Drivers are turning away from high tech GPS and satellite navigation devices in favour of the humble A to Z as they make plans to travel this Bank Holiday, says new research from Swinton.
A survey conducted by the leading car insurance broker revealed that a whopping 67% of us prefer old fashioned methods of navigation when going on long car journeys, believing maps and A to Zs to be more reliable than more modern equipment. 48% of us have been put off using a Sat Nav due to being directed either the longest route to our destination, or sent to a dead end.
However, it seems old stereotypes still exist, as 41% of those surveyed said that they would trust a mans map reading more than a womans, and 32% admitted that they would rather add an extra half hour onto their journey than have to take a blow to their pride by asking for directions.
Steve Chelton, insurance development manager at Swinton said: “Its interesting to see that the old way is still best for some of us, and that all the high tech gadgets in the world cant take the place of the good old map! However, wed urge all drivers embarking on a long car journey this Bank Holiday weekend to plan carefully and make sure that, as far as possible; that they know where they are going. This will reduce stress and panic on busy roads and help reduce accidents, keeping car insurance premiums low.”
About Swinton
TESCO is refusing to insure motorists with one penalty point for minor traffic offences. The companys insurance sector admitted that drivers penalised for making illegal turns would not get cover. The admission came as a 66-year-old man with 49 years driving experience was refused insurance by Tesco. He said: “I am concerned because if you are refused cover you have to disclose it, which means you could have problems with other companies.”
pounds THE average male motorist is lost for 276 miles a year – and more than a quarter of men wait at least half an hour before asking for directions, research by Sheilas Wheels car insurance shows. Women drive 256 lost miles a year, but three-quarters are happy to ask for directions. pounds ALMOST one in ten adults have given or lent an average of pounds 8,250 to their parents – mostly in the past year. Scottish Widows Savings and Investment Report reveals that more than a third said they used the handouts to pay off debt and another third used the money for living expenses and general spending. pounds MORE than one in 10 under-18s have hosted a house party without their parents permission. The Post Office says 27 per cent of parents whose children have hosted a party have had valued possessions broken. pounds SIX out of 10 drivers who shopped around after getting their car insurance renewal quote found a better deal, saving an average of pounds 58, according to Which?. The consumer champion advises drivers never to accept an existing insurers initial quote – they often match any better deals you find.
A WOMAN died in a head-on collision yesterday. The woman, aged in her 60s, is reported to have died at 9am at the scene of the accident at Drumfin, Co Sligo. Her male passenger and the female driver of the second car are being treated at Sligo General Hospital.
THE search for a missing kayaker was called off after he was found safe and well yesterday after going missing on Friday night.
THREE men who fell ill during a trial for a new cancer drug were released from hospital yesterday. They fell ill at a Cork clinic while undergoing a clinical trial that was due to run until Thursday but has now been halted. The three men, who were part of a 12-person group, are now being kept under supervision at the private Shandon Clinic where the trial had initially been run. The clinic said yesterday it expected to discharge all the volunteers in the next few days. The new drug had been previously tested at the clinic without the reactions which occurred in the three unlucky volunteers.
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
WLS, a leading provider of cellular platforms to top tier global phone
makers, will operate as a standalone business serving its existing
customers. WLS will also contribute to Intel’s strategy to make
connected computing ubiquitous from smartphones to laptops to embedded
computing.
“The global demand for wireless solutions continues to grow at an
extraordinary rate,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. “The
acquisition of Infineon’s WLS business strengthens the second pillar of
our computing strategy — Internet connectivity — and enables us to
offer a portfolio of products that covers the full range of wireless
options from Wi-Fi and 3G to WiMAX and LTE. As more devices compute and
connect to the Internet, we are committed to positioning Intel to take
advantage of the growth potential in every computing segment, from
laptops to handhelds and beyond.”
“The sale of WLS is a strategic decision to enhance Infineon’s value. We
can now fully concentrate our resources towards strong growth in our
core segments Automotive (ATV), Industrial Multimarket (IMM) and Chip
Card Security (CCS). This creates a great perspective for all Infineon
customers, employees and shareholders,” said Peter Bauer, CEO of
Infineon Technologies AG. “We all stand to benefit enormously from this
deal. Thanks to the outstanding effort of the employees and the
management during the last years, WLS is excellently positioned to grow
further with the new owner who is ideally suited for this business.”
Exclusive Forum organized by Chinese General Administration of Press and
Publication (GAPP)
Beijing (August 30, 2010) Wolters Kluwer, a market-leading global
information
services and publishing company focused on professionals, announced that
Nancy
McKinstry, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board, has been invited by Mr
Liu
Binjie, Minister of General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP)
to
deliver a keynote speech at the 2010 Beijing International Publishing Forum
on
Sunday, August 29, 2010, in Beijing, China.
The Beijing International Publishing Forum is the most important high-level
industry event that provides a valuable opportunity and a platform for
Chinese
and foreign publishers to have a dialogue and exchange experiences. Held in
conjunction with the 2010 Beijing International Book Fair that is taking
place
from August 29 to September 3, the Forums theme covered “Global Publishing
Cooperation and Chinas Market Opportunities”.
Ms. McKinstry emphasized Wolters Kluwers commitment to support the growth
ambitions in China and deliver world-class information solutions to Chinese
professionals it serves, such as lawyers, accountants, and health
professionals,
especially in the context of the emerging digitization of the information
and
publishing industry. The company remains committed to the Chinese market in
terms of delivering value to customers, employees and investors through
continued investments in developing global partnerships in the tax,
accounting,
legal, and healthcare markets in China.
Women in Kenya remain disadvantaged, with opportunities for educational, social, and economic advancement inferior to those of men. Women are underrepresented in modern sector wage employment, political and judicial decision making, and all major public service appointments. Numerous social, economic, and cultural barriers limit womens participation in these areas. But womens underrepresentation in education is a primary factor. The benefits of womens education to women and to society in general are immense. In the workplace, education increases skills needed for job entry, improves chances of vertical mobility, and enhances overall labor market productivity. It also has positive consequences at home, including improved health, increased child survival rates, reduced fertility rates, lower infant mortality rates, and better protection against HIV and AIDS (Tembon and Fort 2008). Education of women and girls is therefore not only a moral and human rights issue, but also an economic and development issue. Given the significant benefits of womens education, equity in education is essential to improving circumstances for all Kenyans. As the leading provider of education, the government should acknowledge that compensatory mechanisms may be required to level the playing field for disadvantaged girls, and it should adopt an approach that uses these mechanisms. Making education equitable means adopting policies and initiatives that support equal provisions across genders. Female Education in Kenya Education in Kenya has four basic levels: preschool (ages 4-6), primary (ages 7-14), secondary (ages 15-18), and tertiary. Since attaining political independence from Great Britain in 1963, the Kenyan government has emphasized educations importance to economic development. It has also increased the number of schools at all levels, from about six thousand primary and 150 secondary schools in 1963 to almost twenty thousand primary and four thousand secondary schools in 2004. As a result, the student population has increased substantially, with over 700 percent growth at the primary level and almost 3,000 percent growth at the secondary level (Ministry of Education 2007). But this total expansion in education hides disparities by gender and region.
~ Over 24,000 CESAR(R) Canine Cuisine Entrees Will Help Feed Dogs at Rescue Organizations Across the Country ~ FRANKLIN, Tenn., June 4 /PRNewswire/ — To celebrate the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, CESAR Canine Cuisine shared the love, with a little help from our celebrity friends. While participating in Kari Feinsteins pre-event Style Lounge, CESAR Canine Cuisine encouraged nominees, presenters and celebrity guests to enter their fun and interactive lounge, for a chance to spread the love to small dogs across the country. The event, which took place at The Montage Beverly Hills on June 3rd and 4th, found celebrities and nominees being treated to an array of complimentary fashion, travel and beauty gifts along with luxurious spa treatments, as they prepared for the big show. Celebrities including Ashley Greene (Twilight), Jennifer Love Hewitt (TVs “Ghost Whisperer”), Entourages Kevin Dillon, Constance Zimmer, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Kevin Conolly, AnnaLynne McCord and Shenae Grimes (TVs “90210″), Adrien Brody (The Experiment), Joe Jonas, Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott (TVs “Tori Dean: Inn Love”), Busy Philipps (TVs “Cougar Town”), Cheryl Burke (TVs “Dancing With The Stars”), Abigail Spencer (TVs “Mad Men”), Amber Stevens (TVs “Greek”), Lea Thompson (Back To The Future), Sam Page (TVs “Desperate Housewives”), Evan Handler (Sex In The City), Cat Deeley (TVs “So You Think You Can Dance”), Nicky Hilton, Lauren Conrad (TVs “The Hills”), Shannon Elizabeth (American Pie), Giuliana Rancic (E! News), Jenna Dewan (TVs “Slightly Single in LA”), Rachel Bilson (Jumper), Thomas Jane (TVs “Hung”), James Van Der Beek (TVs “Mercy”), Maria Menounos and many more were exposed to a wide array of innovative new products, travel services and luxury brands. While overall proceeds from the event benefitted The Creative Coalition, CESAR Canine Cuisine also provided assistance to help feed dogs in rescue organizations across the country. For every celebrity guest that visited the CESAR Canine Cuisine Lounge, a donation of 200 gourmet canine cuisine entrees were donated to dogs in need from each celebritys local hometown. Not only could celebrities stock up on CESAR Canine Cuisine Entrees for their own little loved ones, they were also able to help share the love with over 24,000 entrees for canine companions across the country. “We are thrilled that so many celebrities were willing to visit the CESAR Canine Cuisine Lounge in exchange for our charitable donation to dog rescue organizations across the Country,” said Anne Herrington, Vice President of Marketing for CESAR Brand. “This event provided the perfect opportunity to continue our mission of sharing the love with our little canine companions,” added Herrington.
(LSI) — Would you turn to Lindsay Lohan for career advice? Or Spencer Pratt for tips on your love life?
Fans can now find out what the “stars” have in store for them with the debut of an ingenious celebrity tarot card game from MSNs WonderWall.com.
In the game designed by Kulture Kick LLC, an eerily familiar Madame Blanco forecasts the fates of players by dealing a star-studded deck of tarot cards inspired by the latest celebrity headlines. Each cleverly illustrated card represents a unique virtue (or vice) as epitomized by some of todays most beloved — and notorious — celebrities, including:
Kann der feste Sitz von Rotorst�ben gew�hrleistet werden? Ein in Konstruktion und Produktion von Kurzschlussl�ufern weithin akzeptierter Grundsatz besagt, dass die Rotorst�be f�r eine lange Lebensdauer fest in ihren Nuten sitzen m�ssen. Die Herstellung eines anf�nglichen festen Sitzes – und die Erhaltung dieses festen Sitzes trotz Wechseltemperaturen �ber viele Jahre, insbesondere w�hrend des Beschleunigungsvorgangs – ist ein schwieriges Problem, dus bisher mit keiner der zahlreichen von den Motorherstellern angewandten Methoden vollst�ndig gel�st werden konnte. F�r die Montage gibt es eine Reihe einander widersprechender Vorgaben. Die St�be m�ssen so viel Spiel haben, dass sie in die Nuten eingepasst werden k�nnen, ohne dass die St�be oder die verklebten Kernbleche besch�digt werden. Andererseits m�ssen sie so fest sitzen, dass Vibrationen vermieden werden, die zu Versagen durch Materialerm�dung f�hren k�nnen. Trotzdem m�ssen sie ausreichend lose sitzen, dass sie entfernt werden k�nnen, sollte irgendwann ein Austausch erforderlich sein. Die Verwendung vieler unterschiedlicher Stab- und Schlitzformen verkompliziert die Sache zus�tzlich. Die Kontrolle von Wicklungs- und Widerstands verlusten, steigendes Drehmoment und zunehmende Ger�uschentwicklung haben zu einer radikalen Abkehr von der einfachen rechteckigen Stabform gef�hrt, die durch eine leichte Reibung zwischen Stab und Schlitz an den Ecken fixiert wurde. Bei der axialen Einf�hrung des Stabs wurde sie weggekratzt. Unabh�ngig von der Form des Stabes muss die Herstellung des Stabes selber eine bestimmte Abweichung der Abmessungen zulassen. Die Nut kann in jedem Kernblech pr�zise ausgeformt werden. Werden jedoch viele dieser Kernbleche mithilfe eines Montagedoms oder eines anderen Montagewerkzeugs zu einem Kern gestapelt, ergeben sich unweigerlich geringf�gige Abweichungen der Nutpositionen von einem Kemblech zum anderen. Der daraus resultierende Nutversatz verringert praktisch den f�r den Stab verbleibenden Raum, wobei das Ausma� der Verringerung nur schwer vorausgesagt oder gemessen werden kann.
ITS meant to be the best day of a girls life, their moment in the spotlight – but what happens when brides-to-be are hit with the credit crunch? Some girls dream about their big day all their lives and finding the perfect dress is top of the list for their fairytale wedding. They may only wear it once, but for some women their wedding dress will be their biggest wardrobe splurge ever. But it is still possible to walk down the aisle and draw gasps of admiration in a stylish dress that does not have to cost the earth. A number of charities run wedding shops that are packed with recessionbusting gowns and vintage gems.
Wedding gown guide
By Ann Marie Bush Washburn University president Jerry Farley traded in his suit jacket Thursday morning for a blue move-in crew T-shirt — he left on his bow tie. He and his wife, Susan, were among 360 volunteers who helped move students into dormitory rooms beginning at 9 a.m. A steady stream of students, faculty and staff members wearing the bright blue T- shirts moved efficiently from vehicles to the Living Learning Center with arms filled with bedding, clothing and luggage. “There are two really great days — when they move in and when they graduate,” Farley said. “Everyone is always so excited.”
PUBLISHER Bloomsbury is hoping a fresh release of the Harry Potter series will stimulate sales after profits almost halved in the first six months of 2010. Bloomsbury made pound(s)949,000 in the period, down 48% from pound(s)1.8 million a year earlier. JK Rowlings tales about the boy wizard, complete with new jackets, will be launched in November to coincide with the film of the final novel, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows.
THE pre-match entertainment from a singing trio wearing cowboy hats and jackets sparked memories of Brokeback Mountain. And just like the film, there was no happy ending, at least for Town. There were highs, with Anthony Pilkington hitting the bar before Jordan Rhodes and Graham Carey put Lee Clarks side two goals to the good. But they were outweighed by the lows as Peterborough pulled one back in first-half stoppage time, with keeper Alex Smithies making an unusual handling error, before turning the game on its head with two goals in as many minutes soon after the restart. As Posh turned the screw, Town failed to respond with sufficient power, and Smithies had been beaten for a fourth time before late pressure provided fleeting hopes of a fightback which failed to materialise.
On March 2 of 2007, with the implementation of Law 66, Puerto Rico became a smoke-free island by completely banning indoor smoking in public places such as bars, pubs, casinos, hotels, work places with more than one employee, and cars with any passenger under the age of 13 . According to the literature, the immediate impact of smoke-free workplace policies has been to dramatically reduce the exposition to SHS for customers and workers (10-17). Many studies have used the level of respirable particulate matter ([PM.sub.2.5]) as the main indicator of exposure to SHS because it has been demonstrated that smoking is one of the main sources of indoor levels of [PM.sub.2.5] (10). For example, bars in the state of New York experienced an average reduction of 84% in their [PM.sub.2.5] levels after the Clean Indoor Air Act was implemented in July of 2003 (11). In the case of Austin, Texas, bars experienced a reduction from 71% to 99% in their [PM.sub.2.5] levels after a smoking ban was implemented (12). In another study (13), Irish-theme pubs around the globe located in countries or cities with smoke-free legislation were compared with similar pubs in places without smoke-free ordinances. In this case, the results showed an average 91% reduction in [PM.sub.2.5] levels. In March of 2006, a smoking ban was implemented in Scotland, which substantially covered enclosed places including pubs. Evidence shows that, as a result, Scottish pubs experienced an average of 86% reduction in [PM.sub.2.5] levels (14). In Italy, a year after the implementation of an all smoke-free workplace policy in January of 2005, there was an average of 68% reduction in [PM.sub.2.5] levels across bars, restaurants, game rooms, and pubs (15). The main claim of this study is that the smoke-free workplace policy implemented in March of 2007 was effective in reducing the exposure to SHS in restaurants, pubs, and discos in the metropolitan area of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The specific research objectives of the study were three. First, to measure and compare the restaurants, pubs, and discos in the metropolitan area of San Juan at baseline (before the smoke-free workplace policy was implemented) in terms of the levels of respirable particulate matter (PM), the number of smokers, the number of customers, and establishment area. Second, to measure the change in levels of PM, the number of smokers, and the number of customers before and after March 2007. And third, to measure the effect of the smoke-free workplace policy on the level of PM controlling for the number of customers and establishment area.
On March 2 of 2007, with the implementation of Law 66, Puerto Rico became a smoke-free island by completely banning indoor smoking in public places such as bars, pubs, casinos, hotels, work places with more than one employee, and cars with any passenger under the age of 13 . According to the literature, the immediate impact of smoke-free workplace policies has been to dramatically reduce the exposition to SHS for customers and workers (10-17). Many studies have used the level of respirable particulate matter ([PM.sub.2.5]) as the main indicator of exposure to SHS because it has been demonstrated that smoking is one of the main sources of indoor levels of [PM.sub.2.5] (10). For example, bars in the state of New York experienced an average reduction of 84% in their [PM.sub.2.5] levels after the Clean Indoor Air Act was implemented in July of 2003 (11). In the case of Austin, Texas, bars experienced a reduction from 71% to 99% in their [PM.sub.2.5] levels after a smoking ban was implemented (12). In another study (13), Irish-theme pubs around the globe located in countries or cities with smoke-free legislation were compared with similar pubs in places without smoke-free ordinances. In this case, the results showed an average 91% reduction in [PM.sub.2.5] levels. In March of 2006, a smoking ban was implemented in Scotland, which substantially covered enclosed places including pubs. Evidence shows that, as a result, Scottish pubs experienced an average of 86% reduction in [PM.sub.2.5] levels (14). In Italy, a year after the implementation of an all smoke-free workplace policy in January of 2005, there was an average of 68% reduction in [PM.sub.2.5] levels across bars, restaurants, game rooms, and pubs (15). The main claim of this study is that the smoke-free workplace policy implemented in March of 2007 was effective in reducing the exposure to SHS in restaurants, pubs, and discos in the metropolitan area of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The specific research objectives of the study were three. First, to measure and compare the restaurants, pubs, and discos in the metropolitan area of San Juan at baseline (before the smoke-free workplace policy was implemented) in terms of the levels of respirable particulate matter (PM), the number of smokers, the number of customers, and establishment area. Second, to measure the change in levels of PM, the number of smokers, and the number of customers before and after March 2007. And third, to measure the effect of the smoke-free workplace policy on the level of PM controlling for the number of customers and establishment area.
On March 2 of 2007, with the implementation of Law 66, Puerto Rico became a smoke-free island by completely banning indoor smoking in public places such as bars, pubs, casinos, hotels, work places with more than one employee, and cars with any passenger under the age of 13 . According to the literature, the immediate impact of smoke-free workplace policies has been to dramatically reduce the exposition to SHS for customers and workers (10-17). Many studies have used the level of respirable particulate matter ([PM.sub.2.5]) as the main indicator of exposure to SHS because it has been demonstrated that smoking is one of the main sources of indoor levels of [PM.sub.2.5] (10). For example, bars in the state of New York experienced an average reduction of 84% in their [PM.sub.2.5] levels after the Clean Indoor Air Act was implemented in July of 2003 (11). In the case of Austin, Texas, bars experienced a reduction from 71% to 99% in their [PM.sub.2.5] levels after a smoking ban was implemented (12). In another study (13), Irish-theme pubs around the globe located in countries or cities with smoke-free legislation were compared with similar pubs in places without smoke-free ordinances. In this case, the results showed an average 91% reduction in [PM.sub.2.5] levels. In March of 2006, a smoking ban was implemented in Scotland, which substantially covered enclosed places including pubs. Evidence shows that, as a result, Scottish pubs experienced an average of 86% reduction in [PM.sub.2.5] levels (14). In Italy, a year after the implementation of an all smoke-free workplace policy in January of 2005, there was an average of 68% reduction in [PM.sub.2.5] levels across bars, restaurants, game rooms, and pubs (15). The main claim of this study is that the smoke-free workplace policy implemented in March of 2007 was effective in reducing the exposure to SHS in restaurants, pubs, and discos in the metropolitan area of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The specific research objectives of the study were three. First, to measure and compare the restaurants, pubs, and discos in the metropolitan area of San Juan at baseline (before the smoke-free workplace policy was implemented) in terms of the levels of respirable particulate matter (PM), the number of smokers, the number of customers, and establishment area. Second, to measure the change in levels of PM, the number of smokers, and the number of customers before and after March 2007. And third, to measure the effect of the smoke-free workplace policy on the level of PM controlling for the number of customers and establishment area.
On March 2 of 2007, with the implementation of Law 66, Puerto Rico became a smoke-free island by completely banning indoor smoking in public places such as bars, pubs, casinos, hotels, work places with more than one employee, and cars with any passenger under the age of 13 . According to the literature, the immediate impact of smoke-free workplace policies has been to dramatically reduce the exposition to SHS for customers and workers (10-17). Many studies have used the level of respirable particulate matter ([PM.sub.2.5]) as the main indicator of exposure to SHS because it has been demonstrated that smoking is one of the main sources of indoor levels of [PM.sub.2.5] (10). For example, bars in the state of New York experienced an average reduction of 84% in their [PM.sub.2.5] levels after the Clean Indoor Air Act was implemented in July of 2003 (11). In the case of Austin, Texas, bars experienced a reduction from 71% to 99% in their [PM.sub.2.5] levels after a smoking ban was implemented (12). In another study (13), Irish-theme pubs around the globe located in countries or cities with smoke-free legislation were compared with similar pubs in places without smoke-free ordinances. In this case, the results showed an average 91% reduction in [PM.sub.2.5] levels. In March of 2006, a smoking ban was implemented in Scotland, which substantially covered enclosed places including pubs. Evidence shows that, as a result, Scottish pubs experienced an average of 86% reduction in [PM.sub.2.5] levels (14). In Italy, a year after the implementation of an all smoke-free workplace policy in January of 2005, there was an average of 68% reduction in [PM.sub.2.5] levels across bars, restaurants, game rooms, and pubs (15). The main claim of this study is that the smoke-free workplace policy implemented in March of 2007 was effective in reducing the exposure to SHS in restaurants, pubs, and discos in the metropolitan area of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The specific research objectives of the study were three. First, to measure and compare the restaurants, pubs, and discos in the metropolitan area of San Juan at baseline (before the smoke-free workplace policy was implemented) in terms of the levels of respirable particulate matter (PM), the number of smokers, the number of customers, and establishment area. Second, to measure the change in levels of PM, the number of smokers, and the number of customers before and after March 2007. And third, to measure the effect of the smoke-free workplace policy on the level of PM controlling for the number of customers and establishment area.
INTRODUCTION Fat deposition of pigs is of economic importance because of market incentives for lean pork production and decreased feeding costs. It is crucial to investigate and characterize new candidate genes and QTL relevant to pig fat deposit traits. To date, several quantitative trait loci (QTL) significantly affecting 10th-rib, average backfat thickness and other production traits have been mapped on SSC7 (Wang et al., 1998; Nagamine et al., 2003). Peroxisomal [[DELTA].sup.3],[[DELTA].sup.2]-enoyl-CoA isomerase (PECI) was located near the boundary of the quantitative trait loci (QTL) region. [[DELTA].sup.3],[[DELTA].sup.2]-enoyl-CoA isomerase (Ecilp) is unique because its activity is necessary for [beta]-oxidation of all unsaturated fatty acids (Geisbrecht et al., 1999). The series of enzyme-catalyzed reactions required for degradation of fatty acids are evolutionarily conserved and accomplished primarily through the p-oxidation pathway. In peroxisomes, ECI was predicted to be a dominant enzyme for 3-cis 3[right arrow]2-trans and 3-trans 3[right arrow]2-trans isomerizations of long-chain intermediates (Zhang et al., 2002). Fatty acid [beta]-oxidation in mammals is considerably more complicated, primarily due to the existence of overlapping but distinct fatty acid poxidation pathways. Mammalian peroxisomes contain at least three fatty acyl-CoA oxidases, both L-specific and D-specific 2-enoyl-CoA hydratase/3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase multifunctional proteins, and at least two thiolases, all of which are encoded by different genes (Palosaari et al., 1990a, 1991; Geisbrecht et al., 1998; Gurvitz et al., 1998; Geisbrecht et al., 1999; Partanen et al., 2004). When the ECI was completely excised in the mouse, it extensively perturbed the metabolism of unsaturated fatty acids, especially for short interval starvation and the fatty acid pattern of complex phospholipids was strongly altered (Palosaari et al., 1990b; Janssen et al., 2002). The PECI gene can be encoded by ECI1 and it is required for growth of saccharomyces cerevisiae on unsaturated fatty acids (Gurvitz et al., 1998). It can be concluded that the PECI gene may play an important role during the metabolic processing of unsaturated fatty acids. Deposition of fat by animals in their bodies is associated with the metabolism of fatty acids, and more research would contribute to understanding of porcine fat deposition. Genomic DNA was isolated from blood of mature Tongcheng pigs (Hubei province, China) by phenol/chloroform extraction. RNA was extracted from muscle tissue of adult Tongcheng pigs and adult Swedish Landrace with TRIzol reagent kit (Life Technologies, Grand Island, NE, USA). RACE (the rapid amplification of cDNA ends) was performed according to the instructions of the SMARTTM RACE cDNA Amplification Kit (Clontech Inc, Palo Alto, CA, USA). The PCR products of RACE were purified with the Wizard PCR Preps DNA Purification System (Promega, Madison, WI, USA). ORF were found by the program SeqMan (DNA star, Madison, WI, USA) and the amino acid sequences were deduced with Primer5.0 (Primer Premier5.0, Premier, Canada). Using the pGEM T-easy vector, DNase I (RNase-free) and M-MLV reverse transcriptase from TaKaRa Dalian (Dalian, China), primers were synthesized (Table 1) and PCR products were sequenced by AuGCT Biotechnology (Bejing, China).
INTRODUCTION Pork is a popular meat consumed by non-muslim Singaporeans with about 87,000 tonnes being consumed per year (Kanagalingam, 2005). Currently, Singapore imports its pork from several countries, but Australian and Indonesian pork is consumed most widely due to its ready availability at supermarkets and wet markets. Fresh pork is obtained from pigs raised in Indonesia but slaughtered at Singapore abattoirs, while chilled pork is mainly imported from Australia and is widely known as “Air Pork”. Singaporean consumers are aware of the origin of pork from packaging labels. Results of a recent survey showed that Singapore consumers associate non-Indonesian pork with the presence of an unpleasant mutton-like off-flavour (Leong et al., 2008). One possible cause of off-flavours in pork is by the oxidation of lipids, leading to the formation of aldehydes and short-chain fatty acids (Reindl and Stan, 1982; Devol, et al., 1988). The rate and extent of lipid oxidation depends on a number of factors, the most important being the level of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in muscle (Allen and Foegeding, 1981). Pork contains high levels of unsaturated fatty acids relative to ruminant meat (Enser et al., 1996) and is more susceptible to oxidative deterioration of lipids and myoglobin. Feeding of PUFAs to pigs can improve the nutritional quality of pork, but may also increase the susceptibility to oxidation (Sheard et al., 2000; Kouba et al., 2003; Morel et al., 2006). There have been many reports of PUFA-rich feeds leading to increased lipid oxidation and thus off-flavour in pork (Houben and Krol, 1980; Warnants et al., 1998; Roman et al., 1995; Overland et al., 1996; Leskanich et al., 1997; Wood et al., 2003). There have also been examples of off-flavours in pork arising from the direct transfer of aroma components from feed to meat, including several reports on how feeding of fish oil and high fat fish meal to finisher pigs has caused “fishy” and other off-flavours in pork products (Kjos et al., 1999; Lauridsen et al., 1999; Maw et al., 2001; Jaturasitha et al., 2002). The current paper compares sensory assessments of the flavour of pork from the legs of pigs finished in New Zealand on three diets (Morel et al., 2008) using Singaporean panelists. The objective was to determine the extent to which dietary feed treatments received by the New Zealand pigs influenced the sensory properties of pork using trained and untrained Singaporean panels. Results of sensory analyses of pork from the loins of the same New Zealand pigs using New Zealand panelists were reported by Janz et al. (2008).
Balqon Corporation (OTCBB: BLQN), a developer and manufacturer of zero emissions, heavy-duty electric vehicles and drive systems, has received a $490,000 order for electric drive systems under a new dealer agreement with DynaProTech, a leading composite automotive parts manufacturer in the Peoples Republic of China.
Under the terms of the dealer agreement, DynaProTech plans to integrate Balqons zero-emissions electric drive systems into electric buses, heavy-duty trucks, light commercial vehicles and automobiles for use throughout China. DynaProTech will also provide servicing and parts for Balqons products throughout China.
“Our relationship with DynaProTech is a continuation of our localization strategy to have our drive systems integrated into products manufactured by regional original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in major world markets,” said Balwinder Samra, president and CEO of Balqon Corporation.
“We believe that DynaProTechs existing customer base in the automotive sector will expedite our ability to promote our technologies to a growing base of OEMs seeking zero-emissions technologies,” said Samra. “In addition, we believe that our relationship with DynaProTech will also allow us to showcase our flux vector motor controllers and battery management systems to manufacturers of electric buses, trucks and automobiles in China.”
The relationship with DynaProTech comes at a time where China is expected to increase spending in the alternative-energy vehicle industry. On August 4, 2010, the Shanghai Securities News reported (without citation) that China may invest more than 100 billion Yuan (approximately US$14.8 billion) in the alternative-energy vehicles industry during the next 10 years.
When those forward-looking folks at Citroen started banging out their anti-retro slogans a few months ago, it wasnt exactly difficult to figure out which rival manufacturer had got up their haughty Parisian noses. The French company was locked in a groove of pushing out one innovative-but-dull car after another, while on the other side of the Alps the good people at Fiat had cornered the market for cleverly reworking old concepts into stylish and attention-grabbing packages. “Ow can it be?” the Citroen execs must have moaned as they watched the Fiat 500 sales graph disappear through the ceiling. “We have ze most fantastique designers and ze most brilliant automobiles, but were getting our derrieres skelpt every time those pasta-gobblers wheel out any old merde with a whiff of the seventies about it.” Yet its hard to imagine that the Citroen top brass will be losing sleep over the Fiat Punto Evo as they did over the recycling of the globally successful Fiat 500 and – to a lesser extent – Panda brands. Yes, the Punto name was first stuck on a car almost 20 years ago, but Fiat has resisted the temptation to press any retro buttons with its current incarnation, possibly on the basis that nobody really cared much for the earlier versions anyway. As the Evo appellation suggests, the latest model is a development exercise, a continuation rather than a revival.
When those forward-looking folks at Citroen started banging out their anti-retro slogans a few months ago, it wasnt exactly difficult to figure out which rival manufacturer had got up their haughty Parisian noses. The French company was locked in a groove of pushing out one innovative-but-dull car after another, while on the other side of the Alps the good people at Fiat had cornered the market for cleverly reworking old concepts into stylish and attention-grabbing packages. “Ow can it be?” the Citroen execs must have moaned as they watched the Fiat 500 sales graph disappear through the ceiling. “We have ze most fantastique designers and ze most brilliant automobiles, but were getting our derrieres skelpt every time those pasta-gobblers wheel out any old merde with a whiff of the seventies about it.” Yet its hard to imagine that the Citroen top brass will be losing sleep over the Fiat Punto Evo as they did over the recycling of the globally successful Fiat 500 and – to a lesser extent – Panda brands. Yes, the Punto name was first stuck on a car almost 20 years ago, but Fiat has resisted the temptation to press any retro buttons with its current incarnation, possibly on the basis that nobody really cared much for the earlier versions anyway. As the Evo appellation suggests, the latest model is a development exercise, a continuation rather than a revival.
NEW YORK — Fitch Ratings affirms the senior student loan notes at AAAsf issued by
South Carolina Student Loan Corporation (SCSLC) 2008 General Resolution.
Stable Outlooks are assigned to all bonds. Fitch used its Global
Structured Finance Rating Criteria and FFELP student loan ABS rating
criteria, as well as the refined basis risk criteria outlined in Fitchs
June 29 press release (Fitch to Begin Review of U.S. FFELP SLABS
Applying Updated Criteria) were used to review the ratings. A full
ratings list is shown below.
The ratings on the senior notes are affirmed based on the sufficient
level of credit enhancement (consisting of overcollateralization and the
projected minimum excess spread) to cover the applicable basis factor
stress.
Fitch has taken the following rating actions:
South Carolina Student Loan Corporation (SCSLC) 2008 General Resolution
–Class A-1 affirmed at AAAsf/LS1; Outlook Stable;
REDLANDS, Calif. — Kensington Leasing, Ltd. (OTCBB: KNSL) today announced that it had
entered into a definitive agreement with WealthMakers, Ltd. to acquire
100% of their outstanding shares in a stock transaction.
WealthMakers, a privately held Wyoming corporation with 15,354,000
shares issued and outstanding, is a web-based predictive research
technology company that connects to automated trading platforms
for stocks, indexes, bonds, options, commodities and currencies and can
trade in up to 80 markets around the world in a single universal account
provided by a leading online broker.
KNSL shall issue 3,838,500 shares of its common stock with a market
value of $15,737,850 in exchange for 100% of the issued and outstanding
capital shares of WealthMakers. The value of the KNSL common stock
exchanged is based on the closing price reported on the over-the-counter
bulletin board as of August 16, 2010. The closing of the transaction is
subject to a number of conditions, and is anticipated to occur in late
September or early October.
Making the announcement Angelique de Maison, Chairman and CEO of
Kensington Leasing, said, “We are very pleased to reach an agreement to
acquire WealthMakers. We are very excited about the WealthMakers
business and opportunities. Financial information and automated trading
based on this information is a hot topic on Wall Street lately.
Computer-based analysis and automated trade execution comprise up to 70%
of the daily trading volume on US stock exchanges.”
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT: This press release contains forward-looking
statements, including statements about the consummation and timing of
the purchase of WealthMakers by Kensington Leasing, the business plan
and prospective financial condition of Kensington Leasing. The
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties,
including that the parties may not complete the transaction or that when
completed, the transaction might be different than presently
contemplated. Readers should not place undue reliance on the
forward-looking statements. Neither Kensington Leasing nor WealthMakers
undertakes any obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking
statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. In addition,
any forward looking statements regarding forward expected industry
patterns and other financial and business results that involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual
results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ
materially from results expressed or implied by this press release. Such
risk factors include, among others: whether Kensington Leasing can
successfully execute its operating plan; its ability to integrate
acquired companies and technology; its ability to retain key employees;
its ability to successfully combine product offerings and customer
acceptance of combined products; general market conditions; and whether
Kensington Leasing can successfully develop new products and the degree
to which these gain market acceptance. Actual results may differ
materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements in
this press release.
MAZDA has released some pictures of the updated Mazda2 ahead of its Paris Motorshow debut. The 2 will now come with an automatic option; upgraded interior, upgraded exterior styling and an updated suspension to improve ride comfort.
FRANK LAMPARD and John Terry are out of Englands Euro 2012 qualifier against Bulgaria at Wembley on Friday night. Boss Fabio Capello could also be without Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Bobby Zamora and David Stockdale. Chelsea midfielder Lampard will undergo an operation this week to combat a long-term hernia injury. Lampard missed a penalty as Chelsea beat Stoke 2-0 yesterday and Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti said: “He was in pain last week, but had treatment and felt it was OK to play today. It has not improved, and he has to have surgery. “This is something Frank had an operation on 10 years ago.
MAZDA has released some pictures of the updated Mazda2 ahead of its Paris Motorshow debut. The 2 will now come with an automatic option; upgraded interior, upgraded exterior styling and an updated suspension to improve ride comfort.
This tables only report provides 160 statistical tables for Internet,
broadband and all aspects of the digital economy in Australia.
National Broadband Network: Australia is among the leading countries
whose government is actively investigating the social and economic
benefits that can be achieved through the deployment of a mainly
fibre-based telecoms infrastructure. Services that depend on high
quality broadband infrastructure include tele-health, e-education,
e-business, digital media, e-government, smart meters etc. In countries
where the national telco is lagging behind we see that local governments
have no choice other than to take a leadership role, as they have done
with similar infrastructure over the last 100 years.
The decision from the Australian government to launch a $43 billion
national FttH broadband network is a clear indication that they believe
broadband is essential infrastructure. It fulfils a national purpose as
its trans-sector multiplier effect delivers massive social and economic
benefits in healthcare, education, energy and the environment. A digital
economy requires an open broadband infrastructure, and for that to work
it can only be built by a utility (NBN Co). While there certainly are
questions regarding the business model and the investment plan, there is
widespread support for the visionary plan.
INTRODUCTION Pork is a popular meat consumed by non-muslim Singaporeans with about 87,000 tonnes being consumed per year (Kanagalingam, 2005). Currently, Singapore imports its pork from several countries, but Australian and Indonesian pork is consumed most widely due to its ready availability at supermarkets and wet markets. Fresh pork is obtained from pigs raised in Indonesia but slaughtered at Singapore abattoirs, while chilled pork is mainly imported from Australia and is widely known as “Air Pork”. Singaporean consumers are aware of the origin of pork from packaging labels. Results of a recent survey showed that Singapore consumers associate non-Indonesian pork with the presence of an unpleasant mutton-like off-flavour (Leong et al., 2008). One possible cause of off-flavours in pork is by the oxidation of lipids, leading to the formation of aldehydes and short-chain fatty acids (Reindl and Stan, 1982; Devol, et al., 1988). The rate and extent of lipid oxidation depends on a number of factors, the most important being the level of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in muscle (Allen and Foegeding, 1981). Pork contains high levels of unsaturated fatty acids relative to ruminant meat (Enser et al., 1996) and is more susceptible to oxidative deterioration of lipids and myoglobin. Feeding of PUFAs to pigs can improve the nutritional quality of pork, but may also increase the susceptibility to oxidation (Sheard et al., 2000; Kouba et al., 2003; Morel et al., 2006). There have been many reports of PUFA-rich feeds leading to increased lipid oxidation and thus off-flavour in pork (Houben and Krol, 1980; Warnants et al., 1998; Roman et al., 1995; Overland et al., 1996; Leskanich et al., 1997; Wood et al., 2003). There have also been examples of off-flavours in pork arising from the direct transfer of aroma components from feed to meat, including several reports on how feeding of fish oil and high fat fish meal to finisher pigs has caused “fishy” and other off-flavours in pork products (Kjos et al., 1999; Lauridsen et al., 1999; Maw et al., 2001; Jaturasitha et al., 2002). The current paper compares sensory assessments of the flavour of pork from the legs of pigs finished in New Zealand on three diets (Morel et al., 2008) using Singaporean panelists. The objective was to determine the extent to which dietary feed treatments received by the New Zealand pigs influenced the sensory properties of pork using trained and untrained Singaporean panels. Results of sensory analyses of pork from the loins of the same New Zealand pigs using New Zealand panelists were reported by Janz et al. (2008).
INTRODUCTION Pork is a popular meat consumed by non-muslim Singaporeans with about 87,000 tonnes being consumed per year (Kanagalingam, 2005). Currently, Singapore imports its pork from several countries, but Australian and Indonesian pork is consumed most widely due to its ready availability at supermarkets and wet markets. Fresh pork is obtained from pigs raised in Indonesia but slaughtered at Singapore abattoirs, while chilled pork is mainly imported from Australia and is widely known as “Air Pork”. Singaporean consumers are aware of the origin of pork from packaging labels. Results of a recent survey showed that Singapore consumers associate non-Indonesian pork with the presence of an unpleasant mutton-like off-flavour (Leong et al., 2008). One possible cause of off-flavours in pork is by the oxidation of lipids, leading to the formation of aldehydes and short-chain fatty acids (Reindl and Stan, 1982; Devol, et al., 1988). The rate and extent of lipid oxidation depends on a number of factors, the most important being the level of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in muscle (Allen and Foegeding, 1981). Pork contains high levels of unsaturated fatty acids relative to ruminant meat (Enser et al., 1996) and is more susceptible to oxidative deterioration of lipids and myoglobin. Feeding of PUFAs to pigs can improve the nutritional quality of pork, but may also increase the susceptibility to oxidation (Sheard et al., 2000; Kouba et al., 2003; Morel et al., 2006). There have been many reports of PUFA-rich feeds leading to increased lipid oxidation and thus off-flavour in pork (Houben and Krol, 1980; Warnants et al., 1998; Roman et al., 1995; Overland et al., 1996; Leskanich et al., 1997; Wood et al., 2003). There have also been examples of off-flavours in pork arising from the direct transfer of aroma components from feed to meat, including several reports on how feeding of fish oil and high fat fish meal to finisher pigs has caused “fishy” and other off-flavours in pork products (Kjos et al., 1999; Lauridsen et al., 1999; Maw et al., 2001; Jaturasitha et al., 2002). The current paper compares sensory assessments of the flavour of pork from the legs of pigs finished in New Zealand on three diets (Morel et al., 2008) using Singaporean panelists. The objective was to determine the extent to which dietary feed treatments received by the New Zealand pigs influenced the sensory properties of pork using trained and untrained Singaporean panels. Results of sensory analyses of pork from the loins of the same New Zealand pigs using New Zealand panelists were reported by Janz et al. (2008).
BOSTON PARIS — KIKA™
Clinical Solutions continues to drive EDC technology innovation with
Veracity™ 3.10, the latest release of its market-leading, advanced EDC
platform. KIKA is the leading provider of advanced
EDC solutions for Clinical
Asset Management™ for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical
device markets.
Veracity™ is a highly configurable, collaborative platform for all
clinical trial stakeholders. Its Web services architecture enables
customers to integrate Veracity™ seamlessly into their clinical IT
systems. It enables all clinical trial stakeholders to collect, monitor,
adjudicate, analyze and manage all clinical study data (CRF, medical
images, lab data, etc) in real time, and store them into a CDISC-ready
database. Veracity is supported by an ISO-certified quality environment.
It enables regulatory compliance including 21 CFR Part 11.
KIKA CEO Linda Beneze said, “Our customers and partners report that
Veracity™ 3.10 improves their ability to collect, control and maximize
their most important clinical trial asset – their data.”
Veracity™ 3.10 delivers several features and improvements, including:
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
WLS, a leading provider of cellular platforms to top tier global phone
makers, will operate as a standalone business serving its existing
customers. WLS will also contribute to Intel’s strategy to make
connected computing ubiquitous from smartphones to laptops to embedded
computing.
“The global demand for wireless solutions continues to grow at an
extraordinary rate,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. “The
acquisition of Infineon’s WLS business strengthens the second pillar of
our computing strategy — Internet connectivity — and enables us to
offer a portfolio of products that covers the full range of wireless
options from Wi-Fi and 3G to WiMAX and LTE. As more devices compute and
connect to the Internet, we are committed to positioning Intel to take
advantage of the growth potential in every computing segment, from
laptops to handhelds and beyond.”
“The sale of WLS is a strategic decision to enhance Infineon’s value. We
can now fully concentrate our resources towards strong growth in our
core segments Automotive (ATV), Industrial Multimarket (IMM) and Chip
Card Security (CCS). This creates a great perspective for all Infineon
customers, employees and shareholders,” said Peter Bauer, CEO of
Infineon Technologies AG. “We all stand to benefit enormously from this
deal. Thanks to the outstanding effort of the employees and the
management during the last years, WLS is excellently positioned to grow
further with the new owner who is ideally suited for this business.”
Economic theory provides different methods to assess the economic impact of a health condition, as is cancer. The Cost of Illness (COI), developed by Rice (3-6), is the most widely accepted conceptual framework for cost estimates. COI estimates involve three components: direct costs, morbidity costs and mortality costs. Within this framework, several studies with different approaches have been conducted to determine the economic burden of different diseases (7-17). These studies have concluded that the component with the greatest impact lies in the productivity cost, even more than the costs for medical treatment of patients. For example, the National Institutes of Health(18) estimated the cost of illness for different causes of death in United States (US) for 2007. This study estimated the overall cost of cancer at $219.2 billion, of which, $89 billion correspond to direct costs of health expenditure, $18.2 billion in morbidity costs and $112.0 billion in mortality costs (representing more than 52% of total costs). Others studies of the economic burden of cancer in California (14-15) have concluded that the premature mortality cost of breast cancer is 80% of the total costs of the disease. Also, mortality costs of gynecological cancers like ovarian and cervical cancer represent more than 65% of total cost of these cancers. This pattern has also been observed in the state of Texas and in Sweden, Canada, and Spain (10-11, 17, 19-20). Other studies (20-25) have focused on estimating the productivity cost due to cancer mortality. Although these studies show some discrepancies in their methodology, data sources, and the inclusion of indirect costs components, such variations are not necessarily a weakness. Different arenas of application require different approaches and schemes (e.g., economic burden estimates vs. cost-effectiveness analysis) (4-5, 26). From a societal perspective, estimates of the value of labor productivity loss due to premature mortality are important in determining the economic burden of disease. Previous studies in PR have used the COI approach to estimate the cost of AIDS, schizophrenia and traffic accidents (7, 27-28). For example, cumulative total cost of AIDS in PR from period of 19821989 was estimated to be $ 525.2 million (27). Despite the importance of evaluating the economic impact of cancer in PR, there are no previous studies that have used the COI approach to investigate this issue. In fact, this economic component has been overlooked in cancer investigations in PR. Although the value of a persons life transcends its economic value as a productive unit, cost studies present another dimension of a health problem, providing valuable information for society and for policymakers to decide how to allocate scarce resources more optimally (27). Consequently, the aim of this study is to estimate the labor-market productivity loss in PR, as a result of premature mortality, due to overall cancer and by cause-specific cancers in 2004.
More than 100 HPV types have been identified with more than 30 being sexually transmitted (7). Anogenital HPV types have been classified into low-risk types (non-oncogenic), which are associated with anogenital warts (condyloma acuminata), oral and conjunctival papillomas, recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (in infants and young children), and mild dysplasia (8). High-risk types (oncogenic) are associated with high-grade dysplasia and various cancers. Current estimates of the attributable fraction, the proportion of cancer cases preventable by the elimination of HPV, are very high (9): 100% for cervical, 90% for anal, 40% for vulvar and vaginal, 50% for cancer of the penis, and between 33 and 72% of oropharyngeal cancers (10). Although there has been increasing interest in understanding the burden of HPV infection and related comorbidities in men (11), studies in this group are still quite limited (12), particularly among Hispanics. Research and surveillance data have indicated that Hispanics have been disproportionately affected by HIV/ AIDS (13), Other STIs (14) and may engage disproportionately in high-risk sexual behaviors (15). In addition, a higher incidence of cervical cancer is observed in Puerto Rico and Hispanic women in the US compared with non-Hispanic whites (Figure 1). These factors could reflect a potential higher prevalence of HPV infection in these populations, as well as disparities in screening rates in these groups (16) suggesting that Hispanic and Puerto Rican men might also be at higher risk for HPV infection and related health outcomes. This high incidence might also lead to a significant economic burden. In Puerto Rico for example, it was estimated that the economic impact of HPV related cancers in 2004 was approximately 7.5% (close to 5 million dollars) of the total cancer costs (17). Even though HPV infection is highly prevalent in sexually active men, (18), most research studies have focused only in women. Studies in men are of particular relevance because, as with other STIs, men play a key role in the transmission dynamics to both male and female sexual partners. It is also clear that HPV infection in men is a serious clinical issue, given the association of HPV infection with a variety of cancers in men, including anal cancer and a subset of penile and oral cancers (19). With the world-wide introduction of two new prophylactic vaccines (bivalent vaccine protecting against HPV 16 and 18, and the quadrivalent vaccine protecting against HPV 16, 18, 6 and 11) against oncogenic HPVs causing cervical cancer in women (20), and the recent FDA approval of the quadrivalent vaccine to prevent genital warts also in men, there is an urgency to determine the burden of HPV in Hispanic populations before vaccination programs are implemented on a widespread basis. Knowledge of the burden of the disease and its related morbidities prior to implementation of these programs will allow a better assessment and understanding of the short-term and long-term effectiveness of this primary prevention strategy for cervical neoplasia and genital warts. In addition, it will permit exploring the prevalence of type-specific HPVs in these populations, not currently included in the HPV vaccines available in the market.
Women in Kenya remain disadvantaged, with opportunities for educational, social, and economic advancement inferior to those of men. Women are underrepresented in modern sector wage employment, political and judicial decision making, and all major public service appointments. Numerous social, economic, and cultural barriers limit womens participation in these areas. But womens underrepresentation in education is a primary factor. The benefits of womens education to women and to society in general are immense. In the workplace, education increases skills needed for job entry, improves chances of vertical mobility, and enhances overall labor market productivity. It also has positive consequences at home, including improved health, increased child survival rates, reduced fertility rates, lower infant mortality rates, and better protection against HIV and AIDS (Tembon and Fort 2008). Education of women and girls is therefore not only a moral and human rights issue, but also an economic and development issue. Given the significant benefits of womens education, equity in education is essential to improving circumstances for all Kenyans. As the leading provider of education, the government should acknowledge that compensatory mechanisms may be required to level the playing field for disadvantaged girls, and it should adopt an approach that uses these mechanisms. Making education equitable means adopting policies and initiatives that support equal provisions across genders. Female Education in Kenya Education in Kenya has four basic levels: preschool (ages 4-6), primary (ages 7-14), secondary (ages 15-18), and tertiary. Since attaining political independence from Great Britain in 1963, the Kenyan government has emphasized educations importance to economic development. It has also increased the number of schools at all levels, from about six thousand primary and 150 secondary schools in 1963 to almost twenty thousand primary and four thousand secondary schools in 2004. As a result, the student population has increased substantially, with over 700 percent growth at the primary level and almost 3,000 percent growth at the secondary level (Ministry of Education 2007). But this total expansion in education hides disparities by gender and region.
CRAIG BELLAMY says that he feels at home for the first time in his career. There were those who thought his recent move to Cardiff City was a loss to the Premier League. But the Welshman insists that a loan deal taking him from Manchester City to his home-town club was always his first choice. And he admitted to Sunday Mirror Sport: “It wasnt a hard decision, it was probably one of the easiest choices I have had to make in my career. I have spent most of my career feeling that the world was against me and, to be honest, I have always thrived in that environment. “But for the first time I feel like I belong, and I have respect from people which is extremely comforting.
Chris Tunis 1956 ~ 2010
Janet Summerill Johnson 1948 ~ 2010
WORKMEN resurfacing the road outside a brides house toiled round the clock to get it finished in time for her big day. Anita Longman, 30, feared her wedding car would be unable to pick her up after roadworks were delayed outside her home in Sanderstead, Surrey. So Croydon council asked the road crew to work into the night to complete the work so she could marry Nick Cooley, 31, without a hitch last week.
HE may be pushing 80, but Ronnie Corbett is having the time of his life. And while the veteran comic has always been much loved, now he is positively cool. to a generation who werent even born when millions were glued to him and Ronnie Barker on The Two Ronnies every week. He and wife Anne were guests at the wedding of David Walliams and supermodel Lara Stone – and he counts among his friends Rob Brydon, James Corden, Ricky Gervais and Jonathan Ross. “It was a lovely day. The wedding was at Claridges and Rob and James were on our table with Barbara Windsor. We were invited to the party afterwards but we didnt go – it was a bit late for us,” he laughs. Ronnies new career was sparked when he appeared in Extras with Ricky and Little Britain with Walliams and Matt Lucas. Since then he has forged firm friendships with some of the edgier elements of the British comedy establishment. He calls them “The Boys”.
Women in Kenya remain disadvantaged, with opportunities for educational, social, and economic advancement inferior to those of men. Women are underrepresented in modern sector wage employment, political and judicial decision making, and all major public service appointments. Numerous social, economic, and cultural barriers limit womens participation in these areas. But womens underrepresentation in education is a primary factor. The benefits of womens education to women and to society in general are immense. In the workplace, education increases skills needed for job entry, improves chances of vertical mobility, and enhances overall labor market productivity. It also has positive consequences at home, including improved health, increased child survival rates, reduced fertility rates, lower infant mortality rates, and better protection against HIV and AIDS (Tembon and Fort 2008). Education of women and girls is therefore not only a moral and human rights issue, but also an economic and development issue. Given the significant benefits of womens education, equity in education is essential to improving circumstances for all Kenyans. As the leading provider of education, the government should acknowledge that compensatory mechanisms may be required to level the playing field for disadvantaged girls, and it should adopt an approach that uses these mechanisms. Making education equitable means adopting policies and initiatives that support equal provisions across genders. Female Education in Kenya Education in Kenya has four basic levels: preschool (ages 4-6), primary (ages 7-14), secondary (ages 15-18), and tertiary. Since attaining political independence from Great Britain in 1963, the Kenyan government has emphasized educations importance to economic development. It has also increased the number of schools at all levels, from about six thousand primary and 150 secondary schools in 1963 to almost twenty thousand primary and four thousand secondary schools in 2004. As a result, the student population has increased substantially, with over 700 percent growth at the primary level and almost 3,000 percent growth at the secondary level (Ministry of Education 2007). But this total expansion in education hides disparities by gender and region.
BOSTON PARIS — KIKA™
Clinical Solutions continues to drive EDC technology innovation with
Veracity™ 3.10, the latest release of its market-leading, advanced EDC
platform. KIKA is the leading provider of advanced
EDC solutions for Clinical
Asset Management™ for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical
device markets.
Veracity™ is a highly configurable, collaborative platform for all
clinical trial stakeholders. Its Web services architecture enables
customers to integrate Veracity™ seamlessly into their clinical IT
systems. It enables all clinical trial stakeholders to collect, monitor,
adjudicate, analyze and manage all clinical study data (CRF, medical
images, lab data, etc) in real time, and store them into a CDISC-ready
database. Veracity is supported by an ISO-certified quality environment.
It enables regulatory compliance including 21 CFR Part 11.
KIKA CEO Linda Beneze said, “Our customers and partners report that
Veracity™ 3.10 improves their ability to collect, control and maximize
their most important clinical trial asset – their data.”
Veracity™ 3.10 delivers several features and improvements, including:
The Malaysia Food and Drink Report provides industry professionals and
strategists, corporate analysts, food and drink associations, government
departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and
competitive intelligence on Malaysias food and drink industry.
BMI View: Malaysias food and drink industry continues to recover from
the slowdown experienced in 2009 with many of the countrys leading
industry players posting robust growth in interim financials. Even
allowing for this recovery, however, Malaysia continues to linger within
the bottom half of our Asia Pacific Food Drink Risk/Reward Ratings,
with neither existing consumption levels nor growth prospects exciting
enough to mark the country out among many of its higher growth regional
emerging market peers.
Headline Industry Data
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
WLS, a leading provider of cellular platforms to top tier global phone
makers, will operate as a standalone business serving its existing
customers. WLS will also contribute to Intel’s strategy to make
connected computing ubiquitous from smartphones to laptops to embedded
computing.
“The global demand for wireless solutions continues to grow at an
extraordinary rate,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. “The
acquisition of Infineon’s WLS business strengthens the second pillar of
our computing strategy — Internet connectivity — and enables us to
offer a portfolio of products that covers the full range of wireless
options from Wi-Fi and 3G to WiMAX and LTE. As more devices compute and
connect to the Internet, we are committed to positioning Intel to take
advantage of the growth potential in every computing segment, from
laptops to handhelds and beyond.”
“The sale of WLS is a strategic decision to enhance Infineon’s value. We
can now fully concentrate our resources towards strong growth in our
core segments Automotive (ATV), Industrial Multimarket (IMM) and Chip
Card Security (CCS). This creates a great perspective for all Infineon
customers, employees and shareholders,” said Peter Bauer, CEO of
Infineon Technologies AG. “We all stand to benefit enormously from this
deal. Thanks to the outstanding effort of the employees and the
management during the last years, WLS is excellently positioned to grow
further with the new owner who is ideally suited for this business.”
Supported by the governments agricultural machinery subsidy policy,
Chinas agricultural machinery industry has developed rapidly in recent
years.
1. The total number of agricultural machinery keeps growing
The total power of Chinas agricultural machinery was 525.7 million kW
in 2000, 684.0 million kW in 2005, 821.9 million kW in 2008, and 875.0
million kW in 2009. In the meantime, the ownership of large and
medium-sized tractors increased from 975,000 sets in 2000 to 5.019
million sets in 2009, while the ownership of combine harvesters rose
from 235,000 sets to 847,000 sets, at a CAGR of 20.2% and 15.3%
respectively.
2. The structure of agricultural machinery has been optimized
Women in Kenya remain disadvantaged, with opportunities for educational, social, and economic advancement inferior to those of men. Women are underrepresented in modern sector wage employment, political and judicial decision making, and all major public service appointments. Numerous social, economic, and cultural barriers limit womens participation in these areas. But womens underrepresentation in education is a primary factor. The benefits of womens education to women and to society in general are immense. In the workplace, education increases skills needed for job entry, improves chances of vertical mobility, and enhances overall labor market productivity. It also has positive consequences at home, including improved health, increased child survival rates, reduced fertility rates, lower infant mortality rates, and better protection against HIV and AIDS (Tembon and Fort 2008). Education of women and girls is therefore not only a moral and human rights issue, but also an economic and development issue. Given the significant benefits of womens education, equity in education is essential to improving circumstances for all Kenyans. As the leading provider of education, the government should acknowledge that compensatory mechanisms may be required to level the playing field for disadvantaged girls, and it should adopt an approach that uses these mechanisms. Making education equitable means adopting policies and initiatives that support equal provisions across genders. Female Education in Kenya Education in Kenya has four basic levels: preschool (ages 4-6), primary (ages 7-14), secondary (ages 15-18), and tertiary. Since attaining political independence from Great Britain in 1963, the Kenyan government has emphasized educations importance to economic development. It has also increased the number of schools at all levels, from about six thousand primary and 150 secondary schools in 1963 to almost twenty thousand primary and four thousand secondary schools in 2004. As a result, the student population has increased substantially, with over 700 percent growth at the primary level and almost 3,000 percent growth at the secondary level (Ministry of Education 2007). But this total expansion in education hides disparities by gender and region.
Topeka Unified School District 501 honored 132 employees who retired this year at a May banquet hosted by the Topeka Board of Education. The following is information provided by the school district: Ann Frazier Alexander retires after 37 years in education. For the past seven years, she has been a counselor at Randolph Elementary. Prior to that, she was a counselor at Chase Middle School for 10 years and a counselor and teacher in Lawrence for 20 years. Joseph G. Anderson has been a special education teacher in Topeka schools for the past 10 years. Prior to that, he was a USD 501 science teacher for 12 years. During his tenure he taught at Landon, French and Jardine Middle Schools, Hope Street Academy and the Kelley Detention Center. Debbie Austin began her career with Topeka schools in 1977 as a special education teacher at Highland Park North. From 1979 to 1998, she was a curriculum support specialist and from 1998 to 2006 she was a special education consulting teacher. Since 2006, she has been a target assistive liaison. Connie Baer has been a music teacher in Topeka schools since 1973. During her career she taught at Gage, Quincy, Grant, Highland Park North, McCarter and Whitson Elementaries.
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — IDEX Corporation (NYSE: IEX) today announced that its
management will be presenting at the Morgan Stanley 2010 Global
Industrials Unplugged Conference September 1, 2010 at The New York
Palace Hotel in New York.
IDEX Corporation is an applied solutions company specializing in fluid
and metering technologies, health and science technologies, dispensing
equipment, and fire, safety and other diversified products built to its
customers’ exacting specifications. Its products are sold in niche
markets to a wide range of industries throughout the world. IDEX shares
are traded on the New York Stock Exchange and Chicago Stock Exchange
under the symbol “IEX”.
WOBURN, Mass. — Modular Genetics, Inc. (Modular) and scientists and engineers at
Columbia University, Iowa State University (ISU) and the Louisiana State
University Agricultural Center (LSU AgCenter) were awarded a one-year
$200,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) RAPID Response grant on
August 18th, 2010. The grant supports work on production and
testing of bio-dispersants that can replace the chemical dispersants
currently used for oil spill management.
Modular Genetics used its proprietary automated system for microbial
strain engineering to rapidly develop a collection of novel, highly
engineered microorganisms that can synthesize bio-dispersants.
Bio-dispersants made by microorganisms through the natural process of
fermentation can replace use of traditional petroleum-based dispersants,
such as those used in the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Bio-dispersants are as effective as petrochemical dispersants, but are
made from underutilized agricultural waste, are more readily
biodegradable, and are expected to be less toxic. The NSF funds will be
used to produce and test these bio-dispersants.
A team at the ISU Center for Crops Utilization Research will use the
natural process of fermentation to produce the bio-dispersants. They
will deliver the bio-dispersants to a team at Columbia University who
will measure the ability of each preparation to disperse oil samples
collected from the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Bio-dispersants
found to be effective will be evaluated by a team at the LSU AgCenter to
determine their toxicity to organisms that are critical to the Gulf
ecosystem and economy.
Brent Erickson, Executive Vice President of the Industrial and
Environmental Section at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO),
offered this perspective: ”Modular Genetics is one among a new breed of
chemical companies that is using synthetic biology and other industrial
biotechnology tools to produce useful chemicals that are biodegradable,
less toxic to the environment, and made through cleaner processes with
renewable raw materials. This particular project demonstrates how
synthetic biology can enable companies to more rapidly engineer
biological solutions to the most urgent problems of our time. The
National Science Foundation’s RAPID Response grant appropriately
highlights this unique ability of synthetic biology.”
Supported by the governments agricultural machinery subsidy policy,
Chinas agricultural machinery industry has developed rapidly in recent
years.
1. The total number of agricultural machinery keeps growing
The total power of Chinas agricultural machinery was 525.7 million kW
in 2000, 684.0 million kW in 2005, 821.9 million kW in 2008, and 875.0
million kW in 2009. In the meantime, the ownership of large and
medium-sized tractors increased from 975,000 sets in 2000 to 5.019
million sets in 2009, while the ownership of combine harvesters rose
from 235,000 sets to 847,000 sets, at a CAGR of 20.2% and 15.3%
respectively.
2. The structure of agricultural machinery has been optimized
The Malaysia Food and Drink Report provides industry professionals and
strategists, corporate analysts, food and drink associations, government
departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and
competitive intelligence on Malaysias food and drink industry.
BMI View: Malaysias food and drink industry continues to recover from
the slowdown experienced in 2009 with many of the countrys leading
industry players posting robust growth in interim financials. Even
allowing for this recovery, however, Malaysia continues to linger within
the bottom half of our Asia Pacific Food Drink Risk/Reward Ratings,
with neither existing consumption levels nor growth prospects exciting
enough to mark the country out among many of its higher growth regional
emerging market peers.
Headline Industry Data
Supported by the governments agricultural machinery subsidy policy,
Chinas agricultural machinery industry has developed rapidly in recent
years.
1. The total number of agricultural machinery keeps growing
The total power of Chinas agricultural machinery was 525.7 million kW
in 2000, 684.0 million kW in 2005, 821.9 million kW in 2008, and 875.0
million kW in 2009. In the meantime, the ownership of large and
medium-sized tractors increased from 975,000 sets in 2000 to 5.019
million sets in 2009, while the ownership of combine harvesters rose
from 235,000 sets to 847,000 sets, at a CAGR of 20.2% and 15.3%
respectively.
2. The structure of agricultural machinery has been optimized
Brokers from Sperry Van Ness Gregory Interests have been applying many of the business strategies used by roving taco trucks to commercial real estate. Managing Director Gary Gregory just debuted what he calls his firms new traveling office – a 42-foot Winnebago decked out with everything from a row of printers to a fireplace. Using social networking tools like Twitter to broadcast their location, brokers camp out in shopping center parking lots while doing aggressive marketing blitzes to fill commercial vacancies. “Competition for tenants is very tough right now and a broker that has an entire staff on site has a distinct advantage,” Gregory said. “Theres an energy you get when you have 10 brokers all in a room aggressively marketing a property.” Equipped with iPads, brokers working out of the traveling office canvass neighborhoods on foot and work the phones to show a property. The brokers use Twitter to send out messages to other brokers about their location.
Multi-Year Fleet Deployment Proves Power of Driver Risk Management
SAN DIEGO — DriveCam Inc., a global Driver Risk Management company, announced today
that Masco Contractor Services (MCS) has made a multi-year commitment to
deploy DriveCam’s Driver Risk Management solution in 23 locations across
the country.
Masco is the largest national installer of residential insulation and
residential building products, including insulation, fireplaces, gutters
and shelving. With locations in most major metropolitan cities and 50
distribution sites in the United Sates, MCS companies combine top-grade
building products with superior installation services. MCS is one of
five business segments of Masco Corporation (NYSE: MAS), an $8 billion
Fortune 500 company, which manufactures, distributes and installs home
improvement and building products, and is one of the largest
manufacturers in North America of a number of home improvement and
building products, including faucets, cabinets, architectural coatings
and windows.
“We are proud to be working with Masco and applaud their impressive
track record and commitment to safety,” commented Brandon Nixon,
DriveCam CEO. “We appreciate being recognized for the proven service and
savings we provide. With large fleets like Masco, industry experience
and the ability to scale are critical to minimizing the costs associated
with risky driving.”
Women in Kenya remain disadvantaged, with opportunities for educational, social, and economic advancement inferior to those of men. Women are underrepresented in modern sector wage employment, political and judicial decision making, and all major public service appointments. Numerous social, economic, and cultural barriers limit womens participation in these areas. But womens underrepresentation in education is a primary factor. The benefits of womens education to women and to society in general are immense. In the workplace, education increases skills needed for job entry, improves chances of vertical mobility, and enhances overall labor market productivity. It also has positive consequences at home, including improved health, increased child survival rates, reduced fertility rates, lower infant mortality rates, and better protection against HIV and AIDS (Tembon and Fort 2008). Education of women and girls is therefore not only a moral and human rights issue, but also an economic and development issue. Given the significant benefits of womens education, equity in education is essential to improving circumstances for all Kenyans. As the leading provider of education, the government should acknowledge that compensatory mechanisms may be required to level the playing field for disadvantaged girls, and it should adopt an approach that uses these mechanisms. Making education equitable means adopting policies and initiatives that support equal provisions across genders. Female Education in Kenya Education in Kenya has four basic levels: preschool (ages 4-6), primary (ages 7-14), secondary (ages 15-18), and tertiary. Since attaining political independence from Great Britain in 1963, the Kenyan government has emphasized educations importance to economic development. It has also increased the number of schools at all levels, from about six thousand primary and 150 secondary schools in 1963 to almost twenty thousand primary and four thousand secondary schools in 2004. As a result, the student population has increased substantially, with over 700 percent growth at the primary level and almost 3,000 percent growth at the secondary level (Ministry of Education 2007). But this total expansion in education hides disparities by gender and region.
FRANK LAMPARD and John Terry are out of Englands Euro 2012 qualifier against Bulgaria at Wembley on Friday night. Boss Fabio Capello could also be without Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Bobby Zamora and David Stockdale. Chelsea midfielder Lampard will undergo an operation this week to combat a long-term hernia injury. Lampard missed a penalty as Chelsea beat Stoke 2-0 yesterday and Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti said: “He was in pain last week, but had treatment and felt it was OK to play today. It has not improved, and he has to have surgery. “This is something Frank had an operation on 10 years ago.
In August 2004, the Law #230, approved by the Government of Puerto Rico in a three party resolution, created the University of Puerto Rico Comprehensive Cancer Center (UPRCCC), a public corporation affiliated to the University of Puerto Rico. This law established that this Center will be the organism responsible for executing the public policy related to the prevention, education, and research, as well as the clinical and treatment services related to cancer in Puerto Rico. The dual mission of the UPRCCC is: (1) To deliver the best research-driven cancer care through programs that integrate patient care, research, prevention, and education, and (2) To eradicate cancer in Puerto Rico using a multidisciplinary approach of basic, clinical, and population research. Thus, the UPRCCC is fundamental for the development of cancer control, research, and training efforts in Puerto Rico. More recently, in 2008, with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Puerto Rico published its first official Cancer Control Plan, a structured guide with measurable outcomes aimed at reducing the cancer burden in our population. All of the previously mentioned initiatives will continue to be key to the progress in cancer control and research in Puerto Rico and thus, to the quality of the preventive and treatment services that we will offer to our patients. The increase in the cancer burden in Puerto Rico has been accompanied by a substantial increase in the volume of published research and federal funds to academic institutions in Puerto Rico for cancer research. Despite this advancement, areas that need our continued support and development in the years to come include: 1) continued surveillance of cancer occurrence in Puerto Rico through the Puerto Rico Central Cancer Registry, 2) development of transdisciplinary and translational cancer research that encompass all areas of the cancer control continuum (prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship), 3) outreach efforts that bring scientific knowledge to the development of targeted cancer control strategies for the community, 4) development of sound cancer-related public policy, and 5) continued training of the next generation of cancer researchers and health professionals. Our ability to collaborate in multidisciplinary local and international teams will be essential to our success. The forthcoming issue of the Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal provides an informative summary of various research studies that are currently being conducted in Puerto Rico. The 17 articles in this issue describe diverse research areas in the cancer field including disease burden, disease prevention, correlates of cancer occurrence, diagnostic technologies and clinical management. In addition, an overview of cancer training efforts in the island is discussed. Our future as a healthy nation will require a concerted effort between government, academia and industry that lead the research, training, and public policy efforts that will ultimately result in improved cancer prevention and control outcomes for the people of Puerto Rico. We hope you find in this edition of the journal a well-rounded overview of cancer research in Puerto Rico.
During the second half of the last century, the incidence of cancer in PR increased dramatically; however, rates seem to have begun to stabilize in more recent years (8-9). Previous studies in the 1970s and 1980s showed a lower incidence of total cancer in persons residing in PR as compared with the general population in the United States (US) (8) and to Puerto Ricans (10) living in the continental US. Recent studies show similar patterns for selected cancer types (11-14). However, the incidence from infection related cancers such as stomach, liver and cervical is higher in PR than in the US (12). Also, contrary to the US, these cancer types also rank among the leading cancer sites in incidence and mortality (8, 11, 15-16). The PR Central Cancer Registry (PRCCR) is the fourth oldest population based cancer registry in the world (8, 17) and collects information on cancer in PR since 1951. The PRCCR is part of the National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As with any other surveillance system, the PRCCR is responsible for generating data on cancer burden for the Puerto Rican population, as the collection, analysis and dissemination of health information are important components of public health surveillance systems (18). Given that the last official report of the PRCCR regarding cancer burden in PR was published in 1991 (9), this special article describes the incidence and mortality data for cancer in PR for the period of 1987 to 2004. In addition, we assess differences in cancer incidence and mortality by sex, municipality and health region. This information is important to identify changes in cancer occurrence in PR and to guide the development of future interventions aimed at diminishing the burden of the disease in our population.
Economic theory provides different methods to assess the economic impact of a health condition, as is cancer. The Cost of Illness (COI), developed by Rice (3-6), is the most widely accepted conceptual framework for cost estimates. COI estimates involve three components: direct costs, morbidity costs and mortality costs. Within this framework, several studies with different approaches have been conducted to determine the economic burden of different diseases (7-17). These studies have concluded that the component with the greatest impact lies in the productivity cost, even more than the costs for medical treatment of patients. For example, the National Institutes of Health(18) estimated the cost of illness for different causes of death in United States (US) for 2007. This study estimated the overall cost of cancer at $219.2 billion, of which, $89 billion correspond to direct costs of health expenditure, $18.2 billion in morbidity costs and $112.0 billion in mortality costs (representing more than 52% of total costs). Others studies of the economic burden of cancer in California (14-15) have concluded that the premature mortality cost of breast cancer is 80% of the total costs of the disease. Also, mortality costs of gynecological cancers like ovarian and cervical cancer represent more than 65% of total cost of these cancers. This pattern has also been observed in the state of Texas and in Sweden, Canada, and Spain (10-11, 17, 19-20). Other studies (20-25) have focused on estimating the productivity cost due to cancer mortality. Although these studies show some discrepancies in their methodology, data sources, and the inclusion of indirect costs components, such variations are not necessarily a weakness. Different arenas of application require different approaches and schemes (e.g., economic burden estimates vs. cost-effectiveness analysis) (4-5, 26). From a societal perspective, estimates of the value of labor productivity loss due to premature mortality are important in determining the economic burden of disease. Previous studies in PR have used the COI approach to estimate the cost of AIDS, schizophrenia and traffic accidents (7, 27-28). For example, cumulative total cost of AIDS in PR from period of 19821989 was estimated to be $ 525.2 million (27). Despite the importance of evaluating the economic impact of cancer in PR, there are no previous studies that have used the COI approach to investigate this issue. In fact, this economic component has been overlooked in cancer investigations in PR. Although the value of a persons life transcends its economic value as a productive unit, cost studies present another dimension of a health problem, providing valuable information for society and for policymakers to decide how to allocate scarce resources more optimally (27). Consequently, the aim of this study is to estimate the labor-market productivity loss in PR, as a result of premature mortality, due to overall cancer and by cause-specific cancers in 2004.
This tables only report provides 160 statistical tables for Internet,
broadband and all aspects of the digital economy in Australia.
National Broadband Network: Australia is among the leading countries
whose government is actively investigating the social and economic
benefits that can be achieved through the deployment of a mainly
fibre-based telecoms infrastructure. Services that depend on high
quality broadband infrastructure include tele-health, e-education,
e-business, digital media, e-government, smart meters etc. In countries
where the national telco is lagging behind we see that local governments
have no choice other than to take a leadership role, as they have done
with similar infrastructure over the last 100 years.
The decision from the Australian government to launch a $43 billion
national FttH broadband network is a clear indication that they believe
broadband is essential infrastructure. It fulfils a national purpose as
its trans-sector multiplier effect delivers massive social and economic
benefits in healthcare, education, energy and the environment. A digital
economy requires an open broadband infrastructure, and for that to work
it can only be built by a utility (NBN Co). While there certainly are
questions regarding the business model and the investment plan, there is
widespread support for the visionary plan.
BOSTON PARIS — KIKA™
Clinical Solutions continues to drive EDC technology innovation with
Veracity™ 3.10, the latest release of its market-leading, advanced EDC
platform. KIKA is the leading provider of advanced
EDC solutions for Clinical
Asset Management™ for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical
device markets.
Veracity™ is a highly configurable, collaborative platform for all
clinical trial stakeholders. Its Web services architecture enables
customers to integrate Veracity™ seamlessly into their clinical IT
systems. It enables all clinical trial stakeholders to collect, monitor,
adjudicate, analyze and manage all clinical study data (CRF, medical
images, lab data, etc) in real time, and store them into a CDISC-ready
database. Veracity is supported by an ISO-certified quality environment.
It enables regulatory compliance including 21 CFR Part 11.
KIKA CEO Linda Beneze said, “Our customers and partners report that
Veracity™ 3.10 improves their ability to collect, control and maximize
their most important clinical trial asset – their data.”
Veracity™ 3.10 delivers several features and improvements, including:
Finacity Corporation announced today the successful extension of a MXN 550,000,000 variable rate investment grade bond for one of its clients, Vitro Envases Norteamerica S.A. de C.V. (”VENA”), a 100% owned subsidiary of Vitro S.A.B. de C.V. (”Vitro”) (BMV: VITRO A). The securitization program, now in its fifth year, was renewed on March 25, 2010 for an additional two years. Finacity will continue in its role as Master Servicer and Bond Administrator. As Bond Administrator, Finacity will generate reports daily for the various constituents in order to provide all parties with visibility to assets, collateral values and receivables performance.
“We are proud and pleased to continue to be of service to Vitro,” said Adrian Katz, Finacitys Chief Executive Officer.
Finacity specializes in the provision of efficient, securitization-based trade receivables funding, state-of-the-art servicing, detailed transaction transparency and reporting solutions. Finacitys offerings can include both domestic and international receivables for its clients.
Finacity Corporation (”Finacity”) announced
today that, together with Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (”NORD/LB”),
it has facilitated the successful closing of a European trade receivables
securitization for CHC Helicopter. The funding agreement will initially
provide CHC Helicopter cash proceeds of up to $40 million through the
ongoing purchase of receivables from various European subsidiaries and
affiliates. NORD/LBs commercial paper conduit, Hannover Funding Company
LLC, will fund the transaction. NORD/LBs Asset Backed Finance Group
structured the transaction for Hannover Funding. Finacity served as
Arranger, providing analytic and structuring support and serves as ongoing
Administrator.
“CHC Helicopter is very pleased to have worked with Finacity and NORD/LB to
implement a cost-efficient and creative source of incremental liquidity,”
said John Hanbury, Corporate Treasurer at CHC Helicopter.
“NORD/LB is delighted to have partnered with Finacity to provide CHC
Helicopter with increased liquidity from this transaction,” said Omar
Bolli, Head of Securitization at NORD/LB, adding that “structuring leading
edge European receivables securitizations is an area in which we provide
added value.”
“Finacity is very pleased to implement a complex European receivable
securitization for CHC Helicopter,” said Adrian Katz, Finacitys Chief
Executive Officer.
Finacity Corporation (”Finacity”) announced
today that, together with Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (”NORD/LB”),
it has facilitated the successful closing of a European trade receivables
securitization for JohnsonDiversey, Inc. (”JohnsonDiversey”). The funding
agreement will provide JohnsonDiversey cash proceeds of up to EUR 50
million through the ongoing purchase of receivables from French, Spanish
and United Kingdom subsidiaries. NORD/LBs commercial paper conduit,
Hannover Funding Company LLC, will fund the transaction. NORD/LBs Asset
Backed Finance Group structured the transaction for Hannover Funding, and
Finacity provided analytical and structuring support and serves as ongoing
Administrator.
“NORD/LB is delighted to have partnered with Finacity to provide
JohnsonDiversey with increased liquidity from this transaction,” said Omar
Bolli, head of securitization at NORD/LB.
“Finacity is very pleased to implement a European receivable securitization
for JohnsonDiversey,” said Adrian Katz, Finacitys chief executive officer.
Finacity Corporation (”Finacity”) announced
today that it facilitated the successful refinancing of a trade receivables
program for Viméxico, S.A. de C.V. (”Viméxico”), a majority owned
subsidiary of Vitro S.A.B. de C.V. (”Vitro”) (BMV: VITRO A).
Finacity is a company that specializes in the provision of efficient,
securitization-based trade receivables funding solutions as well as
state-of-the-art servicing, accounts receivable management and reporting
capabilities. Finacitys offerings can include both domestic and
international receivables for its clients.
Finacity Corporation (”Finacity”) announced
today that, together with Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (”NORD/LB”),
it has facilitated the successful increase to $125 million of a trade
receivables securitization for The Manitowoc Company, Inc. (NYSE: MTW).
NORD/LBs commercial paper conduit, Hannover Funding Company LLC, will fund
the transaction.
dimension in family space – and YOU could win a 1.4 16v Eleganza in your choice of metallic colour worth pounds 14,620*! Our great prize is provided on-the-road, with 12 months road tax included and your registration paid. Boldly going where no car has gone before, the spacious New Fiat Dobl is top of its class for space, safety, economy, affordability and respect for the environment. Stylish, practical and functional with acres of space and all the latest technology, from MP3 to BlueMe hands free and USB, the New Fiat Dobl offers you the height of luxury from just pounds 12,370 on the road.
MANCHESTER City bad boy Mario Balotelli had a close escape yesterday when he wrote off his powerful sports car. The EUR34million Italian strikers Audi R8 collided with a BMW as he drove to the clubs Carrington training ground. The 20-year-old player, notorious for his run-ins with former boss Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan, admitted to onlookers he had only had the EUR130,000 car a day after getting it shipped over from Italy. Witnesses said there was an almighty bang and Balotellis powerful Audi span out of control. An eyewitness said: “There was loads of smoke and the car was just spinning around and around. I cant believe that no one was seriously hurt.
DENVER — More Americans will get away for the Labor Day weekend this year, yet stick closer to home as they try to get the most for their money, AAA said Wednesday. The auto club expects 34.4 million people to travel at least 50 miles from home between Sept. 2 and Sept. 6. Thats up nearly 10 percent from 2009 — one of the lowest Labor Day volumes in AAAs record keeping history — and below the 45 million who traveled during the Labor Day weekend in 2008. Its an indication that there is some pent-up demand for trips, but people are watching their budgets carefully as they worry about the sluggish economy, AAA Travel Services Director Glen MacDonell said. “Were a little concerned on the fall and whether or not people will start to pull back on their wallets,” he said. “This holiday, again relatively to last year, is up.” During the holiday, most Americans will stay near home, driving mostly to visit relatives or friends. The average round trip — by air, car and other means — is expected to be about 635 miles, compared with 645 miles in 2009.
CHICAGO — Fitch Ratings has affirmed its ratings on AutoZone, Inc. The Rating
Outlook is Stable. AutoZone had $2.7 billion in debt outstanding at May
8, 2010. A full rating list is shown below.
The affirmation reflects AutoZones leading position in the retail auto
parts and accessories aftermarket, and its solid operating performance
and credit metrics. The ratings also consider the weak macroeconomic
environment, an aggressive share repurchase posture, and the 35%
ownership interest of ESL Investments, Inc. (ESL).
AutoZone has the leading position in the Do-It-Yourself auto
aftermarket and also operates in the Do-It-For-Me commercial auto
aftermarket. The companys size, national footprint, efficient
distribution infrastructure, effective leveraging of technology, and
increased private label offerings/direct imports, have contributed to
its industry leading operating margins of 17.7% in the latest 12 months
(LTM) ended May 2010. These margins have enabled AutoZone to generate
healthy free cash flow of around $600 million annually, which has been
invested in share repurchases.
AutoZone has shown itself to be somewhat counter-cyclical by producing
strong sales growth and cash flow over the past two years. In the
current environment, consumers are delaying car purchases while
continuing to maintain their existing cars, which is benefiting AutoZone
as the number of older vehicles on the road (seven years or older) has
been increasing.
Working against the company is the weak economy, high unemployment and
increasing gasoline prices. Despite this, the companys year to date
(through May 8, 2010) comparable store sales increased 4.7%, following a
4.4% increase in fiscal 2008. Fitch anticipates comparable store sales
will moderate in fiscal 2011 to the low single-digit range, consistent
with long-term industry growth rates. At the same time, its operating
margins should remain steady at around current levels.
“When you need an excuse, any one will do.” Listening to the myriad justifications for Utah to accept federal bailout dollars for public education reminds me of that old saying. But lets not play that game here. Lets look at the truth. Utah is on a path to financial bankruptcy, like nearly every other state in the Union, if our decisionmakers continue to insinuate that principle-based governance is subordinate to revenue- based governance. For years I have objected to the analogy that government should be run like a business. Government is not a business. The business community rightly operates through revenue- based governance. Our governments should not. Our governments should do what government was intended to do — establish order in protecting life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all people. Accepting federal bailout dollars for public education sends a clear signal to all Utah decisionmakers: Gain trumps every other consideration. This signal contributes to the establishment of a culture over time. More and more, this simple signal defines every governmental decision. Pretty soon, we view our federal and state legislators as nothing more than errand boys sent to bring home the bacon. Invariably, many Utah decisionmakers begin to think that government creates jobs and generates wealth. And then, inevitably, our culture of government changes for the worse. We refuse to admit that Utah isnt unique. We fall into the delusion that we live and govern according to principle, when in reality, our model of governance is to get gain. When our model of governance is to chase dollars, we are not far off from institutionalizing deep into the behavioral psyche of every Utah elected official and government employee that their primary job is raising money, and that the value of their role rests on how much revenue they bring into state and local coffers. That course would be a tragedy. Further, it would destroy our free society. Over 150 years ago, Frederic Bastiat called this model of governance “lawful plunder.” Everyone knows its wrong to steal from another person. Its plunder. “Lawful plunder” occurs when a majority of people agree to steal from another person. Taking federal bailout dollars for public education feeds a culture of “lawful plunder.” Taking these dollars reinforces this culture in other areas of governance such as government “economic development,” wherein government employees use our tax dollars to pick winners and losers in the marketplace and pit one Utah company against another Utah company.
Topeka Unified School District 501 honored 132 employees who retired this year at a May banquet hosted by the Topeka Board of Education. The following is information provided by the school district: Ann Frazier Alexander retires after 37 years in education. For the past seven years, she has been a counselor at Randolph Elementary. Prior to that, she was a counselor at Chase Middle School for 10 years and a counselor and teacher in Lawrence for 20 years. Joseph G. Anderson has been a special education teacher in Topeka schools for the past 10 years. Prior to that, he was a USD 501 science teacher for 12 years. During his tenure he taught at Landon, French and Jardine Middle Schools, Hope Street Academy and the Kelley Detention Center. Debbie Austin began her career with Topeka schools in 1977 as a special education teacher at Highland Park North. From 1979 to 1998, she was a curriculum support specialist and from 1998 to 2006 she was a special education consulting teacher. Since 2006, she has been a target assistive liaison. Connie Baer has been a music teacher in Topeka schools since 1973. During her career she taught at Gage, Quincy, Grant, Highland Park North, McCarter and Whitson Elementaries.
Janet Summerill Johnson 1948 ~ 2010
Economic theory provides different methods to assess the economic impact of a health condition, as is cancer. The Cost of Illness (COI), developed by Rice (3-6), is the most widely accepted conceptual framework for cost estimates. COI estimates involve three components: direct costs, morbidity costs and mortality costs. Within this framework, several studies with different approaches have been conducted to determine the economic burden of different diseases (7-17). These studies have concluded that the component with the greatest impact lies in the productivity cost, even more than the costs for medical treatment of patients. For example, the National Institutes of Health(18) estimated the cost of illness for different causes of death in United States (US) for 2007. This study estimated the overall cost of cancer at $219.2 billion, of which, $89 billion correspond to direct costs of health expenditure, $18.2 billion in morbidity costs and $112.0 billion in mortality costs (representing more than 52% of total costs). Others studies of the economic burden of cancer in California (14-15) have concluded that the premature mortality cost of breast cancer is 80% of the total costs of the disease. Also, mortality costs of gynecological cancers like ovarian and cervical cancer represent more than 65% of total cost of these cancers. This pattern has also been observed in the state of Texas and in Sweden, Canada, and Spain (10-11, 17, 19-20). Other studies (20-25) have focused on estimating the productivity cost due to cancer mortality. Although these studies show some discrepancies in their methodology, data sources, and the inclusion of indirect costs components, such variations are not necessarily a weakness. Different arenas of application require different approaches and schemes (e.g., economic burden estimates vs. cost-effectiveness analysis) (4-5, 26). From a societal perspective, estimates of the value of labor productivity loss due to premature mortality are important in determining the economic burden of disease. Previous studies in PR have used the COI approach to estimate the cost of AIDS, schizophrenia and traffic accidents (7, 27-28). For example, cumulative total cost of AIDS in PR from period of 19821989 was estimated to be $ 525.2 million (27). Despite the importance of evaluating the economic impact of cancer in PR, there are no previous studies that have used the COI approach to investigate this issue. In fact, this economic component has been overlooked in cancer investigations in PR. Although the value of a persons life transcends its economic value as a productive unit, cost studies present another dimension of a health problem, providing valuable information for society and for policymakers to decide how to allocate scarce resources more optimally (27). Consequently, the aim of this study is to estimate the labor-market productivity loss in PR, as a result of premature mortality, due to overall cancer and by cause-specific cancers in 2004.
On March 2 of 2007, with the implementation of Law 66, Puerto Rico became a smoke-free island by completely banning indoor smoking in public places such as bars, pubs, casinos, hotels, work places with more than one employee, and cars with any passenger under the age of 13 . According to the literature, the immediate impact of smoke-free workplace policies has been to dramatically reduce the exposition to SHS for customers and workers (10-17). Many studies have used the level of respirable particulate matter ([PM.sub.2.5]) as the main indicator of exposure to SHS because it has been demonstrated that smoking is one of the main sources of indoor levels of [PM.sub.2.5] (10). For example, bars in the state of New York experienced an average reduction of 84% in their [PM.sub.2.5] levels after the Clean Indoor Air Act was implemented in July of 2003 (11). In the case of Austin, Texas, bars experienced a reduction from 71% to 99% in their [PM.sub.2.5] levels after a smoking ban was implemented (12). In another study (13), Irish-theme pubs around the globe located in countries or cities with smoke-free legislation were compared with similar pubs in places without smoke-free ordinances. In this case, the results showed an average 91% reduction in [PM.sub.2.5] levels. In March of 2006, a smoking ban was implemented in Scotland, which substantially covered enclosed places including pubs. Evidence shows that, as a result, Scottish pubs experienced an average of 86% reduction in [PM.sub.2.5] levels (14). In Italy, a year after the implementation of an all smoke-free workplace policy in January of 2005, there was an average of 68% reduction in [PM.sub.2.5] levels across bars, restaurants, game rooms, and pubs (15). The main claim of this study is that the smoke-free workplace policy implemented in March of 2007 was effective in reducing the exposure to SHS in restaurants, pubs, and discos in the metropolitan area of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The specific research objectives of the study were three. First, to measure and compare the restaurants, pubs, and discos in the metropolitan area of San Juan at baseline (before the smoke-free workplace policy was implemented) in terms of the levels of respirable particulate matter (PM), the number of smokers, the number of customers, and establishment area. Second, to measure the change in levels of PM, the number of smokers, and the number of customers before and after March 2007. And third, to measure the effect of the smoke-free workplace policy on the level of PM controlling for the number of customers and establishment area.
Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of
information for healthcare professionals and students, announced today that
Susan Driscoll, President CEO, Wolters Kluwer Health, Professional
Education
has been invited to deliver a speech at the 2010 Beijing International
Publishing Forum, organized by the Chinese General Administration of Press
and
Publication, on Sunday, August 29, 2010, in Beijing, China.
The Beijing International Publishing Forum is the most important high level
event that provides a valuable opportunity and a platform for Chinese and
foreign publishers to have a dialogue to exchange experiences and learn
from
each other. Held in conjunction with the2010 Beijing International Book
Fair,
this years theme is “Global Publishing Cooperation and Chinas Market
Opportunities.”
In the area of Science and Education Books Publishing, Ms Driscoll
addressed the
impact of availability and the power technology is having on what
publishers are
offering and the potential in medical publishing. Lippincott Williams and
Wilkins, the medical book imprint of Wolters Kluwer Health, has been
publishing
books for over 200 years, and, in fact, is the oldest book publisher in the
United States. Wolters Kluwer Health publishes both education and reference
books for doctors, nurses, and other health professionals.
Ms. Driscoll spoke about the transformation of Wolters Kluwer Health as a
traditional publisher of books to a future where books are quickly becoming
unbound, providing immediate access to content and integrated into the
learnflow
or workflow of the health student or professional.
On Monday, August 30, Wolters Kluwer officially opened its participation in
the
Beijing International Book Fair at 9:00 am on its stand with the launch of
the
latest, innovative products from Wolters Kluwer China. Throughout the Fair,
Wolters Kluwer will demonstrate the latest productivity solutions, tools,
and
products for professionals in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, tax,
accounting,
legal, and regulatory markets worldwide from brands such asAspen
Publishers,
CCH, Kluwer Law International and Lippincott Williams Wilkins.
WHEN Andy and Bonnie Cowley saw an advertisement for a 100ft Dutch barge for sale in Ireland, they jumped at it. They sold their hotel on the Isle of Wight and, in 2005, picked up the African Queen, sailed her across the Irish Sea and up to a base on the River Thames. There followed a few months of extensive restoration and the former Dutch barge was ready for action. She now offers tranquil cruises past some of the most attractive spots on the River Thames. I joined the African Queen at Mapledurham, near Reading, where Andy and Bonnie greeted us with a cream tea. The boat can take 12 passengers in en-suite cabins. Upstairs theres a lounge area with plenty of room to sit and chat, plus a flatscreen TV, fully-stocked bar and dining area. Theres also a sundeck where you can while away the hours.
A year-long advertising campaign that strategically focused on the most lucrative travel markets delivered record-breaking results, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, Nevada Commission on Tourism (NCOT) chair, announced today.
“Our ad campaign reached a carefully targeted group of consumers with the means and desire to travel and convinced them to visit us,” Krolicki said. “In the face of a national economic downturn, NCOTs winter and summer ads attracted visitors who spent money in Nevada that generated $110 million in tax revenue directly attributed to the ad campaign, a greater return on our investment than ever before.”
Every $1 that NCOT invested in the ads generated $31 in tax revenue.
“We ran a thrifty campaign aimed at our most responsive and proven markets and got our message to the right people,” NCOT Director Dann Lewis said. “We also integrated the media to include television, Google In-stream video, Internet advertising and national travel magazines, a combination that helped increase our return on investment. It was a prescription for success and were gratified to get such good-news results for Nevada tourism.”
The percentage of consumers who saw or heard the ads in markets where they ran jumped from 29.7 percent in 2009 to 42.9 percent in fiscal 2010, which ended June 30.
GOLDEN, Colo. — SolarFrameWorks Co., a premier Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV)
manufacturer, announces the largest BIPV CoolPly™ system in the
state of Massachusetts has been completed by Constellation Energy
Projects Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: CEG). The 525 kilowatt,
state-of-the-art BIPV CoolPly™ commercial roofing system is
providing clean, renewable energy to the Kraft Group’s Patriot Place
Complex, adjacent to Gillette Stadium, in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
The Association of Energy Engineers, New England chapter named the
Patriot Place BIPV CoolPly™ Solar Project as the: “Best Energy
Project in New England,” awarding it the 2009 Energy Project Award.
Projects selected for this award must push the envelope for creativity
and/or comprehensiveness.
CEG financed the BIPV CoolPly™ system through a 20-year
power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Kraft Group. Under the PPA, CEG
will own the energy assets and sell the electricity it generates on site
to Patriot Place. The 525 kilowatt BIPV CoolPly™ power system on
Patriot Place spans seven rooftops. The system supplies one-third of the
electrical needs of Patriot Place and will generate 12 million plus
kilowatts hours of energy over the next 20 years.
SolarFrameWorks manufactures BIPV CoolPly™ in its solar-powered
facility in Golden, Colorado. SolarFrameWorks manufactured this system
with made in the USA materials. Suppliers include Firestone Building
Products and Evergreen Solar (NYSE: ESLR). Silktown Roofing Company, a
SolarFrameWorks partner, installed the proprietary solar electric
roofing system.
The state-of-the-art BIPV CoolPly™ system is elegant in
appearance and innovative in function. The patent pending system
simultaneously cools the roof and cools the solar modules in the summer.
In the winter, the system provides additional insulation preventing heat
loss while optimizing power production to promote optimal power
production and energy conservation in commercial buildings.
BLACKPOOL 2 LUKE VARNEY celebrated his dream move to Blackpool with a cracking debut goal – but the game left injured Fulham duo Bobby Zamora and keeper David Stockdale doubtful for England call-ups.
Toll of Stress Impacting Health Care Costs, Absenteeism and Workplace
Safety
NEW YORK — Employers understand the detrimental effects stress is having on their
organizations, and are responding with multiple strategies to help
workers cope, a recent survey by Buck
Consultants, A Xerox Company, indicates.
The survey, ‘Stress in the Workplace,’ identifies the areas most
affected by stress and the strategies employed by organizations to
reduce stress for their workers. The research was conducted at the
WorldatWork Total Rewards Conference in May 2010. The study analyzes
responses from more than 250 conference attendees, representing more
than 200 organizations of various sizes and industries.
“Most employers realize that a stressed-out workforce drives up health
care costs,” said Barry Hall, principal at Buck Consultants. “Employers
are responding by introducing numerous methods to combat the impact of
work-related stress.”
Hall noted that workplace issues highly affected by stress are:
Toll of Stress Impacting Health Care Costs, Absenteeism and Workplace
Safety
NEW YORK — Employers understand the detrimental effects stress is having on their
organizations, and are responding with multiple strategies to help
workers cope, a recent survey by Buck
Consultants, A Xerox Company, indicates.
The survey, ‘Stress in the Workplace,’ identifies the areas most
affected by stress and the strategies employed by organizations to
reduce stress for their workers. The research was conducted at the
WorldatWork Total Rewards Conference in May 2010. The study analyzes
responses from more than 250 conference attendees, representing more
than 200 organizations of various sizes and industries.
“Most employers realize that a stressed-out workforce drives up health
care costs,” said Barry Hall, principal at Buck Consultants. “Employers
are responding by introducing numerous methods to combat the impact of
work-related stress.”
Hall noted that workplace issues highly affected by stress are:
SAN ANTONIO — Tootie
Pie Company, Inc. (OTCBB:TOOT) announced that it has entered into a
partnership with Kraft Foods for the upcoming holiday season. The two
companies will co-market Tootie Pie with Kraft’s Cool Whip.
“There is probably no more recognizable, high-quality food brand than
Kraft Foods,” said Don Merrill, President CEO. “We are proud and
excited that Kraft recognizes the value of having its Cool Whip product
featured alongside Tootie Pie.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed as of this date; however, the deal
was made possible through a mutual agreement in partnership with HEB
Grocery Stores, according to Tootie Pie Company.
“Experience tells us that more in-store pie tastings result in
significantly more Tootie Pie sales. Once customers taste Tootie Pie,
they are hooked,” explained Merrill. “HEB wants to grow Tootie Pie sales
dramatically and brought Kraft to the table in a three-way partnership
that will drive consumers to the frozen food section during peak times
of the year!”
Women in Kenya remain disadvantaged, with opportunities for educational, social, and economic advancement inferior to those of men. Women are underrepresented in modern sector wage employment, political and judicial decision making, and all major public service appointments. Numerous social, economic, and cultural barriers limit womens participation in these areas. But womens underrepresentation in education is a primary factor. The benefits of womens education to women and to society in general are immense. In the workplace, education increases skills needed for job entry, improves chances of vertical mobility, and enhances overall labor market productivity. It also has positive consequences at home, including improved health, increased child survival rates, reduced fertility rates, lower infant mortality rates, and better protection against HIV and AIDS (Tembon and Fort 2008). Education of women and girls is therefore not only a moral and human rights issue, but also an economic and development issue. Given the significant benefits of womens education, equity in education is essential to improving circumstances for all Kenyans. As the leading provider of education, the government should acknowledge that compensatory mechanisms may be required to level the playing field for disadvantaged girls, and it should adopt an approach that uses these mechanisms. Making education equitable means adopting policies and initiatives that support equal provisions across genders. Female Education in Kenya Education in Kenya has four basic levels: preschool (ages 4-6), primary (ages 7-14), secondary (ages 15-18), and tertiary. Since attaining political independence from Great Britain in 1963, the Kenyan government has emphasized educations importance to economic development. It has also increased the number of schools at all levels, from about six thousand primary and 150 secondary schools in 1963 to almost twenty thousand primary and four thousand secondary schools in 2004. As a result, the student population has increased substantially, with over 700 percent growth at the primary level and almost 3,000 percent growth at the secondary level (Ministry of Education 2007). But this total expansion in education hides disparities by gender and region.
INTRODUCTION Pork is a popular meat consumed by non-muslim Singaporeans with about 87,000 tonnes being consumed per year (Kanagalingam, 2005). Currently, Singapore imports its pork from several countries, but Australian and Indonesian pork is consumed most widely due to its ready availability at supermarkets and wet markets. Fresh pork is obtained from pigs raised in Indonesia but slaughtered at Singapore abattoirs, while chilled pork is mainly imported from Australia and is widely known as “Air Pork”. Singaporean consumers are aware of the origin of pork from packaging labels. Results of a recent survey showed that Singapore consumers associate non-Indonesian pork with the presence of an unpleasant mutton-like off-flavour (Leong et al., 2008). One possible cause of off-flavours in pork is by the oxidation of lipids, leading to the formation of aldehydes and short-chain fatty acids (Reindl and Stan, 1982; Devol, et al., 1988). The rate and extent of lipid oxidation depends on a number of factors, the most important being the level of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in muscle (Allen and Foegeding, 1981). Pork contains high levels of unsaturated fatty acids relative to ruminant meat (Enser et al., 1996) and is more susceptible to oxidative deterioration of lipids and myoglobin. Feeding of PUFAs to pigs can improve the nutritional quality of pork, but may also increase the susceptibility to oxidation (Sheard et al., 2000; Kouba et al., 2003; Morel et al., 2006). There have been many reports of PUFA-rich feeds leading to increased lipid oxidation and thus off-flavour in pork (Houben and Krol, 1980; Warnants et al., 1998; Roman et al., 1995; Overland et al., 1996; Leskanich et al., 1997; Wood et al., 2003). There have also been examples of off-flavours in pork arising from the direct transfer of aroma components from feed to meat, including several reports on how feeding of fish oil and high fat fish meal to finisher pigs has caused “fishy” and other off-flavours in pork products (Kjos et al., 1999; Lauridsen et al., 1999; Maw et al., 2001; Jaturasitha et al., 2002). The current paper compares sensory assessments of the flavour of pork from the legs of pigs finished in New Zealand on three diets (Morel et al., 2008) using Singaporean panelists. The objective was to determine the extent to which dietary feed treatments received by the New Zealand pigs influenced the sensory properties of pork using trained and untrained Singaporean panels. Results of sensory analyses of pork from the loins of the same New Zealand pigs using New Zealand panelists were reported by Janz et al. (2008).
PARAMUS, N.J. — VORNADO REALTY TRUST (NYSE: VNO) today announced that it has completed
the first closing of its real estate investment fund with initial equity
commitments of $550 million (including $200 million from Vornado).
Vornado expects total commitments of $1 billion. Subsidiaries of Vornado
will serve as the general partner and investment manager. The Fund is
Vornado’s exclusive investment vehicle for all real estate and real
estate-related investments that fit within the Fund’s investment
parameters for its three-year investment period.
This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation
of an offer to buy securities in the United States. Interests in the
Fund have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, or any U.S. state securities law, and may not be offered or
sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption
from registration requirements.
Vornado Realty Trust is a fully-integrated equity real estate investment
trust.
Certain statements contained herein may constitute “forward-looking
statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the
actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be
materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Such factors include, among others, risks associated with the timing of
and costs associated with property improvements, financing commitments,
and general competitive factors. For a discussion of these and other
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from
those contained in the forward-looking statements, see “Risk Factors” in
the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
Powerful Opportunity for Real Estate Professionals To Help Families
through Partnership with Lowes
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Dennis Walsh, CEO of RE-buildUSA™, one of the real estate industrys
most popular speakers, will be presenting a series of free live events
to showcase what many call the “perfect storm of opportunity” in todays
market. The presentation, “Rebuilding America One Dream at a Time,” will
travel through Dayton,
OH July 20th, Columbus,
OH July 21st and Cleveland,
OH July 22nd. These events are sponsored by Lowes and Wells Fargo
Home Mortgage. Walshs message, already shared with thousands of
brokers, agents and mortgage professionals around the country, will give
valuable insight on a program that is helping stabilize the housing
industry.
“Every real estate professional needs to know about this great
opportunity in todays market,” says Dave Liniger, Chairman and
Co-Founder of RE/MAX. Liniger presented the RE-buildUSA™ program to
RE/MAX agents during a live broadcast via RE/MAX University.
Re-buildUSA™, in partnership with Lowe’s, simplifies use of the federal
government’s 203k Renovation Loan program to assist families in
achieving their dream of homeownership, improve communities and grow the
economy. Home improvements are rolled right into the primary mortgage,
allowing both buyers and current homeowners to more easily get the home
they want, while being able to afford their monthly payments and reduce
the overall cost of ownership.
“RE-buildUSA™ is nothing less than the future of real estate,” explains
Ed Krafchow, President CEO, Prudential CA/NV Realty. “If youre
serious about success in this business, youve got to get involved in
this ground-breaking program.”
RICHMOND, Va. — Hellerman Baretz Communications (HBC) announces that Mike C. Gray has
joined the firm as a Senior Account Executive. Gray has counseled law
firms across the country including a national intellectual property
boutique and an international AmLaw 100 firm. Most recently, he served
as the Communications Business Development Specialist at Williams
Mullen, where he managed all of the firm’s public relations efforts as
well as the business development function of the financial services and
real estate sections.
Gray has developed and implemented many successful and robust PR-fueled
business development campaigns, almost all of which have included
attaining top tier rankings for firms and partners in national trade
publications, and coordinating successful new business proposals after
invitations had been received.
“Mike’s impressive experience and success at a variety of leading law
firms makes him an exceptional addition to our HBC team,” said John
Hellerman, co-founder of HBC. “Mike understands the power of actively
using PR-generated content to help create more new business
opportunities. Our clients engage us to do exactly that, and they will
benefit from his expertise.”
“Rather than producing mere publicity, HBC’s mission to partner with
clients to produce meaningful business development results is what
inspired me to join,” Gray said.
Gray is a graduate of the University of Richmond where he majored in
English and American Studies. He holds leadership positions with
numerous organizations in the Richmond area including: Co-chair of the
public relations and marketing committee for the Greater Richmond
Chamber of Commerce’s HYPE (Helping Young Professionals Engage) program,
Chair of the communications technology committee for the Legal
Marketing Association Virginias Chapter, and Development Chair for the
Tredegar Society, a young professionals organization that supports the
American Civil War Center.
— Iteris to lead program management for implementation of over
$900 million transportation infrastructure projects –
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Iteris, Inc. (NYSE Amex: ITI), a leader in the traffic management market
that focuses on the application and development of advanced
technologies, today announced that the company has been awarded a major
contract to assist the South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG)
located in Los Angeles County to develop an Implementation Plan and
provide Program/Project Management for the South Bay Measure R Highway
Program. Building on previous transportation study recommendations and
needed gap closures, this work will help move transportation projects
forward rapidly in partnership with Caltrans. Iteris will also assist
South Bay cities in facilitating document completion and streamlining
the construction process. This project will employ a monitoring system
to track progress and provide early identification of implementation
obstacles. The three-year contract, with funding provided from South Bay
Measure R Highway funds through the Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (Metro), has a total value of $2.0 million.
Measure R is a one-half cent sales tax approved by Los Angeles County
voters in November 2008 to meet the transportation needs of Los Angeles
County. Metro oversees the distribution of the funds. The South Bay sub
region is expected to receive approximately $906 million over the
30-year life of Measure R. Although Measure R is expected to provide a
significant amount of funding to the South Bay, the intent of this
program is also to leverage the Measure R funds with other available and
possible new revenue sources.
“Iteris has a long history of assisting the South Bay Cities on
transportation projects,” said Abbas Mohaddes, president and chief
executive officer of Iteris. “We are delighted to provide our services
with this significant assignment to help implement such a significant
program to improve mobility in this important region of Los Angeles
County.” Mr. Mohaddes continued, “Additionally, this contract award is
an excellent example of how local transportation projects continue to
receive funding in these challenging economic times.”
— Iteris to lead program management for implementation of over
$900 million transportation infrastructure projects –
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Iteris, Inc. (NYSE Amex: ITI), a leader in the traffic management market
that focuses on the application and development of advanced
technologies, today announced that the company has been awarded a major
contract to assist the South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG)
located in Los Angeles County to develop an Implementation Plan and
provide Program/Project Management for the South Bay Measure R Highway
Program. Building on previous transportation study recommendations and
needed gap closures, this work will help move transportation projects
forward rapidly in partnership with Caltrans. Iteris will also assist
South Bay cities in facilitating document completion and streamlining
the construction process. This project will employ a monitoring system
to track progress and provide early identification of implementation
obstacles. The three-year contract, with funding provided from South Bay
Measure R Highway funds through the Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (Metro), has a total value of $2.0 million.
Measure R is a one-half cent sales tax approved by Los Angeles County
voters in November 2008 to meet the transportation needs of Los Angeles
County. Metro oversees the distribution of the funds. The South Bay sub
region is expected to receive approximately $906 million over the
30-year life of Measure R. Although Measure R is expected to provide a
significant amount of funding to the South Bay, the intent of this
program is also to leverage the Measure R funds with other available and
possible new revenue sources.
“Iteris has a long history of assisting the South Bay Cities on
transportation projects,” said Abbas Mohaddes, president and chief
executive officer of Iteris. “We are delighted to provide our services
with this significant assignment to help implement such a significant
program to improve mobility in this important region of Los Angeles
County.” Mr. Mohaddes continued, “Additionally, this contract award is
an excellent example of how local transportation projects continue to
receive funding in these challenging economic times.”
Partnership with Gerson Lehrman Group provides Bloomberg clients
with new service
NEW YORK — BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL® Service and Gerson Lehrman Group
executives today announced that Bloomberg clients will get access to
more than 50,000 leading business experts globally through an exclusive
partnership with Gerson Lehrman Group.
The agreement offers clients of the Bloomberg Professional Service
access to members of the Gerson Lehrman Group Councils — networks of
consultants, physicians, scientists, engineers, attorneys, market
researchers and other professionals from around the world, who are
referred to as GLG Council Members.
Through this new partnership, Bloomberg clients will be able to view
profiles of select GLG Council Members; request consultations directly
with those Council Members; and access news commentary, video, webcasts
and teleconferences led by GLG Council Members globally. In addition,
Bloomberg and Gerson Lehrman Group will jointly produce seminars and
surveys that will be available exclusively to Bloomberg Professional
Service users.
This partnership also provides trial access to Gerson Lehrman Group for
Bloomberg clients who are not yet Gerson Lehrman Group clients. All
clients who engage Gerson Lehrman Group’s services through Bloomberg
will be supported by more than 300 industry-specific research
professionals, who help users identify the experts who best meet their
research needs.
Leading Vehicle Service Contract Company Supports Dealers in Efforts
ATLANTA — Drastic changes in the automobile industry are not just happening in
Detroit or Washington D.C. Automobile dealerships across the country are
trying to stay ahead or, at the very least, keep up with the changes
that consumers have made and continue to make in the way they shop for
cars. The internet has revolutionized the car buying process by becoming
the first place the consumer goes for information, instead of going
directly to the dealership. Dealers must respond by providing as much
information as they can online if they have any hope of getting the
customer into their particular stores.
Today’s consumer has access to endless information online when they’re
in the consideration phase of buying a new vehicle. They can find out
what their trade-in will be worth, see the car virtually inside and out,
and compare dealer prices all while wearing their pajamas, sipping a cup
of coffee. Online social media tools like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter
are being used to solicit feedback from their online social network
about cars and where to purchase. A quick search of Facebook reveals a
comment from a friend less than an hour ago: “Does anybody know of a
good, cheap, SAFE car for my soon-to-be-16-year-old? Bonus if it’s in
Atlanta!” She’d already had over 5 responses from friends, who Nielsen
data tell us are the “most trusted source of recommendations” (The
Nielsen Company, 4/2009).
EasyCare has recognized this change in shopping behavior, and in
response is leveraging social media tools to give consumers information
on vehicle service contracts and bring them into EasyCare dealerships.
Easycare.com has been broadened to include more in-depth information so
the consumer is better prepared and educated about vehicle service
contracts before stepping into the dealership. Dealer locator
functionality has been added, new features are being added regularly.
Through FaceBook, YouTube, Twitter and EasyCare.com, EasyCare is
partnering with dealers to provide credible content to their consumers.
The EasyCare Facebook page is updated almost daily with new content,
pictures and information, and videos have been posted onto YouTube.
EasyCare has an active Twitter account with over 600 followers,
distributing tweets on a wide range of topics pertinent to the car
industry and of interest to shoppers. Motor Trend Certified Advantage (a
program powered by EasyCare) dealers upload photos of customers with
their new cars onto their dealership Facebook pages and onto the active
Motor Trend Certified Facebook group page – helping customers share
their excitement about their new purchases with friends.
Fleet Insurance Company, Flint Insurance, have praised fuel cards for providing fleet car and van companies with savings on diesel and enabling them to be more effective in identifying expenditure.
The Fuelcard company have pioneered the cards, which offer fixed prices on fuel obtained from a host of sites, including Texaco, Shell and Esso. There are individual cards for specific needs, so that fleet companies have a card suited best to them as opposed to what a HGV company might require.
Fleet companies, in particular, are most likely to benefit from the cumulative savings of the 4p a litre average cut in costs, as they will notice more drastic savings due to them being multiplied across the numerous cars and vans, therefore highlighting the significant impact of the cards to businesses.
Although fuel prices have not been affected by the emergency Budget, their increased prices over the last few years have had a detrimental effect to fleet companies. So, the Fuelcards are a much welcome antidote to these rises, as the fixed weekend costs can combat the rising pump prices as well as receiving VAT invoices and fuel analysis to aid efficiency in spending within businesses.
A spokesperson for Flint Insurance, who specialise in Commercial Fleet Insurance , said: In these tough times for fleet companies, any savings are welcome. But the fact that Fuelcards also help bosses to monitor the fuel usage of their fleets as well, means that they are better equipped with more accurate figures for spending and can evaluate where they can make other savings too.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Bioject Medical Technologies Inc. (OTCBB: BJCT), a leading developer of
needle-free injection therapy systems, today announced that Bioject’s
needle-free injection delivery technology was used to successfully
demonstrate that intradermal administration of fractional doses of
inactivated poliovirus vaccine given to infants is safe and effective
(using seroconversion as an indication of effectiveness), and is
preferred by both health care administrators and parents over typical
full-dose needle and syringe. The study results, published in the June
24, 2010, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM
Vol. 362 No. 25), also demonstrated a significant cost savings
in use of the fractional-dose intradermal injection as compared with a
full-dose vaccination course of treatment using an auto-disable needle
and syringe.
The study was conducted in Oman and supported by the Ministry of Health
of Oman, the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) and the
World Health Organization (WHO) as part of the Global Polio Eradication
Initiative (GPEI). The randomized clinical trial of over 400 infants, of
whom 373 fulfilled the entry criteria, were selected to receive either
fractional-dose inactivated poliovirus vaccine (one-fifth of the full
dose) or a full-dose of the same vaccine over a three course treatment
during the first six months of age. The intradermal fractional-dose was
given with Bioject’s Biojector®2000 (B2000) needle-free injection
delivery device and the full-dose was delivered with an auto-disable
syringe and needle. The study was designed to assess the safety and
efficacy of, and preference for, the needle-free intradermal
fractional-dose and the potential to use a needle-free intradermal
fractional-dose vaccine option with infants in order to prevent polio
infection. The results of the study demonstrate that needle-free
intradermal administration of fractional doses of the polio vaccine was
safe, effective and lower cost than a similar course treatment with full
dose needle-syringe option. In addition, both health caregivers and
parents expressed a preference for the needle-free option because “the
baby does not cry.”
The study was one of the research and development initiatives stemming
from the GPEI’s goal to develop affordable injectable polio vaccine
options for the post-eradication era. GPEI is spearheaded by national
governments, WHO, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) and UNICEF.
“We are pleased to have participated in this significant clinical trial
and to learn about the positive results with intradermal fractional-dose
injection of inactivated polio vaccine using Bioject’s intradermal
delivery technology,” said Dr. Richard Stout, Bioject’s Executive Vice
President and Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Stout added, “Based on the
findings, as reported in the NEJM, we now have evidence that
demonstrates potential cost savings when using intradermal needle-free
injection delivery technology as compared with typical full-dose
injections. In addition, we along with the parents of the treated
infants are delighted to hear that the babies did not cry, leading to a
significant preference for Bioject’s needle-free injection devices. We
look forward to working with other organizations around the world who
are interested in leveraging the benefits of our needle-free intradermal
injection delivery technology for their vaccine portfolios,” commented
Dr. Stout.
Bioject Medical Technologies Inc., based in Portland, Oregon, is
an innovative developer and manufacturer of needle-free injection
therapy systems (NFITS). NFITS provide an empowering technology and work
by forcing medication at high speed through a tiny orifice held against
the skin. This creates a fine stream of high-pressure fluid penetrating
the skin and depositing medication in the tissue beneath. The Company is
focused on developing mutually beneficial agreements with leading
pharmaceutical, biotechnology and veterinary companies.
New SVP COO Strengthens Outcomes’ Executive Leadership Team
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Outcomes Health Information Solutions, LLC, a leading healthcare data
abstraction and analytics company, today named Hassan Rifaat, M.D., as
the new Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “We are
excited to have Dr. Rifaat join our organization. As a physician with
over 20 years of senior level experience with leading national
healthcare organizations, Dr. Rifaat will bring additional experience,
ideas and knowledge to our operations and clinical team,” says Outcomes’
CEO, Gary Velasquez. “Having a physician as our SVP COO demonstrates
Outcomes’ commitment to superior clinical abstraction quality and
business operations, strengthening our platform for continued growth.”
Prior to joining Outcomes, Dr. Rifaat served as Senior Vice President at
Coventry Health Care where he managed seven health plans with over 1,500
employees in 11 states. Coventry Health Care is a national managed
healthcare company based in Bethesda, Maryland operating health plans,
insurance companies, network rental/managed care and workers
compensation services companies. In addition, Dr. Rifaat has held
several senior executive positions at Humana, Inc.; a $12 billion
managed care company, where he served as Regional CEO over Illinois
the Southeast, Market President for Louisiana, and Director, Clinical
Innovation. He also was Vice President of Marketing and Sales for
HealthMarket and held executive level positions at Alignis, Oxford
Health Plans, and Texas Health Innovators.
Dr. Rifaat graduated Cum Laude from Harvard University with an AB in
Biochemistry and obtained his Medical Doctor degree from the University
of Virginia School of Medicine.
As Outcomes’ SVP COO, Dr. Rifaat will manage the day-to-day
operational and clinical activities on a company-wide basis. He will
administer, direct, and coordinate all operational activities of the
company including planning, design and process improvement.
Positions Merck to Capitalize on Opportunities for Global Growth
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. — Merck Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK), known outside the U.S. and Canada as MSD,
today provided further detail on integration plans for the companys
research and development, manufacturing and other business operations as
part of a global restructuring program announced following the November
2009 merger of Merck and Schering-Plough. The consolidation plans
support Mercks strategic direction as a customer focused, innovative
and diversified global health care company, and position the company to
invest in key areas for future growth, including emerging markets,
biologics, vaccines and consumer care.
Merck today announced plans to phase out operations at eight research
sites and eight manufacturing sites, as well as to continue to
consolidate office facilities worldwide, as part of the global merger
restructuring program that began last December. The goal of the
restructuring is to create a flexible RD organization that cultivates
scientific innovation, facilitates external collaboration and drives
pipeline progress and a reliable, more fully utilized and cost efficient
worldwide manufacturing supply chain to support Mercks broader product
portfolio.
Merck continues to expect its total workforce to be reduced by
approximately 15 percent across all areas of the combined company
worldwide as part of the initial phases of its merger restructuring
program. The company said it will continue to hire new employees in
strategic growth areas of the business as necessary.
“Today’s announcement is another important step as we successfully
integrate our global operations on schedule and move forward with
Mercks strategic priorities,” said Richard T. Clark, chairman and chief
executive officer of Merck. “These changes are crucial to drive future
growth and realize the promise of being a global health care leader for
the long term. While we believe these actions are necessary to support
Mercks competitive advantage, they required difficult decisions that
will impact some of our colleagues, their families and local
communities. We will implement our restructuring plans with the utmost
care and respect for the hard-working and talented employees of Merck,”
he said.
Women in Kenya remain disadvantaged, with opportunities for educational, social, and economic advancement inferior to those of men. Women are underrepresented in modern sector wage employment, political and judicial decision making, and all major public service appointments. Numerous social, economic, and cultural barriers limit womens participation in these areas. But womens underrepresentation in education is a primary factor. The benefits of womens education to women and to society in general are immense. In the workplace, education increases skills needed for job entry, improves chances of vertical mobility, and enhances overall labor market productivity. It also has positive consequences at home, including improved health, increased child survival rates, reduced fertility rates, lower infant mortality rates, and better protection against HIV and AIDS (Tembon and Fort 2008). Education of women and girls is therefore not only a moral and human rights issue, but also an economic and development issue. Given the significant benefits of womens education, equity in education is essential to improving circumstances for all Kenyans. As the leading provider of education, the government should acknowledge that compensatory mechanisms may be required to level the playing field for disadvantaged girls, and it should adopt an approach that uses these mechanisms. Making education equitable means adopting policies and initiatives that support equal provisions across genders. Female Education in Kenya Education in Kenya has four basic levels: preschool (ages 4-6), primary (ages 7-14), secondary (ages 15-18), and tertiary. Since attaining political independence from Great Britain in 1963, the Kenyan government has emphasized educations importance to economic development. It has also increased the number of schools at all levels, from about six thousand primary and 150 secondary schools in 1963 to almost twenty thousand primary and four thousand secondary schools in 2004. As a result, the student population has increased substantially, with over 700 percent growth at the primary level and almost 3,000 percent growth at the secondary level (Ministry of Education 2007). But this total expansion in education hides disparities by gender and region.
SAN ANTONIO — Tootie
Pie Company, Inc. (OTCBB:TOOT) announced that it has entered into a
partnership with Kraft Foods for the upcoming holiday season. The two
companies will co-market Tootie Pie with Kraft’s Cool Whip.
“There is probably no more recognizable, high-quality food brand than
Kraft Foods,” said Don Merrill, President CEO. “We are proud and
excited that Kraft recognizes the value of having its Cool Whip product
featured alongside Tootie Pie.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed as of this date; however, the deal
was made possible through a mutual agreement in partnership with HEB
Grocery Stores, according to Tootie Pie Company.
“Experience tells us that more in-store pie tastings result in
significantly more Tootie Pie sales. Once customers taste Tootie Pie,
they are hooked,” explained Merrill. “HEB wants to grow Tootie Pie sales
dramatically and brought Kraft to the table in a three-way partnership
that will drive consumers to the frozen food section during peak times
of the year!”
Partnership with Gerson Lehrman Group provides Bloomberg clients
with new service
NEW YORK — BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL® Service and Gerson Lehrman Group
executives today announced that Bloomberg clients will get access to
more than 50,000 leading business experts globally through an exclusive
partnership with Gerson Lehrman Group.
The agreement offers clients of the Bloomberg Professional Service
access to members of the Gerson Lehrman Group Councils — networks of
consultants, physicians, scientists, engineers, attorneys, market
researchers and other professionals from around the world, who are
referred to as GLG Council Members.
Through this new partnership, Bloomberg clients will be able to view
profiles of select GLG Council Members; request consultations directly
with those Council Members; and access news commentary, video, webcasts
and teleconferences led by GLG Council Members globally. In addition,
Bloomberg and Gerson Lehrman Group will jointly produce seminars and
surveys that will be available exclusively to Bloomberg Professional
Service users.
This partnership also provides trial access to Gerson Lehrman Group for
Bloomberg clients who are not yet Gerson Lehrman Group clients. All
clients who engage Gerson Lehrman Group’s services through Bloomberg
will be supported by more than 300 industry-specific research
professionals, who help users identify the experts who best meet their
research needs.
TXU Energy iThermostat Mobile Website is Compatible with Most
Handhelds
DALLAS — Texans can now use their smart phone to manage their home’s temperature,
no matter where they are.
TXU Energy’s latest innovation allows users of its popular TXU Energy
iThermostat to manage their homes heating and air conditioning through
a new mobile website that lets them view real-time temperature settings
and even adjust the temperature setting, all from a handheld.
The new TXU Energy iThermostat mobile website (txu.com/control)
is compatible with the latest models of Apple® iPhone®, Apple® iPod
touch®, Apple® iPad™, BlackBerry® Tour™ and Android™ smart phones (all
brands).
“Our new mobile website allows our customers to use their smart phone to
control their home’s temperatures from virtually anywhere in the world,”
said Jennifer Pulliam, director of innovation for TXU Energy. “Customers
want more control and information about how they’re using their energy,
and our mobile website is one way they can do that.”
Expert Group, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: EXPU), a Florida based diversified financial services provider specializing in home and commercial real estate loans, is proud to announce that it now offers direct loans.
Expert Financing, Inc. will be closing and funding its very first Loan as a Lender, meaning the company has funded 100% of the Loan, which will be serviced in house. Expert Financing and Investments has closed 100s of millions in Loan transaction as a broker working with numerous National and Regional Banks that it has maintained long relationships with as a Wholesale broker. But as of today, Expert Financing is now a bona fide lender and servicing company.
Management believes it is truly the right time to enter into the direct lending business, with record low prices, this environment presents a win-win situation for the borrowers and lenders. Our Goals are to build a 10 million dollar portfolio and service the loans in house. A servicing company collects monthly payment from its borrower on the month to month basis. Our investment Guidelines will be a minimum of 50k to a max of 100k with a 50% LTV, Three year term. As a lender we collect upfront fees as well as monthly payments secured by first lien on the property.
Robert Rico, Chairman of EXPU, stated, “Expert Group continues take the necessary steps to ensure the longevity and the growth of our company. As lenders, we are able to collect interest and hold substantial assets as we continue to grow our revenues. Furthermore, we will aggressively continue working on growing our portfolio as a lender, while continuing to expand our brokerage business. Our first Transaction adds 200k in assets to our book and monthly revenues, as well as upfront closing fees. We continue to look forward to 2010 with great optimism.”
12.2 megapixel Exmor R CMOS Sensor and new Superior Auto mode for superb images with DSLR-style low noise performance
1080i Full HD movie recording for playback on your HD TV
Worlds first compact still cameras with 3D Sweep Panorama
Sweep Multi Angle for exciting 3D-style viewing effects
Background defocus mode for stunning professional effects
Experience a new dimension of photo excitement with this summers colourful additions to the Cyber-shot family of digital cameras from Sony.
Beautifully slim, light and easy to use, the digital camera range, the WX5 and TX9 boast exciting new features for outstanding still picture quality compared with conventional compact cameras. Capable of shooting detail-packed Full HD (1920 x 1080, 50i) AVCHD movie clips, theyre also the first Cyber-shot cameras from Sony that can capture amazing 3D images to enjoy on any 3D-compatible TV.
Superior Auto mode: incredible low-noise images
The WX5 and TX9 are the first in the Sony Cyber-shot camera range that can capture extremely low-noise images, evoking the expressive power of a digital SLR camera.
Powered by the 12.2 megapixel Exmor R CMOS Sensor, Superior Auto mode captures a high-speed burst of up to six frames when you press the shutter button. Camera settings are automatically optimised according to shooting conditions. Cyber-shot then combines information from each frame to create an exquisite, low-noise picture with wide dynamic range, as enjoyed by DSLR photo enthusiasts.
Panasonic, the leading manufacturer of cordless home telephones worldwide,* today announced that all of its 2010 cordless home telephone systems, available at retailers nationwide, feature proprietary DECT 6.0 PLUS performance for optimal sound quality and extended range. Additionally, the phones offer extended battery life and a variety of time-saving and convenience features designed for the way todays multi-tasking families use their cordless phones.
Panasonics 2010 cordless phones are designed with feedback from extensive consumer research and raise the bar on performance in three key ways:
Improved Voice Quality
In response to consumer demand, Panasonics proprietary DECT 6.0 PLUS technology provides better quality reception by increasing the error-correction rate by 80 times compared with Panasonics prior DECT 6.0 models.
Extended Battery Life
2010 Panasonic cordless phones feature Intelligent Eco Mode, which automatically lowers the handsets power consumption when used near the base station. The result is up to 13 hours of continuous talk time on average, compared to 11 hours of continuous talk time when not using Intelligent Eco Mode.
Double the Transmission Distance with Range Extender Module
The new Range Extender module, included with the KX-TG4053B and sold separately as an accessory for all other 2010 models (SRP $29.95), doubles the effective transmission distance between the base unit and handsets when compared with previous models.
The American Academy of Family Physicians is one of the largest national medical organizations, representing more than 94,700 family physicians, family medicine residents and medical students nationwide. Founded in 1947, its mission has been to preserve and promote the science and art of Family Medicine and to ensure high-quality, cost-effective health care for patients of all ages. The Mission of the AAFP is to improve the health of patients, families and communities by serving the needs of members with professionalism and creativity. Initiatives include advocacy, practice enhancement, education and health of the public.
This years Assembly includes new features such as The Learning Gallery, with presentations on important, medically relevant issues; exhibitors products, products in clinical development, disease state data, and physician-sponsored evidence-based studies. It also will feature an unparalleled opportunity for exhibitors to showcase the latest in technology, products, equipment, and services related to the specialty of family medicine.
“This is the first of many events on our calendar for the year in building the information database and accessible archives for medical professionals everywhere,” states Dibiase. “With more information comes increase in industry position and overall profitability with the ability to further cross-implement the cutting-edge features of SNI such as the iPhone/iPad news feed application and SNIs one-of-a-kind social networking matrix, Doctor2Doctor, among others. As always, we continue to be the only independent medical news company in the world that manages to deliver both quality and quantity with integrity as a subscription-based provider with no influence from sponsors. We expect to see our paid member base increase significantly over the next few months as we continue to announce company developments, meeting attendance, and key strategic relationships.”
THEY are known as the rubbish dump kids. starving children who scavenge for scraps of food on a toxic mountain of waste. He is a former hairdresser who runs a “charity” in Cambodia inviting you to send him money to save them. David Fletcher, 65, appears to be the Good Samaritan, feeding hundreds of children who affectionately know him as “Papa”. But Fletcher hides a dark secret – he was jailed in Britain for the statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl and videoing the horrific crime. He now uses the guise of his unregistered charity in Cambodia – where he fled to six years ago – to spend every day with little girls, some as young as eight. The pervert raises money from tourists who believe they are providing food and shelter for the hundreds of poor and hungry children.
HAIRDRESSERS and several local businesses raised over pounds 1,000 for charity in a special fashion show. The fundraiser at, 21, a Clayton West restaurant, was organised by Posh Hairdressing. There was valuable help from businesses The Pied Piper, Cherry Bomb Boutique, Amelies Boutique and Sitting Pretty Fashion. The event, which raised pounds 1,083 for Breast Cancer Research, included an auction and fair.
A HAIRDRESSERS has marked 30 years of business. John and Surtees of Mosely Street, Newcastle, has been open since 1980 and still has many of the same loyal clients, even boasting customers from several generations of the same families. John Kelly, 57 from Prudhoe, Northumberland, and Surtees Walker, 57 from Ryton, Gateshead have known each other for even longer, being firm friends ever since 1968 when they were apprentices together at Donalde of Mayfair in Hexham. They moved to Browns in Newcastle in 1973 and went it alone in 1980. Both have trained under the legendary Vidal Sassoon. John said: “Weve seen clients children and their childrens children, we remember when some of our clients were born.” Surtees said: “We like to treat it like were cutting a friends hair. It means weve always enjoyed working here, its how we maintain such customer loyalty.” The pair have seen fashion and hairstyles change a lot over the years. “The early 70s were the worst. People came to have their hair styled, curlers and sets were popular, perms were really popular too.
INTRODUCTION In commercial broiler production, a large safety margin used in feed formulation for supplemental inorganic trace minerals results in a high level of mineral excretion, which is harmful to the environment. It is believed that organic trace minerals are better absorbed and utilized than their inorganic counterparts and are protected from interactions that interfere with their bioavailability, thus leading to a reduction in the excretion of minerals (Scott et al., 1982; Leeson, 2003). Theoretically, the organic trace minerals may be able to be supplemented at a much lower level. However, the apparent absorption of Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn based on excreta does not provide a suitable measurement of the bioavailability of trace minerals (Ammerman, 1995). Apart from indigestible trace minerals and cell abrasion, the excreta mainly contain excess trace minerals which can not be absorbed (Underwood and Suttle, 1996b). Most study on organic trace minerals for broilers have used conventional diets, tending to exceed the birds requirement (Lee et al., 2001; Paik, 2001) and a negative digestibility of trace minerals. However, using a special control diet (Bao et al., 2007a), which is deficient in Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn, may provide a means for determining the digestibility of organic trace minerals in different parts of the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) as it becomes possible to avoid trace mineral excess in the GIT.
INTRODUCTION In commercial broiler production, a large safety margin used in feed formulation for supplemental inorganic trace minerals results in a high level of mineral excretion, which is harmful to the environment. It is believed that organic trace minerals are better absorbed and utilized than their inorganic counterparts and are protected from interactions that interfere with their bioavailability, thus leading to a reduction in the excretion of minerals (Scott et al., 1982; Leeson, 2003). Theoretically, the organic trace minerals may be able to be supplemented at a much lower level. However, the apparent absorption of Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn based on excreta does not provide a suitable measurement of the bioavailability of trace minerals (Ammerman, 1995). Apart from indigestible trace minerals and cell abrasion, the excreta mainly contain excess trace minerals which can not be absorbed (Underwood and Suttle, 1996b). Most study on organic trace minerals for broilers have used conventional diets, tending to exceed the birds requirement (Lee et al., 2001; Paik, 2001) and a negative digestibility of trace minerals. However, using a special control diet (Bao et al., 2007a), which is deficient in Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn, may provide a means for determining the digestibility of organic trace minerals in different parts of the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) as it becomes possible to avoid trace mineral excess in the GIT.
Hamiltons McMaster University of the mid-1960s had a thriving campus art scene. The annual arts festival attracted prestigious and daring North American guests, such as Amiri Baraka, Cannonball Adderly, Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground, and Leslie Fiedler among others. In 1966, mature student John Hofsess, a frequent contributor to the campus newspaper, began to produce 8mm and then 16mm films. Hofsess founded an organization of student filmmakers called the McMaster Film Board (MFB), a group funded by the student union. Hofsesss interests in sexual revolution and American underground art made for a tense relationship between the McMaster Film Board and the student union. Through the McMaster Film Board, John Hofsess began Palace of Pleasure (1966/67), a series of experimental films. Intended as a trilogy, only two parts were completed. The films were designed as showcases for Hofsesss concept of cinematherapy, (1) an experiment that combined ideas from contemporary media–from Warhol and McLuhan–with ideas gleaned from writings on psychoanalytic liberation. His project was similar, if more in spirit than practice, to Wilhelm Reichs orgasm theory, wherein the organism was freed from its neurosis through the total release of dammed-up orgastic energies. Reich envisioned a healthy and functional mankind that could build a sex-positive society away from the tyranny of repressive institutions. Hofsess saw his films operating in opposition to a filmmaker such as Jack Smith (Flaming Creatures), whose shocking work, in Hofsesss estimation, could only reinforce the alienation of the neurotic and their bond to the repressive institution. The ideas underlying the productions were Hofsesss own, but the first part (Redpath 25) was a collaboration between Hofsess, McMaster art community organizer Patricia Murphy, who starred in it, and Robin Hilborn, a science student who applied bleach effects during the films processing. The second and more substantial part of the trilogy (Black Zero) was announced in the student press as being co-directed by McMaster Film Board president Peter Rowe, who was primarily responsible for the cinematography. Hofsess had also cast members of the McMaster Dramatic Society, specifically its director David Martin, who would go on to make a film with the McMaster Film Board titled To Paint the Park (1968), a single-screen experimental narrative that was heavily influenced by Hofsesss work. Martins performance in Black Zero, according to Hofsesss model of therapeutic film form, was “flattened out” in editing. The film was presented in dual projection: tension would dissipate between the two screens. The film acts as a sensual experience by emancipating the viewer from the expectations placed on them by the narrative tradition, their view of the film disrupted by the intentional compromise of performance elements as well as frequent obstructions of kaleidoscopic psychedelic images and appropriated magazine advertisements. Palace of Pleasure is an auteur work, supported through a manifesto that Hofsess contributed to Take One Magazine that expressed his unique aesthetic perspective (”Toward a New Voluptuary: From the Black Zero Notebook”), but it was made with conscious attention to the participation of others, in the spirit of collaborative practice. Hofsess showed a dedication to filmmaking as a social experience, here as well as in his community work as founder of the McMaster Film Board,
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Ranir,
LLC, a leading oral care consumer products company, announced
today that it has acquired Synpart
Limited and Synpart AG from HemCon Medical Technologies, Inc.
Synpart is a leading manufacturer and marketer of store brand oral care
products in the European Community and a contract manufacturer for
global branded oral care companies.
Along with Ranir, LLC, Synpart will become a division of Ranir Global
Holdings, LLC. The combined company is now the largest store brand oral
care company in the world and a significant contract supplier to global
branded oral care companies. The acquisition of Synpart will allow Ranir
to build a global oral care footprint, increase its product offerings,
expand its expertise in oral care and enhance its supply chain
partnership network.
“Teaming with Synpart will not only allow us to accelerate our growth
through international expansion in important U.K. and European markets
but it will also expand our oral care product line and enable us to
increase our commitment to innovation to exceed the expectations of our
customer partners,” said Christine Henisee, CEO of Ranir, who joined the
company in 2003 and has more than 30 years of consumer products
experience.
Henisee added, “We expect to see oral care category growth fueled by the
growing awareness of the connection between oral health and overall
wellness in developed countries worldwide.”
Helmut Schlieper joins the Ranir senior management team as President of
Synpart, a division of Ranir Global Holdings, LLC. Mr. Schlieper founded
Synpart AG in 2004. Mike Levenstein, currently Chief Operating Officer
of Synpart Limited, will lead Synpart’s contract business and direct its
Asian operations.
Toll of Stress Impacting Health Care Costs, Absenteeism and Workplace
Safety
NEW YORK — Employers understand the detrimental effects stress is having on their
organizations, and are responding with multiple strategies to help
workers cope, a recent survey by Buck
Consultants, A Xerox Company, indicates.
The survey, ‘Stress in the Workplace,’ identifies the areas most
affected by stress and the strategies employed by organizations to
reduce stress for their workers. The research was conducted at the
WorldatWork Total Rewards Conference in May 2010. The study analyzes
responses from more than 250 conference attendees, representing more
than 200 organizations of various sizes and industries.
“Most employers realize that a stressed-out workforce drives up health
care costs,” said Barry Hall, principal at Buck Consultants. “Employers
are responding by introducing numerous methods to combat the impact of
work-related stress.”
Hall noted that workplace issues highly affected by stress are:
CHICAGO — PFGBEST, one of the nation’s largest non-clearing Futures Commission
Merchants (FCMs), has updated its annual PFGBEST Research Outlook 2010
to reflect changes and news events that occurred since January into
their analysis for the second half of 2010.
“I will let the PFGBEST Research experts tell you market by market what
some of the trading opportunities and challenges are,” said PFGBEST
President and Chief Operating Officer Russ Wasendorf, Jr. in his cover
letter to clients. He referred to events such as the U.S. Federal
Reserve Board’s delicate, historic high wire act, the 2010 Euro crisis,
the BP oil spill off the shore of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, and
emerging weather patterns. In the PFGBEST Research Outlook 2010,
published at the start of the year, PFGBEST leaders had forecast a
potential globally cataclysmic event that could emanate from debt-ridden
nations and businesses all around, which of course, did occur.
Some highlights from the PFGBEST Research Outlook 2010 Midyear Update:
PFGBEST is a rapidly-expanding global financial services and technology
firm, specializing in electronic trading, futures, forex, options, and
managed accounts. The company is also an industry leader in investor
education, and it offers numerous free webinars each week attended by
hundreds of people wishing to further their knowledge and skill in
trading, charting, comprehending various government reports, enriching
their understanding of trading psychology, and many other topics.
INTRODUCTION Fat deposition of pigs is of economic importance because of market incentives for lean pork production and decreased feeding costs. It is crucial to investigate and characterize new candidate genes and QTL relevant to pig fat deposit traits. To date, several quantitative trait loci (QTL) significantly affecting 10th-rib, average backfat thickness and other production traits have been mapped on SSC7 (Wang et al., 1998; Nagamine et al., 2003). Peroxisomal [[DELTA].sup.3],[[DELTA].sup.2]-enoyl-CoA isomerase (PECI) was located near the boundary of the quantitative trait loci (QTL) region. [[DELTA].sup.3],[[DELTA].sup.2]-enoyl-CoA isomerase (Ecilp) is unique because its activity is necessary for [beta]-oxidation of all unsaturated fatty acids (Geisbrecht et al., 1999). The series of enzyme-catalyzed reactions required for degradation of fatty acids are evolutionarily conserved and accomplished primarily through the p-oxidation pathway. In peroxisomes, ECI was predicted to be a dominant enzyme for 3-cis 3[right arrow]2-trans and 3-trans 3[right arrow]2-trans isomerizations of long-chain intermediates (Zhang et al., 2002). Fatty acid [beta]-oxidation in mammals is considerably more complicated, primarily due to the existence of overlapping but distinct fatty acid poxidation pathways. Mammalian peroxisomes contain at least three fatty acyl-CoA oxidases, both L-specific and D-specific 2-enoyl-CoA hydratase/3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase multifunctional proteins, and at least two thiolases, all of which are encoded by different genes (Palosaari et al., 1990a, 1991; Geisbrecht et al., 1998; Gurvitz et al., 1998; Geisbrecht et al., 1999; Partanen et al., 2004). When the ECI was completely excised in the mouse, it extensively perturbed the metabolism of unsaturated fatty acids, especially for short interval starvation and the fatty acid pattern of complex phospholipids was strongly altered (Palosaari et al., 1990b; Janssen et al., 2002). The PECI gene can be encoded by ECI1 and it is required for growth of saccharomyces cerevisiae on unsaturated fatty acids (Gurvitz et al., 1998). It can be concluded that the PECI gene may play an important role during the metabolic processing of unsaturated fatty acids. Deposition of fat by animals in their bodies is associated with the metabolism of fatty acids, and more research would contribute to understanding of porcine fat deposition. Genomic DNA was isolated from blood of mature Tongcheng pigs (Hubei province, China) by phenol/chloroform extraction. RNA was extracted from muscle tissue of adult Tongcheng pigs and adult Swedish Landrace with TRIzol reagent kit (Life Technologies, Grand Island, NE, USA). RACE (the rapid amplification of cDNA ends) was performed according to the instructions of the SMARTTM RACE cDNA Amplification Kit (Clontech Inc, Palo Alto, CA, USA). The PCR products of RACE were purified with the Wizard PCR Preps DNA Purification System (Promega, Madison, WI, USA). ORF were found by the program SeqMan (DNA star, Madison, WI, USA) and the amino acid sequences were deduced with Primer5.0 (Primer Premier5.0, Premier, Canada). Using the pGEM T-easy vector, DNase I (RNase-free) and M-MLV reverse transcriptase from TaKaRa Dalian (Dalian, China), primers were synthesized (Table 1) and PCR products were sequenced by AuGCT Biotechnology (Bejing, China).
INTRODUCTION Pork is a popular meat consumed by non-muslim Singaporeans with about 87,000 tonnes being consumed per year (Kanagalingam, 2005). Currently, Singapore imports its pork from several countries, but Australian and Indonesian pork is consumed most widely due to its ready availability at supermarkets and wet markets. Fresh pork is obtained from pigs raised in Indonesia but slaughtered at Singapore abattoirs, while chilled pork is mainly imported from Australia and is widely known as “Air Pork”. Singaporean consumers are aware of the origin of pork from packaging labels. Results of a recent survey showed that Singapore consumers associate non-Indonesian pork with the presence of an unpleasant mutton-like off-flavour (Leong et al., 2008). One possible cause of off-flavours in pork is by the oxidation of lipids, leading to the formation of aldehydes and short-chain fatty acids (Reindl and Stan, 1982; Devol, et al., 1988). The rate and extent of lipid oxidation depends on a number of factors, the most important being the level of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in muscle (Allen and Foegeding, 1981). Pork contains high levels of unsaturated fatty acids relative to ruminant meat (Enser et al., 1996) and is more susceptible to oxidative deterioration of lipids and myoglobin. Feeding of PUFAs to pigs can improve the nutritional quality of pork, but may also increase the susceptibility to oxidation (Sheard et al., 2000; Kouba et al., 2003; Morel et al., 2006). There have been many reports of PUFA-rich feeds leading to increased lipid oxidation and thus off-flavour in pork (Houben and Krol, 1980; Warnants et al., 1998; Roman et al., 1995; Overland et al., 1996; Leskanich et al., 1997; Wood et al., 2003). There have also been examples of off-flavours in pork arising from the direct transfer of aroma components from feed to meat, including several reports on how feeding of fish oil and high fat fish meal to finisher pigs has caused “fishy” and other off-flavours in pork products (Kjos et al., 1999; Lauridsen et al., 1999; Maw et al., 2001; Jaturasitha et al., 2002). The current paper compares sensory assessments of the flavour of pork from the legs of pigs finished in New Zealand on three diets (Morel et al., 2008) using Singaporean panelists. The objective was to determine the extent to which dietary feed treatments received by the New Zealand pigs influenced the sensory properties of pork using trained and untrained Singaporean panels. Results of sensory analyses of pork from the loins of the same New Zealand pigs using New Zealand panelists were reported by Janz et al. (2008).
BRISBANE, Calif. — bebe stores, inc. (Nasdaq:BEBE) today reported retail sales of $119.2
million for the fiscal quarter ended July 3, 2010, a decrease of 4.4%
compared to sales of $124.6 million for the fiscal quarter ended July 4,
2009. Comparable store sales for the fiscal quarter ended July 3, 2010
decreased 3.4% compared to a decrease of 29.6% in the prior year.
Beginning in November fiscal 2010 comparable store sales exclude PH8
stores as of the end of the fourth quarter due to the conversion of BEBE
SPORT stores to PH8 stores.
Retail sales for the year-to-date period ended July 3, 2010 were $481.7
million compared to $580.3 million for the year-to-date period ended
July 4, 2009, a decrease of 17.0%. Comparable store sales for the
year-to-date period ending July 3, 2010 decreased 17.1% compared to a
decrease of 20.9% for the year-to-date period ending July 4, 2009.
As of July 3, 2010, average finished goods inventory per square foot
decreased 12.8% as compared to the prior year.
bebe stores, inc. provides additional information on a recorded message.
Interested parties are invited to listen to the message by calling
1-877-232-3757.
TGGI has reached an agreement to cancel the 500 million shares of common stock issued to acquire FSM in exchange for Preferred Stock of Kazore Holdings, Inc. In a move to ready the Company for the sale of FSM to American Life Holding Company (OTCBB: ALFE), TGGI will help increase shareholder value by canceling the shares ahead of the transaction and reducing the authorized shares of the Company.
TGGI has consolidated operations of its insulation business under All Weather Insulation and is in the process of closing its subsidiary Ecosafe Insulation of Florida. The consolidation will save time and money for the company when preparing its financial information.
TGGI will be changing the name of the parent company Trans Global Group, Inc. to a name that better reflects the companys operations.
5boards iPhone application will soon be available for free download on the Apple iTunes store. After dedicated programming efforts by Full Spectrum Media the mobile application has successfully proven its one-of-a-kind feature set for board sport enthusiasts.
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL)
To streamline the management of complex legislative policy rules, Oracle has announced the availability of Oracle Enterprise Taxation and Policy Management which combines the benefits of Oracle Enterprise Taxation Management and Oracle Policy Automation.
Oracle Enterprise Taxation and Policy Management can:
Help public sector authorities reduce the time and cost to modify systems when legislative policies change.
Provide detailed analysis of proposed policy changes and potential revenue impact.
Enhance the ability to navigate risk-scoring rules to assess tax declarations for further investigation to help improve audit selection capabilities and target success rates.
Provide authorized business users with access to amend policy rules in the core administration system directly without lengthy IT development cycles.
“Capgemini applauds Oracle for enhancing Oracle Enterprise Taxation Management with the capabilities of Oracle Policy Automation. Several of Capgeminis clients have saved significant costs and time and recognized new business benefits using Oracle Policy Automation. The combination allows public sector authorities to capture, maintain and embed new tax rules into core processing with a simple tool that helps reduce the costs of programming or scripting,” said Ian Pretty, vice president, tax and welfare lead, Global Public Sector, Capgemini.
“In an ever-evolving industry, public sector authorities require great flexibility to help manage the impact of policy changes. Oracle Enterprise Taxation and Policy Management can help our customers save time and costs associated with incorporating new legislative rules into their administrative systems,” said Stephan Scholl, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Tax and Utilities Global Business Unit.
HOUSTON — Rick’s Cabaret International, Inc. (NASDAQ: RICK), the nation’s
leading chain of upscale gentlemen’s clubs, had revenues of $6.36
million at its nightclubs in June.
The June revenues brought total nightclub sales for the company’s third
quarter ending June 30 to $19.58 million.
Eric Langan, President and CEO of the company, said: “Generally
our revenues are holding up, although we are working on improving sales
at several clubs that have been impacted by market-specific economic
weakness.”
Companywide revenues were up 4.2 percent compared with the $6.1 million
reported in 2009. Same club-same month revenues compared with 2009 were
off 5.4 percent, primarily because of lower revenues at the Las Vegas
Rick’s Cabaret and at the Club Onyx locations in Philadelphia and
Charlotte.
Graphic.ly Launches First Windows 7 App for Comics, Expands Community
Functions in Online Store to Drive Conversation about New, Trending
Titles
BOULDER, Colo. — Graphic.ly, the digital media platform for comic books and communities,
announces a new application for Windows 7-based devices, as well as
improvements to its online comics store that will make it easier for
people to start and participate in conversations about new and popular
titles. The Windows 7 app is optimized for touch interfaces to take
advantage the upcoming Windows-based tablets.
Graphic.ly becomes the first of a new breed of comic apps that is
available on Windows 7-based devices, following its launch of a desktop
AIR and iPhone application. The company plans to launch apps for mobile
platforms, such as the iPad, Android and Windows Phone 7, and a web
application throughout the year. In addition, the store will get new
features and a layout that will highlight fresh and popular titles in
the comics store, as well as friend-recommended titles for people to
share and discover new content.
“This is the year that will change comics forever, extending the
experience of welcoming and acceptance of the comic book store into the
digital marketplace where they’ll be exposed to the largest audience
ever,” said Micah Baldwin, CEO of Graphic.ly. “To maximize that
audience, we’re going to lead the charge to bring the digital media
store to every platform and device. Today we’re proud to be the first on
Windows 7 and there will be more to come.”
Graphic.ly offers comic titles from the largest comics publishers,
including Archaia, Arcana, Archie, BOOM! Studios, IDW Publishing, and
TopCow. Hundreds of independent publishers also offer titles for sale in
the Graphic.ly online store. Today, more than 600 titles are available
for prices ranging from free to $1.99 in the Graphic.ly store.
On June 30, 2010, Yasheng ECO-Trade Corporation (OTCBB: YASH) entered into agreement to establish a corporation under the name: “Government Logistics Financing Corporation” with CMARK Group to help facilitate CMARKs backlog of exiting orders. CMARK provides a wide array of services and products in the areas of construction, interior systems, and hospitality operations primarily to the Federal Government and US Federal government prime contractors.
This Joint Venture provides YASH with revenue opportunities and access to the government procurement business. CMARK President Charles Jones said, “The Joint Venture with YASH allows us to more quickly deliver on our backlog of orders and focus on expanding our core business. I think it will be a win-win for everyone involved.” YASH acting President William Lieberman commented, “We are excited to be working with a company with as much experience as Mr. Jones and the CMARK Group.”
About Yasheng ECO-Trade Corporation (OTCBB: YASH)
The Companys business has been the identification and acquisition of undervalued assets within emerging industries for the purpose of consolidation and development of these businesses and sale if favorable market conditions exist. The Companys objective is to find, acquire and develop resources at the lowest cost possible and recycle its cash flows into new projects yielding the highest returns with controlled risk. The Companys competencies include financial services, mergers and acquisitions, accounting, real estate development and natural resources exploration. The Company is currently in the process of developing a logistics center.
About CMARK Group -
Nuukfjord Gold Ltd (”Nuukfjord”) (TSX: NUU) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Georg Hochwimmer to the Board of Directors effective July 8, 2010.
Dr. Hochwimmer is the founder of the financial services firm General Research GmbH which for the past 10 years has provided Corporate Finance and Advisory services to the Mining and Metals Sector. He has extensive institutional and retail contacts throughout Europe and specializes in corporate and financial advice for emerging growth companies and in strategically placed financings. The addition of Dr. Hochwimmers experience and knowledge to the Nuukfjord board will serve to broaden exposure throughout the European market and provide key insights to assist moving the companys assets forward.
“We are very pleased that Dr. Hochwimmer will add his extensive knowledge and expertise to the Nuukfjord Board of Directors,” said Aaron Keay, Nuukfjords President and CEO. “Georgs experience and research is globally respected and sought after, and our team looks forward to working with him as we continue to advance our drilling programs.”
Dr. Georg Hochwimmer was born in 1968 in Pfarrkirchen, Germany. He studied chemistry, mechanical engineering and computer science at TU Munich and also economics at FU Hagen. He received his PhD in chemistry from TU Munich. In 2000, he founded General Research GmbH; a corporate finance and financial service firm specializing in the technology and natural resource sectors. Dr. Hochwimmer is managing director of Microdrop Technologies GmbH, a company specialized in micro systems technology and also CEO of SupraMAT Technologies AG, a consulting and investment firm focused on technology ventures.
Nuukfjord Gold Ltd (”Nuukfjord”) (TSX: NUU) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Georg Hochwimmer to the Board of Directors effective July 8, 2010.
Dr. Hochwimmer is the founder of the financial services firm General Research GmbH which for the past 10 years has provided Corporate Finance and Advisory services to the Mining and Metals Sector. He has extensive institutional and retail contacts throughout Europe and specializes in corporate and financial advice for emerging growth companies and in strategically placed financings. The addition of Dr. Hochwimmers experience and knowledge to the Nuukfjord board will serve to broaden exposure throughout the European market and provide key insights to assist moving the companys assets forward.
“We are very pleased that Dr. Hochwimmer will add his extensive knowledge and expertise to the Nuukfjord Board of Directors,” said Aaron Keay, Nuukfjords President and CEO. “Georgs experience and research is globally respected and sought after, and our team looks forward to working with him as we continue to advance our drilling programs.”
Dr. Georg Hochwimmer was born in 1968 in Pfarrkirchen, Germany. He studied chemistry, mechanical engineering and computer science at TU Munich and also economics at FU Hagen. He received his PhD in chemistry from TU Munich. In 2000, he founded General Research GmbH; a corporate finance and financial service firm specializing in the technology and natural resource sectors. Dr. Hochwimmer is managing director of Microdrop Technologies GmbH, a company specialized in micro systems technology and also CEO of SupraMAT Technologies AG, a consulting and investment firm focused on technology ventures.
more than 90% say business is up since beginning of year
96% say international travel is up
66% see domestic travel bookings up
nearly 80% say staycations are waning
nearly 60% say dollars value affecting international travel
The U.S. Tour Operators Association reports that 2010 business is up significantly compared to 2009, surpassing expectations. In a recent informal membership poll, 92% of respondents said business is up since the beginning of the year, contrasting with 70% who last fall predicted a turnaround.
Sales of international tours, vacation packages and custom arrangements led the way, with 96% of respondents seeing an average increase of 30% over last year. This surpasses last falls expectations, when three-quarters of members predicted international sales to grow in 2010 by slightly under 20%.
Two-thirds of USTOA respondents report that domestic vacation bookings are up by an average of 33% this year. This improvement tops USTOA member projections: last fall, when 56% of respondents expected an increase of just 10%, while 37% predicted that domestic travel figures would remain unchanged.
Powerful Opportunity for Real Estate Professionals To Help Families
through Partnership with Lowes
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Dennis Walsh, CEO of RE-buildUSA™, one of the real estate industrys
most popular speakers, will be presenting a series of free live events
to showcase what many call the “perfect storm of opportunity” in todays
market. The presentation, “Rebuilding America One Dream at a Time,” will
travel through Dayton,
OH July 20th, Columbus,
OH July 21st and Cleveland,
OH July 22nd. These events are sponsored by Lowes and Wells Fargo
Home Mortgage. Walshs message, already shared with thousands of
brokers, agents and mortgage professionals around the country, will give
valuable insight on a program that is helping stabilize the housing
industry.
“Every real estate professional needs to know about this great
opportunity in todays market,” says Dave Liniger, Chairman and
Co-Founder of RE/MAX. Liniger presented the RE-buildUSA™ program to
RE/MAX agents during a live broadcast via RE/MAX University.
Re-buildUSA™, in partnership with Lowe’s, simplifies use of the federal
government’s 203k Renovation Loan program to assist families in
achieving their dream of homeownership, improve communities and grow the
economy. Home improvements are rolled right into the primary mortgage,
allowing both buyers and current homeowners to more easily get the home
they want, while being able to afford their monthly payments and reduce
the overall cost of ownership.
“RE-buildUSA™ is nothing less than the future of real estate,” explains
Ed Krafchow, President CEO, Prudential CA/NV Realty. “If youre
serious about success in this business, youve got to get involved in
this ground-breaking program.”