Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Economist: Africa growing, political risks remain

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/economist-africa-growing-political-risks-remain-093032394--finance.html

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Discovery of new white blood cell reveals target for better vaccine design

Monday, July 30, 2012

Researchers in Newcastle and Singapore have identified a new type of white blood cell which activates a killing immune response to an external source ? providing a new potential target for vaccines for conditions such as cancer or Hepatitis B.

Publishing in the journal Immunity, the team of researchers from Newcastle University in collaboration with A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) describe a new human tissue dendritic cell with cross-presenting function.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are a type of white blood cell that orchestrate our body's immune responses to infectious agents such as bacteria and viruses, as well as cancer cells. They are also very important for eliciting the immune response generated by vaccines.

DCs kick start an immune response by presenting small fragments of molecules from micro-organisms such as bacteria and viruses, or from vaccines or tumours, called antigens on their surface. This leads to activation of another white blood cell subset called T cells, which specialise in killing cells and are crucial for eliminating cancerous or infected cells. Most cells are only able to present antigens from within themselves, and so will only elicit an immune response if they are infected themselves. Only a specialised subset of DCs is able to generate a response to an external source of antigen, for example bacteria, vaccines and tumours.

The identity of human tissue DCs that are capable of presenting external antigen to activate the cell-killing response by T cells - a process termed 'cross-presentation' - has remained a mystery. Their discovery, as revealed by this research, will help scientists to design better targeted vaccine strategies to treat cancer and infections such as Hepatitis B.

"These are the cells we need to be targeting for anti-cancer vaccines," said Dr Muzlifah Haniffa, a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Fellow and Senior Clinical Lecturer at Newcastle University. "Our discovery offers an accessible, easily targetable system which makes the most of the natural ability of the cell."

The researchers also showed for the first time that dendritic cell subsets are conserved between species and have in effect created a map, facilitating the translation of mouse studies to the human immune system.

"The cross-species map is in effect a Rosetta stone that deciphers the language of mouse into human", explains Matthew Collin, Professor of Haematology from Newcastle University.

In the paper the researchers describe how the cross-presenting DCs were first isolated from surplus plastic surgery skin which was digested to melt the gelatinous collagen to isolate the cells.

This research will have significant impact on the design of vaccines and other targeted immunotherapies.

The Rosetta Stone of our immune system: Mapping Human and Mouse dendritic cells

The Newcastle University team in collaboration with A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) have for the first time ever aligned the dendritic cell subsets between mouse and humans allowing the accurate translation of mouse studies into the human model for the first time.

The researchers isolated the dendritic cells from human blood and skin and those from mouse blood, lung and liver. Using gene expression analysis, they identified gene signatures for each human dendritic cell subset. Mouse orthologues of these genes were identified and a computational analysis was performed to match subsets across species.

This provides scientists for the first time with an accurate model to compare DCs between species.

Professor Matthew Collin explains: "This is in effect a Rosetta stone that deciphers the language of mouse into human. It can put into context the findings from the extensive literature using mouse models to the human settings".

Dr. Haniffa added: "These gene signatures are available in a public repository accessible for all researchers to benefit from the data. It will allow detailed knowledge of individual human dendritic cell subsets to enable specific targeting of these cells for therapeutic strategy."

###

Newcastle University: http://www.ncl.ac.uk

Thanks to Newcastle University 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/122125/Discovery_of_new_white_blood_cell_reveals_target_for_better_vaccine_design

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How To Create A Successful Article Marketing Plan | Writing and ...

?To write or not to write?? ?That is not the question. If you are a writer at heart, you are going to write. The questions are: ?What?? and ?For whom?? If you write with only yourself in mind, you will likely receive rejection letters. You need a different approach, one that is aimed toward a particular audience.

If you?re outsourcing your work in article marketing, you will inevitably find that spending the extra money for quality is in your best interest. Anyone can churn out $1 articles, but that doesn?t mean the quality is going to be good. Readers want high-quality articles, so if that costs you a little extra, it will pay off tenfold in the long run.

A lot of articles you write are not going to be effective, but that doesn?t mean you should delete them or hide from them. As long as you?re proud of them and they contain good grammar and good information, leave them hanging around. You might be able to use them one day for something.

The goal of any article you write for a marketing campaign should be simple. The idea is to give an informative piece of literature to a relevant audience, wherein you are urging people to take action. Anything else you attempt in an article can result in readers becoming lost and simply clicking away from the page.

When you first start writing ads it is great to write them as if you were writing an article. The reason for that is that people shut down right away when they see ads, and they are more open to reading stories. By the time they finish the story they will see it is an ad, and be more likely to buy what you are selling.

To encourage people to read the articles you write, put the most important benefit of reading your article in the title. A good title will get both readers and website owners interested, and will help you sell a lot more articles. A quality title will also give you better search engine rankings.

Article marketing can be used to introduce your company to your potential customers. By including quotes from your company?s owners and managers in the article that speak of your company?s philosophy and corporate identity, people in your target audience will be able to begin to form a personal relationship with your company. This can be an excellent way to gain new customers.

Use cross-linking in your articles. In each of your articles, link to other articles you have published. Try to do guest posts on other people?s blogs. If you write about useful, value-added information that appeals to their readers, they probably won?t mind if you add links to your other articles.

A good title will capture the reader?s attention and get your articles noticed. Titles with numbers are always eye-catching such as, ?Twelve Ways to__? or ?The Top 6 Rules For__?. Another good technique is to start with a question like this: ?Are You Out Of Ideas For__? Read On for Inspiration.? Think about what attracts you to an article and you will come up with effective and enticing titles.

Now that you have sorted out the kind of publications for which you will write articles, you are ready for a fresh start. You have an image of the reader for whom you are writing. You may still receive rejection letters, but you should also receive some acceptances.

Beside creating articles about Article Marketing, Sheridan Endicott also writes about Ubot Studio Coupon? on her sites. To learn more about it, visit www.kingwarrior.info

Source: http://writingandspeaking.rrreading.org/2012/how-to-create-a-successful-article-marketing-plan/

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Monday, July 30, 2012

Exec who pulled Facebook ads out at General Motors

By Paul A. Eisenstein, TheDetroitBureau.com

Joel Ewanick, the agent of change brought in by General Motors just over two years ago to shake up its moribund marketing operations, has unexpectedly resigned.

In a terse statement issued Sunday evening the maker said only that the 52-year-old executive ?has elected to resign immediately.? Alan Batey, GM?s vice president of U.S. Sales and Service, will step in as global marketing chief on an interim basis.

Exactly what led to Ewanick?s sudden departure isn?t clear but it takes even those working close to the marketing czar by surprise.??In fact, it appears to have taken Ewanick himself by surprise.??The former Hyundai marketing chief appeared on the Internet TV show Autoline After Hours barely a week ago and it was clear, ?This was not a guy who saw this coming,? said host John McElroy.

A report in the online edition of the Wall Street Journal suggests the departure was a result of an unspecified confrontation between Ewanick and GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson and, according to several sources, as recently as this morning it was under discussion whether the marketing chief?s departure would be described as voluntary or if GM would say he had been terminated.

TheDetroitBureau.com:?Lotus Pulls Back on Ambitious Product Plan -- Is VW Bid in Offing?

With his departure it is likely that GM?s marketing efforts will again fall under close scrutiny -- all the more so when, as expected, the company next week reports a massive slump in earnings for the second quarter.?

?Dan Akerson is coming under intense scrutiny,? said long-time automotive analyst McElroy. Another source, asking not to be identified by name, put it more bluntly: ?People will be asking how did that guy ever get that job??

The former telecommunications chief was given the CEO title barely a year after GM?s emergence from Chapter 11 when Ed Whitacre -- who took over the reorganized company -- decided to step down. Akerson quickly positioned himself as a hard-driving change agent ousting virtually all of GM?s old guard and bringing in an assortment of new talent including Ewanick.?

TheDetroitBureau.com: Fewer teens go for drivers' license

The boyish marketing chief had built a strong reputation helping turn around a company that had a poor reputation with buyers other than those on a tight budget. By the time he left, Hyundai had become one of the country?s fastest-growing automotive brands.?

Ewanick did a brief stint at Nissan in early 2010, apparently because GM couldn?t complete the hiring process.??When it came back with the right offer he jumped ship again.

Since then, Ewanick has shown a willingness to slaughter even the most sacred cows, terminating long-time relationships, such as the decades-long alliance between the Chevrolet brand and Detroit ad agency Campbell-Ewald.??Earlier this year, he rocked the ad world by announcing GM would pull out of the 2013 Super Bowl and by almost simultaneously deciding to pull its $10 million Facebook ad account.

Those moves triggered angry responses, Facebook management, for example, going directly to Akerson hoping to reverse the embarrassing decision -- which became fodder for headlines just days before the social media site?s disastrous IPO.

Not everyone has been impressed.???I just don?t see the work,? said a senior Detroit ad agency executive asking not to be named.??The exec pointed to a series of ads produced under Ewanick?s tenure that could hardly be differentiated from what the Chevy brand aired prior to the marketing shake-up.

TheDetroitBureau.com: Hyundai defies Euro downturn; pushes up profits

But others defend Ewanick?s work, including McElroy: ?What you have to do is judge results. The question is whether Joel Ewanick has done a good job of taking the Chevrolet and Cadillac brands global. Chevy set a sales record last year and last month Malibu nearly outsold Camry while the new Sonic (subcompact) has done a real good job at the small end.?

But Ewanick was also in charge of marketing abroad and GM is having a disastrous time in Europe, where it is expected to post several billion dollars in losses this year.

That has led to a series of additional personnel moves including the recent ouster of GM Europe CEO Karl-Friedrich Stracke and several of his top lieutenants.

But the shake-ups have been coming at home, as well.??In recent weeks a number of well-known executive have resigned or retired, including Chevy Volt program chief Tony Posawatz, Cadillac?s vehicle chief Dave Leone, and David Lyon, who was set to head design for German-based Opel.

TheDetroitBureau.com:?Silver still king, but automakers look to ?naturally cultivated? colors

Nonetheless, ?The timing of this (Ewanick?s departure) is very strange,? said Rebecca Lindland, chief analyst with IHS Automotive, ?coming on Sunday rather than waiting until next week when they have a conference call to announce the monthly sales numbers.?

Lindland and several other observers contacted by TheDetroitBureau.com said another odd sign was the fact that normally knowledgeable inside company sources admitted being completely in the dark about the latest development.??Even the normally in-tune GM PR department was apparently caught by surprise.

One source indicated that it was only decided hours before a press release finally went out that Ewanick?s departure would be described as a ?voluntary? resignation.??That, said several observers, raises questions about whether there was more behind the departure than simply a disagreement over policy.?

Going forward, it remains to be seen what sort of ripple effect Ewanick?s resignation will have.??Chris Perry, one of his top lieutenants from Hyundai came over to GM to run the Chevrolet brand.??Meanwhile, the entire General Motors marketing operation has been reshaped in Ewanick?s image, including a controversial new entity combining teams from several different major ad agencies put together to handle the Chevy account.

It?s clear that the impact of the Sunday announcement will be felt and analyzed for some time to come.

TheDetroitBureau.com:?Highway fatalities unexpectedly surge

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Source: http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/07/29/13022206-exec-who-pulled-facebook-ads-out-at-general-motors?lite

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Sunday, July 29, 2012

U.S. Commercial Energy Consumption Through 2035

Here we continue our look at the DOE EIA?s projections of U.S. energy consumption through 2035. In this post we look at what they foresee happening in the commercial sector (essentially composed of offices and stores).

Almost immediately we encounter issues that can leave us scratching our collective heads, especially when we compare what is written about this sector with what we have discussed earlier regarding residential energy consumption.

According to the Department of Energy, energy consumption in the commercial sector will increase from 18.3 quads in 2011 to 21.5 quads in 2035, a CAGR percentage of 0.67.

The DOE estimates growth of 26.9% (0.93% annually) in commercial floor space over the period covered by this report, very similar to what they project for new household formation (25%). And they estimate even greater gains in energy efficiency in offices than in residences (7% per square foot, compared to 6% overall in residences). And yet, where they anticipate residential energy consumption to decline slightly, they predict commercial energy consumption to increase 18% over all by 2035. I?m not sure both estimates can be accurate?

They identify the core components of energy consumption in the commercial sector as?space heating, ventilation, air?conditioning, water heating, lighting, cooking, and refrigeration, which are pretty much the same as residential, and they attribute 60% of commercial energy consumption to these items. And they predict that that will fall to 53% over the next 25 years thanks to improvements in energy efficiency. In a case study (one of several focus issues that leads off their report) they identify the sources of the improvements they hope to see in energy efficiency as?high-efficiency variable air volume?ventilation systems, LED lighting, ground-source heat pumps,?high-efficiency rooftop heat pumps, centrifugal chillers,?and solar water heaters. However, they caveat this list by saying the obvious, that ?those technologies are relatively?costly, however, and thus unlikely to gain wide adoption?in commercial applications without improved economics.?

Just as an example, they predict space cooling to decrease from 1.83 quads in 2011 to 1.60 quads in 2011. This, after space cooling just increased from 1.5 quads to that 1.83 number in 2 years. Once again, we ponder the dilemma?they believe that population shifts to warmer climes. But space cooling decreases?

The bottom line for their report seems to be that the 26.9% increase in new commercial buildings will consist of highly energy efficient structures taking thorough advantage of all available methods for reducing energy consumption. And maybe that will happen. Maybe builders across the country will ignore the economic difficulties facing it and use more expensive technology in a sector that faces far fewer regulatory constraints than industrial construction. Maybe the demographic trend that is sending more people back to the city will somehow lead to less expensive (????) commercial buildings. Maybe the demographic trend they postulate regarding residential energy use, the large scale movement of people to warmer climates, will lead somehow to lower energy consumption, although air conditioning would seem to negate whatever gains are made due to lower space heating?

Certainly I hope they?re right?that a 25% increase in population, a doubling of GDP and a 26.9% in new commercial floor space will only result in an 18% increase in energy consumption. But as with residential and transportation, it means everything has to go right?that we will double the rate by which we improved energy efficiency over the past two decades.

Here?s hoping.

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Source: http://3000quads.com/2012/07/29/u-s-commercial-energy-consumption-through-2035/

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Replace The Windows and Doors For any Quick, Affordable Home ...

When it comes to outdoor home refurbishments, homeowners typically focus on house siding, painting, and other whole house therapies. But exchanging your house windows and outdoor doors is truly a much faster and simpler way to alter the look of your respective entire home. You?ll be surprised about the difference exchanging your doors and windows can make it the design of your home!

Replacement Windows

First of all, if you have house windows that are busted, cracked, as well as filled with condensation, they go a long way toward creating your home search rundown! Should you nothing else to spruce up your own home, simply replacing damaged house windows with brand new replacement house windows will make a huge difference. Outdated, broken house windows make your home look unkempt while brand new windows ensure it is appear in tip-top condition.

Window substitution is also a excellent option for varying your home?s design. A new these types of window as opposed to a picture window can add degree and design interest; lattice paned house windows can create a holiday cottage look; casement windows can add European flair. Seek advice from a design and style specialist regarding how switching the type and style of windows at your residence can spice up its outdoor. You can also obtain great vitality savings if you select Energy Legend rated house windows for your renovation!

Exterior Doors

Like with your current windows, exchanging exterior gates that are harmed or worn can help help your house look great. Dinged up steel gates, doors along with broken window panes of wine glass, or just critically old-fashioned doors could make your home search shabby. Mending it up with an all new door will certainly enable your property to sparkle.

Changing the fashion of your doorway is incredibly easy yet can certainly produce a serious affirmation. Opt for a front door with a huge glass panel, choose a front door with side lights, as well as select a timber door-the possibilities are virtually endless. Confer with your local front door contractor if you plan to install a greater door (a treadmill with flanking house windows); installation may be slightly more complicated if you have to enlarge the entrance. However, the door substitution process it?s still easier compared to residing your entire house!

In case you are ready to alter the appearance of your house, you don?t have to resort to super expensive painting as well as siding replacement-just change your doorway or look for a new style of window to make a different seek out the whole outside of your house! Call your local home improvement contractor today!

Sarah Sanders has been a masterful designer for 18 yrs and has studying awesome innovations in home siding as part with her involvement from Creative Ideas Group ,a new creative team for creative individuals. Read more about her eavestroughs website to read more about her exterior home renovation ideas over the years.

Source: http://www.nwactc.net/replace-the-windows-and-doors-for-any-quick-affordable-home-makeover/

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Saturday, July 28, 2012

Weight Loss Benefits Provided by Cardiovascular Fitness - Health ...

Every day people should find physical activities that will benefit their health along with losing weight, rather than only relying on fat loss supplements. Increasing fitness levels doesn?t necessarily mean spending long grueling hours at the gym. In your quest for a healthy life, it only takes small intervals of activity each day to get the necessary exercise. On the positive side, there are also plenty of health benefits to be gained by finding ways to boost cardiovascular fitness.

Cardiovascular is a word that most people don?t even know the meaning. Oxygen is necessary for good health, and the healthier a person is, more oxygen will get to each cell of the body, making them even healthier. This is good news for those people who struggle to get a good night?s sleep. When the body is at a high level of wellness the circulatory system will work at its best. Oxygen getting to every cell in the body will not only give more restful sleep, but also relaxing feeling throughout the whole body.

People have generally observed that by doing more cardiovascular exercise you are cutting down the amount of fat you store in your body. As you get more physical activity into your day, your body needs to burn fuel to keep working. Your body will need extra energy as you do more activity throughout the day. Your body can, however, get this energy from your fat stores.

Getting your heart rate high for several minutes doing whatever exercise that you enjoy is the key to succeeding with this particular fitness program. If you enjoy this, dancing at home can help you accomplish this task. Just do a little jig for a few minutes and don?t worry about getting it right. Your success is based upon whether or not you make it to the end of the song without pausing one time. To get in better shape, keep adding additional songs and go for a longer period of time.

Make sure you have a variety of different cardiovascular routines to do on different days and make sure they are never the same. The key is to find something you enjoy and then do it. Weight loss is just one of the benefits of improving your level of cardiovascular fitness. There are significant benefits to both your mood and health. You can actually lower the risks of terrible illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and heart diseases by keeping fit and healthy. You will also have more energy if you do more exercise. This should be great news for anyone who is trying to lose weight and find ways to bring about that refreshed, energized feeling every morning.

Furthermore, you can also use some varieties of fitness equipment like Stepper within your fitness Training, it can help boosts your physical health and fitness much easier as well as to ensure a much healthy workout in a rapid way. As long as you keep learning, you will naturally move into other areas. What matters most is that you exercise at least a few times every week.

Discover some uses of Stair Stepper with the help of Ronald Davis. He will assist you to reduce weight and acquire you amazing, slender and feeling good by doing a great Home Fitness routine.

Source: http://www.health-fitness.co.za/2012/07/28/weight-loss-benefits-provided-by-cardiovascular-fitness/

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Rude surprise: French fed up with own incivility

This on Sept. 21, 2011 photo provided by Paris subway operator RATP, shows a campaign poster in a Paris subway station. France, a country famed for its arrogant waiters and proud taxi drivers, is finally getting fed up with rudeness. Polling trends show that impoliteness is now topping lists on causes of stress for the French, who lament that people don't say "thank you" anymore. Paris public transport is weighing in, with a summer-long publicity campaign poking fun at gallic incivility. Poster reads: 'Shoving 5 people out of the way, will not make you go any quicker.' (AP Photo/Bruno Marguerite, RATP)

This on Sept. 21, 2011 photo provided by Paris subway operator RATP, shows a campaign poster in a Paris subway station. France, a country famed for its arrogant waiters and proud taxi drivers, is finally getting fed up with rudeness. Polling trends show that impoliteness is now topping lists on causes of stress for the French, who lament that people don't say "thank you" anymore. Paris public transport is weighing in, with a summer-long publicity campaign poking fun at gallic incivility. Poster reads: 'Shoving 5 people out of the way, will not make you go any quicker.' (AP Photo/Bruno Marguerite, RATP)

(AP) ? It's a July evening on the terrace of the legendary Cafe Flore. A coiffed woman sips chilled wine, another savors her chocolate eclair.

The one thing to complete a perfect picture of Parisian life? A dash of French rudeness.

It comes from the waiter, who snootily turns away a group of tourists: "There's no point waiting," he shrugs, even though there are many empty tables. "No space outside."

Such rituals of rudeness have long been accepted by visitors as part of the price of enjoying such a beautiful city as Paris. But it seems the French themselves, who over centuries have turned rudeness into an art form, have become fed up with their own incivility, according to recent polls and publicity campaigns.

There's a fabled history of French rudeness from Napoleon, who called the English a "nation of shopkeepers," to former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who infamously snarled at a voter: "Get lost, poor jerk."

Now, bad manners and aggressive behavior top the list of causes of stress for the French, even higher than unemployment or the debt crisis, says pollster IPSOS. A total of 60 percent cited rudeness as their number one source of stress in a survey last year on social trends.

"We're so rude," admits 34-year-old French teacher Stephane Gomez, as he comes out of a Paris metro station. "France lacks the civic sense that you find in Anglo-Saxon countries."

"It's so easy to be polite, but we don't do it," says 30-year-old Zahia Sebahi. "I never see someone give up their seat for an elderly person."

But Paris's public transport authority is leading the fight-back in a summer-long publicity campaign against rudeness.

Billboards depicting Frenchmen with animal heads have dominated metro stations; they target passengers who are rude to staff and push and shove. "If you shove five people getting onboard," the posters say, "it won't make us set off faster." Bus ads read: "One bonjour doesn't cost a penny, and it changes your day."

Transport officials say they've tried to keep a light touch on a serious matter.

"We used humor to not be moralistic," says Isabelle Ockrent, RATP communications director. "But we've been alerted by our staff that there is a real problem."

Public transport staff even held "rudeness forums" over three days in late June in 20 metro stations, in which they exchanged views on correct etiquette with passengers.

Among other things, people were asked what they thought the root causes were for pushing and shoving: Lack of time? Unhappiness? Many Parisians attribute the decreasing tolerance to rudeness to the fast-pace of the Internet age, with i-Pods on the metro and mobile phone noise in public spaces.

"It might seem obvious, but when stressed for work, Parisians forget 'hello' or 'thank you' when asking for a ticket," says Ockrent.

Parisians, it seems, may be pleased to be going back to finishing school.

Passengers regularly gawk at the ads, which have stretched from ceiling to floor inside some metro stations, and the RATP say the campaign has gotten near universal positive feedback on it.

The results of this year's IPSOS trend research won't be published until fall. But the agency can already reveal that the backlash against rudeness is rising.

"In 2012, one thing is clear; the French are irritated and want a return to good manners. They've had enough of rudeness ... reached a limit," says Lise Brunet, IPSOS's director of trend studies.

"The acceleration of life with cells phones means that people have even less time to follow the rules of politeness," adds Brunet. "Today, it's even more of a concern than the economic crisis. People just want to hear 'Thank you.'"

In France, the world's most visited country, rudeness is also a concern for tourism companies ? especially as France feels the bite of the financial crisis.

Atout France, the country's tourism development agency launched a summer campaign in regions where tourism is suffering to promote service quality.

"We're very aware of the problem making tourists feel welcome," says Fanny Moutel, communications director for Atout France, the country's tourism development agency. "We've noticed that there are fewer English visiting places like Brittany and Normandy and the Loire, so the campaign aims to improve the way tourists are treated."

Where English-speaking tourists were once greeted with raised eyebrows and a Gallic shrug, more and more French in the service industry speak English.

That's just one of the many ways in which France is changing.

Earlier this week on a high-speed train, there were puzzled smiles from passengers after a decidedly un-French loudspeaker address:

"Hello, welcome, please greet your neighbor, and may you adopt a zen attitude."

_____

Thomas Adamson can be followed at http://Twitter.com/ThomasAdamsonAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-07-27-France-Gallic%20Rudeness/id-33045e7932e24b89967fbad2db4321e5

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Final Fantasy, IntelliRing, and More [Android Apps Of The Week]

This week's batch of Android is full of guilty pleasures. Between a gluttonous new titles and your old favorite video game, you're phone will have plenty of new ways to kill time. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/LBPKxplGrbA/final-fantasy-intelliring-and-more

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Friday, July 27, 2012

the most impressive safety attorney at law - Vancouver Tour Guide ...

A fabulous criminal defense lawyer or attorney is a legal representative who?sfamily lawyer san diego committed to the particular defense individuals and corporations convicted of any type of prison carry out. Criminal defense lawyers have the choice to become eternally employed by numerous areas from legal process of law, a majority of these criminal law firm are called general population defenders. An important criminal law firm ordinarily manages many of the problems surrounding the detain of their individual, criminal homework and charges in the history plus present-tense. As you may know that it is vital that you observe on charge, of which means you can find practical suspicions how the man or women to be busted features wholly commited a crime. A strong stop doesn?t indicate than a lawbreaker price has become that used to be filed away as well as said through court docket about the personal caught; that is exactly where the dui attorney will come in, to protect ones own protection under the law about the criminal offenses determined. CriminalMurrieta criminal attorney shield lawyer additionally handle a filled with meaning factors of the criminal offenses by which his / her buyer can be involved in. Criminal law firm can provide the authority to be sure to quit charges with actually staying filed away vs their shopper. This is achieved as soon as people recognises that they can be to be researched or is busted. The person suspected should employ a criminal defense law firm to operate his or her inspection so when research might be presented to legal court, and da negates your analysis, or perhaps the bill that could be gonna always be stored it doesn?t stored through the da. If you have been imprisoned in the crime or perhaps wrongfully charged in a very law-breaking that you will don?t devote, or even know someone that has recently been in jail inside a crime or maybe wrongfully detected in a felony they did not expend; as compared with seek out an important dui legal practitioner and / or manifeste defender within driving distance. They shall be with you with thisgeneral contractor insurance dimly lit time.

Source: http://vancouvertourguide2010.com/the-most-impressive-safety-attorney-at-law/

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Obama Administration Calls for Clean Energy Tax Credit Extension

An official from the Obama Administration made his rounds of wind energy facilities in Iowa yesterday, talking of President Barack Obama's call on Congress to extend the clean energy credits that are set to expire this year, the Department of Energy reported . Here are the details.

* Acting Under Secretary for Energy and Assistant Secretary for Policy & International Affairs, David Sandalow, traveled to Iowa to promote Obama's "All-of-the-Above" energy strategy, in which investments are made in energy innovation and American infrastructure.

* Part of that strategy is an extension of the Production Tax Credit, which is set to expire at year's end. According to Sandalow, President Obama is calling on congress to extend these credits, which are "supporting thousands of jobs in Iowa and have played a key role in nearly doubling renewable energy in the last four years nationwide."

* If the Production Tax Credit is not extended, approximately 30,000 jobs will be lost nationwide, the Department of Energy reported.

* According to the Department of Energy, Iowa generated nearly 19 percent of its total electricity from wind energy in 2011.

* The wind industry in Iowa supported up to 5,000 direct and indirect jobs in 2010.

* The facilities included in Sandalow's Iowa visit included Keystone Electrical Manufacturing Company in Des Moines and ACCIONA Windpower's wind turbine generator assembly plant in West Branch.

* The Iowa visit follows a similar visit to Minnesota by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman on July 16.

* One of Poneman's stops during his Minnesota visit included the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 343 in Rochester. Local 343 offers a wind certification program for union members who are interested in obtaining jobs in the industry.

* Poneman also visited Daiken McQuay's technology center in Plymouth, which is using $1.4 million in Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits to expand its Minnesota facilities for a new testing model of its heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment.

* Minnesota ranks fifth among U.S. states in total installed wind capacity, the Department of Energy reported.

* The Federal Production Tax Credits made President Obama's congressional "To-Do List" in late May, when Obama also visited Iowa, where he toured a wind manufacturing plant in Newton that employs more than 500 workers.

* According to the White House, generation from wind turbines has increased 27 percent in the past year.

* Sixty percent of the wind turbines in the United States and the component parts that power them are made at home, in more than 400 facilities located throughout 43 states.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-administration-calls-clean-energy-tax-credit-extension-182200192.html

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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Ford recalls nearly 500,000 Escape SUVs

The Ford Motor Company is recalling nearly half a million Escape model compact SUVs amid concerns over a potentially deadly problem with sticking accelerator pedals.

The new recall, which affects 2001 to 2004 models that have 3-liter, V-6 engines with cruise control or approximately 484,600 vehicles, was ordered after safety inspectors discovered the accelerator's speed control cables could become stuck on an engine cover when the pedal is almost fully depressed, according to a recall notice by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

The recall comes after ABC News' Phoenix affiliate, KNXV, launched an investigation into a Ford Escape crash that claimed the life of 17-year-old Saige Bloom. The Arizona teen lost control of her vehicle and crashed on a local road in January.

Moments before that crash, Bloom's mother, who was driving in another car behind her daughter, made frantic calls to 911 saying, "She cannot stop. We're coming to a red light and I don't know what to do for her," KNXV reported.

The younger Bloom plowed into another car and rolled three times. She later died of her injuries.

According to KNXV, an inspector hired by the Bloom family later discovered the vehicle's speed control cable had broken and become lodged under the engine cover, meaning the throttle was stuck at near full speed.

FULL COVERAGE at KNXV: ABC15 Ford Investigation

Ford spokesperson Marcey Zwiebel told ABC News that the issue does not spontaneously cause the vehicle to accelerate, but the accelerator can only get stuck after the driver has pressed the pedal all the way, or most of the way down.

Zwiebel also said that the company has only recently been able to investigate the vehicle involved in Bloom's death, but said Ford's internal investigation was not solely based on that single incident.

"We had a volume of data to review and analyze in order to ensure our investigation was thoroughly and properly implemented," Zweibel said.

In a customer information sheet, Ford said that most dealerships will not have the parts to permanently fix the problem just yet but said customers should go to their local dealership for an "interim repair, which will disable the speed control system on your vehicle to eliminate the possibility of a stuck throttle?"

"This temporary repair will allow you to continue driving your vehicle until parts for the permanent repair are available," the information sheet says.

ABC News' KNXV contributed to this report.

Click here to return to The Blotter homepage.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ford-recalls-nearly-500k-escape-suvs-sticking-pedals-200255681--abc-news-topstories.html

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Insight: China's CNOOC scoped Nexen, partnered, then pounced

(Reuters) - When Canada's Nexen Inc fired its CEO in January, an oil giant on the other side of the world sprang into action.

Nexen had been on the wish list of Chinese state oil company CNOOC Ltd for five years. The removal of CEO Marvin Romanow was just the opening the Chinese needed to make their move, according to sources familiar with the situation.

By the Chinese New Year later that month, CNOOC had hired BMO Capital Markets and Citigroup Inc as financial advisers, according to these sources. That kicked off negotiations culminating on Monday with a deal to buy Nexen for $15.1 billion, the biggest foreign acquisition ever by a Chinese company.

The agreement is a triumph for China's third-largest oil company, which had to abandon its $18.5 billion bid for California-based Unocal in 2005 because of bitter opposition on sovereignty grounds from U.S. lawmakers, and shows how far the Chinese have come as dealmakers on the global stage.

It also feeds China's demand for resources to sustain an economy that despite six quarters of deceleration still grew at 7.6 percent in the second quarter, and will give it a platform from which to grow further in Canada's energy sector.

Interviews with people familiar with the Nexen deal reveal CNOOC heeded lessons from the Unocal debacle. It also closely studied Australian miner BHP Billiton Ltd's failed $39 billion bid to buy fertilizer maker Potash Corp in 2010 - a deal killed by the Canadian government - as it methodically went about laying the groundwork for the Nexen deal.

Among its tactics was the establishment of a joint venture so it could become familiar with the target and its assets, as well as the way of doing business in North America. Importantly, it quickly started building relationships with governments in the countries where Nexen operates, including Canada, the United States and Britain, the sources said.

CNOOC, which offered a 61 percent premium to Nexen's Friday stock price, already has interests in Canada - including oil sands operations in Alberta, and shale gas in British Columbia - as well as extensive exploration and production holdings in the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico and offshore West Africa. Nexen, Canada's sixth-largest independent oil explorer and producer, also operates in the Gulf of Mexico, Colombia, the North Sea, Yemen and offshore West Africa.

A big step for China is that the Nexen offer is for the entire company. In the wake of Unocal, many Chinese buyers have chosen to buy stakes in overseas companies rather than attempt full takeovers.

"It's partly the valuation, partly an evolution of the Chinese mindset. You couldn't do this deal a year after Unocal," one of the sources familiar with the deal said. "They had to have made the smaller steps in the meantime that made everyone comfortable that they knew how to behave responsibly, operate effectively, treat employees well."

SMALL STEP

Nexen spokesman Pierre Alvarez declined to comment on how the deal came together, saying the company will provide details in its information circular to be sent to shareholders in about a month. A CNOOC media official said Nexen had been a partner of the company for years, declining to comment further on the deal.

Despite its size, the deal may prove to be only a small step in China's ambition to acquire resources and technology. In the West, and particularly in the United States, there is still suspicion about sales of major assets to Chinese companies because of Beijing's controlling influence in the nation's corporate sector and anti-China sentiment among some lawmakers.

Although some experts and people familiar with the transaction expect the Canadian government to approve the deal, that could change if popular sentiment suddenly turned against it.

Pulling off a similar deal in the United States is also likely to remain a pipedream for Chinese buyers.

"My guess is that they continue to be wary of investments in the United States and concerned that they might either be blocked or subject to conditions that may be complicated for them," said William Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, a U.S. business association focused on international trade and investment issues. "I wouldn't take it as a given that (Canada) would simply say yes and move on."

CAREFUL PREPARATION

CNOOC stepped up its pursuit of Nexen after Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited China in February and said he wanted to sell more oil to Chinese and Asian markets. Canada has also stressed the need for more foreign investment to help develop its oil sands.

"CNOOC would have read very real signals into that... It would have been very strange for political leaders from countries at the most senior level to come and ask for investment and then say 'No'," said a person familiar with how the deal was forged.

In the wake of Harper's comments, the Chinese firm sought meetings with senior officials in the federal government and the government of Alberta to gauge the appetite for a possible approach.

CNOOC, realizing a hostile bid of this size would be virtually impossible to pull off after BHP's failed approach for Potash, felt a crucial advantage was that its approach had the full support of the Nexen board, the sources said.

CNOOC hired Hill and Knowlton for lobbying in Canada and the United States, and Bell Pottinger in Britain, according to one source. New York law firm Davis Polk provided legal counsel. Hill and Knowlton declined to comment. The firm filed its lobbying disclosure forms in Washington on Monday but listed the effective date of registration as May 14.

A Bell Pottinger official in the United States did not have an immediate comment.

"I don't think the problem is whether CNOOC can complete the deal," said a China-based source familiar with the matter. "The key is whether CNOOC can successfully consolidate and manage the new company, whether it can reach its targets over the next five years."

LOBBYING EFFORTS

Canada's official register of lobbyists shows that Michael Coates of Hill and Knowlton visited the top officials at the ministries of industry, trade and natural resources in late March in Ottawa.

Accompanying Coates was CNOOC Vice President Fang Zhi, who is also general manager of CNOOC International Ltd. Zhi told the officials that CNOOC thought Canada was an attractive place to invest, one source said.

Andrew MacDougall, chief spokesman for Harper, said he was unaware of who Fang might have met in Ottawa and declined to comment on any aspect of the takeover bid.

Fang, who came away reassured by his discussions, also visited Alberta for talks with local government officials, the source said. His presence there drew little attention, since CNOOC already has properties in the province.

Courtesy calls on behalf of CNOOC and Nexen were made to the federal and Alberta governments on Sunday, the day before the deal was announced.

The final decision on whether to approve the CNOOC bid lies with Canadian Industry Minister Christian Paradis, whose chief spokeswoman declined to comment. Paradis would make his decision based on the Investment Canada Act.

Sources said early conversations with policymakers led CNOOC to propose key concessions, such as making Calgary the head office of its North and Central American operations and a plan to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

CNOOC has also promised to retain Nexen employees. That may help to allay fears that might arise, especially given some Chinese companies have been criticized for having poor relations with their workforces in places like Africa and Latin America.

One source said it helped that Fang and CNOOC Chief Executive Li Fanrong both spoke good English and appear to have a good grasp of Western business ways. In addition to hands-on top executives, CNOOC has a large and experienced M&A team.

UNIQUE TRANSACTION

In Nexen, CNOOC also picked a deal that will be more likely to get support than if it had sought to acquire some other Canadian companies. Most of Nexen's assets lie outside Canada, making it less likely that it would be seen as a national champion falling into Chinese hands.

CNOOC had already formed a joint venture that helped it evaluate Nexen. In July 2011, it bought Opti Canada, which was Nexen's 35 percent partner in Long Lake, a C$6.1 billion steam-driven oil sands project in Northern Alberta.

The project, which started more than three years ago, is only at about half its 72,000 bpd design capacity and has had problems extracting enough oil from its early wells to fill the processing plant. But the project accounts for a large chunk of Nexen's value, and CNOOC believed that it was of higher quality than the market thought, one source said.

"It was that experience that enabled them to conclude this would actually be a good fit," another source said. "They've been taking their involvement in Canada a step at a time and you'd want the next step to be determined by what you'd experienced in the previous step."

With only small operations in the United States, the company is not likely to meet much opposition to the deal in Washington, where there is some sensitivity to Chinese investment in Canadian energy assets because Canada is a major supplier of oil to the United States.

One U.S. lawmaker, Senator John Hoeven, said on Tuesday he believes the CNOOC-Nexen deal is a "direct result" of President Barack Obama's January decision to delay approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, designed to bring oil from Canada's oil sands to Texas refineries. Soon after that delay was announced, Harper was in Beijing and talking about doing oil deals with China.

(Additional reporting by Jeffrey Jones in Calgary, Euan Rocha in Toronto, Roberta Rampton and Alexander Cohen in Washington; Judy Hua and Aizhu Chen in Beijing; Writing by Michael Flaherty and Paritosh Bansal; Editing by Martin Howell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/insight-chinas-cnooc-scoped-nexen-partnered-then-pounced-033624290--finance.html

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Palestinians in Syria get pulled into civil war

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 28, 2011 file photo, a Palestinian man shouts slogans as he carries a banner that reads in Arabic, "Erekat, Abbas, no legitimacy for you to give up my right and my children right," during a rally against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his government, in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk near Damascus, Syria. Since the start of the unrest, Syria?s half million Palestinians have struggled to remain on the sidelines, saying they have little to gain and much to lose by taking sides in the fight between President Bashar Assad?s regime and the armed rebels seeking to end his family?s 40-year rule. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi, File)

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 28, 2011 file photo, a Palestinian man shouts slogans as he carries a banner that reads in Arabic, "Erekat, Abbas, no legitimacy for you to give up my right and my children right," during a rally against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his government, in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk near Damascus, Syria. Since the start of the unrest, Syria?s half million Palestinians have struggled to remain on the sidelines, saying they have little to gain and much to lose by taking sides in the fight between President Bashar Assad?s regime and the armed rebels seeking to end his family?s 40-year rule. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2007 file photo, Syrian demonstrators gesture and chant as they march through Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus, to mark Jerusalem Day. Since the start of the unrest, Syria?s half million Palestinians have struggled to remain on the sidelines, saying they have little to gain and much to lose by taking sides in the fight between President Bashar Assad?s regime and the armed rebels seeking to end his family?s 40-year rule. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi, File)

(AP) ? Like other communities sucked into Syria's widening civil war, the Yarmouk neighborhood in Damascus has seen death and destruction. Soldiers and snipers have gunned down demonstrators. Some protesters have taken up arms to fight back.

But there's one key difference: Most of Yarmouk's residents are not Syrian citizens. They are Palestinian refugees.

Since the start of the unrest, Syria's half-million Palestinians have struggled to remain on the sidelines. They've said they have little to gain and much to lose by taking sides in the fight between President Bashar Assad's regime and the armed rebels seeking to end his family's four-decade rule.

But young Palestinian refugees, enraged by this month's mounting violence and moved by Arab Spring calls for greater freedoms, are now flooding the streets and even joining the rebels despite efforts by the community's political leadership to keep them out of the conflict.

Large protests began two weeks ago in the country's largest Palestinian refugee camp, Yarmouk, a neighborhood of nearly 150,000 refugees crowded into simple apartment buildings on narrow streets in the Syrian capital. Security forces fired on the protesters, killing at least five and setting off a cycle of funerals, demonstrations and further crackdowns.

On Thursday, activists said troops posted outside Yarmouk were shelling the area, likely in preparation for a raid.

"There are cars that have blown up and homes that have blown up," a Palestinian activist in Yarmouk who gave his name as Abu Omar said via Skype, booms audible in the background. "We are really in a war zone now."

Violence has struck other Palestinian camps too. More than two-thirds of the 17,500 refugees in the southern city of Daraa fled an attack this month, the U.N. said. While many have returned, food and medicine are lacking.

The U.N. says it cannot provide death tolls for Palestinians because of the difficulty of confirming information. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that about 150 have been killed since the uprising began in March 2011. Palestinian activists provided the names of 198 people killed, 67 in July alone.

Most of Syria's 496,000 U.N.-registered Palestinian refugees are descended from those who fled or were forced to leave their homes during the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948. Others have come during subsequent Mideast wars.

While not citizens, Palestinians in Syria have greater rights than their brethren in other Arab countries. They can hold government jobs, attend state universities for free and serve in the military. Assad's regime has long billed itself as a champion of the Palestinian cause.

But the Syrian uprising, which began with political protests and has evolved into a civil war, has put the Palestinians in a bind. As the death toll spiraled, many were horrified by Assad's brutal attempts to crush the opposition but didn't want turn on a government that treated them well.

"On the individual level, there's no love for the regime or its tools of oppression, and no one thinks that it will liberate Palestine for us," said a Palestinian refugee expert in Lebanon who visited Syria this month. "The idea is that if we take a position on one side or the other, we'll get screwed."

He declined to give his name because he travels frequently to Syria.

The political leadership, dominated by older men from an array of Palestinian factions, recalls all too easily how Palestinians elsewhere have suffered for picking sides in foreign conflicts. Kuwait kicked out hundreds of thousands of Palestinians near the end of the first Gulf War because of their leadership's links to Saddam Hussein.

"I fear that in the next stage the camps and the youth will be pulled into the internal conflict," said Fathi Ardat, the Palestine Liberation Organization's top official in Lebanon. "We don't want to be part of that battle."

Some factions have cooled relations with Assad's regime.

Top Hamas officials have decamped from their longtime Damascus headquarters for Egypt and the Gulf. In a February sermon in Cairo, Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas Prime Minister of Gaza, praised Syrians for "moving toward democracy and reform."

The only group firmly with the regime is the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, which the U.S. and other countries consider a terrorist organization ? as they do Hamas. Its fighters are widely accused of joining Assad's forces in the crackdown.

To date, no Palestinian faction has denounced the regime, putting them at odds with Palestinian youth in Syria.

The forces pulling young Palestinians into the war grew stronger this month.

On July 11, the bodies of 15 soldiers from the Palestinian Liberation Army, a branch of the Syrian armed forces, were found outside of Aleppo, the country's largest city. There were conflicting accusations about who killed the soldiers, but many Palestinians blamed Assad's regime.

On July 13, hundreds of Palestinians protested in Yarmouk, accusing Assad's forces of killing the soldiers and calling for the regime's ouster because of its brutality toward other Syrians. Security forces opened fire on the crowd, according to amateur videos posted online, and activists say five people were killed.

Protests continued as rebels pushed into the capital from the countryside and clashed with security forces in surrounding neighborhoods, sending civilians streaming into the camp. The U.N. said this week that more than 7,000 displaced people were staying in 17 schools in Yarmouk.

On July 19, rebels ? including some Palestinians ? torched a police station on the camp's edge and a dozen security cars posted around it.

As violence entered the camp, more youth joined in.

"At first, most people said we won't interfere because this is a problem between Syrians," said Mohammed, a refugee from Yarmouk who now lives in Britain. "Later, more said it was about freedom, so it doesn't matter where you're from."

While most have avoided arms, some Palestinians have joined the rebels in battle.

"They have taken a position with the revolution, but they have not made this public because that could bring a massacre to the camp," said a Syrian rebel near Yarmouk who gave his name as Abu Qusay.

Ironically, Palestinian activists say it was their integration into Syrian society ? facilitated by Assad's regime ? that pushed them into the uprising.

"We have never felt that there was a big difference between the Palestinians and the Syrians," said Abu Omar, the Yarmouk activist. He is 22, has spent his whole life in Syria and was getting a free university education when the uprising broke out.

He dismissed the idea that Assad's regime has been a leader in the Palestinian struggle, pointing out that Syria's border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has been largely quiet since 1974.

In fact, he said he hoped a regime change would help the Palestinians achieve their ultimate goal: the return to their ancestral villages in what is now Israel.

"We have to work together with the free people to liberate Syria, then we'll go to the Golan and liberate Palestine," he said. "We'll work hand in hand."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-07-26-ML-Syria-Palestinians/id-12e70876dbb94fb59749dbf837e386aa

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Nokia scraps new mass-market phone software: sources

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Struggling Finnish cellphone maker Nokia has scrapped a software project which it had hoped would compete with mass-market Google Android phones, three sources with direct knowledge of the company's plans said.

Nokia was hoping the Linux-based software platform, code-named Meltemi, would replace its ageing Series 40 software in more advanced feature phones, but has killed the project as part of its massive cost-cutting drive.

Scrapping the platform means loss-making Nokia will risk losing its strong position in the mass-market -- where phones are priced at $100-$200. Nokia controlled more than 20 percent of this market in the first quarter, according to research firm IDC.

Nokia's Chief Executive Stephen Elop flagged Meltemi in a leaked video in mid-2011, but Nokia has never officially confirmed Meltemi existed. It declined to comment on Thursday.

In June, Nokia said it would cut 10,000 jobs - one in five staff in its phone business - as it aims to pull the company out of the red. Talks over job cuts are scheduled to end this week in Finland.

One of the sources, who works at a supplier, said the original plan was for the first feature phones using Meltemi should to be on the market by now.

Smartphones such as Apple's iPhone which offer a platform for third-party application developers, is where the industry's strongest growth is. But simpler feature phones, with limited support for third-party software, still account for most units sold.

Nokia's Series 40 platform are in around 2 billion cellphones, making it the most ubiquitous software in the market. But it lacks the smartphone-like experience Meltemi could have offered.

Google's Android platform has stormed the smartphone market in its first few years. Last quarter it was used in roughly 60 percent of all smartphones sold.

Nokia last year dumped its own smartphone software platforms in favor of Microsoft's Windows Phone, which has so far had a limited impact, in part due to the high prices of phones using it.

(Reporting by Tarmo Virki; Editing by Erica Billingham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nokia-scraps-mid-range-software-project-sources-082801919.html

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Apple to release OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion tomorrow

Apple just confirmed in its Q3 2012 earnings report that Mountain Lion is coming tomorrow. The hotly anticipated 10.8 version of OS X brings with it a host of new features, as we've expounded upon in the past. The upgrade will be just $19.99 (unless you've recently bought a new Mac -- in which case it'll be free) and will be available via download on the Mac App Store in 24 hours or less. Better start finding some disk space.

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Apple to release OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion tomorrow originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jul 2012 16:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/24/apple-to-release-os-x-mountain-lion-tomorrow/

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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Free Legal Question: Real Estate Law | Michigan | My partner and I ...

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Source: http://www.lawguru.com/legal-questions/-/partner-bought-house-due-bad-469777958/

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HIV suppression not as good as previously thought, largest study of viral-load blood tests show

HIV suppression not as good as previously thought, largest study of viral-load blood tests show

Monday, July 23, 2012

Tens of thousands of Americans taking potent antiretroviral therapies, or ART, to keep their HIV disease in check may not have as much control over the viral infection as previous estimates have suggested, according to results of a study by AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins and the University of Pennsylvania.

In what is believed to be the largest and longest review of viral load test results in people with HIV disease ever performed in the United States, researchers found that the number of people sustaining viral suppression ? consistently, at 400 or less viral copies per milliliter of blood, year after year ? is roughly 10 percent less than previous estimates. The team's findings are set to appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association online July 25. The publication is timed to coincide with the XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C.

According to senior study investigator and infectious disease specialist Kelly Gebo, M.D., M.P.H., the team's latest findings underscore just how difficult it is to successfully treat HIV disease and prevent its spread even when people are taking effective ART. Gebo says that "if we are not fully suppressing the virus as much as we thought, then we are not fully preventing and reducing the likelihood of HIV transmission, either." Some 426,000 of the estimated 1.2 million Americans infected with the virus that causes AIDS are taking ART and are under the routine care of a physician.

Gebo says that, overall, while ART has improved significantly within the last decade, with once-a-day pill regimens replacing more complicated, multidrug schedules, "our study findings suggest that physicians and other health care providers still need to do more to promote drug adherence among our patients, and make sure people take their antiretroviral therapies as prescribed."

Without that extra effort, she says, "More people are potentially at risk of becoming infected with HIV, and those already on ART are at risk of developing drug resistance, too." Gebo is an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University's Bloomberg School of Public Health.

As part of the decade-long study, more than 100,000 individual blood test results were reviewed, all obtained with permission from the medical records of 32,483 infected adults. Seventy percent were men. Everyone prescribed ART had their blood viral levels carefully monitored at more than a dozen established HIV clinics, including the Moore Clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Among the study's specific findings was that the percentage of participants who tightly controlled their HIV disease was 72 percent in 2010, the last year for which viral load counts were analyzed. This represented a major increase from 45 percent in 2001, but was significantly less than the 77 percent to 87 percent figures widely cited in 2011 reports from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and in studies by other leading Hopkins and Canadian researchers.

According to study lead investigator Baligh Yehia, M.D., M.S.H.P., M.P.P., a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia who trained as a medical resident at Johns Hopkins, all previous reports were based on single-year or one-time-only recordings of blood viral levels, rather than a review of every patient's individual test results from year to year. The latter, he says, is a "more accurate" depiction of people's response to ART over the long term.

Other key findings in the latest report were that younger people, ages 18 to 29; blacks; injection drug users; and those without private health insurance were almost twice as likely as older people; whites; men who have sex with men; and those with private insurance to not have fully suppressed blood viral levels.

"Our data shows that while tremendous strides have been made in sustaining viral suppression, physicians and other HIV care providers need to be more vigilant in monitoring the viral loads in young people, African-Americans, injection drug users and those who lack health insurance," says Yehia.

Gebo and Yehia next plan to use their study data to develop programs for helping people with HIV adhere to therapy and keep routine appointments with their physicians. The team also has plans to interview infected people who consistently adhered to ART and medical care, and those who did not, to better understand the reasons behind successful and failed attempts to sustain and tightly control the disease.

Currently, there are more than 34 million people in the world living with HIV, including an estimated 1,178,000 in the United States and 23,000 in the state of Maryland.

###

Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

Thanks to Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions 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/121916/HIV_suppression_not_as_good_as_previously_thought__largest_study_of_viral_load_blood_tests_show

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Monday, July 23, 2012

101 ways to feel happy on a daily basis | Hang The Bankers | He ...

Do you want to feel happy ? or even happier ? on a daily basis?

The simple solution is dipping into these 101 quick, easy and free ways to make you feel happy right now. They?ll help you get the big picture on how you can actively seek happiness and start to feel happier every day.

Once you?ve got started you can add more ideas of your own to make sure you get your daily dose of happiness. Life?s too short to be miserable and there are infinite ways to feel happy, it?s just a case of finding out what makes you feel instantly happy and taking a moment to enjoy those things every day.

I?ve read enough self-help and personal development books to fill a couple of tea chests, and I?ve traveled all over the world in search of happiness and fulfillment so you don?t have to.

In the long term living a life which is in tune with your values, doing work you?re passionate about and surrounding yourself with inspiring people will help increase your happiness.

But in the short term it?s about doing small things to please yourself, choosing activities that raise your happiness levels slowly but surely then keeping them there by repeating the process regularly.

Here?s the most important stuff you need to do to live in the moment and feel happier every day in one quick list:

  1. Smile.
  2. Connect with nature.
  3. Surround yourself with positive people?in person or online.
  4. Do something you?ve always enjoyed.
  5. Do something you?ve never done before but have always wanted to try.
  6. Learn something new.
  7. Smell something that makes you happy: a mandarin, your lover?s?perfume, chocolate, you decide.
  8. Reward yourself?for your good habits.
  9. Eat something that makes you happy, but not too much if it?s fattening.
  10. Spend time with a good friend.
  11. Touch something that makes you happy: a cat, velvet, the bark of a?tree? Take time to notice.
  12. Don?t worry now, worry later.
  13. Say, or sing, something that makes you happy.
  14. Challenge yourself, I dare you.
  15. Look at something that makes you happy.
  16. Stop?procrastinating, do something.
  17. Take a small step towards your goal.
  18. Congratulate yourself.
  19. Tell someone you love them.
  20. Do a good deed.
  21. Face?your fears.
  22. Read a book you love.
  23. Get outside.
  24. Spend time with inspiring people or read about someone who inspires you.
  25. Clear out your junk, literally.
  26. Let go of negative memories.
  27. Dwell on positive things?from your past.
  28. Be creative.
  29. Dare yourself to do something.
  30. Give someone an unexpected gift.
  31. Change your habits just this once, do something unexpected.
  32. Watch the sunset.
  33. Get up for sunrise.
  34. Open a savings account.
  35. Be active.
  36. Plan for success.
  37. Eat something healthy.
  38. Trust your instincts.
  39. Follow your passion.
  40. Throw a party, or plan to soon.
  41. Avoid drama queens and energy suckers, you know who they are.
  42. Write stuff down, keep a diary.
  43. Set a goal.
  44. Clean your house, bit by bit.
  45. Say ?no?.
  46. Spend a day alone.
  47. Devote a day to family.
  48. Pick up the phone and call someone you haven?t spoken to for a while.
  49. Wear your favourite outfit.
  50. Be present.
  51. Go for a bike ride.
  52. Do something you loved as a kid that you haven?t done for?years.
  53. Forgive someone, especially yourself.
  54. Go slow.
  55. Have a meal somewhere different:?try a picnic.
  56. Avoid advertisements.
  57. Pick a bunch of flowers and put them in your house.
  58. Ban all media for the day.
  59. Let something slide.
  60. Display a colorful fruit bowl and eat one or two pieces a day.
  61. Be romantic.
  62. Play a game: try Uno or Monopoly with the kids?and chess or poker with your friends.
  63. Make a smoothie.
  64. Have a siesta.
  65. Do something you?ve been putting off.
  66. Dream big.
  67. Start small.
  68. Seek out supportive and like-minded people.
  69. Understand that all things come to an end.
  70. Feed the ducks.
  71. Persevere: pick up something you gave up on.
  72. Start a new habit, a good one.
  73. Look at yourself in the mirror, pick what you like best and flaunt it.
  74. Seek sensuous activities and enjoy them.
  75. Look around for funny things and have a laugh.
  76. Rest up.
  77. Change your routine.
  78. Take a photo, and look back at old ones.
  79. Stretch your body.
  80. Meditate.
  81. Write a mantra.
  82. Focus.
  83. Don?t buy something ? and see if you miss it. Put the cash in a savings?account instead.
  84. Notice what makes you happy and use it in sad times.
  85. Ignore people who annoy you, stop being with them.
  86. Play hide and seek with some kids.
  87. Put a picture of something you want on your wall.
  88. Tell someone your dreams.
  89. Love yourself.
  90. Be grateful.
  91. Visualise.
  92. Unblock.
  93. Use your brain: try a crossword or sudoku.
  94. Make a good choice.
  95. Acknowledge your feelings.
  96. Go on a journey, long or short.
  97. Talk to someone you wouldn?t normally connect with.
  98. Be grateful?for life.
  99. Write a poem.
  100. Teach someone something you know well.
  101. Choose to be happy every day.

?

If you haven?t already had your happy fix today, or if you want to?feel even happier, try these 101 quick, simple ideas. But maybe not?all on the same day.

What makes you instantly happy?

happy colour in meadow

Source:?http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/101-ways-to-feel-happy-on-a-daily-basis.html

Source: http://www.hangthebankers.com/101-ways-to-feel-happy-on-a-daily-basis/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=101-ways-to-feel-happy-on-a-daily-basis

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