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Background and Objectives for the Technical Brief
Wheeled mobility or wheelchair use is at an all time high and growing in the United States. A 2005 survey of non-institutionalized individuals in the United States estimated that approximately 3.3 million people (1.4% of the population) 15 years of age and older used a wheelchair or similar device. Of those 3.3 million, approximately 1.8 million were 65 years and older, representing over 5 percent of the elderly population. Among children under 15 years of age, an estimated 83,000 used a wheelchair or similar device, representing 0.2 percent of that population.1 An earlier survey (1994-1995 data) of non-institutionalized Americans estimated 1.6 million (0.6%) wheelchair users including 88,000 under age 18 years (0.12%) and 897,000 (2.87%) 65 years of age and older. Of the total group of wheelchair users, 1.5 million used manual wheelchairs and 155,000 used electric wheelchairs. The leading conditions associated with wheelchair use included stroke, osteoarthritis, multiple sclerosis, absence or loss of lower extremity, paraplegia, orthopedic impairment of lower extremity, heart disease, cerebral palsy, rheumatoid arthritis, and diabetes.2
At the same time that the population of mobility impaired individuals is growing, advances have been made in the area of assistive technology. Power wheelchairs are more widely available. Technological advances have greatly enhanced manual wheelchairs. Scooters or power operated vehicles (POV) are commonplace.3 These advances in wheeled mobility assistive technology offer enhanced functionality not previously achievable. The degree to which these wheeled mobility devices contribute to quality of life depends on the appropriateness of the wheeled mobility selected for the patient and their utilization of the device. Mobility devices have been shown to increase the activity and participation of individuals with mobility limitations.4 However, inappropriate mobility devices may result in harms to the patient.
Wheeled mobility service delivery is the process by which mobility impaired individuals and wheeled mobility devices are matched and serviced. The World Health Organization (WHO) has described key steps in wheeled mobility service delivery: a) referral and appointment, b) assessment, c) prescription (selection), d) funding and ordering, e) product preparation, f) fitting, g) user training, and h) follow-up, maintenance and repairs.5 To maximize the benefit of scarce resources, matching patients with mobility limitations with the most appropriate wheeled mobility device, therefore avoiding under- and over-utilization, is paramount. However, many patients, providers, and payers may not be aware of or fully understand the aspects of wheeled mobility service delivery that likely contribute to attaining the most appropriate match between patient and device.
In order to address this gap, a thorough understanding of wheelchair service delivery is necessary. This Technical Brief will identify and describe the literature and expert opinion regarding the process of wheelchair service delivery (i.e., patients, providers, payers, settings, and outcomes). It will provide background information for stakeholders interested in developing wheelchair service delivery standards of care, researchers of mobility assistive technology, and patients, providers, and payers of wheeled mobility.
Guiding Questions
The following questions will be addressed. The intent is to provide stakeholders with an improved understanding of the various ways in which wheeled mobility service delivery occurs in practice and the elements of the delivery process that have been studied. Consistent with Technical Brief reporting format, questions pertaining to four topics - the technology, the context, the evidence, and issues - will guide the research process.
Question 1. The Technology: What criteria (i.e., medical conditions, physical characteristics, functional and/or vocational needs, environmental factors, etc.) do assessors and payers (including Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Affairs, and others) take into consideration when determining the appropriateness and medical necessity of a wheelchair type (i.e., manual, power scooter, power chair) and features (i.e., seating, tilt, etc.) for an individual patient?
- What formal criteria exist?
- How do the criteria differ across assessors?
- How do the criteria differ across payers?
- How do the criteria differ for patients of different ages (i.e., 21 years old and younger vs. older than 21 years)?
Question 2. The Context: Which of the following elements has been studied with regard to facilitating or hindering achievement of an appropriate patient/wheelchair match?
- Provider type (i.e., occupational therapy, physical therapy, primary care provider, physiatrist)
- Provider qualifications (i.e., certification, experience performing wheelchair assessments)
- Setting (i.e., primary care clinic, specialty clinic, school, retail store)
- Payer (i.e., Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Affairs, Vocational Rehabilitation, private insurance)
- Components of patient assessment (i.e., diagnosis vs. functional abilities, cognitive abilities, physical abilities)
- Assessment, prescription, and delivery steps (i.e., access, number of visits covered by insurance, trials and simulations with wheelchair, education and/or training provided to the patient, follow-up, etc.)
Question 3. The Evidence: What studies have reported on wheeled mobility service delivery? Specifically, describe the following elements of the studies:
- Indication/patient inclusion criteria
- Study design/size
- Elements of service delivery (i.e., patient physical characteristics, environmental factors, needs [functional, vocational], cognitive ability, provider, payer, fitting process [trials], counseling/training/education, follow-up)
- Outcomes assessed (i.e., functional ability, utilization of chair, patient satisfaction, quality of life)
- Adverse events/harms/safety issues (i.e., pressure sores, injuries, need for repairs, need for replacement)
Question 4. Issues: What are the important issues surrounding wheeled mobility service delivery? What are the topic areas, research designs, populations, interventions, comparators, outcome measures, and settings for future research into the most effective and efficient approach to matching patients with appropriate wheeled mobility devices?
Answering the questions posed in this Technical Brief will require identification and utilization of a variety of information sources including key informants, the published, peer-reviewed literature, and publications in trade journals and grey literature. Key informants are critical to this project. Not only will key informants be relied upon to provide information not available in the literature, but also to provide guidance to the trade and grey literature searching.
1. Data Collection
Data collected to inform wheeled mobility service delivery includes information gleaned from discussions with key informants, comprehensively searching of the peer-reviewed literature, and targeted searching of the grey literature.
A. Discussions with Key Informants
Several key informants were identified as the topic was refined. Once disclosures were obtained from these individuals, they participated in discussions aimed at developing the guiding questions for this topic, provided leads to resources in the grey literature that informed topic background and methods, and suggested other potential key informants. For key informants willing to continue to participate in the Technical Brief report process, interviews via telephone or in-person, if logistically feasible, will be used to gather information pertaining to the guiding questions. Information requested from each key informant will vary based upon their area of expertise and/or perspective with regard to wheeled mobility service delivery (i.e., payer, provider/assessor, equipment supplier, researcher, consumer). Interview questions will be developed in advance of each key informant discussion to solicit content- and expertise-specific information in a timely manner. Potential interview questions are given in the table below.
Key Informant Group
Potential Questions
1. Do you have any guidelines/checklists that you use?
1. What guidelines/checklists do you use (or are you aware of)?
Equipment Suppliers
1. How do you perceive your role in the service delivery process?
1. Are you aware of any research on the delivery process (or aspects of it)?
Patients/Patient Advocates
1. What has your experience been with different types of payers?
B. Grey Literature Search
Targeted searching of the grey literature will be guided by investigator knowledge of relevant sources and input from key informants. It will include searching of bibliographic databases such as ProQuest Digital Dissertations and topic specific databases such as those maintained by the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC) (REHABDATA, NIDRR Project Database, and the NARIC Knowledgebase). Grey literature searching may also include searches of related conference abstracts (i.e., International Seating Symposium, RESNA Annual Conference). Payment policies may be obtained by searching relevant online databases such as the Medicare Coverage database and through targeted requests for information.
Web sites of relevant not-for-profit organizations and government agencies will be searched for information and publications. Relevant Web sites may include those published by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, Paralyzed Veterans of America, the National Coalition of Assistive and Rehabilitation Technology, and others. Quality of Web site information will be evaluated to insure that any information abstracted is authoritative, up-to-date, has minimal ties to for-profit interests, utilizes references to scientific information, and provides names and credentials of Web site contributors.
Reference and text books are expected to provide background information on seating and mobility evaluation. Trade journals may be important in identifying issues related to payment policies and stakeholder perspectives. Identified trade journals (i.e., Mobility Management, New Mobility, etc.) will be searched only for the last calendar year as the information expected to be gathered from these sources will be limited to issues currently important to the topic.
We expect the grey literature to be useful primarily in answering questions related to wheelchair service delivery technology, context, and current issues. Conference abstracts may be helpful in identifying recent and on-going research related to the wheelchair service delivery process.
C. Published Literature Search
Investigators will conduct literature searches in MEDLINE, CINAHL, REHABDATA, and ERIC from the widest time range permitted electronically. Searches will be limited to studies relevant to humans and published in English. Due to the limitations of the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH terms) for this topic and the relatively inconsistent use of terminology in this field, a search strategy with maximum recall potential was developed. In addition to the literature search, a manual search of references from reports of included studies or review articles will be conducted. A preliminary search strategy, including proposed search terms, is listed in Appendix 1.
Results from the published peer-reviewed literature will be screened for inclusion based on title and abstract, if available. Full text articles will be obtained if warranted by the title and/or abstract. All publication types will be included if they relate to the guiding questions. Preliminarily identified literature will then be screened using the following exclusion criteria:
- Does not address wheeled mobility
- Addresses aspect of wheeled mobility not relevant to guiding questions:
- Wheeled mobility used outside of routine activities around home and community (i.e., sports chairs, standing chairs, etc.)
- Very specific aspect of wheeled mobility (types of seat cushions, joysticks, etc.)
- Outdated technology
- Research and development on equipment not currently widely available
- Addresses creation and/or validation of a particular outcome measure
The literature search will be updated prior to submission of the final report if input from the peer review process indicates that necessity. Additional relevant data obtained via the updated literature search will be incorporated into the final report.
2. Data Organization and Presentation
A. Information Management
For Guiding Question 1, we will obtain, via searches of the grey literature and the published peer-reviewed literature and through interviews with key informants, guidelines and checklists developed by pertinent organizations (including relevant professional societies and payer groups).
The information gathered for Question 2 will be identified through searches of the grey and published peer-reviewed literature and interviews with key informants. We will review studies and reports to identify specific elements to be extracted (e.g., provider type, provider qualifications, etc.).
For Guiding Question 3, we will identify relevant studies from the published literature and from interviews with key informants. We will extract patient characteristics, study design, sample size, the elements of the assessment process studied (i.e., patient evaluation, provider, payer, fitting process, training and education, follow-up), outcomes assessed, and adverse events from studies meeting inclusion criteria.
Interviews with key informants along with the published, grey, and trade literature (including editorials and commentaries), will be used to inform Question 4. We will also identify gaps in the existing research.
B. Data Presentation
Information gathered for Guiding Question 1 will be presented in a table within the Brief. Criteria for different payers and for different assessors will be grouped to allow for comparison across payers or assessors. Findings will be summarized in the text highlighting differences for patients of different ages and across and between payers and assessors. The sources of all guidelines and checklists will be provided in the reference list.
For Question 2, a table in the Brief will summarize the number of studies and the sample size included for each element of service delivery studied. Peer-reviewed study and grey literature findings will be presented side-by-side allowing an overall survey of the available information.
Information extracted from the published literature for Question 3 will be displayed in a summary table in the text of the report. The table will reflect the number of studies reporting each of the elements. An evidence table with individual study characteristics will be presented in an Appendix.
Question 4 will be addressed in the Brief text. Important issues identified through literature searches and key informant interviews will be listed. Future research needs related to wheeled mobility service delivery will be presented the context of an analytic framework. Specifically, we will identify what is known and the need for additional research about the role of assessment criteria, payers, providers, and settings in the wheeled mobility service delivery process including how those factors impact intermediate outcomes (i.e., the matching of the patient and the wheelchair), final outcomes (i.e., functional and physiologic outcomes, patient satisfaction, use), and harms (i.e., development of pressure sores, deconditioning, weight gain). All sources will be provided in the reference list.
- Brault M, Steinmetz E. Americans with disabilities: 2005. Current Population Reports. Washington, DC: US Census Bureau, 2008. Available at http//:www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p70-117.pdf. Accessed April 5, 2010.
- Kaye H, Kang T, LaPlante M, editors. Wheelchair use in the United States. Disability Statistics Abstract Number 23, San Francisco: UCSF Disability Statistics Center, 2002.
- Bauer SB, Mary Ellen, editor. The industry profile on wheeled mobility. Buffalo: Rehabilitation Engineering Reseach Center on Technology Transfer; 2009.
- Salminen A, Brandt Å, Samuelsson K, Töytäri O, Malmivaara A. Mobility devices to promote activity and participation: a systematic review. Journal of rehabilitation medicine. 2009;41(9):697.
- Borg J, Khasnabis C. Guidelines on the provision of manual wheelchairs in less-resourced settings. Geneva: World Health Organization. 2008.
Definition of Terms
1. Terminology
Manual Wheelchair – self-propelled; push hand rims are used to propel the rear drive wheels; may be designed to be propelled by the user's legs
- standard – not usually tailored to an individual; simple sling seat; very limited adjustability
- standard hemi – lower seat height (17 to 18 inches); for individuals of shorter stature or to enable user to place feet on ground for propulsion
- growth – designed to meet needs of children as they change and grow
- lightweight/ultralight – frames made of lighter materials (e.g., aluminum, titanium, or chrome); easier to propel and transport
- heavy duty – for individuals who weigh more than 250 pounds or who have severe spasticity
- extra heavy duty – for individuals who weigh more than 300 pounds
- reclining – backrest reclines independently of the rest of the seating system
- tilt-in-space – wheelchair frame can tilt greater than or equal to 45 degrees from horizontal while maintaining the same back to seat angle
Manual Wheelchair Push-Assist – bridge between manual and power wheelchair; may be battery operated device attached to rear wheels or manually shiftable gears (similar to a bicycle); also referred to as PAPAW – push rim activated power assist wheelchair
Mobility Assistive Equipment (MAE) – manual wheelchairs, power wheelchairs, scooters; also includes canes and walkers
Power Mobility Device (PMD) – power wheelchair or power operated vehicle (POV)
Power Wheelchair – Battery powered motor that propels wheels; includes front-, center-, or rear-wheel drive options; joystick control is most common; includes power seating system
- tilt frame – tilts user backward in seated position to change pressure points and help prevent pressure ulcers; also to improve seating balance
- reclining – reclining backrest opens hip angle; for pressure relief, resting, or self-catheterization
- elevating – lifts user while remaining in a seated position; can improve reach and enhance ability to socially interact on a more eye-to-eye level
- standing – lifts user from seated to standing position; pressure relief and improved reach
Power Operated Vehicle (POV) or "Scooter" – powered three-wheeled carts with seats; require good upper body strength and arm function and ability to support oneself in upright seated position for extended periods
2. Abbreviations
CMS – Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
MAE – mobility assistive equipment
NARIC – National Rehabilitation Information Center
PAPAW – push rim activated power assist wheelchair
PMD – power mobility device
POV – power operated vehicle
RESNA – Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America
WHO – World Health Organization
Summary of Protocol Amendments
In the event of protocol amendments, the date of each amendment will be accompanied by a description of the change and the rationale.
NOTE: The following protocol elements are standard procedures for all protocols.
- Review of Key Questions
For Comparative Effectiveness reviews (CERs) the key questions were posted for public comment and finalized after review of the comments. For other systematic reviews, key questions submitted by partners are reviewed and refined as needed by the EPC and the Technical Expert Panel (TEP) to assure that the questions are specific and explicit about what information is being reviewed.
- Technical Expert Panel (TEP)
A TEP panel is selected to provide broad expertise and perspectives specific to the topic under development. Divergent and conflicted opinions are common and perceived as health scientific discourse that results in a thoughtful, relevant systematic review. Therefore study questions, design and/or methodological approaches do not necessarily represent the views of individual technical and content experts. The TEP provides information to the EPC to identify literature search strategies, review the draft report and recommend approaches to specific issues as requested by the EPC. The TEP does not do analysis of any kind nor contribute to the writing of the report.
- Peer Review
Approximately five experts in the field will be asked to peer review the draft report and provide comments. The peer reviewer may represent stakeholder groups such as professional or advocacy organizations with knowledge of the topic. On some specific reports such as reports requested by the Office of Medical Applications of Research, National Institutes of Health there may be other rules that apply regarding participation in the peer review process. Peer review comments on the preliminary draft of the report are considered by the EPC in preparation of the final draft of the report. The synthesis of the scientific literature presented in the final report does not necessarily represent the views of individual reviewers. The dispositions of the peer review comments are documented and will, for CERs and Technical briefs, be published three months after the publication of the Evidence report.
It is our policy not to release the names of the Peer reviewers or TEP panel members until the report is published so that they can maintain their objectivity during the review process.
Appendix 1: Search Strategy
Concept Analysis
Two concepts relate to all key questions addressed in this Technical Brief. Therefore one search strategy will be used in multiple bibliographic databases. The concepts include wheeled mobility and patient assessment. Table A2.1 explains the concept analysis and terminology that will be used in searching Ovid MEDLINE. MeSH terms (or other terms relevant to the specific bibliographic database as determined by database thesaurus) and text words (with truncation used as necessary) relating to each concept will be aggregated. Concepts will be combined together to compile a set of literature inclusive of both concepts for screening. Limitations imposed on the Ovid MEDLINE (and other databases if available) search will include human studies published in English. The search process will be an iterative process with updating to restrict or expand the search as new terms are identified and the search process and resulting sets of literature are analyzed.
|Concept: Wheeled Mobility
|Concept: Service Delivery
|Search terms
[MeSH] and text words
|Wheelchair [MeSH]
Mobility limitation [MeSH]
"Wheeled mobility device".tw
"Power chair".tw
"Power mobility device" .tw
|"Service Delivery"
Medline Search Strategy
Database: Ovid MEDLINE(R) <1950 to May Week 2 2010>
Search Strategy:<
- *Wheelchairs/
- wheelchair$.tw.
- scooter$.tw.
- "power mobility device$".tw.
- "wheel chair$".tw.
- "wheeled mobility".tw.
- powerchair$.tw.
- "power chair$".tw.
- 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 or 8
- assess$.tw.
- evalu$.tw.
- select$.tw.
- prescri$.tw.
- match$.tw.
- "service delivery".tw.
- provi$.tw.
- acquir$.tw.
- procur$.tw.
- fit$.tw.
- purchas$.tw.
- refer$.tw.
- 10 or 11 or 12 or 13 or 14 or 15 or 16 or 17 or 18 or 19 or 20 or 21
- 9 and 22
- limit 23 to (english language and humans)
- limit 24 to (addresses or biography or case reports or dictionary or directory or in vitro or legal cases or news or newspaper article or portraits)
- 24 not 25


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|Chess in Central Park
|By Jennifer Shahade
|September 29, 2009
GM Robert Hess gave a talk and simultaneous exhibition sponsored by Central Park Conservancy and the NYC Dept. of Parks & Recreation and organized by Renée Yarzig of Cross-Generation Chess.
Central Park has been filled with chess lately. On September 20,
In his speech, the 17-year-old Hess emphasized the importance of learning from losses, the diversity of chessplayers, "I have played individuals from over sixty countries" and balancing chess and life:
At a young age, I took lessons 2-3 times a week and attended chess club after school as well. In middle school, I told my mother that I did not want to focus only on chess, but rather play sports, hang out with my friends, and do what "normal" boys did. Bobby Fischer once said, "Chess is life." But for me, and hopefully you kids as well, this is not true. Chess is an extremely positive influence in life, but it should not become your sole preoccupation. Branching out is important: chess cannot consume all your time, but if you are serious about the game, it should hold prominence. Hopefully my girlfriend and my mother can understand that!
The event also featured a G/40 Youth Championship. The main section was won by Warren Wang. See full results below.
Hess's event could be considered a warm-up for the massive Chess-In-The-Parks G/10 tournament hosted on September 26. Over 600(!) people played in this 9th annual event co-organized by Shaun Smith of Chess-In-The-Schools (CIS) and Ed Feldman of the NYC Parks Department.
New York chess stars were also highlighted: IM Yury Lapshun won a two-game G/10 exhibition over IM Dmitry Schneider. Lapshun went on to defeat over 100 players in a "Master Takes on All Comers" booth. GM Lev Alburt also attended. He played with Lapshun and donated copies of his books to the winner of each section.
Shaun Smith of CIS told CLO, "Ian Wiggins, a legend in St. Nicholas Park scored 6-0 and won two decisive blitz games in the playoff over two other expert level players Mauricio Camejo and Jeremiah Williams. Considering the number of strong players in attendance Wiggins' result was great." Enjoy a selection of photos from both events and scroll down for full standings.
Final Standings, Open section
1st Place: Ian Wiggins, 6-0 First in Playoff
2nd Place: Mauricio Camejo, 6-0
3rd Place: Jeremiah Williams, 6-0
4th Place: Mikhail Sher, 5.5-0.5
5th Place: Steadroy Lloyd, 5.5-0.5
6th Place: Eric Fleischman, 5-1
7th Place: Shawn Martinez, 5-1
8th Place: Dwayne Clark, 5-1
9th Place: Rochelle Ballantyne, 5-1
10th Place: Michael Finneran, 5-1
11th Place: Joshua Colas, 5-1 (Another youngster)
12th Place: Clotaire Colas, 5-1 (Joshua's uncle)
13th Place: Albert Freeman, 5-1
14th Place: James Black, 5-1
Chris Murden-5.5-0.5
Phineas Fischer Horowitz-6-0
Adult unrated:
Brian Allen 6-0
Teen unrated:
Daniel Steinbrecher-5.5-0.5
Youth unrated:
David Ning-6-0
G/40 Youth Championship
Open- 1st: Warren Wang, 2-5th: Matthew Zafra, Daniel Yedidia, Sheldon Fan and Alexander Bavalsky
Under 1000: Ethan Joo and Franklin Guttman
Unrated: Marcos Muniz, Wesley Wang (brother of Warren) and Charlie Niece;

subset: commoncrawl


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Israel's Aid Package Likely To Stay Around $3B
The United States will continue providing Israel with defence aid after a current package worth some $3 billion a year expires in 2017, and the grants are unlikely to wane despite Washington belt-tightening, two U.S. senators said on Thursday.
Kelly Ayotte and Joe Donnelly, who are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, visited Israel to confer on security issues like missile defence, on which the allies have partnered.
The previous U.S. administration signed a 10-year deal with Israel in 2007 granting it $30 billion, most of which must be spent on American defence products.
Talks on a new package were already under way, said Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republican.
"Obviously the final negotiations have not been worked out but I do not expect that our commitment and work with Israel will diminish," she told Reuters.
Politically popular U.S. aid to close ally Israel has held steady despite cuts to a wide range of other programmes, including reducing the size of the U.S. army to its lowest level since before World War Two and shrinking spending in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.
Donnelly, a Democrat from Indiana, noted Israel's rare stability in a turbulent Middle East.
"I think there is understanding among the people across our country about the value of the relationship with Israel, not only just personal and friendship-wise, but also the importance of having Israel as an ally in this region," he said.
"And so I think that the people of our country feel that every dollar spent on this is worth it, is well spent."


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Going tubeless for cyclocross: tires and technique
Going tubeless — even on standard rims with non-tubeless tires — is a good alternative to the hassle of tubulars.
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
The performance divide between clinchers and tubulars in cyclocross has historically been pretty wide, but these days it seems to be getting a lot skinnier. Old favorites and new technologies have been the catalyst for a slew of dramatically improved clincher options in the last few years.
There is no question that in almost all conditions tubulars are lighter, more supple and faster than clinchers. But the expense, time and hassle of mounting tubulars make them impractical for most weekend warriors. With the goal of finding some solid alternatives, I called on fellow tubeless expert Erik Voldengen to compare notes and come up with the best clincher solutions.
Clinchers with tubes are ill-suited to cyclocross because of their potential to pinch flat at low pressure. But I've found that tubeless systems work well and are getting better all the time. In my mind, they're the best alternative to tubulars.
I am not an inner-tube guy. I can't remember the last time I mounted a set of clinchers with tubes, be it road, mountain or 'cross. My default is to mount a tire tubeless with sealant and see how it rolls.
I've had good luck with my systems. I'm 180 pounds and I can run low pressures without the tires burping and losing air. Some of my colleagues run really low pressure and can't make tubeless systems work, because the tires roll around on the rim too much and lose air. But that hasn't been a problem for me.
Some of the best tires, for mountain biking and 'cross alike, are the non-tubeless ones, juiced with sealant and mounted minus inner tubes. Sometimes it takes a bit of sleuthing to find the good ones, but my goal is to help speed the process for you.
Getting started – the tubeless conversion
If you own tubeless-ready wheels you are off to a good start and have a bigger selection of tires to choose from. Shimano makes several Dura-Ace tubeless-ready wheelsets and one Ultegra. DT Swiss Tricon, Fulcrum 2-Way Fit, and Hutchinson RT-1 wheels are also tubeless-ready.
If you have standard rims, you can use tubeless tires and one of Stan's NoTubes rim strip systems, either just the lightweight yellow tape or the rubber rim strip/tape combination. You won't need the thicker rubber rim strips if you have standard rims with a nice little bead step for the tire to pop onto. These include Mavic Ksyriums, most recent DT wheels and of course Stan's own wheels.
One the rim is prepped with tape so the tire bed is airtight and you have a tubeless valve in place, all you have to do is choose from among the wide array of clincher 'cross tires available. You'll probably have best results with tires that have proper tubeless-ready beads, because they fit the rim and bead hook more tightly. But even standard tires can be made to work. In either case, you simply pour a few ounces of sealant right into the tire, mount it, inflate it and slosh the sealant around to seal leaks.
A note on mounting tubeless tires: As with so many things in life, preparation and proper technique make all the difference. Your rim surface should be clean and free of old sealant. If you are re-mounting an old tire you need to clean off as much old sealant as possible. Using soapsuds, not soapy water, helps dramatically with inflation and getting the tire to seat nicely on the rim. It also won't contaminate or water down your sealant. An air compressor is nice to have, too — some non-tubeless tires might not inflate easily without one.
If you have proper tubeless wheels and tires they should pump up pretty easily with a floor pump. I have had good luck soaking troublesome tires in cold water — it seems to shrink them down, tighten the bead and make them inflate a lot easier. Removing the valve stem to get more instant volume in the tire is also an effective trick, as is mounting the tire with a tube and then removing the tube, being careful to unseat only one side of the tire, then re-inflating tubeless.
Finally, if you have trouble inflating non-tubeless tires you can build up your rim bed with a layer or two of Stan's yellow tape to tighten up the fit of the tire. If you are using tubeless-ready rims inflate the tires to 60-70psi. They should make a nice loud pop when they seat.
Remember: Non-tubeless tires don't have the bead strength for super high pressure, so don't go over that 70psi mark. If you can't get the tubeless system to inflate and you don't have a compressor, just get your setup ready and run over to your local bike shop or gas station. But do be careful about too much pressure in non-UST tubeless ready tires.
Next steps – some tires to try
In the last month, armed with a few sets of trusty Shimano tubeless wheels, I have put several different setups through their paces and had some good results. I started all of the tires I tested at 33psi and moved up or down as required.
First up was the newest Hutchinson tubeless-ready duo, the Piranha and the Bulldog. Hutchinson has stepped up its bead design, allowing for lower pressures with practically no burping and better overall performance.
The main improvement was taking a cue from Hutchinson's road tires and changing the 'cross bead to carbon, according to marketing manager Levi Olsen.
"The carbon beads take our tubeless-ready 'cross tires up a big notch," Olsen said. "No other clincher can reach the lower pressures without burping or pinch-flatting."
I would have to agree — the new Hutchies are noticeably tighter to install and inflate easily. The sidewalls are still pretty stiff, but the tires handle well and corner like they are on rails. The Piranha is good for any conditions in which you'd use a file tread, and the aggressive side knobs make it a decent all-rounder with the exception of really muddy conditions.
The Bulldog is also a good all-round tire that leans towards the nastier conditions. It rolls well and the knobby tread pattern gives solid performance in all but the worst slop. If you feel more secure with the full tubeless-ready setup these or Stan's own cyclocross tires are the best way to go.
Next up was Michelin's pair of 'cross treads, the Jet and Mud2. I love these tires. I have trained and raced on both of them over the years and usually cite them as my top picks for tubeless clinchers. Jets are file treads with a soft rubber compound. They wear quickly but have excellent grip. Michelin Muds are brilliant in the slop.
Both tires have just the right sidewall structure, making them handle somewhat like tubulars. Of course these are not officially tubeless-ready tires, so theoretically the risk of burping or failure is higher, but I have never seen or heard of an unusual Michelin failure.
The last tire I tested in this round was the new Clement Crusade PDX 34. These have a mud tread pattern similar to the Dugast Rhino or Challenge Fango. The compound is soft and the sidewalls nice and supple, so fast cornering was a bit vague at 33psi but at 35psi they firmed up nicely. Clement is also making a file tread that looks fantastic.
Other notables that I've used tubeless with good success are the Schwalbe Racing Ralph, Maxxis Raze, Kenda Small Block Eight and Stan's tubeless tires. The Small Block's tread pattern lacks a bit of versatility. I plan on testing the new Stan's tires and Alpha 340 rims for future review.
Final thoughts
Volume seems to be the key to good tubeless clinchers. That's why tubes are troublesome —they seem to take up too much room in the tire and diminish its effective air volume.
Another thing to note is that tires measure at different widths depending on your tubeless setup. For instance, Michelin Jets say 30mm on the side, but set up tubeless on Dura-Ace wheels they measure at almost 34mm and widen even more over time as they stretch out. This could be a problem with the UCI's new tire-width restrictions. But most local racing bodies have not thus far adopted the UCI rules, so you should be fine unless you are a top pro or planning on heading to nationals.
If you're worried about weight, Hutchinson's tires are the heaviest at around 380 grams per tire, but the upside is that they are slightly more durable. Many of the non-tubeless clincher treads come around 320-330 grams or less per tire, which is competitive even against tubulars.
My bottom line: With tubeless 'cross systems, you can have high-end performance, broad tire selection and relative ease of installation. And in a lot of cases, you can use gear you already have. Yes, the wheels are heavier than high-end tubular, but with many clincher wheelsets weighing in at or below the 1400-gram mark you are well and truly in the game. Plus, it's easier to change a tubeless tire the night before a race than it is to re-glue a couple sets of tubies.
Stay tuned for more testing on clincher tires and wheels for 'cross as we get deeper into the season.
Editor's note: Australian native Michael Robson grew up racing dirt bikes and flat-track and in his teens progressed to BMX. He first came to race in the U.S. in the early nineties and ended up in Europe as a workaday roadie. Now a professional photographer and rabid cyclocrosser, Robson is reliving his youth ripping it up in master's 'cross, making great photos for a living and testing gear for VeloNews.


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Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Certificates of Kitty Excellence
38 comments:
Oh that just sounds so exciting! Concatulations!ReplyDelete
Concatulations on the certificates...well deserved! I would love to be a member of the Cat Writer's Association one day :)ReplyDelete
How exciting for Glogirly but erm Katie? You got a bit of the beached whale look about you there. Are you sure the diet worked?ReplyDelete
Those are some old photos of me, Patty. Don't worry....I'm down about 2 pounds since that beached-whale-look.
; ) Katie
The CWA is wonderful group. You forgot to mention you're doing the presentation with me. And we both won Muse Medallions.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousOctober 15, 2013 at 5:05 AM
Please tell me she is taking you and waffles with her to teach the class. She could get all her students to photograph you two - that would be brilliant, I would sign up for that!ReplyDelete
Paws up for your human's C of E's, Katie! My human is "thinking" about her slideshow for her presentation - I haven't seen any evidence of it yet...ReplyDelete
Concatulations!!! Katie, you don't look like a beached whale!!! You're gorgeous!!! It sounds like another fun trip fur Glogirly! Will the sitter referee you & the orange terrorist?!?ReplyDelete
ConCatulations on winning the CWA award!ReplyDelete
The Florida Furkids
Concatulations on the awards! We hope it's a good meeting on Halloween... what a fun date for a conference.ReplyDelete
The head peep really wants to learn more about the CWA. We need to remind her to talk to one of you members about it.
Congratulations! You always have such nice lighting in your photographs. The pictures of air Waffles are awesome. I'd sure like to go to your seminar.ReplyDelete
Congrats!!! And we bet her class will be great.ReplyDelete
Concatulations. The photos here are always of the highest quality so those awards are well-deserved. Purrs and hugs, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista JoReplyDelete
Congratulations, Glogirly! Katie is looking quite fetching in today's photos. :)ReplyDelete
Congrats to Glogirly! That is quite an honor. Our mom wanted to join CWA, but we don't think they allow you to join for blog writing anymore (our mom is a freelance writer, but doesn't submit to magazines; all her work is on-line).ReplyDelete
We hope Glogirly has a nice time at the conference. It must feel really good that they want her to teach a session!!
CONCATS to Glogirly! Mommy envies the light in your condo...nice and soft.ReplyDelete
Congratulations! A very well deserved award. :)ReplyDelete
- AnonymousOctober 15, 2013 at 2:45 PM
How awesome is that! Absolutely terrific and well deserved!ReplyDelete
Whoa! Concats to Glogirly! She must remember in her course that not everybody has such photogenic cats such as you and me to work with. How does one join the CWA? I'm a cat and I write. Do I need other qualifications?ReplyDelete
It does help to have such gorgeous subjects!ReplyDelete
Concatulations to GloGirly on her awards!
CONCATULATIONS TO YOU!!!!ReplyDelete
Have fun at the conference!!!!
Congrats. I always love your photos.ReplyDelete
Sue B
Concatulations, GloGirly! Your photos really are fabulous. And no, Katie, you do NOT look like a beached whale! You look plush. And very clean.ReplyDelete
Hooray! ConCATulations to Glogirly on those well-deserved awards. And what an exciting honor to speak at the CWA conference. :)ReplyDelete
Oohhhh... congratulations are in order for sure.ReplyDelete
That's very impressive AND deserving. Of course, you do have might good-lookin' models. That must help just a tad, huh? Just a tad...
Congrats, Glogirly! Katie, you're doing a great job helping her prepare her slides. She'll be ready in no time.ReplyDelete
WOW! Glogirly is practically in the stratosphere she is so elevated!! Katie no doubt you will make sure her feet stay on the ground! ;) ConCats to you on your mentoring!! xxReplyDelete
Well isn't she something else. Don't you think you should have won?ReplyDelete
Benny & Lily
Congrats Glogirly, you are rockin' it!ReplyDelete
We is so furry proud of yous! Your Photographs is ROCKING (and your writing is pretty good too!)
Nellie and Mommy
That is the most delightful news!! We are so proud of GG!!!!ReplyDelete
Nice job! Congrats from me and Crepes! - Alana.ReplyDelete
Congrats to Glogirly!!ReplyDelete
BIG ConCAtulations to the Certificates !ReplyDelete
I think that Glogirly´s teaching session will be e huge succés !
Congrats Glogirly on your award! We also won our first award as well for our post on Lion King,The Circle of Love. http://bit.ly/1aPfCuiReplyDelete
Looking forward to seeing you at CWA conference. Our first time attending as well. Would love to take your photography class.
Allie: HA! Mother refused to open our award - claiming she KNOWS Faraday would *ahem* "sign" it with his fangs....ReplyDelete
FaRADaY: I WOULD NOT! We don't wanna see it anyways. It'd only make Allie more insufferable, since it was HER photo. So THERE.
wow how exciting and congrats on the certificates,xx SpeedyReplyDelete
Congratulations! I sure wish I could attend your class on photography. If I had to actualy buy film and then pay for pictures, there would be no photos at all on my blog. Most go in the trash, but I am still trying.ReplyDelete
Hi everyone, Katie here. I'm so glad you're here today...you're in for a treat! Some of our regular readers may be fami...
WAFFLES: So, Glogirly? GLOGIRLY: Yes, Waffles? WAFFLES: Glogirly, are you my mom? Because you don't really look like me. You d...
WAFFLES: Hi everybuddy, Waffles here. How do you like my new bed??! Pretty cool, huh?! KATIE: It's a Smucci Too Luxury Cat Bed , ...
WAFFLES: Uh oh. Uh, Glogirly? Um, this ladder is really high. Like really, REALLY high. Like Rocky Mountain High. ELLIE: What are you d...
WAFFLES: Ok, Ellie! Glogirly needs you...wait, why is everything so LOUD?! ELLIE: Probably on account of your yelling into your stethosc...


text: ANNOUNCEMENT: Wildlife ecology software on the internet The Illinois Natural History Survey has opened an internet accessible distribution site for wildlife ecology related software. Software currently found at this site includes home range programs, population-level analysis programs, and some general statistical packages. Some programming language code is also available (i.e. Charles Krebs' companion statistical programs from Ecological Methodology). Most was written for pc-based platforms, but some may be compiled on other platforms. We solicit programs within the following categories for inclusion at this site: habitat analysis, diversity indices, simulation, general population dynamics, capture/recapture, survival, energetics, statistics (commonly used in wildlife ecology research), home range, telemetry, data collection, and other wildlife ecology related categories that have not occurred to us. The site may be accessed via FTP at nhsbig.inhs.uiuc.edu Dial-up access is not supported. This software site continues to develop. As other similar sites come online, we would appreciate being made aware of them. Any input is welcome and should be sent to admin at nhsbig.inhs.uiuc.edu (Robert Diehl). ======================== Robert H. Diehl (217) 244-0371 Ronald P. Larkin Illinois Natural History Survey 607 E. Peabody Drive Champaign, IL 61820 USA


text:
Finding someone to help conduct a CRM needs assessment, evaluate packages and/or implement a solution is not hard these days. Countless consultancies specialize in tackling such tasks and, for the most part, they're good at what they do. Recently, though, a consulting firm caught my attention because of its ability to assess and add value after the implementation. Using an assessment methodology called "SCORE," this firm--the North Highland Company--has helped organizations such as The American Cancer Society, Bellsouth, Coca-Cola and Turner Broadcasting address issues that have plagued SFA/CRM users for years.
How effective is the SCORE assessment? "Very," asserts Jack storey, director of IT support services for the ACS. To date, storey's organization has used SCORE twice: First, prior to developing and implementing a technical support solution for more than 6,000 employees, and two years later, to evaluate the system's success and identify weak spots. "Both times, we learned a lot," he says. "If you have weaknesses in any given area, SCORE quickly makes them evident. Then you're given a battle plan for tackling those weaknesses and for incorporating the plan into your existing processes and technology." storey is so impressed with SCORE that he recommends using it every couple of years. Doing so, he believes, can help companies ensure that they're making the most of their technology solutions and of their customer relationship efforts.
SCORE: An Overview
SCORE--or Support Center Opportunity and Risk Evaluation--was developed in 1996 by Renaissance Partners (later acquired by Atlanta-based North Highland) to assist companies in building and improving their support operations. It proved to be so effective that The Help Desk Institute soon adopted it as the foundation for its Customer Support Site Certification Program, and because of this success--coupled with client demand for coverage in other areas--North Highland recently began expanding the assessment to include CRM and a self-assessment product for contact centers.
In a nutshell, SCORE evaluates and measures corporate initiatives based on six key strategic areas (see Figure 2). While it covers these areas in depth, what I find most interesting is how it enables CRM solution users to answer questions objectively that have gone long unanswered. For instance: Once we've implemented a solution, how do we qualitatively determine its effectiveness? What measurable benefits can we attribute to our CRM initiative? How can we better maximize our return on investment and use the solution to its fullest potential? How do we justify an upgrade?
These are just a few questions addressed by the very detailed assessment, which is conducted in the following manner: First, North Highland representatives meet with the client company and orient employees as to how the SCORE process works. The client then completes "pre work" that includes, among other things, a self-audit which is used as the basis for conducting a series of face-to-face interviews with employees, top executives and customers. From the combination of the audit and interview results and observations, North Highland rates the company on a 0 to 5 scale to indicate where it stands in terms of best practices for each of the six key areas. Clients are then informed, via a comprehensive report and an accompanying presentation, of their strengths and weaknesses, and they receive recommendations that span the six areas covered. From start to finish, the process takes two weeks.
The American Cancer Society SCOREs Big
The American Cancer Society first used SCORE in 1997 with the goal of better understanding employees' perceived needs prior to building a nationwide support system. "From this assessment," recalls storey, "we determined the fundamental things that we needed to do, for instance, creating a way for employees to track problems, making sure we met our own service-level agreements and so forth. We designed our system around North Highland's recommendations."
Two years later, things were running smoothly at ACS. The support system was in place, and the general sense was that all was well. "still," explains storey, "we wanted proof. We decided to go back to SCORE because it could give us an effective standard to gauge against." The second go-round with SCORE exposed a number of more subtle weak points. For instance, while ACS was doing many things right, those things hadn't been incorporated into processes. "Our efforts at achieving employee satisfaction constituted one such area," storey notes. "Satisfaction was high, but we weren't doing anything to ensure that it stayed that way." Based on North Highland's recommendations, ACS built incentive programs that automatically recognized and rewarded employees. These programs helped to contribute to a remarkably low, 30 percent turnover rate among ACS's support group during a two-and-a-half-year period, and about half of the people were promoted internally.
Additionally, there have been unanticipated perks from using SCORE, including rave feedback from customers. "We completely didn't expect this," says storey, "but clients praised us for putting ourselves out on a limb, taking this initiative and involving so many people. From their perspectives, our effort really spoke of our commitment toward fostering long-term relationships."
Typical Problems on the CRM Front
For companies that have implemented CRM solutions, where does North Highland typically see problems? According to Richard White, the consulting firm's CRM manager, the issues tend to revolve around business alignment and service culture. He notes that while CRM vendors are good at putting tools and technology in place, they're not as effective at taking people/process issues into account. As a result, a year after a company implements a solution, the software does what the vendor claimed, but it often doesn't satisfy the client's needs.
"A company will be using technology tools and getting some capability," explains White, "but the solution won't have improved the organization's overall effectiveness. For instance, maybe salespeople can track sales leads better, but they haven't increased the average sale size. On the service side, perhaps employees can now document all calls, but they've failed to improve bottom-line customer satisfaction." He adds that most businesses tend to be more tactical than strategic with their CRM initiatives, leaving plenty of room for improved use of their systems.
ACS Gets Certified
ACS has been extremely pleased with SCORE. In large part, the assessment was key in its recently receiving a Site Certification based on numerous, very stringent criteria from The Help Desk Institute. "SCORE is a good process," concludes storey. "It's very adaptable to other situations and areas in the company, and we will definitely come back to it in the future."


text:
|Growth Models
|Fact sheets, state applications, decision letters, peer review guidance, and press releases on growth-based accountability models.
|Policy Information on NCLB and Accountability
|Policy documents on accountability and assessment, choice, charter schools, flexibility, the NCLB Act, reading, supplemental educational services, teacher quality, and more.
|Modified Academic Achievement Standards
|Regulations for developing modified academic achievement standards for some students with disabilities and for using these standards for making adequate yearly progress (AYP) decisions. (May 2007)
|Calculating Participation Rates
|Letter describing flexibility states have when making adequate yearly progress (AYP) determinations (May 2004).
|Letter on Adequate Yearly Progress
|Guidance on adequate yearly progress (July 2002).


text:
Ohio State partners with Dayton community college for training in drone technology
Ohio State University said it will partner with a southwest Ohio community college to position students at both institutions for careers in drone technology.
Officials at Ohio State and Dayton's Sinclair Community College said the unmanned aerial systems field is expected to be a $90 billion industry by 2025. The technology is expected to create 100,000 new jobs in areas such as precision agriculture, public safety and mapping of pipelines or utility lines.
The partnership with Ohio State will give Sinclair students a pathway to a four-year degree in related area, the Dayton Daily News (http://bit.ly/1n3jzix) reported.
Sinclair was the first in the state to offer a program to earn a certificate in unmanned aerial systems. Ohio State students now will have the opportunity to earn the certificate from Sinclair with their degrees.
"We believe this is a transformative technology," Sinclair President Steve Johnson said Monday. "We believe there are many jobs to come with this and we believe Ohio should be, is and can be poised to take advantage of this."
Sinclair has gotten permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly its drones at the Springfield-Beckley Air National Guard Base and the Wilmington Airpark. Officials said the college also will seek a certificate of authorization to fly over the Don Scott Airport in Columbus and the Molly Caren Agricultural Facility near London, west of Columbus.
Development officials in Ohio and Indiana have said they plan to operate their own test ranges for unmanned aircraft and seek ways to attract drone-related businesses, despite losing in their joint bid to be one of six FAA national test sites earlier this year.
Information from: Dayton Daily News, http://www.daytondailynews.com


text:
Road blocks and marches hit Brazilian cities on Thursday as disparate groups criticized spending on the upcoming World Cup soccer tournament and sought to revive a call for better public services that swept the country last June.
Less than a month before the tournament kicks off, and four months before a presidential election, the protests will gauge the ability of demonstrators to once again rally frustrated Brazilians and the competence of police to manage unrest that occasionally escalated over the past year into violence and vandalism.
A main thoroughfare was blocked with burning tires in Brazil's biggest city of Sao Paulo and protesters stormed a building in the capital Brasilia. Looters also took advantage of a striking military police force in the northeastern city of Recife, a World Cup venue, where security has been handed to the army until the police return.
Groups, including the Homeless Workers Movement, marched towards a World Cup stadium in Sao Paulo, site of the tournament's kickoff that has become a target because of families displaced by its construction.
One banner carried by demonstrators read: The cup without the people, all to the streets again!
In Brasilia the Homeless Workers Movement entered the headquarters of Terracap, the state company that manages the city's 1.4 billion Reais (630 million dollars) stadium - the country's most expensive.
Protests were planned in up to 50 cities throughout the day, as demonstrators hope to rekindle momentum that led to millions of people hitting the streets last year during the Confederations Cup, a two-week World Cup warm up.
Last year's demonstrations prompted President Dilma Rousseff, who faces a bid for re-election in October, to address the nation and acknowledge deficiencies in public services and investment in everything from education and health care to transportation and security.
After a near-decade of steady growth before she took office, Brazil is now struggling with a sluggish economy, persistent inflation, rising crime rates and lackluster investment.
Thursday's protests come in a week which has already seen widespread strikes from dissatisfied labor unions across Brazil, from bus drivers in Rio de Janeiro to military police in the northeastern city of Recife.
Half a dozen idiots sponsored by the radical left. The Federal Police must act smartly to catch the leaders and their supporters from PSOL.
I reckon they have just started, this was always going to happen when you have so many people in poverty.You need a change in Government, obviously these ex commies do not know how to run a country.May 16th, 2014 - 09:50 am 0
It is. I heard that England is full of poor people. The largest number ever.
Too bad no more wars, or even countries that accept immigrants to spawn its surplus population remain.
You should prepare yourself because things tend to get worse.
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text:
|Photo: The CW
In "Where I Lead Me," Lavon's (Cress Williams) big plans of making BlueBell a Spring Break destination hits a roadblock when the competing town tries to lure the partiers away. With the help of Ruby Jeffries (guest star Golden Brooks), Lavon creates a competition that is bound to attract some attention. Eager to join in some much-deserved fun, Zoe (Rachel Bilson) agrees to give partying a try with Jonah (guest star Travis Van Winkle), but seeing them together makes George (Scott Porter) jealous.
Wade (Wilson Bethel) and Lemon (Jaime King) decide to compete in Lavon's contest in order to win the grand prize to buy the Rammer Jammer, which they have learned is for sale.
Meanwhile, Brick (Tim Matheson) has been acting odd and when everyone begins to notice they force him to seek treatment.
Watch a sneak peek below:
Rebecca Asher directed the episode written by Veronica Becker and Sarah Kucserka.


text:
Dexter Real Estate
Located about 8 miles west of Ann Arbor, Dexter is a charming small town offering convenient access to the area's lakes and metroparks.
Dexter features a thriving village center with a number of appealing shops, as well as a downtown park with a large gazebo that is a favorite spot after a visit to the Dairy Queen across the street. During the summer months, a variety of events occur downtown, highlighted in August by the much-anticipated Dexter Daze, which draws thousands of people from all over the county.
Dexter's housing stock is varied, with beautiful examples of Victorian architecture close in, and newer subdivisions around the edges.
Map & Points of Interest


text:
Posted 10 years ago
(1221 items)
Found this cute little 5" diameter teapot the other day.It feels very light and the unglazed bottom and interior feel almost like bisque. It's either Japanese or Chinese. The body is an off white speckled finish glaze with hand painted somewhat raised enamel floral designs on both sides and the top. The lid has a tiny little turtle as the finial. It's missing the handle. That was probably bamboo or wicker of some kind. It has no damage and the only mark is a few written characters under a butterfly on the one side. It most probably is not a maker's mark , but a title or salutation. I'll see if I can get a translation and post it later. -Mike-


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(Note: Be sure to look at my FlashPix reference images, which are presented on a separate page so that those who haven't yet loaded the plug-in aren't annoyed by dialog boxes)
FlashPix is an imaging format that lets you publish extremely high resolution images over the Internet. Readers of your site, however, wait only for the bits that they need.
For example, suppose that you are publishing a 4000x6000 ProPhotoCD scan. Uncompressed, this is a 72 MB file. After typical JPEGing, you'd still have a 7 MB file. This would take at least 20 minutes to download via a 56 KB modem. And if your reader wants to make a high-quality print at home, that's how long he will wait for the bits. But if the reader is viewing the image on a 1000x768 pixel display, he will never wait for more than 1000x768 pixels to download.
There are some other interesting things about FlashPix from a Web publisher's point of view, but I've written about them already in my scanning guide and my book on Web publishing. This document concentrates on the mechanics of getting a Flash image onto your Web site.
or you can have the FlashPix appear in-line on the page withnote: this only works if the user has downloaded a plug-in from HP or LivePicture

(as of November 1997, the plug-in situation was in a state of flux so I'm just serving these in-line Java images)
<applet name="FViewer" code="hp.image.iip.FViewer" codebase="http://fpx.photo.net/classes" archive="FViewer.zip" width="417" height="516" MAYSCRIPT alt="FViewer Applet Unavailable"> <param name="codebase" value="http://fpx.photo.net/classes"> <param name="cabbase" value="FViewer.cab"> <param name="BgColor" value="#FFFFFF"> <param name="SourceURL" value="http://fpx.photo.net/fpx-cgi/OpenPixCGI.exe?FIF=/fpximages/owl_from88mb-q5.FPX"> </applet>
The good news is that modern film is very very good. You can get 100 lines/mm resolution out of almost any film these days. lines/mm in the analog world means that you can resolve a pattern of alternating black and white lines, with N black lines/mm (only the black lines are counted). Using a caveman conversion to digital, that's 200 pixels/mm (one for the black line, one for the white).
The bad news is that, even if you had a lens capable of resolving 100 lines/mm, by the time you convolved its response with the response of some 100 line/mm film, you'd have only about 70 lines/mm in your picture.
The worse news is that you probably won't be able to find a lens capable of resolving 100 lines/mm. 50 is more typical of a prime (non-zoom) Nikon or Canon 35mm lens.
The even worse news is that lens resolution falls off in the corners and edges of the frame, the precise areas where a curious viewer is likely to be poking around.
I could spend a lot of time filling in the technical details that I've elided above, e.g., that resolution numbers vary by factors of 2 or 3 depending on the contrast of the target. But we've all got Web sites maintained so I'll keep it short and concentrate on bottom line advice.
Before discussing the right technology, it is worth taking a moment to think about how to get the most out of a standard 35mm SLR system. Here are some tips:
On the plus side, view cameras are easy to rent and relatively cheap to buy. The latest and greatest view camera lenses are reasonably high resolution. Surprisingly, they aren't as good in terms of lines/mm as a Canon or Nikon lens, but they don't need to be. You aren't enlarging as much.
Caveat: you must verify your view camera's alignment with a Zig-Align tool (available from email@example.com for about $50). This is a marvelously simple pair of mirrors. One of them fits into the camera back like a film holder. The other mirror fits on the lens board and has a small hole in the middle. If you throw a penlight into the bellows and look through the mirror on the lensboard, you'll see a infinite regression of concentric circles when the mirrors are perfectly parallel. If you don't align your view camera, especially a wooden one, you'll probably get enough unsharpness from focus variation that you'd have been better off using a rigid medium format camera (e.g., Hasselblad).
ISO 100 film is fine in a view camera. I am extremely lazy so I like to use Kodak Pro-100 Readyload. It is a color negative film, so it tolerates minor exposure errors well and never gets too dense for a CCD scanner like the one used to make Kodak ProPhotoCDs. If you use the Kodak Readyload back, exposures are reliable (though I've created quite a few "black bear in a cave" pictures trying to use Kodak Readyloads, mostly in the Polaroid 545 holder which allegedly works but not for me).
A good film for landscapes is Fuji Velvia, ISO 50, available in Fuji Quickload. Bracket your exposures, though, because Velvia doesn't have too much scale (ability to represent a lot of shades from black to white). Many people prefer Velvia slightly overexposed (especially if you are scanning with a CCD) so bracketing +1/2 and +1 f-stops from the meter's recommendation might be wise.
The highest resolution color film in 120 is Ektar 25 (PHR-120), the same film sold as "Royal Gold 25" for 35mm cameras. It is a color negative film and therefore scans very nicely to PhotoCD. For landscapes, I would consider this or possibly Fuji Velvia. For photographing people, I like the subdued palette of Fuji NPS.


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• intemerate •
in-tem-êr-rêt • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Pure, inviolate, unsullied, undefiled, unblemished.
Notes: Although this word is not around any more—it doesn't appear in most US dictionaries—it is still a good word that we shouldn't lose. Be careful not to confuse it with intemperate, a word separated from it by a single P. It originated as the negative adjective of the verb temerate "to defile, profane", a word that has long since slid into obsolescence. The adverb for today's good adjective is intemerately, and the noun, intemerateness.
In Play: Today's Good Word began its life referring to people: "The town was scandalized by the news that the presumably intemerate wife of the bishop had been seen sipping tea in a cafe with Phil Anders." Today it is probably more often an attribute of reputations: "Politicians these days seem to find it more and more difficult to sustain an intemerate reputation in office; indeed, fewer seem to enter office with such a reputation."
Word History: Today's Good Word came, as usual, from Latin via French, this time from intemeratus "undefiled, pure". Intemeratus is a combination of in- "un-" + temeratus "defiled, dishonored", the past participle of the verb temerare "to violate, defile, profane". The root of this verb, temer- is the Proto-Indo-European word tem-"dark" with a suffix, -er. We see the same root in Sanskrit tamas "dark", Russian t'ma "darkness", and Serbian tma "fog". It ended up in English as dim and in the French borrowing temerity "fearless daring". This word came from Latin temeritas "blind luck" from the adverb temere "blindly, by chance". The connection with darkness here should be clear. (We thank Samuel Keays for maintaining his record of submitting extremely Good Words to our series intemerate by suggesting today's.)
P.S. - Register for the Daily Good Word E-Mail! - You can get our daily Good Word sent directly to you via e-mail in either HTML or Text format. Go to our Registration Page to sign up today!
Come visit our website at <http://www.alphadictionary.com> for more Good Words and other language resources!


text:
Access Limited Roll-Up Cover 22189
Limited Edition® Tonneau Cover
Classic Full Size 8ft. Bed (except dually)
Classic Full Size 8ft. Bed (except dually)
Pricing: $548.51
ACCESS® Limited Edition Roll-Up Cover is a premium cover for truck owners that insist on the very best in style and quality. It combines all of the components of the ACCESS® Original Roll-Up Cover and adds a few bonus features you can't find with any other roll-up cover. The patented AUTOLATCH™ II Dual Locking System automatically locks when the cover is closed, extra ELEMENT SEAL™ Gasket at front of truck bed provides additional protection, and XT-DIAL™ Tension Adjusters fine tune the tension of the cover with the turn of a dial. These quality components will provide superior performance for years to come.
Access Limited 99-07 Chevy/GMC Full Size 8ft Bed (Except Dually) Roll-Up Cover
Access Limited 99-07 Chevy/GMC Full Size 8ft Bed (Except Dually) Roll-Up Cover
- 22189
- 22189
- Access
- New
Shipping Information
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Leonard Ravenhill (1907--1994) was an English Christian evangelist and author who focused on the subjects of prayer and revival. He is best known for challenging the modern church (through his books and sermons) to compare itself to the early Christian Church as chronicled in the Book of Acts.
His most notable book is Why Revival Tarries which has sold over a million copies worldwide.
Born in Leeds, in Yorkshire, England, Ravenhill was educated at Cliff College in England and sat under the ministry of Samuel Chadwick. He was a student of church history, with a particular interest in Christian revival. His evangelistic meetings during the Second World War drew large crowds. Many converts devoted themselves to Christian ministry and foreign missions.
In 1939, he married an Irish nurse, Martha. The Ravenhills had three sons: Paul, David, and Philip. Paul and David are Christian ministers, and Philip is a teacher.
In 1950, Ravenhill and his family moved from Great Britain to the United States. In the 1960s they traveled within the United States, holding tent revivals and evangelistic meetings.
In the 1980s, Ravenhill moved to a home near Lindale, Texas, a short distance from Last Days Ministries Ranch. He regularly taught classes at LDM and was a mentor to the late Keith Green. He also spent some time teaching at Bethany College of Missions in Minnesota, and some time in Seguin, Texas.
Among others influenced by Ravenhill were Ray Comfort, Ravi Zacharias, Tommy Tenney, Steve Hill, Charles Stanley, Bill Gothard, Paul Washer, and David Wilkerson.
He was a close friend of pastor and writer A. W. Tozer.
Through his teaching and books, Ravenhill addressed the disparities he perceived between the New Testament Church and the Church in his time and called for adherence to the principles of biblical revival.
Tozer said of Ravenhill: "To such men as this, the church owes a debt too heavy to pay. The curious thing is that she seldom tries to pay him while he lives. Rather, the next generation builds his sepulchre and writes his biography -- as if instinctively and awkwardly to discharge an obligation the previous generation to a large extent ignored."
Gravesite at Garden Valley Cemetery
Ravenhill died in November 1994 and is interred at Garden Valley Cemetery in Garden Valley, Texas, near the grave of Contemporary Christian music artist Keith Green.
In 2011 Free Grace Press published a full biography of Leonard Ravenhill written by Mack Tomlinson titled, "In Light of Eternity.


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Since publishing my stream of consciousness about software quality on Friday (What is a software quality?) I've continued to think about the subject. In part putting the thoughts down started to structure my own thinking, in part a few comments made on Twitter caused me to think more, and, simply having written something caused me to reflect.
There are four main points I'd add to Friday's entry.
First, what I wanted, what I needed for Xanpan, was (is) a good enough working definition of software quality, I don't need a perfect definition. But even this turns out to be surprisingly difficult. And as Steve Smith pointed out this is not confined to software quality, defining "quality" at all tends to lead you in the direction of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Next, what I really need are two things: A definition of software quality and a definition of a software defect. I think I'm starting to approach workable definitions of both. But, definitions (by definition almost) should be free of assumptions about how you achieve - or don't achieve - that aim. In other words, the definitions should not imply or assume an Agile, Waterfall or any other approach.
Third, one of the things I was concerned about was gold plating or over engineering. Really this is part of the "how do you achieve your aim." A definition of software quality - and low defects - need not rule out (or embrace) any particular approach. I need to separate this out. Similarly the knowledge issue, while important, needs to be put on the side here.
Finally, I'm coming to the conclusion that we need two different terms for software defects. The clue was in that Tom Gilb quote really.
- An Absolute Defect is, as Gilb says, free from personal opinion or taste. It is objective. For example, function called "Add Two Numbers" always returns 5 - whether you give it 2 and 2, 2 and 3, or 100 and 200.
- A Common Defect (and I'm prepared to find a better name and I don't imply any link to Deming) is anything which someone at some time decided to report - or classify - as a defect.
Absolute defects are a perfect subset of common defects, i.e. all absolute defects are also common defects but only some common defects are absolute defects.
I think its important to make this distinction because so much time and energy is spent by people arguing over what is and what is not a "defect". If we define separate terms then we can at least reason about this situation and the fact that individual, teams and organizations often have incentives for classifying something as a defect whether it is or is not.
Jon Jagger pointed out in his comment on the previous blog that "Jerry Weinberg's definition of quality is "value to someone" or "value to some persons"." A common defect most definitely fits that description. Someone, somewhere, considers it valuable to call this thing a defect.
But I'm not sure I go along with that statement as a definition of quality as a whole. It is too open and not specific enough for me - or perhaps for the uses I want to put it to!
Some observations about defects to end:
- All defects cost time and probably money: even logging a report of a potential defect costs time (and thus money) and action taken as a result (investigation and potential fixing) costs time. Defects themselves - even when not reported - may well costs money, e.g. overpayment or lost customers. (This also implies an element of the unexpected to defects.)
- Absolute defects cost time and money; is the same true for common defects? Well maybe my opinion of something does result in a different financial outcome than someone else's but does that make it a defect? Even then it can be surprisingly hard for some organizations to tell what makes, and what looses, money. I'd like this to be the dividing line but I don't think it is.
- Common defects need to be administered, managed and possibly fixed just the same as absolute defects. In my opinion, if someone reports a defect it should be considered against other defects - common or not - and action (fixing) taken or not. The debate between whether a particular defect is an absolute defect or a common defect isn't very useful, it is the software equivalent of "my Dad is bigger than your Dad."
- If there exists some pre-code definition (specification, requirement, formula, etc.) of what the code should do it might be easier to classify something as an absolute defect but this isn't enough reason to create that definition.
- High quality software has few defects of either sort and is perceived as having few defects.
- Software which has a lot of reported defects doesn't quality as high quality.


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WASHINGTON - An American with links to the Central Intelligence Agency was investigating suspicions that Iranian government officials were diverting petroleum funds and laundering them through Canada when he went missing in Iran in 2007, a lawyer for his family said on Friday.
Robert Levinson, a private detective and former FBI agent, was investigating allegations of corruption by well-connected people in Iran, lawyer David McGee told Reuters.
McGee, who has been looking into Levinson's disappearance for six years, said the missing American's inquiry involved trying to trace money laundered through Iranian exiles living in Toronto. He did not provide further details of the investigation.
Reuters could not immediately verify McGee's assertions. It was not clear whether Levinson was working for the CIA or a private client at the time of his disappearance.
The Associated Press and The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Levinson was not a private citizen on a business trip to Iran in 2007 as the US government often said but was in fact working for a rogue CIA operation when he disappeared.
Current and former US officials acknowledged to Reuters on Friday that Levinson had a relationship with the CIA as a source at the time he visited Kish Island, a resort in the Gulf, and disappeared.
His arrangement with the CIA's intelligence division, which is not authorised to handle informants, went against the agency's protocol, US officials said.
McGee acknowledged details of Levinson's visit to Iran after the publication of the Associated Press and Washington Post articles.
Iran has said it does not know where Levinson is. A video released in 2011 showing him pleading for help. He did not say who was holding him or where.
McGee said that disclosing further details of what Levinson was doing in Iran when he went missing could increase the risk for him, assuming he is still alive. "There are benefits and there are risks," he said. "The negative is additional risk to Bob. The positive is that the family can step up pressure on the United States government" to redouble efforts to find Levinson, McGee said.
Levinson's family believe that the US government has "not acted to its full capacities" in trying to free him, McGee said.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Levinson "was not a US government employee when he made that trip" to Iran.
People familiar with Levinson's activities said he went to Kish Island to meet with Daoud Salahuddin, a fugitive American also known as David Belfield, who had fled there in 1980. It was not clear whether the attempt to meet Salahuddin related to Levinson's money-laundering investigation.
Salahuddin was charged with murder in the shooting death of a former spokesman for the Shah-era Iranian Embassy at his suburban Washington home during the hostage-taking of American diplomats in Tehran. Salahuddin spent the following decades pursuing activities ranging from English teaching to fighting with militants in Afghanistan.


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A few weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to try a new iOS app by Six to Start called Zombies, Run!, a "running game and audio adventure" that transplants its participants into a zombie apocalypse. The story begins: you are Runner #5, a refugee of a supply helicopter crash, with no identification to prove you're not from one of the other rival camps, trying to earn your keep in Abel Township by running on supply or rescue missions. Along the way, you collect items that will help the camp, and sometimes obtain information that might help explain who you are, how the world got in this state, and maybe even how to save it.
At its heart Zombies, Run! is designed as a narrative complement to players' running music playlist. After starting the mission by loading up the app and swiping the "slide to run" control, the first segment of the story will start, interweaving music from the phone's iTunes library with additional story segments until the mission is over. While running, a computerized voice informs you of items you pick up along the way: USB Keys, bottles of water, batteries, clothes . . . and often CDC records, information about other factions, or even other apps. In one document, a newspaper article describing a suspicious fire at a university contained a live Twitter account.
Zombies, Run! received its initial funding through a Kickstarter initiative, and one of the benefits offered to early backers was the ability to be inserted into the story, either as an individual or a brand. One of the companies to jump at this opportunity was the app development company ChipotleLabs. Various items recovered over the course of the story including the "Kensaido sword" and "Kensaido Manifesto" hint at a secret ninja society that predated the zombie apocalypse, and whose members work to combat the growing incursion. In addition to providing more information about the world beyond Abel Township, the items promote ChipotleLabs' upcoming app, Kensaido.
At random times during missions, the Zombie Chase portion of the game is activated with the ominous audio queue, "Warning: Zombies detected." When this message is heard, it means a Zombie Mob is after you, and your only way to survive is to pick up your speed by 20% and get moving. Much like sonar detection, you'll hear beeping, which gets faster as the zombies get closer, but if you put on a burst of speed (for up to one minute), the mob will be outrun and you'll be safe. Run too slow, and you'll be forced to drop some of the items you've collected to distract the mob. Zombie Chases will only happen when using an iPhone in GPS mode, as the game needs to know how fast you're running to determine if the mob has been outrun, and can be shut off if the thrill of the chase is not for you.
Information about the items picked up during your run are available after the mission is recorded in the Codex. Reading these descriptions can not only help you decide where to place them in Abel Township to help build up your base, but also where the articles and special items and be read and accessed. Further information can be gleaned from The Runner's Guide, a narrative scrapbook introduction to the game, available free for download on Scribd.
This leads us to the next part of Zombies, Run! – building up Abel Township. Assigning the items gathered during the run increases the capacity of each segment of the Township (hospital, recreation, communications, etc.) enables the Township to support more people, expand its services, and most importantly, unlocks more missions. Season One will consist of 30 missions: thirteen were released with the game's launch, with an additional nine added with a recent update. Tapping on each of the buildings displays their function and a bar graph displaying the building's "health" – how close it is to going up a level. Each time a building's level increases, it gets bigger and the Township's population increases. Knowing there are other factions out there, a larger and better equipped organization might prove valuable should a conflict ensue.
While Zombies, Run! is playable on any iDevice enabled to run iOS 5, the game is optimized to take advantage of the iPhone's portability and GPS functionality. The initial download is available at the iTunes App Store for $7.99, but might well prove to be worth the cost if it gets you off the couch and into the gym, or out on the road.


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Organizing for real justice in New York
reports on the efforts of New York City activists to fight wrongful incarceration--and looks at what it will take to dismantle the larger injustice system.
NEW YORK City activists fighting the criminal injustice system have come together to form the organization "Justice 4 the Wrongfully Incarcerated." Among other actions, the group is planning a statewide march from Harlem to Albany on May 8-16.
The organization was spearheaded by Sharonne Salaam, mother of Central Park Five exoneree Yusef Salaam. The group is fighting for substantial reform of the criminal injustice system in New York, and has added its qualified support to a bill currently before the New York legislature (S5875/A8157).
If passed, it would require videotaping of violent felony interrogations from start to finish. It would also require photo lineups to be "double-blind," meaning that officers assigned to a case don't know a suspect's identity or can't see which photo an eyewitness is viewing.
Ultimately, Justice 4 the Wrongfully Incarcerated believes accountability--that police officers must be criminally prosecuted, fired or otherwise disciplined for infractions--is the key to any such legislation. But under the current proposal, there is no accountability if any of the rules are violated.
The failure to videotape an interrogation wouldn't automatically result in a confession being suppressed--though it is considered as one potential factor. All police have to say is that the equipment either wasn't working or was "unavailable."
Moreover, there must be a finding that the failure to videotape was "intentional," not merely an accident or negligence for a confession to be suppressed. Similar weaknesses surround provisions about photo arrays and lineups. If an officer violates a particular rule, no punishment is given to the officer.
Justice 4 the Wrongfully Incarcerated is currently pushing for bills to be introduced that would allow for automatic compensation to the wrongfully incarcerated.
Many states have laws that provide automatic minimum levels of compensation to those exonerated after having been wrongfully incarcerated. For example, Texas gives minimum compensation to the wrongfully convicted of $80,000 per year of incarceration, and Mississippi gives $50,000 per year of incarceration. New York has no such law, and the process for exonerees to apply for any compensation at all is highly complicated.
Justice 4 the Wrongfully Incarcerated advocates for an automatic referral to a compensation board, and a minimum award of at least $1 million per year of wrongful incarceration to not only exonerees, but their families as well, which suffer right along with those wrongfully incarcerated. Ultimately, the group believes targeted communities of those wrongfully incarcerated should also receive compensation.
AS MICHELLE Alexander explains in her book The New Jim Crow, the system of mass incarceration developed during the 1970s and 1980s as a reaction to the social movements in the 1960's. Society failed to provide decent housing, jobs, schools and other resources to working class and poor people. Black and Brown lives didn't matter from the perspective of those in power.
The growth of mass incarceration started at the same time that the Nixon administration in the 1970s and Reagan administration in the 1980s were constructing the phantom "war on drugs," which eventually began the skyrocketing incarceration from 200,000 in the early '70s to over 2 million today. At the same time, the federal government was drastically cutting funding for mental health services, leading to the warehousing of people with mental health problems in prisons.
This was a bipartisan project. For most of the Reagan years, Democrats controlled at least one, if not both, houses of Congress.
It is not only the case that the criminal injustice system is a means of social control over the poor and working class, but it also serves as an excuse for the system failing to provide social services for all. As stated by Angela Davis her book Are Prisons Obsolete:
The prison therefore functions ideologically as an abstract site into which undesirables are deposited, relieving us of the responsibility of thinking about the real issues afflicting those communities from which prisoners are drawn in such disproportionate numbers. This is the ideological work that the prison performs--it relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and, increasingly, global capitalism.
As Michelle Alexander notes, the U.S. imprisons a greater percentage of its Black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. And Angela writes notes that Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans are now more likely to go to prison than to go to college.
Our end goal as activists fighting the criminal system of injustice is, ultimately, the dismantling of the system of mass incarceration. Passage of S5875/A8157 would be just the opening for us. But we also recognize that the power structure will not willingly deconstruct a multibillion-dollar industry that serves its aims so well. As community rights activist Paul Cienfuegos has said, "It's not that this system is corrupt. It's that the system functions as it was designed to."
Our movement must incorporate civil disobedience and mass marches to wrest any major reforms away from the system. But we also recognize that, as Glenn Greenwald has said, "any institution that is built by human beings, no matter how formidable and powerful it may seem, can be undermined, or altered, or even replaced by other human beings."
Those motivated to dismantle the criminal system of injustice should join Justice 4 the Wrongfully Incarcerated and march from Harlem to Albany starting on May 8.


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CAREEM Celebrates Spirit of Pakistan Day through a Scavenger Hunt Spread across Historic Locations
CAREEM, Pakistan's leading app for booking chauffeur driven cars, conducted a scavenger hunt for the public of Karachi and Lahore in celebration of Pakistan Day. Themed around photography of local cultural & historic sites, the hunt saw participants, based on clues provided, racing to various locations of their respective city by utilizing Kareem's services.
"Although we are a Dubai based start-up, present in 25 global cities, we are proud to say our roots can be traced back to this country, as Kareem's app has been completely developed in Pakistan," said Junaid Iqbal, Managing Director – CAREEM Networks. "This scavenger hunt was planned to not only celebrate this historic day but also to inculcate in today's youth the need to be in touch with our roots. For this reason, we chose historic and culturally rich sites for this competition, while the aspect of uploading photographs of each site to social media allows us to promote these locations across the world."
The monuments for the competition, as decided upon by the management, were the Quaid-e-Azam Library, Lahore Fort, Azadi Bridge, Lahore Museum and Fortress Stadium in Lahore and Pakistan Air Force Museum, Tomb of Abdullah Shah Ghazi, Hindu Gymkhana, Jehangir Kothari Parade and Karachi Goan Association in Karachi.
Junaid further added, "I congratulate the winning teams and the runners-up from both cities. We hope all the participants enjoyed a fun-filled day out with their families and friends and had a great Careem experience in celebrating Pakistan Day."
36 participants from Lahore and 27 from Karachi were chosen to take part in this unique scavenger hunt through a prior registration process. Beginning at 11 am, the participants, along with their loved ones, went about their respective cities to take a picture of each location, upload it to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using #CAREEMPAK #PakHunt #(team name) as hashtags before moving on to the next.
Team Markhor from Karachi and Team KalaJadu from Lahore, the winners of the competition, were able to upload pictures of all the locations by 3:00 PM on Wednesday, the competition's deadline. The hunt concluded with a closing ceremony at both cities, where winners and runners-up were handed prizes by career's Management.


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