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While teams pursue Parise, Suter, others hard at workby Dan Rosen
The hockey world still is waiting for Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to decide their futures. The wait will last at least one more day.
Parise told NHL.com via text on Tuesday that "nothing will happen tonight." He spent two days huddled with his agents in their office in Mississauga, Ont., before he and his fiancée flew back to Minnesota.
Parise reportedly is mulling contract offers from New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Minnesota and Chicago. He has not set a deadline on when he will make a decision, and denied that returning to his home in Minnesota means he'll sign with the hometown Wild. "This is where I live. Either way, we're coming back here," Parise told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune as he waited for luggage at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Suter has spent the first few days of free agency on his farm in Wisconsin and is staying in contact with his Minnesota-based agent Neil Sheehy by phone. Many of the same teams that are in on Parise also are in on Suter, with some hoping to land both.
Sheehy reportedly is talking to all of the teams and relaying the information to Suter.
Sheehy told reporters Monday night that "there is no timetable for [Suter's] contract signing at this time. Ryan is considering his opportunities and is taking the necessary time to give each proper consideration." He also told Kevin Allen of USA Today on Tuesday that no decision is expected until Wednesday at the earliest.
Both Parise and Suter have not ruled out returning to their previous teams, New Jersey and Nashville, respectively. Parise has been in touch throughout the negotiation process with Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello while Sheehy told The Tennessean that Nashville general manager David Poile has made a "very substantial offer" to keep Suter.
"It's being considered," Sheehy said.
Several teams' plans are on hold as they await the decisions by Parise and Suter.
For instance, Columbus is looking to trade captain Rick Nash, but it's possible that won't happen until Parise signs, because the teams that don't land him could be in the market for Nash. Anaheim and Bobby Ryan appear to be in a similar situation, but the Ducks haven't come out and said for sure that they are trading the right wing, who has scored at least 30 goals four times.
Suter's indecision could be holding up the market for defenseman Matt Carle, who is not going to command Suter money or term but arguably is the second-best defenseman still on the free-agent market. Carle is 27, has played deep into the playoffs and is a two-way, puck-moving blueliner.
A couple of players did find new homes on Tuesday, while two others opted to stay where they were.
Dallas brought Jaromir Jagr to Texas with a one-year, $4.5 million contract. Jagr, the eighth-leading scorer in NHL history, had 19 goals and 54 points for Philadelphia this past season.
Despite Jagr's age, GM Joe Nieuwendyk has no doubt he still has plenty left.
"I don't think there's any question he has game in the tank. He had a terrific season with Philadelphia," Nieuwendyk said. "He's still a world-class player. For us to be able to bring a guy like that to our franchise is a big deal.
"Even at 40, he's still a difficult guy to contain. He's still as good as anyone in the League at using that big body down low. He keeps himself in tremendous shape. He knows how much he needs to play in order to be successful and how much is too much. I think he's going to be a really good fit with our group."
The New York Rangers added a solid bottom-six forward by signing Taylor Pyatt to a two-year contract worth $3.1 million. Pyatt spent the last three seasons with Phoenix, helping the Coyotes to the Western Conference Finals this spring.
If Parise returns to New Jersey, he'll see some familiar faces -- one day after the Devils re-signed goaltender Martin Brodeur, they did the same with veteran defenseman Bryce Salvador, who got a three-year deal worth $9.5 million.
Another player who stayed with his team was defenseman Eric Johnson. The Colorado Avalanche retained Johnson, the first player chosen in the 2006 NHL Draft, with a four-year contract reportedly worth $15 million, an average annual value of of $3.75 million.
Tuesday's activity marked a slowdown after a hectic Monday.
Montreal general manager Marc Bergevin was able to secure Carey Price for the long term, signing the restricted free agent goalie to a six-year, $39 million contract.
"I think Carey brings what we need moving forward," Bergevin said. "He's a top, young goalie in the League. Having him in net for the next six years gives us a chance to be competitive."
Winnipeg filled a position of need by signing veteran center Olli Jokinen to a two-year, $9 million contract. Jokinen had 61 points on 23 goals and a team-high 38 assists in 82 games with the Flames this past season.
Bryan Little was the Jets' highest-producing center in 2011-12 with 46 points.
"He's got the size, a tremendous amount of experience," Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said of Jokinen. "He had great consistency over the years. With adding the size of (Alexei) Ponikarovsky and now Jokinen, we're a bigger and harder team to play against."
Calgary general manager Jay Feaster continued to make headlines by signing ex-Detroit forward Jiri Hudler to a four-year, $16 million contract. Hudler had a career-best 25 goals for the Red Wings last season and has spent his entire NHL career in Detroit, with a one-year layover in the KHL.
Feaster has spent more than $53 million in free agency by signing Hudler and defensemanDennis Wideman, and re-signing forwardsLee Stempniak, Blake Comeau and Blair Jones, plus defenseman Corey Sarich. The six contracts total a $15.65 million cap hit for 2012-13.
"Jiri does have a personality, and that, I think, is the biggest issue in terms of our room," Feaster said. "Over the last few years, our room has been kind of a quiet room. We want more personality. I don't want just plain vanilla. That's something I think these acquisitions have been good for."
Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl


text: Vintage Shadowbox Turquoise Ring Silver & Champagne Diamonds $700 Default Title - $700.00 In Store Exclusive Share Drop a Hint Details Vintage turquoise ring with 0.10ctw champagne diamond pavé (seen from the side) set in original sterling silver 20% of all sales from the Heritage Project are donated to the New Mexico Community Foundation. Proceeds will fund a core group of New Mexico-based non-profits whose efforts support Education and the preservation of Native American Arts and indigenous Wildlife. Description The Heritage Project is an offering exclusive to the Anna Sheffield store comprised of luxe, diamond-dusted, silver and gold vintage as well as contemporary pieces. The customized jewelry is inspired by the collaborative spirit of this iconic Southwestern craft. The Heritage Project melds both Anna Sheffield's personal history and her passion for jewelry making, keeping with her brand's commitment to sustainability with refined metals and reclaimed diamonds. The project aims to champion contemporary Native American artisans and communicate the authorship of their craft and designs. Need help? Ask us a question

subset: commoncrawl


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These offense reports were released Friday by Marion County Sheriff's Department and Monday by city police departments:
Hillsboro police
Misdemeanor theft, burglary
Valeree Hett of Emporia reported the theft of a $350 mouthpiece from her vehicle's ignition interlock system between 11p.m. July 27 and 8:30 a.m. July 28. Police recovered the mouthpiece July 29.
Assault and battery
Alcohol and drug use are suspected in an alleged beating at 8:50 p.m. July 31 at a residence on Lakeshore Drive at Marion County Park and Lake.
The victim was identified as 73-year-old retiree Donald Alcorn, who lives in the residence. The suspect, suspected of using drugs and alcohol, was described in the report as a friend.
The report did not identify the suspect. However, jail bookings indicate that Michael Richmond, 51, of Marion was booked on charges of assault and battery the next day.


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Lindsey Pavao Is Our 'Skinny Love' Of the Night on 'The Voice'
Performing alt-rock phenom Bon Iver's 'Skinny Love,' Lindsey Pavao came full circle on 'The Voice.' After an emotional save by Christina last week, Lindsey needed to show America why she was an original fan favorite. She proved her worth and more by taking on a song directly in her wheelhouse.
Christina claimed that her last female team member is, "very unique," in a pre-performance clip. Backed up by her proud parents, Lindsey spoke of the confidence issues that have plagued her throughout the show. We also learned that she was a bartender before her tenure on 'The Voice.'
Lindsey brought immense warmth the folksy, guitar driven version of Bon Iver's first single. She smiled more during the song than we have seen during the entire season. She even hit some surprising big notes that are not in the original version. We think this newfound confidence can be attributed to the fact that she was singing a song she clearly loves.
Cee Lo made the requisite big love joke in reference to the name of the song and told Lindsey that, "your voice has a shy and innocent quality." Adam Levine told her she did an incredible job and espoused on the diversity of all the contestants. Blake Shelton commended Christina for bringing Lindsey back to her roots. Xtina loved the coffee shop vibe of the performance and gave Lindsey a big hug to end the critiques.
Watch Lindsey Pavao Perform 'Skinny Love' on 'The Voice'


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((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~
Okay, my dear friends, I feel like I've been monopolizing the forum with Jim's and Jon's updates. Now it's YOUR TURN!
I truly want to hear about your lives, your children and what's been happening in your world. PLEASE share your latest news here.
Pull up a lounge chair and spill the beans!
Your smoothies are waiting ~
Or, if you prefer with the cooler weather, we have specialty coffees for you ~
The weather is gorgeous with abundant sunshine and soft sea breezes.
Let the chatting commence!
Love & Light,


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Youth Ministry
Every Wednesday until October 5, 2016
7:00pm – 8:30pm
Location: 1770 S Dobson Rd., Chandler, AZ 85286Category: Youth Ministries
We at Hope Covenant Church strive to provide an atmosphere where teenagers experience the love of God through a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, other teenagers, and the entire body of Hope Covenant Church. For more information or questions about youth ministry, please contact Pastor Anthony at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Youth Sunday Service - Sundays at 9:00 am starting August 23, 2015
Youth Group Meeting (grades 6-12) - Wednesday evenings, 7-8:30 PM
Middle School / Junior High Students - Grades 6-8
High School Students - Grades 9-12
Youth Ministry students gather weekly for fun, snacks, and to hang with their friends. They experience a time of worship, relevant biblical teaching, and fun with their friends in a loving and encouraging environment.
Students come to be encouraged, motivated, challenged and inspired to live a life worthy of the calling they have received. It's a place where God's love is evident in worship, relevant in biblical teaching, and made apparent in the building of meaningful relationships with Jesus Christ, other teenagers and the entire Hope Covenant Church family. It's a place of joy, it's a place of fun, and we would love for you to join us on our journey...
WIN teens to Christ...
TRAIN them to follow Christ...
SEND them into their schools, neighborhoods and communities to make a difference in His name.


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Tips for safe hiking in New Zealand
Walking is one of the best ways to experience New Zealand's dramatic landscapes. Follow these tips to keep yourself safe while hiking.
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Safety is your responsibility
Before you begin your adventure, make sure you know the five simple rules of the Outdoor Safety Code to help you stay safe.
1. Plan your trip
Seek local knowledge. Plan the route you will take and the amount of time you can reasonably expect it to take.
2. Tell someone
Tell someone your plans and leave a time/date to raise the alarm if you haven't returned.
3. Be aware of the weather
New Zealand's weather can be highly unpredictable. Check the forecast and expect weather changes. Also check for avalanche alerts as they can occur in any season.
4. Know your limits
Challenge yourself within your physical limits and experience.
5. Take sufficient supplies
Make sure you have enough food, clothing, equipment and emergency rations for the worst-case scenario. Take an appropriate means of communication.
Take advice from locals in the know
Local guides and Department of Conservation staff can offer crucial information on current weather and track conditions. Visitors who choose to ignore the advice of local experts often require assistance from Search and Rescue officials.
More hiking tips
- Leave your detailed trip intentions with a trusted contact. Be sure to let them know when you return.
- Leave notes in hut books, even if you do not stay in the hut.
- If you are travelling away from common tracks, consider mountain radios and personal locator beacons.
- Take appropriate clothing, equipment and maps.
If you become lost
- If you become lost, the best thing to do is to stay in one place; that way you will increase your chances of being rescued sooner.
- Use your communications device to tell local authorities you're lost.
- Then set up a camp and keep yourself warm. You can move your body to keep warm, but stay in one place.
Tongariro Alpine Crossing
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is considered one of New Zealand's top tramping experiences and one of the best day walks in the world. Weather conditions on the Crossing can change rapidly. It can be an extreme environment, particularly in winter with snow, ice and high winds. So it's important to be well prepared.
Guided treks offer you the chance to enjoy the very best of Tongariro National Park while benefiting from the local knowledge and experience of fully-trained guides.
For the latest Tongariro Alpine Crossing information, or to arrange a guided trek, contact Department of Conservation Whakapapa or Adrift Outdoors.
Artículo de
Tongariro Crossing Guided Walk
We guide on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing and on the other Tongariro National Park hikes year round. Adrift provides professional guides and instruction, transport and equipment for a 2 hour duration guided walk right up to a 3 day multi-day tour.


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I've got WP site on a self-hosted server. Any files I create are owned by me/me and any files created by WP are owned by apache/apache. I've created a group, wp, that both me and apache are members of and that works ok. But how can I set this up so when either me or apache creates or edits a file or directory that it gets the wp group owner (as well as group write access)?
Thanks for the assistance.


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Click on
The Chicago FIX and The Chicago FIX Skin and Body are multidisciplinary clinic that provide our patients with a single location where one can seek both alternative and conventional treatment options for all their ailments. Whether its bones, joints, muscles, soft tissue or skin – we got The FIX.
Although we do concentrate on more natural approaches to treating/healing, we realize that there are distinct instances when conventional treatments are deemed necessary. Therefore, we've compiled the best doctors, therapists, and technicians from several different fields of healthcare and placed them all in one clinic. Making us a One Stop Pain Killing Shop - the option of how are yours.
Whatever treatment protocol you and your physician choose, rest assured that The Chicago FIX healthcare providers and therapists will utilize the most advanced techniques and equipment available to treat your ailment swiftly, safely, and successfully.
Chiropractic Care Services include:
Chiropractic Care, Medical, Podiatry, Pain Management, Physical Therapy, Massage Therapy, Sports Rehabilitation, Custom Running Orthotics, Nutrition, B12 Deficiency Therapy, Testosterone Replacement Therapy, and Acupuncture.
We also offer the highest quality care in skin maintenance and body contouring services at The Chicago FIX Skin and Body. Our amazing team of Plastic Surgeon and estheticians offer the gold standard in care for skin and body care. Again, offering several options from less-invasive conservative care to surgical correction.
Skin and Body Services include:
Non-Surgical-Procedures : Vi Peel IPL/Photo rejuvenation treatments, ArteFill, BOTOX, Chemical Peel, Chemical Face Peels – Skin Rejuvenation, High Speed Laser Hair, Reduction, LATISSE, Microdermabrasion, Rosacea treatment. Also Surgical-Procedures: Breast Augmentation, Breast Lift (Mastopexy), Breast Reconstruction, Breast Reduction, Cheek Implant, Chin Implant (Mentoplasty), Ear Surgery (Otoplasty), Eyelid Surgery (Blepharoplasty),Facelift (Rhytidectomy), Fat Injection, Forehead Lift (Brow lift),Liposuction and, Male Breast Reduction (Gynecomastia).
We also offer Medical Weight Loss to include Phentermine (and similar appetite suppressing medications), HCG (injections and in a nasal spray), Lypo-M B12 injections, and plan meal programs and Male Hormone Replacement with testosterone injections and HCG to jump-start normal production of testosterone.
The Chicago FIX and The Chicago FIX Skin and Body
Office locator, look for offices in your area.
Gold Cost 1360 N Sandburg Terrace #101, Chicago, IL 60610 Phone:(855) 484-3349
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Schedule an appointment, at any one of our six Chicagoland offices today.
Insurance plans we accept:
All City of Chicago Plans, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Blue Choice, Humana Gold, Humana Plus, Medicare, Cigna, Aetna, PPO, POS, Guardian, HFN, United Health Care and Local Unions. HMO policies often require a referral specific for chiropractic care and physical therapy.


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The only trouble I had with this one was trying to make it different from the last. So, it is a little different but I kept all the same components because they are part of the theme and they look cool. Looks like I'll need to read the books from the comments I got last time...
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Another Twilight Cake
Posted by Cassy Taylor at 6:28 PM 4 comments
Labels: Birthday- GIRL
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Chicago Cubs Fan
I last minute (about 10pm last night) decided this cake really needed a helmet. I wish I had had that thought before yesterday because a helmet is not a last minute project. Plus, I'm not even totally sure what a football helmet looks like. I was a little surprised I managed to get it to work but it's a little sloppy. For a cake that really only has 2 colors, it was quite difficult but the colors are way cool!
Posted by Cassy Taylor at 10:12 AM 0 comments
Hello Kitty
Precious! I love all the pastel colors for two reasons. One, because they're pretty of course but also because they are the easiest to make. :)
Posted by Cassy Taylor at 10:07 AM 2 comments
Labels: Birthday- GIRL
Mini Zebra
For one of my beehives. For those of you who don't know what a "beehive" is, it's a nickname we give to the 12 and 13 year old girls. :)
Posted by Cassy Taylor at 10:03 AM 0 comments
Labels: Birthday- GIRL
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Jungle cake
This was actually last weeks' cake but I forgot to get a picture so I had some sent to me. I think I may do that with some of these cake from now on because I like seeing the cake with the decor. It looks so much better to me. This one took surprisingly longer than I thought but at least fun and different. I guess boys cakes CAN be just as cute. :)
Posted by Cassy Taylor at 11:46 AM 2 comments
Labels: Birthday- BOY


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Schalke edge nine-goal thriller
The Bundesliga kicked off 2013 in dramatic fashion as Schalke beat Hannover 5-4 in a thrilling clash on Friday night.
Last Updated: 18/01/13 9:52pm
The Bundesliga kicked off 2013 in dramatic fashion as Schalke beat Hannover 5-4 in a thrilling clash in Gelsenkirchen on Friday night.
Jefferson Farfan's goal at the end of a tame first half gave no indication of what was to come in a dramatic second 45 minutes at the Arena AufSchalke.
Julian Draxler doubled Schalke's lead in the 49th minute, but two goals in four minutes from Pinto da Silva and Szabolcs Huszti brought Hannover level.
They were not able to celebrate for long, though, before quick-fire goals from Marco Hoger and Ciprian Marica restored Schalke's two-goal advantage.
Huszti replied immediately, but Hannover could not find a way back into the game with Lewis Holtby on target late on before Mame Diouf's overhead kick gave Hannover a small late consolation.
Schalke's bright start to the game, in which they went close on three occasions in the first five minutes, was only a temporary illusion as the game soon petered out.
Hannover found their feet and prevented the Royal Blues from doing any harm until Farfan struck in the 43rd minute, volleying past Ron-Robert Zieler from a tight angle.
Schalke were quickest out of the blocks in the second half too, doubling their lead in the 49th minute through Draxler, who was put through by Holtby and made no mistake when faced with Zieler.
There was no indication that Hannover could get back into the game, but a fortunate deflection to Pinto's shot off Roman Neustadter gave them a glimmer of hope.
That hope became belief four minutes later when Huszti volleyed them level with only their second attempt on goal.
Schalke shaped up and regained the lead in the 64th minute with Holtby again the provider, this time for Hoger to beat Zieler.
And the game appeared to be over again when Marica made it four for the home side, picking his spot beyond Zieler.
The stadium announcer was still reading out the goalscorer's name when Huszti struck again at the other end to bring Hannover right back into the match.
However, Holtby, who will join Tottenham in the summer, added his name to the scoresheet having already provided two assists with a simple tap-in in the 89th minute.
Yet Diouf had saved the very best for last, although his stunning overhead kick from 20 yards was merely a consolation for a side which scored four goals away from home, but were still beaten.


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The Boll Weevil in Missouri: History, Biology and Management
Clyde E. Sorenson
MU Delta Center
The cotton boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis grandis, is the most important pest of cotton in much of America's Cotton Belt. Its importance is due not only to the considerable damage it does but also to its disruption of management programs that target other pests.
High numbers of boll weevils can cause you to apply insecticide repeatedly during the growing season because the boll weevil goes through several overlapping generations during every crop season, reproduces quickly, moves often and can be controlled with insecticides only during its adult stage. Applying insecticides can reduce populations of organisms that regulate the populations of other cotton pests, such as aphids, plant bugs and the bollworm complex. The presence of significant boll weevil populations dictates, to some extent, the management of other pests.
History and distribution
The boll weevil is not native to the United States. It originated in Mexico and Central America where it fed on native tree cottons. It probably adapted to domesticated cottons in Central America in pre-Columbian times.
It was first detected in the United States in Texas, about 1892. The boll weevil spread across the Cotton Belt at an average rate of about 60 miles a year and made it to the Carolinas by 1922. It was first detected in Missouri about 1913.
Today, you can find the boll weevil in the mid-South cotton-production region, which is Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi and Tennessee, and in Texas, New Mexico and parts of Alabama. States successfully eradicating the boll weevil are North Carolina, South Carolina, California, Florida, Georgia and parts of Alabama. Another subspecies of the boll weevil is found in Arizona, but it feeds predominantly on a wild relative of cotton.
The boll weevil is found throughout the Missouri cotton-production region, and cotton is the only host of the boll weevil in the state. It appears to be most abundant along Crowley's Ridge, a north-south ridge extending from the Ozarks south into Arkansas, and in areas near major waterways (Figure 1). Researchers are trying to definitively establish the distribution in the state.
Figure 1
Distribution of boll weevils in southern Missouri, spring 1994.
The insect's life cycle
The boll weevil, like all beetles, undergoes complete metamorphosis. Female boll weevils deposit eggs in cotton flower buds, called squares, and in small bolls. Each female may produce as many as 200 eggs during her life span. The female seals the oviposition hole with frass, or droppings, leaving a characteristic brown, raised area at the site. The bracts of infested squares usually yellow, flare and the squares drop from the plant. Infested bolls may or may not drop.
Larvae hatching from the eggs feed on the square or boll tissue for approximately seven days to 14 days (depending on temperature) and then pupate. The pupal stage lasts about five days, after which the new adult emerges. Newly emerged adults feed on squares, pollen or bolls. Females begin laying eggs three days to five days after they emerge. Generation time from egg to egg averages about 18 days to 21 days, although it can be shorter or longer depending on environmental conditions. Figure 2 illustrates the life cycle of the boll weevil.
Figure 2
The boll weevil has four stages in its life cycle: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Under favorable conditions, it completes the cycle in 2-1/2 to 3 weeks.
Toward the end of summer, as cotton plants mature and days grow shorter, most emerging adult weevils enter a pre-diapause state. Diapause is a resting state comparable to hibernation that adult boll weevils enter to survive winter. Pre-diapause boll weevils typically don't mate but instead spend a great deal of time feeding to build up fat reserves for the winter. During this phase of the annual cycle, boll weevils travel great distances. Individual insects may move more than 30 miles in search of remaining food or wintering habitat.
Diapausing boll weevils generally spend the winter in leaf litter in wooded areas near cotton fields. However, a few overwinter in fence rows, grass banks and other sites. Survival is highest in hardwood litter sites. The boll weevils remain in these overwintering sites until warming temperatures, lengthening days and perhaps moisture trigger the break of diapause.
Abundance from year to year varies dramatically because of fluctuations in the severity of winters. Spring-emerging boll weevils search for the nearest cotton field and search for squares there. Those emerging before squares are available may feed on the terminal buds of cotton plants or on the pollen of flowering plants around the field. The boll weevil, however, must have cotton pollen available to successfully mate.
Once males feed on squares, they produce a pheromone, released in their frass, that is attractive to both females and males. Females are attracted because pheromone identifies not only an oviposition resource but a food source as well. Females know that males can't produce the pheromone until they find squares. Males are attracted to the pheromone because it identifies food and possible mates. Once females respond to the pheromone, the insects mate, and the annual cycle starts again. The insects may produce three generations to five generations a year in southeastern Missouri.
Mortality factors
Over the course of a year, many factors contribute to boll weevil mortality. These factors include predation, parasitism, disease, weather and others.
Predation is a relatively minor component in boll weevil population dynamics compared with other insect pests. Because most of the life cycle is spent inside the square, weevils tend to be safe from predators. However, studies have shown that some ants, especially fire ants, are effective predators of boll weevils. A number of insects, spiders, birds and other animals eat adult boll weevils, but these predators only have a minor effect on infestations.
Parasites also have little effect on boll weevil populations. Several native parasitic wasps do attack weevil larvae but rarely in numbers high enough to reduce populations. An exotic parasitic wasp, Catolaccus grandis, is effective, but it cannot overwinter at these latitudes. It may be useful in release programs, though.
Disease organisms do kill some boll weevils, but again, normally not at levels that will control infestations.
Suicidal emergence can be a significant factor. In some years, many boll weevils come out of diapause long before cotton squares are available. Because most (but not all) emerging weevils will live for only about two weeks without cotton pollen, most of these early emergers die without reproducing.
Weather is probably the most important cause of boll weevil death in Missouri (and much of the rest of the Cotton Belt). Because the boll weevil is a tropical insect that traveled north, it is not well-adapted to the climate of much of the United States. Boll weevils start to die at about 23 degrees Fahrenheit; the percentage that dies increases as the temperature drops. Research we've conducted shows that most boll weevils don't survive after an hour at 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Because overwintering boll weevils are insulated by leaf litter, air temperatures usually have to drop lower than the values mentioned above. Snow or ice cover also insulate effectively and protect boll weevils from lethal temperatures.
In most years in Missouri, less than 10 percent of the boll weevils that enter wintering habitat survive to spring. A series of severe winters in the late 1970s virtually eradicated the weevil in Missouri; populations did not recover until the late 1980s. High heat, drought and cultivation may kill some larvae during the growing season. The impact of these factors has not been measured in the mid-South growing region.
The boll weevil's damage
Most damage to cotton by the boll weevil is caused by females laying eggs and larvae feeding. In heavy infestations, nearly every square receives an egg as soon as it is large enough to support the development of a larva (when squares are roughly the size of a pencil eraser); under these conditions, virtually no fruit may be set. The potential for damage is greater because of the boll weevil's short generation time. Two or more generations may occur during viable fruit set. You could lose more than 50 percent of your crop to boll weevils; complete crop failures have occurred.
Squares and small bolls fed on by adult boll weevils typically drop from the plant. Larger bolls may not drop but may be more susceptible to invasion by boll-rot organisms.
Adults feed on terminals of seedling cotton before squares are available. In rare instances, this feeding causes enough injury to reduce stand or retard plant growth.
Winter is probably the most effective killer of boll weevils each year in Missouri. Unfortunately, you can't modify the weather or wintering habitat in this area. However, you can manage boll weevil populations through a combination of cultural and chemical control strategies.
An important tool for boll weevil management is the pheromone trap. This trap uses a synthetic version of the pheromone produced by male boll weevils to attract weevils of both sexes. These traps give good information on the activity and the number of weevils in a cotton field.
Cultural control
Cultivation destroys some of the larvae in squares that have fallen off the plant, but other practices are more useful. Managing a crop for earliness establishes much of the fruit before boll weevil numbers rise, and it reduces the time the crop is vulnerable to the insect. Early planting (as soil temperatures allow), early maturing varieties, fertility management to prevent lush, late-season growth, using growth regulators such as Pix (mepiquat chloride) and other earliness practices help reduce boll weevil impact.
In some years, a substantial number of weevils can develop in a field after harvest, particularly if harvest was early and regrowth occurs. Destroy crop residues as soon as possible after harvest to reduce overwintering populations. Mowing with a flail or rotary mower is preferable to disking or otherwise trying to bury the residue. To be effective, destroy residue on an area-wide basis. If only a few growers leave residue standing through the fall, enough boll weevils can be produced to infest neighboring growers' acreage the following spring.
Chemical control
You can use three types of insecticide applications during the cotton-growing season to reduce boll weevil populations. The first two types reduce populations during the growing season; the third reduces populations going into wintering habitat.
The first kind of boll weevil insecticide treatment frequently is called a "pin-head square" application. Time the application to coincide with the appearance of the first squares, when they are about the size of a kitchen matchhead. A well-timed pin-head square application can greatly reduce the number of boll weevil colonizers in a field and may eliminate the need for more insecticide treatments later in the season. Pin-head applications are, therefore, the most important chemical "tools" available for boll weevil management. Base your decision to make a pin-head application on pheromone-trap captures. Place pheromone traps when plants emerge at a rate of one trap per 10 acres to 20 acres. You should treat your crop if, during a two-week period prior to the appearance of the first square, you capture one weevil to two weevils in each trap each week.
The second type of boll weevil insecticide application is an "in-season," threshold-based treatment. These are directed at populations that have exceeded the economic threshold and that will cause economic loss if left unchecked.
Missouri's threshold is 10 percent to 15 percent squares with boll weevil punctures. Examine a minimum of 100 randomly selected squares before you decide whether to treat. Begin scouting when the first squares are one-third grown (about the size of a pencil eraser), and continue weekly until cutout (when square production drops off). You may need to repeat in-season treatments at four-day to five-day intervals until the population is reduced. Late in the season (during and after cutout), raise the threshold to reflect the increasing scarcity of squares. At this time the threshold should be between 20 percent to 30 percent punctured squares, and you should examine small bolls for signs of adult feeding and egg laying.
The third type of insecticide treatment option to use against boll weevils is the "diapause-control" spray. Its goal is to reduce the number of boll weevils entering wintering habitat. If you want the diapause-control treatment to be effective, make it part of an area-wide program. Diapause-control sprays are applied to cotton fields after the crop is made but before boll weevils move to wintering habitat (in Missouri this would be about the beginning of September). You may spray several times prior to harvest at 10-day to 14-day intervals. Discontinue when the crop residue is destroyed or killing frost occurs. The need for diapause treatments is based on damage rates in the field and pheromone trap captures.
Eradicating the boll weevil
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in cooperation with state governments and grower organizations, is coordinating a nationwide effort to eradicate the boll weevil from U.S. cotton-production regions. The program uses intensive pheromone trapping, pin-head applications based on pheromone trapping, in-season insecticide applications when needed and intensive diapause-control programs to reduce populations to far below economic significance.
As of 1994, boll weevils had been eradicated from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, California, Arizona and parts of Alabama. Active programs are underway in Alabama, Texas and parts of Tennessee and Mississippi. In North Carolina, where the boll weevil has been eradicated the longest, cotton acreages have increased from fewer than 100,000 acres to more than 450,000 acres. Insecticide applications have been reduced by approximately 50 percent. In Georgia, insecticide applications have been cut from 10 to 12 per season to about four per season, and acreage has grown from fewer than 200,000 acres to almost 1,000,000 acres.
A regional plan exists for eradicating the boll weevil from the mid-South growing region. Current plans call for an eradication program to begin in the Missouri production region in 1999-2000, at the same time as in northwestern Tennessee and northeastern Arkansas. This three-state area would be the last to come into the mid-South regional program. The rationale for this late entry is that waiting may allow for a severe winter, which could reduce populations naturally.
Grower participation is mandatory if a program is established in an area. The decision to initiate the program is made by a vote of cotton growers in the proposed program area. State legislation is required to enable the program.
Costs of the programs have been shared; growers pay for 70 percent of the program, and the government picks up 30 percent. Eradication programs usually last at least three years; future programs will be five years long. The highest costs come during the first two years, but the payment structure usually is designed so that costs are spread out. Total costs have ranged from approximately $50 to $150 an acre. The range in costs is due to varying levels of boll weevil pressure in program regions and the timing of program initiation. We can expect costs in any program undertaken in Missouri to be lower than these rates because of relatively low boll weevil numbers and the concentration of cotton acreage in a relatively small area of the state.


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Air dissolved in hydraulic fluid (not free air nor entrained air) is so elusive in the way it appears and disappears within the system that most hydraulic system designers are not familiar with dissolved air (or gases). Undoubtedly, however, they have experienced (to their dismay) the effects of entrained and/or free air in the system.
Dissolved Air Comes Out of Solution
Because air in solution in a hydraulic fluid has only a minor effect on hydraulic performance, why should the designers be concerned with it? The answer is that even if all the air bubbles and pockets were removed from a hydraulic system totally enclosed, after a short run-in period, air bubbles would begin to reappear. The source of these bubbles is the working fluid itself because all fluids (except fully deaerated ones) contain dissolved air that, under certain conditions, comes out of solution and plagues the system.
Air Generating Test
How hydraulic fluids "generate" air can be shown by the following test.
A conventional, double-acting actuator was connected to a 1-gpm, 3000-psi hydraulic system filled with MIL-H-5606 fluid, Figure 1. It was instrumented with a device, which measures the amount of entrained and free air in any air-oil mixture, Figure 2. Figure 3 is a device, used in tests described later in the article, to measure the amount of dissolved air in a fluid.
Starting with an empty actuator, flushing began at low pressure, about 300 psig. The cylinder was cycled with a 4-way valve with flow passing through an .0032-in diameter orifice at a cylinder port. The purpose of the orifice was to stimulate the area of a .0032-in diameter valve opening. After every six cycles, the test stand was shut down and an air measurement taken. Figure 4a illustrates the low pressure flushing cycles.
In addition, the cylinder was periodically pressurized to 1000,2000, and 3000 psig. The amount of fluid required to achieve these pressures was measured and recorded, Figure 5.a. The effective bulk modulus at 3000 psig was then computed for various air contents using the values obtained, Figure 5b.
It was startling to discover that, with a content of only 0.17% of compressible air, the effective bulk modulus was only half of the theoretical bulk modulus. The first inclination is to take solace from the fact that careful flushing had brought the compressible air content down to 0.17%.
After flushing, test stand pressure was increased to 1000 psig. After three cycles, the air was measured and found to be .08%. After six cycles, it was 2.6% and so on, Figure 4b. In short, dissolved air came out of solution and collected in the actuator. It is this form of air that negates normal fill and flush techniques.
Dissolved Air Increases Weight, Not Volume
It should be emphasized that neither the presence nor the absence of dissolved air affects the volume of the oil. And test data seems to indicate that there is no effect on bulk modulus, providing the air is in solution. These facts, at first, appear paradoxical. However, if one visualizes a container filled to the brim with marbles (which represent the oil molecules), it is possible to pour in fluid (representing air) around them, or remove the fluid with no change in volume. The weight of the container changes, not the volume.
When Entrained Air Appears
The appearance and disappearance of dissolved gases, in the form of entrained air, is an elusive phenomenon. Accelerated fluid through an orifice causes a local static pressure drop. If the pressure drops below atmospheric, dissolved gas is drawn out of solution and appears in the form of tiny bubbles (entrained air). If these bubbles do not conglomerate into larger bubbles, and if the velocity of fluid is low, most of the air bubbles are readsorbed down-stream where the static pressure is greater than atmospheric. This phenomenon agrees with Henry's law.
An exception to this condition occurs when the fluid is accelerated above a velocity of 100 ft./sec. The air bubbles expand to larger size and are reluctant to go back into solution despite subsequent exposure to higher pressures. Erosion of materials has been known to take place in the vicinity of bubble growth. The reluctant of the bubbles to be readsorbed downstream appears strange at first until it is realized that the fluid immediately adjacent to the bubbles is undoubtedly saturated and cannot adsorb additional air.
When a stream containing bubbles is stopped suddenly, the bubbles will begin to migrate upwards and coalesce in the nearest high point. Repressurization may or may not drive the new, larger bubble back into solution.
Results of Air Removal
The hydraulic cylinder, described above, was tested while assembled in a system to evaluate the effects of air removal. A vacuum-type oil deaerator was operated for eight 15-minute cycles. A floating piston covered the reservoir fluid ("closed reservoir") and the dissolved air content versus running time is shown in Figure 6. The actuator was then recycled at low pressures, as before, and air measurements were taken every six cycles, Figure 7.
System pressure was then raised, as before, to 1000 psig. Ten cycles were made to achieve a specific level of air content diminished (in Figure 7 compared to Figure 4a).
As a general conclusion, it is readily apparent that several areas of performance can be improved as a direct result of deaerating system fluid. Three other specific conclusions are drawn from these tests.
Effects of flushing. The effect of continuous, hard-over cycling upon air content agreed well with what could be expected intuitively. In fact, the final values achieved were far lower than what would be imagined for a cylinder with "built-in air pockets. Assiduous cycling can therefore be expected to effectively purge any given system of air.
Aeration due to dissolved air. The results of the high pressure cycling indicate that systems using air-saturated MIL-H-5606 fluid, or similar hydraulic fluids, at pressures of about 1000 psig or greater, will generate entrained air across orifices in the system.
Low pressure hard-over cycling of actuators can help remove the resultant air if the cylinder-to-valve lines are short.
Cylinders working unloaded and only in the mid-stroke range, with infrequent hard-over to hard-over signals, can expect increasing air contents with time.
Effects of Deaeration. Deaerating the system fluid prevented completely the generation of entrained air across the simulated valve orifice.
Previous tests, conducted with unsaturated fluid, indicated that accelerated purging also takes place because of the adsorption of small bubbles into the fluid. Further work is now underway to define qualitatively the reduction of pump nose and material erosion by use of unsaturated hydraulic fluid.
Caution With Bulk Modulus Figures
A word of caution is necessary. The values shown are not submitted as pragmatic numbers to be used with abandon. If anything, they point out that for any specific system, actual measurements should be made rather than rely on "text book" values.


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Just last week New Line announced plans to produce a sequel to their R-rated caper Horrible Bosses. The comedy that centered on a "crisscross" murder scenario a la Strangers on a Train drew positive reviews for its trio of TV stars Charlie Day, Jason Bateman and Jason Sudeikis, and earned more than $209 million worldwide. So a sequel seemed somewhat inevitable. Early reports declared that the film's co-writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein had been brought back to pen the tentatively titled Horrible Bosses 2, and that Day, Bateman and Sudeikis would return to reprise their roles…which was news to Sudeikis.
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Sudeikis will next hit theaters this Spring as part of the sprawling ensemble cast of the comedy short-filled feature Movie 43, and will co-star opposite Zach Galifiankis and Will Ferrell this summer in Jay Roach's political comedy Dog Fight.


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Journal of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering
On-line version ISSN 2309-8775
Print version ISSN 1021-2019
J. S. Afr. Inst. Civ. Eng. vol.52 n.2 Midrand Oct. 2010
WIM calibration and data quality management
D P G de Wet
Weigh-in-motion (WIM) scales are installed on various higher order roads in South Africa to provide traffic loading information for pavement design, strategic planning and law enforcement. Some WIM systems produce anomalies that cannot be satisfactorily explained even by highly experienced professionals. Much of the problem relates to the difficulty in determining the appropriate calibration factors to correct systematic measurement error for WIM systems and the inadequacy of data quality management methods. The author has developed a post-calibration method for WIM data, called the Truck Tractor (TT) method, to correct the magnitude of recorded axle loads in retrospect. In addition, it incorporates a series of data quality checks. The TT method is robust, accurate and adequately simple for use on a routine basis for a wide variety of South African WIM systems. The calibration module of the TT method (i.e. the procedure to determine the calibration factor, kTT) has been accepted by SANRAL and incorporated into the model it uses to quantify the cost of overloading on toll concessions. Some of the data quality checking concepts are also being considered for further use and threshold values for tests are being refined by SANRAL for this purpose.
Keywords: truck tractor (TT) method, weigh-in-motion, WIM error, WIM calibration, data quality
Weigh-in-motion (WIM) scales are installed on various higher order South African roads to provide traffic loading information for pavement design, strategic planning and law enforcement. Large sums of money are spent annually on WIM data collection, yet the data collected are often inconsistent and the pavement loading characteristics that are derived are not always realistic.
Some WIM systems produce anomalies that cannot be satisfactorily explained even by highly experienced professionals. Consequently, there is still no consensus within the industry on the physical requirements for a WIM system, the calibration of WIM data and the data quality checks that can be used to manage contractor performance and identify or eliminate erroneous or dubious weigh records. Agencies and WIM vendors across the world are still experimenting with variations (and often simplifications) of the two most respected WIM guidelines, the American ASTM E1318 Standard (ASTM International 2002) and the COST 323 European Specification (COST 323 1999), yet enhancements contributed by researchers are often highly complex and consequently under-utilised in practice.
The users of WIM data are often ignorant of the inherent inaccuracies of WIM systems. In the absence of suitable industry norms, data quality is not always as good as it could be. Miscalibration of WIM systems further aggravates the problem. Without proper guidance, poor WIM data can be misinterpreted and misused, and may result in imbalances in pavement design and hamper overload control efforts. The credibility and value of WIM systems are thus in jeopardy.
Much of the problem relates to the difficulty in determining the correct calibration factors for WIM systems, and to the random error component that remains even if the systematic error is eliminated. WIM calibration is performed by adjusting the sensitivity of the equipment by a factor to produce correct results, or by multiplying all axle load measurements from collected WIM data by a factor. The aim of this multiplication factor is to suppress systematic WIM error, and it is generally referred to as the calibration factor or k-factor. WIM errors are different for different types of vehicle travelling at different speeds. While a single calibration factor is generally applied to all axle load measurements, some methods have been developed internationally whereby the calibration factor is varied based on, for example, speed (Papagiannakis et al 2008). Given the highly variable nature of WIM error, the methods for correcting it for all vehicles in the traffic stream are often inadequate or so complicated that many practitioners do not use them.
Experience has shown that neither the ASTM E1318 Standard nor the COST 323 European WIM Specification is fully suited for use in South Africa. Up until 2006, WIM calibrations in South Africa were performed mostly with a pre-weighed two-axle truck using a calibration procedure similar to that recommended by ASTM E1318 (except that ASTM E1318 recommends the use of both a two-axle and a five-axle truck). Traffic loading results from such calibrated WIM systems were often unrealistic and it was difficult to achieve the strict ASTM E1318 pavement levelness criterion with in-service pavements.
In 2006, the South African National Roads Agency Ltd (SANRAL) produced a Standard specification for traffic data collection services (SANRAL 2006). The specification was intended primarily for traffic data collection contracts between SANRAL and its service providers. It used the COST 323 European WIM specification as a basis for the sections on WIM data collection. It made one important qualification, which was that a single rigid three-axle truck must be used for accuracy verifications. The three-axle truck is the smallest truck that allows accuracy testing of all four test elements described by COST 323 (gross vehicle mass, axle group, single axle and individual axles within a group). More than half of the WIM systems on the N3, N1 North and Bakwena (N1 and N4 West) Toll Roads failed the initial accuracy verifications. The failures were caused predominantly by load transfer between the steering and driving axles and by an uneven distribution of load between the two driving axles of the test truck. The author showed that the front axle may weigh approximately 5% lighter as a result of load transfer at a typical WIM site, and between 10 and 15% for an uphill WIM site (De Wet 2010).
Since the end of 2006, a random sample of trucks from the traffic stream has been used in combination with the three-axle test truck for calibration (using the COST 323 procedures) on the N1 North. The performance of the two-axle, three-axle and random sample calibration methods at the Kranskop northbound and southbound WIM systems was compared for the period September 2006 to May 2007 (De Wet & Slavik 2008). Four calibrations were performed in each direction during the analysis period. Both these WIMs were well constructed in a good pavement. No alterations to the WIM installations or calibration settings were made during the analysis period, and all calibration factors from the three methods should ideally have been the same for each respective WIM.
It was found that the calibration factors calculated from the three methods (performed on the same day) differed by as much as 12%, and factors from individual methods differed by as much as 15% from one calibration session to the next. The random sample calibration results were expected to be more stable than the others, yet some anomalies were still found. It should be noted that special arrangements are required for accurate weighing of the random sample of trucks, and the low-speed WIM systems that were used to obtain reference masses on the N1 Freeway may well have contributed to the irregularities in calibration factors.
Similar problems with WIM installations, WIM calibration and data quality are experienced internationally. Some of the key technical needs that were noted by State representatives in a recent evaluation of current WIM calibration practices in the USA (Papagiannakis et al 2008) are listed below:
Develop more accurate sensors.
Develop better pavements in which to install sensors.
Create an understanding of how calibration test vehicles relate to the traffic stream.
Create an understanding of how pavement roughness relates to WIM accuracy.
Calibrate without using test trucks.
Attain a better understanding of the limitations of WIM data and educate the States on such limitations.
Identify and standardise best calibration practices.
Create diagnostic guidelines for calibration of WIM sites from a centralised office location.
It is generally accepted that a continuous comparison of WIM readings with their linked counterparts from a well-calibrated static scale is the best method of calibrating a WIM system. The method is available for WIM systems that are used in combination with static weighbridges to pre-select potentially overloaded trucks. Although this method, which will be referred to as the Weighbridge-Linked method, is invaluable for WIM research, the practical application thereof is limited.
The author developed a post-calibration method for WIM data, called the Truck Tractor (TT) method. It uses recorded axle loads to calculate a calibration factor, kTT, which is then applied to collected WIM data in retrospect. Its primary objective is the calibration of WIM data, taking cognisance of the needs and concerns of WIM practitioners, but in addition it incorporates a series of data quality checks. The TT method is robust, accurate and adequately simple for use on a routine basis for a wide variety of South African WIM systems.
The development of the TT method took place primarily over the past two to three years. During 2007, the author investigated several methods for predicting the average front axle load at any particular WIM with consideration of load transfer away from the steering axle, also referred to as the "rearing effect". One such method proved to be adequately viable for further evaluation and it became known as the FTR (Front-axle Truck-tractor Ratio) method (De Wet & Slavik 2008).
In August 2008, BKS (Pty) Ltd offered the FTR method to SANRAL to be considered as a post-calibration method for WIM data. Further refinements were made in 2008 as part of the revision of the South African Mechanistic Pavement Design Method and the calibration method then became known as the Truck Tractor method (De Wet 2008). The TT method and the FTR method are directly related.
The TT method uses a steady sub-population of six-axle and seven-axle articulated trucks with a single steering axle and double driving axles on the truck tractor, called "Eligible Trucks". These trucks conform to the following axle criteria which were first developed by the CSIR (2007) as filters for a front-axlebased data validation criterion:
Heavy vehicle with six or seven axles in total
Axle spacing of 2,9-3,9 m between 1st and 2nd axle
Axle spacing of 1,2-1,6 m between 2nd and 3rd axle
Axle spacing of 4,5-9,0 m between 3rd and 4th axle
The average axle load for Eligible Trucks typically ranges between 2,0 and 8,5 t.
It was found that the monthly average truck tractor loads for vehicles with an average axle load (for all axles on the vehicle) of between 6,5 and 8,5 t was approximately 21,8 t, with a coefficient of variation of only 1,2% (De Wet 2008). Eligible Trucks with average axle loads in the range of 6,5-8,5 t, defined as "Selected Trucks", are consequently used in the TT method to determine the calibration factor for suppressing systematic error.
The calibration factor, kTT, is determined for a WIM data file using a fully automated iterative procedure developed by Slavik (2008), and is then multiplied by all axle load measurements to produce data for which the average truck-tractor load of Selected Trucks, TTT, is equal to 21,8 t. The TT method can be used for WIMs in various operating environments and is not sensitive to the initial extent of miscalibration of a WIM, clipping of sensors owing to poor lane discipline or different extents of loading on different routes.
Table 1 summarises an evaluation of the accuracy of the calibration factor, kTT, using screening WIM data from the N4 East Toll Road for the period October 2006 to June 2008. The monthly calibration factors obtained from the TT method were compared with those from the Weighbridge-Linked method (kWL). The calibration factors produced by the TT method are accurate for a range of WIMs in appreciably different operating environments.
With few exceptions, almost all of the agencies that responded to the NCHRP synthesis of WIM calibration practices (Papagiannakis et al 2008) agreed that WIM data quality control can be used to identify system operational problems. The TT method incorporates a series of data quality checks that can be performed on a routine basis as part of the monthly analysis of WIM data that is done to determine the calibration factor, kTT. If a WIM fails the data quality checks, the root of the problem must be investigated on site. The method is thus focused primarily on the needs of the WIM data user who must be able to interpret whether the WIM results are reliable without having in-depth technical knowledge of the WIM installation. Service providers may be more inclined to focus on keeping the physical installation in good order and then trusting that the data collected will be of good quality, but they should also be guided by warning signs that emanate from the analysis of the data.
Standard deviations of front-axle and truck-tractor loads
The distributions of truck tractor loads (TTT) and front-axle loads (FTT) of Selected Trucks from the TT method can be used as indicators of unacceptably large random WIM error. More than 750 data months from approximately 50 WIM systems on the N1 North, Bakwena, N4 East and N3 Toll Roads (of which the history and data quality were known) were analysed to determine the standard deviations of TTT and FTT, and to develop threshold values for these parameters that would identify "Bad" WIM data as such.
The qualification of data as "Good" or "Bad" is somewhat subjective since WIM error distributions were not always available. WIMs that are considered to be producing Good data are typically those that would achieve at least COST 323 accuracy class C(15) if a random sample of trucks from the road was used to verify the accuracy. These WIM systems are considered to be accurate enough to be used at least for statistical traffic data collection.
Data from WIMs with known pavement failures, logger errors, loose frames or severe levelness problems were considered to have produced Bad WIM data. These WIMs are not considered fit for statistical traffic data collection. In most cases the WIMs identified as Bad were subsequently replaced, or the installation or pavement was improved.
In the absence of absolute certainty about the quality of data, the data from some WIMs were described as "Suspect". It was believed that the data from these WIMs were dubious owing to poor riding quality, excessive temperature dependence or logger instability, but the problems were not severe enough for the data to be described as Bad.
Figure 1 shows a plot of monthly standard deviations of FTT and TTT (also abbreviated SFTT and STTT) for various WIMs. The plots represent months of Good WIM data (green dots), Suspect data (grey dots) and Bad data (red dots). It must be noted that additional Bad data files were analysed to improve on the characterisation thereof and the split between Good, Suspect and Bad data is therefore not a reflection of the quality of data obtained from Toll Concession projects.
A warning threshold and a rejection threshold are shown in Figure 1. These thresholds were developed with consideration of "consumer's risk" and "supplier's risk". Consumer's risk may be defined, in this application, as the probability that the WIM data user accepts Bad data. Supplier's risk is the probability that the WIM vendor supplies Good data that is rejected by the client.
The cluster of red dots strays away from the green dots primarily in the horizontal plane. STTT is thus a better indicator of data quality than SFTT. Figure 2 shows the probability distributions of STTT for Good, Suspect and Bad data that were used to determine suitable warning and rejection thresholds. The aim of the rejection threshold was to minimise supplier's risk, and the aim of the warning threshold was to minimise consumer's risk. A similar graph was used to develop thresholds for SFTT.
The threshold values for SFTT and STTT are to be applied in combination. More than 90% of data that fail the warning or rejection thresholds do so based on STTT. In combination, the warning thresholds succeed in reducing the consumer's risk to practically zero and, similarly, the rejection thresholds reduce the supplier's risk to zero (see Table 2).
The consumer's risk and supplier's risk are based on Good and Bad data only, and the so-called Suspect data must still be accounted for. The rejection thresholds are lenient enough for only 16% of Suspect data to be rejected. If the warning thresholds are applied, the amount of Suspect data that are accepted is reduced to 36%. This appears to be an acceptable result as there are no exact boundaries between Good, Suspect and Bad data.
Stability and values of calibration factors
Two aspects of monthly calibration factors play a role in WIM data quality, namely the stability of monthly calibration factors and the values of the calibration factors.
It was found from the WIM data used in the development of the TT method that, for stable WIM systems with more than 200 Selected Trucks per month for post-calibration, the calibration factor rarely differed by more than 3% from the average of the calibration factors for the preceding five months. The standard deviations of these monthly differences were almost always less than 1,5% (De Wet 2008).
An example of where the rapid change in kTT successfully indicated accelerated failure of a WIM is shown in Figure 3. The frame of the Van Reenen southbound WIM started to come loose from the pavement in January 2008. The WIM deteriorated rapidly during February and was removed in March. It was reinstalled in May and the calibration settings were adjusted in July. A more gradual drift in kTT was observed from January up to May 2009. It was later found that the pavement had failed and the WIM frame had lost its adhesion to the surrounding pavement. Much of the deterioration occurred during the dry winter months and the gradual drift in kTT indicates that the pavement never went into a moisture-accelerated distress phase.
The value of kTT is not an indicator of the quality of WIM data, but factors significantly different from 1,0 have a noticeable impact on post-calibrated WIM data owing to the rounding of axle loads. The South African National Standard Traffic Data Collection Format (Schildhauer 2006), also known as the RSA Format, allocates three numerical characters per axle load. Loads are recorded as multiples of 100 kg - an axle load of 6 723 kg will, for example, be rounded to 6 700 kg and recorded in the RSA Format as "067". The rounding of axle loads for the purpose of the RSA Format produces a discrete distribution of axle loads, as opposed to the true continuous distribution.
The rounding of axle loads is particularly detrimental for WIMs that are poorly calibrated (De Wet 2010). If a WIM is under-measuring by 10%, the axle load distribution will shrink to the left and approximately 10% fewer bins will contain records. The opposite applies for over-measuring WIMs. When the miscalibration is corrected through post-calibration and a new RSA file is created, the distribution of axle loads is moved to the correct position, yet some bins will be empty for a WIM that was under-measuring, while the number of entries in some bins will be approximately doubled for the WIM that was over-measuring. The number of empty bins (for under-measuring WIMs) and doubled bins (for over-measuring WIMs) in post-calibrated data increases with the systematic error of the WIM. It must be noted that all axle load bins are affected. Additional axle loads in a double bin were drawn from the other less-affected bins and, similarly, empty bins were created through the distribution of axle loads over other bins.
It is the experience of the author that a WIM can be readily set to within 10% of the true calibration factor in the field, and that this norm should be insisted on.
Average front axle loads
Once calibrated using the TT method, WIM systems produce average front axle loads, FTT, in the range of 5,6 to 6,6 t for Selected Trucks. Stratified ranges of FTT were developed based on the extent to which load is transferred away from the front axle at a particular WIM site (rearing effect). Table 3 provides typical ranges of FTT for WIM systems with different rearing characteristics. These are not meant to be used as rejection criteria, but rather to evaluate whether the value of FTT corroborates the anticipated rearing characteristic of a particular WIM system. If not, and particularly if FTT falls outside of the 5,6 to 6,6 t range, the WIM should be inspected and the calibration of the WIM should be revisited and redone if appropriate.
Lane discipline and clipping of WIM sensors
A useful by-product of the FTR method, which preceded the TT method, was that it gave an indication of the extent to which poor lane discipline and consequent clipping of sensors resulted in under-measuring of axles. Even though the FTR method is not used in the TT calibration procedure, it should still be plotted for quality control purposes.
Half-lane bending plates or capacitive sensors are generally used for high-speed WIM systems in South Africa. The WIM sensors are typically 1,75 m wide and are placed in the left wheel path only. In general, trucks that do not travel along the centre of the lane tend to stray over the yellow line and into the paved shoulder of the road. The result is that a part of the wheel clips the sensor and passes partly on the adjacent pavement, or on the less-sensitive outer edge of the sensor.
The FTR of an Eligible Truck is the front axle load, F, expressed as a ratio of the truck tractor load, T. The FTR is evaluated not only for the Selected Trucks, but for all Eligible Trucks. If the FTRs of individual trucks are plotted against their respective average axle loads, the points on the graph form a banana-shaped cluster. For WIMs with excellent lane discipline, hardly any points stray from the cluster. In contrast, a protrusion of points breaks away from the cluster for WIMs where many vehicles clip the WIM sensor.
When an Eligible Truck clips the sensor on the outside (left-hand side), the steering axle (single wheel) is severely under-measured, while the under-measurement of the driving axle's dual wheels is less pronounced because only the outer wheel clips the sensor. The result is an FTR that is uncharacteristically low for the truck's average axle load. Although severe clipping may result in the front axle being missed totally (and the vehicle record subsequently being rejected based on illogical axle configuration), less severe clipping can result in a reduction in measured axle loads that may not be sufficient to be indicated as a Bad record.
A typical clipping identification line, called the C-line, was developed through inspection of many WIMs with known lane discipline, and the percentage of vehicles with an FTR below this line is considered to be a good estimate of how many Eligible Trucks have been under-measured because they clipped the WIM sensor.
A direct test of how well the protrusion through the C-line indicates sensor clipping was performed using data from the Kranskop and Pietersburg WIMs (capacitive sensors, left wheel path) on the N1 Toll Road where off-scale sensors are installed to identify vehicles of which a part of the wheel/s travelled over the outer 15 cm of the sensors (De Wet 2010). Not all vehicles that activated the off-scale sensors were necessarily under-measured as the less-sensitive outer edges of the sensors are narrower than 15 cm. What can be said with confidence is that those vehicles that did not activate the off-scale sensors could not have been under-weighed as a result of poor lane discipline.
Figure 4 shows plots of FTR vs average axle load for good passes and passes that triggered the off-scale sensors at the Pietersburg southbound WIM system in August 2008. The lane discipline at this site is regarded as being undesirable. The figure indicates that hardly any of the vehicles that passed centrally over the WIM failed the C-line clipping test, while the protrusion through the C-line is very noticeable for the subpopulation of trucks that triggered the off-scale sensor. Roughly 80% of the vehicles at the Pietersburg southbound WIM that triggered the off-scale sensors still produced data that appeared to be Good - the off-scale sensors therefore eliminated many more records on account of suspected sensor clipping than was necessary. This conservative approach could be afforded as there were still thousands of good passes available for statistical analysis.
Table 4 gives typical ranges for protrusions of FTR through the C-line - these values may be used as estimates of the extent of clipping.
It is important to note that the protrusion through the C-line generally occurs below the average axle load range of 6,5 to 8,5 t. This is because vehicles that clipped the sensor are unlikely to register high gross vehicle masses. The important realisation here is that the calculation of the calibration factor, kTT, is not negatively affected by poor lane discipline and clipping of WIM sensors as these vehicles are unlikely to fit the criteria for Selected Trucks.
The practical implementation of WIM calibration and quality control processes is necessary to determine their true value. From current international practice it is evident that various WIM users have refined standards such as ASTM E1318 and COST 323 to fit the characteristics of different WIM systems based on practical experience of the success thereof. The practical implementation of the TT method and its associated quality checks will, over time, show whether South African users perceive it as being adequately accurate, simple and robust for use for statistical data collection at WIM sites on a routine basis. Further advances and refinements may result from the practical testing phase.
The FTR method and its associated data quality checks were used on a trial basis during 2008 and their value was demonstrated to toll concessionaires. When further refinement and testing culminated in the TT method, it became apparent that SANRAL would accept it as a national norm. The TT method and its associated data quality checks were consequently accepted and implemented on the N1 North, N3, Bakwena, and N4 East Toll Road projects in the first half of 2009.
The calibration module of the TT method (i.e. the procedure for determining the calibration factor, kTT) was accepted by SANRAL and incorporated into the model it uses to quantify the cost of overloading on toll concessions (CSIR 2007). The principles of using the standard deviations of front-axle and truck-tractor loads, and the average front-axle loads of Selected Trucks as data quality checks were also adopted, but the threshold values are still being refined. The first trial version of the software was made available in the second half of 2009, and further trials and refinements continued into 2010.
The TT method addresses several of the technical needs identified by WIM users in the US (Papagiannakis et al 2008). It offers a calibration method that does not use test vehicles, which eliminates the need to relate the results from such vehicles to the general stream of truck traffic. The limitations of WIM data are duly recognised and routine monitoring of data quality can be done from a centralised office location using the data quality checks. It further seems that South Africa is on the verge of standardising WIM calibration practices using the TT method as a basis.
SANRAL has accepted the Truck Tractor (TT) method in principle and this may be regarded as a positive step towards standard ising WIM calibration and data quality management in South Africa. The threshold values for data quality checks and procedures for practical implementation still need to be finalised. The TT method should then be incorporated into SANRAL's Standard specifications for traffic data collection services and should also be incorporated into the South African Technical Methods for Highways (TMH) series. It is anticipated that all matters related to traffic data collection on freeways, including axle load surveys which were previously addressed in TMH 3 (CSIR 1988), will now be included in an update of TMH 8 (CSIR 1987) as part of the review of the South African Flexible Pavement Design Method. The TT method should be used for the calibration of WIM systems where the Weighbridge-Linked method cannot be used and the data quality checks should be used for all WIM systems.
This paper is based on the author's Master's dissertation (De Wet, 2010) at Stellenbosch University. The South African National Roads Agency Ltd (SANRAL), Northern Toll Road Venture (NTRV), N3 Toll Concession (N3TC), Trans African Concessions (TRAC) and Bakwena Platinum Corridor Concession (BPCC) are thanked for the use of their data for this research.
ASTM International 2002. Standard specification for highway Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) systems with user requirements and test methods, Designation E1318-02. ASTM Committee E17 on Vehicle-Pavement Systems, Subcommittee E17.52 on Traffic Monitoring, West Conshohocken, US. [ Links ]
COST 323 1999. Weigh-in-Motion of road vehicles. Final report, Appendix I, European WIM Specification Version 3.0. [ Links ]
CSIR 1987. Traffic counting procedures for urban roads. Draft Technical Methods for Highways (TMH8), Pretoria: CSIR. [ Links ]
CSIR 1988. Traffic axle load surveys for pavement design, Draft Technical Methods for Highways (TMH3), Pretoria: CSIR. [ Links ]
CSIR 2007. Procedures for calculating the cost of overloading on toll concessions, 2nd draft Pretoria: SANRAL. [ Links ]
De Wet, D P G 2008. Correction of systematic error in WIM data, 3rd draft. Project SAPDM-ILP: Revision of the South African Flexible Pavement Design Method, Pretoria: SANRAL. [ Links ]
De Wet, D P G 2010. Post-calibration and quality management of Weigh-in-Motion traffic data, MSc (Eng) dissertation, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. [ Links ]
De Wet, D P G & Slavik, M M 2008. Macroscopic WIM calibration. Proceedings, International Conference on Heavy Vehicles, Paris, 19-22 May, pp 318-327. [ Links ]
Papagiannakis, A T, Quinly, R & Brandt, S R 2008. High-speed Weigh-in-Motion system calibration practices. NCHRP Synthesis 386, Washington D C: Transportation Research Board. [ Links ]
SANRAL 2006 Standard specifications for traffic data collection services. Vol 4, Pretoria: SANRAL. [ Links ]
Schildhauer, C 2006. South African standard traffic data collection format. Version 2.00, Issue 2006/05/05, Pretoria: SANRAL. [ Links ]
Slavik, M M 2008. Banana 2, version 0.5 ©2007. Pretoria: BKS (Pty) Ltd. [ Links ]
Contact details:
BKS (Pty) Ltd
Block D, Hatfield Gardens 333 Grosvenor Street Hatfield Pretoria
South Africa
Tel: 27 12 421 3500
e-Mail: email@example.com
|GERHARD DE WET (Pr Eng) graduated from the University of Pretoria in 2000, and obtained his Honours degree in Transportation Engineering in 2003, followed by a Master's degree in Engineering at Stellenbosch University in 2010. He joined the Transportation Planning Division of BKS Consulting Engineers in 2001, where he is currently a chief engineer. He has been involved with the analysis, reporting and research of Weigh-in-Motion traffic data on the major toll road concessions around Gauteng for the past eight years.


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- News
Competition is greater now - Schumacher
- Drivers:
- Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher says the competition between drivers is greater now than it was during his first Formula One career due to the close nature of the field.
Schumacher's three-year comeback ended at the end of 2012 with just one podium to add to his previous successes. While his Mercedes was rarely a match for the front-runners, Schumacher believes the opposition was tougher in the last three years than previously in his career due to the aerodynamic similarities among the cars.
When asked by Auto Motor und Sport if the competition had been greater than in his first career, Schumacher replied: "Yes, because the field is closer together.
"In my early days, there was always the chance to be quicker than another driver not just by a couple of tenths, but a full second. Why? Because the cars aerodynamically were not so balanced and were therefore very sharp to drive. As a driver, you then had many more possibilities yourself. Today, the cars are aerodynamically stable and well balanced; the window in which you work is not as big."
However, Schumacher said it didn't necessarily mean the drivers were of a better standard today, only used to a more professional way of working.
"Are the drivers of today so much better? It has always only been the best drivers who are in Formula One. Today there are more best drivers? Of course I set new standards with the way I work, but my former colleagues were on the way they were accustomed to working perfectly, and some had to replicate the new standard. The difference today is that maybe the new generation has grown up with this same scale."


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Hockey hits Dodger Stadium on Saturday, and there won't be a bad seat in the house.
Oh wait.
The NHL Stadium Series event, the first of its kind in Los Angeles, will have some good views from the reserve and upper-reserve levels but many difficult views and hard-to-see angles for the historical Kings-Ducks game. For many people who paid $200 or more for one of the 54,000 seats, that makes not a bit of difference.
The best seat in the house is simply in the house.
"These seats are a far cry from my seats at Staples Center," said Kings season ticket-holder Mark Cardella. "I don't think it's about where you sit. It's about being at the event, that's the coolest part. This is a bucket-list moment. I've always wanted to see this. I bought my tickets months ago, the first day they went on sale. Like my wife said, `You're going to go one time. Get the best seats you can.' I wanted to be part of this largest crowd to ever watch a hockey game in Southern California."
To go, you must pay much more than you're used to for a hockey game. Some tickets were originally priced at $249, and those were later reduced to $199 in a post-Christmas sale. The $50 price reduction was given to fans who had already purchased tickets as well.
"We've done a lot of research over the years for the hockey games we've had in baseball stadiums," said Don Renzulli, NHL executive vice president of events. "The best seats are behind the goals but in reserve and upper reserve. Those are awesome seats. The sight-lines from down low are difficult. As you go up, they get better."
The least expensive tickets were $79, according to Renzulli.
The stadium is nearly sold out. A spokesman said 90 percent of the tickets were sold and that the NHL is expecting a sellout by Saturday. Reducing ticket prices on those high-priced tickets helped.
"The decision to lower the price was because they missed the mark a little bit on those higher level seats," said Kings spokesman Mike Altieri. "There were certain price levels that completely sold out. The highest level tickets at $279 weren't moving, so that was a clear indication they weren't priced (right).
"One of the misconceptions when fans look at Dodger Stadium is why they're paying that price at the highest level. Those are the best quality seats. You need to be above and looking down into the ice. It was a little confusing."
In comparison with other Stadium Series games, these Dodger Stadium tickets were the lowest, according to Vivid Seats, a secondary ticket marketplace. The median price of a Kings-Ducks ticket at Dodger Stadium is $195. The Penguins-Blackhawks game scheduled for March 1 at Solider Field has a median ticket price of $320, according to Vivid Seats.
"I think it's going to be a wonderful event as far the as event goes, but the game itself I think will translate better on television than in person," Cardella said. "I'm ecstatic to be able to do this and go. I've been so jealous of everybody going to the Winter Classic Jan. 1 and sitting in the cold. I've been begging for this for the longest time."
Cardella won't be sitting out in the cold, but he will have a seat.
Cardella lives in Camarillo and works at the Eckhart Auto Body in Chatsworth that he and his wife, Pam, own. That's where they met the UPS delivery man, who will use one of Cardella's four tickets in loge section 128.
They're not glamorous like his Staples Center seats. Cardella has seats in Section 111 at Staples Center, which are next to what are considered the best seats in Section 110.
Lee Silverman has Kings season tickets in Section 110, and he was emphatic about not going to the hockey game in a baseball stadium.
"There's got to be a good reason to go because we live in Santa Barbara," Silverman said. "We love the Kings, but I definitely don't want to go to sit a long way away. I'll watch on TV. Other guys took them, but you're a long way away and it's in the middle of the stadium."
There aren't as many suites at Dodger Stadium as there are at Staples Center, so suite-holders had the option to buy suites or other tickers. Kings season ticket holders were given the option to buy before the public, and that went based on seniority.
Kings fan Lindsey Morales didn't consider going to the game when she learned about it through an advertisement on the JumboTron at Staples Center.
"It's just not affordable, so it's not easy for fans to get to," Morales said. "It's exciting, but it challenges what a hockey game should be. It will be interesting to see how the crowd noise is because it's not an enclosed arena.
"L.A. fans are devoted to the Kings and Dodgers, and I think they would be more excited to go if the tickets were more affordable."
Cardella is such a big fan that he's using the Kings to try to help his grandson become potty-trained. It didn't happen in time for this game.
"I told my grandson Joseph, who's 3, that if he would get potty-trained, I would take him to a Kings game, just him and I," Cardella said. "I believe in bribery."
Cardella is flying his son and daughter-in-law from the Bay Area for the game.
Many couldn't afford seats. That didn't stop Thousand Oaks resident Marcus Silverberg — a Kings fanatic — from buying a seat for his fanatical friend who couldn't afford a ticket.
Los Angeles resident Matthew Lemberger, 29, asked for a ticket for Christmas. He was given money to buy a ticket, and after the holidays he bought one when it went on sale. He had two friends who wanted to go with him but only one could afford a ticket.
"Since I heard about this game happening I've really wanted to go," Lemberger said. "The fact that the Kings are playing a game outdoors is most likely a once-in-a-lifetime thing for us Kings fans. Also, that it's being played at such a great setting at Dodger Stadium is even better. "(My) seats are in Section 14 of the reserve level. I wanted to be up higher so I would have a better view of the whole ice. I felt if I sat lower the view would have been obstructed."
StubHub, an online marketplace for tickets, makes note of this on its Web site: "Please keep in mind that this is a baseball stadium, not a hockey rink. Some tickets close to the field may have partially limited views based on their proximity to the rink."
Parking may not be in close proximity if you don't purchase it online before the game. Premium parking is $35-$50 and general parking is $20. Since Kiss is playing a concert, and there are events within the event, carpooling or shuttles from downtown are other methods that are encouraged.
And don't forget your sunglasses.
"This is a different look," Renzulli said. "We're playing to that Southern California feel."
The best seat in the house might just be in the house.
firstname.lastname@example.com @jillpainter on Twitter


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Research in Motion may release its second-generation operating system for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet next Tuesday. The Canadian smartphone maker is on the record as saying PlayBook 2.0 will debut this month and leaked internal documents published by Engadget Friday (below) point to Feb. 21 as the date it will happen.
The documents, which the tech blog said arrived via an anonymous source, also tip Feb. 21 as the release date for BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, a new platform that lets IT professionals manage the gamut of BlackBerry devices from a single interface. Management of devices running Apple's iOS and Google's Android mobile operating systems will be added in March. The PlayBook 2.0 download will be made available at 4:01 a.m., though the time zone isn't specified in documents. RIM is also locking down prices for new PlayBooks, according to one of the leaked detail sheets. The 16GB tablet is locked in at $199, the 32GB version at $249, and the 64GB edition at $299.
As anticipated (and as RIM demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year) the second-generation tablet OS delivers native email, contacts, and calendar—features missing from the PlayBook when it was first released last year. It also supports BlackBerry Bridge, the technology that allows a user to use a BlackBerry smartphone as a remote control device for manipulating the interface on a PlayBook.
The new software platform will also run Android apps natively.
An on-schedule release of PlayBook 2.0 could provide a boost for the beleaguered company. After a very rough 2011, RIM remains on the ropes following last month's news that long-time co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis were stepping down amid a growing storm of shareholder discontent.
RIM's recent troubles include delays to the release of handsets running BlackBerry 10, the next-generation OS for the company's handsets that combines its current smartphone OS with the QNX operating system that runs its tablets.
It's reportedly been difficult for RIM to get some key software features to work in BB10, issues the company denies but which some critics have claimed point to poor software engineering. Since the PlayBook 2.0 platform has been described by the company as a kind of stepping stone from QNX to BB10, a successful release of the new tablet software could go a long way towards quelling such doubts.
Earlier this week, leaked photos of RIM's next-generation BB10 smartphones were published by CrackBerry.com. The handsets are expected to be released sometime in the fall.
For more on RIM, see PCMag's reviews of the BlackBerry Curve 9370 and the BlackBerry Curve 9350, as well as the BlackBerry OS 7 slideshow below.


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OKLAHOMA CITY— With the cost of operating a vehicle around $8,000 or more per year, some Oklahoma City area workers are looking for creative ways to cut the expense. EMBARK's newest rideshare program is an easy way to reduce car costs and recover valuable time from a daily commute.
Rideshare is a program where EMBARK leases an SUV or a van to a group who wants to ride together to and from work and share a similar schedule. Depending on the number in the group and the amenities of the vehicle, the cost is around $100 or less a month per person and covers fuel, insurance and maintenance. There are also tax benefits that allow those who rideshare to exclude some of the cost from taxable income
Lori Rasmussen, an employee at Boeing, commutes to work every day from her home in Edmond and was one of the first Boeing employees to sign up for the new Rideshare.
"I spend about 45 minutes each way on my commute, so when I learned about sharing an SUV with a group of my co-workers, I took a closer look," says Rasmussen. "I can save about $5,000 or so a year – more with the tax breaks."
"The savings make sense on their own, but commuting with coworkers has other benefits," adds Rasmussen. "I enjoy getting to know my coworkers better. It's also more relaxing than driving by myself; on one commute, I paid bills from my mobile. When I got home, I could focus on my family."
With EMBARK Rideshare, once a group is matched, they decide on the size and amenities of the vehicle; for example, overhead reading lights, keyless entry, backup camera or WiFi service. The driving responsibilities can rotate and the driver parks the vehicle at their home. Every month, a fuel card, essentially a debit card, is automatically loaded and balances are automatically reconciled based on actual fuel used each month. The program includes an app to help members of the group notify others of a schedule change or sick day and also provides a guaranteed ride home in an emergency.
"EMBARK's experience in public transit and the timing of this new program brings Boeing employees a turnkey transit choice, an important option Boeing has heard through surveys and input that our employees want," she adds. "It's easy to sign up for the program and it calculates everything for the members - we don't have to divide fuel costs, or spend time with vehicle maintenance and repairs. It's month-to-month, so there's no long-term commitment. The simplicity and savings appeals to many of our employees."
"EMBARK's leadership in actively pursuing transit options that reduce congestion and improve air quality benefits the entire region," says Roy Williams, Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. "Tackling commuter patterns from our neighboring cities means looking for options that make non-traditional forms of public transit easy and cost effective. We expect the rideshare program to grow quickly – we know employers are interested in offering more transit options for their employees and this is a smart solution."
The EMBARK Rideshare program is a contracted partnership with vRide – a national rideshare firm. vRide is the largest private provider of vanpools with over 7,000 vans across the country and has been used to match people based on schedules, where they live and where they need to go. To calculate savings or find a vanpool, visit www.vRide.com
About EMBARK
EMBARK is the business unit of the Central Oklahoma Transportation & Parking Authority (COTPA) – a public trust administered by the City of Oklahoma City. EMBARK is responsible for providing safe, efficient and convenient public transportation and downtown parking solutions to the greater Oklahoma City area.
EMBARK is the North America Outstanding Public Transit System of the Year.
To learn more about EMBARK and view bus schedules and routes, visit www.embarkok.com or call (405) 235-RIDE (7433) for personal assistance from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. To learn more about carpooling or to be matched with someone in your area, visit www.getaroundok.com.
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Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan is fast rising as one of media's best featured "go to" experts on wine and spirits. She holds the world's top wine title (MW), has trained thousands in the industry and judges in international wine and spirits competitions.
Jennifer is the fourth woman and among only 30 people in the US to ever attain the international title of Master of Wine (MW), the highest wine title to achieve in the world. She was also honored with an international tasting trophy for her palate 2008 and holds an additional 5 leading wine and spirits certifications.
She is the author of The One Minute Wine Master: Discover 10 Wines You'll Like in 60 Seconds or Less and co-author of Pairing with the Masters: A Definitive Guide to Food & Wine along with Certified Master Chef Ken Arnone.
Jennifer is also the author and host of five DVD series on wine and spirits with The Great Courses- The Everyday Guide to Wine, The Everyday Guide to Spirits & Cocktails, The Everyday Guide to Wines of France, The Everyday Guide to Wines of Italy, and The Everyday Guide to Wines of California.
She is a frequent guest on national television including NBC's Today Show, Fox Business, Fox News, Anderson Cooper, Bloomberg TV, Real Housewives of New York City, and VH1 Morning Buzz. She has also been featured in world class publications such as Fortune, Businessweek, O The Oprah Magazine, Everyday with Rachael Ray, and Wine Enthusiast.
With an energetic, dynamic personality, Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan has also hosted seminars with famous Food Network Stars such as Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay, Tyler Florence, Mario Batali and Jacques Pépin.


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These delicious sirloin elk steaks are of superb quality and are perfect for grilling! Box contains ten (10) 8oz. steaks.
Flash frozen and shipped with 10 pounds of dry ice for safe delivery to your door; We guarantee it! Blackwing items ship separately from the rest of your order and cost $35 for expedited frozen handling. An incremental $10 will be added for each additional Blackwing item or collection you add to your cart after the first one.