12/18/2014 - West Side Leader

WEST AKRON Stewart and Calhoun Funeral Home and Cremation Services is inviting families who used their services in the past year to attend a holiday memorial service for their loved ones.

A Year of Remembrance will take place today, Dec. 18, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the funeral home, 529 W. Thornton St. Stewart and Calhoun staff will help celebrate and remember those who have passed through songs, words of comfort, praise and presentation of an engraved memento that will serve as a lasting memory.

Support also will be provided by Robert DeJournett, community outreach director at Summa Health System, and Marilyn Rivers & Co., accompanied by Minister of Music Myron Brown and 12-year-old vocalist Elijah Johnson. In addition, ambassadors from Summa Health System, Akron General Medical Center and the House of the Lord Grief Recovery Center will be available to speak with attendees and provide information on managing life after the loss of a loved one.

For more information, call 330-535-1543.

Health system officials said the UH Fairlawn Health Center offers urgent care, radiology and lab services, as well as primary care, rheumatology, colorectal surgery, cardiology, pediatrics and pediatric specialty care, including endocrinology, gastroenterology, neurology and sports medicine. Services began this month.

With an investment of more than $4 million, UH transformed 35,000 square feet of an existing office building into the new health center, located just off Interstate 77 at state Route 18.

This new health center enables us to bring our services together in a location that creates greater access for residents of Fairlawn and the Greater Akron region, said Richard Hanson, president of UH Community Hospitals and Ambulatory Network. Additionally, a patients care at UH Fairlawn Health Center will be fully integrated and coordinated with the expert care provided throughout the University Hospitals health system.

With the addition of UH Fairlawn Health Center, UH now has 15 hospitals, 29 health centers and more than 100 physician locations throughout Northeast Ohio. UH also has outpatient health centers in Wadsworth, Medina and Hudson.

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Stewart and Calhoun conducts holiday memorial service

Some of the most important innovations happening in energy today are happening far from the national media headlines. But these small changes will go a long way to making power more reliable, competitive, and local, with solar energy playing a central disruptive role that could dominate energy in the next century.

One of those moves happened yesterday, when SunPower bought a $20 million stake in Tendril and agreed to license its Energy Services Management Platform software. Here's what the deal means over the next few years.

SunPower's vision for a connected home. Image source: SunPower.

What this means for residential solar At its core, Tendril is essentially an energy data company. It collects and analyzes data about consumers' energy usage patterns, primarily learned from partnerships with utilities. SunPower can use this data in its installations to optimize a home's renewable energy consumption, provide stored energy when it's needed, adapt to changing policies for solar, and even improve sales by finding its ideal customers.

You can think of SunPower's capabilities with Tendril as a piece of the home of the future. SunPower will provide local energy production with solar panels, and with energy storage and connected devices SunPower can intelligently plan energy production and consumption based on consumers' desires. If a consumer wants to consume as little energy as possible the system can be set for that, just as it could be set to consume as much of your own energy production, or optimize for cost if there are rewards for sending energy to the grid at peak times. All of this will work in the background, similar to a car's eco mode, but it'll work to make energy more dynamic and controllable for consumers.

This will also be important for sales in a diverse number of locations. Different states and countries compensate solar energy producers in different ways, and in the future, demand response, dynamic pricing, and even net metering may look different than they do today. With intelligent energy production, consumption, and energy storage, a world of possibilities are opening up to adapt to the future.

SolarCity's energy storage system. Image source: SolarCity.

SunPower isn't going to control the smart home of the future, but it'll be a big piece of the pie. It will tie into a system like Home Kit for iOS or Control 4, which are the central controls for smart homes. It'll feed data to these systems, and from there washing machine cycles, air conditioning, and more can be controlled based on a consumer's desires.

Other small innovations impacting energy This isn't the only innovation happening in solar, and some of the industry's most important advances have happened far from the headlines. SolarCity 's acquisition of Zep Solar lowered installation time and cost, making solar more accessible to consumers.

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Solar Energy Becoming a Key Component in the Connected Home

(PRWEB) December 17, 2014

Under agreement with Master Franchise Specialist (MFS), a franchise brokerage firm, The Go To Crew (TGTC) announces a Master Franchise offering geared to savvy investors. The objective of the offering is to interest investors who desire an incentivized financial structure that rewards them with the prospect of an early break even and profitable ongoing royalties.

Tom Fenig, Franchise Development Manager, of TGTC, who founded and then sold both franchise systems, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives and Mosquito Squad, believes in the revenue potential for brokers who are earnest and willing to get behind an emerging franchise.

"The concept is solid and offers multiple revenue streams for the franchisee, with a low barrier of entry and consumer profile of services ranging from window and gutter cleaning, power and deck washing to LED architectural outdoor lighting. This creates a win-win for all and makes absolute sense for the broker who can highlight the advantages of not just being a single concept franchise," says Fenig.

Supplementing the traditional method of offering a single territory, MFS and TGTC envision strong growth and inquiry, given the number of available high density regions nationwide. In addition, the home services market continues to grow on each end of the consumer age and demographic continuum. Aging baby boomers and new home-owners are both in the market for services such as window cleaning, pressure washing, gutter and dryer vent cleaning, and led outdoor lighting installations and upgrades.

An experienced Franchisor, with 35+ years to his credit, Ken Visokey knows an enticing opportunity when it presents itself. Ken is the CEO and Founder of MASTER FRANCHISE SPECIALISTS. Additionally, as a management consultant, Ken has a keen understanding of what it takes to provide guidance, leadership and advice to encourage the best performances of those involved in both emerging and established Franchise Systems.

"The GoToCrew is uniquely positioned to excite every level of investor interested in long term success in the home services franchise arena! Their Master program is ideal for empire builders/ virtual partners because of the 2 levels of investment ( Gold starts at $99,500) and is the lowest priced in the US today. The Platinum Program at $179,000 is designed for fast ROI and long term residual income," says Ken Visokey. Ken also suggests everyone "DARE TO COMPARE" this "SHINE BY DAY AND SHINE BY NIGHT OPPORTUNITY.

All told, Ken continues to impact all facets of the franchising continuum and takes great pride in his ability to communicate and work with over 1000 franchise consultants and brokers who are self-employed and value his insight.

Tom Fenig (TGTC) has been a franchisor 3 separate times and founded, built and sold 2 of these franchise systems. He also has been on the other side of the proverbial fence as a franchisee. On each of these occasions he sold the franchise units for far more than his initial investment. To say he has thought of it, done it, built it and sold it in the world of franchising is an understatement. Fenig resides near Beaufort, SC with his wife, two dogs and two cats. He graduated with honors from Virginia Tech and spent 16 years in various corporate sales and management positions prior to starting his franchise systems.

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The Go To Crew Announces Bold New Master Franchise Offering

Pope praises Our Lady of Guadalupe as great missionary of 'our America' By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Preceded by a procession of flags from the nations of the Americas and the recitation of the rosary in Spanish, Pope Francis and thousands of Catholics from across the Atlantic celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Vatican.

The Argentina-born pope celebrated the Dec. 12 Mass to the sounds and rhythms of many of South America's indigenous peoples; the principal sung parts of the Mass were from the "Misa Criolla," composed 50 years ago by the late Ariel Ramirez. His son, Facundo Ramirez, conducted the choir that featured Patricia Sosa, a famous Argentine singer, as well as guitars and traditional instruments from the continent. (full story)

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-- On the last day of a three-day visit to Turkey, Pope Francis attends a Divine Liturgy in the Orthodox patriarchal cathedral where he says full communion between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches would not mean "submission of one to the other or assimilation."

-- Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew sign a joint declaration expressing their hopes for full communion and highlighting the violence against Christians in the Middle East.

-- Pope Francis meets with a group of young refugees from civil wars in Syria and Iraq.

-- Pope Francis, speaking to reporters on the plane returning him to Rome, urges political and religious leaders across the Muslim word to condemn violence done in the name of Islam. He also talks about the recent synod of the family and relations with the Russian Orthodox.

-- Pope Francis issues an apostolic letter outlining the aims, expectations and horizons of the church's observance of a year dedicated to consecrated life. The year began Nov. 30.

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CNS_Catholic News Service, Wash., DC

Editor's note: Around the holidays, many nonprofits are short of the supplies and donations that allow them to service those in need. Each year, the Rapid City Journal publishes a "wish list" submitted by dozens of local charitable groups with the hope that readers who desire to help others can find the perfect nonprofit and donation to help those less fortunate. Contact information is included with each listing.

Access to Justice, Inc.

About the organization: Provides free civil legal help to the indigent.

Needs: Laptop.

Where to bring donations: 816 Sixth St., Rapid City, SD 57701

Contact: Cheryl Hanna, director, access.to.justice@sdbar.net, 791-4147

Spearfish Community Coalition

About the organization:Provides youth leadership and drug prevention.

Needs: Cash donations, resource donations and volunteers.

Where to bring donations:P.O. Box 708, Spearfish 57783. Please contact with resource donations, or if you would like to volunteer.

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2014 nonprofit wish list

'Any IoT initiative will require a tailored data centre strategy that balances current needs with future growth and potential applications'

How many connected devices do you have with you right now? For most of us, the answer is probably three or more.

There are the obvious ones like laptops, tablets and smartphones, as well as gadgets like connected TVs, satnavs, cameras and ebook readers. Then there are the growing range of new connected devices such as smart home products (heating controls, automation and surveillance), wearables (fitness bands and smartwatches) and connected appliances (washing machines, kettles, cookers, fridges and the like).

According to aCisco Internet of Things infographic, there will be upwards of 50 billion connected devices worldwide by 2020. Every one of these connected devices generates data, and all of this information will, in one way or another, end up in or passing through data centres.

>See also:Making the Internet of Things a business reality

IoT data wont purely be the concern of companies that provide IoT products and services (like Googles Nest) or their ecosystem of partners and suppliers it will affect every organisation that adopts machine-to-machine or wearable technologies to improve operations.

IDCexpects a more modest 30 billion connected devices by 2020, but predicts the worldwide IoT market will grow from $1.3 trillion in 2013 to $3.04 trillion in 2020.

According to the author of its report, Vernon Turner: "We're still in the early stages of maturation and IoT represents unparalleled opportunity in government, consumer, and enterprise environments."

A significant percentage of this revenue will come from analysing all the data these devices produce. This will drive the need for powerful computers and big data analytics to crunch the data the devices spew out.

Link:
The Internet of Things will affect how businesses choose data centres

Population Services International (PSI) is a leading global health organization with social marketing and social franchising interventions in Vietnam to address HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, Safe Water/Hygiene, Tuberculosis and Hypertension. PSI uses private sector approaches to improve the health of Vietnams low-income and vulnerable communities in more than 20 provinces. Working in partnership with the Government, private sector and civil society partners, PSI harnesses the power of markets to empower underserved populations to lead healthier lives. For more information: http://www.psi.org

PSI currently seeks 3 talented and motivated individuals for the temporary Consultants (up to 23 working days) as below:

Job Title: Senior Data Collector

Report to: Research Manager

Job purposes: Population Services International, Vietnam (PSI/V) with support from UNICEF is conducting formative research on neo-natal care practices, care seeking and treatment of pneumonia and diarrhoea, hand washing, and water treatment and storage practices in Dien Bien, Kon-Tum, Ninh Thuan and Dong Thap. The proposed research will play a critical role to ensure that health interventions take into consideration cultural practices in addition to physical realities including but not limited to education, socio-economic status, and geographic location.

Major duties:

Selection criteria

A competitive remuneration package will be offered to the successful candidate.

Interested candidates are requested to submit detailed curriculum vitae (CV) with a letter of interest indicating the position you are applying for as well as copies of relevant certificates/degrees no later than 5:00 pm on 9 December, 2014 to HR Department, PSI Vietnam; Address: 11th Floor, VINAFOR Building, 127 Lo Duc, Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi; Email:hr@psi.org.vn or fax: (04)3944 6323; Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interviews. Please do not contact via telephone. Dossier will not be returned.

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Senior Data Collector

Tampa Pressure Washing (813) 518-8034
http://www.tampapressurewashing.net Tampa Pressure Washing offers professional pressure cleaning power washing services to the Tampa Bay area. We handle bo...

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Tampa Pressure Washing (813) 518-8034 - Video

The Ayrshire Entrepreneur's West Coast Capital business has bought shares in ONZO in a move that provided a big vote of confidence in the prospects for the firm.

Details of the investment were not disclosed. However, it is understood that West Coast made a multi-million pound investment in the funding round.

The investment will fund a major expansion at ONZO, which West Coast believes can play an important part in efforts to reduce energy consumption and associated emissions.

ONZO supplies products that let power firms and their customers draw on the huge amounts of information gathered by smart meters and the like to help find ways of reducing energy usage.

The technology can tell how much power individual items such as washing machines use. Power firms can use the information to help change demand patterns and to boost customer loyalty.

The company includes Scottish Hydroelectric owner SSE among its clients.

The investment reflects Sir Tom's belief that there will be massive demand for technologies like those developed by London-based ONZO to harness the power of analytical software and the internet.

A spokesman for the serial entrepreneur said: "Big data and analytics is a space we like as it drives efficiency; if you like if information is the oil, analytics is the engine. With ONZO we see a transformative software that benefits the power companies on the one hand and consumer on the other; it's a win win."

He said ONZO operates in a global market worth billions.

West Coast Capital recently made what is believed to have been another multi-million pound investment in a Silicon Valley based retail software business Order Dynamics, which also operates in the data analytics space.

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Sir Tom Hunter invests in Onzo

HOUSTON -

The Astrodome is getting an expensive bath in hopes of restoring the iconic stadium.

Green Team Services, a Houston window cleaning service, is testing the Eighth Wonder of the World to determine the best way to wash the Dome.

Brett Robinson, president of Green Team Services, said they use environmentally friendly cleaning solutions that will be delicate enough to preserve the icon, but should also be able to restore the exterior to look like new.

The project is expected to cost $63,800 and was scheduled to begin Monday. Robinson said while they are still determining the best way to move forward with the cleaning and the contract, the actual cleaning phase might not take place for another week.

Harris County leaders said the cleaning should help prevent further decay.

Since 2009 when the Astrodome was decommissioned it seems like countless suggestions have been thrown around for what to do with the Dome. Most of which have come with a lot of debate and last November voters decided against making it a massive convention space.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett told Local 2 in November that he supports the cleanup while they determine whether to give the Astrodome landmark status.

One of Emmett's suggestion is to make the Dome an indoor multi-use park where they could host anything from archery to concerts.

Leaders are supposed to meet this week to start the process of trying to find a permanent use for the Dome.

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Astrodome bath delayed by weather