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Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Welcome to the Digital World
Buying new books for the store, the crux of my job, can be an exercise in absurdity and futility. It's an antiquated, inefficient system that hardly takes into account the invention of the personal computer and completely ignores the existence of the internet. Here's how it works in a nutshell:
1. The publishers send out catalogs several months in advance of the publications of their new titles. I just bought Oxford University titles that aren't due out until next winter. These catalogs, which look and read like poorly edited magazines, usually feature one title per page. For each title there is a short (a few paragraphs) description, an image of the cover, often an author photo and information on the author's previous titles. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you get a humorous tagline that reads something like "a cross between All the Pretty Horses and the Da Vinci Code."
2. I flip through the pages of these catalogs (sometimes 500 or more pages in a single day), going through one at a time to discover the books I want. I dutifully look up old titles by the authors, previous editions of travel books, and books with similar themes or topics. The titles in each catalog are in a seemingly random order that must make some sense to the publisher, but usually befuddles me. For instance, HarperCollins, Random House, Penguin, and Simon and Schuster each may have up to a couple dozen different catalogs. The new hardback fiction titles might be spread throughout as many as ten of these. This makes it nearly impossible to really know how much of any one topic or genre you are ordering during the sales call.
3. The sales rep goes through the catalog with me, highlighting books that the press is particularly excited about, or, more often, books that the publisher isn't really supporting with publicity, helping to guide me to a final number. Since the catalogs are out of date by the time they are printed, a lot of the rep's job during the appointment entails pointing out which terrible covers in the catalog have been changed, mentioning price increases, and informing me about upcoming publicity that was recently booked. They do this at every appointment. Honestly, I don't know how they stay awake.
4. Five or six hours into the appointment, when I've worked through all the titles in the catalog and it's all I can do to keep from dropping off to sleep, the sales rep stealthily whips out a stack of photocopied pages for me to peruse. These are sell sheets for titles that the publisher announced too late for inclusion in the catalogs. Often these books have no descriptions or jacket photos on the sheet. When I ask the reps about them, a shrug of the shoulders is the most common reaction I get. Of course, many of the most important books of the year get released like this, so I have to wade through these pages and pick out the Bob Woodward or Stephen King title lurking among them.
5. Once the rep leaves, my assistants and I enter all of the titles one by one into our computer system from the marked-up catalogs. When the data entry is complete, we recycle the catalogs immediately. It comes to over 100 pounds of wasted paper every few months.
A Better Way to Buy
Several publishers, most notably HarperCollins, are discussing the possibility of moving to an online catalog. I have one word for these publishers -- Hallelujah. It's about time. It was about time five years ago, but this is the book business, and things move at a glacial pace.
The publishers are doing it mostly to cut costs and to get some points for being green. Apparently, the current catalogs cost a fortune to produce and mail out. The bigger houses report that they spend over a million dollars on their catalogs. As far as being green, that's just a bad joke. We are in an industry that doesn't think twice about overprinting and shipping vast quantities of books that will never be sold. Our catalogs might come to 300 pounds a year, but our returns probably run to several tons.
What interests me about an online catalog, if it were done right, is that it could be a much better way to buy from the publishers. As soon as a book has a new cover, I could see it on the site. When new publicity, like an NPR show, is booked, it would be updated online immediately. Never again would my rep and I have to waste time looking at outdated pages. Instead, our appointments could be used to quickly discover the best books for the Boulder Book Store and to determine how best to position those titles. Add-on sheets for late titles would be a thing of the past. Instead, those books would be up and ready to go on the website.
Here's one buyer's vision of how this should work:
1. The catalog would be available online, and each store would access it through a distinct login. All of the information that is currently available on each title in the paper catalogs would be present on the online version. In addition, there could be extended reviews, pages of the text (especially helpful with children's books), author interviews, etc. Buyers would be able to annotate and customize these pages.
2. Each buyer would be able to sort the catalogs however they wanted. Publishers (in my wildest dreams, I see the major houses working together to come up with a standard format) would enable buyers to sort the books in dozens of different ways. How about looking at debut paperback fiction? How about hardback American history under $30? I'd love to sort out fiction with a spiritual theme.
3. The bookstore's computer system would feed into the online catalog to provide sales data on older titles. Why should I look up what John Grisham's last title sold, when the two computers could just talk to each other? We already give the publishers access to our sales information through a program called Above The Treeline; the presses should just feed it back to us on the online catalog. It should come up that I've sold 24 copies of Grisham's latest hardback and 47 of his most recent paperback. Perhaps carpal tunnel syndrome won't have to be the scourge of all middle-age book buyers.
4. An alert system could let buyers know of all the changes or additions that have happened since they last placed an order. Instead of receiving 5 to 10 pesky emails per week from each sales rep, perhaps buyers could just log on to the site once a month or so. I envision three tabs that would keep buyers informed: "New Titles," "New Publicity," and "Price and Title Changes." Bye-bye photocopied sheets.
5. The publisher's online catalog would dump the purchase order directly into our computer system. I know this is problematic due to most stores' (including the Boulder Book Store's) ancient computer systems. But it is still something that we could work towards once we get online catalogs up and running. The amount of staff time this would save is immense.
Words of Caution
HarperCollins held a meeting at the recent Book Expo America in Los Angeles with buyers from many of the top independent bookstores in the country to discuss their plans to implement an online catalog in the next nine months. It was a fascinating study in how people react to change. I was leading the charge into the online world with a handful of other booksellers. Many other buyers were much more hesitant to change a system that has worked for them, despite its inherent flaws. To them, the rush to change seemed reckless.
My biggest concern is that bookstores are some of the most under-capitalized businesses you'll ever find. Most stores do not have state-of-the-art computers and speedy internet connections. If an online catalog features too many bells and whistles, (HarperCollins is planning on having video and audio components to many pages) it could take too long for bookstores to load the individual pages. Staring at a stuck screen for more than an instant is going to bring the whole appointment to a crashing halt. There has to be a quick-loading basic page, with the exciting, colorful features all offered as something booksellers can access only if they want to learn more.
It's true that there are some potential downsides to ordering from an online catalog. It's harder to snuggle up with a laptop than a catalog in bed. Also, there's definitely something alluring about seeing photos on glossy paper as opposed to a computer screen. And a catalog is a lot easier to pass around the office.
However, the potential to revolutionize the buying process, save hours of tedious labor for both reps and buyers, and to make better decisions based on current information is too great to ignore. It's time for publishers to step up and make this happen. I applaud HarperCollins for the strides they've made and challenge Random House (the so-called industry leader), Penguin (publisher to most of last year's mega-sellers) and Simon and Schuster (home of the most useless catalog in the business) to wake up and give buyers a tool they can really use.
11 comments:
Agreed, 100%. Well thought out and spot-on, Arsen.
- Dave said...
I work for a Boulder-based publisher, and I was just interviewed for an article about digitizing catalogs. Is there any benefit to a downloadable pdf catalog or does a publisher have to go all the way, as Arsen describes?
A pdf wouldn't be annotatable, and would have to be printed out by the bookstore, anyway. You'd be switching the burden of paper waste from you to us... which is great for you, but doesn't solve the issue.
I say either go all the way or not at all.
- PersonaNonData said...
Arsen, This is very interesting and I linked to it on my blog. Of note in my post I mention my experience in reviewing the buying processes at libraries which deal with much the same problem. I would be interested to hear your opinion of Ipage, Titlesoure, pubeasy or BIP as potential solutions.
- Cristina Mussinelli said...
I've recently done a one day seminar in Italy focused on Booksellers and Web 2.0.
At the end of the day a quite big publisher presented his new extranet for the booksellers... it is a absolutely web 1.0 broadcast project with no idea of how to create a bi directional flow of information among all the people interested in selling more books...
- mg said...
I'm a collection development librarian and using title source 3 from Baker and Taylor makes my job a little easier. When you look up books in ts3 you get a lot of info on the item, a picture of the cover, and reviews from LJ, Kirkus, and PW. Also, it is linked to our library catalog so I can click on a little ISBN button so see if it's in our catalog. Once I choose an item and put it in a cart to order, I can click on a little duplicate check link to see if it's in or has been in another cart. I've also used Ingram's and Brodart's services in the past and they work pretty much the same. Maybe you already knew all of this or maybe this won't work for you, but I wanted to share just in case.
- Adam Hodgkin said...
Very interesting post and suggestions. But the situation is both more complex and simpler (in some respects) than you allow. Some comments on why here:
I had to recheck the date of your entry. I thought it might have been dated, say, 2001 or something like that.
Frankly I am amazed that the larger part of the book business still works like that. Plain ridiculous...
I've always found it somewhat mind-boggling that publishers in the land that invented the internet still use such ancient technology to sell books.
We do things a bit differently here ... I work for an independent Australia publisher. In May 2003 our sales team had to give up their bulky, labour intensive and expensive 'paper kits' in favour of a laptop system. This pretty elementary bit of software presents the book's cover, blurb, sales points, table of contents etc as well as multimedia files when they're available. If the bookseller so chooses they can place their order directly with the rep, into the laptop, and the order is processed when the laptop is connected to the internet that evening.
The system allows us in the marketing department to update covers, blurbs, prices whenever we need to ... and if a book wins a prize, or an author does something remarkable, or a title rushes into the program after the kit has been completed, we can add a new entry simply and easily overnight. And we have a replica of this 'kit' in the Bookseller's section of our website, designed for our telesales people to use with their small and remote customers (although these orders still need to be processed using an old-fashioned order form – the reality of that paperless office idea is still a way off).
It wasn't always easy. At the beginning many or our customers baulked at the prospect of buying books in this way. But they've got used to it. And we don't kill nearly as many trees in the process.
Joe wrote:
A pdf wouldn't be annotatable, and would have to be printed out by the bookstore, anyway.
This is simply not true. You could view them on-screen, as many do now, and you can also add or edit comments (and then circulate the electronic file to your colleagues if need be).
PDFs would be a step in the right direction, but dynamic web-based content that Arsen alludes to would be better.
- Sue said...
Excellent thoughts! Heck, I'd be overjoyed to receive CDROMs (Save those trees & all that expensive shipping!)that are compatible with BookLog so I don't have to RETYPE every bloomin' entry into our system!


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Technology, ideology, and emergent communicative practices among the Navajo
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This dissertation examines emerging cultural attitudes, language ideologies, and discursive practices among Navajos and Navajo speakers through the lens of new media technologies on the Navajo Nation. New media such as cell phones and the Internet are significant features of contemporary Navajo communities, and act as both a context for and medium of linguistic and cultural vitality and transformation. They have opened new spaces for Navajo language use, generated emergent uses of the Navajo language, and increased the spaces of language contact and change. This dissertation explores the ways in which ideologies of language and technology have shifted and converged, and describes multiple instances of the transformative nature of technology through the mediation of communities. New technologies do not exist in a vacuum, and novel practices emerge from a wide range of existing observable styles, registers, and norms in Navajo communities. Significant are the shifting geographies of communication, expansion of social networks, and increased circulation of bilingual Navajo hane', or publicly shared "tellings" in the form of stories, jokes, and information that accompany them. This work analyzes the appearance of new media technologies in contemporary Navajo society within broader discourses of modernity and narratives of progress about, and among, Navajo communities. New technology is not incommensurate with existing practice; rather, emergent practices are part of the broader circulation of Navajo identities, defined here as a process linked to social activities, and emergent practices index the ways in which some Navajos are "doing" community in unexpected ways and unexpected places. New expressive forms and genres have appeared, including a migration to English emails by previously monolingual, illiterate elders, the transition of traditionally oral genres to widely circulated emails, and the appearance of locally created bilingual hip-hop music. These are crucial developments that have immediate implications for Navajo language vitality and cultural continuity.
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Chinese experiment machine and experiment technology seminar experimented in Changchun 2008 victory of machine institute limited company is held on July 22, 2008, many 60 expert that comes from the whole nation assembles in Changchun, the Chinese experiment plane that enters to be held by limited company of institute of Changchun experiment machine and experiment technology seminar. Seminar received nearly 40 domestic units support energetically and take an active part in, include to be the same as university of mining industry of aid university, Shanghai traffic university, China, Huanali among them the delegate of 16 colleges such as work college, 7 home such as institute of metal of center of test of national housing materials, Shenyang are principal qualitative check and research organization, the enterprise of 13 home key such as production limited company of aircraft of production limited company of standard component of industry of aviation of treasure steel group, China, Shenyang. On the seminar, above all by sponsor general manager of square Zhuang Qingwei to do the conference to kick off speech, thanks to the social all walks of life that gives a company for a long time accredit and support. The ginseng of the factory can represent university of Chinese mining industry and Harbin turbine to make honored guest speech on the conference in succession, they express to no matter reliance is worth on function or after service,grow the experiment machine that tries place. In the meantime, they still express to organic in the future meeting continues even and grow collaboration trying place. Go up in the seminar at the same time, the technologist experiments with respect to the static state respectively the technology such as machine of machine, dynamic experiment machine, the experiment when the static state is long, alignment machine made special subject report, the current situation of relevant equipment and future were done describe and look into. Afternoon, the production that entered meeting honored guest to see long company trying place together debugs a workshop, made communication to interested product and technology and spot technology personnel, undertook deliberative with respect to next collaboration. Since nearly half century, limited company of institute of Changchun experiment machine puts in buccal institute 's charge from national industry technology, development reachs the guide of present science and technology that has abundant technology actual strength industry, holding to will advanced experiment aircraft and experiment technology to bring the concept of respectable user all the time. Be engaged in the national base that experiment machine and experiment technology research and development create the earliest as China, limited company of institute of Changchun experiment machine wishs to be in together with colleague of social all circles experiment machine domain is explored ceaselessly, initiate new page of experiment machine domain jointly. Pass insecurity and have the delibrate activity of rhythm, honored guest attending the meeting lets his thought flow freely jointly the future of Chinese experiment machine and experiment technology. Congress issues heavy curtain in happy atmosphere decline.
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People, Planet, Profit is a simple yet effective way of summarising the Sustainable Development aspirations of today's Oil & Gas (both Up- and Downstream) and Energy industry. Sustainable Development is not a specific activity, but rather an outcome of the need to balance short and long term interests and to integrate environmental, social and economic considerations into Business or Opportunity/Project decision making. As such, People, Planet, Profit can be translated into identifying, assessing and managing Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) Risks in a cost effective manner. In other words: HSE Risks need to be reduced and consequences mitigated to a level which is both 'Tolerable' (that is, within all legislative and other relevant external requirements) and 'As Low As Reasonably Practicable' (that is, to the point – objectively assessed – at which the time, trouble, difficulty and cost of further reduction measures become unreasonably disproportionate to the additional risk reduction achieved). To demonstrate effective HSE management, companies are required to execute and document extensive HSE studies/reviews, starting in the early stages of the Opportunity/Project Realisation Process and to be maintained throughout the life of the assets/facilities. Triple EEE can provide experienced specialist staff to support customers in such HSE studies and reviews.
Current examples of Services & Training that Triple EEE can design and offer to customers in this area include:


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Welcome to the February 2017 Color Fusers Blog Hop! Each month we work with a group of colors to bring you inspiration. Check out the fabulous colors we have to work with this month.
We only have to use three of the colors, but I love the challenge of using all four! I was able to pull it off using the fun COOL TREATS bundle from the Occasions Catalog.
It ended up being quite easy to incorporate all the colors with this stamp set. It all started with the Peekaboo Peach paper from the TASTY TREATS Specialty DSP. It provided a wonderful background to work with.
Lots of details went into the rest of the card. A fun sundae was placed in a set of circles and surrounded by the sentiment. I love how the sentiment circles around the focal point. It's a unique way to do a greeting for sure! I had originally placed the words in a zig zag pattern but really loved it when I thought to put it along the top and bottom.
I hope you've enjoyed this COOL TREATS idea! It was so much fun to create for you! Now it's time to move on to all of the other Design Team members blogs and check out their amazing creations!
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3 area restaurants land on "top 21 in N.C." list
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I stopped watching live recorded television about a year ago – sports are the only real reason I turn on my television these days. I stopped reading magazines about the same time. Newspapers are gone. Books are out. Radio – not even sure if I own one outside of my car. I've done this and yet I still know what state the world is in, who runs my city, where the stock market is, what the latest technology/entertainment/fashion trends are and even the 5-day forecast.
I've turned off all other media and I still know what is going on out there. All because of mobile. And I'm not the only one that is doing this.
It wasn't hard. We are all captured in our routines: Get up, turn on the radio, read the newspaper, channel flip, get in the car, listen to the radio, get to the office and surf the web, etc. You get it, you are doing it. This routine is paramount to advertising and marketing success – the marketers know where and when to find you. They know because we have baked these routines into our lives for generations.
Well, things are changing and marketing as we have come to know it is dead.
Our exposure rate to marketing messages has been running at the red line for years – to a point where it doesn't even register for many of us. My 5-year old boys soak it up as the gospel – the ability to influence is strong in them – but for most of us, the majority of marketing is ignored or diminished compared to other messages we might be receiving at the same time.
Yet marketers continue on their merry way, spending millions on Super Bowl ads and ineffective banners. Might as well just burn your money because what used to work doesn't anymore on guys like me (with a few bucks to spend) and won't in the future on nearly everyone carrying a phone.
Marketing today is constant care, conversation and curation. The care is a genuine desire to help a customer, the conversation brings the voices (good and bad) together to help make a buying decision and curation is building a strong community one satisfied customer at a time. All of this is done via mobile. All of this is happening today. All of this will make or break a business.
It is time to realize that broadcasting a message – the concept that one size fits all – is fading and being replaced by up to 200 short, relevant and timely interactions per day per person. This realization breaks the routines, breaks the follow-me approach we see in the industry today and breaks the marketing death spiral most companies are stuck in without even knowing it.


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Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Nursing Tips
For a mother who wants to breastfeed, there are few things more emotionally difficult than not being able to get it to work. The ideas I am going to share with you come from some of my own painful experiences. My daughter was born with significant cardiac issues and spent the first four months of her life in the hospital. She was both bottle fed and fed through a nasogastric (ng) tube that went up her nose, down into her stomach. Later she was fed through a g-tube that was surgically placed in her stomach. Three times during her hospital stay she was not allowed milk via mouth or tube for days and lived on nothing but an I.V. bag for nutrition. But, despite all that, she learned to nurse, never quite perfectly, but well enough.
Feeding Snags
Lots of things can interfere with a baby's ability to nurse. Perhaps your baby has a lack of strength and stamina due to a cardiac issue, or maybe her low tone is making it hard for her to get the hang of latching on and swallowing. If your baby is in the NICU and you have been discharged from the hospital, it is even more difficult to establish a nursing relationship.
For whatever reason, if your baby can not breastfeed from the start, you will have to accept an alternate method of feeding as a backup. In most cases this will be the bottle, but for some it means an ng tube or a g-tube. Don't stress that the secondary feeding method will ruin your baby's ability to nurse. You'll just have to work around it.
Mother's Little Helpers
There are several things you can try to facilitate nursing. Me, I was so desperate that I tried them all. Some were very successful and others not so much for me and my baby, but that doesn't mean they won't work for you.
A Lactation Consult—As soon as you see that your baby is having trouble latching or swallowing, request a consult with the hospital's lactation support person. Having a pro help you with positioning and such may be all you need to get things going.
Oral Stimulation—Give your baby some oral stimulation prior to trying to breastfeed. Make sure your hands and nails are scrubbed clean before touching your baby's mouth. Stroke your baby from her mouth upward to her cheeks. Use a gentle downward stroke on the outside of your baby's throat to encourage the swallowing reflex. Rub your baby's gums, top and bottom, starting from the center and moving to the side and then back to the center. Stroke the corners of your baby's mouth, once per side, in an arc starting from the top center and working down to the bottom center. Just before presenting your nipple, put your finger pad on your baby's tongue and gently push it down from the roof of her mouth. When you feel her begin to cup her tongue to suck, quickly remove your finger and insert your nipple. This is easier said than done (trust me on this one) but it is worth a try.
The Dancer Hold—Whether breast or bottle feeding, you can use the Dancer Hold to support your baby's cheeks and encourage latching and sucking. The Dancer Hold is a special hand placement that is complicated to describe but a lactation consultant can show you exactly what to do.
Positioning—A baby with low tone needs to feel fully supported while she is trying to eat. You can do this by swaddling your baby although this might put her to sleep. You could also try different nursing positions as long as you are supporting your baby's body from head to toe. My favorite position to accomplish this is side-to-side (though this is probably not something you can do in the NICU). I place my baby on her side on a slightly inclined pillow and lie next to her. This way she is fully supported and does not have the weight of the breast on her. She can also control the flow of milk easier from this position and I have free hands to help her if necessary.
Nipple Shield—A nipple shield is a temporary solution designed to help train a baby with latch difficulties. You can use the shield over your nipple to make it sturdier, thus helping keep your baby's tongue in position. Your baby will not lose the nipple if she is unable to secure or maintain a latch. These are not one size fits all and sizing is based on your baby's mouth size not your nipple size.
SNS Feeder—The Supplemental Nursing System made by Medela can be used to teach your baby that milk comes from your breast if she is unable to get a good enough latch to cause you to let down. It is also helpful if your baby just doesn't seem to know what to do at the breast. The hospital can provide you with the kit and show you how to use it. Basically you fill the bottle up with milk and then hang it upsidedown taped to your shirt or skin above your breast. There is a tiny tube that the milk flows through that goes into your baby's mouth (along with your nipple). When your baby makes any attempt to suck (or even if she doesn't) you can allow milk to flow into her mouth. The flow rate is adjustable and if your baby gets your milk to kick in, the feeder will let off on its flow accordingly. When I used this with my daughter she spat out my nipple and sucked the milk through the little tube like it was a straw.
Pumping—Sometimes the timing is all off when you go to nurse. Maybe you are so ready that you are leaking and your baby is overwhelmed by the flow. Maybe the milk isn't there and your baby's latch and suck is too weak or uncoordinated to get it going. In either case you can try pumping prior to nursing to resolve the problem. You can pump until the flood subsides or pump until you get a let down and then offer your baby the breast.
Ambience—There are a couple environmental things you can do to make nursing easier. First off, make sure you are comfortable because nursing a baby with low stamina or low tone can take a while. Have your boppy and a bunch of pillows handy, and a bottle of water for you. Turn the lights down but not off. Bright lighting will make your baby close her eyes and then it's zzzz for her. The same thing will happen if it's too dark. If your baby is too sleepy to eat you can try changing her diaper or massaging her to wake her back up. Also be careful to position your baby with her head up a little bit so that the milk will not back-flow into her ear canals. Make sure you burp your baby often since babies with eating difficulties tend to take in more air which can make your baby feel prematurely full and uncomfortable.
Protecting the Nursing Relationship
It is important to keep your baby aware of breastfeeding, or in other words, to protect the nursing relationship when you must use a secondary method of feeding. This means that you must make your baby associate filling her tummy with the smell, taste, and feel of the breast.
Bottle Feeding—Attempt to breastfeed your baby prior to bottle feeding her. Allow 5-10 minutes of practicing latching and swallowing. If your baby can't get a good latch or a few good swigs after 5-10 minutes, you should try the bottle. You don't want to frustrate your hungry baby or have your sleepyhead drift off again. Until your baby makes the connection between you and nursing, you should have someone else offer the bottle, if possible.
Tube Feeding—If your baby will be having a tube feed, position her as if she were breastfeeding with her face against the skin of your breast. This way she can practice nursing while her stomach is filling up. She will learn to associate feeling full with the breast. You can even do this if your baby is fluid-restricted and not allowed to feed directly from the breast. Just be ready to take her off if she does manage to get a good latch and starts drinking. (I know that seems mean, but remember her belly is filling up and she is learning how to use her mouth, so it isn't as bad as it sounds!)
Continuous Tube Feed/I.V. Bag—If your baby is on a continuous tube feed or an I.V. bag, ask the doctor if every so often you can simulate the nursing experience by holding your baby in the nursing position, skin to skin, while offering her a pacifier dipped in breast milk, water, or even a couple drops of sucrose. This exercise will train your baby to continue to accept oral stimulation and to associate it with you/your breast.
Pumping—The big thing you have to do to protect the nursing relationship is keep your milk supply up. Not so easy when nursing isn't consistent. You and the pump might be spending a lot of time together. Most hospitals have super pumps but if you will be pumping at home you may want to consider buying or renting a really good electric pump. (Many insurance companies, including some medicaid plans, cover part of the pump rental fee if your baby is in the NICU.) There are two things you can do to make pumping easier. You can take pictures of your baby nursing (or pretending to nurse ;-) and put them in a little photo book that you can look at while you pump. This visual stimulation of seeing your baby nursing on you will encourage let downs while you are alone in the pumping room. Also, pumping right after you have practiced or simulated nursing with your baby will help you to get a good let down. Pumping on one side while you are nursing on the other is even better yet, but might be a bit tricky in a NICU or without someone's help.
NICU Nursing
Trying to breastfeed your baby in the NICU can be tough. Make sure you let the doctors and nurses know that you want to breastfeed your baby and don't let them discourage you. While the NICU staff will agree that breast milk is optimal they may seem like they prefer it coming from a bottle. They may be concerned about your baby's efforts (energy expended) to nurse if she has a cardiac issue or they may just not be that experienced with breastfeeding babies with Down syndrome. They may insist that they need to keep track of the exact amount of milk your baby is ingesting. If this is the case, suggest that they weigh your baby before and after you breastfeed to determine the amount of milk your baby received. Do not be thwarted. Discuss a nursing plan with the doctors that will be medically safe for your baby.
When It Just Won't Work
If you are unable to establish a breastfeeding relationship with your baby, remember that almost all the same benefits can be had by pumping your milk and feeding it to your baby via a bottle or tube. The bonding that occurs with breastfeeding can be developed by creating a special routine that is just between you and your baby. You could do baby massage, kangaroo care time (where you have your baby lie against you skin to skin), or a lullaby and snuggle time each day. The oral motor tone that is developed by breastfeeding can be worked on with oral stimulation techniques that your baby's speech therapist can teach you.
Your Turn
If breastfeeding did not come easy for your baby, would you share your experience on what worked for you and how long it took your baby to get the hang of it?
23 comments:
I think what helped us most was determination, patience, and confidence. I remember getting frustrated when our girl was a week old and we had to give her a few bottles because she just wasn't latching on. She was also very very sleepy for her first 4-6 weeks or so. Now she's eating like a champ! She's 11 weeks old and it's hard to remember how long it took for her to really get the hang of it. Improvement came gradually and sometimes it seemed like two steps forward, one step back. Tools I found really helpful were: a nipple sheild, a boppy, and one of those cover ups that let me look at the baby so I could get her latched on in public. I saw a lactation consult in the hospital and she gave me a helpful booklet called "Nursing Your Baby with Down Syndrome." I also found "The Breastfeeding Book" by William and Martha Sears, and "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" at our library. They were great for general tips and each did have a section on Down syndrome/heart defects.ReplyDelete
Just not giving up, being determined. I would not let the nurses give Tawni a bottle, I really wanted to breastfeed her. I had a great nurse that really worked with us and we ended up using a nipple shield for about a month til Tawni learn to latch on good. I breastfed her for 17 months til the little stinker decided to wean herself.ReplyDelete
The SNS was a life saver for me! Morgan had a good latch but tired out really easily from her congestive heart failure. She began to lose weight and it was an easy way to add calories to the supplemented milk in the SNS feeder. I used this system for the entire year of breastfeeding. It definitely was NOT convenient but I know that it is the only reason we were successful with breastfeeding. She would absolutely NOT take a bottle so it was the SNS or NG tube. It wasn't a hard decision--a tube on my breast was much easier than a tube down my baby's nose into her stomach. When I didn't use the SNS, Morgan would not empty my breast but for some reason with just 1-2 oz. of pumped milk in the SNS she didn't seem to wear out as easily and was able to successfully nurse and empty all the milk out of the breast.ReplyDelete
Great post, lots of great information. Thanks for posting this Sandra.ReplyDelete
Our experience was like this: Finn had gastric surgery the day after he was born (correction of duodenal atresia) and subsequently couldn't take anything by mouth for a week, so that put off our establishing a nursing relationship. In the NICU I tried to nurse him, and did get lots of support, but it was difficult and stressful and never went very well. When I was able to take him home at 2 weeks of age, he was latching on with the help of nipple shields. It wasn't long before I was able to get him to latch on and nurse without the nipple shields, but he wasn't gaining weight. Our pediatrician, unfortunately, assumed he'd never nurse well because he has Ds, so recommended putting him on formula. I was devastated, as I had nursed all 5 of my previous children. Instead of going to formula, I met with a wonderful lactation consultant who worked very hard to help Finn and I overcome the hurdles we had (mainly, a poor latch which resulted in my milk supply decreasing dramatically, and thus his poor weight gain). I pumped to get my milk supply up and we used a SNS for a while, but eventually he started gaining well, we ditched the SNS, and he's now 10+ months old and nursing is still going strong and he's a big strong boy now :)
- AnonymousMay 27, 2009 at 10:48 AM
Love the idea of taking a picture of your baby to stimulate letdown! Another thing that worked for me was using a hand's free pumping bra. I have the Easy Expression one (www.easyexpressionproducts.com). It was great! I could touch my baby, stroking her, holding her tiny hand, while I pumped b/c the bra held my pump in place and freed up my hands.ReplyDelete
You offer a lot of good information, but I think under "when it just won't work" you could also mention that formula remains an option. Pumping is a huge commitment of time and effort, and it's not always feasible.ReplyDelete
Breastfeeding can be really tricky emotional territory for moms, and it's important to cut everyone some slack.
You are absolutely right! I have a post coming up soon on baby formulas. I eventually used formula with each of my kids (and they're all doing fine ;-)
- AnonymousMay 27, 2009 at 11:36 PM
I agree with pp about "cutting everyone some slack". I am 44 years old,and just had my 10th. Gus has Ds. He was in the NICU for almost 4 weeks with feeding issues. I fed and pumped around the clock. I finally gave in just so he could come home. I continued to pump for about a month, but it was just too hard. BTW I breasfed all 9 of the others. It was devastating at first, but in the end, I've made the best decision for myself, Gus, and the rest of my family. Thanks for sharing this blog with us!ReplyDelete
Wow, Anonymous, I can barely keep track of three kids. You have earned as much slack as you want or need. Do you have a blog or other web presence? I would love to read about your family. I bet we could learn a lot from you.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 28, 2009 at 7:27 AM
This is an excellent post. You do a good job dealing with the emotionalaspect of the struggle to make breastfeeding work.ReplyDelete
I have an article on my site, a compilation of posts on the ES email list about feeding and nursing an infant with DS.
Of particular interest in that article would be the sections on the danger of soy formula to the thyroid, and the information from Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson about positioning. I've also compiled posts from moms whose kids are fighting to gain weight prior to heart surgery.
You have an absolutely fantastic blog! It's easy to read and has tons of great information! I have been breastfeeding my baby for 8 months and you taught me things I never knew. Thank you, thank you, thank you!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 28, 2009 at 9:35 PM
Breastfeeding my son with Ds took about 3 1/2 - 4 weeks to get going and not much longer after that to be "established". Initially, he would latch but he would not wait for letdown (he would only suck 2 or 3 times and give up). This can be a problem for typical kids also I think. So I pumped and kept trying. I went from the hospital bottle to the Adiri Natural Nurser which is shaped more like a breast, then from that we went to the nipple shield and then from that to the breast. Leo is 10 months now and still a very good nurser.ReplyDelete
I just want to point out that sometimes nursing is not possible because of swallowing issues. Eon nursed for 3 weeks before a swallow study showed he was aspirating. He's been on thickened breast milk for over 3 months now.ReplyDelete
Exclusively pumping is not as horrible as I imagined it to be. It allows me specific times throughout the day to check in with my favorite blogs (like this one!)while I pump. Initially, I had high hopes that we would one day establish a good nursing relationship. That hope is waning as time goes on, but I've made peace with it. After successfully nursing five kids, it was a disappointing turn of events to bottle feed this one, but the reality is not so bad. My husband and other kids love the opportunity to feed him!
If he is ever cleared for thin liquids, we will definitely attempt to nurse. I nurse him after pumping about once a week and he seems to have no problem latching on, so we'll see.
When my first son Andrew was born, I had the *hardest* time breastfeeding him. I've often said that nursing him was akin to wrestling an alligator. I tried many things and stuck it out for 9 1/2 months. I was never so happy as the last day I nursed him. (He couldn't have cared less and was happy to have the bottle.) My stress over all of it really tainted my first few months as a mom, and looking back, I wish I had quit earlier.ReplyDelete
When I found out I was pregnant again, the main thing that I prayed for was for this baby to be a good breastfeeder. When Benjamin was born and we found out an hour later that he has Down syndrome, my LC came to see me (she and I are close friends after all I went through with Andrew!). She told me that many babies with DS have difficulty nursing. Oh, my heart just sank, especially b/c Benjamin had three heart defects. But God was faithful and Benjamin was a WONDERFUL nurser. It was seriously my silver lining. Through the next several week and months of dealing with the diagnosis, mourning the loss of the child we thought we were going to have, and preparing for open-heart surgery, I was so, so blessed that I didn't have to struggle to breastfeed. And now, as a 13-month old, he is a terrific eater as well! He eats more foods and better textures than super-picky-three-year-old Andrew. Yay, Benjamin! Thank the Lord. :)
- AnonymousJune 9, 2009 at 1:03 PM
I'm so happy to have found your blog and all the resources. I'm a work outside of the home, pumping and tandem nursing mother of a 2 1/2 yr old and an almost 4 month old who has Ds. I continue to struggle with getting my 4 month old w/ Ds to nurse. I'm fortunate that my older daughter continues to nurse and between her and my PISA I have a good supply of milk for my wee one. I'm still hopeful that someday we'll have a godd nursing relationship but I am starting to feel at a loss for who to turn to for ideas. She does have a moderate sized VSD that our ped card informed us that as long as she continues to gain weight as she is through 9 mos and nothing new pops up she most likely will not need heart surgery. B/C of that I'm hesitant to stress her too much over eating. We have struggled through feeding her with a syringe and SNS the first weeks when it was taking an hour and a 1/2 to get an oz in her- and often she would throw it back up (or part of it). Then through trying out different bottles b/c she also struggled with Dr. Brown's bottles which I had used when I returned to work after my older daughter. Now she does well with a soothie and can take in 5 oz in about 15-20 minutes and is good at pacing herself when she gets worn out. Sometimes she still throws some of it up other times she doesn't. With all of this I have been seeing a SLP who specializes in feeding- even with the bottle she leaks some milk out the side. But they are hesitant to change anything b/c of the VSD. I tried going to the BF support group where she was born- I love the LCs there and they offered a nipple shield to try. We did a feed and weigh there and she was only taking 1/2 oz w/out the shield after 15 minutes and an oz with the shield after 15 minutes. This was not due to lack of supply. Most of what she got was from my compressing the milk into her mouth. Afterwards I could pump about 6-8 oz from each side- so I know the milk was there as well. She was sick last week with a fever and cold and we were needing to use a nebulizer to make her breathing easier- so last week I didn't push nursing at all and that may have been a mistake- now that she is feeling better I went back to trying to nurse and she outride refused me w/ the shield for the first time. We tried again later when she was calmer and not so very hungry and didn't have much luck either. The other difficulty I have is that my toddlers latch has become problematic and she is grazing the nipple and causing bleeding- and the poor latch with my wee one has caused bleeding as well- so I'm trying to balance getting enough of a break to heal the breasts (I've had light pink to red blood fill up a bottle when pumping at its worst)and enough pumping and nursing to not lose my supply. We've tried different holds/position as well. Any suggestions anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated.ReplyDelete
Nicole- Mom to Maddie and Abby
Will she still take the nipple without the shield? Does she sweat when she eats? Is she on any heart meds? Have you tried a z-vibe or other vibrating tool for oral stim prior to nursing?
My favorite non-cardiac-stressful nursing trick was to do nap time nursing. For some reason my daughter seemed to know what to do instinctively while she was falling asleep. I would lie next to her with a book and read while she napped and "nursed". This type of pacifying sucking eventually helped her to nurse better at mealtimes. I know, this is hard to do when you work and have another baby to chase around!
- AnonymousJanuary 19, 2011 at 1:52 PM
My son was in the NICU, but I was determined to nurse. He was born via unplanned C-section, so I asked for a pump so I could send milk to the NICU. When it came to attempts to nurse, my son didn't latch. A nurse handed me a nipple shield, & that helped a bit. I used a combo of the shield & bottle feeding pumped breast milk. We used pump & store containers & nipples that fit on them.ReplyDelete
The lactation consultant (LC) attempted to help me in the hospital, & it was a bit overwhelming but post-hostpital follow-ups helped. One tip she gave me was to pump after feedings using the shield. She said it would ensure continued supply since shields could cause 2 issues: less direct breast stimulation and incomplete breast emptying.
Once I went home, I kept using the nipple shield, & based on guidance from the LC and cues from my son, I used the shield, & after 15 minutes nursing, if he wasn't exhausted or full, I'd offer him my nipple. In the beginning, it rarely worked, but I didn't want to give up. Then I noticed that he preferred bottles over breast, so switched to slow-flow nipples on playtex nurser bottles. The flow was slower on those than slow-flow nipples for pump & store bottles.
Because of the shield, I think, my nipples didn't stand out well, & that presented additional challenges. Therashells helped after only a few uses. After a short while, my son started nursing without the shield for a minute or two. After a couple of weeks of this routine, we were able to go entire feedings without a shield. NOTE: morning feedings were still a challenge. He slept through the night early, and when my breasts were really full, he couldn't latch without the shield. We used the shield for the first 5 minutes of morning feedings for about an additional week, then we were able to discontinue use of the shield.
My son was born November 8, and by Christmas, we were able to go completely without the shield.
My husband and I spent a fortune on gadgets. We bought nipple shields...believe me, you'll want more than one if you use them...you will feel absolutely paralyzed if you misplace them (and you will, because they're clear, and if it happens to fall somewhere, you really have to look to find them). We bought a supplemental nursing system because we thought it might help (which we really didn't end up using). We bought therashells. We also bought extra sets of pump parts...when you're pumping after every feeding (and they're every 2 hours), it's nice to have an extra set of shields and parts for the breast pump. We bought wipes to clean the parts, which I'd only recommend for cleaning during long car trips when you have to pump in the car. We also bought a lot of the 80-mL pump and store bottles. We invested in slow-flow nipples for the bottles we chose and the drop-in bottle bags. We also invested in a small 3-drawer unit to house everything from bottles, nipples, lids, and bottle bags to breastmilk storage containers.
If I had to do it all over again, I'd invest in everything that I bought with the exception of the supplemental nursing system. I'm not saying they're bad, but for our baby, it didn't turn out to be necessary. It's all trial and error, and a lot depends on the baby's abilities, mom's persistence, and support from family and lactation consultants.
The Brestfriend is really great for supporting baby head to toe. My midwife loaned me one in the beginning, and I finally got my own. I cart it everywhere (even 10 months into this) because my sweet daughter just doesn't have the tone to nurse without the support. And my neck and back can't take anymore bending and twisting :)ReplyDelete
The Brestfriend is really great for supporting baby head to toe. My midwife loaned me one in the beginning, and I finally got my own. I cart it everywhere (even 10 months into this) because my sweet daughter just doesn't have the tone to nurse without the support. And my neck and back can't take anymore bending and twisting :)ReplyDelete
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.ReplyDelete
I just had a baby with DS. He is 1 month. I am pumping right now...I try to nurse him about 2 times a day. He latches on fine at times. He isn't very consistent and he won't do it long enough to be full. I always follow up with a bottle. How will I know when he is ready to nurse only? I nursed my other 3 and it's difficult to know once you know exactly how much milk they are used to getting. He is too sleepy the rest of the time to even try and I have to make sure I'm super "full" so he won't have to work hard to get it flowing. Am I on the right track?ReplyDeleteReplies
Congratulations, your son is adorable! Sounds like you are off to a good start. You could try a couple things... 1. you could pump a minute or so to get things going before you have him latch on (so he has instant reward for his efforts) 2. Is it possible for you to try to nurse him a couple more times a day? If he nursed even a little bit before he gets each bottle he will begin to really connect nursing with eating, and will eventually nurse more and longer. It can take a couple months to fully get to nursing only, and he may or may not but keep at it.Delete
If you want to email me, we can talk more in detail about what he is doing and things to try :-) ds.mama at yahoo dot com
Just stumbled onto your blog - it's wonderful. Thanks for all the information! I have a 10 month old son with DS. He latched really well right from birth, despite having an emergency CS with general anesthetic and the resulting sleepiness on both our parts. However, when my milk came in he stopped nursing, outright refusing the bottle. Nipple shields, lactation consultant, etc. didn't help at all. He would sometimes latch and suck a few times, but always come off as soon as I let down. He was in the NICU for the first 10 days and on oxygen for the first month of his life. I had nursed my daughter, so knew latch and everything was right, but he would just completely refuse. Finally, the day he turned 4 weeks old, he was off oxygen and immediately latched and nursed an entire feeding! I never had to pump & feed again. It turns out he couldn't manage breathe-suck-swallow with the constant oxygen pressure plus the amount of milk in my let-down. So any other mamas out there in my situation - don't give up until your baby is off oxygen. It might make all the difference!ReplyDelete
Please share your experience and opinions, or ask a question. I won't even mind if you correct me on something.
ds.mama will delete any comments that are simply product advertising.


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Click more to read all my must-see places to eat, shop and visit in Philadelphia, PA!
Author: nicolecoppins
Fall Fashion Inspiration
Click to see some of my favorite trends for this season!
Fall Layers
Sharing my favorite layering piece for early fall. Click to read more about how I keep my style unique!
Sunshine Mood Board + Playlist
Sharing a playlist + mood board featuring the season's latest color story: yellow!
Summer Day at The Met
Spent a lovely summer day exploring The Met, including the exhibit, Rei Kawakubo/ Commes des Garçons: The Art of the In-Between.
The August EDIT
Sharing my favorites from the past month along with a little life update!
Floral Wrap Dress in New York City
Styling a floral wrap dress for a summer day in New York City!


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Jon Mikalson
Cocke Hall, B002
- Bachelor of Arts (BA), University of Virginia
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Harvard University
Research Interests
My primary research is ancient Greek religion as a practised religion and how it is revealed, formulated, and manipulated in Greek literature, history, and life. Particular interests include the relationship between practised religion and ethics, the shaping of religious material by poets for literary purposes, the religious elements of Athenian democratic institutions, and religion's role in the efflorescence of Greek culture in the classical period. As an armchair archeologist I follow with interest new finds and theories about the topography and monuments of Athens. I am currently finishing for Blackwells Publishing an introduction to ancient Greek religion for college students, as well as a chapter on Greek Religion in the Hellenistic Period for the forthcoming Companion to the Hellenistic Age of Cambridge University Press. When those are behind me, I will turn to a long thought about project on the uses made of practiced Greek religion in Greek utopian and philosphical writing.


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In June of this year the Start Network officially endorsed the Charter4Change, an initiative signed up to by 29 INGOs, including nine Start members. The Charter4Change is an exciting step towards which aims to make a reality the recent World Humanitarian Summit's aspirations to strengthen the role of national and local organisations in humanitarian preparedness and response work.
The Charter is a series of eight commitments – also endorsed by more than 125 national/southern based organisations – which pledges its signatories to change the way they work with and relate to national actors. This includes passing 20% of humanitarian funds directly to national actors, including our partners in project design and decision making, introducing our partners directly to our funders and ensuring that we highlight their work and role in our communications.
Clearly the voices of national actors – the majority of the 23,000 people consulted during the World Humanitarian Summit process – have been heard, and international actors are realising they need to adjust their approaches and ways of doing business.
Business as usual?
Unfortunately, though, this ambitious target in the Grand Bargain is unlikely to be achieved in the same way as the Charter4Change signatories are trying to accomplish it. The Grand Bargain text is watered down by the four little words coming immediately after the commitment to pass 25% to national actors 'as directly as possible'.
This means that the Grand Bargain signatories – including 18 of the largest humanitarian donors, nine United Nations agencies, the three NGO consortia; ICVA (International Council of Voluntary Agencies), InterAction and SCHR (Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response); as well as several individual NGOs – could in fact continue with business as usual.
In the case of INGOs this would mean passing money to their nationally registered international affiliate which some INGOs are branding as local or national actors, or continuing sub-contracting relationships with national NGOs and describing that as 'as directly as possible'.
For donors it is a slightly different ball-game as large bi-lateral donors simply do not have the resources to provide grants to hundreds of different national actors, and they will need to continue to rely on a mixture of approaches including pooled funds, and pass-through grants to achieve their own target of 25% of humanitarian spend to national actors.
Need for new funds
Indeed this is where the Start Network could help donors achieve the 25% by offering them the chance to put money into a new Start Local Fund or a specific window of the Start Fund, which would only be available to national organisations and would be managed and administered entirely by national NGOs. Another option for donors, which is likely to get up and running within the foreseeable future is a pooled fund administered by the new NEAR Network of southern NGOs which was officially launched at the WHS in May. These options would indeed not just be 'as directly as possible'. They would be directly.
But the Charter4Change also recognises that international actors' relationships with national organisations go beyond purely a focus on money. Indeed one of the Charter's commitments – which national organisations most wanted to see included, and has perhaps been the biggest stumbling block for some INGOs to sign up – is the commitment to stop undermining local capacity by 'identifying and implementing fair compensation for local organisations for the loss of skilled staff if and when we contract a local organisation's staff involved in humanitarian action within 6 months of the start of a humanitarian crisis or during a protracted crisis, for example along the lines of paying a recruitment fee of 10% of the first six months' salary'.
Undermining local capacity
For some big direct implementing NGOs, which recruit locally trained humanitarian staff during emergencies, that commitment makes it difficult for them to sign the Charter. This is a pity as the commitment goes to the heart of how international organisations relate to and support national actors. It clearly isn't enough to support national organisations with training, organisational strengthening, funds for project implementation and even providing accompaniment, if when an emergency happens and they most need their trained staff, and an INGOs then recruits them.
One of CAFOD's partners in the Philippines, ECOWEB, lost nine of its senior humanitarian trained staff to INGOs and the UN in the aftermath of Cyclone Haiyan in 2013, thus severely eroding their capacity to serve the communities they work with and leaving them with a huge gap in capacity, which took them several months to make up
This a highly complex issue, with many ramifications, and is not as simple as just asking INGOs please stop recruiting national NGO staff. So step in Start again! Start Engage's Transforming Surge Capacity Project (TSCP) has provided a small research grant to four of the Start members engaged in the TSCP project – CAFOD, Islamic Relief, Tearfund and Christian Aid – to research the impact of INGO recruitment of national NGO staff in the Philippines, and to work with national (and international) NGO leaders to propose alternative approaches which meet the needs of both national and international NGOs.
This is an important piece of work and another step in the right direction towards implementing the Charter4Change Commitments. We expect to have the results of the research towards the end of this year and can report back in another blog.
This blog was originally published by START Network.
Tags: aid, Charter4Change, Grand Bargain, Humanitarian, policy, START Network, World Humanitarian Summit


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Basin & Range, 2013 - 2014
Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson, AZ
Untitled (Basin and Range) is an immersive, site-specific installation that brings an unexpected, monumental geographic feature into the Great Hall. We are used to engaging with the classic "basin and range" topography in the landscape, but constructing this landmass in a museum gallery setting radically reorients the viewer's sense of place and scale, providing an unprecedented art experience. With three simple materials and inspiration from the Western landscape viewed from his plane window as he flew toward Tucson, Alois Kronschlaeger has radically transformed the Great Hall of MOCA with Untitled (Basin & Range).
Throughout the basin and range region are extensive examples of the result of shifting tectonic plates that create our region's distinctive terrain. Moving this landscape indoors shifts our sense of both scale and of time, as we are reminded of the presence of "geological time" relative to our sense of day-to-day time. This experience is both awe-inspiring and humbling, reminiscent of Edmund Burk's notions of "the sublime and the beautiful." John McPhee, in his exquisite tome Basin and Range, suggests geology is virtually a literary exercise, a form of close reading of the landscape that also produces a "fountain of Metaphor". Displacement, disorientation, and awesome beauty are all inherent in the topology and that experience becomes incarnate in Kronschlaeger's evocative installation.
The installation is at once allusive-it is essentially a classic basin and range mountainous topography incongruously installed in a museum gallery space and easily part of a long tradition of landscape art-and ultimately higly abstract and entirely non-referential. The dizzying optical effects produced by the mesh and the continually shifting reflected and refracted light produced by the translucent paint create a highly dramatized cinematic space reminiscent of Moholy-Nagy's Light Space Modulator, writ large. The literal, figurative qualities of a mountain range desappear as the vertiginous, cantilevered moments and visual whirl of sensations create a hallucinogenic experience not unlike the space created in Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919).
The superstructure of the installation is comprised of a wooden grid, which is then draped with wire mesh. Translucent paint is then poured over the mesh, creating a magical light environment that shifts throughout the day. The rigid rectilinear geometries of the wooden grid give way to the sensual, fractal geometries of the aluminum wire mesh. The disorienting optical effects created as one moves through the space are both profound and constantly at play as the daylight and the seasonal sun angle shift to create a perpetual "light space modulator". Kronschlaeger's work is heir to the Russian Constructivists via the so-called Minimalists of the 1960s. Primary engagements with the liminal space between architecture and sculpture interest all of these artists-essentially, how do objects psychically alter the space they occupy? How does the human body, as our primary metric of scale, relate to the altered space?


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Clarence, NY – Three Wal-Mart employees and an additional accomplice have been arrested as part of a shoplifting ring. Authorities were contacted by loss prevention officials in a Wal-Mart Supercenter, with evidence that demonstrated illegal activity by several employees' under-charging goods. The suspects would go through the checkout lines of corrupt employees involved in the shoplifting scam, and leave with merchandise they'd not paid for. Wal-Mart estimates that this group is responsible for the loss and theft of more than $7,000 in merchandise.
WGRZ.com details 26-year-old Evelyn Smith, a cashier at Wal-Mart, was charged with Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree, an E Felony. A class E felony in New York is punishable by up to 4 years in prison. Smith had allegedly under or improperly scanned items on seven occasions. She'd also posed as a customer as part of the scam, going through the lines of others involved, and leaving with merchandise. 21-year-old Tacara Lawrence was slapped with the same charges as Smith, for committing the same aforementioned fraud on at least four occasions.
Twenty-two year old Dewayne Harrell and 19-year-old Latasha Morrow were both charged with Petit Larceny. Petit larceny is a class A misdemeanor.
State Police said the employees would also activate a gift card, keep the active one, and swap it with an inactive identical one, giving the non-funded one to the unsuspecting customer.
This is not the first case of a Wal-Mart employee being caught for attempting to defraud the retailer. Seattlepi.com recently reported that two employees in Marrero, Louisiana were arrested for allegedly trying to take Apple iPads. Manager Kenneth Rancifer, 33, and Robert Brown, 51, were arrested and booked with theft of property worth more than $1,500.


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During press conference which was held in Australia the entrepreneur of Kaspersky Lab Mr Eugene Kaspersky has said that both iOS and Android are unsafe in respect of securities. Let me know you, Kaspersky Lab is a international software security group operating in almost 200 countries and territories worldwide. The company is headquartered in Moscow, Russia, with its holding company registered in the United Kingdom. Mr Eugene Kaspersky also added that ''Windows phone is so far very clean'' in respect of security lope holes.
"Criminals are obsessed with iOS and there are many, many vulnerabilities," Kaspersky said, adding that with "millions of brutal attacks" Android, too, is "not safe". He noted that hackers are increasingly targeting mobile devices "with stats showing 97% of users did mobile banking or some other activity that revealed passwords."
He also said that "Windows is a much better operating system than the rest (iOS and Android) and Microsoft is tightening it up much more in the next version."
Source: gsmarena


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Android apps marketing - pay per install concept
Budget ₹600-1500 INR
We would like to market a mobile apps developed and published in play store. It is a general purpose app for students, working class and business people. People can download and use it free of cost. We will pay Rs 3 per download and register (first time can do 500 installs ? Rs 3 x 500 ). We will provide a Promo code for registering and that can be considered for counting the installation. Apps name is Ente Mobile App. link is [login to view URL]
Awarded to:
We'll have your package delivered in 1-2 days ( 3,000 INR / 1000 Reg. .......... Cheers from the SC Team
5 freelancers are bidding on average ₹2280 for this job
Hi, I am an app marketing expert since 7 years, if you check my profile you will understand best. I have some nice app marketing plan if you come on chat I can get a chance to share my app marketing plan to you. More
Hi, I Hope You Are Well. I am Nandani Sharma. I am Expert In Mobile Application Development(Android & iOS). I Have Seven Plus Year Experience In This Field. more Discussion With In the Chat. Regards, Nandani
Name of the app Relevant Skills and Experience Dono !
Your proposal is your chance to make a good first impression with the employer! Make it count!Bidders that write bids which are not relevant to the project description will be penalized. Please ensure that you answer a More


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Florida State University
This is your Donation message.
State-fundable student credit hours are those credit hours for which the Florida Legislature provides FSU funding.
Non-fundable student credit hours are those hours for which the state will not provide funding; an individual or non-FSU agency/organization must cover substantially all direct costs of instructional delivery. Examples of non-fundable student credit hours include hours generated by an undergraduate student taking a course more than twice, and hours generated by credit by examination.


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When you have a new home built, you get to watch the step-by-step process. However, the average person never sees the inner structure of the roof. Honestly, most people probably don't really care and just want the roof to provide cover and not leak.
Since this is a construction blog, though, and I'm a fan of architecture and how homes are put together, this is a topic close to my heart. The process for framing a roof really comes down to assuring it is designed to maintain the structural load, which includes its own weight, the weight of the roof covering, and any environmental load such as snow and wind.
Roofs that are well supported have a complicated system of rafters and trusses, which are the main two components of roofing systems. The following post highlights the main difference between the two:
Difference Between Rafters and Trusses | Difference Between
Rafters and trusses are those that support the roof. Though both rafters and trusses are triangles in shape, the trusses have more triangle webs inside the principle frame. Rafters consist of sloping outer beams which provide support.
As the trusses come with a web of triangles inside the main frame, they provide more support than the rafters.
Trusses and rafters are both assembled ahead of being installed onto the roof. Trusses are assembled in a factory using pre-engineered structures and joints. On the other hand, rafters are assembled at the construction site. As trusses are assembled in a factory, a lot of time can be saved.
Read the original post here: Difference Between Rafters and Trusses | Difference Between
If you buy an older home and want to renovate it, there are specific issues that need to be taken into consideration. Many people want to knock out walls to open up an area and make it bigger. However, you have to first decide whether the wall is weight bearing or not.
You're best to speak with an architect first, but the man in the following video provides some good information on whether it is safe to take a sledge hammer to a wall:
Sagging walls many times originate with the horizontal ceiling rafters. To make the material span the entire area, you have to join together two rafters, which are typically lapped and toe-nailed together in the center to achieve the necessary strength. If too much weight accumulates, the joint can pull apart and the ridge line can sag.
Other reasons for problems can consist of a construction defect, a leak that is neglected, or just normal wear and tear. The next post describes the main two types of roof support issues:
3 Common Roof Support Problems
1 Sagging Roof
Roof sagging is a common problem found in both old and new properties. When you look at a house from outside, the roof appears wavy and not straight. The use of incorrectly sized strutting beams or the incorrect strutting or even the absence of struts to the underpurlin can be causes of roof sagging.
2 Sagging Floor
A structural analysis will usually show that the roof-bracing system picks up most of the roof load (weight). Hence, it is very important that the roof braces land (rest) on only designated interior "load-bearing" walls. Unfortunately, many builders/framers often support the roof bracing systems on the closest or most convenient interior room partition wall. This can lead to long-term floor sagging because most floor joists are not sized for roof loads.
Read more here: 3 Common Roof Support Problems
As mentioned before, these types of weight bearing and load problems need to be addressed by a professional. It is possible it could be a fairly simple fix with jacking up loose rafters and adding some extra strut support. However, it could also be a serious issue that could require a major overhaul, putting you and your family at risk.


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14221 Ballantyne Country Club Dr.
Charlotte, NC 28277
This makes it important to make use of a very carefully planned Web optimization method. You would like to appeal to the appropriate clients to your internet site.
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My name is Irina Zhorov. I'm a reporter and photographer. Currently, I work for a project called Keystone Crossroads, out of Pittsburgh, reporting on urban issues throughout Pennsylvania. Previously, I documented silver mining in Bolivia, wrote about the fight to preserve…READ MORE
As President, Robert Zuritsky has positioned Parkway to conitinue as an industry leader in parking management, development, and technology. Mr. Zuritsky began his parking and business education at age 12 by working various field positions at Parkway's facilities, advancing steadily through…READ MORE


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A side effect of digital mortgages as they gain prominence is the slow extinction of brick-and-mortar lending branches. But before lenders are left in a lurch, Kelly Adkisson, a managing director at Accenture Credit Services, weighed in options lenders still have to survive.
Over this past year, Adkisson said, The mortgage industry has stepped up efforts, as it must, to adopt digital capabilities to deliver a better customer experience. Greatly influenced by digital innovation that powers other aspects of their lives (think Uber and Amazon), borrowers, in turn, are rewarding lenders who offer convenient, simple, speedy, on-demand and personalized service."
This leaves brick-and-mortar branches in a tough position.
"Borrowers increasingly want to interact with mortgage lenders—from application to close—through digital channels. At the same time, brick-and-mortar branches are losing relevancy," said Adkisson.
According to Accenture research, Adkisson said, "The number of borrowers who applied for a mortgage through the branch decreased by 25% since 2012. More than half of the top ten mortgage lenders are non-traditional banking institutions, reinforcing the point that lenders do not need brick-and-mortar locations to successfully originate mortgages."
Back in December 2014, Ditech made a bold move and announced a broad push to open more retail branches despite reports already out at the time that digital banking challenged retail bank branches.
Ditech explained at that time that it still found value in brick-and-mortar buildings, since some people still valued the extra-high touch of a mortgage lender relationship that knows their local area very well.
Flash forward a little more than one year and Ditech is recanting its stance on the matter. As of Jan. 8, Ditech exited its distributed retail lending channel due to changes in the market.
"Throughout 2015 we moderated our investment in the distributed retail channel given current and expected market conditions, as well as recent regulatory considerations, and subsequently made the decision to exit the channel," said Denmar Dixon, Walter Investment's vice chairman, CEO and president.
Not too long after Ditech's announcement, BankUnited similarly announced it would no longer offer retail residential mortgage loans to consumers since they weren't generating enough business.
But this doesn't mean the only option for retail banks is to admit defeat and close down. Adkisson added, "Many prospective borrowers still value branches. Banks need to focus on creating a seamless experience between physical and digital channels."
She explained that borrowers should be able to start the process in a branch or call center and finish online or via a mobile device, and vice-versa.
"Banks should also equip their branches with digital capabilities such as having a real estate expert available virtually to talk with prospective borrowers via video chat," she said.
To help combat this trend, Adkisson said they are encouraging lenders to invest more heavily in digital capabilities that equip prospective borrowers with tools to educate themselves on mortgage products and processes, and in technology that removes paper from the process.
"As the industry moves away from brick-and-mortar, lenders should focus on offering advice to borrowers throughout the process, thereby easing the transition from high touch to digitally enabled," she said.


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Panagariya in Times of India: Floor hasn't fallen through
As published in the September 25, 2017 version of the Times of India
Floor hasn't fallen through: Don't go by 'feel', economic data call for measured rather than precipitate action
Reviewing the fascinating book Progress by Swedish economic historian Johan Norberg, the Economist recently wrote, "People are predisposed to think that things are worse than they are, and they overestimate the likelihood of calamity. This is because they rely not on data, but on how easy it is to recall an example. And bad things are more memorable."
These words aptly summarise the nature of the recent debate on growth in India. During 2014-15 to 2016-17, the real gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices grew 7.5% on average. This growth came on the heels of below-6% average growth during the last two years under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
However, when the Central Statistics Office (CSO) first released its estimate of robust 7.4% growth in 2014-15, most commentators including many of our leading economists rejected it arguing that it did not match their own assessment of reality on the ground. The common refrain was that the economy did not "feel" like it was growing at such a high rate.


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Phishing is what is known as a social engineering attack, which is the act of psychologically manipulating people into performing actions or divulging confidential information for malicious purposes. They rely on the person's natural instincts in order to get a response and take advantage of them.
This definition emphasises that phishing campaigns are all about human behaviour and psychology. They require only limited technical skills because their success depends on how well cyber criminals understand human nature to anticipate how people are likely to behave and react to the bait.
They take advantage of people's vulnerability
Cyber criminals know well how to maximise the success of a phishing email:
- They send it when people are more vulnerable and stressed – late in the afternoon, on Fridays or at the end of the month, for instance.
- They spoof C-suite managers' email addresses to make sure low-level staff do as requested without arousing suspicion.
- They take advantage of real-life events, like tax return deadlines, etc.
- They use fear tactics and urge the recipient to act promptly.
Anyone is a target
Depending on the target, phishing attacks might fall into the spear-phishing or whaling subcategories. Spear-phishing campaigns target a specific group of people – that might include your company, a department, etc.; whaling attacks – or business email compromise (CEC) –target C-suite managers or spoof top managers' email addresses to fool low-level staff. From the CEO to the administrators, everyone in your company could be a target – it all depends on the data and information they have access to.
How vulnerable is your staff?
If you want to assess how vulnerable your staff is to phishing attacks, put yourself in the cyber criminal's shoes: get ethical hackers to perform a phishing simulation and test your staff's resistance to such attacks. Run by Certified Ethical Hackers, the Simulated Phishing Attack will simulate a spear-phishing attack based on the latest threat vectors and your requirements.
More than half of employees didn't recognise the bait
54% of employees we have tested failed to recognise the scam, which highlights just how easy it is for cyber criminals to get a foothold. If you can't trust half your company to think before they click, you had best prepare for the fallout. Consequently, they represent a vulnerability that must be fixed. The most convenient and time-saving solution is the Phishing Staff Awareness E-learning course. Delivered online, it teaches the basics of phishing, what it is and how it works, tips about how to recognise a scam, and best security practices, and includes a final exam to assess comprehension.
How can you be sure your vulnerabilities have been fixed? Run a follow-up attack simulation to assess improvements.


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Hall Rentals
You can also leave a detailed message by calling 713-957-9004 or email email@example.com
Main Hall
With a capacity of 260 the hall can be configured for all types of functions dances, weddings, birthdays and business meetings. Additionally we now offer High speed wireless internet service, audio visual hook ups.
Cash bar stocked with a nice selection of beer, wine, setups and sodas.
Dance Floor
Hardwood dance floor. And it's big really big.


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A 37-year-old Chicago mother is in custody after allegedly leaving her infant and toddler alone at Bush Intercontinental airport.
Taiwo Jenkins is charged with intentionally abandoning her children, ages 10 months and 2 years, at the airport on Saturday, according to court documents filed with the Harris County District Court.
Jenkins flew to the airport with her children from Chicago, waiting for a connecting flight to Lagos, Nigeria. She told investigators that she had to go to baggage claim. She asked a woman to watch her children, and that woman refused, saying Jenkins needed to take her children along with her, Houston police said.
She left the children anyway for an hour and a half. The police were alerted to what happened and the mother was arrested once she returned to the gate. The children were taken into Child Protective Services custody. She was arrested, but has since been released on a $5,000 bond.


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February 19, 2018
The East Central Community College men's golf team participated in the Coastal Alabama Community College Invitational Feb. 17-18 held at Rock Creek Golf Club in Fairhope, Ala.
Sophomore Bailey Threlkeld, who prepped at Choctawatchee High School in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., led East Central with a seven-over par 151 over the two-day, 36-hole tournament. Also scoring for East Central was freshman Jacob Hamner (Vanderbilt Catholic, Houma, La.), with a 12-over par 156; sophomore David Barry of West Jones, with a 17-over par 161; freshman Jacob School of Madison Central, with a 25-over par 169; and freshman Nathan Davis of Newton County, with a 26-over par 170.
ECCC freshman golfers Noah Nance of Hurley and Jacob Jenkins of Madison Central competed as individuals. Nance had a 31-over par 175 and Jenkins shot a 47-over par 191.
As a team, East Central finished ninth overall as one of only three National Junior College Athletic Association Division II schools in the field.
The Warriors will next compete in Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges Event No. 4 March 5-6 at Northwood Country Club in Meridian.
East Central will host the MACJC Conference/State Tournament April 12-13 at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club in Choctaw.


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Eric Serbus
Tokata Learning Center
This is the most current listing we have of the alternative programs in this Region. If you are not on the map, or you see a listing that is no longer accurate, please email us.
ISD 196 Area Learning Center (Apple Valley)
BEACON Alternative Learning Program (Bloomington)
Bridges Area LearningCenter (Prior Lake)
Burnsville Alternative High School / BES ALC
CHOICE Alternative High School
South St. Paul Community Center
Dakota County Area Learning School-DCALS
DCALS - North
Glencoe Silver Lake Alternative Program
Hastings ALC
Hopkins Alternative Program
Intermediate 287 South Education Center Academy(SECA)
Lakeville ALC
Minnetonka Mini School
Mound Westonka High School
New Prague Alternative Leaning Center
South Washington Alternative High School
SouthWest Metro Intermediate District 288
Tokata Learning Center
Waconia Area Learning Center
West Education Center Alternative (WALT)
Westonka Alternative Learning Academy


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Balaguer-Ballester, E., Lapish, C., Seamans, J.K. and Durstewitz, D., 2011. Attracting dynamics of frontal cortex ensembles during memory-guided decision-making. PLoS Computational Biology, 7 (5), e1002057.
Full text available as:
Attracting dynamics of frontal cortex ensembles during memory-guided decision-making.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002057
A common theoretical view is that attractor-like properties of neuronal dynamics underlie cognitive processing. However, although often proposed theoretically, direct experimental support for the convergence of neural activity to stable population patterns as a signature of attracting states has been sparse so far, especially in higher cortical areas. Combining state space reconstruction theorems and statistical learning techniques, we were able to resolve details of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) multiple single-unit activity (MSUA) ensemble dynamics during a higher cognitive task which were not accessible previously. The approach worked by constructing high-dimensional state spaces from delays of the original single-unit firing rate variables and the interactions among them, which were then statistically analyzed using kernel methods. We observed cognitive-epoch-specific neural ensemble states in ACC which were stable across many trials (in the sense of being predictive) and depended on behavioral performance. More interestingly, attracting properties of these cognitively defined ensemble states became apparent in high-dimensional expansions of the MSUA spaces due to a proper unfolding of the neural activity flow, with properties common across different animals. These results therefore suggest that ACC networks may process different subcomponents of higher cognitive tasks by transiting among different attracting states.
|Item Type:
|Uncontrolled Keywords:
|Animals; Decision Making; Frontal Lobe; Gyrus Cinguli; Maze Learning; Memory; Nerve Net; Neurons; Rats
|Faculty of Science & Technology
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|Unnamed user with email symplectic@symplectic
|Deposited On:
|28 Apr 2016 12:52
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|28 Apr 2016 12:52
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