text:
Hot Tech News > News > Technology > Green technologies > Bloomberg named ten most successful businessmen in the green economy
Bloomberg named ten most successful businessmen in the green economy
By offering technical solutions to combat climate change, you can make multi-billion dollar fortunes. Bloomberg named ten most successful businessmen in the green economy.
Will boom in solar power engineering in EU hold back climate change?
A number of businessmen in the world have earned billions by offering technical solutions to tackle climate change. The wealth of the ten richest of them totaled $61 billion by the end of 2019, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, January 22.
The first on the list are four owners of the Chinese company CATL, which produces batteries for electric vehicles manufactured by Daimler, Toyota, BMW and Volvo. Its cost is 16.7 billion dollars.
Elon Musk – only in second place
In second place is American Elon Musk, founder and head of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. His "green" state, according to Bloomberg, is estimated at $14.6 billion.
In third place, the agency put the German Alois Wobben (Aloys Wobben) with a fortune of 7.3 billion dollars. Wobben founded Enercon in 1984, a manufacturer of turbines for generating electricity from wind power. In 2018, Enercon installed more than half of all new wind generators in Germany.
The fourth on the list is Australian Anthony Pratt, the owner of the Australian company Visy Industries and the American Pratt Industries, producing recycled paper and packaging materials. The companies own their own power plants, supplying production with clean energy. Pratt's fortune is estimated at 6.8 billion dollars.
Fifth and seventh places are occupied by Chinese companies Longi and Hangzhou First Applied Material, the state of owners of which is estimated at 3.4 and 2.9 billion dollars, respectively. Both work in the field of solar energy. Longi produces single-crystal solar panels to satisfy a quarter of the global market demand, while Hangzhou First Applied Material produces solar panel film. According to the company, it controls more than half of the global market in this segment.
In sixth place – Spaniard Jose Manuel Entrecanales. His "green" condition is estimated at 2.9 billion euros. Entrekanales reorganized Acciona, a construction company founded by his grandfather, into a producer of electricity using wind, solar, water, biomass, and thermal sources. The company produces electricity to supply 6 million households; in 2018, this business accounted for more than 60 percent of Acciona's revenues.
In eighth place is Wang Chuanfu ($2.4 billion), owner of BYD, China's largest electric vehicle manufacturer. Closing the top ten are the Thai company Energy Absolute and the American Nikola Motor. The first one produces biodiesel, and also created and started production of the first electric car in the country. The second specializes in the production of hydrogen-powered cars.
Moreover, as Bloomberg notes, the carbon economy still dominates the world. Owners of oil companies, technology and traditional automobile concerns make up more than a quarter of the 500 richest people in the world. And the most expensive company in the world today is the Saudi oil concern Saudi Aramco, whose capitalization is $1.8 trillion.


With the orchestral phenomenon sweeping the UK and bringing sold-out arenas for collaborations with the Hacienda, Lush, Miss Moneypenny's, Colours and Pete Tong, next up for the classical treatment - and long overdue - is the house and garage scene.
The eight-date tour will see the special House and Garage Orchestra perform with a string of guest vocalists including artists behind the songs featured, such as MC Neat, Kele Le Roc, Shola Ama and Leanne Brown of Sweet Female Attitude.
"This new phenomenon will keep the scene alive for people who still love those tunes from back in the day. It's amazing how many people are so excited about it.
"It has also brought back a strong community of ravers and artists to enjoy the scene again. This time however, we are joined by a team of superb musicians. I'm looking forward to making new memories.
"I'm very glad to see the arrival in to house and garage,they sound made for each other. The clash between the styles is exactly what music is about, experimenting, it was simply a matter of time. I'm still writing,recording n performing and am currently working on a solo album.
"We were a part of a scene that went huge, at the time you kinda don't even notice, it's when you look back years later you realise. It's an honour performing Little Bit Of Luck with the orchestra, the audience are always up for a good old sing along.
Kele Le Roc is sure to go down a storm at the shows with that powerhouse voice, and she like MC Neat feels the garage and orchestral crossover was always going to happen because there's a hidden affinity.
She said: "To be honest it was only a matter of time as a lot of garage does lend itself musically to classical riffs. Not to mention it's taking it back to the old school. Before we had technology we played music live and organically. I wouldn't say it's a clash as it works quite well and seamlessly. However if you're someone who listens to classical music and you're not a fan of dance music then this isn't for you.
"But if you do it just works really well I think. not to mention my track Things We Do has classical riffs in it called triplets, you don't get more authentic than that. I see this as an opportunity to create a new surge of interest in the genre and the scene. It's quite a small one and we all basically know each other. Yet we still are all working and keeping it moving. That's testimony to how great the genre is.
Kele started out as a teenager and is still performing, writing and so much more. She said: "I think when you are so focused on what you want to achieve and I knew from a young age that I wanted to sing and perform.
"I just had tunnel vision. As my success grew, for me it was all destiny. Like 'yes this is how my life is meant to be, this is what I envisaged'. So I really just took it all in my stride. I'm working most weekends sometimes 3/4 gigs a weekend. With any scene that comes to the forefront it resides back to the underground but we're still all here bubbling.
While many artists come to resent their biggest hits, she will forever be thankful for what the song did for her - but she does admit she wishes people would be more open to her new songs too.
She said: "I will forever have a huge amount of love for the song Flowers and everyone involved in making it - it has brought about opportunities that would not have occurred otherwise. I do however feel slight frustration as I have loads of other material that has legs however but Flowers seems to be very dominant still whenever I pitch new material.
"People don't really know that we spent 4 or 5 years back in the day trying to push Flowers before anyone would listen - I feel that same level of frustration again now sometimes with my newer material, when I know a track is strong and a potential hit, yet only Flowers seems to be of interest still - as it reminds people of that wicked holiday they had in Napa or Ibiza.
Leanne is still working hard within the industry and in fact within the scene, so it's clear it hasn't gone away as many thought - it's simply returned to its underground roots waiting for its next moment in the spotlight. Which is now, thanks to the Orchestra.
Leanne revealed: "I can honestly say I have never been so busy doing shows and performances as I am now - and have been for the past four years.
"I can imagine the same is the case for a lot of the other Old Skool artists. This is predominantly at UKG based events - the scene has had a resurgence amongst the young generation especially - they seem to love it just as much as we all did 20 plus years ago.
"I have been prolific in writing and recording for the past 5 years. I've collaborated with tons of producers from the House and Garage community. I am hoping that at least one of my many, many new songs can do some damage. I just keep on writing and recording for the love of it. I also like to keep my shows as fresh possible so my hubby Andy and I work together to create re-works and merge them with original material whenever possible.
"It's sometimes difficult to engage a crowd of clubbers though if they don't know a song. I'll never forget the horrified faces of the clubbers I first sang Flowers to in Swindon back in 1999 when they'd never heard it before.
"I'll never forget the horrified faces of the clubbers I first sang Flowers to in Swindon back in 1999 when they'd never heard it before. I have been exploring different genres musically to try and feel out where feels good. I've written an RnB EP with a US producer which I am proud of and looking forward to getting out there.
That starts with this incredible tour - which will not only show old fans their beloved songs in a new light, but introduce a whole new generation of kids to the glories of the uniquely British house and garage scene. Whistle!


text:
Q: IntelliJ IDEA: installing dependencies without build tools? How can you set up dependencies (the jar files that we usually grab from maven repository) in intellij, without using a build automation tool? Do u download them and install them in you're desktop and somehow connect them to the project you're working on in intellij or you're IDE of choice?

A: IntelliJ IDEA has a feature that allows to add a library from Maven into the project that is not using Maven. It will download the jars for you. You can also download the files manually and add them to the module dependencies from the disk.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Argentina Tangos With Private Pensions
It's official: Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner moved Tuesday to nationalize $30 billion in private pension funds, saying it was necessary to protect retirees in the global financial crisis:
"We are taking this decision in the international context in which the G-8 countries and others are seeking ways to protect banks," Kirchner said as she presented the nationalization plan, which still must be approved by the Argentine congress.
"We are protecting our retirees and workers," she said.
The government is taking the step after the 10 companies in the private pension sector suffered severe losses in the crumbling stock and bond markets, according to an official who insisted on anonymity.
Local media cited official sources as saying the funds had incurred losses of around 20 percent as global financial markets succumbed to panic.
The Argentine stock market plummeted another 11 percent Tuesday in reaction to the announcement, as the private pension funds strongly criticized the measure as a "short-term" move and insisted that their assets remained health.
"The market was shattered by the drastic change to the rules of the game concerning the pensions. It amounts to a confiscation of private capital," said stockbroker Luis Corsiglia.
The ten firms together administer around 30 billion dollars in retirement savings of 53 percent of Argentine workers, and take in about 4.6 billion dollars each year in new contributions.
Eight of the ten are controlled by private banks. One is a cooperative and another is controlled by state-owned Banco Nacion, the country's most important bank.
The political opposition accused the government of confiscating the private pension funds to help service the national debt of some 150 billion dollars.
Confiscation of private capital? Argentina's President has taken her cue from Comrades Bush and Paulson who have effectively nationalized Fannie, Freddie and are in the process of partially nationalizing other financial giants.
The rules of capitalism have forever changed. The brokers can complain all they want but if it's between them and their mega rich hedge fund clients or the financial safety of millions of retirees, I am pretty sure that government officials around the world are going to screw the brokers and the hedge funds.
When it comes to hedge funds and buyout funds, some are now openly asking: Going, Going,...Gone?:
The value of publicly traded hedge funds has taken a hit. Man Group, the world's biggest publicly traded hedge fund, has lost about 41% of its value since July.
And things are likely to get worse. Look for hedge funds to take a hit, because the credit crunch means they can no longer leverage investments. The reason: Credit won't be widely available.
Hedge funds had little to do with the underlying conditions that led to the mortgage crash, but nevertheless will face increased restrictions as part of politicians' need to regulate the markets and do something -- anything -- to address the recent turmoil.
In retrospect, Sarbanes-Oxley may look benign. [that's for sure!!!]
The immediate result of new regulation will be less wiggle room for fund managers. This will almost certainly erode returns, and make hedge funds less attractive to investors.
Big Ben and the central bankers will do their best to prevent future bubbles from building in various markets. This may be good news for the economy - but it will take a bite out of hedge funds, because deft managers were adept at chasing inflated asset classes and knowing when to get out, thereby pocketing a nifty profit.
Buyout funds routinely tapped the debt markets to finance
the next acquisition. Such businesses can't thrive if debt markets seize up. What's next? Anyone interested in buying some used office furniture from a hedge fund?
The worldwide economic slowdown will hurt major industries, including those buyout funds routinely trolled, such as retailing and manufacturing. That means there will be few, if any, new deals ahead and existing deals may go bad.
The once saucy financial markets will become increasingly dowdy. That means innovative hedge-fund managers will have few chips to play in a game that has largely disappeared.
There will be rough times ahead, but the sun will continue to rise in the east.
"To get through it, we need to go through it. And on the margin, that's a healthy thing," Harrison says.
At the margin, it is healthy, but it also means we are in for a long, tough slug with lots of volatility.
Moreover, Sudden Debt reminds us of those dirty "D" words:
Deflation is finally making its way into the popular media, as this editorial from the New York Times clearly shows ("The Bubble Keeps On Deflating"). After mentioning the obvious trouble in the real estate sector, the article focuses mostly on the likelihood of a rising tide in corporate bankruptcies, caused by past credit excesses, e.g. cheap and dirty loans for buyouts by private equity funds (a particular pet peeve of yours truly). There is even note of complicating factors like credit default swaps (CDS) - another item very often examined in this blog.
As the editorial points out, so far there have been few major corporate bankruptcies. The question is, however, what happens if (or more likely, when) failures start to increase rapidly. Will the CDS market be able to absorb the shocks and act as a crisis attenuator, as its adherents claimed not long ago? After all, they had piled on trillion upon trillion of unregulated credit insurance, betting heavily on continued sunny credit weather.
Or will CDSs instead become amplifiers of trouble?
Defaults may very well swamp the CDS market and create a negative amplification effect, multiplying several-fold the losses sustained by the financial system. One single corporate bankruptcy can cause many more losses than the amount of its entire debt outstanding, as multiple CDS dominoes fall and cascade through all those who issued them with abandon.
Governments and regulators are ill-equipped to handle what is happening, hampered as they are with imperfect understanding and lack of relevant experience. So, they just do what they have always done: throw money (ours) into the problem, inadvertently feeding more fuel into a growing credit fire that requires debt cancellation "water", and not additional debt "oil".
Paraphrasing the fictional Gordon Gekko, "Deflation and default are good".
Update on CDS
Today (10/21) is the day of reckoning for Lehman's CDS settlements. Some $400 billion notional is said to be at stake and we'll soon know (?) who's holding the bag. Other than AIG, who wrote credit insurance on anything that fogged the mirror and has already choked on it, several formerly high-flying hedge funds are also said to be on the hook...
This is only the first major bankruptcy and the market seems to have already dealt with it, even breathing a (temporary?) sigh of relief. I'm not sure it will do so with the next one, though...
I am not sure either. I also wonder how many pension funds will be left "holding the bag" on this toxic debt which is probably trading (if it could trade) at pennies to the dollar.
No wonder government regulators are scrambling to create a central clearinghouse for credit-default swap trading. According to Bloomberg, one may open by next month after pressure from the U.S. Federal Reserve for a means to absorb losses should a market maker fail:
Fed officials and New York's insurance regulator have been pressing the $55 trillion market to create a central counterparty after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s bankruptcy last month. Because swap contracts are traded bilaterally between banks, hedge funds, insurers and other institutional investors, default by a major dealer threatens market stability by risking losses at everybody they've traded with.
While ``progress has occurred at a slower-than-desirable pace, recent events have accelerated the rollout,'' New York- based Barclays credit strategists Bradley Rogoff and Gautam Kakodkar wrote in a note to clients dated Oct. 17. ``Expected go- live date is late October or early November.''
Four groups have been vying to operate clearing operations, including a partnership between Chicago-based CME Group Inc. and Citadel Investment Group LLC and a group that includes dealer- owned Clearing Corp., Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and credit swap index owner Markit Group Ltd. Eurex and NYSE Euronext have also submitted proposals.
A clearinghouse, capitalized by its members, all but eliminates the risk of trading partner default by being the buyer for every seller and the seller for every buyer. It employs daily mark-to-market pricing where margin calls are made if a trader's position has lost money that day. Traders who can't pay have their positions liquidated.
The model differs from the over-the-counter market where traders rely on their counterparty to make good on their agreements. The credit-default swap market trades OTC and has faced payment problems after Lehman and Bear Stearns Cos. collapsed this year.
Clearing Corp. is owned by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and other finance companies.
Credit-default swaps, contracts conceived to protect bondholders against default, pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities, or the cash equivalent, should a company fail to adhere to its debt agreements.
It's about time they introduced transparency in this market. In early June of this year, before everything went haywire, U.S. and foreign regulators' pushed for a clearinghouse to process the $2 trillion worth of credit-default swaps that trade annually because of fears of lingering systemic risk tied to over-the-counter derivatives (they knew we were about to hit a colossal CDS iceberg).
But I agree with the Financial Ninja, you'd better get ready for some ugly realities when these instruments start trading mark-to-market:
This would go a long way towards adding desperately needed and sought transparency to the derivatives market. This would also almost completely eliminate counterparty risk, which has now become the number one problem.
The downside risk of course is that these products and positions will then see the light of day, where they very well may turn out to be quite ugly.
I still expect Credit Default Swaps (CDS) to blaze a wide, unpredictable path of destruction thru both the financial system and the real economy. (Like the guy in the picture.) But in the meantime, this is progress. This is good.
It will also expose the bagholders, including some well known public pension funds that used their triple AAA government credit ratings to write CDS, foolishly believing that the probability of a systemic crisis is next to zilch. SURPRISE!
It all makes me want to cry but how does that song go...
Pension Funds Go Trick-or-Treating
Closing the Gates of Hedge Hell
Sunny Days Ahead But Pension Storm Looming
Sayonara Carry Trade Turmoil?
Carry Trade Carnage
Currency Markets Gone "Loonie"
The Age of Biotech?
The Death of Solar Stocks?
KABOOM! Pension Bombs Exploding Everywhere!
Is Commercial Real Estate Ready to Tank?
The Great Pension Heist
Boy Plunger's Pivotal Point Theory
The End of Mark-to-Market?
Will The Manic Depressive Market Grind Higher?
Ursa Major Fills the Gap
Dimon in the Rough
Buy, Mortimer, Buy!
Krugman Wins the Nobel Prize
Beyond the 2008 Stock Market Crash
Will the G7 Prevent Dow 3600?
Hedge Hemorrhage and "Capitulation Crash"
Can We Escape This Financial Black Hole?
A Deflated Balloon Can't Bounce
Plan 'D': Desperation
Bretton Woods II?
Crisis Roils Europe, Alternative Investments
Oktoberfest!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
To Serve Man...
Sci-Fi Gears Of War (movie)
Thread starter Robby
movies sci-fi science fiction
The News Robot
The hordes of "Gears of War" fans who have clamored for a big-screen adaptation have something to celebrate today, besides a really sweet head stomp. After years of uncertainty, the "Gears of War" movie is back on track with producer Scott Stuber.
Variety reports that after an intense bidding war for the rights to the mega-popular Xbox franchise, Stuber, who recently produced "Ted" and "Batteship," walked away as the victor.
With a major studio producer backing the adaptation, "Gears of Wars" is closer to becoming a reality than any time since 2007.
Six years ago, "Total Recall" remake director Len Wiseman attempted to bring the Cog and Locust to movie theaters with New Line Cinema. Wiseman eventually left the project, which sputtered out from there.
The renewed effort to bring "Gears of War" to the big screen adds it to a growing list of developing adaptations that include Michael Fassbender's "Assassin's Creed," Tom Hardy in "Splinter Cell," and the "Ratchet and Clank" movie.
This iteration of "Gears of War" is far from a sure thing. Stuber is a serious producer, so it's worth putting faith in his ability to get a hot property made into a movie, but as we saw with the Wiseman attempt, things can fall apart easily. Let us not forget Neill Blomkamp's "HALO."
(via MTV)
What is the general feeling about this one, will a Gears of War movie ever be made?
In 2010, the movie started having problems when Wiseman left production and budget was cut.
At Comic-Con 2010, Cliff alluded that the film was being rewritten for the big screen and that he expected the film to be done sometime in 2012.
Today I searched IMdb for the placeholder and found it STILL in development
Gears of War - IMDb
The above quotes come from the Film entry at Gearspedia (a wikia)
the story has been scaled back from an epic to a straight forward invasion
The Coming Soon entry lists the following:
Release date: TBD
Studio: N/A
MPAA Rating: N/A
Screenwriters: Chris Morgan, Stuart Beattie
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Adventure
Duration: N/A
Copyright Holder: N/A
Copyright: N/A
Plot Summary:
Based on Epic Games' award-winning video game. The game thrusts players into humankind's epic battle for survival against the Locust Horde, a nightmarish race of creatures that surface from the bowels of the planet. The story unfolds as a ragtag group of soldiers use every last ounce of strength to survive the onslaught from the forces of evil, which begins on the historic Emergence Day.
The sheer lack of current information leads me to believe this movie has been shelved indefinately.
I think this one won't ever be made. The games, when played in Campaign Mode, are already kind of a movie so I suspect fans would be disappointed with a movie version.
Anybody remember the Doom movie?
Who knows anymore? Hollyrock is bound to greenlight it eventually.
There are lots of movies in "Development Hell" that I would love to see made.
A science fiction political drama
Rdwomack2
Independent Sci Fis, short sci fi movies, etc.
7HEUSEDB3RTH
Do new sci-fi movies rely on cgi?
mangle66
Chromosoner
Can you name this obscure sci fi movie?
I want to make a SCI FI movie, any advice?


text:
Bahria Town & Chinese Group Signs Karachi Transport Deal
Bahria Town has signed a framework document with China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corporation (CR20G) for collaboration on undertaking the development of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Blue Line project in Karachi.
According to a press release, the agreement was signed by CR20G Chairman Deng Yong and Bahria Town Chairman Malik Riaz. CR20G, a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited, has vast experience in undertaking mass transit projects worldwide. The group CR20G is already working in Pakistan on the Lahore-Abdul Hakeem Motorway project having a value of over $1.5 billion.
Bahria Town has already submitted an unsolicited Proposal (USP) to the Government of Sindh for the Blue Line project under public-private partnership mode and tendering for the project is expected in the near future. Certain foreign financial institutions have also expressed their interest to partially finance the project.
For undertaking the BRT project, Bahria Town has appointed a consortium of leading advisors and consultants, including Enrique Penalosa, Mayor of Bagota, Columbia, Exponent Engineers as local technical consultant, Riaz Ahmad and Company Chartered Accountants and Cornelius, Lane & Mufti, Advocates & Solicitors.
From The Express Tribune
Tags:Bahria TownBRTKarachirapid transit bustransport
previousImportance Of Correct Tire Pressure
nextSomalia & Pakistan Are The Only Countries To Use RON-87 Petrol


An important document has been released by the Diocese regarding information about child protection and sexual abuse allegations within the Diocese of Charleston. Please click the link below to read the document in PDF format.
The Church provides a great opportunity to help the departed by performing acts of devotion, repentance and charity. These acts provide remission from temporal punishment and are called indulgences. During the Octave of All Saints, (November 1-8) the Church gives us a special opportunity to gain indulgences for the departed.
2. On All Souls' Day, devoutly visit a church or oratory and recite an Our Father and Creed.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord and let the perpetual light shine upon them.
3. Pray for the intention of the Holy Father (no particular prayers are prescribed for the intention of the Holy Father, an Our Father and a Hail Mary are appropriate).
These conditions may be fulfilled several days before or after the visit to the Church. A plenary indulgence can only be acquired once in the course of the day; it is, however, fitting that Holy Communion be received and the prayer for the intention of the Holy Father be said on the same day the work is performed.
Prayers for the dead, especially offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for their eternal repose, rests securely on this truth expressed so eloquently by St. Paul: "Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living" (Romans 14:9).
All Saints' Day Masses & Party!!
Children are encouraged to dress as their favorite Saint and join the procession at the 6:30 pm Mass!
Join us at our All Saints' Day Pizza Party in the Parish Hall following 6:30 pm Mass!!
There will be fun games, prizes, pizza and candy!
Bring a canned good for the St. Vincent de Paul Pantry.
October is Respect Life month! Learn more about Pro-Life Issues and ways to get involved below!
Get Involved Locally! Click Here!


text:
Nearly two horses killed each week on UK roads, shocking new statistics reveal
Alarming new statistics have revealed nearly two horses a week are being killed on UK roads, with over 845 incidents involving horses and drivers reported to The British Horse Society last year.
dead slow
The British Horse Society voices support for Brake's Road Safety Week 19 – 25 November
The British Horse Society (BHS) is proudly supporting Brake's 'Bike Smart' campaign for this year's Road Safety Week, a week long initiative designed to promote road safety through lifesaving messages.
Bike Smart
Outstanding contributions to equestrian safety celebrated at The British Horse Society's Sefton Awards
The British Horse Society's (BHS) annual Sefton Awards, last week, celebrated three individuals who have recently made significant contributions to equestrian safety. Q
Charity calls for a reduction in national speed limit on country roads to save lives
A new report, conducted by the UK's largest equestrian charity, The British Horse Society recommends reducing the national speed limit on roads where there is frequent equestrian activity.
Transport Research Laboratory
BHS announces first Ride Out UK Month
Previously Ride Out UK Week, The British Horse Society (BHS) has announced that they're extending the event to last throughout May.
Ride Out UK Month
Hacking Your Way to Health
The British Horse Society (BHS) urges GPs to recommend horse riding as a way for patients to meet the recommended exercise targets.
Success for North Ceredigion horse riders as new Permissive Route opens
Horse riders, cyclists and walkers are now able to enjoy a new permissive bridleway which opened on Sunday (24 July) at Coed Cymerau near Eglwys-fach in North Ceredigion, thanks to funding given by The British Horse Society (BHS) and a BHS affiliated...
Access and Bridleways
Charity promotes Yorkshire horse rider road safety after competition win
A competition won by The British Horse Society (BHS) will educate more people about how to prevent horse rider road deaths
Yorkshire Buses Competition


text:
ST. LOUIS RATED TOP 10 IN EUROPE
Our Institute has been ranked among the 100 best schools in the world and among the Top 10 in Europe according to Spear's Schools Index 2022, a prestigious global guide that publishes an annual list of excellence in education. St. Louis School of Milan is ranked along with some of the most prestigious institutions, such as Harrow and Eton College in the UK (where the Prince of Wales also studied, to name just one of the most famous students), St. Paul's School in Brazil and Geelong Grammar School in Australia.
The Guide, which lists institutions by country and geographical area (UK, Switzerland, Europe, U.S., Middle East, China, Southeast Asia), is compiled by experts from Carfax Education global education consulting firm. In addition to formal criteria such as academic achievement and college readiness, schools were ranked based on their unique philosophy, local and international reputation, and how they prepare students for the future. Last but not least, Pandemic preparedness was also considered by rewarding those institutions that, even in the emergency, continued to offer a high-level educational experience.
"SPEAR'S School Index award is a recognition that fills us with pride because it rewards continuous investments aimed at both the selection of a highly qualified faculty and constant technological innovation," says Raffaele Martino, CEO of Inspired Education Group Italy & Northern Europe. "Our Group has always made it a priority to ensure that teachers and students have access to the most innovative facilities and equipment," the CEO continues, "and technology has undoubtedly proven to be a crucial and highly successful means of both continuing teaching during the pandemic and improving learning and engaging and motivating students and teachers.
SPEAR'S Magazine's recognition is further confirmation of the high reputation already widely enjoyed by our institute, which with more than twenty-five years of activity can be counted in its own right among the excellences present in the Lombard capital and in Italy.


text:
News News Topic: Computing
CERN inspires entrepreneurs for email encryption
Time spent at CERN has inspired a team of young computer scientists to launch ProtonMail, a new encrypted-email service
By Cian O'Luanaigh
Three young entrepreneurs inspired by their time at CERN have launched ProtonMail, a secure email service with a sophisticated encryption system to deter would-be spies.
Computer scientist Andy Yen has been working at CERN since 2009 through his home institutes CalTech and Harvard University in the US. Along with two of his CERN colleagues he recently co-founded a startup company called ProtonMail.
ProtonMail is a new service that provides encrypted email. "The technology means that our email system does not allow us (or anyone else) to read user emails," says Yen. "Access to user data is technically impossible because of the way we have implemented encryption."
The end-to-end encryption means that when you send an email with ProtonMail, your data is already encrypted by the time it reaches the their servers. So the team has no access to your messages, and as they cannot decrypt them, they cannot read them or share them with third parties.
The idea for the company was born last summer in a CERN cafeteria where CERN physicists and engineers regularly share ideas over lunch or coffee.
"Our team met at CERN and early ProtonMail hackathons were held at the famous CERN Restaurant One," says Yen. "We would not be where we are today without the assistance of the over 300 CERN students and staff who offered to test our service, and the informal advice and feedback given to us by members of the CERN computer security team."
"CERN is a true hub for technological collaboration and it's an environment fostering entrepreneurship," says Giovanni Anelli, head of CERN's Knowledge Transfer group. "Over 10,000 scientists from more than 100 different countries and 600 universities and institutes collaborate today with CERN. Knowledge sharing among this large academic community is essential in the scientific discourse and inspires many additional new ideas. ProtonMail is one such example."
ProtonMail was launched last week to the general public. Their Threat Model describes both the threats ProtonMail is designed to guard against, and also the threats it is not designed to counter.
Members of the "CoE RAISE" EU project – devel...
Applications open for 2023 CERN openlab summe...
Quantum deep: delving into quantum technologi...
Also On Computing
Computer Security: Animal or plant?
Computer Security: When auto-update is not so...
Computer Security: What's under the tree?
Computer Security: Freemium paywalls
Computer Security: When your restaurant turns...
Computer Security: Finally, bonbons for downl...


Our ELEGANCE Rose Gold Silicone Personalised Lanyard is perfect for teachers and other professionals that want to add a more stylish and special touch to their electronic passes and work keys.
Choose from our listed colours or just message on the 'special instructions' section of the cart which colour bead you would like along with the name you would like on the chain.
Mabel Bear lanyards are all made with high quality, 100% food grade silicone beads and are free from BPA, lead, cadmium, phthalates, PVC and latex. They will not absorb odour or support the growth of mould, fungus or bacteria.


bought it of the AH...????
Nah it wasn't AH. It's impossible to buy or trade with the other faction, so how did I my Order char get hold of Destruction gear?
About 5 seconds before the scenario finished, I looted a corpse. The need, greed, pass window popped up and I hit need. When I came out of the scn, I checked my inventory and it contained an item that needed to be repaired. I got it repaired, but upon repairing it, the details changed from Order to Destruction?? Definitely a bug. Funny stuff.


In Confessions of a Successful CIO: How the Best CIOs Tackle Their Toughest Business Challenges, current and future CIOs will gain invaluable perspectives from the stories of today's best IT leaders. These acclaimed leaders—each profiled in their own chapter—explain the toughest business decision they had to make, and how the outcome influenced and impacted their leadership style. These in-depth anecdotes take the reader inside some of the most challenging business climates imaginable and chronicle how these elite CIOs made the decisions that mattered.
Explore how these top-flight CIOs make critical decisions around strategy and IT to not only benefit their companies, but in some cases, to save them from becoming obsolete.
Confessions of a Successful CIO is the new playbook for learning how to take risks, respond to crises, and create more value from IT. Each chapter presents a different challenge, giving present-day and future IT leaders the chance to examine, analyze and learn so that they can be just as successful as the CIOs they're reading about.


text:
Improving interpretation of publically reported statistics on health and healthcare: the Figure Interpretation Assessment Tool (FIAT-Health)
Reinie G. Gerrits1,
Dionne S. Kringos1,
Michael J. van den Berg1,2 &
Niek S. Klazinga1
Policy-makers, managers, scientists, patients and the general public are confronted daily with figures on health and healthcare through public reporting in newspapers, webpages and press releases. However, information on the key characteristics of these figures necessary for their correct interpretation is often not adequately communicated, which can lead to misinterpretation and misinformed decision-making. The objective of this research was to map the key characteristics relevant to the interpretation of figures on health and healthcare, and to develop a Figure Interpretation Assessment Tool-Health (FIAT-Health) through which figures on health and healthcare can be systematically assessed, allowing for a better interpretation of these figures.
The abovementioned key characteristics of figures on health and healthcare were identified through systematic expert consultations in the Netherlands on four topic categories of figures, namely morbidity, healthcare expenditure, healthcare outcomes and lifestyle. The identified characteristics were used as a frame for the development of the FIAT-Health. Development of the tool and its content was supported and validated through regular review by a sounding board of potential users.
Identified characteristics relevant for the interpretation of figures in the four categories relate to the figures' origin, credibility, expression, subject matter, population and geographical focus, time period, and underlying data collection methods. The characteristics were translated into a set of 13 dichotomous and 4-point Likert scale questions constituting the FIAT-Health, and two final assessment statements. Users of the FIAT-Health were provided with a summary overview of their answers to support a final assessment of the correctness of a figure and the appropriateness of its reporting.
FIAT-Health can support policy-makers, managers, scientists, patients and the general public to systematically assess the quality of publicly reported figures on health and healthcare. It also has the potential to support the producers of health and healthcare data in clearly communicating their data to different audiences. Future research should focus on the further validation of the tool in practice.
Every day, numerous figures related to health and healthcare are reported in all kinds of sources. Policy-makers, managers, scientists, patients and the general public use these figures to guide their thinking on topics of health and healthcare [1,2,3,4]. Based on these figures, inferences are made on the severity, magnitude or impact of a health issue in society [5], influencing the decision-making process of patients [6, 7] and public opinion, which is central to priority-setting in health policy [8] and science [9].
Ideally, people base their decisions on the best available evidence, retrieving the figures which support their thinking directly from the source in which the figures are initially published; however, this is often not the case [10,11,12]. When looking for information on health and healthcare, people will obtain information from secondary sources and organisations they deem reliable [13], such as sources found through internet searches, newspapers, information leaflets of consumer organisations, television programmes and scientific information provided by research institutes [14,15,16,17].
During the construction process of figures on health and healthcare, choices are made on definitions of what is counted and measured, which inclusion and exclusion criteria are used, and which methodology is applied; moreover, interests of the involved parties may influence the results [18]. Figures on health and healthcare are often reproduced and cited in reports, summaries, fact sheets, press releases and news messages. Through this process, mistakes and misunderstandings may easily occur, or figures may be deliberately manipulated [19,20,21]. Inadequate communication of the construction of these figures may result in a misreporting of estimates such as prevalence, disease severity and outcomes of research [3, 22, 23], eventually leading to wrongful interpretation of figures by readers of such publications [24]. Furthermore, multiple sources of information may report contradicting figures on the same topic [25]. Contradictory or unclear reporting may cause uncertainty regarding a health(care) topic [26, 27], creating a barrier [28, 29] or leading to avoidance of decision-making, or even lead to misinformed decisions [30, 31]. In addition, figures on similar topics leave room for political and anecdotal use, such as applying the figure that fits best with the agenda of its users [31, 32] (e.g. politicians [33], patient advocacy of patient organisations [34], or media generating attention by publishing negative figures [35]).
Increasingly, attention is being paid to the translation of evidence into policy and practice [36], as illustrated, for instance, by the development of the AGREE instrument, which assesses the quality of the process and reporting of clinical practice guidelines [37], the AIRE instrument, which assesses the methodological quality of healthcare indicators and the connected reports [38], and the GATHER statement, which assesses the reporting practice of global health estimates [39]. Such instruments, which seem to be actively used in practice, are aimed to give an in-depth assessment of the quality of research outcomes and the detailed reporting of health estimates.
Methods aimed at the in-depth assessment of figures reported in scientific or extensive research publications are widely available. However, there is a lack of methods through which a practical assessment can be made of publically reported statistics. Journalists, policy-makers or interested citizens may question whether they can trust certain figures, but often do not have the time or inclination to dive into the world of statistics and research methodology. A need exists for an easy to use tool that supports users to gain insight into the key characteristics that contribute to the interpretation of a figure on health or healthcare [40,41,42]. The objectives of this study are to (1) map the key characteristics relevant to the interpretation of figures on health and healthcare, and (2) to develop a Figure Interpretation Assessment Tool (FIAT-Health) enabling systematic assessment of publically reported figures on health and healthcare to improve the proper use of these figures by policy-makers, managers, scientists, patients and the general public.
The design of the FIAT-Health was guided by a qualitative approach, relying on data derived from various forms of expert consultation in the Netherlands.
Four topic categories of figures on health and healthcare
A broad range of data is available on health and healthcare, resulting in numerous figures of varying origin. This study focusses on four categories of figures, selected by the research group (the authors) because they differ strongly in their nature and type of data required, but are all commonly used in health policy, monitoring and healthcare planning. Moreover, these types of figures are found daily in the media by the general public. The wide range of figures covered by these categories is likely to generate insight with regards to the most essential characteristics of figures that are important for their interpretation, and are also generalisable to other figures on health and healthcare.
Morbidity figures
Morbidity figures are key in determining the incidence and prevalence of diseases in a population, forming the first ideal step to estimate the need for healthcare [43]. Figures on morbidity are typically collected through various sources, such as clinical registry data and health surveys.
Healthcare expenditure figures
Planning of healthcare services relies on the affordability of care, which is estimated through figures on healthcare expenditure [44, 45]. Depending on the type of system, expenditure data may be based on tax data, insurance claims, providers' balance sheets, etc. Cost may, for example, be presented in relation to the GDP, per person, or in relation to certain diseases or types of care. In this category, figures are often the result of modelling.
Healthcare outcome figures
The quality of healthcare services is often perceived through figures on healthcare outcomes. Through these figures, the need for healthcare quality improvement and action on health is determined [46, 47]. This includes clinical outcomes, such as readmissions or complications and patient-reported outcomes. Data on healthcare outcomes is mostly derived through various clinical registries, administrative databases and patient surveys.
Lifestyle figures
Lifestyle is an important determinant of health, which is needed to estimate changes in the health of a population [48]. Often used examples are figures regarding physical activity, diet, and the use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Quantitative information on lifestyle is mostly collected using surveys and increasingly by wearable devices [49]. For macro-level figures, turnover of certain industries (e.g. tobacco) can also be used.
The research took place in the Netherlands, involving experts from four academic institutions and one national public health institute. Through purposeful sampling [50], researchers and knowledge integration specialists who specialise in communicating research findings to policy-makers and the public, were selected, based on their extended expertise in the respective topic categories. Furthermore, science journalists and communication officers were consulted for their experience with reporting figures in the media. Expert consultations were carried out in various formats, constructed according to the emerging knowledge need and participation of experts, as outlined below. The data collection process is described in Fig. 1. Each consultation meeting lasted between 60 and 90 minutes. By taking notes during the meetings and adding written comments made by the participants, the first author compiled a report for each session.
The first stage concerned the gathering of a broad list of characteristics on the practice of reporting figures. Data on the characteristics was obtained through the expert consultation for the morbidity category involving 33 specialists in the integration of knowledge on health and healthcare from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). Fourteen groups of three experts each were asked to review the figures on a disease on four national websites from the RIVM [51,52,53,54]. To make groups of three, nine experts participated in two different groups. Experts were asked to note the type of prevalence or incidence, the population, year, sex, age, source of the figure and the source of the data on which the figure was based. They were asked to reflect on the clarity of the figures, give their opinion on the current publication practices, identify inconsistencies that they found between the collected figures across the four websites, and identify what information was needed to improve interpretation of the figures. Each group gathered face-to-face and gave a joint written response in a pre-structured Excel file. Their notes were compiled by the first author in a separate Excel file and summarised.
As in the first stage, a broad list of characteristics was derived, the second stage concerned the addition of characteristics particular to the category healthcare expenditure. A group process including a discussion was considered to provide deeper insight into these characteristics. Four senior health economists from two health economics research departments and the RIVM were invited. All four experts accepted the invitation, although only two were finally able to attend the group session. During the session, the participants were asked to note their thoughts on the interpretation of presented figures on healthcare expenditure supported by an example of a report; consequently, the notes were structured during the session and recorded by the two present researchers. Separate appointments were made with the participants who did not attend the first session. During these individual consultations, the findings of the first meeting were discussed in-depth, complemented and validated.
Based on the previous stages, an extended characteristics list was developed. At this stage, more in-depth questioning on the construction of figures was sought. These questions were asked during the expert consultation for the healthcare outcomes category. The consultation consisted of two in-person interviews and one phone interview with three senior researchers from two academic institutions and one private company. Open questions with a semi-structured format were used to gain insight into the considerations made during both the construction and use of figures on healthcare outcomes.
At the fourth stage, an early version of the tool was developed, and gaps in the list of the items needed to be identified and phrasing needed to be clarified. Making use of the available expertise at the research institute, the expert consultation for the lifestyle category was addressed through a meeting with 28 junior and senior researchers of a Public Health research department. Participants received a publication on a lifestyle figure. Three groups assessed the figure through an early version of the FIAT-Health, while three other groups assessed the figure without the structured support of the draft FIAT-Health. Their findings and experiences with assessing the figure were compared and discussed in a plenary session.
Furthermore, two science journalists writing for two online journalist platforms, and two communication officers from the RIVM were individually consulted on their experience with the communication of figures on health and healthcare towards the public. Both journalists had specific knowledge on the communication of figures on health and healthcare. The consultations were aimed at the use of figures in the media, and they shared their experience on how they make figures on health and healthcare understandable to the public and policymakers.
Based on the expert consultations [55], insight was gained through an inductive approach in the key characteristics of each of the four topic categories of figures on health and healthcare that are relevant to their interpretation. First, to gain an overview of characteristics relevant to the interpretation of figures, characteristics related to the use of figures and those related to the construction of figures were coded in the session reports by the first author, resulting in an overview of characteristics for each of the four categories, and were successively compiled into a single list. Finally, characteristics in this list were synthesised resulting in the key characteristics that are essential to the interpretation of most figures on health and healthcare.
The format of the expert consultations differed among the categories in terms of approach and number of participants. Instead of first collecting all data in a single stage, an iterative process was applied during which multiple draft versions of the FIAT-Health were developed over time based on the emerging characteristics and shared with the involved experts. Hence, in the fourth stage, during the final interview with a communication officer and the final interview with a science journalist, a preliminary draft to which participants could respond was presented, which allowed the testing of insights gained from prior sessions in subsequent consultations.
Development of the FIAT-Health
The key characteristics were structured in eight overarching themes that formed the basis of tool development, guiding the development of the content, form and outcome of the FIAT-Health. The themes comprised the structure on which the main components of the tool were based. Starting from this structure, the components suitable to address the themes were created.
The development of the tool was guided by constant dialogue amongst the research group, consisting of the authors of this paper. Furthermore, to gain insight into the expectations and needs of potential users of the tool, nine project leaders of the RIVM, who are highly experienced in the publication of figures on health and healthcare, were gathered in a sounding board. This sounding board supported the development of the tool by advising on the form and regularly reviewing its content. The panel gathered five times, during which draft versions of the tool were reviewed in detail. Feedback resulting from these meetings was used to adapt and refine the FIAT-Health. During one additional meeting, an early version of the instrument was tested by the sounding board and several knowledge integration specialists at the RIVM. In small groups they assessed an example of a published figure and reflected on the results.
Face validity was established through examination by the research group of the relevance, reasonability, unambiguousness and clarity of the content [55]. Content validity was assured through the review of the tool on both content as well as form by the sounding board, thereby assuring a balanced inclusion of the aspects relevant for the interpretation of figures on health and healthcare [55].
Characteristics relevant to the interpretation of figures on health and healthcare were mapped for the four categories. Interpretation was considered to consist of characteristics relevant to the construction and use of a figure. The construction of a figure relates to the methodological considerations that impact the quality of a figure, and characteristics relevant to the use of a figure relates to the information which is needed to apply the figure in practice. As the objective was to identify the characteristics relevant to the interpretation of figures, only the characteristics related to the construction of the figure that could be understood by those without specialised knowledge were included. Furthermore, characteristics that were relevant to the use of a figure on health and healthcare and which related to the information the user of a figure would need to assess the usability of a figure in a certain context were also included. The resulting key characteristics that were relevant for the interpretation of each of the four categories of figures were grouped into eight themes.
Origin of the figure
This refers to the primary publication in which the figure was published for the first time. Any (secondary) publication that cites or refers to the figure should properly refer to this primary publication. The primary publication needs to be accessible to confirm the construction of the figure.
Credibility of the figure
Credibility is, to a large extent, a subjective judgement of the reader or user of a figure. This judgement is based on the expected expertise of the author and on possible conflicts of interest. Regarding expertise, a peer-reviewed scientific article from a well-known research group leads to higher expectations of credibility than an unknown blogger. Any financial or political interests may bias results or may appear to do so.
Expression of the figure
Two categories are distinguished, namely singular figures, such as an average or an absolute number, and composite figures such as a percentage or a fraction. The characterisation of the figure will impact the way the figure is perceived by its reader. When a figure is communicated in a singular form, the context of that figure might be lost to its user, while a composite form could obscure the actual figure. Either way, the form will impact the way the reader will value a figure.
Subject to which the figure applies
The definition of the subject is a decision made by the authors of the publication. Often, several definitions of the seemingly same subject are available. A more broad or narrow definition can impact figures considerably. Moreover, a misconception of the definition of the subject will result in a wrongful interpretation.
Population to which the figure applies
The population forms the basis for the figure. The inclusion and exclusion criteria have an impact to whom or to what the figure applies. The interpretation of the figure needs to be supported by the knowledge of the exact population the figure applies to.
The geographical area to which the figure applies
The geographical area concerns the location to which the figure is generalisable. While the geographical area has a large impact on the figure, this characteristic is easily miscommunicated. A figure which is valid for one geographical area may not be applied to another.
The time period to which the figure applies
The time period to which the figure applies relates to the question on whether a figure is relevant to the time in which it is reported. Often, a time period to which the figure applies is not mentioned in a secondary publication, implicitly assuming that the figure applies to the present. Whether a figure that is, for example, 2 years old is still relevant at the present time differs strongly between subjects and the aim for which it is used. Furthermore, experience reveals that figures which are counted at one point in time are often confused with longitudinal figures, i.e. point-prevalence and year-prevalence.
The process of counting and measuring
The process of counting and measuring is a broad theme covering different methodologies used to construct a figure, and the practical considerations of these methodologies. For each methodology, the main strengths and weaknesses need to be understood in order to interpret the figure.
Repetition of data collection
Furthermore, the repetition of data collection is considered in this theme. A figure derived from repeated or continuous data collection may be updated over time, or can be compared with earlier figures derived from the same data collection source.
Often, a sample of the population is used. A sample should be large and varied enough to represent the entire population. Statistical reliability increases with sample size and if the sample is relatively small, the reader should be careful with attaching value to it.
Registries are used as the basis for many figures on health and healthcare. Here, the way the data is registered, and who registers the data, is of importance. The quality of a registry, and thus the figure derived from it, depends on the completeness of data and the care with which the data is entered.
Questions asked and answers given to a survey determine the eventual figure. Furthermore, these questions should be carefully deduced to conclusions on the subject.
Direct observations
Data can be obtained through measurements made by researchers or field workers, or in other words, through direct observations. In some cases, this method has an advantage over a survey, but this may depend on the measurement instrument and the care with which the researcher measures. Obviously, many factors, for instance, patient experiences, cannot be easily observed.
If a figure cannot be constructed through empirical methods, the possibility of modelling exists. In modelling, many figures are used for which assumptions are made by the modeller. These assumptions should be well grounded and transparent in order to interpret the reliability of the figure. The plausibility of certain assumptions may often be difficult to judge for many readers.
The FIAT-Health
The FIAT-Health was constructed out of the eight themes relevant to the interpretation of figures on health and healthcare. The inclusion of all features was decided upon during an iterative process through which the research group thoroughly examined each item included in the tool. Five draft versions of the tool were reviewed by the sounding board. The sounding board gathered five times in order to review the emerging tool, and four draft versions were presented and fine-tuned based on the received feedback. Consensus was reached on the fifth version. In the FIAT-Health, a distinction is made between the primary publication, which is the source in which the figure is reported for the first time, and the publication in which the figure is assessed, which can be both a publication referring to a figure from a primary publication or the primary publication itself.
The characteristics relevant to the interpretation of figures on health and healthcare are addressed through a closed question format with directed routing. As multiple definitions can be applied to the terms used in the FIAT-Health, all terms and phrasing of the questions were discussed extensively and approved by both the research group and the sounding board.
The FIAT-Health consists of 13 main questions with sub-questions, numbered 1–13, and two statements, numbered 14 and 15. Questions 1–13 guide the interpretation and assessment of the figure, and consist of two types of questions, namely characterisation questions and assessment questions; the former are neutral, whereas the latter express a value judgment. The characterisation questions will guide the user into understanding the figure without directing towards an assessment, while assessment questions do provide a distinction between a positive and negative answer. Three types of assessment questions are used, (1) factual questions, which relate to the accessibility of information on a particular theme; (2) assessment questions, for which the user is asked to give a value judgment on a particular theme; and (3) correspondence questions, which relate to the correspondence between the primary publication and the publication in which the user is assessing the figure, which is not relevant if the figure is assessed in a primary publication.
Completing all questions results in a structured, 1-page overview of answers given to questions 1–13. This structured overview supports users to order their thoughts about the strengths and weaknesses of the figure. Through statements 14 and 15, users respectively assess the correctness of the figure and assess the appropriateness of the report of the figure.
Answer format
Characterisation questions are answered using a dichotomous yes/no scale. These answers do not give a positive or negative value to the answer. Factual and correspondence questions are also answered using a dichotomous yes/no scale, on which the answer 'yes' is continuously positive and 'no' is negative. Answers to assessment questions are given through a numerical 4-point Likert scale (1 = negative, 4 = positive). To support the user of the FIAT-Health in assessing the figure, a 4-point scale was chosen, avoiding a middle option to stimulate users in forming an assessment [56]. Concluding statements 14 and 15 are accompanied by a 5-star scale, which has been found to be easy to understand in previous studies [57]. Furthermore, to guide the user of the FIAT-Health, the questionnaire is accompanied by a user guide including explanations of all questions.
The glossary used in the FIAT-Health is described in Table 1. The FIAT-Health 1.0 questionnaire, as provided in Table 2, was developed in Dutch. The translation to English was conducted through a forward-back translation by two bilingual translators. Discrepancies in translation were discussed within the research group and the translators until agreement was reached [55].
Table 1 Glossary of the FIAT-Health
Table 2 The FIAT-Health 1.0 questionnaire
The purpose of this study was to develop a tool enabling a systematic assessment of publically reported figures on health and healthcare to improve assessment of these figures by policy-makers, managers, journalists, researchers, patients and the general public. The FIAT-Health can be used to assess publically reported figures on health and healthcare, and is recommended to be applied by (1) policy-makers to support their interpretation of figures to guide their decision-making process; (2) knowledge institutes and policy advisers to provide grounded advise on the use of figures on health and healthcare to policy-makers; (3) journalists, bloggers and information officers during the writing of a public report, summary or commentary; and (4) researchers for the translation of their own research to the public.
The tool should enable its user to (1) detect possible causes of bias associated with the construction of a figure; (2) distinguish the weaknesses and strengths associated to the methodology of a figure; (3) recognise in which context a figure may be used; and (4) detect inconsistencies in the communication of the figure reported to the public and in the primary publication. The FIAT-Health is designed to support its user to systematically interpret a figure on health or healthcare, facilitating the assessment of the quality of the figure, and the assessment of the appropriateness of the public report of this figure. The FIAT-Health is a practical tool avoiding extreme details while assuring coverage of all relevant aspects of the construction of the figure. Moreover, the tool should not generate a definite conclusion on the value of a figure, but should serve as a systematic guide for the thinking process of its user.
The importance of the characteristics found in this study is widely recognised to be influencing interpretation of figures, and are key to the reporting of figures on health and healthcare. Particular to this tool is the attention paid towards the clarity of definitions [58,59,60,61] and the credibility [21, 29] of the primary publication. Novel to this tool are the questions aimed to characterise the figure, which is often not addressed in any reporting guideline, but has a large influence on how the figure is interpreted [62, 63]. Furthermore, other themes are in accordance with the content of other tools supporting the reporting of quantitative evidence, namely the GATHER statement [39], the Drummond checklist [64] and the STROBE checklist [65]. Like the GATHER statement, the FIAT-Health is meant to improve reporting as well as to serve the information needs of decision-makers. The FIAT-Health is applicable to figures of varying origin. While knowledge usually relates to scientific evidence [66], the FIAT-Health is not limited to scientific evidence, and is thus usable in the many cases where figures are constructed through other means. Therefore, this tool does not dismiss the value of figures found through alternate methods, but allows the balanced interpretation of these figures.
The main strength of the FIAT-Health is the development through collaboration with its potential users, ensuring the relevance of the content of the tool and its suitability for application in professional settings. As the tool is primarily based on the perspectives of both the research and funding institution, it is likely that the language used as well as its characteristics may be biased towards their research paradigm. The involvement of other experts with a different affinity with the problem might have resulted in fewer items. In subsequent research, a larger number of institutes should be involved to broaden the perspective of the tool. Experts involved in the consultation rounds were sensitive to the problem of inadequate reporting. To avoid bias in the selection of experts, different groups of experts were involved, including junior and senior researchers and knowledge integration specialists. Additionally, journalists were consulted. Researcher bias in the identification of items was avoided through regular interaction with the research group and the sounding board. Furthermore, focus groups may incite 'group think', where participants may adapt their opinion to fit the group. This bias was avoided by organising different forms of consultation, including individual interviews during the developmental process.
The development of the FIAT-Health was supported by a sounding board, a method comparable with a nominal group technique involving the review of material received in advance and discussion amongst experts forming consensus [67]. This study deviates from a nominal technique as the sounding board in this study involved several rounds and focussed on a qualitative assessment. Although the FIAT-Health is based upon the assumption that better information on evidence leads towards better decisions, it is not a decision support tool such as the SUPPORT tools [68], which have the goal to guide policy-makers directly.
Fully understanding all methodological characteristics of figures, and overseeing its consequences, is often extremely challenging and time consuming, even for those who work in research. Further, figures communicated in the media are often biased and misunderstood. The FIAT-Health is by no means a panacea that will fully solve this problem. While developing the tool, one of the main challenges was to find the right balance between thoroughness, on the one hand, and practicality and compactness on the other. It may be unavoidable that the tool is too complex and time consuming for some, and too superficial for others. Consequently, the expectation that an average newspaper-reader will invest time in assessing figures using the FIAT-Health is unrealistic; neither will an experienced statistician obtain great revelations using the FIAT-Health; however, the purpose of this research is not to aid these groups of people. The FIAT-Health fills the critical gap between the expert and the news-consumer, consisting of policy-makers and advisors, journalists, managers, patients and those of the general public whose decisions depend on the correctness of a figure and its reporting.
Although face and content validity are established, the FIAT-Health 1.0 is not yet tested for user experience and construct validity. Therefore, a validation study will be performed during the next stage of this study. The current paper format of the tool does not facilitate easy usage, creating a possible barrier to the uptake of the instrument. To encourage uptake of the FIAT-Health into practice, an online version is under construction, facilitating the easy and efficient routing of a user through the questions, after which an overview of the answers can be provided. Nevertheless, despite its current practical limitations, the questions provided in the FIAT-Health are highly relevant, and can thus be applied in every-day practice immediately. As such, a sample of the content of the RIVM website 'de Staat van Volksgezondheid en Zorg' was systematically assessed using the FIAT-Health 1.0. The implementation of the FIAT-Health in the improvement process of the website is currently being explored.
The FIAT-Health is a tool enabling systematic assessment of publically reported figures on health and healthcare, to support a better understanding and interpretation of these figures by policy-makers, managers, researchers, patients, and the general public. The use of the tool results in a 1-page overview, representing the main strengths and weaknesses of a figure, filling the gap of scientifically developed methods which support the public reporting of figures on health and healthcare. As few systematic methods are available through which figures on health and healthcare can be interpreted, the FIAT-Health adds a practical approach through which users are better informed and supported in their decision-making processes.
FIAT-Health:
Figure Interpretation Assessment Tool–Health
RIVM:
Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment
Vogel JP, Oxman AD, Glenton C, Rosenbaum S, Lewin S, Gulmezoglu AM, Souza JP. Policymakers' and other stakeholders' perceptions of key considerations for health system decisions and the presentation of evidence to inform those considerations: an international survey. Health Res Policy Syst. 2013;11:19.
Schwitzer G, Mudur G, Henry D, Wilson A, Goozner M, Simbra M, Sweet M, Baverstock KA. What are the roles and responsibilities of the media in disseminating health information? PLoS Med. 2005;2(7):e215.
Young ME, Norman GR, Humphreys KR. Medicine in the popular press: the influence of the media on perceptions of disease. Plos One. 2008;3(10):e3552.
de Goede J, van Bon-Martens MJH, Mathijssen JJP, Putters K, van Oers HAM. Looking for interaction: quantitative measurement of research utilization by Dutch local health officials. Health Res Policy Syst. 2012;10:9.
Williamson JML, Skinner CI, Hocken DB. Death and illness as depicted in the media. Int J Clin Pract. 2011;65(5):547–51.
Holmes-Rovner M, Charles S. The mammography screening controversy: who and what is heard in the press? Patient Educ Couns. 2003;51(1):75–81.
Passalacqua R, Caminiti C, Salvagni S, Barni S, Beretta GD, Carlini P, Contu A, Di Costanzo F, Toscano L, Campione F. Effects of media information on cancer patients' opinions, feelings, decision-making process and physician-patient communication. Cancer. 2004;100(5):1077–84.
Burstein P. The impact of public opinion on public policy: a review and an agenda. Polit Res Quart. 2003;56(1):29–40.
Weingart P. Science and the media. Res Policy. 1998;27(8):869–79.
Russell J, Greenhalgh T, Byrne E, McDonnell J. Recognizing rhetoric in health care policy analysis. J Health Serv Res Policy. 2008;13(1):40–6.
Greenhalgh T, Russell J. Evidence-based policymaking: a critique. Perspect Biol Med. 2009;52(2):304–18.
Black N. Evidence based policy: proceed with care. BMJ. 2001;323(7307):275–9.
Turney J. Public understanding of science. Lancet. 1996;347(9008):1087–90.
Dobbins M, Jack S, Thomas H, Kothari A. Public health decision-makers' informational needs and preferences for receiving research evidence. Worldviews Evid Based Nurs. 2007;4(3):156–63.
Ritter A. How do drug policy makers access research evidence? Int J Drug Policy. 2009;20(1):70–5.
Zardo P, Collie A. Type, frequency and purpose of information used to inform public health policy and program decision-making. BMC Public Health. 2015;15:381.
McVay AB, Stamatakis KA, Jacobs JA, Tabak RG, Brownson RC. The role of researchers in disseminating evidence to public health practice settings: a cross-sectional study. Health Res Policy Syst. 2016;14:42.
Bekelman JE, Li Y, Gross CP. Scope and impact of financial conflicts of interest in biomedical research: a systematic review. JAMA. 2003;289(4):454–65.
Woloshin S, Schwartz LM, Casella SL, Kennedy AT, Larson RJ. Press releases by academic medical centers: not so academic? Ann Intern Med. 2009;150(9):613–8.
Bodemer N, Muller SM, Okan Y, Garcia-Retamero R, Neumeyer-Gromen A. Do the media provide transparent health information? A cross-cultural comparison of public information about the HPV vaccine. Vaccine. 2012;30(25):3747–56.
Caulfield T. The commercialisation of medical and scientific reporting. PLoS Med. 2005;1(3), e38.
Frost K, Frank E, Maibach E. Relative risk in the news media: a quantification of misrepresentation. Am J Public Health. 1997;87(5):842–5.
Yavchitz A, Boutron I, Bafeta A, Marroun I, Charles P, Mantz J, Ravaud P. Misrepresentation of randomized controlled trials in press releases and news coverage: a cohort study. PLoS Med. 2012;9(9):e1001308.
Simmerling A, Janich N. Rhetorical functions of a 'language of uncertainty' in the mass media. Public Underst Sci. 2015;25(8):961–75. doi:10.1177/0963662515606681
Goldman SR, Scardamalia M. Managing, understanding, applying, and creating knowledge in the information age: next-generation challenges and opportunities. Cognition Instruct. 2013;31(2):255–69.
Schwitzer G. Addressing tensions when popular media and evidence-based care collide. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2013;13 Suppl 3:S3. doi:10.1186/1472-6947-13-S3-S3.
Andermann A, Pang T, Newton JN, Davis A, Panisset U. Evidence for health II: overcoming barriers to using evidence in policy and practice. Health Res Policy Syst. 2016;14:17.
Oliver K, Innvar S, Lorenc T, Woodman J, Thomas J. A systematic review of barriers to and facilitators of the use of evidence by policymakers. BMC Health Serv Res. 2014;14:2.
de Goede J, Putters K, van der Grinten T, van Oers HA. Knowledge in process? Exploring barriers between epidemiological research and local health policy development. Health Res Policy Syst. 2010;8:26.
Fischhoff B, Davis AL. Communicating scientific uncertainty. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014;111:13664–71.
Furedi A. The public health implications of the 1995 'pill scare'. Hum Reprod Update. 1999;5(6):621–6.
The Editors. When evidence collides with anecdote, politics, and emotion: breast cancer screening. Ann Intern Med. 2010;152(8):531–2.
Gigerenzer G, Gaissmaier W, Kurz-Milcke E, Schwartz LM, Woloshin S. Helping doctors and patients make sense of health statistics. Psychol Sci Public Interest. 2007;8(2):53–96.
McKeganey N, Russell C. Tobacco plain packaging: evidence based policy or public health advocacy? Int J Drug Policy. 2015;26(6):560–8.
Sandell T, Sebar B, Harris N. Framing risk: communication messages in the Australian and Swedish print media surrounding the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Scand J Public Health. 2013;41(8):860–5.
Grimshaw JM, Eccles MP, Lavis JN, Hill SJ, Squires JE. Knowledge translation of research findings. Implement Sci. 2012;7:50.
AGREE Collaboration. Development and validation of an international appraisal instrument for assessing the quality of clinical practice guidelines: the AGREE project. Qual Saf Health Care. 2003;12(1):18–23.
de Koning JS, Kallewaard M, Klazinga NS. Prestatie-indicatoren langs de meetlat – het AIRE instrument. TVGW. 2007;85:261.
Stevens GA, Alkema L, Black RE, Boerma JT, Collins GS, Ezzati M, Grove JT, Hogan DR, Hogan MC, Horton R, et al. Guidelines for accurate and transparent health estimates reporting: the GATHER statement. PLoS Med. 2016;13(6), e1002056.
Walker N, Bryce J, Black RE. Interpreting health statistics for policymaking: the story behind the headlines. Lancet. 2007;369(9565):956–63.
Peters E. Beyond comprehension: the role of numeracy in judgments and decisions. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2012;21(1):31–5.
Han PK, Moser RP, Klein WM, Beckjord EB, Dunlavy AC, Hesse BW. Predictors of perceived ambiguity about cancer prevention recommendations: sociodemographic factors and mass media exposures. Health Commun. 2009;24(8):764–72.
Jones IR. Health needs and their assessment: demography and epidemiology. In: Bowling A, editor. Research Methods in Health: Investigating Health and Health Services. 2nd ed. Buckingham: Open University Press; 2002. p. 73.
Morris S, Devlin N, Parkin D, Spencer A. Economic Analysis in Healthcare. Chichester: Wiley; 2012.
OECD, Eurostat, WHO. A System of Health Accounts. Paris: OECD Publishing; 2011.
Geddis PW. Health service performance indicators. Ulster Med J. 1988;57(2):121–8.
Porter ME. What is value in health care? N Engl J Med. 2010;363(26):2477–81.
Mackenbach JP, Stronks K. Inleiding. In: Mackenbach JP, Stronks K, editors. Volksgezondheid en gezondheidszorg. 8th ed. Houten: Bohn Stafleu van Loghum; 2016. p. 36–7.
Loveday A, Sherar LB, Sanders JP, Sanderson PW, Esliger DW. Technologies that assess the location of physical activity and sedentary behavior: a systematic review. J Med Internet Res. 2015;17(8), e192.
Palinkas LA, Horwitz SM, Green CA, Wisdom JP, Duan N, Hoagwood K. Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Adm Policy Ment Health. 2015;42(5):533–44.
De Staat van Volksgezondheid en Zorg. 2016. https://www.staatvenz.nl/. Accessed 4 November 2016.
Volksgezondheidenzorg.info. 2016. https://www.volksgezondheidenzorg.info/. Accessed 4 November 2016.
Nationaal Kompas Volksgezondheid. 2011. https://www.rivm.nl/Documenten_en_publicaties/Wetenschappelijk/Databases/Preventie_Ziekte_Zorg/Nationaal_Kompas_Volksgezondheid. Accessed 28 Feb 2018.
De VTV-2014. 2016. http://www.eengezondernederland.nl/. Accessed 4 November 2016.
Bowling A. Research Methods in Health, Investigating Health and Health Services. 2nd ed. Buckingham: Open University Press; 2002.
Nadler JT, Weston R, Voyles EC. Stuck in the middle. The use and interpretation of mid-points in items on questionnaires. J Gen Psychol. 2015;142(2):71–89.
Shwartz M, Restuccia JD, Rosen AK. Composite measures of health care provider performance: a description of approaches. Milbank Q. 2015;93(4):788–825.
Anema HA, van der Veer SN, Kievit J, Krol-Warmerdam E, Fischer C, Steyerberg E, Dongelmans DA, Reidinga AC, Klazinga NS, de Keizer NF. Influences of definition ambiguity on hospital performance indicator scores: examples from The Netherlands. Eur J Public Health. 2014;24(1):73–8.
Dorn HF. Methods of measuring incidence and prevalence of disease. Am J Public Health Nations Health. 1951;41(3):271–8.
Rosen T, Olsen J. Invited commentary: the art of making questionnaires better. Am J Epidemiol. 2006;164(12):1145–9.
Jaime Caro J, Eddy DM, Kan H, Kaltz C, Patel B, Eldessouki R, Briggs AH, ISPOR-AMCP-NPC Modeling CER Task Forces. Questionnaire to assess relevance and credibility of modeling studies for informing health care decision making: an ISPOR-AMCP-NPC Good Practice Task Force report. Value Health. 2014;17(2):174–82.
Ancker JS, Kaufman D. Rethinking health numeracy: a multidisciplinary literature review. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2007;14(6):713–21.
Yamagishi K. When a 12.86% mortality is more dangerous than 24.14%: implications for risk communication. Applied Cognitive Psychol. 1997;11(6):495–506.
Drummond MF, Sculpter MJ, Torrance GW, O'Brien BJ, Stoddart GL. Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2005.
von Elm E, Altman DG, Egger M, Pocock SJ, Gotzsche PC, Vandenbroucke JP, Initiative S. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement: guidelines for reporting observational studies. Int J Surg. 2014;12(12):1495–9.
Contandriopoulos D, Lemire M, Denis J-L, Tremblay É. knowledge exchange processes in organizations and policy arenas: a narrative systematic review of the literature. Milbank Q. 2010;88(4):444–83.
Jones J, Hunter D. Consensus methods for medical and health services research. BMJ. 1995;311:376–80.
Lavis JN, Oxman AD, Lewin S, Fretheim A. SUPPORT Tools for evidence-informed health Policymaking (STP). Introduction. Health Res Policy Syst. 2009;7 Suppl 1:I1.
We thank all experts and the members of the sounding board for their valuable input and advice. We thank Antonia Verweij for her work on the collection of information on morbidity figures.
This research was funded by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). URL: http://rivm.nl/. To optimise the relevance and applicability of the tool, the RIVM (represented by MJ van den Berg) was involved in data collection and analysis, decision to publish, and preparation of the manuscript.
Department of Public Health, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Reinie G. Gerrits, Dionne S. Kringos, Michael J. van den Berg & Niek S. Klazinga
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Michael J. van den Berg
Reinie G. Gerrits
Dionne S. Kringos
Niek S. Klazinga
RG, DS, MB and NS designed the study and interpreted the outcomes. RG, DS and MB collected the data, and RG analysed the data and drafted the article. DS, MB and NS were major contributors to the writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Correspondence to Reinie G. Gerrits.
Gerrits, R.G., Kringos, D.S., van den Berg, M.J. et al. Improving interpretation of publically reported statistics on health and healthcare: the Figure Interpretation Assessment Tool (FIAT-Health). Health Res Policy Sys 16, 20 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-018-0279-z
Evidence-informed decision-making


주의력 산만. 과민 행동에 왜 교감 신경 흥분 약을 투약하나 왜 적게 복용 해야 하나? 정상 아동에게도 효과 있나?
왜 적게 복용 해야 하나?
2007 Jul;y 25 Medscape Psychiatry & Mental Health.
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biol Psychiatry. 2005;57:1313-1323.
cAMP-HCN channel signaling in prefrontal cortex. Cell.


NEW PALTZ, NY (September 30, 2016) – Following two successful years of this new annual tradition on Huguenot Street, children and families are welcome to once again walk the street on Halloween night, October 31, trick-or-treating at the historic houses from 4 pm to 6 pm.
Refreshments will be available at DuBois Fort Visitor Center at 81 Huguenot Street. The entire street will be decorated, including a campfire, for an immersive Halloween experience. This event is free and open to the public.


A duplicate of my first pour through from the mid-1970's when life was just starting and a lot simpler. Works wonderfully and the coffee tastes as well as I remember. I highly recommend this coffee maker as an alternative to the drip maker for a grand pot of coffee, it will impress your friends.
The Melitta coffee maker is exactly what I was wanting. Makes the best coffee and I don't waste any of the coffee grounds. I can repour over the grounds twice and get all of the coffee out of the grounds.
Takes a bit more time in the morning (I am missing coffee being ready when waking up), but not a big problem. Night before fill tea kettle with water and prop the paper filter in the black filter to save a little time. I have good luck keeping it warm on the simmer burner on a heat shield using gas stove. My biggest wish is that my local Walmart store carried the #6 filters.
If you are a real coffee inthuist you know drip makers do not get the water hot enough to extract all of the flavor from your coffee. I 100% recommend this system.
For some reason beyond my understanding, Melitta refuses to import #6 filter holder to the US even though they sell the #6 filters. I had hoped that this filter holder made by Melitta would be like the ones you get overseas. No such luck -- there is a protrusion at the bottom making it only usable on this glass carafe, but not on insulated containers. Too bad. Fine otherwise and reasonably priced.
If you like the great fresh taste of coffee this is it. The only thing I do not like is you cant make more then one cup at a time because I you let it sit it will and does change the flavor. I do enjoy the coffee maker.
I purchased this to replace my last mellita coffee maker. I have used this model for over 7 years. The order was placed with ease and delivered ahead of schedule. What more could you ask for.
I assumed this would be the small size pour over cone with a correspondingly small carafe. I should have noted it was a 10 cup unit. I returned and purchased this the smaller filter cone to use with a smaller carafe. Good price if you want a LARGE Melitta filter cone.
Bought this for my mom And she loves it I have the smaller one and its awesome Getting one foe my grandmother as well!
If you're a cone drip coffee fan and are willing to share your coffee, this is the pot for you. I Only wish it came with a hot plate to keep it hot!!
After a year with my Mr. Coffee, it stopped saturating all the coffee grounds because the water only dripped on the backside of the basket. To clean the machine, I ran vinegar through the machine twice and then clean water through the machine twice. It didn't improve the flow of water at all. I was standing over the Mr. Coffee with a knife trying to redirect the water to the front of the basket so my coffee wouldn't come out weak. I got tired of doing that and messing with a machine that has to be de-limed. Plus, a couple of times the coffee overflowed the basket when I forgot to put the carafe under the basket. So, I went back to basics with the Melitta Pour-Over coffee maker. The 10-cup unit is hard to find in stores, but I was able to order it online through Walmart and then pick it up at my local Walmart store. I also bought a Farberware Electric Teapot, which I found on the shelf in the store. It has blue LED lights when it is on and has auto shut-off, so no boil overs. It works great with the Melitta Coffee Maker. I make a full pot of coffee and keep it in the fridge for a couple of days, and then I just pour myself a cup when I want one, and microwave it. I never use instant coffee. Using the Melitta Maker is easy, it is way easier to clean than an automatic coffee maker, and takes up less counter space - because there is no machine sitting on your counter after the coffee is made. FYI - to make a 10-cup carafe - boil 1.5 Liters of water. Then put in about 4 large coffee measures of ground coffee. Adjust to taste after that. (4 large coffee measures = 8 Melitta coffee measures or 8 Tbsps). I'll never understand why people buy those Keurig Makers. They are much more expensive to use, hard to use with your favorite coffee blend, and they pollute the planet with all these little K-cups.
Pourover is still the best way to make coffee!
I used to collect coffee makers (long before coffee was the fad), and this model was always the simplest/best way to make coffee. Sadly, a coworker destroyed the carafe and 30 years of memories went down the drain. Thank goodness the exact same replacement was ordered the very same day :-) Everybody laughs at me for using this, then after they enjoying coffee brewed in it (and seeing how many electric models they have since thrown away), they realize why I stand by my simple old school Melitta!
I wanted to give this a try because I'm disappointed with the auto-drip machines they make these days. WOW! I wish I had been using this all along. You don't know what a good cup of coffee is until you've tried this. You can fully extract all the flavor, instead of leaving half of it behind with a drip machine.
Love this product! Uses number 6 coffee filters.
I love this pour-over coffee maker. It's cheaper than any electric coffee brewer and it definitely helps promote the minimalist, less plastic use/relatively environmentally-friendly lifestyle.
Been using the Melitta® Pour-Over™ Brewer 10 Cup Coffee Maker with Glass Carafe for years and it makes the tastiest coffee. Broke the carafe so was replacing it.


After a multi-family loan project is completed, the project is monitored annually to ensure that the tenant rent and income complies with the terms of the loan agreement. Below are links to the current income and rents (listed by funding source) and the forms used during this process.
Single-family rehabilitation loan projects are also monitored annually to ensure that the terms of the agreement are met. Below are the forms used during this process.
First Time Home Buyer loan projects are also monitored annually to ensure that the terms of the agreement are met. Below are the forms used during this process.


- Rip any DVD to common video format.
- Extract audio from dvd to mp3.
- Compatible with iPad mini, iPhone5, Kindle Fire, nexus 7 etc. Enjoy dvd on any smart phone or portable device.
- Burn DVD folder from hard drive.
- Copy any Blu-ray to computer as BDMV folder or iso file.
- Burn blu-ray to blu-ray disc directly.
- Extract audio from blu-ray to mp3.
Ideal Video Downloader - an useful online video downloader for downloading video from youtube and other popular sites.
Auto analyze url and list all formats of the video you needed.
Ideal DVD to Avi Converter- Convert any DVD to avi format or extract multiple chapters or parts off a DVD.
Version: 2.0.7 Convert any encrypted DVDs to avi format.
Extract any chapter or part from a DVD with easy.
Fast speed and perfect quality. Support multi-core processor.
Compatible with Zen, Archos and blackberry avi series phones.
Ideal DVD to iPad Converter - help you convert any protected DVD or WMV/ AVI/ FLV file to iPad format.
Version: 2.0 Convert any protected dvd or common video file (avi/wmv/flv) to iPad.
Very easy to use, just one click.
Support dual-core processor, rip a 2-hour movie in 40 minutes.
Perfect quality. Embedded profile with the best quality.
Ideal DVD to MP4 Converter - help you convert any encrypted DVD to mp4 player or mobile phone.
Version: 1.0.1 Convert any encrypted DVD to MP4 player or mobile phone.
Embedded profiles for popular MP4 players and mobile phones.
Easy to use, fast speed and perfect quality.
Version: 2.5.4 Convert any dvd/avi/wmv/flv/rmvb/rm to iPod format.
Fast ripping speed and perfect quality. Rip a 2-hour movie in 30 minutes.
Compatible with iPod touch, iPhone, iPad and Apple TV.
Ideal DVD to PSP Converter - help you convert any Avi file or DVD to PSP by one click.
Version: 2.1.4 Convert any encrypted DVD to PSP, also can convert avi/wmv to PSP.
Transfer the ripped .mp4 file to PSP directly.
How to rip blu-ray to iPhone 5?
How to enjoy blu-ray on micorsoft surface tablet?
How to make multiple copies of a DVD by only reading the original DVD once?
How to convert any commercial DVD to iPod/iPad format?
How to convert other video formats like avi/wmv/rmvb/rm to iPod format?
How to convert any decrypted DVDs to avi format?
Ideal DVD software, founded in 2005, is a professional blu-ray & DVD software developer, including Bluray & DVD Copier/Ripper/Converter software. Our goal is to develop the easiest and the most efficient Blu-ray & dvd software, so that users can easily make a perfect personal copy or conversion for their favorite Blu-ray & DVDs. We strive to provide the first-class service and support to our users.
Just come here! Ideal DVD Software can do what you want, no matter you're using mac or windows os. All Software here offer full function trial, no watermark, no ripping time limited. You can fully trying them before buying.
All programs of Ideal DVD Software are also a powerful DVD decrypter. So you needn't look for other blu-ray & DVD decrypters at all. On the contrary, then can conflict with our programs. When copying or converting, they will automatically remove all kinds of copy-protection, such as region code, UOPs, CSS, Sony ARccOS, PuppetLock, BD+ etc. So there's no protection in the copied DVD or ripped file.
Simple and friendly interface is another feature of Ideal DVD Software. When developing these DVD programs, we fully considered the users' demand, acted as an end user, did our best to make them as easy as possible. And we also paid attention to every details, a message box, even if a word, we'll think it over and over again, in order they are clear enough to the end user, especially to the novice.
Anyway, the software should be developed with the market demand, the copy protection is stronger and stronger day after day, there's still a long way for us to strive. We will continue to devote ourselves to improve our programs.
Believe us, Ideal DVD Software is just what you need!
All software here, just Pay one time and get lifetime license.
If you want to receive newsletters from Ideal DVD Software, please subscribe to our newsletter.
3. Minor fixes and improvements.
1. fix the pink screen for main movie of the full disc shrinked DVD of the type <...>.
2. fix the crash issue of the DVDs like Bad Santa 2, The Death of Stalin, Hampstead, Sleepless, The Ritual, Detroit, Miss Sloane etc.
How to copy & rip brave dvd or blu-ray?
Want to enjoy the latest blu-ray or dvd Brave on your TV, iPad mini, iPad, iPhone 5, Nexus 10, Surface etc smart phones or tablets? Let Ideal DVD Software help you. It already supports copying or ripping this great movie.
How to copy or rip Marvel's The Avengers dvd?
Ideal DVD Software got solution to copying and ripping The Avengers blu-ray & DVD on windows and mac. Let you enjoy the superheroes visual sound feast anytime you wanted.
How to copy or rip dvd "The Hunter Games" on windows and mac?
Ideal DVD Software now support copying and ripping the hunger games blu-ray and dvd edition.
How to rip Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol to avi, ipad, kindle fire or smart phone with Ideal DVD Converter?
Rip Mission 4 dvd to avi or iPad, kindle fire or other smart phone format with Ideal DVD to Avi Converter and MP4 Converter, enjoy the movie anytime and anywhere.
How to copy mission impossible ghost protocol dvd on windows or Mac OS with Ideal DVD Copy?
Ideal DVD Copy both windows or Mac version support copying mission impossible ghost protocol dvd. You may enjoy this dvd on your computer or stand-alone dvd players without worrying the original disc being scratched or damaged.
How to copy "the adventures of tintin" 2012 dvd?
Ideal DVD Copy can filter the fake titles on dvd the adventures of tintin 2012, help you make a perfect copy to enjoy on you HDTVs.
Want to appreciate the most popular movie twilight breaking dawn on your iPad, iphone or smart phone? Ideal DVD to MP4 Converter can help you, it has broken the copy protection in it.
Ideal DVD Copy now support copying the famous dvd twilight saga breaking dawn part 1, you can pre-order this dvd and just make a copy of it at the day it comes out.
Ideal DVD Copy can help you make a perfect copy of the new coming protcted dvd "The Smurfs", you can enjoy it on your stand alone DVD player without the risk of damaging the original dvd "The Smurfs".
Ideal DVD Copy can help you backup new protected dvd super 8, to protected your original super 8 dvd being scratched.
How to copy disney movie cars 2?
Previously i have tried slyfox and a few other dvd shrinkers but i find your to be supremly professional . And you provide fixes really fast, especially now that you have the automatic search to your site. Thank you for an excellent program. Your backup and fix it service was what prompted me to buy it.
I do like Ideal DVD Copy, it has a nice interface and very easy to use. It does work fine on commercial DVDs.
I am very impressed with your excellent service and product, definitely the best I've tried. I just want to carry my own DVDs around with me, you have made it so simple.
Copyright © copy 2005-2014 Ideal DVD Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.