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Hebrews 3:12-4:11 discusses the need for diligence in people who serve God. As Christians, let�s learn the Israelites� example and not succumb to major causes of spiritual failure.
Hebrews 3:12-4:11 discusses the need for diligence in people who serve God. As Christians, let�s learn the Israelites� example and not succumb to major causes of spiritual failure.
Unbelief steals what is rightfully ours through Jesus Christ �evident in the Old Testament, when God rescued the Israelites from Egypt�s bondage and brought them to the Jordan River�s shore. God delivered them from Pharaoh�s army by parting the Red Sea, and covered the Egyptian army with the sea; archaeologists have found Egyptian chariots, dated to that era, in the Red Sea to prove the story.
God sustained Israelites in the wilderness with manna and quail, and provided water for them, their flocks and livestock.
Still, when the Israelites spied out the land, they doubted that they could take it from the inhabitants. That generation lost what was promised to them by a mighty God.
James 4:4 says �that friendship with the world is enmity with God. Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.�
What does the world offer in comparison to what God has? Nothing. Look at the news: The world is so messed up. 1 Peter 2 says Christians must lay aside many things to succeed. We must get rid of malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy and evil speaking.
People will do anything to procure position, wealth or fame.
Romans 6:23 says, �For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.�
Often, Jesus told His disciples, �Fear not." Fear robs us of what God has for us. Fear grips us and keeps us from receiving what God wants to give to us. Fear keeps us from obtaining and claiming promises that God has given us in His Word.
As humans, we desire companionship. We need to love and to be loved, and we need to sense that we belong. We don�t want to be isolated or have others avoid us.
Christians have that sense of belonging. God tell us that He loves us; see John 3:15-17 and 1 John 4:7-11. He loves us and, because of that, we love Him.
Misplaced confidence
This world says money, possessions, status and power make us successful.
TV ads repeatedly say we will find satisfaction in buying this car or having that financial portfolio with money, real estate and holdings.
But true security, true satisfaction, comes from knowing Jesus Christ. When we lie down to sleep, it is with real joy and peace in knowing that if we don�t wake up, we are secure in Christ and have entered eternal rest.
God wants to minister to your every need. Do not allow these five causes of spiritual failure to take root in you.
The Rev. Albert Corey is Oak Ridge Assembly of God's pastor.


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Abdulmalik Rigi's "Capture" and Its Implications for Iranian Opposition Abroadpublished on Thursday, February 25, 2010
On Tuesday February 23rd 201 Islamic Regime security forces "captured" Abdulmalik Rigi, the 27 year old leader of the armed Balouchi/Iranian opposition group Jundullah.
Jundullah is also known as People's Resistance Movement of Iran and is a Sunni, Balouchi group that carries out armed operations against the Islamic Regime.
There have been numerous and contradictory accounts of how Mr. Rigi was "captured." Regime's English language network Press TV reported that he was "arrested" in one of Iran's southern ports when his jet was "forced" to land while taking him from Kyragyzstan to Dubai.
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Agency however reported that he had been "captured" abroad and brought to Iran. Despite different reports one thing is for certain, Mr. Rigi was not simply apprehended, he was kidnapped and brought to Iran.
on their website Jundullah has claimed that the United States through a "backroom" deal helped the Regime in the capture of Mr. Rigi. There have been other speculations about the involvement of Pakistan and their help in the "capture" of Mr. Rigi.
While many Iranian opposition may not agree with Mr. Rigi's political convictions, silence in the face of this international kidnapping may have very negative implications for Iranian opposition abroad.
If today we remain silent in the face of this international kidnapping and allow the Islamic Regime and any other country that through "backroom" deals may have helped in the capture of Mr. Rigi we risk facing similar situations with other opposition leaders and activists in the near future.
Today we must not remain silent, we must voice our concerns loud and clear. We must ask how and why Mr. Rigi was captured. We must inquire into which other countries may have been involved in the capture of Mr. Rigi in an attempt to help the Regime to meet their end of a "backroom" deal. There is no doubt that if the United States was involved in any way in the capture of Mr. Rigi, that means all opposition may be in danger regardless of where they may be.
Today Mr. Rigi was kidnapped, tomorrow they might come for the communists, then for the monarchists and then for me and you.
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me."
Down with the Islamic Regime in Iran
Long Live Freedom in Iran

subset: commoncrawl


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Electromach » Home » November 2011 » WebCode
Use our WebCode on the website
In our new catalogues and brochures a WebCode has been published on product pages.
This WebCode helps you to find product datasheets, manuals en certificates more easy.
How does it work?
On the website www.electromach.com you'll find a WebCode field at the top of the right side.
Fill in the WebCode. A product page will be opened with all relevant information.
No WebCode? Use the list
If you have no WebCode, you can use the product list to select to correct WebCode (click on the 'question mark' symbol as shown above)


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Browsing Conference papers (OM/PEØ) by Year Published
Now showing items 1-20 of 38Next Page
Hald, Kim Sundtoft; Olsen, Morten Albin (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Using a combined conceptual and single case-based research methodology, we explore the process connecting a buyers attempt to transfer its sustainability requirements with its suppliers' willingness to participate. We conclude that buyer promoted sustainability practices in the supply chain can be understood as multiple decision problems. The case illustrate how accounting devices play major roles in resolving these decision problems, and how decision criteria apparently unconnected to the sustainability issue affect the outcome of the sustainability transferral process in the supply chain. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8273
Files in this item: 1FTHE-Euroma-1557777.pdf (106.4Kb)
An International ViewKotzab, Herbert; Teller, Christoph; Grant, David B. (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper discusses factors affecting the execution of supply chain management and presents a conceptual model and six hypotheses based on such factors identified in the literature. The model was tested in two European country-specific cases using structural equation modelling. Findings in both cases confirm the hypothesized hierarchical order of three proposed antecedents: 'internal SCM conditions' affect 'joint SCM conditions' which in turn influences collaborative 'SCM-related processes'. Managerial implications are that firms in both countries should adopt these hierarchical steps to ensure a rigorous and appropriate approach to achieving full and integrative SCM. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8330
Files in this item: 1hkotzab_konf_july_2011.pdf (270.0Kb)
Algren, Casper; Kotzab, Herbert (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Purpose: We have examined which dimensions are used by the largest Danish manufacturing companies to measure SCPM at operational, tactical and strategic level, how can these dimensions be classified, and how do these empirical results have implications for practice and selected SCPM-theories. Design/methodology/approach: A deductive structure based on a theoretical framework was used to design an empirical investigation of 54 Danish manufacturing companies, which all have revenue of more than DKK 500 million. Furthermore, qualitative investigation was done by analyzing four casecompanies in order to get a more in-depth picture of how SCPM is used in practice. Findings: The four most used SCPM metrics have downstream focus. Companies that use SCPM have a more deliberated split between metrics with focus on operational, tactical and strategic level. While the quantitative data indicates that non-financial measurements are most frequently used, the qualitative data implies that the companies use financial measures as basis for performance measurement and that results from non-financial measures have second priority. Research limitations/implications (if applicable): The model is limited to large Danish industrial companies and we propose to widen the model to upstream and downstream supply chain partners. Practical implications (if applicable): The paper shows the most important and most frequently used supply chain relevant key performance indicators as well as a process model of how to implement supply chain performance measurement in a company. Original/value: This paper closes the gap between theory and practice within the area of performance measurement and management within the context of supply chain management. The proposed SCPM model has been theoretically developed and empirically validated. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8331
Files in this item: 1hkotzab_konf_juni_2011.pdf (632.3Kb)
Or how the natural environment may qualify as a stakeholder in the firm's business environmentJustesen, Lise; Mouritsen, Jan; Tryggestad, Kjell (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In its general form, stakeholder theory posits an extension of the ecology. It claims that there are other stakes and interests than those posited by shareholder value theory (Freeman et al. 2004; Jensen and Sandström 2011), and some stakeholder theory proponents argue that the natural environment is also to be considered as a stakeholder (Driscoll and Starik 2004; Norton 2007). It is a positive claim – there are more stakes and interests – and a moral one – we should look towards more interests in order to complete the analysis. With this framing, stakeholder theory seeks to identify stakes and interests which may be difficult but in principle achievable; it also seeks to make analysis of organized activity such as (global) business into a concern with the relative power of stakes and interests. These concerns are highly relevant but they face the barrier that if stakes and interests are positively there, the analysis becomes static and will pay less attention to both the formation and to power-effects of stakes and interest. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8482
Files in this item: 1justensen_mouritsen_tryggestad_2011.pdf (382.5Kb)
An analytic fixation on constitutive dynamicsPlotnikof, Mie (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In this paper an analytic scope is elaborated in order to unpack the complexities of constitutive dynamics co-producing managerial subjects in discursive practices of public management work (my empirical field). Such framing is proposed in order to grasp the dynamic complexity of multi-modal, power-infused processes of subject formations, that is, the significant discursive practices through which different enacting forces constitute selves, actions, procedures and/or materials as managerial matters with specific normative effects. In this view managerial subjectivity becomes a question of analysing power-infused processes of active and passive performing subject formations that manage meanings of managerial matter, selves, affect conditions of actions and ways of organizing. Public management work is an interesting field to such; with the rapid changes seen in many OECD-countries, embedded managerial subjects and relating phenomena become in fluxes of binary tensions between shifting modernization discourses (e.g. in terms of 'New Public Management' or 'New Public Governance'). With such the significance of formal managers are often stressed to changing ways of organizing (Bislev et al. 2002, Pedersen & Hartley 2008). But how do certain 'selves', 'doings', 'things' come to matter managerially in everyday management work, managing meanings and conditions of selves, others and actions? By analysing the socially embedded co-productions of managerial work, we can nuance research accounts on the performance of manageability in organizing processes. But grasping such complexity calls for discourse analytics sensitive to social-psychological aspects of constitutive dynamics, a need this paper contributes to. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8556
Files in this item: 1Plotnikof_Abstract_2012.pdf (34.56Kb)
Obed Madsen, Søren (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Although a strategy, in theory, should help the organization to move in the same direction by showing a direction for the organization, in practice the strategy increases the number of possible paths, as managers translate the strategy into their own context. This increases the number of strategies in the organization, and it becomes difficult to get an overview of the interaction and relationships between the translated strategies. The managers distinguish between the different parts of the strategy, such as the abstract words or intention, and the concrete as targets and projects. Managers use the various parts of the strategy in different contexts, but still speak about "strategy" even if they have changed dimension like the words and KPIs. Another dimension is that the managers also perceive the strategy as correct, but irrelevant, which is linked to their distinction between the abstract and the concrete in the strategy. The abstract dimension is perceived as being true, while the effet of the strategy may be irrelevant for certain managers. The strategy is also used as documentation for senior management intentions. This allows other players to gain insight into top management's thinking, take 2 countermeasures, resist in an elegant way, or just prepare to argue his case within the logic of the strategy. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8591
Files in this item: 1Søren_Obed_Madsen.pdf (158.3Kb)
The Politics of Wildlife in Infrastructure ConstructionSage, Daniel; Dainty, Andy; Tryggestad, Kjell; Justesen, Lise; Mouritsen, Jan (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Across many construction projects, and especially infrastructure projects, efforts to mitigate the potential loss of biodiversity and habitat are significant, and at times controversial. In our paper we do not propose to gauge the success or failure of this effort; rather we are interested in fleshing out some conceptual approaches via Actor- Network Theory through which infrastructure projects can start to address a series of overlooked questions. Some of these questions are firmly located within the realm of construction project management: are animals considered project risks or stakeholders; is wildlife always simply a retrospective cost to a project or can it proactively benefit a project, can we ever manage wildlife, and if so how? These questions in turn lead us to engage with wider debates found in the margins between the social and biological sciences on the distinction between Nature and Politics: to what extent should we seek a place for animals in politics and how can we live with them ethically. Thus far, very little research has addressed the interplay of humans and animals within construction projects. Instead those interested in the politics and ethics of human-animal relations, or Animal Studies, have focussed far more on stable and contained sites, whether organisations like zoos, farms or laboratories, or other places like homes and parks. These largely ethnographic studies inevitably perhaps downplay the unplanned, unexpected and highly politically and ethically charged collision of hitherto rather separate human and animal geographies. Yet, as we argue here, it is often along such colliding spaces, where animal geographies are unexpectedly found at the heart of human projects, that we ask and answer many of the above questions around our respect and response to both animals, and indeed other humans. In this paper we will examine such encounters conceptually, with reference to two infrastructure projects, and discuss their relevance to both construction project management and broader work on the politics of animals. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8849
Files in this item: 1
Evidence from ChinaSundtoft Hald, Kim (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Sustainable work behavior is an important issue for operations managers – it has implications for most outcomes of OM. This research explores the antecedents of sustainable work behavior. It revisits and extends the sociotechnical model developed by Brown et al. (2000) on predicting safe behavior. Employee characteristics and general attitudes towards safety and work condition are included in the extended model. A survey was handed out to 654 employees in Chinese factories. This research contributes by demonstrating how employee- characteristics and general attitudes towards safety and work condition influence their sustainable work behavior. A new definition of sustainable work behavior is proposed. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8775
Files in this item: 1
Assessing network structures within container shipping industryProckl, Günter; Kotzab, Herbert; Kinra, Aseem (frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Purpose - Container shipping, due to its boundary crossing nature, is generally seen as an international business. A first look into the physical networks of the industry has shown that container-shipping companies operate however rather differently, with different motives for internationalization, and infact show different patterns to their international development. However, there are other important transactional and market-oriented considerations, and overall dynamics that need to be examined before concluding on the internationalization levels of container shipping companies, and the industry. The purpose of this paper is to further investigate the patterns of internationalisation by the examination of the more demand-oriented considerations. Design/methodology/approach - In order to answer the research question, the paper focusses on the examination of the front-end activities and structures like sales office networks and the overall extent of market presence. For this the fundamental sales networks of the companies were considered as a key indicator, and the port networks of the 20 largest container-shipping companies in the world (by TEU capacity) were analyzed. Findings - The resulting data set allows an examination on each company's overall network at various geographic levels, and a direct comparison of the networks of the companies. It shows that not all shipping companies are highly international. It also shows that market share and total capacity are not necessarily a good indicator for the worldwide presence of a company. Research limitations/implications (if applicable) - The paper adds yet another piece to the interesting puzzle on internationalization patterns of container shipping companies. However, for a complete picture on the internationalization process further work will be required that is based e.g. on the development pattern of single companies and that may also take more the dynamic aspects and comparisons into account. Practical implications - Preceeding work provides insights that are directed towards the port networks and thus toward the more back office oriented resource architecture and the more geographical aspect of physical coverage. By reorganising the focus on the sales network of the single container shipping companies, this paper presents findings that are also applicable to the front end, towards the customer, The comparison of both views is promising interesting insights such as ownership structures and entry modes along with the specific location commitment as a basis for strategic considerations. Originality/value – In the academic literature there is not much to find on the internationalization process and the dominating internationalisation patterns related to container shipping. The paper makes an important contribution in this regard by considering the different aspects of the international shipping networks and by bringing these closer to extant frameworks on internationalization. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8812
Files in this item: 1Prockl_2.pdf (913.0Kb)
Hsuan, Juliana; Prockl, Günter (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Purpose - 3PL services are more or less individually designed bundles of logistics operations that are provided on the basis of a long term relationship between logistics service providers and their clients mostly in industry and retail. The appropriate degree of the individuality is however subject to a trade-off between the creation of complexity to reflect individual customer needs and the realization of synergy effects by the replication of common elements and the multiplied utilization of relevant resources for different customers. The appropriate mix of the more individual elements and the more common elements is seen as a major success factor for the design of the service propositions. Design/methodology/approach - The explorative paper is combining major elements and frameworks from different interdisciplinary research streams, such as modularity and service design and adapts them to the subject of third party logistics. Findings - As a major result the paper is providing a conceptual model for the systematic and formal description of modularity and individuality in the configuration of third party logistics services. The model thus serves as a tool to classify and categorize degrees of complexity that are embedded in TPL settings. Research limitations/implications (if applicable) - As our research is still in the exploratory stage, we do not offer empirical findings. Practical implications - Our findings can help firms to better understand the critical factors in their current TPL service offerings and how to replicate or (re)design the new services offered. Depending on the level of complexity of the TPL services, firms need also to consider the implications of the replication and/or (re)design on the configuration of the supply chain, especially downstream. Originality/value - The paper crosses disciplinary boundaries and combines relevant research streams to provide a sound foundation for the categorization and classification of TPL services and for new service design/development (NSD) and supply chain configuration. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8813
Files in this item: 1Prockl_3.pdf (408.7Kb)
Michea, Adela; Varnes, Claus Juul (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This study adds to business model innovation literature by exploring the adaptability of dominant logics of corporate mindsets. The purpose is to analyze how a company can rethink itself based on the premises of servitization: how the mindset of a manufacturer can be reconfigured when changing the business model from product to service innovation and adapting a service logic for its entire business. A field study was conducted in the form of two workshops and interviews with middle-level managers of Vestas Wind Systems, a global wind turbine manufacturer. The study indicates that it is cognitively possible to change the business model of a manufacturing company. Furthermore, the results showed that mindsets can be mapped, but they change depending on the framing. Interestingly, each mindset possesses a different businesslogic, as the components of the business model framework interact differently in a product than a service situation. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8844
Files in this item: 1Michea_Varnes.pdf (516.1Kb)
Lessons learned from testing a prototype combining talent development and leadership innovation in a Scandinavian hospital settingIngerslev, Karen; Bjørn, Kasper; Johansen, Jørgen (, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper addresses the potential clash between the "non-failure" culture of the hospital and the "fail-fast-forward" approach of innovation by sharing and analysing narratives from a field study of innovation processes. The case is a large university hospital in Scandinavia and the health care sector in general is outlined as context of the challenges addressed by the innovation processes. The narratives fall into three overlapping categories; the product, the process and the culture of innovation. Regarding the product of innovation, we outline the lessons learned about tensions created by ambitions of radical innovation in a public sector context, challenged by the idea of small-scale experiments and the participant's feelings of inferiority. As for the process of innovation: we share the lessons learned about how linear and non-linear thinking affects the process of innovation. Addressing the culture of innovation, we discuss the lessons learned from working with a prototype testing approach in a system characterized by an evidence-based non-failure culture. Finally we summarize the lessons learned and share concluding perspectives. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8647
Files in this item: 1
A network management perspectiveSundtoft Hald, Kim; Sigurbjornsson, Tomas (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The aim of this research is to explore the managerial role of category managers in purchasing. A network management perspective is adopted. A case based research methodology is applied, and three category managers managing a diverse set of component and service categories in a global production firm is observed while providing accounts of their progress and results in meetings. We conclude that the network management classification scheme originally developed by Harland and Knight (2001) and Knight and Harland (2005) is a valuable and fertile theoretical framework for the analysis of the role of the category manager in purchasing. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8681
Files in this item: 1Sundtoft.pdf (111.3Kb)
Accounting as matters of concern and a Poincaré DiskYu, Lichen Alex (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Inspired by Latour's (2005a) notion of matters of concern and M.C. Escher's Circle Limit III as a representation of the Poincaré Disk, this study follows how an S&OP process was fabricated in a large Swedish manufacturing company. The study claims that when actors are fabricating the S&OP process, local actors create emergent, ongoing and multiple matters of concern around it. The group demand chain, the actor who is responsible for guiding the implementation of the process, delegates the attempts to close these matters of concern to local actors located in separate times and spaces. As a result, constituents of the S&OP process are dispersed in diverse local times and spaces rather than being coordinated in a single time and space by the group demand chain. Accounting is a set of matters of concern. The S&OP process and its purpose of integration come from an "absolute nothingness" – its minimal configuration ‐ because actors refer to them in their absences. They need to be re‐presented. The minimal configuration of the S&OP process creates a working time/space where diverse actors are engaged to create emergent properties of the S&OP process and new possibilities of integration. Consequently, as new matters of concern are constantly created by actors, integration on the demand chain becomes uncertain because actors are always creating new possibilities to move towards integration but will never arrive at the destination of integration. The S&OP process and integration thus go back to the "absolute nothingness" because as matters of concern they have no edge. To integrate is thus to postpone integration. In‐between stands the constituents of the S&OP process and possibilities of integration dispersed in diverse times and spaces. This means from this "absolute nothingness" lays the "geometry exactitude" of the managerial technology. Accounting is a Poincaré Disk. Therefore accounting not only creates a presence what are absent but also initiates a working time/space where actors can bring heterogeneous problematisation upon itself. The impossibility of representation brings about possibility of heterogeneous representational practices. Accounting makes the transition possible by artificially blurring the distinction between absence and presence. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8702
Files in this item: 1Alex_Yu_Lichen_2013.pdf (815.0Kb)
A study of market research methods and their preceived effectiveness in NPDvan der Hoven, Chris; Michea, Adela; Varnes, Claus Juul; Goffin, Keith (Cranfield, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: There is a widely held view that a lack of, "…customer understanding," is one of the main reasons for product failure (Eliashberg et al., 1997, p. 219). This is despite the fact that new product development (NPD) is a crucial business process for many companies. The importance of integrating the voice of the customer (VoC) through market research is well documented (Davis, 1993; Mullins and Sutherland, 1998; Cooper et al., 2002; Flint, 2002; Davilla et al., 2006; Cooper and Edgett, 2008; Cooper and Dreher, 2010; Goffin and Mitchell, 2010). However, not all research methods are well received, for example there are studies that have strongly criticized focus groups, interviews and surveys (e.g. Ulwick, 2002; Goffin et al, 2010; Sandberg, 2002). In particular, a point is made that, "…traditional market research and development approaches proved to be particularly ill-suited to breakthrough products" (Deszca et al, 2010, p613). Therefore, in situations where traditional techniques—interviews and focus groups—are ineffective, the question is which market research techniques are appropriate, particularly for developing breakthrough products? To investigate this, an attempt was made to access the knowledge of market research practitioners from agencies with a reputation for their work on breakthrough NPD. We were surprised to find that this research had not been conducted previously. In order to make it possible for the sample of 24 market research experts identified for this study to share their knowledge, repertory grid technique was used. This psychology based method particularly seeks out tacit knowledge by using indepth interviews. In this case the interviews were conducted with professionals from leading market research agencies in two countries. The resulting data provided two unique insights: they highlighted the attributes of market research methods which made them effective at identifying customers' needs and they showed how different methods were perceived against these attributes. This article starts with a review of the literature on different methods for conducting market research to identify customer needs. The conclusions from the literature are then used to define the research question. We explain our choice of methodology, including the data collection and analysis approach. Next the key results are presented. Finally, the discussion section identifies the key insights, clarifies the limitations of the research, suggests areas for future research, and draws implications for managers. We conclude that existing research is not aligned with regard to which methods (or combination of methods) are best suited to the various stages of the NPD process. We have set out the challenges and our own intended work in this regard in our section on 'further research'. Also, the existing literature does not explicitly seek the perceptions of practitioner experts based in market research agencies. This we have started to address, and we acknowledge that further work is required. Although our research in ongoing, it has already yielded the first view of a model of the perceptions of 24 expert market researchers in the UK and Denmark. Based on the explanation of these experts, the model situates a derived set of categories in a manner that reflects the way in which they are inter-linked. We believe that our model begins to deal with the gaps and anomalies in the existing research into VoC methods. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8747
Files in this item: 1Adela_Michea.pdf (421.9Kb)
Analysis of the theoretical relationships between product and production modularity and their implications in the automotive industryKubota, Flávio Issao; Miguel, Paulo Augusto Cauchick; Hsuan, Juliana (Frederiksberg, 2015)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Research in modularity design and in production systems in the automotive industry is increasing, as many Western and Japanese firms are applying this concept. This study focuses the relationships between modularity in design (MID) and production (MIP). After analysing 60 papers on MID and MIP in automotive companies, it was observed that some publications suggest that relationships between MID and MIP can be twoways, i.e. not only the former affects the latter, but the latter also affects the former. Conclusively, the relationships between MID and MIP are relevant and future studies should emphasise how they produce managerial benefits and/or drawbacks. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9266
Files in this item: 1Euroma_Kubota et al.pdf (595.2Kb)
The Narrative Mediation Between Organizational and Individual ParadoxesMajgaard, Klaus (Frederiksberg, 2015)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to enhance the conceptual understanding of the mediatory relationship between paradoxes on an organizational and an individual level. It presents a concept of agency that comprises and mediates between a structural and individual pole. The constitution of this agency is achieved through narrative activity that oscillates between the poles and transforms paradoxes through the configuration of plots and metaphors. Empirical cases are introduced in order to illustrate the implications of this understanding. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9158
Files in this item: 1Majgaard_EGOS2015.pdf (341.9Kb)
The Social Life of a Customer Survey in HealthcarePflueger, Dane (Frederiksberg, 2015)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The customer survey has become increasingly central to accounting and accountability as pressures to make organizations and professionals more responsive to their customers has intensified over the past twenty years. Yet, the significance and effects of the addition of the survey technology and technique to practices of accounting has hitherto been overlooked. This paper begins to close this research gap by investigating what happens on and around the survey to remake it as central to accounting in healthcare. This paper shows the activities to account for the customer and to make organizations and professionals accountable to her through the survey to involve the 'remanagerialization of the patient'—that is, the recreation of the patient as a customer with "experiences" uniquely capable of allowing healthcare providers to achieve distinctive managerial ends. This paper also shows these processes to involve the 'sequestration of customer experience'. Accounting comes to express the customer's view, and the customer's view becomes an expression of accounting. This connectivity provides an ontological security and a moral vacuity: it at once establishes control over the experiences of customers and at the same time removes the full breadth of these experiences from organizational life. The intertwining of the survey with accounting, as such, is shown not to entail simply the adoption of a new technology, but rather the wholesale remaking of system to give a voice to the customer and allow her to be heard. Illumination of the processes by which such a system emerged provides insights into accounting change and means of accounting more successfully for customers. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9211
Files in this item: 1Pflueger.pdf (656.3Kb)
Exploring the Process of Bringing the Market Inside the FirmFriis, Ivar; Hansen, Allan; Vámosi, Tamás (Frederiksberg, 2015)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Research on relative performance measures, transfer pricing, beyond budgeting initiatives, target costing, piece rates systems and value based management has for decades underlined the importance of external benchmarking in performance management. Research conceptualises external benchmarking as a market mechanism that can be brought inside the firm to provide incentives for continuous improvement and the development of competitive advances. However, whereas extant research primarily has focused on the importance and effects of using external benchmarks, less attention has been directed towards the conditions upon which the market mechanism is performing within organizations. This paper aims to contribute to research by providing more insight to the conditions for the use of external benchmarking as an element in performance management in organizations. Our study explores a particular type of external benchmarks - external suppliers' bids on sub-components (which can be produced either in-house or by the external suppliers) in a Danish manufacturing firm – and we study the conditions that determine the success of the mechanism in the manufacturing firm which include issues related to the calculation of the 'inside' costs of the sub-component, technical specifications of the product, opportunistic behavior from the suppliers and cognitive limitation. These are all aspects that easily can dismantle the market mechanism and make it counter-productive in the organization. Thus, by directing more attention towards the conditions for the use of the external benchmarks we provide more insights to some of the issues and challenges that are related to using this mechanism for performance management and advance competitiveness in organizations. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/9223
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The Case of Diesel Engine Failure in Cargo VesselsShollo, Arisa; Constantiou, Ioanna; Kreiner, Kristian (Frederiksberg, 2015)[More information][Less information]
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Staff writer
Once considered a lost art, knitting has taken a recent surge in popularity, according to Treena Lucero of Hillsboro. Also making a surge in popularity is an item handmade by Lucero, called a beardo.
"Last year I made and sold 50 hats," Lucero said. "Characters from a popular cell phone game were a big thing and I knitted a hat that had a tail on top and a bird design. Those hats paid for my Christmas."
This year Lucero again has orders for bird game hats, but even more popular are the new beardos, a knit hat-ski mask combination.
"I first saw the beardos on Pinterest," Lucero said. "Then a friend who also saw it asked if I could make them, and I said I'd give it a try. Now I have several orders for them."
Lucero's husband, Mayo, has been her model for working out a beardo pattern. She created the ensemble by combining a typical knit hat with a wide, button-on chinstrap.
"They really could be a warm thing to have when the wind is blowing this winter," she said.
Cowls and scarves are also popular Christmas gift items on Lucero's to-do list.
"The knitted look is really back in," she said. "You can either pay expensive retail prices or learn to make what you want on your own. It really has become one of my favorite pass-times."
Lucero said the difference between cowls and scarves was the type of yarn used, the length of the item, and how people wore it.
"Cowls are thicker and shorter and worn closer up around your neck," she said. "The scarves can be loosely looped around and are usually finer yarns and longer in length."
Lucero works part-time at Odds and Ends craft-store in Hillsboro and owns On Location Photography. Her knitting interests, which really took off two years ago after she read a book about a yarn shop, enhance both jobs.
"I have some of my work for sale at Odds and Ends, plus I can visit with customers there about what they want," she said. "I also knit hats that we use in photo sessions, like for the babies, so it all kind of goes together."
Lucero learned to knit two years ago, after helping organize an instructional class through the Hillsboro Recreation Commission.
"It was a very basic class," she said. "But we learned to pearl, and then made a pot holder and a hat."
Since then Lucero expanded her skills to crocheting.
"My mom actually tried to teach me to crochet when I was a kid, but I just couldn't get it," she said. "Last year I went to YouTube and found some great instructional videos. You can learn anything on YouTube. They show the hands and the movements you make, plus you can stop, rewind, and go over and over a step until you understand it."
Her repertoire of items made now includes baby booties and animals, as well as the beardos, hats, scowls, and scarves.
"I don't like to make big things like sweaters or afghans," she said. "Those take too long. I like to start something and get it done. Smaller projects are really where my interest is at."
At a women's craft night recently, Lucero put out a sign-up sheet to gauge others interest in knitting lessons.
"I was really surprised that six people signed up right there," she said. "Then I posted on Facebook that I might consider giving lessons and instantly got 16 more. I am thinking of teaching a class in January, but it looks like all the spots will already be filled."
Lucero has already taught her 8-year-old daughter to knit.
"She made her teacher a scarf and is working on another ruffle scarf," she said. "I would consider knitting a found art. It seems to me that more and more young people want to learn to knit and it is becoming very popular again."
Lucero will have knitted items for sale in a booth at Kessler Kreations, Saturday at the Down Home Christmas event in Hillsboro.


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Rio Ferdinand hopes Joe Cole flourishes on his West Ham return
Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand hopes Joe Cole makes a success of his return to West Ham.
Last Updated: 08/01/13 10:23am
Ferdinand watched from the subs bench as Cole set up both West Ham's goals in the 2-2 draw with United in the FA Cup third round on Saturday.
It was Cole's first game for West Ham since re-joining his boyhood club from Liverpool last week.
Ferdinand and Cole duo know each other well, having been products of the Hammers' famed academy before going to play for England together.
"I thought Joe did well," Ferdinand told the London Evening Standard. "Two quality crosses from him and two goals. I'm sure the West Ham supporters will be happy with that.
"I hope the move works out for him. Joe's been plagued with a lot of injuries over the last few years. It's been a bit stop-start for him in recent seasons. It will be good for him and West Ham if he can now play regularly and stay injury-free."
Ferdinand - who has himself been linked with a move back to Upton Park - says only time will tell if Cole made the correct decision in breaking the old 'never go back' rule.
"Everyone is an individual," he said, "and you never know how these things will work out until you try. He's come back to West Ham after a few years and good luck to him.
"Joe looked good and it was a tough cup tie. That's what you expect when you go to West Ham though. It was nothing different to what we anticipated."


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El lenguaje de los Chicanos
University Microfilms International, 1975 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 256 pages
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6 pages matching loan translations in this book
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Mexican Spanish
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acculturation adapted ADVERB allophones American analogy analysis Angeles Anglo argot Arizona Barrio bilingual education borrowings boys Cerda Chicano code switching consonant cultural dialect of Spanish diglossia dijo DIRECT OBJECT English and Spanish English influence English words escuela espańol Espinosa example Fishman formal forms fricative grammar habla immigrants important indicate inglés interference interview jargon Latin informants lengua linguistic linguistic behavior loan translations loan types loanwords meaning medially Mexican Spanish Mexican-American Mexico MOTH mother NEIGH neighbor nińos noted noun Nuevo object pronoun occurred Pachuco past subjunctive patterns phoneme phonological phrases present PRON pronunciation question Rachel regional relations San Antonio sentences social sociolinguistic Southern Arizona dialect Southwest Spanish and English Spanish language Spanish Phonology Spanish speakers Spanish words Spanish-speaking speak Spanish speech StAE standard Spanish structure SUBJECT subjunctive tense term Texas Tucson unilinguals usage variation variety verb vocabulary vowel writer


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Avatar Limited necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 210 diseños de 26 diseñadores freelance.
Spreadbetting.com will be an online guide for the financial spread betting industry, detailing the advantages and disadvantages of spread betting. It will also compare the different companies on the market. There will be also be a section for advanced traders which will describe trading strategies.
Spread betting is a type of financial trading where customers can buy and sell a wide range of financial instruments all on one account (e.g. stocks, commodities, currencies, interest rates, bonds, futures and options).
There are many advantages for spread betting over regular trading - such as being tax-free, the ability to short (i.e. to make money when stocks fall in price), and no broker commissions.
Just so that there is no confusion, "spread betting" is the name of the industry. "SpreadBetting.com" is the name of our website. There are many different spread betting companies.
The target audience is primarily 25 to 60 year old males. Financially savvy people, who are interested in trading, saving money, and competing with the traders on wall street.
The audience is European and Australian based. Primarily based in the UK. Spread betting is currently legal all around the world except for the United States, so please don't use any American-based imagery (e.g. dollar bills).
Trade Better.
A logo for "Spreadbetting.com" to be used in the header of the website. The tagline is "Trade Better".
The logo should be clean and not overly cluttered.
Friendly but relatively serious too.
There should be a slight hint of fun, but the undercurrent is that it is a serious topic that could help save you money and become a financial trader.
The association should be towards trading and financial markets but NOT to gambling and betting. For example please don't use dice or other casino type images, or any sports betting imagery.
If you choose a stock graph as the logo please make sure it is exciting.
We want to make it clear that spread betting empowers individual investors and allows them to compete against wallstreet traders.
Logos we like include the "fool.com" logo and the "comparethemarket.com" logo.
The words may be capitalized or not. "SpreadBetting.com", "spreadbetting.com", "Spreadbetting.com", "SPREADBETTING.COM" are all possibilities.
You can likewise play around with the capitalization of the "Trade Better" tagline.
We have a preference for a blue and green color scheme but will consider any combination.
Please make sure to include ".com" in the logo.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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In commemoration of Black History Month, this series of blog posts highlights African-American history in Florida.
Long before they shed their blood on the battlefields of Europe and Asia during World War II, African-Americans fought for freedom in conflicts throughout North America. Prior to Executive Order 9981 by President Harry S. Truman in 1948, African-Americans served in segregated units and, with a few notable exceptions, performed largely undesirable work and received little commendation for their service.
Florida native Daniel "Chappie" James (1920-1978) was one of the pioneers that paved the way for the advancement of black soldiers in the U.S. military. In 1975, he became the first African-American 4-star General in the Air Force.
James, born in Pensacola on February 11, 1920, graduated from the Tuskegee Institute in 1942. The following year he completed flight training at Tuskegee and was commissioned as an Army Air Force pilot in an all-black squadron. During the Korean War, he flew 101 combat missions in P-51 and F-80 aircraft. After the war, in 1957, James graduated from the Air Command and Staff College. He also flew 78 combat missions during the Vietnam War.
James earned numerous honors and awards during his distinguished career, both for military achievement and civic engagement. He died from a heart attack in 1978, just weeks after retiring from the military, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.


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RFID Primer: Where the WLAN Hits the RFID Fan
Page 1 of 3
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Tech Center is a VAR and Systems Integration firm specializing in custom software solutions, WLAN designs and Security, Auto ID (Bar Code and RFID) and VoIP (Cisco) telephony technologies. The company does front-end and back-end systems, from wireless data collection at the edge back to the ERP and CRM databases that major corporations use to track their assets and performance.
Working as a Certified RFID Honors Partner with Intermec, a pioneer in the RFID space, with large clients including major Automotive companies, Tech Center plays a significant role in this emerging market. The company already has several RFID implementations to their credit, something few other VARs can lay claim to.
RFID theory
An RFID tag is based on a chip or integrated circuit (IC).
The tag itself is the inlay plus its encapsulated protective packaging. The packaging can be flexible or stiff, as the application warrants.
An RFID system typically consists of a radio-enabled device that communicates with or "interrogates" a tag or label, which is embedded with a single chip processor and an antenna.
The "interrogator" or RFID reader may be a fixed antenna or it may be portable, like a bar code scanner. The tag itself is an extension of the bar code labels you see everywhere today, but with more intelligence. The advantage of these more intelligent systems is that, unlike barcode tracking systems, an RFID system can read the information on a tag without requiring line of sight or a particular orientation. This means that RFID systems can be largely automated, reducing the need for manual scanning.
In the back end of the system, a host computer stores all collected data within a database. Since RFID tags can also carry data, tags can serve as data transfer agents, synchronizing disparate information systems. Tags may carry a product's history or genealogy, and may interact and communicate with manufacturing production systems for increased automation and process error proofing.
Tag types and tag selection
When selecting a tag or insert, you must first consider the general performance characteristics and the regulatory requirements associated with the permitted frequencies for your country of operation.
There are two types of RFID tag: active and passive.
- Battery powered
- Read-write and read only versions available
- Longer read ranges (25 to 100 feet)
- Higher tag costs ($20 to $70 per tag)
- 2D location systems possible
- Example: toll booths
- Powered by reader
- Read-write and read only versions available
- Shorter read ranges (Inches to 20 feet)
- Lower tag costs (at least $1 per tag)
- Item ID
- Example: item management
RFID deployments tend to use unlicensed frequencies for their obvious cost benefits. There are four commonly used frequencies: low frequency (LF) 125/134.2 KHz, high frequency (HF) 13.56 MHz, ultra high frequency (UHF) (including 869 and 915 MHz) and microwave (at 2450 MHz, a band familiar to ISPs).
A tag's read range performance is usually considered the primary gauge of its suitability for a particular application. It is important to remember that not all applications require maximum range.
Tags in the LF-HF band have a range of 1 to 18 inches, while passive UHF tags can reach up to 20 feet, and microwave tags can reach 1 to 6 feet. The ranges greatly depend upon the surface on which the tag is mounted.
Each tag can be "tuned" to work with the material it is mounted on, whether metal, glass, plastic, wood, or air. If you take a tag designed for a glass windshield at 915 MHz, and attach it to a wooden pallet, you may not be able to read it. Any experienced RF user will know that each frequency requires a slightly different antenna shape.


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Responded to Pitch Immediately
Fund: Rustic Canyon Ventures
Posted by ommegang on 2013-01-17
Pitched Nate Redmond - really liked him. He was on time, personable, seemed down to earth. He asked intelligent questions, understood our larger market fairly well, and drilled down on the right things. I think that's why I liked him most - he asked the right questions.
He gave me a quick no, said we were too early for their fund. Makes me think you need to be a solid A round (raising 2mm+) before they will invest.PRIVATE: Members Only


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Your Search Results
Onsite Gym, Employee Stock Purchase Plan
94 Companies
BCG Digital Ventures
Digital Media • Software
BCG Digital Ventures is a corporate investment and incubation firm. We invent, build, scale and invest in startups with the world's most influential companies. We share risk and invest alongside our corporate and startup partners via a range of collaborative options.
225Local Employees
Manhattan BeachLocation
Mobile • Social Media
The people we meet change our lives. Tinder empowers users around the world to create new connections that otherwise might never have been possible. With more than 10 billion matches made to date and millions of new connections made daily, Tinder has reimagined the way people meet on a massive, global scale.
250Local Employees
West HollywoodLocation
Procore Technologies
Cloud • Software
Procore Technologies provides cloud-based construction management software to clients across the globe, helping them more efficiently build skyscrapers, hospitals, retail centers and more. You'll work with an open and optimistic team where you can have a concrete impact on the way our world is built (no pun intended).
850Local Employees
Food • Information Technology
Our mission is to inspire healthier communities by connecting people to real food. We know that sweetgreen is a critical link between growers and consumers, and we feel a responsibility to protect the future of real food.
250Local Employees
Culver CityLocation
Kensho Technologies
Artificial Intelligence • Machine Learning
Founded in 2013 in Harvard Square, Kensho is one of the world's leading providers of artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions to some of Wall Street's premier financial institutions, as well as the National Security community.
2Local Employees
Pacific PalisadesLocation
Cloud • Mobile
INTELITY is the provider of the travel industry's first and broadest enterprise guest engagement and staff management platform. In 2018, INTELITY merged with KEYPR yielding a combined 15 years of hospitality experience, rapid growth, and the most complete hospitality technology platform on the market. We provide full service, full circle.
40Local Employees
Los AngelesLocation
AdTech • Hardware
Gimbal is a marketing and advertising automation platform that translates location data from the real world into targeting, measurement, and insight products for our customers. Using its own hardware and software, Gimbal enables brands, media agencies, and marketers to improve their campaigns with personalized messaging and measurable results.
30Local Employees
Los AngelesLocation
Artificial Intelligence • Cloud
We make products that are simple to use, efficient, and transcend the need for traditional know-how empowering anyone to turn their ideas into a bespoke technology product. From launch to enterprise-level scale, we maximize every aspect of your project through the process. We take the idea in your head and turn it into the app in your hand.
16Local Employees
Los AngelesLocation
Spring Labs
Blockchain • Fintech
Spring Labs is building the Spring Protocol, a network designed to allow participants to exchange information about data without sharing the underlying data itself. Our objective is to lower data costs while simultaneously allowing participants to retain full control over their data, enabling more a transparent and secure data-sharing ecosystem.
34Local Employees
Marina Del ReyLocation
Boingo Wireless
Information Technology • Mobile
As one of the first Internet companies to call Los Angeles home, for nearly 20 years Boingo has grown from a tiny start-up to the leading Wi-Fi company in the world, publicly traded on NASDAQ (WIFI). We help the world stay connected to the people and things they love with award-winning Wi-Fi and cellular networks. Superstars always wanted–join us.
235Local Employees
Los AngelesLocation
Digital Media
Cie is an innovation accelerator for large enterprises and a growth accelerator for emerging startups. Cie creates leading digital solutions, serves as an innovation lab for a variety of prominent global brands, and acts as a platform to develop and turn ground-breaking ideas into new technology ventures.
60Local Employees
The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk powers the most sophisticated buyers in advertising technology. We were founded by the pioneers of real-time bidding, and we've become the fastest growing demand-side platform in the industry by offering agencies, aggregators and their advertisers best-in-class technology to manage display, social, video and TV advertising campaigns....
202Local Employees
Los AngelesLocation
Prodege LLC
AdTech • Digital Media
Prodege, LLC, parent of rewards community Swagbucks.com & cash-back shopping sites MyPoints.com & ShopAtHome.com has awarded over $500 million to its members. Our business solutions brands, ProdegeMR (market research), ProdegeDR (direct response) & ProdegeVN (video network) allow our partners to reach, influence and acquire consumers online.
140Local Employees
El SegundoLocation
Artificial Intelligence • Big Data
ZestFinance was founded by a team of some of the world's best data scientists from Google who came together with a mission – use machine learning algorithms to revolutionize how credit decisions are made to provide fair and transparent credit to everyone.
100Local Employees
Los AngelesLocation
HR Tech • Software
CareerArc is an HR tech startup that uses social media to help companies find and recruit the best talent more quickly. We also provide resume review and coaching services to help employees who are let go find better jobs. Our social recruiting and outplacement solutions have helped thousands of companies, including many of the Fortune 500.
61Local Employees
Fintech • Social Impact
Aspiration offers socially-conscious and sustainable banking, investment and retirement products that help people improve their own financial situations while making a positive impact on the world. Often referred to as "the financial firm with a conscience," we allow our customers to Pay What is Fair, and reward them for socially conscious spending
100Local Employees
Marina Del ReyLocation
Nordstromrack.com | HauteLook
eCommerce • Fashion
Nordstromrack.com | HauteLook is the leader in online, off-price retail, with over 31 million members and billions of page views a year. We strive to empower shoppers through choice of the hottest fashion at great prices. We're constantly taking on challenges in discovery, payments, and logistics — all through a customer-obsessed lens.
300Local Employees
Los AngelesLocation
Mobile • Social Media
Grindr is among the top highest grossing apps in the iOS App Store and boasts some of the most engaged users across all social networking apps. We offer a constantly evolving, agile startup environment that enables and rewards innovation, teamwork, and diligence.
75Local Employees
West HollywoodLocation
AdTech • Marketing Tech
Nativo empowers brands and publishers with the world's most advanced platform for content. For brands, Nativo enables storytelling at scale with the largest native reach and reveals insights that unlock return-on-content.
El SegundoLocation
Agency • Marketing Tech
Scorpion is a company that is 100% client-focused and results-oriented because we believe that our success is only found in our clients' success. We have been delivering award-winning website design & internet marketing strategies to legal, healthcare, franchise, & home services sectors since 2001.
400Local Employees


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Hopes of business-friendly reforms in India fade
Even as India shines as a rare bright spot in a sluggish global economy, the country's business-savvy prime minister is watching his popularity wane. Narendra Modi swept into power in May 2014 on the strength of a charismatic personality and a promise to eliminate India's legendary bureaucratic barriers to business. Today, India's corporate leaders are losing faith that he can remove those obstacles. And public support has fallen as well: If elections were held today, Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party would lose its majority in parliament, according to a recent poll by Karvy Insights. "Expectations were high and people wanted to see a quick turnaround (of the economy)," said Dharmakirti Joshi, chief economist at Crisil, the Indian arm of Standard & Poor's. "But big ticket reforms … have been delayed and diluted."
By some numbers, Modi's performance looks stellar:
• Despite a global slowdown, India's economy is expected to grow 7% to 7.5% for the year ending in March, just above the 6.9% rate recorded the year before he took office.
• Foreign direct investment from October 2014 through June 2015 increased 40% compared with the same period a year earlier, thanks to his "Make in India" program, which eliminated or reduced restrictions on foreign investment in many manufacturing sectors.
• Foreign exchange reserves now top $350 billion, India's highest level ever.
"A lot of confidence and hope continues to be built around India," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Monday, as he outlined a $288 billion spending program for the fiscal year ending March 2017.
Nevertheless, long-awaited moves to loosen restrictions on land acquisition and a tax overhaul sought by corporations to boost business have yet to materialize. That's because opposition parties that control the upper house have blocked his boldest policies, thwarting the strong majority his party holds in the lower house of parliament. Eliminating the red tape also has proved daunting. India jumped 12 places on the World Bank's ease of doing business index during Modi's first year in office — from 142 to 130 — but many complex regulations and paperwork requirements have not been reduced.
Corporate leaders also note that a lack of skilled workers in India prevent Modi's "Make in India" program from becoming reality. "Some low scale manufacturing may move to India. But if you want to build Brand India, you have to first build global Indian brands," Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra group, which makes cars, farm equipment and other products, told India Today newspaper. Other business leaders praise Modi's accomplishments in a country where making any major change in how things are done is exceedingly difficult. Binod Agarwal, CEO of a small auto-parts manufacturer, New Engineering Works, cites an increase in government services available online, and says his company has seen a 30% to 40% increase in sales since 2014. Government "has become more efficient and more transparent, and less dependent on government officials," Agarwal said.


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The Battle of Jutland 1916
The greatest naval battle of the First World War and the greatest of all time in numbers of gun armed battleships and battlecruisers engaged, was fought off Jutland in the North Sea on 31 May 1916. The German High Seas Fleet, considerably inferior to the British Grand Fleet in numbers and gun power, was pursuing a risky strategy of trying to trap and destroy a detached portion of it.
Things went well for the Germans at first. Their force of battlecruisers found Admiral Beatty's Battle Cruiser Fleet and tried to lead it back to the German battleships. In the running battle that followed dangerous handling practices in the British battlecruisers led to Indefatigable and Queen Mary blowing up. Beatty made the famous remark: 'There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today.' He was lucky to have in company four Queen Elizabeth class battleships whose devastating shooting helped to save the battlecruisers from further loss.
When the German fleet came into sight Beatty turned to lead the Germans to what should have been their doom at the hands of Admiral Jellicoe's Grand Fleet of battleships. When the fleets met another battlecruiser, temporarily operating with the Grand Fleet, Invincible, also blew up but not before she had inflicted eventually fatal damage on the German battlecruiser flagship Lutzow. The Germans turned away twice from the British line but eventually succeeded in breaking back to Germany behind an overly cautious Jellicoe, only losing one more big ship, the Pre-Dreadnought Pommern, to torpedo attack by destroyers.
The Grand Fleet as a whole was in better shape, and still in command of the world's oceans outside the North Sea; one journalist wrote that the High Seas Fleet had assaulted its jailer but was still in jail. This was true but it had been a serious assault. Although many of their ships were badly damaged only one German ship had blown up. The Germans had therefore lost only 2,115 men to the British toll of 5,672. In German terms Jutland was a victory. As soon as it could, in August, the High Seas Fleet tried another similar operation and was lucky to escape annihilation. The British learned many lessons at Jutland, which was studied hard for many years. As a result it fought much more effectively in the Second World War.
Further reading:
- A. Gordon, Rules of the Games (London, 1996)


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The Best Salad Fixings
Recently I wrote here about the tastiest and healthiest salad dressing, which you can easily prepare at home. If you can find anything like it at a restaurant, I would be surprised. The best you can do when eating out is to use a traditional olive oil and vinegar dressing.
Complementing the best salad dressing are the best salad fixings. You can easily prepare this salad and salad dressing at home for the nutrition that all of us, whether we have diabetes or not, need. Even when you eat out, you can find often good salad fixings -- along with many others that you might regret eating.
If you can stand the crowds and the usual lack of ambiance, you can find the best ingredients in the deli section of Whole Foods stores. Many of their ingredients are organic.
Salad bar restaurants are sprouting up all over the country. While I don't know of any others that offer organic fixings, if you pick and choose, you can find a great variety of ingredients at Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes out West and some Midwest and Southern states, Fresh Choice in California, Texas, and Washington, or Souper Salad in some Western, Midwestern, and Southern states. Here in Colorado we have eight Mad Greens restaurants. You can even get a so-called salad at the major fast food places, if you would otherwise starve to death.
But as with everything else gastronomic, choosing and preparing the ingredients yourself is best. Any salad worthy of that name has to start with green leafy vegetables.
Spinach, particularly baby spinach, is probably the best choice both for nutrients and taste and is what I usually use as the basis of my salad. Other excellent green leafy choices include arugula, watercress, dandelion greens, and anything that bears the name lettuce -- except iceberg lettuce, which is much less nutritious than any other kind.
Raw broccoli is the next to go into my salad bowl. While cooking broccoli probably makes it somewhat more bio-available, I have tried it that way, but compromised on raw broccoli, because I just don't like it cooked.
Cucumbers and celery find a regular place in my salad bowl. But with so many green vegetables in our salads, we need some complementary color. That's one reason why I almost always include radishes and sometimes use red bell peppers rather than green, even though the red ones are a bit higher in carbs. When I can find it, I add radicchio too.
Sometimes I include cauliflower. This week the local farmers market had bright orange cauliflower. I don't know if colorful cauliflower is healthier or not, but it sure is prettier.
Often I eat some of my salad fixings before I have a chance to put them in my salad bowl. This is particularly true for radishes, which I like to eat plain, or, in the case of mushrooms, topped with a little Dijon mustard. Then, I usually add a couple of ingredients for their intense taste. For years I've loved jalapeño slices. Recently I also learned to love anchovies, which happen to be exceptionally high in omega 3 fat. Both are acquired tastes, and I have certainly acquired them.
Finally, I top off this delicious concoction with a healthy sprinkling of chia seeds. Recently, I began adding nutritional yeast both for its B vitamins an d cheesy taste, the best tip I got from reading Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes.
I always make sure to use organic ingredients if I can. I am particularly careful about spinach, celery, and bell peppers, which are otherwise loaded with pesticides.
Since I eat a big salad, it's always my lunch and never my dinner. I know from experience that a large meal at dinner isn't any good for my digestion or for maintaining my weight.
Of course, I don't include the same salad ingredients every day. Variety depends on my mood, what I have on hand, and what the markets offer. Since I am careful to follow a very low-carb diet, my daily salad is my major source of carbohydrates. Like Dr. Richard K. Bernstein, I don't think that we need any carbohydrates. But I eat some just in case they contain a nutrient or two that we don't know about yet. All of my salad ingredients are low in carbohydrates. The highest is my sweet red pepper, but it still has fewer than four grams of available carbohydrate per 100 grams, according to the USDA's "National Nutrient Database." I rarely include eggs, because my usual breakfast is two poached egg whites. Sometimes avocados, cucumbers, canned salmon, tuna, or sardines go into the salad bowl, but I usually prefer them separately as a snack. Too high in carbs for me are common salad vegetables like beans (except black soybeans), beets, carrots, corn, olives, onions, peas, scallions, sunflower seeds, or tomatoes. Likewise, almost all fruit, including apples, oranges, or pears. Anything made from grain, including croutons and pasta, is also out.
We generally love salads -- in part because the term means so many different things to different people. To me salad means my nutritious and tasty main meal.


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Advanced Surgery Center Opens This Summer at Dartmouth-Hitchcock
By Anna Fiorentino
March 2013 • Thayer By Degrees: PhD
After two years of construction, a new 12,000-square-foot building on the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center campus in Lebanon, NH will open this summer as the first in the country dedicated solely to translational research—further establishing the hospital and Dartmouth as a leader in medical imaging and surgical innovation.
"We're not looking to crank the next surgery through here. There won't be pressure to make this a profit center where patients need to get in and out," says Robert A. Pritzker Professor of Biomedical Engineering Keith Paulsen, who is also Director of the Dartmouth Advanced Imaging Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Co-Director of the Cancer Imaging and Radiobiology Research Program at Norris Cotton Cancer Center.
Speakers from Thayer School, the Geisel School of Medicine and the hospital officially introduced the Advanced Surgery Center to a group of select individuals at the Westin Copley Place Hotel in Boston on March 13. At the event, the trio of collaborators behind the facility, which in 2010 matched the original $10 million they scored from President Obama's stimulus money to build the center, sought to raise, among other funds, an additional $2 million for an angio X-ray system that has already been accounted for in the building's footprint. This machine would accompany state-of-the-art motorized ceiling-mounted MRI equipment and a mobile CT Scanner, all by Siemens, that will be installed in the next few months, after final flooring is laid and paint goes on the walls.
While hospitals including those affiliated with Duke University and Johns Hopkins University have established similar surgery centers dedicated to imaging research and innovation, Dartmouth is the first to do both animal and human testing separate from the main operating rooms so as not to impact patient care. Research will come before any clinical business model, enabling real innovation, commercialization and things far out of the box. With big screen monitors in conference space, the Advanced Surgery Center will become a testing ground for undergraduate and graduate engineering students, and an opportunity for Thayer School to attract companies looking to do preclinical work for FDA clearance. Paulsen expects the facility to lend itself to using and refining image-guided technology used in a robotic surgical system called da Vinci, where a surgeon manipulates robotic arms from a console outside the operating room in a similar fashion to a playing a videogame, and a nurse remains bedside with the patient. Paulsen eventually foresees the Advanced Surgery Center eliminating the surgeon altogether during this procedure, by bringing to life a machine with vision sharper than the human eye.
"Dr. Sohail Mirza, Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, believes we can let images obtained by machinery drive the surgery, especially with orthopedic surgery where there is not a lot of soft moving tissue," says Paulsen.
The Advanced Surgery Center will be located on the second level of the new building, next to the existing Advanced Imaging Center and above a the hospital's new Clinical Radiology unit, which was also made possible by the Surgery Center project. The layout will consist of two operating rooms, one with a separate entryway for animal testing; two diagnostic rooms; ancillary office and patient holding space; control rooms; and labs, including a small wet lab for tissue studies.
"It took a lot of hard thinking but it's been important to get people to see the value in our partnership," says Paulsen. "Now, many of the cases that would have gone to a Boston research hospital can be done right here."comments powered by Disqus


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With their cycling-like motion, ElliptiGO compact-stride bikes provide an exhilarating, time-efficient, full-body workout that eliminates the neck, back and seat pain associated with traditional bikes.
Elliptical cycling combines the best of running, cycling and the elliptical trainer to give you a fun and effective way to exercise outdoors. Since it is a low-impact exercise, elliptical cycling allows you to build cardio fitness while being easy on your joints. That makes it great for everyone – young or old, health conscious to elite. Revolutionize Your Fitness with an ElliptiGO elliptical bike!
" I love my ElliptiGO bike because it's fun; I can get a great workout in a short amount of time; and I'm outside!"
Caryn HallFitness Enthusiast
" In my daily work with athletes, I have found the ElliptiGO to be an ideal part of my 'tool kit'. It provides core activation, minimal musculoskeletal stress and can elevate HR to training levels, all while being fun to use. It is a quality asset for any athlete."
Ralph ReiffAthletic Trainer
" I've always been a proponent for including cross-training in any running regimen, and the ElliptiGO is the best cross-training device I've ever seen, bar none."
Dean KarnazesElite Ultramarathoner, Endurance Athlete, Public Speaker and Author
" After my hip replacement I didn't know what I was going to do for exercise, but I knew I'd never run again. With my ElliptiGO, I can get outside for a fun, pain-free workout. It has literally changed my life and I can't imagine being without it."
Jane LeGoreFormer Injured Athlete


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BATON ROUGE — Two competing bills that would overhaul the management and oversight of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board were deferred Wednesday and won't resurface for another week.
BATON ROUGE — Two competing bills that would overhaul the management and oversight of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board were deferred Wednesday and won't resurface for another week. BATON ROUGE — Two competing bills that would overhaul the management and oversight of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board were deferred Wednesday and won't resurface for another week.
Members of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee temporarily grounded Senate Bill 184 by Sen. Gerald Long, R-Winnfield, which would allow the wildlife and fisheries secretary to oversee the board, rather than have it operate autonomously.
But they only did so in the wake of Sen. Norby Chabert, R-Houma, deferring his own Senate Bill 167 to transfer the board from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism.
While Lt. Gov Jay Dardenne, who manages the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, is not expected to take a position on Chabert's bill, Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham is backing Long's legislation.
Barham further suggested to the committee that it's Long's bill or nothing for him.
"I'll want them to be gone from me if I can't provide oversight," he said.
Committee members moved to temporarily defer Long's bill after it became clearer that it was contradictory to Chabert's bill.
"Those bills are direct opposites of each other," said Sen. Bob Kostelka, R-Monroe, adding they should be heard and voted on in the same meeting.
Chabert offered to immediately bring his bill back up Wednesday afternoon, but the committee resisted, opting instead to schedule both for debate next week.
"(Long's) bill has about an hour of opposition left," Sen. Jody Amedee, R-Gonzales, the committee chairman, said before it was deferred.
"And you've got about two hours of opposition for yours," he added with a laugh in Chabert's direction.
The Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board has become a political hot potato, fueled largely by high-profile and expensive efforts such as buying the naming rights of the Hornet's NBA playing facility, which never came to fruition, and an extensive marketing package with the NFL Saints, which did.
Personal struggles from within the board likewise came to light last year when Chabert passed legislation reshaping the board and its bylaws.
Former seafood board members complained about internal decisions over who was able to attend trade shows and resulting conflicts that spilled over into opinions and rulings from the state Ethics Board.
At Wednesday's hearing, Allen Gibson of Dulac, a seafood board member representing the American Shrimp Processors Association, said he has yet to see how some of the marketing activities that were recommended to the board have resulted in more sales for the industry.
"I don't see where we benefitted the industry in the way we were supposed to," said Gibson, vice president of Tidelands Seafood Co. and president of Driftwoods Farms. "We did a lot of flashy things, but we did not take care of our base."
He said that the new seafood board, as dictated under Chabert's 2012 law, has been seated and recently underwent orientation.
Gov. Bobby Jindal is charged with making appointments to the board, and Gibson was among the few the governor reappointed after the law change.
Clint Guidry of Lafitte, president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association, said he was in support of Long's bill because the wildlife and fisheries secretary is in a good position to provide oversight.
"This is just an additional layer, on behalf of my membership, that I think is necessary," he said.
Barham agreed, especially since the seafood board "is in my shop," and it needs to follow the laws governing the department.
"I don't want to micromanage this board," he said. "Ninety-nine percent of the time, I want them to make the decisions they need to make."
He further cited the need to pay attention to things like contract law and state policies.
For example, Barham said he would have been able to offer direct guidance on the proposed $5 million naming rights for the Hornets facility.
"That's about $1 million per win," he said to laughter.
When the seafood board was managing a budget of about $300,000, he said, there were very few problems.
But "a new day dawned" when it was awarded $30 million by BP after the 2010 oil spill to help the industry recover.
"This is not about me or a money grab," said Barham, adding the money would be spent on seafood marketing needs if Long's bill is passed into law.
Despite the assertion, he still found humor in the situation by referring to what he called a "truism" in politics.
"Money is the answer," he said. "Now what is the question?"
Barham said very little about Chabert's Senate Bill 167, aside from getting the rationale behind moving the seafood board to the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism.
"I understand the principle. They're in the marketing business," he told the committee. "But it's really up to you."
Chabert said he filed the legislation because the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism has extensive experience in buying national media time to promote state tourism opportunities, knows how to build brands and understands what it means to work in the aftershock of a crisis, such as a hurricane or oil spill.
Jeremy Alford can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Proficy Historian Module for the Azure IoT Edge
This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact email@example.com with any additional questions or comments
This reference implementation demonstrates how the Azure IoT Edge can be used to connect to existing Proficy Historian servers and send JSON encoded telemetry data from these servers using the Proficy Historian SDK pub/sub format (using a JSON payload) to Azure IoT Hub. All transport protocols supported by Azure IoT Edge can be used, i.e. HTTPS, AMQP and MQTT. The transport is selected in the transport setting in gateway_config.json.
This module uses the Proficy Historian API, which GE has approved being included in this repository. However, to use the API and this module you need to connect to a properly licensed Proficy Historian.
History of the module
While doing a POC with a customer of mine, they wanted to take advantage of Azure IoT Suite, but already had data collection in place, with data being persisted into a GE Proficy Historian. Because they did not want data polled multiple times and also didn't want the gateway to be installed into a very secure network, I created this module to subscribe to the persisted data from a replica of the Historian. Currently it supports subscribing to tags and getting instant notifications when these change.
Azure IoT Gateway SDK compatibility
The current version of the Proficy.Historian module is targeted at the Azure IoT Gateway SDK 2017-04-27 release. You no longer need to build Azure IoT Edge manually, as this module is based on the Nuget package available here
Directory Structure
This folder contains a sample configuration that instructs a vanilla gateway host to load the module and IoT Hub proxy module and configures the module to create a subscription on a standard server which publishes the specified tags to Azure IoT Hub.
This folder contains the C# Proficy Historian module source file (GatewayModule.cs).
This folder contains unittests for the module. All should pass after building the module first. To run the tests, please open up in Visual Studio and just run the tests.
Building the Module
To build the module, open up the solution in Visual Studio and run the build command.
Configuring the Module
Proficy Historian tags whose values should be published to Azure IoT Hub can be configured in the module JSON configuration. A sample template configuration file can be found in
samples/gateway_config.json. The configuration consists of a OPC-UA Application Configuration and Subscriptions section.
Application Configuration section
args section should be confiugred as shown below
"args": {
"ServerName": "<HistorianServerName>", //Mandatory
"UserName": "<HistorianUserName>", //Mandatory
"Password": "<HistorianPassWord>", //Mandatory
"PrintToConsole": false, // Optional - default is false
"TagsToSubscribe": [ ... ]
TagsToSubscribe section
TagsToSubscribe section contains an array of Tagnames that should be subscribed to from the Proficy Historian server at startup.
"TagsToSubscribe": [
{ "TagName": "<Tagname1>" }, // Tagname is mandatory, MinimumElapsedMilliSeconds is optional - default is 1000
{ "TagName": "<Tagname2>", "MinimumElapsedMilliSeconds": 1000 }
Running the module
To run the module and have it publish to IoT Hub, configure the name of your Hub (JSON field
"IoTHubName") and the IoT Hub device ID and shared access key to use (JSON fields
"Id" and
"SharedAccessKey") in your version of
gateway_config.json. Ensure that the right native module is configured, based on your platform (i.e. iothub.dll for Windows, libiothub.so for Linux, etc.).


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Jean-Marc Gales joined Lotus as Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus plc in May 2014. Gales, a Luxembourgian, holds a MSc in Management from London's Imperial College, and a MSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany.
A known industry player, Gales has held several significant positions with numerous global automotive manufacturers including President of Automobiles Citroen and Automobiles Peugeot and a number of senior positions in Daimler AG, General Motors and Volkswagen AG.
A lifelong Lotus fan, Jean-Marc Gales recalls being taken to the Lotus dealer in Luxembourg by his father and names the Lotus Elite, unveiled in 1974 as his favourite Lotus from his childhood. He firmly believes that "the only way to make a sports car better is to make it lighter and faster".
Defining Lotus is one of the simplest things in the world. Everything we do revolves around reaching the lowest common denominators of lightness, allied to strength but created with simplicity in mind.
The company ethos revolves around enhancement, refinement and accessibility. If these elements can be determined as natural, liveable and viable, then a Lotus product results. Whether you are looking at the motorcars that are produced at our home factory in Norfolk, or the advanced engineering that has been commissioned by the international clients of Lotus, over the years, a pure and simple outcome is invariably the prerequisite and always what we deliver.
Of course, you will describe us in many ways. From cool and collected, to racy and radical. However, you, as people who are smart, witty, intelligent and single-minded, define us. Those are the qualities that have formed Lotus, right from its earliest days in Colin Chapman's North London lockup, to its current status, as one of the world's most highly regarded and famous sportscar brands.
British to the core, despite its history, we do not waste time reflecting in the past of Lotus. We maintain passionately the lightness of being that is central to all that we carry out. Whether you look at a lotus blossom, or partake of the lotus position, you can draw parallels with us. Our agility and flexibility, lack of compromise, sense of purpose, style and technological stance are all ring-fenced by a sense of levity. You love us and we love what we do. That is Lotus. Purposeful and simple.
Lotus Motorsport builds and develops vehicles for GT racing with Evora GX, GTC, GT4 and GTS, in addition to racing vehicles such as Exige V6 Cup, Exige Cup R and Elise Cup cars. Lotus F1® Team also races in the iconic Black and Gold livery.
Lotus Motorsport operates the motorsports activities of Lotus.
The Lotus test track, home of Lotus Motorsport and the Driving Academy, is situated close to the main headquarters at Hethel. It was revised and rebuilt in 2011.
Lotus Engineering provides comprehensive and versatile consultancy services to many of the world's OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers and is an internationally recognised automotive engineering consultancy.
Global facilities include those in the US, Malaysia, China an office in Japan. Lotus is a global high-tech company, committed to driving forward technology for both Lotus Cars and its Engineering clients, spearheading research into such areas as hybrids, electric vehicles and renewable fuels.
Lotus Store at Shariati HQ is a host to a diverse collection of luxury apparel, luggage, gifts, toys, and limited edition collectables - this is a store for the fashion conscious and style orientated, not purely a shrine for Lotus fans.
Nevertheless, those with a passion for F1 will be able to lose themselves in the emporium, whilst those that are more concerned with quality fashion will be delighted with the beautiful lines that are perhaps more affordable than the dream sportscar!


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IUCN and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) have teamed up to increase public awareness of conservation issues and improve access to research carried out in zoos and aquariums. The five-year Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed today between IUCN and WAZA, will also increase resources for conservation.
"Zoos and aquariums play such an important role in educating the public about conservation," says Jane Smart, Head of IUCN's Species Programme. "We hope The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species can be used to make zoo and aquarium experiences even more interesting and informative for visitors."
"This Memorandum of Understanding is a clear sign to tighten the ties between the two organizations and to build upon the existing working relationships in order to use synergies for species conservation and related education work," says Gerald Dick, Executive Director of WAZA.
Frankfurt Zoo, a long-standing member of WAZA, will pioneer the use of the new IUCN Red List logo and threat category scales in its visitor information system.
"We welcome this agreement between IUCN and WAZA. It comes right at a time when we are developing Frankfurt Zoo to be an international centre for the conservation of species and nature. We therefore want to introduce the newest and best information systems for our visitors," says Professor Manfred Niekisch, Director of Frankfurt Zoo.
Building on the long tradition of this zoo, Professor Niekisch points out the importance of informing the visitors not only about animals, but also about the situation of species in the wild. "Frankfurt Zoo is proud to be among the first zoos which turn this new agreement between IUCN and WAZA into action," says Professor Niekisch.
Work will also continue on the Amphibian Ark project. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ highlights that one third of amphibians are classified as globally threatened. In response to this, WAZA formed the Amphibian Ark – a joint initiative with the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group and the Amphibian Specialist Group of IUCN.
The project will establish breeding programmes in zoos and increase awareness as part of IUCN's Amphibian Conservation Action Plan. After the assessment of Costa Rican amphibians and a risk assessment for the Tanzanian Spray toad, the focus will be on awareness raising, capacity building and training.
WAZA has been a member of IUCN since 1950 and has established strong links between the IUCN Species Programme and the IUCN Species Survival Commission. During that time, the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission has served an important support role for WAZA, which provides financial support for their work.
Both WAZA and IUCN recognise the benefits of establishing a basis for co-operation and ensuring involvement of all components of their respective networks in the implementation of their respective missions as well as the IUCN 2009-2012 Programme, the World Zoo and Aquarium Conservation Strategy and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
For more information or to set up interviews, please contact:
• Lynne Labanne, IUCN Species Programme, Tel: +41 22 999 0153, Email: [email protected]
• Sabine Gyger, WAZA, Tel : +41 (0)31 300 20 30 email [email protected]


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The filing deadline has come and gone for local municipal elections, another marker of America�s freedom too often taken for granted. Where freedom flourishes, it�s easy to forget that free elections are not the way all over the world.
In America, filing starts the process of government �of the people, by the people, for the people.� To browse the list of candidates seeking office in Gaston County�s municipalities this year is to see that voters, for the most part, have plenty of choices in determining who will lead their government in the coming months.
The number of candidates shows a strong interest in civic life, a healthy sign that people care about their communities and the future.
Belmont Mayor Richard Boyce made one of the strongest statements of this political season when he declined to run for re-election after eight years on the job.
Career politicians aren�t good for �the people� whether they are in Washington, in Raleigh or here at home. Holding office year after year can lead to a sense of entitlement and can close the door on new ideas.
It is unlikely politicians will vote to limit terms while the are in office, but the best leaders recognize the downside of staying too long and, like Boyce, will impose their own limits.
We commend Mayor Boyce for his decision.
In deciding who to cast a ballot for, we encourage municipal voters across Gaston County to do more than vote based on name recognition. Get to know where candidates stand, not just on issues of today, but on their basic approach to government. No one can predict issues that might arise, so understanding where a candidate is coming from can help voters select the person who most matches their own ideas about government.
Here are suggestions about who would be the best mayor or council member in each of Gaston�s cities and towns.
Men and women who believe in:
Prudent spending.
Low taxes.
Few regulations, especially those that usurp the rights of property owners.
Policies that promote business development and economic growth.
The best government is that in which elected officials understand that they do not always have the best solutions for a prosperous community. Often, solutions to community problems are best met by the private sector. Businesses, volunteers and faith-based organizations can offer excellent solutions, on their own and in partnership with government.
As Election Day approaches, please take time to get to know the candidates in your municipal elections. The freedom to choose is precious, indeed. Don�t be passive and take it for granted.