text:
- 1 General
- 1.1 Who are you?
- 1.2 Can I/we join?
- 1.3 Why would I (or my lab) want to join?
- 1.4 Do you ever plan on going commercial?
- 1.5 Is OWW backed-up? / How can I be assured this site will be here tomorrow?
- 1.6 Why the dual license?
- 1.7 How did this site get started?
- 1.8 Are you people just a bunch of scientific hippies? Why are you doing this?
- 1.9 Sound like a cool idea, but I have nothing to contribute!
- 2 Access
- 3 Technical
Who are you?
OpenWetWare is a group of researchers that are interested in increasing the amount of organization, dissemination, and communication in biological research (or just want an easy way to keep a lab webpage up-to-date). Everyone that has access to OpenWetWare can edit all pages in the site. Thus the evolution of all the pages are due to everyone involved. If you want to know who has done what, check out the history file associated with every page.
Can I/we join?
Yes!!! The more people that are contributing, the more useful the site becomes. Please check out the How to join page.
Why would I (or my lab) want to join?
Check out the Why join? page for a list of reasons why OpenWetWare may be of use to you and your lab.
Do you ever plan on going commercial?
Is OWW backed-up? / How can I be assured this site will be here tomorrow?
Currently there are several labs to whom wiki functionality is vital, thus the wiki minimally will remain as long as these labs are in existence. Hardware and support has generously been donated by the MIT BioMicro Center. OpenWetWare is backed up daily, and we are continuing to improve the redundancy and backup capabilities. So as far as relying on an academic initiative goes, this is a fairly good bet.
Why the dual license?
Long story short, we like Creative Commons for its machine and human readability. We like GNU's FDL because Wikipedia and others use it. We would like the two groups to settle their trivial differences, so that we can all move on with our lives.
How did this site get started?
Are you people just a bunch of scientific hippies? Why are you doing this?
See the "who are you?" question above. In general, we are not all hippies. We are doing this to construct a resource for ourselves. It is ultimately a selfish pursuit. Peruse some of the pages and you will notice that different labs/groups/individuals use OpenWetWare in different ways. Like many other things in life, OpenWetWare is what you make of it.
Sound like a cool idea, but I have nothing to contribute!
Sure you do. One of the motivations for OpenWetWare is to lower the barriers of entry into biological research. Many of the researchers on OpenWetWare are relative newcomers to biological research and are struggling to cope with the steep learning curve in biology. We're trying to accumulate enough information on OpenWetWare such that a person with little lab experience could, for example, go to the DNA Ligation page, read it and be able to carry out a successful DNA ligation reaction. Thus, some of the most useful contributions to the site are from people doing a technique for the first time. They are more likely to document the little things that can easily trip up someone new to a procedure. So newcomers to biological research are strongly encouraged to edit OpenWetWare with whatever information they learn along the way. Or if you have a question, ask it in the research help forum.
What's the deal with access?
Currently we have the site as world-readable and member editable, and there are essentially no options to make pages be otherwise. We decided upon the current level of access based upon our key goals of open access and collaboration. We also understand that there are times where information cannot be posted for the world/other students/et al., to read. The Endy lab handles this by certain members having private wiki's on their own computers where they organize their thoughts and information. Other groups have internal secure wiki's to which only lab members have access. However, we feel that there is a lot of information that people will benefit from sharing on OpenWetWare.
In the future, we may be able to implement a system with more edit/view options for individual pages. After talks with some of the people over at Mediawiki, they have begun writing code to make edit/view access more dynamic and programmable by individual users. In time, perhaps we can incorporate some of these improvements as they are made available. This will offer some semblance of security (and would not get indexed by google for example), but is not as safe as say having a site behind a firewall. Anyway, there are a variety of options, but in the end you have to balance increased security with decreased ease of access and manipulability. For the time being, we will keep OpenWetWare at the current access level.
I don't want someone else editing my site. Can you change who can edit what?
We hope for OpenWetWare to achieve as large and active a user base as possible while maintaining a collaborative environment. The collaboration is critical, otherwise OWW is of no use to the community other than a glorified web hosting service (which will soon be obsolete anyways). With this in mind, we find ourselves frequently evaluating options which would increase the "comfort level" for some potential users of OWW, but decrease the overall ease and extent of user contribution and especially collaboration. This is particularly the case when evaluating access levels for editing.
For example, a researcher in a different lab on our floor recently posted a general notice on our group meeting page about an issue occuring in a shared space. Now the page outlining the topics for a lab's group meeting would very likely fall into the category of "lab-only editing", however someone from outside the laboratory made, in their good judgement, an announcement in the relevant section of our group meeting schedule page. (Our group meetings are driven from the wiki where people post announcements or whether they want to talk that week. At the start of the meeting, our PI will go to the wiki and use it to direct the schedule of what we talk about).
While this may be a particularly mundane example, it illustrates the most important points. First, It is often hard to decide ahead of time, what particular groups of people should have edit access to a particular document. In this instance, the announcement placed by a researcher outside the lab was in the best interest of everybody. What we have generally found is that the scientists and researchers that join are usually the best adjudicators of whether they should be editing another's site or not. Second, we currently have >15 labs and a fair number of individuals that currently contribute to the site. We have not had a single complaint of someone incorrectly/unknowingly/maliciously making bad edits to a particular page that is private or "belongs to a user". This may be a testament to the norms of behavior that were established for the site (see our etiquette page; for instance pages beginning with "UserName:" are pages that we ask others not to edit), but probably is also due to the intelligence of the users, and the fact that any changes are tracked and attributable to one identifiable person (by virtue of login/password requirement on editing).
One side note that has also assuaged some concerns: It is quite easy to point to a particular history page (history files have a static address), so if users want a document that in not editable, they can save it and always refer to that particular history file instead of the evolving document.
So in summary, we understand the concern of allowing non-lab members to edit a lab's protocols, however we feel that by putting an access barrier at the level of the code itself we would be creating a barrier to contribution in order to solve a problem that thus far does not exist. If and when we have a problem, we will re-evaluate.
I don't want someone else seeing my site. Can you change who can view what?
This is an issue we are not completely certain on how to deal with. It is very possible that by allowing subsets of OWW users to collaborate on pages that are not viewable by the general community, collaborative opportunities could be increased. The problem is that such accessibility constraints lead to people automatically labeling more things private, and once again, OWW would become just a web hosting service for individuals and their labs.
For now, we have no way of implementing this, so the problem has been solved for us. In our lab however, a number of people have created private wiki's that they regulate access to. However, this is not a solution that is scalable. Their wiki's aren't managed/backed-up/supported other than by themselves.
We hear through the grape-vines that such editability/accessibility options are being built into the next revision of the MediaWiki software. If these capabilities become available, we will definitely consider adding different levels of accessibility.
Why can't anonymous users edit OpenWetWare?
We are interested in keeping the barriers to contribution to OWW as low as possible. So we provide pretty much any student or researcher in biological science and engineering with an account as long as they provide us with some basic information. This allows everyone to know exactly who made each contribution to a page. In addition, several OWW users feel some sort of accountability on OWW is a good idea. From a practical point of view, requiring login to edit easily frees us from dealing with vandals, spammers and the like which we don't have the resources to necessarily cope with right now.
How do I start editing?
See the getting started page.
Are there any rules?
Check out the etiquette page for guidelines on creating and editing pages.
How do I make the wiki pages for my lab/group look like a static website?
Check out OpenWetWare:Dewikify for instructions on generating static websites from OpenWetWare wiki pages. See Synthetic Biology and http://syntheticbiology.org for a comparison of a wiki page with its static counterpart.


text:
Monday, December 10, 2012
Recap: Packers Come From Behind To Beat Lions, 27-20
I had a bad feeling about this game because the Green Bay Packers had only won by four points back in November in Detroit, in a game in which the Lions had four turnovers. If the Lions took better care of the ball, it seemed like the Packers would be in trouble. While the Lions only had two turnovers in this one, the first turnover, a fumble by QB Matthew Stafford that was returned by DE Mike Daniels (of all people) for a 43 yard touchdown run, decided the game. The second one, an interception with 2:42 left in the first half, probably took points off the board for the Lions since they were already down to the Packers' 41 yard line with a 1st and 10.
The big standouts in this game were the players up front, on both sides of the ball. The pass protection struggled, QB Aaron Rodgers was sacked three times and was chased from the pocket on several occasions, but the run blocking again was strong, in part because rookie RT Don Barclay was able take out the linebacker at the second level (see Harris' touchdown run) while a tight end could block DE Cliff Avril. Also, the line was able to take advantage of the Lions' defensive tackles tendency to over-pursue on running plays as they raced up-field to get after Rodgers. 5.6 yards per carry is amazing for the Packers, even if 27 yards came on Rodgers' touchdown run. LG Evan Dietrich-Smith got blown up on one sack by DT Nick Fairley, but Fairley's been as good as any defensive tackle as I've seen over the past few weeks.
The defensive line got off to a slow start, allowing 85 yards rushing on the Lions' first two possessions (both for touchdowns), but the defense only allowed 50 yards rushing over the last three quarters and the pass rush (which only officially was credited with 1 sack and 2 QB hits) put a lot of pressure on Stafford to throw the ball early. On only a couple occasions did he really have time to sit back in the pocket. After the running game was no longer a factor, the Lions didn't find themselves in those 3rd and shorts they converted so often on their first two drives, and their offense didn't back into a rhythm again.
The pass defense had a great game, though they did drop a couple of interceptions. WR Calvin Johnson ended up with his usual 100 yard game (118 to be exact) but he wasn't involved for a large chunk of the game. Megatron had 46 of his 118 yards on their final two possessions, at which point the Packers were up by 10 points and the Lions were in desperation mode.
Rodgers and the pass offense didn't have much of a game through the air (only 14 completions). Seven of them went to WR Randall Cobb, who's gone from their number four receiving option to No. 1 in less than a season. WR Greg Jennings might still be recovering from his surgery (only 1 reception on Sunday) but in his defense, Rodgers did miss him on a touchdown pass in the third quarter. Of all the receivers, Cobb is the only one who's been a threat in every game this season.
In the end, this game was similar to their earlier win over the Lions, and the Packers managed to score 27 points in an ugly fashion. With their win and the Bears loss, the Packers extend their lead in the NFC North. The Packers have been the least impressive of the division leaders this season (outside of Baltimore), but hopefully that situation improves once LB Clay Matthews, CB Charles Woodson, and WR Jordy Nelson return. And some bonus good news: no injuries to report.
Bring on the injured Bears next week, win in Soldier Field, and clinch the NFC North.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
For Immediate Release: October 7, 2010
Fourth Annual Alexandria Film Festival Opens Thursday, November 4
Free Opening Night Reception at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Old Town
"The fourth annual Alexandria Film Festival—a tribute to cinematic art, featuring emerging and established filmmakers from all over the world will be held on Thursday, November 4 through Sunday, November 7, with a schedule of screenings to be presented at a series of locations in and around the City of Alexandria over the 4 day weekend," said Pat Miller, Chair of the Alexandria Commission for the Arts.
"More than 100 high quality, independent, short and feature length films, documentaries, animation and narrative entries were submitted this year — some from as far away as Spain and India" said Ms. Miller, "and that tells us that the Alexandria Film Festival is earning a reputation on the world stage of cinematic competition. But we are equally thrilled that so much of the work being shown in this year's festival—as in years past—has come from the wealth of talent and creativity right here in the back yard of our nation's capital."
Opening at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 Union St., on Thursday, November 4, the 2010 Film Festival, organized and presented by the Alexandria Commission for the Arts and the Alexandria Office of the Arts, a division of the Department of Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities, exhibits both curated and juried films ranging in length from 5 minutes to 2 hours, covering a wide range of subject matter. This year, the Alexandria Film Festival's Program and Executive Committees selected over 35 films to be shown Thursday, November 4 through Sunday, November 7.
Opening night features the Washington, D.C. premiere of Griefwalker and Ride the Divide. Following each screening, the filmmakers and Stephen Jenkinson, who will talk about his revolutionary approach to grief and our understanding of death, will be in attendance to discuss their films.
Griefwalker, an unforgettable, feature length documentary by the award winning filmmaker Tim Wilson, who set his lens on his friend Stephen Jenkinson, a Harvard educated theologian and one of Canada's leading palliative care educators. Jenkinson, who travels throughout Canada providing grief counseling, believes that in order to love life, we need to love death.
Ride the Divide, directed by cinematographer Hunter Weeks, is a visually stunning film about a 2,700 mile mountain bike race through the entire Rocky Mountain range weaving three characters' experiences with immense mountain beauty and small town culture as they all attempt to pedal from Banff, Canada to a small, dusty crossing on the Mexican border.
Leading Ladies will make its Washington, D.C. premiere with the exuberant story of a family of ballroom dancers who 'let love lead' to what they are each meant to be. The film offers extraordinary dancing by three stars who will be on hand after the screening on Friday, November 5 to give a live demonstration of an art form at the pinnacle of its popularity.
Top films will be honored with cash awards in the following categories: The Jury Prize, The Audience Award and the Best of Fest Award. For a complete schedule of Film Festival activities, including opening night reception, special events, film screenings, ticket information and festival locations, visit AlexandriaFilm.org. New information will be added daily beginning October 8.
For press related information, contact:
Jessica Quillin, Marketing Committee Chair
571.312.8976 (office) 202.250.0758 (cell)
Terri Hyde, Marketing Committee Liaison
571.970.3693 (office) 914.473.0925 (cell)


text:
|2012-08-16, 08:15
|Link #21
Feeling comfy
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 43
I would qualify, though, that journalists — American journalists, especially — would do a lot better by dropping all pretence of being "champions of free speech and democracy". That's self-deception at best, and an outright lie at worst. We like to think of ourselves as storytellers but, more often than not, we're really no better than glorified gossipmongers. Once we're clear about this, that we are ultimately part of a business, there would be a lot less hand-wringing about the imminent demise of the "Fourth Estate" and more focus on what really needs to be done to save the industry and the profession.
Here's a little something else to get more discussion going: Why should some jobs pay so much more than others? I mean, seriously, how does one justify the millions earned by bankers and sports stars, versus what's earned by an engineer who designs and builds something that's actually useful, rather than something dubious or simply for entertainment?
|2012-08-16, 08:50
|Link #22
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Although engineers as a professional group may not earn large amounts, the top people in the field can earn considerable wages. For example in the car industry key technical designers have switched companies for large sums.
A big problem of the free market is that it has trouble dealing with externalities: costs or benefits to third parties not incurred by either a company or its clients. Positive benefit engineers have on society is not reflected in their pay. For that reason governments in some countries subsidize technical studies, making the profession more attractive for young people. Other means a are tax breaks for tech starters etc.
Same way taxes can be used to keep top earnings in check.
|2012-08-16, 09:04
|Link #23
Join Date: Mar 2006
|2012-08-16, 09:30
|Link #24
Knight Errant
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Age: 29
|2012-08-16, 11:03
|Link #25
Feeling comfy
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 43
As for news aggregation, that's basic economics at work: the division and specialisation of labour. As revenues fall, newsrooms the world over are increasingly cutting back their foreign bureaus and relying on newswires like Reuters and AFP to bring in stories from abroad. What you'll find is that the Internet is forcing newsrooms to become "hyper-local", focusing more on news in the community that isn't covered by news agencies.
As for information gathering and fact-checking, those are basic requirements of any newsroom. Journalism is "old" enough that the processes are more or less the same no matter where you are. I find that it comes down to individual personalities, whether or not any newsroom shines. Economics, I think, has little to do with it. Well, insofar as the pay did not deter people from becoming journalists in the first place.
One could argue that you get what you pay for, politically, in the United States, for example.
|2012-08-16, 12:09
|Link #26
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Management (and politics) is a different ballgame. Talent is not scarce at all but proven talent is. A bad applicant assigned to an important position could have disastrous results. The problem is that it is much harder to spot the "lemons" among applicants. Managerial performance is hard to measure directly, judgement is based on recommendations and organization performance.
Organizations simple pay overly high wages in order to maximize the chance of attracting top people with large, solid track-records. The argument is that if they don't pay the highest wages only inferior candidates will apply. The wage premium paid therefore can be seen as an insurance. (I personally don't agree with this reasoning, but it happens)
However, often the people who "judge" the quality of applicants come from the same social group as the applicants, creating all kinds of opportunities for nepotism and insider networks.
Last edited by Bri; 2012-08-16 at 12:28.
|2012-08-16, 13:31
|Link #27
Feeling comfy
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 43
So, while every Tom, Dick and Harry graduates hoping to become a banker or a lawyer because of the high pay, relatively fewer talented individuals go to other sectors in the economy. You get a vicious circle in those sectors starved off necessary talent. They atrophy day by day, and with less and less spending power at their disposal, they find it increasingly harder to attract the people they need.
Then what? I guess this is where the society and the economy as a whole needs to decide what to keep and what to let die. On paper, a cut-and-dry affair. In practice, a wrenching issue, when you have to tell someone he doesn't have a job any more because the industry he works in is no longer competitive in that economy.
|2012-08-16, 13:49
|Link #28
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Technological improvements increases the total output of an economy, which in turn increases total wealth. Financials making a profit on the markets only redistributes wealth, they don't create anything.
I'm not saying finance has no important role, but it should facilitate markets and the economy by increasing efficiency. It's not a goal in itself.
|2012-08-16, 14:17
|Link #29
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 29
Then you further dilute the wage benchmark, underwaging the less certified but better trained individuals (known as "amateurs"......in fact with the expansion of the internet these "amateurs" perform significantly better than "certified individuals"), resulting in lower consumption > greater volume of bank loans > higher interest rates > increased CoDB + lower entrepreneurship levels > less hiring of locals, more hiring of cheaper foreign talent........it is a really vicious cycle.
I think the problem lies with the desire for consumerism - as much as it is a good personal motivator for a person to work harder, sometimes it is pretty worthless to display an object of pride to other people who won't be around you when it is gone.
|2012-08-16, 20:17
|Link #34
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 29
And so are many traders......can't wait for the stock price to decrease and buy up more since Apple has a pretty strong and stable, yet recycable customer base.
|2012-11-11, 16:24
|Link #35
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: 28° 37', North ; 77° 13', East
Age: 27
The first has to do with the fact that there's something of a fundamental gap between opinion of the wage-earner and wage-setter on whats the right wage. first (for arguments sake) i'm taking a look at wage in a broad(er) manner, including the prestige, responsibility etc. ( of course, this would imply that certain jobs attract certain types of people based on what they want out of a job). Unless both the employer and employee know that they both know exactly how good the employee is, there'll be some kind of gap between what people earn and what they think they should earn. If the employee thinks hes earning less than he should for the work he does, he'll shirk, and by shirk i mean he might work less hard, work less hours, steal money, w/e. Since finding that information out beforehand is impossible (or lets say, prohibitively expensive), you gotta enforce the rules within the organization post hiring. But then the same problem arises; how do you enforce the enforcers? Obviously, by increasing the severity of consequences, but more importantly, by linking the managers wage to the overall size, and profits of the company. The regular employees on the other hand, are paid according to the 'output' they produce. This problem is confounded for government jobs; there's no profit to peg wages, and there is at best a set of fluid goals to use as benchmarks. That was a bit of a tangent, but anyways since the management has the power to set the wages, this is one of the more popular justifications, at least in standard economic academia. Theres a lot of brain-frying stuff on corporate management models that I have little no expertise in however.. its explained a lot better in the original article, so pm me if you want to read it
The other reason is often has to do with the lifetime of an employee in a firm; by paying managerial 'senior' positions higher, you increase the incentive of employees to remain and work harder to reach higher positions. Even if its only an illusion that there is that amount of vertical mobility for employees in an organization. This is all excluding the argument that managers do more for the company in terms of profitability, hence they should be paid more (its quite a weak argument)
*Sigh* I guess I respect economics point of view that by modeling individuals behavior under somewhat restrictive assumptions we can extract meaning and results that otherwise wouldn't be apparent. Unfortunately, this injustice ( i guess you could call it that.. though feel free to put in any word you like) is the consequence of following a (restrictive) system based purely on mathematical selfishness, a.k.a economic effciency. Despite our best efforts, the way we are now doesn't look particularly efficient in the economic sense either.
Last edited by oompa loompa; 2012-11-11 at 16:37.
|2012-11-11, 23:16
|Link #36
Knight Errant
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Age: 29
To get good output from employees, I think 2 ingredients are required: Solidarity and Mission.
Solidarity: Employees must feel a sense of solidarity with their fellow employees, managers and the company itself. They must feel that "they are on the same team". This requires trust, trust in the idea that the company has their best interests at heart. If the company doesn't trust them, why should they trust the company? If the company will throw them away at the soonest convenience, why should they display any loyalty to it? The idea of increased pay for good performance is not about greed (good performance is rarely driven by greed, stealing money on the other hand...), it's about fairness. If I work hard and I achieve something that makes the company lots of money, is it fair that the shareholders benefit while I walk away with nothing? If this kind of thing continues the employee will feel like his work is only being exploited.
However, merit based pay can often lead down a road of greed, where employees try to deceive their managers into thinking they work harder then they actually do, while downplaying how hard other employees work (as any bonus the other employee recieves is a bonus I can't get). Instead, I think all members of a particular team should all receive the same pay, and the same performance based bonus. That way it's very clear from their own paycheck that they will all succeed and fail together. If possible all employees in the entire company should have the same performance based bonus, from the highest CEO to the lowest line worker. The line worker should feel solidarity with his CEO, as should the CEO with his line worker.
Now Solidarity alone isn't enough. I think you also need the organization to have a genuine sense of mission. Now it doesn't need to be saving the world (though that always helps), but the organisation does need to be permeated with the idea of customer service. That the organisation is infused with a mission to provide the very best service/product to the customer, the most efficiently, at the lowest cost. The customer should not be a walking bag of money waiting to be conned.
You can see elements of what I'm talking about with certain very famous companies, for me the stand out is Toyota, their takeover the NUMMI plant in California is quite interesting.
As I see it, companies begin to fail when the managers separate themselves from their employees (and even look down on them...), and employees become apathetic towards the work of the company as a whole. It's a question of motivation, rather then greed. If you create the right kind of company culture, employees will be willing to go so far as to voluntarily cut their own wages if they see the company getting in trouble. That kind of loyalty and commitment is rare in the world of fortune 500 companies...
|2012-11-12, 01:21
|Link #37
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: 28° 37', North ; 77° 13', East
Age: 27
For the sake of discussion I'm going to play devils advocate and take the managers side of things
I don't think we're morally twisted. I genuinely just think we as economists are too dumb to think up a better system.
Disclaimer: If I use words like 'always', or 'never', don't take it to be binding, I'm not writing this too carefully.
|2012-11-12, 06:58
|Link #38
Knight Errant
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Age: 29
The Employees are the company. The employees in working should not be working purely for their own selfish personal advancement, but rather to further the goals of the company. The company then compensates the employees, because that is fair.
I personally think that shareholder's faith plays much of a role in the success of a company. Rather, I would say it's a symptom, rather then a cause of problems. The failure or success of a company is in it's employees. What is a company but a group of people working towards fulfilling the needs of a set of customers? If the people aren't working to fulfill those needs, your company is paying people to do nothing.
In terms of performance based pay, I don't think the bonus should be a percentage of their wage, but an absolute quantity. I believe in lieu of other bonuses, a percentage of the net profit should be distributed equally between all employees (with the newest trainees receiving less, until they're integrated into the company). I mostly speak of industries where most of the work is skilled, however. So if a company does well, all employees will find themselves with a $4,000 bonus.
The mission is customer satisfaction, money is simply the result.
I take my queues from some very successful companies. For me, Toyota is what particularly impressed me. The reason Toyota at it's peak managed to produce such high quality cars with such efficiency is that they managed to create a sense of mission throughout the organization, whereby every level of the company was engaged in trying to continuously improve the company (the jargon for this being "Kaizen". The Toyota assembly line became incredibly efficient because every single line worker was continuously looking for ways to improve it. When problems occurred, employees weren't punished, but rather worked together to solve the problem.
To get this level of motivation and commitment from employees, Toyota had to get their trust, and they did this by paying them a decent wage, paying them bonuses if they improved the line, and rarely laying off workers. If you look at it's record, Toyota has had very few plant closures and large scale layoffs. Toyota employees stand by Toyota because they know that Toyota will stand by them. They might get their wages cut in bad times, but they know Toyota will do it's best not to lay them off, instead Toyota might invest in them by putting them through training programs.
Now Toyota is not perfect (and it's probably not as it good at it was at it's peak), but it shows you the power of employee participation.
The contrast is GM, where management never trusted it's employees, and consequently it fell behind. Again, this program illustrates it nicely.
Other successful companies with interesting management structures are Valve and Semco.
|2012-11-12, 16:04
|Link #39
I disagree with you all.
Join Date: Dec 2005
The different interests are sometimes in contradiction with each other, so it's a balancing act. And I don't put much stock in the concept of "fairness". Too subjective. Too top down, too. (Someone somewhere deciding the specifics of what is "fair".) I prefer more peer-to-peer concepts such as "contracts" and "acceptable".
|2012-11-12, 17:28
|Link #40
Knight Errant
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Age: 29
If customers no longer desire the company's services, it may as well not exist.
If a company does not serve the interests of the stakeholders you refer to, the company can still go on (although it may be weakened), but if it ignores the customer it's doomed. So the purpose of shell is to serve it's customers (pretty much everyone) by providing them with oil quickly, cheaply and efficiently. The purpose of your local restaurant is to provide it's patrons with an excellent dining experience. The purpose of the restaurant is not to satisfy the waiter's desire to wait tables, or the cook's desire to cook.
As for what the company is, the company is the employees, and whatever equipment and capital it has accrued. Depending on the nature of the business, the balance of company ownership will fall more towards shareholders (who own the "capital") and employees (who operate it). A fast food chain would lean more towards the shareholders, as the worker's labour is of less value then the equipment. An IT company, on the other hand, would have almost all value held by employees. The equipment is of little value compared to value of the worker's skills.
You cannot define fairness is a simple manner. A new immigrant from the Philippines will find work conditions fair that an Irishman or American would find exploitative. However so long as any degree of inequality exists within a company, eventually the worker will inevitably find his conditions unfair. It is in manager's interests to ensure that his worker's always feel that they're being treated fairly (and if you want to be manipulative, even through deception).
Personally, I don't feel "fairness" is "top-down" I view it as "bottom-up". It's not managers that decide whether arrangements are fair, it's individual workers.
|Thread Tools


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Teaching began as a girl for retiree
A teacher who recently retired from Wapakoneta Elementary School after 35 years began her career long before that, helping her dolls learn to read.
"I always pretended I was a teacher," said Melanie Webb this week, on her first day off the job in all these years. "I lined up my doll babies and made up worksheets. I had this big chalk board where I would write lesson plans."
Webb said in part it was an admiration of her grandmother, Margrete Erb, who taught in a one-room school house, which inspired her to become a teacher.
Through her years in the Wapakoneta City Schools, Webb taught second-, third- and fourth-grades, as well as art, intervention, ESL (English as a second language) and Title I reading.
"All the different assignments were fun," Webb said. "I made the best out of whatever I was given and was always up for a challenge."
She started teaching in 1977 at United Local School, where she and her husband, Don Webb, attended classes when they were youths. Through the years she moved between buildings spending time also at Centennial, Northridge and finally Wapakoneta elementary schools before she retired.
Webb received her bachelor's degree from Ohio Northern University a few months before her employment began and spent that time substitute teaching. She earned her master's degree from Bowling Green State University in 1981.
In 2003, she achieved National Board Certification, an advanced teaching credential designed to recognize effective and accomplished teachers who meet high standards.
"It's a very hard process, for which you have to apply to get into, but it makes you a stronger teacher," Webb said. "I wanted to do it to better myself."
Webb said making the decision to retire was a difficult one for her as she always enjoyed the children and finding ways to help them learn and found the work she did very rewarding.
Specifically, Webb said Title I reading was close to her heart because she always felt there had to be ways to help students struggling in that area.
"It was a challenge to come up with ways to help them learn and I liked that," Webb said.
"Without learning to read, everything is tougher," she said of the importance of the subject. "When they worked hard and reached success, to see the smiles on their faces and pride in their hearts was so awesome."
While Webb always enjoyed what she did working with children, she said changes in education made her decide it might be time to retire.
"I wanted to stop while I still thought I was good at it," Webb said.
As she looks forward to her retirement, Webb said she plans to work on her large garden and spend more time canning. She plans to travel and hopes to reach her bucket list destination of Hawaii. In August, she and her mother are taking a trip to Cape Cod, Mass.
Webb said she also is looking forward to spending time with her son, Adam, and his wife, Jessica, after he returns from several months of service with the Army National Guard in Afghanistan and to visiting her daughter, Courtney, in Illinois, more frequently.
Eventually, she may get back into substitute teaching.
"It would be nice to still help in that way," Webb said.
Looking back on her years teaching, Webb said it not only was rewarding to work with the students when they were in her class, but to follow them through their lives. She even had some of her students' children in her class before her retirement.
"I'm very proud of how they have grown up," Webb said.


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Treating Cold-Damaged Palms
Cold weather slows the growth of palms, reduces activity of the roots, and often weakens the plant to the point where a disease can become active and kill the palm.Often, the only above-ground portion of a cold-damaged palm that is still alive is the protected bud. In most cases, the death of the bud soon after a freeze is due to bacteria that is present at low levels of a healthy palm, but becomes a problem only after the freeze damage.
Possible Preventative Action
There may be value in applying a preventative spray of fungicidal copper before freezing temperatures are reached in order to reduce these bacterial populations to the lowest levels possible. This strategy, however, has not been tested under controlled conditions. It is also important that palms receive a balanced fertilization in late summer or early fall to ensure that foliar nutrient levels are near optimum as winter approaches.
Protecting the Damaged Palm While Waiting for Warm Weather
Remove the cold-damaged portion of the leaves. Leaves should not be completely removed if they are green, even if they are spotted from the cold. The green intact portions of the palm are important to ensure adequate photosynthesis during the recovery stage.
Disease Control
Immediately after pruning, spray the palms with a fungicide containing cooper at the recommended rate. The use of fungicide is recommended only for palms not bearing edible fruit. Include a spreader sticker. Then, repeat the cooper spray 10 days after the first treatment or use another broad spectrum fungicide. Contact you County Extension Agent for current fungicide recommendations. In all cases, the sprays must cover the damaged tissue and healthy bud thoroughly.Nutrients
Warmer weather promotes rapid growth; this helps the palms recover. A monthly application of soluble nutrients should be applied to the leaves of ¼ to ½ teaspoon per gallon S.T.E.M.® (Peter's Soluble Trace Element Mix) Spreader sticker.
Cryptic Cold-Damage
If leaves emerging during the spring and summer months appear deformed, partially browned or otherwise abnormal, this may be indicative of embryonic leaves within the bud that were severely damaged during the winter. In most cases, the palm will grow out of this later in the season. Freeze damage to conducting tissue in the trunk may limit the ability of the palm to supply water to the canopy of leaves. Palms do not have the ability to regenerate conducting tissue in the trunk. Sudden collapse of some (or even all) of the leaves in the crown during the first of spring and the high temperatures of summer after a winter freeze may indicate that this type of trunk damage has occurred. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done to remedy this, and loss of the palm is inevitable.
The above steps will help you reduce loss from cold-damage and speed recovery. Nutrient sprays should continue into the summer if the plants are young or newly established in the landscape. Older palms will benefit from a soil application of a granular palm fertilizer in the spring, but it must be repeated every three to four months.
Compiled by Jalil (Jay) Vedaee from Treating Cold-Damaged Palms by Alan W. Meerow.


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By Teresa Rivas
Salesforce.com (CRM) shares were up slightly this morning, after falling last night following the company's second-quarter earnings report.
Here's what analysts are saying today:
BMO Capital Markets' Karl Keirstead writes "While investor expectations were rising into the print and a billings beat may have been priced into the stock (explaining the after-market decline in CRM shares), we conclude that in-line billings growth of 30% is solid given the tough macro environment. Billings growth was closer to 35% on a constant currency basis and was about 40% adjusted for the invoicing duration shift. CRM barely acknowledged the tough macro backdrop, European revenues were up 40% in constant currency, operating cash flow was up 64% and CRM signed a mega-deal with a big network vendor (presumably Cisco). In terms of negatives, the October quarter DR guidance implies billings growth of about 30%, which seems a bit light given the easier year-over-year comparison and the DR guidance implies a sequential DR decline of 3%, at the very low end of the range over the past four years. We're not picking up anything negative from our field checks, and we conclude that CRM is being somewhat cautious given the obviously weak macro backdrop."
Roth Capital Research's Nathan Schneiderman writes "Of interest, the company disclosed that the Service Cloud is now at a $500 million annual revenue run rate with line of sight to $1 billion; CEO Marc Benioff predicted that the Marketing Cloud and Platform would also become $1 billion annual businesses. The only noteworthy negative mentioned by the company was some pressure on demand from the U.S. small-business segment, likely due to macro disruption…We maintain our BUY rating and our price target of $165, reflecting multiples of 6x revenue, 31x FCF, and 83x P/E on our FY2014E, a significant premium to our other SaaS vendors though one we consider justified given salesforce.com's formidable market position."
Canaccord Genuity's Richard Davis writes "CRM's moderate margins allow investors to dream big when the news flow is positive and fret when news or the macro is scary. Inasmuch as we believe we are in one of those sin curve upswings, we believe it is possible for CRM to reach or broach $165 before temporarily running out of steam as investors shift back to a "glass is half empty mood."
Needham's Michael Huang writes "Salesforce delivered an in-line-ish bookings quarter (up 30% y/y vs. up 34% y/y) and guided Q3 EPS down, which could disappoint some hoping for clearer signs of accelerating trends. We would be buyers of any weakness as we believe fundamentals are intact, and we continue to believe that salesforce is the highest quality and best scaled SaaS name in our universe, best leveraged to the rising strategic importance of SaaS and Enterprise Social trends."
Think Equity's Bradley Sills writes "We view the shortfall to our deferred revenue estimate as disappointing (+.2% q/q versus our estimate for +2%). However, we believe other trends remained solid, including: 1) momentum in the large enterprise and mid-market segments 2) cross selling of the Service Cloud 3) early traction in the Marketing Cloud and 4) accelerating growth in Europe (+40% y/y constant currency from 33% in Q1). Management comments and our channel checks suggest that these trends are driving solid pipeline builds which we believe are likely to drive bookings upside as we move through the remainder of the year."
Lazard Capital Markets' Joel Fishbein Jr. writes "CRM delivered another beat and raise this quarter and is continuing to show diversified growth as it continues to execute across all platforms and geographies. The only hair on the quarter was billings growth of 29.7% y/y, which was in line with the Street but likely below investor expectations. Billings growth would have been 34.7% except for a $14 million q/q FX headwind to deferred revenue and $17 million headwind to revenue."
Jefferies' Ross MacMillan writes "We calc that billings, adj for FX and the impact from a higher % annual billings terms, grew around 39% Y/Y; the best growth in 4 Qs. The expanding product portfolio, large deal wins (Allergan, Nestle, Virgin, etc) and improving execution in international markets all helped. Our rev ests move up, while our EPS est move lower (due to BM dilution). Net net our FCF est remains broadly unchanged."


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Neurological Disorders
There are many nervous system disorders that require clinical care by a physician or other healthcare professional. Listed in the directory below are some, for which we have provided a brief overview.
If you cannot find the information in which you are interested, please visit the Nervous System Disorders Online Resources page in this Web site for an Internet/World Wide Web address that may contain additional information on that topic.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
Lumbar Disc Disease (Herniated Disc)
Types of Muscular Dystrophy and Neuromuscular Diseases
Evaluation Procedures for Stroke


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Efforts to improve Nicholls State University's graduation rates are paying off, statistics show, but there's still plenty of room for improvement.
Efforts to improve Nicholls State University's graduation rates are paying off, statistics show, but there's still plenty of room for improvement.
Of students who started in 2005, 41.8 percent graduated within six years.
That number, called a six-year cohort graduation rate, is a standard measure of how well students are progressing toward graduation.
That graduation rate is almost 10 percentage points higher than it was the year before. School officials said that's the largest jump in the state this year.
"Graduation rates take a long time to measure," said President Stephen Hulbert in a news release. "But these most recent results definitively show that higher quality students are choosing Nicholls and that we're providing the services needed to support their success."
Nicholls' graduation rate is the fourth best among public universities in the state and the best among "regional universities" with a similar size and mission.
It's also higher than the average in the University of Louisiana system, which includes Nicholls.
"Like many schools in Louisiana, we've been taking a beating when it comes to graduation rates," said Executive Vice President Larry Howell. "We've been bringing them up slowly, but this jump is really good news for us."
Howell said graduation rates jumped largely because the school implemented admissions standards in 2005. That means these are the first graduation numbers that included students who had to meet those standards.
"In most cases, your graduation rate is a result of the students you bring in," Howell said. "When we were taking any student with a GED, we'd have people taking seven or eight years to get a degree, and we'd have a lot of people just drop out entirely. That's not happening anymore."
Howell also credited the rise to better counseling and the creation of the University College that provides special help for freshmen.
Though school officials are pleased with the growth, they also recognize a lot more work needs to be done. While Nicholls stacks up pretty well against state peers, Louisiana schools have some of the lowest graduation rates in the country. Though statistics aren't available for the 2005 freshman class, universities in the South graduated more than 58.4 percent of their 2004 class within six years, according to the Southern Regional Education Board.
Howell said it's not exactly fair to compare Nicholls to that average, because it includes schools such as LSU and the University of Texas. Those schools have flagship research programs and a much higher percentage of students living on campus dedicated full-time to school — and much tougher admissions standards.
"We serve a type of student that's much more likely to be working or to have a family," Howell said. "Among universities of our kind, we're right at the average."
Still, Howell said he wants to see graduation rates continue to improve over the next decade or so.
"Obviously the hope is that you can get higher," Howell said. "And I think it will."
Howell predicted rates will increase again when statistics for the 2006 freshman class are released, because the 2005 class included a summer class of students without the standards. Howell also said standards will gradually increase over the next few years — in 2014, for example, the school will no longer accept students who need remedial coursework.
Many students interviewed on campus Friday said they were surprised by the 41 percent figure.
"That seems low to me," said Kevin Ford, a business management freshman. "I would have thought it would have been higher."
Still, Ford and other students said they recognize that many Nicholls students are taking classes when they can between jobs and raising families.
"I guess once you think about it, it makes sense. I know a lot of people come here and aren't able to focus just on school," said Lindsay Constant, an English education junior. "I could see why it would take you a long time to graduate doing that."
Students said the numbers don't change their opinion of Nicholls.
"It's close, it's convenient. And it's a good school," Ford said. "That's why people go here."
Staff Writer Matthew Albright can be reached at 448-7635 or at email@example.com.


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Premier Private Golf Club & Real Estate in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area
Located in Gold Canyon, Arizona, Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club offers spectacular golf in a truly dramatic old world setting. This prestigious private Club boasts two Nicklaus designed golf courses highlighted by jaw-dropping views, a spectacular clubhouse and a fully appointed Sports Club. All this, together with many indoor and outdoor recreational pursuits, serves as your invitation to enjoy a fulfilling and rich resort experience in some of Phoenix's prime real estate.


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In spite of the sensational job David Moyes has been doing at Everton for over a decade, the club are still yet to boast any domestic or European honours during his tenure.
Having to operate in the transfer market with what can only be described as a limited budget has undoubtedly constrained the Scotsman, but ceased to prevent him achieving Champions League qualification in 2005 and guiding the club to an FA cup final in 2009.
In what is now Moyes 11th year at the Blues it appears the Scotsman believes this season could be the time to end the wait for some much deserved silverware.
Everton face a battling Wigan side at Goodison Park on Saturday in the FA Cup quarter-final and Moyes is determined to make up for previous short comings such as the Final loss in 2009 and losing to bitter rivals Liverpool in last year's Semi-Final.
Moyes said: "I wouldn't say we are getting a better cup team but I think we are getting a team who are maybe finding a goal to win the games.
"I couldn't turn around and say any of my cup performances have made me go 'wow, that was a great performance' but in a cup competition the most important thing is you get through.
"I think over recent years we have started to get a little bit closer to the final numbers in this competition and we will try to do so again this weekend.
"To get close to these things you have to be in a position to win the games and we have a chance with a home tie, which we have to make the most of.
"I think to win the FA Cup is something I'd love to do with the players because we've been at it a long time."
Star player Leighton Baines has been in fine form for the Toffees this season and has reiterated the intent voiced by Moyes.
The England full back said: "It is hard to explain because losing a semi-final is a blow and to lose to your biggest rivals made it worse.
"It took a while to get past it and we were probably licking our wounds for a little bit but we are stronger for it and we don't want that feeling again.
"You draw on those experiences and emotions and use them as motivation."
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The legend of Larry Wang lives on
By Theresa Harrington
After the Contra Costa Times wrote a "Hometown Hero" story about former Sequoia Middle School student Larry Wang's project teaching Sequoia Elementary students how to play instruments, I received a phone call from a producer at BYU who wanted to make a video about him.
Larry decided to take on this project after the Mt. Diablo school board cut fourth-grade music due to budget cuts. Since he had learned music in elementary school, he didn't want new fourth-graders to miss out on the same experience.
His project was a resounding success! This year, fifth-grade music was eliminated due to budget cuts and Larry transferred into the Acalanes district, where he is a musician in the Acalanes HS band. But his legend lives on at the Sequoia schools in Pleasant Hill.
Do you know of other student "Hometown Heroes?"
Posted on Saturday, February 5th, 2011
Under: Education, Mt. Diablo school district, Theresa Harrington | No Comments »


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Those who knew Julius Jerome Jacobs described the 40-year-old father of five as an outgoing, friendly, likable man who shied away from confrontation and loved his church.
Ocala Police Department detectives say they have "persons of interest" in the death of 40-year-old Julius Jerome Jacobs, who was gunned down Friday night on the side of the road.
Officials said there are several individuals with whom they would like to talk, but they did not release the names of those people on Saturday.
Meantime, the Medical Examiner's Office in Leesburg conducted an autopsy on Jacobs' body Saturday morning, but the findings were not immediately available.
Police officials said they have not recovered any weapon or weapons used and have not yet determined a motive for the killing.
OPD received a call at 9:32 p.m. Friday about a man who had been shot in the 1900 block of Southwest Third Street. Arriving on scene, police were told that Jacobs had pulled up into a driveway and there was a confrontation.
Jacobs ended up being fatally shot in the head, witnesses said.
The alleged shooter and two other men ran from the scene, witnesses said. Detectives spent much of the night investigating the scene, gathering evidence, tracking down leads and interviewing anyone who might have knowledge of the shooting.
They were trying to verify if the shooting is related to an earlier altercation nearby between the victim and others.
As detectives continued their efforts to find the person or people responsible, those who knew Jacobs described the father of five as an outgoing, friendly, likable man who shied away from confrontation and loved his church.
Early Saturday morning, several hours after Jacobs was slain, family and friends gathered at Ocala Regional Medical Center to comfort each other and Jacobs' mother, who was hospitalized for precautionary reasons because of shock over her son's death. They were in disbelief about his passing and, most of all, the way he died, family members and friends said on Saturday.
"I just don't understand it. … He doesn't bother anybody, he keeps to himself. He's like an old man who loves his church music, loved old music, like jazz and soul music," said friend Cheryl Mannigault, who said she has known Jacobs since she moved to Florida in 1982. "Whatever the problem was, I bet he was the peacemaker."
Lateria Myhand said Jacobs, assistant director for men at the choir at Welcome Stranger Missionary Baptist Church, "loved to sing" and was a good man.
Just an hour before the shooting, Myhand said, she and Jacobs, who was her cousin, were talking about the July 4 fireworks used at his mother's home.
Jacobs, she said, had five children: three girls and two boys, ranging in age from 4 to 22. He enjoyed spending time with his daughters, and on July 4 they were together.
"He was a likable person who got along with everybody," Myhand said.
Mannigault, whom Jacobs would call "auntie," said her good friend always had "an encouraging word from the Bible" for someone and loved making people laugh.
"I saw him a week ago at his mother's home, and we were laughing and joking and having a good time," she said.
George Grimsley, Jacobs' uncle and a retired pastor from New Saint John Baptist Church, said his nephew turned his life around after getting in some trouble a few years ago.
"He was a good guy, very respectful, church-going and a happy-go-lucky guy," Grimsley said.
Grimsley said Jacobs' mother was taking the news hard and that he prayed with the family.
Throughout the day on Saturday, more people have come forward expressing shock and disbelief about Jacobs' death.
Released from the hospital Saturday afternoon, Jacobs' mother was still emotionally overcomed with grief.
One of those distressed by Jacobs' death was Roosevelt Hunt, assistant pastor at Welcome Stranger Missionary Baptist Church. He said Jacobs was a "rising singer who had the potential of becoming a minister if he wanted to."
"He was loved by everyone, and will be truly missed," Hunt said.
Pastor James Pullings Sr., who grew up with Jacobs in Ocala, said he could count on one hand how many Sundays his friend had missed in the last year.
"He was always lively, knew how to work the crowd. That was his gift as a singer. What was unique about him was how kids gravitate toward him," Pullings said. If he had one word to describe Jacobs, he said, it was "heart; he had a big heart."
Pullings said there were three things Jacobs lived by: He loved God, his mother and his children.
Jacobs' cousin Rashundra Grimsley-Robinson and his aunt, Rosie Myhand, remembered a smiling and happy Jacobs on July 4.
"He said 'I just love my big family. I'm so happy to have my family,'?" Grimsley-Robinson recalled.
Said Myhand, "He was the life of the party. He loved to laugh and barbecue. He called himself Mr. Chef."
Anyone with any information about the shooting can call Detective Stephanie McQuaig at 369-7029, Crime Line at 369-7061 or Crime Stoppers at 368-STOP, visit www.ocalacrimestoppers.com, or text "ocalapd" and a tip to TIP411.


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Last weekend the students and alumni of the Jones Graduate School of Business recognized five of the school's faculty members for their excellence in teaching. Honorees were chosen by the Rice MBA alumni group, as well as students from the school's three MBA programs.
MBA for Executives Award for Teaching Excellence
Karen Nelson, professor of accounting
A member of the Rice faculty since 2003, Nelson teaches financial accounting in the MBA and Executive MBA programs as well as several Executive Education courses. Her research focuses on financial reporting quality and earnings management, including the role of regulators, auditors and private securities litigation in monitoring financial reporting quality. Nelson has published her research in a number of top academic journals and has been invited to speak at more than 30 leading business schools in the U.S. and abroad. Her research has also been featured in leading financial press publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Businessweek and Forbes. She is on the editorial board of The Accounting Review and is an active member of the American Accounting Association, for which she serves on the Intellectual Property Task Force. Prior to her appointment at Rice, she was on the faculty of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and was a visiting professor at the University of Michigan.
MBA for Professionals Evening Award for Teaching Excellence
Sebastien Michenaud, assistant professor of finance
Michenaud currently teaches the core finance class to the professional evening and weekend MBA students. A member of the Rice faculty since 2008, he focuses his research on corporate finance and behavioral finance. He works primarily on the effects the stock market has on a firm's financial decisions, such as corporate investment, financing, acquisitions and payout, through the market's organization (short-selling constraints), its participants (analysts and investors) and its outcomes (stock prices). His research has appeared in the Journal of International Money and Finance. Michenaud has worked with Bankers Trust (now Deutsche Bank) in London and Madrid in the mergers and acquisitions department, with Schneider Electric in Chicago in the corporate strategy department and with Arkwright Ltd. in Paris as a strategy consultant.
MBA for Professionals Weekend Award for Teaching Excellence
Vikas Mittal, the J. Hugh Liedtke Professor of Marketing
Mittal researches consumer decision-making, health care, customer satisfaction and organization strategy. In 2006 he received the William F. O'Dell Award for making the most significant, long-term contribution to the theory, methodology and practice of marketing. His research was also recognized with the FedEx Excellence in Service Research award at the Journal of Service Research. His research has appeared in leading marketing journals, including the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research and Marketing Science. He currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Service Research, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Interactive Marketing and the Journal of Retailing. Prior to joining the Jones School, he was the Thomas Marshall Professor of Marketing at the Katz Graduate School of Management, where he won the excellence in teaching award three years running. He was voted the best professor by the executives in the 2003-IEMBA program in Brazil.
Full-Time MBA Award for Teaching Excellence
Steve Crawford, assistant professor of accounting
Crawford joined the Rice faculty in 2007 and teaches financial statement analysis in the MBA program. His research focuses on financial reporting issues in both domestic and international settings. His dissertation examines how legal institutions and market forces affect cross-listed firms. His research also focuses on the role of financial analysts. He earned his Ph.D. in accounting from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago. Crawford also holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Brigham Young University.
Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business Alumni Award for Teaching Excellence
Prashant Kale, associate professor of strategic management
Kale does research in the areas of corporate strategy, strategic alliances and acquisitions, and some of his current projects examine such issues as how companies choose whether to ally or acquire, how acquisitions create value in emerging markets and how companies build alliance capability. His research has received awards from the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Society and has been published in the Strategic Management Journal, Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review and other professional journals. Kale is also a research fellow with the Mack Center for Technological Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and a faculty associate at the University of Michigan's William Davidson Institute.


text: The Upper Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Student Awards of Excellence were announced at a ceremony on Sunday, April 1, 2012, at the Theaters at Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. Bethany Lutheran College students claimed awards in three of the four categories in which they received nominations. The Upper Midwest Chapter of the NATAS includes universities and colleges from Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and western Wisconsin. Winners include:


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I am on well water and have a 1.5 cu ft calcite filter with a backwash system that flushes every 4 days and a separate water softener system. The water is very good in this location; not very hard and not a lot of iron. There are only 2 of us in the house currently, so not a lot of water usage.
My question; I've been topping up the calcite filter each year to replace the calcite that has dissolved. Do I need to break the system down and flush it out periodically. By that I mean do I need to dump out and refill the tank with the gravel base and all new calcite or can I just keep adding calcite to it indefinetly.
Someone told me the calcite would harden over time and solidify in the tank, but I can't find any supporting material for that on the Web sites I have visited.


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As a person ages, there is a greater likelihood of health problems, frailty and the need for family support and assistance. Alabama Cooperative Extension is offering training for people who would like to learn the basic aspects of caring for an elderly or disabled person at home.
Those completing the training will be better able to provide basic home care services to those in need, whether you are a family member, friend, neighbor or interested in increasing employment opportunities in the care giving field. The training consists of three exciting classes held on Wednesdays, February 6, 13, and 20th at noon and will go until 4:30 p.m. at Wiregrass Foundations, 1532 Whatley Drive, Dothan. This building is behind Flowers Hospital, and can be reached by traveling on John D. Odom to Whatley and turning at the light. Travel east past the Social Security office towards the roundabout and the building is on the left.
There is a one-time registration fee of $15 which will cover expenses, including snacks. The program offers 13 ½ training hours for all three sessions in the basic care of disabled and older people. Alabama Cooperative Extension System will provide a manual, Alabama Home Caregiver-A Resource to Assist the Home Care Provider, to all caregivers.
In addition, many of the presenters will have handouts/publications available on their topic. Certificates of Attendance from Alabama Cooperative Extension will be available at the last session.
Dale, Geneva, Henry and Houston County Extension offices are participating in this training. The training will offer hands-on demonstrations and training in durable medical equipment, body mechanics, personal care, proper care of pressure sores, along with health monitoring skills, and information on medications do's and don'ts, basic dementia, behavioral complications and caregiver's stress, nutrition and diabetes, food safety and other topics related to care giving.
Please make a $15 check for registration out to: Home Caregiver Workshop. Mail it to Dale County Extension Office at 202 South Hwy. 123, Ozark, AL 36361. If necessary, registration can be paid at the door.
Please call ahead to register a 334-774-2329 for the Dale County Extension Office. For more information, call Dale, Geneva, Henry or Houston County Extension office or contact Wanda Carpenter, Regional Extension Agent, at 334-790-1037 or Teresa Forehand, Regional Extension Agent, at 334-389-2492. Pre-registration is needed to reserve a manual for each participant. Please call at least one week in advance to ensure a copy.


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Mozilla Launches $300,000 Gigabit Community Fund 36
An anonymous reader writes "Mozilla has officially launched the Gigabit Community Fund, an organization that seeks to 'advance the development, experimentation and implementation of learning and workforce opportunities enhanced by new, super powerful Internet technologies.' The intent is to provide funding around cities like Kansas City and Chattanooga (and more, as fiber networks spread) for people to build open source applications that take advantage of super-fast fiber connections. 'The new $300,000 fund aims to bring discoveries out of the lab and into the field to help move prototypes to Minimum Viable Pilots and get tools in the hands of users. In each city, two, 12-week pilot periods will run, with up to 10 projects receiving awards between $5,000 and $30,000.'"


text: Hi, All, Finally LSWS 4.1 is ready for download; it has been taking YEARS to push for this release. no kidding. Main features include AIO support, HTTPS SNI, mod_security 2.5 rule sets, H.264 streaming etc.. Download LiteSpeed Web Server View Version History Milestone dates: 4.1 RC1 - Feb 2, 2009 4.1 RC2 - Nov 9, 2009 4.1 RC3 - July 25, 2010 4.1 RC4 - Dec 14, 2010 4.1 RC5 - Mar 15, 2011 Each RC release has many updates thanks to all the bug report and feedback. We have some hosts running 4.1RC in production for quite long time, so all the bugs reported till today have been addressed to the best of our knowledge. 4.1RC have also been constantly updated to include all the feature enhancement and bug fixes for 4.0.x. We still have a lot of good ideas and pending todos, but it's time to cut a 4.1 release and further move on to more exciting features in 4.1.x. We will still keep the latest stable 4.0.20 available for download. All future bug fixes will be in 4.1.x only. Auto update will be enabled a week later if no main issues reported. Thanks all for your continuous support to make LSWS a better product. Lauren


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Win $25 iTunes Gift Card with Call Screen Maker!!!
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Last edited by AppAnnex; 11-19-2012 at 02:04 AM. Reason: the contest is over


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Gill Tract, Albany, CA at the intersection of Marin Ave. and San Pablo Ave.
At 9:40 AM on July 7, 2012, urban farm activists re-entered the Gill Tract in Albany, CA to harvest crops planted during the 3-week occupation earlier this spring. The action came in response to UC and Albany City officials organizing an invite-only harvest party of the same crops. This date marks the first re-entry of urban farm activists on the land since UC Berkeley reasserted private control of Gill Tract through a police raid on May 14, 2012.
"The 'community inclusion' rhetoric put forth by UC Berkeley and the City of Albany has shown to be full of hot air. Since the Farm was raided, they have not had a single public discussion, yet feel they can railroad the development process through by calling an emergency council meeting on July 9th." said Effie Rawlings, a recent UC Berkeley graduate and Occupy the Farm organizer. The farmers say that the City and UC's attempts to exclude the public are unacceptable, and that today's action will not be the last, unless the access to land and decision making process becomes public.
"The involvement of the community in the occupation got the UC and City to discuss the preservation of this historic farmland." said Anya Kamenskaya, a long time advocate for agroecological farming at Gill Tract. "We're going to have to continue to push for transparency and inclusion every step of the way. The fact that the UC cancelled their invite-only work party and issued a statement yesterday admitting that the public deserves access to this farmland, shows that they are responding to us calling them out." During the occupation, the farmer-activists sowed crops in over 70 two-hundred foot rows. Only 40 rows remain, after the rest were plowed under by UC Berkeley to make way for corn-based research.
"I'm bummed about the condition of the crops." said Corey Scher. "The weeds are choking everything out, and the plants have bolted from not being harvested. If we tended the whole way through, we would yield a much better harvest".
"Nearly a hundred people were harvesting crops and weeding rows planted during the occupation. Organizers maintain that public access to the land is the issue and that they will steward the Gill Tract as farmland indefinitely through direct action; if necessary. Ashoka Finley, an Urban Agriculture teacher at Richmond High School, "want[s] the gates open for public access all the time. If deer are the issue then close the gates but don't lock them. We'll just keep on coming back."
Organizers are mobilizing again at 6 PM on Monday, July 9th, for the 'emergency' meeting of the Albany city council where the UC commercial development proposal of Gill Tract will be called into question.
By 10:50 AM, UC officials had yet to issue a response.
Source: http://www.occupythefarm.org/index.php/2-uncategorised/79-uc-regents-abandon-lawsuit-against-gill-tract-farmers


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Browse by Medical Category
Friday, February 10, 2012
featuring Q&A with William J. Kostis, PhD, MD, clinical and research fellow in cardiology at the Mass General Heart Center
In this second discussion about heart health, William J. Kostis, PhD, MD, a clinical and research fellow in cardiology at the Mass General Heart Center, talks about the effects of statins in women. Kostis was the lead author of a recent meta-analysis which compared statin effects in men versus women published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
February is American Heart Month. Why is it important for Americans to be educated on heart topics?
It is important because heart disease is a major cause of death and disability in both women and men in the United States. In fact, heart disease is still the number one cause of death in both women and men in this country. Greater awareness of the importance of cardiovascular health and risk-reduction strategies can help people to lead longer, healthier lives. Such strategies include pursuing a good diet and exercise regimen and avoidance of behaviors that increase cardiovascular risk (e.g. smoking).How are statins effective in treating cardiovascular disease, and when are they used?
Statins are one class of lipid-lowering medications that lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol. They can also decrease triglycerides (another fatty substance in the blood) and raise HDL ("good") cholesterol. Statins have been shown to decrease cardiovascular events (e.g. heart attacks and strokes) and also to reduce death from cardiovascular causes. These benefits are due to their improvement in patients' lipid profiles and possibly also due to other effects (including anti-inflammatory effects and benefits to the function of blood vessels). Statins are used by patients with risk factors for cardiovascular disease (including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, and a family history of early heart disease) and by those who have already suffered cardiovascular events. Although the benefit of statin use is more pronounced in reducing cardiovascular events among those patients who have already suffered one, our analysis has shown that they can help prevent first events. Most patients would prefer not to have an event in the first place and it is our goal as physicians to help them in this pursuit.Prior to this meta-analysis, what have we known about the effects of statins in women?
Many large-scale studies of cardiovascular medications have historically had a low representation of women. Statins are no exception. The majority of studies demonstrating the benefits of statin therapy included far more male than female participants. Although there were suggestions that statins were similarly effective in both genders, these studies yielded insufficient statistical proof of their benefit in women.What are the key findings in this research, and is there work you would like to focus on in the future?
The use of statins prevents both cardiovascular events and death in both women and men. These benefits were seen both in patients with a history of prior cardiovascular events (e.g. heart attacks and strokes) and also among those at risk who have not had such an event. These benefits were also shown to extend to people traditionally considered to be of lower risk. Statins are safe and well-tolerated in most cases, as observed in large trials and in widespread clinical use over the last two decades, and it will be important to continue to study their benefits and side-effects in all demographic groups as we move forward.What should physicians take from the meta-analysis? How about patients who are on statins or ones who may be using them in the future?
Statins should be considered as part of the treatment plan for all suitable patients, regardless of their gender. These agents should be used as one part of a comprehensive cardiovascular risk reduction program, including diet and exercise.
For more information about heart health, visit the MGH Heart Center's page.
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Original URL: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/07/moto_backflip/
Moto's morphing Android mounts balance beam
The gymnast's phone?
Posted in Personal Tech, 7th January 2010 12:55 GMT
Motorola has expanded its Android smartphone portfolio with a quirky little number called Backflip.
Motorola's Backflip runs Android and Motoblur
The phone supposedly combines the "social savviness and personalization" of Motoblur – Motorola's UI for syncing contacts, posts, feeds, messages, emails and photos from the likes of Facebook and Twitter - with the multitasking performance of a smartphone.
Based around a 3.1in, 320 x 480 display and running Android version 1.5, Backflip can rotate into several different positions each designed to make application or entertainment experience less painful.
Tabletop mode, as shown above, gives the phone a flat base and raised back to make watching films that much easier. The mode also turns Backflip into a handy bedside alarm clock.
A 5Mp camera and Wi-Fi support feature on Backflip
Backflip supports HSDPA 3G connections of up to 7.2mb/s and Wi-Fi over 802.11 b, Motorola said. Bluetooth is supported and a 5Mp camera lurks around the phone's rear.
Other notable Backflip features include its 315-hour standby time and 3.5mm headphone jack.
Motorola's Backflip will somersault into Europe and North America during Q1 this year. A price hasn't been released. ®


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Take advantage of increased attention to expand smoothie sales—and thank McDonald's later.
At least one company was happy with the heat wave that melted the country this summer: McDonald's. It was a fortuitous time to launch a line of fruit smoothies, which rolled out nationwide July 6. Earlier this year, the burger giant trickled out its blended coffee drinks, or frappes, across the country. Both lines further bolstered its iced-drink sales while sending a strong message to other retailers about its interest in beverages beyond the fountain.
"It's been an absolute hit," Ashlee Yingling, spokesperson for McDonald's USA, told CSP. "It's really been an instant success with our consumers and we continue even now, a month later, to see unprecedented customer demand."
Yingling also confirmed McDonald's testing of a blended strawberry lemonade, similar to Sonic's signature drink. The test is going "really well" in markets in Michigan and New York, she said, though the company will not speculate on a national rollout.
While the launch helped boost McDonald's U.S. same-store sales by 5.7% in July and started a smoothie war against category leader Jamba Juice (see sidebar on p. 116 for more on McDonald's smoothies and Jamba Juice's retaliatory campaign), c-store retailers aren't too worried about the competition.
"We've offered these products for a long time, so it's really nothing new for us. Someone new entering the category— to each their own. We don't consider it a threat or an opportunity," says Mike Thornbrugh, manager of public & government affairs for Tulsa, Okla.-based QuikTrip Corp. "If anything, perhaps it validates that we made the right choice years ago to introduce these products."
QuikTrip's blended ice drinks include f'real smoothies, frozen cappuccinos and milkshakes as well as multiple heads of frozen carbonated beverages. "It's a category that's not going to go away," says Thornbrugh, "and I do think it's a category where there are a lot of opportunities [to] introduce new flavors, and the technology on the machines obviously is going to get better and better."
To differentiate its offer, QuikTrip encourages customers to experiment by mixing products from the entire beverage section, including condiments in the stores' Flavor Centers. Its website features customer and employee recipes, from the Sunset Breeze (black cherry smoothie, blue raspberry Freezoni, puckerberry Wally Freezoni and juicy orange smoothie) to the Annette Frappacello (frozen cappuccino, amaretto creamer and chocolate syrup).
Some analysts believe that McDonald's entry into the category could actually help industrywide smoothie sales, as the McCafé line did for espressobased coffee drinks. "McDonald's has such an overall power in terms of marketing. Their budget is so huge that they can just overwhelm the marketplace that they are going to," says Richard Adams, a onetime franchisee who's now a consultant, largely to McDonald's franchisees.
"[Starbucks CEO] Howard Schultz early on said that he thought that the power of McDonald's marketing has helped the entire specialty-coffee marketplace. Starbucks contends that that helped them. If you look at Starbucks sales through last year, they bottomed out and started improving about the time McDonald's launched their coffee drinks."
One c-store retailer that has felt a bit of the halo effect of McDonald's major smoothie campaign is Wawa. It finished its chainwide rollout of Wawa Frozen at the beginning of July, just before McDonalds' rollout.
"I think it's bringing awareness to the overall category," says Michael Sherlock, director of foodservice for the Wawa, Pa.- based chain. "I think overall our advertising and their advertising is reaping a lot of awareness in the category. And between their focus on the category and ours, we've seen other retailers as well react and raise their game in cold beverages overall."
Wawa's lineup includes 10 varieties of made-to-order, fresh-fruit smoothies and frozen cappuccinos, including mango and strawberry-banana smoothies and mocha and caramel crème frozen cappuccinos. The drinks are ordered via touch screen and completed by a team member. A cross-functional team at Wawa, including members from marketing, product development, facilities and operations engineers, collaborated on the project to introduce a work cell to all stores that contains an ice machine and blender.
The drinks were introduced with a major advertising campaign and a promotional price of $1.99 for a 12-ounce drink and $2.99 for 24 ounces. (McDonald's rolled its smoothies out at $2.29 for 12-ounce smoothies; Jamba Juice's smoothies start at $3.55 for a 16-ounce size.) "It's going extremely well," says Sherlock. "It's exceeded our expectations."
Whether McDonald's entry into the market will be a benefit, a threat or a mere blip on the radar, opportunities exist for operators who seek to understand the desires of the smoothie consumer.
According to Mintel's December 2009 Smoothie Shop survey, about half (53%) of consumers have eaten smoothies in the past three months. Made-to-order smoothies were the most popular type, followed by readyto- drink options and do-it-yourself.
Consumers ages 18 to 34 are the most avid smoothie consumers: 18- to 24- year-olds are traditionally loyal smoothie consumers, while the 25- to 34-year-old set has shown a recent growth in smoothie consumption. (See chart on p. 121 for more demographic details.)
For QuikTrip, smoothie shoppers include both regular patrons wanting to spice up their orders as well as customers specifically coming in for a smoothie. Thornbrugh has also noticed shoppers of specialty smoothie shops trying out QuikTrip's product. "So yes, it does help bring in customers that we probably had anyway," he says. "Hopefully they bought gasoline from us, but they may not have come inside. So it's given us that opportunity."
Likewise, Wawa's Sherlock has seen new customers visit the stores for the smoothie offering, as well as "regular customers coming in for an additional trip." Smoothies can also help operators expand into different day-parts, especially as consumers spend more calories and dollars on snacking. While Wawa has seen sales of its new drink line throughout the day, it has also been an enticing late-afternoon snack. "We're seeing it drive traffic after our lunch day-part. We've definitely seen customer counts pick up after 2 p.m. as a result of it," says Sherlock.
Meanwhile, drink sales have been steady across the day-parts for Quik- Trip, Thornbrugh says during a summertime interview. "If anything with the heat wave, you've got people coming in more frequently," he says. "I don't think the time of day has anything to do with it right now. I just think it's the brutal heat."
To optimize traffic, Paul Gobel, vice president of sales for f'real foods, recommends placing a smoothie offer near the fountain and FCB lineup to capture those customers, or "as a standalone destination offering prominently displayed to draw the consumer's attention to this unique offering." Orinda, Calif.-based f'real's lineup of do-it-yourself frozen treats includes milkshakes, frozen cappuccinos and, most recently, fruit smoothies. While the company's milkshakes are its most popular items, Gobel says, "Smoothies are the fastest-growing product line. Lately, with the increased marketing focus of QSR's on smoothies, c-store retailers have been focusing more on reminding their consumers that with our program they have a high-quality, real fruit smoothie, as well as the delicious milkshakes." Gobel also recommends that retailers try bundling the drinks with foodservice items as a dessert, creating a full meal. "It's a perfect fit," he says.
Additional information from retailers such as QuikTrip and Wawa already slinging smoothies, as well as Mintel's Smoothie Shops study, offers ideas for increasing smoothie sales:
- Weather Report. As winter nears, now is a good time to push tropical flavors and immunity boosters. Generate attention and excitement with limitededition flavors and proper POP.
- Functional Food.Fifty-six percent of respondents to Mintel's survey said they had an add-in the last time they got a smoothie at a smoothie shop. Vitamin supplements are most often used (17%), followed by protein supplements (14%). Meanwhile, other consumers see smoothies as a quick meal solution. For them, offer more substantial varieties such as "chunky smoothies."
- On-Trend Flavors. Fruit with yogurt and frozen yogurt is the most popular smoothie base, according to Mintel; strawberries and bananas top the fruit list. Coffee- and tea-based products also have been stealing more space on smoothie menus, as have superfruits such as açaí and pomegranate.
- Demographic Tendencies. Hispanics are more avid smoothie users and are enticed with healthy options with tropical flavors, the Mintel survey reports. Further, lactose intolerance is prevalent among Hispanics, so having a dairy-free alternative may help expand your reach. Geographically, consumers the Northeast and West are the most avid smoothie customers. Midwesterners, meanwhile, may be the least apt due simply to a lack of stores selling smoothies in the region.
- Targeting Families. Smoothie consumption jumps to 69% for households with children thanks to the "healthy" halo, according to Mintel. Targeting kids will give parents a better- for-you alternative while fostering brand loyalty with their kids. Smoothies aren't necessarily associated only with traditional smoothie outlets, as indicated by the percent of consumers who reported smoothie purchases at other locations. Dairy Queen came in as the second-mostvisited chain for smoothie purchases, after Jamba Juice, and followed by Dunkin' Donuts at No. 3. The Nos. 4 and 5 slots were taken by Orange Julius and Baskin-Robbins. Such rankings indicate the c-store's potential for not only smoothie share of stomach, but also share of mind.
Summer of the Smoothie
In early August, about a month after the launch of its fruit smoothie line, McDonald's reported its highest monthly same-store sales increase since January 2009—thanks in part, it said, to sales of smoothies and other cold beverages.
Sales in U.S. restaurants open at least a year rose 5.7% in July; globally, they were up 7%. Meanwhile, a nationwide free sample day set for July 22 was canceled after growing concerns it would run out of supplies due to "unprecedented demand," according to a company statement.
"The blended ice drinks are doing much, much better because they are more of a McDonald's-type product," says franchise consultant Richard Adams, referring to the espresso-based drinks it rolled out in 2009, which he calls a "huge flop." "They are more of a milkshake, McFlurry-type treat than a fancy, espresso-based coffee." Jamba Juice, the nation's largest smoothie chain with 38% of the market share as of October 2009, according to Mintel, has not taken this news lying down. The company launched a retaliatory campaign in July that includes a fake ad about a Cheeseburger Chill Smoothie—an idea they mock as about as preposterous as a burger chain entering the smoothie business. It also launched the "Great Smoothie Showdown," honoring any McDonald's smoothie coupons in certain markets through Aug. 15.
Jamba sees McDonald's entry into the marketplace as having the potential of boosting its own sales, similar to Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz's claims that the McCafé helped his company's sales.
"[It is] a strong validation of the market's overall growth potential, and [we] think it will drive sales across the industry," Susan Shields, chief marketing officer of Jamba Juice, told CSP. "As the category grows, we believe we'll see a positive impact as these newer consumers begin to trade up to the type of better-for-you, whole-fruit smoothies that Jamba offers—but first they need to know what Jamba offers and how Jamba stands apart from its competitors."
Maximizing Smoothie Sales
- While summer calls for refreshment, winter is a good time to push tropical flavors and immunity boosters. Continue to draw attention to the category with limited-edition flavors.
- Many who do not drink smoothies say it's because they simply didn't think of it. So plant the seed and then offer value incentives that soften the perception of high price points.
- Take advantage of our increasingly snack-centric society by positioning smoothies as a filling late-morning or late-afternoon snack. Or bundle them with foodservice items for a complete meal offering.


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Audrey Shirley Hibbard
Hibbard-- Audrey Shirley, 84, of Newport Center, VT, passed away of natural causes on March 28, 2012 in Newport, VT, very soon after becoming ill. A graveside service will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, March 30, 2012 at the Newport Center Cemetery. Should friends desire, contributions in her memory may be made to the Meals on Wheels, Area Agency on Aging, 59 Waterfront Plaza #14, Newport, VT 05855. On-line condolences may be sent to the funeral home website at www.curtis-britch-converse-rushford.com. Arrangements are entrusted to the care of Curtis-Britch-Converse-Rushford Funeral Home, locally family owned and operated.
For the full obituary see Friday's Express.


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This week On the Reading Rest I have a small standard archaeological report on the excavation of a solitary grave, technically speaking a Bronze Age stone setting, probably constructed in the 15th century BCE and revisited in the Pre Roman Iron Age in the 5th-4th century before the common era. A stones setting is one of the most commonplace ancient monuments in Uppland.
There are tens of thousands of them, numbered and mapped, but still a detailed new survey of any two square kilometers with known Iron Age monuments will in all probability result in more stone settings.