Gomes' pinch-hit lifts Red Sox against Blue Jays

BOSTON ? Before Friday night, Jonny Gomes? last appearance in a game was June 23, when he played a complete game in left field in the Red Sox loss in Detroit. He had appeared in just 57 of the Sox? first 82 games this season. So, he?s accustomed to being used sparingly, but also being used in high-leverage, high-pressure situations, coming off the bench to pinch-hit with the game on the line.
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His approach doesn?t change.
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?I?m a grinder. I?m willing to take one off the neck for the team,? Gomes said after the Sox? 7-5 win over the Blue Jays at Fenway Park.
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Gomes didn?t have to take one off the neck this time. Instead, his pinch-hit RBI single with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh inning proved to be the difference in the game.
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Gomes has reached base in seven of 15 plate appearances as a pinch-hitter this season, going 4-for-12 (.333) with a double, two home runs, three RBI, a walks, getting hit by a pitch twice, and scoring five runs.
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With runners in scoring position this season he is now 9-for-28, batting .321, with 13 RBI. He?s at a loss, though, to explain his success in those situations.
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Facing Jays lefty Brett Cecil Friday night, Gomes laced a 3-and-1 fastball into left field.
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?I don?t know,? he said. ?I kind of strive and hope I can get better every day, every month, every year. To tell you the truth, where some of my numbers are succeeding right now, you might have been able to call rock bottom early on in my career, like really bad at it. That just comes with wanting and having to stick in the big leagues. Some of the things I?ve failed at, I?m just kind of turning around now.
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?[Manager] John [Farrell] does a good job of putting us in situations where we can succeed. I don?t hit into many double plays, so that?s really all I was looking to do is get a pitch to elevate. Just kind of a line drive, scared me for a second, but once it got through [into left field], it was all right. Just not ground into a double play, and I have some success against lefties, so it was a good matchup.?
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And, better than taking a ball off his neck?
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?The game still would have been over. We still would have won,? Gomes said with a laugh.

Source: http://www.csnne.com/blog/red-sox-talk/gomes-pinch-hit-single-saves-day

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Researchers Discover Species-Recognition System in Fruit Flies

June 27, 2013 ? A team led by UC San Francisco researchers has discovered a sensory system in the foreleg of the fruit fly that tells male flies whether a potential mate is from a different species. The work addresses a central problem in evolution that is poorly understood: how animals of one species know not to mate with animals of other species.

For the common fruit fly D. melanogaster, the answer lies in the chemoreceptor Gr32a, located on sensory neurons on the male fly's foreleg. "In nature, this sensory system would prevent the creation of hybrids that may not survive or cannot propagate, thereby helping the species preserve its identity," said senior author Nirao M. Shah, MD, PhD, a UCSF associate professor of anatomy.

The work is reported in a paper published online in Cell on June 27, 2013.

Before mating, the researchers found, the male approaches a prospective female and taps her repeatedly on the side with his foreleg. "As he does so, he is using Gr32a to detect, or actually taste, unpleasant-tasting waxy chemicals on the cuticle, or outer skin, of individuals of other species, said co-author Devanand S. Manoli, MD, PhD, a UCSF postdoctoral fellow in anatomy and fellow in child and adolescent psychiatry. "If the prospective mate is not of the same species, and Gr32a is activated, the mating ritual stops right there, even if the male has never encountered a female of another species before."

The researchers also found that if the male fly's Gr32a neurons are activated directly, courtship with other species can be suppressed in these male flies. "These and other findings show that Gr32a neurons are both necessary, in terms of having this taste receptor, and sufficient, in terms of their activity, to prevent males from courting females of other species," said Manoli.

Remarkably, said Shah, Gr32a mediates the rejection of a large range of fruit fly species that last shared a common ancestor with D. melanogaster two to 40 million years ago.

"Indeed, D. melanogaster males lacking Gr32a will attempt to mate with fruit flies of other species even if these species are two to three times larger and look different to the untrained human eye," Shah said. "Of course, these other species reject such mating attempts."

Likewise, when the section of the foreleg with Gr32a neurons is surgically removed, said Manoli, the male will court females of other species. "We also observe this behavior when we remove the forelegs of males in species that are closely related to D. melanogaster," he said, "but not in D. virilis, which is a more distantly related species. It's possible that D. virilis is using a different mechanism to distinguish other species -- we don't know yet."

Another discovery in D. melanogaster, said Shah, is that neurons in the fly's brain, expressing male-specific versions of the gene known as fruitless, "seem to connect up with these Gr32-sensing neurons on the foreleg. So we've begun to delineate not only the sensory pathway but also the central components of the neural circuit that is activated when the male encounters an animal from another species."

Interestingly, said Shah, males use a mechanism that is "similar, but not identical," to inhibit the courting of other males of the same species. "That system involves additional chemoreceptors and neural pathways, which makes sense," he said, "since if you're a male, other males of your own species might be competing with you for food, territory and mates, and so you would be identifying them for different reasons, in different circumstances."

The scientists were surprised to discover that although a D. melanogaster female has neurons that express Gr32a, she does not use them to reject males of other species. "This does make intuitive sense," said Shah. "Males and females have evolved different systems for rejecting potential mates from other species because they have different biological needs for reproduction. Females invest far more energy in generating offspring -- laying eggs, for example, or in mammals, carrying young in the womb. Males generate sperm in large numbers, which is not as energetically expensive."

Manoli noted that other animals may have equivalent mechanisms for distinguishing members of other species, "but these are going to be specific to the ecological niches of those species -- that is, how they function in their environments. Rodents, for example, like flies, primarily use smell to find mates and food, and avoid predators. Some species of fish use electrical impulses. Many primates, including humans, rely on visual and auditory cues."

Yeast are known to use chemosensory mechanisms to not initiate sexual modes of reproduction with other yeast species, said Shah, who cited pioneering research in yeast done by UCSF faculty, including David Julius, PhD and the late Ira Herskowitz, PhD.

For Shah and his team, the next step is to investigate whether other fruit fly species also use Gr32a to tell other species from their own. "We want to see if this system is conserved across related species," he said.

Co-authors of the study are Pu Fan and Osama M. Ahmed of UCSF; Yi Chen of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, UCLA; Neha Agarwal, Sara Kwong, Allen G. Cai, Jeffrey Neitz, PhD, and Adam Renslo, PhD, of UCSF; and Bruce S. Baker, PhD, of HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus, Ashburn, VA.

The study was supported by funds from the China Scholarship Council, HHMI, a NARSAD grant, the UCSF Program for Breakthrough Biomedical Research, the National Science Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Ellison Medical Foundation, the McKnight Foundation for Neuroscience and the Sloan Foundation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/pkVr9nZfxa4/130627124540.htm

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Sharp to form LCD tie-up with China Electronics, license technology

Japan's Sharp Corp, a leading suppler of displays to Apple Inc , said Thursday it will form a $2.9 billion alliance with state-owned China Electronics Corp that includes an agreement by Sharp to license its advanced power-saving IGZO screen technology.

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The new venture will be 92 percent owned by China Electronics, also known as CEC, which supplies equipment to China's military. The venture will set up a an LCD plant with the goal of mass-producing panel displays for televisions, notebook PCs and tablets in 2015.

Joining a $2.9 billion alliance with China Electronics Corp

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Licensing IGZO, or indium gallium zinc oxide displays, fits into a strategy by cash-strapped Sharp to leverage its technology to bolster its finances. Sharp, in December, signed a pact with Qualcomm Inc , selling the U.S. company an equity stake for $120 million and agreeing to develop new screens based on IGZO technology.

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IGZO screens boast power consumption as low as a tenth of conventional LCDs, high resolutions and faster reaction speeds. While an agreement to license the technology to a Chinese military-linked state company may raise eyebrows, Sharp does not exclusively own the technology, only being the first to commercialize it.

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The agreement, which is a revised version of one agreed to with CEC in 2009, may instead represent a retreat by the Chinese company to win access to Sharp's more advanced tenth-generation LCD manufacturing techniques. CEC is planning to build an 8.5 generation facility.

Sharp is the only panel maker in the world to have built a tenth generation factory able to fabricate liquid crystal sandwiched in glass sheets thinner than a credit card that are 3.13 metres long by 2.88 meters wide. Smaller 8.5 generation sheets measure 2.2 metres by 2.5 metres.

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CEC in November blamed deteriorating ties between Japan and China over their territorial spat in the East China Sea for shelving cooperation with Sharp to build a tenth-generation facility. Sharp, which sold a stake in its advanced LCD plant to Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry? last year, says no such agreement ever existed.

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Thursday's deal, including the construction of the 8.5 generation factory in Nanjing, represents one of the highest-profile transactions between a Chinese and Japanese company since tensions flared last year over a chain of disputed islands known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

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A Sharp spokesman declined to say how much in royalties the company expected to receive for the technology transfer. A portion of those proceeds will be used to fund Sharp's 8 percent stake in the joint venture, the spokesman said.

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The new joint-venture will represent a total investment of $2.9 billion for Sharp, which was rescued in October by its banks. To rebuild its business, Sharp has also sought closer ties to Samsung Electronics, selling it a 3 percent stake for $103 million and pledging to supply it with small display screens.

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Reuters

Source: http://tech2.in.com/news/general/sharp-to-form-lcd-tieup-with-china-electronics-license-technology/897722

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Court case stirs debate over Indian child welfare

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) ? The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to leave the ultimate placement of a 3-year-old girl in an American Indian child welfare case to a state court extends the custody dispute and the anguish for both her biological father and the couple who raised her for the first two years of her life.

The divided court ruled Tuesday that federal law doesn't require that Veronica Brown be given back to her Cherokee father but it also doesn't clear her adoptive parents, Matt and Melanie Capobianco, to immediately regain custody of her. They now must wait for a South Carolina court to determine Veronica's final home.

Some children's advocates said the ruling undermines the role that families and communities play in determining the best interests of children in their care, while the Cherokee Nation said the case should have been fully resolved with Veronica firmly in the hands of her biological father under a law passed in 1978 to reduce the high number of Indian children being removed from their homes and by public and private agencies.

"Everything this family has gone through the past two years just to keep his biological child, his baby girl, is more overwhelming than any of us can imagine," said Cherokee Principal Chief Bill John Baker.

The nation's highest court has twice taken up cases regarding the Indian Child Welfare Act, once in 1989 and again on Tuesday. The latest decision doesn't have broad implications, experts say, but reignited discussion over the law meant to keep American Indian children with Native families.

Terry Cross, executive director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association, said the case would apply only in circumstances where an American Indian father does not become involved before the child is born. He said most Indian custody cases aren't contested. Even when they are, the two sides generally come together with a negotiated settlement that benefits the child, he said.

"I think the implementation of the law has been growing stronger over the years because people have learned more about it," he said. "Problem cases have diminished over the years."

Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the court's majority, said the ICWA didn't apply in this case because the biological father never had custody of Veronica and abandoned her before birth. He also said the law doesn't stop non-Native Americans from adopting the child when no other eligible candidates stepped forward but could discourage them.

"A biological Indian father could abandon his child in utero and refuse any support for the birth mother ? perhaps contributing to the mother's decision to put the child up for adoption ? and then could play his ICWA trump card at the eleventh hour to override the mother's decision and the child's best interest," he wrote. "If this were possible, many prospective adoptive parents would surely pause before adopting any child who might possibly qualify as an Indian under the ICWA."

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent that "the anguish this case has caused will only be compounded" by the court's ruling if another change is made in the girl's living arrangements.

The key author of the 1978 law, former U.S. Senator James Abourezk of South Dakota, said Tuesday that he was pleased the court's decision in Veronica's case seemed to be fairly narrow but felt the justices are trying to undermine tribe's rights to govern themselves.

The 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case that affirmed the jurisdiction of tribal courts over adoptions has been applied to hundreds of American Indian custody cases. A member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians had given birth to twins then signed documents allowing a non-Indian couple to adopt the children. The high court found that despite giving birth about 200 miles away from the reservation, the Indian Child Welfare Act still gave tribal courts jurisdiction over the adoption proceeding.

In December, the court denied review of a ruling that allowed a Navajo boy to remain with a non-American Indian family. The lower courts said the boy would have suffered severe distress if removed from his setting. The Navajo Nation had argued that tribal culture must be learned in a Navajo home through ceremonies and being surrounded by the language.

Utah attorney Wesley Hutchins defended a Salt Lake City couple who adopted two half-Navajo children in 2008 after the Navajo Nation challenged it. The tribe argued that the state failed to find an American Indian home for the children or transfer the case to tribal authorities. The Utah Supreme Court ruled in favor of the couple who had vowed to provide a culturally sensitive environment, Hutchins said.

Of Veronica's case, Hutchins said Dusten Brown should have made his wishes to be a parent known earlier and provide financial support to establish interest in raising Veronica.

Baker, the Cherokee principal chief, said the tribe would continue to support Brown through prayers, thoughts and "every available resource."

"Their fight is our fight and we will be there every step of the way," he said.

The National Indian Child Welfare Association has asked communities to join together in prayer Wednesday to support the Brown family and the Indian Child Welfare Act, saying it has resonated personally among families in Indian Country.

Brown invoked the federal law to stop the adoption arranged by Veronica's non-Indian mother when she was pregnant. The Capobianco's were present at Veronica's birth in Oklahoma. Brown had never met his daughter and, after the mother rebuffed his marriage proposal, played no role during the pregnancy and paid no child support after Veronica was born.

But when Brown found out Veronica was going to be adopted, he objected and said the law favored the girl living with him and growing up learning tribal traditions.

South Carolina courts agreed and Brown took Veronica back to Oklahoma at the end of 2011, even though she had lived with the Capobiancos for more than 2 years of her life.

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Associated Press writers Jesse J. Holland in Washington, D.C., and Kristi Eaton in Sioux Falls, S.D., contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/court-case-stirs-debate-over-indian-child-welfare-071303385.html

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Financier Marc Rich dies in Switzerland

GENEVA (AP) ? Marc Rich, the trader known as the "King of Commodities" whose controversial 2001 pardon by President Bill Clinton just hours before he left office unleashed a political firestorm of criticism, died on Wednesday. He was 78.

Rich died of a stroke in a hospital in Lucerne, Switzerland, near to his longtime home, according to the Marc Rich Group. His Israel-based spokesman, Avner Azulay, said Rich would be buried in Israel on Thursday.

Rich fled from the United States to Switzerland in 1983 after he was indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury on more than 50 counts of fraud, racketeering, trading with Iran during the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis and evading more than $48 million in income taxes ? crimes that could have earned him more than 300 years in prison.

Rich remained on the FBI's Most Wanted List, narrowly escaping capture in Finland, Germany, Britain and Jamaica, until Clinton granted him a pardon on Jan. 20, 2001 ? the day he handed over the keys to the White House to George W. Bush.

Rich's pardon catapulted him into the headlines once again.

According to Federal Election Commission records, Rich's ex-wife, songwriter Denise Rich, gave $201,000 in political donations to the Democratic Party in 2000 as lawyers for the fugitive financier pressed the U.S. government to drop the case. Rich's attorneys turned to Clinton when the Justice Department refused to negotiate.

Federal authorities investigated but found no evidence of wrongdoing, while election officials also dismissed a complaint accusing Denise Rich of donating campaign money and furniture to Hillary Clinton in exchange for the pardon. Bill Clinton also denied any wrongdoing and said he acted on advice by prominent legal experts not connected to the trader.

Eric Holder, the current U.S. attorney general, was deputy attorney general to Clinton, and recommended Rich's pardon.

Only weeks later, however, he told the House Government Reform Committee: "Knowing everything that I know now, I would not have recommended to the president that he grant the pardon."

Despite strong diplomatic pressure Switzerland had refused to treat Rich ? a billionaire trader in oil, metals and other commodities ? as a criminal or hand him over to the United States, because it had different tax laws and no embargo against Iran

"In our business we're not political," Rich said in a rare 1992 interview with NBC. "That's just the philosophy of our company."

Rich was born in Antwerp, Belgium, on Dec. 18, 1934. His Jewish family fled from the Nazis to the United States, where Rich went to school and college in New York.

After dropping out of college, Rich went to work for the commodity traders Phillips Brothers, now called Phibro, in New York. He quickly got the knack of trading and in 1967 was sent by the company to work in Madrid, where he met Pincus "Pinky" Green, his future partner.

In 1973, Rich and Green left the company after arguing over the size of their bonuses. They set up Marc Rich and Co., based in the Swiss town of Zug, whose low taxes have made it one of the world's oil trading centers.

Business boomed. Rich specialized in acting as a middle man for purchases in global trouble spots ? such as Iran, apartheid-era South Africa or Cuba and Libya during U.S. trade embargoes.

Rich and Green were the first traders to use short-term purchases, now known as the spot market, to make big money, quickly. Buying large volumes when the price was low, they were able to control the market when prices rose.

In 1983, Rich fled to Switzerland to escape charges against him. In his absence, Rich's companies pleaded guilty to the charges, paying fines of about $130 million.

"It's an unfortunate situation," Rich told NBC. "But the question is, was there crime? And I'm saying I don't think so."

He added that as Marc Rich and Co. was a Swiss company, it was legal for the firm to do business with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's Iran.

Swiss authorities did not consider his alleged crimes grounds for extradition.

Rich worked on making himself popular by becoming a major philanthropist, giving money to the arts and charities in the hope of building good contacts and guarding against extradition. He renounced his U.S. citizenship and became a citizen both of Israel and Spain.

But he earned the hatred of U.S. labor unions during the 1990-92 Ravenswood Aluminum Corp. strike in West Virginia.

His company was a part-owner of Ravenswood Aluminum, whose workers accused Rich of locking 1,500 steelworkers out of the plant when their contract expired and hiring replacement workers without negotiating.

The union won the 20-month labor battle, but not before union members picketed outside Rich's Swiss offices.

Rich had married the former Denise Eisenberg, a New York socialite, in 1966. They divorced in 1992. After that she contributed $450,000 to Clinton's presidential library foundation and more than $100,000 to Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign.

In 1993, Rich sold his own company ? which was then renamed Glencore, now the world's largest commodity trader ? and set up a new firm, Marc Rich and Co. Holding, also based in Zug.

Although a Russian firm, Crown Resources, tried to buy its commodities unit in 2001, the buyout fell through and Rich remained active in the trading business.

After spending several years in Zug, Rich moved to "La Villa Rose" on the shores of Lake Lucerne in nearby Meggen. He also owned property in the swish ski resort of St. Moritz and in Marbella, on the south coast of Spain.

Rich married again, to German-born Gisela Rossi, in 1998. They divorced in 2005. Rich had two daughters, Ilona Schachter-Rich and Danielle Kilstock Rich.

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Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/financier-marc-rich-dies-switzerland-094009342.html

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Scientists discover thriving colonies of microbes in ocean 'plastisphere'

June 27, 2013 ? Scientists have discovered a diverse multitude of microbes colonizing and thriving on flecks of plastic that have polluted the oceans -- a vast new human-made flotilla of microbial communities that they have dubbed the "plastisphere."

In a study recently published online in Environmental Science & Technology, the scientists say the plastisphere represents a novel ecological habitat in the ocean and raises a host of questions: How will it change environmental conditions for marine microbes, favoring some that compete with others? How will it change the overall ocean ecosystem and affect larger organisms? How will it change where microbes, including pathogens, will be transported in the ocean?

The collaborative team of scientists -- Erik Zettler from Sea Education Association (SEA), Tracy Mincer from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and Linda Amaral-Zettler from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), all in Woods Hole, Mass. -- analyzed marine plastic debris that was skimmed with fine-scale nets from the sea surface at several locations in the North Atlantic Ocean during SEA research cruises. Most were millimeter-sized fragments.

"We're not just interested in who's there. We're interested in their function, how they're functioning in this ecosystem, how they're altering this ecosystem, and what's the ultimate fate of these particles in the ocean," says Amaral-Zettler. "Are they sinking to the bottom of the ocean? Are they being ingested? If they're being ingested, what impact does that have?"

Using scanning electron microscopy and gene sequencing techniques, they found at least 1000 different types of bacterial cells on the plastic samples, including many individual species yet to be identified. They included plants, algae, and bacteria that manufacture their own food (autotrophs), animals and bacteria that feed on them (heterotrophs), predators that feed on these, and other organisms that establish synergistic relationships (symbionts). These complex communities exist on plastic bits hardly bigger than the head of a pin, and they have arisen with the explosion of plastics in the oceans in the last 60 years.

"The organisms inhabiting the plastisphere were different from those in surrounding seawater, indicating that plastic debris acts as artificial 'microbial reefs," says Mincer. "They supply a place that selects for and supports distinct microbes to settle and succeed."

These communities are likely different from those that settle on naturally occurring floating material such as feathers, wood, and microalgae, because plastics offer different conditions, including the capacity to last much longer without degrading.

On the other hand, the scientists also found evidence that microbes may play a role in degrading plastics. They saw microscopic cracks and pits in the plastic surfaces that they suspect were made by microbes embedded in them, as well as microbes possibly capable of degrading hydrocarbons.

"When we first saw the 'pit formers' we were very excited, especially when they showed up on multiple pieces of plastic of different types of resins," said Zettler, who added that undergraduate students participating in SEA Semester cruises collected and processed the samples. "Now we have to figure out what they are by [genetically] sequencing them and hopefully getting them into culture so we can do experiments."

The plastic debris also represents a new mode of transportation, acting as rafts that can convey harmful microbes, including disease-causing pathogens and harmful algal species. One plastic sampled they analyzed was dominated by members of the genus Vibrio, which includes bacteria that cause cholera and gastrointestinal maladies.

The project was funded by a National Science Foundation Collaborative grant, a NSF TUES grant, and a Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health Pilot award.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/EvM7_1uPFzw/130627142549.htm

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TKTS offers theatergoers a chance to skip lines

NEW YORK (AP) ? Times Square's iconic TKTS booth is celebrating its 40th birthday by introducing a new way for theater lovers to avoid lines.

The Theatre Development Fund, the nonprofit that runs the booth selling discount Broadway and off-Broadway tickets, announced Wednesday a Fast Pass program which allows anyone who has bought a ticket from the booth to return within seven days and skip the wait when they buy another ticket.

Interested patrons must bring a ticket stub that proves they've bought a TKTS ticket within seven days and they'll be ushered through to the booth's first window, which is reserved for full-price tickets to future performances and is usually not as busy as the other windows handling discounted tickets.

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Online:

http://www.tdf.org

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tkts-offers-theatergoers-chance-skip-lines-153102457.html

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Social Media Revolutionizing Online Video - Business Insider

BI Intelligence

Television is no longer the only game in town for distributing and watching video.?The Internet and the social web have provided content creators and advertisers with a cost-effective way to distribute video.

"Social" video ?is video that is influenced ? in any part of the pipeline, from production to distribution ? by social media.?For audiences, discovery is no longer about flipping through channels or a TV guide, it's about listening to friends' recommendations and glancing at social media feeds.

Just how big is social media-influenced video? It's big, having eclipsed non-social video on the Web in audience size (see chart, top right).?And it's only getting bigger.?

In a new report?from?BI?Intelligence,?we look at?the general state of social video, examine social video audiences and their demographics, analyze how marketers and advertisers are getting into the mix, compare the major social video platforms, and?detail how social is influencing video as a content medium.

Access The Full Report And Data By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >>

Here's an overview of the?rise of social video:

• Social media-influenced video has eclipsed non-social video on the Web in terms of audience size:?Online video audiences are expected to double in 2016, reaching 1.5 billion?globally, according to Cisco. A majority now , and an increasingly significant portion of them in the future, will discover or watch video and TV content on social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and new mobile-focused social video apps like Vine.?comScore found that 63 million U.S. users watched a video on Facebook alone during April 2013. In the U.S.,Facebook had the fastest-growing online video audience?of major Web properties over the last 10 months, and is only second to Google in terms of video audience size.
• Social media is having a profound effect on this content medium:?Video length is shrinking, in part to accommodate the preferences of social media audiences who like to snack on video. The intersection of mobile devices and social media will likely be crucial to video's future.?Videos are increasingly discovered and shared on mobile devices, but through social media channels. Video content that is well-suited to small screens and social contexts will do well.
• Advertisers want to be next to social video: 85% of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in April 2013, and?video advertising is now up to 13.2 billion monthly views?in the U.S. alone.?Data?shows that consumers are more likely to enjoy a brand video and remember the brand involved if they come across it thanks to a social media recommendation. Also, socially-referred video starts are more likely to be completed?than non-social video, according to Adobe.
• And social is key to the all-valuable viral video: Brands are keen to spur video virality. The push for ?earned media? is driving this. For a brand, a video that goes ?viral,? and earns millions of views on YouTube means that a brand has earned millions of impressions that it didn't have to pay for. Brands are experimenting with cracking the code to videos that will tap the right emotions and trigger mass sharing.?

In full,?the?report:

For full access to the report on Social Video sign up for a free trial subscription today.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/social-media-revolutionizing-online-video-2013-6

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Obama hit by Snowden setbacks with China, Russia

WASHINGTON (AP) ? For President Barack Obama, National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden's globe-trotting evasion of U.S. authorities has dealt a startling setback to efforts to strengthen ties with China and raised the prospect of worsening tensions with Russia.

Indeed, Russia's foreign minister on Tuesday called U.S. demands for Snowden's extradition "ungrounded and unacceptable."

Relations with both China and Russia have been at the forefront of Obama's foreign policy agenda this month, underscoring the intertwined interests among these uneasy partners. Obama met just last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland and held an unusual two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California earlier this month.

Obama has made no known phone calls to Xi since Snowden surfaced in Hong Kong earlier this month, nor has he talked to Putin since Snowden arrived in Russia.

Former Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said it wasn't clear that Obama's "charm offensive" with Xi and Putin would matter much on this issue. The U.S. has "very little leverage," she said, given the broad array of issues on which the Obama administration needs Chinese and Russian cooperation.

"This isn't happening in a vacuum, and obviously China and Russia know that," said Harman, who now runs the Woodrow Wilson International Center.

Both the U.S. and China had hailed the Obama-Xi summit as a fresh start to a complex relationship, with the leaders building personal bonds during an hour-long walk through the grounds of the Sunnylands estate. But any easing of tensions appeared to vanish Monday following China's apparent flouting of U.S. demands that Snowden be returned from semi-autonomous Hong Kong to face espionage charges.

White House spokesman Jay Carney, in unusually harsh language, said China had "unquestionably" damaged its relationship with Washington.

"The Chinese have emphasized the importance of building mutual trust," Carney said. "We think that they have dealt that effort a serious setback. If we cannot count on them to honor their legal extradition obligations, then there is a problem."

A similar problem may be looming with Russia, where Snowden arrived Sunday. He had been expected to leave Moscow for a third country, but the White House said Monday it believed the former government contractor was still in Russia.

While the U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, the White House publicly prodded the Kremlin to send Snowden back to the U.S., while officials privately negotiated with their Russian counterparts.

"We are expecting the Russians to examine the options available to them to expel Mr. Snowden for his return to the United States," Carney said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday bluntly rejected the U.S. request, saying Snowden hasn't crossed the Russian border. He angrily lashed out at the U.S. for warnings of negative consequences if Moscow fails to comply.

"We consider the attempts to accuse Russia of violation of U.S. laws and even some sort of conspiracy, which on top of all that are accompanied by threats, as absolutely ungrounded and unacceptable," Lavrov said.

The U.S. has deep economic ties with China and needs the Asian power's help in persuading North Korea to end its nuclear provocations. The Obama administration also needs Russia's cooperation in ending the bloodshed in Syria and reducing nuclear stockpiles held by the former Cold War foes.

Members of Congress so far have focused their anger on China and Russia, not on Obama's inability to get either country to abide by U.S. demands. However, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said in an interview with CNN on Monday that he was starting to wonder why the president hasn't been "more forceful in dealing with foreign leaders."

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton echoed the White House's frustration with China. "That kind of action is not only detrimental to the U.S.-China relationship but it sets a bad precedent that could unravel the intricate international agreements about how countries respect the laws ? and particularly the extradition treaties," the possible 2016 presidential contender told an audience in Los Angeles.

Snowden fled to Hong Kong after seizing highly classified documents disclosing U.S. surveillance programs that collect vast amounts of U.S. phone and Internet records. He shared the information with The Guardian and Washington Post newspapers. He also told the South China Morning Post that "the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data." SMS, or short messaging service, generally means text messaging.

Snowden still has perhaps more than 200 sensitive documents, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said over the weekend.

Hong Kong, a former British colony with a degree of autonomy from mainland China, has an extradition treaty with the U.S. Officials in Hong Kong said a formal U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with its laws, a claim the Justice Department disputes.

The White House made clear it believes the final decision to let Snowden leave for Russia was made by Chinese officials in Beijing.

Russia's ultimate response to U.S. pressure remains unclear. Putin could still agree to return Snowden to the U.S. But he may also let him stay in Russia or head elsewhere, perhaps to Ecuador or Venezuela ? both options certain to earn the ire of the White House.

Fiona Hill, a Russia expert at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said she expected Putin to take advantage of a "golden opportunity" to publicly defy the White House.

"This is one of those opportunities to score points against the United States that I would be surprised if Russia passed up," Hill said.

___

Follow Julie Pace on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-hit-snowden-setbacks-china-russia-070516653.html

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Opportunities In Home Healthcare - Seeking Alpha

The home healthcare industry in the U.S. is experiencing a boom with a growing demand for services. Baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, are now moving into retirement age. Because of this, a sharp increase in the need for healthcare and social assistance services is expected to follow.

The primary reason for this growth is due to the increase in the number of senior citizens. According to Census, the 65-year old and older population share of total population is around 13 percent is 2010. This group's population share is projected to increase in 2020 to 16 percent and in 2030 to 19.3 percent.

Home healthcare services are classified as a sub-sector of ambulatory service industry. These service organizations (some of them are Medicare-certified) include home healthcare agencies, home care aide organizations and hospices.

Home healthcare is cost effective for people recovering from a hospital stay, functional or cognitive disability, or who are unable to take care of themselves. It also strengthens and complements the care given by family and friends, while maintaining the independence and dignity of the care receiver.

This article highlights four publicly traded companies that specialize in home healthcare. Each company is a small cap, which opens up the possibility for consolidation.

(click to enlarge)

Medicare home healthcare consists of skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, aide services, and medical social work provided to beneficiaries in their homes. To be eligible for Medicare's home health benefit, beneficiaries must need part-time (fewer than eight hours per day) or intermittent skilled care to treat their illnesses or injuries and must be unable to leave their homes without considerable effort. Medicare requires that a physician certify a patient's eligibility for home healthcare and that a patient receiving service be under the care of the physician.

The home health benefit has changed substantially since the 1980s. Implementation of the inpatient prospective payment system (PPS) in 1983 led to increased use of home health services as hospital length of stay decreased. Medicare tightened coverage of some services, but the courts overturned these curbs in 1988. After this change, the number of agencies, users, and services expanded rapidly in the early 1990s. Between 1990 and 1995, the number of annual users increased by 75 percent and the number of visits more than tripled to about 250 million a year. Spending increased from $3.7 billion in 1990 to $15.4 billion in 1995.

The trends of the early 1990s prompted increased program integrity actions, refinements to eligibility standards, temporary spending caps through interim payment system and replacement of the cost-based payment system with a PPS in 2000. Since implementation of the PPS, the number of home visit episodes increased from3.9 million in 2001 to 6.8 million in 2010. The number of agencies in 2011 was almost 11,900, about 1,000 more agencies than at the earlier peak of spending in 1997.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 includes several reductions intended to bring payments more in line with costs:

1. 2011 - The standard 60-day episode rate was reduced by 2.5 percent.
2. 2012 and 2013 - The market basket update was reduced by 1 percent.
3. 2014-2016 - A phased rebasing was implemented to lower payments to a level to reflect changes in average visits per episode and other factors that may have changed since the rate was originally set.
4. 2015 and following years - The market basket was reduced by multifactor productivity for each year.

While these reductions will affect home healthcare payments, companies are able to adjust their operations to maintain positive financial performance. The experience of 2003, when Medicare implemented a 5 percent reduction to the home healthcare base rate, is illustrative. All four of our subject companies reported net profits in 2006. While the payment changes in the new law are significant, experience with prior adjustments suggests that some companies will likely be able to offset at least a portion of these reductions.

(click to enlarge)

Addus HomeCare Corporation (ADUS) provides home healthcare to a variety of consumers. The company's payers include federal, state and local governments, commercial insurers and private pay individuals. The company offers services in 19 states to 26,000 consumers. In March 2013, Addus sold its Home Health business to LHC Group.

ADUS has a December fiscal year. In 2012, net income totaled $7.6 million on $244.3 million in revenue. Compared with 2011, sales increased 6.2 percent. The company had a net loss of $2.0 million in 2011. EPS for the first quarter of 2013 was $0.25 on $63.0 million of sales compared to the year-ago EPS of $0.16 on $58.9 million sales.

Gross margins are holding steady in the 26 - 27 percent range. Net margins fluctuate dramatically year to year. The company closed FY2012 with a net margin of 3.1 percent and the margin for the trailing twelve months has expanded to 6.5 percent. Operating margins are about 6.5 percent. The company carries on the books about $17.8 million of cash and has no long-term debt.

Almost Family (AFAM) is another small cap with a recent market capitalization of $181 million. Revenues for the twelve months ending March 2013, fell 0.9 percent compared to the year ago period. Quarter-over-quarter revenue fell 3.4 percent. In 1Q13 EPS was $0.35 on $86.9 million in revenues compared to 1Q12 EPS of $0.53 on $90.0 million of revenue. Gross margins are in the 47 - 48 percent range and net margins are about 7 - 8 percent. AFAM has on $0.5 million in long term debt and $34.6 million in cash.

Almost Family provides services in Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, Connecticut, Ohio, Massachusetts, Missouri, Alabama, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Indiana.

Amedisys (AMED) delivers the typical range of home health services through 440 Medicare-certified home healthcare centers and 87 Medicare-certified hospice care centers. It operates in 41 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The company experienced a decline in revenues of 1.6 percent during the twelve month period ending March 2013. This revenue decline accompanied a 6.9 percent decline in gross income. However, net income increased by 78.0 percent.

Quarter-over-quarter revenue declined to $339.2 million from $370.8 million and EPS dropped to $0.09 from $0.22. Gross margin remained steady at about 43 percent but net margin was (5.9) percent. The company reported a net loss for 2012 and 2011.

AMED has long-term debt of $43.0 million and cash of just $7.0 million. Cash from operations is negative though free cash flow is positive.

Our final company is also the largest by revenue. Gentiva Health Services (GTIV) had 2012 revenues of $1,712.8 million and 2012 net income of 426.8 million. FY2012 EPS is $0.88. 1Q13 saw a EPS at ($6.73) on $415.6 million revenue compared to an EPS of $0.16 on revenue of $435.7 million. Gentiva has a fairly high gross margin of about 47 percent but has been struggling to make a profit since 2010. The company reports cash of $159.6 million and long term debt of $903.9 million.

The table shown above reflects the quantitative factors I consider most critical for evaluating valuation and profitability. I always pair an earnings based metric with cash based metric when measuring profitability and valuation.

From the outset, I consider AMED and GTIV poor choices due to their lack of earnings before interest, taxes and non-cash expenses. Their free cash yield is adequate and free cash to operating income, in both cases, is strong. AMED's cash return on invested capital is low relative to the alternatives. Finally, GTIV has insufficient free cash to safely cover its long-term debt.

AFAM is selling at a low valuation of 5.25X EV/EBITDA and has an acceptable free cash yield. Free cash to operating income indicates that it is converting a significant portion of its operating income to free cash. The returns on invested capital based on EBITDA less capital expenditures and free cash to invested capital are less than I require from an investment.

The smallest of the subject companies, ADUS, offers the best combination of valuation and profitability. It passes all of our tests. The market seems to agree as the company is trading near its 52-week high. ADUS is not a widely followed company; Thomson Reuters reports just three EPS estimates for 2013.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a long position in ADUS over the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. (More...)

Source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/1518722-opportunities-in-home-healthcare?source=feed

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New Moms May Experience OCD Symptoms

Image: JUSTIN PAGET Corbis

• 

  In this engrossing journey into the lives of psychopaths and their infamously crafty behaviors, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a...

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We all experience the occasional life-changing event?a new baby, a cross-country move, a serious injury. In rare cases, such events can precipitate a mental disorder. The problem is compounded because people often assume their suffering is par for the course after such upheaval. In reality, relief is probably a short treatment away, via therapy or medication.

For a new mother, dealing with a newborn is fraught with anxieties. Did I fasten the car seat properly? Is the baby still breathing? In more than one in 10 new mothers, these normal worries can escalate into more serious obsessions that can interfere with her ability to care for herself and her baby.

Most of the research on postpartum psychiatric problems has focused on depression and psychosis. Obstetricians such as Emily Miller of Northwestern University, however, were also noticing a range of anxiety-related disorders, including intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors. ?It's good to check that your baby is strapped into the car seat,? Miller notes. ?But these women aren't just doing it once. They're doing it over and over, and it's interfering with their lives.?

With her colleagues, Miller followed 461 women after they gave birth. Eleven percent said they had obsessions and compulsions two weeks after delivery that the researchers found to be the equivalent of mild to moderate obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)?a sharp increase over the 2 to 3 percent rate of OCD in the general population. Half of these women's symptoms continued six months' postpartum, and an additional 5.4 percent developed new OCD symptoms in that time. The afflicted women indicated that their symptoms were distressing, taking up a significant amount of time and otherwise interfering with their daily life.

Nearly three quarters of the women with OCD also showed signs of postpartum depression. As with depression, therapy would probably help new moms cope with OCD, according to Miller. ?If OCD symptoms are mild and resolve by six weeks' postpartum, they may be normal,? Miller says. ?But if they interfere with a patient's daily functioning and persist, she should talk to her doctor.?

---

More Unusual Causes of Mental Symptoms

Common life events occasionally lead to mental distress. If you think any of these scenarios might describe you or a loved one, tell a doctor: treatments today are more effective than ever.

Reading or hearing about a traumatic event may lead to a specific phobia, the persistent fear of a certain situation or object. Targeted exposure therapy has been shown to diminish, and perhaps erase, such phobias in a few sessions.

Bacterial infections, such as strep throat, may cause symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in kids. Only a small subset of all OCD cases, which affect 3 percent of children, are thought to be caused by infections. Treatment with antibiotics cures most infected kids.

Eating more processed foods may be linked to experiencing greater levels of anxiety and depression. Avoiding grocery items with trans fats (hydrogenated oils) may help lift your mood.

Moving to a new house or school may trigger anorexia or bulimia in teens. Treatments such as talk therapy usually reverse the eating disorder.

This article was originally published with the title OCD in New Moms.

Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=ocd-in-new-moms

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High-octane bacteria could ease pain at the pump: Engineered E. coli mass-produce key precursor to potent biofuel

June 25, 2013 ? New lines of engineered bacteria can tailor-make key precursors of high-octane biofuels that could one day replace gasoline, scientists at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School report in the June 24 online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The same lines can also produce precursors of pharmaceuticals, bioplastics, herbicides, detergents, and more.

"The big contribution is that we were able to program cells to make specific fuel precursors," said Pamela Silver, Ph.D., a Wyss Institute Core Faculty member, Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School, and senior author of the study.

New biofuels are needed for cars and other vehicles. Ethanol, the most popular biofuel on the market, packs only two-thirds the energy of gasoline, and ethanol-containing fuels also corrode pipes, tanks, and other infrastructure used to transport and store gasoline. Meanwhile, burning gasoline itself adds huge amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, and relies on the world's dwindling supply of oil.

Yet gasoline produces more energy than current biofuels when burned in an internal combustion engine, and remains liquid in temperatures ranging from a Texas heat wave to a North Dakota cold snap. Moreover, hundreds of millions of cars worldwide are built to run on it.

Silver and her team are seeking new ways to make gasoline-like biofuels that could be stored at gas stations and used to fuel the cars we already have. To develop these, they enlisted the iconic laboratory bacterium E. coli to help make gasoline precursors called fatty acids -- energy-packed molecules containing chains of carbon atoms flanked with hydrogen atoms that can be easily converted into fuels.

Specifically, they are focusing on medium-chain fatty acids -- those with chains between four and 12 carbons long. Fatty acids with shorter chains do not store enough energy to be good fuels and they tend to vaporize easily, while those with chains longer than 12 carbons are too waxy. But medium-length fatty acids are just the right length to be transformed into an energy-packed liquid fuel for internal-combustion engines.

Today oil refineries produce medium-chain-length compounds from crude oil. But "instead of using petroleum products, you can have microbes or other living organisms do it for you," Silver said.

To accomplish that, Joe Torella, Ph.D., and Tyler Ford, Harvard Medical School Systems Biology graduate students in Silver's laboratory and the paper's lead coauthors, tweaked an E. coli metabolic pathway that produces fatty acids. Specifically, they mass-produced an eight-carbon fatty acid called octanoate that can be converted into octane.

In this pathway, carbon from sugar, which the bacterium eats, flows through the pathway like a river, growing longer as it flows. Downstream, it exits as a long-chain fatty acid.

Torella and Ford first partially dammed the river and built an irrigation ditch using a drug that blocks enzymes that extend fatty-acid chains. This caused medium-chain fatty acids to pool behind the dam, while still allowing enough of the river to flow by for the bacteria to build their membranes and stay alive. The strategy increased octanoate yields, but the drug is too expensive for the process to be scaled up.

For that reason, the scientists tried a second strategy that could be scaled up more readily. They let the cells grow up, then dammed the river using a genetic trick. They also genetically altered a second enzyme that normally builds long-chain fatty acids such that it extends fatty acids to eight carbons and no longer.

This two-pronged strategy -- plus some other genetic nips and tucks to keep the river from being diverted in other ways -- gave the scientists the highest yields of octanoate yet reported.

"We found if we stop up the river -- if we slow fatty acid elongation -- we encouraged the creation of medium-chain fatty acids," Torella said.

"Sustainability is one of the biggest problems we face today, and developing potent biofuels to replace gasoline is a major challenge in the field," said Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., Wyss Institute Founding Director. "Using ingenious synthetic-biology strategies to engineer microbes so that they can produce octane, Pam's team has taken a giant step toward meeting this challenge."

Next, the scientists plan to engineer E. coli to convert octanoate and other fatty acids into alcohols, potential fuel molecules themselves, and just one chemical step away from octane.

This work was funded by the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and by the National Science Foundation. In addition to Silver, Torella, and Ford, the research team included Scott Kim and Amanda Chen, students on Silver's team, and Jeffrey Way, Ph.D., a Senior Staff Scientist at the Wyss Institute.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/4NkZh9Kgqv4/130625121331.htm

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Congress Not Likely To Pass Sweeping Climate Legislation

As President Obama prepares to unveil his executive strategy on climate change, we look at the politics of the issue in Congress.

Copyright ? 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

And now to an issue that lawmakers are not spending a lot of time debating: climate change. Tomorrow, President Obama will lay out a strategy to address the problem, using executive powers. It's an admission that's sweeping climate legislation stands little chance of passing Congress as NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports.

JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: Aides say Mr. Obama's plan includes limiting carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. The reaction from House Speaker John Boehner was blunt.

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: I think this is absolutely crazy. Why would you want to increase the cost of energy and kill more American jobs at a time when the American people are still asking the question, where are the jobs?

LUDDEN: Republicans have long derided Obama's green energy efforts as a job killer. This year, observers do detect a subtle shift, at least in tone. Even GOP whip Kevin McCarthy, the third most powerful in the House of Representatives, has taken pains to broaden the drill, baby, drill message. The first two energy bills on the House floor were on renewable power. GOP analyst John Feehery of Quinn Gillespie says there's good reason for this.

JOHN FEEHERY: I think the message learned from last campaign is you can kind of beat up on Obama all you want, but you also have to be less reflexively anti-environment.

LUDDEN: Feehery says renewable energy is popular, especially with younger voters. What's more...

FEEHERY: Most wind energy manufacturers are in Republican districts, and most wind energy production comes out of Republican districts. So for Republicans to be against wind energy, they're hurting their own constituents.

LUDDEN: Still, environmentalists are waiting to see if such talk leads to action. And the common ground only goes so far. A number of Democrats say a carbon tax is what's needed to really bring down greenhouse gas emissions. It's come up in talks on overhauling the tax code. But Feehery says anything called tax is a non-starter for the GOP. And fossil fuel interests are already gearing up in opposition.

FEEHERY: And I do think that there's a lot of industries that would have a heyday trying to kill this.

LUDDEN: Now, President Obama rankled environmentalists during last year's campaign when he was nearly silent on climate change. When he did talk about it during the State of the Union, he's told donors it didn't dial test well with viewers. Still, some polls show Americans do want action. And in a big change, Obama's advocacy group, Organizing for Action, aims to make climate an issue in next year's midterms.

It's holding local meetings and door-to-door campaigns to engage voters on climate and energy. It's also put out this online ad, mocking congressional Republicans who challenge the scientific consensus that global warming is largely man-made, like Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.

(SOUNDBITE OF ONLINE ADVERTISEMENT)

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Well, the climate's always changing. That's not the fundamental question. The fundamental question is whether man-made activity is what's contributing most to it.

SENATOR SHELDON WHITEHOUSE: The Republican position of climate denial is completely untenable. It can not survive scrutiny.

LUDDEN: So Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse has taken it upon himself to give it that scrutiny.

WHITEHOUSE: Thank you very much. I am back again to speak again about...

LUDDEN: Every week, to a mostly empty Senate chamber, he reels off stats from climate research, warns of the mounting dangers of global warming and taunts Republicans.

WHITEHOUSE: Let me respectfully ask my Republican colleagues, what are you thinking? How do you imagine this ends?

LUDDEN: Unless Republican lawmakers get serious about addressing climate change, Whitehouse predicts it won't end well, either for their party or the planet. Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington.

Copyright ? 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=195272190&ft=1&f=1007

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Resilience in the wake of Superstorm Sandy

June 24, 2013 ? The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has released results of a major survey exploring resilience of people and neighborhoods directly affected by Superstorm Sandy. The study reveals the importance of social factors such as neighborhood bonds and social supports in coping with the storm and its aftermath.

Striking landfall in the United States on October 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy affected large areas of coastal New York and New Jersey, devastated communities, killed more than 130 people, and caused tens of billions of dollars in property damage.

"The impact of the storm is being felt to this day as the long process of recovery continues," said Trevor Tompson, director of the AP-NORC Center. "Our survey data powerfully illustrate how important the help of friends, family, and neighbors can be in getting people back on their feet after natural disasters. These crucial social bonds are often overlooked as policy discussions tend to focus on the role that official institutions have in fostering resilience."

With funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Associated Press -- NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted a national survey of 2,025 individuals including an oversample of 1,007 interviews with residents in the NY and NJ region affected by Superstorm Sandy.

The survey had two central objectives: 1) To systematically measure the impact of the storm on individuals and neighborhoods and to assess the level of recovery six months after the storm. 2) To learn how neighborhood characteristics and social factors relate to recovery and resilience.

Critical findings of the survey include:

• The most important sources of help before, during, and after the storm were friends, family, and neighbors, with first responders seen as equally important in the affected regions.
• Organized charities such as The Salvation Army, and food banks as well as relief organizations like the Red Cross were seen as very helpful and important in the wake of the storm in the regions most affected by the storm.
• By contrast State and federal governments and utility companies were seen as significantly less helpful by those in the affected region.
• Residents of the region affected by Sandy report extensive impacts beyond the physical damage, including prolonged effects on daily living and social relationships, with many individuals and neighborhoods continuing to struggle.
• The storm brought out the best in neighbors, with reports of many people sharing access to power, food and water, and providing shelter. Just seven percent report that the storm brought out the worst in their neighbors.
• Americans supported the victims, with 54 percent of Americans donating food, money, clothing or other items to help, with 63 percent of people in the affected regions doing the same.
• About two-thirds of Americans support government assistance in rebuilding, with a smaller majority supporting buyouts in areas susceptible to natural disasters.
• In areas affected by the storm, people relied heavily on both face to face communication and on technology, with cellphones cited as the most common way to communicate during the storm. Email and Facebook were used by about one-third of residents and Twitter by a small percentage.
• In the most severely hit areas, 80 percent of people relied on face to face communications, followed by cellphone, landlines, email, Facebook, and Twitter.

"Superstorm Sandy tested the resilience of New York and New Jersey," said Dr. Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation. "As the region works to rebuild and to better prepare for future storms, the results of this poll can inform our thinking and planning in a way that will ensure greater resilience. The poll shows that family, neighborhood and community are vital components of responding to shocks and stresses and bouncing back stronger."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/NuDkAU9cff8/130624152615.htm

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Real Estate Market 'Fundamentally Different,' Top Investor Says ...

By Paul Toscano

Marc Nemer, the CEO of Cole Real Estate Investments, one of the largest publicly traded REITs, said that a recovery is under way with fundamentals noticeably improving in the market.

"It's fundamentally different out there," Nemer told "Squawk on the Street" Friday, when asked how the market today compares with the period six months prior.

Nemer said that his company focuses on "necessity-based" properties, which are less subject to discretionary spending at the consumer level. "The kind of properties we're focused on are doing very well right now."

According to the company, Cole invests primarily in single-tenant commercial real estate, leasing the properties under long-term leases. Cole's portfolio of tenants includes such companies as Walgreen, Dr. Pepper Snapple, PetSmart, Microsoft, Apollo Group's University of Phoenix and more. In 2012, Cole's portfolio topped $10 billion.

"Development is coming back a little bit, which is an indication that things are improving, but that is slow," he said. "Being one of the most active investors, we are able to take advantage of opportunities in the market right now."

With a dividend yield of nearly 6.5 percent, Nemer said that the payouts are backed up by a strong portfolio of income-generating collateral. "It's very compelling right now," he said.

With markets that are sensitive to a looming rise in interest rates, Nemer said that his company is "relatively isolated from a fundamental standpoint" for the eventuality of higher rates. "We've been taking advantage of historically low interest rates for some time, locking in long-term fixed-rate debt."

More on CNBC:
From Recovery to Bubble Already?
Rising Home Prices Are 'Unsustainable'
Billionaire's Real Estate Playbook

More on AOL Real Estate:
Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
Find homes for sale in your area.
Find foreclosures in your area.
Find homes for rent.

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

Source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/06/24/real-estate-market-fundamentally-different-top-investor-says/

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How iOS 7 compares to previous versions [Chart]

iOS 7, at least as much as we saw of it at WWDC 2013, compared at a glance with previous major releases. We began including version charts in our reviews last year, including our monster iOS 6 review, and we'll be doing more with this come the fall. For now, however, I'll just leave it here so you can check it out, and weigh in where Apple's focus seems to be this year.

• iOS 7: Everything you need to know
• iOS 7: Help and discussion forum

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/fZZzDxGYeyg/story01.htm

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'Supermoon' lights up night sky

23 June 2013 Last updated at 01:30 ET

The night sky has been illuminated by what appears to be a much bigger and brighter Moon.

The so-called "supermoon" occurs when the Moon reaches its closest point to earth, known as a perigee full moon.

The effect makes the Moon seem 14% bigger and 30% brighter than when it is furthest from the planet.

Skywatchers who miss the phenomenon this weekend because of cloudy skies will have to wait until August 2014 for the next one.

Space expert Heather Couper said "supermoons" were the result of coincidence.

"The Moon goes round in an oval orbit so it can come very close to us, and if that coincides with a full moon, then it can look absolutely enormous," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

She explained that when the Moon was high in the sky, it looked normal.

But as it got closer to the horizon, a "kind of optical illusion" occurred where it looked bigger when compared with trees or houses, she said.

She suggested it might be possible to dispel the illusion by turning away from the Moon, bending over and looking at the sky from between your legs.

Writing in Sky and Telescope about the "myth of the supermoon", Shari Balouchi said much of what we called the supermoon was just our eyes playing tricks on us.

"The supermoon might look bigger than normal if you see it in the evening when the Moon's just rising, but the real size difference isn't big enough to notice."

BBC Weather's Darren Bett said he was confident most people in the UK would have been able to see the Moon at some point on Saturday night, even if only fleetingly.

Sunday night should be better, he added, with people in south-west England and south Wales likely to have the clearest views of the Moon.

However Marek Kukula, public astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said people should not expect the supermoon to look that much bigger than normal.

"It won't fill the sky," he said.

"It's at its most impressive when the Moon is close to the horizon, ie when it's rising or setting - people will need to check online for rising and setting times for their locality."

Dr Kukula said the US Naval Observatory and HM Nautical Almanac Office had online tools for checking the moon's rising and setting times.

Scientists have dismissed the idea that the perigee can cause strange behaviour, like lycanthropy or natural disasters.

Dr Couper said the tides this weekend would be unaffected.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23013393#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Three Steps You Can Take to Protect Yourself From Online Spying

The recent PRISM scandal has validated both the general public's growing unease with federal law enforcement agencies, and many of the fringe element's accusations about Big Brother's online behavior. Whether or not it's legal under the PATRIOT Act, just knowing that the government can rummage through your online life doesn't sit well with many folks. Here are some simple and effective ways of keeping your digital identity anonymous and your data your own.

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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/W5hPfctR4Uc/three-steps-you-can-take-to-protect-yourself-from-onlin-514329818

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Kerry: Russia must back transition in Syria

DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is pressing hard on Russia to back an international conference intended to end the bloodshed in Syria and allow a transitional government to move the country beyond civil war.

Kerry met with officials from nearly a dozen countries on Saturday in Doha (DOH'-hah), Qatar (GUH'-tur), to discuss aid to the Syrian opposition and push forward on a political resolution to the crisis, which has claimed more than 93,000 lives.

Russia has been the key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime throughout the two-year conflict.

Kerry says top U.S. diplomats are ready to go to Geneva to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (SEHR'-gay LAHV'-rahf) and other officials in coming days to advance the political process.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-russia-must-back-transition-syria-115416828.html

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iFetch Is The Perfect Balm To Soothe The Conscience Of The Lazy Dog Owner

A new Kickstarter project takes all the work out of playing fetch with your dog, replacing your throwing arm with a nifty gizmo and keeping your hands drool-free. It's essentially a more basic pitching machine that requires no human intervention, but the iFetch looks like an incredibly useful tool for the play-obsessed pup, so long as it can learn the necessary trick to get the cycle started.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/yYP9qWmgDFw/

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