To fully understand the history of Japanese watch making, we need to go back to the end of World War II. From the ashes of war, Japanese manufacturers have created a well deserved reputation for producing competitively priced and highly reliable consumers products.

With an economy in complete collapse and an infrastructure that was completely destroyed, post war Japan was in a shambles. Whatever remained of Japans commercial sector was faced with limited access to raw materials, machine tooling and electricity. Even basic needs like food and fresh water were in short supply.

Through a painfully slow process, Japan began rebuilding its shattered economy. Early attempts at production were plagued by quality problems and shortages. A great deal of emphasis was placed on producing goods for export and doing so in a hurry. As a result, the term Made in Japan became synonymous with poor quality. Some Japanese entrepreneurs saw the chance to turn tragedy into turnaround and began to work on products that would forever change the perception of Japanese products.

Japanese entrepreneurs quickly learned to do more with less. This process became the basis for the Japanese manufacturing model, model that has swept the through the manufacturing world. Adopting strict quality standards and strategies such as designing products in a way that makes the production process more efficient, the Japanese helped to reinvent the production process. The new philosophy was grounded in a philosophy that integrated design and manufacturing functions. As a result production efficiency and quality increased.

While much of Europe suffered tremendously after the war, the Swiss were largely spared the terrible effects of the war. The Swiss had established a reputation for craftsmanship and quality. The Swiss has long been known for producing fine watches and clocks and optics. The Swiss had more in common with Japan then first meets the eye. Both countries are relatively small and lack many of the natural resources found in abundance in other parts of the world. The two countries also shared an intense passion for precision.

The Japanese has the help of several former adversaries, including and principally the United States. Through the efforts of Americans like Dr. W. Edward Deming, Japanese manufacturing was reshaped in a way that continues today and has become recognized around the world. Working with other like minded professionals Deming helped the Japanese set up new systems of quality control, product design and production. In a complete departure from prior practices, the quality control process moved from the end of the production line into the product engineering department. Using Demings Fourteen Principles, many Japanese companies incorporated the engineering philosophy of design for manufacturability. The result as they say is history.

The quality of consumer goods produced by Japanese companies extended into precision products like watches and other time keeping devices. Founded in 1930, the Citizen Watch Company has been producing precision wrist watches and timepieces and the lessons of Dr. Deming were not lost on the Citizen Company. Citizen was into an era of growth through producing very precise watch components that featured greater reliability and ease of repair.

Founded in Nineteen Thirteen, the Seiko Company was a major of clocks and watches, producing its first wrist watches with the brand name of Seiko brand name first appearing on watches in Nineteen Twenty Four. Despite their long history, Seiko, like the rest of Japans commercial sector, was crippled by the war and had much to overcome during their journey into the future. Like Citizen, Seiko adopted many of Demings Fourteen Principles and, like the Citizen Company, have become a brand name synonymous with innovation and quality.

Educational research enables us to gather information that will help improve our understanding of schools and student learning. Research can be done on various levels to inform us of factors in our own classrooms or on a larger level such as district, state, or nation-wide. McMillan states that “when research can be used to stimulate, inform, reinforce, challenge, and question our own experiences, the intuitive professional judgment that is absolutely essential for effective teaching and leadership is enhanced (pg.3).” Examining the factors that make up a research project helped me become more aware of what types of experiments there are, the process of conducting a project, and how to determine whether the project is valid.

Standard 11 in the Curriculum and Instruction program states that our goal is to “competently comsume and produce when necessary empirical data to guide educational practice.”  The Research Project Outline allowed me to utilize the information I got from the text and modules and apply it to my own project. It made me more conscientious about the validity and reliability of different sources when reading other people’s research, and in turn gave me things to think about in ensuring my own project would be valid and reliable. The readings, discussions, and project in EDU 6975 have provided me a basic foundation to understanding educational research, which I plan to build on in the next research course.

RPO

The 2009 Black Book of Outsourcing client experience survey investigates a subset of over 3000 Business Process Outsourcing contracts held by 800 corporate buyers of BPO.
18 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or criteria are employed specific to BPO buyers within all verticals and sectors, scored on each respective vendor and ranked per KPI.
Key Finding: Most Important Customer Satisfaction KPIs in Cross-Industry BPO Sector
Innovation, customization and reliability are the most important attributes influencing Cross-Industry BPO client satisfaction with their 2009 outsourcing providers. All three KPIs were overwhelmingly praised by the clients of HCL BPO, which captured the overall honors across all verticals and horizontal functionalities this year.
Key Finding: Vendor Dissatisfaction is uncommon in the BPO Industry Outsourcing Sector among Top Tier Ranked Suppliers
Strong dissatisfaction is uncommon among the largest and most comprehensive suppliers of BPO occurring in only 6.5% of financial and accounting clients and 8.8% of transactional services clients.
US clients are among the most satisfied with cross-industry BPO services delivery averaging 95.5% with 2009 projects delivered from North American based suppliers (US, Canada and Mexico). Stronger dissatisfaction was more commonly reported from engagements with offshore outsourcing vendors with 13.7% of all surveyed BPO clients (Philippines, India).
Key Finding: Comprehensive Services Vendor arrangements from Full Service BPO Vendors produce the Highest Satisfaction Rates
Vendors offering comprehensive BPO and ITO Services ranked highest in the overall survey by all clients. Cross industry clients showed significant preference for vendors who are capable of offering more extensive service lines once satisfied with initial projects.
HCL BPO compiled the highest rankings and client experience scores across three of the four major functional subdivisions of BPO services this year.

Companies Mentioned

HCL BPO, Convergys, TCS BPO, Quattro BPO, IBM Global, Aegis, EXL Service, Syntel, Firstsource, Transworks BPO, WNS Global, Genpact, Infosys, Interglobe IGT, Perot Systems, Softtek, Vertex, EDS, Wipro BPO, Caliber Point,

More Information:
http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/2009-Top-Business-Process-Outsourcing-Vendors-Black-Book-Survey-2009-Results-31079.html

In advertising there’s always the easy way. Take a feature, do the boring brand window, do a couple of close ups with dramatic CGI effects take the music to a crescendo and finish off with a well modulated voice over. Another commercial in a sea of me-toos.

It takes a bit of daring to take the meta level of a singular thought and plug away at it relentlessly. Over the years, the Corolla brand has stood for quality and reliability. The brief has been to reinforce the consensual opinion that this car has rock solid reliability.

With such a bedrock of brand belief all that the current commercial does is to clue in the reliability in an interesting and engaging manner that becomes another chapter in the continuing brand dialogue with its target audience.

(CFD.net.au – Contract for Difference, Share, Forex, ETFs, Commodities Traders) –

“The number of interesting things we can do with Twitter is just endless,” Mr Williams said during an on-stage chat with John Battelle on the opening day of a Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

“It just blows my mind.”

Mr Williams was upbeat during the talk overnight, saying that while use of Twitter’s website is slowing in the US it is gaining big internationally and with smart phone users.

“Our US Twitter.com growth has slowed temporarily and there are some things we will be launching that we think will pick that back up,” Mr Williams said.

Mr Williams sidestepped questions about Twitter’s plans for cashing in on its popularity, saying the San Francisco-based company’s priority is to improve its technology and reliability.

“It’s not like we are spending our days looking under couch cushions for the elusive revenue model,” Mr Williams said.

“Obviously, we are thinking about it.”

Restaurants use Twitter to fill empty tables. Masseuses use Twitter to fill empty slots between appointments. Shops use Twitter to sell overstocked merchandise. Food carts use Twitter to guide customers to street corners.

“If we are driving that value for businesses, I am not worried about us driving some of that value for ourselves,” Mr Evans said.

Mr Williams said it would be a mistake to get distracted from improving Twitter’s ability to deliver the “freshest and most relevant” information because that will be a key to Twitter making money.

Twitter is considering hiring a sales force and is considering making money from advertising, according to the chief executive.

There are a large number of companies interested in working with Twitter to promote brands, according to Williams.

“We are optimistic about revenue,” Mr Williams said.

“I can’t tell you want the mode is.”

Twitter is working on making it easier for newcomers to the microblogging service to immerse themselves in a world of followers, following, and expressing thoughts in text messages of no more than 140 characters.

Twitter’s top five growth areas are Britain, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan and the US.

Launches of mobile Twitter services in India and Japan last week are expected to cause use in those countries to surge.

Twitter has released a test, or beta, version of a Lists feature for organising microblogging feeds and is building search tools so users can more easily sift torrents of commentary for tidbits of interest.

“We’re putting a ton of effort into search and discovery on Twitter,” Mr Williams said.

“We have millions of nodes collecting information but we need to get much more intelligent in how we search that.”

Twitter is also crafting rules for the outside developer that craft programs for users of the microblogging service.

“We need to get a lot better about assuring developers they can invest in our platform,” Mr Williams said.

Improved relations with developers and enhanced search tools can be woven into ways to make money from Twitter services or features.

Mr Williams said that Twitter’s battle against spam resulted in some “overactive spam-killing scripts,” or automated programs, suspending accounts of non-offenders and “in those cases it was our screw-up and we apologise.”

Mr Williams said he had no regrets about rejecting an offer by Facebook to buy Twitter in a $US500 million ($540.48 million) stock deal.

“I just didn’t see a reason to sell,” Mr Williams said.

“Because that is not the point. The point is to see what we can build. We believe Twitter with an open exchange of information is a good thing for the world.”

Twitter’s goal has never been to attract a hefty offer and then cash out, according to Mr Williams.

“We think of Twitter as not a social network but an information network,” he said.

Mr Williams said he admires Facebook’s agility when it comes to adapting its features and offerings but that Twitter isn’t cowering before the might of the social-networking powerhouse.

“I’m pretty sure the world is big enough for Facebook and Twitter,” Mr Williams said.

“I think they are good for different things. I’m pretty sure the open exchange of information will prevail in the end.”

Source: Twitter boss optimistic as growth slows | Business Breaking News | News.com.au

The SEI and the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) recently began a one-year engagement that aims to develop a comprehensive approach to overcome deficiencies with the testing now being done to validate software and system reliability. This comprehensive approach will include the development of a roadmap for the research and application of technologies such as model-based engineering, assurance cases, analytical tools, and industry standards, such as the Architecture Analysis and Design Language (AADL) in the assessment and validation of complex system reliability.

Read more here.

Man if I had a couple of bucks every time I’ve heard that, I’d be so rich by now. Fact of the matter is, it’s unfortunately far from the truth, and many ISP-provided routers truly suck.

I work with VoIP, and running a Voice call over the internet may be easy with Skype, and you may be OK with choppy calls, but when you’re running an enterprise-grade telephony system, you don’t have the same tolerance for bad quality. Same for Home users, you should not have to put up with daily restarts!

What does that have to do with you? Most probably everything! If you’re here it’s likely because you’re having issues with your internet, and either you think it’s related to your router, or I’ve referred you here from PressF1.

So let’s clear the air about a few routers:

The D-Link DSL-302G is quite possibly the worst router of all time. They should be all be burned in one great big bonfire and D-Link publicly mocked for them.

Dynalink have their overheating RTA1320 that gets so hot the plastic melts and changes from light cream to a rusty looking orange or brown. It’s unfortunately a bad choice in router too.

Telecom have been giving away a 2Wire 2070-series Router and Thomson TG585v7 modems. They’ve got some of the worst web interfaces I’ve ever used, but at least they’re semi-reliable. Again though, they must be cheap routers if they mass-produce them and Telecom gives them away. $199 value? Whatever! Nobody in their right mind would spend $199 on them!

Orcon with their HomeHub / BizHub router which is a Siemens SX-763. Best mentioned so far, but again far from the quality that a router should be. It’s locked-down so you can’t change the USB port or VoIP settings, it doesn’t overheat, but for a VoIP router it doesn’t handle VoIP well at all.

The Belkin N1 is overpriced and fails to deliver in so many ways. I’m not sure why, but around 60% of all the N1’s I’ve dealt with just seem to have packed up and died. Their ADSL performance / reliability was mediocre anyway. suffering from irregular reboots.

The Netgear DG834G has firmware issues, wireless isn’t reliable, average broadband performance and reliability, but to be honest it’s probably the most reliable router I’m recommending people avoid

Linksys, yes I love Linksys stuff but man did they mess up badly with the WAG160N. That thing falls over almost as much as the Dynalinks. Sure, I’ve seen ADSL Sync speeds go up when compared with the likes of a Telecom Thomson TG585 by around 3m/bit, but that means nothing to me if it’s not going to function day in and day out reliably.

What’s the solution then? So many bad routers out there, most free, what can you do about it?

Well don’t take the free stuff that your ISP gives away. There’s a reason why it’s free, and that’s not because it’s a good, quality router!

Tell me what I SHOULD buy then? What are good routers?

If you’re a home user or small-business and want an all-in-one solution that “just works”:
NetComm NB6Plus4Wn

If you’re a geek or a business, or perhaps you want a little more control over your router, maybe you give your internet connection a hammering, or if you want QoS (Quality of Service) to prioritize VoIP / Gaming above other traffic, then you want:
A Linksys AM300 in Halfbridge to a Linksys WRT54GL running Tomato Firmware

Please drop me a comment and say Hi, let me know if this has helped you or got you thinking in any way, or perhaps if you’ve got one of the routers then just say so. Always happy to hear from readers.

Cheers

Chill.

To fully understand the history of Japanese watch making, we need to go back to the end of World War II. From the ashes of war, Japanese manufacturers have created a well deserved reputation for producing competitively priced and highly reliable consumers products.

With an economy in complete collapse and an infrastructure that was completely destroyed, post war Japan was in a shambles. Whatever remained of Japans commercial sector was faced with limited access to raw materials, machine tooling and electricity. Even basic needs like food and fresh water were in short supply.

Through a painfully slow process, Japan began rebuilding its shattered economy. Early attempts at production were plagued by quality problems and shortages. A great deal of emphasis was placed on producing goods for export and doing so in a hurry. As a result, the term Made in Japan became synonymous with poor quality. Some Japanese entrepreneurs saw the chance to turn tragedy into turnaround and began to work on products that would forever change the perception of Japanese products.

Japanese entrepreneurs quickly learned to do more with less. This process became the basis for the Japanese manufacturing model, model that has swept the through the manufacturing world. Adopting strict quality standards and strategies such as designing products in a way that makes the production process more efficient, the Japanese helped to reinvent the production process. The new philosophy was grounded in a philosophy that integrated design and manufacturing functions. As a result production efficiency and quality increased.

While much of Europe suffered tremendously after the war, the Swiss were largely spared the terrible effects of the war. The Swiss had established a reputation for craftsmanship and quality. The Swiss has long been known for producing fine watches and clocks and optics. The Swiss had more in common with Japan then first meets the eye. Both countries are relatively small and lack many of the natural resources found in abundance in other parts of the world. The two countries also shared an intense passion for precision.

The Japanese has the help of several former adversaries, including and principally the United States. Through the efforts of Americans like Dr. W. Edward Deming, Japanese manufacturing was reshaped in a way that continues today and has become recognized around the world. Working with other like minded professionals Deming helped the Japanese set up new systems of quality control, product design and production. In a complete departure from prior practices, the quality control process moved from the end of the production line into the product engineering department. Using Demings Fourteen Principles, many Japanese companies incorporated the engineering philosophy of design for manufacturability. The result as they say is history.

The quality of consumer goods produced by Japanese companies extended into precision products like watches and other time keeping devices. Founded in 1930, the Citizen Watch Company has been producing precision wrist watches and timepieces and the lessons of Dr. Deming were not lost on the Citizen Company. Citizen was into an era of growth through producing very precise watch components that featured greater reliability and ease of repair.

Founded in Nineteen Thirteen, the Seiko Company was a major of clocks and watches, producing its first wrist watches with the brand name of Seiko brand name first appearing on watches in Nineteen Twenty Four. Despite their long history, Seiko, like the rest of Japans commercial sector, was crippled by the war and had much to overcome during their journey into the future. Like Citizen, Seiko adopted many of Demings Fourteen Principles and, like the Citizen Company, have become a brand name synonymous with innovation and quality.

Schlumberger announced that its subsea electronic control module has passed the historical milestone of more than a quarter million operational hours in the field with 100% reliability.

            More than 30 modules have been deployed successfully for the control and monitoring of flow boosting pumps and subsea well production. As a power and networking module, its expanded applications include intelligent well control and operation. 

            Schlumberger subsea control and monitoring technology is an enabler for surveillance in the subsurface and subsea domain delivering an unprecedented level of reliability that is critical to the subsea industry with its high intervention costs.

            “Subsea control systems must have reliability as a primary function due to costs involved in remediation following a failure. The reliability of the Schlumberger solution is embedded in subsea applications commercially available today, as well as those under development,” said Andy Hendricks, VP Schlumberger Subsea. “Our subsea light vessel intervention control system also uses this technology as part of its safety system to control subsea trees and the intervention package.”

            This high-bandwidth communication subsea control module has been developed using design and engineering processes created specifically for the subsea environment. Long-term accelerated life-testing has demonstrated system survivability for more than 50 years and under conditions far beyond normal operating environments. The module will be used with upcoming subsea technology deployments around the world.

www.slb.com/subsea

205459     ความเชื่อถือได้เบื้องต้นของระบบกํ าลัง     Basic Power System Reliability

กฏของความเชื่อถือได้ เหตุการณ์อิสระต่อกันและไม่อิสระต่อกัน ตัวแปรสุ่มแบบต่อเนื่องและไม่ต่อเนื่อง ฟังก์ชันความหนาแน่นการล้มเหลว การประยุกต์ใช้งานการแจกแจงแบบทวินาม แบบปัวส์ซองและแบบเลขกํ าลังในด้านความเชื่อถือได้ ระบบแบบอนุกรม ระบบซํ้ าซ้อนแบบขนาน ระบบซํ้ าซ้อนบางส่วน ระบบซํ้ าซ้อนแบบสํ ารอง การวิเคราะห์โดยใช้มินิมัลคัตเซ็ทกระบวนการมาร์โคฟ ดรรชนีการเกิดไฟขัดข้องโดยการจํ าลองแบบมอนติคาโล

(Rules of reliability: independent and dependent events, discrete and continuous random variables, failure density function, application of binomial, Poisson and exponential distributions in reliability evaluation, series systems, parallel redundant systems, partially redundant systems, standby redundant systems, mimimal cutset analysis, Markov process, Monte Carlo simulation interruption indices, series systems, parallel redundant systems, partially redundant systems, standby redundant systems, mimimal cutset analysis, Markov process, Monte Carlo simulation interruption indices)

(205459 มหาวิทยาลัยเกษตรศาสตร์)

Giving thanks—to one’s fellow man and to the Lord—is often overlooked as a powerful instrument for reaching oneness with God.  From now until Thanksgiving Day, why don’t you try this three-part experiment designed to increase your thanks-giving capacity.

Every day, surprise someone:  How long has it been since you thanked the mailman, milkman or newspaper boy for their reliability?  If you receive over-ripe fruit, do you complain to the grocer?  Do you likewise tell him if it was especially delicious?  Opportunities to surprise people with gratitude present themselves all day long.  Most of the time you will not know what effect your thanks have on the recipients (sometimes they’ll be more important than you might dream, arriving at a low point in another’s life), but the effect on your own life is certain.  You’ll training yourself day-by-day to seek out the good around you, rather than the more attention-catching bad.

Every day, thank God for something you have never thanked Him for—until now:  It is good to start any prayer of thanksgiving to God with some statement of over-all indebtedness, “For our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life,” as the Book of common Prayer has it.  But try to add each day some different, perhaps very tiny blessing: the gift of sight on a colorful autumn morning, warm clothes as the days grow colder.  The discipline of thanking God for a different blessing each day could go on for a lifetime without repeating, but your thanks will not be confined to little things all the time, of course.  There will not be confined to little things all the time, of course.  There will be days when as a Christian you will be overwhelmed by the magnitude of Christ’s sacrifice for You.  Bu then, the habit of giving thanks will have been established.  You’ll be ready to express your deepest feelings of gratitude.

Every day, thank God for something you’re not happy about:  This is both the hardest exercise in thanksgiving and the one that comes closest to the heart of the spiritual life.  To the oppressed Ephesians an imprisoned Paul wrote, “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:20)

Thanking God for seemingly bad events has been called the first step of faith in action.  If you can stand before a financial setback, a disappointment, even death itself, and thank God for what in His hands these circumstances will become, you are acting out your conviction that He can bring good when you yourself do not see it. 

Try these three suggestions until Thanksgiving Day—and maybe every day after . . .                                                                                                                                                     E.S.

In my opinion, more could be done to effect meaningful and effective health care reform with legislation like that proposed below, which has fewer than 3,800 words, than will ever be possible with the 2,074 pages in Congress’s current health care reform bill. What’s more, creating the infrastructure for human, social, and natural capital markets in this way would not only cost a tiny fraction of the projected $847 billion bill being debated, it would be an investment that would pay returns many times larger than the initial investment. See previous posts in this blog for more info on how and why this is so.

The draft legislation below is adapted from The Metric Conversion Act (Title 15 U.S.C. Chapter6 §(204) 205a – 205k). The viability of a metric system for human, social, and natural capital is indicated by the realized state of scientific rigor in the measurement of human, social, and natural capital (Fisher, 2009b). The need for such a system is indicated by the current crisis’s pointed economic demands that all forms of capital be unified within a common econometric and financial framework (Fisher, 2009a). It is equally demanded by the moral and philosophical requirements of fair play and meaningfulness (Fisher, 2004). The day is fast approaching when a metric system for intangible assets will be recognized as the urgent need that it is (Fisher, 2009c).

At some point in the near future, it can be expected that a table showing how to interpret the units of the Intangible Assets Metric System will be published in the Federal Register, just as the International System units have been.

For those unfamiliar with the state of the art in measurement, these may seem like wildly unrealistic goals. Those wondering how a reasonable person might arrive at such opinions are urged to consult other posts in this blog, and the references cited in them. The advantages of an intangible assets metric system for sustainable and socially responsible economic policies and practices are nothing short of profound. As Georg Rasch (1980, p. xx) said in reference to the stringent demands of his measurement models, “this is a huge challenge, but once the problem has been formulated it does seem possible to meet it.” We are less likely to attain goals that we do not actively formulate. In the spirit of John Dewey’s student, Chiang Mon-Lin, what we need are “wild hypotheses and careful tests.” There is no wilder idea with greater potential impact for redefining profit as the reduction of waste, and for thereby mitigating human suffering, sociopolitical discontent, and environmental degradation.

Fisher, W. P., Jr. (2004, October). Meaning and method in the social sciences. Human Studies: A Journal for Philosophy and the Social Sciences, 27(4), 429-54.

Fisher, W. P., Jr. (2009a). Bringing human, social, and natural capital to life: Practical consequences and opportunities. In M. Wilson, K. Draney, N. Brown, B. Duckor (Eds.), Advances in Rasch Measurement, Vol. Two (p. in press). Maple Grove, MN: JAM Press.

Fisher, W. P., Jr. (2009b, November). Invariance and traceability for measures of human, social, and natural capital: Theory and application. Measurement (Elsevier), 42(9), 1278-1287.

Fisher, W. P. J. (2009c). NIST Critical national need idea White Paper: Metrological infrastructure for human, social, and natural capital (Tech. Rep.). New Orleans: LivingCapitalMetrics.com.

Rasch, G. (1980). Probabilistic models for some intelligence and attainment tests (Reprint, with Foreword and Afterword by B. D. Wright, Chicago: University of Chicago Press). Copenhagen, Denmark: Danmarks Paedogogiske Institut.

Title xx U.S.C. Chapter x §(100) 101a – 101k
METRIC SYSTEM FOR INTANGIBLE ASSETS DEVELOPMENT LAW
(Pub. L. 10-xxx, §x, Intangible Assets Metrics Development Act, July 25, 2010)

§ 100. New metric system development authorized. – A new national effort is hereby initiated throughout the United States of America focusing on building and realizing the benefits of a metric system for the intangible assets known as human, social, and natural capital.

§ 101a. Congressional statement of findings. – The Congress finds as follows:

(1) The United States was an original signatory party to the 1875 Treaty of the Meter (20 Stat. 709), which established the General Conference of Weights and Measures, the International Committee of Weights and Measures and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.

(2) The use of metric measurement standards in the United States was authorized by law in 1866; with the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 this Nation established a national policy of committing itself and taking steps to facilitate conversion to the metric system.

(3) World trade is dependent on the metric system of measurement; continuing trends toward globalization demand expansion of the metric system to include vital economic resources shown scientifically measurable in research conducted over the last 80 years.

(4) Industries and consumers in the United States are often at competitive disadvantages when dealing in domestic and international markets because no existing systems for measuring intangible assets (human, social, and natural capital) are expressed in standardized, universally uniform metrics. The end result is that education, health care, human resource, and other markets are unable to reward quality; supply and demand are unmatched, consumers make decisions with no or insufficient information; and quality cannot be systematically improved.

(5) The inherent simplicity of the metric system of measurement and standardization of weights and measures has led to major cost savings in certain industries which have converted to that system; similar savings are expected to follow from the development and implementation of a metric system for intangible assets.

(6) The Federal Government has a responsibility to develop procedures and techniques to assist industry, especially small business, as it voluntarily seeks to adopt a new metric system of measurement for intangible assets that have always required management but which have not yet been uniformly and systematically measured.

(7) A new metric system of measurement for human, social, and natural capital can provide substantial advantages to the Federal Government in its own operations.

§ 101b. Declaration of policy. - It is therefore the declared policy of the United States-

(1) to support the development and implementation of a new metric system of intangibles assets measurement as the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce involving human, social, and natural capital;

(2) to require that each Federal agency,by a date certain and to the extent economically feasible by the end of the fiscal year 2011, use the new metric system of intangibles measurement in its procurements, grants, and other business-related activities, except to the extent that such use is impractical or is likely to cause significant inefficiencies or loss of markets to United States firms, such as when foreign competitors are producing competing products in non-metric units; and

(3) to seek out ways to increase understanding of the new metric system of intangibles measurement through educational information and guidance and in Government publications.

§ 101c. Definitions

As used in this subchapter, the term-

(1) ‘Board’ means the United States Intangible Assets Metrics Board, established under section 101d of this Title;

(2) ‘engineering standard’ means a standard which prescribes (A) a concise set of conditions and requirements that must be satisfied by a material, product, process, procedure, convention, or test method; and (B) the physical, functional, performance and/or conformance characteristics thereof;

(3) ‘international standard or recommendation’ means an engineering standard or recommendation which is (A) formulated and promulgated by an international organization and (B) recommended for adoption by individual nations as a national standard;

(4) ‘metric system of measurement’ means the International System of Units as established by the General Conference of Weights and Measures in 1960 and as interpreted or modified for the United States by the Secretary of Commerce;

(5) ‘full and open competition’ has the same meaning as defined in section 403 of title 41;

(6) ‘total installed price’ means the price of purchasing a product or material, trimming or otherwise altering some or all of that product or material, if necessary to fit with other building components,and then installing that product or material into a Federal facility;

(7) ‘hard-metric’ means measurement, design, and manufacture using the metric system of measurement, but does not include measurement,design, and manufacture using English system measurement units which are subsequently reexpressed in the metric system of measurement;

(8) ‘cost or pricing data or price analysis’ has the meaning given such terms in section 254b of title 41; and

(9) ‘Federal facility’ means any public building (as defined under section 612 of title 40) and shall include any Federal building or construction project: (A) on lands in the public domain;(B) on lands used in connection with Federal programs for agriculture research, recreation, and conservation programs; (C) on or used  in connection with river, harbor, flood control, reclamation, or power projects; (D) on or used in connection with housing and residential projects; (E) on military installations (including any fort, camp,post, naval training station, airfield, proving ground, military supply depot, military school, any similar facility of the Department of Defense); (F) on installations of the Department of Veterans Affairs used for hospital or domiciliary purposes; or (G) on lands used in connection with Federal prisons, but does not include (i)any Federal building or construction project the exclusion of which the President deems to be justified in the public interest, or (ii) any construction project or building owned or controlled by a State government, local government, Indian tribe, or any private entity.

§101d. United States Intangible Assets Metrics Board

(a) Establishment. – There is established, in accordance with this section, an independent instrumentality to be known as a United States Intangible Assets Metrics Board.

(b) Membership; Chairman; appointment of members; term of office;vacancies. – The Board shall consist of 17 individuals, as follows:

(1) the Chairman, a qualified individual who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate;

(2) seventeen members who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, on the following basis-

(A) one to be selected from lists of qualified individuals recommended by psychometricians and organizations representative of psychometric interests;

(B) one to be selected from lists of qualified individuals recommended by social scientists, the scientific and technical community, and organizations representative of social scientists and technicians;

(C) one to be selected from lists of qualified individuals recommended by environmental scientists, the scientific and technical community, and organizations representative of environmental scientists and technicians;

(D) one to be selected from a list of qualified individuals recommended by the National Association of Manufacturers or its successor;

(E) one to be selected from lists of qualified individuals recommended by the United States Chamber of Commerce, or its successor, retailers,and other commercial organizations;

(F) two to be selected from lists of qualified individuals recommended by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations or its successor, who are representative of workers directly affected by human capital metrics for health, skills, motivations, and productivity, and by other organizations representing labor;

(G) one to be selected from a list of qualified individuals recommended by the National Governors Conference, the National Council of State Legislatures, and organizations representative of State and local government;

(H) two to be selected from lists of qualified individuals recommended by organizations representative of small business;

(I) one to be selected from lists of qualified individuals representative of the human resource management industry;

(J) one to be selected from a list of qualified individuals recommended by the National Conference on Weights and Measures and standards making organizations;

(K) one to be selected from lists of qualified individuals recommended by educators, the educational community, and organizations representative of educational interests; and

(L) four at-large members to represent consumers and other interests deemed suitable by the President and who shall be qualified individuals.

As used in this subsection, each ‘list’ shall include the names of at least three individuals for each applicable vacancy. The terms of office of the members of the Board first taking office shall expire as designated by the President at the time of nomination; five at the end of the second year; five at the end of the fourth year;and six at the end of the sixth year. The term of office of the Chairman of such Board shall be six years. Members, including the Chairman, may be appointed to an additional term of six years, in the same manner as the original appointment. Successors to members of such Board shall be appointed in the same manner as the original members and shall have terms of office expiring six years from the date of expiration of the terms for which their predecessors were appointed. Any individual appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of any term of office shall be appointed for the remainder of that term. Beginning 45 days after the date of incorporation of the Board, six members of such Board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any function of the Board.

(c) Compulsory powers. – Unless otherwise provided by the Congress, the Board shall have no compulsory powers.

(d) Termination. – The Board shall cease to exist when the Congress, by law, determines that its mission has been accomplished.

§101e. – Functions and powers of Board. - It shall be the function of the Board to devise and carry out a broad program of planning, coordination, and public education, consistent with other national policy and interests, with the aim of implementing the policy set forth in this subchapter. In carrying out this program,the Board shall-

(1) consult with and take into account the interests, views, and costs relevant to the inefficiencies that have long plagued the management of unmeasured forms of capital in United States commerce and industry, including small business; science; engineering; labor; education; consumers; government agencies at the Federal, State, and local level; nationally recognized standards developing and coordinating organizations; intangibles metrics development, planning and coordinating groups; and such other individuals or groups as are considered appropriate by the Board to the carrying out of the purposes of this subchapter. The Board shall take into account activities underway in the private and public sectors, so as not to duplicate unnecessarily such activities;

(2) provide for appropriate procedures whereby various groups,under the auspices of the Board, may formulate, and recommend or suggest, to the Board specific programs for coordinating intangibles metrics development in each industry and segment thereof and specific dimensions and configurations in the new metric system and in other measurements for general use. Such programs, dimensions, and configurations shall be consistent with (A) the needs, interests, and capabilities of manufacturers (large and small), suppliers, labor, consumers, educators,and other interested groups, and (B) the national interest;

(3) publicize, in an appropriate manner, proposed programs and provide an opportunity for interested groups or individuals to submit comments on such programs. At the request of interested parties, the Board, in its discretion, may hold hearings with regard to such programs. Such comments and hearings may be considered by the Board;

(4) encourage activities of standardization organizations to develop or revise, as rapidly as practicable, policy and IT standards based on the new intangibles metrics, and to take advantage of opportunities to promote (A) rationalization or simplification of relationships,(B) improvements of design, (C) reduction of size variations, (D) increases in economy, and (E) where feasible, the efficient use of energy and the conservation of natural resources;

(5) encourage the retention, in the new metric language of human, social, and natural capital standards, of those United States policy and IT designs, practices, and conventions that are internationally accepted or that embody superior technology;

(6) consult and cooperate with foreign governments, and intergovernmental organizations, in collaboration with the Department of State, and, through appropriate member bodies, with private international organizations, which are or become concerned with the encouragement and coordination of increased use of intangible assets metrics measurement units or policy and IT standards based on such units, or both. Such consultation shall include efforts, where appropriate, to gain international recognition for intangible assets metrics standards proposed by the United States;

(7) assist the public through information and education programs, to become familiar with the meaning and applicability of metric terms and measures in daily life. Such programs shall include -

(A) public information programs conducted by the Board, through the use of newspapers, magazines, radio, television, the Internet, social networking, and other media, and through talks before appropriate citizens’ groups, and trade and public organizations;

(B) counseling and consultation by the Secretary of Education; the Secretary of Labor; the Administrator of the Small Business Administration; and the Director of the National Science Foundation, with educational associations, State and local educational agencies, labor education committees, apprentice training committees, and other interested groups, in order to assure (i) that the new intangible assets metric system of measurement is included in the curriculum of the Nation’s educational institutions, and (ii) that teachers and other appropriate personnel are properly trained to teach the intangible assets metric system of measurement;

(C) consultation by the Secretary of Commerce with the National Conference of Weights and Measures in order to assure that State and local weights and measures officials are (i) appropriately involved in intangible assets metric development and adoption activities and (ii) assisted in their efforts to bring about timely amendments to weights and measures laws; and

(D) such other public information activities, by any Federal agency in support of this subchapter, as relate to the mission of suchagency;

(8) collect, analyze, and publish information about the extent of usage of intangible assets metric measurements; evaluate the costs and benefits of that usage; and make efforts to minimize any adverse effects resulting from increasing intangible assets metric usage;

(9) conduct research, including appropriate surveys; publish the results of such research; and recommend to the Congress and to the President such action as may be appropriate to deal with any unresolved problems, issues, and questions associated with intangible assets metric development, adoption, or usage, such problems, issues, and questions may include, but are not limited to, the impact on different occupations and industries, possible increased costs to consumers, the impact on society and the economy, effects on small business, the impact on the international trade position of the United States, the appropriateness of and methods for using procurement by the Federal Government as a means to effect development and adoption of the intangible assets metric system, the proper conversion or transition period in particular sectors of society, and consequences for national defense;

(10) submit annually to the Congress and to the President a report on its activities. Each such report shall include a status report on the development and adoption process as well as projections for continued progress in that process. Such report may include recommendations covering any legislation or executive action needed to implement the programs of development and adoption accepted by the Board. The Board may also submit such other reports and recommendations as it deems necessary;and

(11) submit to the President, not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Act making appropriations for carrying out this subchapter, a report on the need to provide an effective structural mechanism for adopting intangible assets metric units in statutes, regulations, and other laws at all levels of government, on a coordinated and timely basis, in response to voluntary programs adopted and implemented by various sectors of society under the auspices and with the approval of the Board. If the Board determines that such a need exists, such report shall include recommendations as to appropriate and effective means for establishing and implementing such a mechanism.

§101f. – Duties of Board. - In carrying out its duties under this subchapter, the Board may -

(1) establish an Executive Committee, and such other committees as it deems desirable;

(2) establish such committees and advisory panels as it deems necessary to work with the various sectors of the Nation’s economy and with Federal and State governmental agencies in the development and implementation of detailed development and adoption plans for those sectors. The Board may reimburse,to the extent authorized by law, the members of such committees;

(3) conduct hearings at such times and places as it deems appropriate;

(4) enter into contracts, in accordance with the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended (40 U.S.C. 471et seq.), with Federal or State agencies, private firms, institutions, and individuals for the conduct of research or surveys, the preparation of reports, and other activities necessary to the discharge of its duties;

(5) delegate to the Executive Director such authority as it deems advisable; and

(6) perform such other acts as may be necessary to carry out the duties prescribed by this subchapter.

§101g. – Gifts, donations and bequests to Board

(a) Authorization; deposit into Treasury and disbursement. – The Board may accept, hold, administer, and utilize gifts, donations,and bequests of property, both real and personal, and personal services, for the purpose of aiding or facilitating the work of the Board. Gifts and bequests of money, and the proceeds from the sale of any other property received as gifts or requests, shall be deposited in the Treasury in a separate fund and shall be disbursed upon order of the Board.

(b) Federal income, estate, and gift taxation of property. – For purpose of Federal income, estate, and gift taxation, property accepted under subsection (a) of this section shall be considered as a gift or bequest to or for the use of the United States.

(c) Investment of moneys; disbursement of accrued income. – Upon the request of the Board, the Secretary of the Treasury may invest and reinvest, in securities of the United States, any moneys contained in the fund authorized in subsection (a) of this section. Income accruing from such securities, and from any other property acceptedto the credit of such fund, shall be dispersed upon the order ofthe Board.

(d) Reversion to Treasury of unexpended funds. – Funds not expended by the Board as of the date when it ceases to exist, in accordance with section 105d(d) of this title, shall revert to the Treasury of the United States as of such date.

§101h. – Compensation of Board members; travel expenses.- Members of the Board who are not in the regular full-time employ of the United States shall, while attending meetings or conferences of the Board or while otherwise engaged in the business of the Board, be entitled to receive compensation at a rate not to exceed the daily rate currently being paid grade 18 of the General Schedule (under section 5332 of title 5), including travel time. While so serving, on the business of the Board away from their homes or regular places of business, members of the Board may be allowed travel expenses,including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by section5703 of title 5, for persons employed intermittently in the Government service. Payments under this section shall not render members of the Board employees or of the United States for any purpose. Members of the Board who are in the employ of the United States shall be entitled to travel expenses when traveling on the business of the Board.

§101i. – Personnel

(a) Executive Director; appointment; tenure; duties. – The Board shall appoint a qualified individual to serve as the Executive Director of the Board at the pleasure of the Board. The Executive Director, subject to the direction of the Board, shall be responsible to the Board and shall carry out the intangible assets metric development and adoption program, pursuant to the provisions of this subchapter and the policies established by the Board.

(b) Executive Director; salary. – The Executive Director of the Board shall serve full time and be subject to the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 5. The annual salary of the Executive Director shall not exceed level III of the Executive Schedule under section 5314 of such title.

(c) Staff personnel; appointment and compensation. – The Board may appoint and fix the compensation of such staff personnel as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this subchapter in accordance with the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 5.

(d) Experts and consultants; employment and compensation; annual review of contracts. – The Board may (1) employ experts and consultants or organizations thereof, as authorized by section 3109 of title5; (2) compensate individuals so employed at rates not in excess of the rate currently being paid grade 18 of the General Schedule under section 5332 of such title, including travel time; and (3) may allow such individuals, while away from their homes or regular places of business, travel expenses (including per diem in lieu of subsistence) as authorized by section 5703 of such title 5 for persons in the Government service employed intermittently: Provided, however, that contracts for such temporary employment may be renewed annually.

§101j. – Financial and administrative services; sourceand reimbursement. - Financial and administrative services, including those related to budgeting, accounting, financial reporting, personnel, and procurement, and such other staff services as maybe needed by the Board, may be obtained by the Board from the Secretary of Commerce or other appropriate sources in the Federal Government. Payment for such services shall be made by the Board, in advance or by reimbursement, from funds of the Board in such amounts as may be agreed upon by the Chairman of the Board and by the source of the services being rendered.

§101k. – Authorization of appropriations; availability.- There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this subchapter. Appropriations to carry out the provisions of this subchapter may remain available for obligation and expenditure for such period or periods as maybe specified in the Acts making such appropriations.

The phone system we use has a big impact on the profitability of our company as the role it plays in communications, customer relationships, vendor contacts, and employee productivity is highly significant to our company. We should ensure that it delivers all the services that are required for the successful functioning of our company and the costs incurred for the maintenance of the phone system are within our budget. Hosted phone system has become the choice of every company as it provides the functionality of an on-site PBX with the cost savings of VoIP and the simplicity of a normal phone system.

In a hosted phone system, the equipment that your company uses is housed at the provider’s data centre and hence the name hosted phone system. So there is no need for the company to own equipment, such as a phone cabinet and routing software, which results in cost savings. High-speed Internet connection or a T-1 phone line is used to route calls to your business. Bandwidth for phone calls and data transfers can be designated as per your business requirements to ensure call quality. Hosted systems range from basic, VoIP-type systems where software can be downloaded in a few minutes to “enterprise grade” systems that require VoIP adaptors or phones.

Calls can be routed through a “dedicated connection,” or a T-1 line, or the “open internet” and a dedicated connection definitely produces better call quality, but is much more expensive than routing calls using an open Internet connection.

Usually service contracts or month-to-month agreements are made with providers. Month-to-month services are typically used by smaller businesses. The provider provides the software for a small phone system which can be downloaded from the provider’s Web site and installed within a few minutes. Phones are the only equipment that will be needed. Contract services operate more like traditional phone system services: the contract specifies acceptable downtime, service offerings, maintenance, and other costs in advance.

The advantages of using a hosted phone system are that there is no requirement for on-site hardware. Thereby the capital outlay for phone equipments is minimized. This is best suited for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which can enjoy the benefits of a state-of -the-art phone system without investing on expensive equipments, routing software, equipment maintenance, skilled manpower, office space, etc. All you need to do is pay a low fee on a monthly or contract basis to reap such great benefits where a virtual office environment for dispersed users, with highly scalable and flexible hosted phone systems, is created.

The disadvantages of hosted phone system are that dedicated lines are expensive and open Internet lines are not secure. Routing calls over the Internet can be more cost-effective, but it can lead to security problems for some companies if calls are not protected with a firewall or encryption protocol. Moreover, the quality of the call is also to be considered in the case of open Internet lines. But the cost-effectiveness and simplicity of usage definitely outweigh the problems of insecurity and poor call quality of lines, and therefore hosted phone systems are becoming more and more popular among small- and medium-sized businesses.

On the 18th November 2009 a group of Physics teachers from South Wales met in Caerleon School to build giant air cannons out of a 200 litres water butt. I organised the event with Cerian Angharad’s help (South Wales Network Coordinator) and the lovely cakes that Ann Dunster (Head of Physics at the school) provided! All the equipment could be found in Wickes (though the first time I went to buy some of these huge water butts in the Cardiff branch, they told me they either got lost, or stolen… Mmm I still have to figure that one out).

Cutting holes through the butt

This workshop is very useful if you are organising some spectacular activities for your Open Evening. I trialled it in my school (Croesyceiliog School, Cwmbran) and both parents and children loved it. In fact, we filled the giant air cannon with fog from a smoke machine and started shooting at people, who would see these massive smoke circles getting towards them and eventually blasting in their faces! But the fun was not over because we used McFlurry cups and tops to get the children to make their own mini-airzookas. And again the kids loved it, because they could take a little present home that costed nothing to my department, but was good fun for them.

Blasting the cameraman!

The below video shows how you can make you mini-aizooka. All you need to do is going to McDonald and order a McFlurry icecream. The rest you probably have in your house!

But what is the educational value, you might think! Well, there are a number of projects and experiments you pupils could carry out with their mini-airzookas:

1. They could make some observations about what affects the shape, speed and distance travelled by the smoke ring. E.g. by tapping the rubber in different ways, by pulling it and releasing it, etc…

2. They could try to measure the speed of the smoke rings and/or the distance travelled when they tap using more and more force. This activity could generate some very good discussions about reliability of results and method.

3. They could also measure the diameter of the rings at a certain distance from the cannon.

4. A follow on from experiment 2 could be a project were they need to design and build the most reliable tapping mechanism they can. You could even embed this as part of a long term project on electromagnetism, as the children could try to make an eletromagnetic tapper, and so on.

Please, add some more suggestions as comments!

Coming back to our

Apple (s aapl) is fairly reliable, but not the most reliable company of all when it comes to notebooks, according to a new study by research firm SquareTrade. The top honor goes to Asus, which surprised me, but I suppose shouldn’t have when I consider the build quality of my fairly inexpensive Eee PC. Toshiba and Sony rank next most reliable, with Apple coming in a close fourth.

I remember a time not too long ago when IBM (s ibm) and Apple would top the list every time, with other manufacturers coming in a fair distance behind them. IBM sold its hardware business to Lenovo, which seems to be having some effect on quality, but is Apple also slipping as it grows? I don’t think there’s enough data to identify a trend, but it is a little worrying.

Still, at least Apple is still under the 20 percent mark for three-year laptop malfunction rates, which is the measure that indicates reliability in the study. Dell (s dell) is the only company below it, also under 20 percent, with 18.3. After that, things take a significant turn for the worse, with HP (s hp) coming in ninth place at 25.6 percent. That means Apple is still showing better-than-average performance overall.

Electronista suggests that the reason for the divide between top-tier manufacturers and those that fall below the average is that the companies with greater than 20 percent malfunction rates tend to do much of their business in the budget laptop and notebook categories, which see higher failure rates overall than premium-priced laptops, where Apple exclusively does its business. It’s possible NVIDIA-gate accounted for some of those failures, although SquareTrade doesn’t go into detail about malfunction causes in this report.

Over the past few weeks, Gary Hamel has written two posts on his Wall Street Journal blog about his next book (the posts are here and here). The catch? He’s decided that he isn’t going to write another book. So instead, he published the CliffsNotes version of what he’d write if he was going to write a book, and started what he refers to as an “open source project” about the ideas, inviting people to add their thoughts and comments.

Management guru Gary Hamel

I thought I’d share some of my favorite bits that fit in really well with a Dark Matter Matters world view.

On what it means to be an adaptable company:

An adaptable company is one that captures more than its fair share of new opportunities… An enterprise that is constantly exploring new horizons is likely to have a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining talent. When a once successful company runs aground and starts to list, its most talented employees usually don’t stick around to bail water, they jump ship. A dynamic company will have employees who are more engaged, more excited to show up to work every day, and thus more productive… Adaptability didn’t rate very highly as a design criteria when those early pioneers set out to invent Management 1.0 a hundred years ago. But it’s essential now…

On the problems with big organizations:

Big things aren’t nimble. That’s why there aren’t any 200-pound gymnasts or jumbo-sized fighter jets… In a company comprised of a few, large organizational units, there tends to be a lack of intellectual diversity—since people within the same unit tend to think alike. Within any single organizational unit, a dominant set of business assumptions is likely to emerge over time. One way of counteracting the homogenizing effects of this groupthink is to break big units into little ones. Big units also tend to have more management layers—which makes it more difficult to get new ideas through the approval gauntlet. In addition, elephantine organizations tend to erode personal accountability.

On the importance of a bold vision:

Embrace a grand challenge. You can’t build an adaptable organization without adaptable people—and individuals change only when they have to, or when they want to. In most companies, deep change is crisis-driven. People are pushed into the icy waters of change by circumstances outside of their control. But every day human beings all over the world rush out to embrace change—because they are seduced by an opportunity to do something big, exciting or noble. So if you want people to change ahead of the curve, you have to give them something worth changing for. You have to set in front of them some enticing challenge that draws them forward.

And finally, on the new model for management in the Internet age (sounds a lot like the open source way):

The distinction between the technology of management and the technology of the Internet is more than merely architectural, though. At the heart of the Web is a bundle of social values that stands in stark contrast to the values that predominate in most companies. Community, transparency, freedom, meritocracy, openness and collaboration—this is the fundamental ethos of the web. Within the beige precincts of corporate-dom, the values of control, discipline, accountability, reliability and predictability reign supreme. Twenty-first century organizations must amalgamate all of these values. Only then will they be able to deliver the goods day-after-day with penny-pinching efficiency while showing their heels to the winds of change.

Gary. This is awesome. But you still gotta write the book:)

Flexicell bag case packing system

What do packagers want out of automation systems?  In a Packaging in Automation survey held by Packaging Digest and Control Engineering magazines, packaging readers listed the five most important attributes of an automation project from their point of view:

• 70% — Reliability
• 62% — Quality/durability
• 60% — Price
• 56% — Easy to use, install and maintain
• 51% — Price-to-performance

In their comments, some packagers seemed to doubt that the integrators they’d worked with had adequately understood their needs.  They suggested that integrators “start to understand our needs and be prepared to understand our standards,” “listen to what we want,” and “really get to know my business and the objectives of our project.”  Others thought integrators need to better understand a production environment.

To be fair, it should be noted that many accomplished packaging integrators are well aware of the clients’ needs and the value of ongoing communications.  Sometimes the lack of understanding stems from the client’s own uncertainty about what he wants.   (Read the complete article at System Integration, Packaging Digest.)

Flexicell
Founded in 1992, Flexicell is a leading robotic system integrator specializing in the manufacture of end-of-line automation equipment for case packing, carton loading, palletizing, and material handling.   Listening to our customers is important, as demonstrated in the hundreds of successful systems Flexicell has created and installed throughout North America.

For more information, visit Flexicell at www.flexicell.com.

— excerpted from “Integrators: Do you know what your clients want?” by Vance VanDoren, Packaging Digest, November 2009.

An essential part of any relationship is consistency. If you say you are going to do something, either follow through or clearly communicate that things have changed and you cannot follow through. When what we say is not supported by our actions we are not developing trust or building our relationships. It makes no difference whether it is in your business, friendships or intimate relationships; active follow through is essential to successful relationships. this builds real trust and a sense of being able to rely on your partner.

Richard Riche does motivational key note addresses for corporate functions and schools. He is a  Communication trainer, Motivational speakerand Self-esteem trainer

Peter Gleick All Wet

Dr. Peter Gleick’s most recent missive (“Doing Desalination Wrong: Poseidon on the Public Dole”) on seawater desalination published in SF Gate is riddled with err and innuendo. To Gleick’s credit he discloses upfront that his support for desalination is only theoretical, because in reality Dr. Gleick has never encountered a desalination plant he liked; at least not one that had a real-world chance of being built. Now that the desalination Carlsbad facility has overcome the odds and is starting construction, the fringe element of the environmental community is desperate and Dr. Gleick unfortunately has chosen to join the cacophony.

As the General Manager for the Valley Center Municipal Water District, a public water agency located in North San Diego County – one of nine public water agencies that have signed 30-year contracts to purchase water from Poseidon Resources’ Carlsbad Desalination Plant – I don’t have the luxury to operate in the theoretical. I have the legal responsibility of providing my ratepayers with a safe and reliable water supply. In this regard, I take issue with Dr Gleick’s misrepresentation of the project’s financing. His writings on the topic are either a blatant attempt to smear Poseidon and the desalination project or a reflection of his naiveté when it comes to financing large-scale capital projects.

Dr. Gleick’s basic premise that Poseidon’s investors are being subsidized by the public is a mischaracterization. It’s not Poseidon that is the beneficiary of the Metropolitan Water District’s financial incentive program; it is the ratepayers – my ratepayers – who are the beneficiaries. Where else is MWD going to get 56,000 acre feet of new, drought-proof water supply for $250/ acre foot? In the real world, the answer is nowhere. In the theoretical, Gleick prefers that MWD redirect the money to finance waterless urinals – an appetizing idea, however it doesn’t produce a single drop of new water. MWD’s Seawater Desalination Program is a sound financial investment for MWD, its member agencies and their ratepayers, which is why MWD has previous approved similar financial incentive contracts for three other seawater desalination plants (and numerous other local water supply projects) in Southern California, all without uproar from Dr. Gleick and the usual suspects.

Dr. Gleick’s take on Poseidon’s application with the state for Private Activity Bonds (PABs) is an equally transparent attack. Gleick call PABs the project’s “second subsidy”, but those with a financial background understand that PABs are not a subsidy at all. Gleick writes, “[PABs] are supposed to pay for low-income housing, not private water developments”. This is patently false. Dr. Gleick surely knows that the developers of affordable housing are private, for-profit companies, thus the name “Private Activity Bonds”. Furthermore, the state’s annual allocation of federal tax-exempt PABs can be used for the financing of infrastructure (i.e. pollution control, solid waste and water supply projects). In this case, the allocation of PABs will help lower the Carlsbad project’s debt-service costs, which in turn will lower the cost of water to ratepayers. This is a direct public benefit derived from a private activity.

Moreover, California’s 2009 pool of federal tax-exempt PABs is $3.4 billion. In non recession years the demand for PABs dwarfs the state’s allotment, but not this year. Affordable housing and other markets have stalled and so there are very few alternative demands for the bonds. The state is sitting on an excess of PAB capacity and we have a unique chance to utilize these bonds to drive down the cost of a new drinking water supply for 300,000 San Diegans. This is a direct public benefit.

While I respect and encourage a wide spectrum of Californians to engage in a healthy public discourse over water supply issues like seawater desalination, I hope all interest groups will debate honorably by relying on sound science and the facts. There should be no tolerance for divisive fear mongering.

Gary Arant, General Manager of the Valley Center Municipal Water District

Mr. Arant is General Manager of the Valley Center Municipal Water District and Chairman of the Engineering and Operations Committee at the San Diego County Water Authority and serves on SDCWA’s Legislation, Conservation and Outreach committee. He was also awarded the Association of California Water Agencies’ (ACWA) Emissary Award in 2007 for “remarkable contributions to California water by supporting and advancing ACWA’s goals.”

The interactive technology is to send a message with additional attributes from one point to another typical message. In fact, can also losing something, as communication, radio, telegraph, television, telephone recognize that all forms of communication such as data transmission and computer networks.

Communications will continue to communicate over long distances. Site elements of the communication system of the issuer, and perhaps the channel on the environment and the beneficiary will be taxed. The transmitter is a device used to encode a message or a phenomenon of conversion signal physics. To change the transmission medium, its physical properties, or the expected deterioration in the signal path from transmitter to receiver. The receiver may in a particular area of communication mechanisms decoded signal loss. In some cases, final “receiver” to the human eye and / or acoustically an extreme example of the restoration or partial release in the brain, sensory organs, etc. and  Not only to develop the most effective method for encoding and decoding of information and communication technology for both functions, the statistical properties of the message to the physical characteristics of the analysis of the medium or the transmission line. Point to communicate can be multipoint or point to broadcast is a special kind of the point – - is the multipoint transceiver only.

Access to telecommunications technologies, people with disabilities a variety of services to the population, it has been a constant problem. And the reduction of technological change and the size of cellphones, people with disabilities, people with various telecommunications technologies and the growing gap between the two. However, the invention of basic communications and information technology for people with disabilities and people with disabilities effectively the problem of many inventions in the field of communication to overcome to help people. You can test a wide range of information in the modern system of communication long distance telephone, fax, data, radio and television transmission system signals.Telecommunication. With digital transmission to reduce noise and interference are used to ensure high reliability, achieved by a digital or analog signals. Digital, please contact us through the process from analogue to digital to analog signals go. Most TV, radio, voice communication is analog, you need to be scanned before transmission. May occur through a transmission cable, wireless, radio, satellite or over.

Michael Giberson

Without additional comment, I present two articles online at Transmission and Distribution World, both addressing Brazil and blackouts:

• Jan 16, 2008: “Brazil Has No Risk of Energy Blackout, President Says“
• Nov 11, 2009: “Power Restored after Blackout in Brazil“