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The Link Grammar Parser (link-grammar) is a syntactic parser of English, Russian, Arabic, and Persian (and other languages as well), based on link grammar, an original theory of English syntax. Given a sentence, the system assigns to it a syntactic structure, which consists of a set of labelled links connecting pairs of words. The parser also produces a "constituent" (Penn tree-bank style phrase tree) representation of a sentence (showing noun phrases, verb phrases, etc.). The RelEx extension provides dependency-parse output.
TXR is a new data munging language. TXR's special pattern language provides template-based matching of entire documents or large sections of documents. It also contains a language for functional and imperative programming. It is written in C and takes the form of a utility that is portable to Unix-like platforms and Windows.
GCC-MELT is a high-level domain specific language that eases the development of plugin-like extensions for GCC, the Gnu Compiler Collection. These extensions can analyze or modify GCC internal representations, and can be used for static source code analysis, refactoring, specific warnings, optimizations, etc. The MELT language provides high-level features. Notably, MELT code is translated to C or C++, and can even contain C or C++ code. It includes powerful pattern matching facilities and can manipulate dynamically typed values and raw GCC structures. It enables functional/applicative, object-oriented, reflective programming styles and has a familiar Lisp-like syntax.
STMX is a high-performance Common Lisp library for composable Transactional Memory (TM), a concurrency control mechanism aimed at making concurrent programming easier to write and understand. Instead of traditional lock-based programming, one programs with atomic memory transactions: if a memory transaction returns normally it is committed. If it signals an error, it is rolled back. Transactions can safely run in parallel in different threads, are re-executed from the beginning in case of conflicts or if consistent reads cannot be guaranteed, and effects of a transaction are not visible from other threads until committed. This gives freedom from deadlocks, automatic rollback on failure, and aims to resolve the tension between granularity and concurrency.
MDK (MIX Development Kit) provides tools for developing and executing, in a MIX virtual machine, MIXAL programs. The MIX is Donald Knuth's mythical computer, described in the first volume of The Art of Computer Programming, which is programmed using MIXAL, the MIX assembly language. MDK includes a MIXAL assembler (mixasm), a MIX virtual machine (mixvm) with a command line interface, a Guile-based virtual machine (mixguile), a GTK+ based GUI (gmixvm), and a mixvm-Emacs interface (mixvm.el). MDK utilities are extensible using Scheme.
Invenio (formerly CDSware) is a suite of applications that provides the framework and tools for building and managing an autonomous digital library server. It complies with the Open Archives Initiative metadata harvesting protocol (OAI-PMH) and uses MARC 21 as its underlying bibliographic standard. Its flexibility and performance make it a comprehensive solution for the management of document repositories of moderate to large size.


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Perfection In Portugal
TransWorld SURF Photo Associate Carl Steindler Scores A Solid Swell With An All-Star Crew Of Euro Rippers
During the first two weeks of January I spent some quality time in the beautiful country of Portugal, going back for a second visit. However this time, I went for one reason and one wave—the Cave. A gnarly right hand slab that breaks in extremely shallow water over the sharpest rocks you can imagine, people have gotten their backs and knees broken out there. So, I knew I needed a guy who would charge it and not think twice about his body and well being, therefore I decided to hit up Aussie madman Damien "Dom" Wills and within one email he was totally on board. Marti Paradisis was supposed to meet us there too, but something happened last minute and he had to pull the plug. But, nothing was stopping us. That is, the only thing that could which was the wrong swell direction. Sadly, in all our time there the Cave never really did her thing but we did end up scoring all up and down the coast.
I still had a solid crew of great surfers to work with, Gony Zubizarreta and Aritz Aranburu from Spain and Portugal/Germany's golden son Marlon Lipke. So, in the end I definitely feel that I got the job done. I also had the time of my life in downtown Lisbon nearly losing my mind and getting kidnapped by a cab driver, but that's a whole other story in and of itself. The central coast of Portugal is so wave rich and abundant with every kind of wave you can imagine. Reef breaks, point breaks, beach breaks, all within a 60km radius you can score something with any condition, if you know where to be and when. Thank God we had Marlon and Gony with us to lead us down the right path every time finding gold at the end of each rainbow. Thanks guys.
So please enjoy my photo gallery of what the central coast of Portugal has to offer, and I am sorry there are no water shots-my housing flooded on the first day barring me for the rest of my journey. I still am having nightmares from the epic SuperTubes sessions that I was condemned to shoot from the beach. Also, f you decide to travel to Portugal after seeing these photos take my one piece of advice and do not fly Iberia airlines. On both my way there and home I was delayed a cumulative total of 16 hours forcing me to go into an extreme anxiety attack that no amount of Xanax could've taken care of. All right, that's enough griping from me…please enjoy Portugal.
Word and photos: Carl Steindler

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Digital Data Locked Loops Part 1
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The design article comes from the book Practical Applications in Digital Signal Processing by Richard Newbold and will be presented in several parts. The book is published by Prentice Hall and is a massive 1152 pages. An outline of the book including preface and chapter descriptions is provided here. Available in both print and eBook formats. See the Prentice Hall site for more information or from Amazon.
Chapter 11 Digital Data Locked Loops
In previous chapters of the book Practical Applications in Digital Signal Processing, elastic store memories were utilized to reclock asynchronous input tributary bit streams prior to being multiplexed into a synchronous output tributary. We utilized two levels of telephone multiplex signals to demonstrate the use of the elastic store memory. Specifically we used elastic store memories to multiplex two asynchronous DS-1 bit streams into a single DS-1C bit stream. Each of the input bit streams were associated with their own independent bit clock and were asynchronous to one another. Once the lower level bit streams are multiplexed into a higher level bit stream, all clock information associated with the lower level streams is essentially lost. The problem we have now is, how can we reverse this multiplex (i.e., how can we demultiplex the two DS-1 streams and synthesize a bit clock for each stream that is on average identical to its original clock)? The DS-1/DS-1C example is only one of an infinite number of possible examples. The same question can be asked of any demultiplex processing where the multiplexed tributaries were originally asynchronous to one another.
The answer to these questions is to utilize a digital data locked loop (DLL). The DLL is fairly simple device that uses an elastic store memory to synthesize a bit stream clock and then synchronizes the demultiplexed bit stream with that clock. All this takes place with no prior knowledge of the original clock frequency.
DLLs are suited for many applications. In order to maintain continuity within this book, we will describe and design a DLL that can be used to demultiplex the DS-1C tributary that we discussed in detail in Chapter 10, Elastic Store Memory. There is no reason, however, to restrict the usage of a DLL to only telephony applications. The DLL we describe in this chapter can be considered a base model that with a few modifications can be used for many other applications as well.
11.1 Digital Data Locked Design
To help us better understand the design of the DLL, we need to have an overall picture of the type of signals and the functional path of the signals we will be processing. For this reason we will utilize the DLL in a simple bit stream demultiplexer to synthesize a bit clock and resynchronize the recovered bit stream.
The functional blocks of a demultiplexer are illustrated in Figure 11.1. This book is only concerned with the shaded blocks in this figure. These blocks are the ones that utilize the DLL to synthesize and resync the recovered bit streams.
It is not the intention of this book to discuss all the other processing that goes on within a demultiplexer, but we will need to briefly describe the format of the demultiplexed signals that serve as inputs to the DLL. For this reason, we will briefly explain the end-to-end signal flow. The tributary demultiplex block receives the high-level multiplex input bit stream and then demultiplexes the bit streams associated with each tributary. At the output of the tributary demultiplex, the bit stream is accompanied by a gated clock that is used to indicate the existence of a valid tributary bit. You can envision the gated clock as the high rate input clock with missing teeth.
Figure 11.1 Simplified demultiplexer block diagram
As shown in Figure 11.1, the clock teeth are present whenever a new information bit is recovered by the demultiplexer. Clock teeth are missing whenever the demultiplexer is off processing an overhead bit or when it is off processing a bit from another embedded tributary, and the corresponding bit periods shrink and expand accordingly. Clearly this is not the desired format and timing of a recovered bit stream that we would like to hand off to any external processors. Instead, we would rather synthesize a valid 50% duty cycle bit clock and then synchronize the recovered bit stream to this clock.
We will use this chapter to design a DLL architecture that is relevant to a real-world digital signal processing (DSP) application. Since the reader is already familiar with the real-world DS-1 and DS-1C signals from the previous chapter, we will use these signals as the input and output of our DLL based demultiplexer.
The input to the demultiplexer is a DS-1C, which carries two DS-1 tributaries. The tributary demultiplex block in Figure 11.1 outputs the gated clock version of both tributaries. The block diagram shows that we select only one tributary for further processing. This will be sufficient for our discussion and development of the DLL architecture. Enhancing this design to process multiple bit streams is straightforward.
The selected bit stream and associated gated clock are fed to the DLL block, where the loop synthesizes a bit clock from the input bit stream and uses this clock to strobe the bit stream out of the DLL. The time aligned and newly formatted bit stream and 50% duty cycle bit clock output from the DLL circuit are illustrated in Figure 11.1.
The reader should remember that we have no idea what the frequency of the original tributary bit clock was. All we know is that it must be something within ±77.2 Hz of the 1.544 MHz center frequency, and even then the original clock may have been drifting over time between the two limits. The clock that our DLL synthesizes must on average match the frequency of the original clock, and it should track its drift over time.


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LAoE is a graphical audiosample-editor, based on multi-layers, floating-point samples, volume-masks, variable selection-intensity, and many plugins suitable to manipulate sound, such as filtering, retouching, resampling, graphical spectrogram editing by brushes and rectangles, sample-curve editing by freehand-pen and spline and other interpolation curves, effects like reverb, echo, compress, expand, pitch-shift, time-stretch, and much more.
J7Z is an alternative 7-Zip GUI. 7-Zip is a high-compression file archiver designed by Igor Pavlov. Use J7Z if you want to: update existing archives quickly; backup multiple folders to a storage location; create or extract protected archives; and lessen effort by using archiving profiles and lists.
ProjectForge is a Web-based solution for project management including time sheet booking, Gantt charts, financial administration and controlling, issue management, and managing work-break-down structures. First-party and third-party plugins are supported. Ready-to-run packages of the ProjectForge server are available for Windows, Mac OS X, and all Java6-capable platforms (database and Web server are included). ProjectForge is also available as a web-archive file (war) for usage within your own Web server and for your own database installation.
protobuf-rpc-pro is a Java developer library that provides an RPC layer for Google's Protocol Buffer services. It builds upon Netty for low-level NIO. Features include bidirectional RPC calls from client to server and from server to client. The client and server are equal communicating peers. TCP connection re-use / keep-alive, SSL encryption support, RPC call cancellation, timeout and a pluggable logging facility logging RPC call data in Protocol Buffer format are included.
OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) is an easy-to-use integrated penetration testing tool for finding vulnerabilities in Web applications. It is designed to be used by people with a wide range of security experience and as such is ideal for developers and functional testers who are new to penetration testing as well as being a useful addition to an experienced pen tester's toolbox. ZAP provides automated scanners as well as a set of tools that allow you to find security vulnerabilities manually.
PrimeDesktop is a tool for planning, mapping, and administration of a network with the ability to place, move, and manipulate entities within the network map such as desktops, servers, and infrastructure objects. The application allows administrators to control all aspects of their network such as standard devices, user groups, and network rules.
Components 4 Java is a development tool for Java. It provides a framework to organize and separate different parts of code, and fills the gap between the class level and the library level as provided by the Java SE architecture. Additionally, you can organize your classes in well-separated and loosely coupled components. Those can be stuck together graphically into larger compositions. Finally, components and compositions will be distributed among Java archives as specified in assemblies.
The Language Detection Library for Java is a Java library to detect the natural languages in which texts are written. This task is also known as "language identification", "language guessing", and "language recognition". It has over 99% precision for more than 40 languages. The supported languages are Afrikaans, Arabic, Bulgarian, Bengali, Czech, German, Greek, English, Spanish, Persian, Finnish, French, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Croatian, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Macedonian, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Dutch, Punjabi, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Somali, Albanian, Swedish, Swahili, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tagalog, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, and Simplified/Traditional Chinese.


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The information below is designed to help you understand what your latest blood pressure readings may mean for your health -- and to provide tips on what you can do to get or keep your blood pressure in a healthy zone.
NOTE: This information isn't a substitute for medical advice provided by your doctor. If you think you might have hypertension or pre-hypertension, be sure to discuss your blood pressure concerns with a doctor or nurse, who can help you factor in other important information, such as other medical problems you may have. In particular, the information below may not always apply to those who are very old, very frail, or have multiple chronic medical conditions. View the full blood pressure chart.
What a blood pressure reading of 120/81 means
Readings between 120/80 and 139/89 usually indicate PRE-HYPERTENSION or HIGH NORMAL, indicating you don't have hypertension but your blood pressure is higher than what experts consider optimal for most adults. Research studies suggest that people with pre-hypertension are more likely to have a heart attack or stroke, compared to people with lower blood pressure. However, many experts currently don't recommend using medications to treat pre-hypertension, unless the patient also has other medical conditions that would benefit from lower blood pressure (such as heart failure or kidney disease).
Many people with pre-hypertension eventually develop true hypertension, so having blood pressure checked regularly is important.
If you're already on medications for high blood pressure, this level of blood pressure is often considered adequate control by most doctors, especially if your systolic blood pressure is between 120 and 130.
What to do if your blood pressure reading is 120/81
Make an appointment with your doctor to discuss your blood pressure concerns.
Ask your doctor to check for other conditions that can raise blood pressure, such as sleep apnea.
Ask your pharmacist or doctor if you're on any medications that can raise blood pressure (these can include NSAIDs as well as some antidepressants).
If you're already on medications for blood pressure, continue to take them as prescribed.
Optional: Because pre-hypertension eventually can develop into true hypertension, consider getting a home blood pressure monitor that uses an arm cuff, and check your BP occasionally to see if it's going into the hypertensive range. (Wrist and finger monitoring systems don't give accurate results.) Write down each reading, indicating the date and time, and bring this record to the doctor when you visit.
Make lifestyle changes:
Stop smoking.
Lose weight or maintain healthy weight.
Increase physical activity.
Lower salt intake to less than 2g per day (most Americans get 5 to 10 grams a day).
Limit caffeine.
Limit alcohol.
Reduce stress.
Notes from the geriatrician on the care of those ages 80 and over:
As long as there haven't been any concerns regarding falls or dizziness, most geriatricians consider this range to be a good level for blood pressure, even in those who are taking medications for hypertension.
However, as people get older or more chronically ill, they become more likely to develop side effects from blood pressure medications, such as dizziness when they first stand up. For this reason, if you're concerned about falls or dizziness, make sure your (or your loved one's) blood pressure has been checked for "postural" or "orthostatic" changes. Some older people feel better once their blood pressure medications have been reduced a bit.
8 Foods That Lower Blood Pressure >>
Leslie Kernisan, MD Caring.com Senior Medical Editor
Robert Ostfeld, MD, M.Sc., FACC Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine Montefiore Medical Center
Carolyn Strimike, RN, MSN Cardiac Nurse-Practitioner at Women's Heart Center at St. Joseph's Medical Center Phoenix, Arizona Cofounder, HeartsStrong, a website for education about heart health Author: Take Charge: A Man's Road Map to a Healthy Heart


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Announcing our new district websites!
Click here to be taken to our new website.
If you're still seeing this site after clicking the link above, please clear your browser cache (click here for directions) and then go to https://www.sbschools.net again.
You should also update any bookmarks you saved to our old website, to our new website.
Thank you for your patience and understanding!
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» Flute Tours
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Bob Child - Ugly Boy Flutes has added tracks to the music area. Listen to free music today!
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A flute tour is exactly what it sounds like: a flute maker can send one of their instruments out "on tour" to create an opportunity for players to try it out for free. Usually the only expense is the cost of shipping the flute to the next person on the tour.
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21 September 2012 – 20 January 2013
Don't Smile. On the Humour of Art
with John Baldessari, Joseph Beuys, Marcel Broodthaers, JOSEF DABERNIG, Marcel Duchamp, Robert Filliou, RAINER GANAHL, BETHAN HUWS, Anne Marie Jehle, ANNA KOLODZIEJSKA, René Magritte, VACLAV POZAREK, KAY ROSEN, ERAN SCHAERF, Kurt Schwitters
"Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious."
Sir Peter Ustinov
The exhibition "Dont Smile", sets out to track humour, the trippingly light kind, the roguish, the dry, as well as the self-reflexive. Humour that examines language, logic, society, the day-to-day and the art system both gravely and with tongue in cheek.
What is it that distinguishes humour? How is it expressed? In the artworks on show, it is sometimes the encounter between different worlds and value systems such as everyday reality and intellectual imagination that initiates comedy. Or it is a shift that transfers things from their frame of reference into a new meaning, thus triggering smiles. It is especially the overlapping of verbal and visual levels that conjures an open and humorous way of seeing things. And despite the comic level, great seriousness underlies the works on exhibit.
The exhibition has been organized in close collaboration with the artists Josef Dabernig, Rainer Ganahl, Bethan Huws, Anna Kolodziejska, Vaclav Pozarek, Kay Rosen and Eran Schaerf. Each artist has created an atmospheric and compact narrative specifically for "Dont Smile". The overall effect is of an edginess spanned between multifaceted and challenging commentaries that incite ulterior and subtle, indeed enigmatic, humour.
Interwoven into the exhibition are a selection of historical artworks that set the tone and the frame of reference. Of note are especially Marcel Duchamp, René Magritte and Kurt Schwitters. As significant forefathers from the beginning of the 20th century, they still today pose valid questions on contextualization, on compositional elements, on language as a medium of the visual arts, on wordplay, on the mutating image, as well as on the art of thinking. In addition, with John Baldessari, Joseph Beuys, Marcel Broodthaers, Robert
Filliou and Anne Marie Jehle, we find exemplary positions of the see change in 1960s art. All artists make artworks as Bethan Huws puts it in one of her word vitrines. But is that really so?
The exhibition is a production of Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, curated by Christiane Meyer-Stoll.
Installation view Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein
Installation view Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein
Radio pocast Don't Smile (exhibition)
Radio pocast Don't Smile (opening)
Guided tour
Supporting events:
Don't Smile: Introduction for teachers of all levels
with Christina Jacoby


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You know you're "addicted" to tea when ....
Yesterday I was minding my own business, making myself a cup of tea and my boyfriend walked in the kitchen and said, "you're making MORE tea? Don't you think you've had enough today?" I think he'll still be able to function now, despite the hole in his brain that my look must have burned Haha ;)
Bringing tea back for family and friends as a souveneir from my vacation!
Haha…I can relate to this…I give tea to my friends and family as gifts. It also gives me an excuse to throw a little something extra in there for me…since I'm buying tea anyway, why not???
What tea? I don't see any tea in there! I do have a bag dedicated to only tea/tea accessories.
When you begin to drink it in your dreams at night.
I sometimes dream I have to pee if I actually have the urge and, fortunately, it causes me to wake up. I've never dreamed about drinking tea until lately, though — and it's a very pleasant experience. (And no, I don't have to pee.)
EVERY time you drink a cup of tea you're logging into Steepster.
When you go to sleep thinking about the tea you will be brewing in the morning for work.
When you can't stop thinking about tea.
When every conversation is started with, "So I purchased some MORE tea". :D
When you have your own personal Tea blog on FB/YouTube and Twitter, just so you can spend more time talking about tea.
Forgot a really important one….When you have an entire room dedicated to your tea and tea supplies.
You convert things into tea units.
Today I said I didn't want to take someone to the movies because that would cost the equivalent of 5 teas or 3 della terra sample boxes :\
My sister looked at me like I was crazy.
when you go to a tea party (similar to a Tupperware party) and know more about tea than the rep.
granted she's only been doing it for 2 weeks, however I still think she should have known more.
I've never heard of an in-home tea rep. What company was it? It stinks that she did not have all the info….
It's called Steeped Tea. It's a Canadian company.
How is there tea? I have found myself on their website and I'm finding their rooibos blends intriguing.
In all honesty I have only had one brewed to my liking. It was really good. The others I had were decent, but brewed to my specifications I'm sure they'll be great . My order should be in soon. I will be sure to write some reviews.
I also want to be a consultant so I will definitely let everyone know when that happens.
let us know when you get the info! I would love to support a fellow steepsterite and my tea habit at the same time :)
…you've convinced yourself that drinking sencha is a great way to get rid of jitters from drinking too much sencha.
When you calculate whether something is well priced or not based on the price of oolong. "So this shirt is 175g of AA grade tie guan yin. Hmm… Expensive. Better buy the tea instead"
I think a lot of tea lovers can relate to this comic. Just replace "books" with "tea". Or maybe for some, it's both:
Both! LOL! Thanks!


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The four uncommitted visitors are scheduled to make their decisions on National Signing Day on Wednesday.
Heading into the final weekend of the 2013 recruiting cycle, Florida coach Will Muschamp already has the nation's No. 1-ranked class on ESPN with 26 verbal commitments.
But he's still trying to add a few more prospects on National Signing Day (Wednesday), and some of those targets are visiting UF this weekend.
Four-star defensive tackle and ESPN300 member Jay-nard Bostwick (Port Saint Lucie/West Centennial) is the biggest name — and body — coming to campus. The 6-foot-4, 305-pounder has previously visited Alabama and Miami, but his coach, Ron Parker, said Bostwick is down to the Gators and Hurricanes.
"Miami is close to home and he's familiar with the school, but his best relationship is with the Florida coaches," Parker said. "Now he has to build a relationship with the Florida players, because Miami's were great to him on his visit there.
"But I think Florida just has to sell their program. The biggest thing to me is the SEC over the ACC. But they can't tell him he's guaranteed to play as a true freshman. Jay-nard is the type of kid that wants to earn it and doesn't want anything given to him."
Another recruit who doesn't want to hear playing-time promises is New Smyrna Beach receiver James Clark. His focus on this weekend's unofficial visit, his second to UF in less than a month, is academics.
"The first unofficial was to get close with the coaching staff. Now I want to see what Florida can do for me academically and the information to back it up," said Clark, who plans to major in finance.
Clark has taken official visits to Clemson, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State and Purdue. He will announce a Top 3 on Monday after his trip to UF.
"I have two schools in mind that will make the cut," Clark said. "I'm going to see what Florida has to offer and maybe they can become my third finalist."
The Gators are also hosting receiver Ryan Timmons (Frankfort, Ky./Franklin) and JUCO quarterback Tanner McEvoy (Yuma, Az./Arizona Western C.C.), who transferred from South Carolina last August and has three years of eligibility remaining.
Florida quarterback commit Max Staver (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood Academy), who is visiting this weekend as well, won't waver if UF lands McEvoy.
"It doesn't bother me at all," Staver said. "I will have to compete at Florida regardless. The coaches said they were looking to go that route and I understand. They want someone with experience because of Jacoby Brissett transferring."
Timmons is expected to choose between Florida and Kentucky, while McEvoy is down to UF, Oregon, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
The four uncommitted visitors this weekend are scheduled to make their decisions on National Signing Day.


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.NET Calendar Control is a control similar to Windows.Forms.MonthCalendar, but it adds support for multi-select. It provides a point and click interface for selecting holidays or special days. It previously extended MonthCalendar, but now it has a fixed size in all regions and handles all drawing internally. The assembly contains several small controls for building calendar interfaces. These parts are independent of each other, and are constructed with inheritance in mind.
123 Live Help is a Web-based support software for businesses. It shows visitors to your Web site that a live agent is just a click away and enables operators to chat in real time with them. There are text and video chat options. It is secure, fast, flexible, customizable, and cost-effective. There is a full-featured administrative panel for operators and administrators, allowing them to automatically detect customers' details, track their footprints, transfer chats, follow the visitor's Web browsing, check spelling, get canned messages, and more. Administrators also can monitor all chat sessions and get statistics on the traffic sources of visitors and performance of operators.
Af-Arch is an N-tier development framework to quickly build high-quality distributed applications. It currently supports C and C# programming languages, which enables you to write client applications using them. It currently runs on GNU/Linux and Microsoft Windows, and is being used in production environments.
AIMLBot (Program#) is a small, fast, standards-compliant yet easily customizable .NET DLL implementation of an AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language) based chatter bot. It boasts cross-platform compatibility, a modular architecture, a simple and logical API, standards compliant AIML support with the option for extensions via custom tags, very small size (currently only 56k), and very fast performance (over 30,000 categories processed in under a second).
Agnos is a cross-language, cross-platform, lightweight RPC framework with support for passing objects by value or by reference. Agnos is meant to allow programs written in different languages to easily interoperate, by providing the needed bindings (glue-code) and hiding all the details from the programmer. The project essentially serves the same purpose as existing technologies like SOAP, WSDL, CORBA, and others, but takes a minimalistic approach to the issue at hand. Unlike the aforementioned technologies, which tend to require integration with Web servers, using verbose XML-based protocols on top of textual transports (HTTP), often also requiring complex topologies (such as name servers for registering objects, etc.). Agnos is designed to be simple, efficient, and straightforward, allowing for direct communication between two ends using a compact binary protocol.


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Cracked Windscreen or Broken Wing Mirror? Find a great value Sunderland Ferrari Specialist.
Enter Your Registration to compare prices and reviews in Sunderland in seconds. Get your competitive local quotes now!
Cracked Windscreen or Broken Wing Mirror? Find a great value Sunderland Ferrari Specialist.
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"I couldn't recommend him highly enough"
Highly recommended! Excellent job - picked vehicle up when they said they would and returned it when they said. Also gave a lot of feedback on the general condition of the vehicle. Fast, friendly service at an excellent price. Definitely be going back for any further work when it's required.
Replaced my clutch no issues at all. Would highly recommend this place
Absolutely brilliant, kept me informed the whole way!
Great service from this Garage. Very personable staff great information and explanation every step of the way. As a single woman did not feel unsure of honest quote which happens frequently and in fact felt very secure throughout the repair. Will certainly use again and would definitely recommend them. Thank you VRS.
Very efficient
Oil change fine. Follow-up jobs to hand brake and calipers were a joke. Returned twice to get hand brake sorted and ended up having to go somewhere else. And calipers were put on rear wheels shoddily. Had to return as wheels were hot. Pins were discovered as being disintegrated on all four calipers by another garage - how they didn't notice that I have no idea. The oil change was fine though.
well where do I start with my praise for everyone at VRS REPAIR SERVICES who go that extra mile to put their customers first, after being totally ripped off quote wise by the big high street exhaust companies one of which refused my car because the manifold bolts were seized,VRS came to my help within minutes of posting on the site, cost was quarter than the high street exhaust places and an extremely fast turnaround. before paying any expensive high street fitting centre costs give VRS a call you will not be dissappointed, am so pleased to find these guys. VRS = VALUE RELIABLE SERVICE. Thank you VRS your a credit to the auto trade
I had Brian having a look at my car on Thursday and he was brilliant! I would chose them again.
Robin answered our message late hours of Friday night and was here by 4pm on the Saturday to fix the problem!! Needed it fixed asap for my parents to drive back home from Newcastle to wales the next day!! Highly recommend this company and will definitely use again!! Thank you
Spot on. Great communication. Honest advice and solid work. Can't fault the lad.
He did a great job. I would certainly use again in future. A+
Excellent service really friendly and helpful
Great price, great service. All work done as expected. Would definitely use again.
Had van in for a fulk service. Excellent customer service. Would definitely use again
Great easy friendly service. Maybe health check sheet might be helpful... life span of tyres etc. But can't fault work or service. Thank you v much for collecting my car too
great service, picked my car up and dropped off, with full mot and service
I had a great experience with this garage and the staff were super friendly and even managed to book me in on Christmas Eve!They made my car feel alive again and for this i will go going back there again very soon!
The supplier Premier Care centre were fantastic, very efficient on the initial enquiry, booked me in as early as possible with a realistic date, collected my car and carried out the service as requested along with full diagnostic check. The did a very thorough job and inspection on the car, they rectified my cold start problem with a small part from main dealers and also fitted a replacement fuel filter in addition as requested.the car was returned to me exactly as stated and has been absolutely perfect since.
Brilliant price and job done as per expectation!
Great fast service
Diagnosed the problem really quickly. It needed new ignition. Part ordered and fitted. Also had a full service. Excellent service like driving a brand new car. Will definitely use again.


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Theater on the Lake
2401 N. Lake Shore Dr. Chicago, Illinois 60614
(312) 763-8165
Fee: Free
Age Range: 14 and up
Declaration YOUth Arts Fest: Through four evenings of spoken word, music, dance, and visual art, Chicago's teens will have a rare opportunity to celebrate the abundance of young talent within their city and within themselves. Suitable for teens ages 14 and up. FREE of charge to all who attend.On July 7, artists include About Face Theater, American Theatre Company and Jazz Links, a youth jazz ensemble of the Jazz Institute of Chicago.


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Tel 04 94 38 39 16
Welcome to DPAM HYERES, specialists in children's wear from 0 to 14.
Your local DPAM store team is delighted to see you and is committed to providing the best possible advice. Our sales staff are ready to listen to help you with your purchases.
DPAM values are geared around three watchwords: Creativity – Affordability – Quality for boys' and girls' garments, baby care products and footwearHYERES.
DPam offers a wide array of styles, from playful to sophisticated, to suit all children. DPam HYERES is committed to selling top quality products at unrivalled value for money, to be found in the baby section at HYERES. See you soon in our store! DPAM HYERES
Your local DP…am store team


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Due to the unseasonably warm temperatures earlier this week, schedules vary at the 7 citywide outdoor ice rinks.
The following outdoor ice rinks will be open for skating tonight:
Mt. Greenwood Park, 3721 W. 111 St., 312-747-3690
Rowan Park, 11546 S. Avenue L, 773-646-1967
Warren Park, 6601 N. Western Ave., 773-761-8663
The following is anticipated to open tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 6, weather permitting:
Midway Plaisance Park, 1130 Midway Plaisance North, 312-745-2470
The following are anticipated to open Friday, Dec. 7, weather permitting:
McKinley Park, 2210 W. Pershing Rd., 312-747-5992
The Rink at Wrigley, Addison St. and Clark St., 773-525-1638
The following is anticipated to open Saturday, Dec. 8, weather permitting:
Riis Park, 6100 W. Fullerton Ave., 312-746-5735
Hours and skate rental prices vary. Please note there is an admission fee at The Rink at Wrigley and at McFetridge Sports Center in California Park, an indoor rink. All other rinks offer free admission.
Schedules and fees are subject to change. Contact the individual ice rinks. Click here for more information.
« Back


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Half of all finance employees lack commitment to their current jobs, and the ones who are most likely to leave are the ones already meeting or exceeding expectations, including nearly one in three rated as high performers. At the same time, the vast majority of CFOs whom CEB surveyed as part of our Finance Talent research are already unhappy with the mix of finance talent at their disposal. They need to start doing a lot more to retain their best employees.
These are among the key take-aways from a recent CEB survey of nearly 700 finance managers at more than 75 companies around the world. We found dissatisfaction at both the employee and the executive level. More than one-third of finance employees said they are actively planning to leave their current jobs within a year. And more than two-thirds of those employees are either meeting or exceeding expectations, so the turnover will likely create headaches for their CFOs. (See Figures 1 and 2, below.)
The challenges will extend beyond short-term disruptions in workflow. High-performing employees typically have valuable institutional knowledge and maintain strong professional connections. They are often critical to revenue generation or product development, as well, so replacing them may be difficult. Plus, turnover among finance's high performers can present a serious risk to succession planning. As the CFO is increasingly viewed as a CEO in waiting, so finance staff is becoming an important component of companies' talent pipeline.
The typical approach to improving retention is to focus on compensation, but CEB's research indicates that this approach is incomplete. Although compensation-driven strategies attract talent, they are not the driving factor in retaining top performers. Instead, successful retention programs usually entail training and development activities, such as highly personalized coaching and well-thought-out staff rotations. In addition to boosting retention, these programs drive competency development, particularly in the "soft skills," which our research identified as crucial differentiators for the best finance departments.
Not only does low investment in retention lead to increased turnover, but it bleeds into a myriad of other issues that can threaten the entire business: poor/deteriorating staff competencies, lack of a leadership pipeline, and low productivity levels. To retain the best and brightest on their finance teams, companies need to pursue best-practice approaches to finding, hiring, developing, and retaining key individuals.
To delineate these best practices, CEB reviewed finance employees' responses to our quarterly Global Labor Market Survey of more than 18,000 employees in 28 countries. We compared employee engagement, satisfaction, and job-seeking behaviors with factors such as compensation and career opportunities. The data revealed that finance employees' levels of engagement and satisfaction depend not just on compensation and benefits, but also on the level of impact of the job, the opportunity for skill development, and options for work-life balance.
We consistently found that best-in-class finance departments build their retention strategies around nonmonetary rewards, such as leadership opportunities and compelling career paths. They also share a commitment to investing in thoughtful, long-term development of their high-performing employees. The good news is that we were able to identify a series of transferable ideas, beyond competitive compensation, that progressive companies are already using to build a healthy talent pipeline.
1. Understand Your Retention Risk
In order to better retain key employees, senior executives need to clearly understand the factors that drive retention risk for these people. These factors vary not only from company to company, but from role to role and from employee to employee. CEB has identified two sets of risk criteria that organizations need to evaluate: position risk and individual risk.
We define position risk as the level of risk that an organization would be exposed to were it to lose any employee in a given position, regardless of that employee's performance. A job has an elevated position risk if it is:
- crucial to maintaining external relationships and partnerships,
- crucial to product development,
- crucial to revenue generation,
- crucial to strategy development and execution,
- difficult to quickly replace through external hiring,
- difficult to identify an internal successor, and/or
- senior within the organization.
Any one of the above factors means a position has elevated position risk. Two or more flag a position as meriting especially close consideration. Some of these factors have more impact within certain types of businesses, so leaders must use their judgment when assessing positions' risk within their own organization. Nevertheless, a company's executives should be able to reach consensus on which positions require the most attention in retention efforts.
Determining individual risks can be more subjective if a company doesn't have the right processes in place. We define individual risk as the level of risk that an organization would be exposed to if it lost a specific, named employee who holds a key position. This type of risk divides along two broad subsets of risk factors: How well the employee is performing and whether the employee is happy. To identify which individuals are high performers, a CFO should answer several questions:
- Has the employee been designated formally as a high performer (HIPO) or a potential HIPO?
- Is the individual a named successor to any of the company's executive-level roles?
- Is the individual a critical conduit for information within the organization?
- Does the individual possess a high degree of valuable institutional knowledge or functional expertise?
If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, the CFO should immediately evaluate how satisfied the employee is within the organization, and how likely he/she is to remain that way. This evaluation may be as simple as considering the length of the employee's daily commute, or it may be a complex analysis of the possible directions the employee's career path might take within the company. Questions to ponder include:
- Is the employee's total compensation package equitable in the current market?
- What kind of development opportunities are available to him/her?
- Has the employee recently been dissatisfied with a promotion or a performance review?
- How good is the employee's relationship with his/her direct manager?
- Has the employee's performance been improving or declining?
- Are we aware of any personal factors (such as commute) that may influence whether the employee decides to stay or leave?
CFOs must be ready to act when they identify a key employee with elevated levels of both position risk and individual risk. A normally functioning business will have only a handful of these "double-risk employees." According to our research, companies need to make aggressive plans for retention when an individual simultaneously faces just one factor in each set.
2. Invest to Get Employees Invested
Many CFOs who believe that soft skills are important fail to invest substantially in improving these skills for their staff. CEB's research indicates that even among finance teams that see themselves as business partners, fewer than half invest in programs designed to build employees' business acumen, such as structured coaching or rotation programs.
To understand the importance of soft skill development, CEB researched the impact of more than 100 finance staff competencies on the effectiveness of the overall finance department. We grouped these skills into five categories: builder competencies, persuader competencies, strategist competencies, learner competencies, and doer competencies. The last two categories—learner and doer competencies, marked by strong functional execution—turned out to have surprisingly little effect on the finance function's effectiveness. Instead, the builder, persuader, and strategist competencies—all marked by the presence of soft skills, such as communication skills and team building—served as the clearest drivers of departmental effectiveness.
This "pathfinder" skill set, representing the nontechnical competencies of the finance function, is what finance leaders need to be most conscious of as they develop the talent mix on their teams. We found that the best companies not only implement soft skills development programs, but ensure that these programs rapidly increase learning among high-performing employees and bring them closer to the business.
One well-known technology company develops finance employees' business acumen and other soft skills through a structured, three-year rotation program. Participants are all entry-level finance staff, who move rapidly through different functions and business units in order to develop into well-rounded finance employees. Senior executives coach participants on at least a quarterly basis. At the end of their three years in the program, participants are placed in the organization based on business needs, input from coaches, and the participants' areas of interest. The innovative program provides the company with a pipeline of talented staff who can effectively deal with a changing and complex business environment. It also helps the company increase retention rates while evaluating high performers' potential as future finance leaders.
There is no question that such a program requires substantial investment of time, personnel, and capital. The size of that investment depends on several factors, including the number of participants, the organizational structure, and the type of rotation exposure. A finance function looking to implement a rotation program may consider four types of rotations: intra-departmental movement, transfers between finance and the business units, moves between regional finance teams and the corporate finance function, and geographic rotations. Large-scale and international rotations are the most costly, and they may be out of reach for some companies. It is important for executives to think carefully about what type of rotation, if any, would best improve competency and career satisfaction within their organization.
For the technology company, the rotation program's return on investment has been evident. The program simultaneously builds participants' internal networks and competencies that help them understand the business. Graduates of the program are twice as likely to be rated high performers as is the average new hire, so the program is helping build a deep bench of future finance leaders.
3. Match Potential Leaders to Highly Demanding Roles
Since 2009, leadership investment for the middle management layer has declined by 20 percent, which has led to a lack of finance managers who are prepared to take on new responsibilities and develop junior staff. The most successful companies rigorously manage the learning and performance of top finance staff.
For example, one multinational uses the concept of "crucible roles," which it defines as complex, highly demanding roles that have a high business impact. The company reserves these positions for individuals it has identified as up-and-coming leaders in order to engage and retain them. Make no mistake: These are not "laboratory" assignments; they are key marketing and brand-management positions associated with crucial brands or geographic markets within the company's portfolio. In fact, because the crucible roles are so critical to the business, the company has developed a highly structured support system for these high performers. Senior leaders take responsibility for introducing them to key colleagues across the business, while managers monitor their engagement via regular, informal check-ins.
With this support structure in place, individuals in crucible roles are held to a higher standard. They are expected to consistently outperform their peers by a significant margin, while rapidly acquiring new skills. After a period of three years, typically, a high performer who has extracted the full learning value from a crucible role is rotated to a very different position to continue leadership development. Employees who underperform in the program are moved to non-crucible roles that better suit their abilities.
Throughout the process, managers work hard to match high-potential employees with crucible roles that suit their career goals. Not surprisingly, this program has resulted in a notable improvement in the engagement, productivity, and retention of critical finance talent within this company.
Other organizations can take a similar approach by systematically assessing positions for their business impact and complexity, then matching high-performing employees to those roles. Two questions can provide a litmus test to identify roles with both complexity and high impact:
- If the person in this role is unsuccessful, is there significant risk to the business?
- Does the person in this role need to master a broad range of skills?
If the answers to both questions are "yes," the position is likely a crucible role.
A Retention Program that Works for Your Business
It's clear from our research that the past several years have been trying for both CFOs and their employees. It's also clear that the best companies are taking action to redress this dissatisfaction, and they're starting with their most valuable employees.
There are many ways to raise engagement and satisfaction levels among high-performing and high-potential staff. Launching a global rotation program or a structured "crucible role" system may not be feasible for your company. The most effective businesses create appropriate programs that work well within their corporate culture. Most utilize the network of senior leaders that the organization already has in place. Many also encourage collaboration across the business, whether formally or informally.
Retaining high-performing employees is an investment in the organization's future leadership, and successful companies build bridges to help today's high performers reach tomorrow's boardroom. As the economy enters a new phase, finance departments that succeed in retaining high performers will be able to turn their attention to transformative business goals. Those that don't may see an already-frustrating talent situation get a lot worse.
Kruti Bharucha is senior director at CEB. She leads CEB's research on The New Finance Skill Set—Hiring, Developing and Managing the Finance Competencies that Matter Most.


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A soft blue perfect for lullabies and contented yawns.
All Quiet Nursery Products are:
- Non allergenic
- Non toxic
- 100% VOC free
- Odorless
- Organic
- Safe for you, baby and earth!
Coverage varies with porosity, but on hard non-porous surfaces, one gallon will cover approximately 560 sq ft per coat. One quart will cover 140 sq ft per coat.more info about coverage »
We recommend Shell finish for walls in high traffic areas such as hallways, bathrooms and nurseries. It is a highly durable, low sheen finish. Choose Velvet finish for other walls and all ceilings. This almost flat finish will hide more imperfections commonly found on ceilings.
We do offer a satin finish as well and recommend this finish for woodwork or painted furniture. The Satin finish has more sheen to it and provides a nice contrast to the Shell when used on trim.more info about finishes »


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From the Classroom: Pig Butchering Demo
On Wednesday evening, I had the good fortune to be able to sit in on a pig butchering demo here at the shop. The demo was conducted by Julie, our in-house charcutière, and Jason, the chef at our South End location. What a pair they made! Jason did the butchering and Julie spoke about how she uses different parts of the pig to create her delicious porky products.
This demo (and the one happening this coming Wednesday) were a first for Formaggio Kitchen, inspired by Cochon 555 a pig-themed event that is happening in Boston today. It turns out that there are a lot of fellow pork lovers out there and we were overwhelmed by the response to the first demo we scheduled – so much so that we scheduled a second and still had a lengthy waiting list! Hopefully we will get to do this again soon! I even hear some buzz that we may do a similar type of demo with spring lamb… Stay tuned!
A lot of careful preparation went into the class. I happened to be working on the Sunday three weeks ago when Julie and Jason broke down a small pig from Falter Farm, MA in order to figure out how they wanted to organize their presentation. Julie subsequently used the cuts of pork from that practice session to make some delicious pôts of pork rillettes that went into goodie bags given out to each attendee at the demo. Also included in the goodie bags were scrumptious little sweet Italian sausages made from local, heritage pork and a little slab of bacon!
Julie started off the demo with a brief introduction and then passed the baton off to Jason who began breaking down the pig into its five primal cuts: loin, ham, belly (bacon), Boston butt and picnic ham. Jason handled the pig with a high degree of expertise – with 8-9 years of experience at East Coast Grill and a lot of home BBQ-ing behind him, he proceeded to break the animal down without a hitch, giving insight into his technique as he went. He touched on the rib traditions in Texas (his favorite – a dry rub approach!) as compared to South Carolina (which involves some initial simmering of the ribs), the merits of the Boston butt and cured vs. uncured bacon, to name only a few topics!
The pig Jason broke down was a pasture-raised, heritage-breed pig sourced through Savenor's Market here in Cambridge. It was a cross between a Berkshire boar and a Chester White sow, between 4 and 5 months old and weighing roughly 110 pounds. Berkshire pigs are known for good fat content while Chester Whites tend to yield deliciously sweet meat. Most pigs that are butchered for retail sale are much larger than the one Jason broke down (clocking in at 200 pounds or more) but a 110-pounder was just about the perfect size for our space. As well, the smaller the pig, the more tender they are likely to be – much as one finds lamb more tender than mutton.
At every stage of the butchering process, Julie discussed how she might use each cut. Safety in meat handling was also addressed as were pork traditions in other cultures – from Europe to South America to Asia. A lot of great questions were asked by attendees, prompting discussions of the specific conditions needed to ferment sausages and dry cure pork products.
While all of this was going on, snacks were provided. Preparation of the food served at the class began two days in advance and staff members watched with curiosity as we saw changes in Julie's usual routine: whether it was breaking down pig's ears or crisping pig skin… The smells made us all hungry!
Wednesday evening kicked off with some sausage rolls – puff pastry encasing Julie's sweet Italian sausage – and beer by Berkshire Brewing Company. Following on the sausage rolls were chicharrones, essentially pig-skin chips that had been brushed with lard, sprinkled with salt and roasted until crispy. A delicious posole was next; posole is a traditional Mexican pork soup and the posole-making process kicked off on Monday when Julie made a pork stock by slowly boiling the Falter Farm pig's head with onion, celery and bay leaf. After simmering for a couple of hours, the head was tender and falling apart. Julie picked the meat off the head and added it back to the stock. She added some Native Harvest hominy that she had soaked and cooked. Also added to the pot were New Mexican chile peppers that had been ground with tomato, garlic, onion and cumin. This soup was served warm and, at the last-minute, was garnished with shredded cabbage, red onion and cilantro that had been tossed with olive oil, lime juice and sprinkled with a touch of salt and pepper.
The posole was followed by a salad, containing julienned pig's ears. The pig's ears were removed from the head prior to the above mentioned stock-making. Separately, they were slowly simmered until tender and then left to cool in their own stock. Julie subsequently sliced the ears into very thin strips and marinated them in a Champagne vinaigrette. At the last minute, the strips were tossed with celery, carrot, parsley, capers, lemon zest, green onion and red chili peppers. The ears provided a subtle porky flavor and the texture was really unusual – one attendee found it reminiscent of Asian seaweeds.
In my mind, the pièce de résistance was the final flight: Chinese-style pork belly accompanied by a simple slaw. Julie also began preparing this masterpiece of deliciousness on the Monday… The first step was to prick the skin of the belly with holes and then pour boiling water over it. Why do this, you may ask? Julie explained to the class that by pouring over the boiling water, the pores of pig skin and the holes that she had pricked would open up and, as a result, be more receptive to the rub that was the next step in the process. After drying down the belly, she applied a mixture of salt, sugar and spices. The belly was then allowed to marinate for two days on a rack (to allow any excess moisture to drip off) before cooking. The cooking process is a little bit unusual – the belly starts roasting at 450°F for fifteen minutes, it is then cooked for one hour at 250°F and one hour at 350°F before doing a final fifteen minutes at 450°F. Julie confided to me that she then gave it a final stint in the convection oven to make sure the skin was extra crispy! The pork belly is very easy to reheat – something that helped when timing the preparation of the class… Served with the pork belly was a crispy, fresh slaw – its acidity nicely cut the rich, delicious fattiness of the pig. It was a simple but tasty mixture of fennel, red chili pepper and cabbage tossed with a bit of rice vinegar and boiled cider.
The pig butchered in the demo was born and raised on a small 180-acre, family-owned farm in upstate Vermont – Vermont Family Farm in Enosburg Falls, a farm owned by Greg Finch. Mr. Finch's pigs are allowed out to pasture as much as weather permits and they are allowed to root and nest according to their natural instincts. All of them are hormone and antibiotic-free and are fed an all-natural, vegetarian diet. The high quality of their care and diet is reflected in the flavor of their meat and it was no surprise to me that large portions of the pig went home with folks who attended the class! The remainder was split between Julie here in Cambridge and Jason in the South End… I look forward to seeing what they concoct next!


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Typing of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) From Female Genital Warts
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- Study Results
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
|Genital Warts Human Papilloma Virus
|Procedure: Medical / Surgical Treatment
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Observational Model: Cohort
Time Perspective: Prospective
|Official Title:
|Clinico-Pathological HPV DNA Typing Study of Women With Genital Warts Presenting to Groote Schuur Hospital Over a One Year Period, Evaluated by HIV Status, Psychological Impact and Costs to the Health Care System
- HPV DNA and HIV Status [ Time Frame: 18 Months ]HPV DNA Positivity and HIV Status
- HPV DNA and Pap Smear Results [ Time Frame: 18 Months ]Relationship between HPV DNA Positivity and Pap Smear Results
- Number of HPV Genotypes Isolated by HIV Status [ Time Frame: Up to 18 months ]Number of HPV Genotypes isolated according to HIV Status
- Commonest HPV Genotypes Isolated by HIV Status [ Time Frame: 18 months ]10 commonest types of HPV isolated according to HIV status
|Study Start Date:
|April 2010
|Study Completion Date:
|August 2012
|Primary Completion Date:
|December 2011 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
|Assigned Interventions
Genital Warts
All female patients with Genital Warts presenting to Groote Schuur Hospital
Procedure: Medical / Surgical Treatment
All participants received treatment based on the morphology and distributions of lesions. For the treatment with Trichloroacetic Acid (TCA), patients were advised to attend the clinic weekly until no visible lesions seen. For electrosurgery or laser, patients were given a date for admission a day prior to surgery. Post-operatively, she remained in the ward for at least five days.
Detailed Description:
Genital Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the most common sexually transmitted viral disease in the world.1,2 HPV infection on genital epithelia is associated with a range of disease spectra, from visible lesions such as genital warts, cervical, vaginal, vulval, anal and penile intraepithelial cancers and their precursors, or they may co- exist in the latent form in apparently normal epithelium.3,4 It is established that genital warts are associated with low-risk HPV genotypes, with the causative agents being HPV-6 and HPV-11 in almost 100% of cases.5 However, recent studies have shown that 20 to 50% of lesions also contain co-infection with high-risk HPV types.6,7
Although genital warts are not life-threatening, they cause significant psychosocial morbidities resulting in low self-esteem, negative self-perception, embarrassment and anxiety.8,9 Genital warts also represent not only a health problem for the individual, but also an economic burden for society as they carry a high and immediate financial burden and health care cost due to their generally recalcitrant response to conventional therapies.9 With this in mind, immunization with HPV 6/11/16/18 recombinant vaccine holds promise for reducing overall burden on clinical HPV-related diseases.
Genital warts are a common cause for referral to the Colposcopy Clinic of Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town which is a tertiary hospital serving the wider Cape Town area and the Western Cape Province. With an increasing number of cases seen requiring multiple clinical visits for treatment and a high number of recurrent and persistent cases, we undertook this study to examine the nature of the disease from a clinical point of view, response to various therapies, the impact of HIV and the types of HPV causing or associated with genital warts in women referred to our clinic.
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|Child, Adult, Senior
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
|Sampling Method:
|Non-Probability Sample
Inclusion Criteria:
- All female patients with genital warts
Exclusion Criteria:
- Patients who are pregnant, too frail or ill for gynaeoclogical examination and refusal to participate
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01192282
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01192282
|South Africa
|Groote Schuur Hospital
|Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, 7925
|Principal Investigator:
|Shahila Tayib, MBChB
|University of Cape Town
|Principal Investigator:
|Lynette Denny
|University of Cape Town
|Responsible Party:
|Shahila Tayib, Dr, University of Cape Town
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01192282 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|First Submitted:
|August 31, 2010
|First Posted:
|September 1, 2010
|Results First Submitted:
|December 15, 2012
|Results First Posted:
|January 15, 2013
|Last Update Posted:
|January 24, 2013
|Last Verified:
|January 2013
Keywords provided by Shahila Tayib, University of Cape Town:
Female Genital Warts
HPV Typing
HIV Status
Treatment Modalities and Recurrence
Socio-economic Burdens
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Condylomata Acuminata
Neoplasms, Squamous Cell
Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial
Neoplasms by Histologic Type
Papillomavirus Infections
DNA Virus Infections
Virus Diseases
Skin Diseases, Viral
Tumor Virus Infections
Skin Diseases, Infectious
Skin Diseases


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Dell going private in $24 billion deal
18 comments
SAN FRANCISCO--PC maker Dell Inc. will become a private company under a leveraged buyout deal worth about $24.4 billion, the company said Tuesday (Feb. 5).
Under the terms of the deal, Michael Dell, the companys chairman and CEO, will acquire Dell in partnership with Silver Lake Partners, a leveraged buyout specialty firm focused on high-tech.
The deal includes an unspecified amount of cash and equity contributed by Michael Dell, cash funded by investment funds affiliated with Silver Lake, a cash investment from an investment firm owned by Michael Dell and a $2 billion loan from Microsoft. Terms of the deal also include rollover of existing debt and debt financing committed by several financial institutions. A breakout of how much Michael Dell and Silver Lake are each investing was not immediately available.
Michael Dell already owns roughly 14 percent of Dells common shares. He will continue to lead the company as chairman and CEO after the completion of the deal, Dell said.
Michael S. Dell
Dell stockholders will receive $13.65 in cash for each share of Dell common stock under the terms of the deal. According to Dell, the price represents a premium of 25 percent over Dells closing stock price on Jan. 11, the last trading day before rumors that the company would go private were first published. The price also represents a 37 percent premium over Dells average closing price during the 90 days prior to Jan. 11, Dell said.
Dells stock price closed at $13.27 Monday.
Dell, founded in the mid-1980s, has in recent years battled rival Hewlett-Packard Co. for leadership in global PC sales.But in the fourth quarter of 2012, Dell trailed both HP and Chinas Lenovo Group Ltd. with a PC market share of about 10 percent, according to Gartner Inc. Both HP and deal are facing increased competition from the likes of Lenovo, Acer and other OEMs based in Asia.


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Riverview Charity Stitchers knit and crochet thousands of items for charity
JANESVILLE—After reading a story about the need at Parker Closet to help disadvantaged students at Parker High School, Riverview Charity Stitchers stitched together 130 items for delivery.
They provided 51 washcloths packed with toiletries, and they gave hats, mittens, scarves and headbands. Parker Closet provides needy students with everything from school supplies to toiletries.
The local high school students are among many recipients of help from Riverview Charity Stitchers.
Co-founder Anne Reed, an experienced and talented knitter, hasn't kept count since she and the late Mary Teft started the group in 1995, but Reed knows more than 2,147 items made by the local group of stitchers have helped those in need just this year, including:
-- Women and children who live at YWCA Rock County's shelter for battered women
-- Men at the GIFTS homeless shelter
-- Homeless teens
-- Residents at House of Mercy
-- Oncology patients at Riverview Clinic of Dean Medical Center and Mercy Hospital and Trauma Center
The knitters and crocheters, who live at Riverview Heights Apartments or elsewhere in the community, initially made items for children of the Hoh Indian Reservation in Forks, Wash; premature babies; the homeless in Rock County; and the foster care program at Love Inc of Rock County.
But projects for worthy causes have changed to help others in need, Reed said.
"We switched to serving homeless people, battered women and to chemo patients," she said.
The stitchers would love to serve more people but can't keep up with need.
"We never have enough cotton yarn to make wash cloths and always have to go buy more," she said.
The stitchers even held a bake sale to earn money on top of making their own contributions to buy more yarn and toiletries to stuff the washcloths, Reed said.
"We just do what we can," Reed said.
It is Reed's hope that more stitchers will join the group.
"More hands mean more help in the community, " she said.
The number of projects continues to grow.
"It gets larger every year and warms your heart to see these women so happy to contribute. I think it gives them a reason to get up," Reed said.
For some stitchers, it's hard to get out of bed or walk with walkers.
"I'm so pleased with the effort. We want to help people in need because we are so fortunate ourselves," Reed said.
Giving something handmade shows the love of the stitchers helping people, she said.
"We could go buy off the shelf, but this means so much more to us. When we're making items, we're thinking of these people and whom we're going to help," Reed said.
Erin Loveland, House of Mercy executive director, agreed:
"For residents, that means someone cares enough to sit down and make something handmade. They really feel touched when they see something handmade," she said.
The toiletries also fill a big need for House of Mercy residents, Loveland said.
"A lot of people come and don't have anything," she said. "We have linens they can use but not something they could take with. Those toiletries and those gifts are so important to them."


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All of the GOP variety theatres in Germany are renowned for their style and class. But the GOP Kaiserpalais in Bad Oeynhausen, the prettiest spa town in the north of North Rhine-Westphalia, is one of a kind. To describe the location as gorgeous is almost an understatement. However the most important thing is and remains the theatre's programme of magical acts, juggling, acrobatics and comedy. Combined with the venue, this makes for a truly special theatre experience.
Bad Oeynhausen's formidable Kaiserpalais was originally built in 1908 and now serves as an amazing setting for excellent entertainment. The venue is actually a complex covering more than 400 square metres and containing the variety theatre, two restaurants, several function and meeting rooms and the Adiamo Dance Club, all under one 15-metre-high roof. The centrepiece, however, is undoubtedly the theatre's atmospheric, carefully restored and pleasantly air-conditioned auditorium, complete with the latest stage, lighting and sound technology. And just as the show programme (which changes every two months) offers a potpourri of modern variety acts, the wining and dining options at the Kaiserpalais cater for all tastes and requirements. With the perfect components in place for an exclusive events location, the Kaiserpalais is a brilliant setting for functions, receptions, conferences and corporate events. It can even host weddings, after gaining registry office status in 2007. And if you would like to watch the head chef at work in his kitchen, or even have a go at cooking yourself, then why not sign up to the cookery courses on offer?
09.11.2017 - 14.01.2018
GOP Kaiserpalais Bad Oeynhausen
Morsbachallee 1
32545 Bad Oeynhausen
Fon: +49 (0) 5731 744 80


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Flexible and novel partitioning strategy for hierarchical design
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In the competitive semiconductor world, most of the organization tries to put many applications and features into a single design. To come up with the demanding multi-featured design, SoCs are getting complex and a need to perform the design hierarchically arises. In deep sub-micron technology nodes, the biggest challenge in hierarchical design is signal routing closure for the top level which have huge number of partitions, and to decide the target standard cell utilization for partitions. During the initial phase of the design cycle it is very difficult to predict the standard cell utilization for the hierarchical sub-blocks/partitions. Over or under estimation/planning in allotting area between sub-partitions will lead to die area wastage or a cycle time hit respectively. Efficient planning for complex designs is necessary for on time design closure and deployment of a flexible and novel partitioning strategy which is described in this paper. It helps to reduce late stage surprises such as routing congestion at the top level without entering into an iterative process by using virtual area reduction for sub partitions.
Hierarchical design contains a number of sub-partitions in the parent hierarchy. These partitions need to be planned during the initial phase of the design cycle for smooth design closure.
At the architecture level, partitions are dependent on the following sub-factors:
- Applications/feature
- Power domain dependent
- IP/soft module delivery date.
- EDA tool limitations, i.e., handling capacity only up to a certain gate count
- Special power saving techniques need to be implemented (biasing, power gating, SRPG etc)
- Connectivity constraints
- Special clocking constraints.


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Winzenz steps down as assistant city manager
JANESVILLE--Jay Winzenz has declined to resume his previous duties as Janesville's assistant city manager.
City Manager Mark Freitag on Tuesday said Winzenz informed him last week that he had made the decision for "personal and professional reasons."
Winzenz, acting city manager until Freitag started Dec. 2, will return to being director of administrative services. He performed those duties in addition to serving as assistant city manager before he stepped in as acting manager.
�"It was a voluntary decision on his part," Freitag said.
"I support his decision," Freitag said. "I told him I would leave the assistant city manager's job open and would give him some time to essentially come to a decision."
Winzenz was named assistant city manager in 2009 by former City Manager Eric Levitt. Winzenz assumed those duties in addition to those of director of administrative services. In that job, Winzenz oversees the offices of human resources, city attorney, accounting, city clerk/treasurer and assessor.
When Levitt left for Simi Valley, Calif., in May, Winzenz stepped in as acting city manager until a new manager could be hired.
Winzenz then named Patty Lynch, comptroller, as acting director of administrative services.
Winzenz also stepped in as acting city manager after former City Manager Steve Sheiffer retired and before Levitt was hired.
At that time, Winzenz did not apply for the job of city manager. This time, he did, but the council hired Freitag.
Winzenz's pay was reduced when he moved from acting city manager back to assistant city manager, Freitag said.
No decision has been made about further reducing that pay now that Winzenz is no longer assistant city manager.
Freitag said he will designate a department head to serve as acting city manager in his absence, and that field of candidates could include Winzenz.
Winzenz on Tuesday agreed his decision was both personal and professional but did not elaborate. He said he would use the next few months to decide whether to make the change permanent.


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Give the gift of science to your friends and family this year. A $39.95 membership in the Society includes 25 issues of the award-winning Science News (in print, on your iPad, or from our relaunched website) and helps to support programming and publications for young scientists. Click here to order your gift today.
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The Chicago Park District and the Chicago Bears recommended today at the District's Board of Commissioners meeting that Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services, LLC be awarded the contract to manage food and beverage service operation at Soldier Field.
Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services, LLC was selected pursuant to a publicly advertised Request for Proposals (RFP). As manager, Aramark will be responsible for the management of the food and beverage, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, operation at Soldier Field on Chicago Bears game day and for all other events at the stadium. They will prepare, sell, and dispense food and beverages throughout the stadium bowl and inside the stadium. Areas in the stadium bowl include fixed and mobile concession stands. Areas inside the stadium include all levels of the club, suites, and fixed concession stands. The contractor's responsibilities also extend to the back-of-the-house areas including the kitchens and storage spaces. The contract term will be 10 years.
"We look forward to working with Aramark," said Michael Kelly, General Superintendent and CEO. The company is a leading provider in food and beverage operations at over 170 stadiums, arenas, amphitheaters, and convention centers around the world, including 12 National Football League stadiums.
As part of its permit operating agreement, the process of selecting the Soldier Field food and beverage provider is done jointly between the Chicago Park District and the Chicago Bears, from the drafting of the RFP to evaluation of the proposals. The Evaluation Committee of ten was split evenly between individuals who represent the Chicago Park District and the Chicago Bears, and both entities utilized experts in stadium food service operations for consultation.
"We appreciate the collaboration with the Chicago Park District and SMG throughout the process and support the collective decision to select Aramark as the new Soldier Field food and service manager," said Chicago Bears President and CEO Ted Phillips. "Aramark displayed a strong vision for the future of Soldier Field along with an enthusiasm and strategic plan to bring it to fruition. They will utilize their resources and expertise to create a first-class operation with fresh ideas to keep Soldier Field as one of the best year-round entertainment venues."
Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services was one of three proposers, and garnered the highest score from the evaluation committee. The committee determined that Aramark presented the best overall proposal, considering all evaluation criteria, to manage and grow the food service operation at Soldier Field. Particularly, the Evaluation Committee felt that Aramark had the strongest combination of approach and vision, in addition to use and implementation of technology, strength of personnel, and creativity to move the food service operation at Soldier Field forward. The contract will meet the Chicago Park District's 25% Minority Business Enterprise and 5% Women Business Enterprise compliance goals.
Aramark currently employs approximately 4,500 people in the Chicago area. Additionally, the company supports Chicago and the Chicago area through their philanthropic and volunteer efforts and through corporate programs relating to diversity, community involvement, philanthropy, volunteering, and internships for high school students. Aramark is part of the initiative to redesign Chicago City Colleges by creating a new hospitality-focused program that will give students frontline experience in the industry.
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Endo Health Solutions Inc.'s recent acquisition designed to lower its tax rate may be following Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.'s blueprint for a lucrative takeover spree.
Endo shares are up 42 percent to a record after Chief Executive Officer Rajiv De Silva agreed last week to buy Canadian drugmaker Paladin Labs Inc. The deal will allow Endo to reincorporate in Ireland with a lower tax rate, giving it an edge as it pursues more pharmaceutical takeovers. It's a tactic that helped Valeant make more acquisitions than any of its peers in the last three years and increase its stock price sevenfold, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Endo, with a $7.1 billion market value, could consider buying BioDelivery Sciences International Inc., its partner on a pain medicine in development, and Impax Laboratories Inc., Janney Montgomery Scott LLC said. Such acquisitions could help counter generic competition that has started to eat away sales of Endo's main painkillers. De Silva, the former president of Valeant, took the helm in March after his predecessor was criticized for acquisitions of medical-device businesses that never paid off.
"De Silva's very well-informed by Valeant's playbook," David Amsellem, a New York-based analyst at Piper Jaffray Cos., said in a phone interview. Like Valeant, the lower tax rate "gives Endo a lot more flexibility in terms of pursuing deals, which is ultimately what it's going to have to do. This is unquestionably a game-changing transaction."
Blaine Davis, a spokesman for Endo, declined to comment on its takeover plans. Brian Korb, a spokesman for BioDelivery Sciences who works at Trout Group LLC, declined to comment on whether the company is for sale or has been approached by Endo. Mark Donohue, a spokesman at Impax, didn't return a phone call or e-mail seeking comment.
Endo began bolting medical-device businesses onto its pain-treatment franchise three years ago with two acquisitions totaling about $3 billion. Instead of the "ideal strategic fit" that then-CEO David Holveck promised, Endo was left with the U.S. specialty pharmaceuticals industry's lowest valuation just as he was preparing to retire, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Endo said Nov. 5 that it agreed to buy specialty-drug maker Paladin for about $1.6 billion in cash and stock. Including gains from the deal announcement, Endo shares had advanced 103 percent through yesterday since De Silva took over as CEO on March 18.
"It's a company in transformation right now," Jason Gerberry, a Boston-based analyst at Leerink Swann LLC, said in a phone interview. "There's an execution and management premium starting to factor into the stock because the new CEO has indicated what he's trying to do with the company and he's delivering on it."
Today, Endo rose 0.8 percent to $62.33 at 10:05 a.m. New York time.
Because Paladin shareholders will own more than 20 percent of the combined company, the new entity is able to reincorporate in Ireland, where the corporate income tax rate is 12.5 percent versus 35 percent in the U.S. Endo anticipates the new structure will lower its rate to 20 percent over time and may be able to shrink even more depending on future acquisitions.
Valeant, a maker of generic medicines, was able to reduce taxes through its 2010 merger with Biovail Corp., which was based in Canada, where the rate is now 15 percent.
Since then, Valeant has been the most acquisitive drugmaker in North America with 33 transactions totaling almost $18 billion, including Biovail, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Its shares have jumped 620 percent in that time, reaching a record last month.
"Valeant built its business on acquiring companies, and its stock just kept going higher," Jim Molloy, a Boston-based analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott, said in a phone interview. "When you're a large pharma, acquisitions are really the most cost-efficient way to build your revenue. If you move to Ireland, it gives you the ability to effectively bid and pick up the smaller companies when their products look like they might be able to make it to market."
Actavis Plc was able to shift its domicile from the U.S. to Ireland this year and reduce taxes after purchasing Warner Chilcott Plc for about $9.1 billion, including net debt. Actavis shares have surged 50 percent since Bloomberg News first reported the deal discussions in May, giving it the biggest gain among health-care stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index over that span, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
De Silva told analysts on a conference call last week that he's looking at acquisitions in the range of $250 million to $500 million. BioDelivery Sciences, which had a market value yesterday of $183 million and net cash of $37 million, may fit the bill for Endo, Molloy said.
BioDelivery Sciences, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, works with Endo on a pain medicine called buprenorphine that's in phase 3 trials. Endo has agreed to pay BioDelivery Sciences an additional $95 million to $150 million, depending on the drug achieving certain milestones.
"It would seem to fit right in the target of what Endo says it's looking to pick up because it's in their pain space and branded pharmaceuticals, and it's the right size," Molloy said. Plus, "if the data looks good, Endo owes BioDelivery basically half their market cap in cash."
Today, BioDelivery Sciences fell 1.7 percent to $4.72.
Endo also is open to deals of up to $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the situation who asked not to be named because the strategy hasn't been made public.
Impax Laboratories, a generic drugmaker facing manufacturing setbacks, is another potential candidate, which Endo may be able to run more efficiently, according to Molloy. The company had an enterprise value of $1.1 billion yesterday.
Today, Impax declined 0.6 percent to $22.25.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said earlier this year that it wouldn't approve Impax's Rytary treatment for Parkinson's disease until the plant where it was made was re-inspected. During the re-inspection, regulators found that repeat problems weren't corrected.
Still, analysts see Impax generating $848 million of annual revenue by 2018, a 46 percent increase from last year, estimates compiled by Bloomberg show. Endo's revenue is forecast to slip 19 percent to $2.46 billion over that span, according to analysts' estimates.
Endo is facing generic competition to its top three products: painkillers Lidoderm, Opana and Voltaren Gel, which together accounted for 45 percent of last year's sales.
Valeant's acquisitions have helped boost revenue almost fourfold from 2010, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
"This value-creating M&A model has worked for Valeant," Gerberry of Leerink said. "Endo hasn't historically been an innovator, so it has to go out and buy innovation. Now it's in a more competitive position to go out there and compete more effectively on deals."
Bloomberg News


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Combs Charged With Five Felony Counts
Marie Williamson Combs of 11600 Georgia Highway 34, Franklin, Georgia was charged with 5 felony counts of Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance.
During the afternoon hours on Wednesday, May 23, 2012, law enforcement officers from the West Metro Regional Drug Enforcement Office, Heard County Sheriff's Department and Franklin Police Department, met to discuss the results of a two month investigation regarding the sales of prescription medication. The investigation began after a concerned citizen provided detailed information to law enforcement regarding the illegal activity being conducted at 11600 Georgia Highway 34.
Over this period of time law enforcement officers conducted surveillance of the residence, observing a large amount of concerning activity. They were also successful in conducting controlled purchases of prescription medication from a female at the residence, identified as Marie Combs.
Upon serving the arrest warrant on Marie Combs, law enforcement officers conducted a search of the residence where a large amount of evidence was recovered, including Hydrocodone, Xanax, Lortab, Methadone and Clonazepam. Law enforcement officers will also use this evidence to identify and investigate the individuals who were assisting Marie Combs in obtaining these controlled substances in which she was selling.
"I would like to thank the concerned citizen that provided law enforcement with the information leading to the investigation and arrest. This proves that citizens working with law enforcement are a key in combating the sales of illegal drugs. I would also like to thank the West Metro Regional Drug Enforcement Office and Heard County Sheriff's Department for the relationship our departments have in obtaining the same goals for our community", stated Chief Kevin Hannah of Franklin Police Department.


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Putting a treasury's policies and procedures into written form seems like a good idea, but not all treasuries have formal written policies to guide the various types of work they do, according to a survey by the Association for Financial Professionals.
The incidence of formal written policies varies widely by the type of activity, with investment management policies the most common. More than half (56%) of the 554 treasury practitioners AFP surveyed said their company has a formal written policy for investment management, while 20% said they have written guidelines or procedures for investing and 13% use unofficial operating standards or rules of thumb.
"Any time you're dealing with money, it's always good to have policies and procedures to be your backstop, well-documented procedures to make sure you're doing things correctly and they're reviewed by your auditors," said Thomas Hunt, director of treasury services at AFP. Hunt described such policies as "a safety factor, something that you can fall back on and have confidence in, and that helps you when things get tough."
AFP asked survey participants whether their treasury has formal written policies, written guidelines and procedures, or unofficial operating standards. Hunt says formal written policies have been reviewed and approved by the company's senior management or board, while written policies and procedures are "more of an operating guide or help define the tactical approach for the procedure or task."
After investment management, treasury governance was the area where companies were most likely to have formal written policies, with 39% saying they had a formal written policy, 38% written guidelines or procedures and 21% informal operating procedures. Treasury governance policies cover "who can do what in the organization," including which executives can open and close bank accounts and who can issue debt, according to Hunt
More than a third (34%) of the companies had a formal written policy on customer and vendor credit evaluation and approval, while an equal percentage had written guidelines or procedures. And just under a third (32%) had a formal written policy on FX management, while 19% had written guidelines or procedures on this topic.
Dan Carmody, managing director at consultancy Treasolution in Chicago, said he was surprised at the number of treasuries that did not have formal written policies. "It's a best practice to have a formal approved policy in place," he said.
Carmody, pictured at left, said he has seen a trend toward more use of written policies among treasuries with which he has worked. "Primarily since the financial crisis, there's been a large push toward documentation of policies and procedures," he said, adding that the practice aids treasury departments in a number of ways, such as the support it provides for the cross-training of personnel.
The executives surveyed overwhelmingly cited risk mitigation as the main objective of their FX and interest rate management policies (89%), investment management policies (87%) and customer/vendor credit evaluation policies (82%). But 73% said financial performance was the main objective of their cash concentration and forecasting policy, with just 54% citing risk management as an objective for that policy.
Hunt linked that focus on financial performance to the role forecasting plays in companies' working capital management. "How efficient are you in using your cash? Forecasting is foremost in that. Just making sure that if there are any lumpy cash flows, you're ahead of them, and you mitigate any uncertainty in the environment in terms of your cash needs, ultimately that's going to drive your financial performance," he said.
Investment management is not only the area for which treasuries are most likely to have a formal written policy, it is the area most likely to be overseen directly by the board of directors. Fifty-three percent of the practitioners said the board of directors oversees their investment management policy; the board oversees just 34% of FX and interest rate management policies and only 18% of cash concentration and forecasting policies.
"Liquidity has become so key through the financial crisis," Hunt said. "The board's reviewing it, the CFO is reviewing it. The last thing they want to say is we lost principal because we went for an extra 10 basis points."
When it comes to putting a policy in place, Treasolution's Carmody said one size does not fit all. "Oftentimes, policies have to be created," he said. "It should really be customized to your security and organizational requirements."
And in the process of writing the policy, "the more feedback you can get from other areas within the organization the better, like internal audit" Carmody added. Accounting should be consulted on policies that pertain to accounting, he said, and someone from the IT department brought in to help put together a policy related to the treasury workstation.
Hunt noted the strong tendency toward centralized policies. Sixty-nine percent of the executives said their company mandates enterprise-wide policies and another 15% say enterprise-wide standards are recommended. That's even more pronounced among executives from companies with $1 billion or more in revenue, 82% of which said enterprise-wide standards are mandated and 11% said they're recommended.
"It's important to have all the finance people using the same standards and understanding the mandates that are coming down from the CEO and the board," Hunt said. "The last thing you want to have is multiple policies – that's when you have surprises, things you didn't know you had, exposures you weren't planning for."