text:
Attention Blade mCP X OwnersHorizon Hobby is recalling the Main Rotor Head of the Blade mCP X ultra micro collective pitch helicopter.
Click HERE to see the CSPC recall information Horizon Product Support has received some reports from customers of Main Blade Grips and Main Rotor Blades releasing from the Main Rotor Head. The released Main Rotor Blades have the potential to strike and injure nearby persons.
Horizon Product Development has updated the Main Rotor Head assembly and is offering the updated assembly free of charge to consumers. Please inspect your Main Blade Grips. If your helicopter does not have a "B" molded into the Main Blade Grips, cease use of your current Main Rotor Head immediately and complete the Blade mCP X Main Rotor Head Replacement Request form linked below.
Upon receiving your request, an updated head assembly will be sent to you free of charge (as supplies become available) along with prepaid packaging to send your original Main Rotor Head to Horizon at no cost.
Click HERE to see instructions on how to install your blade grips
We apologize for this inconvenience. Horizon disclaims all liability and warranties for any consumer failing to act upon this product bulletin.
Your Blade mCP X is a high-performance collective pitch helicopter with a rotorhead that is much more complex than that of most of the ultra micro helicopters you may have flown before. Unlike the rotor heads of most fixed pitch ultra micro helis, the mCP X rotor head has many more moving parts that require thorough inspection before every flight. Following the steps in this supplemental checklist will help you avoid unsafe flying conditions and keep your mCP X performing at its best.Click Here to see the Supplement
The Spektrum Team has been investigating sporadic reports from DSMX transmitter owners using their products in DSM2 mode. We have discovered that in some rare instances, DSMX equipped transmitters with the Product ID (PID) within this bulletin, may have a backwards compatibility issue that could cause a "hold" with the following superseded DSM2 receivers: AR500, AR6100, AR6100E, AR6110, AR6110E, AR6200 and AR6300. Note: This bulletin does not apply to DSM2 only transmitters.If you have a DSMX transmitter with one of the following PIDs, please complete the Transmitter Service Request Form to receive a prepaid shipping label to send your transmitter to Horizon Hobby for a free firmware update.
The PID is located in the battery compartment of your transmitter.
Transmitters with affected PIDs may be found in the following products: Blade mCP X RTF (BLH3500), E-flite Apprentice 15e RTF (EFL2725), Hangar 9 Alpha 40 DSM2 RTF (HAN4400) ,Hangar 9 P-51 Mustang MkII PTS RTF (HAN4425), Hobbyzone Super Cub DSM RTF (HBZ7400), ParkZone Radian RTF (PKZ4700), ParkZone P-51D BL DSM RTF (PKZ2200), ParkZone F4U Corsair RTF (PKZ4600), Phoenix R/C Pro Simulator 3.0 with DX5e (RTM30R5510/RTM30R55101). DX6i/DX5e/DX4e:PID's beginning with one of the following prefixes: HS, HH, HT, HE, HA
DX8:PID's beginning with one of the following prefixes: HS, HH, HT, HE, HA, HO, HM, HR DX7:PID's beginning with the following prefix: HA JRP9503/JPR9309:PID's beginning with the following prefix: TM
We apologize for this inconvenience. Horizon disclaims all liability and warranties for any consumer failing to act upon this product bulletin. Always check your transmitter and equipment prior to each flight.
What this Warranty Covers Horizon Hobby, Inc., (Horizon) warrants to the original purchaser that the product purchased (the "Product") will be free from defects in materials and workmanship at the date of purchase.
What is Not Covered This warranty is not transferable and does not cover (i) cosmetic damage, (ii) damage due to acts of God, accident, misuse, abuse, negligence, commercial use, or due to improper use, installation, operation or maintenance, (iii) modification of or to any part of the Product, (iv) attempted service by anyone other than a Horizon Hobby authorized service center, (v) Product not purchased from an authorized Horizon dealer, or (vi) Product not compliant with applicable technical regulations. OTHER THAN THE EXPRESS WARRANTY ABOVE, HORIZON MAKES NO OTHER WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION, AND HEREBY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE PURCHASER ACKNOWLEDGES THAT THEY ALONE HAVE DETERMINED THAT THE PRODUCT WILL SUITABLY MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE PURCHASER'S INTENDED USE. Purchaser's Remedy Horizon's sole obligation and purchaser's sole and exclusive remedy shall be that Horizon will, at its option, either (i) service, or (ii) replace, any Product determined by Horizon to be defective. Horizon reserves the right to inspect any and all Product(s) involved in a warranty claim. Service or replacement decisions are at the sole discretion of Horizon. Proof of purchase is required for all warranty claims. SERVICE OR REPLACEMENT AS PROVIDED UNDER THIS WARRANTY IS THE PURCHASER'S SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY. Limitation of Liability HORIZON SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, LOSS OF PROFITS OR PRODUCTION OR COMMERCIAL LOSS IN ANY WAY, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH CLAIM IS BASED IN CONTRACT, WARRANTY, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY OR ANY OTHER THEORY OF LIABILITY, EVEN IF HORIZON HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. Further, in no event shall the liability of Horizon exceed the individual price of the Product on which liability is asserted. As Horizon has no control over use, setup, final assembly, modification or misuse, no liability shall be assumed nor accepted for any resulting damage or injury. By the act of use, setup or assembly, the user accepts all resulting liability. If you as the purchaser or user are not prepared to accept the liability associated with the use of the Product, purchaser is advised to return the Product immediately in new and unused condition to the place of purchase. Law These terms are governed by Illinois law (without regard to conflict of law principals). This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state. Horizon reserves the right to change or modify this warranty at any time without notice. WARRANTY SERVICES Questions, Assistance, and Services Your local hobby store and/or place of purchase cannot provide warranty support or service. Once assembly, setup or use of the Product has been started, you must contact your local distributor or Horizon directly. This will enable Horizon to better answer your questions and service you in the event that you may need any assistance. For questions or assistance, please visit our website at www.horizonhobby.com, submit a Product Support Inquiry, or call 877.504.0233 toll free to speak to a Product Support representative.
Inspection or Services If this Product needs to be inspected or serviced and is compliant in the country you live and use the Product in, please use the Horizon Online Service Request submission process found on our website or call Horizon to obtain a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number. Pack the Product securely using a shipping carton. Please note that original boxes may be included, but are not designed to withstand the rigors of shipping without additional protection. Ship via a carrier that provides tracking and insurance for lost or damaged parcels, as Horizon is not responsible for merchandise until it arrives and is accepted at our facility. An Online Service Request is available at http://www.horizonhobby.com/content/_service-center_render-service-center. If you do not have internet access, please contact Horizon Product Support to obtain a RMA number along with instructions for submitting your product for service. When calling Horizon, you will be asked to provide your complete name, street address, email address and phone number where you can be reached during business hours. When sending product into Horizon, please include your RMA number, a list of the included items, and a brief summary of the problem. A copy of your original sales receipt must be included for warranty consideration. Be sure your name, address, and RMA number are clearly written on the outside of the shipping carton. NOTICE: Do not ship LiPo batteries to Horizon. If you have any issue with a LiPo battery, please contact the appropriate Horizon Product Support office. Warranty Requirements For Warranty consideration, you must include your original sales receipt verifying the proof-of-purchase date. Provided warranty conditions have been met, your Product will be serviced or replaced free of charge. Service or replacement decisions are at the sole discretion of Horizon. Non-Warranty Service Should your service not be covered by warranty, service will be completed and payment will be required without notification or estimate of the expense unless the expense exceeds 50% of the retail purchase cost. By submitting the item for service you are agreeing to payment of the service without notification. Service estimates are available upon request. You must include this request with your item submitted for service. Non-warranty service estimates will be billed a minimum of ½ hour of labor. In addition you will be billed for return freight. Horizon accepts money orders and cashier's checks, as well as Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover cards. By submitting any item to Horizon for service, you are agreeing to Horizon's Terms and Conditions found on our website http://www.horizonhobby.com/content/_service-center_render-service-center.
ATTENTION: Horizon service is limited to Product compliant in the country of use and ownership. If received, a non-compliant Product will not be serviced. Further, the sender will be responsible for arranging return shipment of the un-serviced Product, through a carrier of the sender's choice and at the sender's expense. Horizon will hold non-compliant Product for a period of 60 days from notification, after which it will be discarded.
United States: Electronics and engines requiring inspection or repair should be shipped to the following address: Horizon Service Center 4105 Fieldstone Road Champaign, Illinois 61822 All other Products requiring warranty inspection or repair should be shipped to the following address: Horizon Product Support 4105 Fieldstone Road Champaign, Illinois 61822 Please call 877-504-0233 or e-mail us at email@example.com with any questions or concerns regarding this product or warranty. United Kingdom: Electronics and engines requiring inspection or repair should be shipped to the following address: Horizon Hobby Limited Units 1-4 Ployters Rd Staple Tye Harlow, Essex CM18 7NS United Kingdom Please call +44 (0) 1279 641 097 or e-mail us at firstname.lastname@example.com with any questions or concerns regarding this product or warranty. Germany: Electronics and engines requiring inspection or repair should be shipped to the following address: Horizon Technischer Service Christian-Junge-Strasse 125337 Elmshorn Germany Please call +(0) 49 4121 2655 100 or e-mail us at email@example.com with any questions or concerns regarding this product or warranty.
France:Electronics and engines requiring inspection or repair should be shipped to the following address:
Horizon Hobby SAS 11 Rue Georges Charpak 77127 LIEUSAINT
Please call +33 (0) 1 60 18 34 90 or e-mail us at email@example.com with any questions or concerns regarding this product or warranty.
China: Electronics and engines requiring inspection or repair should be shipped to the following address:
Horizon Hobby – China Room 506, No. 97 Changshou Rd. Shanghai, China 200060
Please call +86 (021) 5180 9868 or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com with any questions or concerns regarding this product or warranty.
Modified: 11/13/2012
Retail Price: $284.99
Selling Price:$227.99*


text: OBSOLETE(2) Linux Programmer's Manual OBSOLETE(2) NAME oldfstat, oldlstat, oldstat, oldolduname, olduname - obso- lete system calls SYNOPSIS Obsolete system calls. DESCRIPTION The Linux 2.0 kernel implements these calls to support old executables. These calls return structures which have grown since their first implementation, but old executa- bles must continue to receive old smaller structures. Current executables should be linked with current libraries and never use these calls. CONFORMING TO These calls are unique to Linux and should not be used at all in new programs. SEE ALSO fstat(2), lstat(2), stat(2), uname(2), undocumented(2), unimplemented(2) Linux 1.3.6 22 July 1995 1

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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> Amps/Phono Preamps
These little units are perfect for boosting your turntable's signal to line level. If you don't want to drag your stereo to your computer or vice-versa, then one of our portable preamps is just what the doctor ordered. We have our normal selection of Computer Transfer Preamps that are designed specifically for vinyl to PC transfer, but we also offer a few standard phono preamps that you can simply use to listen to your audio through your speakers.
Bellari VP 530 Tube Phono Preamp With USB and Switchable RIAA
CTP-1000 Computer Transfer Preamp
RIAA Stereo Preamplifier
T-Amp T Class Amplifier
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Toll Free 866.260.6376 | Outside US 717.764.9240
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text:
A database of old exams (mostly from between 1990 and Spring 2000) which
professors have released for review by students is available on the Web at http://exams.digitallib.kentlaw.edu/.
You will need your network login name and password to access the exam files.
Once in the database, you can use pull-down menus to search for exams by
Instructor name, Course name, Term, and/or Year.
The exams are displayed as PDF files, so you if you have not done so you will
need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader (available for free at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html)
to read the files.
To use the printers, use the print feature in Lexis or Westlaw.
Do not use the print feature in your browser. Printing using the
browser's feature will charge the job to your Chicago-Kent account.
Check the Lexis and Westlaw entries in the Record for further details
and updates on the free printing.
A new suggestion box will be available in the Library by the time you read
The box is mounted to the wall on your right as you enter the Library on the
9th floor. All suggestions, comments, and complaints will be answered as soon as
possible, usually within 24 hours of receipt. Both suggestions and replies will
be posted on a bulletin board to the left of the box. The bulletin board
is on order but should be received soon.
You are not limited to the suggestion box! Please send me an E-mail to:
Keith Stivers (KSTIVERS), give me a
call (x65610), or come to see me in room 871 if there is anything you want to
discuss about the Library or its services.
Keith Ann Stiverson, Library Director
For those of you with an emergency situation who must be reachable by
cell phone, you can leave your phone on ONLY if it gets your attention
by some method other than ringing. If you have one that vibrates quietly
or uses a blinking light, you can leave it on while you are in the
Library. This exception does not change the requirement that you leave the Library
to use your phone.
Not allowed are: cans, styrofoam or paper cups, soft drinks or juice in bottles.
2) Food is not permitted in the Library.
3) No food or drinks of any kind are allowed in the computer labs.


text:
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Westchester County Airport Information
When you arrive at Westchester County Airport (HPN) that serves White Plains New York, the last thing you want to do is wait around at the rental counter trying to organize a vehicle. That's why its good to get that part of the trip organized in advance, so you can fly in and drive away without hassle. So you can do this, we've brought together all the major suppliers so you don't need to spend hours researching the internet. On this site, you can compare all the providers and come up with a vehicle/price package to suit your needs, then place a booking in our easy to use secure booking engine. So fly on in and enjoy the savings!


text:
Toronto, city, capital of the province of Ontario, southeastern Canada. It has the most populous metropolitan area in Canada and, as the most important city in Canada's most prosperous province, is the country's financial and commercial centre. Its location on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, which forms part of the border between Canada and the United States, and its access to Atlantic shipping via the St. Lawrence Seaway and to major U.S. industrial centres via the Great Lakes has enabled Toronto to become an important international trading centre. Since the second half of the 20th century the city has grown phenomenally, from a rather sedate provincial town—"Toronto the Good"—to a lively, thriving, cosmopolitan metropolitan area. In 1998 Toronto amalgamated with East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, and York to form the City of Toronto. Area city, 244 square miles (632 square km); metropolitan area, 2,266 square miles (5,868 square km). Pop. (2006) city, 2,503,281; metropolitan area, 5,113,149.
…position and the influence of Toronto, the provincial capital, and Ottawa, the national capital, have constituted a not-infrequent source of regional resentment. Area 415,599 square miles (1,076,395 square km). Pop. (2011) 12,851,821.
The city site
The site of the city is almost uniformly flat, although 3 to 4 miles (5 to 6 km) inland there is a fairly sharp rise of some 40 feet (12 metres)—the shoreline elevation of the former glacial Lake Iroquois. Streets are laid out in a grid, although the pattern is modified to some extent by diagonal roads roughly following the shoreline. The central business areas are located around Bloor and Yonge streets and Yonge and Queen streets. The central financial district, with its numerous insurance and banking offices and the Toronto Stock Exchange, is in the vicinity of King and Bay streets, south of the old City Hall (1899).
The city skyline is dominated by the CN Tower (a communications and observation spire 1,815 feet [553 metres] high), as well as by the First Canadian Place (Bank of Montreal), Scotia Plaza, Canada Trust Tower, Manulife Centre, Commerce Court, Toronto-Dominion Centre, and Bay Adelaide Centre, each of which is more than 50 stories high. Other prominent buildings include City Hall (1965), Eaton Centre (a large indoor shopping complex), the gilded Royal Bank Plaza, the Toronto Reference Library, the Ontario Science Centre, the Royal Ontario Museum's crystal-shaped facade, and Roy Thomson Hall, noted for its excellent acoustics. The city also features an extensive system of underground tunnels and concourses lined with shops, restaurants, and theatres. Through the construction of new housing and mixed-use projects, together with the restoration and rehabilitation of heritage buildings, an extraordinary vitality has been brought to the urban core.
The city's lakefront is separated from the downtown area by railway tracks, an expressway, and increasing residential development. Ferry service connects the dock area to the Toronto Islands, about half a mile offshore, which have yacht clubs, a small airport, recreational facilities, and a residential community.
North of the central business district is the fashionable Yorkville-Cumberland boutique shopping area, to the south of which are Queen's Park, the Ontario Parliament Buildings, and the University of Toronto. Large expanses of grass and tall shade trees make this a pleasant area, complementing the ravines that form so important an element in the metropolitan parks system. One of the most attractive residential areas in Toronto is Rosedale, an older neighbourhood of dignified houses and winding, tree-lined streets quite close to the downtown centre, which itself contains many attractive streets of modest, well-designed houses.
Toronto's geographic situation on Lake Ontario modifies the climate somewhat, although winter temperatures may frequently drop below 0 °F (−18 °C). Heavy snowfall, however, is rare even in January and February, the coldest months. July and August are humid, with temperatures often rising above 90 °F (32 °C).
The city's population was traditionally Protestant and largely of British origin, but during part of the 1950s and '60s Toronto became one of the fastest-growing urban areas in North America, with an influx of European immigrants that transformed the character of the city; by 1961 less than half the inhabitants of the central city were of British extraction. During the 1970s and early '80s European immigrants were augmented by large numbers from the West Indies and Asia.
Industry and trade
Toronto enjoys the economic benefits of its position on the Great Lakes and of its development as a rail and trucking centre. It is readily accessible to major industrial centres in the United States and to oceangoing shipping. As the capital of Canada's richest and most populous province, the city has a widely diversified economy. Ontario produces more than half of Canada's manufactured goods and most of its manufactured exports; it has immense resources of raw materials—minerals, timber, water, agricultural products, and hydroelectric power. The Toronto Stock Exchange is, in value of trading, one of the largest stock exchanges in North America. Tourism is also important to the city's economy.
Policy for public transportation is coordinated by the Metropolitan Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). In addition to an extensive bus network and streetcar routes, the modern, efficient mass transit system has three subway lines and a rapid line. A series of provincial highways serve as arteries for the city's commuters. Located 17 miles (27 km) west of the centre of the city in Mississauga is Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada's busiest air terminal.
Administration and social conditions
Before being amalgamated in 1998 into the City of Toronto, a single administrative unit, the former Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto comprised a number of large municipalities that were governed by the Metropolitan Council. The mayor and City Council (representing more than 40 wards) now govern the city. There are also four community councils (for Etobicoke York, North York, Scarborough, and Toronto and East York), which consider planning and local matters for their area of the city.
Cultural life
The city is an important cultural centre. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra and other musical groups have an international reputation. There are three major theatres, together with many small experimental theatres. The Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum have excellent collections, and there are numerous privately owned galleries. Other attractions include the Ontario Science Centre, with its imaginative working exhibits, and Ontario Place, a large complex of recreational facilities on man-made islands that are an extension to the permanent Canadian National Exhibition. At the beginning of the 21st century, an area of historic Victorian industrial buildings, the Distillery District, was restored and became a popular cultural and entertainment destination with a wide variety of galleries, cafés, theatres, shops, and artists' studios. Among the annual highlights of the city's cultural activities are the Luminato and Nuit Blanche arts festivals and the Toronto International Film Festival.
The city has several institutions of higher learning—the University of Toronto (1827), with branches at Mississauga (Erindale College) and Scarborough; York University (1959), with Glendon College; and Ryerson Polytechnic University (1948). The Ontario College of Art & Design offers a wide diversity of excellent programs. Also adding to the colour and vitality of the city are the zoo (opened in 1974); dozens of excellent restaurants, boutiques, and movie theatres; and major sports teams. The Toronto Maple Leafs (ice hockey) and the Raptors (basketball) play at the Air Canada Centre (1999), while the modern Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome) stadium (1989), a multipurpose complex, houses both the Argonauts (Canadian football) and the Blue Jays (baseball).
There is an active winter season of cultural activities, with a rich fare of concerts, theatre, opera, ballet, and films. Lectures, seminars, evening classes, and meetings of all kinds cover a multitude of subjects, and the religious life of the community is sustained by a variety of churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and other meeting places. Many ethnic groups organize traditional festivals, balls, entertainments, and social activities.
In 1967 the Metropolitan Toronto Corporation assumed responsibility for the Canadian National Exhibition—reputed to be the world's largest annual exhibition—which was first launched in 1879 as the Toronto Industrial Exhibition. An international air show; agricultural, animal, and flower displays; theatrical and musical events; and a fairground attract millions of visitors in the late summer each year. The permanent buildings are used for trade shows and other special events between seasons. The area has two seasonal amusement parks: the provincially owned Ontario Place (1971) and the privately owned Canada's Wonderland (1981).
Toronto Parks and Recreation administers approximately 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares) of parkland, and ambitious plans have been made for the development of Toronto's waterfront. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority is an important joint provincial-municipal agency concerned with the development of recreational areas, flood control, and the conservation of existing woodlands and waterways. It is responsible for the implementation of a large part of Toronto's regional waterfront-development plan. The authority also offers assistance and technical advice to rural landowners.
Toronto is the main regional tourist centre serving the Muskoka Lakes, the Haliburton Highlands, and Georgian Bay, all magnificent lakeland and forest areas with fine hunting, fishing, and camping facilities. There has been a remarkable increase in winter sports, and, although Ontario's highest point is only 2,183 feet (665 metres), good skiing facilities are available within easy reach of the city. Algonquin Provincial Park is some 130 miles (210 km) to the north, Niagara Falls is about 50 miles (80 km) south, and the city is surrounded by beautiful rolling farmland, with well-marked sites of historical and architectural interest. Camping, cottaging, boating, and fishing in summer and skiing, ice hockey, and curling in winter are the most popular forms of outdoor recreation.
Early settlement
The first known settlements in the Toronto area, Teiaiagon and Ganatsekwyagon, were inhabited by Seneca and later Mississauga Native American peoples. Teiaiagon was located on the east bank of the Humber River. Ganatsekwyagon was located near the mouth of the Rouge River. In the 17th century Teiaiagon became a trading post, strategically situated at the crossing of ancient Indian trails going west to the Mississippi River and north to Lake Simcoe and beyond into vast wilderness areas. These land and water routes were followed by explorers, fur traders, missionaries, and others intent upon opening up and exploiting the resources of the Great Lakes region. After Teiaiagon was abandoned in the late 17th century, French fur traders set up in its place a small store, Magasin Royal, that operated from 1720 to 1730.
By the mid-18th century the name Toronto had come to be commonly used for one of three tiny forts built (1720–50) in the area by the French to defend their trade with the Indians against English and other European competitors. The French were defeated in 1759 and the forts were subsequently destroyed, but the settlement survived as a trading post.
At the end of the Seven Years' War with France (1763), Canada came under British sovereignty; during and after the American Revolution it was a haven for those American colonists who preferred British rule to that of the new republic. Some 40,000 loyalists are said to have settled in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence areas at this time, and during the 19th century large numbers of immigrants came from Great Britain.
In 1787 Sir Guy Carleton (later 1st Baron Dorchester), governor of Quebec, opened negotiations with three Native American chiefs for the purchase of a site for the future capital of Ontario. About 250,000 acres (100,000 hectares) fronting the lake were acquired in exchange for £1,700, bales of cloth, axes, and other trading goods.
Ontario's first parliament met in 1792 at Niagara, but in 1793 Colonel John Graves Simcoe, lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, selected the present site of Toronto for his capital because of its fine harbour, its strategic location for defense and trade, and the rich potential of its wilderness hinterland. He changed its name from Toronto to York; two years later (1795) Ontario's capital consisted of only 12 cottages and a small military establishment on the edge of the wilderness.
While the British were engaged with France in Europe, the United States declared war on Britain. York, with a population of 700, was practically defenseless. It was taken in April 1813 and was pillaged and occupied by U.S. forces for 11 days before being retaken by the British. The Speaker's Mace was carried off but was returned in 1934; the Royal Standard is still in the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland.
Economic depression in Great Britain following the Napoleonic Wars drove many overseas, and York's population increased from 720 in 1816 to about 9,000 in 1834, when the city was incorporated and the old name of Toronto restored. In 1849 there was a disastrous fire that destroyed some 15 acres (6 hectares) of the downtown area, including St. James' Cathedral, St. Lawrence Market, and many offices, stores, and warehouses, but the city soon recovered.
Evolution of the modern city
Rapid development followed the coming of the Grand Trunk and Great Western railways in the 1850s, and for a decade prosperity was enhanced by a treaty with the United States (1854) that gave certain products of Canada free entry to markets south of the border. The timber resources of the province were exploited, and large areas of land were converted to farming. Thus, Toronto grew rapidly as an industrial, trading, and distributing centre; its population was 45,000 in 1861, 208,000 in 1901, and 522,000 in 1921.
Prosperity and security were reflected in civic improvement, great building activity, and cultural progress. Between the city's incorporation (1834) and Canada's national confederation under the British North America Act of 1867, many of Toronto's buildings of historical and architectural importance were constructed, including the new St. James' Cathedral, St. Lawrence Hall, and University College (now part of the University of Toronto), all of which are still extant. The Grand Opera House (since demolished) was opened in 1874, a stolid successor to the numerous small theatres of midcentury that were mostly converted barns. King's College (founded 1827), later to become the University of Toronto, was constructed in 1843 on the site of the present Ontario Parliament Buildings (1886).
During the 50 years from 1834 to 1883, the city maintained its boundaries virtually unchanged. Some reclamation near the lake improved lakeshore properties and docking facilities. Largely by the annexation of adjacent villages and towns, the area of the city doubled by 1900 and doubled again by 1920. In 1930 the metropolitan area included the central city, four towns (Leaside, Mimico, New Toronto, and Weston), three villages (Forest Hill, Long Branch, and Swansea), and five townships (Etobicoke, East York, North York, Scarborough, and York).
The Great Depression of the 1930s caused severe financial problems for suburban Toronto. Capital debt payments could not be met, and expenditure on public services—sewage and piped water supply in places remote from the lake, for example—had to be postponed. A rapid increase in population after World War II added to the municipal burden, and many solutions were investigated. In 1953 the Ontario Municipal Board recommended for the 13 municipalities the establishment of a federated form of government unique in North America. The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto Act was passed, and a 25-member Council of Metropolitan Toronto met for the first time on January 1, 1954. One of the first tasks of the council was to find ways and means of dealing with common major problems by united action, while also permitting local matters to be handled independently. Since the joint credit of the combined municipalities was much greater than the sum of their credits as individual authorities, financing was greatly simplified. A common level of assessment and tax rate on property—the main source of revenue—was agreed upon by each municipality. A most significant feature of the system was that members of the Metropolitan Council were appointed by virtue of their election to office either as mayors, aldermen, or controllers of a particular municipality, thus ensuring a high degree of coordination and good communication between the central body and the local municipalities.
The Metropolitan Council worked well: it resolved many of the difficult sewage and water problems; it greatly improved transportation by constructing expressways and roads, a new airport terminal building (1962), and an excellent subway; it authorized the construction of new schools and the renovation of old ones; and it introduced a regional parks system in an attempt to control future development.
In 1967 the Corporation of Metropolitan Toronto was reorganized. The 13 municipalities were reduced to six, and the council was increased to 33 members. Later legislation gave the boroughs the option to rename themselves cities. The council considerably extended its responsibilities in education and the social services, adding, for example, urban renewal, waste disposal, and ambulance and library services. In 1975 and 1980 the council was again increased in size, and it added to its jurisdiction such problems as the control of urban development and housing for the elderly. In 1997 the Ontario legislature voted to combine the six municipalities into a single "megacity," a change that went into effect on January 1, 1998.


text:
(Reuters) - New York Yankees' $155 million pitcher Masahiro Tanaka showed that running is not his strong suit as the Major League Baseball team opened spring training in Florida on Saturday.
The star Japanese rookie struggled to complete four laps of the practice field, not much more than a mile, at Tampa, Florida.
"Just the running part, that was really hard for me today," Tanaka told reporters through an interpreter. "I actually didn't know that I was going to run this much. And I'm a little bit of a slow runner, so that part I really can't help."
Otherwise it was a solid start for Tanaka, who was mobbed by Japanese media.
He threw 32 pitches to catcher Francisco Cervelli and participated in a variety of spring training exercises, according to MLB.com.
"As a player, I feel very honored to get this much attention," Tanaka said. "Some fans were cheering today and I was very happy to receive those cheers.
"But at the same time, I understand that I haven't given out any results on the field yet. So my focus is to train and go out there and try to get those results."
The Yankees won the race to lure Tanaka, 25, to the major leagues, signing him for $155 million over seven years.
He is coming off a triumphant season in Japan, where he helped the Rakuten Eagles clinch the national championship, finishing the year with a flawless 24-0 record and a 1.27 earned run average.
(Reporting By Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina, editing by Gene Cherry)


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I have been asked to review the Super Bowl ads this year. It is an honour to review some of the best work in the world. I must clarify that I have never made a Super Bowl commercial and I respect the effort and work that have been put into them.
However, some ads are better than others. That is a fact of advertising.
I made a few decisions: I will watch the game and the ads that run during it; I will try my best to avoid the teasers on YouTube and other tricks, because I want to simulate the experience of the football fan watching the game, not the advertising man.
Let's get it on
The first commercial comes on right after the first touchdown by the Baltimore Ravens. The new Budweiser Black Crown (by Anomaly New York): a bunch of product benefits and description. Beautifully shot generic beer commercial.
Now M&M's "love ballad" (BBDO NY). Nice new chapter to the personalities and stories they have given the candy. This time, the red one tells us what he won't do for love and it is charming.
Audi "prom" (Venables Bell & Partners San Francisco). It took bravery to approve that spot. The result is engaging and entertaining and I admire that, at the end, they did not fall for the performance shots of the car that could have been easily edited in.
The Hyundai "team" commercial (Innocean) is a charming story. I figured the kid would find a team of seven to fit into the seven seats of the car, but kids, football and a funny ending are enough to make me like this one.
Go Daddy "perfect match" (Deutsch NY) gets the point across clearly. A long, improbable kiss does it, and I don't think I'll forget this one quickly.
Doritos "goat4sale" (user-generated) is a hit. Engaging story and a great twist. I'll say this is one of my favourites, even this early in the game.
Pepsi Next "party" (TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles) seems to want to make the point that finding real cola taste is worthy of a celebration. I like the party, but the idea seems a bit old.
Coca-Cola makes a nice choice of music to show security cameras that have filmed people doing good things (Landia Buenos Aires). It feels like Coke wants to encourage people to do good things and hopes it catches on. Nice feel-good spot.
Now Oreo "whisper fight" (Wieden & Kennedy Portland). This one asks us to pick a side and go Instagram. I suspect there will be a few of these throughout the game, asking people to vote or visit websites. I personally don't think it's worth the time, but only the numbers will prove me right or wrong.
Toyota "wish granted" (Saatchi & Saatchi LA)(pictured below) uses a nice gimmick to sell a couple of unimportant features, but kept me engaged throughout.
Doritos "fashionista daddy" (user-generated) reminds me of a commercial by Agulla & Baccetti for Sprite, where a girl dresses up her dad. That ad was tremendously touching; this one is just funny – well, not really.
Calvin Klein has a guy with a perfect body showing off his underwear – or his body (Baron & Baron NY). Not very engaging or artful, from my perspective.
Cars.com (Mcgarrybowen NY) adds the missing drama of finding a good used car by presenting a wolf cub and his protective mother. Absurd, but I think it gets the point across.
Bud Light "journey" is very big (Translation NY). But Bud Light usually rewards us with amazing ideas, and this one is not it.
Go Daddy "yourbigidea.com" (Deutsch NY). This commercial has a good, old, simple idea and should make you think about registering your domain. It is a worthy Go Daddy Super Bowl spot.
In the Hyundai "stuck" spot (Innocean), there is, again, an idea. Clearly, it is better to be in front and, in order to be in front, you need extra power, hence the Sonata Turbo. Clear benefit, clear idea.
Volkswagen (Deutsch LA). I love how being happy is shown in a fun and engaging way. It could have been another Coke ad, but it is not. Respect for that.
And here comes another Coke ad… "mirage" (Wieden & Kennedy Portland). Deciding who wins should make us get online and participate to vote on who should win the Coke. Thank God the game is not so interesting, I think a lot of people will want to participate and go online.
Skechers "the chase" (Siltanen & Partners) (pictured) is great while the gazelle is being chased by the cheetah and the runner appears. I was surprised, but that was the end of the surprises. Everything else is predictable.
The Lincoln ad (Hudson Rouge) does not make me consider that car. I did notice the cameo appearance by Lincoln himself, but that did not help either.
This brings us to half-time
Oprah makes Chrysler a winner again. Beautiful writing, great direction and editing and a brilliant soundtrack make this 60-second ode (Global Hue) as powerful as the two Chrysler ads aired earlier in the game, but totally new again.
BlackBerry (Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO) shows us what its new smartphone can't do and argues that, in 30 seconds, you can't really show what it can do. I'm not sure the logic works for me, but the spot does look great.
The E*Trade baby is blowing up cash, and it is funny and convincing (Grey NY).
Bud Light "lucky chair" (Translation NY) is much better than "journey". I think it's insightful and connects to the superstitious fans' habits. I liked how the product was integrated into this one. I liked this one a lot.
Axe Apollo "lifeguard" (Bartle Bogle Hegarty) is a surprise. I love these special editions Axe launches every so often, but this is outstanding. And the surprise at the end, the silly astronaut suit that gets the girl, works well.
In Kia "hotbots" (David & Goliath LA), nothing is really funny, except maybe the move at the end. But it does not do it for me.
The Wonderful Pistachios Gangnam Style commercial (The Fire Station) is fun and memorable. I usually don't like these tricks, but I must say this one will get a lot of votes.
Lincoln (Hudson Rouge) is nothing special; I hope the website is more engaging.
The Speed Stick commercial (Red Fuse NY) is trying really hard to be Axe. And I don't think it succeeds at all.
Beck's Sapphire "serenade" (Mother) has great music done by the singing black goldfish. No idea there, but fun to watch and listen to. Must try that beer soon.
The Ram ad falls into the well-written, epic, beautiful commercials Chrysler has been airing. The ode to the farmer is inspiring and powerful
The Budweiser "brotherhood" commercial gets personal and beautiful (Anomaly NY). I had not loved these spots in the past few years, but this one made me smile and cry again. Cheers.
The Ram ad (The Richards Group) falls into the well-written, epic, beautiful commercials Chrysler has been airing. The ode to the farmer is inspiring and powerful, and I think it sells Ram trucks and their toughness in a whole new way. Lovely.
Kia "space babies" (David & Goliath LA) explores where babies come from in a long story to sell yet another meaningless feature in a car. I am impressed by the craft, but not the idea or the result. I acknowledge the effort that was made to sell a car that is equal to all cars by telling interesting stories – just that this one does not do it for me.
Mercedes-Benz also manages to remind me of another Agulla & Baccetti commercial. This time, it was the deal with the devil it did for Renault Clio. The Mercedes ad (Merkley & Partners) is a super-production, with scenes reminiscent of other famous commercials and is also very predictable.
Samsung Galaxy tried. Yes, it tried and even got LeBron James to appear on a tablet. The theatre is fine, but the commercial is annoying (72andSunny LA).
At this point, the game is incredibly exciting. One minute later, it is practically over. So I guess the ratings are dropping dramatically now. Let's wait and see who got the Coke.
Jose Miguel Sokoloff is the president of the Lowe & Partners Global Creative Council and the co-chairman and chief creative officer at Lowe-SSP3


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Students with children are invited to participate in this fun and challenging event! Complete a Road Block, Detour and follow Route Markers all leading to a Pit Stop filled with food and prizes! Participants will compete in family groups of 2 or more and complete activities such as rock-climbing, swimming, shooting hoops and playing ping-pong. Everyone who completes the course will win a Deluxe Pass to Oaks Amusement Park!
Where: ASRC (1800 SW 6th Avenue)
When: Sunday, May 19th, 2013, 2:00 - 4:00 pm.
Price: Free
Contact info: firstname.lastname@example.com; 503-725-9878


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It's hard to believe that 2014 is here. I am psyched! 2013 brought a host of lessons for me personally. Some of those lessons were learned the easy wa...
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Cynthia Williams's curator insight, July 11, 2013 11:24 AM
Roof top gardening in Hawaii is interesting in that it uses space that would not normally be used for farming. Much of the produce that is sold in the grocery store in Hawaii is extremely expensive because it is imported. When I lived there we preferred purchasing our produce from roadside stands or growing it ourselves. But most people have limited space in which to grow things. This idea puts unused space to good use and it allows people to feed their families with much less expense.
Mipygreen's curator insight, April 1, 2013 5:32 AM
Not only kids....même pour les grands c'est amusant!!!
Macadam Gardens's curator insight, December 12, 2012 2:33 AM
Projet de petite ferme urbaine dans le quartier de Roppongi, à Tokyo, par l'agence On Design
Steve Kingsley's curator insight, October 15, 2013 8:50 PM
Too bad we live in a condominium. This will never pass the condo boeard....
Darin Hoagland's curator insight, June 28, 2013 11:39 AM
More city farms will become a necessity sooner or later.
Mipygreen's comment, June 28, 2013 4:45 PM
Better soon as to late! I am living in South France, Toulouse And for the moment it's quiet difficult to transform an urban empty lot into a community garden. To much anti régulations and not enough citizen motivation
Vincent Walsh's curator insight, May 12, 2013 12:57 PM
Resaerch suggest farming was central to the birth of urbanism. Uruk is in southern Mesopotamia was founded by the Sumerians around 3500 BC. Archaeologists agree that Uruk was the first true city, characterised by zoning and operating of a civic administration. According to records, the administration was mostly managing the agricultural hinterland, and experts suggest that these complex tasks led to the Sumerians inventing writing. As it was in the begining....
Angela Lundmark's curator insight, May 27, 2013 9:07 PM
If we are smart, all of our cities will soon look like this...
Sam Wilder's comment, April 6, 2013 9:44 PM
I'm pursuing similar interests-- sustainable community gardening in the heart of San Francisco. My scoop it mostly blogs pictures of the food we harvest. http://www.scoop.it/t/plants-fungi-urban-agriculture


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City Tour of Orlando
Enjoy a half-day tour exploring Orlando together with your guide! The tour includes a tour around Lake Eola and Downtown Orlando, a fun boat cruise, free time to explore Park Avenue and a visit to Disney's City of Celebrations.
- Enjoy a guided tour around Orlando
- Explore the Downtown area around Lake Eola
- Visit Park Avenue, the shopping and dining district
- Enjoy a boat ride through the exclusive Chain of Lakes
- Experience the Disney town called Celebration
- Get pick-up at your hotel or closest meeting point
Explore the City of Orlando
First up on your tour is a trip around Lake Eola, which shows you the heart of Downtown Orlando. Then we'll head on to Winter Park where you'll enjoy a scenic boat cruise from which you can view the abundant homes of the city and its college from the waterway. During the boat cruise, your guide will tell you about what you pass.
Back on land, you'll get some free time to wander the boutiques and stores of Park Avenue, Orlando's famous shopping and dining district.
In the afternoon, we head south through the attraction region to the Town of Celebration, Disney's vision of the perfect community.
How do I get my tickets?
Shortly after your booking is complete your e-ticket will be sent directly to your email, just print it out and bring it on your tour.
Where does the tour start?
The tour includes pick-up from selected hotels and meeting points in Orlando.
Click HERE to see the pick-up times for each pick-up location and choose the one most convenient for you.
Where does the tour end?
Your tour ends back at your hotel or meeting point.
How long does the tour last?
The tour lasts approx. 6.5 hours.
Are there children's tickets?
Yes, children's tickets are available for children between age 2-11 years. Children under age 2 are free when accompanied by a paying adult.


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18 December 2009|
|Article Index
|Reader Rides >> January 2010
|Page 2
|Page 3
|Page 4
|All Pages
Owner: Joon Maeng
Location: Buena Park, CA
Vehicle: 1991 Nissan 240sx ( S13.5 )
Power: 360whp/310lb-ft
PAS: What was the first vehicle you ever owed? Did you modify it? If so, what modifications were performed?
Owner: 1991 Toyota Corolla. Yes, I ended up converting it to a 5spd transmission with a 4age engine at S-Empire.
PAS: What other vehicles do you currently own?
Owner: 2007 Nissan Titan, 1985 Toyota Corolla GTS and a 1993 240sx hatch as a back up car.
PAS: Will your next visit be to a tire/wheel retailer, auto parts retailer, or a car dealership. Why?
Owner: MAXXIS warehouse to pick up 30 tires. Will be competing in the Formula Drift final round @ Toyota Speedway in Irwindale.
PAS: "All Show", "All Go" or both? Why?
Owner: Performance is the priority. Need the S13.5 to be on it's tip top shape to perform well at the Formula Drift Championship.
PAS: Any Shout-outs?
Owner: I couldn't live my dream and passion as a drifter without my family, friends, fans, sponsors: MAXXIS Tires, LSauto, CFR, GENIUS Tools, SAM'S Auto Land, APEXi, DG-5, TOMEI, ENJUKU Racing, ACT, SEIBON, AIT racing, Mishimoto, ER and MA-Motorsports. Kevin Well's, Chris Forsberg and Sergio Ramirez helped rebuilt the entire car during the off season. Now the S13.5 is 300 lbs lighter, handles like a champ, and is reliable! Thank you very much for your amazing support! See you at the track!
Read on for More Reader Rides


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How to Measure a Storm's Fury One Breakfast at a Time
Disaster Pros Look to 'Waffle House Index'; State of the Menu Gives Clue to Damage
WELDON, N.C.—When a hurricane makes landfall, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency relies on a couple of metrics to assess its destructive power.
First, there is the well-known Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale. Then there is what he calls the "Waffle House Index."
Green means the restaurant is serving a full menu, a signal that damage in an area is limited and the lights are on. Yellow means a limited menu, indicating power from a generator, at best, and low food supplies. Red means the restaurant is closed, a sign of severe damage in the area or unsafe conditions.
"If you get there and the Waffle House is closed?" FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate has said. "That's really bad. That's where you go to work."
Waffle House Inc. has 1,600 restaurants stretching from the mid-Atlantic to Florida and across the Gulf Coast, leaving it particularly vulnerable to hurricanes. Other businesses, of course, strive to reopen as quickly as possible after disasters. But the Waffle House, which spends almost nothing on advertising, has built a marketing strategy around the goodwill gained from being open when customers are most desperate.
During Hurricane Irene, Waffle House lost power to 22 restaurants in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. By Wednesday evening, all but one in hard-hit coastal Virginia were back in business.
Hurricane Irene knocked out power in Weldon, N.C., on Saturday evening, but as the sun rose on this tobacco-farming town at 6:30 the next morning, the local Waffle House, still without electricity, was cooking up scrambled eggs and sausage biscuits.
"I hadn't had a hot meal in two days, and I knew they'd be open," said Nicole Gainey, a 22-year-old secretary for a truck-repair company who drove over for breakfast.
Waffle House Menu
See the limited menu Waffle House offers when the restaurant doesn't have power.
See the limited menu Waffle House offer when the restaurant doesn't have power.
Waffle House, a privately held company based in suburban Atlanta, may be best known as a roadside stop for retirees driving south or the place where musician Kid Rock got into a brawl after a 2007 concert.
Its yellow-and-black sign hasn't changed in 40 years, and its laminated menu with color photos is an intentional throwback to the heyday of the highway diner. Comedian Jim Gaffigan jokes the Waffle House "makes the IHOP seem international."
The company fully embraced its post-disaster business strategy after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Seven of its restaurants were destroyed and 100 more shut down, but those that reopened quickly were swamped with customers.
The company decided to beef up its crisis-management processes. Senior executives developed a manual for opening after a disaster, bulked up on portable generators, bought a mobile command center and gave employees key fobs with emergency contacts.
In a recent academic paper, Panos Kouvelis, a business-school professor at Washington University in St. Louis, pegged Waffle House as one of the top four companies for disaster response, with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Home Depot Inc. and Lowe's Cos.
Waffle House managers say sales volume can double or triple in the aftermath of a storm. The company, whose annual sales are estimated to exceed $600 million, won't discuss the costs or benefits of reopening quickly after disasters. It says its strategy is more about marketing and building goodwill than profits.
"If you factor in all the resources we deploy, the equipment we lease, the extra supplies trucked in, the extra manpower we bring in, a place for them to stay, you can see we aren't doing it for the sales those restaurants generate," said Pat Warner, a member of the company's crisis-management team.
Its hurricane playbook explains how to reopen a restaurant and what to serve if there is gas but no electricity, or a generator but no ice. An important element is limiting the menu so the company's supply chain can focus on keeping certain items stocked and chilled or frozen.
Waffle House responded to several other disasters this year before Irene hit. After a series of deadly tornadoes tore through Alabama and Georgia in late April, one restaurant was destroyed and another 20 were without power. The ones without power all reopened within three days. In May, the two Waffle Houses in Joplin, Mo., were among the few places to stay open after the deadliest tornado in six decades tore through the area.
The company began tracking Irene 10 days ago, moving ice and eggs to staging sites outside the potential damage zone.
On Friday, the company's mobile command center—an RV named EM-50 after Bill Murray's urban-assault vehicle in the 1981 movie "Stripes"—headed north from the Norcross, Ga., headquarters.
Power went off at the Waffle House just off Interstate 95 in Weldon on Saturday evening as Irene churned through. The restaurant kept serving until it got too dark for the grill cook to see when the food was cooked, then it shut down.
It reopened the next day at dawn. The overhead lights and walk-in freezer weren't working, but the gas grill was. The cooks boiled water on the grill, then poured it through the coffee machine, over beans ground before the power went out. The district manager, Chris Barnes, handed employees copies of an emergency grill-only menu. The fare included ham-and-egg sandwiches for $3.15 and quarter-pound hamburgers for $2.70. Servers nudged customers to order sausage instead of bacon, because four sausage patties fit on the grill for every two slices of bacon.
By 9 a.m., cars were lining up to get into the parking lot. At 10 a.m., the power came back on, the ceramic waffle irons were plugged in and waffles were added to the menu.
Matthew Ray Booth, who lives a few miles away, came in at 4 p.m. He said he had spent two days drinking soda and eating canned pork and beans. He ordered bacon, scrambled eggs with cheese, hash browns "scattered, covered and smothered," and a glass of iced tea. "We didn't have no air, and no place to cook no food at the house," said the 69-year-old.
Reggie Smith, a manager who came in from 100 miles away to help get the Weldon and nearby Roanoke Rapids restaurants up and running, gestured to customers sipping coffee Sunday afternoon, including locals who had been sleeping without air conditioning and travelers whose vacations had been disrupted.
"They're displaced from their life," he said. "This is a brief bit of normal."
Write to Valerie Bauerlein at firstname.lastname@example.com
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Few mammalian species produce vocalizations that are as richly structured as bird songs, and this greatly restricts the capacity for information transfer. Syntactically complex mammalian vocalizations have been previously studied only in primates, cetaceans and bats. We provide evidence of complex syntactic vocalizations in a small social mammal: the rock hyrax (Procavia capensis: Hyracoidea). We adopted three algorithms, commonly used in genetic sequence analysis and information theory, to examine the order of syllables in hyrax calls. Syntactic dialects exist, and the syntax of hyrax calls is significantly different between different regions in Israel. Call syntax difference is positively correlated to geographical distance over short distances. No correlation is found over long distances, which may reflect limited dispersal movement. These findings indicate that rich syntactic structure is more common in the vocalizations of mammalian taxa than previously thought and suggest the possibility of vocal production learning in the hyrax.
1. Introduction
Most studies that have analysed the vocalizations of birds [1] and mammals have used acoustic measures: examining differences and similarities in fundamental frequencies, formants and other measures of the time and frequency characteristics of the vocalization waveform. Substantial work on acoustics in cetaceans [2] has demonstrated social learning and vocal clans. Vocal communication in bats [3], which have also been studied extensively, and some other terrestrial mammals, such as marmots (Marmota flaviventris) [4] and mice (Mus musculus) [5], have shown varying levels of complexity and information transfer in their calls. Various primates [6–8] use different calls in different contexts, and even simpler calls such as roaring in red deer (Cervus elaphus) can accurately advertise male size and fitness [9]. In addition to the information carried by the vocalization (e.g. the quality of the caller), calls can vary spatially and temporally. Considerable geographical variations in bird song (i.e. dialects) have been widely demonstrated [10], but only rarely shown in mammals, such as prairie dogs (Cynomys gunnisoni) [11], chipmunks (Eutamias spp.) [12], marmosets (Cebuella pygmaea) [13] and bats (Phyllostomus discolor) [14].
However, acoustic analyses do not take into account any significance of the syntax, or order of elements in a vocalization. If information is encoded in the order of different notes, motifs or other syntactic elements, then acoustic analysis cannot identify or extract such information. An alternative to acoustic analysis is to identify discrete elements, or 'syllables', of a vocalization, such as notes or characteristic sounds, and to examine their relative order in a quantitative way. Syntactic analysis provides additional information because acoustic features are likely to be constrained by anatomy, and therefore may be genetically inherited [9,15]. Syntax, on the other hand, could be genetic or cultural, and hence in some cases may be more flexible for cultural transmission via vocal communication.
Methods of syntactic analysis have rarely been applied to mammals, although such methods are common in the analysis of bird song [16]. Some bats show a syntactic vocal repertoire that is of a complexity similar to that of birds [17]. Cetaceans also exhibit complex vocal communication [2], including syntactic structure [18]. Some primates have been shown to combine call notes in a simple syntactic structure [19–21]. It has been suggested [22] that syntax exists only in those mammalian taxa such as cetaceans and primates, subjectively considered to have 'well-developed cognitive abilities', or those living in a dominantly acoustic environment (in the dark or under water), where other communication modalities such as vision are impractical [23]. However, it is hard to find objective measures of cognitive ability [24], and many group-living animals might also be expected to exhibit complex vocal communication [25] in order to maintain social hierarchy, display fitness for mating and convey to kin contextual information, such as food availability and predator threats.
The rock hyrax, Procavia capensis, is a small (approx. 3 kg) terrestrial social mammal, widespread across Africa and the Middle East, and commonly found in rocky outcrops across Israel [26]. Male hyraxes produce long, complex songs, lasting up to several minutes [27,28] (see electronic supplementary material for an example), which carry accurate information on the characteristics and identity of the caller [29]. A hyrax song typically consists of a series of 'bouts', each bout being a sequence of 'syllables', followed by a short pause. The repertoire of available syllables is not large, and they can be grouped into five categories (based on [27,30]): 'wail', 'chuck', 'snort', 'squeak' and 'tweet' (figure 1). Each bout usually consists of up to 30 such syllables. The purpose of male hyrax song is currently unclear, but it appears to be a form of self-advertisement [31], because higher-ranked males (both group and peripheral males) sing more frequently [28]. In this sense, it is analogous to bird song. Although higher-ranked males carry out the majority of the singing, hyrax social structure is complex and other males also appear to play a significant role in the social activity of the group [32] (see electronic supplementary material, figure S1 for a typical social network in a hyrax colony).
Since hyrax songs can be represented as a string of discrete syllables, they are amenable to analysis by techniques developed in other fields for the processing of digital information. In particular, bioinformatics uses algorithms for the analysis of DNA sequences, which can be adapted by aligning and comparing the sequence of syllables in a hyrax song in a similar way to the sequence of nucleotides in DNA. Information theory for digital signal processing has generated a number of metrics for measuring the information content in putatively random streams, using entropy-based measures. These can similarly be applied to the sequence of syllables in a song bout, and have been used to examine the information content in whale songs [33] and in frog calls [34], to relate bird song complexity to environmental factors [35], and to measure individual variability in bird song [36]. Based on the above approaches, we adopted algorithms commonly used for DNA and information theory analyses as novel tools for the analysis of syntax in hyrax songs.
We chose the Needleman–Wunsch (NW) algorithm [37], which uses dynamic programming to find the minimum number of insertions, deletions and substitutions required to convert one string of symbols into another. The NW algorithm has the advantage that it directly compares two strings, and unlike syllable frequency metrics, does not rely on large population sample sizes.
Mutual information (MI) [38] quantifies the amount of common information between two streams, and not just the similarity between them. A higher MI is produced when two bouts are similar, but also when the bouts are more complex. This has the advantage of not biasing the similarity measurement in favour of bouts that simply repeat a single syllable. In addition, MI is unrelated to NW difference and therefore provides a second independent measure of song similarity/difference.
Finally, we used a third independent test for the existence of song dialects in different regions of the country. Rogers's [39] scaled Euclidian genetic distance (DR) is calculated by comparing the allele frequencies at multiple loci, but we adapt it by using the frequencies of each type of syllable at each position in the bout. This allows us to compare song syntax at the population level, rather than comparing individual songs.
We examined differences in the order of syllables in hyrax vocalization between different sites around Israel. If hyraxes either learn or inherit song elements from nearby individuals, we hypothesize that the geographical distance between sites and the quantitative difference between songs at those sites will be positively correlated. We test for this correlation using the NW and MI metrics. The null for this hypothesis predicts that the NW and MI metrics will show no correlation between geographical distance and song difference over short ranges. However, hyraxes are clearly not as mobile as birds, and although little is known about hyrax dispersal distances, observed dispersal of a few hundred metres is common in Tanzania [40]. Long-range dispersal has only been demonstrated in one related genus [41], and only among females (which do not sing). We recorded a maximum dispersal distance of approximately 5 km (A. Ilany & E. Geffen 2007, 2011, personal observation). Consequently, we hypothesize that distant populations will be culturally and genetically isolated, and form dialects due to cultural and/or genetic drift. To test for the presence of dialects, we calculated DR among sites and tested the null hypothesis that DR variation among sites is not different from that expected at random.
2. Methods
We sampled hyrax songs in nine regions around Israel, where regions contained between two and nine sites (electronic supplementary material, figure S2; table 1). Sites within each region were ecologically similar (table 1), and were sufficiently near each other so that hyrax migration would be feasible (about 5 km; A. Ilany & E. Geffen 2007, 2011, personal observation). Because higher-ranked males are those who carry out the majority of the singing activity [28], songs recorded from each site were from one or at most two individuals, except for songs from Ein Gedi, where all males are individually marked [27]. To exclude the possibility of recording the same individual at two locations we made recordings at nearby sites on the same day. When more than one animal sang during recordings, we used our directional microphone to make sure that the strongest recording was from a single individual, and our analyses made use of only that individual's song.
Songs were recorded onto a Sony TC-DM5 cassette recorder using either an Audio-Technica ATR-6550 or a Sennheisser ME-67 shotgun microphone. Singing was elicited by the playback of a recording of hyrax pup distress calls, as used in previous work [31]. The same pup recording was used at each location. In general, it was not possible to identify which individual was singing, except at sites where hyraxes were tagged as a part of other studies. Recordings were digitized using the audio input of a personal computer running Microsoft Windows. All additional analysis was performed in Matlab v. 7.3 (The Mathworks, Inc., Natick, MA, USA).
Songs were divided into syllables by visual inspection of the spectrogram, and bouts were defined as a sequence of syllables bounded by a period of silence of at least 1.3 s; this cut-off was determined by examining the distribution of inter-syllable gap lengths (electronic supplementary material, figure S3). We analysed 201 songs, which included a total of 2931 bouts. We classified the syllables into the five different types described above (following [27,30]), using a combination of automatic and manual methods (see electronic supplementary material).
As a hyrax typically begins a song with very short bouts, then adding more complexity as the song progresses [42], we excluded very short bouts with less than six syllables. A trade-off was necessary between selection of bouts with more information (longer bouts) and inclusion of a large number of samples (shorter bouts). We chose the minimum bout length to be six syllables because bouts of this length were present at every location sampled, thereby ensuring that every location was represented in the analysis.
We implemented the calculation of the NW distance in Matlab v. 7.3. The NW algorithm first aligns two sequences to minimize the cost of changing one sequence into the other using insertions, deletions and substitutions (figure 2a,b). The general form of the NW algorithm requires a cost matrix indicating the relative penalty for each of these operations, but as we have no indication how hyraxes perceive the difference between songs, we chose to give insertion, deletion and substitution equal cost penalties. The result is that our NW metric simply counts the number of differences between the two strings. We calculated the NW metric for each pairwise comparison of bouts in our dataset.
We also implemented the calculation of MI in Matlab, according to Cover et al. [38]. The MI I(A,B) between two streams A and B is defined as I(A,B) = H(A) + H(B) − J(A,B), where H is the Shannon entropy of a stream and J is the joint entropy of the two streams. Shannon entropy H is defined as , and joint entropy J as , where p(x) is the probability of syllable x occurring in a stream and p(x,y) is the probability of two syllables x and y occurring at the same point in the two streams. We also calculated the MI for each pairwise comparison of bouts in our dataset.
To calculate DR, we calculated the frequency of each of the five types of syllables at each position (locus) in the bout, comparing bouts from one site with bouts from another. Unlike in genetic studies, not all loci were equally represented, since the bouts are not of equal length. Therefore, we scaled the frequencies by the number of occurrences of that locus. DR(a,b) was calculated as where pij and qij are the frequencies of syllable type i at locus j in the two populations at sites a and b, respectively, nj is the number of syllables at locus j and M is the number of shared loci in the two populations. DR therefore is a matrix where each cell is a measure of the syllabic isolation between a pair of sites. Each site belongs to one of the nine regions described above, and so each pairwise comparison of sites was either 'within' a region (region(a) = region(b)) or 'between' regions (region(a) ≠ region(b)). We calculated ϖ, the variation in DR explained by differences between regions, as
This approach is similar to non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) [43]. We tested for significance by applying a permutation test [44] with 105 random permutations of the sites, to randomize the assignment of 'within' or 'between' regions.
For those regions with five or more sites (Yarden Harari, Yuvalim, Shekhanya and Korazim-Karkom), we used the FATHOM toolkit for Matlab [45] to perform a Mantel test for correlation between song difference and geographical distance. Song difference was tested both for NW difference and MI. The number of permutations used for calculating the p-value in the Mantel test was 105.
3. Results
Of the total 2931 bouts, 549 bouts (19%) contained six or more syllables and were used for this analysis. The number of bouts per site ranged from 1 to 57 (with a mean of 15). Regions varied considerably in the number of sites, number of bouts per site and the distance between sites in a region (table 1).
The NW difference, which measures the number of pointwise differences between two strings, ranged from 0.7 to 12.1 (where the units represent the number of changes/insertions/deletions), and average NW (±s.e.) was 3.556 ± 0.162 for sites within the same region and 4.621 ± 0.067 for sites between regions. However, permutation tests showed that sites within the same region were not significantly more similar to each other than sites between regions (p = 0.136).
The MI, which measures a combination of the similarity and complexity of the two strings, ranged from 0.10 to 0.58 bits, and average MI (±s.e.) was 0.317 ± 0.126 for sites within the same region and 0.440 ± 0.003 for sites between regions. Permutation tests showed that sites within the same region were significantly more similar to each other than sites between regions (p = 0.015).
Rogers's scaled Euclidian genetic distance DR, which is analogous to the genetic difference between two populations, varied between 0 and 0.11, and average DR (±s.e.) was 0.019 ± 0.001 for sites within the same region, and 0.021 ± 0.0005 for sites between regions. Permutation tests showed that sites within the same region were significantly more similar to each other than sites between regions (p = 0.046).
Figure 2c,d shows examples of actual call sequences with high and low NW. The mean NW was much lower when comparing bouts within a site (2.92 ± 0.37) than between sites (4.56 ± 0.09), and permutation tests showed that this difference was significant (p < 0.001). Precise repetition of bouts was not common; out of 549 bouts, there were 386 distinct bout sequences, 342 of which were recorded only once. Some bout sequences were more common, and one (a 'wail' followed by five 'squeaks') was recorded 72 times.
For those regions that comprised five or more sites (Yarden Harari, Yuvalim, Shekhanya and Korazim-Karkom), we performed Spearman rank correlation (with a Mantel permutation to test for significance) between NW and MI, and geographical distance (figures 3 and 4, and table 1). Each point in these figures compares a pair of sites and shows the mean NW or MI after performing a pairwise comparison of all the bouts between two sites. As predicted, we found a positive correlation between geographical distance and NW difference (figure 3), and a negative correlation between geographical distance and MI (figure 4). In one case (NW in Shekhanya), the correlation was not significant, and in one case (MI in Yuvalim) the correlation approached significance, but in all cases the sign of the correlation was consistent between regions. No significant correlation was found between geographical distance and NW difference, or MI, when comparing across all regions (figure 5).
4. Discussion
The significant differences measured by DR for different regions indicate the presence of distinct syntactic dialects between distant regions across Israel: hyraxes in different regions of the country sing a repertoire of songs that is substantially different from the syntactic repertoire in other regions. At short ranges (less than 5 km), we see a correlation between NW difference/MI and geographical distance. Among nearby sites, there is a trend of increasing NW difference and decreasing MI with increasing distance. Although the Mantel test significance p-values are not all less than 0.05, the consistent trend at different sites, and particularly across the two unrelated measures (NW difference and MI) strongly suggests that the order of song elements diffuses over a range of a few kilometres.
However, we do not observe a consistent trend of increasing NW difference or decreasing MI at larger geographical distances. This suggests that although hyrax song syntax is correlated between nearby individuals and groups, isolated syntactic dialects are in themselves arbitrary—as likely to be similar between distant regions as between nearby ones. The lack of correlation between NW difference or MI and geographical distance on a regional scale may indicate that little transfer of information exists (whether by social, or genetic, or environmental mechanisms) at long ranges. Other than geographical distance, there are no obvious physical, abiotic or biotic barriers to dispersal of hyraxes that can explain syntactic variation within and between regions [46]. This is consistent with our understanding of the limited dispersal of hyraxes, and stands in contrast to correlations observed in some bird species, where long-range dispersal is commonplace [47].
Wiens [16] found similar results to ours in a study of song-pattern variation in the sage sparrow using a syntactic analysis. Nearby sites showed a gradient of similarity, which was not observed over longer ranges, although distant populations showed significantly different repertoires. Farabaugh et al. [48] also found distinct syntactic differences between the songs of populations of Australian magpies. Similar studies of call syntax among mammals are very rare, and geographical dialects have been demonstrated mostly with acoustic rather than syntactic features. Campbell [49] and May-Collado & Wartzok [50] used inflection points in the spectral contour of dolphin whistles to compare geographically distinct populations, and Bohn [17] used a Markov model to quantify the syntax of bat syllables, which is probably the closest technique to ours. Some studies have analysed simple syntax in primate vocalizations by comparing the transition frequencies between notes [20,21]. Our novel use of algorithms taken from bioinformatics and information theory provides simple tools for a detailed analysis of vocalization syntax, and provides additional information on the temporal structure of songs (and potentially on the information content encoded in that syntax) that cannot be obtained using existing acoustic measures. Previous works on animal syntax have used Markov models [5,17] and machine learning techniques [18] to capture the nature of element ordering within songs. Our preliminary investigations indicated that a first-order Markov model was insufficient to represent the richness of syntax in hyrax song. Machine learning algorithms suffer from the disadvantage of being a 'black box' (i.e. their output does not expose any intuitive understanding of the relationship between the entities being classified). We chose to use methods such as NW and MI, which are easy to implement and interpret.
Syntactic dialects in hyrax populations can evolve and be maintained by social learning, copying and alteration by improvisation of the order of song elements (i.e. vocal production learning, VPL [23]). However, geographical variation is not definitive evidence for VPL [51], because syntactic dialects can also be genetically inherited (i.e. cultural versus genetic transmission). While it is easy to envisage that genetic factors could influence syllable frequencies or repertoire size, it is not clear what genetic mechanism could affect syllable order and syntax. Suboscine songbirds do not learn song syntax, but inherit their repertoire genetically [52]. However, in these birds, individuals do not show substantial variation in song syntax, but adhere to a species-specific song structure [53], in contrast to the hyrax, where substantial syntactic variation occurs between individuals and within regions. In rock hyrax, society, top-ranking males, which are often immigrants from nearby sites, sing more frequently [28]. We suggest that it is more likely that dispersing males carry song features from their natal group, which are then repeated and learnt by hyraxes at the destination sites. Imprecise copying or improvisation is a likely scenario for maintaining similarity gradients as we have observed along such dispersal paths (approx. 5 km). An additional support for VPL is the lack of correlation between male vocal profile (based on acoustic analyses) and their genetic relatedness within one site [29]. Further investigation is required to determine whether hyraxes are indeed capable of copying and generating novel vocalizations [54].
At present, we do not know if and what information is transmitted via syntactic structure. We know from previous studies that information on the caller identity and characteristics is stored in the frequency of some of the vocal elements (e.g. chuck element [27]). Our results suggest that complex vocalization syntax in mammals is present outside of cetaceans, bats and primates, and may be common in other mammalian taxa. The simple algorithms we adopted from bioinformatics, which we have shown to be powerful tools, may be used for analysing such syntax variation in other mammalian systems.
- Received February 13, 2012.
- Accepted March 27, 2012.
- This journal is © 2012 The Royal Society


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Inside One of the World's Oldest Medical Books
Tedmed curator Jay Walker shows off his collection of some of the world's oldest medical books and talks about what they can teach us about innovation.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I brought the oldest ... medical book in the world ... with us today Boston Chinese it is Chinese of course it's Shen Wei ... and this is a farmer Copia ... water from a Copia isn't a book about plants and animals ... and the distant medicines that apply permit ... this book years you can see on the stage we should be Obel the MC hammer up here they go ... is printed ladies gentleman in eleven sixteen ... a D ... I this book is nine hundred years old elements printed on rice paper which has been attached ... its thirty volumes of which onli seventy pages or bought out of thirty volumes ... and this ... is a spectacular ... only survival into turtle there ... aren't as he can see that ... in the history of medicine ... printing is very early ... and why well course printing is a way to learn and to teach ... and that's within a half year ... I brought with us ... the first illustrated medical book printed in the West ... ok this is called it kept them ... and here we go ... right from the start it's beautiful it's colored ... this is a diagnostic table of the year in college ... and they would try to figure out what's wrong with you by the color of your urine and this is an image this to come close to being the ... actor actually there is some accuracy here the color of your urine can determine various bodily interest ... and though they have no idea why in fact when you take a look in the book you can see ... spectacular images all throughout the book here ... so here's a good diagnostic tool ... the Scorpio in all the different signs here ... you can see that medicine is mystical so for most to the history of medicine mysticism plays a central role the short summary of what years this book this is fourteen ninety nine ... is this book was printed ... in here is how teaching works here so this is that ... here's your first illustration of surgery in a book or recovering patient imminent doom ahead here to see if I can find or professor ... here's medicine ... circa fourteen ninety nine this is the Professor droning on Wall a barber cuts open ... a patient who was been drugs here to operate in the diagnosis is they're pretty much ... the students are standing around the paying no attention because Anatomy doesn't matter in fifteen hundred Galen fourteen hundred years earlier had determined everything you needed to know tradition was all that matters ... you know you have a lot of innovation when traditional has added weight last night so they were really ... looking for the next big thing they just they they they get it all been done in ... the first printed flap ... so this is a rambling this is done in Germany ... this is around sixteen ten ... and here you can see ... you can open it up here with my hands carefully ... and you can see how students would learn ... how to dissect all the parts to the human body based on the the sections ... would be in the flap book here ... I never taken apart for synonyms DNA can put it together ... it's up but it's amazing that is the flaps of all held up for God this is an extraordinary survival these books were almost always destroyed are in their use but this is one of the few surviving Revel and what were what's the mood to what was the course of the book what's the history the book worded this is probably in a monastery for three hundred years before somebody decided we didn't need it they sold it to somebody ... one hundred years ago ... here's the state of the art in process ... so ... they literally would have all the different ... objects in on the walls he would come in and get fitted with a wooden prosthetic which was carved on the premises ... they're actually karting ... the profits ... literally in the hospital there carving the crust ... so Jason got us some of us some of the press were to spend some time this morning talking about medical innovation biotech or ... technology ... what you learn from the study of these odd objects in the way the medical innovation unfolded over time ... what would you learn is how was this that the medical world is the innovation ... that just totally resistant ... into sepsis the idea of keeping one's claim ... was resisted for almost fifty years by doctors worldwide they are free with their hands from one still resisted by some hospitals so ... this is the world where where we have to recognize that the evolution of of modern medicine ... isn't very cautious it's a very resistant to within a half to advance and innovate new ways to work together where they have to ... think ... about how we imagine new forms of medicine ... because if we don't think about it ... innovation along with his two small improvements ... isn't gonna cut walks ... past a precedent


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Recycled Cork Mosaic Flooring
In preparation for an upcoming project, I've been collecting wine corks by the bag-full from a local restaurant that participates in a cork recycling program. A quick online search of the organization led me to their line of recycled cork products, and I was (ahem) floored when I saw their patented mosaic cork tiles - a beautiful option for a kitchen or bath.
Jelinek Cork Group, an organization that collects and recycles hundreds of thousands of used wine corks each year, offers a wide variety cork products running the gamut from fishing accessories and furniture to wall coverings and flooring. I was especially impressed by the look of their mosaic line, which seems to almost resemble the beauty of embedded coins. Aside from its stunning aesthetic, the mosaic cork flooring is as easy to install as the glue-and-grout method of any other ceramic tile and comes with a whole world of eco-friendly benefits.
Both a natural product and a renewable resource, cork makes a great home flooring option for a number of reasons. Aside from the soft and warm underfoot comfort, cork makes for an excellent insulator, is anti-allergenic and water resistant - making it perfect for wet areas like kitchens and bathrooms. As a durable, low-maintenance surface I have even seen friends sing its praises for its kid and pet-friendliness.
For more information and to see other Jelinek Cork Group products, visit www.Jelinek.com
Images: 1. Domino Magazine (via Furfin.com) 2, 3 &4. Jelinek.com


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At the end of 2009, I heard that mobile was the future of communications. As the New Year rolls in, it is fast becoming clear that 2011 may just be the year for mobile campaigns. Last month, Mashable made 5 Predictions for Mobile in 2011. The Verizon iPhone prediction is about to come true already. This announcement has sparked several online polls, asking if smartphone users will make a switch. When I registered for the Digital Capital Week (DCWeek) this week, even they asked me what kind of smartphone I use.
In my personal life, I've been living the smartphone debate for quite awhile. I was a tried and true Palm user, but BurrellesLuce has a Blackberry server, so I made the switch. My husband loved his iPhone, but hated that he could not get service anytime we were in a crowd of more than 20 people; he recently switched to Blackberry. My sister recently switched to a Droid and loves her ability to access a lot of information easily. According to TechCrunch, the best of the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was the Motorola Atrix smartphone.
Recently, my BurrellesLuce colleague Crystal deGoede blogged, You Are What You Use…What Does your Tech-Gadget Say About You?, which tries to categorize smartphone users based on survey results from the 2010 Gadget Census Report by Retrevo. Additionally, our Johna Burke listed her favorite Droid Apps in her post, Apps I LOVE for the DROID. BurrellesLuce even posted a newsletter on Using Mobile Apps to Connect with Your Audiences.
As mobile marketing and PR grows more in popularity, we're also seeing more articles like Ragan's 7 things you need to know about mobile communications. One of my favorite posts on the subject came from Mashable, who gave us 15+ Worthwhile Ways to Kill Some Time on Your Mobile. It reminds us we don't need to play a game or read funny tweets to occupy the time waiting for the train or plane.
Are you going to make a smartphone switch in the near future? If so, what influences your decision? How does your smartphone help you be more productive? And what are some of the ways you'll be looking to leverage mobile communications in your public relations initiatives this year?


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Value Line is regarded as the best independent research available. More than just recommendations, Value Line provides the rationale behind its picks for greater understanding.
A debt-free balance sheet is often an indication of financial strength. Although leverage has certain benefits and is, in fact, advisable and appropriate for some industries, operating without debt materially increases a company's financial flexibility. For example, in lean times, such as a recession, a balance sheet sans debt can allow a company to continue operations without interruption. This is a margin of safety that a highly-leveraged company may not have.
Investors using dividend income to pay living expenses should find such stocks of particular interest. Indeed, if a company, industry, or the entire economy should fall on hard times, a debt-free balance sheet increases the chances that a company will maintain its distribution unaltered. Thus, an investor's "paycheck" won't take a hit at the same time that the value of his or her portfolio is declining. Such dividend payments can allow the investor to ride out the bad times and the likely corresponding share-price decline. Although capital preservation is clearly important, sometimes the best way to conserve capital is to sit tight with a good company regardless of what the emotionally-driven stock market is doing. Dividend distributions supported by a strong financial structure make that easier to do.
To find such companies, we used the online screening tools of The Value Line Investment Survey to identify companies, like Accenture (ACN) and Visa (V) that feature a dividend but carry no debt. Clearly, the screen could be altered to meet the needs of investors looking for a particular level of dividend payments or made more lenient for those who believe a little bit of debt is a good thing.
This leading management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing organization, which operates in over 200 cities across 54 countries has a squeaky clean balance sheet, all the while offering investors a worthwhile return on their investment. The global company generates revenues before reimbursements through five segments; Communications, and Media & Technology; Financial Services; Health & Public Services; Products; and Resources. Since the 2008 financial crisis, Accenture has shown modest, yet consistent top- and bottom-line growth, which has translated into a steadily rising stock price. In fact, the stock is trading in the vicinity of its all-time highs. Sound fundamentals likely played a large role in the company's standout performance over the past few years and ought to remain a key growth catalyst further out. Indeed, the environment in which the company operates in is highly competitive and rapidly changing, thus placing an even greater importance on financial flexibility and efficient deployment of capital.
Historically, Accenture's balance sheet has been relatively unlevered, with an extremely low debt-to-equity ratio. It was not until 2009 that the company adopted an all equity capital structure, eliminating all debt from its books. With zero interest payments on the horizon, cash that would otherwise be used for repayments can be put to work elsewhere. Further, the transition makes sense, considering the company's solid track record of free-cash-flow generation. In the third quarter of fiscal 2013, ACN generated $1.4 billion in FCF. Additionally, management has stated its intentions to purse a global growth strategy, specifically looking to increase its presence in emerging markets. As always, there is a degree of uncertainty surrounding an aggressive expansion plan, however, a large cash hoard should help mitigate the risk, and increase the likelihood of a positive outcome. Lastly, by remaining liquid, the company has built up a nice buffer against a macroeconomic slowdown or an unforeseen hiccup in demand.
In line with a strong cash position, Accenture has been extremely generous to shareholders over the years. Subsequent to initiating a dividend payment in 2006, the company has increased its payout rather substantially, with the exception of the marginal reduction in the 2010-2011 time period. Currently, ACN offers investors a decent 2.0% yield, roughly mirroring the broader market averages. According to our detailed report in the Value Line Investment Survey, the dividend payout is poised to rise over the long haul, maintaining its attractive rate of return. Alongside the company's impressive mark for Financial Strength (A++), its average yield might be a bit more appealing to conservative accounts.
One stock that meets our investment criteria is the world's largest and extremely well-known electronic payment network provider, Visa, connecting consumers, businesses, banks, and governments in over 200 countries across the globe. Its product platform consists of credit, debit, and prepaid cards, as well as commercial payment methods. Electronic payments have come into the lime light, thanks to the ease and speed of transactions, alongside greater range of usage compared to physical cash and check payments. In fact, the company's growth has not gone unnoticed. The stock price has been on a tear since early 2009, surging more than 350% over that time frame. Solid annual EPS expansion, which is expected to persist in 2013 and 2014, largely attributed to the stellar run.
Indeed, the majority of Visa's business is derived from consumer and business spending, and flourishes in times of economic expansion versus periods of contraction. Undoubtedly, tighter purse strings for retail shoppers will equate to snugger spending habits and lower consumption rates, ultimately leading to lackluster appetites to purchase on credit. To no surprise, a debt free, liquid, flexible balance sheet helps Visa navigate periods of tepid cash flow generation due to a downswing in the economy. The absence of debt repayments allows the company to sustain a strong level of cash on hand, all the while maintaining its ability to return value to shareholders by means of dividend payments. At present, Visa boasts a somewhat uninspiring yield (0.70%), although an unlevered balance sheet, strengthening fundamentals, and a solid track record of year-over-year dividend hikes may suggest an improvement in this department in the years ahead.
Moreover, a strong financial footing (Visa garners our highest mark for Financial Strength: A++) should instill confidence in investors, regardless of the state of the economy. On top of that, the company is expanding its market share in regions that are experiencing rapid growth, namely Latin America and the Middle East, further supporting operations if the domestic climate falls on harder times. Business outside of the U.S in steadily increasing, accounting for more than half of Visa's credit card transactions last year. All in all, investors looking to bolster the income section of their portfolios, while simultaneously minimizing their exposure to contractions and troughs in the economic cycle may find these shares of interest.
At the time of this article's writing, the author did not have positions in any of the companies mentioned.