Sole rights, exclusive rights and non-exclusive rights
What is the difference between an exclusive grant of rights and a non-exclusive grant of rights? Is there any difference between an exclusive grant and a sole grant? In this short post, I try to answer these common contract-related questions.
Many types of commercial contract feature the grant of rights by one person or company (the "grantor") to another. Such grants may be based upon independently enforceable rights, such as intellectual property rights, or simply on contract. For instance:
 - technology transfer agreements may involve the licensing of patent-protected inventions
 - distribution agreements typically grant the distributor the right to sell the relevant products in a particular market
 - author agreements usually contain a grant of the right to produce and publish a book or other work.
The distinction between grants that are exclusive and non-exclusive is fairly clear. Where rights are granted on an exclusive basis, the grantor is saying: "I'm not going to grant these rights to anyone else, and moreover I won't exercise them myself". No such undertakings are given where rights are granted on a non-exclusive basis, and the grantor is free to grant the same rights to others, or to exercise the rights itself.
Less clear is the distinction between exclusive rights and sole rights. A common view (my own) is that a grant of sole rights should involve the grantor retaining the ability to exercise the rights itself, while undertaking to forbear granting the rights to others. But many contracts use the term to refer to a grant of exclusive rights. Given this lack of clarity, you should refrain from using the word "sole" in relation to grants of rights. And where you are interpreting a contract that includes a grant of sole rights, you need to look at the rest of the document to discover whether the grant is really exclusive.
Does a non-exclusive license have to be writing?
I am going to open small business (a publishing company). I will publish magazines with stories. I will collect stories through a website. Each user will have to agree with the terms and conditions of the website, which will state that the contract is non-exclusive. I will pay for the stories. Do I have to write a contract for each author for this non-exclusive license?
As a matter of English law, non-exclusive licences of copyright do not have to be in writing, but in your circumstances it would be sensible to include a licensing provision in the website terms and conditions, setting out what rights you have in relation to the stories, as well as payment terms.
We have produced a movie. A company called ABC wants to market the film for us. Their contract states we grant to them the non-exclusive sales rights and we appoint them as our non-exclusive agent to license, market, sell, advertise and publicise the picture and to sub-license such rights to thers.
Does this mean that we can continue to market it ourselves and that we could also grant these same rights to others at the same time?
That's what the paraphrased text ("non-exclusive") would appear to mean... but I would need to review the contract in question to comment on something like this with any degree of confidence.
If a licence is granted on a non-ecxlusive basis, and is royalty free, does that mean that no up-front payments can be taken?
"Royalty-free" seems to mean different things in different contexts. I've seen it used in relation to licences where there is a single up-front payment, but no ongoing payments. Elsewhere, I've seen it used in relation to licences that are entirely free of charge, or in relation to licences that are associated with paid-for services but don't attract a separate charge. So, you need to look at all of the licence terms to determine the meaning.
An author hands what is apparently the only copy of a book manuscript to a close friend and says "Do whatever you want to with this." Has the author orally agreed to transfer the exclusive or non-exclusive right to publish the author's work?
I don't know, and wouldn't like to guess.
Our company recently got telecom project telephone marketing sale non exclusive reseller, we can agree another same type of project exclusive or non exclusive reseller?
I'd need more information to comment on this usefully. The first thing you should do is read any written contract: what exactly does it say? In respect of what is it non-exclusive?
Been in contact with the authorized copyright holder, we are trying to set up and eclusive copyright license that allows us to be the sole user of the copyright for a specific market. He asked us to research the forms and contracts to deduce what we should use. Any direction I could be pointed towards? Thank you in advance.
I have a sales agency. I have recently found that my principal started to sell to a customer which I was selling to since more then 5 years: the same product, under the same brand name, through another agent. Yes, I am a non-exclusive agent. But is it legal to do so with the existing customers and how the interests of a non-exclusive agent protected in this case?
A lawyer would need to see all the documents and talk to you in detail before advising on this question.
Is it possible in a contract to include both an exclusive rights and non exclusive rights. For example a Work has an exclusive right to be published and sold in one particular country only and then the publisher will also have a nonexclusive rights to distribute in other countries?
Yes it is possible; indeed, it is common. Just a matter of drafting.
Hello sir, I have idea of services company and I want to take all copyrights and exclusive rights. What is the process of securing my new busines idea and my investment?
The legal rights in play depend to a significant extent upon what you want to protect. As a matter of English law, the idea of a particular business model will not usually be protected by IP, but for so long as the information is not public you may be able to get some protection using non-disclosure agreements and the law of confidence.
Copyrights protect relevant types of work (eg written works) and subsist automatically.
Other rights to consider include patents (for inventions), trade mark registrations (for logos and business names) and design rights (for both 2D and 3D designs).
I can't however advise on what is right for you without knowing a great deal about the business (ie taking you on as a client).
Hello, our company is reviewing an 'agency contract' which has been drawn up by the supplier of a product we wish to have exclusive rights to sell within a specific country as part of our engineering services.
The supplier's contract uses the word "project based exclusive agent" rather than just "exclusive agent". Does the wording "project based exclusive" limit our "exclusive rights"? Here is an example of the terminology....
"For the purpose of business operation, The COMPANY decides to appoint and empower the AGENT as its project based exclusive agent for the marketing and promotion of its SYSTEMS and as the AGENT also agrees and accepts to act as the project based exclusive agent of the COMPANY;"
I'd need to read the contract and perhaps talk to you about the background in order to answer this question.
We are a wholesale company. Is it a good business decision to give a retailer exclusive rights to sell our products on Amazon when we have several retailers already selling our products on Amazon. Is there any benefit for the company giving exclusive rights to one person?
... whether this would be a good business decision in your particular circumstances.
Also NB in some circumstances there can be contractual or legal issues with refusing to supply an existing distributor.
Dealing with a single distributor in a channel can make your life easier but, in general, when you grant exclusive distribution rights, you will want something else in return, such as performance commitments.
Hi I am animator/writer currently producing a TV series idea, with a company (I am not employed at this company). The company wants exclusive rights to the animation idea. Does this mean I would give them the full rights to my idea or just the rights to produce it??
Forgive me if I sound silly but I am not clued up on contracts.
I have leased an area of land off the Charity commission for the last forty seven yrs, this lease has entitled me to sole catering rights for the sale of food and drink. My lease is coming up for renewal and the landlords are insisting I relinquish my sole trader status, is this legal?
Add new comment


Automation: A Cure-All?
October 2, 2014
Siegfried Schmitt
Siegfried Schmitt, PhD, principal consultant at PAREXEL.
Pharmaceutical Technology, Pharmaceutical Technology-10-02-2014, Volume 38, Issue 10
Siegfried Schmitt, Principal Consultant, PAREXEL International, discusses the benefits of automated processes.
Q.We are manufacturing drug substances (APIs) and drug products for a global customer base. Many of our processes are manual, and the majority of our documentation is on paper. Although we have an excellent inspection record and a satisfied customer base, we are concerned about the need to increase our level of automation. Should we move to automated systems such as electronic batch records (EBRs)?
A.Though regulations do not explicitly require firms to apply automated systems, they do require the industry to apply current good practices, which may well be automated/electronic processes rather than a manual/paper system. FDA, for example, describes the need to evaluate automated solutions in various Form-483 and warning letter observations (1, 2).
Manual operations carry the risk of human error and often require verification by a second person. Similarly, handwritten records typically require confirmation of accuracy and completeness by a third party. While this time-trusted practice has historically proven to be effective, there are more efficient ways to operate, especially with the technology advancements available today.
When records are kept on paper, there is a need to transcribe data and information to prepare essential documents, such as the annual product quality review, trend information (e.g., monitoring of corrective actions and preventive actions), statistical evaluations (e.g., for process capability), and others. In addition to being time consuming, manual transcriptions are prone to errors.
Automated/electronic systems have distinct advantages and provide functionality that manual/paper systems may not be able to offer, such as making information accessible anywhere and anytime. For many applications, well-established computer systems or programs are available. Some programs have become industry standards, including enterprise resource planning (ERP), laboratory information management systems (LIMS), chromatography data management systems (CDMS), and building management systems (BMS). The question is not whether there is a system, but rather which system is right for your particular needs and purposes.
A major misconception, however, is that automated systems will do the work for you. While they perform transactions for which they were programmed, they do not replace human intellect. Typical examples are change-control or deviation-management systems, in which automated systems provide functionality for process flows, alerts, and searches. Descriptive texts, assessments, and logical conclusions, however, must still be recorded and entered by a human. Automated systems do not necessarily free up resources; they provide a framework and tool set for managing these processes more efficiently.
For making the transition to more automated/electronic systems, the answer ultimately depends on individual needs and circumstances. Take electronic batch records. If your operational environment (manufacturing and analytical laboratories) already provides much of the data in electronic format, then the data (e.g., weights, temperatures, times, analytical results, etc.) can be imported electronically. The batch records can then be reviewed online by the quality assurance department, which can increase efficiency. Use of electronic signatures is another option provided by most EBR systems.
If you want to replace second-person verification of critical entries by the computerized system (automated verification checks), then the EBR could be the right solution for you. Additionally, if access to the records is an issue, then electronic versions can provide much more versatility. Keep in mind that such automated systems, especially highly configurable ones like an EBR, require full and diligent computerized systems validation, a task that requires significant amounts of time and resources.
Automated systems are a bare necessity in today's enterprises, but they are not a cure all. They are useful, providing functionality that is otherwise unavailable, and well established. In terms of the right system for your business, prepare a SWOT, or strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis of your existing systems and develop an automation strategy based on the findings. If this is not something your teams are familiar with, there are many companies who can assist.
1. FDA, ORA FOIA Electronic Reading Room, accessed Sept. 9, 2014.
2. FDA, Inspections, Compliance, Enforcement, and Criminal Investigations, Warning Letters, accessed Sept. 9, 2014.
About the Author
Siegfried Schmitt is Principal Consultant at PAREXEL International.


text:
ANSI Common Lisp 3 Evaluation and Compilation 3.2 Compilation
3.2.3 File CompilationThe function compile-file performs compilation of forms in a file following the rules specified in Section 3.2.2 Compilation Semantics, and produces an output file that can be loaded by using load.
Normally, the top level forms appearing in a file compiled with compile-file are evaluated only when the resulting compiled file is loaded, and not when the file is compiled. However, it is typically the case that some forms in the file need to be evaluated at compile time so the remainder of the file can be read and compiled correctly.
The eval-when special form can be used to control whether a top level form is evaluated at compile time, load time, or both. It is possible to specify any of three situations with eval-when, denoted by the symbols :compile-toplevel, :load-toplevel, and :execute. For top level eval-when forms, :compile-toplevel specifies that the compiler must evaluate the body at compile time, and :load-toplevel specifies that the compiler must arrange to evaluate the body at load time. For non-top level eval-when forms, :execute specifies that the body must be executed in the run-time environment.
The behavior of this form can be more precisely understood in terms of a model of how compile-file processes forms in a file to be compiled. There are two processing modes, called "not-compile-time" and "compile-time-too".
Successive forms are read from the file by compile-file and processed in not-compile-time mode; in this mode, compile-file arranges for forms to be evaluated only at load time and not at compile time. When compile-file is in compile-time-too mode, forms are evaluated both at compile time and load time.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text:
Save Words in their Natural Context
Drag and drop to save the words you know as Known Words, and the words you need to practice as Practice Words. Easy right?
By saving known and practice words from real conversations in real contexts, you become an active listener and participant in the Spanish lesson. As a result, you learn faster and build your vocabulary with real life day-to-day words that you will actually use.
Important Word Saving Features
Save Known Words
Save the words you already know to build up an active list of words you are comfortable understanding and using. You are able to review and study these known words at any time to make sure you retain them.
Save Practice Words
Save the words you don't recognize as practice words. As you practice these words and they show up in other conversations, you will naturally begin to add them to your active vocabulary.
Manage Saved Words
Once you have saved some known and practice words, you will be able to manage them by organizing them into custom vocabulary lists (i.e. sports words, cooking words). Create as many lists as you want, and decide the organizational structure that works best for you!
Practice Saved Words
You can practice any word list you have created at any time! This is a great way to convert practice words to known words as you build your Spanish vocabulary. As you study your word lists, you will get accuracy scores to help you determine just how well you actually know a list.
Set Word Goals
As you save words, we keep track of exactly how many practice and known words you have saved. This way, you can set simple goals, such as "I want to have 125 known words by this Friday, and 500 known words by the end of the month!"


text:
Why Test Performance Matters
"How fast are your tests?". Have you ever had that question? Probably not. Does performance matter for tests? Yes, and here's why: The time it takes from you changing a bit of code until you get feedback on whether or not that code works is crucial in knowing if your code is good or not. Let me illustrate by two scenarios.
Scenario 1: Slow feedback cycle
Let's say your tests take 20 minutes to run. Some time ago developers got tired of running the tests locally so you moved to a model where you run the tests in 30 minute intervals on your build server. Now you have just commited some code that changes the default sort order for getting lists of users from the database. You commit and push your code and start working on something else. An hour later you get an email: "Build failed". You quickly scan through the email to see that 7 commits have been pushed since the last build and that this test is failing: "main_menu_has_correct_items". That doesn't look like your fault (right?) so you continue working on that other thing. Meanwhile, two other contributors to this build are scratching their heads for hours trying to figure out why the menu isn't rendering correctly, only to find out that the sort order for users was making the test fail.
Scenario 2: Rapid feedback cycle
Your tests are lightning fast. Every time you save your code, tests will be run automatically and tell you whether or not you broke something. You change the sort order for getting lists of users from the database and notice within seconds that the 'main_menu_has_correct_items' test is failing. "Strange", you think and revert your change just to make sure that it wasn't a fluke. Nope, no fluke. The test is now passing. You make your change again and start investigating why changing the user sort order had an effect on the main menu. You quickly find that the menu was depending on the last item from a list of users.
The above scenarios should make it obvious that performance matters for tests.
The examples are taken to the extremes, and you will probably find that your
company is somewhere in the middle in this spectrum. You might not reach
instantaneous feedback as in scenario 2, but you can certainly aim to get
closer to that. At Causes, we are down to seconds in
most scenarios. Our entire test suite takes about 5 minutes to run, but clever
engineers have created a smart tool called
relevant-tests that tells you with
high confidence what tests you need to run, and you can run only those tests in
seconds through the help of Zeus, a
Rails daemon that speeds up most Rails-related tasks by keeping a runtime
environment hot at all times, and cloning that environment when you need it.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


I am running a 5e campaign where my players own a Keep. On the surrounding property there is a pond, about 25 ft in diameter and 15 ft deep. My player's level 14 Cleric wants to turn the pond into Holy Water, he believes that this will give him unlimited holy water.
In the player's handbook it says"A cleric or paladin may create Holy Water by performing a special ritual. The ritual takes 1 hour to perform, uses 25gp worth of powdered silver, and requires the caster to expend a 1st-level spell slot" and Holy Water comes in flasks which suggests that 25gp is used for 1 pint of water.
How long and how much money will it take him to turn the whole pond Holy? Will the pond dilute, as in the already Holy water loosing potency, if it takes him multiple days? What about dilution due to rain?
If you could figure this out for me I would appreciate it
It is impractical to make the pond Holy using the ritual.
Assuming that the pond is perfectly cylindrical, it has a volume of 7,363 cubic feet. Google claims that such a volume is equal to 440,633 pints. All of the flasks listed on PHB 152-3 contain 1 pint, so if we assume that the ritual makes 1 pint of holy water, it would take as many hours to make all of that water Holy according to the PHB ritual.
A cleric of any level can spend at most 16 hours a day doing the rituals, because they have to spend at least 8 hours a day resting in order to get their spell slots back. At that rate, it would take 75 years and about 11 million gp worth of silver to turn the entire pond into holy water.
Unless I've made a serious math mistake somewhere, this order-of-magnitude calculation shows that it doesn't make sense to turn a large body of water into holy water.
However, the cleric does have the Divine Intervention class feature (PHB 59):
It seems to me that making a pond full of holy water would be within the purview of this feature, though it's ultimately up to you as the DM to decide.
There are no rules for potency.
I could not find any rules that dictate whether or not Holy Water retains its powers if diluted. Therefore, it's probably up to you as the DM to determine this.
What's the point?
Currently, in the rules, holy water doesn't have too much importance; it's a somewhat weak attack against fiends and undead, and it's a component of some spells.
I think that it's likely that your cleric player wants to accomplish something specific with the holy water. You should ask him what he wants to do with all that holy water, and then work with him on how he can accomplish that particular goal, instead of getting hung up on specifics like this. I find that focusing on intents and goals, rather than whether particular methods are impractical or not, tends to have better results at the table.
 - 7
 \$\begingroup\$ It's reasonably possible creating a lake of holy water may well be the end goal in and of itself-- that's sort of a classic mythy thing. \$\endgroup\$ – Please stop being evil Jun 10 '17 at 20:48
 - 1
 \$\begingroup\$ Also this answer assumes that the ritual produces 1 pint of holy water. While the player's possible assumption that the ritual produces as much holy water as you have water for the ritual is ill founded, the idea that the ritual produces a single pint doesn't really have any support either. Basically, the rules say you can make the stuff, but are largely silent on how much you get and how it works. \$\endgroup\$ – Please stop being evil Jun 10 '17 at 21:09
 - 6
 \$\begingroup\$ _USER_, I agree that the amount of water produced is not clearly stated. Still, the paragraph describing its creation is in the same section that refers to a "flask," so it's probably closer to a pint than a full pond. Also, I'd argue that it's impractical even if I'm off by an order of magnitude... \$\endgroup\$ – Icyfire Jun 10 '17 at 21:23
 - \$\begingroup\$ _USER_ How big is your flask? \$\endgroup\$ – KorvinStarmast Jun 11 '17 at 1:40
 - 4
 \$\begingroup\$ _USER_ You don't have to assume. p. 153 of PHB says a flask holds one pint. \$\endgroup\$ – KorvinStarmast Jun 11 '17 at 2:01
Your Answer


text:
Prove that at any time there are two opposite points along the Equator, which have exactly the same temperature. Assume the temperature function varies continuously as you move along the Equator.
Counterargument: This is patently impossible. If there are such points on the Equator, there must also be similar points on any circle around the Earth, such as a meridian. But in that case, we'd have one point in the north hemisphere, in winter, and the other in the south, in summer; that doesn't make sense!
What's wrong with this reasoning?
What is wrong with having two identical temperatures with one in summer
and one in winter? There are many other factors, such as night
and day, bodies of water, and the latitude. Near the equator,
winter and summer hardly make a difference.
If we were to say that in December every point in the southern
hemisphere is strictly warmer than every point in the northern
hemisphere, then the equator must be a single constant
temperature. In this case, there doesn't need to be any match in
temperature between the northern and southern hemispheres. If the
equator only varies slightly, then the matching temperatures will
probably be very near the equator.
Posted by Tristan
on 2005-03-27 20:27:49


text:
Show that the tangent to the parabola Y=Ax^2 (for A does not equal 0) at the point where x = c will intersect the x axis at the point (c/2, 0. Where does it intersect the y axis.
To find the tangent find the derivative of at which isOriginally Posted by frozenflames
Thus, the slope of the tangent line is. Now use the formula for finding equations of line by knowing thier slopes and the point that they pass through. That formula is this tangent line has slope and passes through the point of tangentcy thus Thus, the equation of the tangent line is thus, now set because this is the x-intercept thus solve for thus


Generous donation of Scottish timber means Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory, will fight on
Timber donated from three Scottish estates will help to preserve HMS Victory for future generations
Timber has long been a vital backbone for shipbuilding and famously HMS Victory was built from over 5,500 oak trees, 250 years ago. It even inspired the Royal Navy's anthem Hearts of Oak. That strong tradition will now continue with a generous donation of timber from three estates in Aberdeenshire that will ensure that the ship survives for the foreseeable future.
The timber, from eleven elm trees and ten oak trees, is due to be felled shortly and embark on its long journey south. In the 250th year of her launch in 1767, HMS Victory is in the midst of a 15 year conservation project and in need of the very best quality materials to ensure she survives a further 250 years.
Three estates are kindly donating the timber; the Dunecht Estate, the Haddo Estate and the MacRobert Trust Estate.
The owner of the Dunecht Estate, the Hon. Charles Pearson, is a self-confessed and dedicated fan of HMS Victory. He is donating ten oaks and four elm trees.
Recent timber research on HMS Victory has concluded oak, the original material the ship was built in, is the appropriate timber to use for her general future conservation.
Andrew Baines explains: "Currently the ship comprises a variety of hardwoods from years of maintenance. The return to oak is much welcomed. It demonstrates the serious archaeological research we are undertaking about the ship's composition, from timber to paint analysis and our commitment to ensure she remains sustainable for centuries to come.
"Interestingly we understand that some 30% of the fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar hailed from Scotland so it feels entirely appropriate that timber from these estates should be playing such a big part in her future security."
The remaining two estates are kindly donating elm. The Haddo Estate, owned by Lord Aberdeen, is donating five elm trees. Rear Admiral Christopher Hockley representing the MacRobert Trust Estate is donating two elms. This timber is valuable for the future maintenance of the ship's structure below the waterline. Her keel in particular, made of elm and one of the oldest surviving parts of the ship, is a highly significant feature needing a strong programme of care given its exposed position in the dry dock.
"The quantity of elm donated by all three estates will serve as an important resource for this area in the future. Those elms which may not be suited to the particular size and shape of the keel can be made into new gun-carriages."
Once felled, the timber will be transported to the Whitney sawmill in Hereford where it will be inspected and sawed to specific dimensions appropriate for use onboard the ship. The oak is likely to become planking and the elm is to remain in large blocks needed for the keel.
The timber will then be transferred to Portsmouth where it will be seasoned, so it can be dry and strong when used. This process could take as long as four years. The longer the oak is seasoned, the stronger it becomes.
Latest Tweets from the IIMS


Native Americans beat their drums -, Albany News, Weather, Sports
Native Americans beat their drums
November 18, 2006
Albany -- The annual Native American Cultural Festival is taking place at the Parks at Chehaw. It's a fun atmosphere, but it's also an educational event that gives people a peek into a part of America's history.
Some Native Americans say modern day Americans should know some things about their culture.
The first people in America experienced spirituality differently than many Americans do these days. Instead of church, they danced. They lived off the land making weapons from bones and their own clothing from animal skins.
Native Americans say it's important to educate others on their culture. They invite people to their pow wows because there are things modern day Americans don't know about their lives.
"You do have to leave home and leave your family behind, and it's really tough. Yeah, it's the hardest part for me. I miss my brothers, sisters, my mom and my dad," said Michael Ziegler.
Michael Ziegler is part of the Lakota Sioux tribe of South Dakota. His family stays on a reservation, but he moved away to live a life his people call the "White Man's World." No easy transition for any American Indian to make.
"When you're there you get free medical, schooling, stuff like that. But once they leave, we gotta pay for everything ourself," said Ziegler.
The struggles of American Indians are still present, and just one thing that people learned about at the cultural festival.
"It's important because we will know what it like back then, and I think that's pretty cool because I like history," said Connor Ellis.
To share this part of history with Americans is one of the most important things to American Indians.
"I get a lot of people coming up to me, especially non-Indian white people, Oh I'm sorry what we did in the past. That's the past. The people today didn't do it to us," said Ziegler.
"They always say what can I do to help you today? Well I say you showing up to these Indian festivals, these pow wows help the Indian people because you're showing support."
Those who came to the festival showed support of the American Indian culture and the role it plays in our nation's history.


text:
extroversion (usually uncountable, plural extroversions)
- (psychology) Concern with or an orientation toward others or what is outside oneself; behavior expressing such an orientation; the definitive characteristic of an extrovert.
- 1999, Ben Brantley, "'The Dead': a Musical That Dares to be Quiet," New York Times, 29 Oct.:
- In a genre characterized by brassy extroversion, The Dead is a quiet revolutionary: a musical that dares to be diffident.
- The condition of being extrorse, or turned wrong side out.
- extroversion of the bladder
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Dunglison to this entry?)
- (concern with or an orientation toward others): sociability
- (concern with or an orientation toward others): introversion
concern with or an orientation toward others


text:
Mechanical pressure switches are one of the most important tools to reduce costs and improve service efficiency of water treatment operations. These switches sense the pressure of a fluid and activates or deactivates a pump, compressor, or other mechanical device when the pressure reaches a preset threshold. The switches help regulate the pressure of water in a treatment plant, ensuring that the plant is able to operate at optimal levels. Hence, pressure switches are critical for water treatment professionals as they are responsible for regulating the flow of water in a system by automatically turning the system on and off as needed. Without proper regulation, water treatment systems can be overwhelmed with too much water pressure, which can lead to damage or even failure. In addition, these switches can also help protect water treatment systems from damage by preventing too much pressure from building up in the system. At Cannon Water Technology, we offer several makes and models of mechanical pressure switches that help reduce costs and improve efficiency of any treatment plant.
Pressure Switches Working Principle
A pressure switch is a device that senses the pressure of a fluid and automatically activates or deactivates a device in response to the fluid pressure. The switch can be set to activate at a certain pressure, or it can be set to deactivate at a certain pressure. The switch can also be set to activate or deactivate based on a difference in pressure between two points in a system.
General Features of Mechanical Pressure Switches Offered by Cannon Water
Our selection features various pressure switches, which are designed for a specific purpose. For example, some switches are used to regulate the pressure in a system, while others are used to detect a change in pressure. The following are some common features of the switches.
- Pressure switches are highly accurate and can be calibrated to within a very tight tolerance. This makes them ideal for use in critical applications where small changes in pressure can mean the difference between success and failure.
- Another key feature of these switches is that they are durable and can withstand harsh environments. This is important in applications where the switch will be exposed to extreme temperatures, vibrations, or other conditions that could damage a less robust device.
- The switches are easy to install and use, so you can start using them right away.
- Mechanical pressure switches come in a variety of different sizes and styles, so you can find one that fits your needs.
- They are available in different mounting options and enclosures.
Applications of Pressure Switches
There are a variety of industries that utilize our switches to monitor and control process parameters. Some of these industries include:
Mechanical pressure switches are an important piece of equipment for many industrial and commercial applications. At our company, we offer a wide variety of these switches to meet your needs. We also offer a variety of deals and discounts on these switches, so you can get the best possible price. Cannon Water also offer a variety of customization options so that you can get the perfect switch for your needs. If you have any questions about our products or services, our team is always here to help. Contact us today to learn more about our pressure switches and how we can help you find the perfect solution for your needs.


text:
Individual differences |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |
See also: Conjoint analysis (in marketing)
Why conjoint in heathcare market research?Edit
Pharmaceutical manufacturers need deeper and deeper market information they can rely on to make the right decisions and to identify the most promising market opportunities. They can obtain great benefits from understanding physicians' prescription preferences and opinions, as these are the key people in prescribing medical treatments. Consequently, conjoint analysis research projects might represent a remarkable help for pharmaceutical companies during the development of new drugs, and if properly conducted they might even allow the estimation of product sale and market share. Conjoint analysis is a multivariate statistical technique based on the study of the joint effects on consumers of the elements that compose a product or service; it allows eliciting the relative importance of such elements. Therefore, by an additive model, it allows the estimation of the total utility of different profiles or combinations of attributes, and consequently, it allows the identification of the optimal configuration for a new or existing product or service. This technique was first developed in the early 1970s by Green and Rao. Since then, it has received increasing academic and private sector attention.
Traditional conjoint modelsEdit
One of the most important statistical problems concerning conjoint studies lies in the design. The choice of the design depends strongly on the characteristics of the study, such as the number of variables involved, the potential presence of interaction effects among the variables, the ability and the motivation of the target respondents to the conjoint survey, the statistical ability of the researcher, and last, but no least, the availability of software. For the time being, healthcare researchers have been used most of the widespread conjoint collection models (i.e., full profile, partial/incomplete profile), designs (i.e., full factorial designs, fractional factorial designs, resolution III designs, etc), and evaluations approaches (i.e., ranking, rating, choice from a set, paired comparison) available in the statistical literature.
Software available for traditional conjoint analysis:
- SPSS conjoint add-on module (_URL_
- Sawtooth Software (_URL_)
- R (programming language) (_URL_)
Prescription-based conjoint modelEdit
These models are adequate when respondents' evaluations apply to products or services to be used by themselves (FMCG, Durable goods, financial products, etc). However, for some projects, respondents have to provide evaluations for products or services to be used by a group of people, that is the case of physicians with respect to their patients, when they are asked to assess the preference for a new or existing drug or medical treatment. The healthcare researcher wants to assess what physicians will do for a number of patients. More precisely, he/she intends to elicit the preference for a new treatment and to estimate in the most precise way the related preference share that eventually will lead to the estimation of the market share for such a treatment. Consequently, a prescription-based model seems to be an appropriate tool for this research situation. Basically, it consists in exposing physicians to several treatments profiles at-a-time, where all current treatments appear next to the new treatment (conjoint task). Physicians are then asked to assign some points to each treatment in the task. More precisely, in this exercise they are asked to think of the next 100 patients with the disease of concern and to record the number of prescriptions that they would prescribe for each of the treatments outlined in the task presented. Consequently, all treatment assignments in the task add up to 100 points or more. More than 100 points are allowed for projects involving treatments that could be co-prescribed. This framework is especially appropriate for a deep understanding of the relationships between the current medical treatments for a particular disease and different definitions for the product to be launched.
Software available for Allocation-based conjoint analysis:
- Demia R-sw Conjoint: an MS Excel add-on interface (_URL_)
- Conjoint analysis (in marketing)
- new product development
- marketing research
- quantitative marketing research
- Chakraborty, G., R., Ettenson, & G., Gaeth. 1994. How consumers choose health insurance. "Journal of Health Care Marketing", 14, 21–23.
- Furlan R., Corradetti R. (2006), "Aspects of Experimental Design in the Allocation-Based Conjoint Analysis Model", Proceedings of ENBIS 6, 2006, Wroclaw, Poland
- Green P. E., Rao V. R. (1971) Conjoint measurement for quantifying judgemental data, "Journal of Marketing Research", 8, 355-63.
- Green P. E., Srinivasan V. (1978) Conjoint analysis in consumer research: issue and outlook, "Journal of Consumer Research", 5, 103-123.
- Gustaffson A., Herrmann A., and Huber F. (2001) Conjoint analysis as an instrument of market research practice, in: "Conjoint Measurement: Methods and Applications", Gustaffson A., Herrmann A., & Huber F. (Eds.), Berlin: Springer, 5-46.
- Scottish Office Department of Health. 1992. "The patient's charter: what users think". Tech. rept. HMSO, Edinburgh.
- Sculpher, M., Bryan, S., Fry, P., DeWinter, P., Payne, H., & Emberton, M. 2004. Patients' preferences for the management of non-metastatic prostate cancer: discrete choice experiment. "British Medical Journal", 328, 382–385.
|This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).|


Sid Meier's Civilization III - Worker Tips/mini-FAQ
AndrewG (AndrewRGilbert hotmail com)
July 16, 2006
Civilization III
Worker Tips
-Instead of building mines on grasslands or plains, plant forests. It brings
the same food, shields, and commerce, but years later, you'll be able to cut
the forests for an extra one-time shield boost of 10. Then, just replant!
-Building railroads on irrigated or mined pieces of land not only adds +1
trade, but it increases the effect of the irrigation or mine.
-Building roads between cities brings in luxury and strategic resources making
them happier and able to build researched units and buildings.
-Instead of having workers work on different projects at the same time, have
them team up on an action to speed up construction. It takes the same amount
of total time for all the different actions you want to be completed, but
since each single action is completed sooner, you benefit earlier.
Think about it.
-Always irrigate the land and get as much food for your cities as possible, as
soon as possible. The size and speed they grow creates a chain reaction that
betters your civilization in every aspect!
-Never disband a worker who is no longer needed. Have them enter a city with a
low population and join that city.


text:
Inside Mentao refugee camp
19 June 2012: See what life is like in Mentao refugee camp in Burkina Faso by viewing this slideshow, narrated by Plan's head of disaster preparedness and response Dr Unni Krishnan.
The camp is home to thousands of people who have fled violence in neighbouring Mali and now find themselves hit by the West Africa food crisis, which threatens 18 million people across the Sahel region.
Plan has made child protection its priority here - running education and emotional first aid projects, and building 34 out of a planned 50 latrines to improve sanitation levels within the camp. A'summer school' will also be set up to help children catch up on their studies.
The work is part of Plan's emergency West Africa food crisis reponse, which is providing vital aid and support to vulnerable children and adults across Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Cameroon, Senegal.
"This region, Sahel in west africa, is going through perhaps the worst food crisis in living memory," says Dr Krishnan.
"We are stretched to our limits. The world needs to step up their support for the crisis that's unfolding here."
Read more on the crisis and donate to the West Africa food crisis appeal today.


The new iBotnet
Mario Ballano Barcena
Symantec, Ireland
Alfredo Pesoli
Editor: Helen Martin
Mario Ballano Barcena and Alfredo Pesoli take a detailed look at what appears to be the first real attempt to create a Mac botnet.
Recent weeks have seen the discovery of a new piece of malware affecting the Apple operating system. This article will take a detailed look at what appears to be the first real attempt to create a Mac botnet.
The malware variants are OSX.Iservice and OSX.Iservice.B; they are both Mach-O format universal executables designed to run on Apple operating systems.
The main binaries are almost identical, but what differs between them are the ways in which they are distributed and installed on the victim system.
The variants have been found inside bogus copies of iWork '09 and Adobe Photoshop CS4 which were shared on the popular p2p torrent network. The author of the malware downloaded the original/trial versions of each program and introduced a copy of the malicious binary into the packages. Users who then downloaded and installed the applications from the torrent download would have been infected (see Figure 1). It is estimated that thousands of people have downloaded the infected torrent files.
Users who downloaded and installed iWork '09 and Adobe Photoshop CS4 from the torrent download were probably infected by the OSX.Iservice malware family.
Installation and distribution
The two variants use different techniques to obtain the user's password, which is needed in order to execute the malware with full system privileges. Note that the malware will not run if it does not have root access.
The first variant, OSX.Iservice, was bundled within the rogue iWork '09 installer. The malware author modified the mkpg package to include the 'iWorkServices' package (the malicious executable). In this case the malware gets an authenticated session through the installer itself.
In the second variant, distributed through the Adobe Photoshop CS4 torrent file, the trick is a little different. In this case the application package has not been altered. Instead, it is the crack for the application that contains the malicious binary, and once executed it will prompt the user for a password and install the trojan.
The binary that is executed by the OSX.Iservice.B variant is a dropper which performs the following operations:
 1. Drops the main malware binary and executes it.
 2. Asks for the user password.
 3. Opens a dmg containing the real Adobe Photoshop CS4 crack.
The main malware binary is embedded in the __data section of the dropper.
We found the trojan's second installation step very interesting: we discovered that it uses some of the internal functions of Mac OS that relate to the Authorization Services.
The Authorization Services APIs are used by applications in cases where certain functionalities are provided only to specific users with the relevant access rights on the system. The security agent is responsible for prompting the user for their password. It is possible to use the operating system's authentication facilities to authorize specific applications (see Figure 2).
It is possible to use the OS authentication facilities to authorize specific applications.
Figure 2. It is possible to use the OS authentication facilities to authorize specific applications.
Think about the Lock feature in System Preferences: whenever the user wants to make a change he has to provide his password. Every application has access to the Authorization Services API in order to use the OS itself for authentication. The dialog box can also be customized with an icon and a message that will be displayed before the standard text. In this case, the malware author has not customized the dialog box, and the trojan just prompts the user for the password (which may seem a suspicious request). However, with malware authors showing an increasing interest in the Mac platform, we believe that more advanced UI spoofing tricks may be seen in the future.
The dialog box requests the user's password.
Figure 3. The dialog box requests the user's password.
Of course, the whole authentication part could also have been spoofed [1].
Startup and encryption capabilities
When the malware starts, it checks for the presence of its own configuration file: /var/root/.iWorkServices (or /var/root/.DivX for OSX.Iservice.B).
The malware author wasn't careful enough to remove all of the debug symbols, so some interesting strings such as '/Users/jason/diarrhea/aes/aes_modes.c' are still visible in the code. Although it is not highly sensitive information, this gives us a clue as to the possible username of the creator, the name of the project and the use of the AES algorithm for encryption capabilities.
The configuration files are encrypted using AES with a static key for encryption and decryption. The same key is also used for encrypting and decrypting network traffic. Wrappers around the 'recv' and 'send' functions allow for the specification of whether or not the traffic needs to be encrypted/decrypted (Figure 4). Some of the malware's functionalities, such as the peer-to-peer engine, make use of encryption, while others, like the http download routines, use plain text communications (for obvious reasons).
The malware has wrappers around the 'recv' and 'send' functions.
Figure 4. The malware has wrappers around the 'recv' and 'send' functions.
Although the use of AES makes the malware harder to analyse and will probably annoy network administrators who won't be able to identify what kind of protocol it is, it is not at all secure. We believe it is possible to create network signatures for this threat since the encryption key is fixed and some invariant packets are sent and received by the trojan.
If the malware does not detect the presence of the configuration file, a new one will be generated.
After having parsed the configuration file the malware will attempt to contact the following hosts:
 - 69.92.[censored].[censored]:59201
 - qwfojzlk.[censored].com:1024
These hosts were probably the main core of the p2p network – the malware expects their response in order to start the p2p engine.
Botnet and the P2P engine
The botnet is based in a p2p network for communication, and messages exchange between all the infected nodes.
This method of communication is becoming increasingly popular with malware authors, since it provides a more secure channel to control the infected hosts than the usual 'call to home'. It also allows the network to be kept alive even if the main servers are down – and makes it more difficult to track the controllers and the infected hosts.
Unfortunately, at the time of writing this article the main servers of the botnet were down, so it was not possible to join it in order to capture and analyse the traffic between the servers and other clients.
The p2p engine is built with LUA [2]. The malware author embedded a LUA interpreter and implemented some of the malware functions with it, so it is possible to script over them, and this gives the trojan good extensibility.
Every p2p command is initially registered in a table which holds a command name and a function pointer associated with the command. These functions are registered as LUA functions, thus all the botnet commands are LUA-registered functions (Figure 5).
All the botnet commands are LUA-registered functions.
Figure 5. All the botnet commands are LUA-registered functions.
P2P commands
Once all the commands are registered they can be used as if they were LUA functions.
The following is a list of all the commands that the bot supports. Some of them are part of the peer-to-peer engine itself and have not yet been fully analysed:
CommandNo. of parametersDescription
socks1p2p protocol-related
system1Executes a system command
httpget1/2Downloads a file
httpgeted1/2/3Threaded http download and executes
rand1/2Returns a pseudo-random number given a seed
sleep1Waits for an interval of time
banadd1p2p protocol-related
banclear0p2p protocol-related
p2plock0p2p protocol-related
p2punlock0p2p protocol-related
nodes0p2p protocol-related
leafs0p2p protocol-related
p2pport0p2p protocol-related
p2pmode0p2p protocol-related
p2ppeer0p2p protocol-related
p2ppeerport0p2p protocol-related
p2ppeertype0p2p protocol-related
set2Sets a parameter in the bot configuration file
get1Gets the value of the specified parameter from the bot configuration file
clear1Removes the specified parameter from the bot configuration file
p2pihistsize0p2p protocol-related
p2pihist0p2p protocol-related
platform0At this time returns 'OSX'
script1Executes a LUA script
sendlogs2Sends logs stored in a file named 'ff'
uptime0Returns the bot uptime
uid0Returns the bot unique identifier
shell1Binds a shell on the specified port
rshell2Connects back shell to the specified host:port
Botnet Startup and configuration file structure
The configuration file has a very simple structure:
It expects a sequence of NULL-terminated byte tokens.
The startup token is used to specify a startup LUA code in the configuration file.
Only a few of the malware's internal functions are bound to LUA and, in fact, the embedded interpreter does not even support the basic functions from the standard LUA libraries. Therefore, this startup code must only be composed of botnet-registered commands which will be executed in the malware loading process.
Another reason why we suspect that the malware author is an experienced programmer


Skip to end of metadata
Go to start of metadata
This page takes you through the general steps for upgrading product versions based on Carbon 4.4.6 to Carbon 4.4.7.
Preparing to Upgrade
The following are the specific prerequisites you must complete before an upgrade:
 - Before you upgrade to the latest version of a product, you create a staging database, which is essentially an empty database. Note that you should NOT connect a new product version to an older database that has not been upgraded.
 - Make a backup of the database and the directory prior to upgrading. The directory can simply be copied to the new directory.
 - Stop all the Carbon servers connected to the database before running the migration scripts.
 Note that the upgrade should be done during a period when there is low traffic on the system.
 - This upgrade can only be done if the database type is the same. For example, if you are using MySQL currently and you need to migrate to Oracle in the new version, these scripts will not work.
 - You cannot roll back an upgrade. It is impossible to restore a backup of the previous server and retry the upgrade process.
The downtime is limited to the time taken for switching databases when the staging database is promoted to the actual production status.
Upgrading the configurations
There are no database changes between Carbon 4.4.6 to Carbon 4.4.7. Therefore, only the new configuration options in Carbon 4.4.7 should be updated for the new environment as explained below.
 1. Copy the data from the old database to the staging database you created. This becomes the new database for your new version of Carbon.
 2. Download Carbon 4.4.7 and connect it to your staging database.
 3. Update the configuration files in Carbon 4.4.7 as required.
 4. Copy the following directories from the old database to the staging database.
 1. To migrate the super tenant settings, copy the /repository/deployment/server directory.
 2. If multitenancy is used, copy the /repository/tenants directory.
 Note that configurations should not be copied directly between servers.
 5. Start the server.
Going into production
The following are recommended tests to run on the staging system.
 - No labels


text:
NTP is a core protocol used today's IT infrastructure to synchronize date and time information. In order to work properly, we need to configuration NTP port in our server, client and intermediate systems like switch, firewall, router.
NTP Port UDP 123
NTP uses the UDP port number 123 by default. NTP services run on UDP protocol because of the UDP simplicity and performative behavior. NTP is also a very simple protocol just like ask and get response manner which is very well suited with the connectionless UDP protocol.
Reliable NTP Port TCP 123
As stated previously NTP uses UDP transmission protocol by default with port number 123. As UDP is not fully reliable protocol it may create some problems during usage. TCP provides more reliable transmission of the protocol packages. So TCP port number 123 can be used for more reliable and less problematic NTP transmission.
Linux NTP Port Configuration
In this part, we will learn basic steps to list and change NTP port configuration. These steps can be run all major Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, Kali, Fedora and CentOS.
List NTP Service Ports
We will start by listing NTP ports with the tool
grep. We will grep port number
123 from the output of the netstat command listening UDP and TCP ports.
$ netstat -tuln | grep 123
We can see that there are NTP services listening port number
123 in different interfaces like localhost which is
127.0.0.1 and all interfaces
Print NTP Service Status
In Linux distributions, NTP services status can be listed with the
systemctl command like below.
$ systemctl status ntp


text: By introducing rapid reproduction, algorithms, and complex formal configurations, the digital era of architecture began a revolution. Architects incorporated the computational capacity of the computer into the design process both as a tool and as a critical component of the theories and practice of architecture as a whole. As we move into what has been coined "the second digital turn," a period in which digital integration is considered ubiquitous, how can we consider, prepare, and propel towards the next technological innovation to significantly inform design thinking, representation, and manifestation? What tools are available to investigate this speculative design future and how can they be implemented? If the integration of technology in architecture is now a given, perhaps the next digital design era is not just digital but virtual. As new technologies emerge the potential for integrating the virtual design world with our physical senses affords novel possibilities for interactive design, simulation, analysis and construction. Hybrid reality technologies, including virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), embody the potential to supersede conventional representation methodologies such as drawing, rendering, physical modeling, and animation. As they become increasingly pervasive, they will transform how we communicate ideas and data as spatial concepts. Further, they will reform the construct of the built environment when applied to both materiality and fabrication. This paper will describe the incorporation of VR as a tool in various classroom and laboratory settings, recognize the educational outcomes of this incorporation, and identify the potential relationship of these technologies to future academic exploration and application to practice.


text:
Analogous to the way we considered states of a KL shadow with regard to overcrossings and undercrossings, we can deal with special projections by giving three possible choices for every vertex (overcrossing, undercrossing, or double vertex). For a KL shadow with n vertices, the number of possible variations is 3n, but this can be considerably reduced thanks to the symmetry of a KL in question. We can consider Vassiliev invariants in terms of purely geometrical combinatorial theory by introducing Gauss diagrams (or chord diagrams) of the order n (n = 1,2,3,...). We already concluded that the value of an nth-order invariant of a KL with n double points is unaffected by crossing changes. This value is independent of the phenomenon of knotting, and depends only on the order in which double points appear when tracing KL.
In the case of knots we can introduce the following rule. Let a knot K with n double points be given. Proceeding around a circle we will label all double points visited by travelling in our oriented knot K in that order. Then we join each pair of points having the same label by a chord. The resulting diagram is called a Gauss diagram (or chord diagram) of K. The Gauss diagram of the special projection of a trefoil knot with three double points and one loop is given in the corresponding figure. In the same way as before, thanks to the one-term relation, we can delete all double points with a loop and continue to work with proper (or reduced) special projections and corresponding proper (or reduced) Gauss diagrams. All the non-singular knots have the same diagram- a circle without any cords. In general, many knots correspond to the same diagram. Now we can construct all different Gauss diagrams Dn of order n (i.e., with n double points). Then we can rewrite the one-term relation and four-term relation in the language of chord diagrams. By using the one-term relation, we can reduce the list Dn to one diagram for n = 2 and two diagrams for n = 3, by eliminating the diagrams d11, d22, d34, d35 and reducing d33 to d21. If we are treating Gauss diagrams as vectors, according to the four-term relation we obtain the relation d31 = 2d32, so dim(D1) = 0, dim(D2) = 1, dim(D3) = 1, etc. Recalling that dim(D0) = 1, and continuing the calculation for n = 3,4,...,9, we obtain the sequence 1, 0, 1, 1, 3, 4, 9, 14, 27, 44 of the dimensions of the spaces Dn for n = 0,1,2,...,9 (Bar-Natan, 1995). The space of chord diagrams with n chords modulo the one-term and four-term relations we denote by An. The main result of the combinatorial theory of Gauss diagrams and Vassiliev invariants is expressed by Kontsevich's theorem:
Kontsevich's Theorem The vector space Vn/(Vn-1) of nth-order Vassiliev invariants is isomorphic to the space An.
As a result, for every n we can obtain the actuality table An: the list of all independent Gauss diagrams with n chords. As the value of n increases, the calculation of actuality tables demands an enormous computing power.


Middle East dispatch
.iq test
As Iraq tries to rebuild itself, a struggle over the country's internet identity is on the cards, reports Brian Whitaker
A new battle for control of Iraq is looming - this time on the world wide web. It centres on the two-letter country code - ".fr" for France, ".ru" for Russia, etc - used for website and email addresses. More than 240 countries have these codes, and there is even one for Palestine (.ps), but the code assigned to Iraq (.iq) is in a weird sort of limbo.
Some of these codes are controlled by governments but in theory anyone approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) can become a country code manager and make money from websites that use the two magic letters.
That is what happened in 1997 when Bayan Elashi, a Muslim of Palestinian origin, looked at the list of country codes and found that Iraq was still available. He applied for it, and got it.
It is scarcely surprising that ICANN approved Mr Elashi's application, since he was well qualified. After arriving in the United States in 1977, he had taken a masters degree in computer science and played a key role in developing the first Arabic personal computer, known as Alraed. He later founded InfoCom Corporation, based in President Bush's home state of Texas, which became a world leader in Arabic-language databases as well as hosting about 500 websites, some of them belonging to companies in the Middle East and others to Muslim organisations in the United States.
Acquiring ".iq" was not one of Mr Elashi's brightest business ideas, however, mainly because of the sanctions enforced against Iraq at the time. According to Mr Elashi, the US state department sent him a list of "ridiculous" restrictions which for all practical purposes made ".iq" useless.
Following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the lifting of sanctions, all that might have changed - except that 49-year-old Mr Elashi is now in jail and unable to administer any ".iq" websites.
On September 5, 2001 an 80-strong taskforce of FBI agents, secret service agents, diplomatic security agents, tax inspectors, immigration officials, customs officials, department of commerce officials and computer experts raided the headquarters of Mr Elashi's InfoCom Corporation.
They summarily turned off all the 500 websites that the company hosted and spent several days in the building, reportedly copying every hard disc they could find. (Just six days before al-Qaida's attacks on New York and Washington, one might argue that the efforts of the FBI and secret service could have been more profitably directed elsewhere, but that's another story.)
Among the websites that went blank as a result of the raid were those of al-Jazeera (the satellite TV station), al-Sharq (a daily newspaper in Qatar), Birzeit (the Palestinian university on the West Bank), the Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim Students Association, the Islamic Association for Palestine, and the Holy Land Foundation.
Although the FBI insisted the raid on InfoCom was "a criminal investigation, not a political investigation", some linked it to an article in the Wall Street Journal a few weeks earlier calling on the US to "support Israel in rolling back the forces of terror" by shutting down the websites belonging to the Islamic Association for Palestine and the Holy Land Foundation.
The article was written by Daniel Pipes, the bête noire of America's Muslim organisations. He is famous - or notorious - for his description of Muslims as "brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and maintaining different standards of hygiene" and for wrongly blaming the 1995 Oklahoma bombing on Islamist extremists.
Whatever the effect of the Wall Street Journal article, there is little doubt that the authorities' interest in InfoCom was aroused by its connections with the Holy Land Foundation, which went well beyond hosting the HLF website. Bayan Elashi's brother, Ghassan, was not only vice-president (marketing) of InfoCom but also chairman of HLF.
HLF, a tax-exempt charity established in 1989, had been under attack for several years from supporters of Israel who accused it of channelling funds to the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas.
HLF denied this, saying its role was to help Palestinian orphans and refugees, support medical projects in the occupied territories and send humanitarian aid to such places as Bosnia, Kosovo and Chechnya.
In December 2002, more than a year after the raid, Bayan and Ghassan Elashi, together with two other brothers, Basman and Hazim, were arrested on charges of dealing illegally with Mousa abu Marzook, a Hamas member who had been declared a "specially designated terrorist" by the US authorities in 1995, and illegally exporting computer equipment to Libya and Syria. A fifth brother, Ihsan, is also a defendant. Full details of the charges can be found in the 32-page indictment document.
The Elashi brothers' first trial, in relation to computer exports, began last month and a verdict is expected soon. A second trial, regarding their alleged dealings with Hamas, is expected in the autumn.
Whatever the legal rights and wrongs, the Elashi affair has strong political undercurrents and the Bush administration seems eager to make as much capital out of it as possible. Attorney general John Ashcroft took the unusual step of personally announcing the brothers' arrest.
The decision to prosecute for export violations is also unusual and looks like part of a witch hunt. Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, told the Associated Press last month that export violations are usually handled as a civil case. He suggested that the justice department turned it into a criminal matter in the hope of securing at least one conviction in case a jury later acquitted the Elashis on the Hamas-related charges.
"This is a signature prosecution for the Ashcroft justice department," Mr Turley said. "The case seems to be a continuation of a no-holds-barred prosecution against the Holy Land Foundation and anyone connected to the foundation."
In the meantime, ICANN is considering what to do about Iraq's ".iq" country code. It could be taken away from Bayan Elashi on the grounds that he has failed to manage it properly, and assigned to someone else, but that would be controversial in view of the political background to his arrest and trial.
If Mr Elashi does lose ".iq", there are several interested parties waiting to take it on. Last year a group called the Committee for Information Technology Reconstruction in Iraq claimed they could raise $10m (£5.5m) by auctioning off ".iq" domains worldwide and using the money to develop Iraqi internet facilities. One example they gave was _URL_ which they thought might interest Mensa, the organisation for brainy people. Others, though, think the novelty value of ".iq" is limited and unlikely to raise much money from customers outside Iraq.
According to ICANN's rules, any transfer of the country code must have broad support from the local internet community. What this means in the case of Iraq is anybody's guess: who exactly are the Iraqi "internet community" and how can they be consulted? It is quite possible they will be ignored altogether.
Last month, the new Iraqi government made its own application to control ".iq". Past experience suggests ICANN will favour that idea though, again, it would be controversial. Taking the country code from a man who has been mugged by the Bush administration in Texas and handing it to a Bush-installed regime in Baghdad might be viewed as rather fishy.
But something similar has already happened in Afghanistan where the ".af" code was taken from a private citizen in Kabul last year and given to the US-backed puppet government.
Today's best video
Today in pictures
More from World dispatch


Thursday, April 24, 2014
Psychics, Mystics and the Culture of Exploiting the Gullible
Psychics can do more harm than good.
by Grant Andrews
In 2013, Sylvia Browne, the famous psychic and spiritual medium, died 11 years earlier than she had predicted. In her career where the overwhelming majority of her predictions or psychic messages were either unprovable or proven wrong, she still managed to amass millions of dollars and a large international following. Many people fell victim to her often reckless and cruel predictions, such as Louwana Miller, the mother of kidnapped Amanda Berry, who was told by Browne on the Montell Williams Show that her daughter was dead. Miller died two years later, before she could see the release of her daughter from captivity, and likely spent the final years of her life in mourning instead of searching for her daughter who was desperate for freedom.
This is only one of the many irresponsible "psychic" messages which Browne offered in her career, often to people paying up to $700 per reading. Many people do not merely visit a psychic as a fun diversion, but instead approach it as a religious activity, and often place unwavering faith in the readings and predictions.
How do psychics convince people to hand over their money for the illusion of access to some otherworldly knowledge? Why would people believe something which seems so ridiculous? Psychics usually employ a strategy known as cold reading in order to prey upon their targets. This means that they make a series of educated guesses and recognise what people respond to in order to convince someone that they have knowledge of their lives. For example, a psychic might guess that someone in their 30s has lost a grandparent, as many have, and then make vague assertions such as "I'm sensing the letter 'M' around this person. Does that mean anything to you?" Many times, the victims will form the connections themselves: "My grandmother was born in May! That must be the letter 'M'! How did you know that?" This tactic has been employed for decades by self-professed psychics in order to exploit their victims. It can be seen clearly in the video below:
Clearly, these mystics do not merely offer harmless fun. Many people become obsessed with the messages from the dead which they believe psychics can give them, or the "easy" cures for everything from an unfaithful partner to a life-threatening disease which this form of magical thinking claims to offer. In recent years, Rhonda Byrne's "The Secret", which promoted the power of positive thinking, was being sold as a way to earn money easily, cure disabilities and diseases, and make every desire which you have into a reality. For the vast majority of those who practiced this strategy, the results did not come. We did not suddenly have a worldwide spike in lottery winners, and thousands of men did not end up marrying Salma Hayek simply because they fantasised about it. What's worse, many people did not seek treatment for diseases and decided to think themselves into health instead.
Luckily, many of these psychics, mystics and gurus have changed tactics, such as Uri Gellar, who no longer claims to have otherworldly powers but rather refers to himself as an entertainer. This alleviates some of their culpability, since when they are merely claiming to put on a show and are not preying on the grief or naiveté of victims, this might make it a less dangerous situation. But people like Sylvia Browne died without ever admitting to their pretence even when they hurt many people, and frauds like John Edward are still making millions off of taking money from vulnerable, grieving people.
James Randi, once a magician himself, works to expose many of these frauds and to educate people about the methods which are being used to exploit them. He has founded the James Randi Educational Foundation, where he shares information on scientific scepticism. The foundation also offers a $1,000,000 prize for anyone who genuinely proves that they have magical, mystical paranormal or psychic abilities, as part of the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge. So far, after 50 years of the challenge and 18 years of the $1,000,000 being offered, no one has scientifically proven these abilities.
Are some people able to perform paranormal acts? Perhaps. The scientific scepticism movement does not have a definite answer, but it does not merely accept claims of abilities which are not demonstrated scientifically and which are at least accurately demonstrated most of the time. The history of popular mystics has shown many charlatans and only anecdotal or untestable evidence, but nothing worth handing over your hard-earned money for, or investing your belief and emotions in.


text:
Journal of Advanced Ceramics
December 2016, Volume 5,Issue 4, pp 321–328
Effects of different backbone binders on the characteristics of zirconia parts using wax-based binder system via ceramic injection molding
Jiaxin Wen,Zhipeng Xie,Wenbin Cao,Xianfeng Yang
In this work, various backbone binders were used in wax-based binder system to formulate zirconia parts by ceramic injection molding (CIM). The effect of different backbone binders on the molding, debinding, and sintering behaviors was investigated. After blending process, the feedstock using multi-polymer components exhibited more homogeneous structure compared with that using the mono-polymer ones due to the synergistic effect of multi-polymers. During solvent debinding, some defects such as "slumping" and "peeling" appeared in the parts containing ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA), but they were not found in the parts with other thermal polymers. Also, as for the parts after sintering, the one using low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) as backbone binders presented a more uniform microstructure with finer zirconia grains among all the investigated compositions, and thus obtained the highest flexural strength (~949 MPa) and relative density (~98.9%).


text:
KAUST DepartmentComputer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (CEMSE) Division
Online Publication Date2016-02-01
Print Publication Date2016-03
Permanent link to this recordhttp://hdl.handle.net/10754/595441
MetadataShow full item record
AbstractThe complexity of ozone (O3) formation mechanisms in the troposphere make the fast and accurate modeling of ozone very challenging. In the absence of a process model, principal component analysis (PCA) has been extensively used as a data-based monitoring technique for highly correlated process variables; however conventional PCA-based detection indices often fail to detect small or moderate anomalies. In this work, we propose an innovative method for detecting small anomalies in highly correlated multivariate data. The developed method combine the multivariate exponentially weighted moving average (MEWMA) monitoring scheme with PCA modelling in order to enhance anomaly detection performance. Such a choice is mainly motivated by the greater ability of the MEWMA monitoring scheme to detect small changes in the process mean. The proposed PCA-based MEWMA monitoring scheme is successfully applied to ozone measurements data collected from Upper Normandy region, France, via the network of air quality monitoring stations. The detection results of the proposed method are compared to that declared by Air Normand air monitoring association.
CitationOzone Measurements Monitoring Using Data-Based Approach 2016 Process Safety and Environmental Protection


text:
My son is so into making vinegar and baking soda volcanoes. We have made these a few times. Today he was begging me to make one again. This time, I thought that maybe we could try something different that would be equally as cool AND we could still use the same basic ingredients. This is an easy activity to do using simple materials and ingredients found in your kitchen, and the results are pretty fascinating (especially for a 4 year old).
Materials that we used:
- empty water bottle
- white vinegar
- baking soda
- 3/4 cup measure
1. I had my son pour about 3/4 cup of vinegar into the bottle using the funnel.
2. After rinsing out the funnel, I poured baking soda into the balloon, filling it up. Make sure you stretch out the balloon first! I used the funnel and a skewer as tools to aid the process (see picture above).
3. I carefully sealed the opening of the balloon onto the bottle. I made sure the contents of the balloon didn't spill into the bottle during this step.
4. I then held the balloon up, while shaking the contents down into the balloon. Immediately the 2 ingredients formed a chemical reaction, releasing a gas, and the balloon started to inflate.
Bode thought it was so cool and wanted to do it again, and again!
Points I highlighted with him (keeping it simple for a 4 year old):
- When vinegar and baking soda are mixed together they create what is called a chemical reaction.
- A gas is formed (carbon dioxide) which takes up more space than the vinegar and baking soda. That is why the balloon inflates.
- The baking soda is a base while the vinegar is an acid. (See here for a definition and examples of other bases and acids)
- When vinegar and baking soda react together they form "carbonic acid". Carbonic Acid is very unstable and it instantly breaks apart into water and carbon dioxide. Fizzing is what happens when the water and carbon dioxide escape the solution.
If you liked this post and you want to stay informed of more kid activity ideas I post or find around the blogosphere, remember to "like" me on my Facebook Page! Thank you! Have a wonderful day!


text:
Un-Forgettable Friday: Giggle, Giggle, Quack by Doreen Cronin; Illustrated by Betsy Lewin
June 11, 2010 in Cronin Doreen, Elementary Educators, Lewin Betsy, Picture Book, Preschool to 1st grade teachers, Reading Skills, Shared Writing, Un-Forgettable Friday Tags: Betsy Lewin, Doreen Cronin, Fun picture books, Giggle Giggle Quack
*Picture book for preschoolers through second graders
*A very intelligent duck as the main character
*Rating: Giggle, Giggle, Quack by Doreen Cronin is the hilarious sequel to Click, Clack, Moo. Kids will keep asking for it again and again!
Short, short summary: Farmer Brown is going on vacation, and he is leaving his brother, Bob, in charge. Farmer Brown warns Bob to watch out for Duck–he's trouble. All Bob has to do is follow the directions that his brother wrote down for him. But somehow...Duck gets a hold of the pencil. So, Bob reads his directions, and he discovers that Tuesday night is pizza night–and not the frozen kind either. Wednesday is bath day–and the pigs love bubble bath and good towels. Farmer Brown calls to check on how things are going, and Bob says things are going just fine. And again he warns his brother about Duck. During movie night, Farmer Brown calls again to check on things and he hears: "Giggle, giggle, quack, giggle, moo, giggle, oink.. " Uh-oh!
So, what do I do with this book?
1. Children must study these illustrations as so much of the story is told through these. Look for Duck and his trusty pencil in each scene! What is Bob not seeing? Discuss how pictures and words work together in picture books to tell the story. With young readers, you can also teach them how to use pictures as clues to figure out unknown words.
2. Let your students be the problem-solvers for Farmer Brown. Ask them to discuss what they would do to keep Duck under control if they went on vacation. Then do a shared writing activity for younger students or let older students write on their own their ideas for keeping Duck in line. (Of course, this is also a great time to discuss animal rights. )
3. This is a great oral reading and echo reading book for students. They can repeat the fun phrases after you: "Giggle, giggle, cluck." or "Giggle, giggle, moo." Let different students take turns saying different parts. Have fun reading this silly book! Show children that reading is fun!!!!


Skip to definition.
Verb: hold (held) hówld
 - keep, maintain
 2. Have or keep in one's hands or grip
 - take hold
 3. Organize or be responsible for
 "hold a reception";
 - throw, have, make, give
 "She holds a Master's degree from Harvard";
 - have, have got
 5. Keep in mind or convey as a conviction or view
 - deem, view as, take for
 6. Maintain (a theory, thoughts, or feelings)
 "hold a resentment";
 7. Limit to within certain bounds; physically prevent from moving
 - restrain, confine
 8. Secure and keep for possible future use or application
 "The landlord held the security deposit";
 - retain, keep back, hold back
 9. Have rightfully; of rights, titles, and offices
 "He held the governorship for almost a decade";
 - bear
 10. Be the physical support of; carry the weight of
 - support, sustain, hold up
 11. Have within
 "The canteen holds fresh water";
 - bear, carry, contain
 12. Have room for
 "The auditorium can't hold more than 500 people";
 - accommodate, admit
 13. Remain in a certain state, position, or condition
 14. Support or hold in a certain manner
 "She holds her head high";
 - carry, bear
 15. Be valid, applicable, or true
 "This theory still holds";
 - prevail, obtain
 16. Assert or affirm
 "Rousseau's philosophy holds that people are inherently good"
 17. Have as a major characteristic
 18. Be capable of holding or containing
 "The flask holds one gallon";
 - contain, take
 "please hold a table at Maxim's";
 - reserve, book
 20. Protect against a challenge or attack
 - defend, guard
 21. Bind by an obligation; cause to be indebted
 - oblige, bind, obligate
 22. Hold the attention of
 23. Remain committed to
 "I hold to these ideas"
 24. Resist or confront with resistance
 - defy, withstand, hold up
 25. Be pertinent, relevant or applicable
 "This theory holds for all irrational numbers";
 - apply, go for
 26. Stop dealing with
 28. Keep from departing
 "Hold the taxi"; "Hold the horse"
 29. Take and maintain control over, often by violent means
 30. Cause to stop
 "hold the engines";
 - halt, arrest
 31. Cover as for protection against noise or smell
 32. Drink alcohol without showing ill effects
 "He can hold his liquor";
 - carry
 33. Aim, point, or direct
 "Hold the fire extinguisher directly on the flames"
 34. Judge or state to be
 "judge held that the defendant was innocent";
 - declare, adjudge
 35. Be in accord; be in agreement
 "I hold with those who say life is sacred";
 - agree, concur, concord
 36. Keep from exhaling or expelling
 "hold your breath"
Noun: hold hówld
 1. The act of grasping
 "she kept a firm hold on the railing";
 - clasp, clench, clutch, clutches, grasp, grip
 2. Understanding of the nature, meaning, quality or magnitude of something
 "he has a good hold of accounting practices";
 - appreciation, grasp
 3. Power by which something or someone is affected or dominated
 "he has a hold over them"
 4. Time during which some action is awaited
 "he ordered a hold in the action";
 - delay, time lag, postponement, wait
 5. A state of being confined (usually for a short time)
 "the prisoner is on hold";
 - detention, detainment, custody
 6. A cell in a jail or prison
 - keep
 - handle, grip, handgrip
 8. The space in a ship or aircraft for storing cargo
 - cargo area, cargo deck, cargo hold, storage area
 9. [archaic] A stronghold
Sounds like: Hobbes, Hohold, h
Derived forms: held, holds, holding
See also: handheld, held, hold back, hold out, hold over, hold up
Type of: affirm, aim, appendage, apprehension, assert, aver, avow, be, bear on, becharm [archaic], beguile, believe, bespeak, bewitch, booze, break, call for, captivate, capture, catch, cell, charm, come to, command, conceive, concern, confinement, consider, continue, control, cover, defer, direct, disable, discernment, disenable, dispute [archaic], drink, enamor [US], enamour [Brit, Cdn], enchant, enclosure, entrance, evaluate, exist, experience, fascinate, fastness, feel, fuddle, go along, go on, grasping, have to do with, hold back, hold on, hold out, hold over, incapacitate, include, intermission, interruption, jail cell, judge, keep, keep back, pass judgment, pause, pertain, postpone, prehension, prevent, prison cell, proceed, prorogue, protect, put off, put over, quest, reckon, refer, regard, relate, remit, request, resist, restrain, savvy, see, seizing, set back, shelve, stand firm, stop, stronghold, suspension, swan, swear, table [N. Amer], take, take aim, taking hold, think, touch, touch on, train, trance, understanding, verify, view, withstand
Antonym: let go of
Encyclopedia: Hold, Hold, Fire


« Previous Next »
Nimrod ADC Height Output Module
Technical Information
Catalogue No: C1047
Category: Air Data
Object Type: Module/Sub-Assembly/Component
Object Name: Nimrod ADC Height Output Module
Part No: 81-41-18
Serial No: 100/78
Manufacturer: Marconi-Elliott Avionic Systems Ltd
Division: Unknown
Platform(s): Nimrod
Year of Manufacture: 1978
Width (mm):
Height (mm):
Depth (mm):
Weight (g):
Location: Rack RAA10 [Main Store]
Height Output Module
Type 81-41-18
Ser 100/78
Ref 6TP/6605-99-_PHONE_
Marconi Elliott Avionics
An electro-mechanical module that provides height related outputs from the air data computer in various in a forms (e.g. synchro or potentiometer) to suit the receiving aircraft systems.
Altitude is calculated from the Static Pressure input using an ICAO table to calculate the relationship between pressure and altitude.
Air data systems provide accurate information on quantities such as pressure altitude, vertical speed, calibrated airspeed, true airspeed, Mach number, static air temperature and air density ratio. This information is essential for the pilot to fly the aircraft safely and is also required by a number of key avionic subsystems which enable the pilot to carry out the mission. It is thus one of the key avionic systems in its own right and forms part of the essential core of avionic sub systems required in all modern aircraft, civil or military.
The air data quantities; pressure, altitude, vertical speed, calibrated airspeed, true airspeed, Mach number etc. are derived from three basic measurements by sensors connected to probes which measure:
Total (or Pitot) pressure
Static pressure
Total (or indicated) air temperature
The total pressure, PT, is measured by means of an absolute pressure sensor (or transducer) connected to a Pitot tube facing the moving airstream. The Pitot pressure is a measure of ram air pressure (the air pressure created by vehicle motion or the air ramming into the tube). When airspeed increases, the ram air pressure is increased, which can be translated by the airspeed indicator.
The static pressure of the free airstream, PS, is measured by an absolute pressure transducer connected to a suitable orifice located where the surface pressure is nearly the same as the pressure of the surrounding atmosphere. The static pressure is obtained through a static port which most often is a flush-mounted hole on the fuselage of an aircraft located where it can access the air flow in a relatively undisturbed area. Some aircraft may have a single static port, while others may have more than one. When the aircraft climbs, static pressure will decrease.
High performance military aircraft generally have a combined Pitot/static probe which extends out in front of the aircraft so as to be as far away as practicable from aerodynamic interference effects and shock waves generated by the aircraft structure. A Pitot-static tube effectively integrates the static ports into the Pitot probe. It incorporates a second coaxial tube (or tubes) with pressure sampling holes on the sides of the probe, outside the direct airflow, to measure the static pressure. Some civil transport aircraft have Pitot probes with separate static pressure orifices located in the fuselage generally somewhere between the nose and the wing.
From the measurements of static pressure PT and total pressure PS it is possible to derive the Pressure Altitude, Vertical Speed, Calibrated Airspeed and Mach number. Measurement of the air temperature is made by means of a temperature sensor installed in a probe in the airstream and from this a function called Total Air Temperature can be calculated.
Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge
Related Items:


text:
ACCOUNTING TERMS - ACCOUNTING DICTIONARY - ACCOUNTING GLOSSARY
From the web's #1 provider of financial analysis / ratio analysis
SUBSIDIARY BOOKS Definition
SUBSIDIARY BOOKS see SUBSIDIARY LEDGER.
Learn new Accounting Terms
AGREED UPON PROCEDURES are used when a client retains an external auditor to perform specific tests and procedures and report on the results. Examples might include special reviews of loan portfolio or internal control systems. In performing agreed-upon procedures, the auditor provides no opinion, certification, or assurance that the assertions being made in the financial statements are free from material misstatement. The users of reports based on agreed-upon procedures must draw their own conclusions on the results of the tests reported. For example, an external auditor could be asked to look at a certain number of corporation loan files and document which of the required forms are in the files. The auditor would report on the selection and the results of the procedures performed but would not provide a formal opinion with conclusions drawn from the results of the procedures.
ERP can mean either Enterprise Resource Planning or Early Retirement Program. See ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING.


text:
Do You Have the Skills of an Effective Executive?Posted: October 1, 2012
Peter Drucker's book "The Effective Executive" was first published in 1967, and although much has changed since, his thoughts on what constitutes an effective executive are still relevant and valuable triggers for self-reflection for those who are executives, and those who are at a stage in their careers where the next step or two might take them to that level.
Here is a brief summary of Drucker's key points:
1. The executives' time is not their own, but tends to belong to everybody else. He or she seems always at the behest of someone or some project rather than applying themselves to where they are most effectiveness.
2. Executives are forced to keep on operating in the domain from which they are familiar unless they make a complete change and focus on running the whole business.
3. The executive is forced to work within the organization, which means that they are only effective by directing what others in the organization contribute. Organization is about multiplying the strength of the individual. Unless the executive can reach these people, they will have no effectiveness.
4. The executive is within the organization which means their vision and reality is confined to that organization. It becomes a distorting or limiting lens that stops them from clearly seeing the real situation.
Facing these conditions, Drucker isolates five skills, practices, and habits that improve executive effectiveness:
1. They know where their time goes. They manage systematically the small amounts of discretionary time they have.
2. They focus on outward contribution. They focus on results rather than effort. They constantly ask 'What results are expected of me?'
3. They build on their own strengths, the strengths of their superiors, colleagues and subordinates. They do not build on weakness and do not start things they cannot complete.
4. They focus on a few major areas where superior performance adds value. They set priorities and stay with those priority decisions. First things first and second things not at all.
5. They make effective decisions. These are made on judgments based on dissenting opinions rather than consensus on the facts. What is needed is the right strategy rather than flash tactics.
On his first point, Drucker exhorts us to "Know Thy Time":
Effective executives know that time is a limiting factor. It is an inelastic resource that is irreplaceable and despite the demand the supply will not go up. The key to time effectiveness is a 3-step process:
- Record the use of time
- Manage time
- Consolidate time
There are many demands on an executive's time. Many of these demands are time wasters rather than being productive. Additionally, most executive tasks require significant blocks of time to complete. To begin a task without the time to complete it is pointless. It leads to ineffectiveness and can lead to poor decisions and error. Strategic and people decisions are time-consuming. They are never simple and finding a fit in a complex situation needs care and consideration.
Firstly, we need to record actual time usage. The method is unimportant, but the identification of where time is spent is essential and is best done in real time. With an idea of what you are doing with your time you can then ask some investigative questions:
1. Identify what does not need to be done and is only wasting time?
2. What can be done by someone else and probably better?
3. What do I do that uses time without being effective?
These questions help identify the time leaks. These normally fit into 4 categories:
1. Time is wasted due to lack of planning, foresight or a system.
2. Time wasted due to over staffing and therefore tasks taking longer than required.
3. Time is wasted due to mal-organization leading to having too many meetings and discussions.
4. Time is wasted due to poor information flow, format or availability.
Having established where the time leaks are, an effective executive can now reduce the leaks and build more discretionary time.
Drucker's first points around recording of time is simple yet perhaps the most profound element. In many cases, I suspect that many of us put off this type of measurement perhaps for fear of what it will reveal (that we are spending a lot of time on things that are, in the grand scheme, trivial) much like someone who does not want to step on a weight scale. Yet a central tenet of improvement is that we need to establish a reliable baseline.
It is worth reflecting on Drucker's around the four categories of time leaks, especially those around throwing bodies at issues (over staffing) and mal-organization. In my experience when these two elements are combined they can generate incredibly ineffective projects, departments and initiatives. With the addition of each new body thrown at a problem, the number of combinations of relationships and interactions in the group dramatically increases. If some of the people are also ill-equipped in terms of skills or temperament for the work required, this adds more fuel to the fire, as does poor expectations setting, weak definition of objectives, and lack of or unclear roles and accountability.
The idea of clarifying the area where we and or teams can make the greatest contribution is Drucker's second major theme and practice:
What Can I Contribute?
Effective executives focus on contribution. They need to identify where their skills, speciality and group adds most to the performance of the whole organization. They ask how they can contribute and to what standard? This is a particularly important factor in motivating a knowledge worker. Focusing on contribution supplies four basic requirements of effective human relations:
1. Communication is improved because team members understand what their contribution is towards the whole.
2. Teamwork is enhanced because the focus on contribution drives teams to collaborate and communicate their contribution to that whole. They ask, 'who needs my output for it to be effective?'
3. Self-development benefits because an executive focusing on contribution will often identify additional knowledge or skills they need to better contribute.
4. Individual development often improves because the executive sets the self-development standard for the organization. To focus on contribution is to focus on effectiveness!
In a second part to this post, we'll look at Drucker's final three practices of the effective executive.


text:
Phospholutions, Swisher's State College-based startup, manufactures RhizoSorb, a granular treatment that "emphasizes root production over shoot growth, acting as a natural growth regulator, to make shorter and more compact seedlings more likely to survive the transplant process," the company explains on its website. "Roots exist to draw water and nutrients from the soil. RhizoSorb works by forcing roots to grow deeper through the soil in search of key nutrients. The deeper roots reach, the longer it takes for the soil to dry out, meaning more water is available to the plant in times of drought."
Click here for full article.