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Recently at the Dayton Hamvention, Don N1DG gave an eye-opening presentation on DXpedition Costs.
For those who were unable to attend, click above to view this very interesting insight published on the NCDXF website.
Alternatively, download N1DG-DXpeditioncosts-Dayton2012.
Interesting analysis. I'm getting hit in the pocket twice: first through membership fees for various DX clubs that contribute to DXpeditions, then again through online or direct QSLs – but I'm grateful for the QSOs and QSLs so I'm happy, in the end. Its a shame all DXpeditions don't (a) open their accounts to scrutiny (the $ per QSO figure is a great metric), and (b) upload to LoTW ASAP, and stop using that as a cudgel to beat more $ out of me. 73 Gary ZL2iFB
Yes, an interesting analysis. However, too often Clubs, Groups and individuals are presented with a fait accompli. i.e. a certain group of amateurs have decided to go to ******** for the benefit of others, please send us money. That's the sinmplistic view.
For the MEGA expeditions like VK0, why can't groups be a little more open and say up from, we would like to go to Heard. We estimate it will cost us $xxxxx can you help us out. We plan to raise the funds by doing (x) (y) (z) we appeal to clubs and other DX Groups to support us. We would like unilateral support from individuals EITHER by initial donation, or by and agreed and fixed sum in OQRS once the expedition is over.
I am personally not in favour of the latter as in the main, all bills for ship and other hires have to be paid up front. An expedition should proceed on a sound financial footing and not have to reply on OQRS donations after.
If expeditions were more up front about costs, perhaps it would be easier to raise said costs. Why all the secrecy about funding??
Hi Tom:
When dxpeditions apply for funding to clubs and foundations they DO submit budgets.
I agree with you though, it's time for dxpeditions to also publish the budgets for those working them and let the DXers know what their QSOs cost the dxpedition while it is ongoing.
We'll have to see if that opens the wallets.
Some potential ideas here would include
Increase the number of operators for large south sea expeditions – 30-40 ops paying $10k each takes a big bite out of the budget.
Team up with government or other expeditioners and share vessel costs – the Venezualan guys seem to do this very well with their navy.
Allow major south sea expeditions to charge say $10 per unique call, no pay – no confirmation (LOTW or otherwise). The ARRL currently prohibits this but maybe exceptions could be made for highly expensive operations.
I remember being surprised when watching the 3y0pi video
that another helicopter arrived on the scene not related to the ham expedition. Government, navy, environmental and scientific groups are visiting these rare spots on a regular basis – we need to build ham relationships with these groups with a view to sharing costs on future dxpeditions.
South Georgia is in the top 10 most wanted and yet there is a permanently manned base in that island group.
VP8ORK activated an unoccupied island in the South Orkney group yet there is a permanently manned base in this island group.
All governments are strapped for cash these days – it is up to hams to sell the cost benefits of sharing resources in these remote locations for the benefit of all.
Cheers Paul – vk4ma
I would love to see a "thermometer" on a DX-peditions web site – where they show how much has been donated "so far". It would spark me to donate _before_ the DX-pedition even starts travelling.
I will have to up my contribution to NCDXF – and soon.
Paul, I hope you were joking when you wrote your last comment.
Seriously :
- 30-40 is too much for many south islands were only small planes can land and small vessels approach the coast. Islands with governmental restrictions will also be impossible to reach since they can be affraid by the environmental or safety risks.
- If you make people pay for a QSO this not anymore amateur radio. Check your local regulation, but in all the countries I have been living this is the basis of amateur radio.
- Perhaps the Venezuelan are really lucky or have a good connection with the navy, but often dealing with administrations is not easy. They have different agendas. Ask those who need government authorization to go to an island and you will know. You cannot ask the government to help us for what is still a HOBBY. Of course, if you are a scientist having a mission given by the government on a rare island this is another story. But I never heard of 20 HAM radio scientists being send to the same island and having time to run pile-up for days.
As you said, many governments are strapped for cash, but for many reasons (mainly resilience) their running cost are higher than those of privates. Going to an island with a warship or with a recreational craft will not involved the same crew and fuel consumption.
Essentially, Don is correct in his analysis. It seems to me that the ham community donates in direct proportion to the rarity of the entry. There are many "takers" in the system and many that cannot afford. PayPal and OQRS are helpful and should be more useful in the future. At the end of the day, publicity, publicity and publicity will win the donations. The quality of the ops and the rarity of the entity will also come into play. A previous suggestion of a thermometer to measure the financial health before during and after would be a great help. Yes, it's only a hobby. But with all hobbies, there is a cost involved if you want to succeed to a top level and you should support the guys that helped you get there.
73, Lee ZL2AL ZL7AA, ZL7T, ZL8RI, ZL9CI
I am active on bands from 3 years, so I am still hungry and chasing for new DXCC's and IOTA's. And I well understand that DXpeditions cost a lot and are done not only for their participants but mainly for individuals like me! I always try to support DXpeditions and think that everyone should do it according to capability. From the other hand I agree that people can't be forced to pay because this hobby shouldn't be closed for those who are not able to pay, because for them even 1$ is a significant expense.
In my opinion the most important thing to do is to inform as early as possible what is expected budget for DXpedition, what is duration of it and targeted number of QSO's to let people know how important can be their donations.
You also have to consider that our large pile-ups nowadays are made by "one-click-work-all-band-mode-slots-again-and-again-ego-types", and giving little to none chance to those who actually NEED that specific contact for a completely new one. They would like to contribute to the cost, not the one who works his 26 slots for the umpteenth time.
If we start to calculate the "QSO cost" it seems to be reasonable making a full both sides calculation.
If I sit home it doesn't mean I don't spend money.
Watch my electricity bills.
Besides, if I need a slot (band, mode, country), I take a day off and don't go to work.
How much does my "day off" cost?
I have to build antennas and buy amplifiers.
If an expedition is bad and I have to call it for a long time my electricity bill is big enough.
So if I minus all my expences from an expedition "QSO cost" it may occure sometimes that a team should pay me.
Now seriously……I consider our hobby to be a pleasure for both sides and so I can't say that a statement "we go to a rare plece – you pay" is a good principle.
The argument that the "no pay- no qsl" principle is contrary to the spirit of amateur radio is just garbage.
There are hundreds of commercial money making enterprises attached to ham radio.
Are we advocating that Icom, Ham Radio Outlet etc should be selling their gear at break even because making money out of ham radio is unethical? Are we advocating that Yaesu and Universal Radio should be cognisant of hams in poorer countries and should be providing their equipment for free to operators in these locations (subsidised by charging higher prices to hams in first world countries).
What exactly is wrong with a group of hams putting together a major dxpedition and then insisting that a percentage of the costs be met by persons requiring a qsl? Why is this contrary to "the spirit" of ham radio? At what point was our ham radio "spirit" hijacked by socialist ideaology that says that a service should be provided to everyone regardless of whether they are willing or able to pay for it?
"Amateur" simply means we do not use our frequency allocations for commercial or profit making purposes. It does not mean that we cannot charge for qsl confirmations to defray the costs of a major dxpedition.
If I attend an amateur sporting event it is my rightful expectation that the athletes are performing for no personal financial gain – it not unreasonable however for me to pay an entry fee into this event, a fee for parking my car, a fee to buy some hotdogs for the kids etc.
Our dxpeditioners are amateurs and I would never support the mounting of a dxpedition for personal financial gain. It is not unreasonable however for the organisers of amateur events (ie dxpeditions") to recover the costs of staging this event from the audience.
The audience in our context are the people chasing the dxpedition.
A dxpedition is simply an amateur sporting event, involving amateur participants who are giving their dedication, time and expertise for the love of the activity itself. Events have staging costs that are met through sponsorship and by charging the audience a fee to participate.
Audience participation is not compulsory – if you cannot afford to attend the event, like all things in life, you miss out. Alternately you can volunteer your own personal time to the event (ie become a qsl manager) and thus commit your own personal resource in lieu of money.
Paul Richards – vk4ma
I am not talking about HAM spirit, but Law.
Making people pay to have a QSL card is one thing, making people pay to have a QSO (and refusing QSO from those who did not pay) is another.
I have never said or proposed that any one would be refused a qso. Payment would however be required for the confirmation of that qso whether it be via LOTW or paper qsl.
Working the major dxpedition will always be free – getting your confirmation will always cost money.
Based on the logic applied by most hams to this issue, I am surprised there was not a riot at the gates of the Dayton Hamfest last weekend. How dare the organisers of this "amateur" event insist on charging an entry fee. Don't the Dayton volunteers realise that this is contrary to the spirit of ham radio? Did they not realise that the holders of an "Amateur" license have an automatic entitlement to participate in all ham radio related events for free regardless of the costs involved in staging the event.
As a minimum, the Dayton organisers should be making any entry fee purely voluntary and then should be applying any funds received to pay RA3CQs airfare to the event.
Why should RA3CQ miss out on Dayton just because he has the fortune or misfortune of living in Russia with a large electricity bill?
Paul – vk4ma
Hi all,
This may be due to a very similar subject, but this conversation strongly reminds me an open-question asked by Paul (N6PSE) from the Intrepid DX group.
Some very good tips have been given there on "QSL fees", some should re-read this thread first IMHO.
I agree, the amount of a major expedition to a super rare one is simply amazing. That sounds somehow logical, but Don's presentation has the advantage of showing, for once, some figures and interesting stats.
It points out, for instance, that the rarest the DX is, the more it costs for each QSO (individual contributions deducated), and the curve looks exponential.
To me, it simply means that you can not rely on QSL "fees", although it can be estimated, to fill-in the gap of your budget.
What would happen if, for example, the QSO number target is not reached? Will you increase the "price" of QSL for those in-the-log?
What would happen if, for example, all the equipment starts to mal-function, or if WX is extremely bad, or if a huge solar eruption comes in and closes all bands during the duration of the expedition?
- Always consider the worst case budget (No QSO)
- Never force people to pay afterwards for your expedition under the "QSL fee" excuse, and always propose bureau QSL'ing too;
- Be as transparent as possible and as much in advance as possible on all topics.
For sure this will motivate people to help you, and clearly, a volunteer donation up-front will always be higher and more useful than a "forced" payment afterwards.
Ronan, F8AFC
Hello Ronan
Can you give me an example of a major dxpeditions in the last 20 years where the adversities mentioned by you resulted in a significantly low qso count?
This conversation is about major dxpeditions visiting highly remote locations. All of the adversities that you list are planned for and are consistently overcome.
The "pay for confirmation" strategy is not meant to be a substitute for the existing dxpedition funding methods, it is touted as a means of bridging the cost gap that has opened up in the last 10-20 years.
Whether we like it or not, dxing and contesting is the lifeblood of ham radio. The less major dxpeditions we have the less activity there is on the bands and this is frankly bad for ham radio.
Many operators in ham radio need a reason to get on air and dxing / contesting is the reason for many. If in doubt, just listen to the bands during the lull in the sunspoy cycle when dx activity is low.
Dxing in ham radio is akin to motor racing in the car world. Most guys building a decent ham radio station desire an arena whereby the relative performance of their station can be measured. Ham radio is also about personal leisuretime and entertainment. The more Dx of interest the more entertaining it is.
I am happy to pay for my entertainment but am not as happy to do so when in essence I am susidising people who are free loading on the entertainment being provided.
The only disappointment to me is that there appears to be very few hams who support my position which simply means less major dxpeditions, a boring dx environment and ultimately a decline in ham radio activity.
A meaninful statistic that n1dg could have provided is the relative number of major dxpeditions today versus say 20 years ago. I suspect the number is less but possibly my memory is rose coloured by nostagia
Cheers Paul – vk4ma
Paul, it is not a socialist ideology but just a logic.
Turning the amateur radio from a scientific into a commercialized hobby means that if you don't have money don't show up your nose here.
And in 10 years there will be no youth in our but three reach old men jelously staring each other.
Sometimes life isn't only a money making.
I never said HAM Radio should be free. It's by nature all the contrary, an expensive and almost aristocratic hobby. That's why you so few local operators in the poor countries or islands and you have to send some chaps their in order to "work the entity".
Paying for a meeting with friends or a new color display transceiver is your problem, but the "core of HAM radio" is by nature having a QSO and confirming it (usually by paper QSL) and this has to be free apart from your own costs.
I think you are also wrong. The "lifeblood" of HAM Radio is not DX and contesting. I know as much as OM building rigs and using them only for checking they are actually running than OM being DX addicts or contest addicts. Ask an EME DXer by example, his QSO count will not be the same than an HF DXer.
For me, the best common denominator among all the rich amateur-radio population is "Communication on the edge". DXing is one way, contesting another, building high-tech homebrew SDR another, organizing EmComm networks another, designing a new low SNR procotol another, having QSO on the Appallachian Trail another… but all of this is HAM Radio.
Hi Paul (and all)
"it is not meant to be a substitute for the existing dxpedition funding methods".
In a way, you are right. But for such "high budget" expeditions, QSL part represent a small fraction of the total amount, moreover easily compensated by "direct" contributions. Some people can afford to spend a few bucks to get a QSL, others can't (either because of temporary or permanent personal situation). But all of them should be able to get a QSL.
The key is to extend this to early donations, prior to the DXpedition.
Today's organizers should motivate more people "who can" to donate in the early phase of the project, still on a voluntary basis. Many guys add some extra-contribution after the expedition when requesting their QSL by different means (GS, OQRS, etc), just because they think this expedition has fullfilled what they were looking for. Things would be a lot more different if they had made this contribution before the expedition.
Yes, there is a mental gap to fill ("why should I donate without being sure ?"). People may be afraid of some abuse (non-refunding donations in case of cancellation for instance).
But organized by a reliable source and by putting the DX'ers more in front of the real problems/difficulties encountered, that will for sure open their eyes. And to do so, transparency at all levels and from the beginning is mandatory. This is not the case so far.
Any up-front income will always be more useful than "maybe I'll have" donations once everything is over. And the earlier those donations come, the bigger the chances of success are.
Just my 2 cents :-)
73 !
Ronan, F8AFC
ra3cq – this discussion is not about making money, it is about how to pay for an increased number of major dxpeditions. It is also about getting a fairer monetary contribution from all persons working and confirming the operation. No one here is advocating that dxpeditions should be conducted for profit and your posts so far have been typical of the illogical discourse that abounds whenever this issue is raised.
Yan, I am in no way devaluing non dx related activities within ham radio – my key point is that these non dx activities do not generate traffic on the air. My presumption is that for ham radio to hold its band allocations that some actual radio activity from hams would be expected from government authorities.
One final point, publicising and promoting dxpeditions in advance has become less commonplace as organisers are rightfully afraid that others will beat them to the rare location – refer 7o6a. This reality supports "rear end" funding arrangements via a "pay for confirmation" policy.
Paul – vk4ma
Thanks for your very reasoned contribution to this discussion.
I agree that the current contribution from qsling is small but it could be significant if a fee per confirmation was charged. Currently major dxpeditions are working over 20,000 unique calls – if only half sought confirmations charged at $5 over actual mail cost this would generate $50,000 which is far more than any typical contribution from a DX club or society.
I would also suggest that hams working more band slots be required to pay more for their confirmations. This would encourage some hams to only work the slots that they actually need.
The main problem that I have with your proposed solution is that there is nothing new in it. We already have a process of upfront donation and it is not adequate to pay for the major dxpeditions to the really remote locations.
Your contribution also fails to address the "fairness" issue here. It is simply not fair to expect the minority of dxers to donate money when the vast majority make no contribution at all. Furthermore, the bureau QSLers not only make no contribution but are actually a cost impost on the expedition.
The key issue that is never addressed in these discussions is why are we so passionate about retaining a free qsl policy for dxpeditions that have cost paying contributors in excess of $500k? It is simply not fair and it certainly limits the number of major dxpeditions that can be launched by the global dx community.
Cheers and 73 to you
Paul – vk4ma
Hi again,
Shall I understand you'd aim at allowing QSL'ing only to those who paid, oups sorry, to those who "donated"?
Doesn't it exclude the "poorest" ones from confirming a rare one?
Not all of us can not afford each time all the fees associated to a direct confirmation, and this way of thinking is for me the definition of unfairness….The excuse of fees assocated to bureau QSL's have already been discussed, even by QSL managers who know what they're talking about. No way to put this argument into relief here, it wouldn't be founded.
For direct QSL's, requesting an amount proportional to the number of slots is already applied in the major expeditions (T32C recently for example). That was one of the first time I saw this to my knowledge.
But charging a minimum fixed amount of $5 whatever the number of QSO is the best way to at least halve the number of expected QSO's, thus the expected "income" without talking about the huge amount of complains this attitude would create.
No, sorry, but I'd stick to my point of view that bureau QSL are mandatory and that motivating more people to donate voluntarily prior to the expedition is one way to go.
Surely there are other ways to budget a "rare" one apart from QSL's incomes. And guys planning such expensive DXpeditions know about the amount necessary to set it up. This kind of operation has already been done (VP8ORK), this is being done (7O6T), and hopefully, it will continue to be done (VK0HI ?). No, it doesn't occur everyday on the air, but isn't it why those entities are rare?
Nobody forces them to go there, so why would they "force" us to pay to QSO/QSL them? I'm afraid that one day, an operator is able to check during the operation if people already donated or not and says something like "sorry F8AFC, you didn't donate, you call sign appear in red on my screen, so you are not in the log"…..
This would indeed be the offical end of ham-spirit.
Now, some simple ideas can be put in place
- A kind of constantly updated budget "countdown" ending a few weeks or so before the offical departure date, explaining how incomes have been/are/will be used
- Gathering donations promises for those who can't "donate" prior to the expeditions (identification with their call-sign for example)
- Updating frequently the progress of the project, not only from financial point of view, but also from logistics, human, etc point of view
- Associating ham DXpeditions with scientists ones to reduce "travel" fees?
- Looking for sponsorships out of ham world (just a funny idea of sponsorship with "energized drink" brand came to my mind to keep the operators awake, HI)
Unfortunately, more and more this amateur hobby is turning into commercial aspects, so please let's keep the very last "free" aspect of bureau QSL'ing alive.
As usually, there is absolutely nothing personal in it, everyone's free to express and defend his ideas, this is also why this site has been made for :-)
Ronan, F8AFC
I do have to agree with many of Ronan's comments. You always write very well Ronan.
I would also like to add some new ideas into this debate.
It is true that the biggest DXpeditions require quite substantial funding, so let's talk about how we do that? Fairly.
Most DXers around the World belong to a DX organisation where part of your membership fee is used to donate to DXpeditions that are worthy of a donation. The committees that run these DX organisations are best placed to assess who is worthy and who is not, and to what level of donation. I suggest as well as part of the membership fee which is uaully quite low how about a volunatry fee? weekly, monthy or yearly. Depending on your income, you donate to a level that YOU can afford. More to that I would insist that every DXer SHOULD belong to a DX organisation as this assists all DXpeditions in one way or another, we all get something back from it too. If a particular MAJOR DXpedition is coming up then the committee can put this to the members and they can also add extra to that DXpedition. It is something I would contribute to, at a level that i could afford. If you can only afford a very small donation that is fine too. But i do believe we SHOULD all be doing this. You get what you pay for.
Another suggestion that i have, is one that I already have in place, postage is becoming expensive in many places worldwide. DXpeditions should not be paying top dollar to ship QSL cards. Instead DX organsiasions, (one is each country) should negotiate with the national postal carrier and get an International Contract Service for the DXpeditions to use, this would cut postal costs considerably up to 70% in certain destinations, which would move funds to where it is really needed. Most postal carriers offer Business rates online and this makes it available to a national level where a QSL manager or DXpedition to have access to the one account as a "satalite user" or "mailing house" I have set this up here in the UK for UK based DXpeditions.
Would these two ideas help? You tell me.
Tnx Tim :-)
"I had a dream that one day", there was 1 big DX association per continent who goal was to fully promote/organize/sponsorize on his own DXpeditions to rare countries (let's say in the top 50?), as a kind of annual or bi-annual competition with other continental associations.
Criteria to select the winner would have to be defined, but some ideas would be:
- number of unique calls worked
- number of different DXCC worked
- number of "out-of same continent" QSO's versus total number of QSO's
- etc etc
This would create a WW emulation I guess to both occupy the bands AND make some rare ones a bit less "rare".
I can see nowadays quite a lot of dispersion among many DX associations, more or less big, more or less at a country level, more or less proactive in sponsorizing more or less big DXpeditions. They do their best, they do it very well, but they do it at their level, generally not enough to do everything on its own (exception given for a few of those organizations).
1 big continental association to drive 1 big project at a period to be defined (per 2 or 3 years), in addition (and not in replacement) of the existing associations would simplify to my mind all this process/worries/constraints that are mandatory to set-up such BIG projects.
Principle of "financing" would be the same as the one you proposed Tim. Membership possible, but donations opened to everyone with as much transparency as possible. Regular update of the up-coming event from all aspects would be mandaotry, and even for those BIG dxpeditions, bureau QSL'ing would be mandatory :-)
Just a dream….
73 !
Ronan, F8AFC
Hello Ronan – thanks once again for your considered comments here.
I again emphasise that the "pay for confirmation" model would only apply to major dxpeditions to remote locations. Even with the increased funding that this model would make available it is unlikely we would ever have more than 5 or 6 major dxpeditions per year. This would require each ham seeking a confirmation for all 6 major dxpeditions to contribute only an extra $30 per year.
Of course concessions should be considered for hams living in poorer countries but as a general rule there is absolutely no reason why hams living in western Europe, USA, Japan and many other places should not be making this kind of contribution.
When you look at the breakdown of major dxpedition logbooks the vast majority of qsos are with hams in the USA, Western Europe and Japan. I frankly think it is disgusting that hams in these locations would argue against compulsory fees for getting a qsl card on the basis that hams in poor countries cannot afford it. This is akin to insisting that food in France should be sold cheaply because genuinely poor people in Chad cannot afford quality food.
In short, this is yet another example of the widely acknowledged ham cheapness or ham scunginess and quite frankly I think it is a damn ugly trait. It is one thing to be cheap and frugal at your local hamfest but it is quite another to use the economic misfortune of third world hams to justify first world hams not making their fair contribution to highly expensive dxpeditions.
"Nobody forces them to go there, so why would they "force†us to pay to QSO/QSL them?"
Nobody is forcing you to do anything. It is your choice whether you make a qso with the major dxpedition. It is your choice to make the decision re purchasing the qsl confirmation. Like all things in life, if you think the price is too high simply elect not to buy the confirmation.
This argument is simply ridiculous and is analogous to saying that the guys paying the entrance fees at the Dayton hamfest were forced to do so. Sure, everyone would love free entry into Dayton, but most acknowledge that a compulsory entrance fee is appropriate to cover the costs associated with organising event and few resent paying it.
What is so different here – a major dxpedition is an event put on by volunteers using a substantial amount of their own money and resource for the entertainment of dxers worldwide (just like Dayton). Why don't we feel that there is the same responsibility for dxers enjoying the event to pay a compulsory fee. I agree it is certainly not a donation – it is a compulsory fee and I make no pretence about this.
In practice, how I would see this working is that major dxpeditions would need to apply to the ARRL DXCC committee to get special approval, on a case by case basis, to use the "pay for confirmation' model. This would prevent the practice from being used on holiday style or even moderate sized Pacific Island dxpeditions – ie these smaller operations would not be accredited for DXCC if they tried to use the "pay for confirmation model".
Paul – vk4ma
Paul – vk4ma
"I frankly think it is disgusting that hams in these locations would argue against compulsory fees for getting a qsl card on the basis that hams in poor countries cannot afford it."
*Compulsory* fees for a QSL card have no place in our hobby , ever. The buro should always be an option, albeit a lengthy one!
Remember the W9WNV saga ?
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your well explained comment once again.
I got your point about considering "payment for confirmation" only for major DXpeditions. I even appreciate your consideration for poorer countries to propose them a discount on the QSL price.
Now, if we go in that direction, why not also proposing a "QSL discount" for unemployed people, handicaped people, retired people, very low salary people, head of big family people, other ?
For sure, there are hams in those "developped" countries who live with a very low standard of living, sometimes even below the local poverty line, certainly with poorer conditions than some hams living in "poorer" countries. As of today, I agree, $5 is not that much, personally speaking. Few years ago, due to the vagaries of life, it would have been a totally different story to me. And I'm sure that unfortunately, this is a totally different story for quite a lot of hams nowadays;
No, there is no point in distinguishing where the QSL request is coming from. This is simply what I call "discrimination" and that definitely goes against ethic rule of what "ham community" is.
Definitely, this QSL subject appears to be endless. So let's put it aside if you don't mind, not to restrict this vast subject of major DXpedition funding to QSL….
One question could be raised : How to increase incomes prior to the expedition?
- optimizing donations (tempt more ham community by a transparent and constantly porject update?)
- optimizing sponsorship (out of ham world?)
- optimizing expenses (common travel fees with scientists ?)
- others ?
I'm very sure all those aspects have been already deeply discussed among the latest big DXpedition commitees. I wish one day I'll have the DXpedition experience to understand all the details and propose more "practical" solutions.
73 !
Ronan, F8AFC
I read and laugh, guys.
More and more…very quickly ham radio turns into a business.
All that is dicussed seems to have nothing to do with a DX-pedition organizing (remember that the expeditons happened always withing the last 100 year) but it looks like a fight for profit.
I don't like it.
I want it to be a place where I rest with my soul.
Anyway….even if I am a dinosaur….
You are inventing a bicycle.
Globalization and taxes :)
Offer a "QSL tax" and this will solve all the difficulties.
It depend on a salory (poor or rich) and will automatically regulate the amount of "donation".
Thanks Ronan
You make some good points once again
I agree that there is little value in pursuing the "payment for confirmation" discussion any further. I know that the vast majority of hams disagree with my position so there is little value in "flogging a dead horse".
Unfortunately I have no other "game changing" ideas to bolster dxpedition funding.
I personally suspect that "payment for confirmation" will continue to evolve by stealth as it has done in recent years. Some examples include:
If you want a fast LOTW confirmation you must pay $5 via OQRS
If you want a fast direct confirmation you must pay $5 by OQRS
It is interesting that these fund raising strategies do not breach the ARRL rules on payment for qsls.
It seems that is now OK to make a donation compulsory for a fast direct or fast LOTW qsl as long as you provide a "safety net" for poorer (or miserly) hams in the form of free bureau qsling.
Maybe this is a fair outcome but we cannot deny that for certain categories of confirmation (ie fast LOTW / Direct via OQRS) a mandatory donation process already exists for most major dxpeditions.
This will be my last post on this particular issue as I will free space for others who hopefully may have some alternate "game changing" ideas
Thanks Ronan for your civilised and rational input on this matter
Cheers and 73s
Paul – vk4ma
There is one serious flaw with this below:
If you want a fast LOTW confirmation you must pay $5 via OQRS
If you want a fast direct confirmation you must pay $5 by OQRS
This being that Joe Bloggs going to "Costa Del QSL" for his holiday will also be charging $5 for his OQRS because Joe Bloggs thinks it is normal to charge $5 for one QSL. We see this already from MANY holiday DXpedition groups over the last 2 years. Lets all go on holiday and charge $5 and have our holiday paid for us by the QSLers. (NOT)
You say we have a choice? Do we? I dont think so with the above example.
LoTW should be uploaded at the earliest opportunity. Complete!
Direct QSL cards should NOT be held back depending on how much I pay. All should be posted together.
Donations to fund MAJOR DXpeditioning must be at the front end of the DXpedition. Up front and push that donation button, people can make up their own mind on amount of donation depending on their circumstances.
Igor – Like it or not major DXpeditions HAVE to be run in a business like way. We are talking $250,000+ DXpeditions. If someone was holding that much money and i was donating, then i would ONLY donate if i knew that it was going to be run in a business like way to prevent fraud, theft and other craziness.
QSL should always be available to EVERYBODY! Be affordable to EVERYBODY. Please let's follow this example.
It is important to debate this matter, it is also important to remember to be courteous to one another. My beliefs may not be agreed by all but this is my belief.
Hi guys,
Agree with Tim, when talking about MAJOR expeditions , this inescapably nowadays leads to huge amount of $$$$ (more than in the past?), but we must keep QSL affordable for everybody and bureau should remain a mandatory condition for any official approval.
Agree with Igor, MAJOR expeditions already took place, but I guess the guys who did it were either rich, or had a magic receipt, or managed cleverly to balance everything, or enjoy "easier-to-deal-with" fees, or the 4 of them. This may be why we have fewer MAJOR ones than in the past (although my experience in ham radio barely exceeds 1 solar cycle), without talking about recent geopolitical changes of course.
Agree with Paul, I did also appreciate this courteous exchange of ideas and luckely, we are still free to have contradictory opinions (but not on everything :-) ) Let's just not abuse for the minimum fees involved in direct confirmations, $5 is just too much.
We can find a consensus IMHO by saying that
- Up-front incomes are a key to balance over-all project from all aspects : Human, financial, technical etc.
- Transparency during the entire preparation phase may motivate potential donors to bring their "brick", or "already convinced" donors to bring a heavier brick.
- Widening the range of sponsorship to other domains than ham radio may help.
- Co-joining ham activities with scientists ones may also help to reach such lost islands in Southern oceans.
Having a guy in this thread who participated in a major one might light up some new ideas. But apart from giving general ideas here, I must admit my scope on setting-up MAJOR ones is limited :-)
73 guys, thanks a lot for this exchange !
Ronan, F8AFC
> Like it or not major DXpeditions HAVE to be run in a business like way.
Tim, you could be right if we'd work only few EXPEDITIONS.
Be we don't.
So BIG expeditions exibit only like an example for the rest and so every funny vacationeer now asks for $5.
And every IOTA-er now asks for $5.
And as you know my post isn't the best in the world and my directs disappear often.
And even if I use PayPal the directs often disappear on their way to me. So I never know how much do I need to pay.
Am I the only one unlucky?
>This would require each ham seeking a confirmation for all 6 major dxpeditions to contribute only an extra $30 per year.
Paul, this isn't too easy and we are talking not only about $30 per yer but about much more money.
Add IOTAs…add many countries in the world (AS, AF, SA) where are not too many amateurs watching what is happening with "money-for-QSL". Bad example for them.
$5 seems to occure a standart "QSO payment".
Not even for a QSL.
I, myself, have got a QSL with only 1-2 QSOs on it many times.
And is all just like taxes – you only need to agree and pay once.
It will never stop.
Firstly congratulations to Don on a great job doing the research on those various dxpeditions to give the home operators a taste of what really has to take place for a dxpedition to be even mounted.
I find that for the most part comments on here so far do nothing to encourage operators to support dxpeditions. There are comments from operators on here that refuse to even answer buro qsl cards all the while trying to advocate what sort of direction dxpeditions should be forced to take.
For many years people have wrongly assumed that I am rich and that I make thousands of dollars from doing dxpeditions and qsling. If in fact any of this was remotely true then I would never be at home and would continually go from country to country.
Granted there are some out there who are in fact rich enough to do such a thing and I do not need to mention names and callsigns ( a quick check of dxpeditions over the last 10 years will divulge who they are ) and good luck to them. All be it they may be financially well off they still make the decision to go to some less than desirable place just to give the deserving a qso and yes they like everyone else request donations and so on and so they should.
If every operator in the world was to give $20 per year at the start of every year to a single dx organisation eg NCDXF then the amount of money would be astronomical and the bank interest alone would go very close to being able to pay for all dxpeditions mounted for any countries in the top 100. Of course many would say it can not work but it could especially if eg.NCDXF was to make it mandatory that they appoint a qsl management team which would then make sure all cards were answered in a timely manner and sent in bulk to the various countries throughout the world.
Before you all cry poor I will bring to your attention the amount of qsl cards that I have answered here over the years ( just over 1 million ) and the many many hundreds of thousands of them that have listed their very expensive rigs and amps and antennae they have……. a lousy $20 as a mandatory subscription would not send anyone broke.
Obviously the above will need some refinement before it is perfect but for the love of me I can not think of any other way to ensure dxpeditions to rare and hard to get places happens unless the rich are going to do them out of the goodness of there hearts whilst the rest of you sit and want your precious cards for the usual fee of nil or damn near nil.
Money is a necessity no matter what we do or want , no matter where you live in the world ………. Amateur Radio is no different especially when dxpeditions to rare places start costing upwards of $50 – $750k.
Again Don congratulations on the research……. a job well done as usual.
Hi Bill.
First..Thanks for your expeditions and QSL!
Now…The statement that an expedition costs money causes no doubt.
What I'm trying to say…
In fact all our discussion circles around :
- I like to travel and I am a ham. Give me the money for my trip. I want to see a world for free.
- We don't want to pay for your joy.
- A joy? What joy?! It is only a pain in the ass – license, problem, e.t.c
- Then don't go!
And all from the very beggining…..
People usually would give $20-30 per year easily but to whom?
If this system starts everyone will want to go somewhere.
Even a faraway farmer.
What are the criteries of choice?
Well known people?
As far as I see very few people nowerdays can be a good operators and process a pileup…Mainly longly travellers.
As for the teams calling themselves "an expedition"….
60-80% are funny. But all want money.
Igor, I think you got the point. These expeditions are nothing essential to our hobby, they are just for the pleasure an glory of their organizers, and to a lesser extent to the pleasure of the DXer who work them.
Since they are entirely voluntary expedition, funding should be voluntary too.
Argument that such expeditions are for the defense of our part of the spectrum are fallacious. If it was the case the said expeditions would not be using CW but only SSTV and packet-radio, if we should better fund OTH RADAR projects and ATV repeaters.
I know that big projects need big money and I am not moved by the fact a big dxpedition run wih a 250k$ budget. What I want to tell is that the core of our hobby should remain free for money : QSO and QSL are free and open to everyone.
Just compare it with sport, with football (the one you don't play with hands). I know players are paid a bunch of money, they play in big stadiums in front of big crowds paying their tickets and watching the adverts on TV. It pro sport, and even if I prefer amateur sport spirit if you want a good show you watch pro sport. But the day each football player will beg money to the public before touching the ball make sure there is 5 bucks in the envelop before letting the commentator shouting "goal" I will turn off the TV for sure.
:) Exactly Yan.
Besides…these expeditions give a bad example to the others.
Imagine..each yard team starts to ask for $5 while the professional reporters continue saying:
- Guy, pay your money for the football. Players want to eat. It's only a few big matches per year.
So to my mind you are right – the core should remain free.


text:
May 24, 2016
Eleven-year-old Carlie Brucia's abduction and violent death may prompt swift changes in Florida law when it comes to probation violators.
State legislators are now looking at ways to take discretion out of the hands of judges, but costs and constitutional rights are at the heart of the debate.
The judge who refused to send Joseph Smith back to state prison when he stopped paying his financial obligations to the state says his hands were tied, but state lawmakers disagree
The union that represents probation and parole officers says their front line officers are often ignored, and when not being ignored, probation officers are too busy to make a case stick.
In order to send someone back to prison for not paying fines or restitution or other costs, it must be willful. Not paying because the money went to child support or because of unemployment can't be grounds for a return to prison.
State Sen. Rod Smith prosecuted Gainesville killer Danny Rolling. He says Carlie's accused killer was not the only one on the street who shouldn't be. He wants to tweak existing law to require probation violators be held without bond until a hearing decides if they go back to prison.
But holding thousands of people for 60 or 90 days is costly to the counties and to the state. In the wake of Carlie's tragedy, it may finally be a cost everyone is willing to shoulder.
A legislative committee responsible for funding the criminal justice system is now trying to determine how much it would cost to lock up every ex-con accused of a parole violation.
Click Here to access the online Public Inspection File
Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or email@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Lot 101 View Catalog
Lot 3 blue & white apothecary jars, 7.25" to 7.75" Note: This unique collection of 18th & 19th Century apothecary jars are all from a one person collection, due to the nature of these objects it is to be expected that all have minor to moderate condition issues such as glaze imperfections, general wear, chips on base & rim and possible hairlines. If you are unsure as to the exact condition of the item please contact us, and we will gladly furnish you with additional information. It is the bidder's responsibility, whether bidding in person, by mail, by E-mail or by telephone to determine the exact condition of each item, all sales are final. Images
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|$100 – $300
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text:
Wireless Telecommunication Services
Company Overview of VeloCom Inc.
Executive Profile
Nicolas Kauser
Chief Technology Officer and Director, VeloCom Inc.
|Total Calculated Compensation
|This person is connected to 3 Board Members in 3 different organizations across 7 different industries.
See Board Relationships
Mr. Nicolas Kauser serves as Chief Technology Officer at VeloCom Inc. Mr. Kauser is a Principal/Partner of Eagle River Holdings, LLC. He serves as an Advisor of Ivy Corp. He served as the Chief Technology Officer of Clearwire Corp. from January 2005 to August 1, 2007. He has spent over 40 years in the communications industry. He served as Advisor of VantagePoint Venture Partners. He served as an Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at&T Wireless Services, ...
Corporate Headquarters
5613 DTC ParkwayPhone: 303-874-1120
Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111
United States
Fax: 303-874-1125
Board Members Memberships
Chief Technology Officer and Director
Lead Independent Director, Chairman of Nominating & Governance Committee and Member of Audit Committee
Director, Chairman of Nominating & Governance Committee and Member of Audit Committee
McGill University
Other Affiliations
Annual CompensationThere is no Annual Compensation data available.
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text:
Over 12 per cent of Harley's worksforce to go in drastic money-saving action
The company are to cut production by up to 13% in 2009; Harley reduced production in 2008 in answer to the lack of worldwide sales. The job cuts represent about 12% of its total workforce.
The company is also to combine several of its production plants, as well as closing its parts and accessories distribution centre. Harley say they are planning to use other companies to distribute parts and accessories.
Posted: 25/01/2009 at 22:04
I'm not American, but a couple of tips for him.
Get things moving in the next 3 months, because after that the Senate, Congress, House of Representatives, State Governors etc will block his every move.
Three months after that, he'll be on the re-election trail, based on the amount of shit we've had to put up with on the news for the past 3 years
That's if some Redneck Hick hasn't taken him out by then
Posted: 25/01/2009 at 22:07
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text:
Oak Cliff Film Festival
LocationThe Texas Theatre
Get Directions »
- June 6, 2013 7pm
- June 7, 2013 5pm
- June 8, 2013 1pm
- June 9, 2013 noon
After a successful first year, the Oak Cliff Film Festival is back, and potentially bigger and bolder than ever before. Opening night features a double feature: the quirky, candid, sudsy brewery-set romantic comedy Drinking Buddies by low budget workhorse Joe Swanberg, and a HBO-produced doc on the Russian punk band Pussy Riot. Closing night will bring a screening of Bobcat Goldthwait's new film Willow Creek, described as a "found footage tour de force that will forever change the way you view Bigfoot," with Bobcat (but not Bigfoot) in attendance.
In between, films range from heady, buzzing new indie films (Andrew Bujalski's Computer Chess) to silent films with live orchestrations (Shadow of the Bat-Man scored by the Two Star Symphony), shorts programs (including the avant-garde-billed Cinema 16 program which is chock-full of local talent this year) to repertory programming (like Altman's McCabe and Mrs Miller presented by hot young filmmaker David Lowery). Lowery will also present a secret screening during the festival. We hope it's the Dallas filmmaker's Ain't Them Bodies Saints (currently at Cannes), one of the most acclaimed new movies of the year. Another highlight is End of the Road, a "lost" 1970 film written and produced by Oak Cliff's Terry Southern (who wrote the script for Dr. Strangelove), and recently "rediscovered" by Steven Soderbergh. Soderbergh won't be in town to present the movie, but Southern's son Nile will be.
For a full schedule of films, click here. For a full list of parties and related events, go here.
More Info
What's Nearby
- Small Brewpub Casual 0.1 miles away
- Gonzalez Restaurant Mexican 0.1 miles away
Mesa Mexican 0.1 miles away
- Cafe Brazil Burgers 0.2 miles away
- Charco Broiler Steak House Steakhouses 0.2 miles away
- Texas Theatre Pubs & Taverns 0 miles away
- The Pavillion Lounge Dives 0.1 miles away
- Ten Bells Tavern Pubs & Taverns 0.4 miles away
- Tillman's Roadhouse Restaurant Bars 0.4 miles away
- Oak Cliff Social Club 0.4 miles away
- Top 10 Records Music 0.1 miles away
- The Wild Detectives Bookstores 0.3 miles away
- The Cozy Cottage Kids 0.3 miles away
- Green Pet Pets 0.3 miles away
- Make Shop & Studio Accessories 0.3 miles away


text:
Is it legal to spank your child in missouri
kgb answers » History & Politics » Laws & Regulations » Is it legal to spank your child in missouri
Thursday, February 02 2012
Source: http://springfield.news-leader.com/specialreports/dominicjames/spank120102.html
Related questions
Top 10 questions Laws & Regulations
- How many pages are in the current code of federal regulations?
- What time does Oklahoma stop selling beer?
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- What are four ways the government can assist a buisness?
- What time do stores in louisiana stop selling alcohol?
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- In dekalb county georgia, can you buy beer after midnight everyday at gas stations or grocery stores?
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text:
The iSpot depositor & filling machine makes the perfect addition to your food or bakery production line. With a user-friendly design, this versatile filling machine allows extremely quick cleanup for change-over of various depositing products. Simple and accurate deposits will make this depositor one of your most used and valuable pieces of filler equipment. Machine Features:
Perfect filling maching for any plant or kitchen.
In this video: Pizza Sauce, Pasta Sauce, Cakes, Pudding, Jelly, Beans, BBQ Sauce, Soup.
Model: iSpot Depositor & Filling Machine
Power: Air
Air: 80 PSI @ 3 " 5 CFM 5.5 Bar @ 84 Liters
Run: 140 deposits/min (8400 deposits/hr). Based on product size.
Volume: 0.3oz - 7.5oz (118 ml - 221 ml).
Hopper Capacity: N/A
You can contact us for more information about our products using the form below.


text:
Hi, my name's Greg & I'm a final year student at Northumbria University in the UK. For my final design project I am designing a future trike and to help me with my design I have been researching problems with current cycles and how they are used.
If anybody finds problems with any aspect of cycling, general dislikes about bikes, or areas you think can be improved with bikes I would be really gratefull if you could let me know by replying to this thread.
Your input is really appreciated. Greg


text:
Dr. Eric Mendeloff is the Founder and Surgical Director of the Congenital Heart Surgery Program at Medical City Children's Hospital.
Born in Milwaukee, WI, Dr. Mendeloff graduated from the UCLA School of Medicine in 1985. He was a general surgery resident at the University of Michigan and a clinical research fellow at the National Institute for Health. Dr. Mendeloff undertook a Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship at Barnes Hospital and Congenital Heart Surgery Fellowship at St. Louis Children's Hospital.
Dr. Mendeloff has achieved outstanding surgical outcomes that are nationally recognized and has completed thousands of surgeries in his eight years here at Medical City Children's Hospital as Director of Congenital Heart Surgery.
Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery


text:
NEX-7: DMF for video
Started Feb 20, 2012 | Discussions thread
Shop cameras & lenses ▾
slaybells OP • Regular Member • Posts: 156
Re: NEX-7: DMF for video
But that is in full manual focus mode, right? I was thinking something like the Canon would be available- pre-focus, hit record, then play with the fine-tuning or artistic bits during record. The pre-focus is pretty quick to do and sets you up quickly for candid or unplanned shots.
Just wanted to know; if it is not supported just need to learn to manual focus a lot faster, is all.
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Kids for Kids Gala
Always one of the most highly-anticipated charity events for the 20-40 crowd, the 2011 Kids for Kids Gala will not disappoint. On Friday, November 25th, 2011, Kids for Kids will host its 18th annual party. Over 800 partygoers will re-acquaint and mix it up on the dance floor to great beats while enjoying amazing entertainment. A lively pre-party VIP cocktail will feature open bar service and the best in local food.
For more information, please contact Casey Tabah at 514 934-1934 x71207.
Price: VIP admission (6:00 pm) $150, general admission (10:00 pm) $40
Location:Espace Réunion, 6600 Hutchison Street, Outremont
Date:Nov 25, 2011 - 6:00 pm
Phone:(514) 934-1934 x71207


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Ashfaqur Rahman
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2010 – today
- 2015
- [j22]Andrew D. Hellicar, Ashfaqur Rahman, Daniel V. Smith, John M. Henshall:
Machine learning approach for pooled DNA sample calibration. BMC Bioinformatics 16: 214 (2015)
- [j21]Ashfaqur Rahman, Andrew D. Hellicar, Daniel V. Smith, John M. Henshall:
Allele frequency calibration for SNP based genotyping of DNA pools: A regression based local-global error fusion method. Comp. in Bio. and Med. 61: 48-55 (2015)
- [j20]Ashfaqur Rahman, Claire D'Este:
Shellfish farm closure prediction and cause identification using machine learning methods. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 110: 241-248 (2015)
- 2014
- [j19]Ashfaqur Rahman, Qianyu Zhang, Claire D'Este:
A Multiple Classifier System for Predicting with missing Sensor Values. Advances in Adaptive Data Analysis 6(2-3) (2014)
- [j18]Claire D'Este, Greg P. Timms, Alison Turnbull, Ashfaqur Rahman:
Ensemble aggregation methods for relocating models of rare events. Eng. Appl. of AI 34: 58-65 (2014)
- [j17]Quazi Mamun, Ashfaqur Rahman:
A Robust Data Gathering Technique for Large Scaled Wireless Sensor Networks. JNW 9(9): 2342-2352 (2014)
- [c26]Sumaira Tasnim, Ashfaqur Rahman, G. M. Shafiullah, Amanullah Maung Than Oo, Alex Stojcevski:
A time series ensemble method to predict wind power. CIASG 2014: 1-5
- [c25]Ashfaqur Rahman, Andrew D. Hellicar:
Identification of mature grape bunches using image processing and computational intelligence methods. CIMSIVP 2014: 54-59
- [c24]Andrew D. Hellicar, Daniel V. Smith, Ashfaqur Rahman, Ulrich Engelke, John M. Henshall:
A hierarchical learning approach to calibrate allele frequencies for SNP based genotyping of DNA pools. IJCNN 2014: 183-189
- [c23]Andrew D. Hellicar, Ashfaqur Rahman, Daniel V. Smith, Greg Smith, John McCulloch:
A neural network and SOM based approach to analyse periodic signals: Application to Oyster heart-rate data. IJCNN 2014: 2211-2217
- [c22]Ke Hu, Yan Wang, Ashfaqur Rahman, Vijay Sivaraman:
Personalising pollution exposure estimates using wearable activity sensors. ISSNIP 2014: 1-6
- [c21]Ke Hu, Timothy Davison, Ashfaqur Rahman, Vijay Sivaraman:
Air Pollution Exposure Estimation and Finding Association with Human Activity using Wearable Sensor Network. MLSDA@PRICAI 2014: 48
- [c20]Claire D'Este, Chris Sharman, Ashfaqur Rahman:
Distributed Feature Selection with Big Sensor Data. MLSDA@PRICAI 2014: 56
- [e1]Ashfaqur Rahman, Jeremiah D. Deng, Jiuyong Li:
Proceedings of the MLSDA 2014 2nd Workshop on Machine Learning for Sensory Data Analysis, Gold Coast, Australia, QLD, Australia, December 2, 2014. ACM 2014, ISBN 978-1-4503-3159-3 [contents]
- 2013
- [j16]Ashfaqur Rahman, Brijesh Verma:
Cluster-based ensemble of classifiers. Expert Systems 30(3): 270-282 (2013)
- [j15]Ashfaqur Rahman, Md. Sumon Shahriar:
Algae Growth Prediction through Identification of Influential Environmental Variables: a Machine Learning Approach. International Journal of Computational Intelligence and Applications 12(2) (2013)
- [j14]Ashfaqur Rahman, Brijesh Verma:
Cluster Based Ensemble Classifier Generation by Joint Optimization of accuracy and Diversity. International Journal of Computational Intelligence and Applications 12(4) (2013)
- [j13]Ashfaqur Rahman:
Benthic Habitat Mapping from Seabed Images using Ensemble of Color, Texture, and Edge Features. Int. J. Computational Intelligence Systems 6(6): 1072-1081 (2013)
- [j12]Ashfaqur Rahman, Brijesh Verma:
Effect of ensemble classifier composition on offline cursive character recognition. Inf. Process. Manage. 49(4): 852-864 (2013)
- [j11]Ashfaqur Rahman, Brijesh Verma:
Ensemble classifier generation using non-uniform layered clustering and Genetic Algorithm. Knowl.-Based Syst. 43: 30-42 (2013)
- [c19]Ashfaqur Rahman, Claire D'Este, John McCulloch:
Ensemble Feature Ranking for Shellfish Farm Closure Cause Identification. MLSDA@AUS-AI 2013: 13
- [c18]Md. Sumon Shahriar, Ashfaqur Rahman, Daniel V. Smith:
Applying context in appliance load identification. ICNC 2013: 900-905
- [c17]Md. Sumon Shahriar, Ashfaqur Rahman:
Spatial-temporal prediction of algal bloom. ICNC 2013: 973-977
- [c16]Ashfaqur Rahman, Ritaban Dutta, Daniel V. Smith:
Exploring mineral domains with genetic algorithm. IJCNN 2013: 1-8
- [c15]Ashfaqur Rahman, Brijesh Verma:
Cluster oriented ensemble classifiers using multi-objective evolutionary algorithm. IJCNN 2013: 1-6
- [c14]Qianyu Zhang, Ashfaqur Rahman, Claire D'Este:
Impute vs. Ignore: Missing values for prediction. IJCNN 2013: 1-8
- [c13]Ashfaqur Rahman, Claire D'Este, Greg P. Timms:
Dealing with missing sensor values in predicting shellfish farm closure. ISSNIP 2013: 351-356
- [c12]Ashfaqur Rahman, Daniel V. Smith, Greg P. Timms:
Multiple classifier system for automated quality assessment of marine sensor data. ISSNIP 2013: 362-367
- [c11]Claire D'Este, Ashfaqur Rahman:
Similarity Weighted Ensembles for Relocating Models of Rare Events. MCS 2013: 25-36
- 2012
- [j10]Brijesh Verma, Ashfaqur Rahman:
Cluster-Oriented Ensemble Classifier: Impact of Multicluster Characterization on Ensemble Classifier Learning. IEEE Trans. Knowl. Data Eng. 24(4): 605-618 (2012)
- [c10]Claire D'Este, Ashfaqur Rahman, Alison Turnbull:
Predicting Shellfish Farm Closures with Class Balancing Methods. Australasian Conference on Artificial Intelligence 2012: 39-48
- [c9]Ashfaqur Rahman, Brijesh Verma:
Influence of unstable patterns in layered cluster oriented ensemble classifier. IJCNN 2012: 1-8
- [c8]Ashfaqur Rahman, Brijesh Verma, David R. Stockwell:
An hierarchical approach towards road image segmentation. IJCNN 2012: 1-8
- 2011
- [j9]Mohammad Saiedur Rahaman, Ashfaqur Rahman, Sumaira Tasnim:
An adaptive harmonic broadcasting scheme with download and playback synchronisation for video on demand. IJMIS 2(1): 4-17 (2011)
- [j8]Ashfaqur Rahman, Brijesh Verma:
Novel Layered Clustering-Based Approach for Generating Ensemble of Classifiers. IEEE Trans. Neural Networks 22(5): 781-792 (2011)
- [c7]Ashfaqur Rahman, Brijesh Verma:
Ensemble classifier composition: Impact on feature based offline cursive character recognition. IJCNN 2011: 801-807
- 2010
- [c6]Ashfaqur Rahman, Brijesh Verma, Xin Yao:
Non-uniform Layered Clustering for Ensemble Classifier Generation and Optimality. ICONIP (1) 2010: 551-558
- [c5]Ashfaqur Rahman, Brijesh Verma:
A novel ensemble classifier approach using weak classifier learning on overlapping clusters. IJCNN 2010: 1-7
2000 – 2009
- 2009
- [j7]Ashfaqur Rahman, M. Manzur Murshed:
Feature Weighting and Retrieval Methods for Dynamic Texture Motion Features. Int. J. Computational Intelligence Systems 2(1): 27-38 (2009)
- [j6]Ashfaqur Rahman, M. Manzur Murshed:
Detection of Multiple Dynamic Textures Using Feature Space Mapping. IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Techn. 19(5): 766-771 (2009)
- 2008
- [j5]Ashfaqur Rahman, M. Manzur Murshed:
Dynamic Texture Synthesis Using Motion Distribution Statistics. Journal of Research and Practice in Information Technology 40(2): 129-148 (2008)
- [j4]Ashfaqur Rahman, Abdus Salam, Mahfuzul Islam, Partha Sarker:
An Image Based Approach to Compute Object Distance. Int. J. Computational Intelligence Systems 1(4): 304-312 (2008)
- [j3]Ashfaqur Rahman, Md. Aynul Haque, Md. Shapon Talukder:
Location finding using computer vision based approach. IJICT 1(3/4): 390-397 (2008)
- [j2]Khalid Zaman Bijon, Ahmed Hasan, Ashfaqur Rahman, M. Manzur Murshed:
Periodicity estimation of Dynamic Textures. IJICT 1(3/4): 414-423 (2008)
- 2007
- [j1]Ashfaqur Rahman, M. Manzur Murshed:
A Temporal Texture Characterization Technique Using Block-Based Approximated Motion Measure. IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Techn. 17(10): 1370-1382 (2007)
- [c4]Ashfaqur Rahman, M. Manzur Murshed:
Multiple temporal texture detection using feature space mapping. CIVR 2007: 417-424
- 2005
- [c3]Ashfaqur Rahman, M. Manzur Murshed:
A Robust Optical Flow Estimation Algorithm for Temporal Textures. ITCC (2) 2005: 72-76
- 2004
- [c2]Ashfaqur Rahman, M. Manzur Murshed:
Real-time temporal texture characterisation using block based motion co-occurrence statistics. ICIP 2004: 1593-1596
- [c1]Ashfaqur Rahman, M. Manzur Murshed, Laurence Dooley:
Feature Weighting Methods for Abstract Features Applicable to Motion based Video Indexing. ITCC (1) 2004: 676-
Coauthor Index
David R. B. Stockwell
aka: David R. Stockwell
aka: David R. Stockwell
data released under the ODC-BY 1.0 license; see also our legal information page
last updated on 2016-04-04 21:17 CEST by the dblp team


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Senegal: Grad brings women's ed to Senegal
"Marquel Sheree Ramirez lives in a village of 300 people. She washes her clothes by hand and hangs them on a line to dry, bathes outside every night in a bucket bath and traveling to the closest paved road takes 45 minutes by horse cart. She is living a life drastically different from her American one, but it hasn't phased her.
'The culture shock wasn't so bad,' Ramirez said. 'We were given a lot of training culture-wise by the Peace Corps to better understand Senegalese. When I go back (to the U.S.), it will be a culture shock. (I) don't even know what I am going to do … it will be really weird.'
Ramirez, who graduated from Cal Poly in 2007 with a bachelors degree in modern languages and literature, is an environmental education volunteer for the Peace Corps in Senegal and the national coordinator for its program, Senegal Gender and Development (SeneGAD).
Founded in 1963, there are currently 230 volunteers working in agriculture, agro-forestry, health, environmental education, small enterprise development and ecotourism in these communities for SeneGAD, Ramirez said.
Ramirez, who has been in the country since March 2011, said she is working to educate and empower the Senegalese population about gender equality.
SeneGAD holds girls' leadership training camps and health seminars, as well as early pregnancy and early marriage awareness days. They also hand out the Michele Sylvester Scholarship — named in memory of a Peace Corps volunteer who dedicated her life to educating Senegalese girls — to three middle-school-age Senegalese girls who show academic excellence, but are poor or from families that favor early marriages. The winners receive money to register for classes and school supplies."
Click here for full story
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Sprint, in partnership with Geotab, is offering plug-and-play fleet management solutions to local and state government agencies and authorized non-profit organizations.
The solutions will be available to entities entitled to purchase products under the Western States Contracting Alliance (WSCA/NASPO) cooperative purchasing contract.
WSCA/NASPO contract is formed by a consortium of states designed to help states and local government entities avail quality services in a cost effective and efficient manner.
Geotab solution features GO6, which supports any type of vehicle with the use of a special J-BUS adaptor and expands capabilities with Garmin navigation, Iridium satellite, sensors and other add-ons using a special expander cable called the IOX.
The device plugs into the vehicle's OBDII (OBD2) port – where it then reads and sends vehicle health, location, and driving style information back to the Geotab Web-based application.
The fleet management solution combines the plug-and-play feature with analytics, as well as Web-based user tools and reports to help customers effectively manage their fleet by tracking and monitoring vehicle locations and identifying driving behaviours.
Fleet managers can also optimize driver dispatch and routing and improve the overall health of their fleets with maintenance reminders and alerts. It offers the ability to track each driver even if they are driving different vehicles.
Geotab telematics technology has garnered greater adoption in public sector. The fleet management solution helps lower fuel costs, prevent vehicle wear and tear, prioritize vehicle maintenance, and qualify for insurance discounts.
Sprint delivers Geotab Connected Fleet solution as part of their portfolio providing a powerful and easy-to-use tool for driving impactful savings and efficiencies. Geotab solutions align well with Sprint's commitment to safe and secure driving, said Ben Vos, vice president and general manager, Emerging Solutions Group, Sprint.
Sprint's secure network supports the delivery of an expansive range of telematics applications. To ensure the growing demand for telematics and other advanced solutions is met, Sprint has embarked on Network Vision, a multiyear network initiative designed to enhance customers 'experience with faster data speeds, improved voice quality and easier connectivity.


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The Quality Advocates meeting on January 20, 2006 focused on the development and use of strategic indicators. Some of the topics addressed by panelists included: 1) What makes a good indicator? 2) How do indicators support decision-making? and, 3) How do you determine indicators for new initiatives, for example, student-centeredness? The panelists included: Anna Griswold, Assistant Vice President for Undergraduate Education and Executive Director for Student Aid; Robert Crane, Associate Dean, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; and Daniel Nugent, Management Information Associate, Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment.
Daniel Nugent began the session by providing some background on the University's strategic plan and use of strategic indicators. The current strategic indicators are used by the University to track performance towards the goals outlined in the strategic plan and were developed through a collaborative effort in 1998. They have not changed substantially since then. As part of the annual review of the strategic indicators report, the Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment wanted to find out if the report could be improved. Office staff met with the persons who provided the data and talked with them about whether the data portrayed accurately the state of the University, and whether the report was understandable to the University community and other readers. As a result of these interviews, several new indicators may be added to the report, and the layout may be enhanced with text to provide some explanation of the trends apparent in the indicators.
Anna Griswold next explained how the Office of Student Aid uses strategic indicators in its work. The Office places great emphasis on its tracking of strategic indicators because it is high stakes in terms of management and accountability of funds and the Office's goals and performance are integral to helping the University meet its enrollment goals. Performance indicators have become integrated into the work of the Office in both formal and informal methods. Many of the strategic indicators are dynamic, changing as different needs arise, and they provide the basis for both operational and policy decisions. Operationally, the indicators help the Office to determine whether they are on track in meeting student needs, while on a larger level, the indicators are used to identify significant policy issues and challenges. The indicators tell the Office whether they need to work on an area or are successfully achieving it.
The Office has recently begun to look at sets of indicators, rather than rely on single indicators. For example, one objective of the Office of Student Aid is not only to get students into the University, but also to facilitate their completion, so the Office wants to look at students applying for aid by household income and whether that is related to graduation rates. At the policy level, the Office has used strategic indicators to come up with strategic goals and then developed indicators to track this. For example, Enrollment Management set the goal of making Penn State education affordable based on their analysis that tuitions were increasing, competition was increasing, and grant monies were declining.
Sometimes there is no direct line between the goal and the indicator. Griswold gave the example of developing indicators for their goal of student-centeredness. In conceptualizing student-centeredness, the Office realized that the actual process of applying for financial aid can be a barrier for students. They focused on developing indicators to assess the speed and efficiency of their processes and they monitor backlog and processing times. In developing indicators, the Office of Student Aid looks at how they can improve a process, what students think, and what types of complaints the Office is receiving. Nugent pointed out that the Office is integrating its day to day operational processes into the support of its strategic goals.
Robert Crane spoke about the experience of the College of Earth and Mineral Science in developing indicators. Crane spoke first about what makes a good indicator. Crane felt the characteristics of a good indicator depend on its purpose: one purpose may be to support a statement or image while another purpose may be to support decision-making. Another distinction is whether the indicator is used for internal or external purposes. In addition, Crane pointed to the ease with which indicators can be developed and noted that sometimes we choose indicators for which data are available, and that these indicators don't always measure what we really want to measure.
The College uses its performance indicators in decision-making and Crane gave two specific examples. The first related to the College's broad goal of being the most student-centered college in Penn State history. One indicator they use to measure this is the number of senior faculty in the classroom. Several years ago, the College made a decision that more senior faculty should be teaching, and it is tracking its performance in this area. This was a deliberate policy move, and the College can track its progress toward the goal through its strategic indicators, but it also uses them to garner support from faculty for their previous decision. Another example can be found in the "state of the college" report. This report shows EMS has done very well in fundraising, but mainly it has come from foundations and grants, with little growth in the endowment. Thus, the College is changing tactics in this area to find other sources which will lead to a larger endowment.
Crane acknowledged that determining new indicators can be a difficult process because sometimes the data are not available, or are not easily available. To illustrate this, Crane referred to the College's goal of being student-centered. The College uses indicators like student satisfaction as a measure of their performance in this area, but another indicator, which would be even better, would be the level of student involvement. Measures to assess this area, such as the number of students coauthoring papers or involvement in research activities, are hard to come by. According to Crane, "the more useful the data are, the harder they are to collect." To address this, he suggested that units prioritize their primary goals and invest the resources necessary to assess performance towards these goals.
Several members of the audience asked questions after the panelists' presentations. In reference to the difficulties in obtaining useful data, one audience member asked how to overcome the barriers and develop good indicators that meet both the University's needs and unit needs. Crane responded that units need to work from the bottom up by establishing priorities, collecting meaningful information, and then having that information filter up. Griswold corroborated this by noting that several times she has used her indicators, including benchmarking with other schools, in presentations to the Board of Trustees and to departments across the University to show how student aid affects the student experience, in order to build support for student aid initiatives. Nugent added that one step units can take is to address these types of questions during their strategic planning retreats. Units can identify what they should be measuring, and what they should track to assess progress against the goals. Similar to continuous quality improvement activities, the process of goal setting is top down from leadership in terms of setting priorities and goals, but on a day-to-day basis, it is the folks on the front line who need to make the daily decisions on whether they are meeting the goals.
A second participant echoed the problems that campuses especially face in creating strategic indicators which meet both the University and the campus needs. Sometimes the University strategic indicators are actually operational and not relevant to the campuses. Nugent responded that in contrast to the business world, which has specific outputs, sometimes it is difficult to determine indicators that measure real outcomes for our students. Instead the University may just be tracking outputs, which are much more operational, with the assumption that the outputs are really related to the outcomes, such as student achievement after graduation. Griswold also noted that sometimes you can be strategic about operational matters and that operational indicators can lead to effects on the larger scale.
Another audience member asked about the use of indicators for external versus internal uses. Crane responded that sometimes it is the same data, but used in different contexts. For external audiences especially, it is important to tell the reader what the data are saying and why it is important enough to be included. Another difference between internal and external data is that internally, much more information can be reviewed, whereas this would be overwhelming to outside audiences.
Information provided by the panelists includes:
- Enrollment Management and Administration Strategic Plan 2005-2008 http://www.psu.edu/admissions/ema/emasp2005_08.pdf
- College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Strategic Plan 2005-2006 http://www.ems.psu.edu/facstaff/EMSstrategicplan+320052008.pdf
- State of EMS: 1995-2005 http://www.ems.psu.edu/news/StateofEMS19952005.pdf
- Improving Strategic Indicators – Anna Griswold handout /advocates/2006/01/griswold_notes.pdf
The Quality Advocates Network meets several times each semester to share ideas and examples of improvement and change. To join the Quality Advocates Network mailing list or to learn more about the meetings scheduled, contact the staff at firstname.lastname@example.com.
The Quality Advocates Network is open to all Penn State faculty, staff, administrators, and students.


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TUSCALOOSA – A field of 12 men's collegiate golf teams is gathered in Tuscaloosa for the weekend's Conrad Rehling Alabama Spring Invitational. The tournament, which begins with a practice round for all teams on Thursday then competitive play beginning at 8 a.m. CT on Friday, will be held at Ol' Colony.
The Crimson Tide will compete to defend its 2004 Conrad Rehling Championship. Last year Alabama won the team championship and placed two golfers among the top three individual finishers. While Lars Brovold, who finished second in the tournament last year at six-under-par has graduate, back competing for the championship is Clint Provost who finished third last year at four under par.
"It's always great to host a tournament at your home golf facility," said Alabama head coach Jay Seawell whose team is enjoying use of its new Jerry Pate Golf Center at Ol' Colony. "It's great to be able to host it in your own community. We need community support if we are going to be a championship program. So you get a chance to bring college golf to the Tuscaloosa community, and we're really excited about Ol' Colony and the Jerry Pate Center. This event gives us a chance to show it off. It's a facility we're very proud to have now."
Among the 12 teams gathered in Tuscaloosa for the tournament are Alabama, the College of Charleston, Georgia State, Jacksonville State, Memphis, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Alabama, Tulane and UAB.
This is the fourth time Ol' Colony has hosted the tournament, though the Crimson Tide has been hosting a spring tournament every year since 1978.
Clint Provost, Thomas Hagler, Mark Harrell and Gator Todd will fill four of the five spots on the Tide's roster for this tournament. The fifth player is being determined through a team qualifier and will be either Joseph Sykora, Dwight Rogers or Lance Walker. One of those golfers will compete with the team. The other two will compete in the tournament unattached.
"I think we have a fairly solid four but are still looking for that fifth score and fortunately have depth and talent to draw from for that fifth score," said Seawell whose team competed against a field full of top 25 ranked teams in its last event. "We played in the Puerto Rico Classic a week ago and it was our first bad tournament showing. Actually, we didn't play bad, we just didn't play well. We had to count some high scores. So I'm interested to see how we bounce back. I'm glad we're playing at home after that one because it gives us a little more of a comfort level. We've been playing great really all year, in the fall and in the first part of the spring with the exception of Puerto Rico. We're the defending champions on our home course and I expect us to do some really good things this weekend."
On Friday the first wave will tee off at 8 a.m. on the No. 1 tee. Alabama's wave of five golfers will tee off beginning at 9 a.m. in 10 minute intervals. On Saturday and Sunday, play begins at 8 a.m. with teams going according to their finishes in the previous rounds with the leaders going in the last group. On Saturday and Sunday, teams will tee off from both the No. 1 and No. 10 tees. Play will be completed by around 3 p.m. each day.
Golf fans are encouraged to come watch the tournament, and no admission is charged.
"I hope we can get some big crowds out and some people will come out and watch some great college golf," said Seawell whose last couple of Alabama teams have produced two current European PGA Tour players in Lars Brovold and Jan Are Larsen. "It does help us to have crowds there. Our guys gain a lot of energy when people come out and watch. That was one of the reasons we did so well in Jacksonville (at the Mercedes Benz tournament where Alabama finished 2nd of 17 teams in a field that included five Top 25 teams). We had a lot of parents there and actually had the Crimson Tide booster club come out and watch our team and I know it made a difference in our play."


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Learn more about the five boroughs that make up New York City with our complete guide.
Discover what to do, where to stay and what to see in New York City with our planning tool.
Get ready to take on New York City with Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo.
Enjoy Shakespeare in the Park, the Museum Mile Festival, Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks and more.
Download your free copy or order a guide online today.
Wireless Internet is available at locations throughout NYC—including many parks and libraries.
Get tips, maps and everything else you'll need during your stay.
These NYC-centric mobile apps put the City at your fingertips.
See NYC's iconic sights at discounted rates.
Get the best prices at NYC's bars, clubs and restaurants.
Stay in New York City and save with these offers.
New York City is made up of five boroughs: the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. Each one has enough attractions—and enough personality—to be a city all its own. Learn more about them with this guide.
The primary focus of this bare-bones establishment is the street-front grill, where a popular jerk chicken is fired to perfection. Passersby are lured in by the aroma of the Jamaican jerk, a special combination of marinades, spices and technique. Tropical-island juices like sorrel (made with hibiscus, actually) and a sweet-spicy pineapple-ginger concoction provide cooling counterpoints to the spicy main course. Service is informal—Jerk City is primarily a take-out operation.


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A-5 Faculty Welfare Committee
Chair: Leslie J. Vaaler Vice Chair: TBD Chair Elect: Blinda McClelland Minutes (PDF): To be posted following first meeting, if appropriate.
Member E-mail Address Book (comma delimited)
Member E-mail Address Book (semi-colon delimited)
Committee's annual reports from previous years:
FUNCTION: To advise the president on all matters pertaining to faculty welfare, including the effectiveness of the implementation of all approved Faculty Council legislation regarding faculty welfare.
COMPOSITION: Seven voting members of the General Faculty for three-year staggered terms, including a faculty member from the School of Law. In addition, every year the Chair of the Faculty Council shall appoint two voting faculty members of the Faculty Council for one-year terms. Each year, the committee shall elect its own Chair and Vice Chair who shall be voting faculty members of the committee.
Members, 2012-13: Granof, Dena H. 2011-2013 senior lecturer, comunication sciences and disorders Leite, Fernanda 2011-2013 assistant professor, civil, architectural, and environmental engineering Rawlins, Rachael 2012-2015 lecturer, architecture Seaholm, Megan 2012-2014 sr. lecturer, history Vaaler, Leslie J.1 2012-2013 senior lecturer, mathematics Warner, David C.2 2012-2014 professor, public affairs Worthy, Mary Jo 2011-2013 professor, curriculum and instruction Youngdale, Elizabeth M. 2012-2015 lecturer, law
Faculty Council Appointees: Acton, Gayle 2012-2013 associate professor, nursing McClelland, Blinda 2012-2013 lecturer, molecular cell and developmental biology, 2013-2014 chair
1Elected committee chair for 2012-2013.
2Replaced Hadaway, Beverly L. who resigned from the committee November 2012.


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Company Overview of LiteScape Technologies, Inc.
Executive Profile
Andres Espinosa
Member of the Advisory Board, LiteScape Technologies, Inc.
|Total Calculated Compensation
|This person is connected to 1 Board Members in 1 different organizations across 1 different industries.
See Board Relationships
Andres Espinosa is a Co-founder and serves as Chief Executive Officer of SenTek America. Mr. Espinosa has over 18 years of international experience in Financial and Banking industry, resulting in successful projects for Visa, MasterCard and American Express. He held executive positions at Visa International as General Manager of Visa Venezuela and Ecuador. He served as Executive Vice President of Visa International for Latin America market where he was responsible for ...
Corporate Headquarters
71 Stevenson StreetPhone: 650-227-0220
San Francisco, California 94105
United States
Fax: 650-227-0226
Board Members MembershipsThere is no Board Members Memberships data available.
EducationThere is no Education data available.
Other AffiliationsThere is no Company Affiliations data available.
Annual CompensationThere is no Annual Compensation data available.
Stocks OptionsThere is no Stock Options data available.
Total CompensationThere is no Total Compensation data available.
|There is no Competitor Compensation data available.
Sponsored Financial Commentaries
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Only a company representative may request an update for the company profile. Documentation will be required.
To contact LiteScape Technologies, Inc., please visit . Company data is provided by Capital IQ. Please use this form to report any data issues.
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Our data partners will research the update request and update the information on this page if necessary. Research and follow-up could take several weeks. If you have questions, you can contact them at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Embassy Suites by Hilton Dulles Airport
13341 Woodland Park Drive, Herndon, Virginia, USA 20171
Tel: 1-703-464-0200 Fax: 1-703-464-0210
Our Remington Ballroom is an absolutely wonderful venue for a wedding, and is also very versatile when it comes to the number of guests you want to invite. These guests may just take a little shine to our permanent residents, George and Martha, the Royal Swans.
These beautiful creatures add a majestic charm to your wedding photographs, and they are firmly part of the Embassy Suites... more
Hilton HHonors Reward Category : 5
What size reception room is right for you?
Use our tools below to help find the perfect room for your special day.
|Space Calculator
Determine a suitable size room for all your attendees.
|Room Search
Tell us what you need and we will match it with the perfect room for your rehearsal dinner or reception.
|Capacity Charts & Floor Plans
View seating configurations, square footage, floor layouts, room shapes and more.
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Things to Do
Help your guests find local restaurants, entertainment, shopping and other attractions.
Parking and Transportation
Self Parking: 0.00 Parking Lot


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The McIntire community is one of the most diverse on Grounds, with faculty and students who represent a diversity of races, genders, cultures, ideas, and backgrounds. The best business plans flourish when good people, ideas, and differences intersect, and that is what happens at McIntire. The McIntire School of Commerce continues its steadfast devotion to programs that promote diversity within classrooms, among students and faculty, and in research; we constantly strive to increase the diversity of our student body and faculty and to promote a culture of community and mutual respect.
McIntire's diversity initiatives—from recruitment programs, to minority scholarships and peer mentoring—are ingredients in our success. By partnering with companies like Alcoa, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Ernst & Young, which already have strong diversity programs in place, McIntire has been able to build on industry best practices to create programs that support and enhance our diversity efforts. And we use the considerable influence of our many minority alumni to convey the richness of the McIntire experience.
Twenty-first century business calls for united ideas and purpose, informed by our differences, McIntire strives to create a community of inclusion built upon differences.
Voices of Diversity
McIntire students and alumni discuss their experience at the Commerce School. Videos»
Diversity at UVA
A University of Virginia community rich in diversity affords every member equal respect – and provides a forum for understanding our differences as well as our commonalities.
Student Profile
More than 40 countries are represented in McIntire's student body. Learn More »


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Dickens of a Christmas, 50s holiday train display among festive offerings
(Columbus,OH) – The Ohio History Connection (OHS) invites you to travel back in time this holiday season, Nov. 23 – Jan.3. From the 19th century to the 1950s, enjoy Christmas favorites like Dickens of a Christmas, the 1950s model train display, special activities during Holiday Traditions Family Weekends, and the Christmas performancesTales of a Department Store Santa and Our Miss Brooks and the Christmas Carol.
A Christmas classic, Dickens of a Christmas takes visitors back to a 19th-century celebration as Ohio Village is transformed with Victorian-era crafts,decorations, caroling, cooking demonstrations and traditions inspired by Charles Dickens' festive vision of Christmas. Follow the Ghost of Christmas Past and meet Dickens, Saint Nicholas himself and an assortment of 19th-century characters along the way.
The50s are also getting festive! With the help of the Central Ohio Model Railroad Club, the Ohio History Connection has created a '50s style holiday train display within the 1950's: Building the American Dream exhibit. Visit thenine-by-20-foot display in the Lustron home while enjoying activities during Holiday Traditions Family Weekends.
Kickoff all of this historical holiday fun with a live production of the 1954 comedy Our Miss Brooks and the Christmas Carol on Saturday, Nov. 23. A joint production of Columbus Recreation and Parks Department and Parks and Recreation of Grandview Heights, Our Miss Brooks tells the story of a high school English teacher who's called to intervene when the school play is threatened. Also, don't miss the Echoes in Time Theatre performance of Tales of a Department Store Santa,which recounts the experiences of a department store Santa from the 1950s Baby Boom Era. Visit ohiohistory.org/holidays for more information.
Visitors can shop the stores at TheOhio History Center and Ohio Village for unique gift ideas including 1950s themedgoods, Ohio-made products or "Give the Gift of Ohio" with an Ohio HistoricalSociety Membership (current members receive 20% off new memberships). Shop online at ohiohistorystore.com.
The Ohio History Center and Ohio Village are located at 800 E. 17th Ave. (I-71 and 17th). Regular Admission: $10/Adults,$9/Seniors, $5/Children 6-12, Free/Children 5 and under, Free/OHS Members. Hours:Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, noon-5 p.m. Contact:800-686-6124.


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Catalogue Description:
This spoon is in the soapberry form of a long, flat paddle with carved design on one end. The handle instead of being smoot like a soapberry spoon is fully carved. It was probably used to ladle out soapberry foam not to make it. Making soapberry foam is done by putting a few tablespoons of berries with a little water into a large bowl and twirling the spoon very quickly back and forth between the hands like making a fire or whisking. As the berries foam up sugar, more water, more berries may be added until it is extremely foamy. When eaten it is normally swooshed into the mouth quickly past the tongue, bypassing any bitter or sour flavor and down the throat for a great treat.


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Mobile Device Apps
- ACLS Sim Lite (mobile app)
- Real-time simulator that provides the ability to practice the management of cardiac arrest.
Download from Play/App Store.
- AHRQ ePSS (mobile app)
(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)
- The Electronic Preventive Services Selector (ePSS) allows primary care clinicians search and browse U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations in order to identify clinical preventive services that are appropriate for their patients.
Download from Play/App Store.
- AIDSinfo Mobile (mobile website)
(National Library of Medicine (NLM))
- HIV/AIDS practice guidelines, clinical trials, drug treatment, glossary and health topics. On your mobile device, go to http://m.aidsinfo.nih.gov. Bookmark website.
- CDC (mobile app)
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC))
- Includes health articles, vital signs, PCD (Preventing Chronic Disease), MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), Emerging Infectious Diseases, podcasts, and more.
Download from App Store.
- Draw MD series (mobile apps)
- Enables physicians to draw out surgical procedures to their patients in a palatable manner.
The series currently contains 10 apps: anesthesia, cardiology, ENT, female pelvic surgery, general surgery, OB/GYN, orthopedics, pediatrics, urology, and vascular.
Download from App Store.
- ICD9 Consult 2013 (mobile app)
- Search by diagnosis, code, procedure or organ system. Images within the list indicate whether a code is specific or nonspecific.
Download app from Play/App Store.
- Lab Reference by Mayo Medical Laboratories (mobile app)
- Search and browse test information including reference values, methodology and details about clinical use and interpretation.
Download from Play/App Store.
- Medscape by WebMD (mobile app)
- Includes over 10,000 drugs & herbals, diseases & conditions, and procedures & protocols.
Download app from Play/App Store. Register for account.
- Skyscape (mobile app)
- Includes ACC Pocket Guides, Outlines in Clinical Medicine, Archimedes medical calculator, Rx Drugs, and more.
Download Skyscape from your Play/App Store. Register for Account. Install suggested free resources.
- Daily Med (mobile website)
(National Library of Medcine)
- Provides high quality information about marketed drugs, including FDA labels (package inserts). On your mobile device, go to http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/mobile/index.cfm. Bookmark website.
- Drug Information Portal (mobile website)
(National Library of Medicine (NLM))
- A mobile interface to information for over 31,000 drugs. On your mobile device, go to http://druginfo.nlm.nih.gov/m.drugportal/m.drugportal.jsp. Bookmark website.
- Epocrates® Mobile Products (mobile apps)
- Includes drug summaries, interaction check, pill ID, tables, calculators, and more. Go to http://www.epocrates.com/mobile to browse apps by platform. Epocrates Rx is free for all. After selecting desired app, register for account. Download app from Play/App Store. Enter email and password into app.
- LactMed (mobile app)
(National Library of Medicine (NLM))
- Includes information on how drugs or dietary supplements can affect breastfeeding.
Download from Play/App Store.
- MedlinePlus Drugs, Herbs and Supplements (mobile website)
- Includes summaries on drugs, herbs and supplements.
- PEPID Elements (mobile app)
- Toxicology resource that includes identification and management of toxicology emergencies, toxicology-specific lab profiles, poisonous plant identification images, and more.
Download from Play/App Store.
- Skyscape Rx Drugs (mobile app)
- Includes dosing guidelines on commonly used brand and generic drugs, and weight-based drug dosing calculators.
Download Skyscape from your Play/App Store. Register for Account. Install suggested free resources. Includes RxDrugs and more.


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American Idol: Angie Miller Sings "Anyone Who Had A Heart" See What Judges Say!
"American Idol" was back on FOX tonight with the Top 6. Angie Miller opened up the night singing "Anyone Who Had A Heart"by Burt Bacharach/Dionne Warwick.
This is the first performance of the night, but each singer performs two songs tonight so Angie will be back.
Here is what the judges had to say. Keith Urban said not to rely on the voice alone and that He doesn't always feel the passion. Nicki said Angie's voice is amazing, but she doesn't feel the passion on her performance this time. Randy agreed with Nicki but thought the second verse was an improvement. Mariah said her pronunciation was too perfect, whatever that means? She used the proper style for this song. The judges appear to think similarly about her performance.
Angie sounded amazing tonight, despite the critics.
Angie was announced as being in the top 3 last week. She was also in the top 3 in the Top 10. It appears that she and Kree are the top 2 voter favorites. So the predicition is that Miller will easily advance to next week's Top 5.
What did you think of her first performance tonight?