provident fund - Page 4

WebCenter Customer Spotlight: spectrumK Holding GmbH

- by me

Author: Peter Reiser - Social Business Evangelist Oracle WebCenter Solution Summary spectrumK Holding GmbH was founded in 2007 by various German health insurance funds and national insurance associations and is a service provider for the healthcare market, covering patient care management, financial management, and information management, as well as payment services and legal counseling. spectrumK Holding GmbH business objectives was to implement innovative new Web-based services and solution systems for health insurance funds by integrating a multitude of isolated solutions from different organizations. Using Oracle WebCenter Portal, Oracle WebCenter Content, and Site Studio, the customer created a multiple-portal environment and deployed the 1st three applications for patient receipt, a medication navigator, and disability information. spectrumK Holding GmbH accelerated time-to-market for new features by reducing the development time, achieved 40% development and cost savings using standard modules and realized 80% overall savings using the Oracle multiple portal environment, as compared to individual installations. Company Overview spectrumK Holding GmbH was founded in 2007 by various company health insurance funds and national insurance associations. A service provider for the healthcare market, spectrumK consists of one holding company and four operative subsidiaries. Its broad product portfolio of compulsory health funds covers patient care management, financial management, and information management, as well as payment services and legal counseling. Business ChallengesspectrumK Holding GmbH business objectives were to implement innovative new Web-based services and solution systems for the health insurance funds by integrating a multitude of isolated solutions from different organizations. Specifically, spectrumK was looking to: Establish a portal-based environment to provide health coverage information services to the insured, with the option to integrate a multitude of isolated solutions from different organizations Implement innovative new Web-based spectrumK service products and solutions systems for health insurance funds Lower costs while improving services for the health fund’s clients Find an infrastructure that supports the small development team in efficient implementation and operation of the solution Reuse standard modules while enabling easy, inexpensive adaptations to customer-specific corporate requirements Solution Deployed spectrumK Holding GmbH created a multiple-portal environment, called “KundenCenter+“ which is based on the integration of Oracle WebCenter Portal, Oracle WebCenter Content, and Site Studio. They initiated and launched the first three of the company’s KundenCenter+, Oracle-based modules for patient receipt, a medication navigator, and disability information, with numerous successful deployments and individual customer environment adaptations. Business ResultsspectrumK Holding GmbH accelerated time-to-market for new features by reducing the development time, achieved 40% development and cost savings using standard modules and realized 80% overall savings using the Oracle multiple portal environment, as compared to individual installations Additional Information spectrumK Holding GmbH Snapshot Oracle WebCenter Suite Oracle Customer Support Oracle Consulting Oracle WebCenter Content

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Launching Agile PLM 9.3.3!

- by Shane Goodwin

Ten months ago we announced the availability of Agile PLM 9.3.2. Today I have the great pleasure to announce availability of Agile PLM 9.3.3 and AutoVue for Agile PLM 20.2.2 - both are immediately available on Oracle Software Delivery Cloud. In this same timeframe our team has also published Oracle PLM Mobile 1.0, EC MCAD 3.1, and EC MCAD 3.2. Agile PLM 9.3.3 focuses on improving management business processes, improving management of intellectual property, and overall product improvements based on customer feedback. In this short timeframe, we have made very significant progress on all three fronts. The Agile PLM 9.3.3 What’s New Whitepaper discusses all of the new capabilities. Looking forward, we will continue to deliver new releases with laser focus on solving real business problems and making users more productive. With our release of Innovation Management, you will be seeing dramatic new capability to help manage the innovation funnel and the processes to determine what product projects to fund. You will also see us continue this accelerated cadence in releasing new features for Agile PLM. All Agile PLM 9.3.3 Documentation is now available, including an initial version of the Capacity Planning Guide (CPG). As usual, we will be updating the CPG in a few months when we complete our performance and breakpoint testing. Like with other recent Agile PLM versions, the Product Management team has recorded Transfer of Information (TOI) sessions to educate you about the new features. The TOI sessions can be accessed in My Oracle Support on note 1589164.1. As with all other releases, we have also published new versions (1.7.5) of Averify (Patch ID 17583605) and AUT (Patch ID 17583592) in My Oracle Support. Again this year I look forward to seeing many of you at the Oracle Value Chain Summit (February 3-5, San Jose, CA), to talk more about this new release and all of the fascinating ways our customers and partners are driving business value with Agile PLM. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

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Three Master Data Management Deployment Tips

- by david.butler(at)oracle.com

MDM is all about data quality and data governance. We now know that improved data quality raises all operational and analytical boats. But it's not just about deploying data quality tools. It's about deploying data quality tools within and across the IT landscape - from a thousand points of data entry to a single version of the truth. Here are three tips to deploying MDM across your applications and enterprise. #1: Identify a tactical, high-value business problem where MDM can materially help. § Support a customer acquisition and retention program with a 'customer' master data solution. § Accelerate new products and services to market with a 'product' master data solution. § Reduce supplier exceptions or support spend control initiatives with a 'supplier' master data solution. § Support new store (branch, campus, restaurant, hospital, office, well head) location analysis with a 'site' master data solution. § Fix long standing Chart of Accounts and Cost Center problems with a 'financial' master data solution. § Support M&A activity, application upgrades, an SOA initiative, a cloud computing program, or a new business intelligence deployment by implementing a mix of master data solutions. #2: Incrementally expand to a full information architecture. Quite often, the measurable return on interest from tactical MDM initiatives will fund future deployments. Over time, the MDM solution expands into its full architecture to cover the entire IT landscape. Operations and analytics are united, IT flexibility is restored, and sustainable competitive advantage is achieved. #3: Bring business into every MDM deployment. To be successful, MDM must work hand in hand with data governance. In fact, Oracle MDM incorporates data governance tools for business users. IT can insure data quality, but only after the business side has defined what quality means. The business establishes the rules for governing the master data, and then IT enforces the rules via the MDM applications. Without this business/IT collaboration, MDM initiatives seldom achieve their full potential. It is not very often that a technology comes along that can measurably assist organizations across a wide variety of top IT initiatives. Reducing costs, increasing flexibility, getting more out of existing assets, and aligning business and IT are not easy tasks for any CIO. But with MDM, success is achievable. IT can regain its place as a center for innovation. For more information on this topic, take a look at my article Master Data Management Deployment Tips in the Opinion Section of Oracle's Profit Online magazine.

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Contract Lifecycle Management for Public Sector

- by jeffrey.waterman

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} One thing Oracle never seems to get enough credit for is its consistent quest to improve its products, even the ones as established as its back-office solutions. Here is another example of one of the latest improvements: Contract Lifecycle Management for Public Sector, or CLM. The latest EBS module geared specifically for the Federal acquisition community. Our existing customers have been asking Oracle for years to upgrade its Advanced Procurement Suite to meet the complex procurement processes of the Federal Government. You asked; we listened. Oracle, with direct input from Federal agencies, subject matter experts, integration partners, and the Federal acquisition community, has expanded and deepened its procurement suite to meet the unique demands of the Federal acquisition community. New benefits/features include: Contract Line Item/Sub-Line Item (CLIN/SLIN) structures Configurable Document Numbering Complex Pricing Contract Types ( as per FAR Part 16) Option lines and exercising of options Incremental Funding capability Support for multiple document types (delivery orders, BPA call orders, awards, agreements, IDIQ contracts) Requisition lines to fund modifications Workload assignment and milestones Contract Action Reporting to FPDS-NG I’ve been conducting many tests over the past few months and have been quite impressed with the depth of features and the seamless integration to Federal Financials, specifically the funds control within the financials. Again, thank you for reading. If you have suggestions for future posts, please leave them in the comments section and I’ll take it from there.

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Legal concerns with orchestrating a music submission contest

- by Amplify91

My team and I are getting pretty far along in the development of our latest game and have been thinking about audio. We decided to host an audio submission contest where we will offer a little cash and some equity stake in the game as prizes. We are also giving away copies of the game to participants. We hope not only to find audio for our game, but to meet some cool sound artists and promote the game a bit through the process. First of all, is this even a good idea? What are some potential dangers in doing this? Will it even be well received among artists? Secondly, I wrote up some Terms and Conditions in my best legal-speak to try to protect us and clarify how the contest will be run. Are these sufficient to make sure everyone involved is treated fairly and is legally protected? They are as follows: All submissions (The Submission) must be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-3.0) By applying a CC-BY-3.0 license, you (The Submitter) expressly give Detour Games (and all members wherein) permission to copy, distribute, transmit, modify, adapt, and make commercial use of The Submission. The Submitter must own all rights to The Submission and be within their rights to license it as specified and submit it. The Submitter claims responsibility for the legality of The Submission. If The Submission is found to infringe on the rights of a person or entity other than those of The Submitter, Detour Games will not be held liable as all responsibility and liability for the legality of The Submission is that of The Submitter's. No more than two free copies of The Game per submitter. All flat cash prizes will only be disbursed pending the success of our first $5,000 Kickstarter campaign. These prizes will be disbursed 30 days after Detour Games receives the Kickstarter funds. All equity prizes (percentage of profits) are defined as the given percent of total profits after costs for a period of one year (12 months) after the release of RAW. These prizes will be disbursed semi-annually. All prize money will be disbursed through either an electronic fund transfer through a service such as PayPal or by a mailed money order. It is The Submitter's responsibility to cooperate with Detour Games in the disbursement of the funds. Detour Games reserves the right to change these Terms and Conditions at any time without notice. By participating in the contest, The Submitter agrees to and accepts all terms and conditions listed. What else could I do (legally) to protect everyone involved?

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Is it smart to take a year off from school to get experience?

- by user134147

firstly I apologize if this question is not appropriate for the site, but I've seen other similar (though slightly deviant) questions on this sight before and I know the people here are the most qualified to answer my question. Anyways, I'm currently between my sophomore and junior years at a 4 year university, and after a bit of deliberation I've decided on computer science as a major (BA, by the way, as a BS would require me to stay at least an extra year the way our program is set up). I've been interested now in programming for a few months and I've developed a passion for it in a very short time. I began learning C++, migrating to Java recently when I learned my school focuses on this language. Now, I should mention that the concept of higher education has never sat well with me, so part of my motivation for wanting to take time off is to truly challenge myself and see what I can accomplish when I actually try at something. The autodidact in me finds it difficult to focus on my passions while trying to keep a high GPA in unrelated classes. However, I understand the times we live in and therefore would plan to complete my degree after this year. So my question is whether or not the skills I learn in a year off from college could justify the time off from school. Unfortunately, I don't believe I know enough yet to gain any professional experience (internship, etc.) so I would mostly focus my time on learning Java and another language, possibly Wordpress (to gain an understanding of web programming concepts as I have not yet decided what field I want to get into, and to make some money to fund my off-year), and to delve into security concepts, which also interest me. I'm hoping I could work on projects, such as simple applications or contributions to open source software during this time to enhance my resume once I do finish school, so I can find a job out of college easier. I do not want to be the new hire who knows nothing beyond the concepts of his Java textbooks. Does anyone have any input about these thoughts of mine, or any ideas for where I should focus my studies or how high I might set the bar for my work? Thanks a lot everyone!

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Spammer relaying via Postfix mail server

- by Paddington

I have a Plesk 9.5 mail server (cm.snowbarre.co.za) on Ubuntu 8.04 LTS which forwards all SMTP traffic to an anti-spam server cacti.snowbarre.co.za. Many times I see the headers on the anti-spam server to contain from addresses not hosted on the mail server and I have checked and confirmed that my server is not an open relay server. How can a spammer be using my server to relay spam traffic? How can I stop this? Open relay test: paddington@paddington-MS-7387:~$ telnet cm 25 Trying 196.201.x.x... Connected to cm. Escape character is '^]'. 220 cm.snowbarre.co.za ESMTP Postfix (Ubuntu) mail from:[email protected] 250 2.1.0 Ok rcpt:[email protected] 221 2.7.0 Error: I can break rules, too. Goodbye. Connection closed by foreign host. paddington@paddington-MS-7387:~$ A typical headers is: *Received from cm.snowbarre.co.za (cm.snowbarre.co.za[196.201.x.x]) by cacti.snowbarre.co.za (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 00B601881AD; Mon, 27 Aug 2012 14:03:29 +0200 (SAST) Received from cm.snowbarre.co.za (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by cm.snowbarre.co.za (Postfix) with ESMTP id 81627367E007; Mon, 27 Aug 2012 14:02:50 +0200 (SAST) Received from User (ml82.128.x.x.multilinksg.com [82.128.x.x]) by cm.snowbarre.co.za (Postfix) with ESMTP; Mon, 27 Aug 2012 14:02:49 +0200 (SAST) Reply-To <[email protected]> From "Ms Nkeuri Aguiyi"<[email protected]> Subject Your Unpaid Fund. Date Mon, 27 Aug 2012 05:03:22 -0700 MIME-Version 1.0 Content-Type text/html; charset="Windows-1251" Content-Transfer-Encoding 7bit X-Priority 3 X-MSMail-Priority Normal X-Mailer Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-MimeOLE Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 X-Antivirus avast! (VPS 120821-0, 08/21/2012), Outbound message X-Antivirus-Status Clean Message-Id <[email protected]> To undisclosed-recipients:;*

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XNA Notes 008

- by George Clingerman

This week has been a rough one. I’ve been sick and then in some kind of slump for my afternoon coding sessions. It could be from the cold, could be I’m still tired from writing that Windows Phone 7 game development book (which is out now!) or it could just be I’m tired of winter and want some sunshine. All I know is that even while I’m stick, the XNA world keeps going along at it’s whirlwind pace. Below are the things I caught in between my coughing fits.. Time Critical XNA News: The 2011 MVP summit is almost here so pass along your feelings and thoughts so the MVPs can take them and share them with the team in person http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/76317/464136.aspx#464136 Dream Build Play - there’s no new announcement yet, but you can’t get much more to the end of February than this! http://www.dreambuildplay.com/Main/Home.aspx XNA Team: Dean Johnson from the XNA team shares an excellent way of handling Guide.IsTrialMode on WP7 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dejohn/archive/2011/02/21/calling-guide-istrialmode-on-windows-phone-7.aspx Nick Gravelyn tries a new tactic in deciding if there’s enough interest to develop a sequel or not. Don’t YOU want Pixel Man 2 to come out? http://nickgravelyn.com/pixelman2/ XNA MVPs: Andy “The ZMan” Dunn finally shares what he’s been secretly working on these past 4 months http://twitter.com/#!/The_Zman/status/40590269392887808 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg8Z0ZdYbvg&feature=youtu.be Joel Martinez lets developers around NYC know they should by signing up for Game Hack Day http://twitter.com/joelmartinez/statuses/41118590862102528 http://gamehackday.org/71fdk XNA Developers: Michael McLaughlin shares an XNA RenderTarget2D Sample http://geekswithblogs.net/mikebmcl/archive/2011/02/18/xna-rendertarget2d-sample.aspx Martin Caine starts a new series on Deferred Rendering in XNA 4.0 http://twitter.com/#!/MartinCaine/status/39735221339291648 http://martincaine.com/xna/deferred_rendering_in_xna_4_introduction ElemenyCy posts about his fun time with the IntermediateSerializer http://www.ubergamermonkey.com/xna/holy-bloated-xml-batman/ Ben Kane releases a narrated dev diary video for Project Splice. Let him know if you’d like to see more! (I know I do!) http://twitter.com/#!/benkane/status/39846959498002432 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EmziXZUo08&feature=youtu.be Jason Swearingen (of Novaleaf) posts his part 1 of Spatial Partitioning solutions http://altdevblogaday.org/2011/02/21/spatial-partitioning-part-1-survey-of-spatial-partitioning-solutions/ Brian Lawson of Dark Flow Studios shares what his been up to lately with lots of pretty screenshots and hints of announcements from Microsoft... http://www.darkflowstudios.com/entry/short-and-sweet-part-1 Luke Avery starts a new blog where he plans on making XNA tutorials for beginners (and he’s got a few started already!) http://programmingwithovery.wordpress.com/ Xbox LIVE Indie Games (XBLIG): GameMarx Episode 10 http://www.gamemarx.com/video/the-show/24/ep-10-february-18-2010.aspx Minecraft clone FortressCraft coming to XBLIG http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-02-23-minecraft-clone-fortresscraft-hits-xblig ezMuze+ starts an IndieGoGo fundraiser campaign to help fund their second game and get it onto even more devices! http://www.indiegogo.com/ezmuze Gamergeddon XBLIG round up http://www.gamergeddon.com/2011/02/20/xbox-indie-game-round-up-february-20th/?utm_campaign=twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter JForce Games loses their Ego http://jforcegames.com/blog/index.php?itemid=121&catid=4 XNA Game Development: @BallerIndustry reminds all XNA developers that the Maths are important ;) http://twitter.com/#!/BallerIndustry/status/39317618280243200 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjV3XDFsjP4&feature=player_embedded#at=106 @suhinini stumbles on an older but extremely useful post on XNA Content Pipeline debugging http://twitter.com/#!/suhinini/status/39270189476352000 http://badcorporatelogo.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/xna-content-pipeline-debugging-4-0/ XNA Game Development Workshops at Singapore Universities http://innovativesingapore.com/2011/02/xna-game-development-workshops-at-singapore-universities/ Indiefreaks announces that IGF v0.3 is out with Xbox 360 support, SunBurn 2.0.12 and it’s now Open Source! http://twitter.com/#!/indiefreaks/status/39391953971982336 @liotral announces a new series on properly designing a game http://twitter.com/#!/liortal53/status/39466905081217024 http://liortalblog.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/hello-cosmos/ Indies and XNA at CodeStock 2011 http://www.gamemarx.com/news/2011/02/20/indies-and-xna-at-codestock-2011.aspx Train Frontier Express posts about XNA Content Hotloading http://trainfrontierexpress.blogspot.com/2011/02/xna-content-hotloading-overview.html Slyprid announces a new character editor in Transmute http://twitter.com/#!/slyprid/status/40146992818696192 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKhFAc78LDs&feature=youtu.be The XNA 2D from the ground up tutorial series http://xna-uk.net/blogs/darkgenesis/archive/2011/02/23/recap-the-xna-2d-from-the-ground-up-tutorial-series.aspx Sgt.Conker posts a “Clingerman” (hey that’s me!) to stay relevant http://www.sgtconker.com/2011/02/posting-a-clingerman-to-stay-relevant/

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So No TECH job so far.

- by Ratman21

O I found some temp work for the US Census and I have managed to keep the house (so far) but, it looks like I/we are going to have to do a short sale and the temp job will be ending soon. On top of that it looks like the unemployment fund for me is drying up. I will have about one month left after the Census job is done. I am now down to Appling for work at the KFC. This is type a work I started with, before I was a tech geek and really I didn’t think I would be doing this kind of work in my later years but, I have a wife and kid. So I got to suck it up and do it. Oh and here is my new resume…go ahead I know you want to tare it up. I really don’t care any more. Scott L. Newman 45219 Dutton Way, Callahan, FL32011 H: (904)879-4880 C: (352)356-0945 E: [email protected] Web: http://beingscottnewman.webs.com/ ______ OBJECTIVE To obtain a Network or Technical support position KEYWORD SUMMARY CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+ Certified., Network Operation, Technical Support, Client/Vendor Relations, Networking/Administration, Cisco Routers/Switches, Helpdesk, Microsoft Office Suite, Website Design/Dev./Management, Frame Relay, ISDN, Windows NT/98/XP, Visio, Inventory Management, CICS, Programming, COBOL IV, Assembler, RPG QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY Twenty years’ experience in computer operations, technical support, and technical writing. Also have two and half years’ experience in internet / intranet operations. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE October 2009 – Present* Volunteer Web site and PC technician – Part time True Faith Christian Fellowship Church – Callahan, FL, Project: Create and maintain web site for Church to give it a worldwide exposure Aug 2008 – September 2009:* Volunteer Church sound and video technician – Part time Thomas Creek Baptist Church – Callahan, FL *Note Jobs were for the learning and/or keeping updated on skills, while looking for a tech job and training for new skills. February 2005 to October 2008: Client Server Dev/Analyst I, Fidelity National Information Services, Jacksonville, FL (FNIS acquired Certegy in 2005 and out of 20 personal, was one of three kept on.) August 2003 to February 2005: Senior NetOps Operator, Certegy, St.Pete, Fl. (August 2003, Certegy terminated contract with EDS and out of 40 personal, was one of six kept on.) Projects: Creation and update of listing and placement for all raised floor equipment at St.Pete site. Listing was made up of, floor plan of the raised floor and equipment racks diagrams showing the placement of all devices using Visio. This was cross-referenced with an inventory excel document showing what dept was responsible for each device. Sole creator of Network operation and Server Operation procedures guide (NetOps Guide). Expertise: Resolving circuit and/or router issues or assist circuit carrier in resolving issue from the company Network Operation Center (NOC). As well as resolving application problems or assist application support in resolution of it. July 1999 to August 2003: Senior NetOps Operator,EDS (Certegy Account), St.Pete, FL Same expertise and on going projects as listed above for FNIS/Certegy. (Equifax outsourced the NetOps dept. to EDS in 1999) January 1991 to July 1999: NetOps/Tandem Operator, Equifax, St.Pete & Tampa, FL Same as all of the above for FNIS/Certegy/EDS except for circuit and router issues EDUCATION ? New Horizons Computer Learning Center, Jacksonville, Florida - CompTIA A+, Security+, and Network+ Certified. Currently working on CCNA Certification 07/30/10 ? Mott Community College, Flint, Michigan – Associates Degree - Data Processing and General Education ? Currently studying Japanese

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Oracle Announces Oracle Insurance Policy Administration for Life and Annuity 9.4

- by helen.pitts(at)oracle.com

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Today's global insurers require the ability to provide higher levels of service and quickly bring to market life insurance and annuity products that not only help them stand out from the competition, but also stay current with local legislation. To succeed, they require agile and flexible core systems that enable them to meet the unique localization requirements of the markets in which they operate, whether in North America, Asia Pacific or the Pan-European Region. The release of Oracle Insurance Policy Administration for Life and Annuity 9.4, announced today, helps insurers meet this need with expanded international market capabilities that enable them to reduce risk and profitably compete wherever their business takes them. It offers expanded multi-language along with unit-linked product and fund processing capabilities that enable regional and global insurers to rapidly configure and deliver localized products – along with providing better service for end users through a single policy admin solution. Key enhancements include: Kanji/Kana language support, pre-defined content, and imperial date processing for the Japanese market New localization flexibility for configuring and managing international mailing addresses along with regional variations for client information Enhanced capability to calculate unit-linked pricing and valuation, in addition to market-based processing and pre-configured unit linked content Expanded role-based security and masking capability to further protect sensitive customer data Enhanced capability to restrict processing specified activities based on time of day and user role, reducing exposure to market timing risks Further capability to eliminate duplicate client records, helping to reduce underwriting risks and enhance servicing through a single view of the client "The ability to leverage a single, rules-driven policy administration system for multiple global operation centers can help insurers realize significant improvements in speed to market, customer service, compliance with regional regulations, and consolidation efforts,” noted Celent's Craig Weber, senior vice president, Insurance. “We believe such initiatives are necessary to help the industry address service and distribution imperatives." Helping our customers meet these mission-critical business imperatives is a key objective for Oracle Insurance. Active, ongoing dialogue with our customers is an important part of the process to help understand how our solutions are and can continue to help them achieve success in the marketplace. I had the opportunity to meet with several of our insurance customers at the Oracle Insurance Policy Administration Client Advisory Board meeting last week in Philadelphia, Penn. (View photos on the Oracle Insurance Facebook page.) It was a great forum for Oracle Insurance and our clients. Discussion centered on the latest business and IT trends, with opportunities to learn more about the latest release of Oracle Insurance Policy Administration for Life and Annuity and other Oracle Insurance solutions such as data warehousing / business intelligence, while exchanging best practices for product innovation and servicing customers and sales channels. Helen Pitts is senior product marketing manager for Oracle Insurance's life and annuities solutions.

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Doing your first mock with JustMock

- by mehfuzh

In this post, i will start with a more traditional mocking example that includes a fund transfer scenario between two different currency account using JustMock.Our target interface that we will be mocking looks similar to: public interface ICurrencyService { float GetConversionRate(string fromCurrency, string toCurrency); } Moving forward the SUT or class that will be consuming the service and will be invoked by user [provided that the ICurrencyService will be passed in a DI style] looks like: public class AccountService : IAccountService { private readonly ICurrencyService currencyService; public AccountService(ICurrencyService currencyService) { this.currencyService = currencyService; } #region IAccountService Members public void TransferFunds(Account from, Account to, float amount) { from.Withdraw(amount); float conversionRate = currencyService.GetConversionRate(from.Currency, to.Currency); float convertedAmount = amount * conversionRate; to.Deposit(convertedAmount); } #endregion } As, we can see there is a TransferFunds action implemented from IAccountService takes in a source account from where it withdraws some money and a target account to where the transfer takes place using the provided conversion rate. Our first step is to create the mock. The syntax for creating your instance mocks is pretty much same and is valid for all interfaces, non-sealed/sealed concrete instance classes. You can pass in additional stuffs like whether its an strict mock or not, by default all the mocks in JustMock are loose, you can use it as default valued objects or stubs as well. ICurrencyService currencyService = Mock.Create<ICurrencyService>(); Using JustMock, setting up your expectations and asserting them always goes with Mock.Arrang|Assert and this is pretty much same syntax no matter what type of mocking you are doing. Therefore, in the above scenario we want to make sure that the conversion rate always returns 2.20F when converting from GBP to CAD. To do so we need to arrange in the following way: Mock.Arrange(() => currencyService.GetConversionRate("GBP", "CAD")).Returns(2.20f).MustBeCalled(); Here, I have additionally marked the mock call as must. That means it should be invoked anywhere in the code before we do Mock.Assert, we can also assert mocks directly though lamda expressions but the more general Mock.Assert(mocked) will assert only the setups that are marked as "MustBeCalled()”. Now, coming back to the main topic , as we setup the mock, now its time to act on it. Therefore, first we create our account service class and create our from and to accounts respectively. var accountService = new AccountService(currencyService); var canadianAccount = new Account(0, "CAD"); var britishAccount = new Account(0, "GBP"); Next, we add some money to the GBP account: britishAccount.Deposit(100); Finally, we do our transfer by the following: accountService.TransferFunds(britishAccount, canadianAccount, 100); Once, everything is completed, we need to make sure that things were as it is we have expected, so its time for assertions.Here, we first do the general assertions: Assert.Equal(0, britishAccount.Balance); Assert.Equal(220, canadianAccount.Balance); Following, we do our mock assertion, as have marked the call as “MustBeCalled” it will make sure that our mock is actually invoked. Moreover, we can add filters like how many times our expected mock call has occurred that will be covered in coming posts. Mock.Assert(currencyService); So far, that actually concludes our first mock with JustMock and do stay tuned for more. Enjoy!!

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Release 17 is here!

- by Cheryl

Our training development team has been busy updating courses to keep pace with the new release of CRM On Demand. Release 17 is here! And I heard recently that it's one of our biggest releases ever. A lot of new features and functionality for you to take advantage of - too much for me to cover in this blog post. But, I thought I'd tell you about a few of my favorites - be sure to take a look at the What's New in Release 17 recording to see the full list, though...because I'm only going to touch on a few. Create your own look - okay, I'm starting with the fun stuff. But, there is a new customizable themes feature so that you can change the look of the application; colors, logo, the shape of the tabs. And it's really easy. There's also a whole new library of ready-made themes for you to pick from if you just want to go with one of those. Use this new feature to match the look of your company logo and color scheme. Or blaze new trails. You can create the look for the whole company, or a different look for each CRM On Demand role. This might especially come in handy if you're using the Partner Relationship Management (PRM) capabilities of CRM On Demand - you can create themes for your partner-facing roles to provide branded partner portals. Speaking of PRM - there are enhancements in this release to help companies better manage their partner relationships. A new Deal Registration object, which is separate from the Opportunity record, and better Special Pricing Request and Marketing Development Fund Request processes, give a lot more flexibility in how companies can build and manage their relationships with partners. Some new options for Forecasts in in Release 17, too. You can now have more than one type of forecast generated each forecast period. For example, you might need to see a forecast of the total opportunity revenue for your sales team, as well as on that breaks down revenue by product. The forecast definition now lets you do that. Other options allow you to make submitting forecasts easier, split opportunity revenue across the team and forecast that split appropriately. And - look for the new Forecast subject area in Answers, for building custom forecast reports. Ever wish you could use Workflow Rules to automatically reassign leads if they haven't been followed up on...or to email a manager if the status of a service request isn't changed after a specified period of time? Then check out the new Wait action for workflows. I think you'll be happy. Ok, enough for today. There is a lot to Release 17 that I didn't mention - a lot has been added for our Life Science industry edition, some new data visibility options, a new Data Loader tool, and more. Stay tuned for more blog posts about these and other Release 17 features in the coming weeks. In the meantime, don't forget about all of the resources we have for you to learn more (see my Learning About Release 17 blog post for details).

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Setup and configure a MVC4 project for Cloud Service(web role) and SQL Azure

- by MagnusKarlsson

I aim at keeping this blog post updated and add related posts to it. Since there are a lot of these out there I link to others that has done kind of the same before me, kind of a blog-DRY pattern that I'm aiming for. I also keep all mistakes and misconceptions for others to see. As an example; if I hit a stacktrace I will google it if I don't directly figure out the reason for it. I will then probably take the most plausible result and try it out. If it fails because I misinterpreted the error I will not delete it from the log but keep it for future reference and for others to see. That way people that finds this blog can see multiple solutions for indexed stacktraces and I can better remember how to do stuff. To avoid my errors I recommend you to read through it all before going from start to finish.The steps:Setup project in VS2012. (msdn blog)Setup Azure Services (half of mpspartners.com blog)Setup connections strings and configuration files (msdn blog + notes)Export certificates.Create Azure package from vs2012 and deploy to staging (same steps as for production).Connections string error Set up the visual studio project:http://blogs.msdn.com/b/avkashchauhan/archive/2011/11/08/developing-asp-net-mvc4-based-windows-azure-web-role.aspx Then login in to Azure to setup the services:Stop following this guide at the "publish website" part since we'll be uploading a package.http://www.mpspartners.com/2012/09/ConfiguringandDeployinganMVC4applicationasaCloudServicewithAzureSQLandStorage/ When set up (connection strings for debug and release and all), follow this guide to set up the configuration files:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh369931.aspxTrying to package our application at this step will generate the following warning:3>MvcWebRole1(0,0): warning WAT170: The configuration setting 'Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString' is set up to use the local storage emulator for role 'MvcWebRole1' in configuration file 'ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg'. To access Windows Azure storage services, you must provide a valid Windows Azure storage connection string. Right click the web role under roles in solution manager and choose properties. Choose "Service configuration: Cloud". At "specify storage account credentials" we will copy/paste our account name and key from the Azure management platform.3.1 4. Right click Remote desktop Configuration and select certificate and export to file. We need to allow it in Portal manager.4.15 Now right click the cloud project and select package.5.1 Showing dialogue box. 5.2 Package success Now copy the path to the packaged file and go to management portal again. Click your web role and choose staging (or production). Upload. 5.3Tick the box about the single instance if that's what you want or you don't know what it means. Otherwise the following will happen (see image 4.6)5.4 Dialogue box When you have clicked the symbol for accept- button you will see the following screen with some green indicators down at the right corner. Click them if you want to see status.5.5 Information screen.5.6 "Failed to deploy application. The upload application has at least one role with only one instance. We recommend that you deploy at least two instances per role to ensure high availability in case one of the instances becomes unavailable. "To fix, go to step 5.4If you forgot to (or just didn't know you were supposed to) export your certificates. The following error will occur. Side note, the following thread suggests. To prevent: "Enable Remote Desktop for all roles" when right-clicking BIAB and choosing "Package". But in my case it was the not so present certificates. I fund the solution here.http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/dotnetstocktradersampleapplication/thread/0e94c2b5-463f-4209-86b9-fc257e0678cd5.75.8 Success! 5.9 Nice URL n' all. (More on that at another blog post).6. If you try to login and getWhen this error occurs many web sites suggest this is because you need:http://nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.AspNet.Providers.LocalDBOr : http://nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.AspNet.ProvidersBut it can also be that you don't have the correct setup for converting connectionstrings between your web.config to your debug.web.config(or release.web.config, whichever your using).Run as suggested in the "ordinary project in your solution. Go to the management portal and click update.

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How to Unit Test HtmlHelper similar to using(Html.BeginForm()){ }

- by DaveDev

Can somebody please suggest how I could write a Unit Test with Moq for following HtmlHelper method? public static HtmlTagBase GenerateTag<T>(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper , object elementData , object attributes) where T : HtmlTagBase { return (T)Activator.CreateInstance(typeof(T) , htmlHelper.ViewContext , elementData , attributes); } which you would use as follows (please note the using statement - this is causing me confusion): <%--Model is a type of ShareClass--%> <% using (Html.GenerateTag<DivTag>(Model)) { %> My Div <% } %> using this method, if you specify T as type DivTag, where ShareClass is defined as public class ShareClass { public string Name { get; set; } public string Type { get; set; } public IEnumerable<Fund> Funds { get; set; } public ShareClass(string name, string shareClassType) { this.Name = name; this.Type = shareClassType; } } the following html will be rendered: <div class="ShareClass" shareclass-type="ShareClass_A" shareclass-name="MyShareClass">My Div</div>

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model not showing up in django admin.

- by Zayatzz

Hi. I have ceated several django apps and stuffs for my own fund and so far everything has been working fine. Now i just created new project (django 1.2.1) and have run into trouble from 1st moments. I created new app - game and new model Game. i created admin.py and put related stuff into it. Ran syncdb and went to check into admin. Model did not show up there. I proceeded to check and doublecheck and read through previous similar threads: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1839927/registered-models-do-not-show-up-in-admin http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1694259/django-app-not-showing-up-in-admin-interface But as far as i can tell, they dont help me either. Perhaps someone else can point this out for me. models.py in game app: # -*- coding: utf-8 -*- from django.db import models class Game(models.Model): type = models.IntegerField(blank=False, null=False, default=1) teamone = models.CharField(max_length=100, blank=False, null=False) teamtwo = models.CharField(max_length=100, blank=False, null=False) gametime = models.DateTimeField(blank=False, null=False) admin.py in game app: # -*- coding: utf-8 -*- from jalka.game.models import Game from django.contrib import admin class GameAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin): list_display = ['type', 'teamone', 'teamtwo', 'gametime'] admin.site.register(Game, GameAdmin) project settings.py: MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = ( 'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware', 'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware', 'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware', 'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware', 'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware', ) ROOT_URLCONF = 'jalka.urls' TEMPLATE_DIRS = ( "/home/projects/jalka/templates/" ) INSTALLED_APPS = ( 'django.contrib.auth', 'django.contrib.contenttypes', 'django.contrib.sessions', 'django.contrib.sites', 'django.contrib.messages', 'django.contrib.admin', 'game', ) urls.py: from django.conf.urls.defaults import * # Uncomment the next two lines to enable the admin: from django.contrib import admin admin.autodiscover() urlpatterns = patterns('', # Example: # (r'^jalka/', include('jalka.foo.urls')), (r'^admin/', include(admin.site.urls)), ) Alan.

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Regex query: how can I search PDFs for a phrase where words in that phrase appear on more than one l

- by Alison

I am trying to set up an index page for the weekly magazine I work on. It is to show readers the names of companies mentioned in that weeks' issue, plus the page numbers they are appear on. I want to search all the PDF files for the week, where one PDF = one magazine page (originally made in Adobe InDesign CS3 and Adobe InCopy CS3). I have set up a list of companies I want to search for and, using PowerGREP and using delimited regular expressions, I am able to find most page numbers where a company is mentioned. However, where a company name contains two or more words, the search I am running will not pick up instances where the name appears over more than one line. For example, when looking for "CB Richard Ellis" and "Cushman & Wakefield", I got no result when the text appeared like this: DTZ beat BNP PRE, CB [line break here] Richard Ellis and Cushman & [line break here] Wakefield to secure the contract. [line end here] Could someone advise me on how to write a regular expression that will ignore white space between words and ignore line endings OR one that will look for the words including all types of white space (ie uneven spaces between words; spaces at the end of lines or line endings; and tabs (I am guessing that this info is imbedded somehow in PDF files). Here is a sample of the set of terms I have asked PowerGREP to search for: \bCB Richard Ellis\b \bCB Richard Ellis Hotels\b \bCentaur Services\b \bChapman Herbert\b \bCharities Property Fund\b \bChetwoods Architects\b \bChurch Commissioners\b \bClive Emson\b \bClothworkers’ Company\b \bColliers CRE\b \bCombined English Stores Group\b \bCommercial Estates Group\b \bConnells\b \bCooke & Powell\b \bCordea Savills\b \bCrown Estate\b \bCushman & Wakefield\b \bCWM Retail Property Advisors\b [Note that there is a delimited hard return between each \b at the end of each phrase and beginnong of the next phrase.] By the way, I am a production journalist and not usually involved in finding IT-type solutions and am finding it difficult to get to grips with the technical language on the PowerGREP site. Thanks for assistance Alison

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How to show data in dataTable lable:data in jsf

- by palakolanusrinu

Hi How to display lable: data name: srinu in multiple rows using dataTable in jsf right now i'm getting like | lable | data| data srinu i want it in this formate lable: data name: srinu code which used is <h:dataTable id="fundInfo" value="#{clientFundInfo}" border="1" var="client" first="0" rows="5" rules="all"> <h:column> <h:outputText value="CLIENT:"/> <h:outputText value="#{client.clientName}"></h:outputText> </h:column> <h:column> <h:outputText value="FUND:"/> <h:outputText value="#{client.fundName}"></h:outputText> </h:column> <h:column> <h:outputText value="Employer Identification Number:"/> <h:outputText value="#{client.empIdentificationNum}"></h:outputText> </h:column> <h:column><h:outputText value="FISCAL YEAR ENDED:"/> <h:outputText value="#{client.fye}"></h:outputText> </h:column> <h:column><h:outputText value="Shares Outstanding"/> <h:outputText value="#{client.sharesOutstanding}"></h:outputText> </h:column> </h:dataTable>

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Nokogiri HttParty Xpath Ruby on Rails

- by Brian

I am working with a mmorpg (Eve Online) request that returns xml. I am using httparty for the request and I am trying to use nokogiri to obtain attribute values for a specific element. Here's an example of the response: <eveapi version="2"><currentTime>2012-10-19 22:41:56</currentTime><result><rowset name="transactions" key="refID" columns="date,refID,refTypeID,ownerName1,ownerID1,ownerName2,ownerID2,argName1,argID1,amount,balance,reason,taxReceiverID,taxAmount"><row date="2012-10-18 23:41:50" refID="232323" refTypeID="9" ownerName1="University of Caille" ownerID1="32232" ownerName2="name" ownerID2="34343" argName1="" argID1="0" amount="5000.00" balance="5000.00" reason="Starter fund" taxReceiverID="" taxAmount=""/></rowset></result><cachedUntil>2012-10-19 23:03:40</cachedUntil></eveapi> I only need to access attributes for the element "row" and there can be many rows returned. I have read about xpath and from what I understand if I do the following it should return all rows: doc.xpath('row') however it does not return anything. Here's what I have so far: options = {:keyID => 111111, :vCode => 'fddfdfdfdf'} response = HTTParty.post('https://api.eveonline.com/char/WalletJournal.xml.aspx', :body => options) doc = Nokogiri::XML(response.body) doc.xpath('row').each do |r| end The loop is never executed. What am I doing wrong? I need to return all row elements and gain access to each of the row's attributes. Thanks.

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What would you write in a consitution (law book) for a programmers' country?

- by Developer Art

After we have got our great place to talk about professional matters and sozialize online - on SO, I believe the next logical step would be to found our own country! I invite you all to participate and bring together your available resources. We will buy an island, better even a group of island so that we could establish states like .NET territories, Java land, Linux republic etc. We will build a society of programmers (girls - we need you too). To the organizational side, we're going to need some constitution or a law book. I suggest we write it together. I make it a wiki as it should be a cooperative effort. I'll open the work. Section 1. Programmers' rights. Every citizen has a right to an Internet connection 24/7. Every citizen can freely choose the field of interest Section 2. Programmers' obligations. Every citizen must embrace the changing nature of the profession and constanly educate himself Section 3. Law enforcement. Code duplication when can be avoided is punished by limiting the bandwith speed to 64Kbit for a period of one week. Using ugly hacks instead of refactoring code is punished by cutting the Internet connection for a period of one month. Usage of technologies older than 5/10 years is punished by restricting the web access to the sites last updated 5/10 years ago for a period of one month. Please feel free to modify and extend the list. We'll need to have it ready before we proceed formally with the country foundation. A purchase fund will be established shortly. Everyone is invited to participate.

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What would you write in a Constitution (law book) for a programmers' country? [closed]

- by Developer Art

After we have got our great place to talk about professional matters and sozialize online - on SO, I believe the next logical step would be to found our own country! I invite you all to participate and bring together your available resources. We will buy an island, better even a group of islands so that we could establish states like .NET territories, Java land, Linux republic etc. We will build a society of programmers (girls - we need you too). To the organizational side, we're going to need some sort of a Constitution or a law book. I suggest we write it together. I make it a wiki as it should be a cooperative effort. I'll open the work. Section 1. Programmers' rights. Every citizen has a right to an Internet connection 24/7. Every citizen can freely choose the field of interest Section 2. Programmers' obligations. Every citizen must embrace the changing nature of the profession and constanly educate himself Section 3. Law enforcement. Code duplication when can be avoided is punished by limiting the bandwith speed to 64Kbit for a period of one week. Using ugly hacks instead of refactoring code is punished by cutting the Internet connection for a period of one month. Usage of technologies older than 5/10 years is punished by restricting the web access to the sites last updated 5/10 years ago for a period of one month. Please feel free to modify and extend the list. We'll need to have it ready before we proceed formally with the country foundation. A purchase fund will be established shortly. Everyone is invited to participate.

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API-based solutions for sending payments to people without bank accounts

- by Tauren

I'm looking for inexpensive ways to send payments to hundreds or thousands of individual contractors, even if they do not have a bank account. Currently I only need to support payment in the USA, but may eventually be international. Here's the scenario: I offer a service that allows an organization or manager-type person to coordinate contractors for very short term jobs. These jobs are typically only an hour or two in length. A contractor may get only one job over an entire month, several jobs spread out over a month, multiple jobs on a single day, or any other combination. Thus, a single contractor could earn as little as one job's payment up to potentially payment for dozens. Payment for a month could be as little as $10 up to $1000's. Right now, the system provides payroll reports to the manager and it is the manager's responsibility to produce checks, stuff envelopes, and send mail via the US postal service. I'd like to remove this burden from the manager and have all the payments taken care of for them automatically by the system. I'm not sure where to start or what the best options would be. I'm starting to look into the following solutions, but don't know specifics yet and would like some advice before pursuing them. I'd also like to hear about other ideas or suggestions. PayPal (Send Money, Adaptive Payments, x.com, other???) Amazon (Flexible Payments System?) Fund some sort of pre-paid debit card? Web service with API that mails checks for you? Direct deposit via a bank API (for users with bank accounts)? The problem is that many of these contractors may not be able to obtain bank accounts or credit cards within the USA. I don't mind doing a hybrid of solutions, but are there any that would work well with this issue? I want the solution to be easy to use for the contractors, meaning that they can get the money easily (via check in the mail, debit card ATM withdrawal, etc.)

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php code in FTP to backup db using URL

- by Giom

I fund and inserted this code in my FTP in a backup.php that works great but it copy the file into the root folder (homez/) 1- I would like to put these backup files in a homez/backupDB any idea where to put this path? 2- the db backup files (DB.sql.bz2) have always the same name, is it possible to name each one with the date of creation? (I launch this php with the URL link) <? echo "Votre base est en cours de sauvegarde....... "; $db="nom_de_ma_base"; $status=system("mysqldump --host=mysql5-1.perso --user=$_POST[login] --password=$_POST[password] $db > ../$db.sql"); echo $status; echo "Compression du fichier..... "; system("bzip2 -f ../$db.sql"); echo "C'est fini. Vous pouvez récupérer la base par FTP \n "; ?> Thanks!

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Reload mod_fcgid without killing Python Service

- by Tobias

Hi I'm currently running a Django project on my school's webserver with FCGI. I did follow the multiple guides that recommends installing a virtual local Python environment and it worked out great. The only issue i had was that "touching" my fcgi-file to reload source-files wasn't enough, but instead i had to kill the python service via SSH. This because mod_fcgid is used. However, the admin didn't think it was a great idea that i ran my own local python. He thought it better if i just told him what modules to install on root, which was a pretty nice service really. But doing this, i can no longer kill python since it's under root(though immoral as I am, I've definitely tried). The admins recommendation was that I should try too make the fcgi script reload itself by checking time stamp. I've tried to find documentation on how to do this, but fund very little and since I'm a absolute beginner i have no idea what would work. Anyone have experience running python/django under mod_fcgid or tips on where to find related guides/documentation?

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Tykie

- by Brian

Here’s the obituary my mother wrote for Tykie, I still miss the little guy quite a bit. Anyone who’s interested in further information on hearing dogs should check out the IHDI website. I cannot begin to express how helpful a hearing dog can be for the hearing impaired. If you feel so inclined, please make a donation. In Memoriam, Tykie 1993-2010 The American Legion Post 401, South Wichita, KS, supported one of its members and commander by sponsoring a service dog for him. Unlike most service dogs this one was for the hearing impaired. Both Ocie and Betty Sims had hearing loss – Ocie more than Betty. The Post and Auxilliary had garage sales, auctions and other fund-raising endeavors to get donations for the dog. Betty made Teddy bears with growlers that were auctioned for donations to bring a hearing dog from International Hearing Dog, Henderson, Colorado. Tykie, a small wiry, salt and pepper terrier, arrived September 1, 1994 to begin his work that included attending Post 401 meetings and celebrations as well as raising more money to be donated to IHD to help others have hearing dogs. Tykie was a young dog less than a year old when he came to Wichita. He was always anxious to please and seldom barked, though he did put out a kind of cry when he was giving his urgent announcement that someone was at the door or the telephone was ringing. He also enjoyed chasing squirrels in the backyard garden that Ocie prized. In 1995, Betty almost died of a lung infection. Tykie was at the hospital with Ocie when he could visit. Several weeks after she was able to come home after a miraculous recovery, Tykie and Ocie went to a car show in downtown Wichita. Ocie’s retina tore loose in the only eye he could see out of and he almost blind was in great pain. How Ocie and Tykie got home is still a mystery, but the family legend goes that Tykie added seeing eye dog to his repertoire and helped drive him home. Health problems continued for Ocie and when he was placed in a nursing home, Tykie was moved to be Betty’s hearing dog. No problem for Tykie, he still saw his friends at the post and continued to help with visitors at the door. The night of May 3, 1999, Betty and Tykie were in the bedroom watching TV when Tykie began hitting her with both front paws as he would if something were urgent. She said later she thought he wanted to go out. As she and the dog walked down the hall towards the back of the house, Tykie hit her again with his front paws with such urgency that she fell into a small coat closet. That small 2-by-2 closet became their refuge as that very second the roof of her house went off as the f4 tornado raced through the city. Betty acquired one small wound on her hand from a piece of flying glass as she pulled Tykie into the closet with her. Tykie was a hero that day and a lot of days after. He kept Betty going as she rebuilt her home and after her husband died April 15, 2000. Tykie had to be cared for so she had to take him outside and bring him inside. He attended weddings of grandchildren and funerals of Post friends. When Betty died February 17, 2002 Tykie’s life changed again. IHD gave approval for his transfer and retirement to Betty and Ocie’s grandson, Brian Laird, who has a similar hearing loss to his grandfather. A few days after the funeral Tykie flew to his new home in Rutherford, NJ where he was able to take long walks for a couple of years before moving back to the Kansas City area. He was still full of adventure. He was written up in a book about service dogs and his story of the tornado and his picture appeared. He spent weekends at Brian’s mother’s farm to get muddy and be afraid of cats and chickens. He also took on an odyssey as he slipped from his fenced yard in Lenexa one day and walked more than seven miles in Overland Park traffic before being found by a good Samaritan who called IHD to find out where he belonged. Tykie was deaf for about the last two years of his long life and became blind as well, but he continued to strive to please. Tykie was 16 years and 4 months when he was cremated. His ashes were scattered on the graves of Betty and Ocie Sims at Greenwood Cemetery west of Wichita on the afternoon of March 21, 2010, with about a dozen family and Post 401 members. It is still the rule. Service dogs are the only dogs allowed inside the Post home. Submitted by Linda Laird, daughter of Betty and Ocie and mother of Brian Laird.

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