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Raising the internal temperature of oven baked pasta!!!
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Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 5
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:28 pm
Post subject: Raising the internal temperature of oven baked pasta!!!
Dear fellows,
i need some serious help. Let me present you a
difficult problem
Facts / Assumptions :
- We want to bake through an air oven with belt (Marshal or Lincoln
Impinger) a recipe with pasta (spaghetti).
- the recipe will be put in an aluminium foil container (6cm high)
- the temperature of the oven is 200-250 C
- the belt speed is 7.00 min
- the recipe is as follows (from top of the aluminium container to the
bottom) : mozzarella cheese, bacon, tomato sauce, spaghetti and gouda
- the spaghetti has already been prepared (boiled) and stored in
refrigerator. This means that the temperature of the spaghetti at the
beggining of our process is about 5-6 C
- The spaghetti are re-heated for 1 min in boiling water before entering
the aluminium container.
If we pass through the oven the above recipe the internal temperature of the product will be over 74C (practically it is over 90).
The problem starts when NEW assumptions are presented :
- Oven temperature 220 - 260
- Belt speed : 5.30 min
- No reheating of spaghetti
The internal temperature of the product after passing the oven is ...no more than 45C! (and it is logical)
: How can we raise the internal temperature of the product in order to achieve
of 74C?
Excuse me for such a long report. I am seeking desperately help in this and i found this site of yours wich is perfect for my liking. You see i am a food technologist and found a couple of good ideas here.
Until now i have lowered the height of the container (almost 1 cm) and removed the gouda layer from the bottom and transfered it to the middle of the container. With these an internal temperature of 55-65 has been reached. Do you have any other ideas?
Thank you for your time to read this!
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Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Posts: 89
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 11:34 pm
Post subject:
Your main problem seems to be a lack of convection and conduction of the heat to the liquid portion of the food (the water in the sauce is probably the main problem). The main solution I can think of is to use a larger aluminum container (like a half sheet pan), heating the sauce if possible, and maximizing the surface area of the foodstuff by spreading it evenly on the large container, and than fluffing the spaghetti with a fork so it's less dense.
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Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 5
Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 12:25 am
Post subject:
Thank you SirShazar!
Larger container (wider and with less height) was used and the internal temperature rised (as expected because of the less distance that heat had to pass through).
I will try to preheat the sauce and come back here for results.
I have 4 X 24 h from now to find a solution!
Thank you again!
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Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 5
Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 7:16 pm
Post subject:
I preheated the sauce ...internal temperature : almost 50!
After some experiments today i found out that 2 thin pans in the bottom of the aluminium container raised the internal temperature of the pasta to the point of 67-68C !!!
I can only deduct that this is due to the higher thermal transfer volume because of conduction! Anyway i am that close! I still need to reach the limit of 74!
Any ideas or comments will be very helpfull!
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Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Posts: 89
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:29 am
Post subject:
Here are two crackpot ideas I can suggest:
-Add a more conductive substance than aluminum, and in the practical sense I mean copper. This is a little crazy, but try layering about $5 worth of pennies between the two aluminum pens. It should raise the conductivity significantly.
-I don't have a clue how to do this, but if you could color the outside of the container black than it will absorb more radiant heat.
Also, please post pics.
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Joined: 21 Dec 2005
Posts: 108
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 12:46 am
Post subject: Perhaps something to conduct heat to the middle?
Think about placing something in the middle of the aluminum pan to improve the conduction of heat to the middle. Seems like a clean soda (or beer) can of water at 100C would help conduct heat to the center of the dish.
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Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 5
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 5:56 am
Post subject:
Hello mates , thank you both.
I succeed temps over 80C in the center by placing the aluminium container INTO a metal pan. By this i think the overal thermal distribution to the center of the pan was raised. The metal pan helped by means of convection and conduction. The only thing is to see if the results are repeatable ( i made the test twice, the first time the temp was 85 while the second 82). And the temp indication (using electronic thermometer) was not reached instantly (i had to wait for about 10-15 seconds).
@kgb1001001 : thank you for your thoughts and time. From the beggining it was my decision not to use metal pins. On the other hand please forgive me but i did not quite understood how (and in what way) the clean soda can of water will help me. Can you explain me more please
i will be back soon.
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Joined: 21 Dec 2005
Posts: 108
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 2:05 am
Post subject: Why the water?
OK, I understand about not wanting the metal pins -- it distracts from the presentation of the dish by leaving a hole, and I wasn't aware that that was an issue.
As for the beer (or soda) can of water -- that's basically just acting as a big metal pin. The water at 100C would act as a thermal reservoir for the food touching it. I suggested filling it with water because it would keep the temperature of the can at a maximum of 100C until the water evaporates -- which would keep the food touching it from scorching the way it might if you left the can empty.
The idea is similar to the "beer can chicken" described elsewhere on this site, although that recipe takes advantage of the cooking power of the steam too.
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Photo:Tim Massett
Sun-Ray Cinema
At a time when movie theaters are facing increased competition from in-home rental services like Netflix, Tim Massett decided to renovate an 86-year-old theater in the city's 5 Points area and open a single-screen 200-person venue that offers beer, wine and non-traditional movie food. Massett, a Jacksonville native, had run a theater in Minnesota. He opened Sun-Ray Cinema in December 2011 after raising $100,000 from private investors and crowd-sourcing. Massett says the theater, which presents a mixture of new releases and cult classics, sometimes struggled to draw a crowd and took in $500,000 in its first year. "It takes time; it's word of mouth," he says. Massett plans to add a second screen and eventually open a multiscreen Sun-Ray Cinema on Jacksonville Beach.

subset: commoncrawl


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I'm a lover of movie scores.
Something about the way movie soundtracks are arranged just makes the music stand out to me as something special.
I've always liked the "big" sound of an orchestra, but the one reason I rarely listen to classical music; is because I have trouble drawing emotion from it.
Movie soundtracks are typically composed with the intent of harmonizing with the visuals they accompany, and in many cases; one simply would not be the same without the other.
While I can't see myself ever watching Star Wars without Johnny Williams backing it up, I've always found that I can enjoy Star Wars music without the films.
I've always made it a point to pay attention to the music in films, and doing so has resulted in me seeking out a vast library of movie soundtracks.
Seeing as this is me we're talking about, it should come as no surprise that the vast majority of these soundtracks are dumb action movies, kung fu movies, and/or old cartoons.
Oh yeah, and lots and lots of Godzilla and Ultraman soundtracks:
Nerd-gasm aside, while it's hardly the best soundtrack I've ever heard, I feel I need to point out that, from the 14 minute sample I've heard of it; Captain America The First Avenger sounds pretty damn good so far.
Composed by industry legend Alan Silvestri, the Captain America soundtrack makes great use of his signature sound, both old and new.
On the "old" front, Captain America has some marches and cadences that borrow somewhat from Silvestri's work on Predator, while the "new" aspect of the music, primarily the more uppity synthesized segments; draws comparisons to the composer's work on Van Helsing.
Yes, I am aware Van Helsing was an epicly shitty movie; however few can deny the soundtrack had it's moments.
The movie, sadly; did not.
Boasting a bombastic, and appropriately militaristic feel; the soundtrack sports Silvestri's trademark heavy brass, but also makes subtle use of synthesizers; such that end result feels very much like a period piece, but with the energy of a modern summer blockbuster.
The 14 minute sample I was fortunate to get a chance to listen to contained several arrangements of a few different cues, one that I feel comfortable assuming was one of the central themes of the film; and one that had to have been an action cue.
The "theme" feels like a throwback to WWII themes of the past I.E. Patton and The Great Escape.
Curiously enough, parts of it feel kind of like The A-Team theme, (minus the BADASS electric guitar solo) which Alan Silvestri recently remixed for the feature film adaptation:
Really now, did I seriously need an excuse to embed that clip?
Didn't think so.
Anyway, truth be told the "theme" feels kind of weak when compared to the greats of the past, however it's far stronger than Patrick Doyle's work on Thor, which in my eyes was one of the summer's biggest missed opportunities for producing a great action movie soundtrack.
That's not to say the Captain America "theme" is all that great, it's not; it's merely good.
I think it's biggest weakness is that it comes across as somewhat generic, largely because it's "militaristic feel" overshadows the fact that it's supposed to be the theme music for an individual.
When I listen to the "theme," I get images of Americana and WWII stuff, but sadly I don't get any pictures of Cap' wearing his goofy blue costume.
Not that I have any idea of how one would compose music to convey such imagery in the first place.
Maybe this:
Wow, that brought back some memories… Mostly bad.
Moving on, the action cue from the sample was actually quite good.
Energetic and colorful, the action cue feels like a mix between Silvestri's great work on Beowulf, (minus the overbearing choir) and his equally great work on The Mummy Returns; however composed at a much faster clip.
Truth be told, the cadence of the music leads me to believe part of it was arranged with the train sequence from the trailer in mind; however I could be, and likely am wrong on that.
In any case, I like what I've heard thus far, and truly hope the movie ends up yielding a similar reaction from me when I finally get to see it next month.
Post a comment if you'd like a download link to the Captain America sample soundtrack!
Filed under: Comics, Movies, Tokusatsu, Alan Silvestri, Beowulf, Captain America, Chris Evans, Comics, films, Godzilla, John Williams, Marvel, Movies, music, Patrick Doyle, Patton, Smurfs, soundtrack, Star Wars, The A Team, The First Avenger, The Great Escape, The Mummy Returns, theme, Thor, Ultraman, Van Helsing


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In a recently posted comment to my March 26 blog ('A Friendly Face"') about hiring friends, Mark Johnson raised an equally thorny issue: "How do you deal with an out-of-office spouse that is interested in you firing a star performer?" The issues involving spouses not active in the business usually are only slightly easier to deal with than those involving spouses who work in the business.
When it comes to out-of-business spouses, gender seems to play a larger role. In my experience, husbands tend to seek autonomy in their own business lives and, consequently, are less likely to want to get involved in their wives' businesses. Wives, on the other hand, especially non-working wives, seem to have a greater interest in their husbands' firms. I suspect this stems from the considerable overlap between a small, closely held business and one's private life.
In either case, the simple answer is to gently, but firmly, tell your spouse that it's your business and you need to run it your way. Of course, relationships are rarely that simple. Owning a small business involves decisions that affect one's family life: time spent in the office; whether to grow larger; add partners; business risk; reinvesting in the business; financing to expand; buying your building, etc. In most marriages, you need and wants your spouse's buy-in on these key decisions.
So you have to pick your battles, and a "butt-out" conversation about one employee often just isn't worth it.
For an employee who you feel strongly about keeping, I suggest the two-pronged strategy of introducing some objective criteria, and delaying the decision. First, try to determine why your spouse doesn't like the employee: is it personal or is it a job-related problem? If it's job-related, point out how well the employee gets along with the other employees, and that they work well together. Privately, set some performance or other objective criteria, so that the employee can 'prove' him or herself and overcome the spouse's concerns.
However, this is mostly to forestall a decision. Because, in this case, the spouse doesn't actually work with the employee, it's almost always a personal issue, although that may be hard to uncover. So your real goal here is to buy time for your spouse to get to know the employee better and, we hope, get over it—I mean, see them in a different light. You might even set up situations for that to happen: at office get-togethers, lunches, or even dinner out with two or three employees and their spouses or dates. (If the employee is of the opposite sex of the owner, getting to know her or him in a setting with their spouse or significant other can often calm their concerns.)
If your spouse's concern really is business related, hopefully the performance of your employee will prove them wrong, and save their job. If it's personal, some face time will quite often do the trick, but it probably won't happen overnight: just keep getting them together until something clicks, or it becomes clear that it never will.
The bottom line here is that if your spouse feels strongly that an employee should go, you're probably going to have to lose the employee. Your best bet is to give them every reason—and lots of time—to change their mind.


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Energy Savings Potential for Street Lighting in India. 2014. LBNL-6576E..
"Modeling Technological Change and Its Impact on Energy Savings in the U.S. Iron and Steel Sector." Applied Energy 202.September 15, 2017 (2017)..
Improved heavy-duty vehicle fuel efficiency in India, benefits, costs and environmental impacts. 2017. 2001017..
"Reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions by energy efficiency measures and international trading: A bottom-up modeling for the U.S. iron and steel sector." Applied Energy 120 (2014) 133-146..
Improving fuel efficiency for heavy-duty vehicles of 3.5–12 tonnes in India: Benefits, costs, and environmental impacts. Berkeley, CA, 2019..
"Developing long-term strategies to reduce energy use and CO2 emissions—analysis of three mitigation scenarios for iron and steel production in China." Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change (2014)..
Towards uniform benefit-cost analysis for smart grid projects: an example using the Smart Grid Computational Tool. 2015. LBNL-1003908..
"U.S Iron and Steel Sector and Potential Trading With China and India: Analysis with ISEEM Energy Model." 37th IAEE International Conference Proceedings, International Association for Energy Economics. New York, New York, 2014..
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Options in ISEEM Global Energy Model: 2010-2050 Scenario Analysis for Least-Cost Carbon Reduction in Iron and Steel Sector. 2013. LBNL-6550E..
"EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE APPLIANCE-LEVEL LOAD SHAPE AND DEMAND RESPONSE POTENTIAL IN INDIA." Energy Innovation for a Sustainable Economy 11th-13th February 2020 The Park, Hyderabad, India 2020: 363-370..
"Potential Impact of Lighting and Appliance Efficiency Standards on Peak Demand: The Case of Indonesia." 8th International Conference on Energy Efficiency in Domestic Appliances and Lighting. Luzern, Switzerland, 2015. LBNL-1003760..
Using learning curves on energy-efficient technologies to estimate future energy savings and emission reduction potentials in the U.S. iron and steel industry. 2015. LBNL-184179..
"The benefits of creating a cross-country data framework for energy efficiency." 7th International Conference on Energy Efficiency in Domestic Appliances and Lighting (EEDAL '13). 2013. LBNL-6735e..
"Estimation of CO2 Emissions from China's Cement Production: Methodologies and Uncertainties." Energy Policy 57 (2013) 172-181. LBNL-6329E..
"Analysis and Practices of Energy Benchmarking for Industry from the Perspective of Systems Engineering." Energy 54 (2013) 32-44. LBNL-6328E..
Prospective Evaluation of the Energy and CO2 Emissions Impact of China's 2010 – 2013 Efficiency Standards for Products. 2016. LBNL-1005921..
Designing Policies and Programs to Accelerate High Efficiency Appliance Adoption. 2020. LBNL-2001369..
"International comparison of CO2 emission trends in the iron and steel industry." Energy Policy 30 (2002). LBNL-51231..
"Cost of reducing carbon emissions." Energy Policy 26 (1998). LBNL-40829..
"Incorporating the productivity benefits into the assessment of cost effective energy savings potential using conservation supply curves." ACEEE's 2001 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Industry Proceedings, 7/24/2001. Vol. 1. 2001. LBNL-49082..
"Characterizing emerging industrial technologies in energy models." Sustainability and Industry, Increasing Energy Efficiency, 7/29/2003. 2003. LBNL-52774..


text:
Each year, Advancement Office staff members set up in the Davis Family Library to ask students what they're
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SAP AG is cutting a significant number of jobs as it moves to modernize its organization and shift its focus from packaged software to a cloud-based software delivery model.
The layoffs, which could number in the thousands, follow a recent series of high-level executive departures, and ahead of a vote making co-chief executive Bill McDermott the company's sole CEO.
A company
SAP has seen some big names leave the company recently. The firm said last week that Shawn White, head of SAP's cloud business, was stepping down effective May 15. His exit came just days after the departure of Vishal Sikka , a key architect in the development and marketing of the firm's flagship HANA database and analytic software.
Mr. McDermott, co-CEO of the company along with Jim Hagemann Snabe, is expected to become the company's sole CEO on May 21. Mr. McDermott has been in the process of setting up his "next generation of leadership team," Mr. Dever said earlier this month.
An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com.
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Now showing items 1-1 of 1
Platonism, intuition and the nature of mathematics
(Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, 1988)
Platonism is an essential aspect of mathematical method. Mathematicians are learned ability " t o l i v e " in the "world" of mathematical concepts. Here we have the main source of the creative power of mathematics, and ...


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The Kepler Participating Scientist Program (PSP) is designed to fund community investigations that advance the goals of the Kepler Mission during its extended phase. Participating Scientists may pursue data processing and analysis tasks, exoplanet candidate follow-up observations, completeness and reliability studies, characterization of the stellar target sample, etc.
The Kepler PSP is complementary to, but distinct from, the Kepler Guest Observer (GO) program. The Kepler GO program offers members of the scientific community the opportunity to pursue research in any area of astrophysics through observations of stellar and/or nonstellar targets that fall within the Kepler field-of-view, but are not included in the Kepler target list. Kepler GOs are solicited under Appendix D.7 of the ROSES 2012 NRA.
Notices of intent are requested by January 18, 2013, and the due date for proposals is March 1, 2013.
On November 28, 2012, this Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement "Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2012" (NNH12ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ and will appear on the RSS feed at: http://nasascience.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2012.
Technical questions regarding the Kepler extended mission and key science project activities may be directed to: Dr. Steve Howell, Kepler Project Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center, MS 244-30 Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com; Telephone: (650) 604-4238.
NASA point of contact for programmatic information is Dr. Douglas Hudgins Astrophysics Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546-0001. Telephone: (202) 358-0988; E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
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So there I was, minding my own business and doing my own thing and then I saw her. The woman of my dreams. It was love at first sight. From her long dark hair and perfectly formed breasts to her firm, round ass I was smitten. She had an innocence and girl like charm, yet she looked like a supermodel and could be walking the runways of Paris and Milan. I wanted to make this woman my wife. But, there is only one problem, she is a pornstar. She spreads her pussy open and masturbates for the camera. Now, I could possibly accept her career choices if she were to only do on camera masturbation and girl girl lesbian sex, kind of like Sophie Moone. But, I would have to draw the line with her having sex with men on camera, and she would REALLY have to stop with the anal sex. No wife of mine is going to have another man's dick in her ass.
Let me introduce you to Anita Pearl from DDFBeauties, my future wife and mother of my children. But, if you meet her don't say anything to her ok? We haven't talked about the marriage part yet. I want it to be a surprise. Truth be told, she doesn't even know I exist. But, I plan to change that very soon. Would you let a woman like that get away from you? Look how beautiful her pussy looks. She has a delicious looking, juicy, wet pussy that makes my mouth drool. And as that pussy close up will testify, she is not shy either. She loves having the camera film her as she puts that toy in her pussy. She has great taste lingerie and looks awesome in that matching black and white lace bra and panty set she is wearing. Now, if only I can teach her to make dinner, I can start planning our wedding.


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The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday charged Mark Spangler, a former chairman of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), with defrauding clients by secretly investing their money in two risky startup companies he co-founded.
The SEC alleges that the Seattle-based advisor and his firm funneled approximately $47.7 million of client money into these private ventures despite representing that he would invest primarily in publicly traded securities. Such risky investments were inconsistent with the investment strategies that Spangler promised his clients and contrary to their investment objectives.
Spangler served as chairman and CEO of one of the companies, which is now bankrupt, the SEC says. He was chairman of NAPFA in the late 90s.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington as well as the FBI announced parallel criminal charges against Spangler. Spangler's inactive membership in NAPFA was suspended in October of 2011 when the FBI investigation was launched.
NAPFA released a comment on Friday stating that the alleged actions committed by Spangler are "severe" and "have been deeply concerning" and the association "strongly condemns the actions contained in the FBI indictment and SEC complaint and any behavior that violates the public trust."
NAPFA went on to say that while organizations like NAPFA exist to set standards that promote ethical behavior, "in any organization there are members or former members who act in unethical ways. NAPFA takes all complaints against its members seriously and has taken appropriate actions."
Susan John, the current chairwoman of NAPFA, told The New York Times in October, "He was perhaps one of the strongest believers in standards for NAPFA. So it's very difficult for me to see how he could have evolved into the person that these allegations would lead you to believe he had become."
Marc Fagel, director of the SEC's San Francisco Regional Office, said in a statement that "Spangler assured his clients he was investing them in publicly traded equities and bonds, not risky startups in which he had a personal interest. For an investment advisor to put his self-interest above the best interests of his clients is a disturbing abuse of trust."
According to the SEC's complaint filed in federal court in Seattle, Spangler raised more than $56 million from his clients since 1998 for several private investment funds he managed. Beginning around 2003, without notifying investors in the funds, Spangler and his advisory firm The Spangler Group (TSG) began diverting the majority of client money into two private technology companies he created. One of the companies received nearly $42 million from the funds before shutting down operations.
It had long been a cash-poor company with a history of net losses, generating less than $100,000 in revenue during its 11-year history. Yet Spangler continued to treat the funds as the company's piggy bank.
Patrick Burns (left), with The Law Office of Patrick Burns in Los Angeles, told AdvisorOne that while "a lot of people are surprised to see this case involving a high profile figure in the advisory industry," he doesn't believe the Spangler case "casts a negative light on NAPFA, it's membership or mission."
This case, Burns continued, does however, demonstrate that regulators' slowness to act against "high-profile figures is changing."
The SEC also alleges that Spangler did not tell investors that TSG collected fees for "financial and operational support" from these companies, which were essentially paying these fees with the client money they had received from the funds. Therefore, Spangler and his firm secretly reaped $830,000 from the companies in addition to any management fees that TSG received from clients.
According to the SEC's complaint, Spangler concealed his diversion of client funds for years. He disclosed it only after he placed TSG and the funds he managed into state court receivership in 2011.


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Small rucksacks fine in cabin but beware of leaving your favourite penknife in it. Walking poles not permitted.
You don't need a passport for Eire.
Might do after 29th March
Can you give more details of what you are planning, Paul?Roughly whereabouts in Ireland, will you hire a car, what sort of accommodation etc etc?
I've just had a look on the official Dublin Mountains website, looks like a pleasant way to spend a couple of days.I do recommend Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains - a bit further South though, and I'm not sure what the public transport is like for a day trip from Dublin.
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John Spillane
De Barra's, Cork
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text:
This question led to a new feature in a package:
Update: 2013-1-19
The MWE worked fines with the new (v2.13) version of the
datatool package using
\DTLnewdbonloadfalse. But in my actual usage I am getting the message:
Runaway argument? \db@plist@elt@w \db@col@id@w 1\db@col@id@end@ \db@key@id@w Chapter\db@key@id@end@ \ETC.
! File ended while scanning use of \@dtl@get@keydata.
after approximately 16172 DB
\DTLloaddb -- approximate as I am only counting the DB's that are repeatedly loaded.
Will try to create a MWE for this, but in case it is obvious to someone else what the problem is I thought I'd add this information while I try to get to the bottom of this.
I am generating a document which tracks the progress on components of a project consisting of a large number of files. For each of these files, a tiny DB is generated and read via the
datatool package. This DB contains a list of the related files and and where they were found, and what types of files they were.
Although this is not related to the MWE below, here is a small excerpt from the output to illustrate what I am actually trying to achieve:
from which I can tell that file
- 15-4-34 has some progress (shown in blue text)
- 15-4-35 and 15-4-36 has significant progress (highlighted).
- 15-4-37 has had no progress at all (shown in red)
Each of these are links to the files so I can just click on them to open them to view, and I can tell which team member has made progress. At the end of the document I produce a summary report so I know how far along I am into the project. There is a bunch of other info that is captured as well, but this should be sufficient to give an idea as to the actual use case.
The list of associated files is contained in two small CSV files that are generated at run time, for each component of the project. For instance, if a
.tex file exists, I would then check that there was a corresponding PDF, and if any associated figures were completed, or if there was a
\todonote in the
.tex file which indicated that that this file was still not complete, etc..
While processing this document, I received the following error message:
No room for a new \count . \et@xchk ...lse \errmessage {No room for a new #2}
As per egreg's answer at the first reference listed below, three are two potential causes for this:
- Too many packages
- A programming error, such as saying
\newdimeninside the definition of a command.
After thoroughly searching my code for such programming errors, I determined that the culprit is the
datatool package which declares a
\newcount within
\PackageError{datatool}{Database `#1' already exists}{}%
\dtl@message{Creating database `#1'}%
\expandafter\newtoks\csname dtldb@#1\endcsname
\expandafter\newtoks\csname dtlkeys@#1\endcsname{}%
\expandafter\newcount\csname dtlrows@#1\endcsname
\expandafter\newcount\csname dtlcols@#1\endcsname
It appears to release these in
\DTLdeletedb as follows:
\expandafter\let\csname dtlrows@#1\endcsname\undefined
\expandafter\let\csname dtlcols@#1\endcsname\undefined
However, it appears that this is not really having the desired effect of returning the counter back to the available list of counters for subsequent use as the MWE illustrates.
- The MWE needs the file
MyData.csv. However, I commented out
\usepackage{filecontents}to prevent overwriting of this file to prevent accidental deletion.
- The output of the MWE below is not important, just there so a PDF gets created.
- Is there a workaround for this, or perhaps a better way of using the
datatoolpacakge for such a thing?
%\usepackage{filecontents}% Commented to prevent overwriting MyData.csv
Directory, Color
../dirB, red
../dirC, yellow
\foreach \x in {1,...,10000} {% Read DB numerous times
\par\noindent\DTLdisplaydb{MyDB}% Some output to have a PDF
\foreach \x in {1,...,10000} {% Read DB numerous times


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Each breast has 15 to 20 sections, called lobes. They are arranged like the petals of a daisy.
Each lobe has many smaller structures called lobules. These end in dozens of tiny bulbs that can produce milk.
The lobes, lobules, and bulbs are all linked by thin tubes called ducts.
These ducts lead to the nipple in the center of a dark area of skin called the areola.
Fat fills the spaces between lobules and ducts.
There are no muscles in the breast, but muscles lie under each breast and cover the ribs.
Each breast also contains blood vessels and vessels that carry lymph. The lymph vessels lead to small bean-shaped organs called lymph nodes. These lymph nodes are found in clusters under the arm, above the collarbone, and in the chest. They are also in many other parts of the body.
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Dodgers place Ted Lilly on the disabled list, recall Matt Magill to make today's start against Braves
The Los Angeles Dodgers today placed left-handed pitcher Ted Lilly on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to June 5) with a neck sprain and recalled right-handed pitcher Matt Magill from Triple-A Albuquerque. Magill, 23, will make today's start for Los Angeles and last pitched on Sunday in a spot start for the Dodgers at Colorado, allowing seven runs (six earned) on five hits in 6.0 innings and taking the loss in the Dodgers' 7-2 defeat. In five big league starts this season, the Simi Valley native is 0-1 with a 6.38 ERA after making his Major League debut on April 27 against the Brewers. Magill has gone 1-0 with a 2.16 ERA and a .183 opponents' batting average in five starts with Triple-A Albuquerque this year.
Lilly has made five starts for Los Angeles this season, going 0-2 with a 5.09 ERA, and will be making his third DL stint of the season. The 37-year-old missed the first 19 games of the campaign while recovering from left shoulder surgery and was also out for 17 games from April 30-May 20 with a right rib cage strain.


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It's not often that video game artists make the headlines, but Kenneth Scott made a few this week when he left his post as art director at 343 studios. That's kind of a big deal for fans because he was in charge of shaping the series' visual identity. It's far from terrible news - his replacement, Sparth, is one of the best sci-fi artists on the planet - but now's as good a time as any to look back on some of Scott's fantastic work on the franchise.
While he most recently helped Microsoft put their own stamp on Halo - perhaps most notably changing the game's colour palette and going for a grittier look to Halo's human tech - prior to that he'd spent over a decade at id Software, where he'd worked on games like Doom 3 and RAGE. So you're going to see stuff from them as well.
You can see more of Kenneth's work at his personal site.
To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they're big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), click on the "expand" button in the bottom-right corner.
Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both their professional and personal portfolios. If you're in the business and have some concept, environment, promotional or character art you'd like to share, drop us a line!


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Soft-spoken and reticent, James Miles (b. 1957, San Francisco) is known for his miniature ink drawings of quiet scenes that tell stories. Miles' scenes blur the distinctions between inside/outside, near/far, small/large, male/female, and past/present, enticing audiences into the paradoxically immense spaces of his diminutive artwork. His scenes celebrate ambiguity, particularly in the everyday.
Miles joined the Creativity Explored studio in 1998 and has had work featured in several prominent exhibitions including This Container Isn't Big Enough at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, NY, in 2004; and in 2011, Create, a traveling exhibition that originated at the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Miles' work adorns three pillow designs for CB2 as well as one of Google's 2015 self-driving car prototypes.
on paper
Half of the proceeds from each art sale go directly to the studio artist.
Price includes domestic shipping.


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- Written by Michael Bahati
- Comments::DISQUS_COMMENTS
- font size decrease font size increase font size
10 Signs You Need to be Part of an Expat Community
For some intrepid souls, moving to a foreign country, even for a few months, is like a walk in the park. It's a wonderful adventure and nothing fazes them. Everything falls into place perfectly, and nothing goes wrong. Or, if it does, it's just a blip on the horizon and they take it in stride.
Then, there's the rest of us. Not everyone thrives on the unknown, on walking into a new environment and making the best of it, come what may. A city like Paris can seem truly intimidating, especially if it's your first time going anywhere outside the familiar. That's when you need outside help, and becoming involved with an expatriate community is the best thing you could ever do for your sanity.
1. Sacre bleu! You don't speak the language.
I get it. Your friends went to Paris for their honeymoon, they showed you pictures of the Eiffel Tower and kisses on the bank of the Seine, and you thought, "yes, I want to do that, too!" Well, not the married part, but everything else. So, you did. And forgot that you don't speak French and can't communicate without a dictionary and lots of hand gestures—none of which is a bad thing—and someone cute caught your eye and you can't say more than "oui." That's where expat communities can be very helpful. There are lots of language resources available, and you could take classes, do a language-learning exchange of sorts with a new friend, and find yourself speaking French in no time at all.
2. You're having trouble navigating French bureaucracy.
Image courtesy of Prêt à Voyager
Don't worry. You're not alone. Even the French hate their own red tape. But making sure you have the right papers to stay in the country, whether temporarily or on a permanent basis can give you a headache. And let's not even mention the process for the carte vitale which is recommended for all residents in Paris. Did you know that your birth certificate must be translated into French by a court-certified translator in France? It can be quite daunting, having to navigate this strange world, but there are other expats who've been where you are and can help, or at least point you in the right direction. Even just having a shoulder to cry on is better than nothing, right? And seasoned residents can share the pitfalls and shortcuts—well, there aren't any shortcuts, but you can learn what wine to drink before braving the system—and help make the process, if not easier, at least tolerable.
3. Culture shock.
It seemed easy when you planned it, yes? You were going to live in Paris for six months and get the full French experience. End of story. But you arrived here, and your bubble burst. You don't like the food, some of the customs don't make sense to you, the language is a chore, and you're down in the dumps. An expat community will help you adjust to your new life in the city. Finding others who understand what you're going through and can commiserate is a balm to the soul.
4. You hate where you live with a passionate hate.
It can happen to anyone. You thought you found the perfect apartment within walking distance of your favorite museums. It's even above a patisserie, and dear God, the croissants are divine. Except: your landlord is mean and won't fix anything, and you can't get any sleep at night because it's loud at all hours. Your roommate is a slob and his favorite music makes you think he has a death wish. Never fear! Many expat communities have forums and classifieds where you can post, or search for your new place to live. Now, such gems are highly coveted, so you might need to be a little patient—i.e. don't kill the roommate—and invest in some earplugs (and buckets for the leaks), but you will find what you want, guaranteed.
Also see how to survive your first 30 days of house-hunting in Paris.
5. You miss people from your home country.
As much fun as you're having in Paris, there may come a time when you miss home, whether it's the food, people or language. It can hit you hard, that nostalgia for the comfortable and familiar. But France has a really large international population, and the variety of immigrants is astounding. A great place to find people from your part of the world is a meetup. There, you'll find comrades who can likely provide solace and help you through a hard time. You'll be glad you did.
6. You're bored.
At this point, perhaps you've seen all the sights and the touristy nick-nacks that tend to make most visitors to Paris happy for a lifetime. But not you. You want more. Expats who've lived in France for a long time are the most likely to have information about delightful, off-the-beaten-path activities. And there are get-togethers and meetups that are likely to inspire creativity and new ideas for things to do and pursue. Doing them with a friend is always better, wouldn't you say?
7. You have no friends.
I hope that's not the case, but if so, then find an expatriate group right now! Getting along in a new place is always better with a friend by your side, especially one who might be in the same boat you are. Think how much more fun it would be to complain about the hours you had to wait at the OFII office in your arrondissement if you had a friend with whom to commiserate. You could both opine over an espresso at a trendy café and life would be so much the better, all of a sudden.
8. Finding a job.
You came to Paris to either study or just breathe the French air. But now, you want a job. First of all, know that working in France for a French company typically means you need to speak the language. However, expat communities typically have job listings, too, and you can check with your fellow residents to see if they know of any opportunities that might be helpful, and in a language, you speak. You might even be able to fill a niche. Perhaps you can even learn about the Pôle Emploi and how to utilize it, and other programs that might be helpful in your search for employment.
9. Service providers.
A screenshot of the Expats Paris service providers listing
As a new arrival in France, it can be hard to get a handle on all the little things you need to have in place as you're settling in. And once you've braved the world of landlords and rentals and secured an apartment, now you have to deal with utilities and service providers and possibly doctors and childcare. Expat communities have lists of providers, and you can talk to people about their experiences and issues that might come up which you might not have considered.
10. You think you know everything there is to know about Paris.
Are you nuts?
Not even the French can claim that.
In all seriousness, there's so much to see and do here, it boggles the mind. And it's worth the effort to seek out a meetup or three and explore what else is out there. Expat communities are a melting pot of people who have experienced things that you might not have. I mean it's possible, right? And wouldn't you like to be surprised and amazed by discovering something new about your adopted city?
Over to you.
I hope you enjoyed these tips.
Is there anything I missed?
Are you a part of an expat group? What do you love about them? What doesn't float your boat? Please leave a comment below. I look forward to hearing from you.
Related items
- Expatriation: When your mental health starts declining & What to do about it.
- Paris-based Expat Influencers Reveal The Podcasts That Make Them Smarter
- When renting an apartment in Paris becomes affordable and easier
- Foreign student accommodation: Here's how you can afford a 1000 Euros furnished apartment rent in Paris.
- Five ways getting an MBA will launch your international career
Latest from Michael Bahati
- Internship Opportunities: Become An Expats Paris Projects' Champion
- Expatriation: When your mental health starts declining & What to do about it.
- Paris-based Expat Influencers Reveal The Podcasts That Make Them Smarter
- Champs-Élysées Film Festival: 6 of the greatest cinematic works
- 30 Life Lessons Expats Learn But Keep Forgetting


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I'm stuck at work tonight unfortunately and I'm not much of a cell phone guy and only use mine if I have too and unfortnately there is no radio where I am at. Is there any place to sign up to receive game updates like when someone scores etc.
Any help would be appreciated.


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Events Calendar
How do different federal agencies conduct Section 508 testing? What are some of the issues faced by different agencies and how do they address them? How do agencies make the most of their existing resources to implement testing? What recommendations do these agencies have for other agencies?
This webinar will provide an overview of how four different agencies conduct Section 508 testing: Department of Education, Department of Transportation, Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor. The panelists will discuss the resources available to their agency, how they conduct testing and what they have learned as a result of their experiences. Their experiences run the spectrum from developing programs with minimal resources and developing infrastructures to more mature programs with robust resources and institutionalized processes.
The recommended audience is Chief Information Officers, Chief Acquisition Officers, Agency Policy-Makers and 508 practitioners.
- Don Barrett, Section 508 Coordinator, U.S. Department of Education
- Jonni Burnham, Acting Manager, Disability Resource Center,
- Department of Transportation
- Jennifer Horan, Section 508 Program Manager, Department of Labor
- Mark Urban, Section 508 Coordinator, Center for Disease Control, Health and Human Services
Moderator: Timothy Creagan, Senior Accessibility Specialist, U.S. Access Board
On-line registration is available at www.adaconferences.org/CIOC. Instructions for accessing the webinar on the day of the session will be sent via email to registered individuals in advance of the session.


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We could all stand to know our bodies a little better. Tracking your health may seem like a headache, but it could save you time, pain and money. Not sure how to get started? Try these terms on for size.
Electronic Health Records
Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are safe, confidential records that your doctor, other health care provider, medical office staff or a hospital keeps on a computer about your health care or treatments.
If your providers use electronic health records, they can join a network to securely share your records with each other.
What are the benefits?
- EHRs can help lower the chances of medical errors and eliminate duplicate tests, and they may improve your overall quality of care; and
- EHRs can help your providers have the same up-to-date information about your conditions, treatments, tests and prescriptions.
Personal Health Records
A personal health record contains information about your health that you or your caregiver keep online for easy reference. You control the information in your PHR (and who sees it), and you can get to it anytime with Internet access.
PHRs use secure technology to protect your information from being seen without permission. You'll log in with a unique user ID and password.
Why should I create my own personal health account?
According to the Pew Research Center, one in four adult Internet users track their health online — and there's a reason. Owning and maintaining a PHR is the first step to putting your health in your hands. A PHR gives healthcare providers the most complete picture of your health so they can provide the most effective, personalized and safest treatment.
With a PHR, your health information stays safe and available no matter where you are or what your circumstances. During catastrophic events such as a natural disaster, a PHR ensures that your healthcare provider and pharmacists health can get the information they need. With a PHR, you can also allow multiple healthcare providers to see your records, ensuring continuity of care with fewer medical errors and duplication of tests.
Get Started with Heart360
The American Heart Association's Heart360® is a PHR you can use to track your health. You can use Heart360 to enter important health data like blood pressure, cholesterol level, weight and physical activity, and set up text reminders so you remember to enter your readings and take medication. You can even upload your readings directly into Heart360 by replying to the reminder text message.
Heart360 lets you view your progress in trackers that cover:
- blood pressure
- cholesterol
- blood glucose
- medication
- weight
- physical activity
When you first create your account, you're the only one who can access your information. Your Healthcare providers and volunteer mentors can also create Provider/Volunteer accounts to connect with you and monitor your progress, ut only if you allow them.
You can also message your doctor with any questions or concerns from within Heart360.
The American Heart Association's My Life Check® assessment is also integrated with Heart360. By answering simple questions in the My Life Check Assessment, you can find out more about your heart health and learn about the simple steps you can take to improve it.
Get started on your road to better heart health today!
Learn more:
- How to Track Your Sodium Intake
- How to Keep Track of What You Eat
- Heart360®
- AHA/ASA Blood Pressure Monitoring Programs


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NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- The president of Mauritania said he was doing well after being shot accidentally by a member of the military at a checkpoint during the weekend.
A government spokesman during the weekend said President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was shot at a military checkpoint by guards who didn't "recognize his convoy," The Guardian newspaper in London reports.
He was apparently wounded in the arm or abdomen, though a spokesman said his injuries weren't life threatening.
He was quoted as saying in a national address that he was "doing well."
"I want to reassure everyone about my state of health after this incident committed by error by an army unit," he was quoted as saying.
The Guardian reports he was flown to France for additional medical treatment. The report cited residents who noted the president is seen frequently in public with only a small security detail.
Mauritania declared parts of its desert a demilitarized zone in 2008 to combat terrorist groups like al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, the North African branch of al-Qaida.
The president took office following a 2008 coup. Few of Mauritania's governments were elected or completed their full terms, falling to a series of coups since independence in the 1960s.


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New research was just released that demonstrates a big shift in how consumers buy and what influences their purchase. Traditional ads no longer have the same power to shape consumer opinions as they once did. Amazon (the ultimate cost and quality comparison, along with others) influence consumers more than ever. The studies were based on the "compromise" effect – (see NYT article below for the full story) are probably now saying to yourself, ho hum… and why is this news? Well, it took a while for the establishment to document what most of us already know and practice organically. However, some of the results of the study suggest that digital feedback in the digital world allows marketers to see what works and what doesn't – what messages are influencing customers and which ones aren't. And they can make adjustments accordingly…and very quickly. This is all very well and good, and excellent support (although the writers and researchers don't see it from the customers' point-of-view, so they are still missing the point) for my position that customer-focused information and insight right from the beginning…pre- advertising/marketing/PR efforts and spending, is more valuable than measuring what works after you've spent all that time, money and effort and then correcting it.
Sandra Holtzman teaches CEO 035: Licensing.
She is the author of Lies Startups Tell Themselves to Avoid Marketing.


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Advisors, asset managers and institutions are increasingly turning to alternative investments to help clients boost returns while supporting the growth of assets under management, according to several separate studies released in late May and early June show.
"Institutional investors and financial advisors have significantly expanded their alternative holdings since the 2008 crash, and continue to view alternative investments as an important part of their portfolios," said Scott Burns, director of ETF, closed-end fund, and alternative research for Chicago-based Morningstar, in a statement. "Growth has begun to slow, though, as investors have ramped up their allocations, and excitement may be cooling with the lackluster performance of alternatives relative to the overall market over the last few years."
For sure, alternatives continue to gain assets, bucking the trend in U.S. equities: Alternative mutual funds had inflows of $23.2 billion in 2011($14.2 billion excluding the non-traditional bond category), while U.S. equity mutual funds bled $84.7 billion. Still, inflows were lower than prior years; alternative ETF inflows for 2011 were only $11.6 billion, the lowest level since 2006, while inflows for alternative mutual funds were $1.8 billion less than in 2010.
About 65% of advisors and 67% of institutions indicated that alternative investments are as important or more important than traditional investments, down slightly from the 2010 survey. Institutions indicated rising interest and investment in alternative investments in 2008, 2009 and 2010. But in the 2011 survey, there was some retreat: Among the institutions surveyed, 26% indicated they plan to allocate more than a quarter of their portfolios to alternative investments, down from 37% in the last survey.
Boston-based Cerulli says its annual examination of the retail alternatives and ETF marketplaces found that asset managers expect alternative mutual funds to comprise nearly 10% of all mutual funds within five years. Plus, this percentage should jump to more than 15% in 10 years.
In a separate study conducted by Practical Perspectives, a Boston-based consulting and research firm, financial advisors said they expect continued growth in their use of alternatives and nontraditional investments. Most advisors currently allocate up to 15% of a typical client portfolio to these products, which is likely to increase as advisors grow more familiar with their benefits and uses, the report concludes.
"Interestingly, the need to differentiate in a competitive marketplace was the leading driver in 2011, and is considered much less of a driver in today's market," said Alec Papazian, lead author of the Cerulli report, in a press release. "We attribute this to the fact that so many managers now offer these strategies. 2011 was a record year for alternative mutual fund product development with 95 new funds being launched."
Cerulli's latest research shows that the leading driver behind asset managers' interest in alternatives—nearly 90% of advisors cite it versus fewer than 75% last year—is tied to investors' need to optimize the risk-adjusted performance of their portfolios. Another significant driver, for 72% of advisors surveyed in 2012 versus 60% in 2011, is managers' expectations regarding future capital-markets returns.
The Practical Perspectives study finds that financial advisors can be divided into three core segments based on the likelihood of using alternatives and nontraditional investments for clients: heavily engaged, 30%; moderately engaged, 34%; and minimally engaged, 36%.
The study also concludes that most advisors, 60%, are allocating 10% or less to these products, though advisor use of alternatives and nontraditional strategies has increased notably in the past two years.
"Alternatives and nontraditional investments are increasingly important to advisors in serving retail clients," said Howard Schneider, president of Practical Perspectives and a co-author of the report, in a press release. "This growth has been spurred by the challenging capital markets and the expanded availability of these strategies in mutual fund and ETF formats."
The firm's research emphasizes that the desire to enhance diversification and lower portfolio volatility and risk are the main factors driving increased use of alternatives and nontraditional investments. Plus, most advisors use mutual funds or ETFs as the main vehicle for investing in alternative products.
The most important factors in selecting alternatives and nontraditional investments are the expertise of the investment manager and the low correlation relative to more traditional investments.
Need for Education
"The audience for alternatives and nontraditional investments is definitely expanding," noted Richard Gauger of Practical Perspectives, a co-author, in a statement. "Yet many advisors still lack familiarity with these strategies."
According to Gauger, advisor satisfaction is lagging "relative to the importance they place on factors such as wholesaler support, product research and due diligence." There is a direct correlation between satisfaction with support and advisor use of these strategies, he adds, so "product providers and platforms should be focusing resources more effectively on key audiences."
For its part, Cerulli says its research shows that distribution access and advisor knowledge are the largest challenges facing alternative managers. Still, many broker-dealers, in particular the wirehouses, appear very supportive of increasing the use of alternatives among their advisors. On average, wirehouses see allocations at only 4% among their advisor forces but would like this to increase to greater than 15%.
"Firms that are providing superior educational materials may find that this provides an advantage within the wirehouses, which are looking for help in increasing advisor adoption," said Matthew Pickering, a co-author of the recent research, in a statement.
"Most advisors report that asset allocation education on how to incorporate alternatives into portfolios is the most helpful method to increase their adoption of these products. Firms that have a thoughtful approach to educating advisors will see increased flows," Pickering added.
Strategic Bets
Though sentiment has cooled to more established equity-based alternatives, this has not been the case for non-equity-based strategies like managed futures and currencies, despite poor performance, according to the survey of 365 financial advisors and 264 institutions conducted by Morningstar and Barron's in January.
Managed futures and currency mutual funds recorded inflows of $3.6 billion and $3.4 billion, respectively, in 2011, despite the fact that managed futures lost 6.9% that year, while currency funds lost money every year since 2008.
For the second year in a row, advisors cited managed futures as the asset to which they were most likely to increase their exposure, while currency funds didn't make their top five. Institutions flagged managed futures as the third-most-popular strategy for increased allocation, while long/short equity (or debt) and private equity/venture capital were the top two strategies for increased allocation.
While still positive, flows into market neutral and long/short equity funds—two more well-established categories—saw far lower inflows in 2011 than in 2010, Morningstar says.
In addition, advisors and institutions agree that diversification has been driving alternative investments, while high fees and lack of liquidity hold them back. The study finds that a lack of liquidity was the greatest impediment for institutions, while advisors cited higher fees. Uncertain benefits and lack of transparency were also top detractors.
Over the years, the percent of advisors concerned about lack of liquidity has fallen sharply, from 60% in 2009 to 40% in the most recent survey, coinciding with the launch of many new liquid alternative products.
Advisor's Outlook
Advisors are less comfortable with alternatives than institutions, as 23% of institutions and 30% of advisors allocated 5% or less to alternative investments in 2011, the Morningstar-managed research found. But, 19% of institutions and 5% of advisors allocated more than 40% to alternatives, indicating that there are more sophisticated investors in both groups.
Managed futures, global tactical asset allocation (GTAA), and long-short strategies are most important to advisors, while long-short, private-equity, and managed futures strategies are most important to institutions.
The selection of which alternative-assets products to use varies, depending on advisors' level of independence, Morningstar says. For example, several advisors stated their home office dictates their selections, while others stated that they analyze larger market and economic trends
Some advisors mentioned teams of individuals or consultants, while others were independently conducting the research process and evaluating the success themselves. Advisors also said they value the manager's and the fund's past success and the client's asset allocation needs when selecting a vehicle.
"Since I am an hourly fee-only advisor, I use mutual funds," one advisor commented. "For clients who have specific concerns—low risk, inflation protection, etc.—I research mutual funds with a track record and risk and return objectives that match my clients' investment objectives. Most of those fall into a moderate or conservative asset allocation strategy that includes GTAA. Strategies include using asset classes for natural resources, TIPS, commodities and other real-return strategies in addition to global stock and bond asset classes. Plus stock 'shorting' strategies to reduce volatility and limit investment losses."
Another advisor shared, "We have used a product that is a fund of funds product from our broker dealer. We have also used long/short funds, and managed futures funds in the mutual fund area for smaller clients. We used our back office, Lipper, and Morningstar to identify product and looked for non-correlating strategies."
A third advisor commented that product decisions are "based on market outlook and a combination of quantitative and qualitative factors, such as phone calls and in person visits, asking people we trust [and] mining connections."


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A packed day with a strong combination of background research and preparation, and a combination of schematic papers—particularly those from the PD...
Governance & Fragility
Governance & Fragility
Governance has become a major concern for both donors and aid recipient countries since the late 1980s. Very poor quality governance is also one of the defining characteristics of state fragility, and social unrest and violence may both exacerbate and be caused by weak institutions. Our work draws on some 80 studies prepared by UNU-WIDER's global network.
Roger Williamson / Oct 2013
When intervening, international actors should we wary of undermining state capacity by disincentivizing national leaders from investing in institut...
UNU-WIDER / Oct 2013
Kosovo and East Timor share many similar characteristics, and yet they have had divergent results in post-conflict state building.
UNU-WIDER / Oct 2013
A secure environment is an important component of successful economic development initiatives.
UNU-WIDER / Oct 2013
Fragile states—which have low state capacity and often high levels of poverty—are home to one-third of the world's poor.
UNU-WIDER / Oct 2013
UNU-WIDER's ReCom programme is centred around four core questions: what works, what could work, what is scalable, and what is transferrable in fore...
UNU-WIDER / Sep 2013


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Calendar: Baby and Me Tour
Event Description
Have an artful experience with babies! Experience an engaging hour of art and meeting with other moms, dads, and caregivers along with their babies (ages 0-24 months). Every fourth Tuesday of every month, join us for a "Baby and Me" tour led by one of our teaching artists. Fussy babies are always welcome!


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*Fair Housing Act Disclaimer
Ads for Housing (whether for sale or rent) may not show a discriminatory preference based on any of the following criteria as defined by the Federal Fair Housing Act: Race or Color, Religion, Sex, National Origin, Familial Status, Handicap or Disability. Although SLV Junction is not responsible for the content posted by registered users, we make every effort to monitor these ads. If you feel that an ad is discriminatory, please contact admin through the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page. We will remove any ads that appear to be in violation of these laws


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August 17, 2018 (UNIAN) Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan has explained the move proposing to cancel railway communication with the Russian Federation, in particular passenger services. He told TV Channel 5 that any normal cooperation with the Russian Federation is off the agenda at the time of war "Whether people like it or not, Ukraine's actions must be tough and adequate. One of the elements that we propose for government approval is to cancel passenger rail transportation [to and from Russia]. I believe we will protect Ukrainians in this way, those who continue traveling to the Russian Federation at their own risk, from being abducted or getting into the clutches of the FSB or other law enforcement agencies in Russia.
Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan
We see that such cases have become frequent," the minister told Ukrainian TV Channel 5. "Secondly, and this is key: if we're at war, there is no need to go there," he stressed. In addition, Omelyan said: "There is no Russian-Ukrainian friendship and has never been. There was either permanent occupation or just mass murders." As UNIAN reported earlier, Omelyan announced new restrictions on railway communication with Russia. "Today I signed a historic document. Only bears will go to Moscow, as in the good old days," the minister wrote on Facebook.


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Picking the "right" library for your app is a painful process, especially when developing the UI. Will it be robust enough, will it be maintainable, can my team use it effectively, and in what form will the library be in a year from now? I will talk about using an agile team to develop two versions of an enterprise application. The first version was strictly Javascript, initially Ext-JS, then completely custom Javascript. In an effort to support new developer productivity and maintainability a second version was implemented, totally redesigning the UI using JSF 2.0.
The project is the Assurance Information System(AIS), designed to assist in tracking and documenting of risk across the complex. An agile team of six developers worked in two week sprints with daily stand-ups. The team had varying levels of experience in Java, only one had experience with JSF. Two members had experience with Java-based Struts. Overall, there was limited experience with Javascript libraries. As the team lead, I have worked on projects using the following Javascript libraries: YUI, Dojo, JQuery and Ext-JS, as well as JSF 1.0, the Java-based GWT, and Struts.
Both versions of the Assurance Information System(AIS) are deployed on Weblogic 12c and use MS SQL Server. The first version used straight JDBC and the second version used JPA 2.0. An external group had been engaged to create a UX design. The first UI module, completed over one year, started with the Javascript library Ext-JS, and then moved to a completely custom Javascript library. A custom approach was pursued because it was assumed that the current Javascript libraries could not support the UX design. Every component was built from scratch. The team struggled to work with the library. It was difficult to maintain and the learning curve was significant.
Productivity was further enhanced by developing in a team room, no cubes, no walls, lots of white board and a few very large screens for group discussions. Since most of the team had neither JSF or JPA experience, the team room facilitated rapid exchanges of information. All primary development was done within each developer's Eclipse environment. Hudson deployed automated builds twice daily to a development server.
JSF provides a standard interface to interact with any component no matter what the underlying library might be. It takes away the grunt work of hooking components up to your back end—no more manual processing of AJAX calls. The first version of AIS wrote quite a bit of marshalling code in order to interact with the server. With JSF 2.0, you access the bean object directly in your XHTML page. What a concept! All of this leads to a more consistent development team experience, one that is more easily embraced by all team members and future maintainers.
JSF got a really bad rap because JSF 1.0 was not ready for prime time. Developers are not a forgiving bunch. JSF 2.0 is a vast improvement. Is it perfect? Definitely not. Applying and integrating custom CSS styling is always a challenge. It is with Javascript too. The main reason for going with custom Javascript in the first version was because it was assumed that it would be too difficult to support the UX design. For version 2, it was pretty straightforward to apply JSF 2.0 to an enhanced UX design. The team was not constrained and the customer was very happy. The productivity improvement between the Javascript-based first version of AIS and the JSF 2.0-based second version was incredible, both in development and debugging.
The adoption of JSF 2.0 is still pretty small by comparison to the mainstream Javascript libraries. Using JSF ties you to Java. Javascript does not restrict you to any environment. However, for an enterprise group, management is always pushing for stability, re-usability, and the ease in which new team members can get up to speed. You are not going to get experts or even really advanced developers in this market. The reality is you work with what you have and build skill sets as the project progresses. The success of your project and your team's satisfaction is dependent on a development environment that works. And JSF 2.0 has worked for us.
For every one developer that is working at a Facebook there are 10 developers working in a corporate IT shop. Corporate management wants consistency, not the bleeding edge. They want it to work and they want their development teams to be effective. They want deployed applications to be maintainable. Our experience clearly showed that JSF was significantly easier for new members to become productive in. We showed that given complex UX designs, JSF could readily support both form and function. Either JSF 2.0 or Ext-JS could have been used to implement the design. However, the team would not have been as efficient and satisfied using Ext-JS as they were with JSF 2.0.


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Rupert Murdoch didn't waste any time using his newfound popularity on Twitter to make waves and take shots at some other major names.
His targets? President Barack Obama and Google.
The media mogul took aim at the president and the leading Internet search engine after the White House announced over the weekend that it would not support legislation mandating changes to Internet infrastructure to fight online copyright and trademark infringement. The White House statement came in response to two petitions circulating on the Internet as well as widespread comments across the Web about the dangers of the legislation.
A major online backlash has developed regarding the Stop Online Piracy Act, with everyone from lawmakers to Web freedom advocates to some of technology's biggest players calling it a greedy and dangerous overreach that could have a chilling effect on free speech and innovation. Google, Yahoo and Facebook are among the Web heavyweights who have joined the chorus against SOPA, which backers hope to have ready for a vote by the end of the year.
The combination of Google and Obama attacking the bill clearly didn't make Murdoch happy. He began unleashing his frustration on Twitter by attacking Obama's relationship with so-called "Silicon Valley paymasters."
So Obama has thrown in his lot withSilicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery.
Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 14, 2012
Naturally, Murdoch has a dog in the SOPA fight too - his massive media empire. No doubt he doesn't care for all the websites where users can watch and download episodes of his company's TV shows and movies without ever subscribing or paying.
And clearly he isn't happy that all of this is out there. It means a loss of money for him and his advertisers. And for that, Murdoch squarely blames Google.
Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying.—
Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 14, 2012
For his remarks, Murdoch took a bit of a beating on Twitter, where most people are advocates of an open Web without government control. Some users argued he was outdated in his thinking and were quick to point out that Google has done a lot to help the media. Some said it was foolish to criticize a search engine for having links available in its search. Users swung back at Murdoch that you can't complain about what a search engine's results turn up.
So Murdoch changed his tactic a bit, trying to humanize the issue.
Film making risky as hell. This has to lead to less, hurting writers, actors, all concerned.—
Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 14, 2012
For many users on Twitter, that didn't go over well either. Now, thousands of people tweeted, all of a sudden Murdoch was coming to the aid of the little guy?
So Rupert, still in his tweeting infancy, wanted to make clear he didn't have only bad things to say about Google.
Understand more than all allege! Google great company doing many exciting things. Only one complaint, and it's important.—
Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 15, 2012
That was, apparently, until he went back to the search engine and took a look at what was out there for the new "Mission Impossible" film. He saw the results as evidence that his anger toward Google was warranted.
Just been to google search for mission impossible. Wow, several sites offering free links. I rest my case.—
Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 15, 2012
He then admitted that while he may not understand completely all details and nuances of the fight and Google's role, he did know enough to know he didn't like what he saw.
Sure misunderstand many things, but not plain stealing. Incidentally google blocks many other undesirable things.—
Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 15, 2012
So what did the search engine giant think of the media mogul's Twitter allegations? A representative told CNET it was "nonsense."
"Last year we took down 5 million infringing Web pages from our search results and invested more than $60 million in the fight against bad ads. ... We fight pirates and counterfeiters every day," the spokeswoman told CNET.
Murdoch never quite clarified whether he'd like the search engine to do more to take those links down, or if he perhaps wished companies like his could play more of a role in asking for something to be taken down if it infringed upon their copyright.
But his fight continued, culminating at perhaps the perfect time: the day of the Golden Globes. As fans tweeted their thoughts on who was going to win and shared their excitement to see the best of the best in the industry, Murdoch turned back to those very people to show that piracy was a real danger to Hollywood.
Golden Globes great night for whole creative tam at Fox. Congrats! Best pic Descendants, best tv show Modern Family and many other wins.—
Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 16, 2012
More pirates. Whole entertainment ind employs 2.2 million ave salary 65 g. Good jobs and expanding foreign earnings. Made in America, too!—
Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 16, 2012
He ended with a shot at Obama, asking why he would align himself with the "pirates" who help push illegal content online. (Murdoch later clarified that in this tweet he had an autocorrect issue on his iPad and had clearly meant to reference POTUS, the president of the United States, instead of the name of an Australian company.
Seems like universal anger with Optus from all sorts of normal supporters. Maybe backing pirates a rare miscalculation by friend Axelrod.—
Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 16, 2012
SMALL writers, actors, NAHHH,,,DOES RICH REALLY CARES THEM ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Tweet this Rurpert ....
HOW THEY DEFINE Online Piracy IS A KIND OF CONTROL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wonder if someone hacked his Twitter!!!
I wonder if the dummy knows 99% of those links are bogus scams,
better watch it Rupert.. Google will eat you for breakfast..
what a hypocritical senile old T*****R. How dare he talk about theft when his company is still under investigation for hacking/ thieving peoples voicemails. This man is vile.
thank god for gop gold digging women or merdock would be a lonely old prune lol.
Average salary 65 g's.... hmm damn not bad, and with all this "piracy" goin on too.
It is exactly because of men like Murdoch that SOPA must be defeated He should stick to what he knows best, trashy television and yellow journalism.
Murdoch is the comedian of the week, folks.
"This man is vile.".................When people like this are on the upswing we call them "entrepreneurs."
Oh, I know – let's let Murdoch control all media! That should solve the whole issue.
Wow it's obvious Rupert has no idea how the Internet works. Yeah blame google for someone else's website. Still waiting for Rupert's and Dick Cheney's love child to come forth.


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OK, we admit it. Vickie's GMG posts are not always by Vickie. Sometimes they're by Peter. This could be because Richard Gaines once called us "interchangeable". Or it could be because we're both insanely busy and sometimes she doesn't have time to post. Actually, sometimes we co-write the posts. Anyhow, that's why we've newly identified ourselves as team FOBs and you now see both of us in the photo. So you can try to guess which one of us writes each post. Just put your guess in the comments and maybe we'll do something about it.
Let's all thank Pete Lindberg for bringing Tristen to Minglewood last night. Watch the video and you'll see why she is SOOOOO GOOD (see what SXSW says about her). Also check out this video of her song Matchstick Murder. (No, Tristen, we're not afraid).
Now, we can't mention Pete Lindberg without reference to his great new song "I Won't Pay for Matches" (Please correct me, Pete, if I got the title wrong). Next time you see him, be sure to request it. We're all waiting patiently for him to record it (well not so patiently, really).
Before I went to Minglewood, I was at Shalin Liu for Greg & Francie's spectacular presentation/concert. No amps, no mics. Just a harpsichord on stage in one of the most perfect acoustic settings on Earth. I was in the back row and I could easily hear every nuance. Beautiful!
All this on a Tuesday night! There's simply no way to see all the great music on Cape Ann. You just have to choose. See the full lineup here for some help with that.
And don't forget the Herb Pomeroy tribute concert on Friday that benefits the Berklee/Gloucester Scholarship Fund.


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Persons at STU
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|Type of thesis:
|Diploma thesis
|Thesis title:
|Návrh a analýza ohmických kontaktov pre heteroštruktúry GaN
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|Ing. Mikuláš Mészáros
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|doc. Ing. Ladislav Harmatha, PhD.
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How do you rehabilitate hundreds of oiled penguins to release back into the wild?
It only takes an hour to wash and rinse an oily African penguin (Spheniscus demersus), but it takes nearly four weeks to rehabilitate the bird for release back into the wild.
The five-stage process developed by the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), an IUCN member, begins with search and recovery. But successful rehabilitation and release depends on dedicated trained personnel with plenty of energy, rubber gloves, soapy-water and most importantly the expertise and knowledge accumulated over years of experience dealing with wildlife crises at the national and international level. Responding to the most recent oil spill from the SELI 1 wreck just offshore from Cape Town, SOS Save Our Species funded SANCCOB to implement emergency measures to help save one of the African penguin's most threatened colonies.
Commenting on the process, Venessa Strauss, SANCCOB Director of Conservation explains, "SANCCOB's work to rehabilitate and release oiled seabirds, especially penguins, are highly successful, but with the recent reclassification of the penguins as endangered, we have an obligation to ensure that everything possible is done to reduce the risk of major oiling catastrophes and further ensure that we remain vigilant in the event of a spill".
1). Search and Recovery
When seabirds such as penguins are exposed to oil they lose their natural waterproofing, which means they are no longer able to withstand the cold ocean, fish or hydrate themselves. Also, if the oil is ingested it can cause organ failure and severe damage to their internal system. Thus rapid response is essential. Teams of trained personnel search breeding colonies and beaches for oiled birds while also monitoring nesting sites for signs of abandoned chicks. Birds are collected by hand or shepherded into boxes by personnel. In the case of the most recent oil spill from the wreck of the SELI 1 in the vicinity of Robben Island, South Africa, rescued birds were removed using specially designed SANCCOB transport boxes by ferry to the mainland and then by road to the rehabilitation centre up the coast. Due to the proximity of Cape Town in this incident, the entire journey took little over an hour which facilitated rescue operations in comparison to other more remote crises.
2). Stabilisation
Birds admitted to the centre are usually dehydrated, stressed and weakened. Human interaction and the centre's surroundings are very foreign to them but team members refrain from petting or taming the birds in any way. Stressed penguins can bite as a defence mechanism and team members must be trained in handling the birds for the safety of both parties. After an initial assessment, the penguins are individually identified with a plastic tag on their flipper. They are then weighed, given a hydrating electrolyte solution, evaluated for any other medical issues before being sorted according to their general health status. Over the following two to three days, team members re-hydrate the birds three times daily, feeding them twice daily while they are allowed to swim in special pools for short periods. Chicks admitted to the SANCCOB facility are usually in an emaciated state because their parents were not able to feed them. Such chicks are placed on an intense regime of fish formula, vitamins and fish to ensure they gain weight appropriately for their age.
3). Cleaning
Cleaning or 'de-oiling' occurs only when the penguins are stabilised and deemed strong enough to be washed by a veterinary team. It is a thorough but delicate process beginning with the application of a solution that breaks down the oil before the birds are washed in a warm soapy solution. Rinsing is critical because this step removes all the soap from the penguin's feathers, helping the birds regain their natural waterproofing. The entire washing and rinsing process takes between one and two hours before the birds are placed in drying pens under infra-red heat lamps that speed up the drying process.
4). Rehabilitation
During the subsequent 2-3 weeks, the penguins continue on a regime of hydration, feeding and swimming as they regain their natural fitness and waterproofing. Meanwhile the veterinary team evaluates individuals' blood, weight and feather conditions on a weekly basis to ensure that all the penguins are on track for release.
5). Release
To be released back into the wild the penguins must be fully waterproofed, free of infections and have attained a minimum weight. Furthermore, environmental conditions are evaluated before the penguins are released back into the wild to ensure that the risk of immediate re-oiling has been removed from their habitat. Chicks that matured into juvenile birds are generally released into one of the breeding colonies along the coast while breeding adult birds are either released from a mainland beach or directly back into the breeding colony.
This streamlined process of rehabilitation is one refined from years of experience and research built up from working with oiled seabirds, including African penguins, and is the fastest and most professional way of getting birds, both threatened and not, back to their colonies.
Sound interesting? Visit the project page linked here to see some videos!


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The PIAGGIO seats, with their genuine leather upholstery, are very attractive, but also quite expensive. Our seat covers are also made from real leather and can be seriously considered as a suitable alternative. The high quality leather which we use undergoes lengthy production procedures for excellent durability and is tailored exactly to fit the design of each individual Vespa models original seat type. For a more visually pleasing and professional job the original damaged cover should first be completely removed and replaced by the new cover. It is then simply stapled into position onto the seats frame for a perfect fit. The covers for the LXV/GTV models come as matched two-piece sets, the front piece for the rider and the seat cushion cover for the pillion are both included.
SIP–TIP : To extend the service life of your seat unit it should be regularly cleaned using a suitable care product such as the vinyl and leather cleaner made by SONAX (part no 14222000) For optimal wet weather protection the seat covers originally available with the Vespa LX/LXV models to be pulled over the seat can also be ordered (part no. PI602931M/PI653494).


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How much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to be greater than his nature will allow
The above quote is taken from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and I read it described as an example of 'antithesis'. I don't quite agree that categorisation and was after a second opinion. Also, if it isn't antithesis what type of literary technique would it be classified as?