Property owners or managers responsible for the care of lakes or ponds are advised to observe best management practices, or BMPs. These practices, when applied properly, allow one to protect lake water and the surrounding areas, and provide a safe environment for vegetation and recreation. Whether you utilize your lake or pond for outdoor leisure ? including fishing, swimming, and other water sports ? or simply use the space to beautify a commercial property, know that keeping the area clean also helps in promoting a healthy living and/or work space.
What exactly is involved in applying BMPs to lake management? It?s more than a matter of simply keeping the grounds free of litter. A reputable lake management company looks at several factors to ensure your lake or pond remains healthy for plant and animal life to enjoy. Aspects of best management practices normally include the following:
1) Management of Waterfowl. If you have a lake on your property, chances are you have ducks and geese. While ducks can be enjoyable to have around, geese will cause more harm than good. Goose droppings can contribute to the pollution of your water and pose human and animal health risks, so it?s a good idea to employ practices that discourage geese from settling on your property. Repellents that don?t harm your water or vegetated buffers along the edges of your lake are recommended to prevent geese from using your lake.
2) Proper Landscaping. The gardens and grass surrounding your water do affect the health of your lake or pond. It?s important to choose vegetation native to the area, in particular plants that do not rely on artificial fertilizers or chemicals to stay green and vibrant. A good lake management company can inspect your property and advise you on properly landscaping your water property.
3) Soil Maintenance. Gardeners know that soil must breathe in order to encourage growth. As a lake owner or manager, it?s important to control the soil surrounding the water so it does not erode.
4) Pest Control. Standing water attracts bugs. When you find an area infested with mosquitoes and other biting insects, your first instinct may be to eliminate them with pesticides. It may kill the bugs, but chemical-based pesticides can pollute your grounds. There are ways, however, to head off such problems ? the installation of a fountain, for one, helps your water?s movement so it does not stagnate and attract pests.
Lake management best practices ensure the prolonged health of your pond or lake environment. Consulting with a professional pond management company is key in the care of your property.
Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on lake management companies and pond management companies.
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Tags: Guide, Management, Practices, Property, Short
Kongregate has stepped out of its web browser boundaries by offering free-to-play downloadable desktop games alongside its existing catalog of browser-based titles. Only Super Monday Night Combat, Smashmuck Champions and Bomb Buddies are available for desktop play, but the outfit is set to beef up its selection in the following weeks. It's not likely that this development will cause Steam to nervously eye its rearview mirror for a competitor on its coattails, but it's interesting to see GameStop's F2P game venture ever so slightly dip its toes into Valve's territory. However, Gabe Newell's platform may yet have some fiercer competition in the brick-and-mortar retailer's Impulse storefront. Ready to stock up on the gratis Windows games? Hit the bordering source link to get started.
(WTVM)- The way your child is assessed in school is now changing.
Every Alabama student enrolled in physical education classes in second through twelfth grade will participate in the new Alabama physical fitness assessment.
We're told it's replacing the President's Challenge fitness test, which was adopted nearly 30 years ago.
The new assessment focuses on health-related fitness and measures aerobic cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength and endurance and flexibility.
PHOENIX (Reuters) - Winning tickets bought in Arizona and Missouri matched numbers drawn for a record Powerball lottery jackpot of $588 million, the Multi-State Lottery Association said.
Holders of the two winning tickets in the Wednesday night draw will share an estimated $385 million if they opt to take it as a lump sum. Alternatively, the $588 million can be paid out to them as annuities over three decades, the association said.
The drawing took place at 10:59 p.m. EST, with winning numbers 5 16 22 23 29, and a Powerball of 6. The Association did not say if the ticket holders had come forward yet to claim their vast cash prizes.
Powerball spokeswomen in Arizona and Missouri did not immediately respond to emails seeking further details on the winners.
The popular lottery - which is played in 42 states, Washington D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands - had not had a winner for two months. After no one won the top prize in Saturday's drawing, the pot had grown by about $263 million to $578.5 million amid a rush to buy tickets.
The previous Powerball top prize of $365 million was won in 2006 by ConAgra slaughterhouse workers in Nebraska. The largest-ever U.S. lottery jackpot, the $656 million Mega Millions drawing, was shared by three winning tickets last March.
Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, where Powerball is based, said lottery officials had received calls and emails from people around the world asking if they can buy a ticket. They cannot.
There have been nearly 300 jackpot winners over the past 20 years, taking home payouts of over $11.6 billion.
(This story corrects by deleting "after tax" in second paragraph)
(Reporting by Laura Zuckerman in Idaho, Teresa Carson in Oregon,; Keith Coffman in Colorado,; Paul Ingram in Tucson, Jonathan Kaminsky in Washington state, Dave Warner in Philadelphia and Nick Carey in Illinois; Writing by Peter Rudegeair and Tim Gaynor; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Peter Cooney)
Hong Kong (HKSAR) - Following is a question by the Hon Albert Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Gregory So, at the Legislative Council meeting today (November 28):
Question:
In reply to my question on November 2, 2011 on the issue of telecommunications service operators (TSOs) overcharging service fees, the Government said that when there was evidence indicating that a TSO might have breached the Telecommunications Ordinance (Cap.106) or the licensing conditions, the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) (replaced by the Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) since April 1, 2012) would carry out an investigation and penalise the TSO if the case was substantiated. Yet, I have still received complaints recently from a number of members of the public that TSOs had charged them for services that they had not applied for, or overcharged telecommunications service fees, thus causing them to suffer huge losses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the numbers of complaints received in the past 12 months by the former OFTA/OFCA and the Consumer Council respectively, which involved overcharging by TSOs and the names of TSOs in substantiated cases, broken down by type of telecommunications services (e.g.
fixed-line phones, mobile phones, external telecommunications and broadband Internet access, etc.) and nature of the complaints;
(b) whether it knows, among the cases in (a), the number of those in which the complainants succeeded in getting compensation, as well as the names of TSOs which were prosecuted and the number of times such TSOs had been prosecuted; and
(c) apart from continuing to implement the existing measures to regulate TSOs, whether the authorities will adopt new regulatory measures to better protect consumers' interests; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The telecommunications market in Hong Kong has been developing rapidly. The telecommunications services are pervasive and competitive. The Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) (Note 1) and the Consumer Council (CC) receive complaints in respect of the billing of telecommunications services from time to time.
Normally, such complaints will be referred to the service operators concerned direct for follow-up. The Communications Authority (CA) (Note 1) is empowered by the Telecommunications Ordinance (TO) to regulate the telecommunications sector. When there is evidence indicating that an operator may have breached the TO or the licensing conditions, the CA will conduct an investigation and penalise the operator if there is sufficient evidence to substantiate the case.
The Government's reply to the member's question is as follows:
(a) The number of complaints on billing disputes (Note 2) received by OFCA from November 2011 to October 2012, broken down by the type of services, is set out below:
November 2011 to October 2012 Fixed services87 Mobile services872 Internet access services105 Others (e.g. external24 communications services) ------------------------------- Total1088
The number of complaints on billing disputes (Note 2) received by CC from November 2011 to October 2012, broken down by the type of services, is set out below:
November 2011 to October 2012 Fixed services271 Mobile telephone services964 Mobile data services712 Internet access services663 Others (e.g. external583 communications services) -------------------------------- Total3193
Not all complaint cases are substantiated and some of them may be service enquiries only.
Moreover, the numbers of complaints against individual operators may be affected by their customer bases. Therefore, in line with the established practice of handling consumer complaints, OFCA and CC will not disclose the names of the telecommunications service operators involved in the complaints.
(b) As most complaints in respect of billing disputes are contractual disputes between individual consumers and operators, OFCA and CC do not have the right to intervene directly in such cases. However, OFCA and CC have always endeavoured to help resolve contractual and billing disputes between consumers and operators through mediation.
Among the complaints set out in part (a), OFCA referred to the operators and mediated in 901 cases with the consent of the complainants, and 496 (55%) of them have been settled. CC referred to the operators and mediated in 2 849 cases with the consent of the complainants, and 2 157 (76%) of them have been settled. For the remaining cases, OFCA and CC have requested the operators to handle them properly.
In the past year, insofar as complaints on billing disputes are concerned, OFCA did not find any substantiated breaches of the TO or licensing conditions by the operators on which the imposition of a penalty or fine was required.
(c) At present, licences issued by the CA to the telecommunications service operators include provisions for protecting consumers. For instance, the licensee is required to ensure the accuracy and reliability of its metering equipment and billing system related to service usage. In addition, section 7M of the TO expressly provides that a licensee shall not engage in misleading or deceptive conduct in providing telecommunications services, including promoting, marketing or advertising such services.
If there is evidence indicating that an operator is in breach of the TO or the licensing conditions, the CA will commence investigation and penalise the operator if there is sufficient evidence to substantiate the case.
OFCA has been closely monitoring the market situation by analysing consumer complaints and media coverage of telecommunications services, so as to understand public concerns and formulate timely measures for consumer protection. As regards telecommunications service contracts into which consumers enter, OFCA has been in active discussion with the telecommunications industry. In July 2011, the industry formally implemented the Industry Code of Practice for Telecommunications Service Contracts (Industry Code) issued by the Communications Association of Hong Kong, an industry organisation, in collaboration with the major telecommunications service operators.
The Industry Code provides guidelines on drawing up telecommunications service contracts for consumers, and introduces improvements in such aspects as contract details and arrangements for contract termination and renewal. So far, OFCA has not found any breaches of the Industry Code since its implementation.
In addition, to enhance the transparency of pricing in respect of chargeable items in telecommunications services, the CA issued in October 2011 the Code of Practice in Relation to Billing Information and Payment Collection for Telecommunications Services, which provides guidelines on the information to be included in bills and on the arrangements for payment collection, for compliance by operators on a voluntary basis. Effective from July 1, 2012, seven local fixed and five mobile network operators have pledged compliance with the Code of Practice.
The above measures have proved to be effective.
For the period of the past 12 months ending October this year, the numbers of complaints on billing disputes received by OFCA and CC have dropped by nearly 17% and by around 14% respectively as compared to the same period of last year.
Moreover, as regards the billing disputes between the customers and telecommunications service providers, OFCA has been in active discussion with the Communications Association of Hong Kong. A two-year pilot run of the Customer Complaint Settlement Scheme (CCSS) was officially launched in November 2012 to resolve billing disputes in deadlock between the telecommunications service providers and their customers through mediation.
OFCA will closely monitor the implementation and effectiveness of the above measures, and consider enhanced or new measures to protect the right and interest of consumers, in the light of operators' experience and consumers' views. The Administration will continue to actively monitor the market situation with a view to identifying problems and formulating corresponding strategies in a timely manner.
Overall, the Administration attaches great importance to enhancing consumer protection.
In July 2012, the Legislative Council enacted the Trade Description (Unfair Trade Practices) (Amendment) Ordinance 2012 (Amendment Ordinance) which aims to tackle unfair trade practices more effectively. The Amendment Ordinance expands the scope of the Trade Description Ordinance (Cap. 362) to cover services, and prohibit commonly found unfair trade practices including false trade descriptions of services, misleading omissions, aggressive commercial practices, bait advertising, bait-and-switch and wrongly accepting payment.
The amendments will be applicable to telecommunications services. The enforcement power has been conferred on the CA in respect of the telecommunications services. The current plan of the Administration is to commence the Amendment Ordinance in 2013.
(Note 1) Pursuant to the Communications Authority Ordinance (Cap 616), with effect from April 1, 2012, all duties and powers of the Telecommunications Authority are conferred on the Communications Authority (CA), and all duties and powers of the Office of the Telecommunications Authority are conferred on the Office of the Communications Authority, the executive arm of the CA.
(Note 2) While some complaints on billing disputes involve overcharging, some may involve other billing disputes such as consumers not being clear about the details of their tariff plans.
As such, the figures in part (a) are not limited to complaints about overcharging. Neither OFCA nor CC further categorises complaints on billing disputes received.
Source: HKSAR Government
Published on: 2012-11-28
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MONYWA, Myanmar (AP) ? Security forces used water cannons and other riot gear Thursday to clear protesters from a copper mine in in northwestern Myanmar, wounding villagers and Buddhist monks just hours before opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was to visit the area to hear their grievances.
The crackdown at the Letpadaung mine near the town of Monywa risks becoming a public relations and political fiasco for the reformist government of President Thein Sein, which has been touting its transition to democracy after almost five decades of repressive military rule.
The environmental and social damage allegedly produced by the mine has become a popular cause in activist circles, but was not yet a matter of broad public concern. But hurting monks ? as admired for their social activism as they are revered for their spiritual beliefs ? is sure to antagonize many ordinary people, especially as Suu Kyi's visit highlights the events.
"This is unacceptable," said Ottama Thara, a 25-year-old monk who was at the protest. "This kind of violence should not happen under a government that says it is committed to democratic reforms."
According to a nurse at a Monywa hospital, 27 monks and one other person were admitted with burns caused by some sort of projectile that released sparks or embers. Two of the monks with serious injuries were sent for treatment in Mandalay, Myanmar's second biggest city, a 2 ? hour drive away. Other evicted protesters gathered at a Buddhist temple about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the mine's gates.
Lending further sympathy to the protesters' cause is whom they are fighting against. The mining operation is a joint venture between a Chinese company and a holding company controlled by Myanmar's military. Most people remain suspicious of the military, while China is widely seen as having propped up army rule for years, in addition to being an aggressive investor exploiting the country's many natural resources.
Government officials had publicly stated that the protest risked scaring off foreign investment that is key to building the economy after decades of neglect.
State television had broadcast an announcement Tuesday night that ordered protesters to cease their occupation of the mine by midnight or face legal action. It said operations at the mine had been halted since Nov. 18, after protesters occupied the area.
Some villagers among a claimed 1,000 protesters left the six encampments they had at the mine after the order was issued. But others stayed through Wednesday, including about 100 monks.
Police moved in to disperse them early Thursday.
"Around 2:30 a.m. police announced they would give us five minutes to leave," said protester Aung Myint Htway, a peanut farmer whose face and body were covered with black patches of burned skin. He said police fired water cannons first and then shot what he and others called flare guns.
"They fired black balls that exploded into fire sparks. They shot about six times. People ran away and they followed us," he said, still writhing hours later from pain. "It's very hot."
Photos of the wounded monks showed they had sustained serious burns on parts of their bodies. It was unclear what sort of weapon caused them.
The protest is the latest major example of increased activism by citizens since the elected government took over last year. Political and economic liberalization under Thein Sein has won praise from Western governments, which have eased sanctions imposed on the previous military government because of its poor record on human and civil rights. However, the military still retains major influence over the government, and some critics fear that democratic gains could easily be rolled back.
In Myanmar's main city of Yangon, six anti-mine activists who staged a small protest were detained Monday and Tuesday, said one of their colleagues, who asked not to be identified because he did not want to attract attention from the authorities.
When you're looking to install home window tint, it can be hard to know where to go. Is this a job for window contractors? Should you stop by a warehouse home improvement store for supplies and then tackle the project yourself? Actually, help a residential job can be found in the most unusual place: at a car audio shop! Many companies that provide automotive window tinting are also available to apply tint to building windows. If you want to upgrade to the benefits of tinted windows for your home, a mobile electronics pro is the best place to start.
The only real difference between home and car is where they're installed. The same skills are required to properly adhere the films without bubbles, creases, or tears, and the same knowledge is necessary to ensure the pieces are trimmed to fit the glass snugly, without gaps or visible seams. In fact, in many cases, the materials themselves are exactly the same. So when you really start thinking about it, it isn't that far of a stretch to consider a car audio shop for home window tints.
Car window tint installers are used to working in tight spaces and frequently have to contend with irregular curves and shapes to get their films to exactly match the contours of a car or truck's windows. In comparison to the challenges of an auto, installing home window films is a breeze! However, by working with a shop that has all the skills acquired over years of putting in automotive window tinting, you can rest assured that they'll get your residential project done accurately and completely.
Most shops that offer home tinting also offer services for commercial spaces as well. So if you're a business owner looking to shade your retail store or an office manager needing to cut computer screen glare, these professionals offer great solutions for commercial window tinting, too.
No matter what your needs for window glass films, your local car audio video installers should be able to help. Whether you opt for a smoky gray or clear film, putting window tint in your home can help keep your house cooler, stop fading from ultraviolet rays, and provide myriad other advantages, so there's no reason to delay. Call or stop by to see if your area mobile electronics specialist also offers window tint for homes and businesses and start reaping the benefits of tinted windows today!
Maria Allen is a car audio enthusiast and a home improvement specialist. He is also an Internet marketer for Prospect Genius, offering affordable SEO for local companies.
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The talk around the UK based?business video?marketing company Video Results has been slowly building in the past year, and now the brains behind the company claim to have a faster and simpler method of achieving guaranteed YouTube and Google rankings for very competitive keyword phrases, such as ?Weight Loss?, ?Public Speaking? and ?Make Money Online?.
Video Results is the combination of two internet marketing heavy weights that come from two very different backgrounds. Andy Frain knows everything that can be known about Google and YouTube, without actually working for Google. He knows their algorithms, what makes them tick and most importantly, what factors these two websites use to rank their search results. ?It?s taken me about 20,000 hours of research, testing, refining and more testing to get to the point. We had a very solid and successful system this time last year that our clients have used and achieved rankings with? says Andy, ?after a summer of rigorous testing and really figuring out how to improve on the original Video Results strategy, we found ways of speeding up the process and making it easier for our clients to implement, so we decided to release the Video Results 2.0 course.?
Getting a?business video?ranked on Google and YouTube for a competitive keyword can really establish a business as a brand, as the industry leader, and as the market expert. However after going to all of the effort of getting a video to the Google and YouTube top spots, many companies find that they just aren?t getting potential prospects to actually click through to their businesses website to opt in or make a purchase. This is where Andy Frain?s business partner and Video Results? co-founder comes in.
Tom Breeze is the video marketing, video production and video conversion maestro. Boasting conversion rates of 76%, he throws himself into researching and testing the most effective techniques for getting prospects to click that all important link that goes to a company?s website. He says, ?I have a background in psychology and NLP so I?m really fascinated in the little things we can say in our videos that make potential customers more likely to click through to the website. I?m all about turning a viewer into a valued customer.?
Separately these two have very profitable and unique skills, but together as Video Results they become an unstoppable force of the video marketing world. ?We have big name clients paying us a lot of money to rank number 1 for ridiculously competitive keywords like?public speaking?? says Andy. ?This client has actually earned an extra $700,000 in income off the back of the YouTube video we created and ranked for him? adds Tom.
Not only do they offer this ?Done For You? service where they take care of everything for the client, they also teach business owners and marketers their system to implement themselves. ?Teaching the old style strategy could be quite tricky at times as there was a lot of material to get through. With the new Video Results 2.0 course it is much, much simpler. So much so that we?re putting on a three day live course where we will teach attendees the whole strategy within those three days, with time for sleeping, eating and a few post-training drinks factored in too.? says Andy.
?Working in?business video?and video presenting, I know that a lot of people really aren?t comfortable with appearing on screen and can?t see themselves becoming an uber enthusiastic presenter in a second? says Tom, ?The 2.0 course takes that presenting to camera element out. If you are comfortable with it, then great ? go for it! But if not, we have equally effective ways of creating a high converting video.?
To find out more about?Video Results?and their 3 day 2.0 live course, watch their YouTube video here?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05JMabnC3Wc?or go to their website at?http://www.VideoResults.com
Berry and Martinez.It?s probably safe to assume that Halle Berry?s ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry and current fiance Olivier Martinez are not thankful for each other this Thanksgiving. The two men had to be hospitalized after they got into an all-out brawl this morning at the Oscar winner?s Los Angeles home, reports? TMZ. According to the site, it all began when Aubry dropped off his 4-year-old daughter with Berry, Nahla, back at her mother?s home. Once inside, Martinez approached the model and said, ?We have to move on,? in reference to the battle between Berry and Aubry over Berry moving Nahla to France (a judge recently denied her request) ? and that?s when Aubry lost it.
TMZ reports that Aubry, 36, swung at Martinez?s face, but he blocked it and was instead struck on the shoulder. Then Aubry pushed the actor to the ground, and that?s when Martinez punched him in the face. After wrestling on the ground, Martinez, 46, was able to pin Aubry to the ground and made a ?citizen?s arrest? for assault.
Aubry was eventually booked for "a private persons arrest for battery," according to the LAPD and his bond was set for $20,000. The former Versace model bonded out of jail about an hour later. Aubry. (GettyImages)
According to TMZ, before he was arrested, Aubry was taken to a hospital for a broken rib, contusions to his face, and possibly a head injury. A short time later, Martinez was taken to the same hospital with a neck injury and possibly a broken hand.
As a result, a judge has issued an emergency protective order mandating that Aubry stay at least 100 yards away from Berry, Martinez, and Nahla, reports TMZ.
Just a day before the Thanksgiving Day brawl, the group all attended the same holiday party at a home in Beverly Hills, where Berry reportedly ?handed off? Nahla to her father. That night, Aubry and his daughter were spotted at The Grove where they saw a movie together.
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JG Wentworth is regarded as the best supplier of financial services in terms of buying structured settlements and other kinds of deferred payments expected to mature in future. The company has more than fifteen years of excellent track record to its credit during which period they have diversified their services without compromising on customer service and reliability. What began in 1991 as a small merchant banking firm has now become the biggest source for ordinary citizens to fulfill their financial needs by using a lump sum of cash instead of waiting for their future payments to mature.? JGW is dominating the industry simply because the urge for more financial freedom continues to lurk in the heart of millions of Americans.
JGW particularly attracts clients who own court-awarded compensations or structured settlements. In vast majority of legal cases involving personal injury, jury members declare that a monthly compensatory allowance should be paid to the aggrieved party. People who are unhappy with such an arrangement often decide to sell wholly or partially their structured settlements to a company such as JGW. A panel of structured settlement experts at JGW analyzes the individual circumstances of each client and offers the best solution. Mostly it does not take more than 4 to 6 weeks before a lump sum of cash is transferred to a client after deducting a percentage of JG Wentworth fees.
After enjoying great success in purchase of structured settlements and annuity programs of hundreds of clients in the early 1990s, the company also started dealing in lottery winnings, mortgage notes, life insurance policies and inheritance advances. After having spent more than $4 billion in purchase of future payments owned by more than 50,000 clients over the last two decades, JGW continues to thrive in a highly competitive market because of its cutting-edge financial services, excellent customer services and an innovative marketing strategy.
JGW TV commercials are considered the most clinically executed and profoundly thought-out in the industry. The JGW TV ad ?Opera? has attracted much acclaim and recognition while it has also been hailed as one of the most popular TV ads in recent years. With the passage of time as JGW continues to grow, the company is diversifying its marketing strategy to expand its customer base. Critics and market experts believe that JGW?s slogan or marketing tag-line, ?It?s your money, use it when you need it!? has resonated with ordinary Americans who are increasingly finding it hard to meet their financial obligations in today?s economic conditions.
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Nearly every eCommerce store competes with Amazon on some level. Regardless of store size, if you?re selling well-established brands, there is a very strong chance that your customers have Amazon as an alternative option. With the rollout of Amazon Prime, we?re now forced to compete on both price and logistics. Granted, your store may have [...]
The post Retail PPC: Geo-target your Distribution to Compete with Amazon Prime appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
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Posted on 21 November 2012. Tags: academic plan, drive for online learning, learning tips, motivation, online classes, project management skills, purpose for school, purpose of study, school, student advising, summary of purpose
Lately we?ve been incorporating business and project management into the mix with education. For those not studying these fields, it?s good to know some basic principles and strategic leadership techniques. One way to have success with your online education is to be a good project manager. Your academic plan is a good outline for where you?re headed, but you need to include the peripheral as well.
A summary of purpose will include a purpose, findings, best practices, barriers and issues, barriers overcome, and future needs. The academic plan can fulfill best practices, future needs, and some barriers. You need to come up with your purpose. Typically in an online class the first week discussion post is introductory, and you share your reason for taking the class and entering that degree or certificate program. Make sure you revisit your purpose throughout the program, you?ll find it changing throughout the process. As for findings, here?s where internships, career potential, and topical information should fall. This area could be the basis for a portfolio. The issues will be your own, and that can be anything from work-life balance to passing a required class. You need to identify what you?re struggling with, and then find resources to alleviate the strain.
[see also: How to Maximize Your Online Education Experience]
Use this document when you?re meeting with your student advisor. The frame of reference will give them a better idea of where you stand, and they can possibly correct any barriers that may be set in your way; like an old syllabus, or a class that doesn?t add to your academic plan.
View this summary as an executive decision on behalf of your education. Having a plan can be useful if you have a busy life and family that are competing for space. The strong purpose can also serve as your motivator when the assignments start getting tough. This summary should be the light at the end of your higher education tunnel, keep trucking and you?ll make it to the finish line soon enough!
GOMA, Congo (AP) ? Rebels believed to be backed by Rwanda fired mortars and machine guns Monday on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Goma, threatening to capture one of the largest cities in eastern Congo in a development that could drag this giant Central African nation back into war.
The gunfire and explosions erupted in the early afternoon, with shells landing as far away as the international airport and near a United Nations position, causing flights to be rerouted and prompting the United Nations to evacuate most of its employees, according to U.N. officials.
The violence erupted just hours after the M23 rebels said they were halting fighting to negotiate with the government of Congo. But government spokesman Lambert Mende told The Associated Press by phone that negotiations are out of the question, saying Congo will not give in to the "blackmail" of a Rwandan-backed group.
"We refuse to enter into negotiations with M23. Because it's Rwanda, not the M23, that is responsible," said Mende. "If Goma falls, it's going to create a whole other set of problems. We refuse systematically to speak to them (M23). Because if we do, it would be a way to wash away Rwanda's responsibility."
Congo and Rwanda have already fought two wars, the most recent of which ended in 2003 after lasting nearly six years. On Monday, both nations accused the other of firing mortars across the narrow border which runs on one side of Goma, a city of 1 million which is the economic heart of Congo's mineral rich region.
Rwandan military spokesman Gen. Joseph Nzabamwita said that Congolese shells had fallen on the Rwandan side, while Mende said that a mortar fired from Rwanda landed in the Birere neighborhood near the airport in Goma and wounded at least five people.
As tanks rumbled by, civilians including young children could be seen running to safety, seeking shelter in huts and behind ledges along the road where the two sides were battling.
Earlier, M23 rebel spokesman Col. Vianney Kazarama told the AP that his men were on their way back to Kibumba, 30 kilometers (18 miles) north in order to give proposed talks a chance. But on Monday afternoon, Kazarama blamed Congo for renewed hostilities and once again vowed that M23 would take Goma.
"The army provoked us. They have fired on our men ... We are going to take Goma tonight," he said.
On Saturday, U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said the rebels are very well-equipped, including with night-vision equipment allowing them to fight at night. The new equipment, including the goggles as well as 120 mm mortars, are being provided by Rwanda, which also sent several battalions of fighters, according to the International Crisis Group.
"The situation in Goma is extremely tense," said U.N. spokesman Kieran Dwyer in a statement Sunday. "There is a real threat that the city could fall into the M23's hands and/or be seriously destabilized as a result of the fighting."
On Monday, the rebels lofted mortar shells that landed near U.N. peacekeeping troops at the airport, Dwyer said in an update, adding that "We are not able to confirm fighting in Goma or that the M23 has reached Goma at this stage." He also said the U.N. could not confirm reports of firing from Congo into Rwanda.
M23 began when several hundred men believed to be led by Gen. Bosco Ntaganda ? who is wanted by the International Criminal Court ?defected from the Congo army in April. Congo analyst Jason Stearns, a former member of the United Nations Group of Experts, said on his blog that the group is now believed to be composed of 2,500 to 3,000 men.
The situation mirrors events in 2008, when a now-defunct rebel group known as the National Congress for the Defense of the People, or CNDP, advanced to the edge of Goma as Congolese soldiers dropped their weapons and ran. That group, which was financially and militarily backed by Rwanda, stopped just short of taking the city. The rapid advance forced the Congo government to enter into negotiations with the rebels.
The peace deal brokered on March 23, 2009, called for CNDP fighters to be integrated into the national army.
Tellingly, the new rebel group's name comes from the date of those peace accords, which the M23 says were never fully implemented by the government. M23 fighters include former members of the CNDP.
The M23 rebels told the Congo government to make a declaration on state TV and radio announcing the start of negotiations, but did not state what they hope to achieve in talks. In a statement released on Monday, the M23 also called for the immediate demilitarization of the city and the airport in Goma, and for the opening of the border at the town of Bunagana within the next 48 hours.
The U.N. Group of Experts says M23 is backed by neighboring Rwanda, which the Rwandan government of President Paul Kagame denies. Uganda is also accused of backing M23 by the U.N. experts in a report that was leaked to the media last month, and Uganda also denies the allegations.
Observers say it is in Rwanda's interest to exert influence over areas of eastern Congo bordering Rwanda, where Hutus fled after perpetrating the 1994 genocide inside Rwanda against the country's Tutsi minority. Exerting influence would enable Rwanda to maintain a buffer zone and to exploit the trade and trafficking of minerals in eastern Congo, say experts including those from the International Crisis Group.
Over the weekend, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Kagame to ask him to intervene and stop the M23 offensive, according to a statement issued at U.N headquarters in New York.
Ban also spoke Sunday to Uganda's President Museveni, according to Dwyer. Museveni, in his capacity as chairperson of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region, indicated that he had spoken to the M23 rebels and called for calm.
___
Callimachi contributed from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Saleh Mwanamilongo in Kinshasa, Congo, and Peter James Spielmann at the United Nations contributed to this story.
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Nanotech device mimics dog's nose to detect explosivesPublic release date: 20-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Melissa Van De Werfhorst melissa@engineering.ucsb.edu 805-893-4301 University of California - Santa Barbara
Inspired by the biology of canine scent receptors, UC Santa Barbara scientists develop a chip capable of quickly identifying trace amounts of vapor molecules
(Santa Barbara, CA ) Portable, accurate, and highly sensitive devices that sniff out vapors from explosives and other substances could become as commonplace as smoke detectors in public places, thanks to researchers at University of California, Santa Barbara.
Researchers at UCSB, led by professors Carl Meinhart of mechanical engineering and Martin Moskovits of chemistry, have designed a detector that uses microfluidic nanotechnology to mimic the biological mechanism behind canine scent receptors. The device is both highly sensitive to trace amounts of certain vapor molecules, and able to tell a specific substance apart from similar molecules.
"Dogs are still the gold standard for scent detection of explosives. But like a person, a dog can have a good day or a bad day, get tired or distracted," said Meinhart. "We have developed a device with the same or better sensitivity as a dog's nose that feeds into a computer to report exactly what kind of molecule it's detecting." The key to their technology, explained Meinhart, is in the merging of principles from mechanical engineering and chemistry in a collaboration made possible by UCSB's Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies.
Results published this month in Analytical Chemistry show that their device can detect airborne molecules of a chemical called 2,4-dinitrotoluene, the primary vapor emanating from TNT-based explosives. The human nose cannot detect such minute amounts of a substance, but "sniffer" dogs have long been used to track these types of molecules. Their technology is inspired by the biological design and microscale size of the canine olfactory mucus layer, which absorbs and then concentrates airborne molecules.
"The device is capable of real-time detection and identification of certain types of molecules at concentrations of 1 ppb or below. Its specificity and sensitivity are unparalleled," said Dr. Brian Piorek, former mechanical engineering doctoral student in Meinhart's laboratory and Chief Scientist at Santa Barbara-based SpectraFluidics, Inc. The technology has been patented and exclusively licensed to SpectraFluidics, a company that Piorek co-founded in 2008 with private investors.
"Our research project not only brings different disciplines together to develop something new, but it also creates jobs for the local community and hopefully benefits society in general," commented Meinhart.
Packaged on a fingerprint-sized silicon microchip and fabricated at UCSB's state-of-the-art cleanroom facility, the underlying technology combines free-surface microfluidics and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to capture and identify molecules. A microscale channel of liquid absorbs and concentrates the molecules by up to six orders of magnitude. Once the vapor molecules are absorbed into the microchannel, they interact with nanoparticles that amplify their spectral signature when excited by laser light. A computer database of spectral signatures identifies what kind of molecule has been captured.
"The device consists of two parts," explained Moskovits. "There's a microchannel, which is like a tiny river that we use to trap the molecules and present them to the other part, a mini spectrometer powered by a laser that detects them. These microchannels are twenty times smaller than the thickness of a human hair."
"The technology could be used to detect a very wide variety of molecules," said Meinhart. "The applications could extend to certain disease diagnosis or narcotics detection, to name a few."
Moskovits added, "The paper we published focused on explosives, but it doesn't have to be explosives. It could detect molecules from someone's breath that may indicate disease, for example, or food that has spoiled."
The fundamental research was developed through an interdisciplinary collaboration between Professors Meinhart and Moskovits, and carried out by former doctoral researchers Dr. Piorek and Dr. Seung-Joon Lee. Their project was funded in part by UCSB's Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies through the Army Research Office and DARPA.
###
The College of Engineering at University of California, Santa Barbara is recognized globally as a leader among the top tier of engineering education and research programs, and is renowned for a successful interdisciplinary approach to engineering research.
The Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies at University of California, Santa Barbara is a uniquely interdisciplinary alliance of more than 150 researchers in academia, industry, and the U.S. Army that conducts unclassified, fundamental bio-inspired research in sensors, materials, biodiscovery, network science, and cognitive neuroscience. Led by the University of California, Santa Barbara, in collaboration with MIT, Caltech, the Army, and industry partners, the ICB transforms biological inspiration into technological innovation.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Nanotech device mimics dog's nose to detect explosivesPublic release date: 20-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Melissa Van De Werfhorst melissa@engineering.ucsb.edu 805-893-4301 University of California - Santa Barbara
Inspired by the biology of canine scent receptors, UC Santa Barbara scientists develop a chip capable of quickly identifying trace amounts of vapor molecules
(Santa Barbara, CA ) Portable, accurate, and highly sensitive devices that sniff out vapors from explosives and other substances could become as commonplace as smoke detectors in public places, thanks to researchers at University of California, Santa Barbara.
Researchers at UCSB, led by professors Carl Meinhart of mechanical engineering and Martin Moskovits of chemistry, have designed a detector that uses microfluidic nanotechnology to mimic the biological mechanism behind canine scent receptors. The device is both highly sensitive to trace amounts of certain vapor molecules, and able to tell a specific substance apart from similar molecules.
"Dogs are still the gold standard for scent detection of explosives. But like a person, a dog can have a good day or a bad day, get tired or distracted," said Meinhart. "We have developed a device with the same or better sensitivity as a dog's nose that feeds into a computer to report exactly what kind of molecule it's detecting." The key to their technology, explained Meinhart, is in the merging of principles from mechanical engineering and chemistry in a collaboration made possible by UCSB's Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies.
Results published this month in Analytical Chemistry show that their device can detect airborne molecules of a chemical called 2,4-dinitrotoluene, the primary vapor emanating from TNT-based explosives. The human nose cannot detect such minute amounts of a substance, but "sniffer" dogs have long been used to track these types of molecules. Their technology is inspired by the biological design and microscale size of the canine olfactory mucus layer, which absorbs and then concentrates airborne molecules.
"The device is capable of real-time detection and identification of certain types of molecules at concentrations of 1 ppb or below. Its specificity and sensitivity are unparalleled," said Dr. Brian Piorek, former mechanical engineering doctoral student in Meinhart's laboratory and Chief Scientist at Santa Barbara-based SpectraFluidics, Inc. The technology has been patented and exclusively licensed to SpectraFluidics, a company that Piorek co-founded in 2008 with private investors.
"Our research project not only brings different disciplines together to develop something new, but it also creates jobs for the local community and hopefully benefits society in general," commented Meinhart.
Packaged on a fingerprint-sized silicon microchip and fabricated at UCSB's state-of-the-art cleanroom facility, the underlying technology combines free-surface microfluidics and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to capture and identify molecules. A microscale channel of liquid absorbs and concentrates the molecules by up to six orders of magnitude. Once the vapor molecules are absorbed into the microchannel, they interact with nanoparticles that amplify their spectral signature when excited by laser light. A computer database of spectral signatures identifies what kind of molecule has been captured.
"The device consists of two parts," explained Moskovits. "There's a microchannel, which is like a tiny river that we use to trap the molecules and present them to the other part, a mini spectrometer powered by a laser that detects them. These microchannels are twenty times smaller than the thickness of a human hair."
"The technology could be used to detect a very wide variety of molecules," said Meinhart. "The applications could extend to certain disease diagnosis or narcotics detection, to name a few."
Moskovits added, "The paper we published focused on explosives, but it doesn't have to be explosives. It could detect molecules from someone's breath that may indicate disease, for example, or food that has spoiled."
The fundamental research was developed through an interdisciplinary collaboration between Professors Meinhart and Moskovits, and carried out by former doctoral researchers Dr. Piorek and Dr. Seung-Joon Lee. Their project was funded in part by UCSB's Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies through the Army Research Office and DARPA.
###
The College of Engineering at University of California, Santa Barbara is recognized globally as a leader among the top tier of engineering education and research programs, and is renowned for a successful interdisciplinary approach to engineering research.
The Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies at University of California, Santa Barbara is a uniquely interdisciplinary alliance of more than 150 researchers in academia, industry, and the U.S. Army that conducts unclassified, fundamental bio-inspired research in sensors, materials, biodiscovery, network science, and cognitive neuroscience. Led by the University of California, Santa Barbara, in collaboration with MIT, Caltech, the Army, and industry partners, the ICB transforms biological inspiration into technological innovation.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) ? Masked gunmen publicly shot dead six suspected collaborators with Israel in a large Gaza City intersection Tuesday, witnesses said. An Associated Press reporter saw a mob surrounding five of the bloodied corpses shortly after the killing.
Some in the crowd stomped and spit on the bodies. A sixth corpse was tied to a motorcycle and dragged through the streets as people screamed, "Spy! Spy!"
The Hamas military wing, Izzedine al-Qassam, claimed responsibility in a large handwritten note attached to a nearby electricity pole. Hamas said the six were killed because they gave Israel information about fighters and rocket launching sites.
The killing came on the seventh day of an Israeli military offensive that has killed more than 120 Palestinians, both militants and civilians. Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes, targeting rocket launching sites, weapons caches and homes of Hamas activists, as Palestinians fired hundreds of rockets at Israel.
Israel relies on a network of local informers to identify its targets in Gaza.
The six were killed on Tuesday afternoon in Gaza City's Sheik Radwan neighborhood.
Witnesses said a van stopped in the intersection, and four masked men pushed the six suspected informers out of the vehicle. Salim Mahmoud, 18, said the gunmen ordered the six to lie face down in the street and then shot them dead. Another witness, 13-year-old Mokhmen al-Gazhali, said the informers were killed one by one, as he mimicked the sound of gunfire.
They said only a few people were in the street at first ? most Gazans have been staying indoors because of the Israeli airstrikes ? but the crowd quickly grew after the killings. Eventually several hundred men pushed and shoved to get a close look at the bodies, lying in a jumble on the ground. One man spit at the corpses, another kicked the head of one of the dead men.
"They should have been killed in a more brutal fashion so others don't even think about working with the occupation (Israel)," said one of the bystanders, 24-year-old Ashraf Maher.
One body was then tied by a cable to the back of a motorcycle and dragged through the streets. A number of gunmen on motorcycles rode along as the body was pulled past a house of mourning for victims of an Israeli airstrike.
There is broad consensus among Palestinians that informers for Israel deserve harsh punishment, and it is rare to hear someone speak out against killings of alleged collaborators. Such public killings been carried out in the West Bank and Gaza since the first uprising against Israeli occupation in the late 1980s.
In Israel's last major Gaza offensive four years ago, 17 suspected collaborators who fled after their prisons were hit in airstrikes were later shot dead in extra-judicial killings.
During the current offensive, Tuesday's killings brought to eight the number of suspected informers being shot dead in public. On Friday, the body of one alleged informer was found in a garbage bin, and another was shot dead in the street. Hamas claimed responsibility for both killings.
Since seizing Gaza in 2007, Hamas has executed four informers by firing squad, and about a dozen more are on death row in Gaza.
Health professionals agree that obesity is a growing epidemic affecting Long Beach residents and our nation as a whole, a situation that has shown to not only impact physical wellbeing but also mental health.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one-third of American adults are considered obese, meaning that these individuals are carrying an excessive amount of fat on their body relative to their lean body mass.
The Body Mass Index (BMI) is the standard measure of obesity, and individuals with a BMI of 30 or more are considered obese (see below for calculation).
Several studies over the past 15 years have shown a relationship between high rates of obesity, low-income or poverty and high rates of mental illness, such as depression, anxiety or other psychological issues. Obesity and its related public health issues are affecting populations on the local level in staggering numbers.
?All health departments started recognizing the pattern of obesity throughout the 1980s and ?90s,? Mitchell Kushner, MD, the public health officer for the City of Long Beach, said in an e-mail. ?However, in the year 2000 the CDC started utilizing the term obesity epidemic, when over 280,000 annual deaths as a consequence of obesity were recorded. The epidemic has progressed dramatically over the last decade, and currently no state within the U.S has an obesity level less than 20 percent.?
Kushner confirmed that Long Beach has a childhood and adult obesity epidemic, having higher rates of both when compared to Los Angeles County. At the request of the Business Journal, Kushner used data from the most recent community health research assessment showing rates of childhood obesity, diabetes diagnosis and mental health hospitalizations to break down the top impacted areas for each by Long Beach zip code.
?Besides all the journal articles we have found linking these conditions, you will see a striking correlation here in Long Beach across the 11 zip codes in our city,? he said. According to Kushner, the top five zip codes with the highest incidence of childhood obesity are: 90804, 90805, 90813, 90806 and 90802. The top five for diabetes diagnosis are 90813, 90810, 90805, 90806 and 90804. The top five zip codes for mental illness hospitalizations are 90802, 90813, 90804, 90807 and 90805.
Three out of the top five zip codes among these three health issues are shared: 90804, 90806, 90813. In addition, four out of the five top zip codes for mental health and childhood obesity are shared: 90802, 90804, 90806 and 90813. ?All these shared zip codes fall within designated medically under-served areas (MUA) and are considered low-income areas or areas with higher rates of poverty,? Kushner said. ?Based on data from the health department?s community health assessment, conducted over the past year, you have found a correlation in comparing Long Beach zip codes and incidence of obesity, diabetes and mental health.?
Video Results is the combination of two internet marketing heavy weights that come from two very different backgrounds. Andy Frain knows everything that can be known about Google and YouTube, without actually working for Google. He knows their algorithms, what makes them tick and most importantly, what factors these two websites use to rank their search results. ?It?s taken me about 20,000 hours of research, testing, refining and more testing to get to the point. We had a very solid and successful system this time last year that our clients have used and achieved rankings with? says Andy, ?after a summer of rigorous testing and really figuring out how to improve on the original Video Results strategy, we found ways of speeding up the process and making it easier for our clients to implement, so we decided to release the Video Results 2.0 course.?
Lately we?ve been incorporating business and project management into the mix with education. For those not studying these fields, it?s good to know some basic principles and strategic leadership techniques. One way to have success with your online education is to be a good project manager. Your academic plan is a good outline for where you?re headed, but you need to include the peripheral as well.
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Public release date: 20-Nov-2012
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