US 7120629 B1
A system and method for providing profile data representing profiles of potential customers of a business enterprise. The system is based on an application service provider architecture, where the business enterprise accesses the profile data via the Internet using a web browser. The system is capable of using internal data of the business enterprise generated by a variety of accounting, sales, and enterprise planning tools.
1. A database server system, maintained by an application service provider (ASP), for generating contact data for potential customers of a business enterprise other than the ASP, comprising:
a business profile system for providing profile data associated with sales to existing customers of the business enterprise, comprising: a data acquisition process for extracting the business profile data from the enterprise's pre-existing internal data sources; wherein the data sources comprise at least the following data associated with existing customers of the enterprise: customer data, sales data, and account data; a data mart for storing the extracted business profile data;
a prospects harvester system for providing contact data representing information about prospective customers of a product or service offered by the business enterprise comprising: a data acquisition process for extracting Internet text documents from unstructured Internet discussion sites selected from the group of: newsgroups, discussion forums, and mailing lists; wherein each discussion site comprises a collection of text documents generated by participants of the discussion site and received by multiple participants of the discussion site; a text archive for storing the extracted text documents;
a text indexing server operable to index the text archive in accordance with both keywords contained in the text source and in accordance with contact data associated with the participants;
wherein the text indexing server is operable to receive queries from the business enterprise, each query representing a request for information about participants who are discussing a specified product or service;
wherein the text indexing server is further operable to access both the text archive and the business profile data mart, to use the query as a basis for extracting data from the text archive and the business profile data mart, and to provide a response that represents data about participants who conform to business profile data;
wherein the text indexing server searches the text archive and the business profile database according to parameters representing keywords in the text archive, contact data in the text archive, and profile data in the profiles database;
a web server for receiving queries from the enterprise, and for providing the response to the enterprise, via a web browser;
wherein the business profile system, the prospects harvester system, the text indexing server, and the web server are operated by the ASP for use by multiple business enterprises.
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11. A method, performed by an application service provider (ASP), of providing customer lead data for potential customers of a business enterprise other than the ASP, comprising:
providing business profile data by extracting data from the enterprise's internal data sources, wherein the data sources comprise at least the following data associated with existing customers of the enterprise: customer data, sales data, and account data; storing the extracted data in a customer profile database in a format designed for data mining purposes; storing the extracted data in a business profile data mart;
providing harvested new customer contact data by extracting text documents from unstructured Internet discussion sites selected from the group of: newsgroups, discussion forums, and mailing lists; wherein each discussion site comprises a collection of text documents generated by participants of the discussion site and received by multiple participants of the discussion site; storing the extracted text documents in a text archive;
using a text indexing server to index the text archive in accordance with both keywords contained in the text source and in accordance with contact data associated with the participants;
wherein the text indexing server is further operable to receive queries from the business enterprise, each query representing a request for information about participants who are discussing a specified product or service;
wherein the text indexing server is further operable to access both the text archive and the business profile database, and to use the query as a basis for extracting data from the text archive and the business profile database, such that the response represents data about participants who conform to business profile data;
wherein the text indexing server searches the text archive and the business profile database according to parameters representing keywords in the text archive, contact data in the text archive, and profile data in the profiles database;
using a web server to receive queries from the enterprise and to provide responses to the enterprise via the web browser;
wherein the method is provided as a service by the ASP for use by multiple business enterprises.
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This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/206,772, filed May 24, 2000 and entitled “Web-Based Customer Lead Generator”. The present patent application and additionally the following patent applications are each conversions from the foregoing provisional filing: patent application Ser. No. 09/862,832 entitled “Web-Based Customer Lead Generator System” and filed May 21, 2001, now abandoned; patent application Ser. No. 09/862,814 entitled “Web-Based Customer Prospects Harvester System” and filed May 21, 2001, now pending; patent application Ser. No. 09/865,804 entitled “Data Mining System for Web-Based Business Intelligence” and filed May 24, 2001, now abandoned; patent application Ser. No. 09/865,735 entitled “Text Mining System for Web-Based Business Intelligence” and filed May 24, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,003,517; patent application Ser. No. 09/865,805 entitled “Text Indexing System for Web-Based Business Intelligence” and filed May 24, 2001, now pending.
This invention relates to electronic commerce, and more particularly to business intelligence software tools for acquiring leads for prospective customers, using Internet data sources.
Most small and medium sized companies face similar challenges in developing successful marketing and sales campaigns. These challenges include locating qualified prospects who are making immediate buying decisions. It is desirable to personalize marketing and sales information to match those prospects, and to deliver the marketing and sales information in a timely and compelling manner. Other challenges are to assess current customers to determine which customer profile produces the highest net revenue, then to use those profiles to maximize prospecting results. Further challenges are to monitor the sales cycle for opportunities and inefficiencies, and to relate those findings to net revenue numbers.
Today's corporations are experiencing exponential growth to the extent that the volume and variety of business information collected and accumulated is overwhelming. Further, this information is found in disparate locations and formats. Finally, even if the individual data bases and information sources are successfully tapped, the output and reports may be little more than spreadsheets, pie charts and bar charts that do not directly relate the exposed business intelligence to the companies' processes, expenses, and to its net revenues.
With the growth of the Internet, one trend in developing marketing and sales campaigns is to gather customer information by accessing Internet data sources. Internet data intelligence and data mining products face specific challenges. First, they tend to be designed for use by technicians, and are not flexible or intuitive in their operation; secondly, the technologies behind the various engines are changing rapidly to take advantage of advances in hardware and software, and finally, the results of their harvesting and mining are not typically related to a specific department goals and objectives.
One aspect of the invention is a database server system for a web-based lead generator system, which generates leads via the Internet for potential customers for a business enterprise, as well as profile information about potential customers. A data acquisition process extracts data from the enterprise's internal data sources, and stores the extracted data in a data mart. A query repository stores queries presented to the data mart and generates charts representing results of the queries. A chart repository stores the charts, and a web server provides access to the charts by the enterprise, via a web browser.
An advantage of the invention is that a business client may easily obtain information about its sales and other aspects of its business, useful in determining profiles of potential customers. The application service provider architecture of the system permits the client to obtain this information, using only a web browser.
Lead Generator System Overview
The users of system 10 may be any business entity that desires to conduct more effective marketing campaigns. These users may be direct marketers who wish to maximizing the effectiveness of direct sales calls, or e-commerce web site who wish to build audiences.
In general, system 10 may be described as a web-based Application Service Provider (ASP) data collection tool. The general purpose of system 10 is to analyze a client's marketing and sales cycle in order to reveal inefficiencies and opportunities, then to relate those discoveries to net revenue estimates. Part of the latter process is proactively harvesting prequalified leads from external and internal data sources. As explained below, system 10 implements an automated process of vertical industry intelligence building that involves automated reverse lookup of contact information using an email address and key phrase highlighting based on business rules and search criteria.
More specifically, system 10 performs the following tasks:
System 10 provides open access to its web site. A firewall (not shown) is used to prevent access to client records and the entire database server. Further details of system security are discussed below in connection with
Consistent with the ASP architecture of system 10, interactions between client system 13 and system 10 will typically be by means of Internet access, such as by a web portal. Authorized client personnel will be able to create and modify profiles that will be used to search designated web sites and other selected sources for relevant prospects.
Client system 11 may be any computer station or network of computers having data communication to lead generator system 10. Each client system 11 is programmed such that each client has the following capabilities: a master user account and multiple sub user accounts, a user activity log in the system database, the ability to customize and personalize the workspace; configurable, tiered user access; online signup, configuration and modification, sales territory configuration and representation, goals and target establishment, and online reporting comparing goals to target (e.g., expense/revenue; budget/actual).
Administration system 14 performs such tasks as account activation, security administration, performance monitoring and reporting, assignment of master userid and licensing limits (user seats, access, etc.), billing limits and profile, account termination and lockout, and a help system and client communication.
System 10 interfaces with various client applications 15. For example, system 10 may interface with commercially available enterprise resource planning (ERP), sales force automation (SFA), call center, e-commerce, data warehousing, and custom and legacy applications.
Lead Generator System Architecture
A prospects harvester process 21 uses a combination of external data sources, client internal data sources and user-parameter extraction interfaces, in conjunction with a search, recognition and retrieval system, to harvest contact information from the web and return it to a staging data base 22. In general, process 21 collects business intelligence data from both inside the client's organization and outside the organization. The information collected can be either structured data as in corporate databases/spreadsheet files or unstructured data as in textual files.
Process 21 may be further programmed to validate and enhance the data, utilizing a system of lookup, reverse lookup and comparative methodologies that maximize the value of the contact information. Process 21 may be used to elicit the prospect's permission to be contacted. The prospect's name and email address are linked to and delivered with ancillary information to facilitate both a more efficient sales call and a tailored e-commerce sales process. The related information may include the prospect's email address, Web site address and other contact information. In addition, prospects are linked to timely documents on the Internet that verify and highlight the reason(s) that they are in fact a viable prospect. For example, process 21 may link the contact data, via the Internet, to a related document wherein the contact's comments and questions verify the high level value of the contact to the user of this system (the client).
A profiles generation process 25 analyzes the user's in-house files and records related to the user's existing customers to identify and group those customers into profile categories based on the customer's buying patterns and purchasing volumes. The patterns and purchasing volumes of the existing customers are overlaid on the salient contact information previously harvested to allow the aggregation of the revenue-based leads into prioritized demand generation sets. Process 25 uses an analysis engine and both data and text mining engines to mine a company's internal client records, digital voice records, accounting records, contact management information and other internal files. It creates a profile of the most profitable customers, reveals additional prospecting opportunities, and enables sales cycle improvements. Profiles include items such as purchasing criteria, buying cycles and trends, cross-selling and up-selling opportunities, and effort to expense/revenue correlations. The resulting profiles are then overlaid on the data obtained by process 21 to facilitate more accurate revenue projections and to enhance the sales and marketing process. The client may add certain value judgments (rankings) in a table that is linked to a unique lead id that can subsequently be analyzed by data mining or OLAP analytical tools. The results are stored in the deliverable database 24.
Profiles generation process 25 can be used to create a user (client) profiles database 26, which stores profiles of the client and its customers. As explained below, this database 26 may be accessed during various data and text mining processes to better identify prospective customers of the client.
Web server 29 provides the interface between the client systems 13 and the lead generation system 10. As explained below, it may route different types of requests to different sub processes within system 10. The various web servers described below in connection with
One data source is newsgroups, such as USENET. To access discussion documents from USENET newsgroups such as “news.giganews.com”, NNTP protocol is used by the crawler process to talk to USENET news server such as “news.giganews.com.” Most of the news servers only archive news articles for a limited period (giganews.com archives news articles for two weeks), it is necessary for the iNet Crawler to incrementally download and archive these newsgroups periodically in a scheduled sequence. This aspect of crawler process 31 is controlled by user-specified parameters such as news server name, IP address, newsgroup name and download frequency, etc.
Another data source is web-Based discussion forums. The crawler process follows the hyper links on a web-based discussion forum, traverse these links to user or design specified depths and subsequently access and retrieve discussion documents. Unless the discussion documents are archived historically on the web site, the crawler process will download and archive a copy for each of the individual documents in a file repository. If the discussion forum is membership-based, the crawler process will act on behalf of the authorized user to logon to the site automatically in order to retrieve documents. This function of the crawler process is controlled by user specified parameters such as a discussion forum's URL, starting page, the number of traversal levels and crawling frequency.
A third data source is Internet-based or facilitated mailing lists wherein individuals send to a centralized location emails that are then viewed and/or responded to by members of a particular group. Once a suitable list has been identified a subscription request is initiated. Once approved, these emails are sent to a mail server where they are downloaded, stored in system 10 and then processed in a fashion similar to documents harvested from other sources. The system stores in a database the filters, original URL and approval information to ensure only authorized messages are actually processed by system 10.
A fourth data source is corporations' internal documents. These internal documents may include sales notes, customer support notes and knowledge base. The crawler process accesses corporations' internal documents from their Intranet through Unix/Windows file system or alternately be able to access their internal documents by riding in the databases through an ODBC connection. If internal documents are password-protected, crawler process 31 acts on behalf of the authorized user to logon to the file systems or databases and be able to subsequently retrieve documents. This function of the crawler process is controlled by user-specified parameters such as directory path and database ODBC path, starting file id and ending file id, and access frequency. Other internal sources are customer information, sales records, accounting records, and digitally recorded correspondence such as e-mail files or digital voice records.
A fifth data source is web pages from Internet web sites. This function of the crawler process is similar to the functionality associated with web-discussion-forums. Searches are controlled by user-specified parameters such as web site URL, starting page, the number of traversal levels and crawling frequency.
Database Server System
The input data 42 can be the client's sales data, customer-contact data, customer purchase data and account data etc. Various data sources for customer data can be contact management software packages such as ACT, MarketForce, Goldmine, and Remedy. Various data sources for accounting data are Great Plains, Solomon and other accounting packages typically found in small and medium-sized businesses. If the client has ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems (such as JD Edwards, PeopleSoft and SAP) installed, the data sources for customer and accounting data will be extracted from ERP customer and accounting modules. This data is typically structured and stored in flat files or relational databases. System 41 is typically an OLAP (On-line analytic processing) type server-based system. It has five major components. A data acquisition component 41 a collects and extracts data from different data sources, applying appropriate transformation, aggregation and cleansing to the data collected. This component consists of predefined data conversions to accomplish most commonly used data transformations, for as many different types of data sources as possible. For data sources not covered by these predefined conversions, custom conversions need to be developed. The tools for data acquisition may be commercially available tools, such as Data Junction, ETI*EXTRACT, or equivalents. Open standards and APIs will permit employing the tool that affords the most efficient data acquisition and migration based on the organizational architecture.
Data mart 41 b captures and stores an enterprise's sales information. The sales data collected from data acquisition component 41 a are “sliced and diced” into multidimensional tables by time dimension, region dimension, product dimension and customer dimension, etc. The general design of the data mart follows data warehouse/data mart Star-Schema methodology. The total number of dimension tables and fact tables will vary from customer to customer, but data mart 41 b is designed to accommodate the data collected from the majority of commonly used software packages such as PeopleSoft or Great Plains.
Various commercially available software packages, such as Cognos, Brio, Informatica, may be used to design and deploy data mart 41 b. The Data Mart can reside in DB2, Oracle, Sybase, MS SQL server, P.SQL or similar database application. Data mart 41 b stores sales and accounting fact and dimension tables that will accommodate the data extracted from the majority of industry accounting and customer contact software packages.
A Predefined Query Repository Component 41 c is the central storage for predefined queries. These predefined queries are parameterized macros/business rules that extract information from fact tables or dimension tables in the data mart 41 b. The results of these queries are delivered as business charts (such as bar charts or pie charts) in a web browser environment to the end users. Charts in the same category are bounded with the same predefined query using different parameters. (i.e. quarterly revenue charts are all associated with the same predefined quarterly revenue query, the parameters passed are the specific region, the specific year and the specific quarter). These queries are stored in either flat file format or as a text field in a relational database.
A Business Intelligence Charts Repository Component 41 d serves two purposes in the database server system 41. A first purpose is to improve the performance of chart retrieval process. The chart repository 41 d captures and stores the most frequently visited charts in a central location. When an end user requests a chart, system 41 first queries the chart repository 41 d to see if there is an existing chart. If there is a preexisting chart, server 41 e pulls that chart directly from the repository. If there is no preexisting chart, server 41 e runs the corresponding predefined query from the query repository 41 c in order to extract data from data mart 41 b and subsequently feed the data to the requested chart. A second purpose is to allow chart sharing, collaboration and distribution among the end users. Because charts are treated as objects in the chart repository, users can bookmark a chart just like bookmarking a regular URL in a web browser. They can also send and receive charts as an email attachment. In addition, users may logon to system 41 to collaboratively make decisions from different physical locations. These users can also place the comments on an existing chart for collaboration.
Another component of system 41 is the Web Server component 41 e, which has a number of subcomponents. A web server subcomponent (such as Microsoft IIS or Apache server or any other commercially available web servers) serves HTTP requests. A database server subcomponent (such as Tango, Cold Fusion or PHP) provides database drill-down functionality. An application server subcomponent routes different information requests to different other servers. For example, sales revenue chart requests will be routed to the database system 41; customer profile requests will be routed to a Data Mining server, and competition information requests will be routed to a Text Mining server. The latter two systems are discussed below. Another subcomponent of server 41 e is the chart server, which receives requests from the application server. It either runs queries against data mart 41 b, using query repository 41 c, or retrieves charts from chart repository 41 c.
As output 43, database server system 41 delivers business intelligence about an organization's sales performance as charts over the Internet or corporate Intranet. Users can pick and choose charts by regions, by quarters, by products, by companies and even by different chart styles. Users can drill-down on these charts to reveal the underlying data sources, get detailed information charts or detailed raw data. All charts are drill-down enabled allowing users to navigate and explore information either vertically or horizontally. Pie charts, bar charts, map views and data views are delivered via the Internet or Intranet.
As an example of operation of system 41, gross revenue analysis of worldwide sales may be contained in predefined queries that are stored in the query repository 41 c. Gross revenue queries accept region and/or time period as parameters and extract data from the Data Mart 41 b and send them to the web server 41 e. Web server 41 e transforms the raw data into charts and publishes them on the web.
Data Mining System
Data sources 62 for system 61 are the Data Mart 41 b, e.g., data from the tables that reside in Data Mart 41 b, as well as data collected from marketing campaigns or sales promotions.
For data coming from the Data Mart 41 b, data acquisition process 61 a between Mining Base 61 b and Data Mart 41 b extracts/transfers and formats/transforms data from tables in the Data Mart 41 b into Data Mining base 61 b. For data collected from sales and marketing events, data acquisition process 61 a may be used to extract and transform this kind of data and store it in the Data Mining base 61 b.
Data Mining base 61 b is the central data store for the data for data mining system 61. The data it stores is specifically prepared and formatted for data mining purposes. The Data Mining base 61 b is a separate data repository from the Data Mart 41 b, even though some of the data it stores is extracted from Data Mart's tables. The Data Mining base 61 b can reside in DB2, Oracle, Sybase, MS SQL server, P.SQL or similar database application.
Chart repository 61 d contains data mining outputs. The most frequently used decision tree charts are stored in the chart repository 61 d for rapid retrieval.
Customer purchasing behavior analysis is accomplished by using predefined Data Mining models that are stored in a model repository 61 e. Unlike the predefined queries of system 41, these predefined models are industry-specific and business-specific models that address a particular business problem. Third party data mining tools such as IBM Intelligent Miner and Clementine, and various integrated development environments (IDEs) may be used to explore and develop these data mining models until the results are satisfactory. Then the models are exported from the IDE into standalone modules (in C or C++) and integrated into model repository 61 e by using data mining APIs.
Data mining server 61 c supplies data for the models, using data from database 61 c.
The outputs of server 61 e may include various options, such as decision trees, Rule Sets, and charts. By default, all the outputs have drill-down capability to allow users to interactively navigate and explore information in either a vertical or horizontal direction. Views may also be varied, such as by influencing factor. For example, in bar charts, bars may represent factors that influence customer purchasing (decision-making) or purchasing behavior. The height of the bars may represent the impact on the actual customer purchase amount, so that the higher the bar is the more important the influencing factor is on customers' purchasing behavior. Decision trees offer a unique way to deliver business intelligence on customers' purchasing behavior. A decision tree consists of tree nodes, paths and node notations. Each individual node in a decision tree represents an influencing. A path is the route from root node (upper most level) to any other node in the tree. Each path represents a unique purchasing behavior that leads to a particular group of customers with an average purchase amount. This provides a quick and easy way for on-line users to identify where the valued customers are and what the most important factors are when customer are making purchase decisions. This also facilitates tailored marketing campaigns and delivery of sales presentations that focus on the product features or functions that matter most to a particular customer group. Rules Sets are plain-English descriptions of the decision tree. A single rule in the RuleSet is associated with a particular path in the decision tree. Rules that lead to the same destination node are grouped into a RuleSet. RuleSet views allow users to look at the same information presented in a decision tree from a different angle. When users drill down deep enough on any chart, they will reach the last drill-down level that is data view. A data view is a table view of the underlying data that supports the data mining results. Data Views are dynamically linked with Data Mining base 61 b and Data Mart 41 b through web server 61 f.
Web server 61 f, which may be the same as database server 41 e, provides Internet access to the output of mining server 61 c. Existing outputs may be directly accessed from storage in charts repository 61 d. Or requests may be directed to models repository 61 e. Consistent with the application service architecture of lead generation system 10, access by the client to web server 61 f is via the Internet and the client's web browser.
Text Mining System
The source data 82 for text mining system 81 falls into two main categories, which can be mined to provide business intelligence. Internal documents contain business information about sales, marketing, and human resources. External sources consist primarily of the public domain in the Internet. Newsgroups, discussion forums, mailing lists and general web sites provide information on technology trends, competitive information, and customer concerns.
More specifically, the source data 82 for text mining system 81 is from five major sources. Web Sites: on-line discussion groups, forums and general web sites. Internet News Group: Internet newsgroups for special interests such as alt.ecommerce and microsoft.software.interdev. For some of the active newsgroups, hundreds of news articles may be harvested on a weekly basis. Internet Mailing Lists: mailing lists for special interests, such as e-commerce mailing list, company product support mailing list or Internet marketing mailing list. For some of the active mailing lists, hundreds of news articles will be harvested on a weekly basis. Corporate textual files: internal documents such as emails, customer support notes sales notes, and digital voice records.
For data acquisition 81 a from web sites, user-interactive web crawlers are used to collect textual information. Users can specify the URLs, the depth and the frequency of web crawling. The information gathered by the web crawlers is stored in a central repository, the text archive 81 b. For data acquisition from newsgroups, a news collector contacts the news server to download and transform news articles in an html format and deposit them in text archive 81 b. Users can specify the newsgroups names, the frequency of downloads and the display format of the news articles to news collector. For data acquisition from Internet mailing lists, a mailing list collector automatically receives, sorts and formats email messages from the subscribed mailing lists and deposit them into text archive 81 b. Users can specify the mailing list names and address and the display format of the mail messages. For data acquisition from client text files, internal documents are sorted, collected and stored in the Text Archive 81 b. The files stored in Text Archive 81 b can be either physical copies or dynamic pointers to the original files.
The Text Archive 81 b is the central data store for all the textual information for mining. The textual information it stores is specially formatted and indexed for text mining purpose. The Text Archive 81 b supports a wide variety of file formats, such plain text, html, MS Word and Acrobat.
Text Mining Server 81 c operates on the Text Archive 81 b. Tools and applications used by server 81 c may include ThemeScape and a Text Mining GUI 81 c. A repository 81 d stores text mining outputs. Web server 81 e is the front end interface to the client system 13, permitting the client to access database 81 b, using an on-line search executed by server 81 c or server 81 e.
The outputs of system 81 may include various options. Map views and simple query views may be delivered over the Internet or Intranet. By default, all the outputs have drill-down capability to allow users to reach the original documents. HTML links will be retained to permit further lateral or horizontal navigation. Keywords will be highlighted or otherwise pointed to in order to facilitate rapid location of the relevant areas of text when a document is located through a keyword search. For example, Map Views are the outputs produced by ThemeScape. Textual information is presented on a topological map on which similar “themes” are grouped together to form “mountains.” On-line users can search or drill down on the map to get the original files. Simple query views are similar to the interfaces of most of the Internet search engines offered (such as Yahoo, Excite and HotBot). It allows on-line users to query the Text Archive 81 b for keywords or key phrases or search on different groups of textual information collected over time.
A typical user session using text-mining system 81 might follow the following steps. It is assumed that the user is connected to server 81 e via the Internet and a web browser, as illustrated in
16. Add additional URLs, if desired.
Access to User Profiles Database
As explained above in connection with
Referring again to
Text Indexing System
Text mining system 81 and text indexing system 101 are two different systems for organizing mass textual information. Text mining system 81 identifies and extracts key phrases, major topics, and major themes from a mass amount of documents. The text mining system 81 is suitable for those on-line users who want to perform thorough research on the document collection. Text indexing system 101 is similar to text mining system 81 but is simpler and faster. It only identifies and extracts syntax information such as key words/key phrases. It provides a simple and fast alternative to users who just want to perform keyword searches.
The data sources 102 for Text Indexing system 101 are similar to those described above for Text Mining system 81. For data acquisition 101 a, various software may be used. These include web crawlers and mailing list collecting agents. These are similar to those described above in connection with Text Mining system 81.
The text archive 101 b is the central data store for all the textual information for indexing. The textual information it stores is specially formatted and indexed for text mining or indexing purpose. The Text archive 101 b supports a wide variety of file formats, such plain text, html, MS Word and Acrobat. Text archive 101 b may be the same text archive as used in system 81.
Server 101 c indexes the document collection in a multi-dimensional fashion. It indexes documents not only on keywords/key phases but also on contact information associated within the documents. In other words, the server 101 c allows on-line users to perform cross-reference search on both keywords and contact information. As an example, when users perform a keyword search on a collection of documents, the text indexing server returns a list of hits that consist of relevance (who-when-what), hyperlink, summary, timestamp, and contact information. Alternately, when users perform contact information search on a collection of documents, the text indexing server 101 c yields a list of documents associated with that individual. Using Text Indexing Server 101 c, users may navigate documents easily and quickly and find information such as “who is interested in what and when.”
Contact information and links to the associated documents are migrated into a Sales Prospects repository 101 d (a relational database). This contact information can be exported into normal contact management software from the repository 101 d.
The outputs 103 of system 101 are varied. Simple Query Views may be delivered to the client over the Internet or Intranet. By default, all the outputs have drill-down capability to allow users to reach the original documents. The Query Views may be similar to the interfaces of commonly used Internet search engines offered, such as Yahoo, Excite and HotBot. It allows online users to query the Text Archive 101 b for keywords/key phrases and contact information search on different groups of textual information collected over time.
Digital Voice Recording Mining System
Digital Voice Records (DVR) are increasing in use as companies move to sell and market over increasing boundaries, improve customer relations and provide a variety of support functions through call centers and third-party vendors. Present technology allows calls to be recalled through date-time stamps and a variety of other positional indicators but there are no means to analyze the content and context of the massive amount of this audio media.
System 120 uses speech-to-text translation capability to convert the digitally recorded voices, most often Vox or Wave (wav) format, into machine-readable text. A positional locator is created in the header file to facilitate direct linking back to the voice record, if needed. Accuracy of the recording on the receiving end is enhanced through training of the voice engine; an acceptable margin of error is expected on the incoming voice. The text files are stored in a Data Mart 122 where they may be mined using a search engine. Search engines such as ThemeScape are especially suitable in that they do more than simply count words and index frequently occurring phrases; they find “themes” by examining where words appear in the subject, text and individual sentence structure.
A typical user session of system 120 might follow the following steps: Call is either received or initiated. Depending on state law, the parties are advised that the call may be recorded for quality control purposes. Call is digitally recorded using existing technology from providers such as 1DigiVoice. Vox or Wave (voice) files 121 are translated using speech-to-text conversion programs. Text files are stored in logical areas in Data Mart 122, for mining with a search engine. Maps or similar visual/graphical representations are placed in a Map or Image Repository 123. Users search maps using the search engines browser plug-in. When the user finds documents to review, the user is prompted to select “voice” or “text.” If text, the original document/file in the Data Mart is displayed in the browser window. If voice, the positional indicator is pumped to the Digital Voice Record application that locates, calls and then plays to voice file segment.
Referring again to
Although the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.


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MILWAUKEE – With the dangerous part of the Brewers lineup due up in the eighth inning, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli went with his closer Taylor Rogers. Putting your best reliever in the most dangerous part of the game is a strategy employed more frequently in the game.
But Rogers was not at his best, giving up a two-run home run to Jedd Gyorko as the Twins fell 6-4 to the Brewers.
Rogers threw 21 pitches on Monday before while earning the save against Milwaukee. Last season, Rogers had a 7.20 ERA when pitching on no days' rest, with five of the eight home runs hit off him coming in that situation.
After Rogers struck out Keston Hiura for the first out, Christian Yelich beat the shift with a double down the left field line, and Gyorko blasted a two-run home run to center on a belt-high 94 miles per hour fastball.
That capped a run of five unanswered runs by Milwaukee after falling behind 4-1.
The Twins usually like their chances with a three-run lead in the middle innings with their bullpen any time. This time, Brewers catcher Manny Pina got in the way.
Pina first smacked a home run to center in the fifth off of reliever Matt Wisler, who was trying to get through a third inning of relief unscathed. That got the Brewers within 4-2.
The gut punch came an inning later with Trevor May on the mound, a runner on and two outs. May fell behind 3-0 to Pina and pumped in a fastball. Pina, who had a green light to swing, pummeled the pitch over the center field wall for a two-run homer to tie game. Pina stopped as he rounded first base to look at his dugout and scream.
The Twins had done most of the screaming to that point.
When Jorge Polanco launched a fastball from Josh Lindblom down the left field line for a home run in the first inning, it was hardly surprising.

domain: news


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Like flying about in ships and aerial combat? Like FPS games and love speed? Perhaps Strike Vector could be a game for you.
Developed by Ragequit Corporation, the game has been in beta testing for a while and will be released on Steam on 28 January with free DLC being released once the game launches. Free DLC is always good right?
I had the pleasure of allowing myself to get shot to bits by other players as I ventured into the game for the first time last night. This plays a lot like a traditional FPS, it even has FPS type weapons like a shotgun. Shocking!
The weapons can be customised slightly by adding special attributes on each one which makes it quite interesting. The trick is finding out what works best for you depending on how you like to play but that could take a bit of practice based on my experience this evening. It was not pretty.
Watch the video below to watch my ship explode lots. I will get better at this I promise.

domain: game


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Some of you might be quite closed-minded about this:
Brain study finds political divide, by Denise Gellene, Los Angeles Times: Exploring the neurobiology of politics, scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work.
Scientists at New York University and UCLA showed through a simple experiment to be reported Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience that political orientation is related to differences in how the brain processes information.
Previous psychological studies have found that conservatives tend to be more structured and persistent in their judgments whereas liberals are more open to new experiences. The latest study found those traits are not confined to political situations but also influence everyday decisions.
The results showed "there are two cognitive styles -- a liberal style and a conservative style," said UCLA neurologist Dr. Marco Iacoboni, who was not connected to the latest research. ...
Frank J. Sulloway, a researcher at UC Berkeley's Institute of Personality and Social Research who was not connected to the study, said results "provided an elegant demonstration that individual differences on a conservative-liberal dimension are strongly related to brain activity." ...
Sulloway said the results could explain why President Bush demonstrates a single-minded commitment to the Iraq war and Sen. John F. Kerry, the liberal Massachusetts Democrat who opposed Bush in the 2004 presidential race, was accused of being a flip-flopper for changing his mind about the conflict.
Based on the results, he said, liberals could be expected to more readily accept new social, scientific or religious ideas.
"There is ample data from the history of science showing that social and political liberals indeed do tend to support major revolutions in science," said Sulloway, who has written about the history of science and has studied behavioral differences between conservatives and liberals.
Lead author David Amodio ... of ... New York University cautioned that the study looked at a narrow range of human behavior and it would be a mistake to conclude that one political orientation was better than another. The tendency of conservatives to block distracting information could be a good thing depending on the situation, he said.
Political orientation, he noted, occurs along a spectrum, and positions on specific issues, such as taxes, are influenced by many factors, including education and wealth. Some liberals oppose higher taxes...
Still, he acknowledged that a meeting of the minds between conservatives and liberals looked difficult given the study results.
"Does this mean liberals and conservatives are never going to agree? Maybe it suggests one reason why they tend not to get along," Amodio said.
Might this also explain why college faculty tend to be Democrats?


Ever since Motorola launched the Moto Z series of phones, many are wondering what has become of the Moto X. Now Motorola has since reassured their customers that the Moto Z will not be replacing the Moto X, and now thanks to the folks at Android Police, photos of the alleged 2017 Moto X have surfaced.
The handset’s design in question isn’t particularly striking and it is pretty normal. However as you can see in the photo above, the handset appears to sport a dual camera setup in a rather interesting position. The handset also appears to come with an oval-shaped fingerprint sensor which is a bit hard to make out, but it is there.
The leakster even provided photos of the bootloader screen which has revealed some of its specs, which includes a Qualcomm MSM8953 processor which is basically the Snapdragon 625. It also lists 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, indicating that this phone is most likely going to be the company’s new mid-ranger.
Also what’s interesting is that in the photos, there does not appear to be any of the pins that would allow the phone to support the Moto Mods accessories, meaning that if you want to use the Moto Mods, you’ll need to stick with Motorola’s Moto Z lineup. No word on when the phone will be officially announced, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled, but until then take it with a grain of salt.


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Mario Batali's First Job Paid Him $6 an Hour, Here's How Much He Makes Now
Mario Batali details his career from slinging food at the Rutgers dining hall to star chef and restaurateur to television personality and how much money he made at each stop along the way in a new essay.
Mario Batali remembers making $70,000 a year at the Santa Barbara Four Seasons, yet having only having ten cents to his name because he blew his paycheck each week. Since then, the chef has learned some valuable financial lessons on the road to building his “$200-million-a-year” culinary empire. In a new Money Diaries essay for Wealthsimple, an automated investment company, Batali details exactly how much money he made at every step of the way.
His freshman year at Rutgers University, for example, he made $6 an hour in the dining hall, and his sophomore year, he worked his way up at a stromboli place called Stuff Yer Face (Warning if you’re at work or the library: The autoplay music on their website is hard to avoid). “I started at $7.50, but pretty quickly I was up to $10, $11, $12 an hour because I was fast, a good motivator, and a team player, and the business was successful,” he says. “I was paying my own rent by junior year. I’d get paid, go to a fancy beer bar, and order a $7 beer. Every now and then I’d take a girl out on a date.”
From there he went out to San Francisco where he was making $70 a shift five or six days a week catering, which eventually led to his first job as a hotel sous chef making $50,000 a year, which he says was, “big time.
After going to Italy and getting just room and board for his job at a trattoria, he ended up back in the U.S. working in New York’s Café Tabac during the early ‘90s for $1200 a week. That also happened to be when he met his wife Susi.
After opening Pò and having a successful first year he started filming Molto Mario for $400 an episode.
Finally, when he turned an early profit at Babbo, Batali’s financial attitude shifted.
“Just like when you buy that first ounce of weed and sell three-quarters of it (or so I’m told), we started to reinvest our capital in new ventures,” he says. “We now have 28 restaurants and a $200 million a year business, so we’re doing alright. Of everything I do—TV, books, product lines — restaurants are by far the most lucrative.”
But despite his financial successes, the chef doesn’t spend a lot of money on himself. (“Clearly my wardrobe costs pennies compared with other people.”) But when he asks his kids, “Who’s the happiest dad you know?” the answer is always him, because he loves what he does.
“I want them to treat education like it’s a trade. You should go to college to learn to be fascinating—and fascinated—which makes you invaluable for every single company,” he says. “If you’re solution-oriented, with a vocabulary, and can speak and behave in a way that makes people feel good, you can work at any multinational, doing something, for a lot of money. My wife has said all along that if our kids become circus performers, she’ll support them until the day they die. No one has yet gone for the circus performer option.”


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Hi, does anyone have any advice on transportation in Sicily from the Palermo airport to Cefalu? I am unable to drive a manual transmission car (unfortunately, as this seems to be the only option in Europe!) and was looking for another alternative. I was quoted 80 euros for a car service - is there public transport? Thanks!
Travel from Palermo airport to Cefalu
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domain: travel


Martin Johnson wields the axe: Ayoola Erinle shock call as under-siege boss gets tough on his flops
Martin Johnson will today reveal a shock change to his England XV, with Ayoola Erinle brought in to partner Dan Hipkiss in midfield and Shane Geraghty demoted to the bench.
The under-pressure England manager has reacted swiftly to the lacklustre display against Argentina by taking an astonishing gamble on his selection at centre.
Johnson’s surprise pick came as Josh Lewsey, the former England utility back and World Cup winner, heavily criticised the manager’s coaching staff, declaring they had
no right to be in the national team’s hierarchy.
Erinle’s elevation is a remarkable development for the former Wasps and Leicester three quarter, who is enjoying a new lease of life at Biarritz.
The call-up: Erinle will start against the All Blacks
He was called into the elite squad in the build-up to the Australia Test on November 7, following the withdrawal of Mike Tindall.
The 29-year-old came on as a replacement against the Wallabies and was then an unused sub against Argentina on Saturday, so his promotion reflects a desire to counter physically an All Black midfield featuring abrasive Ma’a Nonu.
For Geraghty, it is a frustrating setback after a sensational start to the season with Northampton, where he excelled at fly-half. He has appeared restricted by England’s cautious approach.
Frustrating stint: Geraghty has appeared shackled in an England shirt
There is another significant change up front, where Joe Worsley, the Wasps flanker, is preferred to fellow Lion Tom Croft.
Worsley will add power to the England defence, but Croft’s demise is a reflection of the fact that he has not been as effective in the Red Rose ranks as he was in South Africa for Ian McGeechan’s tourists. He may be in contention for the World Player of the Year award, but he is out of favour with Johnson.
Lock Simon Shaw returns to the starting team in place of Louis Deacon, while Mathew Tait is added to the bench. Bath prop David Wilson returns to as a replacement, with club colleague Duncan Bell retained at tighthead.
Lewsey, meanwhile, issued a damning verdict on Johnson’s coaching team.
The 2003 World Cup-winner, who retired at the end of last season, worked with John Wells, Mike Ford and Jon Callard during the last tournament two years ago, when Brian Ashton’s side reached the final.
Yet Lewsey has suggested the trio have built their reputations on false pretences, while dismissing the credentials of attack coach Brian Smith.
Lewsey does not regard the men charged with galvanising this faltering England team as fit for purpose.
‘Just look at what London Irish have done since Brian Smith left and he didn’t achieve anything at Test level when he played,’ he said.
‘Mike Ford didn’t win anything, while John Wells never played international rugby. Wells’ achievements as a coach are terrible and what justifies these people keeping their jobs?
‘Yes, Wells and Ford helped England to reach the World Cup Final in 2007, but I’d counter that it didn’t have anything to do with them because the players took charge and decided how we were going to play. England are the best resourced and biggest union in the world yet Wales have greater playing depth and coaches.’
Lewsey’s criticism of the coaches’ input during the 2007 World Cup is revealing. It backs up the belief that player-power saw England through to the final and indicates the contribution of Wells, Ford and Callard was exaggerated by the RFU in their review.
Tackling the issues: Lewsey's criticisms have been forthright
The pressure on the Johnson regime shows no signs of abating ahead of a daunting clash against New Zealand.
However, Graham Rowntree, who has orchestrated an impressive scrummaging operation despite being limited in players available, spoke up on behalf of Wells, his former Leicester team-mate who is rumoured to have clashed with Smith last week over tactics.
‘Some of the criticism is out of order,’ he said. ‘I am sick of hearing about Wellsy and about this difference of opinion he’s supposed to have on his view of the game.
‘He is one of the best practitioners around in forward play and he wants us to win. He will sit in with whoever is coaching. I’ve seen a lot of coaches and he’s one of the best around.’
Hitting back: Rowntree (right) has defended Smith and Ford
Smith, who admitted England’s negative tactics in the win over Argentina were down to him, played down suggestions of a rift.
‘I haven’t had a disagreement in the last week on the training pitch,’ he said. ‘That is a nasty rumour and there’s not an essence of truth about it. We are a united ship.’
M Cueto (Sale); U Monye (Harlequins), A Erinle (Biarritz), D Hipkiss (Leicester), M Banahan (Bath); J Wilkinson (Toulon), P Hodgson (London Irish); T Payne (Wasps), D Hartley (Northampton), D Bell (Bath); S Borthwick (Saracens, capt), S Shaw (Wasps); J Worsley (Wasps), J Haskell (Stade Francais), L Moody (Leicester). Replacements: D Wilson (Bath), S Thompson (Brive), L Deacon (Leicester), T Croft (Leicester), D Care (Harlequins), S Geraghty (Northampton), M Tait (Sale).
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Stella is an intergalactic mechanic who must make an emergency landing on a strange planet. It appears to be void of life. That is, except for the ghost.
But it's not a frightening alien story. Stella confronts a ghost of her past, and has an experience that gives her the impetus to push on and never give up. So what if she's a mechanic instead of an explorer? You never know when that will be the best thing to be. This short animation is from director Cécile Carre of the French animation school GOBELINS. -via io9

domain: artistic


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The world of finance is changing. With the rise of fintech, traditional banking methods are being replaced by innovative new technologies that make it easier and faster for people to manage their money. Fintech is a term that refers to the combination of financial services and technology, and it covers a wide range of products and services, including mobile payments, peer-to-peer lending, and digital currencies. This blog post by Unitedfintech.com will explore the rise of fintech and discuss how it is changing the future of finance.
– Mobile Payments
One of the most notable aspects of fintech is its ability to facilitate mobile payments. With a simple tap of their phone, consumers can now pay for goods and services without having to carry any cash or cards. This has made it easier than ever for people to make purchases, and it has also helped reduce the amount of time spent queuing up at the checkout.
– Peer-to-peer lending
Another popular fintech product is peer-to-peer lending. This involves borrowing money from a group of people (peers) rather than from a traditional financial institution such as a bank. Peer-to-peer lending can be an attractive option for borrowers because it often offers lower interest rates than those offered by banks. It can also be a good option for investors because it allows them to invest in high-yield loans.
– Digital currencies
Digital currencies are another key area of fintech. Bitcoin is the most well-known example of a digital currency, and it has been growing in popularity over the past few years. Digital currencies are a form of digital money that can purchase goods and services online. They are created through mining, and they can be stored in digital wallets. One of the key advantages of digital currencies is that they are not subject to government or financial institution control, which makes them an attractive option for people who want more freedom and control over their money.
The rise of fintech is changing the future of finance by making it easier and faster for people to manage their money. Fintech products and services are providing consumers with a range of new options, and they are also helping to reduce the amount of time spent queuing up at the checkout. Digital currencies are a key area of fintech, and they are growing in popularity due to their freedom and control over money. Fintech is changing the world of finance, and it is here to stay.

domain: economics


Top Box , Been thinking about this for a long time , wots the best top box for a transalp, me personally , I am not a fan of them , but out riding in a group with side panniers on , I almost took a mirror of a Porsche whilst weaving through traffic, (I know could have gone for a lexus lol) so ...
Xl600v Ok after about 1 hr of steady riding my water temp rises, sits at about 80 degrees upon hitting traffic after this it will rise up to 105 degrees then fan comes in and lowers temp.
My question are....
1. Is this normal?
2. Do your fans come on?
3. What temp does your alp run at?
This is my first post on here and would like your advise on buying a 600 LM
I don't get my full licence until next feb and would love to get the XL for my first big road bike.
I've been a fan of this bike since I was a kid.
I just find it hard to come across a good clean one for...
As per the title :toothy9:
I have a few old, rusty bits of Transalp 600 for free (just pay the postage!)
-both pillion foot pegs
-fan (1 tab broken)
-lower fairing bracket
-upper yoke cable holder
-rear caliper bracket
-some other random gubbins
PM me if you want...
So i have this question about the direction of the Air from the FAN
if i'm in front of the bike and down the headlight , i go near the FAN.
Should i see the Air coming out of the FAN to the outside or it should suck the Air to the inside ?
can you guys check yours ( those who has...
So I've spent all day riding on/off road at the Touratech event today and if I don't keep to speeds above 30/40 the radiator fan was on/off with the temp hitting 100c regularly. Is this normal for the Transalp 700 or should I look at changing the coolant. No idea when it will have been changed...
quick question here
i don't use the bike so often so i try to run the engine once a week. if i leave it for 15 mins running in idle the fan works.
is that normal ? the coolant level is Ok and same for the oil
what should i check ?
vara 2004 ABS
I've bought a few of these now and have been bringing them back to 'better than new' standard. They're such a rare bike here and such a bloody fantastic bike too. Why we never got them here is a mystery. They're still produced and sell well in USA, Aus and South Africa. Unchanged since 1993...
Haven't been on much at all recently as the bike was parked up around a year ago and has been undergoing a sporadic upgrade/restoration.
Here are a few pics (99% of what you see was supplied by Rugged Roads!)
The swingarm was painted by Sudden Impact in Essex who did a fantastic job.
XR is a fantastic model of Honda. We are using them for our bussiness in Vietnam.
If you want to ride XR to see the real Vietnam, please contact us. Our website: Vietnam Motorbike Tours | Crossing Border Motorcycle Tours
what ever the case may be . im watching the Mike Leigh film naked right now on youtube its pretty good I really rate him as a director . im going for a smoke at about 50 minuites into the film the bloke cant smoke but I can . isn't all this technology at our disposal fantastic before the...
I noticed in the last couple of days that the fan was not coming on. I guessed it maybe the Thermostat, but now I am not sure.
If I take a cable from the battery ground and press against the radiator, the fan doesn't come on, I am guessing it is a ground switch similar to the Deauville. I do...
Need help, please!
I have just had my 650 TA engine fully rebuilt, I put the bike back together over this weekend checking everything along the way with help from Haynes.
The bike is just refusing to start, the engine turns over without any issues, fuel is getting to the carbs but for...
Thought Id throw this in for discussion as I havent seen any TDR's here. Who has owned or ridden one? Arent they just fantastic? No other bike I have ever owned made me ride like such a tw*t. I sold each of the 3 Ive owned because I knew I was going to either die or get arrested. I was nearly 40...
Took a day out with Paddy from Newbury Motorcycles (die hard @t fan) to try out the new suspension
and tyres over on Salisbury Plain. Didn't quite work out as planed, had a slight off in a rather large
Puddle much to his ammusement. Only damage my touring screen, thanks to the very effective...
Preparations for the Taffy Dakar 2015 are underway, we have been very busy behind the scenes to make this even better. There will be a larger area covered with regards to waypoints so even more unsurfaced roads to navigate though.
These are still in progress to make sure everyone has a...


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Management Monday: Work-Life balance
Every hour of every day, we’re all making choices. From which shoes to wear in the morning to which car to buy, these decisions come in all shapes and sizes – yet we don’t always realise we’re making them.
One of the biggest choices we make – and one that many of us don’t realise we’ve made – is about our work-life balance. As business owners and managers, it can be very easy to feel that we have no control over our lives, because the practice demands so much of our attention. There is also a certain pressure when we reach the higher levels of any business: as the boss, shouldn’t we be spending all hours at work?
Well no, actually. This is a choice we make, albeit unconsciously. We can allow ourselves to be dragged into working six or seven days a week, 12 or 15 hours a day – or we can not. We can retain that sense of perspective, and the knowledge that we are not just our job: our job is just one aspect of our life.
When we become so absorbed in our work that it becomes the most important thing we do, we risk not only our personal lives but also our professional lives. It’s obvious that families and friends can be neglected by people who focus too heavily on their businesses, but what about people working with us?
Someone who is always pushing for more sales, always looking at the bottom line and constantly asking for more isn’t going to be much fun to work for. They will not bring out the best in their staff – and consequently, the business will not perform as well as it might. It seems odd, but too much focus can be detrimental to a practice – as well as to physical and mental health, emotional wellbeing and home life.
Think of it this way: when you look back on your life in 30, 40 or 50 years’ time, what will you be proud of? What might you regret? Make the choice now to strike the right balance in your life.
Visit the website today!

domain: psychology


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Kutztown University's on-campus housing could suffer if a 337-unit apartment complex is built near the campus, a university official has told Maxatawny Township supervisors.
Gerald Silberman, vice president for administration and finance, raised the university's concerns at a township supervisors meeting.
"We have about 370 of our 4,000 dormitory beds vacant, and that number could be even greater if an apartment complex opens adjacent to campus," Silberman said.
Developer Greg Sarangoulis of Reading contends that his proposed Advantage Point Apartments would appeal primarily to students already living off campus in Kutztown.
The two- and four-bedroom apartments would cater to a generation of students who want modern amenities, he said.
Sarangoulis, president of GMI First, has similar projects near Bloomsburg University and on Lancaster Avenue in Reading, where he converted the former Gilbert Associates building into high-end housing for Alvernia University students.
Giving students the option of renting comfortable apartments will draw more students to Kutztown, he said at Wednesday's meeting.
"This is state-of-the-art student housing," Sarangoulis said. "It's going to help Kutztown University, not harm it."
Maxatawny supervisors gave preliminary approval to the complex, immediately off campus on Baldy Road, west of the university's Golden Bear housing complex.
Patrick Motley of Motley Associates in Shillington and James P. Dimmerling, a Wyomissing engineer who specializes in transportation issues, presented the project to the supervisors.
Advantage Point would have three five-story apartment buildings with a capacity of 1,348 people.
A two-story, 17,000-square-foot clubhouse would have a resort-style swimming pool, exercise equipment and tanning beds.
A gated community, the complex would have 1,090 parking spaces and be monitored by video surveillance and on-site security.
It would use the Maxatawny Township sewer system and Kutztown's water, estimated at 70,000 gallons a day.
Although within walking distance of the campus, it could have its own shuttle bus service.
The Maxatawny Township Planning Commission reviewed the plan and recommended preliminary approval, provided the developer meets with local fire officials and the university.
Sarangoulis said he will meet with university officials this week.
The developer has another project on the boards in Maxatawny, a 192-unit complex on Lyons Road, south of Lyons Borough.
Apollo Point Apartments, which has received preliminary approval from the township, would have two-, three- and four-bedroom units renting for $1,000 to $1,800 a month.
The developer said it's geared to the anticipated expansion at East Penn Manufacturing Co. Inc.
Contact Ron Devlin: 610-371-5030 or firstname.lastname@example.org.


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AT&T may have a dividend yield of more than 5%, but Verizon's dividend-growth rate and smart capital-allocation decisions point to better total-return prospects, says Morningstar's Josh Peters.
We’re raising our fair value estimate for Apple after incorporating the impact of Apple Watch, but expectations for the firm remain too high.
Expectations are high for Tuesday's event, and the company has little room for error.
Investors could still benefit by taking a closer look at some firms with strong positions in mobile computing.
Our top managers continue to put money into wide-moat firms.
Investors should remain selective amid a generally uninspiring marketplace, while keeping an eye on secular themes.
Greed trumps fear in several pockets of the tech sector, but buying opportunities can still be found.


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Is Divorce the Only Answer to An Unequal Marriage?
I'll admit, I appreciate the simplicity
The most infuriating thing about the national conversation on domestic work, childcare and the pandemic is that it only seems to be women who are having it.
After all, the primary reason American women are disproportionately suffering—losing jobs and cutting back hours while juggling work, childcare, and elder care—is because they have male partners who won’t do their fair share at home. We’re in the middle of what might be the biggest economic disaster for women in decades, and the men who caused it are silent.
How do we make them care? One seemingly-straightforward solution that’s been bandying about the internet is divorce: If you’re in an unequal marriage, leave.
I’ll admit, I love the simplicity. But writer Emily Gould made an important point on Twitter: Isn’t that an individual solution to a systemic problem? Wouldn’t it be better to focus on issues like paid parental leave and subsidized child care?
It’s true; telling women to leave their less-than-helpful husbands doesn’t address the structural hurdles families face. The problem, though, is that no legislation will make men want to do work they think is beneath them.
Research shows that men’s views on women, childcare and domestic work are actually more regressive now than they were decades ago: While most American men support equality in other areas of women’s lives, nearly half still want a housewife. Even ‘progressive’ men don’t often live their politics at home. Policy alone can’t change that kind of widespread thinking.
In fact, family-friendly policies can even have the unintended consequence of reinforcing traditional gender roles.
One study, for example, showed that male professors given paternity leave used the time to publish more papers instead of watching their children. As a result, their careers progressed faster than those of their female peers who used parental leave to...parent. Or consider that in Nordic countries—whose policies are pointed to as the gold standard—men aren’t nearly as likely as women to make use of paid parental leave, which often re-entrenches sexism at home.
This doesn’t mean we don’t fight for legislation—just that America needs a cultural shift that changes men’s hearts and minds alongside that policy progress.
Take media coverage on women and the pandemic. Nearly every headline is some version of “Covid forces women out of the workforce,” rather than the much more simple and truthful "men’s refusal to equally parent rolls back women’s progress.”
Imagine if instead of quotes from harried moms, we saw profiles of men trying to explain why their time and work is more valuable than their wives’. What if there were magazine covers framing this as a national scandal: Men across the country do nothing as the women they love lose jobs.
We could start even earlier. High school health classes shouldn’t just be covering sex education, but how ingrained ideas about gender can prevent healthy relationships. Young men could learn early on that child care and housework is as much their responsibility as women’s—and how excuses to the contrary are rooted in sexism. Young women could be taught to expect an equal relationship, and how to identify signs that their future partner may not be looking for the same.
And divorce? Instead of “just leave him”—which feels like yet another way to make men’s issues women’s problem—we could ensure that men get truthful messages about marriage.
Right now, American culture paints marriage as something women are desperate for and men desperate to avoid. But studies show that women are more likely to initiate divorces than men, that women tend to be happier than men post-divorce, and that marriage benefits men more than it does women.
If men truly understood that their happiness is much more dependent on marriage than it is for women, perhaps they’d work harder to make sure their wives weren’t miserable. (Imagine sitcoms depicting wives leaving lazy husbands, or reality shows portraying single women as reluctant to give up their freedom.)
All that said, of course women should leave husbands who aren’t good partners. I’m all for it. But while you’re signing those separation papers, let’s work towards a culture that shows men they have as much of a stake in this issue as we do.


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LeBron James is about to be totally stoked. Taco Bell just announced that for a full month, the mexican chain will be celebrating Taco Tuesday with a free taco for all customers.
Back in April, a rival taco fast food chain Taco John successfully acquired a patent which trademarked the phrase “Taco Tuesday.” Basically, this random taco spot in Wyoming technically owned the phrase.
Taco Bell immediately had some qualms about the trademark. Believing that Taco Tuesday was a day to be celebrated by all taco lovers everywhere, Taco Bell began a petition to reclaim the trademark from Taco John. In May, Taco Bell took things even more seriously as they filed a legal petition with the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
Due to the legal petition, Taco John would have needed to shell out (pun intended) loads of money in order to fight for the phrase. In July, Taco John CEO Jim Creel said “we’ve always prided ourselves on being the home of Taco Tuesday, but paying millions of dollars to lawyers to defend our mark just doesn’t feel like the right thing to do.”
Following his announcement, Taco John decided to relinquish its hold of the phrase and release it back to public use. Afterwards, Taco Bell commended Taco John’s “courageous decision” and is now celebrating the phrase’s independence.
In a press release from Taco Bell headquarters, the chain explained their motives for their fight. “The aim was simple: to free the phrase for restaurants nationwide. The message was clear: Taco Tuesday belongs to everyone, from Taco Bell to Taco John’s to your favorite local taco spot.”
Now having accomplished their goal, Taco Bell has decided to celebrate Taco Tuesday with free tacos for everyone. Starting next Tuesday August 15, Taco Bell will give a free Doritos Locos taco to all customers every single Tuesday. The promotion will run through September 5. That is one month of free Taco Tuesdays.
“Taco Tuesday belongs to all who make, sell, eat and celebrate tacos, and this Free-For-All will not only thank taco fans who supported the cause, but will also spotlight local restaurants and vendors who can now embrace Taco Tuesdays without fear of legal action,” said Taco Bell’s chief marketing officer Taylor Montgomery.
It’s unclear if free tacos require purchase or if you seriously can roll up to the drive-thru without a wallet. Though I’m sure more details will come soon enough, let’s be real. You don’t go to TBell and just get a single taco.
This is a day to celebrate. Thank you Taco Bell for fighting the good fight. Your hard work, determination, and moral values have not gone unnoticed. Speaking for all taco lovers everywhere, we appreciate you and look forward to seeing you on Tuesday.


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domain: entertainment


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EMILIO Aguinaldo College overcame a slow start and turned back fiesty Arellano University, 24-26, 25-19, 25-21, 25-17, on Wednesday to close in on a second finals appearance in the 90th NCAA men's volleyball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.
Howard Mojica exploded with a match-high 24 hits, 21 coming off kills to lift the Generals to their first win in the semifinals.
EAC advanced to the finals last year but got ambushed by Perpetual Help, which swept the best-of-three series for its fourth straight title.
This season, the Generals haven't lost in 10 outings, including a nine-game sweep of the elimination round.
College of St. Benilde also boosted its title chances after it surprised the five-peat-seeking Perpetual Help, 25-12, 29-27, 19-25, 25-20, to also move a step closer to the finals.
MVP contender Johnvic de Guzman had a 33-hit performance, powering the Blazers to the upset win.
St. Benilde coach Arnold Laniog, who mentored Systema to a runner-up finish in the first ever men's tournament of the Shakey's V-League late last year, said defense was the difference.
"The key was our net defense and making it hard for their attackers. And we both succeeded in doing it in this match," said Laniog.
EAC and St. Benilde face off on Thursday, with the winner clinching the first championship berth.


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In his letters, Siarhei Satsuk, editor of the Ezhednevnik newspaper, complains that the administration of the remand prison in Mahiliou, where he stays awaiting the consideration of his appeal, refuses to give him the necessary heart medication. As a result, his heart “is out of whack”.
“He got very sick, developed a fever, and his maxillary sinusitis aggravated,” his relatives told the BAJ monitoring service. “He wrote that it struck him really hard this time. But it was only when he developed a severe cough that the doctor prescribed an antibiotic and even allowed two days of bed rest – an unprecedented relief. He still has heart issues and has had a ciliary arrhythmia attack because he only takes half the dose of medication he needs. He is not granted access to the pills we sent earlier, despite his requests. Unfortunately, his condition is largely ignored.”
Moreover, for unknown reasons, the political prisoner is regularly transferred from one cell to another, which affects his physical and psychological well-being.
Most of the letters from the family do not reach Satsuk.
Siarhei Satsuk will spend at least the next few weeks in the detention facility in Mahiliou – his appeal is to be considered by the Supreme Court on February 10. If it is dismissed, the prisoner will be transferred to a correctional colony to serve an 8-year term of imprisonment.
Siarhei Satsuk is not going to give up and is determined to prove his innocence based on facts. The BAJ found out that he personally drafted the last version of the appeal against the “disproportionate sentence.” The journalist had long specialized in judicial matters, so he knows the legal nuances as well as lawyers.
Siarhei Satsuk is an investigative journalist and editor of the Ezhednevnik news outlet (ej.by). He was detained on 8 December 2021 and charged with bribetaking, inciting social hatred, and abuse of power or office.
On 26 October 2022, Judge of Minsk City Court Sviatlana Bandarenka sentenced the defendant to 8 years of imprisonment and a fine.
He is also banned from holding administrative positions for five years. To ensure the execution of the sentence, the property of the journalist was seized: a car, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, and other electronic devices.


At the annual Pwn2Own contest, where experts in software security compete to become the first to hack the latest and "most secure" tech products, pretty much everything was hacked in no time.
In years past, some of the most stable devices have been cracked, like Apple's Macbook computer and Safari Web browser. This year was no different, as a two-man team was able to bring the iPhone 3GS to its knees, in just a matter of hours.
Vincenzo Iozzo and Ralf-Philipp Weinmann worked around the mobile phone's extremely stringent operating system and were able to run malicious code on it.
Internet Explorer 8, Windows 7, Firefox, and the latest Macbook Pro were all also hacked. The contest requires that competitors work with the latest patches on all products and that no unsecured third-party apps or add-ins are installed.
The only item that withstood the rigorous test was Google's Chrome browser. During the weekend-long event, no one was able to crack through the proprietary security infrastructure that Google put into place.
Hmmm...maybe that multi-billion monopolistic company actually knows a thing or two...
Via PC World.
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Aretha Franklin - Songs of Faith: Aretha Gospel Vinyl LP
Aretha Franklin Songs of Faith: Aretha Gospel Vinyl LP
One of the key voices in the R&B world, the late Aretha Franklin enjoyed a six decade reign as the "Queen of Soul." Her hits include some of the most iconic songs of the era, including such classics as "Respect," "Until You Come Back To Me" and "Think." Like many of her peers, Aretha's career began in the church, and it is this period of her career that is the subject of this album.
With the aid of local Detroit record label JVB, primitive and basic recording equipment was installed into the New Bethel Baptist Church where her father was minister. Nine tracks were recorded, featuring Aretha on vocals and piano accompaniment, with others in the congregation offering words of encouragement during the course of the recording. The historical and captivating performance is featured here in all its glory.
Aretha Franklin Songs of Faith: Aretha Gospel Track Listing:
1. There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood
2. Precious Lord (Part One)
3. Precious Lord (Part Two)
4. You Grow Closer
5. Never Grow Old
6. The Day is Past and Gone
7. He Will Wash You White as Snow
8. While the Blood Runs Warm
9. Yield Not To Temptation
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domain: library


Marriott Kathmandu's Radiant Celebration: Lighting Up Hearts with Tree Illumination and Support for Children
KATHMANDU, Dec 04: In a festive celebration at the Marriott Kathmandu on Sunday, December 3, a heartwarming Christmas tree lighting event unfolded. The gathering featured a range of activities, from unveiling the 3rd day of the first public Advent calendar in Nepal to the Christmas tree lighting amidst melodies and songs by children from Baby Life Home.
The program also continued the initiative of helping the needy in the spirit of Christmas. It featured artistic bottles that directly supported children with HIV, which were sold starting at Rs. 500 each. This event, organized at Fairfield earlier, had already raised more than 20,000 rupees. The major announcement is that Mariott Kathmandu will match all the donations made.
Similarly, Ecuadorian roses, local chocolates, and candles were also on sale, with all the
money raised going towards charity. It was also announced that local artists would display their artwork every Saturday, which provided them with a platform. Amidst the celebration,the highlight was the unique gift hamper announced for the 3rd day of the advent calendar—a Kathmandu tour for children, allowing them to explore various places, including Nuwakot and Patan.
U.S. Ambassador Dean R. Thompson, accompanied by his wife Jane Krill Thompson, were the chief guests of this event. Mr. Thompson commended Marriott as an exemplary and significant investment, emphasizing the hotel's role in making a positive impact. He said this program underscored Marriott's commitment to corporate social responsibility. In the spirit of the season, Ambassador Thompson encapsulated the essence of the event, stating, "Christmas itself is about bringing light into a dark world." This sentiment resonated with the overall mission of the celebration—to spread light, and joy, and erase darkness for a brighter
Vishal Mehra, the Cluster General Manager of Marriott, echoed the sentiment of gratitude and emphasized the hotel's dedication to supporting those in need. He expressed, “This is not just about illuminating the tree; it's the illumination of hearts with warmth, compassion, and the spirit of giving.” He restated the commitment of Mariott to innovating in the spirit of giving and spreading joy. He also showed the hotel’s commitment to sustainability by using solar-powered decorations and promised further solar-electric endeavors. He also announced exciting events for the holiday season. He also thanked the support partners who are supporting Team Marriott to provide for the children. He proudly expressed the noble mission of supporting children from the birth home.
Chef Kyohei from Kaku Kaku Shika Jika restaurant in Fairfield by Marriott also expressed his boundless joy at this event, urging the guests to make a positive impact on the children’s lives by purchasing the bottles. Noyo Rai, a teacher from the school, also expressed sincere gratitude for the collaboration with Mariott Kathmandu and Fairfield by Mariott, anticipating increased benefits for the children and fostered a positive impact on their educational experience.


Water Purification Systems
A water purification/recycling system developed by Photo-Catalytics, Inc. (PCI) for NASA is commercially available. The system cleanses and recycles water, using a photo-catalysis" process in which light or radiant energy sparks a chemical reaction. Chemically stable semiconductor powders are added to organically polluted water. The powder absorbs ultraviolet light and pollutants are oxidized and converted to carbon dioxide. Potential markets for the system include research and pharmaceutical manufacturing applications as well as microchip manufacture and wastewater cleansing."
Full article: http://hdl.handle.net/hdl:2060/20020083145