Welcome to Galaxy NGC 922... mind the black holes!

Located some 150 million light-years from Earth, NGC 922 is admittedly a little far for a quick New Year's Eve getaway. But as this Hubble image reveals, the views are great, just so long as you avoid the black holes.

Situated in the constellation of Fornax, NGC 922 is home to several large black holes. At least seven of the black holes detected in the galaxy are thought to be at least ten times as massive as our Sun, which makes them quite massive for black holes of the stellar-sized class. NGC 922 is what's known as a ring galaxy, meaning that its stars are arranged in, well, a ring. And just how did that ring form? NASA explains:

NGC 922 is a ring galaxy created by the collision of a large and small galaxy about 300 million years ago. Like a rock thrown into a pond, the ancient collision sent ripples of high density gas out from the impact point near the center that partly condensed into stars. Pictured above is NGC 922 with its beautifully complex ring along the left side, as imaged recently by the Hubble Space Telescope. Observations of NGC 922 with the Chandra X-ray Observatory, however, show several glowing X-ray knots that are likely large black holes. The high number of massive black holes was somewhat surprising as the gas composition in NGC 922 ? rich in heavy elements ? should have discouraged almost anything so massive from forming.

Via NASA APOD. Click on the image up top for a closer look.

Source: http://io9.com/5972075/welcome-to-galaxy-ngc-922-mind-the-black-holes

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South Africa president prefers people over pets

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? South Africa's president says a dog should not be man's best friend.

President Jacob Zuma made critical remarks about pet care that touch on sensitive race relations in South Africa, which was dominated by whites until apartheid was dismantled almost two decades ago, The Star newspaper reported Thursday.

The newspaper cited Zuma as saying in a speech Wednesday that the idea of having a pet is part of "white culture" and that people should focus on family welfare. The president's office sought to clarify his remarks, saying he was encouraging "the previously oppressed African majority" to uphold its own culture. It also suggested the way in which the comments were reported, rather than the comments themselves, was divisive.

The backdrop to the dog debate is the legacy of Western colonialism in Africa, as well as the bitter struggle against apartheid in South Africa that culminated in the first democratic elections in 1994. Nelson Mandela, now 94 years old and ailing, became the country's first black president as well as a symbol of reconciliation among all South Africans, though poverty and economic imbalances remain a source of deep strain in the nation of 50 million.

During his speech to an appreciative crowd in KwaZulu-Natal, Zuma's home province, the president said people who love dogs more than people have a "lack of humanity" and that some people are trying in vain to "emulate whiteness," The Star reported.

"Even if you apply any kind of lotion and straighten your hair, you will never be white," he reportedly said.

In a statement, the South African presidency said Zuma was trying to convince Africans to take pride in their heritage and not feel pressure to adopt customs of minority cultures. Animals can be cared for, was the message, but not at the expense of people.

Zuma "referred to what people should guard against, such as loving animals more than other human beings," the statement said. "He made the well-known example of people who sit with their dogs in front in a van or truck with a worker at the back in pouring rain or extremely cold weather. Others do not hesitate to rush their dogs to veterinary surgeons for medical care when they are sick while they ignore workers or relatives who are also sick in the same households."

Zuma has often said he seeks to protect South Africa's diversity and unify its disparate groups, but he has occasionally stirred controversy. In 2006, as deputy president, he said same-sex marriages, which are today protected under South African law, were "a disgrace to the nation and to God."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africa-president-prefers-people-over-pets-150157216.html

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Chemical that fends off harm to organs: Purines fend off surgery-related damage

Dec. 17, 2012 ? Anesthesia is quite safe these days. But sometimes putting a patient under to fix one problem, such as heart damage, can harm a different organ, such as a kidney.

Now a group of researchers led by Holger Eltzschig, MD, PhD, a professor of anesthesiology at the University Colorado School of Medicine, has found a group of molecules that fend off damage during anesthesia.

"This is a promising discovery," says Eltzschig, who practices at University of Colorado Hospital. "It suggests a new way to promote healing."

In an article published Dec. 12 in the New England Journal of Medicine, Eltzschig and colleagues at Harvard Medical School and Northeastern University report hopeful findings about a group of molecules called purines. Purines are basic molecular building blocks in the body -- they help produce DNA and RNA and they assist with short-term storage of energy. One variety of purine is called adenosine.

The researchers determined that generating adenosine outside of cells can help protect organs from damage. And they saw that activating adenosine receptors on the lungs, the intestine, or the heart can help protect these organs.

Eltzschig and his fellow researchers looked at adenosine and related chemical processes in cancer, lung injury, bowel inflammation and platelet function, among others.

For patients who might face surgery with anesthesia, the findings are good news.

"Increasing developments in this arena will open up several new avenues for the treatment," the article says.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Colorado Denver. The original article was written by Dan Meyers.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Holger K. Eltzschig, Michail V. Sitkovsky, Simon C. Robson. Purinergic Signaling during Inflammation. New England Journal of Medicine, 2012; 367 (24): 2322 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra1205750

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/WohRMwolbhE/121218094310.htm

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Ca-Fi Dashlinq upsizes in-car Android infotainment, arrives in January

There may be a size war brewing among Android-based infotainment system builders. Ca-Fi thought it was sitting pretty with its 6.2-inch unit earlier this year, but we're starting to think it was rankled by similarly-sized devices like Parrot's Asteroid Smart -- that would help explain its upcoming, 7-inch Dashlinq. Along with one-upping a nemesis, the double-DIN system brings multitouch zoom to a heavily customized (if slightly creaky) Android 2.3 interface. Otherwise, we're looking at a familiar, if fairly sophisticated approach: there's a dedicated media DSP, GPS navigation, an SD card slot for local content and internet access through 3G or WiFi. Ca-Fi expects the Dashlinq to arrive in January for €499 ($657), at which point we hope there's at least a momentary truce in the battle for the car's center stack.

Filed under: GPS, Home Entertainment, Transportation

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Via: Android Central

Source: Ca-Fi

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/O6xavPAx7Iw/

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5 Reasons Dialogue Is Overrated | Bang2Write

Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue ? I see writers obsessing over this element of screenwriting all the time. Yet the reality is, this the least important element of your spec script. Don?t believe it? Here?s 5 reasons why:

5. Structure & character is where it?s at. When I?m writing script reports, there are two things I report on, again and again and again: structure and character. Why? Because these two elements are the most important of your spec script.?Good structure is paramount in keeping the reader?s (and thus the potential audience?s) interest ? and character motivation is key in achieving this; it is a symbiotic relationship. We watch films and TV because we want to see characters DO something for a specific reason: that?s how stories work. Now *of course* good?dialogue plays a part in this too and yes, there are some writers who place a specific type of dialogue at the heart of their stories, ie. Tarantino & Sorkin. And if you?re brilliant at dialogue and can pull this off, good for you; I will note it in the report, though it will be an addition to good structure and character, not instead of it. Why? Well put it this way ??Have I ever recommended a script just because of its good?dialogue? No. Never.

4. There?s always too much of it. Early drafts, there?s always too much dialogue ? Even if you don?t write too much dialogue. This is particularly true of spec TV pilots. Why? ?Cos generally speaking there?s more dialogue in TV than movies. And that?s okay. But never allow this thought to justify using more than you should. A couple of Bang2writers asked me recently ?how much? is ?too much? when it comes to dialogue: infuriatingly, I always answer that it depends ? Though a good rule of thumb I think is seeing how much you want to write, then halving it. So in other words: if you want to write a 3 page scene, cut it to 1.5 pages; if you want to write a 1.5 page scene, cut it to .75 pages ? and any shorter than that? Cut it altogether.

3. Delivery counts for more than you think. Every produced screenwriter has a horror story about how a crappy actor massacred their super deluxe dialogue. But equally, unless those produced screenwriters are very unlucky, they will also have at least one story about how a great actor took their great dialogue and turned it into something they?had not envisaged, but was just as good, if not better. In addition to this point, audiences pick up on moments of dialogue and quote them at each other and?in their Facebook statuses not just because the writing was great, but because how that actor said it caught their imagination for whatever reason. Think again about your favourite lines: what would they have looked like on the page? In my house, our faves include, ?Over here ? Over here ? (Echo style); ?Game over, Man! Game over!? and ?Don?t waste my mother****ing time!? Where are they from? Bet you know, instantly. Brilliant lines? Or brilliant delivery? Or a bit of both? Oh and by the way: there?s every chance in that delivery the actor or director may change your great line anyway ? either on purpose, or by accident. It happens. You can embrace it or fight it ? But you ain?t gonna change it.

2. You?re not using it effectively anyway. I?ve lost count of the number of screenwriters I?ve seen hold on to flawed scenes that do not fit their script?s structure or character motivation, simply because they like a couple of lines in said scenes. That?s right: those writers will potentially screw up their chances of getting their story across, simply because they like a few lines of dialogue ? and dialogue is simply not enough to carry a scene or make it ?fit? story-wise. If you don?t believe me, check out your nearest spec pile and read a few hundred screenplays and see. So how does one use dialogue effectively? By remembering this: dialogue is there solely to reveal character and/or push the story forwards ? like pretty much anything in this screenwriting lark! The difficult thing then is doing this via the illusion the audience is ?just? watching people talking. That?s the hard part. But if you think of dialogue as an element of screenwriting on its own, that is when you will run into trouble.

1. It?s the easiest thing to write! Yes. Writing pages and pages of dialogue is easy. Our characters feel alive to us, so we can get into writing long chunks of dialogue and justify it by saying this is how ?real? people talk. But movies and TV are not reality; they are representations of reality. Every conversation has to serve the plot or character in some way (without becoming expositional), otherwise it must not happen. That is just the way it is.

Recognise any of the above in your own work?

Source: http://www.bang2write.com/2012/12/5-reasons-dialogue-is-overrated.html

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New technique could make cell-based immune therapies for cancer safer and more effective

Dec. 16, 2012 ? A team led by Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Cell Engineering at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, has shown for the first time the effectiveness of a new technique that could allow the development of more-specific, cell-based immune therapies for cancer. Their findings were reported online December 16 in Nature Biotechnology.

Immunotherapies -- which make use of patients' own immune cells that have been augmented in the laboratory -- have shown some early success in the treatment of blood cancers including certain types of leukemia. For most cancers, however, cell-based therapies have been harder to develop, in large part because it has been difficult for investigators to train immune cells to specifically attack cancer cells without damaging normal, healthy cells in the body.

The treatment approach, known as adoptive cell transfer (ACT), involves engineering an immune cell called a T cell. In the ACT process, T cells are removed from a patient and a gene is added to allow the T cells to recognize a certain antigen on the surface of a cancer cell. The enhanced cells are grown in the laboratory and then infused back into the patient to seek out and attack cancer cells.

"We are getting better at working with these T cells and enhancing them so that we can get a powerful immunological response against cancer," Dr. Sadelain says. "The dilemma now is that we are concerned with limiting these responses and making them as targeted as possible to avoid potentially harmful side effects."

Cancer cells overproduce certain antigens, which can help T cells to recognize them, but those same antigens are often found in lower levels on healthy cells. "There are very few antigens, if any, that are found only on cancer cells," Dr. Sadelain explains.

"Now we are bringing in a completely new concept," he adds. "If there is no single unique antigen that is found on the surface of the cancer cell we want to target, we instead create T cells that recognize two different antigens found on the tumor cell -- a signature that will be unique to that type of cancer -- and only attack cells with both antigens, sparing the normal cells that express either antigen alone."

The new technique makes use of receptors known as chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), which allow T cells to target antigens on the surface of a tumor cell, coupled with another type of receptor called a chimeric costimulatory receptor (CCR), by which the T cells can recognize a second antigen.

The CAR and the CCR work together through a process known as balanced signaling, in which the presence of either antigen on its own is not enough to trigger the immune response. Only tumor cells that carry both antigens will be targeted.

In the Nature Biotechnology study, the team created T cells that carried a CAR for an antigen called PSMA and a CCR for an antigen called PSCA. Both PSMA and PSCA are found on prostate cancer cells. The investigators then generated mouse models of prostate cancer and infused the mice with the engineered cells. They found that the T cells attacked only tumors that carried antigens for both PSMA and PSCA.

"We are the first to test this concept and show that it works," Dr. Sadelain concludes. "We plan to develop clinical trials based on this approach, although we have not yet decided whether the first study will be a trial for prostate cancer or for a different type of cancer using two other antigens. Ultimately, our goal is to create targeted immunotherapies that are both potent and safe for patients."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/WxtcA1kjTVA/121216132507.htm

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Self improvement encompasses activities that are designed to boost ...

Source: http://articlexone.com/self-improvement-encompasses-activities-that-are-designed-to-boost-understanding-and-identification-and-produce-talents-and-potential-self-improvement-coaching-victor-cruz-jersey-is-meant-to-togethe/

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Bowers & Wilkins A7: This Thing Is So Good But Nobody Can Afford It

Bowers & Wilkins' headphones are the stuff of ear legend. Any company that makes, like, four products, has to be really good at them, right? Right. The A7 is no exception—but it's just so goddamn expensive. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/KxuBXRcbCAA/bowers--wilkins-a7-this-thing-is-so-good-but-nobody-can-afford-it

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Email Marketing Guide for SMEs | Makal Business Voice

Today more than ever, we need to get in touch with your customers, communicating frequently over time. Remind the value of your company, products and services, in order to get away from your competition, repeat sales, generate leads, increasing your bottom line net. This is where the Permission Email Marketing helps your business. Is online communication tool more efficient and higher return. Studies show that for every dollar spent on email marketing, return is generated U.S. $ 43.5 (DMA 2009, planned scenarios). No other media both online and offline can demonstrate this level of efficiency.

The Email Marketing allows your company to direct your campaigns immediately, quickly and effectively to client groups or specific prospects and stuff very cheaply. It?s that we want to share our knowledge with you all through this guide, so you can start using this powerful medium and marketing technique in your company or business, leverage other efforts that are already doing and improve the relationship with your groups of interest.

We?ll show you how in five steps, as detailed below, can start generating successful campaigns. For those who have not yet party to the Email Marketing, learn how to do it efficiently and effectively, in the ideal way and with the right tools. This plus the use of Email Marketing Pigeon that your sales will increase considerably in addition to retain your customers.

If you start with the new world of Email Marketing, we take you step by step through a structured process, which leads to the construction of a Basic Email Marketing program. Each article covers the fundamentals of permission marketing, goal setting, how to build contact lists and you must do to develop and maintain them over time, generate quotes invite emails read, what creativity and how to structure it for easy scanner to your emails, then how to optimize your campaigns and then see what kinds of metrics and see which are relevant and meet role.
How to make the most of Email Marketing Guide for SMEs

Use this guide sequentially to acquire the necessary knowledge and ideas and to start to implement your strategies and email marketing tools. It?s that simple. You can return at any time to refresh your memory.

Source: http://www.makalvoice.com/business-strategy/email-marketing-guide-for-smes.html

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Flower Industry Makes a Statement at Hospice's 12th Annual Floral ...

?

Death is a part ? albeit?painful part ? of living. The type of issue that comes along once in a while from a distance to remind us of it?s inevitability and occasionally close enough to shake us to the core. In cases of long term illness there is some time to prepare, to care for and attend to situational matters and possibly come to grips with some level of acceptance. But, What do you say to 6 year old daughter when she asks where her Grandma has gone? How as a parent do you attempt to fill the space that was once a loving hug? How do you move past your grief long enough to deal with funeral arrangements??What do you do when?aftermath?an expected?loss hits so hard that you can barely stand? Just remember you are not alone.

Hospice, Inc. with 69 offices in NY State and over 5,000 offices nationally, is the leading bereavement support services provider bringing quality care and compassionate healing to families since 1974. Some history?:

The organization was spun in the mid seventies after Dr. Elizabth Kubler-Ross published her book On Death and Dying identifying the 5 stages terminally ill patients go through. It was a national best seller that opened the medical industries eyes to home-care services. She then testified at the first national hearings conducted by the U.S. Senate Special Committee on aging on the subject of ?dying with dignity? siting,?We can give families more help with home care and visiting nurses, giving the families and the patients the spiritual, emotional, and financial help in order to facilitate the final care at home.? The first Hospice was founded in 1974? in Connecticut. Legislation that provided federal funds followed in 1974.

Hudson Valley has two Hospice offices (one in Poughkeepsie and one in Kingston). Patient care, family care, bereavement counseling and family support services are all provided through Hospice and their many volunteers. Currently there are 157 local volunteers providing outreach for Mid-Hudson Hospice. Michelle Haynes ? a Dutchess county resident ? is a lovely woman with a comforting smile. She has trained once a year since 1992? in order to serve the community through Hospice support services. Michelle arrives to comfort people in their time of loss, holds hands and shares stories ? often remaining friends with the families for years to come.

On a local level Mid-Hudson Hospice has been uniting with local florists for 12 years ? throwing a beautiful soiree that benefits the organization and it?s very important work.?Poughkeepsie Grandview was home to the event?in 2012 uniting? 9 local?florists with?a?room packed full of?flower lovers and Hospice supporters ? ?checkbooks in hand ? ready to bid on?a?cornucopia of beautiful?arrangements donated by local florists.

?Floral Magic??event ? as it?s recognized?was hosted by?Dot Chenevert ? former owner of The Green Oak Florist and past president of the Mid-Hudson Floral Association. Dot ? who has since sold her flower business ? shared a message about the local florist industry that comes in handy during this holiday season and all year round,??We are a very generous and giving industry made up of mostly small family shops. We depend on our community for support??. In other words, buy local.

Poughkeepsie?s own Flower Barn florist (located on Violet Ave.) hears this message loud and clear. Barbara is a 3rd generation florist who shares her market with some national names in flowers who she creates and delivers for, but the relationship does under cut her bottom line.??A large variety of arrangements are available through most local shop websites and calling shops directly keeps all of the dollars local.? Use these services and keep those dollars local!

?Marianne?s Floral Garden ? Visit the Website

Osborne?s Flower Shoppe ? visit the website

The?Green Oak Florist ? Visit the website

Murphy?s Flower Shop ? visit them online

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Meadowscent Florals and Adam?s Fairacre Farms, also supported the event.

Hudson Valley has two Hospice offices (one in Poughkeepsie and one in Kingston). Patient care, family care, bereavement counseling and family support services are all provided through Hospice and their many volunteers. Currently there are 157?local volunteers?providing outreach for Mid-Hudson Hospice. Michelle Haynes ? a Dutchess county resident ? is a lovely woman with a comforting smile. She has trained once a year since 1992? in order to serve the community through Hospice support services. Michelle arrives to comfort people in their time of loss, holds hands and shares stories ? often remaining friends with the families for years to come.

When Bad News Happens, Deliver Happiness. Think Flowers, Think Local First.

Source: http://happyhudsonvalley.com/2012/12/flower-industry-makes-a-statement-at-hospices-12th-annual-floral-magic-event/

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Cassini spots mini Nile River on Saturn's moon Titan

Dec. 12, 2012 ? Scientists with NASA's Cassini mission have spotted what appears to be a miniature, extraterrestrial likeness of Earth's Nile River: a river valley on Saturn's moon Titan that stretches more than 200 miles (400 kilometers) from its "headwaters" to a large sea. It is the first time images have revealed a river system this vast and in such high resolution anywhere other than Earth.

Scientists deduce that the river, which is in Titan's north polar region, is filled with liquid hydrocarbons because it appears dark along its entire length in the high-resolution radar image, indicating a smooth surface.

"Though there are some short, local meanders, the relative straightness of the river valley suggests it follows the trace of at least one fault, similar to other large rivers running into the southern margin of this same Titan sea," said Jani Radebaugh, a Cassini radar team associate at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. "Such faults -- fractures in Titan's bedrock -- may not imply plate tectonics, like on Earth, but still lead to the opening of basins and perhaps to the formation of the giant seas themselves."

The new image is available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia16197.html .

Titan is the only other world we know of that has stable liquid on its surface. While Earth's hydrologic cycle relies on water, Titan's equivalent cycle involves hydrocarbons such as ethane and methane. In Titan's equatorial regions, images from Cassini's visible-light cameras in late 2010 revealed regions that darkened due to recent rainfall. Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer confirmed liquid ethane at a lake in Titan's southern hemisphere known as Ontario Lacus in 2008.

"Titan is the only place we've found besides Earth that has a liquid in continuous movement on its surface," said Steve Wall, the radar deputy team lead, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "This picture gives us a snapshot of a world in motion. Rain falls, and rivers move that rain to lakes and seas, where evaporation starts the cycle all over again. On Earth, the liquid is water; on Titan, it's methane; but on both it affects most everything that happens."

The radar image here was taken on Sept. 26, 2012. It shows Titan's north polar region, where the river valley flows into Kraken Mare, a sea that is, in terms of size, between the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea on Earth. The real Nile River stretches about 4,100 miles (6,700 kilometers). The processes that led to the formation of Earth's Nile are complex, but involve faulting in some regions.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and ASI, the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the US and several European countries. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/n0Qo40m5dLQ/121212164028.htm

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Study probes impact of climate change on cold-blooded animals

Dec. 12, 2012 ? A new study by biologists at Mercyhurst University focuses on the influence of climate change, particularly warmer winters, on the survival and potential fecundity of cold-blooded animals.

Cold blooded animals, or ectotherms, do not have an internal mechanism for regulating body temperature. Instead, they rely on solar energy captured by the environment.

The purpose of the Mercyhurst study, a collaboration of Michael Elnitsky, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology; and students Drew Spacht and Seth Pezar, is to assess the current and future impacts of climate change on the overwintering energetics and microenvironmental conditions of the goldenrod gall fly (Eurosta solidaginis). Larvae of the goldenrod gall fly have long served as model organisms for studying the strategies used by freeze-tolerant animals for winter survival.

"We used historical temperature data to estimate the overwintering (November through March) energy use of larval gall flies," Elnitsky said. "Based upon the relationship between metabolic rate and temperature, the estimated energy utilization during winter has increased by more than 30 percent over the last 50 years."

Further, with continued climate change, each additional 1?-degree C rise in temperature during winter is projected to increase energy use by 12 percent. The consequence of this is that the amount of energy remaining at winter's end directly determines how many offspring the goldenrod gall fly can produce.

"Unlike some other insects that are benefiting from a changing climate, goldenrod gall fly populations would be predicted to decline," Elnitsky said.

The research team has begun similar assessments of the impacts of a changing winter climate for other arthropods, such as deer ticks (Ixodes scapularis) that transmit Lyme disease bacteria and the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae), an invasive insect destroying hemlock forests throughout the eastern U.S.

The Mercyhurst group presented their research at the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) in Knoxville, Tenn., last month. Spacht of Erie and Pezar of Madison, Ohio, were awarded the President's Prize in the Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology section for their poster presentation. The President's Prize is the award given to the top undergraduate presentation in each section at the conference, which was attended by more than 4,000 scholars.

Also at the conference, Chris Strohm, a 2011 Mercyhurst biology graduate and currently a graduate student in entomology at the University of Kentucky, was awarded second place among graduate students in the Systematics, Evolution and Biodiversity section.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/dx4bHNqnOnk/121212162715.htm

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Jury says Apple iPhone violated three patents, damages unclear

(Reuters) - A U.S. jury on Thursday found that Apple's iPhone infringed three patents owned by holding company MobileMedia Ideas, though damages have not yet been determined.

The verdict was delivered after a week-long trial in Delaware federal court, said Larry Horn, chief executive of MobileMedia. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.

The three patents, which cover features like camera phone technology, were acquired from Nokia and Sony Corp in 2010, Horn said. Those two companies hold a minority interest in MobileMedia, he said.

Representatives for Nokia and Sony could not immediately be reached for comment.

The trial only concerned liability, and a damages proceeding has not yet been scheduled, Horn said. MobileMedia also has litigation pending against HTC Corp and Research in Motion Ltd.

"Our goal is really to license these patents broadly to the market," Horn said.

In court filings, Apple has asked a judge to rule that MobileMedia's patents are invalid as a matter of law, and that there is no "legally sufficient" basis to find MobileMedia has proven infringement.

The case in U.S. District Court, District of Delaware is MobileMedia Ideas LLC vs. Apple Inc, 10-258.

(Reporting By Dan Levine in San Francisco; editing by Andrew Hay)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jury-says-apple-iphone-violated-three-patents-damages-174757539--finance.html

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Food Discovery App Burpple Savors $500K In Seed Funding

Burpple, a mobile app that seeks to connect food lovers around the world, today announced that it has received $500,000 in seed funding from Neoteny Labs and QuestVC. The Singapore-based company was also named one of the top 10 startups in Asia at Open Web Asia 2012, held in Haikou, China.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/nK0fvwM237Q/

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African Business Aviation Association selects Hadid International ...

This brings the number of Founding Members who have demonstrated fully funded commitment to the organisation to 19 in total. AfBAA is now working to establish who will be invited to join as the Final Founding member and anticipates the concluding selection, and closure of this significant category, by the end of the year.

Speaking about Hadid's acceptance of the Founding Member status, Tarek Ragheb, AfBAA Chairman commented, "We are delighted that Hadid has accepted our invitation to become a Founding Member. It is joining an exceptional line up of inaugural members and brings valuable experience and breadth of knowledge to the table."

The UAE-based Hadid International Services specialises in providing flight support services for executive jets and was invited to join due to its strong reputation for delivering exceptional services, the fact it has an existing presence in Africa and its ongoing commitment to developing business aviation in the region.

Hadid's Director of Business Development, Dr Adnan Branbo added, "We see tremendous growth and opportunities in Africa and recognise the need for a professional, thoughtfully structured and well-funded association that can support the development of the business aviation sector on the continent. Having the opportunity to be a Founding Member and contribute to shaping the future of economic development in Africa is a very exciting prospect for us."

The selection of Hadid International Services follows hard on the heels of AfBAA's NBAA announcement that it has launched three new membership categories which have been tailored to encourage membership applications from the full spectrum of aviation business.

Any commercial enterprise that owns or operates a General Aviation aircraft in Africa can join with "Operator Membership"; whilst the "Supplier Membership" is designed for those that provide goods and services to the industry. Both categories include voting rights at the Association's annual general meeting.

For those that do not fulfill either of the previous criteria the Affiliate Membership enables any entity with an abiding interest in Business Aviation within the region to join, but does not include voting rights.

Like other inaugural members Hadid International Services will retain membership until 2015 and will adhere to the guiding principles, which focus on advocacy, safety, security, integrity, service and training. Launch Members will also have a strong voice within the association and will be responsible for contributing to the future of the Association's activity.

Source: http://www.ameinfo.com/african-business-aviation-association-selects-hadid-322304

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N.J. man pleads not guilty in '79 death of Etan Patz

NEW YORK (AP) ? The man charged with killing a 6-year-old New York City boy who was infamously abducted in 1979 pleaded not guilty Wednesday, while his lawyer insisted his confession to police was false.

Pedro Hernandez, 51, wore a gray sweatsuit and answered "not guilty" at the hearing in the case of Etan Patz, whose disappearance helped spawn the movement to publicize cases of missing children.

"My client had no motive and no history," defense attorney Harvey Fishbein said outside court.

"There is a serious question as to what happened in May 1979," Fishbein said. "There is no crime scene. There are no witnesses to a crime."

Fishbein also noted a body was never recovered.

He said that Hernandez confessed falsely after seven hours of questioning by police, and that he is still under medical and psychiatric care.

"My client is not happy that he is in jail," Fishbein said.

Fishbein said he would seek to dismiss the case because the only evidence is his client's false confession. Under state law, a confession can be enough to convict someone as long as authorities can establish a crime occurred and the confession is reliable.

But if the case does go forward, Fishbein said the defense will revolve around his client's mental state, though he isn't pursuing an insanity defense and Hernandez was found mentally fit to stand trial.

An insanity defense would mean acknowledging he committed the crime but arguing that he was too psychologically ill to know it was wrong. Hernandez didn't kill Etan and made a false confession because of his mental problems, among other factors, Fishbein said.

"The only part that mental disease plays in this case is its role in the confession," he said before the court date.

Psychiatric exams of the jailed Hernandez have found that he has an IQ in the borderline-to-mild mental retardation range, his lawyer has said. Hernandez also has been found to suffer from schizotypal personality disorder, which is characterized by hallucinations, according to his lawyer.

The defendant's wife and daughter attended the hearing but did not speak to reporters.

Etan's disappearance led to an intensive search and garnered huge publicity. His photo was among the first put on milk cartons, and his case turned May 25 into National Missing Children's Day.

Hernandez was a teenage stock clerk at a convenience store when Etan disappeared on his way to school on May 25, 1979. Hernandez was a married father with no criminal record and living in Maple Shade, N.J., when police approached him based on a tip this year. The tip came after federal authorities and police dug up a basement in the neighborhood hoping for clues, putting the cold case back into the limelight once again.

Investigators say Hernandez told them he lured the boy into the convenience store with the promise of a soda. According to police, he said he led the child to the basement, choked him and left his body in a bag of trash about a block away.

Etan's parents, Stan and Julie Patz, have been reluctant to move or even change their phone number in case their son tried to reach out. They have not commented.

Etan was declared legally dead by his father more than a decade ago so he could sue convicted child molester Jose Ramos in the boy's death. Ramos was found responsible ? a ruling made because he didn't entirely cooperate with questioning during the lawsuit ? and Fishbein could seek to make that a factor in Hernandez's defense.

Ramos, now 69, had been dating the boy's baby sitter in 1979 and was the prime suspect for years, but he was never charged. He repeatedly denies having anything to do with Etan's disappearance.

Ramos was later convicted of molesting two different children. He completed a 27-year sentence last month but was immediately arrested upon his release from a Pennsylvania prison, because authorities said he had given them a false address for where he'd be living.

Ramos is currently jailed in Pennsylvania on charges of failing to properly register as a sex offender under Megan's Law immediately after he was released earlier this year from prison.

___

Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nj-man-pleads-not-guilty-79-death-nyc-202332007.html

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Bear with me, I'm talking about outsourcing ? The Outsource Blog

DON?T keep a dog and bark too! Then again, if you can bark?why have a dog?

Bear with me?I?m not barking mad?we?re talking about outsourcing.

These days, it is common for people to follow the outsourcing trend ? which has led to a plethora of businesses dedicated to taking care of the most mundane domestic (or otherwise!) chores.

While ?outsourcing? may be a hot topic now, it really isn?t new news. Businesses have been outsourcing for almost as long as business has been around! Think about it?unless she?s very multi-skilled, even your cleaning lady will outsource at least her accounting.

The topic of outsourcing is today usually accompanied by a discussion of outsourcing overseas. Everyone has their story to tell of calling an overseas call centre and struggling with the fractured English and sometimes helpful advice or assistance on the other end of the line. While outsourcing overseas may achieve some cost savings, the real cost in terms of customer service shortfalls and damage to the business?s reputation needs to be factored in to the equation.

This shortfall gives outsourcing a bad name ? which it doesn?t necessarily deserve.

This leads me to the number one rule of outsourcing:

Make sure it fits your business model. If you are a ?bricks and mortar? business that relies heavily on face-to-face interaction with your customers, it is unlikely that those same customers will tolerate the outsourcing of your customer service function. However, I have seen many examples of online businesses that are able to offer 24 hour personal customer service by having three virtual assistants in time zones around the world! This works extremely well for them, as it fits the business model.

In comes rule number two: be prepared to acknowledge that you?re a poor barker.

The availability of professional assistance in a range of skills online is really quite remarkable. A great example of this is our exceler8 logo ? it was developed by a talented young designer who lives in the US?and we?ve never met her. We?re business consultants, not graphic designers ? so we acknowledged that we were ?poor barkers? in that area, and outsourced. The result is better than anything we would have ever come up with!

From a business perspective, the list of things you could outsource is nearly endless ? other than the core function of your business?which we recommend that you keep doing!

Here are just a few of the things you could outsource in your business:
Accounting, marketing, graphic design, administration work, manufacturing, copywriting, website design, human resource management, strategy and planning (though you should have some input into that!), financial control and administration, legal services, event planning, PR and promotions?the list goes on!

The key here is to realise that you?re not good at it, and then work out how you could outsource it.

Homework for this week ? carry a notebook (or iPhone) around, and just take note of the tasks that fill you with a sudden and deep sense of dread.

Source:http://www.news-mail.com.au/news/bear-me-im-talking-about-outsourcing/1655455/

Source: http://www.theoutsourceblog.com/2012/12/bear-with-me-im-talking-about-outsourcing/

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Top Domains: Forexpros Buys Investing.com For $2.45M, Launches One-Stop Financial Portal For Everyday Investors

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Trick or Treat?: Jeffrey M. Jones' ?Seventy Scenes of Halloween? at ...

Manbites Dog Theater of Durham, NC is celebrating its 25th birthday by restaging ?Seventy Scenes of Halloween? by Jeffrey M. Jones on Nov. 29-Dec. 1 and Dec. 6-9, 12-13, and 15 (photo by Jon Haas)

Trick or treat? Manbites Dog Theater?s inaugural production, Seventy Scenes of Halloween by Jeffrey M. Jones has a little of both. First staged in December of 1987 and repeated on Nov. 29-Dec. 1 and Dec. 6-9, 12-13, and 15, 2012, under the new direction of Akiva Fox and Adam Sobsey, Seventy Scenes of Halloween mixes mirth with terror in a series numbered scenes, performed almost completely out of order. That?s the play?s principal gimmick, and it can be confusing as to what is real and what is a dream, etc.

During the play?s first three scenes, an otherwise nice normal suburban couple named Jeff and Joan (played by Dan VanHoozer and Emily K. Hill) bicker over whether they are ready for Halloween. (Jeff thinks they aren?t, because Joan forgot to buy some Kandy Korn.) Then the trick-or-treaters (portrayed by Carl Martin and Amber J. Wood as a Beast in a goat?s-head mask and a Witch in full witch regalia, pointy hat and all) start to arrive, some of them peering through Joan and Jeff?s picture window.

Ultimately, Seventy Scenes of Halloween becomes a surreal series of flash-forwards and flashbacks in which Jeff and Joan act like the Battling Bickersons and the trick-or-treaters become increasingly sinister, as if a Manson Family Halloween might be imminent. As Bob Dylan famously crooned, ?There is something happening here, and you don?t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones??

In Seventy Scenes of Halloween, the humor ? and the horror ? is in the details, but it would be unfair to reveal more of them here. Suffice it to say that co-directors Akiva Fox and Adam Sobsey could have clarified some points by sharpening the actors? performances.

Scenic designer Torry Bend?s living room set provides a couple of doors for things that go bump in the night to hide behind, and lighting designer Liz Droessler?s lighting scheme magnifies the creepiness of the situation in which an unbilled fifth actor (assistant stage manager Karen Burns) contributes creepy cameos to this surreal spooktacular.

SECOND OPINION: Dec. 5th Raleigh, NC CVNC review by Kate Dobbs Ariail: http://cvnc.org/article.cfm?articleId=5891; Dec. 5th Durham, NC Independent Weekly review by Byron Woods (who awarded the show 2.5 of 5 stars): http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/form-follows-theme-in-manbites-dogs-seventy-scenes-of-halloween-revival/Content?oid=3208329 and Nov. 28th review by David Fellerath: http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/manbites-dog-celebrates-25-years-with-a-return-to-where-it-started/Content?oid=3201453; ; Dec. 5th Chapel Hill, NC WUNC 91.5/North Carolina Public Radio interview with Manbites Dog co-founder Ed Hunt, Seventy Scenes of Halloween co-director Akiva Fox, and actors Carl Martin and Emily Hill, conducted by Frank Stasio for ?The State of Things?: http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/Manbites_Dog_Turns_25.mp3/view; Dec. 4th Raleigh, NC News & Observer review by Roy C. Dicks: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/12/04/2524292/seventy-scenes-confusing-but-intriguing.html; and Nov. 28th Durham, NC Duke Chronicle preview by Danielle Muoio: http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/manbites-dog-celebrates-25-years-70-short-scenes; and Nov. 22nd Durham, NC Herald-Sun preview by Cliff Bellamy: http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/20909030/article-?Seventy-Scenes??Manbites-Dog-Theater-revisits-production-that-started-it-all-? (Note 1: You must register to read this article.) (Note 2: To read Triangle Arts & Entertainment?s online version of the Nov. 30th Triangle Theater Review preview by Robert W. McDowell, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2012/11/manbites-dog-theater-is-reprising-its-first-show-jeffrey-m-jones-seventy-scenes-of-halloween/.)

Manbites Dog Theater presents SEVENTY SCENES OF HALLOWEEN at 3:15 p.m. Dec 9 and 8:15 p.m. Dec. 12-16 at Manbites Dog Theater, 703 Foster St., Durham, North Carolina 27701.

TICKETS: $12 weeknights and $17 Friday-Sunday, except $5 for students with ID and a $2 discount for seniors 62+ and active-duty military personnel.

BOX OFFICE: 919-682-3343 or http://manbitesdogtheater.tix.com/.

SHOW: http://www.manbitesdogtheater.org/403/.

VIDEO PREVIEW (by Jon Haas): http://vimeo.com/52903324.

SEASON: http://www.manbitesdogtheater.org/season/.

PRESENTER: http://www.manbitesdogtheater.org/.

BLOG: http://theupstager.wordpress.com/.

VENUE: http://www.manbitesdogtheater.org/.

DIRECTIONS/PARKING: http://www.manbitesdogtheater.org/find/.

OTHER LINKS:

The Play: http://www.broadwayplaypubl.com/ssh.htm (Broadway Play Publishing).

The Script: http://books.google.com/ (Google Books).

The Playwright: http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsJ/jones-jeffrey-m.html (Doollee.com).

EDITOR?S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Theater Review, a FREE weekly e-mail theatrical newsletter that provides more comprehensive, in-depth coverage of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill theater than all of the other news media combined. This review is reprinted with permission from Triangle Theater Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TTR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell?s Triangle Theater Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

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Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Tagged as: Adam Sobsey, Akiva Fox, Jeffrey M. Jones, Manbites Dog Theater, Seventy Scenes of Halloween

Source: http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2012/12/trick-or-treat-jeffrey-m-jones-seventy-scenes-of-halloween-at-manbites-dog-has-a-little-of-both/

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Health insurance exchanges can help bring down costs for U.S. ...

The re-election of President Barack Obama signals full-speed ahead for the implementation of the health care reforms contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including the creation of public health insurance exchanges. The act mandates that all states and territories establish and launch their own health insurance exchanges by Jan. 1, 2014, or default to a federal fallback program.

While the number keeps fluctuating, it is estimated that between 16 and 23 states, plus Washington, D.C., plan to launch their own exchanges. Another 15 intend to defer to the federal government, and the balance are still mulling over their options.

One year from now, 12 million Americans are expected to begin purchasing health insurance through exchange, and ultimately that number is likely to more than double, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Health insurance exchanges create an online, one-stop shopping mall where employers, consumers, insurance brokers and others can easily view competing health plans side by side, comparing benefits, costs, provider networks and other features.

That transparency and accessibility are designed to help consumers select the health plan, benefits structure and doctors that best meet their needs and budgets.

For many consumers, health insurance exchanges can have a positive effect in three key areas:

Choice: Through an exchange, employees of small businesses and other individuals will have multiple health plan carriers and multiple plan designs from which to choose. This could range from ?gold? or ?platinum? plans with wide-ranging benefits to, at the other end, a high-deductible plan with the lowest possible premium and a high personal accountability for how health care dollars are spent.

Cost: The government hopes exchanges will help reduce the number of Americans who are uninsured, currently more than 45 million, by driving down the cost of health insurance as companies compete for business on a level playing field. An individual participating in an exchange will be able to select the health plan that best fits his or her budget. In addition, many consumers will be eligible for government assistance to pay premiums.

Flexibility:? Through an exchange, consumers will have the flexibility to move from one plan design to another as their personal situations change (marriage, birth of a child, etc.). This provides peace of mind, security and the same kind of overall health insurance options that have been available to members of Congress for years.

Perhaps the best news of all is that experience has shown that health insurance exchanges can work well. Some public exchanges are already up and running, while the country?s most successful private exchange, CaliforniaChoice, has effectively served the small to medium market for 16 years, currently providing coverage for 10,000 employers and 150,000 individuals.

And while public exchanges are grabbing all of today?s headlines, private exchanges ? unbound by public exchange requirements ? will continue to compete, innovate through program design, and in all likelihood lead the way in the quality of customer experience.

Health insurance exchanges move America toward a more rational approach to purchasing health care. They also represent the largest expansion of health coverage since the creation of Medicare in 1965.

As a result, many believe that these exchanges will be the yardstick by which health care reform is judged for years to come. Consumers should learn all they can about health insurance exchanges and see if this option is right for them.

Ron Goldstein, is president and chief executive officer of CHOICE Administrators, the nation?s leading developer and administrator of health insurance exchanges.

Source: http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2012/12/health-insurance-exchanges-can-help-bring-down-costs-us-consumers

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