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NATO to set capability priorities, at Chicago summit
The NATO summit in Chicago on May 21-22 will be dominated by Afghanistan and the trans-atlantic relationship, but improving allied capabilities will also be an important topic of discussion.
In Chicago, NATO leaders will adopt a package of measures under the alliance's "Smart Defense" initiative, which aims to prioritize capabilities, specialization and multinational cooperation. Many of the improvements will draw on the lessons of Afghanistan and NATO's Operation Unified Protector action in Libya last year.
Allied leaders will also declare an initial operational capability for NATO territorial missile defense, having agreed on procedures such as the concept of operations and rules of engagement. This capability will be provided by Aegis-class frigates in the Mediterranean and an X-band radar in Turkey, connected to NATO command and control through Allied Air Command Ramstein in Germany. The full operational capability is planned for 2018-19, coinciding with the U.S. Phased Adaptive Approach, which includes the deployment of Aegis Ashore missile defense systems in Romania by 2015 and Poland by 2018.
Allied officials view missile defense as an example of the Smart Defense policy in that it is a multinational solution. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called it "an important first step in bringing together national contributions to build an integrated defense against a real and growing threat," without referring specifically to Iran. But the Europeans must still decide on their contribution, and the Netherlands is proposing that an upgrade of its frigates for missile defense with the installation of Smart L radars be extended to include Germany and Denmark. Another related proposal is to give European frigates the capability to fire SM-3 missiles. This proposal is in the pre-feasibility stage but, if approved, would provide for a pool of SM-3 interceptor missiles, allowing the Europeans to backfill for the U.S. in Europe.
The Chicago summit will adopt multinational projects in the areas of logistics and sustainment; joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR); force protection; and effective engagement. Each of these Tier 1 or short-term projects has a lead nation and several participating countries.
Germany is taking the lead in a project to pool maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) for individual national or collective NATO requirements. In the area of force protection, Italy is the lead nation in a project to pool road-clearance equipment to counter IEDs, or improvised explosive devices. (For a story on Italy's plans to remake its military, see p. 21.) Building on a U.S. interservice project, Canada is leading a multinational effort to establish a NATO universal armaments interface, so combat aircraft of different nationalities can use the same munitions, with the aim of reducing integration times.
To avoid a repeat of the experience of running out of precision-guided munitions, as occurred during Operation Unified Protector, Denmark is leading a project to allow sharing of specialized munitions. Based on the experience of training the Afghan national security forces, the Czech Republic is leading a multinational helicopter training project. In logistics and sustainment, the U.K. heads a project to establish a theater-opening capability.
Medical support is a Tier 1 project not only at NATO, but for the EU. France leads the NATO effort, which involves setting up multinational field hospitals with modules of different nationalities, while the EU is looking at developing different modules in areas such as medical evacuation or surgery under Italian leadership.
For Tier 2 or medium-term projects, participating nations are still being identified. Under consideration are a joint MPA procurement project, which could result in a multinational MPA program, joint acquisition of air surveillance radar, counter-IED jamming and joint acquisition of Smart L radars. Initial ideas for Tier 3 or longer-term projects include strategic-level cooperation on ballistic missile defense, expanding air policing and building a permanent joint ISR architecture in which individual nations can plug and play with future systems. France and the U.S. are working on a proposal for the latter to be launched in Chicago or soon thereafter.
Some long-standing projects are being repackaged as examples of Smart Defense. This is the case of the Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) program, whose approval is imminent following the agreement by NATO defense ministers in February that alliance common funding will be used for AGS infrastructure, satellite communications, operations and support. In addition, the U.K. will provide the Sentinel R1 Airborne Standoff Radar (Astor) and France its Heron TP unmanned aerial vehicle as "national contributions in kind," partly replacing financial contributions from these countries. Nevertheless, the planned 2015 initial operational capability and 2017-18 full operational capability for AGS is considered optimistic, as NATO pilots must be trained, and only one participating nation—the U.S.—operates the Global Hawk platform on which AGS will be based (Germany has so far only received a single EuroHawk).
Air policing is another NATO activity touted as an example of Smart Defense. Since the Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—became alliance members in March 2004, fighter aircraft from other NATO nations have been taking turns policing their airspace every three or four months. George Robertson, the NATO secretary general at the time the Baltic states became alliance members, discouraged them from spending all their defense money acquiring fighter aircraft and encouraged them to improve other capabilities. Last February, the North Atlantic Council, NATO's highest decision-making body, extended Baltic air policing, which was originally an interim arrangement, indefinitely. Similarly, Slovenia is policed by the Italian air force, which also patrols Albanian airspace with the Greek air force, and NATO air forces have been taking turns policing Icelandic airspace since May 2008, following the withdrawal of U.S. Air Force F-15s from the island nation two years earlier.
Belgium and the Netherlands are discussing setting up a joint quick reaction force of F-16s from their two air forces to police Benelux airspace (which includes Luxembourg, another NATO country without the capability). Another idea for expanding air policing is for newer NATO allies whose air forces still operate MiGs—Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia—to replace them regionally or set up a regional fighter wing.
While "Smart Defense is a long-term strategy to deliver the right capabilities right across the alliance," Rasmussen told the annual Munich Security Conference in February, he recognizes that "capabilities alone are not enough." To increase the interoperability gained by North American and European forces over the last 60 years of NATO's existence and to retain the experience of cooperation gained in Afghanistan, despite defense cuts on both sides of the Atlantic, Rasmussen launched the Connected Forces Initiative to complement Smart Defense. This "mobilizes all of NATO's resources so we strengthen our ability to work together in a truly connected way," he said. The initiative consists of three components: expanded education and training, more exercises and making better use of technology.
Rasmussen said "we need to see how we can get even greater value out of" the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany; Joint Force Training Center in Bydgoszcz, Poland; Joint Warfare Center in Stavanger, Norway; and centers of excellence covering such specialist skills as cyberdefense, counterterrorism and protection against IEDs. He also suggested opening national training and education facilities.
The Connected Forces Initiative seeks to reinvigorate exercises which, along with the NATO Response Force (NRF), have been on the back burner because of operations in Afghanistan. A U.S.-based brigade combat team will be assigned to the NRF and will rotate a battalion-sized task force through the Joint Multinational Training Command in Grafenwohr, Germany, for multinational exercises. Rasmussen said exercising more with the NRF "would be a really good way of bringing together troops from all NATO nations, including the U.S. Operationally, this would strengthen the force and our alliance, and politically, it would provide visible assurance for all allies."
The Connected Forces Initiative aims to make better use of technology through interfaces to achieve a plug-and-play capability. Rasmussen cited as an example the testing of a universal ammunition adapter to overcome the problem encountered by Danish F-16s not being capable of carrying French munitions during Operation Unifed Protector. He said this plug-and-play approach is already used to bring together different types and generations of equipment through a common connector—for example, NATO missile defense connects U.S. and European assets into a single NATO system.
Rasmussen pointed out that "the cost of developing a connector can be cheaper than developing compatible equipment." The NATO leader added that this is "the best way to minimize cost and maximize our security," in line with Smart Defense.


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Infectious Diseases and Immunology
Infectious Diseases and Immunology teaches in the Sydney Medical and Dental Graduate Programmes, the Bachelor of Medical Science and Bachelor of Science degrees, as well as a broad range of science-related degrees, and we welcome all postgraduate student enquiries.
Our research expertise lies in the area of study of both micro-organisms and the immunological responses that lead to their prevention and eradication. The aim of our research programmes is to contribute directly to improving the health of the Australian and international community.

subset: commoncrawl


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Pampa, Texas, rancher L. H. Webb paused from the grisly task of dragging dead cattle into a pile on his burned out Gray County ranch to talk about the aftermath of what some have described as a 1,000-year wildfire.
"Our grass is gone, our cattle are gone and our fences are gone," Webb said. "But we're alive and we have our home, thanks to the volunteer fire fighters. They saved it and they are heroes. We feel blessed."
It was a close call for Webb and his son, who stayed behind to get as many cattle as possible out of harm's way. "We found ourselves surrounded by fire," Webb says. "We had to drive through it and heat was so intense it got up under the truck and caught it on fire. But we got out."
He said being caught in the fire "was the worst part, especially with my son with me."
Webb said all 11,000 acres of his rangeland burned in the wildfire that raced across much of the Texas Panhandle beginning March 12 and burning well into March 15 in some areas.
The combination of prolonged drought, winds gusting up to 50 miles per hour and a spark of unknown origin culminated in the loss of nearly 1 million acres of rangeland in nearly a dozen counties in the Texas Panhandle.
Eleven people perished in the fires. Countless homes and outbuildings were destroyed along with hundreds of miles of fencing. And the body count for cattle and other livestock continues to mount. Estimates range from 10,000 to 25,000. That last estimate is for "animal units" and may include cows and unborn calves.
Webb and others devastated by the fire now face the daunting task of starting over. The first chore is the onerous one he was performing the day he talked with Farm Press, finding and disposing of carcasses.
"So far, we know we've lost 103 animals," Webb said. "But we can't account for 50."
He had just found a number of carcasses, 20 or more, and was dragging them into a pile where they could be moved with a front-end loader to a burial site.
"These were all in a line. It was a hot, fast fire and they couldn't outrun it," he said. "Some made it back to the pens." Even some of those that made it out of the fire did not recover. Webb had to destroy some. "We're trying to nurse as many as we can back to health," he says.
With no forage left, Webb took some 500 steers to the feedlot.
He expects no summer grazing this year. "But we'll start over," he said. "We'll do a little at a time and we can overcome this. A lot of folks aren't as fortunate. Many lost their entire herd and all their grass. This will wipe some of them out."
Webb said replacing fences will be one of the first chores. He anticipates spending as much as $6,000 per mile to restore fencing. "I had about 100 miles of fence, including cross fences," he said. "We follow a rotational grazing program and used a lot of fencing."
Webb said most of his cedar posts burned and a lot of the wire is brittle from the heat. "I'm not certain how much we can use. I think we've lost from 85 percent to 90 percent of our fences."
Webb prefers not to take government money. "But I hope the suppliers we've dealt with for years will cut us some deals on fencing material," he said. "If we could get it at cost we could save a lot."
He said fencing costs have gone up along with other ranching and farming expenses. "Steel is higher, freight rates are up and fuel costs have risen."
Webb may be bruised but remains unbowed. "We feel blessed," he said. "Eleven people died and a lot lost their homes. We're alive and we have our house."
e-mail: [email protected]


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The OpEd Project's mission is to increase the range of voices and quality of ideas we hear in the world. A starting goal is to increase the number of women thought leaders in key commentary forums to a tipping point. We envision a world where the best ideas - regardless of where they come from - will have a chance to be heard, and to shape society and the world.
Working with top universities, foundations, think tanks, nonprofits, corporations and community organizations, we scout and train under-represented experts to take thought leadership positions in their fields; we connect them with our national network of high-level media mentors; and we vet and channel the best new experts and ideas directly to media gatekeepers who need them, across all platforms. The OpEd Project is an Echoing Green Project.


text: ok as there is a few all blacked out themes, so I decided to go the other way and Make a White-esque theme I have posted some pics through out this thread on progress. I have decided to release a Alpha For Feed back. There is alot of things i still need to address (stat icons and more system apps. I have done Rom control and settings app to give you guys a feel of what im heading towards! My goal is to get rid of ICS blue. I will add different colors when this first theme is solid enough, Hell ill prob bring back the ICS blue at some point. This Theme is for AOKP Milestone 3. I will only be themeing Milestone Releases as its to much of a pain to keep up with all the builds I will not be porting to any other rom at this point. Theme Contributors: Project Lead:Bgill55 Themers: jackstraw (original BSThemes Member) Nick Miltner Theme Guru More to come as they submit changes Special Thanks To gsxrdon for some Framework xml files like the Lockscreens to name a few thepsyntyst For his animations Nitroz For Framework images, and his Nova Launcher that i plan to invert to white Thank you all!! there will be some WOW issues I am aware of them, but the way im setting this up i can theme a app at a time without affecting other apps! Q: Why include apps that are stock A: Stat icon need to be themed Q: Why do I still see blue and black A: No done yet Q: Can I make a request A: No at this time Q: Why didnt you theme the Circle Battery A: I hate that battery, more than anything, The Theme Kitchen killed theming!!!!!! Q: What is this themes name A: No clue! throw me a name and ill consider it Q: Why arent you on twitter A: Blame Jessica Gill Few Screens!! Download: I assume you all know how to flash a Theme zip Change Log: Code: 02/07/2012 .003 1. Fixed Icons in settings apk (bgill55) 2. got rid of the Halo blue color system wide (bgill55) 3. contacts apk imges by (c_hale22 xml edits and compiled by bgill55) 4. Phone.apk images and edits by (c_hale22) 5. More Framework stat icons (bgill55) 2/5/12 1. Changed soft key press to dk Grey. (Chris) 2. Changed toggle pull down bg. (Chris) .02.1 3. fixed toggles (bgill55) 4. fixed toggle text (bgill55) v.003 Download http://bit.ly/zb9fcD old releases V.002.1 Download http://bit.ly/xaIZM8 V.001 Download http://bit.ly/ztr7fZ more apps and goodness to come as my wife and time will allow!!! -bgill55 A few Mods are starting to pop up, this not my work but I approve http://rootzwiki.com...nexus-glow-mod/ by Gunderwear ------------------------------------------------------------------ These are Flashable Zips for this theme. Flash theme first then flash these over the top of the theme House of Animations by thepsyntyst his thread here http://rootzwiki.com...s-chaosrevenge/ Complete Stock animations-- http://bit.ly/ACVCqH Chaos-- http://bit.ly/AfTgkI Chaos Revenge--http://bit.ly/y2RqZZ The PSYN Shift--http://bit.ly/zP7hQf Vortex--http://bit.ly/yGyUFE


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Holiday Gift Guide For Good Food Causes
We like to think of gifts for good causes as magnificent three (or more!)-way presents. When a donation is made, the benefits stretch from the giver to the honoree to the organization receiving the support and all the individuals and communities it helps. For food lovers, it's only fitting to support charities and groups involved in work like farming, gardening, food justice and security. Here are some to consider…
1 Food banks: In recent years the combination of unemployment, rising food prices, and declining donations from food companies has placed food banks under much strain. To support a local food bank, search the listings at Feeding America and Food Pantries, or give directly to Feeding America, which supports a nationwide network of food banks.
2 Community gardens: Help advance community gardening and greening through the American Community Gardening Association, or search their database to find a local community garden in the US or Canada. Many gardens could use gifts of money, supplies, or time.
3 American Farmland Trust: Donations to the American Farmland Trust help fund the organization's work in education and legislation supporting local foods, farmers' markets, and farmland protection across the nation.
4 Blessings in a Backpack: Children in the Federal Free and Reduced Meal Program are fed at school but may have little to no food on the weekend. This program steps in to provide backpacks full of nutritious food that they can take home on Fridays.
5 The Edible Schoolyard Project: Founded by chef Alice Waters, the Edible Schoolyard Project works to transform the quality of school food through garden, kitchen, and lunch programs across the nation.
6 International Rescue Committee: The IRC responds to humanitarian crises around the world. Through their holiday Rescue Gifts program, you can give symbolic presents like emergency food for 50 malnourished children, a community garden for refugees resettled in the US, a goat or flock of chickens for a disaster-stricken family, or clean water for 200 people.
7 Non-GMO Project: This organization works to ensure the availability of non-GMO products through third-party verification, education, and the development of standards for farmers and food processors to avoid genetically modified organisms.
8 Rodale Institute: Rodale has pioneered organic farming through independent research and outreach to consumers, gardeners, and farmers. A membership in the organization could make a nice gift for the avid organic gardener.
9 Roots of Peace: Working in war-torn countries like Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, Roots of Peace aims to "transform the scars of conflict into the roots of peace" by unearthing dangerous landmines and rehabilitating the land through farming.
10 Seed Savers Exchange: More than just an heirloom seed catalog, Seed Savers Exchange helps preserve and document North America's diverse and endangered plant heritage. You can support them through a membership or donation.
Be sure to check out our 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007 gift guides for more good causes.
Do you have any others to recommend?
2011 Kitchen Gift Guides
• Kitchen Gift Guide For Beer Lovers
• Gift Guide for Wine-Lovers: Deeply Enjoyable Wine Books
(Images: Flickr member D Sharon Pruitt licensed under Creative Commons; American Community Gardening Association; American Farmland Trust; Blessings in a Backpack; Edible Schoolyard; International Rescue Committee; Non-GMO Project; Rodale Institute; Roots of Peace; Seed Savers Exchange)


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Aug. 30, 2002
Plans for power grid merger in Northeast meet opposition
As customers of the New York power grid continue to deal with the daily threat of reduced power reliability, politicians in the Northeast are now expressing concern over the possibility of rate hikes associated with the development of the proposed Northeast Regional Transmission Organization (NRTO). The plan would join the New York and New England power grids and could be ready to serve the region's 33 million residents as early as next year.
Representatives from smaller New England states like Connecticut and Massachusetts are worried that the new arrangement will marginalize their constituents and fail to meet their power needs at reasonable prices. In fact, a study conducted earlier this year by ISO New England and the New York ISO, which operate the regions' respective power transmission systems, revealed New York customers would save almost $282 million over the next few years if the merger takes place, while those in New England would pay nearly $62 million more in the same time period.
However, there is talk the ISOs are considering plans to split the cost savings between the two grids. Power has been cheaper in New England over the past three years because the energy supply is more abundant – energy companies in the region have built or are in the process of building 7,000MW of new generating capacity, while New York has only expanded its capacity by 1,000MW.
The merger would require some plants in New England, now idle, to begin producing power for eastern New York. And representatives from New England ISO are confident the merger will have mutual benefits for the two sides. "Prices in both regions will decline as competition increases," says Ellen Foley of ISO New England. "The larger grid will be more reliable, avoiding some of the summer price spikes.
Aug. 30, 2002
Siemens offers online virtual plant tour
Siemens Energy & Automation customers may live and work throughout the country, but that doesn't mean they can't all meet and tour the company's plant in Atlanta without leaving their offices. Thanks to the Internet, the company is now offering a virtual tour at www.sea.siemens.com/manufacturingfacility of its plant that showcases its products and services for the electrical industry.
Web visitors can view product categories that include automation and control, power distribution, instrumentation, IT and software solutions, and services.
Aside from products, Siemens president and CEO Aubert Martin says the tour offers a glimpse into how the company's products and services can apply to a facility, be it a manufacturing plant or a mill.
Aug. 28, 2002
EPRI taps the fountain of youth for workplace knowledge
The aging of the baby boomer generation is presenting a problem for employers in the electrical industry, as many skilled engineers and electricians reach retirement age, but the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI) has a plan for retaining their knowledge and passing it along to the next generation. A new report from the organization outlines a practical process for capturing what's called tacit knowledge, or the know-how people gain from doing a job for several years.
Drawing on research and field testing activities conducted in 2001, "Guidelines for Capturing Valuable Undocumented Knowledge from Energy Industry Personnel" characterizes techniques for eliciting valuable knowledge from experts, storing it in useful and accessible ways, and presenting it to less experienced workers in a manner that will help them perform routine tasks or take on difficult ones.
The report is a culmination of a three-year study by EPRI's Strategic Human Performance Program to address growing concerns about workforce turnover and demographics within the energy industry. "After extended periods of employment within complex work environments, some staffers become irreplaceable – they know things others don't and they can do things others can't," says Madeleine Gross, manager of the program. "With this project, we set out to address a critical question: When experts leave an organization – at the end of their shift, for vacation, or forever – how do we prevent their expertise from also walking out the door?"
For information on obtaining the report, contact Lew Hanes at EPRI [email protected], or Madeleine Gross at [email protected].
Aug. 28, 2002
NECA releases communications systems installation guide
NECA recently released its Guide to Installing Communications Systems, which include four standards and two other technical publications that deal with proper installation of communications systems ranging from V/D/V to fire alarm to closed-circuit television. The package includes:
NECA 1-2000, Good Workmanship in Electrical Contracting (ANSI)
NECA/FOA 301-1997, Installing and Testing Fiber Optic Cables
NECA 305-2001, Installing Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling (ANSI)
NECA/BICSI 568-2001, Installing Commercial Building
Telecommunications Cabling (ANSI)
Guide to Low-Voltage and Limited Energy Systems (NEC requirements)
Voice-Data-Video Contractor Safety Compliance Manual (OSHA jobsite requirements and safety practices)
To order the guide, contact the NECA Order Desk at (301) 215-4504 or [email protected].
Aug. 26, 2002
California water treatment plant to install solar panels
After watching its energy costs rise by 41% over the last two years, the Sewerage Commission-Oroville Region (SCOR) wastewater treatment plant has tapped Sun Power & Geothermal Energy, San Rafael, Calif., to install a 520KW solar power system on its site. The solar array, which will go online in November, will provide enough electricity to treat 80% of the wastewater that passes through the facility, making the SCOR plant the first in the country to be primarily power by solar energy.
The array will employ PV panels set on dual-tilt supports that are manually tilted up in the fall and down in the spring to maximize exposure to sunlight throughout the year for greater power-gathering efficiency. The SCOR's board hopes that with the new system the plant can gain independence from the grid during daylight hours.
The plant serves 15,000 families and numerous industries in the greater Oroville area north of Sacramento, Calif., treating nearly 1.2 billion gallons of wastewater annually.
Aug. 26, 2002
Judge denies preliminary injunction in Trade Service copyright case
Two months after Trade Service brought litigation against competitor Material Express for copyright infringement, San Diego Federal Chief Judge Marilyn Huff denied the former's request for a preliminary injunction that would bar Material Express from using its pricing service until a decision could be made as to whether it violated a Trade Service copyright. Trade Service had accused Material Express of misappropriating the layout and arrangement of the company's electrical Price File Maintenance Service (PFMS) and copying various data elements from the PFMS product.
While Judge Huff ruled, in part, that Material Express could not use an exact copy of the PFMS format, she also ordered that Trade Service post a $500,000 bond to be considered as "damages" to Material Express should Trade Service fail in its copyright infringement case.
Aug. 23, 2002
New York gives $17 million to develop wind farm projects
The Northeast isn't exactly the first place you think of when you hear the word "farm," but New York is the latest in a string of states along the Eastern Seaboard to set aside money for the construction of wind farms. In a statement released by the office of Gov. George Pataki, the state has given more than $17 million to help develop five wind farms that will add 315MW of electric capacity to the power grid, which has shown signs of being unable to provide sufficient power to its customers.
Once operational, the farms will generate enough power in upstate New York to power almost 315,000 homes. The more than 200 turbines will cost $365 million to build and be spread out over five counties.
Pataki's decision to provide funds for the project supports his recent executive order that requires state-owned facilities to buy 10% of their power from renewable resources by 2005 and 20% by 2010.
Aug. 23, 2002
Philips Lighting receives energy conservation award in California
In recognition of its efforts in promoting energy conservation and efficiency measure, Royal Philips Electronics' U.S.-based lighting company recently received the State of California's 2002 Flex Your Power energy conservation award. The award, which is part of the state's campaign to address its much talked about energy crisis, recognizes the Somerset, N.J.-based company's project to re-lamp an entire city block in Berkeley, Calif., with energy efficient compact fluorescent lamps and linear fluorescents to create an "energy blueprint" that has documented a considerable reduction in energy usage and cost.
In addition to the Berkeley project, the company also participated in tie-in programs with the state's utilities and worked with partner Home Depot to conduct a business-to-business education program.
"We're extremely honored to be recognized for our efforts and look forward to helping make visible the issue of energy conservation," said Steve Goldmacher, Philips Lighting's director of corporate communications, of the award.
The Flex Your Power campaign encourages residents and other organizations to be energy-conscious and take action wherever possible. The energy conservation award is given out once a year to organizations that provide leadership in implementing conservation measures.
Aug. 21, 2002
Fluke announces recall of digital multimeters
In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Fluke Corp., Everett, Wash., is voluntarily recalling almost 40,000 of its 175, 177, and 179 digital multimeters, more than 17,000 of which were sold in the United States. The recalled units can take longer than normal – as many as 18 sec - to display readings of AC voltages above 500V. Users can misinterpret the delayed reading to mean that high voltage is not present. If high voltage is present, users could be exposed to a risk of shock, electrocution, and thermal burns.
Fluke has received four reports from Canada and Australia, in which users experienced a delayed response while measuring high voltage, though no injuries were reported.
The recalled multimeters measure as high as 1,000VAC and direct VDC. Recalled units have a serial number below 79000000. The serial number is written on the back of the instrument under the hinged stand. Home and hardware stores and industrial distributors nationwide sold these testers from January 2001 through October 2001.
Aug. 21, 2002
LRC, AARP team to improve lighting for elderly
Growing older can be accompanied by several physical limitations, but the AARP Andrus Foundation and the Lighting Research Center (LRC) have completed a joint project they hope will lessen the effects of one of them. "Lighting the Way: A Key to Independence" is a list of guidelines developed by the LRC and distributed by AARP that details how to select light sources and how to install light fixtures in a way that helps older adults see clearer.
The groups' research concluded that there are a number of ways to improve the lighting and safety in the home. Their test results demonstrated that lighting could help older adults maintain their independence and improve their quality of life. Some of the practical solutions of the guidelines include:
Visual changes that occur to the aging eye
Lighting principles for older adults
How to apply the lighting principles in homes
How to choose a light source
The guidelines can be downloaded at www.andrus.org/Independence/lightbuilders.html.
Aug. 19, 2002
Group warns New York's energy shortage could make it the next "California"
Heat waves and the resultant spikes in electricity usage as air conditioner use increases have highlighted the need for more power plants in New York, according to the Business Council of New York. In a statement issued recently, the council referred to a day in late July when the New York power grid operator, fearing the system would be overwhelmed, pled with the public to conserve energy.
"Conservation efforts cannot take the place of increased generating capacity," the council noted in its statement. "New York State risks serious economic damage unless it moves urgently to add generating capacity."
The Public Policy Institute issued a report in February that claims New York needs at least a dozen new power plants capable of generating at least 9,200 MW within the next five years. Power supplies in New York City and its suburbs are stretched so thin because the construction of new plants and transmission lines has not kept pace with the region's economic and population growth.
The Business Council has been joined by other organizations like the New York Independent System Operator, the state Public Service Commission, and the Independent Power Producers of New York State in lobbying for more power capacity.
Aug. 19, 2002
NAED creates new position on its board of directors
The Industry Data Exchange Association (IDEA) will now have representation on the National Association of Electrical Distributors' (NAED) board, thanks to the creation of a new board position approved last week by NAED's board of directors. Stuart Irby, president of the Stuart C. Irby Co., Jackson, Miss., will assume the position.
Thomas Naber, president and publisher of NAED, says the addition of the new board position is important now that more distributors and manufacturers are embracing e-commerce.
Irby, who is the top distributor officer of the IDEA board of directors, will have a vote in all future issues before the NAED board.
Aug. 16, 2002
IEC member voices concerns to President Bush at economic forum
Scott Harding, President of F. B. Harding Electric and Chairman of Apprenticeship and Training for IEC's Chesapeake Chapter in Maryland, recently represented IEC at President Bush's Economic Forum at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Designed to bring together a diverse group of government policymakers, small business owners, industry experts, and construction workers, the forum featured eight breakout sessions on a variety of economic topics. One spokesperson from each panel then gave an oral summary to President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
"The three main points I discussed in our session were reiterated in our spokesperson's remarks and restated by President Bush," Harding says. "The permanent repeal of the death tax, one-size-fits-all regulations, and association health plans were the issues that recurred over and over again in several of the eight breakout sessions."
President Bush discussed the decline in the construction industry and rallied the group with encouraging words. "I want to get American construction workers back to work," says Bush. "The economy has strengths that are greater than our challenges."
Harding advises contractors and electricians to do their own research and get involved by offering input on industry concerns. "Many of these Cabinet members are serious about supporting our issues," he says. "We have to get the word out to our people that they need to get some heat on the Congress in order to get things done on our issues."
There was a lot of talk about the death tax and the need for permanent repeal, reports Harding. "Some statistics show that the death tax affects only a small number of people (i.e., one business owner)," he says. "The reality is that if the company has to be liquidated in order to pay the taxes, that obviously affects all of the employees working in that business and their families."
Aug. 16, 2002
Surge suppressor growth continues despite struggling economy
"The 2002 Power Protection Market Intelligence Program," a new study released by technology market research firm Venture Development Corp., Natick, Mass., reports that the combined consumption of power line surge suppressors in North America and Europe will increase from $978 million in 2001 to nearly $1.5 billion by 2006—a compound annual growth rate of 8.8%. Unit growth rates are predicted to grow even faster, increasing from 58 million units in 2001 to 105 million units in 2004.
According to the study, this growth will be driven by several factors.
Increasing awareness among end-users of the need for surge suppression in applications other than PCs.
Greater functionality and new features in plug-in surge suppressors, including expanded data line protection, more peripheral on/off options, and better warning mechanisms.
As deregulation, grid reliability, and power quality issues continue to affect the bottom line of many companies, they will realize the benefits of surge suppression, creating a higher demand for hard-wired surge suppressors.
For more information on this report, e-mail [email protected]
Aug. 14, 2002
Genesis Cable unveils improvements to its Web site
In the hopes of better showcasing its product and services offerings, Genesis Cable Systems, Pleasant Prairie, Wis., recently announced updates to its Web site that will make it more user-friendly for everyone from distributors to installers to end-users.
The site's new features include a literature center with technical material downloads in PDF format, an FAQ section, and links to sites where installers can purchase training videos, literature, and equipment. The site also features the company's Connector Selector tool, which allows visitors to locate the recommended connector for any Genesis cable or wire. Customers even have the opportunity to comment on the company's products through the feedback area of the site.
The site is active now at www.genesiscable.com.
Aug. 14, 2002
Inframation 2002 to bring together nation's preventive maintenance workers
Plant maintenance workers interested in learning more about infrared inspections, preventive maintenance, thermal research and development, online process monitoring and control, or nondestructive testing should clear out Sept. 29 – Oct. 2, 2002 on their Franklin planners for InfraMation 2002, the third annual thermographers' conference hosted by the Infrared Training Center (ITC) and Flir Systems. Attendees to the conference, which takes place at the Wyndham Orlando Resort in Orlando, Fla., will have 35 presentations and interactive discussions from industry professionals, ITC instructors, and thermographers to choose from during the four-day event.
In addition to the seminars and speeches, free IR applications and software clinics led by ITC instructors will also be available to attendees. For those interested in the latest in preventive maintenance products, the conference will also feature an exhibitors' showcase.
For registration information, visit www.inframation.org or call 1-800-254-0632.
Aug. 12, 2002
Digital entertainment devices to become a bigger part of the home networks
While the vast majority of home networks among Internet households consist of data-centric devices, 11.8% have a digital audio receiver, and 10.7% have a television set connected to the network, according to a new survey conducted by Parks Associates, Dallas. "Broadband Access @ Home III," a survey of 10,500 Internet households, found that although printers and PCs still dominate home networks, digital entertainment devices are gaining a foothold in the market.
"As entertainment-oriented devices such as home stereos and TVs become more prominent in a networking environment, network-ready products and digital services such as streaming video and audio become exponentially more valuable to the end user," says Michael Greeson, senior analyst and director of broadband research for Parks Associates. "Electronics manufacturers and retailers, as well as service providers, thus stand to benefit as more of these devices are added to the home network."
The company anticipates that as PCs evolve into entertainment centers, and as "thick-client" media servers find their way into consumers' homes, digital televisions, MP3 players, CD players, and audio receivers will soon compete with PCs and printers for a dominant presence in the home network.
Aug. 12, 2002
System Sensor reminds public of product recall
With more than 100,000 of its faulty SpectrAlert wall-mount notification devices still unaccounted for, System Sensor, St. Charles, Ill., has reissued a recall of the product that may fail to operate in the even of a fire. Despite the fact that there have been no reports of any injuries or incidents involving the product, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued the recall on Nov. 28, 2001.
The units, which were originally sold between May 2001 and November 2001, are part of professionally installed fire-detection and notification systems, and consist of a strobe light and an optional horn. Of the 216,500 units manufactured, 105,000 units have been so far returned.
The devices affected by the recall have date codes that fall into one of two ranges – 010501 through 160901 or 1092 through 1112. The date code appears on the packaging and on a label on the back of the unit.
Aug. 9, 2002
California questions FERC order to replace utility governing board
The state of California is disputing the legality of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) order to install new leadership at the agency that runs the state power grid. The July 17 directive from FERC directed the California Independent System Operator (ISO) to change its bylaws to provide a two-tier governing board, replacing a board that Gov. Gray Davis installed in January 2001.
According to Bill Lockyer, California state Attorney General, the ISO cannot amend its bylaws in the way dictated by FERC without directly violating California law. "In effect, FERC has ordered the ISO to either violate California law or change California law," he wrote in a letter made available August 7. "The ISO may not do the former and cannot do the latter."
Davis signed into law a bill replacing the original ISO board on Jan. 18, 2001. After reviewing the board Davis had selected, FERC ruled that the new members were "insufficiently independent to operate its interstate facilities." California now has until Jan. 1, 2003, to create a two-tiered board composed of independent members, who would have sole decision-making power, and stakeholders in the grid-like generators, utilities, and consumer groups, who would advise the independent board.
Aug. 9, 2002
TXU Energy offers energy management services
TXU Energy, Dallas, recently launched its Sentinel package of energy management services for large commercial and industrial customers. It includes energy information, supply-side, demand-side, and asset management services.
According to Jim Hess, vice president and general manager of TXU, the services will help the company not only continue its role as an energy supplier but become an advisor to its customers as well.
Two of the services, load profiling and analytic engine, offer interval data analysis to identify savings opportunities – anywhere from changing energy usage behavior to justifying facility enhancements with demand-side projects.
For more information on the services, visit www.txuesgateway.com.
Aug. 7, 2002
OSHA rethinks timetable for streetside construction rules
Amidst complaints that it was moving too fast, OSHA has withdrawn its fast-track proposal for new rules governing construction operations around streets and highways and announced plans to begin a normal public rulemaking procedure for the adoption of the U.S. Department of Transportation's "Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices." The rule had been scheduled to take effect August 13.
OSHA received eight comments on the proposed rule, five of which were dissenting. Those opposed were concerned by the agency's rapid timetable for implementing the rule, citing insufficient time to inform and educate members of industry about the new safety regulations. Some groups, NECA among them, were also concerned that the new rules could have put construction contractors in violation of OSHA standards on projects that had already been planned and budgeted without knowledge of the proposed new rule.
Aug. 7, 2002
Fuel cell market to take off over the next decade
The global fuel cell energy generating capacity will increase from 45MW in 2002 to almost 16,000MW by 2012 as the market shifts from R&D to commercialization on a worldwide basis, according to a new study from Allied Business Intelligence (ABI), Oyster Bay, N.Y.
"Global Stationary Fuel Cell Markets: A Detailed Analysis of an Emerging Industry," identifies early potential opportunities in markets that can see deployment from 50W to 30MW in the United States and worldwide. The study also predicts that quality power and industrial power supply markets will enjoy higher growth rates than residential markets.
For more information on the report, visit www.alliedworld.com.
Aug. 5, 2002
Energize America announces three new sponsors for public awareness program
Energize America Educational Institute (EAEI) recently welcomed three new sponsors into its public awareness program. Magnaray International Division, Sarasota, Fla.; US Energy Capital Corp., Conyers, Ga.; and Energy Conservation Corp., Troy, Mich.; have joined the fold at the Princeton Junction, N.J.-based institute's Energize America (EA) program.
The awareness initiative is an attempt on EAEI's part to bring together energy users and energy service companies, manufacturers of energy-efficient products, sources of project financing, utilities, and environmental and government agencies to facilitate implementation of energy efficiency programs.
"Partnering with lighting and electrical industry leaders provides significant opportunities for the EA initiative," says Jeffrey Barnhart, EAEI spokesperson. "As our network continues to grow, more information can be exchanged and utilized to aid corporations in locating assistance and products for implementing energy-efficient solutions."
Aug. 5, 2002
Post Glover announces speakers for grounding symposium
Post Glover Resistors, Erlanger, Ky., has finalized the list of industry expert presentations for its free Symposium on Grounding of Industrial Power Systems to be held Oct. 9, 2002, at the Drawbridge Inn Conference Center, Fort Mitchell, Ky. The symposium is scheduled to last from 8:20 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The following presentations and speakers will be featured at the event:
Grounding Techniques for Industrial Power Systems – Jack Woodham, Jedson Engineering
The Added Safety Provided by High-Resistance Grounding – Cliff Normand, International Paper
Reactance Grounding – Phoenix Electric (speaker yet to be determined)
Remote Facility Monitoring via the Internet – Mike Votaw, Votaw Electric
High-Resistance Grounding for UPS Systems and Other Critical Reliability Applications - Mike Mosman, CCG Facilities
Grounding Techniques Used in China – Tony Zhao, Powell Industries
Contact Debbie Marksberry for reservations at [email protected].
Aug. 2, 2002
Electric City to install EnergySaver technology in grocery stores
Electric City, Elk Grove Village, Ill., has begun a $12 million project with A&P Food Stores to install EnergySavers in approximately 500 stores to reduce A&P's electrical consumption for lighting. A&P will also use the units to respond to curtailment requests by utility suppliers during peak demand periods.
Electric City has also recently undertaken similar installations at the San Diego U.S. Postal Service distribution center and nine Lifetime Fitness heath and fitness facilities throughout the Midwest.
The EnergySaver is a power reduction system designed to reduce lighting costs by 20% to 50% and eliminate power spikes, drops and surges.


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The settlement of Madagascar is one of the most unusual, and least understood, episodes in human prehistory. Madagascar was one of the last landmasses to be reached by people, and despite the island's location just off the east coast of Africa, evidence from genetics, language and culture all attests that it was settled jointly by Africans, and more surprisingly, Indonesians. Nevertheless, extremely little is known about the settlement process itself. Here, we report broad geographical screening of Malagasy and Indonesian genetic variation, from which we infer a statistically robust coalescent model of the island's initial settlement. Maximum-likelihood estimates favour a scenario in which Madagascar was settled approximately 1200 years ago by a very small group of women (approx. 30), most of Indonesian descent (approx. 93%). This highly restricted founding population raises the possibility that Madagascar was settled not as a large-scale planned colonization event from Indonesia, but rather through a small, perhaps even unintended, transoceanic crossing.
1. Introduction
The colonization of Madagascar, an island nation located off the east coast of Africa, is one of the more unusual events in human prehistory. Malagasy, a term that denotes the island's people and their language, shows both biological [1] and linguistic [2] connections to east African populations. More surprisingly, there is unequivocal evidence of biological [3] and linguistic [4] links to Island Southeast Asia, specifically Indonesia. Although these dual African–Indonesian associations have been confirmed by numerous genetic, linguistic, ethnographic and archaeological studies, the process by which Madagascar was initially settled remains poorly understood [5]. Here, we tackle this question by simulating a genetic model of the initial settlement process, with a specific focus on the long-range Indonesian female contribution to modern Malagasy.
Archaeological and paleoenvironmental evidence shows that people settled Madagascar only recently. There may have been sporadic early arrivals from Africa with unknown connections to today's Malagasy [6,7], but a burst of continuous settlement activity is clearly in evidence around the middle of the first millennium AD [8–11]. Despite detailed historical documents for other Indian Ocean regions from at least the Roman era onwards [12], the first several centuries of Malagasy history passed by completely unrecorded. Madagascar and its people are not mentioned in any written source until the Arab geographer al-Idrīsī in AD 1165 [13]. Madagascar's extreme peripheral location on Indian Ocean trade routes may partly explain this historical silence; as late as the fifteenth century, the Arab cartographer ibn Mājid described Madagascar as 'bordering on the inhabited regions of the world' [13]. Just decades later, the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama sailed past Madagascar in 1497 on the first European voyage to India [14], thereby ushering in an era of detailed European record keeping on later Malagasy history.
In the absence of early written records, attempts to reconstruct the history of Madagascar necessarily rely on indirect evidence. All Malagasy today speak dialects of an Austronesian language that traces its origin back to Indonesia [4], a fact traditionally attributed to the Jesuit priest Luis Mariano in 1614 [15], but noted as early as the twelfth century by al-Idrīsī [13]. Most of the Malagasy lexicon is ultimately sourced from Ma'anyan, a language spoken along the Barito River valley of southeast Borneo [16–18]. However, only a small landlocked community of ethnic Dayak currently speaks Ma'anyan, and this inland region of southeast Borneo offers little ethnographic or historical evidence for any sort of maritime tradition. It is perhaps unsurprising then that Malagasy harbours far broader linguistic contributions drawn from across the Indonesian archipelago [2]. Loan words from Sanskrit, all with local linguistic modifications via Javanese or Malay [2,19,20], hint that Madagascar may have been colonized by settlers from the Srivijaya Empire, a major regional power in western Indonesia (modern Java, Sumatra and Malaysia) from the sixth to thirteenth centuries AD. Consistent with this hypothesis, Malagasy borrows large numbers of words from Javanese; the regional lingua franca, Malay; and even languages from southern Sulawesi, an island near the centre of the Indonesian archipelago. Cultural evidence—including iron working techniques, outrigger boats, musical instruments such as the xylophone, and the cultivation of rice, bananas, yams and taro (i.e. a 'tropical food kit')—all supports a strong Southeast Asian connection from at least the eighth century onwards [21–23].
Genetic evidence paints much the same picture. Early blood protein studies identified dual African and Asian contributions [24,25]. Later studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome variation improved this geographical resolution. Soodyall et al. [26,27] firmly established an Island Southeast Asian connection when they located the Polynesian motif in Madagascar. Apart from Madagascar, this mtDNA haplotype is restricted to remote Oceania, with low frequencies in Melanesia and eastern Indonesia, and only sporadic occurrences as far west as Bali and Borneo [28]. All sampled Malagasy are now known to carry a variant of the Polynesian motif, termed the Malagasy motif (characterized by polymorphisms 1473 and 3423A), whose global geographical range remains unclear [29]. In terms of male history, Y chromosome haplogroup O—otherwise restricted to Southeast Asia and Oceania—has been identified in Madagascar [3,5] and the Comoros Islands, a small archipelago just off Madagascar's northern tip [30]. Where genetic dating has been performed, these genetic connections to Indonesia are consistent with the temporal bounds suggested by archaeology and linguistics [5], although invariably with much larger CI.
In combination, a broad outline of Malagasy history—especially later periods—is beginning to emerge. However, we still lack any real understanding of the island's earliest history, particularly its initial colonization. What was the settlement process like? Was Madagascar colonized via large-scale population movements, or through a smaller translocation? How many people originally founded the Malagasy? What proportion of these settlers was Indonesian? And when did they first arrive? Here, we use new genetic data from Indonesian source populations, and a coalescent model specifically designed for the settlement of Madagascar to address these unresolved questions.
2. Methods
(a) Samples
The Indonesian samples analysed in this study have been described extensively elsewhere [31–36]. In brief, 2745 individuals were screened from 12 island groups spanning the Indonesian archipelago: Sumatra (n = 40), Nias (n = 62), Mentawai (n = 126), Java (n = 49), Bali (n = 517), Sulawesi (n = 188), Sumba (n = 639), Flores (n = 453), Lembata (n = 92), Alor (n = 23), Pantar (n = 27) and Timor (n = 529). Samples were obtained with written informed consent by H.S., M.T., Golfiani Malik, Wuryantari Setiadi and Loa Helena Suryadi of the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology (Jakarta, Indonesia), and J. Stephen Lansing of the University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ, USA), with the assistance of Indonesian Public Health clinic staff. Sample collection followed protocols for the protection of human subjects established by both the Eijkman Institute and the University of Arizona institutional review boards. Permission to conduct research in Indonesia was granted by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. All genetic screening was performed by M.T. at the University of Arizona.
(b) Genetic markers
Individuals carrying the Polynesian motif (haplogroup B4a1a1a) were identified by sequencing a 530 bp fragment of the mtDNA first hypervariable segment in all 2745 samples. All Polynesian motif carriers were screened for polymorphisms specific to the Malagasy motif, that is, restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) losses at nucleotides 1473 (−1473 HhaI) and 3423A (−3423 AciI). Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping was performed using the method of Razafindrazaka et al. [29].
(c) Published data
Genetic diversity among Malagasy populations was drawn from previously published research [29]. In brief, 266 individuals were screened from three Malagasy ethnic groups: Mikea hunter–gatherers (n = 127), semi-nomadic Vezo fishermen (n = 101) and the dominant Andriana Merina ethnic group (n = 38). A detailed description of this dataset and associated research findings is available in the study of Razafindrazaka et al. [29].
(d) Demographic models
A hierarchical modelling approach was applied to determine the demographic parameters of Malagasy settlement. First, the historical relationships between African and Indonesian populations were determined. We adopted the simulation framework of Wollstein et al. [37], in which an ancestral African population (Nancestral) split at some time (Tsplit) to form modern Africans (NAfrican) and Indonesians (NIndonesian). We adjusted the Wollstein model to accommodate an Indonesian sample drawn from across the Indonesian archipelago, rather than just the island of Borneo, and accepted the African component of their model as it stands. Second, this African–Indonesian framework was extended to incorporate the Malagasy (figure 1). At some time (Tsettlement), the Malagasy population (Nfoundation) is formed from some proportion of Indonesian (PIndonesian) and African (1 − PIndonesian) settlers. This Malagasy deme subsequently grows exponentially until it reaches its current effective population size (Ncurrent).
(e) Coalescent simulation
Coalescent datasets were generated using the software ms [38]. The entire mtDNA genome was simulated using two-phase mutational scaling. First, the 530 bp fragment of the control region was simulated using a mutation rate of 8.0 × 10−6 mutations per site per generation [39] corrected for a generation interval of 25 years [40]. Second, the coding region was simulated by applying a mutation rate scalar of 1.57 coding region mutations to every control region mutation [41]. In the coalescent framework, the mutation rate and physical length of a locus are interrelated. We assume that the mitochondrial genome is not subject to recombination—the dominant view held by the research community today [42]. In this situation, the same coalescent outcome can be obtained by linearly scaling the mutation rate and physical length (e.g. doubling the mutation rate, while halving the length). We employ this scaling rule to simulate the entire mitochondrial genome because existing coalescent software cannot simulate multiple fully linked genetic regions with different mutation rates, but are instead flexible with regard to locus length. The control region rate was applied to the entire mitochondrial genome, and the coding region scaled by 1.57 times the control region length to reconstruct the correct overall ratio of coding to control region mutations. Soares et al. [41] provide a detailed explanation of this scaling factor.
(f) Data summaries
Summary statistics was developed based on unusual aspects of the Indonesian and Malagasy mtDNA datasets. First, the number of segregating sites—S summarizes the total length of the genealogy [43] and is an unbiased estimator of the population mutation rate (θ = Neμ). The number of segregating sites in the Indonesian population was set as an acceptance criterion to control for the population mutation rate (i.e. it prevents acceptances of unreasonably large or small effective sizes) [44]. Simulations were accepted if the control region portion of the simulated dataset contained (i) the same number of segregating sites as in the observed Indonesian sample (S = 186) or (ii) segregating sites within 5 per cent of this value.
Second, the Malagasy data exhibit an unusual and distinctive pattern of mtDNA polymorphism. The Malagasy motif is a close relative of the Polynesian motif, but differs from it by two polymorphisms. Because mtDNA mutation rates only predict two mutation substitutions every 5216 years (using the corrected mutation rate of Soares et al. [41]) and archaeology constrains the settlement history of Madagascar to less than 2000 years, finding the derived Malagasy motif with two substitutions relative to the ancestral Polynesian motif is statistically unusual. Simulations were therefore accepted only if they contained a haplotype in the Malagasy sample that differed from an ancestral Indonesian haplotype by two changes in the coding region, but no changes in the control region.
Third, simulations were accepted only if simulated allele frequencies mirrored observed allele frequencies. The 'ancestral' haplotype in the simulated Indonesian sample was required to have a frequency less than or equal to the Polynesian motif frequency in the observed Indonesian data (less than or equal to 0.02). Similarly, the 'derived' haplotype in the simulated Malagasy sample was required to have a frequency greater than or equal to the Malagasy motif frequency in the observed Malagasy data (greater than or equal to 0.22). Averaged across the Mikea, Vezo and Merina ethnic groups, this value is slightly lower than the B4a1a1a frequency observed for the Antandroy, Antanosy, Antaisaka and Merina (0.34) [5]. However, as Tofanelli et al. did not explicitly screen for the Malagasy motif, we chose to perform simulations using our more conservative estimate of the actual Malagasy motif frequency.
c++ code to calculate these summary statistics on ms coalescent simulations is available from the authors on request.
(g) Inferential statistics
Forty million coalescent simulations were run across a four-dimensional parameter space in the Malagasy settlement model. Values were drawn randomly from uniform distributions for Nfoundation (0, 2000), Ncurrent (0, 8041), Tsettlement (0, 5000 years) and PIndonesian (0, 1). Only simulations matching all summary criteria (described above) were retained. Because simulated parameters were drawn from random uniform distributions, accepted simulations form an unbiased estimate of the likelihood. The peaks (modes) of reported probability densities are maximum-likelihood estimates (MLEs), and were calculated using kernel density estimation via the density function in the base package of r [45]. For each demographic parameter, 95% CI were calculated as asymmetric [0.025, 0.975] quantiles of the observed probability density.
3. Results
(a) Malagasy motif in Madagascar
The Polynesian motif (mtDNA haplotype B4a1a1a) occurs at variable frequency among the ethnic groups (foko) of Madagascar and has been shown to be a direct translocation from Island Southeast Asia [3,29]. In a 2010 study, the Polynesian motif was identified in 58 of 266 (22%) Malagasy individuals, although its frequency varied among three ethnic groups: 50 per cent in Merina, 22 per cent in Vezo and 13 per cent in Mikea [29]. Whole mtDNA genome sequencing found that the Polynesian motif in Madagascar is characterized by two additional mutations (1473 and 3423A), which have been identified in all Polynesian motif carriers screened in Madagascar so far [29]. For this reason, this new haplotype has been termed the Malagasy motif and occurs in Madagascar at an average frequency of 22 per cent.
(b) Malagasy motif in Indonesia
To identify the distribution of the Malagasy motif in Indonesia, the diagnostic markers of the Polynesian and Malagasy motifs were screened in a large number of individuals (n = 2745) from across the Indonesian archipelago (table 1). Only 45 of 2745 sampled individuals (2%) carried the Polynesian motif, specifically on the islands of Bali (n = 6), Sumba (n = 4), Alor (n = 1) and Timor (n = 34). This is consistent with previous results, which show the Polynesian motif reaching greatest frequency in remote Oceania, with much reduced frequencies in eastern Indonesia and only sporadic occurrences in western Indonesia [46].
The 45 Polynesian motif carriers were screened for the diagnostic markers of the Malagasy motif. None carried either of the two additional mutations (1473 and 3423A). This is consistent with published results of full mtDNA genome sequences; no Polynesian motif genomes outside Madagascar have been shown to carry the Malagasy motif [29,46]. We applied a Monte Carlo sampling error algorithm [31] to infer a possible upper bound on the allele frequency of the Malagasy motif across Indonesia as a whole. Even if present in Indonesia, the Malagasy motif is statistically unlikely to exceed a frequency of 0.1 per cent there. As this is only an inference, we do not use this value in our simulations. In its place, we focus on the concretely known frequency of the ancestral Polynesian motif in Indonesia. However, we conclude that (i) either the Malagasy motif arose in Madagascar and is therefore not present in Indonesia; or (ii) the Malagasy motif arose in Indonesia, but is either absent there or occurs only at an extremely low frequency there today.
(c) Demographic inference
A hierarchical series of coalescent models was developed to infer the demographic processes underpinning the initial settlement of Madagascar. Because this analysis is based on mtDNA evidence, we effectively report the history of Malagasy women. The inferential model was built around three especially unusual characteristics of the Malagasy and Indonesian mtDNA data: (i) the ancestral Polynesian motif occurs at very low frequency in Indonesia (this study); (ii) the derived Malagasy motif occurs at moderate-to-high frequency in Madagascar [29]; and (iii) the Malagasy motif differs from the Polynesian motif by two SNPs within the coding region [29]. Even given the relatively high rate of mtDNA mutations, two new polymorphisms would be expected to arise only once every approximately 5216 years [41]. Although this time frame is consistent with the estimated age of the ancestral Polynesian motif [46], it still far exceeds the colonization horizon of approximately 1500 years attested by archaeological and linguistic records for the settlement of Madagascar. Therefore, we set out to determine how often this unusual pattern of mtDNA diversity might occur under various demographic parametrizations of the settlement of Madagascar.
(d) African–Indonesian framework
To determine the demographic parameters of a Malagasy settlement model, we first had to formulate a basic demographic framework relating Africans and Indonesians, the parental groups of modern Malagasy. This relationship was recently inferred using coalescent simulations, and is described in great detail by Wollstein et al. [37]. Rather than duplicate their efforts, we accepted this inferred demographic model with one key exception. The Wollstein model was specifically inferred for a single population sample from Borneo, whereas our Indonesian sample was drawn from across the archipelago. We modified the Wollstein model to accommodate this difference. Coalescent datasets were simulated under a range of effective population sizes for Indonesia (as opposed to just Borneo). The same number of segregating sites as observed in the real Indonesian dataset (S = 186) was chosen as the acceptance criterion. The MLE for the effective population size of Indonesians was 4637 (95% CI: 2435–6823), which slightly exceeds the estimate of Wollstein et al. for the island of Borneo (4034; 95% CI: 1993–6497). Because we are sampling a larger geographical range of genetic diversity, the effective size of Indonesians is expected to be larger than the effective size of the single Borneo population by itself. This pan-Indonesian effective size estimate was applied in all subsequent modelling.
(e) Malagasy settlement model
The African–Indonesian framework was extended to accommodate the key aspects of Malagasy settlement (figure 1). In this more complex model, the Malagasy population is formed through admixture between African and Indonesian sources. At some time (Tsettlement), the Malagasy population (Nfoundation) is formed from some proportion of Indonesian (Pindonesian) and African (1 − PIndonesian) settlers. The founding population subsequently expands until it reaches its current effective population size (Ncurrent). Under this inferential model, we simulated coalescent datasets representing entire mtDNA genomes, which were accepted only if they possessed the key distinguishing characteristics of the Malagasy/Indonesian mtDNA dataset: (i) an ancestral haplotype ('Polynesian motif') in Indonesia with frequency less than or equal to 2 per cent; (ii) a derived haplotype ('Malagasy motif') in Madagascar with frequency greater than or equal to 22 per cent; (iii) ancestral and derived haplotypes that show no variation in the control region; (iv) ancestral and derived haplotypes that differ by two mutations in the coding region; and (v) 186 segregating sites in just the control region portion of the simulated Indonesian dataset.
Coalescent simulations were run on an eight-core unix cluster for 11 520 CPU hours (i.e. equivalent to one computer running for approx. 1.3 years). Only 671 simulations (0.0017%) were returned under all five acceptance criteria. To expand the acceptance rate, the segregating sites' criterion was extended to accommodate 5 per cent variance in the observed value (S = 186 ± 5% = 177–195). Under this more relaxed standard, 12 250 simulations (0.03%) were returned under all five acceptance criteria. As the two sets of results showed no substantive differences, demographic parameters are reported for the larger dataset.
Likelihood curves were plotted for all four demographic parameters in the Malagasy settlement model: foundation effective population size, current effective population size, time of settlement and proportion contribution from Indonesia (figure 2). MLEs and 95% CI are reported in table 2. The most probable set of parameter values indicates that Madagascar was settled 1170 years ago (95% CI: 255–4721 years ago). The coalescent analysis infers that a very small number of women founded the Malagasy population—the best estimate is 30 (95% CI: 3–746). The proportion of this founding population having Indonesian ancestry was very high—0.93 (95% CI: 0.16–0.99). The Malagasy population subsequently grew approximately sixfold to reach its current effective population size (193; 95% CI: 29–5452). This effective size is very small compared with other globally distributed populations [47], but fits well with the fact that many Malagasy carry an identical mtDNA sequence (i.e. the Malagasy motif).
4. Discussion
An extensive body of genetic, linguistic and anthropological research has now painted a picture of Malagasy history in broad brushstrokes. Humans reached Madagascar only relatively recently. In fact, Madagascar was among the last places on Earth to be settled—archaeological evidence suggests that the first sustained colonization did not occur until the middle of the first millennium AD. Today, Malagasy show clear evidence of genetic and linguistic contributions from Africa. Loanwords suggest contact with the Bantu-speaking peoples of east Africa [2], but the exact origin of these African settlers remains largely unknown. Contact with populations north of the Zambezi River is typically favoured [5,26]. Complementing this African connection, evidence from multiple fields of study shows clear and substantial contributions from the Indonesian archipelago. The exact geographical provenance of this contribution is again unclear—arguments have been advanced for both west Indonesia (Ma'anyan language; Sanskrit, Malay and Javanese loanwords) and east Indonesia (South Sulawesi loanwords; prevalence of the Polynesian motif). The presence of Indonesian mtDNA and Y chromosomes in Madagascar argues for a mixed-sex founder population, and this Indonesian genetic component reaches substantial frequencies among Malagasy even today. Similarly, because African and Indonesian lineages differ little across all Malagasy ethnic groups screened to date, the main episode of African–Indonesian admixture likely occurred at the very beginning of Malagasy history.
Key detailing was recently added to this picture. The Polynesian motif in Madagascar carries two derived polymorphisms (1473 and 3423A), and this new haplotype—termed the Malagasy motif—is present in all Polynesian motif carriers screened in Madagascar so far [29]. However, the distribution of the Malagasy motif outside Madagascar has been unclear. Here, we show that this lineage is not widely distributed in Indonesia. Indeed, the Malagasy motif was not detected in 2745 individuals drawn from across the Indonesian archipelago—the largest Indonesian population dataset analysed to date. Even the Polynesian motif, the ancestral lineage of the Malagasy motif, is rare in Indonesia (2%), and with sporadic exceptions, this haplotype is restricted to eastern parts of the archipelago. It remains possible that the Malagasy motif may yet be found in a few small Indonesian communities, perhaps on the relatively understudied islands of Borneo and Sulawesi. Broader sampling in these regions will eventually answer this question. Alternately, the Malagasy motif may not be present in Indonesia at all. Perhaps it arose among the earliest Indonesian colonists to Madagascar, subsequently sweeping to high frequency either in Madagascar or somewhere along the path of their travel (e.g. putative stopping points along the east African coast). In either case, these scenarios hint at a substantial Indonesian founder event during the main settlement period in Madagascar, with strong genetic drift raising the frequency of the Malagasy motif to the elevated levels observed in Madagascar today.
To infer the parameters of this settlement model in more detail, a statistical simulation model was built around the unusual genetic patterns observed in the Malagasy/Indonesian mtDNA dataset: (i) a low frequency of the ancestral Polynesian motif lineage in Indonesia; (ii) two polymorphisms distinguishing the Polynesian and Malagasy motifs; and (iii) a high frequency of the derived Malagasy motif in Madagascar. We set out to ask: what range of settlement model parameters produce genetic patterns like the ones we observe?
Our coalescent modelling suggests several answers to this question. First, although the observed pattern of genetic diversity is relatively uncommon, it occurs more frequently under certain demographic parameters. Coalescent simulations best support settlement of Madagascar beginning around AD 830. This date is consistent with evidence from linguistics, which links the colonization of Madagascar to the expansion of Indonesian trading networks during the Srivijaya Empire [2]. Srivijaya reached its peak in the ninth century, but remained a major maritime power in the Indian Ocean until well into the thirteenth century, consistent with the time frame suggested by our simulations. Our estimates also support a model in which Madagascar was settled by a small effective founding population—estimated at only approximately 30 women, most of whom had Indonesian ancestry (93%). Although this number of founding women might seem surprisingly small, it fits well with estimates of the small number of women (approx. 70) who founded New Zealand, another island nation settled by related Austronesian speakers at around the same time period [48]. In contrast with the simulations of Tofanelli et al. [5], our more complex inferential modelling shows that founder events and drift dynamics are sufficient to explain the frequencies of the Polynesian and Malagasy motifs in Indonesia and Madagascar. Tofanelli et al. employed a one-deme model, simulated only a small range of founding population sizes and fixed (rather than inferred) the Malagasy growth rate. Although they simulated genetic drift, it is not clear that they explicitly modelled the Malagasy founder event. In comparison, our multi-deme simulation framework is far more exact about the colonization event itself. Our highest likelihood model describes a settlement process in which relatively few women, most travelling from Indonesia, founded the Malagasy population—with a much smaller, but just as important, biological contribution from Africa.
This is the first genetic analysis where statistical bounds have been placed on the demographic parameters of Malagasy settlement. The most likely model favours a small founding population, which brings into question the broader context in which the settlement of Madagascar took place. A recurring hypothesis is that Indonesian maritime traders initially settled Madagascar, either as a single colonization event or via repeated settlement waves from the same source population (a process known to the Malagasy as ranto) [2,49,50]. Indeed, merchants have plied coastal Indian Ocean trade routes between east Africa and northern China at least since the Roman era [12]. However, early written records imply that these trading voyages were dominated by men; there is no mention of women on board long-distance trading vessels [13]. There is no clear evidence suggesting that Madagascar was settled in multiple waves, but because ranto is mentioned in traditional Malagasy narratives, this may be a profitable direction for future simulations.
An alternative hypothesis is that Madagascar was settled as a formal trading colony, perhaps under the auspices of the Srivijaya Empire (although Malagasy are not Hindu today), and possibly resembling later Arab trading centres in the region. Or perhaps Madagascar was settled as an ad hoc centre for refugees, drawn from those who lost land and power during the rapid expansion of Srivijayan influence. Such colonies would be established to be self-sufficient, and therefore, might be expected to include Indonesian women. However, there is little evidence—historical, archaeological or biological—of other Indonesian bases around the Indian Ocean, including the east African coast, although there may have been a Malay trading post in what is now Sri Lanka [50]. Founding such a centre in any official capacity on Madagascar—at the far extreme of Indonesia's trading reach—therefore seems out of keeping with contemporary Indonesian trading practices. Along related lines, historical documents leave no record of refugees fleeing the Srivijaya Empire, although early chroniclers seldom paid attention to powerless groups as these refugees would likely have been.
A third hypothesis is that Madagascar was settled via a direct sailing route across the Indian Ocean, perhaps even as the result of an unintended transoceanic voyage. This view is traditionally considered unlikely, but has recently been revived based on seafaring simulations using ocean currents and monsoon weather patterns [51]. Indeed, during the Second World War, wreckage from ships bombed in the vicinity of Sumatra and Java later washed up in Madagascar, including—in one instance—a survivor in a lifeboat [52]. Cargo ships were substantial vessels during the first millennium AD—up to 500 tonnes and manned by over 100 sailors [53,54]. It is therefore not beyond the realms of possibility that a single wayward vessel might have effected the settlement of Madagascar. This would certainly be consistent with the extremely small initial size of the Malagasy population, although perhaps not with the mixed-sex founding group suggested by Malagasy genetics.
Without further evidence, the exact nature of Madagascar's settlement must necessarily remain unresolved. Nevertheless, we can now place the settlement process on a much firmer statistical footing. Malagasy are the children of both east and west, with clear Indonesian and African antecedents. Madagascar was settled approximately 1200 years ago, primarily by a small cohort of Indonesian women, and this Indonesian contribution—of language, culture and genes—continues to dominate the nation of Madagascar even today.
We thank Golfiani Malik, Wuryantari Setiadi and Loa Helena Suryadi of the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology (Jakarta, Indonesia), and J. Stephen Lansing of the University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ, USA), together with Indonesian Public Health clinic staff, for sample collection. We also thank Harilanto Razafindrazaka (University of Toulouse) for helpful discussion. Research was supported by an Early Career Medal from Massey University and a Rutherford Fellowship from the Royal Society of New Zealand (RDF-10-MAU-001) awarded to M.P.C.
- Received January 3, 2012.
- Accepted February 28, 2012.
- This journal is © 2012 The Royal Society


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Lively out-of-cage sessions keep cage birds happy, physically fit, and are the perfect interactive pastime for agile and inquisitive birds. Wooden Acrobird Playground is a portable activity center that transforms any room in your house into a hub of avian activity. Playground gives birds room to spread their wings and tackle challenging ladder configurations, a climbing rope chain, and a seesaw, plus enjoy time on a perch swing. Refueling for extended out-of-cage sessions is as easy as filling the plastic food and water cups with a well-deserved snack. Good clean fun during out-of-cage playtime is kept simple thanks to the 2" high base molding that minimizes seed and debris scatter. Easy-clean laminated base makes cleanup a breeze once playtime is over. Hardwood construction with durable ribbed plastic. All hardware included for easy assembly. Great for cockatiels, Quaker Parrots, Ringneck Parrots, Lories, Sun Conures, and similar-sized birds.
We recommend you use Cage Catcher Liner #611753 make cleaning base even easier.
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Corsair Accelerator 30GB & 60GB Review
Finding a way to increase the performance of your PC can lead you down one of a few avenues, and they all require you to spend some hard-earned cash to get to the promised land. Video card and CPU upgrades show tangible performance improvements that are easily measurable. Solid state drives fall into the same category with an instant boost in response time and throughput. Costs and capacity have been the most difficult hurdles to overcome for the mainstream user. With that being said, solid state drives have come a long way in a relatively short period of time. The cost per GB has dropped to a point where a decent 128GB solid state drive is affordable and generates a significant improvement in system responsiveness and reductions in boot times. These are things that you can actually feel when using the system. Introduced with Intel's Z68 chipset, SSD Caching was a way to improve responsiveness and boot times using the Intel Rapid Storage Technology suite to set up the caching system. This system was both cumbersome and required both the cache and target drives to be part of a RAID array. This setup meant that if you broke the array a total re-installation of the operating system was in order.
Earlier this year at CES, Corsair showed off the Accelerator lineup touting the fact that the software used to implement the caching function did not require a RAID array setup. Compared to the traditional Intel Rapid Storage Technology, the Accelerator series does not require re-installing the operating system after removing the cache drive. The Accelerator Caching Drive is offered in 30GB, 45GB, and 60GB sizes with performance curves that escalate with the increased capacity of the Accelerator drive. Pricing on the 30GB drive starts at $59, with the 45GB coming in at $79, and $89 for the 60GB drive. These prices are comparable to other similarly sized drives. The 60GB drive offers read and write speeds of up to 280/270MB/s respectively through its SATA 3Gb/s interface. On its own, the drive offers much better performance specifications than a standard mechanical platter drive. As Intel looks to improve system response with it's Z77 PCH using Smart Response and Rapid start technologies, caching drives look to be coming into their own. Corsair's option looks to bypass the chipset capabilities and deliver a vendor-free solution that implements the caching function using NVELO Dataplex software to deliver the best of both worlds when coupling an Accelerator drive with a large capacity spindle-based drive.
Closer Look:
The packaging for the the Accelerator lineup is reminiscent of the Force GT lineup but with a change in color and naming on the front of the package. The key takeaway points on the front of the package are the statement that the Accelerator drive can deliver up to 5x the read/write performance of a traditional hard disk drive, and that this drive uses a SATA 2 drive interface. The drive capacity (30 and 60GB) and a picture of the drive are also on the front so you know exactly what you are purchasing. The back side has the SKU, part number, and a short description of what the Accelerator has to offer in terms of performance. On the bottom right is a small orange box that describes how the claim of up to a 5X increase over a standard disk drive were generated.
Inside the packaging, the two drives are identical so I will only be showing the contents for one drive. The only real differences between the two are inside the drive housing. The drive is the full retail package with the drive and accessories included. Included inside the package is the Accelerator drive held in a plastic clamshell with the mounting screws, a 2.5 to 3.5 inch drive bracket, and the Accelerator "Quick Start" guide that goes through the steps to mount and install the drive into the system. There are some very specific steps when it comes to the installation of the NVELO software package that allows these drives to function as caching drives. Accessories for this series of drive include the 2.5 to 3.5 inch drive bay adapter and screws to hold it in place. You don't really need much else since SATA cables are usually supplied in an overabundance in most motherboard accessory packages, so a spare should be easy to find. The drive adapter is black and has the Corsair logo displayed prominently. The Quick Start guide has a place to write down your drive serial number that you will need when you download and install the NVELO Dataplex software.
Since Intel introduced drive caching to the masses with the Z68 chipset, drive manufacturers have been putting together drives that could be used for this feature. Let's look inside the drives to see what makes them tick and deliver an upswing in disk drive performance for less than the cost of a large capacity spindle drive.


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See what was happening in Redwood Falls 50, 25, and 10 years ago this week.
1964—50 years ago • Navy airman David Corrow was on an around the world trip aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The 30,000 two-month journey without refueling crossed the equator four times. • An emergency nighttime plane flight ferrying a heart patient from Missoula, Montana to Minneapolis broke an oil seal at night and would have had to land in a field, except the pilot saw the city lights of Redwood off in the distance and was able to land at the airport. • Local organizers asked Dr. Ralph W. Phillips, who helped develop plastic fillings for teeth, to speak at the annual convention of the Southern Minnesota District Dental Society. • A local sports researcher with too much time on his hands calculated that RFHS football parents would have to travel 622 miles to see the Cardinals' away games in 1964, as compared to 586 miles in 1963. • With school set to start in a week, RFHS band director L.D. Zschunke announced the marching band would be practicing on before the first day of school to be ready for football games. 1989—25 years ago • Five years after Jackpot Junction bingo hall opened, unemployment at the Lower Sioux Indian Community had dropped from 70 percent to approximately 30 percent. • Over 20 dealers appeared at the first annual Gun Show of Redwood Falls, sponsored by Valley Guns and Ammo. • Eight visiting Japanese teachers were astonished by the size of American farms, seeing Redwood area farms with hundreds of acres compared to the one-acre farms the teachers were used to in Japan. • The Redwood County landfill sponsored a demonstration on the best way to fill abandoned wells with concrete to prevent groundwater contamination. • The General Sherman tank in Westside Park was given a fresh coat of green paint by National Guardsmen Ros Dolezal and Randy Eckstein. 2004—10 years ago • It was so chilly one day that there were more lifeguards on duty at the public swimming pool — three — than there were people at open swimming — two. • The congregation of the Evangelical Free Church of Redwood Falls moved into its new quarters downtown in the old J.C. Penny catalog store. • Responding to residents' complaints, the city council once again discussed the city's helplessness in being able to do anything about the intersection of Highway 19/71 and CSAH 101 (the North Redwood Road). "This is an issue that goes in waves. There is not a problem we are not aware of," said Mayor Sara Triplett. "It's not our jurisdiction," said City Engineer Ron Mannz. (Note: the intersection is finally set to be redesigned and modified in the coming year.)


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Redknapp takes QPR players to Dubai
Queens Park Rangers boss Harry Redknapp has taken his side on a mid-season jaunt to Dubai in a bid to revive their flagging fortunes before they resume what is threatening to become an increasingly forlorn battle against the drop.
• Blog: Make-or-break spell for QPR
A 4-1 defeat at Swansea last Saturday left QPR in a perilous position at the foot of the Premier League table, inspiring Redknapp to try an alternative to a domestic set-up that is clearly not to his liking.
"Our training ground at Harlington is not the best, to say the least," he told the QPR website, touching on a venue that was once used by Chelsea. "When it rains, the pitch floods. When it snows, we can't get on it. We've got no under soil heating. So this is an opportunity to get out and train on some good surfaces.
"This will provide a good break. We need to get away to train on a decent surface for a few days. I think there are six teams going to Dubai this week, everyone is getting away to do a bit of training."
Redknapp may bump into his old friend Sam Allardyce in Dubai, with the West Ham boss taking his side to the Middle East sunshine retreat as they look to make the most of a two-week sabbatical in their fixture list.
"The climate will be perfect and the training facilities will be superb," Allardyce told the West Ham website. "We'll be carrying on with the training, but let them relax too and after they've done their training allow them to enjoy the warm weather, the sunshine and the beauty of Dubai.
"Everything that goes with Dubai is fantastic, it's one of the best resorts in the world today and when you can go to release the pressures they're under on a day-to-day basis then hopefully that will stand us in good stead for the last part of the season.
"It worked last year, we had a fantastic finish to the season and I still think the trip that we had at this time last year was a big benefit in the end for getting us promoted into the Premier League.
"Most clubs have already been away. I've talked to a lot of managers and they've already taken the opportunity to get away when they can.
"When the lads can train in short sleeves and shorts, and the weathers in the 60s, 70s, 80s degrees, they don't want to finish training, they just want to carry on. You get an awful lot more out of them.
"When they are in gloves and hats, it's hard to keep them warm, you have to keep them going. It's not an ideal environment whereas Dubai is a fantastic environment for training.
"The benefits mentally will be massive. The pressure on players today is enormous in the Premier League, it's all around you, all the time. It's 24/7, so to go away and recuperate physically and mentally is a big, big thing for us."
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IT Management Slideshow: Bad Tech Habits: 8 Things Employees Don't Want You to Know
By Don Reisinger | Posted 04-03-2012
You work overtime making sure that your company's data and networks remain safe and secure. The ugly truth is that your users are probably the weakest link in your defenses. Whether driven by malfeasance or sheer frustration, it's not uncommon for your employees to circumvent or ignore the many safeguards and best practices you've put in place. Based on conversations with IT executives, a review of recent research, and our own observations of workplace behavior, we've compiled this list of the 8 most egregious tech behaviors you'll want to look out for.
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The 3D Printed Durable Apple Iphone 7 Mobile Cover Angry Bomb. The Products are Custom made.The 3D Printed mobile cover is made of poly carbonate plastic. The cover has cut outs for home button, sound button, speakers and cameras. The cover is made to order, so please read the product description carefully before ordering.


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