At $46.8 million, the University of Michigan's football program was the fifth most profitable in Division I college athletics last year, according to a new report.
The rankings were compiled by BusinessofCollegeSports.com for D-1 football and basketball and are for the 2010-11 season, based on data the schools submit annually to the U.S. Department of Education.
The Wolverines had expenses of $23.5 million and revenue of $70.3 million, which was a net gain of 4 percent, or $1.8 million, over the prior year.
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TOKYO?Japan put on a brave face Wednesday after the U.S. Treasury issued a surprisingly strong reprimand against Tokyo's recent rounds of foreign-exchange intervention to weaken the yen, but the hardening U.S. attitude could seriously undermine further forays into the market in the months ahead.
In its semiannual report on foreign exchange, the U.S. Treasury also repeated its assertion that China's yuan is undervalued but again stopped short of declaring China to be a currency manipulator.
But it was the harsh language toward Japan that came as a surprise to the foreign-exchange market. It also appeared to put Japanese officials on ...
BY TAKASHI NAKAMICHI
TOKYO?Japan put on a brave face Wednesday after the U.S. Treasury issued a surprisingly strong reprimand against Tokyo's recent rounds of foreign-exchange intervention to weaken the yen, but the hardening U.S. attitude could seriously undermine further forays into the market in the months ahead.
In its semiannual report on foreign exchange, the U.S. Treasury also repeated its assertion that China's yuan is undervalued but again stopped short of declaring China to be a currency manipulator.
But it was the harsh language toward Japan that came as a surprise to the foreign-exchange market. It also appeared to put Japanese officials on ...
Adam Neal standing winner while Pittsburgh Penguins setback when Winnipeg Jets 4-1.Roy Neal will be twiddling with these sorts of self confidence, they could nearly view him self credit score.Neal obtained the dog's team-leading Last target of year to get clear an important fasten contest, and Pittsburgh Penguins beat often the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 Ending friday that will make a killing three positive mmorpgs successively initially due to recent November.Neal's game-winning desire came up 21 just a towards other timeframe. Any kind of fishing Evgeni Malkin in a position to slip the main puck towards Neal, of which steadly whip Winnipeg goaltender Ondrej Pavelec due to directly in 1st about the aim."When you, yourself are fiddling with that may certainty and you really are playing with which experts claim point of view, you should create in your mind,In Neal suggested."When I recieve all of the puck in my small keep to, I've met where Let me say. I try to obtain it away from as simple simply because can certainly.Inside
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That appeared to buy your very nice resolution for the enthusiast," Bylsma considered.Otherwise, Winnipeg supporters having a large amount of contributing factor for boo as the Penguins obtained four pursuits within a really 5 minutes of these third stage.Neal's hope begun the actual onslaught, that have Staal in relation to sticking with even on a strength take up for 8:12 combined with Dupuis 40 no time later on. John Kunitz has a two of will help.The loss finished Winnipeg's six-game homestand, including about three mmorpgs for some early evenings. These guys drove 3-2-1 during that length.Typically the Water jets was getting away any 4-0 win over Montreal over Thurs night that includes below wholesale NHL cycling tops.Jets bus Claude Noel specific by some weakness getting ingredient on the manner in which his particular class grinded."I don't think previously it was give good results mentality that had been this challenge,Inch Noel considered.Inside
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Fourteen-year-old Janet was on her way to school in Northern Uganda when she was abducted by rebels in the Lords Resistance Army, a Christian militia known for terrorizing and brutal tactics. The teen migrated to the Congo where she was forced to become a child soldier and wife, bearing a child at 16 before escaping the LRA at age 21. Janet walked countless miles from Southern Sudan, while pregnant and with her 5-year-old, to Gulu Hospital in her homeland and was greeted by women she would soon aspire to be like.
Janet is but one of many child soldiers, orphans and sex slaves who overcame seemly insurmountable obstacles to serve their fellow Ugandans with the help of a Danville-based organization. Established by Danville resident Meg Styles, The Gretta Foundation aims to increase the "global nurseforce" and improve overall health by funding the education of nursing students in war-torn Uganda.
"These crippling nursing shortages where disease was the highest were undermining every global health initiative. Nurses provide 80 percent of all health care around the globe," Styles said. "We thought a simple and impacting way to address it was to provide impoverished people the opportunity to enter the field of nursing through nursing scholarships."
After traveling to 21 schools of nursing and affiliate hospitals and speaking with stakeholders in education, Styles and her associates discovered a huge shortage in capacity and technology within nursing schools. The ratio of professors to students is often one to 100 and nursing associations are often weak or unable to advocate for schemes of service.
At Makerere University in Kampala, only 30 undergraduate students and 10 post-graduate students are admitted every year. Scovia, who heads the university's nursing department, said the small school is still in the process of developing masters and PhD faculty. As a result, the small amount of nurses the school works with experience "brain drain."
"Not only are nurses often so greatly overworked, but they often get paid very, very little and they have few tools to help patients, and this happens in many, many countries," Styles said, adding that Africa has 24 percent of the global disease burden, 3 percent of the health care workforce but only 1 percent of its resources. "Nurses, consequently, migrate out of the profession and go back to villages or migrate out of the country to more industrial areas."
To increase nurse retention and combat disease, Styles established The Gretta Foundation in November 2007 and provided its first scholarship in 2008. The foundation chooses vulnerable scholars to enter Ugandan schools and Ugandan nursing associations, focusing exclusively on in-country education.
"When places like the United States are handling the nursing sources by poaching them from Uganda and other places where they're desperately needed, it has a lasting affect on Africa and it's not sustainable," Styles continued. "We wanted to make sure that anything we did would have the least amount of unintended consequences."
The Foundation's 25 scholars -- eight men and 17 women from Malawi and Uganda -- are bonded to work in country commensurate with each year of assistance. A baccalaureate nursing degree in Uganda takes four years and costs approximately $12,000, though scholars are also provided with a living stipend and money for room, board, food and supplies. The scholars are responding well to the Foundation and are excited about their studies, said Dorothy Nyaburu, an assistant accountant and scholar mentor at International Health Sciences University in Uganda.
"Health workers are few in Uganda and Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. The scholars are making a difference in the community by making use of the skills they have learned on the wards," Nyaburu said, adding that scholars volunteer at hospitals during the holidays.
The extra hands are extremely helpful in Uganda's overcrowded hospitals, many of which routinely have patients spilling out of waiting rooms and active-labor mothers lining the floor of the maternity ward because there aren't enough beds or healthcare workers to tend to them. Nyaburu spoke of a year four nursing student who, during practicum in a maternity ward, helped one mother give birth and had no time to change gloves before the next woman walked in.
"I know it's a challenging career but it's about sacrifice and your heart and what you have for the people," said Doreen, a Gretta scholar. "Helping someone during when someone is sick, it's something great."
Another scholar named Martha spoke excitedly about being able to read and study in an uninterrupted setting. The scholarship, she said, "has really made a difference in my life."
"Not only will (scholars) have superior skills, they'll have management skills, leadership skills. They will be the nurses that will mentor other nurses and become the future of empowering the nurses in their country," Styles said.
The Gretta Foundation -- which is staffed entirely by volunteers and relies on donations to survive -- has also attempted to help increase the capacity of nursing schools through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, but came up short. Styles said her ultimate goal is to "dig deep" in Uganda and then become more globally focused.
"I would want to see that the hospitals and clinics are adequately staffed with nurses, and see the nurses associations empowered," Styles said. "We need millions more nurses around the world, so how far this work can go and what it needs to do is almost limitless."
For more information on The Gretta Foundation, visit www.grettafoundation.org/index.html.
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Japanese mobile gaming firm DeNA has announced an agreement?with Chinese social network Kaixin that will see it extend the reach and visibility of its gaming platform in the country.
The link-up will give the 120 million members of Kaixin ? which is often referred to as China?s Facebook ? greater access to Mobage (DeNA?s mobile gaming site) in China direct from the social network?s mobile app. This?synchronisation?will allow Kaixin users to play games easily (using their existing log-in), while a dedicated button lets them share details of games with friends on the social network.
The latter feature will provide greater visibility for Mobage, in a similar way to the viral effect that Facebook creates through the socialisation of games that its users play.
The partnership will also see Android owning users of Kaixin given greater access to DeNA?s Mobage app, which will be downloadable from within Kaixin?s own mobile app.
According to today?s announcement, the tie-up is aimed at ?deliver[ing] added value to an increasing number of Chinese consumers using Kaixin001 on smartphones?, and it will certainly provide a springboard to increase the profile of the service in China.
As we?ve said before, microblogging is massive in China and ? though this partnership is a significant step forward ? DeNA must be looking for similar agreements with Sina and Tencent to encourage alignment with their popular weibo services, which boast more than 550 combined sign-ups.
DeNA launched Mobage in China in July, as Penn Olson reported, and it subsequently added iOS support alongside its Android offering in the country. It has been actively boosting its mobile links in China, where it also recently collaborated with Alibaba to connect Mobage with Aliyun-based devices.
Aside from China, DeNA is actively expanding its network to other markets, such as ?Europe, where it recently set up a business development team. Its rival in chief GREE is also hatching global ambitions as it continues to?build an international gaming platform?which will be released in 2012.
For those that don?t remember, DeNA is the company that purchased a baseball team in Japan. Yes, it is fair to say that mobile social gaming is a big industry over there.
With a focus on communication, collaboration and accountability, Alan Mulally has led Ford from the brink of bankruptcy to profitability -- without government bailout funds -- and has positioned the automaker for global growth.
In the process, Mulally has become the face of the U.S. auto industry's renaissance, and has earned a spot in the 2011 IndustryWeek Manufacturing Hall of Fame.
In a conversation with IndustryWeek earlier this month, Mulally reflected on his career at Ford and Boeing, and talked about the challenges and opportunities on the horizon for America's No. 2 automaker.
IW: Which of your achievements at Ford make you the proudest?
AM: Well I think I'd start with the products.
We now have arguably one of the finest complete product lines of any vehicle manufacturer worldwide -- and we're serving the customer with a complete lineup of very safe and efficient and wonderful cars and trucks and utilities. Another thing that we all feel very good about is the fact that we are now serving all of our customers around the world -- in the Americas, in Europe, Russia, Asia Pacific, India, China -- we're bringing all of these wonderful Ford products to so many customers around the world. Another one is that we're really creating a strong business. We've been growing. We've paid back the money that we borrowed. We're investing for the future -- we're going to add 12,000 jobs in the United States over the next couple of years, and they're great jobs, great careers. We are fighting for the soul of American manufacturing. We're competing with the best in the world, and we're actually exporting our vehicles now around the world based on our U.S. competitiveness. And the third one would be that we are all so proud to be contributing to a better world. What we are doing on petro and diesel engines and powertrains, on lightweight materials, on electrification, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, all-electric, hydrogen, natural gas -- we really are contributing to a better world. IW: What are the core values and leadership principles that have driven your success at Ford?AM: I'd start with the fundamental principle of people working together.
WASHINGTON -- As Iraq erupted in recent days, Vice President Joe Biden was in constant phone contact with the leaders of the country's dueling sects. He called the Shiite prime minister and the Sunni speaker of the Parliament on Tuesday, and the Kurdish leader on Thursday, urging them to try to resolve the deepening political crisis.
And for the United States, that is where the U.S. intervention in Iraq officially stops.
Sectarian violence and political turmoil in Iraq escalated within days of the U.S. military's withdrawal, but U.S. officials said in interviews that President Barack Obama had no intention of sending troops back into the country, even if it devolved into civil war.
The United States, without troops on the ground or any direct influence over Iraq's affairs, has lost much of its leverage there. And so the latest crisis, a rapid descent into sectarian distrust and hostility that was punctuated by a bombing in Baghdad on Thursday that killed more than 60 people, is being treated in much the same way that the United States would treat any other diplomatic emergency abroad.
Obama, his aides said, is adamant that the United States will not send troops back to Iraq. At Fort Bragg, N.C., on Dec. 14, he told returning troops that he had left Iraq in the hands of the Iraqi people, and in private conversations at the White House, he has told aides that the United States gave Iraqis an opportunity; what they do with that
opportunity is up to them.
Though the president has been heralding the end of the Iraq War as a victory, and a fulfillment of his campaign promise to bring U.S. troops home, the sudden crisis could quickly become a political problem for Obama, foreign policy experts said.
"Right now, Iraq, along with getting Osama bin Laden, succeeding in Libya, and restoring the U.S. reputation in the world, is a clear plus for Obama," said David Rothkopf, a former official in the administration of Bill Clinton and a national security expert. "He kept his promise and got out. But the story could turn on him very rapidly."
For instance, Rothkopf and other national security experts said, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq is swiftly adopting policies that are setting off deep divisions among Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites. If Iraq fragments, if Iran starts to assert more visible influence or if a civil war breaks out, "the president could be blamed," Rothkopf said. "He would be remembered not for leaving Iraq but for how he left it."
Already, Obama is coming under political fire. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said that Obama's decision to pull U.S. troops out had "unraveled."
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KABUL, Afghanistan ? NATO says one of its helicopters has made a forced landing in southern Afghanistan after taking ground fire.
A statement says crew members were unharmed in Saturday's incident in Nahr-e-Saraj district of Helmand province. The chopper was later transported to a coalition base. It did not identify the exact type of aircraft or say to which country's military it belonged.
The coalition relies heavily on helicopters to avoid using roads that are frequently mined by the insurgents.
The Taliban have few dedicated anti-aircraft weapons, but they have destroyed or damaged dozens of planes using automatic rifles and other infantry weapons. In August, the guerrillas shot down a U.S. Chinook transport, killing 30 U.S. special operation troops, a translator and seven Afghan commandos.
Bangalore: With the official release of Microsoft?s new Windows 8 Developer Preview Edition (DPE), a perfect platform for touch screen devices and suitable for the tablets. Many tablets lovers are wondered what would be the price of Windows 8 tablets which has made a buzz in the tablet market from last few months. While there are no tablets launched yet with Windows 8 platform. Many computer manufacturers like Dell, HP, Acer, Sony Lenovo and Asus are working on new Windows 8 tablet but none of them have mentioned the price.
During the official release of Windows 8 DPE, Microsoft showcased the Samsung Windows 8 Tablet. Now Samsung is talking about the plans of launching Windows 8 tablet in the second half of 2012 and it will be the first to launch Windows 8 based tablets. Samsung has also announced the configuration of its new Windows 8 tablet. It has 11.6 inch touch screen with 1.366 x 768 screen resolution, Intel Core i5-2467M 1.6 GHz dual-core processor and 4 GB of RAM. For connectivity it has 3G, WiFi, Ethernet and micro HDMI connector. By seeing all the configuration tech experts has assumed the price would be around $900.
Apple and Android are leaders of the tablet market right now. Apple?s iPad starts its pricing at 29,000 ($299) for the cheapest model and Android tablets that comes with different manufacturer stats its basic model price at 10,000 ($99). Another entry in the tablet world which made a tough competition with the Apple and Android tablets is the Amazon?s Kindle Fire which is for around 13.999 ($199).
There is a lot of talk in the tech world that Windows 8 tablet will be expensive and can be at a price range of $750 to $1500. But comparing the prices of other leading tablets in the market, Microsoft has to come down a lot on the price to compete with Apple and Android based tablets.
LONDON ? Britain's economy grew by a slightly better than anticipated 0.6 percent in the third quarter, after unexpectedly stalling in the previous three month period, official figures showed Thursday.
The 0.1 percent upward revision to the third quarter growth was offset by an equivalent reduction to the previous quarter to show no growth at all.
The Office for National Statistics said the upward revision was largely due to agriculture, construction and services performing better than estimated. Those sectors outweighed the impact of a faltering industrial sector.
The third quarter rise was the highest since the third quarter of 2010, when the British economy also grew by 0.6 percent but analysts aren't getting too carried away.
Britain's economy remains threatened by the debt crisis in Europe, rising unemployment and weak domestic growth, and the Bank of England has forecast little or no growth over the next few quarters.
"The underlying trend is very clearly one of an economy that is struggling in the face of what seems to be an ever-growing list of headwinds," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at financial services information company Markit.
The Conservative-led government has staked its reputation on a strategy of cutting costs and jobs in the public sector while trying to boost private sector growth. Britain's unemployment rate is now 8.3 percent, up 0.4 percent on the quarter and at its highest level since 1996.
Influential credit ratings agency Moody's warned this week that the U.K.'s cherished triple A credit rating is at risk from both a weak domestic economy and the financial crisis in the eurozone. It warned that the country's deficit "has eroded its ability to absorb further macroeconomic or fiscal shocks without rating implications."
More than other drugs, injected meth is associated with an increased risk of attempted suicide Public release date: 22-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Stephanie Berger sb2247@columbia.edu 212-305-4372 Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Study shows suicide prevention efforts should be key part of substance abuse treatment programs
December 22, 2011 -- The dire physical and mental health effects of injecting methamphetamine are well known, but there's been little research about suicidal behavior and injecting meth. In a recent study, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the University of British Columbia found that drug users who inject methamphetamine had an 80% greater risk of attempting suicide than drug users who inject other substances.
Although the causal pathway between injecting methamphetamine and suicidal behavior requires further investigation, study authors suggest that it likely involves a combination of neurobiological, social, and structural mechanisms, at least in the population studied.
The study results are published in the December issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
"Compared to other injection drug users, it is possible that methamphetamine users are more isolated and have poorer social support systems," said lead author Brandon Marshall, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the Mailman School of Public Health and research coordinator for the Urban Health Research Initiative in British Colombia. "The high rate of attempted suicide observed in this study suggests that suicide prevention efforts should be an integral part of substance abuse treatment programs," said Dr. Marshall. "In addition, people who inject methamphetamine but are not in treatment would likely benefit from improved suicide risk assessment and other mental health support services within health care settings."
The Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study is part of the ongoing British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS' Urban Health Research Initiative, which focuses on the effects of substance use, infectious diseases, and the urban environment on the health of urban populations. Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is known as a center for illicit drug use, and fatalities from drug overdoses and drug-related violence are common. A large outbreak of HIV infection reported there in 1997 was among the fastest spreading HIV epidemics in the developed world.
Participation in the seven-year study, which ended in May 2008, was through word of mouth, street outreach, and referrals and included an interviewer-administered questionnaire on sociodemographic characteristics, drug use, treatment utilization, and HIV risk behaviors. The researchers evaluated 1,873 participants whose median age was 31, while 36.2% of participants were female, and 32.1% were of Aboriginal ancestry. In total, 8% percent of study participants reported a suicide attempt.
"This is one of North America's largest cohorts of injection drug users, and the research is among the first longitudinal studies to examine attempts of suicide by injection drug users," said Dr. Marshall. "Most of these 5,000 users are concentrated in a very small neighborhood, making it a logical environment for this type of study. Because our study is one of the main points of access to health care for this population, this is a very well utilized study with a high rate of follow-up."
Dr. Marshall and colleagues also discovered that infrequent methamphetamine injection was a predictor of attempting suicide, while frequent methamphetamine injection was associated with the greatest risk of attempting suicide.
###
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
About Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Founded in 1922 as one of the first three public health academies in the nation, Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health issues affecting New Yorkers, the nation and the world. The Mailman School is the third largest recipient of NIH grants among schools of public health. Its over 300 multi-disciplinary faculty members work in more than 100 countries around the world, addressing such issues as preventing infectious and chronic diseases, environmental health, maternal and child health, health policy, climate change & health, and public health preparedness. It is a leader in public health education with over 1,000 graduate students from more than 40 nations pursuing a variety of master's and doctoral degree programs. The Mailman School is also home to numerous world-renowned research centers including the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP), the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, and the Center for Infection and Immunity. For more information, please visit www.mailman.columbia.edu
About the University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is one of North America's largest public research and teaching institutions, and one of only two Canadian institutions consistently ranked among the world's 40 best universities. Surrounded by the beauty of the Canadian West, it is a place that inspires bold, new ways of thinking that have helped make it a national leader in areas as diverse as community service learning, sustainability and research commercialization. UBC offers more than 55,000 students a range of innovative programs and attracts $550 million per year in research funding from government, non-profit organizations and industry through more than 7,000 grants.
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
More than other drugs, injected meth is associated with an increased risk of attempted suicide Public release date: 22-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Stephanie Berger sb2247@columbia.edu 212-305-4372 Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Study shows suicide prevention efforts should be key part of substance abuse treatment programs
December 22, 2011 -- The dire physical and mental health effects of injecting methamphetamine are well known, but there's been little research about suicidal behavior and injecting meth. In a recent study, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the University of British Columbia found that drug users who inject methamphetamine had an 80% greater risk of attempting suicide than drug users who inject other substances.
Although the causal pathway between injecting methamphetamine and suicidal behavior requires further investigation, study authors suggest that it likely involves a combination of neurobiological, social, and structural mechanisms, at least in the population studied.
The study results are published in the December issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
"Compared to other injection drug users, it is possible that methamphetamine users are more isolated and have poorer social support systems," said lead author Brandon Marshall, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the Mailman School of Public Health and research coordinator for the Urban Health Research Initiative in British Colombia. "The high rate of attempted suicide observed in this study suggests that suicide prevention efforts should be an integral part of substance abuse treatment programs," said Dr. Marshall. "In addition, people who inject methamphetamine but are not in treatment would likely benefit from improved suicide risk assessment and other mental health support services within health care settings."
The Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study is part of the ongoing British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS' Urban Health Research Initiative, which focuses on the effects of substance use, infectious diseases, and the urban environment on the health of urban populations. Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is known as a center for illicit drug use, and fatalities from drug overdoses and drug-related violence are common. A large outbreak of HIV infection reported there in 1997 was among the fastest spreading HIV epidemics in the developed world.
Participation in the seven-year study, which ended in May 2008, was through word of mouth, street outreach, and referrals and included an interviewer-administered questionnaire on sociodemographic characteristics, drug use, treatment utilization, and HIV risk behaviors. The researchers evaluated 1,873 participants whose median age was 31, while 36.2% of participants were female, and 32.1% were of Aboriginal ancestry. In total, 8% percent of study participants reported a suicide attempt.
"This is one of North America's largest cohorts of injection drug users, and the research is among the first longitudinal studies to examine attempts of suicide by injection drug users," said Dr. Marshall. "Most of these 5,000 users are concentrated in a very small neighborhood, making it a logical environment for this type of study. Because our study is one of the main points of access to health care for this population, this is a very well utilized study with a high rate of follow-up."
Dr. Marshall and colleagues also discovered that infrequent methamphetamine injection was a predictor of attempting suicide, while frequent methamphetamine injection was associated with the greatest risk of attempting suicide.
###
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
About Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Founded in 1922 as one of the first three public health academies in the nation, Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health issues affecting New Yorkers, the nation and the world. The Mailman School is the third largest recipient of NIH grants among schools of public health. Its over 300 multi-disciplinary faculty members work in more than 100 countries around the world, addressing such issues as preventing infectious and chronic diseases, environmental health, maternal and child health, health policy, climate change & health, and public health preparedness. It is a leader in public health education with over 1,000 graduate students from more than 40 nations pursuing a variety of master's and doctoral degree programs. The Mailman School is also home to numerous world-renowned research centers including the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP), the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, and the Center for Infection and Immunity. For more information, please visit www.mailman.columbia.edu
About the University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is one of North America's largest public research and teaching institutions, and one of only two Canadian institutions consistently ranked among the world's 40 best universities. Surrounded by the beauty of the Canadian West, it is a place that inspires bold, new ways of thinking that have helped make it a national leader in areas as diverse as community service learning, sustainability and research commercialization. UBC offers more than 55,000 students a range of innovative programs and attracts $550 million per year in research funding from government, non-profit organizations and industry through more than 7,000 grants.
[ | 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.
In case the title of "Spartacus: Vengeance" wasn't already a big enough tipoff, the latest trailer for the Starz series hammers home the point that the new season will be all about revenge.
The vengeance-seeking isn't completely on the slaves' side, though: The 90-second teaser opens with Gaius Claudius Glaber (Craig Parker) discussing the losses Rome has suffered to "this festering disease of rebellion," and he later vows to "kill them all."
Spartacus (Liam McIntyre), of course, has his own ideas about that and is vowing to gather an army of slaves to make the republic bleed. The trailer also features the usual array of well-choreographed and gruesome fight scenes, including one that ends with a gladiator having his entire face sliced off.
Also, Lucy Lawless shows off some extremely convincing crazy eyes as the not-dead Lucretia. Considering what she's been through, Lucretia is probably entitled to a little madness.
"Spartacus: Vengeance" debuts Friday, Jan. 27 on Starz. What do you think of the new teaser?
It's year-in-review time! I love this time of year because all of these lists invariably wind up making me feel like I've wasted another 12 months of this all-too-short existence (and who doesn't love that?) or reinforce the notion that everyone in the world is an idiot. This year's list of most searched-for terms does the latter. More »
The ruling African National Congress party has suspended its youth league leader Julius Malema for hate speech, but his career is far from over.?
For a while, he strode South Africa like a colossus. He was Julius Malema, the ruling African National Congress?s Youth League leader, and if he didn?t like you, he?d tell you to ?jump.?
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But last month, the ANC suspended Mr. Malema from the party for undermining party leadership and for denouncing the Botswanan government of President Ian Khama, in conflict with ANC policies. And Malema had been taken to the ANC?s disciplinary panel before. In May 2010, he was fined 10,000 South African rand (about $1,200) and forced to take anger-management classes after he criticized President Jacob Zuma. (Malema is currently still able to speak at ANC events until the ANC's internal appeal process ends, a fact of some horrified fascination for some South Africans, who thought that perhaps the suspension decision had closed the door on Malema.)
It is this very intemperance in public speaking that explains South Africa?s fascination with this not-so-young youth leader ? he is 30. How in the world, many South Africans wonder, did this young man make it into politics in the first place?
The short answer to that question is that Malema rose to prominence as the ANCYL?s leader. Together with the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the ANCYL endorsed Jacob Zuma to replace President Thabo Mbeki as head of the ANC. Having installed Zuma in power, Malema then set his eyes on changing ANC policy on everything from the ownership of farmland to the nationalization of mines, and anyone who disagreed with him was likely to be branded a traitor, or worse.
In April 2010, Malema kicked out a BBC journalist, Jonah Fisher, from a press conference at the ANC?s headquarters. After Malema had railed against rich, selfish people living in Johannesburg?s posh Sandton neighborhood, Mr. Fisher had pointed out that Malema himself lived in Sandton. Malema expelled Fisher, calling him a ?bloody agent.?
I know for a fact that there are a lot of romance roleplays out there right now. Most of them, however, have to do with fantasy and situations that include mythical happenings. While I do enjoy these, at this moment I'm not interested in something like that.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm looking for a slice-of-life romantic 1x1 roleplay. I have several ideas which you can see below, though I'm not limiting it to only those choices. Since I myself am female and prefer writing for female characters, I'd like for someone, regardless of their gender, who will play a male character. Obviously this person should be comfortable with romance at its finest and should be an adept writer in general.
If you're interested, please contact me either through this topic or by personal message. Thanks!
The following are my ideas. I'm keeping them brief so not to limit their potentials. HIGHSCHOOL RELATED childhood friends rivals rich boy and maid/rich girl and butler rich boy and poor girl friends with benefits girl pretending to be a guy in an all boys academy chef and chef's assistant arranged marriage boss and employee
I'm also open to roleplays that are based off of mangas/animes/movies/TV shows.
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Apple's Siri voice-recognizing intelligent agent has been one of the key drivers of iPhone 4S sales, and the industry expects Siri to begin showing up in other products from the company. Now, Google has taken another step toward its own intelligent agent for Android devices, with the purchase of Clever Sense, a company that makes the Alfred personal assistant.
Deal terms have not been made public. Alfred is a personal recommendation agent for restaurants, bars and clubs, available for both iOS and Android. He provides curated recommendations consistent with the user's interests, physical location and current activity. The app learns over time, based on the user's ratings of his suggestions and additional data.
Clever Sense Platform
Alfred uses the Clever Sense Platform, which the company describes as curating "the real world by harvesting and sifting through the vast amount of information on the Web," and then making in-context recommendations, based on time, place, and intent.
The company said the platform consists of two engines, the Extraction Engine and the Serendipity Engine.
The Extraction Engine leverages natural language processing, statistical machine learning, and data mining algorithms to process large amounts of unstructured, crawled data. This engine learns concepts about physical items in the real world, which become the basis for the Interest Graph, and social interactions like check-ins, likes, and ratings are used to enhance and to determine similarities in the Graph.
The Serendipity Engine uses real-time machine learning algorithms and intelligent agent architecture to incorporate a user's anonymous interest profile and contextual factors, such as time, location, intent, or social context, in conjunction with the Graph. This, the company said, helps to determine a user's interests and preferences based on the user's choices in the app, as well as interests indicated via Facebook or Twitter. Clever Sense said that the interest data is anonymous, to ensure privacy.
'Way a Person Talks To a Person'
Alfred has some natural-language recognition ability, but does not have Siri's facility with language, nor can Alfred respond in a virtual conversation. Alfred is also a standalone app, while Siri is integrated with the 4S's address book, calendar and data from other iPhone apps.
While Alfred is designed primarily for bars, restaurants and clubs, the Silicon Valley-based operation, which now becomes part of Google's local services division, has much bigger targets in mind. One possible enhancement is to make recommendations on deals, such as those from Groupon and Living Social. Future targets also include entertainment and other kinds of local activities.
Brad Shimmin, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said the Google acquisition marks another step in reaching a state of interaction with devices that "approximates the way a person talks to a person." This involves intelligent, context-based responses as well as natural-language interaction, he said, adding that he expected Google to integrate more complete language interaction with the Clever Sense platform into "a Siri-like interface."
BEIJING ? China's government has vowed to crack down on the leaders of a revolt in a southern village and investigate local officials over land seizures at the heart of the residents' unhappiness.
The protests in Guangdong province are part of a growing trend of confrontation between Chinese and their government over the seizure of land for business development projects. Residents in Wukan village have complained that their farmland was sold by local officials to developers to build factories without their consent.
Wu Zili, acting mayor of Shanwei city, told reporters Wednesday that strong measures would be taken against Wukan villagers who instigated others to create trouble and damage public property, according to the China News Agency.
The mayor promised to investigate village officials for wrongdoing and to impose a temporary freeze on the development of the village's farmland until a majority of villagers are satisfied with the conditions of the land transfer.
The residents have essentially taken over the fishing village of 20,000 people after officials either fled from earlier protests, absconded with the money from land sales or were fired, according to various accounts.
Problems in Wukan date back to September, when hundreds of villagers angered by the land dispute smashed buildings and clashed with police. In the months that followed, villagers have submitted petitions and sought meetings with higher level officials.
The current unrest started about six days ago when police started taking away key village representatives. Villagers fought back, blockading the roads with tree trunks and barriers to prevent police from entering.
About five days ago, police started blocking roads leading to Wukan and prevented food from being transported in, villagers reached by phone have said.
On Sunday, Xue Jinbo, a man accused of participating in the September land protest, died in police custody, further angering residents, who suspected he was beaten. Chinese media reported that local police and provincial authorities said Xue died of cardiac failure.
With a booming economy, demand for land to build factories and housing complexes has soared. Land disputes have grown apace, becoming one of the leading causes of the tens of thousands of large-scale protests that hit China every year.
Around Wukan village and in much of the rest of Guangdong province, conflicts have been intense because the area is among China's most economically developed, pushing up land prices.
LONDON (Reuters) ? U.S. jobless claims on Thursday fell to a 3-1/2-year low and a survey showed New York factories picked up speed this month, bucking gloomy economic trends set by Europe and Asia.
Stock index futures added to gains after the Labor Department revealed initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped by 19,000 to 366,000 last week, the lowest level since May 2008.
And a business survey of New York factories provided more evidence that the U.S. economy is weathering the festering sovereign debt crisis in Europe, which is starting to crimp growth in emerging trade partners like China.
While the pace of decline in the euro zone's business economy unexpectedly slowed in December, surveys earlier on Thursday confirmed the region is almost certainly stuck in recession.
That leaves the United States as perhaps the only major Western power currently making a significant contribution to global economic growth.
"The data is all very in line with a modestly improving overall economy here in the United States," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital in New Jersey.
"Stability in the U.S. economy is going to be a vital part of stabilizing global GDP. This comes at a very good time."
The New York Federal Reserve's "Empire State" general business conditions index rose to 9.53 from 0.61 the previous month. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a reading of 3.00.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's business activity indicator, another early gauge of private sector activity, is due at 1500 GMT and economists also expect it to rise sharply.
In the euro zone, Markit's flash composite purchasing managers' index (PMI), which corresponds closely with economic growth, rose unexpectedly in December to 47.9 from 47.0 last month.
But it has now lingered below the 50 line that divides growth from contraction for four months.
"(It) reinforces the notion that the euro zone economy is slipping into a mild recession rather than falling off a cliff," said Martin van Vliet, senior economist at ING.
The survey compilers warned against viewing its latest gauge of euro zone business as a turning point, especially since there is still a strong risk the euro zone sovereign debt crisis could spiral out of control.
RESOLUTION NEEDED
EU leaders last week took a historic step towards fiscal union last week, but pressure is building on reluctant euro zone paymaster Germany to take immediate, radical steps to solve the crisis.
A resolution to the crisis is all the more important as its repercussions spread through global economy. China saw its first year-on-year drop in foreign direct investment in 28 months in November.
The HSBC flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index, the earliest indicator of China's industrial activity, rose modestly to 49.0 in December from 47.7 but pointing to a monthly contraction in activity nonetheless.
Most economists gave a cautious welcome to the euro zone PMI data, which measures changes in the activities of thousands of businesses across the euro zone.
"All in all, despite the further pick-up in December, the PMI data still suggest that euro zone real GDP saw a marked contraction in the fourth quarter," said ING's van Vliet.
The Markit Eurozone Composite PMI, which looks at both the manufacturing and services sectors,
Furthermore, only France and Germany were responsible for the upturn in the index, while the euro zone's peripheral economies continued to struggle.
Markit said its data pointed to a quarterly economic decline of 0.6 percent in the euro zone in the final quarter of this year.
That would be twice as deep as the contraction expected by economists in a Reuters poll on Wednesday, which also forecast a 0.2 percent fall in the first three months of the new year.
An escalation of the debt crisis could cause a far steeper contraction next year -- a scenario the Swiss National Bank warned on Thursday could not be ruled out, after holding its exchange rate cap on the franc against the euro for now.
There was one bright note on Thursday. The risk premium on benchmark Spanish bonds fell following a well-received bond auction that raised more than the government had targeted.
(Additional reporting by Aileen Wang and Koh Gui Qing in Beijing, Editing by Ross Finley and Hugh Lawson)
Research suggests secret of creatures? imperviousness to feeling the burn
Web edition : 2:02 pm
When life gives naked mole rats lemons, the wrinkled, buck-toothed rodents probably don?t care. They are impervious to the sting of acid.
But scientists in Berlin are onto the secret of the social rodents? acid insensitivity. Naked mole rats? acid sensors work just fine, but a protein responsible for relaying messages about acid?s presence to the nervous system is easily blocked by the same positively charged hydrogen ions that lend substances acidity, researchers report in the Dec. 16 Science. The discovery may give researchers clues about where to target drugs that could relieve pain associated with inflammation.
?I?ve been trying to figure out this question in mole rats for a number of years, and the answer has been elusive,? says Thomas Park, a neuroscientist at the University of Illinois at Chicago who was not involved in the study.
It was Park who first got Gary Lewin of the Max Delbr?ck Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin interested in studying naked mole rats. Lewin and Ewan St. John Smith, a postdoctoral researcher in Lewin?s lab, led the new research.
Mole rats live in large social groups in burrows underground. The crowded, confined conditions cause carbon dioxide levels to rise to as high as 8 to 10 percent of the air ? a concentration that would cause a person to pass out within five to 10 minutes. High carbon dioxide and low oxygen levels make body tissues acidic, something that is very painful for nearly all mammals. (Inflammation also raises acidity in tissues, producing pain.) If mole rats had not evolved a way to ignore acid the little rodents would be in constant agony, Lewin says.
Most researchers thought the animals? insensitivity to acid probably stemmed from a lack of functional acid sensors in pain nerves, says Harold Zakon, a neurobiologist at the University of Texas at Austin. ?But there?s a little unexpected kick here,? he says.
Naked mole rats do have fully functional acid sensors. ?To our great surprise they are all there and are even more active and easily opened? than similar acid sensors in mice, Lewin says. ?That left us in a bit of a puzzle.?
Usually when sensors detect acid or other substances, nerve cells change their electrical properties, then fire off an electrical message to the rest of the nervous system. The pain nerves in the naked mole rats change their electrical properties but never send the message, the researchers found.
?It?s as if, in the naked mole rat, acid is acting like a local anesthetic,? says Lewin.
The team traced the missing message to a protein called a sodium channel in the pain nerves. Naked mole rats have a slightly different version of the sodium channel ? named Nav1.7 in most mammals and SCN9A in humans ? than most other mammals, except for cave-dwelling microbats, which also live in chemically challenging environments.
The mole rats and bats have three amino acids near the hole of the doughnut-shaped sodium channel that are negatively charged. Those amino acids apparently attract hole-blocking positively charged protons more strongly than the amino acids found in the human and mouse versions of the protein. When the researchers engineered human cells with the naked mole rat version of the sodium channel, the human cells reacted like the mole rat cells do.
If researchers can figure out how to block the same part of the sodium channel in humans, the result could be a painkiller that takes away pain but doesn?t make people groggy the way many analgesics do now, says Geoffrey Woods, a clinical geneticist at the University of Cambridge in England.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on Monday, Dec. 5, 2011, released this image that it says shows a monkey with a surgically attached tube at a biomedical lab in Everett, Wash. Experimental chemicals were continuously infused into its veins through the tube, PETA said a whistleblower alleges.
A multinational?biomedical lab was the focus of a federal complaint filed Monday by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which?said a whistleblower had come forward with images and accounts of?abuse of test monkeys.
PETA urged the federal Animal Plant and Inspection Service to investigate the U.S. headquarters of?Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories, saying it was contacted by "a whistleblower who resigned her position at SNBL in 2010 after working there for several years."?
Shin Nippon's U.S. headquarters, based in Everett, Wash., has yet to respond to msnbc.com's request for comment on the allegations.
Use of animals for testing of new drugs and other medical applications?is allowed in the U.S. but must adhere to the health and safety provisions of the?federal Animal Welfare act.
PETA said the whistleblower had requested anonymity but quoted her as saying that when it came to drawing blood for tests "the monkeys wince, scream, tremble and shake, and try to defend themselves. Eventually, many of the monkeys stop fighting and reacting ? it is like the life is gone from them."
In its complaint that the Animal Welfare Act was violated, PETA?states that the reports by the whistleblower?include:
PETA
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on Monday, Dec. 5, 2011, released this image of a monkey with a bruise allegedly taken at a biomedical lab in Everett, Wash. PETA says a whistleblower alleges monkeys were routinely bruised but not treated for injuries.
"Employees at SNBL used excessive force in their handling of monkeys, particularly when putting monkeys into squeeze cages, wherein a sliding cage wall is pulled forward to restrain the monkey against the front of the cage. Employees would use so much force that monkeys suffered with bloodied noses and bruises to their bodies. Sometimes, the monkeys would suffer broken fingers and toes. Careless workers frequently injured monkeys by slamming the cage doors onto their tails. Some tails would become bent or deformed, and would be left that way, while other tails were broken so badly that they had to be amputated."
"Many studies at SNBL require that blood be drawn from the animals at frequent intervals?generally, at the following time points after the animal receives the test drug: 1 minute, 5 minute, 10 minute, 15 minute, 30 minute, 1 hour, 2 hour, 4 hour, 6 hour, 8 hour, 12 hour, 16 hour, 24 hour, 36 hour, 48 hour, and so on. According to the whistleblower, by the 30 minute mark, the animals' veins would have ruptured and for blood draws past this point, veterinary technicians poke and dig into the arm or leg many times to get blood?resulting in much swelling, redness, and bruising."
"In one set of experiments, monkeys were attached to their cages with a metal tether which was surgically attached to their bodies and, through which ice cold saline solution and test compounds were continuously infused into the monkeys? veins. The monkeys were hooked up in this manner for many months; they would shiver and chatter their teeth non-stop through this time."
PETA also cited fines over the past decade against the lab, as well as an incident where a monkey died when it was left inside its cage while it went through a hot-water cleaning process.
While PETA opposes?any animal testing, even that authorized by the federal law, it pursues?legal action under that law?"to shed light on especially egregious and illegal activity," said PETA's Justin Goodman, who works on lab investigations.
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DarrenHeitner 
29,000 ($299) for the cheapest model and Android tablets that comes with different manufacturer stats its basic model price at ![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vIhMmKpHCTzf0NCmj1570T3GWAGJgsZi9_W3Qh2ZI6KH9974p30g7NmzHpKD0FyWG-1zv98Q4Y4nsdnuV4mqFtMncLGSf4K7IC-6UJzo0=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 22-Dec-2011
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The Daily App Deals post is a round-up of the best app discounts of the day, as well as some notable mentions for ones that are on sale.
Camera ZOOM FX (Android Market) Previously $4.99, now 10?. Camera ZOOM FX for Android is a powerful camera app with optical and digital zoom capability up to 6x. Features include the ability to take pictures through voice activation and post processing straight from your device with over 90 different effects. Get it for 10?.
