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The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Game Profile
Nintendo 64
October 26, 2000
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time 3D
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
More in this Series
Written by
Alan Rumpf
November 10, 2000
Z-E-L-D-A. Five letters with the power to out sell any launch game for Playstation 2
The Legend of Zelda series is 15 years old spanning 5 major console games, and a gameboy game, that was updated with the release of GBC. The 5th console installment of the series is much along the same lines as the gameboy title in the essence that it does not follow the Princess Zelda/Gannon/Tri-force plot, and feels more like a side quest for the young adventurer Link. After the Zelda series made its breath taking 3-D debut on Nintendo 64 in form of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, it was hailed by many as ?Game of the Century? and received perfect or near-perfect scores by almost every gaming related publication out there. With the more or less death of the 64DD add-on, the new Zelda sequel would be released in cartridge format for the Nintendo 64. Originally dubbed ?Zelda: Gaiden,? the final US title of this game would be The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. This would be a real test for Nintendo, and the gaming world. Why, you ask? Miyamoto was suppose to have minimal involvement in the production of this title. His team was suppose to create a title that would fit in the realm of excellence of the past game with only suggestions and minor tips from the legendary video game master, Miyamoto. With great expectations could this game possibly live up to its predecessor?
Yes. Affirmative. Of course. With out a doubt. Anyway you want to put it, Majora's Mask is an outstanding game. As stated above the story is different than ?kidnap Zelda, beat Gannon, save Hyrule.? The story starts off with young Link riding his trusted horse Epona when he is attacked by Skull Kid wearing a mysterious mask along with his two fairies. Skull Kid steals a precious item from Link and transforms him into an undesirable Deku Scrub form. Without wanting to give too much of the plot away, Link's quest turns into a quest for masks, items, and powers through dungeons and sub-quests in order to accomplish his goals.
Collecting masks you ask? Well in Ocarina of Time there was a mask shop in which you could buy and collect a few masks that would vary a few interactions with people and objects, however no real important purpose. This idea of masks is the basis for MM (Majora's Mask). While you start in the aforementioned Deku scrub form, that is one of the three main metamorphoses that Link can undergo with the help of his masks. The three forms include Deku Scrub, Goron, and Zora. Link is able to change into these alternate forms with the aide of the respective masks that have to be earned in one way or another. Through out the game you must use these masks in various times in order accomplish certain goals and tasks. There is one final mask that will transform you into a final form however, don't expect me to give away one secret about it.
Included with the masks that cause transformation are other masks that need to be collected through out the game. Performing certain tasks can attain these masks, or more than likely complete an entry in a new feature called the Bomber's Notebook. This notebook has to be earned at the beginning of the game. Once you attain the notebook you will be able to meet with people and learn of their problems. Then by helping them with their problems at certain times, which is definitely not always an easy task, you can complete their notebook entry and earn certain items from them.
Perhaps the most important new feature in the MM is the 72-hour time system. The story line fits in with the fact that you will only have 72 hours in the game to succeed in all your missions before the Moon comes crashing to Earth. While the 72 hours pass much more quickly then real-time there are ways to slow down time and speed up time as you will learn later in the game. The time plays a significant factor in MM. Certain areas will only be attainable at certain hours upon certain days. People's moods will change depending on the day and the conditions of what is happening.
Time also plays a significant factor in the save system. Unlike Ocarina where the gamer can save his/her progress when ever it felt necessary by simply accessing the menu. The save function in MM is much different. You can save by A) going back in time to the first day, B) saving at an owl statue located at different locations around the world map. By going back in time you lose all dungeon progress if the dungeon is not completed, money, and any remaining arrows, bombs, deku sticks you had remaining. By saving with the owl statue, it will save all of your current data without changing anything, however once you save you must quit and when you go back into play the game the save will be lost. While this situation may seem a bit overwhelming for some, it does add some much needed difficulty over it's predecessor. Gamers must actually try hard to complete the tasks of a dungeon within the 3-day time limit.
The actual engine and controls are the same as Ocarina and shouldn't feel foreign to anyone who has played the previous adventure. With the exception of new abilities due to the various transformations and masks, the battle system is the same. There are many more enemies in the overworld, and four main dungeons within the game. There are so many sub-quests that it is impossible to measure the length of the game by the number of dungeons. The replay of this game is astounding due to all of the possibilities.
As far as graphics go, Zelda MM pushes N64 to its limit while utilizing the 4MB (required) expansion pak. The backgrounds and different locations are simply spectacular. While exploring around Clock Town (central location in MM), you get the feeling that you are exploring around a real town. As you take your first steps into Termina field surround Clock Town, you can see from here to forever. There is not a drop of fog to be found anywhere within Majora's Mask, and all of the scenery is beautiful. While I have a small gripe with the same character models used with different names, all-around this is a visually astounding game. While there is perhaps one or two instances in which a drop in frame rate could occur when too many enemies are on the screen for the fun machine to handle, these instances are few and far between and do not affect gameplay much at all. The 4MB expansion pak also has the job of keeping track of sometimes 50+ characters in the game, (no easy task) and proves that more memory doesn't necessarily only mean better graphics. Over all the visuals in Majora's Mask are some of the most impressive found on the system.
The words, or should I say music, gamers have been waiting to here. The original Zelda overworld theme has returned to MM after its most disappointing absence in Ocarina. On top of this wonderful addition, the music in Majora's Mask is incredible and without a doubt one of the best soundtracks on the N64, with the correct timing and tone to affect the mood and feeling of the game. The sound effects are also perfectly timed and give a great sense or realism to the game. Also, the playing of the ocarina and other instruments in different forms sounds great too. The different instruments fit the different transformations of Link well. While the midis could stand to technically sound a little better, the quality of the music and effects overshadow this minor flaw.
Bottom Line
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is an extraordinary game. From the minute you start playing, you are thrown into a brand new world full of adventures and interesting stories. While it does not have the same immediate ?wow? factor as the original game, Majora's Mask is without a doubt a must have title. I could go on and on about how great this game is, but the fact of the matter is, it would do readers no good. You simply must buy this game if you're even a slight Nintendo fan. No other sequel has ever been able to use the same previous engine in such a creative and ingenious way. While the amazement behind the Z-targeting innovation is not as strong, so many other variations in gameplay make this one of the best titles ever.
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17-11-2010 17h12 - edited 18-11-2010 15h36
Can anyone tell me how BT can charge a "payment processing fee" when there is no payment due? I queried this last month and was promised a refund by none other than one of these forum moderators. True to form, despite the promise being made in writing (email) no refund transpired and, what the **bleep**, they have done it again this month. MY ACCOUNT IS IN CREDIT - (or would be if you kept your promise of refunds) - SO NO PAYMENT IS PROCESSED = NO FEE. You owe me £3.00 on the next bill or shall I just take it to the Office of Fair Trading? Or one of those columns in the press, Which? - or do you think I just won't check my bill?
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Hi frustration
Stephanie is just about to send you an email which should clear this up for you.


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Basically an alternate world contained inside your PC or Smart phone.
An experience in which a person is surrounded by a three-dimensional computer-generated representation, and is able to move around in the virtual world and see it from different angles, to reach into it, grab it and reshape it.
This work focuses on developing novel, efficient and feasible techniques
Classify breathing movements.
Determine the user's lung capacity.
Synchronize the visualization of virtual animations of the lung.
Breathing is one of the most essential bodily functions that humans perform involuntarily.
Nowadays, research on breathing/respiratory functionality has received much attention across the medical fields as well as various cognitive/meditation, and systems/engineering research aspects.
is an attractive means for medical simulations and treatment.
several researches have proven that inducing relaxation responses improves the efficiency of the immune system, while stress retards it.
introducing a virtual environment with real-world dynamic contents to develop an effective tool that can monitor respiratory movements and can assist individuals regulate their breath, appears to be an appealing research application.
Breathing movement Classification
A. Dataset
Ahmad Abushakra
Under the Supervision of: Prof. Miad Faezipour
Committee Members
Prof . Khaled M. Elleithy
Prof. Navarun Gupta
Prof. Prabir Patra
Prof. Saeid Moslehpour
University of Bridgeport
Computer Science and Engineering Department
Ph.D. Dissertation
Breathing movement Classification
Lung Capacity
In this dissertation, novel conceptual virtual reality framework is presented that monitors breathing movements in real time.
In the recent years, Virtual Reality Therapy (VRT) has been explored by many researchers
VR through simulation has the potential of assisting in breath regulation and post-operative breathing exercises, especially for those with breathing disorders, e.g. lung cancer patients
The interactive immersive features of a virtual environment would provide a rich interactive and contextual setting to support experiential and active therapy
Nowadays, smart-phone devices have also become increasingly ubiquitous
The usabilit, especially the effectiveness and acceptance of smart-phone applications by user has become an appealing matter.
As virtual reality using smart-phones has also evolved rapidly in the scale and scope of developing virtual reality applications for medical purposes, applying virtual reality to help breathing disorders patients via smart-phones is a big challenge.
Conceptual Framework of a Virtual Reality Framework to Monitor Breathing Movements
Breathing Movement Classification
Lung Capacity
This work describes the conceptual framework of a virtual reality environment that monitors breathing movements in real-time and can eventually aid in breath regulation by motivating users to perform breathing exercises through computer aided visions to increase oxygen intake of their blood.
The individual's acoustic signal of breath is used as an interfacing signal between the user and the smart-phone-based VR framework
The framework analyzes the user's breath in real-time and provides virtually real animations of the lungs as the inhalation and exhalation take place.
The lung capacity is computed simultaneously as the user is breathing and the user is encouraged to take the next coming breath deeply if the previous one was not sufficient.
The framework animations also show the lung organs virtually as the breath is being regulated. The overall VR framework .
We employ Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) to the speech/voice segments of the acoustic signal of respiration to depict the differences between the inhale and the exhale in frequency domain.
MFCC has the ability to fully capture the characteristics of the channel spectrum and simulate the human's auditory function, whose approximation of speech is linearly spaced in frequency scale. MFCCs are based on the known variation of the human ear's critical bandwidths with frequency.
Proposed technique is based on segmenting the breathing cycles into speech and silence phases and computing the MFCC features of the speech/voice segments. For segmentation purposes, we apply the Voice Activity Detection (VAD) technique as one of the most important functions for silence and speech detection to the acoustic signal of breath. After segmentation, 13 MFCC features of each voiced segment are computed.
The 6th MFCC clearly shows distinct properties among other MFCC features, in which it has been used to differentiate the inhale and exhale durations by employing a linear thresholding function comparison.
Accurate differentiation between inhale and exhale will lead to a more reliable and precise modeling of the lung functionality during the breathing process in a virtual environment, which will eventually achieve the goal of motivating users/patients to regulate their breath.
Use microphone features to depict the lung capacity via the time period of the signal and the energy of the signal during the breathing cycles.
Our technique is based on segmenting the breathing cycle via speech and silence detection and computing the start and end of each speech cycle in order to determine the time duration and the signal energy for each breathing cycle.
The automated lung capacity computation technique proposed in this part of our intended virtually reality platform to be implemented on a smart-phone to assist lung cancer patients.
Virtual reality is
Breathing regulation therapy is an effective way to assist those with breathing disorders such as lung cancer patients, and patients with asthma.
Virtual reality using smart-phones has also evolved rapidly in the scale and scope of developing virtual reality applications for medical purposes
Applying virtual reality technology to help users via smart-phones is a big challenge
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF A VIRTUAL REALITY THERAPY ENVIRONMENT Cont.
Interestingly enough, virtual therapy has proven to increase the chance of survivability of patients with cancer by more than 56% .
The system offers a reason for users to relax while instantly visualizing their immune systems fighting against their diseases, White and red blood cells and malignant cells populate the virtual environment
Participants of this study are 123 students from the University of Bridgeport.
Each volunteer was asked to breathe ten cycles in a noise free environment.
The recording of all speech samples took place at the same location for all subjects to provide uniformity.
The microphone was placed approximately 3 cm away from speakers.
All samples were recorded with a sampling frequency of 44.1 KHz. Portions from all volunteers were then copied into MATLAB for normalization and processing.
Mel-Frequency Analysis
Linear Thresholding
Classification Procedure
Metrics and Factors
The following steps show the lung capacity measurement procedure in our work.
First, the recorded signal for each speaker is split into inhales and exhales (speech segments). The splitting process was implemented using the VAD technique.
Second, the start and end point of each speech segment (inhale and exhale duration) is marked.
Third, the time duration between each start and end of speech segments (inhale and exhale) are computed .
Fourth, the energy of the signal between each speech segment (considering all samples within the speech segments) is calculated (Equation 3).
Finally, the lung capacity is computed using the following Equations by substituting the five important factors (gender, age, height, breathing time, and energy).
Estimated lung capacity:
The following metrics are used in computing the lung capacity in our work:
Gender and adult state
Age in years
Height in inches
Duration of which the subject blows air in the microphone
Signal energy: is the amplitude of the acoustic speech signal through time.
The Story begin when a group of researcher in MIT start a program called Staying Alive for cancer patients
Their work is based on the fact that diversion from unwanted feelings such as pain and stress is one of the most effective therapy techniques in dealing with such feelings/diseases.
This work present the development and design of a breathing interface and video game to promote compliance with post operative breathing exercises. An interactive spirometer was introduced to motivate patients to perform post-operative breathing exercises. The work mostly described the early progress of an interaction device, game design, initial play testing and the usability of the game.
In 2006, a post traumatic stress disorder VR therapy was developed with the help of the U.S. Army-funded combat tactical simulation scenario along with the commercially successful X-Box tool for virtual reality exposure therapy Application in the Iraq war .
A virtual reality therapy system was introduced for the treatment of acrophobia and therapeutic cases with the objective of developing an affordable and more realistic virtual environment to perform visual therapy for acrophobia. The visualization was a PC-based framework using a virtual scene of a bunge-jump tower in the middle of a big city. The overall system has proven that the VR therapy environments are successful, realistic and fascinating.
A Virtual Reality Claustrophobia Therapy System treatment of a wide collection of psychological disorders was discussed.
A virtual reality stress therapy web application that was based on image processing/analysis was presented .
Breathing Movement Classification
The breathing cycle is divided into four different phases: inspiratory phase, inspiratory pause, expiratory phase and expiratory pause
One approach is to determine the average energy of the signal in time domain
Voiced and un-voiced speech detection techniques have also been helpful
Identify the maximum amplitude the signal reaches combined with the number of maximum peaks. The highest amplitude indicates the expiration phase
Fine-tuning technique
This technique is hard to implement and is also unreliable, since it requires continuous modifications for the marking coefficients regarding the breath signal
Another segmentation method has been implemented by calculating the average energy of the signal per phase time, This technique is a more reliable approach, since it depends on the whole period of the breathing cycle.
Techniques introduced to differentiate inhale from the exhale.
Breathing Movement Classification
Lung Capacity
Plethysmograph is an equipment for determining changes in volume within the body system
Spirometers are the most widely used devices for such daily measurements, which also provide medical records for the patient.
Traditional spirometer and the The electronic spirometer
Gas flow sensor based on the sound generated by turbulence has been developed as a way to detect the breathing cycle phases using the microphone to capture the flow rate. This work mostly described the hardware and signal processing circuitry involved in the sensor design. The main drawback of this design is ambient noise and vibration, which would require certain filter designs to eliminate the noise. As will be seen, our work is intended to be designed with minimal or even no additional hardware cost to the smart-phone.
The design of this spirometer device was customized for special use, and could be connected to a smart-phone win android application for monitoring the patient spirometry readings, a separate hardware including a pressure sensor was designed to interact with the smart-phone API. Hence, the patient is required to also purchase the peripherals which costs more in addition to the fact that the patient would need to deal with more devices and settings for self monitoring.
Exhale detection by maximum amplitude
Exhale detection by average energy.
Building a Virtual
Reality environment
The VAD algorithm is adopted by first filtering the signal to remove the undesired low-frequency components, and second, calculating the power with different window sizes of the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the input signal
MFCC has 13 levels of Mel-frequency as a human ear perception. Our technique is based on segmenting the breathing cycles and computing the MFCC features of each speech segment. In our analysis, the 6th MFCC is observed to have certain characteristics, as explained hereafter.
• The relation between the amplitude of the frequencies inside this range and the speed of the speech is prominent. By pronouncing the same letter with different pronunciation speeds of pronunciation, the position of the letters with time domain varies accordingly. By plotting the signal in frequency domain, the resonances change. Also, when the speed of sound is higher, the resonances occur at higher frequencies; the second resonance is shifted right off scale.
• The sound of the speech that majorly exists in this spectrum range can be detected. Assuming that each letter of the speech is dominant at a specific spectrum, certain spectrums will be most similar to the inhale pronunciation and the exhale pronunciation, respectively. The pronunciation of "F" is most similar to inhale, and the pronunciation of the exhale is close to the pronunciation of "H". Hence, the MFCCs are determined and examined for the most variations.
To separate between the speech phase (inhale and exhale) MFCC values come up with an equation inspired from SVM(Support vector machine )
The threshold value is determined by calculating the average (mean) value of the 6th MFCC related to all speech samples.
The threshold level is computed using the following equation:
The following steps show the classification procedure in our work.
First, the recorded signal for each speaker/subject is split into speech and silence segments. The splitting process was implemented using the VAD technique, as described earlier.
Second, the 13-MFCCs for each speech/voiced segment of the same speaker are calculated.
Third, the i-th MFCC of all samples is determined and kept aside from the other MFCCs.
Finally, all the i-th MFCCs that are related to the same speaker's breathing segments are plotted.
Lung Capacity
B.Setup and Results
The LC model was also applied on a number of speakers/subjects. Each subject's acoustic signal of respiration was captured using a microphone in ten breathing cycles. The recordings of all speech samples took place at the same location for all subjects to provide uniformity
A. Dataset
The formulations (Equations 2.6-2.7) were used to estimate the lung capacity (FVC) for numerous subjects. The actual lung capacity was also extracted using a traditional spirometer. The spirometer values and the LC model values were plotted in the two graphs of Figure 31. The x axis represents the number of subjects, and the y axis represents the lung size in liter/minutes. As seen from the graphs, the estimated results are very close to the actual spirometer readings, with and overall error of 0.13% for 20 subjects.
B.Setup and Results
Building a virtual reality therapy environment customized for the patients which allows them to virtually visit their lung cells and encouraging them to regulate their breath, can assist them in disposing of the cancer cells.
This appears to be a promising approach for patients to empower their immune system and eventually fight off the disease.
The objective is to aid lung cancer patients regulate their breath by having a daily basis estimate of their lung size using a hand-held device at home.
The promising results of lung capacity and breathing movement classification using a regular microphone motivate us to deploy a microphone already embedded within a hand-held device for investigating on the VRT development.
Investigate on smart phone implementation
Investigate on run time analysis
Investigate on how to synchronize the animations
Extend our data set include Lung cancer patient
The Developmental Virtual Reality Framework
Comparison of breathing movement classification among various techniques
Virtual Reality Monitors Respiration Movements Framework Applications
Assisting lung cancer by encouraging them to regulate their breath which will increase the oxygen percentage in their blood.
Monitor the physical breathing situation for the a soldiers in the ground war
Entertain the game player during the video game actions and levels
Monitor breathing cycles for athletes
1. Breathing Movement Classification
The three-step procedure of Voice Activity Detection, Mel-frequency Analysis and Linear Thresholding applied to the acoustic breathing signal yields a high accuracy (mean accuracy >80%) in classifying inhale and exhale phases considering the statistical significance level of 0.05..
2. Lung Capacity Estimation
The time and energy of the breathing phases in the acoustic signal of respiration along with other factors (gender, height and age) can model the lung capacity with a high degree of accuracy (mean accuracy >80%) considering the statistical significance level of 0.05.
3. Integration.
Run-time (real-time) analysis of the breathing movements requires meticulous integration of the above two breathing movement classification and lung capacity estimation modules/components. For this, a visualization component is also added to virtually display the breathing movements analysis synchronized with the actual respiration movements on a screen. Integrating the framework with run-time breathing movement monitoring/visualization capability adds challenging synchronization research issues to the plate.
The hypothesis claim here is that the mean accuracy of the breathing movement classification and lung capacity estimation module in the integrated framework yields a high mean accuracy of greater than 80% considering the statistical significance level of 0.05..
Thank you
University of Bridgeport
Computer Science and Engineering Department
Ph.D. Dissertation
As lungs distribute oxygen to the entire body through blood flow via blood cells, any form of exercise that regulates the respiratory system, can improve the lung functionality in providing oxygen to the rest of the body, and as a result, can help diminish breathing/lung disorder symptoms.
Virtual Reality Technology
This research proposes a conceptual framework of a virtual reality environment that deals with analyzing acoustic breathing signals in real-time to monitor respiration movements.
Full-fledge implementation and testing the entire framework on actual patients is not the objective of this research, rather, introducing the underlying components of this conceptual framework is the goal.
In order words, this work suggests that if such a framework were to be fully implemented, the proposed components should be in place in order to have it functional.
Assisting in breath regulation is one of the direct applications of this framework, not the goal of this research itself.
Such application requires clinical trial on lung cancer patients or those with breathing disorders for a long period of time, which is beyond the scope of this dissertation.
With this introduction, the hypothesis of this work is stated as follows:
Flow of Events in the VRT
The flow of events in each breathing exercise session is described as follows:
(S0) The Start state is the initial state and the beginning of the breathing exercise session. The initial Lung Volume (LV) is initialized to zero (LV = 0) in this state.
(S1) In the Capture state, the acoustic signal of respiration of the patient is being captured via a microphone (which could also be smart-phone embedded microphone).
(S2) The Classification state is the state where the breathing movements are classified into inhale or exhale.
(S3) Then , in the Lung Capacity state, the amount of air that inhaled or exhaled to and from the lungs is computed. This value is denoted as LVnew.
(S4) In the Counter state, the accumulating amount of oxygen represented in the lung is computed from adding up the lung volume values from the beginning of the breathing exercise session; LV = LV + LVnew. If the lung volume has not yet reached the limit (which can be predefined in each breathing exercise session), the system will return to state (S1); the Capture state, otherwise it will go to the End state.
(S5) The End state is the where the breathing exercise session terminates.
VRT Framework Screenshot
Screenshot of the lung capacity parameters
for each breathing exercise cycle in the VRT app
User Information
Lungs before starting the
breathing exercise session
Lungs while performing
the breathing exercise session
Lungs in maximum size
at the end of the session
The list of parameters calculated during the patient's breathing cycle while the system is capturing the acoustic signal of the patient's breath through the smart-phone microphone are as follows:
Current lung size: the air volume of the current breathing cycle (S3)
Lung capacity: This is the desirable air volume that the patient would like to achieve in the breathing exercise session. It is normally set to a predefined default value based on the user's goal or patient's cancer severity stage.
Total lung capacity: the accumulated value of the lung volume (S4).
Lung capacity in each breathing cycle: This shows the lung volume computed in each breathing cycle of the session separated by commas.
An Interactive Scenario of the VRT framework
An interactive scenario of the VRT framework
VRT Framework Implementation
Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform (Windows Phone 7.1)
XNA framework is widely used for the development of computer games to be deployed for smart-phone applications or to be run as a Windows .NET application
windows phone emulator on a standard PC .
XNA provides a basic audio and graphic API, sound processing and display and I/O device handling in comparison with other tools.
The system is implemented in C# using the Visual Studio Express 2010 Integrated development environment (IDE).
The Smart-phone Breath Regulation Virtual Therapy Framework has been initially implemented on an affordable PC.
The system used is a Windows 7 (x86) PC with Service Pack 2, 4GB of free disk space on the system drive, and 3GB RAM.
Windows Phone Emulator requires a DirectX 10 or above capable graphics card.
The entire system implemented using the Windows phone emulator on a PC is then ready to be installed on a smart-phone.
Virtual Reality Environment
1. Breathing movement classification component.
2. Lung capacity estimation component.
3.Synchronized visualization component.
4. Low Frequency Filter
The low frequency low-pass filter component can be added to the framework to enhance the pre-processing phase. This component would accurately identify the acoustic signal coming from the microphone when the user blows into the microphone
VRT Framework Implementation
Monitoring breath and identifying breathing movements via a microphone to detect and classify breathing movements is the goal of this component. As mentioned earlier, the Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) along with speech segmentation techniques using Voice Activity Detection (VAD) and linear thresholding are applied to the acoustic signal of breath captured using a microphone to depict the differences between inhale and exhale in frequency domain
The lung capacity estimation component gives an estimate of the air-volume entering/exiting the lungs using the acoustic signal of respiration. The time and signal energy of the breathing phases in the acoustic signal of respiration along with other factors (gender, height and age) can model the lung capacity. The methodology is supported by the mathematical model of lung capacity and highly accurate results achieved in the experiments
The visualization component displays virtually-real high definition (HD) animations of the lungs in real-time that show the inflation and deflation of the lungs as the user/patients breathes. These animations inspire the patient to regulate his/her breath cognitively. This HD model for the visualization component ensures high-quality animations which allow the patient experience the VRT as if it were for real
VRT Framework Integration
Automatic Identification
Voiced/ Unvoiced Decision
Integrated Framework
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Dissertation: A CONCEPTUAL SMART-PHONE-BASED VIRTUAL REALITY FRAMEWORK TO MONITOR RESPIRATION MOVEMENTS
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Ahmad Abushakraon 17 June 2013
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PAF 5 Specs
In reply to:
Re: How to Uninstall PAF 3.0???
Jane Goodwin 11/14/04
If you have a Pentium Processor and 32 MB of Ram PAF 5 will run on your system.
All that is needed is to have IE 5.* and it will run quite well.
Clive Carpenter


text:
I'm a wife and mom who is finding myself at 50. No, I'm not "finding myself" like they were "finding themselves" in the 1960's! I guess it's more appropriate to say that I'm figuring out who I am at 50 years old, finding my style now that my body is changing along with the fact that in this new decade though I don't have to feel more "mature," I do have to dress more maturely. I'm discovering that I'm interested in new and different things today versus ten years ago, and I'm wondering what's in store for the next 50. It's an exciting time, but it's a challenging and sometimes scary time, too.
The blog is my way of journaling what my goals are, what I like, what I'm interested


text:
In Good Company by Jen Turano
Published: 2015
Publisher: Bethany House
Series: A Class of Their Own(Book 2)
Goodreads Summary: After growing up as an orphan, Millie Longfellow is determined to become the best nanny the East Coast has ever seen. Unfortunately, her playfulness and enthusiasm aren't always well received and she finds herself dismissed from yet another position.
Everett Mulberry has quite unexpectedly become guardian to three children that scare off every nanny he hires. About to depart for Newport, Rhode Island, for the summer, he's desperate for competent childcare.
At wit's end with both Millie and Everett, the employment agency gives them one last chance–with each other. As Millie falls in love with her mischievous charges, Everett focuses on achieving the coveted societal status of the upper echelons. But as he investigates the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of the children's parents, will it take the loss of those he loves to learn whose company he truly wants for the rest of his life?
What I liked: Mille can not seem to stay out of trouble when it comes to being a nanny, but underneath her silly antics is a woman who loves children and knows what they need. When she finds herself jobless once again and Everett who can't seem to keep a nanny end up teaming up sparks fly. Everett finds Millie intriguing even though he doesn't want to admit it. The better he gets to know her the more he questions his lot in life. I loved how these two interacted. Millie helps Everett become a father and Everett helps Millie find her place in life. Just a wonderful book with great supporting characters and a plot that will have you laughing and turning page after page.
What I didn't like: I loved this book no complaints from me.
Overall this is a great book. Go back and read book one as it will help you better understand the set up for this book. I can't wait to read the third book in the series! A must read.
Book Rating
Buy From
DISCLOSURE: I was provided a free copy of this e-book from the publisher through NetGalley to review it. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own.


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I have some interesting photos of the hive that I took about two weeks ago when Mr. Chanclas was checking on their progress. I should note that these photos were taken just one month after our bees arrived. They have done so much work!
|Bees arriving at the entrance to the hive
|Mr. Chanclas removing the roof to the hive
|Replacing the jar of sugar water that helps feed the colony
|Removing one of the top bars to look at the comb
|A small piece of comb being built on the side of the hive. Chanclas removed it with a knife and we ate it.
|One of the larger combs. Notice the golden brown in the center. That's the honey!
|A closeup of the comb. Honey glistens in the center. The upper cells are capped with white.
|The largest comb we have at the moment
|The smallest, outermost comb. The bees started building comb at one end of the hive and are working their way down, building comb on the successive bars. Eventually they may fill or almost fill the box.
|Lantana blooming near the beehive. This is one of many plants blooming at this time of year and providing the bees with nectar and pollen.
I find the beehive to be such a wonder. We do almost nothing for them. Mr. Chanclas makes sure they have some water nearby and he still gives them some sugar water to supplement their food. The combs themselves are gorgeous, made of perfectly formed, precisely sized cells. The beauty of a top bar hive, as opposed to the traditional bee box hives, is that the bees decide what size cells to build. There is no template that they are forced to build on. They build what is best for their colony.
I've also been surprised at how docile the bees are. Mr. Chanclas bought a smoker but has yet to use it. We move slowly and carefully around the hive and the bees tolerate our presence. I have found bees to be very different from all of the other animals we keep. Namely because we don't "keep" the bees at all. They could leave any time they wanted. We just provided a nice home and they decided to stay. We don't manage them or interfere with them much at all. They just go about their business and we will be lucky to reap some honey rewards at some point.


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On 01/20/2012 11:58 AM, Robert Haas wrote: > On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 10:45 AM, Andrew Dunstan<andrew(at)dunslane(dot)net> wrote: >> XML's&#nnnn; escape mechanism is more or less the equivalent of JSON's >> \unnnn. But XML documents can be encoded in a variety of encodings, >> including non-unicode encodings such as Latin-1. However, no matter what the >> document encoding,&#nnnn; designates the character with Unicode code point >> nnnn, whether or not that is part of the document encoding's charset. > OK. > >> Given that precedent, I'm wondering if we do need to enforce anything other >> than that it is a valid unicode code point. >> >> Equivalence comparison is going to be difficult anyway if you're not >> resolving all \unnnn escapes. Possibly we need some sort of canonicalization >> function to apply for comparison purposes. But we're not providing any >> comparison ops today anyway, so I don't think we need to make that decision >> now. As you say, there doesn't seem to be any defined canonical form - the >> spec is a bit light on in this respect. > Well, we clearly have to resolve all \uXXXX to do either comparison or > canonicalization. The current patch does neither, but presumably we > want to leave the door open to such things. If we're using UTF-8 and > comparing two strings, and we get to a position where one of them has > a character and the other has \uXXXX, it's pretty simple to do the > comparison: we just turn XXXX into a wchar_t and test for equality. > That should be trivial, unless I'm misunderstanding. If, however, > we're not using UTF-8, we have to first turn \uXXXX into a Unicode > code point, then covert that to a character in the database encoding, > and then test for equality with the other character after that. I'm > not sure whether that's possible in general, how to do it, or how > efficient it is. Can you or anyone shed any light on that topic? We know perfectly well how to turn two strings from encoding x to utf8 (see mb_utils.c::pg_do_encoding_conversion() ). Once we've done that ISTM we have reduced this to the previous problem, as the mathematicians like to say. cheers andrew
Next: From: Greg Smith Date: 2012-01-20 17:35:38 Subject: Re: Vacuum rate limit in KBps Previous: From: Garick Hamlin Date: 2012-01-20 17:32:45 Subject: Re: JSON for PG 9.2


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In baseball, the closer position is still the newest position in baseball. The term didn't come into the baseball lexicon until the 1970s.
In today's game, having a good closer has been part of the equation for success. Even though a closer's role has changed greatly since its inception. Today's closer only pitch one inning at most. Closers like Bruce Sutter and Goose Gossage (both in the Baseball Hall of Fame) often pitched multiple innings.
Closer by Kevin Neary and Leigh A. Tobin chronicles the careers of various closers over the years. They break down closer in three different eras ("The Early Years", The Transition Years" & "The Modern Day Closer").
We review Closer and let you know why this book is a must-have for every baseball historian.
I've been interested in closers since I was quite young. I was raised a Chicago Cubs fan, so I instantly grew fond of Lee Smith, Goose Gossage, Mitch Williams and Randy Myers. When I saw any one of those closer enter a game, I knew the Cubs would most likely win. I believe that is why people love a good closer. You get a good feeling in your stomach. It's like a Pavlov's dog-like experiment for a baseball fan.
Closer is a great book that shows the evolution of the closer's role over the years. Neary cherry-picks various closers who are key to each era he covers. No matter if your a 70-year old baseball fan or a young teenager just now learning the history of baseball, this book is a great read.
Brad Lidge, a World Series winning closer, writes a foreword for the book. He explains what kind of feeling he had while pitching to the last better in the 2008 World Series. The first-hand account is riveting.
If you buy Baseball Prospectus and Baseball America's books ever season, you will love this book. On the other end of the spectrum, if you're a casual fan, you will recognize many of the names in this book. It's entertaining no matter what level of fan you are.


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ACRi -- Analytic & Computational Research, Inc.
The new version of PORFLOW - #1
choice of simulation software among consultants and researchers alike
in the Ground Water Flow and Nuclear Waste Management fields - is here. On top of the many stability and versatility features built into the solver, PORFLOW comes bundled with CFDStudio™, the integrated development environment for CFD applications.
Among the many other new features are:
(*) These features may have an additional cost, depending on your licensing agreement.
Click on this link or the link on left to request an evaluation copy of PORFLOW.
So what is PORFLOW? What can you do with it?
is a comprehensive CFD tool developed by Analytic & Computational
Research, Inc., ACRi, to accurately solve problems involving transient
or steady state fluid flow, heat, salinity and mass transport in
multi-phase, variably saturated, porous or fractured media with dynamic
phase change. The porous/fractured media may be anisotropic and
heterogeneous, arbitrary sources (injection or pumping wells) may be
present and, chemical reactions or radioactive decay may take place. It
accommodates alternate fluid and media property relations and complex
and arbitrary boundary conditions. The geometry may be 2D or 3D,
Cartesian or Cylindrical and the mesh may be structured or unstructured, giving maximum flexibility to the user.
In a nutshell, PORFLOW
is developed specifically for professionals in the Ground Water
Simulation and Nuclear Waste Management fields. This is a very
interesting sub-section of CFD, in the sense that we are dealing with
fluid flow through pores, fractures and cracks of a solid body, while
calculating the heat transfer from fluid to solid (or vice versa) if
it is a very specific field, PORFLOW holds a very strong share in the
market. Some high profile users along with the projects that they use
PORFLOW in are listed in the Partial List of PORFLOW Users. Among past and present users, Yucca Mountain Project, ANDRA, AECL and Golder and Associates come to mind right away.
Physical Models Built into PORFLOW and Detailed Capabilities:
A brief History...
During the past 25 years, PORFLOW™
has evolved from a simple mathematical model for flow and heat transfer
into a comprehensive software tool for analysis of a wide range of
environmental applications in flow, heat and mass transport in geologic
media. It provides for coupled transport of flow, heat and multiple
chemical species in complex three-dimensional geometry, transient or
steady-state flow, confined or unconfined aquifers, fully or partially
saturated media, single or multiple phase systems, and phase change
between liquid and solid and liquid and gaseous phases. It has grown
from a simple computer code with few modules and fewer options to a
software package with well over 300 modules and a versatile set of
options that can accommodate almost any user requirements.
PORFLOW™ has been used to analyze
problems as diverse as salinity intrusion into fresh water aquifers and
remediation of hazardous waste sites. It has been used to evaluate
pumping of an aquifer over a period of days, remediation of waste sites
over a period of years, corrosion of waste canisters over tens of
years, and transport of contaminants from nuclear waste over a time
span of hundreds of thousands of years.
In the process, PORFLOW
has evolved with the user's needs. At every stage, the flexibility and
generality of the software were maintained while options were added to
address user requirements. As a result, today PORFLOW
provides a flexible format that is bound neither to a specific
algorithm, nor to a particular methodology. Rather, it provides a
framework that facilitates experimentation. The user can change
numerical schemes, solution method, matrix inversion algorithms, or any
of the physical or mathematical features.
Of all features of PORFLOW, two
deserve special mention: generality of applications over a diverse
range of problems, and ease of use provided by the conversational FREEFORM™ command language. These have enabled PORFLOW to emerge as leading software in its field of application.
PORFLOW is also distinguished from other computer models by the diversity of its users.
Commercial, research and educational organizations in 15 countries are
using the software. Among its users are: U.S. DOE, USGS, U.S.NRC,
U.S.Army, Southwest Research Institute, Idaho National Engineering
Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Savannah River Laboratory,
Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory, ANDRA (France), SCK-CEN
(Belgium), AECL (Canada), Westinghouse, Lockheed Martin, Fluor Daniel,
Rockwell, and a large number of other commercial organizations. Over
100 publications and project reports on the benchmarking, verification and application of PORFLOW are currently available.
PORFLOW has been extensively
peer-reviewed. Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Battelle Pacific
Northwest, and Prof. Allan Freeze of the University of British Columbia
have formmaly reviewed PORFLOW or its derivatives. Additionally, it has
been reviewed by ANDRA (France), BAe-SEMA (UK), British Petroleum (UK),
Exxon Production Research, Failure Analysis Associates Inc., Fluor
Daniel Inc., Gaz de France (France), SAIC, Shell Oil, SOHIO, and
Westinghouse Hanford Company.
Related Links:
# PORFLOW Applications
# PORFLOW Express
# PORFLOW Publications
# PORFLOW Users
# PORFLOW Price List
# Request PORFLOW Demo
# PORFLOW Tutorials
# PORFLOW Manual
# PORFLOW Validation Report


text:
|Customer Reviews
Shops Photo
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About Ace Collision Center
Ace Collision Center located at 16 Campground Lane in Madison, VA services vehicles for Collision Repair. Call (540) 948-4000 to book an appointment or to hear more about the services of Ace Collision Center.
Business Information
Business Name: Ace Collision Center
Address: 16 Campground Lane
Phone Number: (540) 948-4000
Email: not listed
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Madison, VA 22727
Nearby Locations


text:
PORTLAND, OR, Feb 05, 2009 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX News Network) -- FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLIR) today commenced an exchange offer (the "offer") for any and all of its 3% Senior Convertible Notes Due 2023 (the "Notes").
The Notes, which are convertible into shares of FLIR's common stock, were issued in 2003 and have an outstanding aggregate principal amount of approximately $191.4 million. Holders who elect to exchange their Notes in the offer will receive $20 in cash and 90.1224 shares of FLIR common stock for each $1,000 principal amount of Notes exchanged. No accrued interest will be paid in respect of any Notes accepted for exchange in the offer.
A holder whose Notes are accepted for exchange by FLIR would receive the same number of shares of common stock as that holder would receive upon conversion of the Notes at the current conversion rate, plus a cash payment of $20 per $1,000 principal amount of Notes.
The offer is scheduled to expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on Monday, March 9, 2009, unless extended or earlier terminated, and is expected to settle on Wednesday, March 11, 2009.
The offer is being made pursuant to an Offer to Exchange and related documents, each dated February 5, 2009. The completion of the offer is subject to conditions described in the offer documents. Subject to applicable law, FLIR may waive the conditions applicable to the offer or extend, terminate or otherwise amend the offer.
FLIR's purpose in making the offer is to reduce the amount of its outstanding debt and interest expense.
This press release is not an offer to exchange, or a solicitation of an offer to exchange, any Notes. The offer is being made only on the terms and subject to the conditions described in the Offer to Exchange and related documents, which will be distributed to holders of Notes, who are advised to read such documents because they contain important information. Copies of the Offer to Exchange and related documents will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as exhibits to a Schedule TO and will be available for free at the Commission's web site at www.sec.gov.
Holders of Notes may address questions about the offer or make requests for copies of the Offer to Exchange and related documents for free to Global Bondholder Services Corporation, the information agent for the offer, by calling toll-free at (866) 470-4200.
About FLIR Systems
FLIR Systems, Inc. is a world leader in the design, manufacture, and marketing of thermal imaging and stabilized camera systems for a wide variety of thermography and imaging applications including condition monitoring, research and development, manufacturing process control, airborne observation and broadcast, search and rescue, drug interdiction, surveillance and reconnaissance, navigation safety, border and maritime patrol, environmental monitoring and ground-based security.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the Company's business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, including the following: changes in demand for the Company's products, product mix, the timing of customer orders and deliveries, the impact of competitive products and pricing, the Company's continuing compliance with US export control laws and regulations, constraints on supplies of critical components, excess or shortage of production capacity, actual purchases under agreements, the continuing eligibility of the Company to act as a federal contractor, the amount and availability of appropriated government procurement funds and other risks discussed from time to time in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports. In addition, such statements could be affected by general industry and market conditions and growth rates, and general domestic and international economic conditions. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release, or for changes made to this document by wire services or Internet service providers.
Company Contact: Tony Trunzo +1 503.498.3547
SOURCE: FLIR Systems, Inc.
Copyright 2009 Market Wire, All rights reserved.
News Provided by COMTEX


text:
Academic Programme
Main organization(s):
University of North Texas, Department of Public Administration. School of Community Service
Bachelor of Science
This programme emphasise on professional competency for undergraduates interested in a career in the emergency and disaster management fields. The six core courses equip majors with the basic knowledge in emergency preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. Electives enrich this core competency with additional courses. All pre-career students also complete an internship that enables them develop capacities for a full-time appointment.
Emergency management, Hazard mitigation, Preparedness, Leadership, Organisational behaviour, Terrorism, Information technology.
University students, Emergency management professionals.
Graduation from an accredited high school. Submission of official transcripts, Individual review and entrance exam. International students from non English speaking countries are required to provide TOEFL scores. Admission policies are reviewed periodically and are subject to change. For latest updates please visit admission section or UNT website.
4 years.
Applicants who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class shall be admitted automatically to the university. Automatic admission apply in the cases where students rank in the next 15 percent and have a minimum 950 SAT or 20 ACT, or rank in the 2nd quarter and have a minimum 1050 SAT or 23 ACT, or rank in the 3rd quarter and have a minimum 1180 SAT or 26 ACT. Applicants who do not meet the above requirements or who rank in the fourth quarter may be admitted only by individual review. An entrance exam is also required for High School seniors who wish to attend University of North Texas.
EADP Program provide scholarship and awards each year to exceptional students.
Tuition and cost depend on the resident status of the applicants.
03 December 2007 for spring semester.
Mr. James Kendra, Coordinator
Emergency Administration and Planning Program
Department of Public Administration. University of North Texas
P.O. Box 310617
Denton, Tx 76203-0617, USA
Tel: +1 940-565-2213
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
09 Oct 2007
Permalink: https://www.preventionweb.net/go/758


text:
Be the first to know
Receive emails from properties you follow when new suites are added to them.
Unique, legacy building store front right in the heart of Lower Lonsdale, free standing building which has housed our not-for-profit Aikido and Yoga Studio. Our main floor will be offered from July 1st for a 2 or 3 year lease. We are flexible and would even consider a shared space by subdividing. The building was retrofitted with sprinklers, electrical and the space has high ceilings and open space with one bathroom and two small change rooms. We are offering this at an extremely attractive triple net rate at $23 per sq ft, additional rent which includes taxes, water & sewage and insurance is $7 per sq ft. Utilities (hydro and gas) are shared meters with second floor so 50% of each would be on top of monthly rental rate. Call Joel at (604) 983-8730 leave a voice mail message or phone or text (604) 785-8730 or email email@example.com


text:
Following the outrageous case of the Georgia-based Peanut Corporation of America knowingly supplying salmonella-contaminated peanuts to the food industry, supermarkets and other retail outlets, which led to nine deaths and almost seven hundred cases of salmonella infections, lawmakers are now looking to do something that should have been done years ago.
Give the Food & Drug Administration more muscle.
The new legislation proposed by a Senate bill, would allow the FDA access to food company records and test results, and give it the power to order mandatory food recalls, which, incredibly, it cannot currently do.
Funding for the FDA would also be increased.


text:
If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are several fantastic educational events coming up: Land Occupation in the Global Context Fr...If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are several fantastic educational events coming up: Land Occupation in the Global Context Friday, Sept 7th at 5pm, Morgan Lounge UC Berkeley A discussion on the relevance of domestic land occupations in the context of international food sovereignty and land reclamation movements.This is a great opportunity to understand food justice in a global context and learn about viable alternatives to corporate agribusiness. Speakers will include professors Miguel Altieri and Ignacio Chapela, and a Brazilian member of Via Campesina. CA Speaking Out for Healthier Food Saturday, Sept. 15th from 3-5:30 at Laney College Alarmed by the pervasive health risks of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in the American diet, leading consumer non-GMO advocate Jeffrey Smith, and well-known author and environmentalist John Robbins have joined forces to present, Truth about GMOs. Highlights include: a sneak preview of Smith's new movie (Genetic Roulette) and a Q & A with both presenters making a compelling case for voting YES on Prop 37 (Mandatory Labeling of GMOs). FFAC will be tabling at this event. Effective Animal Advocacy Sunday, Sept 23rd at 1pm at 371 10th st SF Nick Cooney, author of Change of Heart: What Psychology Can Teach Us About Spreading Social Change, is hosting this free luncheon & workshop as part of Farm Sanctuary's Compassionate Communities Campaign. Learn how to become a more effective animal activist, then put those skills to practice by leafleting in SF and Berkeley.
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text:
The Tigers called up reliever Alberto (Al) Alburquerque this week. Now, I'm not the only blogger with a fondness for great names, but what struck me about this fellow beyond the name's alliteration was the matched sequence of the first three letters in the first and last names. Lets hear it for tautograms!
You know what happened next at VORG headquarters . . . I had to figure out if Al was (most likely, at best) tied for the record of longest sequence of matched letters in their first and last names (starting with the first letter in each).
But first, time out for "Al Alburquerque" fun facts:
- Alberto Alburquerque is not only the first player in major league history to have two Qs in his last name, but he's the first to have two Qs anywhere in his name.
- Yes, his last name is very similar to the city in New Mexico. The city's spelling is supposedly a variation of the original spelling.
- Despite (and because of) the two Qs in his name, Al won't make our upcoming list of highest-Scrabble scoring players names. And sadly, the Spanish edition of Scrabble also has only one Q.
Now, back to the tautology/alliteration detective work. We're going to go by the player's given birth names, so guys like Holly Hollingshead (born John Samuel Hollingshead) and Marty Martinez (born Orlando Martinez) won't make the cut.
Many players have four matching letters in their first and last names. We have a few variations of "John Johnson". There is John Henry Johnson, a pitcher for four different AL teams from 1978-87. Johnny Johnson pitched in 1944-45. There are also two other "John Johnson"s and one John Johnston who played at some point prior to World War I. Similarly, we have a John Johnstone (no relation to pinch-hitter extraordinaire Jay Johnstone).
Also in the "four letter" group we have Eric Erickson, one of only four players in major league history to have been born in Sweden. Also coming in at four is Monty Montgomery, a graduate of that college baseball hotbed Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, NC. (Let's hear it for the scout who found him there!). Finally, we do have an active major leaguer in the four letter group. The recently-traded and currently injured and rehabbing Frank Francisco.
We ALMOST had one player with the same first five letters in their first and last name. That would have been Clement (Clem) Clemens. A bummer that he was actually born Clement Ulatowski.
So, it appears Alberto Alburquerque isn't quite "tautogrammic" enough to make the cut here at VORG. But I'll still enjoy saying his alliterative name.


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Longer ago than I'd like to mention, I started a series called "Three New Required Roles for your company". As the business landscape changes, shifts in business models and design require new roles and adjustments to traditional thinking. New opportunities emerge, and businesses who understand the greater trends can profit from seizing these gaps in market awareness and efficiencies.
In the first first two posts of this series, I advocated incorporating two new roles into your organization. These were:
(1) The CIA Operative, which highlighted the importance of listening to what folks are saying about your company, your products and services and other key topics that are relevant to what your organization is interested in.
(2) The Social Anthropologist, which highlighted a rapidly growing requirement for a skill set that has previously been relegated to studies of remote people groups, but now has potential ground breaking applications for forward looking organizations. Know your customers (and their network).
If you haven't read those, or you need to refresh your memory, please (re)read those at your convenience, as I'd love to hear your thoughts, feedback, criticism (or praise).
Now, let's take a look at the third and final critical role necessary for you to compete in the new business landscape: Your company's very own Media Mogul.
I'm not talking about a web designer. I'm not talking about the Director of Marketing who comes up with good campaign ideas and glossy slicks to hand out at trade shows. I'm not talking about Press Releases.
I'm literally asking you to think about figureheads like Rupert Murdoch, Michael Bloomberg, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Forbes, Ted Turner, etc. Get those people in your mind. Imagine them working for your company. Think about how they'd corral attention in your business domain. Keep them there and let that image frame this conversation. We'll come back to those folks later.
There are at least 5 reasons why we need to consider this strategic hire:
(1) Time is the most elusive resource for all of us. We increasingly only seek media that we want and need. Filters play an increasingly important role in our daily lives. Your customers, prospects, partners, influencers, and vendors in the same boat. If you're not providing something that they want or need, it's not getting through.
(2) EVERYONE (including you and I) now has access to content creation tools AND significant media distribution channels. More and more individuals and organizations are hopping into the pool everyday.
(3) Traditional company centric messaging is increasingly ignored, less effective, and more expensive
(4) The makeup of Internet content is rapidly moving:
—> AWAY from text TO rich media
—> AWAY from computer based interaction TO mobile device interaction
—> AWAY from unidirectional communication and information consumption TO multi-directional annotated sharing, conversation, and feedback
(5) Valuable Content is being syndicated at exponential reach through newly formed and evolving "Communities of Trust".
Look at points 1 and 2. Merge them together. Time is the most elusive resource for all of us and EVERYONE has access to content creation tools AND significant media distribution channels.
There is an absolute collision happening right now. Blogs, Microblogging, Video Production, and other Interactive Media Production is now essentially open to everyone. A huge majority of new media distribution is on "free" channels. There is a rush to participate.
People who were already faced the challenge of time management, are now faced with an increasing complex dilemma of what to read, who to listen to, who to talk to, etc., and every day there are more entrants competing for our time and attention… for your customer's and prospect's time and attention.
In short, there is chaos. And, where there is chaos, there is opportunity.
With the inability to filter, we look for others to help us with our decisions of what media to consume. Who do we trust? People we like. People we trust. People we admire. People…like us. This is one reason why Valuable Content is being syndicated at exponential speed and reach through newly formed and evolving "Communities of Trust".
There is a heated battle happening for attention.
Those that are able to capture it, provide something extraordinary while they have it, and enable those that engage to share with their trusted circle have a huge advantage. Once you gain pole position, you have a great chance to stay there. (Hat tip to Tom Foremski at Every Company is a Media Company who provided this analogy and seems to have very similar thinking on this)
For a moment, let's bring those media moguls we referenced earlier back to the forefront of this conversation. What is the common thread for each of them? There are probably dozens, but here's a key one: They have consistently created (bought, or curated) compelling and interesting content consistently over time that attract people AND keep their attention. Many of them have also bought distribution channels so that they could control the content on each respective channel.
Who else is doing this, and what benefits have they reaped?
Wine Library
Gary Vaynerchuk grew his family's local New Jersey liquor store into a $60 million dollar a year business by creating a daily video blog Now he's written a book, has signed a multi-book deal, has joined the speaker circuit, and his company is growing even more as he rides the media wave.
Blendtec – a blender manufacturer
Created one of the most successful viral marketing campaigns ever and increased their retail sales by more than 700% because of it! Read the case study. Perhaps many of you can relate.
They've since parlayed their initial success of that "media" into the production of 96 videos capturing the attention of millions of would be customers.
In another recent stroke of genius, they leveraged the recent hype and publicity of the iPad to create this cameo appearance on YouTube, which oh, by the way, has garnered more than 6 MILLION views in just a few weeks. Here's the video:
Here's another example from BluDot, a chair manufacturer who observed a community culture in SoHo of those who liked to find interesting things on the street and take them home. In response, they came up with a creative experiment, and subsequent video:
[vimeo 8201309]
But, it doesn't have to be video.
Read this article posted on the American Express OPEN site about how a university differentiated themselves by giving their prospective attendees (prospects) something useful that helped them achieve what they are trying to do.
The Altimeter Group recently produced a framework for Social CRM which has garnered nearly 40,000 views at the time of writing this post, which by the way, is a very good starting point if you are considering a Social CRM initiative.
[slideshare id=3339686&doc=socialcrmthenewrulesofrelationshipmanagement-100304181215-phpapp02&type=d]
You get the idea. Think along these lines. Think outside the realm of your traditional thinking. You are now a media company.
And if you want to get a glimpse of where this all is heading so you can be ahead of the curve, here's a VERY interesting glimpse into the future of publishing:
[vimeo 7939946]
And finally, if you're still not convinced, check out what's happening over at salesforce.com.
It seems that marketing and business visionary Marc Benioff also sees things the way that I do. In addition to Salesforce.com's recent acquisitions of Jigsaw and launch of VMForce, he just hired his own Media Mogul, Steve Gillmor, away from TechCrunch.
This is spot on. Could you give me a call? I'd like to discuss this along with some similar work I am doing.
Denis, will do. Looking forward to our chat!
If you haven't had time to read Gary Vaynerchuk's Crush It, you can get the cliff notes here http://cliffnotebooks.com/crush-gary-vaynerchuk-cliff-notes/
Hi Brian Great article thank you. I've done a review on Clienteerhub.com so hopefully you'll get some more visitors. Your thinking is incredibly closely aligned with ours and we'd like to discuss with you how we can support you to promote your ideas. Our clienteer role seems to be at least in part an amalgam of your 3 roles.
Thanks for stopping by and for your kind words. If possible, I'd love to read your thoughts and review and hear more about the Clienteer role.
Brian Are you available any time this week for a skype call ? What timezone are you in ?
Yes. I'll email you separately. I'm on PST.
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[…] Three New Required Roles for your company: (#3) Media Mogul Longer ago than I'd like to mention, I started a series called "Three New Required Roles for your company". As the business landscape changes, shifts in business models and design require new roles and adjustments to traditional thinking. New opportunities emerge, and businesses who understand the greater trends can profit from seizing these gaps in […] […]
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Here is just a short update in case you were wondering about our recent lack of communication: In the last couple of weeks we made some major improvements on our server, including the website. Additionally we're currently working very hard on new releases of all our software. That means new updates will come soon!
New Updates Coming Soon
15 March, 2014 — News
New Software: Basic File Modifier
5 October, 2011 — Basic File Modifier, New Software
Basic File Modifier is an helpful utility to batch modify the basic properties, which make up any file: Correct filename and rename, customize date, change attributes, sort, set location and much more. – Download the free trial! For a limited time only it is available at the low introductory price of $17.95. You can get […]
New Software: Easy Timer Plus
22 April, 2011 — Easy Timer Plus, New Software
Easy Timer is now also available as a low-cost commercial version which is called EasyTimer Plus. The main advantages of Easy Timer Plus are full support of transparency, wake computer up on alarm, use MP3's and other audio formats as alarm sound, start actions (e.g. executing a program or shutting down), display countdown and much […]
Update: Easy Timer 2.0
22 April, 2011 — Easy Timer, Update
A new release of Easy Timer is now available. Easy Timer 2.0 has many new features, fixes and improvements. Most important change is that the analog clock is now separate from the window. Also additional keyboard and mouse commands were added. Other improvements are smooth clock border and progress line, redesigned settings window and more.
Update: Easy Image Modifier 4.0
1 March, 2011 — Easy Image Modifier, Easy Image Modifier Plus, Update
Easy Image Modifier 4.0 has been released! Most important new feature is the intuitive image and processing preview which acts as a real preview of the to be created image. Also the appearance has improved: More space, panel icons, toolbar-like buttons instead of former "main button" and other minor interface changes. Finally the Supporter Version […]
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Configurable interactive software featuring business applications used to access and merge data in the field of decision analysis processes and data visualization, and user manuals sold as a unit therewith
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AUGUSTA, Ga. - Entered into rest Friday, September 3, 2004 at University Hospital. Mrs. Emma Henderson of Mill Street. Funeral services will be conducted Thursday, September 9, 2004 at 3 p.m. from First Mount Moriah Baptist Church with Rev. Andrew Johnson, Pastor, officiating. Interment will be in Walker Memorial Park. The remains will lie in state at the church from 1:30 p.m. until the hour of service. The funeral procession will leave the residence of her daughter at 2:15 p.m. Survivors are two daughters, Shena (Michael) Edwards and Ronnessa Henderson; one son, Antonio Henderson; four brothers, Jessie (Cheryl) Davis, Alonzo Davis, Bobby Davis and Jackie Davis; ten grandchildren, a dear friend, Mike Henley; Godmother, Batbara Cohen; and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. W. H. Mays Mortuary, 1221 James Brown Boulevard, Augusta, Ga. (706) 722-6401 Sign the guestbook at AugustaChronicle.com
The Augusta Chronicle September 9, 2004
© 2018. All Rights Reserved. | Contact Us


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They are called Eureka moments, as chance and inspiration combine to create something great. Archimedes, the man whose overflowing bath led to his principle for discerning the volume of objects must top the list of course. And Einstein has to be right up there. Observing the clock tower in Bern, the German genius suddenly realised that time could move at different speeds in different places, and thus relativity was born.
But, with no disrespect to the scientists, East Ender William Addis's invention probably tops them all. For the simple device he developed is not only used by every one of us, twice a day, it has prevented pain, illness, misery and early death. Addis was the father of modern oral hygiene and the company he founded is in business to this day. But it came from an unlikely source.
In 1780, the unfortunate Addis was arrested on the streets of Spitalfields and charged with causing a riot. At 46, William was already a successful businessman, a stationer and rag merchant, supplying finished paper to the book trade. The rags he harvested would be pulped down and remade into new sheets of paper – nothing went to waste.
William's clients, the London booksellers of the 18th century, also sold patent medicines and supplies for pharmacists. It seems curious today, but is maybe no odder than barbers also being surgeons or American pharmacies also being 'soda fountains'. Or, for that matter, modern London bookstores also doubling as coffee shops.
As he languished in his Newgate gaol cell, William struggled to clean his teeth with the traditional combination of a rag with salt and soot. If only he could get in between the teeth, he could do a much better job. Spying a broom, Addis got an idea. He picked a small animal bone from his plate and drilled small holes in it, pestered a guard to get him some bristles and – eureka – the toothbrush was born.
Timing is all of course, and this was an idea happening at just the right moment. Refined sugar, unknown in London in medieval times, was now being consumed in industrial quantities as supplies came back from the West Indies. Georgian Londoners had rotten teeth but effective dental repairs were a century away, with the only option painful extraction (by those barber surgeons again). Addis, however, added prevention to the mix.
Back at liberty, the entrepreneurial William realised that his new 'tooth brush' could be a winner. He produced a small number of the products, fashioned from animal bone and horsehair and offered them to his contacts in the book trade. They quickly sold and soon a toothbrush became a fashionable thing to have in Georgian London.
It was a hard thing to patent, and other manufacturers soon copied William's bright idea, but it didn't stop the company growing, and William growing rich. By 1840, the company was run by his son (also called William). Rather than a central 'manufactory', the Addis company used a system that was widespread in the East End of the time, piecework, with the women of Spitalfields and Whitechapel producing the brushes in their own homes. The system was also the basis for the matchmaking business, weaving, laundry and many more trades. The women would be paid by how much they produced, invariably having to buy their own tools and materials up front. And if the goods weren't up to scratch – the company wouldn't pay.
A brutal system in the days before unions and the legal protection they afforded workers – but the Addises grew very wealthy. By 1840, William Jr was employing 60 workers in an increasingly sophisticated production involving 53 separate processes, and producing four different models: Gents, Ladies, Child's and Tom Thumb. William would use badger hair for the poshest brushes, but imported hog, pig or boar hair for the rest, mostly from Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and France.
Most of us wouldn't fancy brushing our teeth with a mixture of bone and hair, but an American invention was to change everything. On 28 February 1935, and after dozens of failed experiments, Wallace Hume Carothers, the head of organic chemistry at DuPont in Delaware, came up with the molten polymer the company would market as Nylon. Carothers, tragically, would kill himself a couple of years later, wracked by depression and convinced his work was useless.
But the Addis company, now marketing its wares as Wisdom Toothbrushes, was quick to see the potential of nylon. Agreeing a deal with the UK licensee, ICI, they produced the first synthetic brushes and launched a huge newspaper campaign. The new brush was more expensive than the competition at 2 shillings (10p) but the timing was perfect. It was 1940 and British housewives were being told to waste nothing – animal bones were going into soups and stews or simply being boiled off by butchers and slaughterhouses, their marrow making nutritious stock. A shortage of bone thus worked in the favour of the Addises and their new nylon brushes.
By the 1960s, Wisdom had moved out to Suffolk and a new factory, and the last Addis left the firm in 1996, bringing more than 200 years of history to a close. But the legacy is clear – a product as ubiquitous and essential as any, the toothbrush is repeatedly voted the one object Britons could not live without. For William Addis, his unfortunate incarceration in a London prison was not just the happy accident that made his fortune, it was one that changed the world.


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What is the world's biggest snake? Arguments and myths abound in answer to that question. But certainly one contender for the title is the Anaconda, a massive snake by anyone's standards, a reptile whose life is dependent on the rivers and other waterways of the Amazon jungle. Claims have been made of much, much larger Anacondas, but there is no argument that this is a snake who can reach 17 feet in length and several hundred pounds.
That's a big snake. A big scary snake, as far as most humans are concerned.
Long a victim of treasure hunters (there's a lot of purses in that length), the exotic animal industry, and of course land developers, there is a new risk confronting these animals and this time from a perhaps unexpected source. Eco-tourism.
The numbers of tourists traveling to the Amazon Basin has exploded: there are now about 12,000 visitors a year as opposed to a handful just a decade ago. And along with the explosion of visiting humans so, too, has there been an astronomical increase in the amount of insect repellant that predictably comes along with tourists to the tropics.
Alarming quantities of insect repellant from the arms and legs of adventure seekers is finding its way into the water systems, and from there into the fish and smaller amphibians, and from there into the food chain as a whole. That is, of course, how the whole thing is designed to work. It is not, however, designed to work with introduced poisons.
Biologists have now sounded the alarm that Anacondas in the wild may have as little as three years left before the species is completely wiped out. Puny as we may be, who is the scary animal now?


text: je cite : Star Wars The Show Exhibits in Italy May 12, 2005 To celebrate the Italian opening of Revenge of the Sith, La Triennale di Milano has unveiled a new exhibition called Star Wars The Show which explores the entire Star Wars saga -- May 13 through August 28, 2005. La Triennale is a museum focused on art, design and architecture -- and the exhibition reflects those strong points in the films. Many objects are being seen for the first time, and this occasion marks the debut for this Star Wars exhibition in Europe. Drawings, production paintings, blueprints, models, furniture, props and costumes are on display in a 13,000-square-foot exhibit that brings together over 200 original pieces from the archives of Lucasfilm. Star Wars The Show pays tribute to the making of all the six films in the saga complete with some never-seen-before footage from the final episode Revenge of the Sith. The exhibit also focuses on the beauty and power of the Star Wars thanks to elaborate costumes and models which are tangible examples of the 30 years of effort that have gone into creating these immensely popular films. The central part of the show is represented by models, costumes and objects used on the sets of the six films, including authentic costumes for C-3PO, Darth Vader and Queen Amidala. The exhibit also includes original models of spacecraft created by Industrial Light & Magic, and maquettes of the numerous and fantastic characters created by filmmaker George Lucas and his team. Another section of the extensive exhibit explores the collaboration between Lucas and the artists who interpreted his visions into pre-production artwork -- including drawings and paintings by Ralph McQuarrie, Doug Chiang, Ryan Church and Erik Tiemens. The show also illustrates the development of the films from conceptual designs to models -- from computer rendering to final composed images. Design and architecture constitutes a large part of the exhibit, with a particular importance given to the Lake Como setting from Episode II. Additionally, the exhibit looks at the innovative changes the movies have made to the cinematic arts, along with the evolution of all-digital production techniques. La Triennale also worked with ArtEutopia of Milano to bring the exhibition to life. The design of Star Wars The Show, created by Alexander Pedretti, allows for objects to be placed in a setting that gives attendees the full impact of how the costumes and props effect the films. Video clips and sound effects from the six episodes provide an exciting backdrop to the awe-inspiring exhibit. Additional exhibit information: Star Wars The Show May 13 - August 28, 2005 www.triennale.it Curator and production: Triennale di Milano, ArteUtopia Milan in conjunction with Lucasfilm Ltd, San Francisco EDIT: 7? l'entrée


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Boeing's 747-8 passenger jet won its first order of 2012 today when Air China announced it had secured an order for five of the four-engine aircraft.
Boeing and the Chinese carrier had previously announced Air China's commitment for the planes, but not a signed order.
Air China 747-8
The new order advances total orders for the passenger version of the jumbo jet to 40. The 747-8 Freighter has been more popular than the passenger version of the plane. Boeing has a total of 70 orders for its freighters.
The Air China order puts Boeing one ahead of Airbus in the oversized jet category. Airbus, the European manufacturer, has scored four orders for its huge A380 this year.
Both the 747-8, the fourth-generation of the 747 and the A380 have sold more slowly than their manufacturers had hoped. Meanwhile, both Boeing and Airbus have seen good order activity for their mid-sized, twin-aisle jets, the 777 and 787 and the A330 and A350.
Nonetheless both manufacturers project sales of more than 1,000 of the ex-large jets over the next two decades. The 747-8 holds 465 passengers in a typical seating configuration. The double-deck A380 will accommodate 550.


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FRISCO, Texas – Stephen F. Austin shortstop Hunter Dozier has been named the Southland Conference Player of the Year by a vote of the league's head coaches and sports information, the conference announced Monday in conjunction with the release of its all-conference teams. The junior was also named the league's hitter of the year, becoming the second Lumberjack to collect both awards in the last three seasons.
Dozier's teammate, senior right-handed pitcher Brett Higginbotham, was named the conference's relief pitcher of the year, while Oral Roberts junior right-handed pitcher Alex Gonzalez was named the Southland pitcher of the year. McNeese State freshman right-handed pitcher Bryce Kingsley was named the freshman of the year and Lamar junior shortstop Sam Bumpers was the newcomer of the year. Sam Houston State head coach David Pierce was named the Clay Gould Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Dozier leads the league in home runs with 17, which ranks among the top three players in NCAA Division I. The junior from Denton, Texas (Denton H.S.), hit an astonishing .394 on the year with 80 hits and accumulated 154 total bases. Dozier drove in 50 runs to go with 23 doubles and 12 stolen bases. He also led the league in batting average, doubles, RBI, total bases and slugging percentage (.759), while ranking in the Southland's top five in four other categories, including hits (second), on-base percentage (second, .483), runs scored (third, 47) and walks (fifth, 34). Dozier, who has helped the Lumberjacks win at least 25 games for the fourth consecutive season, enters the tournament having reached base safely in 45 consecutive games.
Dozier is the seventh Southland player in the last eight years to earn both hitter and player of the year accolades and is third Lumberjack to be named player of the year and hitter of the year. He is a candidate for the Brooks Wallace Award, which goes to the nation's top shortstop, and is a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, which is presented annually to the nation's best player.
Gonzalez was named the Southland's top pitcher after leading the league with a 1.76 earned-run average. He is the only Southland pitcher this season to have a sub 2.00 ERA and sports the seventh-lowest single-season ERA in conference history. The junior from Delray Beach, Fla. (Boca Raton H.S.) tossed 107.1 innings while allowing 21 earned runs. The Golden Eagle accumulated 125 strikeouts and averaged 10.48 per nine innings while striking out the fifth-most batters in Southland history for a single season. In 14 starts, Gonzalez picked up eight wins and walked only 23 batters while limiting opponents to a .198 batting average against him. He led Oral Roberts to a third-place finish in its first season in the Southland. Gonzalez averages 7.2 innings of work each time out and did not lose a decision from March 22 to May 3.
Higginbotham is the fifth recipient of the conference's relief pitcher of the year award and is the first Lumberjack. The senior from Hutto, Texas (Hutto H.S.), was 4-2 with a 1.88 ERA and allowed only nine earned runs in 43 innings. He tied for fourth in the conference with 25 appearances and struck out 37 batters. Opponents got just three extra-base hits against him and managed to hit just .156. The Lumberjack picked up consecutive wins against Oral Roberts in early April. SFA and Oral Roberts play in the opening round of the conference tournament on Wednesday.
Kingsley becomes the third Cowboy to be named the league's freshman of the year, joining Dooley Prince in 2002 and Bryan Cartie in 2005. The freshman from Lake Charles, La. (Barbe H.S.), tied for fourth in the Southland with eight wins and tossed the seventh-most innings (94.2). He finished fifth in the league with a 2.57 ERA, while opponents batted .228 against him. Kingsley won four consecutive starts in March and he notched a victory against Southeastern Louisiana last weekend to earn the Cowboys a spot in the conference tournament.
Bumpers earned the newcomer of the year award after finishing sixth in batting average (.341). The transfer from Iowa Western Community College played in 54 games and racked up 34 RBI. He introduced himself to the conference with an eight-RBI opening weekend. Bumpers slugged .491 with a .406 on-base percentage and collected 19 doubles. The junior from Bourbannais, Ill. (Bradley-Bourbonnais H.S.), is the first Cardinal to win the award and led Lamar to its first 30-win season since 2010. Bumpers finished the regular season ranked second in total bases (105) and fourth in both hits (73) and runs scored (46). The Cardinals' shortstop is a main reason Lamar led all conference teams in turning 52 double plays.
After guiding the Bearkats to a second consecutive regular-season title, Sam Houston's Pierce repeated as the Southland coach of the year. Sam Houston finished 20-7 in conference play and will take a 36-18 overall record as the top seed into conference tournament later this week. Prior to laying his claim to the award last year, Sam Houston had not had a coach of the year since 1989 when John Skeeters became the first Bearkat coach to be honored after guiding the Huntsville school to its first Southland Conference championship. After dropping back-to-back conference series in mid-April, the Bearkats responded to win 14 of their final 15 games. During conference play, they posted seven series wins and four sweeps. Pierce is the first Southland coach to win consecutive honors since Texas-San Antonio's Sherman Corbett (2007-08).
Lamar leads all league teams with eight student-athletes on the three all-conference teams, including three on the first team and five on the second team. Cardinal senior second baseman V.J. Bunner, senior outfielder Darian Johnson and senior pitcher Eric Harrington earned first-team honors, while Bumpers, senior first baseman Brad Picha, senior third baseman Aaron Olivas, senior designated hitter Seth Dornak and junior pitcher Jonathan Dziedzic were named to the second team.
Regular-season runner-up Texas A&M-Corpus Christi joined Lamar in placing three players on the first team, including senior first baseman Brad Porras, senior outfielder Eric Weiss and senior designated hitter Jonathan Gonzales. Regular-season champion Sam Houston and Central Arkansas also placed two on the first team. The Bearkats' first-team selections include senior third baseman Kevin Miller and junior catcher Anthony Azar, while the Bears placed senior outfielder Forrest Allday and senior pitcher Caleb McClanahan on the top squad. The squad is rounded out by SFA's Dozier at shortstop and ORU's Gonzalez at pitcher.
A&M-Corpus Christi was second with six players on the three all-conference teams, followed by Sam Houston State (five) and Central Arkansas (four). McNeese State, Oral Roberts, Southeastern Louisiana and Stephen F. Austin each placed three on the squads, while Nicholls State had one selection.
Another 18 student-athletes earned honorable mention after earning votes from at least 25 percent of the league's coaches and sports information directors.
Nine of the 36 all-conference players were repeat selections, including UCA's Jonathan Davis, a third-team outfielder, who was honored for a third time. Miller, Dozier, Johnson, Allday, Azar, Gonzales, Harrington and Sam Houston pitcher Caleb Smith, a second-team honoree, are two-time all-conference selections.
The 2013 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament gets underway Wednesday at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas. Tickets to the event are available online at www.SugarLandSkeeters.com. All games of the tournament will be streamed live on the Southland Conference Digital Network, with the exception of the championship game, which is available exclusively on ESPN3. The winner of the double-elimination tournament earns the league's automatic berth into the NCAA tournament, which starts May 31 with regional play.