Source: http://www.articleswide.com/article/12202-Shopping_for_gifts_for_girlfriend_in_Mumbai.html
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Thursday, December 27, 2012
Shopping for gifts for girlfriend in Mumbai - ArticlesWide.com
[unable to retrieve full-text content]You have probably heard by now that online shopping in Mumbai for gifts is a very convenient alternative to the traditional gift shopping in Mumbai where you have to fight the crowd and wait in long q... ... HOME :: Shopping and Product Reviews :: Fashion Style ...
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Afghans seek policewoman's motive for killing U.S. contractor
KABUL (Reuters) - An Iranian-Afghan policewoman who killed a U.S. contractor at the police headquarters in Kabul may have been motivated by a personal grudge, said security officials, who were also probing possible Taliban or al Qaeda involvement.
The officials said the woman named as Narges seemed wracked with remorse over the shooting. They said she held an Iranian passport but offered no evidence that Iran may have orchestrated the attack.
She arrived at police headquarters on Monday morning and headed to a bathroom where she loaded a pistol and hid it under her long scarf, they said. She then approached the American police trainer as he was walking to a canteen and shot him in the ribs.
"After she shot the American, she pointed her pistol to other policemen who rushed to arrest her. But her weapon jammed," one top police official told Reuters. "Her prime target could have been senior officials in the compound."
It appeared to be the first time that a female member of Afghanistan's security forces had carried out such an attack.
At least 52 members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have been killed this year by Afghans wearing police or army uniforms, in so-called insider attacks.
Also known as green-on-blue attacks, the incidents have undermined trust between coalition and Afghan forces who are under mounting pressure to contain the Taliban insurgency before most NATO combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014.
"This was a very organized shooting," said the top police official. "There must have been bigger hands involved... At this stage, we can only say that she could have been brainwashed either by the Taliban or al Qaeda."
Virginia-based DynCorp International described the killing of its employee, police mentor Joseph Griffin, 49, as a tragedy.
"The loss of any team member is tragic but to have this happen over the holidays makes it seem all the more unfair," the company said on its website.
IRANIAN PASSPORT
There had been no indication that Narges posed any threat during her six years on the job and officials had believed she was dedicated to improving security in her troubled country.
They invested in the mother of three, sending her on a law enforcement training course in Egypt and giving her responsibility for promoting women's rights in the police force, senior police officials told Reuters.
"She is a religious person with a clean background. That's why we didn't have surveillance on her," said the top police official. "It's very difficult to have surveillance on thousands of people in the police force to see who is doing what."
Authorities were examining her phone records on Tuesday. At a press conference, Interior Ministry officials presented what they said was her Iranian passport, which identified her as Narges Rezaeimomenabad.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said she had obtained an Afghan national identity card when she married her husband, an Afghan who works in the ministry's criminal investigation department.
"She is in a terrible condition now and crying, sighing deeply and asking herself why she did it," said the top police official. "She keeps saying 'shoot me dead'."
(Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni and Miriam Arghandiwal; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghans-seek-policewomans-motive-killing-u-contractor-143257596.html
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Friday, December 21, 2012
Researchers discover genetic basis for eczema, new avenue to therapies
Dec. 21, 2012 ? Researchers at Oregon State University have announced the discovery of an underlying genetic cause of atopic dermatitis, a type of eczema most common in infancy that also affects millions of adults around the world with dry, itchy and inflamed skin lesions.
The findings were just published in PLoS ONE, a professional journal, and may set the stage for new therapeutic approaches to this frustrating syndrome, which is difficult to treat and has no known cure. Eczema is also related to, and can sometimes cause asthma, a potentially deadly immune dysfunction.
Pharmaceutical scientists at OSU found in laboratory studies that eczema can be triggered by inadequate Ctip2, a protein and master regulator that affects other genetic functions. They have identified two ways in which improper function of Ctip2 can lead to eczema.
In a recent publication, they found that Ctip2 controls lipid biosynthesis in the skin, the fats that are needed to help keep skin healthy and hydrated. In the new study, they discovered that Ctip2 suppresses TSLP, a cytokine protein produced by skin cells that can trigger inflammation.
Levels of this inflammatory TSLP, which is ordinarily undetectable in human skin, were found to be 1,000 times higher in laboratory animals that had been genetically modified to have no Ctip2 production in their skin.
"In these studies, we've basically shown that inadequate Ctip2 is reducing the lipids in skin that it needs to stay healthy, protect itself and perform its function," said Arup Indra, an associate professor in the OSU College of Pharmacy. "At the same time this can allow unwanted formation of proteins that trigger inflammation. The skin's ability to resist inflammation is going down just as the amount of inflammation is going up, and the underlying reason is that Ctip2 is not doing its job."
"Either or both of these problems can lead to eczema," Indra said.
Atopic dermatitis is associated with a dysfunctional immune response, but researchers have never understood the underlying cause. Existing treatments use moisturizers to try to protect skin, and in difficult cases powerful steroid drugs can help, but they often have significant unwanted side effects, especially in long-term use.
"With a better understanding of just what is causing eczema on a genetic basis, we should be able to personalize treatments, determine exactly what each person needs, and develop new therapies," Indra said. "This might be with topical compounds that increase Ctip2 expression in skin cells, or customized treatments to restore an individual person's lipid profile. In the future, systemic epigenetic modification might even be possible."
The creation at OSU of the laboratory model to study this issue is also of considerable importance, Indra said. There's evidence it could be used to screen for drugs with potent anti-inflammatory activities.
Eczema is a persistent skin rash that can be fairly common in infants or youth, which some research indicates may be linked to food or pollen allergens. Most people outgrow it as they reach adulthood, but some suffer from the debilitating condition their entire life.
"Our skin is the largest organ in the human body and one of the most important," Indra said. "It's our first barrier of defense, is in a constant battle against external insults, is influenced by both genetics and the environment, and has to be finely tuned to do many jobs. In eczema, this process begins to break down."
Eczema allows significant loss of fluids through the skin, allows allergens to penetrate, and in severe cases can cause a systemic inflammatory response.
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Oregon State University.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Zhixing Wang, Ling-juan Zhang, Gunjan Guha, Shan Li, Kateryna Kyrylkova, Chrissa Kioussi, Mark Leid, Gitali Ganguli-Indra, Arup K. Indra. Selective Ablation of Ctip2/Bcl11b in Epidermal Keratinocytes Triggers Atopic Dermatitis-Like Skin Inflammatory Responses in Adult Mice. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (12): e51262 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0051262
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/ry60-DgR9Ow/121221131259.htm
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Thursday, December 20, 2012
Fatah supports Hamas rocket attacks against Israel, citing PMW material
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Source: http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=91&doc_id=8209
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On eve of South Korea vote, Park sounds father's battle cry
SEOUL (Reuters) - With just a day to go before a tight presidential vote in South Korea, front-running conservative candidate Park Geun-hye evoked her dictator father's economic call to arms in a bid to rally her party faithful.
She pledged in a news conference to recreate Park Chung-hee's "Let's Live well" miracle of rapid economic gains for a country that she said was laboring under heavy household debt, the high cost of raising children and poverty among old people.
Data shows that South Korean households are more indebted than those in the United States were just before the 2008 credit crisis.
The elder Park's 18-year rule from 1961 to 1979 helped transform South Korea's from a war-torn backwater into an export powerhouse. In a bid to get people to work towards prosperity, a song based on the "Let's Live Well" catch phrase blared out from loudspeakers across the country under his rule.
Park's daughter had earlier sought to distance herself from the divisive legacy of her father's rule that also saw political repression in the name of securing the country.
The gap between the conservative Park and her left-wing challenger, Moon Jae-in, could be as little as 0.5 percentage points, according to some polls.
"It comes down to the demographics of the voter turnout," said Hong Hyung-sik of pollster Hangil Research.
Polls show that older voters are more likely to pick Park and more likely to vote, while Moon is reliant on more fickle younger voters.
Park would be South Korea's first female president.
She campaigned on a platform of "economic democratization", better regulation and more welfare spending and has tacked back to the right in recent days with a more conciliatory tone towards business.
PROMISES
On a visit to the country's stock exchange on Tuesday, Park called for growth and job creation through innovation and investment in science and technology.
"To help the KOSPI index reach the 3,000-mark, we need to grow the pie and make new jobs, new growth engines and new markets," she said, pledging that she would achieve this in her 5-year term.
The benchmark KOSPI index of core South Korean stocks, has been trading at a 200-day moving average of 1,924.41 points.
Park has also said that she wants to increase welfare spending from its current level of 7.6 percent of gross domestic product, less than half the rich nation average of 19 percent, but she has not spelled out by how much.
Her plan to fund this hinges on cutting wasteful spending and increasing the tax base, rather than through tax increases.
Park has signaled that she will not take action to break up a system of cross-shareholdings through which a few families control a sprawling network of so-called chaebol, or industrial conglomerates, that dominate South Korea.
The top 5 chaebols, which include household names such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, make up more than half the value of all listed South Korean companies.
Her rival, Moon, has promised an $18 billion jobs package on top of existing spending plans and to crack down on the chaebol, although they have often proved more resilient than governments.
In his final news conference on Tuesday, Moon tied Park firmly to the ruling party, which he said had proved unworthy of governing.
"If you don't rebuke them, the wrongs will continue. It is time to be harsh and pick up the rod to beat them. Tomorrow is that moment," he urged.
More than 40 million people are eligible to vote on Wednesday. The polls open at 6 a.m. (2100 GMT) and close at 6 p.m. (0900 GMT).
The winner will take office in February after the mandatory single term of President Lee Myung-bak ends.
(Editing by David Chance and Robert Birsel)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eve-south-korea-vote-park-sounds-fathers-battle-051737912.html
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Friday, December 14, 2012
New project to improve students self esteem launched - TrakkerNews
Bridgetown.
A programme aimed? at improving the self esteem of school children in Barbados was launched recently by the Commission for Pan African Affairs with a visit by a group of students of the Lester Vaughan Secondary School to the Supreme Court, and a meeting with Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson.
Acting Deputy Director of the Commission Anthony Reid told Trakker News the visit to the Supreme Court and the meeting with the Chief Justice was strategic.
"We felt that bringing the students into an control environment would one way of showing them life is not about the behaviours that they would tend to exhibit at school. The other thing was to expose them to strong prominent black men people who have achieved, who come from a background very similar to theirs to show them that they can overcome any obstacle and with self discipline and focus,they too can achieve", says Reid.
He explained that the programme is a pilot project and hopefully by the next school year it will be finetuned and be in a number of schools. ?
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Source: http://www.caribbeantrakker.com/2012/12/new-project-to-improve-students-self-esteem-launched/
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Thousands mourn leader of Morocco's main opposition group
RABAT (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Moroccans took part in the funeral of the leader of the North African state's biggest opposition group on Friday, in a sign of the huge support commanded by Islamists opposed to the monarchy.
Sheikh Abdessalam Yassine, who formed al-Adl Wal Ihsane (Justice and Spirituality) in 1981, died on Thursday at the age of 84 after suffering from influenza.
The group is banned from formal politics but believed by analysts and diplomats to be the only opposition organization capable of mass mobilization against the monarchy.
Security forces circled the mosque where the Friday prayers were held in downtown Rabat and prevented the mourners from passing through the main street of the capital.
No members of the government or the royal palace attended, although local media had speculated Islamist Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane would go.
King Mohammed allowed Benkirane to form a government last year after his PJD party won early elections - part of royal efforts to calm large-scale protests for democratic reforms following uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia that removed entrenched autocratic rulers.
The king also enacted constitutional reforms that limited some of his powers, though critics say the king and his advisers, not the elected government, remain the real source of power.
Official media ignored the death and the funeral. The government is wary of a return of mass protests as it faces economic difficulties from the effects of the euro zone crisis and increased social spending last year to quieten the protests.
"In Al-Adl Wal Ihsane we are like family. We came with my husband and our neighbors to say goodbye to our teacher and our leader," said Lamia El Hassnaoui, a student member of the movement near the mosque.
"I'm not afraid or worried about our group's future - he left behind him an organization with democratic institutions behind him."
Diplomats and analysts say there is no clear successor to Yassine and that his group could face internal dispute over whether to try to enter official politics - a move that would require it to tone down its opposition to a king who styles himself "Commander of the Faithful".
Yassine, who hailed from a Berber village in the south of Morocco and grew up in Marrakech, had a history of challenge to the authorities that often landed him in jail.
He was imprisoned for three years after he addressed a letter to King Hassan in the 1974 calling for implementation of sharia, or Islamic law.
He was held for two years again after forming his political group and spending 10 years under house arrest until King Hassan's son succeeded him in 1999.
He called on the new king too to turn to the "true Islam" and surrender the monarchy's assets to the state but while the authorities left him alone, his party remained banned.
(Writing by Andrew Hammond; Editing by Alison Williams)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-mourn-leader-moroccos-main-opposition-group-183809574.html
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Restaurant Industry Will Grow, Outpace National Job Growth in 2013 ...
Washington, DC ? While the operating environment will remain challenging, America?s 980,000 restaurants are expected to post record sales and continue to be a leading job creator in 2013, according to the National Restaurant Association?s (NRA) 2013 Restaurant Industry Forecast released today. Total restaurant industry sales are expected to exceed $660 billion in 2013 ? a 3.8 percent increase over 2012, marking the fourth consecutive year of real sales growth for the industry.
In addition, 2013 will be the 14th straight year in which restaurant industry employment will outpace overall employment. Restaurants will employ 13.1 million individuals next year as the nation?s second-largest private-sector employer, representing 10 percent of the total U.S. workforce.
?Despite a continued challenging operating environment, the restaurant industry remains a strong driver in the nation?s economy,? said Dawn Sweeney, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association. ?Ours is a resilient and flexible industry that continually finds new ways to keep growing, relying on the creativity and innovation exhibited by the entrepreneurial spirit. In 2013, restaurant operators will continue to explore ways of navigating the rocky economic landscape to find the road to success.?
?The fact that the restaurant industry will continue to grow in an operating environment that presents substantial challenges is a testament to the essential role that restaurants play in our daily lives,? said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president, Research & Knowledge for the National Restaurant Association. ?Restaurants are offering products and services that consumers actively seek out and enjoy; an activity in which consumers are selecting to engage despite cash-on-hand restraints because it is an important component of their lifestyle.?
Workforce Outlook
Total U.S. employment grew at a rate of 1.4 percent in 2012, while restaurants added jobs at a strong 3.0 percent rate ? more than double the overall rate. In 2013, the NRA expects the restaurant industry to add jobs at a 2.4 percent rate, nearly a full percentage point above the projected 1.5 percent gain in total employment.
Looking ahead, the NRA expects restaurants to add 1.3 million new positions in the next decade, pushing industry employment to 14.4 million by 2023.
Because of this strong growth in restaurant employment, labor challenges will start to reemerge next year. Recruitment and retention, which was a top challenge pre-recession, will make its way back onto restaurant operators? radar as the U.S. labor pool is starting to become shallower; restaurant operators in all segments expect recruitment and retention to be more challenging in 2013 than in 2012.
Challenges and Opportunities
While the restaurant industry is expected to grow in 2013, operators will continue to face a range of challenges. The top challenges cited by restaurateurs vary by industry segment, and include food costs, the economy and health care reform.
After increasing steadily in the last three years, wholesale food costs will continue on an upward trajectory through 2013, putting significant pressure on restaurants? bottom lines as about one-third of sales in a restaurant goes to food and beverage purchases. Because of these prolonged cost pressures, restaurant operators will continue to use creativity and innovation to drive out cost inefficiencies and increase productivity to not pass along the increases to consumers at the same rate.
The sluggish economic and employment recovery impacts consumers? cash-on-hand situation, which in turn impacts restaurants as there is a strong correlation between consumers? disposable income and restaurant sales. There is currently substantial pent-up demand for restaurant services, with 2 out of 5 consumers saying they are not using restaurant as often as they would like; with improving economic conditions, that demand is likely to turn into sales.
Preparing for the implementation of health care reform will put additional cost pressure on some restaurant operators in the near future. One-third of a typical restaurant?s sales go toward labor costs, so significant increases in those costs will result in additional cost management measures to preserve the already slim pre-tax profit margins of 3-5 percent on which most restaurants operate.
Consumer Trends
Consumers? interest in technology continues unabated. Restaurant operators recognize that technology can enhance customer service and appeal to consumers, but they are not fully meeting consumer demand in this area yet.
At tableservice restaurants, more than half of consumers say they would use tableside electronic payment options and 44 percent would use a tableside ordering system. Nearly one-third would use mobile payment options, four in 10 would use tablet menus (such as iPads), and 50 percent would use a smartphone app for viewing menus, ordering or making reservations. Less than one in 10 tableservice restaurants currently offer these options, but 54% say they will invest more resources in customer-facing technology in 2013.
At quickservice restaurants, 44 percent of consumers say they would use self-order terminals, two in five would use smartphone apps to place orders or view menus, and more than one-quarter would use mobile payment options. Currently, less than 2 percent of quickservice restaurants offer these technologies, though 48 percent say they plan on investing more in customer-facing technology next year.
Also among the strongest consumer trends for 2013 are local sourcing and nutrition. More than seven out of 10 consumers say they are more likely to visit a restaurant that offers locally produced menu items, and more than six out of 10 said locally sourced menus are a key attribute for choosing a restaurant. Currently, a majority of tableservice restaurants offer locally sourced produce, meat or seafood, with availability being highest in the fine dining segment.
In addition, more than seven out of 10 consumers say they are trying to eat healthier at restaurants now than they did two years ago; women more so than men (75 percent vs. 66 percent). Similarly, about three-quarters of consumers say healthy menu options are an important factor when choosing a restaurant (80 percent of women vs. 71 percent of men). Restaurants are responding to this increasing demand for nutritious options, as 86 percent of consumers say that restaurants are offering a wider variety now than two years ago.
For more information about the NRA?s 2013 Restaurant Industry Forecast, including graphics and video, visit Restaurant.org/Forecast.
========
Founded in 1919, the National Restaurant Association is the leading business association for the restaurant industry, which comprises 980,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets and a workforce of more than 13 million employees. We represent the industry in Washington, D.C., and advocate on its behalf. We operate the industry?s largest trade show (NRA Show May 18-21, 2013, in Chicago); leading food safety training and certification program (ServSafe); unique career-building high school program (the NRAEF?s ProStart, including the National ProStart Invitational April 19-21, 2013, in Baltimore, Md.); as well as the Kids LiveWell program promoting healthful kids? menu options. For more information, visit www.restaurant.org and find us on Twitter @WeRRestaurants, Facebook and YouTube.
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Thursday, December 13, 2012
Mali gets new prime minister after military ouster
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) ? The troubled nation of Mali swore in a new interim prime minister on Thursday, just days after soldiers behind this year's military coup arrested his predecessor and forced his resignation.
Diango Cissoko officially took office in the Malian capital of Bamako, where he said the former prime minister would be available as needed during the political transition.
Earlier this week, Cheikh Modibo Diarra announced his resignation as prime minister on state television at 4 a.m. hours after soldiers stormed his house.
"I am moved and pleased that the prime minister Diarra said he will be close by to assist me as needed," Cissoko said.
The African Union on Thursday welcomed Cissoko's appointment despite the circumstances under which Diarra left office.
"As much as we strongly condemn the conditions under which the prime minister was compelled to resign, we also believe that we need to be forward looking and support the new prime minister and assist him and the authority of the interim president ... in precisely establishing and ensuring absolute civilian oversight over the military," El Ghassim Wane, a senior official of the AU peace and security council, told reporters at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Mali's interim government was intended to return the West African nation to civilian rule following the March military coup.
However, the coup leader Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo has maintained his hold on the country and the political instability has raised concerns about a proposed military intervention to retake Mali's north from radical Islamists.
The former prime minister, Diarra, was initially seen as being in-step with Sanogo. Critics lambasted him for frequently driving to the Kati barracks to see the coup leader, long after Sanogo was supposed to have handed power to civilians. In recent weeks though, Diarra had taken stances that sometimes conflicted with Sanogo.
The new prime minister, Cissoko, won favor with Sanogo by giving him equal standing with the interim president and prime minister during mediation efforts to resolve Mali's political crisis.
The military's meddling in state affairs has concerned the international community. Many worry that supporting the operation will simply further arm and embolden the very officers responsible for Mali's current state.
Radical Islamists were able to gain hold of northern Mali during the power vacuum that followed the March coup. Over the past eight months, they have implemented their strict version of Islamic law known as Shariah, carrying out public executions, amputations and whippings. Many worry that, under the Islamists' rule, northern Mali will become a base from where al-Qaida will be able to launch terror attacks on other countries, including into Europe.
A proposed military intervention to oust the Islamist rebels that would include Malian forces is still pending final approval from the United Nations.
___
Associated Press writer Kirubel Tadesse in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mali-gets-prime-minister-military-ouster-135233176.html
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Making Up for Murder
Emily Yoffe
Photograph by Teresa Castracane.
Get Dear Prudence delivered to your inbox each week; click here to sign up. Please send your questions for publication to prudence@slate.com. (Questions may be edited.)
Got a burning question for Prudie? She'll be online at Washingtonpost.com to chat with readers each Monday at noon. Submit your questions and comments here before or during the live discussion.
Dear Prudence,
Two years ago, my adored 28-year-old younger brother committed suicide after murdering his estranged wife's new boyfriend. My brother had depression and anger issues, but I will never understand the chain of events that made this act viable in his head. This has been devastating to my family. I did not know the man he murdered, but I know many of his friends. I tried to not mourn publicly, but I did not handle things well in social media. Sometimes I would mention my loss and these mutual friends were kind to me, but I still feel that I should have kept my mouth shut. I know that I had no fault in my brother's act, but since then I have isolated myself from them in person out of shame and associated guilt. (I am working on this with a therapist and in support groups.) I would like to reconnect with these mutual friends at Christmas when I return to my hometown, but I'm scared and worry that I will cause pain. The main issue is that the victim's brother also returns home for Christmas. My family has not reached out to the victim's family, which has been pretty much the universal recommendation. However, it is entirely likely that I could run into the brother, which terrifies me. I would actually like to have a meeting with him to convey how sorry I am for his loss, and that we have much in common. He may even have questions I can answer. But I fear reaching out and causing pain, while I also fear an unexpected meeting in a social setting. What should I do?
Dear Sister,
As you and your family know, you are also victims of your brother?s unspeakable act. Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, was caught because his brother David turned him into the FBI. After David got the $1 million reward, he paid his lawyers then distributed the rest to the victims and their families. He and his wife also wrote letters of apology, not because they had been aware of his brother?s crimes at the time?as you did not know your brother?s plans?but as a way to deal with their own guilt, grief, and pain afterward. Not all of the families responded, but a few did. I support your desire to reach out to the victim?s family. But it must be done with delicacy and with the knowledge of the limitations of this act. Before you do it, talk to a lawyer just to clarify how you might word a letter. You don?t want to unwittingly leave an impression that your family knew of your brother?s intentions. Then I also think it would be worth it to get advice from a victim?s organization on what such a letter should say. (Here are two: Parents of Murdered Children and Compassionate Friends.) Yes, you are suffering, but in reaching out to the victim?s family you have to be careful not to make parallels between your two situations. Your focus should be on your sorrow over their pain, not on the pain you have in common. It also would be a good idea to ask a mutual friend to deliver the letter so that it doesn?t come as a shock. Doing this won?t return your social relationships to the way they were. But taking this action should make it easier for you to come home and to reconnect with friends, who surely have compassion for your agony. By contacting the victim?s family, when and if you run into the victim?s friends and loved ones, you will have the words from the letter ready so that you can express your sorrow in person instead of feeling you should duck away. As you?ve recognized, social media is great for a lot of things, but it is too blunt an instrument to deal with the complications of such a painful situation. Continue to work this through privately with your therapist and support group.
Dear Prudence: Hair-Raising Dilemma
Dear Prudence,
I'm in my mid-20s. My mother divorced my good-for-nothing father when I was little and then went through a string of useless boyfriends. She has finally found a wonderful man and they are engaged. The problem is her insistence on blending his extended family with ours at holidays. Our side of the family only sees each other at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and many of us feel that it is important that we spend that time together, instead of shouting to each other across a huge dining table filled with people we don't know. I have been tasked with bringing up to my mother that people weren?t happy with Thanksgiving and are concerned about Christmas. When I broached this with her she became upset and accused me of not wanting her to move forward with her life. Spending the holidays apart from my mother is the last thing I want, but the rest of my extended family has been discussing holding Christmas festivities somewhere different if my mother decides to try blending the families again. My mother is incredibly stubborn and has never accepted being wrong before. How do I show my mother that we are all happy for her, but that her major life change shouldn't mean erasing all of our holiday traditions and the precious little time spent together without strangers?
Dear Conflicted,
I know what you mean about traditions. Yours is this year?s version of the annual letter I run that can be summed up as, ?I want Christmas to always be the way it used to be.? I assume your side of the family has expanded and contracted over the years as people marry, divorce, children get born, and loved ones die. Your mother is now in the incoming tide phase of this ebb and flow. I?m a little confused about the logistics here. If your mother is the hostess, then she has the prerogative to make up the guest list and people should be grateful she?s doing it. If others don?t want to come, that?s an individual choice. Keep in mind that these ?strangers? are going to be part of your family, so after a couple of get-togethers they will become familiar faces. But if the celebration is at someone else?s house, then your mother has to check and see if it?s feasible for her to add to the list and by how many. It?s one thing to ask to bring her fianc? and his children. But it?s burdensome and presumptuous if she expects to include, to mix holiday metaphors, his mishpocheh. It?s an unpleasant personality trait to have gone through life never able to acknowledge being wrong. But knowing that about your mother tells you what you?re dealing with. Even if most of the family decides Christmas has gotten too unwieldy, maybe there?s still a compromise and someone could host a drop-by on Christmas Eve or even the 26th, for those who didn?t get to see each other Christmas Day.
Dear Prudence,
I'm in human resources at an organization with a conservative culture. As part of vetting candidates, I Google them, check Facebook, etc., to see if there is anything of an embarrassing nature. One young woman candidate, age 23, has me stymied. She has a professional-quality website chronicling her many accomplishments and a perfectly innocent Twitter account. Her recommendations are lovely. But everything on the Web about her has happened since 2009, the year she graduated from college. No Facebook account, no Myspace. I find this weird. I have never known a person under 25 who wasn't all over the Web in high school and college. I thought of asking her, but if she's clever enough to sanitize a Web presence, wouldn't she have a story ready, too? I don't want make unfair assumptions or ask an inappropriate question, but I also don't want to be the idiot who hired someone who was in a sex scandal and have my career go down in flames. Should I take a chance? Is there a perfectly logical explanation I have not thought of?
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Bibou, Fountain Restaurant, Vetri On OpenTable's Top 100 ...
Several weeks ago we raised our arms in victory as Philly scored two spots on OpenTable?s Top 100 Wine Lists List. Little did we know the biggest list of all had yet to drop.
OpenTable?s Top 100 Best Restaurants in the United States List is now out and it features the names of three Philadelphia restaurants: Bibou, Fountain Restaurant, and Vetri.
The awards are based on over 5 million reviews of around 15,000 restaurants nationwide. OpenTable says the award recognizes restaurants for, ?making guests feel as though they have had a truly singular dining experience.?
Pennsylvania, with four restaurants on the list, is in a three-way tie for fourth place behind California, New York, and Virginia, but at least we have three out of PA?s four best dining establishments to Pittsburgh?s one. Congrats to everyone at Bibou, Fountain Restaurant, and Vetri.
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Three British men arrested in UK Libor probe
LONDON/ZURICH (Reuters) - Three British men were detained in London on Tuesday in the first arrests stemming from a global investigation into the manipulation of interbank lending rates.
One of those arrested was former Citigroup and UBS trader Thomas Hayes, according to a source familiar with the situation. Hayes could not immediately be reached for comment and the identity of the others could not be determined by Reuters.
Prosecutors and regulators across Europe, the United States, Canada and Japan have been investigating how traders attempted to rig key benchmark lending rates such as Libor (London interbank offered rate).
Dozens of people have been fired or suspended and are now under investigation in the probe into the benchmarks, but the arrests were the first since the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission initiated an industry-wide probe in October 2008.
Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said three men, aged 33, 41 and 47, had been taken to a London police station in the early morning after three properties were searched.
"The men are all British nationals currently living in the United Kingdom," the SFO said. A spokesman said interviews were continuing. Police can hold people for 24 hours without charge.
Designed originally in the late 1960s to estimate the costs at which banks will lend to each other, Libor has become the key benchmark for around $550 trillion of loans and financial contracts.
According to the Canadian Competition Bureau, Hayes and other traders are alleged to have manipulated yen Libor, the average interbank interest rate at which banks are prepared to lend one another unsecured funds denominated in Japanese yen.
Hayes worked at Swiss bank UBS from 2006-09 and then at U.S. bank Citigroup until 2010.
The arrests mark a ratcheting up of the sprawling investigation since Barclays admitted in June that its traders had tried to manipulate Libor and its euro cousin Euribor from 2005 through 2009 and that the bank had low-balled rates during the 2007/08 credit crunch.
The British bank reached a $450 million settlement with U.S. and UK regulators.
Switzerland's UBS and Britain's RBS are expected to reach similar financial settlements shortly. More than a dozen banks are being investigated.
Spokespeople for UBS, Barclays and RBS declined to comment on the arrests. Police referred all questions to the SFO.
(Additional reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-anti-fraud-agency-arrests-three-libor-probe-115700759--finance.html
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Tuesday, December 11, 2012
How our nerves regulate insulin secretion
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
The autonomic nervous system, which is the part of the nervous system beyond conscious control, plays an important role in the release of insulin from beta cells in the endocrine part of the pancreas. The process by which this occurs has been a mystery, since it is difficult to give detailed study to such an inaccessible organ. However, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have now managed to graft beta cells into the eyes of mice in order to study them in a living organism over a prolonged period of time. As a result, the group and a team of colleagues from the University of Miami have gained detailed knowledge of how the autonomic nervous system regulates beta-cell insulin secretion.
For this study, a technique of transplanting beta cells to the anterior chamber of the mouse eye was used. This technique was previously developed by Professor Per-Olof Berggren's group at Karolinska Institutet. In the anterior chamber of the eye the beta cells receive a supply not only of blood vessels, but also of nerves from the sympathetic and parasympathetic system, which constitute the autonomic nervous system. Put simply, the sympathetic nervous system can be said to prepare us for flight; one way it does this is to boost our energy by reducing insulin release and increasing glycogen, and consequently blood glucose. The parasympathetic nervous system operates in the reverse direction when we are at rest.
Now, the teams from Karolinska Institutet and the University of Miami have shown for the first time how the autonomic nervous system controls the beta cells and influences the regulation of blood glucose in living animals.
Using fluorescent markers for different types of nerves in combination with advanced microscopy, the researchers were able to probe the animals' eyes to study in detail the contact between the nerves and the beta cells. When the pupil contracted on exposure to light, the animals' blood glucose levels plummeted as a direct result of the stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system. Conversely, when the pupil dilated in darkness and activated the sympathetic nervous system, their blood glucose levels rose. They also managed to influence the animals' blood glucose levels by inhibiting or stimulating each set of nerves with different substances applied directly into the eye.
"We now understand the fundamentals of how insulin secretion works and is affected by the autonomic nervous system," says Per-Olof Berggren. "The next step is to see if it works in the same way in people with diabetes or if there are defects in the signalling relevant to the disease pathogenesis."
###
'Noninvasive in vivo model demonstrating the effects of autonomic innervation on pancreatic islet function', Rayner Rodriguez-Diaz, Stephan Speier, Ruth Damaris Molano, Alexander Formoso, Itai Gans, Midhat H. Abdulreda, Over Cabrera, Judith Molina, Alberto Fachado, Camillo Ricordi, Ingo Leibiger, Antonello Pileggi, Per-Olof Berggren and Alejandro Caicedo, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Online Early Edition 10-14 December 2012.
Karolinska Institutet: http://info.ki.se/ki
Thanks to Karolinska Institutet for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125855/How_our_nerves_regulate_insulin_secretion
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Suspect dead after three killed on California Indian reservation
(Reuters) - The man suspected of a shooting rampage in California at the Tule River Indian Reservation in which three people were killed and three others wounded, including two young daughters of the suspect, has died, county officials said on Sunday.
Hector Celaya, 31, who lived on the central California reservation, fled the scene of the shooting with his daughters and was shot during a low-speed car chase as authorities attempted to take him into custody, the Tulare County Sheriff's Department said. They later declared him deceased.
The two girls, ages 5 and 8, also suffered gunshot wounds. One of the girls was being treated for life-threatening injuries, police said.
"During the preliminary investigation, detectives learned the suspect had shot the children," the sheriff's office said in a statement.
The incident began on Saturday night when the Tulare County Sheriff received a 911 call saying shots had been fired on the reservation, roughly 60 miles north of Bakersfield, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Officials discovered a man and a woman who had been fatally shot in a trailer, as well as a male youth who was wounded. Another man was found dead in a shed.
Detectives were able to locate Celaya, who was considered armed and dangerous, using data from his cellphone, the sheriff's office said.
(Reporting by Edith Honan and Mary Slosson; Editing by Barbara Goldberg, Mary Wisniewski and Todd Eastham)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suspect-dead-three-killed-california-indian-reservation-030213651.html
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Monday, December 10, 2012
Syria's civil war spills into Lebanon, 4 dead
BEIRUT (AP) ? Syria's civil war spilled over into neighboring Lebanon once again on Sunday, with gun battles in the northern city of Tripoli between supporters and opponents of President Bashar Assad's regime that left four dead.
Nine Syrian judges and prosecutors also defected to the opposition. It was the latest setback for the regime, which appears increasingly embattled with rebels making gains in northern Syria and near Damascus, the capital.
Germany's Federal Intelligence Service chief Gerhard Schindler predicted the Assad regime would not survive.
"Signs are increasing that the regime in Damascus is in its final phase," he was quoted as telling the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
In Geneva, the United Nation's Special Representative for Syria and the Arab League, Lakdhar Brahimi, met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns to discuss the crisis in Syria. They said in a joint statement that the situation in Syria was "bad and getting worse," adding that a political process to end the conflict was "still necessary and still possible."
Russia and the United States have argued bitterly over how to address the conflict, which began with peaceful protests against Assad in March 2011 and escalated into a civil war that has killed an estimated 40,000 people. Activists said another 45 were killed on Sunday.
The U.S. has criticized Russia for shielding the Assad regime, while Moscow has accused Washington of encouraging the rebels and being intent on regime change.
In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia agreed to take part in the Geneva talks on condition there would be no demand for Assad to step down. Washington and its allies, including Turkey, have repeatedly called on the Syrian president to leave power to help stop the bloodshed.
"We are not conducting any negotiations on the fate of Assad," Lavrov said, adding that the Americans were wrong to see Moscow as softening its position on Syria. "All attempts to portray things differently are unscrupulous, even for diplomats of those countries which are known to try to distort the facts in their favor."
Addressing fears that Assad could use chemical weapons in a last-ditch effort to save his regime, Lavrov once again said the Syrian government has given assurances that it has no intention of ever using the weapons of mass destruction. He said the greatest threat is that they would fall into the hands of militants.
Lavrov met last week with Brahimi and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Dublin. Afterward, Clinton said the United States and Russia were committed to trying again to get both sides in the Syrian conflict to talk about a political transition. Clinton stressed that the U.S. would continue to insist that Assad's departure be a key part of that transition.
Russia's foreign minister said that after he agreed to a U.S. proposal to have his and Clinton's deputies "brainstorm" on Syria, the Americans began to suggest that Russia was softening its position.
"No such thing," Lavrov said. "We have not changed our position."
He urged the international community to come together and "with one voice" to demand a cease-fire, return U.N. observers in bigger numbers and begin a political dialogue. Lavrov repeated that Russia was not wedded to Assad but believed that only the Syrians have the right to choose their leaders.
In Lebanon, fighting between pro-and anti-Assad gunmen flared as bodies of three Lebanese, who were killed after crossing into Syria to fight in the civil war were brought back home for burial, the state-run National News Agency said.
Four people were killed and 12 were wounded in the gunfights, the agency said. Two Lebanese soldiers were also injured, the Lebanese Armed Forces command said.
Syria civil war has often spilled into neighboring countries including Turkey, Lebanon and Israel, raising concerns of a wider war in the volatile region.
Lebanon, which Syria dominated for decades, is particularly vulnerable to getting sucked into the crisis. The two countries share a porous border and a complex web of political and sectarian ties.
Syria's opposition is dominated by members of the Sunni Muslim minority. Assad's regime is predominantly Alawite, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Tripoli has been the scene of frequent sectarian clashes between the Alawite and Sunni Muslim communities. Last week, the Lebanese army sent additional troops to Tripoli to try to prevent clashes that broke out over reports that 17 Lebanese men were killed after entering Syria to fight alongside the rebels.
In Syria, fighting between opposition fighters and regime troops was concentrated in northern Idlib province, in the Damascus suburbs and in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, according to the Britain-based opposition activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. At least 45 people were killed in fighting Sunday, said the group, which relies on reports from activists on the ground.
The defecting judges posted a joint statement online urging others to join them and break ranks with Assad's regime. There have been a series of high-level defections over the past year, including Assad's former prime minister. The Observatory said the latest defectors came from the northern city of Idlib.
_____
Associated Press writers Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, Lynn Berry in Moscow, John Heilprin in Geneva, Switzerland, and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrias-civil-war-spills-lebanon-4-dead-171824562.html
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Sunday, December 9, 2012
Read This Information Before Filing For Bankruptcy | Investing ...
TIP! Avoid exhausting your savings or emptying your retirement accounts to pay off creditors if you are considering filing for bankruptcy. Unless there are no other options, your retirement funds should never be touched. 
Bankruptcy filings bring both worry and relief, simultaneously. You do have to sort through all of your finances and interact with a lot of people in the financial part of your life. On the other, however, after the bankruptcy has been discharged, you can get a fresh start and begin to re-build your credit. Take a look ahead to figure out more about bankruptcy.
TIP! It is possible that a bankruptcy might actually be smarter over the long term than struggling month to month with consistently late or missing payments. Bankruptcy can be seen on your credit history for 10 years, but you can begin repairing the damage immediately.Most bankruptcy lawyers offer a free consultation, so meet with several before you decide on one. Make sure you meet with a licensed attorney rather than a paralegal or assistant, because it is illegal for these people to give legal advice. Interviewing multiple attorneys is a good way to find the best fit.
TIP! Once your initial filing is complete, it is time to take some time to relax a little. Filing for personal bankruptcy can be very stressful for the debtor.
After your bankruptcy goes through, avoid taking on new debt. You will find many institutions that want to help you ?rebuild? your credit after bankruptcy. You will be shocked at the interest rates being offered. They can put you right back where you started unless, you exercise very good financial discipline.
TIP! If you?re considering filing for personal bankruptcy, it?s important that you understand the things that caused you to be in your current situation. Having large medical bills is an understandable cause of financial difficulties, but if you have an issue with shopping too much, you may have more trouble ahead.
Do not rely too heavily on your lawyer. It?s true that your attorney knows the ins and outs of bankruptcy, but staying informed about the progress of your case is a good idea. It could be tempting just to entrust everything to your lawyer. But remember, your financial life is at stake here.
TIP! Weigh all of your options before declaring bankruptcy. One example would be that a consumer credit program for counseling if you have small debts.
If you?re planning on filing bankruptcy, be sure that you don?t transfer your assets to another person within 12 months of the date you file. Courts see this as an attempt to hide your assets, and this practice can cause your petition to be dismissed. Depending on the asset, it may be safe from creditors, in any case. Whatever the case, hiding assets is not acceptable, so don?t make any transfers until after your discharge.
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
TIP! Before you even consider filing for bankruptcy, familiarize yourself with the laws surrounding this process. For instance, you may not be aware that a filer is forbidden from transferring assets from his or her name for one full year before the petition is filed.
Not all of your debts can be eliminated by filing for bankruptcy. When filing for chapter 13 bankruptcy, you are allowed to restructure the debt so your creditors can recover some of the money you owe. Many people don?t like to file for bankruptcy, because it seems as if they aren?t paying for their debts which is irresponsible. The solution to getting relief from a mound of debt that is impossible to repay without feeling like you have completely cheated your debtors can be filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
TIP! No matter what?s going on, make sure you tell the truth about your situation. It can be catastrophic to make up things about your assets and debts.
Before you decide to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you should consider what your bankruptcy might have on others, as your family and friends may be affected. When filing Chapter 7, you are not longer liable for the debts that you and a co-debtor signed for. Any co-debtor may well be held responsible for paying off the total remaining amount of the debt, though.
TIP! You will want to retain a bankruptcy lawyer if you decide to file for personal bankruptcy. Here are some of the things a qualified bankruptcy attorney can do for you: give you solid advice, simplify the complexity of the process, represent you in the courtroom.Try to secure a second job. Hold off on bankruptcy, instead speak with your creditors and let them know you?re serious about paying all the money back if you can get some more time. They might be inclined to abide by modified terms, and you may not even need file for bankruptcy.
Credit Card
TIP! If you are considering filing for bankruptcy, you really need to assess the situation carefully first. Analyze your debt situation, and find out which of your types of debt could be discharged under bankruptcy.
Do not use a credit card to pay income taxes and then file for bankruptcy. In many areas of the country, this debt will not be dischargeable, and you could be left owing a significant amount to the IRS. Generally speaking if you can discharge the tax, you can discharge the debt. Just because your credit card could be discharged in bankruptcy does not mean you should use it.
TIP! Make sure that you are aware of what debts will be able to be eliminated with the bankruptcy. There are a few debts that may remain depending on what they are.
There are pros and cons to filing bankruptcy. Doing some research is the best way to choose the most adapted solution. You will have an easier time with your bankruptcy filing thanks to this article?s tips. Incorporate these tips into the process and watch how much better you feel.
After reading this article, you can feel confident in the fact that you have a firm understanding of stock market research. Don?t stop here! The more knowledge you have on a subject, the more power you hold in your hands. Best of luck in the future!
Source: http://invetingmarketanalysis.com/2012/12/08/read-this-information-before-filing-for-bankruptcy/
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World-leading ecological economist joins ANU - ANU News - ANU
One of the world?s leading ecological economists, Professor Robert Costanza, has been appointed to a Chair in Public Policy at The Australian National University?s Crawford School of Public Policy.
Professor Costanza is the author or co-author of more than 500 scientific papers, and more than 20 books. His work has been published in Science and Nature, and has been cited more than 30,000 times. He repeatedly appears on lists of the world?s most influential researchers, including the ISI Highly Cited list.
His research integrates the study of humans and the rest of nature to address sustainability and well-being. In addition to his academic research, he was the co-founder of the International Society for Ecological Economics and founding editor of its journal, Ecological Economics. He serves on the editorial board of 16 other academic journals.? He is the Founding Editor of the hybrid academic/popular web/print magazine Solutions (www.thesolutionsjournal.org) which will be housed at Crawford.
His awards include a Kellogg National Fellowship, the Society for Conservation Biology Distinguished Achievement Award, a Pew Scholarship in Conservation and the Environment, the Kenneth Boulding Memorial Award for Outstanding Contributions in Ecological Economics, and honorary doctorates from Stockholm University and the ?cole Normale Sup?rieure de Lyon.
ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young AO said:
?Robert Costanza is a world-class researcher who is a widely recognised leader in his field. I welcome him to the University. I know everybody here will be very excited to have him on board.
?His appointment reflects the commitment of the University to attract the world?s leading researchers ? a central part of ANU By 2020, our strategic plan.?
Director of the Crawford School of Public Policy Professor Tom Kompas added:
?This appointment does much more than add to the already considerable strength the Crawford School has in public policy. It also brings to the school a researcher who is innovative, inspirational and highly distinguished, and one who is regarded ? quite rightly ? as the founding father of the discipline of ecological economics.
?Robert is also a Fellow of the Asia and the Pacific Policy Society, an initiative of the Crawford School which aims to position research on Asia and the Pacific within the mainstream of public policy. He will bring immense experience to the society, the school and the Australian research community.?
Source: http://news.anu.edu.au/2012/12/10/world-leading-ecological-economist-joins-anu/
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Friday, December 7, 2012
Environment: carbon dioxide emissions from energy consumption in the industrial sector
Offices in the U.S.A.
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DataMarket ? 2008?2012. All rights reserved
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Sunday, November 11, 2012
Canidium places in the Houston Fast Tech 50 for second ...
Canidium, a leading technology implementation and sales coaching consultant, was recently ranked No. 37 on Houston Business Journal's annual movers and shakers list, the Houston Fast Tech 50.
The index recognizes some of the local leaders and innovators in the Houston tech industry. Businesses from all tech-related fields, regardless of their size or value, can win the award. Canidium placed 37th in the list, marking the second consecutive top 50 finish in the past two years. The awards are presented to the 50 local high-tech businesses that experienced the greatest percentage of growth over the few past year. Winners were announced in the Fast Tech 50 focus section of the Houston Business Journal earlier this month.
The recognition is particularly noteworthy due to the competition in the Houston area. The region is quickly becoming known as a major hub for burgeoning tech companies that represent a variety of industries and sectors.
"You look at the Googles, the Amazons, the really cool technologies ? they are either in Silicon Valley or those types of locations,? Chuck Orrico, CEO of fellow Fast.Tech 50 company Dyonyx, told the Houston Business Journal. "I think one of the reasons Houston is outpacing the rest of the country in terms of business growth is that technology in Houston is based on very sound business models that know how to make money. They are not just developing technology for technology's sake."
Driving Canidium's strong growth is our expertise in the field of sales technology implementation and coaching. Every day, sales teams face a number of challenges that prevent them from effectively managing their operations. Tools such as sales performance management (SPM) and incentive compensation management (ICM) can help business leaders identify areas they could improve through crucial analytics and collected data.
However, there are a number of vendors that offer these tools, so it can be quite confusing for companies to know which software solutions are best fits for them. Canidium offers the independent expertise sales teams need to choose the perfect solution for their needs. We've worked with both the software vendors themselves and dozens of sales teams over the years, which means we have extensive knowledge about the various options a company has when it comes to SPC and ICM integration.
Source: http://www.canidium.com/canidium-places-in-the-houston-fast-tech-50-for-second-consecutive-year/
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Saturday, November 10, 2012
That venture capital shakeout is still taking way too long | PandoDaily
Lately, I?ve heard a lot of VCs bringing up how much of their industry is going out of business. As both a member of the press and an entrepreneur, it?s hard for me to feel much pity or see it as some great sign of Darwinian health. Mostly, because I?ve now been writing about a venture capital shakeout since the year after I arrived in Silicon Valley.
This might be the slowest industry reckoning the capitalist world has ever seen. Seriously, Godot got here quicker.
It occurs to me that if I?m going to complain about the pivots and acqui-hires and the overall decrease of actual failure in Silicon Valley, I should start with the part of the Valley that funds it all.
By my count we are more than a decade now into a ?shake-out? in venture capital dating back to the excesses of the dot com crash. Yes, it is more real than theoretical after the last few years. Firms have started to go out of business and the concentration of limited partner money is going to a smaller and smaller set of firms. There was one particular quarter last year when just seven funds raised 80 percent of the venture capital.
But that quarter was mostly an anomaly and considering 95 percent of the returns still come from 5 percent of the deals, it seems the VCs are still getting a better deal than their investors.
As I?ve written before, there are precious few firms who can raise as much money as they want. Everyone else is scrapping. But the shocker to me has been how many firms people keep whispering are DOA that somehow find an LP somewhere in the world willing to give them another shot.
There are two reasons why. The first is that there is just a ton of institutional wealth that has been created in the world. First, in the US towards the end of the 20th century, and increasingly, in emerging markets. When nearly every institutional fund wants to put a tiny percentage of its wealth in the basket of ?alternative assets? like venture capital, that just adds up to more money than the industry can really put to work in good ways ? even at current levels.
The second reason is this chart:
Cambridge Associates, which tracks venture capital liquidity, released its most recent numbers last week and showed that, yep, results are down of late. But their investors measure them in ten-year increments, because the companies they fund take a while to mature and exit. And it turns out that math is almost always forgiving.
For a long time the ten-year index still included the heady times of 1999 and early 2000, so they were artificially bolstered up. Those have only recently fallen out ? about the time the bulk of this actual shakeout really started.
But now, Cambridge proclaims that the anemic post-bubble years of 2001 and 2002 are falling off the index as well. That?s causing the aggregate long term numbers to rise again. Are they the best venture capital has ever seen? Not at all. But they?re better than the market average.
And that?s the thing. We can all talk about ?venture style returns,? and most people mean making 10 times your cash. But as long as that?s the dreamy upside, and the downside is beating the market, investors still keep putting cash in.?Even if ? in practice ? most of those firms aren?t beating the market. Many aren?t returning capital at all. Everyone is just a hit away from dumb money looking brilliant.
In a perfect world, only the firms actually delivering would raise another round. But those good firms are all over-booked. So the rest of the industry?s cash goes to the rest or doesn?t invest.
VCs acutely feel like a shakeout is real and severe. But that?s largely because they?ve been in venture capital too long. It?s an insanely forgiving business, even if you?re on the losing end. Firms don?t just close down the way a company does. Each fund is a ten-year investment cycle that doesn?t end until the last deal has gone public, sold or gone under. They can limp along seemingly infinitely.
Several VCs I?ve talked to have pointed out that out of some 700 funds that are technically listed as doing business in the US, only 97 of them have invested at least $1 million for four straight quarters in the room. 700 down to 97 is certainly extreme.
But honestly, can you even name 97 venture firms? I write about this stuff for a living and I can maybe name 20 off the top of my head. Remember: This is a home run business and 95 percent of the returns are coming from 5 percent of the deals. Let?s be generous and say, at least fifty of those 97 can be putting up what LPs consider venture style numbers.
Clearly 600 firms would disagree with me that a venture shakeout hasn?t been severe enough. I don?t have a lot of pity for them. Anyone going under in this business has been given at least 10 years of second chances while their portfolio companies suffer far harsher economic realities.
[Illustration by Hallie Bateman]
Source: http://pandodaily.com/2012/11/09/that-venture-capital-shakeout-is-still-taking-way-too-long/
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