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The Seasonal School in "Circuits and Systems for the Internet-of-Things" (CAS4IoT) presents a joint academia-industry program in the field of IoT. It aims at preparing a group of 50+ post-graduated students and design engineers with the capacity to understand and design a broader range of circuits and systems, in the field of IoT, spanning from data converters for sensor interfaces to radios, ensuring a good balance between academia and industry, combined with a judicious selection of worldwide distinguished Lecturers.
The Department of Electrical Engineering (DEE) at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology at NOVA University of Lisbon (FCT NOVA) together with the Centre of Technology and Systems (CTS) at UNINOVA Institute have organized this IEEE CASS sponsored Seasonal School. Having more than 100 PhD students working in the fields of IoT and cyber-physical systems, DEE and CTS are currently providing most of the human and material resources needed to successfully run this Seasonal School.
1. Agenda
2. Lecturers
Module 1: Ultra-low voltage and micro-power analog circuits for IoT
Designing low power and low voltage analog circuits for IoT systems is challenging. Many applications require analog circuits working with sub 1-V supply voltages and with power consumption in the hundreds of nW range while preserving good performances. The present target is to have analog circuits operating at 0.5-V or less. With that supply voltage it is required to design basic building blocks like operational amplifiers, comparators and voltage reference generators. For each of them, the presentation briefly reviews the state of the art and presents some recently published examples of implemented solutions. The analog-to-digital converter is essential for every modern system. Ensuring very low power while providing a medium-high resolution (9-14 bit) over a signal bandwidth up to about 1 MHz is a typical goal. For these specifications, SAR converters and sigma-delta modulators are typically used. Techniques and recent circuit implementations capable of satisfying diverse requests are presented. A 10-bit, 200-kS/s, 250-nA ADC operating down to 0.7-V and voltage references operating with supply voltages in the 0.4-0.6-V range will be presented.
Franco Maloberti received the Laurea Degree in Physics (Summa cum Laude) from the University of Parma, Italy, and the Dr. Honoris Causa degree from Inaoe, Puebla, Mexico in 1996. He was a Visiting Professor at ETH-PEL, Zurich in 1993 and at EPFL-LEG, Lausanne in 2004. He was the TI/J. Kilby Analog Engineering Chair Professor at the Texas A&M University and the Microelectronic Chair Professor at University of Texas at Dallas. Currently he is Professor at the University of Pavia, Italy and Honorary Professor at the University of Macau, China. His professional expertise is in the design of analog integrated circuits and data converters. He has written more than 500 published papers, six books and holds 34 patents. He is the Chairman of the Academic Committee of the Microelectronics Key Lab. Macau, China. He is the President of the IEEE CAS Society, he was VP Region 8 of IEEE CAS (1995-1997), Associate Editor of IEEE-TCAS-II, President of the IEEE Sensor Council (2002-2003), IEEE CAS BoG member (2003-2005), VP Publications IEEE CAS (2007-2008), DL IEEE SSC Society and DL IEEE CAS Society. He received the 1999 IEEE CAS Society Meritorious Service Award, the 2000 CAS Society Golden Jubilee Medal, and the IEEE 2000 Millennium Medal, the 1996 IEE Fleming Premium, the ESSCIRC 2007 Best Paper Award and the IEEJ Workshop 2007 and 2010 Best Paper Award. He received the IEEE CAS Society 2013 Mac Van Valkenburg Award. He is an IEEE Life Fellow.
Module 2: SAR ADCs for IoT: Basics and Innovations
This lecture will cover the basics and recent innovations in the field of SAR ADCs for IoT. Even though SAR ADCs have been known for a very long time, they receive a lot of attention recently thanks to their power-efficiency and beneficial scaling with technology. This lecture starts with a basic overview of SAR ADC design, and continues with discussing several recent innovations aiming for better power efficiency, improved performance, and more versatility.
Pieter Harpe received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. In 2008, he joined Holst Centre / IMEC where he worked on low-power ADCs. In April 2011, he joined Eindhoven University of Technology as assistant professor on low-power mixed-signal circuits. His main interests include power-efficient and reconfigurable data converters and low-power analog design. He is a TPC member for ISSCC, ESSCIRC and AACD, and serves as Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society. He is recipient of the IEEE ISSCC 2015 Distinguished Technical Paper Award.
Module 3: Sigma delta modulators for IoT
In this module, different approaches for realizing ultra-low-power, moderate and high resolutions Sigma-Delta architectures will be presented in detail. State-of-the-art Sigma-Delta circuits, highly intensively using passive circuitry will be described together with a systematic design methodology for optimization.
Nuno Paulino was born in Beja, Portugal, in 1969. He graduated from Instituto Superior Tcnico (IST), Lisbon, in 1992. He obtained the M.Sc. degree, in 1996 from the Technical University of Lisbon and obtained the Ph.D degree in 2008 from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. He has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering (DEE) of the Faculdade de Ciłncias e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCT NOVA), since 1999. Since 1999 he has been also working as a Senior Researcher of the Centre of Technology and Systems (CTS) at UNINOVA. In 2003 he co-founded ACACIA Semiconductor, a Portuguese engineering company specialized in high-performance data converter and analog front-end products, acquired by S3 in 2007. From 1996 to 1999 he worked as Analog Design Engineer at Rockwell Semiconductor, USA. He is a Member of the ASPTC of IEEE CAS Society.
Module 4: Industrial IoT
The contents will cover two case studies of real world applications of IoT: one based on wireline IoT to control hazardous industrial equipment, and the other based on satellite radio for machine communication. The decisions concerning the architecture choices, block performance, and issues related to the IC process choice will be detailed. Selected topics on interfaces, power, IC realization and measurement will be presented.
Noel O'Riordan has over twenty years' experience in the field of mixed signal integrated circuits in the industrial, consumer, automotive and RF sectors, with S3 Group, Dublin Ireland. His work has covered circuitry for ADCs, Filters, Power Management, LNAs, DSP and full IC development, in technology processes from 28nm CMOS to HV SOI-BCD. He worked in the R&D Laboratories of ITALTEL in the area of Electromagnetics for telecommunication systems, in Milan Italy from 1991 to 1996. He is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Electronic Engineering at University College Dublin, Ireland. He obtained a BE and MEngSc degree in Electronic Engineering from University College Dublin, Ireland in 1991.
Module 5: Power-and-Energy Management for IoT
Traditional Power Management Units (PMUs) generate reference voltages and currents, produce power on reset signals and control the system start up sequence, sequencing the enable of voltage regulators. The new generation of PMUs, targeting IoT applications, is capable of entering different power gated modes, achieving nano-Amp range operation, being controlled by the Real Time Clock (RTC). Why and how are RTCs being used as brains of the IoT PMUs is going to be analyzed in the "Power-and-Energy Management for IoT" module.
Marcelino B. dos Santos received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal, in 1994 and 2001 respectively. He teaches electronics and microelectronics at Instituto Superior Técnico since 1990. He advised eight PhD and more than thirty MSc thesis. He is the responsible for the Quality, Test and Co-Design of HW/SW Systems research group of Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores R&D in Lisbon (INESC-ID). His research interests include power management, testability, ultra-low power mixed signal design and educational issues on microelectronics. He is a senior member of IEEE and he is the chair of the Portuguese join chapters of Industrial Electronics, Industrial Applications and Power Electronics. He published more then thirty journal papers and 130 conference papers. Marcelino Santos was co-founder of SILICONGATE LDA in 2008. He is, since then, the CTO of the company, today a word leading company in power management IP.
Module 6: Microprocessors/MCUs for IoT
Estimation shows that 50 billion devices will get connected to the Internet by 2020 with the Internet of Things (IoT) involving a tremendous number of inter-connected users, devices and cloud services, with a special emphasis on increasing usage of mobile devices and applications that are available anywhere. This new computing era demands microprocessors (MPU) and microcontrolers (MCU) with good performance and low power consumption, thus promoting the devices that are efficient in terms of energy. Apart from the computing core, these devices should also contain storage and communication capabilities to operate in an autonomous way and connected through the internet. In the "Microprocessors/MCUs for IoT" module, the state of the art architectures of the current MPUs and MCUs will be analyzed, as well as the benchmarks for evaluating their performance and efficiency. Furthermore, the support for interconnection and communication with users, things and cloud services will also be discussed. Examples of commercial MPUs and MCUs will be provided, and the main investigation paths for developing the future processing devices for the IoT will be underlined.
Leonel Sousa received a Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Instituto Superior Tecnico (IST), Universidade de Lisboa (UL), Lisbon, Portugal, in 1996, where he is currently Full Professor. He is also a Senior Researcher with the R&D Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores (INESC-ID). He has contributed to more than 200 papers in journals and international conferences, for which he got several awards – such as, DASIP'13 Best Paper Award, SAMOS'11 'Stamatis Vassiliadis' Best Paper Award, DASIP'10 Best Poster Award, and the Honorable Mention Award UTL/Santander Totta for the quality of the publications in 2009. He has edited two special issues of international journals, and he is currently Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, IEEE Access, IET Electronics Letters and Springer JRTIP, and Editor-in-Chief of the Eurasip Journal on Embedded Systems, from Springer. He is Fellow of the IET, a Distinguished Scientist of ACM and a Senior Member of IEEE, and Member of IFIP WG10.3 on concurrent systems.
Module 9: BLE Radio Architectures and Design for the IoT Market
Module contents: Short range wireless markets; Overview of the BLE standard; BLE Radio Specifications: i) RX, TX, Synth specifications; 2) Current market specifications; BLE Architecture and Design of Functional Blocks; Specifications of radio building blocks; Architecture and Design of radio building blocks; Performance of state of the art BLE Radios.
Augusto Marques is the CTO of Aura Semiconductor, where he is focused on the development of state of the art radio technology and timing products. Previously, he was a Fellow Advisor for RF and Analog Circuit Design with MediaTek. As an advisor, he was responsible for the development of high performance, high volume cellular and connectivity transceivers for mobile applications. Before that, he was Senior Fellow and VP of RF at NXP Semiconductors. Before the acquisition of the Wireless Business Unit of Silicon Laboratories, Dr. Marques was elected as a Silicon Laboratories Fellow and served as the Wireless Engineering Director supervising the development of GSM, GPRS, EDGE, and 3G products. During his tenure at Silicon Laboratories, Dr. Marques was an architect and/or principal designer for the world's first CMOS GSM/GPRS synthesizer, the world's first CMOS GSM/GPRS transceiver (Aero), the world's first CMOS GSM/GPRS transceiver with integrated DCXO (Aero +), and the world's first single-chip CMOS GSM/GPRS transceiver (Aero II). Cumulatively, he has been an architect and/or principal designer for products that have shipped in excess of 1 billion units and is an inventor on more than 20 US patents in the areas of analog and RF integrated circuits. Dr. Marques holds a Ph.D. in Microelectronics from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium with a Master's in Physics and a Bachelors degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Module 10: Nanosensors, from fundamentals to IoT deployments
The module discusses the new sensing opportunities provided by nanotechnologies.
Bérengère Lebental graduated from Ecole Polytechnique (Paris Saclay University, France) Engineering Program in 2006, received two MSc in Physics and Nanotechnology from Ecole Polytechnique in 2007 and her PhD from Université Paris-Est, France, in 2010 (ENPC-PariTech PhD award in 2011). Since 2010, she is research scientist at IFSTTAR (French Institute of Science and Technology of Tranportat, Development and Network) and at LPICM (Laboratory of Physics of Interfaces and Thin Films, a joined research team between Ecole Polytechnique and CNRS). A physicist specialized in the nanoelectronics of carbon-based nanomaterials, her research focuses on the development of reproducible and reliable nanosensors for applications to urban sustainability, with a focus on micromechanical and chemical sensing. She coordinates the 9M€ French Equipment Program Sense-City and the 4M€ European research project Proteus on water quality monitoring.
3. Hans-On Modules
Complementing the theoretical material presented on all morning sessions, the proposed course includes 4 x 2 hours hands-on lab sessions, during the afternoon, where an IoT demo project will be implemented. All participants will be divided in groups of two and a maximum of 10 to 15 groups will be allocated to each lab session. Two teachers per session will support the project implementation. The course demo project will consist on the design and implementation of a multi-sensor system using a programmable and commercial SoC platform. The same platform will have also to monitor the state of the battery (through voltage sensing) and use this information to feed the power management implemented algorithm.
|João P. Oliveira was born in Paris, France, in 1969. He graduated in 1992 at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) of Technical University of Lisbon. He has also received his M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering and computer science in 1996 from IST. He obtained the Ph.D. degree in 2010 from Universidade Nova de Lisboa (NOVA). He has been with Department of Electrical Engineering of the Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT) of NOVA as an Assistant Professor of Microelectronics, since 2003. Since 2004 he has worked as a Senior Researcher of the Centre for Technology and Systems (CTS) at UNINOVA. Since 2003 he has been a Co-founder of MOBBIT Systems SA, a specialized system design Portuguese engineering company. From 1996 to 2003 he worked in the telecommunications industry in the area of 2G and 3G radio terminal equipment and switched packet data. From 1992 and 1996, he was a research engineer in the Integrated Circuits and Systems Group (CGSI) at IST where he worked in the area of switched current-mode ADCs and filters. He is Member of IEEE and Member of the Circuits and Systems (CAS) and Solid-State Circuits (SSC) Societies.
|Luis B. Oliveira was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1979. He graduated with a degree in electrical and computer engineering, and a Ph.D. degree, in 2002 and 2007 respectively, from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Technical University of Lisbon. Since 2001 he has been a member of the Analog and Mixed Signal Circuits Group at INESC-ID. Althought his research work has been done mainly at INESC-ID, he has had intense collaboration with TUDelft, in The Netherlands, and University of Alberta, in Canada. In 2007, he joined the teaching staff of the Department of Electrical Engineering of Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, and is currently a researcher at CTS-UNINOVA. Prof. Oliveira is an IEEE Senior Member and chair of the Broadcast Technology Society, Circuits and Systems Society, and Consumer Electronics Society, IEEE Joint Chapter. He is a member of the IEEE CASS Analog Signal Processing Technical Committee, ASPTC, (the largest within CASS), since 2008. He has more than 100 publications in International Journals and Conferences, and is co-author of two books: "Analysis and Design of Quadrature Oscillators" (Springer, 2008) and "Wideband CMOS Receivers" (Springer, 2015).
|Rui Santos-Tavares was born in Oeiras, Portugal, in 1975. He graduated from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, in 1998. He obtained the M. Sc. and the PhD degrees, respectively, in 2001 and 2010, from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Rui has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering (DEE) of the Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT) of Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL), since September 1998, where he is currently Assistant Professor. Since 1998 he has been also working as a Researcher of the Centre for Technology and Systems (CTS) at UNINOVA. From 1998 until 2001 he worked as an Assistant Researcher of the Interoperability Supported by Standards group (GRIS) at UNINOVA, where he has actively participated in several National and joint European cooperative projects in science and technology (e.g. ESPRIT IV 22056 – FunSTEP). Since 2001 he is with the Microelectronics, Design and Fractional Signal Processing Group (MESP) from CTS/UNINOVA. Prof. Santos-Tavares has published several papers in international leading conferences, a book and has been serving as a reviewer for many IEEE Conferences. He is member of IEEE Circuits and Systems (CAS) Society since 2010. He participated in the organization board of IEEE ISCAS'2015, in Lisbon in May 2015.
4. Registration
* A complete lunch is included during the course.
Please send us back the following registration form by email or fax (details in the form):
Registration Form
Student grants are also available! Please check the details to know more.
5. Venue
The CAS4IoT course venue will be located in the main building of the Library of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology (FCT), Nova University of Lisbon (FCT NOVA), at the Campus of Caparica, in south Lisbon. FCT NOVA is one of the most prestigious Portuguese engineering and science public schools and it is located in Caparica, Almada, just across the Tagus River. The Campus of Caparica is served by a wide transport network, including combined services (bus, train, ferry) and by tram.
|Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Nova University of Lisbon (FCT NOVA)
Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia
Campus de Caparica,
Caparica 2829-516
Portugal+ Google Map
Website: http://www.fct.unl.pt/en
6. Coordinator
|João Goes graduated from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Lisbon, in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), in 1992. He obtained the M.Sc. and the Ph.D. degrees in ECE, in 1996 and 2000 respectively, from the Technical University of Lisbon, and the 'Agregado' degree ('Habilitation' degree) in Electronics, in 2012 from the Nova University of Lisbon (NOVA). He has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering (DEE) of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology (FCT) of NOVA, since April 1998 where he is currently an Associate Professor and, since July 2012, he is the Department Chair. Since 1998, he has been a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Technology and Systems (CTS) at UNINOVA and responsible for the Microelectronics Research Unit. In Nov. 2012 he also became the Director of CTS. In Sep. 2003 he co-founded and served, for 4 years, as the CTO (and Board member) of ACACIA Semiconductor SA, a Portuguese engineering company specialized in high-performance data converter and analog front-end products (acquired by Silicon and Software Systems, S3, in Oct. 2007). Since Nov. 2007 he lectures and performs his research with part-time consultancy for S3. From March 1997 until March 1998 he was Project Manager at Chipidea SA (now SYNOPSYS). From December 1993 to February 1997 he worked as a Senior Researcher at Integrated Circuits and Systems Group (GCSI) at IST doing research on data converters and analog filters. João Goes has supervised (graduated) 9 Ph.D. theses, 16 M.Sc. theses, and 9 graduation projects. He has published over 160 papers in international journals and leading IEEE conferences and he is co-author of 6 books. João Goes is a Senior Member of IEEE since 2009 (Member since 1995) and Member of the Circuits and Systems (CAS) and Solid-State Circuits (SSC) Societies. He was also the Chairman of the IEEE CAS Analog Signal Processing Technical Committee, ASPTC, (the largest within CASS) for the term 2014-2015. He is currently an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems – II, TCAS-II, for the term 2016-2017.


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AB1707 – Las Vegas City Finals! – November 7, 2018
November 7, 2018 @ 6:30 pm UTC+0
Join us for the most anticipated event of the season as winning Artists from events this season paint again with hopes of earning a spot at The National Championship this November in Los Angeles! This is a wonderful evening of creativity and community, with audience vote determining the winner who will represent the city against painters from all across The USA.
Art Battle® Las Vegas is a 21+ event.
Art Battle® Las Vegas is proudly sponsored by Fredrix Artist Canvas!
Follow us on Instagram @ArtBattleLasVegas!
Art Battle – Las Vegas
The Bunkhouse Saloon – 124 S 11th St
TICKETS – General Admission $20 / Early Bird $15
Wednesday, November 7th @ 6:30pm

subset: commoncrawl


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The small, well-off Menlo Park City School District long has considered itself a model of fiscal responsibility.
It boasts a rare AAA bond rating, has helped make it easier for older homeowners to get exemptions to the district's parcel taxes and has returned proceeds from refinancing bonds back to property owners — rather than plowing funds back into building projects, as many districts do.
So when the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment firm hit the district with a $3.5 million loss two weeks ago, officials were outraged and vowed not to take the news sitting down. It's searching for options — including perhaps suing— and seeking allies among the 1,000-plus entities in San Mateo County that also lost money in the county's investment pool.
"This is not at all fair to the taxpayers in our district," said trustee Terry Thygesen.
But giving Menlo Park a break, county Treasurer Lee Buffington said, would mean assessing someone else.
The district claims that it sent warnings last month about the proportion that the San Mateo County investment pool had placed in Lehman. Buffington denies hearing any such concerns.
Cities, school districts and agencies like mosquito abatement districts lost money because the county had invested about 5.7 percent of its funds in short-term unsecured loans with Lehman. By state law, school districts are required to keep their money with the county, which acts as their banker.
When Lehman declared bankruptcy Sept. 15, the county was out about $155 million, Buffington said. A fluke of timing slammed the Menlo Park district with a larger-than-expected loss. In the midst of a $106 million reconstruction project for all four of its schools, the district had just sold $30 million in bonds, and deposited the proceeds with the county.
"It's frustrating," said trustee Laura Rich. "Normally we wouldn't have so much money in there."
And because Buffington is apportioning the losses according to the average daily balances for the third quarter, the Menlo Park district took a big hit.
The San Mateo Community College District, which also had issued bonds to finance rebuilding, suffered the biggest loss among school districts, an estimated $25 million. Sequoia Union High School District lost about $5.5 million, and the Redwood City School District $1.1 million. Districts don't know yet how their building plans, or operating budgets, will be affected.
But per-student, Menlo Park may be absorbing the biggest loss. The district is remodeling Laurel and Encinal schools, and will start later this year on Oak Knoll, all financed with a $91 million bond voters passed in 2006.
Superintendent Ken Ranella said the district's bond oversight committee, which includes financial professionals, questioned whether the county's investment pool was diversified enough. "They could foresee a market that was teetering, so they were particularly interested in how our investments through the county treasurer were distributed." The district channeled its concern through the treasurer's investment advisory committee, Ranella said. As of this writing, he had not provided the Mercury News with a copy of the correspondence.
"No way," Buffington flatly said. He didn't receive any questions or warnings, he said. "They are unhappy because they don't want to be charged the same way everyone else is." The county itself is out about $40 million, he said.
The week before the bankruptcy, Lehman's rating was downgraded from A to B. But its collapse was unexpected, surprising many who had thought the investment giant would be bought out, Buffington said. He said the fairest way to apportion the county's loss, which may be eventually reduced depending on the outcome of bankruptcy proceedings, is to base it on third quarter average daily balance.
Buffington, who's been the elected treasurer of San Mateo County for 23 years, is wasting no time in apportioning the losses. "The best thing to do is to get it over with and move on," he said.
But Menlo Park officials said they're talking with other districts about options, and are not ruling out legal action. "We're exploring our avenues for recourse. This decision isn't done until it's done," Thygesen said. She argues that none of the school district's funds were invested in Lehman, because the district deposited its funds after the county bought Lehman securities.
She said others question the wisdom of Buffington's investments. He acknowledged that the county had an additional $100 million invested in Lehman, that came due on Sept. 12. Thygesen said, "The No. 1 investment guideline is the preservation of capital "…This is day-to-day working capital."
Indeed, the losses to the community college district included about $20 million in bond funds for construction, but also included $200,000 in proceeds from the campus bookstores, Executive Vice Chancellor Jim Keller said.
Although he said his initial reaction was unprintable, "To think that you aren't going to be touched by this financial crisis is probably Pollyannish."
The district, which operates Cañada, Skyline and San Mateo community colleges, hasn't yet figured out how it will absorb the losses and which projects will be trimmed.
"But," Keller said, "we accept donations to our foundation."
Contact Sharon Noguchi at firstname.lastname@example.com or (408) 271-3775.


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That's my house in the distance. In a few weeks, we're going to get some new siding on the place.
Gotta busy day ahead of me — a running date at the park, a trip to the Post Office to mail books that sold over the weekend, and then three hours of writing/research at the public library. I have to shepherd Ian to the high school in the afternoon for more testing and to the math tutoring center at 5:00, while Steve supervises the installation the set-up of a better Internet system and does his work thing. Good thing there are leftovers in the fridge!
With the 15 minutes that I have for the blog this morning, let me throw down some links. I hope to be back here in the evening.
Here are a sample of the newsletters in my email box this morning: Slow Boring (Yglesias), Letters from an American (Richardson), Persuasion (Mounk), and The Ann Friedman Weekly. And here's a shoutout to a great newsletter from Anne Helen Peterson "Other Countries have Social Safety Nets. The U. S. Has Women."
The clothes from The Queen's Gambit.
Totally interesting podcast, which includes an interview with AOC, about whether moderate Democrats should broaden their impact by reaching out to the progressive wing of the party or by bringing back the working-class voters who have voted for Trump.


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Multiplayer, Campaign and Zombies. Even a full map list for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
As July comes to an end, we're still waiting on an official announcement for Call Of Duty 2020. An alpha, codenamed 'The Red Door' leaked on the Playstation and Xbox stores earlier this week. The pre-release build of the game piques the communities interest, but aside from a name, a slogan and a splash screen picture not much could be learned about the game from the leak.
That has all changed, and further leaks now give us a lot more information about the game.
The Campaign
A list of names and locations for thirteen of the games campaign missions, however it isn't possible to know which order they go in. The list is extensive and this could indicate it is a complete list.
- K.G.B. (Russia)
- Siege (Russia)
- Yamantau (Russia)
- Takedown (Side Mission)
- Tundra (Side Mission)
- Hub (Germany)
- Hub 8 (Germany)
- Stakeout (Germany)
- Armada (Vietnam)
- Prisoner (Vietnam)
- Revolucion (Nicaragua)
- Amerika (Russia)
- Duga (Russia)
Eight internal names for the multiplayer maps named in Black Ops Cold War. The list is small and it isn't known if this is the full map list or not. It goes without saying that new maps will likely come later once the game launches through DLC.
- Black Sea
- Cartel
- Miami
- Moscow
- Satellite
- Tank
- Tundra
Th internal name for the only on disk zombie map is included, suggesting the game will only launch with one map for zombies.
- Silver
Warzone/Battle Royale
The following is a list of locations found in the games Warzone map, not a list of separate maps.
- Duga
- Forest
- Russia
- Ski Slopes
The game is yet to be officially revealed, fans are holding onto hope that an in game event in Warzone will be used to announce the next Call Of Duty game, hence the delay in announcing it. Leaked audio and operator lines suggest this could be the way the new game is announced.
Head over to @Gamerficial on Twitter to stay up to date with leaks and new information when they become available.


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Many towns in the world have the same tradition: ''locking'' your love with a lock at the public place, putting your names on it with a date and throwing the key away to show that your love will last forever. Even Dubrovnik has a special spot for lovers! At Boninovo, few minutes away from Dubrovnik, there is a fence that became a romantic place quite late. Somebody has put a first lock on it just a couple of years ago and now it's covered with those little signs of affection.
But, of course, there are always unique ways to say 'I love you' and to be special. We bumped at one just walking by the fence. There they were, screaming to be seen: two bras, brassieres, however you want to call them.
- Look at this sweetheart! – yelled one tourist to her loved one laughing. He seemed to be more interested in the bras than all the other locks out there.
- Lesbians – he concluded and they went straight ahead without putting a lock. Well, that really could be a sign of love of the same sex couple. Or it was a challenge or a way to remember a great night out. Or... Who knows. We would love to hear the story!
We found some interesting locks too, because not all of them are just names and numbers. Sadly, we couldn't find the one that was there a year ago. It just said, shortly: ''Die of cholera''. And they say the romance is dead...


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Definition of Montage
Montage is a technique used in films showing images in sequence to tell a partial or complete story. The term, montage, has originated from a French term, monter, which means montage. It means "to mount" or associate things with each other. It is mostly used in film making, while in literature, it means a collection of images assembled narrate a story or part of a story. Generally, a montage has five elements; quick cuts, absence of conversation or dialogue, narrative, music or background music, and supers.
As far as quick cuts are concerned, they are joined together to create a storyline. The audience continues enjoying the storyline while the story also continues. The characters take part in the storyline yet there is absence of dialogues or there is no conversation. Although characters do not talk, a voiceover narrates the story with background music, and supers are used to provide information to the audience. Montage is a postmodern term in literary theory and is mostly used in movies, documentaries, and postmodern novels.
Examples of Montage in Literature
Example #1
From Ulysses by James Joyce
Young shouts of moneyed voices in Clive Kempthorpe's rooms. Palefaces: they hold their ribs with laughter, one clasping another. O, I shall expire! Break the news to her gently, Aubrey! I shall die! With slit ribbons of his shirt whipping the air he hops and hobbles round the table, with trousers down at heels, chased by Ades of Magdalen with the tailor's shears. A scared calf's face gilded with marmalade. I don't want to be debagged! Don't you play the giddy ox with me!
This passage occurs in Ulysses, a tour de force of James Joyce. Yet, this is not a postmodern novel as it appeared at the end of the modernist age. Despite this, the passage shows the good use of literary montage with conversation interspersed in it. The image of Young, Clive Kempthorpe, and Ades of Magdalen happen in quick succession in a storyline by the end when Young puts an end to the play.
Example #2
From To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolfe
Quickly, as if she were recalled by something over there, she turned to her canvas. There it was–her picture. Yes, with all its greens and blues, its lines running up and across, its attempt at something. It would be hung in the attics, she thought; it would be destroyed. But what did that matter? she asked herself, taking up her brush again. She looked at the steps; they were empty; she looked at her canvas; it was blurred. With a sudden intensity, as if she saw it clear for a second, she drew a line there, in the centre. It was done; it was finished. Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision.
This passage occurs by the end of the novel where Lily Briscoe talks in the presence of Mr. Carmichael. This entire passage shows as if the images have been joined together to make a picture. This is a process also called assemblage as she recalls and turns to canvas, sees her image, sees colors and then thinks about it. This shows that images run through her mind in a storyline.
Example #3
From "The Wasteland" by T. S. Eliot
The river's tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf
Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind
Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed.
Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.
The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers,
Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends
Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed, and their friends, the loitering heirs of city directors;
Departed, have left no addresses.
These verses occur in "The Wasteland" a postmodern poem by T. S. Eliot. The poem presents a river, fingers with a leaf in them, nymphs, the Thames, bottles and so many things in these few lines that it becomes a complete storyline when these images are assembled. This shows how T. S. Eliot has successfully used this film editing technique in literary writing.
Example #4
Citizen Kane by Orson Welles
All around this is an almost totally black screen. Now, as the camera moves slowly towards the window which is almost a postage stamp in the frame, other forms appear; barbed wire, cyclone fencing, and now, looming up against an early morning sky, enormous iron grille work. Camera travels up what is now shown to be a gateway of gigantic proportions and holds on the top of it – a huge initial "K" showing darker and darker against the dawn sky. Through this and beyond we see the fairy-tale mountaintop of Xanadu, the great castle a sillhouette as its summit, the little window a distant accent in the darkness.
This passage occurs in Citizen Kane's script written by Orson Welles. The instructions for the director show how he is going to use the camera to take several shots so that they could be added to create a montage of the movie. However, the interesting thing is that there are so many images that the camera will have great difficulty when taking a correct shot. Yet, this is what the director and the scriptwriter want to create a montage of.
Functions of Montage
Although montage means still shots, they create a storyline when put together. In postmodernism, even disparate montages are put together to create an interesting storyline or put pressure on the readers to create their own storyline, assuming that the readers are sanguine and that they would deduce the same meanings as the author intends to convey. Montage also provides good clues to the readers about the colors, characters, physical features of the characters, and even their movements. In a way, they assist the imaginations of the readers and exploit their imaginative capability for creating stories.


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Three Senior Counsel appointed in 2021
Scheme recognises legal profession's best and most skilful advocates
Singapore, 11 January 2021 — The Honourable the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon announced the appointment of three new Senior Counsel at the Opening of Legal Year today. They are:
- Mr Abraham Vergis SC
- Ms Kristy Tan SC
- Professor Goh Yihan SC
Applications for Senior Counsel opened in August 2020 and were reviewed by a Senior Counsel Selection Committee comprising:
- The Honourable the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon
- The Honourable Attorney-General Lucien Wong, SC
- The Honourable Justice Andrew Phang, JA
- The Honourable Justice Judith Prakash, JA
- The Honourable Justice Tay Yong Kwang, JA
- The Honourable Justice Steven Chong, JA
The three newly appointed Senior Counsel bring the total number of Senior Counsel appointed to 91[1] (as of 11 January 2021). Details of new appointees, as well as background information on the Senior Counsel scheme, are appended here.
1. SMU law dean among 3 appointed as senior counsel (The Straits Times, 12 January 2021)
2. New Senior Counsel appointed from public, private and academic sectors (The Business Times, 12 January 2021)
3. 涵盖公共私人与学界 三人受委为高级律师 (Lianhe Zaobao, 12 January 2021)
[1] This figure includes six Senior Counsel (honoris causa) and five deceased Senior Counsel:
- Pala Krishnan, K S Rajah, Tan Boon Teik, Joseph Grimberg and Harry Elias
Ashutosh Ravikrishnan
Assistant Manager
Corporate Communications
Singapore Academy of Law
Tel: 6332 5371 / 8498 7507
Email: [email protected]
Foo Kim Leng (Ms)
Assistant Director
Corporate Communications
Singapore Academy of Law
Tel: 6332 5365
Email: [email protected]


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2018 was not my best year of reading. I had a lot of things happening and I only read 48 books. You can see my complete list here. It was difficult to come up with my top ten because I read a lot of awesome books. Here are my tops in no particular order……
I was really excited to get back into the Shadowhunter universe.
I fell in love with the television series and totally had to read the books.
I LOVE Gretchen McNeil's writing and this book did not disappoint.
LOVE the King!
This book was AMAZING!!
When I finished reading this book it got passed around my office and everyone loved it.
This book has so much meaning.
Such a cute series.
Caroline Kepnes is one of my must read authors and this book was awesome!
The book grabbed me within the first couple of chapters and kept my attention throughout. It's an AMAZING book and I can't wait for the next one.
Well…..there is my list. Have you read any of these? What are your top reads?


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A good career takes hard work.
A good relationship takes more hard work.
A good life and happiness takes some more hard work.
Why, even a great vacation requires a lot of hard work.
True happiness and hard work come together. We can never stop working hard if we want to live good lives. We just shift the focus of our hard work from our careers to our families to our personal projects and so on. The challenges only get harder and never ever stop. But, on the upside, once we learn to work hard, we also learn to prioritise better, focus harder and bring more of ourselves to our lives.
Whether it is at work or home, put in the hours, do the work.
When you want to take shortcuts at work, you will want to do the same in your personal life.
So, we are left with two choices:
- attempt to find the short cuts and escape the work or
- embrace the hard work totally, live well, and bring more of ourselves to the world.
We are successful when we stop seeing the first choice and we are happy when we embrace the second.


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The Oklahoma Sooners are still seeking their first college football playoff win after four chances. The last attempt came in 2019 when the Sooners ran into a buzzsaw, the Louisiana State Tigers.
In a previous attempt, they played against Alabama, which resulted in an 11-point loss. The double-overtime game against Georgia in 2017-18 was their closest effort to the elusive win.
Recently ESPN (subscription required) listed the teams who improved their chances to get into the playoffs most following the 2021 recruiting class. Oklahoma added three former Tennessee Volunteers to help fill needs on both sides of the ball.
Lincoln Riley and his staff turned Norman into Knoxville West, as former Vols Wanya Morris, Eric Gray and Key Lawrence transferred to the Sooners. The 6-foot-5, 320-pound Morris is expected to lock down a starting offensive tackle spot and play for a season before heading off to the NFL, while Gray brings more than 1,300 yards rushing over two seasons to a talented backfield.
Standout wide receiver Marvin Mims became the top target for Spencer Rattler a year ago, leading the team in yards and touchdown receptions. For the team to continue its upward trajectory, more freshmen will need to become impact players along with the three incoming transfers. The Sooners added plenty of candidates in the 2021 recruiting class that finished just outside the top 10 according to 247Sports composite team rankings.
Last season, Marvin Mims excelled as a freshman receiver. In 2021, it may well be Mario Williams, who is already on campus for the spring. Cody Jackson is another talented receiver already on campus. EDGE prospect Clayton Smith is also on campus, and could help fill a need as a pass-rusher. Defensive end Kelvin Gilliam won't arrive until the summer, but he has a bright future and could be called up early.
While junior college defensive tackle Isaiah Coe isn't expected to have the same impact Perrion Winfrey did a season ago, being on campus does provide for depth right away.
It will be the rise of the defense that will tell the world if the Oklahoma Sooners are ready to conquer those demons of the postseason. The unit has been trending in a positive direction under Alex Grinch since he arrived on campus.


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He wasn't kidding in the promo for his appearance as host of SNL when Sir Mick said he would do everything but clean up after. Best host of SNL ever? Anyone who wanted to go to bed, but made it as far as the appearance with the Arcade Fire performing "This Could Be The Last Time" surely is a little groggy this morning. Jagger made it all seem effortless.
Archive for Mick Jagger
Was Mick Jagger The Best SNL Host Ever?Posted in Music with tags Arcade Fire, Mick Jagger, SNL on May 20, 2012 by johnbuckley100
The Alejandro Escovedo Trio Is Heavier Than MotorheadPosted in Music with tags Alejandro Escovedo, John Buckley, Lou Reed, Mick Jagger on November 10, 2008 by johnbuckley100
The protean Alejandro Escovedo formed his act into a power trio last night at the Birchmere. Maybe when we say power trio you think of Cream, or the Jimi Hendrix Experience, or everybody's favorite, Beck, Bogert and Appice. And yeah, this amalgam was just as thundering, only it was just Al on acoustic, Dave Pulkingham on the same, and Susan Voelz, as always, on the fiddle.
It's been a winter tradition in these here parts for Alejandro to show up with cellos and Ms. Voelz and Mr. Pulkingham, taking all these erstwhile rockers out for a chamber-music spin. (Warmer parts of the year, at least since Al regained his health, are dedicated to him touring with his rock band. Though Alejandro Escovedo manages his personnel they way Bob Dole managed his presidential campaigns, which is to say, when he can't figure which team to ride — the rockers or the stringed quartet — he just makes them all work together. For Alejandro, a successful approach. For Dole, not so much. And it is, of course –Alejandro's rock bands every bit as much as Dole's campaigns — a spectacle: the cellos choogling, Victor Munoz walloping the skins, one, no two, no three electric guitars fighting for air.) But then last year at about this time he dropped one cellist and came to the Barns at Wolf Trip as a foursome. And then last night it was just the three of them, and damn if they didn't put out just as much of a sonic hum, though without the cello for ballast, the whole thing seemed to ride higher on the waves.
"Drop a penny in the Indian Ocean," he sang in the opener, the stunning "Way It Goes," from 1992's Thirteen Years, and quickly gone were any doubts about whether Al, playing in just a threesome, would be giving something up. "Everybody Loves Me" was as great as it is on Room Of Songs, but that version's performed by a five piece orchestra, and this version had just the three, so they tripled their effort and expended a precisely identical thermal reading. Lots of songs from Real Animal, which does appear to have been something of a breakthrough, and not just artistically. We got to hear about the "Chelsea Hotel '78," and yeah, it rocked. And then there was the version of "Deer Head On The Wall," with its opening interlude out of Lou Reed's "Street Hassle," quickly shifting into a song that sounds okay on The Boxing Mirror, really good when he has the whole rock band cranked up, but last night, with just the three of them, damn near levitated the roof into the Reagan Airport flight path.
Maybe a few people can tell anecdotes that mention Johnny Thunders showing up — it's a pretty good name to drop — and it is possible there are others who, like Alejandro, will always mention Joe Strummer at their concerts (I don't think I've ever heard him forget him, which tells you just about all you need to know.) Anyone can play a Stones cover. But who other than Alejandro Escovedo would take his trio into the crowd and play "Evening Gown," from Mick Jagger's best solo album? Who else would even admit he listens to Mick Jagger's solo albums?
The man is a national treasure. Thank Heaven he is healthy and well. And coming back to DC next weekend to play a show before a hundred people in the Mansion on O Street. Special as last night was, could this upcoming show top it?


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An amazing story of God's power, and commitment to Jesus and His truth, enjoy this cartoon appropriate for young ones as you learn the story of Mary Slessor!
Mary was a Scottish Christian who left her country, her family, and all that was easy and familiar to bring the message of Jesus to Africa! She had to overcome language barriers, pagan evils, and challenges as a woman. But Jesus carried her through! Watch this story of her faith, and enjoy a delightful story for your kids.


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Will Oil Stay Down, With All The Positives Suddenly Turning Negative?
For at least two weeks, oil prices had an unreal, even embarrassing feel to them, rallying in an almost straight line on the puff that the U.S.-China agreement was "close" to happening, coming "soon" or basically a done deal that the market just needed to hear about.
Then on Black Monday, the charade suddenly stopped. And the world of crude bulls has eroded since.
Or has it?
WTI 300-Min Chart – Powered by TradingView
After Tuesday's plunge of 3% or thereabouts for both and crude—the worst one-day plunge in seven weeks—it can be argued that the immediate upside for oil might be over. If Monday's slide is added, WTI and Brent have lost about 5% each since the start of the week.
That means, in just two sessions, oil has given back almost all it had gained since its upward charge on Nov. 1.
Tuesday's rout wasn't just because traders got fed up of waiting for a trade deal that wasn't emerging after weeks of meaningless talk by White House officials such as Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
President Donald Trump showed just how well things were going on the trade deal when he warned his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Tuesday that Beijing must sign a phase-one pact with Washington by Dec. 15 or face the wrath of more U.S. tariffs.
Trade Deal Fiasco; Russia's OPEC Games
Trade jitters aside, crude tumbled because the algorithmic trading models of oil funds tried breaking above the market's 200-day Moving Averages and failed.
That set the funds off on a stop-loss mode—a switch in direction compared to their previous two week's pattern of shadowing the highs on Wall Street's main indices, which have been even more fixated on the trade deal than oil.
Adding to the gravity of the selloff in oil were signs that Russia was playing mind games again on whether it would support OPEC on production cuts.
According to a Reuters report, Moscow was unlikely to agree to deepen output cuts at the Dec. 5-6 OPEC+ meeting. Russia is a key price support ally in that initiative, which groups it with the 14-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Huge Crude Inventory Build
Also weighing on the market were potential for last week—a huge 6 million barrels, according to industry group API, which the official Energy Information Administration will have to either acknowledge or disprove later today.
Last but not least, there was talk that Aramco, the Saudi oil company headed for its first public share sale, might have trouble raising money from international investors.
So, from just trade talks, suddenly the entire kitchen sink got thrown at the market.
The question is whether the downtrend will continue, or oil bulls miraculously get another lifeline thrown at them.
At the time of writing, in late Asian trade, WTI and Brent were still in the red, although that could change in European and U.S. trading.
Little Reason For Price Comeback, Though Technicals Could Support
Fundamentally, there's little reason for oil to be higher as all of the market's positives—from the trade deal to OPEC and even the relatively inconsequential Aramco IPO—are emitting negative signals now.
If bears' instincts are right, WTI could be back by the end of the week at the Oct. 31 low of $53.71—the bottom before its most recent upswing. For Brent, it could be $59.40, its Nov. 1 bottom.
Analysts at Bernstein said If OPEC doesn't cut production by a further 500,000 to 1 million bpd, Brent crude may return to $50 in the short term.
"Current CTA positioning hasn't been this long since September's Abqaiq attacks in Saudi Arabia," Citigroup's analysts said, referring to the brief double-digit gains in oil after the aerial raid on the kingdom's largest oil processing facility that knocked out about 5% of daily world output.
But technicals could force a different narrative too.
For instance, while the abrupt reversal in WTI is worrisome, "technical support with potential of thwarting the ongoing selloff is plentiful," wrote Rich Dvorak.
The technical analyst added:
"Most notable is the $55.75 price level highlighted by the Nov. 8 intraday swing low."
"Slightly beneath this area is the zone of confluence underpinned by the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of crude oil's trading range since the Oct. 3 low, which may also keep the price of crude oil afloat."
However, Dvorak added that below that area, selling pressure had the potential to accelerate quickly and target the $54 handle.


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Suppose that you have a surface with 100 different graphics objects (text, shapes, and images), and you want to anti-alias just one object, perhaps for performance reasons. Without graphics containers, you would have to create a Graphics object and set the SmoothingMode property to AntiAliaswhich would set anti-aliasing for everything drawn on the object. How do you set the smoothing mode of only one particular object on a surface? That's where containers come in.
The Graphics class provides methods and properties to define the attributes of graphics objects. For example, you can set the rendering quality of text using the TextRenderingHint property. The smoothing mode represents the quality of the graphics objects, the compositing quality represents the quality of composite images, the compositing mode represents whether pixels from a source image overwrite or are combined with background pixels, and the interpolation mode represents how intermediate values between two endpoints are calculated. These attributes are set with the SmoothingMode, CompositingMode, CompositingQuality, and InterpolationMode propertieswhich are applicable for an entire Graphics object. For example, if you set the SmoothingMode property of a Graphics object to AntiAlias, all graphics objects attached to that Graphics object will be anti-aliased.
A graphics container is a temporary graphics object that acts as a canvas for graphics shapes, allowing an application to set a container property separately from the main Graphics object. An application can apply properties to a Graphics object within a container, and these properties won't be available outside of that container. Thus we can selectively apply properties to Graphics objects.
In Figure 9.20, for example, a Graphics object includes three graphics containers, each with different properties. These properties are not available outside of their containers. All graphics objects inside a container may be affected by the container property. It's also possible to have nested containers.
Figure 9.20. Nested containers
Graphics containers do not inherit their parent's settings. In Figure 9.20, for example, the Graphics object is a container whose compositing quality is set to high, and whose smoothing mode is set to high-speed. The graphics containers won't have high-speed and high-quality rendering unless we set them within the container itself. The smoothing mode of graphics container A is set to anti-aliasing; that of graphics container B is set to high quality. Graphics container C is a nested container within graphics container A, with interpolation mode set to high.
Before we discuss graphics containers in more detail, let's take a look at graphics states.
9.3.1 Understanding Graphics States
During the life cycle of a Graphics object, the object maintains a list of graphics states. These graphics states fall into various categories depending on the operations being applied to the Graphics object. For example, setting the compositing quality of a Graphics object changes the object's state.
Graphics states can be divided into three categories:
The first state of the Graphics object involves the quality of shapes and images. This state changes when you set the quality of a Graphics object using the SmoothingMode, TextRenderingHint, CompositingMode, CompositingQuality, and InterpolationMode properties of the Graphics class.
Transformation is another state that a Graphics object maintains. Transformation is the process of changing graphics objects from one state to another by rotation, scaling, reflection, translation, and shearing.
The Graphics object maintains two transformation states: world and page. The world transformation defines the conversion of world coordinates to page coordinates. World coordinates are coordinates that you define in your program, and page coordinates are coordinates that GDI+ uses to expose the object coordinates. The page transformation defines the conversion of page coordinates to device coordinates. Device coordinates determine how a graphics object will be displayed on a particular display device.
The Graphics class provides the ScaleTransform, RotateTransform, and TranslateTransform methods, as well as the Transform property, to support transformations.
Chapter 10 discusses transformations and transformation-related classes, methods, and properties in greater detail.
The world unit (by default) is always defined as a pixel. For example, in the following code snippet a rectangle will be drawn starting at 0 pixels from the left edge and 0 pixels from the top edge, with width and height of 100 and 50 pixels, respectively.
Graphics g = this.CreateGraphics(); g.DrawRectangle(Pens.Green, 0, 0, 100, 50);
Page coordinates may be different from world coordinates, depending on the page unit and page scaling of the Graphics object. For example, if the page unit is an inch, the page coordinates will start at point (0, 0), but the width and height of the rectangle will be 100 inches and 50 inches, respectively.
1/75 inch as the unit of measure.
The document unit (1/300 inch) as the unit of measure.
An inch as the unit of measure.
A millimeter as the unit of measure.
A pixel as the unit of measure.
A printer's point (1/72 inch) as the unit of measure.
The world unit as the unit of measure.
The PageScale and PageUnit properties define a page transformation. The PageUnit property defines the unit of measure used for page coordinates, and the PageScale property defines the scaling between world and page units for a Graphics object. The PageUnit property takes a value of type GraphicsUnit enumeration, which is defined in Table 9.9.
Listing 9.13 draws three ellipses with the same size but different PageUnit values: Pixel, Millimeter, and Point.
Listing 9.13 Setting page transformation
private void TransformUnits_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e) { // Create a Graphics object and set its // background as form's background Graphics g = this.CreateGraphics(); g.Clear(this.BackColor); // Draw an ellipse with default units g.DrawEllipse(Pens.Red, 0, 0, 100, 50); // Draw an ellipse with page unit as pixel g.PageUnit = GraphicsUnit.Pixel; g.DrawEllipse(Pens.Red, 0, 0, 100, 50); // Draw an ellipse with page unit as millimeter g.PageUnit = GraphicsUnit.Millimeter; g.DrawEllipse(Pens.Blue, 0, 0, 100, 50); // Draw an ellipse with page unit as point g.PageUnit = GraphicsUnit.Point; g.DrawEllipse(Pens.Green, 0, 0, 100, 50); // Dispose of object g.Dispose(); }
Figure 9.21 shows the output from Listing 9.13. Although the parameters to DrawEllipse are the same, we get results of different sizes because of the different PageUnit settings.
Figure 9.21. Drawing with different PageUnit values
The third state of the Graphics object is the clipping region. A Graphics object maintains a clipping region that applies to all items drawn by that object. You can set the clipping region by calling the SetClip method. It has six overloaded forms, which vary in using a Graphics object, graphics path, region, rectangle, or handle to a GDI region as the first parameter. The second parameter in all six forms is CombineMode, which has six values: Complement, Exclude, Intersect, Replace, Union, and Xor. The Clip property of the Graphics object specifies a Region object that limits the portion of a Graphics object that is currently available for drawing. The ClipBounds property returns a RectangleF structure that represents a bounding rectangle for the clipping region of a Graphics object.
Chapter 6 discussed clipping regions and the CombineMode enumeration in detail.
9.3.2 Saving and Restoring Graphics States
The GraphicsState class represents the state of a Graphics object. This class does not have any useful properties or methods, but it is used by the Save and Restore methods of the Graphics object. A call to the Save method saves a GraphicsState object as an information block on the stack and returns it. When this object is passed to the Restore method, the information block is removed from the stack and the graphics state is restored to the saved state.
You can make multiple calls to Save (even nested), and each time a new state will be saved and a new GraphicState object will be returned. When you call Restore, the block will be freed on the basis of the GraphicsState object you pass as a parameter.
Now let's see how this works in our next example. We create a Windows application, add a MainMenu control and its items, and write click event handlers for these items. Listing 9.14 creates and saves graphics states using the Save method, then restores them one by one. The first saved state stores page units and a rotation transformation; the second state stores a translation transformation. We save the first graphics state as gs1. Then we call the TranslateTransform method, which translates and transforms the graphics object. We save the new graphics state as gs2. Now we call ResetTransform, which removes all the transformation effects. Then we draw an ellipse. We restore the graphics states by calling GraphicsState.Restore methods for both gs1 and gs2, and we fill a rectangle and draw an ellipse, respectively.
Listing 9.14 Saving and restoring graphics states
private void SaveRestoreMenu_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e) { // Create a Graphics object and set its // background as the form's background Graphics g = this.CreateGraphics(); g.Clear(this.BackColor); // Page transformation g.PageUnit = GraphicsUnit.Pixel; // World transformation g.RotateTransform(45, MatrixOrder.Append); // Save first graphics state GraphicsState gs1 = g.Save(); // One more transformation g.TranslateTransform(0, 110); // Save graphics state again GraphicsState gs2 = g.Save(); // Undo all transformation effects by resetting // the transformation g.ResetTransform(); // Draw a simple ellipse with no transformation g.DrawEllipse(Pens.Red, 100, 0, 100, 50); // Restore first graphics state, which means // that the new item should rotate 45 degrees g.Restore(gs1); g.FillRectangle(Brushes.Blue, 100, 0, 100, 50); // Restore second graphics state g.Restore(gs2); g.DrawEllipse(Pens.Green, 100, 50, 100, 50); // Dispose of Graphics object g.Dispose(); }
Figure 9.22 shows the output from Listing 9.14. The first ellipse has no transformation effects, but the rectangle and ellipse below do have transformation effects.
Figure 9.22. Saving and restoring graphics states
9.3.3 Working with Graphics Containers
Graphics containers were introduced earlier in this chapter. Now let's see how to create and use them in our applications.
184.108.40.206 Creating a Graphics Container
The BeginContainer method of the Graphics class creates a container. Each BeginContainer method is paired with an EndContainer method. You can also create nested containers. The following code snippet creates two containers:
GraphicsContainer gContrainer1 = g.BeginContainer(); // Do something here GraphicsContainer gContrainer2 = g.BeginContainer(); // Do something here g.EndContainer(gContrainer2); g.EndContainer(gContrainer1);
22.214.171.124 Using Graphics Containers to Draw Text
As mentioned earlier, graphics containers are temporary canvases. Let's see how to set the quality of different text for different containers. Listing 9.15 creates two containers, and each has different properties. The first container sets the TextRenderingHint property to AntiAlias and the TextContrast property to 4. The second container sets TextRenderingHint to AntiAliasGridFit and TextContrast to 12. After creating Font and SolidBrush objects, we set the TextRenderingHint property of the Graphics object, and then we call DrawString. Finally, we call EndContainer to terminate the container scope.
Listing 9.15 Using different graphics containers to draw text
private void DrawTextMenu_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e) { // Create a Graphics object and set its // background as the form's background Graphics g = this.CreateGraphics(); g.Clear(this.BackColor); // Create font and brushes Font tnrFont = new Font("Times New Roman", 40, FontStyle.Bold, GraphicsUnit.Pixel); SolidBrush blueBrush = new SolidBrush(Color.Blue); g.TextRenderingHint = TextRenderingHint.SystemDefault; // First container boundary starts here GraphicsContainer gContrainer1 = g.BeginContainer(); // Gamma correction value 0 - 12. Default is 4. g.TextContrast = 4; g.TextRenderingHint = TextRenderingHint.AntiAlias; g.DrawString("Text String", tnrFont, blueBrush, new PointF(10, 20)); // Second container boundary starts here GraphicsContainer gContrainer2 = g.BeginContainer(); g.TextContrast = 12; g.TextRenderingHint = TextRenderingHint.AntiAliasGridFit; g.DrawString("Text String", tnrFont, blueBrush, new PointF(10, 50)); // Second container boundary finishes here g.EndContainer(gContrainer2); // First container boundary finishes here g.EndContainer(gContrainer1); // Draw string outside of the container g.DrawString("Text String", tnrFont, blueBrush, new PointF(10, 80)); // Dispose of Graphics object blueBrush.Dispose(); g.Dispose(); }
The TextRenderingHint enumeration is defined in the System.Drawing.Text namespace. Don't forget to add this namespace reference.
Figure 9.23 shows the output from Listing 9.15. Notice the quality difference in the text.
Figure 9.23. Using graphics containers to draw text
184.108.40.206 Using Graphics Containers to Draw Shapes
In the previous section we saw how we can use containers to draw text with different rendering quality and performance. We can draw other shapes using SmoothingMode, CompositingQuality, and other properties.
Listing 9.16 uses the AntiAlias, GammaCorrected, and HighSpeed options to draw rectangles and ellipses. We create a container by calling BeginContainer, set the smoothing mode to anti-aliasing, and set the compositing quality and gamma correction of the Graphics object. Then we draw an ellipse and a rectangle. After that we create a second graphics container by making another call to BeginContainer and set the smoothing mode and compositing quality to high speed, and then we draw a new ellipse and rectangle. Finally, we make two calls to the EndContainer method to close the containers.
Listing 9.16 Using graphics containers to draw shapes
private void DrawShapesMenu_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e) { // Create a Graphics object and set its // background as the form's background Graphics g = this.CreateGraphics(); g.Clear(this.BackColor); // Create pens Pen redPen = new Pen(Color.Red, 20); Pen bluePen = new Pen(Color.Blue, 10); // Create first graphics container GraphicsContainer gContainer1 = g.BeginContainer(); // Set its properties g.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.AntiAlias; g.CompositingQuality = CompositingQuality.GammaCorrected; // Draw graphics objects g.DrawEllipse(redPen, 10, 10, 100, 50); g.DrawRectangle(bluePen, 210, 0, 100, 100); // Create second graphics container GraphicsContainer gContainer2 = g.BeginContainer(); // Set its properties g.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.HighSpeed; g.CompositingQuality = CompositingQuality.HighSpeed; // Draw graphics objects g.DrawEllipse(redPen, 10, 150, 100, 50); g.DrawRectangle(bluePen, 210, 150, 100, 100); // Destroy containers g.EndContainer(gContainer2); g.EndContainer(gContainer1); // Dispose of objects redPen.Dispose(); bluePen.Dispose(); g.Dispose(); }
Figure 9.24 shows the output from Listing 9.16 The first ellipse and rectangle are smoother than the second set.
Figure 9.24. Using graphics containers to draw shapes
Graphics containers are also useful when you need to render large images either with high quality or at high speed. For example, if you have two large images and only one is quality-sensitive, you can create two graphics containers and set high quality for the first container and high speed for the second.
GDI+: The Next-Generation Graphics Interface
Your First GDI+ Application
The Graphics Class
Working with Brushes and Pens
Colors, Fonts, and Text
Rectangles and Regions
Working with Images
Advanced Imaging
Advanced 2D Graphics
Developing GDI+ Web Applications
GDI+ Best Practices and Performance Techniques
GDI Interoperability
Miscellaneous GDI+ Examples
Appendix A. Exception Handling in .NET


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Psychiatrists are well-trained physicians who treat patients suffering from mental, emotional, and behavioral symptoms (Hopke 538). He or she will offer several various approaches of giving different explanations of how the patients' symptoms or medical disorders develop and how they intervene with the patients' functioning and how or why diagnosis or diagnostic treatment can alter them (Kahn 308). Psychiatry offers a wide variety of employment options for people who enjoy helping others and have the self-determination to meet the medical requirements of the field.
The evolution of Psychiatry began in the 18th century. It was thought to be a demonic possession, but later came to be known as a medical sickness that could be brought to a minimal by treatment. With the efforts of Phillipe Pinel, from France, and J. Connely, from England, they both advocated a more humane approach to Psychiatry ("Britannica"). Sigmund Freud, a Viennese Psychiatrist, developed useful techniques for analyzing human behavior. The brilliant scientist first lectured in the United States in 1909 (Cosgrove 240).
In becoming a Psychiatrist, one has to complete 16 years of school. Including training in Anatomy, Biology, medical practices, and other subjects, along with making excellent grades in High School and College. The educational requirements include High School, College (four years), degree obtained: BA or BS. Medical School (four years), degree obtained: MD., and Psychology Residency Training (four years). In
the first two years of Medical School, the student devotes the first half of their college career by taking classes regarding science. Including Human Anatomy, Histology, Pathology, Immunology, etc.. The second half of college, the students are dedicated to clinical training. Students are introduced to various fields of medicine, and gain exposure to what exactly is entailed in the job ("Psychiatry"). In the last step to become a Psychiatrist, the student must pass oral and written examinations administered by American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology (Ferguson Publishing Co. 7).
The job specifications are also quite high. A Psychiatrist, along with any doctor in a medical profession, must be mentally stable. They must have an understanding about the patients' needs, and spend ample time in consolation with the patient, Psychiatrists must spend much time with patients who are depressed, angry, even suicidal (FPC 6).
The difference in Psychology and Psychiatry is the fact that Psychiatrists prescribe drugs for patients and/or prescribe their patients to undergo medical treatment, according to the person's needs (Cosgrove 241). The doctor must interview the patient and give them complete physical examinations, along with the patient giving their history, personality characteristics, and experience with Psychiatric problems. The doctor must rely on intelligence, personality tests, and tests to detect brain or nerve damage ("Encarta").
The two main treatments are classified into organic and nonorganic (most used treatment). The most commonly used nonorganic treatment is known as Psychotherapy, which focuses on internal conflict and its resolution as a means of restoring mental health. Psychoanalysis, a nonorganic treatment, is a session where the patient relates dreams,
fantasies, and memories, with the thoughts and feelings associated with them, while the analyst helps interpret these associations. Milieu Therapy (also nonorganic), directs word activities and social relations among patients and staff toward therapeutic ends ("Encarta"). Two types of organic treatments are Electro Convulsive Therapy and Lobotomy. Electro Convulsive Therapy is commonly used to treat severe depression that has not responded to drug treatment (used to treat Schizophrenia), ECT is commonly used to treat severe depression that has not responded to drug treatment. Another treatment is Lobotomy or otherwise known as Leucotomy, where nerve fibers running to the front of the brain are severed (Used only in sever cases.) ("Encarta"). In cases where discussing problems is not enough, or when serious mental problems are caused by a brain disorder, a Psychiatrist may prescribe medication (FBC 6).
In doing an interview with Daniel Rufree (online conversation, October 1, 2000) a former child Psychiatrist, he has given a brief outlook of the job. He has stated the main duties and responsibilities of working at the Public Health Department are to "evaluate, diagnose, and when appropriate medicate." The areas of knowledge and skills needed are "Medicine/pediatrics, child development, diads, triads and family structure". The normal entrance qualifications are "College, Medical School, internship, and 4 years residency; [student] may take fifth year to specialize". The training programs commonly used to prepare for this occupation may be to have "Certified residency training tied to medical school". When asked of the average salary for inexperienced and experienced workers he stated "salary varies greatly by state and company, probably about 75000 in California". The benefits that can typically be expected are "basic, losing some with changes".
The advancement opportunities available are "mostly low level management promotion unless given manager". The future trends of this occupation is to "specialize adolescents, infants, toddlers, violence, substance abuse law". The kinds of employers that typically have a need for this occupation are to have "10 years of education, and should have skills to work with others on a team". The most positions are located near "nice places to live, e.g.. coast, warm, great need in rural and poverty areas". The positive and negative aspects of this occupation is "good: pay, generally respected, bad: more focus on medications alone". The special license, certification or qualification required/recommended for child psychology is "residency training for 4 years". The type of people he would most like to work with as co-workers are "PhD psychologist, LCSW social work therapist, MFT, psych. intern., volunteer special therapists (e.g.; art therapist)".The other occupations that are similar to this occupation would be "Child Psychology, General Pediatrics, a school counselor, sometimes probation, juvenile law enforcement, and detention staff". This concludes the interview.
There are numerous employment opportunities for people who are interested in going into the psychological field. Among them are Forensic Psychiatrists, Psychoanalysts, Psychotherapists, Child Psychiatrists, Industrial Psychiatrists, Behavior Therapists, Psychologists, and Psychiatrists. Forensic Psychiatrists work in the field of law, evaluating defendants, and testifying on their mental state. Also, determining whether or not defendants understand the charges against them and can contribute to their own defense. Psychoanalysts encourage patients to talk freely or free associate to uncover
subconscious beliefs and causes. Psychotherapists use "talk therapy", this is when the
doctor helps the patient understand feelings and ideas that form the root of the problem. This treatment is given to individuals, groups, and families. Child Psychiatrists work with youth and usually their parents as well. Industrial Psychiatrists are employed by companies to deal with problems that affect employee performance such as alcohol or absenteeism. Behavior Therapists use "carrot-and-stick" method to change patients' behavior. He or she will use biofeedback, medication, relaxation, and other treatment medications. Psychologists generally work with mentally disturbed patients (Cosgrove 241). Other related occupations are Psychiatric Nurses, Psychiatric Social Workers, Clinical Psychologists, Psychiatric Aides and Technicians. (Hopke 538).
Being a Psychiatrist usually requires the doctor to work in offices they have established themselves, in hospitals, communication health centers, medical schools, or government agencies (Primarily work indoors with one location.) (Cosgrove 240-41). Other offices can be found in private hospitals, state hospitals, and community mental health centers. Psychiatrists usually work regular hours. They can set their own schedules, even working in irregular hours of the day. Some even take time out to help patients who cannot take time off during business hours (Hopke 540).
Psychiatrists generally accumulate more earnings than the average occupation. Their salaries can range anywhere from 137,200 to 207,500 (Hopke 538). This is determined by the type of practice, location, experience, and the number of patients treated. In general, there is a strong demand for Psychiatrists in the next decade (FPC 7). On average, the New England and Middle Atlantic States have the most Psychiatrists per population (Kahn308).
Cosgrove, Holli. "Psychiatry." Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance.
Volume . Illinois: Chicago, 2000. 240-41
Ferguson Publishing Company. Career Discovery Encyclopedia. Volume . Illinois: Chicago, 2000. 7
Hopke, William E. The Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance. Volume .
Illinois: Chicago, 1990. 538-40
Kahn, Ada P. , M.P.H. The Encyclopedia of Human Health. Volume . New York:
M. Dufree, personal communication, October 1, 2000
"Psychiatry.": Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica 19 Sept.2000.
"Psychiatry.": Encarta Online. Encarta 19 Sept.2000
Hauser, Mark J. M.D., "The Road to Becoming a Psychiatrist"


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Previous studies have documented the protective effects of social participation on depression in older adults. In this study, we investigated the association between social participation and depressive symptoms and the associated gender difference in older adults. In addition, we explored the mediating role of emotional social support in the association between social participation and depressive symptoms. We collected data from 4751 community-dwelling adults aged 60 and above from the Korean Retirement and Income Study (KReIS) conducted in 2017 and 2018. The relationship between social participation (participation in different types of activities, frequency of participation, and the number of activities participated) and the risk for depressive symptoms was examined. Older adults who participated in social activity, volunteer work, and donation had decreased risk of depressive symptoms. More frequent and more diverse participation in activities further reduced the risk. Overall, women benefited more from social participation than men. Importantly, emotional social support significantly mediated the relationship between social participation and depressive symptoms. Social participation was associated lower odds for depression in older adults, particularly in older women. Our findings provided one of very few pieces of evidence that documents the mediating role of emotional social support in the relationship between social participation and depression among the elderly.
|Original language
|Pages (from-to)
|Number of pages
|Journal of Psychiatric Research
|Publication status
|Published - 2021 May
- Depression
- Emotional social support
- Late-life depression
- Social participation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Biological Psychiatry


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How well do you accept constructive criticism? If your goal in life is to improve in whatever way that is, or whatever field that is, you must be willing to accept constructive criticism.
If something is "constructive", it is productive, beneficial, or useful. Even the word "construct" implies building or creating. The word "criticism" itself is sometimes thought of with a negative connotation. But, if you replace the word criticism with evaluation or analysis, or even opinion, it takes on a whole new meaning. Thus, instead of constructive criticism, consider thinking of it as a helpful building process.
When someone is offering constructive criticism, what are they really saying? You are horrible and worthless? Of course not! They offer advice because they care for you and they sincerely want you to improve. As a musician, taking lessons puts you in a vulnerable position. As a teacher, I strive to help my students feel comfortable by creating a positive, friendly atmosphere. I strive to point out what they are doing well then offer suggestions of what to improve.
When someone offers their opinion, whether that's as a flutist or a coworker or a family member or friend, strive to take their input and recommendations and remember that the only reason they are sharing those ideas with you is because they want to help you develop and progress.
So, don't jump to conclusions. Don't beat yourself up. No one is attacking you. Don't throw in the towel and give up. Accept their advice. Try to implement it. Take counsel and allow yourself to benefit from it and discover how you can blossom and grow.


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This article explains our Ambassador Training Center and how to select modules for your ambassadors.
Our training center for ambassadors is now embedded in the Invite Ambassadors section of your Admin Dashboard.
What is the Ambassador Training Center?
There are five videos available:
What is TAP?
What is Chat?
What is Content?
What is FAQ?
How to create a great profile?
Selecting video combinations
Every combination includes the 'What is TAP?' video and 'How to create a great profile?', to provide ambassadors with an overview of TAP and why their work is important. You must select which video combinations are relevant for your ambassadors, for example, if the ambassadors are using Chat, Content and FAQ simply select 'All features'.
This Ambassador Training Center link is automatically included in the ambassador invite email template so that you can easily send this information to your ambassadors.
After watching each short video, ambassadors will be asked 3 multiple choice questions to answer, so that they have a really good understanding of TAP and how to use each feature. In total, this will take around 10 minutes.
Here's an example of one of the questions about Chat:
After watching the videos and completing the questions, ambassadors are invited to download the app and sign up using a code unique to your institution.
If you have any questions or need any help selecting which video combination your ambassadors need, please send us a message via the chat support in your Admin Dashboard, or email us at email@example.com 😊


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By Tom Blake
The underlying message in my previous article—opportunity often arises from adversity—struck a chord with several readers.
A San Clemente resident named Karen, who has had heavy adversity in her life, emailed a response that inspired me.
She wrote, "Your last article focusing on opportunity and adversity had an impact on me. I fit your over-50 profile."
Karen married her college sweetheart the summer after they graduated in 1976. They had two sons. She loved being a homemaker.
She said, "My husband Mike climbed the corporate ladder. Our lifestyle got bigger and better. Then Mike was diagnosed with cancer at age 39 and was given three to four years to live. That was unacceptable to us. We'd heard about bone marrow transplantation and decided to go for it. So we swapped the death sentence for a life sentence.
"Mike's goal was to help his young sons grow to manhood. He lived for 18 years after the transplant. He lost the career, so we swapped roles and I became the bread winner. Forget about feminism and the women's movement; it was time for me to change gears and pay some bills.
"At age 56, I was widowed. I had two amazing sons, a promising career, good health and a tremendous desire to live my life to its fullest. I took care of myself, attended support groups, and eventually found myself leading them.
"After a few years, I had revved up the career, joined Match.com, gained two beautiful daughters-in-law, changed careers, joined networking groups, sold the house and moved to the beach. I had two astounding grandbabies, traveled, dated some wonderful men, retired and got active in Toastmasters and Rotary. I worked my body and mind four to five times per week, gave motivational speeches, joined Meetup.com and cherished some unbelievable friends."
Karen said her friends often told her she should write a book. But she balked—she felt people wouldn't want to read about her sad story, even though she had overcome adversity.
"And then," Karen said, "my older son, Donovan, died of cancer last summer at age 37. Adversity? I got it. Sometimes, I think I'm way overqualified in the adversity department.
"Your article, 'In Life, Opportunity Often Arises from Adversity,' made me think maybe I should write a book—not only for myself, but for others. I believe I have the passion and the ability to write. I was sitting in sunlight when I started this message. Now I'm in the dark.
"I could use some advice. Have you ever thought about mentoring someone?"
I responded to Karen: "Yes, you are 'overqualified' in the adversity department. My heart goes out to you, and your courage with what you have been through.
"Sometimes we don't see the opportunity that arises until time has passed, and that is what is happening with you. It likely is time for you to write your book.
"You have walked the walk, losing both your husband and son. You are an expert on this topic. Writing can be cathartic and helpful to you and to others who have faced adversity or are doing so now. Plus, you are energetic and have a creative way with words.
"As far as mentoring you in writing, yes, I can help get you started in the right direction."
Karen said she will start writing; she already has a working title for a book. She explained how that came about: "Last summer I was sitting in the street at a small-town parade with my 2-year-old grandson sitting in my lap. He was so darned excited to see another vehicle with flashing lights. Out of his beautiful mouth: 'Nana, look at what's coming!' Yep, that's the title: Look at What's Coming."
We look forward to Karen sharing her book with the world.
Tom Blake is a Dana Point resident and a former Dana Point businessman who has authored several books on middle-aged dating. See his websites at www.findingloveafter60.com; www.Vicsta.com and www.Travelafter55.com. Email: email@example.com.


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DENYM in Grand Rapids says it is a "premium denim shopping experience" for men and women. Photo via fb.com
A denim store on the city's West Side is moving to another neighborhood in town.
DENYM, which sells men's and women's clothing and accessories, will re-open on May 5 in East Hills, at 910 Cherry St. SE, the former site of the Richard App Gallery.
The store will remain open at its current location, at 443 Bridge St. NW, until Saturday.
Owner Katie Harney said the new location will be about the same size as the space on Bridge Street.
She said the main attractions were a better mix of retail and restaurants in the area and more available parking.
"It's really just a move for the neighborhood, better parking and stuff like that," Harney said. "When we first opened here, we had great parking. That parking lot is being taken away for new development. Some of our customers have gotten frustrated."
DENYM will neighbor the women's clothing boutique Marie La Mode and sit across the street from the Grove and Brewery Vivant.
The company did a small build out of the new space with new paint and additional lighting.
"It was a historic building," Harney said. "We kept all the interior and exterior."
Harney also wanted to dispel rumors that DENYM will not longer be selling men's apparel.
"We'll have about the same inventory," she said. "We are still doing men's and women's. I think some guys were worried."


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Southwestern Montana Insurance Center Launches New Website
If you are a business owner, you need an insurance partner who can provide you with the best products and solutions that protect your business and cover your employees. That is what Southwestern Montana Insurance Center (SWMTIC) does for its clients. They have devoted over 35 years to superior service, insurance products, and benefits while acting as a bridge between employees and employee benefits. They offer cost-effective solutions and work to find the best insurance products for businesses.
SWMTIC's previous site had become outdated, and it was starting to show its age, so they contacted JTech Communications to develop a new website that would best serve their business. We began with our strategic planning process, meeting with SMWTIC's team to discuss their goals, branding, and digital needs. JTech's digital marketing team performed an analysis of their industry, competitors, and the search keywords that would most benefit the new site. We then created a detailed wireframe that presented the website structure, specific site pages, database tables, and functionality.
The new site has several enhancements such as improved menu navigation that highlights the most important services for their current and prospective clients. In addition, we brought their branding to the forefront and made sure it was consistent throughout the site, giving it a professional and polished feel. While the previous site had small text, the new site has larger fonts and eye-catching imagery, so everything is easier to read and more inviting. The homepage features a "Latest News" section that provides helpful industry information and tips, and it has a visual carousel that displays SWMTIC's premier insurance providers.
Other pages of the new site include Medical Insurance, P&C Insurance, Providers, News, About Us, and Contact Us. Each one presents detailed information that helps visitors learn more about SWMTIC, their offerings and exceptional customer service, and calls-to-action to schedule a consultation.
SWMTIC has a beautiful new and highly performant website that will serve them now and into the future. It allows them to grow as their business grows, and it will help educate people about their product offerings and their dedication to their clients. If you are ready for a new website or a refresh of your current site, contact us today for a free consultation.