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SensoLyte® Homogeneous Rh110 Caspase-3/7 Assay Kit
Central to the execution phase of apoptosis are the two closely related caspase-3 and caspase-7. They share common substrate specificity and structure, but differ completely in the sequence of their respective N-terminal regions. Both caspase-3 and caspase-7 have substrate selectivity for the amino acid sequence Asp-Glu-Val-Asp (DEVD). The SensoLyte® Homogeneous Rh110 Capase-3/7 Assay Kit uses (Ac-DEVD)2-Rh110 as the fluorogenic indicator for assaying caspase-3/7 activities. Upon caspase-3/7 cleavage, (Ac-DEVD)2-Rh110 generates the Rh110 fluorophore which has bright green fluorescence and can be detected at Ex/Em=496 nm/520 nm. The longer-wavelength spectra and higher extinction coefficient of the Rh110 provide greater sensitivity and less interference from cell components.A bi-function assay buffer in this kit is designed to lyze the cells and measure theEnzyme activity at the same time. Thus, this kit can measure caspase-3/7 activity in cell culture directly in a 96-well or 384-well plate without a time-consuming cell extraction step. In case the cells are cultured in larger plates or flasks, a lysis buffer and protocol for cell lysate preparation are also conveniently included in the kit. The kit is suitable for high throughput screening of apoptosis inducers and inhibitors.
Assays & Kits


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Screening of 2013 Academy Award® Winner Best Documentary Short, INOCENTE: A Fundraiser for courageous heARTS
Courageous heARTS
Thursday, August 1, 2013 at 4:30 PM (CDT)
courageous heARTS presents an exclusive screening of this year's Oscar-winning documentary short, INOCENTE at the Riverview Theater. Following the film, Inocente herself, Matt D'Arrigo of A Reason To Survive (ARTS), and Lindsay Walz of courageous heARTS will participate in a panel discussion about the healing power of creative expression.
Doors: 4:30PM
Music: 5:00 PM
Film: 5:30PM (runtime: 40 minutes)
August 1st marks the 6-year anniversary of the 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Lindsay Walz, founder of courageous heARTS, is a survivor of this tragedy. She has spent the past six years healing her body, mind and heart. The most important tools she was given on the journey were paints, brushes and blank pieces of paper. Through her art, she was able to tell her story in new and profound ways. courageous heARTS is her gift to the community that has given her so much.
About courageous heARTS:
courageous heARTS is where creativity builds courage! The mission of courageous heARTS is to co-create experiences with young people by offering them a safe space, built with the intention to heal and empower-- through expressive arts, community building and leadership development. Our vision is that youth will discover, heal and strengthen their hearts so they can thrive as active, engaged and courageous members of their community.
The heART Center is located at 4164 Cedar Ave. S. in Minneapolis.
Panel Participants:
Inocente Izucar is a California-based artist featured in the documentary of the same name. From a young age, she experienced the uncertainy of being undocumented, as well as the stresses of long-term homelessness and domestic violence. A Reason To Survive (ARTS) is where art became her refuge and her hope.
Matt D'Arrigo is the founder and CEO of A Reason To Survive (ARTS). An artist from a young age, he used the arts to change his own life trajectory away from self destructive behaviors and to pull himself through the illness of his sister and subsequent death of his mother. He was inspired to make it his life's work to use the arts to transform the lives of children and youth facing their own struggles.
Proceeds from the Aug. 1 fundraiser will provide operational support to courageous heARTS.
Courageous heARTS (heARTS) is a youth-led nonprofit art studio in the heart of south Minneapolis. We serve as a safety net for creativity - inviting all-ages and abilities together to take creative risks and build community.
In order to purchase these tickets in installments, you'll need an Eventbrite account. Log in or sign up for a free account to continue.


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Shipping to
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I spent the last month (EDIT: a month ago – but only just finished this) doing a complete play through of Mass Effect 1 to 3. All my previous completions of those games were with freshly rolled characters and default results that brings. I never really brought one character forward through all the versions – mainly because I'd upgrade my PC between releases and lose the save games. (BTW the whole series is on sale on Origin)
Lots of spoilers ahead.
I decided on rolling up an Engineer, which was somewhat painful in the first Mass Effect because you're limited to light armor and pistols. I still overcame that burden by excessive use of tech powers; Overload, Incinerate, Cryo, and Neuro. I made the choice based on how it plays in ME3 and ME3's multiplayer cooperative mode (which I hop on from time to time).
Mass Effect 1 decision points?
- Played a female – which was a first, my previous characters were all male.
- Romanced Liara – rawr… blue babe.
- Turn over evidence in Noveria that gets the big cheese in trouble – extortion is bad.
- Let the Rachni Queen live – I believe the default is that you kill it, but I don't remember.
- Saved Wrex – default is that you kill him.
- Let the scientist in the Krogan cloning facility go – minor point.
- Assisted the second team on Virmire by taking out extra targets – seemed like the right thing to do, preserves the Salarian in charge, Kirrahe.
- Sacrificed Ashley – figured the default on the male playthrough is to sacrifice Kaiden.
- Saved the Council – default seemed to be letting the Council die.
- Put Anderson in the role of Ambassador – Udina is the default.
- Conrad Verner – three visits.
- Sparing the Asari that the Thorian was controlling.
I think that is it? I was quite the Paragon.
Impact on ME2?
- Still playing for team V.
- With the Shadow Broker DLC you get to hook up again after completing it. Without it, she sort of keeps her distance. Shadow Broker DLC also reveals that Liara is in trouble with the Shadow Broker because she acquired your remains and gave them to the Illusive Man, preventing the Shadow Broker from selling the remains to the Collectors.
- Get to do a minor mission for the covert investigator from Noveria, enjoy a drink later.
- Minor mention of the Rachni Queen talking through an Asari she saved.
- By keeping Wrex alive in ME1, he is around as the head of Clan Urdnot in ME2 (if he's dead, Wreav is the leader you deal with).
- When picking up Grunt, you come across this Asari helping Okear with his Krogan experiments.
- Moridin makes reference to Kirrahe's Hold the Line speech if you mention that you knew Kirrahe from the STG.
- Kaiden shows up on Horizen, but nothing more comes from it.
- Saving the Council doesn't seem to do too much for you that I noticed. They sound a little more grateful, but since you don't really interact with them in ME2 it doesn't feel like a big deal.
- Anderson gets to put Udina in his place – which is nice, I hated Udina.
- Apparently he shows up in ME2, though I haven't seen him.
- She shows up on Illium, representing the people from Feros vs. Exogeni.
There might be a few others I missed or forgot.
ME2 major decision points? Wow… ME2 had a big impact on ME3. First lets talk about the crew – a big part of ME2 is collecting the crew and making them happy (or not). Every crew member you preserve in the suicide mission shows up in ME3 in some form. And it is possible to preserve them all – I did… I'm that awesome. Appearances in ME3:
- Kaiden (or Ashley) – on and off crew member – join you for the initial mission, then ends up in the hospital until after you sort out Cerberus in the Citadel.
- Liara – crew member – joins you early as well – this kindled the love interest again, though I did have to tell Kaiden to back off again (had to do that in the first one too).
- Garrus – crew member – joins you early on.
- Grunt – cameo – shows up when you look for the missing scouts. If you lost him in ME2, the commander of the Krogan elite company dies while you get out. If you did save Grunt in ME2, he gives you time to get out of the Reaper/Rachni caves and manages to survive. This gets you more war asset points.
- Zaeed – cameo – shows up while dealing with an Ambassador that sold some information to Cerberus. He turns the chance of failing into automatic success. More war asset points.
- Kasumi – cameo – she shows up when you're dealing with the indoctrinated Hanar. If you don't have her, you have to choose between saving the Hanar people or a Salarian Spectre – either one gets you one war asset. If you have her, she deals with the virus while you help the Salarian Spectre getting you two war assets instead of just the one.
- Thane – cameo – he shows up at the hospital. If you talk to him, he mentions he'll keep an eye on Kaiden but the real difference he makes is that he foils the attempt on the Salarian Ambassador's life. If you don't have him, you lose the Ambassador and miss out on some war assets.
- Jack – shows up in Grissom Academy where she makes the end result better in that you don't lose students. Without her, the ending sequence where a student lags behind results in losing their lead student. With Jack there she kicks ass and saves the student. She later is added as a war asset.
- Miranda – cameo – she makes a couple of appearances before showing up in Horizen. I think her loyalty in ME2 ties to whether she lives or not in ME3. I remember losing her in my first play through of ME3.
- Jacob – cameo – shows up as a protector of some ex-Cerberus scientists. Saving them adds some war assets as they're recruited into helping build the Crucible.
- Tali – crew member – she joins you when dealing with the Geth/Rannoch. There is a chance you can lose her if you don't pick right. In fact, the whole thing between her and Legion is easier to deal with if they've both survived from ME2.
- Legion – temp crew member – he joins you when dealing with the Geth Dreadnought but doesn't stick around long. One way or another you seem to lose him; either you have to destroy him to prevent him from updating the Geth or he has to destroy himself to properly update the Geth.
- Moridin – initial crew member – he joins you after Sur'kesh and helps with the Genophage cure, but it costs him his life.
- Samara – cameo – she appears when you're visiting the Asari monestary with the Ardat-Yakshi; two of them being her remaining daughters. It doesn't seem like she changes much other than almost killing herself because her code demands she kill her remaining daughter. (I don't know what happens if you side with Morinth – maybe she visits her sisters?)
Decision points – yikes… there are a few! Mostly around whether the crew members are made loyal and whether they survive the last mission or not.
- Shadow Broker DLC – it's assumed you bailed Liara out or someone did because she is the Shadow Broker whether you did the DLC or not. I believe you get a bonus upgrade from Feron if you have completed this DLC and you get more information about what happened.
- Arrival DLC – it's assumed that you destroyed the relay and caused the destruction of the Batarian colony. People (Batarians are people too!) are none too happy about it and make a few appearances.
- Jack or Miranda – picking one can cause loyalty issues with the other. There is a 'get both' option… I mean for loyalty, if you're Paragon enough (which I was /flex)
- Samara or Morinth – you have to pick one or the other. Morinth is thoroughly evil so Samara must destroy her. I seem to remember in my original play through I wasn't able to resist Morinth and I don't think I was presented with a choice. Maybe I was and I didn't remember it. If you do pick Morinth, don't romance her… you'll die. Shepard is special, but not that special.
- Keep the research from Genophage cure attempts – getting a cure for the genophage takes priority over saving Eve so the more time Moridin has to spend on the genophage, the more he can't spend fixing up Eve. This helps determine whether Eve survives or not. Other things also factor in, such as how you treat her.
- Prevent Moridin from killing his former pupil – I'm not sure this impacts anything other than getting more Paragon or Renegade points. Maybe you risk losing Moridin's loyalty mission.
- Destroy Collector base or not – Another one I'm not sure about. Whether you destroy the base or not, the 'Human-Reaper' appears in the Cerberus station where the Illusive Man was hiding out.
- Upgrades to the Normandy – not your typical decisions, but failing to upgrade the armor, the shields and the weapons can result in losing up to three of the crew members… maybe more.
Most of ME2 's impact on ME3 is around the crew members that survived which I commented on above. The crew from ME2 make some cameo appearances allowing you to gain multiple War Assets instead of having to pick one or the other.
I suspect several of the choices and interactions you make with Tali and Legion in ME2 help you gain both assets with Quarians and Geth.
Wrex being there instead of Wreav puts you in a position of getting more out of the Krogan and I believe it is a factor for letting Eve survive.
I didn't notice much else that stood out.
A few things about the ending… all through the game blue is used to emphasize Paragon choices while red is used to show a Renegade choice. in the end choice, the blue choice (control the Reapers) is shadowed by the Illusive Man, someone who is decidedly bad – or extreme in his views on saving or bettering Humanity (including actually turning some into hybrid-husks) – but you could see how he could be viewed as a Paragon for Humanity… at least in his mind. On the red, Renegade, side you see Anderson – someone who has believed in you, back you up and fought against all odds to defeat the Reapers and preserve Humanity.
This seems contrary to the rest of the game and previous games but if you think about it some, it makes sense to color them that way. Why?
The Paragon path was always about compromise, preservation and taking the high road.
The Renegade path was about winning at all costs, being ruthless and focused on doing what needs to be done despite the cost.
In some ways both the Illusive Man and Anderson embody both of these ideals. Illusive Man's desire to preserve Humanity is goodly, it's just his means that are ruthless and uncompromising. Anderson is out to save humanity too and he's willing to do what it takes, but not at the extreme costs. Of course, destroying synthetic life to save Humanity would be well within the choice he would make. The Illusive Man's motives were preservation of Humanity and increasing their power to also set them up above the other races.
Back to the consequences of the Blue/Red choices.
The cost of the Red choice is all synthetic life. The Geth who may have become your allies. EDI who you may have encouraged to have a relationship with Joker. And most importantly, the Reapers. It's destroying one at the cost of others. It also wasn't a guaranteed solution because it would only be a matter of time before someone creates synthetic life and the cycle repeats. Obviously the Geth were an example of that. So you just delay the cycle.
The cost of the Blue choice is only that the Reapers still exist. Well, that and your own life as you know it, so it's a choice of self-sacrifice and preservation of all, even the enemy. Despite having the Illusive Man painted all over it (he was all about controlling them), it is the 'good' choice. In this choice, through your controlling the Reapers you advance all civilizations and rebuild what was destroyed. You break the cycle.
Other choices available – depending on your assets and influence levels – are to not choose at all, in which case the Reapers cleanse this cycle and the unknown happens as the AI in the Citadel has to change how they do things because Shepard introduced an unexpected variable to the equation. You can choose to shoot the AI (in the form of a ghostly child) in which case you are killed and lose. You can also choose to join the beam and reform all synthetics and organics into hybrids so there is no need for the Reapers to destroy everyone.
You could argue the Green choice is the best, but then you'd be forcing your will on both synthetics and organics which isn't so good. You can argue the Blue also takes away the choice of freedom from the Reapers, but their choice is clear if you don't override them – harvest life.
Another thing I thought was neat about the dialogue at the end was where the AI tells you that the end of each cycle ends with the creation of a Reaper. There are A LOT of Reapers floating around so this would have been going on for a long time. Pretty epic in scope.
I have to admit this is one of the best sci-fi games out there.


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Dec. 10, 2009 -- A California pet food maker has issued a nationwide recall of all varieties of its popular "pig ears" and "cow hooves" dog treats because the products may be contaminated with salmonella, a bacterium that can cause serious illness in animals and people.
Pet Carousel Inc. of Sanger, Calif., announced the recall following two statements from the FDA in November warning that certain dog snacks made by the company might be contaminated with salmonella.
Pet Carousel says the FDA found positive results for salmonella in tests of pig ears and beef hoof products.
The pig ear products, distributed nationwide, were packaged under the brand names Doggie Delight, Pork Tasteez, and Pet Carousel. The beef hooves were packaged under the names Choo Hooves, Dentley's, Doggie Delight, and Pet Carousel.
The company warns that people can contract salmonella poisoning by handling dry pet food and pet treats, "especially if [people] have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the treats or any surfaces exposed to those products."
It says healthy people infected with salmonella may experience symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, fever, and sometimes more serious problems, including arterial infections.
They report that pets with salmonella may become lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, vomiting, fever, decreased appetite, and abdominal pain.
The company says healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans and warns people whose pets have consumed any of the affected products to contact their veterinarians if their animals have become sick.
The FDA said Nov. 10 that it had warned dog owners that pig ears and cow hooves made by company, "both plain and stuffed," might be contaminated with salmonella.
The warning was issued after routine FDA testing in a sample of the manufacturer's pig ear dog treats, which triggered an inspection of the company's plant.
The FDA says the affected treats were sold nationally through retail stores and over the Internet. The agency also says the retail chains PetSmart, Pet Food Express, and Petco had posted formal notices on their web pages and offered refunds or exchanges for any of the affected foods.
"Salmonella can cause gastroenteritis in dogs, including symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea," the FDA says in its warning. "Some dogs will shed salmonella in their stools without ever showing any symptoms of illness. If any stool clings to an infected dog's coat near the anus (not unusual with long-haired breeds), the salmonella can be spread to other parts of the coat by licking, and then transferred to anyone who pets, or is licked by, the dog."
The FDA's warning on Nov. 10 followed an alert issued Nov. 5.
Pet Carousel says it issued a news release "out of an abundance of caution and concern for public safety."
The FDA says it detected salmonella in Pet Carousel products in September, prompting an inspection of the company's facilities, during which salmonella was found in beef hooves, pig ears, and in the manufacturing environment.
The affected pig ear products were packaged under the brand names Doggie Delight, Pork Tasteez, and Pet Carousel, item number:
- 18100-P Bulk
- 18016-P 10-pk red mesh bag
- 18120-P 20-pk red mesh bag.
The affected beef hooves were packaged under the brand names Choo Hooves, Dentley's, Doggie Delight, and Pet Carousel, item number:
- 1506-K 5 lb. bulk
- 1507-K 10 lb. bulk
- 1520-K 20 lb. bulk
- 12125-T 10-pk vinyl bag
- 12110-T 10-pk, vinyl bag
- 12111-T 10-pk, vinyl bag
- 12122-T 10 lb., bulk
- 1503-K 3-pk, vinyl bag
- 1510-K 10-pk ,vinyl bag
- 1405-S 5 lb., bulk
- 1408-S 10-pk, vinyl bag
- 1410-S 10 lb., bulk
- 1420-S 20 lb., bulk
- 90058-H Cheese/& Bacon Stuffed Hoof, bulk
- 90056-H Peanut Butter Stuffed Hoof, bulk
- 17005-R Rope toy with Hooves


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China Espionage Knocks Wind Out of U.S. Firms
From: Bloomberg/Business Week
By Michael A. Riley and Ashlee Vance
Last June, three men squeezed inside a wind turbine in China's Gobi Desert. They were employees of American Superconductor Corp., a maker of computer systems that serve as the electronic brains of the device. From time to time, AMSC workers are required to head out to a wind farm in some desolate location — that's where the wind usually is — to check on the equipment, do maintenance, make repairs, and keep the customers happy.
On this occasion, the AMSC technicians were investigating a malfunction. They entered the cylindrical main shaft of the turbine, harnessed themselves to a ladder, and climbed 230 feet in darkness up to the nacelle, an overpacked compartment that holds the machinery used to convert the rotation of the blades into electricity. Devens, Massachusetts-based AMSC had been using the turbine, manufactured by the company's largest customer, China's Sinovel Wind Group Co. (601558), to test a new version of its control system software.
The software was designed to disable the turbine several weeks earlier, at the end of the testing period. But for some reason, this turbine ignored the system's shutdown command and the blades kept right on spinning. The AMSC technicians tapped into the turbine's computer to get to the bottom of the glitch.
The problem wasn't immediately clear, so the technicians made a copy of the control system's software and sent it to the company's research center in Klagenfurt, Austria, which produced some startling findings, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its March 19 issue. The Sinovel turbine appeared to be running a stolen version of AMSC's software. Worse, the software revealed Beijing-based Sinovel had complete access to AMSC's proprietary source code. In short, Sinovel didn't really need AMSC anymore.
Bad News
Three days after that expedition in the Gobi, Daniel McGahn, AMSC's chief executive officer, got the news on his mobile phone while he was traveling in Russia. Hired in 2006, McGahn helped revamp the then-floundering company by focusing it on two things: China and wind power. Those bets paid off for a while, as Sinovel bought more and more turbine controllers from AMSC. Then in March 2011, Sinovel abruptly and inexplicably began turning away AMSC's shipments at its enormous turbine assembly factory in Liaoning province.
On April 5, AMSC had no choice but to announce that Sinovel — now its biggest customer, accounting for more than two-thirds of the company's $315 million in revenue in 2010 — had stopped making purchases. Investors fled, erasing 40 percent of AMSC's value in a single day and 84 percent of it by September. The company's stock chart looks like the electrocardiogram of a person rushing toward white light.
Sinovel Relationship
On June 15, standing in a St. Petersburg office tower, McGahn listened to the report from the Austrian team for 30 minutes and felt the blood drain from his face. He had been trying for months to save the relationship with Sinovel and was making almost no progress. By the time he ended the call from his Austrian team, he knew why.
What McGahn says happened to AMSC may be incredibly brazen, but it's hardly exceptional. There have been a large number of corporate spying cases involving China recently, and they are coming to light as President Barack Obama and the U.S., along with Japan and the European Union, have filed a formal complaint to the World Trade Organization over China's unfair trading practices. The complaint includes the hoarding of rare earths, the metals required for the manufacture of other green energy technologies such as batteries for hybrid vehicles.
Far-Reaching Campaign
In November, 14 U.S. intelligence agencies issued a report describing a far-reaching industrial espionage campaign by Chinese spy agencies. This campaign has been in the works for years and targets a swath of industries: biotechnology, telecommunications, and nanotechnology, as well as clean energy. One U.S. metallurgical company lost technology to China's hackers that cost $1 billion and 20 years to develop, U.S. officials said last year. An Apple Inc. (AAPL) global supply manager pled guilty in 2011 to funneling designs and pricing information to China and other countries; a Ford Motor Co. (F) engineer was sentenced to six years in prison in 2010 for trying to smuggle 4,000 documents, including design specs, to China. Earlier this month, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration told Congress that China-based hackers had gained access to sensitive files stored on computers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
As the toll adds up, political leaders and intelligence officials in the U.S. and Europe are coming to a disturbing conclusion.
"It's the greatest transfer of wealth in history," General Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency, said at a security conference at New York's Fordham University in January.
Covering Digital Tracks
In other espionage cases, such as those involving Google Inc. (GOOG), Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) and DuPont Co., thieves did a far better job of covering their digital tracks. Sinovel, however, was caught red-handed. AMSC has presented to law enforcement officials in Austria and China computer logs and messages that show Sinovel courting one of the U.S. company's employees and paying him to aid in the code heist.
"It's a red-hot smoking gun example," said John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Democratic U.S. senator from AMSC's home state. "If this is the way the Chinese choose to do business, it's going to be very contentious and tough sledding ahead for this relationship."
Intellectual Property Abuses
U.S. politicians and corporate executives have groused about China's intellectual property abuses for years, to little effect. China often promises to take a harder stance against such thefts but rarely backs up the words with actions. For example, Chinese officials have promised to crack down on the theft of Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Windows operating system; the company said it's still seeing mass downloads of its software that were never paid for. McGahn, though, has taken a highly unusual step. He decided to fight back — in China.
AMSC has filed four complaints against Sinovel in Chinese courts — where Sinovel has a steep home-field advantage — seeking $1.2 billion in damages. Sinovel has filed its own countersuits claiming AMSC owes it $207 million for problems including defective equipment. Sinovel declined to make its chairman available for an interview or to comment for this story. And because Chinese courts don't make legal documents available to the public, it wasn't possible to read Sinovel's counterclaims.
"How China responds to this is going to be central to how they respond to other issues of concern between us," Kerry said.
Superconductive Material
AMSC was founded in 1987 by four professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The idea was to develop power transmission lines made from cooled superconductive material, which dramatically reduces energy loss. At the time, superconductivity looked like science's latest gift to big business. But the technology has never quite lived up to those early hopes, and AMSC's business wallowed in the red for decades. In 2006 the company hired McGahn, a gregarious executive with a master's degree in marine engineering from MIT, as a vice president charged with exploring new businesses.
As McGahn surveyed AMSC's technology, he focused on the company's research into wind-turbine control systems. A modern 1.5-megawatt turbine is the equivalent of a 160-ton, high-performance pinwheel. Each gets stuffed with as much as $200,000 worth of electronics, including a power converter and what's called a programmable logic controller, an industrial computer the size of a couple of cigarette cartons. These devices are used to do everything from filling up the bottles in a Budweiser brewery to controlling valves in oil pipelines. In the case of turbines, they can rapidly adjust the yaw and pitch of blades, among other functions. McGahn sensed an opportunity to take this technology and capitalize on China's efforts to harvest energy from the wind.
Clean Energy Law
The same year AMSC hired McGahn, China passed a clean energy law calling for the creation of seven 10,000-megawatt wind farms in strategic zones throughout the country, including Gansu, Zhejiang, Inner Mongolia, and Jiangsu provinces. The law made China the hottest wind market in the world. In 2009, according to a U.S. wind industry report, a new turbine was going up in China every hour. By 2020 just one of those wind farms may produce as much power as 10 nuclear power reactors.
AMSC began packaging the electronic components and selling them to China's small but growing domestic manufacturers, which had plenty of capital and cheap labor to make the turbines'steel skeletons but lacked the sophisticated gadgetry to run them. The arrangement was working the way it was supposed to: China would turn out the commodity hardware — the turbines –and a U.S. company would retain control of the high-margin intellectual capital-end of the business.
'Symbiotic Relationship'
"We always saw it as a symbiotic relationship of having China's low-manufacturing cost coupled with Western technology," McGahn said. "We would grow as they grew."
McGahn was well aware of the dangers of working with Chinese companies, which have become notorious for cutting out their partners after squeezing them for technology through transfer agreements and other means. Now 40, McGahn built a career out of taking technology startups and building them into revenue generators, often by finding customers among Asian manufacturers. He used this approach with nanotube plastics for auto parts at a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company called Hyperion Catalysis International and with photovoltaic film at Lowell-based Konarka Technologies.
Before arriving at AMSC, he had worked in Japan and South Korea and said he succeeded by carefully sizing up both partners and rivals. McGahn likes to tell people that almost all of history's wars started because political leaders misunderstood their adversaries.
"I spend an inordinate amount of time studying my counterparts," he said.
Secure Barriers
If McGahn was going to bet AMSC's future on partnerships with Chinese companies, he wanted secure barriers around its intellectual property. He designed AMSC's China operations — in fact, reorganized much of the company — with that in mind. To hire AMSC's first 30 employees in China, McGahn interviewed 400 people, handpicking the ones he thought he could trust. When AMSC opened a factory in China's Jiangsu province to assemble power converters, McGahn made sure firmware and other technology-rich components were built in factories in the U.S. and then shipped to Asia.
Software was sequestered at the company's research facility in Austria, which has a booming clean energy sector much like Germany's. The source code to AMSC's control system software sits on a secure server in Klagenfurt. To protect the code from hackers, the server isn't accessible from the Internet.
Strategy From Beginning
"The idea of dividing up the intellectual property part of the content and not having them in China was part of the strategy from the beginning," he said.
McGahn thought he'd planned for every contingency to keep AMSC safe. He also believed the company could find a way to have both partners benefit. He was wrong on both counts.
Chinese businesses have proven very good at copying Western goods and methods. This even appears to be true of espionage itself. China didn't invent intellectual property theft; it's just doing it on an unprecedented scale.
Willy Shih, a professor at Harvard Business School who has testified before Congress about business dealings between the U.S. and China, takes a historical view of intellectual property theft. In the 1870s, American textile companies would send employees to work in British factories. They would take notes on textile equipment and bring back the information. The Russians and East Germans stole U.S. computer and chip designs during the Cold War.
"And similar things have been true of Korean companies and Japanese companies," said Shih. "I would argue that it's a normal development pattern."
Good Timing
China's been helped by good timing. It's emerging as a global economic power at a time when nearly every secret worth stealing sits on a computer server. U.S. intelligence agencies fear that Chinese spies have already siphoned terabytes of data from thousands of Western companies.
Stealing information, however, isn't the same as being able to use it. The Soviets ended up generations behind their U.S. rivals in computing technology because they couldn't advance the cloned equipment fast enough. Shih said that for the Chinese to succeed at the current game, they will need to build a research and development culture that can supersede their skills at mimicry.
"Many countries go through an imitation phase, but the real challenge is moving to an innovation phase," he said.
Found a Shortcut
Sinovel, arguably, found a shortcut to get there. Han Junliang, Sinovel's president, is 47 and wears thin-rimmed glasses below thick hair parted in the middle. His rather drab profile doesn't match his status as one of China's most famous entrepreneurs. He rose over 17 years through the ranks of a state-owned manufacturer, Dalian Heavy Industry Group Co., which builds steel-rolling equipment and other massive machinery. He eventually became chairman of an electrical equipment division. When Han left in 2006 to start Sinovel, Dalian Heavy was among the company's major shareholders and its biggest benefactor. Han himself has a 13.3 percent stake in Sinovel through an investment that included personal loans and other means, according to company documents and wind energy experts.
Unlike some of its Chinese rivals, there are no tennis courts or Ping-Pong tables at Sinovel. The company isn't focused on amenities, just rapid and relentless growth. Workers assembling the massive turbine bodies in the hangar-size factory in the northern province of Liaoning wear coats and hats on the plant floor because the facility isn't heated. In less than four years, Han has made the company into the second-largest turbine maker in the world, after the Danish manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S. (VWS)
Not Alone
He didn't do it alone. Sinovel is one of the best-connected clean energy companies in China. Among its major investors is the private equity group New Horizon Capital (NEHICZ), co-founded by Wen Yunsong, also known as Winston Wen, son of China's premier, Wen Jiabao. Han was also close to Zhang Guobao, until recently head of China's powerful National Energy Administration. According to a former U.S. diplomat, who didn't want to be named because he still works in China, Han's relation to Zhang may have given him an early look at yet-to-be-published government regulations and provided Sinovel preference in the kinds of turbines chosen to power the state-planned wind farms.
When China finalized bids for a mega-wind project in 2008, Sinovel won 47 percent of the deal, by far the biggest share of any manufacturer.
"Han seems to have ridden the wave just perfectly," said Louis Schwartz, president of China Strategies, a firm that advises Western companies on China's wind sector.
Visible Flaws
By late 2010 there were visible flaws in China's wind power industry. The first was the production quality of the turbines. Since the government planners demanded quantity, and not performance, wind farm developers tended to cut corners. Thousands of China's turbines lack the more expensive technology that keeps them operating when there is a disturbance on the power grid. In April 2011, wind farms totaling 1,346 turbines shut down suddenly, a major technical failure that caused disruptions on the electricity grid of two provinces.
The second problem was oversupply, which persists to this day. China has ended up with more than 80 wind turbine manufacturers in a market that analysts believe can support about 10. The price of a 1.5-megawatt turbine in the country has dropped about 40 percent and continues to fall, placing enormous pressure on Han and his company. Sinovel had signed multiyear contracts with AMSC, keeping what his company paid for a turbine's electronics suite steady even as Sinovel's prices plummeted. AMSC's products accounted for about 12 percent of a Sinovel turbine's cost in 2008, according to public filings. By 2011 they made up 18 percent, said Schwartz, the U.S. consultant.
'See The Motivation'
"You can see the motivation to acquire that technology,"he said. "Everybody was getting squeezed except AMSC."
The semi-trailer load of ASMC electronic components that Sinovel turned away March 31 was worth $70 million, and the U.S. company claims it's owed another $70 million for components already shipped. Sinovel and AMSC had several supply contracts extending to 2013 that together were worth more than $700 million. That all adds up to a very large chunk of AMSC's current and future revenue stream.
The one piece of leverage that AMSC thought it had until last June was proposed regulations in China that will require existing wind turbines to be retrofitted with an updated technology called "low voltage ride through," or LVRT.
LVRT capability keeps turbines from shutting down when there is a large voltage dip on the grid, which can occur from little more than a tree falling on a transmission line. The technology would have prevented the April wind farm shutdowns. Even if Sinovel wanted to renege on its contracts, all its existing 1.5-megawatt turbines were powered by AMSC electronics. If the company wanted the upgraded LVRT software, Sinovel would have to come to the table.
Different Plan
Han apparently had a different plan in mind. According to court documents, in 2010, Sinovel began recruiting Dejan Karabasevic, a Serbian software engineer who worked at AMSC's research facility in Klagenfurt. In December, Karabasevic sent his existing contract with AMSC to Sinovel employees for review; by January 2011, Sinovel was hunting for an apartment for him in Beijing.
Once in China, the engineer was pressed to create software that could go on existing turbines as quickly as possible, using source code taken from AMSC's server in Austria. For five days beginning May 10, Karabasevic said in a confession to Austrian police, he worked steadily in his Beijing apartment and then traveled to a wind farm with three Sinovel employees to test the code in working turbines. By June it was done.
Pleaded Guilty
Karabasevic, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced in September to 1 year in jail and two years probation for distribution of trade secrets. His attorney, Gunter Huainigg, declined further comment.
In court filings in a Beijing copyright infringement case, one of the four theft-related cases filed by AMSC in China, the company said it has evidence that the stolen code was already in more than 1,000 Sinovel turbines by July. McGahn said he assumes it's been installed in many more since. Beginning in October, Sinovel filed two countersuits totaling $207 million, claiming it stopped accepting the company's electronics because of quality problems.
In hindsight, it now appears that Han never planned to fulfill the kind of long-term partnership McGahn had envisioned. In 2010, Han helped create a company called Dalian Guotong Electric, making himself chairman and giving Sinovel a 20 percent stake.
Swapped Out
When AMSC investigators opened up a Sinovel turbine in a second location in July, they found that an AMSC power converter had been swapped out and replaced with a nearly identical one made by Guotong. It was running on a version of AMSC's control system software obtained the year before by Sinovel and decrypted by its engineers. It looks like Han wanted to make Guotong Electric the Chinese version of AMSC.
Last June, after AMSC promoted McGahn from vice president to CEO, the executive began to learn the full extent of how wrong he was about Sinovel. As investigators scrambled to determine who had stolen the control system source code, they narrowed the possibilities down to three people, all of whom worked at the Klagenfurt research facility. According to interviews with people involved in the investigation and a review of court documents, log files showed that the altered code had been uploaded onto the Sinovel turbine on two different days, June 2 and June 10. Two of the employees weren't in China at that time.
Vacation Days
The third, Karabasevic, had given notice at the end of March and started using vacation days the company still owed him. One of AMSC's most valuable software engineers, Karabasevic and his bosses had agreed he would stay in touch as they looked for a replacement, so he retained a company e-mail account. The investigators discovered he was accessing the e-mail from computers in China. Next, they overlaid the computer addresses with offices, production facilities, and wind sites linked to Sinovel. The data sets matched.
In addition to its internal checks, AMSC brought in a consulting firm that specializes in white-collar crime. The company hired a private investigator to tail Karabasevic in Beijing. Forensics experts examined his company laptop and recovered data he had attempted to wipe from the machine. This led to the discovery of hundreds of messages about the code exchanged between Karabasevic and three Sinovel employees, including one e-mail in which the engineer sent AMSC's source code to his Sinovel counterpart.
Austrian Authorities
AMSC eventually turned this evidence over to Austrian authorities who took Karabasevic into custody. He admitted to being courted over several months by Sinovel, and to reprogramming the turbine-control system code from a Beijing apartment Sinovel provided him. In a locked closet inside the apartment, investigators found a six-year, $1.7 million consulting contract with Sinovel and a related company. The signature on the contract belonged to Han Junliang.
In terms of outright theft of intellectual property, there is growing evidence that China's intelligence agencies are involved, as attacks spread from hits on large technology companies to the hacking of startups and even law firms.
"The government can basically put their hands in and take whatever they want," said Michael Wessel, who sits on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission that reports to Congress. "We need to take more actions and protect our intellectual property."
Deflated Bubble
Those actions may create unexpected difficulties for Sinovel in using AMSC's stolen code. At the end of 2010, as China's wind-power bubble deflated, Sinovel had $1.7 billion in unsold inventory and was owed $2 billion by its customers. The obvious solution is to increase sales by looking overseas, part of Sinovel's long-term strategy in any case. The Chinese company's first major international deal, a contract in Ireland with Dublin-based Mainstream Renewable Power Ltd., was shelved last year after AMSC made its software theft public. If Sinovel does export turbines with the stolen code, AMSC said it can file lawsuits in those markets as well.
So far neither Sinovel nor China's government is giving any ground. Police in Beijing, after reviewing a case file provided by AMSC, declined to open a criminal investigation against three Sinovel employees named by Karabasevic. In the weeks leading up to the Feb. 24 arbitration hearing in Beijing, the pressure on McGahn and his company has grown. A fire in a turbine belonging to another AMSC customer in China killed two people, and a Chinese media report, citing an anonymous source, blamed AMSC's components. Jason Fredette, an AMSC spokesman, said that based on information the company has obtained, its electronics weren't at fault.
The day after the press report, AMSC computer networks in Devens were hit by a cyberattack. Forged e-mails were sent to a handful of company executives; they contained spyware designed to copy confidential data, including documents and internal communications. Fredette said e-mails were expertly crafted and had a fake link to a story about Sinovel's troubles, a bit of irony inserted by the attackers. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident.
McGahn said he still wants to do business in China. But even if the company never sells another component there, he contends AMSC will survive. He has since moved to secure deals in Russia and is eyeing India as the next big wind market. In the meantime, McGahn has been schooled about doing business in China in a way he never imagined.
"I used to be a Sinophile," McGahn said, then pauses for a long exhale. "I don't know what I am now."
|Print article


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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Sept. 26, 2014) – Being a teacher takes dedication, hard work and - occasionally - a bladder of steel. In the latest episode of Horace Mann's video series, "An Extreme Calling," the teacher trainees learn what it means to "Beat Back the Bladder."
Horace Mann, a multiline insurance company providing insurance and financial services to the education community, is taking a lighthearted look at the unique challenges educators face through the faux reality series. Responses from educators in Horace Mann's Educator Advisory Panel inspired the series after they shared the funniest things about being a teacher that only other teachers could understand. The series features several teachers undergoing intense training meant to train them for their "Extreme Calling" and is featured on Horace Mann's social channels.
The first episode, "Two-minute Meal Ingestion," was released on Sept. 12. Additional episodes will be released via Horace Mann's Facebook page and horacemann.com in the coming weeks.
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I'm a university student who loves Harry Potter and writing a bit too much for her own good. I just keep ignoring the pressures of my studies to return to MNFF! Chocolate's got nothing on constructive criticism--it's my favorite guilty pleasure.
I started out in fanfiction writing a lot of Draco/Ginny, but I haven't stuck with a particular ship or genre since then. My favorite thing to do is to pick a new character that I've never written before and create a story for them. I've learned that I have a much greater appreciation for characters after I've written a one-shot in which they star. I also have a particular weakness for Contest Submissions--there's nothing like an interesting prompt to get those crazy plot bunnies running through my head.
Hope to see all of you in the review pages for my stories or around the Boards! :)


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reading skills, sales training, soft skills training
Letter Writing Tips To Grab Apply A Great Job
Letter writing for the job application is as crucial as your job interview. The letter you have to deliver must be free of false information and also clear overview of yourself into it. Sometimes, they even ask you to write the application using handwriting only to examine your psychology aspects using your handwriting. This article will provide you some new ways to develop eye-catching application letter to gain your dreamed job. However, writing is actually parts of an art. The art of composing language in a a perfect structure, so the reader can get easily what you want.
Before starting to write the application, I suggest you to collect some data required including your CV, list of experience, last education certificate, etc. It will give you some overview to write your application anyway. For instance, you can be more confidence to write generally of yourself in the letter writing activity. By collecting those data, you will also enable to understand how good is your qualification to apply the job you want, so you can now understand how big is the percentage you will be accepted.
If it looks like you have only small chance to be accepted in the job you want, then you must optimize the writing you do. First, remember to use solid formal language. So, using "Dear Sir" will better than using "Howdy" in the first line of your. Keep writing using a formal language and avoid to use unnecessary word like "I am very very excited to apply your job" must be written like "I am interested to apply the job because…". Another example is never use the abbreviation word like "don't, doesn't, I'll" and so on. And the last is to avoid the use of slank words such as wanna, gonna, gotcha, gotta, and others. By avoiding those criteria, you automatically put some professional touch to your application letter and make the boss think "Hmm… this one looks professional" and the rest will be on the interview itself.
Second, close your application letter using the engaging words. What I mean here is the significant words to stimulate the next action of the reader to contact you. Don't simply close the letter with "Thanks for your attention, bye!", it could be better if you use this "Thanks for reading my application, and hope to see your reply soon". After doing all that stuff, evaluate the letter and ensure there is no miss typing and other small words missing in your letter writing


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The Lifestyle Project at the University of Redlands
This three-week project begins with a measurement of "baseline" consumptive behavior followed by two weeks of working to reduce the use of water, energy, high-impact foods, and other materials. The assignment uses an Excel spreadsheet that calculates direct energy and water use as well as indirect CO2 and water use associated with food consumption.
Learning Goals
- Students will recognize the environmental impacts of their lifestyle habits
- Students will learn what they can do to reduce their environmental impact
- Students will learn how to quantify their impacts in terms of energy use and pollution emissions
Context for Use
Teaching Materials
Energy Calculator (Excel 141kB Sep15 09) - The Excel file allows students to record baseline energy use and modified energy use. Graphs of energy savings are automatically generated.
Teaching Notes and Tips
At first glance, the Excel spreadsheet can seem overwhelming for students that are not familiar with Excel. The instructor should first show the file on an overhead projector and walk the students through the spreadsheet elements. It may also help to have a follow up help session after the first week for students that may be having difficulty.
It has been difficult to assess energy from heating/cooling because most students live in dorms and have no control over the thermostat of the building.
References and Resources
The carbon dioxide emission associated with food choices comes from Bon Appetit's Eat Low Carbon Diet Calculator.
The indirect water use associated with food comes from The Water Footprint Network .


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Over 7,000 miles away from San Francisco, I've finally arrived in Lebanon to start my fellowship with Al Majmoua , a microfinance institution based in Beirut but with mulitiple branches around the country. Flying from my last connection in Dubai to Beirut, we cross over an endless expanse of desert as we pass over Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The desert starts to make way to rocky mountain peaks as we fly over Syria and finally I start to see specs of green -al-arz (the cedars) – I've arrived.
The noise from the screaming kids (in-flight entertainment system was broken-lovely) and exasperated parents dies down to a quiet murmur as we start to get our first glimpses of the Mediterranean and the Lebanese shoreline. The entire plane is silenced by this stunning view – sandy beaches, rocky coasts and plummeting cliffs. All the last-minute nervousness and doubts I had when boarding my plane from the US (quitting my job given the current economic climate, leaving my rent-controlled apartment, getting rid of my goldfish…) melt away as I watch the electric blue waters of the sea and recognize various Lebanese landmarks – this is why I came here.
This country is rich in history and culture , it's capital –Beirut- was once known as the "Paris of the Middle-East" . Fifteen-years of civil war seriously damaged the country's economic infrastructure. Lebanon started to recover but the war of 2006 set the economy back yet again. However, what I admire most about this country and its people is their ability to bounce-back- nothing phases them – they just pick-up where they left off and rebuild as necessary . I came here because I wanted to see the power of microfinance in improving these peoples' lives and in aiding to restore this already-on-the-mend "Paris of the Middle-East" to its former glory – it's time again for Lebanon to be recognized for its rich heritage, its peoples' "joie de vivre" and its breath-taking beauty.
Alia Rafeh is part of KF8 and will be working with Al Majmoua in Lebanon for 11 weeks where she will attempt not to completely butcher the language. To fund borrowers from Al Majmoua on Kiva, click here./>


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Whose phault?: When paving plan gets icy
Looking for a place to skate this winter? Try Virginia Arts on Stewart Street: According to owner Paul Brier, you may find "a solid sheet of ice" in the middle of his parking lot.
Brier didn't set out to build a skating rink; he wanted to enlarge his parking lot. This was required by the city when he built an addition onto his business, a recording studio.
Brier got an estimate from S.L. Williamson Co. for $2,500, but before he signed the contract, he claims, Benny York of B. York Paving of Appomattox appeared at his door. York allegedly said that he had two loads of asphalt left over from a nearby job, and, noticing the construction at Virginia Arts, wondered if Brier would like him to do the paving.
Brier says that York's first estimate was for $6,700, to which he replied that Williamson would do the job for $2,500. On hearing that, Brier claims, York lowered his estimate to $2,800. Because Williamson had a waiting list and Brier preferred to get the work finished quickly, he agreed. Both he and his wife, Lyn (who's the office manager at Virginia Arts), say that York parked his equipment in Virginia Arts' lot that night and began the work the next day.
The contract, dated October 7, 2003, states: "Grade level. Apply weed killer. Then pave with 2-l/2" asphalt." The work was finished a couple of days later, and Brier was pleased– until it rained. Then, Brier claims, he had "a two-inch-deep puddle" in the middle of the lot that was "about 12 feet by 20 feet."
Lyn claims she called York and was told that someone would come by. She later saw a man pull up in a truck, open his door and survey the parking lot, close the door, and drive off– but whether or not that was York, she can't say. In any case, according to Paul, after that he and Lyn "started calling and only getting answering machines"– about a dozen times.
My conversation with York started with a jolt, when he announced, "I'm going to sue your ass." Things calmed down a bit after that, although in this case "calm" is a relative term. York disputed just about everything the Briers had told me, except for the fact that he had paved their parking lot.
First, York says that after the problem emerged, he spoke with the Briers in person once and by phone twice. "I've had nothing but bad conversations" with them, he added, and claims he said from the first that there was nothing he could do until the third week of March, when Williamson's asphalt plant reopens for the season. However, a call to Williamson yielded the information that the plant didn't close this year until December 19– almost two months after the lot began collecting rainwater.
York also insists that he didn't solicit the job by knocking on Virginia Arts' door; instead, Paul called him, perhaps after seeing his ad in the Yellow Pages. Although York allows that the job "could have been a lot better," he says that the depression in the middle of the lot was the result of the Briers' decision, at the end, to add two more parking spaces. While completing the new section, York said, he inadvertently created the problem.
In any case, York can't understand why the Briers are so frustrated, since the contract includes a year warranty: As soon as the asphalt plant opens, he'll gladly repair the lot– and if a patch job doesn't look right, he'll repave the entire lot.
When I asked Paul about York's version of the transaction– i.e., that he had explained about the asphalt plant being closed until late March– he declared that York has "never, ever said anything like that." Furthermore, because the two parking spaces in question "aren't close to" the depression, he can't see how they could have caused the problem.
The Federal Trade Commission's website, ftc.gov, has lots of tips for consumers looking to hire a contractor. Among other things, the FTC cautions against hiring a contractor who "solicits door-to-door" and "just happens to have materials left over from a previous job."
When and if the parking lot gets repaired, I'll let you know.
Do you have a consumer problem or question? Email the Fearless Consumer, write her at 100 Second Street NW, 22902, or call 295-8700 ext. 406.


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"Ain't I a Woman?" - Sojourner TruthWednesday, July 31, 2013
Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?
That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?
Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?
Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.
Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.
This text is part of the Internet Modern History Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts for introductory level classes in modern European and World history.
Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright. Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No permission is granted for commercial use of the Sourcebook.
Sojourner Truth: "Ain't I a Woman?", December 1851
Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): Ain't I A Woman?
Women's Convention, Akron, Ohio
(c)Paul Halsall Aug 1997 - email@example.com


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Universal Monsters: Origins: The legends behind the world's greatest cinematic monsters by our very own Christopher Ripley
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Carrot and corriander salad
Member recipe by lizzimai2
ServingsServes 4
Refreshing, light and perfect to accompany any dish
This recipe has been submitted by the Good Food community. Sign in or create a My Good Food account to upload your own recipe creations. Please note that all recipes will be moderated but they are not tested in the Good Food kitchen.


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WOODINVILLE, WA — Precor has been on a post-holiday shopping spree. Last month, the company spent $33.8 million purchasing both Fitness Products International (FPI) and ClubCom, including its CardioTheater division.
Through its parent company, Precor acquired FPI for $11.8 million. FPI serves the commercial market with a range of strength products marketed primarily under the Icarian brand along with the Abench, Flite, Stretch Center and Jade brands.
"Precor is bullish on the fitness industry, and we see great opportunity in adding FPI to the Precor team. This adds to Precor's momentum and is a major step in building a full-line offering suited for a consolidating market," said Precor President Paul J. Byrne. "What we have is a perfect strategic fit of complementary companies, adding great people and an outstanding strength line to Precor leadership in cardio products and established international distribution. Together, we're a single source for products and services to better meet market needs."
With minimal redundancy of products, staff or facilities, Byrne expects a smooth integration, and no major changes at either company as a result of the acquisition.
FPI president and CEO Rick Wallace said the acquisition provides FPI with greater stability, opportunity and growth. Wallace will remain as the strength group's general manager.
Hot on the heels of the FPI transaction, Precor acquired ClubCom and its CardioTheater division for $22 million, seeing entertainment hardware as a key to its "total product" vision.
"ClubCom and Cardio Theater add a technology backbone to Precor's promise of fitness industry leadership through a 'total product' of value-added services," said Byrne. "We have an aggressive growth plan, and with the backing and resources of our parent company, Amer Group, we're concentrating on global leadership through a broader range of products and services than seen in the market today."
Precor is purchasing ClubCom's technology and content divisions while ClubCom's advertising division is being spun off as a separate company owned by a group of ClubCom investors. In addition to the in-house promotional advertising, external advertisers can purchase spots during ClubCom programming. Precor plans for Cardio Theater and ClubCom to offer open platform systems available to manufacturers, clubs and fitness facilities.
ClubCom will operate as an independent subsidiary and will collaborate with Precor on new technologies, such as Precor's InSite wireless information service for club and facility management.
Tom Lapcevic, ClubCom founder and president, said that the fitness equipment market is a narrow offering today compared to total product possibilities.
"Today, entertainment is the most visible and accepted technology, but both in terms of capability or market penetration, we've only scratched the surface," he said. "Entertainment technology will maintain its primacy in the short term, but soon it will be joined, and perhaps surpassed, by additional technology-driven services that benefit the fitness facility and its members."
ClubCom will maintain operations at its Pittsburgh facility.


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Link Buzz: Kate Lanphear Joins T Magazine; Tom Ford Will Show in London
It's been confirmed: Kate Lanphear is joining the T Magazine team. Take a look at how the news broke on the interwebs. [Style.com] Tom Ford has decided it's okay to be like everyone else. He's staging "a regular, real show" during London Fashion Week next month. [Fashionologie] Why can't we all just be […]Read more


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As we peer across the dank grey markets we think we can make out the following Mad March Hares starting to cavort about
First Mad March Hare is today's craze for quoting statistically sculpted quotes about how the Saudi stock market hasn't fallen this much in x time since (insert last time it happened). Whilst TMM are as worried as the next person about the consequence of Saudi blowing up, we feel that inciting global panic on the back of stock market movements and two day old dubious stories involving tanks on lorries going to Bahrain is gauche. We would like to put it in some perspective. Here is the chart of the Saudi stock market over the past 10 years.
These sorts of moves are NOT unusual. Perhaps a market that has been running on Middle East stimulants for the past month is missing a fix in today's otherwise quiet times and is looking down the back of the General's Armchair for something to smoke. As for the Armchair Generals themselves - there is a lot of googling of "Saudi stock market" going on in the background.
Short the 5yr UST - After the past month's squeeze higher, it looks as though punters are looking to get ahead of expected strong macro data over the next week or so. Traders are sensitive to pattern recognition, and if the first week or two of February is anything to go by, TMM will not be standing in the way of that one. Readers will recall that TMM are strongly of the view that the Fed will not be raising rates until mid-2012 at the earliest, and will look to buy into the front-end dip after the data dump sometime next week.
Long Equities - The first cry of the month is "look at the inflows". Equities have survived a harsh February with Middle East insurrection and an oil shock, but here again, pattern recognition is the name of the game, with punters front-running real money inflows yesterday and expecting a strong day today too.
TMM's own Mad March Hare. Selling AUD/NZD .. TMM should have been braver and paid March RBNZ OIS rather than yet again trying to fade the AUDNZD rally, as the former backed up a few bps, while the latter landed them with another small loss.
We are sure there are other Mad March Hares out there and look forward to hearing from you if you have spotted any.
One last thought - We have all been watching the latest interview that Jeremy Bowen of the BBC conducted with Gaddaffi. Apart from wondering if Mr Bowen was exposed to the same level of flatulence John Simpson was subjected to the last time they got to interview the man, we wonder if an exploding Jeremy Bowen would have been a small price to pay for swiftly ending the Libyan situation and saving many lives?


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Just red on the web that Leaf is coming with brand new backs... Faster than any other on the market.Take a look at: http://www.digitalcameratracker.com/archiv...backs-ever.html[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=76428\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
faster..i just want cheaper..same 'full size' chip..22mp +..just more affordable please...even a 'full size' 17mp would be fine to start with..at least I could put it on my mf camera and use its 16bit, star lenses , wide angles, etc to get great large images.[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=76433\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I don't know about you guys but this is one of the advances I was waiting for, when you shoot fashion, fast frame rates are super important.[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=76443\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I expect Mamiya to come out with an improved 22MP camera with good file depth for Photokina and then we'll all be queuing up to buy it.Edmund[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=76445\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Edmund,Out of curiosity, do you have any first hand evidence that the current Mamiya ZD has actual shortcomings compared to - say - a Leaf 22 MP in terms of color transitions or highlight handling as a result of its lower bit depth?I have seen zero comparison so far, but all the reports I have read on the ZD seem to be very positive about these aspects.Regards,Bernard[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=76490\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
1 second is a long time in Fashion. But then they used to shoot MF fashion quite well in the old days with Blads, too.The real issue is price, as we all know. The backs simply cost too much. I expect Mamiya to come out with an improved 22MP camera with good file depth for Photokina and then we'll all be queuing up to buy it.Edmund[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=76445\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
most flash packs do not recycle under one second, and yes none of the MF cameras advanced film that fast
if canon would come out with a 3:4 chip they would pretty much kill MF off completely...eventually they will figure out how to make their chips 16bit and handle that data with the speed they need...
[span style=\'font-size:21pt;line-height:100%\']HOLD on a Minute![/span]The actual shoot speeds are specified here (taken from Leaf press release)Leaf Aptus 75S 33 MP 48 mm x 36 mm 1.1 sec/frame Unlimited 53 1.1 50 - 800Leaf Aptus 65S 28 MP 44 mm x 33 mm 0.9 sec/frame Unlimited 63 0.9 50 - 800Leaf Aptus 54S 22 MP 48 mm x 36 mm 0.8 sec/frame Unlimited 75 0.8 25 - 400* Speed depend on camera configurationThat is a huge speed increase for the Aptus75 (33mp). It used to be 1.85 sec/frame. For jobs I currently use the Aptus 22 1.2 sec/frame. That means the Aptus 75S 33 is the fastest back on the market at this point. This really hurts Hasselblad as where is there back they announced last year?? When I mean fast the larger sensors 33mp new generation chip. Plus they have iso 800. This is exciting news. Thanks Denis


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There have been dozens of horror movies in recent years, but "The Strangers" is different in that it's actually good.
There have been dozens of horror movies in recent years, but "The Strangers" is different in that it's actually good.
Not great, mind you, but good. It passes the most important test: It'll make you shiver. No blood or gore, just the more terrifying power of suggestion.
Old school, yes. But its creator, writer-director Bryan Bertino, is younger than most of the movies that obviously influenced his shaping of a tale about a young couple terrorized by a trio of masked intruders.
What's interesting is how Bertino so efficiently adheres to constructs of the genre while also turning them on their ear, especially in his choice of making two of the three perpetrators women.
Bertino is also efficient and economical, taking less than 85 minutes to construct a leisurely but intriguing setup, develop empathetic characters and then scare the bejesus out of you in the final half hour.
The film also undergoes some remarkably smooth shifts in tone and style, with the only constant being its two surprisingly strong stars, Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler, actors you wouldn't immediately think of as right for the genre.
Both are superb, though, especially in their ability to add layers to Bertino's deceptively complex script. Usually their roles, lovers in the middle of a romantic rift, would be mere chum for an over-the-top fiend. But Bertino and his stars go for something deeper, creating characters with an authenticity and likeability that allows them to heighten the chills with steady doses of drama.
We first meet their Kristen and James after they depart a friend's wedding reception for the summer home owned by James' father, a house littered with rose petals and stocked with chilled champagne in anticipation of Kristen accepting James' marriage proposal.
The tears streaming down Kristen's cheeks make it clear, though, the night did not go well. Nor will what's left of it, after the young lovers make the mistake of answering a thundering knock at their door at 4 a.m.It's a woman asking for someone named Tamara.
Told there's no such person there, the visitor leaves, only to return minutes later with her two masked friends ready to go all Charlie Manson on their butts. It will end grimly, too, an outcome established in the film's opening scene as two teenaged missionaries come upon a house splattered in blood and broken glass.
Bertino then flashes back a few hours to recount the events that led up to the boys' gruesome discovery.
Like the great suspense pictures of the 1970s ("Don't Look Now," "Deliverance"), "The Strangers" uses long, eerie silences that allow his two leads to communicate fear through haunting expressions rather than blood-curdling screams.
Bertino also wisely forgoes equally tired devices of creaking doors and critters leaping out of dark corners, going instead for more effective psychological scares. They work, too. Well, at least most of the time.
For all its innovation and daring, "The Strangers" occasionally suffers from the same slips in plausibility and rational thinking that plague lesser films of the genre. And in what's meant to be the movie's most haunting moment, he dilutes the impact by being too obvious.
Still, even with the flaws, Bertino runs laps around the competition simply by being different, be it his choice of actors or his decision to give the three intruders (played by Kip Weeks, Gemma Ward and Laura Margolis) neither motive or identity, purposely keeping their faces obscured throughout.
What you do see are their eyes, each pair more dead and unfeeling than the next. And to look into them is more unsettling than any bastion of torture porn could ever imagine. It will literally give you nightmares, and to horror fans, that's a dream.
Grade: B
Rated R. "The Strangers" contains violence, terror and language.


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Koalas may be synonymous with Australia, but lately many Australians have been seeing less and less of the animals. According to research, koala populations are dwindling and threats such as climate change and urban sprawl are destroying their habitats. Conservationists have been fighting hard for years to have the animals listed as a threatened species and this month Australian officials helped accomplish this mission. We may think of koalas as cute and cuddly now, but we may soon be thinking of them as an endangered species as well.
New resources that will be added to the ipl2 are noted NEW! All other resources can already be found in the ipl2 collection.
Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) (find it on the ipl2)
In existence for over 25 years, this non-profit organization is dedicated to spreading awareness about the conservation of koalas as well as promoting both research and habitat protection. AKF provides information on koalas, their plight and ways to help. There are also resources for kids, videos and photos.
National Geographic Creature Feature (find it on the ipl2)
National Geographic Kids features fun facts for kids about koalas, a variety of photos and a map that highlights the animal's natural habitat. This website allows visitors to print out the information or email it to friends.
NEW! Australian Government: Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities
Sponsored by the Australian government, this website details the official evidence for adding koalas to the threatened species list. Petitions relating to this ruling along with recovery plans, conservation and management programs are available to view.
ARKive Blog (find it on the ipl2)
Devoted to showcasing pictures and videos of endangered species, the blog produced by ARKive discusses the recent threats koalas have been facing and the ways in which changes in climate and habitat loss have adversely affected them. Details concerning what steps are being taken to save them can also be found here along with links to photos and videos of the koala captured by ARKive.
NEW! The Foundational for National Parks and Wildlife
This website provides background information on the koala as well as its habitat. There are additional resources listed that relay the types of projects and programs the Foundation has put in place to save the endangered animal and restore its natural home so it can thrive in the wild.
Thank you for supporting the ipl2. We hope you found these resources informative.
Reminder: You can now subscribe to ipl2's newsletter and weekly blog posts via email as well as RSS. The "Email Subscription" feature appears prominently in the upper left-hand side of the page on the ipl2's News and Information WordPress blog. Subscription is free and open to all!


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**SANTA CRUZ, Calif. **(July 19, 2011) -- Zero Motorcycles, the global leader in electric motorcycle technology, today announced it will be in attendance for its third consecutive year at the 2011 MotoGP at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. During the three day racing event, spectators will be invited to Zero's newly developed tradeshow booth to take a closer look at the Zero Motorcycles 2011 product offerings, which are all available for purchase today. Always a hit at MotoGP, Zero will also be hosting its demo ride program, giving consumers the opportunity to take a Zero Motorcycle for a quick test ride to see and experience the world's largest line-up of electric motorcycles.
"MotoGP is one of the biggest venues in the country that brings together motorcycle enthusiasts from all walks of life. Each year we look forward to showing spectators our newest products and this year is no different. Our 2011 product line is the strongest, fastest and most fun to ride bikes we've ever built," said John Lloyd, VP of Global Sales, Zero Motorcycles. "Our new tradeshow booth will be a big highlight for us this year as it will really give consumers a different kind of Zero Motorcycles experience with new interactive kiosks and improved visuals of our motorcycle line."
Zero Motorcycles' demo program will kick-off Friday at 10 a.m., in the Yamaha Marketplace at Laguna Seca, Demos will continue throughout the weekend from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Interested spectators that desire a test ride will be required to present a valid motorcycle license and sign a waiver. Due to limited space, interested spectators and media can Pre-Schedule a ride time online to avoid long lines and to ensure a quality riding experience. Zero Motorcycles executive and technical staff will be on-site to answer any consumer product inquiries.
About Zero Motorcycles
Zero Motorcycles is the next step in motorcycle evolution and represents the ultimate electric motorcycle technology. Unencumbered by conventional thinking about how they design, manufacture and sell high performance electric motorcycles, they are on a mission to turn heads and revolutionize their industry by combining the best aspects of a traditional motorcycle with today's most advanced technology.


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Ludwig von Mises
Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Ludwig von Mises
A major economist and philosopher. He promoted individualism as the basis for social science. Based on this belief, he advocated laissez faire policies and opposed nearly all government interventions in the economy. He was a proponent of the gold standard in monetary policy. He had significant influence of the Austrian School. He lived from 1881 to 1973.


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Cabinet minister and NTUC's Secretary General Lim Swee Say is confident that Singapore will be able to replenish the S$4.5 billion drawn from the reserves over two to three years. He said Singapore makes sure that every dollar is put to good use and every extra dollar is put back into the reserves.
So is he saying the realised losses on Merrill Lynch (may have totalled US $4.6 billion) and Barclays (possibly 800 million pounds) were a good use of the reserves? BTW they total S$8bn at today's rates. Almost more than double the amounts drawn down for WorkFare.
More to the point, how long will Temasek need to make up for the losses on just these two stocks? Remember its profits have fallen two years running.


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March 18, 2013 -GUANGZHOU, China--(Business Wire)-- ZWSOFT, a leading supplier of CAD/CAM solutions for the MCAD and AEC industries, Monday unveiled ZW3D 2013, the next generation of its flexible CAD/CAM software available for all types of 3D modeling and machining.
"The new version of ZW3D is aimed at streamlining design workflow for designers, engineers, and construction professionals," said Colin Lin, Vice Director of ZW3D Overseas Business. "It optimizes the efficiency of various design tasks and shortens the development cycle through its improved CAD performance, greater flexibility of its CAM Manager, and simplified 3D molding processes."
Increased Efficiency in CAD Design
ZW3D 2013 makes great strides in improving the efficiency for designers through a number of great enhancements:
- · Smart Constraint. When designers establish constraints for several objects, ZW3D 2013 will generate constraint options automatically and intelligently.
- · Constraint Detection. When designers need to find and resolve constraint conflicts, ZW3D 2013 allows them to do it in a single click.
- · History Manager with Drag and Drop Functionality. When designers intend to make quick modifications to models, ZW3D 2013 allows simple drag and drop operations managed by History Manager.
During the beta test of ZW3D 2013, several new CAD features received positive feedback from users for their operational efficiency. Gary, Smith, a tester from USA, commented, "Changing the menu by drag and drop! I like to load up the Document-Aware toolbar with frequently-used commands. Now it's easier than ever."
Simplified Machining Workflow
ZW3D's intelligent CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) module makes machining easier and safer, streamlining the workflow tremendously and reducing design errors before production as well. In the new 2013 release, the CAM Manager is redesigned to make work more flexible and manageable. Designers can easily manage all items with the Fold function, such as geometry, operation and output.
New containments provide better machining tool paths, including tangent-to-open-edges, silhouettes, and face curves. Extended containments ensure maximum cutting angle of part surfaces, which helps improve machining accuracy and quality.
William, Koontz, a tester from Poland commented on the new CAM features, "ZW3D 2013 is a next big step for its user-friendly interface and interactions; I especially like the new tool manager very much."
Improved 3D Mold Efficiency
Standard parts and mold base libraries are essential to mold designers. Customized libraries provided by ZW3D 2013 will allow users to save their standard industrial parts and mold bases in ZW3D libraries for future reuse, saving a huge amount of design time and shortening the development cycle.
About ZW3D 2013
ZW3D is cost-effective CAD/CAM software for 3D modeling, mold design and machining. With more than 600 customer-driven improvements, ZW3D 2013 again demonstrates ZWSOFT's commitment to providing cost-effective software and services to CAD/CAM users. To learn more about ZW3D 2013, please go to http://www.zwsoft.com/products/zw3d2013.
Contact :
Kenyth He, +86-20-38289780


text: Education fairs in Switzerland In Switzerland, prospective students can find information about the HSG at the following educational fairs. FAIRS IN SWITZERLAND 2020 Zurich, Switzerland Maturanden-Messe StageOne, Zurich-Oerlikon 2 September 2020 Zurich, Switzerland Master-Messe StageOne, Zurich-Oerlikon 18 November 2020 Baden, Switzerland ask! Studienmesse Baden 31 October 2020 Lausanne, Switzerland Salon des Maturants Swiss Tech Convention Center, Lausanne 2 December 2020


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Skat - Game information
Objective of the game:
The objective of Skat, a German 3-player game, is to take at least 61 card points in tricks plus Skat; the opponents win if their combined tricks contain at least 60 card points.
Basic rules of the game:
1. Each active player is dealt 10 cards and remaining two cards form the skat.
2. Each hand begins with an auction. The winner of the bidding becomes the declarer and plays alone against the other two players who are in partnership.
3. The declarer has the right to use the two skat cards to make a better hand and to choose the trump suit.
4. Instead of choosing a trump suit the declarer is also allowed to play Grand (jacks are the only trumps) or Null (no trumps at all and the new goal of the declarer is to lose all the tricks).
5. The total number of points in the game is 120. To win the game the declarer has to take at least 61 points in tricks plus skat or play Null and lose all the tricks.


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In this article, I'll discuss how to answer this question by highlighting some key differences between Runnable and Callable in Java. I didn't know all these points at that time but my research after that helped to learn more about the Callable interface.
Even though both Callable and Runnable interface are used to encapsulate task supposed to be executed by another thread, there is two key difference between Callable and Runnable interface:
1. Callable can return result
2. Callable can throw checked Exception.
In fact, a Callable interface was introduced in Java 1.5 to address the above two limitations of the Runnable interface i.e. Runnable cannot return the result of computation which is essential if you are performing some computing task in another thread and Runnable cannot throw checked exception. Now, Java's multi-threading API has got the best of both worlds.
As I said, what is the difference between Callable and Runnable is also one of the frequently asked multithreading interview questions in Java, so knowing the difference not only helps you to write better code but also to do well on interviews? Let's see a couple of more differences between these two interfaces to understand them better.
Btw, if you are serious about mastering Java multi-threading and concurrency then I also suggest you take a look at the Java Multithreading, Concurrency, and Performance Optimization course by Michael Pogrebinsy on Udemy. It's an advanced Java course to become an expert in Multithreading, concurrency, and Parallel programming in Java with a strong emphasis on high performance.
Runnable vs CallableBefore looking at the difference between the Runnable and Callable interface, let's look at the similarities between them, they are indeed quite similar.
1) The most common thing between them is that both are used to encapsulate code which needs to be run in parallel on a separate thread.
2) The second similarity between them is that bot can be used with Executors framework introduced in Java 5. Executors framework defines ExecutorService interface which can accept and execute Runnable and Callable.
3) You can also convert Runnable to Callable by using the following utility method provided by Executors class
As I said, both are used to encapsulate the code, you want to run in a separate thread, but there is a limitation, you cannot execute Callable instance in a thread, just like you execute a Runnable instance, you need an ExecutorService instance. Let's see them in detail.
Callable callable = Executors.callable(Runnable task);
4) The fourth similarity between Runnable and Callable interface is that both are SAM type i.e. they have a single abstract method, which means they can be used in lambda expression in Java 8 as shown below.
new Thread( () -> System.out.println("Runnable") ).start()
Now, we know the similarities between Runnable and Callable interface, it's time to see the differences again. On the same note, you can also use the Java Programming Interview exposed book to check out similar questions for more practice.
Difference between Runnable vs Callable interfaceHere are some important difference between these two key interfaces of Java's multithreading API in the point format.
1) Existence and Availability
First and most important difference between Runnable and Callable interface is that Runnable is available in Java right from the beginning i.e. JDK 1.0 while Callable was later added to Java 5, so you cannot use Callable before Java 5.
2) Result
The second key difference between Callable and Runnable is that Callable can return the result of parallel processing of a task. It returns a Future object, which represents the lifecycle of a task and provides methods to check if the task has been completed or canceled, retrieve the result or cancel the task. Since return type of Runnable's run() method is void, it cannot return anything.
3) Checked Exception
Another worth noting difference between these two interfaces is that Callable's call() method can throw Checked exception while Runnable's run() method cannot throw checked exception.
4) The call() vs run() methods
In order to use Callable, you need to override the call() method while in order to use Runnable interface you need to override the run() method in Java.
5) Execution
There is one limitation while using Callable interface in Java that you cannot pass it to Thread as you pass the Runnable instance. There is no constructor defined in the Thread class which accepts a Callable interface. So in order to execute a Callable instance you need to use the ExecutorService interface of Java 5 Executor framework. This interface defines submit() method which accepts a Callable instance and return a Future object which holds the result of computation as shown below:
Future result = exec.submit(aCallable); result = holder.get();
Remember, Future.get() is a blocking method and blocks until execution is finished, so you should always call this method with a timeout to avoid deadlock or livelock in your application.
In short, here is the key difference between Runnable and Callable in Java:
That's all about the difference between a Callable and Runnable interface in Java. Apart from the basic fact that Callable was added later in Java 5, you should remember that Callable can return result and throw checked exception but you need ExecutorService to execute Callable instance. Good thing is that both Runnable and Callable are SAM type so you can use them in lambda expressions.
Similar frequently asked thread interview questions you may like
- Difference between start() and run() method in Java? (answer)
- Difference between execute() and submit() method of Executor in Java? (answer)
- How to join multiple threads in Java? (answer)
- How to stop a thread in Java? (answer)
- How to solve producer consumer problem using blocking queue in Java? (solution)
- Top 50 Thread Interview Questions for experienced programmers (list)
Further Learning
Multithreading and Parallel Computing in Java
Java Concurrency in Practice - The Book
Applying Concurrency and Multi-threading to Common Java Patterns
Java Concurrency in Practice Course by Heinz Kabutz