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As per usual, whenever you find a juicy new rare weapon or suit of armour you tend to stick with it for a few levels until the basic stuff dropped by mobs renders it obsolete. At this stage you're keenly hunting for an upgrade, something that will help you feel just a little overpowered for your level again.
Two Worlds features a marvellous mechanic which means that if you find a duplicate of an item, you can combine it with the original to create an enhanced version with beefier characteristics.
Any single item can be stacked 20 times. At this point you've got something which is more effective than the original blueprint by an impressive order of magnitude.
It feels strange to say a game feels worthy because of a single element like this but it turns loot-hunting into an overriding obsession. It becomes a kind of cat-and-mouse game which has you constantly foraging for new and better gear but, perversely, almost hoping you don't find it, because you've spent several levels powering up a single item via the stacking process.
This leads to some really tough decisions, and that's a good thing. A new, rare sword drops that's just a wee bit better than the one you're wielding. But the one you're wielding is the empowered result of numerous re-stacks. Is it worth starting from scratch again?
As you grow into your constantly-improving gear you'll find base versions of it appearing more frequently in traders' inventories. The more you stack an item, the more likely you are to find duplicates of it and stack further.
I recall one suit of Black Necromancer plate armour I'd stacked 18 times. I then came across a new kind of suit that was, in its base state, marginally better, but with the promise of fresh enhancement. Knowing that it might be a while before duplicates started appearing, it was enormously hard to part with my pet project.
The Reality Pump designers obviously knew they were onto a neat thing with this concept as they supported it by cramming the game's towns with vendors. Most RPG population-centres give you a blacksmith, a food vendor, a general-supplies trader and so forth. The cities of Two Worlds boast crowds of traders. I swear I spent half my time in the game just sorting through their wares with a fine tooth comb.
I found myself putting quests on hold just to head back to the nearest town, in the hope that someone was stocking another copy of my sword or shield. Or finding that they did have one in stock but I didn't have the readies, and needed to farm some trash to make up the fee. Would it still be on sale when I got back? So exciting. The fate of the world be damned... I'm shopping!
For this reason, I'm pretty excited about Two Worlds II. Reality Pump have admitted in no uncertain terms that the original was lacking in a number of fundamental ways, and are promising to do things better in the sequel.
Don't get me wrong, I'll be the first to lay out the bunting if they fix what was wrong with Two Worlds. But in the urge to tear down and rebuild, I sincerely hope they don't do away with the stacking element. It was the thing above all others which kept me coming back for more, and it helped the game's various inadequacies pale into insignificance.


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Be cautious when using information you find on web sites that you located by searching Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, Vivisimo, etc. Anyone can make a web page and the information may not be reliable or accurate.
Google Advanced Search - lets you limit your search to just .edu or .gov sources, which may be more reliable the .com sources for academic work.
Vivísimo - clusters your search results in folders.

subset: commoncrawl


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We are seeking an associate veterinarian to join our small animal practice in the lovely Litchfield Hills of Connecticut. Our focus is on the practice of progressive veterinary medicine tailored to meet the needs of each of our patients and their human families. We offer comprehensive medical, dental and surgical care in a friendly, intimate setting with an in-house laboratory, digital radiology, ultrasound, anesthetic monitoring and more. We also offer reproductive services. We are a growing practice with an excellent support staff committed to continued growth and development. A commitment to the practice of excellent medicine is required, along with an ability to work well with others. We are a friendly, family-oriented practice looking for the right person to join our team!
Benefits include uniforms, health insurance, paid vacation/sick leave, CE and licensure. Schedule will consist of 3.5 12-hour shifts per week. Salary will be negotiable.
Please include a resume, cover letter, and salary expectations with your application. New graduates are welcome to apply.
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Degree
Licensure or ability to become licensed in CT


text:
Sarah Palin Would Rather Be Bein' Free
The highlight of the "Sarah Palin's Alaska" promo: "I'd rather be doing this than in some stuffy old political office. I'd rather be out here bein' free." Well, I'm certainly glad we didn't cramp your style by electing you Vice President of the United States, Sarah Palin. And … I'm even more excited for the show than I was before. [The Daily What]


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(September 1993)
millar> I don't know if anyone is doing it, but presumably Majordomo millar> could be useful for mailers other than Sendmail, which could millar> have almost any way of specifying lists. If necessary, I'd millar> lean towards something in Majordomo where you told it millar> explicitly the files that make up list D instead of trying to millar> read the aliases file. How about a command line that would produce the list contents on stdout or something similar? That way, Majordomo doesn't have to know about every strange file format or other local convention for keeping track of mailing lists. -- email@example.com firstname.lastname@example.com or +1 908 576 2932, Fax x6406 firstname.lastname@example.com AT&T Bell Labs / AT&T EasyLink Services LZ 3C-207


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Today, it's the last day of my sign language class. At the end of the class, my teacher surprised us by speaking for the first time, also surprising everyone that she wasn't actually deaf. It wouldn't have been so bad had I not just given someone an answer to the test, thinking she couldn't hear me. FML
By booboo300 - / Thursday 3 April 2014 22:16 / Canada - Kanata


text:
Tupac's mother files lawsuit over album profits
Listen to Tupac on iHeartRadio
The mother of late rapper Tupac Shakur is going after the entertainment company Entertainment One over the profits to one of the rapper's posthumous albums.
According to TMZ.com, Afeni Shakur has filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the company, claiming they didn't hold up their end of a deal over the 2007 album Beginnings: The Lost Tapes.
Afeni says Entertainment One never paid Pac's estate profits from the album and now she wants them to pay $1.1 million.
She also wants the company to surrender the master recordings of other unreleased music by Tupac.
Photo Credit Getty Images


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Miss Indiana – Mekayla Diehl – Praised by Twitter During Miss USA Pageant for Having a "Normal" Body
Last night, Miss Indiana made her home state very proud – and not because she won or even made the finals…
At the Miss USA pageant, held in Baton Rouge, LA, Twitter blew up when Miss Indiana – Mekayla Diehl – posed in her swimsuit in the semifinals. Though very fit, Diehl sported curves and has more of what is being described as a "normal" body than any other woman on stage.
An outpouring of support was shown to the Elkhart native though she did not make it out of the semifinals and into the top 10.
Not a fan of pageants, but how refreshing it is to see a woman who worked hard for her body in the gym. #MissIndiana http://t.co/bNMTzrtvbV
— Abigail Dorsett (@abbydorsett) June 9, 2014
Wow at Miss Indiana's amazing curvy figure!! You go girl! #MissUSA2014 #MissIndiana
— Megs (@megcrichx) June 9, 2014
S/O to the family of #MissIndiana for feeding that girl right with some home grown Indiana food!


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Row as Australian foreign minister claims Thatcher made 'racist' remarks
The Australian Foreign Minister has been accused of launching a "graceless, cowardly attack" on Margaret Thatcher, after claiming the late British Prime Minister made "unabashedly racist" remarks when they discussed Asian immigration several years ago.
Bob Carr, an Australian Labor Party stalwart whose wife Helena was born in Malaysia, said he was astonished when Baroness Thatcher told him Australia could end up like the Pacific Island nation of Fiji "where the Indian migrants have taken over".
Australia's top diplomat said that while he respected Baroness Thatcher, who died on Monday aged 87, for some of her Government's big policy decisions and for the boldness of her political leadership, he disagreed with her "on a hundred other things".
"I recall one conversation I had with her…


text: www.ultraconsultants.com Ultra Consultants, Inc. is an independent consulting firm serving the manufacturing and distribution industries. Organizations turn to the Ultra team for ROI-driven ERP technology expertise and business process management that improves revenue and customer satisfaction, enhances financial management and real-time decision making, improves productivity and reduces time to market. The world's middle market companies make up the Ultra Consulting client roster including aerospace and defense; automotive; chemical; consumer goods; electronics; food and beverage; industrial equipment; medical device; metal fabrication and plastics manufacturers. Ultra Consultants offer deep experience in manufacturing process optimization. The team averages over 20 years manufacturing and process experience with professional certifications in APICS , Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma Green and Black Belt, and Project Management. www.ultraconsultants.com


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Active Tags
Click tags to the right to narrow your search. Unclick tags to remove.
A Walk in the Park— Clara had been warned about using the park as a short cut.
Just Trying to Get Home— Stranded on a country road, Tom needs help.
A Walk on the Wild Side— Couple discover short cut is not wise.
Door To Door Sales— Working from home has never been so much fun.
Please, separate your tags with comma: anal orgasm, oral sex.
Read the Literotica Story Tag FAQ for more information on these tags.


text: Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City (NHS) serves the metropolitan area of New York, New York. Through financial empowerment and affordable lending, NHS enables individuals and families to invest in, preserve and improve their Neighborhoods, their Homes and their Future. In addition to providing services throughout New York City, NHS is a community-based organization with targeted impact in the following Neighborhoods: Bedford-Stuyvesant, East Flatbush, North Bronx, Northern Queens, and South Bronx. NHS is a chartered member of NeighborWorks America®, a national network of over 230 community-based organizations in all 50 states.


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Submitted by mkashyap • January 2, 2014 www.expriva.com
Shop marketplace Florida: Individual insurance quotes can dissent per age, gender, and geographical area. Some individual policies mechanically embody maternity advantages for females at intervals a particular age span although they are doing not want or would like the coverage.
- Category: Insurance
- Tags: shop marketplace florida


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A fun way to mix things up when signing up for a gym membership is to tell them your name is "Jim Membership." Everyone will laugh and then enjoy exercise with this Groupon.
The Deal
- $59 for a two-month gym membership with unlimited tanning and classes, one personal-training session, and two guest passes ($249 value)
Anytime Fitness
Anytime Fitness, which boasts 2,398 clubs in North America, makes it easier for average folks to etch out time for exercise by doing one simple thing: staying open 24 hours a day for 365 days a year. As fitness seekers challenge themselves on cardio and Hammer Strength machines and hoist Iron Grip free weights in clean, well-stocked facilities, security monitoring ensures they're safe and producing enough sweat to meet official government standards. Members can also ramp up their exercise regimens with the help of Anytime Fitness's staff of personal trainers, who demonstrate moves and sling motivating tips. After workouts, guests can shower in the private restrooms or hop into one of the tanning booths available 24 hours a day.


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This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
The objective of this project was to quantify and compare the environmental impacts associated with alternative designs for a typical North American mid-rise office building. Two scenarios were considered; a traditional cast-in-place, reinforced concrete frame and a laminated timber hybrid design, which utilized engineered wood products (cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam). The boundary of the quantitative analysis was cradle-to-construction site gate and encompassed the structural support system and the building enclosure. Floor plans, elevations, material quantities, and structural loads associated with a five-storey concrete-framed building design were obtained from issued-for-construction drawings. A functionally equivalent, laminated timber hybrid design was conceived, based on Canadian Building Code requirements. Design values for locally produced CLT panels were established from in-house material testing. Primary data collected from a pilot-scale manufacturing facility was used to develop the life cycle inventory for CLT, whereas secondary sources were referenced for other construction materials. The TRACI characterization methodology was employed to translate inventory flows into impact indicators. The results indicated that the laminated timber building design offered a lower environmental impact in 10 of 11 assessment categories. The cradle-to-gate process energy was found to be nearly identical in both design scenarios (3.5 GJ/m2), whereas the cumulative embodied energy (feedstock plus process) of construction materials was estimated to be 8.2 and 4.6 GJ/m2 for the timber and concrete designs, respectively; which indicated an increased availability of readily accessible potential energy stored within the building materials of the timber alternative.
The construction and operation of buildings are responsible for the consumption of up to 40% of global energy use, as well, at least one third of the anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in developed and developing countries can be related to activities in the building and construction sectors of the economy [
Presently, the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada in particular, are experiencing the worst mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreak in recorded history. This ecosystem altering epidemic is causing widespread mortality of the lodgepole pine forests, the most abundant commercial tree species in the region. The bark beetle has also migrated south into the United States and eastward, posing a significant threat to the jack pine stands of Canada's northern boreal forest [
In North America, the mid-rise, non-residential building sector is currently dominated by the use of reinforced concrete and wide flange steel as the primary structural support systems. The advancement in understanding of timber building behaviour, along with the refinement of EWP design and performance has demonstrated the applicability of using wood as a primary structural support system in mid-rise building construction. In 2009, the Canadian Province of British Columbia amended their Building Code to permit the design and construction of wood-framed buildings up to six-storeys in height [
Presently, there are concerted efforts being made throughout Canadian government agencies to promote the use of domestic timber products and wood construction systems in publicly funded buildings. The research presented in this paper aimed to obtain additional quantitative measurements about the environmental advantages and disadvantages of wood building construction compared with other material choices. This information can be used to support government officials, designers, and builders, in making informed choices regarding the environmental impacts of construction material selection during building design and development.
Discovery Place-Building 12 was selected as a case study example, due to its design, use, location, and construction system. Discovery Place is a 14,233 m2 office building, which was constructed in 2009 in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The non-residential occupancy of the building was a factor in its selection, along with the building's location (Pacific Northwest), height of five-storeys with three levels of underground parking and its reinforced concrete structural frame, which was perceived as typical industry practice for a building of this type and size.
The LCA comparison of alternative design scenarios for Discovery Place-Building 12 was tailored to be focused on two main systems; the primary structural support systems (cast-in-place reinforced concrete or glulam/CLT) and the building enclosure system. Limiting the scope of the environmental analysis to these building systems permitted the research to focus on the two building elements that are responsible for 60 to 90% of the total embodied environmental impacts of commercial office buildings [
In order to perform an environmental comparison of two alternative construction scenarios for Discovery Place-Building 12, it was necessary to redesign the case study concrete-framed building using timber elements. The goal was not to perform a direct material replacement or substitution, but to redesign a functionally equivalent structural system and building envelope, by choosing EWPs and dimensional lumber where a feasible option existed. In almost all instances, the footprints, floor-to-floor heights, and overall building dimensions in both design scenarios were identical or varied by only a few centimetres. At the time this study was conducted, the concept of designing and constructing large footprint, mid-rise office buildings, using heavy timber and CLT structural frames was not typical industry practice in Canada. However, the redesign of Discovery Place-Building 12, using a combination of glulam and CLT for the vertical and horizontal force resisting systems, in conjunction with reinforced concrete, was considered a feasible solution based on the examples that were erected or in design development throughout North America and the European Union.
Using the plan and elevation layouts of the original concrete building, a redesigned, functionally equivalent hybrid laminated timber-framed alternative was conceived. The heavy timber-framed design utilized glued-laminated timber beams and columns, cross-laminated timber floor and roof plates, with reinforced concrete used for the below-grade foundations, parking level slabs, above- and below-grade elevator/stair cores and primary shear walls. A graphical depiction of glulam columns and beams supporting a CLT floor plate, along with a hybrid timber-concrete frame is shown as
In order to maintain functionally equivalency of both the concrete and timber building designs, it was necessary to ensure the timber building enclosure (roof, exterior walls, and curtain wall) had the same thermal resistance (RSI) values as the concrete building. Having consistent RSI values for the building enclosure in both the concrete- and timber-framed designs provided a proximate estimate that over each building's life cycle, the operational energy use would be equivalent in either design alternative.
After the structural and building enclosure designs were completed and equivalent structural capacity and envelope thermal resistance values were verified, a bill of materials was calculated for both the concrete- and laminated timber-framed design alternatives. This bill of construction materials was used to evaluate the environmental impact of each design scenario using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The system boundary of the comparative LCA study was cradle-to-gate, considering a 50-year building lifetime horizon. The environmental burdens associated with each building product were considered from raw materials acquisition, through the manufacture/processing stages, accounting for the production and use of fuels, electricity, and heat, as well as taking into account transportation/distribution impacts at all points along the product supply chain. The boundaries of the quantitative study began at the raw materials extraction and finished at the entrance to the construction site gate, with the inclusion of building material and component replacement over the course of the 50-year building life cycle. A combination of publicly available North American databases (BEES® 4.0, ATHENA® EcoCalculator, and the US LCI Database) as well as on-site, factory measurements were used to account for the material, energy, and emissions flows that occurred throughout the raw material acquisition, manufacturing, and transportation phases of each building product's life cycle (Appendix A). The North American specific environmental profile of CLT was developed using multiple data sources, including on-site measurements from a pilot manufacturing facility located in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada [
Although the quantitative study boundary was cradle-to-gate, a qualitative analysis and review was performed to explore the implications of considering other life cycle stages (on-site construction/erection and end-of-life), as per
|Quantitative (numerically defined within study)
|Qualitative (discussed based on case study & literature reviews)
Raw materials extraction
Manufacturing and processing
Intermediary transportation effects associated with cradle-to-construction site gate life cycle stages
On-site building construction and erection
Transportation associated with on-site construction
End-of-life (demolition and disposal) choices for building materials, including reuse, recycling, reprocessing, energy recovery, and landfill
This LCA study is limited by its geographic and temporal scales. The relevance of the results and conclusions that are drawn from this work cannot be applied unilaterally to other geographic regions, building types or time periods. The findings of this LCA study are based on a steady-state analysis assumption; a snapshot in time. Reality, on the other hand, is ever changing; as design considerations, industrial processes, and environmental emissions and effects follow dynamic patterns and will continually transform throughout time. Although these results can be used to postulate environmental impact comparisons for other similar buildings, the detailed results shown are directly applicable only to this one case study example; Discovery Place-Building 12, and are valid for design, construction, and materials production processes that have taken place in the last 10–15 years.
This LCA study focused only on the direct and indirect environmental impacts of the structural and building enclosure (envelope) systems. The building materials and their corresponding functional units that were considered in the comparison of the concrete- and heavy timber-framed designs are presented in
Building materials and their corresponding functional units.
|Concrete design
|Timber design
|Functional unit
|Notes & assumptions
|Gypsum Wall Board
|Gypsum Wall Board
|0.09 m2 (1 ft2)
|13 mm (½") thick, includes tape, mud, screws @ 406 mm (16") O/C studs, corner bead is not included
|Steel Stud Framing
|0.09 m2 (1 ft2)
|33 mm galvanized studs @ 610 mm (24") O/C, screws included
|Wood Stud Framing
|0.09 m2 (1 ft2)
|38 × 89 mm (2" 4" nominal), untreated, kiln-dried @ 406 mm (16") O/C, galvanized steel nails included
|BioPreserve Soyguard Wood Sealer
|9.29 m2 (100 ft2)
|Applied to exterior exposed wood only, repeated every 2 years
|Anonymous R-13 Insulation
|Anonymous R-13 Insulation
|0.09 m2 (1 ft2)
|89 mm (3−½) thick
|Spray Foam Insulation
|1 m2
|3 cm thick, closed cell polyurethane with H2O/CO2 blowing agent
|Slab-on-Grade *
|Slab-on-Grade *
|0.09 m2 (1 ft2)
|102 mm (4") thick, f'c = 21 MPa, 15% & 20% fly ash cement mixes considered, assumed 0.908 kg/m2 (1.67 lbs/yd2) of reinforcing steel
|Below-Grade Foundation Walls & Spread Footings *
|Below-Grade Foundation Walls & Spread Footings *
|0.09 m2 (1 ft2)
|203 mm (8") thick, f'c = 21 MPa, 15% & 20% fly ash cement mixes considered, assumed 23.9 kg/m2 (44 lbs/yd2) of reinforcing steel
|Above-Grade Walls, Beams, Slabs, Drop Panels & Slab Bands *
|0.0283 m3 (1 ft3)
|f'c = 28 MPa, 15% & 20% fly ash cement mixes considered, average of 86.2 kg/m3 (145 lbs/yd3) of reinforcing steel assumed
|Columns & Shear Cores/Walls *
|Elevator & Stair Concrete Shear Cores/Walls *
|0.0283 m3 (1 ft3)
|f'c = 34 MPa, 15% & 20% fly ash cement mixes considered, average of 172.4 kg/m3 (290 lbs/yd3) of reinforcing steel assumed
|Cross-Laminated Timber Walls & Floors
|1 m3
|38 × 140 mm (2" × 6" nominal) untreated, kiln-dried, MPB-killed lodgepole pine lumber, bonding adhesives are included
|Glulam Beams & Columns
|1 m3
|Standard grades and dimensions, untreated, kiln-dried, MPB-killed lodgepole pine lumber, bonding adhesives are included
|Curtain Wall
|Curtain Wall
|1 m2
|Viewable & spandrel glazing considered, viewable units assumed double-glazed, low-e, argon gas filled
|Generic Cedar Siding
|0.09 m2 (1 ft2)
|Bevelled, 13 mm (½ - can be changed to 0.5 if required") thick, 150 mm (6") wide, galvanized nails @ 41 cm (16") O/C, 1 coat primer & 2 coats stain (stain reapplied every 10 years)
* Impacts associated with temporary formwork/falsework for cast-in-place concrete are considered as per [
In order to facilitate the comparison of the reinforced concrete and laminated timber design alternatives of Discovery Place-Building 12, it was necessary to perform a quantities take-off of the building materials that were contained in each design option.
Material quantities comparison (based on a 50-year building lifetime).
|Material group
|Unit of measurement
|Concrete design
|Timber design
|(m3 of concrete)
|(m3 of concrete)
|Foundation walls
|(m3 of concrete)
|Below-grade columns
|(m3 of concrete)
|P2, P1 & ground floor slabs
|(m3 of concrete)
|Primary shear walls & cores
|(m3 of concrete)
|Vertical load-bearing walls
|(m3 of concrete or CLT)
|Above-grade floors & roof
|(m3 of concrete or CLT)
|Above-grade columns
|(m3 of concrete or glulam)
|Beams & roof parapet
|(m3 of concrete or glulam)
|Wood sealer
|Curtain wall
|Cedar siding
|(m2 of 13 mm thickness)
|ccSPF insulation
|R-13 insulation
|Steel stud framing
|(m2 @ 406 mm O/C)
|Wood stud framing
|(m2 @ 406 mm O/C)
|Gypsum wall board
|(m2 of 13 mm thickness)
Environmental impact comparison of the concrete and timber design alternatives.
The total embodied energy for each alternative design scenario was also calculated and categorized for comparative information and discussion; with the heavy timber and reinforced concrete building designs having cumulative embodied energy contents of 117 and 66 terajoules or 8.2 and 4.6 GJ/m2, respectively. Embodied energy (EE) was defined as the cumulative amount of primary energy consumed and stored throughout the raw materials acquisition, product manufacturing and transportation stages (
Uncertainty appears in almost all stages of an LCA study and can be described as "the discrepancy between a measured or calculated quantity and the true value of that quantity" [
In order to accurately quantify uncertainty in numerical terms, it was necessary to be provided with relatively large data sets in which statistical distributions could thereby have been calculated and analyzed. The LCI data sets that were used for building materials did not come with attached statistical distributions and therefore, it was not possible to calculate the uncertainty associated with the LCIA results in numerical terms. All secondary data, primarily from BEES® 4.0, ASMI, and the US LCI did not contain any information on the associated probabilistic distributions of the data sets. The primary data for the production of CLT was collected from only one pilot plant facility, thereby making it impossible to determine variability across several manufacturing facilities.
This study does not include a numerical uncertainty analysis, as there were no statistical distributions connected with either the primary or secondary LCI data. This made it impossible to calculate distributions associated with LCI data, along with the accompanying confidence intervals and standard deviations in the LCIA results. It is important to keep this in mind when using LCA as a comparative decision making tool. The results generated in this study are based on relevant resource extraction, production, and transportation data sources, in tandem with scientifically grounded assumptions and estimates. The consequence of the final LCIA results was determined by the quality of the LCI data; input conditions will inevitably be reflected in the output results. LCA results are often viewed through a blurry lens; they are accurate enough to be used for decision making purposes, but due to the ever changing nature of technology, manufacturing processes, and environmental modelling techniques, LCA results can often have shifting means, medians, and absolute values. This is often the case with many past and present LCA studies and must be acknowledged when using LCA as a tool in the decision making process.
It was possible to have assumed and fitted probability distributions to the LCI data and then used these assumptions to calculate the inherent numerical uncertainty of the LCIA results using Monte Carlo methods. This approach was not taken as it was considered to be an exercise that would have clouded and overcomplicated the final results, while providing little additional guidance for decision makers. Instead, the study undertakes several sensitivity analyses, both quantitative and qualitative in nature, that aim to confirm the validity and conservativeness of key assumptions. The subsequent sensitivity analyses also attempted to shed light on the inclusion of alternative life cycle stages and boundary condition scenarios, in an attempt to exhibit the robustness of the study's results.
The LCA study conducted was compiled using a process-based approach. That is, when calculating the environmental effects of building materials, only the direct, or zeroeth-order inputs and associated outputs are considered. For example, when determining the environmental impacts associated with a tonne of steel, the burdens related to the manufacture of the mill's machinery were not considered; when calculating transportation effects, only the fuel used was included in the LCA profile, not the indirect or secondary impacts associated with the manufacture of the vehicle. In order to fully account for all embodied environmental effects of a building material, it is necessary to perform an economic input-output (EIO) analysis of the entire economy. Harvey [
Sensitivity analyses were performed in an attempt to test the reliability and robustness of the study's results and assumptions. The first sensitivity analysis increased the percentage of fly ash in the concrete mix from 15% to 20% in both the concrete- and heavy timber-framed building design scenarios. An addition of 10% to the material quantities of both CLT and glulam in the heavy timber design scenario was applied as a second sensitivity analysis.
Supplementary cementing materials (SCMs) are waste products that are used as substitutes for portland cement when making concrete. Common SCMs include blast furnace slag and fly ash, which are waste products from steel production and coal-fired power plants, respectively. Silica fume and limestone are also used as SCMs. This sensitivity analysis will focus on the use of fly ash; a waste material that is left over when coal is burned to generate electricity. "In LCA terms, fly ash is an environmental outflow of coal combustion, and an environmental inflow of concrete production. This waste product is assumed to be an environmentally "free" input material. The environmental burdens associated with the production of waste materials are typically allocated to the intended product(s) of the process from which the waste results." [
The original LCA input data for concrete production assumed a 15% fly ash content in the cement mix for both the concrete and laminated timber design scenarios. The sensitivity analysis increased the percentage of fly ash in the mix from 15% to 20% in both the concrete- and heavy timber-framed building design scenarios.
The sensitivity analysis related to increasing the fly ash content to 20% in the concrete mixes for both the reinforced concrete- and laminated timber-framed buildings yielded results that were almost identical to the original LCA impacts, which used a 15% fly ash concrete mix. Only four impact categories recorded an improvement of 1%–2% with respect to the concrete-framed design over the heavy timber design; these being global warming, smog formation, eutrophication, and fossil fuel depletion potentials, whereas all other environmental impact categories remained unchanged. With respect to total embodied energy, both the concrete and timber designs saw a reduction of approximately 1% in the cumulative embodied energy of construction materials.
These sensitivity results demonstrated that a simple alteration of the concrete mix, by adding 5% more fly ash, led to a 1%–2% relative improvement of the reinforced concrete design over the timber design in four of eleven environmental impact categories. It was anticipated that adding more fly ash would have had a much greater impact on improving the environmental and embodied energy performance of the concrete-framed building over the timber-frame due to the fact that the concrete building contained a much higher volume of reinforced concrete structure than the heavy timber design. Nonetheless, this result indicated that the effect of using a concrete mix containing higher fly ash content did not significantly reduce the environmental impacts of the concrete-framed building relative to the heavy timber design. The 20% fly ash content aided in marginally decreasing the environmental and energy impacts of both building design scenarios, but was not a major catalyst in reducing the environmental effects of the reinforced concrete design over the laminated timber design.
The heavy timber redesign of Discovery Place-Building 12 was based on material design properties for CLT that were developed through mechanical testing of sample specimens [
Comparative LCA results for a 10% increase in laminated timber volumes.
Increasing the volume of laminated timber (CLT and glulam) in the heavy timber design scenario yielded results that were relatively inconsequential, given the level of underlying uncertainty. With the addition of 10% more laminated timber in the wood-framed design, the environmental performance of the timber building decreased from a minimum of less than 1% up to a maximum of 4%, relative to the reinforced concrete design. The most prevalent effect was recorded in the fossil fuel depletion impact category, which measured a 4% decline in the relative environmental performance of the laminated timber design, with most other categories showing a 1 or 2% variation. An interesting result that was also observed in this sensitivity analysis was the fact that the global warming potential of the timber building actually improved by 4% over the concrete-framed design, even with the addition of 10% more laminated timber to the building structure. This improvement was a result of the fact that when considering the carbon storage properties of wood, both glulam and CLT store more CO2 equivalent than they release during their cradle-to-gate life cycles. With respect to total embodied energy, the addition of 10% more laminated timber resulted in an increase of just over 6% or 7 terajoules of energy when compared to the cumulative embodied energy content of the original timber design scenario.
The use of different types of structural adhesives; phenol resorcinol formaldehyde (PRF) versus polyurethane (PU), which are employed to face bond the adjacent ply layers of CLT panels and the lamellas of glulam members, was considered at the outset of the study. LCI data sets representing North American and European-made PRF glue were available, as this product had been used extensively on both continents for the past three decades. PU, on the other hand, is relatively new to both the European and North American markets and at present, there exists no publically available LCI data for this product, therefore it was impossible to compare EWPs made with either PRF or PU on an environmental basis. The fossil fuel feedstock and the intensive manufacturing processes that are required for the production of both PRF [
When considering the carbon analysis wood products, it is important to outline the inclusions and exclusions that were taken into account when determining the net carbon consequence and GWP of biomass based building products. There are several defined ways in which wood products have the ability to contribute to climate change mitigation, as outlined by Werner
"They act as a carbon pool during their service lives, as they withdraw CO2 from its natural cycle furthermore, wood products can substitute for more energy-intense products after their service life, they can substitute for fossil fuels if they are incinerated."
This study follows the carbon accounting guidelines set out by the IPCC [
The total volume of wood contained in the heavy timber design scenario was approximately 4,161 m3, which stored roughly 3,131 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent within the building structure and envelope makeup. If the carbon storage property of wood was not included in the GWP calculation, the total amount of CO2 equivalent associated with the cradle-to-gate emissions analysis would have been 4,930 tonnes, still over a kilotonne less than the reinforced concrete alternative. When considering GHG emissions, the heavy timber design alternative outperformed the concrete-framed counterpart by over 70% when taking into account carbon storage and by 17%, even when the carbon storage property of wood was not considered.
The carbon savings that was possible by substituting biomass based energy sources for fossil fuel based sources during the production of building materials, was not calculated or reflected in the environmental impacts or the numerical energy accounting results. There was no GHG displacement factor applied or any credit given, with respect to either environmental impact or embodied energy, for the use of timber products over other more energy intensive substitutes (e.g., wood studs
Comparison of study results to existing whole building LCA literature.
|Cole, R.J. [
|Hood, I.W. [
|Cole, R.J.; Kernan, P.C. [
|Kernan, P.C. [
|Guggemos, A.A.; Horvath, A. [
|Marcea, R.L.; Lau, K.K. [
|Cole, R.J.; Kernan, P.C. [
|89.0 *
|126 *
* Carbon storage of wood is considered as a credit (
As the above results dictate, it is often difficult to compare one LCA study to another. Although all the studies listed in
When considering both feedstock and process energy, the EE associated with the heavy timber-framed design of Discovery Place-Building 12 exceeded the EE of the reinforced concrete scenario by a factor of 1.78 or almost 80%. At the outset of this research project, this result was not anticipated, as many past LCA studies have demonstrated wood-framed structures to have lower EE than concrete or steel alternatives, as shown in
It was expected that less material volume would be required in the superstructure of the timber design case, as the building weight was greatly reduced by using wood instead of reinforced concrete, but it was not expected that less material would result in greater EE. Although laminated timber appears to contain more EE than an equivalent volume of reinforced concrete, the origins and accounting principles associated with the EE calculation need to be well understood.
When calculating the EE of laminated timber products, it is important to differentiate between process and feedstock energy. Process energy accounts for the amount of energy that was released when fuels are utilized or combusted during the production or operation of an industrial process (
With respect to process energy, there was relatively no difference between the concrete- and timber-framed alternatives (
It is interesting to combine the finding of identical process energy requirements (
A literature review of contemporary research findings that related to the environmental impacts associated with the construction phase of North American, mid-rise office buildings was performed in order to apply previous findings to the design context of Discovery Place-Building 12. The goal of the following discussion and sensitivity analysis was to look beyond the cradle-to-gate study boundaries and approximate the relative environmental and energy use differences that existed in the construction stage of the concrete- and heavy timber-framed design alternatives of a five-storey office building. The aim was also to determine how the expansion of the cradle-to-gate system boundary (
According to the Canadian-based study by Cole R.J. [
The transportation of the building crew to and from the construction site for the duration of their construction task;
The transportation of materials from a distribution centre to the construction site;
The transportation of equipment specific to the construction task to and from a central depot to the building site;
The use of on-site equipment specific to the construction task;
Supporting processes such as form-work and temporary heating.
When considering all of the above influence factors relating to on-site construction impacts only, [
Taking into consideration the above research findings directly related to the construction of mid-rise building systems, it was possible to extrapolate these to the comparative designs of the Discovery Place-Building 12 office structure. The first stark difference between the construction sequences of a five-storey concrete or heavy timber (glulam and CLT) structural system was the variation in the erection times. A reinforced concrete-frame required significantly more on-site time and manpower in order to build formwork/falsework, place rebar, pour concrete, allow time for curing, and finally strip the forms. This was not the case with the heavy timber building design, as all glulam beams and columns, as well as CLT walls and floor plates are prefabricated off-site and arrive at the construction site cut to size, often with service openings pre-drilled and can be erected almost immediately after being lifted off the truck bed. As an example, according to [
The Canadian study, [
Based on the literature review and the analysis of the construction schedule, manpower, equipment, and temporary materials requirements, it can be estimated that the construction of the heavy timber design alternative will most likely generate lower GHG emissions and use less energy during construction than its cast-in-place reinforced concrete counterpart. This conclusion results from the decreased on-site construction time, the availability of pre-fabricated structural elements, and the reduction in temporary construction systems (
Buildings will inevitably reach the end of their functional life cycle; whether the justifications for retirement are "changing land values, lack of suitability of the building for the current needs, lack of maintenance of various non-structural components" [
The research related to the environmental effects and energy use associated with the demolition phase of a North American, mid-rise office building shows a consistent trend with respect to energy use, despite the numerical values being variable. The studies that compared wood and concrete building systems [
In addition to energy use and GHG emissions associated with the demolition phase of a building's life cycle, it is also prudent to discuss the disposal options that exist for both reinforced concrete- and heavy timber-framed structures. After the demolition phase, building materials can be recycled or reprocessed, reused, disposed of in a landfill or converted to useable energy. ASMI [
It was difficult to estimate with certainty whether the concrete- or timber-framed design was more environmentally advantageous with respect to end-of-life disposal options. It was evident that the timber-framed design alternative of Discovery Place-Building 12 had additional disposal options, including reuse and biomass energy recovery, which were not as relevant or applicable to the reinforced concrete design scenario.
As building operational energy use and associated emissions are reduced through efficiency measures and renewable energy generation, the importance of embodied energy and environmental impacts associated with other life cycle stages becomes more significant.
This study performed a comparative LCA between a reinforced concrete- and laminated timber-framed mid-rise office building, located on the West Coast of Canada. The results indicate that when considering a mid-rise office building, it is environmentally advantageous, in all but one impact category, to construct the structural frame and the enclosure system using predominantly laminated timber engineered wood products, rather than cast-in-place reinforced concrete construction. When considering both feedstock and process energy, the embodied energy associated with the heavy timber-framed design of Discovery Place-Building 12 exceeded that of the reinforced concrete scenario by almost 80%. At the outset of this research project, this result was not anticipated, as many past LCA studies have demonstrated wood-framed structures to have lower EE than concrete alternatives. It is important to note that none of the contemporary LCA studies considered the use of laminated timber (glulam and CLT) in a five-storey, non-residential application. Most other comparative LCA studies examined light wood-frame construction techniques when designing a mid-rise timber building. In the case of this LCA study, the higher content of feedstock energy in the heavy timber design alternative is not indicative of an environmentally inferior material selection but instead demonstrates that there is a larger amount of accessible potential energy contained in the timber design than the concrete design. With respect to process energy, there was relatively no difference between the concrete- and timber-framed alternatives (
Additional research is required in order to improve the quality and comprehensiveness of the present study and other subsequent comparative LCA studies related to building construction systems. The accuracy of this study could be improved by using full-scale CLT manufacturing input data, along with refining the structural design calculations to include additional iterations. With respect to sustainability of the built environment, this comparison was based solely on environmental performance; in order to address the full scope of sustainable design and construction practices, an expansion of the analysis framework to include social and economic indicators is necessary. Tools such as social LCA, life cycle costing, and life cycle sustainability assessment are techniques that could be employed in order to expand the analysis of a building system comparison to include a more complete sustainable design ideology. The use of region specific and site specific environmental modeling refinements would also aid in depicting a clearer picture of the environmental implications that are relevant in the context of an individual region and building site. Predominantly, the data used was industry wide and averaged over the entire North American continent. A region-specific LCIA model, such as LUCAS [
LCI data sources.
|Building material
|LCI data source
|Gypsum wall board
|Steel stud framing
|Wood stud framing
|BioPreserve soyguard wood sealer
|Anonymous R-13 insulation
|Closed cell spray polyurethane foam insulation (ccSPF)
|Below-grade foundation walls & spread footings
|Above-grade concrete walls, beams, slabs, drop panels & slab bands
|Concrete columns
|Cross-laminated timber walls & floors
|Glulam beams & columns
|Generic cedar siding
|Curtain wall-vision glass & spandrel
This research was made possible by the voluntary involvement of the following firms; CST Innovations Ltd., Reid, Jones, Christoffersen Consulting Engineers, and Bunting Coady Architects.


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Explore the Pigeon Towers of Istafan Iran
Published by Marjorie Jane M. Asis, Writer
Country: Iran, Islamic Republic of
The Experience
Several dovecotes (pigeon towers for pigeon to nest) generally date towards the Safavid reign, and dot the grounds around Isfahan (Esfahan). The distinctive architectural design of the Pigeon Towers of Isfahan played a significant role, considerably similar to the qanats, or subterranean canal system, in preserving the hinterland that granted an urban centre in Isfahan. The turrets were constructed with the intention of collecting pigeon dung, and were a substantial local revenue source in addition to the frequently embellished plaster.
The cylindrical Pigeon Towers of Isfahan are made of brick, gypsum, and lime plaster, and range between 15 and 25 metres in diameter, with heights of more than 20 metres. Topped crevices and domes allow entry to honeycombed interiors, and each pigeon tower can cater to a large number of the Persian wild pigeons. Pigeons are still eaten in many parts of Western Europe, and their dung is used as manure, as well as to soften leather in Isfahan's famed tanneries.
The construction the Pigeon Towers of Isfahan was commissioned by officials during the flourishing Safavid period. The Pigeon Towers of Isfahan allowed pigeons, and many other type of birds, to dwell in these towers so that local residents could collect their droppings and fertilize the soil for farming. This method continued for thousands of years.
Some of the original Isfahan towers have already joined the earth in which they stood for thousands of years, and only a few of them are left standing. This is the reason why the Iranian Government, with the help of the Isfahan locals, built bigger and sturdier pigeon towers for the same old purpose, as well as to enhance tourism.
The Middle East is often a place for tourists to taste the rarest spices around. It is even called "The Food Mecca," which many people would surely agree with. If you walk along the Isfahan streets, you would definitely feel hungry with all the aromas going on, so it's more then worthwhile to visit Isfahan to taste the food of the region.
When to Go to Pigeon Towers
Around 70 percent of the typical rainfall in Iran comes from November until March. January is definitely the coolest month, with temperature ranges from 5°C to 10°C, so this could be the best time to visit Iran. Just check the weather forecast beforehand because rainfall differs from year to year.
While the month of August is considered the hottest month at 20°C to 30°C, or more, June until August tends to be rainless. Thus, if you are from a tropical or cold country, you might as well avoid the region's summer season from the months of June to September where humidity in the area is very uncomfortable.
Odds n' Ends
Touring Isfahan and its towns is never a problem as buses are rampant even in seaports and airports. These buses usually take a group of ten or more, and the tour guides and bus drivers are prepared to show you the list of hotels and restaurants in which they are affiliated.
Cotton, lightweight clothing is suggested during summertime, while wearing a sweater for cooler nights is advisable. Moreover, if you tend to travel a lot in Iran, you may want to consider bringing an abaya (a piece of cloth to cover your head) to show respect.
Places to Stay Nearby
Search over 900,000 global hotel deals from over 30 merchants. Book via Expedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com, Booking.com, Priceline and the websites of popular hotel chains.
More Experiences Nearby
- Learn the Secret Behind Ramen at the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum
- Making instant ramen noodles at home isn't overly exciting, but visit the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum in Osaka, Japan and making them will take on a whole different experience. Here, you get to become a part of the instant ramen noodle-making process, right from scratch. Sound interesting? Well here you are your own cook, designing your new favourite noodle and experimenting with various flavors. The Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum houses a wide collection of the instant ramen sold over the ages. From the packaging materials to the types of instant ramen noodles, everything is on display. Though the ...4048 miles away.
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Travel Insurance. Simple & Flexible.
Language Guides
Turkish is one of the languages spoken in Iran, Islamic Republic of. If you know of a freely available phrase book or podcast for one of the missing languages, let us know!
Experienced this and have something to share? Experienced something like this somewhere else? Looking for advise or travel companions? Use this space to leave your mark. Our writers and editors are more than happy to help answer your questions.
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June 27, 2014
I woke up 100% better.
I had my alarm set for 7am so that I could have breakfast with Victoria at 8am. Since I fell asleep at 8pm the night prior, waking up at 7am was a piece of cake.
The renaissance hotel is extremely nice. I lived in Orlando for 3 years and never stayed anywhere except for Loews properties and I really enjoyed this hotel.
Our highly inappropriate conversation at 815am was unforgettable. But it's between Victoria and I so if anyone is reading this, if you remember to ask then I'll tell !
It was great catching. It had been about two years since I'd last seen Victoria. It's always nice to meet up with friends :)
We (all of the bridal party) had to meet in the lobby at 9:30am for our spa appointments at 10am.
This was my hair post my massage . . .
All the ladies and the bride to be in the middle!!
It was great seeing the couple of people that I knew already and meeting the new ladies from the Boykin side of the family. Now we have more family, I love it!
We shared two glasses of mimosas :) Since we asked for another, haha
I LOVE LOVE the rain and was happy when it rained everyday. We very rarely get rain in Vegas and when we do, it's just not fun. The roads flood and NO ONE knows how to drive. It's only enjoyable if I happen to be home on my day off and it starts to rain which has not happened yet for me.
Best Friend selfie before we head downstairs for the rehearsal!
Emma (Jordan's gf) and I
We all went to the bar before heading to dinner. Shots!
The usual look Jesse gives me, ahah
All the ladies!
PRICELESS faces
After our very fun wedding rehearsal, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner.
The bride and groom to be admiring their pretty cake.
Control yourself, Jess.
Jordan and Emma
I don't even know where these shots came from but we sure did have some!
He thinks he's grown now that he's 21 . . .
We both thought we were grown until we took a shot of patron . . .
Jordan and his mama
The cute couple
You already know!
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to sit around a little and socialize before ending the night before the big day!!
Jordan is never too big to sit on his mama's lap
Their last time seeing each other before their wedding day
Lawren and I found out that the pool didn't close until midnight soooo we headed to the pool. Jesse went to relax before her big day. And the other girls left and were coming back the following morning.
Nothin like a late night swim.
So relaxing and nice since in Vegas, pools close at 6pm.
I have an apartment pool but I never go to it. Go figure.
Jordan and Emma were out getting him shoes and he stopped at the Colombian Burger place to bring me back one then I turned on the TV and friends was on!
My night was complete.
A fun filled day with family/friends, a colombian burger and friends.
We (myself, Lawren, Jordan and Emma) decided to plan to head to the pool in the morning before we had to start getting ready . . . let's find out if that happened.
The festivities pre wedding were a success!


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The head of NSW's biggest power generator has warned against the Gillard government's carbon tax after revealing his company had received no help from Canberra in response to his requests for assistance.
Macquarie Generation chief executive officer Russell Skelton told a parliamentary inquiry on Friday morning that the carbon tax policy would unfairly punish the company, which the NSW government owns.
Mr Skelton said the electricity generator would face a $580 million cost in the first year of the carbon tax and would not be able to pass the impost on to its customers, cutting its profits.
"Twenty to 40 per cent of the cost we will have to absorb, which will just reduce our profitability," he said.
This would undermine the company's ability to continue its dividends to the state government, which have amounted to about $2 billion over many years.
"We are going to see a substantially reduction in profitability," Mr Skelton told the Senate committee inquiring into new taxes.
"Even under the Treasury modelling they show a substantial fall in profitability for brown and black coal, and that's the consequence of us not being able to pass through the full cost."
Mr Skelton said he was "puzzled" by the government policy of offering a security fund for generators that suffer asset-value reductions, saying he believed Macquarie Generation would not qualify for the assistance.
"The criteria for receiving that effectively means that we can't access it," he said.
The NSW generator is warning that it would have to take a $2 billion write-down to its asset values under the carbon tax.
Asked by committee chairman Liberal Mathias Cormann if he had received a response from the federal government to his requests for assistance, Mr Skelton said: "Not really, no."
Mr Skelton said he believed the assistance was being aimed at electricity generators using brown coal, such as those in Victoria's Latrobe Valley, rather than NSW producers using black coal.
"The government's aware that we would like [assistance]," he said. "The explanation seems to be that the brown coal guys are doing it worse, and that's true. But it seems a bit harsh for them to get assistance and for us to get nothing."
Responding to questions from Labor senator Doug Cameron, Mr Skelton said that the company's modelling showed there would be strong growth in jobs under a carbon impost but lower than it otherwise would have been without the policy.
Senator Cameron turned the questions to whether Mr Skelton believed in the science of climate change.
"I don't believe I need to give you my view of that," he said.
Senator Cameron said the executive should answer the question because his company was the biggest polluter in the country.
Mr Skelton said Macquarie Generation accepted the need to reduce emissions.
The Australian Financial Review


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i will blog....
Friday, February 13 2009 @ 04:41 PM EST
Contributed by: crazyscrapper
Views: 638
i miss bloggin.
i long to blog..
i just don't have much to say...
i'm working on some things right now while jenna is asleep, but i'll come back soon with an update!
(part of me is wondering if facebook hasn't kind of weaseled it's way in place of my blogging.. LOL!)
i sure am on that site a lot...
you can find me and add me to your FB so you can see what's going on in my day to day!
but i DO promise to be better about blogging.. if there are even any readers still out there!
stay close..i hope to have some FREEBIES up in the next few weeks!
that always brings my readers back! LOL!
have a great day! -J


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Black Cat PC - Bognor regis: We sell Genuine Original DELL Parts such as latitude, precison, studio, XPS, Vostro and inspron batteries and also Dell chargers. We also sell laptops, desktop computers, hard drives, memory, batteries, CPU fans ... everything, indeed, from the latest and most powerful home computers down to USB cables, graphics cards, PC gaming hardware and software. And all sold with the best advice for your particular requirements.
If you can't find a ready-made computer to suit your particular needs, Black Cat PC can build a bespoke system incorporating all of the features that you need without the ones which just get in your way.
If you can't afford something new, or don't want to part with the old, Black Cat PC can still be of assistance. We service, repair, and upgrade all makes of desktop and laptop. We also occasionally have reconditioned computers available for sale.
We particularly specialise in custom high-end systems, utilising cutting edge technology, for gamers and power-users.
If your problem is internet related, involves printers or other connected devices, or if you are not able to bring your computer to us, we can come to your home and troubleshoot your system. Give us a ring and we can discuss your options.
We can visit your site, perform a health check on your workstations, give you advice on backup and other business critical processes, and set up maintenance contracts tailored to your individual requirements.
At Black Cat we are very conscious of the effect our business has upon our "carbon footprint" and, as a consequence, very aware of the need to reduce the emissions resultant from and relating to our activities.
Energy saving lightbulbs are used, as a matter of course, throughout the office and workshop; all our waste is recycled; we do our very best to package products in materials made from renewable resources and when this is not possible - as in the case of bubblewrap - we use biodegradable materials.
We would like to encourage our customers, too, to consider the environmental impact inherent in buying and using a computer or computer equipment. Carbon emissions will be significantly reduced if we all reuse or recycle the packaging, and energy will be saved if we put our computers to sleep when we leave the room or turn our attention to another task.
Environmental damage can also be caused by improper disposal of computer batteries. Customers who do not have access to the proper facilities are invited to send their old laptop batteries to Black Cat for recycling.


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Kelly Clarkson sang Don't You Wanna Stay with country singer Jason Aldean Friday night in Nashville, in the same venue where the two singers debuted the song in November 2010.
The moment came during Aldean's concert at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena. Usually, Lauren Alaina, who opens the shows on Aldean's tour, returns to the stage to perform the song with him. But Clarkson, a Nashville resident, let Aldean know a few days before that she'd be in town and would join him.
Usually, Lauren enters on an elevator at the back of the stage, but Kelly didn't do that because she was wearing heels and couldn't walk on the grates in the stage floor. "I didn't get the memo," Aldean said afterwards. So he was caught looking for Kelly at the rear of the stage as she entered from the side. "I heard everybody start screaming, but I didn't know where she was."
The two singers performed the song live for the first time during the 2010 Country Music Association Awards shows, which broadcasts from the Bridgestone Arena. They won Musical Event of the Year for their recording at last year's CMA Awards.
Don't You Wanna Stay, which reached No. 1 on USA TODAY's Country airplay chart last year, has sold 1.955 million downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Nashville-based Brian Mansfield began writing about music for USA TODAY in 1997 and took over Idol Chatter just before the start of Season 8. He co-authored Make Me a Star: Industry Insiders Reveal How to Make It in Music, and while he has never auditioned for American Idol, he did sing Boot Scootin' Boogie at Disney World's American Idol Experience the day the attraction opened (he lost). More about Brian | E-mail Brian


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Latrobe couple win new truck decked out for Steelers
When Latrobe resident Diana Kostelnik received a phone call last month saying she had won a 2012 Ford F150 XLT pickup truck wrapped in the Pittsburgh Steelers logo, imagery and colors, she and her husband, Anthony, were undertandably skeptical.
"At first we were shocked and a little bit leery. I didn't really believe it that day," Kostelnik, 64, said of their reaction to a Dec. 19 call from a Ford Motor Co. representative who surprised them with the news she had won the "Toughest Truck Toughest Team Sweepstakes" in a random drawing from an online contest.
After talking to family members, they were "pretty certain" by the evening that the call from the Ford representative was legitimate, Kostelnik said.
The retired supervisor from Latrobe Federal Credit Union says she has never won a contest in her life and was shocked to win something as big as a Steelers truck.
"I was just lucky," said Kostelnik, who was one of about 10,000 contestants from the tri-state region who submitted entries, according to Ford.
Kostelnik said she had submitted her entry one day when she spotted a link to the contest while viewing the Pittsburgh Steelers website. She entered so long ago she is not certain when she signed up for the contest, which started when the Steelers were preparing for their training camp at St. Vincent College and continued through Dec. 14.
Kostelnik and her family saw the truck they will pick up at Latrobe Ford on Jan. 16 when they went to the Steelers' Dec. 30 game against the Cleveland Browns, thanks to the four tickets they also won in the contest. Kostelnik said she was able to treat her two daughters, Kim and Jodi Kostelnik, to the Steelers game when they came home for the holidays from New York.
Diana Kostelnik and her husband, who retired in 2000 from the former Latrobe Brewing Co. in Latrobe, have never owned a truck and look forward to using it during the winter. The couple wants to show their Steelers pride by driving the truck to training camp, as well as taking the opportunity to tailgate during the 2013 preseason.
"What better way to wrap up our 80th season 'Year of the Fan' celebration than to present one of our fans with this unique and special Ford Truck," said Tony Quatrini, director of marketing for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The only thing that would have made it better, Kostelnik said, was if the Steelers had won enough games this season to qualify for the playoffs. Then she could have driven her new truck around town during the playoff games.
Joe Napsha is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-836-5252 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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What is in this article?:
- When Women Serve on Boards, Sustainability Performance Increases
- The Magic Number is Three
A new study examining companies' environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance found that companies with one or more women on their boards were significantly more likely to have improved sustainability practices.
"This is not a women's or men's issue, it's a collective and business opportunity," said study author Kelli McElhaney, Ph.D., adjunct assistant professor at the University of California's Berkeley Haas School of Business. McElhaney, who is also the faculty director of the business school's Center for Responsible Business, co-authored the study with Sanaz Mobasseri, Ph.D. candidate, Berkeley-Haas Management of Organizations Group.
To measure corporate performance, the authors reviewed each organization's ESG performance. ESG, a widely accepted measure of corporate sustainability among the investment community as indicators of risk management, opportunity recognition and strong leadership, includes the following criteria:
Environmental criteria include steps to improve energy efficiency of operations, to measure and reduce carbon emissions, to reduce packaging and invest in renewable power generation.
Social factors included health care access for underserved populations in developing market supply chains, strong employment benefits and performance incentives, products with improved health or nutritional benefits, and products and services to communities with limited or no access to financial products.
Governance is defined as cleaning accounting, avoiding corruption and bribery and maintaining a high level of disclosure and transparency about business practices.
"Women and sustainability are two sides of the same coin," said Halla Tomadottir, executive chair and co-founder of Audur Capital in Iceland, who was interviewed for the study. "Corporations build better societies if they have balanced boards."
"The voices of women are critical in advancing the goals of corporate shared value," added U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, who serves on the board of Nestle and also participated in the study.


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Mar 23, 2012 01:51 PM|phancey1|LINK
I am trying to implement selective serialization at runtime. So for example my controller method populates a list of objects but my caller only wants 3 or 4 properties from those objects, whilst another caller may want 10 properties. So I want to control the serialization.
I have looked at GetObjectData but my current implementation is way too slow - basically every object checks its properties using Reflection, checks those against the ok list (AppSettings per object i.e. ProductDefault, "Id,Name,Description,Price") and does an info.Add(fieldname,value). This is massively slow - maybe because I haven't implemented this in the best way. Any ideas? I am currently using a JSON.NET formatter but I would rather not do anything with the formatter because if the caller wants XML output all of a sudden then I have to implement some change to that formatter too. Which is why I am looking just at the GetObjectData method and the Iserializable interface because then it won't matter what format they want it in.
The caller uses a URL which specifies a known AppSettings field list which limits the output.
How best to use this info? Currently I create each object with that string value passed in (a property of the object) so when it comes to GetObjectData it is available to me to test. I am not sure if or where I can add info to StreamingContext that might help me, Is this from the formatter and if so, how? Again, if it is then it is not ideal because I want to avoid doing it for specific formatters.
I can probably just access the Request and check the AppSettings value passed there but I still think the problem is the length of time to do all the processing of that field list - any ideas for the fastest solution?
thanks very much
Mar 23, 2012 05:55 PM|raghuramn|LINK
how does the caller specify what properties it wants ?
Mar 23, 2012 06:17 PM|phancey1|LINK
I had planned on it being part of the REST URL. It would be one of some preset values. So lets say our callerA would use SetA in its URL to indicate using the SetA group of properties. If they wanted to change that set then they would notify us and we would just change the configuration so that suddenly their output is changed - their call remains the same.
callerB would be using their own URL.
A URL without that parameter would use the full set of properties.
To do this I use PropertyInfo (which I get using System.Reflection) and loop through checking each property against my list (which I read using AppSettingsReader). Obviously I am doing this for each object. I should probably be able to get this PropertyInfo from the SerializationInfo parameter? But I then use the string in the AppSettings, split it into a List<string> then loop through PropertyInfo and check whether it is in the list (or if the list is empty).
To add complication I did try increasing the complexity so that there could also be a limit on the fields a specific user was allowed to see AND also the possibility of defining an EXCLUDE list in the case of no specific properties (therefore the full set). Againboth of these were in AppSettings which I processed into List<string> and then used the Intersect function to get a final list.
Without using GetObjectData I can return 1MB of info in a fraction of a second. Using it with my (possibly less than optimized code!) results in many seconds (30+)
Any suggestions for improvement greatly appreciated. I'm sure this is not the best way and in fact it may be that we just end up deciding that the cost of doing this restriction is jus too great.
thanks for your time.
Mar 26, 2012 02:52 PM|phancey1|LINK
ok, well if I cache the AppSettings it isn't too bad. It's the AppSettings reader that eats up the time.
just in case anyone else needs a quick answer to this.


text:
Nathan Tinkler believed a disgruntled ex-employee leaked commercially sensitive details of $700 million in loans from hedge fund Farallon Capital and others to the media, as concerns about his financial position intensified in November last year.
The revelations – which can be reported after a suppression order was partially lifted following a last minute settlement on Wednesday – is the latest in a spate of moves by the mining entrepreneur to tightly guard information about his solvency.
There was widespread reporting that Mr
On Wednesday
Tinkler attempts to suppress media
The struggling mining entrepreneur's solvency has been a matter of intense speculation for the past year, but court documents which can now be reported show he was so concerned about media speculation he sought a super injunction to prevent Fairfax media reporting details of his finances, some of which were already public.
The revelation that he took this unprecedented and extraordinary step to suppress the media from reporting on his financial affairs comes less than a week after he was forced to front court over a separate failed company and amid growing speculation about his liabilities.
Mr Tinkler relocated to Singapore last year in an attempt to escape the glare of the Australian media.
Since then a number of his companies have come close to going under, but a last-minute deal has always been nutted out.
Luck runs out with Blackwood
The once rotund coal baron failed to obtain financing for a $5.25 billion takeover proposal for Whitehaven shortly after he had signed a deal with another coal company, Blackwood Corporation, to buy $28.4 million worth of shares last May. And then, in November, he lost a very public attempt to spill the board of Whitehaven, which has been plagued by operational issues at its coal mines and short selling on the back of dramas with its key shareholder.
Mr Tinkler's luck executing last minute deals ran out with Blackwood after it filed an application to wind up his private vehicle Mulsanne Resources, which was placed in the hands of liquidators in November.
There has been ongoing speculation about Mr Tinkler's financial position, after he took on huge levels of debt before the coal market turned in the middle of last year.
However only a handful of Mr Tinkler's key lieutenants knew the details of the Farallon loans, one or more of whom Mr Tinkler now thinks leaked the details to Fairfax.
He obtained a super injunction to prevent
The Farallon loan, finances laid bare
The loan was between Aston Resources, which merged with Whitehaven before the failed takeover attempt, Mr Tinkler and Farrallon.
In documents tendered before court in the Blackwood hearing last week, it was revealed Ray Zage, the managing director of Farallon subsidiary, Singapore-based Noonday Asset Management was in discussions with Mr Tinkler about funding the Blackwood deal, but ultimately was not prepared to take on the risk.
In court last week Mr Tinkler said he went to Noonday last year to help finance the Blackwood proposal, but was told no. "They had a lot on at the time and were cautious on the coal market," he said. "They said they couldn't look at it at the time."
It also emerged the majority of Mr Tinkler's assets were hidden in a family trust worth $1.4 billion, which he claimed held $600 million worth of liabilities.
Mr Tinkler is embroiled in a lawsuit with the former head of Aston Resources, Hamish Collins, over unpaid entitlements and is thought to have walked a number of employees out of the business last October after accusing them of leaking information to the media. Other Tinkler Group debts are thought to be held mostly against property.
Mr Tinkler had a line of credit with Westpac, which was linked to Patinack farm.
Last week he told the court his family trust also held his horse operation Patinack Farm, which he said could be sold for more than $100 million profit after repaying debt.
Other trust holdings include Aston Metals, which owns undeveloped copper assets and Hunter Ports and Hunter Rail, which have so far failed in attempts to develop infrastructure projects.
Deal goes off the rails
Even after Noonday refused to fund the Blackwood deal, it was still vital for Mr Tinkler to keep the hedge fund onside, though, to ensure it did not take control of Tinkler's 19.4 per cent stake in Whitehaven.
Noonday, through its parent Farallon Capital Management, is a direct owner of Whitehaven stock, with a shareholding of 6 per cent. If it did seize Mr Tinkler's holding it would breach the 20 per cent ownership threshold, after which it would be forced to bid for the company.
Emails tendered in court last week show three hours after being told Blackwood would attempt to wind up his private company, Mulsanne, Mr Tinkler sent Mr Zage a tense email.
"You [k]new to [b]e aware of the below it is going [to] be more good press for me," he wrote. "I have met with Will several times over the last few weeks to extend timing and have been assured it is fine but they have gone ahead and done this." He told Zage he had "ground for defence" but Blackwood "have chosen to be dramatic regardless".
It is easy to see why the deal had gone off the rails. By June, with the spot price of thermal coal down to $US84 a tonne, the value of Tinkler's stake in Whitehaven had fallen to $750 million.
The Australian Financial Review


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text: jjthekid46 - Unregistered May 14, 2013 2:39 PM Seems like Cal screwed himself thinking he held all the cards in his hand and was being clever signing only a 1 year contract to keep his options open with the assumption Tech3 would have nobody to replace him. Now it seems like he could be replaced by Pol and he is crying to the media about it. It seems that he thinks he is a lot more valuable than he is in reality, he hasn't won anything for Yamaha, and so is replaceable and just another quick rider that has come and gone at Tech3 65 agree 15 disagree


text:
This content has been marked as final. Show 6 replies
1. Re: Concurrent manager using lots of cpu & memoryHussein Sawwan-Oracle Aug 25, 2011 4:18 PM (in response to user15639)Please post the details of the application release, database version and OS.
Any changes have been done recently (patches, upgrade, installation, ..etc)?
Concurrent Processing - How to Find Database Session & Process Associated with a Concurrent Program Which is Currently Running. [ID 735119.1]
How to Retrieve SID Information For a Running Request [ID 280391.1]
Concurrent Processing (CP) / APPS Reporting Scripts [ID 213021.1]
Concurrent Processing - CCM.sql Diagnostic Script to Diagnose Common Concurrent Manager Issues [ID 171855.1]
Scheduled Requests Running for END_DATED Users 100% CPU and Giving ORA-01002 [ID 1080047.1]
Concurrent Processing - Troubleshooting Concurrent Manager Issues (Unix specific) [ID 104452.1]
Also, search the forum for "Concurrent Manager" and "Tuning".
2. Re: Concurrent manager using lots of cpu & memoryuser15639 Aug 26, 2011 9:57 AM (in response to Hussein Sawwan-Oracle)Details:
18.104.22.168 apps
10.2.0.4 database.
Solaris 10
Nothing has changed that I know as the dba.
I have looked through some of the notes and none is saying how I can relate the FNDLIBR process with a c.manager etc
Thanks Hussein, as always
3. Re: Concurrent manager using lots of cpu & memoryHussein Sawwan-Oracle Aug 26, 2011 7:21 PM (in response to user15639)From the OS, issue "ps -ef | grep FNDLIBR" -- This will return many processes, so pick the PID of the process with a high CPU utilization and run this query (let's say PID is "495732"):
SQL> SELECT d.sid, d.serial# ,d.osuser,d.process FROM apps.fnd_concurrent_processes b, v$process c, v$session d WHERE c.pid = b.oracle_process_id AND b.session_id=d.audsid AND d.process = '434372';
4. Re: Concurrent manager using lots of cpu & memory864708 Aug 30, 2011 3:31 PM (in response to Hussein Sawwan-Oracle)Hi,
Is this happening in your test instance also?
Did you find if there is any major change in your query execution plan of the concurrent request ?
Sridhar M
5. Re: Concurrent manager using lots of cpu & memory877189 Sep 8, 2011 5:52 PM (in response to user15639)If the users who scheduled the concurrent requests are end-dated, then the concurrent managers will consume high cpu and memory. You can see the error and the concurrent request id in Concurrent Manager logs
6. Re: Concurrent manager using lots of cpu & memorypouler Sep 16, 2011 2:49 PM (in response to 877189)Hello,
Thanks for the Post. This post helped me to solve my production issue.
My production application started hanging suddenly and no clue why it is behaving like this.
The symptom was FNDLIBR processes were on top cpu consumer on application server.
The database server also experienced heavy system i/o and cpu usage.
The database base log switches every minutes (500 MB) and there are no concurrent requests running.
No concurrent request errors. No OS errors (Cleaned the GNOME and restarted). No database errors.
But in sql area i saw lot of fnd service requests keep coming.
At the end the application server hangs because of high cpu and it caused the production down.
The problem was one of Our System Administrator disabled one responsibility with scheduled request.
One interesting thing we noticed, even you put the request in question Hold, it will start running while you restart the concurrent request.
You have to cancel the concurrent request and restart the concurrent manager can solve the issue.


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Commitment and expectation gaps
The troop contribution "commitment gap" remained a major concern throughout the year. Industrialized states prioritized deployment of their troops to operations led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union and/or ad hoc coalitions authorized by the Security Council. Developing countries continued to provide the largest numbers of military and civilian police personnel for United Nations peacekeeping missions, particularly in Africa. Eight of the top ten contributors to United Nations operations—Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, India, Ghana, Nepal, Uruguay, Jordan, Kenya and South Africa—were South Asian or African countries. However, even with their participation, support has been insufficient to meet rising demands, particularly in Africa.
A second concern was the "expectations gap". In DRC, for example, expectations outran the capacity and mandate of United Nations forces when violence erupted in the northeast of the country. The arrival of an interim multinational force, approved by the Security Council and led by France, gave crucial time to the United Nations to deploy an expanded and better-equipped UN force with a more robust mandate. Efforts have been undertaken both at Headquarters and in the field to provide Member States with clear information on mission mandates and on what tasks peacekeeping operations can successfully perform.
Robust peacekeeping
In his 2003 report on implementation of the Millennium Declaration, the Secretary-General called for serious debate on the future of "robust" peacekeeping: should UN troops deployed to keep the peace be able to use force. DPKO has also stressed the need for a shared understanding among Member States on this issue.
Peacekeeping increasingly involves internal wars with armed elements only partially under the control of those who consent to a United Nations deployment. In these cases, it may be necessary to stabilize the situation before a United Nations peacekeeping presence can be deployed, as in Liberia and the DRC. In some contemporary post-conflict situations, peacekeeping forces may need the ability to use force, if necessary, to keep the initiative of the peace process on track and to defend the peacekeeping mission and its mandate.
In 2003, most large peacekeeping operations operated with mandates that provided for enforcement action, citing Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter on "Action with Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace and Acts of Aggression." These included operations in Liberia, the DRC, Sierra Leone and Kosovo.
Rapid deployment
DPKO made strides in rapid deployment in 2003, particularly with the launching of the mission in Liberia. The Department involved potential troop contributing countries at an early stage of planning and was able to secure $47 million in funding for the pre-mandate and early phases of the mission. The Standby High-Readiness Brigade (SHIRBRIG) helped ensure UNMIL's interim headquarters capability. Also key were the United Nations Standby Arrangements System (UNSAS)8 as well as on-call lists for military and civilian police components and other civilian personnel.
In order to accelerate the recruitment of civilian personnel drawn from a diverse geographic and gender base, DPKO provided advance training and developed staffing rosters. The United Nations Mine Action Service developed a rapid response capability to meet emergency needs. Thanks to the Strategic Deployment Stocks in Brindisi, Italy, vehicles, communication equipement and computers were available in Liberia at the outset, and an emergency United Nations radio station broadcast live on the opening day of the mission.
Lessons learned and best practices
In order to improve the planning and the conduct of peacekeeping operations, the Best Practices Unit played a more prominent role in the work of DPKO, particularly in planning DDR programmes and in gender policy. The Unit prepared for the launching of an online database—a virtual library of peacekeeping knowledge to be used in the planning, conduct and management of peacekeeping operations.
Enhancing African peacekeeping capacity
The year 2003 saw priorities and progress concentrated in Africa where ongoing peacekeeping efforts costing some $2 billion oversaw what appeared to be the end of major African conflicts. DPKO continued to promote the enhancement of an African peacekeeping capacity, including through support for the establishment of an African Standby Force to be formed of multinational brigades organized on a sub-regional basis in accordance with United Nations standards.
Regional partnerships
In 2003, the United Nations forged partnerships with a number of regional organizations. In February, the Security Council authorized the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and French forces to deploy in Côte d'Ivoire. The Council subsequently established the United Nations Mission in Côte d'Ivoire (MINUCI), which includes a military liaison component that works in close collaboration with ECOWAS and French forces. In August, the Security Council authorized an interim ECOWAS force in Liberia that would hand over its peacekeeping responsibilities to a future United Nations stabilization force. When the United Nations Mission in Liberia was established in October, some 3,500 West African troops were "re-hatted" as United Nations peacekeepers.
In June, the Security Council authorized a European Union force, the Interim Emergency Multinational Force, to deploy in the Ituri province of the DRC until the United Nations force was ready to take over, after its mandate was strengthened and its contingents reinforced. In Kosovo, the United Nations mission continued working closely with the NATO-led Kosovo Force, and in Georgia the United Nations mission worked alongside the Commonwealth of Independent States peacekeeping force. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization agreed to assume leadership of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, in August, under a Security Council mandate. The mandate was expanded on 13 October to enable deployment outside Kabul in order to improve security throughout the country and allow the United Nations to fulfill its tasks.
The United Nations also increased its cooperation on matters related to regional peace and security with the Association of South-East Asian Nations, while in Latin America, the Organization supported mediation efforts by the Organization of American States concerning Venezuela and Haiti. The United Nations also strengthened its cooperation with the Pacific Island Forum on peace and security issues.
8 Established in 1993, the United Nations Stand-by Arrangements System (UNSAS) provides the United Nations with a database detailing the military units and the equipment which some Member States are willing, in principle, to make available to the Organization at short notice.Protection of United Nations personnel


text: How to make Torque flush stderr/stdout to file before end-of-job? Can I do this as a user, or would I need privileges? Or is this just not doable, and I should try Something Completely Different? What I mean, why I ask: I'm a new PBS/Torque user, relatively new to scientific computing, but a linux/unix user for many years, and not GUI-dependent. I'm accustomed to monitoring progress by 1. redirecting (or `tee`ing) stderr/stdout to one or more logfiles 2. `tail`ing the resulting log(s) so am annoyed that my Torque jobs only write log after the job stops (whether ab- or normally). I can get some progress feedback from examining other output, but not with the detail (much less the `grep`ability) I can get from the logfile. Hence I'd greatly prefer to be able to flush Torque more often ... but I'm not finding much information about this problem, beyond one SO post http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10527061/pbs-refresh-stdout which suggests that I'd need admin on Torque. Is that correct? (I'm "just a user," but I could probably get an admin to make required change(s) if I could present them with clear directions (and $20 :-) and performance was not noticeably degraded.) If not, 1. Are there alternatives I can pursue as "just a user"? E.g., I notice in the above http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10527061/pbs-refresh-stdout > I ended up capturing stdout outside the queue but am not sure what is meant, much less how that would be done. 2. Is this just not feasible? Should I be focusing my effort on, e.g., better parsing my output to determine progress? Apologies if the above is a FAQ, but I didn't see it @ http://docs.adaptivecomputing.com/torque/4-0-2/Content/topics/11-troubleshooting/faq.htm and am having trouble googling this topic (given the real-world overloading of the terms 'PBS' and 'Torque'). Pointers to relevant docs and other information sources esp appreciated. FWIW, my job has two parts: a Torque-aware, `qsub`ing, "outer" bash script (written by me) that wraps a previously-written (not by me), unmanaged/serial-native, "inner" csh script. The outer script sets and tests a bazillion environment variables, before delivering payload like QSUB_ARG="-V -q ${queue_name} -N ${job_name} -l nodes=${N}:ppn=${PPN},walltime=${WT} -m ${mail_opts} -j ${join_opts} -o ${path_to_logfile_capturing_inner-script_stdout}" for CMD in \ "ls -alh ${path_to_outer-script_logfile}" \ "ls -alh ${path_to_logfile_capturing_inner-script_stdout}" \ "find ${path_to_output_directory}/ -type f | wc -l" \ "du -hs ${path_to_output_directory}/" \ "ls -alt ${path_to_output_directory}/" \ "qsub ${QSUB_ARG} ${path_to_inner_script}" \ ; do echo -e "$ ${CMD}" 2>&1 | tee -a "${path_to_outer-script_logfile}" eval "${CMD}" 2>&1 | tee -a "${path_to_outer-script_logfile}" done after which I want to be able to do `tail ${path_to_logfile_capturing_inner-script_stdout}` , but can't. your assistance is appreciated, Tom Roche <Tom_Roche at pobox.com>


text:
Bed bugs are back and they are becoming a major problem in homes, apartments and places of business. They have become so common place that recently a large movie theater in New York City had to shut down for a week to have the entire theater fumigated due to a massive infestation of bed bugs….
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