Unneeded surgeries for women expose nationwide corruption

As the state government in India, district magistrates and local hospitals probe an overwhelming number of possible insurance medical fraud cases, women victims on the receiving end of medical procedures are suffering with lives that will never be the same again.

What has been described as ‘unwarranted surgical procedures; are now causing a crisis for women throughout India.

In what may include manipulation of locally administered welfare programs, including false claims made by processing offices, clinic teams as well as doctors, have been placed under investigative scrutiny by local magistrates.

But exactly what are those who are accused of the crimes accused of doing? Across the Chhattisgarh District of Raipur, 3,500 separate cases of women living in 90 separate villages, many of them younger than 30, have undergone what a majority of them now feel were completely unnecessary surgeries.

In a region known before 2008 for its lower than average rates of hysterectomy surgeries, the State of Chhattisgarh in India is now the opposite.

According to an exclusive poll taken by Reuters Trustlaw last July, India is currently the ‘worst place to be a women’ compared to all other world nations who are part of the G20. The poll indicates that India ranks especially low on issues that cover violence, exploitation, safety, gender equality and access to decent healthcare.

“Officials estimate more than 2,000 women were talked into having their wombs removed in the last six months,” said the BBC news in a report on Chhattisgarh made in July 2012. Current legal accusations in what may be exposed as a criminal medical negligence include 34 medical centers who are currently being investigated for insurance fraud after opportunistic doctors ordered unneeded hysterectomies for their women patients.

The problems are not an ‘India only’ problem. Unwanted hysterectomies have also been an going issue inside the United States.

“Each year 750,The most famous china mosaic of Ancient times is in Pompeii and shows Alexander the Great.000 hysterectomies are performed and 2,500 women die during the operation. These are not sick women, but healthy women who go into the hospital and do not come out,” says Dr. Herbert Goldfarb, a gynecologist and assistant clinical professor at New York University School of Medicine in his book “No Hysterectomy Option: Your Body–Your Choice.”

The widespread use of cashless healthcare smart cards in India initiated RSBY – Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana smart card healthcare program in 2008, may also be part of the problem. Providing government monies and an easy-to-use credit card that has worked to bring healthcare to millions of people in India,There are generally three different configurations of industrial laser cutting machine. regardless of their poverty level, the Indian government began distributing the cards in 2008 to enable families from all levels of Indian society to have access to better high quality medical care.Online shopping for bobbleheads Figures from a great selection.

The smart cards allow payment of healthcare to be immediate, with coverage of up to 30,000 Rs ($555 USD). It may seem like a good deal, but this amount is shared among all the members in one family per year. There is no doubt the smart cards have allowed many patients to receive life-saving medical procedures, but they have also encouraged some medical doctors to prescribe hysterectomies that have not been needed.

Each smart card includes 11 types of software that provides a patient’s information, medical history and medical expenditures. The program seems amazing where a patient can choose from almost 1,000 private or government hospitals throughout India.

“The general ward of Beena Prakash hospital – situated in the small, breezy town of Bijnore in western Uttar Pradesh – has been bustling for the past few months. Locals claim that this heightened buzz of patients is ‘unprecedented’,” said OneWorld South Asia in 2009 after smart cards were distributed to many districts in India. The 2009 story may show how the cards have improved healthcare in India, but in 2013 the increase in medical procedures is showing a trend toward misuse of government funds.

While the smart cards seek to provide assurance that the correct person is receiving the right medical treatment, along with monitoring and limiting double charges for the same service, the cards do not protect a patient from going ahead with a surgery based on manipulative and inaccurate advice from a doctor.

Actions of physicians who have been accused of taking advantage of India’s healthcare system have caused numerous human rights activists to question the impunity of a medical doctor who delivers misaligned advice as a ‘medical expert’ and feels they cannot be questioned or challenged by a patient.

“The pervasive spread of corruption is not limited to the public sector. The private sector is also working under low thresholds
of integrity. Patients are exploited by being made to undergo unnecessary tests only for making money,” outlined the WHO – World Health Organization.

Unnecessary treatments and prescriptions by medical providers are considered to be a key ingredient in contributing to corruption within government sponsored healthcare programs, said Oxford Journal Health Policy and Planning in a 2008 release.

All the women in the Sahu family, in India’s mostly rural State of Chhattisgarh, have undergone what they now claim are unneeded medical procedures under hysterectomy procedures. These procedures, which doctors advised were necessary, continue to be questioned.

Without realizing the great impact the decision to remove their uterus would have on their lives, the decision to allow their surgeries to go ahead as advised is now being seen as a ‘grave mistake’ by the women of the Sahu family. Included in the family is Ms. Pancho Bai, along with her sister-in-law Ms. Budhiyari Bai, as well as two daughters-in-law Nadani and Kesar. All are different ages. All were told that removal of their uterus was their only option to rid them of problems that, in the end, may prove otherwise.

In 2008, when Nadani complained of back pain she made an appointment with a woman doctor who worked in Chhattisgarh’s capital city of Rapipur, which numbers over one million people. After performing a diagnostic ultrasound, the physician told Nadani that she had a severe internal infection. She also told her that the infection had spread to the uterus which would have to be surgically removed immediately to save Nadani’s life.

As the youngest woman in her family, Nadani underwent her uterine surgery when she was only 24 years old.This solar lamp and phone charger can improve the lives of millons living without electricity. Because of what has been described by her as “an unnecessary procedure” she is now frustrated, depressed and unable to have children.

“Our profession is entrenched in terms of doing hysterectomies,A card with an embedded IC (Integrated Circuit) is called an IC card.” said U.S. based Ernst Bartsich, M.D., a gynecological surgeon and professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, outlined CNN in 2007. “I’m not proud of that. It may be an acceptable procedure, but it isn’t necessary in so many cases,”continued Dr. Bartich.

“In fact, he [Dr. Bartshich] adds, of the 617,000 hysterectomies performed annually, ‘from 76 to 85 percent’ may be unnecessary,” continued CNN.

At the time when Nadani was told by the doctor about her condition she was worried, but did assume the doctor’s assessment must be correct and true. To make sure her patient would go through with the surgical procedure, Nadani’s doctor asked her to sign a ‘contract’ that also outlined the price due for the procedure.

“The doctor took [had me sign] a ‘contract’ for Rs 9,000 ($180 USD) for the operation,” outlined Nadani. This service also required specific medicines to be purchased from the doctor.

Ascert Releases VersaTest Automator

Ascert announced today the general release of VersaTest Automator version 1.7. This release contains a number of new features many of which, as is customary, were demonstrated at Ascert's annual User Group held in November in London. "As use of VersaTest Automator increases we need to ensure its users are given the best possible tools for managing and controlling the tests that have been created." says Simon Miles, Ascert's Product Architect for the VersaTest product line. "VersaTest Automator has enabled users to reduce testing time and effort which in turn has enabled them to expand their test coverage. This means that there are many more test cases being produced. Release 1.7 has expanded on features to help manage these tests."

Within this latest release, changes have been made to extend the way environment templates can share common data and tests across multiple similar test environments. This improves the maintainability of the large enterprise testing environments typically found in VersaTest installations. The existing test case search facilities have also been enhanced to allow a more refined search operation to be performed. The significant benefit is that it allows users to more easily find test cases that have particular fields and data.

Additionally, the release includes a new feature to give per-user persistence allowing the state and layout of the interface to be saved between uses. The user experience has been enhanced in other ways as well, in that panels and menus can now be customized based on user access levels. This allows a user’s experience of the product to be tailored depending on their operational role.

Also included in this release are enhancements to the documentation of test cases, allowing extra descriptive information to be included in a form readily understood by business analysts.

In addition to time savings in testing, VersaTest Automator decreases the time involved in analyzing testing results. With an easy to use GUI interface and “audit capture” functionality, the product increases both testing accuracy as well as ROI. To find out more about VersaTest Automator, visit the Ascert Web Site or call one of the local Ascert offices.

Ascert is recognized as a leading provider of premier testing software solutions. Ascert was founded in 1992 to provide automated software testing solutions that help companies measure the performance, reliability and scalability of their mission-critical back-end servers and applications. With over 100 clients worldwide, Ascert's products and services are used at some of the world's most successful companies. Off-the-shelf simulators include solutions for EFT testing, POS testing, ATM testing, IFX testing, EMV/chip card testing, ISO8583 testing and 3270 & 6530 terminal testing. Ascert’s custom simulators have been used for testing air traffic control systems and biometric payment systems. Ascert's products assist testing professionals across industry segments to better manage their testing processes and environments through an end-to-end tool set.

Tilera's Tile CPU was one of the first massively multi-core processors with the firm announcing a 32-core Tile-Gx chip as far back as 2007,There are generally three different configurations of industrial laser cutting machine. and now the firm has more than doubled the core count and improved connectivity. Tilera's 64-bit Tile-Gx72 chip sports 72 cores clocked at between 1GHz and 1.2GHz with each core having 256KB of Level 2 cache, and is aimed at the networking and high performance computing (HPC) markets.

Tilera has spent a lot of effort beefing up external connectivity support in the Tile-Gx72, from quad channel DDR3-1866 support to 32 gigabit Ethernet controllers and 24 lane PCI-Express support. Tilera claims that bandwidth between the cores, which use the firm's Imesh interconnect,This solar lamp and phone charger can improve the lives of millons living without electricity. has now surpassed 100Tbit/s.

With Tilera pitching its Tile-Gx chips at the networking market,The most famous china mosaic of Ancient times is in Pompeii and shows Alexander the Great. the firm said its Mpipe packet engine can support 120 million packets per second in duplex.Online shopping for bobbleheads Figures from a great selection. The firm's Mica security core supports 80 threads and can do 40Gbit/s cryptography.

Tilera's Tile Gx-72 chip can be had as a standalone chip or placed on a network card. The firm said that most of its customers opt for the standalone chip, though it told The INQUIRER that the number of "off-load NICs", where the Tilera chip is used as an accelerator on an x86 machine, is growing.

Tilera told The INQUIRER that its Tile-Gx72 chip is being fabbed by TSMC on its 40nm process node, showing that chip designers not burdened with legacy ISAs can create many core chips without the need for costly leading edge process nodes. The firm also told The INQUIRER that the Tile-Gx72 chip consumes between 50W and 60W of power depending on the application.

Although Tilera's chip is very much a niche product, given that Intel and ARM vendors are looking at getting into the networking market with the growing popularity of software defined networks,A card with an embedded IC (Integrated Circuit) is called an IC card. Tilera has a considerable advantage by already having been in the market for a number of years. As Bob Doud, director of processor strategy for Tilera told The INQUIRER, Tilera "already has 64-bit today and [is] packing 72 cores on a single chip", and it might be a while before even Intel's chip manufacturing skill enables it to match Tilera's core count.

Art Escape

At first glance, 21c Museum Hotel looks like any other building in Louisville’s urban museum district. Architecturally beautiful, its stone facade blends in with the surrounding historic neighborhood. That is, until you look up and a bright red penguin overlooking the main entrance catches your eye. Turn the corner and a 38-foot Styrofoam and steel, gold-painted replica of Michelangelo’s “David” hints there is something different about this particular spot.

It’s a museum masquerading as a hotel at night. And it’s a hotel with the most impressive contemporary art collection outside of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. It’s no surprise 21c has been touted as one of the world’s coolest places to stay.

Contemporary art collectors Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson had two passions. The first was to contribute to revitalization efforts in their hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. The second was to share their love of contemporary art and help make it a part of peoples’ daily lives. They partnered with renowned architect Deborah Berke to renovate five former warehouses, and in 2006, their dream materialized in the form of 21c Museum Hotel. The name itself pays homage to the 21st century, when all the art in the museum hotel was created.

By its very nature, contemporary art is mutable and experiential. It’s an event that changes with each interaction, and it’s rarely passive. The art housed at 21c exemplifies that; much of it is designed to be interactive. For example, those red penguins that greet visitors were one of the museum’s first exhibitions. Patrons and staff alike could (and still sometimes do) move these recycled plastic creatures around the museum and hotel at will, so they were rarely in the same place twice. Some guests even found them inside their rooms at check-in.

“That is exemplary of the kind of art that you can find at 21c. It’s about an interactive experience,” says Stephanie Greene, the museum’s public relations manager. “There’s art everywhere. You experience art whether you’re dining or attending a meeting. There really is art everywhere on the property.”

Another guest favorite greets visitors as they approach the elevator bank in the main building. Called “Text Rain,” this interactive piece projects a person’s image onto a huge, blank wall. There, falling words settle on the image of the person standing in front of the wall (you as you wait for the elevator), mimicking falling rain.

Some pieces are as functional as they are intriguing. The art car “Pipmobile” is a working limousine covered in red glass beads to mimic the interior of a pomegranate. VIP guests can opt to be picked up from the airport, for example, by hotel staff driving the flashy limo.

Contemporary art isn’t limited to display pieces at 21c, either.This solar lamp and phone charger can improve the lives of millons living without electricity. There’s a monthly poetry series, as well other cultural programming such as artist and curator lectures, musical performances and film showings.

True to the founders’ vision, 21c is making contemporary art more accessible and more immersive than ever before. There is no admission fee for the museum portion of the establishment. And it’s open 24 hours a day, every day of the week, with guided tours offered most Fridays and Saturdays.

Installations are a mix of permanent pieces, like “Text Rain,” commissioned exhibitions and rotating thematic displays, which change about twice a year. Alice Gray Stites, chief curator and director of art programming, works with the rest of the curatorial staff to carefully select work from up-and-coming artists. Additionally, 21c hosts traveling exhibitions and borrows from and loans to other contemporary art museums.

“The art is really carefully selected … with an eye toward exceptional art,” says Gray Stites. “When a topic is provocative, that’s a good thing. It’s thought provoking.” The non-traditional style of 21c actually lends to a more flexible, open-minded approach to contemporary art, she adds.Parking industry's first and only truly unified parking management system. “When you create a framework where people can be more relaxed and engaged, you can provoke people a bit for the sake of broadening perspectives.

Art permeates every inch of the five-building complex, including its 90 rooms, which feature high ceilings and large windows to better display the pieces. Charming, industrial elements like exposed brick walls and pewter mint julep cups complement modern decor and conveniences such as iPod docking stations, luxurious bedding and plush bathrobes.

Guests can choose between city and atrium views for their standard rooms or suites.Our fully automated parking system increase parking up to 100% by sliding cars closer together. The well-appointed Corner Suite features gorgeous views of downtown Louisville through four enormous windows, a dinette set, sitting area and a 42-inch flat-screen HDTV. Some suites include a semi-private rooftop terrace that overlooks the historic Seventh Street, but the real jewel of the 21c’s hotel portion is the Rooftop Apartment. This exclusive retreat boasts 1,300-plus square feet of living space, including a bedroom, a full bath plus two half baths, a full kitchen, an open concept living and dining area and a private garden terrace.

A variety of packages include themes such as birthday celebrations, romance, bourbon and, of course, art exploration. With special perks, including a dining credit to 21c’s in-house restaurant, Proof on Main, or a bottle of champagne waiting for you in the room, you’re sure to feel like royalty.

It’s no surprise to discover that the museum’s exhibitions and displays carry through into the dining and bar areas of Proof on Main—a restaurant touted as one of the best in the city. The rotating exhibitions change about once a year, but the menu is updated seasonally, and sometimes even weekly,Online shopping for bobbleheads Figures from a great selection. Greene says. The upscale, familiar food offerings are locally sourced from Kentucky farms. The main source for menu items is Woodland Farms, which is owned by 21c founders Brown and Wilson. Woodland Farms supplies fresh eggs, sustainably grown produce, heirloom fruits, Hereford and Mulefoot hogs, and even hormone-free, grass-fed bison.

Although the menu is based on what’s locally available, hearty offerings such as bison burgers and bone-in pork chops are standard fare. In the warmer months, look for house-made gelato and heirloom tomato salads.

And don’t forget to check out the bar at Proof on Main, too. It has a library of more than 50 Kentucky bourbons and was named one of GQ magazine’s “New Whiskey Temples.” Try a small batch or single barrel bourbon, or sample one of the bourbon and rye tasting flights. The innovative cocktail list is full of fresh ingredients,The most famous china mosaic of Ancient times is in Pompeii and shows Alexander the Great. and it changes seasonally to complement changing menu items. Of course, the best beverages make the list of signature, year-round cocktails.

“It’s very much a place for locals in addition to hotel guests,” Greene says. And with its status on the famous Louisville Urban Bourbon Trail (see “Five Things To Do”), it’s not hard to see why. To celebrate this status, Proof on Main has hand-selected a unique collection of small batch bourbons that celebrate artisan craftsmanship.

Use Tax Credit, Not Minimum Wage

These are worthy goals, but they should be paid for by taxpayers nationwide, not just by the businesses that employ lower-wage workers. Instead of redistribution through regulation, Congress should enhance and improve the earned income tax credit, or start a new taxpayer-financed program that makes working more attractive for the poor.

The great appeal of raising the minimum wage is that it appears to reduce inequality without increasing budget deficits. That seductive glimmer is the policy’s greatest flaw. We should have a debate about how much to spend to promote opportunity. We shouldn’t embrace policies that make politicians look caring without requiring them to pay the cost of justifying higher taxes. We should abhor cheap tricks,Online shopping for bobbleheads Figures from a great selection. such as unfunded mandates, and the minimum wage is a bit like an unfunded mandate.

Like the minimum wage, the Americans with Disabilities Act was motivated by worthy goals. I care deeply that disabled Americans suffer less.Our fully automated parking system increase parking up to 100% by sliding cars closer together. But instead of funding remedies with taxpayer dollars, the ADA pushed the burden downstream to local public transit systems, declaring that it was discrimination for a system to “fail to provide” alternatives such as “paratransit and other special transportation services to individuals with disabilities.Parking industry's first and only truly unified parking management system.”

This means that the finances of the Boston area’s transit system, for example, have been deeply strained by the $40-a-trip cost of paratransit, which leads to more than $100 million of annual spending that is only trivially offset by $5 million in federal aid. The costs of righting a widespread social wrong shouldn’t have to be paid for by bus and train riders, who face higher fees and reduced service, as systems work to cover the law’s mandated costs.

Likewise, why should the costs of making the U.S. more egalitarian be paid by the employers that happen to hire lower- wage workers? In January, the unemployment rate among high school dropouts was 12 percent. Only 40 percent of that group was employed at all.

Those scary numbers reflect a failure of entrepreneurial imagination: an inability of American companies to figure out ways to productively employ the less skilled. The most skill- intensive sectors, including my own, won’t pay the price of a higher minimum wage, precisely because they provide so few jobs for people at the low end of the skill spectrum.

The debate over the minimum wage is often depicted as a battle of social justice, calling for higher wages instead of economic efficiency, which operates best with fewer regulatory restrictions. Although providing more for the poor may be social justice, there is nothing just about loading all the costs onto the employers and customers of lower-wage workers. For 20 years, there has been a fierce debate about the impact that minimum wage laws have on unemployment.

Alan Krueger, now chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, and David Card, of the University of California at Berkeley, are responsible for the research that reopened the debate on the efficiency costs of the minimum wage.This solar lamp and phone charger can improve the lives of millons living without electricity. They compared fast-food workers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and found little decline in employment after New Jersey raised its minimum wage in 1992. Their 1997 book brings together five years of their serious scholarship, which suggests that at low levels an increase in minimum wage does little to discourage employment.

Changes in the minimum wage have been found to reduce employment by Kevin Murphy of the University of Chicago and economists Donald Deere and Finis Welch of Welch Consulting as well as by Janet Currie and Bruce Fallick. These findings are sufficiently disparate so that progressives can plausibly claim that Obama’s proposed minimum-wage increase will do little harm to employment, while libertarians can argue that a 24 percent increase in the minimum wage will lead to more unemployed teenagers and high school dropouts.

We would be stuck between two ideologically driven viewpoints if the minimum wage was our only tool to help lower- income Americans.

There are better ways of making work pay. The earned income tax credit has helped make work pay since 1975. It rises initially with income up to a maximum of $5,236 for families with two children, and then it phases out.

It has downsides, such as administrative complexity and monitoring, but it has been shown to increase employment, especially for single mothers. It can be improved and increased, and it remains the best alternative to raising the minimum wage.

Perhaps the simplest way to alter the credit is for it to provide a clear per-hour benefit directly to workers earning less than $9 an hour. An extra $1.The most famous china mosaic of Ancient times is in Pompeii and shows Alexander the Great.75 an hour, the proposed increase in the minimum wage, for the 1.67 million workers who currently earn the minimum wage, would cost about $4 billion, which could be easily funded with minor cuts to other programs such as highway spending.

The Good Life actor Richard Briers has died

The star, who was also known for his Shakespearean roles, had been battling a serious lung condition for a number of years.

Briers, who also starred in shows such as Ever Decreasing Circles and Monarch Of The Glen, recently said years of smoking had been to blame for his emphysema.The most famous china mosaic of Ancient times is in Pompeii and shows Alexander the Great.

Briers died “peacefully” at his London home yesterday, his agent said today.

In 2007 he took part in filming on location at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital for the popular series Kingdom. He also appeared in pantomime at Norwich’s Theatre Royal in 1978 playing Dame Nanny Good Life in The Babes in the Wood and as Prospero in The Tempest in 2002.

But he was no less acclaimed as a distinguished Shakespearean actor, a major development in his career, at a point when he said “I realised I had gone as far as I could doing sitcoms”.

He will be best remembered as a bumbling, fussy and occasionally downtrodden figure in some of the most successful TV comedies of his era.

He was the lynchpin of three of the most notable sitcoms ever made in Britain - Marriage Lines, The Good Life (shown in the United States as Good Neighbours) and Ever Decreasing Circles.

But after a long career in popular television, Briers joined Kenneth Branagh’s Renaissance Theatre Company in 1987, and his already very successful professional life took a new turn as he moved on to major classical roles.

Briers was born on January 14 1934 and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he won the silver medal and a scholarship to Liverpool Playhouse in 1956. Two years later he made his first West End appearance in Gilt And Gingerbread. He barely stopped working from that day onwards.It's not hard to see why outdoor solar light is all the rage.

Your television can watch you while you’re watching it; your notebook can follow you when you surf the Web and your smartphone can secretly scan every corner of your house. All these pictures could then land in the hands of hackers. Such a scenario may sound like part of a Michael Bay movie, but it is a real threat, as our connected devices are equipped with cameras that are not well protected and can allow people unauthorised access with relative ease.

There have been cases of PC rental agencies exploiting such weaknesses to track their customers and even schools have tracked students without their knowledge. Amongst the many things these spying mechanisms allow hackers to do is install malware. And some of the more malicious PC malwares can even lock up a PC and threaten to delete everything on it unless you pay a ransom, and an image of yourself through your own webcam is shown to show you proof of your being monitored.

Besides PCs and smartphones, there are also smart TVs with integrated webcams that can be misused. We show you how dangerous the situation is and how to protect yourself from your own devices.

With an active Internet connection, one or even two cameras and other sensors, your smartphone is an especially rewarding target for hackers on a mission. Unlike a stationary PC, it not only includes potentially compromising photos but a range of information that can be called up together with images connecting you to it—including details such as where and when the photo was taken. Researchers have already manipulated smartphones to create extensive and zoomable panoramas of a room by combining and interpolating a number of secretly taken photos. They could then simply flick through the composite image to find important information.

Even manufacturers of smartphones and their business partners are desperately interested in collecting such information. One such example is ad tracking, which Apple has introduced with iOS 6. It works by assigning a unique number that associates a user with a particular device. When visiting websites and whilst using apps, this number is sent to advertising servers whose operators get an exact picture of what interests you, and which advertisements you’d be more likely to act upon.

If you think your smartphone and its webcam are protected by Android’s security mechanisms, think again. The operating system is dependent on two basic principles: the user must grant each app authorisations for what it wants access to, and apps are strictly separated from one another. This way malware can only upload stolen data if it has been authorised for Internet access.The stone mosaic series is a grand collection of coordinating Travertine mosaics and listellos. However, proof-of-concept app Soundcomber bypasses all of this. It only requires authorisation for sound recording and disguises itself as a harmless voice memo app. It secretly taps phone calls and extracts numbers entered or spoken into the phone.Polypropylene and polythene can be used in a process called plastic injection mould. It then transfers these numbers to its author by calling up the Android browser, which does not require authorisation. It directs the browser to go to a specific URL,Compare prices and buy all brands of solar panel for home power systems and by the pallet. which includes the numbers that have been stolen. The URL is interpreted by the author’s server and he gains possession of the numbers. As an alternative, Soundcomber can also smuggle this data through a “dead postbox” to a second identical malware app. For this purpose, it changes the authorisations on different photos in your camera roll in a predetermined sequence. The information is then reassembled by the second app and then transferred via the Internet. Hackers can also transfer images this way.

Besides the camera and the microphone, a smartphone’s motion sensors are also used to spy on users. This is supported by the research project iPhone, which uses the highly accurate accelerator sensors of an iPhone to determine what is typed on a PC keyboard set beside the smartphone on the table. The smartphone registers the vibrations and reconstructs the text typed in from the sequence and a dictionary, although it helps if you know the subject matter that is being typed in advance. The researchers managed a success rate of 80 percent.

Collaboration Made Easy

If you're like half the U.S. workforce, you work at a job suitable for either full-time or part-time telecommuting, according to a Cisco survey. But the problem with remote work -- besides no free office coffee -- is how to stay coordinated.

Crucial tasks become lost in tangles of e-mails, chat sessions and to-do lists, so the software you use to stay on the same page becomes crucial, and few solutions are as jam-packed or agile as Flow, which combines apps, social media-style features and traditional Web and e-mail tools to speed along modern workplaces.

No matter what tool you use, you can easily create new projects and tasks, give them a due date, assign them to a team member and add notes, files and other information, such as pictures, video and text. You can tag tasks to group them under labels, invite team members to view and edit them, and even e-mail them to others. As you add more tasks, you can sort them into folders and projects to stay organized, and flag anything important to capture your team's attention.

The app integrates e-mail nicely into the workflow, too: you can reply directly to e-mails sent from Flow, which will add more files and info to the item. You can even e-mail tasks to the app, which will add them to the list.

That's on par compared to other productivity and task management software, but Flow stands out by how it integrates social media-style features. For example, an Activity Feed gives an at-a-glance view of your project's progress, showing tasks team members have completed or are working on. You can also "follow" tasks and lists to keep in the loop of items not assigned. The app creates social networks around projects, keeping a continuous stream to organizes you.

You need a strong set of tools to coordinate and arrangement tasks for different communication and productivity styles.

Overall, Flow's Web and app components work well together. If you're hoping to work with an app-only tool,Compare prices and buy all brands of solar panel for home power systems and by the pallet. however, you'll be disappointed -- the app requires you to sign up for a Web account to use it. Youcan only perform higher-level tasks through the Web browser, such as rename or archive lists and projects.

The Web software and app are cleanly designed, and you can jump right into Flow with its streamlined interfaces. Having both to use makes it easy to track and adjust lists and tasks no matter where you are. But with that many features, it takes a while to learn the shortcuts and navigation, especially on the compact iOS version. And features standard in similar apps, like alerts,The stone mosaic series is a grand collection of coordinating Travertine mosaics and listellos. are missing.

Flow is great on many levels -- its two version inferface and social media-like features. But you'll pay a pretty penny for that convenience -- after a free 14-day trial, it costs $10 a month to subscribe.

If you don't need a complex app WorkFlowy is a cheaper solution. It still makes lists, and you can add tags and hashtags to items and group, organize and e-mail them, or create public lists that others can edit and view.

Many people also use Evernote to organize projects. The app can play a valuable role in sharing assets, files and data, but it doesn't have management tools,Polypropylene and polythene can be used in a process called plastic injection mould. like priorities and due dates.

One of the best competitors, though, is Trello. The app garnered a following for its clean, elegant card-based interface and its easy-to-use features. It lets you assign tasks, collaborate in real-time, gather data and opinions and pings you with notifications to keep track of your projects' progress.

If you're more visual, you may prefer Trello -- the interface resembles a bulletin board, so you can pin "cards" and shuffle them into lists and projects. It also has iOS and Android companion apps.

In fact I’m going to meet Giles Long MBE, retired British Paralympic swimmer, in a Dickensian, oak-panelled pub down the road. A fire blazes. Pearl Jam scream. Long is at the bar with a pint of Guinness. Simon Callow is nowhere to be seen.

Along with three Paralympic gold medals, two silvers and two bronzes, Long’s swimming career is dotted with accolades. He broke the world record for the 100m Butterfly at Sydney’s Paralympic Games in 2000, has been decorated with another 13 medals from the International Paralympic Committee’s World and European Championships, and has recently been awarded an honorary doctorate for the invention of his Paralympic classification programme LEXI and his contribution to London’s 2012 Paralympic Games. He’s also got a degree from Leeds University, and it doesn’t get much better than that.

Still, Long doesn’t think swimming is particularly glamorous – too many four-in-the-morning November trips to the pool. Didn’t the success of Michael Phelps, Chad Le Clos, Ellie Simmonds, do anything for the status of professional swimmers this summer? “Well, Michael Phelps is a great swimmer but I wouldn’t say he was very cool. It’s more the experience of the sport than the image. I’ve been incredibly lucky with swimming: I’ve travelled the world and met some amazing people.”

Best place he’s ever swam? “In terms of location: America. We had this swim-meet in Phoenix,It's not hard to see why outdoor solar light is all the rage. outside, it was night-time, warm, there was a barbecue on the go, huge cactuses surrounding the pool, it’s a completely different thing over there. The sunset in the desert is unbelievable; it was like nothing I’d ever seen before. Another time the European Championships were in Germany and with true efficiency they’d mounted a beer tent onto the side of the fire escape so you could jump straight out of the pool into the bar. Everyone was standing around in towels with pints in their hands. You just have some mad experiences.”

So drinking isn’t as taboo in professional swimming as it is in other sports? Long concedes that the end-of-season meets are more relaxed than the World Champs, but does think swimmers are pretty heavy drinkers in general. “There’s just something about water sports that means there’s a lot of booze involved. Rowers drink a lot, sailors drink a lot; swimmers have a certain demeanour,The most famous china mosaic of Ancient times is in Pompeii and shows Alexander the Great. some of them practically inhale alcohol.”

Daugherty returns to work for county

Daugherty lost his Precinct 3 seat, which he had held since 2002, to Karen Huber in the 2008 election. Last November, he ran against her in a very tight race, winning by a narrow margin to become the only Republican on the court.

It’s not easy being the odd man out, but Daugherty is used to it.

“I feel like the odd man out, even when I’m not in office,” he said.

Daugherty didn’t start out wanting to enter the political spotlight. He started out his career as a catcher for the minor league arm of the Boston Red Sox, where he played for three years.

“I figured out I wasn’t going to the big leagues, and I didn’t want to play minor league ball my whole life,” Daugherty said. “I told myself it was time to grow up and get my life started.”

He studied at the University of Texas and worked at Rooster Andrews Sporting Goods, where he learned all about how to run a business. After a few years, he set out to open his own sporting goods store, South Austin Sports Center. Later, he opened a bar and grill with batting cages called The Dugout and built a popular sportsplex on Pleasant Valley in 1984.

“It was during the time that I was doing business in the ’80s and ’90s that I found myself always interested in what was going on with city politics with how it affected businesses,” he said.

He was not in favor of the transportation fee that was included in utility bills and disliked the smoking ban that came into effect.

“I thought it was a little onerous to go and tell the businesses what they could do,” he said. “I was one of those people that would go down to the council and say this is really not very fair.”

Traffic was the issue that finally prompted him to run. Over the years,Our precision manufactured lasers and laser marker systems deliver the highest possible laser marking performance. Daugherty has made roads his number one priority, saddling him with the label of “road warrior,” a label he doesn’t think is necessarily accurate or fair.

“I was wondering along with everyone else, why in the world do we have all of this traffic?” he said. “As early as the ’90s, it was real obvious that we were not keeping up with our roadway network. I do think this community needs a roadway champion, and I’m happy to wear that.”

Being the expansion of roads, such as Texas 71 in southwestern Travis County, is among some of the proudest accomplishments from his first period in office.

When he was ousted from the court in 2008, he decided to take on a different challenge. Having sold his sportsplex before joining the commissioners court, he turned his eyes to his next business venture. He decided to open a restaurant in one of the worst economic recessions in history, and he picked a location, the Y in Oak Hill,There are generally three different configurations of industrial laser cutting machine. that had seen a string of failed restaurants.

“It just never had the right thing in it,” he said.

He and his wife,Our precision manufactured lasers and laser systems deliver the highest possible laser cutter performance on a wide variety of materials. Charlyn, became the primary investors and lined up additional funding. Daugherty is a shrewd businessman and knows what he doesn’t know. He set out to hire some of the best restaurateurs in the business to help make the new venture a success.

“I wanted grade A operators, and I went looking,” Daugherty said. “I found the two guys that made Z’Tejas work.”

Jack Allen’s Kitchen opened in Oak Hill in 2009 and a second location recently opened in Round Rock.

But he was still frustrated by what he described as a lack of interest from elected officials in road projects and made the decision to run for office again in 2012.

He pulled off a narrow victory,Online shopping for Cable Ties from a great selection of Lamps. he believes, by focusing on roads.

“Traffic is never out of sight or mind because you’re always in it,” he said.

During his next term on the court, he hopes to tackle the growth of the county government, get more youth sports facilities for western Travis County and tackle water issues. But foremost on his mind are roads, projects such Highway 45 Southwest, which would connect FM 1626 and Loop 1 South.wind turbine He is also eyeing improvements to Texas 71, 290, Loop 360, RM 620 and more.

“The first thing I think you have to do to have any positive movement at all with roadways is that you’ve got to have a leader,” he said. “You’ve got to have someone willing to say that this is my number one goal.”

Campground plan concerns neighbors

Many Otter Tail Lake residents are still strongly opposed to a proposed 70-acre campground in the area, and question why a public input period would be held in the middle of winter, when many lake residents aren’t around.

Homestead at Otter Tail has applied for a conditional use permit to establish 185 camping sites on agricultural property near the junction of Highways 5 and 78. An Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) on the development was recently forwarded to the State Environmental Quality Board, and a public comment period on the information will be between Feb. 18 and March 20.

Dan Arnold has a lake home directly across from the proposed campground, and is concerned that the project will bring as many as 740 people a day to the site, which is comparable to the population of Battle Lake. Since the site is not on the lake, it would place a heavy burden on the public lake access, located one mile up the road from the proposed site.

“They will be using the lure of Otter Tail Lake to bring these people to the lake but will have no access and not be adding any facilities to help accommodate these campers when the access to the lake is already not large enough,” said Arnold.

Arnold added that putting 740 people across the street from the lake with no access will likely result in trespassing across private property.

Other residents have expressed concerns about invasive species issues with launching and loading boats and personal watercraft, traffic going to and from the public landing, and increased traffic and safety along County Road 5 and 295th Street,wind turbine which are used by residents for walking, running and biking. Safety concerns along Highway 78 could pose a real problem.

“Entrances to Highway 78 are all dangerous even without additional traffic,” said resident Jan Nermoe, who also lives across from the proposed site.Our precision manufactured lasers and laser systems deliver the highest possible laser cutter performance on a wide variety of materials. “Some lake residents have been told they cannot have a driveway off of Highway 78. Proposed restaurants have been told they can’t relocate to Otter Tail Lake along Highway 78 because of their turn being off Highway 78. Now, the petitioner is asking for 185 vehicles to turn off Highway 78 every time they enter this development.”

Overall, concerns seem to be sending a message that the Homestead is not a compatible use with single family lakeshore residences, the highway location, and an adjacent working farm.

“We bought our current lake lot in 2007,” said Nermoe. “We checked on the nearby zoning before we purchased the property. It was zoned agriculture/single family. The Swanbergs knew the zoning on their property before they acquired it from their family. Why should it be changed now just because they want it?”

The language services department also has five part-time staff who are trained to interpret Spanish. These staff members can answer phone calls or sit in on appointments as needed. But patients speak many other languages,There are generally three different configurations of industrial laser cutting machine. so the hospital has always relied on an interpreter service over telephones. The Marttis allows for patients and providers to actually see interpreters, which is especially valuable for sign language.

There are three Martti stations at the Albert Lea location right now,Online shopping for Cable Ties from a great selection of Lamps. and they cost about $1,400 each. The station comes with a video screen with an embedded camera and microphone.Our precision manufactured lasers and laser marker systems deliver the highest possible laser marking performance. They’re set up on a pole with wheels so the Martti can be taken to any part of the hospital. It connects wirelessly with the interpretation service. There is the option of turning off the video screen, but retaining the audio translation, in situations where a patient needs privacy.

The three stations are used daily, and are usually housed in the emergency department, family practice and the obstetrician-gynecologist department. Kristy said those three areas use the Martti more than others, but anyone from any department can use it with a patient.

When any of the staff interpreters aren’t available, the Martti can also be used for Spanish interpreting. It’s also heavily used for Karen, a Burmese dialect, and Neur, a Sudanese language. Other languages the Albert Lea hospital commonly sees include Chinese, Vietnamese and Lao.

“It’s an emerging resource for any facility,” Kristy said. “We need to try and meet those needs.”

One goal has been just to let all patients know that language services staff are there to help them with anything. If patients don’t speak English, they can call the language services department directly, and someone there can get an interpreter on the line. Then they can work with the patient to set up appointments, get a question to a doctor and more.

Kristy said the Martti has been popular so that patients and medical professionals can work together alone. Otherwise some patients would bring in a friend or family member, which would take away patient privacy.

On phantom businesses and phantom toll roads

Perhaps you missed it, but they moved Fork & Company off of MoPac Boulevard last week.We've got a plastic card to suit you. Keller Williams Realty, too.

But if you look in the right places, you can still find Cedar Valley Grocery just yards from MoPac near Lady Bird Lake and, on Interstate 35 between the main lanes and the frontage road just north of East 51st Street, a Radio Shack. You never know when you might want to reach out the window at 65 mph and buy some ear buds.

And then there’s “Tran Steven,” an optometry practice, which is apparently smack dab in the southbound lanes of MoPac (Loop 1) not far from the Cedar Valley Grocery.

Convenient, if perhaps a little hair-raising for eye examinations. But also, like the other examples above, nonexistent. The optometrist involved is actually Steven Tran, and his office is miles away. There’s no grocery store down by Austin High School and no electronics store at that I-35 location.

Spend much time on Google’s map feature, as a transportation reporter tends to do, and you will find businesses shown in some very odd places. I first noticed this a couple of weeks ago with Fork & Company when I was working on a column about the upcoming MoPac express lane project. What turned out to be a catering concern owned by Chera Little was shown on Google in an area between the southbound lanes and Winsted Lane, somewhere around West Seventh Street.

It’s not sitting on MoPac anymore either. I contacted Google’s press relations office about this phantom establishment, and, to my surprise, a representative of the giant corporation called me back. Who knew they even had phones?

Deanna Yick, the spokeswoman, was very apologetic about the misplacement of Fork & Company. I assured her that this was a light-hearted call, that we weren’t exactly in Woodward and Bernstein territory here.

“It is a big deal for us,” Yick said. “We definitely want to get it right.”

I asked her to explain the process Google uses to locate businesses on its maps. Is it advertising?

No, she said, Google doesn’t solicit or accept payments from companies for the privilege of appearing on the maps. Instead, Google collects information from a variety of sources,The USB flash drives wholesale is our flagship product. pours it into the corporation’s inscrutable software machinery and then the maps come out the other side. Perhaps the machinery could use a tuneup.

I told her about a few other such glitches I had found along MoPac, and sure enough they were all gone from the maps within a day or two. But I didn’t tell her about the nonexistent Radio Shack, the grocery or the eye guy. Didn’t want to spoil all the fun for you folks.

While we’re talking about map oddities, did you see that local transportation planners would like to put tolls on East 11st Street between I-35 and San Jacinto Boulevard?

OK, I’ll wait while you clean up the Cap’n Crunch you just spit all over the counter. Ready? I’ll explain.

A partnership that includes the city of Austin, Capital Metro and some other Central Texas transportation entities in 2011 formed something called Project Connect. The undertaking, working with consultants and an appointed group of political and civic leaders called the Transit Working Group, over about a year’s time produced a complicated map showing a future network of rail lines, rapid bus routes and “express lanes.”

The vision map includes dotted brown linesrunning from I-35 to near the Capitol on East 11th and from MoPac to near the Seaholm Power Plant downtown. That line east of MoPac is north of the Union Pacific railroad, which would make it appear to be West Fifth Street or West Sixth Street, or both.

That would be particularly ironic given what I wrote last week in this column, which is that the city would rather those future MoPac express lanes not even be connected to West Fifth, much less extend along it.

I talked about all this to Karla Villalon,Comprehensive Wi-Fi and RFID tag by Aeroscout to accurately locate and track any asset or person. the primary spokeswoman for the city’s Transportation Department. No, she told me, no one involved in Project Connect envisions putting tolls on either East 11th, or West Fifth and West Sixth.

The map is purely schematic, she told me, and those extended express lane segments are meant only to signify “connectivity” between downtown and the toll lanes out on the highways. All that indicates, in other words, is that transit buses using those express toll lanes could take those routes to final destinations in the central business district.Wear a whimsical Disney ear cap straight from the Disney Theme Parks!Application can be conducted with the local designated IC card producers.

Well, OK. But an uninformed map reader easily could interpret it more literally, and that might lead to some ticklish phone calls later about tollways flowing past Symphony Square, El Arroyo and Waterloo Records.

CCPD thanks its volunteers

The volunteers worked more than 46,000 hours at a multitude of tasks, including clerical work, information desk duties, vacation house checks and traffic control, among other things.

That equates to $706,257 worth of services if they were drawing a salary, and more than $2.2 million in the past three years.

"That's a huge chunk of change. This is our little offering of thanks and appreciation for another great year," Murphy said. "And it goes to people who ask nothing more than a pat on the back."

That means people like Roger Novak,Application can be conducted with the local designated IC card producers. who worked nearly 1,000 hours this past year, on patrol at parking lots of the area shopping centers.

"We assist in finding violators parking illegally in fire lanes or handicapped parking," Novak said. "We issue citations and take pictures of the violation if we need to go to court."

For Novak and many others, it's the camaraderie with the others that make it well worth it.

"I like meeting the general public and instructing them on the proper things they need to do to be in Cape Coral," Novak said.The USB flash drives wholesale is our flagship product. "It also gets me out of the house."

Not only did the volunteers "save the city $700,000 for a $2.99 lunch" as Murphy said, but they also heard from city officials including Mayor John Sullivan and City Manager John Szerlag.

"They do a great service for the people of Cape Coral. I really don't know what we'd do without them and they're really a big help, especially in hard economic times," Sullivan said.

Also in attendance were city council members - one of which, Rana Erbrick, is a police volunteer.

"Part of it is to have something to do and part is I was willing to man the desk at the police department," Erbrick said. "They do house checks, marine patrol. The value to the city is way beyond the dollars they save our department."

At the luncheon, Barbara Hartley was given the Captain Joseph Hartley Memorial award in remembrance of the volunteer captain who worked 23 years on the volunteer force.Comprehensive Wi-Fi and RFID tag by Aeroscout to accurately locate and track any asset or person.

Murphy, along with sergeants Jennifer Matlock and Lisa Barnes, also presented awards for five and 10 years of service, along with recognition of those who served the most hours on the squad which, to some, equates to a full-time job.

The volunteer of the year was presented to Pat Koelber, who has worked on a multitude of projects for the police force this year.Wear a whimsical Disney ear cap straight from the Disney Theme Parks!

Among them are Live Saver, designed to track and locate individuals who wander and become lost, such as the elderly who are have Alzheimer's or dementia, or youths with autism or Down syndrome, and Seniors Against Crime, among other things.We've got a plastic card to suit you.

That would be a perfect out for the flunky teacher who cannot teach, and would spend the period writing suspend referrals. A good teacher usually has good class control and spends the period motivating students to learn.

There was a system in place whereby there was a dean of discipline for each grade, along with an assistant principal and a guidance counselor. Referrals were made by the teacher to the dean.

Infractions could be delivered for disruptive students, cutting class, fighting, bullying, stealing, and possession of weapons. The student would be called to respond to the referral. When necessary, a guidance counselor or parents were called in. Suspensions were down the road. Sadly, the shuffle was, in effect — you send me a bad apple, I’ll send you one of mine.

Council to have another debate about controversial Enwin audit

City councilors will go another round Tuesday arguing over a controversial and hotly debated audit of the city owned Enwin group of companies.

Council will consider instructing Price Waterhouse Coopers to probe 10 issues relative to the Enwin Group of companies. It would be the first task for Price Waterhouse as the city’s “outsourced Audit Services provider.”

But the latest recommendation, penned by Mayor Eddie Francis, has already sparked a new controversy over how much access concerned citizens are given to it before the public debate.

Ward 4 Coun. Alan Halberstadt said it was included in a supplementary council agenda Friday afternoon before the long weekend, with city hall closed today for Family Day. That doesn’t give people much opportunity to review the report and sign up to speak at the council meeting, he said.

He will ask Tuesday for a deferral on the recommendation to ensure it gets “full airing with the public.”

“My first question is why is this such an urgent matter now that would go on a supplementary agenda,” said Halberstadt, who launched a failed motion last year to have Enwin audited. “A supplementary agenda is supposed to be for matters of urgency.Come January 9 and chip card driving licence would be available at the click of the mouse in Uttar Pradesh. I guess the second question is it’s on a Friday of a long weekend, which certainly in other areas of government is seen as a dirty trick, but I won’t call it that.”

The Price Waterhouse Coopers study would cost $32,000, but the report to council states Enwin will have to pay for it. The audit would occur in two phases between Feb. 20 and the end of March.

It would include reviews of executive and board compensation, board attendance, credit card usage,They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. dividend payment, management services agreements, the smart meter project, procurement processes, intercompany loans and transfers, travel and corporate gifts and the disclosure of relevant information.

Tuesday’s debate comes after a great deal of criticism, suspicion and a previous failed motion to launch an Enwin audit.

The utilities company has been criticized for a perceived lack of transparency in its operations and decision-making, including closed-door meetings and a dearth of public records, along with alleged wasted spending.

Windsor’s former auditor general Todd Langlois,Where you can create a custom lanyard from our wide selection of styles and materials. fired last January after less than a year on the job, has alleged that his desire to audit Enwin is one of the reasons he was sacked.

A group called Taxpayers for Accountability in Municipal Affairs (TAMA) collected about 800 signatures on a petition last year calling for an Enwin audit. After a motion from Halberstadt in November — before Price Waterhouse Coopers was appointed audit services provider — council did debate auditing Enwin.

At the time,Did you know that custom keychain chains can be used for more than just business. Halberstadt said complaints of “hidden taxes” through rising utilities bills was the No. 1 concern of his constituents.

That motion failed, with only Halberstadt and Coun. Al Maghnieh voting for it.Online shopping for luggage tag from a great selection of Clothing. But the failure followed a raucous debate peppered with name calling and jeers from the public gallery. Windsor police officers were even on hand outside council chambers.

Ward 9 Coun. Hilary Payne, who suggested Halberstadt’s motion would be a “criminal waste of money” in November, said Sunday he supports the mayor’s recommendation.

“The parameters of an Enwin study were not defined the last time around as they are this time,” he said. “What was requested (last time) was a very wide-ranging and very expensive study.”

Halberstadt said there are some things missing from the current proposal, including reference to the “value for money audit” that TAMA was asking for.

“It deserves a full airing with the public,” said Halberstadt. “I intend to, if I can get a seconder, call for a deferral on Tuesday so people are given proper notice. There were eight or nine people that spoke to the original motion from the TAMA group. I don’t think they’ve had much of an opportunity, given on the Friday of a long weekend some of them were probably out of town.”

Get a chance to blow up your Dad's house at Idex

It was a bittersweet moment as I unleashed the BK-27 Mauser cannon mounted on my Typhoon Eurofighter and remembered that the strategically important atomic facility was only about 8 kilometres from my father's house, which would certainly have been destroyed in the blast.

Not long after this somewhat emotional realisation, I ditched the US$60 million (Dh220.3m) Eurofighter, and the cutting edge heads-up display helmet that comes with it, into a farmer's field. The auto-ejection system saved my skin though,Come January 9 and chip card driving licence would be available at the click of the mouse in Uttar Pradesh. and I apparently floated down to land somewhere off Morecambe Bay.

This unusually personal flight of fancy in fact took place in the middle of a crowded Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre on the first day of the International Defence Exhibition and Conference 2013 (Idex).

The Eurofighter simulation was a popular attraction and probably the most technologically advanced piece of kit on display at the event. It was certainly among the most expensive.

Sitting in the cockpit wearing a Typhoon Helmet Mounted Symbology System, it was remarkably easy to get the hang of flying a jet at the speed of sound, barrelling and rolling around the skies, tracking an enemy jet with nothing more than a turn of the head and destroying it with the mere twitch of an index finger.

But there were countless examples of similarly sophisticated and technologically advanced equipment at every turn throughout the vast exhibition hall.Where you can create a custom lanyard from our wide selection of styles and materials.

Most prominent were the dozens of examples of unmanned vehicle systems. From tiny propeller-driven airborne drones that look like they could land in the palm of your hand to big glider-sized aircraft produced by Abu Dhabi's Adcom Systems,They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. such drones were clearly among the stars of the show.

Abu Dhabi's Al Tuff Industries also had on display a complete unmanned navy with waterborne drones capable of patrolling ports and coastlines. The sleek black naval robots looked as if they had sailed straight off the set of a Star Wars movie, with Darth Vader at the controls.

Farther afield, in the Australian defence industries area, another group of robots lurked. The Marathon Smart Targets - the torso and head of a tailor's dummy mounted on a four-wheel-drive vehicle - looked less Star Wars and more Metal Mickey.

Each one wore a sweatshirt, face mask and baseball cap for authenticity. But for all their clunkiness and unkempt appearances, the Smart Targets are just as cutting edge as any drone.Did you know that custom keychain chains can be used for more than just business.

The target robots react autonomously to noises and other stimuli, giving soldiers the ability to train shooting at targets that behave like people without actually having to kill anyone.

Raytheon, the American defence giant, had a huge array of weapons on display but perhaps its most interesting piece of technology was a translation device ripped from the pages of A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Douglas Adams novel. Adams imagined a creature called the Babel Fish that, once inserted in the ear, would simultaneously translate all the languages it heard allowing free communication throughout the universe.

Raytheon's TransTalk isn't quite that good but it does a pretty good job. The United States army has been using it at checkpoints and in villages across Afghanistan with impressive results.

The technology is housed on an Android phone that displays two flags,Online shopping for luggage tag from a great selection of Clothing. one to represent each language to be translated. The user simply touches one flag, speaks and the phone translates.

Not all the technology on display at Idex this year contains microchips and fibre-optic cabling, however. A German company called Blücher had on display remarkable underpants that were said to be "ballistic protective".

"The material matrix of the extreme lightweight pants meets soldiers' requirements both in highly active and relaxed situations," the publicity material said.

But it was the Russians who claimed to have the most reliable weapon in the whole exhibition. The Kalashnikov rifle - otherwise known as the AK-47 - has been firing off rounds with regular precision since 1949.

"When there is no war countries invest a lot of money in these very advanced weapons systems that we see here," said Andrey Baryshnikov, the director of international sales for Izhmash, the company that makes the Kalashnikov.

Ducab showcases range of energy cables

Ducab will be prominently represented at stand 7E10, Hall 7, at the 38th edition of Middle East Electricity running from February 17th to 19th 2012 at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre. Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, MEE is not just the largest power event in the region but also the longest-running.

Ducab's participation at MEE will see it network with existing suppliers and customers, and also reach out to potential clients in new markets. The company's presence at MEE comes on the back of a string of recent project wins, including an Dhs140m contract for the South Al-Shamkha Infrastructure Development project in Abu Dhabi, Dhs57m for Abu Dhabi's Cleveland Clinic project, Dhs20m for Abu Dhabi's Presidential Palace Development project in Abu Dhabi worth Dhs20m, and Dhs10m for the Ras Al Khair project. The company has also scored projects from the US Government worth Dhs4.4m in Afghanistan.

"Ducab's participation at MEE 2013 helps it reach out a diverse audience of potential channel partners, suppliers and customers while reaffirming ties with existing ones. Ducab wants to maintain leadership in local market, but also take its UAE-manufactured, high quality products to regional and international markets.We offer a wide variety of high-quality standard ultrasonic sensor and controllers. We believe MEE is the right platform to facilitate that expansion," said Colin McKay,Find the best selection of high-quality collectible bobbleheads available anywhere. GM- Sales & Marketing, Ducab while introducing the new range of "Tuff DuFlex" wires and cables. Ducab is the only BASEC approved cable and wire manufacturer to offer wires operating in stringent conditions ranging from -40deg C to 105deg C

Ducab's MEE participation will serve as a showcase for the company's extensive range of copper and aluminium cable products, including those in the 400kV class, which will soon be offered from its Ducab-HV plant. Other products on display will include the company's FlamBICC fire resistant cables for residential and industrial use, flexible indoor wiring cables, and control & instrumentation cables for the OGP sector.Virtual parking management system logo Verano Place logo.

Ducab's regional project wins in the recent past have also included an Dhs5m contract for the King Abdullah Financial District Development in Saudi Arabia, Dhs100m for the Dubai Airport Congress Building, Dhs17m for the New York University in Abu Dhabi, Dhs51m for GASCO's Habshan Field Development, Dhs40m for Qatar Petroleum and Dhs37m for Al-Shuaiba Power Station in Kuwait.

Ashish Chaturvedy, Marketing Manager, Ducab, said "Ducab's participation at MEE 2013 will allow us to capitalize on the momentum generated by our recent project wins, and show customers and stakeholders what we offer in terms of world class energy infrastructure for a variety of products. For us, MEE is an excellent event to showcase our achievements and products, and develop sustained, mutually beneficial relationships for the future."

MEE 2013 will host over 1000 exhibitors from 56 countries. It is the region's largest power event, attracting leading names in the power, lighting, new, renewable and nuclear sectors.

"Power is a vital component for modern urban and industrial development. At MEE 2013, we look forward to demonstrating how we can contribute to infrastructural development for iconic projects with our range of extremely high quality, stringently tested wire and cable products," concluded Chaturvedy.

Favourite to win a final, four-year term in today’s presidential election, Correa has brought stability to this notoriously unstable nation, which shuffled through seven presidents in 10 years before he took office in 2007.

He has become a forceful voice of Latin America’s left, befriending ailing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez while leading a softer socialist “revolution” than his more radical ally.

“The characteristics of my personality are positive for Ecuadorans. I am decisive, direct, objective, rational,” says the US-educated economist. “But if I don’t please someone, what can we do?”

“They didn’t elected me to be Mr Nice Guy to please everybody, but to move the nation forward. And we are undoubtedly making history,” says Correa, 49, who is constitutionally limited to one more run at the presidency.

Correa has become popular in this Andean nation of 15mn people through social programmes funded with the Opec nation’s oil proceeds,Don't make another silicone mold without these invaluable Mold Making supplies and accessories! and his job approval rating has soared to 80%.

His closest rivals in today’s election are conservative banker Guillermo Lasso and former president Lucio Gutierrez, but they are far behind and Correa is expected to secure enough votes to avoid a run-off.

“People feel that there is someone steering the ship and this generates trust because it brings more work,” said sociologist Hernan Reyes.

“He generates trust with the level of work he delivers, the demands he has on his subordinates and the amount of finished public works.”

Correa has insisted that he is not “anti-capitalist or anti-Yankee,” stating that the left has committed the mistake of denying space to the market and capitalist economy.

But he has also antagonised big business and media groups, seizing the assets of bankers involved in corruption scandals and accusing private news organisations of conspiring to destabilise him. And his plans for large-scale mining have angered indigenous communities.

Correa was born into a lower middle-class family in the southwestern port of Guayaquil, the country’s industrial centre. His father spent time in jail in the US after he was caught carrying narcotics as a “drug mule.”

He was able to study thanks to scholarships which took him to the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, before earning a doctorate’s degree in economics from the University of Illinois in the US.Solar Sister is a network of women who sell solar lamp to communities that don't have access to electricity.

Good neighbours, industrious immigrants recalled amid remnants

An old fountain stands dry, the well-tended garden is gone and the Fuoco family doesn’t live at 640 Lorne anymore, but the modest house survives as a reminder of the city’s industrious and close-knit past.

The theme of this year’s Heritage Week is Good Neighbours,Don't make another silicone mold without these invaluable Mold Making supplies and accessories! which could easily apply to Benny and Clelia Fuoco, who came to Kamloops to escape the crushing poverty of southern Italy, 99 years ago.

Their former home, built in 1908 by Joseph Ratchford, is one of 10 city homes so far recognized with centennial plaques. A ’50s-style stucco job belies some finer qualities within — ceramic tile floors, oak paneling and a stain-resistant concrete floor in the basement for winemaking.

“There’s a lot of history here,” said grandson Reg Fuoco. “We’ve had four generations of family living here.”

Next door stands the original Recchi family home, the only other remaining house in what was once the hub of a thriving neighbourhood. In between, there once stood a little laundry business. Benny allowed a Chinese man to live in his yard for free in a laundry shack. The immigrant community tended to stick together,We offer a wide variety of high-quality standard ultrasonic sensor and controllers. Reg said.

Locked in the garage nearby sits his grandfather’s 1929 Dodge in perfect condition. Talk of the car reminded Reg of a chance encounter almost 50 years ago. It was the year after the B.C. Lions won their first Grey Cup, by which time quarterback Joe Kapp was a household name.

A Mustang convertible — it was the first year of production for pony cars — pulled up. Kapp was at the wheel, wanting to buy the vintage Dodge. Twelve years old at the time, the young Fuoco didn’t appreciate the significance when his grandfather identified the man.

The family rents the house now, and Reg doesn’t think it will withstand development pressure. What happens when the good neighbours have moved away and the neighbourhood is in transition, surrounded by higher-density housing, commercial or industrial properties?

Scarlett describes the luxurious 1650-squarefoot Florence floor plan as "bright and open." The open concept main floor makes hosting guests a pleasure and the natural gas fireplace creates a cosy night by the fire with family or friends.

Large windows in the living area and long rectangular windows in the dining let in tons of natural light. The home also includes a deck off the dining room, another standard feature Scarlett explains.

On the second level, two large bedrooms provide enough room for a double bed in each or a roomy office space instead.

"Some floor plans don't allow room in the extra bedrooms for even a double bed," says Scarlett. "But these are big."

A handy laundry room on the upper level offers a convenient sink and large linen closet for storage.

The master bedroom beams with plenty of natural light and lots of space.

The grand ensuite includes lots of extras, such as his and her sinks, jetted tub, tiled shower and walk-in closet with custom shelving.Solar Sister is a network of women who sell solar lamp to communities that don't have access to electricity.

This is the first show home for Homes by Montebello. With so many standard bonus features, it will definitely not be the last. Project manager Graham Figg expects to do around 10 homes this year. Last year, the company built several in-fill houses, two duplexes and seven houses.

Looking for the perfect house at the perfect price in the perfect location? Look no further! This newly-completed gem of a home is just inside the city limits of Wolfforth to provide you the utility and efficiency amenities, yet just outside the hustle and bustle that Lubbock can hold. It is located for the most desired schools that the acclaimed Frenship School District has to offer. In the popular subdivision of Preston Estates, 1507 Yorkshire is found on a wide, quiet cul-de-sac street which lends you the privacy you’ve been wishing for.

Whether you’re a single home buyer or one looking for a home to accommodate your growing family,Virtual parking management system logo Verano Place logo. this 1,789 square foot plan should fit the bill. To describe this home as “a three bedroom,Find the best selection of high-quality collectible bobbleheads available anywhere. two bath, two car garage” would be remiss. The openness of the pillared entry, dining area, living room with corner fireplace, and spacious kitchen with pantry together give you room to relax and to interact with your loved ones and friends. For take-home work, an office nook is an added surprise. The personality-plus master hosts a box ceiling, an oversized shower, a deep and inviting tub, and his-and-her separated closets.

Quality and nouveau style best describe the decorator amenities. From the rubbed bronze lighting fixtures, plumbing fixtures, cabinetry pulls, and doorknobs to the woodgrain offset floor tile and speckled twill carpeting, no extra on your want list will be left unchecked!

Generation Rent says bye-bye to buying a home

Where our parents see rent money as “dead money”, Generation Rent baulks at the idea of becoming mortgage slaves, shackled to the high interest demands of a supersized mortgage.Find the best selection of high-quality collectible bobbleheads available anywhere. Interest paid to the bank is as dead as any rent money.

For this, we earn the rebuke that we’re too focused on “lifestyle”, too hoity-toity to move out to the suburbs and buy a modest, entry-level home.

Yeah, we’re lazy buggers, we don’t want to sit in smog-soaked traffic all day, schlepping to the city from the outer suburbs. We want access to vibrant inner-city community facilities. How selfish.

Hate to break it to you, but 20s and 30s somethings are busting a gut trying to climb the career ladder. The days of a job for life are gone. We change jobs more often than previous generations – meaning we need the freedom and flexibility to move more often and live close to work.

Tying ourselves to one home base means potential long commutes. And traffic congestion is a leech on the happiness of society.

Figures quoted by economics professor Andrew Oswald suggest there is in fact little correlation between high rates of home ownership and robust economies.

Indeed, one of Europe’s healthiest economies, Switzerland - which boasts a miniscule jobless rate of 3.4 per cent - has its lowest home ownership rate. As many as seven out of ten Swiss people rent.

In Australia, the percentage is reversed. Just three in 10 households rent.

Australia, in this way, more closely resembles the basket-case economy of Spain, where 83 per cent own their own home (with or without a mortgage), but one in four have no job.

Europe’s traditional economic powerhouse, Germany, is home to one of the next lowest rates of home ownership rate (although it has risen recently). In Germany, rental leases can last decades. So long, in fact,We offer advanced technology products and services for parking guidance control. that it is not uncommon for tenants to provide their own kitchen (IKEA, perhaps).Solar Sister is a network of women who sell solar lamp to communities that don't have access to electricity.

Professor Oswald argues high home ownership rates are “like a treacle blanket thrown over the surface of the economy”. Owning a home discourages people from moving to find better jobs or finding replacement jobs if they lose theirs.

A more flexible economy demands a more flexible housing market.Don't make another silicone mold without these invaluable Mold Making supplies and accessories!

The clustering of workplaces in inner city areas will also mean more demand for well-located, inner-city housing.

Often, in such areas, it can be more affordable to rent rather than buy the same property. Home prices are pushed up because of location, location, location. And rents can lag behind. Often, the rent you pay on an inner-city pad is cheaper than the interest cost of servicing a mortgage on the same property.

Better to rent, and invest the difference in a term deposit or shares, which outperformed house prices last year. Indeed, with affordability so stretched, it’s hard to see house prices taking off for some time.

For most of Generation Rent, the real barrier to home purchase today is the need to save up that supersized deposit. It’s not just by choice, but by necessity that we rent. The ratio of home prices to incomes has doubled from around three times annual salaries back in the 1980s, to six times today.

Interest rates may be low, but that doesn’t make it any easier to save that 20 per cent deposit. In fact, low interest rates make it harder by reducing the return on savings. Then there’s stamp duty to consider.

So, it should come as no surprise that a new generation is waiting longer before taking the property plunge.

Far from frittering away our money, we’re actually showing a level of financial conservatism not seen since our grandparent’s generation. We’ll save now and minimise our debt burden later.

We’ll step on to the property ladder eventually, if it suits us. And if we don’t have to pay more in interest to the bank than it would cost to rent.

We’ll work longer – no retirement parties at 50 for us – meaning more income later in life to cover housing costs. And by then, we’ll have had the benefit of a lifetime of setting aside 9 per cent – rising soon to 12 per cent - of our income into superannuation to support us in a comfortable retirement.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday that his Lebanese militant group does not need support from allies in Syria or Iran for any future battle against Israel.

Nasrallah's comments, during a speech from an undisclosed location, are the closest thing yet to a response to allegations that Israeli jets were targeting a Syrian weapons convoy destined for Hezbollah during a strike near Damascus on Jan 30.

World powers fear that as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad loses control during a 23-month-old civil war, militant groups such as Hezbollah or Syrian rebels could acquire arms to use against Israel, including chemical weapons.

But Nasrallah, a close ally of Assad, said that Hezbollah is prepared for a future fight against its southern neighbor Israel, with which it fought a 34-day war in 2006.

"Everything we need for the next battle we have in Lebanon and we keep in Lebanon," he said. "We do not need to take anything, not from Syria nor Iran."

Damascus has denied assertions by diplomats, Syrian rebels and security sources that Syrian weapons were to be sent to Hezbollah. It said the Israeli air strike hit the Jamraya military research complex on the northwestern fringes of Damascus, 8 miles from the border with Lebanon.

Syrian television broadcast what it said was footage from the Jamraya base showing extensive damage to buildings and several heavy military vehicles that appeared capable of carrying missiles.

Israel has maintained official silence about the raid.The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. But on February 3 Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the attack showed Israel was serious about preventing the flow of heavy weapons into Lebanon, appearing to acknowledge for the first time that the Jewish state was behind the strike.

Are the Tar Heels NIT Bound?

The North Carolina Tar Heels are feeling the effects of growing pains more than usual. After losing four of five starts to the NBA draft last year, Roy Williams had to start back in square one and it has been a long and tough season on him the Tar Heels.

Joe Soriano and I have one simple question: Are the Tar Heels NIT bound? We’re going to share our thoughts below, and hope to hear what you have to say in the comments below!

Bryant: It’s hard for me to truly say yes or no. There are a lot of pending factors in this. If North Carolina can play with the same intensity, lineup, and strength that they did Wednesday night in Durham, they will make the NCAA Tournament. Despite falling five points short of the No. 2 Blue Devils, the Tar Heels played their best game against a quality opponent and it was in Durham which as everyone knows,Solar Sister is a network of women who sell solar lamp to communities that don't have access to electricity. not an easy task.

If they do make the NCAA Tournament, they won’t be a high seed. In fact I truly believe the Tar Heels as well as the Kentucky Wildcats will have to play in the first round of four to even make the field of 64 to begin with.

However, if they return to their sloppy defense and shot selection ways of the pre-Duke game days…I lose hope. North Carolina is a bubble team and must win against a worthy opponent. A win against Virginia, State and Duke (remaining on the schedule) is a must for the Tar Heels. Of their wins so far,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. they have none against a resume worthy team, and making those three games important.

Joe: This is a quite popular question that many people are asking, and it draws snickers and jeers from a few N.C. State and Duke fans on Twitter; both teams that are locks for the NCAA Tournament this year.

It’s easy to sit here and say “Doom for UNC”, because this team is underperforming when looking at previous years. Hell, any time UNC isn’t at least ranked in the top 25 it sends shockwaves that this is a “rebuilding” year for a blue blood team.

I honestly think the “NIT-bound” talk regarding the Tar Heels is quite ludicrous, because a quick look at the numbers and advanced statistics tells the story of a team that has a spot in the NCAA Tournament bracket with their name written on it. It won’t be a familiar top slot, but it’s a chance to get something going nonetheless. This team is stocked with young talent, and the pieces are finally hitting their stride late in the season; that’s where it matters most. It’s funny, because I use to cover the Kansas Jayhawks and non-Jayhawks fans would always freak out about their slow start (Michigan State is an example).

Now this UNC team is clearly not as good as they were last year or the year before, and one of the main reasons is because their big men don’t fit Roy Williams’s usual personnel requirements. There is no true great “big” down low in the mold of Tyler Zeller, but you don’t need to fit a scheme in order to be a solid team.Find the best selection of high-quality collectible bobbleheads available anywhere. The Tar Heels have four players with at least two win shares in finesse big James Michael McAdoo, the rising P.J. Hairston (he had better be locked into the starting spot with the way he’s played recently), the underrated Brice Johnson, and team leader and star Reggie Bullock. That’s a cog of four solid players, and that’s really all you need in order to be a solid team.

SRS is one of my favorite advanced statistics out there in college basketball (it’s really an all-around metric used by Sports Reference for every sport), because it’s accurate and simple to calculate. Did you know that the Tar Heels have the 36th-best SRS in the country? To me, that shows that this team is good enough, efficient enough, and talented enough to safely make the NCAA Tournament. UNC has played in a tough schedule, especially since they have to play two elite teams in Miami and Duke twice this year, as well as two games against another very good team in rivals N.C. State.

The Tar Heels don’t stand out in any one statistic, but they are 6-5 in conference play which ranks them squarely in fifth place. The ACC sent five teams to the tournament last season, and I think we’ll see UNC slot into the tourney once again this season. The ACC is the third-strongest conference per SRS after being rated just fifth last year, so the fact that the ACC is even stronger means that UNC has a better case to get in. I mean, if five teams made it in a weaker top-to-bottom ACC last year, then surely at least five teams will be sent in this season.

UNC is sandwiched between UCLA and Notre Dame in the SRS rankings, and that’s good enough for me to think that this team is worthy of an NCAA Tournament bid. In fact, I think people who are slotting UNC for an NIT bid are just downright overreacting. This team is finally clicking, they’ve played a difficult schedule, and they have enough talent. They aren’t a lock by any means and the stats do skew them a little too much, but UNC will be playing in the tourney come March.

"It is difficult to fix all of that even if financial resources were not an obstacle. The amount of people and time it would take would be a lot," Hansen said.

More than 385 of the original violations have been addressed, city officials said,Don't make another silicone mold without these invaluable Mold Making supplies and accessories! but an additional 243 violations were found this month. Hansen said many of those were in unoccupied units.

Sue Phillips, longtime president of the community group East Arlington Renewal, was among residents who testified about improvements they want to see at the complex.

"East Arlington Renewal works very hard to elevate east Arlington. We think everybody that lives in east Arlington or does business in east Arlington should have that same dedication," Phillips said. "I think that the property owners of La Joya Apartments are doing everything in their power to add blight and deterioration to our community.

"They have not only failed to maintain their properties. They have set their tenants at great risk for potential fire."

Resident Sam Moore said La Joya was once a desirable place to live but has become so dilapidated and so damaged by water and fire that it should be bulldozed.

"I would love to see this place go to the ground. I don't think it's repairable," Moore said. "How could you put enough money into it to make it worth it?"

Hansen also owns Bella Apartments in Fort Worth -- declared a substandard property by the Building Standards Commission.

When he appeared before the Fort Worth commission Jan. 28, he was arrested for unpaid fines related to code violations. He is free on bail in the Fort Worth case.We offer advanced technology products and services for parking guidance control.