OVER 2 YOU, 101 (08/10/02)

NURSING ROTA

I work as a nurse 4 days on, 4 days off. I would like to be able to see at a glance, which days I will be working in 12 months time for example. Is there a program available which would do this?

Helen Lundy, via email

Use Microsoft's Outlook and enter the dates, plus the recurrence pattern. The calendar will then show the dates for years ahead.
Andrew J Southwell

Helen might find the Lotus Organiser useful as I use the planner section to show when my counterpart or I are working. The planner section can be made to "show through" to the diary section, I find the programme invaluable and it is part of Lotus Suite Millennium Edition which I found in Currys for £10
Sid Wyles

Any copy of Microsoft Excel can be made to do this with the steps below.

1) Open up a blank spreadsheet.

2) Type the first date you wish to start from in a cell. (e.g. A1) The date would need to be at start of a block of on shift time.

3) Move the mouse cursor over the bottom right hand corner until it turns into a little cross.

4) Hold down the left mouse button and drag down. This will fill a column with dates in sequence.

5) In the next column (B), type "On Shift" in the cells next to the first four dates, and "Off" next to the second

6) Select all of the 8 cells just populated, select copy, move the cursor down to the first empty cell in that column and select paste.

7) Repeat step 6 but select all sixteen populated cells in column B and paste into the next block of empty cells. - keep repeating like this and very soon all the cells next to the dates will have been filled.

This will then give a list you just look down to find the date you want and the right hand column will tell if it is on or off.

Julian Wiffen

The simplest answer is a spreadsheet of two columns but it looks better if you include the day of the week.

1.  cell A1 - TEXT(B1,”dddd”)

2.  cell A2 - the first date you are on duty e.g. 01/09/2002

3.  cell A3 - =IF(MOD(B1-B$1,8)<4,”ON”,”OFF”)

4.  highlight cells A1 to A3

5.  drag by the bottom right-hand corner to copy as many rows as you require, let’s say 365

That’s it.  You now have a year’s rota.

Explanation:  Spreadsheet dates are held in Julian format, that is to say the number of days since a baseline, typically 1980 or 1900. MOD() is short for “modulus”.  It is the fancy version of what my school called a remainder when we divided in maths.  In our example we divide by 8 to get a recurring sequence of the numbers from 0 to 7. Then we assign “ON” to the numbers 0 to 3 and “OFF” to the numbers 4 to 7. In order to ensure we start with a sequence of  “ON”s we subtract our starting date (37522) from each date in the sequence.  When creating the formula we have to specify B$1 to stop it being incremented when the formula is copied.

If you wish to view formulas in an Excel spreadsheet you hold down the “Ctrl” key and press the opening quote key, “`” and the same to reverse it.

Alastair Forsyth

Computers are not always the fastest way of retrieving information. I suggest that Helen Lundy buys a diary, which contains a Year Planner so that she can block out the appropriate dates. Not only would she have a 'see at a glance' system, but also she would have a 'carry anywhere' system.

Evelyn Gray

Studio Box is just completing a rota program for nurses; our Anaesthetics Departmental rota is already in use by some hospitals. For details check our web site at www.rotatrack.com
Adrian Goodman

CONTACTS

I use the contacts section of Outlook 2000 to keep the membership records of a club with nearly 1000 members. The forms have been customised with fields to record the various subscriptions paid. These have been formatted to currency so that they display a leading £ sign. However, when I print the form from the "All Fields" page only the numeric value of these fields is printed. How can I make the print include the £ sign?
Brian Rees, Sidmouth, Devon

I have found that any problems I have in Outlook are quickly resolved by the knowledgeable community of users at Computing .Net, there’s a lively Outlook Forum at: http://www.computing.net/mac/

wwwboard/forum/4506.html

where you can post a query and more often than not someone will come up with the solution in a day or two.

Ben Griffiths, via email

DRIDFILL SPOLLING

I am a dreadful speller. Often spell-checkers cannot interpret my attempts to pitiful attempts to phonetically spell words. Is there a web-based-spell checker that can do this? (I have been looking for the correct spelling of "bizzerk" for an hour!)

Dave Null, via email

Dave Null could try http://dictionary.cambridge.org/. This is a useful online dictionary that also offers alternatives if the original spelling cannot be found. A quick search on Google also reveals http://www.yourdictionary.com/,
http://www.m-w.com/home.htm,

http://www.dictionary.com/,
http://www.onelook.com/,

http://nhd.heinle.com/, and so on.

None of these managed to link 'bizzerk' with 'berserk', though they are more successful when the intended word is closer to the written one than in this example. I guess the trouble is that 'bizzerk' isn't a phonetic spelling of 'berserk' anyway.
Martin Sisson, via email

David Null might care to check out the Merriam-Webster site at WWW.m-w.com. Its dictionary has a rhyming section to their search engine, but even that could not come up with "bizzerk". Perhaps, if he added the "r" that belongs with "berserk", he might do better.

Tony Edwards

Try www.wordsmyth.net - it has a 'spelled like' option which does a good job on words entered phonetically (including 'bizzerk'!)
Karen Holdaway

There used to be, and probably still is, a dictionary for bad spellers, where the words are listed as a normal dictionary but with the most likely mis-spelling of the word.  The correct spelling is put next to it.  I think in time his spelling would probably improve.
Gill Turner

Spellcheck programs will not help to improve his spelling. It has been proven that writing combined with using a dictionary/thesaurus is by far the best way to enlarge vocabulary and thus spelling.
Ted Mordey

CAPITAL GAINS TAX CALCULATOR

I'm looking for some software that does CGT calculations for multiple sales/purchases of the same shares. It should be a purely mathematical calculation but it can be rather complex - it could even be a spreadsheet application. Any ideas?
Bryan Peak, via email

I have designed a spreadsheet (Excel) based on the Which manual calculation of Capital Gains as given in their publication "Tax Saving Guide 2002". My spreadsheet is still a "Beta" version, as I have not yet used it in earnest. Although not specifically designed to cater for Bryan's precise needs I think that it might be of use to him, possibly with a few tweaks and enhancements.

David Laird

VALVE RADIOS

Does anyone know where I might obtain plans to build a ‘valve’ amplifier or radio, and also a source of valves? I remember building one as a young lad and I’m sure I would enjoy reviving the memory.

Peter Knowles, via email

I have an excellent design for a simple valve radio receiver, which will receive both AM broadcast signals in the UK and short wave broadcast signals from the rest of the World, given a decent aerial and careful construction, using readily available parts. I must issue a warning, however; the high voltage power that valve systems require is lethal if not treated with absolute propriety. You rarely get a second chance!

I would not recommend building a power amplifier with valves. The output sound relies purely on the coupling transformers' quality; years ago, these were monsters of 60 and 70 lbs, for robust low distortion work. A simple valve radio is a much more practical project, and is far more fun to build and run than "off the shelf" items.

For further interest and information, any of the books published by the Radio Society of Great Britain by Pat Hawker G3VA (typically, his evergreen "Amateur Radio Techniques") will provide a wealth of material.
An SAE and £1 to cover photocopying would be appreciated.

P. Thornton

I have an early Mullard 5-10 Hi Fi amplifier and tuner, complete with manuals and circuit diagrams. It is available free to anyone who would like to collect it - on the understanding that it has not been switched on for over 10 years. I also have available several 1970s electronic instruments.
Dr. J. C. Shaw

CAN YOU HELP

My husband and I plan to build a small conservatory cum extension onto the side of our kitchen.  Can anyone recommend any software that we can use to help us with our planning?
Sandra Worden

I am looking for software that will translate English and print it in Chinese. Is this possible?

Bernie, via email

I am searching for a suitable database that would enable the cataloguing of ca. 20,000 slides (traditional card/plastic mounts). Each slide needs to be catalogued according to geographic location, subject matter, date plus reference number. A search mechanism is required in order to identify any single image. The database will form the basis to a web-based picture library and therefore would need to be compatible with Internet technology.
Tim Labrum, via email