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February 1, 2001
Today, Rear Adm. Frederic R. Ruehe will be relieved by Rear Adm. Jose Luis Betancourt Jr. as commander Navy Region Southwest in San Diego.
The change of command for the "Navy Mayor of San Diego" will take place at 1 p.m. aboard amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa at Pier 2 on Navbase San Diego.
Ruehe assumed the duties as chief Navy liaison to the community on Feb. 4, 2000 and immediately began planning, organizing, leading and controlling the model for the Navy’s 21st Century Shore Infrastructure.
Since Sept. 11, Ruehe has steered the safety and security concerns of all Navy assets and personnel in the greater San Diego area and entire Navy Region SW with flexible guidance and timely direction.
Ruehe turns over one of the Navy’s largest shore installation commands, which encompasses California, Arizona and Nevada. Next he reports to Okinawa, Japan, as commander Amphibious Group One.
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San Diego International Airport has purchased and installed an automated dispensing system from San Diego-based Vistant Corp. The system will help bolster security by controlling, tracking and managing tools and parts used by maintenance workers within the airport terminal's secure areas.
San Diego is the first airport in the nation to use Vistant products for security purposes. A wholly-owned division of Cardinal Health Inc., Vistant's mission is to introduce automated dispensing technology that was originally developed for health care into new growth markets such as manufacturing and aviation security.
The Vistant system features a series of computerized cabinets.
Maintenance workers identify themselves at the cabinet with a biometric fingerprint scan. Once properly identified, the worker requests a specific tool on the system's touchscreen. The cabinet then opens a single drawer, enabling the worker to remove a screwdriver, wrench, carpet cutter or any other potentially dangerous instrument. The computer records each transaction and can send an electronic notification to a supervisor if the worker leaves their shift without returning the tool or part to the Vistant system.
"The safety and security of the traveling public is our topmost priority," says Thella Bowens, senior director, aviation, for the Port of San Diego. "We are moving quickly to implement new technologies that will further safeguard our airport against individuals and processes that could compromise security in any way. We are impressed with the ability of the Vistant system to track and control access to tools and supplies that are necessary to the daily operations of our facilities, but which also need to be closely monitored for security purposes. This technology was developed here in San Diego and we envision broad application for it throughout the commercial aviation industry."
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Ericsson has landed a contract with Verizon Wireless to deploy Ericsson’s CDMA2000 AAA (Authentication, Authorization and Accounting) product throughout Verizon Wireless’ CDMA2000 1XRTT Express Network.
Ericsson’s CDMA2000 AAA will provide carrier class, geographical redundancy between the East and West coasts of Verizon Wireless’ Express Network in the United States.
From services like 24-hour, high-bandwidth Internet access, to more standard services such as simple e-mail, Ericsson’s says its product will enable Verizon Wireless to offer custom service packages with unique characteristics that address target segments.
“We are very pleased to be selected by Verizon Wireless to provide our CDMA2000 AAA solution for their Express Network,” says Ake Persson, head of San Diego-based Ericsson Mobile Systems CDMA. “In order to meet critical operator requirements for advanced services, Ericsson offers the most cost-effective, powerful CDMA2000 solution in the industry, resulting in increased revenue and lowered expenses for operators such as Verizon Wireless.”
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Idun Pharmaceuticals Inc. of San Diego announced the results of its Phase 1 clinical trial of IDN-6556, a drug designed to treat liver disease.
The drug was safe and well tolerated in a clinical study involving 50 normal adults.
Evaluation of patients with mild hepatic impairment is ongoing. In the Phase 1 study, IDN-6556 was administered in both single doses and for a week of therapy with various doses. The drug was well tolerated in all groups of subjects.
"We are excited to have completed this Phase 1 stage of the drug's development," says Dr. David Shapiro, chief medical officer and executive v.p. at Idun. "This drug may prove to be useful in multiple liver diseases and we will shortly start Phase 2 studies to evaluate its effects on different groups of hepatic patients. We will conduct Phase 2 trials of individuals with hepatitis C virus infections, alcoholic liver disease and, subsequently, additional trials of individuals experiencing acute alcoholic hepatitis. HCV affects about 4 million Americans and another 200 million people worldwide. Acute alcoholic hepatitis is an often-lethal condition that affects about 85,000 people in the U.S. alone and for which there is no effective treatment. We believe that IDN-6556 can play an important role in the standard care for people with HCV, acute alcoholic hepatitis, and many other liver diseases."
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Cardiff Software Inc., a San Diego-based leader in information capture and data collection systems, reports that the state of North Dakota has chosen its product, MediClaim, to automate the collection and processing of the state's Medicaid forms and transactions.
The MediClaim system will be deployed to automatically process(Health Care Finance Administration-1500 forms, and UB-92 forms by the North Dakota Department of Human Services. MediClaim increases throughput by up to 98 percent per form and reduces processing costs up to 90 percent, also eliminating form sorting through automatic form identification.
In addition to MediClaim and TELEform, North Dakota also has invested in Cardiff's LiquidOffice, which combines intelligent HTML and PDF eForms, enabling organizations to automatically route, approve and process online forms, as well as HTML+Forms and PDF+Forms, connecting standard Web forms to business processing rules and databases.
"Cardiff MediClaim was selected based on previous experience with other Cardiff products," says Bill Roach, EDMS coordinator for the North Dakota Information Technology Department. "We installed TELEform last year for processing tax forms in the Office of the Tax Commissioner."
"We are pleased to continue our business relationship with the state of North Dakota, which has already demonstrated tangible results using TELEform and LiquidOffice," says Dennis Clerke, president and CEO of Cardiff. "MediClaim was designed with these types of government applications in mind, helping to improve accuracy and response time to the public, resulting in a more efficiently run government and health care system."
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The cost of cell phone service in the United States continued to drop in 2001, reports Econ One, an economic research and consulting firm that studies the cost of wireless service. The greatest decreases were found in those cities where prices traditionally have been highest, and in calling plans which offered the most airtime.
The average cost of monthly service in December in 25 major cities, across four typical usage levels (30, 150, 300 and 600 minutes), was $36.70, down 7.3 percent from December 2000. The average cost went down in every city surveyed, ranging from a 22.2 percent drop in the San Francisco Bay Area, to a 0.2 percent dip in Kansas City.
California's four major markets, which topped the survey in December 2000, showed the greatest cost reductions: besides San Francisco, the greatest decreases were in Los Angeles (16.9 percent), San Diego (15 percent) and Sacramento (14.2 percent).
Of the four typical usage levels surveyed, the greatest price decline was for 600 minutes of airtime, down 11.7 percent, on average. The average cost of 300 minutes went down 10.4 percent, while the cost of 150 minutes dropped 4.5 percent. By contrast, the monthly cost of 30 minutes of airtime actually increased 5.9 percent.
The greatest decreases in December were in San Diego (3.3 percent), Atlanta (2.7 percent) and Washington, DC, (2 percent). Chicago was the only city to show an increase from November to December (+1.2 percent), yet it remained the least expensive city in the survey for the third month in a row, with an average cost of $35.49. The other lowest-cost cities were Phoenix, Atlanta, Sacramento and Houston.
The costliest city in December, for the fifth month running, was Cincinnati ($38.33), followed by Philadelphia and Boston ($37.18) and Los Angeles and San Diego ($37.10).
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UCSD Television has reached an agreement with Cox Communications to expand the current on-air viewing hours to noon to midnight Monday through Friday and 4 p.m. to midnight Saturday. The new on-air schedule is effective today.
For the first time, Cox viewers will be able to see UCSD-TV’s Saturday presentation of World Cinema.
"UCSD-TV links key civic, scientific, and artistic resources of the university and the region to the San Diego community through the medium of television," says Mary Walshok, UCSD-TV g.m. and associate vice chancellor for public programs at UCSD. "The expanded schedule will advance the station’s mission to provide the San Diego region with access to interesting and thought provoking programs of regional significance."
The expanded broadcast day means that Cox subscribers will also now have access to programming from UCLA, Berkeley and the rest of the UC system, between noon and 4 p.m. weekdays, as UCSD-TV airs the University of California Television network feed.
UCTV is seen 24 hours a day, nationwide, on Channel 9412 of the Dish Network satellite service. UCTV also airs locally on UHF Channel 35, from midnight to 4 p.m. daily.
UCSD-TV airs on Cox Cable Ch.66; North County Cox Cable Ch.69; Time Warner Cable Ch.18; Del Mar TV66; or UHF Ch. 35. For a complete program schedule call 858-534-3535 or visit www.ucsd.tv.
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While the latest news headlines focus on ethics scandals and corporate bankruptcies, along comes a television series that highlights the challenges of living out one's values and faith in the workplace.
"Leadership by the Book" is hosted by Ken Blanchard, the well-known business speaker and co-author of "The One Minute Manager." He's recognized worldwide for his ability to motivate managers and for helping companies to focus on ethics in defining their mission.
"Leadership by the Book" premieres at 8 a.m. Sunday on The Hallmark Channel. Each episode of the series provides an in-depth interview with a corporate leader committed to living a life of integrity in spite of the pressures to succeed at all costs. "Leadership by the Book" also features co-host Nicole Johnson who introduces and provides background packages on each guest.
The premiere episode features Bob Buford, a self-styled Texas businessman who turned a family-run television station into a large cable empire spanning the Southern U.S. His personal life and public mission has evolved from a personal drive for success into a search for significance and meaning. Additional episodes in this series include: C. William Pollard, chairman of ServiceMaster, a Fortune 500 company operating in 40 nations worldwide; motivational speaker Charlie "Tremendous" Jones; Rosey Grier, former star of the L.A. Rams, who along with San Diegan, Estean Lenyoun, has founded Impact Urban America to make a difference in struggling inner cities; Laurie Beth Jones, business consultant and author of "Jesus, CEO"; Don Soderquist, former senior vice chairman of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.; and Dan Cathy, president and CEO of Chick-Fil-A Inc.
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