater area provide greater attenuation. Low aspect ratio is considered a benefit due to being able to tolerate larger angles of attack (while rolling) without stalling. Location and geometry have been shown to be quite important for optimum vessel handling and resistance, as noted above. Vessel speed does not appear to be important to roll damping. Twin keels will add some frictional resistance due to increased wetted surface area. Enhanced directional stability, if proportioned correctly. Very unlikely as a retro-fit. Relatively inexpensive. Relatively simple. * Fixed "Bilge" Keels: Long, low aspect ratio bilge keels, per research published in Marine Technology, have been observed to offer possible roll reductions on the order of 35% to 55%. Vessel speed is not important to roll damping. There is some added frictional resistance due to increased wetted surface area. If proportioned correctly, bilge keels offer enhanced directional stability. Very common as a retro-fit. Relatively inexpensive. Relatively simple to build. * Paravanes: Per published data from various sources, roll attenuation can be on the order of 40% to 60%. Vessel speed does not appear to be important to roll damping benefit. There is some speed and efficiency loss due to drag of the usual types of paravanes. Drag can be substantially mitigated by use of low-drag paravane design (see below). Loss of one paravane is likely to degrade stability should the vessel be caught in a beam sea with the one remaining paravane to leeward (per research published in Marine Technology). Paravanes are relatively easy to retro-fit. Relatively inexpensive. Medium complexity in use. * Passive Anti-Roll Tanks: According to published research in Marine Technology, in some sea conditions, with optimized tank / vessel design, roll reductions in both amplitude and acceleration on the order of 50% to 60% have been documented. In other sea conditions, the percentage of roll reduction appears to vary considerably. Vessel speed does not appear to be important to roll damping benefit. There does not seem to be any negative effect on vessel speed or efficiency, except of course for the added displacement required to carry the extra deadweight of the tank contents. Anti-roll tanks seem to vary in size from around 1.5% to around 2.5% of a vessel's displacement. If located higher, the overall weight may be able to be less, since the tank will have a greater effect due to being farther from the vessel's center of gravity. Similarly, if the tank is able to be the full width of the vessel, its effect appears to be greater and there may be the potential for a reduction in tank weight. Space requirements are very difficult for small pleasure vessels (say below 60 feet). Possible undesirable effects on stability, depending on the vessel (large free surface effect). Very unlikely as a retro-fit. Possibly noisy. Relatively complex to design correctly (therefore relatively expensive to design). Relatively inexpensive to build. Relatively simple in use. * Single Chine Hull Form: Some degree of roll attenuation is contributed by the single chine hull form itself. A single chine vessel appears to have roughly twice the roll damping ability of a rounded hull form (per published model tests in Marine Technology, performed on vessels having similar hull forms). Roll amplitude will be less; roll acceleration may be greater, rolling will decay more quickly. This effect is viewed as being approximately similar to fitting long shoal draft bilge fins on a rounded hull, except that bilge keels appear to also reduce accelerations. Extremely unlikely as a retro-fit. For new construction, chine shapes are relatively inexpensive by comparison to rounded hull shapes, particularly in metal. Extremely simple. Slightly greater wetted surface. The research mentioned above and the percentages of roll reduction claimed for the various methods have appeared in various issues of Marine Technology, a publication of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, during the last five years. Past issues of Marine Technology are available from SNAME at http://www.sname.org. In our motor vessel, motor sailer and sailing yacht designs, we have used all of the above strategies on various designs, including incorporating an anti-rolling tank on a 40 foot trawler yacht. For more information about those projects, please inquire. Measuring Roll Behavior In terms of roll attenuation, there are of course many variables. What works well on one boat, may not be as effective on another boat. For example, paravane size relative to boat size / displacement / righting energy will definitely affect the results. The percentages quoted above relate in many cases to roll amplitude, which is only one component of rolling behavior... One can isolate several components, as follows: * Amplitude (measured in degrees) * Period (measured in seconds) * Acceleration / deceleration (a result of the above, measured in feet or meters per second squared) * Rate of Decay (number of cycles to rest or to some other benchmark) Among the behavior patterns directly observable from the numerous data sources are the following... The wildest rolling is referred to as synchronous rolling, i.e. rolling in beam seas when the wave period is close to the natural roll period of the boat in question. For example, when a given boat rolls to some extent in harbor, say on receiving the wake of a passing boat, it might not do so given a slightly different wake or wave pattern. Another boat that did not roll so much at a given wake or wave pattern may roll wildly with a different wave pattern or period. The higher percentages for roll attenuation quoted above for any given roll attenuation method (paravanes, keels, etc.) are from measurements of the attenuation of synchronous rolling, and appear to have their effect due to putting the boat out of sync with the wave pattern. The lower percentages in the range of effectiveness quoted appear to be an average of the overall effectiveness. In most of the published research, the majority of measurements were of amplitude. The next most common data quoted were measurements of acceleration. It is interesting (and important) to observe that in some sea states (wave period and wave height both considered) many of the "passive" roll attenuation schemes will in fact at times slightly augment rolling. This reportedly appears to be at small rather than large roll amplitudes, appears to be random, and does not appear to be considered an issue. Synchronous rolling is considered to be the main adversary, and all methods mentioned appear to be effective there. Real World Observations Most commonly, research groups addressed the requirements of commercial vessels, so tended to make use of anti-rolling tanks in combination with relatively long and shoal "bilge keels" or paravanes in combination with bilge keels. These vessels were relatively larger and heavier than typical "trawler yachts." The most effective roll reduction appears to be obtainable when two or more methods are used simultaneously, such as paravanes combined with twin keels, or an anti-rolling tank with either, or say, sails in combination with twin keels, etc. Several of the studies in Marine Technology have been aimed at various combined methods. In all cases reviewed, the tests showed that combining roll attenuation strategies does appear to have a dramatically beneficial effect. A combination of strategies will therefore offer the greatest benefit aboard trawler yachts. A highly effective strategy for trawler yachts might reasonably be the combined use of a single chine hull form, twin keels, a modest get-home sail rig, and paravanes for possible deployment in some conditions. This combination would offer a high degree of roll attenuation, and would be effective over a wide variety of conditions. In way of example this is the combination of roll attenuation strategies given to our Greatheart 48, Valdemar 53, Greatheart 60, Swallow's Nest 60, and Chantage 64 motor yacht designs. A motor sailer with ample sail area can be an ideal platform for the use of twin keels. In terms of resistance or propulsive efficiency, it is interesting to note that, should one be concerned about losing some speed to paravanes, that sails have the ability to increase speed in proportion to the extent the sail rig is employed. Rather than losing a knot or so to paravanes, one can instead gain a knot or so... It is unlikely that one would make use of paravanes at the same time as sails, although paravanes could easily be provided on a motor sailer for use when sailing is not possible. For this use, the mast and the paravane poles will usually be detailed to be economically built of aluminum pipe. The whole design will ideally be kept quite simple, so the rig is economical to build, to maintain, and to travel with. Attention given to reducing the drag of the paravanes themselves should provide significant benefits. Paravane drag can be substantially reduced via the use of foil shaped paravane surfaces. I have designed such a set of low drag NACA 00xx series foil shaped paravanes for Charles Vollum for use on the 25 foot Boojum. The paravane body, wings and fin are accurate high-lift low-drag foil shapes. Sea trials have verified the effectiveness of this strategy in terms of reduced drag. The foil shaped paravanes are also able to maximize lift for the greatest stabilization effect. We estimate that these foil shaped paravanes cut the amount of drag in half as compared to typical crudely shaped steel paravanes made out of flat plate and a cylindrical weight chamber. We have developed NACA foil paravanes in three sizes, as follows: LARGE NACA FOIL PARAVANES Plan square area is 383 square inches for the wings, not counting the bulb. Weight is 79 lb., of which approx. 19.5 lb. is lead in the nose of the bulb. Appropriate for boats up to approximately 50 to 65' on deck by 15' of beam, depending on displacement. MEDIUM NACA FOIL PARAVANES Plan square area is 233 square inches for the wings, not counting the bulb. Weight is approximately 40 lb., of which approx. 10 lb. is lead in the nose of the bulb. Appropriate for boats up to approximately 35 to 50' on deck by 12' of beam, depending on displacement. SMALL NACA FOIL PARAVANES Plan square area is 138 square inches for the wings, not counting the bulb. Weight is 17.5 lb., of which approx. 4.25 lb. is lead in the nose of the bulb. Appropriate for boats up to approximately 35' on deck by 10' of beam, depending on displacement. All of these low-drag paravanes make use of NACA foil shaped surfaces combined with a lead ballasted NACA foil shaped bulb. They are balanced and are adjustable for different speeds. These paravanes are designed to be machined out of marine grade aluminum plate and rod so they are lighter for a given wing area than steel paravanes would be. The sizes given above are conservatively rated. In other words each size can be used on a larger vessel than is indicated. It is all a matter of degree. The roll attenuation will simply be more or it will be less, as compared to that of a larger or smaller wing area. Their effectiveness is a function of wing area and pole length vs. your vessel’s righting moment. With a larger the vessel the poles can be made longer, achieving greater leverage, therefore a greater effect for the same size paravane. For more information about these low drag paravanes, please inquire. For our NACA foil paravane design prices, please see our Plans List page. Anti Rolling Tanks On vessels above, say, 60 feet it is possible that the use of anti-roll tanks may be preferred over the use of paravanes, primarily due to the large forces involved in terms of being able to easily handle the paravane rig. Anti-roll tanks operate by allowing water to slosh (passive type) or by pumping water (active type) from side to side out of sync with the wave induced roll of the ship. There are several different styles of each. Anti-roll tanks must be designed carefully, sized right, tuned to the ship, and then tweaked to match the anticipated conditions. For vessels below around 60 feet LOA, the space, weight and stability requirements of anti-roll tanks may prove to be prohibitive. For example, a 50,000 pound boat would need around a half ton of water in an anti-roll tank located at least as high as deck level. For supply vessels, research vessels or fishing vessels, all of which spend some amount of time at sea while not making any headway, anti-roll tanks can make a lot of sense. For example, per published data in Marine Technology, the combination of anti-roll tanks and bilge keels have been shown to be capable of reducing roll amplitude and accelerations by as much as 90% in some sea conditions. In spite of their potential benefits, as a retro-fit anti-roll tanks are a very unlikely solution. During new construction however, there may possibly be justification for their use, since they can then be more gracefully incorporated into the design. Most larger yachts will favor active stabilizers... providing an "off the shelf" solution that's very effective under way. When the vessel is not moving forward however, active stabilizers don't provide much, if any, benefit. Naiad has however developed a system that is claimed to have reasonably good effect at anchor. If first cost and maintenance concerns are less of an issue, then certainly active stabies will be an excellent choice, and appear to provide the ultimate in motion comfort under way. Per published data mentioned above, active stabies appear to be capable of providing roll attenuation roughly equal to that of Twin Keels or Bilge Keels in combination with either anti-roll tanks, or paravanes. What About Anti-Rolling Tanks for Smaller Boats...? While the displacement penalty of an anti rolling tank may not seem to be a big deal in some cases, the positioning of an anti-rolling tank is usually very problematic in terms of the accommodations, deck space, etc. Many anti-roll tank geometries have been tried. It seems that the simpler the approach, the better. Active tanks that pump water around do not appear to be optimum, since the water pumping requirements may be quite extreme, therefore they tend to be expensive, noisy, and power hungry. The most viable "active" system appears to be one that is configured as a broad "U" tank that is joined by an air tube across the top, having a valve that's controlled by the ship's gyro. It should go without saying that these are complex and expensive to set up even aboard larger ships. For the sake of simplicity and economy, it appears that passive tanks may be the best. Among them the simple "H" tank seems likely to be the most easily implemented with the least impact on the vessel layout, etc. If the budget allows a slightly more sophisticated system, then there may be other possible configurations, and with them, the possibility of improved roll reduction as noted above. The simplest tank, in the form of a broad "H" will have a large volume tank (perhaps twice the volume of the contained liquid in its capacity) at each end, joined by a somewhat narrower "slot" which forms the cross bar of the "H." In some designs, the "cross bar" of the "H" may be less narrow, and may instead be heavily baffled. There must be a good spot onboard, ideally offering the full width of the ship, and as a rule of thumb about 20% as high as that off the water. We have used this type of anti-rolling tank on our 40' Coaster design, and reports are that the tank is quite effective. Anti rolling tanks need to be planned quite carefully. The weight of water in the tank must be able to be tolerated in terms of the stability of the boat, as well as the "free surface" effect of the water as it sloshes back and forth. The trick seems to be to get the slosh to happen out of sync with the roll of the boat. The stability of the boat must be known precisely in order to know the correct proportions of the tank, the weight of water required for roll reduction, whether the boat can tolerate the lessened stability effect of the tank, etc. For a motor yacht, if thorough calculations show that the applicable criteria can be met with an anti-rolling tank in place, then the vessel may be a workable platform for an anti-rolling tank. Given adequate knowledge of a vessel's stability, and given the willingness to invest in the cost of planning a proper solution, anti-roll tanks may possibly be able to be integrated into smaller craft. The real benefit of a passive anti rolling tank is that it can provide a system that does not degrade the propulsive efficiency of the vessel in order to achieve roll reduction. Several studies appear to have shown the opposite, i.e. that if a vessel can be kept from heavy rolling, efficiency seems to be increased. Until they become commonplace, the cost of proper planning will likely keep anti-rolling tanks from being a strong contender among the other roll attenuation options mentioned here. It is an unfortunate fact that in North America quite a number of builders (and no small number of designers) simply do not have any idea what the stability figures are for their boats. Builders are generally not willing to invest in the "design time" to find out. This claim may sound surprising... I have to agree! If you dare to know the truth about this, by all means ask your builder or designer for the vessel's "Weight Summary" and "Stability Report." In many cases - especially for older designs - the information will simply not exist. At the very least, an offshore motor yacht should meet or exceed the minimum Stability Criteria established by the IMO (International Maritime Organization). In recent years we have seen increasing use of the IMO Extended Weather Criteria which heavily penalizes excess windage and low freeboard. Alternative and equally rigorous are criteria within the US Code of Federal Regulations (46 CFR), as used by the US Coast Guard. These criteria do not merely offer simple "range of positive stability" requirements. Both the CFR and the IMO provide for measurement of the vessel's righting energy represented (by convention) as the measurement of the area below the stability curve within various prescribed ranges of heel; the initial GM of the vessel; the position of maximum righting arm measured in degrees of heel; the amount of "reserve" righting energy available to meet extremes of wind and wave; degrees of heel to deck edge immersion and to downflooding. In the European Union the Recreational Craft Directive requires that motor yachts and sailing yachts meet certain minimum stability criteria. For motor yachts, it is the ISO-12217-2 standard, which outlines a requirement for the range of positive stability, minimum downflooding angle, and several other parameters, then assigns a "category" of allowable operations for the vessel, with the highest being "all ocean" or Category "A". For sailing yachts, ISO-12217-1 outlines a minimum STIX value (Stability Index), which is based on a number of parameters such as the range of positive stability, the amount of "area" below the righting curve, the downflooding angle, sail area, beam, draft, etc. A sailboat that qualifies for Category "A" or "all ocean" voyaging must have a STIX value above 32. For a summary of what information should be included, please see our article on Essential Design Data. For a general discussion of how static stability relates to dynamic stability and roll motion please also see our article Beam vs. Ballast. 25' Boojum with Paravanes deployed. Please see our AVAILABLE BOAT PLANS web page. 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Asbury Park, NJ (PressExposure) January 14, 2010 -- Change, directed by Jay Rodriguez, has been accepted into the 4th annual Texas Black Film Festival, TBFF. The film was shot in Asbury Park & Neptune, New Jersey, in late October â09. Jay Rodriguez, Jeff Cucciniello and Sophie Lily Weinstein produced the film in collaboration with Gruntled Entertainment. âFrom conception to film festival, Change has been an incredible experienceâ, said Sophie Lily Weinstein âWhen I first read the script I was immediately drawn in. The characters experience true change and growth which Jay skillfully captured on film.â The short film written by Sean Ryan and Jay Rodriguez is a dramatic narrative about two inner city teens that battle the realities of poverty, drug addiction and the perpetual threat of violence while navigating the conflicting pull of their consciences. Willie Roach, R&B artist and design genius behind Sole Creators and Jersey Stand Up, made a special guest appearance in the film. Roach outfitted the cast with custom jackets made exclusively for the project, which are available to the public by special order. The Texas Black Film Festival will host three (3) full days of entertaining and insightful films, workshops, and events. The family friendly festival inspired by the African-American experience, provides filmmakers from around the world an opportunity to reach audiences, which are seldom seen through major theatrical release. The films, divided into four categories, features, shorts, documentaries, and animation with be screened in 2 hour blocks. Tickets can be purchased at the festival website. http://www.texasblackfilmfestival.com For media inquires contact Sophie Lily Weinstein at Sophielilyweinstein@gmail.com ABOUT JAY RODRIGUEZ Jay Rodriguez Jr., award winning director/producer/ cinematographer, is a self-taught filmmaker. Jay opened his production company, Itchy House Films, in 2005. That same year, he won Best Comedy Cinematographer for his work in âBrain Stormâ at the annual Movie Making Madness Short Film Competition. In June of â09 Jayâs work as Director of Photography on the short film, âVisitingâ which received top billing as an Official Selection at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in Palm Springs, CA. ABOUT SOPHIE LILY WEINSTEIN Sophie Lily Weinstein, Founder & CCO of Synergy Media,S3M, L.L.C., a bi-costal boutique sports, entertainment & lifestyle public relations firm. Sophie Lily has a diversified portfolio that reaches across all genres of media. ABOUT JEFF CUCCINELLO Jeff Cucciniello is the owner and operator of JEVCO Studios. His music productions & mixes have been featured in award winning dance competitions throughout the East Coast. Jeff's portfolio includes DJ mixes, original electronic and hip-hop music productions, commercials, and short films.

Palm Pixi Specs In many ways, the Pixi is to the Pre what the Centro was to the Treo. In some ways it’s the same phone, in others it’s a different beast. And a svelte beast this one is. Like the Pre, the Pixi features EVDO Rev. A, the touch sensitive gesture area, a full QWERTY keyboard, GPS, 3.5 mm headset jack, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 8 GB of storage space (~7 GB user available), a MicroUSB port, proximity sensor, light sensor, accelerometer, ringer switch, the same 1150 mAh battery, and the same complement of Sprint services (NFL Mobile Live, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Sprint TV, Sprint Navigation, etc). Where the Pixi most obviously differs is in layout. The phone is a slate-style device, featuring an exposed keyboard up front with an 18-bit color 320x400 pixel capacitive multi-touch display measuring 2.63 inches across. For comparison, the Pre’s screen is a 3.1 inch 320x480 screen, while the iPhone’s is 3.5 inches. The below-screen gesture area from the Pre carries over to the Pixi (we can likely expect it on all future webOS phones), though the card view button is not present - you now tap in the gesture area to pop up to the card view. Finally, the Pixi has a 2 megapixel camera with flash, compared to the Pre's 3 megapixel camera with flash. The Pixi also lacked the Pre's "extended depth of field" camera functionality. The Pixi is also notably slimmer than most every other smartphone on the market. It is just 10.85 mm thin, less than the 12.3 mm iPhone 3Gs and the 16.95 mm Palm Pre. In fact, the Pixi is smaller in ever dimension than the iPhone and just a centimeter taller than a closed Pre. Complete dimensions are 10.85 mm deep, 111 mm tall, and 55 mm wide. At 99.5 g (3.51 oz), the Pixi is also one of the lightest smartphones out there. For comparison, the iPhone 3Gs and Palm Pre both tip the scales at 135 g (4.8 oz). Outward appearance isn’t the only place the Pixi differs from the Pre. The new phone sports Qualcomm’s new 'high-performance' MSM7627 chipset. In fact, it’s the first handset to launch with the new chipset, which Palm worked with Qualcomm to design. The Pixi also features and omission from the Pre, something that points to it slotting a lower-end status in Palm’s line-up: there’s no WiFi. While we don’t think that’s particularly cool, that and the smaller screen are two ways for Palm to easily differentiate the Pixi as a lower tier device than the Pre. Changes aren’t just in the land of hardware, though. webOS will be seeing an update in the form of Yahoo! and LinkedIn joining Synergy. LinkedIn will bring full contact synchronization, even with details such as job titles. Yahoo sync will bring their contacts, calendar, and IM to the Pre. Both new additions will integrate with existing contacts to form the same unified contacts as webOS on the Pre, while Yahoo’s calendars will slot in with Google, Exchange, and Palm Profile and Yahoo IM will blend seamlessly with Google Talk, AIM, and SMS/MMS in the unified Messaging app. Oh, and support for Yahoo email will now be built in, with push!

About Mpc Products Hotfrog Singapore provides information regarding Mpc Products in Singapore. Mpc Products is located at Singapore and provides Engineering services. Contact them on 65 338 7080 or by visiting them on their website http://www.WOODWARD-MPC.com. Is Mpc Products in Singapore your business? Claim your listing and attract more leads by adding more content, photos and other business details. We have more Engineering services in Singapore available on Hotfrog Singapore. You can update your search for Engineering by location, keyword or service options. More companies in Singapore, Singapore Blk 531 Upper Cross Street, #02-55 Hong Lim Complex Singapore 050531 25 Kaki Bukit Road 4 Synergy @ KB, #06-47 Singapore 417800 7-B Crane Road Singapore 429356 167 Jalan Bukit Merah, #05-12, Tower 4, The Connection Tiong Bahru Singapore 150167

Most Cited Physics of the Dark Universe Articles The most cited articles published since 2011, extracted from Scopus. Two emission mechanisms in the Fermi Bubbles: A possible signal of annihilating dark matterDan Hooper | Tracy R. Slatyer Volume 2, Issue 3, September 2013, Pages 118-138 We study the variation of the spectrum of the Fermi Bubbles with Galactic latitude. Far from the Galactic plane (|b| ≳ 30°), the observed gamma-ray emission is nearly invariant with latitude, and is consistent with arising from inverse Compton scattering of the interstellar radiation field by cosmic-ray electrons with an approximately power-law spectrum. The same electrons in the presence of microgauss-scale magnetic fields can also generate the the observed microwave "haze". At lower latitudes (|b| ≲ 20°), in contrast, the spectrum of the emission correlated with the Bubbles possesses a pronounced spectral feature peaking at ~1-4GeV (in E2dN/dE) which cannot be generated by any realistic spectrum of electrons. Instead, we conclude that a second (non-inverse-Compton) emission mechanism must be responsible for the bulk of the low-energy, low-latitude emission. This second component is spectrally similar to the excess GeV emission previously reported from the Galactic Center (GC), and also appears spatially consistent with a luminosity per volume falling approximately as r-2.4, where r is the distance from the GC. Consequently, we argue that the spectral feature visible in the low-latitude Bubbles is most likely the extended counterpart of the GC excess, now detected out to at least ~2-3 kpc from the GC. The spectrum and angular distribution of the signal is broadly consistent with that predicted from ~10GeV dark matter particles annihilating to leptons, or from ~50GeV dark matter particles annihilating to quarks, following a distribution similar to, but slightly steeper than, the canonical Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) profile. We also consider millisecond pulsars as a possible astrophysical explanation for the signal, as observed millisecond pulsars possess a spectral cutoff at approximately the required energy. Any such scenario would require a large population of unresolved millisecond pulsars extending at least 2-3 kpc from the GC. © 2013 The Authors. Encyclopædia InflationarisJérÔme Martin | Christophe Ringeval | Vincent Vennin Volume 5-6, Issue , December 2014, Pages 75-235 © 2014 The Authors.The current flow of high accuracy astrophysical data, among which are the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) measurements by the Planck satellite, offers an unprecedented opportunity to constrain the inflationary theory. This is however a challenging project given the size of the inflationary landscape which contains hundreds of different scenarios. Given that there is currently no observational evidence for primordial non-Gaussianities, isocurvature perturbations or any other non-minimal extension of the inflationary paradigm, a reasonable approach is to consider the simplest models first, namely the slow-roll single field models with minimal kinetic terms. This still leaves us with a very populated landscape, the exploration of which requires new and efficient strategies. It has been customary to tackle this problem by means of approximate model independent methods while a more ambitious alternative is to study the inflationary scenarios one by one. We have developed the new publicly available runtime library ASPIC11http://cp3.irmp.ucl.ac.be/ ringeval/aspic.html. to implement this last approach. The ASPIC code provides all routines needed to quickly derive reheating consistent observable predictions within this class of scenarios. ASPIC has been designed as an evolutive code which presently supports 74 different models, a number that may be compared with three or four representing the present state of the art. In this paper, for each of the ASPIC models, we present and collect new results in a systematic manner, thereby constituting the first Encyclopædia Inflationaris. Finally, we discuss how this procedure and ASPIC could be used to determine the best model of inflation by means of Bayesian inference. Gamma ray signals from dark matter: Concepts, status and prospectsTorsten Bringmann | Christoph Weniger Volume 1, Issues 1-2, November 2012, Pages 194-217 Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) remain a prime candidate for the cosmological dark matter (DM), even in the absence of current collider signals that would unambiguously point to new physics below the TeV scale. The self-annihilation of these particles in astronomical targets may leave observable imprints in cosmic rays of various kinds. In this review, we focus on gamma rays which we argue to play a pronounced role among the various possible messengers. We discuss the most promising spectral and spatial signatures to look for, give an update on the current state of gamma-ray searches for DM and an outlook concerning future prospects. We also assess in some detail the implications of a potential signal identification for particle DM models as well as for our understanding of structure formation. Special emphasis is put on the possible evidence for a 130 GeV line-like signal that we recently identified in the data of the Fermi gamma-ray space telescope. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. Exploring the role of axions and other WISPs in the dark universeAndreas Ringwald Volume 1, Issues 1-2, November 2012, Pages 116-135 Axions and other very weakly interacting slim particles (WISPs) may be non-thermally produced in the early universe and survive as constituents of the dark universe. We describe their theoretical motivation and their phenomenology. A huge region in parameter space spanned by their couplings to photons and their masses can give rise to the observed cold dark matter abundance. A wide range of experiments - direct dark matter searches exploiting microwave cavities, searches for solar axions or WISPs, and light-shining-through-a-wall searches - can probe large parts of this parameter space in the foreseeable future. © 2012. Numerical simulations of the dark universe: State of the art and the next decadeMichael Kuhlen | Mark Vogelsberger | Raul Angulo Volume 1, Issues 1-2, November 2012, Pages 50-93 We present a review of the current state of the art of cosmological dark matter simulations, with particular emphasis on the implications for dark matter detection efforts and studies of dark energy. This review is intended both for particle physicists, who may find the cosmological simulation literature opaque or confusing, and for astro-physicists, who may not be familiar with the role of simulations for observational and experimental probes of dark matter and dark energy. Our work is complementary to the contribution by Baldi in this issue, which focuses on the treatment of dark energy and cosmic acceleration in dedicated N-body simulations.Truly massive dark matter-only simulations are being conducted on national supercomputing centers, employing from several billion to over half a trillion particles to simulate the formation and evolution of cosmologically representative volumes (cosmic scale) or to zoom in on individual halos (cluster and galactic scale). These simulations cost millions of core-hours, require tens to hundreds of terabytes of memory, and use up to petabytes of disk storage. Predictions from such simulations touch on almost every aspect of dark matter and dark energy studies, and we give a comprehensive overview of this connection. We also discuss the limitations of the cold and collisionless DM-only approach, and describe in some detail efforts to include different particle physics as well as baryonic physics in cosmological galaxy formation simulations, including a discussion of recent results highlighting how the distribution of dark matter in halos may be altered. We end with an outlook for the next decade, presenting our view of how the field can be expected to progress. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. Double-Disk Dark MatterJiJi Fan | Andrey Katz | Lisa Randall | Matthew Reece Volume 2, Issue 3, September 2013, Pages 139-156 Based on observational tests of large scale structure and constraints on halo structure, dark matter is generally taken to be cold and essentially collisionless. On the other hand, given the large number of particles and forces in the visible world, a more complex dark sector could be a reasonable or even likely possibility. This hypothesis leads to testable consequences, perhaps portending the discovery of a rich hidden world neighboring our own. We consider a scenario that readily satisfies current bounds that we call Partially Interacting Dark Matter (PIDM). This scenario contains self-interacting dark matter, but it is not the dominant component. Even if PIDM contains only a fraction of the net dark matter density, comparable to the baryonic fraction, the subdominant component's interactions can lead to interesting and potentially observable consequences. Our primary focus will be the special case of Double-Disk Dark Matter (DDDM), in which self-interactions allow the dark matter to lose enough energy to lead to dynamics similar to those in the baryonic sector. We explore a simple model in which DDDM can cool efficiently and form a disk within galaxies, and we evaluate some of the possible observational signatures. The most prominent signal of such a scenario could be an enhanced indirect detection signature with a distinctive spatial distribution. Even though subdominant, the enhanced density at the center of the galaxy and possibly throughout the plane of the galaxy (depending on precise alignment) can lead to large boost factors, and could even explain a signature as large as the 130 GeV Fermi line. Such scenarios also predict additional dark radiation degrees of freedom that could soon be detectable and would influence the interpretation of future data, such as that from Planck and from the Gaia satellite. We consider this to be the first step toward exploring a rich array of new possibilities for dark matter dynamics. © 2013 The Authors. LHC probes the hidden sectorJoerg Jaeckel | Martin Jankowiak | Michael Spannowsky Volume 2, Issue 3, September 2013, Pages 111-117 In this note we establish LHC limits on a variety of benchmark models for hidden sector physics using 2011 and 2012 data. First, we consider a "hidden'' U(1) gauge boson under which all Standard Model particles are uncharged at tree-level and which interacts with the visible sector either via kinetic mixing or higher dimensional operators. Second, we constrain scalar and pseudo-scalar particles interacting with the Standard Model via dimension five operators and Yukawa interactions, in particular including so-called axion-like particles. In both cases we consider several different final states, including photons, electrons, muons and taus, establishing new constraints for a range of GeV to TeV scale masses. Finally, we also comment on particles with electric charges smaller than e that arise from hidden sector matter. © 2013 The Authors. The characterization of the gamma-ray signal from the central Milky Way: A case for annihilating dark matterTansu Daylan | Douglas P. Finkbeiner | Dan Hooper | Tim Linden | Stephen K N Portillo | Nicholas L. Rodd | Tracy R. Slatyer Volume 12, Issue , June 2016, Pages 1-23 © 2016 Elsevier B.V.Past studies have identified a spatially extended excess of ~1-3 GeV gamma rays from the region surrounding the Galactic Center, consistent with the emission expected from annihilating dark matter. We revisit and scrutinize this signal with the intention of further constraining its characteristics and origin. By applying cuts to the Fermi event parameter CTBCORE, we suppress the tails of the point spread function and generate high resolution gamma-ray maps, enabling us to more easily separate the various gamma-ray components. Within these maps, we find the GeV excess to be robust and highly statistically significant, with a spectrum, angular distribution, and overall normalization that is in good agreement with that predicted by simple annihilating dark matter models. For example, the signal is very well fit by a 36-51 GeV dark matter particle annihilating to bb with an annihilation cross section of σv=(1-3)×10-26cm3/s (normalized to a local dark matter density of 0.4 GeV/cm3). Furthermore, we confirm that the angular distribution of the excess is approximately spherically symmetric and centered around the dynamical center of the Milky Way (within ~0.05 ° of Sgr A*), showing no sign of elongation along the Galactic Plane. The signal is observed to extend to at least ≃10° from the Galactic Center, which together with its other morphological traits disfavors the possibility that this emission originates from previously known or modeled pulsar populations. Direct dark matter detection: The next decadeLaura Baudis Volume 1, Issues 1-2, November 2012, Pages 94-108 Direct dark matter searches are promising techniques to identify the nature of dark matter particles. I describe the future of this field of research, focussing on the question of what can be achieved in the next decade. I will present the main techniques and R&D projects that will allow to build so-called ultimate WIMP detectors, capable of probing spin-independent interactions down to the unimaginably low cross section of 10 48 cm 2, before the irreducible neutrino background takes over. If a discovery is within the reach of a near-future dark matter experiment, these detectors will be able to constrain WIMP properties such as its mass, scattering cross section and possibly spin. With input from the LHC and from indirect searches, direct detection experiments will hopefully allow to determine the local density and to constrain the local phase-space structure of our dark matter halo. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. Next decade of sterile neutrino studiesAlexey Boyarsky | Dmytro Iakubovskyi | Oleg Ruchayskiy Volume 1, Issues 1-2, November 2012, Pages 136-154 We review the status of sterile neutrino dark matter and discuss astrophysical and cosmological bounds on its properties as well as future prospects for its experimental searches. We argue that if sterile neutrinos are the dominant fraction of dark matter, detecting an astrophysical signal from their decay (the so-called 'indirect detection') may be the only way to identify these particles experimentally. However, it may be possible to check the dark matter origin of the observed signal unambiguously using its characteristic properties and/or using synergy with accelerator experiments, searching for other sterile neutrinos, responsible for neutrino flavor oscillations. We argue that to fully explore this possibility a dedicated cosmic mission - an X-ray spectrometer - is needed. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. Searching for low mass dark portal at the LHCHaipeng An | Ran Huo | Lian Tao Wang Volume 2, Issue 1, March 2013, Pages 50-57 Light dark matter with mass smaller than about 10 GeV is difficult to probe from direct detection experiments. In order to have the correct thermal relic abundance, the mediator of the interaction between dark matter and the Standard Model (SM) should also be relatively light, ∼100 GeV. If such a light mediator couples to charged leptons, it would already be strongly constrained by direct searches at colliders. In this work, we consider the scenario of a leptophobic light Z' vector boson as the mediator, and study the the prospect of searching for it at the 8 TeV Large Hadron Collider (LHC). To improve the reach in the low mass region, we perform a detailed study of the processes that the Z' is produced in association with jet, photon, W± and Z0. We show that in the region where the mass of Z' is between 80 and 400 GeV, the constraint from associated production can be comparable or even stronger than the known monojet and dijet constraints. Searches in these channels can be complementary to the monojet search, in particular if the Z' couplings to quarks (gZ') and dark matter (gD) are different. For gD < gZ', we show that there is a larger region of parameter space which has correct thermal relic abundance and a light Z', MZ' ∼ 100 GeV. This region, which cannot be covered by the mono-jet search, can be covered by the resonance searches described in this paper. © 2013 The Authors. The empirical case for 10-GeV dark matterDan Hooper Volume 1, Issues 1-2, November 2012, Pages 1-23 In this article, I summarize and discuss the body of evidence which has accumulated in favor of dark matter in the form of approximately 10-GeV particles. This evidence includes the spectrum and angular distribution of γ-rays from the Galactic Center, the synchrotron emission from the Milky Way's radio filaments, the diffuse synchrotron emission from the Inner Galaxy (the " WMAP Haze" ) and low-energy signals from the direct detection experiments DAMA/LIBRA, CoGeNT and CRESST-II. This collection of observations can be explained by a relatively light dark matter particle with an annihilation cross section consistent with that predicted for a simple thermal relic (σv ∼ 10 26 cm 3/s) and with a distribution in the halo of the Milky Way consistent with that predicted from simulations. Astrophysical explanations for the γ-ray and synchrotron signals, in contrast, have not been successful in accommodating these observations. Similarly, the phase of the annual modulation observed by DAMA/LIBRA (and now supported by CoGeNT) is inconsistent with all known or postulated modulating backgrounds, but are in good agreement with expectations for dark matter scattering. This scenario is consistent with all existing indirect and collider constraints, as well as the constraints placed by CDMS. Consistency with xenon-based experiments can be achieved if the response of liquid xenon to very low-energy nuclear recoils is somewhat suppressed relative to previous evaluations, or if the dark matter possesses different couplings to protons and neutrons. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. Simplified models for dark matter searches at the LHCJalal Abdallah | Henrique Araujo | Alexandre Arbey | Adi Ashkenazi | Alexander Belyaev | Joshua Berger | Celine Boehm | Antonio Boveia | Amelia Brennan | Jim Brooke | Oliver Buchmueller | Matthew Buckley | Giorgio Busoni | Lorenzo Calibbi | Sushil Chauhan | Nadir Daci | Gavin Davies | Isabelle De Bruyn | Paul De Jong | Albert De Roeck | Kees de Vries | Daniele Del Re | Andrea De Simone | Andrea Di Simone | Caterina Doglioni | Matthew Dolan | Herbi K. Dreiner | John Ellis | Sarah Eno | Erez Etzion | Malcolm Fairbairn | Brian Feldstein | Henning Flaecher | Eric Feng | Patrick Fox | Marie Hélène Genest | Loukas Gouskos | Johanna Gramling | Ulrich Haisch | Roni Harnik | Anthony Hibbs | Siewyan Hoh | Walter Hopkins | Valerio Ippolito | Thomas Jacques | Felix Kahlhoefer | Valentin V. Khoze | Russell Kirk | Andreas Korn | Khristian Kotov | Shuichi Kunori | Greg Landsberg | Sebastian Liem | Tongyan Lin | Steven Lowette | Robyn Lucas | Luca Malgeri | Sarah Malik | Christopher McCabe | Alaettin Serhan Mete | Enrico Morgante | Stephen Mrenna | Yu Nakahama | Dave Newbold | Karl Nordstrom | Priscilla Pani | Michele Papucci | Sophio Pataraia | Bjoern Penning | Deborah Pinna | Giacomo Polesello | Davide Racco | Emanuele Re | Antonio Walter Riotto | Thomas Rizzo | David Salek | Subir Sarkar | Steven Schramm | Patrick Skubic | Oren Slone | Juri Smirnov | Yotam Soreq | Timothy Sumner | Tim M P Tait | Marc Thomas | Ian Tomalin | Christopher Tunnell | Alessandro Vichi Volume 9-10, Issue , September 2015, Pages 8-23 © 2015.This document a59Summary of the discussions and conclusions following from Dark Matter @ LHC 2014, held at Merton College, Oxford, on September 25-27, 2014. outlines a set of simplified models for dark matter and its interactions with Standard Model particles. It is intended to summarize the main characteristics that these simplified models have when applied to dark matter searches at the LHC, and to provide a number of useful expressions for reference. The list of models includes both s-channel and t-channel scenarios. For s-channel, spin-0 and spin-1 mediations are discussed, and also realizations where the Higgs particle provides a portal between the dark and visible sectors. The guiding principles underpinning the proposed simplified models are spelled out, and some suggestions for implementation are presented. Planck and the local Universe: Quantifying the tensionLicia Verde | Pavlos Protopapas | Raul Jimenez Volume 2, Issue 3, September 2013, Pages 166-175 We use the latest Planck constraints, and in particular constraints on the derived parameters (Hubble constant and age of the Universe) for the local universe and compare them with local measurements of the same quantities. We propose a way to quantify whether cosmological parameters constraints from two different experiments are in tension or not. Our statistic, T, is an evidence ratio and therefore can be interpreted with the widely used Jeffrey's scale. We find that in the framework of the ΛCDM model, the Planck inferred two dimensional, joint, posterior distribution for the Hubble constant and age of the Universe is in ". strong" tension with the local measurements; the odds being ~1:50. We explore several possibilities for explaining this tension and examine the consequences both in terms of unknown errors and deviations from the ΛCDM model. In some one-parameter ΛCDM model extensions, tension is reduced whereas in other extensions, tension is instead increased. In particular, small total neutrino masses are favored and a total neutrino mass above 0.15eV makes the tension ". highly significant" (odds ~1:150). A consequence of accepting this interpretation of the tension is that the degenerate neutrino hierarchy is highly disfavored by cosmological data and the direct hierarchy is slightly favored over the inverse. © 2013 The Authors. Effective theories of gamma-ray lines from dark matter annihilationArvind Rajaraman | Tim M P Tait | Alexander M. Wijangco Volume 2, Issue 1, March 2013, Pages 17-21 We explore theories of dark matter in which dark matter annihilations produce mono-energetic gamma rays (" lines" ) in the context of effective field theory, which captures the physics for cases in which the particles mediating the interaction are somewhat heavier than the dark matter particle itself. Building on earlier work, we explore the generic signature resulting from SU(2) ×. U(1) gauge invariance that two (or more) lines are generically expected, and determine the expected relative intensities, including the possibility of interference between operators. © 2013 The Authors. Semiconductor probes of light dark matterPeter W. Graham | David E. Kaplan | Surjeet Rajendran | Matthew T. Walters Volume 1, Issues 1-2, November 2012, Pages 32-49 Dark matter with mass below about a GeV is essentially unobservable in conventional direct detection experiments. However, newly proposed technology will allow the detection of single electron events in semiconductor materials with significantly lowered thresholds. This would allow detection of dark matter as light as an MeV in mass. Compared to other detection technologies, semiconductors allow enhanced sensitivity because of their low ionization energy around an eV. Such detectors would be particularly sensitive to dark matter with electric and magnetic dipole moments, with a reach many orders of magnitude beyond current bounds. Observable dipole moment interactions can be generated by new particles with masses as great as ∼10 3 TeV, providing a window to scales beyond the reach of current colliders. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. Dark matter coupling to electroweak gauge and Higgs bosons: An effective field theory approachJing Yuan Chen | Edward W. Kolb | Lian Tao Wang Volume 2, Issue 4, December 2013, Pages 200-218 If dark matter is a new species of particle produced in the early universe as a cold thermal relic (a weakly-interacting massive particle-WIMP), its present abundance, its scattering with matter in direct-detection experiments, its present-day annihilation signature in indirect-detection experiments, and its production and detection at colliders, depend crucially on the WIMP coupling to standard-model (SM) particles. It is usually assumed that the WIMP couples to the SM sector through its interactions with quarks and leptons. In this paper we explore the possibility that the WIMP coupling to the SM sector is via electroweak gauge and Higgs bosons. In the absence of an ultraviolet-complete particle-physics model, we employ effective field theory to describe the WIMP-SM coupling. We consider both scalars and Dirac fermions as possible dark-matter candidates. Starting with an exhaustive list of operators up to dimension 8, we present detailed calculation of dark-matter annihilations to all possible final states, including γγ, γZ, γh, ZZ, Zh, W+W-, hh, and ff-, and demonstrate the correlations among them. We compute the mass scale of the effective field theory necessary to obtain the correct dark-matter mass density, and well as the resulting photon line signals. © 2013 The Authors. Dark Energy simulationsMarco Baldi Volume 1, Issues 1-2, November 2012, Pages 162-193 Cosmology is presently facing the deep mystery of the origin of the observed accelerated expansion of the Universe. Be it a cosmological constant, a homogeneous scalar field, or a more complex inhomogeneous field possibly inducing effective modifications of the laws of gravity, such elusive physical entity is indicated with the general term of " Dark Energy" The growing role played by numerical N-body simulations in cosmological studies as a fundamental connection between theoretical modeling and direct observations has led to impressive advancements also in the development and application of specific algorithms designed to probe a wide range of Dark Energy scenarios. Over the last decade, a large number of independent and complementary investigations have been carried out in the field of Dark Energy N-body simulations, starting from the simplest case of homogeneous Dark Energy models up to the recent development of highly sophisticated iterative solvers for a variety of Modified Gravity theories. In this review - which is meant to be complementary to the general Review by Kuhlen et al. (2012) [. 1] published in this Volume - I will discuss the range of scenarios for the cosmic acceleration that have been successfully investigated by means of dedicated N-body simulations, and I will provide a broad summary of the main results that have been obtained in this rather new research field. I will focus the discussion on a few selected studies that have led to particularly significant advancements in the field, and I will provide a comprehensive list of references for a larger number of related works. Due to the vastness of the topic, the discussion will not enter into the finest details of the different implementations and will mainly focus on the outcomes of the various simulations studies. Although quite recent, the field of Dark Energy simulations has witnessed huge developments in the last few years, and presently stands as a reliable approach to the investigation of the fundamental nature of Dark Energy. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. Constraints on dark matter protohalos in effective theories and neutrinophilic dark matterIan M. Shoemaker Volume 2, Issue 3, September 2013, Pages 157-162 The mass of primordial dark matter (DM) protohalos remains unknown. However, the missing satellites problem may be an indication that they are quite large. In this paper, we use effective field theory to map constraints on dark matter-SM interactions into limits on the mass of DM protohalos. Given that leptons remain in the thermal bath until late times, we focus on their interactions with DM. To illustrate the method, we use the null results of LEP missing energy searches along with Fermi-LAT searches for DM annihilation in nearby dwarf galaxies, to derive limits on the protohalo mass, ≲ (10-6 to 10-1)M⊙, with the range depending on the DM mass and the operator. Thus, if DM is to remain thermally coupled until late times and account for the missing satellites, charged lepton interactions are insufficient. This motivates neutrinophilic DM, which can have protohalo masses orders of magnitude larger, with constraints arising from Planck, IceCube and unpublished Super-K data. We show that effective neutrinophilic models offer a viable solution to the missing satellites problem for sub-GeV DM masses with larger than WIMP-sized annihilation cross sections. © 2013 Ian M. Shoemaker. Dark matter debris flows in the Milky WayMariangela Lisanti | David N. Spergel Volume 1, Issues 1-2, November 2012, Pages 155-161 We show that subhalos falling into the Milky Way create a flow of tidally-stripped debris particles near the Galactic center with characteristic speed behavior, but no spatial features. Using the Via Lactea-II N-body simulation, we study the unvirialized component arising from particles that were bound in subhalos around the time of reionization but have since been tidally stripped. These debris particles constitute a few percent of the local density today and have speeds peaked at 340 km/s in the solar neighborhood. This spatially-homogeneous velocity substructure has important implications for surveys of low-metallicity stars, as well as direct detection experiments sensitive to dark matter with large scattering thresholds. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. From gamma ray line signals of dark matter to the LHCJoachim Kopp | Ethan T. Neil | Reinard Primulando | Jure Zupan Volume 2, Issue 1, March 2013, Pages 22-34 We explore the relationship between astrophysical gamma-ray signals and LHC signatures for a class of phenomenologically successful secluded dark matter models, motivated by recent evidence for a ∼130 GeV gamma-ray line. We consider in detail scenarios in which interactions between the dark sector and the standard model are mediated by a vev-less scalar field φ, transforming as an N-plet (N > 3) under SU(2)L. Since some of the component fields of φ carry large electric charges, loop induced dark matter annihilation to γγ and γZ can be enhanced without the need for non-perturbatively large couplings, and without overproduction of continuum gamma-rays from other final states. We discuss prospects for other experimental tests, including dark matter-nucleon scattering and production of φ at the LHC, where future searches for anomalous charged tracks may be sensitive. The first LHC hints could come from the Higgs sector, where loop corrections involving φ lead to significantly modified h → γγ and h → γZ branching ratios. © 2013 The Authors. Using energy peaks to count dark matter particles in decaysKaustubh Agashe | Roberto Franceschini | Doojin Kim | Kyle Wardlow Volume 2, Issue 2, June 2013, Pages 72-82 We study the determination of the symmetry that stabilizes a dark matter (DM) candidate produced at colliders. Our question is motivated per se, and by several alternative symmetries that appear in models that provide a DM particle. To this end, we devise a strategy to determine whether a heavy mother particle decays into one visible massless particle and one or two DM particles. The counting of DM particles in these decays is relevant to distinguish the minimal choice of Z2 from a Z3 stabilization symmetry, under which the heavy particle and the DM are charged and the visible particle is not. Our method is novel in that it chiefly uses the peak of the energy spectrum of the visible particle and only secondarily uses the MT2 endpoint of events in which the heavy mother particles are pair-produced. We present new theoretical results concerning the energy distribution of the decay products of a three-body decay, which are crucial for our method. To demonstrate the feasibility of our method in investigating the stabilization symmetry, we apply it in distinguishing the decay of a bottom quark partner into a b quark and one or two DM particles. The method can be applied generally to distinguish two- and three-body decays, irrespective of DM. © 2013 The Authors. Technically natural cosmological constant from supersymmetric 6D brane backreactionC. P. Burgess | Leo Van Nierop Volume 2, Issue 1, March 2013, Pages 1-16 We provide an explicit example of a higher-dimensional model describing a non-supersymmetric spectrum of 4D particles of mass M, whose 4D geometry - including loop effects - has a curvature that is of order R∼mKK4/Mp2, where mKK is the extra-dimensional Kaluza-Klein scale and Mp is the 4D Planck constant. mKK is stabilized and can in particular satisfy mKK≪M. The system consists of a (5+1)-dimensional model with a flux-stabilized supersymmetric bulk coupled to non-supersymmetric matter localized on a (3+1)-dimensional positive-tension brane. We use recent techniques for calculating how extra dimensions respond to changes in brane properties to show (at the classical level) that the extra-dimensional volume adjusts to ensure that the low-energy 4D geometry is exactly flat, independent of the value of the brane tensions. Its mechanism for doing so is the transfer of stabilizing flux between the bulk and the branes. The UV completion of the model can arise at scales much larger than M, allowing the calculation of quantum effects like the zero-point energy of very massive particles in the vacuum. We find that brane-localized loops do not affect the 4D curvature at all, but bulk loops can. These can be estimated on general grounds and we show that supersymmetry dictates that they generate curvatures that are generically of order mKK4/Mp2. For realistic applications this points to a world with two supersymmetric extra dimensions, with supersymmetry in the bulk broken at the sub-eV KK scale - as proposed in hep-th/0304256 - requiring a 6D gravity scale somewhat higher than 10 TeV. Ordinary Standard Model particles are brane-localized and not at all supersymmetric (implying in particular no superpartners or the MSSM). We discuss how the model evades various no-go theorems that would naively exclude it, and briefly outline several striking observational implications for tests of gravity and at the LHC. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. WIMP physics with ensembles of direct-detection experimentsAnnika H G Peter | Vera Gluscevic | Anne M. Green | Bradley J. Kavanagh | Samuel K. Lee Volume 5-6, Issue , December 2014, Pages 45-74 © 2014 The Authors.The search for weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter is multi-pronged. Ultimately, the WIMP-dark-matter picture will only be confirmed if different classes of experiments see consistent signals and infer the same WIMP properties. In this work, we review the ideas, methods, and status of direct-detection searches. We focus in particular on extracting WIMP physics (WIMP interactions and phase-space distribution) from direct-detection data in the early discovery days when multiple experiments see of order dozens to hundreds of events. To demonstrate the essential complementarity of different direct-detection experiments in this context, we create mock data intended to represent the data from the near-future Generation 2 experiments. We consider both conventional supersymmetry-inspired benchmark points (with spin-independent and -dependent elastic cross sections just below current limits), as well as benchmark points for other classes of models (inelastic and effective-operator paradigms). We also investigate the effect on parameter estimation of loosening or dropping the assumptions about the local WIMP phase-space distribution. We arrive at two main conclusions. Firstly, teasing out WIMP physics with experiments depends critically on having a wide set of detector target materials, spanning a large range of target nuclear masses and spin-dependent sensitivity. It is also highly desirable to obtain data from low-threshold experiments. Secondly, a general reconstruction of the local WIMP velocity distribution, which will only be achieved if there are multiple experiments using different target materials, is critical to obtaining a robust and unbiased estimate of the WIMP mass. Beyond ΛCDM: Problems, solutions, and the road aheadPhilip Bull | Yashar Akrami | Julian Adamek | Tessa Baker | Emilio Bellini | Jose Beltrán Jiménez | Eloisa Bentivegna | Stefano Camera | Sébastien Clesse | Jonathan H. Davis | Enea Di Dio | Jonas Enander | Alan Heavens | Lavinia Heisenberg | Bin Hu | Claudio Llinares | Roy Maartens | Edvard Mörtsell | Seshadri Nadathur | Johannes Noller | Roman Pasechnik | Marcel S. Pawlowski | Thiago S. Pereira | Miguel Quartin | Angelo Ricciardone | Signe Riemer-Sørensen | Massimiliano Rinaldi | Jeremy Sakstein | Ippocratis D. Saltas | Vincenzo Salzano | Ignacy Sawicki | Adam R. Solomon | Douglas Spolyar | Glenn D. Starkman | Danièle Steer | Ismael Tereno | Licia Verde | Francisco Villaescusa-Navarro | Mikael von Strauss | Hans A. Winther Volume 12, Issue , June 2016, Pages 56-99 © 2016 Elsevier B.V.Despite its continued observational successes, there is a persistent (and growing) interest in extending cosmology beyond the standard model, ΛCDM. This is motivated by a range of apparently serious theoretical issues, involving such questions as the cosmological constant problem, the particle nature of dark matter, the validity of general relativity on large scales, the existence of anomalies in the CMB and on small scales, and the predictivity and testability of the inflationary paradigm. In this paper, we summarize the current status of ΛCDM as a physical theory, and review investigations into possible alternatives along a number of different lines, with a particular focus on highlighting the most promising directions. While the fundamental problems are proving reluctant to yield, the study of alternative cosmologies has led to considerable progress, with much more to come if hopes about forthcoming high-precision observations and new theoretical ideas are fulfilled.

# of Employees More than 240 # of Customers More than 1200 # of Users More than 1,300,000+ Over 32 applications in an integrated suite Enterprise solutions for web context and mobile devices Technical Certification from High Council of Informatics in line with the official system's accuracy The first rank by High Council of Informatics social responsibility among Iranian ICT companies knowledge-based company by Science and Technology of Vice-President #3 Boostan St, Attar Ave. 19947 Tehran, Iran Address: Customer Relations #7 Laleh St, Pardis Ave. 19947 Tehran, Iran What We Do A Leading Provider of Innovative Software Solutions Proximity of organizational structure layers and a friendly professional atmosphere together ith the adoption of leading management models, provided necessary grounds for innovation, growth, and synergy. Relying on its creative potential and the development of its products and services based on real market needs, Chargoon fulfilled its goals to increase customer satisfaction, stay innovative, and expand its influence On Iranian organizations and businesses. Flexibility and localization capability, developing products in pace with technological advances, especially in the area of mobile equipment and devices, as well as implementation experience in hundreds of organizations - are distinctive features of Chargoon's products. Chargoon is a social institution and accordingly feels committed to society. Due to Chargoon personnel financing the charity group “Hamgam” was formed. Hamgam, along with classic charity activities, aims to empower children, teenagers, and educated youth. A New Approach to Administrative Interactions Didgah softwares have given a new perspective of Office automation in which a wide range of transactions as well as meeting an extensive volume of administrative procedures has been considered. The software suite, which extends a form of senior management to all personnel and external audiences, bears a high success factor in organizations. Comprehensive coverage of user needs by Didgah Suites subsystems has added to its popularity amongst users. Server synchronization service, which is Chargoon's exclusive solution in case of using decentralized servers, maintains the integrity of organizational automation. This feature has effective applications in situations where due to geographical scope, infrastructure limitations, and using a single communication platform, utilization of a centralized server is not possible for a given organization. HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT Most Comprehensive Human Resource Management Software Didgah’s integrated systems for human resource management handles all the matters related to human capital since employment, until the end of the service and retirement. Training, performance evaluation, and welfare are among the procedures that are seldomaddressed in the field of integrated automation systems, however, "Didgah" has an integrative approach to all of these procedures. Variety of laws and regulations of various organizations is another challenge, but the unique flexibility of Didgah software solutions allows adaptation and localization in accordance with regulations of various government agencies, companies, and businesses. Hundreds of successful implementations in different organizations are indicating this key feature. - Capability of adapting to various regulations of government agencies, companies, and industries. - Enjoying an Employee Self-Service (ESS) - Enjoying a powerful data transferring from existing systems - Full integration of information and procedures - Optimized for large organizations with thousands of employees The Optimal Solution for Asset Management Finance software, of Didgah, has been able to provide managers with information on organizations’ financial events through various reports, whenever needed. This was done by creating a platform integrated with other softwares, as well as communicating with organizations' special-purpose softwares. One of the outstanding features of the software is providing solutions fitting to the financial structure of different government agencies and companies in a single stack. A distinctive feature of Didgah finance solutions is the capability of independent functioning of organizations’ sub-units without depending on upstreaming units. - Being adapted to financial procedures of public and private sectors - Being capable of managing all financial procedures associated with bookkeeping, treasury, budgeting, credit, and contracts - Full support of various accounting structure coding with any desired number of detailed levels - Enjoying a transfer tool for documents and detailed account data - Having Capability to integrate with utility softwares for automated production of accounting documents Efficient inventory management Didgah Software Suite facilitates efficient inventory management and automatic connection between the procurement and ordering procedure. Since the level of inventories and safety stock is assumed to be at optimal point, reduced costs leads to organizations’ profitability. Using the Didgah Logistics Software allows independent usage in decentralized and geographically dispersed warehouses along with operational autonomy, central management, and receiving integrated data and reports at any moment. - Counting procedures considering distinct access levels for each domain - Supporting procedures of project-based organizations - Supporting the new system of government property and companies' fixed assets - Automated and integrated procedure from demanding to supplying - Supporting centralized structure for geographically widespread organizations Simple and User-Friendly Modeling With over 15 years of experience working with clients, Chargoon presents an efficient, simple navigation software to model business procedures along with other parts of the Didgah Software Suite. Superb product efficiency and flexibility, along with its simplicity, allows designing forms and procedures with different levels of complexity. Also, producing any type of custom report in different sectors is available to users through easy-to-use tools and the modeling process is easily performed. Full integration of this product with other parts of Didgah Softwares enables organizations to design their specific-purpose forms and procedures within Didgah solutions without any dispersion of information and interface, and introduce it to the final user through the software. - Enjoying a powerful customizing workflow engine - Full integration with Didgah Software Suite - Capability of automating communication with data systems outside of Didgah Software Suite with a service-oriented model - Advanced report-builder capable of producing a variety of reports and statistics charts Didgah Software Suite for Mobile Widespread use of smart phones and portable equipments has led to serious changes in views of business owners toward communications, information flow in organizations, and consequently business procedures. Chargoon, as a leading company in the software industry, proceeds to develop products in the field of mobile software solutions in order to meet managers' needs to have access to information, regardless of time and location. "Mobile Didgah" is a version of the Didgah Software Suite for mobile phones and tablets, designed for the iOS and Android platforms. Product design allows for helps you in addressing common, daily issues such as receiving and managing reminders, sending/receiving messages, handling letters, leave and business mission forms, and performance reports. Didgah Mobile Trustee Software Didgah Mobile Trustee Software is designed in Android-powered and has made it possible to communicate with property software of Didgah Software Suite. The software, besides facilitating the accountancy operations, allows the property trustee to control defined locations and register or scan serial number with his or her mobile phone. Didgah Mobile Meetings Mobile(online) Meetings software provides some of the selected features of the Didgah meetings software and by connecting to the Didgah calendar software, provides the user with features not available in traditional calendar software. Through this software, setting up and holding meetings, as well as follow-up procedures are easily managed. Features such as setting the agenda, time allocation, invitees' registration and attendance, and recording meeting times at any point in the agenda can be done through the software. Most importantly, preparing and attaching supplementary documents such as photographs and audio/video files to the final implementation report is easily possible through the Mobile Meetings software. Mobile Monitor (Payeshgar) In line with establishing a proactive approach, our mobile monitoring software named Payeshgar is designed on the Android platform. This allows IT unit managers to monitor optimal performance of software outside of the office even in non-office hours, and receive reports on the status of hardware and software resources used to run Didgah Software Suite. INSTALLATION & SUPPORT In order to provide different value for clients, Chargoon provides distinctive installation and implementation services resulting from experiencing hundreds of successful projects in various public and private organizations. The unique style of project management, expertised and specialized analysis of businesses has led to Chargoon's success in implementing difficult organizational change evolution projects. Proactive Approach in Support Enjoying a solid, proficient, and accountable support team is the meeting point of Chargoon customer reviews. In line with international standards of IT services, the Chargoon support unit identifies and meets users and operators' needs through three layers: customer support, technical support, and product support. The main approach of the Chargoon support unit is providing proactive services and in this regard, alongside periodic reviews and audits of system performance. Monitor software (Payeshgar) prevents the occurrence of a high percentage of system disorders by implementing the ongoing checking of systems and immediate notification of any errors. On the other hand, launching customers' portal continuously enhances customer satisfaction by simplifying the support procedure and direct communication with users. TRAINING & E-LEARNING Effective installation and operation of software systems requires true learning of technical knowledge related to the software. In addition to verbal training, which is provided while installing the system in client organizations, Chargoon tries to provide retraining in pace with development in software features and joining of new users. The Chargoon training center facilitates a proper learning environment and teachers who have experience in installing oftware as well as thorough knowledge of clients' needs and demands. Along with development of technology-based tools, e-learning gradually constitutes a major part in companies' training programs. In line with its clients’ policies, Chargoon puts this priority on its agenda and is now providing extensive capabilities in the form of e-learning systems in a way that allows thousands of people to learn and relearn different parts of the software.

Is ESPN Too Close to Do Hard Reporting? Tuesday, October 16, 2007; 1:13 PM It's been a very good October for ESPN -- continued decent ratings for Monday Night Football; the announcement last week that the cable network will replace NBC-owned USA Network and carry Thursday-Friday coverage of The Masters; the debut of a new hour-long magazine show called "E:60" and wall-to-wall coverage a week from this Saturday of horse racing's world series, The Breeders' Cup from Monmouth Park in New Jersey. In an era when synergy has become a far too over-used buzzword by so many network executives, what a wonderful month it would continue to be if "E:60", which debuts tonight, somehow manages to incorporate a few hard-hitting stories on some of the mega-events, such as The Breeders' Cup and The Masters, that the so-called Worldwide Leader will devote so much air time to. This week's "E:60" show does have some intriguing topics, even though a piece on the strained relationship between baseball star Prince Fielder and his father, retired Tigers slugger Cecil Fielder, has already been well documented by the print media. There's also an investigation of an alleged sex crime cover-up involving a star player for a nationally ranked Miami high school football team and another feature on the recipients of the organs donated after the death of the University of North Carolina mascot who was killed in a traffic accident last March at an NCAA regional basketball tournament. I'm sure the show will be well-produced and competently reported by the likes of host Jeremy Schaap, one of the network's most talented young broadcast journalists, and my former Washington Post colleague, Rachel Nichols, a terrific reporter herself, among others. But to me, the true measure of this show will be the producers' willingness to tackle tough and often unflattering stories involving the sports ESPN airs on a regular basis as a paid rights holder and "partner" with the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and many other big-time sports entities. For example, with The Breeders' Cup on the horizon, here's a good story "E:60" producers might want to consider for next Tuesday's show. And if they've already got that 60 minutes in the can, perhaps the producers of the day-long Breeders' Cup telecast might cover it in depth with a long feature between any of the races on the card. That would be the scandalous proliferation and continued use of often illegal pain-numbing drugs in the horse racing industry. In fact, one of the top trainers in the country, Patrick Biancone, would be the perfect place to start. Biancone, a Frenchman with a history of suspensions for using prohibited substances in Hong Kong, California and Kentucky, trains several contenders in various Breeders' Cup races. Two weeks ago, he was given a one-year suspension by Kentucky's racing stewards for the possession of three vials of cobra venom, a prohibited substance that can act as a powerful painkiller and allow a horse to continue to train and eventually run for the money. The suspension -- the longest ever issued in Kentucky -- was scheduled to begin yesterday, but Biancone and his attorney are appealing. The process likely won't start until after The Breeders' Cup, so Biancone can continue to work his horses, get stabling for his mounts in New Jersey, show up in the Monmouth paddock to saddle them and likely even get to the winner's circle to pose for pictures with smiling owners, jockeys and the governor of New Jersey. The question is, on a day when ESPN likely will be in full celebratory mode of the (not so) glorious sport of kings, will it have the moxie to air such a story, either in its new magazine show or on race day itself? Stay tuned on that one. As for ESPN's coverage of The Masters, just reading the news release last week ballyhooing the acquisition of the rights to the first of golf's four major championships, you got the feeling that it will be fawning reverence as usual from this or any other network that partners with the Green Jackets. ESPN will not have its own production team or its own announcers in place. Instead the network, like USA, will use the feed provided by CBS Sports, the long-time weekend rights holder for the tournament. ESPN will augment the coverage with studio host Mike Tirico, once the lead voice for golf coverage on ABC before the network essentially got out of the dimpled-ball business save for the ever-popular July morning telecasts of the British Open. But the usual CBS golf crew -- Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo -- will be in the 18th hole tower, with regulars like Peter Kostis, David Feherty and Peter Oosterhuis also reporting from around the course.

Bob and Jolyn Esquerre are business solutions consultants and co-owners of the Esquerre Fitness Group [EFG]. EFG—known for training trainers, training group exercise instructors and training managers—has consistently pushed the envelope of excellence in challenging the industry to provide exceptional service to members. Recognized as subject-matter experts in personal training, program development, club branding, management development, customer relationship management and membership retention, Bob and Jolyn’s total focus is to create customized business solutions for their customers. The fitness industry has traditional group exercise classes, it has personal training services, and now it has group training, which is what we call the missing third piece of the club programming triad. If group training is done right, everybody wins—financially, professionally and personally. We define group training as fee-based programming options that can be configured either as a small group with three to eight participants or configured as a large group with nine to 20 participants. Whether it’s small group training (SGT) or large group training (LGT), this programming must be positioned as a distinctly specialized, branded experience that is delivered by highly trained fitness professionals. This definition is critical in order to distinguish fee-based group training programs from mainstream group exercise programs whose costs are included as part of the normal club membership fee structure. In fact, equipment that is used in fee-based programming should not be the same equipment that is already included in non-fee based group exercise programs. Even though the definition of group training is clear and the return on investment shown in Table A below is obvious, why are so many clubs having such a hard time implementing and managing successful group training programs from both an operational and financial perspective? Why Group Training Programs Fail We have evaluated group training programs, both SGT and LGT, in various markets domestically and internationally. The most common denominator for failure is what we call the poor planning syndrome. This basically means that no strategic business planning occurred before the group training program was launched. Without good planning, the program cannot be successfully managed. Without a successful management process, group training is destined to fail. The second most common failure factor is not having the club’s group training program fully integrated into the club’s overall programming mix. This occurs because group training was positioned as an option that did not reflect the club’s branding message. Again, this occurred because of the poor planning syndrome. The third most common failure factor was the skill sets of the service provider. In most instances, a technically proficient personal trainer was assigned the task of running the group training sessions. However, because the managers did not understand the dynamics of a group-focused teaching/learning environment and the skill sets needed to manage such a dynamic environment, the personal trainers were destined to fail despite their technical knowledge. Group training is about using dynamic coaching skill sets to motivate each individual to do their best for the common good of the entire group (see Table B). It is all about the dynamics of the group experience that makes group training unique. Table C summarizes the failure matrix for group training programs. As you read this, you need to be honest about how your individual situation compares with this list. Group training is a “must” option as we collectively examine how to reinvent and reposition the value proposition of our clubs in this economic environment. Are you ready to make this happen given what we know today? Table A: Group Training Benefits - Additional fee-based programming options - More fitness professionals with new skill sets, creating the hybrid fitness professional - The creation of a stronger club branding message delivery system (group exercise programs, personal training programs and group training programs) - Increase in gross income to the club - Higher profit margin to the club (i.e. increase in net income) - Lower club member attrition rate - Higher club member retention rate - Higher referral rates from satisfied clients - Higher hourly income for fitness professionals - Increase in club income per member - Strengthening of the club’s brand (i.e. the club’s value proposition) - Increase in percentage of non-dues revenue - Reduction of employee overhead expenses - Increase in synergy of all club programs - Strengthening of the club’s competitive points of difference - Reinforcement of the club’s customer relationship program - Reduction in fitness professional turnover - Higher success in recruiting highly qualified fitness professionals Table B: The DNA of the Group Training Hybrid Fitness Professional 1. Entrepreneurial mindset 2. Ability to sell services for a fee 3. Ability to set and share a vision 4. Ability to focus on customers 5. Ability to develop and support team and group building dynamics 6. Ability to solve problems and make decisions 7. Ability to lead club members 8. Ability to lead personal training clients 9. Possession of professional coaching skill sets 10. Ability to manage time, resources and projects 11. Ability to take initiative beyond the job description 12. Ability to display professional ethics 13. Ability to manage change 14. Ability to deal with individuals as individuals 15. Ability to share information 16. Ability to manage business processes 17. Ability to display technical skills 18. Possession of group training technical skill Table C: Why Group Training Programs Fail - They are launched with inadequate planning. - No “champion” was assigned to manage the programs. - The programs were not positioned with a credible distinction from traditional group exercise programs. - Personal trainers with no group exercise skill sets were assigned to develop and deliver the programs. - The group training instructors were not positioned as subject-matter experts. These group training instructors should be called coaches. - The service providers were not incentivized to grow the programs. - The base compensation was too low to attract the best skilled professionals to participate in the programs. - The programs were not positioned to support the club’s brand or value proposition. - The club had a weak or non-existent value proposition. - The programs did not create a valuable member experience. - The programs had no specific goals and objectives. - The programs did not support the club’s customer relationship program.

From an International Security Assistance Force News Release KABUL, Afghanistan – Suspension of training for about 1,000 recruits in the Afghan Local Police program while officials re-vet 16,300 Afghans providing security in remote areas of Afghanistan has no operational impact for Afghan police and other security forces, the International Security Assistance Force’s deputy commander said today. In a written statement, Lt. Gen. Adrian J. Bradshaw of the British army called the suspension a precautionary measure taken in response to concerns by Afghan, U.S. and other coalition commanders over recent insider attacks by gunmen in Afghan uniforms against coalition personnel. “However, it is stressed that effective ALP operations are continuing to deliver significant results against the insurgency and that the working relationships between ALP, U.S. and other coalition partners continue to be strong,” Bradshaw said. Some 8,000 commandos and 3,000 Afghan army special operations forces “continue with their normal and highly effective operational activity,” he added. The vetting status of all Afghan commandos and special operations forces also is being checked, but this has no impact on current operations, the general said. “The measures being applied to [Afghan army] special forces and [Afghan Local Police] personnel reflects the intensive effort to recheck the vetting status of the some 350,000 [Afghan security forces] personnel as part of a number of actions recently instituted to reinforce existing precautions related to the insider threat,” he said. “Much of this re-vetting task has already been completed, and numbers of individuals, where vetting status has been found to be in doubt, have been suspended pending further investigation, or removed from the force.” Senior ISAF and Afghan security forces commanders and Afghan security ministers attended a conference yesterday chaired by Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, ISAF commander, “to develop joint solutions to add to the already intensive effort to protect all of our soldiers, Afghan and coalition, from the insider threat, noting that Afghan and ISAF alike have suffered,” Bradshaw said. Participants in the meeting noted that the campaign continues to move forward, with the insurgents under constant pressure and resorting to ever more desperate measures, such as improvised explosive devices and suicide bombings, while the Afghan forces grow stronger and more confident day by day, the general said. “We expressed confidence that the [Afghan forces] will be more than capable of taking over full responsibility for Afghanistan’s security in 2014, and will thereafter enjoy strong international support,” he added. The synergy between the Afghan government and military and the coalition already has resulted in several concrete measures to defeat the insider threat, Bradshaw said, noting several new initiatives being implemented: -- Improvements to the vetting process for new recruits; -- Increasing the number of counterintelligence teams; -- Introduction of interview procedures for Afghan soldiers returning from leave; -- A new warning and reporting system for insider threats; -- Enhanced intelligence exchange between Afghan security forces and ISAF; -- Establishment of an anonymous reporting system; -- Improved training for counterintelligence agents; -- Establishment of a joint investigation commission when insider threats occur; and -- Enhanced cultural training that includes visits to coalition home training centers by Afghan cultural and religious affairs advisors, which were authorized by Afghan President Hamid Karzai this morning. Bradshaw said that on behalf of Allen, who was away from the capital, he attended a meeting this morning of the Afghan government’s National Security Council chaired by Karzai. At the meeting, he said, he presented the ISAF views on tackling the insider threat alongside Afghan security ministers and commanders. Karzai reaffirmed his strong support for the extensive measures being taken, Bradshaw said, and impressed upon his ministers and commanders “his absolute determination that we should work together to eradicate this pernicious threat.” “During the meeting, the nature of the strong and enduring partnership that the coalition and Afghan colleagues enjoy was recognized by all,” Bradshaw said, “as was the fact that this common threat is serving to bring us ever closer together in our working relationship as we seek to protect the thousands of Afghan and coalition men and women in our combined force, wherever they may be serving in this theater."