text:
A Massachusetts Maritime Academy ship hosts relief workers in the heart of storm-damaged area of Staten Island, NY.
STATEN ISLAND — Thanksgiving morning dawned off the fantail of the T.S. Kennedy as a coppery haze burned away, revealing the Statue of Liberty. Blue silhouettes of tanker ships loomed just beyond the sweeping curves of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
Somewhere among the tall buildings of Manhattan to the north, millions celebrated with a parade of colorful hot air balloons and marching bands. Aboard the Massachusetts Maritime Academy training ship, tired emergency workers lingered at breakfast in the crew's mess, enjoying their first day off in 2� weeks of 12-hour days, helping those who had lost their homes and businesses to Superstorm Sandy.
By 9 a.m., chef Johnny Norcross of Bourne put the first of eight roasted turkeys and 15 turkey breasts into the ship's ovens. Five hours later, they were ready, and roughly 300 Federal Emergency Management Agency workers and the 45 in the MMA crew sat down to a Thanksgiving dinner away from home.
They knew there would be a distinctly different Thanksgiving for storm victims.
"I'm very thankful, and hope I can help people," said Nichole Maline, 33, of Brunswick, Ga. This was the first time she would not spend Thanksgiving with her husband and 5-year-old son. A security officer for the Transportation Security Administration, Maline didn't mind the somewhat Spartan accommodations on the ship.
"I don't need a hotel. Let the people who lost everything sleep in a hotel," she said. Her husband planned on sending her videos of their Thanksgiving back in Georgia.
Within days of Sandy's landfall, the Department of Homeland Security requested that the Massachusetts Maritime Academy ship travel to New York equipped to house as many as 600 FEMA workers and volunteers from other federal agencies. They all were canvassing neighborhoods to assess damage and begin the flow of federal aid to homeowners and businesses.
Normally, the 540-foot-long vessel is used for cadet instruction, including an annual training trip to distant ports. In some ways this wasn't all that different, except the mission was vital to helping the post-storm recovery.
"My job is to house over 600 people, give them hot meals, a warm bed and a shower," said Kennedy Capt. Thomas Bushy.
With post-storm housing hard to come by, the Kennedy and another training ship, the State University of New York's Empire State, were vital in providing shelter for the 1,200 federal employees who volunteered to augment the more than 3,000 FEMA workers tackling the economic and housing needs of the estimated 15 million people affected by the monster storm.
"I don't think anybody is here just for the money," Bushy said. "They're here because they wanted to do it."
Bushy praised his crew and the staff of Chartwells, the food service contractor that serves the MMA, for getting the ship ready and loaded with 135,000 pounds of food and supplies in just four days, instead of the usual 10. Missing Thanksgiving at home was an easy decision to make, said crew members, considering the mission.
"It's for a good cause, those poor people," said Nancy McGinn, an administrative secretary. "We were all happy to do it."
On just a few days notice, federal workers from multiple agencies — such as Customs and Border Protection, the TSA and the military, hailing from Guam, El Paso, Minneapolis and Indianapolis, Hawaii, San Diego and elsewhere — assembled in Maryland for a few days training then were transported to the ship.
For many it was their first time aboard a large vessel. Most expected to serve 45 days, working 12-hour days, seven days a week, going door-to-door offering federal aid, connecting those in need with vital services, or just listening to the frustration in neighborhoods devastated by the massive storm.
Keno Koehl is a big guy. The 64-year-old Customs and Border Protection facilities engineer from Indianapolis was a little worried at first about the accommodations onboard the Massachusetts Maritime Academy's training ship T.S. Kennedy, especially squeezing into bunks stacked three high in a room he shared with 60 other paid volunteers.
"At first things were very different (from his life in Indianapolis). No privacy or time to yourself. You can't be shy or bashful," he said. "It's fantastic we have this ship, but it's not a cruise ship."
It took a storm, a raging nor'easter the week following the hurricane, to put life onboard the ship into perspective.
After another long day, Koehl found himself sitting in the crew's mess, eating a hot meal with snow driven by 50 mph winds lashing the windows. Surprisingly, the big ship barely moved at its berth on a Staten Island pier, and Koehl suddenly felt thankful for what he had.
"The food was very good. I like the security. There's no one breaking into your room. It's peaceful. Not quiet, just safe," said Koehl, who endured tents and ravenous hordes of mosquitoes while helping out with the Katrina recovery effort.
Mike Traidman, 63, of Palm Springs, Calif., works for the TSA as a scanner, one of those men or women who pat you down at the airport. His wife thought he was crazy missing a family reunion in San Francisco to be in New York and sleep in a narrow bunk with 30 other guys to a room.
"I talked to a gentleman who swam out of his house with his 90-pound dog, who couldn't swim, under his arm. Three of his neighbors died in the storm," Traidman said. "It's a nice thing to do, to give back. I've had it pretty good."
If they had any doubts about the importance of what they were doing, they only had to drive six miles south of where the ship was berthed and walk the warren of narrow streets west of Cedar Grove Avenue. "Most people lost everything," said Father Pancrose Kallish, descending the steep stairs from his church after celebrating Mass in the dark, without heat.
These Staten Island neighborhoods, just a short walk from the beach, were once vacation cottages, but their proximity to the city also made them attractive as year-round residences.
Enrique Rodriguez and his wife bought their bungalow five years ago. It was a nice, friendly neighborhood with schools nearby and, of course, the beach.
"We didn't save even a pair of shoes," Rodriguez said Thursday morning, looking mournfully at a large pile of tools, toys and appliances stacked outside his home that had been ruined by salt water that rose nearly as high as the ceiling. While he'd remained in his home through other hurricanes, he didn't want to take a chance with this storm, especially with two young children, and went to stay with relatives.
The tidal surge had pushed his home off its foundation and a large red inspection sticker on the front door declared it uninhabitable.
Unable to find a rental within an hour's drive of his home, he was unsure of what the near future held as he struggled to shelter his family despite having flood and home insurance and a FEMA check to cover rent.
"I wish (to rebuild)," he said. "We were so happy here."


text:
Only one team has held the Miami Heat below 90 points on their home floor this season. That would be the Chicago Bulls, and for good measure, they've now done it twice.
So by now, it's obvious: If there's a team in the NBA that has Miami's number, it has to be the Bulls.
Nate Robinson scored 27 points and dominated in the final minutes — after needing 10 stitches to sew up his lip — while Jimmy Butler added 21 points and a career high-tying 14 rebounds as the Bulls pulled off a stunner by beating Miami 93-86 Monday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Actually, maybe it's not that much of a stunner anymore. Since LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all ignored overtures from the Bulls and decided to team up in Miami three years ago, Chicago has a 9-8 record against the Heat.
"I've played on some tough teams," Robinson said. "But this one, there's something a little different, something special about this group."
It's only one game, something plenty of Bulls players and coach Tom Thibodeau pointed out incessantly afterward. But even a 1-0 lead in a series typically leads to advancement, so for the Heat, adversity has arrived in a big way in a season where little has gone wrong.
"It's not going to be pretty but playoffs are ugly," said Bosh, who was held to nine points on 3-for-10 shooting. "That's what it's about. It's been a little bit too pretty around here, to be honest with you.
"We're in a situation where dudes are not going to be able to sleep and we're going to have to give it our all in Game 2 and figure everything out."
When it comes to facing Miami, the Bulls have plenty figured out.
They snapped Miami's 27-game winning streak in the regular season — the second-longest in NBA history — and now toppled the champs again, this time ending a run of 12 straight Heat victories overall. Miami has lost five games at home this season, two to the Bulls, who held them to 89 on Jan. 4.
James struggled through a two-point first half before finishing with 24 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Wade added 14 for the Heat, who had no one else in double figures, shot 40 percent from the floor and were outrebounded 46-32.
"I'm not stunned," James said. "This is what the playoffs is all about. We're going against a really good team."
A seven-point deficit midway through the fourth wasn't enough to doom the Bulls, who finished the game on a 10-0 run in the final 1:59. And to think, the Bulls weren't anywhere near full strength. Kirk Hinrich was out again with a calf injury. Luol Deng isn't even expected to rejoin the team until Tuesday, after dealing with an illness apparently so severe that a spinal tap — and other tests since — were needed to rule out things like meningitis.
"So proud of my team man, this bed might be good luck after all," Deng wrote on Twitter after the game, with a photo of him in a hospital bed.
Oh, and Derrick Rose remains sidelined — as he's been since April 2012.
No problem. The Heat are 41-3 in their last 44 games — with two of those losses to the Bulls, who are now 3-2 against Miami this season.
"I think when you're facing adversity, you have to be mentally tough," Thibodeau said. "But this is just one game. We have to play a lot better in our next one."
Miami was outscored 35-24 in the fourth, something that drew the ire of Heat coach Erik Spoelstra afterward.
"There's no excuses," said Spoelstra, whose team had not played in more than a week. "We're not making any excuses for time off or anything else."
If anyone could have made excuses, it was Robinson. He cut his upper lip when he dove for a loose ball with James and struck his head on the court late in the first half.
And then not only did he play the whole second half, he scored 24 points in those 24 minutes, including the last seven points that finished the job for Chicago.
"He was born a scorer," Miami guard Mario Chalmers said.
Joakim Noah scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Bulls, who also got 12 points from Taj Gibson and 10 from Marco Belinelli. Game 2 is Wednesday night in Miami.
"We're not really a flashy team," Gibson said. "We like to go out and do our job."
A pair of three-point plays by James — one of them coming when he just broke through a tackle attempt by Butler and muscled the ball to the rim anyway — gave Miami a 76-69 lead midway through the fourth quarter, the biggest deficit Chicago faced all night.
The Bulls were undeterred.
Coming off a Game 7 road win in Brooklyn two nights earlier just to get into a series with Miami, the Bulls just kept grinding. When Ray Allen made a 3-pointer to give Miami an 80-78 lead, Butler came back with one of his own to put the Bulls back on top. When the Heat went up by three after James made a free throw with 2:22 left, Belinelli connected for a 3 — on a second-effort possession — to knot the game.
Then when Robinson nailed a 20-footer with 1:18 left, the Bulls had the lead and plenty of swagger.
Wade missed a 3-pointer on the next possession, Robinson drove the lane and scored with 45.5 seconds left, and suddenly the Bulls were up 90-86. James drove against Butler and tried a 12-footer that missed everything, the Bulls got the rebound, Robinson made a free throw to stretch the lead to five and the stunner was complete.
Game 1 to the Bulls.
"It's all about being tough," said Butler, who played all 48 minutes for the third straight game. "We're always going to be the underdogs and we take pride in that. Everybody can overlook us, but we feel like we're good enough to hang with a lot of these teams."
NOTES: James has played 885 regular-season and playoff games. He's scored less than two points in a first half only twice, being shut out by Dallas on Oct. 31, 2007 and Dec. 20, 2010. He scored exactly two points on five other occasions before Monday. ... Wade dove into the second row of seats to save an errant ball, and grimaced after appearing to hit his sore right knee. "I wish somebody would have grabbed me. That would have been kind of nice, especially at home," Wade said. ... The Bulls had 17 second-chance points on only nine offensive rebounds.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
In the US, a growing number of consumers is questioning the procedure, and its popularity is apparently waning. At its peak in 2000, 1.42 million Americans underwent the surgery, but figures for the following two years saw a significant drop to 1.31 million in 2001 and 1.15 million in 2002. Profits and share prices of the medical chains performing the operation tumbled as a result (International Herald Tribune, 31 January 2003).
Patients' concerns are well placed. Researchers at the New Jersey Medical School discovered that as many as one in five of the patients in their study of 1306 patients needed to undergo retreatment to repair or enhance the first one (Ophthalmology, 2003; 110: 748-54).
One of the major concerns of ophthalmologists is the sudden loss of contrast sensitivity - the ability to distinguish objects in poor light - after surgery. This problem surfaced in 1996 when researchers at Tubingen University in Germany reported that three-quarters of the patients who had undergone photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) surgery for myopia over the previous 10 years had such poor contrast sensitivity that they failed federal German night vision standards (ASCRS Symposium, June 1996).
The London Center for Refractive Surgery has reported similar problems. After hearing of the German findings, the centre recalled all patients treated with an Excimer laser and found that 56 per cent (36 of 54 patients) also had greatly reduced contrast sensitivity (Lancet, 2003; 361: 1225-6).
This loss of sensitivity appears to be permanent and untreatable, says Dr William Jory, consultant ophthalmologist at the London Center for Refractive Surgery.
These findings have been supported by a further German study (ESCRS, Brussels, 2000) and one from Canada (Can J Ophthalmol, 2000; 35: 192-203). The Canadian federal government in Ottawa has now advised all provincial governments to test patients' night vision after surgery before a driver's licence is issued.
Advocates of laser eye surgery argue that many of these safety issues relate to the PRK technique, which has since been superseded by LASEK (laser subepithelial keratomileusis), a modification of PRK, and by LASIK (laser in situ keratomileusis), now probably the most popular form of laser eye surgery (Semin Ophthalmol, 2003; 18: 2-10).
With PRK, the surgeon applies the laser beam directly to the cornea (the transparent tissue covering the front of the eye), and 'shaves' and reshapes it. LASIK uses a special knife to lift a flap of tissue from the surface of the cornea to reveal the corneal bed (stroma). The laser works on this tissue, then the flap is replaced. The LASEK technique detaches the outermost layer (epithelium) of the cornea, and reshapes the corneal surface with the laser. The epithelium is then returned to its normal position.
There has been a range of concerns about the PRK technique, but one that is rarely aired is the possibility of postoperative infection. One study reviewed the records of 12 PRK patients who developed infectious keratitis, which can result in corneal ulceration. The researchers recommended that just-in-case antibiotics be given to all PRK patients before surgery (Ophthalmology, 2003; 110: 743-7).


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Although we are relatively naked in comparison with other primates, the human body is covered in a layer of fine hair (vellus and terminal hair) at a relatively high follicular density. There are relatively few explanations for the evolutionary maintenance of this type of human hair. Here, we experimentally test the hypothesis that human fine body hair plays a defensive function against ectoparasites (bed bugs). Our results show that fine body hair enhances the detection of ectoparasites through the combined effects of (i) increasing the parasite's search time and (ii) enhancing its detection.
1. Introduction
Humans are unique among all primate species in that we are superficially glabrous [1] (i.e. hairless). There are no shortage of theories for the loss of human body hair, e.g. thermoregulatory advantages [1,2], sexual selection [3,4], ectoparasite reduction [4,5], an aquatic phase [6], noonday foraging, hunting, neoteny and allometry [6]. However, despite our hairless appearance, the human body has the same density of hair follicles as would be expected of an ape of the same size [7].
The fine body hair of humans, composed of vellus hair and terminal hair, has little role in thermoregulation [8] and plays no significant part in sexual selection: it is frequently described as non-functional [2] and consequently provides the logic for the assumption that vellus hair is an expression of this loss of function. However, these hairs are known to have some minor functions in sweat gland maintenance [9] and are mechanoreceptive [10]. We experimentally test whether human fine body hair functions to enhance detection of ectoparasites. We use the human bed bug, Cimex lectularius, a common haemotophagous parasite of humans [11], which can detect a host from several metres away through the use of heat cues, host kairomones and carbon dioxide [11]. Exactly, what determines the parasite's host choice behaviour is unclear, but the nature and duration of search behaviour is probably under strong negative selection, as contact with the host constitutes a high mortality risk [11,12]. From a human host's perspective, the ability to detect and remove ectoparasites would be beneficial as haemotophagous insects cause damage and irritation through allergic reactions, blood loss and the risk of pathogen transmission [13].
We used a pair-wise experimental design that compared parasite search time on the shaved and unshaved arms of the same host, as well as the host's ability to detect the presence of an ectoparasite on each arm. Moreover, by measuring individual host variation in 'hairiness', we examined the relationship between hairiness, search time and detection ability.
2. Material and methods
(a) Hosts
Twenty-nine student volunteers in the University of Sheffield (10 females and 19 males) were recruited through opportunity sampling on the social networking site, Facebook. They were aged between 19 and 27 years (median age 21 years). All participants were made aware of the risk of being bitten (no volunteers were bitten during the course of this study) and the potential risks of adverse dermatological reactions if they were bitten [14]. Each volunteer was assigned an identifying number and all data collected were anonymized with respect to host. We followed the University of Sheffield ethics regulations [15] throughout.
(b) Parasites
The bed bugs used in this study originated from recently (2007) field-collected populations that have retained natural behaviours despite being reared in the laboratory. We used only imaginal females in this study. All were fed to satiation using standard protocols [11] exactly a week before a trial took place. This time frame matches C. lectularius natural feeding habits [11,16] and ensured all experimental bed bugs were (i) ready to feed and (ii) of similar 'hunger' status. Bed bugs which did not attempt to feed were excluded from the data. Because each host was tested twice, and because we wanted to use the same five bed bugs at each host's test, we gave each bed bug a unique acrylic paint spot at the back of its abdomen (applied with the tip of a wooden cocktail stick).
(c) Experimental treatment
The experimental procedure required that each host was tested on a shaved and unshaved arm (randomized with respect to arm and temporal sequence). The treatment arm was shaved on the upper surface between the wrist and the elbow with a new razor (Gillette Mach 4), while using the same brand of perfume- and colour-free soap (Simple). A rectangle measuring 5 × 10 cm was then drawn on the shaved area with a marker pen and vaseline (a barrier to bed bug locomotion) applied to the marked boundary. This ensured each host experienced the same potential surface contact with the parasites. Testing on the unshaved (control) arm was preceded by washing the unshaven arm with the same soap as the treatment, and generating a vaseline-delimited rectangle as in the treatment.
Each host was given a tally-counter and asked to look away as a bed bug was placed within the vaseline rectangle on their arm. Prior to release, all bed bugs experienced the same handling conditions. The volunteer was instructed to use the tally-counter every time they perceived the presence of something on their arm. The experimenter timed the duration of search behaviour of the bed bug on the host's arm and removed the insect as it extended its proboscis (the stereotyped pre-feeding behaviour). The search time was recorded as the time between placement on the host and extension of the proboscis. Host tally-counts were used as an index of parasite 'detections'.
Bed bugs that did not extend the proboscis after 300 s were removed from the participant and these data were omitted from the analyses. In all cases, these bed bugs showed none of the stereotypical behaviours associated with searching for a feeding site.
Each volunteer was tested twice: once on one arm, and then a week later on the other. The bed bugs were fed immediately after their first trial and so were in the same state of 'hunger' on the second trial. Results from bed bugs that did not feed, or died, between the two trials were excluded from subsequent analyses.
(d) Hair index and calculations
We devised a method for assessing the 'hairiness' of the arms of our volunteers that captured the density of follicles and the length of hairs on the forearm. (N.B., we did not distinguish between vellus and terminal hairs in this study.) Our 'hair index' is the product of hair follicular density per square centimetre and mean hair length (figure 1). We took a digital photograph of each volunteer's arm and counted the mean number of hair follicles in three different 1 cm2 areas taken from within the marked experimental rectangle. Mean hair length was calculated from the length of five hairs selected from within the rectangle. Hair index = mean density of follicles × mean hair length. Means are expressed ±1 s.e.
3. Results
The individual identification marks on the bed bugs (Wilk's lambda = 0.84, d.f. = 16, F = 1.34, p = 0.17) whether the left or right arm was shaved (Wilk's lambda = 0.93, F = 1.3, d.f. = 4, p = 0.1) and whether first exposure of the bed bug was to a shaved or control arm (Wilk's lambda =0.92, F = 1.2, d.f. = 8, p = 0.31) each had no effect on the response variables.
(a) Hair index
Male volunteers had a significantly higher hair index (238.3 ± 26.7) than female volunteers (89.6 ± 10.9; t = 5.16, d.f. = 23, p < 0.001).
(b) Search time
Bed bugs had significantly longer search times on unshaved arms compared with shaved arms on male (paired t-test: t = 3.79, d.f. = 18, p = 0.001) but not female hosts (paired t-test: t = 1.39, d.f. = 9, p = 0.199; figure 1a).
Search time was positively correlated with hair index on control (unshaved) arms (r = 0.426, n = 29, p = 0.021; there was no difference between male and female correlations; figure 1b) but there was no relationship on shaved arms (r = 0.299, n = 29, p = 0.115).
(c) Host's detection abilities
Host 'detections' were more frequent on unshaved when compared with shaved arms on male (paired t-test: t = 4.37, d.f. = 18, p < 0.001) and female (paired t-test: t = 4.11, d.f. = 9, p = 0.003) hosts (figure 2a).
The cumulative detection rate by the host was positively associated with cumulative search time on both arms (shaved arm: y = 16.5 + 1.47x, F = 9.21, d.f. = 1,119, p = 0.003; unshaved arm: y = 13.7 + 1.28x, F = 346.21, d.f. 1,119, p < 0.001).
Residual detection rate (of search time versus detection rate) was positively correlated with hair index on unshaved arms (r = 0.533, n = 29, p = 0.003; figure 2b) but not on shaved arms (r = 0.353, n = 29, p = 0.060).
4. Discussion
Our results show that the presence of fine body hair (i) prolongs the search behaviour of C. lectularius and (ii) enhances the detection of searching ectoparasites. Moreover, a higher hair index makes a host more likely to detect an ectoparasite. Because males have a higher hair index compared with females this result has implications for sex-differences in parasite detection. Unfortunately, we could not distinguish between vellus hair and terminal hair in our study and sexual dimorphism in terminal hairs may be partly responsible for the higher hair index in males in this study. Enhanced male detection of ectoparasites may be an evolutionary response driven by female mate choice directed at parasite-free males [17] and/or sexual dimorphism in investment in immune function [18].
Increased search times are likely to be disadvantageous to ectoparasites because of increased energy demands and, as our data have shown, increased probability of detection and consequently mortality risk [11,12]. Our results show that detection ability increased with host hair index: similarly, Freeland [19] found that parasite-induced grooming increased with hair length in primates.
Cimicids (the bed, bat and bird bugs) prefer to bite hairless sites on bats and the featherless areas of birds [11] and there is evidence that mosquito bites occur primarily on the relatively hairless underside of wrists and ankles [20]. Although these areas may be more frequently exposed, our findings suggest that selection may also favour parasites that avoid the risks associated with foraging on the hairier areas of hosts.
Changes in grooming behaviour have been linked to ectoparasite loads in a number of animals, including birds [21], impala [22], bats [23], cats [24] and non-human primates [25,26] with grooming frequency increasing in individuals with a higher ectoparasite load. An increase in grooming frequency also reduces these parasite loads [22,24].
Belt [27] was first to suggest that a reduction of body hair would have partially alleviated Homo sapiens of ectoparasites. Aspects of our evolutionary history, i.e. group living and a fixed home base, mean we were potentially prone to high ectoparasite loads: consequently, a reduction in body hair may be an adaptation to remove ectoparasitic refuges on the body [4] and make parasites easier to find and remove. However, these traits would not have removed the opportunity for ectoparasitism. It is possible that human fine body hair is maintained by the balance between selection on it (i) being shorter/sparser (the cost being diminished ectoparasite detection) and (ii) being longer/denser (the cost being more options for ectoparasite concealment).
Our data suggest that reduced body hair in humans functions, at least partly, as a defence against ectoparasites. On the basis of our results, and our conclusion that fine body hair functions to enhance ectoparasite detection, we predict that transient ectoparasites should show feeding preferences for relatively hairless parts of their host's body.
We thank Richard Naylor for practical assistance and Klaus Reinhardt and Adam Dobson for discussions and two anonymous referees who made comments that improved the manuscript.
- Received October 11, 2011.
- Accepted November 24, 2011.
- This journal is © 2011 The Royal Society


text:
CFI Group Systemizes Customer Survey Data with New Project Management Tool
CFI Group's new technology solution provides businesses with project management capabilities, allowing easy management of customer feedback data
Feb 12, 2013, 10:00 EST
ANN ARBOR, Mich., Feb. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- In effort to help companies easily share insights gleaned from customer satisfaction surveys, CFI Group, a customer satisfaction technology and analytics firm, today announced a new cloud-based project management tool, Online Action Planning (OAP). The new tool will enable organizations to easily share the feedback with others in the organization, empowering the company to quickly develop and implement action plans to address satisfaction issues.
As consumers continue to be solicited like never before on expressing their opinion, customer satisfaction feedback is coming back in droves. OAP integrates with CFI Group's Customer Feedback Insights Platform, giving operational executives and customer experience professionals the tools they need to proactively design, manage, and track their customer-driven initiatives.
"At the heart of a successful customer experience program is a plan to ensure that organizations act upon insights gained from measurement in a timely manner, "said Sheri Petras, CEO of CFI Group. "With CFI Group's Online Action Planning, managers and stakeholders can stay on top of tasks by monitoring the progress right within the tool. Reviewing, updating and managing the customer experience now can be done easily at any time."
Now combined with CFI Case Management, OAP delivers a core set of project management capabilities from within CFI's customer feedback platform, helping management teams translate customer insights into actions that drive meaningful business improvements and make significant impact on bottom line performance.
The new solution allows stakeholders to customize data through a variety of categories and assigned business units. Other functions of OAP include a set of management reports that track the progress of newly adopted business practices from start to finish, as well as:
- Overall project management
- Action planning
- Task management
- Task tracking
- Business unit monitoring
- Management reporting
- Individual user performance monitoring
OAP also includes a set of hierarchical reports that allow managers to track progression of plans and tasks towards completion for each of their business units. These tools include color-coded dashboard views for ease of interpretation, and the ability to export activity lists in MS Excel format.
About CFI Group (www.cfigroup.com)
CFI Group is a global customer satisfaction technology and analytics firm. CFI Group provides a Customer Feedback Management (CFM) technology platform that leverages the science of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). This platform continuously measures the customer experience across multiple channels, benchmarks performance, and prioritizes improvements for maximum impact. Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, CFI Group serves global clients from a network of offices worldwide.
SOURCE CFI Group


text:
Installation & Configuration
Backup & Recovery
Performamce & Tuning
HADR Setup
Redirected Restores
Materialize Querry Tables
Multidimensional Clusters
DB2 Security
RUNSTATS and REORG
Database Partitioning Feature
User Define functions (UDF)
Triggers & Stored Procedures
Korn Shell Scripting
and much much more...
- DB2move
- Import / Export
- Archive Logging
(201) 681-1271
Frank Sledge, Jr., is President of Sledge Technologies, Inc., a consulting firm that
specializes in IBM DB2 UDB administration, training, support, hosting, cloud services, and custom DB2 databases. Mr. Sledge has more than twenty years of hands-on experience
working with DB2 on Z/OS (zSeries),
LUW (pSeries), and iSeries systems.
He has designed databases
for a plethura of Wall Street
brokerage firms, insurance
companies and banks. Now
he has taken his 20 years of
DB2 know-how and developed
a series of DB2 training videos.


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50 U.S. Code § 402a - Transferred
Section 402a, comprising section 811 of the Counterintelligence and Security Enhancements Act of 1994, Pub. L. 103–359, title VIII, and also of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995, Pub. L. 103–359, was editorially reclassified as section 3381 of this title.
LII has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references LII.


text:
Updated: Pickup truck rolls on man involved in Manchester crash
March 23. 2013 9:24AM
MANCHESTER — Two Manchester men were injured when their pickup trucks collided Saturday, police said.
The accident happened around 7:20 a.m. at the intersection of Beech Street and Cilley Road.
Driver Paul Houghton, 77, was taken to Catholic Medical Center to be evaluated for non-life-threatening injuries after firefighters removed him from his vehicle, police said. The crash impact left the pickup on its passenger side, police said.
The other driver, Ryan Gile, 28, was taken to the Elliot Hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries and released.
Alcohol and speed don't appear to be factors.
Anyone who witnessed the crash is asked to contact Manchester police traffic investigator Greg DiTullio at 792-5448.


text:
STM Series NEMA 23 frame Integrated Motor/Drives
Integrated Stepper Motors
Torque to to 210 oz-in
from $261.00/ea
The STM23 is a NEMA 23 frame Drive+Motor+Control unit, fusing step motor and drive technologies into a single device, offering savings on space, wiring and cost over conventional motor and drive solutions. The STM also fits with the ST product family of step motors and drives for a complete motion control system.
- Choose between RS-232 or RS-485 port for programming and serial communications
- CANopen for fieldbus communications
- Optional built-in incremental encoder provides advanced functionality
STM Integrated Motors feature:
- Dynamic Current Control
- Anti-Resonance
- Torque Ripple Smoothing
- Microstep Emulation
S - models feature:
- Pulse & Direction
- CW/CCW Pulse
- A/B Quadrature
- Velocity (Oscillator) mode
- Host commands (SCL compatible)
- SiNet Hub compatible
- ST Configurator software for setup
Q - models feature:
- Stand-alone Operation
- Q Programmer for complex motion
- Conditional Processing
- Math Functions
- Multi-tasking
- Register Manipulation
- Encoder Following
- "Generic" HMI compatibility
C - models feature:
- The "C" control option means the drive is designed to operate on a CANopen communication network and conforms to Can in Automation (CiA) DS301 and DSP402 specifications
- C drives support Profile Position, Profile Velocity, and Homing modes, as well as the ability to run stored Q programs via Applied Motion-specific CANopen objects
Features of Integrated Stepper Motors


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Gabriel Forrester
Biography of Gabriel Forrester
Graduate Record for Gabriel Forrester
Forename: Gabriel
Surname: Forrester
Degree Information: MA (1610)
Nationality: Scottish
Gabriel Forrester
University Link: MA (1610) Graduate
GU Degree: MA, 1610; Arts,
Additional Information: GUA 26619 p133
Record last updated: 14th May 2009
University Connections
University Roles
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text:
May, 2013Calendar | List
From Scandal to Social Change
Using recent public child sexual abuse allegations in youth sports and youth serving organizations as the backdrop, Yvonne Cournoyer, Sexual Violence Prevention Coordinator at the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA), will lead a discussion of what needs to change to create safe environments for children.
Yvonne will provide a brief case study of recent "scandals" to illustrate the gaps in current practice that allow sexual abuse to occur at such alarming rates. Yvonne will discuss that effecting the changes that will prevent children from ever experiencing sexual harm in these settings will require social change at all levels of society—from individuals to institutions. You will leave with knowledge and tools you can use in your own life and to work with parents and youth serving organizations to proactively prevent child sexual abuse.
Registration period:
Tuesday, Apr 16, 2013 - Friday, May 10, 2013
Top of Page


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"Frankenstein's Army" is a found footage film about a unit of Russian soldiers who are fighting Nazis during WWII and searching for other missing Russians. Instead of finding missing soldiers they are forced to fight an army of "steampunk" monsters that have been created by Dr. Frankenstein, who apparently has been attempting to end the war by combining equal halves of communists and fascists brains.
Sometimes, it's nice to have a bad guy that everyone can hate. In horror, you often want people to root for one person or group and against another, and it becomes troublesome to create three-dimensional villains that have real-life motivations and reasons for the awful things they do.


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Varsity boys basketball
Crest 70, North Gaston 69 � North Gaston (6-8, 0-4 Big South) was led by Daquan Mintz�s 22 points with Corey Staley adding 12 and Marquis Ray 10, but the Wildcats couldn�t stop the Chargers (7-4, 3-0 Big South) from notching their third straight league victory. Crest extended a 38-30 halftime edge to a 13-point advantage entering the fourth period. The Chargers were sparked by Jerick Haynes� 25 points while Chrishon Hartgrove came off the bench to supply 20. North Gaston hosts Kings Mountain on Tuesday. Crest will visit Hunter Huss Tuesday night.
Cherryville 83, North Lincoln 74 � Brandon Warren (23 points, 10 rebounds), Rhyer Davis (16 points, seven assists) and Spencer Stamey (13 points) led Cherryville (8-5, 2-1), which visits East Lincoln on Tuesday. Hunter Caldwell (22 points, six rebounds, six steals, four assists), Chase Stehling (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Christian Ramos (11 points, four assists) led North Lincoln (7-6, 0-3), which hosts Bessemer City on Tuesday.
Highland Tech 32, West Lincoln 28 � Kameron Harper scored 15 to lead Highland Tech to a low-scoring conference win Friday. With Highland Tech holding a two-point lead late, Harper knocked down a 3-pointer and later hit a pair of free throws to seal it. Josh Neely added eight points for Highland Tech (3-8, 2-1), which hosts Lincolnton on Tuesday. Dylan Frady scored 10, including a pair of fourth-quarter 3-pointers, to lead West Lincoln (2-9, 0-3), which visits Lake Norman Charter on Tuesday.
Lake Norman Charter 64, Lincolnton 41 � Malik McCormick scored 18 and Lake Norman Charter outscored Lincolnton 17-2 in the first quarter on its way to a road win Friday. Lake Norman Charter (7-4, 2-1) hosts West Lincoln on Tuesday. Alonzo Mobley scored 15 to lead Lincolnton (5-6, 1-2), which visits Highland Tech on Tuesday.
East Gaston 66, Harding 62 � DeSean Murray (28 points, 12 rebounds) and Jawontee Olds (10 points) led East Gaston to league win Friday. East Gaston (7-6, 1-3) visits Garinger on Tuesday.
Gaston Day 74, Hickory Christian 56 � Derek McKnight (20 points), Nolan Nelson (18 points), Trevor Anderson (15 points) and Troy Henderson (10 points) led Gaston Day (13-4, 2-1), which visits Charlotte Latin on Tuesday.
Gaston Christian at Covenant Day, no report � Gaston Christian (2-9, 0-3) hosts Concord First Assembly on Tuesday.
Piedmont Charter at Lincoln Charter, no report � Piedmont Charter hosts Community School of Davidson on Monday. Lincoln Charter (5-3) hosts Challenger on Tuesday.
Varsity girls basketball
Crest 90, North Gaston 74 � Crest (9-2, 3-0) used its defensive pressure and running game to soar to a 48-33 halftime lead and pushed the margin to more than 20 for a Big South win Friday. North Gaston fought back late, largely because of the 38-point scoring effort by freshman Kendall Cloninger. Cloninger scored 30 in the second half, making five three-pointers and nailing all 11 of her free throws. Janay Polk had 10 for North Gaston. Crest was led by its 1-2 sophomore punch of A�diyah Ussery with 26 points and Caleia Jones with 16. The Lady Chargers also got a boost from SeDasia Love�s 12 points with Chozie Hunt adding 11. North Gaston (5-7, 1-3) hosts Kings Mountain on Tuesday. Crest visits Hunter Huss on Tuesday.
Cherryville at North Lincoln, no report � Cherryville (2-10, 0-2) visits East Lincoln on Tuesday. North Lincoln (7-5, 1-1) hosts Bessemer City on Tuesday.
West Lincoln 52, Highland Tech 18 � Madison Armstrong (seven points, five rebounds) led Highland Tech (0-11, 0-3), which hosts Lincolnton on Tuesday. West Lincoln (5-6, 3-0) visits Lake Norman Charter on Tuesday.
Lincolnton 47, Lake Norman Charter 42 � Bridget Derr (13 points), Sydney Devine (nine points) and Alexis Killian (nine points) led Lincolnton (8-3, 3-0) to a win in a battle of Southern Piedmont 1A/2A Conference unbeatens. Kaylin Monday had six points and a career-high 12 rebounds while helping Lincolnton hold Ezinne Mbamalu to six points. Lincolnton visits Highland Tech on Tuesday. Lake Norman Charter (7-4, 2-1) hosts West Lincoln on Tuesday.
Harding at East Gaston, no report � East Gaston (4-8, 1-2) visits Garinger on Tuesday.
Covenant Day 43, Gaston Christian 28 � Emily Woodward scored eight points for Gaston Christian (4-9, 1-3), which hosts Concord First Assembly on Tuesday.
Gaston Day 57, Hickory Christian 39 � Evonna McGill (18 points) and Morgan Whitesides (17 points) led Gaston Day (8-7, 1-1), which visits Charlotte Latin on Tuesday.
Piedmont Charter at Lincoln Charter, no report � Piedmont Charter hosts Community School of Davidson on Monday. Lincoln Charter (6-3) hosts Challenger on Tuesday.
JV boys basketball
Ashbrook 58, Kings Mountain 38 � Malik Gingles (21 points) and Jeff Glenn (16 points) led Ashbrook (9-2, 4-0 Big South 3A), which visits Forestview on Tuesday. Jacob Sneed had 11 points for the Mountaineers.
Bessemer City 41, East Lincoln 37 � Jalen Garvin (17 points) led Bessemer City (8-0, 3-0 SPC 1A/2), which visits North Lincoln on Tuesday.
West Lincoln 46, Highland Tech 31 � Alex Campbell (12 points), Garrett Starkey (10 points), Kenny Stevens (seven points, six rebounds) and Caleb Adams (five points, six rebounds) led West Lincoln (2-7, 1-2).
Varsity wrestling
West Lincoln 44, Bunker Hill 24 � 106: Dale Morris, WELI, pinned Matt Church, BUHI, 0:20. 113: Hunter Carpenter, WELI, forf. . 120: Nate Mault, WELI, pinned Avery Newland, BUHI, 0:57. 126: Dillon Morris, WELI, pinned McNeal Dakota, BUHI, 0:20. 132: Cody Dobbins, BUHI, dec. Ivan McCormick, WELI, 6-5. 138: Clay Alguire, WELI, dec. Logan Quiney, BUHI, 8-4. 145: Josh Moore, BUHI, dec. Billy Goble, WELI, 10-9. 152: Chris Deal, BUHI, pinned Dustin Headrick, WELI, 3:45. 160: Tim Setzer, BUHI, dec. Michael McSwain, WELI, 2-1. 170: Dalton Scronce, WELI, forf. . 182: Matthew Poteat, WELI, pinned Julius Lail, BUHI, 3:42. 195: Mack George, WELI, pinned Huitt Da�Quan, BUHI, 1:25. 220: Kyle Guins, BUHI, pinned Tyler Putnam, WELI, 1:24. 285: Devon Harris, BUHI, dec. Tyler Clinton, WELI, 7-5.
West Lincoln 42, Maiden 36 � 106: Dale Morris, WELI, pinned Jacob Wilson, MAID, 0:17. 113: Hunter Carpenter, WELI, forf. . 120: Eric Rivera, MAID, tech. fall Mitchell Higdon, WELI, 4:00 22-7. 126: Nate Mault, WELI, forf. . 132: Jacob Hewitt, MAID, dec. Dillon Morris, WELI, 5-0. 138: Clay Alguire, WELI, pinned Tony Hernandez, MAID, 1:19. 145: Gage Isaac, MAID, pinned Hunter Turner, WELI, 1:59. 152: Ethan Steward, MAID, pinned Bret Pitman, WELI, 3:44. 160: John Partin, MAID, maj. dec. Lucas Paredez, WELI, 9-0. 170: Dalton Scronce, WELI, pinned Will Norket, MAID, 1:29. 182: Matthew Poteat, WELI, pinned Jesse Parker, MAID, 3:42. 195: Mack George, WELI, pinned Tristan Childers, MAID, 1:04. 220: Christian Hammonds, MAID, pinned Tyler Clinton, WELI, 3:19. 285: Josh Frye, MAID, pinned Bronson Pendleton, WELI, 1:29.


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The following program shows how to send and receive a message using the Apache Qpid JMS client for AMQP 0-10 . JMS programs typically use JNDI to obtain connection factory and destination objects which the application needs. In this way the configuration is kept separate from the application code itself.
In this example, we create a JNDI context using a properties file, use the context to lookup a connection factory, create and start a connection, create a session, and lookup a destination from the JNDI context. Then we create a producer and a consumer, send a message with the producer and receive it with the consumer. This code should be straightforward for anyone familiar with JMS.
Example 1.1. "Hello world!" in Java
package org.apache.qpid.example.jmsexample.hello; import javax.jms.*; import javax.naming.Context; import javax.naming.InitialContext; import java.util.Properties; public class Hello { public Hello() { } public static void main(String[] args) { Hello producer = new Hello(); producer.runTest(); } private void runTest() { try { Properties properties = new Properties(); properties.load(this.getClass().getResourceAsStream("hello.properties")); Context context = new InitialContext(properties); ConnectionFactory connectionFactory = (ConnectionFactory) context.lookup("qpidConnectionfactory"); Connection connection = connectionFactory.createConnection(); connection.start(); Session session=connection.createSession(false,Session.AUTO_ACKNOWLEDGE); Destination destination = (Destination) context.lookup("topicExchange"); MessageProducer messageProducer = session.createProducer(destination); MessageConsumer messageConsumer = session.createConsumer(destination); TextMessage message = session.createTextMessage("Hello world!"); messageProducer.send(message); message = (TextMessage)messageConsumer.receive(); System.out.println(message.getText()); connection.close(); context.close(); } catch (Exception exp) { exp.printStackTrace(); } } }
Loads the JNDI properties file, which specifies connection properties, queues, topics, and addressing options. See below for further details.
Creates the JNDI initial context.
Creates a JMS connection factory for Qpid.
Creates a JMS connection.
Activates the connection.
Creates a session. This session is not transactional (transactions='false'), and messages are automatically acknowledged.
Creates a destination for the topic exchange, so senders and receivers can use it.
Creates a producer that sends messages to the topic exchange.
Creates a consumer that reads messages from the topic exchange.
Reads the next available message.
Closes the connection, all sessions managed by the connection, and all senders and receivers managed by each session.
Closes the JNDI context.
The contents of the hello.properties file are shown below.
Example 1.2. JNDI Properties File for "Hello world!" example
java.naming.factory.initial = org.apache.qpid.jndi.PropertiesFileInitialContextFactory # connectionfactory.[jndiname] = [ConnectionURL] connectionfactory.qpidConnectionfactory = amqp://guest:guest@clientid/test?brokerlist='tcp://localhost:5672' # destination.[jndiname] = [address_string] destination.topicExchange = amq.topic
Defines a connection factory from which connections can be created. The syntax of a ConnectionURL is given in Section 2.2, "JNDI Properties".
Defines a destination for which MessageProducers and/or MessageConsumers can be created to send and receive messages. The value for the destination in the properties file is an address string as described in Section 2.4, "Addresses". In the JMS implementation MessageProducers are analogous to senders in the Qpid Message API, and MessageConsumers are analogous to receivers.
Apache Qpid, Messaging built on AMQP; Copyright © 2015 The Apache Software Foundation; Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0; Apache Qpid, Qpid, Qpid Proton, Proton, Apache, the Apache feather logo, and the Apache Qpid project logo are trademarks of The Apache Software Foundation; All other marks mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners


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VisionTek offers good overclocking and a great warranty; shame about the price
Subject: Memory | November 3, 2011 - 06:35 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: VisionTek, Ultimate Performance PC3-12800 CL9 1600EX, ddr3-1600, dual channel
Perhaps the first thing you should notice about Visiontek's Ultimate Performance PC3-12800 CL9 1600EX is that it sports a lifetime warranty if you register it within 30 days of purchasing it. After that the specs naturally follow, DDR3-1600 @ 9-9-9-24 or if you drop to 10-10-10-24 you may be able to hit 1900MHz as Red & Blackness Mods did. Part of that overclock is probably due to the large heatspreaders on the RAM which are effective but could interfere with the installation of a CPU heatsink in some configurations. There is one small problem with this kit, it is priced over $60 which might seem like a good deal for 8GB of RAM ... if you haven't shopped around and noticed that many equivalent DIMMs are available for 20% less.
"Today we are taking a look at a brand new product from Visiontek, the videocard manufacturer has turned their heads on to the memory market. We recieved a sample of their performance ram named "Visiontek Ultimate Performance Pc3-12800 CL9 1600EX". So how can this brand new ram from Visiontek perform? Lets not waste any time and figure out what kind of performance that we can expect!"
Here are some more Memory articles from around the web:
- GeIL DDR3 Memory Round-up | Enhance Corsa | Evo Corsa Review @ XSReviews
- Avexir Standard Series DDR3 1600MHz 4GB Memory Kit Review @ eTeknix
- Corsair Vengeance PC3-14900 8GB 1866MHz Memory Kit Review @ eTeknix
- Everything You Need to Know About the Dual-, Triple-, and Quad-Channel Memory Architectures @ Hardware Secrets
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As Flu season begins to rear its ugly head, the rush towards getting a vaccination seems inescapable. Personally, I prefer a more holistic approach. My grandmother would always make us herbal elixirs to try and aid our symptoms. Since then, I have always chosen healing through food. So here's the good news, there is a plethora of foods and spices out there that help aid our immunity. Healing foods, and healing flavors is all we need to help combat against that nasty flu. Here are some tips to put you in the right direction:
1) Ginger: Ginger comes to the aid when we're sick in some powerful ways. Besides soothing a scratchy throat, it has chemicals called sesquiterpenes that target rhinoviruses commonly known to be in the family of flu viruses. Ginger is also a natural pain and fever reducer, not mention its pretty great for your digestion. You can add ginger to certain foods; I like to add ground ginger to my oatmeal in the morning or shredded gingerroot to a juice.
2) Boost with Supplements: Immune boosters should be loaded with vitamin C, Vitamin D and Omega 3 fatty acid. I have many friends that are huge fans of the Emergen-C vitamin supplement mix that has vitamin C, electrolytes, nutrients, and antioxidants that are great for energy. Always consult your physician before starting to taken any "new" supplements, and always try to purchase holistic based products as opposed to chemical laden supplements.
3) Onion And Garlic: If you want to amp up the healing powers of your chicken or veggie soup add plenty of garlic and onions. This combination will at least keep you from getting the flu from your significant other. However, they both contain antiseptic and immunity boosting compounds. I like to add garlic powder to my soup generously to help clear my sinuses.
4) Honey: Honey has always been knows as the natural way to soothe sore throats. I remember always taking spoonfuls of it when I was sick. It also has antioxidant and antimicrobial properties to help fight infections from viruses, bacteria, and fungi. It is important to find the right type of honey though, so you need to look to see which kinds are available at your local grocery store. Note: It should always be just HONEY in the ingredients, also avoid giving honey to children under 12 months because there may be some health risks.
5) Sleep and Relax: Disease normally likes to cultivate when your body is worn down and stressed out resulting in low energy to fight illness. You will notice that its always those moments in your life when nothing else can get worse that all of a sudden the flu likes to pay a little visit. It is important for your overall health and well being to sleep and relax. Take a bath, get a massage, or go to bed a little earlier than normal. Plenty of both will give you the energy needed to fend off any ill causing threats.
Nothing can sideline your everyday life like a bad cold or the flu. We all have the power to help aid our immune systems to make it difficult to get overtaken by illness. Our immune system is a complex network that can work with us or against us. As long as we do our part, we can fuel it well with foods that can heal us, and activities that cultivate our bodies to be in the best disease fighting condition.
Rosie Acosta is a sunny California native of Mexican heritage, she writes about her passion for Yoga and Mexican Food. She transforms her grandmother's hearty recipes into organic healthy alternatives for a healthier lifestyle. Follow her on Twitter: @RosieAcosta FB: facebook.com/organicmexicangirl and visit her website organicmexicangirl.com
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November 14. 2012 10:50PM
Public hearing draws support for burying NH power lines
By PAULA TRACY
New Hampshire Union Leader
PLYMOUTH - A public hearing on developing a state-owned underground power transmission corridor drew more than 150, many of whom urged a commission to put a moratorium on above-ground lines and develop a statewide energy policy.
The so called "361 Commission" was an outcome of legislation that took eminent domain off the table for the proposed Northern Pass project.
The commission has until Dec. 1 to report. The most recent draft of its report recommends another year of study. State Sen. Jeanie Forrester, R-Meredith, the chairman, has urged a moratorium on above-ground transmission projects.
Rick Samson of Stewartstown and John Amey of Pittsburg both thanked Forrester for her work Wednesday night and said they favored a moratorium.
"Take a year, take five..." Amey said.
Jack Savage, spokesman for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, applauded the panel's work and said he was speaking for several conservation groups when he suggested:
-- The Department of Transportation continue to explore underground transmission using Interstates, 93, 89, 95 and Route 101 between Interstates 93 and 95.
-- That DOT explore what, if any, rail corridors should be considered for use.
-- That the state's Site Evaluation Committee have an added statute that would ask any new applicants to propose an underground alternative.
-- Set up a governor's task force on the issue.
-- Acknowledge that several representatives on the committee are SEC members and this might prejudge their statutory obligations to vote on future projects.
Savage's recommendations were also signed by officials of the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Conservation Law Foundation, the Nature Conservancy and Conservation NH.
Maine has already designated the median of Interstate 95 for an underground corridor and has a potential customer, Northeast Energy Link. NEL would run 220 miles of underground cable carrying renewable power to the New England grid.
The project has been compared to the Northern Pass, a $1.2 billion, 180-mile hydro-power transmission line from Canada to Deerfield.
But that above-ground line would use towers ranging in height from 80 to 135 feet high.
While he was not present at the hearing, Marc Goldberg, spokesman for Gov.-elect Maggie Hassan said Wednesday afternoon that Hassan believes that burying the lines would be a more appropriate approach for Northern Pass.
Martin Murray, spokesman for Northern Pass, said, "The project supports the effort to identify potentially viable corridor options for future energy projects. We also appreciate that the commission strongly rejected the original report recommendations that threatened broader and costly consequences for consumers and businesses in the state. Placing utility lines underground ought to be an option, but no mandated. There is no need in New Hampshire for more mandates, or for more costly layers ofbureaucracy."
David Van Hotten of Bethlehem said it is important to consider what burying the power lines might mean in terms of unintended consequences; he alluded to electromagnetic fields.
Ann Hawthorne of Lancaster said residents are relying on the commission to force future projects to be buried, and that the costs should be borne by ratepayers who benefit from its transmission.
Suzanne Smith, a state representative from the Plymouth area, said she supports burying the line.
Julie Moran of Colebrook asked if the commission could lead to an energy policy that would allow for local development of power.
Debbie Warner of Littleton said she asked people what they liked about the North Country this year, and they talked about the area "as a family member."
She asked that a moratorium on above-ground lines be put in place until the commission's study is concluded.
- - - - - - - -
Paula Tracy may be reached at


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Modern Design Christmas Trees
Dec 7, 2012 2:25:08 PM
If you are looking for modern Christmas trees, here are a few options for you:
1. If you are gung-ho on getting a real tree, be sure to bring it to a tree recycling center when you're finished.
2. Go buy someone's old fake one on Craigslist or eBay so it goes to use instead of in the trash. With enough creativity, you can make an ecclectic modern tree that expresses your personality
3. Try opting for one of the following modern options:
How about this silver one from Chiasso? It comes in gold too!
What about these Alpine trees from Cardboard Safari? They're eco-friendly!
This plywood Christmas tree I blogged about a while back from Buro North.
Design My World has a laser-cut tree.
Check out this modern "tannenbaum" from Silver Cocoon.
How about a white or black tree from Treetopia. They also have TONS of other colors, even crazy ones like rainbow!
Superstar trees from Modernica.
The Jubiltree is a wooden tree made in the USA that you can decorate with just lights or add garlands. It comes in solid maple, walnut, and cherry.
Australian company One Two Tree is producing modern Christmas trees that can be flat-packed and easily stored during the rest of the year.
This one comes in small, medium, or large and the manufacturer will plant five new trees for every large-sized Christmas tree sold.
These modern Christmas trees are decorated with 100 chandelier crystals and either 100 illusion film ornaments or 100 glass bulbs, plus they come with a disco ball.
Giles Miller cardboard trees from the Design Museum Shop.
This Nambé ornament holder is great for small spaces and tiny apartments.
The PossibiliTree™ modern tree alternative and hanging tree (below).
Save precious floor space with Atypyk's Christmas tree poster.
Cardboard tree available at thecardboardtree.com.
Cascades' 100% recycled trees come in three styles and three colors.
Recycled aluminum limited edition Tannenboing tree designed by Seattle-based designer Michele Weingeist.
Modern black or white tabletop wooden trees from Ferm Living.
Created by Trine and Peter Find, these Beech wood trees are great examples of simple Scandinavian design. The Danish word "Filigrantrae" means "filigree tree" in English.
Emily G
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If someone wants to find you, they can. And that's illustrated in a particularly Big-Brotherish manner by this video from DigInfo showing a surveillance system by Hitachi Kokusai Electric that can search through 36 MILLION FACES IN ONE SECOND. It monitors surveillance camera feeds in real time, looking for a match for a face you provide it from a photo or video. When it finds the face, it then zeroes in and gives you the video of what the subject's been up to and where. It's meant for use by large-scale operations like train stations or power plants (or law enforcement agencies) where they have lots of cameras in their surveillance systems, but it's not a huge leap to imagine scaling this up to tie in to cameras around the world and allowing anyone to find anyone else in short order. It's quite possible that government agencies have systems like this already, not that we'd know about it, but we're getting closer and closer to a time when anyone will be able to access this kind of technology.
You can run, but you can't hide. That's both cool and scary.
HT: Popular Science


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Jeff Francouer noticed the sun rising as the plane landed and people having breakfast as the Kansas City Royals arrived at their hotel near Dallas.
Calling it a long night would be just a mild understatement.
What appeared to be a routine game at St. Louis on Thursday turned into something else thanks a marathon rain delay and a decision to wait it out.
The Royals wound up beating the Cardinals 4-2 in a game that ended well after 3 in the morning.
"It was interesting, but for us, it's good," said Francouer, the Royals' outfielder.
Interesting is one way to put it.
The Royals and Cardinals should have known something was up when the first pitch was delayed an hour by rain.
The game moved quickly after that — right up until the top of the ninth inning, with the Royals leading and the rain back in force. Umpire crew chief Joe West had a decision to make.
With the game the last meeting between the two teams this season, a new rule added this year allowed West to call the game in a decision that would wipe out the top of the ninth and give the Cardinals a 2-1 win, based on the score from the previous completed inning.
West chose to wait out the rain. And wait. And wait some more.
After 4 1/2 miserable hours, the game resumed shortly after 3 a.m. CDT and the final out came at 3:14 a.m.
Kansas City left for a series in Texas and the Cardinals went home to sleep a bit before a home series against San Francisco.
The umpiring crew? They had a matinee in Chicago, with the first pitch scheduled just 10 hours after the final out in St. Louis.
"We worry about that game when we get to that one," West told a pool reporter after the game. "We had to worry about this game."
He declined comment on Friday
MLB spokesman Michael Teevan praised West and his crew for handling "a challenging situation very well."
"We appreciate the efforts of both clubs, the umpires and particularly the Cardinals' grounds crew, and we are glad that the game was played to completion," he added.
Chicago Cubs manager Dale Sveum shrugged off any concerns about sleep-deprived umpires calling Friday's game against Arizona.
The Cubs extended their winning streak to five games with a 7-2 win over Arizona on Friday afternoon.
"Sometimes we get in at 3:15 in the morning . they don't have to get to the park that early, so they get plenty of sleep," he said of the umpires. "That's not something that's going to dictate the game."
The near-capacity crowd of 43,916 in St. Louis was down to a couple hundred hardy souls when the game ended.
"Joe West did a tremendous job," said Royals manager Ned Yost, whose team snapped an eight-game skid with the victory.
"He was ready to wait as long as we could. He just felt that we were getting close to that point. He came into the office, Joe, we've got 15 minutes of rain left and it's gone. He goes, well, that's not what I heard. Look, let's go outside. And we went outside, and it stopped raining."
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny and general manager John Mozeliak lobbied during the delay for an eight-inning St. Louis win. West said the Cardinals did not express their frustrations to him directly, made no statement and did not lodge a protest.
Either way, Matheny seemed less than thrilled with the decision to wait out the rain.
"I'm not going to sit here and start bashing the league for what's going on," he said. "But we certainly ended up on the short end of that and we can be paying for it for a couple of days here. There must be a bigger reward out there that I don't see."
Mozeliak said he was concerned about players getting injured because of the delay and the wet conditions, although he praised the grounds crew and added it would have been a "PR nightmare" if they "had to revert back to the eighth inning."
"I did feel compelled that we try to get this game in because that would have been unfair to them had it just reverted back to the eighth," Mozeliak said.
For the Royals, the long night wasn't their first this week. They endured one getting to St. Louis after Tuesday's game against the Cardinals in Kansas City.
Problems with their plane forced them to take a bus across the state, and they didn't arrive until 5 a.m.
On Thursday, Royals catcher Adam Moore said no one took a nap during the long delay. Instead, they played cards.
"Until we saw that window come, and then they came in and gave us a head's up, that we may have a time frame to go back out there," he said. "We were just kind of hanging out in the clubhouse, trying to stay loose as best as we could."
AP Sports Writers Ronald Blum in New York and Stephen Hawkins in Arlington, Texas, and freelance writers Brian Sandalow in Chicago and Jason L. Young in St. Louis contributed to this report.


text:
Thunnus obesus
|Scope: Global
Language: English
|Scientific Name:
|Thunnus obesus (Lowe, 1839)
|Regional Assessments:
Common Name(s):
Thunnus mebachi Kishinouye, 1915
Thynnus obesus Lowe, 1839
Thynnus sibi Temminck & Schlegel, 1844
|Red List Category & Criteria:
|Vulnerable A2bd ver 3.1
|Year Published:
|Date Assessed:
|Collette, B., Acero, A., Amorim, A.F., Boustany, A., Canales Ramirez, C., Cardenas, G., Carpenter, K.E., Chang, S.-K., Chiang, W., de Oliveira Leite Jr., N., Di Natale, A., Die, D., Fox, W., Fredou, F.L., Graves, J., Viera Hazin, F.H., Hinton, M., Juan Jorda, M., Minte Vera, C., Miyabe, N., Montano Cruz, R., Nelson, R., Oxenford, H., Restrepo, V., Schaefer, K., Schratwieser, J., Serra, R., Sun, C., Teixeira Lessa, R.P., Pires Ferreira Travassos, P.E., Uozumi, Y. & Yanez, E.
|Russell, B. & Polidoro, B.
This species is important in commercial fisheries around the world. It is being effectively managed throughout the majority of its range, with the exception of the Western and Central Pacific stock. With the exception of the Western Pacific population, all other stocks are being fished below current maximum sustainable yield (MSY). Based on weighted declines of total biomass or spawning stock biomass (SSB) across all stocks, there has been an estimated 42% decline globally over the past 15 years (1992–2007), or three generation lengths. As the MSY of the Western and Central Pacific stock represents more than 20% of the global population, this species is listed as Vulnerable under Criterion A2. In addition, this species may undergo further declines if the mortality of the species in bycatch of the Skipjack fishery cannot be reduced.
|Previously published Red List assessments:
|Range Description:
|This species is circumglobal in tropical and temperate seas. It is not found in the Mediterranean.
|Countries occurrence:
Native:American Samoa; Angola; Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Aruba; Australia; Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Bermuda; Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (Saba, Sint Eustatius); Brazil; Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; Canada; Cape Verde; Cayman Islands; Chile; China; Christmas Island; Cocos (Keeling) Islands; Colombia; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Cook Islands; Costa Rica; Côte d'Ivoire; Cuba; Curaçao; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; El Salvador; Equatorial Guinea; Falkland Islands (Malvinas); Fiji; French Guiana; French Polynesia; Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Guam; Guatemala; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; Hong Kong; India; Indonesia; Ireland; Jamaica; Japan; Kenya; Kiribati; Korea, Democratic People's Republic of; Korea, Republic of; Liberia; Madagascar; Malaysia; Maldives; Marshall Islands; Martinique; Mauritania; Mauritius; Mexico; Micronesia, Federated States of ; Montserrat; Morocco; Mozambique; Namibia; Nauru; New Caledonia; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Niue; Norfolk Island; Northern Mariana Islands; Oman; Pakistan; Palau; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Philippines; Pitcairn; Portugal; Puerto Rico; Réunion; Russian Federation; Saint Barthélemy; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Martin (French part); Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Samoa; Senegal; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Singapore; Sint Maarten (Dutch part); Solomon Islands; Somalia; South Africa; Spain; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Taiwan, Province of China; Tanzania, United Republic of; Thailand; Timor-Leste; Tokelau; Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; Turks and Caicos Islands; Tuvalu; United Kingdom; United States; United States Minor Outlying Islands; Uruguay; Vanuatu; Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of; Viet Nam; Virgin Islands, British; Virgin Islands, U.S.; Wallis and Futuna; Yemen
|FAO Marine Fishing Areas:
Atlantic – northeast; Atlantic – eastern central; Atlantic – southwest; Atlantic – southeast; Atlantic – northwest; Atlantic – western central; Indian Ocean – eastern; Indian Ocean – western; Pacific – southeast; Pacific – western central; Pacific – northwest; Pacific – eastern central; Pacific – northeast; Pacific – southwest
|Additional data:
|Range Map:
|Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.
|FAO worldwide reported landings show a gradual increase from 808 tonnes in 1950 to an average of approximately 400,000–450,000 tonnes from 1996–2006 (FAO 2009). There are four stocks that are globally managed for this species. As of 2004, the stocks in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean are considered Fully Exploited, and the Eastern Pacific and Western/Central Pacific stocks are considered Over-exploited (Majkowski 2007). It is assumed that the Bigeye Tuna in the Eastern Pacific comprise a separate stock from the Western Pacific.
Eastern Pacific Ocean
In the Eastern Pacific, annual catches although fluctuating, average 100,000–130,000 tonnes and are increasing. The expansion of the purse seine fisheries in mid 1990s has contributed to this increase in landings (STECF 2007). The stock size in 1993 is estimated to have been 34% of its unexploited size. After 1993, purse seining for tunas associated with fish-aggregating devices (FADs) took significant quantities of small and medium-sized Bigeye Tuna. In 2005, after several years of poor recruitment and excessive levels of fishing mortality, the stock size was estimated to be at about 14% of its unexploited size. Due to recent spikes in recruitment, the current level has increased to 17% (IATTC 2008). Recent catches, such as in 2008, have been above the estimated maximum sustainable yield (MSY) of 84,000 tonnes (ISSF 2010).
Previous analyses indicated that the spawning stock biomass (SSB) was below MSY, and that fishing mortality rates were about 20% greater than those corresponding to the MSY (IATTC 2008, Aires da Silva and Maunder 2007), indicating that the Bigeye Tuna stock in the Eastern Pacific was over-exploited (IATTC 2008). However, according to the most recent stock assessment conducted in 2009 (Aires da Silva and Maunder 2010), fishing mortality rates are estimated to be below the level corresponding to MSY, and the recent levels of spawning biomass are estimated to be above that level (IATTC 2010). However, these results are more pessimistic if a stock-recruitment relationship is assumed, if a higher value is assumed for the average size of the older fish, if lower rates of natural mortality are assumed for adult Bigeye Tuna, and if only the late period of the fishery (1995–2009) is included in the assessment (IATTC 2010). In addition, La Niña events may become stronger and more frequent during the period 2010–2030, and this La Niña dominance may negatively influence recruitment strength of Bigeye Tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (IATTC 2010).
Based on linear regression of SSB estimates from the most recent 2009 stock assessment (Aires da Silva and Maunder 2010), there has been an estimated 18% decline in SSB over the past 15 years (1992–2007) in the Eastern Pacific.
Western and Central Pacific Ocean
The overall trend in the Western Central Pacific Ocean is that biomass declined rapidly during the 1950s and 1960s, was relatively stable through the 1970s and 1980s, and then declined steadily from 1990 onwards (Langley et al. 2008). Adult biomass has declined by at least 20% over the last decade (STECF 2007, Langley et al. 2008). Fishing mortality has increased steadily since the introduction of commercial fishing. Current fishing mortality exceeds FMSY, and it was estimated that a 34–50% reduction from the level of fishing mortality in 2004–2007 would be needed to keep the biomass above the level corresponding to MSY (ISSF 2010). However, current bomass is also greater than BMSY. It was predicted that if fishing mortality continues at current levels, the biomass would be reduced to about half the MSY level (Harley et al. 2010, ISSF 2010).
Based on linear regression of SSB estimates from the most recent 2010 stock assessment (Harley et al. 2010), there has been an estimated 29% decline in SSB over the past 15 years (1992–2007) in the Western and Central Pacific. Currently, this stock is approaching an overfished state, if it is not already slightly overfished (Harley et al. 2010).
Indian Ocean
In previous assessment conducted in 2005 (Hillary and Mosquiera 2006), spawning stock biomass was estimated to have declined from approximately 180,000 tonnes to about 75,000 tonnes from 1954–2006, and given 2002 levels of fishing mortality and effort, was projected to decline to approximately 50,000 tonnes by 2014 (Hillary and Mosqueira 2006).
Results of an updated assessment conducted in 2009 based on various models (IOTC 2009), showed that results were broadly similar to previous work. Current (2008) exploitation levels for this stock (107,000 t) are within the range of estimated MSY levels (100,000–115,000 t), although catches in the past (1997–1999) have significantly exceeded MSY. Estimated values of fishing mortality and SSB for 2008 are also close to MSY-related values, indicating a fully exploited stock (IOTC 2009). Current spawning stock is estimated to be two billion individuals and 800,000 tonnes (IOTC 2009).
Based on linear regression of SSB estimates from the most recent 2009 stock assessment (IOTC 2009), there has been an estimated 73% decline in SSB over the past 15 years (1992–2007) in the Indian Ocean.
Atlantic Ocean
Genetic, tagging and fisheries data suggest this species constitutes a single interbreeding population in the Atlantic. The total catch for this species in the Atlantic increased up to the mid-1970s reaching 60,000 t and fluctuated over the next 15 years. In 1991, catch surpassed 95,000 t and continued to increase, reaching a historic high of about 133,000 t in 1994. Reported and estimated catch has been declining since then and fell below 100,000 t in 2001. This gradual decline in catch has continued, although with some fluctuations from year to year, until the most recent year of data 2009. The preliminary estimate for 2009 is 86,011 t, the highest value in the last five years. This estimate includes preliminary estimates made for a few fleets that have not yet provided data to ICCAT (SCRS ICCAT 2010).
In 2010, the plausible range of MSY estimated from the joint distribution using three types of abundance indices was between 78,700 and 101,600 tons (80% confidence limits) with a median MSY of 92,000 t. Historical estimates show large declines in biomass and increases in fishing mortality, especially in the mid 1990s when fishing mortality exceeded FMSY for several years. In the last five or six years there have been possible increases in biomass and declines in fishing mortality. The biomass at the beginning of 2010 was estimated to be at between 0.72 and 1.34 (80% confidence limits) of the biomass at MSY, with a median value of 1.01 and the 2009 fishing mortality rate was estimated to be between 0.65–1.55 (80% confidence limits) with a median of 0.95 (SCRS ICCAT 2010).
Based on linear regression of total biomass estimates from the most recent 2010 stock assessment (ICCAT 2010), there has been an estimated 40% decline in total biomass over the past 15 years (1992–2007) in the Atlantic Ocean.
|Current Population Trend:
|Additional data:
|Habitat and Ecology:
|This pelagic and oceanodromous species occurs in waters with temperatures ranging from 13–29°C, but the optimum is between 17°C and 22°C. Variation in occurrence is closely related to seasonal and climatic changes in surface temperature and thermocline. Juveniles and small adults school at the surface in monospecific groups or mixed with other tunas, and may be associated with floating objects. Adults stay in deeper waters (Maigret and Ly 1986). This species is mostly found above 500 m, but can dive deeper. This species feeds on a wide variety of fishes, cephalopods and crustaceans during the day and at night (Collette 1995).
Eggs and larvae are pelagic (Kailola et al. 1993). This species is a multiple spawner that may spawn every one or two days over several months (Nikaido et al. 1992). They spawn over periods of the full moon, and spawn throughout the year in tropical waters (Kailola et al. 1993). Although spawning apparently occurs widely across the equatorial Pacific Ocean, the greatest reproductive potential appears to be in the eastern Pacific, based on apparent maturation, size frequencies, and catch per unit of effort (Kikawa 1966). In the eastern and central Pacific, spawning has been recorded between 15°N and 15°S and between 105–175°W during most months when sea surface temperatures exceeded 24°C with a peak from April through September in the northern hemisphere and between January and March in the southern hemisphere. Spawning is primarily at night between 1900 and 0400 hr. The average mature female spawned every 2.6 days. The estimated mean relative fecundity is 24 oocytes/g body weight. The number of eggs per spawning has been estimated at 2.9–6.3 million (Collette 2010).
Longevity for this species may vary by region. Estimated maximum age for this species in the Western Pacific is 16 years (Farley et al. 2006), in the Indian Ocean is eight years (Tankevich 1982), in the Atlantic Ocean is nine years (Hallier et al. 2005), and in the Eastern Pacific is five years (Schaefer and Fuller 2006).
Age at first maturity is estimated to be about two years (Nootmorn 2004, Farley et al. 2006). However, Calkins (1980) reports a sexual maturity for this species at 100–130 cm at an age of about three years old. Minimum length at sexual maturity for females can be 80–102 cm, and predicted length at 50% maturity of 102–135 cm (approximately 3.5 years of age) has also been reported in different areas. Males tend to dominate the catches over the entire size range (Collette 2010).
The generation length for this species is between 4.4 and five years based on age structure data across different stocks (Collette et al. 2011).
The all-tackle game fish record is of a 197.31 kg fish caught off Cabo Blanco, Peru in 1957 (IGFA 2011) .
|Generation Length (years):
|Movement patterns:
|Full Migrant
|Use and Trade:
|This species is an extremely valuable fishery resource especially for the sashimi market.
|Major Threat(s):
Overfishing is occurring primarily in the Western Pacific, with adult biomass having declined about 20% over the past decade (Langley et al. 2008), and if fishing mortality continues at current levels, the biomass is predicted to reduce to about half the MSY level (Harley et al. 2010, ISSF 2010). In addition, this species may undergo further declines if the mortality of the species in bycatch of the Skipjack Tuna fishery cannot be reduced.
In the Pacific, Bigeye Tuna are primarily exploited by longliners from 40°N to 40°S and by purse seiners from 10°N to 20°S. In the Eastern Pacific Ocean there have been substantial changes in the Bigeye Tuna fishery over the last 15 years. Initially, the majority of the Bigeye Tuna catch was taken by longline vessels, but with the expansion of the fishery using fish-aggregating devices (FADs) since 1993, the purse seine fishery has taken an increasing proportion of the Bigeye Tuna catch. The FAD fishery captures smaller Bigeye Tuna, and has therefore reduced the yield per recruit and the maximum sustainable yield (MSY). On average, the fishing mortality of Bigeye Tuna less than four and a half years old has increased substantially since 1993, and that of older fish has increased slightly (IATTC 2008).
In the Indian Ocean, Bigeye Tuna is mainly caught by industrial purse seine and longline fisheries and appears only occasionally in the catches of other fisheries. However, in recent years the amounts of Bigeye Tuna caught by gillnet fisheries are likely to be considerably higher due to the major changes experienced in some of these fleets, notably changes in boat size, fishing techniques and fishing grounds. In recent years catches of Bigeye Tuna in the western Indian Ocean have dropped considerably, especially in areas off Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania and in particular in 2008 and, especially, 2009. The drop in catches is the consequence of a drop in fishing effort in the area of both purse seine and longline fisheries, due to the effect of piracy in the western Indian Ocean region, while catches are increasing in the eastern Indian Ocean probably due to the shift of some longline fleet in the areas because of the piracy activities along the Somalia area (IOTC 2010).
In the Atlantic this stock is exploited by three major gears/fisheries: longline (50–60%), purse seine (25%) and pole-and-line (15%) (ISSF 2010). Although there are a number of data uncertainties, including a lack of data on illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing, stock assessment models estimate the MSY to be between 90,000-93,000 tonnes (ISSF 2010). Based on these projections, biomass is expected to rebuild to the MSY level in a few years if catches are maintained at or below 85,000 tonnes. It is important to note the use of high-tech FADs in the Gulf of Guinea and increases in effort due to vessels coming from the Indian Ocean, will increase already high levels of fishing mortality of juvenile Bigeye Tuna.
|Conservation Actions:
This species is listed as a highly migratory species in Annex I of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea (FAO Fisheries Department 1994).
In the Pacific, several countries such as Ecuador, Colombia and Peru have created closures for this species. The vast majority of the catch is from Ecuador in this region. SPC made a recommendation to reduce catches in the Pacific. In Taiwan, the fleet has been reduced by 183 Bigeye long-line vessels (which is more than 30% of fishing capacity) (IATTC 2008). As of December 2009, NOAA has put into place catch limits for US pelagic longline fisheries in Western and Central Pacific Ocean for 2009, 2010 and 2011 having determined that the Pacific Ocean population is subject to overfishing. Under this rule, the U.S. will reduce its longline catch of Bigeye Tuna from the 2004 baseline catch of 4,181 metric tons (mt) to 3,763 mt.
In the Atlantic, the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) recommends that the total catch does not exceed 85,000 t (STECF 2009). Recommendation 04-01 also implemented a new, smaller closure for the surface fishing in the area 0–5ºN, 10–20ºW during November in the Gulf of Guinea.
|Collette, B., Acero, A., Amorim, A.F., Boustany, A., Canales Ramirez, C., Cardenas, G., Carpenter, K.E., Chang, S.-K., Chiang, W., de Oliveira Leite Jr., N., Di Natale, A., Die, D., Fox, W., Fredou, F.L., Graves, J., Viera Hazin, F.H., Hinton, M., Juan Jorda, M., Minte Vera, C., Miyabe, N., Montano Cruz, R., Nelson, R., Oxenford, H., Restrepo, V., Schaefer, K., Schratwieser, J., Serra, R., Sun, C., Teixeira Lessa, R.P., Pires Ferreira Travassos, P.E., Uozumi, Y. & Yanez, E. 2011. Thunnus obesus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011: e.T21859A9329255. . Downloaded on 24 September 2018.
|To make use of this information, please check the <Terms of Use>.
|If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please provide us with feedback so that we can correct or extend the information provided


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Products, Training
By By Keith Cianfrani | April 1, 2014
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Safety Management System (SMS) is the new standard of safety management programs that has officially been approved by the FAA for use in aviation operations. Right now, its use is mandatory for Part 121 air carriers but for the rotary wing community it is voluntary and recommended but not mandatory.
FAA Advisory Circular 120-92A provides a framework for SMS development by aviation service providers. It contains a uniform set of expectations that align with the structure and format of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) SMS Manual and FAA Safety Policy.
SMS is a risk management process that many military services used effectively for years, but may have called it by a different name. There are a few differences with the military program but the basis of indentifying hazards and taking the appropriate action to mitigate these hazards remains the same. SMS is divided into four building blocks or "Pillars" and are essential for a safety-oriented management system. They are Safety Policy, Safety Risk Management, Safety Assurance and Safety Promotion.
First, let's look at Safety Policy. This establishes senior management's commitment to continually improve safety, it defines the methods, processes, and organizational structure needed to set standards and meet safety goals. Its design expectations are to continually improve the level of safety, comply with applicable regulatory requirements, establish clear standards for acceptable operational behavior for all employees, identifies responsibility and accountability of management and employees with respect to safety performance. It also requires the appointment of key safety personnel. Finally, it also must include a commitment to encourage employees to report safety issues without reprisal.
Next, Safety Risk Management determines the need for and adequacy of new or revised risk controls based on the assessment of acceptable risk. It's a formal system of hazard identification and is essential in controlling risk to acceptable levels. It works together with Safety Assurance, which evaluates the continued effectiveness of implemented risk control strategies and supports the identification of new hazards. It strives to continually improve the SMS process.
Finally, Safety Promotion includes training, communication and other actions to create a positive safety culture within all levels of the workforce. It assesses climate, evaluates training and observes communication. It re-emphasizes the "top down bottom up" safety module.
SMS has four levels of implementation. Level One begins when a service provider's top management commits to providing the resources necessary for full implementation throughout the organization. Level Two specifies that the service provider develop and implement a basic Safety Risk Management (SRM) process and plan, organize and prepare the organization for further SMS development.
Level Three promotes proactive processes and incorporates a fully-functioning SMS component. It involves careful analysis of systems and tasks involved such as identification of potential hazards in these functions, and development of risk controls. Level Four involves continuous improvement and continued assurance. Processes are in place and their performance effectiveness has been verified. This is the final level of SMS maturity.
At the recent HAI Heli-Expo in Anaheim, Calif., SMS was presented in many of the Rotor Safety Challenge sessions and there were several SMS courses conducted by contracted vendors. "The Squadron" was one of these companies teaching applied risk management and facilitation of a safety culture and awareness into various organizations. Other SMS sessions were directed at small fleet or private operators.
The SMS function does not need to be extensive or complex to be effective. Smaller organizations may use a paper log to document safety issues and paper system or simple spreadsheet or to track them to resolution. Also, in smaller organizations the owner and company leadership may elect to conduct internal audits and internal functions themselves in conjunction with the management review function. It is these smaller organizations that I believe the focus needs to be on. A recent HAI survey indicated that 43 percent of small operators or private owners are not using any type of risk assessment tool in their operations. To me, this was quite alarming considering the availability of safety programs in the industry today.
Internal evaluation and management reviews may consist of periodic conferences between business owners or top management and other employees to review information and to track progress toward resolution. An integral part of SMS to identify risks and hazards are gathered by internal or external audits, incident investigations, and employee reporting systems. After this information is gathered it is analyzed and assessed.
A larger organization may need more sophisticated resources such as web-based data systems and trained safety personnel to manage the details and a more formal committee system to accomplish the same functions. Implementing an SMS program from an operator's perspective involves a commitment from all involved. It involves much work, but it's necessary to establish a good safety management program. First, a draft SMS implementation plan must be developed then the costs need to be identified, followed by a funding plan and approval by the accountable executive. An SMS organizational structure must also be in place and includes a safety office, safety manager, safety review boards and safety action groups.
Why do some pilots not "buy into" the SMS program? I believe there is no safety culture mentorship practiced when a young student pilot is receiving flight instruction. Mainly because many new flight instructors are conducting the training and they do not have a safety culture established yet. Certified flight instructors (CFIs) are the closest link to the development of pilots in training.
Bringing forward an SMS or Personal Risk Management system will prepare pilots to apply industry best practices in safety throughout a flying career. With all the information about SMS available today, adding SMS instruction to a pilot in training may seem overwhelming – but it doesn't have to be, and the CFI's responsibility is to train and produce safe pilots. The U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) has recently published a document to aid CFIs with SMS. This document explains how to bring SMS Risk Management to the training of all pilots, ab initio to advanced levels.
Another issue is that some smaller operators do not fully understand SMS and how it they can benefit from it. However, I was glad to see Heli-Expo attendees from various aviation organizations such as the oil and gas industry, law enforcement, other government agencies, utility organizations and helicopter operators with less than five aircraft participating in SMS training. Operators face challenges with implementing SMS such as perceived extra work, employee "buy in" and funding, to name a few. It takes time to establish a safety culture and many operators just do not understand this.
As we look at the helicopter industry as a whole, there are many operators that are successfully using SMS in their daily operations. Metro Aviation is one of these companies. Metro initiated its SMS program in 2009 and is now at Level Four. The company is one of the few rotary wing operators who achieved this level. Metro has a safety commitment from leadership that permeates throughout the organization. This is evident as the owner of the company has his cell phone number in every aircraft operator's manual. This aids in employee involvement and "buy in." Metro's employee reporting system is effective and management always responds to the reports. The company also promotes a "just culture" and employee accountability for safety management.
Another commercial operator who has an extensive and effective SMS program Phoenix Heli-Flight, which has been using SMS since 2009. SMS has helped the company gain transparency throughout the company when practicing safety management. Phoenix Heli-Flight has an excellent hazard employee reporting system that covers hazards, occurrences and non-compliance. They too, promote a "just culture" and employee accountability.
Implementing a Safety Management System into an organization, large or small, will help save lives and resources. It will also help pilots, young and old, develop Risk Management skills which are in great demand in the helicopter industry. SMS is not a stand-alone program. It must include many other factors of managing safety, such as flight data monitoring (FDM), crew resource management (CRM), maintenance safety and the most recent initiative from HAI "Land and Live," among others. SMS is part of a safety culture a company must have. SMS does not have to be complex to be effective. SMS is here to stay and may be mandatory within the rotary wing industry in the near future, so let's get on board and use it. As always, Take Action to Fly Safe!


text:
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Commuters in the northern Swedish town of Umea are being treated to ultra-violet light therapy as the long, dark winter for which the Nordic state is renowned draws in.
Energy company Umea Energi has decided to install ultra-violet lights at about 30 bus stops for people, which will be in place for the next three weeks.
"This is so people can get a little energy kick as they are waiting," said Umea Energi marketing chief Anna Norrgard. Umea is about 600 km north of capital city Stockholm.
The company also wanted to highlight the fact that its energy comes from environmentally sound sources, she said. Any harmful rays from the light have been filtered out of it, the company said.
Much of Sweden is plunged into long, dark winters, often with lots of snow. The sun in Umea currently rises at about 8 a.m. local time (02.00 am EDT ) and sets at 3 p.m. The daylight hours are shortest in December, when the sun comes up at about 10 a.m. and disappears again at about 2:30 pm.
Some towns north of the Arctic circle have no daylight for several weeks in the winter.
(Reporting by Patrick Lannin, editing by Paul Casciato)