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Multilevel reliability
Mplus Discussion
Multilevel Data/Complex Sample
Naomi Dyer
posted on Thursday, July 06, 2006 - 1:32 pm
Hello - does Mplus have a way to estimate the reliability of a factor at the between level? I have to report the reliability for the factor and wasn't sure if there was a way to do it with multilevel data - and in particular in Mplus.
Thank you for any assistance.
Boliang Guo
posted on Friday, July 07, 2006 - 12:52 am
see prof Muthen's multilevel CFA paper shown in Mplus web.
Naomi Dyer
posted on Friday, July 07, 2006 - 6:21 am
Thanks however there are quite a few papers on the website - would you mind being more specific?
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Friday, July 14, 2006 - 5:17 pm
Here is the reference:
Muth�n, B. (1991). Multilevel factor analysis of class and student achievement components. Journal of Educational Measurement, 28, 338-354. (#37)
Naomi Dyer
posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 12:00 pm
Thank you. I read the article but my understanding is that the reliability formula discussed in the article is for a single item (or a single composite score) - unlike Cronbach's alpha which is the reliability of x items making up a composite/factor. Can I just compute Cronbach's alpha using group means?
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 5:51 pm
Your statement is correct. I don't know the answer to your question, but perhaps that works.
Sharyn L. Rosenberg
posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - 9:43 am
I am also interested in this question, although I don't really have an answer. If you compute Cronbach's alpha using group means, you are ignoring within-group variation. You are assuming consistency over people within each group. I am not sure what the purpose of your analysis is, but it seems like the reliability of a between-level factor would depend on within-person variation (typical Cronbach alpha), within-group variation (consistency of people within each group), and between-group variation. Could you do this as a 3-level HLM where you specify level 1 as the measurement model?
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - 6:51 pm
I think the SEM literature shows how to do Cronbach's alpha in CFA form, so I suppose one can do Cronbach on both levels simultaneously (I am not a Cronbach alpha user myself).
Naomi Dyer
posted on Friday, July 21, 2006 - 7:35 am
I was recently directed to two articles that speak to this - the first, Miller, M.B (1995). Coefficient Alpha: A basic intro from the perspective of classical test theory and SEM. "Structural Equation Modeling", 2(3) p 255-273 and
Raykov (1997). Estimation of composite reliability for congeneric measures "Applied Psycholgocial Measurement", 21(2) p 173-184.
In the Raykov article they propose a way to estimate reliability in a SEM by creating a "phantom" factor - which seemingly is a causal factor of the factor items - with no error. The correlation between the phantom factor and the real factor would provide the reliability.
I would be interested to know your opinion on this technique if say I modeled a MCFA with a phantom variable at the between level to get the reliability.
Thank you!
Naomi Dyer
posted on Friday, July 21, 2006 - 1:41 pm
To add, is there a way of doing this in Mplus - meaning I have tried to make a causal indicator at the between level per the other discussion postings and I keep getting an error.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Saturday, July 22, 2006 - 1:43 pm
We will answer this early next week after looking at the articles.
Naomi Dyer
posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 5:53 am
Great thanks, I look forward to your response.
K�tlin Peets
posted on Sunday, June 08, 2008 - 11:31 am
I have a question concerning whether it is possible to separate unique reliable variance from error variance when using multilevel modeling? Let�s suppose I am examining whether children�s aggression varies across different relationship types. Thus, relationships (within level) could be nested within individuals (between level). So, when I get the variance estimates (at both levels), is it possible to know the extent of error vs. reliable variance? I know it is possible to do so when using social relations modeling.
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Monday, June 09, 2008 - 9:07 am
It sounds like you are asking a question that is brought up in the context of factor analysis. So if you have a 2-level factor analysis model where for some reason individual is level-2 (as in growth modeling in the long version) and level-1 is some nesting within person (like multiple time points or multiple indicators of a factor), then I can imagine thinking of the level-2 factor value as a unique reliable component (or same for level-2 item residuals) whereas the level-1 counterparts are unreliable sources.
Ben Saville
posted on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 - 10:38 am
Dr. Muthen,
I have a 2-level data structure (teachers nested in schools) with 72 items (6 factors with 12 items each), and I'm interested in assessing whether the proposed factor structure is appropriate. In other words, I'd like to determine if the data support the 6 factors, or do the data support a smaller number of factors, i.e. 1 or 2 factors. The overall cronbach alpha for the 72 items ignoring clustering is 0.99, which if I understand correctly would suggest all 72 items are measuring the same thing, or there is only 1 factor (By ignoring clustering, I mean to treat all teacher observations as independent, so there are 20 teachers * 70 schools = 1400 observations). I know that if I fit a CFA ignoring the clustering, I will get biased standard errors. However, I have a colleague who has suggested that the correlations (and therefore cronbach alphas) will be unbiased regardless of whether I take the clustering into account. Is this true? I have attempted to fit a multilevel CFA model in Mplus but I'm having a difficult time getting it to converge, which I think is due either to the high correlations or small number of clusters relative to the number of parameters. What other procedures exist in Mplus that can help me determine the best factor stucture for these data? Thanks in advance.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Thursday, May 14, 2009 - 9:45 am
Correlations will be different if you take complex survey features into account. You should do a TYPE=TWOLEVEL EFA where you ask for only one factor in the between part of the model. See Example 4.5.
Franziska Zuniga
posted on Friday, May 20, 2011 - 1:22 pm
I am trying to calculate the composite scale reliability of twolevel data according to the paper by Raykov and Penev:
Raykov T, Penev S. Estimation of maximal reliability for multiple-component instruments in multilevel designs. Br J Math Stat Psychol. 2009;62(1):129-42.
In their example of the Mpuls source code, they have the following lines (variables adapted):
SuppBTW BY SuppD2
SuppD7 (1) (P1)
SuppD9 (2) (P2);
SuppBTW (P7);
SuppD2 (P8);
SuppD7 (P9);
SuppD9 (P10);
SuppWTN BY
SuppD7 (1) (P1)
SuppD9 (2) (P2);
SuppD2 (P3);
SuppD7 (P4);
SuppD9 (P5);
SuppWTN (P6);
When running the input file (Mplus 6.1), there comes an an error message, that states:
*** ERROR in MODEL command
Unknown variable(s) in a BY statement: (1)
It seems that I only can put in the equality restraint (1) or the parameter label (P1), but not both. Could you help me on how to solve this problem?
Many thanks in advance!
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Friday, May 20, 2011 - 1:55 pm
P1 and p2 are both parameter labels and equality constraints. You don't need both. Just use p1 and p2.
Franziska Zuniga
posted on Friday, May 20, 2011 - 9:37 pm
Many thanks for your prompt help!
Alan Johnson
posted on Sunday, November 20, 2011 - 12:34 pm
Consequences of Reliability (or the lack of it!) in Dependent Variables
I am looking for a reference in the literature about the consequences of poor reliability for DVs.
Typically, the consequences of poor reliability is discussed in the context of the reliability of IVs, and the attenuation of observed relations with DVs. However, I want to consider the case where the IVs are shown to be reliable, but the DVs reliability is in question.
I think I know, from one of Bengt web talks, that DVs with poor reliability result in inflated standard errors, as opposed to attenuated parameter estimates, but I don�t think he gave a citation and if he did I cannot find it now.
You wouldn�t happen to have one or more citations for this?
Alan R. Johnson
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Sunday, November 20, 2011 - 5:52 pm
I think you find this in most regression/econometrics books. I see it on page 316 of the Wooldridge Introductory Econometrics text, for instance.
Measurement error (if well-behaved) ends up adding to the residual, and increasing residual variance increases the slope SE. No slope estimate bias.
Alan Johnson
posted on Monday, November 21, 2011 - 1:03 am
Thank you Bengt, perhaps foolishly, I had been focusing my search on the Psychometric literature.
I have my copy of Wooldridge open now, and I am seeing exactly the kind of explanation that I was looking for, with an authoritative citation to boot!
Gregor Kappler
posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 9:27 am
This thread did not yet discuss whether multilevel reliability can be used to estimate inter-rater reliability.
I want to analyze interrater reliability for a design of three observers rating subjects (CLUSTER variable) on several continous items assumed to assess one latent variable r. I want to assess the inter-rater reliability of the latent variable as ICCs of a multilevel model:
rw BY r1 r2 (p2) r3 (p3) r4 (p4) r5 (p5) r6 (p6) r7 (p7) r8 (p8) r9 (p9) r10 (p10) r11 (p11);
rb BY r1 r2 (p2) r3 (p3) r4 (p4) r5 (p5) r6 (p6) r7 (p7) r8 (p8) r9 (p9) r10 (p10) r11 (p11);
Then I calculated the true (error free) ICC=B/(B+W) of the latent factor r (from the Variances of rw and rb) like in Muth�n (1991) and interpret this ICC as the error free inter-rater reliability.
Is this a valid approach? Can you recommend further citations for this?
Thank you a lot!
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 3:07 pm
What is your level 2? How many level-2 units do you have?
Note that you cannot have several labels on a row without semicolons separating them.
Melvin C Y
posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2012 - 8:21 pm
I'm trying to estimate maximal reliability for a 4-item factor. The unstandardized residual of one item (EEF2) at the between level is 0.000, SE=0.004 (p=.962). The standardized residual is -0.004. I believe it is advisable to set the residual to zero in this case. But I can't seem to set it in the presence of parameter labels. I tried placing the command "
" before (P9), but it did change anything. My syntax is below. Thank you.
EEF2 (P11); !How do I set this to zero?
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Thursday, March 08, 2012 - 12:38 pm
; I don't see why you need a label for this parameter.
Melvin C Y
posted on Friday, March 09, 2012 - 12:21 am
I included the label P11 to calculate maximal reliability under model constraint which takes into account both within and between item and factor. But if the residual of P11 is zero or close to zero, then excluding it in the calculation of reliability by fixing to zero should make not matter. Hope I had understood it correctly.
Gregor Kappler
posted on Monday, April 23, 2012 - 4:39 am
Regarding my post on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 9:27 am:
Level 2 is raters. I have three raters.
The r2 (p2)... labels are one line each in my input - I removed line-breaks to be post-friendly.
(sorry for the very late reply)
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Monday, April 23, 2012 - 12:53 pm
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Monday, April 23, 2012 - 1:39 pm
You cannot do multilevel modeling with only three rates. A minimum of 30-50 is recommended. You might consider a single-level multi-trait multi-method model where trait is rater and method is what is rated. The multivariate analysis takes into account any lack of indepedence of observations.
Benjamin Walsh
posted on Thursday, May 28, 2015 - 10:21 am
I have a question about correcting for unreliability due to measurement error in a multilevel context. I want to limit estimated parameters to due to marginal sample size, so will not use multiple indicators.
In a single-level, one would correct for unreliability, for example, as such:
XL by
where XL is latent variable, XMean is mean composite of items measuring X, .982 is the square root of alpha reliability and .025 is (1 minus reliability) * (variance).
My question is: how would one do this correction with XMean when it exists on the within and between levels?
Coffman, D. L., & MacCallum, R. C. (2005). Using parcels to convert path analysis models into latent variable models. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 40, 235-259.
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Thursday, May 28, 2015 - 1:38 pm
We show unreliability correction in our FAQ Measurement error in a single indicator.
I think you are saying that the Xmean variable exists on both levels using the Mplus latent variable decomposition. If so, I think you want to do the correction on only the Within level because that is where the measurement error shows up. On Between you would just say
XLB BY XMean;
making XLB identical to the latent between-level part of XMean.
Benjamin Walsh
posted on Friday, May 29, 2015 - 6:53 am
Yes that is accurate. Thanks Bengt, I will give that a try!
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NEWTOWN, Conn. — When he was a student at Newtown High, Adam Lanza would sometimes have what a school employee referred to as "an episode."
No one knew what might bring it on. The shy teenager "would just shut down," said Richard Novia, a former advisor to the school tech club. He said Lanza would get together with other technology-minded students to play fantasy role-playing video games and for sleepovers at school. The thin, gangly boy would take part with enjoyment.
At school, Lanza would shuffle through the halls, clutching his briefcase to his chest and avoiding eye contact. At times, no one could predict when, he would simply shut down. He'd sit staring at the ground, refusing to talk to anyone.
"It would be total emotional withdrawal," Novia said. "He wouldn't hurt anyone or yell. He wouldn't speak or talk; he would walk away. Not in a defiant way, but in a scared way. Like, 'Leave me alone.'"
PHOTOS: Connecticut school shooting
Acquaintances of the family on Sunday drew a sharper picture of Lanza, 20, as investigators attempted to retrace his path last week from the 4,000-square-foot home where he shot his mother multiple times to a nearby elementary school. There, he fatally shot 26 students and staff members and then killed himself.
When Lanza would have one of his episodes, Novia said, he would telephone Nancy Lanza. She was "a great parent," he said, and would often come within minutes, sitting with her son and making him feel better.
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Lanza appears to have left high school early, and at age 16 began taking classes at Western Connecticut State University in nearby Danbury, where he earned a B average.
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"We were not in favor of first-person shooter games," said one of those who played with Lanza, Joshua Milas.
Lanza's older brother, Ryan Lanza, 24, was also a member of the tech club.
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WHO THEY WERE: Shooting victims
Lanza had a soft side when it came to her younger son, he said.
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Nancy Lanza appeared to have made the decision to move so that Adam could attend college in another state. She started looking at schools in Washington state and North Carolina.
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At Western Connecticut, Adam Lanza did not work toward any major or degree, said college official Paul Steinmetz, and was still on the rolls at the time of the shooting, though not actively enrolled.
Few remember him.
German professor Renate Ludanyi said her records showed she gave him a "repeat" at the end of his time there — just short of failing. "I must have had some hope that he was smart and could do it again, instead of really flunking him," she said.
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Lanza fit into that last category, she said. "He never talked to me. He came in, sat down and left. He was just there."
Bengali and Hennessy-Fiske reported from Newtown, Conn., and Murphy from Seattle.


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Shulman Presents Modest Proposals for Curriculum Reviewby Jim Amidon • October 26, 2005 Share:
In higher education, Lee Shulman is the man many believe has "been there and done that." The president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching boasts a resume studded with accomplishments in curriculum design and review; assessment; and the promotion of pedagogical practices that make him a guru in all things education.
He spent two days on campus as a guest of the Academic Program Review committee, which has spent almost a year looking at the Wabash curriculum with plans for a full-scale review and has brought in four national experts. In a talk he called "Some Thoughts About the Wabash Curriculum," Shulman threw out some wild ideas in a six-part series of recommendations.
Broadly excerpted, here's a sample of what Shulman presented to the 40 or so faculty and administrators gathered for his final presentation Tuesday.
1) The Notion of Teaching
"What does the teaching and learning experience look like, feel like [when teaching is at the forefront], and how that can become the essence of a liberal arts education? What happens when content is secondary."
He spoke at length of the possibilities of every Wabash student engaging in the concept of being a teacher in the process of learning, suggesting that Wabash develop a habit of engaging every student in discourse from a teaching perspective.
"What would it look like if your Admissions materials said, 'Don't come to Wabash College unless you are prepared to undertake the concept of teaching.' Doing so would clearly make your first principle teaching and learning."
2) The Structure of the Curriculum
"The dominant form of curricular structure in all of education takes a student from the general to the particular," he said. "Why? And might it be otherwise? The general is much more difficult to do than the particular."
He gave an example of how the University of Dayton requires all students on tracks to become teachers to take a parallel "studio" course that requires them to imagine how every course they study would be taught. "How would you teach something that you've come to understand" is the concept.
Knowing how liberal arts colleges loathe pre-professional teaching, Shulman offered a radical suggestion: "What if we tried to invent a curriculum that didn't avoid the professional, but began with it?" Addressing professional issues from a liberal arts perspective, he suggested, would force students to "unpack" the issue using ethical, legal, historical, and economic knowledge. "I'm suggesting a problem-based liberal arts education that begins with problems and challenges of living and unpacks them using the liberal arts. Certainly students would stop asking, 'Why do I have to know this?'"
3) What's on the Test?
Shulman acknowledged that students only want to know "what's going to be on the test" so they know what to study. His proposal was to turn things inside out and state evaluation methods up front:
"How we assess and evaluate students is the most direct reflection on the mission of the institution," Shulman said. "What would an assessment system look like that would articulate clearly to students what we at Wabash value? How much thought is being put into evaluation and what it means? What happens when evaluation becomes a public act?"
4) The "Threatened Species"
In an age of distance learning, massive multi-function universities, adult education, continuing education, commuter campuses, etc., Shulman recognizes that places like Wabash are a "threatened species." He knows this firsthand because of the Carnegie Foundation's forthcoming reclassification of colleges and universities.
"The four-year baccalaureate, liberal arts institution with a low transfer-in rate, that is residential, is a threatened species. To what extent is the way in which Wabash College teaches taking advantage of this incredible 24/7 learning environment?"
He suggested that faith-based institutions take advantage of chapel hours to extend the classroom. He wondered if football games at Wabash were akin to that notion.
"What if classroom time was secondary to out-of-classroom learning? What happens if you take 'community' seriously and put it into the mix?"
5) The Role of Students
Shulman wondered out loud if the Academic Program Review Committee had solicited response from students during their inquiry. "You have smart students at Wabash, whose loyalty is second only to alumni."
He suggested the the committee think about forming research teams of students, who would take a close look at the entire curriculum.
"Think of this campus as a laboratory, a lab for human learning," he said. "We're always looking for undergraduate research projects for students outside the sciences. Why not have students do research on your curriculum just to see what they might do with it?"
6) Looking Closely at Wabash
"Every school as an obligation to study itself as much as the world around it," Shulman said, after discussing the way in which the University of Chicago uses itself in its research. "You are in a very unusual position at Wabash; you have a Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts here and it's a place that much of the nation sees as providing tools and resources for the study of liberal education. It's time you become selfish about that. If you've got the courage as a faculty, Wabash should be the most exciting laboratory for liberal learning in the country.
"Go at this with an experimental attitude and engage with students as experimental collaborators."


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TRUSTe, a leading privacy management solutions provider, recently issued the first Consumer Confidence Edition (Q1 2012) of its ongoing TRUSTe Privacy Index Series. The Consumer Confidence Edition measures privacy concerns and sentiments of online U.S. adults and the impact on businesses. The study, conducted online on behalf of TRUSTe by Harris Interactive, reveals: 90 percent of online adults worry about their privacy online in general; 41 percent of online adults don't trust most businesses with their personal information online; and 88 percent of online adults avoid doing business with companies who they believe do not protect their privacy.
"TRUSTe's findings reveal an alarming lack of consumer confidence online which can have serious negative consequences for businesses," said Chris Babel, CEO of TRUSTe. "That said, the research also revealed that nearly 60 percent of online adults trust most businesses with their personal information online — proof that many companies take privacy seriously and are rewarded as a result."
"Mobile, apps, social media and behavioral targeting are all making privacy issues increasingly front of mind for consumers," said Jules Polonesky, Director of the Future of Privacy Forum. "By providing a high-level ongoing pulse on the market — through the viewpoint of the consumer — TRUSTe's Consumer Confidence Privacy Index yields valuable insights into how customers are responding to changing privacy issues and, in turn, businesses' efforts to address them."
Before Marrying That Cloud Provider, Be Sure It Isn't a Bridezilla Six key questions to ask before selecting a cloud partner.
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Nine Ways to Improve TweetsStudy at CMU, MIT, Georgia Tech finds nine ways To improve tweets.
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Need 2 More for June 7-17 France Trip• November 2, 2012 Share:
After two successful Alumni Travel Trips to Italy, the next trip will be a history, food, and wine exploration of France.
Wabash College has organized an alumni/friends of the College trip to Montpellier and Paris, France, June 7-17, 2013. The trip will be a few days less with diverse appeal covering history and French culture.
UPDATE 4/8: Friday is the registration deadline. We need two more for the trip! Use link below for more information or call Howard Hewitt at the College: 765-361-6087,
Professor of History Michelle Rhoades will lead the group on a five-day visit to Paris. Activities include the Palace of Versaille, a half-day trip to Claude Monet's home and gardens in Giverny, a night dinner cruise down the Seine, museums, history, and time to explore on your own.
Director of New Media Howard Hewitt will lead the first three days of the trip to Montpellier on the Mediterranean coast. Montpellier will be the base to travel out into the Languedoc wine region and visit several wineries, tasting and learning about French wine from the winemakers in the vineyard. One day will be devoted to an historic World Heritage Site, the walled city of Carcasonne. Hewitt is a wine writer with a column in 21 newspapers in three states.
Full details of the trip can be found on the Alumni site here.


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Monday, January 18, 2010
Conference debriefed
1. Put everything in your planner. Even if you're only tangentially interested in something, or you are already double or triple booked for that time slot, don't omit anything from your conference schedule if you think it might be worth going to. Plan for the unexpected, and be sure to have readily-accessible options in case your day radically changes on you. Although ALA does a great job of making the information available both in print and online, trying to figure out where you should be next when you're wandering around the convention center is more difficult than you'd think.
Next time around I'm going to load up my Google Calendar with everything I might possibly want to do (and, just as important, where everything is taking place!) so I have a quick reference wherever I go...
2. Don't be afraid or serendipity. No matter how well you've planned your schedule, you'll run into a million different opportunities that you hadn't even considered before you shipped off to the convention. You'll run into a colleague you haven't seen in ages, or stumble into an interesting program in progress. I know that many of you are here for specific purposes (some of them pertaining to committee membership, some of them work-related) and there is often little margin for happenstance, but try to be open to it if you can.
Over the past several years I have swung between going to ALA with a completely open agenda and overprogramming my time here with section-related meetings and other business, but this time around I seem to have struck a nice balance between the stuff I ought to be doing and the stuff I want to do. For example, I made sure I made the time to meet up with several librarians I only know from Twitter and other virtual correspondence. Not only was it great to put names to the faces, but I can't wait to see them all again at the next conference.
3. You will not be able to do it all, but you'll love every minute of it nonetheless. Going to ALA is a lot like visiting Disney World- there is no way to ride every ride, see every show, and eat every churro. Due to the fact that the conference was in Boston this year and I needed to be mindful of both the logistics of my commute in and out of town and the fact that I had a family who wanted to see me at least once or twice during the long weekend I knew that I was going to have to make some sacrifices about what programs I could attend and how many people I could see.
Instead of obsessing about what you can't do, be sure to enjoy what you're doing! I may not have been able to see everyone I know who was at this conference, and I'm still kicking myself over some of the meetings, events, and receptions I missed, but I did a lot of things. I caught and Tweeted some excellent presentations (including LITA's Top Tech Trends), met with some excellent colleagues-- such as Andy Woodworth and JP Porcaro of 8bitlibrary.com-- and even won a $25 gift card from Barnes and Noble for sharing my sad tale of Fuzzy Bunny Fail.
Needless to see, I'm already looking forward to my next conference- safe travels to all of you who made the trip to Boston, and see you in Washington D.C. in June I hope!
3 comments:
- Breeezy said...
Thanks for the great advice. I just attended for the first time and had a great time, but believe I could have gotten more from it. I wrote about my experiences if you want to check it out at infomavensdesktop.wordpress.com.
On a side note - I'm a Jersey exile too and I love your banner pic!
- Dreadful Penny said...
Over-planning and allowing for serendipity are two conflicting impulses that work particularly well together at ALA. I got caught in the slow lane of life Saturday morning and ended up having to scrap some plans and replace them with others... it would have been helpful to have a bailout plan in place so I didn't have to scramble. Thanks for the advice!
- Tom said...
Thanks to both of you for your kind words! Breezy, what part of Jersey are you from originally? I was born and raised in South Jersey, just across the river from Philly.
And yes, Penny, as odd as it sounds the combination of overplanning and flexibility is exactly what you need for a conference like ALA. I had originally planned not to come to town for Sunday's events but changed my mind at the last minute- only since I hadn't mapped Sunday out at all I was scrambling around trying to figure out what was going on when and where.
So even if you think you know what you're going to be doing, it's useful to map out Plans B, C, D, because you never know!


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Hubble Goes to the Limit In Search Of Farthest Galaxies
Stretching the Hubble telescope's vision farther across space and further back into time than ever before, astronomers have peered into a previously unseen realm of the universe.
A "long-exposure" infrared image has uncovered the faintest galaxies ever seen. Astronomers believe some of these galaxies could be the farthest objects ever seen. A powerful new generation of telescopes will be needed to confirm the suspected distances. The picture on the left contains over 300 galaxies, which have spiral, elliptical, and irregular shapes. The two images on the right represent close-up views of objects that may be over 12 billion light-years away, the farthest galaxies ever seen. Each faraway galaxy is centered in the frame.
Stretching the vision of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope farther across space and further back into time than ever before, astronomers have peered into a previously unseen realm of the universe.
A "long exposure" infrared image taken with Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) has uncovered the faintest galaxies ever seen.
Astronomers believe some of these galaxies could be over 12 billion light-years away (depending on cosmological models) - making them the farthest objects ever seen. A powerful new generation of telescopes will be needed to confirm the suspected distances.
"NICMOS has parted the dark curtain that previously blocked our view of very distant objects and revealed a whole new cast of characters. We now have to study them to find out who, what and where they are. We are still finding new frontiers," says Rodger I. Thompson of the University of Arizona in Tucson.
"This is just our first tentative glimpse into the very remote universe," says Alan Dressler of the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, CA. "What we see may be the first stages of galaxy formation. But the objects are so faint that their true nature can only be explored with the advanced telescopes of the future."
"This observation is a major step toward fulfilling one of Hubble's key objectives: to search for the faintest and farthest objects in the universe," adds Ed Weiler, NASA's acting Associate Administrator for Space Science.
In a separate discovery, Thompson also found that faint red galaxies matched up with compact blue knots of light seen in the earlier visible light image. "This means that some objects that appeared to be separate galaxies in the optical image are really hot star-forming regions in much larger older galaxies," he says.
Prior to the NICMOS observation, a ten-day long exposure called the Hubble Deep Field was Space Telescope's benchmark for the "deepest" view into the universe (with the exception of the cosmic microwave background that is farther away than any structures seen in the universe).
Astronomers had to wait for the infrared camera to be installed on Hubble to look for unseen galaxies beyond the limits of the visible deep field photograph. Infrared sensitivity was needed because the expansion of the universe is expected to stretch the light of distant galaxies down to infrared wavelengths.
Thompson selected a portion of the original Hubble deep field and took long exposures with the Hubble's near infrared camera. When the infrared and visible-light pictures were compared, Thompson found many new objects that were not seen in visible light.
In results to be published in the Astronomical Journal, Thompson precisely measured the infrared "colors" of the objects. He found some objects that had the expected color of a galaxy too distant to be detected in the optical HDF.
Scheduled for launch in the year 2007, the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) will be used to take infrared spectra of candidate galaxies to confirm their distances, and its higher resolution will help reveal the shapes of these early objects.
Rodger I. Thompson (University of Arizona) and NASA
Don Savage
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone: 202/358-1547)
Bill Steigerwald
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
(Phone: 301/286-5017)
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410/338-4514)


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#90 – Spycraft: The Great Game
In a medium where spy stories are mostly inspired by the adventures of James Bond, Activision's Spycraft: The Great Game offers a more traditional take on the espionage genre, where agents do more thinking than shooting and spend more time at a computer than flirting with femme fatales. As a CIA case officer, your mission is to track down a terrorist organization made up of former spies who are planning to assassinate the US president. The result is one of the few games in which FMV really, really works, featuring well-written dialogue performed by professional actors. The authenticity of the story is further enhanced by the input of a former CIA member and former KGB operative, both of whom make cameo appearances in the game.
Despite not being a 007 game there is a gunfight or two, but the somewhat simplistic fights take a back seat to the puzzles, which are in a category all their own. Trace a bullet trajectory back to its origin to catch a glimpse of an assassin's face. Doctor a fake photograph to convince a prisoner you've captured her boyfriend. Isolate ambient sound effects in the background of a phone conversation to pinpoint where the caller was phoning from. The list goes on. Almost every puzzle is unique; completely different from the challenges of most other adventure games made before or since. And because most of the puzzles take place on your avatar's computer interface, it's easy to feel fully immersed in the game, as if YOU are the CIA agent sitting in an office at Langley trying to research and track down enemy spies. While other games simply recycle formulas from the past, this 1996 spy thriller stands on its own as an adventure completely unlike any other.
You might also like: Traitors Gate, The Messenger
#89 – The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time
A man being accused of a crime he didn't commit and trying to prove his innocence is a staple of thriller fiction. Far less common in Presto Studio's 1995 The Journeyman Project: Buried in Time, the accused man and the one trying to prove his innocence are separate versions of the same man, as time agent Gage Blackwood enlists his younger self to investigate. As in the first game of the series, players end up time-hopping, though now you can travel into our own history as well as the future history of the 2318 setting. Hunting around the lovingly rendered historical settings, from a Mayan pyramid to a besieged castle in medieval France to a studio of Leonardo da Vinci, adds to the fun of time travel, even if direct contact with the inhabitants is still forbidden. The truth behind the events leading to Gage's arrest build into a solid story with a dramatic conclusion.
For all that, there is one thing that everyone who has played this game will remember most: the artificial intelligence known as Arthur. Once you have found him, Arthur integrates himself into your suit and serves as a companion for your journey. It would have been all too easy to become irritating, but a combination of good casting and well-written, witty dialogue make him a joy to have around. With a love of 20th century culture, his banter is full of clever references and parodies of the player's own era. Arthur is also much more than a comedy sidekick. His complex computer brain and database storage help him serve as both a hint system and a reference for your historical adventures. Add in a slick soundtrack, and this is one adventure that definitely shouldn't stay buried in the past.
You might also like: The Journeyman Project Turbo, The Arrival
#88 – Simon the Sorcerer II: The Lion, the Wizard and the Wardrobe
After the success of Simon the Sorcerer, it was only a matter of time before AdventureSoft took us on another trip in the magic closet. Sure enough, two years later we were treated to The Lion, the Wizard and the Wardrobe. In a lot of ways, Simon the Sorcerer II is a far more accomplished game than its predecessor. The setting was drastically expanded, as Simon's adventure branches to all sorts of locations: cities, dungeons and steampunk castles are all there to be explored. A wider cast of characters was incorporated, like Goldilocks, Um Bongo and the three witches, plus many returning favourites like the swampling. The humour is even sharper as well, worked into a story that flows far better than the original – Simon has much clearer directives than stumbling from one scenario to another on his quest to rid the world of the evil Sordid again.
For all its enhancements, the sequel wisely didn't reinvent what had been so successful the first time, retaining a similar high quality cartoon look and sound. Unfortunately, this also translated to some questionable puzzle design, which again met with mixed reactions for its obscurity. Simon himself underwent some changes – such a blatantly abrasive character took a lot of getting used to in the first game, and took even more the second time around. The dialogue is still well written, but a new voiceover gave birth to an even more snide delivery of the lines that didn't sit well with all gamers. Thankfully, the diverse supporting characters proved more than capable of elevating the script to a more palatable level, ensuring that Simon II is generally a hoot to play through, foibles be damned.
You might also like: The Legend of Kyrandia series
#87 – Penumbra: Black Plague
In science, a penumbra refers to the softer, hazy region around the edge of a shadow. But in Penumbra: Black Plague, Swedish horror specialists Frictional Games brought their emerging formula sharply into focus. Rejoining the hero from Penumbra: Overture, the improved sequel charts Philip's quest through an abandoned Antarctic research base in search of his father. Of course, being a horror title, he's far from being alone, but Black Plague wisely ditched the clumsy combat from the first installment in favour of a powerless Philip running away or hiding from threats. Being defenseless makes for an intensely terrifying, anxious experience that is guaranteed to raise your pulse without requiring twitch reflexes to succeed.
In the puzzle department, Black Plague didn't disappoint either, using a realistic physics engine for some ingenious but natural environmental conundrums. The game is played in first-person and controlled like a shooter, so even simply searching for items feels like a more tactile, engrossing experience than simple pixel hunting. The gameplay and story work well together, but top billing nevertheless goes to the astonishing atmosphere behind them – behind, above, around, everywhere. "Immersiveness" is an overused word when it comes to games, but here it really does apply. The you-are-there perspective, the dark, stylish graphics, and the unnerving audio help create a horror experience that's a dream – or maybe a nightmare – for fans of scary adventuring.
You might also like: Penumbra: Overture, Darkness Within series
#86 – Dark Fall
It's a rare designer who is instantly recognizable by name, but Jonathan Boakes is just such a man. Before 2002, he was a complete unknown in the industry, but that all changed with the release of Dark Fall. Self-financed, created largely on his own, and originally self-published, Boakes's debut supernatural mystery sent players alone into an abandoned English hotel and train station, where people have been disappearing for decades. Except you're not alone at all, as restless spirits of those who vanished on the premises still linger there, seeking help defeating the undefined darkness that took them. Though the ghosts themselves are benevolent, the game is still dripping with eerie atmosphere. The phone in reception rings with messages from the other side whenever you walk in. Light orbs zoom through the halls as the lights blink out. There are constant reminders that something is out there in the darkness, watching, though you may never see what it is.
The Dowerton train station and hotel are like characters of their own, reflecting the many different time periods they have seen, from WWII posters plastered in the bathrooms to high-tech ghost-hunting gadgets left behind by the most recent victims. Each room reflects the personality of its final occupant, and the events surrounding their disappearances are glimpsed through the many journals and letters lying around. The sound is superb, from the creak of stairs to the sporadic whispers around you, and the many puzzles fit well into the story, several of which require observant note-taking elsewhere to solve. It's a little rough around the edges and clearly a low-budget endeavour, but the craftsmanship that went into this self-proclaimed "labour of love" is abundantly evident. Not long after its enthusiastic reception, it was snatched up by a publisher and subtitled The Journal, and the series has since gone on to inspire not only two sequels by Boakes, but numerous other indie horrors as well. Dark Fall is an impressive achievement for one man, and its legacy demands its inclusion on the list.
You might also like: Dark Fall: Lights Out and Dark Fall: Lost Souls, The Lost Crown: A Ghost-hunting Adventure
Continued on the next page...
Next up: #85-81...
Great idea, i loved the Top 20 list. Though, I'm already sad to see Toonstruck go this high, but oh well.. that's the thing with the lists.
This would also be a good reminder for the games still to play, i've already got my eye on Faust from Day 1.
I Already Hate[TM] this list…
Seriously, I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I can't help but see how inherently silly it is to try to rank things as wildly different as Faust and Toonstruck on the same scale—- and no amount of handwaving in the introduction is going to change that. But on the other hand, I'm already getting caught up in the horse race, glad to see that the Runaway series ended up with the dregs where it belongs, hoping that Day of the Tentacle will join it soon (rather than being at the very top of the list as it was last time), hating that The Dig is at such a low spot, wondering what I would put on the top spot (I guess Monkey Island 1 is, for better or worse, the quintessential adventure game), etc.
In any case, this list has already given me ideas for good games I haven't played yet and that I should give a chance to, and I'm sure there will be many more in the coming days, and for that I am grateful.
Awesome, this'll be something to look forward to each day! :-) Nice to see that Gold Rush! made the list.
Why don't you review some of these games, like Space Bar and Gold Rush? I would love to read your take on them, but they're conspiciously absent from the review boards.
We reviewed Gold Rush, but yes, there are some we haven't, and revisiting these older games for the list has motivated us to get those covered. Really it's as much a matter of availability and compatibility at this point. We don't all still have 20-year old games on hand anymore, or have success getting them to run. But we'll try! Kurufinwe, that's the spirit!
Finally, the TOP 100! Every thematic website should have one of those) I remember earlier TOP 20s on AG, but they weren't that fulfilling, and they were really only one man's point of view.
So far I've only got one big complaint - The Dig. It is not only a great adventure game on its own, but it is also one of the best sci-fi games, with an original, developed story and universe. It is one of the earliest and most organic adventure/puzzle mixes that overshadow Myst. And I'm not even talking about the music, which is arguably one of the best scores in gaming history. The game is at least TOP 50 material.
And I'm also with Kurufinwe with hopes for DoTT. It has seen enough first places already
Won't there be a vote for top 2011 adventure games?
That's the Aggie Awards Totally different animal. And yes, that'll happen in February, as usual, including the reader vote.
I think the last Top 20 list was in April 2004, so this Top 100 list is long overdue. There have been some great games in the last 7 years so it's natural to expand the list. Plus, it helps people like me who like to organize lists of games they've played, plan to play, etc.
already have to disagree, strongly. Toonstruck is far better than The Dig, for starters, yet precedes it. Runaway is just tripe not worth revisiting.. not sure I will bother with the rest to be honest.
Bugger the fact you allready went through the ***1/2 section probably means no BS3, SF: Tunguska or Lost Horizon on the list. I never expected them to end up very high but not at all? Shame. Also imo: Runaway 2 wipes the floor with Runaway 3 whom I consider to be the least good of all installments.
I'm not looking at the rankings at all. Already half the games posted are ones I haven't played, and that's why I read these lists. I don't really care whether my favorite game is at #1 or #100 if it's on the list.
Looks good so far. Iv played half of these first 10 games and i agree with their positions. Iv never been a big fan of the dig, despite its nice production values. The puzzles are boring and tedious and the story goes real flat imo. The atmosphere is nice though and its certainly worth a look for anyone who considers themself an adventure-gamer.
The first snow fell yesterday and now THIS! I cant believe that 2 of my wishes became true on the same day! I have to quote the great Homer on this because I am at a loss for words. "Tramampoline! Trampopoline!"
I have to put this list on my Top 100 things that happened this year
Woot, this is so much fun! I can't wait to see how many of the games in the list I have played! And it's a perfect opportunity to find out what games I missed but really must play. And yes, of course I already hate this list but of course when composing a list like this you are like a politician in the sense that you never do it right. One request: when everything is published, can you then make a list of links to the descriptions of all the games?
Oh yes, there will be a complete list of all the games at the end, with links to their respective article pages, if that's what you mean.
Kudos for giving respect to The Dark Eye! That said, I will very disappointed if there are no Legend Entertainment titles featured.
It would be nice to have the year of release next to each title.
But nice work! , i love these lists although you can never agree 100% with them.
Some great choices on Day 2! Good to see Laura Bow. Also, very pleased to see Dark Fall 1 - a classic I only recently played. The 7th Guest absolutely had to be included on this list. It's hard to overstate how exciting it was when my brother and I got a CD-ROM drive and loaded up this game. It was so different and exciting.
Sordy-wordy, the release year is listed in each and every write-up. Have to give people some incentive to actually read them.
So far I can't agree or disagree with any selection. When it gets closer to the top ten or twenty is where my hackles might rise.
It's nice to see Spycraft and The Dark Eye made it to the top. While not mainstream or well-known, they fully deserve it.
What a fun feature! Several of these games bring back fond memories. I also see quite a few classics I haven't played, some of which I had completely forgotten. I'm enjoying those informative write-ups as well.
I'm very excited to discover the remaining 80!
List continues to look very good. Quest for glory 2 is a favorite of mine and would definitely rank better on my list (especially if you count the drastic improvement by the agd remake), but still a solid write-up of the game.
I already love AG's top hundred! I'm surprised and delighted to see The Space Bar and Spycraft included. So what if nobody agrees with the ranking. I bet not even the staff members themselves agree with it. And this is undoubtedly the most interesting part. When we've reached 35-40, the territory will become all-too familiar: Syberia, Still Life, MI, more LucasArts, the Gabriel Knights, more Sierra, TLE, TLJ, etcetera
Awesome list, I'll save it for future reference!
Should the Quest for Glory series even be nominated for the TOP100 Adventure game?
These games are clearly RPG's in essence. If these are featured on the list, then also "The Elder Scrolls" series (and maybe others) should be featured aswel…
In our books, they should. QFG is a breed all its own, but clearly as much adventures as RPG, unlike Elder Scrolls or any other RPG series.
QFG is definitely "adventure" with "RPG" elements more than the other way around. It also helps they come from Sierra.
I just hope Day of the Tentacle does not retain its #1. =)
Yay SH: The Awakened made it to the list! You might wanna review that review though considering you placed right in the middle of 4 star territory. Plus I think it deserves that extra star.
Oops, actually that's not correct. The further I get the more the ratings drop. That can't be right, can it?
Review scores have nothing to do with this list. Obviously most will be highly rated in both, but not all. For one thing, a review is ultimately just one person's opinion, and this is a full staff effort, and a review is also frozen in time. It doesn't factor in legacy, subsequent enhancements, etc. The Awakened, for example, was considered at least in part because of its remastered version, which did something no other game has ever done.
Steam just now has an excellent offer of the Frogware Sherlock series including Awakened. Bargain prices.
I'm really enjoying this list, too. I know the greatest game of all time probably won't make the pinnacle but I can live with that…I guess. It's entertaining to read what seem to be well considered opinions about so many games I haven't played and might like to one day.
@Jackal: I see, that makes sense. Thanks for clarifying that.
Maniac Mansion should be in the top 20 the least…
IMHO it's very dangerous to make all-time lists. But i think this list is very successful and useful so far. or was until #64, The Book of Unwritten Tales. it musn't be in top 100 (imho again.)
Loom is No. 61??? It would be a sin to not include it in the top 25.
Agreed, Loom is one of the most unique and wonderful adventure experiences, way ahead of its time. And BoUT, Drawn, The Awakened might belong to the "Top decent adventure games of the last 5 years", but Top 100… Well, at least Shadow of the Comet made it. Now my soul can rest in peace.
I like Black Dahlia's inclusion. It's a great game, apart from some extremely difficult puzzles and a silly ending. The first 2/3 or so of the game are fantastic AG storytelling.
It's funny that this site's review is 2/5 stars, but the game made it onto this list. Huzzah!
I would have liked to see Toonstruck and Loom a little higher. They're both very charming. I'm hoping to see The Curse of Monkey Island near the top.
from other comments here too, i see that the Loom is the first miss in this nonetheless great list..keep on giving them!as you may say the list depends on the staffs views on each game but still the readers show otherwise. i didnt expect it to reach #1 as it is in my own list (And yes im playing adventure games for 20+ years now) but it should be among t he 25 best titles based on story, MUSIC, interface ,g raphics (For its age)...
I just recently started playing Black Dahlia again so I'm really happy to see that it made it into the top 100. It's a wonderful game!
I found an installer that extracts all 8 cd's into one neat bundle on your HD so you can play if from there with no cd swapping. Also had an option to remove those lines from the FMV sequences and to slow it down on dual core machines so it runs really well on XP.
So it's like playing for the first time…all over again :-)
Nice idea I can't wait to see top games. My favorite games so far are not on the list )) Also this list is going to help me find out about games I missed to play.
Syberia II: you might also like: "A New Beginning" *tries to clean up coffee that slpashed around the screen*
You guys did tremendous work here so one really shouldn't complain but…Dreamfall on #51? I mean in terms of gameplay it might not be perfect but storywise it's by far the best game ever made! Imo it deserves a place in the top 20 but then again it's not my call. Still I think not even in the top50 is very harsh on such a magnificent and awe inspiring game.
Hand me that rag, moonbird. My monitor's dripping, too.
Sharing one's lack of motor control doesn't tell us anything contructive. I stand by the Syberia 2/ANB recommendation 100%.
The only linking thing between the two is that they are 3rd person adventures. Even if I think my brain to breakpoint, I can't see anything else in common. Even the gameplay is totally different. Syberia is uninteractive, ascetic and includes a lot of running, while on the other hand ANB is a crystal clear oppisite: Rich in hotspots, detailed and no running at all. I really would like to hear an explanation for this recommendation. I'm not trying to brag, i'm really just curious, because I can't find the point there.


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Futura InteriorsThe World of Design at Your Fingertips
Archive for curtains
Accessorize Your Life! By Ashlie Mauldin
February 14, 2012 at 10:52 pm · Filed under Accessories, Decorating, Interior Design and tagged: accessories, curtains, decor, decorating, fashion, Futura Interiors, Interior Design, lamps, life, nature, pillows, rugs, scarfs, style
Imagine a blank sheet of paper; now imagine a few marks of color or design either self-created or that capture your passions on the paper. Which is more appealing to the eye? If you said that the sheet of paper displaying your type of creativity, then you are more than likely passionate about designs and all types of accessories that provide design personality. Those who remain neutral or desire the blank canvas, most often have no concern yet may not be aware of just how much these things play a role in your lives. Given that all types of accessories are mandatory in life, let's discuss the ways we can utilize them to our advantage.
Foremost, let's transfer the blank canvas theory over to Fashion. We need to view our clothing as just that, a blank canvas waiting to be decorated. The next time you opt for the "little black dress", as we all know will forever remain a constant in the fashion world; or the plain black button up, make sure to decorate that canvas. This can be done with a colorful scarf, which I believe can be worn any time of the season, however, for most it is appropriate due to current cold weather. The great thing about scarves is that there are a number of different ways that they can be worn. Taking advantage of this versatility will not only redefine the dress, but assist in the transformation of a daily wardrobe to night on the town attire.
In addition to clothing whether man or woman, we may be unaware that as humans who live and breathe design and accessories on a daily basis, each are utilized and experienced regularly in our lives. From the painting hanging on the wall above the pillows displayed on the sofas in the waiting room of our Doctor's office soothing our nerves, to the way the booths are upholstered at that favorite restaurant stimulating our appetite; we are surrounded by colors, designs and shapes that affect our moods and emotions subconsciously. For those of us possessing a passion for fashion or interior design, these details may be noticed on a higher level or take more of an immense affect on our every day lives.
Prior, we referenced the blank sheet of paper and plain black dress, let us now place ourselves in a room with plain white walls; how do we feel? Is this the moment when we realize that we have great appreciation for those photographs that hang in our place of work that accent the painted walls surrounding provoking creativity? For those of us that work outside, each and every leaf on each and every tree, as well as every cloud in the sky and the way the sun shines through them are all nature's accessories once more influencing our souls.
Again, though a room is furnished, does not mean it is no longer a blank canvas post furnishing. Just as I would recommend the utilization of a bracelet or watch resembling the scarf to tie in the attire as a whole; the same applies when designing or decorating a room. We reference accessories like pillows, lamps, pictures, mirrors, curtains, wallpaper, wall coverings, rugs and more to provide the finishing touches of the space. The accessories must be chosen very carefully and with much thought; as they can make or break a design as well customize a room for everyday use and special events.
Some tips from livingroomdecoratingideas.com:
"The easiest way to narrow your selection and choose the perfect pillow is to consider the elements of design – texture, shape and color."
Wakiki Royal – Futura Interiors
"Rugs and carpets can change the look of your entire living room. Whether your whole room is covered by a carpet or just a corner of your room the central portion of your room by a rug, the entire look of the room is enhanced. Carpets and Rugs have always played an indispensable role in giving our homes perfect make overs."
Pictures and Paintings
"Pictures and paintings add a point of interest to any room or wall space, and give you the opportunity to express your personality and taste – whilst giving your home its own stamp of individuality."
"Lamps and Lamp Shades are great decorative accents in your living room. Lamps are a great way to enliven and brighten up your space. Lamps can be floor lamps or table lamps. In addition to being attractive, lamps are portable which allow you to rearrange your space at will until you find the right arrangement. Floor lamps are just perfect beside a reclining chair or a couch or for simply brightening up a dark corner in your living room."
"Living room is generally the biggest room in a home with large windows. Moreover there are very less and bulky things covering the wall. Therefore the need of living room curtains from the decoration point of view is must. You can take the full advantage of fabric as it will be very beautifully shown."
"Living room shelves are common today. When you have a house, then you would want to have a very good place and a living room to make things look better. You would also want to install various things and when you do that, you would realize that you have done the best thing in life." "Decorate your living room with style by adding decorative wall shelves."
Just as the black dress would stand alone as a black dress, so would this living room with the white couch and end tables, however, when accessories are embraced in both aspects of life, it makes things that much more marvelous.
http://www.livingroomdecoratingideas.com/modern-accessories-for-living-room/ http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html http://www.tipjunkie.com/how-to-wear-a-scarf/ http://thesmartstylist.com/womens-accessories/spring-must-have-bangles.php


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Burkhard Eling was born in 1971 in Warstein, and he completed his studies as an industrial engineer at the Technical University in Braunschweig. He gained his first experiences abroad as a part of a study visit to Auckland, New Zealand. He began his professional carrier in 1999 at the Hochtief AG in the South West region, where he completed a business training program. In 2000, he switched to Philipp Holzmann AG as a controlling employee. He gained experience there in the operative controlling and was already responsible for the controlling of the foreign subsidiaries of the construction group.
In the year 2002, Eling joined the engineering and service group Bilfinger SE in the central sector Group Controlling. His activities concentrated on the support of the affiliated companies abroad. In addition, he was significantly involved in integration projects of subsidiaries acquired nationally and abroad. Starting in 2004, he had been leading the central division Group Controlling before he took over the management of central division Revision in 2006.
In 2008, Eling started working as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the US construction service provider Centennial Contractors Enterprises, Inc. in the US state of Virginia. There, he was responsible for accounting, finance, legal, internal audits as well as the risk management, and at the same time he was the Compliance Officer of the company.
Eling returned to Germany in 2010 and served as managing director of HSG Zander International GmbH, Facility Management service provider belonging to the Bilfinger group with 20 country units in Europe as well as the Middle East & North Africa regions. Eling was responsible there for the divisions Accounting, Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions as well as the subsidiaries in Great Britain and Ireland among others.
On June 1, 2012, Burkhard Eling became the Deputy Manager for the Finance, Legal and Tax (FLT) divisions at the DACHSER GmbH & Co. KG. He became the successor of Prof. Dr. Dieter Truxius as CFO on July 1, 2013.


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Nokia has released a beta version of Qt 4.7, a cross-platform C++ framework. The release includes a beta version of Qt Quick, a new high-level UI technology that lets developers and designers work together to create animated, touch-enabled UIs and lightweight applications for mobile and embedded devices.
Three new technologies come together to form the Qt Quick UI creation kit:
- An enhanced Qt Creator IDE that includes an advanced C++ code editor, project and build management tools, and visual debugger, among other tools.
- QML ("Qt Meta-Object Language"), an easy-to-use, declarative language.
- A new module in the Qt library called QtDeclarative that provides a declarative framework for building highly dynamic, custom UIs.
QML is a declarative language designed to describe the UI of a program: both what it looks like, and how it behaves. In QML, a UI is specified as a tree of objects with properties. JavaScript is used as a scripting language in QML.
The three features combine to make Qt easier to use for developers and designers who are not conversant in C++.
Additionally, the Qt 4.7 release will be the first Qt release controlled by the Qt Continuous Integration System, which controls the process of merging changes into Qt, preventing new errors and increasing quality and stability.
The Qt 4.7 and Qt Creator 2.0 betas are available under the commercial Technology Preview license and GNU LGPL version 2.1. The final release of Qt 4.7 is planned for mid 2010.


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Following the post I made about IIHF pulling the plug on the live YouTube broadcasts, I've had a couple of interesting tweets about it, one of which was sent by Steve Morrell (https://twitter.com/#!/rafanapa). Steve's tweet got me thinking about why watching games live as they happen is so important.
Right off the bat I must admit that the best way to enjoy a sports event is to watch it where it happens. Obviously with the hockey world champs it is impossible for me to watch it in Helsinki (read the previous posts and you'll see why). As the games are not broadcast on UK TV, or on any other channel that I receive, the Internet has become such an important medium for me to follow sports from back home. But why is watching it live so important? For me it is all about the passion, the heat of the moment and knowing that I am watching the action as it happens, each stride, hit, pass and shot at a time. I have tried watching recorded or deferred NHL games and I just cannot get into those broadcasts as I know that the game has taken place already.
For example, throughout the year, I have not watched a single deferred NHL broadcast from Premier Sports, even if I don't know the score of the game. It might be a personal thing, but I just can't get into the feeling of the game, knowing that it has been played already. It's the same with any sport I follow, be it F1, cross country skiing, ski jumping etc. If the event has been and gone and there is a repeat broadcast I will not watch it. In the past when the NHL was with ESPN America, I watched a couple of the "As Live" broadcasts and it was like I was watching a TV soap. The TV was on but I wasn't really watching it.
Hockey, to me, is about passion, feelings, love, knowledge and sharing the event with likeminded fans. To me following hockey live is about shouting at the top of my lungs either in Finnish or English, literally living and breathing every moment as if I was at the arena watching the game with my own two eyes. For the live broadcasts of games I tend to live with the commentators of the game and get immersed into how they view the game and how they live the game, like Antti Makinen from the Finnish NelonenPro when he called the game between New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7RwBk6ZgrU
Another thing that has become to play a huge part in the way we watch sports is social media. We are increasingly commenting on the games we are watching through Twitter and engaging with like-minded people. We comment on the games on blogs, Facebook groups, we follow our favourite teams and associated fan groups to get more updates and information from the events.
The only concern I have for sports fans and social media is that we will turn into a horde of people who go to a game and sit there staring at our phones, updating our various social networks, rather than focus on the events them selves.
I guess the best experience of watching a live game on TV I can remember was from last years' World Championship finals. Me and three other Finns trekked from our homes in the South-East to London to watch the final at the Pipeline Bar. It was the atmosphere at the bar and the anticipation of watching the event live in a bar, which felt like you were watching it on home soil.
The other fond memories that I have of watching live games is with my friend Christian while we both lived in Southampton. It was like a regular Saturday thing to have a bunch of guys at his place to have a few beers to watch the games live from NASN (now ESPN America). We never got together to watch the "As Live Broadcasts". There simply wasn't the same kind of feel, or anticipation for the games to start and to wait for the events to unfold, knowing that the games had been played.
There is a lot more that goes into watching a live broadcast of a game, but it would be difficult to explain, and to every person the experience is different. I guess I'm trying to explain what watching live games, whether on scene or on TV means to me and why repeats, 30 minute delays or re-runs don't appeal to me.


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Business architecture provides the basis for turning business strategy into actionable results. Organizations use business architecture to address a wide variety of business scenarios. These include shifting to a customer-driven business model, merger / acquisition deployment, regional or global expansion, product line expansion, business / IT alignment and a host of other strategic and tactical scenarios.
This course delivers a comprehensive, industry proven approach to building business architecture. The examples and exercises presented in this course are drawn from real world case studies across a number of industries. The course emphasizes capability mapping and value stream mapping. In addition, the course provides an overview of organization mapping, information mapping, strategy mapping, product mapping and initiative mapping as well as a brief introduction to business architecture / IT architecture alignment. The course also includes approaches to business architecture team building, governance and infrastructure management.
Please note that this is a 2-Day course and counts as two courses towards your Business Architecture Certificate.
I. Business Architecture: Introduction
This introductory module provides an overview of foundational and extended business architecture concepts, sample blueprints and usage scenarios based on an industry standard business architecture framework. This session also recaps business architecture definitions, uses, benefits and examples of how organizations use business architecture in practice.
II. Building the Business Architecture: Overview
This module overviews an approach to building business architecture blueprints based on concepts, principles, guidelines, techniques and workshop exercises.
III. Building the Capability Map
The capability map is a centerpiece of business architecture. This module introduces mapping concepts, principles, guidelines, techniques and exercises for building and evolving the capability map. Topics include cover getting started, map stratification, capability decomposition, definition creation, heat mapping and sample metrics. This module also introduces capability usage scenarios including an approach for communicating business challenges and business vision around capabilities.
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Organization mapping provides a structural blueprint of a business and can include the enterprise or extend beyond the bounds of the enterprise based on the business model being mapped. The organization mapping module includes organization mapping principles, guidelines and exercises as well as incorporating capability mapping into the organization map.
V. Building the Information Map
This module introduces the importance of information mapping along with basic principles, principles and guidelines. It also provides guidance on how to align information mapping with the overall business architecture as well as definition derivation from the capability map.
VI. Building the Value Map
Value mapping is an essential aspect of business architecture. This module introduces value mapping concepts, principles, guidelines, techniques and exercises for building and evolving value streams. In addition, this module discusses usage scenarios, value stream / capability cross-mapping, and value stream usage in conjunction with business processes and case management. Finally, the module introduces alternative value mapping options including the value chain and value net.
VII. Extending the Business Architecture
The extended view of business architecture includes strategy mapping, initiative mapping, product mapping and stakeholder mapping. The approach maps various business concepts including objectives, initiatives, products and stakeholders to capabilities, value streams and business units. This module also includes an introduction to business architecture / IT architecture mapping.
VIII. Business Architecture Practice Essentials
Business architecture practice essentials addresses business architecture team deployment and governance; a walkthrough of a sample business architecture deployment roadmap; project engagement approaches; establishing the business architecture knowledgebase; and an overview of the role of tools in business architecture.
IX. Sample Business Architecture Usage Scenarios
The scenario module provides sample business situations and examples of how business architecture supports those situations. This section also includes scenario based exercises.
X. Getting Started with Business Architecture
The course wraps up with a getting started session. This session includes the seven steps to business architecture and a sample build out roadmap.
This course is based on practical, field-tested work at numerous businesses, including commercial and government sectors. It applies a standard approach that is outlined in the Business Architecture Guild, Business Architecture Body of Knowledge (BIZBOK™).
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The fish used for McDonald's Fish McBites and Filet-O-Fish sandwich is not local. Nor is the product used for Long John Silver's Whitefish Fillet. Same goes for Wendy's Premium Fish Fillet Sandwich, Jack in the Box's Fish Sandwich, and Quiznos' Lobster and Seafood Salad.
Not local, that is, unless the consumer lives in a place where the sun might not come up until 9:30 a.m., depending on the time of year. A place where even Subway and Starbucks have not ventured. A place at the edge of the world.
In a day and age when the story of food keeps the cash registers ringing—when local sometimes resonates more with customers than the industry's trusty value or flavorful propositions—the vast majority of quick-service seafood represents a sort of anomaly. Some of the best sources for high-quality, affordable seafood—the North Atlantic, say, or the Bering Sea—are thousands of miles from many U.S. quick serves.
But seafood doesn't have to rely on the local value-add. Seafood has its own story to tell.
The edge of the world
Dutch Harbor, Alaska, is not easily accessible for the common traveler. To reach its rocky shores—really, sheer cliffs—one must first dispatch to Anchorage, then catch a puddle jumper over half of the Aleutian Islands, a flight that may or may not include emergency fuel stops in towns bearing names like King Salmon and, appropriately, Cold Bay.
Americans might recognize Dutch Harbor and its host Aleutian Island, Unalaska, from the hit Discovery Channel show "Deadliest Catch." In truth, the community is not a fend-for-yourself badlands filled with rugged seamen fixing to quarrel at the town's only watering hole, as the show might portray; locals are quick to remind that the "Deadliest Catch" guys hail from Seattle. Most everyone is hospitable and moved there not for love of the harsh weather and severe isolation, but rather for the great pay, benefits, and vacation time offered by seafood companies like UniSea and Trident.
"The people are really friendly here because they're from everywhere," says Richard Bye, executive chef of the Grand Aleutian Hotel in Dutch Harbor. "Everybody has a story here, I've found; people like me—I sold my restaurant, in desperation I came up here to go into seafood processing, to pay off some bills, and worked 75 hours a week. And I turned into something else up here, which a lot of people do."
Living on an island with more docks than trees, where bald eagles and ravens swarm in place of seagulls, might indeed change a person. But job opportunities abound in Dutch Harbor because it is the top seafood port in the U.S., No. 1 among commercial fishery landings by volume and No. 2 among landings by value. Some 515.2 million pounds of fish worth $163.1 million passed through the port in 2010, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It's one of six Alaska ports in the top 10 commercial fishery landings by value.
Together, Alaska's fisheries employ approximately 52,000 people (about 7 percent of the state's population; it's Alaska's biggest industry) and provide nearly $6 billion worth—an average 2.4 million metric tons—of fish to the global market, according to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI). Roughly half of domestic wild-caught seafood in the U.S. is pulled from Alaskan waters, including most of the pollock and cod commonly used in quick-service seafood items.
"We do know that Alaskan seafood is the second-most commonly specified brand on U.S. menus," says Michelle McKee, category leader at Jack in the Box, which uses Alaskan pollock in its Fish Sandwich. "We also know through research that 57 percent of diners prefer to eat wild-caught fish. So these two things definitely play a major role with [our sourcing]."
To understand the core of Alaska's seafood industry, it helps to consider the diverse bunch of people who risks their lives on the Bering Sea to haul in crab, pollock, cod, and halibut, as well as the tightknit communities banded around the watersheds that breed Alaska's famed salmon. But consider, too, that this is a story that has evolved since 1959, the year Alaska became the 49th United State, having pursued Union membership mostly so it could better manage its salmon industry; the same year that Alaska wrote into its State Constitution that fisheries would be sustainably managed.
"In many of these fishing communities … fishing is all there is," says Randy Rice, technical director for ASMI. "So it's sustainable fishing that sustains communities. The livelihood and future of Alaska rested squarely on the backs of managing fisheries for the long-term."
While sustainability often has several definitions in the foodservice industry, experts interviewed for this story all say seafood sustainability boils down to three things: ensuring adequate fish stocks for future generations, protecting marine ecosystems, and investing in communities built around the fisheries.
The sustainability of Alaskan fisheries has evolved over the last 54 years. Much of the evolution has revolved around federal mandates implemented to protect domestic waters, like 1976's Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the original incarnation of which phased out foreign fishing in the U.S. and created regional fishery management councils. Updates to the Act in 1996 and 2006 focused on ending overfishing, limiting bycatch (unintentionally caught species), and preserving the fisheries' ecosystems. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations also set basic guidelines for sustainable fishing with its 1995 Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.
While the entire U.S. seafood industry has made important strides in sustainability with these mandates in place and NOAA managing nationwide enforcement, Alaska has continued to be a sort of poster boy for responsible fishing. The state uses a collaborative process between state and federal agencies, as well as community members and industry experts, to set and enforce its sustainability practices. It also takes an incredibly conservative approach to fishing, employing scientists every season to set an Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC), which is the maximum number of fish that can be sustainably caught, and a Total Allowable Catch (TAC), which is the amount of fish that can be legally harvested. The TAC is always lower than the ABC as a precaution.
Observer programs, in which federally approved, third-party members in the field measure harvested seafood amounts, help ensure seafood companies are all playing by the rules.
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