You may have heard that the Musical Instrument Digital Interface protocol (aka MIDI) celebrates its 30th birthday this year. And where better than NAMM would the MIDI Manufacturer Association be able to fully demonstrate (and celebrate) the persevering protocol's coming of age? Part of the MMA's installation was a set-up destined to get geek hearts racing. A 1983 Commodore 64 connected to a Sequential Circuits Model 64 sequencer cartridge (with MIDI interface). From these vintage parts, the regular 5-pin MIDI cable heads out through the decades and into an IK Multimedia iRig MIDI, into an iPad, finally feeding its information into the Animoog app from equally longevous Moog. Watch old meet new in the gallery and video below.
In this week?s rental industry headlines, find out why rents are predicted to rise even more, and why some think big-city micro-apartments aren?t the solution. Be aware of the latest real estate scams, and know the problems you can?t afford not to fix on your rental property.
Moving On Up: Stage Set for Rents to Go Higher
Tenants pinched by rising rents shouldn?t expect relief soon from the new apartments for a simple reason: Demand is likely to outpace supply for some time.
Who Will Live in Bloomberg?s Micro-Apartments??
City officials said the micro-units will help to meet the changing needs of New Yorkers and are ?critical to the city?s future economic success.??But some have called the micro-units tenements for the 21st century, though at the price, they would certainly not be housing large, low-income families.
Toll Seeks Bigger Stake in Apartment Market
Toll Brothers,?the nation?s largest builder of luxury single-family homes, making a bigger push into the?condo market?with the purchase of land near Washington, D.C. The company is also expanding its rental operations.
Real Estate Agents Scammed, Says BBB
The Better Business Bureau says St. Louis real estate agents are being victimized in a ?shakedown? run by operators of a ?phony? complaint website.
Raw Sewage In Your Apartment: Repairs Your Landlord Can?t Ignore
There are lots of crappy situations you can run into when you?re living in multi-unit housing.?But we can?t think of anything crappier ? literally ? than your apartment filling up with raw sewage.?This raises the question: Doesn?t the landlord?have?to fix this problem?
Tell us more about yourself, your site, and your family.
I am a mother to four ? two boys and two girls, ranging in age from 15 months to 13 years . My husband is a supportive, albeit sports-obsessed, P.E. teacher. Together we are raising our noisy brood in Annandale, VA. After my second child was born in 2006, I decided to leave my job in public relations/communications and stay home, but I still needed to earn an income. This is when I opened my home-based daycare and discovered that there is an amazing secret society that forms when you put a few toddlers and preschoolers together. ?I love what I do, even though it isn?t always easy balancing everything. Anyone who says raising a family is easy is probably lying. Embracing our imperfections and letting go of our mother?s guilt is the key to surviving it all. Tiny Steps Mommy is where I write about all of this ? parenting, children, families, daycare, and surviving the chaos one tiny step at a time.
Why did you decide to start your site?? What has been your favorite part about blogging?
In March 2012, I started my blog Tiny Steps Mommy as an outlet for me to express my thoughts and keep my writing skills fresh. I have always loved writing. It is my passion. Yet for many years I put it on the back burner because I didn?t think I had the time. I discovered that I could make the time by giving up a little sleep and a lot of television. Amazingly, I do not miss watching TV and I feel more energized than ever because I am doing something that feels fulfilling. I also discovered that other people are actually reading my writing, which feels great. It is a great confidence booster when you pour your heart into writing something and then people you don?t even know say that you have touched them, or that they relate to you. I think this may be my favorite part of blogging ? making an impact.
How do you balance your daycare and spending time with your family?? What advice can you give to other busy moms?
The reason I started my daycare was to be home with my family. Even though my daycare is open 52.5 hours every week (five days a week) and I am working much more than I did in an office, I never feel like my job is getting in the way of spending time with my family. I manage this by incorporating my children into everything I do with the daycare ? it truly is a family business. This does not mean it is always easy, especially when my children are tired of sharing my attention. My last two children were born into this world where there are ?friend? days (weekdays) and ?non-friend? days (weekends). It is their normal. I have to admit though that in the evenings, I need some non-child time, which is why I depend heavily on my husband to manage the evening/bedtime routine. Having a supportive and hands-on partner is critical to surviving. My best advice to busy parents (which is every parent) is to take some time for you and accept the help of others when it is offered (don?t be afraid to ask either). Also, if your partner or someone else helps, then do not micromanage the way he or she does things, because that may be the last time help is offered. Help is help.
What is it like having four children?? How do you manage taking care of everyone?
My husband and I both grew up in large families. To us a noisy home is a happy home, which is why being a party of six feels absolutely right. Our biggest challenge is making sure we parent to the personalities of each child. Similar to teachers who have to teach based on the different learning styles of their students, parents have to parent to the unique personality of each child. A one-fits-all method does not work. The tricky part is customizing your parenting, while being fair to all. We are not perfect and neither are our children. I think once you accept this, it makes everything a little easier.
What are a few things you?ve learned from motherhood?
I am going to make mistakes.
My children are going to make mistakes.
There are not enough hours in a day to get everything done.
It?s okay not to keep up with the laundry.
You have to be flexible and roll with the unexpected.
Children grow fast, so enjoy every moment you can.
Laughter is the best medicine.
Hug, hug, hug, and then hug again.
What are your top 5 favorite things to do with your family?
Snuggle in bed and tickle and laugh
Visit playgrounds and play tag
Curl-up and watch a family movie
Reading books together
Go on nature walks (mini adventures)
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Site | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Email: nicoledash@gmail.com
New method identifies genes that can predict prognoses of cancer patientsPublic release date: 25-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bonnie Prescott bprescot@bidmc.harvard.edu 617-667-7306 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Approach could help in developing new diagnostics and therapies
BOSTON In recent years, it has been thought that select sets of genes might reveal cancer patients' prognoses. However, a study published last year examining breast cancer cases found that most of these "prognostic signatures" were no more accurate than random gene sets in determining cancer prognoses. While many saw this as a disappointment, investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montral (IRCM) saw this as an opportunity to design a new method to identify gene sets that could yield more significant prognostic value.
Led by Andrew Beck, MD, Director of the Molecular Epidemiology Research Laboratory at BIDMC, the team has developed SAPS (Significance Analysis of Prognostic Signatures), a new algorithm that makes use of three specific criteria to more accurately identify prognostic signatures associated with patient survival.
Their results, the largest analysis of its kind ever performed, are reported in the January 24 on-line issue of the journal PLOS Computational Biology.
"SAPS makes use of three specific criteria," explains Beck, who is also an Assistant Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School. "First, the gene set must be enriched for genes that are associated with survival. In addition, the gene set must separate patients into groups that show survival differences. Lastly, it must also perform significantly better than sets of random genes at these tasks."
In the new study, the scientific team applied the SAPS algorithm to gene expression profiling data from the study's senior author Benjamin Haibe-Kains, PhD, Director of the Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics Laboratory at IRCM and an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Montreal. The first collection of data was obtained from 19 published breast cancer studies (including approximately 3800 patients), and the second included 12 published gene expression profiling studies in ovarian cancer (including data from approximately 1700 patients).
When the investigators used SAPS to analyze these previously identified prognostic signatures in breast and ovarian cancer, they found that only a small subset of the signatures that were considered statistically significant by standard measurements also achieved statistical significance when evaluated by SAPS.
"Our work shows that when using prognostic associations to identify biological signatures that drive cancer progression, it is important to not rely solely on a gene set's association with patient survival," says Beck. "A gene set may appear to be important based on its survival association, when in reality it does not perform significantly better than random genes. This can be a serious problem, as it can lead to false conclusions regarding the biological and clinical significance of a gene set."
By using SAPS, Beck and his colleagues found that they could overcome this problem. "The SAPS procedure ensures that a significant prognostic gene set is not only associated with patient survival but also performs significantly better than random gene sets," says Beck. His team revealed new prognostic signatures in subtypes of breast cancer and ovarian cancer and demonstrated a striking similarity between signatures in estrogen receptor negative breast cancer and ovarian cancer, suggesting new shared therapeutic targets for these aggressive malignancies.
The findings also indicate that the prognostic signatures identified with SAPS will not only help predict patient outcomes but might also help in the development of new anti-cancer drugs. "We hope that markers identified in our analysis will provide new insights into the biological pathways driving cancer progression in breast and ovarian cancer subtypes, and will one day lead to improvements in targeted diagnostics and therapeutics," says Beck. "We also hope the method proves widely useful to other researchers." To that end, the team would like to create a web-accessible tool to enable investigators with little knowledge of statistical software and programming to identify gene sets significantly associated with patient outcomes in different diseases.
"We also plan to soon release a software package, which includes all the code and corresponding documentation of our analysis pipeline," adds Haibe-Kains. "This will allow others to fully reproduce our results while enabling the bioinformatics and computational biology communities to take over and potentially adapt and improve our pipeline to address important new issues in biomedicine."
Beck and his collaborators are currently working to further validate the prognostic signatures they identified in breast and ovarian cancers, with the hopes of bringing them closer to the clinic through the development of new diagnostics and treatments. "We are also extending our approach to other common cancers that lack robust prognostic signatures," he notes.
###
Study coauthors include BIDMC investigators Nicholas Knoblauch, Marco Hefti, Jennifer Kaplan, Stuart J. Schnitt; and Aedin Culhane, Markus Schroeder, Thomas Risch, and John Quackenbush, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
This work was supported by an award from the Klarman Family Foundation.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School and currently ranks third in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is clinically affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research partner of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
New method identifies genes that can predict prognoses of cancer patientsPublic release date: 25-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bonnie Prescott bprescot@bidmc.harvard.edu 617-667-7306 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Approach could help in developing new diagnostics and therapies
BOSTON In recent years, it has been thought that select sets of genes might reveal cancer patients' prognoses. However, a study published last year examining breast cancer cases found that most of these "prognostic signatures" were no more accurate than random gene sets in determining cancer prognoses. While many saw this as a disappointment, investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montral (IRCM) saw this as an opportunity to design a new method to identify gene sets that could yield more significant prognostic value.
Led by Andrew Beck, MD, Director of the Molecular Epidemiology Research Laboratory at BIDMC, the team has developed SAPS (Significance Analysis of Prognostic Signatures), a new algorithm that makes use of three specific criteria to more accurately identify prognostic signatures associated with patient survival.
Their results, the largest analysis of its kind ever performed, are reported in the January 24 on-line issue of the journal PLOS Computational Biology.
"SAPS makes use of three specific criteria," explains Beck, who is also an Assistant Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School. "First, the gene set must be enriched for genes that are associated with survival. In addition, the gene set must separate patients into groups that show survival differences. Lastly, it must also perform significantly better than sets of random genes at these tasks."
In the new study, the scientific team applied the SAPS algorithm to gene expression profiling data from the study's senior author Benjamin Haibe-Kains, PhD, Director of the Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics Laboratory at IRCM and an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Montreal. The first collection of data was obtained from 19 published breast cancer studies (including approximately 3800 patients), and the second included 12 published gene expression profiling studies in ovarian cancer (including data from approximately 1700 patients).
When the investigators used SAPS to analyze these previously identified prognostic signatures in breast and ovarian cancer, they found that only a small subset of the signatures that were considered statistically significant by standard measurements also achieved statistical significance when evaluated by SAPS.
"Our work shows that when using prognostic associations to identify biological signatures that drive cancer progression, it is important to not rely solely on a gene set's association with patient survival," says Beck. "A gene set may appear to be important based on its survival association, when in reality it does not perform significantly better than random genes. This can be a serious problem, as it can lead to false conclusions regarding the biological and clinical significance of a gene set."
By using SAPS, Beck and his colleagues found that they could overcome this problem. "The SAPS procedure ensures that a significant prognostic gene set is not only associated with patient survival but also performs significantly better than random gene sets," says Beck. His team revealed new prognostic signatures in subtypes of breast cancer and ovarian cancer and demonstrated a striking similarity between signatures in estrogen receptor negative breast cancer and ovarian cancer, suggesting new shared therapeutic targets for these aggressive malignancies.
The findings also indicate that the prognostic signatures identified with SAPS will not only help predict patient outcomes but might also help in the development of new anti-cancer drugs. "We hope that markers identified in our analysis will provide new insights into the biological pathways driving cancer progression in breast and ovarian cancer subtypes, and will one day lead to improvements in targeted diagnostics and therapeutics," says Beck. "We also hope the method proves widely useful to other researchers." To that end, the team would like to create a web-accessible tool to enable investigators with little knowledge of statistical software and programming to identify gene sets significantly associated with patient outcomes in different diseases.
"We also plan to soon release a software package, which includes all the code and corresponding documentation of our analysis pipeline," adds Haibe-Kains. "This will allow others to fully reproduce our results while enabling the bioinformatics and computational biology communities to take over and potentially adapt and improve our pipeline to address important new issues in biomedicine."
Beck and his collaborators are currently working to further validate the prognostic signatures they identified in breast and ovarian cancers, with the hopes of bringing them closer to the clinic through the development of new diagnostics and treatments. "We are also extending our approach to other common cancers that lack robust prognostic signatures," he notes.
###
Study coauthors include BIDMC investigators Nicholas Knoblauch, Marco Hefti, Jennifer Kaplan, Stuart J. Schnitt; and Aedin Culhane, Markus Schroeder, Thomas Risch, and John Quackenbush, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
This work was supported by an award from the Klarman Family Foundation.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School and currently ranks third in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is clinically affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research partner of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
All over the news, we?ve been hearing about Manti Te?o?s unfortunate situation ? the Heisman contender recently found out that his long-term girlfriend, who was presumed to be dead, never existed to begin with.
As if we didn?t already know, the Internet has become a vital medium in which society interacts with one another: From instant messaging with strangers to keeping up with Grandma, it can now be done all with the simple tap of the trackpad. On top of this, it?s perpetuated the most important human relation of all ? love, for better or for worse.
The Internet is incredible for connecting couples in long distance relationship. However, it can also become a tool in which people hide behind the shield of anonymity that a computer screen provides. The Internet fails at the honor system, and more often than not we find people seriously abusing it.
To each couple his or her own, but it?s safe to say that actual togetherness, meeting face-to-face, is vital to success. What romantic relationships hold differently from friendships is that relationships really involve a physical aspect (no, not that kind).
Whether we?re straight, gay, lesbian, or transgender, aren?t we all in the same boat trying to find somebody to love us and be with us for the rest of our lives? That?s what the whole dating game is all about. But in such a fast paced world, we need to be careful in seeking such instant, superficial connections.
And by no means do I mean offense to Manti (please don?t squash me with your pinky toe), but the vice of online relationships has increased exponentially with the growth of the Internet. When will it become common knowledge that finding companionship through a screen may not be the premier choice?
Internet marketing is just what the name implies. Advertising products and services online. There are several types of online marketing, including search engine optimization, pay per click and social media marketing. This type of marketing makes it easier for companies and individuals to target specific advertisements to a defined audience.
The smart webmaster tests his website on as many platforms as possible. There are, at least, a half dozen different web browsers that render websites slightly differently, as well as, dozens of more less popular browsers. Wireless access adds more options for potential website platforms. When a website loads improperly on a particular platform, it represents lost potential sales, no matter how obscure the platform is.
When you get a customer on your site, it is important that you turn them into a lead. If your site does not accomplish this, then you will never be able to make the profit that you wish for. It is vitally important that your site attracts people and then persuades them to purchase your product.
Make sure that your website is cleanly displayed and easy to read. You don?t want your customers and people who are interested in you and your product to come onto your website, hoping to find out more information, only to not be able to read anything at all. Find colors that work well when it comes to website formats, to make for easy reading.
Making a successful internet marketing strategy necessitates knowledge of the different types of venues your target customers interact on then advertising on those venues. Do some research through Google or other search engines to see where most of the conversation around your brand is taking place, then, once you have identified a few key websites, contact the administrators to reserve ad space.
Pick a theme for the website and stick with it. People want to see a site that has organized content that makes sense. Become an expert in one field to prove that the information is coming from a knowledgeable source. Dipping into too many different subjects makes the site look confusing and messy.
It is smart internet marketing strategy to maximize the variety of payment methods the business website offers to its customers. Different payment systems have different costs. Research in the business?s niche will show which systems are common for the business?s products and these should be supported from day one. More unusual payment methods that come up through customer feedback, should be investigated and taken advantage of if they look profitable.
Avoid using the word ?buy? or ?purchase?. Instead, try using the word ?invest? more often. This will make your customers feel less like they are actually buying something, and more likely they are investing in something more worthwhile. The word ?invest? has a much nicer ring to it in the ears of someone wanting to spend money.
Use beautiful pictures and rich graphics to promote the products on your website. Make sure the images are crisp and clear and present an accurate, detailed representation of your product. Sometimes there is no substitute for a customer holding an item in the hands in order to make a purchasing decision, but fabulous pictures can often make the sale as well.
These tips should have given you some much needed insight on where to start and how to begin with your own internet marketing plan. These tips were thoughtfully compiled to help the new internet marketer learn the basics and some other cool techniques that are simple enough to use for their business.
For more information we advice you to look on Ppc services and traffic booster
Christian Slater gets a beatdown from Stallone and Sung Kang in MTV's exclusive 'Bullet to the Head' set visit. By Josh Wigler, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Sylvester Stallone in "Bullet to the Head" Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures
Like the commercial says: People are talking. They?re talking about the Royal Rumble Match, about Alberto Del Rio?s ascent to the World Heavyweight Title; about Team Hell No?s hugfest graduation ceremony; about this very young year that John Cena has vowed to dominate. But more than any of that, more than anything else going into Sunday?s hotly hyped pay-per-view, they?re talking about one match: CM Punk vs. The Rock.
And those people aren?t alone.
?You look at CM Punk, he?s held the title for more than 400 days,? The Miz told WWE.com of his feelings on the historic matchup. ?Say what you want about [Punk], but he?s champion and he?s been champion and he does whatever he can possibly do to keep that title ? [Punk] has something up his sleeve. He always does, he always will and he does what he can to do it, so hopefully Rock can be prepared for that, especially because he?s been out of the ring for so long. ?
Kofi Kingston also chimed in on the first-time bout, sounding, quite frankly, as thrilled as if he were a member of the WWE Universe instead of a Superstar who could potentially find himself winning the Royal Rumble Match and challenging one of these two Superstars at WrestleMania.
?It?s been a long time coming since Punk came out and clotheslined The Rock and made a huge statement,? Kofi said. ?Now it won?t be very long, less than a week till the Royal Rumble. We finally get to see the guy who claims to be The Best in the World taking on the all-time Great One. It?s been great to see the build and I can?t wait just like everybody else to see how it?s gonna go down. We?re actually gonna find out exactly who the best is.?
Miz, who will challenge Antonio Cesaro for the United States Championship on the Royal Rumble Pre-Show, made the bold move of throwing his hat in a competitor?s corner, although that did come with a caveat.
?Am I rooting for The Rock? Absolutely,? The Awesome One said. ?Do I want him to win? Absolutely. Do I want him to unseat the WWE Champion and become the champion? Absolutely, because you know what? At WrestleMania, when I win the Royal Rumble Match, I?ll be going up against The Rock, the person that made me want to become a WWE Superstar.?
With tensions reaching a fever pitch between champion and challenger, and only a handful of days left until The Brahma Bull returns to claim what he believes is his, the WWE Universe and locker room are equally abuzz with anticipation. And while the Superstars may be split ? Miz is pulling for Rock, and while Kofi was too diplomatic to say so, we?d wager he?s got a soft spot for his old tag partner Punk ? SmackDown General Manager Booker T summed up the whole thing as only he can.
?Everyone will remember where they were the night Punk and Rock met in the middle of the ring, face to face, eye to eye, one on one. Who?s gonna be the champion? Sunday, it will be determined.?
A federal judge in Chicago sentenced an American citizen to 35 years in prison on Thursday for his role in providing surveillance information and videos laying the groundwork for the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, India, that left more than 160 dead and hundreds wounded.
David Coleman Headley, a US citizen of Pakistani heritage, was arrested in October 2009. He agreed shortly afterward to cooperate with US investigators and intelligence officials, and he testified against one of his fellow co-conspirators.
Among other information, Mr. Headley told US officials of a link between the terror operation in India and Pakistan?s intelligence service, the ISI. He identified his ISI contact as ?Major Iqbal,? according to court documents.
RECOMMENDED: Quiz: How much do you know about terrorism?
?Major Iqbal? helped plan and fund the Mumbai attacks, he said.
In light of his cooperation, prosecutors did not seek the death penalty for Headley. In addition, instead of a life sentence, prosecutors urged US District Judge Harry Leinenweber to impose a 30 to 35-year prison term.
During the sentencing hearing, Judge Leinenweber called Headley a ?terrorist? and rejected suggestions he had reformed his life.
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?I don?t have any faith in Mr. Headley when he says he?s a changed person and believes in the American way of life,? the judge said, according to the Associated Press.
In their sentencing memorandum, prosecutors acknowledged that Headley played ?an essential role in the planning of a horrific terrorist attack.?
?There is little question that life imprisonment would be an appropriate punishment for Headley?s incredibly serious crimes,? they said. But they added that his extensive cooperation had been of ?significant value? to US anti-terror efforts.
Headley, 52, is unlikely to emerge from prison until he is well into his 80s.
Headley pleaded guilty in March 2010 to all 12 counts in his indictment. The charges included conspiracy to bomb public places in India, conspiracy to murder and maim persons in India, and six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of US citizens in India.
Among the dead were six American citizens.
Headley attended a series of training camps in Pakistan in 2002 and 2003. He later decided to change his name from Daood Gilani to David Headley to allow him to conceal his Pakistani ties and portray himself as an American in India.
Headley told investigators that he made five trips to Mumbai in 2006, 2007, and 2008 to survey and videotape potential targets for a planned assault team from the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
At one point he used a GPS device to pinpoint potential landing spots for the assault team along the shores of Mumbai harbor.
The attacks were carried out from Nov. 26 to Nov. 28, 2009 by 10 men trained by Lashkar-e-Taiba. They were armed with assault rifles, grenades, and improvised explosive devices, and they killed indiscriminately.
Targets included the Taj Mahal Hotel, Oberoi Hotel, the Leopold Caf?, a Jewish center called the Chabad House, and the train station. Headley had provided surveillance of each of those targets.
Four months after the attacks, Headley returned to India to conduct surveillance of India?s National Defense College in Delhi and Chabad Houses in several other cities, officials said.
Headley was also asked to provide surveillance in advance of planned attacks on the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, which had published a controversial cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed in a derogatory light. The action prompted calls from Islamic militants ? including members of Al Qaeda ? for retaliation.
Headley traveled to Denmark in January 2009 and produced videos that he turned over to a Lashkar member later that month during a trip to Pakistan. He returned to Europe in July and August 2009 and produced 13 additional surveillance videos in Denmark.
Headley was arrested at Chicago?s O?Hare International Airport in Oct. 2009 while preparing to board a flight to Pakistan to deliver the 13 videos.
As part of his cooperation he testified at the June 2011 trial of alleged co-conspirator Tahawwur Rana of Chicago. Mr. Rana was convicted of providing material support to the Denmark plot and providing material support to Lashkar.
He was sentenced last week to 14 years in prison.
RECOMMENDED: Quiz: How much do you know about terrorism?
It's winter, which means nature has once again ceased to care about our survival for another few months. The good news is that most of us have heat. And cameras. Here are the icy results of this week's Shooting Challenge. More »
Jan. 23, 2013 ? Rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns in Madagascar could fuel the spread of lemur parasites and the diseases they carry.
By combining data on six parasite species from ongoing surveys of lemur health with weather data and other environmental information for Madagascar as a whole, a team of Duke University researchers has created probability maps of likely parasite distributions throughout the island today.
Then, using climate projections for the year 2080, they estimate what parasite distributions might look like in the future.
"We can use these models to figure out where the risk of lemur-human disease transmission might be highest, and use that to better protect the future of lemur and human health," said lead author Meredith Barrett, who conducted the study while working as a graduate student at Duke.
Lemurs are native to the African island of Madagascar, where climate change isn't the only threat to their survival. More than 90 percent of the lemurs' forest habitat has already been cleared for logging, farming and grazing. Illegal hunting for bushmeat is also a problem.
A key part of saving these animals is ensuring that they stay healthy as environmental conditions in their island home continue to shift, Barrett said.
Average annual temperatures in Madagascar are predicted to rise by 1.1 to 2.6 degrees Celsius by 2080. Rainfall, drought and cyclone patterns are changing too.
In a study published in the January 2013 issue of the journal Biological Conservation, Barrett and colleagues examined what these changes could mean for lemur health by taking a cue from the parasites they carry.
The team focused on six species of mites, ticks and intestinal worms commonly known to infect lemurs. The parasites are identified in lemur fur and feces. Some species -- such as pinworms, whipworms and tapeworms -- cause diarrhea, dehydration and weight loss in human hosts. Others, particularly mites and ticks, can transmit diseases such as plague, typhus or scabies.
When the researchers compared their present-day maps with parasite distributions predicted for the future, they found that lemur parasites could expand their range by as much as 60 percent. Whipworms, for example, which are now largely confined to Madagascar's northeast and western coasts, may become widely distributed on the country's southeastern coast as well.
Anne Yoder, senior author on the study and Director of the Duke Lemur Center, said the research is particularly important now as lemurs have been identified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as the most endangered mammals on earth.
Warmer weather means that parasites could grow and reproduce more quickly, or spread to higher latitudes and elevations where once they were unable to survive. As lemur parasites become more prevalent, the diseases they carry could show up in new places. The spread could be harmful to lemur populations that have never encountered these pests before, and lack resistance to the diseases they carry.
Shifting parasite distributions could have ripple effects on people too. As human population growth in Madagascar drives people and their livestock into previously uninhabited areas, wildlife-human disease transmission becomes increasingly likely.
The authors hope their results will help researchers predict where disease hotspots are likely to occur, and prepare for them before they hit.
Meredith Barrett is now a postdoctoral scholar with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars Program at the University of California at San Francisco and Berkeley. Jason Brown of Duke University and Randall Junge of the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium were also authors of this study.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Duke University.
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Journal Reference:
Meredith A. Barrett, Jason L. Brown, Randall E. Junge, Anne D. Yoder. Climate change, predictive modeling and lemur health: Assessing impacts of changing climate on health and conservation in Madagascar. Biological Conservation, 2013; 157: 409 DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2012.09.003
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
NEW DELHI (AP) ? The trial of five men charged with the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus began in a closed courtroom with opening arguments by the prosecution lawyers in a special fast-track court set up just weeks ago to handle sexual assault cases.
The brutal attack last month set off protests across India and opened a debate about its epidemic of violence against women. A government committee established because of the attack has called for a complete overhaul of the way the criminal justice system deals with rape, sexual assaults and crimes against women in general.
The five men on trial ? who face a maximum sentence of death by hanging if convicted ? covered their faces with woolen caps as they walked into the courtroom Thursday surrounded by a phalanx of armed police. Two hours later, after proceedings were over, they were whisked away by the police.
Details of the proceedings were not available because of a gag order against revealing what happens inside the courtroom, and court officials who provided some information to The Associated Press spoke on condition of anonymity because of the order. Closing courtrooms to the public and the media is routine in Indian rape cases, even though defense lawyers had argued that since the victim is dead, the proceedings in this case should be opened.
Judge Yogesh Khanna turned down requests by journalists that they be briefed on the day's proceedings and said the gag order would remain.
Since Friday is a public holiday in India, the next hearing in the case was set for Monday, when the defense will present its opening arguments.
A sixth suspect in the case has claimed he is a juvenile and is expected to be tried in a juvenile court.
On Thursday, a magistrate separately rejected a petition by Subramanian Swamy, a prominent politician, that no leniency be shown toward the accused who claims to be a juvenile because of the brutal nature of the crime, said Jagdish Shetty, an aide to Swamy.
Documents presented by prosecution last week to the Juvenile Justice Board indicated that the defendant was a juvenile at the time of the attack, which would make him ineligible for the death penalty.
Magistrate Geetanjali Goel is expected to rule on the suspect's age on Jan. 28.
The suspect, who is not being identified by The Associated Press because he says he is 17, would face three years in a reform facility if convicted as a juvenile.
After the fast-track court hearing, M.L. Sharma, a defense lawyer for Mukesh Singh, one of the accused, said he had withdrawn from the case. V.K. Anand, who represents Mukesh's brother Ram Singh, will now defend both brothers. The two lawyers had been arguing over who was Mukesh Singh's real lawyer.
Sharma said he left the case to save his client from being tortured to fire him. He has long maintained that the other defense lawyers were planted by the police to ensure guilty verdicts.
Dozens of police were outside the sprawling court complex in south New Delhi where the trial is taking place. Inside the court, about 30 policemen blocked access to the room where Khanna heard the prosecution's case.
Outside the courtroom scores of journalists and curious onlookers crowded the hallway.
Prosecutor Dayan Krishnan warned defense lawyers that if they spoke to journalists he would slap contempt of court notices on them, said V.K. Anand, a defense lawyer.
Police say the victim and a male friend were attacked after boarding a bus Dec. 16 as they tried to return home after an evening showing of the movie "Life of Pi." The six men, the only occupants of the private bus, beat the man with a metal bar, raped the woman and used the bar to inflict massive internal injuries to her, police said. The victims were dumped naked on the roadside, and the woman died two weeks later in a Singapore hospital.
Abhilasha Kumari, a New Delhi-based sociologist, said the attack could end up having a large impact on the country.
"This case has brought the violence against women center stage and it has, out of sheer public pressure, forced the government to sensitize itself to crimes against women," she said.
The trial began a day after a government panel recommended India strictly enforce sexual assault laws, commit to holding speedy rape trials and change the antiquated penal code to protect women.
The panel appointed to examine the criminal justice system's handling of violence against women, received a staggering 80,000 suggestions from women's groups and thousands of ordinary citizens.
Among the panel's suggestions were a ban on a traumatic vaginal exam of rape victims and an end to political interference in sex crime cases. It has also suggested the appointment of more judges to help speed up India's sluggish judicial process and clear millions of pending cases.
Law Minister Ashwani Kumar said the government would take the recommendations to the Cabinet and Parliament.
"Procedural inadequacies that lead to inordinate delays need to be addressed," he told reporters.
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As a general rule, Managua gets better looking the farther away you get. But a leading advisory firm for global outsourcing and investment says Nicaragua?s homely capital deserves a closer look.
Thanks to improved infrastructure, competitive costs, a skilled bilingual workforce and an attractive geographical location, Managua has moved its way onto Tholons? list of Top 100 Outsourcing Destinations in the world. According to the referential list, Managua ranks 95 in the world?one notch above Guatemala City, which also makes its first appearance on Tholons? 2013 index.
The BPO industry has employs nearly 5,000 Nicaraguans, according to ProNicaragua (photo/ ProNicaragua)
The only other Central American country represented on the list is Costa Rica, whose capital city ranks 15th in the world, up five spots from last year. Neither Honduras nor El Salvador?two of Nicaragua?s biggest competitors in the global outsourcing market?made Tholons? ranking.
India and the Philippines dominated the top 10 spots on the global outsourcing destination list, with Bangalore, India claiming the title as outsourcing capital of the world.
But Nicaragua is now on the map and getting its due as an up-and-comer in the industry.
??With major players such as Sitel, 24/7 Customer and Stream Global Services, Managua has nearly 4,000 FTEs (call center employees) delivering bilingual contact support services,? Tholons reports.
The challenge for the two Central American newcomers will be to keep their spots on Tholons? list by improving their perceptions abroad?something Nicaragua is already working on.
??These two new entrants (Guatemala and Nicaragua) in the Top 100 List have to be more cautious in maintaining a facilitative business environment,? Tholons warns. ?Nicaragua faces negative perceptions on its political stability, while Guatemala will need to work on improving its natural risk perceptions.?
Javier Chamorro, executive director of Nicaragua?s investment-promotion agency ProNicaragua, which is spearheading national efforts to improve the country?s image abroad, says Nicaragua is satisfied with its recognition as an emerging industry player. Nicaragua?s initial call-center growth spurt?25 companies have set up shop here and employed nearly 5,000 Nicaraguans over the past seven years?has been impressive and augurs well for the future of the business process outsourcing industry here.
?Being listed in the Top 100 Outsourcing Destinations implies that international experts in the industry recognize the country as a world-renowned destination for outsourcing, still above other countries in the region such as El Salvador and Guatemala, which started developing the sector years before Nicaragua,? Chamorro told The Nicaragua Dispatch. ??This means that the country is attracting the right attention and stands out as an emerging destination due to the excellent investment opportunities it offers to companies looking to expand their operations and increase their global competitiveness.?
ProNicaragua?s Javier Chamorro (photo/ Tim Rogers)
And when it comes to global competitiveness, Nicaragua has several advantages of its own, Chamorro says.
?Among the country?s main competitive advantages for the sector is its strategic location, close to the largest outsourcing market in the world, the U.S.,? Chamorro says.
Plus, he adds, Nicaragua has a young and vibrant workforce that ?not only speaks good quality English, but has a cultural affinity with the market due to the ?reverse brain drain? phenomenon, which refers to people who left the country in the past and have returned to Nicaragua with English skills and market knowledge.?
The country?s ?greatest advantages,? however, are its cheap labor costs and generous tax incentives for outsourcing.
?It is because of this that Nicaragua is able to compete with the global players in the industry, as it offers lower costs with a near shore location, allowing it to provide timely services to the United States without losing valuable working hours,? Chamorro says.
Keeping the pot boiling
As Nicaragua continues to make a reputation for itself as an attractive destination for outsourcing, the country will be challenged to meet the growing demand for bilingual personnel to staff its call centers.
The government, in conjunction with the National Free Zone Commission (CNZF) and the Inter-American Development Bank, has established a special capacity-building program aimed at identifying and training a young bilingual workforce to staff the call center industry. The program, known as ?Opportunity Builder,? is scheduled to start its training program in the coming months with an initial incoming class of 600 young professionals.
ProNicaragua also continues to organized industry events to promote the country as a destination for outsourcing. Chamorro says ProNicaragua will be hosting an investment forum at the end of the year to showcase Nicaragua to leading BPO companies worldwide.
Next: Part II: Opportunity Builder recruits local talent from Nicaragua?s Pacific and Atlantic coasts to keep the call center industry growing.
Quite a lot, actually. It's part of the space systems engineering textbook I'm writing
What I do know is that 2015, two years from now, is a totally and completely unrealistic goal.
That is not an unrealistic goal to launch prospector spacecraft. Coondoggie's article summary mangles what they intend to do, and you misread it further. Their actual website lists three stages: Prospecting craft to find the asteroids, assay missions to bring back ~20 kg samples, and only then trying to actually mine. This is a sensible plan.
In the mean time, I hope to start building prototype "seed factory" hardware this year. A seed factory is the minimal starter set of machines to start building *other* machines, which in turn becomes your industrial base. Think of it like a bootstrap compiler for hardware. Feed it plans for other machines, it starts making parts. I'm aiming for making 85% of the 2nd generation machines, because 100% is too hard a goal. The other 15% you just buy.
Beyonce lip-synced the "Star-Spangled Banner" at Monday's inaugural ceremonies, a U.S. Marine Band spokeswoman said today.
The band wasn't playing when Beyonce performed her rousing rendition of the national anthem at President Obama's second inauguration.
"We all know Beyonce can sing," Master Sgt. of the U.S. Marine Band Kristin duBois told ABC News today. "We all know the Marine Corps Band can play. We do not know why she decided to go with the pre-recorded music at the last minute."
DuBois later added that, to her knowledge, Beyonce was not singing. It was Beyonce's voice, but a pre-recorded version heard by about a million people in Washington and millions more on television.
A representative for Beyonce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The band was not playing while Beyonce was singing, duBois added, but it was live during the rest of the performances, including Kelly Clarkson's rendition of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee." The band was asked not to play for only the national anthem, duBois added.
Clarkson could be seen signaling to Beyonce after the national anthem performance and appeared to mouth the words, "It's so hard."
James Taylor, another performer at the cold, outdoor inauguration ceremony, Monday said he was happy to get through his performance "without any train wrecks."
"It's always hard for a guitar player to play when it's cold because your hands sort of stiffen up and you know nerves tend to do that to you anyway. So I was, you know, very relieved to have gotten to it without any major train wrecks," he told George Stephanopoulos and Diane Sawyer.
The issue surfaced today when Washingtonian magazine first reported that it didn't seem as though "The President's Own" United States Marine Band was playing during Beyonce's rendition.
The pop star, 31, seemed to have audio issues at one point during the song, pulling out her ear piece.
DuBois said she did not know why Beyonce took the ear piece out.
The Washingtonian also noted that Beyonce posted an Instagram photo of herself in a recording studio holding a copy of the sheet music to the "Star-Spangled Banner."
It's not the first time for synced music at an Obama inauguration. In 2009, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the violinist Itzhak Perlman, because of cold and wind, did not play the version of John Williams' "Air and Simple Gifts" that was projected onto the Mall.
Monday's noon temperature of 40 degrees was 3 degrees above the average inauguration swearing-in temperature of 37, according to the Washington Post.
Police are looking into whether a man has been operating a meth lab inside a Hell's Kitchen apartment building. Ida Siegal reports.
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A police investigation into a suspected meth lab inside an Manhattan apartment building that forced an evacuation late Monday turned up nothing more than legal bath salts, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation tells NBC 4 New York.
The NYPD responded to calls of a dispute at 431 West 54th in Hell's Kitchen Monday night and found a third-floor apartment with possible hazardous liquids inside.?Neighbors had also complained about a toxic smell that burned their eyes.
The building was evacuated and the NYPD bomb squad was dispatched to investigate the materials.
West 54th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues was roped off by police and dozens of people were displaced for a time.
A law enforcement source said early Tuesday that the investigation found a man in the apartment was manufacturing legal bath salts. No charges were filed and police said the investigation revealed no criminality.
CAIRO (AP) ? Dozens of people are battling hundreds of riot police for a second day outside a courthouse in Egypt's northern Mediterranean city of Alexandria where policemen are being tried for allegedly killing protesters during the nation's 2011 uprising.
Police fired tear gas at protesters who threw rocks at the security forces. A truck that transports riot police was set ablaze.
Violence broke out Sunday after the presiding judge resigned from the case without elaborating.
That means a new trial for the six senior police officers accused of using excessive force that led to the deaths of protesters during the unrest that ousted former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak.
Around 900 protesters died in the revolt that began Jan. 25, 2011, with some 300 killed in Alexandria alone.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]and the second was, 'is employing a relative for a job ethical?' The selected response came from Kabwe and I quote; ?Dear Webster, I read your nice and well researched article 'Discussing Business Ethics' published in the ...
BAGHDAD (AP) ? An explosives-packed vehicle driven by a suicide bomber blew up outside the offices of a major Kurdish party early Wednesday in a disputed Iraqi city, the largest in a wave of morning strikes that left at least 24 dead and scores wounded across the country.
The attacks made for Iraq's bloodiest day in two weeks. They come amid rising tensions among Iraq's ethnic and sectarian groups that threaten to plunge the country back into chaos nearly a decade after the U.S.-led invasion.
While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, car bombs and coordinated attacks are favorite tactics for Sunni insurgents such as al-Qaida's Iraq branch. They seek to exacerbate divisions within Iraq in an effort to undermine the Shiite-led government.
The blast outside the Kirkuk offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party caused widespread damage, mangling cars and tearing apart storefronts. The KDP is led by Massoud Barzani, the president of Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region, who has frequently sparred with Iraq's central government in Baghdad.
The deputy police chief in the city of Kirkuk, Maj. Gen. Torhan Abdul-Rahman Youssef, said 11 people were killed in that attack. Another car bomb that exploded nearby killed another two people. Just over 100 were wounded in the two attacks, he said.
Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, is home to a mix of Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen, who all have competing claims to the oil-rich area. The Kurds want to incorporate it into their self-ruled region in Iraq's north, but Arabs and Turkomen are opposed.
The city is at the heart of a snaking swath of territory disputed between the Kurds, who have their own armed fighting force, and Iraq's central government.
A shootout in Tuz Khormato, another contested town along the disputed area, prompted both sides to rush troops and heavy weapons to the area in November.
On Wednesday, yet another car bomb struck the local headquarters for Kurdish security forces in Tuz Khormato, killing five and wounding 36, according to Raed Ibrahim, the head of the provincial health directorate. The town is about 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad.
The attacks came as hundreds of mourners gathered in the western city of Fallujah to bury a prominent Sunni lawmaker assassinated by a suicide bomber on Tuesday.
The politician, Ifan Saadoun al-Issawi, was part of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, which holds some posts in Iraq's loose power-sharing government but is at the same time the main force in opposition to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's administration. He was also a founder of the local branch of the Sahwa, a group of Sunni Arabs who joined forces with the U.S. military to fight al-Qaida at the height of Iraq's insurgency.
Fallujah and the nearby city of Ramadi have been the scene of more than three weeks of demonstrations against the government.
A planted bomb went off as mourners gathered to mark al-Issawi's death, wounding three of them, authorities said.
Violent attacks hit other parts of the country as well.
In Baghdad, gunmen using silenced weapons killed three policemen as they were sitting in their police car, according to police and hospital officials. A roadside bomb hit a police patrol on a highway in eastern Baghdad, killing two policemen, officials said.
One policeman was killed and four others wounded when a roadside bomb struck their car in Hawija, 240 kilometers (160 miles) north of Baghdad, according to authorities.
The officials providing details of the attacks outside the disputed areas spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information to reporters.
Violence has fallen since the peak of insurgency several years ago, but lethal attacks still occur frequently.
Wednesday's attacks were the deadliest in the country since New Year's Eve, when a string of attacks in Kirkuk and other areas left at least 26 dead.
___
Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub and Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed reporting.
___
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Public release date: 25-Jan-2013
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