2012年11月29日星期四

Britain's Cameron rejects press law after hacking scandal

Opposing an independent regulator enshrined in law will delight the British press ahead of the 2015 election but may raise concern inside the coalition government that Cameron lacks the mettle to stand up to media barons such as Rupert Murdoch.

Cameron said he was wary of writing press regulation into law, a snub to the inquiry he ordered in July last year after public outrage at revelations that one of Murdoch's tabloids hacked the phone messages of a 13-year-old murder victim.

"The issue of principle is that for the first time we would have crossed the rubicon of writing elements of press regulation into the law of the land," Cameron told parliament, watched from the gallery by victims of phone-hacking who have campaigned for tougher rules to police Britain's recalcitrant media.

"I'm not convinced at this stage that statute is necessary," Cameron said, just hours after Lord Justice Brian Leveson reported on his inquiry which laid bare the cozy ties between British leaders, police chiefs and press barons.

Presenting his 1,987-page report opposite the House of Commons, Leveson said he had no intention of undermining three centuries of press freedom but that the press had at times "wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people" and was sometimes guilty of "outrageous" behavior.

Leveson said it was essential that there should be legislation to underpin a new independent, self-regulatory body for the press that would be scrutinized by the broadcast regulator Ofcom and have the power to impose fines of up to 1 percent of turnover up to a maximum of 1 million pounds ($1.6 million).

"The ball moves back into the politicians' court: they must now decide who guards the guardians," Leveson said.

The behavior of Britain's tabloid press has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years. While British newspapers were unwilling to report on King Edward VIII's affair with American divorcee Wallis Simpson in the 1930s, their conduct has since become much less restrained in the battle for readers.

As competition intensified, the tabloids turned on the private lives of the royal family, culminating in feverish coverage of Princess Diana, hounded by paparazzi as her marriage to Prince Charles collapsed.

At one point in the early 1990s, a government minister warned the tabloid press that they were "drinking in the last chance saloon". A subsequent inquiry led to the setting up the Press Complaints Commission, a self-regulating watchdog now deemed to have failed.

"I know of no organized profession, industry or trade in which the serious failings of the few are overlooked or ignored because of the good done by the many," Leveson said.

While Cameron rejected immediate legislation, the leader of the opposition Labour Party said he supported Leveson's proposals as did Cameron's coalition partner, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

"There can be no more last chance saloons," said Labour leader Ed Miliband, opening up the prospect of possible defeat in parliament for Cameron if Labour joined forces with supporters of tougher rules inside the coalition parties.

In a sign of a split at the very heart of government, Clegg said legislation was the only real way to establish a new self-regulatory body for the press.

"Changing the law is the only way to give us all the assurance that the new regulator isn't just independent for a few months or years, but is independent for good," Clegg said.

Victims of phone hacking say the raucous media has been given no less than seven chances to reform in the last 70 years but Leveson said the British press had at times displayed a "reckless disregard for accuracy".

Leveson heard evidence from a host of celebrities including Harry Potter author JK Rowling, singer Charlotte Church and ordinary people who told the inquiry how they had been harassed, bullied, and traumatized by the press.

Hacked Off, an organization set up to represent victims of press abuse, said it welcomed the Leveson report but warned Cameron's opposition risked neutering the recommendations.

"The prime minister has not done his job. His failure to accept the full recommendations of the report is unfortunate and regrettable,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag." said Brian Cathcart, a former Reuters journalist and founder of the Hacked Off campaign.

"In tearing out from this report the element of scrutiny on the self-regulator, he (Cameron) has left us with only a self-regulator. That is where we were before. That is where we have been for 60 or 70 years."

Ultimately, Cameron took a political decision: powerful ministers in Cameron's party and the majority of the press have said they were adamantly opposed to any form of legislation as they see it as an erosion of press freedom.

Lord Guy Black, currently the head of the body which funds the current discredited, self-regulatory system, said there was no need to subject the new body to a statutory regime.

"Any form of statutory press control in a free society is fraught with danger, totally impractical and would take far too long to implement," he said.

Leveson said the relationship between the cream of Britain's political elite and the press was too close and said he was concerned by lobbying.

The 63-year-old judge warned that the close ties formed between the government and Murdoch's News Corp over the aborted takeover of BSkyB was concerning and had the potential to jeopardize the $12 billion bid.

"We are keen to play our full part, with others in our industry, in creating a new body that commands the confidence of the public," said Tom Mockridge, chief executive of Murdoch's British newspaper arm, News International,

"We believe that this can be achieved without statutory regulation - and welcome the prime minister's rejection of that proposal," Mockridge said in a statement.

Leveson offered little in the way of direct criticism of individuals, ammunition for those who hoped it would condemn Cameron for his links to Murdoch's media empire. Nor did he say there had been any deal between the two.Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products.

He said there was no credible evidence of bias on the part of senior minister and Cameron ally Jeremy Hunt in his handling of the BSkyB takeover, but said the close ties allowed a perception of favoritism.

Inquiry hearings embarrassed Cameron by exposing his close ties to executives at Murdoch's British newspaper empire, notably former top lieutenant Rebekah Brooks, who is facing criminal action over phone-hacking and other alleged illegal actions.

Brooks appeared in court earlier on Thursday accused of making illegal payments to public officials.

Four prime ministers including Cameron were quizzed in great detail about their links to newspaper owners,Whether you are installing a floor tiles or a shower wall, especially Murdoch,Klaus Multiparking is an industry leader in innovative parking system technology. who himself endured two days of grilling, during which he denied playing puppet-master to those running the country.

A TRINITY College graduate was arrested after gardai foiled an alleged plan to storm a firearm dealership. Ursula Shannon (28), from Clonsilla, west Dublin, is a prominent member of republican political movement Eirigi. She got a degree at Trinity College Dublin and is understood to be studying for a Master’s in Irish studies at another university.

Ms Shannon remains in garda custody today along with three Dublin men. The men include a 30-year-old from Cabra who was previously convicted of membership of the IRA.

The four were arrested after a major operation by the Garda Special Detective Unit at 7pm on Tuesday outside a gun dealer's premises, The Tackle Shop, at Rahan, near Tullamore in Co Offaly.

Gardai welcomed the operation as it has emerged that there were 250 shotguns and handguns in the The Tackle Shop, which is run by local man Jim Griffin. "If these weapons ended up on the streets, it could have caused mayhem," a source said.Whether you are installing a floor tiles or a shower wall,

The arrests followed a lengthy surveillance operation. Detectives seized a stolen van, balaclavas, wigs and gloves.

The four suspects are being held at various garda stations in the midlands.

A peep into fascinating world of insects

Insects dominate the animal kingdom, both in terms of numbers and variety. According to a rough estimate, insects constitute 90 per cent of the animal kingdom. These six-legged animals, which have been living on earth for more than 250 million years, are very successful in adapting to life and have exploited all kinds of environmental niches, ranging from snow-clad mountains to tropical forests and from deserts to rainforests.

Though we presume insects as our competitors, the fact remains that human beings compete with insects. Only 5 per cent of the insects are pests and rest of them are either useful or harmless. In fact, fascinating world of insects is not boring but really very interesting. The insect world is so diverse in sizes that you can find an insect ranging from few millimeters (trichgrommatid wasps) to around 30 cm (stick insect) in length. Insects can also defy the law of gravity due to the air drag which is proportional to the surface of a moving object. They can carry weight many times heavier than their own weight. You might have seen ants taking loads of wheat or rice grain for storage in their colonies. A flea can jump horizontally up to 13 inches and vertically up to 7 inches. If a man were to achieve the same feat, he would have to jump horizontally 700 feet and vertically 450 feet.

Being small creatures, insects are vulnerable to attacks by frogs, lizards, birds, mammals and predatory members of their own group, but they have developed certain mechanisms to protect themselves from their enemies.

Mimicry is very common in butterflies, stick and leaf insects, mantids, etc.We are pleased to offer the following list of professional mold maker and casters. For example, in stick insects Carausius morosus, the hind wings are highly coloured but they are concealed during rest and the insect become motionless looking like a dried twig. The limbs in this condition can be moved into any position and will stay there as if the joints are made up of wax. Similarly, leaf insect, Phyllium crurifolium, looks like a leaf as the pattern on the wings is like leaf venation and it becomes difficult for the predator to differentiate between the leaf and the insect. Oriental butterfly, Kallima sp., provides one of the best examples of camouflage sitting with its wings folded beside dry leaves, and mimic dead leaves. It also copies the leaf pattern such as moulds or rusts or holes often seen in dead leaves. Some loopers feign death, appear like dry twigs and hence go unnoticed.

Many species release chemicals which are toxic, deterrent or unpalatable, thereby escaping predation. The cantharid beetles, Mylabris spp.Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors., are highly coloured and easily spotted by any insect eating animal, but the cantharadin emitted by adults have unpleasant effects. Therefore, the predators avoid eating them. Cantharadin can cause blisters on human skin.

The hair of caterpillars often contains histamine and pain-producing substances and in general, hairy caterpillars cause rashes on the human skin. The bombardier beetle, Brachimus sp., ejects foul-smelling, hot and volatile spray containing hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide, with a district audible explosion towards the enemy and, therefore, escapes predation. The larvae of swallowtail butterflies possess a horn-like structure,A wide range of polished tiles for your tile flooring and walls. the osmeterium, behind the head, which is protruded in case of danger, releasing butyric acid that repels the enemy. So, it is a combination of visual threat and repellent odour.

Many species of phytophagous insects have developed the capacity to sequester deterrent substances of plants in order to utilise them as defensive tool against predators. Ak grasshopper, Poekilocerus pictus, sequesters the toxins, calactin and calotropin to ward off the enemy. Monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, one of the most frequent insects in the US is known for its ability to ingest toxic chemicals (cardioglycosides) produced by its milkweed host plants and storing toxin for its own protection. Both larvae and adults are toxic to the potential predators (birds) and they display the toxicity through warning colouration. The viceroy butterfly, Basilarchia archippus, which is palatable, mimic monarch colouration, thereby avoids predation.

Some insects like termites, ants and bees show the degree of specialisation to which insects have reached. They have evolved their own division of labour and even their own language. Honeybees have altruistic behaviour, and it only stings in case of emergency because after stinging, the bee is sure to die. If there is no danger, these labourious insects remain busy in their chores and will not harm you.

Mosquitoes alert you before sucking your blood by putting ‘music’ into your ears but are killed so often. This ‘music’ is not generated by mouth but it is the humming sound that is produced by buzzing of their wings. Bees also produce humming sound around their colonies and also in the fields where they forage. The shriek sound in forests that you hear during summer is of male cicadas to call their female counterpart for mating. It is generally said that cicadas are lucky because they have voiceless females.The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. The nymphs of cicada take 17 years to come out of soil as adult.

Moths and butterflies have so beautiful colour patterns and designs on their wings that can serve as a source of designing for textile mills, but in our country special attention towards this aspect is required. The Japanese have a highly developed tradition of aesthetic appreciation for insects which is reflected in their art and literature.High quality stone mosaic tiles. The Chinese hold singing crickets in very high esteem. On the whole, the insect world is fascinating.

Weaving an advanced wind blade could make wind energy

With most of the cost of electricity for wind tied up in the initial capital investments made in the wind turbines themselves, new technology advancements that reduce these costs could substantially lower the overall cost of wind energy.

“GE’s weaving an advanced wind blade that could be the fabric of our clean energy future,” said Wendy Lin, a GE Principal Engineer and leader on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency project. “The fabric we’re developing will be tough, flexible, and easier to assemble and maintain. It represents a clear path to making wind even more cost competitive with fossil fuels.”

According to GE, this new blade design could reduce blade costs 25%-40%, making wind energy as economical as fossil fuels without government subsidies.Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products.

GE’s research will focus on the use of architectural fabrics, which would be wrapped around a metal spaceframe, resembling a fishbone. Fabric would be tensioned around ribs which run the length of the blade and specially designed to meet the demands of wind blade operations. Conventional wind blades are constructed out of fiberglass, which is heavier and more labor and time-intensive to manufacture.

Advancements in blade technology will help spur the development of larger, lighter turbines that can capture more wind at lower wind speeds. Current technology doesn’t easily allow for construction of turbines that have rotor diameters exceeding 120 meters because of design, manufacturing, assembly, and transportation constraints. Wider, longer wind blades are tougher to move and maneuver, and molds which form the clamshell fiberglass structure cost millions of dollars to acquire. GE’s new fabric-based technology would all but eliminate these barriers.
With this new approach to making wind blades, components could be built and assembled on site, meaning design engineers no longer have to concern themselves with manufacturing and transportation limitations. Taken together,Quickparts builds injection molds using aluminum or steel to meet your program. these improvements will help reduce start-up costs and the cost of wind-generated electric in general.

It’s estimated that to achieve the national goal of 20% wind power in the U.S., wind blades would need to grow by 50% -- a figure that would be virtually impossible to realize given the size constraints imposed by current technology. Lighter fabric blades could make this goal attainable.

“Developing larger wind blades is the key to expanding wind energy into areas we wouldn’t think of today as suitable for harvesting wind power. Tapping into moderate wind speed markets, in places like the Midwest, will only help grow the industry in the years to come,” Lin went on to say.

The use of fabrics to reduce weight and provide a cost-effective cover dates back to the World War I era, when it was used on airplanes. Over the years fabric has proved to be rugged and reliable and GE has already begun using this spaceframe/tension fabric design e on the field he can handle whatever adversity unfolds, from the all-time high to the all-time low. Even if they arrive simultaneously.

No day more clearly proved that fact than Sept. 29 against Virginia Tech. Yet, those are the moments Jones molds his football philosophy around. His philosophy of creating a cohesive, family unit that supports itself both by players and coaches stand alone at his core belief system in a team. Dealing with adversity dials into every press conference,We specialize in howo concrete mixer, locker room speech and recruiting trip.

Supporting Shuler wasn't just something Jones wanted to do, it was something the entire team believes they have to do. It's part of being a family. It's part of Cincinnati football.

"The great thing is that's why we talk about the foundation of our football program being structured around the core value of family," Jones said. "(Shuler and I) have spoken a few times, because I've lost my father. And my father was Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability.my hero. He was everything to me. But just having that open line of communication having the support system in place from not only his coaches but his peers, teammates, that's really helped him. Plus, he's got a great mother, he's a high character individual. Just love everything about him."

A discussion arose early in the year whether Shuler should redshirt. He played sparingly, if at all most games. Stripling and Jones loved the energy and motor on the 6-foot-3,Find detailed product information for howo tractor and other products. 258-pounder. His burst around the end only needed refining of technique and experience. Allowing two more years in the system would be beneficial.

Yet, two weeks after he returned home from Connecticut and the funeral he desperately desired a return to football. When Walter Stewart went down with an injury that would end his season, the Bearcats needed Shuler as well.

2012年11月27日星期二

Indoor map tech poses challenges

In an experiment with a mobile technology that has digital cartographers intrigued worldwide, the museum introduced a new "you are here" app feature this month that shows smartphone-toting visitors exactly where they are inside the museum.

If visitors opt in for the service, the app provides turn-by-turn directions to exhibits and delivers place-specific information about the objects near them.

Sounds of crickets and stomping noises from the app greet visitors who walk by the large Tyrannosaurus rex statute in the museum lobby. Puzzles, videos and IMAX trailers pop up throughout exhibits.

Using visitor traffic pattern data, the museum will determine the popular exhibits and where more internal advertising should go, says Jennifer Grant Warner, the museum's chief programming officer. "A lot of content and cool stuff are left on the cutting-room floor," she says.One of the most durable and attractive styles of flooring that you can purchase is ceramic or porcelain tiles. "Taking it to mobile devices gives a way to layer that information. I hope it convinces people to stay longer in the museum."

The museum also plans to add revenue-driving features in the future, including an alert for a free drink coupon when the café has fewer than 10 customers.

GPS is mostly useless indoors, so the the technology designers — a group that includes Cisco Systems, Qualcomm and indoor map developer Meridian — relied on Wi-Fi access points to detect the smartphones within their coverage area in the museum. The museum doubled the number of the Wi-Fi access points within the building to enhance accuracy.

Fernbank joins a growing number of institutions with lots of indoor space that are experimenting with the niche technology of indoor mapping. Because much of the outdoors — at least in the developed world — has been thoroughly mapped, digital cartographers view indoor space as an untapped but potentially lucrative field for delivering navigation, pushing out location-relevant information and promoting deals.

Facilities that can be challenging to navigate — hospitals, convention centers, universities, shopping malls, theme parks,A specialized manufacturer and supplier of dry cabinet, sports stadiums, school systems, large office buildings and airports — are dabbling with tools offered by about 40 companies and start-ups that have indoor mapping products,High quality stone mosaic tiles. according to a recent report by Gartner.

Though approaches vary widely, tapping Wi-Fi networks to triangulate a position, called Wi-Fi fingerprinting, seems to be the most widely pursued technology.

Some products, such as Meridian's map for The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas and the subway system in New York, don't need GPS or Wi-Fi signals but require users to specify their starting points and destinations for directions.

Other technologies, such as one from Nokia, propose maximizing the phone's Bluetooth capability by adding proprietary beacons or signal devices inside a building to capture location. The tools that reside in smartphones, such as the accelerometer, gyroscope, compass and step counters, also supply position information in relation to surrounding objects. Hyper-location detection gets better as these sensors get better, says Scott Pomerantz, general manager of GPS at Broadcom, which makes navigational tools for phone manufacturers.

Analysts caution that the technology is still immature, with high costs and accuracy issues keeping more prospective customers on the sidelines. Adding more Wi-Fi access points and other hardware is expensive. Most indoor positioning systems, even using Wi-Fi, still miss the precise location by several feet. And there aren't enough high-end smartphones in the market that can handle indoor positioning.

All companies in the market "have trade-offs in terms of accuracy," wrote Annette Zimmermann, an analyst at Gartner, in a recent report. Server connection, maintenance and the time it takes to deploy the technology also remain barriers, she says.

But the possibility of precisely tracking hordes of people as they move about indoors renders so many commercial opportunities that the technology could be — like GPS — "the foundational technology for a new ecosystem of businesses," says Dan Ryan, chief technology officer of ByteLight, a Boston start-up pursuing its own solution to indoor mapping using LED light bulbs. "The indoor map is going to be just as big."

Attesting to the potential, Google has pushed its software tools to businesses and institutions to make their own maps. The tech giant has collected 10,000 maps — including many U.S. airports, Ikea and the Smithsonian American Art Museum — that have been integrated into Google Maps. "Things are accelerating very quickly. This is the year when indoor maps became real," says Cedric Dupont, product manager of indoor maps for Google.

Microsoft's Bing Maps, which launched indoor maps in 2010, has 3,100 maps in 13 categories, including airports and stores.

Start-ups Wifarer,Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products. Micello, Meridian, Point Inside and MapEverywhere have also opened shop in recent years to grab their niche in the market. "We bet that every interesting building will have its own map," says Ankit Agarwal, CEO of Micello, a developer of software for making indoor maps.

For some institutions, their foray into indoor maps is limited to a desire to create basic navigational tools. The public school district in Fort Lee, N.J., sent a photocopy of its blueprints for three schools to MapEverywhere. The map software firm converted them to detailed floor plans with critical infrastructure information and points of interest that can be accessed by firefighters' and first-responders' smartphones.The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag.

In January, Miami Children's Hospital plans to introduce a map on its app for patients traversing its maze of connected buildings.

But large retailers, with customers willing to spend money but often having trouble finding items, are the most eager adopters. Earlier this month, Macy's announced that shoppers of its Herald Square store in New York can download its app to find their position in the store — represented by a blue-dot — and receive turn-by-turn directions to departments and brands in the building. Meridian, which developed the map, claims "3 to 5 feet of accuracy."

While some may scoff at the notion of customers needing a map in a shop, about 20% of retail sales are lost because shoppers can't find items, estimates Nathan Pettyjohn, CEO of Aisle411, an app with 9,000 store maps.

Mobile apps are also becoming a key sales channel and are ideal tools for coupon distribution and bar code scanners. Adding a map on top of these features allows stores to target promotions more directly at relevant locations. Nudging customers to share what they buy also gives retailers valuable data for merchandising, inventory control and personalized deals.

"Maps are quickly becoming more valuable than a navigational tool. The underlying information has strong value for commerce," says of Nick Such, CEO of BuildingLayer, a tech firm that converts indoor floor plans to digital maps.

Walgreens partnered with Aisle411 to list store layouts in the Aisle411 app. Customers can make shopping lists, and the items are spotted on their store's map. Walgreens recently embedded the feature in its own app.

For Black Friday, Walmart expanded last year's program of distributing paper store maps by installing digital versions in its app. Meijer, a retail chain in the Midwest, also uses a mapping technology from Point Inside that shows the location of searched-for items on a map.

Working with local start-up Wifarer, the Royal BC Museum of Natural History in Victoria, Canada, introduced in August a feature in its app that pushes out relevant content about exhibits as phone owners stand in front of them. "It's about triggering content for events. That's a much bigger play than navigation," says Lise Murphy, vice president of marketing for Wifarer.

Gorham Selectmen get look at Public Works budgets

City of Davis and UC Davis Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) are jointly considering implementing a bike share program that would facilitate both short- and long-term bicycle rentals. The proposed plan is in its initial stage of exploration, with both organizations considering a range of potential vendors to provide the service that best suits the city’s and campus’ dual needs.

“We’re excited about this opportunity. We’re hoping that some vendor out there comes with the program or service that we’re going to need to make this thing work,” said Clifford Contreras, director of TAPS.

The several potential providers encompass a range of different systems that would fulfill different needs. Among those being considered are Brompton Dock, Bixi and B-cycle, with each offering a distinct bike sharing program. Many of the options incorporate third-generation technology, which enables users to access a bike through an automated system and then return it to a docking station after its use.

“The third-generation bike share meets people’s specific needs. We want to give people in Davis this option,” said Dave Kemp, pedestrian and bicycle coordinator for the City of Davis.

Advancements in bike-sharing technology, furthermore, have brought about an increase in the number of organizations offering bike-sharing services.

“Now that systems are becoming more advanced and user friendly, there’s a lot more competition. Each offers very different systems logistically speaking. We want to find the way that works best financially for us,” said David Takemoto-Weerts, bicycle program coordinator at TAPS.

Contreras had a similar view about bike-sharing technology.

“It’s become a very competitive process. We will evaluate the proposals on the basis of whether the bidder is going to be able to meet the needs of the campus and the city,” Contreras said.

The program would primarily target those visiting Davis on a temporary basis, such as visiting professors, conference guests and visiting family or friends. Two initial stations are planned to be located at the Southern Pacific Depot and a central site on campus, either at the Memorial Union or at the Silo.

“The university is Davis’ number-one employer, which is why our primary goal is linking the campus with the train station,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale agate beads from china,” Kemp said.Load the precious minerals into your mining truck and be careful not to drive too fast with your heavy foot.

Providing tourists with a means of travel is a crucial underlying motive to the proposed scheme, and providing bikes to satisfy this is particularly significant given Davis’ reputation as the Bicycle Capital of the U.S.

“We want tourists to get here and have a means to experience Davis without having to rely on a vehicle or by foot,” Kemp said.

It is hoped that with due diligence and careful planning, a bike share system can be implemented as early as 2014.

“We’re moving along slowly and carefully to implement this in an intelligent way. We’re hoping that by mid-2014 we can have something on the ground,” Kemp said.

The initial investment to start the program is approximately $200,000, with this figure likely to fluctuate depending on the preferred system provider. This will be funded by a number of different contributions through the city, university regional development and key advertising opportunities that would encourage corporate sponsorship.

This cost could prove to be a setback in the implementation of the scheme, with opponents arguing that the money would be better invested in improving the cycling infrastructure — such as repairing bike lanes or providing covered racks.Interlocking security cable tie with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals.

The biggest hurdle from TAPS’ perspective is cost.

“If we can minimize our investment by securing grants from partnering with the city and bringing to the table potential subsidies through advertising, the project is more viable,” Contreras said. “Ultimately, we’ll find something that meets our needs. We’ll put it onto campus, and I think campus will be better for it. Once it’s here, people will be thinking, ‘What took [us] so long?

Gorham selectmen got a first look at the Department of Public Works budgets Monday night. Although it's early in the process and there will almost certainly be changes, so far it's an encouraging look for taxpayers.High quality stone mosaic tiles. Most of the line items show no changes from last year, some are actually down and the few increases that do occur are small.

First up was the cemetery budget. That budget is up by $5,235. Almost all of the increase, $4,968, is in one line - part time positions.

Public Works Director Austin "Buddy" Holmes explained. At one time there were two part-time positions, in addition to the permanent position. Both were cut in the 2012 budget but having just one position is not working. Highway employees are having to help out, taking them away from highway work.We specialize in howo concrete mixer, He is proposing to put back one part-time position. This position would work 24 hours a week for a maximum of 23 weeks at $9 per hour.

Holmes said he would like to propose an updated key system to replace the antiquated one. At present a key is required to use it and his office must take manual readings of the pumps, requiring an employee to stand on a high, narrow stoop. A new system, estimated at $16,000, would use a card and readings would go directly into the computers in the office. Selectmen agreed that was probably something they should look into.

The solid waste collections budget was down a total of $4,254. An increase of $1,000 was made in vehicle repairs. Holmes said they had spend $7,931, more that the $7,000 budgeted for 2012, so he increased that line item. This amount is still $3,000 less than had been spent in past years. This was offset by a $1,000 decrease in overtime.

There were some small increases in salary related line items, but this was more than offset by a $5,000 decrease in bulky waste disposal. Holmes said they had found a vendor who was taking refrigerators and freezers for free.

Chris Hepp earns Eagle Scout rank

Chris Petru Hepp has completed his Eagle project and has earned the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest advancement rank in scouting. That's a long journey from when Chris joined Cub Scouts in 2001.

Chris's project consisted of an interior renovation and refurbishment of the Parish House of the West Milford Presbyterian Church, the church he attends. The Parish House is a separate building and is a critical building on the property. The building is used constantly throughout the year by a youth group, Sunday School and other individual meetings and special events like the annual Rummage Sale. The Parish House is made up of two rooms.One of the most durable and attractive styles of flooring that you can purchase is ceramic or porcelain tiles. The larger room is 20 feet by 50 feet; the smaller room is 20 feet by 40 feet. The interior was in need of new paint, new ceilings, floors, and lighting lenses. Major improvements had not been made for 15 years.

The project consisted of four different tasks: painting the walls, painting ceiling tiles, improving lighting within each room and replacing the main floor. The painting process was composed of sanding walls, spackling, priming as needed, and then paint. The walls were painted a light green and all trim was painted white. The existing ceiling was a drop ceiling with 120 2-by-4 foot tiles and 2-by-4 foot fluorescent lights. The tiles were removed and painted, and re-installed. The ceiling tracks were straightened, replaced, or painted as necessary.

For the lighting portion, all of the 2-by-4 foot fluorescent fixtures were opened, cleaned and new bulbs were installed. Also, all existing 2-by-4 lenses were replaced with new ones.

For the main room floor replacement, all furniture was first moved to other buildings.One of the most durable and attractive styles of flooring that you can purchase is ceramic or porcelain tiles. The existing floor was old carpeting installed on top of padding on top of a wooden plank floor. The carpet and padding were removed and discarded. The wood floor planking was inspected for damage or rot,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , and replaced or repaired as necessary. After prepping, 1,000 square feet of new Pergo pre-finished wood floor was installed.

The project went mainly as planned, however additional modifications were made to improve the overall result. Disconnected heating ducts found above the drop ceiling were repaired. New vinyl blinds were added to all the windows. Tile and grout were put in front of the fireplace for a completed look and finish. All new base, threshold, and corner moldings were installed.

One hundred percent of the monies needed for supplies was raised through donations and the project required a total of 132 man hours. Chris would like to thank The Women's Association of the West Milford Presbyterian Church, West Milford Hardware, Frank's Pizza, Home Depot, Steve Berryman, his grandfather Frank and his Uncle Mike, and all the donors and all who came out to help him with this project.

Chris, a member of Troop 114 chartered from St. Joseph Church in West Milford, is currently a freshman at Johnson and Wales University. He has held leadership positions in the troop including quartermaster for three years, patrol leader, and assistant senior patrol leader. Jeff Hanson is his scoutmaster.

The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority on Tuesday cleared the finalisation of tender for construction of the market at a cost of Rs.69.17 crore with similar design. The contractor will begin the construction work by January 1, said an official of CMDA.

However, as the market is coming up at an alternative site between B-Road and E-Road in Koyambedu with the land originally earmarked for the project being taken over by Chennai Metro Rail, all the traders who wish to relocate will not get shops as the demand is four times that of proposed shops in the existing design of the market.

Even though the administrative sanction for the market was given in May, the tendering process took time on account of various issues pertaining to the demand of traders in George Town, who will have to shift businesses from the existing wholesale foodgrain market in George Town to Koyambedu.

As the new structure is located close to the upcoming metro station in Koyambedu, residents and small businesses will be able to purchase products such as cereals, pulses and spices at an affordable cost.Interlocking security cable ties with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. However,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. the project covering 364 shops measuring 280 sq ft, 92 shops measuring 740 sq ft and 36 shops measuring 1,200 sq ft will not be enough to meet the demand.

The land available with the CMDA is limited because of the metrorail land acquisition and there is no scope for expansion of the market in future in Koyambedu, said officials.

The project is aimed at decongesting the central business district of George Town by shifting the business to Koyambedu where phase-I of the market for vegetables, flowers and fruits has over 3,194 shops

According to CMDA officials, Over 2,000 of the traders are part of the bustling market of foodgrains and spices in Kothwal Chavadi.

The total area of the built up space of the market will be 2,13,200 sq ft. Some traders have already pai

2012年11月20日星期二

Lauderdale airport parking dispute comes at inopportune time of year

Right at the Fort Lauderdale airport’s busiest time,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale turquoise beads from china, management of its gargantuan parking system might be pulled from the hands of USA Parking amid allegations the firm submitted false invoices to the county more than 100 times.

The county is suing USA Parking and its owner, Central Parking Corp.This document provides a guide to using the ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. of Tennessee, for $47 million in damages in a whistleblower lawsuit accusing the company of “defrauding’’ the county by submitting “false, fraudulent and inflated claims for insurance reimbursements” and admitting its actions under oath.

The company denies charging the county anything beyond what it owed. The lawsuit is in settlement talks.

Because of the accusations, county Aviation Director Kent George proposes bringing in a temporary company on an emergency basis — waiving competitive bidding — to operate parking month to month starting Dec. 14, when the company’s contract expires.

The move is “unnecessarily risky” during the holidays, the busiest time of the year at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, USA Parking officials say. The company says public parking at the airport could be chaotic under an inexperienced operator, and the county could lose out on income. Airport officials said they’ll watch carefully.

“We have to make sure we run that and watch it as closely as possible in a positive way for the public,’’ said George.Largest gemstone beads and jewelry making supplies at wholesale prices.

Parking operations are the top moneymaker for the county at Fort Lauderdale airport, aside from aviation, bringing in $3.3 million a month to the airport — $40 million a year.

But there are complexities: The public’s credit card and SunPass payments, a valet and car-washing service, 11,644 public parking spaces and an online payment system for employee parking to name a few.

Broward’s move for a divorce from USA Parking incensed the company that’s a mainstay in government contracting and has run parking operations at the airport for 16 years and at Port Everglades for 21 years.

In a letter to the county, attorney Joseph Goldstein for USA Parking called the county’s plans “outrageous,’’ “entirely wasteful and unjustified.’’

He said it “threatens the parking operations and financial well-being of the airport’’ and is more likely to “cause a true emergency than prevent a non-existent’’ one.

The parking giant is led by Bill Bodenhamer Jr., a member of the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority, who could not be reached for comment despite a call to his home.

With USA Parking’s contract coming up, the county went out for bids in June. USA Parking hoped to hang on to the contract, but it didn’t make the shortlist. The company appealed, halting the process. The company had hoped to remain on while the county sought bids — the usual county protocol when a contract expires and a new one is still in the works. But because of the overbilling accusation, George recommends against it.

The County Commission will soon be asked to approve the emergency parking contract with Keolis Transit America.

“I don’t care that they wanted to keep it,’’ said George.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , “I do not believe it’s good business practice to continue to have a company represent you on the No. 1 non-aviation revenue producer for the airport if they’ve admitted to submitting over 100 false invoices.’’

The allegations of false invoicing come from a lawsuit filed by the county on information from whistleblower Jason Wolk, a former controller for USA Parking.

Wolk and the county allege the company billed Broward County between 2005 and 2007 for insurance that it hadn’t bought, because, although the county didn’t know it, the company was largely self-insured, according to the lawsuit.

“CPC fraudulently billed Broward County at a fully insured premium rate while paying insurance expenses at a substantially lower rate and pocketing the difference,’’ the lawsuit alleges.

The invoices to the county from the parking company were “fabricated’’ on the letterhead of an insurance broker,Find detailed product information for howo spareparts and other products. the lawsuit says, and weren’t legitimate.

Wolk said he confronted USA Parking’s parent company, Central Parking Corp., at the time, but officials there didn’t think their billing practices cost the county.

Google Launches VR Game Ingress, Integrates Brands

Google will soon begin testing the integration of brands like Jamba Juice into a virtual reality mobile game launched in beta. The pilot will test whether the game can lead traffic into physical stores, as well as online.

Niantic Project, the back story of the game, integrates with the physical world to run in real-time. Based on geolocation and mapping technology, the free downloadable Android game, Ingress, allows people to participate in the fictional project. Google's Project Glass, eyeglasses that founder Sergey Brin demonstrated at the I/O conference, will likely become an accessory to the game, though there has been no discussions between the two Google groups.

Aside from Jamba Juice, Archit Bhargava -- product manager at Niantic Labs, an app development division at Google -- said several brands, such as PopChips, Zipcar, Hint, and Chrome Bags Store have stepped up to begin testing the platform in the coming week.

Google will integrate a brand's products or physical location into the game. Bhargava describes one option as using QR codes so players can walk into the store to receive specials or discounts. Similar to the social site Google+, the experimental app launched in beta allows players to invite others to join in.

As fiction, the game describes the app as a leaked piece of technology allowing people to use a smartphone camera to view exotic matter and portals around them in the physical world. In reality, it's a free downloadable app from Google Play for Android-running smartphones that will become the marketing platform for brands.

Ingress identifies a person's location through GPS and physical structures with Google Map technology. The apps create scatter maps with shiny, glowing objects representing portals that represent real-life physical structures. Users within 40 meters of the real physical structures can interact with the image on the phone.

The narrator, P.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , A. Chapeau, describes the journey through a series of notes and clues pinned to a pegboard, as well as shareable content on Google+, Facebook and Twitter.

Ingress is not the Niantic Labs's first game. Earlier this month, the team introduced Field Trip, an Android-based app offering information on nearby locations and deals, which explains the marketing offering through Ingress. Field Trip also relies on GPS and map technology to identify the phone's location and surrounding points of interest.China plastic moulds manufacturers directory.The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. It finds the information without searching for it.

Expanding the categories would provide marketers an easy method of serving coupons or deals in many more categories as consumers passed by stores. An opt-in process for users would reduce privacy concerns.

So, what does this mean for your business? The answer is a lot. If you can integrate technology-enabled collaboration into the processes that your business relies on to function, chances are you'll get better results. The key is being selecting the right processes, says Michael Krigsman, CEO of consulting and research firm Asuret.

"Some people get caught up in this concept of social and collaboration like it's this magic bullet," says Krigsman. "It's not a magic bullet for anything. Simply bolting on a feature is a nice thing to do, but it does not mean anyone is going to use that feature nor does it mean that the organization is going to be somehow transformed into becoming a 'social business' or a 'social enterprise'."

You can enable collaboration with technology, of course, but it has to be a technology people either want to use or, as in the case of Echo Entertainment, an Australian casino operator with over 10,000 employees, a technology they are already using.

This is just one example of where enabling collaboration via a social medium, in this case Facebook, helped streamline a process, rewarded and empowered employees and, ultimately, made for a better work-life experience for all involved.

Mobile is another area with great potential to "socialize" existing processes to make them better. Imagine sending out real-time alerts that the customer a salesperson is about to visit has just filed a complaint with the service department. The salesperson knows this because the departments are linked via a social commenting system that allows the salesperson to interact directly with a customer service representative and the technician assigned to the call.

Now he can triangulate a response in a matter of minutes instead of days. When the salesperson arrives,Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability. he can be proactive and give the customer an update on the status of the complaint and information on how and when it will be resolved.

This is the power of "social" when applied to the right process in the right amount, at the right time. But before you go down this path, check off this list of things to consider.Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability. Provided your processes are working today, you don't want to just bolt on social because it sounds cool. If no one benefits from it or, worse, it makes a process harder to follow, that's a waste of time and effort.

Why all pharmaceutical research should be made open access

I recently had lunch with as staunch an advocate for open access as you'll ever meet (I won't name him, because it would be rude to attribute casual remarks to him without permission). We were talking about plans to mandate free and open publication of publicly funded scientific research. In the USA, there's the Federal Public Research Act, and in the UK, there's the coalition government's announcement that publicly funded research should be made available at no cost, under a Creative Commons licence that permits unlimited copying.

We'd been talking about Ben Goldacre's excellent new book, Bad Pharma, in which Goldacre documents the problem of "missing data" in pharmaceutical research (he says about half of the clinical trials undertaken by the pharmaceutical industry are never published). The unpublished trials are, of course, the trials that show the pharma companies' new products in unflattering lights – trials that suggest that their drugs don't work very well, or don't work at all, or are actively harmful.

The decades-old industry practice of suppressing scientific evidence (and some independent researchers doing the same) leads Goldacre to declare that nothing we know about modern medicine should be assumed to be correct, and he makes the urgent case for forcing the release of all that pharma dark matter so scientists can re-run the numbers and work out what actually does work.

I mentioned this to my lunchmate, finishing with: "And that's why all pharma research must be open access."

"All publicly funded pharma research,The oreck XL professional air purifier," he said, as though correcting a mistake in elementary arithmetic. "If the public pays for it, they should see it, but if pharmaceutical companies want to pay for their own research, well …"

I knew where he was coming from. One of the strongest arguments for public access in scholarly and scientific publication is the "public debt" argument: if the public pays you to do research, the research should belong to the public. That's a good argument, but it's not the whole story. For one thing, it's vulnerable to the "public-private partnership" counterargument, which goes, "Ah, yes, but why not ensure that the public gets a maximum dividend on its spending by charging lots of money for access to publicly funded research and returning the profit to the research sector?" I think this argument is rubbish, as do most economists who have studied the question.

The public good of freely accessible, unencumbered research generates more economic value for the public than the quick-hit sugar-rush you get from charging the public on the way in and again on the way out. This has held true in many sectors, though the canonical example is the massive public return from the US Geological Survey's freely usable maps, which have generated a fortune that makes the ransoms collected by the Ordinance Survey on its maps of the UK look like a pittance.

That's why Goldacre's work is important to this discussion. The reason pharma companies should be required to publish their results isn't that they've received a public subsidy for the research. Rather,Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. it is because they are asking for a governmental certification saying that their products are fit for consumption, and they are asking for regulatory space to allow doctors to write prescriptions for those products. We need tOur technology gives rtls systems developers the ability.hem to disclose their research – even if doing so undermines their profits – because without that research, we can't know if their products are fit for use.

This is similar to the argument for using free/open source software in industrial and health applications,Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products. such as the OpenEyes system developed by Moorfields eye hospital and other institutions around the world, following the collapse of the NHS's electronic health record project. They didn't plump for an open system instead of a proprietary one for ideological reasons, but rather for eminently practical ones. No hospital trust would ever allow a firm of engineers to build a new wing for a hospital using secret proprietary means to calculate their load-stresses. They wouldn't accept a new wing where the as-built drawings were a secret, where the location of the ducts and trunks was known only to the contractor. I

t's certainly true that engineering firms and architects could make more if their methods were proprietary, but we demand openness because we need to be able to maintain hospitals regardless of the fortunes of any engineering firm, and because we need the reassurance you get from being able to double-check the load calculations on your own.We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory. The IT systems used to manage the patients in the hospital are every bit as vital as the location of the ethernet wires in the walls, and so Moorfields expects them to be as open as the architectural plans for their buildings.

And that's why big pharma needs to show its work: because regardless of their bottom line, their products mustn't be allowed into the market without such a showing. It's important to get publicly funded work into the public's hands, but that's where the open access sto.

2012年11月14日星期三

Awarepoint Names Keith Pitts To Its Board Of Directors

On the heels of reporting its record growth announcement, Awarepoint Corporation, the largest dedicated real-time location system (RTLS) corporation in healthcare, announced today that it named Keith B. Pitts, Vice Chairman of Vanguard Health Systems (NYSE: VHS), to its board of directors. In his role, Pitts will represent Heritage Group, a Nashville, Tenn.-based private healthcare investment firm that invested in Awarepoint in April.

"With over three decades of experience and success in healthcare, Keith is a proven strategic and operational leader and we are honored to have him join our board," says Jay Deady, CEO of Awarepoint. "His deep industry expertise and outstanding strategic management skills in influencing and growing organizations in challenging healthcare environments will help guide Awarepoint to the next level."

Before joining Vanguard Health Systems, which operates 28 acute care and specialty hospitals and complementary facilities and services in metropolitan Chicago, Illinois, metropolitan Detroit, Michigan; metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona; San Antonio, Texas; Harlingen and Brownsville, Texas: and Worcester and metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts, Pitts served as Chairman and CEO of Mariner Post-Acute Network and its predecessor, Paragon Health Network, a home nursing management company. Prior to that he was an Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of OrNda Healthcorp, a hospital operator that Tenet Healthcare acquired in 1997 for $3.22 billion.

"As the industry's recognized healthcare RTLS leader, Awarepoint is playing a major role in enabling hospitals and health systems to address intense pressures to improve quality,Installers and distributors of solar panel, to improve safety and efficiency of care and to manage costs," Pitts said. "Awarepoint is well positioned to grow rapidly, particularly as providers become increasingly aware of RTLS's ability to solve their problems and drive revenue. I look forward to helping Awarepoint execute its growth strategy and further extend its market leadership."

Heritage Group operates the Heritage Healthcare Innovation Fund , a $167 million strategic venture fund backed by many of the nation's top hospitals, health systems and healthcare services firms. HHIF selected Awarepoint as its first investment in April. HHIF's limited partners include: Amedisys, Cardinal Health, Community Health Systems Inc., Health Care Service Corporation,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , Intermountain Healthcare, Iowa Health System, LifePoint Hospitals, Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, Trinity Health and Vanguard Health Systems.

Awarepoint delivers the healthcare industry's only cloud-based, Real-time Location System on a single platform of integrated software, technology, and managed services.Argo Mold limited specialize in Plastic injection mould manufacture, By enabling predictive workflows to better manage assets, patients, and personnel across the enterprise,A specialized manufacturer and supplier of dry cabinet, the aware360°Suite allows administrators and care providers to advance the quality, efficiency, experience, and economics of care. Dedicated exclusively to healthcare, Awarepoint's experience and reliable, proven solutions power the largest healthcare RTLS deployments in the world.

I don't know why, but I always find it exciting to stumble upon a film crew or a set.Largest gemstone beads and jewelry making supplies at wholesale prices. There's something cool about getting a first-hand glimpse of the smoke and mirrors employed to summon movie magic. I like walking behind a set and seeing all the wooden planks holding it up. It always reminds me of a Terry Gilliam cartoon or that bit at the end of Blazing Saddles.

Like most passions, my love of movie sets can be traced back to a vivid childhood experience. When I was four years old, my family took me to the Greek island of Corfu for a holiday. One day, we saw people building a fake villa on the local beach. It was fascinating. From the front it looked like an idyllic Greek beach villa, but behind you could see it was just propped up with wood. The plants on the fake verandah were made of plastic and stapled to the fake wall. It was awesome and blew my four-year-old mind. The fact that I can remember all this so vividly after more than three decades shows that the experience clearly made an impression.

Then, one morning, the beach around the fake villa was covered in tyre tracks swerving through the sand in dramatic fashion. I remember spending the day running around in the tracks on the beach. Later, when they took the villa down, my sister was given some of the plastic plants from the verandah. The plastic plants, complete with flowers, were a fixture in her bedroom for many years to come, but in the end they went to that mysterious place where treasured childhood possessions go, along with all the Star Wars figures and Mr Men books.

It was only later that we realised the villa was a set for the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only. It took a long time for films to make it on to television in those days, so it was years later when I finally saw the film. There was the villa that we watched them build, there were the flowers that were now on my sister's wall and I finally got to see how those tracks were made in the sand.

Honda Crosstour FWD V-6 First Test

Yes, we know — the Honda Crosstour isn’t pretty. From its anteater nose to its huge, upright rear end, the Honda is far from easy on the eyes. But if you recall the story of the ugly duckling, you might remember it grows into a beautiful swan, and after three years on the market, the aesthetically challenged crossover is getting a much-needed makeover for 2013. Before the refreshed 2013 Honda Crosstour arrives, however, we’re taking another look at the outgoing model to determine what the 2012 Crosstour does right and what needs improvement.

Shown at last year’s New York auto show, the 2013 Honda Crosstour concept featured more “capable, SUV-like styling” with larger headlights, a thick chrome-colored grille, and new rectangular foglamp housings in the lower bumper. Whereas the current Crosstour has a droopy fascia, the concept had a more chiseled look, thanks to lower contrasting trim and a sill plate. It still had the large derriere, though it was reduced a smidge. We liked what we saw on the outside, but what really counts is how Honda will change the Crosstour’s interior.Find detailed product information for howo spareparts and other products.

A boatload of new tech is in order for the 2013 model, and that’s a good thing, because it’s something our 2012 Crosstour EX-L severely lacks. Even though our test car is in top-trim form, the navigation and infotainment system feels outdated.The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. The button-clad center stack isn’t very intuitive, and the graphics on the navigation are antiquated, so it’s no surprise real-time traffic information isn’t available. On the other hand, the blue instrument cluster lighting creates a cool ambiance, but even the graphics could use an update. Having to dig deep in pockets to find your car keys should be a thing of the past, and with an as-tested price of $36,020, our Crosstour should include hands-free keyless access.

With its peculiar proportions, the Crosstour felt much larger than it actually was, especially in cramped parking lots. The rear camera helped, though the same can’t be said about the side mirrors, which tilt down when the vehicle is put into reverse. Once the Crosstour is put back into Drive, the mirrors should return to their prior position, but they overshot their original position every time.Interlocking security cable ties with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. (It’s unclear whether this issue is isolated to our test car.) With the side mirrors in the right place, rear visibility was not an issue. I had a clear view of blind spots, and the rear split-window didn’t impede. Honda’s new LaneWatch blind-spot display, which debuted on the 2013 Accord, will likely be made available on the new Crosstour. The new tech uses a camera system mounted on the passenger mirror for an enhanced view of the roadway on the right side of the vehicle.

As for the quality of interior materials,China plastic moulds manufacturers directory. the 2012 Crosstour nails it. The black leather seats and leather-wrapped steering wheel feel good to the touch, while wood trim contributes to an upscale feel. While Hondas are infamous for being loud, this one is not – a tranquil cabin combined with a smooth ride made for an enjoyable drive.

The 271-hp, 3.5-liter V-6 purred with joy when pushed and was mighty eager to do so, propelling the 3835-pound crossover forward from 0-60 mph in 6.9 seconds, and through the quarter-mile in 15.3 seconds. For comparison, our long-term all-wheel-drive 2010 Honda Crosstour accelerated from 0-60 mph in 7.6 seconds and completed the quarter mile in 15.8 seconds at 89.5 mph. Don’t be surprised if the refreshed Crosstour is quicker, as it will likely get the new Accord’s V-6 that’s been tweaked to put out 7 more horses. The pre-refresh Crosstour’s shape may be awkward, but in corners body roll was kept to a minimum. The car completed our figure-eight in 28.0 seconds at 0.62 g average (the AWD Crosstour does the test in 28.5 seconds at 0.58 g average). Although the five-speed auto works well, it’s outdated in the competitive crossover environment, but the new six-speed automatic in the new Accord should remedy that and help improve the current car’s 18/27 mpg city/highway.

If fuel economy is a major concern, the front-drive Crosstour with the 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine (on sale earlier this year) may be the better option, besting the front-drive V-6 by 3 mpg in the city and 2 mpg on the highway. If the four-banger survives the Crosstour refresh and the V-6 model gets a six-speed automatic,Find detailed product information for howo tractor and other products. we’re not sure how much of a fuel economy benefit the base model will still provide.

The Real Cyberforensics Used To Snoop On Petraeus

In an increasingly weird and tangled affair, Former CIA director David Petraeus, Marine General John R. Allen, Paula Broadwell, Jill Kelley, an unnamed FBI Agent, and others all used various anonymous accounts and message-masking techniques pioneered by terrorists and teens alike. They thought they were communicating with each other with discretion and secrecy.

That's because they're practiced in the field of cyberforensics--detailed Internet and technology detective techniques used every day all around the world. When it comes to the vast majority of activity by Internet users, it's amazingly easy to trace fake email addresses and anonymous blogs back to their owners. Or, put another way, if the director of the CIA's undercover ops can be cracked, so can yours. Here's how.

Cyberforensics firms regularly show up on retainer or on the payroll of law enforcement, lawyers of all stripes, lobbyists, and even intelligence agencies.We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory. Every activity on the Internet leaves identity breadcrumbs in the form of activity logs, cookies, GPS activity from mobile phones,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale turquoise beads from china, and even logs of camera activity and keyboard use secretly copied from targets' computers. Given enough manpower hours, cyberforensics experts can reconstruct the tiniest minutiae of any phone or computer owner's lives. Law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies also retain their own in-house cyberforensics experts.

The FBI gained access to anonymous Gmail accounts traced to Petraeus and Broadwell through a law, more than 25 years old, that gives law enforcement carte blanche to snoop in email accounts. Provisions of 1986's Stored Communications Act (SCA) allow “government entities” to access email records in storage for less than 180 days “if there is reasonable cause to believe a crime has been committed.” For email records that are older than 180 days, a warrant is required. Using the SCA, FBI investigators were able to obtain access to emails Broadwell and Petraeus wrote via Gmail over the past six months. Google routinely discloses government queries into Gmail's archives, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others have raised concerns over the SCA, an email bill written back in the halcyon days of Compuserve and GEnie.

Both Petraeus and Broadwell were savvy enough to use Gmail accounts with fake names. But while Petraeus knew his way around email, he wasn't savvy enough for Broadwell and him to take precautions that could have hidden any incriminating emails. Neither used identity-obscuring VPNs and rerouting solutions such as the Tor Project, which could have hindered the FBI from tracing, for instance, Broadwell's fake email account back to her North Carolina home. Apart from Tor, commercially available end-user solutions such as Hotspot Shield and LogMeIn Hamachi obscure the origination points of email messages with varying levels of success. It is important to note that many of those services, especially those that use American servers, may keep IP address logs that are accessible to investigators or hackers.

Darren R. Hayes, the head of Pace University's Computer Information Systems program and a computer forensics expert, tells Fast Company that there are numerous ways for anonymous email accounts to escape detection, or to at least make the process much harder. Commercial services such as GuerillaMail and Mailinator offer disposable, throwaway email addresses whose data can be held on foreign servers outside the reach of the American government; VPNs also make tracing emails much harder.Installers and distributors of solar panel,

The FBI, NSA, local police departments, and other government entities can all access email account records and histories via sending requests to Google, AOL, and others. These accounts customarily request all information associated with an IP address--meaning that all the email addresses from a household, whether involved in an investigation or not,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , are culled by law enforcement.

Cyberforensics, though not regularly discussed in the press, are a booming industry. “These days, virtually all cases involve digital evidence. Whether the case is counterterrorism, kidnapping, drugs, or a white collar crime, digital evidence is key,” AccessData's Erika Lee tells Fast Company.The oreck XL professional air purifier, AccessData, which sells computer forensics software to investigators parsing electronic records and corporations tracing the perpetrators of hacking attacks, is part of a field that does everything from parse the physical locations Facebook status updates were posted from to uncovering the Chinese cybercafes where multimillion dollar attacks on banks were launched from.

2012年11月12日星期一

Korea’s Namdaemun rises from the ashes

Five years ago, as he watched TV images of South Korea’s foremost historical treasure being engulfed in flames lit by a lone arsonist, Hong Chang-Won remembers having to turn his head away.

“It was too heartbreaking to see such beautiful architecture being destroyed like that,” said Hong, a registered master craftsman who specializes in traditional Korean ornamental painting.

Seoul’s 600-year-old Namdaemun (South Gate), listed as “National Treasure Number One” and a source of immense cultural pride, was burned pretty much to the ground on February 10, 2008.

The largely wooden structure that had managed to survive the devastation of the 1950-53 Korean War was reduced to ashes by a disgruntled 69-year-old man with some paint thinner and a cigarette lighter.

Nearly five years later, following one of the longest, most expensive restoration projects ever undertaken in South Korea that involved scores of highly-skilled artisans like Hong,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , Namdaemun is ready to return.

The restored landmark is set to be unveiled, on schedule, in late December.

From the outset of the 25 billion won ($22.A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister.7 million) project, the Cultural Heritage Administration had decided that the reconstruction work should be carried out as faithfully to the original as possible.

“It has been extremely difficult, but given that it’s Korea’s landmark, we put traditional methods and materials as our highest priority,” said the head of the administration’s restoration team, Cho Kyu-Hyung.

“The building holds not only a historical significance, but also a great symbolic meaning for all Koreans,” Cho told AFP during a preview tour.

Historians and master craftsmen using traditional construction techniques were invited to review documents dating back centuries, as well as a blueprint drawn up in 1963 when the government dismantled the gate for repair work.

“The only modern ‘tools’ that we used were trucks to deliver the stone and timber. Otherwise everything was done using original technologies,” Cho said.A specialized manufacturer and supplier of dry cabinet,

Molten steel was poured into special moulds to fashion traditional-style nails, while all 22,000 roof tiles were handmade. Hundreds of pieces of pine timber had all been cut and allowed to dry out naturally -- a process that takes several years -- and the stonework was cut and crafted with traditional tools.

Decorative paints, however, had to be imported from Japan, since the art of making them in the traditional fashion, without chemicals, had been lost among Korean specialists.

Six master craftsmen specializing in stonecraft, woodcraft, roof tiles and ornamental painting were invited onto the project, said Cho, with each craftsman assisted by as many as 40 licensed apprentices.

As the expert in charge of the painting, Hong’s team was the last to work on the project and he watched carefully as the apprentices followed his outlines of lotus flowers and leaf patterns drawn on the giant timbers.

“We tried hard to restore the colors and styles of the time when it was actually built,” Hong said.

“At first glance, the newer Namdaemun might look less colorful and rather toned down, but it will look much more serene and graceful,” he added.

The dominant colors were of light blue and dark green, with more vivid tones of orange and red used only as highlights. The patterns were copied from temples built around the same time, as well as pictures taken from the early 1900s.

“And since some pillars remained intact even after the fire, we also took them into account,” Hong said.

The pagoda-style, two-storey gate located in the centre of downtown Seoul was first constructed in 1398,Argo Mold limited specialize in Plastic injection mould manufacture, then rebuilt in 1447 and renovated several times after that.

The structure that burned down in 2008 had still contained some 600-year-old timber. The fire took out the entire roof, most of the upper floor and some of the lower floor.

Proposals to give the restored version a fire-resistant coat was rejected, Cho said, because it would have caused some discoloration of the paintwork.

“We did research and tests and came to conclusion that the best solution was to take every possible precautionary measure, such as installing thermal sensors around the building,” Cho said.

The destruction of Namdaemun sent shock waves through the country, with sorrowful Seoul residents swarming around the charred ruin,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. laying flowers and writing grieving messages.

Crews put finishing touches Holiday of Lights tradition

Volunteers and city crews are hard at work to light up Bluefield City Park in time for the holidays.

Deb Sarver, organizer of the Holiday of Lights, said crews have been working around the clock to get everything done for Thanksgiving night.

“We have been working hard,” she said. “The crazy weather the other week has put us back a little, and we are down two employees.Klaus Multiparking is an industry leader in innovative parking system technology. However, we will be open by Thanksgiving night. The city employees also have to split up their time between this and other park events like football and the train show. We have been fortunate to get the Day Report Center people from Princeton to come down here and help us work.”

Sarver said a lot of work goes into making sure each display is ready for the season.

“We have already replaced between 7,000 and 8,000 bulbs, and more will be replaced as we go along,” she said. “Some of the bulbs don’t keep their color as well as the others. A lot of the bulbs we can only get one year’s use out of. We are trying to save as many of the old bulbs as we can and rewiring some of the displays. We are also getting a lot of use out of the cable ties. We have already gone through 6,000 cable ties and have about 4,000 more. Many of these displays have had the same wiring for 10 years. We’ve refurbished and repainted some of the displays as well.”

Many of the larger displays involve several lighted pieces,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale turquoise beads from china, Sarver said.We are pleased to offer the following list of professional mold maker and casters.

“The nativity scene alone has 15 pieces that go together to create the scene,” she said. “There are more than 200 pieces out there and close to 60 little scenes throughout the displays. Some of the scenes are huge, too. The sailing ships are probably one of our largest. All of our biggest stuff is now up.”

Sarver said the Holiday of Lights has received some new displays donated by electric engineering students and professors at Bluefield State College.

“The people with Bluefield State College have redone the snowflake arches this year,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag.” Sarver said. “Each year they are working on a new display for us, which we are so grateful for. Having them bring in new displays is wonderful for the people who come through and gets the college students involved in the community.”

In addition to the new displays, Sarver said some old favorites will be back up and on display this year.

“Our original snowflakes and snowmen are up,” Sarver said. “They are the oldest displays from the very first Holiday of Lights. This year we also have the 12 Days of Christmas display back. People have been asking about them since they were blown over and damaged by the wind. This year, we are doing something different with that display. Instead of having them all together, we will have them in sequence throughout the park. It will kind of be like a scavenger hunt for people to see if they can find all 12 of them.”

Sarver said a very special guest from the North Pole is also set to make an appearance at the Holiday of Lights this year.Find a great buy mosaic Art deals on eBay!

“This year there is a Facebook page set up for the Holiday of Lights,” she said. “We will announce then when we will have the walk-through and we will also announce when Santa Claus will be at the train depot. We will have the train running that night so people can ride it through the Holiday of Lights as long as the weather permits. So far, I think Santa will only be there for one night.”

Sarver said the Holiday of Lights has become a tradition for many families from the local area and surrounding communities and states.

“I do enjoy doing this,” Sarver said. “You know you are doing something for the community, and that it brings people into the area. This is a Christmas destination for many people. We have people from a 100-mile radius who come out to see this every year. It’s a tradition for many families to come here Thanksgiving night. People know that is when it starts and make it part of their family holiday.”

Sarver said volunteers are still needed to work the gate during the event, which lasts until New Year’s Eve.

“We are still looking for volunteers to work the booth throughout the event,” she said. “Anyone who is interested can call the city offices and put their name down to volunteer. It’s really a great way to give back to the community.”

Is a recovery in transportation stocks good news for the wider economy?

Clandestine passengers in those old Western films always knew that the best time to get on board was when the train was still going slow. Once the engine started to move at full throttle, the whole exercise acquired a suicidal taste.Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. Quite a few experienced equity investors have a similar view. The time to get into the market is right after it touches bottom, and share prices are about to gain steam. That could be the case with transportation stocks, a sector that has suffered severely in the past five years, and could see a reversal of fortunes in the near future.

Or maybe it could not.The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, It can be argued that the fate of companies that depend on the transport of passengers or goods is closely correlated with the performance of the broader economy. So if you believe that the woes of Europe, the US and Japan are a long way from being over, trains, ships and airplanes are unlikely to be your thing. In fact, there is a school of thought according to which the performance of transportation stocks provides a reliable predictor of how equity markets as a whole will fare in the near future. If that is really the case, the best is to fasten your seat belt and brace yourself for more periods of turbulence.

In the past five years, the Dow Jones Transportation Average, an index made out of transportation stocks traded in the US, have gone through a considerably bumpy road. From a peak of more than 5,400 points that it reached in the happy days of April 2008, the index fell to less than 2,150 in March 2009. The false start of the first half of 2011 took the index up to more than 5,500 points by July that year, only to see it drop to below 4,000 points a mere three months later. In 2012, the DJTA delivered a tad over 2 per cent by early November. Which was of course six times less than what the S&P 500 index of the US’s largest blue chips.

The trajectory of the DJTA so far this year could imply it is either time to get into the transportation sector without further delay,Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products. or to get out of equity markets entirely. This is because, depending on the school of thought that an investor subscribes to, such stocks should either follow the way the broader economy goes, or to predict the future performance of markets.Find detailed product information for howo tractor and other products.

The latter includes proponents of the Dow Theory, one of which proposes that companies that take merchandise from one point to another will be the first to benefit from a recovery of confidence among producers of industrial goods. However economists have asserted that the sector not only is reactive, rather than predictive, to other economy trends, but it also has tended to move in either direction more dramatically than GDP.

The Dow Theory dates back to the early 20th Century and for many economists it reflects a kind of economy that has completely changed in past decades.

“I don’t think transportation stocks are leading indicators of where the economy is heading,” says Alastair Gunn, a UK equities fund manager at Jupiter. “But they are good proxies for what is happening in the economy.”

Some analysts say the sector is in fact very broad and offer opportunities for several kinds of plays. In a recent interview to the Wall Street Transcript, Jefferies & Co analyst Peter Nesvold noted that some activities, like the transport of goods by lorry companies, follow the economic cycle instantly, while others, such as rails, tend to react more slowly. According to him, even those who like to bet against the tide can find opportunities in the sector, as logistics stocks have a tendency to be countercyclical.

Even within a sub-sector of the transportation industry the variations can be considerable, requiring careful analysis from investors. Moving people, for instance, is an activity less subject to dramatic ups and downs than carrying goods.

“Freight traffic is more exposed to the economic cycle than passenger traffic,” says Thomas Bücher, manager of the DWS Global Infrastructure fund. “As the economy goes down,Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products. it is the freight traffic that suffers the biggest falls of volume.”

The German economist Werner Rothengatter has noted that the current crisis has made this fact more evident than ever before. While long distance passenger transport fell 5 per cent in the rich world in 2009, international freight transport dropped by twice as much, he wrote in a report.

Flagship airlines have struggled as tourists and business travelers have became more aware of their travel costs. However low-cost alternatives have thrived as people who in other times would not even consider making a trip without a free meal have been forced to eat their pride instead.

2012年11月6日星期二

Neighbors growling about dog park location

When a dog park opened next to Sanchez Art Center with great fanfare about seven months ago, it was the culmination of a collaborative effort between the city and a dog advocacy group called POOCH, or Pacifica Organization Of Canine Helpers.

POOCH had gathered support for the park, continues to raise funds to keep it going and monitors it with volunteers.

It took Pacifica's Parks, Beaches and Recreation Department a long time to study various sites and finally settle on one at the east end of city-owned Sanchez.

Because the site borders homes on one side and art studios on the other, some neighbors expressed concerns during the planning process about potential noise and odor problems. One of the artists,Klaus Multiparking is an industry leader in innovative parking system technology. Stephen Johnson of Stephen Johnson Photography, complained about the project from the outset, saying he'd never be able to open his windows for fresh air. As a concession, the city agreed to pay for installation of air conditioning in his studio. He has yet to receive that air conditioning,The MaxSonar ultrasonic sensor offers very short to long-range detection and ranging. he said.

By the time the final plans were drafted, the neighbors' issues had been addressed in an environmental impact report that concluded the dog park would have "no significant impacts." PB&R subsequently approved the project.

But now that the park has been open for seven months, some neighbors aren't living happily ever after. They say they're rattled by the constant sound of barking dogs, disturbed by the conversations of park visitors and feel smothered by all the dust kicked up by scampering canines.

A few neighbors are so upset they have formed an organization, Pacificans for Compatible Land Use, and hired an attorney, Daniel Muller of Walnut Creek, to do something about the problem. Muller and some of the neighbors attended the last PB&R meeting, where the commissioners agreed to fully review their complaints and the dog park operation in two months.

The commission meanwhile decided to close the dog park on Tuesdays and reduce the original operating hours to 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.

Dog owner Cathy Felix, who is a big supporter of the park and takes her dog there every day, acknowledges that the barking sometimes can be a bit much.

"Most of the time it is under control, but sometimes the barking is loud," she said.

Stephanie Poloni, one of the neighbors who hired the attorney, said, "We are going to fight for this to be removed. There has been no way to mitigate the noise and the dust. It's not a compatible use of the space. That's what is frustrating."

She and her husband live in the home her grandparents owned, just 10 feet from the dog park. She said her life has been disrupted since it opened.

"I equate it to living next to a construction site," she said. "PB&R has looked at ways to water down the dirt so we have less dust, but it has not been effective.One of the most durable and attractive styles of flooring that you can purchase is ceramic or porcelain tiles. The odor and the noise are very bad. We are sleep deprived. We are stressed out every time a dog barks. It's like having a neighborhood with 50 dogs," she said.

"The resale value of our home is going to be lower," Poloni added. "My garden and patio furniture are covered in dust. My husband and I have volunteered to lock the dog park at night."

Johnson,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , the photographer, said most of the people who use the dog park are courteous, but a few become hostile and angry when he talks to them about keeping their dogs on leash outside the park, not parking in his reserved parking spaces and picking up their dogs' waste.

"It's only a minority, but it only takes one or two to ruin your day," he said. "Every decision by the city has had a maximum negative impact on me. We've been deemed expendable out here. It continues to disrupt my business. There are times I can't think because of dogs fighting and growling. It's a mess.

"Everything I thought would come true has come true, but it has gotten better. The worst of it happened in the first two months the park was open.A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. Many of the POOCH volunteers have told me they are sorry about what I am going through."

Big Data Set to Explode as 40 Billion New Devices Connect to Internet

If you think we’ve got Big Data problems now—with “only” about 9 billion devices connected to the Internet—what’s the situation going to be like when that number soars to 50 billion at the end of the decade?

Oracle president Mark Hurd recently raised the possibility that unless businesses and government agencies can seize control over that Big Data explosion, then they’ll run the risk of simply being overwhelmed by vast volumes of data that they can’t find, control, manage, or secure—let alone analyze and exploit.

Indeed—what happens when that already-tricky situation is compounded dramatically as an additional 40 billion devices get connected to the Internet over the next several years and begin streaming out massive volumes of data about speeds and location and performance degradation and volume of usage and even such vital but narrowly focused applications such as whether or not your morning coffee is ready?

To help understand some of those implications, a new study commissioned by Oracle outlines some of the impacts those billions of devices will have on the data demands of businesses and other large organizations—and if we think our challenges today are best described as “Big Data,” just wait.

Drilling into this wild new world of machine-to-machine (M2M) data, the study—called “Designing an M2M Platform for the Connected World”—says that “M2M data from remotely located assets and devices in the field is increasingly being used more broadly for strategic purposes and value creation throughout the enterprise. It has also become a means for creating new market opportunities while providing a competitive advantage for enterprise users in their own key markets.”

I recall coming across an early discussion of this general phenomenon about 12 years ago when RFID technology first began to offer the promise of cost-efficient data streams and The oreck XL professional air purifier,intelligence-gathering from machines.

While many big retailers, consumer-packaged-goods companies, and logistics companies initially expressed great interest in RFID technologies, their immediate concern was how in the world would they ever be able to manage the unprecedently massive streams of data emanating from these new networks of things.

Imagine that possibility cranked up exponentially as everything from mobile phones to shoes to cars and household appliances, from pets to smart meters to clothing and surgical devices,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , from heavy industrial equipment to security devices to assembly lines become stuffed with intelligence and begin spewing out digital records of what they’re doing, seeing, sensing, and shipping.

In commissioning its study about how businesses can take full advantage of this dynamic new world,Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. Oracle sought to shed some light on the requirements for turning machine-to-machine raw data into actionable intelligence, along with an eye toward how those demands might shift over time.

Beecham Research found that because most early adopters of M2M technologies and solutions are looking to create new services built on these new data streams, top-priority initiatives have to be end-to-end security that ranges from the device all the way through to the data center and the end-consumer of the data; and, the need for these massive flows of data to be integreated fully with existing IT systems in ways that allow the data to be analyzed and transformed into business insights.

As a result, the study says, companies should pursue these initiatives with an eye toward launching innovative products and services: “Although data storage requirements for M2M solutions have often not been huge in the past, this is changing with very large volumes of data expected in the future. In addition, insight from real-time intelligence can open up a whole new world of solutions.”

Along the way, the M2M movement is expected to join forces with another disruptive force in the IT world: cloud computing.

Survey respondents from around the world said that “Leveraging the cloud was noted as key in M2M projects, as it greatly reduces the cost and complexity of delivering M2M solutions,” Oracle said. “In fact, 90 percent of respondents noted the cloud as being ‘vitally important’ to M2M initiatives.”

Tech companies hoping to play a role in this dynamic new field will have to determine whether they want to be niche players that require extensive integration with other vendors’ equipment, or if they want to try to play a broader role that allows customers to focus more on business outcomes and less on cobbling together various point solutions.

Oracle’s strategy is to be an end-to-end player so that customers can “capitalize on new business models that are enabled by the pervasion of connected devices,” said Oracle senior vice-president Chris Baker in a statement .Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability.

“From Java on the devices to Oracle Engineered Systems in the datacenter, Oracle’s end-to-end M2M platform can simplify the process of collecting, storing, managing and analyzing the data collected by connected devices,Interlocking security cable ties with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. while minimizing storage costs and helping ensure the integrity and security of data,” Baker said.