The Health IT Standards Committee today said today it would bring together experts from outside the healthcare field to share ideas about best ways to apply new workflow and information sharing standards across organizations.
In an interview published in the New York Times’ “Pogue’s Posts,” National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal discussed federal efforts to promote electronic health record interoperability and ensure the security of heath data.
Valcor Scientific introduces a new flow control valve for LCO2 (liquid carbon dioxide) applications. The unique SV91 series valve designed for LCO2 incorporates many features of a valve used in Aerospace systems for over 40 years to make it one of the most dependable solenoid valves available to handle this normally difficult media. Al Lamastra, General Manager for Valcor Scientific, states “We’ve been involved with the Aerospace industry for so many years. By integrating the technology developed for that industry into our general market products; this helped to make us the manufacturer that people look to when they need dependable cryogenic flow control.”
The SV91 all welded leak-tight SS construction has a straight-thru flow path that provides high flow in a compact size. Its direct-acting shear seal design insures positive shifting and sealing unlike piloted valves that tend to fail in the open position. Valcor Scientific developed a free-flow design internally that minimizes the transformation of LCO2 to a solid or “snow”. This feature along with the direct-acting shear seal, make the SV91 from Valcor Scientific one of the most reliable solenoid valve for LCO2 applications.
Available in two versions rated at 350 PSI and 1000 PSI, the SV91 series can be used in applications such as fog producing systems for entertainment, food processing, chillers and other temperature control devices. For more information, contact Valcor Scientific at valcorscientific@valcor.com or 973-467-8400.
Company Information:
Valcor Engineering Scientific Div.
2 Lawrence Rd.
Springfield, NJ
07081 USA.
973-467-8400
973-467-9592
http://www.valcor.com
Outsourcing of software development, support and maintenance is gradually emerging as a source for competitive advantages–and a source for headaches, too–for a number of companies.
A recent study by Gartner attributed the first year-over-year revenue drop suffered by the IT services industry in 2002 to growth in offshore services, which is pushing down the prices. Forrester Research says that the offshore outsourcing is going to rise from 12 percent of corporate IT budgets in 2000 to more than 28 percent in 2003. Meta Group predicts that as much as 50 percent of U.S. IT workers will shift to contract labor by 2007.
A CEO of a young IT products company recently said on the panel of a popular Washington, D.C. event that by outsourcing its R&D center to Bangalore, India, his company was able to develop products very efficiently, effectively and with a minimal amount of cash. With only a $15,000 to $20,000 monthly cash burn rate, his company was able to compete against 4- or 5-year-old VC-backed companies that had raised multi-millions.
But is that all there is to outsourcing–reduced cost? What are the various things that one should consider while employing outsourcing? Industry experts say that there is a lot that stays hidden but has an enormous impact on the decision to outsource. Let’s examine the experiences of these people to understand what it takes to successfully outsource a project.
Outsourcing Is More Than Labor Arbitrage
Labor arbitrage–the ability to pay one labor pool less than the other–has definitely modified the fundamentals of outsourcing. Also, the availability of a greater number of equally qualified people–India produces 75,000 IT graduates every year as compared to 26,000 in the United States–has played a big part in the growth and efficacy of offshore outsourcing.
However, there is more to outsourcing then just lower HR expenses. There are many areas including vendor selection, communications, technical oversight, security/privacy and specialization, which all need to be considered while outsourcing work offshore. Studying best practices in these areas is a must if you want to be successful. Five things will help you achieve that.
Select the Right Vendor
As an industry, outsourcing has matured. There are many documented benefits and pitfalls of outsourcing. The general awareness has reached such a level that the case for outsourcing has been pretty much made. Now the prevalent question has changed from “Why outsource?” to “Outsource to whom?”
How you select your vendor will have a significant impact on your success. There are a host of questions that you need to get answers to. You need to establish selection criteria to evaluate vendors. You need to understand your core competencies, your business needs and how they relate to the core competencies of the vendor. You need to evaluate the industry knowledge of each vendor and their processes and methodologies, including CMM, ISO9000 or TQM certifications. You need to understand the cultural diversity and the impact that it may have on communications and development efforts.
One startup company that tied up with an outsourcing company in India had to constantly answer this question while seeking outside investment: “How are you going to assure that you have this effective development organization in India with all of the negative things going on around the world?” It was able to address this concern easily because it wasn’t the only company using Indian development centers. Its vendor was also supporting a number of other U.S. companies that were much larger and prominent than the startup. The vendor had enough redundancy and resources for backup and recovery to ensure continuous operations in emergency situations.
Do Your Homework
An entrepreneur that is using outsourcing to build his startup venture said, “Outsourcing is not going to be an easy process, but it can be relatively simplified if you know what you’re getting into.” Outsourcing is quite different than contracting, more specifically time and material (T&M) contracting.
T&M contracting–the more prevalent form of IT contracting–usually entails getting people to join your team to complete the work. The client keeps the control and tells the contractors what is needed, when it is needed and how it will be done. The project management, resource planning, scheduling etc., are all done by the client.
On the other hand, in the case of outsourcing you ask the vendor to deliver you something and it is responsible for the complete development and the delivery of the final product. In this case the vendor is responsible for project management, resource planning, scheduling etc., hence it calls for a different type of preparation than T&M contracting.
In outsourcing, the completeness and thoroughness of business analysis is very critical. You need to ensure that your analysis specifies each and every aspect of the proposed job.
The lessons learnt mentioned by a panel of CEOs discussing outsourcing in a recently held Washington, D.C. event included requirement specifications and documentation. These companies spent a large amount of time writing the specs and completing the documentation that they then handed over to the vendor. They broke their specs in multiple modules, which could be much easily communicated to the development team as compared to the complete system. They developed elaborate matrices to measure the final product. They communicated this matrix to the vendor well in advance. Their suggestion? Don’t even think about outsourcing if you are not willing to develop detailed specs and the measurement matrix.
It’s the Process
In outsourcing projects, even though the project management, resource planning and scheduling is done by the vendor, the client still has to monitor the vendor. The lack of proximity to the vendor puts a greater importance on the process that is employed to communicate the work, to get the work done and to report back the progress.
That is why many companies are putting greater emphasis on the certification like CMM, ISO900, TQM, etc., as compared to the technical resources of the vendors. The vendor must deploy a consistent and high quality process for analysis, design, development, QA, reporting, project monitoring and management. The client and vendor must have a clear understanding about the process. Otherwise, the project will fail.
Other than SDLC processes and certification, another critical aspect is the outsourcing contract. The contract should be flexible enough to be able to address various late-stage concerns and modifications B2B Software.
Protect Your IP
When the software is developed in a far-away place that you do not visit very often and where you do not have control, it can raise doubts about the protection of your intellectual property rights. How you go about protecting your IP will have a great impact upon the success of your company, not just the success of your outsourcing initiative.
One company split its system into multiple pieces and worked with multiple companies, finally integrating all pieces and coming out with the eventual product. This way none of the outsourcing vendors have a clear idea about the eventual product. They only knew about the modules that they worked on, not the whole picture.
Communicate Well
A common problem that the software people face is the miscommunication of requirements. A CEO of a company that outsourced work to India once mentioned that while developing software in the United States, he had same communication issues while developing software in India. However, when the development is in a different country, the problem can be exacerbated. How you address this will have critical bearing over the success of your project.
You need to develop thorough communications that address all foreseeable issues, including the time difference between different locations, the language and cultural differences, whether video conferencing capabilities exist, etc. Such a plan should specify how often you communicate, who will set up the agenda, who will initiate the discussion, etc.
IT outsourcing has been gaining momentum for some time. The industry has matured to a very good level. A number of big and small companies have consciously made an effort to pursue outsourcing on a strategic level and they have set up many good and bad examples. Getting your IT work done offshore has many advantages, but it also comes with a number of risks. If you do not address those risks and take care of all the areas mentioned above, then your outsourcing project may become a nightmare for you.
Ulrick & Short is launching an adapted version of its Delyte F fat replacer for tapioca to reduce the fat content in both sweet and savoury shortcrust pastry.
The UK ingredients supplier has previously enabled fat reduction in sponge cakes and cream fillings using other products in its Delyte range, but pastry has presented a particular challenge.
Company director Andrew Ulrick told FoodNavigator.com that attempts to reduce fat by 10 to 15 per cent resulted in a pastry that was unacceptably tough. For this reason, the Delyte F product has until now been used to retain moisture and increase shelf life in fruit-rich tea loaves.
But following requests from customers for lower fat pastry solutions, the team revisited the ingredient and has now found a way to allow up to 25 per cent fat reduction, mostly from butter but also some shortening.
Ulrick explained that the granulation has been increased to increase the surface area and increase water binding activity.
?When you reduce fat in processed meats, bakery fillings etc you use high levels of water. In pastry you use low levels, so we have to change the granulation top bind lower levels of water, he said.
Although 25 per cent fat reduction is not enough for manufacturers to make a low fat claim on products, Ulrick called it a significant reduction and it fits in with industry wide efforts to reduce the levels of saturated fats in packaged products.
Pies to please the eyes
Another benefit the company has found is that use of the revised Delyte F can help improve final product quality Potato Starch.
Lack of elasticity in the dough can cause cracking, and conversations with large industrial pie-makers have confirmed that cracking can be a problem, even in full fat versions of products.
However Ulrick said Delyte F has been seen to increase the elasticity, and repeated tests have turned out pies with un-cracked tops.
Reducing the amount of butter would bring cost savings to manufacturers too, as butter is a relatively expensive commodity.
The company is currently conducting trials on using the ingredient in puff pastry, and Ulrick said a version suitable for the products like croissants could be available in the coming months.
Tarrytown, NY- OmniMD, one of the leading healthcare information technology companies, which provides Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Practice Management (PMS) and other Healthcare IT products and services to the providers and clinics across the nation, has announced today that Walker Family Medicine (WFM) located in Willcox, Arizona has adopted the companys EMR and PMS solution in order to improve the quality at point of care.
WFM decided to implement an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system from day one to access patient medical records, to improve the quality at point of care, to increase productivity and reduce medical errors. Besides the financial benefits, the major objective was to enhance the quality of care as well as the satisfaction of its patients.
“After comparing many EMRs, I determined that OmniMD was the best software for my new clinic. I run a high volume family practice clinic with two mid-level providers. OmniMD is used for scheduling, reminder calls, medical records, insurance and patient billing. OmniMD is a critical tool for my practice. It is a very good software, but I am also very pleased with the level of service OmniMD provides with their technical support team, Dr. Walker (Board Certified in Family Practice) says.
Dr. Walker is pleased with the performance of the OmniMD solution, which allows her to access and maintain entire patient medical records promptly. The system allows the clinic to customize templates as per their specialty, at the same time multiple providers can access a single chart at once. In case of aSpecialty Provider, the system allows the sharing of charts among providers and staff across multiple locations. OmniMD Medical Billing System can electronically track claim status, payments and work flow of the billing team. OmniMD Patient Portal allows patients to register on-line, update and view their information, request an appointment, order an Rx refill and view lab reports.
About Walker Family Medicine
The Walker Family Medicine (WFM) team has worked together for over five years while serving the Willcox community. They are committed to providing patient-centered care in order to maintain their community’s health. WFM provides routine healthcare for children, including immunizations. WFM also has associations with pediatric specialists. WFM provides routine women’s healthcare. This care includes annual gynecological exams, family planning, pre -and post- menopausal counseling and treatment.
WFM has Urgent Care services. The clinic is available to care for patients basic urgent healthcare needs, such as simple lacerations, sprains, fracture diagnosis and care. They are associated with Charles Leighton Hospice and they provide referrals when appropriate. For more information, please visit www.walkerfamilymedicine.com
About OmniMD
OmniMD is a division of Integrated Systems Management, Inc. (ISM), a leader in software development, system integration, business and technology consulting for fortune 500 companies since 1989.
OmniMD integrated Electronic Health Records (EHR) and Practice Management (PMS) product and services, offers unparalleled reliability, ease-of-use, efficiency, and customizability. The solution is a HIPPA compliant, web-enabled and support device, which can range from tablet PCs, handhelds to desktop computers. The solution is SureScripts Certified, which also provides real-time alerts for drug-drug, drug allergy and other interactions based on a patients EMR. The solution captures complete documentation such as HPI, ROS and Physical Exams, Assessment & Plan to complete patient visits. The system follows HL7 standards for information sharing and integration across practices and hospitals. The solution is secured by Thawte, which uses 128bit encryption and digital certificates to ensure complete data security. OmniMD received a 5-star rating in the AC Group survey in 2006. For more information, please visit Medical Billing Services.
Great ideas are timeless, and the new Liquicap M, combining the tried and trusted capacitance level principle with leading-edge technology, is ideal for food, chemicals, viscous media and hydrocarbons
Great ideas are timeless, and the principle behind the capacitance level probe - the very first instrument we made - is still as sound as ever.
More than 50 years on, Endress+Hauser presents the new Liquicap M, combining this tried and trusted principle with leading-edge technology.
With its variety of housings, certifications, approvals and process connections (from 0.5”), you can tailor Liquicap M to exactly what you need - no more, no less.
Available in both rope and rod versions, Liquicap M can accurately measure level up to
10metres.
It offers outstanding performance in storage, buffer and process tanks and features two-stage over-voltage protection to safeguard against electrostatic discharge.
It can also be used in viscous media, thanks to active build-up compensation.
Ideal for the food industry, Liquicap M is suitable for both CIP and GTMS systems, and combines a wide range of hygienic process connections with FDA and EHEDG approvals.
It is also designed for the real world: in applications with strong build-up, Liquicap M has cutting-edge algorithms to safeguard stable measured values.
And its short response time means it is particularly suitable for use in small tanks, where rapid level changes occur and the measurement range must cover the entire contents of the tank.
Also ideal for the chemical industry, Liquicap M offers a SIL 2 rating according to IEC61508 for both low and high demand mode, and is ATEX certified to EEx ia and EEx d for hazardous area use.
It features a gas-tight feedthrough for protection against aggressive or toxic media, often found in solvent or hydrocarbon applications.
Best of all, the device continuously monitors the probe insulation, so that any rod breakage or damage to insulation is immediately detected to minimise measurement errors and plant downtime.
SPRINGFIELD, NJ - Valcor Scientific, a division of Valcor Engineering Corp. is offering its new SV700 Series of inert, solenoid operated micro pumps. Celebrating its 50th year, Valcor Scientific has been a leader in the design and manufacture of a broad range of pumps and valves for analytical chemistry, biomedical, medical instrumentation, and light industrial applications.
Typical applications for Valcor’s new SV700 Series are dispensing reagents in clinical instrumentation, dispensing dilutants in analytical instrumentation, dispensing lubricants in various other industry-specific applications.
The SV700 Micro Pumps feature:
Less than 3″ high, with a diameter of 1.10″, and a dispense volume of 50 to 250 �l, Valcor’s new SV700 Series is specifically designed to meet the demands of the instrumentation marketplace.
It can reliably dispense small volumes of low-density fluids with a low wattage solenoid (5.3 watts). A broad selection of standard materials of construction is available to allow for a wide range of fluid compatibility.
Manufactured with a glass-filled polypropylene pump head, and either EPDM or Viton Elastomers, the SV700 is available with a variety of fluid connections. These include: �-28 flat bottom ports, tube stubs, and a surface mount manifold configuration. Offered in both 12 and 24 VDC, the standard electrical connection is 10″ TFE insulated flying leads. Amp and Molex connections can be provided.
Valcor’s SV700 series of Micro Pumps was specifically designed to be user friendly in both its ease of installation and settability. Several configurations of the SV700 Micro Pump-Series are being offered, all versions based on a core group of components. This allows for ease of field service and conversion between both elastomeric compounds and port configurations.
Product Details:
Plastic Valve | Solenoid Valve | Metering Pump | Diaphragm Valves | Miniature valve | Pinch Valves | Cryogenic Valve | Instrument Valve
Offshore proofing yourself need not involve radical shifts in Careers away from IT. Those drastic steps may not be needed if you understand what works and what does not in IT Offshoring!Notwithstanding all the insanity with offshoring that is going right now, If you are in IT, I would not move away from it. You may just need to make sure you are in environments where offshoring does not work! Here are five simple ways to do it:
1. Positions Dependent Upon Constant Communication - Offshoring is not suitable for IT positions that are dependent upon constant communication - Business Intelligence and Reporting is one such area. Constant communication and changes are the norm rather than exceptions. This may not be because the business users are fickle. It’s just the nature of Business Intelligence and Reporting.
2. Positions That Involve Lots of Internal and External Touchpoints - A good example might be IT careers in Consulting Companies that require interactions with customers here. More touchpoints mean bodies that are in the same time zones as yourself. They may try offshoring those positions but they will not work in the longer run.
3. Positions where Requirements are Changing Fast all the time - Fast growing businesses do these to you. Requirements cannot be frozen long enough for them to follow any process. That may also mean you need to be nimble on your feet, be familiar with Rapid Prototyping and faster release cycles if you are in software development. Good examples might be fast growing online companies.
4. Positions where Technology is the Core Set of Products - For Intellectual Property reasons as well as speed with which you need to do things (not very mature companies but younger ones) IT positions within such companies cannot be outsourced easily without pain. If you join a Retailer in their IT department, IT is a support process. It is subject more to outsourcing as it is not a core competency.
5. IT Careers that involve fast changing technologies - RFID, Wireless are all examples of fast changing technologies that cannot step outside the U.S simply for availability reasons. Wireless standards (Wide-area, telecom not local area) vary from country to country and is resistant to outsourcing simply for the reason that it cannot be done elsewhere. Fast changing technologies like RFID may require resources - people, knowledge, access to information, capital, etc that are very localized. They cannot be simply outsourced.
That said, already Computer Science enrollments are shrinking in schools. This may drastically alter the demand-supply equation in local IT workers favor soon. Hang in there, hide out for a while and the sun will come out. Hype machines work both ways, very optimistic and very pessimistic. Currently it is painting an unwarranted pessimistic picture. I don’t believe it at all, if not for any reason other than simply what experience teaches you.
Area planted to fall potatoes in 2009 is estimated at 932,900 acres [=377,540 hectare], up slightly from the 2008 crop year [930,500].
Harvested area is forecast at 922,700 acres, also up slightly from 2008.
Idaho potato growers increased planted area 5 percent from last year but these [last year] are the lowest acres planted since 1986. As of July 5, crop conditions were rated 95 percent good to excellent.
Washington potato producers planted 6 percent fewer acres than a year ago. Cool, wet conditions delayed planting throughout the State. Significant planting did not begin until early-April but high temperatures late in the month enabled progress to advance quickly. By late-May, virtually the entire crop was in the ground.
Oregon potato growers increased planted area 2 percent from last year. The crop got off to a good start without any widespread delays to planting. In Colorado, planted area dropped 2 percent from the previous year as growers continued to voluntarily limit acreage for water conservation and supply management. Planting finished slightly ahead of schedule and the crop was rated in mostly good condition.
Fall potato planted area remained unchanged from last year in California, Maine, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. Potato growing areas in Maine received frequent and intense rain events during June after a cool, dry planting season. Northern areas of Aroostook County did not receive as much rain as southern locations and excellent crop conditions were reported. Further south, conditions ranged from fair to good, depending on moisture levels.
Michigan’s planted area increased 5 percent from 2008. Plants were in good to excellent condition, benefitting from above normal rainfall this season. Planted area also increased in Nebraska, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, and New Mexico.
Growers in North Dakota planted 2 percent fewer acres than last year. Planting began later than normal and remained behind average throughout the planting season. As of June 28, crop condition was rated 63 percent good to excellent.
Planted area also decreased from last year in New York and Minnesota.
