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Partner: UNT Libraries
Department: School of Library and Information Sciences
Collection: UNT Theses and Dissertations
CT3 as an Index of Knowledge Domain Structure: Distributions for Order Analysis and Information Hierarchies
Date: December 2002
Creator: Swartz Horn, Rebecca
Description: The problem with which this study is concerned is articulating all possible CT3 and KR21 reliability measures for every case of a 5x5 binary matrix (32,996,500 possible matrices). The study has three purposes. The first purpose is to calculate CT3 for every matrix and compare the results to the proposed optimum range of .3 to .5. The second purpose is to compare the results from the calculation of KR21 and CT3 reliability measures. The third purpose is to calculate CT3 and KR21 on every strand of a class test whose item set has been reduced using the difficulty strata identified by Order Analysis. The study was conducted by writing a computer program to articulate all possible 5 x 5 matrices. The program also calculated CT3 and KR21 reliability measures for each matrix. The nonparametric technique of Order Analysis was applied to two sections of test items to stratify the items into difficulty levels. The difficulty levels were used to reduce the item set from 22 to 9 items. All possible strands or chains of these items were identified so that both reliability measures (CT3 and KR21) could be calculated. One major finding of this study indicates that .3 to .5 ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Diagnosing Learner Deficiencies in Algorithmic Reasoning
Date: May 1995
Creator: Hubbard, George U.
Description: It is hypothesized that useful diagnostic information can reside in the wrong answers of multiple-choice tests, and that properly designed distractors can yield indications of misinformation and missing information in algorithmic reasoning on the part of the test taker. In addition to summarizing the literature regarding diagnostic research as opposed to scoring research, this study proposes a methodology for analyzing test results and compares the findings with those from the research of Birenbaum and Tatsuoka and others. The proposed method identifies the conditions of misinformation and missing information, and it contains a statistical compensation for careless errors. Strengths and weaknesses of the method are explored, and suggestions for further research are offered.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Discovering a Descriptive Taxonomy of Attributes of Exemplary School Library Websites
Date: August 2007
Creator: Valenza, Joyce Kasman
Description: This descriptive study examines effective online school library practice. A Delphi panel selected a sample of 10 exemplary sites and helped to create two research tools--taxonomies designed to analyze the features and characteristics of school library Websites. Using the expert-identified sites as a sample, a content analysis was conducted to systematically identify site features and characteristics. Anne Clyde's longitudinal content analysis of school library Websites was used as a baseline to examine trends in practice; in addition, the national guidelines document, Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning, was examined to explore ways in which the traditional mission and roles of school library programs are currently translated online. Results indicated great variation in depth and coverage even among Websites considered exemplary. Sites in the sample are growing more interactive and student-centered, using blogs as supplemental communication strategies. Nevertheless, even these exemplary sites were slow to adopt the advances in technology to meet the learning needs and interests of young adult users. Ideally the study's findings will contribute to understanding of state-of-the-art and will serve to identify trends, as well as serving as a guide to practitioners in planning, developing, and maintaining school library Websites.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
An E-government Readiness Model
Date: December 2001
Creator: Liu, Shin-Ping
Description: The purpose of this study is to develop an e-government readiness model and to test this model. Consistent with this model several instruments, IS assessment (ISA), IT governance (ITG), and Organization-IS alignment (IS-ALIGN) are examined for their ability to measure the readiness of one organization for e-government and to test the instruments fit in the proposed e-government model. The ISA instrument used is the result of adapting and combining the IS-SERVQUAL instrument proposed by Van Dyke, Kappelman, and Pybutok (1997), and the IS-SUCCESS instrument developed by Kappelman and Chong (2001) for the City of Denton (COD) project at UNT. The IS Success Model was first proposed by DeLone and McLean (1992), but they did not validate this model. The ITG instrument was based on the goals of the COD project for IT governance and was developed by Sanchez and Kappelman (2001) from UNT. The ISALIGN instrument was also developed by Sanchez and Kappelman (2001) for the COD project. It is an instrument based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) that measures how effectively a government organization utilizes IT to support its various objectives. The EGOV instrument was adapted from the study of the Action-Audience Model developed by Koh ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
The Effect of Information Literacy Instruction on Library Anxiety Among International Students
Date: May 2004
Creator: Battle, Joel C.
Description: This study explored what effect information literacy instruction (ILI) may have on both a generalized anxiety state and library anxiety specifically. The population studied was international students using resources in a community college. Library anxiety among international students begins with certain barriers that cause anxiety (i.e., language/communication barriers, adjusting to a new education/library system and general cultural adjustments). Library Anxiety is common among college students and is characterized by feelings of negative emotions including, ruminations, tension, fear and mental disorganization (Jiao & Onwuegbuzie, 1999a). This often occurs when a student contemplates conducting research in a library and is due to any number of perceived inabilities about using the library. In order for students to become successful in their information seeking behavior this anxiety needs to be reduced. The study used two groups of international students enrolled in the English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) program taking credit courses. Each student completed Bostick's Library Anxiety Scale (LAS) and Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) to assess anxiety level before and after treatment. Subjects were given a research assignment that required them to use library resources. Treatment: Group 1 (experimental group) attended several library instruction classes (the instruction used Kuhltau's information search ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
The Effect of Personality Type on the Use of Relevance Criteria for Purposes of Selecting Information Sources.
Date: December 2002
Creator: Sims, Dale B.
Description: Even though information scientists generally recognize that relevance judgments are multidimensional and dynamic, there is still discussion and debate regarding the degree to which certain internal (cognition, personality) and external (situation, social relationships) factors affect the use of criteria in reaching those judgments. Much of the debate centers on the relationship of those factors to the criteria and reliable methods for measuring those relationships. This study researched the use of relevance criteria to select an information source by undergraduate students whose task it is to create a course schedule for a semester. During registration periods, when creating their semester schedules, students filled out a two-part questionnaire. After completion of the questionnaire the students completed a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instrument in order to determine their personality type. Data was analyzed using one-way ANOVAS and Chi-Square. A positive correlation exists between personality type as expressed by the MBTI and the information source selected as most important by the subject. A correlation also exists between personality type and relevance criteria use. The correlation is stronger for some criteria than for others. Therefore, one can expect personality type to have an effect on the use of relevance criteria while selecting information sources.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Effect of Technology Integration Education on the Attitudes of Teachers and their Students
Date: December 1997
Creator: Christensen, Rhonda
Description: This study analyzed the effect of technology integration education on teachers' and students' attitudes toward information technology. Two instruments measuring similar attributes were used to assess teachers' and students' attitudes. Differences in pre- and post-test scores were used to determine changes that occurred during the course of the study.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
The Effectiveness of Using Lego Mindstorms Robotics Activities to Influence Self-regulated Learning in a University Introductory Computer Programming Course.
Date: May 2008
Creator: McWhorter, William Isaac
Description: The research described in this dissertation examines the possible link between self-regulated learning and LEGO Mindstorms robotics activities in teaching concepts in an introductory university computer programming course. The areas of student motivation, learning strategies, and mastery of course objectives are investigated. In all three cases analysis failed to reveal any statistically significant differences between the traditional control group and the experimental LEGO Mindstorms group as measured by the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and course exams. Possible reasons for the lack of positive results include technical problems and limitations of the LEGO Mindstorms systems, limited number and availability of robots outside of class, limited amount of time during the semester for the robotics activities, and a possible difference in effectiveness based on gender. Responses to student follow-up questions, however, suggest that at least some of the students really enjoyed the LEGO activities. As with any teaching tool or activity, there are numerous ways in which LEGO Mindstorms can be incorporated into learning. This study explores whether or not LEGO Mindstorms are an effective tool for teaching introductory computer programming at the university level and how these systems can best be utilized.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
The Effects of Increased Equipment Speed on Online Database Searching Practices
Date: May 1987
Creator: Masters, Gary E. (Gary Everett)
Description: This study reports changes in online database searching at North Texas State University when equipment speed was increased. Data were from database vendor invoices and price and sale data of online equipment. The hypotheses examined the relationship between the decrease in the cost of online equipment and the change to faster online equipment and the change in the number of databases that changed for online types. The change in equipment was related to changes in the number of offline prints per hour, the average time per search, the average number of descriptors per search, the number of searches per month, and the rank order of database use over the studied period. The increase in the number of databases with billed types was related to the number of online billed types produced. The number of prints was related to the number of billed types. Time spent online was examined for annual seasonal cycles. The major statistical tool was time-series analysis, although other methods were applied.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
The Effects of Task-Based Documentation Versus Online Help Menu Documentation on the Acceptance of Information Technology
Date: May 1999
Creator: Bell, Thomas
Description: The objectives of this study were (1) to identify and describe task-based documentation; (2) to identify and describe any purported changes in users attitudes when IT migration was preceded by task-based documentation; (3) to suggest implications of task-based documentation on users attitude toward IT acceptance. Questionnaires were given to 150 university students. Of these, all 150 students participated in this study. The study determined the following: (1) if favorable pre-implementation attitudes toward a new e-mail system increase, as a result of training, if users expect it to be easy to learn and use; (2) if user acceptance of an e-mail program increase as expected perceived usefulness increase as delineated by task-based documentation; (3) if task-based documentation is more effective than standard help menus while learning a new application program; and (4) if training that requires active student participation increase the acceptance of a new e-mail system. The following conclusions were reached: (1) Positive pre-implementation attitudes toward a new e-mail system are not affected by training even if the users expect it to be easy to learn and use. (2) User acceptance of an e-mail program does not increase as perceived usefulness increase when aided by task-based documentation. (3) Task-based documentation ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Elementary School Climate Factors and Personality and Status Variables Associated with School Library Media Specialists Chosen by Classroom Teachers for Cooperation on Instructional Problems
Date: December 1990
Creator: Bell, Michael David, 1943-
Description: This study investigated relationships between the extent to which elementary classroom teachers tend to choose school library media specialists for cooperation on instructional problems and several school climate and faculty related characteristics including the general academic effectiveness of the school, the overall cohesion and cooperativeness of the teaching faculty on instructional matters, and the propensity of the group and individual faculty to seek cooperation to solve instructional problems. The instructional choice status of the school library media specialist was also studied in relation to various individual personality factors, as measured by Cattell's 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire, as well as school media specialist status variables including degreed or non-degreed status, total years of experience as a school library media specialist, years of experience on campus as a school library media specialist, and total number of years of experience in the field of education. The instructional status of the school library media specialist was also examined in relationship to the size of the school served. The study included 1,079 elementary classroom teachers and thirty-nine school library media specialists from thirty-nine Texas elementary schools similar in important wealth, size, and student demographic characteristics. Twenty of the schools ranked in the bottom 25% of ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
An Empirical Investigation of Critical Factors that Influence Data Warehouse Implementation Success in Higher Educational Institutions
Date: May 2003
Creator: Mukherjee, Debasish
Description: Data warehousing (DW) in the last decade has become the technology of choice for building data management infrastructures to provide organizations the decision-making capabilities needed to effectively carry out its activities. Despite its phenomenal growth and importance to organizations the rate of DW implementation success has been less than stellar. Many DW implementation projects fail due to technical or organizational reasons. There has been limited research on organizational factors and their role in DW implementations. It is important to understand the role and impact of both technical but organizational factors in DW implementations and their relative importance to implementation performance. A research model was developed to test the significance of technical and organizational factors in the three phases of implementation with DW implementation performance. The independent variables were technical (data, technology, and expertise) and organizational (management, goals, users, organization). The dependent variable was performance (content, accuracy, format, ease of use, and timeliness). The data collection method was a Web based survey of DW implementers and DW users sampled (26) from a population of 108 identified DW implementations. Regression was used as the multivariate statistical technique to analyze the data. The results show that organization factors are significantly related to performance. ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Empowering Agent for Oklahoma School Learning Communities: An Examination of the Oklahoma Library Improvement Program
Date: August 2000
Creator: Jenkins, Carolyn Sue Ottinger
Description: The purposes of this study were to determine the initial impact of the Oklahoma Library Media Improvement Grants on Oklahoma school library media programs; assess whether the Oklahoma Library Media Improvement Grants continue to contribute to Oklahoma school learning communities; and examine possible relationships between school library media programs and student academic success. It also seeks to document the history of the Oklahoma Library Media Improvement Program 1978 - 1994 and increase awareness of its influence upon the Oklahoma school library media programs. Methods of data collection included: examining Oklahoma Library Media Improvement Program archival materials; sending a survey to 1703 school principals in Oklahoma; and interviewing Oklahoma Library Media Improvement Program participants. Data collection took place over a one year period. Data analyses were conducted in three primary phases: descriptive statistics and frequencies were disaggregated to examine mean scores as they related to money spent on school library media programs; opinions of school library media programs; and possible relationships between school library media programs and student academic achievement. Analysis of variance was used in the second phase of data analysis to determine if any variation between means was significant as related to Oklahoma Library Improvement Grants, time spent in ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Evaluation of Text-Based and Image-Based Representations for Moving Image Documents
Date: August 1997
Creator: Goodrum, Abby A. (Abby Ann)
Description: Document representation is a fundamental concept in information retrieval (IR), and has been relied upon in textual IR systems since the advent of library catalogs. The reliance upon text-based representations of stored information has been perpetuated in conventional systems for the retrieval of moving images as well. Although newer systems have added image-based representations of moving image documents as aids to retrieval, there has been little research examining how humans interpret these different types of representations. Such basic research has the potential to inform IR system designers about how best to aid users of their systems in retrieving moving images. One key requirement for the effective use of document representations in either textual or image form is thedegree to which these representations are congruent with the original documents. A measure of congruence is the degree to which human responses to representations are similar to responses produced by the document being represented. The aim of this study was to develop a model for the representation of moving images based upon human judgements of representativeness. The study measured the degree of congruence between moving image documents and their representations, both text and image based, in a non-retrieval environment with and without task ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
An Evaluation of the Effect of Learning Styles and Computer Competency on Students' Satisfaction on Web-Based Distance Learning Environments
Date: August 2003
Creator: Du, Yunfei
Description: This study investigates the correlation between students' learning styles, computer competency and student satisfaction in Web-based distance learning. Three hundred and one graduate students participated in the current study during the Summer and Fall semesters of 2002 at the University of North Texas. Participants took the courses 100% online and came to the campus only once for software training. Computer competency and student satisfaction were measured using the Computer Skill and Use Assessment and the Student Satisfaction Survey questionnaires. Kolb's Learning Style Inventory measured students' learning styles. The study concludes that there is a significant difference among the different learning styles with respect to student satisfaction level when the subjects differ with regard to computer competency. For accommodating amd diverging styles, a higher level of computer competency results in a higher level of student satisfaction. But for converging and assimilating styles, a higher level of computer competency suggests a lower level of student satisfaction. A significant correlation was found between computer competency and student satisfaction level within Web-based courses for accommodating styles and no significant results were found in the other learning styles.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
An Examination of Selected Product Characteristics Associated with the Sales Success of Nontheatrical Film and Video Works
Date: May 1990
Creator: Munde, Gail Marie
Description: The purpose of this study was to test assumptions made about characteristics of nontheatrical film and video works that were thought to contribute to the frequency with which the works were purchased. This study proposed and tested three variables for which relationships to the sales success of nontheatrical film and video works were hypothesized, as well as four variables about which no hypotheses were forwarded. Nineteen film and video distribution organizations contributed unit sales data for the period 1982-1987 on 151 works copyrighted between 1982 and 1984. These data were analyzed for relationships between sales totals and 1) curricular significance of the works' subjects, 2) relevance to general reading interest in the works' subjects, 3) intensity of competition faced by the works, 4) the works' Dewey classifications as compared to the composition of typical K-12 school library book collections, 5) the series or non-series status of the works, 6) the media format(s) in which the works were available for purchase and 7) the sources of the works' production financing. Analyses of correlation and association were performed and no significant relationships were found between sales and curricular significance of the works' subjects, or their relevance to general reading interest. Some evidence ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
An Examination Of The Variation In Information Systems Project Cost Estimates: The Case Of Year 2000 Compliance Projects
Date: May 2000
Creator: Fent, Darla
Description: The year 2000 (Y2K) problem presented a fortuitous opportunity to explore the relationship between estimated costs of software projects and five cost influence dimensions described by the Year 2000 Enterprise Cost Model (Kappelman, et al., 1998) -- organization, problem, solution, resources, and stage of completion. This research was a field study survey of (Y2K) project managers in industry, government, and education and part of a joint project that began in 1996 between the University of North Texas and the Y2K Working Group of the Society for Information Management (SIM). Evidence was found to support relationships between estimated costs and organization, problem, resources, and project stage but not for the solution dimension. Project stage appears to moderate the relationships for organization, particularly IS practices, and resources. A history of superior IS practices appears to mean lower estimated costs, especially for projects in larger IS organizations. Acquiring resources, especially external skills, appears to increase costs. Moreover, projects apparently have many individual differences, many related to size and to project stage, and their influences on costs appear to be at the sub-dimension or even the individual variable level. A Revised Year 2000 Enterprise Model is presented incorporating this granularity. Two primary conclusions can ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
An Experimental Study of Teachers' Verbal and Nonverbal Immediacy, Student Motivation, and Cognitive Learning in Video Instruction
Date: May 2000
Creator: Witt, Paul L.
Description: This study used an experimental design and a direct test of recall to provide data about teacher immediacy and student cognitive learning. Four hypotheses and a research question addressed two research problems: first, how verbal and nonverbal immediacy function together and/or separately to enhance learning; and second, how immediacy affects cognitive learning in relation to student motivation. These questions were examined in the context of video instruction to provide insight into distance learning processes and to ensure maximum control over experimental manipulations. Participants (N = 347) were drawn from university students in an undergraduate communication course. Students were randomly assigned to groups, completed a measure of state motivation, and viewed a 15-minute video lecture containing part of the usual course content delivered by a guest instructor. Participants were unaware that the video instructor was actually performing one of four scripted manipulations reflecting higher and lower combinations of specific verbal and nonverbal cues, representing the four cells of the 2x2 research design. Immediately after the lecture, students completed a recall measure, consisting of portions of the video text with blanks in the place of key words. Participants were to fill in the blanks with exact words they recalled from the videotape. ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
An exploration of the diffusion of a new technology from communities of practice perspective: Web services technologies in digital libraries.
Date: August 2007
Creator: Oguz, Fatih
Description: This study explored and described decision factors related to technology adoption. The research used diffusion of innovations and communities of practice (CoP) theoretical frameworks and a case study of Web services technology in the digital library (DL) environment to develop an understanding of the decision-making process. A qualitative case study approach was used to investigate the research problems and data were collected through semi-structured interviews, documentary evidence (e.g., meeting minutes), and a comprehensive member check. The research conducted face-to-face and phone interviews with seven respondents with different job titles (administraive vs. technical) from five different DL programs selected based on distinctive characteristics such as size of the DL program. Findings of the research suggested that the decision-making process is a complex process in which a number of factors are considered when making technology adoption decisions. These factors are categorized as organizational, individual, and technology specific factors. Further, data showed that DL CoPs played an important role in enabling staff members of a DL program to access up-to-date and experienced-based knowledge, provided a distributed problem solving and learning environment, facilitating informal communication and collaborative activities, and informing the decision-making process.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
An exploratory study of factors that influence student user success in an academic digital library.
Date: December 2007
Creator: Rahman, Faizur
Description: The complex nature of digital libraries calls for appropriate models to study user success. Calls have been made to incorporate into these models factors that capture the interplay between people, organizations, and technology. In order to address this, two research questions were formulated: (1) To what extent does the comprehensive digital library user success model (DLUS), based on a combination of the EUCS and flow models, describe overall user success in a prototype digital library environment; and (2) To what extent does a combined model of DeLone & McLean's reformulated information system success model and comprehensive digital library user success model (DLUS) explain digital library user success in a prototype digital library environment? Participants were asked to complete an online survey questionnaire. A total of 160 completed and useable questionnaires were obtained. Data analyses through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling produced results that support the two models. However, some relationships between latent variables hypothesized in the model were not confirmed. A modified version of the proposed comprehensive plus user success model in a digital library environment was tested and supported through model fit statistics. This model was recommended as a possible alternative model of user success. ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Factors Influencing How Students Value Asynchronous Web Based Courses
Date: December 1999
Creator: Pérez Cereijo, Maria Victoria
Description: This dissertation discovered the factors influencing how students value asynchronous Web-based courses through the use of qualitative methods. Data was collected through surveys, observations, interviews, email correspondence, chat room and bulletin board transcripts. Instruments were tested in pilot studies of previous semesters. Factors were identified for two class formats. The asynchronous CD/Internet class format and the synchronous online Web based class format. Also, factors were uncovered for two of the instructional tools used in the course: the WebCT forum and WebCT testing. Factors were grouped accordingly as advantages or disadvantages under major categories. For the asynchronous CD/Internet class format the advantages were Convenience, Flexibility, Learning Enhancement, and Psychology. The disadvantages included Isolation, Learning Environment, and Technology. For the synchronous online Web based class format the advantages were Convenience, Flexibility, Human Interaction, Learning Enhancement and Psychology, whereas the disadvantages included Isolation, Learning Environment and Technology. Concurrently, the study revealed the following factors as advantages of the WebCT Forum: Help Each Other, Interaction, Socialization, Classroom News, and Time Independent. The disadvantages uncovered were Complaints, Technical Problems and Isolation. Finally, advantages specified for the WebCT testing tool were Convenience, Flexibility and Innovations, and its disadvantages were Surroundings Not Conducive to Learning, and Technical ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Factors Influencing Older Adults' Patterns of Information Acquisition
Date: May 1989
Creator: Barnett, Mary Jane, 1952-
Description: A group of 101 older adults (sixty-five years of age and over) who lived independently in three retirement apartment residences in Denton, Texas, were asked about their patterns of reading, television viewing, and radio listening habits for two periods in their lives: (1) at age forty to fifty-five and (2) at the present. Respondents were asked about their use of external information sources (public library, grocery store, newsstand, etc.) and their use of proximate information sources (radio, friends/relatives, television, etc.) They were also asked about access to transportation, income satisfaction, status of general health, vision, hearing, physical mobility and reasons for utilizing various information sources. Four hypotheses relating changes in health, environment, economic status, and education to reasons for reading and use of information sources were tested through the use of t-tests, regression analysis and analysis of variance. Within this group of older adults, use of external information sources decreased from the past to the present. There was, however, no change in the use of information sources located in or near the residence as difficulties in these areas increased. A relationship was found between educational level and reading for pleasure earlier in life. Also, those with higher educational levels reported ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Factors Related to Mississippi School Library Media Centers in Multitype Cooperation
Date: May 1988
Creator: Partridge, Margaret
Description: The main purpose of this study was to identify the major obstacles to cooperation as perceived by school library media specialists in the state of Mississippi and to determine if members of the Coastal Mississippi Library Cooperative (CMLC) believe that there are fewer obstacles to cooperation than do non-members. The secondary purpose was to evaluate the CMLC to some extent to determine if success was achieved through organization when defined by the variables, planning, governance, funding, communication, administration, and evaluation. The population of the study was all of the librarians (academic, public, school, and special) in the six-county area which comprises the CMLC, and a random sample of public school librarians throughout the remainder of the state. All of the school librarians were sent a questionnaire that requested their responses to statements of barriers to cooperation. All of the librarians in the CMLC region were sent a questionnaire to obtain their perceptions of participation in the CMLC. Pour librarians, members of the CMLC, were Interviewed to obtain information on the organizational factors of the CMLC. Data received from school library media specialists were submitted to various statistical tests. The Chi-Square statistic was used on the demographic portion of the questionnaire, ...
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Factors Related to the Professional Progress of Academic Librarians in Louisiana
Date: May 1991
Creator: Brazile, Orella Ramsey, 1945-
Description: Three groups of Academic librarians in Louisiana were surveyed to determine what factors other than job performance influenced professional progress (Salary increases, promotion and tenure) for them. Staff development activities were also investigated to determine if they played any significant role in influencing professional progress. Three opinion questions were also asked in this investigation about the feasibility of using an index that was developed to assess quantitatively staff development activities.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries


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London Heathrow Marriott: Find photos, reviews, information, amenities and compare prices for 4 stars hotels in London, United Kingdom.
Stylish and luxurious, London Heathrow Marriott is located in London and offers a Jacuzzi and an indoor pool. The multiple amenities this modern hotel has to offer include 24-hour room service, an express check-in and check-out feature and massage services.
Hotel description
This 4-star hotel offers a 24-hour reception, meeting rooms and a currency exchange. There is on-site parking for those travelling with a car.
Every modern room at London Heathrow Marriott comes with a mini bar and cable/satellite channels, while the bathrooms offer showers and bathrobes. Each provide tea and coffee making facilities, heating and ironing facilities.
London Heathrow Marriott features a range of meal options with in-house restaurants, Tuscany Ristorante and Allie's American Grille. Drinks can be enjoyed at the on-site bar. A wide selection of cafés and restaurants can also be found in the surrounding area.
London Heathrow Marriott is located under a 10-minute drive from London Heathrow Airport. The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew is just a 20-minute car ride from the hotel.
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Oven Ready Roast Chicken
Preheat over to 400°F
make it in:
WITH PERDUE® Oven Ready Whole Seasoned Roaster (6 lbs.)
Serves 8 | Prep Time: 0 Min | Cook Time: 90 Min
Preheat oven to 400°F (375°F for a glass baking dish). Cut open outer bag and remove Oven Ready Roaster, sealed in cooking bag. Place in a shallow roasting pan or baking dish, breast side up.
Cut a 1" slit in cooking bag over the breast to vent during cooking. NOTE: Cooking bag will expand during cooking; allow enough room for the bag to expand without touching oven rack or walls.
From fresh (preferred method) place pan or baking dish with roaster (still in cooking bag) on lower shelf of oven and roast for approximately 90 to 115 minutes until a meat thermometer registers an internal temperature or 180°F in the breast.
OR From frozen place pan or baking dish with roaster (still in cooking bag) on lower shelf of over and roast approximately 2-3/4 to 3 hours until a meat thermometer registers an internal temperature or 180°F in the breast.
TIP: If temperature is below 180°F, return to oven and continue cooking, checking the temperature every 10 minutes until the temperature reaches 180°F.
Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes. Cut open cooking bag (use care to avoid hot steam and juices) and transfer Roaster to serving plate or cutting board. Remove string from legs before carving. Remaining juices in bag can be used for a delicious gravy.
Pour pan juices into large heatproof measuring cup or bowl. Let stand and skim off fat. Place 8 tablespoons of clear drippings into saucepan, reserving remainder. Add 5 tablespoons flour to saucepan and cook, stirring over medium heat for 1 minute. Stir in reserved juices and 3 cups chicken broth or water. Cook, stirring 2 to 3 minutes, until gravy is smooth and thickened. Season to taste.
Serve carved chicken with gravy.
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text: Chennai: The tender committee of Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) is meeting today to discuss the bids of ESPN and Zee Network and decide on the coveted telecast rights of matches to be played in India for the next four years. The board has invited the top brass of both the channels to the meeting to seek some clarifications on financial and technical requirements. As per the tender opened on August 14, Zee had quoted $260 million while pledging a further Rs 95 crore exclusively for coverage of domestic cricket matches while ESPN had quoted $230 million. Both the companies have also extended a tender security of one per cent of the bid amount before the sealed tenders were opened. The companies had submitted the tender in sealed covers but the security money was paid in person at the time of submission of the tender. (PTI)


text:
Benches made from fallen trees - level 1
16-04-2015 07:00
Big storms come to Sao Paolo. They knock down more than 1,700 trees. There are fallen trees everywhere. The city leaders don't know what to do. They ask the people of Sao Paolo.
Hugo Franca is an artist. He talks to the city leaders. He says that he will carve the trees. He will turn them into benches. He will turn them into furniture.
He carves some trees. People use them. They like them! They sit on them. They relax, talk and read on them.
Difficult words: carve (to cut into something to make something new), bench (a wide chair where some people can sit), furniture (things we use to sit on or lay on).
You can read the original story and watch the video in the Level 3 section.
Do you like the idea to turn the trees into furniture?
How to improve your English with News in Levels:


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All four of the ancient elements were covered at Pleasanton's Green Scene Fair on Thursday: purifiers for air and water, earth-friendly garden design, and fire in the form of solar-powered everything. The sun was one of the main focuses of the event, even if it was forced inside because of rain.
Laura Ryan, Pleasanton's energy and sustainability manager, is glad that green is the new black.
"It's not a niche market any more. As people get involved in these things it drives prices down because of high demand. The economy being as bad as it is, that's even more of a motivation," Ryan said at the second annual fair, held at CarrAmerica on Rosewood Drive.
The fair featured much of what one would expect at this sort of event: people selling solar panels, electric bikes, motorcycles and chargers for electric cars, others from BART and other transit agencies and rideshare companies encouraging people to use public transportation or vanpool.
Companies offered everything from high-end water purifiers to whole home remodeling, banking on the idea that green thinking will mean black ink in their ledgers.
It also brought in some unexpected vendors. Nuubia Chocolat was a crowd favorite, largely because of its free samples. The company, which recently opened on West Las Positas Boulevard, sells chocolate that's green in attitude, not color, according to CEO Alexandra Saunders of Danville.
"My background is conservation and sustainability," Saunders said. "We have an environmental mission, and we have a mission to produce the finest chocolate."
The company goes as far as buying only from dairy farms that treat their animals humanely and uses paper free of hardwood or rainforest fibers and soy-based inks. The product also just been named best chocolate in the U.S.
Another local vendor was Rhonda Chase Design, a Pleasanton-based jeweler who recently began a line made from recycled materials like newspaper comics rolled and varnished into beads, cans cut and lacquered to create earrings, and necklaces made from reclaimed bottle glass.
Chase said people are often obsessed with things that are brand new, like the latest phone.
"I've been working on ways of making my jewelry more environmentally friendly," she said. "I want people to have the idea that they can have something beautiful and functional without getting it new off the shelf."
Although 93 vendors were signed up to participate, along with a number of informational booths manned by Pleasanton staff, the rain forced a number to drop out.
Ryan estimated 87 vendors were in attendance. Thomas Cosgrove of Clean Energy Associates, who organized the event, said he expected between 500 and 600 people to show up, slightly fewer than last year, despite a last-minute push to let people know the event had been moved indoors.
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We offer discount to nonprofits, government agencies, and federal contractors
AILA makes recommendations to restore due process for Central American children, families, and adults seeking asylum and legal protection at our border. Read Report Today
AILA Doc. No. 07041369 | Dated April 11, 2007 | File Size: 28 KDownload the Document
Text of the High-Tech Worker Relief Act of 2007 (S. 1092), as introduced by Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) on 4/11/07. The bill would temporarily increase the number of visas available to certain highly skilled workers.
[[To print the PDF on this page please use the print function in the PDF reader.]]
Cite as AILA Doc. No. 07041369.Open the Document
American Immigration Lawyers Association
1331 G Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005
Copyright © 1993-2017
American Immigration Lawyers Association.


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ZANEWS: The Devil Wears Gaga
- Alex Eliseev
- Politics
- 23 Feb 2012 08:41 (South Africa)
Who's going to foot Pravin's bill? Why was our President tickling the Head Girl? And will the Old Testament become American foreign policy? And who the Hell is inside Gaga? All this and more, in today's bumper edition of ZANEWS!
- Alex Eliseev
- Politics
Do Not Miss
Daily Maverick has suspended comments on the site. Until the interwebs figures out a better way to deal with the naughty kids in the class, the space for your comments is on our Facebook page and the Twitterverse.
Alternatively, you are welcome to send a letter to the editor.


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the muscular tattooed one on the right is HOT, but why oh why did they pair him up with a twink for this scene ??
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44 CFR 6.50 - Submission of requests to amend records.
Beta! The text on the eCFR tab represents the unofficial eCFR text at ecfr.gov.
§ 6.50 Submission of requests to amend records.
An individual who desires to amend any record containing personal information about the individual should direct a written request to the system manager specified in the pertinent Federal Register notice concerning FEMA's systems of records. A current FEMA employee who desires to amend personnel records should submit a written request to the Director, Human Capital Division, Washington, DC 20472. Each request should include evidence of and justification for the need to amend the pertinent record. Each request should bear the legend "Privacy Act - Request to Amend Record" prominently marked on both the face of the request letter and the envelope.


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Video: A Coffee Farmer's Journey from Refugee Camp to Prosperity
June 20, 2013
Meet Athanasie Musabyimana, a Rwandan coffee farmer who has overcome tremendous obstacles to create a healthy, prosperous life for her family.
Today, on World Refugee Day, we honor the courage and strength of millions of people forced to flee their homes — men, women and children currently displaced and those trying to rebuild their lives years later.
Meet Athanasie Musabyimana. When violence broke out in Rwanda in 1994, Athanasie, 20 years old and eight months pregnant, fled to Tanzania. In the refugee camp, she gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Nzamwitakuze: "I will give you a name if you survive."
After returning to Rwanda, Athanasie worked the family coffee farm but struggled to make ends meet. Through the Coffee Initiative, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, TechnoServe helped Athanasie improve the quality of her coffee and earn a higher income. Today, Athanasie feels confident and optimistic about her daughter's future. "I want her to be bright, and to progress and prosper." Nzamwitakuze recently graduated high school and plans to attend university next year.
Related Blog Posts
A new crop for a new beginning
After being driven from his land by drug violence, a cocoa farmer partners with TechnoServe to create a fresh, sustainable future.
Women Cultivate Backyard Bounty
Women in Rajasthan, India, are using kitchen gardens to improve their families' nutrition while redefining their role in the household.
Video: William Warshauer on Sustainable Value Chains
TechnoServe's President and CEO talks with Devex about the key elements of creating commercially viable, sustainable supply chains.


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Read an Excerpt
Deadly Exposure
By Linda Turner
Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd.Copyright © 2004 Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd.
All right reserved.
Chapter OneHesitating in the doorway of the Liberty Hill High School cafeteria, Lily Fitzgerald seriously considered slipping outside and leaving before anyone saw her. She shouldn't have come. She'd long since lost touch with the few friends she'd made in school, and she didn't really care for reunions. All everyone ever talked about was how many children they had and how successful they were, and that left her with little to say. She'd never married, let alone had children, and she didn't measure success in dollars and cents. So what if she had a healthy back account? She couldn't remember the last time she'd been happy.
"Lily! You came! I didn't think you would."
Glancing up from her thoughts to find Natalie Bailey sitting by herself at the table closest to the door, Lily had to smile. She and Natalie had been in biology together their junior year and shared a frog in lab. She wouldn't have said they were close friends exactly, but they'd enjoyed working together, and today, she appreciated a friendly face in the crowd.
"I almost didn't," she admitted honestly, joining her at the table.
"Me, neither," Natalie replied. "Then I felt guilty for not wanting to come, which is ridiculous. I'm thirty-three years old, for heaven's sake! I shouldn't let guiltcontrol my life."
"Don't beat yourself up over it," Lily advised. "We all do it."
Her tone was casual enough, but she didn't fool Natalie. Her blue eyes narrowing sharply, she said, "I thought that out of all of us, you'd be the one who did your own thing and found happiness. You were always so together."
Lily almost laughed out loud at the idea of her ever being together. For as long as she could remember, she'd never felt as if she'd had any control over anything, least of all her life. "It was a front," she said honestly. "I was just doing what my father and teachers wanted me to do, being who they wanted me to be. I figured if I played the game the way they wanted me to play, one day I'd be old enough to live my life the way I wanted."
"So has that day come?" Natalie asked, arching an eyebrow at her. "Are you doing what you've always wanted?"
She almost said yes because that was what was expected of her. All her life, she'd always done what was expected of her. But she wasn't a little girl anymore, and she was just so tired of telling people what they wanted to hear. "No," she said quietly, "I'm not."
"Neither are we," Rachel Martin said, blatantly eavesdropping from a nearby table with Abby Saunders and making no apology for it. Joining them, she frowned.
"So what's wrong with us? How come we're not married to a wonderful man and raising little angels like Susan Phillips? We're all as smart and pretty as she is. So why didn't we land butter side up in suburbia? Where did we go wrong?"
"I always let my father influence the decisions I made, and he never wanted what I wanted," Lily said grimly.
"Making him happy seemed more important than making me happy."
"I didn't think I was pretty enough to get a good man," Abby said quietly. "Which is why I'm dating Dennis. No one else seems to be interested."
"What?" Rachel exclaimed, shocked. "Of course they're interested! You just have to have more confidence in yourself. At least you're not stupid like I am. All I ever wanted was a baby, and what did I do? Waste years on a man who had a vasectomy without telling me. How dumb is that?"
"Stop that!" Natalie scolded. "You're not stupid. He's the bad guy, not you. You just believed the man you loved. I did the same thing. I worked six years to put Derek through college and law school because he told me I'd get my chance to go to school when he graduated and opened his own firm. Of course, he also told me he loved me, and all the time, he was playing around on me with his paralegal. So much for love. Now he's living on a Caribbean island with his new wife, and I'm raising our eight-year-old daughter by myself. And there isn't a damn thing I can do about it."
"Yes, there is," Lily told her. "It's not too late for you to go to school yourself. Get your degree and laugh in the jerk's face."
"That's easy for you to say," she retorted. "When are you going to stop letting your father control your life?
And when is Abby going to have the confidence to go out and find herself a good man?"
"And what about me?" Rachel chimed in. "I want a baby and the clock is ticking. How am I going to get pregnant without a man?"
For the first time since she'd walked in the door, Lily smiled. "You don't need a man, Rachel ... just his sperm."
"Oh, no!" she said quickly. "I'm not going there. If I'm going to have a baby, I'm going to do it the traditional way, with a man I love, a wedding ring, the whole nine yards."
"And that's the problem," Natalie said quietly. "We all wish our lives were different, but we're not willing to do what it takes to find happiness. Maybe that's the difference between us and them," she added, nodding toward the dance floor, where their happier classmates were dancing the night away. "They went after what they wanted. We didn't."
"Because we were afraid to take a chance and step outside our comfort zone," Abby said quietly.
Her expression grim, Rachel said, "It's been fifteen years since we graduated from high school, and we're still afraid! How long are we going to live like this?"
Somber, they all just looked at each other. That was a question no one had an answer for.
Excerpted from Deadly Exposure by Linda Turner Copyright © 2004 by Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd.. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.


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- {{matchup.date.fullday}}{{matchup.date.month + ' ' + matchup.date.day}}
Oklahoma City vs Sacramento Recap - Thunder Win 107-92
Oklahoma City earned a 107-92 victory over Sacramento on Tuesday, getting 23 points from Kevin Durant at Sleep Train Arena.
Bettors who backed the Thunder were also rewarded, as they covered the closing number as a favorite of 9.5 at sportsbooks. Over-Under bettors saw the total score go UNDER the closing total of 200.5.
Caron Butler had 23 points for Oklahoma City and Serge Ibaka chipped in with 19 points. Reggie Jackson had 5 assists for the Thunder, while Nick Collison was the team's top rebounder, grabbing 7 boards.
The Kings got a 24-point performance from Travis Outlaw, who was supported by 24 points from DeMarcus Cousins. Ray McCallum had 5 assists in a losing cause for Sacramento, while DeMarcus Cousins grabbed 14 rebounds.
Oklahoma City led at halftime, 61-49.
The rebound battle favored Sacramento as they grabbed 44 boards, while Oklahoma City only had 39.
Next game, Oklahoma City takes its act on the road to face Los Angeles looking for another win. For Sacramento, they head on the road to face Portland.


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decision time!!! UTMB vs TX A&M University
0 Hello! I have a difficult decision for nursing school- UTMB Galveston and Texas A&M HSC in College Station. If anybody has any advice, pros, cons, whatever... please let me know!!!Apr 24, '10 by Silverdragon102, RN AdminMoved to the TX nursing program discussion forumJul 1, '10 by purple08Hi,
I don't know much about either program, but I think I would choose UTMB. You'd be closer to Houston, which has the amazing TX Med Center. Plus, UTMB is a teaching hospital, so it's a great environment to learn. Pretty soon, you'll be teaching the new MDs!


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Radiant Particles Free
- February 20, 2014
( 3,892)
An amazing Live Wallpaper made from thousands of moving particles that follow your finger. Create unique swirls and watch as the swarm dissipates. Customise particle count, blending and touch. Full version includes colour, size and more!
• Standalone app
Follow us: https://twitter.com/opotech
UPDATED! Now includes:
• Standalone app
• Another particle colour
• Screenshot ability (sd-card permission needed)
To start, long-press on an open area on your homescreen, select Wallpapers, Live Wallpaper and then pick Radiant Particles from the list.
Follow us: https://twitter.com/opotech
Like on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Radiant-Particles/401992756483559
Meh. The free version is pretty basic. If you don't touch the screen it does nothing really. Then when you do, the appeal ends quick. Needs more areas for the particles to interact with. It has lots of potential though. Maybe the full version is cool but not worth it to me. Good luck!
A bad copy that we must pay for? Particle Flow is literally the paid version of this app, that you can get for free.
Particles and movement can't be seen Unless the screen's brightness is turned at least 80percent. Sorry, no go.
Addicting I added an empty home screen just to goof around with this. I play with it more than I'd like to admit.
Stunning. One of my favourite dynamic wallpapers. My only problem is that I like it too much. I'm guilty of spending so long manipulating the particles that I forget what app I was looking for.
Cool My particles seem to clump together after a while. Maybe add multiple gravity wells. Any way great app.
What's New
• Added x86 support (intel-based devices)
• Fixed a crash occurrence
• Added in-app trial of Fresh Water Live Wallpaper
• Fixed crashes on Galaxy S3
• Added one more colour and a standalone app
• Added screenshot ability in standalone app (This is why SD card permission is added)
• Performance Improvements
• Added multi-colour presets to full version
• Fixed hangs and crashes when setting wallpaper
Beautiful abstract live wallpaper with set of HD pictures and live water effect
Aquarium Live Wallpaper - HD wallpapers, funny pics and cool backgrounds!


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This weeks' featured projects span a number of categories, and include two projects from our sister site, BerliOS.
- Hibernate
Hibernate – Relational Persistence for Idiomatic Java
- PNG reference library: libpng
Reference library for supporting the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format.
- Linux-on-android
This projects aim is to bring a range of linux distros to your android device.
- Code::Blocks IDE
Code::Blocks is an open-source cross-platform IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for C/C++. Designed with flexibility in mind, most of its features are provided by external modules (plugins) making it easily extendable and configurable.
- avidemux
Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks.
- IPCop Firewall
The IPCop Firewall is a Linux firewall distribution. It is geared towards home and SOHO users. The IPCop web-interface is very user-friendly and makes usage easy.
- Nagios
Nagios is a powerful, enterprise-class host, service, application, and network monitoring program. Designed to be fast, flexible, and rock-solid stable. Nagios runs on *NIX hosts and can monitor Windows, Linux/Unix/BSD, Netware, and network devices.
- Hattrick Organizer
Helper Tool for online-manager Hattrick


text:
Gift Premium Subscription To dmbGator
Join Date:10-11-2010
Last Activity:02-25-2015 2:10 AM
1 Likes on 1 Posts
- Homebrewing
- Business Analysts
- Ryan
- Dave Matthews Band
- Brewing TV
- Pale Ale
- Gint's Two Kidney Ale, Oktoberfest, Conway's Irish Ale Clone, Shiraz
- Cider, Green Apple Reisling
- Phat Tyre
- Male
- In a Relationship
- Columbus
- Ohio
Posted in thread: 2013's How many gal of homebrew in 2013 on 04-15-2013 at 02:45 PM
+5 IPA+5 Dunkelweizen+5 Hefeweizen19572.5 + 15 = 19587.5 gallons
Posted in thread: Brew your own subscription on 02-28-2013 at 01:36 AM
Can I get the details? Thanks.
Posted in thread: What's your favorite beer store in Columbus? on 02-28-2013 at 01:27 AM
Posted in thread: 2013's How many gal of homebrew in 2013 on 02-25-2013 at 03:58 PM
+ 5 Gal Pale Ale= 9441.5
Posted in thread: 2013's How many gal of homebrew in 2013 on 02-20-2013 at 09:48 PM
+5 gals Conways Irish Ale Clone+5 gals Bells Two Hearted Ale= 8220 gals
Posted in thread: Beer alchemy 2 on 02-20-2013 at 09:38 PM
If you buy it on the Mac does it come with the iPad/iPhone version? or do you need to buy those
Posted in thread: Beer Alchemy Order Issue on 02-20-2013 at 09:19 PM
I have been trying to purchase Beer Alchemy all day. I tried multiple times with multiple cards
today 2013-02-20 and continue getting an error that my order did not go through. So I tried the
paypal m...
Posted in thread: HomeBrewTalk 2013 Big Giveaway! on 02-11-2013 at 01:47 AM
I'm In!
Posted in thread: Columbus, OH AleFest on 01-31-2013 at 01:22 PM
I'll be working this with the Fiancee.
Posted in thread: Official Broken Hydrometer Count on 01-26-2013 at 04:34 PM
This is awesome. I just found this thread. If I only knew about this since the beginning. I've
lost count, and finally gave up and got a refractometer. But I know I broke 2 last year. So +2
for last y...


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Iv'e been wanting to start my own company for a while now and finaly I have fugured out a name for it. I like the word "Eternal", so I mushed it around with some other letters and came up with Aternix. I finaly came up with this name on 9/2/2013 and I plan on using for my comany forever. This company is for the construction of many different types of games and will be associated with other indie companies. This is just the begining of the company and I hope it gets realy far as I will be behind it for a very long time.
No games, mods, engines, software or hardware appear to be published or in development by Aternix. We suggest you add games, mods, engines and hardware you are developing here (or update existing games, mods, engines and hardware on the site which should be linked with this Developer).
If this profile is not used to publish or develop games, mods, engines, software or hardware we recommend you contact us and we will move it to the groups section and this page will display a blog instead.
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.


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People Moves
Credit Suisse adds Stewart
Credit Suisse Asset Management has hired Andy Stewart from Man Investments to be managing director and head of the liquid alternatives business. At Man, Stewart was president and chief operating officer in the US, responsible for business management and overall supervision of the firm's activities in the US market.
In his new role at Credit Suisse, Stewart will be responsible for developing and expanding the liquid alternatives business, which includes its single manager hedge fund business, fund of hedge funds, and index products.
The liquid alternatives franchise, which recently took a small stake in York Capital Management, is a


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Global Industries Ltd (NASDAQ:GLBL-OLD)
Q2 2011 Earnings Call
August 4, 2011 10:00 am ET
John Reed - CEO
Andy Smith - CFO
Ashit Jain - COO
Marshall Adkins - Raymond James
Joe Gibney - Capital One
Michael Marino - Stephens
Graham Mattison - Lazard Capital Markets
Welcome to Global Industries' Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions). Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections you may disconnect at this time.
On the call this morning are John Reed, Chief Executive Officer; Andy Smith, Chief Financial Officer; and Ashit Jain, Chief Operations Officer.
I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Andy Smith. Sir, please begin.
Andy Smith
Thank you. Good morning. I would like to welcome everyone to Global Industries second quarter 2011 earnings conference call. The call is being recorded and will be available on our website at globalind.com.
Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that certain of our comments and responses to questions reflect our current views and assumptions and are considered forward-looking statements as defined in securities laws and regulations and may include risks and uncertainties which are more fully described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Interested parties are directed to our website for access to our SEC filings.
Now, I will turn it over to our Chief Executive Officer, Mr. John Reed. John.
John Reed
Thanks Andy. Good morning and welcome to our call. Before I turn it back over to Andy for financial results and AJ to go through operating results, I want to update you regarding market developments.
As has been our practice over last several quarters, we have described our tender activity using two categories, namely bids in-house and outstanding, and bids expected in the next 90 days. Bids in-house and outstanding at the end of Q2 are $3.4 billion versus $3 billion at the end of Q1. Bids expected in the next 90 days are $1.8 billion versus $3.3 billion at the end of Q1.
I would caution that while this decrease looks large we maintain consistent tracking of our statistics and continue to monitor our 90-day look ahead window. However, if we look ahead an additional 30 days or 120 days in total, we have in addition identified approximately $2 billion of bids expected. I only point this out as it reinforces the inherent lumpiness of our business and that quarterly statistics may not give the entire picture.
Further, we have recently reviewed all our tenders that are currently in play and believe we are well-positioned in many and are hopeful that our backlog at the end of the year will be significantly higher than it was entering the year.
Bid margins will likely remain at historic lows, however, with the exception of line 58 and 59 we have experienced margin improvements of approximately 3 percentage points over as-bid margins and all projects in excess of $5 million in value since our 2010 focus on project execution excellence.
Turning to our specific market areas, the Gulf of Mexico continues to be hampered by the permitting process. Our installation schedules for awarded work have been pushed to the right by lack of permits in several cases involving both installation projects as well as removal projects. Although summer work season activity has picked up somewhat we expect that the overall slow pace will continue for the foreseeable future.
We are now entering the offshore execution phase of our first deepwater/SURF project Who Dat for LLOG. The project is located in 3,000 foot water depth and includes flexibles, rigids, export line, subsea manifolds and jumpers, and requires four of our floating assets for the offshore installation. Our enhanced engineering and project management capabilities will be fully utilized to give us the best opportunity for a safe and timely completion.
Now, looking to Mexico, PEMEX activity is set to accelerate with bid activity ramping up now and expected to continue through 2012. we anticipate a bid volume in excess of $1 billion for work expected to be completed in 2012. one of these projects is line 56 57 which we were awarded on July 22. offshore execution utilizing the G1200 will begin in November this year and the scope of work consists of installation of two pipelines plus significant diving activities.
Turning to Brazil, we entered into a memorandum of understanding [Outabreck] Oil & Gas to jointly participate in the rigid pipe lay and other subsea projects of interest to both companies in Brazil, the rest of Latin America and Angola. Global brings state of the art assets and expertise in pipe laying and subsea construction to pair with Outabreck's project management, supply chain management, fabrication and local content in Brazil. Outabreck is $32 billion company and is an established name in the market with historical relationships with Petrobras and Sonogal, and a focus on the growing subsea activities in Brazil and beyond. We believe the strengths that our combined companies can offer significantly enhances our ability to serve our clients and win projects in those regions.
As mentioned last quarter, we have now opened an office in Perth, Australia, to establish ourselves in that growing market. We are actively bidding for work in 2012, '13 and '14.
In Asia-Pacific, we continue to work on our Petronas 2012 scope of work now with our new 40% partner Puncak Oil & Gas. The scope of this year's campaign has increased with the award of work KPOC and New Field with a combined value of $40 million.
The G1200 successfully completed her first project for DPE off the coast of Dubai. She is now en route to the Gulf of Mexico and will execute the PEMEX line 56 57 project as mentioned earlier. The 1201 remains on schedule and budget and will be delivered in the third quarter of 2011.
Finally, we continue to look toward West Africa to develop future opportunities for these vessels primarily in Angola, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea.
With that, I will turn it back over to Andy.
Andy Smith
Thanks John. As I have in the past call, before I go through the income statement, I want to highlight the various issues which impacted the quarter. The second quarter continued to be negatively affected by low seasonal utilization of our construction fleet as well as the continued run off of projects with with or no gross margin.
During the quarter, we finalized the completion of line 59 and line 58 projects in Mexico and executed the majority of the offshore on the DPE job in Dubai. While both of these projects are still loss projects each experienced improvement in the second quarter. These turnarounds are representative of the emphasis we have placed on improving project management and should result in more consistent performance when market conditions improve.
As John noted, utilization in the quarter was negatively affected by permitting issues which pushed some of work to the right. Utilization for this quarter of our construction vessel the Global 1200, Hercules, [Hyden 2], Iroquois, Chickasaw, Comanche and the DLB264 was 32.9%. Our MSVs, the Orion, Commander, Pioneer and Challenger were utilized 50.7% of available days. We expect higher utilization for the third and fourth quarters of 2011.
In fact, based on our existing backlog our expectations for utilization of our construction assets are 42% and 35% from the third and fourth quarters respectively, while our MSVs are expected to be utilized 87% and 70% for the same respective quarters.
However, I would like to remind everyone that under-utilization of our vessels is a direct reduction of our gross margins and is highly dependent on the mix of under-utilized vessels.
As such the expected under-utilized of the Global 1200 will likely have a drag effect on our margins for the remainder of the year as we mobilize the vessel to the Gulf of Mexico and prepare it for, what we believe, will be a substantial campaign. This 2012 campaign will begin in late 2011 with line 56 and 57 project and we expect it to include other native projects sanctioned by PEMEX.
During the quarter, the company finalized the termination of the Titan 2 charter agreement and reached agreement with the vessel owner to be paid for improvements made to the vessel during the charter period. This agreement resulted in the $3.6 million gain which was offset by $5.5 million of further impairments on assets held for sale for which there has been any sale interest in some time.
Our tax rate for the quarter was 3.9%. during the quarter we recorded a non-cash valuation allowance of $9 million against some of our foreign tax credits and an additional non-cash valuation allowance against other deferred tax assets of $6.1 million, which decreased our tax benefit and, therefore, increased our net loss per share for the quarter.
Now, let me get to the income statement in a little more detail. Revenue for the second quarter of 2011 increased slightly to $132.9 million from $121.8 million in the second quarter of 2010. projects executed in the 2011 quarter while executed favorably against our expectations were still at historically low pricing. Overall, projects executing in the second quarter of 2011 versus the second quarter of 2010 contained average project profit margin 9 percentage points lower than a year ago.
Additionally, the introduction of the Global 1200 coupled with the low utilization of the fleet resulted in higher costs and higher under-absorption in the prior year's quarter. The combination of these issues resulted in a gross loss of $7.3 million in the second quarter of 2011 from a gross profit of $7.2 million in the second quarter of 2010.
In the second quarter, SG&A totaled $16.9 million, a decrease of $5 million over the same period last year reflecting our continued focus on costs and centralization of support functions.
Net interest expense of $1.7 million for the second quarter was approximately $400,000 higher than 2010's second quarter amount primarily due to a reduction in capitalized interest associated with the construction of our new build assets.
Other expense total $200,000 are primarily consists of the foreign exchange losses on forward contracts purchased to offset foreign currency needs on our significant capital expenditure items and specific foreign operations. As previously noted, our cashes very negatively affected by approximately $15 million of evaluation allowance recorded in the quarter.
Net loss attributable to common shareholders was $26.8 million or $0.24 per diluted share for the second quarter of 2011, compared to net income of $1.4 million or $0.01 per diluted share for the second quarter of 2010. During the quarter, we booked $85.7 million of new work and at June 30, 2011, our backlog stood at $201.3 million. As we discussed in last quarter's call, changes to the scope of the work on the Uberaba project for Petrobras, which represents approximately $90 million of our backlog, are currently been negotiated between Petrobras and Brazil's environmental licensing agency. We know expect this project this project to initiate in late 2011 and complete in 2012.
Our other work in the backlog is expected to execute in 2011. Also, June 30, the company is recorded an additional $114 million of bookings including $71 million for the line 56, 57 project which kicks off in the fourth quarter of this year. At June 30, our cash balance stood $187 million down sequentially from $248 million on March 31, including restricted cash used to secure our outstanding letters of credit and cash class project investments. Our cash balance is $245 million at June 30.
Looking ahead the company expects capital expenditure for the remainder of 2011 to be approximately $100 million with remaining payments on the Global 1200 and 1201 accounting for approximately $80 million of that amount.
As John mentioned earlier, we have a new partner in Malaysia in Puncak Oil & Gas. Finalized in early July their participation replaces our former 30% partner and is represented of the movement to higher local content in Malaysian offshore works. For the 40% interest Puncak paid approximately $24 million. Additionally, they retained a one year option to purchase the remaining 60% interest on additional $35 million. Our agreement with Puncak calls for exclusivity rights to partner on other Malaysian offshore works outside the scope of the current Petronas frame agreement. We expect the opportunity for Global and Puncak to sensibly partner on future deep water projects as significant and we were toward to work with our new partner.
I will now turn it over AJ for comment on our operations during the quarter.
Ashit Jain
Thank you, Andy, and good morning everyone. During the second quarter our project activities included work on two major construction projects in Mexico, three in Gulf of Mexico, one in Asia, and one in the Middle East. Besides the three major projects, the project activity in the Gulf of Mexico also included several smaller dated projects for our MSV fleet.
As John mentioned earlier, during the quarter we successfully completed our first project with the G1200 in Dubai. The project which included installation of two pipelines with the combined length of 54 km and a small platform was delivered to the client on schedule. Additionally due to good execution, the project delivered better than expected financial results.
The G1200 is currently on its way to Gulf of Mexico. Upon arrival in the Gulf of Mexico the G1200 will be utilized for some of the previously awarded projects, prior to mobilizing to Mexico to execute the recently awarded line 56 and 57 projects. The line 56 and 57 projects include installation of a 24 inch and an 8 inch pipeline in 70m water depth. The work is expected to start in November of this year and will involve 30 days for the G1200 and more than 100 days for the MSV Orion.
Back in the Gulf of Mexico, the permit delays have pushed the start of the both LLOG and McMoRan salvage project into the second half of this year. As we speak, the Hercules and MSV Orion have mobilized to the site to initiate the installation of flexible pipelines on LLOG project.
During the quarter, we continued discussions with the Petrobras on the start of the Uberaba project in Brazil. Our discussions have been delayed due to ongoing discussions between Petrobras and Brazil's national environmental agency IBAMA. Additionally, Petrobras has requested us to evaluate significant additional work to be executed in conjunction with the Uberaba project. We expect to have an outcome of these discussions by the end of this quarter with a possible start date towards end of fourth quarter.
This concludes our prepared comments and we will now open the call for any questions. Operator?
Question-and-Answer Session
(Operator Instructions). Our first question comes from Marshall Adkins of Raymond James. You may ask the question.
Marshall Adkins - Raymond James
Good morning, gentleman. You went too early and you went too pretty fast at the bids and bids in house stuff would you just repeat that, so I can get it down.
John Reed
All right I will do that, Marshall. It's Johnny. I will just reread that section. As has been our practice over the last several quarters we have described our tender activity using two categories, namely bids in-house and outstanding and bids expected in the 90 days. Bids in-house and outstanding at the end of Q2 are $3.4 billion versus $3 billion at the end of Q1. Bids expected in the next 90 days are $1.8 billion versus $3.3 billion at the end of Q1.
And then I went on further to say that, if we just look ahead another 30 days instead of the 90-day period, we identified an additional $2 billion of bids expected. So bid expected in four months would be $3.8 billion.
Marshall Adkins - Raymond James
So, this read between the lines there, I mean its seems you guys are going to lag the recovery in the Gulf by 6 to 12 months, at least normally you do. And then it seems like so it's finally getting going again on the drilling side there. Does this mean that we are near the bottom and in terms of backlog and things turnaround the next quarter too?
John Reed
We certainly hope so. I think you are right about the lag, but in the Gulf that's also dependent on the permitting issue as well. And that hasn't really cleared up much. So, I am not sure how the fact of end other than we know its slower, but bid activity at least we still feel it's very strong.
Marshall Adkins - Raymond James
And when you say permitting, you are talking both of drilling and the abandonment stuff?
John Reed
Yeah, all the way through to abandonment. We have awarded projects which did not have permits for abandonment.
Marshall Adkins - Raymond James
Okay. Address, obviously March has been crappy here for a while, in the bidding of stuff that's going on now, specifically stuff for the 1200 under the first project you had to bid just to get it going it, a bit of a loss, but going forward how do the margins in that backlog look?
John Reed
I think it depends on bid on which type of work we are bidding. On conventional work there still going to be these historical lows, I think they will be better when we can bid into deeper water market.
Marshall Adkins - Raymond James
Okay. And the project that you are doing in Mexico, would you classify this somewhere between those two?
John Reed
I would say it's at the same level as other conventional work.
Marshall Adkins - Raymond James
Okay, so lower level. Last question from me. Liquidity or covenants, obviously you are pulling down cash pretty quickly here, but it does require things to stabilizing is there thing any we should look at in terms of be concerned about in terms of covenants and liquidity for the six to nine months?
Andy Smith
No, I don't think so. Certainly, we have got an sort of an advance in this week, arranged with our banks to be enable to sort of get cash collateral as our LC so that we didn't have to worry about our covenant issues and that's working well for us and from the banks right now, so I don't think there's any issues.
Joe Gibney of Capital One, you may ask your question.
Joe Gibney - Capital One
Thanks, good morning. Andy, appreciate the color on percentage of backlog to roll off. I was just curious if you have that broken out for third quarter and fourth quarter, I understand all goes off in second half but do you have what the number will be in Q3?
Andy Smith
Yeah. The 2100 I think roughly 40% rolls off in third quarter and then another 20% of sale of what we had in June 30 for run off in fourth quarter and then lot of that Uberaba project will fall in 2012. Except that we have booked subsequent to the quarter, substantial portion in that will run off this year with, $30 million or $40 million in that probably running into next year.
Joe Gibney - Capital One
And just to confirm that number you probably kind of pass with $114 million in additional books?
Andy Smith
Yeah, 114.
Joe Gibney - Capital One
And 71 was line 56 and 57?
Andy Smith
Joe Gibney - Capital One
Okay. And just in reference to the market opportunity in Mexico firming, John, I think you referenced $1 billion bid of that bottom market. How many jobs are you talking about down there, for pipe lay opportunities I think you referenced to possibility of same may be 10, you know its been running at a much lower pace than that over the last couple of years, its bit of a catch up here, but just you comment on that appreciating?
John Reed
Yeah. Its at least 10 probably tend toward 15, and a billion is probably on the conservative side in terms of value.
Joe Gibney - Capital One
Okay. And then one last from me, I will turn it over. You referenced West Africa and used to be opportunity quarters are expected part of the markets, so that 1200 and 1201. With the move than the opportunity you see with PEMEX now, do you still anticipate the 1200 probably staying in Mexico all year in 2012, what you targeted for West Africa for 1201 and do you think 1200 to move out to West Africa in 2012 timeframe?
John Reed
I would rather say that, rather than where she might go, it just to say that I think should go where we find the best opportunity. So, depending on how successful we are in Mexico, we stay longer or move somewhere else if it is a better opportunity.
Michael Marino of Stephens, you may ask your question.
Michael Marino- Stephens
Question, you kind of dig in on the bid side a little bit as earliest to the that work for the 1200 and 1201, I guess, John, you have talked about 10 to a dozen or so bids for those vessels collectively in call it plus or minus $80 million to $100 million range, is that still kind of the case, if that is the out work for those vessels may be increase a little bit? And also if you talk about who you bidding against? And do you feel like may be the competition starting to win some work now and your chances are getting better, may be you just describe how you feel about the prospect for those vessels?
John Reed
Well, I will go back a little bit to I think Marshall's question, there is pretty much of bifurcated market in the conventional shallow water. There are still lot of players and keeping margins pretty low. On the other end, we are also bidding those opportunities now and less bidders more complex projects and better margins are available.
And I guess I would characterize it is that we do see more opportunity right now. It's hard to nail it down, the visibility still not that good. Bid volume is still I think high enough to generate more backlog but its very hard to pinpoint things like the effect of permits in the Gulf and kind of macro situation that the whole world seems to be in a little bit of malaise at the moment. So, the volumes there and were helpful but I wouldn't want to get too far out of my (inaudible) and predicting in fact how that's going to turn out.
Michael Marino - Stephens
Sure. Okay. In to follow up on I guess the work for the McMoRan and the Gulf, here you are officially working yet or you still waiting on permit there?
Ashit Jain
Michael, this is AJ. We completed long platform installation prior to going for LLOG. We are currently working on a LLOG project. The permit situation is still not all the structures have been permitted. So after we complete LLOG we have one or two structures to go to, at the moment.
John Reed
Just an aside, that was a removal, not an installation.
Ashit Jain
Yeah, that was a remove on McMoRan.
Michael Marino - Stephens
Would you expect the, I guess the Hercules to be pretty busy from now till year end?
Ashit Jain
Michael Marino - Stephens
Okay. And just follow up on that, I guess the seasonality that you typically see in the Gulf, do you expect a little bit lesser that with 1200 being there in some capacity this year? And maybe talk a little bit much seasonality in the Gulf this year versus prior years?
Ashit Jain
On the 1200 side, we are looking at currently we are talking to show the clients for the existing project to utilize 1200 on those projects when it comes into the Gulf. Once that is completed we are going mobilize to Mexico in the month of November and be back here towards the end of year. Right now, our schedule is open for the 2012 and that's were bidding actively in Mexico.
With regards to the MSV fleet, we do have, as Andy pointed out, utilization going into the fourth quarter. First quarter, we have seen some of the bids come in for first quarter, but the activity is going to remain low in the first quarter.
(Operator Instructions). Graham Mattison of Lazard Capital Markets, you may ask your question.
Graham Mattison - Lazard Capital Markets
Hi guys. You have covered bidding utilization in quite a bit detail. Just hoping may be quickly if you would give an update on the expected timing, with the 1201, the delivery schedule, when you might expect that to be on its first contract, and the remaining CapEx schedule in 1201 is good?
Andy Smith
Yeah. On CapEx, again I am just going to talk about cash outlays here. I don't know that I have it and that's really split between the 1200 and 1201, but remaining on the two vessels we have roughly $80 million of CapEx left to spend, cash out left to spend. And we expect all of that to be spent by the end of year. Traditionally, we have been -- we have sort of estimated on a pretty aggressive time line and we have it actually spent it as quickly as we thought we would. And so, it might bleed a little bit into 2012, but right now we are assuming that we will be spending about $80 million complete in both assets by the end of the year. There is a few remaining things coming up in the 1200, just needed to be paid for, but most of that for 1201.
John Reed
In terms of expectation for projects, we really don't see significant opportunities before second quarter of 2012 for the 1201.
Graham Mattison - Lazard Capital Markets
But would it theoretically be ship-shaped by that time?
John Reed
Oh, yeah, she'd be completed. We are still on schedule to complete or physically be ready. But we just don't see significant opportunities to put her to work until second quarter of 2012. Sure.
Gentleman, at this time I see no further question.
Andy Smith
Okay, if there is no more questions, that concludes the call for today. I would like to thank every body for joining us and your continued interest in Global Industries. And with that we will conclude the call.
This concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation and you may disconnect at this time.
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The Return of Costinha, the Man Who Flattened Manchester United
Remember Jose Mourinho's mad sprint down the touchline at Old Trafford in 2004?
The image that catapulted the Portuguese into England's consciousness was inspired by Porto's last-gasp equaliser, which dumped Manchester United out of the Champions League, authored by the most unlikely of goalscorers—midfield anchorman Costinha.
This week, Costinha will make another—perhaps even more—improbable entry into the rich history of the cup with the big ears.
Now 38, the former Portugal international is the head coach of Pacos de Ferreira, the tiny team from northern Portugal who have reached the Champions League playoffs after an astonishing third-place finish in the 2012/13 Liga Zon Sagres.
In the playoffs, Pacos will face Zenit St. Petersburg, Russia's richest club. It's a gargantuan task. The numbers are stark: Zenit's 2012 annual budget of €215 million is more than 70 times the €3 million that Pacos get by on. In fact, the figure from which the Portuguese minnows have to pay players, admin staff, travel, utility bills and the rest wouldn't even cover a third of Zenit forward Hulk's annual gross wage of €10 million.
Pacos' stadium, Mata Real, only has a capacity of 5,000 and doesn't meet competition standards, so Costinha and his assistant, Maniche, will host Zenit in the arena where they played the second half of that glorious 2004 Champions League campaign with Porto: the Estadio do Dragao, situated half-an-hour's drive south-west of Pacos' home.
Yet Costinha is well versed in upsetting the status quo. He established his reputation in top-level European football as a player in unlikely circumstances, moving from second-tier Maritimo to Monaco in 1998, where he won Ligue 1 and reached a Champions League semi-final in a four-year spell, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Thierry Henry, Fabien Barthez and David Trezeguet.
At Porto, he became the organisational fulcrum of Mourinho's midfield; calculating, metronomic and reliable. Costinha and Maniche have been close since those days, moving to Dynamo Moscow together in 2005 and later playing alongside one another at Atletico Madrid.
Neither quite captured the stellar form of their Porto days again either. Following Costinha's 2010 retirement, he was appointed director of football at Sporting Clube de Portugal in inauspicious circumstances—he replaced Ricardo Sa Pinto, who was fired after fighting with star striker Liedson in the changing room after a game.
Costinha never came to physical blows with anybody at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, but he upset plenty of people. A confident and forthright communicator, his loud suits and frank statements were too much for many at Sporting. He was fired after less than a year in the job following an interview with Sport TV in which he referred to Sporting as "more of a trampoline than a big club." A similar role at Servette, with more fall-out, then saw him fired after 10 months.
Let there be no doubt—Costinha is lucky to have the Pacos job. Given the executive nature of his previous post-football jobs and a lack of coaching experience, he was a surprising choice for the Beira-Mar post last season. It is easily argued that they were too far in trouble and too scant of resource for him to save them from relegation, and they produced some pleasing football under his regime. Following Paulo Fonseca—who joined Porto—and replacing a host of key players is a big challenge.
Costinha remains ambitious, though, saying he wants to "surpass expectations" and win the club's first major trophy, according to Goal.com's Mark Doyle. The natural home for that mentality is this Champions League tie, even if it promises to be a steep climb for Pacos.
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Upholstery cleaner
I've done this for years. When I looked it up online to see if any kewl new changes had been made to it, I was surprised to see that there hadn't been any improvements. Do you know of any? Any easy, frugal solutions to our household upkeep? Please share them here.
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JuneyBug Dover AFB, DE(Zone 7a) Oct 20, 2009
Upholstery cleaner
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Ten Australian short stem red roses in a ceramic pot.
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Bouquet of 12 long stemmed Columbian red roses.
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A beautiful fish bowl arrangement of 12 Australian roses.
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text:
INGREDIENTS:8 lbs. veal chuck arm pot roast
1 ½ Tbsps. cracked black pepper
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
¾ cup olive oil
1 ½ lbs. chopped celery
1 ½ lbs. chopped onion
12 oz. chopped carrot
9 oz. chopped shallots
4 ½ oz. chopped garlic
1 ½ lbs. fresh tomatoes
¼ cup whole black peppercorns
6 Bay leaves
2 cups dry red wine
3 qts. chicken stock
3 cups demi-glace
1/3 cup cornstarch
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup fresh rosemary, chopped
1 ½ oz. minced garlic
1 ½ oz. minced shallots
2 Tbsps. olive oil
1 ½ lbs. Arborio rice
3 ½ qts. chicken stock, simmering
1 ½ lbs. Portabello mushrooms, diced
1 ½ lbs. butternut squash, diced
3 oz. butter
6 oz. Parmesan cheese, grated
1 ½ oz. fresh basil, julienne
1 Tbsp. cracked black pepper
1 Tsp. Kosher salt
Italian parsley for garnishDIRECTIONS:1. Season veal with cracked pepper and salt. Brown on all sides in oil over medium heat. Remove from pan.
2. Sauté celery, onion, carrots, shallots and garlic in drippings over medium heat 10 minutes, or until vegetables caramelize. Add tomatoes, peppercorns and bay leaves; cook 2 minutes. Deglaze pan with wine; reduce almost completely.
3. Place veal on top of vegetables. Add stock and demi-glace; bring to a boil. Cover pan with aluminum foil. Braise in 350°F oven 2 hours or until veal is very tender.
4. Remove veal from pan; let cool. Break into 1 ½ oz. pieces. Place in a large sauté pan.
5. Strain the cooking liquid into a saucepan, discarding solids. Thicken liquid to sauce consistency with cornstarch/water slurry, skimming fat and foam from surface. Remove form heat. Add rosemary, let steep 10 minutes. Strain sauce. Pour over veal. Refrigerate.
6. For risotto: Sauté garlic and shallots in oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat until tender. Add rice; cook and stir until coated.
7. Add simmering stock ¼ cup at a time, cooking over low heat and stirring constantly after addition until stock is almost absorbed. Cook until rice is al dente and consistency is creamy.
8. Meanwhile, in a second saucepan, sauté mushroom and squash in butter over medium heat until vegetables start to soften. When rice is al dente, stir in squash mixture, cheese, basil, pepper and salt.
9. To serve: For each portion, bring 3-oz. veal and 1 cup of sauce to a simmer. Plate 1 ¼ cups risotto. Spoon veal and sauce over risotto and garnish with parsley.SERVINGS:12 servingsFrom:Chef Todd McDunn, catering director, Catering by Design, Columbus, OH
Veal Pot Roast with Butternut Squash Risotto
INGREDIENTS:8 lbs. veal chuck arm pot roast