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Treasuries are undergoing technological transformations to enable their corporations to grow and prosper in a difficult global marketplace. Take Itron, a technology company that builds electric, gas, water and thermal energy meters for utilities. Its 2007 acquisition of Actaris doubled its size overnight and catapulted the company, now with $2.4 billion in annual revenue, into complex global operations and exposures. Since the merger, Itron conducts business in 130 countries using 40-plus currencies through a highly decentralized structure.
The merger was a wake-up call for what had been a basic domestic treasury function. Itron kicked off a finance and treasury reinvention by adopting leading-edge solutions, including migrating to a single global instance of an Oracle ERP system, implementing specialized applications from FiREapps, Reval and FXall, and an IT2 treasury workstation with SWIFT messaging integration.
Meanwhile, companies that have completed technology transformations are finding tactical ways to move to mobile access, cloud hosting, smarter data mining and reporting, tighter management of FX risks, and preparing for electronic bank account management (eBAM).
The two biggest differentiators of the new generation of technology are cloud hosting and mobile access to treasury software, notes Bob Stark, vice president of marketing for treasury workstation vendor Kyriba.
"The heaviness of treasury systems is dropping away," Stark observes. "Three years ago, it was all about gaining complete visibility to liquidity and counterparty risks. Now the goal is shifting to using that information to make better decisions."
At Itron, which also makes software and communications tools for utilities, people came before technology. Itron CFO Steve Helmbrecht first made sure he had a sophisticated treasury team with global chops and plenty of tech experience to handle the new tools.
Byron Jackson, an assistant treasurer at Motorola who was instrumental in the company's 2003 Alexander Hamilton Award-winning cash management project, signed on as treasurer in 2008. Ed Barrie, who had been a leader in Microsoft's much-decorated treasury, was recruited in 2009 to head up treasury operations and global foreign exchange.
Rounding out the global treasury team at Liberty Lake, Wash.-based Itron are Kimberly Millikan, director of capital markets; Yvonne Tanak, director of risk management; and Guillaume de Contenson, director of international treasury.
When Itron looked at its priorities, managing foreign exchange topped the list. "We had more than 50 subsidiaries in 40 countries, each of which was buying and selling in local currencies as well as in non-functional currencies," Barrie recalls. And each unit used a different instance of a legacy ERP system with a distinct and separate chart of accounts.
"Our exposures at the subsidiary level were hard to see," he adds. "The only hedging we could do was at the Itron Inc. level and at our offshore finance operation" (a mini in-house bank that handles intercompany loans, located in Luxembourg).
So the first big step was to bring in FiREapps. "We had to start by getting our hands around our global FX balance sheet exposures and build out the technology to support an effective hedging program," Barrie says. "We needed FiREapps. That system is able to pick up the [general ledger] balances of all the subsidiaries, normalize them and map them to our corporate chart of accounts so that we can clearly see our exposures globally."
FiREapps packages that visibility just the way the treasury team wants to see it. "We tag our exposure by 18 categories like cash, intercompany, trade AP and trade AR, and we can see our exposures by category, as well as by currency and subsidiary," Barrie explains. "These are robust analytics that bring our balance sheet exposures into sharp focus and allow us to manage them with targeted hedging."
Much of the analysis focuses on changing exposures. FiREapps reports spot changes and allows treasury to drill down to what's driving them "so we can have conversations with local controllers about the situations," Barrie says. "We find out if it is a temporary blip or some shift in the fundamentals."
Barrie suggests Itron will keep the FiREapps program even after the global rollout of Oracle standardizes the company's ERP environment and the IT2 workstation aggregates a lot of treasury data.
"In fact, we plan to expand our use of FiREapps from balance-sheet analytics by piloting their revenue and expense analytics, and start to see and control exposures in our income statement," he says. "Once we can do the analysis, we can further develop our FX hedging programs."
Itron is already on top of its balance-sheet FX changes down to the twitch level. Compared to any treasury workstation—Itron looked closely at five before picking IT2—FiREapps is a sharp-edged tool. "None of the workstations can pull data from the ERPs and slice and dice it like FiREapps can," Barrie says. "You can upload data into a workstation at the corporate or subsidiary level, but you can't mine it and analyze it in a workstation like you can in FiREapps. They own the niche for pre-trade data abstraction and analytics. That's their sweet spot."
But Itron wanted razor-sharp tools that even FiREapps can't provide.
"FiREapps shows you what to expect," Barrie explains. "But now we load in our actuals and analyze the delta [deviation] with a decomposition model we built ourselves. At month-end close, we see how much of a gain or loss we had that month from FX. With our decomposition model, we're able to see how much of that gain or loss was from mismatched hedging, trade-rate differences, from cash conversions or from transactions that were booked at something other than the income statement rate."
The result is more effective control over balance sheet volatility related to FX and "more comfort that our data are accurate and consistent," Barrie says. "We're now hedging 25 to 30 currency pairs a month, using one-month forward contracts, outright forwards for deliverable currencies and non-deliverable forwards for untradeable currencies, and hedging exposures on an aggregated corporate basis."
"Our reason for this," notes CFO Helmbrecht, who's pictured above, "was to reduce volatility of financial results through a prudent and well-managed hedging program. With this effort, we are streamlining internal processes and lowering our operational costs, both of which are key components of the long-term financial strength of our company."
Itron will continue to use Reval for derivative accounting and risk management and FXall for multibank FX trading, and will employ IT2, its first global treasury workstation, primarily to get global cash visibility through prior and current-day bank statements, delivered via its SWIFT service bureau; perform automated bank account reconciliation; issue global cash forecasts; track intercompany loans and bank mandates, and generally centralize and standardize all banking information, Barrie explains.
Itron is not likely to leverage the technology platforms of individual banks. "We're a global company that is a collection of local companies," Barrie says. "Our business is driven by local country requirements. We could never use one global bank to process all our transactions. We will pay and collect locally but concentrate to our relationship banks, relying on SWIFT and multibank, third-party software for communication. We want to leverage technology as much as possible to streamline our operations and solve business problems."
Big Boost From Small Enhancement
Itron launched a big project to make big changes and earn big rewards, but sometimes a single enhancement by one vendor can bring a tactical breakthrough with little effort.
For $1.2 billion Cadence Design Systems in San Jose, Calif., that breakthrough is Clearwater Analytics' new Beta reporting capability, notes treasury manager Craig Cutright, who oversees investments of $500 million in various cash portfolios.
Until recently, hosted services offered canned reports, he notes, and users had to adjust their operations to fit standard reporting options. Now Beta gives Clearwater users flexibility.
"We can change the reporting on the fly to get just what we want," Cutright says. "We can start with one of the standard reports and modify it, or we can start from scratch and grab whatever data we want and produce reports in any format, including Excel and PDF. This is a big step forward. We're saving a lot of time we spent manually modifying the old canned reports. I hope other providers of hosted services will follow this lead." —Richard Gamble
For more stories about tech transformations, see Achieving Efficiency with a Single Instance of ERP and EADS Treasury Opts for Risk Management Muscle.


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My name is Johanna (Hannie for short) And I live in Spijkenisse, near Rotterdam in the Netherlands. It is only since May 2004 that I have a digital camera and that makes it a lot easyer to send images per e-mail or otherwise. Before, my favorite camera was an Asahi Pentax K1000. I still use it, but I have to scan the photographs first. This is a lot better. Do read my blog too!
Flying high, a Cloud bird.
Uploaded by: Mooween
Tuesday November 27, 2012
Spijkenisse, Netherlands
Caption: See my blog
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Kennicott Park
4434 S. Lake Park Ave. Chicago, Illinois 60653
(312) 747-7138
Fee: Free entrance, must pay for products and vendors
Age Range: 18 and up
Mother's Day Spa includes vendors with the options to get your nails done, eyebrows tweezed, eyelashes,clothing, jewelry and beauty products. Free fitness center, piltes and cardio dance classes to energize you! Refreshments will be available for purchase.


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Your Views: Filibuster change completes power grab by Democrats
We, the people, have just had a 225-year Senate rule voided on us. The Democratic- controlled Senate decided to do away with the 60-vote rule for confirmations and filibusters to advance an agenda based on executive order and bureaucratic rule. Our concept of the Senate and its procedures to cool legislation was set down originally by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
Obstinately, the Obama administration was being prevented from increasing the number of judges in the underworked Washington, D.C., federal court from eight to 11. This court mainly deals with the constitutionality of federal regulations and executive orders. The administration has had many of its dictates overturned by this court and now wants to "pack it" with judges biased to its rule by decree. The vote to change to the 60-vote rule was made along party lines, the same Democratic Party vote that gave us the failing Obamacare.
This rule change will do away with the administration's inconvenience of having to select for appointments competent and somewhat impartial judges and agency heads who will have long-term effects on the way we conduct our lives. Party loyalists who reflect their bias and agenda will now be confirmed. No vetting or negotiation within the Senate need be allowed.
The administration and Senate have now completed this power grab, and advancement of the progressive agenda by agency and executive rule can begin. We, the people, will have no legislative or judicial defense against capricious command-and-control regulation by this administration.


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Badgers' McEvoy eagerly awaits another QB shot
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
MADISON--Safety Tanner McEvoy is focused on doing whatever he can to help Wisconsin's defense rebound from a subpar performance in the regular-season finale and defeat No. 8 South Carolina in the Capital One Bowl.
"We're playing in a great bowl game against a great team," McEvoy, who redshirted at South Carolina in 2011 before transferring to a junior college, said after practice last week.
However, as soon as the bowl game is over, McEvoy will turn his attention back to the position he covets—quarterback.
McEvoy, who has been working at quarterback during developmental practices for young players this month, will be given an opportunity to compete for the starting quarterback job in the spring.
"I'm excited about it," McEvoy said. "I think it is going to be a fun spring."
Redshirt sophomore Joel Stave has started all 12 games this season and has passed for 2,414 yards, with 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He has completed 61.6 percent of his passes but too often has missed wide-open receivers.
Redshirt freshman Bart Houston also is expected to be in the mix. Dual-threat quarterback D.J. Gillins hopes to graduate early from Jean Ribault High School in Jacksonville, Fla., and enroll at UW in January. Walk-ons Connor Senger and Thad Armstrong also are expected back in the spring.
"It's always fun to be out there and play the position I want to play," McEvoy said with a grin when asked about getting work at quarterback this month. "I'm not knocking safety.
"But I'd rather play quarterback, and they know that. I still feel like I can throw it a little bit. I'm looking forward to this last game, getting that win and then trying to focus on having a great spring."
McEvoy passed for 1,943 yards and 25 touchdowns and ran for 414 yards and six touchdowns last season at Arizona Western College. He opened camp in August as the No. 3 quarterback, but it was clear he wasn't ready to compete for the starting job. He was moved to wide receiver but then moved to safety after suffering a broken bone in his wrist. The injury made it impossible for McEvoy to take snaps or catch balls with both hands.
"If things don't work out at quarterback," he said, "I've got something (safety) to fall back on. … I like doing the hitting instead of being the one getting hit. You don't get hurt as much.
"I like playing center field and reading the quarterback and try to be in position to make plays."
McEvoy appears to be throwing the ball more accurately and with more velocity now than he did in August.
"He wants to play," offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig said. "He'd probably play both ways if we let him."


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Everyone should have an uncle like Louie
From time to time, my Uncle Louie appears to me in a dream. Sometimes we're doing chores in his dairy barn or hanging out in the milk house, discussing the latest developments with the Packers or Brewers, the Badgers or the Bucks. Other times, we're working in the hay, me sweating amid the dust and shoving bales onto a chute to the elevator that reaches other hired hands in the hay loft, Louie arriving from the field with another full load. Or we're celebrating a birthday or holiday in the aging farmhouse, the same one where Louie and my mom and their siblings grew up.
Never, it seems, is he at risk of dying of cancer. Cancer did kill him, however, and sometimes it seems it was only yesterday. It's hard to believe he died 10 years ago this week. I only wish every one of my readers had an uncle like Louie.
If you'd like to know why, I'll share a column I wrote a few days after he died. Maybe you read it. If so, I hope you'll do so again. Some of you perhaps have gotten to know me through my daily blogs in the past few years and will be reading it for the first time. I hope everyone appreciates the insight into what made Louie special.
A proud farmer sows final seeds of kindness
(Printed Nov. 26, 2003)
By Greg Peck
Louie Klecker Jr. of Marshall was a little fellow with a big heart.
Louie, as we called him, was not the sort who made headlines. But he served nearly 30 years on the town board, and there was the time a Madison newspaper pictured him carrying a sign at a protest overpower lines crossing his land, the farm where he was born and raised and where he tilled still. The sign read something like "Us dumb farmers do have rights."Louie was a good farmer, the kind who did things right, kept his dairy herd well fed, his buildings repaired and his machinery in good shape. He knew he could make a decent living—though one of long days and no vacations—through hard work.
When three semis pulled up to haul away his milk cows in 1997, it was the talk of the town.
A year ago, at age 72, Louie was still playing softball. Not in a senior league, mind you, but in a league with men young enough to be his grandsons. He got a kick out of how his cancer doctor at UW Hospital would see him and say, "Here comes Louisville Slugger."I find it ironic that last week Tuesday, our editorial board met with two American Cancer Society representatives. I resisted asking them how they could save Louie from prostate cancer, why they couldn't. For four months, Louie had been bedridden, reduced to a shell, reduced to helplessness, wearing a diaper.
I'd gone to visit him each week, sort of my own version of "Tuesdays With Morrie." But I'd go on Thursdays, sometimes Wednesdays. And we didn't have big philosophical discussions. Rather, we talked, as always, about the Badgers or the Packers. We'd watch a Brewers game, then the World Series, then a Bucks game as autumn aged.
We'd also reflect on the past. Louie told how, as a young boy, he shared twin beds with his older brothers, Roy and Erv. He'd fall asleep with one, roll over and wake up with the other. One time, Erv pulled a stunt on him, separating the beds after Louie had dozed. When Louie rolled, he fell onto the rough layer of hickory nuts his mother had placed under the beds to dry. Louie got even by placing a mousetrap on the stairway and catching Erv's big toe.
When I called last Wednesday night, the news wasn't good, the end was approaching with startling swiftness. I was told Louie had that death rattle, much like his brother Erv had in the final hours before death came calling, likewise of cancer, in 1996.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" my wife, Cheryl, asked before we headed for Marshall. I was sure, I said.
But I wasn't prepared for what I saw. One never is.
Louie had raised three daughters. His soulmate, Dinah Galston, had given birth to eight kids—two of them my classmates—in just nine years. Nine years ago, Louie and Dinah, both divorced, found each other.
Though they never married, and despite what the Catholic Church might say, it was a match—pardon the pun—made in heaven. They gave each other the best years of their lives in an inspirational love story. This fall, I marveled at Dinah's strength. Still employed, she found energy to feed Louie, change him, bathe him.
When Cheryl and I arrived at their home, it was full of people, Louie's children and Dinah's. Louie, struggling for each breath, slept during our entire visit. I could do little but hold his hand, kiss his cheek, his forehead, and tell him I loved him before walking away in tears.
Four hours later, the alarm clock read 12:36 when I awoke to a ringing phone. Louie was gone.
I won't remember Louie for the way he looked that evening, nor the house full of sobs and tears or the last rites performed by a familiar face, Monsignor Raymond Kertz, formerly of St. Mary's in Janesville and now of St. Pat's in Cottage Grove.
Instead, I'll remember the smiling, positive, spirited man. I'll remember the image in a photo of a boy, perhaps no older than 5, with a floppy hat and holding up a catfish as big as him and sharing an equal smile. I'll remember the skinny kid in the photo of Marshall High School's basketball team and his humorous stories of how the squad came within a whisper of knocking off Beloit Memorial and going to state in 1947 in the days before schools were split into divisions by size.
I'll remember the last time Cheryl and I and Louie and Dinah went out for fish and Louie told of stalking spring turkeys. Later, we played euchre late into the night, and I'll remember how the cards always fell right for Louie and me and how he laughed, we laughed.
To say that Louie Klecker was my favorite uncle is unfair to my mother's other three brothers. But as a boy and young man, I'd worked on the farm with Louie many summers. We had a certain chemistry, an ease of conversation. Maybe it was just Louie. During one recent visit, a neighbor family was with Louie.
When they left, Jared, a spindly boy of about 12, promised he'd call Louie the next morning. "That's my shadow at the farm," Louie told me, and I felt a tinge of jealousy, as if I'd somehow been replaced.
I'll be thinking of Louie tomorrow, on Thanksgiving Day. I'll never be thankful for the way this hideous, insidious disease killed him. But I'll forever be thankful for having known, and loved, a truly special man.
In Louie's dying days, a Marshall resident called Louie the kindest man who ever walked the face of the Earth.
When told of the compliment, Louie's reply was simple.
"I try."
Greg Peck can be reached at (608) 755-8278 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.
Greg Peck can be reached at (608) 755-8278 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.


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What do IBM layoffs mean for New York's chip initiative?
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Big Blue is being tight lipped as usual about how many employees are getting the ax, but at least some of the jobs being cut are in semiconductor R&D.
Reports of IBM initiating a new round of layoffs have been intensifying in recent days. According to the IBM employee group Alliance@IBM, as of late afternoon Friday (June 14), the total number of jobs that had been reported eliminated totaled nearly 2,300.
According to the Alliance@IBM website, http://www.endicottalliance.org/, some 500 of the jobs that have known to have been eliminated have been from the Systems and Technology Group, IBM's hardware division, which includes not only the company's microelectronics activities but also servers, storage systems and other hardware.
The Bloomberg news service, citing Alliance@IBM, reported Thursday that the layoffs that had been reported so far included at least 165 semiconductor R&D jobs. But that total is all but certain to climb.
Lee Conrad, the administrator of Alliance@IBM, said the group has seen analyst reports speculating that the total number of IBM job cuts worldwide could totally between 6,000 and 8,000. Conrad said that sounds about right and speculated that the number of U.S. job cuts would likely be 4,000 to 5,000.
Conrad said his group should have more complete information next week as reports continue to come in.
Big Blue has been notoriously tight lipped about layoffs in recent years. The firm did not respond to an EE Times request for information about the layoffs.
Conrad's group believes that states where IBM is a major employer should force Big Blue to disclose concrete information about job cuts.
"It should be mandated that IBM publicly release these job cut numbers," Conrad said in an interview. "For many years, IBM has been hiding these things. For a company that gets taxpayer money that should be a mandate."
Conrad notes that the latest round of layoffswhich are taking place worldwidecontinue to the trend of IBM decreasing the size of its U.S. workforce. Ten years ago, he said, IBM had over 160,000 U.S. employees. With the latest cuts, that number is now below 90,000 he said.
"There's a lot of stuff going off shore," Conrad said.


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The Chicago Park District is teaming up with The North Face and its Explore Your Parks program to encourage people to get outdoors this summer and enjoy activities such as Family Camping at select parks. The nationwide Explore Your Parks program provides activity guide booklets with a purchase of any product from The North Face store.
The Chicago Park District's Family Camping program is supported this year by The North Face Camping 101 program, which is designed for novice campers and gives families an opportunity to camp overnight in select Chicago parks. Activities begin Saturdays at 2 p.m. and end on Sundays at 10 a.m. and include fishing, fire building, guided nature hikes, cooking demonstrations and more.
The first program June 22-23 at Northerly Island is sold out, but slots are available for Chicago Park District locations on the following dates:
Aug. 17-18, Palmisano Park, 2700 S. Halsted St. (registration open)
Sept. 14-15, Gompers Park, 4222 W. Foster Ave. (registration open)
Sept. 21-22, Bull Frog Lake, Palos Park, Ill., in conjunction with the Cook County Forest Preserve (registration date to be announced)
Oct. 5-6, Jackson Park, Wooded Island, 6401 S. Stony Island Ave. (registration open)
The Family Camping registration fee is $50 per family of up to six members, including children ages 6-12. Check www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/nature for updates.
About the Chicago Park District
For more information about the Chicago Park District's more than 8,100 acres of parkland, more than 580 parks, 26 miles of lakefront, nine museums, two world-class conservatories, 16 historic lagoons, nearly 50 nature areas, thousands of special events, sports and entertaining programs, please visit www.chicagoparkdistrict.com or contact the Chicago Park District at 312/742.PLAY or 312/747.2001 (TTY). Want to share your talent? Volunteer in the parks by calling, 312/742.PLAY.
About Explore Your Parks
Since 2010, The North Face has provided community events, free activity guide booklets and park passes and camping discounts to the public through its Explore Your Parks program. It now reaches 13 markets nationwide, and currently partners with the Chicago Park District and state park agencies in California, Idaho, Massachusetts, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Oregon. Visit www.exploreyourparks.com for more details.
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Death notices for Dec. 22, 2013
Ruth A. Clark, 93, Janesville, formerly of Delavan, died Saturday at Cedar Crest, Janesville. Services are pending at Betzer Funeral Home, Delavan.
Robert Leo Dooley, 66, Sugar Creek, died Wednesday at home. Services will be at 1 p.m. Friday at Haase-Lockwood & Associates Funeral Home, Elkhorn. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. until the time of services Friday at the funeral home.
Gertrude Clara Lader, 95, Avalon, died Friday at Huntington Place Memory Care, Janesville. Services are pending at Henke-Clarson Funeral Home, Janesville.
Audrey J. Stricker, 85, Janesville, died Friday at Rock Haven Nursing Home, Janesville. Services will be at noon Saturday, Jan. 4, at Whitcomb-Lynch Funeral Home, Janesville. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. until the time of services Saturday, Jan. 4, at the funeral home.


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Do you expect a tax refund? What will you spend it on?
Now that the tax filing deadline has passed, are you expecting that "check in the mail"? My wife, Cheryl, and I are expecting tax refunds from the state and federal governments.
I understand that many investment advisers urge their clients to adjust withholding so they aren't giving the government free temporary use of their extra earnings. Still, Cheryl and I would rather be confident that we can expect some sort of refund rather than wind up owing money when our tax returns are prepared.
Some people might use their refunds to pad their retirement funds, to pay off debts, to help send kids to college or even just to pay regular bills. For years, Cheryl and I have been fortunate enough to use our refund checks to help us pay for vacations. Sometimes, we've had to tailor our trips depending on how big our refunds are.
Through the years, however, our tax refunds have helped us enjoy such trips as a week in Ireland; two weeks in Seattle, Portland and Vancouver; two weeks in the San Francisco-Napa Valley-Yosemite-Carmel-Monterey area; two weeks of hiking southern Utah's five beautiful national parks; and, last year, two weeks of taking in the fall colors of New England. This year, we'll use it to help take our 5-year-old grandson to Disney World, just as we took his 12-year-old sister when she turned 5.
Do you expect refunds, and, if so, what will you use them for?
Greg Peck can be reached at (608) 755-8278 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.
Greg Peck can be reached at (608) 755-8278 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.


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Learn to dance and enjoy live music at SummerDance in the Parks –an admission-free series that is part of Chicago SummerDance – coming to five different Chicago Park District facilities Wednesdays, July 3 – Aug. 28: Theater on the Lake; 63rd St. Beach house in Jackson Park; Ping Tom Memorial Park; Austin Town Hall; and the Humboldt Park Boathouse. SummerDance in the Parks is supported by Southwest Airlines.
The series offers introductory one-hour dance lessons by professional instructors at 6 p.m. followed by live music and dancing from 7-9 p.m. The diverse lineup showcases various traditional and modern dance styles from all corners of the globe.
SummerDance in the Parks is presented as part of an ongoing collaboration between the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and the Chicago Park District. Arts programming in neighborhoods advances the goals of the Chicago Cultural Plan and the Night Out in the Parks initiative. For more information, visit chicagoculturalplan.org and nightoutintheparks.com.
Following is the schedule for SummerDance in the Parks:
July 3
Theater on the Lake, 2401 N. Lake Shore Dr.
Kid Color spins dance music as part of the opening night of the interdisciplinary Declaration YOUth Arts Festival, four evenings of spoken word, music, dance, theater, and visual art from Chicago teens. There is no dance instruction for the evening.
July 10
63rd St. Beach house, 6300 S. Lake Shore Dr.
Dendé & Band play Afro-Brazilian Bloco-Samba Dance music.
Dill Costa teaches Brazilian Samba.
July 17
Ping Tom Memorial Park, 300 W. 19th St.
El Caobo spins Latin music.
Mixed Motion Art teaches salsa and mambo.
July 24
Austin Town Hall, 5610 W. Lake St.
The Nu Blu Band plays R&B.
Majestic Gents teaches Chicago steppin'.
July 31
Humboldt Park Boathouse, 1359 N. Sacramento Ave.
Las Bom Pleneras play bomba and plena.
Ivelisse Diaz of Bombera de Corazonteaches bomba and plena dancing.
Aug. 7
63rd St. Beach house, 6300 S. Lake Shore Dr.
Chicago Catzplay R&B, soul and funk.
Dawud Shareef and Lura Satterfield teach Chicago bop and steppin'.
Aug. 14
Ping Tom Memorial Park, 300 W. 19th St.
The Boilermaker Jazz Band play authentic swing and jazz.
Get on the Dance Floor teaches jitterbug.
Aug. 21
Austin Town Hall, 5610 W. Lake St.
Carpacho y Su Super Combo plays Colombian and salsa music.
Latin Rhythms teaches salsa.
Aug. 28
Humboldt Park Boathouse, 1359 N. Sacramento Ave.
Angel d'Cuba plays traditional and contemporary Afro-Cuban music.
The Dance Academy of Salsa teaches mambo and cha cha.
About Chicago SummerDance
SummerDance in the Parks is part of Chicago SummerDance, presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Chicago SummerDance is the largest annual outdoor live music and dance series in the U.S. Itreturns for its 17th year in Grant Park's Spirit of Music Garden, 601 S. Michigan Ave., June 27-Sept. 15, Thursdays-Saturdays, 6- 9:30 p.m., and Sundays, 4-7 p.m.
Updates and announcements (including weather) will be available on Facebook and on Twitter @SummerDanceChi. For more information, visit chicagosummerdance.org or call the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events at 312.744.3316.
About the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events
The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events is dedicated to enriching Chicago's artistic vitality and cultural vibrancy. This includes fostering the development of Chicago's non-profit arts sector, independent working artists and for-profit arts businesses; providing a framework to guide the City's future cultural and economic growth, via the 2012 Chicago Cultural Plan; marketing the City's cultural assets to a worldwide audience; and presenting high-quality, free and affordable cultural programs for residents and visitors.
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UV Reflective Staining
Human Anatomy, Physiology, and Medicine. Anything human!
Moderator: BioTeam
10 posts • Page 1 of 1
UV Reflective Staining
Hello, I wanted to conduct a process of elimination to find out what ingested chemicals would cause staining to both hair and fingernails to make them reflect (or 'glow' under) UV light. The reason I want to find this out is because a friend of mine's fingernails (up to about halfway, faded, so I am told) and hair (affected area size unknown) reflect UV light, and assuming the approximate factor of fingernail growth is about 1 cm a year (I may be incorrect on this assertation, so adjust accordingly), a faded mark roughly half-way would imply they have been consuming whatever chemical it is for the past 6 months or so.
My friend has commented that, they didn't previously glow, suggesting also that the changes are due to an ingested chemical and thus recent (as opposed to either long-term or genetic). The ascribed asymmetrical pattern on the fingernails (and that they fade out - as those a gradual increase has been occurring) imply it's not an externalised factor (which would be washable, especially on the hands, and would likely have a more symmetrical and non-faded pattern - however, this isn't the sort of thing my friend would do, and they are unaware of using any sort of products for that).
I have tried searching online for information on chemicals that would cause UV reflective staining to fingernails and hair, however I'm only getting mostly dud (search results for other things) results. I have managed to find only one piece of anecdotal information related to UV reflective staining, where the individual mentions that their doctor suggested it was caused by the tetracycline class of antibiotics (which the person had apparently taken in their case), however there was no mention of why it would cause UV reflective staining of the fingernails.
I've inquired about anti-biotics but my friend mentioned they haven't been taking any, or any other medicine at the time of the inquiry. Given the above, chemical based UV reflective staining is possible, but it's not tetracycline and I am not familiar enough with chemistry or human biology to know what sort of chemicals would do. Any help and insights appreciated.
You'd need something that would reflect UV after being processed by the body AND something that would be deposited in with the keratin of the hair / nails. For instance, aspirin reflects UV but I doubt it would wind up in hair in any concentration. You might want to see if there are any forensics forums and try the question there.
Those seem like good points to consider. What sort of forensics forums should I be looking for?
After doing a little investigation, although I inquired with a doctor, who seemed baffled but unconcerned by it (despite it being abnormal), I finally managed to make some progress when search under the term fluoresce (as this is the correct term for UV 'glow'), and it turns out a UV lamp (woods lamp) is used by the medical communities to check for a number of fungal and bacterial issues, as linked here:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency ... 003386.htm
Which can include infections of the scalp, and therefore, hair. Tetracycline is also referenced as being UV reflective here:
However, this only confirms there is indeed a problem, it does not specify what kind of problem it could be.
I'm adding this post in-case anyone has any similar symptoms so they might be able to benefit from what I've researched. I am surprised my local doctor was not aware, and worse, was not concerned about the problem in question.
I have learned something. I thought they were the same, but the former means it knocks it down a wave-length. I mean the former, but I was ignorant of the correct phrase, and thought, as it was returning light, it was a form of reflection.
I had a horrifying thought.
What about ingested radioactive materials? Surely they can fluoresce under UV light - and would also get disposited in both the bones and fingernails?
Re: UV Reflective Staining
Why do you think all "radioative material" fluroesces un UV?
Re: UV Reflective Staining
Because uranium glows under UV light.
And didn't say 'all' - that's your words. I said it could be 'radioactive materials' (of which uranium is one, uranyl acetate is another - both glow under UV light).
Anyway, other potential candidates include phosphorus (which glows white under UV light) and quinine.
Re: UV Reflective Staining
My nails were glowing at the bowling alley, under the uv bulbs, as were the cuts on my hand.
I would be grateful of any kind of explination.
My doctor said it was nothing to be concerned about. I am still concerned.
My nails hava never glowed before, and have been exposed to this light on numerous occasions throughout my life. This is new. I think I attached a photo.
Any feedback would be gratefully received. xx
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Arrest made in early morning attempted burglary
JANESVILLE—A Delavan man is in custody after an early Monday morning attempted burglary at Texas Roadhouse, 3201 Deerfield Drive.
A Janesville police officer responded at 1:46 a.m. Monday to an alarm at the restaurant and shortly thereafter was joined by a Rock County Sheriff's Office deputy. As they walked around the outside of the building, they heard a pounding noise coming from the roof before a man jumped off it and began running toward Home Depot, where he was apprehended, in the parking lot, said Sgt. Dean Sukus of the Janesville Police Department.
Brett Wiedmer, 38, Delavan, was arrested on charges of attempted burglary, possession of burglary tools and felony criminal damage to property, Sukus said.
Sledgehammers, drills, crowbars and other tools were found at the scene where the roof was damaged, he said.
"It appears he cut a hole in the roof attempting entry," Sukus said.


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|by Beinfield, Harriet, & Korngold, Efrem
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|by Katz, Richard
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|by Katz, Richard
|Called to Heal.
|by DiOrio, Ralph A.
|Conversations With My Healers: My Journey to Wellness from Breast Cancer.
|by Ploski, Cynthia
|Cross Currents: The Promise of Electromedicine, The Perils of Electropollution.
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|by Sheikh, Anees A. (Ed.)
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|Mandala: Luminous Symbols for Healing.
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|Spiritualist Healers in Mexico: Successes and Failures of Alternative Therapeutics.
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|The Power to Heal: An Investigation of Healing and the Healing Experience.
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On Tuesday, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) released an updated version of its Internal Control—Integrated Framework. COSO was formed in 1985 by the AAA, AICPA, FEI, IIA, and IMA to provide thought leadership in three areas: enterprise risk management, internal controls, and fraud deterrence. The organization released its original internal controls framework in 1992. This week's update is the first revision to that document, and it represents two and a half years of work by COSO and by PwC, which authored the new framework under the direction of the COSO board.
The COSO Framework is designed to be applied companywide, and it can help managers maintain controls over a wide swath of treasury and finance functions. "When people think of controls, they think of general ledgers and external financial reporting, but the Framework is intended to be applied broadly," says David Landsittel, chairman of COSO. "We articulate three overall objectives that companies can apply controls to—reporting, compliance, and operations objectives—and there's overlap between them. In the treasury function, certainly there needs to be control over hedging or trading. Depending on the nature of the organization, that might be an operational control, but it might have financial reporting implications as well."
Across the three objectives, the COSO Framework presents five key components of internal controls: the control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, and monitoring activities. In the latest iteration of the Framework, the core objectives and components remain unchanged from the 1992 version, but this version adds a list of principles associated with each component. The idea is that an organization which abides by these principles can ensure that its internal controls infrastructure meets the standards of the Framework.
"In the updated version of the Framework, we articulate 17 principles that need to be addressed in order to conclude that the five components are present and functioning," Landsittel says. "We believe that making the principles more explicit makes the document easier to apply because it's easier to see what it takes to have an effective system." (The principles are listed on page 2 of this article.)
In addition to clarifying internal control requirements by articulating these 17 principles, the revised Framework includes broadened operations and reporting objectives—for example, covering internal management reporting as well as external reporting, for both financial and nonfinancial data. It also provides an updated context that reflects the changes in the business environment over the past two decades, including changes in technology, changes in expectations around governance and compliance, and increased complexity in companies' business models created by practices such as outsourcing.
Still, the controls remain principles-based rather than rules-based. "We think that one size doesn't fit all, and what is an appropriate control activity for one organization differs from what might be appropriate for another," Landsittel says. "We believe the Framework has universal applicability for all kinds of organizations, so we don't get down to what specific control activity or procedure is appropriate in a particular instance. The use of judgment is emphasized throughout. The Framework is relevant to the treasury function, but it isn't a straitjacket that treasury managers need to worry about."
An organization that abides by the following 17 principles can conclude that the five key components of its internal controls structure are functioning effectively:
Control Environment
1. The organization demonstrates a commitment to integrity and ethical values.
2. The board of directors demonstrates independence from management and exercises oversight of the development and performance of internal control.
3. Management establishes—with board oversight—structures, reporting lines, and appropriate authorities and responsibilities in the pursuit of objectives.
4. The organization demonstrates a commitment to attract, develop, and retain competent individuals in alignment with objectives.
5. The organization holds individuals accountable for their internal control responsibilities in the pursuit of objectives.
Risk Assessment
6. The organization specifies objectives with sufficient clarity to enable the identification and assessment of risks relating to objectives.
7. The organization identifies risks to the achievement of its objectives across the entity and analyzes risks as a basis for determining how the risks should be managed.
8. The organization considers the potential for fraud in assessing risks to the achievement of objectives.
9. The organization identifies and assesses changes that could significantly impact the system of internal control.
Control Activities
10. The organization selects and develops control activities that contribute to the mitigation of risks to the achievement of objectives to acceptable levels.
11. The organization selects and develops general control activities over technology to support the achievement of objectives.
12. The organization deploys control activities through policies that establish what is expected and procedures that put policies into action.
Information and Communication
13. The organization obtains or generates and uses relevant, quality information to support the functioning of internal control.
14. The organization internally communicates information, including objectives and responsibilities for internal control, necessary to support the functioning of internal control.
15. The organization communicates with external parties regarding matters affecting the functioning of internal control.
Monitoring Activities
16. The organization selects, develops, and performs ongoing and/or separate evaluations to ascertain whether the components of internal control are present and functioning.
17. The organization evaluates and communicates internal control deficiencies in a timely manner to those parties responsible for taking corrective action, including senior management and the board of directors, as appropriate.
These principles come from the updated COSO Internal Control—Integrated Framework. For more information about the current version of the COSO Framework, COSO has made a Q&A and Executive Summary available free of charge.


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Grafft plans to buy downtown Janesville buildings
JANESVILLE—Jim Grafft has several ideas for the redevelopment of what likely will be his latest acquisition in downtown Janesville.
Retail is a definite possibility for the two buildings that formerly housed Rock County Appliance on Court and Main streets.
Grafft also has fielded suggestions to open a grocery store similar to Bushel & Peck's in Beloit.
"I just don't know at this point," said Grafft, a Janesville businessman who owns several properties and businesses in Rock County.
Grafft is in the process of buying but hasn't closed on the two buildings at 38 and 34 S. Main St.
After 40 years on the corner, Rock County Appliance owners Dave Grosenick and Don Grosenick Jr. closed the business in September.
The brothers' father, Donald, opened the business in 1962 and moved it to the former home of JCPenney at Court and Main in the early 1970s. The building was constructed between the late 1840s and 1860s.
Grafft said he's virtually certain the space will not include a restaurant. He's already working to find someone who wants to open restaurants at two of his other Janesville properties: The Monterey Hotel and the Fairview Mall.
He bought and has stored many of the fixtures, equipment and memorabilia from the recently remodeled Applebee's and the closed Damon's Grill.
"I'm already trying to develop two restaurants," he said. "I just need to find someone to run them."
The two downtown buildings total about 21,000 square feet, according to land records at City Hall. The multistory building on the corner once housed a church upstairs.
Grafft said much of the space would need to be renovated.
That, however, is not likely to happen overnight, he said.
The city plans to demolish its parking plaza above the Rock River, eliminating 219 downtown parking spots by about 2016. City staff is creating a redevelopment plan.
Grafft is interested in what the plan would entail and where replacement parking would be made available because the parking deck sits behind the buildings he wants to buy and behind the Olde Towne Mall, which Grafft also owns.
"We have to unwind this parking problem first," he said. "It would be foolish for me to do anything until we know what's going to happen with that."
Grafft also is in the process of renovating the building at 1620 Newport Ave.
The former Rock Theater closed in 2010, and Grafft bought the building in 2012.
Grafft said Motion Industries plans to lease the building after it moves from 2302 Beloit Ave.
Motion Industries is a distributor of maintenance, repair and operating replacement products and services to 150,000 government and industrial customers in North America.
It has more than 550 locations in North America, including 13 other locations in Wisconsin.
"They are a business-to-business distributor, much like Fastenal or Grainger," Grafft said. "We buy from them and sell to them."


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Top 10 Hurricane Sandy Survival Technologies
10 comments
Hurricane Sandy ripped through the Eastern United States taking down power lines, sending sea water gushing into substations, and knocking out connections to power plants. Millions of people lost power from both the grid and their secondary and tertiary backup systems. Cell phone service similarly suffered.
However, technology already exists which can enable us to better prepare for the next disaster. We've corralled the following collection of communications, sensors, robotics, and transport technologies which can help ensure our city infrastructures are properly prepared and recovery operations run smoothly and efficiently -- iff we adopt and deploy them.
1) First Responder Network Authority:
Click on image to enlarge.
The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) was authorized in 2012 to create the first nationwide interoperable wireless broadband network for first responders including police, firefighters, emergency medical service professionals and other public safety personnel. Today emergency personnel routinely use different frequencies to communicate, but FirstNet will use a distributed core network to integrate a diverse set of redundant channels to insure emergency communications work in a pinch.


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By now, most directors and executives have heard of patent lawsuits being filed by non-practicing entities (NPEs)—more commonly known as "patent trolls." These are companies that own patents but do not use those patents to produce products or provide services. Instead, these entities are in business solely to collect licensing fees or legal settlements from the patents they own. They pursue these outcomes through litigation or the threat of litigation, against businesses whose products or services allegedly infringe on the patents.
Although the concept of patent trolls may be familiar, few members of the C-suite recognize just how large and costly a problem these businesses have become. In 2012 alone, the cost of NPE-generated litigation was nearly $11 billion, according to a recent study conducted by RPX, in collaboration with the Coalition for Patent Fairness. More than 2,400 unique companies faced at least one NPE assertion of patent infringement last year, and 270 companies fought three or more NPE lawsuits. Clearly, patent risk has become a serious strategic and operational risk.
Nevertheless, most companies continue to treat patents and patent litigation purely as the province of the legal department. They are relying on legal tactics to solve what has become a market problem. For risk managers at all operating companies that sell or use technology products or services, the time is ripe for a radical shift in thinking. It's time to insist that patents become a more integral part of the company's overall risk-mitigation planning.
Threat of Counter Suits Deters Some Patent Litigation
The rise of NPE risk reflects the explosion in technological innovation over the past two decades. As new digital technologies have emerged and become widely adopted, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has seen a steadily rising flood of new patent applications. For reasons too complex to explore here, that agency has approved and issued a large number of these patents—more than 2 million since 2000. Many of these patents are ambiguously or poorly worded, and many contain claims that overlap with previously issued patents. As a result, there are quite a few patents in circulation today that could plausibly be seen as being infringed by existing products and services.
This is not as dire a situation as it might at first appear to be. While almost all technology companies now own patents that are arguably being infringed, it turns out that patent-infringement claims between operating businesses remain relatively rare. (The recent Apple-Samsung litigation is a notable exception.) Most companies are not in the business of copying their peers; product strategies are usually built on progressive innovation rather than on purposeful imitation. Therefore, for most organizations, fighting to protect yesterday's technology advantage is not a priority. They see legal battles over patents that are no longer cutting-edge as a wasteful distraction in fast-moving tech markets.
Equally important, most operating companies maintain large and broadly applicable patent portfolios—as do their competitors. It is understood that a technology business will almost certainly answer a claim of patent infringement with a counter claim that one of the plaintiff's products is itself infringing on a patent owned by the defendant. Remember, the profusion of patents has made infringement an entirely plausible argument in recent years. Most companies have accepted the status quo, in which the threat of "mutually assured destruction" usually prevents devastating patent fights.
However, although this equilibrium helps keep the peace among operating companies, it offers no deterrent to claims of patent infringement by NPEs, whose entire business model is built around acquiring patents and then asserting infringement to generate licenses or settlements from the accused businesses. Because NPEs do not make products or sell services, they're unlikely to fear counter suits claiming they've infringed on the defendant company's patent portfolio.
NPEs Create a "Tax on Innovation"
The impact of NPEs has grown rapidly. As recently as 2006, approximately 1,000 U.S. businesses a year were defendants in an NPE litigation. By 2011, that number had grown to almost 3,000 separate operating companies—and NPE-initiated cases comprised 62 percent of all patent litigation in U.S. district courts. Today, there are nearly 800 active NPEs in the United States, and they have an estimated collective capitalization of more than $8 billion.
The rapid and sustained growth of NPE litigation has made it a priority for corporate executives and risk managers. Every dollar spent defending against an NPE assertion is a dollar not spent on research and development, market development, or job creation. It's imperative for companies to address this rising "tax on innovation" at a strategic level.
The first step in establishing an effective strategy for mitigating patent risks is for operating companies to accept that patents are assets. Whether the USPTO should have issued so many overlapping patents is a moot point. The patents are now in circulation, and unless a legal battle proves them otherwise, the patents are legally valid intellectual property. Thus, most are assets with a financial value. The alleged users of those assets (in other words, operating companies that incorporate the patented technology into their products or services) may need to pay the owners (in many cases, NPEs) for that usage.
This is not a far-fetched notion. In point of fact, fully 95 percent of NPE patent litigations settle before a verdict. In other words, 95 percent of the time, operating companies agree to pay for their use of the patent asset. It is a classic exchange of value. Unfortunately, NPEs have built a business model that relies on the legal system to effect this exchange, and it is hard to imagine a more costly and less efficient mechanism for exchange of value than litigation. Of the $11 billion in total NPE costs borne by operating companies in 2012, fully half were legal costs; the other half comprised settlements and license payments.
A Market Solution to a Market Problem
Corporate decision-makers should be seeking market-based, rather than legal, solutions to NPEs' assertion of patent rights. Not all market solutions, however, are created equal. Some are more effective than others at mitigating the impact of NPE litigation.
The simplest market solution may be for individual companies to deploy their own capital to preemptively acquire patents that represent a risk of litigation. However, this strategy of unilateral acquisition has several drawbacks. It is enormously expensive; for the reasons explained above, there can be hundreds or even thousands of patents that read on a company's products or services. This approach is also very inefficient, putting 100 percent of the financial burden of clearing a patent on a single company, even when the patent represents a litigation risk to dozens or even hundreds of other companies. This is the so-called "free rider" problem.
A related approach is to form a small patent-buying consortium. These have generally comprised companies with similar product technology profiles. They have had some success. A consortium enables participating companies to efficiently share the cost of patent acquisition. It simultaneously overcomes the free-rider problem to some degree, although the limited size of most consortiums means that non-participating companies usually benefit when a consortium buys a patent. The biggest challenge of a consortium scenario is that buying decisions are often difficult because the amount of capital available for patent acquisitions may be constrained and each patent purchase requires a unanimous vote. (Every patent does not represent the same degree of risk to every company.)
A third option for dealing with NPE risk is to eschew pre-emptive buying altogether and instead deploy capital on legal defense. Some companies have adopted this "fight hard" strategy in the belief that if they gain a reputation as expensive and time-consuming to sue, they will discourage NPEs from naming them in future litigation. There is little evidence, however, that this strategy has the desired effect. From 2008 to 2011, average growth rate of case loads for defendants in NPE cases was 36 percent, and the growth rate was the same for companies that settled quickly as for those that remained in litigation for more than a year.
Intelligence in a Large-Scale Network
One market-based approach that has proven effective is creating a large-scale network that pools capital and enables members to share equally in ownership of acquired patents, but leaves acquisition decisions to an independent third party. Such a network can overcome the logistical hurdles of a consortium and, because of its scale, can limit the free-rider problem. And if it achieves sufficient scale, it may be able to effectively acquire high-risk patents before NPEs can buy them.
The large-scale network model also has the advantage of market intelligence. The more one knows about patent and litigation costs, the more effectively one can negotiate acquisitions and settlements. And if all market participants have trustworthy information about the patents they own and the costs of monetizing them, there should be a steady movement away from litigation as a tool for exchanging patent value. As the equities, real estate, and commodities markets indicate, a more transparent market is a more efficient market.
At RPX, we believe this is the inevitable long-term trend in the patent market, and we have seen it gain traction in our business. More and more patents are being managed without litigation, and a growing number of companies are proactively addressing the NPE threat, rather than waiting for the next assertion letter. The rise of defensive networks and syndicated acquisitions is allowing companies to collectively, and far more efficiently, reduce the cost and risk of NPE litigation.
These are positive trends, and pioneering companies have already avoided thousands of litigations and hundreds of millions of dollars in legal costs. Nonetheless, the tax on innovation remains too high. Companies facing NPE risk—and this is rapidly becoming every company that uses or incorporates technology in its products—can do more. Whether they act independently or join in a broader consortium, the key is to be proactive. Doing so can help redirect the "tax" they might pay to NPEs back into innovation.
Ned Segal is chief financial officer of RPX Corporation, a leading provider of patent risk management solutions. Founded in 2008, the firm has invested more than $700 million in acquiring potentially problematic patents in the open market or out of litigation that would otherwise be used offensively against its clients. The firm also executes large-scale syndicated transactions, provides innovative NPE litigation insurance, and delivers in-depth market intelligence and strategic advisory services to the 160 members of its growing client network.


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Quill offers trash cans starting at 1 gallon up to large waste collectors that can hold over 100 gallons. Cans that hold 10 gallons or less are ideal for placing near or underneath desks, so every employee's workstation has a trash can. Higher-capacity trash cans work well in high-traffic areas, such as breakrooms.
Trash Bags for Easy Waste Disposal
Include appropriately sized trash bags in every trash can to keep the inside of the trash can clean. Your cleanup crew only has to take the bags out of the trash cans, creating the most efficient trash collection process possible.
Use high-quality trash supplies to maintain clean surroundings that are visually appealing and healthy. Our trash supplies will help you and your maintenance staff keep your office spotless and smelling fresh. We pride ourselves on carrying a variety of garbage bags, trash cans, recycle bins, and trash containers to suit your needs. Our durable products can help you maintain a clean and welcoming business environment.
Cleaning your property regularly prevents deterioration.
Cleaning with the proper materials maintains valued office equipment so it lasts longer.
Protect your employees: Clean surroundings promote better general health.


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More Choice Can Mean Less Sales: Guest Column from The Cooperative Trust
Just because a product sounds cool, doesn't mean you need it. You know your latest credit card that gives 3% cash back for grill purchases? It's probably great for a certain segment, but unless you're CEO of Grillmasters FCU, it is unlikely to appeal to few people in your field of membership. and the specialty product might be bad for your bottom line.
According to a study by William Jackson, a Filene Research fellow, diversification beyond sources of noninterest revenue can worsen your credit union's performance. High diversification in product lines can have negative impact on credit union performance. The old saying "You can't be everything to everyone" comes to mind as costs associated with hyper-specialization for niche audiences eat into product margins.
Additionally, consumer behavior research indicates one big reason for this lower performance is choice overload. Research by Eldar Shafir of Princeton and Sendhil Mullainathan of Harvard argues that people do not always make choices that benefit them the most due to "cognitive scarcity." In other words, stress impairs people's ability to think, effectively shrinking their world to only the stress at hand.
Shafir and Mullainathan set out to prove this theory, working with Indian sugar cane farmers before and after harvest time. While they found no variation from control when testing after harvest, during harvest they observed farmers that appear to have lower I.Q.s, more trouble controlling their attention and are more shortsighted.
If stress can cause someone's eyesight to worsen, do we serve members better by providing tons of product choices and the stacks of paperwork that go with them?
In another overload study, the sales at a large online grocery store were examined before and after they cut options in every category. Cutting each by at least 54% resulted in 75% of customers buying more than before, and total sales increasing by 11%.4
This case study and others were used to create five tips to make it easier for your members to pick products: trim your product line, provide more information on the products that make the cut, bundle products, provide a default option, and, finally, emphasize the value in the options you present.
Everyone encounters stress during their day, but it doesn't have to be at the credit union. Offer customized choices that fit members' needs and don't expect them to self-guide. Or, in other words, unless you're CEO of Grillmasters FCU, cut out the grill card and add in more personalized sales conversations that lead members to the right products.
The Cooperative Trust is a grassroots organization composed of several hundred young credit union professionals. Its activities include meetings, mentorships online collaboration and development projects. Opinions expressed are the personal views of the author.
Brandon McAdams is business transformation director at Coastal FCU, Raleigh, N.C.
919-882-6623 or email@example.com


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Rise of smartphone reshapes cellphone IC rankings
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The competitive landscape of the handset core IC market has shifted dramatically over the past five years (though Qualcomm is still on top).
The tremendous growth in smartphone sales over the past five years, coupled with the rise of 4G LTE, have reshaped the cellphone chip market landscape, with Qualcomm Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. capitalizing the most, according to market research firm IHS iSuppli.
Qualcomm (San Diego) has reigned supreme in the market for application specific handset IC like baseband and RF chips since 2007, IHS said. Last year, Qualcomm captured 31 percent of all handset core IC revenue, according to IHSs wireless competitive landscape report. Qualcomms market share was up from 23 percent in 2007, IHS, said.
Samsungs rise has been perhaps more impressive. In 2007, the South Korean giant did not even rank in the top 10 in handset IC sales, according to IHS. By last year, Samsung held firm to the No. 2 spot, capturing 21 percent of all handset core IC revenue, according to the IHS report.
Together, Qualcomm and Samsung accounted for more than half of the total market, with the next eight chip vendors combined accounting for about 34 percent of handset core IC sales, IHS said. Collectively, the top 10 players in the market captured 86 percent of all revenue, according to IHS.
According to Brad Shaffer, analyst for consumer and communications at IHS, the rise of smartphones and 4G LTE have created paradigm shifts that transformed competition in the market for mobile handset core ICs.
The arrival of Apple Inc.s iPhone five years ago changed the game and paved the way for the current market rankings, Shaffer said. This change is dramatically illustrated by looking at the major differences in the cellphone core IC rankings from 2007 to 2012. The companies that benefited from the shift in market orientation rose to domination while others that were caught between changing market environments were left in limbo.
IHS defines the cellphone core IC market as including chips that provide mobile handsets with wireless wide-area-networking (WWAN) communication and application-processing capabilities. The market segments include handset core ICs for analog baseband, digital baseband, power amplifiers, radio and intermediate frequencies, high-level operating systems and software processors, and other multimedia or graphics coprocessors.


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Finalists Named For The 2012-2013 Maryland Teacher of the YearAugust 22, 2012
Rhonda Holmes-Blankenship named 1 of 4 finalists for the nation's top teaching honor: National Teacher of the Year. January 2013
Maryland Teachers of the Year 2012 - 2013Nominees by City / CountyClick on the smaller photo for a larger photo.
Martha Gardner5th GradeBelvedere ElementaryAnne Arundel County


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Quandoo makes it easy to find the London, Bromley Italian restaurants that are right for you. Narrow down your search by using an array of filters like price range, district and cuisine, and book tables at local restaurants with ease. Leave a review and let your opinion be known, and collect Loyalty Points along the way. The best Italian restaurants in London, Bromley are awaiting you!
Saving a table at the best Italian restaurants in London, Bromley is fast and easy with Quandoo. There are as many as 2 bookable Italian restaurants in London, Bromley for you to choose from, with options for every price range. Use the map to find the restaurants closest to you, check out menus and read reviews, and book London, Bromley restaurants with ease.


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Puzzle Levels
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|Remove the Coin
|Level 7 - Challenging
|Jean Claude Constantin
|Jean Claude Constantin, European Wood Puzzles
|3.5 in x 2.2 in x .7 in / 8.9 cm x 5.7 cm x 71.7 cm
Product Description
A sliding piece holds a coin, and two small metal balls block the movement of the slider. The objective of the puzzle is to move the slider to the right so that you can remove the coin.
Made in laser-cut wood and metal by Jean-Claude Constantin. Jean-Claude Constantin lives in Germany, where he designs and manufactures many different laser-cut wood puzzles, as well as metal puzzles and magic tricks.
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Chip market to contract in 2013, says analyst
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SANTA CLARA, Calif. The semiconductor industry will contract by 0.5 percent in 2013, but despite the squeeze and some consolidation the long-term outlook for growth remains strong, said Handel Jones, a veteran market watcher, speaking at the annual Common Platform event here Tuesday (Feb. 5).
Sluggish foundry revenues this quarter are a good indication of softness in the overall chip market through June, said Jones. We think the third quarter will be stronger, then Q4 softens a bit, so were conservative this year. But things could change if the price of memory declines, said Jones, chief executive of International Business Strategies (Los Gatos, Calif.).
In general, companies we talk to are fairly cautious this year, he said in an onstage conversation with Brian Fuller, Silicon Valley bureau chief for EE Times.
Among other factors, Jones blamed a sluggish global economy with growth slowing in China and Japan and Europe in a slump. On the positive side, he listed LTE, MEMS and the medical sector as long term growth drivers
We dont see any long term problem in semiconductors and electronics growing, but underneath that there is a lot of turmoil, he said.
Click on image to enlarge.
As costs of developing process technology grow, fewer companies will move to advanced nodes, he predicted. For example, he estimated the cost of developing a 14-nm process at $1.5 billion, up from $1 billion for the 20-nm node.
Chip makers need to get more integrated, perhaps bringing in house technology from reticle makers to help keep cost per transistor low through 10-nm, he said. However, it doesnt make sense for fabless companies to get into making chips until they hit $30-$50 billion in annual revenues, Jones added.
Capital equipment makers will see more consolidation along the lines of ASML and Cymer, he predicted. However, EDA companies have a strong position going forward with demand driven by multicore, FinFETs and other technologies, according to Jones.
Geographically, China needs to consolidate as many as 450 fabless companies down to between 30 and 40, Jones said. Taiwan is coming up really fast, he said, but Japan is hampered by its slow decision-making process. They have not adapted to a very fast moving world, he said.
Jones spoke after just returning from Beijing where he said the Ministry of Finance recently approved more spending on Chinas chip industry. The lack of intellectual property is the countrys key weakness in chips, he said.


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Fall 2014 Class Descriptions: Upper-Division Required
Civil Procedure I (Jane Henning)
3 credit(s), Standard Letter Graded
Civil Procedure is the study of procedural rules governing civil actions in state and federal courts. The topics studied throughout the year include selection of the proper court and place for litigation, jurisdiction over the parties, joinder of parties and claims, contents of pleadings, discovery, pre-trial motions, conduct of trials, and conflicts between state and federal judicial systems.
Constitutional Law I (Maimon Schwarzschild)
4 credit(s), Standard Letter Graded
The study of the United States Constitution, stressing the theory and practice of judicial interpretation and review, the separation of federal powers, the relation of the states to the federal government, and specific powers of the federal government - in particular the tax, treaty, war and commercial powers. In addition, the course will discuss freedom of speech, takings, and contract clause issues.
Professional Responsibility (David McGowan, David W. Brennan)
3 credit(s), Standard Letter Graded
The roles of the lawyer in society and the obligations implied in those roles are examined. Topics include disciplinary standards and procedures, the history and organization of the legal profession; avoiding conflict of interest; obligations to clients, the courts, and society, and conflicts presented by the adversary system for settlements of disputes; and responsibilities of lawyers as public servants and citizens. American Bar standards will be reviewed.
Tax I (Miranda Perry Fleischer, Howard Abrams)
3 credit(s), Standard Letter Graded
Concentration(s): Taxation (MSLS), Taxation (LLMC)
Tax I provides students with an understanding of the basic principles of federal income tax, including gross income, deductions, tax accounting, capital transactions, and income shifting. Required for upper-class students.


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BugOS is a microkernel operating system. It has a kernel, device drivers, a file system, and an Internet module. The main concepts are that every process has its own computer with its own console, security, and modularization. If a process wants to read the file, it asks the kernel. The kernel forwards the request to the filesystem driver, which reads and writes through the partition handler, which operates over the idehdd driver. The kernel is around 20 KB. Processes are fully separated from hardware.
Comal-Linux is a Linux distribution derived from Slackware Linux. It is packaged as a live CD, and is intended for desktop users who want to use Slackware Linux without first installing it on their computers. Comal-Linux is built from "pure" Slackware Linux, making it as compatible with the original as possible, including application packages. By choosing lightweight desktop and application software, the distribution can be used on older computers. Comal-Linux is an unofficial Muslim edition of Slackware.
Controlix is a control theory based operating system. It abstracts the complete abstraction hierarchy of computer systems principles, from basic signal-on-wire all the way up to abstract libraries and interface linkage. It is written in the VHDL language and is designed to be modular, synchronous, and retargetable.
Cross Linux From Scratch (CLFS) is a project that provides you with step-by-step instructions for building your own customized Linux system entirely from source. This is a multi-architecture version of Linux From Scratch that is cross-compiled. It currently supports Alpha, MIPS, PowerPC, Sparc, x86, and x86_64.
DragonFly belongs to the same class of operating systems as other BSD-derived systems and Linux. It is based on the same Unix ideals and APIs and shares ancestor code with other BSD operating systems. DragonFly is differentiated from other operating systems in its class by, among others, the HAMMER file system, Virtual Kernels, swapcache, and the pervasive use of soft token locks. DragonFly provides an opportunity for the BSD base to grow in an entirely different direction from the ones taken in the FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD series.
GNU Mach is the microkernel upon which a GNU Hurd system is based. It provides an Inter Process Communication (IPC) mechanism which the Hurd uses to define interfaces for implementing in a distributed multi-server fashion the services a traditional operating system kernel provides. Mach is particularly well-suited for SMP and network cluster techniques. Thread support is provided at the kernel level, and the kernel itself takes advantage of that. Network transparency at the IPC level makes resources of the system available across machine boundaries.
Fullscreen display of a short text.
A PHP class to decode email messages.


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Walworth County Judge David Reddy denies two motions accusing sheriff's office deputies of intimidation
ELKHORN—A Walworth County judge denied two motions relating to accusations that Walworth County deputies and officials intentionally intimidated a jury and infringed on a Sugar Creek man's right to a fair trial.
Judge David Reddy filed a written decision Wednesday after a March 27 motion hearing where defense attorney Anthony Cotton accused county officials of an "orchestrated effort" to intimidate the jury and infringe on his client's rights.
The trial ended in a mistrial Sept. 13 after the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
In November, Cotton and his client, Daniel White, filed a motion for dismissal and a motion for a change in venue to a non-adjacent county for the new trial.
White, of Sugar Creek, was on trial for resisting an officer, battery to law enforcement officers, failure to comply and disorderly conduct in a September 2012 incident. He claims he is the victim of police brutality.
Cotton claims members of the sheriff's office engaged in actions "calculated" to intimidate the jury and witnesses during White's trial to achieve a mistrial.
At the motion hearing, Deputy District Attorney Joshua Grube said the prosecution had no reason to shoot for a mistrial, as the defense alleged, because it was confident in its case.
The accusations that the sheriff's office infringed on the defendant's right to a fair trial and intimidated witnesses and jurors "are completely without merit," according to a brief filed by Grube.
White's attorney for the September trial, Donna Kuchler, testified in March about her experience.
She said at one point the sheriff, undersheriff, captains and lieutenants entered the courtroom at the same time. She also said deputies were "packing" the courtroom and giving "grim" looks to jurors and herself when leaving the courthouse.
At the motion hearing, Grube said if deputies were in the courtroom and courthouses, they were doing their jobs or supporting the fellow deputy who was reportedly injured by White in the 2012 incident.�
The lawyers and defendant also accused the deputies of using a dog to search the exterior of vehicles belonging to Kuchler, White and White's wife without searching other vehicles in the parking lot outside the courthouse. This also was intimidation, the defense said.
In his decision, Reddy wrote that Kuchler argued the intimidation of the defense was to get a guilty verdict, not an acquittal, but that "no facts have been alleged which support the proposition that the prosecutor believed an acquittal was likely to happen."
In one of Cotton's motions, two jurors signed affidavits saying they feared the deputies and that White couldn't have a fair trial in Walworth County.
Affidavits were ruled hearsay by Judge David Reddy at the motion hearing and not admissible as evidence.
Walworth County District Attorney Daniel Necci, who was prosecutor during the September trial, also was accused of intimidation by the defense.
One of the motions accuses Necci of calling the attorney for Erika Alvaro, a woman suspected of having an affair with White, requesting her appearance during the trial.
Alvaro is being prosecuted by Necci for an unrelated offense, according to the motion.
Necci wanted Alvaro in the courtroom to intimidate White and his wife and in return would cut a deal with her, according to Kuchler's affidavit.
During the motion hearing, it was established Alvaro left after part of the first day of trial. Reddy wrote that her absence during the remainder of the trail was reason enough to disregard the defense's claim.
Reddy denied the motion for a change in venue to a non-adjacent county because the defense "fails to cite any authority which supports his claim" that White would not have a fair trial in Walworth County.
White is scheduled for a seven-day jury trial to start Sept. 29 at the Walworth County Judicial Center.


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Janesville telephone company expands reach
JANESVILLE—A Janesville company that installs and services telephone systems for business has expanded its reach.
Phones Plus recently bought Select Telecom and Technologies of Loves Park, Ill.
The acquisition will nearly double the customer base of Phones Plus, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, said company President Bill Sodemann.
Select Telecom, formerly Hughes Business Technologies, has been in business for more than 30 years and offers many of the same product lines as Phones Plus.
"It was a natural fit for us," Sodemann said. "Select Telecom wanted to insure that its customers were well taken care of by a company that had a proven track record in the industry."
While Phones Plus will remain headquartered in Janesville, it will now be able to dispatch technicians directly from the Rockford, Ill., area.
In Janesville, Phones Plus has seven employees. With the acquisition, it adds two technicians in the Rockford area plus an office person, who will help during the transition.
Technically known as Phones Plus of Janesville, the company has changed its name to Phones Plus.Biz, which emphasizes the company's expanded reach and its business-to-business focus, Sodemann said.


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Directed by Mike Slee
Written by Wendy Mackeigan and Mike Slee
Starring Gordon Pinsent, Patricia Phllips and Shaun Benson
When you're a kid, it seems like the world is full of things to discover. Every day brought something new, whether it was some bug's disgusting yet impressive feat of strength or the news that snakes smell things with their tongues.
It turns out that the world is still just as interesting as it used to be. We adults have just stopped looking.
"Flight of the Butterflies," playing on the IMAX screen at Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake, is a trip into that wide-eyed world of childhood discovery. The movie makes it clear there are far more to butterflies than just their pretty wings, mixing fascinating close-ups with a touch of violence and all the strange facts your inner eight-year-old could ever want.
The movie follows monarch butterflies on their cross-country migration to a specific area in the mountains of Mexico. It uses some cutesy techniques from early Disney nature movies, such as giving the central animal a name, but it's the science that elevates "Flight of the Butterflies." It turns out that butterflies smell with their legs, and cocoons actually emerge from underneath the caterpillar's skin.
The movie also makes excellent use of extreme close-ups. A caterpillar is shown so closely that you can actually see its little mouth rip off a bite of leaf. A butterfly's tube-shaped mouth is unrolled right in front of us, and later their wings are shown in such detail we can see each individual scale.
Even more breathtaking however, is the representation of flight. Watching butterflies soar through the air in 3D is a stunning experience all on its own, but it's made even more powerful by the use of slow motion. As the butterfly takes off, its wings bend and flex just like a bird's, imbuing the tiny bug with an incredible sense of strength.
Like any nature documentary, there are a few moments of surprising violence. One of the caterpillars falls prey to an ant infestation, and there are several shots of butterflies that had fallen victim to the elements. It's a part of life, but seeing it can be startling.
There's also a human subplot, involving Dr. Fred Urquhart's lifelong quest to find the secret site in Mexico where the monarchs spend the winter. It's the least interesting part of the movie, missing both the surprise and the subtlety of the butterfly footage. Only at the end does it redeem itself, adding a heartwarming touch to the movie's resolution.
Even that, however, pales in comparison to our first sight of the butterflies' sanctuary. There are so many monarchs that they fill the trees, their wings even more plentiful than the leaves. When they all take off at once, your brain is helpless to do anything but sit back and soak in the gloriousness of it.
And when one seems to fly within reach of your fingertips, it's hard not to try and reach out and touch it. The little kid you once were would have approved.


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Leaf collection starts Nov. 11 in Janesville
Gazette staff
Friday, November 1, 2013
The city of Janesville's loose leaf collection starts Monday, Nov. 11 and will run for two weeks. Leaves should be raked loosely into the street gutter without blocking the storm sewers by the street's pickup date. For more information, visit the City of Janesville website


text: So many people rely on pet grooming services these days to help wash their dogs and cats. After all, these types of services are often local, as well as mobile. Therefore it is certainly not difficult to have you pet groomed and cleaned when you choose to. However, it is important not to trust your animal to just anyone. It pays to better understand this business before selecting a pet grooming professional. Here is a list of helpful terms and definitions to assist you.


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Janesville sits in the Big Eight's shadows
JANESVILLE—Is the gap narrowing for Janesville Craig and Janesville Parker athletes when it comes to competing against the Big Eight Conference's best?
Or will Janesville teams continue to lag behind when it comes to the non-high-profile sports?
You have to dig deep to find the last time Craig or Parker won a conference title in boys or girls soccer, boys or girls tennis, boys or girls swim or girls volleyball.
The city has had a number of great athletes in those sports, but no championship teams.
So what's the main reason behind the uneven playing field? The biggest culprit is club players, or—in Janesville's case—the lack thereof.
When a Craig or Parker girls soccer team hits the field with four or five club players who play year-round, Middleton counters with a roster full of year-round club players.
Janesville Parker's boys swim team might have a handful of swimmers who hit the pool 365 days a year. Madison Memorial's entire team seems to live in the water. The Spartans have won three straight Division 1 state titles and have won a state-record 13 total. Memorial's junior varsity team could probably finish in the top three in the Big Eight most years.
Parker boys swim coach Eric Rhodes said the gap between the Big Eight's best and Craig and Parker is still vast—at least in swim. Rhodes graduated from Craig in 1981 and was a standout swimmer. His daughter, Sierra, is making waves for the Cougars this season and is a state hopeful. Craig narrowly missed beating Madison Memorial last week in girls swim, but the Spartans are in fourth place in the conference.
"It seems to be a whole different mentality in Madison as far as swim goes," Eric Rhodes said. "They've set the bar so high that it's going to be awfully hard for Janesville to ever catch up. We're far from winning the Big Eight, but we're making strides.
"In the old days, it seems like boys in Madison would pop out with ice skates on," Rhodes said about Madison's dominance in state hockey in the 1970s and '80s. "Now, it seems they pop out with flippers on."
Janesville offers swim at the middle-school level, and Madison does not. But while Madison has a highly competitive summer league for young swimmers, the only option for Janesville swimmers is to join a local club team out of town. Rhodes says that's a huge advantage for Madison.
"You can't take a kid and make him a great swimmer starting in high school," Rhodes said. "You have to start them when they are 8, 9 or 10.
"Our sport is all about the investment, and that starts at a young age. That's where the conditioning and technique are perfected—not in high school."
Rhodes believes Janesville took a big step in raising the bar for young swimmers by hosting a national meet at Rockport Pool last summer. It was the first ever held in the city. Madison hosts an average of three or four a summer.
Facilities matter in these sports, as well. Janesville is limited for places to play indoor soccer and tennis. Madison, Middleton and Sun Prairie have a slew of facilities.
Blake Budrow is in his 23rd season as Craig's volleyball coach. The dean of Big Eight coaches won a conference title in 1996 and puts a solid product on the court every season. He believes the gap is narrowing between the elite programs at Sun Prairie and Middleton and the next three or four teams, which include Craig, but it won't happen overnight.
"I think we've really made strides the last several seasons, but there are still several factors that go into the equation," Budrow said of his program. "A lot of our players are multi-sport athletes, which I'm totally OK with, whereas the Sun Prairies and the Middletons have a lot of girls that specialize.
"The Madison area also has several facilities available to play year-round, including the Keva Sports Center in Middleton, where they can play soccer and volleyball. Those types of facilities aren't available down here."
Specializing is part of the conversation about why Janesville continues to lag behind in some sports. Many elite athletes on the Big Eight's elite teams realize that they must concentrate on one sport if they hope to get to the next level. Janesville's best athletes tend to play two or more sports to get the most out of the high school experience. And because less than 1 percent of all high school athletes go on to play at the Division I level in college, it's probably the right choice.


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