Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda speaks during a debate by 10-party leaders for the upcoming lower house elections, in Tokyo Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. Japan's parliamentary election is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 16. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda speaks during a debate by 10-party leaders for the upcoming lower house elections, in Tokyo Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. Japan's parliamentary election is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 16. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
TOKYO (AP) ? Japan unleashed yet another barrage of stimulus at its stagnant economy on Friday as debate over how to revive growth heated up ahead of a general election widely expected to deal a severe blow to the ruling Democratic Party.
Fresh data for October showed an uptick in industrial output from the month before, the first increase in four months, but little else in the way of encouragement.
The opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which is pushing for more aggressive action to spur growth, is widely expected to make major gains in a Dec. 16 general election.
The latest stimulus package approved by the Japanese Cabinet, totaling 880.3 billion yen ($10.7 billion), is earmarked mainly for spending on social programs, employment creation and support for small and medium-size enterprises. It is expected to add 0.2 percent to Japan's economic growth rate and to help create about 80,000 jobs, the Cabinet said.
The total size is not enough to really boost GDP, especially for early next year," said Junko Nishioka, an economist at RBS Japan Securities. "It is not enough to change the mood of business activity."
The economy shrank an annualized 3.5 percent in July-September, and many economists say they expect a further contraction in the current quarter, which would land Japan in its fifth recession in 15 years.
LDP leader Shinzo Abe contends much stronger action is needed to help pull the economy out of the doldrums and has urged that the central bank move more aggressively to end deflation, which has hindered growth for much of the past two decades.
Abe and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda were due to face off later Friday in a policy debate. Even if Noda's party does lose its parliamentary majority in the election, the LDP would likely have to forge a coalition in order to take power.
Both parties have pushed the Bank of Japan for stronger action to boost growth, with Abe urging that the central bank be held responsible for meeting an inflation target of at least 2 percent. Such calls worry many in Japan who fear the LDP might undermine the central bank's autonomy and further erode the country's already weakening fiscal health.
Industrial output rose 1.8 percent in October from September, though it fell 4.3 percent from a year earlier. Consumer prices were flat at 0 percent, but that was an improvement over the previous month's minus 0.1 percent.
Still, the better-than-expected industrial production data suggest the downturn could be bottoming out late this year, helped by a stronger U.S. economy, said Nishioka of RBS Japan.
"The main driver of the recovery is overseas demand, though there is still a downside risk from China," she said.
October brought no improvement in labor conditions, with unemployment unchanged at 4.2 percent and the ratio of jobs available falling to 80 per 100 jobseekers from 81 the month before.
Tensions over a territorial dispute with China have bitten into exports that already were limping due to weak global growth and the prolonged strength of the Japanese yen against other currencies, which makes them relatively expensive in overseas markets.
Meanwhile, the consumer demand that is a major driver of growth has remained anemic: Retail sales fell 1.2 percent in October from a year earlier, the government reported Thursday. A slight improvement in seasonally adjusted terms was mainly due to rising prices for food and energy, thanks to rising electricity rates and gas prices.
Weak spending on cars and consumer appliances suggests consumer sentiment is weakening due to worries over job prospects, Capital Economics said in a research note. It argued in favor of longer-term structural reforms to nurture growth, given Japan's massive government debt, which is more than twice the country's gross domestic product.
"Although this is an age-old tactic for winning votes, we think it won't do Japan any favors in the medium term," it said. Growth is becoming increasingly reliant on government support. Further stimulus could reduce the private sector's ability to pick up the slack in the future."
To finance the stimulus package, the government is dipping into its reserve fund. The government released a smaller package of 422.6 billion yen ($5.1 billion) in October in an effort to stave off recession.
Tiny algae shed light on photosynthesis as a dynamic propertyPublic release date: 28-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Gilbert degilbert@lbl.gov 925-296-5643 DOE/Joint Genome Institute
One of the first chemical reactions children learn is the recipe for photosynthesis, combining carbon dioxide, water and solar energy to produce organic compounds. Many of the world's most important photosynthetic eukaryotes such as plants did not develop the ability to combine these ingredients themselves. Rather, they got their light-harnessing organelles -- chloroplasts -- indirectly by stealing them from other organisms. In some instances, this has resulted in algae with multiple, distinct genomes, the evolutionary equivalent of a "turducken*."
Chloroplasts originally evolved from photosynthetic bacteria by primary endosymbiosis, in which a bacterium or other prokaryote is engulfed by a eukaryotic host. The chloroplasts of red and green algae have subsequently come to reside within other, previously non-photosynthetic eukaryotes by secondary endosymbiosis. Such events have contributed to the global diversity of photosynthetic organisms that play a crucial role in regulating and maintaining the global carbon cycle. In most organisms that acquired photosynthesis by this mechanism, the nucleus from the ingested algal cell has disappeared, but in some cases it persists as a residual organelle known as a nucleomorph. Such organisms have four distinct genomes.
To better understand the process of secondary endosymbiosis and why nucleomorphs persist in some organisms, an international team composed of 73 researchers at 27 institutions, including the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), collaborated to sequence and analyze the genomes and transcriptomes (the expressed genes) of two tiny algae. The team led by John Archibald of Canada's Dalhousie University published their findings on the algae Bigelowellia natans and Guillardia theta online November 29, 2012 in Nature.
Archibald compared these algae to Russian nesting dolls with "sophisticated sub-cellular protein-targeting machinery" and four genomes derived from the two eukaryotes that merged over time. Approximately 50 percent of the genes in both genomes are 'unique' with no obvious counterpart in other organisms," he added. "This indicates just how different they are from characterized species."
DOE JGI Fungal Genomics Program head Igor Grigoriev called B. natans and G. theta "living fossils" because of the remnant nucleomorph. He added that algae are relevant to the Department of Energy Office of Science research portfolio for their potential applications in the fields of bioenergy and environment, noting that the DOE JGI has published over 75 percent of the publicly available algal genomes. "Iterations of endosymbiosis have led to a global diversity of these primary producers. Sequencing these two algae, the first cryptophyte and the first chlorarachniophyte sequenced, helped us to fill in the gaps in the Eukaryotic Tree of Life, and obtain additional references for better understanding of eukaryotic evolution."
Archibald said that "G. theta and B. natans both possess a surprisingly complex suite of enzymes involved in carbon metabolism, and thus represent a useful resource for scientists engaged in both basic and applied research, including photosynthesis, sub-cellular trafficking and biofuels development."
The DOE JGI sequenced the genomes of B. natans (95 million nucleotides or bases: Mb) and G. theta (87 Mb) from single cell isolates provided by Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences as part of the 2007 Community Sequencing Program portfolio. In addition, the transcriptomes were sequenced separately by the National Center for Genome Resources in New Mexico. Among the team's findings is an answer to the question of why nucleomorphs still exist.
"The reason for the persistence of nucleomorphs in both organisms appears to be surprisingly simple: they are no longer able to transfer their DNA to the host cell nucleus by the process of endosymbiotic gene transfer," said Archibald. Unlike most other secondarily photosynthetic eukaryotes in which the endosymbiont's genetic matter has completely migrated over to the host, in cryptophytes and chlorarachniophytes the nucleus and chloroplast from the engulfed algae remain partitioned off from the host cell. "As a consequence," he added," genetic and biochemical mosaicism is rampant in G. theta and B. natans."
Both researchers highlighted the unexpected finding of alternative splicing in B. natans. Grigoriev noted that the phenomenon is one typical for higher eukaryotes, and Archibald added that the levels "greatly exceed that seen in the model plant Arabidopsis and on par with the human cerebral cortex, unprecedented and truly remarkable for a unicellular organism. This challenges the paradigm that complex alternative splicing is a phenomenon limited to sophisticated multicellular organisms."
"The evolution of chloroplasts, the photosynthetic compartments of plants and algal cells, is complex but has had a profound effect on our planet," said Chris Howe, Professor of Plant and Microbial Biochemistry at Cambridge University in England. "This paper gives us fascinating insights into how host and nucleomorph genomes have been remodeled during evolution. As well as providing a goldmine of information on the general biology of these organisms, the paper shows us that the nucleomorph genomes have probably persisted simply because the mechanism for transfer of genes to the nucleus was closed off, rather than because nucleomorphs had to be retained as separate entities. The paper also shows us that the evolutionary history of the nucleomorph-containing organisms was even more complex than we thought, with evidence for genes from many different sources in their nuclei. Overall, it has provided important insights into the fundamental processes of cell symbiosis and genome reshaping that have produced some of the most important organisms we see today."
###
*a seasonal dish that consists of a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck, which itself is stuffed into a deboned turkey.
The U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, supported by the DOE Office of Science, is committed to advancing genomics in support of DOE missions related to clean energy generation and environmental characterization and cleanup. DOE JGI, headquartered in Walnut Creek, Calif., provides integrated high-throughput sequencing and computational analysis that enable systems-based scientific approaches to these challenges. Follow @doe_jgi on Twitter.
DOE's Office of Science is the largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
[ | 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.
Tiny algae shed light on photosynthesis as a dynamic propertyPublic release date: 28-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Gilbert degilbert@lbl.gov 925-296-5643 DOE/Joint Genome Institute
One of the first chemical reactions children learn is the recipe for photosynthesis, combining carbon dioxide, water and solar energy to produce organic compounds. Many of the world's most important photosynthetic eukaryotes such as plants did not develop the ability to combine these ingredients themselves. Rather, they got their light-harnessing organelles -- chloroplasts -- indirectly by stealing them from other organisms. In some instances, this has resulted in algae with multiple, distinct genomes, the evolutionary equivalent of a "turducken*."
Chloroplasts originally evolved from photosynthetic bacteria by primary endosymbiosis, in which a bacterium or other prokaryote is engulfed by a eukaryotic host. The chloroplasts of red and green algae have subsequently come to reside within other, previously non-photosynthetic eukaryotes by secondary endosymbiosis. Such events have contributed to the global diversity of photosynthetic organisms that play a crucial role in regulating and maintaining the global carbon cycle. In most organisms that acquired photosynthesis by this mechanism, the nucleus from the ingested algal cell has disappeared, but in some cases it persists as a residual organelle known as a nucleomorph. Such organisms have four distinct genomes.
To better understand the process of secondary endosymbiosis and why nucleomorphs persist in some organisms, an international team composed of 73 researchers at 27 institutions, including the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), collaborated to sequence and analyze the genomes and transcriptomes (the expressed genes) of two tiny algae. The team led by John Archibald of Canada's Dalhousie University published their findings on the algae Bigelowellia natans and Guillardia theta online November 29, 2012 in Nature.
Archibald compared these algae to Russian nesting dolls with "sophisticated sub-cellular protein-targeting machinery" and four genomes derived from the two eukaryotes that merged over time. Approximately 50 percent of the genes in both genomes are 'unique' with no obvious counterpart in other organisms," he added. "This indicates just how different they are from characterized species."
DOE JGI Fungal Genomics Program head Igor Grigoriev called B. natans and G. theta "living fossils" because of the remnant nucleomorph. He added that algae are relevant to the Department of Energy Office of Science research portfolio for their potential applications in the fields of bioenergy and environment, noting that the DOE JGI has published over 75 percent of the publicly available algal genomes. "Iterations of endosymbiosis have led to a global diversity of these primary producers. Sequencing these two algae, the first cryptophyte and the first chlorarachniophyte sequenced, helped us to fill in the gaps in the Eukaryotic Tree of Life, and obtain additional references for better understanding of eukaryotic evolution."
Archibald said that "G. theta and B. natans both possess a surprisingly complex suite of enzymes involved in carbon metabolism, and thus represent a useful resource for scientists engaged in both basic and applied research, including photosynthesis, sub-cellular trafficking and biofuels development."
The DOE JGI sequenced the genomes of B. natans (95 million nucleotides or bases: Mb) and G. theta (87 Mb) from single cell isolates provided by Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences as part of the 2007 Community Sequencing Program portfolio. In addition, the transcriptomes were sequenced separately by the National Center for Genome Resources in New Mexico. Among the team's findings is an answer to the question of why nucleomorphs still exist.
"The reason for the persistence of nucleomorphs in both organisms appears to be surprisingly simple: they are no longer able to transfer their DNA to the host cell nucleus by the process of endosymbiotic gene transfer," said Archibald. Unlike most other secondarily photosynthetic eukaryotes in which the endosymbiont's genetic matter has completely migrated over to the host, in cryptophytes and chlorarachniophytes the nucleus and chloroplast from the engulfed algae remain partitioned off from the host cell. "As a consequence," he added," genetic and biochemical mosaicism is rampant in G. theta and B. natans."
Both researchers highlighted the unexpected finding of alternative splicing in B. natans. Grigoriev noted that the phenomenon is one typical for higher eukaryotes, and Archibald added that the levels "greatly exceed that seen in the model plant Arabidopsis and on par with the human cerebral cortex, unprecedented and truly remarkable for a unicellular organism. This challenges the paradigm that complex alternative splicing is a phenomenon limited to sophisticated multicellular organisms."
"The evolution of chloroplasts, the photosynthetic compartments of plants and algal cells, is complex but has had a profound effect on our planet," said Chris Howe, Professor of Plant and Microbial Biochemistry at Cambridge University in England. "This paper gives us fascinating insights into how host and nucleomorph genomes have been remodeled during evolution. As well as providing a goldmine of information on the general biology of these organisms, the paper shows us that the nucleomorph genomes have probably persisted simply because the mechanism for transfer of genes to the nucleus was closed off, rather than because nucleomorphs had to be retained as separate entities. The paper also shows us that the evolutionary history of the nucleomorph-containing organisms was even more complex than we thought, with evidence for genes from many different sources in their nuclei. Overall, it has provided important insights into the fundamental processes of cell symbiosis and genome reshaping that have produced some of the most important organisms we see today."
###
*a seasonal dish that consists of a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck, which itself is stuffed into a deboned turkey.
The U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, supported by the DOE Office of Science, is committed to advancing genomics in support of DOE missions related to clean energy generation and environmental characterization and cleanup. DOE JGI, headquartered in Walnut Creek, Calif., provides integrated high-throughput sequencing and computational analysis that enable systems-based scientific approaches to these challenges. Follow @doe_jgi on Twitter.
DOE's Office of Science is the largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
[ | 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.
DOHA, Qatar - A court in Qatar sentenced a poet to life in prison on Thursday for incitement to overthrow the government and criticizing the ruling emir, his lawyer said.
In his poetry, Muhammad Ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami praised the Arab Spring revolts that have toppled dictators in four Arab countries since early last year and criticized Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.
Qatar has backed uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world.
'Miscarriage of justice' Ajami, 36, who was not present in court, has been jailed in solitary confinement for almost a year. He has not seen his family during that time, according to his lawyer Nagib al-Naimi.
"This is a tremendous miscarriage of justice," Naimi told Reuters after the verdict, adding that he would appeal.
Ajami faced charges of "inciting the overthrow of the ruling regime", which carries the death penalty. Qatar's penal code provides sentences of five years in prison for criticising the country's ruler.
Qatar, a close U.S. ally and major oil and gas producer in the Gulf with a large American military base, has escaped the unrest engulfing other parts of the Arab world.
Doha finances and hosts the pan-Arab satellite TV network al-Jazeera, which has assiduously covered the Arab revolts, though it gave scant coverage to an uprising last year in neighboring Bahrain - ruled by a related Gulf Arab monarchy.
Self-censorship The Qatari government has backed the armed revolt in Syria, a successful NATO-backed armed uprising in Libya, and street protests that ousted rulers in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.
Wissam Nassar / Pool via Reuters, file
The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani speaks during a visit to the Islamic University in Gaza City on Oct. 23.
But freedom of expression is tightly controlled in the small Gulf state, with self-censorship prevalent among national newspapers and other media outlets. Qatar has no organized political opposition.
In October, Human Rights Watch criticized what it said was a double standard on freedom of expression in Qatar and urged the emir not to approve a draft media law penalising criticism of the Gulf emirate and its neighbors.?
More world stories from NBC News:
Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
?
Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
FILE - In this Dec. 31, 1996 file photo, Dick Clark broadcasts during New Year's festivities from Times Square in New York. ABC is turning its first New Year's Eve without Dick Clark in four decades partly into a celebration of the show biz impresario's life. Clark, who originated the annual ?New Year's Rockin' Eve? special in 1971, died at age 82 in April 18, 2012. Fergie and Jenny McCarthy will be hosts of a two-hour tribute to Clark that will air at 8 p.m. ET on New Year's Eve. ABC said Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012, that Ryan Seacrest will host the countdown show from Times Square, with Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen, Neon Trees, Flo Rida and Pitbull among the musical guests. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)
FILE - In this Dec. 31, 1996 file photo, Dick Clark broadcasts during New Year's festivities from Times Square in New York. ABC is turning its first New Year's Eve without Dick Clark in four decades partly into a celebration of the show biz impresario's life. Clark, who originated the annual ?New Year's Rockin' Eve? special in 1971, died at age 82 in April 18, 2012. Fergie and Jenny McCarthy will be hosts of a two-hour tribute to Clark that will air at 8 p.m. ET on New Year's Eve. ABC said Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012, that Ryan Seacrest will host the countdown show from Times Square, with Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen, Neon Trees, Flo Rida and Pitbull among the musical guests. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)
NEW YORK (AP) ? ABC is turning its first New Year's Eve without Dick Clark in four decades partly into a celebration of the showbiz impresario's life.
Clark, who did the first annual "New Year's Rockin' Eve" special on ABC in 1972, died at age 82 in April. Fergie and Jenny McCarthy will be hosts of a two-hour tribute to Clark that will air at 8 p.m. ET on New Year's Eve.
ABC said Wednesday that Ryan Seacrest will host the countdown show from Times Square, with Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen, Neon Trees, Flo Rida and Pitbull among the musical guests. Seacrest hosted the past few years with Clark making short appearances. A stroke had diminished Clark's communications skills.
Al Green, Helen Reddy and Three Dog Night performed at Clark's first New Year's special.
Rdio's done a pretty decent job at often keeping its desktop and mobile apps updated with fresh features. With that in mind, the streaming service has just pushed out v2.0 of its iOS application, which includes a novel and very sleek design that, as you can see above, brings an all-new navigation bar, as well as the addition of a unified player to make syncing across multiple devices easier and a remote control feature to let folks tinker with other Rdio apps. Of course, this new version (2.0.0, to be precise) is compatible with the usual iOS suspects (iPod touch, iPhone and iPad) -- and, better yet, you can grab the updated app now directly from your Cupertino device or via the source link below.
VIVAlog - Buat kamu yang masih ingin ikut lomba blog "Enjoy Jakarta", kesempatan untuk mengikutinya masih terbuka. Pengiriman blog masih ditunggu hingga tanggal 4 Desember 2012.
Jadi, buat kamu yang punya pengalaman unik dan menarik saat berwisata ke Kota Tua, Ancol, Pulau Seribu, Ragunan, atau juga mungkin sekadar berbelanja ke sejumlah mal, masih bisa menuliskannya lalu diikutkan dalam lomba blog?ini di VIVAlog (platform agregator blog di Portal VIVA.co.id). Lomba ini merupakan kerjasama antara VIVAlog dengan Dinas Pariwisata dan Kebudayaan Pemda DKI Jakarta.
Oh ya, sekadar mengingatkan, di lomba ini kamu dapat mengambil salah satu dari delapan sub tema, yakni Wisata Kuliner,?Wisata Budaya/Heritage,?Wisata Malam,?Wisata Belanja,?Wisata Bahari,?Wisata Liburan,?Wisata Spa, dan?Wisata Golf.
Berdasarkan sub tema itu, kamu bisa mengupas dari berbagai sisi. Misalnya: lokasinya, fasilitasnya, keunikannya, atau aspek lainnya. Agar lebih menarik, jangan lupa sertakan foto-foto destinasi yang kamu pilih.?
Lomba blog ini menyediakan berbagai hadiah menarik: laptop Macbook untuk juara pertama, iPad untuk juara kedua, dan Samsung Galaxy Note untuk juara ketiga.?
Tunggu apa lagi? Silakan klik tautan ini untuk mengikuti lombanya. Untuk?bahan tulisannya, bisa juga diklik di sini.
Belum ada komentar untuk ditampilkan pada artikel ini.
Two years ago, as WND reported, the Obama administration was proceeding with a novel way to finance trillion-dollar budget deficits by forcing IRA and 401(k) holders to buy Treasury bonds by mandating the placement of government-structured annuities in their retirement accounts.
Remarkably, those financial professionals specializing in private retirement savings and the U.S. citizens investing in private retirement plans now face the possibility the Obama administration and its allies on the political left will impose rules and regulations that effectively abolish the private retirement savings and investment markets.
Recent evidence suggests government officials continue to eye the multi-trillion dollar private retirement savings market, including IRAs and 401(k) plans, eyeing the opportunity to redistribute private retirement savings to less affluent Americans and to force the retirement savings out of the private market and into government-controlled programs investing in government-issued debt.
Continue Reading on www.wnd.com ...
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse. Read more.
We don?t want to be too critical; group classes are fun. But when you grow bored of your instructor, it?s easy to get distracted. They might be having an off day or running out of motivation themselves, so just make sure their energy isn?t affecting you. Here are some quick tips to stay motivated all hour long and ward off the day dreaming. Since you are there to work out, keep your eye on the prize and don?t lose that excitement. Focus on the music: While your instructor?s cues are important for staying on tempo, choose your own breaks to focus on the music for motivation. For instance, if your teacher is counting down the reps or repeating the same cue over and over again, take a break from listening to them and open your ears to the lyrics to pump yourself up. Look at others: Your instructor should be demonstrating, but if they aren?t, look at other strong students in class. Sometimes witnessing someone else?s strength will make you step up your game and even correct yourself based on their excellent form. Take note of the advanced women around you and raise your bar a little. Zone in: When boredom strikes, think about the reason you?re there. It helps to concentrate on your trouble areas in class to remind yourself to keep them engaged. There are mirrors everywhere in the studio, so use them to your advantage. Choose one muscle group per class that you want to make a change with and challenge it throughout the entire class. Set a date: Goals are fun. When you grow bored of your teacher and can?t muster the energy to listen anymore, just think about an upcoming event you want to look good at. Having an end goal in mind will help you keep your head in the game and carry your workout to the best of your ability. Stay focused and stay engaged. If you?re truly bored, try a new class! Do you ever come across boring instructors? Share your motivation tips with us!
See the original post here: Group Class: 4 Tips to Follow When Your Instructor Is Boring
If you're stopping by from Ladies' Home Journal, thank you so much for visiting and taking time out of your day to get to know us!
? Here are just a few links that you might find useful and that will help you get to know the site better...
Christmas Ornament Wreath: here's the link to the tutorial to recreate the metallic ornament wreath featured in Ladies' Home Journal?
Holiday Posts: looking for more holiday inspiration? here are all my posts related to holidays, including ideas for home decor, scrapbooking, baking, and creating family memories?
About Sharyn: ?just a bit about me and what this blog is all about?
If you have any questions, writing in the comments section is greatly encouraged. I try to answer all comments and other readers can benefit from your question. You can also reach me through any of the methods on the About Sharyn page. ?
Thank you for stopping by! I hope you enjoy your time at Living Artfully... and if you do, please consider subscribing!
Like children, online marketing platforms too go through growing pains before they come of age. 2012 can be classified as the year social media matured. Admittedly it has grown at an alarming rate since social media officially become a ?baby? in 2004. So what are some of the most influential changes in 2012?
?
Social Media Platforms & Smart Phones
Smart phones and tablets/iPad became a serious contender for any business and presented an opportunity for all marketers. This year, if smart mobile sales are any indication, mobile is here to stay! Even Facebook acknowledged that mobile offers the biggest opportunity and threat to its business. But Facebook countered that by buying Instagram and going all out on its mobile app.
Google+ ? A Social Media Networking Platform?
Several experts including?its creators say?? Google+ is not a social network. According, to Vic Gundotra, Google+ is an upgrade to Google?s existing portfolio. There have been several interesting developments this year with Google Local and Google Events. Experts are awaiting for Google Hangouts to be extended to enterprise.
Smartphones and mobile applications have given rise to the smart shopper. Consumers are extremely adept in searching for customised deals based on their location. There is no one size fits all strategy any more. Customers need to be targeted individually based on their browsing habits and social media engagement.
It is not enough to have a great marketing strategy. Peer recommendations and customer reviews are the future. Statistics?show that?consumers are more inclined to make a purchase that has been recommended by a peer. Your marketing is not just from within the company any more. The most influential marketer is your consumer. In the digital age, the customer holds all the power.
Moving towards Touch Activated Devices
Most electronic devices are now touch activated. Phones, tablets and now laptops. With smart phones and tablets set to overtake PC sales in 2013, the world is going to be touch! Businesses need to gear for this and ensure the websites, applications and other digital marketing material are touch activated.
These are the top influencers of the Social.Local.Mobile revolution in 2012. The 2013 looks to be the year when localised search, smartphones, tablets and mobile applications really take off!
This article is first in a four part series. Next week, we will look at the biggest changes in Facebook and Twitter this year!
?
About Logan Nathan
Social Media Business Consultant | Social.Local.Mobile Marketing-Strategist | Speaker | Trainer
Based in Sydney, Australia, Logan has been an avid & passionate social media user since the advent of Facebook. ?As the Social Media Business Consultant with over 30 years? experience in corporate, SME business, together with running his own organisation for the past eight years. Logan is focused on guiding organisations through the four stages of social media for business ? Education, Strategy, Implementation and On-going Management. If your business needs expert assistance on creating a custom Social Media, Web Presence Optimisation Strategies and Mobile Applications, contact us via?logan@logannathan.com. Logan is also an expert on use of major Social Media sites for Business (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn). He is running a series of customised workshops for companies in Australia and overseas. Contact Logan via?logan@logannathan.com?for more information.
House Majority Leader Pete Silva, R-Nashua, is calling on newly elected State Rep. Stacie Laughton, D-Nashua, to resign her post after "not coming clean" with constituents about her past conviction for credit card fraud, for which she served four months in Belknap County House of Corrections.
That news came over the weekend in a story published by the Laconia Daily Sun. The Daily Sun's Gail Ober, who wrote the story, said that while Laughton's criminal history was well known in Laconia, she was unaware Laughton was running for office in Nashua until after the election results came in.
You might have been unsuccessful to date, in discovering strong and Dez Bryant Jersey trustworthy details about medical health insurance. You have located the correct source of information, no matter if you happen to be seasoned about them or somebody that is simply starting out. In this post, you will discover numerous recommendations and information to help you coupled your way.
When considering a health treatment insurance policy from the boss, be sure to look at any achievable benefits they may possibly offer. Often times, you can find a reduction for being a low-tobacco smoker, savings away from home fitness equipment, or reductions in price for nearby fitness gyms and adventure locations. You may even be entitled to a discount by simply responding to an offered list of questions about your wellness practices.
Is undoubtedly an HMO actually the easiest way to go? This is a hard issue. By having an HMO you possess hardly any from bank account fees however, you possibly do not get to decide on which medical professionals you get to see. Having a PPO you will be able to acquire more of the option but must placed out more cash. Ultimately it all depends about what Dez Bryant Jersey your preferences may be.
When deciding on a health protection plan it is wise to expense the distinct strategies open to you. The program together with the most affordable top quality obligations is not going to generally wind up being the cheapest in the long term. The plan?s details about precisely what is and is not included, exactly what is regarded in-community and out-of-system remedy, as well as its deductible fees will determine how much money you will wind up shelling out long term.
Do all you can to lead a healthy way of living, as this helps make your health insurance costs only feasible. Avoid cigarette smoking, conserve a healthier body weight and prevent careers or actions that will probably trigger injury. Accomplishing this can lead to reduce Dez Bryant Jersey health care insurance costs. Those that smoke, are over weight or participate in unsafe pursuits will probably need medical and should shell out higher health care insurance costs.
Should your medical insurance is substandard and won?t include a doctor?s go to, enable your physician know. When you notify him concerning your current financial predicament he will likely offer you a discount, as keeping you being an affected individual becomes him more cash than if you decide to cease moving as you can?t pay for it.
An excellent medical health insurance hint is always to review your medical health insurance insurance policy, each year. It?s excellent to achieve this simply because you?ll continue to be current and know what your options are. You might also figure out that you?re taken care of for the illness or disease Dez Bryant Jersey that you simply didn?t know you were covered for.
Look for an insurance policy which has constraints in your from bank account expenses, in case of a devastating illness or injuries. Tragic diseases are the most high priced along with your out of budget expenditures can add up easily. If your insurance policy spots a limit in your out of pocket costs, it may have an optimistic effect on your finances.
To conclude, there is a lot Dez Bryant Jersey to discover health care insurance and ideally, you had the ability to stick to without the issue. Just keep to the info which had been provided and you need to both be capable of more solidify what you are already aware or put it on in a manner that you experienced in no way considered before.
Recognized Dez Bryant Jersey Shop presents numerous very affordable Tony Romo Jersey right now with Efficient Shipping and delivery, Risk-free Checkout & Good Customer Service.
The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.
As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.
Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.
Woody Allen once said ?I?m not afraid of death, I just don?t want to be there when it happens.?
There is no way to adequately deal with death.
Despite being the only predictability it always seems to hit? unexpectedly, haphazardly. Inevitable but anarchic, it turns your? stomach inside out, leaving disordered and painful ruminations on your? own existence and those close to you.
The passing of a cancer-stricken uncle earlier this year (in Pakistani parlance, a family friend) is the first time death feels as close as a cold breath.
A celebrated elderly surgeon, dealing with death was part of? Uncle?s business, but at 28 I had barely experienced it, too young to remember grandparents overseas.
Uncle?s wife loved poetry and would invite me to their beachfront? Sydney shire home as a university student. We?d chat about politics? and Pakistan. I?d listen to their globetrotting stories in exotic locations.
Aunty would talk about her next planned ?mushaira? or poetry night? where literary types would gather reciting urdu ghazals and melancholy prose.
A migrant, rising from working class ranks to excel in? medicine? and return to assist the country?s most needy, Uncle adjusted? effortlessly to his new life. Elegant, old fashioned, stern, dapper, organised and razor sharp, he had a pedantic meticulousness in manner? and dress that seemed reminiscent of a colonial drawing room.
Even on his deathbed he retained admirable social etiquette, chatting amiably with visitors, ordering doctors about and even neatly leaving a note on funeral arrangements the day he died.
The couple spoke the same Pakistani-dialect we did and childhood trips across Sydney to their palatial homes opened up a world of what was possible.
As I offered my Aunty condolences and apologies for not being there, moored interstate for work, it struck me how unprepared our generation was in dealing with death, and how far removed we were from the elegance and niceties of Uncle?s generation.
I watched in awe as family and community friends rallied, providing support, arranging a Quranic khatam where friends gathered to pray.
They went to hospital, attended the janaza funeral prayer at the mosque and finally saw the body buried at Rookwood cemetery.
Instead of awkward platitudes their assistance was immediate, anchored within the obligations of tradition and religion that provided ritual to deal with what my friends and I find uncomfortable to even speak about.
Even the notification of death is circumscribed in Islam, to be met with a prayer: Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajion, to God we come from and God we return.
As our lives become longer and more comfortable, as we shut our elderly in homes for remote death, dying is the last taboo, unspoken of and unwelcome, as we struggle to find words to comfort the grieving.
In the world of transient texts, virtual friendships and unanchored individuals with unlimited choice,? I was reminded of the importance of community, family and faith. The all-encompassing reassurances of the frailty of our humanity, that allow pain to be collectively shared and understood.
KIEV (Reuters) - Jailed Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko's trial for tax evasion was adjourned again on Friday until December 18 because the former prime minister, hospitalized for back trouble, could not attend.
Tymoshenko, the main political foe of President Viktor Yanukovich, was sentenced to seven years in prison in October last year on abuse-of-office charges. Her second trial, for alleged tax dodging and embezzlement, was originally meant to commence in April but has been repeatedly postponed.
The 51-year-old denies wrongdoing and says she is being persecuted by Yanukovich in revenge for her role in the 2004 "Orange Revolution" which derailed his first presidential bid.
Tymoshenko has been in a state hospital since May, receiving treatment for back pains. Her health was also harmed, her family says, by an 18-day hunger strike she called off on November 16.
Judge Kostyantyn Sadovsky postponed the trial again.
"The court rules it impossible to consider the case in the absence of the accused, Tymoshenko, and her defense counsel. An adjournment is ordered until December 18," Sadovsky said, according to Interfax news agency on Friday.
The abuse of office charge for which Tymoshenko was jailed stems from a gas deal she brokered with Russia in 2009 as prime minister. The new tax evasion and embezzlement charges relate to events in the 1990s when she ran a major gas trading company.
The European Union has supported Tymoshenko, calling her case an example of selective justice, and shelved agreements on free trade and political association with Ukraine.
(Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by Jason Webb)
ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2012) ? A new targeted drug demonstrated its ability to control metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor, an uncommon and life-threatening form of sarcoma, after the disease had become resistant to all existing therapies, report investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who led the worldwide clinical trial.
The treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumor, or GIST, even in its advanced metastatic stage, has been dramatically improved with two oral targeted drugs -- imatinib (Gleevec) and sunitinib (Sutent). To date, these have represented the only two FDA-approved treatments with the proven ability to control GIST. However, in more than 85 percent of patients, GIST becomes resistant to these drugs after seven years and the disease worsens with fatal results.
The new study, whose results are being published in The Lancet, demonstrated that the oral drug regorafenib, which inhibits several cancer-promoting kinase enzymes, was able to control GIST for nearly four months longer than placebo in patients for whom Gleevec and Sutent were no longer effective, a result that was highly significant statistically.
"When added to best supportive care, regorafenib significantly improves disease control, as measured by progression-free survival time in patients with GIST after progression which represents failure of all other therapies," said George Demetri, MD, of Dana-Farber, principal investigator of this clinical trial.
Demonstrating the aggressive nature of this resistant disease, the study found that tumors objectively grew in less than a month, on average, in GIST patients who were initially randomized to receive a placebo. The study's "cross-over" design made it possible to treat those patients whose tumors grew, and 85 percent of the patients initially on placebo were able to receive regorafenib, which then controlled the disease in these patients as well.
Because of the study's cross-over design, Demetri said, it was not expected to prove that the patients initially randomized to receive regorafenib survived longer -- the researchers would have had to withhold the drug from the placebo patients to demonstrate that difference. "But there is no question that people are living longer" with regorafenib treatment, he said, based on the results of this trial.
An application to have regorafenib approved for use in resistant GIST is under an accelerated review by the Food and Drug Administration, Demetri said.
GIST is a rare form of sarcoma that develops in the gastrointestinal tract, mainly in the stomach and small intestine. GIST is estimated to affect more than 5,000 people per year in the United States and about 8,000 in Europe.
Regorafenib is a novel rationally designed drug manufactured by Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals that was FDA-approved in September 2012 to treat metastatic colon cancer after failure of standard chemotherapy. It blocks several cancer-promoting enzymes called kinases, which spur runaway growth in GIST and other cancers.
The phase 3 international trial involved 199 treatment-resistant GIST patients at 57 hospitals in 176 countries. Of the 199 patients, 133 received a regorafenib pill daily for three weeks followed by a one-week break, while 66 received a matching placebo. The patients were monitored for at least one year after the trial began.
As for other targeted therapies, the drug did not often shrink tumors but controlled the disease for an average of 4.8 months before it progressed, while patients in the placebo group experienced less than one month (0.9 month) before the disease worsened. There was a high rate of adverse effects including high blood pressure, fatigue, diarrhea, and redness, swelling, numbness and peeling of skin on the hands and feet. These side effects were managed by reducing or interrupting the regorafenib treatment, the report said.
A companion report in The Lancet said that the drug had a "modest" benefit in patients with metastatic colon cancer. A commentary by David Cunningham, MD, of the Royal Marsden Hospital in England, said, "In the relatively rare GIST, the case for routine use of this drug in patients following failure of existing treatments is strong."
Demetri added "We know that regorafenib can inhibit many of the mutated proteins and abnormal signals that cause this cancer, and the next step will be to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which this new treatment can control GIST after resistance appears to other 'targeted therapy' drugs for this aggressive malignancy."
The clinical trial was supported, in part, by Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, as well as the Ludwig Center at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
George D Demetri, Peter Reichardt, Yoon-Koo Kang, Jean-Yves Blay, Piotr Rutkowski, Hans Gelderblom, Peter Hohenberger, Michael Leahy, Margaret von Mehren, Heikki Joensuu, Giuseppe Badalamenti, Martin Blackstein, Axel Le Cesne, Patrick Sch?ffski, Robert G Maki, Sebastian Bauer, Binh Bui Nguyen, Jianming Xu, Toshirou Nishida, John Chung, Christian Kappeler, Iris Kuss, Dirk Laurent, Paolo G Casali. Efficacy and safety of regorafenib for advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumours after failure of imatinib and sunitinib (GRID): an international, multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. The Lancet, 2012; DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61857-1
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
The immediate devastation from the disaster at Fukushima's nuclear plants may be over, but lingering radiation still poses a threat to cleanup workers and inspectors. This robot, or rather pair of robots, will go where humans can't (and on four legs, to boot).
The robot pair, called simply the "Quadruped walking robot,"?was designed by Toshiba specifically for this kind of work. The larger, legged robot can go up and down stairs, allowing it to access places that rolling bots cannot.
But rolling is still a useful skill, so it carries a second robot on its back that can go off on its own after being lowered down on a little crane. You can see it in action in this video:
As you can see, the walking bot isn't the quickest. But what matters isn't speed but versatility ? these robots can get anywhere and send back images and radiation readings to their operator.
They're still in the early state of development but worked well enough to show off to the press Wednesday ? what remains is adding more battery life and features like waterproofing and further hardening against radiation and temperature.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC?News Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.
When you put together a bunch of young adults who are all very talented, of course you'll end up with a competition at the end of the year.
Owner:
Game Masters:
This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?The Competition?. Anything posted here will also show up there.
Topic Tags:
Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup. This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "The Competition"
You may edit this first post as you see fit.
?Harry Potter? "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live" ~ Albus Dumbledore
Lucy Knox
Member for 4 years
Post a reply
RolePlayGateway is a site built by a couple roleplayers who wanted to give a little something back to the roleplay community. The site has no intention of earning any profit, and is paid for out of their own pockets.
If you appreciate what they do, feel free to donate your spare change to help feed them on the weekends. After selecting the amount you want to donate from the menu, you can continue by clicking on PayPal logo.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 28-Nov-2012
Share ] 
