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This story is based in 2 counties located in east, central Alberta, Canada. Two counties with an area of over 4,285 square miles, or 2,742,400 acres. There may be more than 2 hills, but not many more. This is flat Canadian prairie.
Weather conditions in the area can often be rather inhospitable. Temperatures range from minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit (-46 C) in January to plus 95 degrees Fahrenheit (+37 C) in the summer. There is usually a harsh drying wind in the summer and a brutal, bone-chilling winter wind. Precipitation, a combination of rain and snow, can reach as high at 74 inches (187 cm) annually.
Between the counties there is a population of approximately 8,000 people and over 3,320 miles (5,343 km) of roads, of which less than ten percent are paved. The challenge… keep these roads passable through the snows of winter, the muds of spring, the rains of summer and the frosts of autumn, keep them passable 365 days a year! The above… ample reason for 22 motor graders. Motor graders that must perform!
Willy Derda has operated a variety of road construction equipment for over four decades and motor graders for The County of Two Hills for the past eighteen years. A quiet, humble man, he spoke with great enthusiasm when asked about the Volvo G976 All Wheel Drive Motor Grader he has been operating for the past few months. "I like this grader. It's got lots of power. I love its short turning radius, especially on some of these narrow roads. The cab is great. Great visibility. Quiet. Comfortable both summer and winter. It's easy to maintain. It's great for snow plowing… I just like it!" Sincere words of praise from a veteran motor grader operator.
The Volvo G976 All Wheel Drive Motor Grader with a blade down force of 21,574 lb. (9,776 kg) and a maximum blade pull of 36,679 lb. (16,635 kg) can get the job done. The low-emission, turbocharged Volvo diesel engine provides maximum power output of 265 hp (198 kW) and when coupled with the optional Volvo HTE1160
transmission with 11 forward and six reverse speeds is economical and versatile with precision control at low-speed, efficient travel at high speed and greater accuracy in the working range. The all-wheel drive mode provides more traction and control for an extra 8,500 lb. (3,855 kg) of blade pull and high-speed capability for operation in heavy snow or insecure footing.
Raymond Bouchard, Public Works Manager for the county, is charged with keeping the roads open and drivable for the 4500 residents of the county. "We purchased our first Volvo (motor grader) and we are pretty impressed so far. The operators like its performance. The maintenance staff is pleased with its reliability. It's terrific for snow plowing. It's a great machine. The value is there."
The County of Two Hills also does their own road construction as well as grading the miles of gravel, dirt and oiled surface roads and once again the Volvo G976 shines. Bouchard and his operators are pleased with the power and performance of the all-wheel drive when working on heavy-duty road repairs or road re-construction. "It really holds the slope when cutting. It's got good weight for blading. It's a strong machine."
A bigger problem for Bouchard may be with his senior operator Willy. "He didn't want to leave his Cat (motor grader) but now that I convinced him to try the Volvo he won't go back. He's become a big Volvo fan."
Traveling south a few miles, you reach the northern borders of Flagstaff County. Amongst its over 1800 miles (3000 km.) of road is a mix of gravel, bladed dirt roads, all-weather roads, oiled roads and undeveloped road allowances and a few miles of asphalt or paved roads for variety.Darrelll Szott, Public Works Superintendent for the county, explains that, "we have broken the county into ten maintenance areas. We have assigned a grader or graders to each area and they have a minimum of 160 miles (257 kms) of road to maintain." When asked, "why Volvo," Darrelll went on to explain that, "It is my job to deliver value for the taxpayers. We were familiar with the quality of Volvo equipment, we have been using a Volvo wheel loader for some time and also a Volvo track excavator but our grader fleet has been Cat for a long time. We replace our graders every 5 years. The contracts always stipulate a 5 year buy-back schedule with full warranty." Flagstaff County recently purchased two new machines, a Volvo G940 Motor Grader for the maintenance fleet and a Volvo G976 AWD for the oiling crew.
When asked about fuel consumption, Murray Moulder, Public Works Foreman, pointed out that, "Fuel consumption on the Volvo graders is good but it is also dependent on the operator and the type of roads they are working on. We have sand roads where a cutting edge will last for two weeks and then we have roads where the surface is a combination gravel and bentonite clay and it takes three times more blade pressure and we have to change the edge twice a day. So you can see our fuel consumption can vary. But all-in-all we are very pleased with the performance of our Volvo graders."
Gates Morin has been working with the Volvo G940 for a few weeks. "I have worked with almost every kind of heavy equipment made. As for graders, I was a Cat man but this Volvo is a really nice machine. I like it."
VCE and Their Dealer Providing value for the taxpayers was a common theme of both Raymond Bouchard and Darrell Szott. When it came time to replace aging graders in their respective fleets, both thoroughly checked out the competition. Both concur that the lowest price is not always the best deal. The end result, both counties purchased Volvo motor graders. Both agreed that VCE, their Strongco CSR Shawn Grykuliak and the entire Strongco team made their decision easy. The value in the machines was obvious and the dealer service and attention to detail second-to-none. Both are pleased with their Volvo motor grader's performance and are confident that they have made a positive value decision on behalf of their taxpayers.


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Raymond James (RJF), which released its February performance data on Thursday, said that the Morgan Keegan acquisition would 'unfavorably impact' its quarterly earnings even as nearly all of Morgan Keegan's reps would come over to Raymond James.
The company's February data showed that securities commissions and fees rose 4.5% over last month and 5.1% from February of last year. Assets under administration grew nearly 3% and 6%, respectively, to $289 billion.
The company also says its integration of Morgan Keegan advisors "continues to progress steadily," and that 98% of the roughly 600 reps and branch managers presented with retention offers have indicated that they will be joining Raymond James upon closing of the merger, which could be April 2.
At the same time, Raymond James says financing arrangements for the $930 million deal "will unfavorably impact this quarter's earnings and earnings per share due to both the increased interest cost and common shares outstanding since they took place before the actual acquisition," according to a press release.
The company would not elaborate on the specific impact of the three financing packages. It did say it completed an equity offering of close to 11.1 million common shares and a $350 million senior note offering in February. Also, the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based financial group said Thursday that it had priced its planned offering of $250 million of 5.625% senior notes due in 2024 at roughly 99.6% of principal.
Raymond James COO Dennis Zank (left) says most of the 1,000 Morgan Keegan advisors could join Raymond James by the expected close of the deal on April 2. Some 600 were given retention offers earlier this year based on their yearly production, which must be $300,000 or higher.
If every advisor came over, Zank added, Raymond James & Associates – the employee channel of the company – could expand to as many as 2,300 advisors from 1,320 in February. (Including its independent, bank and other reps in the United States and abroad, Raymond James now has some 5,400 FAs.
"We lost two in Pensacola, and that's about it," said Zank, in an interview with AdvisorOne. "Yes, I tend to be an optimist, but this could be the best retention in the brokerage business in a long time – 98% have signed their letters of intent to stay with us, and that's with all the recruiters on the planet banging on their door. It's a pretty amazing number."
Still, says one recruiter, the number that counts will come a few months from now.
"Some reps could decide not to join over the next 10 days," said Rick Peterson of Peterson & Associates in Houston, in an interview. "And many reps could sign and then still leave. They'll soon be getting big deals everywhere."
Peterson says the 98% figure "doesn't mean a thing, because the real retention figure will appear by the end of the year or sooner. Call me in June, and let's talk retention," he said.
Rivals, including the wirehouses, should continue to pressure Morgan Keegan reps to join, and that could motivate some to break the terms of their retention contract and leave Raymond James. "As the serious money starts to make an impact, the Morgan Keegan advisors will not be so sure that they got a great deal in the merger," the recruiter said. "In a few months, they could give the money back and say 'sayonara.' "
Zank, naturally, is more upbeat.
"We view financial advisors as those who simply earn their business as free agents," the COO said. "As they've been getting transition offers—and some have been waved in front of them everyday—the Morgan Keegan group remains amazingly cohesive."
Zank credits Morgan Keegan's management team. "They are all signed up with us now and are staying. Like their advisors, they've always had the opportunity to go to a wirehouse, say, tomorrow or whenever," he said. "There seems to be a significant bond between advisors and managers in their system, like with Raymond James."

subset: commoncrawl


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GE ropes in Texas genomics company
May 2012
CHALFONT ST GILES, EnglandIn early April, GE Healthcare, a GE-owned company, completed its acquisition of Houston, Texas-based SeqWright Inc., a provider of nucleic acid sequencing and other genomic services, now set to become part of GE Healthcare's Clarient business unit, which is focused on developing novel, proprietary diagnostic markers and tests for the profiling of breast, lung and colon cancers, melanoma and blood-based cancers. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Part of the reason for the acquisition was to add complementary genomics capabilities to Clarient, a player in the fast-growing molecular diagnostics sector, as well as to provide a platform for Clarient to expand its clinical diagnostic offerings to include next-generation sequencing.
"Sequencing, including next-generation sequencing, is a critical technology for GE's medical diagnostics business. The acquisition of a laboratory like SeqWright, which has long-standing expertise in the field as well as an established customer base, allows us immediate entry into this space and is an ideal complement to Clarient's existing PCR and IHC testing in support of pharmaceutical and in-vitro diagnostic studies," Carrie Eglinton-Manner, CEO of Clarient, tells ddn, adding that negotiations with SeqWright began nearly a year ago, in mid-2011.
"Understanding how genetic variation at the molecular level impacts disease is critical in the continued discovery and development of new and more effective therapies, and increasingly in the management of patient care through the use of more precise diagnostic tests," said Pascale Witz, president and CEO of GE Healthcare's Medical Diagnostics business, in the news release about the acquisition.
Eglinton-Manner notes that sequencing technology, including next-generation systems, has matured to a point where it makes good sense to start incorporating the platform technology on a more routine basis when conducting biomarker research and thinking about clinical practice.
"The scalability and cost of the technology has also stabilized within the last couple of years to a point where it can be incorporated into a research and diagnostic workflow," she says. "Furthermore, our customers' understanding of the technology and its value has reached a point where we are seeing more large-scale adoption taking place, and consideration of routine use has occurred."
Given those technology and market changes and SeqWright's strengths, the acquisition "made sense now," Eglinton-Manner adds.
"As a CLIA- certified service provider, we are in a position to capitalize on the growing role next- and third -generation DNA sequencing technologies will play in clinical diagnostics," said Fei Lu, president and CEO of SeqWright, in the official statement about the deal. "This partnership will put us in a position to apply the power of new direct detection technologies to clinical and companion diagnostics, potentially revolutionizing the way healthcare decisions are made."
In addition, GE Healthcare notes, SeqWright has "an extensive history" of projects that focus on clinical trial and regulatory support for companion diagnostic submissions.
Although SeqWright and GE Healthcare had never worked together directly before now, SeqWright and GE have worked on sponsor-related projects where Clarient was conducting non-sequencing-based testing on samples and SeqWright was doing the sequencing, Eglinton-Manner says, noting that "This allowed us to experience the brand recognition as well as the quality of work provided by SeqWright."
GE and Clarient plan to retain the existing leadership team at SeqWright and the SeqWright employees will remain in Houston to serve as part of Clarient's Houston-based sequencing laboratory.
"The acquisition of SeqWright by GE Healthcare is about growth," Eglinton-Manner says. "It is an acquisition of a business that truly adds new competence and new technologies. GE Healthcare values the employees that will be joining the company as part of this acquisition. The expertise and knowledge of SeqWright's employees will be key in the continuing growth of the business."
GE Healthcare, Dyax ink oncology licensing deal
CHALFONT ST GILES, EnglandGE Healthcare also announced last month, along with Dyax Corp., a licensing agreement for the development and commercialization of peptides binding to c-Met, which provides upfront, milestone and royalty payments to Dyax.
Research of potential diagnostic applications and use as a patient selection biomarker in oncology will be explored by GE Healthcare in collaboration with academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies. The license includes application of the peptides in positron emission tomography (PET), single proton emission computed tomography (SPECT) and optical imaging.
"Growth factor receptors such as c-Met are promising therapeutic targets that could be a critical factor in the development of colorectal, lung and liver oncology drugs," said Marivi Mendizabal, head of research at GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics, in a statement. "As in-vivo imaging technologies become increasingly important in oncology drug development, our vision is that we will be able to rapidly develop new targeted molecular diagnosticsnot just for our own clinical portfolio, but as 'companion' diagnostic offerings for our strategic biopharmaceutical partnerships."
"This agreement validates the strength of Dyax's core phage display library technology to support GE Healthcare's work to aid the development of cutting-edge treatment options for patients," added Gustav Christensen, president and CEO of Dyax. "With 18 Dyax-derived antibody or peptide programs currently in human clinical trials, we continue to demonstrate the utility of Dyax's proven and highly successful engine to power both therapeutic and diagnostic development."
Code: E051213


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Though the cross reigns over Good Friday, Easter's mystery needs a symbol of its own.
I don't usually think of Jesus' crucifixion when passing the sweets table, but there it was: A big rich dark chocolate cake adorned with white sugary latticework in the shape of-you guessed it-a cross.
It wasn't completely out of place, since I was at an ordination. But it brought to mind the perennial question of why, if you want to make something, anything, "Christian," all you have to do is slap a cross on it, and voila! I wonder if the Romans had any idea that their preferred instrument of torture would someday be imitated in cake frosting.
Actually, the early Christians might be a little surprised themselves. It took centuries for crosses to appear in places of worship, perhaps because the ancient church still had firsthand experience of their brutal purpose. Once the memory of a fellow Christian nailed to a cross faded, believers felt more comfortable bringing one to church. Since then Christian churches of almost every stripe have a cross. Catholic schoolchildren of a certain generation were even taught to draw one at the top of every sheet of paper.
Unfortunately the ubiquity of the cross, for all its importance, focuses our faith almost exclusively on Jesus' torture and execution. His resurrection, which is the end point of the Good News, gets lost in the shadow of the cross-though death's defeat admittedly lacks an easily identified instrument as its apparent victory. Easter's transformation is a bit hard to illustrate, much less draw at the top of an essay.
But it does lead one to wonder why we haven't sought an image that captures our Easter faith more fully. Scripture provides a captivating yet ambiguous one: an open, empty tomb. In fact, the oldest story of Easter, from the gospel of Mark, lacks the angelic figures of Matthew and Luke and the mysterious gardener of John. All Mark gives us is an empty hole in the ground, from which the women who came to anoint Jesus flee in terror.
Perhaps that's one reason why the empty tomb never caught on. Unlike the cross, concrete in its shape and purpose and cruelty, the empty tomb is ambiguous, open to interpretation. Depending on your point of view, it is either a curiosity to be explored-who isn't tempted to enter a cave?-or a macabre reminder of our own inevitable death.
That is, after all, the truth of the grave, one that can be more personal than the cross. It's easy to let the cross be all about Jesus' death; none of us expect to die on one. And Jesus' death in the minds of many Christians is a one-time event, a special case with cosmic purpose, however understood.
But while the cross allows us to recall Jesus' historical passion and consider its saving purpose, we can easily remain safely in denial about our own mortality, and questions about the purpose of our own death can go unasked.
Even if we're unlikely to be tortured to death on a cross, we're all going to end up in a grave some day. Christian faith promises that we'll come back out eventually, but not until we follow Jesus down into the depths of the earth in our own "saving" death, regardless of the manner by which we go.
That is the mystery we celebrate in baptism, and why baptism in the ancient church was a lot more like a ritual drowning than an unthreatening trickle of water. St. Paul says it best: "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" (Rom. 6:3). Beyond scripture and sacrament, we experience that truth of faith more immediately and intensely when we place a loved one in the open ground and water the earth with our tears.
Considered in this light, an empty tomb on Easter Sunday might not merit the joy of even a single alleluia. But between the cross and a hole in the ground, I'll take the tomb. For me it better captures the pattern of our Christian lives-life, death, resurrection-acknowledging the inevitability of death as well as its inability to hold us forever. The life that awaits us is beyond our grasp, inspiring at least uncertainty if not apprehension, but also open to hopeful possibility.
"What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived," says Paul, is "what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor. 2:9). Easter's empty tomb points the way to the God who is making all things new.
This article appeared in the April 2010 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 75 no. 4, page 8).
Image: Flickr photo cc by crunklygill


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GENEVA (Reuters) - Syrian authorities have detained 336 men who left Homs and are still questioning most of them without direct supervision by any neutral third party, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
The men, deemed to be of fighting age by the Syrian authorities, were among 1,151 who left the besieged rebel-held Old City of Homs during an agreed ceasefire that was extended for another three days, until Wednesday.
The U.N.-brokered "humanitarian pause" between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. has also allowed aid to get into the old quarter of Homs, which has been surrounded by President Bashar al-Assad's forces for more than a year and a half.
Homs governor Talal al-Barazi said around 100 men had been questioned and released, but the United Nations has so far only reported the release of 41 men.
The men have been questioned in a school, under the "general monitoring" of protection staff from the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR and the U.N. children's agency, UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a briefing in Geneva.
"We know every person that is there. We are speaking to them separately ... But these are interviews that the U.N. is not necessarily privy to. These are security screening interviews," Fleming said.
"Mostly what we're asking about is we're concerned in general about how they're faring, what's their health situation, what are their concerns," she said.
The U.N. was also asking detainees about the humanitarian situation inside Old Homs, she said, to better inform aid workers going back in for evacuations and aid distributions.
Aid and evacuations operations were halted on Tuesday afternoon for logistical reasons, the governor said, but will continue again on Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m.
"We've delayed today's operations until tomorrow, when we will have prepared a new corridor into the area, which is closer to the civilians there, especially for the elderly ... It is difficult for some of them to walk," he told Reuters by telephone.
The ceasefire deal originally stipulated that only women, children and men over 55 years of age would get safe passage.
But on Sunday, Barazi said anyone could leave, though men aged between 15 and 55 would be questioned and put through a "judicial process", which could include an amnesty.
Opposition activists have expressed concern that some Homs evacuees, particularly men, could encounter dangers such as those faced by residents who fled the besieged rebel-held town of Mouadamiya, near the capital, Damascus, in October.
Security forces detained dozens of men, many of whom have not been freed.
Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N. human rights office, said any evacuee, including those who had laid down their arms, must be protected from acts prohibited under international law, including cruel treatment, torture and humiliating and degrading treatment.
"We are also deeply concerned to learn that a number of boys and men and their families were seized by the authorities as they left the besieged area. It is essential that they do not come to any harm," he said.
The Old Homs ceasefire has been the first tangible result of the "Geneva 2" peace talks, in their second round this week.
The evacuees included five women in the late stages of pregnancy, including one who was in labor and gave birth in hospital shortly afterwards, said World Health Organization spokeswoman Fadela Chaib.
Many people had skin diseases, she said.
Those coming out were very weak with obvious signs of malnutrition
"A man said he survived for a week with one spoon of bulgur," said World Food Programme spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs, adding that the small amount of bulgur wheat available in the besieged area was infested with insects.
"They said that daily they survived on leaves, grass, olives, and sometimes some wheat flour appeared and they were mixing flour with water to make a kind of bread."
Syria's nearly three-year-old conflict has killed more than 130,000 and forced six million to leave their homes. Many live in desperate conditions, with hunger an increasing problem.
The United Nations says it does not know how many people are still in Old Homs, but some estimates suggest the area has about 2,500 residents - a small percentage of the more than quarter of a million the U.N. estimates are trapped.
Assad's forces have often used sieges to choke rebel-held areas. Rebels are increasingly doing the same.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles; Writing by Erika Solomon; Editing by Ralph Boulton)


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Abstract and Keywords
The configuration of Canarian migration during the Conquest and colonization of the Spanish Caribbean was significantly influenced by its historic continuity, familial nature (with an elevated presence of women and children), dedication to agriculture, and contribution to the settlement of towns. This migration gave rise to quintessentially rural prototypes, such as the Cuban guajiro, linked to self-sustaining agriculture and tobacco; the Puerto Rican jíbaro, a coffee grower; and the Dominican montero or farmer from Cibao. All of these contributed a great many aspects of their speech, idiosyncrasies, and culture.
The migratory dynamic has evolved since the Conquest and includes such processes as Cuban tobacco colonization, the foundation of townships in Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico (in order to further analyze their adaptation to the economic boom of sugar plantations in Cuba and Puerto Rico), and the uprising of slaves in French Santo Domingo, as well as the cession of the Spanish portion of the island to this country in 1795. This event merits special focus, due to its great transcendence in terms of the signs of identity that emerged during the rebellion of the Canarian vegueros against the monopoly within the Havana context, and the defense of their configuration as a distinct people in San Carlos de Tenerife: processes that explain their response to 19th-century innovations in Cuba and Puerto Rico and to Dominican political avatars, as well as their attitudes toward criollismo and emancipation. Their singularities are reflected in the mass Cuban emigration that took place during the early decades of the 20th century.
Keywords: migrations, Caribbean, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, self-sustaining agriculture, labor, free work, slavery, guajiro, jíbaro, montero
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Matthew Zapruder
Tuesday, April 15, 2014, 7:00 p.m., City Lights Bookstore. 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco
celebrating the release of his new poetry collection
Sun Bear from Copper Canyon Press
Matthew Zapruder's poems begin in the faint inkling, in the bloom of thought, and then unfold into wide-reaching meditations on what it means to live in the contemporary moment, among plastic, statistics, and diet soda. Written in a direct, conversational style, the poems in Sun Bear display in full-force why Zapruder is one of the most popular poets in America.
Matthew Zapruder is a poet, translator, and editor at Wave Books. He is the author of three collections of poetry, and his book The Pajamaist won the William Carlos Williams Award. His poems, essays, and translations have appeared in many publications, including BOMB, Harvard Review, Paris Review, The New Yorker, McSweeney's, and The Believer. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.