By John Williams yardley@buckslocalnews.com

LOWER MAKEFIELD Commissioner Rob Loughery is taking time to visit all of Bucks Countys 54 municipalities in a personal appeal to highlight county priorities.

Commissioner Loughery, who was voted into office in November after first being appointed as commissioner following the election of Jim Cawley as lieutenant governor, visited the Lower Makefield Board of Supervisors on Wednesday, June 6.

He told the board that the county is focused on boosting revenue and cutting expenses as it pertains to the budget. He called last years modest tax increase a result of a $24 million deficit at the time.

He said the construction of the new justice center is still the largest capital project the county is currently undertaking. Bock & Sons, a construction firm based in Northeast Philadelphia, won an $80 million bid in January 2011 to build the center.

This past November, the commissioners voted 2-1 to borrow $85 million over a period of 15 years to fund the construction of the center.

However, Loughery did admit that the construction of the center has fallen behind schedule, but not by much. He told the board he wasnt too concerned about the progress already made.

The facility plans to open in February 2014.

Moreover, the county is working with 200 fewer employees. At the beginning of the year, the county started with 2,600 employees. Now, there are roughly 2,400.

Loughery said that even though the county is working with fewer parts, it will give the commissioners a good opportunity to analyze how to properly deliver county government. He said the process is two-fold: Cutting the size of government and meeting budgets through attrition.

Go here to read the rest:
Commissioner Loughery visits Lower Makefield supervisors meeting, discusses county priorities

You will hear from brand owners of the personal and fabric care industries who will share on the latest product developments and trends, growth outlook of fast emerging economies and the opportunities these new markets present. Ingredient suppliers will share the latest concerns regarding the market situation of key raw materials, green concerns, new innovations, sustainability concerns & performance-cost issues. The latest regulatory trends will also be discussed in detail.

S.P.A.F.C.A is designed for R&D managers and formulators who are seeking inspirations to improve their product performance and sustainability. For marketing and business development managers, S.P.A.F.C.A is a one-stop centre to obtain market updates as well as meeting customers. Purchasing managers can benefit from analysis on ingredient supply and demand trends as well as obtain the latest information on R&D developments, new formulations and regulatory issues in the fields of cosmetics, skin care, body care, hair care and laundry care.

Held over 2 days, the Sustainable Personal and Fabric Care Asia brings you the latest insights and innovations in the personal and fabric care industries vital for strengthening your market position.

For more information, please visit http://www.advantiquegroup.com/spafca.html.

About Advantique Group

Advantique Group Pte Ltd produces international business conferences that will help you generate new ideas, opportunities and connections. We are a spin off from Star Event Management International, a highly creative and dynamic event management set-up since 2001. Our management team consists of accomplished conference executives with 15 years of experience in producing, marketing and managing high level conferences. At Advantique Group, we go the extra mile to create enriching platforms for you to acquire market insights, meet new contacts and build lasting relationships. Please visit us at http://www.advantiquegroup.com.

Contact:

Jasmine Cheong Sustainable Personal and Fabric Care Asia (SPAFCA) Advantique Group +65 6243 3778 jasmine@advantiquegroup.com

June 6, 2012 From the Japan Corporate News Network http://www.japancorp.net Topic: Trade Show or Conference View more news from these Sectors: Chemicals

View original post here:
Sustainable Personal and Fabric Care Asia (SPAFCA) to be held 28-29 August in Shanghai

GARDNER -- Mount Wachusett Community College is offering a wide variety of personal enrichment and professional development courses this summer through the Division of Lifelong Learning and Workforce Development. Courses are available in the areas of business and career, finance, music, photography, fitness and, health careers, and children's courses in art, drama, science, computers and more. In addition, the MWCC Fitness & Wellness Center is offering classes and sports camps for children and teens, and certification training for adults.

Business and career topics include social media for business, iPad for educators, Microsoft Word, Excel and Publisher, and website fundamentals with Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

Personal interest courses are available in music, crafts, photography, writing, cooking and home and garden.

The new North Quabbin Entrepreneurship Center in Athol is offering a series of classes intended to help individuals move an idea from initial concept to business launch. Topics being covered this season include financial accounting concepts for managers, budgeting, starting a business, and project management risks and cost analysis.

The Athol Community Development Block Grant offers tuition waivers for qualified residents of surrounding towns on a first come, first-served basis.

For more information about upcoming courses, call 978-630-9525 or visit mwcc.edu/continuing.

Read this article:
Mount Wachusett Community College announces summer course offerings

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp-tU4J4HF4

07-06-2012 16:40

Here is the original post:
julia cambre, "online education and pedagogical paradigms at stanford university" - Video

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuKdfbzlk-M

08-06-2012 11:08 National Louis University's Multi-Tiered Online Initiative seeks to reduce costs, increase academic supports and promote engaged learning by creating a highly stream-lined core, general education curriculum linked to self-paced modules aligned to credit-bearing, proficiency-based assessments. The Multi-Tiered Online Initiative will leverage open-source material, prior learning assessment, and use a scenario-based curricular approach for program-specific learning. All learning pathways will lead to one of three degree programs which have strong employability rates upon graduation. Learning will take place within the Self-paced Progressive Intervention Framework which is a system of response embedded into assessments alerting coaches when a learner needs support. This framework will enable students with diverse skill sets/knowledge to progress through modules and assessments simultaneously while receiving support tailored to his or her specific needs and time frame. When a student is no longer able to study independently, they will be able to "opt in" to an instructor-led, online course in order to complete their degree.

See the original post:
National Louis University Multi-Tiered Online Initiative - Video

Read emails state Board of Education members sent to education officials and Superintendent Janet Barresis response.

Parents and guardians of several affected students were shocked to learn of the disclosure of documents they thought were only for the eyes of the state Board of Education.

"No, I was not aware of that!" said Ebenezer Duko, father of Broken Arrow High School senior Dallas Dickens-Duko, whose appeal was denied. "I thought everything had to be confidential. I am very concerned and very disappointed. ... I didn't know there was a waiver in the appeal."

Under the Oklahoma Achieving Classroom Excellence Act, which applies to the class of 2012 and beyond, students must pass at least four of seven subject matter tests in order to earn a high school diploma.

Amid outcry from lawmakers and concerns from state board members, state officials took down the names of the 25 students on Friday and redacted their personal information before reposting their ACE appeal applications on the Internet.

The spokesman for State Superintendent Janet Barresi initially defended the action, but later told the Tulsa World that personal information would be redacted because of state board members' concerns.

"There were conversations. They understand the department was striking a difficult balance between being transparent and dealing with student information. Going forward, we are going to take a look at what other states are doing and whether we could have a system that could assign a case number to students seeking appeals," said Damon Gardenhire.

Through a request under the Oklahoma Open Records Act, the Tulsa World obtained copies of state board members' emails. Gardenhire also included Barresi's response, which was sent to the entire board.

Joy Hoffmeister, a state board member from Tulsa, wrote to Barresi that she was disheartened.

"Based on my recollection, the Board had recently been advised that documents distributed during Executive Session are not subject to the same disclosures as those items distributed outside of Executive Session. I am not an expert in the Open Meeting Act or the Open Records Act, but why were these students' records and privacy not shielded in this same way?" she wrote. "I would suggest that in the future, anyone who exercises their right to an appeal should be given greater care to protect their privacy. When a situation of competing rights exist, I believe it is incumbent upon us, as a public board and government agency, to exercise the highest level of care and protection in favor of children and young students."

See the article here:
Education officials post records of all students with appeals online

GOSHEN, Ind., June 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --When circumstances deliver an unforeseen life event, it's easy to become immobilized between wondering, "Why did that happen?" and "What am I going to do about it?" Like many victims of downsizing in the business world, Bill Flint found himself suddenly unemployed at age 61. He refers to it as a time when Faith and Fear collided: his, "Now what, God?" moment. Unlike many people, though, who see unemployment as an opportunity for early retirement or gradual withdrawal from activity, Bill saw this as an opportunity to follow his longtime dream of creating his own consulting firm, to help companies maximize the potential of their most important asset: the people who come to work every day wanting to accomplish something bigger than themselves. Bill says, "what is needed are servant leaders who care, motivate and encourage their people to discover and reach their potential."

Bill started Flint Strategic Partners, located in Goshen, Indiana, to provide strategic consulting, coaching and servant leadership training to companies of any size. He also found time to write his first book called "The Journey To Competitive Advantage Through Servant Leadership," which is currently among the top 10 best-selling books out of 4,700 titles on Amazon in the servant leadership category in the U.S., France, Italy, Canada, UK, Spain, China and Germany. It is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and other retailers.

"The Journey To Competitive Advantage Through Servant Leadership" was published by Westbow Press, a Division of Thomas Nelson. The intent of the book is to clearly illustrate his business philosophy of sincere motivation of and interest in people, drawing on his experiences to create a step-by-step guide for leaders. He states, "...it is truly possible to create an environment of caring, trust and respect between leaders and those they lead."

His book has also been nominated for Book of the Year by Forward Review in the career category. The winners will be announced at the American Library Association annual convention June 23, 2012, in Anaheim, California.

Over a 40-year period, Bill has lived in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin and Indiana as he navigated a successful business career that included 28 years in senior management positions and 12 years as president of two separate companies. One of those companies recorded annual sales of $125 million with ten manufacturing facilities in the United States, Mexico and Europe.

To contact Bill, e-mail him at bflint@flintpartners.com or call 888-395-9054. You can also visit http://www.servantleaders.org to sign up for Free Webinars, Newsletters and watch a video of Bill speaking at the Young Professionals Leaderfest Conference in Wisconsin in April 2012. Bill is available for speaking engagements, seminars, leadership retreats, and conventions.

This press release was issued through eReleases Press Release Distribution. For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com.

View post:
Loss of Job Creates Opportunity for Executive to Create Flint Strategic Partners and Write New Book About Life Lessons ...

By Keith Peters Palo Alto Online Sports

It could have been an ending to any other school year for Pam Wimberly, who handed out some diplomas at Menlo-Atherton's graduation ceremony on Thursday and looked ahead to teaching summer school.

When Wimberly returns to school in the fall to resume her PE teaching duties, however, things will be very different.

For one, the 65-year-old Wimberly will not be standing on the basketball court for the first day of practice on November 1. After 42 years of coaching the girls' hoop team at M-A (she started in 1968-69 but missed two seasons), Wimberly will be a spectator for the first time.

That decision was made on June 1 when M-A Principal Matthew Zito informed Wimberly that her coaching career at the school was over.

"I will go on and teach my classes, and enjoy more things in life," she said. "I'm coming to grips with what happened."

What happened was, after two losing seasons, co-Athletic Directors Paul Snow and Steven Kryger, along with Zito, decided that Wimberly evidently had seen better days. Forget the fact she had compiled a won-loss record of 663-340 in her 42 years while becoming the third-winningest girls' hoop coach in California. Forget the fact she had won four Central Coast Section titles (1984, 1991, 1992 and 1993) or been runner-up six times. And forget that she missed the CCS playoffs only 10 times in 36 years since the section postseason began in 1977.

In 2001, Wimberly was named Girls' Basketball Coach of the Year by the California Coaches Association and was selected as one of 13 coaches honored with the Model Coach Award by the California Interscholastic Federation.

While no one wanted to state the obvious, going 10-16 this past season and 7-18 in 2010-11 while missing the CCS playoffs both times reportedly did not enamor Wimberly with a group of M-A parents who evidently wanted more. It was a clash of style over substance and the supposed weight of parental pressure apparently won out.

A statement released by Kryger said: "Pam accomplished many great feats over the course of her career and the M-A community is grateful for all that she did for hundreds of student-athletes. We feel this is the time to make the transition to a new head varsity coach for our girls' basketball program."

See the original post:
Wimberly's exit from coaching not what she envisioned

Once, only the wealthy paid other people to perform their most personal tasks: finding mates, raising (or even having) children, making meals.

Now those professionals have become available to the upper-middle and middle classes. We hire people to name our children and love our parents, shop for the gifts we give and walk our dogs. We even hire people to help us figure out what it is that we want. (That's right, you can grow up to be a wantologist.)

But these are complicated transactions, and we all need to pay attention, according to UC Berkeley sociology professor Arlie Russell Hochschild, author of the new book "The Outsourced Self: Intimate Life in Market Times."

Hochschild, who interviewed more than 100 people for her book, is careful not to judge these services "that reach into the heart of our emotional lives" or the people who employ these strangers. And she acknowledges, "We are not going back. We don't want to."

The stories of the ordinary people she talked to reveal much about how we live today: what it means that, in large measure, "village life" has become so commercialized.

"These services are only likely to proliferate in a world that undermines community, disparages government, marginalizes nonprofits and believes in the superiority of what's for sale," Hochschild writes.

So how, she asks, do we go forward? We each must figure out what is too personal to outsource; we have to understand what we cherish and hold on to it.

Consider: The woman who hires a love coach but insists it's for her alone to sort through the Match.com replies. The dad who decides that he alone will put on his 5-year-old's birthday party, even when the parents of her friends hire professionals. The bride who hands almost every detail over to a planner but insists on choosing her dress with her mom because that, to her, is too personal.

"In the face of the market's de-personalization of our bonds with others, we do what we can, consciously or not, to re-personalize them, to make the market feel less like a market," Hochschild concludes.

The author of such books as "The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home" is not just an observer. She came to "The Outsourced Self" in part through her experience seeking care for an elderly aunt who lived 3,000 miles away. She sees her research as a bit of the canary in the coal mine an early warning of just how much we're giving over to strangers.

Read more:
Outsourcing your life

By Denise Mann HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) -- While U.S. doctors often urge obese teens to eat better and exercise more, overweight kids headed for obesity seldom get the same medical advice, a new study shows.

That's important, experts say, because preventing obesity is much easier than dealing with it once it's there.

In the study, fewer than half of all adolescents were advised to eat a healthful diet by their doctor, and only about a third were also told to get more exercise.

This type of advice was more commonly doled out to obese boys and girls than their normal-weight counterparts, but overweight adolescents -- those at highest risk of becoming obese -- were counseled much less often.

The bottom line is that "there is still significant room for improvement in terms of the diagnosis, prevention and management of weight issues in children," said one expert, Dr. Yolandra Hancock, a primary care pediatrician at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She was not involved with the study.

If doctors aren't helping overweight kids slim down, it's up to parents to step in, she said.

"If your provider has not brought up weight or body-mass index (BMI), ask how much your child weighs, what their [BMI] is and how it compares to other same-aged kids," she said. "Once this conversation is initiated, the provider will take the lead."

BMI is a measurement of body fat based on height and weight. A BMI of 30 is typically considered the threshold for obesity.

The study, led by Dr. Lan Liang of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in Rockville, Md., appears online in advance of print publication in the July issue of Pediatrics.

The rest is here:
Docs aren't coaching overweight kids on how to slim down