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A portrait of Scotland: Gallery reopens after £17.6 million renovation

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Today saw Edinburgh’s Scottish National Portrait Gallery reopen following a two-and-a-half-year, £17.6m (US$27.4m) refurbishment. Conversion of office and storage areas sees 60% more space available for displays, and the world’s first purpose-built portrait space is redefining what a portrait gallery should contain; amongst the displays are photographs of the Scottish landscape—portraits of the country itself.

First opened in 1889, Sir Robert Rowand Anderson’s red sandstone building was gifted to the nation by John Ritchie Findlay, then-owner of The Scotsman newspaper and, a well-known philanthropist. The original cost of construction between 1885 and 1890 is estimated at over 70,000 pounds sterling. Up until 1954, the building also housed the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland who moved to the National Museum of Scotland buildings on Chambers Street. The society’s original meeting table now sits in the public part of the portrait gallery’s library, stared down on by an array of busts and phrenological artefacts.

Wikinewsie Brian McNeil, with other members of the press, received a guided tour of the gallery last Monday from Deputy Director Nicola Kalinsky. What Kalinsky described as an introduction to the gallery that previously took around 40 minutes, now takes in excess of an hour-and-a-half; with little in the way of questions asked, a more inquisitive tour group could readily take well over two hours to be guided round the seventeen exhibitions currently housed in the gallery.

A substantial amount of the 60% additional exhibition space is readily apparent on the ground floor. On your left as you enter the gallery is the newly-fitted giant glass elevator, and the “Hot Scots” photographic portrait gallery. This exhibit is intended to show well-known Scottish faces, and will change over time as people fall out of favour, and others take their place. A substantial number of the people now being highlighted are current, and recent, cast members from the BBC’s Doctor Who series.

The new elevator (left) is the most visible change to improve disabled access to the gallery. Prior to the renovation work, access was only ‘on request’ through staff using a wooden ramp to allow wheelchair access. The entire Queen Street front of the building is reworked with sloping access in addition to the original steps. Whilst a lift was previously available within the gallery, it was only large enough for two people; when used for a wheelchair, it was so cramped that any disabled person’s helper had to go up or down separately from them.

The gallery expects that the renovation work will see visitor numbers double from before the 2009 closure to around 300,000 each year. As with many of Edinburgh’s museums and galleries, access is free to the public.

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The expected significant increase in numbers has seen them working closely with the National Museum of Scotland, which was itself reopened earlier this year after extensive refurbishment work; improved access for wheelchair users also makes it far easier for mothers with baby buggies to access the gallery – prompting more thought on issues as seemingly small as nappy-changing – as Patricia Convery, the gallery’s Head of Press, told Wikinews, a great deal of thought went into the practicalities of increased visitor numbers, and what is needed to ensure as many visitors as possible have a good experience at the gallery.

Press access to the gallery on Monday was from around 11:30am, with refreshments and an opportunity to catch some of the staff in the Grand Hall before a brief welcoming introduction to the refurbished gallery given by John Leighton, director of the National Galleries of Scotland. Centre-stage in the Grand Hall is a statue of Robert Burns built with funds raised from around the British Empire and intended for his memorial situated on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill.

The ambulatories surrounding the Grand Hall give the space a cathedral-like feel, with numerous busts – predominantly of Scottish figures – looking in on the tiled floor. The east corner holds a plaque commemorating the gallery’s reopening, next to a far more ornate memorial to John Ritchie Findlay, who not only funded and commissioned the building’s construction, but masterminded all aspects of the then-new home for the national collection.

Split into two groups, members of the press toured with gallery Director James Holloway, and Nicola Kalinsky, Deputy Director. Wikinews’ McNeil joined Kalinsky’s group, first visiting The Contemporary Scotland Gallery. This ground-floor gallery currently houses two exhibits, first being the Hot Scots display of photographic portraits of well-known Scottish figures from film, television, and music. Centre-stage in this exhibit is the newly-acquired Albert Watson portrait of Sir Sean Connery. James McAvoy, Armando Iannucci, playwright John Byrne, and Dr Who actress Karen Gillan also feature in the 18-photograph display.

The second exhibit in the Contemporary gallery, flanked by the new educational facilities, is the Missing exhibit. This is a video installation by Graham Fagen, and deals with the issue of missing persons. The installation was first shown during the National Theatre of Scotland’s staging of Andrew O’Hagan’s play, The Missing. Amongst the images displayed in Fagen’s video exhibit are clips from the deprived Sighthill and Wester-Hailes areas of Edinburgh, including footage of empty play-areas and footbridges across larger roads that sub-divide the areas.

With the only other facilities on the ground floor being the education suite, reception/information desk, cafe and the gallery’s shop, Wikinews’ McNeil proceeded with the rest of Kalinsky’s tour group to the top floor of the gallery, all easily fitting into the large glass hydraulic elevator.

The top (2nd) floor of the building is now divided into ten galleries, with the larger spaces having had lowered, false ceilings removed, and adjustable ceiling blinds installed to allow a degree of control over the amount of natural light let in. The architects and building contractors responsible for the renovation work were required, for one side of the building, to recreate previously-removed skylights by duplicating those they refurbished on the other. Kalinsky, at one point, highlighted a constructed-from-scratch new sandstone door frame; indistinguishable from the building’s original fittings, she remarked that the building workers had taken “a real interest” in the vision for the gallery.

The tour group were first shown the Citizens of the World gallery, currently hosting an 18th century Enlightenment-themed display which focuses on the works of David Hume and Allan Ramsay. Alongside the most significant 18th century items from the National Portrait Gallery’s collection, are some of the 133 new loans for the opening displays. For previous visitors to the gallery, one other notable change is underfoot; previously carpeted, the original parquet floors of the museum have been polished and varnished, and there is little to indicate it is over 120 years since the flooring was originally laid.

Throughout many of the upper-floor displays, the gallery has placed more light-sensitive works in wall-mounted cabinets and pull-out drawers. Akin to rummaging through the drawers and cupboards of a strange house, a wealth of items – many previously never displayed – are now accessible by the public. Commenting on the larger, featured oils, Deputy Director Kalinsky stressed that centuries-old portraits displayed in the naturally-lit upper exhibitions had not been restored for the opening; focus groups touring the gallery during the renovation had queried this, and the visibly bright colours are actually the consequence of displaying the works in natural light, not costly and risky restoration of the paintings.

There are four other large galleries on the top floor. Reformation to Revolution is an exhibition covering the transition from an absolute Catholic monarchy through to the 1688 revolution. Items on-display include some of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s most famous items – including Mary Queen of Scots and The Execution of Charles I. The portrait-based depiction of this historical age is complemented with prints, medals, and miniatures from the period.

Imagining Power is a Jacobite-themed exhibition, one which looks at the sometime-romanticised Stuart dynasty. The Gallery owns the most extensive collection of such material in the world; the portraiture that includes Flora MacDonald and Prince Charles Edward Stuart is complemented by glassware from the period which is on-loan from the Drambuie Liqueur Company which Kalinsky remarked upon as the only way Scots from the period could celebrate the deposed monarchy – toasting The King over the Water in appropriately engraved glasses.

On the other side of the upper floor, the two main naturally-lit exhibitions are The Age of Improvement, and Playing for Scotland. The first of these looks at societal changes through the 18th and 19th centuries, including Nasmyth’s 1787 portrait of the young Robert Burns and – well-known to past visitors to the portrait gallery – Raeburn’s 1822 depiction of Sir Walter Scott. These are complemented with some of the National Gallery’s collection of landscapes and earliest scenes from Scottish industry.

Playing for Scotland takes a look at the development of modern sports in the 19th century; migration from countryside to cities dramatically increased participation in sporting activities, and standardised rules were laid down for many modern sports. This exhibition covers Scotland’s four national sports – curling, shinty, golf, and bowls – and includes some interesting photographic images, such as those of early strong-men, which show how more leisure time increased people’s involvement in sporting activities.

Next to the Reformation to Revolution gallery is A Survey of Scotland. Largely composed of works on-loan from the National Library of Scotland, this showcase of John Slezer’s work which led to the 1693 publication of Theatrum Scotiae also includes some of the important early landscape paintings in the national collection.

The work of Scotland’s first portrait painter, the Aberdeen-born George Jamesone, takes up the other of the smaller exhibits on the east side of the refurbished building. As the first-ever dedicated display of Jamesone’s work, his imaginary heroic portraits of Robert the Bruce and Sir William Wallace are included.

On the west side of the building, the two smaller galleries currently house the Close Encounters and Out of the Shadow exhibits. Close Encounters is an extensive collection of the Glasgow slums photographic work of Thomas Annan. Few people are visible in the black and white images of the slums, making what were squalid conditions appear more romantic than the actual conditions of living in them.

The Out of the Shadow exhibit takes a look at the role of women in 19th century Scotland, showing them moving forward and becoming more recognisable individuals. The exceptions to the rules of the time, known for their work as writers and artists, as-opposed to the perceived role of primary duties as wives and mothers, are showcased. Previously constrained to the domestic sphere and only featuring in portraits alongside men, those on-display are some of the people who laid the groundwork for the Suffrage movement.

The first floor of the newly-reopened building has four exhibits on one side, with the library and photographic gallery on the other. The wood-lined library was moved, in its entirety, from elsewhere in the building and is divided into two parts. In the main public part, the original table from the Society of Antiquaries sits centred and surrounded by glass-fronted cabinets of reference books. Visible, but closed to public access, is the research area. Apart from a slight smell of wood glue, there was little to indicate to the tour group that the entire room had been moved from elsewhere in the building.

The War at Sea exhibit, a collaboration with the Imperial War Museum, showcases the work of official war artist John Lavery. His paintings are on-display, complemented by photographs of the women who worked in British factories throughout the First World War. Just visible from the windows of this gallery is the Firth of Forth where much of the naval action in the war took place. Situated in the corner of the room is a remote-controlled ‘periscope’ which allows visitors a clearer view of the Forth as-seen from the roof of the building.

Sir Patrick Geddes, best-known for his work on urban planning, is cited as one of the key influencers of the Scottish Renaissance Movement which serves as a starting point for The Modern Scot exhibit. A new look at the visual aspects of the movement, and a renewal of Scottish Nationalist culture that began between the two World Wars, continuing into the late 20th century, sees works by William McCance, William Johnstone, and notable modernists on display.

Migration Stories is a mainly photographic exhibit, prominently featuring family portraits from the country’s 30,000-strong Pakistani community, and exploring migration into and out of Scotland. The gallery’s intent is to change the exhibit over time, taking a look at a range of aspects of Scottish identity and the influence on that from migration. In addition to the striking portraits of notable Scots-Pakistani family groups, Fragments of Love – by Pakistani-born filmmaker Sana Bilgrami – and Isabella T. McNair’s visual narration of a Scottish teacher in Lahore are currently on-display.

The adjacent Pioneers of Science exhibit has Ken Currie’s 2002 Three Oncologists as its most dramatic item. Focussing on Scotland’s reputation as a centre of scientific innovation, the model for James Clerk Maxwell’s statue in the city’s George Street sits alongside photographs from the Roslin Institute and a death mask of Dolly the sheep. Deputy Director Kalinsky, commented that Dolly had been an incredibly spoilt animal, often given sweets, and this was evident from her teeth when the death mask was taken.

Now open daily from 10am to 5pm, and with more of their collection visible than ever before, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery will change some of the smaller current exhibits after 12 to 18 months on display. The ground-floor information desk has available five mini-guides, or ‘trails’, which are thematic guides to specific display items. These are: The Secret Nature trail, The Catwalk Collection trail, The Situations Vacant trail, The Best Wee Nation & The World trail, and The Fur Coat an’ Nae Knickers Trail.

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Wi Fi Internet Radio Change The Way You Listen To Music

Submitted by: Greg Fadul

Internet radio has changed the way that we listen to our radio. With more than 15,000 channels available from all around the world, listening to the radio is not the same anymore. Enjoy wireless, free music of excellent sound quality with sophisticated Wi-fi Internet radio. Read on to find out more.

No field is untouched by the fast pace of development and improving technology. New technology often refines the means of entertainment used earlier. MP3 players have changed the way that we listen to music, while internet has changed the way we buy music to some extent as most of the people prefer downloading their favorite music rather than accumulating CDs. With many new means of entertainment, many people thought radio would soon be extinct. Is it really so? On the contrary, radio has only grown in popularity as people often get bored with their music play list. Radio not only offers the option of fresh songs but also offers many other features like a talk show or sports broadcast. Radio has also assumed a new form now, that of internet radio. It is one step further in entertainment as far as radio is concerned. Why?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka9b99N56H0[/youtube]

Firstly, it connects you almost anywhere in the world. So, unlike traditional radio where signals connect only to a limited range of area, an internet radio allows you to listen to any radio station located anywhere, where there is internet access. There is no limitation of area as well as any problem of poor reception of signals in closed areas. That means you can log in any time that you want and listen to a radio station located anywhere in the world. That also means that you have thousands of radio stations from all over the world to choose. You can get access to up to 17,000 channels from all around the world. Instead of a limited number of channels that were confined to one place and hence, provided limited programs the choice has increased by many folds. So, you can listen to a far greater variety of songs, sports and other entertainment programs from several areas around the world. The difference is obvious.

Secondly, all you need is the basic equipment that includes a computer, Internet connection, internet browser, sound card for playing music on external speakers and speakers. What’s more, with the introduction of new Wi-fi internet radio, you do not even need a computer. Now, you can play wireless radio at any place in your house. There are sophisticated Wi-fi Internet radios available now, which are available complete with speakers, are portable and do not require a computer. You can place them anywhere. Depending on the company that you buy the device from, you can get excellent sound quality, as good as a CD and with amplifiers added to it, you get the perfect rocking music experience. What more could we ask for? Internet radio is free. So, once you have all the equipment in place, you can enjoy free music and entertainment anytime, anywhere.

With so many features, Wi-fi Internet radio is indeed yet another innovative invention that is picking up popularity and is expected to get more and more popular in the future. With Internet providing all that we need and connecting the entire world, internet radio has further integrated radio with world wide listeners.

About the Author: This article has been written by an expert, working with Grace Digital Audio, a leading company offering Internet radios.Website:

gracedigitalaudio.com/

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Poker’s all about luck, says Swiss Supreme Court

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The Supreme Court in Lausanne, Switzerland has ruled that Texas hold ’em poker is a game of luck, rather than a game of skill. As a result, only casinos can host poker tournaments in Switzerland. Private games with friends, even where money is at stake, are still permitted under the ruling.

Poker tournaments had been growing in popularity in the country, with many events held in hotels and bars. Such venues do not have to pay the 50% tax on profits levied on licensed casinos, nor comply with regulations combating money laundering and gambling addiction. Poker is now categorised alongside roulette and slot machines, which as games of luck can only be played inside casinos. Mathematics, strategy, and bluffing were less important in determining the result than chance, said the judges, overturning a lower court ruling to the opposite effect, and disagreeing with the stance of the country’s Federal Gaming Commission.

Before the ruling, it had been estimated by the Swiss Federation of Casinos that there were about 100 unlicensed poker tournaments every weekend. A Swiss poker website, SwissPokerTour.ch, has described the result as “a black day for all amateur poker players in Switzerland.”

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Three accused of murdering Edmonton, Alberta convenience store clerks in robberies appear in court

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Yesterday, three people, all of whom had previous criminal arrests, appeared in court in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, accused of first degree murder; they allegedly killed two Mac’s convenience store clerks during robberies at two different stores on Friday.

According to police, the victims were alone in their respective stores when the gunmen arrived. The clerks were shot dead, both within a short period of time, and the suspects left with a small amount of money. Karanpal Bhandu, one of the victims, was taken to hospital and died, while another, Ricky Cenabre, was found dead in the store’s storage room.

One 13-year-old boy briefly appeared in court yesterday, crying during the proceedings. His name cannot be disclosed. The next hearing in his case is set for January 4 next year. The boy has previously been charged with illegally carrying weapons, including nunchucks and bear spray, and robbery.

Another man accused, 27-year-old Colton Steinhauer, is supposed to appear again in court on January 11. He has allegedly violated his probation orders, and has been convicted of multiple crimes, including assault causing bodily harm.

The third man, 24-year-old Laylin Delorme, has repeatedly been convicted of crimes in recent years. For assault with a weapon he received six month prison sentences twice, once in 2010 and once in 2014, losing his right to own firearms. He has also previously been jailed for two years after being convicted of possessing drugs for trafficking. Delorme has previously posted images featuring firearms onto social media, including one captioned “ski mask on I’m coming for your ice, bare face I’m coming for your life”; Steinhauer has also posted similar posts onto his social media accounts. Delorme is also expected to appear in court on January 11.

Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht said the murders were “absolutely unnecessary”, “gratuitous”, and “evil.”

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Ontario Votes 2007: Interview with Green candidate Russ Aegard, Thunder Bay-Atikokan

Monday, September 24, 2007

Russ Aegard is running for the Green Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the Thunder Bay-Atikokan riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

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Digital Technologies Driving Healthcare Industry In 2020

The healthcare industry is expected to reach $280 billion in upcoming years.

2020 will be an essential year for the health industry. When it is about digital health trends, law, artificial intelligence, telemedicine is used to solve the biggest challenges of our age.

Here is a list of the major trends you should know about digital health technologies in 2020:

Most essential digital health trend is MDR:

MDR i.e., Medical Device Regulation, will transform the entire admin scene in the EU. This is going to create an immense impact on mobile app development companies.

The MDR came in order in 2017 and implemented from May 26, 2020.

From that date, every new gadget should have promoted, sold, or appropriated in the European market and need to be confirmed. Strategize successfully and keep your health tech data secure, which guarantees you have great partners.

Health systems with telemedicine:

2020 is going to be the year of telemedicine as it is now mainstream in the healthcare industry. Personal health investment is booming at all lengths, prolonging the healthcare development circuit.

Almost every app and gadget is enabling healthcare application development companies to monitor, diagnose, and treat patients remotely.

It has real-time monitoring of ECG, GP consultation, and robots for doing surgery remotely.

Telemedicine is finding applications with monitors that remotely store a patient’s observation.

AI-enhanced technologies mimicking human-based behavior can drive innovation. Healthcare development companies must understand to make maximum use of AI technology to improve healthcare processes that achieve value with improved performance.

Telemedicine provides personalized and urgent care to patients and frees healthcare providers to deal with the higher number of critical cases.

Big Data and Analytics for Patient Care:

In the US, health care spending is highly expensive. Overall spending is $ 3.8 trillion per year.

Patient and patient care have revolutionized the way you think about health care. The analysis of this data provides a way to gain essential insights into medical conditions. At the individual level, data can form the basis for machine learning (AI), which models predict heart attacks.

On a broader scale, it provides an opportunity to transform epidemiology and save lives with mobile health globally.

Medical Artificial Intelligence:

Medical artificial intelligence has grown with big data analytics for diagnosis and care of the patient.

It will range from chatbots to initiate patients for help with emergency conditions for real-time diagnosis of heart attacks with the help of machine learning.

AI-based applications seek to improve and personalize healthcare delivery for individuals.

However, there are various challenges based on legal as well as technical for using the AI in health technology. Medical Data is usually taken in a distinct format and needs to be analyzed under observation in every few hours. This will transform the approach of traditional healthcare through machine learning. They could limit the application of AI in some scenarios where consent is the core of data processing under law.

The concept of creating a mobile app that is based on an anomaly detection system, a machine learning solution that exposes the intrusion of malignant tumors into health monitoring devices (such as MRI scans). Which is capable of intrusion detection? There is no anonymity in health care processes.

Population and its age:

The most prominent hurdle for global healthcare is demographics. Advancement in healthcare leads people to live more. But, the aging population can create a significant burden on healthcare app development firms.

Digital health applications and other digital devices can help leverage digital healthcare technology trends, often in different ways.

However, with increasing age by 2050, one in six people in the world will be over 65 (16%), one in 11 (9%) in 2019. It will open healthcare software development companies to address through Big Data and AI health issues via Healthcare software applications to improve care outcomes for patients in a hospital setting.

mHealth Apps and Wearable devices:

Virtual testing powered by wearable devices and the M-Healthcare smartphone app is expected to reach $ 450 million.

The virtual clinical trial concept is likely to emerge as it allows you to participate in trials of the clinic from your home or any other location.

The emergence of virtual tests helps reduce costs, as well as streamline processes and demonstrate real-world efficacy.

Augmented Reality role in Surgeries:

AR-based headsets and solutions take advantage of 2D images and other patient data and build 3D models of patient anatomy.

AR is a technique that is capable of revolutionizing the efficiency and cost optimization aspects of surgery while improving the error rate due to high accuracy and target detection within the patient’s body in the context of surgical navigation.

Also, the benefits of surgeon comfort, low effort, low wastage, or possibly low cost are parallel to AR’s performance systems.

EHR Blockchain Interoperability:

Blockchain has been a leader in healthcare, helping EHRs (electronic health records) with interoperability.

A significant challenge for doctors, resulting in regulatory non-specialization, poor referral management to specialists, now stays in the patient upon hospitalization and is unreadable in the hospital – all because the care team needs your complete medical history (eg, allergies Item). Access to specific drugs is not required.

Summing up:

Now that we have discussed about the trend of the most recent digital health technologies that will transform the landscape of the healthcare industry in 2020.

The future of healthcare application development companies to create healthcare applications empowered with AI and blockchain.

Look at these health trends shaping the healthcare industry, highlighting the endless possibilities the healthcare industry has to offer with health-based apps.

Contact us now.

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Commonwealth Bank of Australia CEO apologies for financial planning scandal

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Ian Narev, the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, this morning “unreservedly” apologised to clients who lost money in a scandal involving the bank’s financial planning services arm.

Last week, a Senate enquiry found financial advisers from the Commonwealth Bank had made high-risk investments of clients’ money without the clients’ permission, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars lost. The Senate enquiry called for a Royal Commission into the bank, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Mr Narev stated the bank’s performance in providing financial advice was “unacceptable”, and the bank was launching a scheme to compensate clients who lost money due to the planners’ actions.

In a statement Mr Narev said, “Poor advice provided by some of our advisers between 2003 and 2012 caused financial loss and distress and I am truly sorry for that. […] There have been changes in management, structure and culture. We have also invested in new systems, implemented new processes, enhanced adviser supervision and improved training.”

An investigation by Fairfax Media instigated the Senate inquiry into the Commonwealth Bank’s financial planning division and ASIC.

Whistleblower Jeff Morris, who reported the misconduct of the bank to ASIC six years ago, said in an article for The Sydney Morning Herald that neither the bank nor ASIC should be in control of the compensation program.

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Rogue Access Points What Are They? And How Do You Deal With Them?

Submitted by: Mark McSherry

If you ve just started to work with lightweight access points, you might have already come across the term rogue access point .

The questions most people ask are:

What is it?

What can I do about it?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfWTIlhWZUw[/youtube]

Rogue access points are determined by your lightweight wireless LAN controller as an access point it does not control. This can mean that there is an AP on your site that should not be there however in some cases it may be an access point which is used for a hotspot, such as a nearby coffee shop.

The good news is that on your controller you can set up some rules. These rules are used to automate the process of determining if a rogue access point is an issue or not.

You can classify on a number of different parameters and classifying on signal strength or the SSID broadcast allows you to determine if the AP may be is a friendly or a malicious AP.

If, for example, the rogue AP has the same SSID you have, then the chances are that it s malicious. It s flagged as such and you can investigate. Rogue APs are an issue because a hacker may set up an access point to impersonate one of your APs. They may also be used to send out disconnect messages, so you should also configure your network to allow clients and APs to authenticate each other.

Generally when you switch a new lightweight network on, you ll find that there are sometimes dozens of rogue APs identified however using the automated rules allows you to determine which may be safely ignored.

If you determine a rogue AP is malicious, you have several options (depending on your network configuration):

You can perform a wired trace to determine if the AP is connected to your wired network and you can then disable the switchport where the rogue AP is connected.

You can use location tracking to determine the likely location of the rogue AP and physically visit the location.

You can contain the rogue AP. This option will cause nearby APs from your wireless LAN to send de-authenticate and disassociate messages to any clients trying to associate to this rogue AP effectively rendering the rogue AP useless when in the presence of your wireless LAN. This option can be activated manually on a per AP basis or a rule can be setup to deactivate all APs connected to your wireless LAN (This option must be used with caution as accidentally disabling somebody else s wireless LAN outside of your premises may have legal ramifications)

Rogue access points are a fact of life any time you stand up a managed lightweight network you re going to see them the question is how you manage which are a threat to your business and which ones you don t care about. Once a new network is deployed it can take a fair bit of upfront work to categorise all the rogue APs.

The real lesson is that a wireless network isn t a static thing it changes and requires ongoing support and maintenance.

About the Author: IPTel Solutions are an Australian based company providing the design and delivery of Enterprise computer networks. Specialising in Wireless, we also work in Routing & Switching and Voice. Visit us at

iptel.com.au

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Study: Socialized Canadian surgery half the U.S. cost with same results

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Americans pay twice as much for heart-bypass surgery as the socialized Canadian system, with no difference in outcome, according to today’s issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine in a study funded by American drug company, Pfizer Inc.. The research found that heart bypass surgery costs an average of $10,373 in Canada, compared with $20,673 in the United States. Even though the costs were double in the United States, the rate of complications and death following bypass surgery was similar.

High administrative costs and overtreatment are usually blamed for the higher cost in the profit-driven U.S. system. Americans spent $5,635 per capita on health care in 2003, while only $3,003 was spent by Canadians. Health spending accounts for almost 15 per cent of gross domestic product in the U.S. and just under 10 per cent in Canada; while at the same time, all Canadian residents are full covered. In addition, the average Canadian lives 2 years longer than the average American.

This is one of the first studies directly comparing the costs of surgery in Canada and the United States and it reinforces the view of Dr. Mark Eisenberg, head of cardiovascular epidemiology at Jewish General Hospital in Montreal; “The conventional wisdom is that health care is much more expensive in the U.S. and the conventional wisdom is right.” by finding that Canada’s socialized system is far more cost efficient than the U.S. model.

The cost of medications used to treat bypass patients were as much as 68 percent greater in the U.S. than in Canada and the cost of a surgical bed was 36 percent greater in the U.S.. In Canada, nursing accounted for 44 percent of the treatment costs, compared with 21 percent in the U.S. and patients stayed longer in hospital following surgery in Canada.

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