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Giving away the engine that runs a game you plan to sell may not seem like good business sense, especially if you're in the midst of making the game. But the developers of Ryzom see things differently.
Like EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies, Ryzom will be a massive multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) with immersive 3D graphics. The developers have released Ryzom's engine code under the GNU General Public License. Ryzom itself won't be going live online until late 2003, at the earliest. Nevrax, the creators, have offices in London, England and Paris, which is the center of development. (Indeed, the game's characters and settings sport a French, surrealistic-fantasy design sensibility.)
So how does Nevrax hope to make money? They see that the real monetary value of any MMORPG lies in its subscription service—players paying regular fees for the access to play—not in the software. The company still retains the copyright and other rights to Ryzom itself, and the final product will be distributed and sold in typical retail packaging. But the engine that powers it all, called NeL, is free for others to download, modify, and use for their own purposes.
NeL (for Nevrax Library) is a toolkit for the creating 3D-graphic MMORPGs or similar online game-play environments that require both client and server code. It runs on the Linux and Windows OSes, using OpenGL as its 3D graphics renderer.
While there are other MMORPG engines in development, with code that has been released to the public (WorldForge, a non-commercial project, is the most notable), NeL's technology is much more extensive, even in its present state. Says Vincent Caron, a Parisian software developer. "I began about two years ago to watch for projects that could support MMORPG development. You could find 3D engines, but not a whole and coherent thing to deal with all the aspects of MMORPG."
He then discovered NeL, which consists not only of a 3D graphics engine, but also networking, AI, audio and other code necessary for the development of an MMORPG. Today, Caron helps to maintain the NeL public releases.
Compared to a commercial MMORPG 3D graphics engine like EverQuest, NeL, or so its developers claim, gives artists more flexibility for modeling outdoor settings, with better rendering, and lighting model capabilities. Its major features include:
Cyril Corvazier is Nevrax's lead 3D programmer. The Paris-based programmer's major work for NeL has been its 3D library modules and tools. Corvazier summarizes the toolkit's technical goals into three points:
NeL is written in several languages, including C++ with STL, RTTI, some assembly language, and Bash for the engine's data builder system. With the exception of external libraries like STLport, FreeType, libXML and libJPG, the NeL developers created their engine's code from scratch.
"This is 'Stroustrupian C++', or, if you prefer, 'extreme C++'," jokes Caron, describing NeL's code recipe. "This [combination of languages] was a good decision, since the project had to scale to great proportions: it's 500,000 lines of code today. Doing C++ on the edge was a bit painful, since C++ compilers are always seriously lagging behind the C++ standard, especially the STL part."
"As a personal note, I regret only C++ was used. A bunch of high-level things could be done much faster with scripting languages. I'm mostly thinking about the tools suite, which is much too painful to maintain."
"The tools in this project take a very large part. NeL has more lines of code in tools than in the engine. The tools take a lot of time for maintenance," explains Corvazier.
When it comes to designing an MMORPG engine, the toughest job, obviously, is figuring out how to render efficiently large numbers of environments and characters. The key to accomplishing this with NeL has been its developers' mastery of the code's "data pipeline".
"The data pipeline has to be smooth because, in an MMORPG, we handle thousands of small assets," says Corvazier. "NeL provides an automatic process to build the runtime data from the artist database automatically. The data production for NeL is a complex problem. NeL deals with 20 media file formats, most of them exported and built from the artist database."
This production pathway is the critical part, according to Caron. "You end up with a lot of data in most MMORPG games. You need an efficient way to go from your artist's data to the compiled game-set. And you need to do it in a continuous way, while your world is running."
Contributors are always welcome and encouraged. The big item on the development wish list is a Direct3D driver. "The interface for the rendering driver is simple, and it doesn't change a lot now. It is for a commercial OS, but some 3D cards have really bad OpenGL drivers," says Corvazier.
NeL also needs more models, indoor and outdoor environment maps, sound samples, shaders, textures, documentation, and tutorials.
Caron describes the necessity of good documentation for a project of this size. "Documentation is a key point. Actually, the code itself should stand as part of the doc—only what's not in the code should be documented [such as] what functionalities the coder intended to bring. [It should] help newbies get into your code."
Because of all of these complex technologies which needed to be planned for and developed, Corvazier came to a personal conclusion regarding both the organizational and technical development process of NeL. "In an open source project with contributors—free software or not—I think it is best that the kernel design is made by a small team and then frozen as long as possible. All external contributions can be integrated, as long as you use the same version of the engine kernel."
Olivier Lejade is co-founder and former CEO of Nevrax, the company behind NeL. Vincent Caron is the maintainer for the public releases of NeL. They recently agreed to an interview about NeL.
O'Reilly Network: How did the decision come to release NeL as free software? Did Nevrax consider licensing the engine to other game developers for money? What advantages for itself does the company see in releasing the code to the public?
Olivier Lejade: That decision was basically mine.
As making free software was one of the founding principles of Nevrax, we never really considered licensing the engine. There is a very limited market for game engines anyway. Unless you're John Carmack or Tim Sweeney, you're going to have a hard time making money out of licensing a game engine.
At one point, we did consider providing commercial support to game developers who wanted to use NeL. But, understandably, most people are wary of using an engine that hasn't been used in a commercial game beforehand. So the market wasn't really there either. Therefore, we decided to first concentrate on releasing our game (Ryzom) and, from there, see how the demand for commercial support goes. Since I've left the company, I have no idea what the plans of Nevrax's current management are regarding this issue.
Now, about the reasoning behind this decision:
I wanted NeL to be free software, first and foremost, out of principle. I believe that software should be free (as in "freedom"). I came up with Nevrax's original business model out of my interest for the free software community. I was looking for a way to create a strong business, while only releasing free software.
It turned out that the MMO industry is a very good way to do this. In a Massively Multiplayer Online game, you're not selling a software product, you're selling a service for a monthly fee, access to a virtual environment and its community of players. Of course, you need to create software in order to do this, but that's not really what you're selling. What you are selling is the gameplay, the immersion, the support and, sometimes, the community itself. This "overall experience", unlike software, is unique. That is what you want to keep proprietary.
Creating and, especially, maintaining the software necessary to do this can be seen as a sunk cost. So you want all the help you can get with it. That's why we think having NeL as free software makes sense on the business side of things. By lowering the barrier of entry on the technology side and sharing the costs, we're hoping to be able to focus on what really makes the difference in a "persistent world": The conception, the artistic design, and the administration of these worlds.
Actually, that is exactly what I am doing with my new company, Mekensleep. Thanks to Nevrax doing the grunt work, [my company] is now able to build its persistent world without investing massive time in the development of an engine.
Other Linux Interviews
Through Project Looking Glass with Hideya Kawahara
Freedom, Innovation, and Convenience: The RMS Interview
Scribus: Open Source Desktop Publishing
Stratagus: Open Source Strategy Games
ORN: In what ways has releasing the code helped the development of NeL, and Ryzom, as well?
Vincent Caron: Nevrax could get feedback on their code, some help on the portability issue, and was naturally encouraged to maintain minimal documentation requested by external people. Even if [these things] helped only minimally, it surely didn't cost them a lot. I hope they release the Ryzom code for the beta test, since it would be the right and crucial time to let it be scrutinized by a lot of avid hackers. Waiting for real hacking during game exploitation is asking for trouble.
ORN: You mentioned that the C++ coding of NeL has been "on the edge" throughout its development. Is there anything in particular that you would do differently with the programming, in hindsight?
VC: Two years ago, embedding Python code was a high priority. This has been sadly dismissed, but in my honest opinion [should have been] the way to go. A fair amount of code in an MMORPG is not in a critical code path, because it is simply gluing low-level functions like 3D, sound and network. When you wrap your low-level and "fast" C++ code into Python classes, you're encouraged to make the simplest interface for both the C++ wrapper's and Python coder's sakes. The other point is that it's easier to convert existing Python code into C++ native implementation than the other way around. And a Python development cycle is many orders faster than C++'s; compile times just get insane at 500,000 lines, even with high-end hardware.
The same reasoning above works with other high-level, interpreted languages. Python has a wide audience, is free, small, fast, well-designed, and ultra portable.
ORN: Give us an example of how easy it is to develop a game under NeL compared to using other engine systems.
VC: I wouldn't compare game libraries on such a basis. NeL has a steep learning curve. It's a broad and complex piece of software. What's important for me is to have the game done. If it can be done easily, all the better. But in the rather recent and complex world of MMORPG, I don't think most concepts are popular enough to make a game library immediately intuitive and easy-to-use. However, this is what we should all be aiming for in the long term, no doubt.
ORN: What would you say is the most difficult thing about creating an MMORPG?
VC: I would say adding the social part on a large scale is tricky, and software infrastructure design. For the latter, I'm mainly talking about the networking problem. Servers must be of high availability, very scalable, very maintainable, and secure. This is not the e-commerce and banking thing; we have to secure gameplay. Besides protection of the player's data, we need to make sure the game itself can still be enjoyed by everyone at any time. This goes from basic cracking protection to well-thought game and policy design. This needs transparency, humility, and a lot of testing, as well as good sys-admin and game-design understanding and cooperation.
OL: Almost everything is a major challenge. But if I have to pick one thing, I'll say it's making the right decisions in the conceptual design. There really is no absolute way to do this. It all depends on what size and type of community you want to cultivate. Even if you count the first MUDs, building persistent worlds is still a very recent craft. There's still plenty of room for experimenting, trial and error.
ORN: What advice (game design or programming) do you have for those who are interested in using NeL to create an MMORPG, or other kind of online virtual world environment?
OL: Be prepared to read a lot and think hard before doing anything. There's tons of useful material out there: research documents, code, mailing lists, etc.. Use it!
VC: The code is available. You'll certainly have [to have] time and talent to use it. Now do you have the data? Explore the tools. If you have some [game] design and data, then the code will follow naturally. Code without data is not a game and gets quickly boring for the coder.
ORN: Do any of you play one of the MMORPGs on the market? Which ones are your favorites, and why?
OL: I've tested all of them, I think, but I can't say I have any favorite yet. If I really had to name one, it would be A Tale in the Desert; certainly not for the graphics or the engine, but for the originality of the conceptual design. At least [its lead designer] and crew are trying new, interesting things.
Also, two noteworthy MUDs: Achaea, because of its interesting business model, and RetroMUD, because I agree with most of its owner's points on design.
VC: Funnily, I prefer the good ol' arcade games. I have never played an MMORPG.
Howard Wen is a freelance writer who has contributed frequently to O'Reilly Network and written for Salon.com, Playboy.com, and Wired, among others.
Return to the Linux DevCenter.
Copyright © 2009 O'Reilly Media, Inc.


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Dom Perignon and Godiva® are legendary brands that have set the standard for combining luxury with heavenly taste. Known for their artful approach to perfecting vintage Champagne, Dom Perignon is the ideal pairing for Godiva® chocolates. Beautifully packaged, the Godiva® 8-piece Gold Ballotin includes a variety of milk, dark, and white chocolates with classic Belgian fillings such as silky ganaches, creamy pralines, rich caramels, fruits and nuts. Gift Includes: Dom Perignon Champagne (750 ML), Godiva 8-piece Gold Ballotin Assorted Chocolates 3.4-oz.Due to the popularity of this gift, vintages sometimes sell out. Should this happen, we will always substitute with the current vintage.Pursuant to state laws in New York, gifts that contain both food and wine will be sent in two separate packages.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Laurier Brantford
Study confirms post-secondary is having positive impacts on Brantford, Brant County and Six Nations
Feb 7/12
A new report confirms that Laurier Brantford, along with post-secondary partners Nipissing University and Mohawk College, have been providing strong economic benefits to the region since 2005, and the impacts are continuing to increase. The Post-Secondary Economic Impact Study, commissioned by the Grand Valley Educational Society and conducted by Adventus Research, was a follow up to a benchmarking study completed in 2005.
An executive summary, and full version of the Economic Impact Study are below.
The study revealed that actual economic impacts are as high as 20% greater than expected, with an economic impact of $43.33 - $58.5 million annually or $216 - $292 million over the last five years.
Brantford should be very proud of the successful partnerships created by community members, the municipality, academic institutions and industry, said Gary Svoboda, president of Adventus Research Inc. Citizens have engaged and supported Council in taking a dire situation and developing a unique solution to reinventing your downtown that will continue to grow and prosper and present ongoing benefits to your community. The results achieved speak very well for Brantford.
From a financial impact perspective, the study shows that students attending post-secondary institutions will spend approximately $26.8 million locally on an annual basis for such items as accommodation, transportation, food, clothing and entertainment, or $6,033 per student, while estimated construction and renovation costs over the next five years will support a temporary increase in income up to $110.2 million, or a 5 year average of 227 jobs and the impact of those visiting the campuses is estimated to be $586,000 annually.
Lesley Cooper, principal/vice-president of the Brantford campus of Wilfrid Laurier University, was pleased with the results.
"We are incredibly pleased that the projected impact of the post-secondary institutions surpassed the projected impact from the 2005 study, said Cooper. Laurier Brantford is proud of the partnerships that have allowed us to be successful to date, and to continue working together as we move forward.
Key findings in the report include:
Operating expenditures for the post-secondary institutions are projected at $ 114.6 141.8 million over the 2011-12 to 2015-16 period. This in turn drives expenditures of $ 191.4 236.8 million in the Province, of which $ 152.4 to 188.6 million will be spent within Brantford/Brant.
Estimated construction and renovation costs for the Brantford post-secondary institutions over the 2012-2016 timeframe will likely total up to $155.2 million, of which up to $110.2 million will be retained within Brantford/Brant
A total of up to 1,904 person years of employment are estimated to be generated in the Province from the proposed projects. Of this amount, up to 1,135 person-years of employment will come from Brantford/Brant, representing a 5-year average of up to 227 jobs.
Stakeholders mentioned that in the past six years there has been a significant and noticeable improvement in both the appearance and the substance of the social fabric of the Brantford downtown
The effect post-secondary education is having on the City of Brantford involves more than just economics and revitalization. According to the report, 93 per cent of respondents felt that Laurier Brantford positively affects the reputation of the City of Brantford.
Volunteerism was specifically noted as having a significant impact on the community. Using data from the National Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating, post-secondary volunteerism provides a regional benefit of $ 1.7 million annually (in dollar equivalents) to the local community.
Finally, the report concludes that the community/academic partnership to revitalize the Brantford downtown has been a significant and notable, but still developing success. The ongoing effort by all players (academic institutions, the City, the business and cultural communities and other levels of government) should be maintained and deepened to maximize and sustain the ultimate degree of economic success possible for the downtown, greater Brantford, Brant County and Six Nations.


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I was born into a Christian family in 1976. My parents used to tell me how Jesus Christ gave His life for us and how we received salvation by His blood.
However, in childhood it was tough for me to understand such a hard word, salvation. I was recognized by my community as a "Christian" because my family was Christian, but I knew I could not be because it was all too much for me to understand.
In Sunday school and church, I learned many things about Jesus and heard the beautiful and amazing stories about Jesus' work in this world.
Bit by bit, I was coming to know about the Christ. As I was growing up, my faith was becoming firm. When I received Christ as my personal Savior with my full knowledge and full heart, then I recognized myself as a Christian.
In 1991, I was baptized in water and the Holy Spirit. After that, I felt some change inside me, change that I cannot explain in my speech. I felt in my spirit that I have a good friend in Jesus Christ. Moreover, that He is good all the time.
Sometimes, as human beings, we fall into distress and depression. However, when this happens to me I come to God and say a prayer to Him.
I read this verse from the Bible whenever I fall into any trouble, and I know God can rescue me:
And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me. — Psalm 50:15, NIV
The children are crying in our country. They need the light to survive in this world. They need the gospel; that gospel will be the light in their future. It is good to serve the Christ through children, because the kingdom of God belongs to children.
Therefore, we have to keep the blessings alive through our service and scatter God's words into their tender minds. Let the children come to the kingdom of God! I have committed to serve the Christ by bringing little ones to Him.
May God bless you all!
Prayer: We pray for our children in Bangladesh who are helpless, wandering the streets, foodless, insecure. Please help us to spread our hands to them, to help them survive in the image of God.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Samuel Bala provides high-level guidance to our partnership facilitators in Bangladesh to ensure quality, holistic child development.
Read all the One in Spirit devotionals.


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Please login first to complete purchase/ quotation request, view custom order reports, or create favorites list.
Don't have an account with us yet? Please set up an account to place order or obtain customer services.
The native peptide QKRPRRKDTP (cat# 27185) is a selective substrate for Protein Kinase G (PKG) with a strong preference for PKG II (Km = 84 µM) over PKG Iα (Km = 226 µM).


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Punxsutawney Phil either excites or disappoints us each year with his winter weather prediction on Groundhog Day.
Groundhog Day: Fun, facts, fur
Published On: Jan 31 2014 07:39:36 AM HST Updated On: Apr 30 2014 08:59:54 AM HST
The views expressed are not those of this site, this station or its affiliated companies. By posting your comments you agree to accept our terms of use.blog comments powered by Disqus


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By Thomas Garcia PNT Staff Writer
A portion of the Portales Medical Clinic at 320 South Ave. — including the main entrance — was closed about 8 a.m. Monday after a colony of bees was discovered, according to officials.
Officials were concerned the insects could be Africanized honey bees, although that has not been confirmed, according to Lewis Hightower, owner of Southwest Pest Control.
Encounters with a swarm of Africanized bees can be deadly, according to officials.
A Southwest Pest Control worker eliminated the bees late Monday.
Clinic office manager Leisha Beickham said patients of the clinic were contacted Monday morning and told of the situation. The patients were asked to use a side entrance.
Clinic staff members discovered the colony of bees near the entranceway.
"The bees were found on the porch entering into a pillar," Beickham said. "The entrance has been closed off along with the front portion of the office."
"The location of this swarm increases the danger," Hightower said. "Agitating the swarm is a major concern with the swarm located inside town."
Hightower said if the Africanized bees are agitated they will defend their hive and attack anything that moves within a half-mile radius.
"The bees will attack the face first, concentrating on the eyes, mouth and nose," Hightower said.
The bees cannot be distinguished from the less aggressive European honey bee until they are agitated, Hightower said.
Hightower said the colony at the clinic could be the same colony that was reported a few days ago on the south side of Portales.
There is a 99 percent chance that these bees are collecting honey looking to make a home and will be docile, according to Hightower said. This will lessen the chance of them swarming but there is always that 1 percent chance they would attack, Hightower said.
Bill Moyer of Southwest Pest Control said while he was exterminating the bees he observed that they were somewhat aggressive but he had no problems. He said it was a particularly large group, however.


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The Darkness Within Me
Episode 18 | TV-14
An agitated Mireille banishes her partner from her sight at gunpoint. After receiving inside information on Chloe's motives, Kirika is warned of a trap set for her troubled friend - will she make the choice to save Mireille despite their confrontation?
Official Site: www.funimation.com/shows/noirHide Details


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The conference villas are located in the Orange Tree Comminity.
ViC-COH 2008 will not only be a time to enjoy the company of fellow researchers in the field, but also a time to have fun with friends and family. And what better place than in Orlando Florida, the family entertainment capital of the world, home of Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, and Universal Studios Florida; one can also enjoy the Kennedy Space Center and the beaches around Orlando. Orlando's numerous vacations spots afford an individual with many opportunities for leisure. We encourage you to give yourself some time for recreational pursuits.
The nearest major airport is Orlando International Airport (MCO), Orlando, Florida. The airport is ~32 miles away from the Orange Tree Community.
There are few choices to travel from the airport to the villas
(1) Shuttles or towncars: ~$75 for one way and $~150 for round trip up to four people (http://www.airportability.com/). More shuttle service companies can be found on the web. (e.g., http://www.mearstransportation.com/Services.htm)
(2) Taxi will cost ~$70 one way. (http://www.mearstransportation.com/TaxiFareEstimator.asp).
(3) Rent-a-car would be also a choice.
Conference villa address (This is also your check-in place): 16155 Palmetto Hill St, Clermont, FL 34714
Dress code: Business casual
Internet: Free wireless internet access will be available.
Just a short drive away from the major theme parks, the Orange Tree community in selected villas offers a commodious stay for conference participants. Accommodation fees are included in your registration payment. Residence in the villas encourages intensive discussion, and is an excellent way for you to meet old friends and to make new ones.


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Portland Becomes First Salmon-Safe City
Mayor Hales issues Salmon-Safe challenge to other West Coast citiesRead More…
Phone: 503-823-4120
1221 SW 4th Avenue, Room 340, Portland, OR 97204
THURSDAY, April 4, 2013 – The Public Safety System Revitalization Program for the city of Portland exceeded its overall budget and schedule goals, according to an audit released today by City Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade.
"The budget and schedule increases in the PSSRP program are largely the result of a problematic and shifting governance structure and inconsistent management," Griffin-Valade said. "Despite repeated recommendations from outside quality assurance specialists and the lessons learned from other major city programs, the city was unable to effectively oversee this significant, but expensive undertaking."
Mayor Charlie Hales reviewed the audit before it was released. "The audit shows that, of four projects, two came in under budget, and one came in on time. The others did not. That's not great news, especially when we are talking about public safety," Hales said. "On the other hand, this didn't surprise anyone. The audit shines a light on serious short-comings that are being addressed right now."
The PSSRP program was established in 2006 to manage the replacement or upgrade of several vital public safety systems, including a new Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system used to process 911 calls. Auditors found the CAD replacement project was largely successful.
However, two of the other three projects exceeded their cost goals and all three exceeded their schedule goals. The three remaining large projects are the Public Safety Radio System replacement project, the Portland Police Data System replacement project, and the Portland Fire and Rescue system replacement or upgrade project.
The entire PSSRP initiative was expected to cost $70 million and to be completed by December 2012. Projects are now planned for completion in December 2015, with projected costs of $80 million.
Auditors make several recommendations intended to benefit the three open PSSRP projects and other current and future city technology projects.
Hales and Chief Administrative Officer Jack Graham provided written responses to the audit.


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Milliken's Napery Business has launched a new 132-inch banquet tabletop called Horizon™ The banquet-style cloth is seamless for uniformity and is available in five standard colors: black, ivory, maroon, sandalwood and white. Special colors are also available with minimum purchase requirements. For more information, call 800-322-8326.
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SP 184.108.40.2069 Chrome 26.0.1410.43 m
I've updated Sticky Password and unfortunately cannot get the Chrome plug in to install. I get the box showing that it is installing, but nothing happens. I have shut down all other windows and apps. However, the installation box indicates to please close all windows listed below to begin installation of autofill plug-in to Google Chrome. The only window listed is: C:\Users\Laura\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Applic . Next, I go to Task Manager and the only program running if Sticky Password. If I end task, obviously the installation stops. Help? Thanks!


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Fan Views – Starlin Castro: The Enigma
Here at Born on Third we like to hear what you the fan thinks, because after all we are all fans, and we want to know what's going on in your head regarding the Cubs. Have a comment, want to vent about the Cubs? Then send us an email at firstname.lastname@example.com and we will feature it on the blog. Our first entry comes from Stanley Croussett, a die-hard Cubs fan from Philadelphia, PA. Give him a follow on twitter for more Cubs chatter, and please do not hesitate to send us your thoughts!
– George
4 Comments
I can't stand him right now because he looks like he doesn't even care. He doesn't hustle and has been struck out looking. He needs time off and a good chew out.


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This Web page provides students, families and institutions with resources and background about the development and adoption of the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet. The Shopping Sheet was previously referred to as the Model Financial Aid Offer Form and Know Before You Owe.
The Financial Aid Shopping Sheet (PDF) is a consumer tool that participating institutions will use to notify students about their financial aid package. It is a standardized form that is designed to simplify the information that prospective students receive about costs and financial aid so that they can easily compare institutions and make informed decisions about where to attend school. The Shopping Sheet became available for use beginning in the 2013-2014 award year.
In July 2012, the Obama Administration unveiled the 2013-2014 version of the Shopping Sheet. At the same time, Education Secretary Arne Duncan published an open letter to college and university presidents asking institutions to adopt the Shopping Sheet for use during the 2013-2014 school year. On December 13, 2013, the Department released the 2014-2015 edition of the Shopping Sheet. As of April 2015, over 2,900 institutions have voluntarily adopted the Shopping Sheet, representing institutions nationwide from all sectors of higher education.
Institutions may contact email@example.com to indicate their commitment to use the Shopping Sheet. Students, parents, and institutions may also direct questions about the Shopping Sheet to that e-mail address.
Shopping Sheet Documents 2017-2018
- Shopping Sheet Template 2017-2018 (PDF)
- Annotated Shopping Sheet 2017-2018 (PDF): This describes and clarifies the elements on the Shopping Sheet.
- Financial Aid Shopping Sheet FAQs 2017-2018 (PDF)
- Financial Aid Shopping Sheet Technical Guide 2017-2018 (PDF)
- Updates to HTML specifications and the Institutional Metric Data file for the 2017-2018 Financial Aid Shopping Sheet
Shopping Sheet Documents 2016-2017
- Shopping Sheet Template 2016-2017 (PDF)
- Updates to HTML specifications and the Institutional Metric Data file for the 2016-2017 Financial Aid Shopping Sheet
- Annotated Shopping Sheet 2016-2017 (PDF): This describes and clarifies the elements on the Shopping Sheet.
- Institutions that have adopted the Shopping Sheet (MS Excel)
- Financial Aid Shopping Sheet FAQs 2016-2017
Development of the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet
The Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008 focused attention on communicating aid offers to prospective students with the goal of helping families make informed decisions about college. The HEOA required the Secretary to hold a public meeting so that interested parties could discuss improvements and offer recommendations. The HEOA also required the Department to develop and distribute a model aid offer format to institutions. The legislation and conference report language give additional details.
The following entries describe the Department's work on the Shopping Sheet. Check back to see what's new.
November 2012 Update: Three update sessions on the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet are scheduled for the 2012 Federal Student Aid conference, held from November 26-30, in Orlando, Florida.
September 2012 Update: In September, the Department released several Electronic Announcements describing additional Shopping Sheet implementation details, including the HTML code to be used to produce the Shopping Sheet. Secretary Arne Duncan reported on the progress to encourage institutions to use the Shopping Sheet in a September 25 blog entry.
August 2012 Update: On July 24, 2012, Secretary Arne Duncan posted an open letter to college presidents asking for voluntary adoption of the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet. On July 25, Acting Assistant Secretary David A. Bergeron sent a Dear Colleague Letter (PDF) to financial aid administrators, releasing the Shopping Sheet format and requesting institutional commitment to use this format. In addition, an annotated copy of the Shopping Sheet has been posted to the Model Financial Aid Offer Form web page and will be updated as needed. We are working with software providers to discuss how they can help institutions produce the Shopping Sheet. We hope to release more details about this next month. Please contact firstname.lastname@example.com to indicate institutional commitment to use the Shopping Sheet. You may also direct questions about the Shopping Sheet to that e-mail address.
June 2012 Update: With the help of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau), ED collected comments from the public on how to improve aid offer forms. The period for submitting feedback on the "thought starter" format on the Bureau's site ended June 20. ED is in the final stages of the project and hopes to release the model format in coming months. For additional information, contact Carney McCullough at firstname.lastname@example.com.
May 2012 Update: OPE continues to work on the model aid offer requirement. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) shared a summary of comments it received on the "thought starter" format. Instead of posting a revised version on the Bureau's Web site as originally planned, OPE staff will use the "thought starter" comments along with additional feedback from the FSA conference to develop a model aid offer format for institutions. The Bureau posted a cost comparison tool on its site at: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/payingforcollege/. We encourage you to visit this site and offer any comments you may have. We continue to work closely with Bureau staff on the model aid offer requirement, with the goal of issuing a model aid offer format in the spring of 2012 for potential use by institutions of higher education during the 2013-14 award year.
2011 FSA Conference Update: OPE staff were pleased to have the opportunity to speak to nearly 1,200 financial aid professionals about our activities related to the model aid offer requirement during two interest sessions at the recent Federal Student Aid Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Many participants offered comments at the sessions and others sent follow-up letters afterward. Using this feedback, we continue to work with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to revise the "thought-starter" format, with the plan that a revised version will be posted on the Bureau's Web site in January, 2012. Ultimately, our goal remains to issue a model aid offer format in the spring of 2012 for potential use by institutions during the 2013-14 award year.
October 2011 Update: On October 26, 2011, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the Bureau) is taking feedback on a Financial Aid Shopping Sheet—an effort to improve the financial aid offer form—and is especially looking for input from current and prospective college students and their families.
The development of the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet builds on the discussion at the Department of Education's September 13, 2011 public meeting. It is a product of the important partnership being forged between the Bureau and the Department of Education (the Department), which we believe will result in students and borrowers being better served. It will be announced at a roundtable event in Minneapolis, Minnesota and discussed at a town hall meeting, also in Minneapolis.
The Shopping Sheet is a part of the Bureau's "Know Before You Owe" effort and is a tool that colleges and universities could use to help students better understand the types and amounts of aid they qualify for and easily compare aid packages offered by different institutions. The form would also make clear the total costs -- and risks -- of student loans before a student enrolls and is a "thought-starter," not an official proposal. See the shopping sheet on the Bureau's Web site, which also provides instructions on how to offer comments: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/students/knowbeforeyouowe/.
The effort is also a part of the Department's ongoing work to fulfill the requirement in the Higher Education Opportunity Act to recommend improvements to the student financial aid offer forms.
2011 Public Meeting: As announced in the July 29, 2011 Federal Register notice, the public meeting to discuss improvements to student financial aid offer forms took place on September 13, 2011 with more than 50 individuals in attendance. During the morning session, after the Department presented an overview of the activity, panelists discussed their views on student financial aid award letters. Panelists included (in alphabetical order): Justin Draeger, (National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators), David Hawkins (National Association for College Admission Counseling), Mark Kantrowitz (FinAid and FastWeb), Nina Marks (Collegiate Directions, Inc.), and Matthew Reed (The Institute for College Access and Success).
During the afternoon session, attendees participated in small group discussions to consider several questions and to try their hand at designing a model aid form. The questions for discussion were as follows: (1) What is the primary function of an aid offer form: comparing schools or understanding what a student will pay and what options are available to pay? (2) What are the critical core components? (3) What would help families understand costs and financing options? (4) Can one format be used by all types of schools?
OPE staff are reviewing the comments and feedback we received at the meeting in preparation for our next steps.


text:
Introducing Dojo Mobile
The Dojo Toolkit has been evolving for desktop web application development, and Dojo can run on mobile web browsers as well. Since Dojo already provides numerous useful widgets, do we really need something special for mobile applications? Yes, for several reasons:
- Input device differences: Most mobile devices have no mouse or physical keyboard. Instead, they provide a touch screen that supports finger operations. User interactions on desktop applications—drag and drop operations, mouse hover actions, keyboard shortcuts and navigation (traversal using the TAB key or arrow keys), and so on—present a challenge on a mobile device. Any UI widgets for mobile should be touch-enabled.
- Smaller screen size: A mobile screen is small, and the user uses a finger on a touch screen. It is very important to properly design the UI for mobile. Also, the screen size of a tablet device is much bigger than a smartphone screen. Mobile web applications need a user interface that transforms according to the screen size or screen orientation.
- Performance issues: While processor power of mobile devices is increasing rapidly, they still have less computing power than desktop computers. Also, the mobile network bandwidth is much lower than that of a desktop; sometimes it's extremely lower. Mobile web applications should be extremely small-footprint and high-performing.
Dojo Mobile is a Dojo-based widget set for creating mobile web applications. It was introduced in Dojo 1.5 as dojox.mobile to address the above issues. The input device and screen size issues, however, could be solved with a traditional approach, that is, simply enhancing existing Dojo widgets by adding mobile support without reinventing the ones just for mobile. But obviously performance issues cannot be resolved that way. Therefore, one of the most important (and challenging) tasks for Dojo Mobile is tackling the performance issues, especially minimizing code size.
Image-free UI widgets
One of the interesting features of Dojo Mobile is that it does not use any images to build UI widgets. WebKit-based browsers, which are the most popular browsers on mobile devices, support CSS3. CSS3 features, such as gradient backgrounds, rounded corner boxes, and transformation of DOM elements, can handle graphical representation without using images. Figure 1 shows some of the UI widgets that Dojo Mobile provides. These widgets do not use images; instead, they use DOM elements like
 with CSS styles to construct their UI. Using many images could increase the total download size and the number of HTTP requests to the server, causing performance degradation. Dojo Mobile avoids that by using CSS3 capability as much as possible.
Figure 1. Image-free Dojo Mobile widgets
On the other hand, user applications may use images. Figure 2 shows examples that are provided as Dojo Mobile test files. As you can see, tab bar buttons, list item icons, and icon container icons are images. Overuse of images could degrade performance, but that is a choice for the application. Dojo Mobile itself does not use images, nor does it force the user application to use images. Furthermore, as you will see later, Dojo Mobile provides some useful mechanisms, such as DOM buttons and CSS sprite, which can reduce the need for images and reduce the number of HTTP requests to the server.
Figure 2. User application's images
CSS Sprite
When image use is inevitable, there are two possible ways to minimize the performance degradation. One way is to reduce the file size of your images by reducing the number of colors or increasing the compression rate. The other way is to reduce the number of HTTP requests for images by aggregating multiple small images into a single big image. The combined big image can be clipped and adjusted with CSS properties so that it can be used as one of small images. This technique is known as CSS Sprite, and Dojo Mobile supports it.
Listing 1 shows an example of list items, each using a separate icon. Figure 3 shows the result. This example produces three HTTP requests for images.
Listing 1. List items with separate images

General

Photos

Store

Figure 3. Result of Listing 1
On the other hand, Listing 2 shows an example that uses an aggregated image
(i-icon-all.png), which is shared by list items. By specifying
comma-separated values (top,left,width,height) for the
iconPos property of the ListItem widget, you
can reuse any rectangle area of the aggregated image. As shown in Figure
4, the result is the same, but it produces only one HTTP request for the
aggregated image.
Listing 2. List items with an aggregated image

General

Photos

Store

Figure 4. Result of Listing 2
CSS Sprite can also be used for icon container's icons (Figure 5) or tab bar's buttons (Figure 6).
Figure 5. IconContainer with CSS Sprite
Figure 6. TabBar with CSS Sprite
DOM Button
Dojo Mobile provides simple buttons, icons, check marks/arrows for a list item, and so on, as shown in Figure 7. They are made from
 elements with CSS styles applied without images, and are called DOM Buttons.
Figure 7. DOM Buttons
Ideally DOM Buttons are smaller in byte size, since they are made from CSS without images. Table 1 compares byte sizes of DOM Buttons and images using DomButtonGreenCircleArrow (fourth down, first column in Figure 7) as an example. You can see a DOM Button is much smaller than an image.
Table 1. Byte size comparison between a DOM Button and an image
|Byte size
|DomButtonGreenCircleArrow.css (minified & gzipped)
|392 bytes
|1,599 bytes
DOM Buttons have the additional advantage of not needing to make additional HTTP requests, because they can be integrated into a theme CSS file with the build tool. In this situation, the footprint of a DOM Button is much smaller. Table 2 shows a DOM Button's byte size in an aggregated CSS file. You can see the addition of DomButtonGreenCircleArrow.css increases by only 155 bytes.
Table 2. DOM Button's byte size in an aggregated CSS file
|Byte size
|base.css (minified & gzipped)
|2,844 bytes
|base.css + DomButtonGreenCircleArrow.css (minified & gzipped)
|2,999 bytes
|155 bytes
DOM Button structure
DOM Button consists of nested
 elements with CSS styles applied. As mentioned, you can achieve a variety of graphical representations by using CSS3's rich capabilities, such as gradient backgrounds, rounded corner boxes, and transformation of DOM elements. You could even draw a circle by adjusting the border radius of a square
 element. Figure 8 shows an example of DOM Button structure.
Figure 8. Structure of DOM Button
How to use DOM Button
Listing 3. Use of DOM Button without JavaScript
  <link href="themes/common/domButtons/DomButtonBlueCircleMinus.css" rel="stylesheet">

Figure 9. Result of Listing 3
In Listing 3, I prepared 4 levels of nested DIVs
including the DOM Button's root node, which has a class name. However, the
number of DIVs you need to prepare varies with the kind of DOM Button. To
automatically create the necessary number of DIVs, use Dojo Mobile's
dojox.mobile.createDomButton() function, as
illustrated in Listing 4.
Listing 4. Use of DOM Button with JavaScript

 ---- var node = dojo.byId("btn1"); dojox.mobile.createDomButton(node);
Listing 3 and Listing 4, however, are usually not used. I include them for illustrative purposes to show the mechanism of DOM Button. Instead, some of the Dojo Mobile widgets support DOM Buttons as below. You can specify DOM Buttons in place of image icons or buttons.
- ListItem: icon, rightIcon, rightIcon2, arrowClass, and checkClass property (Figure 10)
- TabBarButton: icon1 and icon2 property (Figure 11)
- ToolBarButton: icon property (Figure 12)
- TabBarButton: icon property (Figure 13)
Figure 10. ListItem (list)
Figure 11. TabBarButton (tab bar)
Figure 12. ToolBarButton (heading)
Figure 13. TabBarButton (segmented control)
How to create a custom DOM Button
You can create your own custom DOM Buttons. Here are some tips.
- The class name of a DOM Button MUST start with
mblDomButton". Dojo Mobile checks it to determine if it is a DOM Button or not. (On the other hand, a CSS file name and where to place it can be your choice.)
- Specify the width and height of the DOM Button to its root node. They will be the size of the entire DOM Button.
-
 elements are nested, not siblings. Therefore, you may need to apply CSS styles to a node relative to its parent node.
- To apply CSS styles to a specific
 element in the
 hierarchy, you can use a child selector (>).
- If you want to support non-CSS3 desktop browsers, you should create an
equivalent image and a
compat cssfile (*-compat.css).
Listing 5 and Listing 6 show a custom DOM Button example. Figure 14 shows the result.
Listing 5. Custom DOM Button (DomButtonMyCheck.css)
/* === Red Check Button ==*/ .mblDomButtonMyCheck { position: relative; width: 29px; height: 29px; } .mblDomButtonMyCheck > div { position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 8px; width: 16px; height: 6px; font-size: 1px; -webkit-transform: scaleX(0.7) rotate(135deg); border-width: 3px 4px 0px 0px; border-style: solid; border-color: red; }
Listing 6. Custom DOM Button (DomButtonMyCheck-compat.css)
/* === Red Check Button ==*/ .mblDomButtonMyCheck { background-image: url(compat/mblDomButtonMyCheck.png); background-repeat: no-repeat; } .mblDomButtonMyCheck > div { display: none; }
Figure 14. Custom DOM Button
Compatibility module
Dojo Mobile is optimized for WebKit-based mobile browsers, but it supports non-WebKit desktop browsers as well. However, no one wants to sacrifice performance on mobile devices to support desktop browsers. Cross-browser support code should not be loaded when an application runs on mobile devices.
Conditional compilation
One approach is conditional compilation, which allows you to strip out some
code blocks that are unnecessary for mobile. Dojo provides two ways of
conditional compilation, pragmas and
Pragmas are special directives that can be used to exclude/include some parts of the code as shown in Listing 7.
Listing 7. Example of pragma usage
process: function(){ //>>excludeStart("marker1", kwArgs.noIE); if(dojo.isIE){ .... } //>>excludeEnd("marker1"); .... }
In the above example, if you build the code with
noIE=true condition option specified as
below, the code block surrounded by
excludeStart and
excludeEnd is removed from the build.
> build profile=myapp action=release noIE=true
Also, if you use
pragmas, the surrounded code block is included only when the condition
has() (or
has.js) is a feature detection/testing
mechanism, introduced in Dojo 1.7. As shown in Listing 8, you can use it
to test whether or not a specific feature exists in the current runtime
Listing 8. Example of "has" test
process: function(){ if(has("ie")){ .... } .... }
If you configure the
staticHasFeatures array in
your build profile as below,
has("ie") is
replaced with 0, and then the compiler's optimizer detects its code block
as dead code, and the block is removed from the build.
staticHasFeatures: { 'ie': 0 }
Compatibility module
Conditional compilation allows you to make a build that is optimized for a specific platform. The build, however, has a problem in that it does not work on other platforms. To support other platforms, you need to make other builds. To solve this issue, Dojo Mobile took a different approach: the compatibility module (or compat).
Compat includes some code that supports non-WebKit browsers. If compat is
loaded, it "overwrites" some of the widget methods that need to be fixed.
Overwriting the code keeps the original widget class names the same and
therefore does not affect the user's application code. On the other hand,
overriding the code by subclassing the original widgets would require the
use of newly defined widget class names. Compat also loads *-compat.css
files, which are patches to the original css files. In the compat mode,
traditional techniques are used to render the widget UIs without CSS3,
such as JavaScript-based animations with dojo.fx, background images, and
so on. To use compat for your application, load "dojox.mobile.compat"
dojo.require() or the
require API.
Note that compat is divided into two pieces, compat.js and _compat.js. _compat.js includes all the implementation code, and compat.js is a loader of _compat.js. compat.js loads _compat.js only when the current browser is not WebKit-based. compat.js is such a tiny piece of code that it does not affect mobile performance even if it is in a build. This way, on WebKit-based browsers, performance does not degrade since _compat.js will never be loaded. On non-WebKit browsers, _compat.js is loaded automatically, and Dojo Mobile works in the compat mode. Table 3 shows byte size comparison between a mobile build without compat and a mobile build with compat. As you can see, the difference is negligibly small: 45 bytes.
Table 3. Mobile build size comparison (profile: mobile-all.profile.js, minified & gzipped)
|Byte size
|Mobile build without compat
|36,594 bytes
|Mobile build with compat
|36,639 bytes
|45 bytes
Performance evaluation tips
As described above, on non-WebKit browsers, Dojo Mobile runs in the compat mode, and additional resources, such as images and/or *-compat.css, are loaded. So, if you want to evaluate which and how many files are loaded in a mobile device, you should not use non-WebKit browsers such as Firefox or Internet Explorer. Debuggers on Google Chrome or the desktop version of Safari are better tools to monitor the network traffic for that purpose, since they are WebKit-based.
Module dependencies
Use of dojo modules like dojo.query or dijit._Templated from Dojo Mobile based user applications is of course your choice. However, you should carefully choose which dojo/dijit modules to use based on performance. For example, if you use dojo.query only once in your application, you could replace it with far smaller code than the entire dojo.query implementation.
Listing 9 shows the modules on which the Dojo Mobile base depends directly or indirectly. You may notice it has fewer dependencies on dojo/dijit modules than typical desktop use cases. It depends on only 11 dojo/_base modules out of 25, and has no dependency on the dijit/_base modules. If you use additional modules that are not shown in Listing 9, that increases your application's footprint. When you use such modules, you should choose them carefully.
Listing 9. Dependent modules
dijit/_Contained dijit/_Container dijit/_WidgetBase dijit/main dijit/registry dojo/Evented dojo/Stateful dojo/_base/Deferred dojo/_base/array dojo/_base/config dojo/_base/connect dojo/_base/declare dojo/_base/event dojo/_base/kernel dojo/_base/lang dojo/_base/sniff dojo/_base/unload dojo/_base/window dojo/aspect dojo/dom dojo/dom-attr dojo/dom-class dojo/dom-construct dojo/dom-geometry dojo/dom-prop dojo/dom-style dojo/domReady dojo/has dojo/keys dojo/mouse dojo/on dojo/ready dojo/topic
To optimize the load time performance, build is an important process. Dojo has a powerful build system, which compresses all your JavaScript and CSS into fewer files and creates an efficient version of your application for release. Figure 15 and Figure 16 show transferred files comparison between a non-built (source code) application and a built application. You can see there is a huge difference in the number of requests and the total transferred size. The next section discusses building Dojo Mobile.
Figure 15. The number of requests and download size (non-built)
Figure 16. The number of requests and download size (built)
customBase build
Dojo build has an option called customBase. The standard Dojo build includes most of the Dojo base modules in a build, since the Dojo base modules are always available without explicitly requiring them. However, if you make a build with the customBase option enabled, only the modules that are in the actual dependency chain are included in the build. Dojo Mobile is designed to have as few Dojo base module dependencies as possible. Therefore, to benefit from the design, the use of the customBase option is important. Listing 10 shows how to specify the customBase option in your build profile.
Listing 10. customBase option in a profile file
dependencies = { stripConsole: "normal", layers: [ { name: "dojo.js", customBase: true, dependencies: [ "dojox.mobile.parser", "dojox.mobile", "dojox.mobile.compat" ] }, ....
Closure compiler
There are two compilers (or compressors) that can be used form the Dojo build tool, Shrinksafe and Google Closure Compiler. Shrinksafe is Dojo's default compiler. Closure has been bundled with Dojo since version 1.7. Table 4 shows mobile build size comparison between Shrinksafe and Closure. As you can see, Closure's compression rate is better than Shrinksafe's, and the size of the Closure build is 20% smaller than that of the Shrinksafe build, at least in this example.
Table 4. Mobile build size comparison between Shrinksafe and Closure
|Byte size
|Mobile build (Shrinksafe, gzipped)
|44,826 bytes
|Mobile build (Closure, gzipped)
|36,639 bytes
Dojo Mobile has been tested against what was built with Closure. Closure is recommended to use for mobile build, since its output is smaller.
How to build Dojo Mobile
Dojo Mobile provides two sample profile files: mobile-all.profile.js and mobile.profile.js, which are in the dojo/util/buildscripts/profiles folder. To easily build with these profiles, use the simple batch files available in the dojox/mobile/build folder.
From the command line, you can run the batch file. Use
build.bat for Windows, or
build.sh for Linux.
Listing 11. Usage of build batch file
> build Usage: build separate|single [webkit] separate Create mobile.js that includes only dojox.mobile single Create a single dojo.js layer that includes dojox.mobile webkit Enable webkitMobile=true option (Loses PC browser support)
separate uses mobile.profile.js and
creates mobile.js that includes ONLY the dojox.mobile base modules. It
does not include the dojo base or the dijit base modules. _compat.js is
also created for desktop browser support. Also, dojo.js is created, but it
is an ordinary dojo base build, not a customBase build.
Note that "the dojox.mobile base" does not include all the Dojo Mobile widgets. For example, ScrollableView, Carousel, SpinWheel, form controls, etc. are not included in the base. If you want them in your build, you can simply add them in the dependencies array in a profile file. Listing 12 shows all the modules that are rolled into the dojox.mobile base build, mobile.js.
Listing 12. Modules in mobile.js
dojox/main dojox/mobile dojox/mobile/EdgeToEdgeCategory dojox/mobile/EdgeToEdgeList dojox/mobile/Heading dojox/mobile/ListItem dojox/mobile/ProgressIndicator dojox/mobile/RoundRect dojox/mobile/RoundRectCategory dojox/mobile/RoundRectList dojox/mobile/Switch dojox/mobile/ToolBarButton dojox/mobile/TransitionEvent dojox/mobile/View dojox/mobile/ViewController dojox/mobile/_ItemBase dojox/mobile/_base dojox/mobile/common dojox/mobile/compat dojox/mobile/sniff dojox/mobile/transition dojox/mobile/uacss
single uses mobile-all.profile.js and
creates a single dojo.js layer that includes dojox.mobile base and all the
dependent dojo/dijit modules. _compat.js is also created for desktop
browser support. This build enables the customBase option. So, only the
minimum dojo/dijit base modules are included in the resulted dojo.js.
Listing 13 shows all the modules that are rolled into the single
Listing 13. Modules in dojo.js
dijit/_Contained dijit/_Container dijit/_WidgetBase dijit/main dijit/registry dojo/Evented dojo/Stateful dojo/_base/Deferred dojo/_base/array dojo/_base/config dojo/_base/connect dojo/_base/declare dojo/_base/event dojo/_base/kernel dojo/_base/lang dojo/_base/sniff dojo/_base/unload dojo/_base/window dojo/aspect dojo/dom dojo/dom-attr dojo/dom-class dojo/dom-construct dojo/dom-geometry dojo/dom-prop dojo/dom-style dojo/domReady dojo/has dojo/keys dojo/mouse dojo/on dojo/ready dojo/topic dojox/main dojox/mobile dojox/mobile/EdgeToEdgeCategory dojox/mobile/EdgeToEdgeList dojox/mobile/Heading dojox/mobile/ListItem dojox/mobile/ProgressIndicator dojox/mobile/RoundRect dojox/mobile/RoundRectCategory dojox/mobile/RoundRectList dojox/mobile/Switch dojox/mobile/ToolBarButton dojox/mobile/TransitionEvent dojox/mobile/View dojox/mobile/ViewController dojox/mobile/_ItemBase dojox/mobile/_base dojox/mobile/common dojox/mobile/compat dojox/mobile/parser dojox/mobile/sniff dojox/mobile/transition dojox/mobile/uacss
webkit enables the webkitMobile=true
build option, which strips out code chunks that are not necessary for
Webkit-based mobile browsers. For example, Internet Explorer- or
Firefox-specific code is excluded from the build. This reduces the total
code size, but the built module will not work on desktop browsers even
with the compatibility module (compat.js).
Also note that this option reduced a significant amount of code in Dojo 1.6, but in Dojo 1.7, feature detection/testing is moving to dojo.has, and thus the webkitMobile option no longer has much effect on code reduction.
CSS aggregation
Dojo Mobile has bunch of CSS files under the themes folder. There is a CSS file for each widget, and they are available for each theme, Android, Blackberry, Custom, and iPhone. Also, there are CSS files for DOM Buttons or transition animations. To help you easily include necessary CSS files in your application, some entry point CSS files aggregate a number of related CSS files:
- All-in-one theme file (example: themes/iphone/iphone.css)
Includes all the common CSS files and the theme CSS files
- Base theme file (example: themes/iphone/base.css)
Includes theme CSS files for dojox.mobile base modules
- DOM Buttons (themes/common/domButtons.css)
Includes all the DOM Buttons
- Transitions (themes/common/transitions.css)
Includes all the transition animations
Use of the all-in-one theme file is the easiest, since it includes everything. However, that means unused CSS files may be included, and that could increase footprint unnecessarily. In that case, one approach is to use the base theme file and individual CSS files that are not included in the base theme file.
The above entry point CSS files are a collection of @import directive. If you perform Dojo build, @import statements are inlined and thus the referenced CSS files are combined together in the entry point CSS file. So, use of one entry point CSS file produces only one HTTP request, if it is built. However, if you listed CSS files in your application using <link> or @import as shown in Listing 14, HTTP requests would be made for each of them.
Listing 14. Link tags in html (userApp.html)
 <link href="../themes/iphone/base.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="../themes/iphone/TabBar.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="../themes/common/SpinWheel.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="../themes/common/domButtons/DomButtonBlueCircleArrow.css" rel="stylesheet"> ....
To reduce the number of requests, create your own entry point CSS that has references to the minimum necessary CSS files using the @import directive as shown in Listing 15. If you perform a Dojo build, it will be an inlined CSS file without external references. You can use it from your application as shown in Listing 16.
Listing 15. A CSS file for aggregation (myStyles.css)
@import url("../themes/iphone/base.css"); @import url("../themes/iphone/TabBar.css"); @import url("../themes/common/SpinWheel.css"); @import url("../themes/common/domButtons/DomButtonBlueCircleArrow.css");
Listing 16. A single link tag in html (userApp.html)
<link href="myStyles.css" rel="stylesheet">
As described above, you can reduce the number of HTTP requests for CSS files by creating your own entry point CSS file and perform Dojo build.
Dynamic creation and lazy loading
Lazy loading—a technique to load modules only when they are referenced for the first time—improves the application's startup performance. Dojo Mobile itself uses the lazy loading technique internally.
Creating a view dynamically
With the
url property of
_ItemBase, you can dynamically create a new
view immediately before making a view transition. Listing 17 shows an
example usage of the
url property. The view
content can either be an HTML fragment (Listing 18) or JSON data (Listing
Listing 17. Example of the url property

 External View #1 (sync)

 External View #2 (async)

Listing 18. An HTML fragment for a dynamic view (view1.html)

view1.html

 Jack Coleman

 James Evans

 Jason Griffin

Listing 19. JSON data for a dynamic view (view2.json)
{ "dojox.mobile.View": { "dojox.mobile.Heading": { "@back": "Home", "@moveTo": "foo", "@label": "view1.json" }, "dojox.mobile.EdgeToEdgeList": { "dojox.mobile.ListItem": [{ "@label": "Jack Coleman" }, { "@label": "James Evans" }, { "@label": "Jason Griffin" }] } } }
Another option is to programmatically fetch view content and insert it in the target view. Listing 20 shows an example.
Listing 20. Example of loading content into an existing view and making a transition

 Load and Move (async)
 ---- function myAction2(li){ var view2 = dijit.byId("view2"); // destination view var listItem = dijit.byNode(li); var prog = dojox.mobile.ProgressIndicator.getInstance(); dojo.body().appendChild(prog.domNode); prog.start(); view2.destroyDescendants(); var url = "http://..."; // or var url = listItem.url; dojo.xhrGet({ url: url, handleAs: "text", load: function(response, ioArgs){ var container = view2.containerNode; container.innerHTML = response; dojo.parser.parse(container); prog.stop(); listItem.transitionTo("view2"); } }); }
See dojox/mobile/tests/test_list-actions.html for details and more examples.
Lazy-load with IconContainer
IconContainer can have multiple icons, each of
which represents a sub application. The sub applications may consist of
one or more Dojo widgets. Loading of all the sub application code at
startup could slow down the startup time of the main application. To
improve the startup time performance, you can specify the
lazy="true" parameter on
IconItems. Then the Dojo parser skips
instantiation of widgets inside
IconItem, and
IconContainer loads those icon content modules
dynamically and instantiates them only when an icon is opened for the
first time.
Listing 21 is an example of lazy loading of icon contents. Note that you do
not have to explicitly require icon content modules
dijit.CalendarLite in the following example).
Note also that, in Dojo 1.7, lazy loading is supported only in the sync
loader mode, since lazy loading is performed synchronously using
Listing 21. Example of IconContainer's lazy load

 ....
Figure 17. IconContainer
Lazy load with TabBar
If you need lazy-loadable tab panels, you can use the
TabBar widget and the same technique as
described in "Creating a view dynamically." For tab
panels, you also need a little trick for the first tab panel, because
there is no view transition at startup. You need to programmatically make
a view transition from a dummy blank view to the first tab panel at
startup to load external contents into the first tab panel. Listing 22 and
Listing 23 show the same examples; the former is a sync example, the
latter is an async example.
Listing 22. Example of lazy tab panels (sync mode)
Listing 23. Example of lazy tab panels (async mode)
Requiring modules dynamically
Requiring modules dynamically at runtime is a good idea, since it could
improve the startup time performance.
But there is one potential problem you need to be aware of. Take a look at
Listing 24; it shows loading a Dojo module programmatically. It does work,
but if you build Listing 24, the build tool automatically picks up the
required module, and rolls it into a build, and thus
dojo.require does nothing at runtime since the
module has already been loaded at startup time.
Listing 24. Load a Dojo module programmatically (WRONG example)
myHandler: function(e){ dojo.require("dijit.CalendarLite"); var cal = new dijit.CalendarLite(); .... }
To avoid that issue, you could write
dojo["require"] instead of
dojo.require as shown in Listing 25.
Listing 25. Load a Dojo module programmatically (CORRECT example)
myHandler: function(e){ dojo["require"]("dijit.CalendarLite"); var cal = new dijit.CalendarLite(); .... }
If your application is using the async loader, the syntax differs as shown in Listing 26. But this is not a good example either, since the build tool picks up the specified module unexpectedly if you write the code this way.
Listing 26. Load a Dojo module programmatically (WRONG example)
myHandler: function(e){ require(["dijit/CalendarLite"], lang.hitch(this, function(module){ var cal = new module(); .... })); }
You can avoid the build problem by assigning the class name to a variable as shown in Listing 27.
Listing 27. Load a Dojo module programmatically (CORRECT example)
myHandler: function(e){ var cls = "dijit/CalendarLite"; // assign to a variable so as not to be in the build require([cls], lang.hitch(this, function(module){ var cal = new module(); .... })); }
Asynchronous mode
In Dojo 1.7, a new AMD (Asynchronous Module Definition) loader is provided
in addition to the traditional Dojo loader. Dojo Mobile widgets are
written in the new AMD syntax. To load any Dojo modules, you can use
either traditional
dojo.require (Listing 28) or
the new
require API (Listing 29).
Listing 28. Example of dojo.require (traditional)
Listing 29. Example of require (AMD syntax)
Listing 28 loads modules synchronously, while Listing 29 does it asynchronously. In circumstances where a lot of JavaScript files are loaded, it is expected that asynchronous loading will perform better than synchronous loading. If the JavaScript files are combined together into a single built file, however, there may not be much difference between synchronous and asynchronous.
However, there is a bigger difference you should be aware
of. Figure 18
shows the transferred files when test_iPhone-Animation.html, which loads
modules in the Listing 28 way, is opened, and Figure 19 shows the ones
when test_iPhone-Animation-async.html, which loads modules in the Listing
29 way, is opened. As shown in the Table 5, in the sync mode, 17 more
files, 26KB in total, are additionally loaded. This is because the sync
mode works in the backward compatibility mode, and thus loads some
required modules to keep backward compatibility. Given that
test_iPhone-Animation-async.html works without those additional modules,
it is obvious that they are not used, and do not have to be loaded.
Therefore, even if you carefully choose what modules to use, and optimize
your build using the
customBase option, use of
dojo.require() could derail your effort. You
should use the require API rather than
dojo.require() to
optimize your application's
Figure 18. Synchronous loading (test_iPhone-Animation.html)
Figure 19. Asynchronous loading (test_iPhone-Animation-async.html)
Table 5. Resource download comparison between sync mode and async mode
|Number of requests
|Total size
Incidentally, even if you use the AMD syntax like Listing 29, if you do not
async:true (the default value is
false), your application runs in the compatibility mode, and additional
modules are loaded.
dojox.mobile.parser is a small subset of dojo.parser. It was developed purely to reduce the total code size. It has no mobile-specific extra features over dojo.parser, so there is no reason you must use dojox.mobile.parser instead of dojo.parser; you can choose the one you like. Some of the advanced features of dojo.parser, such as


text:
Would you like to receive free chapters from popular books in your daily email?
Click here to join the Little Creek Branch book club. With your free book chapters, you will also receive a list of events at Little Creek Branch Library.
- Date: 05/15/2014 10:30 AM - 11:30 PM
- Location: Little Creek Branch Library
7853 Tarpon Place
Norfolk, Virginia 23518
Storytimes are engaging programs centered on seasonal concepts and themes. Groups of ten or more are asked to please contact the branch in advance. (Preschool & School Age, Ages 3-6)


text:
Tornadoes ravaged parts of North Texas on Wednesday night, killing at least six and causing property devastation.
This is a collection of videos from our coverage of this storm.
Click here: Texas tornadoes rip homes from foundations
Click here: North Texas tornado damage bus tour
Click here: Authorities search, sift through North Texas rubble


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Turkey pasta salad with red grapes
Makes 4 servings
Leftover turkey takes on a new personality. For do-ahead preparation, add half of the dressing before refrigerating the salad, and then add the rest just before serving. I like to make my own Basil Pesto, but you can buy it in a ready-to-use tub in most supermarkets.
For the pasta
6 ounces penne rigate
For the Creamy Pesto Dressing
¼ cup Basil Pesto
¼ cup sour cream
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
To complete the recipe
1 ½ cups cooked turkey (or rotisserie chicken) in ¾-inch pieces, skin removed, cooled
1 cup coarsely shredded carrots
1 cup halved seedless red grapes (about 6 ounces)
2 green onions, coarsely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
8 leaves red leaf lettuce
Freshly ground pepper, freshly shredded Parmesan cheese, and small bunches of red grapes for garnish
Cook the penne according to package instructions.
Meanwhile, whisk together the dressing ingredients in a large bowl.
When the penne is done, drain well. Rinse in cold water, then drain again.
Add the penne, chicken, carrots, grapes, and green onions to the dressing. Toss until evenly combined.
To serve, arrange greens on salad plates or shallow bowls. Top with mounds of the chicken salad and garnish with pepper, Parmesan cheese, and bunches of grapes.
Paulette Mitchell, a culinary instructor, television personality, spokesperson, freelance food writer, and the award-winning author of 13 cookbooks, is known internationally for her quick-to-prepare recipes with gourmet flair. Paulette's most recently published cookbook is "The Complete 15-Minute Gourmet: Creative Cuisine Made Fast and Fresh." She is also the author of "A Beautiful Bowl of Soup" and "The Spirited Vegetarian," which was voted "Best Book in the World on Cooking with Wine" at the 2005 Gourmand World Media Awards. Paulette says that international travel is her favorite source of culinary inspiration.


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Studio Apartment with a Large Jacuzzi
尺寸35 平方米
Floor No.
- 厨房
- 空调
- 洗衣机/干衣机
- 有停车场
- 互联网/无线网路
Accommodation summary
|Jabotinsky, Jerusalem, 以色列
This apartment is approximately 35 sq. meters (377 sq. feet).
This exquisite one bedroom garden suite will take your breath away, complete with beautiful finishing, wooden paneling, and a large Jacuzzi. Our garden apartment, with its own private entrance, offers simple, serene peace and quiet.
The apartment is located in the heart of Talbieh, Jerusalem. You will find yourself a short walking distance from the Old City, Emek Refaim, and the center of town.
-Cable TV
-Wireless Internet
-Private Parking
-Full Kitchen
-Provided Cooking Utensils/Dishes
-Provided Kosher Utensils/Dishes
-Available Shabbat Hot Plate
-Shabbat Water Urn
-Ground Floor Apartment
|10 月
|Check-in before
We had a very good time in Jerusalem, The apartment is very spacy and the neighbourhood really makes you feel "at home" in Jerusalem. Chana who is the manager was very attentive and communication (apparently she is a native speaker of English) was perfect. The patio is nice and big, although we couldn't use it as often as we would have hoped (as of late October/early November 2014 there is a construction site right beside the apartment so it was quite noisy in the mornings; and too cold and even rainy in the evenings). Having a washing machine and dryer was extremely helpful for us (family of five). Location is ideal, close to King David street (rental car return) and within 10-15 min walking distance from Jaffa gate. Also the Ben Yehuda/Yaffo street can be reached on foot. A small convenience store is located around the corner in Jabotinsky street, larger ones are on Keren Hayesod. For families with children, there is also a nice playground between Jabotinsky and Keren Hayesod.
Great hosts with great service. Always available either by personal visit, mail or phone. The apartment was at a perfect location and had everything we needed for our stay to be as pleasant as possible.
Apartment is well located (15' walking distance from Jabotinsky to Yafo Gate) and quite clean. For information, if you believe that sheets are dirty, it is unfair. Those keep dryer's moisture odor once cycle is off.
Chana, who's in charge of greeting customers and logistics, is great !
I highly recomand it.
Anat ând Chanat are great but the flat was dirty and and the power socket are not in good shape! Bed sheet was dirty as well.
Great flat close to centrum Sun clean and nice
--Can only recommend this flat! Good, central,quiet location, superb cleanliness and lots of space. Balcony an asset.
Well suited for families or friends (3-4) travelling together.
The apartment is in a nice neighborhood, with a convience store (24hr) across the street. The apartment had plumbing problem in bathroom, took at least 24 hours to send plumber. There was no soap dish in shower. Lights in the hallway shut off quickly - leaving you in complete darkness. No lock on front door of building, anybody can walk in.
Ruim appartement, 4 goede bedden, het 5e bed is een matig stretcher.
Mooi ligging tov de oude stad, ongeveer 3,5 km lopen.
Sanitair is zeer gedateerd, douche stang mag wel vervangen worden.
Niet luxe maar wel compleet, maar wij gaan ook niet voor luxe.
Appartement idéalement situé à 15 minutes à pied de la vieille ville, au calme. Avec parc pour enfants, commodités...pratique pour famille de 5 personnes. Tout confort avec 2 salles de bain. Juste humidité dans chambre et salle de bain du fond, mais se résout en aérant régulièrement . Une adresse à garder! Et l'accueil est très sympathique
In tegenstelling tot de vorige accomodatie in Jeruzalem. Niet erg tevreden over deze accomodatie.De accomodatie was niet klaar nop de afgesproken tijd, we hebben ongeveer een half uur gewacht. Er was veel stuk, schimmel in de pannen, stinkende dekbedden zonder hoes, 1 kussen zonder sloop, te weinig stoelen voor 6 personen, vies bestek, vuile borden, veel rommel om het huis. 1 pluspunt het lag op 10 autominuten van de Mamila parkeergarage vanwaar ze zo de Jaffapoort in liep. Eerst aan de schoonmaak geweest, toen vakantie gevierd. Het wordt omschreven in de advertentie als "zonnig appartement" maar er is alleen 's middags even zon.
- 住宿品质保证
- 屋主通过电话验证


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Category: Network-Tools/Network-InformationAssetTracker 1.07Author: Gernot Unger
Operation System: Windows NT/2K/XP/2003/VistaLicense: SharewareSize: 182 KBDate: 2007-06-09
AssetTracker allows you to get all the info you need from your Windows network. You can either let AssetTracker crawl your network via domain/IP-range or use it via a logon-script to be always up-to-date.
The innovative GUI lets you take control of your hardware/software/licenses fast and easy. The 100% transparent VB-Script lets you add custom infos. You choose what you want to track!
Here are some key features of "AssetTracker":
· Track any soft- and hardware in your network including license-management.
· 100% compatible from Windows NT on up to Windows Vista.
· An innovative and easy-to-use GUI.
· No database needed.
· No other special hard or software is used. Just a SMB-share on the OS of your choice!
· Windows- & Office-Key management
· You miss some data? Add it on your own via a 100% transparent visual basic script!
· It is fully functional, but limited to 10 computers
Download software
Unlock software
Download serilas


text:
INGREDIENTS:6 oz. unsweetened chocolate 1 cup yellow onion, finely diced 1 cup vegetable oil 2 cups sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking soda ½ tsp. salt 1 cup milk, soured with 1 Tbsp. vinegar as needed, fudge icing (recipe follows) DIRECTIONS:Melt chocolate in saucepan, stirring over low heat, or in microwave oven. Caramelize onion by sautéeing over medium low heat for 8-10 minutes in 2 Tbsp. oil in skillet until very soft and buttery-sweet. Using electric ...
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Parvo is caused by a microscopic creature, a highly contagious virus that is transmitted by dogs coming into contact with infected feces. Some dogs can shed the virus without actually having symptoms of the disease. The parvo virus infects the lining of the intestines causing rapid destruction of the sensitive lining which results in vomiting and explosive diarrhea. The puppy becomes dehydrated and malnourished; there is also a disruption in the dog's electrolytes adding to the overall weakness.
The main cause of death in a parvo infected dog is a rapidly progressing, life-threatening infection called septicemia. Bacteria that attack the lining of the intestines release toxins into the bloodstream adding to the complications of dehydration. Even if toxins are not released by bacteria, the dehydration and electrolyte imbalance that occurs can lead to shock and eventual death.
By introducing Parvo-X, a pleasant tasting paste in an oral syringe, immediate healing of the intestinal tract begins as billions of living colonies of prebiotics and probiotics kill the pathogens and repopulate. The friendly bacteria destroy microscopic organisms, poisonous bacteria, parasites, fungal infections, and viruses. Parvo-X contains the vitamins needed to begin the healing process, and the living colonies of "good-guy" bacteria to complete the healing.
Because puppies retain maternal antibodies until the age of about 16-22 weeks, and because it is impossible to know exactly when the maternal antibodies fail to protect, we recommend starting your puppy on Parvo-X early. After weaning, give 10cc of the paste for 3 days; wait 30 days and repeat the dose of 10cc's for 3 days. Continue this program every 30 days for the first 6 months to offer protection during that dangerous period when they lose maternal antibodies.
If a dog is diagnosed with parvo, one tube of Parvo-X will negate the virus, prevent dehydration and restore the intestinal balance. Our product also offers help against the Herpes virus when used in conjunction with Oxy-Doc.
Because we know it is important to you, most orders are shipped fast within 24 hrs on business days by Priority Mail!


text:
According to CSN's Jim Salisbury, Mike Adams sat out of yesterday's finale with the Diamondbacks due to back spasms. Salisbury states Adams informed the team in the sixth inning and will be day-to-day. The issue is only anticipated to last a few days and might explain why Adams's last seven outings where he wasn't quite himself (4.50 ERA, .304/.407/.478 against). However, back spasms are a tricky thing, especially when a disc is aggravated or a nerve is being pinched. After a successful 4-3 road trip against two of the top teams in the NL West, how worried are you that this could derail the positive developments?
Justin De Fratus was quietly added to the roster on Saturday and looked phenomenal on Sunday against the only batter he faced, NL All-Star candidate Paul Goldschmidt. De Fratus went right at the righty and struck him out in the ninth inning to keep the game knotted at two. De Fratus has undoubtedly earned his call-up, posting a 1.89 ERA in 19 IP with 17 Ks for Lehigh Valley and appears ready to take the reigns. If he continues to pitch like this until the Phillies need a fifth starter, the panic will be lessened and he may even convince the Phillies to send down or designate someone else. Don't answer the phone, Chad Durbin (6.17 ERA, 1.8 WHIP, 5.4 BB/ 9 IP).
Will De Fratus be enough to cover for Adams? Are you about to panic or are you ready to press on?
22 Comments
I'm not panicking unless we go 19 innings again… lol!
But Chad Durbin better be gone soon.
Chad Durbin of the 6.17 ERA is also allowing 60% of his inherited runners to score. Well above league average.
Having a WHIP of 1.8 is pretty incredible. He really won't last much longer in philly.
He really is awful. That 9 inherited runners scored out of 15 for 60% that you mentioned happened to be EXACTLY the number that Chad Qualls allowed in his 35 appearances with the Phillies last season! In Qualls' 31.1 innings of work he allowed 9 of the 15 inherited runners to score, Durbin has accomplished that in just 11.2 innings! Just imagine what he could accrue if Charlie keeps giving him the ball.
Chad Durbin is this year's Chad Qualls. No more Chads in Philly I guess!
Sounds like everyone wants to see another year of "hanging chads"
I was gonna include "hanging chads" in my comment but couldn't figure out how to do it. Your comment is perfect!
No need to panic if they actually use DeFratus properly —he has the stuff to pitch in the 8th.
Do panic if they give Adams' innings to Chad Durbin. Then we'd be f'ed.
not trying to be flippant, but how can DeFratus have looked "phenomenal" against 1 batter? Isn't 1 batter way too small of a sample size for a pitcher to look "phenomenal"?
Here is my take, as answer to your inquiry Scott. They take a 23 year old kid with very little major league experience, and bring him up. Then they throw him into one of the hottest, pressure cooker situations possible, against the D'backs best hitter. Yes it was only one out, and the kid has a long way to go to prove his mettle, but the situation the kid handled is what makes it phenomenal. You may not agree and that is your right, but that's the way I saw it.
There's a difference between saying DeFratus was phenomenal in that sample size of one batter than saying DeFratus will be phenomenal going forward because he struck out Goldschmidt.
Scott, you are NOT flippant (great word my mom used to call me about a century ago.) You are correct. One cannot look phenomenal when pitching to just one batter.
I have yet to panic. Just chewing the dickens out of my nails.
Us sport fans tend to be a bit hyperbolic at times.
Stutes has been showing good signs at Lehigh Valley and DeFratus handled the pressure on Sunday. Horst was effective on the road trip and Durbin looked okay in San Francisco. This is something the Phillies should be able to handle.
Why do they always wait till they blow a few games before coming out with a problem. Wouldnt it be better for the team if they divulge this information beforehand?
In the case of Halladay, one might wonder, but with Adams, I can say from long experience that back issues can appear suddenly, and although he had some problems in a game or two, it's pure conjecture and very unfair to say that his back was bothering him then and he should have told someone. It's just as likely his issue for those games was a high workload or just a bad day, and that the back spasms WERE indicated to the staff so he wouldn't have to try to pitch injured.
I get a little miffed when peope pass judgements without knowing what's really going on. Sure, maybe sometimes they're right, but many times they aren't.
I'll add, too, that I'd bet dollars to donuts that many people besides athletes try to perform while impaired, whether it's to keep his job or impress his girlfriend, or just to win a stupid bet.
Panic – no. Firesale – YES!
Counting down until we are Durbinless.
If the team and the manager are not showing signs of panic, why should I? 🙂
A much greater concern is the loss of Halladay for a good part of the season (we will have a better idea on that after his surgery this Wednesday). I don't think the team can contend in the division with both Pettibone and Lannan in rotation. Especially when the offense shows no sign of life and must resort to "smallball" in scratching for a run.
Good enough George. Might off jumped the gun


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Enrolment Services
Commissioner of Oaths
Sep 5/12
Wilfrid Laurier has a Commissioner of Oaths who is available to assist individuals with University-related business. Commissioners of oaths are persons who are empowered under provincial legislation to administer and witness the swearing of oaths or solemn affirmations in the taking of an affidavit for any potential legal matter. Commissioners of oaths are also empowered to witness any declaration as required under at statute. The person swearing an oath, making an affirmation or making a declaration is called a deponent or declarant. A commissioner of oaths only certifies that the required oath or affirmation or declaration has been properly administered. Commissioners of oaths do not certify the truth of the statements contained in a document; which remains the responsibility of declarants or deponents themselves. It often becomes necessary to obtain and use copies of a document rather than use the actual document itself. In this situation, the Commissioner can photocopy the document and certify it as being a true or genuine copy of the original by affixing a signature, seal and statement to that effect on the copy. As a result, the veracity of the copied document is assured to persons to whom the photocopied document is later presented.
For more information or to
contact the Commissioner of Oaths to schedule an appointment, contact Joanne Bell, Sr. Administrative Assistant at email@example.com or ext. 6350.


text:
Celebrities with December birthdays
Published On: Nov 30 2011 12:32:09 PM CST Updated On: Dec 01 2016 01:00:00 AM CST
If you're celebrating your birthday in December, click on to see which celebrities share your big day.
The views expressed are not those of this company or its affiliated companies. By posting your comments you agree to our Terms of Use.


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PHILADELPHIA – For years researchers have been searching for a way to treat diabetics by reactivating their insulin-producing beta cells, to no avail. Now, they may be one step closer. A protein, whose role in pancreatic development has long been recognized, has been discovered to play an additional and previously unknown regulatory role in the development of cells in the immature endocrine system. These cells ultimately give rise to pancreatic islet cells, which include beta cells.
By carefully defining the developmental steps and genetic circuits that lead to mature beta cells, researchers may be able to one day mimic these developmental processes, thereby facilitating beta-cell growth in the lab, and eventually, new therapies. The findings appear in the July 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
"The protein, Pdx1, is a pivotal molecule in the regulation of beta-cell development and we hope this type of information could help in efforts to generate beta-cell replacements for the treatment of diabetes," says senior author Doris Stoffers, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Stoffers is also a member of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism at Penn.
Pdx1 is a key regulator of pancreatic development and adult beta-cell function. For example, loss of a single copy of Pdx1 in mice leads to diabetes; loss of two copies leads to a complete failure of the pancreas to form. This new research expands the role of Pdx1 in beta-cell biology in the developing embryo.
Ultimately, Stoffers says, these findings could help researchers intent on developing cell-based therapeutic approaches to diabetes – though such advances are a long way off. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are caused by a loss of insulin-producing beta cells. In theory, transplantation of fresh beta cells should halt the disease, yet researchers have not yet been able to generate these cells in the lab at high efficiency, whether from embryonic stem cells or by reprogramming other mature cell types.
"The prevailing view is if we understood how the process occurs normally, we might be able to apply that information to faithfully and efficiently push the cells down the pathway to ultimately generate beta cells that may be used clinically," she says.
The new findings represent a previously unknown role for Pdx1. Endocrine precursor cell development is controlled by a DNA-binding transcription factor called neurogenin-3 (Ngn3). Ngn3, in turn, is regulated by four additional proteins: Sox9, Foxa2, Hnf6, and Hnf1b. In short, this study found that Pdx1 binds directly to the Ngn3 gene to orchestrate gene expression with these proteins.
Specifically, Stoffers was curious about the function of one end of the Pdx1 protein – the C terminus – whose role in beta-cell development was not known – and yet is mutated in certain diseases. Her team, led by MD-PhD candidate Jennifer Oliver-Krasinski, developed mice that lacked the C terminus, essentially with a shortened Pdx1 protein.
The team found that when both copies of the Pdx1 gene were truncated at the C terminus, the pancreas formed, but the mice quickly developed diabetes. When they investigated why, they found that these mice were deficient in all endocrine cells, including beta cells.
"That led us to conclude the defect was at an early cell, or precursor, stage," Stoffers says – specifically, in the formation of Ngn3-expressing endocrine progenitor cells.
Further molecular characterization of these mutant mice led the team to conclude that Pdx1 is a master regulator of the development of endocrine cell precursors. Pdx1 binds directly to the Ngn3 gene, controlling its expression; it does this by forming a molecular complex with the protein Hnf6, which is mediated by the Pdx1 C terminus. Pdx1 also binds directly to and controls the expression of two additional endocrine cell genes, Hnf1b and Foxa2.
"Pdx1 not only directly regulates Ngn3, it also indirectly regulates it by controlling the regulatory network of Sox9, Foxa2, Hnf6, and Hnf1b," she explains.
The most immediate implications of the findings also suggest a molecular mechanism for why those individuals who harbor mutations in Pdx1 get diabetes. If Pdx1 controls Ngn3, and Ngn3 governs endocrine progenitor cell formation, then loss of Pdx1 should result in a loss of endocrine lineages, including beta cells.
That appears to be the case in mice. Now, says Stoffers, the question is: Does this regulatory pathway look and act the same in humans as in mice? "It is likely that the mechanisms are the same, but we would like to directly test that," concludes Stoffers.
Co-authors in addition to Stoffers and Oliver-Krasinski are Margaret Kasner, Juxiang Yang, Michael F. Crutchlow, Anil Rustgi, and Klaus Kaestner, all from Penn.
The study was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $4.3 billion enterprise.
The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 17 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $392 million awarded in the 2013 fiscal year.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine.
Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2013, Penn Medicine provided $814 million to benefit our community.
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text:
GV Now
Best-selling author to visit Meijer Campus
Posted on June 28, 2013
Best-selling author Zoë Ferraris moved to Saudi Arabia with her former husband after the first Gulf War in 1991. She experienced life in a conservative, closed Muslim community with her daughter, which is the setting for her award-winning trilogy series.
Ferraris, whose family lives in Holland, will give a presentation about her experiences in Saudi Arabia and her books on July 25, from 3:30-5 p.m. on the Grand Valley Meijer Campus in Holland.
After returning to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia, Ferraris attended Columbia University where she received a master's degree in writing. Her first novel Finding Nouf, and the follow-up novel, City of Veils, are international best-sellers that have been published in more than 35 countries. Her third novel, Kingdom of Strangers, was published in June of 2012 and was an Oprah's Editor's Pick. She is a recipient of the LA Times Book Award and LAL Alex Award, and was selected as a Barnes and Noble Discover a New Writer Choice.
Her visit is held in conjunction with the Grand Valley Women's Center, Center for Women in Transition, and the Woman's Advisory Network, founded by Carla Masselink and Ilse Saewert of MKS Wealth Advisors of Raymond James.
The event is free and open to the public. RSVP to Jo Ann Wassenaar in the Women's Center at email@example.com or (616) 331-2748.


text:
The links below provide benefit at-a-glance information for each employee group listed below.
Benefits that are provided/available for all regular non-student employees include the following:
- Access to College fitness facilities.
- Admission to College speakers, entertainment and athletic events.
- Use of College library and computing resources.
- Eligibility to enroll in a Supplemental Retirement Annunity (SRA) administered by TIAA/CREF
For more information, please call our Human Resources Office at: 517-629-0205.