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From Big Five to Top Five
Old economy company Alexander & Baldwin is making the transition to the new economy under the watchful eye of CEO W. Allen Doane
Fellow Shareholders
Alexander & Baldwin's earnings for 1998 can be summarized in one word—disappointing.
—Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. 1998 Annual Report
Fellow Shareholders
1999 was a year of considerable progress. Before one-time items, earning per share increased 26 percent. This performance exceeded our targets for the year and was accomplished with little appreciable improvement in Hawaii's economy.
—Alexander & Baldwin Inc. 1999 Annual Report
|Risky Business: Alexander & Baldwin Inc. President and CEO W. Allen Doane calls manufacturing Hawaiian Duragreen "the most agressive, far-reaching thing that we've ever done."
What a difference a year made for 130-year-old Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEX). The conglomerate of shipping, real estate and agricultural interests was born out of a sugar-growing partnership formed on Maui in 1870 between Samuel T. Alexander and Henry P. Baldwin. The company was incorporated in Honolulu in 1900. The former Big Five powerhouse has been in and out of the Hawaii Business Top 5 over the years, but has held on to one of the top spots run since 1997.
Of late, the company has been involved in astute commercial real estate investments both in Hawaii and on the mainland. At the same time, A&B has shown good performance in its Matson shipping subsidiary. Agriculture, primarily sugar and coffee production, has produced less than stellar results.
A&B holds the No. 5 spot on this year's Top 250 with 1999 sales of $959.3 million, a 27 percent decrease from last year when it was ranked Number 3 with 1998 sales of $1.31 billion. Yet, despite the $352 million sales drop, A&B still managed to generate a 26 percent increase in earnings per share in 1999 compared to the previous year. This was done under the leadership of President and CEO W. Allen Doane who was named to the position in December 1998. Doane had been serving as vice president and chief operating officer since 1991.
"We had to take decisive action to improve the results of the company. Part of the process was that we sold the majority interest that we owned in the C&H refinery. So we made a very major divestment of a business that we did not feel comfortable with strategically in having. At the same time, the remaining businesses that we have-shipping, real estate and agricultural-all performed very well last year," says Doane.
"Management's done a good job of working the cost side of the equation over the last several years given that they haven't had a lot of growth in the top line of the business," says Mary C. Fleckenstein, senior vice president of Ragen MacKenzie Inc. Fleckenstein upgraded her rating of A&B to "accumulate" in the fall of 1999.
Full of Ships
Shipping subsidiary Matson Navigation Company, Inc lead the way in 1999. Ocean transportation revenue was $746.6 million, a 3 percent gain over 1998. Matson's operating profit reached $83.8 million in 1999, a 26 percent increase over 1998.
"Their maritime activities did improve quite impressively in 1999 and they continue to improve into this year. Basically, they won market share, especially in the automobile carryings. They won a nice contract from General Motors," says Craig Sirois, senior equity analyst at Value Line, Inc. Sirois' three to five year recommendation for A&B's stock is a "buy."
Matson's total container volume for Hawaii routes was 5 percent higher in 1999 than in 1998 at 151,215 units. And total Hawaii service automobile volume was 37 percent higher in 1999 at 101,095 units.
Sirois thinks competition for Matson is going to be stiffer in Hawaii in the near future. Competitor CSX lines has the capability to add sailings although no plans have been announced. Pasha Hawaii, another automobile carrier with roll-on, roll-off capability, is poised to enter the market in 2002.
Matson made several large investments in its Hawaii operations in 1999 including: $13 million in information technology; $13 million in fleet improvements and $1.3 million in terminal improvements at its main facility at Sand Island.
Earlier this year Matson Navigation Company President and CEO C. Bradley Mulholland said, "Matson's business objective remains focused on ensuring the company's transportation services are among the best in the world."
Adds Doane: "There are many opportunities for Matson to expand the business and do exactly what they do which is transportation of containers, but most of that expansion will be outside of Hawaii."
Doane notes that Matson has expanded its service to the South Pacific and Guam. The company also entered a joint venture agreement to serve Puerto Rico through a separate company and it has expanded the intermodal business, or carrying containers from West Coast ports to interior locations in the United States.
Rocking Real Estate
According to A&B, it is the fifth-largest landowner in Hawaii with 93,000 acres. The bulk of the company's land is on Maui with 69,000 acres. There are 22,000 acres on Kauai. At last count, A&B also had around 20 mainland properties in its portfolio. The company has office property, retail property, industrial and residential properties.
"We're very quiet," says Doane. "In the last year, we've made seven investments in Hawaii and this is in addition to the fairly large amount of internal development work that we've been doing on all of our own properties. So what we're doing now is very different from what we did several years ago. We're not only developing our own land holdings, but we're investing outside of our company's basic core of lands."
Ragen MacKenzie's Fleckenstein says, "I think they were smart in taking their knowledge of the Hawaii real estate market and choosing to make some investments there when things were cheaper and sowing some real estate here in the northwest." Fleckenstein says A&B's real estate holdings are growing nicely both from a lease and sales standpoint.
Subsidiary A&B Properties Inc. accounted for $93.1 million in sales in 1999, a dip from 1998 sales of $120.3 million. But analysts still give this sector high marks, noting that the company will benefit from Hawaii's improving economy.
"Alexander and Baldwin appears to be a solid real-estate play," says Value Line's Sirois. "The prospects for the real estate division probably have never been better."
Says Doane: "I see that our real estate business will expand both in Hawaii and on the mainland U.S. We have good growth opportunities and we're optimistic that we'll be able to invest a good amount of money into Hawaii as well as continue to invest on the mainland."
Sweetening Agriculture
The line item "Food Products" accounted for $116.4 million in revenue in 1999, a steep dip from $465.7 million the year before. A number of factors came into play including: the December 1998 sale of the company's majority interest in C&H; a 20 percent nosedive in sugar prices; and operating losses at Kauai Coffee (the largest coffee estate in the nation, accounting for 60 percent of the coffee grown in Hawaii). Doane says that even though the agriculture part of the conglomerate represents less than 10 percent of its business today, "It's really the foundation of where our company came from, so we're quite committed to it.
"We've invested a tremendous amount of money into our agricultural activity on Maui, our sugarcane operation. In fact, we're doing something now that is certainly the most aggressive, far-reaching thing that we've ever done."
A&B has invested $11 million into a new process that takes bagasse (cane fiber) and makes it into Hawaiian Duragreen, a composite panel board. The manufacturing plant should be up and running before the end of the year.
"We're going to have something that we can export out of Hawaii for sale. So the market will tell us how successful we're going to be with this product. We're doing something that is very aggressive, completely different and somewhat risky to support our agricultural activity," says Doane.
New Economy Future
A&B's stock price hit a high of $27 in July 1999 and a low of just below $18 in March of this year. Doane recognizes what he calls a normal up and down that goes along with broader market, but there's also the big technology gorilla on every traditional business' back.
"I didn't realize before that I was considered to be a legacy company and that A&B is an "old economy" company. I think that the investors are really so enamored with the dot-coms that there was virtually nothing you could do to attract interest by investors, if you are a traditional company and clearly that's what A&B is from an investor standpoint," says Doane. But he thinks the pendulum is swinging back and people are going back to old favorites that have performed well for years.
Burton Strauss, managing director for Dominick & Dominick, LLC, has been covering A&B for about 20 years. He's been recommending A&B as a "buy" since March. Strauss says, "It's a reasonably priced stock with great assets and I think the market is really more concerned with current earnings than they are with the value of real estate. The only thing that will make the stock appreciate further is to continue the improvement in their operating results."
Technology will be key to creating operating efficiencies. Doane says the company offers Matson's transportation services over the Internet should be making announcements about new service offerings in the next few months. A&B is also looking at how to use the Internet in its other lines of business.
Says Doane: "We all know and we all should be uncomfortable with the fact that there is a revolution occurring and if we are uncomfortable, and if we put the effort and work into searching then we'll come up with the right solutions. But you just can't sit these days and let it pass you by. We expect to stay on the front end of the technology curve for our industries. We're not going to become a dot-com, but we're going to use technology in our industries to make us much, much better."
Doan is predicting better years ahead for A&B's home state of Hawaii. "While it's not going to be rebuilt overnight, I really do believe that in some sort of mysterious way we're finally going through the process of rebuilding our self confidence in this state, its uniqueness and its enduring value. I think that's a prediction I'm willing to make: That we're all going to be more optimistic about Hawaii's future a year from now," he says.
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Foreign Policy magazine has published a thought provoking and brilliant analysis of the Saudization of anti-Shi'ism which details how sectarian discourse has shifted to doctrinal sectarianism, which is far more divisive and exclusionary than its older, ethnic/national variant. What I find particularly terrifying about this shift is that it has the effect of depoliticizing [while militarizing] identity-driven conflicts and essentializing them so that they become seemingly irreconcilable. Nasrallah referred to this shift in his last speech when he said " At first, they didn't refer to it as "Shia" [threat]. Today I want to call things by their name; they didn't say Shia, they used to say the Iranians or the Majoos or the Persians, were attacking the eastern gate of the Arab umma…. They made a new enemy and then realized that their language which used the words Persian and Majoos etc. didn't serve their project. So they gave their invented enemy another name: the Shia expansion."
The full article penned by Fanar Haddad, is here . Excerpts below:
"The overthrow of Saddam Hussein changed all that. Since 2003, ajam, a term that was ubiquitous in what was regarded as anti-Shiite sentiment in Iraq and beyond, has all but disappeared from public usage. In its place has emerged a style of anti-Shiism that was largely the preserve of clerical circles of the Saudi Arabian variant. This is a discourse of exclusion primarily based on religious otherness that is embodied by the word rafidha. This new form of sectarian animosity frames the Shiites as suspect not because of the allegedly ambiguous national loyalties of some nor because of the so-called "ethnic impurity" of others but because of the beliefs that define the sect as a whole.
There is a qualitative difference between stigmatizing the Shiites as ajam and stigmatizing them asrafidha. Its potential repercussions on stability and social cohesion explain why authoritarian regimes in Iraq and elsewhere employed the former and repressed the latter. Multi-sectarian states like Iraq need a convincing veneer of inclusivity to survive. Iraq can afford to treat its miniscule Baha'i community the way Saudi Arabia treats its religious minorities, but its internal stability is hardly served by the explicit, unabashed, and ideological exclusion of culturally or demographically competitive sections of the population such as the Sunnis or Shiites. In dealing with Shiite opposition, ajam was a far more useful tool than rafidha for successive Iraqi regimes, as it allowed for selective exclusion: the state line throughout the 20th century was that some Shiites may beajam but that does not detract from "our brothers" the "noble Arab Shiite tribes." This starkly contrasts with exclusion on the basis of doctrine which would place all Shiites beyond redemption until they renounce their beliefs and their adherence to Shiism."


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Recently there have been widespread changes throughout the United States to make lunch choices in schools healthier. Due to the growing population of obese children, what has been called an epidemic; there has been a huge push towards making healthy options available for kids at lunch. It has started as early as elementary school and continued through high schools. In an effort to promote long—term health there have been many campaigns to make changes. The Child Nutrition Bill was signed in order to provide more money to schools to subside lunches and to make sure that kids are getting the healthy futures they deserve. The USDA has began a push to cut down on trans fats, salt, and calories and also increase the amount of fruits, vegetables, and whole grain products offered. The goal is to encourage children to start eating healthy at a young age and make sure they know the importance of nutrition. The main concern is the health impacts that obesity and unhealthy eating cause. The government knows that it is important that the food still tastes good as well. They want to make sure that children don't start bringing unhealthy lunches to school or skipping meals because they do not like them. So while they are cutting back on the unhealthy foods they are still packing a lot of flavor with new recipes. There are also ways you as a parent can help your child. If you are packing your child's lunch make sure to make healthy choices for them and choose healthy after school snacks as well. It is important to make sure that your child isn't only eating healthy during school lunches but at home as well.


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Description of the data source, numerator, denominator, survey questions, and other relevant details about the national estimate.
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When Jake Clark talks about weed control, you can bet he'll say the word stewardship in the same sentence. That's because the 35-year-old corn and soybean producer insists on the latter when he addresses the former on the ground he farms with his dad, Pete, near Eagle, Mich.
Together, the two men have worked to build their operation to its current 10,000 tillable acres, 15% of which they own and 85% they lease.
Careful, consistent and considerate weed-control practices are an important part of their ongoing success. For one reason, much of the ground they lease lies in the shadow of the bustling state capital, Lansing. For another, the property owners they work with are increasingly concerned about the impact of weeds, especially herbicide-resistant weeds, on land values.
"As a farmer, you want people to know you are doing everything the right way, and that you're a good steward of the land," says Clark, the sixth generation to work ground his great, great grandfather Jonas purchased more than 175 years ago.
Weed control plays a greater role than ever in leasing agreements, according to a 2010 study commissioned by Syngenta of 200 farm managers and rural appraisers based in the Midwest and South. More than 75% of respondents said the use of weed resistance management practices influences their tenant selection.
Appearance matters. "The highest bidder doesn't always earn the right to farm the ground," notes Brent Bidner, vice president of Hertz Farm Management, based in Monticello, Ill.
Bidner, who manages 20,000 crop acres in central Illinois, says an important part of his role involves helping clients identify farmers they want to lease their land to long-term. That means taking more than financial benefits into consideration. Good references are paramount to the selection process. Bidner also evaluates soil fertility records and the appearance and condition of ground the lease applicant currently farms.
"How the guy's crops look, his tillage practices, how clean his fields are, all of those things factor into the decision," Bidner says. He adds that weed control has become a more important consideration in Illinois leasing agreements because of concerns about herbicide-resistant waterhemp.
University of Illinois Extension weed scientist Aaron Hager says glyphosate-resistant waterhemp is present on 75% of the state's tillable acres today. Worse yet, Hager has worked with one waterhemp population that exhibits resistance to four chemistries (glyphosate, atrazine, ALS and PPO inhibitors).
According to the Syngenta study, the perceived cost of managing glyphosate-resistant weeds alone more than doubled in a four-year period, notes Chuck Foresman, Syngenta global corn crop protection research and development lead. He says survey participants reported their perceived cost of control increased from $8 per acre in 2006 to $16.90 per acre in 2010.
Be ready with a plan. Iowa State University Extension field agronomist Jim Fawcett tells farmers renting new ground to assume resistant weeds are present and to adopt an integrated weed management strategy. That includes using multiple herbicide chemistries to address weeds.
"Go out with a pre-emergence that has residual and then come back with a post product," Fawcett advises.
Another option Fawcett recommends is the LibertyLink cropping system, which he says has not been widely used in his area. "You can use it on corn or soybean ground," he says.
Hertz Farm Management's Bidner adds: "We also want farmers to use labeled herbicide rates and not reduced rates, which can contribute to control breaks."
If feasible, Luke Bozeman, BASF technical market manager, advises farmers to grow corn the first year they rent a new piece of ground. "You have more weed-control options with corn," he notes.
Fawcett reminds farmers to consider the challenge carryover herbicides might present this season, following the 2012 drought. In particular, he cautions farmers to not seed alfalfa on any ground where atrazine was used this past year.
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El Paso, TX — After a grueling six games in three days the Diablos once again dominate the Amarillo Sox, winning 8-2 and 5-2 tonight, and the overall series 5-1 over Amarillo.
In game one the Diablos attacked the Sox early, after the first two innings the Diablos had a commanding lead of 6-1, with no signs of letting up. To go along with the Diablos early offensive attack, starting pitcher Kevin Cooper was superb pitching the whole game only giving up two runs on three hits, with one strikeout. The Diablos offense might have slowed as the game went on, but not before they scored 8 runs on twelve hits, all but one Diablo recorded a hit in game one.
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Can Occupy Wall Street replace the labor movement?
The protesters have helped to highlight the problem of inequality. But can they articulate their grievances with the same legitimacy that once belonged to a broader effort?
By Alasdair Roberts
When protesters settled in New York's Zuccotti Park in September, few anticipated how big a phenomenon the Occupy Wall Street movement would become. Soon, dozens of encampments were established around the world.
A month later, the majority of Americans knew about the movement and supported its goals. It seemed that a new form of political action -- youthful, tech-savvy and decentralized -- had scored a major victory. Inequality was back on the agenda.
But here's what didn't happen last September: a large-scale protest by organized labor. To understand why, roll the clock back almost exactly 30 years.
In summer 1981, economic conditions were grim. The unemployment rate had floated around 7 percent for the preceding two years. Compounding the misery was inflation, which exceeded a rate of 10 percent. The country felt "a terrible sense of helplessness," according to Alfred Kahn, one of President Jimmy Carter's economic advisers.
Union leaders, like their members, were unhappy and worried about the policies proposed by the new administration of Ronald Reagan. On Aug. 3, the country's air-traffic controllers went on strike. On Aug. 5, the Reagan administration fired controllers who refused to return to work.
Union leaders met in Chicago the next day. Many were frustrated by the controllers' recklessness in provoking a conflict with the new administration. But most also recognized that this was the opening skirmish in a much larger assault on labor. The unions mobilized quickly.
On Sept. 7, 100,000 people marched in New York City's first Labor Day parade in 13 years. And on Sept. 19, labor mounted an even more impressive show of force in Washington. The AFL-CIO called it Solidarity Day. A quarter of a million people traveled to the capital to join the protest, the largest since the civil rights and antiwar demonstrations of the 1960s and 1970s.
It was a blue-collar crowd. "The soundtrack was Country and Western, not folk rock," the New York Times reported, "The marchers tended to smoke Marlboros, not marijuana."
Labor organizers hoped that Solidarity Day would mark the beginning of a campaign that would halt the Reagan administration in its tracks. This was not to be. Instead, it might have been the labor movement's last shining moment -- the final point at which it was capable, within weeks, of organizing a vast bloc of working-class Americans in protest against government policy.
In 1981, the labor movement was already in decline, and the trend accelerated afterward. In 1960, one-third of the private-sector workforce had been represented by trade unions. Today, only 8 percent is. The missing army of private-sector union members -- that is, the number of additional workers that the movement would include today if unionization rates had stayed at levels of the 1960s and 1970s -- is about 20 million people.
We've recently seen the political consequences of this collapse. By many measures, economic conditions today are worse than in the summer of 1981. Real gross domestic product was actually increasing in the four years before 1981, but it flat-lined between 2007 and 2011. The unemployment rate was also higher in 2011 -- stuck at more than 9 percent for almost three years. And the labor-force participation rate declined from 2006 to 2011, while it increased from 1976 to 1981.
Conditions have been ripe for labor protest the past few years. But labor has lost the capacity to mobilize effectively. True, the AFL-CIO did join with other groups to organize a rally on the National Mall in 2010. But turnout was a fraction of what it had been for Solidarity Day. Labor's turnout was lower than for Glenn Beck's Tea Party rally five weeks earlier.
As unions have declined, new forms of mobilization have gained prominence, such as the loosely structured protest networks that have dogged international economic summits over the past decade. These networks have supplanted unions as the main vehicles for articulating resistance to economic liberalization. And they have space to grow because liberalization has crushed the labor movement: They're like the new species that thrive after a wildfire destroys an old-growth forest.
However, this doesn't mean that new forms of protest are equally effective. One problem is the inability of loosely structured networks to mobilize quickly. The economic crisis was already three years old when Occupy began. And there is a problem of representativeness. The Occupy protesters are younger, better educated, whiter and more politically radical than the population at large. This raises the question of whether the movement can articulate grievances with the same legitimacy that once belonged to a broad-based labor movement.
Assuming, of course, that Occupiers can articulate grievances coherently at all. The consensus-based decision making they adhere to makes it harder to define precise demands for action. Although the protesters' coolness toward engagement in everyday politics helps to keep more radical elements inside the tent, it lowers the probability that demands will produce results. The labor movement had similar internal difficulties. But it also had a structure that enabled it to manage those difficulties and express its demands more effectively.
Certainly, the Occupy movement has helped to highlight the problem of inequality. But influencing the policy agenda is only the first step in actually reducing inequality. The question now is whether these new forms of economic protest can evolve to perform the tasks once undertaken by the labor movement: translating broadly felt anxieties into policy demands, mobilizing large numbers for political action and negotiating with policy makers to get results.
More from Bloomberg
What inequality? The Constitution exists to guarantee the equal protect of people's rights under the law. It does not exist to guarantee a more equal distribution of income among the citizenry. The idea that the government has this purpose or the authority to redistribute income is a Socialist projection that should have be rejected long ago.
A couple of years ago, a major grocery chain opened a new store in a town near here. They advertised for job applicants. They had 40-50 come in and were only able to hire 4. That was the number of folks who were able to pass the drug test. My wife works for a major drug store chain. If the quality level of worker is representative of the rest of the unemployed work force, I am not surprised that employers are being picky. Imagine that!! Employers actually want workers who will show up when scheduled and be willing to actually work.
Ten years ago I used to complain about the wealth gap, too. Then I decided nobody gave a crap about my problems and took the last $1,500.00 to my name and started my own business. Now I'm worth about $30 million and have 100 very well paid employees. We make all our products in the USA and export most of it. The funny thing is I'd have three times as many well paid employees and export three times more if the goverment would stop taking over half my net profits in the form of taxes. I need the money to grow and the government just takes it and gives it to China to cover the interest on treasury debt.
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CHARLESTON (AP) - The parent of Columbia Gas
Transmission says it's won federal approval for a plan to spend $300
million a year through 2017 on improvements to its Appalachian pipeline
Indiana-based NiSource Inc. announced Friday the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission approved the plan for Columbia Gas Transmission's
lines in West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland and
Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Staton says the $1.5 billion investment
will help ensure safer, more reliable pipeline infrastructure for
customers and the communities across the region.
The investments
stem from a consumer settlement that is unrelated to the December
explosion of a Columbia transmission line near Sissonville that
destroyed several homes.
NiSource says it will also spend $100 million on maintenance, and its
long-term plan is to invest about $4 billion over 10-15 years.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press


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Friday, June 4, 1897: Sparagus Kidney PillsPosted on October 31st, 2005 – 2:00 AM
By Ben Welter
Why buy a newspaper ad when you can hire a cheerful and energetic albino to wear a colorful sign on his back and tout your product in cities from coast to coast? This ingenious marketing strategy landed a free mention of an unfortunately named product on Page 5 of the Tribune when the walking advertisement, Horace T. Calver, had a brief run-in with the law.
If you can explain the main headline, please post. I just don't get it.
Horace T. Calver, an Albino, Visits
Minneapolis in the Interests of
Hobbs, the Pill Man
Does a man need a license to walk around Minneapolis with the letters "Hobb's Sparagus Kidney Pills" sewed in fancy colors on his back?
That became a decidedly practical question just two days ago. A policeman said he did and the man with the asparagus remedy sewed over his back thought otherwise. The policeman thought it was his business to arrest any man violating what he said was proscribed by the ordinance, and it took a conference between Supt. of Police Smith and City Attorney Healey to determine whether the policeman or the pill man was most competent to construe the law. Of course the policeman lost. The point had never been raised in Minneapolis before, and it will serve as a precedent.
The man who wears the suggestive legend as the adornment of his broad backbone knows more about the geography of American cities, perhaps, than any other man in the country. His sole business is to walk everywhere for the purpose of having people see him – and reading the sign on his back – and they do see him. He has been walking about Minneapolis for a few days, and the chances are that not a person reading this has not noticed his striking appearance. He is a pronounced Albino, and his hair, which is as luxuriant as a meadow in summer, stands out from his head like a great bush. His eyes twitch and twinkle all the while, and his skin is as fair as any lady might wish.
His name is Horace T. Calver. He is only 28 years of age, and yet he has been almost everywhere in the civilized world. Strangely enough, he has never been in the show business. His father was a printer on the celebrated London Graphic, and like his mother, he was very dark skinned. There were three Albino boys in the family, the first two and the fifth children. Four of the children were dark like the parents.
Mr. Calver was apprenticed, when a boy, he was too restless to stay his time out, so he quit. He tried his hand at nearly everything with more or less success, and for five years he was a farmer in Manitoba, running a farm near Brandon, about 200 miles west from Winnipeg. Two years ago he went into the advertising business. He represents Hobb's company, and besides showing himself, he superintends the distribution of literature in behalf of the Sparagus kidney specific.
Last evening Mr. Calver gave an exhibition of paper tearing at Voegeli's drug store, and he is scheduled to give another impromptu show in the windows of the same establishment tomorrow evening.
"I have a good deal of fun out of my peculiarity," said Mr. Calver. "As you see, I am not very sensitive about it. People look at me with curious interest, but I have stood it for 28 years, and it never hurt me. In fact, it does me good. The other day down near the Madison school, a hundred kids came out and shouted their lungs at me, and we had a jolly time. They all remember the Sparagus pills, and that is what I am after. I have been in every city in the United States, and when I get tired of sight-seeing here I am going to Europe. I don't know how they will receive me there, but I mean to have a good time of it all the while."


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text: SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (WHBL) - Fire did an estimated $20,000 damage to the Tower Wash on 14th and Erie Monday afternoon. Shift Commander Keith Risse says they received a 911 call around 1:30 of a fire in the car wash. A fire was ignited when a flammable liquid was accidentally spilled by the building's owner and then started on fire when a light broke. The fire was quickly put out, but damaged four tires, some equipment, and a control panel.


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About Shirley
Sage-ing While Age-ing
The journey of a lifetime!
Order the CD Today!
"I've been a questioner all my life . . . "
So begins bestselling author and award-winning actress Shirley MacLaine, as she invites readers to join her on the most powerful, provocative journey of her life. Over the years, Shirley has firmly established herself as a fearless, iconoclastic thinker and seeker of truth. Now, as she confronts the realities and rewards of growing older, she reflects on the greater understanding of her own place in the universe that her experiences have brought to her.
Sparked by the experience of moving into a new house, she is inspired to look back across the remarkable professional and personal milestones she has experienced so far. Surrounded by books, pictures, and the artifacts of a life well-lived, Shirley is able to recognize the profound power of synchronicity at work around her, discovering the invisible threads that stitch together the seemingly random events of her days, adding meaning even to the mundane.
Having grown older, she is increasingly concerned with the potential pitfalls of modern medicine. She shares personal insights into nutrition, homeopathy, and alternative medicine. Practical and bracing, here is advice for anyone looking to expand his or her understanding of health and well-being.
Moving beyond the physical, Shirley explores what has always interested her most—those things that are unseen. What is consciousness? What is the purpose of our lives? Are we alone in the universe? And perhaps the greatest mystery of all, what happens to us after death?
Filled with her trademark wit and candor, this is a fascinating, inspiring book that will delight and captivate Shirley's fellow travelers everywhere.
Shirley MacLaine, nominated for six Academy Awards, won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1984 for Terms of Endearment. She has appeared in more than fifty films and has won three Emmy Awards and ten Golden Globe Awards. Shirley has been honored with the Golden Bear Award for lifetime achievement at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Cecil B. DeMille Award for outstanding contribution to the entertainment field. She has also won two British Academy awards, two German Silver Bear and Golden Camera awards, two Volpi Cup awards at the Venice Film Festival, two Donatello awards in Italy, and New York Film Critics and Los Angeles Film Critics awards. The author of ten international bestsellers, she lives in Malibu, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.


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El Paso County Medical Examiner, Dr. Paul Shrode, will keep his job.
Even as allegations continue that he is unfit for the position.
The county attorney's office told county commissioners on Monday that Shrode is qualified to be a medical examiner; but the office did find what they call some, "minor misunderstandings."
Shrode's resume states that he had a law degree from Texas State University; when in fact he had just taken some graduate law classes.
Though he embellished on his resume the county attorney's office said it doesn't mean he's not qualified to be medical examiner.
County Commissioners took no action against Shrode and he will keep his job.
County Judge Anthony Cobos who was displeased with the decision said, "If the final decision were mine I would terminate Dr. Shrode!"


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DALLAS (AP) — Two elephants waving their trunks, cheerleaders and indoor fireworks greeted Republican National Committee members on Thursday as they visited Dallas during the last of four trips to cities competing to host the 2016 Republican convention.
Dallas officials touted the city's experience with major events, ties to the GOP and $45 million in pledges and state funding so far. But they also added several flourishes to the presentation.
The biggest was the elephants, the symbol of the Republican Party. Under a light rain, the pachyderms stood at the end of a red carpet leading into the American Airlines Center, the downtown Dallas arena that would host a convention.
"I didn't wake up this morning thinking I was going to pet a couple of elephants on the way into the arena, but that was certainly a nice touch," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus laughed later. "Only in Dallas would something like that happen."
Priebus and other committee members were shown a video of President Ronald Reagan telling the 1984 GOP convention in Dallas that he wished for a victory "the size of the heart of Texas." That followed with singing and a balloon drop as fireworks went off above the arena's court.
Priebus stressed that while he enjoyed the show, the party would eventually have to make "a business decision."
Dallas is competing with Denver, Cleveland and Kansas City.
Bid officials here have a $25 million guarantee from Texas' major events fund, which issues loans repaid through local sales taxes and other levies. They also have obtained $20 million in private donor pledges, and predict they can reach a $60 million target for local funding.
City officials think the convention would be a boon to hotels and local business as well as Dallas' national reputation.
"Ultimately, the spirit is the thing that is going to be tiebreaker, but you've got to make sure you get the tie, and I think we're explaining it well," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said.
One potential hurdle is that Dallas likely could not host the convention starting on June 27, 2016, one of two potential dates Priebus mentioned Thursday. The Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars want to hold the arena through late June in case either team advances deep into the playoffs.
AT&T Stadium, the behemoth 5-year-old home of the Dallas Cowboys, could host one of the convention's four days or other events, but RNC officials have ruled it out as a site for the entire convention.
Priebus acknowledged the issue but said there were several factors that would determine the ultimate winner.
"If I could pick the same place and the same venue for the winning city, I would choose the June date, if everything was equal," Priebus said. "But it's not equal."
The RNC is expected to make its selection in August.
Follow Nomaan Merchant on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nomaanmerchant.


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Most popular dogs in the U.S.
The American Kennel Club announces the most popular dogs in America. (Jan. 30, 2013)
Lindenhurst vs. Half Hollow Hills West High school homecoming celebrations across LI Best bets this weekend on LI Your pet photos: Adorable dogs, cats and more LI people on the move! Promotions, new jobs Field hockey players to watch Rocky Point vs. Sayville Faces of football: Roosevelt vs. West Hempstead LI notable deaths Recent LI fires Recent LI mug shots LI car accidents


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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – On Thursday night hundreds of U of L students walked across the stage at the KFC Yum Center; the first to graduate in the new arena.
One of those students is a young man WHAS11 has followed since he was a baby; our own Crusade kid, Patrick Henry Hughes.
Since birth, Patrick Henry Hughes has beaten the odds; born without eyes and unable to use his legs. Patrick and his parents have refused to let any of that stand in his way.
On the verge of celebrating his latest accomplishment, a college degree, he reflected on his journey.
Patrick and Patty Hughes say Patrick Henry's graduation is a testament to their son's spirit, and his determination to succeed no matter what obstacle stood in the way.
As Patrick finally accepts his diploma, the emotions from his loved ones flow.
One of the newest U of L Spanish majors, who doesn't need to see his parents pride, a simple fist pound will do.
His past an inspiration to others, his future still yet to be written.


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42 U.S. Code Part I - Programs for Elementary and Secondary School Students
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- § 12521. Purpose
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- § 12524. Allotments
- § 12525. Applications
- § 12526. Consideration of applications
- § 12527. Participation of students and teachers from private schools
- § 12528. Federal, State, and local contributions
- § 12529. Limitations on uses of funds
Part I of subtitle B of title I of the National and Community Service Act of 1990, comprising this part, was originally added to Pub. L. 101–610, title I, subtitle B, by Pub. L. 103–82, title I, § 103(a)(2),Sept. 21, 1993, 107 Stat. 825, and amended by Pub. L. 103–382, Oct. 20, 1994, 108 Stat. 3518. Such part is shown herein, however, as having been added by Pub. L. 111–13, title I, § 1201,Apr. 21, 2009, 123 Stat. 1467, without reference to such intervening amendments because of the extensive revision of the part's provisions by Pub. L. 111–13.
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Flat sales growth is a worry for investors
Earnings are starting to look a bit better with half the S&P 500's quarterly results in. Revenue, however, is a different and bothersome story.
But the revenue picture is a problem.
The blended estimated earnings growth rate for S&P 500 companies is about 3.8%, says Thomson Reuters. That reflects the companies that have reported and the estimates for the rest.
The revenue estimate is -0.3%. Yes, that means sales for the quarter are expected to be lower than a year ago. Not for every company, of course, but enough that the total for the S&P 500 looks like it will be down from a year ago.
Here's another way of looking at the picture: According to Thomson Reuters, of the 187 companies that have exceeded their earnings estimates, 52% have missed their revenue estimate. In a typical quarter since 2002, 31% of companies that beat earnings estimates missed on revenue.
This is a reality of corporate results since the 2008-2009 financial crash. Earnings have been growing. Revenue has not kept pace or has fallen back altogether. Earnings are what drive stock prices -- and almost always trump revenue in the hearts of investors. But if you want to see the economy growing, the top line matters.
To get the earnings, companies have been cutting costs. Often, that means cutting workers. They've also been buying back gobs of shares. That means the profits are being spread across fewer shares -- and earnings per share go up as a matter of mathematics.
That's a good way to look at what analysts call low-quality earnings. They're manufactured as opposed to the natural flowering of profits when a business is growing.
The mystery is, then, why revenue isn't growing. One small reason over the last year or so has been the dollar's gains against the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen. That has depressed the value of sales generated outside the United States. A third to 40% of revenue for S&P 500 companies comes from outside the United States.
In some cases, the business is a commodity business, and prices are lower. Chevron (CVX) reported Friday its first-quarter revenue was down 7.5% from a year ago -- and missed estimates by $10.6 billion -- because of lower oil prices.
Earnings per share were down 2.8% to $3.18, beating estimates by 11 cents. The comparison was helped because shares outstanding fell by nearly 2% year over year.
The largest reason, according Greg Harrison, who tracks earnings trends for Thomson Reuters, is that sales overall aren't growing, Companies often are struggling to raise prices in the face of cautious customers and consumers. Consumers have been cautious spenders since the economic crash. Many worry about job security, lost pensions and high energy costs.
And these factors will feed into next week's economic reports and earnings reports and how markets will perform.
The big events will be the Federal Reserve's meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday and the big jobs report on Friday -- when the Labor Department will report on payroll employment and unemployment.
There will be lots of speculation and talk about whether the central bank will either scale down or stop its program of buying in Treasury bonds and mortgage securities to keep interest rates low. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 1.663% on Friday, down from 1.76% at the end of 2012.
Don't expect any change in current Fed policy, however. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has said repeatedly the central bank wants to see the economy growing on its own and much lower unemployment. Interest rates will be low all this year and probably all of 2014.
The Labor Department is expected to report payrolls grew by 145,000 in April, up from 88,000 in March. The unemployment rate may come in at 7.6%, unchanged from March.
An important question is how federal spending cuts will affect jobs, in and out of government, going forward. Particularly vulnerable are defense cuts.
So it's another big week for earnings, and some of the important reports include:
Monday: Herbalife (HLF).
Tuesday: Anheuser-Busch Inbev (BUD), Cummins (CMI), NYSE Euronext (NYX) and Pfizer (PFE).
Wednesday: Allstate (ALL), Facebook (FB), Ford Motor (F), Merck (MRK) and Time Warner (TWX).
Thursday: General Motors (GM), Kellogg (K), Monster Worldwide (MWW) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A).
Friday: Duke Energy (DUK) and Ruth's Hospitality Group (RUTH).
The stock market had a lackluster day on Friday. The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) finished up 12 points to 14,713. The S&P 500 was down 3 points to 1,582. The Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) dropped 11 points to 3,279. Disappointing results from Amazon.com (AMZN) and Starbucks (SBUX) weighed on the Nasdaq.
For the week, however, the week was a winner. The Dow was up 1.1%, with the S&P 500 up 1.7%. The Nasdaq climbed 2.3%. For the year, the Dow is up 12.3%. The S&P 500 has risen 10.9%, while the Nasdaq has climbed 8.6%.
For investors, the week's performance demonstrated the market's resilience after the prior week's pullback. The Dow is off 1% from its all-time closing high of 14,865, reached on April 11. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are less than a percentage point below their highs, also reached on April 11, despite worries that a major blow-off was near.
Still, if the sizable slumps that began in May in each of the last three years offer any instruction, a pullback may yet materialize.
Crude oil (-CL) fell 64 cents to $93 a barrel in New York but was up 5.4% for the week after falling 3.6% the week before. It's up 1.3% in 2013.
Gold (-GC) dropped $8.40 to $1,453.60 an ounce. It climbed 4.2% for the week after falling 7% a week earlier. The metal is still down 13.3% for the year. Silver (-SI) is off 21.4% this year after Friday's finish of $23.76 an ounce.
Driving about this weekend? You are in luck. AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge report said regular unleaded gas averaged $3.505 a gallon on Friday, down from slightly from week ago and down 7.4% from $3.786, the highest daily average reported in 2013.
More on Top Stocks
People are being cautious who have money. They are starting to realize that the Fed is creating a disaster you can't print money and get yourself out of debt. It's just borrowing more the debts bigger that's the problem. Then people who maybe are back to work at lower wage or part time. The unemployment rolls shrink because people are kicked off. The politicians and bankers that own them have screwed this country royal. It's all heading south in the fall(crash). The banks and rich are borrowing free money from the Fed buying land metal and things of value w/debt dollars the taxpayers pay for wealth transfer. That's not trickle down that's bleeding the middle class and poor.
Surprised?? Everyone credit cards are now maxed out. I don't know why everyone was so excited by positive corporate earnings. Didn't everyone know that the sales supporting those earnings was on credit? That and newly printed money, neither of which points to healthy growth. By the way, those same corporations, with the glorious earnings reports, are also carrying a total of 4 TRILLION dollars in debt on their books. Someday the chicken's coming to roost.
This is an excellent article. It's sad but I'm beginning to think Mr Blaine is the only MSN columnist worth following.
Anthony has nice charts and uses logic but he does not seem to understand what really drives the markets. He seems to be in a big hurry for bad outcomes related to Bernanke policy and his timing is awful.
Bill the Flake is just a gold-bug contrarian with an overblown ego who writes articles based on emotion. (And one should never, ever, make investment decisions based on emotions.)
Charley stands head and shoulders above both of those clowns. He understands the importance of earnings and gives us logical insight as to what are the real issues underlying earnings and revenue. No political commentary, no emotions, no doom & gloom fiat currency scare-talk. Just straight talk. Nice job!
The upper levels of our Society...Middle Class (upper end) and above, seemed to be much better off, since Obama took office...
And certainly since 2007-2008 the start of a terrible Recession...
People that stood along the Wayside blaming, instead of being Pro-Active, have been hurt badly.
If invested and taking bad advice and running, without returning to the Markets...They have been hurt WORST.
Job and Housing losses were devastating to many, was a no-brainer and hard to lay blame except at the fault of a severe Recession..
Failed Administrations can and should shoulder some of the blame, for well over 12 years, but some of the Plans laid in place have "saved our Nation" from "total dispair." and a Depression that would have been far more devastating....And Hardships, that we can't even begin to understand.
The problem with Public Schools today is we have, many graduation rates under 75-80%..
At the Highschool Level..
It's not just happening back from where Obama is from, it's happening across the Nation..!!
Particularily in and closer to the Larger towns and Metro Areas..
Hardly anything you can blame on Obama and his Administration; It's been going on for a long time.
I think you had better look at School Boards, Shool Administrations, Teachers and Parents..
We have a major problem...And yes, we are leaving the Children behind.
It is alarming and a sad situation.
MIRAGE GUY: You don`t know history.Before unions lots of people died on the job
and there was no compensation for them and their families.Wages were at ground zero.
The far right wants to bring back those days.The companies had thugs to intimidate
people who tried to improve working conditions.It`s too bad you never cracked a book.
Copyright © 2014 Microsoft. All rights reserved.
Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Morningstar Inc. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Morningstar Inc. Quotes delayed by up to 15 minutes, except where indicated otherwise. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by Morningstar Inc.
As geopolitical tensions threaten to spin out of control, investors are wondering how best to position their portfolios for the global turmoil.
Top Stocks provides analysis about the most noteworthy stocks in the market each day, combining some of the best content from around the MSN Money site and the rest of the Web.
Contributors include professional investors and journalists affiliated with MSN Money.
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.picasaPhotosummary (class of the summary text of the photo)


text:
Aces shortstop Chris Owings recorded the first three home run game of his career on Tuesday night, en route to a 7-4 Reno victory over the Fresno Grizzlies at Chukchansi Park.
Fresno starter Mitch Lively walked Tony Campana in both the first and the third, putting a runner on to set the scene for Owings' first two home runs on the night.
Owings made history in the fifth, his third at bat of the game, as he blasted his third longball to join Cole Gillespie as the only batters in Aces franchise history with three home runs in a single game. Brad Snyder followed up that homer with a shot of his own to mark the first back-to-back home runs for the Aces since June 20, 2012.
Tyler Bortnick also added a home run in the fourth, bringing Reno's total to five on the night. The Aces five home runs is tied for second most in franchise history, just one shy of the record (six on April 28, 2011).
Six of Reno's nine hits on the night went for extra bases, topped off by a double off the bat of Snyder.
Owings was perfect at the plate, going 4-for-4 with five RBI and three runs scored. The game marked Owings' third four-hit performance of the season, and his 46th multi-hit game of the season. Forty-six multi-hit games sets a new single-season record for the slugger, who leads all of professional baseball with 143 hits this season.
Reno starter Garrett Mock earned his sixth win of the season, tied for most among Aces pitchers. He was charged with four runs—all earned—on six hits through 5.1 innings, while striking out seven. Chaz Roe was credited with his team-leading fifth save.
The series wraps up Wednesday night, as the Aces look to earn a series win. RHP Matt Wright (0-0, No ERA) gets the nod for Reno in his Aces debut, while the Grizzlies will counter with RHP Chris Heston (7-5, 5.73 ERA). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m
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text:
HUDSON, WI (WTAQ) - Authorities now say the shootings of three people at a Hudson liquor store involved members of rival gangs from nearby Minneapolis.
St. Croix County prosecutors filed a total of 30 felony charges Tuesday against 22-year-old Guled Abdi and 26-year-old Ahmed Hirsi. Both remain in jail in Bloomington Minnesota, awaiting extradition to Wisconsin.
When they return, they'll each face six charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, six counts of reckless endangerment, and three counts of reckless injury.
The shootings occurred Sunday morning outside Spirit Seller Liquor in downtown Hudson. Investigators said six members of the Somali Outlaws gang were partying Saturday night, and they drove their SUV to Hudson to buy booze the next morning because liquor stores in Minnesota are closed on Sundays.
Two people went in the store to buy the liquor, but their credit card was rejected. Outside, two men in a car approached and offered the group alcohol and cigarettes.
A derogatory remark was apparently said during the exchange, and shots were fired at all six in the SUV. Three were wounded.
The only one still hospitalized is 28-year-old Fartun Aidid of Hopkins Minnesota. She was still in critical condition at last word at a St. Paul hospital.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)


text:
Pamelyn Chee flies solo… for now
Text: Joanna Goh
Photos: Dang Hui Ling
Video: Fiona Lin
Yup, you heard us right - Pamelyn Chee's flying solo for now. The former FLY Entertainment artiste, who is still temporarily managed by them while she juggles with an ongoing work project, has decided to step out of her cozy and safe haven to venture into the great unknown.
Likening herself to a snail, the actress shared that she enjoys carrying "her house" (i.e. suitcase) behind her back, moving from one location to another. As someone who prefers to be constantly on the move, the bilingual actress calls "living out of her suitcase" her lifelong dream.
In the name of pursuing her "dreams", she took a leap of faith and recently decided against renewing her contract with FLY despite spending four happy years with them.
"Irene and Ling (her manager in FLY) have been great every step of the way. (What's next?) I may be on the lookout for my own projects, I may go somewhere else or I may just not be living in Singapore. Everywhere is fine except my own house. (Laughs)"
The cast and crew for Ch8 drama series, Beyond
In an interview with xinmsn for her new Ch8 drama, Beyond, the plucky one admitted that no concrete plans have been laid out yet. "Everything's up there now. I'll decide on my next step depending on where the next call comes from," she surmised.
Currently in the thick of filming for Serangoon Road an upcoming HBO drama series set in Batam, Pamelyn shared that she will play a straight-talking, upper-class Peranakan lass called Suling -- unlike her passive and imaginary role in sci-fi Ch8 series, Beyond.
entertainment videos
Chris Tong is back to Singapore for the upcoming drama "Good Luck"! Check out this video to know how much can a movie star earn! 为了新剧《百岁大吉》,童冰玉回到狮城了!想知... More Chris Tong is back to Singapore for the upcoming drama "Good Luck"! Check out this video to know how much can a movie star earn! 为了新剧《百岁大吉》,童冰玉回到狮城了!想知道电影明星的片酬大约有多少?千万别错过这独家专访!
Date 16/9/14, Duration 5:37, Views 2131
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text:
Date of Award
Degree Type
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Electrical and Computer Engineering
R. de Buda
D.P. Taylor
Committee Member
C.R. Carter, P. Yip, K.M. Wong
Over the past decade, lattices have been increasingly recognized as an important source of codes for the Gaussian channel. The 8-dimensional Gosset lattice has figured prominently in these new developments because it offers an asymptotic coding gain of 3 dB over conventional pulse amplitude modulation and can be soft decision demodulated/decoded with a reasonable amount of speed. In the present work, we revive a little used definition of the Gosset lattice and show that codes derived from this construction exhibit a null at dc in their baseband spectrum. Such codes are useful as line codes for baseband signalling on channels that do not support a dc spectral component or for bandpass transmission where spectral shaping is required to combat intersymbol interference.
Previous applications of lattice codes have been aimed primarily at voiceband data communications. This thesis was motivated by the need to develop a decoder that would make applications in the multi-megabit range of data transmission possible. To achieve this goal, a two-stage approach to demodulation was developed. The first stage makes a fast estimate of the transmitted vector and has the ability to declare an erasure when it knows its estimate is unreliable. This initial erasure declaring stage controls the throughput of the demodulator. Because it is far simpler than a maximum likelihood demodulator, greater speed is achieved. The second stage is provided to correct the occasional occurrence of an erasure and maintain the error performance of the lattice. To complete the decoder structure, we outline a method of lexicographic ordering the signal set that leads to a compact set of decoder look-up tables used to obtain a binary message sequence from each demodulated vector. Finally, we evaluate the effects of quantization on the probabilities of erasure and error and give results from a Monte-Carlo simulation undertaken to verify the demodulators performance.
Recommended Citation
Second, Norman Pierre, "Demodulation/ Decoding of a DC Free Construction of the Gosset Lattice" (1989). Open Access Dissertations and Theses. Paper 2784.