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South African Journal of Education
On-line version ISSN 2076-3433
Print version ISSN 0256-0100
S. Afr. j. educ. vol.33 n.1 Pretoria Jan. 2013
An empirical study of stressors that impinge on teachers in secondary schools in Swaziland
C I O OkekeI; Ceasar C DlaminiII
ISchool of General and Continuing Education, University of Fort Hare, South Africa. firstname.lastname@example.com
IISt Marks High School, Swaziland
This study employed the descriptive-correlation research design to determine whether secondary school teachers experience work-related stress. Participants included 239 teachers selected from schools in the Hhohho region of Swaziland. A questionnaire was used as the instrument to determine the level ofwork-related stress experienced by these teachers. Findings showed that teachers were moderately stressed by their work. Contractual problems and the nature of their work were two aspects that were reported to be the main stressors for the sample, while the work environment and work relationships were only mildly stressful. There was a weak relationship between the level of work-related stress and the demographic variables of gender, marital status, and qualifications. Age had a moderate significant relationship with the level of work-related stress for the sample. The study recommends that stress management programmes for teachers are imperative to deal with the consequences of stress.
Keywords: descriptive study; job performance; strain; stress; stress management; stressors; teacher stress; teacher welfare policy; work environment; work relationship
Stress refers to the combination of physiological and psychological reactions that negatively affect individuals as a result of conditions in their environment. Antoniou and Cooper (2005) define stress as a form of emotional and automatised response to the perception of threat. Concern over the effects of stress on the performance of managers and employees in the corporate world is particularly prevalent in research (Rapmund & Moore, 2000; Wasala, 2001; Antoniou & Cooper, 2005). However, minimal research has been conducted into work-related stress amongst secondary school teachers in Swaziland (Ngidi & Sibaya, 2002; Jackson & Rothmann, 2006). Therefore, it was necessary to investigate work-related stress among secondary school teachers in Swaziland. Specifically the study sought to determine the level of work-related stress among secondary school teachers in the Hhohho region of Swaziland; ascertain the aspects of teachers' jobs that were the main source of work-related stress; and, determine if there was a significant relationship between the level of work-related stress of secondary school teachers and their demographic variables (i.e. gender, age, marital status, and qualifications).
Literature review
A large number of studies show that teachers are exposed to a workload that results particularly in stress and strain (see Kenny, 1999; Jackson & Rothmann, 2006; Pienaar & Van Wyk, 2006; Milner & Khoza, 2008). According to Kenny (1999), at least one-third of teachers suffer from extreme stress and/or burnout. In a longitudinal study involving 63 Swedish teachers, Anshel and Kaissidis (1997) found relationships between stress and strain or burnout. However, the authors noted that relationships between stress and coping strategies on the one hand, as well as stress and social support, were weak. Cooper and Cartwright (1994) interviewed a total of 710 teachers from the islands of Malta and Gozo, using a 20-item Sources of Teacher Stress Inventory. Cooper and Cartwright (1994) found that students' misbehaviour and workload accounted for most of the variance of a general stress factor. In another study, Van Dick and Wagner (2001) tested the theoretical model of teacher stress on a large sample of 356 German teachers using complex structural equation modelling. The results of the study revealed that workload led to stress reactions from the teachers, whereas principal support, beliefs of self-efficacy among participants, and use of appropriate coping strategies reduced their experiences of work-related stress.
The study by Jepson and Forrest (2006) aimed to identify the role of individual contributory factors to teacher stress. Results from their study indicated that as occupational commitment increased among teachers, cases of stress decreased. In addition, it showed that significantly higher levels of 'incidences' stress were reported among the primary school teachers than those reported by their secondary school counterparts. Thus, Jepson and Forrest's (2006) study demonstrated that individual contributory factors were significant to the prediction and understanding of work-related stress experienced within the teaching profession. A cross-sectional study was conducted by Kokkinos (2007) to establish the relationship between burnout, personality characteristics and job stressors in primary school teachers from Cyprus. A sample of 447 primary teachers participated in the study and results showed that both personality and work-related stressors were associated with burnout dimensions. Neuroticism, for example, emotional outbursts such as anger, anxiety and depression were common predictors of all dimensions of burnout, although in personal accomplishment it had a different direction. Managing students' behaviour and time constraints were found by Kokkinos (2007) to systematically predict dimensions of burnout.
In an international comparative study Pithers & Soden (1998) sampled 169 Scottish and 163 Australian teachers to examine the effects of work-related stress and strain among teachers working in the vocational and further education phase in the two countries, respectively. In addition, the authors examined the personal coping resources among the participants in their study. Overall, the study found that stress and strain similarities between the two groups far outweighed the differences. For instance, there were no between-group differences in strain levels, which were found to be at 'average' levels for both groups. Nevertheless, for both groups of teachers, role overload appeared to be a strong source of occupational stress.
Nhundu (1999) carried out a study to establish the sources, incidence, and severity of stressful work situations among 475 teachers and 95 head teachers in Zimbabwe. The findings showed that classroom teachers rated their work more stressful than head teachers. Participatory teachers also indicated that they experienced more stress concerning working conditions, where the most stressful factor, irrespective of personal characteristics, was low salaries. On the other hand, people-related responsibilities such as dealing with parents was rated the most stressful factor among the head teachers. Furthermore, it was interesting to note that newer teachers and head teachers in that study (i.e. those with less experience) generally rated their work as more stressful than those with more teaching experience and administrative experience respectively. Despite the above-mentioned correlation between teacher stress and teacher performance at their workplace and general wellbeing, little is known about teachers in Swaziland and their experience of stress. Therefore, it was deemed necessary by these researchers to investigate work-related stress among secondary school teachers in Swaziland.
Person-environment (P-E) fit theory and hypotheses
Research on the P-E fit orientation suggests that the congruence between individual characteristics (e.g. needs abilities or values) and environmental characteristics (e.g. job supplies, job demands or organisational values) predict attitudes and behaviour (Adkins, Ravlin & Meglino, 1996; Cable & Judge, 1997). Sekiguchu (2004) observed that whether a good fit today will be a good fit tomorrow depends on the stability of the variables on which matches are made. Some characteristics may be more changeable. For example, personality and values are often used in conceptualising P-E fit. Although both personality and values are considered relatively stable, values are less stable than personality and susceptible to a variety of changes and the influences of new environments (Ryan & Kristof-Brown, 2003). Therefore, while fit in terms of personality similarity may be relatively stable, fit in terms of value congruence may change over time. The P-E fit theory focuses on the positive outcomes of having a close fit between a person and the environment (Ellis & Tsui, 2007).
Essentially, the P-E fit model posits that there are characteristics of organisations that have the potential to be congruent with characteristics of individuals, and that the individuals' attitudes and behaviours will be influenced by the degree of congruence or fit between individuals and organisations (Roberts & Robin, 2004). Hence, the general assumption underlying the P-E fit model is that positive attitudes and behaviours are a function of the compatibility of individuals to their environments (Lee & Antonakis, 2007). How individuals would respond to a given situation appears to be a function of the fit or congruence between that situation and their individual characteristics. Teachers appear to be caught in a complex web of personality, as well as professional responsibilities. At the extreme, it is possible that teachers in performing their professional duties may be faced with the dilemma of conflicting values between personal and professional needs. A fit between the personal and professional needs of the teacher may result in positive reactions, even in the face of difficulties. However, incongruence between those needs may result in personality disequilibrium that may impact the teacher's ability to handle situations. Therefore, the researchers were of the opinion that this theoretical model would assist in describing the causes of work-related stress among secondary school teachers in the Hhohho region of Swaziland. The fo llowing hypotheses were tested:
H01 : There is no significant relationship between work-related stress and gender among high school teachers.
H02: There is no significant relationship between work-related stress and age among high school teachers.
H03: There is no significant relationship between work-related stress and marital status among high school teachers.
H04: There is no significant relationship between work-related stress and qualification among high school teachers.
Design and sample
This study used the descriptive-correlation research design. A descriptive study describes data and characteristics about a population or phenomenon being studied. According to Bell (2005), descriptive research studies are non-experimental in that they deal with the relationships between non-manipulative variables in a natural rather than laboratory setting. The researchers used the design because of its capacity to describe data, whether in words, pictures, charts or tables, and whether the data analysis shows statistical relationship or is merely descriptive. The target population was all high school teachers in the Hhohho region of Swaziland. The Hhohho region has a total of 1,217 classroom teachers in 41 high schools (Central Statistics Office, 2007). A total of 239 teachers represented the sample size.
Data collection instrument
A modified version of the questionnaire on workplace stress developed by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, London [CSP] (2009) was adapted by the researchers to suit the present research situation and environment. The questionnaire instrument contained self-administered items reflecting the purposes of the present study, in accordance with their relevance to suit the local situation. The questionnaire was divided into three sections. The first section of the questionnaire on stress consisted of a 5-point Likert scale where teachers indicated their level of work-related stress where 1 = not stressful, 2 = mildly stressful, 3 = moderately stressful, 4 = very stressful, 5 = extremely stressful. The second section of the questionnaire consisted of a list of 46 stressors categorised into four aspects of the teacher's job, namely, work environment, nature of the work, work relationships, and contractual. Respondents were requested to indicate the degree to which a particular statement was a source of stress at work. The Likert-type format was preferred because, according to De Vos, Strydom, Fouche & Delport (2005) this format yields equal-interval data, a fact that allows for a more powerful statistical tool to be used to test variables. The last section sought demographic data from the respondents, namely, gender, age, marital status and qualifications. The last part of this section was an open-ended question, which requested respondents to make any remarks with regard to work-related stress that they felt were not addressed by the questionnaire instrument.
Validation of instrument
Pilot testing
Noting that the instrument was adapted and modified to suit the local setting, it was then given to experts in the Department of Educational Foundations and Management of the University of Swaziland for both face and content validity. Following the exercise, their recommendations were incorporated into the final draft of the instrument. Pilot testing was conducted in the first week of March 2010 using a sample of 30 secondary school teachers in the Manzini region of Swaziland. The purpose of the pilot study was to develop and test the adequacy of the research instrument; assess the proposed data analysis techniques to uncover potential problems; discard all unnecessary, difficult or ambiguous question items; and re-word any question/items that were not answered as expected. There was an indication that the items were clearly worded and the 30 participants did not experience any difficulty in understanding the items on the instrument. An analysis of the 52 items on the questionnaire howed correlations above 0.75 on each of the items. This was deemed to be high enough and the instrument was seen as yielding a satisfactory internal validity. To ensure instrument reliability, the researchers used Cronbach's alpha co-efficient. The reliability of the instrument was obtained at a coefficient of .85. The instrument was deemed reliable since the obtained alpha coefficient (.85) was above the acceptable .70 (De Vos et al., 2005).
Data collection method
The questionnaire was administered by hand to the 10 randomly selected schools. H o wever, p rior perm issio n was sought and o btained to carry out the stud y from the respective principals of the selected schools. This preliminary request was to help explain the rationale of the investigation and the way it was organised. After the principals' approval of the request, the researchers personally administered the questionnaire to the sample of 239 high school teachers who took part in the study. Respondents were informed of the anonymity and confidentiality of their participation. At no stage, even after the investigation was completed would their persons or responses be revealed to their principals or their employer, the Teaching Service Commission, or the general public. The researchers waited to collect the questionnaire from the respondents after they had completed them and by so doing we ensured that a favourable rate of return was achieved.
Data analysis procedure
The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 10.0 was used to compute the information regarding the level of work-related stress, work-related stressors, and the relationship between work-related stress and demographic variables of gender, age, marital status and qualifications of participating high school teachers. The collected data were analysed using the following procedures: the mean and standard deviation was obtained to determine the level of work-related stress for the sample. Means and standard deviations were obtained for all the aspects of the teachers' jobs to determine those aspects that were major sources of work-related stress. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficient was used to examine the relationships between the mean score of work-related stress and demographic variables. Responses provided to the open-ended questions were reported descriptively as they were provided by the respondents.
Findings and discussion
The results of this study provided information on the sample's level of work-related stress, job aspects that were prevalent stressors, and the relationship between the level of work-related stress and demographic characteristics of the sample.
Research question 1
What is the level of work-related stress among secondary school teachers in the Hhohho region of Swaziland?
Research question 1 sought to determine the level of work-related stress among secondary school teachers in the Hhohho region of Swaziland. Table 1 shows the level of work-related stress among secondary school teachers.
The respondents rated their level of work-related stress on a 5-point Likert scale where 1 = not stressful, 2 = mildly stressful, 3 = moderately stressful, 4 = very stressful, 5 = extremely stressful. The mean level of work-related stress was 3.11 with a standard deviation of 1.06. This means that secondary school teachers in the Hhohho region of Swaziland are moderately stressed by their jobs.
Research question 2
Which aspects of their job are the main sources of work-related stress among secondary school teachers?
The purpose of research question 2 was to ascertain the aspects of their job that are the main sources of work-related stress among secondary school teachers participating in the study. Table 2 shows sources of work-related stress among participating teachers.
In Table 2 the aspects of the teachers' jobs were ranked in descending order, according to means. This was to indicate which aspects were the main sources of work-related stress for high school teachers. The teachers reported being stressed by all four aspects relating to their work. They reported to be moderately stressed by contractual problems (3.25) and the nature of their jobs (3.16). They were mildly stressed by their work environment (2.94) and relationships in the workplace (2.61).
Research question 3
What is the relationship between the level of work-related stress of high school teachers and their demographic variables?
Table 3 shows the relationship between the level of work-related stress of 239 high school teachers in the Hhohho region of Swaziland and their demographic characteristics.
H01: There is no significant relationship between work-related stress and gender among high school teachers
The results showed that there was no significant relationship between work-related stress and gender among high school teachers (r = -.058, p = .374). Therefore, the null hypothesis was accepted. This was a weak relationship, as well as a negative one.
H02: There is no significant relationship between work-related stress and age among high school teachers
The results showed that there was a significant relationship between work-related stress and age among high school teachers (r = .216**, p = .001). Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected. This was a moderate and positive relationship indicating that stress levels increased with the increasing age of the respondents.
H03: There is no significant relationship between work-related stress and marital status among high school teachers
The results showed that there was no significant relationship between work-related stress and marital status among high school teachers r = .073, p = .262). Therefore, the null hypothesis was accepted. This was a very weak relationship.
H04: There is no significant relationship between work-related stress and qualifications among high school teachers
The results showed that there was no significant relationship between work-related stress and qualifications among high school teachers (r = .085, p = .192). The null hypothesis was therefore accepted. This was also a weak relationship.
Ancillary findings
There were interesting relationships discovered during the analysis, although they did not meet any of the objectives of the study. These were relationships relating to the demographic characteristics, such as qualifications, age, and marital status of the sample. For instance, there was a moderate relationship between marital status and age (r = .454**, p = .000) which was significant. Qualifications correlated significantly with both age (r = .271**, p = .000) and marital status (r = .242**, p = .000). However, these relationships had significantly weak correlations with the revealed stressors on teachers.
No work environment can be completely immune to stress. There are, however, indicators evident in this study which show that some work-related aspects are more stressful than others. The level and impact of stressful work-related factors on the teaching profession has been revealed through the open questionnaire. Teachers experience stress in different ways and the level of stress is associated with aspects of the job, namely, contractual problems and the nature of the work. Judging from the responses by participating teachers in the open questionnaire one could suggest that the current economic situation in Swaziland appears to impact teachers' experiences of stress at their workplace.
The findings indicated that the first and major source of work-related stress was as a result of contractual problems. Under contractual problems there was a lack of power and influence, a threat of job losses, performance related incentives, poor pay, lack of accommodation, badly planned changes, temporary contracts, and a shortage of teachers. The threat of job losses and temporary contracts are perceived in this study to have a strong linkage in that teachers who work under contract are usually given contracts ranging from three months (one-term) to six months (two-terms). These teachers work under stress in that there is no guarantee that their contracts will be renewed once they expire. The possibility of losing their job at any time is a stressful event for these teachers. Moreover, contract teachers work without pay for many months; this poses a serious financial challenge to the teachers, which is a great source of stress. Performance related incentives, poor pay, and lack of accommodation in schools are the result of monetary problems. Particularly, accommodation for teachers appears to be a perennial problem for most schools. There is either no accommodation or very little available, forcing teachers to share houses/rooms. Responses from the participating teachers appear to suggest that these are a major source of stress for teachers in Swaziland.
The finding that curriculum changes in secondary education is a major source of stress for secondary school teachers in the Hhohho region appears to agree with those reported in South Africa and Zimbabwe (Ngidi & Sibaya, 2002; Zindi, 2002). Both Ngidi and Sibaya (2002) and Zindi (2002) maintain that it is not that teachers object to the changes themselves, but to the manner in which such changes are implemented. The curriculum transformation from the International General Certificate of Education (IGCE) to the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), and currently to the Swaziland General Certificate of Secondary Education (SGCSE), has come with additional challenges for the teachers. Firstly, teachers appear not to be adequately prepared in terms of training to deal with such fundamental changes in the curriculum. Secondly, the transformation within the curriculum has not been accompanied by adequate changes in facilities and other supporting resources to assist teachers in the implementation of the new changes. Therefore, most teachers lack the ability and skills to undertake the implementation of the new curriculum. As a result, it would appear that these teachers remain under constant threat of having their jobs terminated, but they also feel threatened by the new demands accompanying the changes in the curriculum. These feelings together appear to be some source of stress for the teachers.
The findings of this study, which appear consistent with those of Borg and Riding (1993), Ngidi and Sibaya (2002), and Nhundu (1999), revealed the nature of the work as the second major source of work-related stress. For instance, responses in the open questionnaire appear to suggest that teachers may experience some level of stress from work overload, time pressure and deadlines, long working hours, taking work home, unrealistic objectives, making mistakes, boring or repetitive work, and keeping students occupied. These findings concur with those of Anshel and Kaissidis (1997), Kokkinos (2007), Magagula (1994), and Pithers and Soden (1998) in reporting that teachers experience stress as a result of work overload, keeping up with time-lines, long working hours, doing school work at home, and dealing with difficult students.
An equally important revelation in the study relates to issues of gender, qualifications, experience and marital status, as well as teachers' experience in relation to poor pay and performance incentives. It was noted that regardless of the above demographic variables, teachers experience more stress from poor pay and performance incentives, which reduce the teachers' happiness in their work situation as well as their ability to perform. These findings appear consistent with those of Cooper and Cart-wright (1994), and those of Santavirta, Solovieva and Theorell (2007), which reported that teachers experienced high levels of stress as a result of poor remuneration packages and fringe benefits in spite of the volume and challenging work that they do. In addition to the above, the present study provides information that is important to teaching administration and teachers' welfare. It was found that the teachers in the sample were stressed mainly by contractual problems and the nature of their work. The study also revealed that age was the only demographic characteristic that had a positive statistically significant relationship with work-related stress levels for the sample.
On the basis of the data presented and analysed in this study, it is obvious that teachers are stressed by their work. The study revealed contractual problems as the major stressor for teachers and this component included the lack of power and influence, threat of job losses, performance related incentives, poor pay, lack of accommodation, badly planned changes, temporary contracts, and shortage of teachers. Factors which caused the least stress for teachers came from the aspects relating to work relationships. These included "physical and sexual harassment", "my beliefs conflict with those of my school", "an unsympathetic boss", "my spouse's attitude towards my work", "work demands on my relationship with my family", "work demands on my private life", "my relationship with my colleagues", "complaints/criticism from parents or the public", "feeling undervalued", "lack of support from parents", "lawsuits from parents", and "too much supervision".
Teachers' work-related circumstances could be improved using the results of this study. To achieve this requires practical policy issues relating to teacher welfare, as well as infusing interventionist programmes within the teacher education curriculum. A good interventionist programme designed to equip teachers with some stress coping strategies would be an ideal approach. Moreover, the Ministry of Education and Training could organise workshops and invite experts in stress management to address teachers. But, it is equally important to state that teaching administrators need to do more to improve teachers' lives in the workplace in order to reduce stress levels. It would be advantageous for the students, the school administrators, and the parents to have less stressed teachers in schools. The major sources (contractual problems and the nature of the work) of work-related stress for teachers have implications for the Teaching Services Commission, which is the teachers' employer, and principals who are teachers' supervisors in the workplace.
The researchers acknowledge certain limitations relating to the study, which need to be emphasised. The study was restricted to secondary school teachers in the Hhohho region of Swaziland. However, the researchers would have preferred to include samples of secondary school teachers from schools in all four regions of Swaziland in order to be able to generalise findings to the entire population of secondary school teachers in Swaziland. However, due to time and financial constraints, the study was limited to investigating work-related stress among secondary school teachers in the Hhohho region of Swaziland.
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text:
Today, December 2, 12/2, is just a regular day in the world—except for traffic police in China. Today, the numbers correlate with the phone number for Chinese traffic police, 122, and because of that the fine traffic cops of Huizhou city in Guangdong province have released a nifty music video.
Set to the infectious Korean Pop tunes of Crayon Pop, people dressed like traffic cops appear in front of Huizhou Traffic bureau dancing and posing. There's even a rap segment in Chinese that talks about traffic safety. All of this is set to Crayon Pop's Bar Bar Bar.
Unfortunately, I can't say that this is the first time something like this has been done. About a month ago, on a day that coincided with the numeric code for the fire department, the Qinghuangdao Fire Department in Hebei province did the exact same thing minus the rap portion.
Both of these videos were professionally produced and it appears sanctioned by the local governments. Both videos were released for the purpose of highlighting or celebrating the date that corresponds with their contact numbers.
In China, instead of dialing 9-1-1 for emergencies or police, people have a series of numbers to call. For regular police and emergencies the number is 1-1-0. For traffic accidents and hit and runs the number is 1-2-2. For fire-related emergencies, the number is 1-1-9. The firefighters video was posted on November 9th.
Not only are emergency contact numbers personified and made into special dates, seemingly normal dates with interesting numbers are also made into a big deal—so today, December 2 is "national traffic safety day" in China. For instance, last month on November 11, the China unofficially celebrated "singles day," spurring the biggest online shopping day in China.
Later this month on December 12, Chinese mega e-commerce site Taobao is going to make 12-12 into something. Of course, Taobao's shopping holiday isn't going to get any government support.
While it might seem interesting that local Chinese governments will take tax payer money to produce hilarious online videos, it's not too far out there. This is China that we're talking about, weirder things have happened (weird can be good or bad! In this case, internet hilarity).
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.
Eric is a Beijing based writer and all around FAT man. You can contact him @email@example.com or follow him on Twitter @FatAsianTechie.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
|Rob Morton
Media Relations
|Natalie Temple
Investor Relations
Solution designed for changing enterprise IT requirements around end user mobility and development and deployment of complex applications in the cloud
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. March 20, 2012 – Akamai® Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM, news, filings), the leading cloud platform for delivering secure, high-performing user experiences to any device, anywhere, today introduced Terra Alta, an enterprise-class solution designed to address the evolving complexities of application acceleration in the cloud.
Enterprises are increasingly turning to the cloud to reap economic benefits and effectively extend the reach of business applications to users outside the bounds of the traditional corporate network – both in terms of physical location and device type. At the same time, IT managers must find efficient ways to overcome issues of latency, availability, security and application control that can adversely impact web application performance and degrade the end user experience.
To help mitigate the performance challenges enterprises face when using the public Internet for application delivery, Akamai's Terra Alta has been designed to enable an increasingly mobile enterprise user base. In addition, Terra Alta helps simplify the process of developing and deploying applications in the cloud, making it easier to optimize hundreds or thousands of applications with greater flexibility and control. As applications themselves evolve, Terra Alta helps accelerate complex applications that rely on multiple components, which may include business functions, modules, or web services from within other applications. Finally, Terra Alta can be easily deployed within an enterprises' existing network architecture, allowing IT decision makers to avoid making changes to network equipment investments already made.
"Enterprises are increasingly extending their IT infrastructure outside of the boundaries of their own data centers – embracing cloud computing, as well as delivering content and applications over the Internet" said Lydia Leong, research vice president, Gartner. "However, they face a new array of availability and performance challenges that may impact end-user adoption, acceptance, and productivity, and need solutions for these challenges."
At its core, Terra Alta takes advantage of the massively distributed Akamai Intelligent Platform™ to provide enterprises with an innovative set of capabilities aimed at improving the user experience for Internet-delivered applications regardless of where they are hosted. New features introduced with Terra Alta are designed to meet the requirements of enterprise and cloud readiness, increased performance and simplicity of deployment and use.
In the area of enterprise and cloud readiness, Terra Alta is intended to effectively map to the way enterprises are deploying and delivering critical business applications. Important new features in this area include:
- Enterprise Edge℠: Recognizing that web applications are hosted at the origin as well as in the cloud, Terra Alta enhances the reach of the Akamai Intelligent Platform by extending into the enterprise with Enterprise Edge. This virtual machine, running Akamai optimization technology within a customer's origin, allows optimizations from the Akamai Intelligent Platform to be carried from the Internet into the data center, improving overall application performance across the entire delivery environment.
- Edge Load Balancing: For enterprises taking advantage of public cloud deployments, Edge Load Balancing is designed to ensure that application traffic can be load balanced globally across the web before traffic impacts an isolated single data center.
- Enterprise DNS Mapping: Enables organizations to overcome the performance challenges caused by centralized DNS by dynamically adapting to user location and removing dependencies on enterprise DNS infrastructure re-designs.
With Terra Alta, Akamai is offering customers a 100 percent global performance improvement SLA over origin-alone applications. New features designed to deliver unrivaled acceleration capabilities across an extremely broad set of web applications include:
- Web Deduplication: This feature is designed to ensure that only differences in the objects that have already been sent by the origin are delivered, reducing bandwidth consumption required for application delivery and drastically increasing performance.
- Akamai Instant: Based on web analytical data, Akamai Instant retrieves what are assessed as the most likely pages to be next requested by the user, which can reduce long think times associated with web service calls, database lookups and other processing found in complex applications that can adversely affect application response times. This approach abstracts origin infrastructure challenges by leveraging Akamai's Intelligent Platform to bring content closer to the user with fewer trips to the origin.
- Dynamic Page Caching: This capability allows pages that were previously considered dynamic and un-cacheable to be conditionally cached.
Terra Alta is designed to be easy to deploy and consume in a manner best mapped to business requirements. New capabilities designed to meet customer requirements for simplicity include:
- Streamlined packages that allow enterprises to buy sets of application slots that can be easily interchanged as dictated by business requirements – such as seasonality or proof of concept testing – supported by traffic levels designed to serve even the most demanding application needs.
- Mobile Detect and Redirect supports delivery of applications to mobile users by simplifying the process of addressing and delivering mobile business applications, which can significantly improve the user experience. The result is an enterprise-wide application optimization platform that can be easily leveraged across any application – public cloud, origin and mobile – being delivered over the Internet.
- InstantConfig allows IT teams to quickly deploy and provision multiple applications – cloud or origin based – with a simple, dynamic, and instant configuration accomplished through the newly redesigned customer portal.
"Companies want to use the cloud as an enterprise application delivery environment because it's the most effective and efficient way to reach the broadest set of users. Unfortunately, controlling the cloud can seriously erode the promises and expectations of cloud computing," stated Willie M. Tejada, Senior Vice President & General Manager of the Enterprise Cloud Division at Akamai. "With the release of Terra Alta, we're giving our customers powerful solutions specifically designed to provide the best possible performance for their entire portfolio of cloud delivered business applications."
Terra Alta is available now with packages supporting sets of three, five and 10 applications.
The Akamai Solutions Portfolio
Terra Alta is part of the company's new Terra Enterprise Solutions product family which is intended to empower businesses to leverage the cloud for application adoption without borders while eliminating costly networks and specialized hardware. Other solution sets leveraging the Akamai Intelligent Platform include Aqua Web Solutions designed to help customers grow revenue opportunities with fast, personalized web experiences and allow them to manage complexity such as peak demand, mobile devices and data collection; Kona Security Solutions which help organizations avoid data theft and business downtime by extending the security perimeter outside the data-center and protect them from the increasing frequency, scale and sophistication of web attacks; Sola Media Solutions which allow businesses to engage audiences with interactive HD quality video, solve the challenges of multi-device consumption and reinvent the software distribution channel; and Aura Network Solutions which deliver the capability to operate a cost efficient network which capitalizes on traffic growth and eliminates the complexity typically required to build a CDN and interconnect across providers.
About Akamai
Akamai® is the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere. At the core of the Company's solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform™ providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise. Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud. To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit www.akamai.com or blogs.akamai.com, and follow @Akamai on Twitter.
Akamai Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
This release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, failure of Akamai services to operate as expected or to address intended market needs, a failure of Akamai's network infrastructure, and other factors that are discussed in Akamai's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.
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Let's take Modest Modeest for Moving Average one step further and use it in a basic tactical allocation system using Vanguard funds. THIS IS NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE AND VERY EASILY MIGHT CAUSE LARGE LOSSES. VANGUARD FUNDS IMPOSE EARLY REDEMPTION FEES THAT RENDER THIS NOT FEASIBLE.
If we use US Equities (vfinx for S&P 500), International Developed (vgstx), and Emerging (veiex) to fill the 60% equities slot in a portfolio and then add 40% US Bonds (vbmfx), we can fairly closely resemble a typical balanced allocation. Instead of buy and hold, let's only buy and hold when each is above its respective 10 month mode, but sell whenever it falls below that mode. The result is fairly attractive especially in terms of drawdown reduction.
|From TimelyPortfolio
|From TimelyPortfolio
|From TimelyPortfolio
Ultimately, to choose mode over mean, we should evaluate versus the Mebane Faber 10 month moving average system. The results are far from conclusive, but both clearly beat the balanced benchmark in terms of drawdown. Since I would think it is much easier to explain mean to clients, I would say that Mebane's system wins in this very simple framework. However, this is only start. Please let me know any discoveries as you apply to a much more diverse set of allocation options.
|From TimelyPortfolio
R code (click to download from Google Docs):
require(PerformanceAnalytics) start = "1990-12-31"
end = Sys.Date() #use Vanguard funds as proxy for asset classes
#due to Vanguard fees for early redemption
#these funds not appropriate for Tactical system
tckrs <- c("VFINX","VEIEX","VGSTX","VBMFX")
getSymbols(tckrs, from=start, to=end, adjust=TRUE)
for (i in 1:length(tckrs)) {
} funds <- na.omit(merge(VFINX[,1],VEIEX[,1],VGSTX[,1],VBMFX[,1]))
#get dates to include day so format is YYYY-MM-DD
index(funds) <- as.Date(index(funds))
colnames(funds) <- tckrs #get 1 month change
funds.roc <- ROC(funds,type="discrete",n=1)
#add a balanced benchmark
#20% of each equity fund for 60% total equities
#40% of US bonds
funds.roc <- merge(funds.roc,
funds.roc[1,5] <- 0
colnames(funds.roc) <- c(colnames(funds),"Balanced") #combine all the funds into one xts
funds <- merge(funds,cumprod(1+funds.roc[,5]))
# main="Vanguard Funds for US, Emerging, Intl Stocks and US Bonds
# with a 60/40 Balanced Allocation") #set width to be 10 months similar to Mebane Faber 10 month moving average
width = 10
#set up system.signal with same number of columns and rows as funds
system.signal <- funds
#loop through each column since I could not use apply with mode calculation
for (m in 1:NCOL(system.signal)) {
#another for loop to do the rolling mode since it also does not work with apply
for (n in width:NROW(system.signal[,m])) {
md <- mlv(funds[(n-width):n,m], method = "lientz", bw=0.4)
md.hist <- as.numeric(md[1]),
md.hist <- rbind(md.hist,as.numeric(md[1])))
#make into nice xts
md.xts <- as.xts(as.data.frame(md.hist),
#put rolling modes into system.signal
system.signal[(width):NROW(system.signal),m] <- md.hist
} #jpeg(filename="mode chart.jpg",
# quality=100,width=6.25, height = 6.25, units="in",res=96)
plot.zoo(system.signal,main="Modes (lientz) of Funds",nc=1,
#dev.off() #difficult way to get 1 for in and 0 for out
#but the ifelse gave me an index increasing order error
#will use apply instead
system.signal <- funds > system.signal
system.signal[,1:length(tckrs)] <- apply(system.signal[,1:length(tckrs)],MARGIN=2,FUN=as.numeric)
ret.signal <- lag(system.signal,k=1) * funds.roc[,1:5]
ret.compare <- merge(funds.roc[,4],
colnames(ret.compare) <- c("VBMFX.Bonds","ModeSystem","ModeOnBalanced","Balanced") #jpeg(filename="signal chart.jpg",
# quality=100,width=6.25, height = 6.25, units="in",res=96)
plot.zoo(system.signal,main="Signals (hsm) of Funds",nc=1,
#dev.off() #jpeg(filename="performance summary no average.jpg",
# quality=100,width=6.25, height = 6.25, units="in",res=96)
main="Performance of Tactical Approaches
with Balanced Benchmark",
#dev.off() #now let's compare to Mebane Faber 10-month moving average strategy
#will do in 1 line since there are multiple examples of how
#to implement this in R
ret.average <- lag(as.xts(apply(
funds > apply(funds[,1:5],MARGIN=2,FUN=runMean,10),MARGIN=2,as.numeric),order.by=index(funds)),k=1) * funds.roc
ret.compare <- merge(ret.compare,
colnames(ret.compare) <- c(colnames(ret.compare)[1:(NCOL(ret.compare)-1)],"Faber10moAvg") #jpeg(filename="performance summary with Faber average.jpg",
# quality=100,width=6.25, height = 6.25, units="in",res=96)
main="Performance of Tactical Approaches
with Balanced Benchmark and Mebane Faber 10mo Mov Avg",


text:
Thank you to everyone who made it to our latest roundtable meet-up of The Product Group at MTV Networks / Viacom (new job openings), as well as to our other sponsors, Balsamiq Studios, Sunshine Suites, and Ryma Technology Solutions.
Over the course of the night a few of the highlights were…
Featured Product: Ben Franklin
exploring the product, its challenges and successes, from unique twists to taking action
(thanks to Jack Sherry)
Expanding Innovation
from empowering to enacting
The Product Groupmeet-ups are an opportunity for Product People (managers, strategists, marketers, etc.) to come together to meet, interact, and network in a roundtable setting. It's awesome to meet fellow Product People in a laid-back, conversational gathering.
If you are a Product Person and are interested in having your product featured or participating as a featured guest expert at an upcoming meetup of The Product Group, contact me (or email at jhorn (a-t.) tpgblog DoT com).
I am looking forward to seeing everyone at our next meetup …
RSVP Now!
And, stay tuned for more announcements about August's Featured Product, Voltaic Systems.
If you would like to attend our next meet-up, RSVPtoday or visit our group webpage at…
Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy
P.S. Interested in becoming a sponsor or host of The Product Group? contact me.


text:
|The area where this hotel is located has become the vibrant cultural heart of London, with theatres, concert halls and art galleries lined-up against the South Bank of the river. During the summer, the events spill out onto the streets and terraces, and the area is awash with colour and entertainment. All year round the Eye, Aquarium and County Hall offer entertainment on the hotel's doorstep.
Booking multiple rooms?
Visit our group bookings page
Room 1
Map for Waterloo Hub Hotel & Suites
Underground Stations
Railway Stations
Car Parks
Waterloo Hub Hotel & Suites
Most recent feedback from actual LondonTown.com customers
|Fabulous hotel restaurant and staff but didn't get any sleep due to noise. sirens every 10 mins right through the night. Had ear plugs but hotel windows need some further second glazing. Appreiciate it was new years eve and much busier than normal but would have still needed better glazing with normal traffic noise.
Carol from Leeds, United Kingdom would not recommend this hotel to a friend
|On arrival I was welcomed to the hotel. it was quick to book in and was informed of the services they had to offer. the room was laid out lovely and warm. would go there again
Anonymous from Cardiff, United Kingdom would recommend this hotel to a friend
|It is a nice hotel with lovely staff; a pity the 'English breakfast' room gets so claustrophobically crowded.
Anonymous from New Milton, United Kingdom would recommend this hotel to a friend
|The room was fine but the noise was unbearable. There was children on the floor above running up and down shouting. I would not expect this kind of behaviour in a lower rate hotel! I found the service staff to be rude and not very approachable. However the reception staff were lovely and very helpful.
Jonathan from Halesowen, United Kingdom would not recommend this hotel to a friend
|Excellent locality, good room, mattress was a bit soft and the towels were a bit rough. but on the whole very good value.
Anonymous from Marston Magna, United Kingdom would recommend this hotel to a friend
TripAdvisor User Reviews
Waterloo Hub Hotel & Suites Hotel Facilities
Hotel services
Fitness centre
Swimming Pool
Business facilities
Business centre
24hr porter
24hr reception
Laundry services
Dry cleaning
Passenger lift
Accept dogs
Airport shuttle service
In house car park - From: £20.00
Room facilities
En suite bathroom
Satellite and cable
In-room direct dial
Room service
24hr room service
Mini fridge
Tea/coffee making
Air conditioning
In-room safe
- From: £12.00
162 rooms
For children
Baby cots - FREE
Wheelchair access rooms
Guide dogs welcome
|Check-in from:
|Check-out before:
All rooms
Some rooms
Telephone reservations
To book the Waterloo Hub Hotel & Suites by phone, call the telephone booking department on 011 44 20 7420 4982. The hotel reservations call centre is open seven days a week from 8am until 11pm (UK time) seven days a week. From USA call 011 44 20 7420 4982
Group booking discounts
Are you booking for a group of people? If you are making a booking for a group of people and require over 10 rooms, you may prefer to speak to the Group Booking Department for Waterloo Hub Hotel & Suites bookings. Special deals can be arranged for groups, including discounts and arrangements for adjacent and inter connecting rooms if required. Call the Groups Reservations Department on 0207 292 2307. The best way to book a group deal is to complete the online form for group reservations at Waterloo Hub Hotel & Suites .
Speak to a
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Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury
Close to the British Museum
Customer rating: 92%
This is a smart, modern hotel located in one of the Capital's oldest and most beautifu.. more
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text:
In a world that speaks in 140 character tweets and ubiquitous texting abbreviations, Tellagami tries to revive the art of telling a good story. It is an amusing app designed for iOS that turns you into a raconteur the teller of a "gami" or a story.
It's a tool that helps you tell a story, narrate an experience, or share an insight; you can even tell a joke or send a unique personalized greeting to someone. Tellagami is a spinoff of Xtranormal, a digital entertainment company that produces do-it-yourself animation software for the Web and desktop, which turns your words into an animated movie. (If you can type, you can make movies). However, Tellagami is a simpler interface with fewer features.
You select a character, the background you want, and even the clothing you want it to wear. Once the character is set up, you either speak or type to get the character to start mouthing the words. You can also pick the expressions on the animated character's face: happy, sad, angry, surprised, silly, scared, etc.. The goal is to make it funny, raise a few laughs.
You can see the type of character in the screenshot above from iTunes. I couldn't get a screenshot from my iPad2 where I downloaded the app (user challenges).
You have the option to preview it before sharing it via social networking sites or email. You can post it on Facebook; even MMS it to someone. The amusement potential is immediately obvious. A teen could tell the story of an incident in school; you could tell a pictorial story of a recent holiday; or, you could create a tutorial, make lists, create a diary, or just update your status in an interesting format.
This software has obvious uses for small businesses and makers too.
What I like:
- It allows you to 'speak' in your own voice to your customers, so you can share or advertise your idea, product, or service.
- I like the samples at the Tellagami Youtube channel which has some amusing advertisements for Dentyne gum.
- Loads of potential uses for vlogs and blogs. You can make it as formal or informal as you like – even dress up as smart (virtually) as you like.
What I'd like to see:
- An Android app is essential. I imagine it is in development. iOS always comes first due to the install base and app ecosystem. My Galaxy S3 from Ting mobile is itching to try it out.
Ultimately you can tell the story – gami – of your business in a way that helps grow it. Easy sharing of your story means that you could put the word out there without much investment.
Have you seen or used Xtranormal? If you have, then you'll immediately get what Tellagami is all about.
What tools are you using to create video or animation in an affordable and easy manner?


text:
CHICAGO -- The American Medical Association (AMA) adopted a resolution to prohibit the shackling of women during labor -- a practice outlawed in seven states but still used in some prisons and hospitals for inmates who are giving birth.
The resolution was introduced by a group of ObGyns along with several state medical societies and adopted by the AMA's full House of Delegates on Tuesday by a voice vote.
California, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Vermont, and Colorado all have laws discouraging the practice of shackling female inmates during labor. The AMA's resolution calls on the doctors' group to write draft legislation that other states could use as a model to pass their own antishackling laws.
Shackling can refer to a number of restraint methods, including wrapping a chain around the inmate's waist and cuffing her hands to the chain, or just cuffing the woman's ankle to the hospital bed.
Doctors speaking in support of the resolution said the use of restraints during labor is not in line with the ethics of the medical profession.
"Shackling women in labor runs counter to our values," said delegate Erin Tracy, MD, an Ob/Gyn from Stoneham, Mass.
"It's dehumanizing," she commented during a Sunday hearing of the AMA's legislative committee. Female inmates "need to be provided adequate compassionate care."
The resolution refers to the practice as "barbaric" and "medically hazardous" and calls for the AMA to support language that no restraints of any kind should be used on an inmate who is in labor, delivering her baby, or during recuperation unless there is a "compelling" reason to believe she poses serious harm to herself or others, is a flight risk, and "cannot be reasonable constrained by other means."
"Certainly in cases where public health is at risk ... it's necessary to have appropriate restraints," Tracy added.
The AMA resolution also states that correctional facilities, detention centers, or local jails should use the "least restrictive restraints necessary" when an inmate is in the second or third trimester of her pregnancy.
States that have passed antishackling laws haven't reported any safety issues by not restraining pregnant inmates, said Cynthia Goto, MD, an Ob/Gyn from Honolulu. Women in the midst of labor are unlikely to be able to overpower guards and escape from the delivery room, Goto commented.


text:
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Store Opening Times
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There can be two parts to an order delivery time. For Uniform orders see both PROCESSING & SHIPPING. All other items please see SHIPPING TIMES
Shipping costs are detailed below:
Standard delivery upto £70 - £5.95
Standard delivery over £70 - FREE
International Postage - Calculated at Checkout (allow approx. 10 days shipping time)
Returns & ExchangesWhat items are returnable?Within 30 days of receipt of your shipment for a full refund/exchange OR 90 days for an exchange or credit note.In original new condition with tags attached.Unwashed and UnwornIn the original packaging with tags attached.What items are non-refundable non-returnable?Free gifts or promotional itemsPrinted Dance School Uniform** Incorrectly supplied garment sizing and incorrectly printed items must be reported with 7 days of receipt of item. These will be replaced upon confirmation of error.Underwear, Tights & SocksMasks/Face CoveringsAre there any charges for return?There are no charges for returnsOriginal shipping charges is non-refundableYou are responsible for return shipping charges and Pandr is not responsible for lost parcels so please use a tracked/recorded service.How do I return?Please either contact us for a RMA number or return your products along with returns form found in package. Please complete as much information (Refund, Exchange inc Size/Colour) to help us with a speedy resolution.How soon will I get my refund?Once your return is received and inspected, we will send you an email to notify you that we have received your returned item. We will also notify you of the approval or rejection of your refund.If you are approved, then your refund will be processed, and a credit will automatically be applied to the original method of payment, we aim to refund within 10 business days. Please allow up to 30 days before contacting us.Returns Instructions
1. Pack all the returned items, along with a print off of your confirmation purchase email, Completed Returns Form, and a note specifying your RMA number securely in a box. You can use the box/bag the items arrived in or another box/bag, if you prefer.2. Go to local post office, or another courier, to ship the package. Return address for the package:Pandr RETURNS DeptPandr® Shaw Wood WayDoncasterDN2 5TB3. Please provide us the tracking number from post office or couriers if applicable. You can keep tracking your package by receiving email for shipment updates. We recommend that you request a "proof of posting" receipt, as we accept no responsibility for mislaid return parcels. Goods must be sent in resalable condition in the original packaging with all tags still attached.4. You will receive an email as soon as we receive your items, and when the refund is approved.Pandr®Shaw Wood WayDoncasterDN2 5TB
General Delivery & Refund InformationEvery effort is made to ship orders in one complete shipment. If an item is out of stock you will be notified by email. We will ship the available goods first and ship the remaining Items as soon as they become available. All deliveries are subject to stock availability. In the event of a stock error and we are unable to despatch immediately we will email to advise of estimated despatch dates.
Please note we can not add additional delivery information to orders. Please leave suitable note on your door for delivery service. If you are not available on delivery there will be a card left so you can re-arrange delivery or collection from relevant sorting office.
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text:
Tighter abortion pill rules head to Indiana governor
INDIANAPOLIS — A bill that would tighten Indiana's regulations on distribution of the abortion pill and on the clinics that provide only drug-induced abortions won final legislative approval Thursday and is headed to Republican Gov. Mike Pence.
The state Senate voted 35-14 to agree with a version of the bill that the House approved last week. Pence has said he supports the bill and is expected to sign it into law.
The bill would require clinics that provide only drug-induced abortions to meet the same facility standards as clinics that perform surgical abortions. Opponents say the additional standards are unnecessary and are aimed at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Lafayette, which is the state's only non-surgical abortion site.
Bill sponsor Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, said the measure's primary focus was to have drug-induced abortions fall under the same state regulations as surgical abortions.
"There are those of us who believe for a woman's safety we need to be doing that," Holdman said.
Senate opponents to the bill argued that the new regulations would unfairly target poor women and are meant to complicate women's personal health decisions.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana officials have said the additional standards would force the Lafayette clinic to follow rules such as ensuring that procedure and recovery rooms are the right size, even though its only abortion service consists of doctors providing pills. Women take the pill at the office, then leave and let the drugs take effect.
Supporters of the bill said the Lafayette clinic still could continue offering services such as birth control and screenings for cancer and sexually transmitted diseases.
"They don't have to close," said Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis. "They don't provide this drug, they stay open and they continue to provide services."
Planned Parenthood also has said if the bill becomes law, it would keep the Lafayette clinic open, but would have to review whether it can afford a remodeling project to continue distributing the abortion pill.
Nine surgical abortion clinics are currently licensed in Indiana, including three run by Planned Parenthood, according to state records.
An Indiana House last month dropped earlier provisions the Senate had backed aimed at having doctors perform two ultrasounds on women seeking the abortion drugs. Planned Parenthood said its doctors perform ultrasounds before abortions, but opposed mandating medical procedures by law.
Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, said she believed the bill's new restrictions on abortion pill distribution will end up with more women buying it online and without being under a doctor's care.
"What this bill will do is encourage women, low-income women in particular, to go to the Internet where they can avoid all of this," Becker said.
Becker was among three Republicans who joined 11 Democrats in voting against the bill.
Other provisions in the measure would prohibit the abortion drugs from being given to a woman more than nine weeks pregnant unless federal regulators in the future approve it for use after that time. It also would require clinics to provide information on the dangers of abortion-causing drugs and offer women the option of viewing an ultrasound or hearing the fetal heartbeat.


text:
According to observations of naturalists and beekeepers.
Where are you?
No data
Minor in most areas
Common buttonbush's distribution extends from southern Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario south through southern Florida and west through the eastern half of the Great Plains States. Scattered populations exist in New Mexico, Arizona, and the Central Valley of California.
This plant is present in at least 43 states/provinces in this country.
C. occidentalis is a deciduous shrub or small tree that averages 1–3 m (3.3–9.8 ft) in height but can reach 6 m (20 ft). The leaves are opposite or in whorls of three, elliptic to ovate, 7–18 cm (2.8–7.1 in) long and 4–10 cm (1.6–3.9 in) broad, with a smooth edge and a short petiole. The flowers are arranged in a dense spherical inflorescence 2–3.5 cm (0.79–1.38 in) in diameter on a short peduncle. Each flower has a fused white to pale yellow four-lobed corolla forming a long slender tube connecting to the sepals. The stigma protrudes slightly from the corolla. The fruit is a spherical cluster of achenes (nutlets).
Common buttonbush flowers between June and September and produces fruit between September and October.
Acer saccharinum (aka: Silver maple, Soft maple)
Salix nigra (aka: Black willow, Swamp willow, Southwestern black willow, Gulf black willow, Scythe-leaved willow)
Cercis canadensis (aka: Eastern redbud, Redbud, Cersis Reniformis)
Malus angustifolia (aka: American crab apple, Buncombe crab apple, Crabtree, Narrowleaf crab, Narrowleaf crab apple, Southern crab, Southern crab apple)
Aronia arbutifolia (aka: Red chokeberry)
Amelanchier arborea (aka: Common serviceberry, Downy serviceberry, Juneberry, Shadbush, Shadblow, Sugarplum)
Ulmus americana (aka: American elm, White elm, Water elm, Soft elm, Florida elm)
Acer rubrum (aka: Red maple, Scarlet maple)
Salix discolor (aka: Pussy willow, American pussy willow, Glaucous willow, Large pussy willow)
Pyrus communis (aka: European pear, Common pear)
Acer negundo (aka: Boxelder, Western boxelder, Arizona boxelder, California boxelder, Texas boxelder, Interior boxelder, Violet boxelder)
Celtis laevigata (aka: Hackberry, Sugarberry, Lowland hackberry, Sugar hackberry, Arizona sugarberry, Netleaf hackberry, Small's hackberry, Southern hackberry, Texas sugarberry)
Salix lucida (aka: Shining willow, Greenleaf willow, Tail-leaf willow, Whiplash willow, Pacific willow, Lance-leaf willow, Longleaf willow, Red willow, Western shining willow)


text:
Engineering Society Accused of Covering Up Design Flaws in Investigations of Katrina, World Trade Center
NEW ORLEANS – The professional organization for engineers who build the nation's roads, dams and bridges has been accused by fellow engineers of covering up catastrophic design flaws while investigating national disasters.
After the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and the levee failures caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the federal government paid the American Society of Civil Engineers to investigate what went wrong.
Critics now accuse the group of covering up engineering mistakes, downplaying the need to alter building standards, and using the investigations to protect engineers and government agencies from lawsuits.
Similar accusations arose after both disasters, but the most recent allegations have pressured the organization to convene an independent panel to investigate.
"They want to make sure that they do things the right way and that they learn lessons from the studies they do," said Sherwood Boelhert, a retired Republican congressman from New York who heads the panel. He led the House Science Committee for six years.
The panel is expected to issue a report by the end of April and may recommend that the society stop taking money from government agencies for disaster investigations.
The engineering group says it takes the allegations seriously, but it has declined to comment until completion of the panel's report and an internal ethics review.
In the World Trade Center case, critics contend the engineering society wrongly concluded skyscrapers cannot withstand getting hit by airplanes. In the hurricane investigation, it was accused of suggesting that the power of the storm was as big a problem as the poorly designed levees.
The group has about 140,000 members and is based in Reston, Va. It sets engineering standards and codes and publishes technical books and a glossy magazine. Members testify regularly before Congress and issue an annual report on the state of the nation's public-works projects.
The society got a $1.1 million grant from the Army Corps of Engineers to study the levee failures. Similarly, the Federal Emergency Management Agency paid the group about $257,000 to investigate the World Trade Center collapse.
The engineers were not involved in investigating last year's bridge collapse in Minneapolis.
The society issued a report last year that blamed the levee failures on poor design and the Corps' use of incorrect engineering data.
Raymond Seed, a levee expert at the University of California, Berkeley, was among the first to question the society's involvement. He was on a team funded by the National Science Foundation to study the New Orleans flood.
Seed accused the engineering society and the Army Corps of collusion, writing an Oct. 20 letter alleging that the two organizations worked together "to promulgate misleading studies and statements, to subvert appropriate independent investigations ... to literally attempt to change some of the critical apparent answers regarding lessons to be learned."
Maj. Gen. Don Riley, the corps' director of civil works, disputed Seed's allegations at a December meeting in New Orleans.
"He talks about the supposed cover-up," Riley said. "Well, our people live here in New Orleans ... We don't stand behind our work. We live behind our work."
In 2002, the society's report on the World Trade Center praised the buildings for remaining standing long enough to allow tens thousands of people to flee.
But, the report said, skyscrapers are not typically designed to withstand airplane impacts. Instead of hardening buildings against such impacts, it recommended improving aviation security and fire protection.
Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, a structural engineer and forensics expert, contends his computer simulations disprove the society's findings that skyscrapers could not be designed to withstand the impact of a jetliner.
Astaneh-Asl, who received money from the National Science Foundation to investigate the collapse, insisted most New York skyscrapers built with traditional designs would survive such an impact and prevent the kind of fires that brought down the twin towers.
He also questioned the makeup of the society's investigation team. On the team were the wife of the trade center's structural engineer and a representative of the buildings' original design team.
"I call this moral corruption," said Astaneh-Asl, who is on the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley.
Gene Corley, a forensics expert and team leader on the society's report, said employing people with ties to the original builders was necessary because they had access to information that was difficult to get any other way.
Corley said the society's study was peer-reviewed and its credibility was upheld by follow-up studies, including one by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
"I hope someone looks into the people making the accusations," Corley said. "That's a sordid tale."


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Klutz expands its line of Star Wars activity books with Star Wars Thumb Doodles. The concept is simple to kids to grasp. First, you use the four ink pads on the side of the book to make fingerprints on the page. Next, you add details with the two-color pencil – shaped like a light saber – and black marker.
The 40-page Star Wars Thumb Doodles book includes step-by-step instructions for creating characters from both trilogies – although it leans heavily towards the original three movies. Kids can learn to create cartoon versions of Luke, Leia, Han, and lots of others.
Each page has some space for kids to test out the directions for themselves, but you'll want to have extra paper nearby to keep going. One nice feature are the spreads that give you a background to fill with characters, like the Mos Eisley cantina or Jabba's palace.
There are also pages with panels to try putting characters like Yoda and C-3PO in different situations. One page gets you started doodling "the many moods of Darth Vader," including on the run and snoozing.
As someone who teaches art to kids, what I like about the thumb doodle books is that they encourage them to combine unlikely elements, and to look for inspiration in random marks. It also shows kids some of the conventions of drawing comics (such as motion lines and zzzzz's), as well as how to create different facial expressions and body positions.
As with all Klutz books, the spiral binding and heavy paper make it easy to use. The ink pads, pencil and marker all store neatly in the box attached to the side of the book. I like that kids are encouraged to get messy – something that is not often encouraged nowadays!
But based on comments from some reviewers, parents might want to spread some paper underneath the book to protect table tops, and throw a smock or old t-shirt over your kids clothes to deal with the inevitable moment when they go to wipe off their hands on the nearest thing handy. Keeping a damp paper towel nearby is also recommended.
All in all, the Star Wars Thumb Doodles book from Klutz is another great addition to their line of art books, and will be appreciated by all the Star Wars fans in your family.
A copy of this book was provided for review purposes.


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Southold robotics team honors Ronan Guyer
More than three dozen remote-controlled robots will navigate the arena floor at Hofstra University this weekend in a competition challenging high school students' technology and communication skills.
The machines, each 100-plus pounds, are built from scratch and operated by students using funds they helped raise themselves.
Among this year's crop of robots will be one designed by Southold High School students and named for the one robotics club member who won't be able to attend the competition.
Its name is Ronan.
"Doesn't that make the perfect name for a robot?" asked Lori Guyer, mother of the machine's namesake. "Ronan the Robot. Just perfect.
"Ronan wanted to be in the club," Ms. Guyer said. "He was in the Lego club in seventh and eighth grade, which sort of leads into it. He had a scheduling conflict while he was running cross country. He had one more race to go and then he was going to commit full-time to robotics."
Ronan never did run in that final race. He died Nov. 14 after suffering cardiac arrest earlier that week during a practice for the state cross country championships outside Buffalo.
The high school freshman had been in a coma and on a ventilator in a Buffalo hospital for five days before he was taken off life support. He was 14 years old.
"I know other people who have lost their children," Ms. Guyer said. "You always say, 'I can never imagine what that would be like.' I now know it's a million times worse than I ever would have thought."
But a funny thing has happened in the five months since Lori and Stephen Guyer said goodbye to the youngest of their three children. His unusual first name has taken on a life of its own.
The name Ronan has been printed on T-shirts for charity and iced onto cupcakes sold in a fundraiser. His name was also used to help raise money through a community race in the days after his death, a Thanksgiving turkey trot re-dubbed the "Run for Ronan." His family has planned a similarly named event for May 19.
And how many folk can say they've had a robot named for them?
"The robot is a nice tribute to him," said Southold technology teacher Phil Caputo. "It's sad he isn't here, but it's a good thing we can carry on his name."
Ronan the Robot arrives at Hofstra yesterday, Thursday, for a practice session before the two-day competition this weekend. The 24-x-30-inch robot can shoot four frisbees in less than five seconds, with the object of the game revolving around the discs accurately striking targets.
The machine is sturdy, fast and mechanical, much like the 6-foot-2 teenager it was named after.
From an early age, Ronan knew he wanted to be a naval architect, his mother says. A sailor with the Southold Yacht Club from the time he was 7, Ronan enjoyed being out on the water. And he loved to build. Joining robotics was his next step toward one day reaching his career goal.
"He would have flourished in the robotics club," Ms. Guyer said.
Since their son's passing, the Guyers have been overwhelmed by the number of neighbors, even strangers, who have come forward to tell them stories of how young Ronan touched their lives.
One afternoon, Ms. Guyer received a letter from another mother in the community, who shared how much it meant to her when Ronan helped her son, who was younger and whom the Guyers had never met, get acclimated when he first joined Boy Scouts.
Compassion is a trait Ronan developed at an early age, something Ms. Guyer believes grew from how he handled living with his special needs brother, Colin, who is autistic.
Ronan exhibited patience in teaching his older brother, who is now 18, how to throw a ball or how to build with Legos.
"He'd take his brother to the beach and they'd catch crabs," Ms. Guyer said.
When Ronan was old enough to realize that Colin's disability made it difficult for him to meet friends, he shared his own pals with his brother.
"In some ways he was the most mature of my children, even though he was the youngest," Ms. Guyer said.
When Mr. Guyer, a detective in the Suffolk County Police Department, was out of town for training as Hurricane Sandy struck in October, Ronan sprang into action as the man of the house. He got the generator going and made sure the family had extra gasoline on hand. When his father called, Ronan assured him he was "running a tight ship."
Just two weeks later, Mr. Guyer rushed up from training in Virginia to visit his son in the hospital. As Ronan's condition failed to improve over several days, the Guyers were forced to make the difficult decision to take him off life support.
But even in death, there's yet another way Ronan has lived on. His parents made the decision to donate his tissue.
"We couldn't donate organs like his liver and his kidneys because we wouldn't be able to be in the room with him," Ms. Guyer said. "Because they bring them into the operating room, you don't get to be with them that way. You don't get to hold them."
Today, two young children see through Ronan's corneas. Another young man received one of Ronan's heart valves.
"They all went to young people," Ms. Guyer said. "Ronan would have liked it that way. That's the kind of kid he was."
Ronan would have turned 15 on April 24. To honor her caring son, his mother is collecting items to donate to Community Action Southold Town. She's asking local residents to share food, clothing, good used blankets, bedding, towels and kitchen items.
"Anything clean and in good condition that can be used by families in need in our community," she said.
She'll be collecting the goods between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. on April 20 and 21 at her business, White Flower Farmhouse, on Main Road in Southold. She'll store the items in her garage and deliver them on Ronan's birthday that Wednesday.
It's just one small way she can honor a son she says was "too good to be true."
Each day since his passing, Ms. Guyer said she is reminded of Ronan whenever she looks out the window at a tree she planted for him more than a decade ago. The Guyers had just built their home in Southold and she asked each of her children to pick out a tree to be planted in the garden. Ronan picked a weeping cherry.
"I thought it would be nice if I placed a bird feeder in Ronan's tree [after his death]," she said. "I cannot believe how many birds visit that tree every day. Every time I look out the window there are so many birds. I fill up the feeder every day."