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Sometimes, disappointment can lead to opportunity. With the possibility of the Federal Reserve tapering some of its QE program going forward if the US economy improves, markets have been hit the past few days. That means that some stocks out there have come down nicely. One example is Philip Morris (NYSE:PM), the global cigarette giant that I've covered extensively on this site. Philip Morris' shares are at their lowest point since the beginning of this year, and investors looking to enter the name or accumulate might want to do so. Today, I'll discuss why I added to my position on Thursday, and why shares remain attractive going forward.
How averaging down on pullbacks works in your favor:
I've always recommended that investors wait for Philip Morris to pullback before entering. Over the past 18 months, the stock has had a number of pullbacks of at least $4.00. More often than not, these have been the best time to pick up shares, and the pullbacks don't last long. The company, which plans to buy back $6 billion of stock this year, will also be looking to buy shares on the cheap. Philip Morris' 52-week high is $96.73, so basically waiting for a $4 pullback means entering under $92.50. I mentioned in my previous Philip Morris article that the next level of support was probably the $88 to $90 range, and we found that on Thursday before going lower.
So how can averaging in as we go lower help? Well, let's consider three scenarios. In each scenario, the investor is going to buy 100 total shares, and I am excluding commissions as you can trade free with some brokers. In the first scenario, the investor started getting in at $94.00 with a 10 share purchase. The investor then bought 20 shares at $92.00, 30 shares at $90.00, and 40 shares at $88.00. While the initial purchase was at $94, adding more shares at lower prices got the average cost down to $90.00 overall. As someone who owns Philip Morris and discusses it often, I'd be a lot happier with a cost basis of $90.00 than $94.00, and I don't know who wouldn't be. Also, at $94.00, you are getting shares with an annual dividend yield of 3.62%, thanks to $3.40 in annual payments. With your overall basis at $90, your average yield is 3.78%. That doesn't seem like a huge difference, but those 16 basis points add up over time, and it would also be nice to not make the entire purchase at $94.00.
Two other quick examples. An investor that bought 25 shares at $92.50, then another 25 at each interval $1.50 below that (last purchase at $88.00), would have an average cost of $90.25. That's not as good as the situation above, but better than the first two buy points of $92.50 and $91.00. The final example is an investor that bought 20 shares at $92.00 and 20 more at $90.50. This investor then increases their purchases to 30 shares each at $89.00 and $87.50. This would result in an average of $89.45, which is a lot better than $92 or $96.
Current expectations:
When comparing Philip Morris to others in the space, I look at three other names: Lorillard (NYSE:LO), Altria (NYSE:MO), and Reynolds American (NYSE:RAI). The following table is one I've used in several articles for this industry. It shows the currently expected growth in terms of both earnings per share and revenues. These are the analyst estimates for 2013 and 2014, as well as a two-year total. I've also provided each company's dividend yield as another way to compare these names. The yellow highlight indicates the leader in that specific category.
Strangely enough, Philip Morris is the only name that has seen its analyst estimates change since my last update. Philip Morris has the most analyst coverage of these four names, so the decline in estimates may have just been by one analyst. It's enough to move the needle though. Analysts have taken their 2013 revenue forecast down from $32.25 billion to $31.19 billion, and their 2014 forecast from $34.02 billion to $33.92 billion. Additionally, the analyst average for earnings per share has come down from $5.60 to $5.59 for 2013 and $6.26 to $6.23 for 2014. Most likely, analysts believe that Philip Morris will be hurt a bit by currency fluctuations. The current analyst average of $5.59 for earnings per share this year is actually a penny below the company's midpoint guidance of $5.55 to $5.65 at the Q1 report. While analysts have trimmed their forecasts slightly, you must realize that Philip Morris is still the leader in expected revenue and earnings growth for 2014. The company is also in 2nd place in all other categories, with Lorillard still leading the way. Philip Morris' growth profile is spectacular, and with the stock down $10 from its recent high, it makes the name look even more attractive.
However, analysts must also consider the company's buyback. With the stock now about $10 off its 52-week and all-time high, the buyback program will have a larger impact on earnings per share. Think about it this way. The company is buying back $1.5 billion per quarter this year (on average - $6 billion in total). At a $96.00 share average, the company can repurchase about 15.63 million shares per quarter. At $87.00 a share, it can get about 17.24 million shares. That's 1.6 million extra shares per quarter, or about 6.5 million extra shares per year at that rate. At some point, analysts might need to start raising their forecasts due to the buyback.
In terms of stock price movement since my last update, three of the four names are down, and that's not surprising given the recent fall in the stock market. Philip Morris has lost 4.71% since my last update, which has pushed its dividend yield up 18 basis points to 3.92%. Philip Morris is close to the 4.00% yield mark, which would be hit if the stock were to drop below $85.00. Lorillard is the only name up since my last update, and that 0.94% gain has pushed the dividend yield down 4 basis points to 5.14%. Altria has been the worst performing name, down 4.88% since my last update. Altria's yield has risen 25 basis points to 5.13% on the recent stock decline. Reynolds is down 3.80% since my previous post, pushing the dividend yield higher by 21 basis points to 5.45%. Reynolds has the highest dividend yield at this point thanks to its recent dividend raise. I mentioned that in my last article. However, Altria should be raising its dividend soon, which could give Altria the highest yield. Philip Morris is also expected to raise its dividend in the next couple of months.
Rising rates makes Philip Morris' growth attractive:
I mentioned in my previous article that rising interest rates have made some investors feel that dividend stocks are not as attractive. The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (NYSEARCA:XLP) is down more than $3.00 since its recent high, a drop of 7.18%. That's a bit more than the 5.72% drop in the S&P 500 SPDR (NYSEARCA:SPY), and a bit surprising given that the XLP contains a lot of dividend names that are considered safer and less volatile investments. You would think that the XLP would only be down like 4-5% in this case. Why do I make such a big deal about the XLP? Well, the four cigarette names I focus on make up a little more than 16% of this ETF, almost 1/6 of the total. Philip Morris makes up about 10% on its own. So if you buy the XLP, every dollar you put in gets you almost 10 cents of Philip Morris, and about 6.5 cents of the other three names (Altria being second most).
So what separates Philip Morris from the pack? Well, think of the logic. If you have a name like Altria that has a 5.13% annual yield, that income seems great when a 30-Year US Treasury is yielding 3.00%. But as you can see from the chart below, that yield has spiked to more than 3.50%. Altria's yield doesn't seem as strong then. Altria doesn't offer much growth, with just 2% revenue growth expected over the two-year period. Reynolds' expected revenue growth is even lower.
(Source: Yahoo! Finance)
That's where Philip Morris (and Lorillard to be fair) come in. Philip Morris is expected to show more than 8% revenue growth over two years. Additionally, Philip Morris and Lorillard are expected to show more earnings growth, although a lot of earnings growth in these names comes from buybacks. Also, the cigarette names I've mentioned all have yields over 3.9%, with three of the four over 5.0%. These yields are still higher than the 30-Year Treasury. These aren't names like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) that now have lower yields than the 30-Year. So the cigarette group is still favored in that respect.
That's why I think you can throw away the rising yield argument in a sense when it comes to Philip Morris. Ask yourself this question. Would you rather own a 30-Year US Treasury yielding 3.50% now or Philip Morris' stock yielding 3.92%? Considering that most expect rates to shoot higher at some point, your bond holding would get crushed. Philip Morris offers revenue and earnings growth, and the reduction in the share count from the buyback makes shares more valuable.
Current Valuations:
You could have the greatest company on earth, with great growth, dividends, buybacks, etc., but that doesn't mean it will be the best investment. Sometimes, it all comes down to valuations. If that "greatest company" is just too expensive, it might not be worth it. As those who follow me know, Philip Morris' valuation is one item I've tracked extensively in the past. The following table shows valuation metrics for each company in this article, as of my last update and now.
As you can most likely guess, Lorillard's valuation has risen since my last update. Lorillard's stock is up, while its analyst expectations have not changed. Altria and Reynolds have seen their valuation metrics come down, as those stocks have declined with no changes in analyst forecasts. Philip Morris' valuation has come down, thanks to a decline in the stock price, partially offset by the decline in expectations.
Anyone that has read my continuous coverage of Philip Morris knows that PM shares trade at a premium. Investors have been willing to pay for the solid amount of growth and the sizable buyback. I've continued to track that premium, on both a price to sales and price to earnings basis, with the results found below (compared to my last update).
The premium that Philip Morris trades at has come down significantly in recent months. When I covered this name back in late February, the price to sales premiums were about 38.6% (for 2013) and 34.6% (for 2014). The price to earnings premiums were 14.2% and 11.0%, respectively for those years. That means that the 2014 P/E premium has basically been halved. I can't remember seeing the Philip Morris premium this low in quite a while, if ever. That's surprising given how much more growth potential Philip Morris has over two of the three other names on this list. I wouldn't be surprised if this premium starts to rise, as investors realize what's going on with Philip Morris.
Analysts say buy Philip Morris:
I always like to look at what the professional wall street analysts think when it comes to the names in this space. The following table shows the average analyst rating, where a 1.0 is a strong buy and a 3.0 is a hold. The table also shows the average, or mean, price target currently, and the upside to that target from Thursday's close.
Since my previous update, Philip Morris has maintained the highest rating, which means the strongest buy. It is incredible to see Philip Morris have more than 14.4% upside to the average analyst target. The last time I saw that kind of upside was in December 2012, when the upside value was 16.36%. The stock closed that day at $82.95, and went on to rally nearly $14 over the next couple of months. Philip Morris investors made more than 16.6%, not even counting dividends, so Philip Morris basically traded to the target at that time. With almost 15% upside to the average target, it would not surprise me if a few analysts come out in the next couple of days with some positive notes. The valuation seems low at this point, which would be a great time for an analyst to reiterate a buy.
Philip Morris is technically oversold:
I don't use a lot of technical analysis in my work, but there are some times where you need to. Over the last couple of Philip Morris updates, I've shown how the company has traded in a range, and that Bollinger bands show decent buy and don't buy points. You can see in the 6-month chart below that we seem to be at one of those buy points yet again. Philip Morris' shares pull back when they hit the upper Bollinger band, and find support at the lower band. At this point, Philip Morris has broken through the lower band. I don't think this is the start of a trend. The last time that happened was in December 2012. I mentioned above how that was at roughly $83 a share, and the stock went higher from there. I believe that the stock is oversold at this point, and is ready for a quick bounce back of a few points. I'm not the only one that feels this way. Should the markets recover in the next week or two, it would not surprise me to see this name back at $90 in no time at all.
(Source: Yahoo! Finance)
Philip Morris and potential options:
Investors are always looking to increase their dividend yields (income) or find ways to get into a stock at a lower price. An interesting way to do that might just be selling some puts in Philip Morris, although I'd only suggest this for more experienced investors. With the recent fall in the stock, put premiums seem fairly juicy, which provides another potential opportunity for investors. The following chart shows the put options table for the $85.00 and $87.50 strikes, and I'll explain some possible ideas after the table.
(Source: Yahoo! Finance)
Philip Morris closed at $86.63 on Thursday, kind of in the middle between the two strike points. I was hoping for a close that was near the $87.50 mark to make this a little simpler, but the late day drop didn't help that wish. For each put contract you sell (equal to 100 shares), you receive a premium based on which month's expiration you are using. So let's say you buy 100 shares of actual Philip Morris stock, and sell one September 2013 $85.00 put option for $3.15 right now. If the stock doesn't fall below $85.00 before expiration, you pocket $315 per contract. That would essentially lower your cost basis on the 100 shares you own by $3.15 (minus commissions), getting you in around $83.50 or so. If the stock goes below $85.00 and the option is exercised, you are forced to buy 100 shares (per contract) at $85.00. However, you still get the $315, so your cost on the shares would actually be $81.85 (excluding commissions again). The math obviously varies on which strike and monthly expiration you choose. Think about it this way though. If you don't see Philip Morris below $85.00 by the September expiration, you could pocket $3.15 per share, minus commissions. Philip Morris' annual dividend right now is $3.40. You'd get almost a year's worth of dividends over the next three months.
Final Thoughts:
Shares of Philip Morris declined by more than 4% on Thursday, the largest fall since October 2012. The stock is at its lowest point since the beginning of 2013. While analysts have trimmed their expectations slightly, the valuation has come down nicely due to the stock's decline. That means that Philip Morris will be able to back more stock for the money, and the dividend yield is again approaching 4.00% ahead of a dividend raise in a few months. The premium that Philip Morris trades at compared to others in the space has almost evaporated in certain respects, despite the impressive growth profile of the company. Analysts see more than 14.4% upside in the name currently, and technical factors show that the stock is oversold at this point. I added to my position on Thursday, part of an averaging down strategy. Investors may also want to look at options, including some put-selling strategies that could lower your entry price or increase your yield on the stock. We haven't seen Philip Morris this low in a while, and I think that leads to a golden opportunity for investors.
Disclosure: I am long PM. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Additional disclosure: Investors are always reminded that before making any investment, you should do your own proper due diligence on any name directly or indirectly mentioned in this article. Investors should also consider seeking advice from a broker or financial adviser before making any investment decisions. Any material in this article should be considered general information, and not relied on as a formal investment recommendation.


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NBC (Sun., Mar. 8, 9 P.M. ET)
In this overbaked melodrama, a doctor in Atlanta (Jenny Robertson) is convinced that her mother's murderer (Ted Marcoux), paroled after 19 years in prison, is shadowing her.
In the flashbacks that lead up to the murder at a Georgia resort hotel, Joanna (Growing Pains) Kerns is tough and sexy as Robertson's mom. The scenes in which mother and teenage daughter battle each other for the attentions of Marcoux's scarred, laconic Vietnam vet are terribly stagey and seem to have been ripped from a bad Tennessee Williams play.
The problem is that as we get to know the characters and what happens to them, the suspense of the contemporary scenes is completely undercut. It's only March, but I'm willing to bet that this movie has the most implausible climax you'll see all year.
Picks and Pans Review: The Nightman
updated 03/09/1992 AT 01:00 AM EST
•originally published 03/09/1992 AT 01:00 AM EST

subset: commoncrawl


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The Bolt Round The Holt is a challenging off-road half marathon which takes runners through the Alice Holt trails in Surrey. Don't forget your trail shoes for this challenging and fun race. There are several other events held on the same day including junior races and a 5k and 10k.
A four lap course on hard packed forest track and muddy single tracks. The course undulates with several 'interesting' hills thrown in to test your fitness.


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Minimum purchase of $50 at restaurant. Not valid for alcohol.
Rated 4.5 out of 5 by 129reviewers.
Rated 4 out of 5 by Fay S Nice waitress. Good food Sep 16, 2016
Rated 4 out of 5 by Fran R My dinner was excellent but my husband said his was not warm. Jan 31, 2016
Rated 4 out of 5 by neil s Fine garmae type food Good service. Fair price. Jan 1, 2016
Rated 2 out of 5 by Saba S The main restaurant was closed even at 6:30p. Personally, I went there to enjoy a proper dining experience rather than a lounge experience. Dec 23, 2015
Rated 2 out of 5 by ron s It was nice Dec 4, 2015
Rated 4 out of 5 by Bear D Great ambienece and the server was cordial and positive. Nov 19, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by Joseph M Food is delicious...Servers are fantastic...right there when you need them. Oct 5, 2015
Rated 4 out of 5 by Ronald A menu was rather limited but the food we had (salmon and chicken) were really good. Aug 23, 2015
Rated 1 out of 5 by herb l The bottom of a glass of soda broke (fell out) Soda spilt all over my wife . Her skirt, blouse were saturated. Her watch all wet. The restaurant made no effort to do anything except change our table. A very poor experience Aug 20, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by Iyone M Both the service and the food were excellent. We enjoyed dining at en Fuego. Aug 18, 2015
- 2016-09-23
- bvseo-cps-pl-PRR
- bvseo_lps, prod_bvrr, vn_prr_5.6
- cp-1, bvpage1
- co_hasreviews, tv_129, tr_129
- loc_en_US, sid_35946, prod, sort_default
enFuego at the Doubletree Paradise Valley Resort - Scottsdale
5401 N. Scottsdale Rd.
Scottsdale, AZ 85250
Scottsdale, AZ 85250
Phone: (480) 947-5400
Cuisine: American
Price: $$$$
Do you like this restaurant?


text:
Contact Me
2. A Bachelor's degree in any field, plus one year of
experience as a legal assistant. Successful completion of at least 15
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substantive legal assistant programs will be considered equivalent to
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Hawaii Five-0 - E 'Imi pono (Sneak Peek 1)
Max Walker's lethal bowling
Former Australia paceman's best test scalps
Schurrle rocket secures draw against Real Madrid
In the 87th minute, Andre Schurrle unleashed this wicked strike to salvage Borussia Dortmund a 2-2 draw against Real Madrid.
Tiger Woods kicked off Ryder Cup photo
USA vice-captain asked to step aside.
Victory to square off against City in Melbourne derby
Victory will square off against Tim Cahill's City in what is set to be a mouth-watering Melbourne derby in the semi-finals of the FFA cup.
Swans sweat on fitness of McVeigh, Aliir, Mills
Injured Swans trio Jarrad McVeigh, Aliir Aliir and Callum Mills will train today in the hope of proving their fitness for the AFL Grand Final.
Gallen won't attend Dally M
The Dally M medallist will be crowned in Sydney tonight, but Sharks captain Paul Gallen won't be in attendance, with his attention firmly fixed on the NRL Grand Final.
Olympic progress to semi's after a late penalty
Melbourne Victory faced an aggressive match against Bentleigh Greens before 2 goals saw them take a convincing win. Canberra Olympic surprised everyone as they defeated Green Gully with only ten men …
Team List Tuesday - Grand Final edition
A special look at the teams for Sunday's Grand Final between the Melbourne Storm and Cronulla Sharks.
Dennis Commetti and Bazil Zempilas revisit the greatest ever AFL grand finals
Dennis Commetti is no stranger to the MCG on Grand Final day. He's called some o football's most memorable moments and as the curtain falls on his commentary career, he took Bazil Zempilas …
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|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Mar 8, 1994
|Filing date
|Oct 5, 1990
|Priority date
|Oct 5, 1990
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Joel M. Gould
|Original Assignee
|International Business Machines, Corporation
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (14), Referenced by (15), Classifications (10), Legal Events (6)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
This invention generally relates to improvements in a nodal communication system and more particularly to a technique that enhances management of a multidimensional computer network.
Since the advent of the electronic computer in reliable form, workers in the art have given much consideration to systems employing a number of computers functioning together in interrelated fashion to accomplish a given overall task. In some of these multiprocessor systems a large computer utilizes its superior speed and capacity to perform the complex portions of a program, but assigns smaller and slower satellite processors the less complicated and less urgent tasks in order to reduce the load and demands upon the large computer. The large computer is required to undertake the responsibilities of assigning subtasks, making sure that the smaller processors are kept occupied, ascertaining the availability and performance of the smaller processors, and providing a unified result.
Other multiprocessor systems utilize a different approach, employing a plurality of processors and a common bus system, with the processors having essential equality of function. In this type of system, separate control computers or control systems are often used to monitor the availability and capability of an individual processor for a given subtask, and to control the routing of tasks and information between processors. The processors may be arranged and operated so that they monitor the status and availability of the other processors and determine the routing of messages and programs. The common and substantial drawback of these systems is that the software and operating time required for overhead and maintenance functions interfere with the performance of the principal objectives. Problems of routing and monitoring may increase dramatically in relation to the number of processors involved, so that ultimately a disproportionate amount of effort is spent in overhead functions.
Since the days of the early "Binac" (two parallel processors) and comparable systems it has been recognized that a multiprocessor provides a redundant capability that can substantially improve the overall reliability of an operating system. Actual installations of multiprocessor systems have until recently been quite limited, largely due to the extensive software problems involved. Nevertheless, the advantages of multiprocessor operation for real time applications and other situations in which system down time cannot be tolerated have led to the development of systems which are successful in operation but which nevertheless involve significant commitments to overhead software and operating time.
Illustrative of multitasking systems are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,445,822, 3,566,363 and 3,593,300, all relating to a system in which multiple computers access a single shared main memory, and in which capabilities and requirements are compared in order to assign tasks optimally to individual processors.
Another example of the prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,233, in which a number of processors share a single bus and a control unit incorporating a buffer register is used in the transfer of data blocks between a transmitting miniprocessor and a receiving miniprocessor. This concept has been employed in a distributed mail sorting system in Europe.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,496 pertains to a multiprocessor system in which buses between processors are coupled to bus controllers which monitor transmissions and determine the priority of data transfers between processors, each of which can be coupled in to control a certain part of a number of peripheral devices.
The "Ethernet" system, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,220 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,024 discloses another approach to the problem of intercommunicating between different processors and peripherals. All units are coupled to a common multiple access network and compete for priority. Collision detection is based upon time priority, which in turn means that global capabilities cannot readily be controlled, coordinated or given specificity.
Details of these complex systems can only be fully appreciated by analysis of the patents and any related publications. However, review will verify that in each instance prioritizing of data transfer and the selection of processors requires extensive intercommunication and supervisory control if tasks are to be shared. Expansion of the systems to include additional processors does not present identical problems with these different systems, but in each instance substantially complicates system software, applications programming, hardware, or all three.
In most networks, each message is positively acknowledged when it reaches the destination node by sending an acknowledgement word back along the path used to transmit the message (this technique applies to both circuit switched and packet switched networks). Thus, a source node enqueues its message into the network and starts a countdown timer. If the positive acknowledgement is received before the timer expires, the message transmission is considered successful. If the timer expires before an acknowledgement is received, the message transmission is considered a failure and the message must be resent.
The problem with the above scheme is that the source node only knows if the message succeeds or fails, no maximum progress report is given. Message failure might have been caused by several reasons including network congestion, broken links, transmission errors, and node errors. Since the source node does not know the cause of the failure or the maximum message progress, its only option is to retry sending the message or abort the message.
An obvious improvement to the above scheme is to add negative acknowledgements that indicate why the message failed. Thus, some single-dimensional (one path) networks return specific status words when the message transfer has failed. However, this method does not scale to multidimensional networks where multiple paths can fail. In the above example, suppose Node 1's children, Nodes 2 and 4, both fail sending the message for different reasons. They both return this information to Node 1. Node 1 must then return both errors to Node 0, requiring Node 0 to process every error that occurs on every search path. While this protocol satisfies the expendability need, it requires too much overhead memory by not encapsulating status information into a single status word. Furthermore, too much network bandwidth is required to support this method.
A final refinement to the scheme would allow intermediate nodes to accumulate error reports and pass only the most severe error report to its parent. Although this scheme reduces the acknowledgement message traffic, it does not encapsulate the message progress through the network. Using this scheme, the source node is only informed of the most severe error occurring on any search branch without any information regarding message progress being reported.
Inherent constraints on multiprocessor system size and capability are imposed by the use of one or two logically passive busses. While different techniques can be employed to facilitate intercommunication, such as the grouping of subsystems into global resources evidenced in U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,143, the amount of useful traffic must reach a limit and variable delays impose insuperable problems when large numbers of processors are used. Situations may arise in which one or more processors become locked out or deadlocked, and these circumstances in turn require added circuitry and software to resolve the problems. The impracticality of substantially extending the number of processors, say to 1024, thus becomes evident.
It is desirable for many applications to depart from the constraints of these existing approaches and to utilize modern technology to best advantage. The lowest cost technology available today is based upon mass produced microprocessors, and high capacity rotating disk memories, such as Winchester technology devices using small head to disk spacing in a sealed environment.
It is desirable to expand a multiprocessor system without disproportionate or even concomitant software complexity. It is desirable further to be able to handle computer problems that may be characterized as having a distributed structure, in which an overall function can be dynamically subdivided into limited or iterative processing tasks.
Virtually all data base machines fall into this category, which also includes such other typical examples as sorting, pattern recognition and correlation, digital filtering, large matrix computations, simulation of physical systems and the like. In all of these situations there is a requirement for widely dispersed, relatively straight-forward individual processing tasks with a high instantaneous task load. This situation unduly burdens prior art multiprocessor systems because it tends to increase the time and software involved in overhead, and because practical difficulties arise in implementation of the systems. Using a shared passive bus, for example, propagation rates and data transfer times introduce an absolute barrier as to the rate at which transactions can be processed.
This invention is designed to address the problem of transmitting control information in a multidimensional computer network. A multidimensional computer network consists of a plurality of homogeneous or heterogeneous processing units, called nodes. All that is required of a node is that it be able to receive data blocks from other nodes and send data blocks to other nodes. A node, for example, could be a personal computer comprising a display, disk, communication adapter and keyboard.
Interconnecting the nodes are links which connect the nodes in a regular or irregular pattern as shown in FIG. 1. A nodal link could be as simple as an asynchronous communication cable connecting two personal computers. Alternatively, a local area network could provide multiple communication links for each node as shown in FIG. 1. To manage nodal information exchange in a multidimensional computer network, it is necessary for nodes to exchange control information with every transmission of information.
The subject invention is applicable to links of any length and speed and to communication networks of any size. The network may interconnect tightly coupled processors in a parallel computer or heterogeneous processors distributed over a wide geographic area. The invention applies to multidimensional, or parallel networks as well as single dimensional networks where only one path exists between any two nodes.
The invention improves upon the prior art by stealing bandwidth from the data transmission facilities on demand without requiring prior reservation of a fixed amount of bandwidth. The bandwidth is used to transmit control information in small data transmissions.
The invention facilitates the transmission of control information in addition to message information between nodes on a multi-node system. More specifically, the aforesaid will be accomplished without reserving bandwidth and without impacting other messages sent via the network.
A multi-nodal, computer system employs a set of high speed nodal links to network messages between a plurality of nodes. Each node and its associated nodal link has communication transmital means for routing control information between nodes without impacting message transmission on the network.
Each nodal link is a full duplex communication link. Thus, whenever a message is transmitted in one direction and no corresponding incoming message is present, the full bandwidth of the link can be employed to transmit control information in the opposite direction without impacting communication system performance. The invention exploits this capability to transmit control information associated with information exchanged between nodes.
On occasion, transmission of data messages in both directions may be active when the control information should be sent. When this is the case, the data message is temporarily stored in a buffer while the control information is transmitted. If too many messages are incoming to a particular node, and the buffering means are insufficient to store all messages, then a control block is transmitted back to the node sending the data messages to temporarily block message transmission to the node.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multiple node system in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the nodal linking architecture in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the inbound and outbound control logic in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the outbound control logic in accordance with the present invention; and
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the inbound control logic in accordance with the present invention.
The easiest way to design a network in which messages are mixed with control information is to reserve bandwidth for the transmission of control information. For example, if each link comprises eight wires for transmitting and receiving data in each direction, seven of those wires could be used to send massages and one of those wires could be reserved for control information. In such a scheme, there would always be one wire available for sending control information even if a message was being sent over than link.
The problem with this scheme is that in the absence of control information, only seven eighths of the bandwidth of the link would be available for sending messages. The eighth wire, which is reserved for control information, would remain idle and its bandwidth would be wasted when control information was not transferred.
Using time-multiplexing has the same problem. For example, a communication system employing every tenth byte sent over each link for control information is feasible. However, in such a system, only nine tenths of the available bandwidth would be utilized in the absence of control information. Likewise, if certain bytes of every message were reserved to facilitate transmission of control information, that bandwidth would be wasted in the absence of control information at the time that those bytes were sent.
If bandwidth cannot be reserved for control information, then the network must be designed to allow control information to temporarily interrupt the transfer of a message across that same link. One common way to implement this type of network is to split every message into fixed size blocks, called packets, which are sent in order through the network. When control information needs to be inserted, the link can complete the current packet, buffer the next packet to be sent and send out control information instead of the packet.
In its simplest implementation, the packet which is replaced by backwards control information can be buffered until the end of the message. However, this implementation requires that every intermediate node have at least enough memory for one packet. It also implies that the message may arrive out of order at the destination node which is a severe limitation.
To avoid sending data out of order, the displaced packet can be buffered and backwards control information can be sent to the source of the message to delay any more packets until the displaced packet(s) held in storage can be sent. However, this requires each intermediate node to have enough memory to hold every packet of the message starting with the first displaced packet until the source node stops sending data. It also requires additional special control information to be sent (to slow or stop the message) every time any normal control information is sent, creating an avalanche effect.
One solution to this problem is to send the displaced packet out the link as soon as the control information has been sent without waiting for a break in the message. As the displaced packet is sent, the packet which follows it would have to be buffered and as that packet is sent the one following it would have to be buffered and so on until the message ends.
For this method to function effectively, two buffers would be required. One buffer would store the displaced packet while the control information was being sent. Then as the contents of the first buffer is being sent, a second buffer would be necessary to hold the next packet. Once the first packet is sent and the transmission of the next packet is started, the first buffer is freed for use in buffering the third packet after the delay.
If more control information needed to be sent before the end of the message, one more buffer would be required to effectively delay the remainder of the message by two packets. As long as there was a limit on the number of times control information could interrupt the message, one could supply enough buffers to guarantee that the system would always be able to delay any message enough to send all required control information.
The problem is that the amount of control information over a link is unrelated to the message traveling in the same direction over that same link. Therefore, predefining the memory requirements for a particular job is not possible and this method is not commercially practical.
The subject invention is designed to enhance the function of multi-hop communication networks used to transfer data between processing points in a distributed data processing system. Consider the simple distributed data processing system and communication network shown in FIG. 1.
A distributed data processing system consists of a number of homogenous or heterogeneous data processing sites, called nodes. For example, in FIG. 1 boxes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 represent nodes. Each node can be as simple as a small storage device (disk or memory) or as complex as a complete multiprocessing computer system (personal computer). It is, however, assumed that each node is able to both receive data blocks from other nodes and send data blocks to other nodes.
A distributed data processing system also consists of a communication network used to send blocks of data between nodes. One common type of communication network consists of a number of point to point transmission systems, called links, which interconnect the nodes in a regular or irregular pattern. For example, in FIG. 1 lines 12, 14, 23, 25, 35, 45, 56 and 67 represent links.
This invention is applicable to links of any length, including links which connect two nodes in the same cabinet and links which connect two nodes in different cities. The type of transmission facility used is also not important as long as each link supports full-duplex transmission (data transfer in both directions at the same time).
For simplicity, assume that data sent between two nodes connected with a link is sent using that link. For example, in FIG. 1 data sent from node 1 to node 2 would be sent across link 12. When data is sent between two nodes which are not directly connected, multiple links will be used. For example, data sent from node 1 to node 6 might use links 12, 25 and 56. This invention is applicable regardless of the mechanism used to find a path through the network and the mechanism used to handle the data within source, destination or intermediate nodes (nodes 2 and 5 in the previous example) used during the transmission of a data block.
This invention can be used regardless of the or format of data sent across the links. In ar, there is no requirement that the data be split into separately routed packets (fixed size blocks of data) or that there be any restrictions on the size of data blocks sent. The term message will be used to refer to a data block being transferred between nodes.
Referring to FIG. 1, consider the transmission of a message from node 1 to node 6. While the data is being sent from one node to another it may be necessary for the receiving node to send information back to the sending node in order to complete or control the data transmission. The following list gives some examples of the type of control information which may be sent.
1. When the message reaches the destination node (node 6 in the example), information may be sent back to the source node (node 1) to ask for a re-transmission of the message if it was not received correctly.
2. If a link being used during the message transfer fails, then control information may be sent back to abort the message transfer without waiting for the end of the message.
3. If the destination node or any of the intermediate nodes (nodes 2 and 5) are buffering the data as it is sent and those buffers fill up, information may be sent back to the sending node to temporarily pause the data transmission until the buffer overflow condition ends. At that point, another piece of control information may be sent backwards to restart the message.
4. If the choice of links which the message uses is determined dynamically at the beginning of the message transfer then control information may be sent back by links under consideration to indicate whether or not a given link is available to be used to transfer the message.
If a given link (for example, link 12) is actively sending a message in only one direction (node 1 to node 2), then given that links are required to be full duplex, control information can be sent backwards by using the idle transmission capability normally reserved for sending messages in the opposite direction (node to node 1).
This simple technique does not work, however, if a link is busy sending messages in both directions. In our previous example, if one message is being sent from node 1 to node 2 and another message is being sent, at the same time, from node 2 to node 1 then there is no obvious way to send control information related to either message backwards across link 12.
This invention is designed to solve the problem of how to send control information backwards across one or more links in a communication network when those links may already be busy sending unrelated messages. Based on the characteristics of the system in which this invention will be used, this invention has to solve the previous stated problem while meeting the following requirements.
1. The need to send control information in the system should not place any restrictions on the length of messages which can be sent in the network. Thus a message can vary in length.
2. Control information should be sent as soon as possible after it is generated. In particular, the sending of the control information can not be delayed until the end of any other message which may be blocking the transmission of the control information. This is because messages can be any length (see requirement 1) making the wait for an end of message undefined and potentially very long.
3. When a message is sent over multiple hops, there should no requirement for any significant amount of memory (more than a few bytes) in any of the intermediate nodes. This is especially important since messages can be any length making the amount of memory needed to store the longest messages at an intermediate node very large. This requirement implies that the network does not use store-and-forward techniques where each intermediate node stores each message in local memory before forwarding it on to the next link towards the destination node.
4. If control information has to be sent over a link, no other links actively sending that message or the source node generating that message should have to be explicitly told to slow down in order to provide room for the control information.
This is because the control information which would have to be sent to slow down a message would itself require another message to slow down as it is sent backwards over a link. This could cause an avalanche effect eventually flooding the network with requests to slow down.
5. If control information is sent over a link which is busy sending a message, then the control information will steal bandwidth from the message. However, in the absence of control information, that message should use the full bandwidth of the link. Specifically, none of the available bandwidth of a link can be reserved for control information which may not be sent.
6. Although it can be assumed that there is a limit to the amount of control information sent backwards for any given message, because of requirement 1, there is no relationship between any given message being sent over a link and the control information sharing that link.
In other words, a given link may have one long message flowing from left to right and lots of short messages flowing from right to left. Because the control information associated with a short message flows backwards control information might have to be sent left to right over the link before the message which is flowing left to right ends.
7. If control information is sent over a link which is busy sending a message, then the message transfer may be interrupted locally but the data in that message must remain in order with no data lost and the message can not be prematurely terminated.
For simplicity, it will be assumed that every link in the network has the same bandwidth and the full bandwidth of every link is used when sending messages. This means that if a message is sent between two nodes which are not directly connected (for example, node 1 to node 6), the message will use the entire bandwidth of every intermediate link in the path (links 12, 25 and 56 in our example).
If this assumption were relaxed such that any of the intermediate links, except for the first link, had more bandwidth than the first link, then when a message was sent over that path, it would only use a subset of the bandwidth available over each of the faster intermediate links. The extra bandwidth in those intermediate links could then be used to send control information which would reduce the applicability of this invention to those slower links in the network which were completely used.
The situation gets a little more confusing if the first link has more bandwidth than any other link in a multi-link path. In that case, a message can either be sent out using only part of the bandwidth of the first link to avoid overloading the other links. Or, the full bandwidth of the first link could be used which would cause one of the intermediate nodes to receive more data than it could send. In the second case, the intermediate node would be required to buffer the extra data to prevent it from being lost. This, in turn, requires that intermediate node to have significant amounts of buffer memory in violation of requirement 3 (above).
Thus, as this invention applies to every link in the system which is running at its full bandwidth, it will be assumed that every link is running at the same speed equal to the full bandwidth of any link to simplify the description of this invention. In networks where link speed varies, this invention is also applicable, although only to those links which are used at full bandwidth.
This invention improves upon the prior art by providing a simple, yet effective, means for delaying a message so control information can be inserted as well as providing a mechanism which guarantees that a small amount of buffer memory is sufficient using a technique where idle links are BLOCKED as if they were busy to limit the amount of control information which could delay any given message.
Consider a single full-duplex link 12 between two nodes 1 and 2 in a communication network as shown in FIG. 2. Messages sent forward from node 1 to node 2 will be generated within node 1 and given to logic block 90 to be sent over the link 12. Likewise, messages sent from node 2 to node 1 will, inside node 1, be extracted from link 12 by logic block 91 and given to node 1 for processing or forwarding through other links. Control information associated with any message flowing from node 1 to node 2 will be sent backwards from node 2 to node 1 by having the control information inserted into any message stream flowing from node 2 to node 1 by node 2's outbound link logic 93. The control information is then separated from that message stream by node 1's inbound link logic 91.
The logic within a node which sends, receives and routes messages between links as well as the logic which processes control information is beyond the scope of this invention. What is described by this invention is the processing of message and control information between the routing logic within the node and the link level drivers and receivers. This logic, which is shown as blocks 90 and 91 in FIG. 2 is detailed in FIG. 3.
Forward flowing messages are logically divided into packets, each of which is the same size as the smallest piece of control information. Thus, packets are typically between one to four bytes. The stream of packets from the node are put into a first-in-first-out buffer or FIFO 100. The output of the FIFO is fed into multiplexor 101 where either the message data, backwards control information, or special MSG-BLOCK or BLANK characters can be selected. The output of the multiplexor is then fed into the link driver 102 as depicted in FIG. 4.
In the absence of any backwards control information, message data is sent through the FIFO without buffering, fed through the multiplexor and sent over the link with a minimum of delay. The bandwidth of the link should be designed to match the speed of message data coming from the node.
When backwards control information is presented to be sent over the link, the outbound control logic 103, fully detailed in the flowchart depicted in FIG. 4, is designed to switch the multiplexor 101 to allow the control information access to the link. During that time, the message is delayed by allowing one or more packets to back up in the FIFO. After the control information is sent, the multiplexor is restored and the message continues where it left off.
If there is neither message data or backward control characters to be sent over the link, then the outbound control logic will switch the multiplex to its own output and sends a special BLANK control packet over the link to indicate that there is a gap in the message.
Every driver is connected to a receiver in another node. The receiver in this node which connects to the driver at the other end of the link is shown in FIG. 3 as 104. Data from the receiver is fed into a de-multiplexor 105 where message data is separated from control information.
The inbound control logic 106, fully detailed in the flowchart depicted in FIG. 5, is designed to remove both BLANK and MSG-BLOCK packets from the inbound data stream. These two characters look like a backwards control character, except that they are generated by the outbound control logic rather than the node. All data and control character except for BLANK and MSG-BLOCK are sent to the node for further processing.
The method used to distinguish message data from control information depends on the type of link used and is beyond the scope of this invention. In some systems, an escape character is used to mark the beginning of control information. In other systems, the set of unique packets (characters) which can be sent over the link is larger than the set needed for message data. The packet types unused for message data can be used for control information.
The width of the FIFO is usually set to the packet size. When a message is delayed in order to insert control information, it is the FIFO which acts like memory to hold the packets. Thus, the depth of the FIFO determines how much control information can be sent without dropping packets.
The FIFO should be designed with a relatively short fall through time relative to a packet transmission time. The fall through time is defined as the time from when data enters the FIFO until it can be read from the FIFO. As long as the fall through time is relatively short, it can be assumed that when data is not available from the FIFO that the FIFO is mostly empty.
In order to prevent the FIFO from overflowing, the outbound control logic, 103 in FIG. 3, monitors the amount of room remaining in the FIFO as fully detailed in the flowchart depicted in FIG. 4. When the FIFO is almost full defined later) then the outbound control logic 103 will interrupt the message to send its own piece of control information, called a MSG-BLOCK.
The MSG-BLOCK will be sent over the link to the receiver at the other end of the node. This piece of control information will then be stripped from data stream by the inbound control logic 106 in the other node, as fully detailed in the flowchart depicted in FIG. 5. When a MSG-BLOCK is received, the inbound control logic in the receiving node sets a control line called BLOCKED which is monitored by the node. This BLOCKED signal does not effect any message currently being sent through the node; however, after the current message finished, no new messages can be accepted by that link until the BLOCKED signal is cleared.
After a MSG-BLOCK is detected by the inbound control logic 106, that control logic will start to look for a BLANK control packet as shown in function block 235 of FIG. 5. When a BLANK is detected, the inbound control logic can assume that the FIFO at the other end of the link is almost empty. At this point, the BLOCKED signal can be reset as shown in function block 240 of FIG. 5. This usually occurs at the end of the message, although a break in the middle of the message is possible if the message is being transmitted slower that the bandwidth of the link.
In order to fully comprehend how this invention functions, it is necessary to review what can be assumed about the number of backwards control packets which may be seen.
Referring to FIG. 1, assume a message A is being sent from node 1 to node 6 using links 12, 25 and 56. At the same time a message B is being sent from node 2 to node 4 using links 12 and 14. Notice that link 12 has two messages going across it, one in each direction.
Each message can cause some amount of backwards control information to be generated. Let M equal the maximum amount of control information generated in response to any given message. Notice that M is unrelated to the amount of control information which can interrupt any given message. In our example, if nine short messages (B1-B9) are sent from node 2 to node 4 at the same time that one long message A is sent from node 1 to node 6 then up to 9*M pieces of control information may have to be inserted into message A as it is sent over link 12 from node 1 to node 2.
Assume that the FIFO in node 1 has room for 3*M packets. If, during the transmission of message A, more than 3*M pieces of control information are sent across link 12, then some packets of message A will be lost. To avoid losing parts of message A, it is necessary to limit the amount of control information generated by limiting the number of messages (B1-B9) which flow in the opposite direction.
With reference to FIG. 2, message A is flowing from node 1 through block 90 across link 12 through block 92 and into node 2. Once the message has entered into node 2 it will be routed across link 25 which is not shown. Message B is flowing from node 2 through block 93 across link 12 through block 91 and into node 1 enroute to node 4.
Every message B which flows from node 2 to node 4 will generate control information flowing from node 4 to node 2. The control information will be sent into node 1 through block 90 across link 12 through block 92 and into node 2, stealing bandwidth from message A which is using the same link 12. Every time a piece of control information is sent across link 12, another packet of message A is delayed and the FIFO 100 in FIG. 3, inside block 90 fills a little more.
When the number of empty stages remaining in the FIFO 100 inside block 90 is equal to 2+M, the outbound control logic 103 inside block 90 will cause a MSG-BLOCK to be sent across link 12 to node 2. The MSG-BLOCK transmission delays message A some more and uses up one more empty stage of the FIFO.
The MSG-BLOCK character is removed from the link by the inbound control logic 106 inside block 92. That control logic then tells node 2 that link 12 is BLOCKED. Assume that a message B3 is being sent from node 2 to node 1 when the BLOCKED signal is set. The BLOCKED state does not effect message B3 because that message is already in progress. In addition, message B3 is still free to cause up to M more pieces of control information to be sent across link 12 because the FIFO has M+1 more empty stages.
After message B3 has ended, any new message B4 will not be allowed to start being sent across link 12 as long as link 12 is flagged as BLOCKED. In an adaptive routing system, the routing logic inside node 2 is free to select another path for the message if possible. Otherwise, messages from node 2 to node 4 will be delayed or rejected until the BLOCKED condition is cleared as if the link was busy with another message.
Meanwhile the inbound control logic 106 in block 92 is monitoring the message A data coming across link 12 from node 1. If a BLANK control packet is detected, it implies that the FIFO 100 inside block 90 is either empty or almost empty. When this event occurs, the inbound control logic resets the BLOCKED condition and message B traffic is again allowed to flow from node 2 to node 1.
This invention works by stealing bandwidth from message traffic in order to send control information. The net result is that each message from which bandwidth is taken is stretched out so that it takes longer to send. This invention only works as long as there is an idle period between messages into which the stretched messages can be extended.
Because there is no explicit flow control information required by this invention, the source node for each message remains unaffected by the insertion of control information. The destination node, however, sees messages which have been interrupted by control information arriving at a slower rate than they were sent. In a system where every message is acknowledged (by sending control information back to the source node) before another message is sent, this will have a net effect of delaying the acknowledgement to the source node. On the other hand, the delay in the acknowledgement is proportional to the amount that the message was delayed and acts as a convenient flow control mechanism to ensure enough idle time between messages.
Because the size of every FIFO is much smaller than the message size, some links will occasionally get BLOCKED. The percent of links which are BLOCKED at any given time is related to the type and amount of message traffic as well as the size of each FIFO. Thus the size of each FIFO should be designed to trade off the loss of network bandwidth due to link BLOCKED conditions for real estate available on each node for FIFO memory.
The minimum size for a FIFO is 3+M packets (where M is the maximum number of backwards control characters which can be generated in response to any given message). In practice, FIFO sizes on the order of 3+3*M have been shown to give good performance (less than 1% links BLOCKED during peak message traffic).
An important characteristic of this invention is that long messages sent over multiple hops do not tend to cause congestion over their entire route. This tends to limit the number of BLOCKED links any given message can cause no matter how many links that message is sent over.
To understand this, consider a message A being sent from node 1 to node 6 over links 12, 25 and 56. If backwards control information is sent over link 12 from node 1 to node 2, message A will be delayed in the FIFO inside node 1. In addition, the stream of message A packets flowing through node 2 will have a gap due to the removed control information. This gap allows any downstream FIFOs (in node 2 or node 5) to drain a little. Thus, the insertion of control information early in the message actually relieves any backup later in the message reducing the possibility that other links will have to be BLOCKED.
This invention is used in the routing system of a multi-dimensional nodal system to optimize the transmission of control information in addition to messages between nodes. Nodes are connected using pairs of serial links (one in each direction). The links vary in length from one to twenty feet. Each link supports two-hundred and sixty-eight unique characters (encoded in ten bits) of which two hundred and fifty-six are used for message data and the remaining twelve are used for control information. Thus the packet size and the corresponding width of every FIFO is set to one character (10 bits).
Nodes are interconnected in a four dimensional torus network with an additional link at every node for I/O. Every node has nine links, each of which contains a FIFO and outbound and inbound control logic as depicted in FIG. 3. The FIFO size has been set to sixteen packets because every message can generate up to four backwards control packets.
Inside the node, data is routed between links using the "Adaptive Routing in a Parallel Computer System" invention disclosed in copending application Ser. No. 07/386,521, incorporated herein by reference. The adaptive routing system handles the BLOCKED condition as if the link were busy with another message and, in general, has no problem routing around any BLOCKED links. When reading the routing invention disclosure, the LINK-CLOSE and ACKNOWLEDGE commands correspond to backwards control information described in this invention disclosure.
While the invention has been described in terms of a preferred embodiment in a specific system environment, those skilled in the art recognize that the invention can be practiced, with modification, in other and different hardware and software environments within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
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Owner name: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION, A COR
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST.;ASSIGNOR:GOULD, JOEL M.;REEL/FRAME:005476/0499
Effective date: 19901003
|Jun 28, 1994
|Certificate of correction
|Jun 26, 1997
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 4
|Oct 2, 2001
|Maintenance fee reminder mailed
|Mar 8, 2002
|Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees
|May 7, 2002
|Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee
Effective date: 20020308


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Supposedly she turned down a benefit for a Village lady-bar. And will we see you at Steve Rubell's cousin's new Joan Crawford–themed club? More in today's gossip roundup.By Tim Murphy
Reports that Anne Hathaway broke up with boyfriend Raffaello Follieri go undenied by her reps, Ivanka Trump reveals a childhood trauma, André Leon Talley threatens to style again, and other celebrity reports in our daily digest.


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13th Annual U of S Undergraduate Toxicology Symposium
Mar 21, 2016
Saturday March 26th, 2016 9:00 am - 2:00 pm WCVM Room 2104 All are welcome to attend
Mar 21, 2016
Saturday March 26th, 2016 9:00 am - 2:00 pm WCVM Room 2104 All are welcome to attend
Mar 16, 2016
Dr. Vince Palace, Senior Research Scientist, International Institute for Sustainable Development-Experimental Lakes Area
Mar 16, 2016
1st Place, Melanie Gallant (Dr.Hogan, Supervisor) "A Growing Silence In The Night: Examining the role of environmental contaminants in global frog population declines"
Mar 08, 2016
Ashley Moate Toxicology Graduate Program Dr. Hecker and Dr. Jardine, Co-Supervisors Monday, March 14, 2016 12:30 pm WCVM, Room 2104
Feb 24, 2016
Erin Maloney (Dr. Liber, Supervisor) Monday, February 29, 2016 12:30 pm WCVM, Room 2115 "Neonicotinoid Insecticides: Characterizing Cumulative Toxicity of Binary Mixtures under Acute Exposure Scenarios"
Feb 16, 2016
Kevin White (Dr. Liber, Supervisor) Monday, February 22nd, 2016 12:30 pm WCVM, Room 2104 "Characterizing the Aquatic Toxicity of Surface Water from Syncrude's Base Mine Lake"
Nov 09, 2015
October 4 - 7, Saskatoon hosted the annual Canadian Ecotoxicity Workshop. Toxicology Graduate Students received recognition for their poster and platform presentations.
Oct 23, 2015
Tracy MacDonald to graduate with a Student of Interest award.
Sep 10, 2015
News Summary
Aug 21, 2015
Student members of SETAC residing in Africa are faced with unique challenges: inadequate funding, volatile economies, and unreliable infrastructure. SETAC is a nonprofit, scientific society with a goal to bring researchers across continents, sectors, and disciplines to solve urgent environmental problems.
Aug 19, 2015
Our first ever Toxicology Centre Photo contest showcased some amazing field photos from our students.
Aug 05, 2015
Superb Science Program Planned: Nearly 200 presentations; 152 platform presentations in four concurrent sessions and 42 poster presentations! Special Plenary Panel with four of Canada's foremost ecotoxicologists debating where they think future challenges and opportunities lie And a Banquet you don't want to miss!!
May 13, 2015
In the field this summer? Share your experiences and enter the Toxicology 2015 Photo Contest
Apr 21, 2015
Congratulations to Professor John Giesy awarded the distinguished title of University of Saskatchewan Science Ambassador to China.
Apr 09, 2015
Dr. Ron Brecher Senior Scientist - "Introduction to Human Health Risk Assessment" 11:45 AM, Wednesday, April 22, 2015, Room 12, Toxicology Centre
Apr 02, 2015
University of Saskatchewan soil researcher Steven Siciliano has been awarded a $2 million Industrial Research Chair (IRC) to further develop sustainable ways of cleaning up underground sites contaminated with diesel or gasoline, of which there are more than 30,000 in Canada.
Mar 19, 2015
Please join us at The Woods Ale House, downtown Saskatoon, for a discussion concerning "Hunting, Lead, Wildlife, and Human Health: A storied past and uncertain future." lead by Jean-Michel DeVink on Tuesday March 31st from 6:30 to 9:00 pm.
Mar 17, 2015
Saskatchewan avian eco-toxicologist Christy Morrissey discovers lethal neonicotinoids in the spring wetland water supply, ahead of its annual application by local farmers.
Feb 18, 2015
We are pleased to invite you to the next Tox on Tap event Monday February 23 at the Woods Alehouse from 6:30 - 8:30 pm featuring Dr. Derek Muir talking about "Turning up the Heat: How can toxicologists contribute to research on impacts of climate change?".
Feb 17, 2015
Interested in registering for a Treatment Wetlands Short Course. Read on...
Feb 17, 2015
Dr. Derek Muir, Senior Research Scientist, Aquatic Contaminants Research Division Environment Canada, Burlington, ON. " Trends of New and Legacy Contaminants in a Changing Arctic"
Feb 12, 2015
The 12th annual undergraduate Toxicology Symposium will be hosted Saturday March 7th from 9 am - 2 pm in WCVM 2104. All are welcome to attend! More details will be sent out closer to the day.
Dec 08, 2014
Dr. Michael R. van den Heuvel Canada Research Chair in Watershed Ecological Integrity University of Prince Edward Island "Linking Land Use and Nearshore Aquatic Integrity in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence - Impacts of Nutrients, Sediments and Contaminants"
Dec 04, 2014
Dr. Karsten Liber, Director of the Toxicology Centre and Distinguished Professor in the School of Environment and Sustainability (SENS), was announced as the incoming Vice-President of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America at the Society's annual meeting held in Vancouver November 9 to 14, 2014.
Dec 03, 2014
Saunders has been awarded a prestigious $150,000 Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council to study the chemical structure of these new compounds and their potential toxicity. He hopes his work will one day help inform development of regulations for BFRs.
Nov 20, 2014
Two master's level graduate students in the UofS Toxicology Graduate Program received first place awards for their poster and platform presentations.
Nov 12, 2014
We are excited to announce this month's speaker, Dr. Ken Coates. Dr. Coates is the Canadian Research Chair in Regional Innovation and he will be giving a talk on aboriginal peoples, natural resources, and the future of Canada. Doors open at The Woods Alehouse at 6:30pm. Dr. Coates will be speaking at 7pm with Q and A to follow between 7:30 and 8:30pm.
Oct 10, 2014
Dr. Gerald (Gary) Ankley Toxicologist, USEPA Mid-Continent Ecology Division in Duluth, Minnesota "Adverse Outcome Pathways: Enhancing the Role of Predictive Toxicology in Chemical Risk Assessment"
Sep 04, 2014
Tox on Tap series has begun again for the 2014-2015 year. Dr. Dennis Lemly, a Research Fish Biologist with the U.S. Forest Service and a Research Associate Professor of Biology at Wake Forest University. The event will be hosted at the enclosed side portion of Hudson's Tap House downtown Saskatoon. Doors open at 6:30pm, the talk will begin at 7pm and discussion will follow from 7:30-8:30pm. The title of the talk is "Where can I buy some clean coal?". Please visit our website for more details about Tox on Tap and other events, and please distribute the attached flyer to your friends and colleagues! We hope to see you there Sarah, Carla, Derek
Jun 03, 2014
Please join us for a panel discussion for our Tox on Tap "Perspectives on Pesticides: Challenges and achievements of pesticide use in the prairies" event with guests from academia (Dr. Christy Morrissey, U of S), government (Dr. Connie Moase, PMRA), and industry (Dr. Paul Hoekstra, Syngenta).
May 15, 2014
Toxicology Centre Director, Karsten Liber, awarded the title of Distinguished Professor.
Apr 21, 2014
"Mercury: the most deadly metal? The cost of our everyday exposure to the most lethal of metals"
Mar 31, 2014
Congratulations to Jonathon Doering and Sarah Crawford for placing first and second (Environmental Theme) at this years Health and Life Science Research Day, March 14, 2014
Mar 23, 2014
It is with great sadness that I bring you the news that Dr. Chaturbhuj S. Sisodia passed away on Saturday, March 22nd in the Palliative Care Unit of St. Paul's hospital. For those of you who did not have the pleasure of knowing him, the following is a brief description of who he was and some of the legacy he leaves behind. Dr. Sisodia was a founding member of the Toxicology Group at the University of Saskatchewan. Twenty-five years ago, he was instrumental in the establishment of the interdisciplinary Toxicology Graduate Program. For many years, Dr. Sisodia provided instruction to the graduate students in several core courses. At the inception of the program, he served as the Academic Coordinator for many years. It was evident to all students and faculty members associated with the program that Dr. Sisodia had a great passion for students and for teaching. Without his dedication and commitment, it is doubtful whether the program would be in existence today. The concept of a world class undergraduate program in toxicology was also his dream—one that became reality. The impact Dr. Sisodia made in the lives of the students he taught, the faculty he collaborated with, the staff he worked alongside of, and the family he shared his life with, is comparable to no other.
Mar 20, 2014
A new entry-level course called Poisons and Pollutants aims to raise awareness and enrollment in the U of S toxicology program.
Mar 09, 2014
Congratulations to Sarah Crawford, PhD student in Toxicology, for receiving the Excellence in Community Service Award. This award honors a graduate student that has made significant impacts and positively contributes to the local community of Saskatoon.
Feb 23, 2014
Congratulations to Tanja Wildemann (CREATE HERA Student) on winning a $1500 travel award sponsored by the Regulatory and Safety Evaluation Specialty Section (RSESS) of the Society of Toxicology.
Feb 10, 2014
Please join us for our next Tox On Tap event next Tuesday February 18, 2014 at Winston's English Pub and Grill (in the basement) from 6:30 – 8:30 pm to join the discussion on "Uranium mining: Should we be worried about radiation?" lead by Malcolm McKee from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in Ottawa, ON.
Dec 09, 2013
Over that past six months, a U of S task force has spent countless hours evaluating and ranking all U of S academic programs. A report released December 9, 2013, identified the Toxicology Undergraduate Program as one of the institutions strongest programs, ranking it among only 16 top tier programs out of a total of 479 evaluated. Ranked as a top tier program, Toxicology is a strong candidate for enhanced resourcing and future growth.
Nov 22, 2013
Pensacola, Fla.—The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry is pleased to present the SETAC Global Partners Capacity-Building Award to John Giesy, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Environmental Toxicology and Ambassador to China at the University of Saskatchewan. The award will be presented at the SETAC North America 34th Annual Meeting, 17-22 November at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Oct 31, 2013
The Toxicology Centre and GIWS at the University of Saskatchewan invite you to a special guest lecture by Dr. Burton, titled Are Contaminated Sediments an Important Ecosystem Stressor?
Sep 30, 2013
Lalita Bharadwaj is hoping that a successful educational program last year involving U of S grad students and Grade 8 students in four public schools in Saskatoon will garner even more interest this year, and offer even more opportunities for young people to delve into the world of science.
Sep 06, 2013
University of Saskatchewan toxicologist John Giesy has been awarded one of Canada's top honours for contributions to environmental science.
Jul 07, 2013
University of Saskatchewan and SIAST researchers, in partnership with Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL), have been awarded a federal NSERC grant of $750,000 over three years to advance eco-friendly remediation techniques and technology, making it easier to clean up contaminated soil at former gas station sites.
May 29, 2013
Dr. Shane Journeay balances a full life as a medical resident and nanotoxicology researcher.
May 11, 2013
The College of Graduate Studies and Research is pleased to announce the results of the 2013 Governor General's Gold Medal Awards, the Graduate Thesis Awards, the Harry Toop Memorial Prize and the WAGS/UMI Innovation in Technology Award.
Apr 29, 2013
The ACA Grants in Biodiversity program is pleased to announce that Toxicology Centre student, Kristin Bielefeld (supervisor T. Jardine) is amongst this year's grant winners.
Apr 08, 2013
"How the Feed Industry Deals (or Does Not Deal) with Mycotoxins"
Mar 28, 2013
Part-time research technician position available
Mar 04, 2013
Tracy MacDonald will be awarded the Graduate Students' Association Award for Excellence in Community Service at the Student Awards Gala on March 8. Please join in congratulating Tracy upon this richly-deserved award.
Feb 19, 2013
Nature's Barometer of Environmental Health
Feb 11, 2013
Deep in the recesses of the Thorvaldson Building, chemists are developing materials that could soon be used to improve water quality worldwide.
Dec 13, 2012
"50 Years after Silent Spring: Have Organophosphate and Carbamate Pesticides Met the Challenge? "
Nov 27, 2012
Nov 26, 2012
Nov 06, 2012
SETAC Issues Student Awards
Nov 02, 2012
One or two full-time Research Technician positions are available
Oct 26, 2012
What you can do with your graduate degree other than academics and still do interesting work?
Sep 28, 2012
Cardiovascular effects of lead, mercury species and their mixtures in rats
Sep 18, 2012
Regional Spotlight: Prairie Northern Chapter, New Challenges, New Logo!
Jun 29, 2012
Congratulations to Dana Moore, winner of the PNC SETAC Logo Contest. Dana Moore is currently studying at the School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Ontario. Dana is enrolled in the CREATE HERA course.
Jun 15, 2012
3rd Annual Prairie Northern Chapter of SETAC Meeting - Overview
Apr 26, 2012
Congratulations to Rachel Peters for winning Top 10 abstract in the Risk Assessment Specialty Section at SOT.
Sep 27, 2011
Veterinary Pharmaceuticals: Emerging Transport Routes from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
Jul 11, 2011
The course objective is to provide the basic knowledge to conduct, evaluate, and interpret exposure and risk assessments of chemicals present in the natural and built environments.
Jun 29, 2011
Congratulations on a very successful conference.
May 12, 2011
A new Global Institute for Water Security was officially launched at the University of Saskatchewan today, with a vision to be a driving force for research into global issues that have local implications. These include drought and flooding on the Prairies and nutrient loading from urban and agricultural runoff in Lake Diefenbaker.
Mar 10, 2011
The Prairie Northern Chapter of SETAC invites you to attend its 2nd Annual General Meeting and Conference at the University of Winnipeg. Chapter membership is not necessary. The registration fee covers admission to all platform and poster sessions, group lunch and refreshments. A post-conference Awards and Dinner Social is available for a small extra fee. The final program and all registration materials and receipts will be distributed at the meeting. Members' fees apply for those purchasing a membership with registration.
Jan 09, 2011
Five New Faculty Positions in Water-related Sciences School of Environment and Sustainability and Global Institute for Water Security
Jan 07, 2011
The University of Saskatchewan invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in Toxicology at the rank of assistant professor, effective on or after July 1, 2011
Apr 16, 2009
University of Saskatchewan toxicologist John Giesy has been named an Einstein Professor by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), a distinction reserved for research leaders with the potential to win Nobel and other international science awards.


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Gonzalez Wants To Leave No Doubt in Abner Mares Bout
By Salvador Rodriguez
Former champion Jhonny Gonzalez is very focused on the task at hand, as he trains at the Romanza gym with coach Nacho Beristain. Gonzalez (54-8, 46 KOs) will challenge Abner Mares (26-0-1, 14 KOs) for the WBC featherweight championship on August 24th in Carson, California. Mares won the title in May, after knocking out Daniel Ponce De Leon. Gonzalez lost the title to Ponce De Leon in September, when a clash of heads ended things early and the judges saw Ponce as the technical decision winner.
"The fight might be a classic between Mexicans, who have had many wars....Barrera-Morales, Vazquez-Marquez - and we are working hard in order for everyone in the world to enjoy a great fight. In the ring you forget friendships, every one who will do their job and [Mares] is also ready for a war. A lot has been learned from my defeats. You learn more from your defeats because you don't make the same mistakes. This fight is my big chance and we will win," Gonzalez said.
"I've never worried about the judges. I will do my job, because the judges will see a winner in the ring - but I'm aware that I have to go in there and win round by round. I'm the challenger, I am aware that I will be in the home of his promoter, and therefore I need to get a clear win."
Jhonny is past his prime and at this point, hard to imagine hiom winning the fight.Comment by nycsmooth on 07-29-2013
Jhonnys punch should keep him in the bout as he power is awesome...on the other hand his chin very suspect...both nice guys in a good bout...Comment by ShoulderRoll on 07-28-2013
Nacho used to train Abner Mares. Maybe he's got some insights into what his weaknesses are and how to beat him that he can pass along to Gonzalez.Post a Comment - View More User Comments (3)


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Amir Khan on Facing Morales, Prescott Rematch, More
By Chris McKenna, courtesy of The Daily Star
AMIR KHAN wants revenge on big-hitting Breidis Prescott before making the step up to welterweight next year for a super-fight with Floyd Mayweather Jnr.
Khan, 24, added the IBF strap to his WBA belt last weekend with a fifth-round knockout of Zab Judah as he continues his meteoric rise up the pound-for-pound rankings.
After David Haye lost his WBA Heavyweight title to Wladimir Klitschko earlier in the month, Khan is now Britain's biggest boxing star and is destined to take on pound-for-pound king Mayweather in 2012.
But first the Bolton fighter still has some unfinished business with the Colombian who shocked the world when he flattened Khan inside one round back in 2008.
This September, Prescott faces Northern Irishman Paul McCloskey in an eliminator for a shot at the WBA belt. McCloskey was the man who was stopped controversially by Khan in April when the pair clashed heads accidentally.
And Khan has not ruled out the possibility of facing the hard-hitting Colombian again should he overcome McCloskey – but he has plenty of other options on the table. The Bolton man said: "Prescott may be a fight in the future for me.
"A fighter always wants to avenge his defeats. He is another name on the list if he beats McCloskey.
"I will be taking one step at a time – there is no need for me to rush into a fight with Mayweather.
"There is a plan mapped out for me, I will fight again at light-welterweight in December, then move up to welterweight and then take on Mayweather."
Khan certainly isn't short on choice for his next opponent at light-welterweight with Timothy Bradley, Robert Guerrero, Erik Morales and a rematch with Marcos Maidana all viable options.
Bradley was this week stripped of his WBC belt but he still holds the WBO version, although he is currently in dispute with his promoters. But with ring legend Morales now fighting for the same WBC belt in September, a fight with the Mexican, 34, could be a big money-spinner in Las Vegas for Khan.
Guerrero squares off with Maidana next month and Khan could also face the winner of that bout.
The Brit ace added: "Erik Morales is a possibility as my next opponent and so is Bradley. Robert Guerrero is another name on my list. If he beats Maidana next month, as I expect him too, that will be a very good fight.
"Ambition is what drives me on – and my ambition is to be the best."
[QUOTE=DET. IRONSIDE;10924486]Why are we most likely to be getting a crappy fight when Khan tries for 3 times champion? Cos Bradley ain't no champion. He is a little quacky duck and Khan will want that belt. (You need that green…Comment by LeadUppercut on 08-01-2011
[QUOTE=whatismyname;10924356]maybe YOU can persuade timmy to stop ducking... And why does Khan catch **** for taking on (then a likely wbc champion) and legend in morales while Pacman gets a free pass for fighting marquez at 147?[/QUOTE] Both of those…Comment by LeadUppercut on 08-01-2011
[QUOTE=SCtrojansbaby;10924331]Did you really just call Peterson [B]legit?[/B][/QUOTE] Does legit = Prescott ?Comment by brains4boxing on 07-31-2011
they tryna give morales a belt so khan can get it and make money at the same time.....lol fight prescott and avenge that loss if he gets past his next fight it's promotion behind that...if prescott lose then fight morales…Comment by LeadUppercut on 07-31-2011
[QUOTE=Froghead99;10925069]Stop rewritting history. Yes, I actually did have Zab as POSSIBLY the number three JWW. Regardless, ZAB was a BELT HOLDER. Zab also beat Mabuza, and Matthysse for gods sake. No one was saying he was over the hill, thats…Post a Comment - View More User Comments (67)


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MLB Games
AL Division Series: New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles
71 of 180 | Show all photos
Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson walks in the dugout in the eighth inning of an interleague baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Thursday, May 30, 2013, in Baltimore. Baltimore won 2-0. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)


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Bakflip HD Installed
1 Attachment(s)
I hadn't planned on installing the Bakflip until after my Line X/Rhino was in place but due to pressure from the boss (aka wife) to get the box out of the garage before our daughters birthday party next weekend I had to put it on the truck. Oh well.
Install was pretty simple, maybe 30 minutes. Only problem I had was one of the star nuts that Bak sent with the cover had bad threads in it. I solved that with a trip to Home Depot and picked up a 5/16 wing nut. I wanted a stainless one but the best they could do was a zinc plated version. I'll contact Bak this week and have them ship me a new one. I cut the drain tubes to about 6" in length and stuck them into the slot right just beneath the drainage valves.
Thanks to AJ @ Autoanything.com for hooking me up with a good price on the cover.
Looks great on the truck
Nice Congratz :beerchug:
Looks good. I keep going back and forth on a Bak. I love they way they look and how they function, but I have yet to hear of a story where someone did not have to fix, rig, or replace a shipped part for install.
Sexy! :smiley_thumbs_up: Can't wait to get my Bak VP installed.
I've had the Backflip on another truck and loved it -- only thing that bothered me was when you need the full bed it flips up and blocks the rear window completely.
I was going to get another Bakflip but found a LEER 700 hard cover capeted and with a complete bedrug for $700 -- so I couldn't pass it up.
your truck looks good -- nice job
Blocking the rear window is the only drawback that I can see at this point. It seems like I need tow mirrors when the cover blocks out the window. I had a soft cover on my last truck and it didn't last as I use my bed a lot so I'm hoping that the durability factor is better with the Bakflip. I also figure if I need my whole bed (and I know ahead of time) I can take the cover off in less than 5 minutes.
Thanks again.
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To say that the role of a Program Manager (PM) at Microsoft is unique, is an understatement. The usual parallels drawn from the industry are the "Product Manager" (product companies) and "Project Manager" (service companies) roles. Neither of these are accurate, though there are elements of the PM job at Microsoft that could sometimes overlap these roles. It is not a marketing role, but a very clear engineering role. It is not a people management role, though there are PM career paths both in management as well as in individual contributor streams. It is an inwardly facing role, though customer empathy is a key competency requirement and customer connection is a key role attribute.
Partner with development and work through the entire product cycle as the advocate for end-users and customers. The role entails the following three distinct "phases" in cycles: Learn, Spec, Deliver.
Learn: Spend time learning about customer problems and available products and technologies that are relevant to these problems. Work with the planning team to understand competitive products or new products in the marketplace. The output of this phase is a prototype upon which the PM will author specifications.
Spec: Convert the learning into a customer experience by creating exhaustive, prescriptive and succinct specification documents which will serve as the defining documents for what functionalities the product will deliver and how the product will behave.
Deliver: Track the development progress, assess and reinforce quality, validate the usability of the product, refine the specifications based on early customer input and finally deliver the finished product on time as per the specifications laid out.
During all three phases, a key requirement for the PM is to be able to constantly convince and evangelize to peers, management and the development team about the right things to do, by bringing in the customer perspective and being the customer advocate at all times.
Strong passion for technology
Breadth of technical knowledge
Great communication and collaboration skills
Intense customer empathy
Razor sharp focus on execution and delivery
Strong analytical and problem solving skills
Ability to influence without authority