LivingSocial is planning to lay off 400 of its U.S. workers tomorrow, reports the Washington Business Journal.
We first got word of this news via PandoDaily, whose editor, Sarah Lacy, tweeted:
We reached out to the company but they declined to comment at this time.
Washington Business Journal says that the cuts are expected to come across a wide range of positions and markets, including its home base in D.C.?LivingSocial maintains six offices in the nations capital.?
The layoffs could be affected by LivingSocial net loss of $566 million in the third quarter. $496 million of that loss stems from a?massive writedown?of some of its acquisitions from 2011, the Washington Business Journal says. LivingSocial's revenue fell to $124 million in the three-month period, down from $138 million in the second quarter.
The layoffs come at a time when the entire daily-deal world is struggling. Earlier this month, Groupon eliminated 648 jobs prior to announcing quarterly revenues that missed expectations. And just yesterday,?news broke that Groupon's board is considering whether to keep founder Andrew Mason on as CEO.
VAALKOP DAM NATURE RESERVE, South Africa (AP) ? By the time ranchers found the rhinoceros calf wandering alone in this idyllic setting of scrub brush and acacia, the nature reserve had become yet another blood-soaked crime scene in South Africa?s losing battle against poachers.
Hunters killed eight rhinos at the private Finfoot Game Reserve inside the Vaalkop Dam Nature Reserve this month with single rifle shots that pierced their hearts and lungs. The poachers? objective: the rhinos? horns, cut away with knives and popped off the dead animals? snouts for buyers in Asia who pay the U.S. street value of cocaine for a material they believe cures diseases.
That insatiable demand for horns has sparked the worst recorded year of rhino poaching in South Africa in decades, with at least 588 rhinos killed so far, their carcasses rotting in private farms and national parks. Without drastic change, experts warn that soon the number of rhinos killed will outpace the number of the calves born ? putting the entire population at risk in a nation that is the last bastion for the prehistoric-looking animals.
??This is a full-on bush war we are fighting,?? said Marc Lappeman, who runs the Finfoot reserve with his father Miles and has begun armed vigilante patrols to protect the remaining rhinos there. ??We here are willing to die for these animals.??
Unchecked hunting nearly killed off all the rhinos in southern Africa at the beginning of the 1900s. Conservationists in the 1960s airlifted rhinos to different parts of South Africa to spread them out. That helped the population grow to the point that South Africa is now home to some 20,000 rhinos ? 90 percent of all rhinos in Africa.
From the 1990s to 2007, rhino poachings in South Africa averaged about 15 a year, according to a recent report by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC. In 2008, however, poachers killed 83 rhinos and by 2009, the number hit 122, the report says.
The killings grew exponentially after that: 333 in 2010, 448 in 2011 and as of Tuesday, at least 588 rhino killed this year alone, according to South Africa?s Department of Environmental Affairs.
??That the year-on-year rhino poaching losses have continued to grow in the face of heightened awareness, constant media attention and concerted law enforcement effort is testament to just how pervasive and gripping the rhino crisis in South Africa has become,?? TRAFFIC wrote in its August report. ??If poaching continues to increase annually as it has done since 2007, then eventually deaths will exceed births and rhino numbers in South Africa will start to fall.??
Most of the killings, according to government statistics, occur in South Africa?s massive Kruger National Park, covering 19,400 square kilometers (7,500 square miles) in the country?s northeast abutting its borders with Mozambique and Zimbabwe. There, the impoverished slip across the park?s borders, largely from Mozambique, to kill and dehorn rhino, earning the equivalent of months? wages in a single night of hunting. South Africa has deployed soldiers in the park with dogs to sniff out poachers, but their small force can?t sufficiently cover a park that?s roughly the same size as New Jersey.
The horns are sold by criminal gangs and smuggled into Asia. While poachers have been shot dead and hundreds of suspects arrested this year, the rhino killings continue unstopped largely because the trade is transnational and worth millions of dollars, said Julian Rademeyer, a journalist in South Africa who wrote ??Killing for Profit,?? a book on rhino poaching that came out this month.
??The problem with law enforcement strategies is they end where our border ends,?? Rademeyer said.
And law enforcement can?t always be trusted in South Africa, where corruption eats away at the nation. There have been several cases of rangers assigned to guard parks being arrested for aiding poachers.
With both South Africa and Swaziland allowing rhino to be hunted legally, criminal gangs have obtained hunting licenses under false pretenses. Gangs have hired prostitutes and the poor from Asia and Eastern Europe to pose as big game hunters with licenses to kill a single rhino apiece, Rademeyer said. Their ??trophies?? end up shipped back to Asia, where the horns are removed and sold.
Rhino horn is made of keratin, a tough protein found in human fingernails. Doctors have repeatedly said the material has no medical value. In Asia, however, demand for rhino horn has jumped dramatically. Experts blame it partly on a widespread rumor in Vietnam that rhino horn cures cancer, though some elite Vietnamese grind up horn and take it as a hangover cure or as a fever reducer.Continued...
? Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
When the Wii U launched we were disappointed that not all of its promised streaming video services were available, but today the last one, Amazon Instant Video, has been turned on. It includes access to Prime subscription video, Whispersync bookmarks from other devices, watchlists and has the ability to rent or purchase VOD directly from the console. Like the Hulu and Netflix apps, it also includes second screen integration with the GamePad controller with video playback, browsing content or playback control of what's on the TV. Owners can hit the source link for more information on how to activate it on their box or check after the break for the full press release.
Short DNA strands in the genome may be key to understanding human cognition and diseasesPublic release date: 21-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mount Sinai Press Office newsmedia@mssm.edu 212-241-9200 The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Previously discarded, human-specific 'junk' DNA represents untapped resource in the study of diseases like Alzheimer's and autism
Short snippets of DNA found in human brain tissue provide new insight into human cognitive function and risk for developing certain neurological diseases, according to researchers from the Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The findings are published in the November 20th issue of PLoS Biology.
There are nearly 40 million positions in the human genome with DNA sequences that are different than those in non-human primates, making the task of learning which are important and which are inconsequential a challenge for scientists. Rather than comparing these sequences strand by strand, Schahram Akbarian, MD, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, wanted to identify the crucial set of differences between the two genomes by looking more broadly at the chromatin, the structure that packages the DNA and controls how it is expressed.
They found hundreds of regions throughout the human genome which showed a markedly different chromatin structure in neurons in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region that controls complex emotional and cognitive behavior, compared to non-human primates. The findings of the study provide important insights for diseases that are unique to humans such as Alzheimer's disease and autism.
"While mapping the human genome has taught us a great deal about human biology, the emerging field of epigenomics may help us identify previously overlooked or discarded sequences that are key to understanding disease," said Dr. Akbarian. "We identified hundreds of loci that represent untapped areas of study that may have therapeutic potential."
Dr. Akbarian and his research team isolated small snippets of chromatin fibers from the prefrontal cortex. Next, they analyzed these snippets to determine what genetic signals they were expressing. Many of the sequences with human-specific epigenetic characteristics were, until recently, considered to be "junk DNA" with no particular function.
Now, they present new leads on how the human brain has evolved, and a starting point for studying neurological diseases. For example, the sequence of DPP10a gene critically important for normal human brain developmentnot only showed distinct human-specific chromatin structures different from other primate brains such as the chimpanzee or the macaque, but the underlying DNA sequence showed some interesting differences from two extinct primatesthe Neanderthal and Denisovan, most closely related to our own species and also referred to as 'archaic hominins'.
"Many neurological disorders are unique to human and are very hard as a clinical syndrome to study in animals, such as Alzheimer's disease, autism, and depression," said Dr. Akbarian. "By studying epigenetics we can learn more about those unique pieces of the human genome."
The research team also discovered that several of these chromatin regions appear to physically interact with each other inside the cell nucleus, despite being separated by hundreds of thousands of DNA strands on the genome. This phenomenon of "chromatin looping" appears to control the expression of neighboring genes, including several with a critical role for human brain development.
"There is growing consensus among genome researchers that much of what was previously considered as 'junk sequences' in our genomes indeed could play some sort of regulatory role," said Dr. Akbarian.
This study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Akbarian plans to do more epigenetic studies in other areas of the brain to see if there are additional chromatin regions that are unique to humans. They also plan to study the epigenomes of other mammals with highly evolved social behaviors such as elephants.
Dr. Akbarian joined Mount Sinai in July 2012. He is internationally known for his cutting-edge research on the epigenetic mechanisms of psychiatric disorders. He is a widely recognized expert in advanced chromatin toolsmany of which were developed in his laboratoryin conjunction with mouse mutagenesis and behavioral models of mental illness to bridge molecular, cellular, and behavioral investigations. He is also a renowned authority on the epigenetic analysis of human brain tissue examined postmortem.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Akbarian was Director of the Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research Institute. He received his medical and doctorate degrees from the Freie Universitaet Berlin. Dr. Akbarian completed his postdoctoral training in neuroscience at the University of California at Irvine and the Whitehead Institute, and his residency in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.
###
About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Established in 1968, Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of the leading medical schools in the United States. The Medical School is noted for innovation in education, biomedical research, clinical care delivery, and local and global community service. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 14 research institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and by US News and World Report.
The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation's oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2011, US News and World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 14th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation's top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Mount Sinai is one of 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and US News and World Report and whose hospital is on the US News and World Report Honor Roll. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits took place.
For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/.
Find Mount Sinai on:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mountsinainyc
Twitter: @mountsinainyc
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/mountsinainy
[ | 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.
Short DNA strands in the genome may be key to understanding human cognition and diseasesPublic release date: 21-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mount Sinai Press Office newsmedia@mssm.edu 212-241-9200 The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Previously discarded, human-specific 'junk' DNA represents untapped resource in the study of diseases like Alzheimer's and autism
Short snippets of DNA found in human brain tissue provide new insight into human cognitive function and risk for developing certain neurological diseases, according to researchers from the Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The findings are published in the November 20th issue of PLoS Biology.
There are nearly 40 million positions in the human genome with DNA sequences that are different than those in non-human primates, making the task of learning which are important and which are inconsequential a challenge for scientists. Rather than comparing these sequences strand by strand, Schahram Akbarian, MD, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, wanted to identify the crucial set of differences between the two genomes by looking more broadly at the chromatin, the structure that packages the DNA and controls how it is expressed.
They found hundreds of regions throughout the human genome which showed a markedly different chromatin structure in neurons in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region that controls complex emotional and cognitive behavior, compared to non-human primates. The findings of the study provide important insights for diseases that are unique to humans such as Alzheimer's disease and autism.
"While mapping the human genome has taught us a great deal about human biology, the emerging field of epigenomics may help us identify previously overlooked or discarded sequences that are key to understanding disease," said Dr. Akbarian. "We identified hundreds of loci that represent untapped areas of study that may have therapeutic potential."
Dr. Akbarian and his research team isolated small snippets of chromatin fibers from the prefrontal cortex. Next, they analyzed these snippets to determine what genetic signals they were expressing. Many of the sequences with human-specific epigenetic characteristics were, until recently, considered to be "junk DNA" with no particular function.
Now, they present new leads on how the human brain has evolved, and a starting point for studying neurological diseases. For example, the sequence of DPP10a gene critically important for normal human brain developmentnot only showed distinct human-specific chromatin structures different from other primate brains such as the chimpanzee or the macaque, but the underlying DNA sequence showed some interesting differences from two extinct primatesthe Neanderthal and Denisovan, most closely related to our own species and also referred to as 'archaic hominins'.
"Many neurological disorders are unique to human and are very hard as a clinical syndrome to study in animals, such as Alzheimer's disease, autism, and depression," said Dr. Akbarian. "By studying epigenetics we can learn more about those unique pieces of the human genome."
The research team also discovered that several of these chromatin regions appear to physically interact with each other inside the cell nucleus, despite being separated by hundreds of thousands of DNA strands on the genome. This phenomenon of "chromatin looping" appears to control the expression of neighboring genes, including several with a critical role for human brain development.
"There is growing consensus among genome researchers that much of what was previously considered as 'junk sequences' in our genomes indeed could play some sort of regulatory role," said Dr. Akbarian.
This study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Akbarian plans to do more epigenetic studies in other areas of the brain to see if there are additional chromatin regions that are unique to humans. They also plan to study the epigenomes of other mammals with highly evolved social behaviors such as elephants.
Dr. Akbarian joined Mount Sinai in July 2012. He is internationally known for his cutting-edge research on the epigenetic mechanisms of psychiatric disorders. He is a widely recognized expert in advanced chromatin toolsmany of which were developed in his laboratoryin conjunction with mouse mutagenesis and behavioral models of mental illness to bridge molecular, cellular, and behavioral investigations. He is also a renowned authority on the epigenetic analysis of human brain tissue examined postmortem.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Akbarian was Director of the Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research Institute. He received his medical and doctorate degrees from the Freie Universitaet Berlin. Dr. Akbarian completed his postdoctoral training in neuroscience at the University of California at Irvine and the Whitehead Institute, and his residency in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.
###
About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Established in 1968, Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of the leading medical schools in the United States. The Medical School is noted for innovation in education, biomedical research, clinical care delivery, and local and global community service. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 14 research institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and by US News and World Report.
The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation's oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2011, US News and World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 14th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation's top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Mount Sinai is one of 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and US News and World Report and whose hospital is on the US News and World Report Honor Roll. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits took place.
For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/.
Find Mount Sinai on:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mountsinainyc
Twitter: @mountsinainyc
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/mountsinainy
[ | 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.
Aside from a controversial conference call with donors, Mitt Romney has kept a low profile since losing the 2012 presidential election to Barack Obama. The former Republican nominee was spotted with his wife, Ann, at a screening of the new "Twilight" movie, "Breaking Dawn ? Part 2," in Del Mar, Calif., on Saturday. According to [...]
The Eco-Innovation Observatory (EIO) would like to invite you to share your views on the role of eco-innovation in the shift towards a resource-efficient, low-carbon Europe. We would like to consult representatives from academia, business, civil society and public administration by taking part in our questionnaire. Your insights will be used in the upcoming reports of the Observatory, including our final flagship annual publication. The survey has only three questions and is entirely anonymous.
Please follow this link to the questionnaire.
For more information on the Eco-Innovation Observatory, see www.eco-innovation.eu
Shares of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) traded sharply lower on Tuesday, down over 11 percent, after the company disclosed that there had been accounting irregularities at Autonomy prior to Hewlett-Packard acquiring the company.
Hewlett-Packard acquired Autonomy in October of 2011 for about $10.2 billion. Now, with the fraud, Hewlett-Packard said it would take a charge of $8.8 billion.
Lost in the shuffle was Hewlett-Packard's earnings: the company reported an earnings per share (EPS) figure of $1.16, more than the $1.14 that was expected on revenue of $29.96 billion, slightly below the $30.49 billion that was anticipated.
Hewlett-Packard also provided guidance for the fiscal-year. The company said it expected to post an EPS of $3.40-3.60, and an EPS for the first quarter of between $0.68 and $0.71, less than the $0.85 that was expected.
Now trading in the $11 range, shares of Hewlett-Packard are around a 10-year low.
Hewlett-Packard has steadily shed market cap in recent months, as two of its major sectors -- PCs and printers -- have experienced a secular decline.
Short seller and hedge fund magnate Jim Chanos pointed to Hewlett-Packard in the summer as a ?value trap? -- a company that looked to be trading at an inexpensive valuation, but in reality would continue to trade lower.
Renowned value investor Seth Klarman had taken a stake in the Dow component, but a recent 13F filing showed that Klarman had dumped most of his shares.
On the earnings call, Hewlett-Packard's CEO Meg Whitman said that the turnaround was working, but would be a multiyear journey, and that HP's business environment would continue to be challenging.
In terms of Autonomy, she described it as a ?work in progress.?
Shares of Hewlett-Packard traded near $11.70 in the pre-market on Tuesday.
(c) 2012 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Tags: Jim Chanos, Meg Whitman, Seth Klarman
Posted in: Earnings, News, Guidance, Hedge Funds, Legal, Management, M&A, Movers, Trading Ideas, General, Best of Benzinga
Color, a startup which raised $41 million for a photo-sharing service, only to be racked by executive turmoil and consumer anomie, is shutting down its app, the company just announced via its website.
"Alert: We hope you've enjoyed sharing your stories via real-time video. Regretfully, the app will no longer be available after 12/31/2012," the notice reads.
The company behind the service is taking steps to shut down as well, having distributed at least some assets to shareholders, who received funds by wire transfer on Monday, Business Insider has learned.
That's according to Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer for Adam Witherspoon, a former employee who is suing the company for retaliation and infliction of emotional distress. (Witherspoon, as an early employee with vested stock, was a Color shareholder.)
Witherspoon's lawsuit says Color had struck a deal for Apple to take on approximately 20 members of Color's engineering team. TechCrunch's sources?say?the value of that deal was $7 million.
In mid-October, Sequoia Capital, the lead investor in Color's $41 million investment round?a year ago, strenuously denied reports that Color was shutting down. By that point, Sequoia Capital partner Doug Leone had already quit his board seat.
It's not clear how much of the $41 million remained at the time Color struck its deal with Apple, or whether the company distributed all of its assets on Monday.
"Our analysis shows that the Norse in Greenland ate lots of food from the sea, especially seals," says Jan Heinemeier, Institute of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University.
"Even though the Norse are traditionally thought of as farmers, they adapted quickly to the Arctic environment and the unique hunting opportunities. During the period they were in Greenland, the Norse ate gradually more seals. By the 14th century, seals made up between 50 and 80 per cent of their diet."
The Danish and Canadian researchers are studying the 80 Norse skeletons kept at the University of Copenhagen's Laboratory of Biological Anthropology in order to determine their dietary habits. From studying the ratio of the isotopes carbon-13 and carbon-15, the researchers determined that a large proportion of the Greenlandic Norse diet came from the sea, particularly from seals. Heinemeier measured the levels of carbon isotopes in the skeletons, Erle Nelson of Simon Fraser University, in Vancouver, Canada, analysed the isotopes, while Niels Lynnerup of the University of Copenhagen, examined the skeletons.
"Nothing suggests that the Norse disappeared as a result of a natural disaster. If anything they might have become bored with eating seals out on the edge of the world. The skeletal evidence shows signs that they slowly left Greenland. For example, young women are underrepresented in the graves in the period toward the end of the Norse settlement. This indicates that the young in particular were leaving Greenland, and when the numbers of fertile women drops, the population cannot support itself," Lynnerup explains.
Hunters and farmers
The findings challenge the prevailing view of the Norse as farmers that would have stubbornly stuck to agriculture until they lost the battle with Greenland's environment. These new results shake-up the traditional view of the Norse as farmers and have given archaeologists reason to rethink those theories.
"The Norse thought of themselves as farmers that cultivated the land and kept animals. But the archaeological evidence shows that they kept fewer and fewer animals, such as goats and sheep. So the farming identity was actually more a mental self-image, held in place by an over-class that maintained power through agriculture and land ownership, than it was a reality for ordinary people that were hardly picky eaters," Jette Arneborg, archaeologist and curator at the National Museum of Denmark, says.
The first Norse settlers brought agriculture and livestock such as cattle, sheep, goats and pigs from Iceland. While they thought of themselves as farmers, they were not unfamiliar with hunting.
They quickly started to catch seals, as they were a necessary addition to their diet. Toward the end of their stay, they became as accustomed to catching seals as the Inuit, who had travelled to Greenland from Canada around the year 1200 and inhabited the island alongside the Norse. Seals became more important for Norse survival as the climate began to change over time and it became increasingly difficult to sustain themselves through farming.
"The Norse could adapt, but how much they could adapt without giving up their identity was limited. Even though their diet became closer to that of the Inuit, the difference between the two groups was too great for the Norse to become Inuit," Arneborg says.
###
The isotopic analysis is an interdisciplinary collaboration between Aarhus University, the University of Copenhagen, the National Museum of Denmark and Simon Fraser from the University in Vancouver. The research is financed by the Carlsberg Foundation and the results will be presented in a series of articles in the Journal of the North Atlantic, Special Volume 3, 2012.
University of Copenhagen: http://www.ku.dk
Thanks to University of Copenhagen for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
A few things to pass along in this truncated work week:
1. Baylen Linnekin?s latest piece on the lapsed Fat Tax in Denmark over at Reason.com is a must read. He not only relishes the demise of the tax, he also takes a well-deserved shot at the gushing Mark Bittman in the meantime:
?Well lookee here: the inevitable move toward taxing unhealthful foods to raise income and discourage damaging diets has begun,? Bittman?announced?last year. He also predicted a wave of similar taxes would sweep across Europe and suggested the United States ?needs these taxes more than any country in the world??predicting ?a serious celebration? if and when such laws come stateside.
Bittman hasn?t written about the law since it took effect around this time last year, hasn?t discussed its repeal, and didn?t reply to my email asking for comment.
I concur with Baylen?s enthusiasm over the demise of the fat tax, and I also concur that these are a dumb idea wherever they are implemented. I?ve always thought that our food culture isn?t necessarily over regulated or under-regulated. Most of the time, it?s just?misregulate. The chemical process for creating high-fructose corn syrup was discovered in the 1950?s, but did not become an economical process for producing syrup until Earl Butz and the ?fence-row to fence-row? policies of crop subsidies and subsidized insurance dropped the price of corn, the raw material for the process. So get this ? taxes support the surfeit of production that makes it economical to produce and then over-consume sugar. The fad?trend now is for local governments to try counterbalance that macroeconomic process through prohibitive consumption taxes. Why hit the citizen twice? Doesn?t make much sense to me, and I am glad to see such measures go down to defeat either in Denmark or in the last domestic election. Fat tax cheerleaders should recognize that governments and regulations can sometimes be the source of the problem. This kind of intellectual honesty will force us to correct our course at the point of production and not the point of consumption.
2. Now that the election is over, there are some who feel that the regulations to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act are about to drop any day now. I?m skeptical of the imminence of the date, but I am nonetheless preparing my clients for it as if it were a pressing reality. Processors, producers, and distributors should read the act through to see how it will affect their interests. I am sure it will precipitate some changes in the way they conduct business.
By the way some of the provisions of the Act like mandatory recall went into effect immediately after it was signed into law. Economic losses due to recall are almost always not covered by a standard insurance policy, so the Act might already have exposed businesses to risks that they are not aware of.
3. My good friend Ed Cox at Drake University?s Agricultural Law Center put together a fantastic guide on Sustainable Farm Leasing that you might want to peruse in between turkey fueled bouts of narcolepsy. Tons of good stuff in there that can change the way you think about a simple legal document like a lease. I promised Ed I would secretly plagiarize him but my conscience got the best of me and I?m sharing it instead.
4. A classmate of mine from the LLM Program in Agriculture and Food Law at the University of Arkansas, Cassie Peters, recently published a killer guide to local food systems which she prepared for the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition. Anyone who has a serious interest in the look and feel of a dirt-up food system?needs to read this.
Enjoy the days ahead. Try to buy a local bird.
Tagged with:
Categorised as: Crop Insurance, Food Fight, Food Law, Local Food
$10,000 Prizes Awarded for Innovative Bridge Replacement and Strong Communications Plan
PITTSBURGH, Nov. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Two high-profile transportation projects took home the top honors in the 5th annual America's Transportation Award competition. The awards were announced Sunday during the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials annual meeting in Pittsburgh.
AASHTO, AAA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sponsor the America's Transportation Awards competition, which recognizes outstanding transportation projects in three categories: Ahead of Schedule, Under Budget, and Best Use of Innovation.
The Florida Department of Transportation claimed the People's Choice Award for its A. Max Brewer Bridge Replacement project. A record 712,000 online votes were cast for the top 10 projects selected by a panel of transportation judges.
The California Department of Transportation earned the judge's Grand Prize award for its I-405/Sepulveda Pass?Mulholland Bridge Demolition project (better known as "Carmageddon").
"We are honored to recognize these projects, both of which demonstrate all the hard work our state DOTs are doing to deliver transportation projects to the public ahead of schedule, under budget, and showing the very best uses of innovation," said John Horsley, AASHTO executive director. "Our state DOTs know just how important it is to save taxpayer dollars and minimize inconvenience to the public while delivering vital transportation projects that improve safety for all on the road and eliminate congestion so that drivers can get to their destinations faster."
"The U.S. Chamber congratulates the California and Florida DOTs for their pursuit of innovative solutions to their transportation needs," said Janet Kavinoky, executive director of transportation policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "In California, by embracing communications as a key strategy in transportation project management, Caltrans set the standard for public outreach. In Florida, the DOT showed it could not only serve the needs of commuters and the vitality of local businesses, but also benefit the environment. We are proud to highlight projects like these that are at the leading edge of best practices in modernizing and expanding the nation's transportation network."
"Each of these award winning projects, while serving local and regional needs, is a critical component of the vital transportation network that provides benefits to all users," said Jill Ingrassia, managing director of government relations and traffic safety advocacy at AAA. "AAA joins AASHTO and the U.S. Chamber in congratulating the California and Florida DOTs for a job well done."
AASHTO presented $10,000 cash prizes to both of the winning transportation departments. The money will be used to support the charity or academic scholarship program of their choice.
Florida DOT rebuilt the structurally deficient A. Max Brewer Bridge over the Indian River in Titusville, Florida, making sure the new $44.8 million bridge included improvements to cut down on congestion in the area. The original swing bridge regularly delayed commuters heading to work and tourists checking out nearby attractions. The rebuilding resulted in a new fixed span bridge with upgrades for both motorists and boaters. The project also dealt with many environmental challenges, as the bridge stretched across a sensitive environmental area that featured protected sea grass and manatee winter migration paths. Florida DOT paid special attention to the environmental impacts using innovative project management, all while eliminating the constant chokepoint in Titusville.
Caltrans utilized a $5 million communication campaign to help drivers plan for and survive a scheduled shutdown of a portion of heavily traveled I-405 in Los Angeles last year. By holding multiple news conferences in the months before the closure, conducting almost daily media interviews, creating a countdown clock on a project website, using social media, and utilizing celebrities (such as Erik Estrada) in Public Service Announcements, Caltrans was able to reach the public to get them to plan ahead or just simply stay off the roads if possible during the closure. Due to the communications plan, traffic was greatly reduced in the project area, which allowed Caltrans to reopen the very busy highway 17 hours ahead of schedule.
A total of 49 projects from 34 states were entered in this year's America's Transportation Awards competition. More information about all the projects is available at www.americastransportationaward.org, and a video showcasing the 10 national finalists is available at http://bit.ly/ATA2012Top10.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is the "Voice of Transportation" representing State Departments of Transportation in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. AASHTO is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association serving as a catalyst for excellence in transportation. Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/aashtospeaks
SOURCE American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ? An explosion on a bus in Kenya's capital killed at least five people and wounded 29 on Sunday, a police official and the Red Cross said.
Nairobi police chief Moses Ombati said there would likely be more casualties after the explosion on a 25-seater public transportation vehicle.
"There are more casualties coming in but what I can confirm is that five people have been killed," he said, adding that 10 men and three women were among the wounded.
Kenya Red Cross said 29 people had been wounded in the blast.
Ombati could not give further details about the cause of the blast in the Eastleigh suburb of Nairobi that is sometimes referred to as "little Mogadishu," because of the number of Somali immigrants who live there.
A U.N. Security official at the scene of the explosion said the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device. Ball bearings could be seen, which likely could have wounded bystanders in the busy area, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the press.
Kenya has been hit by a string of grenade attacks that are blamed on sympathizers of al-Shabab, Somalia's Islamist extremist rebels who are linked to al-Qaida.
Al-Shabab has vowed to carry out attacks on Kenya because it sent troops into Somalia last year to fight the rebels, who are considered a threat to Kenya's security because they have been blamed for kidnapping foreign tourists and aid workers in Kenya.
YANGON (Reuters) - Barack Obama became the first serving U.S. president to visit Myanmar on Monday, trying during a whirlwind six-hour trip to strike a balance between praising the government's progress in shaking off military rule and pressing for more reform.
Obama's first stop was a meeting with President Thein Sein, a former junta member who has spearheaded reforms since taking office in March 2011.
"I've shared with him the fact that I recognize this is just the first steps on what will be a long journey," Obama told reporters, with Thein Sein at his side.
"But we think a process of democratic and economic reform here in Myanmar that has been begun by the president is one that can lead to incredible development opportunities," he said, using the country name preferred by the government and former junta, rather than Burma, normally used in the United States.
Thein Sein, speaking in Burmese with an interpreter translating his remarks, responded that the two sides would move forward, "based on mutual trust, respect and understanding".
"During our discussions, we also reached agreement for the development of democracy in Myanmar and for promotion of human rights to be aligned with international standards," he added.
Tens of thousands of well-wishers, including children waving tiny American and Burmese flags, lined Obama's route to the old parliament in the former capital, Yangon, where he met Thein Sein.
Some held signs saying "We love Obama". Approaching the building, crowds spilled into the street, getting close enough to touch Obama's vehicle.
Obama moved on to meet fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate and long-time opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the struggle against military rule and is now a lawmaker.
On the way, Obama made a surprise stop at the landmark Shwedagon Pagoda, where the president, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and their entire entourage, secret service agents included, went barefoot up the giant stone staircase.
As two monks guided Obama around, the security team fanned out, talking quietly into their radios.
Obama's trek to Myanmar is meant to highlight what the White House has touted as a major foreign policy achievement -- its success in pushing the country's generals to enact changes that have unfolded with surprising speed over the past year.
But some international human rights group object to the visit, saying Obama is rewarding the government of the former pariah state for a job they regard as incomplete.
Speaking in Thailand on the eve of his visit, Obama denied he was going to offer his "endorsement" or that his trip was premature.
"I don't think anybody is under the illusion that Burma's arrived, that they're where they need to be," Obama said. "On the other hand, if we waited to engage until they had achieved a perfect democracy, my suspicion is we'd be waiting an awful long time."
Obama's Southeast Asian trip, less than two weeks after his re-election, is aimed at showing how serious he is about shifting the U.S. strategic focus eastwards as America winds down wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The so-called "Asia pivot" is also meant to counter China's rising influence.
FREEING PRISONERS
Aides said Obama was determined to "lock in" democratic changes already under way in Myanmar, but would also press for further action, including freeing remaining political prisoners and stronger efforts to curb ethnic and sectarian violence.
A senior U.S. official said Obama would announce the resumption of U.S. aid programmes in Myanmar during his visit, anticipating assistance of $170 million in fiscal 2012 and 2013, but this, too, would be dependent on further reforms.
"The president will be announcing that the United States is re-establishing a USAID mission in Burma, which has been suspended for many years," the official told reporters in Bangkok, declining to be named.
The United States has softened sanctions and removed a ban on most imports from Myanmar in response to reforms already undertaken, but it has set conditions for the full normalization of relations, such as the release of all political detainees.
Asked if sanctions could be lifted completely at this stage, a senior administration official insisted they could not. "All these things are reversible," he said.
In a move clearly timed to show goodwill, the authorities in Myanmar began to release dozens of political prisoners on Monday, including Myint Aye, arguably the most prominent dissident left in its gulag.
Some 66 prisoners will be freed, two-thirds of them dissidents, according to activists and prison officials.
The government will also let the International Committee of the Red Cross resume prisoner visits, according to a statement late on Sunday, and the authorities plan to "devise a transparent mechanism to review remaining prisoner cases of concern by the end of December 2012".
In a speech to be given at Yangon University to an audience that will include several high-profile former prisoners, Obama will stress the rule of law and allude to the need to amend a constitution that still gives a great role in politics to the military, including a quarter of the seats in parliament.
"America may have the strongest military in the world, but it must submit to civilian control. As President and Commander-in-Chief, I cannot just impose my will on our Congress, even though sometimes I wish I could," he will say.
He looks forward to a future "where national security is strengthened by a military that serves under civilians, and a constitution guarantees that only those who are elected by the people may govern".
ETHNIC STRIFE
Violence between majority Buddhists and the Rohingya Muslim minority in western Myanmar is a top concern, and Obama's aides said he would address the issue directly with Myanmar's leaders.
Myanmar considers the Rohingya Muslims to be illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh and does not recognize them as citizens. A Reuters investigation into the wave of sectarian assaults painted a picture of organized attacks against the Muslim community.
At least 167 people were killed in two periods of violence in Rakhine state in June and October this year.
Obama did not refer to this in the excerpt of his speech released to media ahead of delivery, but he will recall the sometimes violent history of the United States, its civil war and segregation, and say hatred could recede with time.
"I stand before you today as president of the most powerful nation on earth, with a heritage that would have once denied me the right to vote. So I believe deeply that this country can transcend its differences, and that every human being within these borders is a part of your nation's story," he will say.
Thein Sein, in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week, promised to tackle the root causes of the problem, the United Nations said.
Despite human rights concerns, the White House sees Myanmar as a legacy-building success story of Obama's policy of seeking engagement with U.S. enemies, a strategy that has made little progress with countries such as Iran and North Korea.
Obama's visit to Myanmar, sandwiched between stops in Thailand and Cambodia, also fits the administration's strategy of trying to lure China's neighbors out of Beijing's orbit.
Chindwin Home Based Care SLA and all our wonderful and passionate supporters; including the tireless women and children we work with, I?d like to thank you for a successful 2012. We have recorded real changes in the lives of many families. Young children were able to go to school and sit in a secured, healthy learning environment than before, while women groups have become organized and share knowledge on sustainable income generating activities. Our focus on young adolescent girls has not been left out, as we are very aware that young girls are exclusively left out in HIV and AIDS programmes. We have championed a programme to use sports, and training workshops as drivers of change against gender based violence on young girls. We also developed safe spaces for most of our young girls to access valuable information such that can for the most part help protect them from HIV and AIDS. We have done very well on building the self esteem of the girls so that they can stand firm and not be abused. We have also taught them how to tell their stories of change so that other peers, can emulate and follow them.
OUR Future for 2013 looks positive and promising. we have set out a robust but achievable plan for 2013 to focus on five pillars:
Pillar# 1: Continue to help improve the lives of rural women?s livelihoods through communal sustainable farms. We want them to grow food that requires less labor and low-cost farm inputs, but yield promising results so that in return families can feed and send children to school Pillar# 2: Continue scaling up our work to promote young children?s access to basic education with a strong emphasis on young girls. We know that children?s early education and strong family support is a attestation for responsibility and commitment to long lasting development for our nation. Pillar# 3: Women continue to be the bedrock of Chindwin Home Based Care?s programme. We?ll aim to register additional women groups and support them with small innovative micro enterprise grants to help them begin or improve their livelihoods so that in return, they are able to continue doing what they do best-caring for the family! Pillar # 4: We do not want to be like other small emerging grassroots organizations that work in silos. We want to share, learn and expand our successes through a collaborative approach and document stories of change that can be adapted by other communities. Pillar# 5: Lastly, and very important; we intend to grow and reflect on our own internal processes. We?ll aim to build and strengthen our monitoring systems, remain vigilant, accountable and transparent. In 2013, we want to recognize talent among ourselves and re-position our duties by setting up clear job descriptions and roles and responsibilities, or what we now call ?form-follows-functions?. We?ll also look for additional skills; and have planned for a new staff member within the first 6 months of the year. On January 30th 2013, our annual report for [2012] will be ready and as in the past, we'll share the document for your valuable feeback. Thank you and many Blessings HAPPY 2013 Mary Kombe Mukuka Director
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Based on Emma?s experience with her spinal fusion surgery and the long recovery, I am sharing the best gift ideas for a teen in the hospital. We were asked dozens of times what she would like. But it took going through the surgery to know the best gifts for this situation.
In the Hospital, Give Gifts to Caregivers
Of course, the week in the hospital is mostly a blur. For a major surgery like spinal fusion, the patient doesn?t need nearly as much attention as the caregivers do.
The biggest blessings we received were food. Dear friends drove to the hospital with hampers full of tortilla wraps, fresh fruit, raw?vegetables, nuts, ground coffee, and half & half. Others brought hot food such as fried chicken or pizza.
Another friend let me borrow a huge quilt that was in her van. Although the hospital let us use cotton blankets, it felt so homey to have a ?real? blanket.
INSIDER TIP: It may come as a surprise, but people in the hospital may not want visitors. The hospital is not a comfortable place for socializing. The patient is in terrible pain and not at her best. Entertaining guests is an added stressor ?for an already stressed patient and family. Express your love and concern, but don?t insist on visiting the patient. Deliver food to the lobby areas and make your stay brief so that parents can get back to the recovering child.
Always call before appearing at the hospital room?s door. And be willing to stand in the hallway to chat if the patient is not up to a visitor. To be honest, the patient may not even remember you came. But the family will. So minister to them instead.
During Recovery at Home, Take Gifts to the Patient
The patient is hardly able to read a card or enjoy any kind of gift in the hospital, so save those things for the recovery at home. We found that the initial outpouring of concern dropped off quickly once we had been home for about a week. Ironically that time frame was when we could have used more visits to keep our spirits up and ward off the cabin fever that was setting in.
So if you really want to bless a family after surgery, drop off a gift for the patient when she has been home for two weeks. She will be alert enough to both appreciate and use it.
These are the gifts that Emma and I appreciated the most both in and out of the hospital.
1. juice boxes with straws for taking pills
Small sizes such as 4 to 6 ounces are perfect for taking medications without having a lot of waste. Try to find a variety of flavors. Apple juice and Sprite get boring. One friend brought us Yahoo?chocolate?drink boxes. Those were a huge hit because they were so unique.
2.?walkie-talkies
This is the?absolute best gift?I can recommend. ?We joked about using a baby monitor with Emma, and basically the walkie talkies were the same idea but in grown up teen form.
When we first came home, she was very limited in what she could do for herself but I certainly didn?t want to sit by her bed or by the couch?all night and day long. She also needed the reassurance that we would come?instantly?if she needed help. These?walkie talkies?were a perfect solution. (That link is the exact set that we have, bought from Amazon.) At times when she was too weak to even talk, she used the alarm button to alert us to come help.
And as recovery comes, walkie talkies are plain fun to play with.
3. pillows or stuffed animals for holding or propping
Getting comfortable is a constant struggle. Aim for items with cushy textures that are a distraction from pain. This plush body pillow is an example of the kind of thing that Emma appreciated.
4. colored bendy straws
As the patient starts drinking more liquids, fun straws are a small diversion. Although they may seem juvenile, this set of disposable cups with lids and straws would have been perfect for all those pills Emma had to take.
5. super soft and pretty blanket
Emma loved a personalized blanked that some church friends gave her. The texture, colors, and sentiment seemed to bring her great comfort.
6. iTunes gift cards
Load up the iPod with music!
7. fun slippers
A dear friend gave Emma some?super soft tiger slippers?in the hospital. These were perfect for physical therapy sessions and getting about the room. Again, pay attention to colors and textures. Any positive physical sensation is a distraction from the pain of recovery.
8. hard candies
Emma complained of a bad taste in her mouth for weeks after her spinal fusion. Butterscotch discs and life saver candies were a big relief.
9. over-sized cards or posters that can be hung on the walls
We used surgical tape (of course) to hang up the homemade posters and cards that people brought. During physical therapy, those were something to focus on instead of the pain.
Other Gifts Perfect for Later in Recovery
1. gift cards to stores or restaurants
These make great motivators to get out of the house and brave the painful bumps of the car.
2. craft kits
Choose simple kits that provide all supplies needed. ?These are great for keeping busy while watching television or listening to audio books. Emma is still enjoying the Knot-a-Quilt that a dear family gave her.
I am happy to say that I?m bringing this homebound homeschool series to a close. The irony of it is that there isn?t a whole lot of?homeschool?in these posts. What I?ve discovered is that when you are homebound after a surgery, you need to focus on healing and not on academics. Once the body is whole and the mind is clear of pain medications,?then?you can expend mental energy to learn.
Pushing the learning before that point is counterproductive. It?s just like potty training or teaching a child to read. It will happen when the child is ready and not a day before.?
To read all of the posts in this series, see these links.
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More Posts Like This One:
Transitioning Home
In the Hospital
Preparing for Surgery
New Series: Homebound Homeschool
Tagged as: gifts, hospital, recovering, surgery, teen
ScienceDaily (Nov. 8, 2012) ? Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder are characterised by persistent thoughts and repetitive behaviours. A new study reveals that sufferers worry considerably more than the general population in the face of morality problems.
Along with the help of experts from the Barcelona's Hospital del Mar and the University of Melbourne (Australia), researchers at the Hospital de Bellvitge in Barcelona have proven that patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, known as OCD, are more morally sensitive.
"Faced with a problem of this type, people suffering from this type of anxiety disorder show that they worry considerably more," as explained by Carles Soriano, researcher at the Catalan hospital and one of the lead authors of the work published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the experts studied the neurofunctional basis of this increased moral sensitivity. They measured the brain activity of a group of 73 patients with OCD and 73 healthy patients when faced with different moral problems in which they had to choose between two alternatives both leading to very negative consequences.
For example, they were faced the dilemma of the crying baby, a classic in philosophy classes. They were asked to imagine themselves in a hypothetical war. Enemy soldiers lie in wait to attack and the entire village hides in a cellar. A baby starts to cry. If nobody makes the baby stop, the soldiers will discover everyone. Would it be justifiable to smother the baby's cry running the risk of suffocating it to save the others?
"The brain activations displayed by participants in the face of such a moral question were compared to those displayed for trivial choices, like choosing between going to the countryside or the beach for the weekend," as Soriano points out.
The results verified that during situations of moral dilemma those subjects with OCD displayed a higher degree of activation in the orbitofrontal cortex, especially in the medial part, which is linked to decision making processes and the development of moral sentiment.
"The data allows us for the first time to objectify the existence of cerebral dysfunctions related to alterations in complex cognitions, such as experiencing morality," adds the researcher from Catalonia. "This allows us to expand further on the characterisation of altered cerebral mechanisms in OCD."
Anxiety compulsion
OCD is characterised by persistent thoughts named obsessions that cause fear and worry. It is also characterised by repetitive behaviour called compulsions that aim to reduce associated anxiety. It affects 2% of the population.
Affected patients can be differentiated into different types. "The majority are characterised by being obsessed with dirt and compulsive cleaning or by doubting that they have carried out important actions properly, like turning off the gas. Such behaviour makes then repeatedly check whether they have performed such actions," says Soriano.
There are other types of obsessions and compulsions, like those displayed by patients who need surrounding objects to be perfectly symmetrical and in order or who accumulate different types of objects that they can later not get rid of.
Lastly, there are also those that suffer from involuntary and unwanted thoughts of a sexual or religious kind whereby they are unsure whether they have committed a sexual act that is unacceptable in their opinion or they worry that they have blasphemed. "The last group of patients is identified for precisely having a higher level of moral hypersensitivity," concludes the researcher.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Plataforma SINC, via AlphaGalileo.
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Journal Reference:
Harrison BJ, Pujol J, Soriano-Mas C, et al. Neural Correlates of Moral Sensitivity in Obsessive-Compulsive DisorderMoral Sensitivity in Obsessive-compulsive Disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 2012; 69 (7): 741 DOI: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.2165
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.
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Public release date: 21-Nov-2012
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