text:
2005 - Two inpatient units re-opened following a $6.9-million upgrade, the first substantial modernization since the hospital opened in 1982. The provincial government-funded modernization improved patient rooms, amenities for families and the working environment for staff on the neurosciences, cardiology, general surgery and specialty medicine inpatient units, within the limitations of the physical site.
2005 - Phase One of the Djavad Mowafaghian Wing was completed, which significantly improved the area used by oncology outpatients. The 5,000-square-metre renovation project was made possible largely through the generosity of developer Djavad Mowafaghian, who donated $6 million to the BC Children's Hospital Foundation.
2005 - A new province-wide network was established—a first for B.C.—to provide assessment and diagnosis for children with complex developmental behavioural conditions, such as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). The $3.4 million provincial government-funded program leverages the specialized expertise of Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children, part of BC Children's.
2006 - Healthy Buddies, an initiative of BC Children's Hospital, expands into schools in various regions across the province. Healthy Buddies is a unique, child-centred health promotion program targeting attitudes and behaviours about body image, nutrition, and physical activity.
2006 - Centre for Healthy Weights: Shapedown BC, a new specialized centre at BC Children's Hospital opens to help reduce obesity in children and adolescents. Shapedown will help hundreds of kids and their families learn new habits early and enjoy the best quality of life for many years to come.
2007 - A new $19-million Mental Health Building opens at the BC Children's site to serve children and adolescents living with mental health challenges in British Columbia. They will have easy access to services such as emergency care, long-term psychiatric care, outreach, and an eating disorders program. The provincial government provided $13 million, and BC Children's Hospital Foundation donors provided $6 million.2007 - Overwaitea Food Group makes a $20-million pledge of support—the largest-ever donation to the BC Children's Hospital Foundation—for the Child Health BC network. Initiated at BC Children's Hospital, Child Health BC is a network of medical professionals and agencies, including BC Children's, regional health authorities, and the provincial ministries of Health and Children and Family Development. This network will work to provide easier access to care, reduce travel for families, and enable greater efficiency and collaboration among professionals and agencies involved in child health throughout the province. 2007 - Child Health BC is providing up to $1.5 million to fund a pediatric ambulatory care unit at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital to house diagnostic and treatment clinics for children and youth. 2007 - A 10-bed inpatient unit at BC Children's Hospital vacated by the mental health program was renovated to increase capacity for the pediatric cancer inpatient unit. With the additional space, children with cancer no longer need to be sent to other medical or surgical units in the hospital. Oncology patients now have their own rooms, which is beneficial as their hospital stay can last for many weeks or months at a time.
2008 - Child Health BC is providing $585,000 through the North Coast Health Improvement Society to fund a new audiology clinic at Prince Rupert Regional Hospital. Children living with hearing loss in Prince Rupert and coastal communities as well as the Queen Charlotte Islands will have better access to specialized services through the new facility.
2008 - BC Children's now operates two new state-of-the-art molecular-imaging gamma cameras that help decrease exam durations and provide higher-quality images. One camera is a hybrid SPECT/CT, a gamma camera combined with a six-slice CT scanner that provides overlaid images. These fused images provide physicians with a more accurate picture of what's going on inside patients, enabling more effective treatment. For many patients, it can mean one hospital visit instead of two. The Ministry of Health Services invested $2.8 million in the new diagnostic equipment as well as renovations in the Radiology department, including improved waiting areas for patients and better work space for staff.
2008 - Prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) British Columbia, a program of BC Children's Hospital, launches The Period of PURPLE Crying®—an education and prevention program that will enable new parents in B.C. to better understand inconsolable crying in infants and help lower the incidence of Shaken Baby Syndrome. New parents will receive a 10-minute DVD and 11-page booklet explaining normal crying patterns and providing strategies to help cope with periods of inconsolable crying. Prevent SBS BC received a $1.4 million commitment from the Ministry of Children and Family Development. The Ministry of Health Services and health authorities are distributing the program materials to parents through maternity and community health nurses and health care providers.
2008 - The Emergency Department at BC Children's Hospital implements an electronic clinical information system which supports better patient care through improved data collection, tracking and sharing of patient charts from triage to discharge within the Emergency Department. Funding of $2.5 million for the initial phase is provided through the provincial government's $100 Million Health Innovation Fund.
2008 - BC Children's completes a $4.4-million renovation project in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) to enhance family and staff areas and improve the unit's capacity to care for children who require strict isolation. Each year, more than 1,200 children and youth receive care in the PICU. As the only dedicated PICU in BC, it serves the entire province for the critical care of children and youth who have experienced trauma, or require advanced life support and the highest level of intensive care due to complex medical conditions or surgery.
2008 - The Medical Director of Child Protection Services at BC Children's Hospital receives a Lifetime Achievement Award of Excellence from British Columbia's Representative for Children and Youth in 2008. The award recognizes individuals and organizations who deliver services to benefit children and youth in innovative and effective ways and who show a commitment to professional excellence.
2008 - Child Health BC's telehealth services open in the North Okanagan Neurological Association's Child Development Centre in Vernon, giving families of children with complex developmental behavioral conditions better access to services. Telehealth videoconferencing technology helps to overcome barriers of geography, transportation infrastructure, or socio-economic disparity by enabling clinical consultation, continuing professional education, and health care management.
Updated: December 10, 2008
PHSA improves the health of British Columbians by seeking province-wide solutions to specialized health care needs in collaboration with BC health authorities and other partners. Learn more about our agencies and servicesCopyright © 2013 BC Children's Hospital. All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy


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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Traffic congestion control is provided for a network node multiport switch capable of switching data packets of different priorities from input lines, via receive adapters, to output lines via transmit adapters. A spacing function is performed to limit the rate of data transfers through the switch in the absence of high priority data at the input lines and in the absence of a backpressure signal indicating the switch is congested at its output. If high priority data is detected or a backpressure signal has been generated, the data transfer rate is increased to deal with possible congestion.
1. For use in a data communications network wherein data packets having assigned priority levels are transported between network nodes interconnected by transmission links and wherein one or more of the network nodes includes a multi-port switch for switching packets received on any of a plurality of input lines to any of a plurality of output lines, said switch comprising a plurality of receive adapters, each of which is connected to an input line and includes multiple input buffers for enqueueing received packets as a function of the priority levels of those packets, a plurality of transmit adapters, each of which is connected to an output line, a switch fabric for directing a packet provided from one of the multiple input buffers in one of the receive adapters to one of the transmit adapters, said switch fabric being capable of transferring packets from receive adapters to transmit adapters at a predetermined transfer rate, an improved method of providing congestion control in the switch comprising the steps of:
monitoring the input buffers in each receive adapter for the presence of received packets having a predetermined priority level;
enabling a spacing function in the absence of received packets having the predetermined assigned priority level, said spacing function causing received packets having other than the predetermined priority level to be transferred to the switch fabric at a transfer rate lower than the predetermined packet transfer rate of the switch; and
disabling the spacing function upon detection of the presence of packets having the predetermined priority level to increase the packet transfer rate to the predetermined packet transfer rate.
2. A method of providing congestion control as set forth in claim 1 wherein the predetermined priority level is assigned to real-time data, including voice and video data.
3. A method of providing congestion control as set forth in claim 2 wherein packets may be assigned one of at least three possible priority levels, two of which are lower than the predetermined priority level and wherein there are at least two packet transfer rates lower than the predetermined packet transfer rate.
4. A method of providing congestion control as set forth in claim 3 including the additional steps of:
defining a threshold level for each of the input buffers in the receive adapter;
monitor the input buffer contents to detect when the contents of an input buffer exceed the defined threshold level; and
enabling the transfer of packets at a rate lower than the predetermined packet transfer rate by allowing the spacing function to be enabled only while the buffer contents remain below the threshold level, otherwise disabling the spacing function to cause packets to be transferred at the predetermined packet transfer rate.
5. For use in a data communications network wherein multi-priority packets are transported between network nodes interconnected by transmission lines capable of transporting packets at predetermined line rates and wherein one of more of the network nodes includes a multiport switch for switching packets received on any of a plurality of input lines to any of a plurality of output lines at packet transfer rates up to a predetermined maximum packet transfer rate, an improved method for providing switch congestion control comprising the steps of:
causing the switch to transfer packets at a rate less than the maximum transfer rate only when no high priority packets are detected at the input to the multiport switch; and
increasing the packet transfer rate to the maximum packet transfer rate if one or more high priority packets are detected at the input to the multiport switch.
6. For use in a data communications network wherein high priority level packets and lower priority level packets are transported between network nodes over interconnecting transmission lines, an improved multiport switch located in at least one of the network nodes, said improved multiport switch comprising:
a plurality of receive adapters, each of which is connected to an input line and includes multiple input buffers for enqueueing received packets as a function of the priority levels of those packets;
a plurality of transmit adapters, each of which is connected to an output line;
a switch fabric for directing a packet provided from one of the multiple input buffers in one of the receive adapters to one of the transmit adapters, said switch fabric being capable of transferring packets from receive adapters to transmit adapters at a predetermined transfer rate; and
a manager module for causing enqueued packets to be transferred from the input buffers to the switch fabric at a rate not exceeding a first packet transfer rate provided no high priority packets are enqueued in the input buffers, said manager module causing enqueued packets to be transferred from the input buffers to the switch fabric at a second packet transfer rate higher than the first packet transfer rate if any high priority packets are detected in the input buffers.
7. An improved multiport switch as set forth in claim 6 wherein the lower priority level includes at least two different low priority levels and wherein the number of possible packet transfer rates which may be selected by the manager module equals the number of possible packet priority levels.
8. An improved multiport switch as set forth in claim 6 or claim 7 further including
buffer registers for storing threshold values representing upper limits on the amount of data to be enqueued in each of the multiple input buffers;
a threshold detector for producing a limit signal when the amount of data enqueued in one of more of said multiple input buffers has exceeded the applicable threshold value; and
means responsive to the limit signal to increase the rate at which packets are transferred from the receive adapter to the switching fabric.
This invention relates to a method and system for performing traffic congestion control in a data communication network and more particularly to an improvement in performing such congestion control at network node switch level in a packet switching environment.
Effective modern digital networks must be capable of operating in a multimedia environment in which they must transport different types of data, representing alphanumeric files as well as voice, image, video, etc., over the same network media. The operation of the networks should satisfy dissimilar requirements specific to each of these kinds of data.
Data can be divided into different types. One type is non-real-time data, i. e. alphanumeric data that can be delivered to an end-user without loss of quality even if delayed. Another type is real-time information (such as voice or video data) that must be transmitted to the end-user without excessive time delays. If the data cannot be transferred within the allowable delay period, it is discarded rather than allow it to distort reconstructed end user information, such as speech or video displays.
A specific type of non-real-time information is non-reserved information such as control information that arrives periodically in the network. This type of information has no significant time constraints on its delivery.
Different techniques have been developed for transporting data, such as packet switching techniques where digitized data is transported in individual fixed or variable length packets, and circuit switching techniques.
A basic advantage of packet switching compared to circuit switching is that packet switching permits multiplexing of data of different types or from different sources onto a link, which optimizes utilization of the link's capacity. A drawback of packet switching compared to circuit switching is that packet switching may result in delayed delivery of some packets in the data stream, adversely affecting the quality of reconstructed real-time information, such as voice or video information, at the destination. It is known to control a network in such a way that packet delay is regulated by considering the impact of every new connection that is to be established across a packet switched network. If a new connection would drive packet delay beyond acceptable limits, the request for establishment of that connection will probably be rejected. For convenience, such a known method is briefly described here.
FIG. 1 shows a sample packet switching network including seven switching nodes SW-- 1 to SW-- 7 interconnected by trunk lines (TL's), that can be accessed by access lines (AL's) connected to outside data terminal equipment (DTE's).
The network control architecture is a distributed one, which means that each switching node is controlled by a control point CP. All CP's are interconnected through the trunk lines via a control point spanning tree CPST which provides an efficient means for multicasting control messages between the control points. When a CP wants to broadcast a message to other CP's in the network, it sends this message to the predefined CPST switching address, and the architecture provides the means to route this message on every line of the CP spanning tree, and only on these lines. This architecture also provides the means to initialize the tree address on each switching node, and to automatically reconfigure the tree in case of line or switching node failure.
Each CP includes a copy of the topology database that contains information about the network. It includes the network physical configuration, the line characteristics and current status. For every line n in the network, the line delay T(n) and bandwidth R-- res(n) of this line are defined and recorded in the topology database. This information is distributed to other control points via topology update messages sent over the control point spanning tree whenever it presents significant changes.
For more information on such a Spanning Tree organization, one may refer to the Copending European Patent Application number 94480048.1 filed on 25 May 1994.
Also shown in FIG. 1 are user terminal equipment DTE-- A and DTE-- B which are connected to the network via access lines AL-- A and AL-- B, respectively. This equipment is to be interconnected through the network with a given quality of service (QoS) specified in terms of a maximum allowable delay T-- max and a packet loss probability P-- loss.
At the switching node SW-- 1, the control point CP-- 1 first uses the QoS and the traffic characteristics specified by the user (such as peak rate, mean rate, average packet length) to compute the amount of bandwidth C-- eq, called the equivalent capacity of the connection, to be reserved on every line on the route, in order to guarantee a packet loss probability P-- 1 (n) on this line which is much smaller than the loss-- probability P-- loss that has been specified for the connection.
Based on the information that is available on a line basis in the topology data base, the control point CP-- 1 then computes the best route through the network to the destination. The route selection process uses a modified Bellman-Ford algorithm to find the minimum weight, minimum hop count, route from the origin to the destination, using available lines and satisfying the QoS requirements.
Algorithms for determining the equivalent capacity parameters and the best route for a given message are known in the art. The algorithms are not essential to a description of the present invention and, therefore, will not be described further. For additional information on the algorithms, one may refer to the following publications:
R. Guerin, H. Ahmadi, M. Naghshineh, "Equivalent Capacity and its Application to Bandwidth Allocation in High Speed Networks", IEEE Journal of Selected Areas in Communications, JSAC-7, September 1991.
H. Ahmadi, J. S. Chen, R. Guerin, L. Gun, A. M. Lee and T. Tedijanto, "Dynamic Routing and Call Control in High-Speed Integrated Network", Proc. Workshop Sys. Eng. Traf. Eng., ITC'13 pp 397-403, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Assume a selected route is to include switching nodes SW-- 1, SW-- 2, and SW-- 3. The origin control point CP-- 1 sends a connection set-up message along the route, causing a copy to be delivered to the control point of every switch on the route. This message contains a list of the network addresses of the control points on the route, the list of the line names between these control points, the requested bandwidth C-- eq, the priority level of the connection, and a connection correlator C-- cor which is set by the origin control point CP-- 1, and which is used by all other CP's to uniquely identify the connection.
Upon reception of a copy of the setup message, each control point reserves the necessary bandwidth on the trunk, creates a new entry in the connection table of the adapter, which is used for label swap purposes, and sends an acknowledgement back to the origin control point CP-- 1. When CP-- 1 has received an acknowledgement from every CP on the route, it starts the transmission of data over the connection.
For a specified QoS to be met for a connection, the proper amount of bandwidth must be reserved on each line on the route and, additionally, packets with different priorities, must be properly scheduled at each switching point.
FIG. 2 represents a switching node constructed in accordance with known art. The switching node includes receive adapters (20) which provide interfaces to input lines 1 through N and transmit adapter (22) providing interfaces to output lines 1 through N. While shown as separate devices in the drawing, the receive and transmit adapters might be combined into a single adapter device or be implemented by means of a programmable processor. A switch fabric (24) (also herein referred to as "switch") controls connections between the receive adapters and the transmit adapters.
The switch fabric is schematically represented in FIG. 3. It includes an input router section (31) for scanning the receive adapters and directing input data to output address queues (32) through a shared memory (33). A control section (34) is also provided to control the operation of both the shared memory (33) and the output address queues (32).
As shown in FIG. 2, a routing device 26 directs an incoming packet into a switch input queue (SIQ) (25) located in the receive adapter (20). The switch is assumed to be an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switch, capable of switching ATM (fixed length) packets and variable length packets. A routing header for each incoming packet contains one bit which indicates whether a packet is an ATM packet or a variable length packet. A variable length packet is segmented by a receive switch interface RSI into fixed length ATM cells before those cells are processed by the switch fabric 24. The cells produced by segmentation of a variable length packet are switched by switch fabric 24 to the appropriate transmit adapter where they are reassembled into the original variable length packet form by the transmit switch interface XSI. Of course, ATM cells received at a receive adapter need not be segmented before switching or reassembled after switching; that is, ATM cells can be switched natively by the switch fabric 24.
It should be noted that the term "ATM packet" and "ATM cell" may refer to exactly the same data structure; namely a fixed length data unit having a multi-bit header structure of fixed length and a multi-bit data or payload structure which actually contains end user information.
At the transmit adapter, the packet may enter one of three possible queues, according to its priority. Three possible traffic priorities are defined, real-time (RT), non-real-time (NRT), and non-reserved (NR). Typically, the highest priority class (RT) is used to assigned to delay-sensitive data such as voice or video data, the second class (NRT) is assigned to delay-tolerant data such as interactive alphanumeric data, and the third class (NR) is assigned to delay-insensitive data such as network control information or low priority data operations such as bulk file transfers. The real-time RT priority level may itself include traffic of different sub-priority levels. Upon request from the transmit line, a scheduler (27) services the transmit adapter queues. More specifically, at every request from the transmit line for a new packet, the scheduler (27) first looks at the real-time queue and services a real-time packet stored in that queue. If the real-time queue is empty, then the scheduler (27) looks at the non-real-time queue and services a non-real-time packet in that queue. The non-reserved queue is serviced only when both real-time and non-real-time queues are empty.
The routing operation at each switching node is implemented as follows. Switching labels allocated by CP-- 2 and CP-- 3 (see FIG. 1) will be identified as labels L2 and L3, respectively.
At the receive adapter, a network header is appended to the data packets that are received from the user equipment DTE-- A. The network header contains the label L2, and a switch routing header that is used locally by switch SW-- 1 to route the packet to the desired transmit adapter for transmission over the line TL-- 1. At the next switch SW-- 2, the label L2 of each packet is used to access a look-up table which returns the label L3 and a switch routing header to be used by the switch fabric at SW-- 2. The new label L3 is swapped for the old label L2, and the packet is forwarded in accordance with the switch routing header to the appropriate transmit adapter for transmission on line TL-- 2.
The routing operations are repeated at each switching node until the packet reaches the destination transmit port adapter where the network header is discarded and the packet is sent to the user equipment DTE-- B.
If the switch were an ideal switch, that is, an infinitely fast switch, the above routing operation, combined with the reservation of the equivalent capacity on the transmit trunk, would always ensure that a specified quality of service parameter (QoS) would be satisfied on a connection. In practice, however, the speed of the switch is limited, which leads to a requirement for some queuing at the switch fabric level as described with reference to FIG. 3.
A switch can route, in parallel, as many cells as the number of receive and transmit adapters connected to the switch. In the switch fabric core, the shared memory is used to store cells, and an address queue per output adapter is required. At every switch cell cycle, the control section (34) looks for an available adapter in a free address table (not shown) and provides as many free addresses as there are available adapters connected.
When a cell from a receive adapter "i" enters the switch, it is stored at an address that corresponds to that adapter. Once its destination "j" is determined, a pointer to the cell's storage address is added to the output address queue "j".
From a performance point of view, two characteristics are very important at switch level. One characteristic is a speed-up factor, defined by the ratio between internal switch speed and the speed of the attached lines. The second characteristic is the size of the shared memory in the switch fabric. Different designs can be implemented in order to optimize the switch behavior; for example, running the switch at a high speed switch or including a large memory for the switch.
For a speed-up factor of two and assuming the same attachment speed on all adapters, with shared memory capable of handling only a single cell, a switch could receive and forward a cell from each input adapter in a single cycle. On the other hand, with an infinitely large shared memory, a cell from each adapter could also be received and forwarded every cycle. In these two cases, the switch would have an ideal behavior.
Ideal solutions such as those described above would be expensive to implement, if they can be implemented at all. A high speed switching medium means expensive high speed adapter interfaces. An extremely large shared memory is costly to provide.
Given the cost and impracticality of ideal solutions, less than ideal solutions involving limited speed-up factor and limited memory size must be found. If the size of the shared memory is limited, contention for the available memory spaces may arise. Even if the switch speed is higher than the line speeds, switch resource contention may occur if cells from different receive adapters have the same destination and must be queued in the same output address queue. The switch will not have enough time in one cycle to empty its output queue. After several cycles, the switches' queue/memory may become full. This case may occur frequently when large packets are processed as such packets are segmented into smaller fixed length cells, all of which are directed to the same output.
In practice, a backpressure signal (BP) can be generated and sent to input adapters when switch congestion is detected; that is, when the shared memory is full or the intended output queue is full. The existence of the backpressure signal indicates a cell has to be discarded at the switch and must be sent again.
The present invention relates to performing traffic congestion control in a data communication network made for transporting data packets of different priority levels through network nodes. Each of the nodes includes a switch fabric for switching the network data between receive adapters connected to network node input lines and transmit adapters connected to network node output lines. The switch fabric includes a switch congestion condition detector and a backpressure signal generator. The receive adapters include routing means for routing received data into different queues based on priority levels and for routing the queued data selectively at a predefined adapter speed through the switch. In providing congestion control, the queues are monitored to detect whether a predefined high priority queue is empty. If the high priority queue is empty, a spacing operation is set ON to set receiver adapter speed at a predefined low value. If the predefined high priority data queue is not empty, the spacing operation is overridden. The switch condition is monitored to detect the presence of a backpressure signal. If a backpressure signal is detected while the spacing operation is ON, the spacing operation is overridden.
While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming that which is regarded as the present invention, further details, characteristics and advantages of preferred embodiments of the invention may be more readily apparent from the following detailed description when read with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is schematic representation of a data communication network in which congestion control may be practiced in accordance with this invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of the architecture of a switching node of the network of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of the switch fabric of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a switching node modified to implement the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a general flowchart of a method for implementing this invention;
FIG. 6 is a more detailed representation of an algorithm for implementing the invention;
FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of a buffer management mechanism to be used in this invention;
FIG. 8 is a more detailed block diagram representation of the buffer management mechanism of FIG. 7; and
FIG. 9 is a detailed flowchart of an implementation of one embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a switching node modified to implement the present invention.
The input data in each receive adapter is first organized based on the previously mentioned priority criteria, differentiating between real-time (RT) data, and non-real-time data including, in the preferred embodiment as described herein, pure non-real-time data (NRT) and non-reserved traffic (NR). Each receive adapter includes an input routing system (41) with a switching mechanism for dispatching each received data packet into one of a set of buffers or storage queues, with each queue being dedicated to data having a specific priority level; that is, for handling RT, NRT and NR packets, respectively. A manager module (43) is also provided to control the traffic to be directed from the receive adapter queues (42) toward the switch fabric (24) via the receive switch interface (RSI). Routing and management operations are preferably controlled by dedicated software (e. g. picocode) stored in the system. In addition, the previously mentioned backpressure signal (BP), generated by the switch to signal a congestion condition, is also represented in this figure.
The use of separate queues for RT, NRT and NR data, respectively, avoids the situation of a higher priority packet/cell being embedded in a data stream following several lower priority packets, which can happen if only one input queue is provided. With separate queues for each priority level, a maximum of one lower priority packet may have to be transmitted before a received higher priority packet can be sent. The maximum queuing delay (and jitter) for a RT packet is given by: ##EQU1## for multiple queues, while it is given by: ##EQU2## for a single queue.
In practice, the use of three separate priority-based queues can reduce jitter and delay for a real time signal by a factor of 50.
However, while multiple queuing is one way to limit, within a given receive adapter, the impact of mixing low priority traffic and high priority traffic, it does not solve the switching problem caused where different receive adapters are processing data having different priority levels. In other words, NRT/NR traffic received through adapter "i" may interfere with RT traffic received through adapter "j" in case of switch congestion.
To ensure proper transfer of information and solve the above-described switch congestion problems, a system constructed in accordance with the present invention is provided with a spacing mechanism such that, under normal operating conditions and based on the reserved bandwidth parameters, the available switch transmission bandwidth is only partially utilized. In other word, the spacing mechanism can be used to reduce the rate of transfer of data to the switch fabric. This creates the possibility of subsequently, partially or totally, neutralizing the spacing mechanism to increase the switch input rate whenever required to deal with switch congestion problems.
For example, there will be times the switch will be in the process of transferring a low priority packet when a higher priority packet is received. In such a case, the spacing mechanism can be overridden so that the current low priority packet is transferred to the switch fabric as quickly as possible to make way for the higher priority packet.
Normally, when a packet is received from the line, it is stored in a buffer memory up to K kilobytes (K is a system parameter) and is sent to the switch at the adapter internal speed, which often corresponds to the switch speed.
A large packet, which must be segmented into several cells for handling within the switch, will always cause a number of successive cells to be forwarded to the same output line at a high rate since the switch speed is always higher than the line speed.
Thus, large low priority (NRT/NR) packets being transferred on low speed lines may induce switch congestion and negatively impact real-time (RT) traffic performance of the whole system.
To limit this effect, the spacing function is implemented as follows. The cells are sent to the switch every X cycles; the value of X mainly depends on receive line speed, and is chosen in such a way that it verifies the relation: ##EQU3## Spacing is implemented only for NRT and NR flows, in part, because spacing causes delays in switching. However, NRT/NR data is not delay sensitive. Also, the larger the packet, the more useful the function. Small packets (1 cell) can only be sent from the adapter at line speed. However, when a large packet is received, the train of cells is sent after reception of the whole packet at adapter speed.
The spacing function improves the switch behavior and fairness on an overall machine basis, but may decrease RT performance at a given adapter. To deal with that, the case of a RT cell arriving while a NRT/NR data is being spaced must be considered. If the switch interface is multi-user, the RT cell will be transferred directly through the switch before NRT/NR cells due to its higher level of priority. However, if the switch interface is single-user, the RT cell must wait until the end of an NRT/NR packet currently being switched. In this last case, spacing must be disabled to limit impact of NRT/NR traffic on RT traffic.
FIG. 5 is a flow-chart of operations which implement a basic form of the above-described mechanism for controlling switch congestion. Assume a switch fabric can accept cells either at 266 Mbps or (with the spacing function enabled) at 45 Mbps. A receive adapter manager module sets the spacing function ON, enabling adapter operation at 45 Mbps (see box 51). The receive adapter manager module and the its associated receive switch interface (RSI) continually monitor the input queues for that receive adapter. As long as the input data traffic is limited to NRT or NR data, the spacing operation remains ON. However, when input RT traffic is detected, the spacing function is disabled or turned OFF and the switch accepts input data at 266 Mbps.
A improved congestion control mechanism may also be implemented to take into consideration the amount of input traffic stored in various queues levels as compared to predefined threshold levels. This feature is described later with reference to FIGS. 7 through 9.
Although the basic spacing function already described improves steady-state switch behavior, a further improvement is possible where the switch is already operating under congestion conditions. To that end, timers are provided. If congestion (as defined earlier) occurs when a NRT/NR packet is being transmitted, a timer is set, and packet transmission is completely stopped on the given adapter(s) for a period defined by the timer. Each adapter switch interface manager sets such timers independently, upon reception of the backpressure signal from the switch. Then, NRT and NR traffic, which might otherwise increase the congestion period, is temporarily stopped at the receive adapter level, which allows the switch to return to a steady state behavior. There can be two timer values T1 and T2. Timer value T1 is used where an NRT packet is being transmitted when congestion is detected. Timer value T2 is used where an NR packet is being transmitted when congestion is detected. T2 is preferably larger than T1 to induce a "priority" between NRT and NR packets. Typically, T1 and T2 values should be between 1 and 10 switch cell cycles. If the timer values are too small, the switch will not have time to return to a steady state and the premature resumption of transmission of NRT/NR packets will again induce congestion. If the T1 and T2 values are too great, data may remain in input queues for excessive periods of time before being transferred to the switch fabric. The block diagram of FIG. 5 shows the operation of such timers.
The operation of the enable timer function 54 is triggered by a backpressure (BP) signal indicating the existence of congestion conditions. Whenever an active timer (T1 or T2) expires, cell transmission is normally resumed in the receive adapter. However, if input RT traffic is detected, the timers are disabled (block 55) under specific conditions already described and to be described further in connection with FIG. 6, and again cell transmission is enabled at full switch speed, That is, when RT input traffic is detected, the spacing function is disabled or overridden.
Details of the process for controlling the spacing mechanism are shown in FIG. 6. First, a test (step 61) is made to test whether spacing is ON. If spacing is disabled, a cell is transmitted normally; that is, at high switch speeds. On the contrary, if spacing is found to be ON, a test (62) is performed for the existence of a backpressure signal. If no backpressure signal is found, a spacing counter is set (step 63) to a value based on the selected spacing criteria. Then the counter is periodically decremented (step 64) and its content is tested to detect a zero count condition (step 65). As long as the count is different from zero, the counter is decremented (step 64) unless an override condition due to the presence of RT traffic is detected (step 66). If the spacing counter count is at zero, or if an override queue condition is set, a cell is transmitted.
If the result of the step 62 test is positive, indicating the presence of a backpressure signal, a double test is performed (step 67 and 68). The first test checks whether the type of input traffic to be halted is NR traffic. If it is, a timer 2 is set to a count T2 (step 69). The count in timer 2 is then decremented (step 70) and tested (71) in a loop operation which may continue until test (71) shows the count has been decremented to zero. When a zero count is detected, transmission of the interrupted NR cell is resumed. The loop operation including tests (70) and (71) can be overridden if input RT traffic is detected in a step (72). As noted earlier, the detection of RT traffic overrides the spacing mechanism.
If the result of test (67) is negative, a similar test (step 68) is performed for NRT traffic shut-off conditions. An NRT shut-off mechanism, similar to the above-described NR mechanism goes into operation with a counter set to T1 if the result of test 68 is positive; that is, NRT traffic is to be halted. The T1 counter can then decremented in a loop operation, which continues either until a zero count occurs (permitting resumption of NRT cell transmission) or until input RT traffic is detected (test 76), requiring an immediate override of the spacing function.
In all instances, when a real-time queue override condition occurs, the switch response, as already noted, depends on whether the switch interface is multi-user or single-user. A single-user switch interface prohibits interleaving of cells from different packets during their transmission through the switch when issued from the same adapter. For a multi-user switch interface, cells of different packets issued from a given adapter can be interleaved. In a multi-user environment, when different classes of traffic are supported, a packet with a lower priority can be preempted by a higher priority packet. In such a case, some cells from one packet are transmitted, then cells from another packet, and so on.
Accordingly, when a RT cell/packet arrives in an adapter during the transmission of a NRT/NR packet to the switch, the spacing mechanism is disabled. In the multi-user case, the RT cell is transferred directly to the switch fabric before any additional NRT/NR data. In the single-user case, the RT cell is not transferred until transmission of the current NRT/NR packet is completed.
The spacing function is required for large packets. For small ones, the spacing function may be ineffective and may even create congestion at the input queue level. For a line speed of `M` bps, carrying `b` bytes packets, the equivalent switch throughput (ST) necessary at switch level is
ST=((M*SCS)/b)*T(b'/SPL)T (4)
T�T is the smallest integer larger than x,
SCS is the size (in bytes) of the switch cell
SPL is the maximum number of bytes issued from the adapter, transmitted in a single switch cell (switch payload) or in other words, the useful portion of SCS.
OVH is an overhead representing the number of bytes added to the packet issued from the line in the input adapter (CRC, routing information, . . . )
For example, assuming a line operating at 52 Mbps, an overhead of 14 bytes, a switch payload of 48 bytes and a switch cell of 58 bytes, the equivalent switch throughput ranges from 430 Mbps to 63 Mbps for packet sizes ranging from 7 to 2048 bytes. It is clear that for a small packet size, the expression for x must be reduced to 1, while the formula given previously fits for large packets.
In order to avoid this problem, the previously mentioned threshold controlled mechanism can be implemented in the adapter: switch input queues sizes are monitored and as soon as the number of cells queued reaches a threshold Te1, spacing is disabled; when a threshold Te2 is reached, the spacing is enabled again. FIG. 7 represents this mechanism.
In a preferred embodiment of this invention, threshold controlled spacing mechanism has been improved by being implemented with more than two specified threshold levels, with a predefined spacing ratio being assigned to each threshold condition.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an implementation of the threshold controlled spacing mechanism using four threshold levels. This figure also provides a more detailed description of the receive adapter shown generally in FIG. 4.
The routing device (see 41 in FIG. 4) is represented as including a Line Interface Adapter (81) performing conventional packet reassembly operations, whereby DMA data and end of message (EOM) signals are prepared and forwarded to a Message Reception Control (MSGE Reception CTRL) device (82) wherein the message is controlled prior to being forwarded to a Message Routing device (83). If the message includes errors, it is discarded by the message routing device (83); that is, is not forwarded to the switch . The message may be addressed to the local node, in which case it should also not be forwarded to the switch. That may be the case for a network control message destined for the local node in the course of a connection set-up or in topology information broadcast.
Receive adapter queuing (see 42 in FIG. 4) has been implemented in the system of FIG. 8 to process non-real-time (NRT), non-reserved (NR) and real-time (RT) traffic, with real-time traffic classified as having either RT1 and RT2 priority, with the highest priority being assigned to RT1, next highest priority being assigned to RT2, then NRT and finally NR. A counter (NO-- RT Level) (84) connected to both NRT and NR queues is used to indicate the total number of message bytes in both NRT and NR queues. This counter is incremented at message reception (enqueue time) and decremented at message transmission (dequeue time).
While all enqueuing (ENQ) operations are controlled by the message routing device (83), dequeuings are represented as being performed separately in an RT Spacing CTRL device (80) for both RT1 and RT2 traffic and in a device NO-- RT Spacing CTRL (85) for NRT and NR traffic. One should, however, understand that these operations are all performed, as already mentioned, in the programmable processor designated as P3 processor. The NO-- RT Spacing CTRL device (85) is connected to an SP-- CTRL register (86) containing the values of spacing (coded 0 through 4) to be used for sending Non-real-time messages to the switch. In the preferred embodiment of this invention, "0" corresponds to full speed (i. e. 266 Mbps), and "1", "2", "3" and "4" correspond to 4/5, 3/5, 2/5 and 1/5 of full speed, respectively. As already mentioned, real-time traffic shall be transferred at "0" spacing (see 87). The spacing values "0" through "4", stored into (86) or (87) are to be set into a switch interface I/O register SP-- IOREG (88). Also, as already mentioned four threshold values (numbered TH1, TH2, TH3 and TH4) have been defined and stored into TH's Registers (89). In the preferred embodiment, these thresholds have been selected to be set at 10 Mbps, 15 Mbps, 20 Mbps and 25 Mbps for TH1, TH2, TH3 and TH4 respectively: But means are provided for enabling the network designer to configure these values at will.
The queued data is dequeued through a "transmit message" control device (XMIT MSGE CTRL) (90) in DMA form, and then forwarded to the switch via a register (DATA IOREG) (91) located in the receive switch interface adapter. The rate for transferring the data from the DATA-- IOREG to the switch is controlled by the SP-- IOREG content. In other words, enabling and disabling of spacing is controlled by register SP-- IOREG.
Represented in FIG. 9 is the spacing control flowchart as implemented to take into consideration the four threshold levels as defined above. Upon initial entry, the total number of bytes present in both NRT and NR queues is zero and a flag (Xmit-- active flag), indicating whether a message is being transmitted to the receive switch interface (RSI), is set OFF to indicate that no message is being transmitted (step 92). The message reception control is exercised to test whether a message is received from an input line. In case of negative answer, the NRT/NR spacing mechanism is set-up (step 93) to its desired value by testing the No-- RT-- Level with the following algorithm:
IF No-- RT-- Level>TH4→Sp-- CTRL=0 (Full speed)
ELSE IF No-- RT-- Level>TH3→Sp-- CTRL=1 (4/5 speed)
ELSE IF No-- RT-- Level>TH2→Sp-- CTRL=2 (3/5 speed)
ELSE IF No-- RT-- Level>TH1→Sp-- CTRL=3 (2/5 speed)
ELSE→Sp-- CTRL=4 (1/5 speed)
If a message is received from the line, a message routing process is started (94) by first checking whether it is a real-time message. If this is the case, the message is enqueued into RT1 or RT2 buffer according to the received data, and the switch interface I/O register (Sp-- IOREG) content is forced to "0" (step 95) and the process goes to the step wherein the flag, indicating whether a message is being transmitted to the switch interface, is tested. Otherwise, if the received message is not a real-time message, it is enqueued to NRT or NR queues and the counter No-- RT-- Level is incremented (step 96). The process then goes to step 93 and then to a test which checks whether the Xmit-- Active flag is ON. If the flag is ON, the process checks for end of transmission. If this is not the case, the process loops back to checking whether a message is received from the line. In case of end of transmission, the Xmit-- Active flag is set OFF (step 97). Once this flag is set OFF or should this setting OFF be indicated by the test performed on said flag, a test is performed on RT1/RT2 queue contents. If both are empty, then a test is performed on NRT/NR queues to see if these queues are empty. If they are, the process checks whether a message is received from the line. If either of the RT1 or RT2 queues is not empty, the queue contents are read out and the SP-- IOREG contents is set to "0" (step 98). Otherwise, if either NRT or NR queues is found to contain data, the next NRT/NR message would be extracted from the corresponding queue(s), the content of Sp-- CTRL register would be transferred into SP-- IOREG and the counter No-- RT-- Level content would be decremented by the considered message length (step 99). Both steps 98 and 99 connect to step 100 where a flag indicating whether a message is being transmitted to the switch interface is set ON and transmission to the switch starts.
While there have been described what are considered to be preferred embodiments of the invention, variations and modifications to the preferred embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art once they learn of the basic inventive concepts. Therefore it is intended that the appended claims shall be construed to include the preferred embodiments and all such variations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
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Explores the world of hypersyndication—showing how to distribute content across all media platforms quickly and more efficiently.
Step-by-step guide to optimizing GarageBand 3 for podcasting.
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AGRI 2012 - Organic & Sustainable Agr Tech, 2 Credits
Level: Lower
This course will introduce students to environmentally sound methods of agriculture. The goal is to help students understand methods and technologies for using water, soil, pasture and manure resources in ways that create a biologically healthy landscape for animals and for society. This course will introduce students to a more natural approach to animal agriculture as well as to explore the synergy of an integrated organic cropping and animal agricultural systems.


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LOS ANGELES — They loved it. Now they hate it.
A growing number of celebrities, athletes and self-promoters are burnt out and signing off of Twitter. Many have gotten overwhelmed.
Some people built big audiences on the short messaging service only to have their followers turn against them. Others complain that tweets that once drew lots of attention now get lost in the noise.
As Twitter Inc. prepares to go public this week, the company is selling potential investors on the idea that its user base of 232 million will continue to grow along with the 500 million tweets that are sent each day. The company's revenue depends on ads it inserts into the stream of messages.
But Wall Street could lose its big bet on social media if prolific tweeters lose their voice.
Evidence of Twitter burnout isn't hard to find. Just look at the celebrities who — at one time or another — have taken a break from the service. The long list includes everyone from Alec Baldwin to Miley Cyrus to "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof.
Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt lamented "all the negativity" she saw on the service when she quit, temporarily, in July. Actress Megan Fox left nearly a million followers dangling when she checked out in January, explaining that "Facebook is as much as I can handle." Pop star John Mayer deleted his account in 2011, saying Twitter absorbed so much of his thinking, he couldn't write a song.
"I was a tweetaholic," he told students during a talk at the Berklee College of Music.
If Twitter turns off celebrities who have a financial incentive to stay in close contact with fans, how can the company prevent average users from becoming disenchanted?
For some users, Twitter tiredness sets in slowly. At first, they enjoy seeing their tweets of 140 characters or less bounce around the Web with retweets and favorites. But new connections soon get overwhelming. Obligation sets in — not only to post more, but to reply to followers and read their tweets.
Many users conclude that Twitter is a time-sucking seduction and turn away. One who calls herself patrilla$$$thrilla excitedly tweeted "first tweet, wocka wocka" just after she joined in July.
On Wednesday, 161 tweets and 27 followers later, the romance was over. She quit to "fully enjoy the little details in life I miss because I'm too busy here," she tweeted.
The cacophony creeps into everyday life. Twitter fanatics tweet from the dinner table, during a movie, in the bathroom, in bed. Vacations can seem like time wasted not tweeting.
The over-doers suffer from a "fear of missing out" (or FOMO), says Tom Edwards, vice president at themarketingarm, a Dallas-based advertising agency. "Managing our virtual personas, including all of the etiquette that comes with, can be tiresome, especially for those with large followings."
It happens —even to people who ought to know better. Just ask Gary Schirr, an assistant professor who teaches a course on social media at Radford University.
In August, while vacationing on a beach, Schirr felt a pang of withdrawal because he had stopped tweeting to his 70,000-plus followers. Then he saw an old condemned house about to be washed away and posted a photo to Facebook and Twitter. He felt relieved when the likes and retweets rolled in.
"You feel forgotten if you're not out there," he says. "It's another sign of addiction. You feel bad if you don't tweet."
Prolific tweeters stay engaged partly because there are real benefits to a big following, which usually requires tweeting a lot.
Journalists who have large Twitter followings have used them to land better-paying jobs because every click on stories can make more money for their new employer. Actors can land roles on TV or the movies if their digital audience is expected to tag along.
Matt Lewis, a columnist with The Week magazine, says his Twitter following is like "portable equity" that gave him an edge over more established writers earlier in his career. He's now got nearly 33,000 followers.
Even so, one of Lewis' more popular stories is titled "Why I hate Twitter." It goes into why the social network became, for him, "a dark place" overrun by "angry cynics and partisan cranks." He became demoralized by the criticism, but he couldn't pull himself away.
"It's also like a prison. You can't check out," he says.
Today, Lewis rarely interacts with his followers and hopes the service will come up with new ways to filter out the hate tweets. "Why should I be harassed if I look at my (at) button?" he says.
But he remains amazed at how Twitter has helped him reach new readers, and after some 67,000 tweets, he isn't giving it up.
Others find that as more people join the service, the deluge of tweets can drown out individual voices.
So says Bob Lefsetz, a music industry analyst who writes an email column titled the Lefsetz Letter.
Twitter, he wrote in July, is "toast." ''Over. Done. History." His follower count isn't rising as quickly as before, although it's still a respectable 57,000-plus. And his tweets don't see as much action as in the past, which he attributes to too many people tweeting "too much irrelevant information."
"In the old days, I'd get 20 retweets. Now I'll get none," Lefsetz says. "It makes me not want to play."
Along with the potential for burnout, there's also the risk that Twitter becomes uncool to the younger generation, especially when services such as Pinterest and Instagram are a tap away.
Devon Powers, an assistant professor of communications at Drexel University, says many of her students have moved on to Snapchat. But there can still be pressure to keep up with the other services.
"There's all these new obligations to update and report and check in," she says. It can make dropping offline feel like a relief.
"If I get really busy, the first thing I stop doing is checking Twitter," she says. "I'm living my life. I'm not having a commentary about it."
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News, trends and ideas we're tracking today.
Posts filtered on Tag
Lohan attacked in NYC hotel room
A television station in New York is reporting today that a man has been charged with attack Lindsay Lohan in her hotel room in New York City. Lohan, the man and others had retired to a room at the W Hotel after a meeting at the 1 Oak bar in the Chelsea neighborhood. Channel 4 […] [Read More]
New Yorkers sue Patti LaBelle over fracas with tot
Singer Patti LaBelle was accused Monday of screaming obscenities at a toddler and throwing a punch at the child's mother outside a Manhattan apartment house, according to the New York Daily News. [Read More]
Parents of Adolf Hitler Campbell still fighting to keep him
The couple who known for naming one of their children Adolf Hitler and another JoyceLynn Aryan Nation claim a court vindicated them of all child abuse allegations last month, NBCPhiladelphia.com is reporting. [Read More]


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Water Resource Management : A Comparative Perspective (Hardcover) - Vajpeyi, Dhirendra K. (EDT)
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Product OverviewAccording to available estimates, only .3% of the total fresh water is usable for the worlds entire human and animal populations. Some experts have observed that in the near future, the earth will face severe scarcity of water, resulting in an insufficient amount of water to sustain our ever increasing future needs. Others believe that such pessimistic estimates are unwarranted. Due to conflicting opinions and data-interpretations, the future levels of scarcity are difficult to accurately forecast. One fact, however, is above controversy: water resources are not evenly distributed. The worlds 38 poorest countries are located near areas that lack ample water supplies. Even some areas, which seem to possess sufficient supplies, suffer zonal or regional shortages. In recent years there has been an increasing realization not only of the importance of water as a key factor for sustainable development, but also the impending strategies for water in the near future. The chapters in this collection examine this critical resource and the policies being pursued to meet the challenge of decreasing access to usable water by selected countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. A major study for students, researchers, and policymakers involved with environmental and development issues. *Author: Vajpeyi, Dhirendra *Binding Type: Hardcover *Number of Pages: 192 *Publication Date: 1998/02/28 *Language: English *Dimensions: 9.62 x 6.36 x 0.81 inches
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Bell Jar
written by Sylvia Plath
Vintage | ISBN 9780571245642
Paperback – 240 pages
Part of the Vintage Classics series.
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"The Bell Jar" is Sylvia Plath's only novel. Renowned for its intensity and outstandingly vivid prose, it broke existing boundaries between fiction and reality and helped to make Plath an enduring feminist icon. It was published under a pseudonym a few weeks before the author's suicide.


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August 4, 2015
The painting was commissioned by the Houston A&M University Mother's Club to be on permanent display in the new Aggie Mom's lounge of the recently renovated Memorial Student Center, located on the Texas A&M University campus. The unveiling of "Sheltering Oaks" is open to the public and will be held in the Memorial Student Center, Room L526 (adjacent to Board of Regents office) at 2:30 in the afternoon on Saturday January 19, 2013. Benjamin Knox and members of the Houston A&M University Mother's Club will be present for interview.
"Sheltering Oaks is a depiction of a beautiful spring day picnic, surrounded by the bluebonnets and wild paint brush flowers of the Brazos Valley. The Texas A&M University skyline is visible in the distance, framed by the graceful trunks of live oaks. The scene is symbolically inviting and sheltering for the viewer, and it enriches the senses with nature and peace."
-Benjamin Knox, 2012
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Top-seed Marymount California, South winner William Jessup, South runner-up Embry-Riddle, and La Sierra are the four semifinalists for the 2013 Cal Pac men's soccer championships which open Friday, Nov. 15, at Embry-Riddle's Varsity field in Prescott, Ariz.
MCU, ranked #25 nationally last week, captured the overall #1 seed by winning the South division with a 12-1 league mark and a stellar 14-3 overall record. The Mariners, as the tournament's #1 seed, will face #4 La Sierra (8-8, 8-5) at 1:30 p.m. in the tournament's second match.
William Jessup (8-4-1, 9-8-1) grabbed the #2 seed by winning a tie-breaker over Menlo for the North division top spot. The Warriors face off against tournament host and #3 seed Embry-Riddle (10-2-1, 12-4-1) at 6:30 p.m. in the first day's final contest.
The respective divisional winners each secured an automatic spot in the semifinals, with the final two positions determined by the NAIA's mRPI rating system. The complex formula considers the team's winning percentage, the winning percentage of all opponents, and includes such factors which reward results against nationally ranked teams and road wins, among others.
The Cal Pac men's and women's tournaments are held concurrently at Embry-Riddle.
The men's championship game is set for Saturday, Nov. 16, at 7:00 p.m. (following the 4:30 women's title game).
1:30 PM - #1 Marymount California vs. #4 La Sierra
6:00 PM - #2 William Jessup vs. #3 Embry-Riddle
7:00 PM - Semifinal winners


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Deferral And Minimization Of Estate Taxes - Introduction
In this section we will be discussing strategies for minimizing estate taxes. It's optional to circumvent an estate tax to the extent that if you and your spouse do proper estate planning prior to your death, the tax can and will be avoided completely. Improper or no planning will cause many estates to be taxed as high as 40%.
Exclusion of Property from the Gross Estate


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Add realism and character to your 3D models with materials in CINEMA 4D.
Introduces advanced features of the CINEMA 4D rendering and lighting toolsets.
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|Print Page
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|History ON
Liquor and Accommodation Act 1990 (No. 44 of 1990)
|Requested: 29 Jul 2015
|Consolidated as at: Sessional
50. Licensee to keep premises clean
A licensee shall keep clean
(a) the licensed premises; and
(b) any other premises which are provided for the use of patrons of the licensed premises.
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Tel: 0114 255 50 55
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
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At Capital Properties we believe that going that extra mile for both landlords and tenants is all part of the service. We offer an unrivalled management service, so Landlords can rest assured that when we say full management we really do mean full management.
Our experienced staff can offer you a free no obligation appraisal, advising you on achieving the maximum achievable rental yield, rental markets, legal advice, and necessary insurances.View our Properties
Search our listings for available and upcoming properties in Sheffield , join our tenant register by email and be kept updated with properties that match your search criteria.
Quick and easy application process – Capital Properties does not believe in charging our tenants extortionate fees, you pay an application fee of just £95 per person initially... and that's it.
Offering an unrivalled management service, Capital Properties offer a fully professional yet personal service that is solely based on taking the strain off the landlord.
Our experienced staff can offer you a free no obligation appraisal, advising you on achieving the maximum rental yield, rental markets, legal advice, and necessary insurances.
Be assured that your property will benefit from the full range of advertising available, including full exposure on RightMove, FindaProperty, a 'To Let' board, and colour brochure. We also have an extensive tenant register that is updated daily.
We can advise you on decoration and furnishing of your property, in fact we can even plan your complete refurbishment from start to finish. Using our own in house contractors we can do a complete refurb, or simply change a light bulb.
Here at Capital Properties we can offer landlords hassle free maintenance service from our in house maintenance company which trades under the name of JK Property Maintenance. This has been designed to save landlords the time in finding their own contractor and to save them paying high bills.
We can carry out all kinds of repairs and maintenance to residential properties, at very reasonable prices. We can assure that the work is carried out and completed to a high standard and always in time which will help run the tenancy smoothly.
We offer landlords this service so that they are not spending hours on getting quotes for buildings insurance for their properties. We have already done this for them and our associate company, Complete Lettings Solutions, who are specialist in landlord's insurance and are probably the cheapest in buildings and contents insurance. After taking out insurance we will keep in contact with them to as and when the insurance renewal is due and provide the landlord with a new premium. This service will save landlord's time and money.
We also carry out the safety certificates which are required by law before a tenant can move into a property:
Rightmove.co.uk is the UK's number one property website. You can find all our properties listed here.
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The Deposit Protection Service secures funds with Government approved banks, for safe and secure deposit protection.
FindaProperty.com is a leading property web-site with a comprehensive search facility for house-hunters to find a home.


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- 39
- people in the U.S. have this name View Kenneth Hundley on Whitepages
Meaning & Origins
Of Scottish origin: Anglicized form of two different Gaelic names, Cinaed and Cainnech. The former was the Gaelic name of Kenneth mac Alpin (d. 858), first king of the united Picts and Scots. The latter survives today in Scotland as the common Gaelic name Coinneach. Since early in the 20th century Kenneth has been in regular use and enjoyed great popularity as a given name well beyond the borders of Scotland.
|34th in the U.S.
English (Worcestershire): probably a variant of Hindley or Handley.
|3,822nd in the U.S.
Nicknames & variations
Ken, Kenny, Kenn, Kennie, Kenni
Hendley, Hundt, Hund, Hendel, Hindle, Hundertmark, Hundal, Hingle, Hengel, Hindley


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New Alkrington Doubles Leagues
20 September 2013
Have a look at more photos in the menu on the left-hand-side
'History & Club Photo Gallery -2013'
or click on the link above.
Tennis Club pay lasting tribute to long serving chairman
Over the Bank Holiday week-end, Alkrington Tennis club held its annual opening lunch, a traditional fixture in the club's social calendar to mark the start of the tennis season.
This year the club wanted to use the event to pay tribute to chairman Brian Sandford who sadly passed away earlier this year.
Brian also ran the bridge club at Alkrington, a game he played in the school staff room during his career as an English teacher. After retirement Brian set up weekly bridge afternoons and evenings at the club and they are extremely popular with members.
Above all though, Brian will be remembered for his tireless work for Alkrington Tennis club. He was a member for over 50 years and served 13 of those years as chairman.
The club committee decided to dedicate a memorial bench to Brian where the members could sit and watch a game he loved playing.
Acting chairman Arthur Armstrong, a doubles partner of Brian's, officially unveiled the memorial bench in the presence of Brian's wife Barbara, his children and grandchildren.
Paying his own tribute, Arthur said 'We have to now move on as a club. Brian left us a brilliant legacy; First class courts and a strong membership. Together with coach Karen Bevan the junior membership is increasing and the club has a great future'.
What's happening - New 2013 Social Calendar is out!
Why You Should Join Our Club
Alkrington Tennis Club was established in 1922 by the local people of Alkrington Garden Village. This is a very sociable and friendly club. We have several tennis teams, Ladies, Men's and Mixed entered into the local tennis leagues. Manchester & District Tennis League & The Dunlop Oldham & District Tennis League. We also enter teams into various Knock-out events, and in the past have been very successful.
A Family friendly club.
How to find us.
Alkrington Tennis & Social Club
The Pavilion, Uplands, Alkrington, Middleton M24 1FA firstname.lastname@example.com
The Clubhouse is available for outside bookings. There is a large room upstairs with full bar facilities.
Please contact:
Judith Anderson on
0161 643 2089


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I am a happy girl. Off to meet my adorable friend Marie-Fleur Charlesworth at a Russian Tea Room. Next diary.
*swoons* Miu Miu. *sighs*
It's so odd to see all these beautiful blossoms, we have fallen orange and yellow leaves everywhere.
do you:)!!! I am madly in love with London at the moment. x
My name is Alice Solantania Saga and I am a photographer & stylist working out of London.
I started this blog in June 2006 after having lived in New York where I graduated from college and then worked as a Fashion Associate at The New York Times Magazine for 6 years.
Some of my photography & styling can be seen on Art + Commerce & Italian Vogue's websites.
With my blog I hope to inspire my readers to see beauty & magic in every day life in a quirky kind of way.
Be Candy Cute Brilliant!
Contact: email@example.com


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Being an introverted melancholy, most of my thinking is done internally. Unfortunately, having so much information to process (I notice a lot of details and am very curious.) gives me a lot to think about. Writing is important to me because it helps me think. The more I write, the better I become socially since I've essentially thought through much of what's going on already anyway. The struggle then comes with the spontaneous that happens in life. I'm not so good at those situations. But, I do turn those into therapy sessions (see next heading), so all is not lost when I mess up socially, which unfortunately a lot.
Because of my personality and temperament, I don't just dislike social situations. I avoid them. (My husband is an extravert, so this is sometimes a bone of contention between us.) Writing allows me to analyze social situations after they happen in hopes of learning from them and being better the next time. I may be slowly improving socially (not certain of that), but I know for sure that I feel better about myself after my therapy sessions.
This therapy happens in two man ways. First, I write in a prayer journal daily. God gets to hear pretty much everything, and it's a great way to start the day. I get everything out and attempt to find a focus for the day. Second, I write about a lot of different topics. While many writers struggle with finding enough topics to write about, I struggle with having too many. Which one do I focus on next? Should this be a series? What if I forget about this one? Will anyone really care about what I have to say? I don't always have the answers to these questions, but my writing therapy at least helps me feel like I'm doing something about it. I get the ideas out of my head and into a visible form. (If you think of an extraverted sanguine and how much activity is visibly going on externally, you can get an idea of how much is going on internally for me.) There are just so many voices, thoughts, ideas, etc. going on in my head that I have to use writing as therapy, before I develop a permanent mental disorder. (I wish I were joking, but that's exactly what it feels like is happening at times.)
How would better writing skills change my business or my life?
My writing skills are pretty decent already. However, I feel like there are some illusive somethings out there keeping it from being great… impactful, in fact. I consider my writing decent because, in comparison to most people's, it really is quite good. My grammar is pretty good, and I can organize my thoughts well on paper. However, I hate that I consider my writing good simply because of the way it compares to that of others. Why can't it be good in and of itself? Why do I always have to compare myself in order to feel good about myself? (See, I told you I needed therapy.) Better writing skills would give me more confidence in my ideas, would help me to better develop my voice and would help me develop better focus as I find more techniques that help me make progress.
Also, I also feel like I constantly write as if I'm writing a paper for an English class. I was an English major in college, and I even taught developmental writing and Freshman English at our local community college. So, the "right" format is stuck in my brain, and I can't seem to break out of it. Sure, there are bursts where I streak out, but then I always get caught and put my "correctness" back on.
My goal is to do more ghostwriting as well as to have my blog be somewhat popular (always wanted to be popular), but I feel like I'm stuck in a writing rut. I feel like I need to take the foundation that I have and build on it somehow. But like the illusive somethings I mentioned above, that somehow is also evading my grasp.
NOTE: This blog post is outside of my usual blogging routine as explained in the About section. Why would an anal melancholy like me go outside her routine? The writing contest at www.damnfinewords.com has challenged me with the above questions, and I'm always up for a challenge. Reminds me of having a writing assignment back in my college days. Turns out I thrive under deadlines like these. Got any more?


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Hold down Control (PC) or Command (Mac) key + mouseclick to select more than one option
|Avg. Dinner Entrée
|Greater than $25
|$18.01 - $25
|$12.01 - $18
|$7.01 - $12
|Less than $7
Posted by Pam & John on 09/17/2014
Love this great little place. Started the first nite with drinks and wine. Then went back for dinner. Food was top notch, service was so great. Staff are so professional, yet so friendly. Nice way to spend an evening in New York. Weather a quick glass of wine and a cheese
Posted by Helen Rubinsky on 01/04/2013
Every year I take my sister out to eat for her birthday. This was the best place we ever went to because there was a great jazz band there and the leader, I think his name was Rick Bogart, actually went and sang Happy birthday to my sister. She was thrilled.
Posted by Jimmy Johnson on 01/04/2013
We came for a 3rd time to hear the Rick Bogart Trio, Have a pleasant evening in NYC. He even sang at our table this visit. A great find in NYC. Beware after the trio plays they turn up the jute box- so finish eating by 12 midnight. A Good Value- a Show and dinner in New York.
Posted by Wendy on 06/28/2012
Overpriced and waiter pushy with drinkds. Lamb cutlets were excellent. Everything else just fair. Small coke cost $5.
Posted by kiky on 01/23/2012
went here on Friday evening. the place was packed with people -good impression... so I went ahead and ordered chef's suggestions and wines thinking it would be the chef's proud selection of varied food -wrong! they were nine plates of salads and hummus this and that and one plate of chicken! not even one cheese I couldn't see (considering this is wine bar). I felt like ripped off. Poor poor experience.
Posted by brooklyn on 03/28/2011
food was poor and very expensive diet coke was $5 a glass and $5 dollars a refill An ice cream scoop of poorly cooked rice was $4 .We definitely do not reccomend this .Service was fairly indifferent except to be sure you refilled your drink. second wine poured into same glass. We spent over a hundred dollars. Sardis would have cost less!
Posted by Anon on 01/16/2011
With so many restaurants to choose from in the Times Square area - I was so disappointed when I went here. Had been to the East Side location which was warm and friendly - this place was empty and cold - which is shocking for being in the middle of Times Square on a Saturday night? Food is way overpriced - especially for the quality and quantity of what you receive - and service was uninspiring. Wines that cost $8 were being sold for $45 - and entrees seemed about 25-35% over-priced. Atmosphere was nice - but in NYC - you should be able to get that most places


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Originally published in Interiors & Sources
The Environmental Movement Meets the Carpet Industry
The carpet industry is, by now, well-known for talking about sustainability. We see it in ads and marketing literature, and hear it from sales representatives. It's an unending stream of, "We're the best in environmental stewardship." A question we often get is, "How do I know what is real and what is greenwash?" The single most helpful tool that would increase specifier understanding of what manufacturers are really saying is a universally recognized glossary of environmental and technical carpet terms. The Carpet & Rug Institute (CRI) actually went through the exercise of debating this and produced a glossary acceptable to most of the industry. But it has yet to find a suitable platform for universal adoption.So, without a common language, how do you "navigate green?" Plenty offer help, from manufacturers to third-party certifiers, but it is wise to keep in mind that, whether for-profit or not-for-profit, every organization views sustainability through its own unique set of filters—and so do you. Motive may be a good place to begin your evaluation of what is "green." In 1994, Ray Anderson of Interface, focused attention on environmental issues in the carpet industry. Since then many other companies, including Shaw, have made sustainability a high priority. Define and Prioritize ValuesIn order to make specification decisions you have to prioritize what is most important to you in evaluating products, and the same holds true in terms of assessing environmental impact. While certainly not mutually exclusive, several basic categories for product evaluation and comparison may help.Priority on Recycled contentThe LEED™ Green Building Rating System standards reward recycled content. Recycled content would seem to be straightforward, but it rarely is. LEED makes only one quality judgment in material recycled content by placing a higher value on post-consumer recycled content. It looks at individual products only long enough to establish their LEED value based on percent recycled content by total weight and material price. It sums the value of all the materials in the building and awards one or two points based on predetermined percentages of total material value achieved for the total of all materials. Evaluating Material Environmental ImpactIf a manufacturer puts 50 percent recycled content into a product collection, is it making a meaningful impact reduction? Maybe, but face fiber recycled content may not tell the entire story because recycled materials may be claimed in surprising ways. "Mass balance" allows a manufacturer to concentrate its recycled content into a particular yarn system or product collection. That doesn't mean every product it makes can have 50 percent recycled content. If you want to compare environmental impacts, ask for annual pounds recycled versus total pounds processed. This will give the most practical picture of material impact the recycling program is having.Material Recovery and RecyclingWas the material truly designed to be recycled for generations to come? The term we borrowed from the book Cradle-to-Cradle is "technical nutrient." The material stays in a nutrient loop forever, never to be landfilled or downcycled. Shaw designed thermoplastic polyolefin EcoWorx® backing from inception to be recycled in a cradle-to-cradle loop of rebirth. Other manufacturers have developed processes to recycle post- consumer PVC back into more PVC carpet backing. A material system design can also include issues like embodied energy, looking at both quality (renewable energy sources) and quantity (using less energy). Material Health and SafetyHas the material and manufacturing process been evaluated for impact on human and ecological health and safety? The acceptability of any material type varies with the level of public debate. For example, as a specifier you have the opportunity to select PVC alternative products today. Material assessment methods, such as the MBDC Protocol developed by Dr. Michael Braungart and William McDonough, provide assurance that product materials and processes have been analyzed and optimized for health and safety. The Carpet & Rug Institute's Green Label program is another way to be certain a carpet product has low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) associated with any newly manufactured material.Environmental Marketing Claims This looks at tangible commitments companies have made to reduce environmental impacts in material procurement, manufacturing, marketing and the distribution of their products. Start with a company's environmental policy statement. Does it have a formal environmental management system (i.e., ISO 14000 or its equivalent)? Are its environmental claims clear and credible? Third-party certification is not mandatory, but the truth is. Look for investment in sustainable infrastructure; you'll gain insight into a company's near- and long-term strategies.This is not an exhaustive listing of all the complex environmental issues facing fiber and carpet manufacturers, however it does establish a framework allowing you to ask questions and expect answers from those providing you with flooring solutions. There is, unfortunately, no magic bullet, no Web site that you can access to get complete, accurate and relevant information to compare all carpet options. Knowing what is important to you and what questions to ask your suppliers are the key to making specification and purchase decisions that best serve you, your clients and the environment.
Xcel Energy's Data Center Efficiency program can help data centers and large-scale IT operations improve reliability and energy efficiency.
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· a black colloidal substance consisting wholly or principally of amorphous carbon and used to make pigments and ink
Synonym(s): carbon_black, lampblack, soot, crock
Hypernym(s): carbon, C, atomic_number_6
2. smut - noun
· destructive diseases of plants (especially cereal grasses) caused by fungi that produce black powdery masses of spores
Hypernym(s): plant_disease
3. smut - noun
· any fungus of the order Ustilaginales
Synonym(s): smut_fungus
Hypernym(s): fungus
4. smut - noun
· an offensive or indecent word or phrase
Synonym(s): obscenity, vulgarism, filth, dirty_word
Hypernym(s): profanity
5. smut - noun
· creative activity (writing or pictures or films etc.) of no literary or artistic value other than to stimulate sexual desire
Synonym(s): pornography, porno, porn, erotica
Hypernym(s): creation, creative_activity
6. smut - verb
· make obscene; "This line in the play smuts the entire act"
Hypernym(s): change, alter, modify
7. smut - verb
· stain with a dirty substance, such as soot
Hypernym(s): stain
8. smut - verb
· become affected with smut; "the corn smutted and could not be eaten"
9. smut - verb
· affect with smut or mildew, as of a crop such as corn
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Postcards Home from ....
Postcards Home is a special section where MySanAntonio.com readers chronicle their journeys away from home.
Monthly Archive for July, 2011
D.C. Drama at Newseum!
So, are you a drama queen looking for some drama? As if Washington doesn't already have enough daily drama – there's the Newseum where you can get a fix of mega – drama. From the building's dramatic exterior with a 74 foot slab of Tennessee marble engraved with the First Amendment to the salvaged antennae from […] [Read More]
Venice, Venice and More Venice
It's a tourist mecca. Venice or Venezia as it's called in Italy. My visit there was in the cold of winter, and still, all the gondolas were full, and hotels were overpriced though much more affordable than during the tourist season. It was an amazing experience and a place I'd recommend most people visit. But […] [Read More]
Cincinnati – City of Immigrants
Cincinnati was, and is, a city of immigrants. [Read More]
Are you Lonely Tonight?
Trust me, once you check into Hotel Monaco Washington DC, you'll no longer be lonely. With Guppy Love – guests can request a loaner goldfish for their room. And that's just what Sasha, my 16 year old Chihuahua and I did – we borrowed "Bill Cosby" so Sasha would have company while I was at […] [Read More]
Ann Arbor = Food + Fun
This successful formula continues enticing folks to visit this small but cosmopolitan town. With 225 restaurants, believe me – you won't starve in Ann Arbor where it's all about fun and food. Located only about half an hour from the Detroit Airport, it's an easy 3 hour non-stop flight from San Antonio on Delta. Since […] [Read More]


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Tuesday, November 30, 2010
© Copyright 2015 Albany Herald
LEESBURG, Ga. -- Two weeks ago, Traci Henry still felt confident public support for her cause would not waver.
She was right.
Word came down Wednesday morning that Butterfly Kisses was successful in its pursuit of a $50,000 Pepsi Refresh Grant.
"I'm overwhelmed and shocked at the involvement of the community and every state," Henry, the leader of the movement, said shortly after getting the final word. "I haven't stopped crying."
Motivated by her son, who has cerebral palsy, Henry formed a playgroup for disabled children and their families -- which is currently 75 families strong. At the same time, she was also determined to have a playground built for those who would normally have difficulty using standard playground equipment -- which led to the campaign.
"The next step is to start planning," Henry said.
Land for the playground has been donated, along with labor and some materials. Contact has been made with two companies regarding equipment so far.
"All the money will be used to purchase the equipment," Henry said.
An architect has also offered to design it. It will sit on the same property as the new Leesburg Church of God -- a site that encompasses a total of more than 10 acres.
"The land has been cleared, and the playground will sit in front of the church," Henry said. "(The church officials) said I have total control, but the land will stay in their name."
There is a verification process Henry will have to undergo with Pepsi. Once she receives the money, she will have roughly 12 months to use it.
"It won't take long to get the money, but I still have to do paperwork," Henry said.
The grant campaign initially started in October, with the deadline to vote being Oct. 31. The effort immediately rolled over into November and ultimately concluded late Tuesday.
"There were a lot of voters that jumped on in the last week," Henry said. "It makes your heart warm to know there are people out there who care.
"(The playground) will not just be for Lee County residents. It's open to anyone who wants to use it."
It's not clear at this point when the playground will be up and running, but Henry said it likely won't be too long.
"I'm definitely not one to wait around, so as fast as I can get it done ..." she said.
Pepsi gives away $1.3 million each month to fund various projects. Butterfly Kisses needed a top 10 standing to win the $50,000. When voting ended, the group had the No. 8 spot.
More like this story
- Leesburg playgroup hopeful for Butterfly Kisses campaign ( November 19, 2010 )
- Butterfly Kisses voting ends tonight! ( November 30, 2010 )
- Music fest to aid park ( May 7, 2011 )
- Leesburg will pursue grant for drainage, sewer update ( October 5, 2010 )
- 140 volunteers turn out to build Lee playground ( April 30, 2011 )