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Johnson furthers Global Education goal through new China partnership
Alliance with Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business will connect top Chinese students with Johnson MBA students and faculty
January 19, 2011
Johnson at Cornell University has announced a partnership with the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), one of the leading business schools in China.
"This collaboration will further Johnson's footprint in China, particularly among the elite business leaders in that region" said Ya-Ru Chen, Nicholas H. Noyes professor of Management and Global Business at the Johnson School.
Specific areas of collaboration will include MBA student exchange, a certificate program hosted by Johnson for an EMBA outbound group from CKGSB, a joint energy certificate program for senior executives from the Chinese energy sector in Ithaca, and the Parker Center of Investment Research and related Johnson parties serving as advisor for the setup of the China Investment Fund at CKGSB.
"Our partnership with Johnson will help students of both schools better prepared for the increasingly globalized business world," said Li Zhou, assistant dean of CKGSB.
Johnson's ongoing commitment to expand its global imprint is a primary goal of the school's long term Strategic Plan. Currently, Johnson has celebrated successes with its certificate program with Nanjing and Peking Universities in China, a similar certificate program with KAUST in Saudi Arabia and its innovative Executive MBA degree program with Canada's Queens University, which reaches professionals in over 20 cities in the U.S. and Canada and most recently, Colombia, South America.
News Headlines Index


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Either in amplitude or PCM. Neutrinos interact with matter even less than Electromagnetic waves.
They are a bitch to generate (take an awfull LOT of energy), but that is the problem of the alien civilization trying to comunicate, not ours, at least for the time being.
Either in amplitude or PCM. Neutrinos interact with matter even less than Electromagnetic waves.
Exactly - so why would you want to use them to communicate?
Potential indicators of the presence of an alien civilization might include: atmospheric pollutants, like chlorofluorocarbons â" which, unlike methane or molecular oxygen, are clearly manufactured rather than just biogenically produced
Clearly? Maybe here on earth. Who knows what natural processes exist elsewhere.
The actual suggestion, as originally proposed by James Lovelock and expanded-upon by others, is that you look for the following:
a) Dynamic equilibriums involving chemicals that are unstable in each other's presence and/or in the presence of the radiation from their sun
Unless the chemicals are replenished, such a system MUST reduce to a stable equilibrium, although this is insufficient to say HOW they are replenished.
b) Evidence that one or more of the chemicals cannot arise naturally (ie: there ISN'T a geological process, even an unknown one, that could ever create the compound)
Not all chemicals have a natural proginator. Doesn't matter how alien the world is, doesn't matter how strange or exotic, not everything can happen naturally. The reliance on a mysterous get-out-of-jail-free "unknown" simply doesn't cut it for some stuff. Chemistry is remarkably simple and the rules of what chemical reactions can and cannot happen are very well known. Those rules are as true in any solar system in Andromeda or on any planet that has no sun at all as they are here.
c) Evidence that the compounds resulting from the natural reaction of the compounds observed in the atmosphere are BELOW the levels that can possibly occur as a result of the reactions that must be taking place
We can observe every damn element in an atmosphere along with exactly what compounds those elements combine to form, their ratios and their temperatures. There are no hidden variables within the atmosphere itself. If the chemicals that should be there aren't, then the chemicals are being removed by a variable that is NOT a part of the atmosphere.
d) As environmental conditons change (such as distance from the sun, etc), the ratio of compounds in the atmosphere changes such as to oppose that environmental change
ie: There's one or more negative feedback loops - not just on the addition of compounds to the atmosphere but also on the removal. Geological processes don't work this way. This isn't through our limited knowledge. Volcanos don't select what gasses they spew according to the time of year. If the gravitational pull is enough, they may vary in frequency. What they cannot do is vary in composition.
In addition, the vast majority of chemical reactions have POSITIVE feedback loops, not negative ones. The only way to produce negative feedback loops in sufficient quantity to overwhelm the positive feedback loops is to have a living component.
Meet these four conditions and life is guaranteed present. It may be present at some level when not all four are met (the statement isn't reversible), but it can never be absent when all are true.
There is NO extension to these rules which will allow you to determine the presence of intelligent life.
The detection of an atomic bomb throws off a unique signature not found in nature. It's like a power beacon of energy that's a universal sign of intelligence. The kind of signature not normally found in nature. Detect those, and you've got your alien race.
The Tsar bomb (57 megatons) was about 2 x 10^17 joules. Suppose all of that energy was released as visible light at a wavelength of 0.5 microns; that's about 6 x 10^35 photons, which sounds like (and is) a lot. However, at one light year (assuming a uniform blast of radiation), that works out to 500 photons per square meter.
Now, that could be detected, if you were looking for it. At 4.4 light years (Alpha Centauri), that's 26 photons per square meter, which would be detectable with a big telescope (maybe).
Presupposing the energy from an atomic detonation is even detectable across interstellar distances, we'd still need to be extraordinarily lucky in terms of timing.
On Earth, the only above-ground nuclear detonations, ever, occurred in the twentieth century, specifically 1945-1980 or thereabouts. I'm not including underground tests, as they aren't as easy to spot from a distance (they're easy to detect here on earth via seismograph, but that doesn't apply to the discussion) . If something out there were loo
The detection of an atomic bomb throws off a unique signature not found in nature.
True but the question we then have to ask is do we want to contact an alien civilization that is throwing atomic bombs around...and is there any point given that chance are they will not be around for much longer? Even then atomic bombs are not that powerful considering that the planet is sitting not that far from a thermonuclear furnace many orders of magnitude larger than the entire planet.
Hypothetical event, but what if aliens visited Roswell NM in 1947 because of the first bomb set off in 1945? What if the energy released by that explosion transcended space/time and created a unique signature at the quantum level only detectable with advanced alien technology? An instantaneous notification of our existence across the universe. By chance, they detected us. And the rest they say is history.
At best, it makes for some good SciFi. But who really knows for sure...
Actually, that would make good scifi, at least of the soft-ish variety. Possibility: a story in which an observation station in the outer solar system picks up the atomic bomb blasts in '45 and alerts someone to come investigate, with a two-year lag in arrival explained by the alien spacecraft taking that long to get here (it'd have to be FTL, two light years is too close for anything else).
It even makes sense if the arriving scout ship aims for the American southwest and not Japan; they'd be going for the
There are at least two sites on Earth known where natural deposits of uranium were pure enough to have undergone a thermonuclear process of the kind found in a nuclear reactor. Although improbable, it is certainly possible for an entirely natural nuclear bomb to arise. It is, agreed, exceedingly unlikely but all the processes required do exist in nature and therefore must combine somewhere, at some point in time, in just the right way.
Interferometry [wikimedia.org] is the short answer. The long answer is, no, it wouldn't be insurmountable to pick up Casey Kasem 50ly away with a good array.
Interferometry [wikimedia.org] is the short answer. The long answer is, no, it wouldn't be insurmountable to pick up Casey Kasem 50ly away with a good array.
I don't quite understand the long answer; can you give me the short answer, please?
Do they teach this kind of thing in astronomy?
Perhaps, but it's in every SETI FAQ, so you don't need to go to College to figure it out.
Short version: radio SETI is looking for intentional radiators.
The light from planets is omnidirectional, time-continuous and over a frequency-continuum. You can save energy by only submitting in one direction and for a short duration and at a specific frequency. That's why SETI is looking for pulses from exoplanets or crowded regions, and recorded at suitable (presumably universal) frequency windows like the waterhole [wikipedia.org].
Search Google or Youtube for Seth Shostak on some SETI talks -- he also mentions how you can transfer a signal in a science fair project.
What I've also wondered is how big of an antenna would we need to detect a communication from a near star, say 50ly. And how much power would it take to send a message that far? If we can't even see planets, how can SETI expect to receive a transmission from one? I've asked some astronomy majors about this and received only blank stares. Do they teach this kind of thing in astronomy? What are the calculations?
It's a fair question. Fortunately, an intentional transmitter can be much brighter than the star or planet -- in a narrow bandwidth and pointing straight at you. (And stars aren't very bright at microwave frequencies.) There's no problem communicating to nearby space if you know each other's frequency and direction. You can concentrate megawatts of power into
Interferometry (increasing the spatial resolution of the receiving antenna) actually doesn't help you much, except to discriminate against the d
Meant to say you can concentrate megawatts into less than 1 Hz of bandwidth and then multiply the power by using a very high gain antenna. The big problem in SETI is not knowing where to look or where to tune your receiver.
You probably know this already, but for the benefit of anyone following along: antenna gain does not produce extra power. The purpose of gain is (when transmitting) to send all input power in a desired direction, and (when receiving) reject incoming signals from undesired directions.
When receiving, you will also need an antenna with a very large effective area so as to capture as many photons as possible. That's why Aricebo is so large; and being a dish antenna, it is also very high gain.
To calculate, simply use the inverse square law, then make use of this information kindly provided by Wikipedia concerning information theory and noisy channels. [wikipedia.org]
Together, this along with the target distance to the alien planet will give you the optimum broadcast power for an intelligable message to be sent. Bear in mind that the SNR needs to be sufficiently high to still discern the signal from cosmic background radiation. Choice of broadcast frequency would be helpful here, but sadly I cant link you to any
I agree.
1. It is not un-reasable that an advanced civ would extend beyond the origin planet to look for resources.
2. Resource extraction is messy. Waste does need to be dealt with no matter the environment.
In space you want the waste away from you and with a low probability to collision. The best way is to dump it into gravity wells like gas giants and suns. This is going to give of spectrum of some sort. Consider it spectral pollution The more industrialized the civ the more of this spectrum pollution
In space you want the waste away from you and with a low probability to collision. The best way is to dump it into gravity wells like gas giants and suns.
Why spend so much delta-v? Space is big. Just put the waste into an orbit which doesn't intersect with anything you care about, and you're done. Spending the energy to collide it with the local star is ridiculous.
Actually, it'd have to be pretty dire waste to make sending it into space the best option, unless the civilization in question has ridiculously low launch costs or is already living and producing waste in space (both possible, mind you). I could see disposal of the worst kind of unreprocessable nuclear waste in this manner, but just about nothing else.
If you did have waste that was that bad, I doubt you'd want to keep it in orbit. Spending a little extra delta-v to boost it into the nearest gravity well (
Umm, yes. But, how do you look for pollution? I.e. what is classed as "pollution" here on earth might be quite normal elsewhere.
If they don't have that then you probably don't want to talk to them anyway because they: 1- are too primitive, have no tech- nothing to trade or steal. 2- are envioro-nazis
How about instead of just trying to detect other civilizations that exist along side us, also trying to detect ones that came long before in the previous Universe. If the Universe is cyclic and there was another universe before our "big bang", one thing we could do is see if the particles around us have some kind of signature to them that would be unexpected. It may not be possible right now for us to make such signatures, but perhaps a previous civilization built large devices close to the end of the previ
Kudos, you sounds like a real pseudoscientist !
I am a pseudoscientist, as in I'm not really a scientist. But they wanted imagination.
We could just keep an eye out for this guy. [marvel.com]
If the Universe is cyclic and there was another universe before our "big bang", one thing we could do is see if the particles around us have some kind of signature to them that would be unexpected.
A couple problems here.
1) What works in Star Trek: TNG cannot be relied upon to work in real life.
2) The idea of a cyclic "Big Bang" is not consistent with the current understanding of the universe. Thirty years ago people took that concept semi-seriously, or at least didn't have a concrete argument against it - but that was back when they thought the universe's expansion was gradually slowing down rather than accelerating.
Worse than that, human activity from space would have been detectable for how many years? 2000? 3000? Likely less.
Worse than that, human activity from space would have been detectable for how many years? 2000? 3000? Likely less.
Less than 200. Possibly less than 100. Unless by "from space" you mean "from Earth orbit".
Biologic activity would have been detectable for much longer, though. High concentrations of atmospheric O2 seems pretty suspicious in the presence of lots of things it would like to bond with better.
If they are more advanced than we are, they will have little to learn from us, and instead, we will be seen as a competitor for resources, or a more direct threat, or likely to become one. So their best course of action would be to exterminate us.
Dyson spheres (or swarms) would probably be the best way to detect an advanced civilization, especially a Kardashev Type II or Type III civilization.
In a Dyson sphere (or swarm) a civilization surrounds an entire star to capture most or all of its luminosity; severely cutting down on its optical luminosity but accentuating the IR luminosity. (The physics of a rigid sphere surrounding a star are pretty challenging, and some sort of swarm or cloud seems more likely, at least to our limited technological understanding.) So, to hunt for a Dyson sphere, you look for objects with an unusual excess of IR, and a lack of optical light. The IRAS IR satellite was used to search for Dyson spheres within ~ 1000 light years of the Earth [arxiv.org] (producing a handful of so-so candidates). Carrigan [arxiv.org] calls these sorts of searches "Interstellar Archaeology." They have one great advantage in that they don't require any cooperation from the other end (i.e., no beacons or other signals).
As it happens, I have recently speculated that "Object X [arxiv.org]" in M33 (the Triangulum Galaxy) could represent the signature of a Dyson sphere / swarm from 3 million light years away [americafree.tv]. If this (unlikely) possibility were to be true, it would represent the signature of a Kardashev Type III or near Type III civilization. Interstellar Archaeology is the only possible form of SETI across such vast distances.
The linked PDF you provided speculates that "object X" might be a self-obscured star, obscured by its own ejecta.
If we assume that this is indeed a dyson swarm, then the purpose might not be exclusively for collecting energy.
A category II or III civilization would be doing asto-architecture, and would need tremendous amounts of raw materials. Heavy atoms are only produced naturally in one kind of environment: in the hearts of stars. If this star is regularly expelling large quantities of cosmic dust, as the linked article postulates, then it would make an excellent "Factory". Energy would be in copious abundance, and the star itself would be churning out millions of tons of heavy atoms every minute. Even with a short (compared to other stars) lifespan, it would make an excellent factory site for other large astro-engineering projects.
It would be far more economical than mechanically processing already aggregated matter clumps (planets, asteroids, etc)-- especially with a dyson sphere/swarm infrastructure. The emitted gas and dust would be strongly ionized, and a simple network of magnetic traps could passively funnel the more desirable metal and halide ions from the lighter non-metals, with very minimal post processing. It would go a long way toward eliminating material scarcity issues that would otherwise plague a category II or III civilization.
Spectrographic analysis of the dust cloud to see if it has an uneven distribution of heavy and light elements would be quite revealing if this is the case-- Heavy ions would be in greater concentrations nearer the solar mass than away from it-- contrary to what you would expect if it was merely a gravitationally bound stellar dust cloud. (the latter would have a fairly uniform distribution of dust and gas)
Sadly, since it is in another galaxy such spectrographic studies are not very easy to do in sufficient resolutions to make such distinctions. It would need to transit some other more luminous celestial object in order for us to get such a reading, so that the invisible gas envelope surrounding the object could be studied, but again, it being in a distant galaxy coupled with the slow rate of orbital rotation of stars around a galactic center mass makes this a wait that could be billions of years long for such an event.
I agree that it is a very interesting object though.
The linked PDF you provided speculates that "object X" might be a self-obscured star, obscured by its own ejecta.
If we assume that this is indeed a dyson swarm, then the purpose might not be exclusively for collecting energy.
A category II or III civilization would be doing asto-architecture, and would need tremendous amounts of raw materials. Heavy atoms are only produced naturally in one kind of environment: in the hearts of stars. If this star is regularly expelling large quantities of cosmic dust, as the linked article postulates, then it would make an excellent "Factory". Energy would be in copious abundance, and the star itself would be churning out millions of tons of heavy atoms every minute. Even with a short (compared to other stars) lifespan, it would make an excellent factory site for other large astro-engineering projects.
Yes, that was sort of along the lines of my thought. This seems like a poor location for a long-term agricultural project, but conceivably an excellent site for astroengineering. In that case there might be detectable byproducts (for example,as you suggest, the distributions of various elements might be depleted or rearranged). Also, they might use nuclear fusion to synthesize missing very heavy elements or for some other purpose requiring high energies (there is, after all, lots of gas as well), and that m
If you want to communicate with the other intelligent races in the Universe, go help the LHC.
1) figure out physics
2) build the most promising communicator or detector
3) try, wait, try, wait, try, wait.
4) goto 2
We're making progress on step 1) but step 2) is far too premature at this point.
Fermilab has been producing intermittent neutrino streams from their accelerator for some time now. Thatis probably a really good signaling device as they can be detected even with our current technology. The problem for us detecting something like that now is that we don't have directionality with existing neutrino detectors and imparting that might be rather challanging.
Certainly LHC is going to be producing more neutrinos as well.
The 'math' on aliens doesn't really work out in favor of them being anything we can comprehend, much less communicate with, even if you believe as I do that the existence of alien races is almost a mathematical certainty.
Here goes:
Age of universe, something around 14 gy (gigayears).
Age of earth, around 4.5 gy.
(Now, it's reasonably certain that the solar system is actually at least 'round 2' in this neighborhood - due to the presence of trans-iron elements, etc. At least one generation of stars in the area c
The most logical ways I've seen of resolving this are:
1) There are no aliens, at least not of the tool using, technological, civilized, space-faring variety.
2) There were aliens; intelligence tends to self-destruct.
Or, my personal favourite:
3) There are aliens, but the galaxy is huge, and they stick to their own corner of it.
This third one makes sense if you assume that there is no "silver bullet" approach to interstellar spaceflight, and that it really would take the wealth of several planets to send a lar
Will be slaves of an expanding culture like us or simply will try to enjoy their lives while it lasts? Intelligence don't imply culture, civilization don't imply changing their planet or solar system in a way visible from here.
I suppose that the question of if will ever be able to be surpassed the speed of light could matter here. If don't, will matter very little if we find something weird far away from here. And if the speed of light is not the limit, and they could figure how to surpass it in practice
If movies have taught us anything, it's that every colony ship ever is bound to encounter some form of intelligent life. Hollywood wouldn't lie to us, right?
1) Intelligent life is fairly common.
2) We are somewhere in the middle of the bell curve advancement wise.
3) Really advanced races harvest stars for their energy and matter.
Thus, all we need to do is look for stars disappearing in an orderly fashion, and we've got the proof (and then we should hope like heck they don't stumble across our solar system with its moi
Mod parent up
This step is simple: invent an FTL method of communication.
The reasoning is also simple. If we can have FTL then it is a given that all developed civilizations are using it. Radio is simply too slow. We don't use pigeons anymore to send messages, do we? So why do we expect an alien civilization to spend terawatts of energy and thousands of years to blast radio signals into space?
But if we can't have FTL then pretty much we are prisoners of our star system. Perhaps generation ships can export our genes to other stars, but that is unlikely, and we will never [in practical terms] know how they fared. Ping times of thousands of years are simply out of our time scale, until we all become cyborgs or beings of pure energy.
So that's why FTL is the only possible solution. Anything less is just a waste of money and effort. This effort should be invested into science, in every way possible. Even if FTL is absolutely impossible in our Universe, perhaps we will find a neighboring Universe with physical laws that are more to our liking.
Even if none of these planets have intelligent life, its still worth taking a look. A habitable world in another star system say 20 years travel away is hardly too far to "know what happened". A world in another star system that can support human life is a "game changer".
A habitable world in another star system say 20 years travel away is hardly too far to "know what happened".
I'm not sure if we can develop a machine that can be sent for a 20 years (one way) trip and do all the research completely independently and efficiently. It actually is a job for an AI - we need better robots; another science problem right here. The main problem, however, is not technical - the trip will take 40-45 years, and youngsters who paid for it will be senior citizens when the probe returns
It actually is a job for an AI - we need better robots...We need new physics to make the next step.
What an interesting post, I've thought the same things, especially about colonising our own solar system. Once we get there then we can try to figure out the next step of colonising the galaxy.
I was also considering a situation that *if* there were other civilisations that launched robots to explore the galaxy based on their own versions of AI could they combine over time. Could there ever be a situation wh
The main problem, however, is not technical - the trip will take 40-45 years, and youngsters who paid for it will be senior citizens when the probe returns. Politically, in a democracy, the majority of population will not buy into this project. You need an enlightened dictator to do this.
Dictators are never enlightened. And democracies are perfectly capable of making long term plans.
We desperately want to meet the aliens. Unless they are illegal aliens, then they should GTFO.
It seems that Aliens only want to address us by probing the rectums of trailer park inhabitants. It doesn't seem to be a stretch that Aliens are entranced by rectums and trailer parks.
If we concentrated our search for trailer parks, we are likely to find the places Aliens at least like to go on holiday; and that would be a start!
If I were an advanced alien civilization, I'd probably need a lot of energy, and I'd probably be doing "star engineering" on a much larger scale than what's suggested here.
I'd modify a star to project its energy in focused beams, like the jets of a quasar.
I'd make a Project Orion powered by supernovae.
If I were a human looking for ETs, I'd look for signs of them in the highest energy interactions that we can see. Patterns? Events that don't appear completely random? etc
I wouldn't look for human-like ideas o
Just look for anything out of the ordinary, and once you find it, try to come up with an explanation. This way you'll not only find life (if it exist) but also other interesting phenomena.
Change seems to be the only constant of life. Look for a change in atmospheric composition, in RF "noise", in anything we can measure really. The galactic equivalent of a motion detector. Not all change represents life, but it does represent something worth investigating. And, of course, the change might not be occurring on a scale we can measure in a short timeframe (where short would be less than our average lifetime), but it would almost certainly be faster than traveling anywhere with existing technology.
Anything else -- the absence or existence of certain elements -- is even more speculative than postulating a cause for change. The only exception might be something we can be reasonably certain hasn't occurred naturally, such as a signal carrying intelligence (modulation), which is the whole drive behind SETI. The problem with only looking for modulated EMR, is that it limits the domain to strictly intelligent life, which, while extremely interesting, could well be too high a threshold.
The other problem is that given the vast distances of space, anything we discover will be ancient history at best, and quite possibly long gone. The only way we're likely to actually communicate with another intelligent species is if they happen to be remarkably close by, or if one of us masters the manipulation of space-time.
Matter cannot be created or destroyed, nor can it be returned without a receipt.

subset: commoncrawl


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Turns out a lot of the damage done to cars in this country isn't from colliding with another automobile. Two-car accidents make up less than half of all incidents, according to an analysis by CarInsurance.com, which provides insurance advice and online quote comparisons.
Turns out a lot of the damage done to cars in this country isn't from colliding with another automobile. Two-car accidents make up less than half of all incidents, according to an analysis by CarInsurance.com, which provides insurance advice and online quote comparisons.
CarInsurance.com looked at data submitted by more than 42,000 car insurance shoppers. As shoppers compared rates for liability, comprehensive and collision policies, they reported their previous accidents. From that data, the website compiled its top "hit" list.
"We buy auto insurance because we envision two cars careening toward each other and screeching brakes," CarInsurance.com Managing Editor Des Toups said. "But more than a third of all incidents involve things like a parked car, the weather, vandalism, hitting animals or road debris."
The percentage of people who struck another car or were struck was about 45 percent. But here's a breakdown for other accidents:
� Single-car accident: 7.9 percent.
� Act of nature, such as flood, hail or fallen tree: 5.8 percent.
� Struck a parked car or tree: 5.4 percent.
� Car struck while parked: 5 percent.
� Debris or other non-accident damage (such as hitting a pothole): 2.9 percent.
� Vandalism: 2.4 percent.
� Struck animal: 2.4 percent.
� Windshield or glass: 2.2 percent.
� Theft of car/theft of parts: 1.5 percent
� Hit a pedestrian: 0.4 percent
CarInsurance.com has created an interactive online tool - with crashing sound effects - so that drivers can see what type of insurance would cover six common accidents: hitting someone else's car, crashing into another car that you own or running into a tree, animal, pothole or garage door. They call it the "Crash-o-Matic." The tool compares hypothetical rates for liability, comprehensive and collision coverage on select 2013 vehicles. You can find it by going to carinsurance.com and searching for "You hit what? The Crash-o-Matic."
Comprehensives coverage reimburses you for loss due to theft or damage caused by something other than a crash with another car or object, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Collision coverage pays for damage to your car resulting from a collision with another car, object or as a result of flipping over. Property damage liability covers damage that you or someone driving your car with permission may cause to someone else's property.
If you buy only liability insurance, as many people do, repairs to your car will not be covered under almost all of the damage scenarios featured in the in the Crash-o-Matic tool, Toups said.
Be sure to compare rates with different insurance companies. Don't underestimate how much coverage you will need, especially if you aren't a careful driver or if you don't have savings to cover damage.
Contact Michelle Singletary, a personal finance columnist at The Washington Post, at email@example.com.


text:
David Cameron said Britain has "paid a heavy price" for its involvement in the conflict in Afghanistan as he visited troops there in the run-up to Christmas.
However, the Prime Minister said the campaign had been a success and that Britain and other Coalition forces had stopped the country becoming a "haven for terror".
He dismissed fears Afghanistan would see a "Taliban resurgence" when coalition troops leave and defended plans for British forces to be almost halved to 5,200 next year.
Full withdrawal is due to be completed by 2014.
Mr Cameron said that the Afghan security forces were doing "better than expected".
He insisted the withdrawal was being "done for good military reasons and it has been done in a proper way".
He said: "We're confident it can be done while making sure Afghanistan does not return to become a haven of terrorism which is of course why we came here in the first place.
"We have paid a very heavy price but I think the reason for coming here in the first place, which was to stop Afghanistan being a haven for terror ... I think it was the right decision," he added.
Mr Cameron toured Camp Bastion in Helmand, and saw vehicles which are being sent home because they are no longer needed after troop numbers in the country were cut by 500 to 9,000 this Christmas.
He moved on to Camp Price, a smaller base, 20 miles from Bastion, where he joined in a carol service with troops from 40 Commando Royal Marines, singing Once In Royal David's City and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.
Mr Cameron lost 2-1 when he took on a marine at table football, saying afterwards: "Someone better take over the blue team."
The Government has pledged an extra £230m for military equipment, much of which will be extra kit to detect and counter roadside bombs.
The money from the Treasury reserve is being made available immediately. Officials said it demonstrates the determination to see the Afghanistan campaign through.


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The Cobert and Rus sisters have visions of an all-sister relay at the state track meet next spring. For now, however, the sisters have a more timely concern – making their volleyball season last as long as possible.
The Coberts, junior Courtney and freshman Rachel, and the Ruses, senior Paige and freshman Peyton, are four of the six starters for Erie, which won its first regional championship since 2008 and just its second since 1987 last week.
The Cardinals (26-9) will meet Stockton (29-4) in a Class 1A Polo Sectional semifinal tonight at 7 p.m.
The Ruses have never played on the same team before.
"This is the first time, and this will be the last too, since I'm a senior" said Paige Rus, a 5-foot-9 middle hitter, who has a team-high 66 blocks and is second to her sister with 197 kills. "It's bittersweet."
Paige has enjoyed watching her sister flourish.
"She has surprised me," Paige said. "It makes me jealous. I wish I could go back and start as young as she did and had an older sister to help me."
Peyton, who has a team-high 210 kills, looks up to her sister.
"It's always been my dream to be just like her, so getting to play with her is really nice," said Peyton, a 5-8 outside hitter. "It helps that we're sisters because you kind of communicate better. You're not afraid to tell them to pick it up. Sometimes I yell at Paige, like 'Let's go.' You might not do that to other people."
Courtney Cobert, a 5-6 libero who has a team-high 207 digs, has been able to help her sister in more than merely a sisterly way.
"When I was a freshman and sophomore I played her position [middle hitter], but I'm not very tall so it didn't work as well," she said. "So, I can encourage her and tell her what she needs to fix, because I know what to do. She looks up to me for that."
The 5-9 Rachel Cobert is fourth on the team with 136 kills. She said the family dynamic has been interesting.
"It brings a certain closeness to the team," she said. "It's challenging at times, because sometimes you just don't like your siblings. But, it made me feel secure to have my sister on the team with me. To experience this with her makes me feel good."
Second-year coach Alicia Murphy has enjoyed the sister act.
"Obviously, they know each other better than everybody else," she said. "They read each other even more so than your typical teammates do. And, the rest of the girls have fallen right into line with them."
While the Coberts and Ruses plan on being together on the basketball court and track in the upcoming seasons, volleyball is the sole focus right now.
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Polo High School
Twitter: Follow Ty Reynolds (@STyReynolds) for live updates


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BOSTON — While it might be no consolation to Montreal forward Max Pacioretty while he's recovering from a fractured vertebrae and a severe concussion, Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara feels bad his hit caused such damage.
Yesterday while speaking to TSN, Pacioretty said he disagreed with the notion that Chara didn't intentionally shove his head into the stanchion.
"I understand, he's in the hospital, he has a right to be emotional and I respect that," said Chara after today's morning skate at TD Garden in preparation for an evening game with Buffalo. "I obviously feel bad that he got hurt. As a hockey player, we all feel bad that something like that happened – doesn't matter if you're the home team or the visiting team. I'm wishing him a fast recovery and hopefully he can be back on the ice soon and that's all we love to do. We love to play hockey. Obviously when we got out there we take risks, and sometimes we do get hurt. But it's just very unfortunate."
Some are questioning Chara's intentions on the play due to his history with Pacioretty, with whom he engaged in a post-game shoving match after a Pacioretty overtime goal earlier this season. Chara, however, says he didn't know who he was checking into the boards.
"No [I didn't know it was him.] … It was the faceoff and we tried to set up the play, and basically the puck went to the other side and we were racing for the puck. And I had no idea he was out on the ice. I had no idea it was him," said Chara.
As far as reports out of Montreal that there might be criminal charges on the way, Chara says he's not too worried about that right now.
"I got some media information on that this morning, but like I said, right now I'm focusing on playing my game and playing hockey," he said.
The Bruins are not scheduled to return to Montreal this season, but the Canadiens come to Boston March 24.


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KoE_Sirius wrote:I won't flog a dead horse.The ranking system of conquer is a funny thing.
Boosters,cheats and risksnobs prosper.
Suiciders,turn skippers and non-strategic player do not.
For all the players actually joining in with the conquerclub experience and holding a rank above SGT,a win ratio above 25% and more then 25 medals fairplay to you.
kudo's. in this i agree with you. even that the ranking system is funny.


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This is a myelin basic protein encephalitogenic epitope used to induce experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in rats.


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IUCN Director General Julia Marton-Lefèvre is among leading figures in international politics, science, business and civil society taking part in the 2013 Earth Dialogues being held today as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of Green Cross International, the environmental organisation founded by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
The Earth Dialogues event, Pathways into the Future - Triggers of Change, taking place at the United Nations building, comes at a time of deep crisis in multilateralism and a lack of coordinated international action in responding to ecological breakdown, globalization and a growing divide between rich and poor.
The conference aims to show how multilateralism can – and must – be recalibrated to meet these challenges. The event will provide a launch pad for initiatives to bolster effective multilateral action, with Geneva, the cradle for international modern consensus and cooperation, as an ideal platform.
Marton-Lefèvre took part in the panel session Building a Peaceful and Sustainable World which explores current top international priorities as well as new threats that are emerging.
Since 1993, Green Cross has responded to the combined challenges of security, poverty and environmental degradation. Its mission is to ensure a sustainable and secure future for all, seeking solutions through dialogue, mediation and cooperation.
"The root causes of the crises we are witnessing rest on outmoded theoretical concepts, values and institutions," says Mikhail Gorbachev. "The time has come for change, not incremental fixes. Conferences, like our Earth Dialogues, can build a bridge to the change we need. The perspectives and experiences of modern leaders, political veterans, experts, youth and the non-governmental community can stimulate a revival of robust multilateralism and high-level government decision-making."


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COLUMBIA — Mere months after the 2012 election, South Carolina is a buzz of political activity with a slate of potential presidential candidates already looking ahead to the state's "first in the South" primary still three years away.
Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a tea party favorite with national aspirations, descended on South Carolina on Friday to whip up the partisan faithful and offer a presidential campaign tease for the state. Both parties are preparing for next week's special congressional election featuring former GOP Gov. Mark Sanford and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert.
"As soon as I show up in South Carolina, the Washington press corps comes out and says, 'Is Biden getting ready?' " the vice president said at an annual party dinner, insisting that he came at the request of another Democrat, South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn. "I've got to make clear: I would go anywhere Jim asked me to go."
At the Democratic confab, more than 1,000 packed a convention center ballroom for the $125-per-person dinner, where Biden laid into House Republicans for "fighting like the devil" for a budget plan that he said slashes education, undercuts law enforcement and gets rid of Medicare.
"Where are they from? What don't they understand about this country?" Biden said, his voice rising to a roar. "What don't they understand about those decent Americans, who paid their whole lives, who built this country, who fought in wars?"
Cruz reminded Republicans at an annual state GOP dinner that less than a decade ago the party controlled the White House and Congress. He said Republicans could begin to turn the tide by regaining control of the Senate in the 2014 elections. "Things can change quickly," Cruz said.
In this conservative state that reliably votes Republican in national and statewide general elections, partisans already are getting a hefty amount of attention. Typically, South Carolina finds itself at the center of American politics for a brief time every four years during the presidential primary season, when it usually is the third state to weigh in on who should become the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees.
South Carolina's primaries have played an important role in the nominating process for both parties; the state gave Barack Obama a commanding victory in 2008 and until last year, every Republican nominee had won the state's primary since Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Years ahead of the 2016 contests, Republican and Democratic hopefuls alike already are starting to survey the landscape, court support and weigh in on local matters, with wide-open fields shaping up in both parties.
"The activists in this state are unhappy about the results of the presidential election," said Jay W. Ragley, a former executive director of the state Republican Party. "They're looking for someone who has a message which national Republicans can rally behind."
With Obama barred from seeking a third term, Democrats here also may be starting to seek their own consensus candidate.
This week, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a potential 2016 candidate, endorsed Sanford, and the party announced that Paul would hold fundraisers for Republicans in the state on June 28. Last month, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, talked up his record and heaped criticism on South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley during a Democratic event in Charleston, while former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, said to be eyeing another run after losing the GOP nomination last year, campaigned for Curtis Bostic, who lost to Sanford in a Republican run-off for the open congressional seat.
Biden and Cruz were in the spotlight Friday evening speaking at party events about two miles from each other.
"I'll bet they're talking about the middle class ooph," Biden said mockingly of Cruz's Republican event.
Cruz told the GOP gathering that Biden was in Columbia. "You know, the great thing, you don't even need a punch line. You just say that and people laugh," he said.
Cruz joined a chorus of people paying tribute to former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who was an early supporter of the freshman senator.
The vice president headlined the state party's Jefferson-Jackson dinner and then dropped by an annual fish fry held by Clyburn.


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WORCESTER — With chants of "All for Joey" from the Cardinal Crazies, the team's rabid band of fans, echoing through the DCU Center on Saturday, the Cardinal Spellman High School boys basketball team successfully completed its mission, taking the MIAA Division 3 state championship with a 61-51 victory over Tyngsboro.
Joey, of course, is 2012 graduate Joey Glynn, one of the program's all-time greats, who died while playing basketball in a summer league game in Watertown last June.
"It just feels good to finally get a ring for Joey, for the team, for the coaches and for the fans," said senior Ryan Roach, who scored 14 points and handed out eight assists in his final high school game. "It just feels good to bring it home."
The Cardinals did that by scoring eight of the last nine points in the game to fend off a late threat by the Tigers.
The state title is the second in Mike Perry's 35 years as head coach at Spellman, with the first one coming in 1984.
Read the play-by-play from our reporters on the Twitter feed below or watch it live on the NFHS Network.


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Jennifer Hudson's New Album Cover -- FIRST LOOK
Here is the self-titled debut album for singer/actress Jennifer Hudson, set for release on September 30.
If you haven't already, check out her album's first single, "Spotlight", which was written and produced by Ne-Yo and Stargate.
Other rumored collaborators for the 26-year-old former American Idol contestant's album include: Akon, R. Kelly, John Legend, Jack Splash, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Robin Thicke, Timbaland, T-Pain, The Underdogs and Diane Warren. That's a lot of big name contributors!!
DO YOU THINK they Photoshop-ed Jennifer Hudson too much?


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In the late summer of 1517, an English lawyer set out to discover America for himself. Inspired by brother-in-law Thomas More's new book Utopia and the very real expeditions of John Cabot years previous, John Rastell sailed for the "New Found Land" with four ships and a letter of recommendation from Henry VIII.
He never made it. His crew balked at the transatlantic crossing, proposed piracy at one point, and unceremoniously deposited Rastell in Ireland. Eventually returning to England, he sued the purser of one of his ships for compensation, but the lengthy litigation ultimately failed and Rastell went on to other things - among them, publishing the first English law dictionary in 1523.
The Rastell expedition is fascinating not just on its own terms, but as an early manifestation of an intense but now underplayed nexus linking English lawyers and efforts at American exploration and colonization over the next hundred years. This nexus is, I think, a much needed antidote to the conventional wisdom that lawyers were relative latecomers to America, and that prior to the mid-seventeenth century (and even for some time after that) they played but a minor role in American development. This may be technically true if we look only at lawyers in their capacity as practitioners, but if we look at them in other cultural capacities - as explorers, propagandists, investors, settlers, chroniclers and even early "framers" - it could not be more false.
Richard Hakluyt the Elder, like Rastell a member of the Middle Temple, took up the cause of colonization with a vengeance born of Protestant religious fervor, poring intensely over maps and the latest globes and drafting instructions for expeditions planned by the likes of Humphrey Gilbert. Hakluyt (whose nephew, fascinated by his uncle, would later write the famous Travels) drew into his circle explorers, merchants and financiers who in their turn inspired some ambitious young gentlemen at the Inns to take up exploration personally. Several were among the leaders of the Jamestown expedition of 1607, and a number later died there of starvation. Another Middle Temple stalwart, Chief Justice John Popham, was a prime backer of the Plymouth Company and a personal sponsor of Popham Colony in Maine, established shortly after Jamestown; that expedition ultimately failed when Popham's death in England robbed it not only of his financial support, but also his personal vision and organizational skill (Popham, by the way, may have been the first "social engineer" in the history of lawyering in America, as he saw colonization as a way of dealing with vagrancy and unemployment at home). Even in the face of famine and disaster in the new American settlements other lawyers took up their pens to chronicle events and defend colonization before an anxious public - thus various manuscripts by William Strachey of Gray's Inn on the early Virginia expeditions and an extensive poem by Christopher Brooke (Lincoln's Inn) on the notorious Indian massacre of 1622. Lawyers, of course, were also active as framers of early colonial government - even apart from Strachey's probable contributions to Dale's Laws for post-starvation Jamestown, Edwin Sandy's involvement in the drafting of the 1618 Great Charter for Virginia (establishing a representative assembly) is well known.
All this could be elaborated but the general point has been made: lawyers played a critical role in bringing about and sustaining early American colonization by their imagination, their investment, their personal bravery, their leadership and their rhetoric. Their record in that remarkable endeavor was mixed at best: their reach often exceeded their grasp and their vision of their new world was inevitably tainted by greed, violence and foolhardiness, but if we are to understand the historical significance of lawyers in the greater American enterprise, we must acknowledge their efforts. It will not do (in the interest of some Whiggish political mythology) to draw an historiographical curtain against them so that lawyers only emerge in America decades later in a limited domesticated form that is more recognizable, acceptable or favorable to us. In fact, lawyers were here from the beginning.


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PALATINE – Edward J. LaCroix Jr., 89, of Crystal Lake, formerly of Palatine, passed away Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012.
He was born May 5, 1923, in Chicago Heights.
He was the beloved husband of the late Marjorie E. (Elmers) LaCroix; loving father of Lois (David) Ballard; and dear grandfather of Kenneth and Jessica.
Visitation will be from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. followed by the memorial service at 4:30 p.m., Monday at The Fountains at Crystal Lake, 965 N. Brighton Circle West, Crystal Lake. Ahlgrim Family Funeral Home in Palatine handled arrangements.


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DeKalb sophomore running back Dre Brown is quite used to competing against top-flight competition after taking part in a few top national camps during his freshman year, where he played against some of the top sophomores and juniors in the country.
In fact, Brown is approaching the point where he is the top-flight competition. He'll head to elite camps put on by Rivals.com and ESPN in the Chicago area this month with hopes of adding to his list of scholarship offers, which already includes Illinois and Northern Illinois and soon could include Michigan State. Those camps will start off a busy summer.
"I'll try to go and pick up some offers there," Brown said. "After that, in June and July I'll be going to some of the big college camps like Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan State. Michigan State is the closest to offering me right now."
For practically his entire high school career, college coaches have had their eyes on Brown. His highlight tape after his three-game freshman season garnered interest and led to several camp invites, and he was a regular at NIU practices during the spring of 2012, where he grew comfortable with the former coaching staff.
But the race for his services appears to be wide open.
Brown was offered by Illinois after his sophomore season, and Dave Doeren's staff at NIU offered him shortly after. A Michigan State coach recently visited him at school, and Brown thinks an offer isn't far off. He also made a visit to Indiana, where he saw a Hoosiers basketball game.
Two former NIU coaches appear to have their sights set on Brown. Minnesota has been on his list of potential destinations since early in his freshman season, and he plans on visiting Dave Doeren's new digs at North Carolina State in the near future.
As far as NIU goes, Brown still is developing a relationship with the new coaching staff.
"They just got a new coaching staff, so I'm kind of waiting on them," Brown said. "It's definitely a big difference. I was really comfortable with old coaching staff. The new coaching staff came in, and the first time I came in was their first month on the job."
All of this came after one full high school season, so Brown knows offers might come flooding in from around the country this season. He's content to wait to make his final decision.
"Right now, I'm really open," Brown said, "but it all depends on location, the campus life and academics, that's my thing. I'm going to be there for four years, so I want to be comfortable."


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|By Business Wire
Article Rating:
|December 13, 2012 06:30 PM EST
Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its 3rd quarter 2012 (3Q12) Wireless LAN Equipment and WiFi Phones market size, market share, and forecast report, which tracks access points, wireless LAN (WLAN) controllers, and WiFi phones for the enterprise.
"Coming on the heels of a 16% jump the previous quarter, WLAN equipment revenue grew another 6% quarter-over-quarter, passing the $1-billion mark for the first time," notes Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and video at Infonetics Research. "The usual demand drivers—wireless devices, BYOD, mobility—were in play, but there was also an acceleration of carrier WiFi deployments, with sales of outdoor access points doubling over the past year."
Machowinski adds: "Wireless LAN is a real bright spot in the networking industry, achieving record sales despite ongoing economic uncertainty."
- Global demand for WLAN gear is well balanced, with 3 major regions (North America, EMEA, and Asia Pacific) seeing ~20% year-over-year revenue growth
- Interactive access point revenue grew strongly in 3Q12, as businesses move to centrally managed WLAN architectures
- The transition to 802.11n is coming to an end, with 84% of access points shipments now based on the standard; next-generation 802.11ac products will start shipping in the summer of 2013
- In 3Q12, Cisco added to its strong 2Q12 performance, growing another 2% sequentially to hold on to 1st place for WLAN equipment; Ruckus grew 78% year-over-year and moved into the #4 spot
- Vocera stayed in the lead for WiFi phone market share in 3Q12, thanks to its success in the health care market
Infonetics' quarterly WLAN equipment and WiFi phones report provides worldwide and regional market size, vendor market share, forecasts, analysis, and trends for WLAN infrastructure including access points (interactive, independent, outdoor, 802.11a/b/g, 802.11n, and 802.11ac), WLAN controllers, and enterprise single-mode WiFi phones. Companies tracked include Alcatel-Lucent, Aruba, Brocade, Cisco, D-Link, Enterasys, Extreme, Juniper, Meru, Motorola, NETGEAR, Polycom, HP, Ruckus, Vocera, Xirrus, and others. To buy the report, contact Infonetics Sales: http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp.
- Infonetics' latest Enterprise Networking research brief: http://bit.ly/XXykg8
- Weakness in Europe, softness in public sector braking enterprise switch growth
- Low-end/SOHO routers lone bright spot in enterprise router market
- Enterprises planning major wireless LAN upgrades
- $25 billion opportunity for network manufacturers providing services to enterprises
- Cisco gains enterprise router share; North America posts strongest year-over-year gains
- Ethernet switch buyers looking at alternative vendors
- Unified communications survey highlights enterprises' shift towards mobility
Download Infonetics ENTERPRISE NETWORKING report highlights, tables of contents, prospectuses, market research brochure, and events brochure at http://www.infonetics.com/login.
- Enterprise Networking & Communication Vendor Leadership Scorecard (Nov. 5)
- Infonetics CRS Report: Huawei 2011 Revenue Reconciliation (Nov. 19)
- Total Enterprise and Service Provider Routers Pivot (incl. China & Japan) (Dec. 12)
- Total Enterprise and Carrier Ethernet Switches Pivot (incl. China & Japan) (Dec. 14)
- Enterprise Telepresence & Video Conferencing Equipment Market Forecasts (Dec. 14)
- WEBINAR: Core Routers Move to the Metro (Apr. 2013)
- WEBINAR: Architecting Wireless LANs for a BYOD World (TBA, sponsorships available)
- WEBINAR: Evolving Routers for a Cloud-Based World (TBA, sponsorships available)
- WEBINAR: The Future of Telepresence (TBA, sponsorships available)
N. America (West), Asia, Latin America: Larry Howard, email@example.com,
+1 408-583-3335
N. America (East), Texas, Midwest: Scott Coyne, email@example.com, +1 408-583-3395
Europe, Middle East, Africa: George Stojsavljevic, firstname.lastname@example.com, +44 755-488-1623
Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan: http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp
Infonetics Research (www.infonetics.com) is an international market research and consulting firm serving the communications industry since 1990. A leader in defining and tracking emerging and established technologies in all world regions, Infonetics helps clients plan, strategize, and compete effectively. View Infonetics' About Us slides at http://bit.ly/QUrbrV.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20121213006588/en/
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- Ericsson + Napster = World's First "Wireless Digital Music" Brand
- Free Guest Passes for the SOA World Conference & Expo in NYC
- SYS-CON i-Technology Podcast August 30, 2005
- A Flair for Food - Health-Conscious Cooking Is This Chef's Cup Of Tea
- Kapow Helps Seiko UK, Provides SMS Text-Alert Services
- South Korea is World's Largest Phisher


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WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime Blogging Space
PureApplication system - What's the different between vsys and vapp?
invhariharan 060000MAJR Tags:  vsys patterns vapp pureapplication 6,808 Views
Well, by now most of us are familiar with the word "Patterns" arising out of the PureApplication System. It offers a nice concept to encapsulate all actions (often we call that as a best practices) in to a single deployable unit (technically a compressed tar file) to represent a workload. The PureApplication system defines the framework and provides the necessary platform services for creating these patterns. The benefits of creating such patterns is immense as it provides simplicity and the ability to do repeatable deployments of your applications with just few clicks away. Gone are the days where you have to take a bottom up approach for configuring OS, middleware products, applications, etc,. to run your applications. Its just a matter of minutes for deploying your same applications with the PureApplication Systems's pattern approach.
In terms of patterns it can be classified in to System pattern and a Application pattern. There's always a question to see what's the difference between these two, and which one to be chosen for the application deployment. A virtual system pattern (vsp) is often used in situations where you need to describe a system topology that you want to deploy, especially when it incurs deployment of your products on to multiple instances/systems. This is more of a traditional method of deployment, however once done can be captured (or recorded) as a system pattern and further deployments gets easier with redeploying the pattern itself, rather than creating the topology again. To build the virtual system patterns there are virtual images available for the product that you want to include in the topology along with add-ons and script packages that help you to configure products.
A virtual application on the other hand does not come with the customization control that you had with defining a virtual system pattern - i.e. we do not have to define a topology and other descriptive elements in the virtual application pattern. In the virtual application pattern, it is mainly focused keeping applications (and its associated factors such as SLA) in mind, and the toplogy to run that application workload is determined by the system dynamically. This frees up the application deployer in terms of defining a topology or required system components - and instead focuses only on their application deployment and specifying its SLA and other business application specific requirements. Behind the scenes the plugins and the PureApplication system provides an execution platform appropriately for the deployed applications.
As an analogy for comparing vsys vs. vapp, if you are a vivid reader of EFY (Electronics for You) magazine, it describes solutions say for example if we want to create a water level controller. A vsys way of looking at it is to create a PCB board and define the various electronic components and how they interact with each other - all done from a ground up level, you can customize the board to have the functions that you require in the water level controller... for a vapp you simply go to an electronic shop and request for a ready-to-go device that helps you with the water level controller, albeit with limited control and functionality as provided by that specific device.
Writing Globalized applications on WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime (WXTR)
MadhuB.A 270002YWY2 Tags:  wxtr java cobol globalization 5,980 Views
Today's business world is changing faster than expected. There is an increasing demand for business to reach out to wider audience and geography to stay competitive. One of the primary requirement for any business application today is to be globalized. We need to understand what it means to be globalized for an application. Do we say it is globalized if we translate the messages in different languages? No, it has something more to it. A globalized software should not only have its messages translated in different languages, it should support multiple cultures and also have a user interface that is appropriate to that region.
When I say multicultural support an application should be able to process data appropriate to the geography. Different geographies use different time format, different currency format and even number format. One should also use the graphics on the user interface appropriate to the local culture.
WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime (WXTR) is a new addition to the IBM's portfolio of online transaction processing capabilities. It provides you a platform to write scalable and reliable business applications using composite languages. The most recent version of WXTR v2.1 which was announced June 2012 has support for C and COBOL languages along with Java.
To write a globalized application on WXTR, it is obvious that you have to translate your application messages and documentation but, how do you do multicultural support? There are some libraries available which are specifically meant for this. I have used the ICU (International Components for Unicode ) libraries for my multicultural requirements.
ICU is a mature, widely used set of C/C++ and Java libraries providing Unicode and Globalization support for software applications. ICU is widely portable and gives applications the same results on all platforms and between C/C++ and Java software. These libraries provide a comprehensive set of APIs for all your multicultural support requirements. Here is a link to ICU home page:
I'll provide more information about some of these APIs with examples in my next blog. Stay tuned.
Introducing WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime version 2.1
namasevi 110000PUWU Tags:  runtime transaction processing ibm websphere india extended v2.1 6,792 Views
WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime (WXTR) version 2.1 was released last month, on 15th June. Version 2.1 brings a number of enhancements to the first version 1.0 that was released an year ago. Primary themes of version 2.1 are targeted at enhancing the overall value proposition of hosting COBOL applications in WebSphere Application Server (WAS) along side Java EE applications to unlock the value of existing COBOL applications with new ones written in Java EE.
The picture below depicts the three major themes very well,
On the first note, WXTR extends from being a COBOL container on WAS to support C application deployment as well. With this, traditional transactional applications written in C or COBOL can be hosted by WXTR in line with Java EE applications on WAS. WXTR now supports Oracle database as a resource manager in addition to DB2.
With version 2.1, WXTR delivers a greater value through superior integration, higher scalability and security features.
WXTR v1.0 added a feature pack recently on Modernizing Oracle Tuxedo Applications. Version 2.1 extends the value by supporting C applications as well.
For more information about WXTR v2.1 highlights refer to the links below,
Announcement Letter :http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=an&subtype=ca&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS212-125Website : http://www-01.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/extended-transaction-runtime/
WXTR's "internet-of-things "
Next generation solutions are moving away from a monolithic nature. The smarter way to design solutions is to do it in a collaborative environment, where tools are available for better development, deployment and integration.
Transaction processing too has gone the smarter way. WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime (WXTR), enables cobol applications to run on WebSphere Application Server, as you may have read in the previous blogs. But in addition to providing a modernization platform to legacy Business Application, WXTR is strongly backed by an array of products that aid the entire development cycle. With IBM Rational Application Developer(RAD) and IBM Rational Developer for Power Systems (RDp), developing both COBOL and Java applications is made simpler with easy integration. The following guidelines demonstrate how exactly RAD and RDp can be integrated with WAS and WXTR.
Integrating RAD and RDp with WXTR : RAD's integration with WAS is quite straightforward. On RAD, a "stub" of a server needs to be added in order to readily deploy Java applications on the server. This can be done by adding a new server File ->New-> Server. Once this is done, a stub is created for a WAS server. There are no further configurations required to setup RAD with WAS. However, in order to develop JCA/SCA applications with WXTR, the appropriate jar files need to be included (SCA - wxtrsca.jar and JCA-CCWConnector.jar). With RAD already installed, RDp can be installed as a plugin on RAD.
This "internet-of-things" enables Application developers to develop WXTR applications as well as the client applications with relative ease. With easy integration, collaborating the different components of the application becomes that much easier. For information on other available tools in the integration space, do attend the "Internet-of-Things" track at the IBM Software Universe, India on the 20th of October.
Modernizing COBOL Applications with WXTR
21st century COBOL
It is probably quite safe to say that the backbone of 21st century service infrastructures, is still COBOL-based applications. Innumerable industries, during the late 20th century, were built around Mainframes and COBOL applications. These applications formed the foundations, on which more features and capabilities were added in the years to come. As we moved into a Service-oriented Architecture(SOA) space, the need for the applications to become smarter and interconnected rose. Applications needed to be viewed as web services, java beans etc. made available over different transport protocols like JMS, XMS, HTTP to name a few. This opened up opportunities to apply cross technology knowledge into one single box.
WebSphere Application Server(WAS) gets WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime(WXTR)
As an application server, WAS is one of the most competent products in the market. WAS provides application deployment, monitoring, Integrated application development for Java and J2EE applications. The idea of opening up such services to legacy COBOL applications, on a Java environment is an idea that sounds exciting and impossible at the same time. However, this is exactly what is now possible through WXTR.
Possible modernization using WXTR
WXTR not only provides WAS capabilities to COBOL applications, but also opens up SOA capabilities as well. WXTR provides an SCA (Service Component Architecture) interface that enables other SCA clients (WebServices and SCA) to access COBOL applications.
An interface such as the SCA on WXTR, added to WAS capabilities means, WXTR is capable of fititng into the SOA Architecture. Each COBOL Application deployed on WXTR can be accessed as a service by any client that is part of such an SOA.
Below is an example of calling a service using WXTR's SCA methods :
API : CallCOBOL() - This API enables the Client application to call a particular COBOL program deployed on WAS.
CallCOBOLService service = new CallCOBOLService(); // A web service client calling a WXTR resource
CallCOBOL cc = service.getCallCOBOLPort();
cc.callCOBOL(ProgramName); // This line calls the COBOL program
Summing up, WXTR is something to watch out for in the future. With increasing WAS capabilities, the extent to which Enterprise Applications can be modernized to fit into the modern Application ecospace will only increase.
Understanding the eco system of software products involved with WXTR
namasevi 110000PUWU Tags:  cobol transaction ibm rational systems extended websphere developer power application db2 runtime server 5,960 Views
Here's a quick view of the dependent products that would be needed along with IBM WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime (WXTR) in a solution. As a starter, following are the products that you would need as pre-requisites before you begin using WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime. A quick list of them and a note on why they are pre-requisites out here,
1. IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS)
WXTR is a stack product on WAS. WXTR supports WAS version 7 and version 8. If you were to use WAS version 7, then you would also need to install WAS feature pack for SCA. If you are using WAS v8, the feature for supporting SCA is integrated within v8 itself.
With WXTR, COBOL applications are run natively on WAS. If you were to host your existing COBOL applications, the only way they can be interfaced with are either through the JCA layer using either a Servlet or EJB deployed on WAS or through the SCA wrapper using the callCOBOL method provided by WXTR. You can write Servlets or EJBs and use the JCA interface provided by WXTR to invoke COBOL applications through them. Or you can expose COBOL applications as a service using the SCA wrapper as well.
WXTR also supports administration of it's resources through WAS admin console. Some of WXTR runtime resources like the number of application server processes and also memory pool settings etc can be controlled or configured from WAS admin console. WXTR's life cycle of start and stop have been integrated with WAS as well. When WAS starts, WXTR runtime gets started as well.
2. IBM COBOL compiler version 4.1
IBM COBOL v4.1 is the COBOL compiler we support on AIX. IBM COBOL compiler would be required to compile your COBOL applications and also WXTR runtime uses IBM COBOL compiler runtime libraries to be able to host and run COBOL applications. So, to be able to natively run COBOL on WAS, IBM COBOL is a key component that must be installed. IBM COBOL v4.1 also supports off-line file access feature, which allows users access to VSAM files (of either KSDS, ESDS or RRDS format) stored in DB2 database.
3. IBM DB2 Version 9.7
IBM DB2 is supported as the resource manager. DB2 also allows you to store your existing VSAM files. Storing VSAM files on DB2 allows you to laverage all the powerful features of a modern relational database. WXTR runtime tightly integrates with DB2 database to allow data management as well as store some of the internal files for processing.
In addition to the above, you can use the following IBM Rational products as integrated development environments.
4. IBM Rational Application Developer version 8 (RAD)
RAD's integration with WebSphere Application Server is well known. Java programs being written using RAD can make use of snippets supplied with RDp (or import the ones shipped with WXTR as well) for writing JCA code to invoke COBOL programs running on WXTR. You can just open WXTR Snippets drawer and drag and drop Java code to invoke COBOL applications.
You can also use Java to COBOL mapping feature in RAD to generate Java code to map to your COBOL copy book. This helps to handle your data across Java and COBOL layer easily by generating corresponding Java classes and getter setter methods to manipulate data.
5. IBM Rational Developer for Power Systems version 8 (RDp)
RDp is the development environment for COBOL applications on AIX. You need to install RDp's Remote System Explorer component on the AIX machine to be able to interface with the AIX machine where WXTR is installed. If you already have a RAD installed, RDp just installs as an additional plug in on top of that. RDp v8 has all the features like content assist, program templates for CICS COBOL etc, which can be made use of for re-deploying your existing COBOL applications or even writing new COBOL applications in support of your existing business logic. In addition, with RDp and WXTR you can use snippets and code templates for writing COBOL applications. Using RDp, you can easily deploy your COBOL applications on the fly on WXTR.
RAD and RDp would add further value in your application development with the new seamless debugging feature. You can setup break points in Java code and in COBOL code and move back and forth across them. For example, you can enter data in a web page, and make the Java program stop at a point where you are executing logic in Java code and about to invoke COBOL. Then you can set break points in COBOL at entry and exit points. These products make it very easy to identify and isolate problems in an end to end solution. You don't need to install anything in addition for being able to debug across mixed languages.
All above products make a typical combination set in a WXTR deployment. This link has further details on required software, http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21501498&wv=1
System Administration
CoolShubhendu 270004J5SA Tags:  wxtr exutended websphere administration system runtime 6,307 Views
System Administration in WXTR can be done through Websphere Application Server administration console where in specific panels are provided to configure WXTR resources.
Steps for doing it Administering WXTR through WAS Admin console will be:
It can also be done using the wsadmin.sh command line utility.WXTR provides wsadmin jython commands which can be used to configure WXTR resources.Hence it can be automated as well.And we would be concentraing more on the commandline utility in this blog.
I will be showing here how to automate System Administration in WXTR using a simple python program.
Sample automation of WXTR configuration using a python program is given below:
command1="/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer1/bin/wsadmin.sh -lang jython -c \"AdminTask.cics('[-command get -c xad -colonSeperatedOutput yes -name SYS$XA -nodeName " + machinename + "Node01 -serverName server1]')\" "
This program gets the properties of the XAD stanza of the container.This is has been extracted out from a test suite which has other such entries.It also shows how can this be made part of a big suite.Here we increase the count of "passed" variable on every pass and if we know the total number of cases then we can deduct the passes from the total to get the failure.
Introducing VSAM access over DB2 with WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime
WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime (WXTR) is a new transaction processing software introduced by IBM this year and was made generally available June 2011. WXTR delivers a technology that helps customers to reuse existing COBOL business applications by executing them natively within WebSphere Application Server. You may refer to this link for more information on this software: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/extended-transaction-runtime/features.html
In this blog I would particularly like to highlight a feature provided by WXTR and COBOL for AIX together to help manage the data stored in VSAM formats using DB2.
Most of the legacy COBOL applications particularly written for a CICS environment use VSAM files for storing business data. On a distributed platform say Unix'es and Windows there are software available to host these VSAM data such as TXSeries provided Structured File Server (SFS) where you can create and manage KSDS, ESDS, and RRDS based VSAM datasets. However think of... if we can manage these data in a relational database and leverage the power the database technologies provide us. This is similar to a tool available on system z platforms called CICS VSAM Transparency. And this is where WXTR and COBOL For AIX provides you the feature to transparently manage the VSAM data using DB2.
What this means is that WXTR allows you to store the VSAM data on a relational database (RDBMS) such as DB2 while retaining your COBOL and/or CICS/COBOL applications as-is. With this your applications or business logic built for the underlying data wouldn't change - we don't want you to change the data model that is built already and is proven.
Not the least, there are other benefits that this feature would provide:
Introduction to WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime (WXTR)
namasevi 110000PUWU Tags:  cobol transaction extended cics ibm was runtime websphere wxtr txseries 7,666 Views
Many of you might have heard about one of IBM's latest addition to it's product portfolio, WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime (WXTR). WXTR is a new addition in the transaction processing space as a complement to WebSphere Application Server (WAS) on distributed platforms. WXTR v1.0 is available on AIX platform only.
WXTR addresses a key space wherein enterprises are looking to modernize their existing COBOL workloads. WXTR tightly integrates Java EE applications and COBOL applications thus allowing users to re-use existing COBOL business logic while extending them with new and modern Java EE applications. Due to it's association with WAS, WXTR provides a forward looking and a modern environment for existing COBOL applications.
For a quick look, some of the key WXTR features are,
WXTR in conjunction with WebSphere Application Server and Rational tools is a solution that best fits organizations that are looking to write new code in Java EE while retaining their existing core business logic in COBOL. WXTR brings in the best of interoperability and integration. Unified administration provides a single environment to manage both COBOL and Java resources. RAD (Rational Application Developer) and RDp (Rational Developer for Power Systems) integration provides a more complete development environment together for Java EE and COBOL programs. WXTR supports CICS style programming. Users can use many of the built in features in RDp for application development e.g. command assist, syntax checking, templates etc. Seamless debugging across Java and COBOL is a reality with the use of RAD and RDp.
In summary, WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime brings in further simplicity , ease of use , modern facilities and much more.Thus reducing the overheads in managing COBOL and Java workloads.
Couple of references for WXTR as below,
Website : http://www-01.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/extended-transaction-runtime/


text:
NEDERLAND -- The timing was too perfect, almost eerily so, for Herm Weaver to ignore his next calling.
His emotions remained excruciatingly raw. And, really, when it came down to it, no one in the Weaver family was particularly interested in doing much of anything after the horrific events of Oct. 24, 2010.
That's the day the Weavers began dealing with the unthinkable. While taking a break from her missionary duties in Alamosa with a bike ride on a perfectly sunny day, the Weavers' middle child, Chloe, was killed in a hit-and-run accident.
A few days later, on the very day the Weavers returned home from the funeral, the family's youngest child, basketball-playing Dillon, informed Herm Weaver that the boys basketball coaching position at Nederland High had just become vacant with the season looming on the horizon.
For years, Herm Weaver had endured his daughter's gentle prodding to get back into coaching, telling him he was the perfect candidate to bring some stability to Nederland while Dillon came up through the Panthers' program. Even though he boasted an extensive background coaching AAU ball in Virginia prior to the family's move to Colorado, Herm Weaver had always been more than a little reluctant to venture into high school coaching in small-town Colorado.
Herm Weaver certainly wasn't looking for a new job when the coaching carousel for Nederland's boys basketball program continued on that fateful day. Yet before long Weaver dusted off his whistle and donned the Panthers' version of blue and gold. There was never a doubt in his mind that his daughter Chloe would have wanted it that way.
"Chloe had been leaning on me to coach," Herm Weaver said. "She said 'Dad, these boys deserve somebody who cares about them.' She just wanted a good experience for Dillon because she cared the world for her little brother. She was leaning on me.
"Practice was scheduled to start in a week and a half or two weeks. (Dillon) just looked at me and said, 'You have to do it.' I fought it for a little bit, but it seemed like a way that we could both honor Chloe."
Now in their third season together as a coach-player, father-son combo, Herm and Dillon Weaver have worked through a wrenching grieving process together on the floor.
Not surprisingly, it hasn't always been easy. Herm Weaver estimates that there was only one or two games that first season in which Dillon, then a sophomore and understandably bitter over the sudden loss of his sister, managed to go without being issued a technical foul.
As a coach, Herm Weaver obviously wasn't happy with the temperament being displayed by his only son. Yet as a father, he also knew there remained a gamut of emotions Dillon Weaver had to work out on his own.
"I couldn't really completely believe it at the time, and it took me a while to get past that and that it was actually true," Dillon Weaver said. "I was just in shock. (Basketball) can be an outlet for me, and a lot of the time it is, but I was also finding myself getting a lot of technicals. It was hard for me to play the game. I've grown a lot."
A former basketball player at Nederland, 20-year old Chloe Weaver was killed almost instantly when a driver, later identified as a 16-year old who quickly was apprehended, collided with her on County Rd. 108S in Alamosa.
Just a few days after the accident, Dillon got a memorial tattoo on the inside of his left wrist in a design that matched a tattoo owned by his sister, and also matched tattoos received by his father, mother, and older sister Hope, a student at Northern Colorado. Additionally, Dillon Weaver changed his jersey number that season to No. 21 in honor of the number formerly worn by Chloe. Dillon Weaver later added a second tattoo on his right shoulder that reads, in decorative fashion, "family."
"The tattoos are a big part of who I am now," Dillon Weaver said. "She was always the best player on her team, and I always wanted to do that. She helped me realize there are a lot of other responsibilities that come with being the best player on the team."
Now in their third season in the wake of their family tragedy, Herm Weaver and his sharpshooting son are reveling in their final tour together with the Nederland basketball team. Dillon Weaver began the week averaging 22.9 point a game, a mark that ranked fourth in Class 2A and 10th overall in the state.
Last Friday, Weaver poured in 44 points against Alexander Dawson. It almost seems fitting that every time Dillon Weaver raises up for a shot, the tattoo dedicated to his late sister invariably flashes before his eyes.
"It is really tough coaching your son, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone," Herm Weaver said. "I wouldn't have done it except for this rather unusual circumstance. I want to be the best dad I can for Dillon, and to be his coach makes that really hard. But it provides an opportunity for us to take our relationship to a deeper level."
Follow Pat on Twitter: @prooney07


text:
NEW YORK — Nik Grossmann was injured and the Flyers needed another defenseman for Game 5 of their first-round playoff series Sunday against the New York Rangers. Hal Gill, 39, was ready to take the plunge.
"Skydivers jump out of planes to get a rush," he said. "That's the same reason I like to play in playoff hockey games."
After playing just six regular-season games, Gill was dressed for a regular workload Sunday. But after 16 NHL seasons and 110 career playoff games, occasionally seemed in free-fall during the Flyers' 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers.
Missing on two opportunities to score, then being caught on the ice during two New York goals, Gill finished as a minus-2, the Flyers tumbling into win-or-perish straits.
"When you're in the playoffs and you make a little mistake, it costs you," Gill said. "That's what I like about it. And sometimes, that's what's bad about it."
With Craig Berube Sunday ruling Grossmann out for Game 6 Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center, he did maintain his option to again dress Gill. The alternative — the one he'd promised Saturday to deeply consider for Game 5 — would be 25-year-old Erik Gustafsson, who scored two goals in 31 games this season.
Gill would welcome the chance to play career postseason game No. 112.
"Yeah," he said. "Absolutely."
Gill played just over 12 minutes Sunday, taking 21 shifts — activity, he feels, that could be beneficial in Game 6.
"It's a fast game," Gill said. "It's a hard game. You make a little mistake, and they have good players out there. They are a good team. They overload and the force you to make plays. We have to execute. We have to make plays. We are going back home, and we hope to make some plays there and maybe push the pace on them."
At 16:20 of the second, the Rangers were too fast for Gill, who was turned around when Dominic Moore scored unassisted for a 3-0 New York lead.
"I don't know," said Braydon Coburn, who'd attempted to hit Gill with a pass. "It just went through his (Gill's) triangle. It was just probably a bad bounce."
Facing elimination, the Flyers are out of bad-bounce options. With Grossmann still recovering from a reported knee injury, Berube will need to decide again on Gill, whom he refused Sunday to blame.
"I thought our 'D'," he said, "played good."
Gill had two chances to score, but was blunted by the diving Rangers defenders and by Henrik Lundqvist. In that, he gave the Flyers his 6-foot-7 presence and experience as a Stanley Cup winner with the 2009 Penguins.
"It's tough, but a guy has to be ready to go," Coburn said. "I thought that Hal was pretty good tonight."
If asked, Gill will attempt to do so again Tuesday.
"Obviously, you want to play more," Gill said. "But you just make the best of the opportunity you're in. It is what it is. You just have to make the best of it."


text:
Ying Xiong dabbed the watering eyes of her comatose son, Kee Vang, 34, then her own tears, as she struggled to understand how his nursing home care might change because of state budget cuts.
"When the money for his care ends on Jan. 1, will they let my son die?" she asked in Hmong, translated by an older son. No, she was assured by a nursing home social worker. That would be illegal and wrong. The state will no longer pay Bethany Care Center $81,000 a year for his care, but he can stay where he is, the cost borne by the St. Paul home.
Vang and 59 other non-citizens in nursing homes across Minnesota are among those affected by unintended consequences that have bedeviled thousands of Minnesotans since the state's special-session budget scramble in July.
Struggling to erase a $5 billion deficit without raising taxes, lawmakers and Gov. Mark Dayton met privately and chiseled cuts from dozens of health and human services programs -- some of them small, many obscure -- without hearings or testimony.
Since then, state agencies have scurried to interpret and implement the numerous changes. Some have been delayed because they're so complicated; others have turned out to be oversights, lawmakers now admit.
Pay cuts blocked
On Wednesday, a Ramsey County judge temporarily forbade the state from enforcing one of the new provisions, siding with a group of home-care agencies that objected to a pay cut for about 6,950 people who give personal care to relatives who are frail and low-income.
"We miss some things, or find out things we wish we'd known earlier," said Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, chairman of the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee. "We're going to have to fix a few things'' -- including, perhaps, the cut that affects Vang and 59 other non-citizens and possibly 250 others being care for in other long-term facilities.
Abeler cautioned, however, that the difficult choices are not over.
"We're not talking about increased spending," he said.
"If anything, we may be facing another deficit and we'll probably be cutting more, from somewhere."
Ripple effects
Among other effects that have come to light in recent weeks is a 10 percent cut in payments for the care of about 1,800 "low-need" people with physical disabilities and 950 with developmental disabilities. Advocates say the cuts are falling disproportionately on people with mental illnesses because the state's need-assessment tool -- to be replaced next year -- was designed to measure problems of the elderly, not the mentally ill.
The cuts could force the closing of some small group homes that have clusters of low-need clients. The cuts have been delayed a month, to Nov. 1.
In a separate issue, Ramsey County District Judge Dale Lindman issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday to stop a 20 percent pay cut for relatives who are personal care assistants to people on Medicaid programs that help keep them in their homes instead of nursing homes.
Eight home care agencies brought the suit, arguing that the cut is unconstitutional and violates the federal Civil Rights Act because it discriminates against women and minorities. A hearing on a permanent injunction will probably come within 30 days.
Officials at the state Department of Human Services declined to talk about the lawsuit, but Abeler said before the judge's ruling that the payment reductions were reasonable.
"Nobody likes cuts. I don't. But we have to be responsible. This program isn't intended to provide a livelihood to people," he said. "It's supposed to make it easier for families to provide the care they want to give. Here, we cut $24 million but we're still paying them $100 million."
For their part, many care providers seem resigned to living with tight budgets.
"We recognize the state's dilemma with the bad economy," said John Tschida, a vice president at Courage Center. "But the fat in our budgets is long gone. We're rethinking everything we do to cope with shrinking state support."
'He knows when I am here'
Kee Vang breathes through a tracheostomy tube in his room at Bethel Care Center, where he has lived for about six years.
Vang, who came to the United States in 1984 at age 7 from a Thai refugee camp for Laotians, had a history of mental illness that typically was well-controlled by medications, said his brother, Blong Vang.
But Vang became disoriented one day while driving to pick up his wife in St. Paul, drove to Woodbury in a confused state and attacked police when they tried to intervene, his brother said. While hospitalized, he suffered a heart attack, and the resulting brain damage left him unable to communicate -- although his mother insists he whispers to her.
"He knows when I am here," said Xiong, 70, a widow who lives with a third son.
Despite reassurances that the nursing home will keep Vang in its care, Xiong remains troubled. If Vang had become a U.S. citizen, like others in his family, he might qualify for the regular state-federal Medical Assistance program. As it is, he qualifies for a special emergency supplement that covers non-citizens, cut in last summer's budget deal.
Could he become a citizen now, Xiong asked, even though he can't speak or understand? The social workers couldn't say.
Maybe there was one last option, she suggested -- an offer that left the social workers in stunned silence.
"I am an American citizen, and I am his mother," she said, stroking Vang's hair. "Could I give him my rights for care, and then I would die so it would be fair for everyone?"
Warren Wolfe • 612-673-7253
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