travel agents australia: March 2013

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Ars Poetica: Where Art Meets Poetry | Kitsap Week - Port Orchard ...

BREMERTON ? Local artists are honoring National Poetry Month by selecting works by local poets and visually interpreting them.

Interpretations are in two-dimensional and three-dimensional works in a wide range of mediums. View the poems and the art at the First Friday Artwalk, April 5, 5-8 p.m. at these Bremerton venues:
? IZM, 247 4th St.
? Elaine Turso Photography, 249 4th St.
? Valentinetti Puppet Museum, 257 4th St.
? Bremerton Chamber of Commerce, 286 4th St.
? Mistarian Roses, 519 4th St.
? Claywerks Too, 345 6th St., Suite 600.
? Toro Lounge & Tapas, 315 Pacific Ave.?
? Hudson?s Photography, 321 Pacific Ave.
? Collective Visions Gallery, 331 Pacific Ave.
? Amy Burnett Gallery, 408 Pacific Ave.
? Juan Rodriguez, 408 Pacific Ave.
? Two Sisters Fine Jewelry, 520 Pacific Ave.
? Edward Jones Financial, 555 Pacific Ave., No. 101.

The ?Ars Poetica 2013? book features 27 regional poems and 16 CVG artists. To order, email photoartbybev@aol.com. Pre-order price: $10.50.

Source: http://www.portorchardindependent.com/entertainment/200510011.html

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Official invitation hints at a Facebook phone

Facebook has sent out invitations to an event on April 4, where the company promised to unveil its 'new home on Android.'?

By Matthew Shaer / March 29, 2013

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg takes the stage for a media event at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., in early March. Facebook has scheduled another major event for April, where many analysts believe the company will unveil a Facebook-branded phone.

Reuters

Enlarge

Before we talk about the latest Facebook phone rumors ? and yes, there are a bunch ? it may be worth discussing why Facebook rumors are so persistent.

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Reason one: Facebook is now a public company, with obligations to its investors.?Those investors want Facebook to make a lot of money. And right now, the best place for Facebook to make a lot of money is in the field of mobile advertising.

As the Guardian noted back in January, the mobile trends are already moving in the right direction for Facebook ? revenue from mobile advertising has doubled and more people access the platform from phones or tablets than they do Web browsers. But a Facebook phone, assuming it was popular, would help keep users even more plugged into the Facebook eco-system. There might be a specially-designated Facebook button, for instance, for instant posting.?

Or more prominent placement for Facebook apps such as Messenger or Instagram.?

Reason two: We all love a good horse race. Right now, the smart-phone market is pretty much dominated by the Apple iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy line. Facebook is the rare company that has the might to influence the race.

But back to those Facebook phone rumors. Yesterday, Facebook sent out an invitation to an event on April 4, at its Menlo Park HQ. "Come See Our New Home on Android," the invitation reads. Which certainly could point to an Android-powered Facebook phone.?

In fact, earlier this month, a tech site known as Unwired Review reported that?HTC and Facebook are collaborating on a device known as the?Myst?(not to be confused with the popular computer game of the same name). The phone was said to be equipped with the Android 4.1.2?Jelly Bean?operating system and?a 4.3-inch high-res display.?

Over at TechCrunch, Josh Constine quotes a source as saying that Facebook would unveil "an altered Android OS running on HTC."

He continues:

It?s said not to be a full-on rewrite of Android, but rather a ?flavor? that will have all sorts of extra Facebook functionality built in. We?ve also heard it referred to as an ?application layer?. Imagine Facebook?s integration with iOS 6, but on steroids, and built by Facebook itself. It could have a heavy reliance on Facebook?s native apps like Messenger, easy social sharing from anywhere on the phone, and more.

Maybe. Of course, the event might not highlight a phone at all ? it might, notes Eric Zeman of Information Week, merely revolve around a "more tightly integrated" Android and Facebook interface.?

For?more tech news, follow us on?Twitter @venturenaut.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/qO34_ETzJeI/Official-invitation-hints-at-a-Facebook-phone

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Governor signs bill for health insurance exchange

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- New Mexico can move ahead with establishing a state-run health insurance exchange under legislation signed into law Thursday by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.

Martinez is one of a small number of GOP governors to opt for a state-run exchange under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. States had the option of establishing their own exchange, leaving it to the federal government or forming a state-federal partnership.

The new law takes effect immediately, and one of the next steps is the appointment of a 13-member governing board for the exchange.

The exchange is to serve as a marketplace for the uninsured to buy medical coverage. One of the early decisions for the board likely will be selecting a contractor to establish a computer system, which will allow individuals and small businesses to shop online for health care plans offered by private insurers.

Uninsured individuals and families can receive federal subsidies to reduce the amount they pay for insurance. Small businesses can be eligible for a tax credit to help provide medical coverage for workers.

New Mexico faces a tight deadline ?under federal law ? to have the exchange ready to enroll the uninsured starting in October and be fully operating in January.

It's estimated that about 200,000 New Mexicans may be able to buy health insurance through the exchange by 2020.

"As I said during my State of the State address, I didn't support Obamacare, but it is the law of the land. My job is to implement this law in a way that best serves New Mexicans," Martinez said in a statement.

The exchanges have placed Republican governors in an awkward position, given how much the party has opposed the health care law. Nevada and Idaho are taking the state-run exchange approach while Iowa is pursuing a partnership with the federal government. Utah already has an exchange but it doesn't cover individuals, as required by federal law.

The Martinez administration previously had taken steps to establish an exchange through an existing organization ? the New Mexico Health Insurance Alliance, which is a nonprofit public corporation established in 1994 to provide access to insurance for small businesses and some individuals.

However, work on the exchange was put on hold during the recent legislative session and because of the threat of a possible lawsuit challenging whether the governor could unilaterally create the new insurance marketplace. Attorney General Gary King contended that the Legislature had to change state law for the alliance to be able carry out federally managed duties of an insurance exchange.

Martinez and legislators eventually reached an agreement on legislation to create the framework for an exchange. One initial dispute was over the board's power, and whether it should be able to regulate what health insurance plans are offered to consumers. Federal law spells out minimum requirements for health coverage, and it will be up to the state insurance superintendent's office to determine whether plans meet qualifying standards.

"This may not be a perfect solution, but it is a start that helps keep New Mexico on the path toward the creation of a unique solution for New Mexicans," said Sen. Benny Shendo Jr., D-Jemez Pueblo, a sponsor of the measure.

The law requires a Native American service center to ensure the exchange's services are accessible for members of New Mexico's Indian tribes and pueblos.

The governor will name six board members, including the secretary of the Human Services Department, and legislative leaders will appoint six members. The state superintendent of insurance also is on the board but will vote only to break ties. The board must include two insurance industry representatives as well as a health care provider and consumer advocate.

___

Follow Barry Massey on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bmasseyAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/governor-signs-bill-health-insurance-135455846.html

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Pentagon civilians facing fewer furlough days

WASHINGTON (AP) -- As many as 700,000 civilian employees at the Defense Department will be furloughed for as long as 14 work days beginning in June, eight fewer days than originally anticipated after Congress gave military officials greater flexibility to apportion automatic budget cuts driving the layoffs.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel described the reduction from 22 days to two weeks as "good news" during a Pentagon news conference Thursday.

Hagel also announced that President Barack Obama has nominated Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove to take over as commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Europe.

Furlough notices will be sent out in early May, and the furloughs will begin in June and last through September. Employees will be furloughed for one day in each of the last 14 weeks of the 2013 budget year.

The thorny issue of who will be exempt from the furloughs remains unresolved. Pentagon officials have estimated that at least 10 percent of the department's roughly 800,000 civilian workers will not face furloughs, but they have declined to identify them.

The Pentagon previously has said it will not furlough civilians in the war zone and in critical public safety jobs, or people whose jobs are not paid for through congressional funding. Also exempt are as many as 50,000 foreign nationals who work for the department but are covered by international agreements.

The automatic cuts took effect March 1, triggered by Congress' failure to trim the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion over a decade. The Pentagon initially faced a $46 billion budget reduction through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, but Hagel said a new spending bill signed by Obama this week lowered the reduction by roughly $5 billion. That allows the military to start military construction projects and other programs that otherwise would have been delayed.

The furloughs are expected to save about $2.5 billion, Hagel said.

Before the bill was signed, civilians would have been required to take one day a week off without pay for 22 weeks ? a 20 percent pay cut for more than five months. The spending bill gave officials the leeway to lessen the salary cuts and spread money around to other key priorities, including training, maintenance and possible ship deployments.

As an example, the Navy had delayed refueling overhauls of two aircraft carriers, the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the USS Abraham Lincoln ? critical maintenance work that officials said would be a priority if additional funding became available.

Breedlove is the top Air Force commander in Europe. If he's confirmed by the Senate, he would be the first Air Force general to hold the top NATO job since Joseph Ralston served there from 2000-2003. Breedlove would succeed Navy Adm. James Stavridis, who has held the job since 2009.

Obama chose Breedlove after his first choice for the job, Marine Gen. John Allen, announced he would retire after 19 months commanding allied forces in Afghanistan because of his wife's health.

Hagel, who said he met with Breedlove on his way back from a recent trip to Afghanistan, urged the Senate to confirm him quickly.

"We need to get that position filled," he said.

Obama said Breedlove has "served with distinction in assignments at all levels of the U.S. Air Force and around the globe, from Washington to Germany, Italy, Spain and South Korea."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-civilians-facing-fewer-furlough-135336320.html

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Rent or Buy? Which is Better In These 10 Major ... - AOL Real Estate

By Les Christie

Figuring out whether it's better to buy or rent rests on three main factors: where you live, how long you plan to stay and how home prices compare to rents in the area. Real estate website Trulia analyzed data from 100 major metro areas to help determine that last factor.

While markets vary wildly, prices are so reasonable and interest rates so low that buying is the better option in most major U.S. cities, said Jed Kolko, Trulia's chief economist. Nationwide, home buyers who remain in their homes for three years will save an average of 19 percent over renting. If they hold onto their homes for 7 years, the savings advantage grows to 44 percent.

That means all of the initial transaction costs of buying -- the broker's commission, title insurance, legal fees and other closing costs -- will be offset by benefits, like tax write-offs and price appreciation. And those costs will become cheaper than the total costs of renting, which include insurance and agent commissions.

But the math is changing. Home prices rose 7 percent year-over-year last month while rents went up only 3.2 percent, according to Trulia. "Buying is still cheaper than renting but the gap is closing," said Kolko.

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Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook.

Source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/29/rent-buy-cities/

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Researchers show stem cell fate depends on 'grip'

Friday, March 29, 2013

The field of regenerative medicine holds great promise, propelled by greater understanding of how stem cells differentiate themselves into many of the body's different cell types. But clinical applications in the field have been slow to materialize, partially owing to difficulties in replicating the conditions these cells naturally experience.

A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania has generated new insight on how a stem cell's environment influences what type of cell a stem cell will become. They have shown that whether human mesenchymal stem cells turn into fat or bone cells depends partially on how well they can "grip" the material they are growing in.

The research was conducted by graduate student Sudhir Khetan and associate professor Jason Burdick, along with professor Christopher Chen, all of the School of Engineering and Applied Science's Department of Bioengineering. Others involved in the study include Murat Guvendiren, Wesley Legant and Daniel Cohen.

Their study was published in the journal Nature Materials.

Much research has been done on how stem cells grow on two-dimensional substrates, but comparatively little work has been done in three dimensions. Three-dimensional environments, or matrices, for stems cells have mostly been treated as simple scaffolding, rather than as a signal that influences the cells' development.

Burdick and his colleagues were interested in how these three-dimensional matrices impact mechanotransduction, which is how the cell takes information about its physical environment and translates that to chemical signaling.

"We're trying to understand how material signals can dictate stem cell response," Burdick said. "Rather than considering the material as an inert structure, it's really guiding stem cell fate and differentiation ? what kind of cells they will turn into."

The mesenchymal stem cells the researchers studied are found in bone marrow and can develop into several cell types: osteoblasts, which are found in bone; chondrocytes, which are found in cartilage; and adipocytes, which are found in fat.

The researchers cultured them in water-swollen polymer networks known as hydrogels, which share some similarities with the environments stem cells naturally grow in. These materials are generally soft and flexible ? contact lenses, for example, are a type of hydrogel ? but can vary in density and stiffness depending on the type and quantity of the bonds between the polymers. In this case, the researchers used covalently cross-linked gels, which contain irreversible chemical bonds.

When seeded on top of two-dimensional covalently cross-linked gels, mesenchymal stem cells spread and pulled on the material differently depending on how stiff it was. Critically, the mechanics guide cell fate, or the type of cells they differentiate it into. A softer environment would produce more fat-like cells and a stiffer environment, where the cells can pull on the gel harder, would produce more bone-like cells.

However, when the researchers put mesenchymal stem cells inside three-dimensional hydrogels of varying stiffness, they didn't see these kinds of changes.

"In most covalently cross-linked gels, the cells can't spread into the matrix because they can't degrade the bonds ? they all become fat cells," Burdick said. "That tells us that in 3D covalent gels the cells don't translate the mechanical information the same way they do in a 2D system."

To test this, the researchers changed the chemistry of their hydrogels so that the polymer chains were connected by a peptide that the cells could naturally degrade. They hypothesized that, as the cells spread, they would be able to get a better grip on their surrounding environment and thus be more likely to turn into bone-like cells.

In order to determine how well the cells were pulling on their environment, the researchers used a technique developed by Chen's lab called 3D traction force microscopy. This technique involves seeding the gel with microscopic beads, then tracking their location before and after a cell is removed.

"Because the gel is elastic and will relax back into its original position when you remove the cells," Chen said, "you can quantify how much the cells are pulling on the gel based on how much and which way it springs back after the cell is removed."

The results showed that the stem cells' differentiation into bone-like cells was aided by their ability to better anchor themselves into the growth environment.

"With our original experiment, we observed that the cells essentially didn't pull on the gel. They adhered to it and were viable, but we did not see bead displacement. They couldn't get a grip," Burdick said. "When we put the cells into a gel where they could degrade the bonds, we saw them spread into the matrix and deform it, displacing the beads."

As an additional test, the researchers synthesized another hydrogel. This one had the same covalent bonds that the stem cells could naturally degrade and spread through but also another type of bond that could form when exposed to light. They let the stem cells spread as before, but at the point the cells would begin to differentiate ? about a week after they were first encapsulated ? the researchers further "set" the gel by exposing it to light, forming new bonds the cells couldn't degrade.

"When we introduced these cross-links so they could no longer degrade the matrix, we saw an increase toward fat-like cells, even after letting them spread," Burdick said. "This further supports the idea that continuous degradation is needed for the cells to sense the material properties of their environment and transduce that into differentiation signals."

Burdick and his colleagues see these results as helping develop a better fundamental understanding of how to engineer tissues using stem cells.

"This is a model system for showing how the microenvironment can influence the fate of the cells," Burdick said.

###

University of Pennsylvania: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews

Thanks to University of Pennsylvania 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.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127524/Researchers_show_stem_cell_fate_depends_on__grip__

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Swiss-born WWII spy is honored with Arlington burial

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

Savana Joyeuse, granddaughter of Dr. Rene Joyeuse, and other family members attend Joyeuse's burial service at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., March 29.

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

The family of Dr. Rene Joyeuse attend his burial service at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., March 29. In the wheelchair is Joyeuse' widow, Suzanne Joyeuse, with their son's Marc Joyeuse, and Remi Joyeuse, right.

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

The remains of Dr. Rene Joyeuse, of Saranac Lake, New York, a decorated Swiss-born WWII spy, during burial services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., March 29.

By Chris Carola /?Associated Press?

When Dr. Rene Joyeuse's request for burial at Arlington National Cemetery was rejected, the family of the decorated Swiss-born World War II spy launched a campaign to get the decision reversed. Months later, Joyeuse is getting his wish, thanks in part to the involvement of the nation's top covert operators, including CIA Director David Petraeus.

Before resigning amid a sex scandal last November, Petraeus played a key role in convincing Pentagon officials that Joyeuse, a retired doctor from upstate New York, deserved to lie in rest among some of America's greatest military heroes, people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.

"It got attention at the highest levels, very high up. That's how important he (Joyeuse) was," said Charles Pinck, president of the OSS Society, whose membership includes a dwindling number of veterans of the Office of Strategic Services, the nation's World War II intelligence agency and forerunner of the CIA. ?Continue reading.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2a2538c0/l/0Lphotoblog0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C290C17520A8360Eswiss0Eborn0Ewwii0Espy0Eis0Ehonored0Ewith0Earlington0Eburial0Dlite/story01.htm

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Army vet accused of fighting with al-Qaida

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) ? A U.S. Army veteran is charged with conspiring with an Al-Qaida group to wage war against the Syrian regime.

Eric Harroun of Phoenix was charged Thursday in federal court in northern Virginia with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction outside the U.S. An affidavit states Harroun has been engaged in military action in Syria, siding with rebel forces against the Syrian government. It says he used rocket-propelled grenades in the fighting earlier this year.

On his Facebook page, he claimed credit for downing a Syrian helicopter.

Prosecutors say one of the groups with which Harroun served is the al-Nusrah Front, which is commonly known as al-Qaida in Iraq.

Harroun has made an initial court appearance. A public defender was appointed to represent him in a detention hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-army-vet-charged-fighting-al-qaida-184044925.html

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Sequoia Capital In Singapore After A Year, Has Yet To Invest In A Local Startup

When Sequoia Capital India landed in Singapore quietly in 2012, the buzz around town was that a big-name US fund being in the country was going to really jolt the market and provide serious cred to the startups here. The Indian team running operations here, however, appears to have spent the last year of its time in the island state helping startups in its India portfolio expand into Singapore, rather than directly investing in startups here. However, the company just moved into a fancy?new co-working space called?The Co, and is its anchor tenant, so it could be a sign that it?s trying to get closer to local startups. Previously, it?operated out of a service office in High Street. Singapore is a popular choice as a base for foreign companies looking to expand into Southeast Asia, because it’s a mature market with plenty of infrastructure available. But as a tiny country, it’s not often the main addressable user base, and startups originating from Singapore are also taught to have expansion plans charted. Early last year, Sequoia Capital India MD, Shailendra Jit Singh, expressed interest in having the fund?s companies expand into the region. Sequoia Cap in the US also appeared to have been eyeing activity in Singapore for a while?it had its first offsite meeting in the country in 2011, and was in discussion with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong about its presence here. The Prime Minister?s Office oversees its R&D arm, the National Research Foundation (NRF), which has been busy backing local venture capital firms here over the past few years. Its Technology Incubation Scheme is a program that distributes seed funding to startups picked by 11 NRF-appointed VCs. The NRF matches investment values in the proportion of 85 percent to 15 percent?the larger portion dished out by the government. This allows the VCs here to provide bigger sums of seed capital to startups, with much of the risk absorbed by the NRF. Former NRF projects head, Yinglan Tan, was also pulled over to Sequoia Capital India?s team in July last year, where he is now a venture partner based in Singapore. When I ran into Tan in Manila a couple of months ago, he was evasive about Sequoia’s activities in Singapore, but was happy to try to set up meetings with their existing portfolio companies in Singapore?all Indian-based startups, except for Airbnb and Evernote. Some of these companies

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/9RLBrFSLBM8/

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Sony reveals new details about PlayStation 4 controller

March 28 (Reuters) - Rory McIlroy, playing for the first time since losing his world number one ranking earlier this week, got off to a shaky start at the Houston Open on Thursday where he dropped three shots over his opening eight holes. The 23-year-old Northern Irishman, who was replaced atop the world rankings by Tiger Woods this week, struggled to find his rhythm on an ideal day for low scoring at the Redstone Golf Club in Humble, Texas. He bogeyed the par-four second hole and made a double-bogey seven on the eighth hole to limp to the turn at three-over. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sony-reveals-details-playstation-4-controller-021129529.html

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UPS pays $40M to end online pharmacies probe (Providence Journal)

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Story Of Gaming Industry Sexism - Business Insider

The gaming industry is abuzz because Brenda Romero, disgusted by an act of sexism at the Gamer's Developers Conference, resigned her position as co-chair of the International Game Developer's Association's Women in Games group.

But this is not the first horrifying story to rock the gaming industry this week.

On Tuesday, Meagan Marie, community manager at San Francisco gaming company Crystal Dynamics took a big, public stand against sexism, too.

Crystal Dynamics makes games like Tomb Raider and Legacy of Kain. She's known for organizing "cosplay" events where gamers dress up in costumes.

Video games tend to depict women in revealing clothes, so some of the costumes are sexy. This is a problem because some men think the costumes mean they have the right to be vulgar or aggressive.

Marie said on her blog that at the PAX East gamer's conference held last week in Boston, a journalist with a camera approached a group of costumed women gamers who were playing Tomb Raider. He started asking them sexual questions on camera.

Marie kicked him out of the area, reported him to the conference organizers where he was reportedly removed from the show, and maybe even banned from future events.

And then, because Marie was reading Sheryl Sandberg's book, "Lean In," she felt emboldened to blog about the incident and speak out against other horrible sexism stories:

"When a drunken CEO of a then-startup pointed to my midsection and said 'I want to have my babies in there,' I laughed. ... The trend continued for years, and I took it silently each and every time. It got so bad that one of my Game Informer coworkers had to sit me down and convince me to file a complaint against a massive publisher, after one of their PR leads repeatedly commented about how much he 'loved my tits' at a party."

After she posted that blog on Tuesday, she started getting hate mail and threats:

"I apologize in advance for the vulgar language. Yesterday a lot of the fears that kept me from speaking out for so long were realized. Although the general response to my words was overwhelmingly positive, I was and still am being called a stupid bitch, a cunt, and 'all that is wrong with womankind. I?ve been insulted, misrepresented, and threatened.

She said it's hard on her but she's fed up:

"I?ve not even detailed the worst encounters (which turned physical) that I?ve come across below. And I?m just one woman," she wrote. "This is a problem in our industry. This is something that needs to be addressed."

We have reached out to Crystal Dynamics for comment.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/story-of-gaming-industry-sexism-2013-3

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Freeway chase led to ex-Nev. lawmaker's arrest

File-This file photo released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows Nevada state Assembly member Steven Brooks after a Feb. 10, 2013 arrest on charges that he physically attacked a family member and grabbed for a police officer's weapon. Members of the Nevada Legislature are, for the first time since 1867, considering ousting one of their own: Assemblyman Steven Brooks. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, File)

The Assembly Select Committee meets at the Carson City Courthouse, in Carson City, Nev., on Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Assemblyman Steven Brooks, D-North Las Vegas, a troubled lawmaker whose erratic behavior dominated headlines for weeks and instilled fear among colleagues who once called him friend will go down in Nevada history as the first assemblyman ever expelled from the Legislature after his peers voted to oust him Thursday during a tearful floor session. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, Cathleen Allison)

Nevada Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, D-Las Vegas, hugs Assemblywoman Dina Neal, D-North Las Vegas, following an emotional and historic vote to expel fellow Assemblyman Steven Brooks, D-North Las Vegas, during the Assembly floor session at the Legislative Building in Carson City, Nev., on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. Neal was the lone dissenting vote when a bipartisan select committee empanelled to look into the North Las Vegas Democrat's behavior voted 6-1 Tuesday to recommend expulsion. (AP Photo/Cathleen Allison)

In this photo taken Tuesday, March 26, 2013, Nevada Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, D-Las Vegas, leads the meeting of the select committee at the Carson City Courthouse, in Carson City, Nev. Assemblyman Steven Brooks, D-North Las Vegas, a troubled lawmaker whose erratic behavior dominated headlines for weeks and instilled fear among colleagues who once called him friend will go down in Nevada history as the first assemblyman ever expelled from the Legislature after his peers voted to oust him Thursday during a tearful floor session. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, Cathleen Allison)

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? A former Nevada state lawmaker who had been expelled from the Assembly hours earlier led authorities in California on a high-speed freeway chase before he was shocked with a stun gun and arrested on charges including resisting arrest, authorities said Friday.

Steven Brooks, 41, was arrested at about 7 p.m. Thursday on Interstate 15 outside the city of Victorville, after a 15-mile chase that began in Barstow and exceeded speeds of 80 mph, California Highway Patrol Officer Don Spiker said.

Police had responded to a disagreement between Brooks and a tow truck operator called to help Brooks fix a flat tire in Barstow.

"We just know the tow truck driver was uncomfortable enough to call us for assistance," Spiker said. "He said the subject was acting strange."

Barstow Police Chief Albert Ramirez said in a statement that Brooks refused to pay the driver and wouldn't provide him with identification.

Brooks' arrest came after he became the first lawmaker in Nevada history to be expelled from the Legislature.

It disappointed his lawyer, who has been representing Brooks through a series of sometimes bizarre legal and psychological incidents since January, and who had been fighting to keep the two-term Democratic state lawmaker in his elected seat representing a North Las Vegas district.

"We had started to discuss possible next steps," attorney Mitchell Posin said, referring to a conversation he said he had with Brooks after Brooks' expulsion from the Assembly. Colleagues cited safety concerns.

"Next thing I know, I heard about this," Posin said.

Posin said he had no details about the arrest, or about why Brooks was on the interstate in Barstow.

Brooks was arrested near the Stoddard Wells Road exit after leading officers on the chase with a flat tire, authorities said.

A witness, 30-year-old Jennifer Simpson, said she was alerted by police helicopters overhead and saw a red four-door SUV hit what appeared to be spike strips on the freeway and veer to the side of the road.

The driver got out of the vehicle but didn't follow police commands to turn around and put his hands in the air, said Simpson, who lives in an apartment near the interstate in Victorville. The man ran back toward the SUV, chased by a police dog, she said.

Simpson said the driver shut himself in the vehicle before several officers with guns drawn pulled him out. She said she saw at least one officer punch the man several times.

Simpson's husband videotaped the last four minutes of the struggle, in which uniformed officers wrestle the driver to the ground in front of the vehicle and an officer in a tan uniform raises his arms three times in apparent punching motions. The man cannot be seen on the ground.

Kris Reilly, city editor of The Daily Press in Victorville, said he heard police scanner reports of the chase and arrived at the scene with a photographer to see a man in dark clothing on a hospital gurney. He said the man was struggling against wrist and ankle restraints as he was loaded into an ambulance.

"He was yelling something to the effect that, 'These cops are going down!'" Reilly said. "He was yelling quite a bit."

Ramirez released a statement alleging that Brooks choked and hit a police dog with a socket wrench inside the vehicle. The dog, named Buck, was treated by a veterinarian for cuts on the head and leg.

"Brooks continued to resist the officers and not comply with their orders," the Barstow police statement said. "A Taser was utilized on Brooks and after this, handcuffs were applied."

The police report does not describe any police officers being injured and doesn't address whether any officers punched Brooks.

Telephone messages for Ramirez and other Barstow police supervisors weren't immediately returned.

Brooks was examined at Barstow Community Hospital before he was taken to a San Bernardino County jail in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., police said

Jail records show Brooks was being held on $100,000 bail pending a Tuesday court appearance on four felony charges including resisting a police officer with force, willful harm to a police service dog, felony evading arrest and throwing objects from a vehicle.

Earlier Thursday, Brooks was expelled from the state Assembly by a voice vote following a recommendation from a bipartisan panel that met largely behind closed doors. The seven panel members considered a more than 900-page investigative report produced by a Las Vegas lawyer hired as a special counsel.

A coalition of Nevada media outlets is seeking to have the document made public.

Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, D-Las Vegas, called Brooks "potentially dangerous" and said lawmakers didn't feel safe with him in the building.

"This really saddens me," Horne said Friday, after learning of the arrest. "I hope they get Steven the help he clearly needs before he or someone else is hurt or worse."

The arrest was Brooks' third this year.

He was arrested Jan. 19 after being accused of making threats toward legislative colleagues including Assembly Democratic Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick. North Las Vegas police said Brooks had a gun and ammunition in his car when he was arrested, but no charges have been filed.

Brooks was hospitalized for five days for a mental evaluation after Las Vegas police were called Jan. 25 to a dispute at his grandmother's house.

Brooks was sworn in at the Legislature on Feb. 4 before he was arrested again Feb. 10 at his estranged wife's home in Las Vegas after police alleged he threw punches and grabbed for the gun of an officer who responded to a domestic dispute. He faces a court hearing in May in Las Vegas on one felony and three lesser charges.

Brooks was denied the purchase of a gun in northern Nevada last month after he was banished from the Legislature.

Posin said at the time that Brooks posed no real threat to anyone.

___

Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

___

Find Ken Ritter on Twitter at http://twitter.com/krttr and Michelle Rindels at http://twitter.com/RindelsAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-29-US-Nevada-Assemblyman-Expelled/id-7f5c72c5abe448aa9c60cfe13c2a9b8c

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Friday, March 29, 2013

BOJ chief says Japan economy on the mend

TOKYO (AP) ? Japan's economy has stopped weakening and should show signs of recovery by midyear, the newly appointed central bank governor said Thursday, as weaker-than-expected retail sales for February underscored the challenge he faces in restoring consumer confidence.

"The bank currently assesses that the economy has stopped weakening," Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda told lawmakers in presenting the bank's semiannual report. But he said there was still "a high degree of uncertainty" about the economy because of the crisis in Europe, the tenuous state of the U.S. recovery and often testy relations with China.

Kuroda has pledged to work with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government in achieving a 2 percent inflation target, preferably within two years, and ending years of growth-inhibiting deflation. However, the success of that program will hinge on ensuring that domestic demand is strong enough to spur investment and hiring by companies that are sitting on huge cash reserves.

Exports, battered by feeble demand in the key U.S. and European markets and by anti-Japanese protests in China, appear to have stopped declining, Kuroda said, while private consumption has remained resilient.

"With regard to the outlook, the pick-up in Japan's economy is expected to become more evident around mid-2013," he said.

However, data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, released Thursday, showed retail sales falling 2.3 percent from a year earlier in February, worse than the 1.2 percent drop forecast by most analysts. Sales rose 1.6 percent from the month before.

By boosting inflation, Japan's planners hope to persuade consumers to spend more now in anticipation of price increases in the future. That could prove a daunting challenge given a drop in real wages over the past two decades and a weak job market, said Susumu Takahashi, head of the Japan Research Institute and a member of a government economic advisory council.

The only way to achieve the inflation target within two years, he said, was to change expectations.

"The only way is for the deflationary way of thinking to change. Without that it will be very hard," he said.

After taking power late last year, Abe's administration embarked on an aggressive stimulus program of government spending, monetary easing and planned reforms aimed at improving Japan's competitiveness. Revised figures show Japan's economy likely emerged from a recession late last year, but other data has been mixed.

Kuroda said prices are unlikely to rise for the next few months but after that Japan would see some progress toward its inflation target as the economy moved toward a "moderate recovery path."

The central bank asset purchases and other strategies adopted so far have not been sufficient to reach the inflation target, he said, reiterating his intention to manage market expectations and "make clear that we have adopted the uncompromising stance that we will do whatever is necessary to overcome deflation."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boj-chief-says-japan-economy-mend-040231149--finance.html

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One scholar on 5 things 'The Bible' got wrong

Joe Alblas / AP

"The Bible" didn't always stick to its inspiration.

By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor

?The Bible? miniseries has truly brought in divine ratings for The History Channel these past few weeks. Despite at least one major road bump (Satan appeared in a black hooded robe and was promptly compared to President Barack Obama), the episodes -- which selectively feature certain stories in both the Old and New Testaments -- have been well received by millions of viewers every week. But as the series comes to a close Sunday, it?s worth asking ? just how accurate was the series, in the end?

Telling the story of The Bible is a tricky business, said biblical scholar Dr. Peter E. Enns, who teaches Biblical Studies at Pennsylvania?s Eastern University. But it was clear, he notes, that series creators Mark Burnett and Roma Downey had an agenda ? and that every episode they told had one goal: To get to the climax of Jesus?s life and death.

??They were focusing on the final stage of the Bible story, which is Christ?s appearance,? he said. ?It?s all a buildup to that. They take a celebrity approach to The Bible, and highlight the figures people know and present them in ways that make it seem that when you get to Jesus, you?ll feel that this was how it was meant to be all along.?

That can lead to some problems with the series; for Enns, there were some clear issues with ?The Bible."

Telling Samson?s story
Samson is a ?minor character in the Bible,? said Enns, but gets a lot of screen time in the series. Why? He?s a precursor to Christ, said Enns: He gave his life for the community, is unjustly treated, chained and blinded. ?We?re seeing Jesus in preview form,? he said.

Joe Albas / A&E Television Network

Samson's major role in the series is probably because of his similarities to Christ.

Ninja angels
Jesus again got a preview in the scene where three visitors meet Abraham on their way to destroying the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. ?In the Bible, these three figures are clearly angelic divine figures, but it?s ambiguous,? said Enns. Instead, since one is referred to as ?Lord,? the miniseries transformed him into a proto-Jesus, never clearly seen in the show, but highlighted as Christ. ?In the Old Testament, that?s completely out of bounds,? said Enns. The other two angels are also problematic: ?When the two angels in true ninja fashion take out swords and start swing-kicking, that?s a gratuitous moment.?

Joe Albas / A&E Television Network

The Warrior Angel could have doubled as a ninja.

Sarah wants to save her son
Sarah running after her husband Abraham and son Isaac as Abraham takes him to be sacrificed to God was ?stupid,? said Enns. ?It?s what a mother would do, but Sarah is nowhere to be found in that sequence. They turn the scene into an ?I want to save my boy!? moment rather than a test of faith.?

Joe Alblas / A&E Television Network

Sarah's role in Abraham's aborted sacrifice of Isaac is extended in the miniseries.

Too many Caucasians
Arguably, ?The Bible? was more multicultural than many versions have been in the past. But in 2013, the portrayal of characters with Scottish and British accents and clear European looks was just wrong, said Enns. ?You have Mary who looks like someone you?d bump into at the water cooler and she speaks wonderful American English," he said. "It does not do justice to the foreignness of the story.?

Joe Alblas / A&E Television Network

Mary, seen here with Joseph, looked too all-American, said a biblical scholar.

Sympathy for the Devil
While not precisely an inaccuracy, Enns gave a thumbs-down to the image of Satan and the resemblance to the president ? a comparison he made after watching the episode. ?What I thought was if the resemblance was not intentional, someone should have pointed it out,? he said. ?It was a very unwise decision to leave it there like that. So many people noticed it immediately that it makes it hard to imagine no one on set did.?

All of that said Enns knows that retelling The Bible is a tricky business. ?It?s impossible to please everybody with a show like this,? he said. ?You talk about God, you?re going to make enemies, especially with the sacred book.?

The series finale of "The Bible" airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on The History Channel.

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Astronomers discover new kind of supernova

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Supernovae were always thought to occur in two main varieties. But a team of astronomers including Carnegie's Wendy Freedman, Mark Phillips and Eric Persson is reporting the discovery of a new type of supernova called Type Iax. This research has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal and is available online.

Previously, supernovae were divided into either core-collapse or Type Ia categories. Core-collapse supernovae are the explosion of a star about 10 to 100 times as massive as our sun. Type Ia supernovae are the complete disruption of a tiny white dwarf.

This new type, Iax, is fainter and less energetic than Type Ia. Although both types come from exploding white dwarfs, Type Iax supernovas may not completely destroy the white dwarf.

"A Type Iax supernova is essentially a mini supernova," says lead author Ryan Foley, Clay Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). "It's the runt of the supernova litter."

The research team--which also included Max Stritzinger, formerly of Carnegie--identified 25 examples of the new type of supernova. None of them appeared in elliptical galaxies, which are filled with old stars. This suggests that Type Iax supernovas come from young star systems.

Based on a variety of observational data, the team concluded that a Type Iax supernova comes from a binary star system containing a white dwarf and a companion star that has lost its outer hydrogen, leaving it helium dominated. The white dwarf collects helium from the normal star.

Researchers aren't sure what triggers a Type Iax. It's possible that the outer helium layer ignites first, sending a shock wave into the white dwarf. Alternatively, the white dwarf might ignite first due to the influence of the overlying helium shell.

Either way, it appears that in many cases the white dwarf survives the explosion, unlike in a Type Ia supernova where the white dwarf is completely destroyed.

The team calculates that Type Iax supernovae are about a third as common as Type Ia supernovae. The reason so few have been detected is that the faintest are only one-hundredth as bright as a Type Ia supernova.

"The closer we look, the more ways we find for stars to explode," Phillips said.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope could discover thousands of Type Iax supernovas over its lifetime.

###

Carnegie Institution: http://www.ciw.edu

Thanks to Carnegie Institution for this article.

This press release has been viewed 49 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127478/Astronomers_discover_new_kind_of_supernova

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PowerSkin announces battery case for the BlackBerry Z10

Just as the title says, the PowerSkin for BlackBerry Z10 is available now from PowerSkin. ?The one-piece shockproof, anti-dust silicone skin protects your Z10, and it contains a 1500mAh rechargeable battery that gives your smart phone up to 60% more talk or standby time. ?It weighs only 3 ounces and measures 5.39″ X?2.89″ X 0.79″. [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/03/28/powerskin-announces-battery-case-for-the-blackberry-z10/

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From 'Star Wars' To 'Indiana Jones': Harrison Ford Weighs 'Ambitious' Sequels

Han Solo actor tells MTV News he's considering returning for sequels like 'Blade Runner.'
By Kevin P. Sullivan, with reporting by Todd Gilchrist

Harrison Ford
Photo: MTV News

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704441/harrison-ford-star-wars-indiana-jones.jhtml

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Iran, North Korea, Syria block U.N. arms trade treaty

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran, Syria and North Korea on Friday prevented the adoption of the first international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade, complaining that it was flawed and failed to ban weapons sales to rebel groups.

To get around the blockade, British U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant sent the draft treaty to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and asked him on behalf of Mexico, Australia and a number of others to put it to a swift vote in the General Assembly.

U.N. diplomats said the 193-nation General Assembly could put the draft treaty to a vote as early as Tuesday.

"A good, strong treaty has been blocked," said Britain's chief delegate, Joanne Adamson. "Most people in the world want regulation and those are the voices that need to be heard."

"This is success deferred," she added.

The head of the U.S. delegation, Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Countryman, told a group of reporters, "We look forward to this treaty being adopted very soon by the United Nations General Assembly." He declined to predict the result of a vote but said it would be a "substantial majority" in favor.

U.N. member states began meeting last week in a final push to end years of discussions and hammer out a binding international treaty to end the lack of regulation over cross-border conventional arms sales.

Arms control activists and human rights groups say a treaty is needed to halt the uncontrolled flow of arms and ammunition that they say fuels wars, atrocities and rights abuses.

Delegates to the treaty-drafting conference said on Wednesday they were close to a deal to approve the treaty, but cautioned that Iran and other countries might attempt to block it. Iran, Syria and North Korea did just that, blocking the required consensus for it to pass.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had told Iran's Press TV that Tehran supported the arms trade treaty. But Iranian U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee told the conference that he could not accept the treaty in its current form.

"The achievement of such a treaty has been rendered out of reach due to many legal flaws and loopholes," he said. "It is a matter of deep regret that genuine efforts of many countries for a robust, balanced and non-discriminatory treaty were ignored."

One of those flaws was its failure to ban sales of weapons to groups that commit "acts of aggression," ostensibly referring to rebel groups, he said. The current draft does not ban transfers to armed groups but says all arms transfers should be subjected to rigorous risk and human rights assessments first.

'HELD HOSTAGE'

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari echoed the Iranian concerns, saying he also objected to the fact that it does not prohibit weapons transfers to rebel groups.

"Unfortunately our national concerns were not taken into consideration," he said. "It can't be accepted by my country."

North Korea's delegate voiced similar complaints, suggesting it was a discriminatory treaty: "This (treaty) is not balanced."

Iran, which is under a U.N. arms embargo over its nuclear program, is eager to ensure its arms imports and exports are not curtailed, diplomats said. Syria is in a two-year-old civil war and hopes Russian and Iranian arms keep flowing in, they added.

North Korea is also under a U.N. arms embargo due to its nuclear weapons and missile programs.

Russia and China made clear they would not have blocked it but voiced serious reservations about the text and its failure to get consensus. A Russian delegate told the conference that Moscow would have to think hard about signing it if it were approved. India, Pakistan and others complained that the treaty favors exporters and creates disadvantages for arms importers.

If adopted by the General Assembly, the pact will need to be signed and ratified by at least 50 states to enter into force.

Several diplomats and human rights groups that have lobbied hard in favor of the treaty complained that the requirement of consensus for the pact to pass was something that the United States insisted on years ago. That rule gave every U.N. member state the ability to veto the draft treaty.

"The world has been held hostage by three states," said Anna Macdonald, an arms control expert at humanitarian agency Oxfam. "We have known all along that the consensus process was deeply flawed and today we see it is actually dysfunctional."

"Countries such as Iran, Syria and DPRK (North Korea) should not be allowed to dictate to the rest of the world how the sale of weapons should be regulated," she added.

The point of an arms trade treaty is to set standards for all cross-border transfers of conventional weapons. It would also create binding requirements for states to review all cross-border arms contracts to ensure arms will not be used in human rights abuses, terrorism or violations of humanitarian law.

The main reason the arms trade talks took place at all is that the United States - the world's biggest arms exporter - reversed U.S. policy on the issue after President Barack Obama was first elected and decided in 2009 to support an arms treaty.

Washington demanded that the conference be run on the basis of consensus because it wanted to be able to block any treaty that undermined the U.S. constitutional right to bear arms, a sensitive political issue in the United States. Countryman said the draft treaty did not undermine U.S. rights.

The National Rifle Association, a powerful U.S. pro-gun lobbying group, opposes the treaty and has vowed to fight to prevent its ratification if it reaches Washington. The NRA says the treaty would undermine domestic gun-ownership rights.

The American Bar Association, an attorneys' lobby group, has said that the treaty would not impact the right to bear arms.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Will Dunham, Lisa Shumaker and Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-north-korea-syria-block-u-n-arms-002525001.html

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Search warrants released in Newtown investigation

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) ? Search warrants used in the investigation of the Newtown school shooting by a 20-year-old gunman were released Thursday, with some information withheld at the request of a prosecutor.

The warrants are related to searches of Adam Lanza's home and car. They have been under a sealing order that expired Wednesday, and prosecutors until now have made few details available, despite pressure to do so.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy had expressed concern about leaked information appearing in the news, and state lawmakers had requested a more complete accounting of the case as they address gun control and other issues raised by the shooting.

A Danbury Superior Court judge on Wednesday granted a request by the prosecutor overseeing the investigation, State's Attorney Stephen Sedensky III, to withhold some details. Sedensky asked to redact the name of a witness, saying the person's safety might be jeopardized if the name were disclosed. He also asked that the release not include other information such as telephone numbers, serial numbers on items found and a few paragraphs of an affidavit.

Lanza shot his mother to death inside their Newtown home on Dec. 14 before driving to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he massacred 20 first-graders and six educators. He killed himself as police arrived. Authorities have said it will take until June or later for the investigation to be completed.

The Associated Press and other news outlets have reported previously that Lanza showed interest in other mass killings and authorities found literature on other massacres at his house.

Malloy announced last week that additional information would be released at his request. He expressed concern that some information about the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook reportedly disclosed by a top state police commander at a recent law enforcement seminar in New Orleans was leaked.

"Like many others, I was disappointed and angered to learn that certain information about the Newtown shooting had been leaked, specifically with concern for the victims' families who may have been hearing this news for the first time," the governor said in a statement.

A column published last week in the New York Daily News, citing an unnamed police officer who attended the seminar, reported that Col. Daniel Stebbins discussed evidence that suggested the Newtown gunman studied other mass slayings and dedicated extensive planning to the rampage.

The seminar was designed for only law enforcement professionals, and sensitive information dealing with the tactical approaches used by first responders to the Sandy Hook shootings was discussed, state police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said.

Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr. said this week that legislative leaders hope to review the search warrant documents before finishing work on a bipartisan bill that addresses gun control and other issues related to the massacre.

A judge denied a motion by the AP and five newspapers seeking to intervene against any move to extend the current 90-day seal of the warrants. Sedensky had said earlier that the request to intervene was premature because the state hasn't filed any further requests.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/search-warrants-released-newtown-investigation-130656368.html

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Trovagene launches easier test for HPV infection

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Shares of Trovagene Inc. jumped Wednesday after the maker of molecular disease-detecting tests launched its new urine-based test for a common, sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer, some other cancer types and genital warts.

Trovagene said the HPV High Risk test looks for 15 different strains of human papilloma virus most likely to cause disease. It involves sophisticated genetic testing of a urine sample to detect snippets of DNA from those 15 strains, all of which can cause cervical cancer, but not genital warts.

The virus, called HPV for short, is the most common sexually transmitted one in the country. About 14 million people are infected each year, and 80 percent of all women are exposed to HPV at some point. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HPV lurks in an estimated 79 million American women and men, most of whom don't know it.

That's because there is no general HPV test, there's none approved for some of the diseases it can cause and most women getting a routine Pap smear don't get a separate test for HPV at the same time.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, aiming to increase awareness and limit spread of HPV, last year recommended that DNA testing for HPV infection be a mandatory part of women's screenings for cervical cancer.

Both those tests involve an uncomfortable procedure in which a metal instrument is inserted in the vagina to collect cells from the cervix. With a Pap smear, the cells are analyzed for the presence of cancer or pre-cancerous changes, while the HPV test looks for the virus itself.

San Diego-based Trovagene said its product might help overcome roadblocks to widespread testing for HPV, namely the cost, inconvenience and resistance of some patients to the invasive collection of cells from the cervix.

There are at least a few dozen types of HPV. Different types can cause cancer of the cervix, genital warts, warts growing in the throat and, less commonly, cancers of the throat, vagina, vulva, penis and anus.

About 90 percent of HPV infections go away on their own within a couple of years, knocked out by the body's immune system. Patients diagnosed with an HPV infection typically get follow-up tests every six to 12 months to see whether the infection has cleared up or persisted long enough to require treatment.

The Trovagene test, soon to be available through health care providers, would make follow-up tests after diagnosis easier.

Chances of HPV infection can be reduced by use of condoms, limiting number of sexual partners and immunization against most disease-causing types. Two vaccines are recommended for adolescent boys and girls and for men and women through age 26: Merck & Co.'s Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline PLC's Cervarix.

Trovagene shares rose 35 cents, or 6.1 percent, to $6.10 in regular trading Wednesday, then climbed another 65 cents, or 10.7 percent, to $6.75 in after-hours trading. Shares have traded in a range of $1.86 to $8.96 over the past 52 weeks.

___

Follow Linda A. Johnson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LindaJ_onPharma

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/trovagene-launches-easier-test-hpv-191356444.html

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NRC Research Press adds a new title to collection of scientific and technical journals

Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
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Contact: Jenny Ryan
jenny.ryan@nrcresearchpress.com
Canadian Science Publishing (NRC Research Press)

Unmanned Systems Canada and Canadian Science Publishing partner to launch a new journal dedicated to the rapidly growing field of unmanned vehicle systems

This press release is available in French.

The Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems (JUVS) is a new quarterly, electronic-only publication that is now accepting papers; the inaugural issue is scheduled for release in the Fall of 2013. Developed in partnership with Unmanned Systems Canada (USC-STC) and with support from the Kenneth M Molson Foundation, JUVS is an exciting addition to the NRC Research Press journal roster.

This new title aims to provide an accessible, consolidated forum where an accumulation of peer-reviewed scientific knowledge on the design, development, testing, and applications of unmanned vehicle systems (UVS) in the air, on and under the water, and on land is published and disseminated. The journal is broadly themed into four main areas: civil, environmental, military, and engineering technology; contributions are invited from recognized researchers and practitioners in academia, government and industry from all over the world.

"Upon consultation with USC-STC, NRC Research Press agreed that there was a need for a scientific, peer-reviewed journal dedicated strictly to the rapidly expanding field of UVS (marine, terrestrial, and aerial) and aimed at communicating new information to this research community," said Bruce Dancik, Editor-in-Chief of the NRC Research Press journals. "NRC Research Press is keen to be a part of this exciting initiative and to be collaborating with the UVS research community."

"There is a great need for such a journal," explains Dr. David Bird, a professor of Wildlife Biology and Director of the Avian Science and Conservation Centre at McGill University and Founding Editor of this new publication. "The development and application of UVS is rapidly growing worldwide. While much of the media attention to date has focused on military applications, the civil and commercial sectors have grown stronger with each passing year in countries all over the world with no end in sight."

Dr. Bird has a passion for this field of study. For the last four decades his research has spanned all aspects of the biology of raptorial birds, but his main focus today is the application of unmanned vehicle systems to wildlife research and management. "David's enthusiasm for UVS and his prolific scholarly record make him an ideal Editor for this new and important scientific journal," said Dancik. "David is a welcome addition to the NRC Research Press family."

Since 1929, NRC Research Press journals have been delivering quality, peer-reviewed, international science to the world. Published by Canadian Science Publishing (CSP), an independent, not-for-profit organization, our journals are award-winning, high-impact scientific and technical publications that have an international readership in more than 175 countries. Continuing a long-standing mission to keep pace with the progress of scientific and industrial research throughout Canada, NRC Research Press is proud to bring this new journal to life in cooperation with Unmanned Systems Canada.

The inaugural 2013 volume of JUVS will be available free of charge. To enquire about subscriptions for 2014 or how to submit an article to the journal please visit the Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems online at http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/juvs.

###

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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.

NRC Research Press adds a new title to collection of scientific and technical journals

Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail |

Share ]

Contact: Jenny Ryan
jenny.ryan@nrcresearchpress.com
Canadian Science Publishing (NRC Research Press)

Unmanned Systems Canada and Canadian Science Publishing partner to launch a new journal dedicated to the rapidly growing field of unmanned vehicle systems

This press release is available in French.

###

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/csp-nrp032813.php

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